Dark as Chitin

by LostBox

Epilogue (Revised)

"I'm telling you guys, that's what really happened!" I exclaimed as I waved my paws in the air.

"No way dude, that's crazy talk," Harry refuted.

Angel hopped closer to me, inspecting me suspiciously. "I still can't believe you're a changeling, you sure could've fooled me."

I had snuck into Fluttershy's cottage via kidnapping again a now was conversing with both Angel and Harry. I figured I might as well catch up with them.

"Sorry for deceiving you all, I was just being cautious."

Angel sighed. "Yeah, I get that."

Our conversation was interrupted by approaching hoof steps and the call of a mare. "LIttle bunny? Where did you go?"

I was instantly alert as I made my way for the chimney again. "Oh buck, I gotta go guys, I'll see you later!"

"Yeah, alright."

"See ya later.

It's been about two months since the whole end of the world ordeal. In the end, nopony really knew what happened. When Soul left my body, he just took off with the cube. Gosh, I never knew I'd miss someone who hardly communicated so much. I have a feeling though, that thanks to them, Equestria's safe.

Since then, everything in Equestria has pretty much gone back to normal, mostly. Twilight held multiple press conferences all over Equestria, explaining the whole situation to the best of her ability, but it was eventually swept under the rug as just another Equestria disaster. My mother's been doing her best to re-enter society, living in Starlight's castle alongside myself. When I presented myself to Starlight, she was understandably confused but accepting. With Twilight's recommendation, Starlight was, surprisingly, accepting of the idea of taking in my mother as well. She's been struggling with adapting, but she's doing her best. My mother's been going through therapy for her years of trauma. From the looks of it, it's going well. She still has mixed emotions about visiting Thorax though, and I can't blame her.

On a side note, Dawn and I finally tied the knot. I properly proposed just a little over a week ago. I commissioned Silver Diamonds and Tiaras to create a new necklace for her, Chrysalis's Embrace. In doing so, however, I opened another gateway of issues. My mother's been pestering me about grand foals for days now, but the wedding isn't even for another month. Starlight and Sunburst haven't been helping the situation either, jokingly egging us on. Unfortunately, my mother doesn't seem to understand sarcasm as well as she did before, that, or she just chooses not to acknowledge it as such.

The memories of Soul are beginning to fade, so I decided to keep this journal so that I wouldn't forget anything. I've also been making sure to keep up with my training and studying, just in case. Also, I just enjoy the field of magic in general. Let's see, what else? Oh yeah. Last I heard, Tirek's been placed under some form of house arrest, forced to wear magic inhibiting artifacts until he's proved that he's no longer a threat. Twilight not cruel though. The artifacts work by keeping inherent magic inside, and external magic out. Tirek was rejuvenated before the artifacts were placed on him; he couldn't steal magic even if he wanted to. As for Cozy Glow, she's been placed under Starlight's watchful eye, well, more so my watchful eye. Starlight has enough on her plate. Right now, she's sitting in the corner of my room eyeing me angrily with her forelegs crossed. Probably has something to do with her not being able to sneak past me. She also has magic inhibitors on her, just in case.

She doesn't do much other than shoot sarcastic quips at me, displace things, and try to cozy up to me when she wants something. Believe it or not, she's gotten better though. It was an utter nightmare in the castle when she first arrived. Under Twilight's orders, she's been scheduled to restart her first year at the School of Friendship. I was a bit confused by this, seeing as that was practically what gave her the rise to power she needed, but Twilight seems to know best. Between myself and Twilight though, I think she'll be fine.

"Honey, someone's here to see you. They say they know you," Luster Dawn said, as she opened the door to Chimera's room.

Chimera stood up from his desk, placing his journal inside an open drawer and closing it. He began wondering who it could at the door.

"Could you keep an eye on her for me," I said, shooting a glance at Cozy Glow who had already made her way inside one of my drawers.

I levitated her in my magic, closed my drawer, and placed her in front of Dawn.

Dawn and I rubbed muzzles, a gesture of love I learned after she had caught me off guard once on a date. Cozy Glow spat in disgust.

"Sure thing, come back soon," Dawn acknowledged.

Making my way out of the room, through the halls, and down the stairs, I arrived at the doorway. Opening it, I was met by a peculiar-looking younger-looking stallion. They had a snow-white coat, mane and tail, and frost blue eyes irises that seemed to have shooting stars in them. As for their cutie mark, it seemed to be some kind of sideways eight.
"Can I, uh, help you?"

The stallion snickered to himself. "Come on now, is that any way to greet an old friend?"

I don't get it, this doesn't make any sense.

Another one of my patients was found face down in their own apartment three days after being prescribed the pills; presumed dead. The foundation retrieved his body as discretely as possible and brought it back to the facility so that an autopsy could be performed. Just before the pathologist could get to work, she quickly discovered that the cadaver was not, in fact, a cadaver. He was still breathing, albeit in impossibly faint bursts.

The body is now on life support and under further examination. Poor kid, can't rest even in presumed death, but I digress. I've put off dissecting his body for now, in the case by some miracle he wakes up. But, judging by these brain scans, I doubt this will be the case.

Somehow, almost all regions of the brain seem to be displaying the minutest level of brain activity, the brain stem being the most active. If the soul exists, I doubt it's in his body anymore. It's like everything that made this kid a human just up and vanished, leaving the body to fend for itself. Other patients ended up in comas but it was never this bad.

When we started this research project, I genuinely had hope that we could help those unfortunate enough to be plagued by the nightmare of their own minds. Now... I can hardly call myself a doctor anymore. So many people are dying and ending up in conditions far worse than what they started with. I was so frustrated by the impartial nature of society and the medical system as a whole; I wanted to make a difference.

I'll make this entry short since I have a lot of work ahead of me today. The Founder of the organization is stopping by the facility tomorrow to check up on how things are going. This facility is one of many spread around the country, some made public, others more concealed, like this one. To be honest, I know next to nothing about The Founder, that's all anyone knows him as, The Founder.

I keep running tests on those damned pills, yet I still can't figure anything out about them. Most of the material seems to be your typical vitamins and minerals, but there's this small fraction in them that almost seems alien in origin. No, it is alien in origin, it has to be. None of those materials I analyzed appear on the periodic table. Hell, some of it doesn't even seem to obey the laws of physics. Once you crack open the capsule withholding the contents, the "medicine" inside seems to phase through anything else obstructing its ascent into...well, nothingness.

Excuse my profanity, but, Jesus Christ, that was nerve-racking. Shit really hit the fan. The founder showed up at my quarters accompanied by two men in black, where I keep the patients. He looked far younger than I had expected. At first, he didn't even acknowledge my presence at first. He just walked through my room, hands neatly held behind his back, yet wearing a deceptively warm but over theatrical smile. I couldn't even tell if his eyes were open. He walked methodically throughout my lab, presumably looking over each patient from the corner of his eyes. Then... he came in the vicinity of my newest patient, instantly breaking his professional manner and darting up to his bedside, eyeing him like a hungry predator.

No, that's not quite right. He wasn't looking at him, it was like he was looking through him, fixated on his cranium. The Founder suddenly broke out his trance, rushing up to be and bombarding me with all sorts of invasive questions until I was backed into a corner. He wanted to know everything about this patient, from where they were born to what they ate.

After he figured out that I couldn't answer most of those questions even if I wanted to, he demanded that this patient be brought back with him. There was nothing I can do. I just hope I'll one day be forgiven for my sins. My father always said that the road to hell was paved with good intentions.