Chapters The large spire rose from the floor of carved faces. It was made of myriads of lanterns not unlike the ones the survivors were carrying. Despite its imposing stature, it could not pierce the entirety of the darkness but it provided warmth and a large enough space to settle. Huddled around the lantern hoard were eight scared ponies. At the sight of the arriving survivors, the bravest rose to meet them and investigate the pile of offal they carried. They could not communicate with each other, therefore confusion and suspicion arose quickly. The survivors gesticulated and made sound with their mouths, imitating the roar of the monster that had attacked them, attempting to explain their situation but in vain.
The cacophony lasted until one pony stomped her hoof and stepped forward, wordlessly commanding the others to listen. She had a tricolored mane, pink with streaks of white and light blue, and a light yellow coat. Her front legs were poorly bandaged from the terrible swat she received from the beast earlier. Her dark purple eyes frowned with determination. She worded sounds, pointing at objects, naming them.
“Light”. “Darkness”. “Monster”. “Death”. “Pony”. “Friendship”. She took the name of Nova Star. The other ponies listened; they learned, and spoke with her. It took a long time, “days” and “nights” as they were now called, for every pony to understand each others. Then, the survivors convened in a council to determine what they should do next. They knew not where they came from, or why they awoke in such a place, but quickly concluded that they would need to hunt the beasts of this world for their resources if they wanted to survive in the place of Death and Darkness.
“This Beast, this White Lion, must have been roaming the darkness in search of easy prey.” The blue Pegasus stallion wondered, his gold colored eyes looking at a long strip of white fur they had collected. His mane was orange with mustard yellow streaks. He had taken the name of Comet Flash. “There might be others like it. Its hide is strong and could make for great defense if worn as a coat of some sort. And the claws are sharp and cut deeply. They could be used as weapons.”
“Indeed,” concurred the large brown stallion. His mane was light grey and contrasted with his dark shaded eyes. “but before we face another one of its ilk, we should think about our day to day survival. We need food first, and water.”
“I think I saw a stream nearby when I was scouting earlier.” Said the cyan coated Pegasus mare. “I could go search for it. I’m fast and can fly to avoid monsters.”
“That’s a good idea, Rapid Meadows, but you shouldn’t go alone. In fact, none of us should ever wonder outside of the Sanctuary alone.” Warned Comet Flash.
“You should bring Thunder Storm with you, then.” Suggested Nova Star, pointing at a twitchy lemon maned stallion. “He too can fly. That would settle the water issues, but what about food?”
“I could take the other normal ponies and look around for sources of food.” Suggested the brown stallion, called Stone Hoof. “We are strong and resilient. We would be able to defend ourselves in case another monster attacked.”
From the group that hid near the Lantern Hoard, half of them were hornless and wingless, but what they lacked in aerial and telekinetic gifts, they made up with physical prowess. The largest after Stone Hoof was a Beige stallion with straw colored mane called Golden Sea. Always sticking close to him was a purple mare called Lavender. The smallest earth stallion, who was still bigger than the rest, was brown coated too with a green mane and called Grassy Knoll. The last of the group was a smaller blue mare who opted to be named Blueberry.
“Good, but you should move as a group just in case.” Advised Comet Flash. “Meanwhile, me and the rest shall see what we can come up with all this.” He pointed at the bounty of slowly decaying gore collected from the defeated monster.
Every pony agreed on their task and went their separate ways. As soon as the council was over, Nova Star tapped the blue stallion on the shoulder. With a nod, she asked him to follow her. She guided him near the Lantern Hoard and began unwrapping his bandages. They were bloody and flies had started to swarm the gashes previously inflicted by the lion. The pink mare levitated a particularly foul smelling organ near him. She soaked fresh bandages with the beast urine and applied them on the wound. She was unsure of the effectiveness of the liquid but thought its terrible odor would at least keep the insects at bay.
On the other side of the luminous spire, three ponies were sorting the recently acquired monster resources. Picking through the pile, one of them grabbed some bones and sinew with his blue aura, an idea forming in his brain. He was a unicorn with jet black hair and an off-white coat. He was bigger than most of his brethren, about the same size as Grassy Knoll. At the tip of his horn was a black dot, and for that he called himself Onyx Blade. He fancied himself leader of the horned ponies and was suspicious of the winged and large ones. He didn’t like the idea of mixing the different breeds of ponies, and was glancing angrily toward Nova Star and Comet Flash. During the foundation of language, he had suggested the other unicorns to strike out on their own but they were too afraid to leave the safety of the Lantern Hoard. Besides, there were only four of them and the Lion had devoured more than that before it could be stopped. He relented, cooperation with the other tribes would be beneficial, but to him, the unicorns were the only ones who should be in charge.
Next in line was a small stallion, coal colored with a maroon mane, called Last Ember. He didn’t expect too much out of this whole cooperation thing. Ponies were small, weak and ignorant. Last Ember was certain the group wouldn’t last for long, the others fight for survival was merely an exercise in futility. Still, he had nothing better to do before his inevitable, and most certainly bloody, demise. He picked some leftover bones within his magenta aura and grinded the tips with a stone to sharpen them. Mimicking the sharp stone used to kill the Lion, he tried to make them into some kind of dagger, thinking they could be thrown at the very least.
The last tribe member was a unicorn mare, snow white with ice colored mane. Winter Light was her name, and she seemed rather uninterested to cooperate with others. Nevertheless, she knew she couldn’t survive alone and that the others were less likely to share with her if she did not at least do some of the work. She grabbed some skin, tendons, cloths and a sharp stone, and secluded herself from the others.
Rapid Meadows led Thunder Storm back in the direction they came from. The nervous dark gray stallion was quickly glancing at every movement, fake or real. He was the first to reach the Lantern Hoard and not too keen on leaving its safety. The blue mare was joyously flying circle around him, retelling the grandiose tale of their first (and hopefully not last) victory.
“And then I was like, whoosh! On its back! And then I was like: Stab! Stab! And the monster was all like: Rawr! Rawr! And then Nova’s magicked her stone and it was all swoosh! In the lion’s mouth! And then… then… Hey look we’re here!”
“T-t-t-trouble!” He exclaimed, pointing at a moving shadow.
Promptly, the two winged ponies hid behind a large rock, peeking at the approaching creature. It was taller than the two pegasi, but not by that much, with slender legs and large antlers on its head. The animal nervously looked around, then, once it was certain there was no predators around, lowered its head in the river and drank until satiated. It then ran back into the darkness. Sighing in relief, the two ponies walked out of their hiding spot. The small mare trotted up toward the river.
“Well, now we know the water is safe to drink.”
“All right! Now we should bring back some for the others at home.”
“H-h-h-how are we going to do that?” Questioned Thunder Storm. “W-w-we didn’t bring anything with us.”
“You know what, this is a very good question.”
Stone Hoof was walking in the leading position. Behind him, on each flank was Golden Sea and Grassy Knoll. Closing the rear were the two mares, Lavender and Blueberry. They would not venture too far, this time, but they could not afford to take any risks. If a monster would attack, their best bet was for the males to keep it away while the mares would flee back to the Lantern Hoard.
The group reached a point where the carved stone faces were more interspaced and the ponies walked on soil for the first time. Somehow, the sensation of dirt under their hooves felt blissful, like they had found something they missed their entire lives. They all stood still, feeling the wind brush their faces and the damp earth muddying their fetlocks. Blueberry first rose to attention, a strange but not too unpleasant shiver running down her back. She looked to her right at something she could not see but felt deep within her core.
“Over there!” She said, pointing with her snout. She walked in that direction and the others followed naturally. It took the others some times but eventually they all felt the same thing. A large bush, its branches heavy with small red fruits. Blueberry picked one and gingerly bit into it. She let out a delighted moan, closing her eyes, fully enjoying the flavor. Stone Hoof picked one and gulped it down. It was, indeed, quite delicious.
“Good find, Blueberry, we should bring some back to the Sanctuary,”
“And I think I know… how.” Added Lavender, extending that last word more than necessary. She picked some long dried grass and starting weaving them in a semi spherical shape. “Grassy… Can you help me with… this?”
“Sure thing.” Said the brown stallion.
The two of them worked in tandem to craft some baskets while Blueberry was already picking the berries to bring them back home later. Golden Sea was further away, investigating the tall grass. He called over Stone Hoof, who was monitoring the others. When the larger pony was close enough the beige stallion pointed at the ground. Stone Hoof gasped at what he saw.
“Don’t tell the others, Boss.” Whispered Golden Sea. “We don’t want to risk a panic.”
“You’re right,” the larger stallion agreed. “But don’t call me Boss. We’re all equal here.”
In front of them laid a large paw print, not unlike the ones from the beast that had previously attacked them. Wordlessly, they both took position at opposite ends of the group, standing watch for any potential danger. The three smaller ponies filled their improvised baskets full of delicious berries, unaware of the potential danger. Blueberry wanted to bring back the bush and it took some convincing to make her realize it was impossible at the moment. Before leaving, she grasped a branch with her mouth and buried it partly in the soil. For some reason, she knew it was the thing to do, as if the plant itself had told her to.
They took the way back home, Golden Sea and Stone Hoof forming the rear this time, glancing around to ensure the beast wasn’t following them. Once they were back walking on the cold and rough surface of the carved faces, they were filled with an uneasy feeling of wrongness. They pressed on nevertheless. The others needed the food more than they needed the comfort.
The earth ponies arrived back first with two full baskets of berries. It was enough for this day but they would need to find more for the next. Nova Star divided the rations while Stone Hoof took Comet Flash aside. He told him of the paw print Golden Sea had found near the tall grass.
“That’s a good starting point to find our first prey. I will thank Golden Sea for this find.” Concluded the blue Pegasus.
“We still need weapons, and to decide who will come for the hunt.”
“And at least some manner of training. In that last fight, we were quite disorganized.”
Stone Hoof eyed the bandages wrapped around his companion. He had taken most of the damage during their struggle against the lion. If anyone would get too injured during the fight, the hunters would quickly become the hunted. If at all possible, they needed to stop the lion from focusing on only one of them.
The two Pegasus came much later, and in a strange manner. Thunder Storm was walking backward, face to face with Rapid Meadows who was guiding his steps. Between them, their intertwined feathers formed a makeshift bowl half full of water. The liquid was splashing around at each of their movement, wetting the ground in their path.
“Hello-oh! We got water!”
“W-w-w-we already lost half of it! I t-t-t-told you it was a bad idea!”
“Oh shush! How else we were supposed to bring it back?”
“L-l-l-literally any other way than that! Pl-pl-plus, how are they supposed to drink it now?”
“I got you two idiots covered.” Responded the cold snapping voice of Winter Light.
The white unicorn levitated a pouch of leather between the Pegasi feathers and scooped the liquid with it. She brought the waterskin to her mouth and took a swig. She then passed it to Nova Star.
“You’re so smart, Winty!” Exclaimed the bouncy Pegasus, in awe. She rushed the white mare, pouncing in for a hug but the expected recipient of uninvited affection simply dodged to the side, leaving a cyan blur crashing into the hard ground.
“I also made this.” Said the unicorn, showing the loincloth wrapped around her barrel. “Fashionable, easy to move in, and protective. Of course, I’ll be doing one for everyone. As for the Lion’s rough skin, I got some ideas but it may take some time. I’ll be off, then.” She levitated her share of the food and trotted back toward her side of the settlement.
Life continued without any incident. Comet’s wound healed quickly and Nova Star partly attributed this to the use of monster urine. She experimented on any other possible application for the foul liquid. The three winged ponies would regularly fly to the river for water, while the earth ponies gathered fruits. At some point they even brought back a sapling so they could grow food at their home.
Last Ember finished his darts and Onyx Blade presented the group with a nasty looking tool. With a flat bone blade tied to a femur with sinew, it looked sharp and could tear flesh as well as it could fell trees. He called it an axe and was particularly proud of it.
Winter Light made clothes for the tribes and with the monster skin, made a tough, but quite rough, rawhide headband and tunic. Rapid Meadows was the first to wear the pieces of armor. The swift mare task in the upcoming showdown would be to attract the quarry’s attention so the others could take it down safely. The white unicorn had set aside the long strip of white fur, stating it was still too rough to work with. She would need more resources and better tools to work this into something. Alas, the settlement was now lacking materials and it was time for a new hunt.
Comet Flash, Rapid Meadows and Stone Hoof were selected, having the most, though little, experience fighting a lion. Nova Star stepped down, she wanted to better organize the settlement in preparation for the incoming influx of resources. Onyx Blade took the last spot with his axe, from which he refused to be separated. He also argued that all tribes should be represented during a hunt as to show unity between the three kinds of ponies. Deep down, it was more for the glory and the influence a successful showdown would bring him.
“Take care, Comet.” Said the light yellow unicorn.
“You too, Nova. Make sure everything is ready for us when we come back.”
“I’ll have new exciting tales to tell you, Twitchy!” Exclaimed a cyan ball of energy.
“Oh d-d-d-dear me!”
“… and if were not back in seven days send a team, to find us.” Stone Hoof ordered to his beige comrade.
“Don’t worry Boss, we’ll find you, alive or otherwise.”
“Please, don’t call me Boss. We’re all…”
“Equals, yeah, I know. Bring them back, Boss.”
Onyx Blade simply nodded at the other two unicorns. The coal colored stallion replied with a slight nod of his own while the white mare simply scoffed. With that, the group was off into the darkness, their path illuminated only by the light of their lanterns.
It didn’t take too long for them to find the valley of tall grass where Golden Sea had discovered the paw prints, many weeks ago. They were obviously gone with the passing of time and so, the ponies searched around for any clues of the White Lion’s whereabouts. Stone Hoof called for the others to come. Before him, a small effigy was standing. It was decorated with small metal trinkets, pony hooves and stuffed with dried grass. Their quarry’s sculpture confounded the ponies. They gazed at its appearance, attempting to glean the substance of the White Lion’s bizarre intelligence.
“Well, I guess it might somewhat mark the creature’s territory.” Advanced Onyx Blade.
“Or maybe its some kind of worship thing. The other one seemed fond of pony meat after all.” Said the brown stallion.
“Either way, it’s a confirmation that our quarry lives nearby. We’re on the right track.” Concluded Comet Flash. “Let’s move on.”
“Yeah, let’s go. It’s giving me the creeps.” Shivered the cyan mare.
The hunters ventured further away in the darkness. They found more traces of the beast presence. Prints, claw marks, some feces. The ponies were right on track. They got surprised though when a strange pony shaped form walked up to them. Fully covered in a loose mantle, the stranger was wearing cloth wrapping on its face and in its bags he carried many masks.
“I have a very special ware for you.” Said the wandering pony looking at Onyx Blade in particular. “You, come closer.”
Warily, the hunter watched the mask vendor unclasp its saddlebag and pull out a mask. It was made of wood painted forest green and carved to represent the featureless visage of a pony. He presented the mask to the off-white unicorn and instinctively he knew what to offer in exchange. He unwrapped the loincloth from his barrel. It took a lot of willpower for Onyx Blade to part with Winter Light’s craftsmanship, one of the first items produced by a unicorn from their settlement. The silent barter took place and the vendor waved goodbye at the hunters.
“Wowie! That was strange!” Exclaimed the cyan mare.
“Yeah. Hope it was worth it.” Sighed Onyx Blade while tying the mask around his face.
“It wasn’t that costly.” Consoled Stone Hoof.
“You have no idea.” Mumbled the unicorn.
The ponies moved on with their hunt, picking back the beast trail. It wasn’t long until a light breeze blew from behind them. The ponies found this refreshing; the White Lion picked their scent in the wind. The hunters camped for the night but the monster was closing in on them, the roles of predators and preys reversing themselves. In the morning, the ponies ate some rations they brought with them and continued their search, unaware of the fact that their quarry was also looking for them.
Some times later, the group came across a small prospector, his body slumped on a large rock, riddled with arrows. As they came closer, the dying pony growled a warning, weakly waving a sharp stone shard at them. When he saw that they weren’t monsters, he calmed down and offered the group a small key.
With his dying breath, he said: “This is the key to the portcullis, without it, you will never get through.”
The hunters took the key and placed it somewhere safe. None of this made any semblance of a sense but if a pony died for it, it had to be quite valuable. They concluded that the key should always be brought by the hunting parties, in case they ever come across this fabled portcullis.
“Can’t we make even one step without bumbling into some manner of strange pony?” Asked Rapid Meadows to no one in particular.
A powerful roar cut short any possible reply. The maned monster the group was hunting emerged from the tall grass behind them. It was large and muscular, bigger than the previous one the ponies had faced. The hunters quickly recognized their mistake. The first Lion was still juvenile, a young adult who had lucked into a group of weakened and confused preys. But this one was the real deal. An experienced hunter, king of the savannah, with scars proudly displaying the tales of many previous successful hunts.
There once was a beast who wanted to feel how soft its fur was. Since it could not reach its own back, it killed many other creatures and spent time rubbing its paw over them. They say that when the monster finally killed a pony, it fell in love with their soft mane and its paws grew long fingers to better caress their hair.
The ponies promptly scattered around except for Rapid Meadows who made a great show of attracting the monster’s attention. It certainly worked as the beast barrelled straight at her. “Yikes!” She exclaimed as she barely dodged the lion’s oddly shaped grasping paw. Fumbling backward, the cyan mare tripped in a mound of debris. Raising to her hooves, she grabbed a long bone that had dislodged itself from the pile and, banging it on the ground, she made a cacophony to retain the beast attention.
Leaping from behind, Onyx Blade swung his axe at the monster’s side, wounding the beast between the ribs. The Lion roared in pain. Sensing an opportunity, Comet Flash perched himself atop the large rock upon which the dead prospector was slumped. He threw a dart with deadly precision into the wound and it tore the gash further open, a piece of entrails dangling from the opening.
The beast was enraged by its preys furious and unexpected offensive. Its mouth foamed and its eyes glinted with murderous intent. It threw both front paws at Rapid Meadows, desiring to make the ponies suffer before making a meal out of them. The first blow missed its target by a wide margin but the second caught the cyan mare in the back legs, causing her to fall to the ground in pain.
Onyx Blade made his move, believing the lion distracted enough that he could finish it off with a swift slash to its jugular, but the beast saw him coming and simply bounced away, dragging the prone body of the cyan mare. With a ripping sound, her rawhide armor got torn by the carved faces snouts.
Seeing her friend in danger, Stone Hoof charged out of the tall grass. Stopping suddenly right next to the monster, he spun around using his momentum to violently buck the beast’s back leg. Its knee cap made a popping noise while the force of the impact made the lower end of the Lion jump in the air. Rapid Meadows took this opportunity to crawl away.
Recovering from the brown stallion’s kick, the White Lion spun toward him, viciously clawing him in the front leg, blood spurting from the gash. It rose another paw, intent on finishing him. Stone Hoof tried to move away but slipped in his own blood. That was it, thought the large pony, looking up at the descending clawed hand. Instead, an expertly thrown dart lodged itself in the beast’s brow, a mere inch over its furious eye. Stone Hoof looked towards the large rock, where Comet Flash was waving at him.
“That makes us even!” He said at the large stallion.
Unsurprisingly, the monster wasn’t particularly appreciative of being almost blinded. It rushed at Comet Flash, blood gushing all around from its open wounds. Spotting an opportunity, Onyx Blade lunged at the Lion. His axe penetrated deep into the beast’s elbow, jamming itself in the wound. Before he could even regain possession of his weapon, the monster turned around towards him. Its strange paw grasped the unicorn by the barrel and it ran away from the rest of the ponies. The beast wanted to kill, and at this point, any pony would do.
The jet maned unicorn body was tossed to the ground, bruising his left back leg. The beast stood atop of him, pummeling his torso with heavy blows. Onyx Blade could only roll with the hits to avoid any grievous injuries. Seeing his comrade in danger, Comet Flash threw his last dart at the beast and it struck in its jaw but it did not deter the monster from ravaging the unicorn.
“Get up, Onyx! You don’t want to die here!” Screamed the blue Pegasus.
At that, the hunter’s eye shot wide open. He couldn’t be the first to die. He was a unicorn, the superior breed of pony, the others should be ones laying their lives for him. Catching an opening between two attacks, he rolled away from the beast. Blue aura surrounded the bone axe and yanked it out of the beast’s elbow with a long spurt of blood. Using the momentum, it made a wide arc and slashed at the lion’s throat, ripping it wide open. A great gush of red liquid painted the pony’s coat crimson. The white lion fell to the ground, dead in a matter of seconds.
A cyan blur leapt towards Onyx Blade, going for a hug.
“Whew! You did it Nixie!”
“Don’t touch me!” Recoiled the unicorn. The other ponies froze at the sudden outburst. Luckily for him, his mask covered his expression of abject disgust at the idea of getting touched by an inferior being. He coughed in his hoof, regaining his composure. “I’m covered in blood. You don’t want to dirty yourself. I think there was a river nearby, I’ll go wash myself.”
“What’s wrong with him?” wondered Rapid Meadows, watching the unicorn walking away from the group.
“He almost died there. Poor guy must be traumatized. What about you, are you alright?” Said Comet Flash, leaping down from his rock. The other two ponies nodded. They were battered but mostly in piece. Stone Hoof was already bandaging his wound. The blue stallion pointed at the long, flat bone the mare was still holding. “What did you got there, Rapid?”
“Oh. I got that from a pile of refuse. I thought it was just a bone but it looks more like a blade. Aww geez! I could’ve gone stabbity-stab-stab on the monster with it.” She gave a few swing of the ivory sword to punctuate her statement.
“Can you lend it to me for a while?” Requested Comet Flash.
“Sure, I think its too long for my taste anyway.”
Grabbing the bone blade with both hooves, he struck at the corpse’s belly, where the axe and dart had previously opened a large wound, and gutted the monster. Entrails and gore spilled on the ground and from the stomach slid a familiar looking skull. The ponies were quite disturbed at finding what the lion’s previous meal consisted of.
“Maybe the previous owner of that sword.” Commented Stone Hoof.
“Whoa gross! I got some of him on my hooves.” Said Rapid Meadows, retching.
“Stop talking and help me out.” Demanded the blue stallion, feeling just as queasy as the others. “We better finish this quick before any scavengers come around.”
The ponies got to work, using sharp stone to cut the monster into transportable pieces. Stone Hoof collected some bones and the skull. Rapid Meadows yanked the tail off and collected in her empty waterskin some strong smelling fluid. Comet Flash cut long strips of fur.
Onyx Blade came back in the middle of it and, not willing to dirty himself again, used his axe to shave the beast’s mane and plucked its whiskers to keep as trophy. The others cleaned themselves in turn and the hunters started the long trek home. It took them two more uneventful days until they could see the Sanctuary in the distance.
A pony shaped cyan mass zipped through the settlement. It tackled an unaware lemon maned stallion into the ground.
“Twitchy! I’m so glad to see you again!”
“Oh, hey, R-r-rapid. Y-y-you’re back.” He noted, half relieved, half anxious. “What happened to your tunic.”
“It got torn during the fight, but I’m fine. I just hope Winty won’t be mad about it. Whoo! I got so many awesome things to tell you about, but first… Hey every one, we’re back!” Loudly announced the over-excited mare.
The settlement stirred and came at the call, leaving their task to meet with the returning hunters. The Sanctuary had greatly changed in the past few days. At each corners of the lantern hoard stood dedicated workshops, each with sets of tools and a bench specific for their intended works: tanning hides, sharpening bones or grinding organs. They also had prepared a place where they could find uses for the more exotic parts of the White Lion. The survivors called it “The Catarium”.
Nova Star was the first one to reach the returning hunters, rushing to grasp Comet Flash into a hug. Onyx Blade looked in disgust, though his mask hid his facial features. The earth ponies swarmed Stone Hoof in a joyous chorus of hugs, mane ruffling and so many questions.
“Glad you’re back, boss! How’d it went?”
“Please, don’t call me boss. And, well, let’s see…”
“I gave the finishing blow with my own axe!” Proudly proclaimed the jet maned unicorn.
“And we’re never going to hear the end of it.” Sighed the white mare, rolling her eyes.
“Whatever, if it’s not this monster who gets to kill you, it will be the next.”
Nova Star insisted on carefully examining the blue stallion for any wound, despite the later pony’s objection. The hunters laid before the other survivors the resources they had acquired after the showdown. Most of them were in awe but some, mostly the unicorns, were already thinking on how they could use it.
The pony skull unsettled all, except for Last Ember who requested it to use at his bone crafting shop. While the crowd’s excitement was at its peak, a great flash burst from over the ponies’ head. A spectacular light show erupted against the limitless darkness above. Swirling vivid trails streaked overhead. Everyone’s spirit lifted at the show, and all concluded that this was a good omen.
Author's Note
Whew! What a strange first hunt. The mask salespony part blended so well with what I had already established for Onyx Blade's character and I got the portcullis key in my first lantern year. For those unaware of the game's mechanics, it's part of a series of two random events that needs to happens in order which is much rarer than you would expect. Getting the first part of it in my first real hunt is such a huge stroke of luck. Plus, the payoff is great to boot. I won't go into spoiler territory there, you guys will just have to find out on your own, or during this playthrough if I keep getting this lucky (I won't).
That first lion was also kind of a pushover too, despite getting its enraged buff in the second round. I also had to justify why Rapid Meadows found a bone sword in the first round and never used it the whole fight. Also, Onyx delivering the finishing blow after getting encouraged by Comet Flash was gold.
And I got the Lights in the Sky event, which didn't do much at this point of the campaign, but at least it was not a negative one. Boy, it's getting so well I can't wait to have all of my hopes and dreams crushed into fine dust.
As usual, don't hesitate to like and comment. I'd like to gauge the reception I get before publishing more chapters.
Following the victorious return of the hunters, and subsequent round of greetings and happy reunions, the survivors quickly came back to work, splitting the resources among the crafters and thinkers. They were formulating plans and mental blueprints, thinking of the better ways to contribute to the tribe. Nova Star grabbed some long bones, the lion’s tail and some tendons. Last Ember isolated himself with the pony skull. Winter Light raised the strips of white fur within her aura and examined them carefully.
“I would need help with that.” She stated, feeling the rough skin with her hoof. The snow white unicorns pointed at the beast’s mane. “Onyx, be a dear and bring this at my workshop. And you’ll be lending me a hoof while you’re there.”
“Hey! I’m a hero here, you don’t get to boss me around.” Lashed the jet maned stallion. The mare swiftly spun toward him and simply stared at him with angry eyes. No matter how tall the stallion was, he suddenly felt incredibly small, and unbearably cold. “Alright! Alright! I’ll help you out! My time is all yours.”
“Good. I hope you don’t mind standing still for hours on end, I will need a model for shape and size adjustments.”
Grabbing the mane in his aura, Onyx Blade followed Winter Light to her workshop, mumbling all the way there. The other ponies who were still around simply watched while shaking their heads. He should have known better not to anger the ice queen, something everyone else already knew from what little interaction they had with her.
Day to day routine reinstated itself. The pegasi did their water runs at the river, the earth ponies brought food but also more saplings from their group outings. Meanwhile, the unicorns busied themselves working with the monster resources gathered in the previous hunt. But one night, while everyone was asleep, a scream pierced the silence around the settlement. As the noise fades, a chorus of horror roses up in answer. The settlement erupted into chaos trying to comprehend the source of the terrible wail.
The strongest and bravest made uncoordinated rounds to see if the settlement was under attack. Others gathered at the lantern hoard, frantically speaking without listening to one another. Some huddled together, shivering, and Last Ember was madly giggling in his own corner. Amidst the chaos stood Comet Flash who, alone, kept his composure. He flew a few feet over the settlement and took a deep breath.
“Enough!” He screamed, his powerful voice bringing every pony to attention. “What is the matter with all of you? A simple scream in the dark and we already fall into anarchy. It’s most probably just another creature living in the darkness and so long as it doesn’t come here to attack us, we don’t have to worry about anything. All of you, get back to sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll gather up some ponies and make a patrol to see if there is any danger to be found around the Sanctuary.”
It took little time for ponies to calm down and each returned back to sleep. The next morning, Comet Flash led the other pegasi in a quick patrol around the settlement. They found large hoof prints and chewed plants along the way but no sight of the creature responsible. The survivors concluded that they will certainly cross path again with the monster in the future, especially as they will keep exploring further into the darkness for resources.
Inside her little workshop, Winter Light was working on a new set of armor using the jet maned stallion as model. She was making some adjustment on an heavy coat of white fur, making sure the pony’s barrel would be well protected but could also move easily with the extra weight and padding.
“So, tell me, what do you think of Comet Flash?” Asked Onyx Blade to the snow coated tailor.
“He’s a capable stallion who knows how to lead by example.” Half-mindedly replied the mare, absorbed in her work. “Confident, but he seems to care more for the safety of others than his own. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to die by sacrificing himself so the other ponies could escape some mortal danger or a monster from the darkness.”
“And do you think it’s right that the others are making him into some sort of a leader?”
“I’m going to stop you right there, Onyx. I know of your plan and I will say this only once: I don’t care. The reason why I’m still here, working my flank off for some idiots I don’t give a second thought about, is because I’m well aware that I don’t have a single chance of survival out there in the darkness. Here, so long as I’m useful, I can expect to get food and shelter. That is all I care for, not politics or who gets to be the leader, but my own comfort and safety.”
“But we’re doing all the crafting and inventions. All the tools we’ll need to survive in the long term comes from unicorn minds. Unicorns are obviously the smartest breed, it’s only natural that we should be the leaders as well.” He stated, turning his head toward the mare.
“All the food comes from the normal ponies, and that’s what we need to even get to the long term. The Pegasus brings us water and they explore the darkness, and if we ever need anything urgent, they are the ones who can get it for us. Even without our gift, they still have their use and even I can appreciate that. Now stay still, would you?”
“Shouldn’t we at least get to openly discuss the matter and choose the obviously correct leader for us.”
“That’s a vote I will not participate in. I told you already, I don’t care about politics.”
“You seemed to care plenty enough if you ask me. Ouch!” He yelped when Winter Light pricked him with her needle. “What was that for?”
“For not listening to a single word I said. I. Don’t. Care! If you insist on me electing a unicorn as leader then fine, but it won’t be you, that’s for sure. Now be quiet and stop moving.”
The stallion mumbled some unsavory words about Winter Light which she chose to ignore in favor of going back to her work. It took a few more hours until she was satisfied with the look of it.
“Is it done, now?” Asked the jet maned stallion, looking at the strong fur coat he was wearing.
“For the coat, yes, but I still got enough materials for some leg accessories. Be a dear, and bring me the rest of the fur.” She said, pointing at a bin half full of hide.
The stallion obliged, though not without letting an exasperated sigh, and they went straight back to work again.
Nova Star was hard at work, once again. She went outside the settlement to grab some branch from a nearby tree. The unicorn mare had skinned and tanned the long and heavy tail of the beast. She sewn the hide and some leftover cloth with tendon to form a tarp which was then stretched across a frame of wood and bones. The tent was raised and solidly affixed to the ground with bone nails, planting the first step towards settling an actual permanent village around the Lantern Hoard.
Comet Flash was the first to enter the tent. The inside was still bare bone at this point, containing only a small rug on the ground, but nonetheless he was still impressed by Nova’s ingenuity. With this, they could finally sleep protected from the weather. The tent was large enough to allow up to six ponies inside with some room to spare.
“So, what do you think?” Asked Nova Star, entering her little construction. She walked up to the blue stallion side.
“I say, you did remarkably well.” Replied Comet Flash. “It looks robust and comfy at the same time.”
“Oh please, it’s quite flimsy actually. I bet a strong enough gust of wind could topple it all. I was actually thinking of reinforcing it with stone or wood but I didn’t have the materials at hoof.”
“We could ask the earth ponies to bring back building materials during their next foraging run. I will ask Stone Hoof about it.” He said, turning around to leave the tent but was stopped in his motion by a tug on his tail. Turning around, he saw Nova’s yellow aura surrounding the appendage.
“Please, don’t leave yet.” Requested the light yellow mare. “To be honest, there’s another reason why I built this tent and it’s so we could have some intimacy.”
“What do you mean by that?” Asked Comet Flash, but in lieu of an answer the mare simply got closer and pressed her lips on his. He responded tenderly to the kiss, placing a hoof behind her neck. Their lips parted after a few seconds.
“I wanted to do this for a while now, but I couldn’t dare with every pony else watching.” She said, wrapping her legs around the blue stallion. “Can we stay like this for the time being.”
“Sure.”
The two of them stayed in each others arms for about an hour or so, hugging and kissing, discovering each others in a new way for the first time. When they finally came out of the tent, they parted ways with a knowing wink. Comet Flash then flew to find Stone Hoof at the far side of the settlement, about to leave in today’s foraging run. The orange maned stallion explained to the large pony his plan to find more building materials.
“I’m not saying this is a bad idea, but it would considerably slow us down and thus put us at risk.” Said the large dirt colored stallion.
“How about we all go together? That way, we could better defend each others and we could bring even more resources back. We’ll only leave a pony or two behind to watch over the place in case of intruders.” Advanced the blue Pegasus.
“Yeah, that could work, but how do you intend to convince the unicorns to go along with the plan? They kind of like to do their own things, is what I’m saying.”
“Nova is already working on this; it’s was actually her plan to begin with. If any pony could convince the other unicorns, it would be her. Well, maybe not Last Ember. He’s still holed up in his little corner with that skull doing who knows what.”
“Yeah, last I went that way, I could hear him talking and laughing to himself. That pony is not right in his head. Alright, if every pony is going, then I’ll be going along with your plan.”
“And we won’t have to wait for too long, it seems, here they come.” Noticed Comet Flash at the sight of three unicorns walking towards them, Nova in the lead. From her sour expression, he could conclude that it didn’t go quite as planned, but if Onyx Blade and Winter Light were present to begin with, it probably meant they agreed to come.
“We’ll go.” Confirmed the jet maned unicorn. “So long as we get our own hut.”
“That would require a lot more materials than what was planned. We might not even be able to bring it all in one go.” Said the largest of the pony.
“We saw Nova’s little hovel and even if we could expand it, there’s no way we could fit every pony inside.” Explained Winter Light. “Besides, I like to have some alone time to think and work on my designs and I don’t expect it to be at all possible in communal hut.”
“Alright.” Conceded Comet. “I guess we could construct a second…”
“Make that three.” Interrupted Golden Sea. “We, earth ponies, are quite large and take a lot of space. It would be best if we get our own house.”
It was quite obvious the beige stallion was only telling half of the truth, but Comet Flash was more concerned about the implication of what was not said. Although there were signs of such a thing, what’s with the earth ponies always keeping to themselves while in the settlement, the blue Pegasus really wasn’t expecting this kind of bigotry. He had plenty of interaction with Stone Hoof, and he seemed like a reasonable pony, but he was left wondering if even the large stallion shared this mindset.
“Then I’ll be the one staying guard in the village.” Said the dirt colored stallion, eliciting many gasps from the earth ponies. “Golden Sea, you’re in charge of the expedition.”
“You can’t do that, Boss!” Exclaimed the beige stallion. “You’re the strongest one here…”
“Exactly.” Cut Stone Hoof. “If anyone is to keep guard here alone in case of intruders, it should be the strongest amongst us, right Comet?”
Judging by the smirk the large stallion just sent toward him, Comet Flash immediately knew of his friend true intentions. That way, the other earth ponies could not rely on him to relay information with the rest of the group, thus forcing communication between them. The blue pegasus sighed a breath of relief, the grey maned pony was still his ally in all of this mess. It meant there was hope to bridge the gap between the three pony races. The other earth ponies had no choice but to abide by Stone Hoof decision.
Ten ponies went out in the settlement’s largest expedition to date. Yet, you could almost say it was actually three groups walking in the same direction, separated between racial lines. Nova Star and Comet Flash were both in the middle of the pack. They did not exchange much words, but knew something had to be done in the future. They would start making their plans in later days.
Golden Sea guided the expedition toward a valley of large carved stone faces and gnarled black trees. Food was scarce in this place, so the earth ponies rarely ventured there, but it made for a good source of building materials. The earth ponies worked at the stones with their hooves, breaking them into smaller, easier to transport rocks. Meanwhile, the unicorns and Pegasus felled some trees and cut the branches off.
When enough materials were gathered, they all trekked back home. Few words were spoken during all of this sortie, an eerie air of distrust blowing between the earth ponies and unicorns. Rapid Meadows cared little for all the tension between the two groups, and would talk freely to anyone walking near her. Thunder Storm was too absorbed in his own paranoia to even see the angry stares getting thrown from one side of the group to the others. It somewhat alleviated Comet Flash anxiety. At least those two wouldn’t be too much trouble in the near future.
When they finally came back to the village, they set to work immediately. The first order of business was to reinforce the first hovel, then once it was done, build the other two with the remaining materials. The unicorn’s house was on the small side, meant for four ponies, with separation with every inhabitant. Nova Star had her own room, but would split her time between this one and the first hovel. The earth ponies’ hut was much larger and had one room only, the group choosing a more communal lifestyle.
Later that week, Comet Flash and Nova Star convened with Stone Hoof about their ideas on how to strengthen the bond between the three races. First, the pegasi would be working more closely with the other breeds. They’d leave with the earth ponies to gather food and water, and assist the unicorns in their craft. That would be the easiest part of the plan. The unicorns seemed to think the winged ponies closer to their equal, due to their own gift, while the earth ponies were at ease with the carefree nature of pegasi. The rest, though, would be a difficult beast to slay.
“I can make it at least possible, but you gotta soften the unicorns a bit before we can pull it off. Especially that Onyx Blade fellow.” Said Stone Hoof. “I do not trust him in the least.”
“I’ll do what I can on that front.” Nodded the yellow mare. “But it might take some time.”
“You’ll have all the time necessary to make your move since the next hunt is definitely too early to pull it off. The one after that is when we should make our move.” Said the blue Pegasus. The others agreed with that plan, and each went their own ways to enact their part of it.
At about the same time, in the earth ponies hut stood Golden Sea and Lavender, alone. Blueberry was tending to her growing fruit bearing bush and Grassy Knoll was out on a stroll at the outskirt of the settlement. Between the two ponies was the waterskin filled with who-knows-what that was brought back from the last hunt by Rapid Meadows. No one had dared to open it since a few weeks and the purple mare had grown curious about it. Somehow, she had also convinced Golden Sea to take a look with her.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Lavender.” Said the beige stallion. “Whatever is in there must have turned bad since the last hunt. Heck, even the other lion’s parts were already smelling after just two days.”
“But… aren’t you curious about what’s… inside?” Replied the purple mare in her usual choppy monotonous voice. “We might even find a use to… it. That’ll show the… unicorns that they aren’t the… hum… only ones here with… ideas.”
“Okay, but why I’m I supposed to be the one to open it again?”
“Because you’re the… smart one.” She answered simply.
“I think you’re actually smarter than me. For starters, you’re not the one getting dragged into something really stupid. I am so going to regret this.” He sighed, his hoof slowly twisting the cap open, but suddenly stopped his motion. “You know what, no. I’m not doing it. It’s your idea, you should be the one to do it.”
“Eh… chicken.” She smirked grabbing the waterskin.
Lavender uncapped the leather pouch in a single motion. Immediately the hut got assaulted by a strong pungent smell. After so long, the liquid had fermented in the waterskin and the acrid stench was almost unbearable. Both ponies retched, tears welling at their eyes.
“Hope your satisfied now.” Gagged the beige stallion. “Let’s throw that away and forget about everything. Urgh! I bet the hut is going to smell for days now.”
“Not… yet.” Said the purple mare before taking a big swig of the foul liquid.
“Woah! Did you really drink that? Are you insane?” Gasped Golden Sea, incredulous.
“Want some? It holds quite the… punch.” Proposed Lavender.
“I’m sure it does, that crap must be poisonous by now. Spit it out before it’s too late.”
“Nah… I’m fine, see.” She punctuated her statement with a quick spin around on her wobbly legs. Her face was getting flushed.
“No, you’re not! You’re sweating all over and your face is all red.” He said, launching a hoof towards the waterskin. “Gimme that so I can throw it all out.”
“No!” She shouted, possibly for the first time ever, while jumping backward to avoid the grasping hoof. She then took another gulp of the liquid.
“Hey! Don’t drink anymore of it, it’s bad for you!” He scolded the mare and walked towards her, his hoof raised to grab the waterskin.
But this time, instead of retreating, Lavender quickly closed the gap. Golden Sea did not have enough time to react, as the mare went and pressed her lips against his. Surprised, the stallion opened his mouth for a gasp. This was the moment Lavender was waiting for as she spat the drink she had just took down the beige stallion throat. The stallion recoiled, coughing and spitting, but he had already swallowed most of the liquid.
“Urk, dammit Lavender! Why did you do that?” Coughed Golden Sea. Already, he was feeling his face getting flushed, his brow sweating and his member solidifying. “Oh no, it’s happening to me too.”
“Let it… happens.” The purple mare lasciviously whispered in his ear. She pushed him on his back and straddled him, her hips grinding on his.
“What are you doing?” Gasped the beige stallion.
“I don’t… know. But it feels so… good!” Moaned the riding mare. “Just roll with the… flow.”
“Aw, to heck with it!” Groaned the stallion, grabbing the mare’s hip with his forelegs.
Instinct took over the two ponies. Numerous times, in fact. They did what many mares and stallions did before them, and many more would do after them. Any pony that wandered near the hut that day could hear the strange noises coming from inside, but all knew in their guts it was better to leave them alone. Their frenzy only ended when the two of them laid all sweaty, dirty and exhausted on the ground. They both were on their back, side by side looking at the roof.
“Never again.” Swore the beige stallion, panting.
“Aww… really?” Whined the purple mare, turning towards him. “But it was so much… fun.”
“Okay. Maybe again.” Conceded Golden Sea, reaching for her partner. “But not now. I just want to sleep like that.”
“Yeah. Me… too.” Said Lavender nesting herself between his hooves.
Life went on undisturbed for many weeks. Winter Light finished the boots and leg guards to complement the lion armor. It had claws at the extremities to allow a better footing and was so well adjusted that, despite the heavy weight, one could easily pounce at their target.
Lavender took on lots of weight strangely fast and her appetite grew with her belly. The others were reluctant to grant her a bigger share of the food, at first, but when she started to feel unwell, Golden Sea decided to give her half of his own ration. The beige stallion wouldn’t leave her side since, tending to her every need. At some point, Rapid Meadows, of all ponies, came to a revelation when all the mares came in the earth pony hut together to discuss Lavender’s state.
“She must be making a small one!” Chirped the excited Pegasus, eliciting many incredulous reactions from the other mares. “I saw one of the antlered creature do that when I went to gather water. She had a round belly too and then a smaller one just came out of her mare bits.”
“One, gross! And two, when was that?” Asked Winter Light.
“Oh, a long time ago. Before we even left for the hunt.”
“And why didn’t you… said anything?” Said the most concerned mare.
“I thought you were just fat!” Replied the cyan mare, giggling.
“So, how did that happened?” Asked Nova Star. All of the mares’ attention turned towards the purple earth pony who was now sweating. Before she could answer, the cyan Pegasus chimed in again.
“Ooh! That must be when she and Goldie got drunk with the lion’s balls juice I brought back from last time and they went all hmpf! Hmpf! Haa! Haa! For like a full day, and every pony else was all like awkwaaaard!” She said, punctuating her onomatopoeia with suggestive gestures. Lavender’s face turned a deep shade of crimson, while Nova Star was beginning to sweat too. The light yellow mare coughed in hoof, doing her best to keep a poker face, then spoke again.
“So, Rapid, do you think you could help Lavender deliver the baby when the time come?”
“Sure, that’ll be easy-peasy!”
“Good! In that case I’ll take your place in the next hunt, if it’s fine with you.”
The cyan mare agreed and she, Nova Star and Winter Light left the hut in unison. Inside, Lavender finally let out a breath of relief. While it was good news to finally find out what was going on with her, it was such an embarrassment to be exposed in front of the others. Still, she felt fluttery knowing that a new life was growing inside her. With a hoof, she fondly caressed her inflated belly, but the moment got ruined when a cough came from behind her. Turning around, Lavender saw Blueberry who was still here. The blue mare was blushing so hard she looked more like grape.
“So, hum, how was it?” She shyly asked.
It was time for a new hunt, and all ponies were assembled near the Lantern Hoard, save from one. Stone Hoof, Comet Flash and Onyx Blade would be going once again while Nova Star took Rapid Meadows place, as was previously agreed on. She was also wearing the rawhide armor pieces while the large dirt colored stallion would wear the lion’s attire, the extra defense coupled with his natural robustness would make him withstand any blow. Onyx Blade tied his mask behind his face, and Comet Flash gave a few swing of the ivory blade found by Rapid Meadows. They were all about to leave when Last Ember finally came out of his hole, a mad smile on his face and holding a large bag in his aura.
“Look at this wondrous thing I just made.” He said, his voice croaky from its misuse in the last few months. He opened the bag and took out the pony skull, but it was changed. It was hollowed and the jaws were open and separated, tied to the cheekbones with strips of hide. Many hanging straps could be tied around a pony’s face to hold the grisly helm in place. It was painted with many streaks of dried blood, probably from the charcoal unicorn himself.
“That looks very impressive, Ember, but…” Began Comet Flash but was rudely interrupted by the mad pony.
“Oh! So you’re the one who wants it, then? Perfect!” Said the charcoal unicorn shoving the skull helm over the pegasus’ head before he could even protest. With his aura, he pulled some straps, loosened others, and tied it all once he was satisfied with the fitting. “There! Now you look all inside out. It’s like you’re already dead, which you will be, in time.”
“Thanks, I guess.” Muttered the blue stallion, doing his best not to anger the mad pony.
With that, the hunters finally left the settlement. For the entirety of the first day, Comet Flash did not dare touch the skull helm until it was time to sleep. Even then, it took some help from Nova Star to undo all of the straps. Looking at it from up close for the first time, he could see how tough the helm was. Despite its grim look, it would definitely protect him from any blows to the head. The next morning, he put it back on, justifying that however skull it was would probably be fine if its death meant saving some pony else life.
Early in the second day, the group found a couple of trees marked by the lion. They first smelled the acrid scent in the air, then saw the trunks still wet with the monster’s urine. It wasn’t far, concluded the hunters, probably having passed through there the same day in fact.
At about midday, the weather became unbearably hot. They were in a large savannah with no source of water in sight. They rationed what they had brought from the village for fear of running out. The thirst quickly came, but the ponies bore through. They welcomed the fresh night like a dear friend.
The next day came a refreshing breeze, but the ponies knew, this time, that it would carry their scent toward the beast and remained vigilant. Unfortunately, while their attention was over the horizon, they should have looked beneath them as a large sinkhole opened under Nova Star’s hooves.
She fell into the ground’s open maw. Thinking swiftly, she launched her hooves toward the wall of dirt, searching for any kind of grip. She found a jutting black stone and held on to it for dear live. This gave the others enough time to react. Onyx Blade enveloped the mare within his aura, ensuring she would not fall any more, but his magic was not enough to pull her out.
Comet Flash flew in the hole, grabbing the mare around her waist, flying them upward. When they were in reach, Stone Hoof grabbed the mare by the neck of her tunic with his teeth and pulled her to safety. In all this chaotic rescue, Nova’s loincloth had undone itself and disappeared in the abyss.
The mare was tightly holding on to Comet Flash, shivering from the ordeal. She had barely escaped death. The blue Pegasus was doing his best to comfort Nova Star, petting her back and whispering encouraging words in her ear. Onyx looked at the couple, his discomfort hidden by his mask. It was at this moment that Stone Hoof grabbed the whole group in his strong legs and pushed them into the tall grass. The jet maned unicorn opened his mouth to protest but the large stallion muted him with a hoof. He simply pointed toward the plains, where all could see a large White Lion stalking them in the distance.
From the look of it, the lion knew already where the ponies were, as it picked up pace towards them. It pounced into the tall grass and the ponies scattered around. Stone Hoof and Onyx Blade slid on both sides while Comet Flash flew below the beast’s claws. He emerged behind the monster, striking at its rear but his bone blade only glanced away. The jet maned unicorn had better chance when he swung his axe at the beast hand and cut deeply into its palm.
Nova Star, on her end, was galloping away as fast as she could. She was armed with the bone darts, and hence wanted to keep her distance from the lion. While running in the tall grass, she tripped and fell face first in the mud. Looking back at what caused her to fall, she froze instantly. There laid the mangled carcass of a pony. Most of its flesh was gone, eaten by a large predator most probably, and its bones were scattered all around. She marked the location in her head and scampered away from the ghastly scene.
In the furious melee, the ponies seemed to take the advantage. They had the beast surrounded and their attacks hit their marks, leaving the beast with deep bleeding cuts in its back and groin. Onyx Blade dodged a claw, then Comet Flash evaded a bite while Stone Hoof kick broke one of its rib.
Things seemed to go well, until the White Lion parried the unicorn’s axe with its hand and swiped at him with the other. Onyx was too stunned by the monster’s sudden show of intelligence to evade the attack. The claws opened a nasty gash on his barrel and the blow made him fall to the ground. The beast then jumped back and took a defensive stance.
“What was that?!” Exclaimed the blue Pegasus, helping his comrade to his hooves. “It’s like it knew what you were doing and countered it.”
“It probably learned from fighting other hunters like us.” Said Nova Star who had seen it all from a distance. “I fear we may have grossly underestimated this creature’s intellect.”
“Well, that’s just great for him, but how do we counter it?” Asked Onyx Blade.
“Just like this.” Said the larger stallion. “Prepare yourselves!”
He dashed at the monster who reacted by swiping at him once but to no avail, the fur armor being too thick to be pierced. Stone Hoof, once in range, kicked at it’s jaw but was in his turn parried and the beast swiped at his shoulder. Luckily, the thick furred armor again resisted the blow and even tangled the claws long enough for the jet maned unicorn to slash it on the back.
Comet Flash also attacked but this time the monster was ready and deflected the bone blade. It slashed twice at him, in both his head and body. The skull helm held firm while the monster’s claw barely scratched him.
The blue pegasus could barely regain his footing when the beast bit at his head. The sharp fangs cracked the skull helm but did not pierce it. Comet Flash mentally thanked the mad pony that just saved his life. Seeing her lover in danger, Nova Star threw a dart at the monster’s neck but it lost all of its momentum in its lush mane. Stone Hoof had better luck when his kick connected with the beast brow.
Undeterred, the lion threw the large pony aside with a strong blow to the body. Comet Flash and Onyx Blade jointly attacked front the flank and rear but the monster avoided the hits and, sensing it was getting surrounded again, leapt ahead to reposition itself.
The blue Pegasus dove at the beast with his blade trained toward its chest, but the White Lion batted him to the ground. The rough fall left him breathless for a few seconds. Onyx Blade slashed the beast again with his axe, opening new gashes in its shoulder and cheek. Nova Star threw another dart at the monster’s face but this time it bounced off its thick skull. Angered, the lion threw itself at the light yellow unicorn, slashing her leg and waist. It finished its combo with a bite at her neck that she barely avoided.
“Guys, I’m in trouble!” Screamed the pink mane mare, while dashing away from the furious animal.
“We better finish this quickly.” Said Stone Hoof. “I don’t know how long we can hold on like this.”
“He’s right. This lion is too tricky to let the fight drag like this. We must find an opening in its defense, now.” Concurred the jet maned unicorn.
“Give me an opening.” Ordered Comet Flash.
Stone Hoof threw a kick at the monster with all its might, but the beast jumped away. Fortunately for the ponies, this threw the lion into Onyx Blade’s axe which lodged itself deeply in the beast’s flank. The lion roared in pain, which gave the blue Pegasus the opening he needed.
Flying in a wide arc around the beast, he gained as much speed as he could, and then came diving on his target. His blade went into the beast’s ear, somehow pierced the thick skull and went into the brain. The White Lion flopped on its side, unceremoniously. It was dead in an instant.
The ponies took a quick rest to settle down the furious beating of their heart. They refreshed themselves with what was left of the water and Stone Hoof volunteer to scout for more.
While he was away, Nova Star showed to the others the corpse she had found. The sight was troubling for them both, knowing that they had just barely avoided the same fate. Debating over what they should do with it, they elected that their need for resource was more important and thus gathered some of the bones that still looked usable and buried the rest.
When Stone Hoof came back, he was holding a long spiraling horn in his jaw, and attached to it was the severed head of a large beast. The head was as large as the light yellow mare from the front. Living, the monster should have been about the size of the White Lion, if not a bit bigger. It had brown patchy fur, large black eyes and flat tooth similar to pony’s denture. Its large tongue was dangling out of its elongated snout.
“Where did you get that?” Asked Comet Flash.
“Over there.” Pointed the larger stallion. “That’s all I could find of it.”
“You think it was killed and eaten by that lion?” Said Nova Star to the dirt brown stallion, pointing at their freshly killed quarry.
“I don’t think so. This one was stalking us specifically. I don’t think it would’ve bothered for a bunch of ponies if it had already killed a much larger prey.”
“Which means there might be another predator nearby.” Concluded the blue Pegasus. “We should finish up what we have to do here and leave quickly.”
The others concurred and went to work. Comet Flash took the air as a lookout in case the unknown predator would be coming their way, while the rest went to town on the carcass. They got some large bits of hide, shaved the mane and whiskers and harvested a large femur. In the beast belly, they found a broken lantern. Clearly, that particular lion was used to dealing with ponies. Onyx Blade also gouged out an intact eye that still seemed to be following the ponies’ movements.
When they left, Nova Star realized she was still holding that black stone which had saved her life earlier when she fell in the sinkhole. Looking at it from up close, she found it was quite unusual. The surface was slightly reflective, and it smelled like blood. Tapping it with a hoof, it had some kind of ringing to it, similar to the lantern she was carrying around. She described it as metallic. Thinking it could be useful later. She pocketed it.
If you do not want to read a childbirth scene, you may skip until the next spoiler.
Back at the village, routine was promptly interrupted by the cries of a certain purple pony. It wasn’t hard for the survivors to guess that Lavender was about to deliver her baby. Blueberry and Rapid Meadows helped the expectant mother walking into the earth ponies hut while Winter Light expelled the stallions out. They settled Lavender down as comfortably as possible, given their situation, and all gathered around.
“So, what do we do now?” Winter Light asked the cyan Pegasus.
“I don’t know.” Admitted Rapid Meadows, a nervous smile plastered on her face.
“You don’t know? You’re the one who said it will be, and I quote, easy-peasy, and you don’t you know what we should be doing?” Said the white mare, incredulous.
“When I saw that mommy gazelle doing it, it all went by itself. Like, poof! Baby is here! So I thought it would go the same way for Lavie.” Explained the Pegasus. The expectant mother let out a long pained cry which attracted the attention of every pony present.
“Well obviously this is not happening in this case, so what now?”
“Hummmm…. We could give her good words of encouragement? Ooh! How about sending her positive energy? Or likes and prayers?” Said the energetic mare, sounding less and less confident with each suggestion.
“Oh dear! How did I get dragged into it?” Complained the white unicorn.
“Um… Girls, Lavender’s bleeding a lot over there.” Said the blue mare, snapping the others back into the task at hoof. “Winter Light, can you, um, pass me the rags over there so I can sponge the blood, please. And Rapid, do remember anything about that time with the mother gazelle?”
“Well, not really. She was just standing there during all of it.”
“Standing? I guess we could try. Come one, now Lavender.” Said the blue mare, helping her friend to her hooves.
“Blue… it really… hurt.” Complained the purple mare.
“I know, Lavender, bear with it. Anything else, Rapid?”
“Ooh! I remember now. Her face was all scrunchy, like when you’re pushing a huge sh…”
“Yeah, got it.” Cut the blue mare, her face hinting at getting red again. “Try pushing now Lavender.”
The purple mare pushed. At first she did with all her might but seeing as she only got exhausted with little result, Blueberry suggested she pushed by small burst, synchronising herself with each contractions. It bore fruit as after a while, small baby legs finally escaped the maternal tunnel. Lavender then pushed harder until the head followed suit.
“You’re almost there, Lavender.” Comforted the blue mare. “Keep pushing a little more.”
“I can’t… do it… anymore.” Panted the exhausted pony, her legs giving up. “I’m… spent. Sorry…”
“Oh no! What do we do now?” Said Blueberry, catching her friend in her hooves.
“How about pulling?” Suggested the cyan mare. “The baby is already half out, I bet we could pull it the rest of the way.”
“Pulling? Yeah, why not? Can you hold her for me, Rapid Meadows?”
The two mares switched places. Blueberry then took hold of the little dangling legs, she steadied her breath before looking at the expectant mother’s exhausted figure.
“Okay, Lavender, on the count of three, I will pull while you give one last push. Do you think you can do it?” She asked her friend who replied with a nod. “Alright, one, two, three!”
She pulled on the little legs while Lavender pushed with one last scream and with that, the baby finally came into the world. They cleaned the newborn and cut the umbilical cord, like the cyan mare remembered the gazelle doing. Blueberry wrapped the little filly in a sheet of cloth and hoofed her over to her mother. The purple mare held then fed her daughter for the first time, driven by her maternal instinct. Blueberry and Rapid Meadows looked upon the touching scene with a satisfied smile on their faces.
“This is so beautiful; don’t you think so Winty?” Asked the cyan mare to the white unicorn who hadn’t moved in quite a while now. Her face was stuck in a weird expression, somewhere at the crossroad of fear, surprise and disgust. Rapid Meadows approached her and waved a hoof in front of her eyes but got no reaction from the icy mare.
“Huh. I think she blacked out.”
And we're back.
When the triumphant hunters came back to the settlement, the were greeted by an additional, adorable little face. The newborn filly had a small patch of gold hair on her head and a light green coat. The proud mother had called her Goldenrod and was holding her close to her chest while she slept. It hadn’t taken long for the baby to take her first shaky steps, merely hours after being born. The parents were worried that little Goldenrod would venture out in the darkness and were keeping a permanent close watch on her.
After the delivery, Winter Light had shut herself in the unicorn hut and would scarcely leave to get food and water. Whenever she was outside of her room, she would go to great length to avoid any male. Rapid Meadows was the only pony who could approach the white mare, mostly by sneaking her way into her room. Nonetheless, when the hunting party returned she went out to greet them, from a safe distance.
Last Ember had seemingly came back to his old pessimist self after Comet Flash had left with the skull helm. He would mingle with the other ponies and even sounded almost normal in his interactions. The only odd part in this behavior was his new fascination with the Lantern Hoard. He would often stop by the glowing pile of bent metal and stare at its light for hours on end. The other survivors brushed it off as another one of his weird antics. “That pony is mad, ignore him”, they would simply say before returning to their duties. But when the hunters came back, he was nowhere to be found.
The hunters showed the village their gory bounty and shared many tales of what they saw outside of the safety of the settlement. When they talked about the large antelope head they found, it was concluded that it was possibly the beast whose scream had awaken the village earlier that year. Finding one, and slaying it, would certainly bring a great boon to the survivors, and a new understanding of their surroundings.
Things were going well, until the charcoal unicorn came out of hiding. His bright orange eyes belied the madness within. He saluted everyone and grabbed the cat’s eye and a bone in his aura. The strange pony took the monster’s part and holed himself again in his workshop. Seeing all this, Onyx Blade quickly followed his fellow unicorn inside.
“Ember, what do you think you’re doing?” Asked the jet maned unicorn.
“Why, I’m just collecting my share of the loot. I got ideas, my horned brother, so many ideas. Anything else you want to tell before I start my work?”
“You look very troubled and from what I heard of the others, you seem to have taken some strange habits. You changed a lot in such a short amount of time, is there something you want to tell me?”
“You caring for any pony else is quite out of character, Onyx, but I guess I could indulge your curiosity. I act the way I do because I have finally accepted the inevitable. We’re all going to die in blood and tears. Even that poor little filly, her end will be oh so terrible. I have seen it all, brother, and in time, you’ll all see it too.”
“The others would probably say otherwise.” Explained the off-white stallion. “We just killed our third White Lion and we are getting stronger every time we do. Food is abundant, we got a roof over our head, and those filthy mud ponies are reproducing. Overall, things are looking up.”
“Wrong, wrong, so wrong! Am I the only one who can see clearly here?” Snapped the charcoal pony. “There is no hope to be found in this world! No happy ending either! It’s all kill or be killed, and us ponies are so weak and fragile. We don’t stand a chance. Do not believe that your victories up until now mean anything, my horned brother. Those were the weakest lions out there. There are others, stronger and faster and smarter. And not just lions but other bizarre creatures that could put this kitty to shame. There are kings of hundreds and even thousand battles lurking in the deep darkness.”
“The ones we confronted were already quite strong.” Said the off-white unicorn, shaking in fear at the horrible reality. “Even the juvenile could kill a pony with a single bite. Is there any way we could beat those kings?”
“I can make you strong.” Replied the charcoal stallion. “Stronger than Comet Flash, and even Stone Hoof. Just trust me. There is power to be found in the darkness.”
“Tell me about it.” Asked Onyx Blade, intrigued at the prospect of power. The charcoal merely smiled in response.
The off-white unicorn left the bone workshop with a renewed conviction. The earth ponies were too soft, despite their tough bodies. A communal lifestyle was unfit to survive in the kingdom of death and monsters. The pegasus were adaptable. They could be swayed to his ways, if only he could show them the value of strength over friendship. And Comet Flash, he needed to be set aside. By force or persuasion.
In the deep of the night, when every pony was sleeping, a song rose from Last Ember’s workshop. Its words were incomprehensible but it deeply touched the heart of every pony in the village. Many woke up in tears, none could go back to sleep. Bent over his workbench, the charcoal pony was working on a strange craft, humming and chanting, a terrible rictus tearing his face in half.
Author's Note
(I'll be trying to update once every week but I can't guarantee anything. These chapters are already quite long and I'm not even at the biggest years yet.)
Things are heating up, if you know what I mean. Also, lots of close calls but more on that later.
In this chapter, I'm setting up a confrontation between two ideologies, championed by Comet Flash and Onyx Blade respectively. In Kingdom Death, you get to choose 4 principles for your survivors: Life, Death, Society and Conviction. There's two option for each, and let's just say that one is more hardcore than the other. With the birth of Goldenrod, I will get to choose my Life principle but I kept that part for the next chapter.
At first, I wanted to detail the sexy scenes. There's already a high probability of headsplosion, considering the source material, so why not show some pony doing the horizontal tango. In the end, I chose not to because in itself a sex scene doesn't show anything as far as characterization goes. Maybe in a spin off containing all the naughty parts, but I don't think this story is ever going to be popular enough to warrant that.
Anyway, the delivery was particularly difficult because in game I rolled a 4 (on a ten-sided die), and a result of 2-3 meant the mother dies in labor. Close call number one.
The sinkhole was another possibility of death but the risk was pretty low on that one. Still, close call number two.
That lion was a tricky one. Three traps in two rounds is harsh. Quick mechanic lesson, in Kingdom Death, when you successfully hit a monster, you draw a location card which you must then roll to wound. Resolve the card according to the result and what is written on it. Traps are location card that grants the monster a free, almost unavoidable attack. There's one trap out of about 21 cards in the lion's deck so that was quite unlucky of me.
Finally, when Last Ember got possessed at the end, there was a chance I would have been forced to exile him. It would have been a call on my part but the alternative just wasn't worth it. Luckily, I got only the second worst result, which consequences will be felt in the next chapter.
Again, thanks for reading the story so far and I'll see you in the next one.
See the taker of Masks Its Brow of Crimson Crowned Out of the Maw he Walk To Lengthen his gown Hear the Sky Sphincter Flying, Aged Youth Bowing All to Its whim, I fear That Many will be drowning Sense the Walking Stone Come, Dance with its Might First Herald of the Throne From a Darkness so Bright Taste from the Abyss Welcoming tales of Serenity Its an Old Pony Bliss Reveling in Shrouded Eternity
The village rose after a restless night. The strange chanting was apparently coming from Last Ember’s workshop, but it was not his voice they all could hear. It was a sinister, disembodied hymn that shook them all to their core. No work was done on that day, the survivors staying indoor, lost in apathy.
The next day, the settlement was back to its habitual energy. Ponies were coming and going, having apparently forgotten everything of the day prior. The scavenging group was down by many, though. Blueberry was tending her growing garden and Lavender was staying home to take care of Goldenrod. The three earth pony stallions were joined by the Pegasus. They walked down the river bank to collect water, dried grass, flowers and maybe some fruits if they were lucky.
Winter Light was busying herself in the tannery, completing, at last, the rawhide suit of armor with leg guards and pants. This time, it was Nova Star who was modeling for her and, when not needed, the yellow mare was making bandages and splints. That way, during their future hunts, the ponies could mend their wounds on the go.
“So, what do you think of my work so far?” Asked the white unicorn. “Do you feel like its efficient against the monsters? Is there any ways it could be improved?”
“I believed it saved our lives many times already, Winter. You are doing a good job, in that regards. But the beasts we are fighting are always stronger than the previous ones.” Lamented Nova Star. “We need tougher armor to enhance our chance at survivals.”
“I would need better materials for that, I believe.” Said Winter Light, measuring her models hind leg. “Do you have any idea on the matter?”
Nova Star’s thought went for the strange black rock she had found in the previous hunt. It seemed to be the raw material used to make the lanterns all ponies were carrying, but the process used to make the ore usable eluded her. She then looked at the strips of skin the white unicorn was using. Maybe they could be strengthened into a tougher material. She would have to experiment further.
“Maybe. I have tried soaking the skins in ammonia after cleaning it.” Said the yellow mare, which made Winter Light retch at the thought. “It loosened the hair enough to easily scrape it away with a sharp stone but I wouldn’t say it made it any tougher.”
“Maybe try to soak the skin in something… different.” Suggested the white unicorn. She wanted to say “less gross”, and she should have.
“Maybe dung, next time.” Wondered Nova Star, the other mare’s face turning green at the suggestion.
“Not that I want to change to subject,” lied Winter Light. “But, you’ve been alone with Comet Flash quite a lot recently. Is there something going on between the two of you?”
“Are you insinuating that me and Comet are a couple?” Said the yellow mare, turning a light shade crimson.
“I’m not insinuating anything, Nova. At this point, pretty much every pony knows what is going on behind closed doors. I just don’t want you to end up being hurt, or disappointed.”
“Now what does that even mean?”
“Well, while it was agreed that we are all ponies, there are still differences. We still don’t know if unicorns, pegasus, and ordinary…”
“Earth.” Promptly corrected the yellow mare.
“Earth ponies.” Conceded Winter Light. “We don’t know if crossbreeding is possible. As Onyx Blade would say, we might just be three different species that just look alike.”
“Did Onyx Blade also told you to tell me this?”
“I don’t take orders from that worm. I’m just trying to care for you.” Explained the white unicorn, her eyes frowning at the implication. “You’re the main reason we are all still alive. If not for your quick thinking, there would be no cooperation at all. You gave us words, a working routine, food and shelter. Maybe not all of it was directly from you, but you had a say in every achievement we’ve had until now. You are important for the other ponies and without you many will be lost. So please, don’t do anything stupid or futile.”
Nova Star wanted to say something, but what? She had no proof the different kind of ponies could reproduce with one another, not that she actually tried. It had never gone that far with her and Comet Flash. A speech about the value of love and partnership wouldn’t do much to sway the egocentric mare. There was, of course, a simple way to prove the white mare wrong but that would require time, and a visit to Lavender. She excused herself and left the workshop.
The walk to the earth ponies’ hut wasn’t long, the village was still quite small after all. She knocked before entering the hovel where the purple mare was looking over her sleeping baby. Nova opened her mouth to speak but Lavender gestured her to stay quiet, so as to not disturb Goldenrod. They went to the far corner of the hut and spoke in hush tones.
“Sorry… but it took me so long to… get her to sleep.” Explained the young mother. “What did you… wanted to speak… about?”
“Well, I wanted to know how that worked, the whole baby making thing, I mean.” Clumsily asked the yellow mare.
“You want to know the… mechanics of… sex?”
“No! Nonononono! I already know what goes in where. I just wanted to know how it happened. Not when you were doing the deed, but before that.”
“Oh. So it’s about you and… Comet Flash.” Smirked the purple mare. It made Nova’s face to flush red. Did every pony in the settlement already knew about that? “Well you know how… once every few months… it gets really hot back… there? The heat as Blueberry… called it...”
“Yeah, I know about that either, and what it does. What I want to know is how did you get pregnant outside of estrus.”
“Well… When I drank the fermented juice it was as if… I went into heat but… like… all at once. Like a whole week worth of… it.”
“Wow, that sound intense!” Exclaimed the yellow unicorn who was starting to feel quite flustered by the conversation.
“You have no… idea. All in… all… I think the love juice is just a… stimulant. It helps but it’s not… necessary to achieve a pregnancy. It sure… lowers the inhibition… a lot.” Explained Lavender, a small hint of red forming at her cheeks as she was reminiscing that first time. “You should still… wait for next heat, though.”
“Alright. Then do you have any advice to give about the whole expectancy and delivery?”
“Eat lots… don’t exert yourself, and conserve your… energy.” Explained the purple mare. “Blueberry would be better… to explain the whole… delivery part. She did an… awesome job helping me… out.”
“I’ll make sure to talk with her too. Thank you, it was very informative. I should go now.” Said Nova Star, turning back towards the door.
“It was my… pleasure. I wish you… good luck.” Said Lavender, with a knowing smile. It was then that she felt something was amiss. “Where’s Goldenrod?”
Nova Star stopped in her track. Looking at the empty pile of pillows, both mares felt their heartbeat soar. Rushing outside, the yellow unicorn looked around. She saw in the distance an animal, half the size of a pony, dragging something away. It was a quadruped with short light brown fur and a long tail. It had triangular ears raised at attention and a pointed snout. Its jaw was holding the little foal by the neck.
Screaming in horror, the young mother rushed at the predator who tried to run away. Fortunately for the ponies, the scavenging group was coming back at the same time. Seeing his child in danger, Golden Sea moved to block the animal’s path. It spun ninety degrees to its right to evade the incoming pony but did not account for an aerial threat as Comet Flash tackled it from above. The purple mare snatched her baby from the beast. The predator hadn’t broken her neck but the little filly was bleeding from the puncture wounds its fangs left behind. Nova Star rushed to bring bandages before it was too late.
The animal didn’t ran away, instead lunging at the large beige stallion with a bite to his leg. He dodged and with a heavy hoof, stomped on its exposed neck until it snapped. He then ran back to his mate to look at their injured daughter. She was breathing strenuously but the bleeding had stopped.
From the shadows emerged the off-white silhouette of Onyx Blade, clapping with his hooves. He was closely followed by the charcoal coated Last Ember. Both stallions where grinning from ear to ear.
“Congratulation on that timely rescue, my little ponies!” Clapped the white stallion. “You even managed to eliminate the perpetrator. Good job!”
“Onyx, did you have anything to do with all of this?” Accused Comet Flash.
“Why would I do such a thing? The darkness is already dangerous enough as it is without any of my intervention. I’m actually quite surprised such a thing did not occur earlier.” Said the offended pony. He turned towards the parents cradling their injured child, a malicious frown on his face. “The question now would be what should we do to avoid another incident like this one.”
“We’ll just have to be more careful in the future.” Explained the beige stallion. “Keep a constant watch over Goldenrod.”
“Do you honestly believe that this is possible?” Asked the charcoal unicorn, stepping forward. “After all, it only took a second of inattention from Lavender here for all this to happens. Lucky for you, it was just a mere critter. Imagine what would’ve happened if a monster was to attack the village directly.”
“We could build a defensive wall around the settlement.” Suggested Stone Hoof, walking up beside the couple. “That’ll keep the beasts out.”
“What if the monster flew? What if it broke the wall? We don’t know anything of what lurks in the darkness; how can we defend our children against the unknown nature of the abyss?” Asked Last Ember, coming in with another assault that shook the ponies present. They were indeed quite ignorant of their surroundings.
“Up until now, no beast had dared approach the Lantern Hoard. It’s as if the monsters are afraid of the bright light.” Said Nova Star. “As far as we’re concerned, we could just brush it off as a freak occurrence and move on.”
“But something must have... brought this animal… here. Maybe it was… ill. Or desperate.” Theorized the young mother. “The risk that another creature would… do the same is… too much for me.”
“Indeed.” Approved the white stallion. “And even building a wall wouldn’t do. After all, we’d need to leave an entrance for us to leave and enter. Anything could then sneak in, or out. What do you think, Comet Flash? Shouldn’t we prepare our children for what’s to come instead of spoiling them into carelessness?”
“Yes, the world is too dangerous for a defenseless child. I hate to admit but you’re right on that regard.” Agreed the blue stallion. “But I consider a better understanding of our world is more important than strong muscle, no offense Stone Hoof.”
“None taken.” Reassured the large stallion. “I know where you are going with that train of thought.”
“The problem is that ponies, no matter how much we train, we’ll never be as strong as the monsters.” Continued Comet Flash. “But we can be smarter, and trickier. You were there, Onyx, during our hunts. When we fought two great lions and won. You know first hoof that those fight were won through wits rather than brawn. Right?”
“You’re not entirely wrong, Comet Flash, but knowledge without the necessary physical aptitudes is useless.” Argued the off-white unicorn. “We saw the fate that awaits those who are unprepared, last time. Surely, you must remember the mangled remains of that hunter.”
“Indeed, I do. We shouldn’t forget about the physical aspect of a hunt.” Conceded the blue stallion. He knew is point was getting through all ponies listening, if the murmurs of approbation were to be believed. He only needed a decisive finishing blow. “You’re saying that our children should be given early our accumulated knowledge and trained to put those theories into practice, correct? Then, since we seem to be in agreement on how to raise the future generations, how about we shake our hoof on it?”
The off-white unicorn hesitated to take the offered hoof. He was getting what he wanted, but somehow the blue Pegasus had spun Onyx’s words so it would include his personal views on the matter. It infuriated the unicorn to no ends. From their reactions, the others were agreeing to the idea. There was nothing more the unicorn could think of to sway their opinions any further to his side. Any more objections would paint him as an antagonist, well, more than he already was in the eyes of the other ponies. He bumped Comet’s hoof with his own and they shook it.
Onyx Blade and Last Ember promptly left the scene. The rest of the crowd rapidly dissolved soon afterwards. Only Comet Flash and Nova Star were left. When every pony was finally out of sight, he let out a long sigh of relief.
“You did well, considering the circumstances.” Reassured the yellow mare.
“That may be so, but personally, I think I gave too much ground.” He said, lowering his head. He released a few muscles he wasn’t aware that were clenched tight. “I bet they had something to do with it. An animal suddenly decided to come here, even though we never saw such a thing since we’re here. It knew where Goldenrod was, despite her being in an enclosed space and the numerous smells around the village. It attacked just as every pony was either gone or distracted, yet right on time for us to come back during its escape. There’s too much coincidence at play here.”
“And then they leap out of cover just so they could use the incident to preach their views.” Added Nova. “It is indeed quite convenient. But what worries me the most is that they are teaming in the first place. Onyx is just a bigot with a large ego. Last Ember, a lunatic with no ambitions to speak of. They somehow have found something in each other and now, they are unleashing their combined madness at us. I don’t like where this is going. There’s bound to be other terrible plots coming our way next.”
“Don’t worry, Nova, I don’t intent to let it happen without a fight. Our plan is still under way. The next hunt will change everything.”
“I hope you’re right, Comet.” Said the yellow unicorn before giving him a peck on the cheek. “I’m heading back to Winter’s workshop. We’re almost finished with that suit of armor. See you later.”
They hugged and she waved goodbye before going in the small hut, leaving only the blue Pegasus at the scene. He examined the creature that attacked Goldenrod. Its breath smelled like those berries that were left too long outside. It had made Rapid Meadows somehow giddier than normal. Maybe that’s why the animal was bold enough to strike in the middle of the day?
Still, he thought those kind of creature didn’t eat fruits or grass. His mind immediately made the connection. Onyx Blade. He probably made the animal drunk and let it lose in the village. Comet Flash swore he would work harder to make sure the unicorn could not hurt any pony else in the future.
Grassy Knoll was working on a new pet project. The green maned stallion had discovered that by grinding various flowers and rock, he could produce colorful dust. Diluted with water then bound with tree resin and egg yolk pilfered from an abandoned nest, the substance could then stick to surfaces. Smearing the colors with his hoof, the artist made shapes and forms.
Painting on a large flat stone he managed to drag to the village, he made the finishing touches to the colorful landscape. Taking a few steps back, Grassy Knoll carefully examined his work. He did some minor adjustment. A quick brush of red here. A smear of yellow there. Until he was finally satisfied.
The light brown stallion then went in search of Blueberry. He found the blue mare tending to her berry bush. He coughed in his hoof to grab her attention. The shy mare squeaked in surprise.
“Grassy, I didn’t hear you coming,” Said the surprised mare. “Although it’s a good thing you’re here. Look, the flowers are finally blooming.”
The blue mare pointed at the white flowers covering her bush. Many insects were already buzzing around the petals. The ponies could smell a sweet scent in the air.
“Wow! They’re almost as pretty as you, Blueberry!” Complimented the stallion, making the blue mare shyly shrink away. “I also got something I wanted to show you.”
“Oh? What is it?” Asked the blue mare.
“You’ll see. It’s something I’ve been working on for some time now.”
Grassy Knoll led the blue mare to his work. No words exchanged during the travel, only some awkward glances all around. When they got to the large flat stone though, she was gobsmacked by what she saw.
“I decided to chronicle the story of our village in illustration.” Explained green maned stallion.
Before them both, etched on the stone, was a series of different colorful scenes. The first one showed four ponies fighting a lion while a bunch of ponies were fleeing. It represented their awakening and the juvenile lion attacking them in the darkness.
The second scene showed the four previous ponies arriving at the Lantern Hoard, surrounded by ponies. Over their heads were drawn little symbols: trees, birds, rocks. It depicted the arrival at the village and the foundation of language.
The third scene showed four ponies traveling in the dark landscape where a great lion awaited. This was the village’s first hunt. The four ponies later came back with the lion carcass and many other ponies were cheering, showing their success.
The last scene depicted two larger ponies, one yellow and the other purple, hugging a smaller green pony, in a hut surrounded by celebrating ponies. It represented Goldenrod’s birth and the village’s hope for the future.
Blueberry was greatly impressed by the use of various colors, despite the rough appearance of the many shapes and forms. Her eyes were lingering the most on the largest, brown coated pony in every scene he was in. Meanwhile, Grassy Knoll was explaining the process to create the paint he used, though most of it was lost on the inattentive blue mare. She simply turned to him with stars in her eyes.
“Do you think you could paint the interior walls of our hut? It’ll liven the place.” She asked.
“For you, anything.” The green maned stallion replied. It made her awkwardly smile.
It was time, once again, to set out for a new hunt. The hunter selection had caused much surprise among the villagers. It was due to the fact that none of the selected ponies had any experience hunting. Golden Sea, Grass Knoll, Thunder Storm and Last Ember would be the chosen ones this time.
When Onyx Blade came arguing about it, Comet Flash explained that, since their next quarry was the screaming antelope, a monster the village barely knew about, it would be preferable to build a new team specialized in hunting it. That excuse was somewhat flimsy, all things considered, but enough to assuage most ponies. Onyx grumbled a few choice words and gave his axe to Last Ember, stating that he would need it.
Grassy Knoll was fitted with the skull helm and a bone sword. Thunder Storm received the completed rawhide set, the darts and a satchel of bandages and healing balms. Last Ember placed a strange circlet over his head. At its center was the lion’s eye, still twitching and blinking. Lavender helped her mate don the white fur armor. She then hoofed him a bone dagger and a lock of lavender and golden hair.
“I thought you’d like a… good luck charm.” Said the purple mare. “A reminder to… come back home.”
“I’ll do my best.” He swore, stashing the lucky charm in his armor. He pointed at the small bone dagger. “Where did you get that?”
“I made it from the animal that… attacked Goldenrod earlier.” Explained Lavender. “Think of it as… some kind of… revenge.”
With that, they were off. The group headed towards the river and followed its current to a large grass field where many animals grazed. Searching for signs of their quarry, it didn’t take long until they felt the earth rumbling underneath their hooves. In the distance, a herd of those large antelope, the same beast they were hunting, was quickly coming their way.
“S-s-s-s-stampede!” Screamed the dark grey Pegasus who flew up high to avoid the incoming onslaught.
“We must get out of the way!” Exclaimed Grassy Knoll to the grounded ponies.
“No!” Stopped Last Ember, pressing a hoof on the earth pony barrel. “If we do, we’ll lose sight of them. We must stand firm. That way we may be able to isolate one of them.”
Before the brown stallion could respond, both he and the unicorn got pushed into a ditch by Golden Sea. Overhead, they could see the hooves and underbelly of the running creatures. It might have a trick of the light, or they misinterpreted the beast’s fur pattern due to their speed, but the ponies could swear they had a large gaping maw underneath their barrels.
Finally, when the last one of creature had passed, the ponies could hear a thunderous roar and a quake of the earth. Looking in that direction, they all could see what had frightened the herd of monster. Their brains promptly locked away the memory of the monstrosity they saw, for fear of being driven insane by its mere appearance.
When the dust settled, the hunters came out of hiding and examined the tracks left on the field. Some of the antelopes had strayed away from the herd in their flight for their life. The ponies chose one line of hoof prints and followed it.
The group travelled further into the darkness. A few miles later, they stumbled upon a grisly scene. A dead pony, it’s corpse still warm, laid on the ground. His armor was torn into piece, his spear broken in half. One of his hoof was clutching something on his chest. The hunters could not tell if this was the work of their prey or another monster.
Grassy Knoll walked up to the dead hunter to examine his body. The brown stallion found nothing of value on him, but his hoof was clutching a deep piercing wound. Maybe it was caused by the antelope spiraling horn. The group left the body where they found him. There was nothing more they could have done for the dead pony.
The hunters camped under a large carved stone face. They were exhausted by their day, however short it seemed to be. For them all, this was the first time they ventured so far from the village. Even Last Ember, despite claiming he had seen many monsters in his vision, was visibly shaken. They had little sleep that night.
The next few days, they found no traces of the Antelope, only a field of uprooted grass. Their quarry had fled far into the darkness. Nevertheless, the hunters pressed on. Their travel was interrupted by a strong rumbling. Last Ember pressed his front hooves on his fellow grounded ponies.
“Don’t move” He warned them.
Before them, the earth opened outward and a gigantic wormlike creature burst from the ground. It’s black, chitin covered, twitching body bend forward and dived front first back into the ground with a thunderous crash. The ponies remained paralyzed until, at long last, the Harvester’s tail came into view and quickly disappeared back into the earth. The ground stopped shaking and the ponies breathed a sigh of relief.
“What was that?” Asked Grassy Knoll, but only got shrugs as answers. “If we had moved even a single step further, we’d be all dead. Thanks Last Ember.”
“Don’t thank me for it, I just didn’t want to die with the rest of you.” Rebuffed the charcoal unicorn.
“For a pony who goes on and on about how we are all going to die horribly, you do have quite a will to live.” Remarked Golden Sea.
“I’m not suicidal, I’m a realist.” Explained Last Ember. “We live in a world where whatever that was lurks beneath us. We’ve seen herds of monsters, and… other things… roaming the darkness. Ponies don’t have much of a chance overall against those creatures.”
“I-i-i-it doesn’t mean we sh-sh-should just lay d-d-down our lives just like that.” Stuttered Thunder Storm.
“That’s not what I’m saying either. As is right now, we are weak. We must grow strong to face the danger that lurks in the dark, but the way things are handled we’ll never be more than food for monsters when they finally come for our village. I don’t know much more than the rest of you, but I can tell there’s something big that’s coming. We must be ready for it.”
There was a long silence following Last Ember’s tirade. The ponies were getting used to ignore the charcoal unicorn’s defeatist statements but with the things they saw, and the long road ahead of them, the three stallions were beginning to give credence to his words. Finally, Golden Sea commanded the group to move forward towards their target.
The march was long and arduous. Scarce traces of the monster here and there told the ponies they were still going in the right direction. The trail led deeper and deeper into the abyss, into the pure darkness. There, the ponies’ lanterns could barely illuminate a foot around.
“Don’t stray from each others light.” Commanded Golden Sea, pressing himself closer to the other three ponies.
Grassy Knoll opened his mouth to reply but was cut short by an unseen force grasping him and Last Ember, dragging them away. The frantic movements made Golden Sea drop his lantern that went crashing on the ground. The beige stallion let out a last curse before being plunged into a complete void.
Grassy Knoll and Last Ember were fighting for their lives against an invisible opponent. Their lantern light merely revealing claws and fangs and the barest hint of a towering shape. The ponies blindly struggled as fiercely as they could. The charcoal unicorn felt claws digging into his left cheek, ripping down to his jaw. A bite on his side left a nasty, bleeding wound. Grassy Knoll wasn’t faring much better. Something sharp deeply cut him starting from his shoulder down all the way to his waist. He tried stomping what he thought was the monster’s snout with his right hoof but instead hit something hard that twisted his ankle.
The ponies were wildly swinging their weapons at the unseen foe in a mad attempt to escape its grasp. The maroon maned unicorn was feeling faint, cold enveloping his body. The blood loss was getting at him. Grassy Knoll exhaustion was finally settling in. The earth pony could barely stand on his hooves. Everything seemed lost until something grabbed them both and pulled them away. Looking around, they could see that their unexpected savior was none other than Thunder Storm. The lemon maned stallion was flying away as fast and gracefully as one would expect a pegasus dragging two larger ponies behind him, but he nonetheless managed to pulled them all to safety.
“E-e-e-e-e-everyone alright?” Asked the concerned Pegasus, pulling out his healing balms.
“Bleeding, but I’ll manage.” Replied the charcoal unicorn, pointing at his opened flank. Thunder Storm immediately went to work mending the injury. “What was that? I couldn’t see anything in this darkness.”
“A t-t-t-tree, actually.” Explained Thunder Storm who was now looking over Grassy Knoll using the light of his lantern. “Y-y-y-y-you got caught into its r-r-r-roots and branches. Your w-w-wounds are all s-s-self-inflicted.”
Both injured ponies were feeling rightfully silly at the revelation. The darkness was so dense they managed to mistake a gnarled tree for a terrifying monster. They probably even hurt each other with their now bloodied weapons. Then, something dawned upon Grassy Knoll.
“Where’s Golden Sea?” He asked. The other two couldn’t find an answer. Every pony was too preoccupied with their own survival to actually pay any attention to the beige stallion.
“I don’t see his lantern light.” Remarked Last Ember. “Maybe it extinguished. With the darkness, there’s no way he could find his way around.”
“Golden Sea!” Screamed the light brown stallion. “We’re here, Golden Sea! Follow my voice!”
Left alone in the abyss, the large stallion was suddenly feeling rather small and fearful. For a while, he could hear the screams and sounds of a mighty struggle. He had tried to find the source of the noise but only managed to get lost. It took every fiber of the beige stallion’s being to not curl into a ball and wait for the end. He closed his eye and took deep breath to calm himself. Panicking was not an option and abandoning was out of the equation. Once he finally got his ragged breath under control, it was then that he heard it.
“Golden Sea, where are you!” Called a distant voice.
“I’m here!” Said the beige stallion but got no answer.
“Golden Sea! Follow my voice!” The voice called.
The pony closed his eyes and slowly turned around to pinpoint the voice’s direction. Gingerly, he began walking forward. The voice was now growing stronger and stronger and Golden Sea knew he was getting close.
Looking in the distance, he noticed a speck of moving light. Maybe it was a trap, a cunning lure laid out by one of the monsters living in the abyss, or maybe it was really his friend calling for him. Regardless, the earth pony took off into a gallop towards the light. It was growing bigger and bigger, until he could finally discern the shapes of his friends.
Surging from the darkness, a large beige form tightly grasped its legs around Grassy Knoll, almost suffocating the earth pony. When they recognized Golden Sea, the three ponies breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m so glad to see you guys again!” Exclaimed the ecstatic beige stallion. “I thought for a second I was a goner.”
“I was getting really worried there.” Admitted Grassy Knoll. “I don’t think I would’ve continued if we had lost you.”
“Not that I want to be killjoy,” interjected Last Ember, “but we might want to get moving. This is definitely not the place where we want to rest. It was a close call this time, but we might not be lucky for long.”
“Agreed.” Acquiesced Golden Sea. “But we should make sure we don’t get separated again.”
“I g-g-g-got this.” Said Thunder Storm. Opening his satchel, he unrolled a long bandage. “So long as we hold on to this, and never let go, we won’t get lost anymore.”
The other three ponies agreed and they all grabbed to fabric with their hoof. The rest of the way out of the overwhelming darkness went slowly, but uneventfully. Beyond, they finally got to a place where some light managed to pierce through the abyss. Still, there was in the air a deep feeling of danger. The ponies were now deep into monster territory.
Further into the unknown abyss, the ponies came across the rotten carcass of an antelope. The animal was too decomposed to be of any use, so the hunters did not harvest its remaining parts, although they did take some time to examine it. The beast appeared to have been half eaten. Judging by the crushed bones strewn around the scene, it was killed by something big, possibly a White Lion. The hunter pressed on. The carcass at least telling them their quarry was found in this region.
By this point, the ponies had no idea how long they were travelling. With no visual indication of the passing of time, it could have been weeks for all they knew. There was a high probability the village had already sent out a rescue team looking for them. The ponies hadn’t left behind any indication of the direction they took, not that it would be of any help when the rescue team would reach the overwhelming darkness. It meant that they would probably never be found before anything bad was to happen to them.
They were about to make camp when Last Ember saw a series of shapes strewn around on the cold stone floor. Investigating further, the hunters found the bodies of four ponies. They were all clutching sharp stones in their hoof and judging by the wounds left on them, they were obviously killed by a lion. They were traces of a struggle, blood splattered everywhere, and the scent of death was overwhelming.
“This is just like us when we woke up in the darkness,” Realized Golden Sea.
“Yes, but they have failed where we prevailed.” Remarked Last Ember. “They were too weak for this world.”
“If we look around, there might be some survivors.” Said Grassy Knoll. “A lot of us did survive the first lion’s attack and managed to flee for safety.”
“Just more useless weaklings. We are better off not taking them with us.”
“I don’t agree with you, Ember, but on the other hoof, we can’t spare the time to look for them. We already extended this hunt more than necessary. The others at home are awaiting our return, or maybe even looking for us.”
“B-b-b-besides, the road is long and d-d-d-dangerous. Bringing u-u-unprepared ponies with us is just c-c-careless.”
“Don’t worry, Grassy, if their like us, they’ll be fine. We did survive this long after all.” Reassured Golden Sea. “We should move on, though. This place is not safe.”
“I agree on the not safe part,” said the charcoal unicorn, pointing towards the horizon, “but we should not move on too quickly.”
In the distance, the ponies saw the large shape of an antelope. It had shaggy brown fur covering its entire body. Its long legs ended with heavy, sharp-looking hooves. The two spiralling horns jutting out of its skull were rather short, betraying the monster’s youth. Nevertheless, it towered over the ponies, being around eight feet tall at the shoulder. The beast was lazily grazing on the grass growing through the eyes of the carved stone faces.
The four ponies lowered themselves on the ground to avoid detection. From what they could observe of the monster’s behavior, they could conclude two things. Firstly, the lion certainly wasn’t around or else the antelope would have avoided the area altogether. Secondly, the beast didn’t care about dead bodies as it would have certainly smelled the blood in the air.
The ponies formulated their plan. Thunder Storm took the air and flew all the way around the monster to cut away it’s escape. Meanwhile, the other three ponies crept silently towards the antelope, weapons at the ready. They had gathered the sharp stones left behind by the deceased ponies, in case they could used in the battle.
They were hoping that, once it had found the ponies, the beast would flee towards the grey Pegasus. Instead, it turned around to face the hunters. Rearing its legs, the beast bared the large flat teeth of its underbelly mouth. Countless strange appendage grew around the large opening of its under maw. They had grasping hands with long fingers and opposable thumbs. The sight disturbed the observing ponies. Before they knew it, the antelope was readying itself for an attack.
There once was a fearsome monster that was trained by The Hoof to be a steed for the Goblin. However, upon smelling its new master, the monster’s mind shattered and it ran into the unknown, foaming at the mouth and biting the snouts off the stone faced floor.
The monster lowered its horns and charged at the three ponies who, in turn, fanned out to avoid the deadly assault. Seeing the plan derailing so quickly, Thunder Storm took the sky to regroup with his companions. They had believed the antelope would be skittish at their approach but it seemed unimpressed by the diminutive ponies. Instead of running, like it had for bigger predators, it stood its ground. Worse still, the ponies could see its mad eyes gleaming with hunger.
Circling around the monster, Last Ember rose his axe to chop at its heel but the beast threw its back legs at him. The charcoal unicorn barely ducked under the bucking legs. The antelope then turned 90 degrees to its right and barrelled toward Grassy Knoll. The light brown stallion could not dodge and got trampled by the beast. A small trickle blood rolled down his left brow.
Before the ponies could react, the antelope turned to Golden Sea and charged once more. The beige stallion moved out of the way but the spiraling horn caught his right foreleg and he tripped to the ground. Last Ember rushed at the beast and slashed its back with his axe. The wound only angered the monster who in turn rained a frenzy of hooves and horns at the nearby ponies. The hunters could only retreat, battered and bruised, to convened on a different approach.
“That beast’s movement are too erratic to follow.” Noted Golden Sea, sponging the blood coming out of his broken snout with his good leg. “How about we cripple its legs to keep it still?”
“I don’t think they’re as flimsy as they look.” Argued Last Ember who was nursing a bruised leg. “It might take a while to finally immobilise it. Plus, I’m worried of its underbelly mouth. It’s large enough to swallow a pony whole!”
“In that case, we should aim at its vital all at once. It won’t be fast enough to evade us all.” Suggested the beige stallion. “Now, go!”
The antelope lowered its head once more and charged at the ponies who, this time, were ready for it. Golden Sea sidestep the onslaught and manage to stab the beast’s muzzle. Last Ember hacked its neck from one side while from the other side Grassy Knoll stabbed at the gaping belly mouth. The bone sword clashed with a large flat tooth, dislodging it with a great gush of blood. The brown stallion heard a snap and when he looked at his sword, he saw it had snapped in half.
Screaming in pain, the beast barrelled toward the approaching Thunder Storm. When it came in range, the antelope rose on its back legs, its giant maw opening wide. The eye on Last Ember’s circlet blinked once and for a second its vision blurred. He saw a bright flash of red and splinters of black and white.
“Grassy Knoll, throw your stone at its head, now!” He ordered.
Without hesitation, the brown stallion threw one of the sharp stone previously collected towards the beast head. The projectile hit at the base of the right horn, both shattering upon contact. Blood poured from a deep wound on the antelope forehead. It fell back on the ground, stunned.
Seeing an opportunity, Golden Sea pounced underneath the monster and stabbed its under mouth with his dagger. The maw closed quickly and the beige stallion barely yanked his hoof away but his weapon was nowhere to be seen. He looked up at the monster’s barrel.
“That thing just ate my dagger!” He exclaimed.
“And it’s going to eat you next if don’t dodge now!” Warned Last Ember.
Just as he had said that, the underbelly mouth opened again and descended upon the beige stallion. Golden Sea moved too late and the teeth snapped around his barrel. He managed to wiggle out of the maw but blood gushed out of a deep wound on his chest. The earth pony scrambled backward away from the raging beast.
Last Ember concentrated his aura on his eye circlet, trying to force a premonition out of it. He knew somewhat the effect of the jewel, being its creator and having experienced it previously, but all his predictions were accidental spur of the moment kind of things. He could see his vision change but was unable to part the veil of darkness. Not until a voice distracted him from his task.
“W-w-w-watch out Ember!” Stuttered the grey Pegasus, shoving the unicorn away from the antelope back kick. For his trouble, Thunder Storm got hit instead on his left foreleg with a resounding crack. The bone didn’t seem broken but a large spot of skin had turned purple.
In that small instant, the third eye opened for a second and Last Ember finally understood. He wasn’t looking at the right place at all. The circlet did not reveal the future, has he previously thought, but opportunities. This was made from the eye of a powerful predator after all. Looking at the antelope, he suddenly knew where to strike.
“Thunder Storm, aim at the under mouth.” He ordered.
Without question, the grey Pegasus picked a sharp stone with his good hoof and threw it at the opened maw underneath the monster’s belly. The rock shattered violently at contact with the large tongue and a flood of blood rained on the ground. Screaming in agony, the antelope ran at Golden Sea, crashing with the pony who was tossed aside by the impact.
Seeing a new opening, Last Ember swung his axe at the beast flank, opening a large wound down on his belly. But the creature’s strange hands grasped the weapon and threw it out of reach of his aura. The charcoal unicorn looked at the squirming appendages in surprise, confounded by its strange dexterity.
The beast was still blindly rushing all around, trying to trample the ponies beneath its hooves. The weaponless earth ponies were playing decoys, attempting to lead it to the armed ponies, both receiving a few hits for their efforts. Thunder Storm threw a couple of darts but missed them all while Last Ember picked back up his axe within his aura.
Suddenly, the antelope broke away from the decoys and charged at the grey Pegasus. Its head lowered, pointing its horn at the pony’s chest. Uncharacteristically, Thunder Storm decided to hold his ground instead of flying away. He thought he would have a better chance at hitting the beast from up close. Gripping his dart with his one good hoof, he lowered himself in preparation.
The monster, mad with anger, passed by Last Ember who had just raised his axe. Seeing an opening, the charcoal unicorn swung upward at the frothing underbelly mouth. The sharp blade mangled the beast’s already bleeding tongue. The sudden attack made the antelope throw his head upward in pain, giving the grey Pegasus a perfect opportunity. Thunder Storm threw the dart with all his might and it lodged itself deep into the monster’s heart. But the forward momentum made the agonising antelope crash into the Pegasus at a high enough velocity to cut his breath short. They both scrambled onto the ground. The pony ended up pinned under the larger beast who died within seconds.
The earth ponies helped him out of his predicament. Looking at himself, Thunder Storm saw that he was mostly fine. No crushed bones, only a few bruises here and there. Sighing in relief, he laid on his back, his wing splayed on each side of his body.
The exhausted ponies rested some time until their heartbeat slowed back down to normal. That fight turned out quite different than what they figured. The hunters imagined a skittish prey, fleeing from its predator. Instead it was a mad beast, charging at every movement. Feeling a bit peckish after the fight, Golden Sea examined the grass the animal was grazing on before the confrontation.
“Is it edible?” Asked Grassy Knoll, approaching his compatriot.
“Actually, it looks medicinal.” Remarked the larger stallion.
“W-w-w-what make you say so?” Stuttered Thunder Storm, coming to Golden Sea’s side. He opted to fly rather than walk the short distance due to his hurting leg.
“Call that instinct,” replied the beige stallion while plucking a few leaves from the plant. “I just know what this plant can do. Here, if you rub it on your wounds they will heal much quicker.”
As a demonstration, he placed the leaves on the Pegasus leg, over the darkening bruise, and rubbed for a few minutes. Already, the pain was numbing and Thunder Storm could somewhat move his leg again.
“There are more of this plant over there.” Observed Grassy Knoll, pointing at a large patch of grass. “We should gather some to bring back home.”
“We should also butcher the antelope before a predator come sniffing around.” Said Last Ember. “I’m sure we could find that plant grow elsewhere, but we don’t come across a dead monster too often.”
The ponies then got to the gruesome job. It was the first time any pony from the village had ever butchered an antelope, so they were all unfamiliar with the process and probably ruined much of the carcass. Nevertheless, they manage to salvage most of the pelt, two shank bones, some ribs and meat, a couple of organs and even an undigested iron lantern from inside its second mouth. On the ground, Grassy Knoll picked up the large flat tooth he had dislodged from the beast’s underbelly mouth. They also harvested a small batch of the acanthus plant before departing.
After a full week without news of the expedition, the villagers were getting anxious and a rescue team was formed to search for their comrades. Rapid Meadows and Comet Flash would be the scouting party, while Stone Hoof, Nova Star and Onyx Blade would form the bulk of the group.
The team only journeyed for two days when they came across a large verdant tree. The large red fruits hanging from its branches looked irresistibly appetizing. The ponies approached with drool dripping down their chin. Comet Flash was reaching for an apple with an eager hoof when Nova Star suddenly pinched him with her aura.
“Wait!” She screamed at the other ponies who all snapped back to reality. “Look around you.”
With a hoof, she swept over the many bodies lying all around the tree’s expansive network of roots. They were of all sorts of species, but most were ponies. The corpses were in various state of decay. The oldest were reduced to bones, while the most recent looked almost alive and had still their snout covered in red juice. Those unfortunate souls seemed to have gorged themselves to death with the delicious fruits and their corpses now served as nutrient for the banquet tree.
The horrified ponies were about to leave when the blue stallion noticed something hanging from one of the deceased ponies. It was a large waterskin and it seemed to be at least half full. Opening the cap, he approached it to his snout and was immediately assaulted by a terrible, pungent smell.
“Augh! I know exactly what this is!” He grimaced, throwing the pouch over his shoulder. It got caught midair by a light yellow aura.
“Wait, that might be useful later.” Remarked Nova Star, slinging the waterskin around her shoulder.
“Maybe, but you keep it.” Conceded Comet Flash. The light yellow mare smiled internally.
It didn’t take too long afterward for the two groups to join up. Both sides were quite relieved to have found each other like so. The hunters told the tale of the excursion while the rescuers marvelled at the bloody bounty their brethren were carrying. When they camped that night, they all merrily feasted on the remaining supplies. All except for Onyx Blade and Last Ember who had distanced themselves from the group to discreetly plot their next move.
When they arrived back at the Sanctuary the next day, the remaining ponies rushed to welcome them. Lavender hugged her mate so hard, he thought for a second he would die of suffocation. Grassy Knoll went to Blueberry to tell her of his bold exploit in the deep darkness. The blue mare barely listened, eyeing towards the largest of the stallions but not daring to approach him.
Winter Light barely spoke to anyone, instead grabbing the rough pelt to judge of its quality. The other ponies also came looking at the resources the hunters brought back to determine what they could make out of it.
“Woah! Now that is impressive!” Exclaimed the ocean blue mare, holding before her silver eyes the monster’s large flat tooth.
“Oh indeed! Can you believe that this creature has a second mouth under its belly? Wait a minute! Who are you?” Exclaimed Grassy Knoll once he realized he didn’t know his interlocutor.
At the sudden outburst, the other ponies turned towards the mysterious mare, some of them adopting a defensive posture while the others backed away a few feet. Fear and distrust was observable on all of their faces.
“Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself. Hi! I’m Vanishing Wind, and you must be Grassy Knoll, right? Nice to meet you!” Said the coal maned mare, offering a hoof to the light brown stallion. He gingerly bumped his own hoof with hers, still on his guard.
“How long have been here, Vanishing Wind?” Warily asked Nova Star. “And how did you find our village?”
“I was always here.” Replied the strange mare, eliciting a collective what from the other ponies.
“Explain yourself.” Ordered Comet Flash, coming forward a few steps toward her.
“You see, I was quite afraid when the lion attacked us right as we had woken up. So I flew here as fast as I could. But then all the others arrived and I wasn’t sure if they would be friendly or not, since I’m a bit different, so I hid myself until now.” She calmly explained.
“What do you mean by different?” Asked Stone Hoof.
“It would be easier if I just showed you.” Said Vanishing Wind, rising up and extending her wings.
They were leathery, in contrast to the pegasi feathered wings. Thin skin was stretching over long light bones. Looking closer, the other ponies remarked that the dark blue mare had small fangs in her mouth and her pupil were vertical slits, like that of a cat. She even had denser fur, mostly around her ears. All in all, the mysterious mare was indeed quite different.
“Can you prove you were here for this long?” Asked Nova Star who had slowly started to relax. “For example, do you know my name?”
“Your name is Nova Star. You’re the one who invented most of our language. You also built the first house and your coltfriend is Comet Flash, here.” Said Vanishing Wind, pointing at the blue stallion.
“He’s not my coltfriend!” Exclaimed the blushing yellow mare. “But otherwise, it’s all true.”
“It’s also information that no mere stranger would know.” Concurred Comet Flash. “But how come we never saw you before and for so long?”
“Well, I’m really good at hiding. Plus, I’m nocturnal. I just did most of my business when you were all asleep.” Explained the bat pony.
“Why did you choose to reveal yourself now, then?” Asked Stone Hoof.
“To be honest, I was getting lonely. And I felt like you were the kind of ponies that would accept me if I came clean. Would you?”
“Of course we would!” Exclaimed a cyan ball of energy, pouncing at the newcomer. “I’m so happy to have another friend to play with! We got to go flying around later on! Flying buddies for life!”
“Argh! Can you be less accepting please? I can’t breathe.” Pleaded the newcomer, eliciting the laughter of most of the other ponies.
Author's Note
Sorry for the delayed chapter, this Lantern Year revealed itself to be quite challenging to write. I came across more than a few hurdles I didn't expect so soon. Also, I fell sick in the middle of it.
We got our life principle. I had planned from the start to go with 'Survival of Fittest' because it gives my ponies the highest chance of (individual) survival. The other possibility makes reproduction far easier but the offspring aren't any stronger in return. Overall, they are quite equivalent in the long run, I just grew attached to my current set of survivors.
In a normal campaign, I would have kept going for lions until I crafted the full armor sets plus a bunch of other cool lion items but I thought it would make more sense narratively speaking to choose the screaming antelope for this year quarry. Bad move!
The antelope tend to move quite a lot during a hunt and I ended up crossing the 'Overwhelming Darkness' in Year 3, which is quite bad as you probably figured out reading this chapter. It also made the hunt part much longer than expected. I ended up using the Banquet Tree event on the return because I wasn't sure how to smoothly insert it into the hunt. Plus, it makes narrative sense to have events during the return from a hunt instead of just magically teleporting to the settlement.
As for the fight, let's just say that you got the abridged version. I cut many paragraphs worth of 'The Antelope ran that way, and then went the other way' while the ponies either missed or couldn't keep up. That monster is b**** and a half because of this and only get worse on stronger specimens (yay).
Introducing Vanishing Wind, the bat pony was quite refreshing for me. The 'Stranger in the Dark' has many possibilities, all related to a mysterious visitor, and the one I rolled was the poniest of them all. I made Vanishing a thestral to reflect her hiding nature. She came with a nice special ability that makes her harder to spot for the monster. It will be useful in the future.
The insanity is not over yet, guys! Tune in next time to see the ramification of this Year's events.
Once upon a time, there was a place of carved stone faces. A stallion with a lantern lay sleeping a dreamless sleep. The pony knew nothing. One day, the stallion woke up. He rubbed the dried ink over his eyes and opened them. Around him, he saw other ponies stirring, and beyond, a horizon of unbroken darkness. A mare approached the stallion with a lantern. Her soft hoof reached out to him. They had no words. They were a mystery to each other.
Suddenly, a monster emerged from the darkness, its eyes wild with hunger. It attacked. The ponies were no match for the monster. It tore their flesh and crushed their bones between its teeth. Some, it devoured whole.
Overcome with terror and grief, the stallion with a lantern collapsed to the ground. Cold stone snouts pushed into his side. There was no escape. But the stallion did not want to die. Desperately grasping at the cold stone faces, he felt a crack, and stomped at it with all his might. A piece of stone came free. It was sharp and deadly. The stallion with a lantern scrambled to his hooves, his weapon clenched in his wing. He took a deep breath and roared into the darkness. Somewhere in the place of stone faces, nameless ponies stand together. They have nothing but a need to survive and a lantern to light their struggle.
Undeterred, the monster charged at the stallion with a lantern, swiping at his barrel. Missing its target, the beast’s claw nevertheless left a gash in the blue stallion’s right foreleg. As the monster reared to attack again, a well placed stone violently crashed with the creature’s strangely shaped paw, leaving the limb hanging only by a thread of sinew. Following the projectile trajectory with his eye, the blue winged stallion saw another of his kin, wingless but massive, with a brown coat and light gray mane. The crowned beast’s pained cry gave hope to the ponies; the monster could be hurt.
Two more attackers came from behind, wildly swinging their sharp stone at the beast but it dodged them, the predator now aware of the threat it’s preys represented. The new assailants, both mares, one winged and another horned, circled around the beast, drawing its attention. It gave the blue stallion an opening to hit the beast’s knee, hot blood splattering all over his orange and yellow mane.
Now surrounded, the maned monster lunged at one of the mares, trying to finish the fight quickly with a swift bite to the neck. Small cyan wings fluttered to avoid to large maw that snapped mere inches from her snout. She swung her rock at the predator’s face while bouncing on the side, more as an attempt to evade its onslaught than to actually wound it. The muscular brown stallion, seeing the monster distracted, charged from the side and brutally kicked it with both rear legs. The beast, surprised, fell to the ground. The last two ponies pouncing at it with sharp stone but failed to significantly wound their target.
Scrambling to its paws, the monster clawed at the second mare but could only grasp a single strand of pink and white hairs. Believing the beast was getting exhausted, the ponies all swarmed it at once but it deftly dodged every attacks and even manage to retaliate with a quick blow to the blue stallion’s left wing and back leg. Sensing the fight turn in its favor, the monster swatted away the pink maned mare. She collapsed several feet behind, her front legs badly bruised. Again, it dodged all attacks and took another swipe at the winged stallion but he avoided the hit, savvy of the monster’s new strategy.
In a bold gamble to regain the momentum, the foam maned winged mare flew at the monster. She aptly dodged its grasping paw and stabbed at its temple, leaving a wide gash oozing blood down the beast’s snout. The blue stallion also pierced the predator with his sharp stone, this time in its right triceps. Getting desperate, the maned monster jabbed at its last attacker’s head and turned tail but the blue mare was on him, ripping at it’s back. The monster bucked and roared, clinging to life as much as it could. Neither stallions dared to approach the trashing beast, for fear of being crushed under it’s large paws or slashed by it’s deadly claws. A small distance away, the horned mare was getting back on her hooves with a renewed resolve. Something had clicked in her mind after that powerful blow. Lighting up her horn with the power of her mind, her light yellow aura grasped her sharp stone. Launching the rock forward with precision, the deadly projectile flew in the monster’s maw, pierced the palate and jammed itself in it’s brain. The beast fell limply.
The four ponies stepped back, warily, unsure if the monster was truly dead or playing another one of its tricks. The brown stallion gingerly poked at it. The beast did not respond. It was dead. They all breathed a sigh of relief. The fight was short but they had too many close calls. A single failed juke could have turned the whole fight in the monster’s favor. Looking around, they realized they were all alone. The other ponies were either dead or had fled into the darkness.
Quickly, they bandaged their wounds. This place wasn’t safe. The ponies had to move but for some reason, they couldn’t simply leave the monster’s corpse behind. The horned mare made a makeshift tarp from bits of cloth lying around the battlefield. Meanwhile, the two stallions butchered parts of the beast with sharp stones. They cut the strangely shaped paw, its elongated fingers dangling like a spider made them uneasy.
On the tarp, they piled some organs, sinew, bones and skin, and quickly left, lugging their bounty behind them. The cyan mare flew ahead, scouting for danger or safety alike. The survivors wandered in the darkness for a while until, in the distance, they saw a shimmering light. Drawn to it, they discovered a towering pile of lanterns and a small collection of scared ponies. On a deep, instinctual level, they knew this area was safe, and they made it their home.
Author's Note
And so it begins. Overall, it's a solid start for the campaign with no loses or severe injuries and I could keep three of my starting founding stones (though, to be honest, I would've scrapped the campaign and started a new one rather than spend any more stones). Also got a good variety of resources but more of that in the next chapter.
As far as format goes, every chapter will cover one full lantern year (settlement, hunt, showdown phases in that order). All ponies races (aside from natural births) and gender are randomized, except for my starting four, so expect some imbalance on that front.
Finally, I decided to grant a boon to my survivors depending on their race. Earth ponies get 1 strength, Pegasus 1 evasion and Unicorns 1 accuracy. I know its not in the rules, but I wanted to have an in-game mechanic that would reflect the survivor's species. Plus, it's going to help me reach further into the campaign. I don't want to have all my ponies killed right off the bat. From a narrative standpoint, that would make for a poor story in my opinion.
