Sometimes They Call Me Super

by KorenCZ11

Persona XIV: Beauty and the Beast (part 2)

“I don’t know how to respond to this,” Mom said, completely at a loss for words. Rainbow told a story not too dissimilar from the one she told us about a week ago, and my parents reacted about how I expected them to. As far as I knew, my Mom was the morally upstanding, PTA member of the year, nearly prefect if not for her unwillingness to stand firm on a decision, a soccer mom who’d eventually gotten over her social anxiety back from when she was a teen. Dad was the emotional stability she lacked and over time, traded his extroversion for her introversion and some how became the quiet reserved pony he is now after a childhood of being relatively… normal. Both of my parents were ‘normal’ ponies with ‘normal’ pony upbringings, and here we are trying to tell them that the kids they more or less raised both somehow ended up wanted killers. Oh, and I guess we are telling them that because Rainbow went ahead and told them everything save for the last two weeks.

“I’m not... having the wrong reaction to this am I?” she asked dad, whom she was firmly strangling half the time. He slowly shook his head after taking it off his hoof that was resting on the arm of the chair.

“I… don’t think so? I feel like all I’ve been able to say since I woke up this evening is that I’m at a loss for words. On the one hoof, I feel like I should be commending you for the things you’ve done, possibly even thanking you for what you’ve done for the city, and on the other I almost feel obligated to call the authorities and tell them you’re here. I’m horrified to know that you killed for a living, but proud that you’ve taken it upon yourself to try and atone for your actions. But worse than anything else you’ve told me is your attitude toward it all. I get the feeling that all of this was just every day life. You’re so… casual and unapologetic about it. It makes me wonder if I just heard a psychopath’s life story, and I don’t know if you’d take that as a compliment or not, and that, is what scares me.” I let out a sigh of relief.

At least they didn’t freak out.

Are you sure? This seems like them freaking out to me.

Okay then, this is not the worst possible reaction for them to have, so I’m not complaining about it.

What did you expect?

Oh, anything from having to run away from them again to having them become a problem that Target Lock has to solve.

You came here half expecting to kill your parents?

I came here in hopes that I could say goodbye before something kills us in a couple weeks. You know what the boss always said in that first year. ‘Expect the worst and hope for the best.’

My memory isn’t all that great from back then. Being half asleep and half mixed with you will do that.

“Well, that’s better than the worst you could do. I just hope my dad reacts the same way you did.” Rainbow said. Dad shook his head.

“There is no way in hell.” he said with zero emotion.

“Gah, I fucking knew better! Maybe we should just not go anywhere tomorrow, yeah? I can just… die and never have to say anything to them and they can just think I’ve been dead this whole time! Who needs to let them know that they have to mourn me twice? It’ll be fine!” Rainbow leaned back as far as she could on the couch and covered her face with her hooves. In that moment, Mom let go of dad for the first time since Rainbow started.

“Mourn you twice… Fire, what aren’t you telling us? Flutter, why did she say that? Why did you say that?” she asked, panic starting to rise in her voice. Dad tried to pull her back.

“Daisy, calm down,” he commanded. She ripped her foreleg out of his hooves and pulled away.

“Absolutely not! You tell me this instant what is going on! Why did you come back? We moved because we thought we lost you, and we couldn’t bear to stay in that place anymore! What did you come here to say!?” Silence rang out through the building, and even the noise from outside seemed to stop.

“I-I…” I started. My throat felt tight and I could feel my pulse rising. The room was suddenly much warmer than I remember and everypony’s eyes were on me. My eyes wandered everywhere they could to avoid her stare, but in the end that wouldn’t hold.

“You what? Flutter, look at me! What is going on?” She took my face in her hooves and forced me to meet her eyes. I could feel the liquid start to build up in mine, but I couldn’t look away from her worried face.

“I-I came home… because I… I-I don’t think I’ll… e-ever get to see you again!" At this point I’d broken and I started to cry in my mother’s chest. I’d wrapped myself around her as tightly as I could and just kept crying and crying. She reciprocated the hug and an endless amount of time passed. How did it come to this? How did I find myself in this position, feeling like a child being scolded by her parents, bawling in my mother’s hooves like we’d gone back twelve years in time? Me, the monster. Me, the assassin. Me, the heroine. Me, the murderer. I don’t know when he moved, but at some point Dad joined our hug and started to rub my back.

“There, there. Just let it all out.” He said, that soothing voice of his making me truly feel home again. After some time passed, I finally started to calm down and so did Mom. She must’ve been crying with me because my mane was wet when we finally let go. She took a deep breath and a heavy sniff, then stepped away so she could look at me again.

“Okay. It’s alright, I’m… better now. Just… tell me why. I just… I just can’t understand why you would think that?” She said, trying to keep what little composure she had. I swallowed some of whatever had dripped down my throat all this time and tried to regain some composure myself.

“I-I don’t think I’ll l-last another two weeks. N-none of us do,” I admitted through some, weird, half-cry voice that I was stuck in. They looked to Rainbow and Pinkie, but neither of them could look my parents in the face. Mom’s face started to contort, but Dad took hold of her before she could start getting hysteric again.

“Why don’t we take a seat and let her explain the whole story before we start doing this again, hmm?” He said, quickly. Mom took another deep breath and buried her face in his chest.

“Okay, okay. I’m okay. We’re okay.” She looked back down to me after wiping at her nose and taking another heavy sniff. “I don’t have to sit through another story like hers, do I?” she half asked, half complained. I shook my head.

“N-no… mine is worse,” I said. She let out a weary sigh and Dad sat them both down in his chair.

“That’ll be enough of that,” He said to her. She rolled her eyes.

“You’re the worst kind of pony,” she complained.

“I know. An educated guess says that you’re one of those heroes that fight those… kaiju things, right?” Dad asked. I nodded.

“W-we all are. I-if it weren’t for a miracle y-yesterday, none of us would be here right now. A-and that’s why we came. I-I… even my last resort w-wouldn’t have saved me f-from that blast yesterday and… I-it scared me. C-completely out of my control, n-nothing I could do, just w-waiting there for death to come. I-I… I never wanted to run away. I-I never wanted to leave and never come b-back, but… things just got s-so bad that I-I started to lose control. D-do you remember my imaginary friend? F-from all those years ago?” I asked. They frowned.

“I… suppose? You… called her ‘Fluffy’ if my memory is correct, but why bring that up?” Dad asked. I sighed.

“F-fluffy is real. S-she was never an imaginary f-friend, she was a piece of me t-that I didn’t understand, a-another voice that lives inside my head, t-to this day even. I-I… we are the white wolf in Zephyr’s stories. T-that’s what my powers are. I-it wasn’t until a few years ago that I-I really got a good handle on what we could do, b-but now…” I stepped off the couch and started to transform enough for them to get the picture. It always feels like it should hurt, but in reality I think the transformation releases some kind pleasure when it happens. It’s part of the reason why I got so addicted to it back back then, the other parts being the taste for blood we developed and slowly losing myself within Fluffy. The bones in my legs snapped and twisted, the fur on my coat started to grow long and gangly, the colors in my mane and coat started to dilute, and my muzzle elongated. The teeth in my mouth changed from straight to sharp, my eyes became sharper and the world around me started to come in more detail. When I’d reached the point where I was getting too big to stand where I was, I halted the transformation.

Should I talk, or stay quiet?

What do you want to say to them?

Oh, just something to let them know I’m here.

Sure, go ahead.

“Hello there, parents. I’m the monster that lives in her head. I also ate the rabbit. That was why it never came back.” Fluffy said.

You ate Angel!? We ate Angel? Oh goddess, when did that even happen? I thought he abandoned me…

Years and years ago. I don’t even remember how I got out in the first place, but I’ll never forget the way that rabbit tasted.

That’s messed up. You could have said something instead of letting me agonize about it for months!

Didn’t care.

Asshole!

“That bunny loved Flutter, no wonder he never came back…” dad mumbled. Mom, seemingly in a permanent state of shock today, just slowly turned her head and looked at him.

“Our daughter is a giant wolf monster, and your concern is what happened to the rabbit!?” she yelled in his ear. He blinked a few times and shook his head.

“Well, yes. This happened once before didn’t it?” he asked.

“Y-you knew?”I asked.

“It did?” Mom asked.

“Holy shit!” Zephyr yelled from the front door.

Oh shit.

“G-grab him!” I called and pointed at the door with my claw. Before Zephyr even had the chance to turn around, Pinkie had tackled him to the ground and slammed the door shut.

“Hi! You must be Fluttershy’s brother, nice to meet you. I’m Pinkie Pie, a friend of hers,” she said casually with a smile on her face while having him in a police hold. He tried to struggle out of it, but Pinkie just pulled his foreleg tighter behind his back.

“Oww! Let me go! Why aren’t you running!? That thing eats ponies!” he practically yelled, his eyes wild and angry, focused on me.

Well. What now?

I… I don’t know, I… I should have thought about this beforehoof.

You think?

Yes! Have we ever gotten back to normal without a seizure or being beaten over the head?

I go to sleep and you wake up more often than anything.

Well, we don’t have time for that right now.

Toxic blood is right behind you, so if you don’t have any better ideas…

“Hey, can you get back to normal on your own?” Rainbow whispered into my ear. I didn’t even notice her fly up next to my head, but it was almost as if she was listening in…

“I-I’m not sure… I-I’d really rather not have to ingest t-that stuff again…” I whispered back. It doesn’t feel good. Or at least it didn’t the last time, that’s for sure. It was like forcibly having my head ripped open. The pain of a wound mixed with a migraine that could render a pony unconscious. That does render a pony unconscious. Taking her blood is like rebooting a computer, it resets my whole head and possibly takes a few hours with it which… would really not be great. I still don’t remember what happened in the Israfel fight from my own perspective.

“Well, what are you going to do? He’s totally freaking out and I really doubt your parents are willing to bind and gag him,” Rainbow asked.

Oh goddess damn it. I don’t know, can we wait it out?

Wait it out? You mean you want to spend at least an hour and a half mixed like this?

Well, maybe? The thing I do with the partials isn’t working, and we can’t be here all night, they have their own lives.

You don’t even know how long we can hold this form! What if it simply lasts until we sleep? How do we get home looking like this? We have to take the blood.

No! I don’t want to forget! This is too important to forget. It was only a couple weeks ago that I said I’d come to terms with all this, and when it really came down to it, that wasn’t true at all. I… we have to get through this, and we can’t forget about it. What if Rainbow dies and we can’t fix the merging in the future? If we can’t strike a balance now, then we’ll be put in a real prison until Celestia can fix us later, or worse… We can’t keep this up forever.

… fine.

“Z-zephyr… it’s me. I’m your sister, n-not the monster.” I said.

“The monster is better than you are! Get out of my house! Why are you here!?” He yelled back. Pinkie tightened her grip on his foreleg again and he flinched.

“Nopony but you is yelling. Please, we use our inside voices inside,” she said. She certainly looks like she’s having fun. All the same, that somehow seemed to calm Zephyr down. He stopped struggling for a moment and looked at the ponies in the house. Dad was just as calm as usual, but unable to look his son in the face, Mom had her eyes closed and looked like she was trying to hide, but in the opposite direction of Zephyr and not me. Then he settled on Rainbow.

“W-wait a minute… Aren’t you… Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” he asked her.

“Yes, actually. Sup, Toothpick,” She replied casually while hovering in place next to me. At this point, Zephyr’s eyes moved to Rainbow’s left and he noticed the blood that was flapping along with her wing.

“Huh,” He said, almost like some off-hoof comment. He relaxed a little bit, but he kept his eyes trained on me. “Okay then. Why are you here? I didn’t think you’d ever come back… unless it was to finish the job. Is that it!?” Maybe it was the first time I’d felt it in a while, but shame crept up my back and I looked away.

“N-no, I never meant to…” I started but couldn’t finish. Lies.

“Bullshit! You attacked me, you tried to eat me! Who even are these ponies, why are you here?” He asked, slowly lowering his volume.

“Maybe if you would stop shouting and let her talk, you would already know, mmk?” Pinkie said.

“Maybe if you would get off me, I wouldn’t have to yell at anypony!” He said as he turned his head to face her. Pinkie looked to me and I figured he wouldn’t get far if he tried to run anyways.

“P-promise you won’t run?” I asked. He seemed to be stuck staring at Pinkie for a moment, but then rolled his eyes.

“Where am I gonna go when there’s three freaks in every direction.” He spat. With that, I nodded to Pinkie and she got off him. He stood up slowly and then made his way to the couch, still keeping his eyes on me. Mom and Dad looked between the two of us, and neither could make heads or tails of the situation.

“I assume there’s something you haven’t told us either?” dad asked Zephyr. He huffed and rolled his eyes again.

“Yeah, sure. ‘My sister is an evil monster that killed ponies in front of me and tried to eat me,’ that’s the most believable story in the world. I wouldn’t know how to describe the kinda gore in my stories if it weren’t for seeing it first hoof because of that thing! I was twelve! That was all so fucked up, and it happened right in front of my face.” I still couldn’t really bring myself to look at him.

“Zephyr! Watch your mouth! We don’t use words like that in this house,” Mom scolded him. He tilted his head at her like it was the most outlandish thing she could say.

“And what, you’re just… not concerned about anything else I said? Is that what you latched onto? She slaughtered ponies right next to me and then came after me! What the hell! What kinda lies have you been feeding my parents, you monster!?”

“I-I haven’t told any lies since I’ve been here. I-I came home to tell the truth, w-what really happened to set the record straight. Z-zephyr… in a week or two I’m p-probably not gonna be around anymore, really I… I-I just wanted to come home to say goodbye.” He relaxed a little and his angry stare became less so.

“What do you mean you aren’t going to be around anymore? What, you expect to die in the next two weeks?” He asked, maybe even a hint of concern in there.

Aww, he really does care.

He’s not a monster. Just because he hates us doesn’t mean that some of those family bonds aren’t still there.

“Well honey, that’s what she was trying to explain before you got home. None of us have heard the story yet. We still don’t know. Firefly told us about some really terrible things that happened after that day back in Cloudsdale and Flutter said that… worse things happened to her.” Mom explained.

“Long and short of it is: lost a wing, forgot who I was, became a contact killer, adopted a sister, and now I kinda fight for the good guys. But uh… before contract killer, it was just killer. I killed a lot of ponies before I started doing it for money. Maybe you’ve heard about me. I’m the Bloody Crow.” Zephyr held still for a moment, probably taking this about the same way Mom and Dad did.

“Uhhh… she’s not serious is she?” Zephyr asked. Rainbow floated back to the ground beside me and smiled.

“Oh, so you know the name, yeah? I bet you’ve even seen pictures of my work attire. It looks… sorta like this, doesn’t it?” Rainbow used her blood to form what was essentially a liquid version of her costume. Every detail, every scratch, every dent in the armor, you could see it all. Zephyr kinda just drew into himself and managed to push further into the two seat couch.

“Haha, okay, yeah. Why has no one called the cops? Are they holding you hostage? Come on guys, we need to leave, now!” He said nervously.

“Yeah, that probably wouldn’t end well for you. We kinda work directly for the crown so even if we do get punished, that would definitely ruin your lives.” Pinkie said with a smile on her face.

“Holy shit.” Zephyr sighed. Pinkie bolted from where she was on the couch to having a hoof around Zephyr’s shoulders.

“Hey, come on, nopony came here to hurt you or anything like that. Your big sis just wanted to give some final words in the event we die in the up coming weeks. We’re trying to make amends with our families, maybe even repair some of the damage we caused. We all did some really bad stuff, and after four, seven and ten years of running away from it, we’re trying to fix that, or at the very least apologize for it.” Zephyr crossed all his legs and turned away from her.

“Fine, whatever. Tell your story so you can go.” He huffed. Pinkie patted him on the back and put her hooves in her lap.

“Atta boy. Now that that bomb is neutralized, let’s hear it. Even I don’t know about what happened in this time period, and I’ve spent the last half year with you.” I nodded and took a deep breath.

Well, this is going to be something.

Sure is.

---

“So, back then there were a lot of things wrong. Fluffy and I were struggling to keep separate, Scarlet had just committed suicide, the school was shot up, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alone in my life. Her thoughts of rage and anger conflicted with my own of depression and sorrow, and who was thinking what when was getting harder and harder to distinguish. The school year started back in 2026 and trying to focus on who was me and who was her was about the least of my worries. A tall filly who wanted nothing but to hide away in a dark corner was the center of attention in an unfamiliar place with nopony to rely on and nothing was ever tolerable. I couldn’t think straight, I cried any time I saw something that was just as red as she was, and when ponies approached me I just ran away.

I couldn’t handle it, I was starting to lose my mind… and around the same time, my powers were starting to develop to the point where I could use them. My hooves would occasionally turn into claws when I was thinking about something that made me mad. My teeth would turn into fangs when I would get hungry, and a certain smell was beginning to stir my appetite without me knowing why. It all came to a head when I’d found myself wandering into the girl’s bathroom one day.

There was a smell in the air. I couldn’t place what it was, but it was intoxicating. It made my mouth water, it made my teeth turn, it took everything I had just to keep my snout from changing, but I had to know what the smell was. I tracked it to one of the stalls, and the smell had grown so strong that I’d started to salivate. I felt my tongue turn, and this was the first time that I experienced one of the side effects of the transformation. When you watch me do it, you probably think it sounds like it hurts. I know it looks like it should, but in fact, it’s the opposite. I get a rush from it, it makes me feel good. My whole snout had changed by this point, and slowly but surely, I crept closer until I was standing in front of the pony in the stall. She was crying, she looked like she was in pain, and when I spotted a bloody rag on the floor, I realized what the smell was. Quietly and quickly, I ran away from the stall without the mare ever noticing me and went to go cry myself.

The next day I found myself wandering around the school again because that smell was in the air. A fight had started in the courtyard in secluded area, and the two colts who were duking it out had spilled each other’s blood. I hid and waited for them to leave, and after they got chased away, I went to taste it. Even dry and on the dirty walls, it was the most delicious thing I’d ever put in my mouth. I wanted more, I needed more, but then I came back to my senses and realized what I’d done. I managed to catch myself in the reflection of nearby glass, and I looked more like I do now. Bigger than I should be, my wings smaller, my legs longer, my hooves morphed into claws, and my face not too far off from the monster I remember dreaming about.

The next week, I wouldn’t even go to school. I was too afraid of what I might do to get that taste again, what might happen if I were around vulnerable ponies who wouldn’t even see me coming. My sense were better than theirs, and most of my life I’d tried to be quiet and hidden. Sneaking was natural to me, so it would’ve been easy. And that’s what scared me the most. I thought it was going to be easy, I knew I could take advantage of the situation to get what I wanted. The week passes and it only gets worse. Normal food couldn’t sate my hunger anymore, eating everything and anything in the house was all I could do to keep myself from going crazy.

Then Zephyr came home with a pair of unfamiliar smells one day. I knew he was well more social than I was and he was good at making friends, but these didn’t match up to a pony of his age. They smelled more mature, aged longer, there weren’t nearly as many confused hormones floating about them. I thought it was strange, so I went to see what was going on. I flew outside of my window and watched from above the house. The mature smells were further off than friends would be, and that tipped me off to something being wrong. When Zephyr arrived at the door alone, I realized he was being followed. I went back inside to see him, but I kept track of those smells, and they never left the surrounding area.

Our old place wasn’t that far from the poor district, and not many ponies in that area were less than middle class, so what else could they be but robbers? At first I thought I might call the police and report it, but then… something else ran through my head. Whether it was me or Fluffy who thought it, I couldn’t say, but it was one of my few thoughts that didn’t feel like it was in a fog or half mixed with something else. I could get their blood. It was so clear and resonating that I became transfixed with it. The smells were male, and I was a tall, sixteen year old mare that looked innocent. I look like an easy target.

As soon as that one ran through my mind, I was dead set on sinking my teeth into these ponies. Night arrived, you two were still out doing something, and those ponies made their move. With them, so did I. The moment they were near the door, I stepped outside and greeted them. I could hardly contain my excitement at the prospect of tasting their blood and so I made every attempt to get them to come to the alley next to the apartment with me. I rubbed my body up against them, I touched them where I knew their bodies would respond and spoke as seductively as possible to get them to follow me. They fell for my trap without a second thought and I had them both wrapped around my hooves. I lead them to the alley, and the moment they finished taking all their gear for intruding the house off, I turned on them. My teeth sank in the first one’s neck, he was dead as soon as I bit into him.

The moment his blood started to gush out and drain into my throat and onto my face, I’d triggered the transformation. The other one screamed when I started the change, but he didn’t manage to get anywhere. This was the taste I’d been seeking, the warm flow of blood gushing and washing over me, the sheer euphoria of having my craving satisfied drove me to get him before he could run. Within a second, I’d cut him to pieces. My meal had been prepared, so then I started to eat. And that’s when Zephyr caught me. I was half way finished with the first pony and my transformation was just about complete when another smell caught my attention. Zephyr had walked outside and into my alley.

My mind was so foggy at this point that I wasn’t sure what I was looking at when I saw that scared little green pegasus staring at me with half a corpse hanging out of my mouth. Instead of even bothering with him, I swallowed the rest of my meal and told him to go back inside as I picked up the next piece. I think I even called him by name, and that is when he screamed.

Why was he screaming? It’s just me. But what am I doing? I’m just eating dinner. Why is he screaming? He shouldn’t be screaming. He needs to stop. And with those thoughts, I grabbed him and held his mouth shut. My claws were covered in the first pony’s blood, so he got a little slimy in my grip. Not a thought crossed my mind as to something being off, I was simply enjoying my meal. When I finally finished with the second pony, my appetite wasn’t quite satisfied. My other claw was still covered in blood, so I cleaned that off and savored the taste. Then I realized that Zephyr was also covered in blood, so I took it upon myself to make sure he was clean. Once that was done, I let him go and was about to head inside when he screamed again.

I pressed a claw down on him and shut his mouth. I asked him why he was screaming, but all he did was look at me with wild eyes. I tilted my head and wondered what was wrong when I felt a warm spot under my claw start to form. Naturally, I took it off him and tried to shake the pee off, but then he ran into the house screaming ‘monster’ the whole time. Monster? Where? Is that why he’s screaming? In an ironic sense of paranoia, I decided to try and get back in the house to hide from this ‘monster’ Zephyr seemed so afraid of. I walked back to the front door, but wasn’t sure why I could do so so quickly. I went to push the handle, but the door broke under the weight of my claw. Why is my hoof so big? I ducked my head inside and Zephyr was already holding the phone and dialing for the police.

“Stay back, monster, get out of my house monster, stay away from me, monster!” He repeated over and over again throwing things at me. I asked him why he was doing it, if maybe the monster was behind me, but when I turned around the street was empty. I put my head back inside the house and was met with Zephyr trying to stab a kitchen knife into my face. It didn’t work of course, cutting the hide of the beast takes a special kind of sharpness that conventional weapons can barely manage and even bullets have trouble doing, but it scared me. He kept screaming monster and he was attacking me now.

Was… I the monster? I backed away from the house and finally took a good look at myself. I had claws. I was basically walking around on two legs, I couldn’t feel my wings, I wasn’t even sure they were there. Even my snout looked different, there was something in place of the yellow coated muzzle I remember being in that spot, and it was all kinds of covered in red. Then it clicked as to what all I’d just done. I killed and ate two ponies. Horror set in and I screamed myself, letting out a roar that alerted the entire area. Police sirens sounded off in the distance so I ran. I found a secluded place in the park to hide, and that was the day I never came back.

From there, the spiral just went down and even further out of control. I was too afraid to show myself around the house anymore, and with no money, I had to find a way to feed myself, and I’d found something new that would satisfy my hunger. After a few months of it, the missing ponies reports started to catch up to me. I was having trouble hiding after eating and I’d learned that some ponies tasted better than others. The cleaner ones without drugs in their systems always tasted the best, and the younger they were the cleaner they were. In that foggy haze back in those days, the number of ponies I ate and killed could number in the hundreds. One gang got wise to who I was and they offered to help me while still keeping me well fed. Like a dog, I was told to go feed on their enemies, and if I did, I was rewarded with a nice bed to sleep in and a safe place to hide. Somewhere in there a year or two passed. My head was so unfocused and unable to think straight, who knows how long I lived like that?

Then one day, a super hero came in and ruined it all. All of the gang captured and only I escaped because I hid and ran as soon as I realized that even the beast might not be able to deal with him. My home gone, my way of life destroyed, the things I did finally starting to weigh on my conscience, I felt like all I could do now was end it all. I found myself wander into… a certain place when I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time. With the sharpening of my nose and eyes came a loss of hearing. In it’s place however was the ability to feel almost like seeing the world through vibrations, not unlike a cat. I’d always had this ability and I could tell ponies apart with it, even if I was nowhere near them. I felt something so familiar, but I couldn’t think of what it was. Attracted to the feeling, I followed it, and that’s where I found my salvation.

I met some special ponies, and even with the terrible things I’d done and was capable of, they offered to try and help me through it. With treatments for my personalities and a reliable way to feed me without triggering my powers I managed to be somewhat ‘normal’ again. They found out how impressive my eyes and reflexes were and offered me a way to be useful and actually earn my place. I owe those ponies my life and unfortunately, I may end up paying up in the next couple weeks. We are part of the hero group Harmony, and I am Target Lock.

---

“S-so that’s it. T-that’s what happened, why I left, a-and why I don’t think I’ll last m-much longer.” I realized that mom had cried once or twice during the story, and me describing the pleasure filled rush I got from literally eating other ponies probably wasn’t my best move.

“I mean, wow. Even I’m kinda shocked and I knew that you were kind of a cannibal… predator? this whole time,” Pinkie stated. I brought my claws together and tapped the ends of my fingers to each other while keeping my head down.

“W-well, it’s not like my digestive system is e-even the same as yours anymore. I-I might as well be a carnivore internally. T-that’s part of the reason I t-think I got so sick all the time. M-my body had already started to change.” I have to remember to thank Goose for not saying anything about the meat I ordered a few days ago.

“I’m just… I don’t think I have the words to respond here. Is it not a little terrifying to know that you were the reason a murder investigation opened up outside the last apartment? We thought that that might’ve been your blood out there, but when that came back negative, we didn’t know what to think. Zephyr was traumatized and couldn’t hardly talk for a week, and even then he never said anything about it. We looked for you and never found you, so… we gave up thinking you must’ve died or got kidnapped back then. To think that you… were The Beast of all things…” Dad half said, half muttered.

“Why didn’t you ask for help? Surely we could have… done something for you,” Mom asked. I shook my head.

“H-how many ponies would react calmly to s-something that looks like this? I-I gave you warning and told you before hoof t-that I was a monster. Z-zephyr’s reaction was more n-normal than yours was. I-I’m a pony eating monster, t-they would try to kill me before they tried to treat me.”

“But… The Beast killed families! It ate children! Are you telling me that you… you did all that unwittingly?” mom asked, looking for any kind of hope away from the truth.

“Y-yes… It doesn’t sound good, it d-doesn’t feel good to think about, I-I even went so far as to want to kill myself over it. B-but that’s the truth. I-I’d lost so much of my reason t-that thinking something so d-deep as morals or ethics was beyond me, a-and that doesn’t make it any less my fault.” Mom buried her face in dad’s chest and started to cry again.

“Why did you have to tell me this? This is all just too much. Can’t we just go lie down on the master bed and sleep together as a family like we did back when you two were kids and forget about all of this?” she moaned. Dad rubbed her back and sighed.

“Be it ugly or unsightly, looking away from the truth causes problems and doesn’t make you a better pony. If I had… maybe pushed into looking into her powers more back then, then maybe I could’ve prevented you going off the rails like you did. I shouldn’t have given into that stupid hallucination theory the daycare presented, and I shouldn’t have ignored the signs of what was happening with you and Scarlet. The more I think about what I didn’t and could’ve done, the more I think I’m partially to blame here. I’m sorry, Flutter. I haven’t been a very good father to you.” Dad apologized. Oh don’t say that, it’s not your fault. I’m the monster. I could feel the tears well up and suddenly, I started to lose height. By the time I finished reverting to normal, I’d joined the hug in my dad’s chair, letting myself be held by my parents again.

“Good goddess, it really is you,” Zephyr remarked.

“Yep. Although, this is the first time I’ve seen her revert and be conscious at the same time. That wasn’t the full transformation though if you couldn’t tell from her fitting in the room. She’s usually way bigger than that.” Pinkie said.

“So… back then… you didn’t even know… you were like that?” Zephyr asked.

“T-that’s right. I knew I could transform, and I k-knew that I had powers from the few times It’d happened while Rainbow was around, b-but I’d never been in that state without trading off w-who had control of the body. F-fluffy and I were so mixed at that p-point that we were both half in control.” I explained.

“Rainbow?” He asked as he tilted his head.

“Oh. That’s my current legal name. For the time that I’d lost my memory, I needed documents to actually be around since ‘Firefly Flare’ is legally dead. I’ve been going by Rainbow Dash for so long now that it’s weird to hear the old name more than anything.” Zephyr scratched his head and shook it.

“Well sure, whatever. Look, I still don’t know what to make of you. I don’t like you in my house, I don’t like the fact that you’re some kind of monster that eats your own kind, and I’m still having trouble believing you’re some kind of hero. If you make it through these fights you think are gonna kill you, then you… you’ve gotta at least let us know, alright? I thought… I thought you tried to eat me and that’s just… that’s just so fucked up. You were my big sister, ya know?” Zephyr's voice became a little choked up. I left my parents and moved to give Zephyr a hug. He was getting close to being just as tall as I am, and he was still young and growing. One day, he’ll probably be taller than me.

“I-I’m sorry. I-if I make it through this, then I’ll p-promise to come visit and try to make up for lost time.” He sniffed hard and eventually gave into the hug. A little while passed, and I figured it was time to go. Pinkie and Rainbow said their goodbyes, Mom, Dad, and Zephyr all demanded that this not be the last time we visit home, and just as we headed out the door, I steeled my resolved and offered one last apology.

“T-this time, I really think I’ve come to t-terms with it. I-I’m sorry I broke our family, and I’m s-sorry you have to live with knowing that I’m a monster. B-but all the same, I-I’ll fight to protect the city the ponies I-I care about live in. I-if we make it that far, I’ll f-fix this relationship and t-try to be a part of your lives again. F-for now though, I have to go. I-I don’t deserve the title, but I have to l-live up to the name ‘hero’ and protect this place. S-so if I never see you again… remember me as somepony who died trying to do the right thing instead of the monster I was before.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like? Also, friendly word of advice, say what the references are at the end of each chapter. If you make to many of those things without a proper explanation, people like me will get confused and annoyed.

[KorenCZ11]

8953279
Let's see... For Goose, it would be Grant George, specifically his voice as Chikage Rokujo from Durarara. Back in one of the blogs from the time Goose was introduced (which was well over a year ago now) I said that's who Goose was based on.

Citrus, as odd as this might sound, has the voice of Owen Thomas as Twisted Fate in League. Ever since I started writing, the middle aged, southern dad character has always been somewhere in the story, so that's where that voice came from.

Blood Orange has Matt Mercer as Ryoma in Fire Emblem Fates. (can't find a better example of this) I hear this the most in the line 'Biology doesn't care' when I think about it, but I think he's always had that kind of voice, and it would make sense because that game was released in the US around the time I started Super (Matt mercer is also like, my favorite voice actor period, so that would be the dream). I started with Conquest so Ryoma's little 'scene' toward the end of that game made an impact. The writing in Fates is absolute shit, but Ryoma as a 'noble guy who makes bad decisions and ends up hurting his family for it' may very well have been the subconscious base for Blood.

Stannum Argent is the exact other kind of southern accent from Citrus. Where Citrus is the Western cowboy, Stannum is the 1800's plantation owner with the syrupy southern drawl like Leo Dicaprio as Calvin Candie in Django unchained. Maybe a little deeper voiced than this, but that is about right.

Persona Is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, and he sounds specifically like Shadow Yosuke in Persona 4. In the event you didn't know, I played through Persona 4 around the same time I was getting ready to introduce the character and I took a lot of inspiration from that game and the series in general when I was getting the theme ready for this guy.

Brightness is Jamie Marchi as Panty in Panty and stocking (Warning, this is super vulgar). But uh. Jamie Marchi voices about the same character in everything, so the kinda sleazy blonde bitch with a foul mouth is where Brightness personality came from. Young Brightness is essentially a higher pitched squeaky version of this with a northern city accent (It's hard to write a southern accent next to a city accent since the same words are slurred but in completely different ways using the same letters).

Young Star on the other hoof sounds like Joe MacDonald as Jacuzzi Splot in Baccano! Adult Star (He's like, 32 in current time) is pretty similar, but deeper and less scratchy. Probably more like Vino/Clarine Stanfield/The Rail Tracer mixed with Jacuzzi from the same show.

For your other thing, I'm not sure what you mean by references. This chapter is completely devoid of them unless you mean Rainbow's story, at which point that was just Of Rainbows and Ravens parts 2 and 3. Everything talked about in this chapter is all in universe and explained in earlier chapters.