//------------------------------// // Chapter X: Do You Know The Muffin Mare? // Story: Equestria: The BEN Chronicles // by HylianJuggalo //------------------------------// We’ve spent several months trying to get Spike back to his former self, and now, it’s somewhere around mid September, on a blazingly hot day. Applebloom is out of her crutches, and my existence is well-known now, reports and stories about me running through the local and national news. Some fear me, some adore me. Some find me a criminal, and yet, others revere me as a hero, tales of my time here passing around like an urban legend, becoming more bizarre and perverted with each retelling. What I find most surprising is the fact that in the time I’ve been here, nobody has broken out into song like I expected to have happen at least once, not even Pinkie Pie. Also, Celestia and Luna have not made themselves known after all this time, the former causing a cancellation of the Summer Sun Celebration, and Big Mac has flatout disappeared; I expected him to come back for revenge. Cheerilee has gone missing too, either by coincidence or direct correlation, so the girls haven’t been going to school, because the city can’t find a substitute. We’ve all been living at Sweet Apple Acres since the funeral, Granny Smith finally getting hold of herself and breaking her moonshining habit. Every night I cry myself to sleep about Sweetie Belle, and soon after, am haunted by BEN. Every day that has passed in our efforts to get Spike in shape leaves me angrier and more depressed; I’ve strongly considered offing myself multiple times, but I never have - I know that’s what BEN would want. Every time I return home to the farm, I swear to god, I always see the image of a little white unicorn giggling and running down the hallway with a beach ball. Everytime I try to follow it though, It abruptly disappears as soon as I turn the corner to confront it. Am I going insane? The two remaining Crusaders suffer from Sweetie Belle’s death on a nightly basis; I always wake up to hear them crying for her, and- Well, look at that... poor feller is just done tuckered out from all th’ chores today. Hey yall, this here’s Applejack. Now, ya may be askin’ why in tarnation ah’m writin’ in Nick’s journal. Well, ah know ah shouldn’t, but ah feel ah should say what ah’ve gotten out of him bein’ here, if’n that makes any sense. First of all, ah’d like ta say that ah look up ta Nick. Sure, he’s a human, from those nasty foal’s tales (which he don’t know nothin’ about), an’ sure, he’s got a bit of a temper, but granny always tol’ me ta never judge somepony by they cover. Though he sure as sugar can be irrational, and at times, violent, he’s a darn softie at heart, an’ a mighty hard worker ta boot. He don’t ever ask for anythin’ more than a meal an’ a bed, an’ does nearly as much work as Big Mac, all with only one hand. He plays wit’ th’ girls as often as he can, an’ teaches ‘em a lotta life lessons on top’a it all. Scootaloo looks up to him, almost adorin’ him in a way, but that poor filly never knew her parents, so ah suppose it’d be only natural an’ all. Still, he’s quite the ‘father’ and farmhand. Truth be told? The whole thing, makes him... kinda cute. He’s a father to th’ girls, he saved their lives, and he’s one’a th’ toughest workers ah’ve ever laid eyes on. He’s done so much for mah family and the fillies with barely any reward. Before ah start fillin’ up his journal, ah best end there. Ah’m writin’ this in th’ back pages, well away from th’ rest of his logs. Readin’ back on ‘em, ah’m surprised how much he remembers; it’s disturbin’ly detailed... That’s all ah wanted to say, though. Nick’s a great guy in mah books. He has a few personal problems, but who in tarnation don’t? At th’ end of th’ day, ah’m glad he came into mah life. Th’ biggest thing has to be him takin’ care’a th’ Crusaders; he treats th’ fillies like his own daughters. While I couldn’t trust him ta begin with, when ah first met him, I know he means us no harm; he jus’ wants ta get home. We talk alone when we get th’ chance, an’ he’s a real sociable fella. Still, if ya ask me, ah think somethin’ happened ta him in his past, an’ it ain’t BEN, cuz he told me all about him. Ah feel... he’s got something else, a dark incident, or some kinda traumatic event an’ whatnot hidin’ away. Ah hope he tells me one day - bottlin’ in ya emotions ain’t healthy; that’s how suicides an’ school rampages start. Nick, if ya read this, please know I’m worried about ya. Ah... nah, that ain’t the word... just... know ah care, alright? -recently, I’ve been trying to calm them down by singing them a lullaby, much like Fluttershy attempted. In truth, it works, and it calms them down considerably, so I’ve become accustomed to sing it for them every night. On an unrelated note, I’ve become fairly close with Applejack. I think she has feelings for me, which, in all honesty, I wouldn’t mind if I was a pony, but being a human, it just seems... wrong. I mean, everytime I look at that young mare, a wild mix of emotions take me. She openly welcomed me into her home all those months ago, and while I’m thankful for that, plus the diet she’s involuntarily put me on making me MUCH healthier, on top of the farm work putting me in extraordinary shape from my old, flabby self, and the many times she’s saved my life, I still can’t shake the fact that, well, at the end of the day, she’s a horse. Granted, the world still looks cartoony and clean, which makes individuals here attractive to the eye, given the lack of physical imperfection, but at the end of the day, I can’t help but see Applejack in the image of an actual horse every time the thought crosses my mind. Is it wrong because, to me, she an animal, or is it okay because she can talk and use tools and has human qualities? What’s right and wrong? I don’t even fucking know anymore. All my brain can see though... ...is a horse. Beastiality. That shit would get me thrown in a looney bin back home, and banned from practically any petting zoo. Nope, it was wrong, it will always BE wrong. Aside from this little internal mess, nothing terribly awful has happened since the incident with Flim and Flam, the latter of whom has also gone missing. I expected him to come back for me, but he never has. Martial law here has gotten even stricter. I personally have seen several occasions where guards have snatched up civilians and taken them away, never to be heard from again. It’s blatantly clear Celestia’s up to something, but what, I wonder. The martial rule also causes a lot of riots to occur, what with ponies trying to fight back against the system to regain personal freedoms, and that always costs, at the bare minimum, twenty lives per occurrence. I hear Manehattan’s economy is doing better than ever, while Ponyville and Cloudsdale suffer. Heh. Seems a lot like our situation back home, I’d say. The general demeanor of the citizens has gotten better, and the amount of drug addicts in town has died significantly. We haven’t seen Derpy yet, but we know she’s still doing her work, because every time we go out and get something to eat, we’re immediately overrun by baseheads begging for money. There seems to be an even larger number of prostitutes on the streets than when I first arrived as well; someone is running a sex ring through town. Spike is nearly in ideal shape, our final test for him the Running of The Leaves, which all of us are participating in. At the call, all the competitors lined up, and we all took off at our own speeds. If Twilight taught me anything, it’s to pace myself, so I did just that; I stayed behind, jogging with her. Scootaloo decided to fall back and follow us as the others competitively ran ahead, into the crowd. “Nick?” “Yes, Scoots?” “Can... you tell me more about where you came from?” I mulled the idea around in my head for some time, trying to think of what to say. I tried to delay it though. “Why would you ever want to know that?” “I just... wanted to know what your world is like is all.” I sighed and ruffled the young pegasus on the head as we jogged. “Well, we live in a world where, since the dawn of time, we’ve always found something to kill each other over. Why we do it, I can’t say, But an important thing to note is, BEN came from my world. “You kill each other?” Scoots asked, taken aback by my statement. “Yup.” I said, a nonchalant tone about me. “Why?” It actually took me some time to think that out. Why did we kill each other? “Well, from what I can understand, we have a hard time agreeing on things. Often, we kill each other over political reasons. If its not that, we kill because we’re insane. We kill because we’re hungry or poor. We kill because we’re angry... we kill for all kinds of reasons, right, wrong, moral, immoral, you name it." “So... humans ARE evil then?” Twilight quickly interjected. “That explains why the foals tales are nightmare stories...” “Nightmare stories?” “Yeah. The ‘human stories’ are a method we use to get bad foals to behave. Applejack told me that she was afraid you were going to flat out murder them when you stepped in the house. If my library wasn’t burnt down, I’d give you some to read.” I was appalled. So THIS is why they were scared when I came here; to them, humans were evil creatures. I was angry at the statement, but if I went off on them, that would only prove those writings. I chose my words carefully as we continued to run. “Look... we aren’t evil, at least not all of us. There are always evil beings in every world, but most of us... we try to do what’s right. The only problem with that is, in our world, right and wrong are often shades of grey, because you can bend things for say, political or religious purposes. I wouldn’t say we’re evil; I’d say we’re misguided; we don’t know how to peacefully solve most of our problems. Deep inside, every human has the inner instinct to kill, and, truth be told, that comes from the world we live in; I hear everfree forest is a place where the animals kill each other and have to take care of themselves. For the longest time, before we had a society, we had to take care of ourselves, on our own. We had to kill to get food, and we still do. We aren’t evil, per se, but... it’s all we know at the very core. We’ve gotten MUCH better at suppressing it, but we still do it at the end of the day. Killing is such a common part of life, that it’s openly expressed in our media. Some of us try to make the world better though, with people like the Bronies and the Juggalos... “Who?” I suddenly grew even angrier at an abrupt thought. “Then... then you have people like BEN... people who kill and torture for fun.” I said, clenching my fist. “So... what exactly IS BEN?” Scootaloo inquired, still running alongside me. “Well, out of the time I’ve spent with him, which has been about two years, I’ve come to gather that he’s the spirit of a child whose father drowned him to death.” “His own father killed him!? That’s awful!” “So, anyway... a year into college, one of my buddies gave me an old game console to play, one from childhood. I went around the nearby neighborhoods looking for old, used games that ran on it, and I came across this house with an old man. He gave me a copy of one of my favorite games, although it was a bit beaten up, and the label was missing.” “So what happened?” they both asked me in unison, their eyes widening as we continued along the trail. “I brought it home, and not long after, it started acting really weird. It would do things that weren’t even PART of the game, like teleport me to places with strange, unnatural properties. Then, this statue started following me around in the game. I started to record the thing, and, it only got worse - it would chase me, kill my character, alter the text... but the worst part was? When I hooked the footage to my computer, IT started acting weird. Then, the computer literally started talking to me with chat systems for no apparent reason!” I shivered, flashing back to those dreadful days, some of the most frightening in my life. “Long story short, he’s the spirit of a child who was drowned by his own father. From what I understand, his soul became trapped in his most prized possession, the game, then he started to haunt me. About four months ago, somehow, he came here and brought me with him. And I’m damn determined to find out why - and why he’s hurting this place. For now though, let’s just focus on the race, then go find Derpy.” “One last question, Nick?” “*sigh* Sure.” What’s the biggest difference between your world and ours, do you think? “How we live.” “What do you mean, specifically?” “What my people lack in magical skills, we make up for in technology and intelligence. For example, we can fly with a giant metal machine called a plane.” “That’s not scientifically possible.” Twilight butted in. “Would you believe me, if I told you that a hundred and twenty years ago, back in my world, we said the same thing? Hell, just twenty years ago, we would have called you insane if you said there was a computer that fit in your pocket!” I added, pulling out my phone, and waving it around to solidify the point. “Now let’s focus on the race.” And focus on the race we did. I caught up with Spike, trying to catch my breath as I nearly collapsed on the finish line, tying with him in 12th. “Whoo! So... how... you... feeling, Spike?” “Well, I feel a lot healthier. Just... not happier.” He spoke, panting wildly as he tried to regain energy. I frowned, placing my hand down on his shoulder and crouching next to him. “Awh. Why, bud?” “Isn’t it obvious? It’s Rarity! I haven’t seen her in months, and I don’t even know if she loves me or not! You have no idea how much she means to me, and how long I’ve been trying to call her my special somepony.” “Actually, I DO know.” I looked at the little dragon for a few moments before turning to see Scootaloo and AJ cross the finish line. “Heya Nick, good race! What say we-” Applejack began, but paused for a moment to see a crying Spike. “Aw, what’s got ya in a rut, sugarcube?” I answered for our crying, spined friend, that was trying to collect himself. “Poor little guy just misses Rarity is all, and we’ll go see her once we find Derpy, okay, Spike?” Spike sighed, looking behind him, then to the ground at his feet. “Well... I guess.” I smiled at him, picking him up and placing him on my shoulder. We returned to the central region of the park to meet up with the rest of the girls. As I met with the others, we headed down the main street, trying to find Derpy. As far as us bronies knew, she didn’t have a house of her own. “Hey, stud! Ten bits for a clopjob?” I nearly gagged at the thought. How did some ‘bronies’ get off to this shit? I wish these prostitutes that flooded town would leave me alone... “God forbid. No thanks.” We went into the worse part of town, where there were daily muggings, murders, and break-ins. Given my reputation, though, everybody steered clear once I came around the block, and subsequently, left us alone, which was nice. Looking back into an alleyway we passed, I saw two ponies fighting it out over something in a trashcan. “So... does Derpy have her own place?” “Yeah, she’s got her own place a few blocks from here.” Twilight piped up. “Are you sure she can help though?” She asked, to which I turned my head to the team behind me, still continuing to walk. “It’s not about her helping, it’s about stopping what she’s doing - distributing drugs throughout the city.” I turned around as I finished those words, continuing down the street, my pistol in my hand. I played with it a bit, having fun chatting my all my new friends. BEN was still out there hurting ponies, but at least for now, he’s leaving us alone, and I’m thankful for that, because we all needed a break. What exactly was he doing now? --- Luna was sitting on a chunk of loose moon rock, sulking. How could her sister banish her for no discernible reason? What HAD she done? The last thing she remembered was sleeping peacefully in her quarters, before being drug out to the royal throne by two guards to face her sister. Not too long after being lectured, she was suddenly rocketed off of earth and back to this barren rock with a blast of magic. The dark blue alicorn threw a stone in anger, only to see it float up in her face, no satisfaction of it hitting the ground. How could this have happened to her? She continued to cry, digging her face into her hooves and curling up in a fetal position. However, there was a strange sound from behind her, then a laugh. She quickly collected herself and turned around. “Who-who’s there!?” Absolutely nothing. She turned back in front of her, and continued to cry, digging her face into her knees. After a few moments of wallowing, Luna carefully looked up, then screamed, jumping back - what stood before her was a small statue of a human with green clothes, and a crooked, ear to ear smile. “Who... who are you?” The idol said nothing, but suddenly dematerialized with a laugh into a gaseous black mist. It hovered in open space for a moment, before another laugh echoed through the galaxy, and suddenly charged for Luna. She screamed violently upon its contact, as she felt the black presence seep into her, collapsing on her back with a violent force. Luna took a moment to orient herself from the fall, but gripped her head in pain as a vile, serpentine voice began to talk to her. “Princess Luna...” “Who are you!? Get out of my head!” “Dear, silly, princess Luna... I’m not here to do you any harm, your highness... I just wish to talk... I know all about your sister having banished you...” Luna’s pulse began to race. How did this foreign being know ANYTHING of her life? Was this Discord in yet another one of his wicked forms? No, this thing was entirely different; the alicorn could feel that. “What dost thou seeketh!?” “Using your fancy wording isn’t going to intimidate me, Luna... I’m a spirit; there’s very little you can do. My concern lies within your current dilemma. Let me ask you...” “Y-yes?” “Do you feel... as if you’ve been cheated?” “Whatever do you mean?” “By your sister. Do you feel as if your banishment was fair or just?” The serpentine one asked, a calming tone about its voice. “I... no. I don’t even know what I did. She just told me I was to be sent here again, with no rhyme or reason...” “And how does that make you feel? Angry? Spiteful?” “I’d be lying if I said no.” The blue mare exclaimed, her eyes going cross with anger at nopony in particular. “Would you take the chance to claim vengeance if you had it?” “Why... why of course! How dare she do such a thing on no grounds!” “Well then...” the voice began, as a set of familiar black armor materialized in front of Luna’s face. “What say you bring this moon down on them?” Luna seriously thought on it for a second, before turning away from her armor. “But... that would kill all my subjects!” “True... but sacrifices must be made some days, no?” “Never!” Luna screamed, grabbing her head in pain at the voice. “NEVER SHALL I PERFORM SUCH AN ATROCITY!” “You shouldn’t have done that...” The skull kid screamed as Luna tried to cover her ears at the deafening yell. It hurt. It burnt. It tore at her very soul, but after nearly five minutes of continuous screaming, she caved and collapsed to the ground, reawakening with blood-red irises. “Bring this moon upon the earth, and together we shall rule. Chrysalis, Discord, Nightmare Moon, the Trinity of death and chaos, all backed by moi and what I can offer.” “Master... indeed, my humble master...” Luna said, her speech almost hypnotic, as she donned her helmet that sat before her. “Good horsey...” At that, the skull kid screamed, and Nightmare Moon passed out on the barren rock. Tomorrow, It would begin. Tomorrow would be... The Dawn of The First Day. -- Applejack knocked on the door. “Derpy? Sugarcube? Can ya come out please? It’s Pinkie, Twilight an’ I. We wanna talk ‘bout some things, hon.” No answer. I checked the ammo in my gun, bringing it up in a safe direction. “Derpy, are ya okay?” Still no answer. I stacked up against the door, holding my weapon in preparation. “Derpy, we’re coming in...” Twilight said, forming up behind me, as the others did the same in fear of what was on the other side. From the edge of the doorframe, I swung my leg sideways, throwing the door to the ground with a violent kick, still keeping my cover. As I stepped in, checking my corners, I stopped for a moment, and was greeted with the statue standing in the room. The song of unhealing was playing again, and over in a corner was Derpy, and as expected, something was terribly, terribly wrong: she was collapsed, spasming in a pile of her own bodily waste, a band wrapped around her left foreleg, and a hypodermic needle on the floor. I walked over to Derpy and tucked my weapon away so I could pick her up from her own mess, gently moving her from the wooden floor to her couch. I felt her forehead and gently waved my hand in front of her face, snapping my fingers a few times. “Derpy, can you hear me?” The others stepped into the house and began examining everything around. There wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary aside from Derpy having her episode, but I was certain things were much worse. After I was done setting Derpy on her clean couch and wiping her off with my buttondown, I turned to see Scootaloo bent down near the corner of the room, were Derpy originally was, and holding the needle that was lying on the floor. “Scoots, be extra careful with that, okay?” Twilight said, taking it out of her hooves with some magic and levitating it over to me, the shot resting on the arm of the chair. I turned my attention to the syringe, and picked it up, bringing it to my face. Making a careful examination, I saw inside, remnants of a brown, viscous liquid - heroin. Dear god, Derpy had gone so mad with the drug sales, she’d started using her own product. I looked over to Scootaloo. "Scoot? I need you to say with Derpy and try and nurse her back to health okay? We’re going to the basement.” I said, nodding to the others. They all followed behind me, and what we saw upon arrival was a quite large, well lit basement. In one corner was what looked like a small meth lab, as evidenced by the piles of iodine and lye, as well as various other ‘household’ ingredients sitting next to a gas stove. Running the length of the center of the room were various garden troughs, lit by sun lamps, which had marijuana, coca, and poppy growing in them. On the other side of the room, opposite the meth lab, was a table that consisted of bottles full of pills, and all of them read ‘PVS/Pharmacy’. I picked up one of the bottles, filled with purple tablets, and examined them - here was the viagra Big Mac was getting. Apparently, Derpy was stealing from the local drugstore to get her product as well. I had a feeling it ran deeper than that though; there was no way that the clumsy mailmare I knew and loved could do this all on her own. I walked over to one of the gardens and picked a small handful of mature cannabis leaves and tucked them under my buttondown, right next to my CD. “I say we burn it all.” Everybody stared at me, as they all inquired me in unison. “What?” “Burn it all. This stuff has no need to be here. The drugs are going to ruin Equestria. You saw what they did you you, Pinkie, and Mac.. and Twilight... and Derpy. This stuff needs to go. We get rid of the drugs, we make a LOT of progress; we break the spell on the citizens, we can get them to see what BEN is doing and form a resistance movement! After we get this done, we go to find the others. Who’s with me?” Strangely, Spike was the first to do anything. He stood in front of the rest, a bit hesitant, but otherwise, a determined, solid look on his face. “I’m in. Let’s get rid of this.” “Wa-wait... Can I just...” I turned at the voice; Pinkie Pie. She was slowly walking towards a pile of processed cocaine at the far end of the room, playing with it, dunking her hooves in it. She began to lick her lips. “PINKIE PIE! STOP!” I yelled, running over to pull her away, but was violently thrown to the ground with a back hoof as she dove into It from all her built-up pressure. Not too long after, Pinkie’s hair deflated, and as she turned around to face us, I noticed she had the same homicidal grin from all the way back at the basement, which made me scramble to my feet in a panic. I swallowed in fear at the demented pink pony with a face covered in white. “No... not again. Pinkie Pie, come to your senses, please. I don’t want to fight you again.” Twilight and the rest were becoming increasingly disturbed as Pinkamena approached us. Suddenly, from her saddlebags, she drew a knife and methodically walked over to us. Applebloom began to cry, and screamed in fear, running upstairs, taking Spike with her; this was an adult matter. I drew my pistol, my hand shaking while Twilight and Applejack stood firm at my side. Twilight’s horn began to focus energy, and AJ drew another lasso. “Pinkie, sugar, we really don’t wanna do this...” Applejack said with a panic-stricken tone. Twilight nodded at her friend’s words, also trying to get the dark-sided party pony back to reality. “No. We don’t want to. Just, come back to us, okay?” “Look, if all you guys are gonna do is stand there, I’m taking the fucking shot. I’m not risking this.” I violently butted in as the demonic Pinkamena drew ever closer. “You are NOT hurting anypony unless you need to!” Twilight scowled, her horn glowing. She picked Pinkamena up with her magic and threw her against the wall, her knife falling out of her hoof. I kept my gun trained, in case anything got bad, but Applejack lassoed her down. I walked over and proceeded to hogtie her down. It went smooth, it was clean, and there was no blood. Nobody died either. I hoped to keep the rest of my time here that way. Would I be given the luxury of peaceful solutions, though? Something in my mind screamed otherwise. “Persistent, aren’t you, Pinkie?” I said as I finished, and stood up, putting my gun in my belt loop, and slinging her over my back with the help of the others. I bent down and procured the lost knife, placing it in my belt as well, sighing. “Well... that was nice and easy. I was expecting a fight.” Pinkamena struggled to get free from the lasso. I looked around the room, first to the meth lab, then to the table with the processed drugs and pills, then to the garden, carefully examining their placement. “Alright, everyone listen up. I need several bales of hay, and Spike down here. Twilight? stay with me; we need to keep an eye on Pinkie in case she tries anything.” “Yes sir!” I heard Applejack talking upstairs, and then a door shutting as Spike came down to the basement with us. --- “Scootaloo, can I ask ya somethin’?” Applebloom inquired, looking to her friend who was trying to get Derpy back to consciousness, then back to the basement door, then back to her friend again. “Sure, anything!” the young pegasus replied, removing the latex band from Derpy’s forehoof and applying a warm towel to hold back the bleeding. “What do ya think of a human bein’ here an’ all?” “What, Nick? He’s, well... he saved our lives didn’t he?” “Yeah, but ah mean... He’s a HUMAN. From the nightmare stories... and... he HAS killed ponies...” “Applebloom, you worry too much.” “Too much!? Aren’t ya afraid he’s gonna hurt us?!” “Look, Applebloom, he told me all about where he’s from. He told me how he came here. What we know about humans is wrong. Sure, there are some evil ones, he says, but they aren’t all bad. You remember that one day, when he showed up in the apple cellar?” Applebloom shuddered at the recollection of that awful experience. “Yeah?” “Do you remember when he prayed ‘cause he thought he was gonna die?” “Uh-huh...” “He has faith. And I have faith in him. I trust that he won’t do anything to us; we’re too important to him.” “I wish ah shared ya optimism...” “Aw, come on, Applebloom! We’ve all been living at the farm for like, two straight months, and you still can’t trust him? He spends time with us, he teaches us things, he’s never once physically hurt us, he plays with us, and he got me my cutie mark. I trust him. I have to really... he’s...” Scootaloo stopped to tend Derpy’s injuries further, checking her pulse and temperature. “He’s what?” Scoots sighed, looking up at the ceiling, not bothering to make eye contact with her friend. “He’s kinda like a dad to me...” Abruptly, the skull kid laughed, and suddenly, both fillies turned around. The statue - it had been standing here the entire time. It dematerialized into a black mist, before hovering up to the ceiling and splitting off, the two pieces floating in the open room for some time more before they finally charged for the two crusaders. Each of them screamed together, a blood-curdling cry that would send chills down anypony’s spine. And it did just that. --- “HOLY SHIT! THE GIRLS!” At the freakish cry, I immediately bolted up the stairs, completely disregarding Pinkamena. So help me god, if anybody hurt them... I kicked open the basement door, tearing it clean off its hinges. When I got to the living room floor, I saw a black residue covering the girls. They were unconscious. I rushed over to them, only to be violently thrown away by Applebloom, who suddenly awoke with unnatural levels of strength. I flew back and hit the wall, and stood up a few seconds later. Both her and Scootaloo were up and awake now, and... No... Dear god, no... Their eyes were red. “Hello Jadusable... Miss me?” I shivered, pulling out my gun, yet keeping it aimed down as the girls approached me. “Who said that!?” “We did...” The girls. They were slowly walking towards me with a thirst for blood spread across their faces. I tried to aim, but couldn’t keep a straight line of sight. I couldn’t shoot them. I wouldn’t. “There’s been too much death, Nick. Don’t kill. Don’t. Fucking. Kill. You know better than that.” The girls kept approaching me, backing me up into a corner as they spoke in unison, their voices not their own. “Here’s a question for you Jadusable: would you bring yourself to kill children?” “God damn it, let them go!” The mask salesman giggled before the girls spoke again, cornering me even further. “I’m afraid I can’t let that happen. It’s either you or them, Jadusable. Tell me, what’s it gonna be?” “TWILIGHT!” “She can’t hear you, Jadusable...” the girls said, dangerously close to me now. “It’s all about you. Will you do it?” “They are going to KILL you. Off them!” “You sick fuck, they’re KIDS! How DARE you even consider that!” “If you don’t do this, you are going to die!” “Children, Nick. Can you kill CHILDREN!?” “They never give you anything anyway! What have they done for you other than be a burden!?” “These girls look up to you, and put their faith and trust in you, a human! You mean something to them!” “Fuck them up!” “Do something else!” I dropped my gun to the floor and my eye went cross with anger. “No. Fuck you, BEN. Fuck. You.” At that moment, the girls jumped me with demonic roars, tackling to me to the ground. They started beating me, punching me, and tearing me apart. But what could I do? I couldn’t kill them could I? If I did, ANY friendship I had made here would be over. And... it was the CMC I was dealing with here... I couldn’t kill the ones I cared for... I mulled ideas over in my head as my vision began to fade, and death started to take me into its fold. I took a breath and simply held onto my faith; my only weapon in this situation. First I recited that prayer. “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 can’t let you get rid of the drugs, Jadusable.” Then I took another leap of faith... ...and began to sing. What did I sing? Their lullaby. I was living in a magical world, wasn’t I? And hadn’t I said, at one point, better to try than to die in vain? I took what hope I had and held onto it, praying that this worked. I inhaled as the darkness closed around me, and with what little strength I had left, brought my arm up and wrapped it snugly around the girls that were on top of me, ignoring their assault. The instrumental half of the song magically filled the room. Despite the vicious attacks and punches, I continued to sing as each hoof fell upon me in fury. "Girls... it's me, Nick." “Day to night, dark to light” “Fall the sands of time.” “Let the years like the gears” “Of a clock unwind.” “In your mind, walk through time “ “Back to better days.” “Memories, like a dream,” “Wash tears away.” “Like a star in the sky,” “Darkness can’t reach you.” “Light the night, joy is light,” “Till the new dawn.” “Cast away your old face,” “Let go your spite.” “With this mask I’ll ask” “To borrow your light.” At the very last line, the skull kid let out his vile scream, and, suddenly, a black mist seeped out of the girls’ mouths, both of them yelling in intense pain, then losing consciousness. As they passed out on my chest, their crazed attacks finally subsided, and the black mist flew out of the open window. It was over. My extreme leap of faith - and my lack of violence - saved Applebloom and Scootaloo. Just one song was all it took. A prayer and a song. I sighed in relief, falling asleep with the two little fillies snoring soundly on my stomach. BEN would NEVER hurt them without killing me first. I made that vow at that very moment. “I’m here, girls. Nobody will take you away for any reason. Ever.” I was awoken to a nudge, the CMC still sleeping away on my stomach. Applejack had come back in with a cart full of hay bales waiting outside. I gently pushed the two sleeping fillies off of me, setting them gently on the floor. Twilight and Spike were taking care of Derpy, with Pinkamena tied up in a corner. I stood up, wiping the blood off my face and walked outside, throwing a bale over my shoulder, and walked downstairs, placing it near the meth lab. I left, came back, left, and came back, all with the help of AJ, and we organized our kindling so it would all light in a quick chain reaction. I took one last look at this lab, then walked upstairs. “Spike, can you come down here, please?” The little purple dragon came down the wooden flight, cracking his arm joints and popping his spines out. “You ready, Nick?” “Yup. Burn this motherfucker to the ground!” Spike inhaled for a moment, holding his breath in. Not too long after, a bright green flame engulfed the first hay bale, which quickly moved to the second, then the third, then on and on. We had about three minutes to get to a safe distance before the meth lab exploded and took this house with it, and we had to be well gone by then. I rushed back upstairs, Spike trailing behind me. I threw Applebloom and Scootaloo on my back, who screamed at their sudden awakening. Twilight grabbed Derpy, and Applejack took Pinkamena as the smell of gasoline filled the air. Gas... Change of plans - we only had a few seconds to get out; there was a gas leak in the meth lab stove. “LET’S GO!” We hightailed it out of town as Derpy’s house went up in flames. None of us watched the thing, but we sure as hell heard the explosion. It probably killed a bystander or two, but there wasn’t any time to worry about that. We had taken out the source of the drugs that were being sent throughout Equestria, so it was only a matter of time before the people began to wake up and see what was really going on. Granted, getting rid of the drug addicts would help, but It wouldn't change the fact that, at the end of the day, Ponyville was still a rough neighborhood, with muggings, thefts, murders, and prostitution among other things; there were so many desperate for money that they would do almost anything. Could we blame them though? Absolutely not; they were forced into this situation with the ‘mine cleansing’ incidents that Spike had caused, which, in itself, was caused by BEN’s manipulation. He had brought the harsh realities of OUR world here - economic instability, drugs, child molesters, serial killers, prostitution, and dictatorial rule, just to name a few, and HE shouldn’t have done that. BEN would pay dearly by my remaining hand. Equestria did not deserve this torture. And that fucking kid would regret ever haunting me. “I’m coming for you, Benjamin. You’ll be crying for your spirit life to end when I’m done with you.” It was at that moment I noticed I’d been wearing the same unwashed clothes for two straight months. I smelled fucking awful. You may ask why. Given this is largely a society that doesn’t wear clothes, there aren’t many places to get a wash. Well, what better time to plan a trip to Carousel Boutique, then. I wondered what this whole mess had done to Rarity. I’m certain she wouldn’t take it lightly to find that her sister was dead, and that I had eaten some of her, but the former, I was certain she already knew. I held back some vomit at that memory. Derpy was suffering from an intense relapse still. After she got out of it, I was going to question her, but we had other issues to contend with, namely, Pinkamena. She was still pretty hopped up on her drugs, so she was still a threat. Some time had passed since the removal of the drug lab, so we figured it safe to head back into town. As we walked, heading to the boutique as planned, we began casual conversation amongst ourselves. I had a LOT of unanswered questions, so I figured it good a time as any to ask a few, the sun beginning to set behind us. “Applejack, when you were going home to get the hay, did you see Big Mac anywhere?” “Nope, ah didn’t see a thing, ‘cept Granny Smith cryin’ on th’ front porch - she’s still pretty torn up ‘bout th’ stuff he did.” “Yeah... I know. I still can’t believe he did that. Still, it’s not his fault, it’s BEN’s.” I said, wrapping my arm around her back, with a light squeeze as we continued to walk, Twilight carrying Derpy on her back. I turned my attention to her, though, and thought of what to ask her, then it finally hit me. “So... tell me, Twilight... why is it, I’ve been here for about four months now, and I haven’t even SEEN the other three yet?” “Honestly?” Twilight began. “I couldn’t say. What with all the death and destruction that’s been going on with BEN, and the depression? Celestia only knows. Worst-case scenario, BEN’s killed them.” “I sure hope he hasn’t...” The image of Sweetie Belle flew back into my head, and I nearly cried, but was cut short in thought as I heard a voice. “He... he made me do things... awful things.” I turned around quickly to the sound of the voice. Derpy was coming down. She hopped off of Twilight’s back and stumbled a bit, trying to orient herself and gain her balance. She set herself down on the grass, then frowned a bit, looking at all of us with regretful eyes. “I... I didn’t mean it. The statue just said he had a way for me to make money...” I crouched down next to the grey pegasus, my eye going soft with compassion. Her voice was sweet and squeaky, very similar to that of the ‘Save Derpy’ video, and not her original canonical voice. I sat close, listening intently. Pinkie had come off her buzz as well; her hair had poofed back to a curly state. “It’s... it’s just so hard having a civil service job. We do more work than almost anypony, and our wages are terrible. One day, I was getting really desperate for money, and the little statue showed up out of nowhere. He told me that if I were to put those awful things in the mail, I could make the money I needed to live. After the depression hit, everypony went crazy to get what little bits they could find.” Derpy said, starting to tear up as her voice cracked even more. “He taught me how to make the stuff, but It’s not my fault! It isn’t! I needed the money! I needed to live, didn’t I? Everypony needs a way to take care of themselves, right? I was only looking out for me; times are tough enough as it is! I never meant to hurt anypony, but I know I did. I know that drink did awful things, I know the stuff I sold Pinkie made her sick, I even knew those pills would hurt Big Mac, but I NEEDED the money! What do you do when there’s no money left to put muffins on your plate?! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry... I just don’t know what went wrong!” Derpy couldn’t contain herself any longer. She fell, her face into the grass, wailing in sadness and regret. I stroked her mane, trying to calm her. “It’s okay Derpy. It’s okay, just let it out.” Everyone else came around her for a hug, including Pinkie, who was almost back to normal, so I took the knife from my belt and cut the earth pony loose. Derpy just continued to let out a stream of water. “Derpy, we’ve all done things we aren’t proud of. You aren’t alone. Everyone makes mistakes. The only question is, are you willing to fix those mistakes?” Twilight asked the distraught pony lying before her. Derpy raised her face up out of the grass a bit, looking into my lone eye, then to the others in the posse. “Yes. Yes I am.” I smiled and stood, helping Derpy up by taking her hoof. Pinkie was back to her normal self, and suddenly, out of the blue, a guitar riff abruptly filled the air. I recognized the chords, and to put it bluntly, I couldn't help... ...but Smile. Pinkie jumped up in excitement and began to walk down the street as the guitar solo continued. I happily followed her, but, for some reason, the others were, well, a bit hesitant at first, but soon joined in on the celebration. As the song continued, we all sang together, our actions feeling like a montage thrown together to the rhythm of the music. Over the course of the performance, the citizens in town slowly and hesitantly joined in as well, acting as if as they were afraid of what would happen if they did. Why though, I wondered. My questions were soon answered once everything was abruptly cut short as a platoon of guards flew down to street level and drew their weapons, breaking up the party. A lot of civilians ran back to their homes, some cowered on the ground, and the rest in my crew were frozen partially to the stone road; I was the only one standing. What the hell was going on? Why did everyone stop? Suddenly, two guards drew spears and aimed at me. I froze and got on my knees, my arm up. What the hell was this about? A larger guard, wearing a black helmet (obviously the platoon commander, though not Shining), nodded at the troops holding me up, and they withdrew their weapons, signaling for me to stand up and leave. God damn it, I didn’t hesitate. I got the hell up and bolted with the others. As we got near the edge of town, to the boutique, I turned to face everyone in the group, catching my breath in fear. “What the FUCK was that all about?” “Well, Sugarcube, ya know how Celestia’s had martial law in place fo’ the last few months? Truth be tol’, we ain’t allowed ta do much. We can’t sing anymore like that, we can’t talk freely without fear ‘a bein’ snatched up off th’ street. We might as well stop talkin’ ‘fore they come fo’ us again.” “So... you’re telling me that Celestia won’t let you have fun anymore.” “That’s exactly what ah’m sayin’, sugar.” “Look, if any of the soldiers try anything, I’ll just cap ‘em in the head, okay? I - MMMMFFFF!” Twilight threw her hoof to my mouth. “Don’t say stuff like that!” She was right. That wouldn’t get us anywhere. There was no more need for senseless death; we’d lost far too much. The moon began to rise, and I opened the door to the boutique as my blood ran cold. I looked to my feet as the entrance creaked open, seeing a little white unicorn rush through the door. “Rarity, I’m home!” I shook my head around, trying to recollect my thoughts. There was only one thing on my mind... I needed Sweetie Belle back.