Chapter 1: Ominous gatherings
Hoofsteps reverberated in the cold and still air of the dark forest.
It was nighttime. The half moon shined in the deep blue sky, as if Luna was casting a dispassionate gaze on the world below. The stars formed her new flowing mane and tail, the sign of her regained godhood.
The lonely hooded figure look at the nightly shroud upon her. Her people was fearful of the stars, they bore omens of misfortune and forbidden secrets. Yet she couldn’t help but to appreciate the dark alicorn work, she could orchestrate the light of the stars and the hues of the sky to create a celestial painting worthy of the most visionary of artists.
The branches occluded her view of the sky and the figure attention returned to the forest. The light from the moon barely passed trough the thick foliage of the contorted trees, illuminating the dark trunks, moss and fungi with a sickly white. The shadows were creeping from all directions, but were kept away by the light of the intruder firefly lantern.
A narrow path departed the underbrush, a sign that the hooded figure passed in this section of the forest many times. She was accustomed to the forest, knew its dangers and how to avoid them. The lantern she held in her mouth emitted a soft ghastly glow, fooling dangerous creatures to disregard her as a Will-ò-the-Wisp, and her hood and cape concealed her natural scent.
After am arch formed by two large trees she arrived at her destination, an open field of star shaped flowers. The moon projected her light over the clearing, a small river was flowing in the middle. The figure move down her hood revealing a zebra with turquoise eyes, golden neck rings and earrings.
Zecora placed the lantern pole in the ground and looked at the field, counting the mature flowers amongst the closed buds. These were Moonflowers, they opened only under the moonlight and the phases of the moon could influence the magical proprieties of the plant. The flowers blossomed under the half moon for example could calm emotions and clear the mind after a hangover.
“Properly prepared indeed a very useful plant, this brand will help Twilight to finally stand.” Zecora chuckled to herself in her exotic voice, thinking of the purple unicorn recent interest in alcoholic beverages. She started picking the flowers and putting them in the saddlebags under her cape, once harvested the flowers degraded quickly so she needed to be be swift.
The air of the forest was chilling, a soft breeze moving the clouds in the starry sky. It was the winter season, the nights were longer and the pegasi were preparing the weather for the snow. None of them ever controlled the skies above the Everfree though, the dark forest had the ability to discern by itself the seasons and manipulate its own climate accordingly. The ponies in the nearby Ponyville were almost scared of the forest independence, to them it was an unnatural place with savage beasts who hunt and slaughter each other. To the zebra herbalist it was simply a place with its own magic and rules, like the tropical forests of Zebrica.
At the fifth flower Zecora heard a rustling in the trees on her far left.
Immediately she turned to the direction of the noise, focusing on any movement in the shadows. The field wasn’t too deep in the forest to encounter some of the largest monsters of the Everfree, most of the lesser creatures were harmless or slow enough for making a quick escape. Still this was the Everfree, home to lurking horrors who could jump you both from the sky and under the ground, intelligent plant forms who took pleasure in spilling the blood of the weak. Safety here was relative.
The rustling came closer, Zecora could see a form moving in the branches. It was big as a pony but agile, she almost missed it for it had a dark grey fur.
More noises, like fluttering of wings. The zebra moved with the sound, keeping the unknown creature directly in front of her, ready to jump away when the intruder would have made his move. The soft flowing of the river became closer.
The creature was on the front trees now, a few meters from Zecora, she could see the fronds trembling as the branches bent under its weight. She was now next to the river, the predator would think to have cornered her but the zebra was fast and agile herself, and with a few enchantress tricks.
From a shadowy opening in the foliage two amber colored lights flashed. The eyes stared at Zecora unmoving, without blinking. A soft hiss escaped from the leaves and the moonlight shined from large sharp fangs.
“AAHHOOOOOOLLLLL!!!”
Zecora ducked to the ground as the dark form swooped out of the trees and flew past her, hook-like claws swishing in the air. In an instant the zebra stood up and turned around, reading one of her fog potions latched under her cape.
To her surprise the creature stopped in the middle of the river, its membranous bat wings were thrashing around. After a moment the monster took flight again but only to land on the opposite shore. Using the wings for balance it turned around, Zecora could see it had a monkey-like head with large ears. Held firmly in its claws was a large squirming trout, the creature bashed the fish’s head on the river’s rock bank killing it. Leaning its body on the trout the monster started eating its prey with gusto.
Zecora relaxed and tucked away the bottle of green powder. It was a Ahool, a frightening but harmless giant bat with a diet mostly of fish. The zebra approached the river shore and cast an irritated look at the nocturnal creature “I’m glad the object of your hunt isn’t this mare, but was it necessary to give me such a scare?”
The Ahool lifted his head and stared curious at Zecora, the zebra winced slightly disgusted at the fish entrails dangling from his mouth. After a few seconds the creature returned to his dinner and swallowed the last bloody remains. After licking his lips clean he went to the river to lap at some water.
Zecora was a bit puzzled at the presence of the beast in the Everfree. Usually the Ahools inhabited the forests in the eastern Equestria near the Tramplevanian Alps. Also they weren’t often seen hunting in winter because of the cold temperatures.
Suddenly the Ahool casted his gaze to the forest, his large ears twisting around frantically. Without a sound he took flight heading to the left and disappearing above the trees.
With her eyes Zecora followed confused the creature as it left. She trotted near the trees, pitching her own ears and trying to discover what had caught the Ahool attention so abruptly. She could hear the wind carrying some muffled sounds, maybe chanting or music, narrowing her eyes she could spot a flicker of fire light in the thick of the woods.
“Some one else is here? What is this sound that I hear?”
Curiosity in the Everfree was a very dangerous vice. It led unsuspecting ponies into field of poisonous plants, sometimes harmless and annoying as the Poison Joke, other times so deadly and cruel to cause untold pain and misery to their victims before killing them. Applebloom told her how in her younger days Granny Smith walk into a whole pack of Timber Wolves, the carnivore treants, as she was searching for new fruits to give to her starving family.
This could be something similar, a group of lost ponies who were making camp in the cold forest. About to be scared out of their hooves by an innocuous large bat-monkey monstrosity, probably in search of a fruit dessert to his meal.
Zecora went to pick up her firefly lantern, she spent too much time with the Ahool and her moonflowers had lost too much energy. There were others in the field, she could pick up another batch after dealing with the newcomers.
She was used to find ponies wandering the forest, they always say to fear and shun the place but they ventured in its depts almost nonchalantly. Maybe it was the forest itself, projecting a dark aura like a honey-scented invitation, a wooden angler fish luring unsuspecting souls into its leafy, bloodied jaws.
The zebra disregarded the ominous thought and returned to the trees, getting scared with gloomy fantasies was the last of things to do in the Everfree. The mote of light in the distance was still there, the faint humming noise was not however.
As Zecora walked to the light she noted something strange in the woods around her. Form the corner of her eyes she could see strange shadows scurrying in the distant underbrush, yet when she tryed to look the plants were still as stones. A owl hooted above her on the right, the brown bird was flying in the direction of the firelight, like the Ahool did.
A couple of parasprites were flying to the flickering light as well. This was definitely unusual, creatures so different from each other couldn’t be attracted by the same thing.
Yet as the chanting resumed Zecora knew that things were wrong.
She was closer now and could hear it more clearly. It was in a language she didn’t recognized. It sounded old, something in her soul was telling her it was ancient.
And blasphemous.
Her kind was superstitious of the stars but respected the spirits of nature, in her time in Equestria she learned to respect the royal alicorns as well. Her meditations made her more sensitive to the natural forces, what she was hearing stirred feelings of dread from everything she believed in. The forest grew darker.
Zecora stopped adnd shook her head to clear her thoughts, the lantern wobbling at the top of the pole in her mouth. The faint moonlight in the forest returned, the trees were even brighter because the light from the fire was closer. In her frightened trance she didn’t stop walking.
The chant was still in the air, still formed by old and unknown words. They were only words however, not obscure invocations to some empious star entity. Zecora should know much better than that since she was accused of being an enchantress, placing curses on ponies and cooking them into stew. The forest was vicious like that, triking your mind in believing things were more frightening than they actually are.
She resumed her walking, taking careful steps to avoid making any sound.
She could now see more creatures in the increased light. Most of them were common woodland critters, snakes, ferrets, a white coated jackrabbit. Zecora didn’t like jackrabbits very much, zebran folklore saw them as tricksters.
There were also a white chubby devil bird, in the distance the lumbering form of a Owlbear. They were all drawn to that strange chanting.
The chant changed, it formed by different tongues mixed with equestrian words. Zecora tried to follow the voices, one was very feminine, deep and sensual. It spoke in a language that she still didn’t recognize.
“Cah sll'ha shogg, we call thee from the darkness, cah stell'bsna orr'e, we invoke thee spirits, kadishtu vulgtm, heed our cries,”
Another voice slightly younger and more vibrant. It had the accent of the Griffin Kingdoms to the north.
“Puhista purema, cleanse my grievous wounds, poita myrkky myötämöiten, rid my veins of this venom,”
A third voice, gruff and thick. Zecora wasn’t sure what country the accent was from, the Hooviet Union or Stalliongrad perhaps?
“Chto po nocham tak muchila menya, it tortured me greatly at nights, V dal’ rodnuyu novymi putyami, in my native land and by new paths,”
Curiosity was getting the better of the zebra. Who were this strangers chanting in the middle of the Everfree Forest? Why all these critters were drawn to them? Was it a pony tradition? Very unlikely, ponies were a very sheltered race who avoided such weird activities and rarely enjoyed the embrace of wild nature.
But she was from a different culture, and the strangers were starting to sound like the traveling shamans that sing of the gods of the Pride Savannah. A little smile crept on her muzzle, maybe she could join them and share stories of their different homelands, the reasons that brought them here. It was very late in the night now thought, it would be best...
They exclaimed in a chorus, Zecora froze in her tracks.
“We praise thee, Nightmare Moon!”
Nightmare Moon? They were worshipping the mare in the moon? What kind of pony would want that? She was an evil, cruel phantom of Luna, a shade created by jealousy and cleansed by the Elements of Harmony. She was no more, yet these voices praised her name.
Zecora planted the lantern in the ground and got closer even more weary, there was enough light from the strangers’ fire for her to see her surroundings. Was this like one of those Discord Cults Twilight had told her about? Usually those ponies stayed in the cities, running around barking and painting the buildings in argyle patterns.
The chanting continued, these ponies didn’t sound like foals on a late Nighmare Night camp out, nor some deranged weirdos seeking some exotic excitement. The voices were serious, they spoke their words with reverence, one pony at a time.
“Hellish, heavenly, and earthly Nightmare Moon.”
“Goddess of trials, dragon-eyed, terrible Dark One.”
“Mistress of night, enemy of the Sun, friend and companion of Darkness.”
Carefully the zebra craned her neck around one of the trees surrounding the place were the fire originated. Her eyes went wide.
It was a small clearing with the half moon visible above, a blazing pyre lit in the center. All around next to the trees sat the forest animals, the Ahool and the Owlbear, numerous nocturnal birds perched in the branches above, the parasprites floating around the light like moths. The all stared quietly the fire, predators and herbivores alike sitting next to each other. In a corner a young grey mare was embracing a goat, they were kissing each other in such a way to make Zecora blush with embarrassment and revulsion.
Next to the pyre sat on their haunches tree robed pony figures, forming a triangle around the flames. One of them was huge, big as a horse and with a bulky frame, Zecora guessed he was an earth pony. He was wearing a heavy cloak of brown fabric and fur, its great clasp was decorated with wooden antlers. A hood obscured her face, the fire illuminated only the tip of a reddish brown muzzle.
On the left of the large figure was a smaller pony. The dark green robe was thinner, with brown leaves, metal jewels and feathers woven on it. To Zecora the vests of the pony resembled the tribal outfits of her tribe shaman, only made more fashionable like Rarity had a hoof in designing it. A bulge on her back indicated the presence of wings, a hood of woven vines covered a pale green muzzle.
The third pony was giving his back to the zebra. He was small, maybe a filly or a colt, wearing a cloak of a deep ice blue with rims of white fur. She didn't seem to have any other decoration but a stub wrapped in pearls sticking out of the hood.
The chanting resumed, the yellow pegasus spoke first with the feminine voice,
“Nightmare Moon.”
Followed by the big one in the gruff accent,
“Thirsty for the blood and the terror of mortal creatures.”
The small pony spoke last,
“Gorgo, Mormo, Queen of a thousands forms.”
They lifted their forelegs to the night sky. the big and small ones had their hooves wrapped in dark and white stripes of fabric, the green pony had what looked like bark.
“We invoke thee!”
All the animals exploded in screeches, hisses and growls directed to the sky, the Owlbear stomping his clawed feets. They weren’t from fear or anger, it was like the animals were partecipants of the invocation. In the loud cacophony the goat launched himself on the mare and started mating her with abandon. The pony seemed to ignore him, stretching her forelegs to the moon and howling ecstatic with the animals.
Zecora blush increased, what was this? Ponies did not sing of blood and evil spirits along with beasts. And the goat... interspecies sex was looked down on in all the Celestine Empire. Sure, when she was young she had an Abada coltfriend that she used to cuddle with in privacy, but to act so savage in front of such a crowd. Not that anyone here seemed to mind much.
The animals and beasts calmed and returned still, the mare and the goat still grunting and moaning quietly.
The three robed mares in the middle lowered their legs, the pegasus spoke again “My kin of the Wild, the time is night. Soon the new moon will greet us in the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. Our mistress will hear our call and her presence will join us in the sabbath. We will dance in her mane of stars of and look at her in the eyes.”
“Dragon-eyed!”
“Terrible Dark One!”
“The Mare of the Moon, Triple Goddess.The regal and playful Princess. The cruel and vengeful Queen The innocent foal waiting to be reborn. She is blessed by the stars and the forgotten gods.”
“Blessed!”
“Blessed!”
“Blessed!”
Triple goddess, Zecora knew this expression. In her homeland there were groups of mystics who venerated a natural spirit, regarded as three entities in one, virgin, mother and crone. Sometimes however the concept was corrupted by deranged individuals, those necromancers and star cultists that created all the prejudices to zebrakind.
These ponies where followers of a evil dead goddess, witches. They couldn’t seriously believe to evoke Nightmare Moon with simple words, but the chant seem to hold some real power if they were able to call the forest creatures to attend their gatherings.
A parasprite floated to the robed pegasus, chirping lovingly. The mare stretched a foreleg to the tiny critter and it settled in the cup of her bark-covered hoof. She brought the creature to her chest, stroking it gently with the other hoof, the parasprite closed is eyes content.
In a swift motion the mare serrated the thing in her hooves and with her mouth ripped away its insect wings. She chewed them slowly as she tossed the screaming furball in the flames. The other parasprite watched with horror the fate of his friend and tried to escape, but was snatched by one of the owls.
The big earth pony looked at the bird as he devoured the sprite “Lilith, we should keep those things away from the castle. If the sabbath is overrun by flying, colorful, fluffy insects it would be embarrassing.”
“Do not fret my sister,” The yellow mare swallowed the wings “They will serve as feast for our more voracious guests.”
The goat let out a loud bleat as he reached climax. The eyes of the mare under him flashed a violent crimson, her face distorted in a primal sexual rage. She opened her jaws wide, her mouth filled with razor sharp fangs like a wolf. With a guttural growl she bited deeply in the goat outstretched neck, tearing open his jugular and splashing his blood on her muzzle and sickly green coat.
The goat didn’t fought or resisted, his eyes were locked on the terrified zebra in a blind bliss as the life was running out from them.
The little pony in the blue robe giggled “Looks like our friends are having a good time.”
This was too much. These ponies were utterly corrupted by evil. She had to go to Ponyville, alert the major and Twilight of these crazy demon worshippers.
Zecora backed away, placing her hooves in her own hoofsteps. She she was starting to turn away from the fire as she was distracted by a rustling in the leaves above her. The Devil Bird was staring down at her with small beady red eyes.
It opened its oversized beak and let out a screeching deafening howl. Zecora turned tail and galloped, catching the pole of the lantern in her teeth before she heard a angered mix of growls and screeches from the clearing.
She ran as fast as possible. If all the animals in the surroundings gathered near the pyre she would not encounter anything on her path. If she could reach the patch of Poison Joke flowers she would lost any pursuer. Those on the ground at least.
A distinct howl rose behind her, followed by others. Timber Wolves! Were the hay did they come from?
She run faster, if a filly could lost those monsters so could she. She jumped around the tree roots, ignoring the scratches on her legs from thorny bushes. The lantern wobbled around, making her lose some balance, it was to dark so she couldn't toss it away or she would not be able to see a thing.
A she galloped the howls and growls became closer and closer. Glancing over her shoulder she could spot the wooden wolves moving in the underbrush, their yellow eyes gleaming in the shadows.
Zecora noticed something else, the green and crimson pony was following her. She was behind the trees on the right, flying in the air without wings.
A vampony. She couldn’t hope to escape such a monstrosity on hoof, but as with the Ahool she had a few tricks in her saddle.
With a hiss the bloodthirsty mare dived out of the trees towards the zebra, her fangs dripping the still warm blood of the goat. Zecora turned around on her hindlegs, trowing a white flask right in the monster face.
The potion exploded in a bang releasing a bright flash of light. The vampony reared back, covering her eyes with her hooves and screeching in pain. The wolves scattered around yelping.
Zecora returned to her running. This was getting exhilarating, she discovered a crazy witch cult and throwed lighting mud in the eyes of a pony bloodsucker. This would make quite a story.
The air was getting even colder, the treads of the lantern were loosening letting the fireflies escape, but she couldn’t stop now. She was too close.
A large dark form appeared suddenly before her, Zecora bounced on it like she had hit a stone wall. The lantern pole went flying and fell in the distance, the zebra rolled on the ground before stopping on her belly.
She looked up, it was the big earth pony. Her hood was down but the shadows still covered her face. Zecora could distinguish her mane braided in thick dreadlocks and what looked like horns at the sides of her head, pointed forward in the direction of her muzzle.
Zecora rose to her hooves, the wicked pony was staring down at her with qlowing yellow eyes with vertical slit pupils. The zebra stared back in those eyes defiantly “You move fast for a pony so big it seems, did you took that look from a foal’s bad dreams? Nothing will stop me for reaching the authorities and have a nice little chat. So tell me, what are you going to do about that?”
The lumbering pony stomped hard the wrapped hoof on the ground, shaking the nearby trees. Zecora stood her ground taking a battle stance, her opponent was big and strong, but she was faster.
The witch charged her, the ground trembling at her weight. She swished a hoof to the zebra, Zecora ducked away and it sunk in the dirt.
It hit so hard to create a shockwave that caught Zecora in mid air. She was sent skidding on the ferns once again. She pushed her forehooves in the ground and with a fluid twirl she faced the lumbering pony once more. She turned around slowly, the light from the distant lantern illuminated the side of her chestnut mane and horn.
She charged again. Zecora jumped and with a kick of her hindlegs she hopped on the head of the big mare. Her hoof hitted the ground again, sending another shockwave, the zebra landed gracefully when it was already over. She reached the green flask and she smashed it on the ground next to the witch.
With another explosion the mare was covered in a rapidly expanding green fog. Zecora resumed her gallop as the witch pony let out a beastly roar.
She was more familiar with this part of the forest and the fronds were sparse enough to let trough the moonlight. Behind her Zecora heard a loud stomp on the ground.
The earth started shaking violently, leaves rained down showering the zebra in dark browns and greens. Zecora tripped on her hooves and landed face first, bruising her forelegs and chest.
She got up and continued to run despise the pain. Another stomp, louder. More leaves and small branches falled down and the ground splitted in dirty cracks.
A portion of loose earth moved to the side as Zecora stepped on it. She slipped in a nearby gorge, tumbling down trough exposed roots and weeds.
She landed on the botton and felt a sharp pain in her skull. She laid there breathing heavily, sored and scratched all over, her vision spinning and a loud ringing in her ears.
She gritted her teeth and forcibly willed a hoof to her head, she felt something hot and sticky next to her mohawk. She lowered it and it was covered in blood, she must have hit a rock in the crash. The air in the forest was now freezing and her sweating didn’t helped.
She fumble in her robe for a healing potion, some of the flask had broken but there were enough spares. Even with such injuries she should be able to cover the last distance to Ponyville, at least reach the house of Fluttershy. The long gallop had left her tired and her last energies were drifting away in the wind. It was like something was sucking out her life force.
It was probably just the cold, it felt so damn cold all of a sudden. Zecora finally found an intact bottle and put the cork in her mouth, struggling to get it open. Her hooves were shaking.
The bottle slipped from her as she started to lose consciousness. As the forest went dark she casted a look at the sky, there was a translucent form hovering above the trees. It looked like a pony, its rear section disappeared in a flowing cape. It was transparent like a ghost, blue and ice hues, its eyes glowing white.
Zecora passed out.
Celestia was snoring softly in her royal chambers, the warm sheets caressing her coat and warming her gorgeous divine body. It felt so soothing to sleep, especially in the winter season, the night were longer and the day of royal duty shorter. She took her role of a wise and loving leader seriosly, but sometimes it was good to enjoy the simple things, like sleeping.
And eating! She was dreaming of drifting in the summer sky munching on a gigantic rose colored muffin, it tasted like oranges and cream. A grey pegasus mare with walled eyes was floating nearby, following them in a drooling trance.
The muffing exploded taking away her dreams as she felt a hoof poking painfully in her shoulder “Sister! Sister, thou must rise!”
“Wha... Luna?” The white alicorn lifted her head, she scanned her younger sibling with sleep filled eyes. She glanced at the window “Is still the middle of the night, what is it?”
“We felt it again sister! That pull. It is still weak but it’s happening more often now, We are sure of it.”
“Hu hu,” Celestia returned to her soft pillow “So they keep pulling your tail, I will meet these ponies and scold them.”
“Thine poor humor is unneeded dear sister.” Luna walked around the room, her flowing dark mane whipping around “We cannot discern were this pulling is coming from. It is of unknown magical nature and it reaches our very soul.”
“It’s just a cult Luna, ponies and non-ponies do that sometimes.” Celestia lifted her head on a forehoof “They decide to worship you in their own way, to declare their independence from the system and seeking some personal power. It is a natural occurrence for divine beings these days.”
She let out a yawn “I had many under my rule, from nice people to lowly money grabbers. The Solar Templars from Prance, now degraded in those fanatic Chevaliers du Soleil. The Celestine Vision, the Dawn Sages...”
Luna snickered “Thou also possess the hedonistic Trollestians, if We remember correctly.”
Celestia blushed, stroking her magical rainbow mane with embarrassment “Y-yeah, those guys too, a really funny bunch.”
The midnight blue alicorn returned to face her sister “We are not used to this kind of attention such as thee, a thousand years ago these practises were unknow. We knew were the worship was and it was fine, if maybe a little...” Luna lowered her gaze, rubbing a hindleg against the other “Lacking. We find multiple pulls equally uncomfortable.”
Celestia smiled and caressed her sister face with a hoof “Don’t you worry Lulu, you will get used to it. It can get quite enjoyable, some of the cults treat you with utter devotion, others treat you as a common pony that wants to make some friends. If it really disturbs you however I can see to find them and convince them to stop.”
Luna smiled back "Thank you sister, but it wont be necessary. We will deal ourselves with the matter should it become a problem. Now sleep, We like observing thine unintelligent expression as you slumber."
Celestia pouted but returned happily to her nap. Alicorns did not really need sleep, it was more of a way to immerse themselves in the contemplation of the astral realms. And the covers were oh-so-soft.
Luna returned to the balcony outside and closed the window. In a few weeks it will be the winter solstice and it will be with a new moon, the darkest, longest and coldest night possible. She shuddered at the though, it evoked sad memories. She unfurled her wings and took flight, some more duties to perform before dawn.
