Dark Souls: Story of the Blanks

Chapter Four

Fate is a Cruel Bitch

“How long have I been in the forest?” Apple Bloom thought as she sank her teeth into the head of a dead manticore that she killed. It’s been roughly two years since she became an undead pony at the hands of Grey Hoof and the ponies of Sunnytown. Two years of eating nothing but meat from the animals she had to kill in the forest. Granted she has unlimited stamina and strength to rival Big Mac, but all that is meaningless if it meant that she couldn’t return home to her family and friends. How could this have happened to her? Was it because she found the village of Sunnytown? Was it because Ruby couldn’t keep them all at bay due to there being more than just those few ponies? All these questions swirled around in her head for a moment before shaking her head and stopping eating to look up at the now star-lit sky as a tear of blood rolled down the side of her face.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, please, anypony. I want to go back to normal.” She said before seeing a beam shoot across the night sky heading north. The young filly blinked in surprise at this as she wiped away the bloody tear rolling down the side of her face. “What the hay was that?” The young filly’s ear twitched upon hearing the sound of hoove steps heading in her direction as her eyes widened to who she might know who it could be. “Oh horse feathers! I thought I lost them when they found me the first time!”

Looking around for a place to hide, the young undead filly quickly jumped into a nearby bush as she watched to see who it was that was coming in from the side of where the sounds were coming from. As she watches, she soon sees Alma rushing in from the side and Mitta panting as she soon comes to a halt before collapsing to the ground.

“You know for a pony who’s supposed to be undead, you’re really out of shape,” Alma said as she chuckled a bit. Mitta pulled her head up as she glared at the ashen one before snorting.
“I’ve been dead for the past two hundred years or so stuck in a town filled with idiots who think cutie marks are cursed. Do you think I have time to do anything else besides wallowing in my self-pity for failing to save my best friend from dying in front of me?” There was a moment of silence as Alma stared at Mitta with an awkward smile on her face. “Yeah, I didn't think so, jackass.”

“Yeah...my bad for being rude, didn't think about that.” The bat pony said before offering the earth pony a hand to pull her up to her feet. “I think we've gotten a good head start away from Sunnytown. So let’s take a breather before heading off to where we can find an exit out of this stupid forest.”

“That is if we can find the damn exit to this forest….I've never been outside of the forest seeing how we had everything we needed from the plant life in the forest.”

“Shit, then this might be a bit harder to get out and look for help than I thought,” Alma said as she placed a hand on her chin. “Is there someplace where I can get a good enough height to see over the forest?”

“Well, there was that weird-looking castle I kept seeing poking out of the forest through my house window. I always wondered what was inside it, but never got to see it due to my age and….after what happened.”

“Then that will be where we’ll go tonight. When morning hits, we’ll see if we can search around the woods for some clues or something.” Alma said as she was about to walk to their destination, only to pause and look at Mitta. “Do you know which direction the castle is in?”

“Last I can remember, it was north of Sunnytown,” Mitta replied as the bat pony sighed.

“Guess we’ll have to keep going until we see something that looks like a castle then?” The Bat pony said as she began to take a step forward, only to pause again as her ears twitch upon hearing something move in the bushes next to them. Alma quickly picked up a rock near her and threw it in the location where the sound came from as a yelp was heard. “The next one won’t miss. So I suggest you come out so I don’t have to hurt you!”

“Don’t hurt me! I’m not a monster!” Apple Bloom yelled as she quickly popped out of the bushes she was hiding behind with her hands raised and her eyes closed. Mitta's eyes widened upon seeing who the pony was as she placed her hands over her mouth.

“A…..Apple Bloom?” Mitta said as Apple Bloom’s eyes opened up to see Mitta staring at her with a shocked expression on her face.

“M-Mitta?”

“You two know each other?” Alma asked as she looked between the two ponies with a raised eyebrow.

“She…She came to Sunnytown two years ago...and I told her to run from the town and never return….Dear Faust, what happened to you?” Mitta asked as she began to tremble and tear up. Apple Bloom’s ears flopped down upon hearing the question as she lowered her arms and looked down at the ground in her attempt to avoid the question.

“I don’t mind if you two talk and all, but can we please do it someplace where we don’t have to worry about getting ambushed or attacked by the folks in Sunnytown?” Alma suggested as she looked back at Apple Bloom. “You've been in this place the longest due to the way you look. You know of an easy route that leads to an abandoned castle?”

“Y-You mean the castle of the twin sisters?”
“If that’s what the castle is called, then yeah. That’s where we need to go.” Alma said as the young undead filly blinks for a moment before motioning them to follow her.

“Follow me, and try not to make too much noise. Some of the ponies from that town are out and about and are looking for me.” She said before quickly darting off in the direction of the castle as the two mares follow after her into the dark forest.

(Elsewhere, above the Everfree Forest)

Night time has fallen upon the kingdom of Equestria as a familiar golden chariot flew through the moon lite night sky with two pegasi of Celestia’s royal guard carrying the chariot as the princess of the sun looked up at her sister’s handy work with the star patterns making constellations in the sky. The alabaster white alicorn let out a sigh as she stared at the endless sea of stars.

“It’s always nice to see Luna’s wonderful stars at night. But I kinda wish I could watch them from my room, not from having to make a trip outside of Equestria to other nations.” She thought as she looked over at the royal guards. “Hm, maybe I should ask them to make a stop by Ponyville? They have been flying for a good twelve hours. And it has been a while since I had a chat with Twilight.”

“We’re almost coming upon Ponyville Princess Celestia.” said one of the pegasus guards as it snapped Celestia out of her train of thought. “Would you like for us to make a stop there?”

“Huh, guess they must’ve felt me thinking of that.” Celestia smiled as she nodded to his question. “Make a stop in front of Princess Twilight’s Castle if you could please. We’ll rest there for the night and make our way to Canterlot in the morning.”

“Yes, your highness.” They said as they were about to descend a bit closer to the Everfree Forest. Just as they lowered down towards the tops of the forest, Celestia’s ears twitched from hearing something heading towards them. As she turned her head over to the left, her eyes widened upon seeing an arcane beam shooting out from the west side of the forest. The alicorn’s horn quickly lit up as a barrier appeared around both her and the guards. The mare gritted her teeth from the strain of holding the barrier up as the beam that hit them caused the force field that she made to crack before shattering and causing them to fall into the Everfree Forest.

While falling, Celestia quickly used her magic to create a protective dome around the pegasi as they crashed safely toward the ground. But having done that she took the force of the crash as she fell through a few branches and hit her horn hard on a nearby rock next to the tree she fell next to as she let out a loud painful yell from the impact. The pegsi that were protected from the fall quickly flew over to the injured princess as their eyes widened at the state she was in.

“Princess, are you okay!?” The white pegasus asked as the black one quickly moved over to her.

“I-I’m fine.” She said as she let out a hiss as she felt pain throughout her right wing. Looking over at it, she winced from seeing it dislocated and broken backward.

“Can you stand Princess?” asked the black pegasus as he kept an eye out on the surrounding area they were in.

“Yes, I can stand,” Celestia answered as she staggered to her feet while the white pegasus used himself as support for her to lean on. “Thank you Ivory Stone.”

“Where in the name of Equestria did that blast come from?”

“You don’t think it was from Chrysalis or Tirek do you?”

“I doubt either of them would be able to put out that amount of magic. Not only that, but Chrysalis went into hiding, and Tierk is locked away in Tartarus after being defeated by Twilight and her friends.” Celestia said as she placed a hand on her head. “The moment it hit the shield I placed around us, it felt….wrong.“

“What do you mean?” asked Ivory as Celestia gave off a weak smile at the colt.

“It’s nothing to worry about.” She said before looking around at their surroundings. “We should leave and head over to Ponyville as soon as possible.” Both colts nodded as Ivory was about to pick up the princess bridal style, only to pause as he and the other pegasus heard something move in the bushes followed by the sounds of a filly giggling. Both colts quickly stood in front and behind Celestia as they pulled out their swords and looked at the darkness in the forest.

“Who’s there!?” The black pegasus yelled as the only reply he got was the sounds of footsteps and giggles. “Show yourself!”

“I don’t think they’d come out from you yelling that SouthPaw,” Ivory said as South deadpans at him. “What? Would you come out if you heard somepony yell at you?”

“New ponies....” Whispered an audible voice as the three of them could now see red glowing eyes peering at them from the trees, bushes, and around the trees. A chill ran down Celestia’s spine upon seeing the crimson-colored eyes staring at them, mainly her for the most part. “New ponies means new friends. Grey Hoof would love to meet new friends~”

“I have a bad feeling about this Ivory. Think we can carry the princess and bolt it back up into the sky?” South asked as Ivory shook his head.

“The trees are too close together for us to carry her out, and would take longer if we try to do it. We need to find an opening for us to get her into the air. But given how there are only two of us and the princess’s wing is broken, this might be a problem.”

“Your friend is hurt? Oh no, that's just horrible.” said a bone-chilling voice as one of the figures staring at them began to make its way over to them. Once it was out, the moonlight revealed who the figure was as a decaying earth pony slowly made his way over to them and offered a hand towards them. “Come with us, friends. We will be able to help your friend with her broken wing.”

Celestia, South, and Ivory’s eyes widened upon seeing the undead pony as the two colts quickly took up a defensive stance even closer to Celestia. The princess upon seeing the rotting pony and getting a whiff of its smell slightly gagged a bit as she almost threw up from it, but quickly covered her mouth before trying to regain her composure and looked at the pony.

“W….who are y…..you?” Celestia asked, still trying not to vomit from both the sight and smell of the earth pony.

“I am Brickleberry, we are ponies that live in a town called Sunnytown within the forest. We saw what happened to you and wanted to see if- '' as he took a step forwards, SouthPaw aimed his sword at Brickleberry.

“That’s far enough, pony!” South said as he glared at him. “Take another step and we will strike you down!”

“SouthPaw, lower your sword.”

“But Princess-”

“That’s an order.” She said as South grumbled and lowered his sword. “I’m sorry about that. They tend to be a bit protective at times when seeing somepony….n-new.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright,” Brickleberry said as he walked a bit closer to the group. “As I was saying, we saw what happened to you through an opening in the forest and rushed over to see if you were okay.”

“Y-Yes, we’re quite alright. Thanks for your concern, Brickleberry.”

“Are you sure? We can take you to our home so we can help repair your wing and….horn?”

“O-Oh there’s no need to worry about that. We can go to Ponyville and get help there.” Celestia said as she noticed his smile or at least she thought it was a smile disappeared. The group could feel a sense of dread and doom develop around them as the eyes around them began to glow darker.

“B-But we’re not that far from our town...um.”

“Princess Celestia. Sorry if I didn’t say my name when you introduced yourself to me.”

“Right, Princess Celestia. We’re not that far from town, and it is dark within the Everfree Forest during the night. So wouldn’t it be a good idea to come with us so that the monsters won’t hurt or kill you?”

“That’s why she has us,” Ivory said as he tried to grab Celestia by the hand to try and motion for her to get ready to run. “Now if you would be so kind as to lead us to the path to where the exit to the Everfree Forest is, then we’ll be on our way good sir.”

“....I wouldn’t advise you to leave and come with us,” Brickleberry said as his eyes glowed darker just like the others. “It would be a shame if something bad happened to you-” The earth pony paused for a moment as he looked down at Celestia’s flank to see her cutie mark underneath the somewhat torn regal dress she was wearing. He soon took a step backward for a moment before pointing a finger at the alicorn. “S…..She has the mark…..she has the curse mark on her!”

“Curse mark? Does he mean my cutie mark?” Celestia thought as she heard the other ponies around them start to mumble to each other as she saw Brickleberry with a panicked expression on his face.

“N...No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Grey Hoof will not like this if he were to see you with that curse mark on you. We must save you before the mark kills you.” He said as the ponies that were hiding in the shadows started to make themselves known by circling Celestia and the two royal guards. “You must come with us so we can save you from this curse.”

“What do you mean by that? My cutie mark is not a curse that will kill anypony, nor hurt anypony for that matter.” She said before she heard the ponies chanting the words “Kill and be reborn.” Celestia’s eyes widened upon hearing that as she took a step backward.

“Buck, not good,” SouthPaw said before looking over at Ivory. “We gotta go!”

“Already on it.” He said as he looked over at Celestia. “Your highness, we need to leave. Is there someplace we can hold out during the night?”

“The ruins of the old castle Luna and I used to live in is where we need to go. It may be old, but it should be a safe place to hold out until morning when I can…..Oh.” If Celestia could facepalm she would, as she just realized that the night might stay up a bit longer due to her horn being broken at the moment. The Alicorn shook her head to get her thoughts together as she looked over at South and Ivory. “The ruins will do until we can get out of the Everfree Forest.” Ivory nodded and was about to lead Celestia away from the group of undead ponies, only for something sharp to hit him in the chest.

Looking down Ivory could see a sharp jagged spear made out of wood pierced his lung as he coughed out blood from his mouth before kneeling to his knee from the pain and loss of breath. Celestia’s eyes widened in horror at this as she tried to kneel to help him, only for him to push her away as another spear hit him in the throat.

“Ivory!” South yelled as he looked over at Brickleberry to see the pony next to him that threw the spears at the white pegasus. “Bastards, you’ll pay for what you did to him!”

“You shouldn’t be angry, dear friend. Once we kill you and the princess, you will be reborn as one of us. Free from the curse mark and of death itself. You’ll see. When you’re reborn as us, you will feel free-!” Brickleberry was cut short as SouthPaw threw a dagger from his holster at the earth pony’s head as he fell backward onto his back.

“Princess, I’m going to make an opening for you to escape,” South said as Celestia looked over at the colt with a stern but fearful expression on her face.

“No, I can’t allow you to do that for my sake. You should go and get Twilight and her friends to help.”

“Given the fact that they killed Ivory with surprisingly good marksmanship, they would shoot my wings before I could get the chance to escape.” He said as he tightened his grip around his sword. “This is my job as part of the royal guard. To protect you and make sure you return unharmed to the best of my ability.”

“But-”

“Plus Luna would possibly kill me before these ponies do.” He said with a slight chuckle as the pegasus pulled out a white glowing orb from off his waist and raised it. “Get ready to run!” Celestia quickly covered her eyes upon seeing the orb as she knew what it was as South slammed the orb onto the ground. Once it shattered, the area was filled with a blinding light as the undead ponies' eyes widened before they quickly covered their eyes and let out screams of pain from the light blinding them. “Now run!”

Celestia turned around and was hesitant to run at first. But took a deep breath and bolted it down into the wild of the Everfree Forest. SouthPaw smirked upon hearing the princess running away as the light began to die out. He opened his eyes and glared at the group of ponies surrounding him now.

“Now that was rude,” Brickleberry said as he slowly pulled himself up and pulled the knife that was implanted into his head out and smiled at the pegasus sickly. “You shouldn’t throw things like this at your friends.”

“I am not your friend monster. Don’t think that killing Ivory and wanting to hurt the princess would make you think I’d be friends with you.”

“We’re trying to save her from the curse my friend. Don’t you see that if we don’t save her, she will die from the curse on her flank?”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Well, either way, I forgive you for hurting me and I hope you can forgive me for killing your friend. Once we save all three of you you’ll be more than welcome in our community.” He said as the undead ponies surrounding him started to come in closer to SouthPaw. “But first we must kill you before going after Princess Celestia,” he said as the undead ponies in turn jumped at the colt with fangs, spears, and other various weapons at the ready to kill SouthPaw as he took up a fighting stance.

“I’d like to see you try, monster!”