Viventis Anathema - Story of a Cursed Mare

Being finally arrested, Grimwood was put inside a iron carriage, being pulled by four different pegasi, who flew headed to Canterlot, apparently. She was still blocked by the magical seals, deprived of her metal limbs and was sitting in front of two arrogant looking unicorn Royal Guards. She didn't even bother to glare at them. Grimwood just look at them with a deadpan expression.

"So this is the wretched criminal," One of the guards said. "I won't ask any better trophy."

"Or you will say a better payment," The other one said gleefully.

"Yeah, that's a good charm,"

"..." Grimwood remained silent.

"Don't look at us like that. You really deserve that." The first guard said.

"Are you sure I had the arsenal to make this curse?" Grimwood asked

"What are you talking about? You are the curse maker!" The second guard retorted.

"Did you have checked my stuff before assuming the worse?" Grimwood said calmly. "To make a curse, a formula is needed. If you have checked my stuff during my first arrest, there was no one, and I couldn't had done any of that in my cell."

The two guards looked at each other and then smirked before returning to Grimwood.

"Does that even matter?" The first guard asked.

"What?" Grimwood said almost alarmed, like she was noticing something wrong.

"After all, you are-" The first guard didn't had the time to finish the phrase that two ice spikes protruded from nowhere and pierced their heads.

The death of the two unicorns causes the seals to dissipate, setting Grimwood free and allowing her to put herself on guard. The two ice spikes slowly began to disappear in a mist, only for it to give its place to another pony, who was none other than the stranger.

"Did I missed you?" He asked.

"Frost Bite," Grimwood said irritated. "What are you doing here and why you were helping me?"

"C'mon, that wasn't my only motivation," Frost said. "I have also hijacked the will of the pegasi carrying this carriage."

"Why?"

"You see, I need a favor from you."

"I don't make ones." Grimwood said as she leaped at him, only for him to block her by grabbing her by her neck with a ethereal hand coming from his hoof.

"Let me finish," Frost said nonchalantly. "There's a place I wanted you to visit. Maybe that has something to do with you know who."

"The Homunghoul Maker?" Grimwood said. "Tsk, what you have to gain from that?"

"One less menace would be a biggest favor that you can do. And don't even think to refuse, because there's no turning back."

Before Grimwood would even ask anything, the carriage suddenly stopped and the steel door opened.

"We have arrived," Frost Bite said, one second before tossing Grimwood out of the carriage, making her fall on a stone floor.

Standing up, she scanned her surrounding. The place around her was part of some kind of stone temple, with torches upended to the walls, six pillars and a altar. Grimwood glared back at Frost.

"Bastard," Grimwood growled. "What are you-"

"And don't forget this," Frost said, tossing out Grimwood's black bag as well and closing the steel door.

The carriage began her flight and flew away from Grimwood through a big hole leading to the outside. Grimwood would had chased the carriage, but she couldn't allow herself being unequipped. She puts on her metallic limbs, with the momentary pain that bites her for a moment. She then put on her bag on her back and headed toward the big hole.

Looking outside, she realized to be inside a mountain, and it's not that of Canterlot.

"Where the hell did you had put me?" Grimwood asked.

In a few seconds, the silence was broken by a warped chorus coming from the door nearby the altar. Not wanting to be spotted, Grimwood used her claws to climb the walls and moved to the outside to not be spotted, suspended at the high height of the mountain. Looking from behind the hole, she could see a very odd group, being composed by rainbow hooded ponies chanting a mantra and entering inside, leaded by black hooded one, which tail is rainbow colored.

"That can't be." Grimwood murmured.

The black hooded one gestured his group to stop the chanting and silently ordered them to gather around the altar. Since she won't even try to face them, Grimwood climbed the mountain. After a while, she arrived nearby what seemed to be a metallic facility. There was a opened window nearby her, so she entered inside.

Once inside, Grimwood found herself in a dark metallic corridor, in contrast to the stone place from before. There was a dime light at her left. Metallic sounds and moans of pain echoed from there. She approached the light and entered in what seemed to be a metallic madness.

The grim spectacle is a huge one. There was a complex was full of machinery and signs. The sound of metal moving, pressing or stomping, a long "whirr" and some occasional alarm noises merged together to create the cacophonic chorus that made clear this place's crude identity.

Plus, there is the personal. White coated pegasi were deporting some ponies, in which most of them are also pegasi, in prison cells or even putting them into some machines that the mare can see in the distance.

But more present than these things are the trasparent tubes filtring some liquids, each one of the color corresponding these of a rainbow. They were connecting some strange capsules to some machines pumping their colored liquids in separated metal recipients. All of that conducted by the rainbow cloaked ponies from before.

"Whatever it is, it's not a normal rainbow factory." Grimwood said, disgusted.

"Or sure it is, but not in a normal way," Somepony spokes.

Grimwood turned toward the door she went before in a fighting stance. "Who is it?"

The pony came out of the shadows, revealing to be azure maned white stallion. "This is Rainbow Shrine. I am Sunlight Chime and I'm willing to tell you the story. The story of the Homunghoul maker."