Sjelekval

Chapters

Sjelekval
The New Guy
Blodsørger
Dream State

Sjelekval

By Frozenfistt

You drift aimlessly through the void without a care in the world. Everything couldn’t be better in your life. Your sister has taken you back, your subjects respect you almost as much as they respect your sister despite what has happened, and you have been making friends. You slowly realize that you’re sitting in a great chamber with scores of your subjects before you. The chamber is filled with long tables that are covered in large quantities of high class food and waiters running to and from the kitchen to meet the needs of all of the guests. As the hall comes into focus you can hear the various conversations they’re having. You make out various small talk about business, entertainment, stories about their families, and you can’t help but smile knowing they love you and know you’re here to protect them. As you sit there and listen to the lives of your subjects you barely notice the dark new comer that came through the main doorway at the end of the large gathering hall. Thinking nothing of it you’re content with the serenity of listening to the various lives of your subjects and being an important part of their lives.

As the night goes on you notice a slight change in the tone of the hall. it started out small but its soon grown to the point that you notice your subject staring at you out of the corner of their eyes and the hushed tones whenever they look directly at you. This worries you for a moment but decide to leave it be less you make a scene ruining the great party you’ve put on. Latter still the whispers start compounding into open conversation. You’re able to pick out a few words that are being spoken and are able to surmise that your subjects are questioning your rule and your motives with their lives. Suddenly one speaks up enough saying, “Why should we trust a ruler like her?”

At this others take up torch and start berating and questioning you openly. Heartbroken that your subjects are having such a sudden change of heart you try and remedy the situation by talking them down. That only succeeds in working them up further to the point that they’re getting up from their spots to shout at you. They’re getting aggressive and start stalking up to you continuing their verbal assault ignoring the guards at your side and the kitchen staff. You quickly notice that both your guards and the staff aren’t even moving to help you as if they too have the same feelings as the growing mob.

Suddenly a chair is thrown at you. Being scared stiff from the sudden assault you fail to see in coming and take a direct hit to the head blurring your vision and prompting the attack on you. As the mob continues to beat on you senselessly you can’t help but think this was your entire fault. After what feels like an eternity under the mob you find yourself drifting along in darkness, a darkness that is welcoming as if you’ve frequented this part of yourself countless times. Countless visions of yourself wreaking havoc on your subjects and your subjects retaliating rush past you. Tragedy after tragedy you inflict on the ones closest and dearest to you flow through you endlessly, eternally. You hear a hoarse mischievous cackling behind all of your visions that is starting to grow the longer you stare at your actions. Only when this laugh seems to dominate your mind through all the chaos do you eventually wake up.

The first thing that meets your waking senses is the voice of your sister with the most absolute concern laced in it.

“Luna… Luna please wake up!”

You groan and tern your head to look at your sister seeing her face with the utmost fear plastered on it. You recall only one other time when she’s looked this scared and you had enjoyed it to no end, now, now it fills you with unbridled fear.

“I’m awake, I’m awake. Ug what a dream.”

“Oh Luna thank the heavens you’re alright. You had me scared there for a minute.”

“What’s wrong Celestia, why did you wake me up?”

“You were tossing and turning in your sleep so violently I just couldn’t help myself but wake you up. What were you dreaming about that caused you to act so violently?”

“I’m… not really sure. I remember having a pleasant dream about a party in a great hall with scores of ponies enjoying their company and wanting to be a part of their lives. Then suddenly they all started becoming violent and hurting me. After that I had visions of me doing unspeakable things to our little ponies over and over again. It was during that that you woke me up.”

“Well I’m just glad that you’re alright, but I am concerned with this dream of yours is this the first time you’ve had this? Or at least is this the first time you’ve had it after returning from the moon?”

“Yes this is the very first time I’ve ever had this dream, not even when I was Nightmare Moon did I have these urges to hurt our ponies. It’s rather frightening I have no idea what it means.”

“Well let us just hope that this was just a freak incident and that nothing will come of it. Now if you’re feeling up to it you should try and get some sleep, it’s still too early for you to be dealing with royal duties and what not, and make sure to tell me about any more of these dreams if you have them.”

“Thanks Celestia, and I think I’ll try and get some more sleep. I’ll make sure that if I ever have another one of these dreams that I’ll find you right away and tell you so we may deal with it.”

“Well goodnight then Luna, I’ll have one of the guards get you up when your duties start up for the night.”

“Thank you, and have a nice rest of your day Celly.”

Visions of the past, present, and future rush through your mind. Untold alternatives of all three are played through your mind. From the smallest microbe to the mightiest titan, the weakest and strongest, the best and the worst of things, you feel all of it, you feel everything that is, has been, will be, and may have in an instant. It’s almost enough to drive you mad, but you aren’t normal that much is clear to you. You have absolute knowledge of this universal plane yet you don’t have a single clue to what you are, how you came to be, and what it is you’re to do. After what seems like an eternity seeing the workings of this plane of reality you wake up to what you assume is a body of sorts. The only issue is that it feels like nothing from the visions but something completely of its own accord. This swirling darkness that seems to penetrate your very soul is what makes up what you assume is your body.

Opening your eyes you take your first look at your surroundings. You’re lying on your side in what appears to be a forest of some kind. You see grass on the ground and the think foliage that encumbers the large oak trees that make up the think forest you’re in. lifting your head up to get a better look at your surroundings and of yourself you conclude that the shape of your body resembles that of the ‘ponies’ you saw in your visions. Not only that but you notice that your body is covered in what appears to be a full suit of armor, no gaps seem to exist with the exception of the eye slots. Surprisingly you’re able to get on your hooves without any issues as if you’ve been in this body all your life. Looking around you also find something rather peculiar. You see an extremely large morning star resting on a tree not too far from you. From the bottom of the handle to the tip of its top spike the morning star almost seems to be longer than you. The ball at the top is so large one could mistake it to be a small wrecking ball. If that couldn’t intimidate you there are eight inch spikes covering the ball making it look like in instrument of absolute destruction. Not only could one swing of this terrible weapon shatter every bone in a pony’s body the spikes would impale so far into the body there would be no walking away from it. You’re drawn to this impressive weapon wanting to hold onto it like a life line never letting go even if your life depended on it.

You grab it between your hoof and fetlock with surprising ease. After taking a firm hold of the weapon you attempt to lift it up over your head. As if this weapon was made from your very soul the weapon is lifted over your head as if it didn’t weigh a single pound. You rest the shaft of the weapon across your shoulder and back holding on to the handle with one hoof to keep it balanced on your back you feel as if this is where the tool of destruction was designed to stay at all times. Intrigued at all of these things happening at once you decide to take a few swings at the nearby trees. With unholy speed and strength you use your one hoof to swing your mace at the nearby trees with little to no effort effectively destroying the tree in one swing. The force of which you swung caused the middle of the tree to essentially explode from the unstoppable force of your morning star. After the dust and debris settle you decide to see what kind of vertical force you’re able to muster and take another forceful swing down on the stump of the tree creating a small crater where the tree used to be standing.

While admiring your work a manticore had been slowly stalking your position after hearing the explosion of the tree on your first swing. After not having eaten for a few days the predator ignored the potential risk attacking this unusual pony in armor and only trying to sate its hunger. Stalking closer to the pony the manticore was soon in range to take his prey by surprise.

Roaring the manticore lunged at his unsuspecting prey for a quick kill and a meal to survive the coming days. Unprepared for the toughness of the ponies armor the beast ended up tackling the pony and rolling over and over with him in his maw. Scratching and clawing at the armor to try to get it off the pony so the beast could have his meal the pony slowly turned his attention to the assailing beast with naught but annoyance in his eyes. Shoving the mighty beast off of him the pony got to his hoofs and squared off with the beast. The manticore roaring and slashing at the pony trying to be as intimidating as possible to strike fear into his prey just stood there unimpressed. Swinging his morning star with little effort the pony virtually destroyed the mighty beasts ribcage on its left side, breaking every rib on that side and several on the right side too while bruising the majority of the beasts internal organs while the spikes did their job and punctured several of the organs causing enough internal bleeding to drop the beast right then and there.

Crying out in pain the beast slumped over on its side knowing it was going to die after such a blow. What the pony felt after hitting the beast was a complete surprise to him; it was as if he had felt the greatest joy the universe had to offer. Not knowing where this euphoria had come from he decided that to be safe he would put the poor beast out of its misery and crush its skull. With a mighty downward swing the beasts head had been obliterated and with it so did that feeling. Having an idea where this joy was coming from he decided to continue to beat the broken body of the beast to see if the joy returned. After his forth swing the sensation had yet to surface again after the manticore had died.

Without anything to do the pony decided to start walking and try and find a way out of the forest. While walking the pony could sense the presence of the nearby critters of the forest but did nothing about them since they didn’t attack him. After what seemed like hours of walking the pony soon had more visions plaguing his mind, this time they were more gruesome then last time revolving around possible wars and their outcomes. Instead of being disturbed by these visions the pony found he was enjoying watching them struggle for their lives. After the visions had faded the pony started thinking about what he might have to do if he finds civilization on his trip. The pony decided that he would say he was part of a mercenary band and was separated during their last fight and was wandering around since trying to find a way to meet up with them. After contemplating various other possible questions someone might ask he noticed that he had exited the forest and was looking over a small town with brightly colored buildings and various ponies walking about. Deciding he had nothing better to do he started heading for the town.

Before arriving at the town proper the pony had finally settled on a name for himself. He would be known only as Sjelekval.

The New Guy

The new guy
By Frozenfistt

A/N - I just want to say thanks to the people who’ve read this story so far and their encouragement to keep writing. After giving some thought about how I want the story to go I’ll be adding the romance tag for much later in the story.

As Luna trots through the halls of her castle, having woken up not long ago, going about her duties as the co-ruler of Equestria, she can’t help but feel a certain joy for simply being alive. Initially she was confused why she was suddenly so cheerful after having such a horrible dream the night before, but she just can’t help herself. It’s as if the heavens themselves had forgiven her of some great secret and lifted the guilt from her heart completely and she’s able to go about her life without this deed weighing her down. After a few hours of this she simply let it be not caring and enjoying this feeling.

Celestia seeing her sister since her little episode picked up on her joyful nature quickly and decided to talk to her. “So Luna it seems that you’ve gotten over that dream of yours rather quickly, and may I ask why you seem so happy all of a sudden? Not that I’m not happy to see you like this I’m just curious with the sudden swing in emotions.”

“Oh, hi Celly. No I just suddenly feel as if I have been forgiven of something I’ve done or a great worry has been lifted from my heart, and no I don’t know why I’m feeling like this after that dream. I’ve felt like this ever since I woke up and honestly I don’t care. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this good to be alive.”

“Well that’s good to hear and I’m happy knowing that that dream hasn’t caused you any grief. I’m going to go rest for a bit and leave you to your duties. The griffins are giving us more trouble with our territory along the eastern mountains again. They’re trying to gain more land for whatever reason, just though I’d give you a heads up for when you go to court.”

“Thank you Celly, and have a nice rest. I’ll see you later then.”

“Any time Lulu.” Celestia said with a smile.

Lounging lazily on a left over cloud after having cleared the skies over the town, Rainbow Dash decides to take a nap in the warmth of the afternoon sun. While slowly drifting off into her own world she feels a sudden chill run through her body, now unable to get comfortable she gets up to take a quick look around to see if there is anything to do in the town. With her initial she quickly comes to a conclusion. There is absolutely nothing to do. Seeing as it just a few hours after ponies would have eaten lunch Rainbow decides she can see what her friends are doing later and thinks of a way to kill some time. Front legs hanging off of the edge of her cloud Rainbow just stares at the ponies walking by below her. Getting some enjoyment from pony watching she uses this to pass the time.

After a while Rainbow spots a peculiar sight, what appears to be a pony dressed from head to hoof in the most badass armor she’s ever seen and carrying a mace that even the largest of the royal guard would have issues lifting. Normally Rainbow would be all over this guy trying to find out everything she could about why he’s wearing that armor and how he’s able to carry the weapon as if it was nothing, but she can’t bring herself to even expose her head over the cloud out of fear of this pony. She first notices that the ponies armor has blood splattered all over it, not knowing if it was his or otherwise, that alone brought great fear to her not knowing how friendly this pony is if he’s been in a fight recently. Second as the pony starts walking through the streets of Ponyville everyone he passes gets the same reaction, they stare at him with fear in their eyes are appear to be visible drained of energy while being near him, as if his very presence instilled the effects of Fluttershy’s stare to everypony around him. Once he’s a certain distance away from the bystanders they go back to normal as if nothing had happened. They keep looking over their shoulders to see if they can spot the mysterious pony but they get back their energy and move on with their day hoping they never have to feel that ever again.

After having watched this strange pony for half an hour Rainbow notices one more thing that makes her blood run cold. His eyes. She’s not even sure if she can call them eyes. What she saw while hiding behind a corner of a building while the stranger was walking around she took a quick peek to see what he was up to. That one look, in that instant Rainbow was filled with something she never thought possible. Absolute terror, while staring into the void which she called his eyes she felt he very soul fill with dread. They were blood red and glowed so that all you saw was the glow of where his eyes should be. They were filled with a confidence and hatred of everything around him that would put the most ancient dragon to shame to try and match.

Though Rainbow’s mind kept telling her to run as far away from this pony as was physically possible, her body simply would not respond. Rooted to her spot around the corner all she could do was stare into the strangers eyes as to walked closer to her. Each step the pony took made time seem to slow down, the closer he got the slower time seemed to crawl along. Strangely enough the only things to go through her head was not what she feared he could do to her, no all she could think about was all the horrible she had done in her life. Skipping Pinkies most recent party because she simply wasn’t in the mood and lie to her friend that she had paper work to fill out that night. Berating a co-worker for her inability to do the simplest of tasks concerning the weather knowing full well she has a mental disability and has been trying her hardest the moment she landed the job. Bullying poor Fluttershy with Gilda while in flight school day after day after day…

Reliving all of her worst moment in life she failed to notice exactly why the stranger had passed her by. Quickly looking around she saw him continue down the street not too far from her acting as if nothing had happened. Rushing up to her nap cloud Rainbow spends the better part of the next hour trying to calm herself down and figure out what had just happened and why. Once she calmed her heart down, which had been beating so fast she thought she might have a heart attack, Rainbow was suddenly filled with sorrow for her past actions. Yes she had apologized and made up for everything she had ever done to anypony, but after reliving all of it she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had to just go beg for forgiveness from every one of them and even then it wouldn’t be enough to feel better about what she had done to them.

After calming down enough Rainbow decided it was a good idea to finally go see Twilight about this new pony in town. Quickly reaching the town’s library Rainbow knocks on the door. A moment later Twilight appears with a smile on her face expecting anyone but Rainbow Dash to be there at the door.

“Oh! Hi Rainbow Dash. What a pleasant surprise to see you using one of my doors rather than one of the windows.” Twilight smiles while teasing he friends usual entrance methods.

“Ha ha, very funny Twilight. Nice to see you too, how have you been today?”

“Oh not too bad. I had Spike help me with a few spells I’ve been working on, nothing too serious although Spike might have a different opinion.”

“NEVER AGAIN! YOU HEAR ME TWILIGHT, NEVER AGAIN!!!”

“Oh quit being a baby it was only a small growth.”

“Small! SMALL!! I had a second head on my back!”

“While I hate interrupting this warming family moment this is a reason why I came over Twilight.” Rainbow said after getting her laughing down to a respectable level.

“Sure come right in, I’ll put some tea on for us.”

Twilight goes back into the kitchen to get some tea going while you sit down in one of the couches in the living room trying to get comfortable with the memory of what she had just gone through fresh in her mind. A few minutes later Twilight comes back out of the kitchen holding their tea and various snacks in her magic. Setting everything down and getting comfortable in her own chair both take a quick sip of their tea.

“So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?” Twilight starts.

“Well after I was done clearing the sky for the day I was going to take a nap, unable to get comfortable I decided to pony watch to kill some time before seeing if any of you guys wanted to do something fun. While I was watching I saw a new pony walk into town.”

“Well that’s nice, did you go welcome the newcomer to Ponyville?”

“I thought about it at first but after watching him for a while I couldn’t bring myself to even get close to him.”

“Rainbow… What in Equestria could cause you to not greet this new pony? He probably thinks we’re all rude an inconsiderate since no pony ever greeted him properly.”

“We both know I’m the bravest pony there is in Ponyville.”

“Right…”

“But this guy… I’ve never felt this scared of anything in my life before. Just being near him caused my blood to run cold. All I could do for the longest time was hide behind my cloud and just stare at him.”

Twilight more than intrigued at the prospect of this pony’s ability to instill fear in her friend captivated her attention. Griping her tea cup as if she were watching horror movie where the most intense part of the movie was happening right in front of her.

“Ever where he went ponies would just stare at him. Every single one of them acted as if they were being subjected to Fluttershy’s stare at once. Not once did he ever look to the side at these ponies too, he just walked right down the middle of the street without a care in the world.”

“Before you continue could you tell me what this pony looked like? This is rather interesting and I want to hear the rest of your story, but you never told me what he looked like.”

“Ya, sure. Sorry I’m just really shook up by this guy. First the guy is covered from head to hoof in armor. You know how the royal guard armor looks plain and practical? Well the stuff this guy is wearing is nothing like it. The only gap I ever saw was for the guys eyes and even that wasn’t very big. His armor was so dark and elaborate my first thought was that he had to of been a part of some secret section of the military meant to intimidate any potential threats. He was covered in blood when he came into town; I couldn’t tell if it was his or something else’s. After watching him for a while I assumed it wasn’t his since he didn’t stumble around like he was hurt. He was carrying around a rather large mace thing with spikes all over it. The thing looked like it could knock a house down and he was holding it as if it have any weight to it.”

“That would be a morning star. Although, I have to question you about the size of it, it can’t be physically possible no matter how strong a pony is to wield such a weapon of that size.”

“Well I never did see him swing it around thankfully, but he walked around as if he was taking a walk through the park.”

“Hmm, well I’ll just have to get a better look at it and this pony later. Please continue.”

“After sneaking around watching him I ended up hiding around a corner of a building as he was walking down the street toward me. When I peeked around the corner at him I got a good look at his eyes.”

Rainbow trails off suddenly and just stares into her tea cup as if lost in thought. Twilight picked up on this soon enough and became a little concerned for her friend.

“Uh Rainbow? Are you feeling ok?”

“What? Oh ya, I’m fine what were we talking about again?”

“You were about to tell me about this strange pony’s eyes when you suddenly trailed off.”

“Right, right. Ya this pony’s eyes were something else. The only way I can really describe them as just pure red glowing orbs. That’s all there was too them, but when I looked into them they caused me to freeze up right then and there out of fear.”

Deciding not to say exactly what it was that scared her Rainbow finished up her description of the stranger. Twilight having been listening to her friend with bated breath was now more than eager to see this stranger for herself. Deciding that meeting this new pony would be a great excuse to get out of the library for a bit and to give Spike time to recover from the experiments, got up from her spot and cleared the area of their quick snack.

“I would love to meet this new pony. It seems that everything about him interests me, simply I can’t think of anything that is able to fill a pony with such fear as you’ve just told me about this pony and all of this from just looking at him from a distance. Since he didn’t seem to be out right aggressive, how would you like to come with me and try and talk to him?”

“I don’t know Twilight. Are you sure this is a good idea? What if the guy has some serious personal issues he’s just waiting to dump on the first pony to talk to him?”

“Well if that’s the case we can just ignore whatever he says knowing they’re just mean spirited words meant to hurt us. And if he is suddenly extremely aggressive I’ll still be able to deal with him while you go get help.”

“Well... I guess we could, but the first sign of trouble and I’m flying us out of there got it?”

“No problem.”

With that the two set off to find the mysterious new pony and try and talk to him.

Taking his first steps into the town Sjelekval noticed a few things. This town, rather this world, is filled with bright colors almost to the point that it hurt his head to even be looking. He could see these pony things all over the place coming to the conclusion that they were the dominate species on this world. Lastly he noticed the lack of protection these ponies took in their lives. No guards, no weapons, no defenses, no alarms, nothing. Either these ponies wield great power that remains to be seen or they have no fear for their lives from any outside force. Seeing the latter being the most likely reason Sjelekval continued his stroll through the town. Hefting his mace back into a more comfortable position on his back he started to think about naming it. While going through possible names for his weapon of choice Sjelekval noticed a new sensation creep up on him. Finally noticing all the eyes staring at him he was overcome by a rather familiar sensation.

He could FEEL the fear and dread these ponies had from his presence alone, he could feel their insecurity as if he was feeding on it. It filled him with that joy he felt while killing the manticore not long ago, but at the same time it was different. Killing the beast filled him with a joy that he was able to continue on without needing to feel again, but this. This was completely different, it seemed to enter him completely and then disappear into him. He was feeding on the fear these ponies had of him. Not wanting this feeling to go away Sjelekval continued to walk around town bathing in their fear, feeding on their dread, wanting to bring them within an inch of their death to increase the sensation.

Much later Sjelekval started to realize something; the joy he was feeling from these ponies was starting to fade. Noticing that the fear in their eyes hadn’t changed he knew that he was getting used to the feeling and that it was leaving a void that begged to be filled back up, but how? You then notice a cyan pony with a rainbow mane sticking her head around the corner of a building staring at you, or more accurately staring into your eyes. Her expression is rather unreadable outside of absolute horror. You continue walking down the street toward the mare as she continues to stare into your eyes. Once you walk by her you’re suddenly overcome with that same sensation, you can feel the regret and pain this mare has caused to others in the past. This in turn fills that void that was left behind, knowing how you’re going to feed this hunger of yours you leave the mare behind you with a grin that would make a predator run scared, not that anypony can see it.

Blodsørger

By Frozenfistt

A/N – This chapter actually has our stranger talk for once! Also again with the Norwegian based names. If you want to know how to pronounce Blodsørger, throw it in the Google translator. You’ll have to put a space in it so Google can recognize it, like Blod sørger. I crave input from my readers, be it just random gibberish or well thought out criticism I want to know what you guys think about my story so please comment.

Sjelekval continued his stroll through the town he has yet to even know the name of, finding it rather strange he hasn’t seen a sign or any other form of identification for the small town. Though considering the buffet of misery he has been enjoying he couldn’t care less what the name of the town was. After discovering the soul piercing power his eyes had on these ponies he took every chance he had to work their magic and feed on the past transgressions each and every pony had in their lives. Some ponies only offered a little for him to snack on, while others could offer up enough to feel like a four course dinner.

After a particularly filling encounter with a light blue unicorn, with a strange looking hat and cape on, Sjelekval wondered into a nearby park. Seeing that there weren’t very many ponies nearby and feeling quite content he decided to sit down for a while. Having been on the move since he woke up in the forest Sjelekval decided to entertain the idea if sitting still for a while. One notable difference he remembered from going through so many memories is that he hasn’t felt fatigue, hunger, or thirst since waking up. Finding the nearest park bench he lifted his weapon up and brought in down with enough force to shake the ground forcing it in place, handle sticking up in the air. Satisfied that it’s not going anywhere you sit down on the bench, causing a loud squeal of metal grinding against metal as you attempt to get comfortable. By some miracle you’re able to get comfortable quickly while in your armor and you allow your mind to rest.

After sitting there enjoying the silence of your surroundings and of your mind the visions slowly start to creep back into your consciousness. They started out slow only showing a few at a time with seemingly little connection to your current time or of each other. As time goes on the visions start to become greater in number and being more violent in nature, both in what they’re showing and how they enter and exit your mind. Soon the visions just act as if every single one of them is a bee and your mind is their hive, shooting around demanding attention and then abruptly leaving altogether. Quickly becoming frustrated you mentally yell at the visions to do your command and cease their intrusion on your mind. Not expecting a reaction at all let alone immediate compliance to your demand the visions stop dead in their tracks. Deciding to see what else you can do with them you tell them to start organizing themselves. It took a few moments but the visions slowly started to group together in seemingly random groups. Realizing what you had said to them you make a mental note to give specific organization to these visions later.

Sjelekval is brought out of his meditation when two ponies enter his field of vision and proceed to walk right up to him. Almost as if out of habit Sjelekval sizes up the two ponies in an instant and his surroundings. The one on the left is a lavender unicorn mare with dark purple hair with a streak of pink going down the middle; the one on the right was that cyan pegasus he spotted earlier. Not knowing what kind of physical abilities either of them has he decided to see what they were up to before doing anything drastic. He vaguely remembers seeing similar unicorns being able to perform what he assumed was magic from his visions, assuming that the unicorn in front of him would most likely be able to perform basic spells. A quick shift of his eyes to take in the surrounding area revealed that there were no trees nearby and possibly a few small rocks buried in the ground. If they didn’t have any weapons on them there was little to nothing either of them could use from their surroundings against him. Confident that if a fight started he’d be able to dispatch the annoyance quickly, Sjelekval sat back in his spot awaiting the coming confrontation.

As the two friends finally found the new stranger in town, sitting on a bench in the park ironically, Twilight wanted to get a good look at the pony in person. Rainbow’s description of him seemed to be spot on. Twilight did notice something she failed to ask Rainbow. As soon as Twilight saw the pony he jaw nearly hit the floor. This pony was HUGE, never before has Twilight seen such a large earth pony. She assumed if he was standing on the four hoofs that he would be the same height as her mentor, and appeared to have enough muscle under all that armor to be the equivalent of five of the strongest royal guards. Before they got too close Rainbow puts a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder to stop her.

“Are you sure you still want to go through with this? I mean he doesn’t seem to have done anything wrong since getting here and it looks like the guy wants to be left alone.”

“I’m… Really not sure, I can see why you were so scared of him, but we’ve come this far without incident. Now I’m more interested to see if this pony is friendly at all so to have an informed decision when writing to Celestia about him rather than trying to find out more about him.”

“Well if you’re set on talking to him for whatever reason I guess we better get this over with.”

The two mares finally approach you on your bench. Since you’ve already learned about the rainbow one you decided to focus on the purple one as they approach. Staring into her memory you quickly find that this mare is one of the kinder ponies you’ve been dealing with, so few negative memories. Without getting even a buzz from her you were about to cut off your intrusion when something catches your attention. You find that the majority of these mare’s memories of her early life include a rather large white pony with both a horn and wings with multicolored hair that flows without a breeze. Continuing to watch you find out that her name is Celestia and appears to be a god of sorts in this realm, with this mare in front being a student of hers.

“Um, hello? My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this next to me is Rainbow Dash. We would like to welcome you to our humble little town of Ponyville.”

You continue to stare at the unicorn while she makes her introductions. Putting your investigation on hold for the moment you decided to entertain the idea of talking with them.

“So… uh what’s your name?” Twilight asks

If how this pony looked wasn’t enough to intimidate somepony his voice alone would fix that. The stranger’s voice seemed to resonate from within the pony’s very core and shook the two standing in front of him. His deep voice bellowed with barely contained malice and hatred to the world around him. The only thing Twilight could even compare this pony’s voice to be the utter dread a demon would withhold while talking.

“My name is Sjelekval little pony. What is it you would like to know?”

Both ponies are visibly shocked at the power your voice commands and seem to involuntarily take a few steps back with naught but fear on their faces. You continue to stare at them while they recover from such a display of raw power. The pony with the Rainbow mane is the first to recover and quickly takes an interest in getting to know you better.

“Where did you come from? Why are you here? Why are you covered in blood? How are you able to walk around with that thing on your back? How can you breathe in that armor? Why are yo-“ Rainbow Dash fires of rapidly.

You hold up a metal plated hoof to stop the mares insistent questioning. “Ask one question at a time, please.”

“Sorry, where did you come from?”

“I woke up in a nearby forest from which I made my way here.”

“Why are you covered in armor?”

“I am a mercenary, the last thing I remember was traveling with my fellow battle brothers and then waking up in that forest.” You lie finally putting your made up background to use.

“Why are you covered in blood?”

Looking down at yourself you notice for the first time that you are in fact covered in the blood of that beast you killed. “Not long after waking up I encountered a rather frightening beast that seemed to want to make a snack out of me. After it attacked me I quickly dispatched it before moving on.”

“What was it that attacked you?”

:”I’m not entirely sure.”

“What did it look like?”

“Well it was large, had bat like wings, a scorpion tail, and the body of a lion.”

“That was a manticore!” Rainbow Dash gasped. “What is that thing over there?” Pointing at Sjelekval’s mace.

“That is my weapon, Blodsørger.” Naming your weapon you had been thinking about.

“How are you even able to carry around that thing?”

Deciding this being a good time as any to demonstrate your physical ability you get up from your bench and walk over to Blodsørger. Grabbing it like before between your hoof and fetlock you hoist it off the ground and over your head, then set it down across your back like you had while walking around.

Gulping at the sheer power Sjelekval holds within his limbs, Rainbow asks the one question she feels she might regret as soon as she asked it. “Could you show us how you use it?”

Looking around you can’t see anything that looks like you could use as a worthy example of your power save for one thing. Turning to the park bench you had been sitting on you move to square up on it, raising Blodsørger you hesitate for only a moment before bringing it down with a thunderous crash, crumpling the bench into a pile of twisted metal within the newly formed crater where it used to be.

“Well… that certainly was interesting, but I think we should get going Mr. Sjelekval.” Twilight stammered pushing Rainbow Dash back with her magic and trying to back away.

Taking hold of this opportunity to continue your investigation of the young mare’s mind you’re able to find out two more essential facts about the mare before they get too far away.

“I suppose you’re going to write about this to Celestia.” You tease with mock indifference.

“How… how do you know that I write to the Princess?”

“You have a reputation Twilight, it only makes sense that you keep in contact with the Princess in some way.”

With that Twilight had all she could handle and bolted away with Rainbow Dash in tow in her magic, sprinting for Ponyville. Silently laughing to himself Sjelekval grabs Blodsørger and continues on his walk contemplating what more fun he could find. He decides to pay a visit to the lavender mare’s house sometime later having thought of an idea to have more fun with her.

Bursting through the door and slamming it behind her, Twilight turns around panting toward a confused and concerned Rainbow Dash. Rainbow just sits there mouth agape waiting for her friend to catch her breath. “Twilight, what in the hey was that all about? You seemed so excited to meet this new pony and as soon as you talk to him you run as if he was going to eat you and your family.”

“He… just… *pant*… knew… that… out of… *gasp*… nowhere.” Twilight finally spit out.

“What? That you write to the Princess? What’s the big deal anyway; from the sound of it he made it seem it was painfully obvious.”

“No you don’t understand Rainbow. No pony outside of our friends and a few ponies in Canterlot even know I can write to the Princess, let alone actually doing so. It’s a well-guarded secret the Princess and I have for fear of what people might do with it.”

“Well, that changes things. Are you sure no pony else could have known and spilled the beans? You know those high class duffus’ in Canterlot can’t keep their traps shut half the time.”

“Yes I’m certain. I can ask the Princess in my letter just to make sure. Well it’s getting late, if you want to stay here for a bit before going home you’re welcome to stay along as you’d like. I’m going to go get started on that letter right away, make yourself comfortable.”

“Will do Twi, think I’ll just hang around for a bit before heading out.”

Quickly trotting upstairs to her room, Twilight made sure to try and not disturb Spike who had fallen asleep in his basket. Grabbing some parchment and a quill Twilight got down to writing her letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today Rainbow Dash found a new pony that had wandered into Ponyville. Not wanted to greet him alone Rainbow came to me to see if I would go with her. Wanting to be a good friend as well as wanted to meet the new pony I agreed to go with her. Before we set off I had Rainbow Dash describe how the pony looked, and although her description was accurate actually seeing this pony in person still amazed me. Never before have I felt so scared for my life and the lives of my loved ones after talking to this pony. Neither the Nightmare Moon incident nor the fight with Discord have I felt like this. Past his physical intimidation this pony’s voice felt like he could command the loyalty of an entire army of demons if he so wished. Even all this the thing that scared me the most is that he somehow knew that I’m able to write letters to you. After explaining how disturbing that is to Rainbow I promised to ask if you knew of anypony that may have made this public. I never thought I’d ever say this but I really need your help with this Princess. This pony just frightens me too much to even want to get close to him again.

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle

Finally finished with her letter Twilight gently wakes up the sleeping dragon to have him send the letter.

“Now that that’s done why don’t we go done stairs and get some dinner going?” Twilight asks Spike.

“Sounds good to me, but I’m cooking. I’m not trusting you around anything that might help you with your ‘experiments’ at least for a week.”

Chuckling, Twilight smiles at her assistant, “Sounds fine to me ill just make the tea.”

Celestia and Luna are sitting down for a late dinner together before they switch shifts for the night. Having gone through the usual small talk and the biggest updates of the day their dinner is interrupted with a small pop and a scroll floating down next to Celestia.

“Oh, it seems that my student Twilight has sent me a letter. Strange, she’s never sent one this late in the evening.”

Quickly opening the scroll and reading the letter Celestia’s face shows signs of deep concern. Luna picks up on this and decides to investigate.

“What’s wrong sister? What is it that your student has written to you? Surly it must be another one of these ‘friendship’ reports to keep going on about.”

“It seems that a stranger has visited Ponyville. Though it seems this stranger has my student very worked up having just talked to him. Here why don’t you read it for yourself.”

Taking the scroll in her magic Luna brings it over and starts reading. After finishing Luna has the same concerned look Celestia had after finishing. “I see why you’re so concerned sister what do you think we should do about this?”

Staring down at her plate of food Celestia sits there pondering the possible solutions to the problem. “Normally I would want to go there myself to help with this, but the griffin ambassador will be arriving soon to discuss the issues we’ve been having and I don’t know how long it might take to resolve our problems. So I was wondering if I could ask you to go in my stead.”

Shocked at the sudden involvement Luna thinks it over for a short while. “Hmm I guess I could go, but what should I do when I get there? I’ve never had to deal with something like this before.”

“Well I’ll be sending a few guards with you as a slandered precaution. Aside from meeting up with Twilight and talking to this stranger you’re just going to have to pay the situation out by ear. If this pony means to do us or any of our ponies harm then you’ll have to dispatch of him in the appropriate way, if he’s friendly then you’ll have to help find a place where he belongs.”

“Sounds simple enough, I’ll make sure to do what I can for this pony.”

“Thank you Luna, I really appreciate you doing this in my stead.”

:”No problem sister.”

With that the two goddesses finish up their dinner and bid farewell to each other before going about their schedules.

After their quick dinner Twilight and Spike say goodbye to Rainbow Dash who had stayed for dinner since she hadn’t had anything to eat either. Twilight carried Spike up to their room and tucked him into his bed before crawling into hers. As Twilight turned off the last light she failed to notice a pair of red orbs staring into her room from her balcony.

Dream State

By Frozenfistt

A/N - Sorry for the long update. School as been kicking my ass this past month and I hope to be able to spend more time working on this story in the near future

Armor, check. Helmet, check. Saddlebags, check. Bits for food and souvenirs, check. Partner in crime, check. The guardsman Dust Storm went through his mental checklist one last time before outfitting himself in his gear with help from his best friend and fellow guard Pastel.

“So why are we going to Ponyville again? I heard the captain the first time I’m just confused as to why we’re going and not some others higher up.” Pastel asked.

“We’re going to Ponyville as escorts for Princess Luna. As to why we’re going to Ponyville I thought I heard somepony say that the Elements of Harmony asked for the presence of the Princesses, and since Celestia is busy with the Griffins Luna is going alone. Aside from that I don’t know. Maybe the captain figures this’ll be a quick trip and we could use the experience.”

“Well I guess we won’t figure anything else out until we get there. What some help with that?”

“Sure, they just had to make getting your wings through these holes the most difficult thing of the process didn’t they?”

Pastel is a beige pegasus with red, green, and blue streaks in his mane and tail. He has a picture of the pony lisa for a cutie mark. Dust Storm is a Pegasus with a deep crimson coat with a brown mane and a cyclone for a cutie mark. As the two friends helped each other into their armor the enchanted armor quickly turned both of their cotes into the typical bleach white of the royal guards and their helmets hid their manes. As the two walked out to the carriage they would be pulling Pastel decided to make some small talk.

“So if I remember correctly that little bundle of joy you have at home has a birthday coming up right?”

“Yes, my little Dawn will be turning six in a few weeks. I thought I’d pick up a cake in Ponyville as a surprise.”

“That sounds like a great idea. “

As they reach the carriage both guards quickly pack their few belongings into a secret compartment made only for storing the guards stuff. They don’t wait long before the Princess shows up so they can get going. After some quick introductions and some directions from the Princess they were off on their way to Ponyville.

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You watch Twilight crawl into bed finally after waiting for what seems like hours and wait for the telltale signs for a pony sleeping. It didn’t take long for the mare to fall asleep and as soon as you feel confident enough you reach out with your mind trying to make contact. It’s much easier to access the mind of a pony while looking into their eyes but you feel that if you can do that then you must be able to do so without needing to. You’re rewarded with images of what you assume the mare is dreaming about, something along the lines of lots and lots of books. Huh, never thought somepony would do that with a book, but to each their own.

With the mind relaxed and feeling safe you’re able to dig deeper into the mind of the lavender mare. Insecurities, secrets, crushes, traumatic events, forgotten memories, you know this mare better than she does. Oh the possibilities, but where to start? Should you go after her friends? No, that Discord incident left their bond stronger and the experience will let her see through it. That assistant of hers, Spike was it? No, but whom would be the ultimate betrayal? Ah yes her mentor, Celestia was it?

With your target in mind you take hold of Twilight’s dreams and shape them to your design. You put Twilight back into her old school dorm, studying away for some future test. Celestia happens to walk by and checks up on her student.

“I see you’re studying for that quantum physics test, I’m so very glad to see you putting forth so much effort.”

“Oh, yes. I’m still having some issues with understanding when to use some of these equations and I felt the sooner I could figure it out the better.”

“Well if you wouldn’t mind I’d like to take a look at your notes.”

“Go right ahead.”

“Hmm, I see what your problem is some of these equations are off. Here let me fix them for you.”

Celestia grabs Twilight’s notebook with her magic and rewrites several of her equasions. After a few minutes Celestia gives Twilight her book back with a smile.

“There that should help. Keep up the good work Twilight.”

Twilight thanks her mentor and goes back to studying. Time seems to bend around you as the dream moves forward in time. You find Twilight sitting in a lecture hall with her professor handing back the classes tests. As Twilight is handed her test the professor gives her a sideways glance and then continues on his way. As Twilight looks at her test she’s hit with a sensation that she never thought possible, her mind simply could not comprehend what was in front of her. There on her test was a big red D.

“But… how is this possible, I’ve never gotten anything less than a B+ on anything. All that time studying, all that time spent in labs, all of it was for nothing. I’m a failure.”

“You’re not a failure Ms. Sparkle. You simply used all the wrong mathematics for each problem, which I find rather peculiar, but there’s nothing I can do to help besides find you a tutor.”

“But, then that means…”

“As long as you fix these mistakes for future tests you’ll do just fine.”

Twilight goes to see Celestia as soon as she was done in class. Oh her way there Twilight tried to figure out what was going on. Why would Celestia lie to her like that? She must have been mistaken; she would never betray Twilight’s trust like this. There must be a reasonable explanation for why she gave her the wrong notes for her test. Twilight burst through the doors to Celestia’s throne room panting from having run all the way there. Too deep in thought she failed to realize that she had started to run on her way there.

“Twilight, what is the meaning of this? I’m in the middle of court, surly this can wait till later.”

“Princess why would you give me the wrong notes for my exam? I just got it back today and I was given a D and told that I was doing the mathematics wrong.”

“Poor naïve Twilight. Did you really think I’d help you? What made you think I care about how you do in life? I’m a goddess after all. Your life is but a drop in the ocean that is my own. I care not for the ponies around me, you are but insects to me; play things, projects for my own goals. What, did you think you had a place in my heart? Ha, as time moves on you shall be replaced as so many have before you. How many times do you think I’ve had this conversation? Why would I suddenly betray your trust of me? Simply because it’s much to fun to see the reaction on your face when I tell you what you really are to me.”

“B-b-but… I… loved you… like a mother…” Twilight stammers, unable to keep herself upright from shock.

“Really? Ha ha ha! That’s a first. You may be a grown mare and one of the most powerful unicorns alive, but you still act and think like a foal. It’s rather sad really.”

At this the Celestia finally gives up and laughs at Twilight. The ponies that had been listening in on the conversation soon joined in with the Princess. Everypony was laughing at the foalish little Twilight for thinking that she actually mattered to the Princess. Suddenly Twilight is back in magic kindergarten with all the students laughing at her with Celestia laughing the hardest. Twilight just curls up into a ball and cries as she’s humiliated by everypony around her, but the worst is the betrayal of her trust and love with Celestia. Never has she felt so alone when even her mentor didn’t care about her. All that work, all that time spent bettering herself to make Celestia proud of her, and she never even cared about her from the start.

You sit back and bask is the nourishment of your labors. You feel that emptiness quickly fill up and overflow, empowering you. The anguish, pain, confusion, fear, it just feels so good. Nothing before has compared to the sensation you feel as Twilight’s trust with Celestia is shattered before you. This, this is what drives you, this is what you live for, this is what you are meant to do.

You continue to watch Twilight writhe in pain from her betrayal, lost in thought and enjoying the pain Twilight is feeling. You leave Twilight’s mind after getting your fill and jump down from her balcony with a loud thump. You make your way across town enjoying the cool night air and the waning crescent of the moon in the sky. You continue to reach out to the other ponies dreams and sate your burning hunger from time to time. Some are easy to disrupt but only offer little in the ecstasy of the resulting pain while others would rival the euphoria you felt from Twilight. As the moon nears the horizon a force like anything you’ve felt up till now enters the dreams of the ponies you are invading. It’s a calming force, almost benevolent. With its presence the ponies dreams are silenced and protected from your influence and you are forced out from your feeding grounds. As you try to force yourself back into one of the pony’s dreams you’re stopped suddenly and you hear a voice through the ether of pony dreams.

“What are you doing here, and what are you doing to my little ponies stranger? Why do you plague their dreams?”

Unsure of this new threat you keep silent and retreat from your assault. At this point the moon has almost dipped behind the horizon and the sun is peaking out bathing the sky in a pinkish glow. You stand there staring at the sun, mesmerized by its light yet unable to feel anything. Why is it you feel no guilt for what you’ve done? Why is it you don’t feel the same things these ponies do? Why don’t you need sleep or feel any strain on your being when demonstrating your power? What are you?

Brought back by the sound of ponies moving their carts to the center of town you decide to go back to the forest to try and get some answers. On your way out of town you pass by that tree with the lavender mare that lives inside of it. She hasn’t woken up from her dream it seems like. As you pass by you drink in the despair and pain the mare is living inside of her mind uncaring of how the mare will react after waking up.

You make your way to the forest fairly quickly and continue in toward the direction of the clearing you first woke up in. after your first encounter with the wild life of the forest you trot along without fear of your safety. Every so often you can hear the scurrying of various animals through the forests foliage. You finally enter a clearing with a decomposing manticore and several destroyed trees lying around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight wakes with a start, body shivering, lying in a pool of cold sweat. She just lies in her bed trying to figure out what had just happened to make her wake up in such a condition. Soon after she’s flooded with the memories of her dream, every moment, every detail, all of it replaying in her head over and over and over…

“Twilight…? Twilight…?! TWILIGHT!”

“Huh, what? Oh… morning Spike.”

“What’s wrong Twilight? You look like you had the worst nightmare ever; I’ve never seen a pony look so bad after just waking up.”

“It’s… nothing. I just had a bad dream. I’m going to take a quick shower, can you start breakfast please? I’m not that hungry right now but I should really eat something.”

“If you say so Twi’.”

Twilight makes her way to the shower and promptly turns on the hot water hoping that a good long shower will help her clear her mind. As the soothing water runs over her the nightmare returns with vigor. She tries to block it out but to no avail, as she relives her own personal hell Twilight finally breaks down into a sobbing mess on the shower floor unaware of her surroundings.

Never in her life has she cried like this. Why would she have this dream? What does it mean? Why does she keep reliving what happened in that nightmare? Is it some sort of revelation that she refuses to acknowledge? Is this how the princess really feels about her ponies, about Twilight? Why does it feel so real…?

After a while Twilight was able to at least gain control of her chocked sobs. For the second time this morning Spike interrupts Twilight’s breakdown with a loud knock on the bathroom door.

“Breakfast is ready Twi’. Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Ya… I’m fine.”

“Well hurry on downstairs before your pancakes get cold.”

After cleaning up and making herself presentable Twilight slowly makes her way to the kitchen to the small breakfast Spike prepared for her. Picking away at her half eaten pancakes there was a loud knock on the front door.

“Can you get that Spike?”

“Ya no problem.”

Twilight turns back to her breakfast still deep in thought. Twilight failed to hear Spikes calls for her attention at the front door.

“Twi’! *sigh* Sorry, she’s been really out of it this morning, please come in I’m sure you want to talk to her about this right away.”

“No problem at all, and yes the sooner we figure out what to do with the stranger the better.”

“Twi’ snap out of it you have a guest.”

“Huh what? Oh sorry.”

“It’s quite alright Ms. Sparkle, but I do hope you’re feeling up to dealing with this new pony in town still.”

“P-Princess Luna! I thought Celestia would have come for this, not that I don’t appreciate your help.”

“Celestia is busy at the moment with negotiations with the gryphons and their attacks, and asked me to come in her stead.”

“Well that makes sense I guess.”

“Now that that is taken care of, please tell me of what you know of this Sjelekval pony.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You quickly figure out that there is no evidence of how you were brought to this clearing before waking up. Making a quick sweep of the surrounding area produces the same results. Unsure of what to do now you decide to wander around the forest in the hopes that you’ll stumble upon something useful.

You’ve been walking for what seems like several hours with no change in the scenery or leads to your existence. You notice the ambiance of the forest slowly changes to a low groaning. You also hear the lapping of water and croaks of wild life. Breaking through the tree line to find yourself on the edge of a bog spanning miles around with no visible signs of pony life. Taking a quick scan for any potential threats you start to make your way through the new obstacle presented to you. You spot what appears to be a cliff and make your way toward it to get a better look at your surroundings and possibly find your way back to that Ponyville town.

As you approach the cliff you get this strange feeling that something is watching you, waiting for the right moment to reveal itself. You’re mere feet from the cliff as the muck from the bog continues to slow your advance. The first thing you notice is the sudden silence of the bog, nothing, no gurgling, no croaks, dead silence. You then feel as if there is some giant force looming over you just out of sight. Then… you hear breathing… deep heavy breathing… the type of breathing you’d expect to hear from a predator that’s just about to attack its prey. Turing around you first stare at the creature’s short legs with giant feet attached to them. You slowly scan up the large body up to the four heads attached to extremely long necks. At once the four heads below at you with their largest roar with the goal to shock you with fear, of course you’re having none of that. The first head strikes at you with blinding speed trying to catch you off guard, Blodsørger collides with the first head with enough force to shatter the right side of the first head completely. Crying out in pain the first head rears back in agony, thrashing about spraying blood everywhere. The other heads seeing the pain their partner is going through promptly choose to take their quarry with more caution.

The second head strikes quickly at you forcing you to focus your attention on it as to not be taken easily. Seeing the distraction working wonderfully the fourth head quickly grabs you and swallows you whole. On your way down your armor starts making great gashes along the inside of the monsters throat resulting in a throaty cry of pain. You’re quickly deposited into the creature’s stomach, a loud sizzling assaulting your senses as you splash into an unknown substance. Standing up you reach out with your hoof and stumble around looking for the edge of the stomach. After your hoof touches something solid yet rubbery you prod it a few times to get a feel of the possible resistance. A moment later you shoot your hoof out through the stomach and luckily the creature’s abdomen, forcing your hoof down you tear a large opening to the world through the creature. Stepping out you notice that your armor has yet to change from the beast’s stomach acids. Believing that no creature could possibly survive having their intestines torn apart and exposed to the outside you start to make your way back to the cliff. One of the remaining heads not being down with you yet picks you up and throws you against a large tree many yards away.

You collide with the large tree and snap off the top half from the force you were thrown. Picking yourself up you’re renewed vigor of annoyance with the creature you turn to face it. First you see that the first head is almost completely healed from your first attack and the hole you tore in its abdomen has already started to close up. Determined to deal with your attacker you back yourself up against the tree you just flew into putting your back hoofs against the base of the tree. Crouching down you aim yourself at the beast and with a mighty push you propel yourself at the beast with more velocity than you were thrown, uprooting the tree and pushing it back several yards. Gripping Blodsørger you swing at the chest cavity of the creature. The center mass of the beast erupts with the resulting explosion from your attack, exposing the entire inside of the beast. With bits of bone and flesh strewn about you stand up to check fi the beast has finally meet its end, to your surprise the beast is still crying out in pain as the fresh wound starts closing up. Casually you jump up onto the beast and jump into the wound. You quickly find the morphed and corrupt heart this creature possesses still beating, supplying the body with the sustenance required to regenerate this quickly. You tear the heart out and revel in the pain the beast exhibits as you end its life. Leaping out of the open cavity of the beast you continue your match up the cliff to make your next move, and here you thought a hydra was supposed to be a challenge.