So, it’s been a month and some change, and Applebloom, Twilight and I are slated to be discharged from the hospital, which would, for me, be a breath of fresh air; I’m tired of the constant tests they run on me, even if it IS for medical purposes. None of us who were there can get the memory of Sweetie Belle’s gruesome death out of our heads, and I can’t get the image of me murdering Carrot out of mine. As I got up and dressed, I turned to Twilight, who was still sleeping in the bed. Her bruises and other wounds had healed up nicely, and I was fairly certain I had (at least) forty percent foreign blood in my body by now. I went to the room shower and cleaned myself up. It was cold, as expected, for a hospital bath, but at least I could finally get something to wash myself off after all the bullshit that had happened. I felt filthy, in every sense of the word, both physically and emotionally. As the stinging cold water splattered across me and I shampooed my hair, I thought back on the incident with Carrot. I barely remember anything from it. All I remember was him screaming for mercy. I don’t even know what exactly I did, but I remember hearing the skull kid scream and laugh. That had some significance to it, but I wasn’t sure to what extent. I sighed and just let the shampoo run from my hair, flashbacks of the basement, the apple cellar, the ER, Carrot’s death, and Twilight’s labs rushing through my mind. Equestria, a fun-loving world filled with cute, colorful ponies, had left me severely injured, and mentally scarred. Stepping out to dry myself off, and dressing in my recently washed clothes (and the only ones I’ve had for this entire trip), I finally looked like my normal self, aside from a missing left arm, the stitches gone, and a long scar along my right one with scarred fingers, some missing teeth of varying kinds, and a missing left eye, and burnt, uncut hair with what now amounted to a ‘homeless’ beard to complement it.

Okay, so I didn’t look like my normal self: I looked like roadkill. I stepped out of the bathroom, only to be greeted with a standing Twilight in the doorframe. She grabbed a towel off the shelf and smiled at me, but I had no friendliness to give her. I just scoffed, and flipped her the bird, upon which she frowned, and slowly closed the bathroom door in sadness, looking away from me. I grabbed my equipment, including my blood covered phone from the nightstand, and left our room to go downstairs and get something to eat for breakfast. As I stepped into the hallway and walked down to the cafeteria, I was met with Applejack, Pinkie, and Applebloom, the latter of whom was in crutches, with a depressed, sullen gaze as she stared blankly at her daffodil sandwich on the plate in front of her. I moved my eye away from the sight of the upset filly, and I approached the mare at the serving counter, and cleared my throat a bit. I nervously tugged at my shirt collar, then summoned the courage to speak.

The entire room fell silent, and all eyes stared at me, even Pinkie, AJ, and Applebloom. I started to sweat at the awkward situation. I knew I shouldn’t have asked. I was about to apologize for any offense, but suddenly, The mare behind the serving counter spoke up.

“I know. That’s why I apologized. It’s just that, well, I’m a human. I don’t NEED meat to survive, but we ARE omnivorous creatures. There are some of us that eat nothing but fruit and veggies, but I’m not one of those people. I’ve been here for a month and a half, living off of what your society has to offer, and I’m grateful for that, but I would very much appreciate some fresh meat in my stomach. I’ll take any meat you got. ANYTHING. I don’t give a damn what it is.” I said, placing my hand against the food sneeze guard in minor frustration. The mare behind the counter wasn’t sure what to say, giving me a dumbstruck look for a few moments before she finally walked over to another pony next to her, and they started whispering to each other, occasionally looking back to me. The rest of the ponies in the room were still staring at me while this was going on, and it made me feel like I’d just said the N word or something, and considering eating another animal is like, a social taboo here, I’d say it was on par with that, in terms of awkwardness. After another minute or so of waiting, the counter mare approached me, and spoke again, albeit with somewhat of a hesitant tone.

“Okay, sir, we think we have found you some... meat. It should be out in about forty-five minutes, if you can let us prepare it.”

Soon enough, my food came. It in particular was a plate of well done hamburger mixed with scrambled eggs. I smiled, and got up to take the food from the counter. As I turned around to seat myself next to Applebloom and the others, I saw Twilight was happily talking with Applejack and Pinkie Pie, as if absolutely nothing had happened between them. How could they NOT be mad at her? I set my plate down on the table and sat down next to the others as my mouth began to water. This was the meal I’d been waiting for. I took the fork and and tore into my food viciously. Everyone else in the cafeteria was staring at me as if I’d done something wrong, but I didn’t care, I was too engrossed in my food, and damn, was it good! It was so nice and tender too, which I was extremely surprised at, what with it being ‘hospital’ food and all. I kept eating away, reducing the plate to half its size in just under a minute. If I had to make a comparison, I looked like Dash did, when she ate her hospital food, chewing away with no sense of mannerisms.

I quickly spit my food out, and dug through the pile I was chewing on. I grasped something sharp, and, pulling it from the half-chewed mass of flesh, I took a closer look at it. It was a white shell, a very hard white shell. It was broken, but the end I was chewing on was cone-like, which tapered off to a point, like that of a small brine shrimp. Before I continued eating, I stopped to pull out a hair that was in my food. I hated when that happened. I removed the strand from the meat and inspected it for a moment - it was a light pink and light purple shade, which made my stomach suddenly gurgle in pain. I stopped for a minute, then took another bite. Sure wasn’t beef. Venison? Nah, can’t be deer; too sweet to be deer. Wait... cone-shaped shell, pink hair-

I jumped up, and ran over to the counter. I dove over the side and tackled the server to the ground, choking her with my hand as tears streamed down my face in droves.

Several ponies ran out of the cafeteria screaming at my sudden outburst, as most of the others in my group stared at me. Applejack lept over the counter and tried to pull me away, but I kicked her out of blind anger and she went flying through the sneeze guard and flipped the table everyone was sitting at over, sending my ‘food’ flying all over the place, and my grip tightened even more around the pony as I began to cry harder, turning hysterical.

“Sir... you - you said you wanted meat! It was the only thing we had! We’re ponies, and we never expected a human! Do you really expect us to have meat on hoof? You said you would eat anything!”

I ceased the choking, my hand falling off the serving pony, and I could do nothing but cry; it was my fault for asking in the first place, and all they tried to do was make me happy by giving me what I wanted. I stood up and jumped over the food counter, heading to my plate. I bent down and carefully scooped what was left together on the floor as I held back more tears and sniffed loudly, while the mask salesman laughed at me, sending chills through everyone in the room .

Applebloom and Pinkie could do nothing but cry with me, AB more than ever, and I wouldn’t blame her right now. Applejack stood up in pain, trying to regain her balance, and Twilight? She had a look about her, as if she felt sorry for me, but I didn’t want anything to do with her. If anything, this just me me angrier at her. Applejack wasn’t sure of what to do, but was just as shocked and depressed as the rest of us. A small security team walked in, only to see my crew and a few others there, staring at me as I picked up the pile of meat, and did nothing other than go assist the injured mare behind the counter. A pony I didn’t recognize went behind the counter and came back with a ziplock baggie. I tried to smile at him, and then I quickly shooed him away, to which he complied, and sat back down. Collecting my thoughts, I carefully picked up Sweetie, piece by piece, and placed her inside the bag. After I was done (following a VERY thorough check), I sadly stood up and walked outside of the cafeteria, and down the hallway to find Scoots, the others following with me. As we got to the main door, we saw Scootaloo talking to the receptionist. I gave her a gentle nudge with my leg, and she turned around, but jumped backwards at the sight of the bag.

“What’s... this?” She asked me with an inquisitive look, raising an eyebrow. I didn’t say anything to the orange filly, but she saw the sadness that we carried together, and didn’t need to be told much. I handed Scoots the bag, and picked her up, setting her on my back.

Scootaloo examined the bag of meat for a while, before looking to Applebloom, who was letting her sadness start to destroy her. But could you blame her though? She was just a child who lost her best friend in the most vile of ways she’d ever seen. As Scootaloo clung to my neck, I put my hand on Applebloom’s head and gently ruffled her mane. As I did this, I looked over to Applejack during this time, and sighed.

We all stepped out of the hospital, and instantly, the most striking thing was that the air was thin, cold, and the sky was dark despite being mid-morning spring. There weren’t any pegasi around, though, so perhaps the weather was changed while we were in the hospital. In any case, we continued our walk through town, and I turned my head to look back at the orange pegasus on my back, watching her look curiously at the bag of meat, still unsure of what exactly she was looking at.

“H-how?” She asked me, as her voice cracked at the statement. She couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing, and was trying to hold back her own emotions. “No... no...!”

As we approached the cemetery, it began to lightly drizzle, again, without any aid from ponies. The statue was standing at the entrance to the gate, which made us all shudder, as the song of unhealing played, giving us headaches to boot. We tried our best to ignore him, and walked around the sickening freak, to a decent, unoccupied plot of land in one of the back corners of the yard. Applejack grabbed a shovel out of the vacant gravekeeper’s shed, after which, she began to dig. Pinkie, Twilight, and myself went into the storeroom of the nearby church and collected an unmarked headstone, carrying it back out to the yard. Setting it down to wait for Applejack to finish digging, we all stood there. I set Scoots down off my back, and she put the bag on the ground. We all stared at the little container of flesh, memories and thoughts of all types rushing through our heads. Pinkie spoke up as different music began to play in the air, but it suddenly died off as she fell to her back hooves and cried, her hair going straight - not even Pinkie Pie could make us smile at a time like this; there just wasn’t a way. Applejack took Sweetie Belle from the ground around us as she finished the grave, placing her inside. with AJ stepping out, and begining to fill the tomb, Pinkie and I took the headstone and set it into the soil behind the open space. We stood there for a few moments more, unsure of what to say, so I bent down beside the stone, Applejack still filling the grave, and took a clip from my belt loop. I turned it on its side, and began to crudely etch words into the slab. After about five minutes of scratching the slate, the words came out a sloppy, dysgraphic writing, which read:

Herein lies Sweetie Belle, a beautiful, young unicorn that had a bright future. A kind soul, and a friend to many, a daughter and sister to few. Deathly injured while saving her loved ones, putting them before herself with honor, like a true friend. Murdered viciously at the hands of a demon, but left this world knowing her purpose. Her loving smile, tender embrace, and selfless sacrifice shall never be forgotten.

Requiescat In Pace

I stood again, ushering everyone in close for a hug as we all cried together. Some say that crying is a sign of weakness. Me? I call it a sign of having a soul. I didn’t bother to hold Twilight, and I probably wouldn’t; I was still angry. The mask salesman’s laugh echoed throughout the graveyard - BEN was proud to see us suffer in emotional pain. As we finished our time with Sweetie, we all stood to walk away, continuing down the main avenue in town. In the middle of the city square, Flim and Flam were still at it, selling their brew. The sky was still dark, but the rain had stopped.

“Come one, and all! Today and today only, we’re selling our amazing brew at an astounding fifty percent off! One free sample for each new customer!” Flam announced excitedly over a megaphone. Instantly, at that, all of our mouths watered and we rushed to the stands with the rest of the customary, which was an amazingly large group of ponies. Everyone was happy and giddy, and there were no guards around, ponies socializing happily, drinking, cheering... almost like it was in the show, instead of the slummy, crime filled streets that I’d been seeing. You know...

Twilight paid this time, and we all got together in a big group, pleased with our drinks. We walked back a ways, away from the crowd to drink alone. We clinked our glasses together, and we started to drink, and I put my lips to the mug, salivating; I NEEDED some more of this delicious drink. I knew that this, if nothing more, would help calm my mind of Sweetie Belle. I tilted it back, but stopped just before taking a sip, as something caught my eye. I paused for a minute and looked at the glass. It reflected me in a distorted mix of green and orange, but then, suddenly, that reflection changed. The image in the stein shifted, turning to a picture of us with our first set of drinks. The image changed again, and, impulsively, I smacked the beverages out of Applejack and Applebloom’s hooves just as they were about to drink.

This time, the image was Twilight taking a sip of her lab flask drink, and cutting me apart with the scalpel, and raping the Apples. The image then showed the rest of the labs, and the many tortured souls within. I knocked Twilight, Pinkie, and Scootaloo’s drinks away, again, on impulse.

The image changed again, and to accompany it, was a severe migraine. As soon as the pain passed, though, I heard a very familiar voice.

I looked into the glass as soon as I heard the noise. It was Sweetie Belle, torn open at the stomach, all of her organs pumping; her heart, lungs... and she was crying, looking at me through the glass. The reflection was talking. I might have been going insane from loss.

I dropped the glass down from my face, and as it left, what I saw in the streets was MUCH different than what I thought I did. There were soldiers EVERYWHERE. The entire crowd consisted of malnourished ponies with deformations, poor teeth, and very sickly appearances, and they were all huddled around the drink stands, fighting each other for a fix. These people weren’t enjoying themselves - they were posioned drug addicts that had been starved of everything they had. And Flim and Flam? They were smiling at it. It wasn’t Twilight’s fault for Sweetie’s death...

I shook in pure anger, dropping the stein to my feet as the liquid splattered all over my faded brown sneakers, and the glass broke into shards. The skull kid laughed again, and afterwards, I marched up, pushing my way through the crowds violently, until I parted through the mass. The brothers stopped for a minute, and stared at me as I emerged, an outlier amongst the common. One thing was rocketing through my head.

“Uh-oh... girls, Nick’s eye turned red... did ya hear the laugh?” Applejack asked, watching the blonde human as he approached the mixing machine.

I pulled out my pistol and capped Flim straight in the head, and several ponies screamed and stopped drinking to look at the origin of the sound. Flim’s body went landing on the stands, and Flam looked down to his brother’s corpse, only to be met with the barrel of my pistol once he brought his head back up.

The crowd of ponies began to surround us to watch the event transpire, and several guards drew their weapons, awaiting orders. I was surrounded by a bunch of hostile soldiers and civilians. One wrong slip, and I could kiss my ass goodbye. Did I care though? Fuck no; I was too pissed to care, and I was gonna get the vengeance Sweetie deserved, one way or another. Flam held his hooves up, taking a few steps back. He gulped, taking his hat off and placing it against his chest as sweat ran down his face.

I got closer to Flam, pressing the gun to his nose. I slammed my elbow down against the counter, gritting my teeth together.

“YOU KNOW GODDAMN WELL WHY! YOU’RE FUCKING DESTROYING THESE PONIES, ROBBING A DRUG-ADDLED POPULATION OF EVERY LAST COIN THEY HAVE, NOT TO MENTION THEIR SOULS!”

“S-sir, there’s no need to be hostile... h-here, have a drink on the house!” Flam said, gently pushing another mug of brew towards me. I scoffed and swiped at the mug with my hand, sending it flying to the ground with a loud smash.

“You aren’t pulling any of that commercialist shit on me, Flam! I want fucking answers, and I want them now!” I said, jumping over the bar and tackling him to the ground. I put my gun away and picked him up by the neck. It seemed like Flam had come to terms with the fact that trying to swoon me into taking another drink wasn’t going to work, because his general cheeriness diminished greatly, and his face ran cold with anger as he spat in mine.

“Wrong. Fucking. Answer, Flam.” I said, before taking him by the head and driving it through the center of the bar. As his body tore a hole through the stand, he held back a scream, his horn bending a bit in the process. I jumped back over the bar, and, gripping Flam by his neck, pulled the rest of his body through the counter. It collapsed in a broken pile. I gripped Flam again, blood oozing from his face. I stared blankly at his eyes, which were, like mine, filled with anger.

“Now... WHAT, exactly, is IN this drink!?” I asked, tightening my grip on Flam’s neck. He spit out some blood from his mouth onto the ground, then looked back up to me.

“If I knew what was in there, I wouldn’t tell you, plothole!” Flam announced in pain as a squad of guards landed on the nearest roof. They were aiming at me with bows, ready to take the shot.

I threw him down beside his cart of ingredients, kicking his face into the wheel. The cart snapped in half, and he screamed as bits of wood splintered and stabbed his face, and individual bricks of ingredients (white powders wrapped in wax paper) went flying everywhere. The crowd of ponies was backing away slowly. I grabbed Flam again.

“You gonna tell me what’s in those drinks?” I asked, looking to the scattered packages that now littered the street. Flam struggled a bit, pointing a hoof to a small stack of papers that was buried beneath the ruined stand. I threw Flam to the ground, and as he struggled to regain his breath, crawling along the stone road, I pulled out the papers. They gave mixing instructions, as well as an ingredient rundown based on chemical makeup. there were plenty of things in it, but the two most potent were labeled as follows:

I dropped the papers and pulled out my phone, and turning it on, activated a chemistry app I kept for reference from high school. I typed the chemical names in, and instantly got results.

So, it all came out. They had a drug-based drink, designed to make its consumers feel good and become addicts at the same time. I KNEW something was wrong with that drink the first time I laid eyes on it. No wonder every pony in the city was coming back for more. However...

There was only one thing left to ask. I marched over to Flam again, picking him up and putting him against the dispensary end of the mixing machine, leaning him partially over top of the conveyor.

“I don’t know anything else, I swear!” Flam screamed, struggling to get free from my grip.

Flam was having enough of this. His horn glowed a bright green, which levitated the gun out of my belt loop. He turned it around and aimed it at me. Here was my dilemma, with only three possible ways out...

One: attack him and run a risk of getting shot by my own weapon.
Two: run, and likely get shot by the guards that were posted around town.
Three: do nothing and die.

I let him go, and ducked while I swiped my gun away. He tried to punch me, but I blocked it, and broke his concentration, which caused the pistol to fall to the ground. I was about to pick it up, but he produced a combat knife from under his vest, and tried to swing across my neck. I leaned back in a defensive posture, and as it passed, I leaned back in, gripping his entire hoof and twisting it backwards with a snap. I took the blade and, with what little free hand I had, jabbed it into his hoof, right in between the lining of the meat and hoof itself. Flam screamed wildly in torment, hanging off the machine, pinned in place by the knife. No guards had taken the shot yet; they must have been on orders.

“W-we, we got them from the grey mailmare! The one with the blonde mane and silly eyes! The little- AUGHHHHH-HAHA!!! green statue told us how to mix the drinks!”

I walked over to the destroyed stands and stood on the pile of lumber, picking up a drink that was laying on the ground, and putting my gun back into my pants. I lifted the glass into the air.

“Citizens of Ponyville! Hear me now! What you hold in your hooves at this very moment is a poison! You have all succumbed to the fatal illness that is addiction! I urge you, strongly, to discard your beverages! The mind-numbing terror that is the FlimFlam brew is no more!” I yelled, slamming the stein to the ground, watching it shatter to pieces. The citizens were unsure of what was happening, talking amongst themselves for a moment, when all of a sudden, a loud ‘more’ was heard in the crowd. It started off as one voice, then became two, then four, then eight, then sixteen, and on, increasing exponentially.

The sickly looking crowd began to approach me as the skull kid screamed, after which I nearly lost consciousness, but kept on my feet. I reoriented and I spit up some more black residue, my head throbbing in pain. Where the hell was I? What did I do? I looked around the area to see a bunch of angry drug addicts sorrunding me, and that Flim was dead, next to me, and, looking behind me, his brother, hanging off their mixing machine with a knife in his hoof.

Did I just attack the FlimFlam brothers in public? Did I destroy this pile of wood I’m standing on right now? Did I anger all these ponies?

These questions would have to be answered later, as the drug addicts came closer to me, each with rage spread across their faces. There’s no way to reason with people with that bad a craving.

I took off and ran for the hills. Surprisingly, the guards didn’t attack me like I was expecting. Instead, they quickly set up a baricade to contain the riot and let me pass, though some civvies managed to break through the defense and give chase. We broke through town, and I darted down a side street, losing track of several of my pursuers. Though, as I turned the corner, I was immediately intercepted by Berry Punch and Vinyl Scratch. I made a hasty decision, and dove through a window, barreling into a house and knocking over a coffee table. I got back up again, and tore through the back door, smashing it into pieces. I then took another back alley and ran westward, and cut through the Flower sister’s gardens, and took cover in a small back alley nook as a team of ponies passed by me without a notice. I then stumbled out of my hiding spot, and ran the other direction.

I continued to sprint for my life, dodging in and out of streets, eventually coming to a construction zone where Sugarcube Corner used to be, and darted through the half-dried cement.

I hit north, going through Sugarcube Square, but was cut short as Colgate teleported in front of me, blocking my path.

Setting my arm as a shield and making a dead-on sprint, I visciously knocked Colgate out of the way and continued on my run, moving up to Library Way. Did I know where I was going? Not a fuckin’ clue - I just needed to get these bloodthirsty drug addicts away from me. I ended up passing the remains of Twilight’s tree, and jumped over a park bench. There was a group of pegasi flying over me now, and I was out in the open. Time to hide. I made a sharp right, cutting across Cutie Pox Parkway (or at least I called it that, in remembrance of the cutie pox incident’s location), and began to head eastwards, back the way I came. Thunderlane and Cloudchaser swooped down in front of me as I hit another back alley, blocking me in. I turned around to go the other way, but was then blocked off by Bon-Bon, Caramel, and Green Grapes. There wasn’t a way out.

Conventionally anyway. On a side of the alley was a window sill, which, with a jump, I knew I could easily reach. Right above that was a semicircular design of bricks, which protruded out a ways, and gave open grip to the roof, if I could reach them.

Against my better judgement, I decided to go for it. With one arm, this was gonna be a bitch to acheive. I took a jump, and grabbed the ledge, trying to hoist myself up. the earth ponies on one end tried to pelt me with rocks, and the two pegasi flew above me. Fortunately, the stones missed, and I managed to clamber up onto the window. Now, the only issue were those bricks. Could I make it?

...so familiar, with a voice of a fifty-something man? It was a question that would need to wait; I had to get away from here. I had barely caught the ledge, with just three fingers. I tried desperately to bring my arm farther up, flailing about as I took a rock to my ribs, which caused me to lose grips, and fall down into the alley. Though I was in pain, I HAD to keep going. I was being sorrounded by a massive group of sickly looking ponies. Amidst my pain from the fall, I stood up, and kicked the first in the group, Octavia, in the face, who flew backwards, knocking half of them down like bowling pins. It created the perfect escape route. I ran for several miles, still being chased by the crowd. I looked back behind me, and noticed the others - Applebloom and the rest - were chasing after me in anger too. I figured it was just their addiction getting the better of them, though. I sprinted through diamond dog territory, some of the pursuers falling back, other braver ones picking up the pace. I continued to run, but soon lost my balance and fell down a pit, and a few moments later, I landed in a barren cave, crumbled pieces of what I was guessing, were remains of jewels coating the ground. I could hear something deeper in the cave producing lip-smacking noises, followed by several crunching sounds. I stood, collected myself, grabbed my gun, and checked the ammo - seven rounds in the current mag, plus the five additional clips I brought with me. As I walked to the source of the sound, the reversed song of healing played through the air yet again, which made me cringe in pain and try to cover my ears.

There was a stick sitting on the ground, and I didn’t think much of it until I bumped into the cave wall; it WAS pretty dark down here. I felt the wall I hit, examining its texture and quickly recognized it to be flint rock, so I picked up the stick and struck it against the wall, creating a torch for myself. Biting the end of the stick with my mouth, I took my gun out of my belt and loaded another clip, saving the rounds from the last. I would have used my phone to light the way, but the battery wasn’t doing too well, and I had a feeling I would need it later. Regardless, as I continued down the cave, the sounds became louder and clearer. It was blatantly obvious that something was eating, but what eating what, I couldn’t say. My curiosity soon left me as I traveled farther and ended up reaching a rather large chamber with a pile of jewels. The mask salesman laughed, the voice echoing off the cavern walls. I shuddered, then heard a burp soon after. I turned, swinging my torch and gun around, and what I saw? Well, it was pretty damn disgusting. In the corner was a familiar looking purple dragon, but nothing like I had expected. He was morbidly obese, eating away at the pile of gems he was sitting on as his fat trickled down in layers overtop of his throne of stones. He smelt rank, as if he hadn’t bathed in some time, an apparent fungal growth begining to take hold of his body. I wished I could have plugged my nose, but I wasn’t about to let my guard down.

“E-Eehhh... Huh?” Who’s there?” Spike asked, looking in my general direction, and noticed the barely visable one-eyed face that was lightly illuminated by fire. “Eeeuuuhhh... A - a human? Here? That’s very odd...”

I continued to stare, though I meant no offense. His struggled speech meant that his breathing was irregular, and his health was suffering from all the extra weight; he had a very hard time thinking and completing a thought, it seemed, and throughout, he mindlessly chomped away at the jewels he was sitting on. I was disgusted, and spoke again from the muffling stick.

Spike threw a gem at me in anger, which I dodged, and he growled at me and turned away.

“Why? Why exactly should I stop eating? Can’t you see that I have nothing more to my life? Rarity never loved me, and the only comfort I have are these delicious gems.” Spike said, beginning to tear up as the sapphire he was holding reflected his own depressing image right back to him. I gave him a disappointed look and put away my gun, taking the torch out of my mouth. I shouldn’t go off on a baby dragon...

“That... that thing, over there.” Spike said, pointing to the east end of the cave. I looked over and jumped backwards at the sudden materialization of the statue.

“Oh... I don’t know... why would you TRUST A GOD DAMN STATUE YOU JUST MET!?”

“I... w-well, when you put it that way, I- I really don’t know. Will you just let me eat? I’m doing this to forget, alright?” Spike continued, crying even harder than before. I just stood there, dumbstruck. I walked over and knocked the gem that Spike was about to bite into out of his claw.

I turned around to be greeted with Twilight and the others. I stopped for a minute, dropping the torch and drawing my pistol and aiming it for them, all of which had the same angry, blood lustful grimaces on their faces from when they were chasing me. Could I trust them?

“What? Are you gonna kill me like all the others wanted to? Are those drugs making you want me dead? Is that why you were chasing me in anger?” I asked as my gun trembled in my hand. Pinkie Pie approached me, her skull now touching my gun. She didn’t look the least bit scared. How could I trust those that had turned on me so easily? They looked like they wanted to kill me.

“Nick... please, put your weapon away. We aren’t here to look down on you, and we certainly don’t want you dead. We need you more than anything; you’re the only one who knows more about BEN’s weaknesses than anypony here.”

I looked over to Twilight, Scootaloo, Applebloom and AJ, who were still staring at me with mean looks plastered to their faces.

“Angry? Why? Sugarcube, we’re angry cuz ‘a what ya’ve been doing, not ba’cuz we were ‘messed up’ by that drink; ya wouldn’t let us even have a sip! We’re angry cuz of how ya’ve been actin’! Ever since ya got here, all ya ever done is use violence to get ya way! Ya beat up poor Twilight, you done killed Flim and stabbed Flam, knocked out Big Mac... sure ya stopped th’ drinks from poisonin’ anypony else, and ya even got revenge on th’ brothers for Sweetie Belle dyin’, but do ya really feel better about yaself? Ya may be helpin’, but ah’ll tell ya this: th’ methods ya been usin’ ta get stuff done are far less than desirable, darlin’.”

I turned my gun to AJ before looking down to the cave floor a bit, my weapon still trained on Applejack’s head.

“Look at me Nick. Do ya honestly feel like ya accomplished somethin’ by hurtin’ all the ponies you been hurtin’? This ain’t NO way ta act if ya want real friends, an’ even in as dark ah’ times as we’re dealin’ with, it’s still wrong to be doin’. Don’t ever hurt nopony unless you absolutely need ta defend yaself. And ya ain’t gonna pull that trigger on me, Nick. Ah can see it in ya eye.”

Was this really it? They weren’t as ‘angry’ at me as they were disappointed... they didn’t want me dead, they didn’t want to leave me... they cared for me. They had forgiven me. They just wanted to see me be peaceful, and that explained why Applejack was happily talking with Twilight; she had forgiven her for all the harm she’d done. Would they do the same for me if I told them the truth?

Everyone gasped in bewilderment and backed away from me slowly. I wasn’t surprised they did.

I cringed, preparing for an assault of smacks and punches, or at the very least, angry words.

...but it never came. I opened my eyes to see the others continuing to stare, then Pinkie offered her hoof.

“Yes Pinkie Pie. It’s my fault. I did it... and I’m... I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. I know you guys hate me.”

“Sugarcube, we don’t hate ya; you’re our friend. We want ya to be healthy. If anything, we’re just disappointed.”

“Look at what I did, Nick. Applejack told me everything I was doing back at the library.”

I searched for my words carefully, before putting my gun away and putting my hand on her back. If her friends could live with what SHE did, the certainly could live with what I had done.

“Friends!” the purple unicorn loudly exclaimed with a squee before suddenly charging at me with a hug and knocking me to the floor playfully. I laughed, snuggling with Twi, and the others came in to join us, but this soon stopped as I turned over to see Spike.

All together, we picked up Spike and carried him out of the caverns. As we did our work, casual conversation continued. I turned to Twilight.

“Hey, Twi? Would you mind telling me what your nation’s economy is based on? I only ask, because you seem to be in a massive depression.”

Equestria: The BEN Chronicles

by HylianJuggalo

Chapter IX: Addicts, Death, And Gluttony