The sweat rolled off the earth ponies forehead, his body sore as the harsh winds and scorching heat of the Equestrian Desert battered his body. Not exactly the happiest, he groaned as he stuck his shovel into the sand.
"Who the fuck said there was something out here? The only thing out here is sand and death!" he yelled, annoyed, and upset as his archeological dig officer. The officer just growled at him before taking a sip of his water. "If you want whatever's under the sand, you fucking dig for it!"
The hole the archeologist stood at the top was nearly several thousand feet deep. The lead said something about a cave in the desert at the coordinates of the dig site, something about how the cave was very narrow and very deep. The archeologist didn't know the details of the dig site, but after several months in the sand, chipping away at the walls of the cave to get closer to the bottom, he was beginning to feel like this was a waste of time. The sound of labored breathing and rushed footsteps came from behind, close to the ladder into the hole.
"S-Sir, we think we found it," another archeologist nearly fell over as he approached. He fell to his side panting and laughing softly as he rested, as the officer stood up and stretched. The climb down was very slow, the rickety wooden ladder creaking with every rung. Only a few ponies died during this dig, but the Equestrian Archeological Society would cover it up so no one would know anyone died. At the bottom of the cave, everyone had gathered around what looked like a large metal plate, writing, runes, and symbols inscribed into the metal via welding marks. The letters were nothing that anyone there had ever seen.
"What the hell is it?" Someone asked as several earth ponies got closer. The sheet appeared to connect to more sheets that entered the floor of the cave.
"It looks like a box... a massive one at that..." The officer mumbled as he got closer. "Alright, get to the top and throw down some chains, we need to pull this thing out!"
Ponies dispersed quickly, everyone's curiosity peaked as they went to quickly begin digging this thing out.
The chains connected to the metal with a magical connection, as the pullies slowly began to turn as the chain go taut and the container begins to rise. The container rose and swung, hitting the edge of the cave, causing sand and debris to fall to the floor of the cave, but the container remains intact and looks spotless except for the many welding marks. After a while, the container is placed squarely on the desert sand, the wind whistling against the side of the container. Everyone stared at the doors to the metal container, before two ponies approached to open it. The two grab the handles to the container and pull with all their might, before the doors open with a low, groaning creak.
Inside was more inscribing on the metal, except this time the inscriptions appeared to be of dried blood. There were several crates and wooden boxes on the floor of the container, but most surprising of all is what in the middle of the container. In the middle of the container, held up by chains and meat hooks, was a creature. The figure was like a minotaur except he had no fur on his body, except for the hair on his head. The figure was dressed in a black straight-jacket with the same inscriptions burnt into the fabric.
"W-What in Tartarus is this?" The officer asks, before looking at someone. "Someone message the royals, we need their help out here."
No one approached the corpse, afraid of the creature and the contents of the container. Everyone sat around, waiting for the royals to arrive, the soft sound of ponies popping up are heard nearby.
"I was told this was a top priority, so this better be damned important," the voice said as he approached the officer.
"Your highness, we found something that... well it lacks description," the officer explained, as he leads the king over to the entrance to the container. The officer bowed his head as the king looked into the container, a bemused look on his face as he enters the container.
"Hmm... I don't know what language this is, definitely isn't anything I've seen in the past 5000 years, but I do know that these runes are something I've seen before," the king speaks, examing the many runes and symbols. "The symbols too, both of them are used in binding or trapping spells, but these are far more advanced than anything I've ever seen, the strongest I've ever seen was a trap spell used by me and my wife when we encaged more or less a god, but this creature?"
"W-Would you like to have some time to examine the container, my highness?" the officer asks, his tone shaky as he stares at the massive alicorn.
"No, I like having something to speak to when I investigate something, it's why I'm one of the best mages in all of Eques," he boasts, before laughing. "That and several millennia to practice... The creature is held up by what appears to be silver meat hooks, chains appear to be solid steel."
The king slowly moves in closer to the creature, looking over its body. He frowns before his horn lights up and the several crates and boxes float out of the container and outside.
"Open them, I want to see what is inside," the king demands, his tone flat and authoritative. He exits the container as well, waiting for the boxes to open. He doesn't have to wait long, as the crates are cracked open, one pony crying softly as he steps on a nail, blood oozing from the sole of his hoof. Inside the crates were many books and journals, the pages yellowed with time, but still readable. That is if the text was something the ponies could read, but it was the same text as the words on the container. "Damn, I'll have Starswirl translate this."
Inside the container, the smell of blood hit the corpse's nose, sending signals off inside the creature's head. It wanted to move, but couldn't, the many inscriptions made movement impossible.
"Alright, put everything back into the container, close it, and get the container to the castle... by the time you get there, I'll have a place for it planned, and this excavation is to be kept off the books, no one should know about this except us," the king announced, before clearing his throat. "If anyone says a thing about this, you and the pony you told will vanish from Equestrian history."
With a final threat to ensure ponies stayed quiet, the king teleported out of the desert, leaving the archeologists to pack up and prepare to leave.
"Dad, where you go?" the small filly asked, wanting to know of her father's adventures. The stallion sighed before he smiled.
"Maybe I'll tell you when you're older, Celestia," the king told his daughter, before putting the young princess on his back. "Come, let's go see if we can find your mother, see if she wants anything?"
MANY MILLENIUM LATER
With a shallow cough, Celestia weakly kept up the shield against the barrage of attackers. Twilight fired attack after attack at the slowly advancing enemy, but nothing seemed to stop them. Celestia looked at Twilight, blood flowing down her brow as she growled softly, before looking around her. The entrance hall to the castle of Canterlot was destroyed, rubble and debris lay everywhere, as many unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi fought for their freedom and survival. These weren't soldiers, these were civilians, they were scared and desperate. As Celestia looked around, the words of her father echoed in her head.
"If you feel like you are about to lose Equestria, there is a special weapon underneath the castle, deep in the dungeon... it will help you," the words echoed through her head. She never wanted to use a weapon that could be that powerful, but right now her country and ponies were on the line, and damned if she was going to it fall today.
"T-Twilight, I need you to go to the dungeon, at the bottom of the dungeon... there should be a weapon there that can help us... I need you to go get it," Celestia told Twilight, her words weak as she strained to keep the magical shield up that was keeping the attackers out of Canterlot castle. Twilight looked up at her mentor, fear plastered on her face, before nodding and running off for the dungeons.
Twilight ran quickly through the crumbling halls, before reaching the solid steel door that leads to the dungeon. Twilight swallowed her anxiety as she threw the door open and raced down the stone stairs, using her wings to help speed up her descent and balance her to keep her from tumbling forward. Her breathing was ragged and her heart was pounding, her limbs begged for a rest and she struggled to keep her eyes open. The surprise war that was declared on Equestria was unannounced, as all the neighboring countries began to attack. The changelings, the buffalos, the griffons, the yaks, even some ponies. Everyone began to attack Equestrian supply trains, towns, and farms before Equestria could muster any form of militaristic defense.
Twilight shook her head as she raced through the dungeons, before sliding to a stop in front of a door. The door had a denied entrance rune welded into the metal, which denied entrance to anyone not allowed by the maker of the rune. She slowly reached for the handle to the door, before pushing it open. More stairs lead deeper into the pitch-black darkness, but as she stepped forward, her horn lit up, casting enough light to see. She felt like she walked down hundreds, if not thousands of stairs before reaching the bottom. The room was large, but in the middle was a large steel container, similarly to shipping containers she's seen at the Manehattan docks. The container had symbols, runes and words etched into the metal. Something about this made her stomach queasy, the air felt like needles, and her legs felt like concrete. The long-distance between the stairs and the container made her realize how much her head hurt, the wound bleeding profusely.
She reached for the doors of the container, grabbing the handles and throwing them open. She gasped as she stared at the contents. A single creature was suspended in the middle by several meathooks.
"I thought it was supposed to be a weapon, not a... a corpse," Twilight asked herself, hoping for some sort of indication that this was correct. She entered the container, approaching the creature. It was completely naked, it's skin having had similar runes carved into its skin, runes of binding. As she drew closer and closer, the creature sniffed the air, startling Twilight enough to make her fall on her haunches.
"Release Me," a deep male voice echoed through her head, making Twilight look around in a panic.
"W-Who's there!" She shouted out, as she backed further and further into the container, before stopping and looking at the creature. "H-Hello?"
"W-Who are you?" The same deep male voice echoed through her head, weakness echoing through its voice. Twilight looked around.
"M-My name is Twilight Sparkle, are you the weapon Celestia mentioned?" as Twilight spoke Celestia's name, the creature twitched, blood pouring from the wounds, making Twilight nearly choke.
"Y-Yes, I served King Nebula and his family," the voice echoed in Twilights head. Twilight's ears twitched at the name King Nebula.
"King Nebula is dead," Twilight told the creature.
"I know, I felt his ownership over me end several thousand years ago," the creature told her. "I no longer serve the royal family."
"W-What? B-But if you're the weapon Celestia spoke of, we need your help!" Twilight yelled at the corpse, before grunting and turning away.
"I need someone to serve, it is for the safety of the planet," the corpse whispered into Twilight's mind.
"Y-You could serve me, we need help," Twilight told the corpse. She turned around slowly as she looked at the body.
"I am sworn to your side, Twilight Sparkle, I shall protect you with my life, and follow your every command," the body twitched again, but this time it didn't stop, the body moved as the meathooks were pulled from the creature's body, peeling away flesh as it fell to its knees. As he lands on his knees, the many engravings on the container and the creature glow a soft red.
"If you are to follow my every command then defend this castle," Twilight told the kneeling corpse, who ignored her for the time being. The corpse slowly and stiffly moved forward towards small drops of blood on the floor of the container. A low growl emanated from the being as he lowered his head, opened his mouth as rows of sharp teeth lined his mouth, his tongue falling out and licking at the scattered drops of blood. "W-What are you doing?"
"Drinking," the corpse answered as he kept licking at the blood, before looking up at the terrified alicorn. His eyes were clear, his pupils were a deep crimson red as he slowly stood up, the wounds on his body slowly closing as he walked forward. "Let's go, Mistress."
"M-Mistress? J-Just call me Twilight," the alicorn princess stammered, a soft blush covering her face. The tall figure looked down at her, smirking. The creature stood at about six feet tall, his pitch-black hair hung down to the middle of his torso, stopping just under his pecs. Despite being absolutely terrifying, he was almost hypnotically handsome. Twilight found herself enraptured in his features, as she looked up at his red eyes. She noticed she had stood there for around a minute just staring, as she shook her head hard and blushed a deep red as she looked down. "Let's go."
Twilight began walking towards the stairs leading up to the main part of the dungeon, the tall figure following along behind her. She looked back at him, before walking up the stairs. Her mind raced with so many questions, that it hurt to think about anything else. What was he, who was he, how did Celestia find him, why did he lick my blood?
"Um... What's your name?" Twilight asked softly, barely higher than a whisper, as the creature smirked. He kept walking, unresponding as he left the small pony in suspense. He finally sighed as they walked up the stairs.
"I have gone by numerous names, all of them wrong," he answered her, a solemn look on his face. "I have been called things like Dracula, monster, demon... none of them are wrong, but they are not my true name."
"What is your true name?" Twilight asked as they reached the top of the stairs. She was a bit surprised as she walked into the dungeon, it felt like she had run down so many more stairs than she walked up.
"Lazarus," he uttered, a hint of disgust in his tone. He continued to follow the alicorn, up and out of the dungeon into a hallway.
"That's a kinda cool name," Twilight told him, as she walked quickly towards the entrance hall, her heart pounding in her chest. She was screaming internally that she wanted to run, but something seemed to compel her to walk, and it was driving her crazy.
"Twilight... your heart is racing, calm yourself," Lazarus spoke up, as he looked down at the pony. Twilight was shocked, how could he tell? She kept her exterior calm and collected, how did he know that she was melting down inside? The two of them enter into the entrance hall, several ponies seeing the creature and panicking, ready to attack him, before Celestia saw him, barely awake as several other ponies helped her keep the magical shield.
"C-Calm ponies, he is here to help," Lazarus stared at the weakened Celestia, no emotions showing on his face. Lazarus walked forward, before kneeling in front of Celestia. "It has been a long time Lazarus since my father locked you back up in your container."
"I have no hatred towards you or your father, he did what he needed to," Lazarus told her, before looking towards the entrance. He stood and approached the barrier, the many species outside stopping to look at the figure. He smirked, as he looked at them. "Twilight, do I have permission to attack?"
"U-Um... yes?" Twilight uttered before Lazarus walked through the magical barrier, barely affected by it. "Celestia... what is he?"
Lazarus had his head down as he walked outside into the sun, before glancing up at the many attackers, his eyes filled with a mixture of blood rage and thirst. A changeling wielding a short steel sword charged forward, stabbing the tall figure in the chest, causing several attackers to laugh, and several defending ponies to gasp and sigh. Lazarus smirked as he grabbed the sword and pulled it through him, till he could grab the throat of the colorful changeling, lifting the squirming changeling into the air, before digging his teeth into his carapace and drinking the blood from the crying changeling.
"In simple, short, and sweet terms, he is a vampire," Celestia smirked as she watched the changeling slowly dry up. Lazarus through the changeling to the side, his body unmoving as his body physically reacted to the blood he drank, becoming toned and fit instead of thin. He looked upwards at the hundreds of attackers at the doors to the castle. "Give him an order, and he will fulfill it better than any soldier."
Lazarus attacked, he moved quicker than the eye could follow. He took no damage from weapons or magic, and he seemed to grow stronger with every combatant he killed. To everyone else, it was terrifying. To Twilight, it was beautiful, a mix of carnage and dance as he killed his way through the many species before him.