When I open my eyes, all I can see is blurs and confusion, and then...
“Applejack?”
I’m laying on my side and I can see Nate sitting up in front of me, an orange pony that is intensely familiar to me leaning over my side protectively.
A grin quickly takes hold of her as her eyes water, from relief or from something else I cannot tell.
“‘Shy?”
“When did you get here?” I giggle a little. “Also, where did the scary men with guns decide to get off to? Did you kick them all for me?”
With a laugh she wraps her forelegs around me and twirls, managing to lift me up and spin a full rotation before setting me back down on my hooves. Her grip on me is as familiar as Pinkie’s laugh, something concrete I can remember and hold onto, and it doesn’t really matter where I am, or the aches and bumps. We’re going to be okay.
She lets go of me, still smiling, as I catch my balance.
“Dang, it’s good to see ya. I mean- Yeah, yeah. Just got here. And much as I’d like to take credit, we got some help on this one.”
“What the hell is going on?”
We stop, and look down the hall where the strange voice had come from. Six men just came around the corner. Armed and scowling at us, I freeze.
I look at them, almost confused, but the reality of the situation dawning on me. I must still be in the compound. Concrete walls, angry men, guns...
“RUN!”
It takes a second for me to turn, my hooves scraping the concrete and wings flailing. A steady orange hoof guides me, pulls me along.
“Don’t leave without the doctor!” I insist as he follows us, a scrambling tumbling trio. Running straight away from the half dozen who are now shouting after us, I can hear the ratcheting of slides, and bolts being loaded. Applejack surges ahead of us as a guide.
“Follow me!”
I don’t hesitate on that instruction, following her as best I can, my wings pumping to add a tiny bit of speed. AJ is shouting, but I can’t focus on her, the roar of adrenaline in my ears. We reach a split in the hallway, and AJ bounds off the wall to change directions to the side. Nate passes me and a moment later he is around the corner. My hooves beat out a trio of notes that become my tempo. For a bit I am scared the guards will start to fire, that I’ll be ripped to shreds, but then I hear a voice that I somehow recognize. As I round the corner, she shouts.
“Down!”
Halfway through a galloping motion, I am flying but for one hoof, my wings spread, no way to catch myself or do this gracefully...
I let the element of kindness take the impact, my wings pumping back for one more push as I slide into the wall and rebound from it, rolling to a stop, dazed. I can see AJ and some white-coated unicorn, and they’re reaching out for me. I crawl towards her and am soon in the midst of the herd, safe.
Safe until the gunshots ring out. I can’t help but look as the agent crouching protectively in front of us fires a shot into the first man who had been chasing us. He falls without a word, his pistol rattling across the ground, the shock in his eyes bitter, confused.
The second one is still looking at his friend in shock when the impact hits him, dead center just as the first one did, he spins slightly as he falls, as though trying to raise his rifle but failing to find the willpower. Another clatter and thud.
The third shot misses the man it was aimed for, and he ducks back behind the corner. My ears are ringing, my heart is pounding. I have never hated guns more than in this moment. But thank Celestia we’ve got one on our side.
“My name is Stephanie Chase. I am with the CIA.” The agent stood, and went from being taller then me to towering over us. It felt like meeting Luna for the first time, all over again.
I can hear the dying men whimper, maybe even sob.
“My team is converging on the premises as we speak. Put down your weapons, surrender and you will remain unharmed.”
“Oh, now you negotiate,” AJ mutters, and I have trouble telling if she is making a joke or genuinely upset at the death we’ve become a part of.
“Fuck you, lady!”
I groan inwardly and raise my hooves to cover my ears, but they still feel the needle sharp pain of being downrange of a rifle when it is discharged, three shots and I quickly look over the herd. None lost. Thank the stars.
The world is quiet as I look over these gathered ponies, they look weak, sick, they look like they hurt... They look like I feel. I am not alone.
“Are you okay?” I whisper, from one to another, slipping through the herd as I look them over, they look up to me as though I am an angel. They stand a bit straighter, they stop shaking just a little. There are so many of them...
AJ taps my back. “Come on y’all,” she whispers. “Real quiet like. Follow me.”
Two more shots behind us, from Stephanie. I can make out a few words but I’m not worried about them right now. The herd is hurt, they need help.
AJ leads me up to the front of the group, and gestures back at them. “Make sure they follow, we’re going to get out of this,” she murmurs, and we trot down the hall carefully. I whisper my thanks to celestia that AJ is leading, as I would be scared out of my mind to be the first rounding each corner.
I’m still terrified. But as we lead the herd through the hallways, I can’t stop staring at a white coated unicorn bringing up the rear of the group. She sounds like Rarity, she has Rarity’s cutie mark, but she just looks... different.
I turn away from her, back to following AJ, but at that moment I decide that she is still my friend. They are all still my friends, and I won’t let anything stop me from bringing them together again.
Well, she is lucky to even be able to think straight after letting someone basically rape her mind,
Now half the gang is here, I'm guessing coordinating all of this will be pretty tough.
4920740
That just means that the good doctor did his job right.
4920740
Dubious as to whether that's "rape", since I recall her agreeing to it. I also dislike the application of that term to other things as though they're equal.
5167518
Destroying a person mind like that could be considering mind rape, or at leasts
the wost kind of torture. Is the kind of stuff that would get called "Crimes against humanity" if it was actually possible.
5169126 You seem absolutely determined to pitch the whole thing in as dark a light as possible, when the Doctor was honest and merely put her into a trance. Honestly, it's a bit upsetting because I have to wonder if you are misunderstanding the whole thing or if I just wasn't clear about what was happening.
5169279
Trusting a guy that can "fix" your mind to make you think anything he wants was a bad idea. The guy even admitted that he really messed up in the past, even causing suicide, using his powers, yet Fluttershy trusts him.
5169291 Because that's who she is. She's exactly the type to give second chances, to put her life in a new friend's hands. She isn't thinking of her own safety here, she's thinking of the resolution and what she can do to make it as peaceful as possible.
5169126
It's not clear how much destruction really occurred. A mental block is a little different than destruction.
5559239 to me it seems reactionary. Courage is what happens when we overcome fear. You can't have it without the other.
5806079 I'd like to continue it, but with the group falling apart, the connected authors diverging, and my writing style changing I'm very nervous about trying to keep it a good story while not upsetting anyone.
5808392 Thank you very much! It makes me happy to know people still enjoy it, I slowed down the most when I started getting a bunch of negative feedback.
5885024 Hah, cool! It's a nice song, not super popular anymore but really good!
5887934
After many sleepless night of wondering if anyone was up to the challenge, someone finally answered. Thank you for allowing me peace of mind after a year.
6482726 I genuinely want to continue it, and seeing as how I am quitting my job and going to have some extra time soon, then I hope I can continue it. Sorry about the long wait!
Sorry Hope, kind of gave up on this group/genre after no updates for...
6545512 A very long time. The group might be rebooted, check the IRC, but I'm finishing my story because I want to finish it along with Nanashi Jones' AppleJack story. The IRC group, whatever they want to do, is their own choice.
I just want to properly finish this thing.
6545577
Well good for you... As for reboot, I'll PM you an idea that's been stewing in my head for awhile.
woot, some movement in this story
i kind of given up hope this story was going to be continued.
totally glad it seems like it is tough
6558036 Probably lol
i woke on a monday morning and i took off my clothes then i notice fluttershys cutie mark on my side and im like wtf then i put clothes on and i see fluttershys cutie mark again then i touched it it was not a tattoo nor a sticker it was actually fluttershys cutie mark on my side
aww... why everypony stops writing at the best part?
just after the escape and the re-encounter with applejack
7636710
Johnny Boy wasn't turned into Discord. Rather, he serves him in order to get a wish. I have a feeling Discord didn't have to follow the same rules as the ponies, though I could be completely wrong...I just wish the author of this story hadn't seemingly abandoned it (or taken a several year hiatus). Ah well, life gets in the way, or people lose interest. What else can ya do but move on?
Before I read this, what is the Dark tag for ?
And how bad does it get ?
8337665
In the story there are moments of heavy physical violence, despair, and psychological suffering. Mentions of rape and death do occur. I try to keep a tone of hopefulness and things getting better all throughout.
8338926
Forgive me for asking a question that has potentially been asked to death, but is this cancelled or on hiatus? It was really enjoyable and being left hanging kinda sucks. Knowing whether or not I should expect more will help temper my expectations in the long run and I thank you for sharing this awesome story with the rest of us.
8349367
It's okay, the question hasn't been asked all that often, heh.
I want to finish it some day, I really do. But I'm in a situation where the group I was writing it with has... fallen away. I'm not welcome there as far as I know and though I could just write the rest of the story however I want, I'm not sure if that would work out unless I rewrote portions of the story.
I also have jumped on some other ideas that really fascinate me, so I'm not super focused on completing this, but new chapters would be several months away. If you're interested in my writing, make sure to follow me, I'm working on a Luna related fic that I'm really excited about which I will start releasing in a few weeks. I'm writing that fic to 50% completion before publishing the first chapter so I can reliably hit a chapter a week.
8349393
Oh, okay! Thanks for the update. I'll probably take it off my watchlist then. Definitely keeping the fav, though. This was one of the cooler stories I've read.