It’d been so long since I’ve reset that I’d forgotten what it was like; a blessing in its own way. It wasn’t quite like waking up from a dream, but not unlike it either. There was no desire to go back to sleep or any sense of grogginess, no brief confusion if I was awake or not. It’s much closer to having temporary amnesia, only a short burst of it no longer than a minute or so, and then remembering that lost time all at once. It makes it hard not to question if it had really happened or not.
The plus side of resetting is it’s very obvious when I have the burning in my chest as a major indicator that it happened. Sometimes it was just an annoyance, comparable to a heartburn. This time, it was much more intense, a searing scorching that wouldn’t simmer. It felt like someone had used a fresh branding iron straight against my heart, yet there was no pain, only the heat.
Strangely, that’s what I always felt from Frisk when they reset; That same burning every time, but never anything else.
I had no way of knowing if it was more consistent for Frisk, but I still can’t tell why its severity varies each time. The best assumption I have would be the brutality of my deaths, which was nothing more than a dull shot in the dark.
I lurched forward, yelping and grabbing my chest as I tried to do anything to quell the inferno between my lungs. Everything in my body felt impossibly tense and my throat so tight I could barely breathe, part of the reason I was exhaling and inhaling so heavily.
“Chara? Are you ok?”
Fluttershy’s voice, much clearer than the last time I heard it, came from behind me. She hesitantly placed a hand on my back, which I reflexively reacted to by jumping to my feet, unable to turn around to face her. I wiped my watery eyes, looking around the room I was in.
I recognized it as the guest room Fluttershy and I slept in during the night, and it must be morning now judging from the light shining through the windows. My reset point must have changed to here, whether it would hadn’t even crossed my mind when I was fading. The wave of relief that washed over me was hard to describe. If I had to start all over again in those woods, I’m not sure what I would have done.
The bed creaked as Fluttershy got to her hooves, cautiously standing behind me. I rubbed my hands over the center of my torso; the surreal sensation of my body being completely fine despite what happened still deeply unnerved me to experience firsthand.
“I’m…fine.” I tried to steady my voice, which was absurd to even try when I couldn’t stop physically shaking. “Just another nightmare.”
It wouldn’t have been noticeable if the room wasn’t so quiet, but her breath hitched, along with the growingly familiar sound of her wings flicking. “Was it about Asriel?”
I didn’t need to see her face to tell she didn’t believe me. However, she played along. To her, just the night before, I caved and told her something honest about myself. She must have felt like we’d made progress and didn’t want to push anymore. To me, we were just in a tunnel where my life ended. Hers more than likely followed. A chill went down my spine as I pictured what happened to them after they died; whatever other diamond dogs were lying in wait must have pounced on them too, and were just as brutal.
“No, it wasn’t.”
My response didn’t ease her worries at all. She didn’t have time to ask anything else as Rainbow banged on the door. I didn’t jump since this time I was expecting it.
“You guys up? Twilight’s got a plan, and s-”
“We’ll be out in a minute, Dash.” I interrupted her this time, the realization that I’d have to sit through Twilight’s ranting hitting me as I tried not to let out a groan.
There was a longer pause than before from Rainbow, and a disapproving frown from Fluttershy.
“Aight.”
As Rainbow’s hoofsteps got more quiet, I pulled my cupcake from my inventory, taking solace in the deliciousness of Pinkie’s baking.
“That was rude of you, Chara. Nopo-” she paused as she shook her head. “Nobody likes being interrupted.”
I was about to mention how she’d interrupted Rainbow before, stopping myself when I remembered that hadn’t happened. “You’re right, sorry. I just didn’t wanna hear her mention that gross rock soup stuff.”
“What made you think she was going to talk about that?”
“I…” I should be more careful with what I say. It is worryingly easy to mention something that hasn’t happened yet or that I shouldn’t know. Maybe that’s why Frisk rarely talked? “Just had a feeling.”
Unsurprisingly, she didn’t believe that. Luckily, she didn’t ask me about the cupcake this time, and was content with just letting me eat it. I didn’t end up finishing it this time, mostly because of a lack of any real appetite. I placed half of it back into my inventory, not wanting it to go to waste.
As I did, I remembered what I did the first time I died with the tally marks. I felt an odd desire to continue doing so, though there’s no tree this time. I reached into my inventory and pulled out my journal and the pencil, which was titled ‘wooden blade’ strangely enough.
As I flipped to an empty page and drew the three lines, Fluttershy glanced over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. I didn’t have any explanation in mind if she did. I quickly put them back in my inventory, slipping the weightless backpack on and mentally preparing myself to experience all the same things again.
Everything in the living room was exactly as I had seen it the first time. Twilight was sitting on the couch and drinking her coffee, while Applejack, Limestone, and Rainbow were having their arm wrestling contest. Pinkie, Rarity, and Marble were in a corner talking about what I’m now certain was me. This time, I noticed that Marble was talking much less than them, but she was talking. I had little doubt that’s because Pinkie was there encouraging her.
“Oh, Chara. Good morning.” Twilight said, her horn lighting with magic as it enveloped the scarf and brought it towards me. “Pinkie’s mom finished this and told me to give it to you when you wake up.”
The scarf’s fabric still bothered me as soon as I felt its touch; I bit the inside of my cheek to try to prevent it from showing. I knew it was coming, and yet the idea of it being so identical to another scarf not being a coincidence still crossed my mind.
“I’ll make sure to thank her for it later.” I responded with my best fake smile.
Twilight furrowed her eyebrows for a brief moment, but didn’t have an obviously suspicious reaction like she did the first time. Fluttershy was watching me out of the corner of my eyes, as per usual. I’m sure if I had been watching out for it, I would have seen her doing that since we first came here.
Everything with the arm wrestling contest played out the same, since I didn’t interfere with it at all. Everyone sat in the same places; Pinkie started leaning towards me to apologize for telling Rarity.
“I forgive you for telling Rarity about my date.”
She stopped, her body stiff and eyes widening to a comedic extent. “How did you know that’s what I was going to say? Can you see the future too?”
I raised an eyebrow at that choice of words. “No, it was just a well-educated guess. What do you mean ‘too’?”
“Twilight hasn’t told you about Pinkie’s Pinkie sense? I figured she would have by now.”
Twilight’s lips curled into a half sneer as she took a drawn out sip from her thermos. “If I’m being honest, I try my best not to think about it. Just because I’ve accepted it's a mystery that can’t be solved, doesn’t mean I’m not irked by the fact I couldn’t solve it.”
I could tell there’s a story there, but that would be for another time. “Ok, what is ‘Pinkie Sense’?”
“It’s…well, hard to explain without having an example. Basically, when my body twitches and does stuff in a certain way, it means something is about to happen. Like, if my tail twitches.” she raised her cotton candy resembling tail, which I didn’t even notice until now how big it was. “It means something’s gonna fall on somepony nearby. Sometimes it’s other stuff, like my back being itchy means it’s my lucky day! Or sometimes combos when it's more complicated.”
“How come I haven’t seen it before then?”
Something like that would have been useful in those tunnels, but probably not by much. We all knew that the diamond dogs would come at any moment when we were down there.
“Cuz you’re not around me that much, silly! It’s not like there are a lot of things to fall on you around here: It’s about as spontaneous as I am.”
“It might be more accurate to say she can sense the future rather than see it. The problem is, it's not always reliable, nor is it always obvious what it’ll be. Sometimes, it's not even something that can be predicted, which makes it kind of pointless.” Twilight muttered.
I compared Pinkie’s ability to my own, which felt absurd at first. Her future is more definitive, something that’s going to happen for her no matter what. Mine is different. I can see the future, well, a future. Certain details are consistent, but it's never the same. To see the future, I have to experience it first, and only then can I change it at the price of my life.
When the threat isn’t life or death, Pinkie’s would be better. When someone might die, mine would be, but only when I fail. The thought of failure terrifies me, yet I have to accept it. I can only hope I die before I have to watch someone else die first. It’s the only way I’d say I’ve been ‘fortunate’ with my deaths so far.
Twilight’s ranting went exactly the same, though I barely paid attention as I tuned her out and focused on the map itself. I tried to figure out what could have gone wrong with Twilight and Rainbow in their tunnel, if maybe they said something to provoke the dogs, but somehow I doubted that. Rainbow might have been by accident, and that would have been my guess if Twilight wouldn’t have been there.
However, she was. With her insistence on doing things peacefully, she would do everything she could to avoid violence and keep Rainbow from pushing things to violence. Which meant either negotiating failed, or they attacked them out of the blue like they did us. I’m not sure which possibility scared me more.
If they just attacked them, that meant peace really wasn’t an option with them. But, if they did try negotiating with them and failed, that meant they beat Twilight and Rainbow somehow. With what I’ve heard about Twilight’s magical capabilities, and how strong and fast Rainbow is, the implications of that are more terrifying. Although, if the diamond dogs are out for blood no matter what, then I’d have to try to convince them of that. How would I do that without mentioning my reset ability? Especially since Twilight’s already skeptical of me.
“Chara, stop that.” Fluttershy whispered in a scolding tone.
I glanced at her, not understanding what she meant until I noticed I had been chewing on my fingernails. “Sorry.”
The only thing I could do was try to go to the same tunnel that they did, which meant pulling a different stick and hoping I got it. There’s a decent chance their den is there, or a trap. If it's not there, then it has to be in the fourth one, like Twilight said before. I’ll have to figure out how to deal with them when I find them. Until then, just keeping them alive was a problem of its own.
I carried a faint hope in the back of my mind that, if I die again, it’ll be me first. Watching Asriel die was the worst thing I’ve ever had to witness; I’m not sure if I can handle it again. Especially if it's Fluttershy.
“This time, I really am done. Go ahead.”
This time, I pulled the first stick, the same one that Rainbow had pulled. If I luck out this time, it’ll be Marble’s.
___
Once again, I didn’t.
In fact, I did the opposite of lucking out and got Twilight. Which meant we’d go to the same tunnels they did, but that the trip would be even more tense than it was with Rarity. Marble likely wouldn’t say anything at all, which I could be fine with. Twilight, on the other hand, has wanted to talk to me ever since the train.
I don’t know what she wants to talk to me about, and that’s what bothers me most.
With Rarity, at least I knew that she would approach me first. Twilight won’t unless I’m alone, telling me that whatever it was she doesn’t want Fluttershy to be around for. I’m sure Fluttershy could tell that something had happened between us when she left, but hadn’t asked either of us about it. At least not yet. Which made me grateful that Fluttershy and I were on one stick, so that meant we’d be together pretty much no matter what.
The section of the farm we went to was a tad farther than the previous one. I slipped on the scarf as soon as we left the warmth of the house, making the trip more bearable. Well, making the weather more bearable, the rigid silence only got worse.
I was also surprised Twilight was ok with one of the pie sisters not being with us. Considering what Limestone mentioned, I would have assumed she’d insist on it. Twilight herself actually brought this up, stating that she made a mnemonic with the map of the farm, and was confident that we at least wouldn’t get lost.
I didn’t understand how someone could make a mnemonic of a map, but I would be better off not asking. Her answer would fly right over my head.
When we got there, I suggested going into the tunnel that we did before. At least, I’m pretty sure it was. They’re only distinguishable by size and not much else. I have no way of knowing how many they searched before, or if that was the first and only one they searched. All I could do is point us towards the one I knew for sure something happened in.
Twilight opened her mouth to question why I wanted us to go there specifically, but decided against it. I’m certain she’s been paying close attention to me and keeping in mind things I’ve said and done that she was going to ask me about later. It would be too easy to be annoyed at her suspicions if they weren’t completely justified.
I’m a new species that came from The Everfree, and the first non-pony to use magic like theirs. She just recently learned that I leak liquid flowers from my eyes, which is already abnormal on top of the fact that the item I had the strongest connection to was a knife. She has every right to be suspicious of me. Despite this, she still respects me enough to not corner me every chance she gets, something I imagine was hard due to her insatiable curiosity.
Despite the consideration her inaction would imply, I couldn’t help but be apprehensive since that also meant she had more time to think of how to word her questions in a way I can’t lie out of.
Knowing what had happened in the previous loop didn’t help, either. As soon as we entered, I knew how long it would take to get to the spot where I had died. I was so filled with dread and watching every inch of the tunnel for when they popped out. I recalled every indent and rock, using them as milestones to know where we were.
Time seemed stretched when filled with crippling fear, but I’m certain we were only five or so minutes away. Five minutes of me knowing that, at any given moment, the diamond dogs could burrow through the ground beneath us and begin their slaughter. Twilight and Fluttershy weren’t aware of this, only that I was evidently more paranoid than usual, which only reinforced Twilight’s suspicions of me, I’m sure.
I couldn’t take it. I needed some kind of distraction, something to think about other than not what’s waiting in the dark, or what’s waiting in the ground. If I didn’t think of something, Fluttershy would either ask me what I’m so afraid of, or try to do her best to calm me down. Which wouldn’t work.
“Twilight,” I muttered, a conversation topic crossing my mind that just as quickly left my mouth. Though it filled me with uncertainty about where it would go. “Do you think you could tell me more about conjuration?”
She paused for a moment as she glanced over her shoulder at me. “I thought you didn’t want to do magic anymore?”
“I don’t. But if things with the diamond dogs go sideways, I don’t want to be helpless.”
“Chara,” Twilight’s voice lowered into an almost warning tone. “The only thing you can conjure is a knife. Even if we have to resort to violence, Ponies. Don’t. Kill. No matter what.”
The heavy emphasis on each word was her trying to make that message clear to me, but I’m not a pony. As much as I wish I could say I haven’t killed before, I can’t. More than anything, I hope it won’t come to that.
After what happened last loop, that hope was rapidly becoming nothing more than a remaining ember after the fire had already burned out.
“Then…what if I conjure something else?”
“You’ve only done it once, and I really doubt you even can. It…” Twilight took a deep breath as her horn flashed, spreading the light coming from it a bit more. “Do you remember when I first told you about conjuration, how the most complex item ever conjured was a crossbow?”
I nodded, mentally preparing myself for the long-winded explanation I willingly asked for. Fluttershy inched a bit closer to me, remaining quiet but always watching me.
“His name was Far Seeker, and he was, to date, the most proficient conjurer in Equestrian history. Most of his background is unimportant, even the reason it was a crossbow wasn’t written anywhere I could find. He was an expert in archery even before he conjured that, afterwards even more so. His crossbow never needed maintenance or adjustment, not once locked up or had any problems that would be expected to use one as often as he did. Every time that crossbow was conjured, it was brand new.”
Her voice was hushed, but still carried that same passion that came anytime she explained something or had an interest in a topic. I fixed my gaze on the path in front of us, morbidly expecting the ground in front of us to explode at any given moment.
“Conjuration is one of the rarest schools of magic, along with necromancy and mind magic. Those two are rare also because they’re forbidden. Conjuration, while dangerous, is not. Most of the time, magic is used to make a perfect replica of an actual item, but it cannot make anything new. It has to be known to the user. However, the strength of it is linked to how much magic they put into the object. Most times, they are better than the authentic version, with none of the drawbacks.”
While I was intently listening, my eyes darted upward to the lanterns lining the ceiling. If this was their den, wouldn’t these have been recently lit up? The diamond dogs spend a lot of their time in the dark, so their eyesight likely wasn’t the best at the price of being able to more or less see in these tunnels. With how close they were to each other, they must not be very bright. It also made me wonder why they bothered to put them up in the shooter tunnels, or what their overall purpose was.
“Conjured items need constant connection to the caster, otherwise, they dissipate. At first, this made the crossbow useless. The bolts he would conjure would disappear as soon as they were shot. He tried to attach thin threads of magic to each bolt to counter this problem, but it ended up limiting the range, so he turned to normal bolts that he’d carry on him. Through this, he learned that no matter the type or weight of the bolt, it never affected his aim like it would a normal crossbow. This surely contributed to his immaculate accuracy, as he constantly broke his own records for longest distance shot. He managed several hundred yards with bullseye accuracy, a feat few have ever approached.”
It started to sound more like she was admiring his feats, though I have no point of reference to compare and understand just how impressive they were. I was tempted to ask if it's possible for unicorns who don’t have innate conjuration magic to learn how to conjure things, but I had a feeling that would delve into much more Twilight ranting than I could handle at the moment.
“What about conjuring different kinds of objects? Since he made bolts, does that mean he can conjure other stuff?”
“Well, yes and no. It's more complex than that.” Twilight muttered as she pulled the thermos out of her saddlebag, still keeping the area surrounding us well lit with no trouble. “A crossbow without bolts is useless, they came as a set and little trouble to create. He was given a list of various objects to conjure, but few of them got past vague shapes. The only ones that have some kind of usability had a connection to him, albeit many were quite tenuous. That’s the most consistent thing about them, along with the fact that they’re always the same color as the unicorn’s magic.”
Fluttershy, much like when Igneous was explaining the value and versatility of rock farming, nodded with a light smile as Twilight spoke. I couldn’t help but wonder how often she does that and how much she’s actually listening and understanding, and what she thinks about when she does.
“So I should be able to conjure things I have a connection with? Hm.” I said, mostly to let Twilight know I was listening. Nothing came to mind that I could even try. Then again, neither did the knife until I tried it, regardless of how fitting it actually was. “Did you ever try conjuring something?”
“Actually, for a couple of moons I-”
In a moment of pure comedic timing, as soon as Twilight turned her head to look at me, she bumped into a dirt wall. Letting out a disgruntled whinny and then rubbing the tip of her muzzle.
“A dirt wall?” she asked out loud in a somewhat nasally tone.
It was the same kind of dirt wall as the other tunnels, which I wasn’t expecting there to be. We passed the spot where Limestone found the blood and nothing happened. I actually found this more worrying than less. I must have picked out the wrong one.
“That means their den isn’t here, right?” Fluttershy questioned.
“Maybe, it’s hard to say.” Twilight murmured, scanning the wall with her eyes and pressing her hands against it like I did the first time. “I still don’t understand why they made so many tunnels across the entire farm in the first place; they have to be searching for something, but what? Why make these tunnels?”
Twilight’s frustration became more obvious as she spoke; being sleep-deprived couldn’t have helped. She took another drawn out sip from her thermos, which she had yet to notice was empty as she furrowed her eyebrows at the wall like she expected it to do something.
“Maybe all the other tunnels were them searching for something, and we picked the one that found it?” I parroted Rarity, turning around and watching behind us as I tried to come up with something.
They hadn’t approached us yet. This was either the wrong tunnel, or they’re waiting for something. I have to assume they know we’re on the farm at least, but aren’t eager to talk or else they wouldn’t have been avoiding Pinkie’s family. Were they scared of ponies? No, that doesn’t make sense with what Rarity said about her encounter with them.
What are the chances these are the same diamond dogs they met before?
I don’t know much about their encounter with them, but if I go with the line of thinking that they are, why would they come here? It wouldn’t make any sense, and it was a hard to believe coincidence that they just happened to move in near Pinkie’s family.
I tightly gripped the end of the scarf, absentmindedly twirling it in between my fingers. All of this was making less sense the more tunnels I explored. They have to be searching for something since they’ve presumably been digging tunnels ever since they’ve been here, right? What else would they be doing?
My train of thought was interrupted as I saw something move just on the edge of Twilight’s light. I almost didn’t notice it and blamed it on my paranoia, if the darkness in this tunnel hadn’t been so consistent.
It was scampering towards us, but looked small. It had to be a diamond dog, yet this time it was approaching instead of attacking us outright. Maybe Rainbow and Twilight really had messed up negotiations with them somehow?
“Twilight, something’s coming.” I warned as I slowly backstepped, trusting that what I’ve heard about Twilight was true and she could protect me if things get bad again.
Fluttershy followed suit, standing beside me as close as she could with her hands pressed against her chest. She tried to give me a reassuring smile, but I’m certain even Twilight could tell how afraid she really was.
Twilight swiftly turned around, eyebrows furrowing as she cautiously peered into the dark. After a few moments of pregnant silence, her lips pursed and opened as she prepared to speak, stopping as her gaze fixed in a seemingly random spot. I followed the direction and made out a small, grayish leg move just outside the surrounding circle.
My heart dropped at the confirmation it was a diamond dog; I almost couldn’t breathe. The only reassurance I had was that its fur was a distinctly different color from the one that killed me, but I knew others were undoubtedly soon to follow.
I covered my eyes as her horn intensified in magic, spreading the field of light further until it was in sight again. She didn’t hesitate to grasp it in her magic and lift it off the ground, identical to when we first met. It howled and whimpered, thrashing and clawing at the magic like it would bleed.
I was, unfortunately, very familiar with how pointless its actions were.
As she hovered it above us, my fear quickly settled down at its size. Somehow even smaller than me, but disgustingly unkempt. Its fur is matted and speckled with dirt and bits of rocks. Oddly, It is wearing a dark gray vest that was marginally cleaner but didn’t cover its front; the only other piece of clothing was a black collar with various sized diamonds embedded into it. The claws were dull but still sharp enough to cut, and teeth so yellow I’m certain it never had access to a toothbrush or any kind of basic hygiene in its life.
Yet, despite all of this and its beady eyes, I found it almost cute; in an ‘it's so ugly that it's cute’ kind of way.
I hate how my brain works sometimes.
“Put me down, pony!” its voice was kind of gravely, like it’d never cleared its throat before.
“Now, now. Twilight will put you down if you promise not to run away. We just wanna talk an-”
“We do not want to talk with you! Talking leads to whining!”
“Hold on, I think I recognize you.” Twilight said as she brought him lower to get a better look, still keeping him well out of swiping range despite his best effort. “You were one of the diamond dogs that took Rarity! What are you doing all the way out here?”
It halted its movements, peering around the room like it was looking for something. “Miss Rarity? Can still hear her whining in my dreams.” he murmured to himself, a slight tremble and sliver of fear in his voice. Just as quickly, he turned back around towards us. “Nevermind, you do not need to know why we’re here! Just go away!”
Instead of just screaming again, he made a low-pitched whistling noise. It sounded like a signal for something; Why else would he suddenly whistle like that? I shifted my attention to the ground and floor around us. If there was any shaking, I couldn’t see or feel it, which did little to get rid of the goosebumps covering every inch of my body or lower the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.
“I promise, we’re not here to hurt you. Can you at least tell me your name? I’m Fluttershy.”
Despite the tender smile and friendly tone of her voice, the only response she got was more growling as he pushed against the field of magic entrapping him.
“Why are you here? If you tell us maybe we c-”
“We don’t want your help! Why won’t you listen? All you ponies do is talk, talk, talk, but you never listen!”
He leaped forward, teeth snapping together as Twilight tightened her magical tether on him. Fluttershy twitched as her wings opened to her side, but she stood her ground and tried to keep her composure.
“Everything is so easy for you ponies! You don’t like the weather? Then you just change it. You want gems? You use a spell to find them. You never have to live in the dirt! You never have to struggle! You want to help? Then leave! Don’t you ponies have enough?”
The hostility was genuine enough, yet there was something beneath it that left me unconvinced. Maybe it was the way his voice cracked or how he couldn’t maintain eye contact, but it didn’t sound like he genuinely wanted to hurt us.
In fact, I’d say it was more like he was trying to get us to leave. Desperately so. Why?
“We can’t leave.” Twilight stated. “This farm belongs to my friend's family and they need it. As The Elements of Harmony, we’d be more than happy to discuss terms and listen to whatever you have to say. First, you have to calm down and talk with us. I can even get in contact with Celestia if-”
She was cut off as the ground beneath us shook. Lightly at first, then gradually increasing until it got harder and harder to keep my balance, just like last time. I was stunned still in fear, my paranoia confidently whispering to me what we both knew was coming.
“Is that an earthquake? Down here?” Twilight inquired out loud, asking herself as much as the diamond dog.
He dejectedly shook his head, dropping his arms and completely losing all the fight he just had.
“It’s too late.”
The inside of my cheeks turned sour from his words; the anxiety nearly made me throw up if it weren’t for the raw adrenaline coursing through every vein in my body. I tried to focus on the source of the vibrating, only able to tell that it wasn’t coming in my direction this time, I think.
The pebbles around Twilight were bouncing more rapidly than anywhere else, and I realized who their target was.
There was no time to say anything. I tackled Twilight to the ground, who yelped and completely lost her concentration, dropping the dog onto the ground with a thump and a whimper. I was just barely in time; As soon as I pushed her away, the dirt beneath her ripped away and revealed a large, clawed arm that aimed for her life bursting upward.
I groaned as it scraped my side; though it wasn’t very deep, I could still feel the warmth of blood seeping through my shirt. The dirt burned the wound as we tumbled into the ground. I can only hope it didn’t get infected.
It didn’t take long for the enormous creature to burrow itself out of the ground.. My trepidation only grew as I began to see how large it really was. I was reminded of my encounter with The Hydra as it stood over us, though thankfully it was not as gargantuan. It was also wearing a vest and collar like the smaller one. I couldn’t tell its height, I was too baffled by the absurd size of its arms, so large it leaned forward with them placed on the ground as its support instead of its almost unnaturally small legs.
Its height was creepy, but that isn’t what stilled my heart. My eyes slowly continued to trail over its furred, muscled arm. its gray furred arm. That was the arm that killed me. This was the same diamond dog, and it almost did it again.
It might still.
“Chara!”
Fluttershy spread her wings and was by my side in an instant. At the same time, Twilight shook her head and relit her horn, magic encompassing both of them before they had a chance to do something else. She scowled and showed some of her teeth, but I couldn’t tell if that was because it was taking genuine effort to hold them or if she was mad that I got hurt.
“Just hold still; this isn’t that bad! I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to use this first aid kit..”
I barely heard Fluttershy’s worried words over my own heavy breathing as I held my side. The diamond dogs weren’t resisting this time or trying to break out in the slightest. Nor did either of them make eye contact with us.
It only unnerved me more.
While the ground was no longer shaking, I still felt there had to be more. Why else would they be so calm about being held like that if they didn't know more would be coming? I tried to watch the walls. If they can tunnel through the floor so easily, there was no reason they couldn’t come from anywhere else.
The problem was that the ground was relatively easy to tell with. The wall wasn’t so much. The ground also had loose pebbles, while the rocks in the wall were deeply embedded and weren’t so easily moved. All I could do was watch and tell Twilight the moment one burst through.
Even then, it might be too late.
Twilight was also on the lookout, glancing between the walls and my wound as she was torn between healing me or not. Fluttershy just began cleaning it when a spot above us ruptured, a third diamond dog shooting out with ease. Its body limber and arms were straight ahead of it as it spiraled, landing on the ground.
It was around my own size, though possibly a few inches more. The most obvious difference I could quickly see between it and the other two was its red vest instead of a black one, along with a small, yellow star-like object dangling off the front of its collar. I had no clue if they had some kind of ranking system and that's what that was. Could it be the alpha or something similar? The scleras of its eyes were a sickly green and stuck out in the dark.
Twilight was on it as soon as it landed, pointing her horn in its direction as she tried to wrap it in the same magic as the other two. It levitated off the ground for roughly two seconds before dropping back down, her magic dissipating as soon as it got to its torso.
“What? I’m not even close to my limit, why can’t I?” she cut herself off as she tried again, some of her magic on the other dogs fluctuating. Once again, it vanished once it reached the diamond dog’s torso. “Why?”
As if to answer her question, it reached into its vest pocket and pulled out a small, jagged black rock. It was sharp and had chunks missing, like it’d been ripped out of something. Twilight’s expression only got further perplexed.
“No use. Anti-magic. Makes this easier.”
There was no tone or his voice or emotion behind his eye; he was eerily empty. Without another word, he tossed the black rock towards her.
“Anti-magic? But that’s…we need to go. I-i didn’t think…” she stumbled on her words as she became wrought with panic. The magic around the two diamond dogs vanished, transferring over to Fluttershy and I. There was no force behind it, only a tingling sensation.
It lasted as briefly as when she tried to lift the third diamond dog. One moment, all three of us were swathed in her magic, and just as fast it was gone. When that black rock landed just under her, her horn flickered like a dying light, barely leaving any room for us to see.
“I can’t teleport us?” she asked herself as her gaze dropped to the source of anti-magic just under her nose. “What is this rock? W-”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the small one jump off the ground towards her. My heart stopped as I screamed for Twilight to watch out. She raised her head, the tip of her horn sparking with magic that spread to the rest of it like a coat of paint, pointing it straight at the soon-to-be attacker.
But she wasn’t fast enough.
It grabbed Twilight’s horn with its left paw, slamming the other into her face and smashing her into the ground. Just as swiftly it got on top of her shoulders, using its claws to slit her throat. There was no hesitation, no second thoughts. Just deep gashes as blood spurted from her throat; disgustingly wet gurgling came from her mouth as she tried to scream, or just to breathe.
There was absolutely no sound as I watched this unfold. Somehow, I had forgotten that other creatures bleed too. Not just flinch as an imaginary number hovered over them, or collapsed into dust as they died.
They weren’t monsters.
I couldn’t move. So riddled with crippling fear I couldn’t do anything but collapse to my knees, holding my stomach and keeping my mouth closed out of fear of losing the contents of my stomach if I opened it.
“Twilight!”
Fluttershy screeched as she tried to get to her as quickly as she could, the open first aid kit held tightly in harm's way. She howled as the large diamond dog grabbed one of her wings, having more than enough strength to lift her a foot off the ground. Tears streamed down her face from the pain as he brought his other paw over her shoulder, using his knife-like claws to slash her throat open. The wound was much deeper and wider than Twilight’s. So deep in fact, I could see bone and even some kind of hole. I heard squelching noises as blood spurted out of Fluttershy; she must have been choking on it.
It happened so fast, in just a handful of seconds.
He dropped her like an inanimate object, the first aid kit dropping with her as various medical materials scattered. The desire to save her was almost as strong as the fear.
Almost.
I bit my tongue excruciatingly hard to try to push through, so hard all I could take was copper as blood dribbled down my chin, but it was enough. I jumped forward, by Fluttershy’s side as fast as I could be. The diamond dogs didn’t stop me for some reason.
They likely didn’t believe I could save her. I’m not sure if I did.
Nothing in Fluttershy’s first aid kit could help her here, at least nothing I knew how to use. The first thing that came to my mind was to stifle the bleeding, but I’d be too late if I got up to get the gauze that had unrolled itself and was a few feet away. I had to improvise with what I had on me.
“Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die.” I kept repeating, hoping my words would do anything to keep her alive just a second longer. I don’t think she could hear me, not even turning her eyes to look at me as her tears mixed with her blood. I unwrapped the scarf around my neck, pressing it against the wound on her neck as tightly as I could. “Please don’t die!”
The warm tears streaming down my cheeks were a distraction I couldn’t afford to give a second thought to. My voice got more shrill, hands shaking with desperation as blood darker red than the scarf itself bled through. It covered my hands, but I didn’t let up. Not even as I got gradually weaker thanks to my own wound, feeling colder and like I’ll pass out at any second.
The idea of losing Fluttershy kept me wide awake.
“I’m begging you, don’t die. Please, please, please, please. I…I can’t…” I begged like I was praying to some god, as pointless as I knew it was.
After all, what kind of god would bother to listen to the prayers of a demon?
“I can’t watch someone die again.”
Fluttershy turned her head to face me, at least as much as she could. Her breathing had become nothing more than wheezing, even as she tried to say something to me. No noise came out at all, nothing I could make out.
Before I even had the chance to lower my head in the hopes I could make out her dying words, she was gone. Her wings fell flat onto the ground, limbs following soon after. I watched as the light left her kind eyes, and I could even feel her last heart beat. Though that only slowed the blood flow a bit.
The second mother who had given me a second home was dead, and all that’s left was a corpse. I had blissfully forgotten how much worse that was than a pile of dust. Having other's blood on my hands wasn’t something I had ever experienced before.
Words couldn’t describe how horrifying it was when the person who it belonged to had just been alive and talking to me minutes ago.
I raised my hands from the scarf, unable to tear my gaze from my hands. The stream of tears never even slowed down, but I wasn’t filled with the urge to scream either. There was an unmistakable emptiness inside me when I felt her heart beat for its last time. It sucked everything inside of me into it until there was nothing left.
Or maybe that was the gashes on my side. I couldn’t tell or even form a coherent thought.
The third diamond dog stood on the opposite side of Fluttershy's body, I think. The light had gone out along with Twilight’s, and the cave was nothing more than pitch black to me. I was only guessing based on the sound of his movements.
For what felt like a long time, there was no noise at all. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything; my mind was as void as everything else was.
“I’m sorry.”
I blinked.
“You’re…” I raised my head in the direction the voice came from. “Sorry?”
“Yes.”
The sincereness in his voice had no trace of veneer. What would even be the point of that? They had no reason for deception; they had been upfront about their intentions from the start. The only questions I should be asking is why haven’t they just killed me? Why is one of them apologizing?
“My friends came here to help you, to try to work out some situation where everyone benefits. Even when you yelled at us to leave, they stayed despite the danger because they wanted to help you. Then, you spit in the face of their offer, killing them like cattle. And you’re sorry?”
There was no anger in my voice, no malice or any fleck of ill intent. I truly carried none. Why should I? I could try to kill them, but that would be pointless. They can see, but I can’t. I would just be flailing in the dark, and they’d have no problem putting me down like a rabid wolf.
Besides, what would be the point? I don’t want to live in a world without Fluttershy.
“...yes.”
“And…you won’t even tell me why you came here in the first place, will you?”
A long pause this time. “I can’t do that. I am sorry.”
I scoffed in response.
Part of this was my fault. I knew what was going to happen to us when we came down here. I could have tried to warn Twilight, or at least Fluttershy. She would have listened to me, even if I couldn’t explain everything. Twilight would have listened to her, and we would have been ready. I don’t know how differently things might have gone, but it couldn’t have been worse than this.
All I had to do was talk! Why is it so hard for me?
“Then…” I dropped my head and closed my eyes. “Get it over with.”
I didn’t want to see it coming; I’d witnessed enough death already.
I reached forward in the dark, my hand nudging the unmistakable softness of her wing. It was still warm, and stained. It took both of my arms to lift them up, mostly due to their size since they were practically weightless. I tried to wrap it around my body like she had many times before, but it was stiff and limping. I had to hold it in place or it would fall off.
If I pretended she was just unconscious, it helped. Just a bit.
“Fido.”
The bigger one approached. I could tell by the fact he used his arms to move instead of his legs. Once again, he was the one to kill me. I’m not sure how this time. One moment I was alive, the next I wasn’t.
There was no pain. They were efficient, if nothing else. Not that my preference really mattered. No matter how much death I’d witnessed, how much pain I’d endure, there would always be more to see. Now, instead of being a spectator, I’m being pulled personally to experience it again and again.
Angels have blessings.
Demons have curses.
And this was mine.
__________
The burning wasn’t as intense, and I still couldn’t tell if that meant something.
I opened my eyes in the same room again. In the arms of Fluttershy again. Wrapped in her wings meant to help me with the past, but they could do little for the future.
I could still feel her blood on my hands, the lukewarmth of it and the stickiness in between my fingers. Hours of washing wouldn’t be able to get rid of this feeling. Nothing ever did.
The sound of her heartbeat snapped me out of it; so soothing to listen to, like a lullaby. I was so tired mentally, but physically I had just woken up. I never wanted to get out of bed again, away from the safety of her embrace.
I shifted around, pressing my head into her chest and wrapping my arms around her. She made a light groaning noise, adjusting herself on the bed.
“Chara?”
I recoiled at her voice, free of her own blood and choking. No slashes in her throat, no large dog holding her by her wing.
“Please, hold me.”
I began crying again, maybe even harder than last night. I knew it wouldn’t be the last time.