Sometimes They Call Me Super

by KorenCZ11


Persona XIII: Pink Yellow and Blue

Pinkamena Diane Pie


“Today was a day of many firsts for me. I looked up to the sky this morning and thought, ‘Wow, what a pretty blue!’ and only half an hour later, that color was death staring me in the face. Bright white lights, burning metal, lasers from all directions, a leader frantically trying her best to turn the situation around and being thwarted at every turn, only for some deus ex machina bullshit to come save us out of nowhere in the end. Nopony knew she had the power to do what she did, we weren’t saved by fate or anything so grandiose as divine providence, as if the goddess truly gave a shit about what happens down here, no. We were saved by luck.

Sure, somepony could make an argument that it was tactics and raw power, the ability to keep pushing and managing to push through, but really? This time, we didn’t have any of that. I don’t have any right to be standing here, alive and well today for a number of reasons, but that? That is the biggest one, and for the first time in my life… I’m shaking at the thought of ‘what if’s.’ I should be dead. We should all be dead. But no, here I am, here we are, sitting around this castle contemplating about how we’re not dead and how we proceed from here on.

How do we move forward? I’m not strong, and trump card breaks my pathetic little bones to splinters since I’m not a freaking demi-goddess like she is. I don’t have the toughness of the pony-shark hybrid, I don’t have a monster lurking in the back of my head, I don’t have blood that can save me without my asking, and time doesn’t wait head and hoof for me. All I can do is run, and run, and run, and nothing else.

When you were lying there, staring that ever growing bright light in the face, preparing for it all to end, what went through your head? Because in mine, all I saw were the regrets I still have, and the failures that brought me here, everything I missed and might never have. I still have most of a family out there, probably and I just… ran. What good is a heroine who just runs away? Am I really of any value here when there’s somepony else who can just… press pause on the world to beat time instead of just moving a little bit faster within it? I just… I just don’t know what I really have to offer here. Once upon a time I could at least distract a crowd in a fight, but… that’s not worth much anymore, so… what am I worth now?” I lamented. Rainbow’s room was relatively barren, save for a laptop and a coat rack with her helmet on it. That thing used to strike fear into the streets of Manehattan, but I wonder how it looks to the ponies today?

“I mean… I don’t know Pinkie, I can’t really say. If you can’t point out the value in yourself, I’m not really the one to do it for you, I’ve only been here for a week, remember?” Rainbow replied. She’d taken off that feather cape of hers and gotten most of her armor off, which I didn’t even realize she wore until now. The greaves and boots had all kinds of scratches and dents and rusted red stains everywhere, even a couple of places that looked like where bullets were stopped. I scooted up to her bed in my folding chair and got a little closer.

“But… but we’ve been fighting together for a whole week! Surely you can point out something I add to the mix, can’t you? Am I… am I really just in the way?” Rainbow pulled off one of the gloves on her hooves with her teeth and spat it out at the rest of her uniform.

“Okay fine, do you really want me to say what I think? Because I don’t think that’s what you want to hear right now.” She exasperated. I rolled my eyes and crossed my hooves over the chair back.

“Yes! If I’m not adding anything to the mix, then what am I here for? Am I useless, am I in the way, am I contributing, I need something! Validate me, tell me I’m being petty and annoying, just say anything! Nopony ever talks about how we perform outside of sucking Applejack’s dick, and I hate it! I never get any feedback aside from somepony telling me to keep trying, but keep trying what? How am I supposed to improve if I don’t know what I’m doing right or wrong in the first place?” I worked up into a yell. I guess I haven’t really opened up to anypony about this before, so maybe it’s all just coming out like pent up frustration? I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I shouldn’t be yelling at Rainbow, she at least offered to listen.

“Well… I think you work well as a support unit. When you’re most useful, you’re either playing distraction while we set up or you’re marking and finding weak points. What I don’t think you’re good at is attacking and… sometimes you trip over your own hooves you know? You get too stressed out to focused, you think ‘I have to do better, I have to attack and help take down the monster,’ but really, I don’t think you’re all too useful there. I mean, think about what you did in the Sachiel fight, yeah? You cut into the mask, you found the mirror, and you helped everypony else get the job done. It wasn’t your job to give it the finishing blow, it was your job to find where to plant it. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but even when we win in Celestia’s simulations, on the rare occasions those are, you kinda perform the same task, ya know? Find the weak spot, point it out to us, and if necessary, help us take care of it. Nopony else can survey the enemy as fast as you can, and besides, in any media at all, when is the scout the guy that kills the target?” She said. Her words were true, and in a way, I was relieved.

When Luna had you alone, what did she do? She set you up against a bunch of big golems and told you to figure out where best to hit them. It only worked when you actually took the time to figure out where those weak points were, and rushing in only got you killed. Just because you want to be Applejack doesn’t mean that you can, after all. I darted off the chair and maybe tackled Rainbow in a hug.

“Thank you! Nopony would ever just… tell me what they thought like that. Well… at least without being cruel about it.” I said as I let her go and sat still on the bed. The day we brought Goose back and Fluttershy went off on me like she did still hangs around my head any time I start to think I’m not worth being here. Rainbow pulled off the rest of her suit and tossed it on the coat rack, making a loud clanging of what sounded like chains banging against porcelain.

“Shy put ya in your place, huh?” She said, almost sympathetic.

“Well… yeah. Sometimes I just don’t even feel like a power pony around here, ya know? Even when I first joined, we had the sniper with the crazy eyes that could see for miles in the dark, and the time stopping pony. Sure, it was hard for them to work together since the distance she shoots from isn’t anywhere near where Rarity can have her help and scout objectives at the same time, but I never really helped much either, and… and I just get sick to myself when I see blood and pieces of ponies. How do I compete in a world of monsters? Oh, er… well…” Rainbow held up a hoof to stop me.

“No, no, I get it. You didn’t have to kill to survive and you can’t really bring yourself to do it ever since that time with your sister. Sure, you did something wholly wrong and unjustified to her, but compared to some of us… that really doesn’t mean much. You’re right, after all. We are monsters, among goddesses, among ponies. And really, you only sit just above pony at this point. But, in all honesty, what’s wrong with that? Why do you need to compete when you have a job that nopony else could fill? You have your own role and probably better morals than most of us, so why do you need to be brought down in the muck too? Even after all this time, I still don’t think that the powers I have are worth the lives I stole just for the fun of it. It took me getting involved in some family drama and adopting a sister to figure out that life was precious after years of treating it as my plaything. Maybe I’m doing the right thing now, but between the titles hero and monster, I know I deserve the latter and not the former. But you… you’re clean by comparison, especially to me and Shy.” She said.

It was strange to talk to her and think about who she was at the same time. The pony in front of me looks like one you could easily pick out in a crowd, somepony who was born to stand out, a sharp image made to contrast against the background of the world. But… the way she acts and speaks, she’s like a hammer. Blunt, straight-forward and to the point. She never acts like she’s more than what she is, but what she knows she says as if it’s an indisputable fact. Confidence, that’s what she is. It would be nice to have something like that.

“Well… thanks, I guess. I never really thought about it like that. But at the same time, the things you and Fluttershy say you did are a little far from my imagination, ya know? I’ve seen death before, it’s nothing new. But… killing for the sake of it is just… so out there for me, I just… is there even a feeling I could compare to that? Killing makes me nauseous, and I don’t even have the heart to do it which… has been a point of contention before.” I said. I hate sounding the way I do. It’s like my voice was made to be pitiful all the time.

“Yes, but why is that a bad thing? Ponies shouldn’t be numb to killing. Ponies shouldn’t enjoy killing. The world would have never survived if that were the case, and cities and social lives like this wouldn’t exist if we were all bloodthirsty. As young as I am, I shouldn’t even know that, especially not the way I learned it. Maybe you’re here by happenstance, maybe you’re a runaway who never really should’ve gotten to where you are, but at least you’re not as crazy as the rest of us, yeah?

Like, you know that between Shy and I, we have over a thousand in head counts, right? That’s fucked up. Ponies shouldn’t have this many kills to their names at eighteen, let alone over seven years of combat experience. Hell, the numbers we have are probably higher than more experienced soldiers and serial killers. We were serial killers! Do you know how hard it is to try and pretend to be a good guy when you’ve lost count of the number of dead on your hooves? Don’t try to be us, don’t even want to be us. We couldn’t even atone for this shit over hundreds of lifetimes, you just made a mistake that took an accident too far. Do you even know if your sister is really dead?” Rainbow asked. The more she spoke, she more distressed her voice got. She moved her hooves around as she spoke, mimicking motions, staring at them as if they were covered in something, breathing heavily. When she asked me that final question, I really had no response.

Do… do I know… for sure? She… she was broken but… does that mean she wasn’t…? I replayed the scene in my head in silence. Thud. Crack. Snap. Twist. Thud, crack, snap, twist. Thud crack snap twist. By the third time, I couldn’t take it any more and ended up tossing my lunch into a nearby trash can. I felt a hoof rub softly between my shoulder blades as I sat there shaking.

“Sorry…” she whispered. Time passed, how much I would never be able to tell, until I finally managed to push the image out of my head and breathe again. My stomach finally settled down and I leaned on the edge of the bed with my head in my hooves.

“No, it’s not your fault, I’m just… I’m just pathetic. I can’t even think about it without losing my nerve. I really… don’t belong here…” I admitted. Rainbow scooted closer and put a foreleg around my shoulders.

“Hey, don’t say that. Look, you’re different, alright? None of us are like you, you’re not like any of us, and that’s the kind of thing you need on a team. Everypony has different roles to play, different lives they’ve lead.” Rainbow said softly. Yeah right. You and I are the same age, why am I sitting here letting you take care of me? It’s always been like this. I’m always the kid in a group of adults. Squeamish, pitiful, dependent, and worst of all, weak. I pushed her away and brought my hooves back to my face. I could feel my face heating up and that just made me more angry.

“Can you just… can you just not? I’m so… I’m so fucking sick and tired of feeling like this all the time. ‘It’s not your fault, there’s nothing you could do, it’s okay to be yourself.’ It’s always the same shit, it’s always somepony else saying that it’s enough, well maybe it isn’t, damn it! Why do I always have to be the one who ends up crying? Why am I the only one who gets told to keep trying instead of being yelled at for not being better than I am? I always feel so fucking worthless no matter what I do and nothing ever changes!” I yelled. Next thing I knew, I got slapped across the face.

“Then why don’t you do something about it? Maybe you should face your problems instead of running away from them? Canyou even do anything about it? Because from where I stand, all I’m seeing is a whiny little brat playing superhero. You don’t want help? Then don’t ask for it. You want to do something on your own? Then go fucking do it instead of complaining about how you can’t. You know what I think?

I don’t think you really want to be useful at all. I think you like being coddled by everypony around you. You enjoy being dependent, you like being lazy and not having to work hard for anything. You were even given a power to use to be just as strong as anypony else here, but you’re too afraid of getting hurt to use it. Even now, you have a get out of jail free card for any injury that’s not life threatening sleeping in the room next door, but you still don’t try to take the lead and go for it. If your family is still around, then go find them, face up to what you did and take a stand, damn it! This, right here? This is why Shy went off on you. It’s because you don’t fucking try to fix your own problems! Ya know what? We didn’t even really work all that hard today, Applejack and Twilight did. I think we owe them some hours, and I’m about tired of your shit. Let’s go down stairs…” Before I knew what was happening, I was hogtied by floating blood and Rainbow had put her sword belt back on.

“Uh… what? Now… hold on just a minute-” I started.

“Nope, you’re not getting out of this one. You made the decision to come complain to me because everypony else here has probably already heard that sob story once before. But I’m not like them. I think I like you just enough to let you piss me off, so I’m going to help you out. Tired of being pathetic? Today, we change that.” Rainbow said with a nasty smile on her face. She walked us out of her room and then stopped at Fluttershy’s door. The lights were dark judging by the color, so Rainbow stomped her hoof three times in front of it. A few minutes later, a groggy, messy looking Fluttershy opened up.

“Hmmm?” She managed through half closed eyes.

“I’m going to go beat up a pink pinata, wanna help?” Oh no. Fluttershy looked to Rainbow, then to me. I shook my head fervently and tried to open my mouth, but very quickly found it filled with a warm, jelly like consistency and the taste of iron. Fluttershy then adopted a similar smile and looked like she was awake now. Fuck.

“O-oh, absolutely.”


“Huh. Today I learned. Who knew a hoof could shatter like that?” Rainbow said, completely calm as I let out a deafening scream. Fluttershy nodded.

“I-I think Applejack had something s-similar happen last week. H-her hooves were still all together though. T-the foreleg looked about the same. I-it almost looks like a bag full of broken glass, but p-pink and covered in blood.” Fluttershy calmly assessed through my screaming. Before today, I don’t think I’d ever felt this much pain all at once. As a matter of fact, even after being thrown into and bending shipping containers with my back, I don’t think even that hurt this bad. I only suffered a couple broken ribs and a concussion in that fight. This was on a whole other level entirely.

“Think she’s suffered enough yet?” Rainbow asked.

“N-no, but the screaming is starting to make my ears ring.” Fluttershy commented. Rainbow waived Scootaloo over, who was pressing her wings against her ears. The closer she got, the more she winced, until finally, Rainbow shoved her blood in my mouth to get me to stop. It felt like I was about to suffocate and I was slowly starting to lose vision until finally, the pain started to subside. I could feel my whole body relax as a wave of relief coursed through me. The taste of blood jelly became less intense and I just fell to the floor.

“Cool, all better. Now get up and do it again.” Rainbow said. I shot up, but not to my hooves.

“WHAT!?” I exclaimed.

“Do it again.” She said as if I’d asked in a normal tone. I blinked a couple times and just stared into those unrelenting magenta eyes.

“You can’t be serious.” I remarked.

“I am. Do it.” She commanded.

“Why?” I asked, more like pleaded, really.

“Because this is what you wanted isn’t it? You want to join the monsters right? Monsters are relentless. Monsters never stop. Monsters don’t let up through pain and suffering. Even the loss of limbs and body parts won’t stop a monster.” She stated. Fluttershy joined in.

“A-applejack has a fake tail these days. W-who’s fault was that again? N-not to mention the fact that she p-pushes herself well beyond what she s-should in any given fight. S-so what gives you the right to stop just a-after breaking one hoof? H-how about letting your hooves get seared, o-or holding a hot iron with your teeth, o-or breaking a leg just to ignore it and c-concern yourself with everypony else? Ooh, I know! M-maybe we should have you fight me and s-see if you don’t survive against my other half? T-that was our first mission with her, and s-she’s improved a lot since then. M-maybe you now is somewhere near the realm of A-applejack two months ago? I-it wouldn’t be much of a loss if you c-can’t even manage that.” Fluttershy goaded. I stood up.

“Oh, that is it! Fine, fuck you, I’ll fight the beast, I don’t give a shit!” I yelled in her face. Fluttershy giggled.

“A-are you sure… that’s what you want?” Fluttershy said as her voice started to deepen. I watched and listened as the bones in one of her forelegs started to grow and shift into another shape. The fur of her coat grew long and sickly, her hoof morphed into a claw that could make Rainbow’s sword look like a butter knife. I didn’t even get a chance to react before it was wrapped around my neck and starting to squeeze the life out of me. I struggled to no avail trying to beat the claw off of me, but the yellow mare it was attached to only smiled wide with teeth that didn’t belong to a herbivore.

What’s wrong, Pinkie? Don’t you want to be a monster like me? This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. Hit me off. Push me away. Sever the claw. Fight back with everything you have! If you want to live, you have to fight like you’re going to die!” I managed to loosen her grip just enough to breathe, but then she tightened around my neck and slammed me into the wall.

It would be so easy to just twist a little and open up a slot on the team wouldn’t it? A new team member who doesn’t complain about her status, maybe a strapping stallion to fall in love with? Somepony who isn’t jealous of everything around them, somepony worth investing time in! And to set that all in motion… I would just have to twist… just like this…” the thumb of her claw started to press itself against my face and turn my head. I couldn’t fight the pressure, I could barely breathe as it was, and now that was impossible entirely. My vision started to darken and my head had been turned as far as it should go, but she wasn’t stopping.

Oh goddess. She’s actually going to kill me isn’t she? In just a few seconds, my spine is going to snap and I’ll die. It’s all over. I felt my jaw click and I could swear my skin around her claw was beginning to tear. No, no, no, not like this! Please, anything but this! Do something, she’s going to kill you! I closed my eyes and tried to find that power in my hooves. The burning color started to fill my hooves so quickly that it almost hurt more than the claw on my neck. I tried to gasp for air, but nothing would come of it. I felt a weakness start to fill my limbs, my whole body was going numb. Do it, do it, do it! I tried to curl my hoof and throw the punch, but when it made contact with Fluttershy, she didn’t even loosen her grip. Her foreleg had a dent in it to be sure, the fur around the area I hit was blasted off, but it was almost like she didn’t feel it. That’s it. That’s all I’m worth. Everything I could muster, and it all amounts to nothing.

Is that all? How pathetic. All you did was break the bone. Pain like that is nothing to a monster like me. Worthless.” She slid me against the wall and then threw me at the ground. When my back made contact with the ground I could finally breathe again and gasped for dear life. I took the air in too fast and then launched into a coughing fit. “Give me a reason! If this is all you’re worth, then you’re not worth anything to anypony! Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you now and save everypony the trouble!?” She roared at me. She started stomping closer to my position as her form became more and more monsterous with every second that passed by. By the time she’d reached me, her whole body looked like a smaller, yellow and pink version of the monster from the foundry. The red eyes stared into mine and I was frozen. You have to move. She’s actually angry at you, she is going to kill you. You have to run. But there’s nowhere to run to. They sealed off the door. You have to get away. How can I? You have to find help. There are ponies not but meters away, and they’re just standing there watching. Do something!

No response? Even as death stares at you? You can’t look fear in the face and challenge it? You’re too afraid to even move.Move! I can’t. Move! There’s nowhere to run. Move! There’s… nothing I can do… Do something! As I sat there and tears started to fill my eyes, a warm sting started to form a pool between my legs. The monster’s nose twitched and then apathy filled her face. “Disgusting base creature! Gripped so tight with fear, you’ve lost control of your bowels. You’re no longer needed here.” Towering over me, she whipped a claw back and brought all her fingers together to form a point. As if the world had moved to slow motion, She stepped forward and twisted her shoulder, the muscles just underneath all that sickly fur rippling as force shot through them. Even in the slowed time, my heart started to beat faster and faster. Do something, do something, do something! The claw was approaching and I still hadn’t moved. Get out of the way! Dodge! Fight back! Survive! See your family again!

A primal scream echoed out of my body as fire started to fill me like nothing I’d ever felt before. In the slowed time, I stepped to the side of the claw as it came whooshing by and punched at the monster’s face as many times as I could manage before the second claw batted me away. My body flew into the wall on the other side of the room, my head banging against the crystal, my stomach feeling like it’d been caved in, making me spew anything I had left in it. The monster was now devoid of fur on the left side of her face and blood was trickling down her jaw. The glowing red eyes turned to me and that leathery skin around her mouth formed into a smile, the blade like teeth cracked and red growing larger in the monster’s maw.

“More! Give me more!” The monster roared as she darted after me. No time to think, I started to move. Even in the slow time, the monster was quick, but not as fast as I was. I circled around her back aiming for the head, but the moment I leapt into the air, the red eye turned to focus on me. Stuck in motion, her claw started to come after me and the air gave me no footing to change direction on. I crossed my hooves in preparation for the worst when the claws slashed into my skin. The searing fire started to rend my flesh as the force connected and tossed me at the ground. Time slowed even further and I managed to twist myself around and land on my hooves. There were deep gashes on my forelegs, but for some reason, I wasn’t feeling much of anything right now. I just wanted to beat the monster in front of me.

I darted after her as she raised her claw with my blood on it to her mouth, lavishing over the blades with her tongue, ingesting my crimson. The monster grew larger in an instant, the pale yellow of her fur had all but withered away, the hints of pink now barely visible beneath the sickly white of it all. As my approach grew more rapid, the monster’s head twisted toward me, bearing her fangs in a sickly smile. Her jaws opened wide, the blades in her mouth glistening against the blue glow of the crystal walls ready to snap me in half. She moved so quickly that my body only managed to fall and slide beneath her mouth just before she’d caught my mane in her teeth. She jerked my head back, taking the rest of me with her, the glowing red eye nearest me making its presence known, almost as if it was smiling itself.

This time both claws wrapped around my body, applying a force that went well beyond anything I was capable of and I couldn’t move any more. I squirmed in place as much as I possible, and when that failed, I just stared her down.

Look at this little morsel squirming in place. Hate on her face, fledgling desire to kill burning in her eyes. I wonder what changed? Not but a moment ago, she was pissing herself in fear, yet here we are, even managed to make me bleed. Tell me, snack, what is different now?” The monster asked. She loosened her grip enough that I could speak, but I still couldn’t move anywhere, she had my hooves locked in place.

“I still have ponies I need to see. Fuck you, you fucking monster. I can’t believe you would turn on me after all the time we spent together! I thought we were friends!” I spat at her. She tilted her head then licked my face with her massive tongue.

From where I stand, I’m having a conversation with food that bites back. It’s been nearly a month since I’ve been released and my head hasn’t felt this clear in ages. So tell me, meat, why is it that my darling has asked me to see you? Do you wish for death? Do you desire to be consumed? Or have you done something to make my darling angry? For her to borrow my powers, she had to be utterly disgusted with you.” The monster asked. The way it spoke made it clear that I wasn’t dealing with Fluttershy anymore, and I noticed Rainbow tense up and have Scootaloo move into the stairs. This might not have been part of whatever plan they had.

“Fuck you, fuck Fluttershy, and fuck everypony else! I won’t run any more! If it takes becoming a monster to beat a monster then I’ll do exactly that! Nopony is ever going to call me worthless again and I’ll beat you to prove it!” I yelled at her face. The monster smiled a little more, then without warning, slammed me to the ground. In each massive claw it took my legs and held me still and leaned over me, putting every bit of her weight on me. My bones were seconds away from snapping when the pressure stopped and the creature brought her face inches from mine.

Is that so? The body of an average pony is rather fragile and a monster like me heals very quickly. Those little scratches you managed to put on me are already gone, you see?” The monster revealed her back teeth, missing any cracks and breaks from earlier. The dent on her foreleg was gone and the fur had all grown back there and on her face. “A monster disregards pain to get the kill. How would you do without a leg or two? Would you still come after me all the same? Why don’t we find out…” She shifted her claw to hold down the rest of my body and wrapped the other one around my left front leg. Ever so slowly she started to stretch it out until it reached a point where skin started to rip. I let out a scream in agony as my elbow became dislocated and the leg continued to move outward.

“Hey, that’s enough!” Rainbow shouted. She took a few steps forward and drew her sword. The monster raised her head and stared her down.

Take another step and the girl dies. Interfere and I’ll kill the lot of you. Forget not that I know you, blue one.” The monster ordered. She wasn’t kidding and she started digging a claw into my neck to prove it. Rainbow backed down and then the Beast smiled. “Perfect. Now be a good little girl and watch while I play with my new toy.” the monster said. Without any warning, she pulled sharply and twisted my leg till it came free. If I hadn’t been screaming so much already, I probably would’ve done so more if the monster didn’t toss my body away and plant me in the wall. I felt something dig into my cheek, and when I finally fell, a shard of crystal was stuck in my face. I curled up around my missing leg and bit down as hard as I could on my other front leg to alleviate some of the pain. Tears and blood flowed freely from all around, red dousing my vision and making me bleary. I didn’t have the time to cry though, the Beast wouldn’t give it to me. She threw my leg at me and then darted forward with enough force to shake the castle. Crying and bleeding, I got up as quickly as I could to avoid the slam of the monster as she approached.

Aww, what’s the matter? Weren’t you going to beat me? A real monster would simply ignore the new wound and keep trying her best to kill the target!” The Beast turned and charged after me, digging her claws into the wall and running across it like a spider. An anger washed over me and started to dull the pain. I felt the fire fill my body again and saw my next opportunity. Time slowed once more, and as the monster started to leap through the air after destroying the walls behind her to get to me, I challenged her with as many energized punches as I could manage with one front leg. The monster reacted as she flinched mid flight, but I wasn’t done yet. I used my increased speed to run up the wall around her and reconcentrated all of the fire in my body to my back hooves. I pushed off with my remaining foreleg and slammed my hooves into the other side of her face, breaking teeth and bursting skin as I did. The beast and I crashed to the ground as blood started to ooze from her mouth and another wave of crimson splashed from my stump.

The pain flared back up again, forcing me to clutch my broken bloody elbow and fall to my knees. I didn’t notice her stand back up, and when I did, it was already too late. The monster had me in her claws again, and just as quickly slammed me into the ground. More of my own blood started to pool around me and I could feel myself getting weaker.

Wonderful, simply astounding! Where is all this power coming from, all this resolve? Is it mere hate that drives you, or has a new spark ignited somewhere there was none before? Killing you would be a waste of untapped potential! You there, blue one! Fix this for me. I yet wish to continue playing with my new toy, but it seems as if she’s all out of time.” The Beast slid me across the floor like a rag doll over to Rainbow. She then rested herself against the west, least broken wall and laughed as she rubbed at the destroyed part of her muzzle. “How long has it been since she’s allowed me to play? Two, even three years? Ah, my darling still yet loves me…” The monster said as she began to shrink. My vision started to darken and I could feel my blood ooze out ever slower.

“Shit, this got taken way too far! Quick, go grab her leg before she fucking dies. Goddess, I didn’t think she was actually going to fight back. Hey, are you still in there? Pinkie?” Rainbow said off in the distance. Weird, she was right next to me, wasn’t she? I saw Scootaloo run off and I knew she said something, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I saw something really bright show up, but then I couldn’t see anything anymore. It was warm, wet and dark and I just felt so… sleepy.


When next I woke, I was nearly sweating, it was so hot. What in the world? I brought my left hoof up to rub at my forehead, I had a massive headache and I felt so dehydrated. I tried to push the covers off my face, but when the big, soft object didn’t move with minimal effort, I wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. I rubbed at my eyes, and just as I did, the thing covering me shifted and pulled away.

“Oh thank the goddess, I wasn’t sure you were going to wake up.” I heard just before I was squished against hooves and a large fluffy chest. “How is your leg? Does it work? Can you move it?” she asked, concerned. It took a moment, but I finally realized who I was talking to and started to wake up a little.

“What? It’s fine. Um… princess? Why are you in my bed?” I asked.

“What’s going on? Did she finally wake up?” I heard a groggy voice sound from the other side of the large white body.

“Hmm?” said another groggy voice from further back. What in the hell is happening right now?

“Pinkie, do you know what day it is?” Celestia asked. My head still hurt and coherent thought was giving me trouble. Isn’t it Sunday? We got back from the fight around one… and then what?

“Sunday?” I said tentatively. The other two, no three, bodies sat up from whoever’s bed this was and looked at each other with concerned looks. My bed isn’t nearly this big. Where am I? Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Scootaloo were all here with the princess, and now I was concerned.

“P-pinkie…” Fluttershy started.

“It’s Monday after noon. You’ve been asleep for nearly twenty four hours… since we reattached your leg.” Celestia finished. Suddenly it all came back to me and I stared directly at my elbow. There was a scar there that ran all the way round it. The feeling that followed threatened to overwhelm me and I started hyperventilating. Celestia pulled me in tighter, running her hoof through my mane and stopping me from shaking. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.” She whispered softly, in an almost hypnotic tone. I sat there with her for who knows how long as my brain replayed the scene of having my leg ripped off over and over again in my head. The tearing of my flesh, the snapping bones, the twisting muscle, and the pain. So much pain. It wasn’t there, but I could still remember it. Like watching a tree break, snapping a twig in half, the sound of fibers ripping apart one by one. The memory filled my eyes with tears and the princess held me closer. Were it not for her hypnotic humming, I probably would’ve started screaming to no end. More time passed until I could finally breathe normally.

“Y-you… you tried to kill me!” I said when my bleary eyes settled on Fluttershy. Her sad green-blues couldn’t stay focused on me and she hid her face behind her hair.

“I-I’m sorry…” She said, remorsefully.

“Yeah, I am too… things… things got way too out of hoof too fast.” Rainbow apologized.

“B-but… why? Why would you… why would you do that?” I asked, still coming to terms with it all. It happened so fast. How did it even get to that point?

“You were saying stupid shit! Look, I get that you’re frustrated and all, but you shouldn’t want to become a monster! We just… we just wanted to show you what monsters were like and… well, you responded in a way we didn’t think you were capable of.” Rainbow said, one hoof on her head, her eyes to the ground. Fluttershy nodded.

“I-I’d never really planned on killing you, I-I was just going to hurt you to show you w-what it feels like. W-when you fought back though… I-I wasn’t in the driver’s seat anymore…” Fluttershy said. Celestia shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“You were both absolutely reckless and unjustified in what you did. What if she’d reacted earlier, and the Beast became angry with her instead of fascinated? You would’ve killed your own comrade over some ridiculous argument, and possibly even gotten yourselves hurt! I simply cannot believe that you would go off and try to hurt each other mere hours after you barely came back alive from a fight you shouldn’t have survived in the first place!” She popped all three of us on the back of our heads with her magic.

“Oww…” we complained.

“Now then, let’s hear it. What did you all learn from this foolish endeavor?” She asked, her tone going from upset to something more like an exasperated teacher.

“T-the cornered rat bites the cat. E-even ponies like Pinkie will fight back i-if you push them far enough.” Fluttershy stated. I narrowed my eyes at her.

“‘Even ponies like me?’ What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked bitterly. I was ignored however.

“Fucking around with Fluttershy’s powers is still a bad idea. It was nice to learn that she has some control over her transformation now, but the minute blood gets involved, then we have a problem.” Rainbow stated, kinda staring off into the distance. Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Must your mouth be so foul.” I caught her mutter. “And?” she added, this time where everypony could hear it. Rainbow looked from her, then to Fluttershy, then back to Celestia.

“Uh… don’t try to kill your friends? Oh, wait! Not everypony is a coward forever! Er… the backlash of that power Applejack uses can be mitigated by releasing it in short bursts? Um…” Rainbow rambled on. Celestia rolled her eyes and popped her across the head again. “Oww! Why!?” she said as she clutched her ears.

“It seems we’ll need to work on that one.” The princess said. Then she turned to me. “And now you. What have you learned from all this? I know I gave them time to think about what they’d done, but I’d like to see if you have anything to say about it. Unfortunately, the scar on your left leg can’t be healed by magic or Scootaloo’s powers, so you will forever be reminded of what happened yesterday.” She said. I looked back down at my leg and rubbed a hoof along the scar.

“I… I think… I think I’m done running away. All this time, I’ve always run away when something bad happens. I tried to be better, I tried to be a hero like everypony I wanted to be, but… I never could because I never thought I had the right power, or I was just getting in the way. It hurt, way more than anything else I’ve ever experienced in my life, but… even if it wasn’t supposed to happen, I fought back today, er, yesterday.

I thought I was going to die when I was staring that light down yesterday, but… at the same time, it didn’t even feel like it was really happening. It was all so other-worldly, so out of the realm of things I could believe that it felt like a bad dream. But being cornered by a monster, being threatened and pulled apart like some foal’s toy while she breathed and smiled at me… I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. It wasn’t a simulation, it wasn’t magic, and there was a chance that I’d lost so much blood already that nopony would be able to help me if I didn’t fight back. And if I died… I’d never get the chance to apologize to them.

Twice in the same day, I stared death in the face, and only once was I willing to fight for my life. I think I finally understand how Applejack felt a month ago, before all of this started. Dying… is scary to think about, and I still have things I need to do. Only now do I realize how close we keep coming to the brink, and one day, when we don’t get lucky like we did yesterday, we’ll cross the edge and never come back.” I said. This afternoon… or yesterday afternoon, I was just afraid that I wasn’t capable of doing anything to help or just getting in the way. Now… it’s almost as if I’ve opened my eyes for the first time. A slap in the face from reality and the hard truth of what our two front line ponies have been going through for almost two months now, Applejack even longer than that. I don’t even have the right to complain when she’s lost so much and still puts one hundred and ten percent into everything she does. She lost her tail because of me, but still tried to save me and keep fighting back then. If that was anywhere near what my foreleg felt like and she just… kept on going through the pain…"

“Well, that’s very good to hear, and I hope it means you’ll start taking all this a bit more seriously than you have in the past. I know you’ve only turned eighteen this past march, but I’ve had my concerns about the maturity you display as opposed to the life you’ve lead. I couldn’t blame you for being averse to the gore that the jobs my sister likes to put you through contain, but your reactions to them have always felt… fake. It was almost as if you were lying to others to keep yourself sane, telling them things that you needed to hear in order to keep going, I suppose.” Celestia said. Gee, thanks. I sighed.

“Yeah, that’s… probably true. Speaking of psychoanalyzing ponies, what was your deal yesterday? You kinda… broke.” I asked her to change the subject. Celestia paused.

“… I’ll have to get back to you on that one. Even I don’t know. An educated guess would say that I was over taken by a maternal instinct I didn’t know existed within me. Can you honestly blame me though? Maybe when the day comes that you’re a mother you’ll understand, but seeing your precious baby in such a state of disrepair…” She shivered. “Even thinking about it makes me want to go check on her. Unconditional love causes tunnel vision I suppose. Heh, if I went back in there, she would probably yell at me again for bothering her. Rotten little girl.” She said with a warm smile on her face looking away.

“Oh. Did she wake up?” I asked. Celestia nodded.

“Earlier this morning, actually. After I noticed the castle shaking and a different motherly instinct caused me to go see what was happening, I came back to my senses rather quickly and started helping take care of you. Imagine my surprise when I appear in the training room, the whole floor simply slathered in blood, a half transformed Beast talking to herself, Scootaloo with a twisted and dismembered pink foreleg in her hooves, and the rest of that pony emanating magic and bleeding out on the floor at my hooves. Once you were stabilized, I returned to my daughter and had these three wait here until you woke up. She, however, came to first and wanted some time alone to clean herself and think about what happened yesterday. I’ve been here ever since I was kicked out, and I suppose we must’ve nodded off waiting.” She explained.

“I see. So I’m the ‘stand in’ daughter because yours is busy being herself, got it.” I remarked. Celestia rolled her eyes.

“You’re all children I look after and have the displeasure of sending off to protect my city.” She sighed. “I think it’s about time to eat something. Is there anything you would like for lunch, my little stand in?” she asked sweetly. I couldn’t contain a chuckle as she nuzzled my face.

“S-stop that! Do whatever, you overbearing old mare! If you make it, I’m sure it’ll be good.” I retorted through a snort as she tickled me. She stood up and exited the bed.

“Old mare? How rude. I’ll have you know that I haven’t aged a day in nearly two thousand years! Clean yourselves up, and make sure to get Twilight before you come to the table.” She stated, then made her way down the hall. How long has it been since somepony’s treated me like that? it’s been almost ten years since I saw mom and dad… Maybe… The others started to get up from the massive bed in this unused room, but I was lost in thought.

“Hey, you gonna get up?” Rainbow asked. I frowned.

“Guys… I think… I think I need to visit my parents.” I said. Even if she’s not dead, then on that day my own mother probably… and to lose two kids on the same day…

“W-why is this all the sudden?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t want to visit mine. They’re kinda dead.” Scootaloo said. Rainbow popped her across the back of the head. “Oww! What the hell, it was a joke!” She yelled.

“Not the time nor the place. Get out of here, ya dumbass!” Rainbow said as she swatted her again.

“Geez, I’m going!” She said as she bolted away.

“I think… if nothing else, I owe them an apology. If just getting hurt has the potential to make a mom that crazy… I don’t know, I just don’t think it’s fair to them to just… disappear like I did, at least not anymore. And if L- urpNope, still can’t say it. “If I really did… you know, then I took two daughters away from my parents on the same day, and that’s just not fair to them…or my other two sisters I guess.” I said. They both looked to each other, then to me.

“W-well, if that’s how you r-really feel, then maybe you should.” Fluttershy said, bluntly.

“Yeah, Pinkie, maybe you should uh… go do that…” Rainbow trailed off, her eyes falling away.

“Oh, come on! That’s not cool guys.” I pouted.

“Look, maybe you’ve had some kinda revelation about this, but I didn’t, and I’m still not ready to deal with that!” Rainbow fought back.

“I-I don’t care either way. I-it would sate my curiosity if I did go see them though. T-they at least knew that I had p-powers, so if they believed that story from… w-way back when, then they might have c-connected the dots. I-I’ve always wondered what they might think of me now. I-it’s not as if I was ever the g-greatest daughter in the world, and I-I’m sure my brother still hates me. I-I bet they’re living better l-lives these days since I’m not around. M-maybe it’d be fun.” The yellow pegasus said with nothing but interest.

“Not you too!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“W-why not? Y-you said yourself that you a-already tried to see them once. N-now you have ponies willing to go w-with you to do it. U-unless the little blue bug is t-too afraid♥” Fluttershy cooed. Blue bug? Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Fine! You fucking piece of garbage.” Fluttershy raised her snout in triumph.
“Works every time.” She said as she headed off to her room, brushing rainbow’s face with her tail as she passed by.

“Doesn’t make you any less of an asshole!” Rainbow called after her, stomping her hooves in protest.

“Blue bug?” I asked. She turned her head and gave me a death stare while summoning her blood into the shape of a very, very sharp object and pointing it at me.

“You’ll keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you.” She said in a darkened tone. I backed up and raised my hooves.

“Woah! Okay, geez.” Rainbow stared at me for a moment more, then put her blood away and walked out of the room, probably a good bit pissed off. And we’ll add that to the list of things to not call the ponies who know where I sleep.


“So, you want me to use my connections to find the locations of your families, is that right?” Celestia asked. She’d made deep fried hay burgers and fries, another of Twilight’s favorites, and we’d all since gathered at the dinner table. Twilight was busy stuffing her face and the rest of us were making a plan to go see our parents. I wandered around the country and went from place to place every other week, so I had a good grasp on where my parents might be, but an exact location was something we needed. There were travel expenses to consider, how long we could be away, how much training we were going to be allowed to miss, how long we could be gone. In all honesty, I don’t even expect her to let us go very far in the event she needs us.

“T-that’s about right. R-rainbow’s parents moved after she ‘died’ b-but I don’t know where they went. I-I don’t know if my family has m-moved either, so I’d r-rather not waste the time trying t-to remember where the a-apartment was.” Fluttershy said.

“And I just don’t remember where my parents are exactly. I think we lived in Neigha around Salt Lick City, but that’s not really a small area to search.” I said.

“Sho waivt. Whey are yhou doingh thish?” Twilight said with a mouth full of food.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, sweetie.” Celestia said. Twilight rolled her eyes and swallowed.

“Okay, why are you looking for your parents?” Her horn was still missing pieces to it, and it looked more like a jagged rock than a bone right now. Because of that, her magic discharges in the form of electricity any time she tries to use it until she heals completely. Celestia has somepony making her a synthetic cap to ‘fix’ the problem for now, but she’ll never be as powerful as she was until it naturally repairs itself, which won’t happen for several years. Aside from nearly spending all the magic in her body and losing a little blood and fluids, her horn is the only thing that suffered damage yesterday… as far as we can tell. She still needs to see a doctor to make sure she didn’t suffer any brain damage. Apparently, magic overload is a thing unicorns can experience where the brain is literally fried by the heat the magic produces as it passes through the body and into the horn. The typical signs of overload include bleeding from the orifices and vomiting, so she and Celestia are going to get that checked out tomorrow.

“Well… a lot has happened since you’ve been out, and after thinking about it, we might not get another chance. Without you, we would’ve all died yesterday, and I don’t want to just disappear without apologizing to them.” I said. Celestia nodded.

“Speaking of which, you and I need to have a private conversation about that.” She said. Twilight nodded too.

“Yeah… we definitely need to do that for sure.” She said, looking distant. Celestia eyed her for a moment, then turned her attention back to us.

“When do you plan to visit these ponies? We can’t just have you gone from training for the rest of the week if Ramiel was any example of what can go wrong. That’s a six hour flight just to get there, and I hope you’re not expecting me to just warp you there, because that’s not feasible.” Celestia said.

“Ya see, I thought about that, and if push comes to shove, we could probably rope Goose into this if we needed to. I uh… I’m kind of afraid of planes, so I don’t really want to get on one anyways…” I admitted. I worked on a dock and for a train company before I came here, mostly because airports are terrible places to sleep and the one time I tried to get on a plane, that flight crashed and ended up killing half of it’s passengers. Never again. Celestia brought a hoof to her chin.

“I suppose he’s made the jump from Crystal to Galvastallion so that should be within his abilities… but doesn’t he need time to charge?” Celestia asked. Twilight nodded.

“O-oh, it doesn’t take long. W-we had a few minute conversation in the time it t-took for him to charge enough to warp to Crystal f-from the castle.” Fluttershy said. Why does she know that?

“Hmm… that’s not much farther than here to Canterlot… Very well. I’ll retrieve your information, but these are the rules: you cannot miss your nine to five training for any reason. You must be well rested before training. And finally, you still have to abide by the contract of the brand, so what you tell your parents must be limited. That aside, I’m glad that the three of you are doing this. It should give them all some peace of mind to know that you're at the very least alive.” Celestia condoned. Her horn lit up with gold light, and then suddenly, she had a heavily personalized smart… phone? In her magic.

T-that’s not a phone. I-it’s too big, too thick, too heavy, and too shiny. I-it was more like a large hunk of gold...” Fluttershy said in a masculine voice. I caught the reference and chuckled to myself and Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Are you two making fun of my phone? I can just, not help you, you know.” She asked. We shook our heads, then she went back to it. In seconds, she had the information we needed. “Anyways, I’ve had this information ever since you signed your contracts, oh so long ago. You’re special individuals after all, one can never be too careful with potentially destructive information running around. Here, have a look.” She said as she slid her ‘phone’ for us to view on the table. The damn thing might as well have been a monitor. It’s like what, half a meter by a third a meter? I bet that’s actually gold that makes up the outside too.

“Huh. I-it looks like they did move, but to a nicer district. O-oh, wait a minute. T-that’s not too far from w-where we fought Sachiel… T-this wasn’t one of the r-rebuilt buildings was it?” Fluttershy asked, oddly concerned. Celestia shook her head.

“No, I don’t believe so. I ended up paying for most of that anyways, so I would remember where the money went.” Celestia replied. Fluttershy relaxed a bit and let out a short sigh.

“Where the hell is ‘Ponyville?’” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, that’s in Palomino down south. When I worked for Trans Equestria, we would stop there for pick ups once every few weeks. There’s a farm with an apple orchard… hmmm.” I started then stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“Well… so, Ponyville isn’t all that far away in comparison to my family’s mine that’s really close to Salt Lick. The issue is, that particular town his home to Sweet Apple Acres which is owned by the Apple family. And if we need Goose to take us there, then that means…” I started.

“Applejack is probably going to be along for the ride.” Rainbow finished.

“And I doubt that she will want to go. And if she doesn’t want to go…” I continued.

“Her boy toy probably won’t take us there. Oh well, guess I just won’t get to see my parents, ha, damn, what a shame.” Rainbow added sarcastically.

“T-two words.” Fluttershy said, a single eyebrow raised. Rainbow huffed, rolled her eyes and pouted.

“Mother fucker.” She grunted.

“Hey now, language.” Celestia reprimanded. Rainbow moaned and let her face fall to the table.

“Fine! Whatever. You’re the worst kind of pony.” She exclaimed, then spat at Fluttershy. The pony in question nodded and put on a smug smile.

“I-it’s great, isn’t it? W-why don’t we go see my parents t-today, and we can go s-see yours tomorrow after we get Goose a-and Applejack on board?” She giggled to herself. “P-provided they aren’t too busy s-starting their own family. I-if you were sane at the t-time, you probably would have passed t-them a box of condoms. Y-you could just taste the hormones in t-the air after we got back yesterday.” Fluttershy remarked. Rainbow and I perked up our ears and Celestia blinked.

“Excuse me?” She asked. Fluttershy smiled a mouth full of teeth she shouldn’t have and excused herself from the table.

“Y-you heard what I said. I-I’m going to go prepare my testimony b-before I face my family again f-for the first time in four years. I-I’ll come get you two when I-I’m ready♥” She said before sauntering off to her room while humming a soft tune.

“Uhh… did I miss a social queue again or what? Did you catch that yesterday?” I asked Rainbow.

“I mean, I know they like each other a lot based on the way they interact but I didn’t think they were that far along. Goose seems like the kinda guy who thinks more with the head on his shoulders instead of the one in his pants, so if anypony was gonna engage in… that, it’d have to be her.” Celestia brought her hooves to her head.

“Good goddess, she would do it too. For the love of all that is holy, please, please, please don’t be screwing around right now…” Celestia prayed.

“So uh… I guess Fluttershy has planned our next couple days for us. I think I’m gonna go… read or something while I wait.” I said. Rainbow sighed.

“And I should probably figure out what I’m going to say to her parents because they think I’m dead too.” sigh.