Chapter 3: Captured- massacre at ice vien mill

A light rain fell upon the already soggy earth below, the smell of pine and clean air brought delight to anypony who smelled the fine aroma, but near the ice vein river that was a whole other story. Instead of the polite smell of pine and fresh air, the smell of death and decay, a smell foreign to the lands of Equestria, dominated anypony who smelt it. Its origin coming from a wagon full of rotting flesh, in a clearing, a camp of gore and horror.

Whimpering was heard, two women one human the other elf and two mares, one unicorn and earth pony were gagged and bound, scared out of their wits, across from them in the same predicament were two stallion ponies. The two stallions tried desperately to wriggle out, but couldn't, originally they used to be three, now, the two looked across towards a campfire, where seven large and visions creatures sat eating the raw flesh of their friend. Ponies watched in disgust as one of the creatures bit into the dead stallion's kidneys, but what made this whole scene grueling was not that they were eating him, but they disemboweled him while he was still alive. The creatures came in all sizes, three of them were half the size of the others roughly the size of a pony a little above waist height, whereas the other four were larger, with one of them being a foot larger.

Lieutenant Sclauk sat with his brood feasting on one of the creatures they killed, the Hurlock Alpha sat biting and tearing a chunk of bloody meat of the ponies femur, much of the meat was good, yet very little to feed the whole party. That didn't bother him whatsoever though, for their goal was met, though with one minor flaw, one of the flying creatures escaped, flying back to whatever cesspool it came from. That was hours ago, and the group put considerable distance from the attack site, leaving nothing but blood and discarded armor, these creatures were wearing. Now they had to wait, wait in a world they knew nothing about and in doing so decided to feast on one of the creatures, they all enjoyed his screams, especially when he was gutted and had his intestines pulled out. He was dead now, and the entertainment of his screams were over, but his face still held terror and that was good enough entertainment as any, even after he defecated himself.

A twig snapping caught their attention, grabbing their weapons they readied for attack growling in delight for a chance to kill, capture, or feast, but they were disappointed when the group was met with their contact. Arriving from the bushed was another hurlock alpha, but slightly taller than Sclauk , he wore the same heavy plated armor, but the only difference were the tribal markings on it and the battleaxe he had. Sclauk sheathing his greatsword to his back and putting his helmet on, greeted his contact.

“General Grelch, glad you ca-”-crack- Sclauk found himself on the floor, unsure of what he did, but he knew better, for their master saw all and he wasn't pleased.

Grelch was in no mood for pleasantries, he may have been glad his lieutenant captured two female and three male creatures, but that didn't excuse for the one escaping. “Can your greetings Sclauk, Urthemiel saw the one fleeing and his master is not pleased” he growled at the last word, their master Urthemiel, the archdemon was furious for this failure, for their mission was to make sure the populace of this nation didn't know about their presence. Now with one escaping, their presence has been alerted, fortunately the blood from their wounded has managed to gain them some spies and troops in the form of woodland creatures. To their fortune one was sensed nearby and scurried its way towards them, once it arrived, to the ponies shock and horror, they were met with a squirrel with matted fur, blood dripping from its mouth and spikes growing out of its back.

“Report” Grelch growled to the demented creature, what he received were demented squeaks and small guttural roars, Grelch smiled after hearing the spies report before scurrying away.

He turned towards his lieutenant “well, today's your lucky day, I was going to mount your head on a pike, but it would seem your escapee alerted reinforcements in a sizable manner. A sizable force of twenty, but it would seem their champion had other intentions and is leading half the force, kill this champion and I'll forgo your execution!”

Sclauk gritted his teeth in delight of getting to butcher a hero of this land, but another plan came to mind, one the general and archdemon can't refuse “sir, what if I intentionally got captured, I could then strike a blow to their leaders!”

Grelch was about to counter, furious a lesser alpha tried to subvert him, but held his tongue after hearing his master speak “our master is in your favor lieutenant, to help your odds I'll leave additional reinforcements-” he turned to leave ordering several genlock and hurlocks to stay behind, he looked back “-and be sure to capture as many as you can, but I want that champion dead!”

Walking away with the rest of his force, he stopped by a bush and spoke to the occupant, a shriek hiding in the darkness “be sure he gets captured!” he left, leaving his order to the shriek.

Goldbeam and his force arrived in a clearing, instantly the smell of rotting flesh and the sight of a half eaten stallion told them they arrived at their destination, the sight of a still lit campfire confirming it further. His force soon spread out, looking for clues or traces to where the creatures went to next, the only thing that caught their eyes were the wheel marks from a wagon leading out of the clearing. What confused him were two sets of tracks, one going with the wagon and the other, bushes shook, his mane standing on end, he felt as if they’re being watched. The other set of tack were all around as if, he jumped when Flashpoint a unicorn lieutenant nugged him, he turned to see the officers worried face.

“Sir, something's not right, there's nothing here, yet it feels like there is.” the whole force felt it, yet nopony dared show it until now. Nodding he took the unicorns' consideration, but this was just the first stop, his main objective was simple: capture the Lunar well for princess Celestia and raise the Equestrian banner over the town.

A unicorn mare inched slowly towards a bush, she knew she heard something coming from it, as if she heard low growls, at first she thought it was nothing, but the growls were heard closer this time. Using her spear, she parted a bush and peered in, she didn't get a second to look until a hand shot out and grabbed her throat, she was pulled in before she even let out a scream. The squad turned to where she was only to see the armor she wore get thrown back out, roar was heard and bushes all around them began to shake, Goldbeam turned his head and caught sight of a greatsword flying towards his head.

Sclauk seethed in delight, his sword just struck its first kill, seconds ago he gave the order to attack after one of the female creatures decided to poke her head into one of their hiding spots. Now she’s being taken care of, her body stripped of its armor and violently handled, her body treated as a piece of meat, while he stood over the body of the champion creature, his head severed from its body. The other creatures looked on in horror, it was too easy, they put up no resistance, as they were too shocked to see their champion lie dead upon them. Now one by one they were taken, males and females taken by his squad to be whatever the darkspawn wanted. Yet he knew the second group wouldn't be far behind, if this group disobeyed orders, the shriek soon came out of hiding.

“Are you ready?” he hissed, eager to see its mission through.

Sclauk was always ready, but he needed to throw the other group off their trail, he turned to the shriek "I am, but once I'm down take a small force and find a way to distract the second group from following our trail”. The shriek hissed complying to its new orders and in a quick speed knocked the lieutenant out with a firm crack to his head.

Luna in full armor galloped with her squad, as they tried to catch up with Goldbeam and his rogue ponies, they just hoped they’re not too late, hopefully there were survivors, she sent Snapp Shot ahead to let them know they were coming. Breaking through the bushes and into the clearing, Luna caught sight of her scout on his fore knees, looking up she saw why, spread eagle and armor less on several trees was Goldbeam. His decapitated body strewn for all to see and used as a symbol of victory, to add insult to injury were his skinned off cutie marks, Luna disgusted figured these creatures took them as trophies. Snapp Shot though was eyeing something else too, a figure laid on the ground, getting closer her mouth hung open in shock, their laying motionless was one of the dark creatures. Standing next to her scout, she inspected the creature's armor and body, its smell quickly caught her nose as she reeled back from the stench.

“Goldbeams group never had a chance-” Snapp shot stated as he did an earlier inspection before the others arrived “-yet the only body we see is Goldbeams, the others missing, most likely captured!”

“Then we need to save them!” Luna urged, the rest of their group soon arrived, some of them out of breath from the equipment they carried. Upon seeing Goldbeams body some nonchalantly rushed over to the nearest bush and vomited, the Sirish stallion looked closer at the body.

“It's a symbol of victory lads-” he turned to the others “-these things have a tribal mind”.

A mare wiped her mouth of vomit, a look of disgust on her face “and how exactly do you know that!?” ponies listened intently as Scotch explained how he knew.

“Some of the ancient griffons of Eagleland used to do this to ponies, minus the cutie mark skinning, the griffons did something else entirely.” another mare named Thornpoint nodded confirming his story.

“I remember that-” the black and brown maned mare replied “-it was the Sirish revolution, it ended with the ponies winning the war against Eagleland.”

Luna was confused, she never knew of this kind of history “when did this happen?” she asked “and what did the griffons do?”

Hard Scotch tapped his chin “roughly four hundred years ago” he gave a rough estimate, being from Sirland he had to know the history and how his nation became independent from the griffons. “As for what they did, ponies, mostly stallions who were imprisoned were either gelded or executed, mostly to strike fear in everypony else. If it wasn't for the aid of Prance, Sireland would've fell.

“Ponies! Can we get back on hoof-” Lotusthorn, a white and pink maned pony with a spike lotus flower, raised her voice irritated by every ponies distraction. “-While all of you were in class, I went ahead and found tracks leading to the west!”.

Ignoring her sarcasm Snapp Shot checked the tracks, being a markspony, one needed to track in order to find his or her’s prey, but something was off these tracks were too few for an attack on this scale. He heard Luna stop next to him as he studied the tracks.

“Anything?” she asked

He nodded “they moved west, towards the coast, at a fast pace, lead by one of stealth, towards-” he stood up, alarmed at what he found out and without warning he took off galloping.

“Snapp Shot!” Luna hollered beginning to give chase, as the others looked at each other worried, not wanting to be left behind they gathered the unconscious creature and Goldbeams corpse.

Hours after chasing the markspony at full gallop, Luna panted and saw the stallion just sitting at the edge of the forest, trotting over until she called to him.

“Snapp Shot what's got into you, I nearly passed out from exhaustion-” she just saw him staring in shock, a single tear going down his cheek “-Snapp?” she finally asked worriedly, but she didn't need an answer when she saw what he was looking at. The sight can be anything, but picturesque, a small village made roughly of seven buildings was left smoldering, its inhabitants butchered beyond recognition. Snapp Shot stood up and walked to the town, Luna following closely behind, too mortified to know where to begin, or what to say. The town was gone and its inhabitants were all over the place, literally, what could she say, 'sorry I just recently came back!?' The mare heard a rustle ahead of her and saw Snapp Shot on his fore knees weeping in front of a two story house, behind it a water mill. The realization soon hit her, kneeling next to him she said what she thought.

“This was your home wasn't it? This is where you grew up.” he nodded to her, sobbing at his on foalhood home.

“Yea, I grew up here-” he said sniffing, then standing up “-pa used to work at the lumber mill, paying for this house. This was also where he met ma-” he looked over the building, it wasn't completely destroyed, only the second floor. He turned to her smiling, “-you want to come inside?” She smiled back accepting the offer.

Entering the home, he began to talk about his younger days with his brother “you may not know this, but my brother is also named Snapshot, but with one P at the end and all one word. Pa thought it wired and it threw him off, especially when he called us, he’d start by saying Snapp with double PP, or Snap with one P, get your flank over here!-” he chuckled, remembering a prank he and his brother pulled “-one time we both came to him and spoke at the same time after he called us, boy was he pissed when he found out it was a prank.” Luna chuckled with him, his story bringing up old memories of her and Celestia when they were younger and pulled pranks on each other or the castle staff. He sighed “later my brother changed his name from Snapshot to Photoshot, he thought it would be better since he’s into photography than being a markspony” Luna nodded, she understood why he changed his name, but also knew he still called him Snapshot.

The house was fairly large, immediately to their left was the kitchen and hall to the restrooms, to their right is the living room and dining room further to the back. Ahead of them is the stairwell to the second floor, underneath is the stairwell to the basement, further back behind the stairs was the larder. A crash soon caught their ears, pinpointing it, they realized it came from the basement, rushing to the stairwell, Snappshot carefully trotted down the stairs, Luna following close behind. Reaching the door, he firmly pressed his hoof to it, but it didn't budge and figured sompony barricaded the door from the other side.

“Is anypony in there!?” he asked hoping sompony would reply and hopefully open up for them, to his surprise somepony did and he was ready for it.

“Please, don't hurt us, we mean no trouble” Snapp shot did a double take from the voice.

“SNAPSHOT!?”

“SNAPP!?” The door opened a crack revealing a ponies green eyes, shock soon enveloped him as he opened the door further. Standing at the door was a yellow stallion with a blue mane, his cutie mark resembled that of a flashing camera. He staggered back upon seeing his brother, not caring if he was in the view of a princess, the two quickly embraced tears falling from the brothers eyes.

“By the night's grace, I thought you were dead!” the photographer replied as the two ended their embrace, earning a mournful chuckle from the markspony.

“I could've said the same for you!” he said, thinking the same thing about his brother, Luna's throat clearing soon brought him out of his mournful stupor as he soon introduced the two.

“Ah, Snapshot, I like to introduce you to the princess of night herself, princess Luna” he stepped aside as Luna greeted herself to Snapps brother.

“Is he ever so modest?” she asked as she shook Snapshots hoof, she didn't mind if ponies bowed, but if its a quick greeting, or if she's on a schedule, then she’ll opt for a hoofshake.

Snapshot chuckled “only if he’s trying to make a good impression, or has a crush on a mare” the photographer smiled remembering the last mare he introduced.

Snapp looked at him unamused “you know i didn't plan that three way and how do you expect me to know she slept with our cousin!” he looked over to Luna “old marefriend, don't ask.” All Luna could do was nod, insinuating that whatever happened was between the two, figuratively and literally.

“I-is it safe to come out” the three looked back to see a young dark and light blue unicorn filly, Snapshot facehooved forgetting about the filly with him.

“I completely forgot-” he said as he made introductions “-everypony I'd like you to meet Rapid-” he then introduced the ponies to Rapid “-Rapid this is my brother Snappshot, or Snapp for short and this is princess Luna, princess of the night.”

The young filly was mesmerized by Luna's mane “you’re mane is very pretty” she said complimenting Luna's mane, she smiled at the compliment.

“Thank you, you’re mane is pretty too and I like your name as well. How’d you get your name?” The filly looked down ashamed by her name, but her mane was pretty, it was light blue with stars in it, similar to Luna's mane, yet it wasn't flowing.

“I-I fell in the rapids of ice vein river, that's how I got my name, my older brother got me out before anything bad happened, he cared for me when ma and pa passed.-” she broke down crying remembering her brother “-I miss him so much (sobbing)!”

Snapshot looked to Luna and his brother “her brother was killed trying to protect her from these creatures, my guess is they're the same ones you’re looking for” the two sadly nodded confirming.

Leaving the house, Snapp looked back to it, sighing he placed his hoof on one of the front walls, he soon felt his brother's hoof on his shoulder and quickly the two embraced. Snapshot while leaving the house informed the ponies what happened during the attack, to sum it up, it was a surprise attack and the village was ill prepared. Snapshot told them the attack lasted for thirty minutes, all the while he took pictures of the attack with his camera, capturing evidence of these horrendous fiends. He passed the pictures around to the other two, minus Rapid who was too young to view such graphic photos. Both Luna and Snapp stared in shock at the photos they saw, ponies young and old slaughtered, mares dragged away to who knows where along with some stallions. What disgusted them the most were ponies tied to houses and makeshift posts, fast photos were taken of stallions being gutted alive, with some even gelded, for the amusement of one hunchbacked darkcreature. The sight of this creature's weapons, a two and a half foot long blade coming out of both wrists unnerved the two, Snapp even winced at the sight of it slicing a stallion's sack open, making him cross his legs in mental pain.

“Sickening!” Luna scoffed, just the sight of these fiends made her stomach turn and seeing them gutting and torturing ponies for sheer amusement infuriated her.

Hard Scotch soon trotted up to Luna, he and a few others searched and secured the perimeter, yet he felt off “lass we secured the area, but something's not right, its as if we’re being watched. It’s best if we head back to the city.” she didn't want to, but if what Scotch is saying is true, then they're in a prime ambush spot, nodding she addressed the ponies.

“Alright every pony we’re mass teleporting to Canterlot, so hold your mouths and pucker your holes!” Luna's warning of mass teleportation brought them to gather their gear and huddle close by, so the spell won't be as taxing. Luna knew this spell was going to be tricky, for one mass teleportation wasn't easy, there were side effects, some minor ones like vomiting or voiding one's bowels. Whereas others were more lethal, such as turning inside out or, Equestria forbid morphing together in one big mass. Taking a breath she relaxed and charged the spell, concentrating a blue sphere enveloped them and in a bright blue flash, the group disappeared.

A guard walked patrolling the busy streets of Canterlot, ponies soon screamed when a crash came from the market, rushing over the guard was met with princess Luna and her remaining group. Ponies groaned after experiencing mass teleportation for the first time and many regretted it, some more so due to not puckering their holes. Hard Scotch slowly stood up and felt as if he drank an entire brewery, of course he’s been shitfaced before, the dizziness and teetering still got to him “oh bollocks” he said falling over on his side.

“Oh dear Equestria!” Snapp panicked rushing over to the nearest trash bin and vomited “whe-when did I have apples and carrots!?” Snapp just stood using his hind legs, his head still occupying the trash bin.

“Celestia's tits, I'm going to shit myself” quickly a mare she rushed to a potted plant and let go, “oh bucking balls I feel like I'm giving birth” she groaned clenching her forelegs over her stomach. All the ponies spectated, some laughing, others disgusted, while some were sympathetic and went to offer aid.

The guard rushed over to Luna and bowed “your highness are you okay? Do you need anything?” Luna groaned at his request.

“M-my sister get my sister and for the love of Equestria get a bag!” she hurked covering her mouth, her face turning green.

Author's Note

Here it is chapter three So what do you think, is Luna going to see her sister or vomit her lunch out and what is Grelch up to and why does the archdemon suddenly interested in equestria. I’d love to hear you think, please R&R on what you think.