//------------------------------//
// Chapter Thirteen: Terror 
// Story: CRISIS: Equestria - Divergence, Book 2 
// by GanonFLCL 
//------------------------------//

Velvet practically bounced her way down the busy street of a Woodhill District block, feeling more excited than she had felt for quite some time. Following behind her were Caramel and Marée, both of whom were looking about with wide-eyed wonder. This was their first time out of the tower, so they were excitedly taking in the sights of the city, and there was no better place to do it in as far as Velvet was concerned. 

They'd all dressed for the occasion, with the kids in casual, comfortable clothing appropriate for the age—and none of their "protective" gear since they wouldn't be training today—while Velvet sported a jacket and a t-shirt proclaiming her as the "#1 Mom in NPC".

Woodhill was known as the entertainment capital of the Inner Districts; most of the city's movie stars lived here, and this was where they filmed the majority of their films. Besides the film industry, though, the district was also home to a robust collection of other entertainment activities: two state-of-the-art laser tag facilities, a water park, a roller coaster park, three go-kart tracks, a virtual reality center, and much, much more. It was a literal paradise for anypony looking to add some excitement to their day. 

And also prohibitively expensive. A ticket into the water park, for instance, cost enough bits that the average Mid District worker would be— might be able to afford one if they gave up all of their paychecks for a month and neglected to pay for bills, rent, and food. But Velvet had no such limitations; her father's bank account was as close to limitless as could be so long as she was smart with the money and didn't get locked out by Dawn for being "irresponsible".

Today Velvet was taking her son and his best friend on a little trip to the district's most popular arcade, an establishment large enough to cover most of a city block. It was supposedly stocked with every single arcade machine that had ever been made, from pinball and skeeball to dance simulators and hi-octane racing. It also offered its own restaurant and snack bar, a well-stocked bar for the adult patrons, a karaoke lounge, and a play area for younger ponies complete with a ball pit. 

If Woodhill in general was a paradise for ponies looking to have a little fun, then this arcade was sheer nirvana for kids, teens, and young adults who loved gaming alone or with others.

"Wow…" the two youngsters said, mouths agape as Velvet walked them inside.

"This place is huge!" Caramel added. "Look at all the games!"

"Ooh, look, they have that dancing game I wanted to try!" Marée chirped, pointing the flashing lights out to Caramel. "I bet you that I could get the highest score before we leave. Miss Curaçao's been teaching me how to dance, and she's the best there is."

"Hey yeah, we should try for high scores in all the games! They have a lot of good two-player ones I bet." He turned to Velvet. "Mom, can we stay until we get all the high scores?"

Velvet chuckled and tugged them both in for a little hug. "We can stay as long as you two want to, so long as we make it home by bedtime, okay? We can eat lunch and dinner here, and they've got plenty of drinks and snacks and everything, so we don't need to leave until way later. This is our day together, and we're gonna enjoy every second of it."

"Yay!" the two kids cheered.

Velvet smiled wide at the two, glad to see them so excited. She'd been planning this trip all week, mostly because that's how long it took to needle Dawn for permission to take two of the kids out of the tower by herself.

She hadn't expected it to be so difficult, seeing as Havoc routinely took six of the kids out for training exercises at the Rockets' headquarters, and how Dawn herself had sent Sunspire out of the city on an assignment—with ponies that were strangers to him!—without so much as asking Velvet or Pedigree if it was okay. Dawn's standards were all over the place.

Then again, that was why Gray had practically foalnapped Green Guard so they could move to Hope's Point together. As far as Velvet knew, Dawn wasn't even aware of it, and that wasn't a compliment to Gray's subterfuge.

But Velvet would be damned if she couldn't take her son out for a bit of fun, and if he wanted to take his fillyfriend—sorry, his best friend—with him, she wouldn't deny him the opportunity. Having the chance to share this together would be good for them, and Velvet was nothing if not supportive and encouraging of the two growing closer. 

Hopefully those sexual education lessons would ensure they were careful as they grew older, but she knew she'd have to have the real "talk" with her son soon enough. She'd only gone over the concept of sex to explain her condition to him, nothing more, but she'd make sure he knew everything he needed to know to be safe with whomever he decided to be with. She was too young to be a grandma.

They were greeted before getting too far past the door by one of the staff members working here, whose name tag identified him as Joystick. He was barely old enough to be out of high school at best, and his face was composed of nothing but smiles, stubble, and acne. Velvet sympathized with this poor young stallion. Puberty had hit him hard, but she knew he'd probably be a looker in a few years; not her type, but he'd probably make some mare happy for sure one day.

"Hey there, folks!" he greeted, puffing out his chest proudly; his voice was a little squeaky, as though it hadn't finished maturing yet. "Welcome to Ready Up!, your one-stop source for all things gaming and entertainment. Is this your first time here?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Caramel and Marée in unison.

"Well, that's great! For a couple of first-timers, how 'bout you take a few complementary tokens on the house."

The stallion reached into a pocket on his work apron and pulled out eight tokens, giving four each to the kids. 

"You or your parent or guardian can buy more at any of the token stations throughout the arcade. And here, take these too." He handed them a pair of small lanyards which advertised them as newcomers. "We like to make our newest customers feel welcome, so those will let our staff know you might need a little guidance here and there."

His attention then turned to Velvet, passing her a lanyard as well. "And welcome to you too, Ma'am! Just so you know, the staff here at Ready Up! offers parents and guardians a little reprieve from tending to their young ones. Our entire facility is monitored carefully by a multitude of cameras and supervisors, such as myself, so if you feel the need to let your kids run free, then by all means."

Velvet gave him a small smile as she put the lanyard around her neck and helped Caramel and Marée with theirs. "Wow, talk about handy. I bet that takes a load off a lot of the parents, huh?"

"It's one of our top selling points, ma'am." He then gestured over towards the nearby snack bar, located on the floor above them and looking out over the arcade. "You can also observe your kids from our conveniently-located snack bar if you'd like, as it offers a view of over ninety-five percent of the arcade area."

"No wonder the prices here are so expensive," Velvet said, eyeing the snack bar and tilting her head. "You're basically doing double-duty as foalsitters." She shook her head and grabbed up Caramel and Marée in a hug. "Not to worry, though, my kids are the best-behaved youngsters you'll ever meet."

The young stallion nodded. "Well, I hope you folks enjoy your stay here at Ready Up!, and if you need anything, just flag down one of our helpful arcade attendants. Have a nice day!" 

And with that, he gave a little wave to her and the kids and headed off on his way to help another family that was arriving, a larger, louder one that didn't look quite as easy to handle.

Velvet nudged Caramel and Marée. "Let's head up and get a snack and a drink while you two decide what games you're gonna hit first, huh? You can't get your game on with an empty stomach, y'know?"

"I want some hay fries!" Caramel blurted. "And a big soda! The biggest!"

"Me too!" Marée chimed in. "And extra ketchup!"

The trio made their way up the nearby escalator to the snack bar, where they got in line and waited their turn to order. The place was crowded but the service was fast, and the line felt like it was moving at a pretty good clip. The food looked and smelled delicious, all made with real southern ingredients. Another reason for the expensive prices.

"You guys newcomers too?" asked a voice behind Velvet.

She turned and saw a stallion behind her and the kids, a broad-chested earth pony with a green coat and a dark red mane. By his side stood a young colt roughly Caramel and Marée's age, whose coat was gold and mane was brown. The stallion was excessively handsome with the perfect sort of smoldering smile and just the right sort of build; a total DILF, by Velvet's first impression.

"We sure are," Velvet replied. She noticed the lanyard around the stallion's neck as well as the colt's. "You too, then? They really do give those out to everypony, huh?"

"I guess so, yeah. Said something about them making it easier for staff to spot new customers so they could be extra attentive."

"And here I figured that handsome young staff member was doing it just to be extra friendly to a young single mom," Velvet joked with a wink at the dad. She turned her attention to the young colt. "Excited to be here, little guy? I know my kids are."

The colt froze up, looking extraordinarily nervous for such a simple question. It took a nudge and an encouraging look from his father to respond. "Oh, um… y-yeah, I'm… very excited."

"Aww, it's alright to be nervous for your first time. Everypony is, am I right?" she said, giving his father a sly grin. "You don't look quite as nervous. I bet you've got plenty of…" Her eyes tilted down to his chest and broad shoulders, then back to his eyes. "Gaming experience, hmm?"

The stallion smirked; a pony had no right to have a grin so smoldering. "Oh sure, I've been told I know how to handle my joystick pretty well." He offered his hoof to her. "Melon Mixer."

"Red Velvet," she replied, taking his hoof and delighting in the firmness of the shake; his figure wasn't just looks, he had genuine muscle. She gestured to the young ponies with her. "And these are Caramel and Marée, my son and his fillyfriend."

Caramel's face reddened, resembling a ripe tomato. "Mooomm! She's not my fillyfriend!"

"We're just friends, Miss Velvet!" Marée chirped, just as red if not redder as she looked desperately between Caramel and Velvet.

Velvet snickered, hoof over her mouth as she kept her gaze on Melon. "Right, right, sorry, my bad. I forgot you two are just friends."

Melon glanced briefly at the two youths and gave them a slight smile. "Nice to meet you, kids." He then gestured to his son. "This is my own pride and joy, Banana Split. Go on, kiddo, say hello to the nice mare and her kids. Be polite now, like I taught you."

The young colt looked warily at his father, then at the trio of new ponies before nodding politely, like one would when meeting foreign royalty; Velvet should know, she'd done it herself. "Um… h-hello…"

Velvet smiled and waved at the precocious youngster. "It's okay, Banana, you don't have to be super sociable if you don't want to be. I know some ponies get shy around others sometimes, especially strangers, and that's perfectly normal."

She subtly nudged Caramel and Marée, knowing that they would get the idea that they should be nice to the colt and not to push him too hard. The looks the two gave her confirmed that they understood; she was so proud of all of her students and how they'd grown up to understand the importance of friendship and camaraderie.

The line continued moving, and Velvet, Caramel, and Marée placed their orders, as did Melon and Banana. Velvet even offered the stallion and his son the opportunity to sit with them at a table, which they accepted. She'd always told her students to be wary of strangers, but she also told them that being friendly and courteous to others was the best way to make friends. Nothing so ill-advised as "a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet" of course, but she liked to demonstrate the difference between "stranger" and "potential new friend".

And Melon seemed like exactly the kind of stallion Velvet wanted to be friends with.

"So where are you guys from?" Melon asked; he'd seated himself directly across from Velvet, while the kids took the outermost seats in the booth so they could get out quickly and easily if need be.

"Arcadia," Velvet answered automatically. Arcadia was part of the Inner Districts and one with a decent amount of clout and prominence, so it would make her and her kids look better but also deflect attention; she was rich enough and they were educated enough to make the deception work. "You?"

"Right here in Woodhill," he replied with a grin. "Born and raised."

"Ooh, fancy-schmancy. You got family in the biz, I take it?"

"Unfortunately, no. Parents moved here from Whiteworth Heights just before I was born. I've pretty much had to get a fresh start in the biz myself doing work as a stuntpony for now. It's tough work, but the folks I work with think I might be good enough for speaking roles eventually if I ever get a good break and meet the right ponies."

Velvet lifted her soda to him. "Well, good luck to you. For what it's worth, I think you'd look great on camera," she added with a wink.

"Thanks. How about you, what do you do?"

"I'm a teacher," she said matter-of-factly. "Nothing special, though. I just teach cooking classes to young ponies. Basic stuff like cupcakes and grilled cheese so they can cook for themselves if their parents are at work or if they want to show off to friends when they get older."

All of that was true, of course, for the most part. She felt that cooking was a necessary life skill that the students should have and offered plenty of opportunities for the kids to learn from the best. By which she meant her, not Crème Brûlée; he was a world-class chef but that's not what they needed.

"Sounds like fulfilling work."

"Oh, it is. I love my kids, like you wouldn't believe." She tousled Caramel's mane, earning a tiny fit of embarrassment from him. "My son's even in a few of my classes, same with Marée. You guys like my classes, right? Be honest now."

"My mom's cooking is the best!" Caramel quickly exclaimed. "She made waffles this morning, with maple syrup and everything! We love her classes, don't we Marée?"

Marée smiled widely. "She taught me how to make my own snacks when I don't want to ask the kitchen staff for anything. Sometimes I like doing things myself. I made PB&J yesterday for lunch!"

"Hey, sometimes that's what you have to do all the time," Melon said with a knowing smile. "I don't have any kind of personal staff to work for me, y'know? I make all my meals with my own two hooves, at least when I don't feel like eating out." With a sly grin at Velvet, he added, "Not that I have a problem with eating out."

Velvet's lip curled and her nostrils flared a little; yeah there'd been enough beating around the bush by now. Without missing a beat, she immediately turned to Caramel and Marée, who had finished their fries and were slurping at the last drops of their sodas. 

"Kids, it looks like you're all done eating, so how about you guys head out into the arcade and get started on some games, hmm?" She took her credit card out of her purse and passed it to Caramel. "Go nuts. But only buy what you need, okay?"

The two youths perked up instantly. "Sweet!" chirped Caramel as he took the card, looking at it as if it were a pirate's lost treasure. "Thanks Mom! C'mon, Marée!" he exclaimed as he grabbed her hoof and started to drag her away.

"Thanks, Miss Velvet!" Marée said with a huge grin and a wave.

"And hey, why don't you guys take Banana here with you, huh?" Velvet added, looking to the other young colt. "I'm sure he'd love to play some games with you guys." Her gaze then shifted lazily over to Melon. "If that's okay with you, Mister Mixer? The staff here said they supervise all the kids down there."

Melon's grin widened, and he set his hoof on his son's shoulder; Velvet wasn't sure, but he looked like he was squeezing a little too hard, but then he was probably just a bit eager. "Yeah, that sounds like a wonderful idea. How about it, sport? You wanna go play some games down there and maybe make some new friends, hmm?"

Banana looked between Caramel and Marée, then nodded slowly, hesitantly. "Okay, um… s-sure thing, Sir. I mean, Dad." He got up from his seat, and Marée grabbed his hoof and instantly started dragging him away. "Wh-whoa!"

"C'mon, let's go have some fun!" Marée cheered. "They have this dancing game that's I wanted to try, you'll love it!"

Caramel followed right behind them, looking put out by the fact that Marée was holding another colt's hoof, for some reason. "H-Hey! Wait for me! You can't buy tokens without me and my mom's card! Wait up!"

As soon as the kids were out of eyesight and earshot, heading down the escalator and into the arcade—Velvet and Melon could see them from here making straight for one of the token machines—the two adults looked to each other with slight grins and relaxed slightly in their seats.

"You've got a cute kid," Velvet said, slowly sipping from her soda and making a show of fiddling with the straw. "Don't you worry, I guarantee you that he'll break out of that shyness one day. If I know my Caramel and Marée, they'll probably have him out of his shell by the end of the night. They have a way with ponies."

"Oh sure, I always figured he just needed to make some friends his own age," Melon replied, casually picking at what was left of his hay fries. "Taking your son here with his friend all alone though, huh? I take it his father's not in the picture?"

Velvet had expected the question at some point eventually today, not necessarily under these circumstances but because somepony was bound to ask—Inner District ponies loved to gossip and pry, after all, if Insipid was anything to go by—so she'd prepared herself for the question and had the truthful answer ready, because lying about it was pointless. Besides, the question was logical from Melon's perspective; he had to know what he was getting into, test the waters a little.

"He's adopted," she stated simply. "I can't have kids of my own."

That seemed to give him pause for half a second. "I apologize, that was rude of me—"

"Hey hey, don't worry about it," she replied with a small smile. "It doesn't bother me anymore, and I couldn't be happier with the son I do have. We're just as close as we would be if he were my own flesh and blood." He patted his hoof reassuringly, letting him know she wasn't upset about the question. "How about you? Taking your son to the arcade by yourself tells me something's going on there."

"Divorced," he said simply. "Let's keep it at that."

She nodded sagely; she could respect the bluntness of the response. "Sometimes things are better left unsaid, I get it. Whoever she is, she's missing out."

"I'll say."

She casually brushed aside her mane and bit her lip. "So, a good-looking hunk like you can't get better work than as a stuntpony, huh? Let me tell ya, that's a damn shame if I've ever heard one. You belong on the cover of a magazine." With a wink and a slow look up his broar frame, she added, "Or a centerfold. Rawr."

"Flattery like that'll get you everywhere," he replied, leaning forward in his seat so that they were just a few inches apart. "Miss Velvet, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to seduce me."

"'Trying'?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes. She slid one of her rear hooves up his leg and towards his crotch. "I don't 'try' anything, hot stuff, but you're no slouch either. Are you gonna tell me you struck up a conversation with me just because you wanted to be friendly to a stranger? Don't lie now."

His grin widened. "Okay, I won't lie: I struck up a conversation with you because I know a mare who likes to have fun when I see one."

"I do like to have fun." She opened her jacket a little to show off her shirt. "This shirt oughta say '#1 MILF', but hey, kids are present. I've got some class."

He tilted his head off to the side, towards the lower floor. "Y'know, I hear the karaoke rooms in this joint are top-of-the-line. Huge selection of songs, right next to the alcohol bar…" His hoof slid under the table to run up her hindleg. "Complete privacy, entirely soundproof, the works. You wanna come sing along with me?"

"Hmm, you think you can make me sing?" Velvet grinned back at him, leaning forward until they were nearly nose-to-nose. "Because I've been told I have a lovely singing voice if you can work it out of me."

"Honey, you'll hit so many high notes that you won't be able to walk straight when I'm done with you."

"Oh, nice." She tilted her head towards the escalator, then slurped up the last of her soda. "Well? Shall we?"

"Lead the way."

The pair left the snack bar and made their way down the escalator and across the entryway of the arcade proper until they reached the karaoke bar, which as Melon had claimed had an alcohol bar nearby that only served adults and that required ID; kids couldn't sign up for karaoke without adult supervision it seemed, which Velvet felt was probably not a terrible idea, and not just because of parents potentially doing what she and Melon were going to do.

She wondered, honestly, if other couples took advantage of the establishment's "foalsitting" to sneak off like this.

Velvet ordered a room for herself and Melon, as well as a bottle of sake to share just to loosen the mood a little, not that it needed much loosening. The room itself was definitely of the private sort catered to fit a small crowd of maybe six or seven patrons comfortably; a luxurious couch encircled a central table, upon which there was a microphone and a small screen for selecting songs; a big screen TV awaited input from the smaller screen to start displaying lyrics for the singers to follow.

She was under no assumptions that there had been any misinterpretations between her and Melon, and was glad that there was no attempt from him to try and play around and actually try to start selecting music for them to sing along to. No, he just immediately poured a glass of sake for himself and for her, downed it at the same time as she did, and set to work without the slightest hesitation.

Melon was an adept kisser, and definitely somepony that knew his way around a mare's body. She hadn't met a stallion with such deft hooves in years, and that was saying something considering her usual fare. It was a rare stallion that could make her feel breathless so quickly, and she figured that maybe it was the circumstances of the act that were making her so excited. 

It wasn't as if she'd never engaged in clandestine fucking before—a public restroom, an alley behind a bar, the changing room at her favorite store at the mall—but getting dicked in the karaoke room at an arcade where her son was busy playing video games was, well, new. Thrilling.

Velvet made a mental note to herself to score some contact information from Melon if he kept this pace of his going, because her little black book at home was always thirsty for new names, and she was nothing if not a willing provider. He was making a stellar first impression.

When he stopped kissing her neck and stripping off her jacket—she kept the #1 Mom shirt on, because that tickled her naughty bone—he rose upright and made a show of removing his shirt. Velvet prepared herself for the next act of their little play, tossing her head back and positioning herself against the couch cushions to get comfortable.

It sounded like he was fumbling with something in his pocket, probably just taking a condom out of his wallet. She was certain that she'd already told him that she couldn't get pregnant, so she figured he was worried about the other things. At least he was responsible, typically a good sign.

"Mmm, you don't have to bother with that, stud," she groaned, keeping her eyes closed in anticipation for a good dicking. "I'm clean and safe, I promise. Cross my heart."

"On the contrary, Miss Velvet: safe is definitely not what you are," he chuckled, his tone suddenly… sinister? "The Dark Lady sends her regards."

She opened one eye. "Huh?

The pain was sudden and brutal, and worst of all completely unexpected. 

Melon had plunged a knife of some kind straight into her throat, right at the spot where it met her chest. The hilt of the knife looked relatively commonplace, made out of simple metal or plastic, but the blade was the weird part. It sort of looked like well-sculpted obsidian, or some other blackish stone rather than the proper metal or even ceramic that she expected.

Whatever. The only thing that mattered to Velvet right now was first, how dare the total hunk have the audacity to ruin what was a perfectly wonderful clandestine sexual encounter by stabbing her with a knife instead of with his dick. That was uncalled for, and frankly, extremely disappointing. He'd even ruined her shirt!

A distant, distant second concern was that he'd actually stabbed her as if expecting it to accomplish anything significant. But he didn't know about her healing factor. Shame on him.

"For fuck's sake," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Look at what you did, jackass. You put a hole in my favorite shirt and got blood everywhere. Believe me, I know how hard it is to get blood stains out of white clothes."

He tilted his head, though she was surprised to see he wasn't bothered or shocked that she was reacting this way, more… amused? Eh, whatever.

"And," she continued, "if you wanted to kill me, couldn't you have waited until after fucking my brains out? Rude much? I'm not here to play to your… what, necrophilia fetish? Gross."

The stallion snorted and pinned her down with all of his muscle; normally having a big, strong stallion get a little rough with her was a huge turn-on, but not right now. He'd crossed a line. A few lines, actually. 

"I'm sorry to have disappointed you," he said, tone dripping with sarcasm. "I suppose you're going to try to scream for help? Go on. Scream for me. I like it when they scream."

"Naw. I'm just gonna return the favor."

Velvet lashed out at the stallion with a tendril of blood, spearing it straight into the same spot where he'd stabbed her with as much force as she could muster. The impact and violent expansion of the spike would be enough to quite literally rip him open. She'd have to remember to have the arcade send her a cleaning bill or something in case she didn't get all the stains out herself.

Only… nothing of the sort actually happened. There was no explosion of blood, no spiked tendril, nothing.

She tried again, and again, and still, nothing. The more she tried to make something happen, the less seemed to actually happen; it felt as if she had absolutely no control over her blood whatsoever, because while she could still feel her blood flowing, she couldn't feel it the way she normally could.

"What's the matter, slut?" Melon said with a sneer and a laugh. "Can't use your wonderful blood magic to tear me in half?"

Velvet's eyes widened with shock. "How the hell do you know—"

"That dagger was especially crafted to deal with freaks like you with your wasted gifts," he said, casually tapping the knife's hilt. "You can't even use your magic to heal this wound, can you?"

He abruptly yanked the dagger out, letting her blood flow freely from the gaping wound. The sudden shock of losing such a large volume of blood so quickly hit Velvet like a ton of bricks. She could normally heal so fast that even severe gunshot wounds wouldn't slow her down; she'd experimented a bit and found she could even lose a limb and regenerate it with appropriate time and effort.

But this simple knife wound was different. This was real pain, and she couldn't stop the bleeding. In a panic, she placed her hooves over the wound to try and stem the tide of red. She knew she needed medical attention fast, but there was still the problem of the large, muscular stallion pinning her down, and he was definitely strong enough to keep her that way. 

And now she lacked the use of her powers with which to convince him to be anywhere else. Or everywhere else, rather.

"This was easier than I thought it was going to be, to be honest," the stallion boasted, brazenly tracing the bloody dagger along Velvet's cheek, breaking the skin.

Velvet tried to push him back, but he wasn't budging. It wasn't just so much that he was heavy anymore, but also that she wasn't strong enough to do so and was losing strength bit by bit.

"When they told me that I had to seduce you, I was expecting a challenge," he sighed. "Maybe to take a few hours and a lot of booze to lure you away. But you flagged your tail for me like the cock-hungry slut you are without a single care in the world, without even the slightest consideration for your own well-being. Amazing."

"Who… the fuck… are you?" Velvet choked out, finding it harder to talk than it had been a moment ago; her self-healing was failing so spectacularly that the wound was getting worse the more she tried to make it better.

"I am my Dark Lady's instrument," he replied, "sent to strike down those who betrayed her with terrible, violent vengeance." 

With a grin, he flipped the dagger in his hoof and thrust it into her stomach, and this time the pain was indescribable. Without her powers to filter out the pain and begin instantly healing the wound, Velvet could feel every inch of the blade as it tore right through her insides. She couldn't even vocalize just how much it hurt aside from wheezing through clenched teeth.

"Your death will be slow and painful," he muttered, running a hoof through her mane. "And your anguish will not merely be physical. After I have watched the life drain from your eyes, I will walk out of this room and meet with the others I have brought with me. They will have found your little shits out there in the crowd and taken them hostage, killing anypony who stood in their way."

She looked up at him, eyes wide with horror. "What?" she rasped. "No, y-you… leave them… alone—"

"Shut up," he spat, slapping her across the face. "Does it hurt? Hmm? Knowing that you let your precious little colt and his friend be put in danger because of your disgusting cravings? Good. I hope it does. I hope it causes you untold anguish." 

His lips curled in a wicked grin. "With your death and those little brats as bait, the rest of your family will pay for their betrayal in time. Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold."

Velvet's mind raced. 

Caramel and Marée are in danger, and it's my fault. My fault. I'm gonna die here in this fucking karaoke booth, and it's all my fault. Mine. The guy's gonna go after my family next. My son. My sisters. It hurts so much. My fault. All my fault. The pain is my fault. I don't want to die. What's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to my Caramel? Please, Daddy… help me… I don't want to… 

The stallion grinned and rose up straight, though Velvet was finding it hard to see. Everything was going dark. "And with that, one piece falls. Five to go."


~~~~~


Melon watched eagerly as the pink-coated traitor's eyes flickered with the last bits of life they had left, then carefully rolled his shoulders and rotated his neck to loosen the muscles. He violently ripped the dagger out of the mare, cleaning it on her shirt before carefully putting it back into the hidden folds of his jacket. Brother Flux would want it back to present to the Leaders as proof that their weapon worked.

It hurts so much…

His ears perked up. "What? What was that?" he asked, glancing about, his hoof instantly going back to the dagger. The sounds—was it a voice—had come from somewhere in the otherwise quiet room.


All my fault… The pain is my fault… I don't want to…


He turned in a full circle, trying to find the source of the voice—because it was definitely a voice—but coming up empty. It wasn't from the karaoke speakers, nor from the mouth of the dying slut. He drew the dagger back out from its hidden fold and brandished it, looking for a target. 

"Who's there?" he called out.

He glanced at the dying mare on the couch, who looked as pathetic and helpless as before. There was no way she was speaking; he didn't see her lips move. But it sounded like her voice. 

Then, the mare's lifeless, milky white eyes went completely black.


DIE


The entire room went as utterly dark and quiet as the grave.

He swiveled in place. "What the hell's going—"

A droning sound filled the room, echoing against the walls and utterly drowning out all noise except for itself. The reverberations were so powerful that the room shook.

The subsequent pain was instantaneous, but he couldn't see what was causing it. All that he knew was pain, the most intense agony that he had ever felt in his entire life, localized entirely within his head. He collapsed to his knees, dropping the dagger in the process, and grabbed his temples, desperately trying to stave off whatever it was that was hurting him so much, but it didn't help.

He screamed, but his voice was completely eclipsed by the ear-piercing droning. The pressure was so intense that he felt as if his skull was collapsing in on itself.

And then it did.





Marée cheered as she spun the wheel of the arcade machine, causing her virtual go-kart to make the hard turn needed to cut the corner as closely as possible so she could steal the lead from Caramel. The two raced neck-and-neck down the next straightaway, then came to another hairpin turn that Marée again barely managed to clear at the tightest point, maintaining her lead and then some.

"How are you cutting all these corners so tight?!" Caramel exclaimed as Marée's lead grew and grew.

"It's all in the hooves, copain," she chortled, biting her tongue to maintain her intense focus. "Eat my dust! Here comes the finish line!"

Caramel was too far behind to catch up now unless she made a mistake, and there was no doing that on this straightaway. Marée easily soared across the line in first place, then threw her hooves in the air in celebration, nearly bouncing out of her seat in the process. Her screen flashed with celebratory excitement, while Caramel's was not quite so enthusiastic about his second-place positioning.

"In your face, Caramel!" Marée taunted, hopping out of her seat and over to his, getting right in his face to press her nose against him. "I wonnn! I wonnn! Woo hoo!"

Caramel crossed his hooves over his chest, looking like a disgruntled puppy. "Yeah, maybe you won this time. I bet you that I'll win next time, though! Let's go, it's rematch time. And this time, I get to pick the track, maybe one without so many corners…"

Marée plopped herself down on top of Caramel, hooves under her chin. "Aww, don't be upset. Maybe we should find a game where we work together instead of competing? Ooh, like that one!" she exclaimed, pointing over his shoulder at one of the shooting games across from their set of machines.

"Uh, sure, okay," Caramel gulped, his face a little red; his hooves splayed out as if he was purposefully trying not to touch her. "If, uh, that's what you want to play."

She raised an eyebrow. He was acting weird again, like he'd been doing every day towards her since that funny video. "What's wrong?"

"N-noting! Nothing's wrong!" he blurted.

Marée smiled; Caramel was so cute when he got embarrassed about stuff. He was always cute, but especially when he got embarrassed. "Then why are you blushing?" she teased, booping his nose with her hoof.

"Um… er…" Caramel then glanced about, looking more than a little lost. "Oh! Hey, where's Banana? Wasn't he playing the pinball machine there?" he said, pointing at the pinball machine in question.

Marée rolled off of Caramel and looked over to see that their new friend was indeed gone; she'd thought it was just Caramel trying to distract her. "Huh. Maybe he wanted to play something else? We should go find him so he doesn't get lonely."

"I dunno, I think he liked being by himself, actually. Doesn't he seem a little weird to you?"

"Caramel!" she gasped, slapping his shoulder lightly. "That's not very nice! What would your mom say if you started calling other kids 'weird'?"

"What? I didn't mean anything by it. He's just been acting funny, like he doesn't even want to be here. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend time at the biggest arcade in the city, right?"

She tilted her head, considering the accusation. "Now that you mention it, yeah, he does seem like he doesn't want to be here. He didn't want to play any games with us or anything and keeps wandering—"

There was a loud bang from the arcade entrance. Both Marée's and Caramel's ears perked up; the sound was familiar enough. Gunfire.

"Did that sound like a real gunshot to you?" Caramel asked.

"Yeah, it did," she agreed.

Then there was another, and another, and then the screaming started, and everypony in the main arcade area—kids, parents, and staff—bolted every which way but towards the sound of the shots. Everything turned into complete chaos within seconds as ponies of all ages ran over and around one another to make it to the emergency exits at the back of the arcade.

That's when the gunshots started coming from that direction too.

"What's going on?" Marée asked, looking to Caramel for guidance; he was one of the top-graded colts in their class in survival and self-defense training, so she figured he'd know more about what to do than anypony.

"I'm not sure," he said, shaking his head and peaking over the seat of their arcade machine. "But it sounds like it might be a robbery, maybe? Lots of rich ponies come here and spend lots of bits on games and snacks, right?" He pointed at the way the crowd was moving. "Look, see? They're forcing ponies to move in the direction they want so they can get them all together."

"Yeah, a robbery, that makes sense. What should we do?"

Caramel pounded his hooves together in determination. "We need to get to my mom. She'll stop these nasty old robbers, but she'll want to know we're safe, and who knows, maybe she'll want our help?" He tilted his head towards the escalators. "Come on, follow me. We'll sneak by 'em."

She nodded. "Okay, lead the way."

She followed Caramel as they quietly hopped out of the machine's seat, then stayed low to the ground and used other machines as cover to avoid being seen. They paused occasionally as big, mean-looking stallions stalked through the arcade looking for stragglers. Each of them carried what looked like high-grade rifles, which were strapped to their forelimbs and hooves rather than mounted to their shoulders.

Caramel was good at sneaking around even without his powers, which he couldn't—or rather, shouldn't—use without his suit on, so Marée felt safe following his lead as best as she could manage. There were a few times here and there that she was worried they'd been spotted, but Caramel was always quick to hide the two of them under parts of the arcade machines to avoid any curious glances.

They made their way along the edge of the arcade for a few minutes, but before they could reach the escalators, they had to pass through the prize exchange area, where patrons could trade tickets they won from certain games for cheap prizes. The way ahead looked like it would be harder to get through; it was wide open and they'd be spotted easily.

Caramel quietly opened the door that led behind the counter; it wasn't locked, because normally a staff member would be monitoring it. "C'mon, we can hide here for a minute while we try and figure something out."

"Shouldn't we be trying to get to your mom?" Marée asked as she scooted past him into the room.

"I thought so, but… it's weird, isn't it? Why isn't she doing anything yet?"

Marée paused, then nodded slowly in agreement. "Yeah… yeah, that is weird. I thought for sure she'd be trying to save all those ponies by now. Your mom's a good pony, she wouldn't let these bad guys hurt anypony. Right?"

"Exactly. So, where is she? We should hide for a lil' bit so we can think about what's going on, because this is weird and kinda scary."

"Okay, good idea."

As they snuck inside the room and closed the door behind them, they noticed that they weren't alone here. Cowering behind the counter was one of the staff members, the same one that had greeted them all at the entrance, actually: Joystick.

Their entrance into the room behind the counter startled him, and he nearly leapt into the air in shock. "Don't hurt—" He then stopped and saw the two of them for who they were, and sighed quietly, a hoof over his heart. "Oh, thank the stars, you're not with them. Are you kids okay?" he quietly asked. "Nopony's hurt you, have they?"

"We're fine, Mister Joystick," Marée replied with a nod. "We managed to get away before anypony spotted us."

"What are you doing back here?" Caramel asked.

"Hiding, of course," Joystick answered incredulously. "I was exchanging prizes when the gunshots started and I just immediately ducked down here."

"Why aren't you helping anypony, though?"

"Kid, I just work here for minimum wage. I'd love to help, but look at me." Joystick gestured at his lanky frame and spindly limbs. "What good am I gonna do, huh? I'm no hero."

Marée tilted her head, confused. "Then shouldn't you call the police or something?"

He shook his head. "The phone lines are dead. They must've cut them before—" 

He then paused, ears perking up; Marée had heard it too: hoofsteps. Joystick quietly peeked over the top of the counter, and his eyes went wide before he ducked back down. 

"Oh no," he muttered, biting into his hoof. "One of them's coming this way. Keep quiet, and maybe he won't notice us."

Caramel turned to Marée and put his hoof over his lips, then shimmied up against the edge of the counter to better hide from sight. Marée followed suit, pressing herself as close to Caramel's side as she could; she wouldn't admit it, but she was scared, and having him close by made her feel safer.

They heard the hoofsteps of the gun-toting stallion as he approached the counter, heard him pace nearby and grunt to himself as he moved. Marée couldn't tell from this angle if he was looking over the counter or if he could see them hiding. There was a slight crackling noise coming from his direction as well, which she recognized as a walkie-talkie. 

High-grade weapons? Flanking the crowd from the emergency exits? Cutting phone lines? Using walkie-talkies to coordinate with one another? Something was weird about all of this. These bad guys seemed a lot better organized than she thought plain-old robbers should be.

Then, his hoofsteps plodded away, and Marée let out a silent sigh of relief.

Which she immediately regretted, for a second later, the hoofsteps returned, faster this time, as the stallion leapt over the counter in a single bound and spotted the hiding ponies. "Well well," he said, chewing on the tip of a toothpick, the rest of his face hidden behind a ski mask. "What have we here? You all think you're pretty clever, don't you?"

He aimed his gun towards the ponies and gestured for them to stand and gather together. "Move it. Over there," he said, pointing his free hoof towards the nearby wall which was loaded with stuffed animals. "All together now, get where I can see you. No sudden movements."

Marée gulped and followed Caramel as they did as was asked, as did Joystick.

The stallion looked over the three of them briefly, then smirked and leaned into his walkie-talkie, pressing a button on the side. "Hey, boys, I've got the brats over here by the prize exchange. If that's not poetic, I don't know what is."

Marée looked at Caramel, confused, and her mind raced to try and figure out what was happening. Did she hear that right? Why did it sound like this stallion and his cohorts were looking for them? Did they spot them coming over here? Why make all that effort for just a couple of kids? Were they taking kids to hold for ransom or something? Yeah… that made the most sense.

Joystick held up his hooves, audibly gulping. "Please, sir, you don't have to do this. I'm just a junior staffer here, and these are just a couple of kids," he said, gesturing slowly to himself then the kids. "They don't have any valuables on them, and I don't have keys to any of the safes. Letting us go won't make a difference to whatever it is you're doing around here. If you just let us go, we can't and won't stop you, I promise."

The stallion hummed and nodded. "You're right, you don't have a lot of value, do you? I guess letting you go wouldn't hurt." He then aimed his gun right at Joystick and fired once; blood sprayed all over the counter, the floor, the wall of stuffed animals, and on Marée and Caramel. "But killing you doesn't hurt, either, does it?"

Marée and Caramel gaped at the now-lifeless body of the innocent staff member that had only ever been nice and helpful to them, who had even briefly negotiated for their safety. And now they were spattered with his blood. She began to panic; she wasn't cut out for this kind of thing, she knew that. That's why she'd stopped taking the defense classes after finishing the required minimum.

Caramel, though, was not the sort to let that sort of thing go unanswered. Marée could see from the determined look on his face that he was about to do something potentially stupid and brave, but before she could stop him, he acted, sliding into the shadows behind the counter as swiftly and silently as a ghost, much to the shock of the gun-toting stallion.

"What that— where'd he go?" the stallion muttered, glancing at the spot where Caramel had just been. "Shit, do these brats have weird powers t—"

Caramel appeared just above and behind him, dropping down with all his weight right on top of the stallion's head. It didn't matter how tough the stallion looked, having a ten-year-old colt drop hooves-first on top of him unexpectedly like that would be enough to take him out of commission, at least long enough to get his gun away from him. That's exactly what Caramel did, too, kicking the gun as far away as he could.

"Caramel! You shouldn't be using your powers without your suit!" Marée hissed as quietly as she could.

Indeed, Caramel was already breathing heavily, as though he'd just galloped for a mile in the past five seconds. He shook his head. "I'm fine, Marée," he said, slumping down and taking a big breath. "Quick, we've gotta get out of here and find my mom. Something's wrong here, and I don't like it one bit. Where is she?"

Marée helped him up, and the two shared a brief look towards the body of Joystick. She wanted to apologize to the poor stallion, feeling as though it was her and Caramel's fault he was found and killed. But she'd dwell on it later; for now, they needed to get moving before more of those bad ponies showed up, since they'd for sure have heard the gunshot and would be checking on the situation.

As soon as she and Caramel opened the door out of the prize area, she realized how right she was: four more stallions had shown up to investigate, and they'd arrived far sooner than Marée had expected.

"There they are!" snapped one of them, pointing right at the two young ponies. "Grab 'em!"

"Run!" Caramel shouted.

Marée didn't need to be told even once; she started running behind Caramel immediately, and the two darted off into the arcade as fast as their legs could take them.

Avoiding four full-grown stallions while trying to maneuver through tightly-packed arcade machines was not the easiest of tasks. The adults covered ground far more quickly than they did, and were working together to corner the pair and block off their escape. Though Marée and Caramel were smaller and could squeeze under and through gaps that the adults had to go around, it was only enough to buy them mere seconds of breathing room.

Eventually, they nearly got cornered entirely, and the kids had no choice but to use all of the tools they had at their disposal to get away. Marée leapt into the air towards one of the bad stallions and phased right through him, reasserting her physical self just before she hit the ground so that she wouldn't phase through that as well; she couldn't afford to get separated from Caramel. Since she didn't have her special suit on, she also phased through her clothes, leaving her naked as she continued to flee.

Caramel, meanwhile, slid into the shadows and slipped underneath the goon before following after Marée again, but naturally this left him in clear pain; Marée was worried for him, because at this rate, he'd exhaust himself before they managed to reach the exit, or worse. He couldn't have known to wear his suit today!

As they rounded a corner and saw the exit come into view, Marée felt something grab her tail; one of the stallions had flanked them. "Eep!" she blurted. "Get off me!"

She phased her tail through the stallion's hoof and tried to dart away, but he just grabbed her again; she phased through him as before, but as soon as she tried to run he'd just grab at her hoof or her flank and managed to keep her from getting far; it was difficult to use her powers effectively without getting separated from Caramel.

"Gotcha, you little brat!" the stallion snarled as he lifted her back up, this time by the wings. "You're not going anywhere."

"Marée!" Caramel exclaimed. "Let her go!"

Another stallion caught up to Caramel just as he made to leap at the stallion holding Marée, and slammed the butt of his gun into the side of Caramel's head, knocking him over; it was the same one that Caramel had attacked earlier, the one with the toothpick, though the toothpick was now awkwardly bent. 

Caramel growled and got back to his hooves. "Get away from—"

There was a gunshot, and Caramel's suddenly collapsed, his eyes widening in shock.

The stallion had shot him right in the back.

"Caramel!" Marée cried. She struggled in the grip of her attacker. "You shot him! Why?!"

The toothpick stallion then aimed his gun right at Caramel's head and looked straight at Marée. "Don't you even think about getting away, you little shit, or your friend dies. You had your fun, but playtime's over."

"Let us go! We didn't do anything wrong!" Marée shouted, desperately flailing her hooves to try and get away from the stallion that had caught her. "Please! He's hurt!"

"He'll be a lot more than that if you don't stop squirming around," the stallion holding her snorted, shaking her violently in the process. 

Marée hissed in pain; he was twisting her wing hard enough that it felt like it would break. "Stop it! You're hurting me!"

"Shut up. We're supposed to bring you in alive, but bringing you in unharmed was just an option. If you know what's good for you and your friend, you'll be quiet and stay still. Got it?"

She sniffed, nodded weakly, and stopped struggling, staring at Caramel. She could feel her eyes watering already; was he going to be okay? More importantly, where was Miss Velvet?

"Now what?" asked another of the stallions.

"We wait for the boss," said the toothpick-chewing stallion. He glanced over towards the karaoke booths at the other end of the arcade. "The fuck is taking him so long just to deal with the whore?"

"Heh, maybe he's not finished with her yet," chortled another stallion, nudging the other in the ribs gently. "She's still warm, right? It's all she was good for anyway."

The toothpick stallion rolled his eyes. "Figures. Well, whatever, as long as we have what we came—"

The room suddenly went as dark and quiet as a tomb.

All five stallions froze up; the three not otherwise occupied readied their guns, glancing about in confusion. "The fuck?" one of them said. "Did the power just go out? I thought we only cut the phone lines and alarms?"

"Great timing," snorted the wing-holding stallion. "Hey, at least it'll make it easier to get out of here, right?"

Another stallion nodded. "Yeah, good way to look at it. Should we get moving?"

"We're still waiting on the boss," said another. "He's gotta be done by now—"

Then, a droning sound filled the air, echoing throughout the arcade and drawing out every other sound in the room, from the beating of Marée's heart to her heavy breathing. It was reverberating enough that she could feel a slight tremor go through the hooves of the stallion holding her.

"The hell is that?" asked the toothpick stallion, twisting a hoof in his ear.

Then a loud bang came from the direction of the karaoke booths; it sounded as though one of the doors there had been blown apart. Marée and the stallion holding her gasped, and he barely moved the two of them out of the way as half of the aforementioned door came flying through the air and landed only a few feet away from where they'd been standing, crashing through an arcade game and tearing it apart.

"What the—" one of the other stallions murmured.


☠hurtkill☠


The voice came from everywhere in the room at once, shrill and piercing, bringing with it a fierce cold that chilled Marée down to the bone. She was certain the voice sounded almost like Miss Velvet's, only… not. It sounded more like there were a thousand of her speaking all at once, almost completely distorted beyond recognition and speaking in odd pitches and tempos and volumes.

Then, in the darkness, Marée saw a figure rise up. It looked like a pony, but the posture was all wrong and the thing seemed like it was floating as it moved. Ponies didn't move like that.

There came a shout of terror from two stallions that must have been nearby, and there followed a few bursts of gunfire; Marée could see the muzzle flares barely capable of lighting up that area, and from her awkward angle it was hard to see much else.

But she could hear just fine.


KILLHURTKILLKILLHURTKILLKILLHURTKILLKILLHURTKILLKILLHURTKILL


There was then a loud scream from the stallions, followed by a sickening crunch and a squelch.

"What the fuck was that?" blurted one of the stallions nearby.

The toothpick-chewing stallion turned his attention away from Caramel and aimed his gun towards the source of the disturbance. "How the fuck should I know? Keep your eyes peeled, shoot anything that moves."

The stallions all aimed their weapons outward, forming a sort of protective circle with one another. It was quiet for a long, long time there in the darkness and the cold. The droning was gone, so the only sounds Marée could hear were the breathing of herself and the stallion holding her, the nervous fidgeting of the stallions with their guns, and… a new slithering noise coming from random directions in sudden intervals. Whatever it was, it made the stallions jumpy, and they frequently shifted their attention in the direction of whatever was making the noise.

Off in the distance, there came the sound of other stallions' shouts; another group of goons, apparently, probably the ones that were holding the large crowd of arcade-goers hostage. Whatever had come from out of the karaoke room had made its way over in the direction of the crowd and came across those guards, and they opened fire on it the same as the other two had done before.

WHERE IS MY SON

The voice was blood-curdling; Marée felt every fiber of her being shudder with fear and cold. It was accompanied by roars and screams, both from the stallions and from the crowd of innocents, but soon the gunfire ceased. The screaming crowd carried on, but they sounded as though they were getting further away, probably making for the emergency exits.


WHERE IS MY SON


Then it was all quiet again, save for that slithering sound that echoed throughout the arcade. Worse, it sounded like it was getting closer, and closer, and closer. With how loud it was, Marée was terrified that she couldn't see what the source of it was; she'd have felt more assured if she could at least see the source of that horrible sound.

One of the stallions, who was visibly shaking, his gun trembling in his hooves, completely broke down. "Fuck this! I'm outta here!" he shouted.

"Hey! Get back here!" shouted back the toothpick-chewing stallion.

Marée watched the fleeing stallion run around the corner of several machines and out of sight. Then, he screamed in terror.

W
 H
  A
   T
    D
     I
      D
       Y
        O
         U
          D
           O
            T
             O
              H
               I
               M

The sound that followed was difficult for Marée to describe, like a crunching and tearing mixed together with a bone-chilling screech. She could certainly describe the agonizing screams of the stallion, though, but would rather not. She saw… something through a crack between the machines, but in the darkness she couldn't tell what it was or what was happening.

Then there was the blood, of course. That she could see clearly as it sprayed from over the top of the machines like a fountain.

The stallion holding Marée's wings abruptly dropped her to get a better grip on his gun. "What the hell do we do?!" he spat at the toothpick-chewing stallion. "What is this thing?"

The toothpick stallion gulped, then spit out his toothpick. "Grab the kids. Fuck the boss, let's get the fuck out of—"

Then something came around the corner accompanied by that horrifying droning sound, and Marée finally got a good look at what was causing all the mayhem.

It looked like a pony, a mare if Marée had to guess, with a coat of red that was so stained in blood that that might not have been its original color. There was a violent gash on her throat, right where it met her chest, out of which flowed snake-like tendrils of black stuff that could have been oil or blood or something else for all Marée knew. The mare's mane was drenched in blood as well, sopping down over her face so that nopony could see her features, save for her eyes. 

Those everypony could see clearly, and they were all as black as the deepest darkness Marée could imagine.

The stallions didn't even need to tell each other to react; they all immediately opened fire on the mare.


YOU
HURT 
MY
SON 


The bullets didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever. The mare just moved forward; not stepped, moved, without so much as a single motion of her limbs. She approached the stallion closest to her and her tendrils lashed out with a speed that Marée couldn't visibly see. The stallion screamed half a scream before he just… exploded.

"Oh fuck!" shouted the stallion that had been holding Marée.

He must have figured that grabbing Marée and running, as the group had planned before everything went to hell, was the best course of action; he lunged at Marée and grabbed her tail, and she was so frozen with fear that she didn't even react to it. Soon he'd round the corner and escape with ease.


n     o      e     s     c     a     p     e


He didn't get very far before a barrage of tendrils raced towards him, lifting him into the air so sharply and suddenly that he dropped Marée. The tendrils lifted him screaming up and into the darkness, fearfully pleading for his life, and then the screaming stopped, and the stallion fell. Piece by piece. 

Marée couldn't handle that; she threw up right there on the floor without an ounce of shame. Nopony would judge her.

The other stallion that Marée hadn't given an identifier shouted loudly and kept firing his gun until it ran out of ammo, then threw the gun at the terror mare before taking a smaller gun from his vest and firing that as well. Nothing had any effect. painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain
A single tendril struck the stallion in the forehead. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then the stallion started screaming in agony as his flesh began melting right off of him; Marée had to look away before too long.

The final stallion, the toothpick-chewing one that had murdered poor Joystick, glanced at the carnage that surrounded him, then aimed his gun directly at Caramel. "Stop! Now!" he spat. "I don't know what the fuck you are, but if you so much as move an inch, I'll blow a hole right in this little shit's skull! You hear me?!"

The mare stared right back at the stallion, tilting her head gently to the side.


noƨ γm ʞɔɒd ɘm ɘviϱ


"Just let me leave, or he dies!" the stallion snarled. His hoof was trembling, but he looked ready to pull the trigger. "I'll do it! I swear on the Dark Lady's name I'll put a bullet—"

The hoof on the trigger suddenly and violently separated from his leg; where it went, Marée couldn't see. The stallion screamed in agony for all of a second before all of the mare's tendrils clamped as one around the stump.

Marée couldn't properly describe what happened next, but it looked to her like the stallion's entire body started collapsing in on itself, drying out and shriveling up like a raisin until there was nothing left. The tendrils, engorged and sopping wet, carelessly discarded the husk of a stallion to the side, like a piece of garbage.

Marée then watched the mare slowly walk, like a perfectly normal pony would and should, towards Caramel. Instinctively, she shakily got to her hooves and moved to protect her friend; the other mare noticed and looked right at her with those cold, black eyes, and for a moment Marée was afraid that she was going to die just like everypony else.

But the mare did nothing, just turned back towards Caramel, stepping forward again and crouching down at his side. It looked like the mare was crying. 

Caramel still wasn't moving. 

All of a sudden, the lights in the arcade came back on, and all of the machines too. The sudden influx of light surprised Marée, and she blinked rapidly to adjust her eyes. Once they were used to the light again, she gasped, because the mare's appearance had changed.

She was still drenched in blood, but now her coat and mane colors were recognizable, as were her facial features, as were the clothes she was wearing that hadn't been there before. The tendrils streaming from her neck were gone, but the gash was still there, only as a hideous scar; there was a similar one on her stomach, hard to see from this angle but definitely still there. Her eyes were back to normal as well, but bloodshot from crying.

"Miss Velvet?" Marée muttered.

Miss Velvet sniffed loudly, not even bothering to wipe her nose on her hoof or sleeve. She just set a hoof on Caramel's bullet wound, but otherwise didn't respond to Marée, not with words at least. She just looked at her, and though Marée never considered herself an expert in reading emotions, she could just feel the emotions running through Miss Velvet's head: fear, and shame.

Marée took a tentative step forward; her friend's mother, the mare who had taught her how to make PB&J, the mare who was always quick with a smile and a hug, was scaring her with her silence. "Miss Velvet… what happened?"

Miss Velvet still didn't respond, just shook her head.

"He got hurt, Miss Velvet. Those bad ponies hit him, and I saw him using his powers, and… and…" Now Marée found herself fighting back tears; she felt afraid, and helpless, and sick to her stomach for so many reasons. "Is he going to be okay?"

Miss Velvet's nod was so slight that Marée barely noticed it. It was the sort of nod one would give when they weren't sure of their answer but hoped they were right. Marée hoped she was right, too.

She watched with awe as the blood that coated Miss Velvet's hoof and leg drained itself slowly into Caramel's wound. She knew about the mare's unique abilities, not unlike the ones she and her classmates had, but didn't know what they could do or what they were capable of. But she was at a loss for what else to do but watch. 

So, she just moved herself carefully over to Miss Velvet's side, sat down, and softly leaned against the older mare. Miss Velvet's free hoof moved slightly, just enough to pull Marée in for a hug, the only comforting thing that Marée had felt in what felt like hours. 

All she could do now was hope beyond hope that her friend would be okay.