Chapter VI: Uber Soldat
I woke up in the CMC’s clubhouse, clutching my head in pain. My wound on my left arm was gone, and in its place was a purple and black stub - obviously a seal done by an intensive burn. It was exactly what I wanted to do, but somebody else had done it for me it seemed. I looked around and noticed I was surrounded by the girls, AJ, and Pinkie. I was alive, Pinkie was well, and the girls were safe. I was content. I fell back against the wall and sighed in relief, VERY weak and extremely lightheaded from all the blood loss. Scootaloo seemed a bit odd though. On her flank was the image of a blue caduceus, a common symbol used to indicate medical facilities. Her cutie mark, obviously. I shook my head a bit, and as I cleared my mind, my eye went to my stub, then to Scoots, then to my stub, and back to Scoots. I also had a proper patch on my eye, which had, upon me lifting the cover and feeling myself, been entirely removed to prevent infection.
“Scootaloo...” I paused, looking at my stub, then feeling my patch. “...did you do this?”
Scootaloo smiled at me and giggled, a proud look on her face. The others gave me warm grins as well. I felt safe, despite all the injuries and the setbacks said damage would cause me in life.
“Yep, but I’m not done. Lie down, please, Nick.” she said as she took some bandages in her mouth and began to wrap them cleanly around my arm. I smiled at her, and as she finished, I gave her a hug.
“Thank you. And congratulations on getting your cutie mark. I’ve been wanting to see that ever since I’ve started watching your show.”
I felt proud, almost like a father, even, seeing his daughter grow up to be a strong, independent woman with a future. Why was I feeling this about a horse though? A fictional horse, no less...
Pinkie tilted her head and stared at me quizzically.
“Show? What show?”
I just laughed at Pinkie Pie (in a friendly way).
“Just like how we’re fairytales to you, you’re a TV show to us. In other words, my people find you entirely fictional, Pinkie. YOU, of all ponies know we exist, you fourth wall breaker.”
“Well, duh, of course humans exist, silly! I just never told anypony the truth because they wouldn’t believe me!” Pinkie continued, beaming in excitement. My stomach gurgled. Some food would be wonderful right about now, despite the fact that I can’t get that sickening image of the basement out of my head. I nearly vomited again at the thought of that hellhole. A pang of guilt about Carrot hit me again. I repressed, and turned my attention to Applejack.
“Thank you for saving my life... I owe you one.”
“Sugarcube, ya saved mah sis and her friends. If anythin’, I owe YOU, darlin’.”
“I didn’t save anyone, I did what I knew was right.
“Nonsense, sweetie.”
Well, at least things had stopped for a while, but BEN was still out there, the son of a bitch. What did I ever DO to that kid that made him do this to me? How did he send me here? What exactly was he doing here in the first place? More importantly...
“Who’s hungry?” I asked, smiling at everyone else, looking around the room for response.
“Ooooo! mememememememe!” Pinkie yelled, quite literally bouncing off the walls. I couldn’t contain myself. I just broke down laughing at the scene, along with the other four as Pinkie Pie rebounded and sprung around the clubhouse like a rampant bouncy ball fired from a cannon. THERE was the Pinkie Pie we all knew. I stood up and brought them all together for a hug. As we left and headed into town, though, the mood got depressing quite quickly. Pinkie nervously looked up to me, as if to say something, but didn’t. She looked down at the ground, a sad look on her face, and then looked back up to me.
“Um, Nick?”
“Yes?”
“So... I really did all those awful things?” Pinkie asked, a sadness overtaking her face. She was about to cry, and so, I really didn’t want to answer. If I told Pinkie the truth, it would emotionally destroy her. If I didn’t, she would resist help. I gently placed my hand on her back, cracking a faint smile at Pinkie Pie, then delivering a slight scowl at everyone else.
“Alright, who the hell told her about the basement while I was out cold?”
“We- we all did.” Sweetie piped up. “If we didn’t tell her about what she’s been doing, who knows what she would have done next!” She finished, shuddering a bit at the returning image of the blood-soaked basement. I sighed and turned my attention to Pinkie as we walked.
“Yes, Pinkie Pie, yes, you did.”
Pinkie began to tear even more. As those words left my mouth, a pang of regret hit me. It was for the best though, that I knew. Pinkie just fell, and let the tears flow. The rest cuddled around their friend to try and comfort her. I just stood there, contemplating what to say. Finally, I drew a breath, and spoke.
“PInkie Pie, listen... I’m not mad at you. None of us are. We just wanna see you get back to normal, okay? We’re your friends. We’re here to take care of you. I’m not gonna judge you for something that obviously wasn’t your fault. You have a sickness, and the drugs were hurting you. We’ll try to get you medicine, okay?”
“I...I... I’m... I’m so sorry! Mr. Cake... I’m sorry!”
Oh... great. They told her that she killed Carrot. This was DEFINATELY gonna bite me in the ass later. I sighed, nearly crying at the fact of her having to live with ‘killing’ her employer. Should I confess now? No. I couldn’t. If I did, they would all leave me here, with no way to get home, and a rampant BEN terrorizing the country. I couldn’t afford to lose their trust now. Every moment I went without a confession tore at my heart though... I just... never knew I could kill. I sighed, kicking up some dust as I looked down to the street and continued to walk.
“I’m sorry about your hand Nick... Are you mad at me?” Pinkie asked, giving her puppy face.
“No... I can’t ever be mad at you... Not when you give me that face.”
“Sugarcube, we could never be mad at ya, specially with what’s been goin’ on in town recently. Everypony’s got some kinda problem nowadays. Ya shoulda heard the awful stuff Big Mac was doin’!” Applejack said, trying to smile at her friend. The CMC nodded in agreement. Pinkie squee’d and hugged us all again. Suddenly, I felt much better, and the thoughts about Carrot’s murder washed away. BEN washed away. That cursed game faded out of my mind, and even the basement and apple cellar faded away as I held my group of friends tightly. Why couldn’t I be close with my friends back home? Why was it all they ever wanted to do was get drunk? Why couldn’t they be like this? Supportive, friendly... instead of mooching off me? I take back everything I said about how corrupt Equestria was, it was just under attack by something attempting to destroy the country from the inside out, namely, BEN (and perhaps, Derpy). HE was the one doing all these awful things. It wasn’t the fault of any of the citizens. It was MY fault. I let him out of that cartridge, and he came here. I was the one that ruined Equestria. Now, it was up to me and whomever I could get to side with me to fix it.
“Hey, let’s go get that new drink that Flim and Flam have been selling!” Sweetie Belle excitedly added.
“Oh, I love that stuff!” Applebloom commented.
I was confused. a new drink from the FlimFlam brothers?
“Wait, they’re at it again?”
“Yeah, but they ain’t doin’ apple cider ana’more, they got their own drink this time.” Applejack interjected.
“Hmmm... Sounds interesting. Let’s get over there.”
I shivered again as the mask man’s laughter filled the air. Something told me this was only going to get worse. MUCH worse. As we approached the stands, Pinkie pulled out some cash. She ran up and returned with drinks for all of us, smiling brightly. The stands were in town square, and the area was absolutely packed. A bunch of ponies stared me down, and I began to sweat at all the attention.
“Woah! It’s a real, live human! Lyra wasn’t joking!”
“Yes, yes, humans exist. Move along, please.” I said, trying to shoo those that approached me off. I REALLY wasn’t in the mood to draw myself out, for the sake of avoiding BEN. There were several guards standing around the streets, which I found extremely odd. There was RARELY a public presence of armed forces in Equestria according to the show, but here, there existed about three squads in this region alone. On top of this, the citizenry seemed... afraid somehow. I couldn’t explain, but they rarely talked, and the happy atmosphere of the town was even less than that of what I saw when I got here. Interaction between citizens was at a VERY minimal level, and many of them avoided eye contact with the troops.
“It’s on the house, Nick. Think of it as only a portion of what I owe you.”
“You owe me nothing. You being safe and off those drugs is all I need from you, Pinkie Pie.”
I examined the drink with interest. It was a bright green and orange mixture, unlike anything I had ever seen. I gave it some final inspection, then smiled at the girls. We clinked our glasses together, and at that, we drank.
“OKTOBERFEST!” I yelled in excitement with a slight German accent. I took a swig of the drink, and my heart started racing a bit, though not nearly as bad as the cocaine. This must have had caffeine in it or something. As the mellow taste, somewhat of a citrus lemon-lime flavor, mixed with Marley’s Mellow Mood (that’s the best description I can give, looking back) rolled around on my tongue, something seemed to take hold of me, not to mention the girls. It was a very pleasurable feeling, and my entire body tingled and tickled at every nerve. I lost some coordination, stumbling around a bit. Was there alcohol in this too? Must be some pretty strong booze. ...but no, if it did, they wouldn’t give it to children... would they? Flim and Flam would do anything for coin, that I knew. Ah well, who gave a damn? I felt awesome right now! I grew a little lightheaded and began to laugh. The others did as well, and their own tones became a bit distorted and garbled to my ears.
“Man... I love you guys... so much.”
“We love you too Nick.”
At that, I blacked out.
I awoke on another metal rack, naked again. I looked around the room I was in, my eyes drearily coming to. where I was at was much cleaner and well-organized than the torment that was Sugarcube’s basement. There were a few models of pony skeletons at the far end of the room that looked disturbingly real, two to be exact. One was an alicorn, with a slightly smaller stature and body build than that of either Luna or Celestia, and on its horn rested a golden ring. The second was a unicorn, a standard size pony, and atop its skull sat a purple wizard’s hat with multi colored star designs. There was a small computer tower next to a desk, which had a small chemistry lab on it, and from the tower was being produced several printouts, similar to those found in seismic scans or polygraph tests. I looked around more, and I saw the other five were locked down on racks as well. These trays though, were much more secure, metal, switch-activated locks holding our limbs. The five we were on (and the only ones in the room) were arranged in a star-shaped pattern, connected together by their inner edges. Aside from the desk, skeletal models, and tables, there was a small control panel of some kind, with various buttons and a large lever with a neon orange knob. I began to panic. Where were we!? Everyone I had befriended was struggling wildly, trying to break free of their mechanical restraints, and suddenly, over top of me appeared Twilight Sparkle.
“Hi there!” she said, in a giddy tone. She was NOT normal by any means. She was wearing a lab coat stained with dried blood, her eyes were solid red, very much like those of Big Mac when I fought him, her coat and mane were solid grey instead of purple, and she had that famous look of insanity from Lesson Zero, beady eyes and all. Her voice, like Big Mac’s, was not entirely her own, with somewhat of a serpentine lisp behind it. I screamed at her impromptu appearance and my body jolted backwards (or as far back as it could go), and I immediately started sweating.
“What is this!? Let us out!”
Twilight didn’t answer me. She just turned away to the nearby desk, walked over, and took a sip of a drink from a lab flask. It was the same mixture that we got from the FlimFlam brothers; orange and green. Something about THIS drink was off, though. Twilight set the flask down and walked over to me, staring at my body with a particular interest. Each step she took towards me, her clopping hooves hitting the tile floor, made me quiver in fear. Never before had I been so scared of this horse... What was she going to do to us? Everybody else looked over to me, as if to look for an answer to my own question.
“So... a human, huh? Straight out of the foal’s stories. Un-be-bucking-lievable. This certainly breaks all scientific explanation.”
“No... YOU break scientific explanation, Twilight.”
“Pfft, whatever, human. I noticed you brought some interesting toys with you.” she said, rolling her eyes over in the direction of my gun, phone, charger, ammo, and CD, which, along with my clothes, were on the desk with the chemistry lab.
“Let me go, and I’ll show you how the L shaped one works.” I replied to her, scowling as I tried to viciously tear my way out of my bonds with no success.
“Heh. Nice try. You know, a human would really make a great testing subject. There’s so much to find out, what with you being a brand new species! Would you be willing to help further the cause of science?”
I spat in her face. Twilight gave me a blank stare, then wiped her face off and gave a seductively cute smile.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Fuck. You.”
“You know what, you seem like a competent fighter... perhaps you’d better serve me as a soldier.”
“I’m not doing a goddamn thing for you, Twilight.”
Oh, that’s a shame...” she said, as she cast some magic and crushed my right fingers.
“AUGHHHHHHHHHHHH! GO TO HELL, YOU STUPID BITCH!” I yelled, as I felt my bones crunch into a broken mess.
“Twilight, what in tarnation are ya doin’!? Stop this right now!”
“Well, if you won’t help me, that’s okay. The little green guy has been. He’s quite the assistant. Plus, he refills my drink without me asking!” Twilight said, taking another sip of the flask as she walked over to Applejack and smiled at her wickedly. Pinkie and the CMC were scared out of their minds and on the verge of crying. I spit up some blood, watching as the nearly empty flask magically filled itself.
“Wait... green?”
“Yeah, that little guy over there.” Twilight said, pointing in the corner, as she turned back around and started to approach me again. Her eyes grew an even bloodier shade of red. “Say hello, BEN.”
The statue, it was here, standing in the corner of the room next to the control panel. The song of unhealing was playing in the air, and my head suddenly hurt from the tune. The CMC screamed in unison at the unholy noise, and later, started crying.
“Make it stop!” they all yelled.
My heart sank at his appearance. How far did his reach go? Had he corrupted EVERYONE? And... why was Twilight’s skin grey?
“Oh dear god, no...”
“Well, let’s get started, shall we?” Twilight began, gripping a scalpel in her hoof and approaching me. I cringed, bracing for the worst. She searched for a spot to begin her incision, and fortunately, decided to use my handless arm. The scalpel dug deep into my left limb, forming a clean-cut incision that went down vertically, dangerously close to my vein. She must have been doing this twisted work for years, because the slice was so fast and clean, I barely felt any pain.
“Why? Just... why, Twilight?”
My face flustered red with anger. I began to cry. Equestria was REALLY corrupt... I couldn’t believe this.
“Why?” I asked her again as I held back more tears. “What did I ever do to you!?”
Twilight just laughed at me. She opened the newly formed incision, peering inside my arm. The pain had hit. I screamed, and the skull kid laughed. As blood spurted from the fresh cut, even more tears streamed down my face. How could Twilight be doing this? What exactly WAS BEN doing to her?
“TWILIGHT! STOP IT!” Scootaloo yelled, thrashing her little orange body about. Pinkie was crying, trying to cope with what she was seeing. First herself, now one of her very own friends, practically doing the very same things she had done. She tried to sing a tune of her own amidst her tears as the song of unhealing continued to play through the air.
“G-g-g-giggle at th-th-th-the g-g-g-ggg-g-g-ghosties...”
At that, there WAS a giggle: the giggle of the mask salesman. I wrenched around wildly in pain, my arm spurting out blood, growing weak as my vision began to fade from even more blood loss.
“Twilight, what are you trying to accomplish here?”
“Oh... I’ve got BIG plans for Equestria, human.” she said, laughing as she took a syringe and extracted some of my blood. Applebloom threw up all over herself and started crying along with the other two. Twilight was toying with my open arm, playing with the bone and muscle, making it twitch and spurt even more.
“So that’s how that works...”
“Let’s *cough* cut to the chase lady. Are you going to kill me or not?”
“No, silly. I’m just gonna add you to The Collective.” Twilight said, taking another sip of her drink. Her eyes turned a bright red again.
“It’s that potion, shug! Stop drinkin’ that!” Applejack screamed out, trying to yank herself loose. Even after all the years of apple bucking, she still wasn’t strong enough for these locks, stressing her body for no purpose. Twilight smiled at the blonde pony and slowly walked over to her.
“Twilight, I swear to god, if you fucking hurt her...!”
“Oh Applejack... you simply don’t understand how amazing this drink is. Why, with every sip I take, I expand my mind! I constantly learn new things with this brew! It’s from the FlimFlam brothers. I added a few special ingredients to MY drink though, and let me tell you, it is absolutely grand!”
Twilight stopped for a moment, levitating her drink over to the desk and setting it down, as she drew even closer to AJ.
“You know, Applejack... I always fancied a strong one...”
“Wha-what do ya mean, sugarcube?” AJ asked, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. Twilight gave a cute little smile, and her voice went soft, almost a direct parallel to those demonic eyes of hers.
“Here... let me show you...”
Twilight began rubbing Applejack’s stomach, slowly at first, methodically, before beginning to nibble on her friend’s ears.
“O... okay, Twi, we’re gettin’ a might personal here... there are fillies in th’ room...”
Twilight wasn’t listening. She continued to caress Applejack, feeling her up, and starting to lick her. I couldn’t watch this sick shit, I knew it was going to get worse. I had seen enough of this vile crap on the internet... Twilight continued her twisted game, taking her mouth off of AJ’s ears, then running her tongue down the length of her front body, down to her vulva. After teasing it with her tongue for a few seconds, Twilight’s horn glowed, and gently slipped inside. Applejack screamed in pain, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo clamped their eyes shut. This went on for about five minutes, then Applebloom screamed at the unicorn.
“What are ya doin to mah sister, Twilight!? Quit it! Quit it now!”
And so she did, removing herself from a shocked Applejack...
...and then approached the little yellow filly. She screamed and tried to bite her attacker, but it was just like the cellar; she was completely powerless, and had no choice but to submit. Her two friends and Pinkie Pie couldn’t bear to watch. Twilight forced her way into the young girl, which nearly made me vomit. I thrashed around some more, screaming.
“God damn it, Twilight, let her go! She’s been through enough!”
Again, she completely ignored me, and as she finished her work inside of Applebloom, Twi conjured another spell, and pressed one of the buttons on the control panel, which released my shackles. I fell to the floor, weak as all get out, but stood and stumbled over to my gun.
“Now’s your chance. Kill the bitch!”
I gripped hold of it and took aim at Twi, but not before being blindsided by... the statue? Yeah, I wish I could make that up, but the statue just LITERALLY attacked me, slamming itself into me. I fell to the floor, dropping the gun, which, my finger still barely in the trigger well, fired, and sent a bullet flying around the room. It came back and hit me in my left shoulder. I screamed again and tried to collect myself, but I was suddenly picked up by a spell from Twilight and thrown, face first, against a blank spot in the wall. As she held me there, with her magic, she picked up a small plastic ziptie from a drawer in the desk, and tied my arms together. She took a rugged burlap sack from a pile of identical ones that were on the floor in the opposite corner, and gagged me with it. Then, she took a second one and placed it over my head, and the mask salesman giggled as the song of unhealing finally subsided. I tried to speak through the muffling cloth.
“I’ll be back. I promise you all.”
Twilight smacked me upside the head with her hoof.
“Shut up, human!”
As I was led down a few flights of stairs, the air became increasingly thinner. How far down did Twilight’s lab go? Would the others be okay?
---
Pinkie finally came to her senses, and tried to relax, snot running down her face as her hysterical crying slowly trickled to a stop, and then tried to break loose of her bonds.
“We gotta help Nick! He’s gonna die!”
Applejack looked over and rolled her eyes.
“What in tarnation do ya expect us to do, Pinkie? We’re locked down on these here metal racks!” she said, as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom continued to cry in the background. Her inner body still hurt from Twilight’s attack, a burning, stinging sensation from the rape taking her nerves. She screamed at the vicious, searing pain inside of her. Applebloom continued to cry, traumatized by her own assault.
“Everypony just shut the buck up!”
The room fell dead silent at the abrupt order, and all eyes turned to face the source of the noise; Scootaloo.
“Okay... let’s calm down and think. Applejack, do you see that control panel over there?”
“Yup Scoots. Ah... ah do.”
“Try using your head to chuck your hat at that lever. I’m willing to bet that thing will let us free. Maybe, just maybe you can pull off a Daring Do!”
“Aw, now Scoot, there ain’t no way in hay I coul-”
“Shut up and try!”
“Scootaloo, why are ya being so demanding?” Applebloom managed to squeak out, a twinge of fear in her voice.
Scootaloo sighed, closing her eyes, then opening them again. She brought them around the room multiple times, staring deep into each of their own with a sense of determination as she spoke.
“Because Nick wouldn’t want us to give up. When he saved us from Big Mac, was he scared? Yes. Did he lose composure and give up? No! He fought for us! He fought for our lives! Without his injury, I wouldn’t have my cutie mark! We owe him! If there’s anything he’s taught me, it’s to be rational even if you’re scared out of your mind! Nick didn’t come here on complete accident, he came here for a reason, and now, we have to help him! He obviously has some connection to this BEN statue, and it’s pretty obvious that this statue is hurting everypony else in town. If there’s anypony who has the slightest idea on how to stop BEN, it’s Nick. We NEED to work together!”
Sweetie Belle chuckled lightly, sniffling a bit as her tears began to dry, following the little speech.
“Yeah!”
“Yeah! Let’s do this!” Pinkie Pie cheered in reply, looking to Applejack, awaiting her friend’s next move.
“Alright, fine, ah’ll try.” Applejack said, with a groan and a sharp pain in her nether, knocking her hat off her head and onto her chest. Picking it up with her mouth like a frisbee, she took careful aim and threw...
---
“Alright, Twilight, I’ve had enough of your games. Take this fucking thing off my head!” I ordered, barely audible with the cloth bag stuffed down my throat. Surprisingly, not soon after my request, the bag on my head was removed, and the gag taken from my mouth. I was now clearly deep underground, and in a hallway, a long, thin hallway with many doors. Twilight picked me up with some magic and slung me over her back. She took another ziptie, which was tucked behind her ear, and used another aura to bring the plastic tie to my legs, and bind them together so I couldn’t run. I just laid down, stomach first, on top of Twilight’s back, and I read some of the labels on the doors as we passed by. Each of them had a window nearby, which had clear pictures of what was happening within them. As we went down the hallway, I became increasingly disturbed. In the first room was a collection of various ponies and creatures, all of very muscular builds. Athletes, fighters, you name it. Each of the individuals in the room were inside pressurized glass tubes, each of which was covered with some frost. The label above this first room read: ‘Cryogenics Lab’. The second room down the hallway was a strange one. It had several artificial pits in the room, and each of these contained an abundance of different creatures. Each pit held one specific type of creature, and, passing the window, I saw the room fill with what seemed to be some kind of a noxious green gas. All the beings within the entirety of the room fell over dead as the view of the window moved out of sight. The label for this door was ‘Harvesting Room’.
Further down, we came to a third room, and inside of this, was an even more disturbing activity. There were life support chambers running the lengths of the walls, and inside each was a developing fetus of some kind of a creature - a dragon, a pony, a diamond dog, and on and on. In the middle of the room was a small chemistry lab, lined with vials of white and red. Judging from the fetuses that were in the tanks, I assumed they were collections of sperm and eggs, and my hunch was correct as we walked past the label ‘Breeding Chambers’. The very next room needed little explanation, but further down the line, the next lab contained more life support tanks. The only difference here? they were spread apart, grouped in sets of four, and each cluster contained identical beings. Suffice to say, the label was ‘Cloning Vats’. The fifth room in the line was even more maccabe. Within it were several operation tables, and I was guessing this was where most of the twisted work was done by Twilight herself. On the tables were various beings, all of which were disembodied, beheaded, and sewn together with one another. Ponies with diamond dogs, griffins with parasprites, chimeras with dragons, ursa majors and minors with manticores and on. This door read: ‘Splicing Labs’. This place was a twisted lab of death, and in each window we had passed stood the statue. We weren’t done though. We passed several others, each with their own labels. None of these had windows to see what was occurring inside, but most didn’t need an explanation. From the start of the first door to the end of the hallway, they went:
‘Armory’
‘Medical R&D’
‘Weapons Research’
‘Training Room’
‘Behavioral Rehab’
‘Assault Course’
It didn’t take much to figure out that Twilight and BEN were creating a genetically modified army of mutants. Twilight had the brains and the resources, and BEN... well, what DID he do exactly? Who gave a shit? This needed to be stopped, and stopped now. We came to the end of the hallway, to an unmarked door. What was behind here? God damn, this whole trip couldn’t get any worse.
Oh boy, was I wrong.
---
It failed. Applejack’s hat didn’t activate anything, but it DID land on the lever, though only for a brief moment before sliding off onto the floor.
“Aw, damn it!” Applejack cried.
“Now what?” Pinkie asked.
Scootaloo looked around the room and noticed the gun on the table, then an idea rushed through her. She grinned.
“Sweetie Belle, can you use some magic to pick up Nick’s weapon and shoot the switch?”
“Are you crazy? I never learned any magic!” Sweetie cried, an exasperated look on her face as she turned to her friend.
Scootaloo sighed, tilting her head back some, then bringing her eyes to Sweetie Belle.
“Come on! after all the time you spend with Rarity, you can’t even learn a simple grip spell?”
Sweetie Belle looked at the gun, then to her friends, then to the gun again. She took a breath.
“Well, I guess I could try...” She said, as she closed her eyes and grunted. A spark flew from her horn.
“Hold on... I’ve got something...”
Another spark.
“Let me try again.”
A spark, then a weak aura surrounded Sweetie Belle’s horn and the gun. It levitated a few inches off the table. Everypony cheered.
“Great, now get it over here!” Applebloom said, trying to wiggle her hoof loose.
“Applebloom, we don’t have fingers! How in tarnation do ya expect us ta work this thing?”
“Wait... let me try something...” Sweetie Belle said, dragging the pistol to her. She put it on top of her, setting it down on her belly and examined the weapon. She ran her eyes along the action, then the grip, then they stopped to the trigger, the hammer, and finally, the barrel.
“Okay... now, let’s see how this works.” she said, looking at the gun in interest. She used her magic to pick the weapon up, took aim, and with a bit of extra effort pulled the trigger with some more magic. The gun sounded, followed by some metallic pings, and a fleshy sound, accompanied with a scream of pure agony.
“SWEETIE BELLE!” Pinkie cried out, trying to break free as she began to cry at the sudden sight of blood. Sweetie had shot herself, trying to figure how to work the gun. The bullet went straight through her stomach, and, hitting the metal table she was tied to, ricocheted throughout her body, tearing her organs to pieces. She dropped the gun, crying in pain. She was a brave one, yes, but she couldn’t handle this. She let the tears flow like the distressed and hurt filly she really was; it was just too much for her to handle .The burning sensations in her organs; her stomach, her heart, her intestines... all of it seared with roaring burns as blood began to flow from the wound. Sweetie’s heart began to beat erratically, and slow down as the ‘clink-clink’ sound of a bullet casing hit the floor. Scootaloo was on the verge of tears. Applebloom and Pinkie were already letting out waterfalls, and Applejack began to panic, looking around wildly to see what she could do.
“Sweetie Belle, you gotta try again! If we get out of this, I can fix you up!” Scoot said, as a lone drop rolled down her face.
Sweetie Belle, in intense pain, took what energy she had left, and conjured another spell to pick up the gun. The stings and burns and slowly dropping body temperature all a challenge that the young filly had to surpass. This time, she slowly and carefully took aim at the lever and took the shot, with the gun now facing proper.
*Boom*
*Ka-ching*
Success. The bullet hit the lever, and opened everypony’s shackles. Sweetie fell off of her rack, her face to the floor, a pool of blood forming on the ground. Scootaloo rushed over, and rapidly tried to revive her, giving her CPR as best she could. She ran over and grabbed a burlap sack from the pile, pressing it to her friend’s wound.
“YOU AREN’T DYING ON ME! DAMN IT, STAY WITH ME SWEETIE BELLE!”
Pinkie was panicking, sweating, and looking around wildly, trying to see what she could give to help Scoots and Sweetie.
“What should we do!?”
“You guys go after Nick! Leave Sweetie Belle to me!” Scootaloo cried. “GO!”
As they left, a serpentine voice filled the room. Scootaloo’s spine shivered and the mask salesman giggled.
"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"
---
I simply couldn’t contemplate what I was seeing. What was going on down here was bigger than just a personal evil, this was a deranged army of freaks about to roll over Equestria, and Twilight had been working away feverishly at it. BEN had been helping, but to what extent, and what exactly he did, again, I was not certain. We stopped outside of the unmarked door at the end of the hallway, and Twilight threw me to the floor. I stood up, using the nearby wall for support, a small trail of my blood leading all the way down the hall. I felt so fucking weak. I had barely any blood left, I was tied up, I had only one hand, one eye, half of my teeth (approximately), and a large cut along my handless limb. Still, I was willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. I’d fight to the death here. I had brought BEN to Equestria, more or less, so the weight of this entire war was on my shoulders. I spit in Twilight’s face again.
“You are NOT using this army, you god damn psycho!” I said, my voice trembling in fear, yet confident.
“Yeah... sure... and what are you gonna do? You’re missing one of your hands, you’ve lost a lot of blood, you have wounds everywhere, no weapon, plus, you’re pretty out of shape anyway. You think you can take ME? I use MAGIC, you stupid bucker! Humans can’t even fathom that! You have NO conceivable chance against me! You’re worthless! You’re a pile of trash! And you wanna know what else? As soon as I’m done with you, I’m gonna go have some fun with everypony you brought with you.” She said, as the skull kid laughed yet again. At that, she conjured a spell that took my already ruined arm, and twisted it sideways. it snapped at the shoulder and fell limp, tearing out of the socket at a jarring angle, which protruded through my skin. I screamed and collapsed on the floor in blinding pain. I was going to die. I knew it.
“Now, as I said, YOU are going into The Collective.” she exclaimed, taking another sip of her drink. From the outside, moaning and tortured screams could be heard. As the electronic door lifted up, I was greeted with a room that was, to say the least, organic. The entirety of the walls, including the ceilings and the floor itself, were covered with bodies, sewn together in strange, bizarre patterns. Some of the individuals were still alive, kept that way by the aid of all the others tied into the sheet, while others had been long-since dead, partially decomposed. In the center of the ceiling was some amorphous mass, tanish-grey in hue, that had several tentacle-like appendages protruding from its mouth of many teeth. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what the hell that used to be. The area smelled STRONGLY of rotten meat.
“What the fuck is this thing?”
“Oh, this?” Twilight began. “This, I just call ‘The Collective’. basically, it’s a being made out of practically every creature in Equestria. It survives by living off of its own tissue. It’s about to feed now. Let us watch.”
As she finished those words, the central core of the creature reached out onto a piece of the walls with one of its tenticles, and tore out a mint colored unicorn; Lyra. She was moaning and crying, in a distorted, gurgling sort of tone.
“P----pplease.... Ugh.... T-tw-twilight, stoooooppp- Hu-human? It- it’s you! help me!”
At that, Lyra was gone, thrown into the void that was the beast’s orifice. Bits of flesh and blood dripped down from the ceiling as very loud crunches were heard above us. I fearfully looked over to Twilight, just scared beyond anything I had ever been.
“H-how long have you been doing this?”
“Oh, just a week or so. I’ve always wanted to see if I could build an army with my smarts, and finally, with the help of your BEN friend, I summoned the courage to follow through.” Twilight said, smiling wickedly.
“How!? How in the mother of god could you POSSIBLY build a lab this size, take this many beings, and be THIS far along on your progress in one week with only YOU doing the work? How the hell has nobody found out?” I asked, my voice still trembling in fear.
“Moderation! I didn’t take these creatures en masse. No, I took a few at a time. perhaps the last thing you remember was drinking the stuff Flim and Flam were selling? I have this little deal with them where, for some bits, I’m allowed to mix knockout potions into some of the drinks and take the bodies to my lab. That’s how you got here. Most of them go towards my army, but if they don’t serve much of a purpose, they go into The Collective. Once this thing matures, it’ll be an organic super-weapon that will no longer need to eat itself to survive. Until that time though, I have to constantly replace the wounds it gives itself with fresh tissue. That’s where you come in.” Twilight added, cackling under her breath. “How exactly did I do all this work in a week? My special drink. It infuses me with an energy unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, almost supernatural even. I’ve done nearly five months worth of work in just over a week! It’s amazing, I tell you! But enough talk, let’s get started, shall we?”
“I hope you die, you cunt.”
Twilight picked me up with her magic, and, cutting the zipties with some scissors and stretching my limbs out, carefully put a cut in the other three that hadn’t been. She lifted me up, placing me against the newly formed opening in the wall, where Lyra had been, and made several incisions on the neighboring creatures. They screamed in torment, and I shed some tears at their pain, empathising with them. As she attached the slits in my limbs to the lacerations on the other creatures and began to sew, my life flashed back to when I first arrived. BEN wanted me dead. That kid wasn’t toying with me for fun, no, he was just pure evil. I had so many questions I wanted answered...
Why was everyone scared of me when I first arrived here?
Why were the eyes of all the ‘evil’ ponies I met red, and (according to Carrot, Pinkie, and Sweetie,) mine gone the same color?
Why was Ponyville in such horrible shape?
Why was there a large military presence on the ground, and the citizenry so afraid?
How exactly did BEN end up here?
I had a feeling somebody OTHER than Twilight was helping BEN. Who?
What was in Twilight’s drink?
Why did BEN bring me here?
How did BEN get the power to send me here, or do anything for that matter?
How did Equestria exist, in the first place?
How the hell do I get home?
And most importantly...
Were the others okay?
I prayed out loud again. The only thing I could do was have faith, now.
“When I die,”
“Show no pitty,”
“Send my soul to Juggalo City.”
“Dig my grave six feet deep,”
“Put two matches by my feet,”
“Put two hatchets on my chest,”
“And tell my homies I did my best.”
“I wonder how The Collective’s digestive system will react to human meat... I- Ouoof!”
“NIck! We’re here!” Applebloom cried out as her sister tackled Twilight to the floor. I turned my head behind me, seeing all the others (with the exception of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle) here, coming to save ME. It made me smile amidst my pain. My faith, my prayers... They were answered yet again. I’m not a very religious man, but here? I had no trouble in believing. While Applejack and Applebloom were busy fighting Twilight, Pinkie Pie ran up to me, trying to tear me off the wall, as I hung from one arm.
“Stop her from drinking that potion!” I yelled, screaming in pain as Pinkie tore at me.
“Twilight, sugarcube, ah really don’t want to do this, but it’s for ya own good!” Applejack said, hitting Twilight in the face with a hoof. In response, Twilight gripped AJ by the neck with her magic and flung her to the side, and kicked Applebloom away, into the nearby wall.
“Oh, no you didn’t, you fucking bitch. You did NOT just hurt Applebloom!”
I shook in anger. NOBODY hurts the CMC. NOBODY hurts MY friends. I was near death, the only thing keeping me alive, my pure anger at Twilight. I brought my feet up against the wall, and placed my good hand against my ruined, sewn-in arm, and pulled with all my remaining strength. I came tearing off the wall, losing a chunk of my flesh in the process, and landed on the floor, on my back, screaming in pain. The others tied to sheet did too, and I struggled weakly to regain my balance. Pinkie Pie bought me some time by going in for Twilight, and the two dueled it out as Applejack was trying to nurse Applebloom back to health.
“How the buck did you all get free!?” Twilight yelled, jumping at Pinkie. Suddenly, the skull kid laughed, and a wave of energy abruptly rushed through me. It was unnatural, in a way; even though I was minutes from death, I felt perfectly alive and well.
“Nick!? How in tarnation did ya eye turn red!?” Applejack asked, amidst the fighting. I just ignored her and dove in for Twilight, pure anger fueling my organs, and in the process, nearly blindsided Pinkie Pie. She backed away and, holding Twilight down by the neck with my knee, I began punching her continuously in the horn. It began reacting violently, a massive wave of magical energy emanating throughout the room. Fire spewed from Twilight’s horn, lighting The Collective ablaze. Screams unlike anything I had heard filled the room, a deafening mashup of tortured yells and moans of all types. I kept punching and punching. Another spark shot from Twilight’s horn and went flying out of the room. The sound of a distant explosion was heard, then an alarm could be heard blaring, but I didn’t care, because there was only one thing in my head.
“Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill! KILL THIS PSYCHOPATHIC BUTCHER!”
The Collective’s room had almost entirely engulfed in flames by the time I was done, and as I finished my relentless assault, the skull kid screamed. At the familiar imp’s yell, my left side of my body went almost completely numb, and I felt faint, losing touch with my senses, particularly my hearing. I clutched my heart quickly from a sudden pain that had hit it. I was having a hear- I passed out on the floor of flesh.
“Come on! Let’s get out of here, Pinkie Pie!” Applejack screamed, as flames began to surround the duo. She quickly picked up her little sister and tucked the unconscious filly under Nick’s good arm, and threw him onto her back. Pinkie grabbed Twilight, slinging her over her own back, and the two friends rushed out of the burning room - which quickly spread throughout the rest of the labs, chasing them down the hallway. As the team got back up onto the ground floor labs, Pinkie quickly threw all of Nick’s equipment; CD, ammo, gun, clothes, phone and all, into her saddlebags and ran out with her orange friend. As they escaped the library, the entirety of the tree burst aflame, glowing brightly in the dead of night as the two ponies rushed as fast as they could to the hospital. They would have to be quick and wary to avoid getting arrested for breaking the new martial curfew. At least this fire would distract the guards. They both disappeared into the darkness, and with only a short window of time, as the mask salesman’s giggle filled the air. The serpentine voice spoke again, deep into the black of the night.
“Run, my little ponies. Run. The human brain can only live eight minutes without support...”
The skull kid, for yet another time, laughed wickedly, trailing off into the distance.
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Poor Nick, he doesn't realize that he has no allies in here and that he is being used. It's sad really.
808689 Actually, Higurashi was a big influence for that scene. Thanks for noticing :D
811168 If you want more inspiration watch Umineko No Naku Koro Ni too.
817391 That shall be answered next chapter.
So, you actually listen to ICP and not just have that persona for the character in the story...
I love you :D
Creepy shit, I never really bothered with Ben Drowned. I spent more time on the various Pokemon Creepypasta. To think, that Pokemon could have such a dark side, even in the cannon.
825604 Believe it or not, I was planning on incorporating the 'buried alive' model into the story somewhere, but that idea got scrapped pretty fast.
WOOP WOOP!
825755 Thank god, I'm already losing sleep as it is... I don't wanna shit anymore bricks!
Huh,another juggalo on this site. Glad to know i'm not alone.
Yay! Timesplitters!
I guess, in the end, juggalos are the real heroes. That song always saves him.