Thy Pony Flesh Consumed
Chapter 1- Go directly to Mars!
Again, I tried to lift the dark clouds in my head. Wished that there were pegasi for that. It was the dreams, really, nightmares. I've dreamed of humans, mythical creatures before in such detail, but these dreams were darker and worse. The stink of blood, burnt metal and malicious laughter sent me sitting bolt upright with a scream dying on my lips.
“Lyra? Lyra!” Bon Bon peered at me.
I nodded and rolled the dice. Moved my old timey iron to the Chance square.
The gray and rainy skies outside mirrored my mood perfectly. Wasn't doing that well playing Monopony either. Bon Bon was going to bankrupt me real soon. Two hundred bits is not enough to survive on. She had most of the properties. It was a minefield waiting for an unwary hoof.
Bon Bon smiled.
I picked up the card. It said, “GO DIRECTLY TO HELL! YOUR SOUL WILL BURN IN AGONY FOREVER!” I saw a human with one dead-white eye and the other one blazed such hatred and fury. Wanted to put up both fore hooves to block out the sight. Flames and strange creatures moved behind him...
“Lyra!”
I looked at the card again. Saw old Mr. Bitsbags being hauled off to jail by a royal guard. When does this game end? Need to go upstairs and think. I gave my money to Bon Bon, and bowed. “You win, I surrender.”
Bon Bon's ears and tail drooped. “I had hoped that you would break out of whatever mood you're in and just play. What's eating you?”
I had another vision.
A waking dream or something of two humans. A fat human was gnawing away at the guts of a dead human lying on a blood slick floor. I guess it heard something, and the first one got up. Then the one with the hole in its guts got up...
Was back with Bon Bon. She had a concerned look on her face. “Lyra, what's wrong?”
Then I heard the voices. Sounded like two people were chanting.
MANNULUS fili mi MANNULUS,
Quod de amicitia?
What are they saying? Who are these people?
MANNULUS fili mi MANNULUS
Magicae est amicitia?
Sounded like just two, but why did their voices sound like they were vibrating?
(Meus parvos equus)
Miror ego qualis est amicitia esse potest.
The room started to dim out and fade. I was going to lose her!
(Meus parvos equus)
Usque ad magica, mecum omnes vos participatur...
“Bon Bon help!” But it was too late...
Woke up on a cold metal grate. Could smell the coppery stink of blood. Eww.. Considering my nightmares, I was sure it was human. Some humans were talking. For some reason, my body felt like a block of lead. Couldn't move anything.
“Oh my god! It worked!” A male voice exclaimed.
“What? No Twilight Sparkle? She's the Princess of Magic! We need power to protect us from him, not a weird background pony, Rodger,” A woman replied.
“I know Mel, but I don't know what happened,” Rodger said.
I tried to get up, but my body refused. Figured I had to try harder.
A cold familiar voice intervened. “I see what you've been doing with the precious knowledge I've given you. I'm impressed that you have brought something not of Hell, but from Imagination. Give me your research notes and the creature and I'll consider being lenient.”
Rodger squeaked, “No.”
“Don't be an ass, Rodger, give him what he wants!” Mel said.
I'm not a weird background pony, whatever that means. How did these humans know of Twilight? Some feeling returned to my body. Needed that to at least look around, and maybe get away.
“No, what?” The cold voice asked.
This was the same voice I heard in my nightmares. Want to be back home with Bon Bon.
“No, Dr. Betrüger, I won't help you spread damnation and darkness upon Mars or Earth.” Rodger said.
He sounded so heroic, and so dead.
Dr. Betrüger laughed. I wanted to cover my ears. It was the same horrible sound I heard in my nightmares.
“So, Rodger Simmons, you finally grew a spine. Too late for that now. Cóntere collum,” Betrüger said.
I heard a loud snap! A body fell to the ground.
“Stop! What are you doing! Stop that, Melissa Saperstein, at once!”
Melissa laughed, so brave and so helpless. “I've deleted all of our research data, Dr. Betrüger.”
There was a loud bang. Sounded like a firecracker went off.
“Now, you can't get the data back from the destroyed drive. I don't think you have enough pull from your Hell bosses to restore hardware,” Melissa said with a defiant tone.
I liked Melissa, even though I couldn't see her. Wondered what would happen to me.
“Foolish stupid woman. Should've used that bullet on yourself. You've doomed that poor creature to a slow starving death since it can't leave the summoning circle. For you, on the other hand, I have something special ready.”
I heard Betrüger turn around, and walk out the door.
What? I can't get out of the summoning circle? Wait, what’s that? Finally, I could move a leg. Got up slowly. Looked around. I was in the middle of some sort of blood circle filled with strange symbols. Eww! What sort of person would do this? Humans could do magic? Well, I guess so. Then I saw the guttering candles. They had the faces of the Mane Six on them. How did the humans know about them, or me?
“Pony, Lyra, look at me. Please,” Melissa begged.
I turned around just as the lights dimmed to a red glow, and a voice whispered. Saw a white-skinned woman with a dark-brown hair and eyes. Those were sunken in like she hadn't had a good night’s sleep in a long while. Just like me. She wore a white lab coat.
A creature appeared behind Melissa. What a horrible-looking thing. Instead of two eyes, it had two horizontal rows of four eyes in its head. Below that, was a thin and lanky brown body with long arms ending with hands ending with shiny black claws.
She turned around, and cursed. “Oh shit, an imp!”
The imp shrieked, and clawed at Melissa. She didn’t have a chance to defend herself. Its claws were a blur. Couldn’t see what it was doing to her while gobbets of bloody flesh flew. Had to look away. The sound of razor sharp claws tearing through soft flesh made my stomach churn. I trotted up to the edge of the circle. Tried to come to Mel's aid, but something invisible blocked me. It was like being behind a glass wall, except you can see glass. This was totally transparent.
Melissa slumped to the floor.
The imp turned its gaze on me and shrieked. A red glow appeared in its claws, and it threw a fireball at me! Oh no! What am I going to do? Did what I could. Cringed.
The fireball hit the edge of the circle with a poof, and faded away. The imp threw another fireball at me, and the same thing happened.
So Dr. Betrüger was right. I was going to die of either starvation or dehydration. Being clawed to death wasn't exactly much better.
The imp seemed confused. It walked up to the summoning circle. I thought it would try to touch the circle, but it just turned and walked out of the room. Heard the door close behind it.
Why? Why am I here? I sat down and waited for death. Then I heard a sound. It was like something was dragging itself across the ground. Stood up and looked.
Melissa dragged herself to the edge of the summoning circle. She rubbed at the edge until the clotted blood was gone.
Watched what she did with bated breath. Will this break the summoning circle, and could I escape? Maybe she was alright, or I could help her out?
“Sorry, pony, ” she wheezed before she exhaled. Blood oozed from her mouth.
When the summoning circle faded away, I felt magic. It was dark, heavy and cold. For a moment, I thought about staying here, but I would need food and water. Humans must have that somewhere.
Took another look at Melissa, maybe I could ask some questions. She was deathly still. My first time seeing a dead body. Not a fun first.
Checked out Rodger. Wished I didn't. His head was at a strange angle to his body. Yeah, he was dead too. I finally get to meet real humans, and they end up dying horribly. Poor things.
For a moment, I didn't know what to do. How am I going to see my precious Bon Bon or my friends again? Wanted to wake up, but I knew this was real. Too bad. Even though I didn't really want to, I looked around again.
There was a six-pointed star drawn with blood on top of two circles. Why didn't the human ritual get them instead of me?
An answer rose out of the depths of my mind. No! Don't know why, but I didn't want to deal with the memories now. There was a scary imp creature walking around outside, and I needed to be ready if it returned. Again, I looked around for food or water. Humans have to eat and drink, right?
To the left and right of me were two desks with chairs. Of course, everything was human-sized. Too tall! Used my telekinesis to open the drawers of the desk to my right. Small books and other things were inside, but no food. Got on my hind hooves to check out the table.
A voice in my mind whispered,”Check the logs on the datapad. It's on the desk.” What? Who? How did I know what a 'datapad' looked like? Thought a bit. Yep, I knew what it was. A flat device with rounded edges.
My stomach growled, so I did that. Don't know how I did it, but I got to the audio logs.
I bet this has to do with the strange memories I didn't have time to check out. Tapped on the first entry.
Melissa's voice filled the room.
“Well, this is it. We're going to do something against that one-eyed leering bastard. Why doesn't he wear a patch? Anyway, it wasn't like this in the beginning. We were chasing down secrets, and the thrill of the hunt was upon us. Damn, sound like one of those crappy fanfiction writers. Why we didn't realize what we were doing? After the base became a playground and buffet for demons, it was clear something needed to be done.
“So we decided to call for help. We were atheists, so Heaven was out, even though there was always the thought that the opposite of what we unleashed here exists. It was Rodger who came up with the idea that focused will could open other ways to other places. He suggested that if Hell existed, maybe Equestria did too. Ugh, my luck or misfortune to have a closet brony as a coworker. Found out later that there were more of us than I thought.
What if we tried to summon other cartoon characters? Would they be more helpful than a bunch of pastel colored ponies? Would Shazam or Captain Marvel or even Dr. Strange been more helpful? How did I know about those ancient comics? From Rodger, of course. I was never into any of that. He even came up the the structure of the ritual.
It would've been all musty old words and stupid gestures, but Dr. Betrüger's will made the difference. Oh yeah, let's not forget the strange alien artifacts and the aliens who opened a gateway to Hell.
So we studied the demon-lover doc's writings. Heck, he wanted disciples to help him keep things organized. Changed his notes around so we could do a pony summoning ritual. Maybe the power of Harmony would be enough to destroy the demons coming into the base or at least give us a place to escape to. If I had more faith, I could’ve gone to Equestria. Considering what I've seen in my dreams, being a quadruped for life was the beast case scenario. Damn. Gotta quit it with the freakin puns. Thanks Rodger.
Hope the ritual works.”
Didn't want to hear more about her. Again, I wondered how these creatures knew about Equestria. Checked the other desk. Yep, there was a datapad. My back was starting to twinge, so I used my telekinesis to carry the pad to the floor. Had to go back on all fours. Again, I opened the first log entry.
Rodger's voice filled the room.
“Damn, even when she hasn't had any sleep, I still find Mel's sunken in eyes attractive.
“Okay, Rod, let's get this done. Why did we pick ponies instead of angels? Well, I don't believe in God. Though my nightmares and all that I've seen say there is a Hell. We only have one shot and I'd rather not waste it on an angel that could reject us. Maybe? If focused will is capable of opening the way, we could get help from other beings. Also we didn't really have any blessed items, though maybe Martian Buddy could have some. They seem to have everything. Found out some guy in IT was a closet brony, so I got the candles from him. Hope he's still alive though I doubt it. Getting the blood was a pain. Had hoped Mel would sweet-talk the doc for some pints, but she has the soft skills of a frozen sledgehammer. I had to do that. Had to smile a lot, and bat my eyes like some whore. Felt sick afterward, but managed not to puke over everything. It was worth it, we got the blood. “We mixed in some of our own too. Hope all of the sacrifice works out. Ponyville or anywhere other than Hell, here we come! Don't care if I end up being an earth pony mare. It's better than dying here.”
Wonder what would happen if humans were to just appear in Ponyville? Have to think about that later because I need some food and water.
Checked Rodger's desk and found chocolate cupcakes wrapped in some shiny transparent substance. Had to use my telekinesis to rip it open. They were a bit too sweet, but better than nothing. Hope Rodger has some milk or water. Didn't find any ice-cold milk, just a bottle of water. It was warm and flat, but better than nothing. Oh yeah, I'm eating healthy. If Bon Bon saw me eating junk food— Oh, I wish I was back with her again...
One last task. I had to find out why I'm here, and deal with the scary thoughts. Let's do the brave thing and hide under the desk with a chair in front of me so that if that imp comes back, it won't see me. Need to face my fears.
You know, I’d rather have played a million games of Monopony with Bon Bon than be here.
Bring on the fun!
Um, how do I do this? Oh yeah, relax, think of playing the harp. Yeah. Could feel my breaths slow down as I moved my fore hooves across an imaginary harp.
Flash!
What?
...
..
.
There was another flash, instead of forcing it to stay, I just sat there and let it happen.
I was in a meadow with short grass. It went on for miles. Knew that if I started running, I would just be a minty-green blur. Everything would just haze around me and I could just gallop faster and faster and not get tired. Back in Equestria, well, that's a different story. I took another step.
A voice caught my attention. “No, not yet. You have a destiny.”
I turned around and saw a pony that was made of light. Bright warm light. It's like if someone made a pony out of a rainbow, but left out the details, so all you saw were bright glows.
“Who are you?” I asked. Wanted to start running. Why? Don't know there was this desire crawling up into me from my hooves.
“I'm the First Messenger, Thalh'kikar, Son of the Just and Merciful, Oonte.”
“Who? Can I run first and then can we talk?”
“No. If you run, you will just become energy, and you won't fulfill your destiny,” Thalh'kikar said.
I felt energized like I drank several bottles of Red Mule. My hooves were almost vibrating with the desire to be off. Gotta run.
I'll call him T because I'm not sure how to say it. Talh? Thalhki? Um, no.
He moved up to me and touched my horn. For a moment there were a lot of whispers, and I felt like I knew more things. Wanted to explore my new memories then T started talking, and they faded away.
“I've chosen you to help the humans. Their greed and ignorance has unleashed a terrible evil that threatens to consume them. Two humans have created a way to summon aid. Alas, their ritual would've failed without my interference. I've given you knowledge that you'll need for the travail that's ahead for you. Help the human soldier fight the darkness, and you can return back to your world with nopony knowing you were gone,” T said.
“What? Travail? Travail means bad stuff. Lots of painful difficult work. Oh no!” Then I was back under the desk with the dust and dark magic. After being in that wonderful place, the air felt even worse like I was carrying saddlebags full of lead bars.
Was that it? A weird dream and some vague instruction to help a human? No, I want to go home!
For minutes, I guess, I stayed under the desk going through my memories to see if there was more. Nope, that was it.
Do I really want to go through this awful place? I'm no hero. Heck, even Fluttershy would laugh at me. No, she's too kind. I want to go back home now! On that thought, I sighed. Gotta get from under the desk and help the human.
Who knows what sort of awful things I would see? Then again cowering under a desk isn't going to get me closer to Bon Bon. Ugh. Maybe some scale exercises might calm me down? C-F-B, ah, I’m feeling better. Heart’s not thumping like a drum. E-D-C-G-F. Ahh, I feel calm. Things don’t seem as bad. I can handle this.
Demons, dead humans, disgusting blood everywhere.
I'm the pony with the imaginary harp.
Oh yeah, let's get it on!