The Wind Tells The Story

[Deleted]

His nostrils opened to the wind and drew in the scents. Ah, many things had changed. Even he had changed. His coat was no longer the solid black that it had always been. White streaks appeared on his midsection and other colors appeared as well. He was special, yet he wasn't at the same time. He was everything and yet he was nothing. Hm, yes, this is a good scent. He raised his lip and drew the scent in once more. It was an old scent, but it lingered and tickled his senses.

His black tail swung behind him as he turned and surveyed the land
No, he didn't have a mare and could not claim any lands, but he could stay here. There was nothing bad about doing that at all. His mismatched eyes took in the sights, the mountain was quite steep and quite treacherous, but he enjoyed the dramatic views. A deep sigh rippled his powerful chest, no one would remember him. But then again, did he remember himself? His mind tried go back to his lives, butssomething stopped the dark memories. He was a different stallion anymore. He was just not the same Cryptic as he had been. Dark thoughts still filled his soul, but he no longer desired tonrule the world. He had new feelings now, he felt loneliness and pain and had felt love. Yes, that evil emotion of love. It tore him to shreds. She had been a lovely mare and he had wooed her gently. She clung to his side and bore him a lovely foal, but then she left him and took her foal. She just left for the stallion that he had stolen her from. His heart tore. Cryptic was a broken stallion now.

He was still a hunted stallion. A white stallion named Reaper had declared war on the ancient one, even though Cryptic was not so ancient anymore. He had learned love and he had learned pain. No curse could withstand what he had been through. But he did not want to test the theory that he just might not be reborn again. Maybe this was for the best. Reaper had watched the old Cryptic destroy his whole herd and the white stallion declared war on him. But not just war, he vowed revenge
He vowed to take away everything that Cryptic loved and adored. The white stallion was just as evil as Cryptic had been on his previous loves. Cryptic wished him well, but decided to hide from him anyway. He did not want to die just yet

[Captain Stumpy]

They say once a spirit has touched, a friend is never really apart. But do the mad have spirit? or is madness just another symptom of a soulless wonderer? Cascade never ceased the hunt for her wondering Syn. The poetic son of the killer Cryptic, the cursed stallion she'd had the misfortune to meet in her youth, nearly 7 years had passed since that fateful day in the dunes. It was a farther 5 years since she lost the prodigy of Syn inside her, 5 years she'd lived nomadically, in a near peaceful existence of blissful madness. Well nearly blissful. A Mangy stallion with bloodshot eyes and only skin hanging from his boney frame brought a unpleasant amount of reality back to her. 

But The black half brother to Syn, and another skunk-tailed stallion brought her out of the desert. It reminded her what she wanted... Power. Syn had promised her a herd, a heir, power. She wanted to be the master mare. But not only that, she wanted revenge. how dare Syn play her for a fool. She should have known it was all lies, all just sweet nothings whispered in her ear in a moment of naivety. She'd started listening to the rumours on the wind. A black stallion with a odd white marking was now residing alone in a unclaimed territory up in the rocky mountains. 'Odd white marking' sounded like a skunk tail to her.

 The light ginger mare scrambled upwards, she'd been taking cover in the sparse pine trees clinging to the rocky hillside. The higher she got the wimpier and more pathetic the tree's became, till they were more like twigs that battled with the grass for the light. She stopped on a ledge to regain her breath, turning back on herself she could see the pine forest she'd just been through, and a grazing plateau with a small line of grey trough it. She made a mental note, she could make it back down at to that stream before darkness really set in. Her eagerness faltered a little, she was hoping the climb would give her a vantage point to spot the mystery stallion. But there was nothing, not a sign. She grazed the needle-like grass that grew off the rocks and the loose soil, looking higher still up the mountain. she didn't fancy the job. The sun dulled and the clouds grew darker and lower. Still nothing moved in the plateau below. Growing thirstier, she called it a day, and started her descent of the mountain side.      

[Deleted]

Cryptic's head snapped up at the scent of another stallion. His black tail swung behind him as he let out a powerful neigh. His mismatched eyes snapped in every direction. A hoof struck forward and snapped at the ground, pawing up a puff of dust.

"I smell you! Who are you and why are you here? Did Reaper send you?" His voice was full of power and fury. He strode forward and then reared onto his haunches, screaming towards the sky. Who would invade his peace?

But soon he settled and awaited the one that he scented. He waited with very little patience, his twitching ears betraying the calm that his body spoke of.

[Captain Stumpy]

To say Cascade 'jumped' at the voice of another horse was a understatement. She nearly fell to her knee's. Blissful silence to terror scream left her heart racing, and her mind incapable of thought. Looking above she could see a cloud of dust steaming from the mountainside. She pinned herself to the flattest faced rock in a attempt to hide her position to whoever was above. She new one thing though, that wasn't Syn's voice. She remained pushed to the small grey cliff-face till her heart-beat returned to normal, A sigh escaped her lips, she drew herself into the open once again, trying to get a glance at the stallion who must have been above her. She remained still trying to see what was above her, but all she could see was grass and rocks, Damn.

"Reaper?" She mused to herself, if this stallion feared the name Reaper then maybe she could use it to her advantage. Blag her way to safety. She wouldn't need to return anyway. She coughed to clear her throat. "I am a ally of the Great Reaper!" She shouted, chest puffed, but looking up she still saw no-one. "I demand safe passage across the mountain, or else The Reaper himself will seek vengeance for anything that would happen to me on my travels!" She continued. Grinning slightly, he'd let her pass. She just new it. Or if he didn't show, then she'd walk off the mountainside peacefully anyway. She had the field advantage, she was already closer to the bottom than whoever was up there.

[Deleted]

Reaper had an ally here already? How could he have already recruited a made into his fake army? Cryptic snorted deeply and pawed at the land,
"Reaper works alone, you fool mare. If you were my mare, I'd certainly make sure that you wouldn't lie to another stallion." He peered down the edge as much as he could in an attempt to see who was speaking to him.

"Do you not know who I am? I am still well known in all of these lands and I should show you who I am truly, but if you want through, make it fast before I change my mind."

He turned his back to the edge and listened with strained ears to make sure the mare left.

[Captain Stumpy]

'Bast*rd' Cascade thought to herself, how dare he judge her, how very dare he lecture her. "Good thing I'm Reaper's mare not yours then" She chuffed angrily, the threat she felt from the stranger had ebbed away. Now she was left with her typical c*cky self. "What do you know of the Powerful Reaper to judge his alliances" She roared she took more steps back, trying hard now to spot hat was talking to her. "Just who are you then stranger?"  She demanded. Even where she stood now the ledges above her where hidden by grasses, cliffs and shadows. 'Damn' she thought to herself. Stull unable to make anything out.

She wasn't sure why she asked the last question, she didn't care who he was, its who he wasn't that bothered her. The more time she spent conversing with him, the farther away her Syn could be. "Fine then!" She yelled. "I've got better things to do anyway" she continued, tossing her mane and lashing her tail. she turned and started to climb down the mountain, Her ears back really to hear the ending to her conversation, or to hear the stranger move from his hiding spot.

[Deleted]

Cryptic laughed to himself,
"Who am I? I am Cryptic! The Iron Tyrant, The Ancient One! You should be scurrying back to your stallion and I know iit isn't Reaper because that fool stallion wouldn't know what to do with a mare. I killed all of those that could teach him!" His voice dissolved into maniacal laughter as he pawed the ground.

Surely, the old stallion must be insane by now. Even if the curse was broken, he would have lost his mind before an end could be found. But was the curse broken? Who knew! He listened as the horse, the silly made, continued on her way. His eyes surveyed over the land once more. Perhaps he should go looking for a made or five. He enjoyed female company very much and well at this time of year, the ladies would oblige him in mating attempts. One should always have offspring on the ground, of course.

[Captain Stumpy]

Cascade lost her breath... then her footing. Stumbling to a less than graceful fall down some loose shingle rocks. She laid there a moment longer. He said it, she didn't hear him wrong. Her eyes dilated at the prospect that above her was the tyrant. She threw her head round dramatically. But saw nothing. Her eyes searched every possible crack. "Damn you Cryptic show yourself why aren't you dead!?" She screamed in frustration.
"Damn you to hell!" she screamed, a little more quietly as she got to her hooves. "Stay Dead! Stay Dead! Stay Dead!" she screamed again now standing up and facing directly up the mountain.

A new prospect lit up in the chestnut mares mind, she needed to find this Reaper, If he could strike fear into the black beast, then he was a ally not worth passing up. Syn couldn't kill his own father, maybe this Reaper is the stallion for the job. And Cascade could have a little glory on the side. Beating her Syn's life goal. The pleasure she'd have ever seeing Syn, when she'd been the witness to Cryptic's death. "Your right I don't know this Reaper" She said starting to chuckle. "But He'll be the next stallion I find" She said chuckling now hysterically.

[Deleted]

"Show myself? Why? So you can scream your insults all day long? Maybe I should show myself and escort you to the breeding canyon and produce myself another foal. Yes, that sounds nice. Of course since we are alone, I could do it here as well." Rocks skidded as he began to make his way down towards the voice. His muscles bunched and gathered, his body much younger than his mind.

"Awe, timid little made going to find Reaper. Please. He doesn't want mares. Last I heard, he shunned them. Likely he likes the colts!" A dark snicker rippled his nostrils as he came around a corner. Ah, a ginger colored mare. Her scent was familiar to his old mind, but it was not one of his mares. He snorted loudly and pinned his ears,

"Hello deary. Fashion a game?"

[Captain Stumpy]

Cascade gritted her teeth, snorting fire out of her nostrils. "Your not him"  She Spat, "Your not Cryptic"
Now Cascade had herd the aggrandised stories of how Cryptic could never die, he was mealy reborn into the body of his offspring. What fantasy, nothing lived forever, and the stallion in front of her might be able to mimic Cryptic's words, but he wasn't even solid black. his eyes where weird. He might be big, but its wasn't the monster she was expecting. To say the least she was disappointed.

Cascade now had the questions, she was curious. "Do you get a kick out of pretending to be the big black bast*rd then?" She hissed through her teeth, she struck the rocks at her feet with a fast and angry lash of her hoof. She struck again before daring to circle the stranger. "What's your real name then? where are you really from?"  She continued her little circle, tail lashing, he wasn't the monster that visited her nightmares. This wasn't the beast, not Syn's father. He wasn't what she was after, and this Reaper was probably just a last cause. She'd gained nothing on this little mission. Her lap ended, and she stared down the stranger, refusing to believe who he really was.

[Deleted]

"Hahaha, a young made, you do not truly know the Ancient One then. Perhaps you know my son, Syn? He knows why I am not my lovely solid black color. He murdered me, but forgot that I still had at least one foal left standing. A silly, not solid black colt that was rather simple minded. You see, long ago, I murdered my father. That's right. I killed him and let him die slowly and painfully. As he died, he whispered, well choked really, these words that a stupid human taught him. Oh, I can die, in fact I have died quite a few times, but that stupid curse keeps my soul around. But I've noticed, that each time that I die and my soul finds another home, I lose a little more of my sanity. I am quite Looney by now, rest assured. But I do have some lovely moments of lucidity, like now. I'd prefer that you not leave my presence without my foal growing inside of you, but you are looking for Syn and well, I should not take what he will certainly taste. Do you understand now, my dear?"

His words were spoken in a low voice, one that caused fear in many of his mares in the past. He lifted his head and looked down his nose at the made before him. His tail lashed his sides as a hind leg rested slightly. Oh, he was ready to move, but he belied comfort and a readiness to move if he needed.

This made knew nothing of Reaper, but she did know about his son,he was sure of it.

[Captain Stumpy]

Cryptic's tale was hard to take in, even for a mare that had spent her fair share of years out of her mind. Her eyes flickered as she put the puzzle pieces together. She drew a quick breath when she realised just who was. "Syn killed you?"  was the first thing she uttered, was that what happened when he left her? he'd gone to kill the monstrous Cryptic. So it wasn't a betrayal, as such. When she eventually finds Syn he'll have some serious explaining to do.

That then left her with one small problem, This odd coloured horse really was the phyco killer and womaniser Cryptic, sire of plentiful other colts she's had the misfortune to meet up with. Now was not the time to think that she'd yet to meet a daughter of Cryptic. Damn mind wonders, her mind was still a little distractible. A Shiver ran up her spine at the thought of Cryptic breeding with her, her skin crawled she flinched to shake of the feeling. "I-If he's killed you once, he can kill you again, nothing lasts forever"   She said, attempting to sound bold, but her words and courage where beginning to falter. She took a step back, with any luck Cryptic would just hold his ground.  

[Deleted]

"Ah yes, the foolish son murdered his father in cold blood. It was just too bad he had forgotten about the colt on the ground in his herd. That mare had been so pleasant, who wouldnt want me? I should send you to your stallion with a belly full of my seed, but I won't. You get one free pass from me anymore and yours is quickly vanishing the longer you stand here and chat with me.". His silken voice grew dark as he turned his blue eye onto her. Its blue was icy as he flicked his tail behind him and remained still.

He had no intention of moving from where he was. No, he was the one in charge here, herd or not. His cold eyes regarded her fiercely before he began to think of mares in general. He needed one or five to keep him occupied. He snorted deeply and waited to see just what she would do with her moment of freedom. It was just that....a moment....

[Captain Stumpy]

(What would you do if a monster gave you a free pass?)

Cascade Bolted, she'd turned tail and didn't look back, she didn't want to see the monster, she didn't want to waist time checking if he was going to come after her or not. She wouldn't have been surprised to hear him galloping after her. Slopes are a little difficult to navigate at speed, soon she was racing the pebbles she'd disturbed downhill. Soon it was tree's not boulders she was forced to dodge, her legs where burning. She'd not run this hard for a very long time. She glanced back, only a moment to be sure he wasn't following before she slowed down, her knee's trembled but she wasn't about to stop for a break. No. She had a job to do. If the Immortal Stallion was back, that must mean her stallion was somewhere too.

"Damn you Syn" She said breathlessly. "You better be easier to find than your damned father"
Despite the urge to drink she crossed the stream without stopping, she was heading back to her oasis at the sandstone hills, her 'safe place'. She didn't want to get caught by surprise again. The thought of Cryptic made her feel sick, just a little. The boarder to the territory was fast approaching, Cascade had no intention of crossing it again once she was past.    

[Deleted]

Cryptic snorted deeply as the mare skirted past him, his eyes narrowing in a deep glare at her fading back. A swish of his tail prompted him to focus on what was truly needed. He needed a mare, a herd, and a place to settle, away from that cursed stallion , Reaper.

His thoughts turned inward as he spun around slowly. He was once again in a position where he needed to start over. He missed Tehala and those twins of hers. He desperately missed Fury and her spirit. He even missed fighting with Parlos.

"If only you could see me now. What a fool I was to let you escape, Parlos. I believed you dead, but it was that took you. Not me. Your blood still lingers in my throat and I need it to be refreshed." A deep, gutteral growl escaped from his muzzle as he stared into the distance.

The stallion seemed white against the blue sky, but the figure was familiar. Age had lightened the dark, dappled grey coat, but nothing could hide that sturdy build. He approached the black stallion with a grim determination in his eyes.
"You have finally returned." The grey stallion spoke in a gravelly and unused voice as he flanked the black. Time had not been kind to the grey. His coat was ragged, scars crisscrossing his hide. The tip of his right ear was missing and his left eye was merely a sunken socket. His ragged tail lashed behind him as his ears pinned against his head and disappeared into his tangled mane.

Cryptic turned his head towards the voice and froze. " Parlos?" His voice was near a whisper.

"Hardly. But I'm worse than he could ever be in exacting your revenge. I'm his only son, Dmitri." As the grey spoke, a bay roan stallion, black mare, and flashy black stallion with high white stockings appeared and fanned around Cryptic.

With a semi rear, Cryptic spun around, letting out a stallion's scream.
"No! You all can't be here!" His voice was full of shock as he tossed his head.

Daystar, the bay roan, and Ash, the flashy black, laughed softly and shook their heads, but it was the black mare that spoke,
"Oh Cryptic, you know so little of the real world. You have lived for so long in your cruel little world that I believe that you forgot that others exist. We are not figments of your imagination. We are very real, but trust me, we will haunt you. We know very well what can and will take you out now. I know your secret." Her voice was cold, calculating, and cruel. Who knew that the daughter of Fury and Parlos would grow up to be a vigilante.