The wooden planks of the deck squealed like a pained, dying animal as Wills slowly trotted towards the shaft room. The decking was full of holes and was slightly chewed; needless to say, the ship had a mouse problem.
He crawled into the tight fitting elavator shaft, and tugged at the decaying rope to get himself down under the deck. He hated using the shaft; it was claustraphobic, the ropes looked like they would break at any moment, and the actual tunnel itself was too small for the shaft to fit through most of the time. But, despite the everyday strain put on them, the ropes never did break.
The little elavator he was sitting in ground against the walls, making an awful noise that probably woke half the ship up. Unfortunately, half of the ship included them. The horrible beasts would know that he was coming to feed them now, ad would undoubtedly rampaging around in their barred pit, acting as if they were starved.
The elavator came to a jarring stop at the bottom of the shaft, and Wills unlodged himself from the small space, stumbling out into the dank room. The place was evidently not often visited, as it was damp, covered in cobwebs, and much of its decor was broken or smashed.
Clck clck clck
Yes. The things had heard him, and knew what was coming, rubbing their claws on the bars in anticipation.
He cautiously approached the barred pit on the opposite side of the room, making sure not to get too close to the bars; the things had long arms. Peering over the edge, he noted that two of them were, in fact, at the bars, staring at him with their souless eyes.
Clck clck clck
Wills shivered and, grabbing a piece of hay, tossed it into the pit to top up the monsters bedding.
Like the rest of the room, their pit was damp with dripping water, but was also lined with hay and straw in an attempt to calm them with soft ground. This only worsened the state of the pit, as the hay got damp too. Squinting through the darkness, Wills was able to make out bloodstains on the stone floor and hay, though if this was from a recent meal or the beasts themselves was impossible to say.
Clck clck clck
He walked over to a shelving area besides the pit, making his snout wrinkle. Now he was closer, he could smell the rancid stench of blood and death.
The stallion grimaced as he reached his whole arm into a blue bucket, its contents sloshing around noisily. The beasts in the pit got even more excited, and they began to violently hit at the bars with their huge hands. Seeing how worked up the creatures were, Wills sneered at them. The horrible things had caused him turmoil, so why couldn't he give them a taste of their own medicene?
Only just managing to grasp it, Wills pulled out a large chunk of wet meat from the bucket, the smell permeating the already stuffy, tight room. He shook the dripping meat above the bars, purposely allowing some of the juice to drop onto the beasts, aggravating them greatly, yet at the same time only exciting them further.
Suddenly, both of the creatures simply stopped their assult on the bars, and slowly creeped off into the straw. Wills was apalled by this; he'd wanted to have fun with them, not for them to run away!
With a disgruntled sigh, he moved the meat right to the bars, in hope of attracting the beasts to the scent. “Come on now, things! Wake up and have some dinner!” His calls went unheeded. Unable to bring the bait within sniffing distance of the probably sleeping carnivores, Wills shoved his right arm between the bars, dropping the meat another two feet into the hold.
“I gotta be ready to pull me'self up,” he told himself as he swung the dangling chunk of fattened meat, fresh blood flying from its tip. “I’ve seen how fast they-”
The thought would never be finished. Wills, however, in less than thirty terrifying seconds, would be.
Whether it erupted from the straw bedding or from somewhere else, no one could say- the only witness was dead. Wills, for fear he might drop it, had wrapped the rope attached to the meat twice around his hoof, so when she struck, her weight upon the hook yanked his shoulder clear through the bars, though he had released his hold in the instant of the attack. The rope unwound from his wrist and dropped to the floor, but Wilson ’s shoulder was now wedged in the narrow space between the iron bars. In a voice hoarse with rum and heightened by hysteria, Wilson cried for someone, anyone, to pull him up. Did he see it in the murk below? Did its black, soulless eyes, glowing in the light of a dying sun, meet his before the slathering mouth yawned wide and it leaped twenty feet straight up?
Nobody would ever know.
Unfortunately for him, Wills would know exactly what was happening, whilst it was happening.
The beasts all leapt up at him, pulling at his limbs and forcing him throuh the small gaps between bars. One part of him went through several different gaps, as he was pulled apart by the creatures. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst was the fact that they were devouring him alive. He felt every moment of it, every snapping bone, every rip of the flesh. He prayed that the embrace of death would come soon.
In a mere fourty seconds, there was no trace of Wills besides the blood, soaking both the pits and the rooms floor.
Having once again tasted pony flesh, they felt energised. They were stronger and faster than before; smarter, too, now with a little pony brainpower inside them. The leader examined the bloodstained floor with a strangely ponylike curiosity in its eyes. Looking up at the rusted bars, that look evolved into an almost malevont shine. He knew how to get out. With his newfound strength, the leader of the creatures smashed through the bars with little effort.
They escaped into the small room, smashing shelves and tables, devouring the vast quantities of food. With every new meal, they grew a little larger. With every live meal, they aslo grew smarter and stronger.
The only thing standing between them and a whole ship of smart, strong and live ponies was an elavator shaft.
Clck clck clck
"Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the elder Celestia used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger Luna brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.
"Nightmare Moon and the eldest sister fought in the nighttime eternal, calling upon their entire magic reserves. Once magically drained, neither sister gave up, and battled horn to horn.
"Finally, the elder sister bested the dark mare, and Nightmare Moon fled to the badlands in shame and anger. She knew that she would need an army of great power to take Equestria as her own, and so she built the Lunar Gateway. Forcing a group of diamond dogs to mine for her, she constructed the gate from pure, solid gold, and placed a magical moon enchantment on it, allowing only her to open it. The gateway would lead to realms of myth and legend, allowing Nightmare Moon to build up an army of horrible beasts, unaffected by magic, more powerful than Nightmare Moon and her sister combined.
"Before she could ever open the gateway, the elder sister found her, and reluctantly harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon...
"However, it was suspected that on the day of the next total lunar eclipse after Nightmare Moons banishment, the pure lunar energy radiating from the moon would hit the Lunar Gateway, opening it and releasing monsters of myth and legend all over Equestria...."
Weeds. The grey weeds were everywhere, always returning, always growing, always moving. They could be fought, but not destroyed. They overtook and they destroyed. They infested.
Weeds.
Ponyville's cobbled streets were littered with scraps of uneaten food, ripped up papers, and weeds, among other things. The weeds were the worst. The sunlight accelerated their growth, causing them to infiltrate the paths and roads, making it surprisingly difficult to traverse the once orderly town. Ponies were tripping an awful lot, carridges were struggling to move through the streets and were tipping over, and worst of all, the weeds were almost impossible to kill.
In its current state, Ponyville could very well be likened to a post apocolyptic world, but the problem wasn't a lack of ponies; the problem was an excess of ponies.
In recent months, the once small, rural town had become a hub for traders of all different species; pony, mule, batpony and griffon alike. The train systems to Canterlot had broken down, and it seemed that nopony was in a hurry to fix them; the only way for traders to reach Canterlot was to pass through Ponyville.
The traders had soon realised that setting up in Ponyville was good for buisness, and many of them made weekly swaps between the town and Canterlot, increasing their overall income. Some chose to stay in either Ponyville or Canterlot, giving even more competition for Ponyville's resident market.
Sure, it was good for the whole of Ponyville, in an economical sense, the town was making more money than ever, with the traders needing places to rest, supplies and, for some, food. But Ponyville was slowly moving out of "large town" status, and towards "city"; it had all the problems of a city and a town.
It was slowly becoming littered and overgrown, busy and confusing, and of course a strain had been put on Ponyville's resident markets and shops, who had to provide supplies. Small animals were getting injured a great deal more than before, giving Fluttershy an enormous workload. And because of Ponyville's technical status as a town, it wasn't particularly large, and so lacked the space, money and supplies for this sudden trader influx.
Ponyville wasn't the same town that Twilight had moved to years before.
Either way, it was most difficult for little old Spike to traverse Ponyville's littered, bumpy paths, and even knowing this, Twilight had still me out to the markets in order to buy food. Being her assistant, he guessed it was his job to do that kind of thing.
He stopped to rest on a stone wall, away from the general market area. There may have been no ponies walking around, but the sheer amount of stationary traders was enough for him, thank you very much. He sat swinging his legs, the cool autumn breeze soothing him, for once. Ponyville seemed so dull now. Monotonous. Boring. Bleak. Grey. More than anything, Ponyville just seemed grey.
Even though it was full of life, it seemed to lack something in his opinion. A certain flair, something that gave the town true life.
It was so grey.
His mind switched intrests, howver, when, outut of the corner of his eye, he noticed market stall, overflowing with thick books, was set up in the middle of the market, manned by an earth pony mare. Ponyville's market often carried rare goods, treasures and books. Unfortunately, the number of corrupt traders around made it difficult to know which rare goods were actually legal.
Corrupt traders, and corrupt ponies in general, were more common in Equestria than many citizens would think. Despite the best efforts of Princess Celestia, shady dealers were all over the place; some in the middle of Canterlot, right under her nose. It was one such Canterlot dealer, Spike remembered, who was inadvertently responsible for Ponyville's near destruction when a vengeful Trixie had purchased an illegal magic amulet.
He knew that Twilight had to pity these criminal dealers; she knew that to resort to stealing goods and lying about them, a pony has to be desperate for money.
Despite this, Ponyville had generally clean traders. There were exceptions, of course, sometimes corrupt traders would roll into town, and to Spike, walking through the Ponyville market area, today seemed like it would be one of those days.
'Books,' Spike thought to himself. 'I bet Twilight would love a new book!' Eager to please Twilight, Spike ran over to the stall, as fast as his little legs could carry him. Twilight had given him bits to spare, and would be delighted if he brought her a new book!
When his head suddenly popped up over the edge of her stall, the mare was evidently surprised, and quite rightly so. Spike waved a clawed hand over at a large grey book, "How much for that one?"
"Huh," she was not expecting this small dragon to suddenly appear out of seemingly nowhere, and it took her a moment to gather her thoughts. "Oh, this one here," she signalled to the book, "10 bits."
Spike was taken aback. 10 bits would leave him with none left, at least after buying the food, and he wasn't sure if Twilight would be too happy with that. But she would be more than happy with a new book, especially one that size. Although he didn't even know what it was about. Was it a magical tome? Another kind of spellbook? A history book?
As if she could read his very thoughts, the mare told him "It's a bestiary. A book of all the different mythical creatures of Equestria," she was apparently becoming impatient. "You want it or not? 10 bits."
Spike looked up at the raspberry mare, directly into her cyan eyes. He stared at them so intently, he simply couldn't help himself. "You.... have beautiful eyes."
The mare sighed wistfully, as if she had been through this a million times before.
"I'll take it," he handed over the 10 bits, and took the book himself, not waiting for the mare to give it to him. The mare facehoofed, and shook her head, before returning to setting up the rest of her stall.
Spike sat once more on the grey rock wall, looking over the grey Ponyville. His mind was jumbled, and he seemed to get even more confused whenever he peered at the huge book in his claws.
The book had a drawing large, grey key plastered on its cover, not quite matching with the rest of it, which was the same colour. What shocked Spike the most was the fact that the book's cover was made of... leather.
Opening it to the first page, to check it was in good condition, he saw the words,
Made in Lundyn,
First printed by RedRum books in 1989
© RedRum books, 1989
Unsurprisingly, the writing was grey.
Spike snapped the book shut, slightly disturbed by the leather cover and binding, and continued his shopping, putting the book away in his bag, ready to gift to Twilight.
