//------------------------------// // Runaway // Story: Mutant // by Romaji //------------------------------// Chapter music Twilight took a deep breath. I'm homeless now. She thought to herself. She looked around, noticing the near silence, the only sounds being car engines on the highway and crickets nearby. Will I ever find home? Right then, she noticed she was highly visible, on the streetlamp lit sidewalk. Got to hide myself. I can't be seen. Walking in the (near) darkness, she reminisced about the life she used to live. Her memories. The Lab, 2021 October 11. Kittery walked into the 'mane' room very quietly. She thought nopony could hear her, but Twilight, sleeping lightly, woke up. Her eyes were hazy, as one would expect when one wakes up. "Uhgh..." Kittery had a comical shocked expression on her face. She was sneaking in a pose that you would find in a kids cartoon, exaggerated. Twilight, eyes clear now, pointed at her with a hoof and said "A hah! Got ya!" Kittery had that cute little pouty face that Twilight wore yesterday to ask that the data got recorded to the laptop. "Darn it, I wanted to make everypony's second birthday a surprise!" Twilight replied back to her. "Aww, don't worry. I won't wake them up." The memory faded as she came to a road. Woa there, Twilight. Don't want to die like that... What is that? I think it's a squirrel. Don't want to end up like that squirrel. Or, more accurately, former squirrel. Thankfully, the traffic stopped, letting the little filly not get killed crossing the Lincoln highway. No one will notice me. And there is food on the other side. I'll survive longer than that jerk who killed mom expected me to live. Twilight thought to herself. Then she froze. So... I'll live eight days. She then heard cars in the distance. She ducked underneath, below the bumper, clutching her legs as cars raced above her. In this moment, she remembers a time where things were better. The Lab, 2021 October 21. Twilight was excited. SUPER excited. She learned something new! She used her thingy on top of her head to hold things! I have to teach this to Rarity! She thought to herself. "Mommy! Look at what I did!" She said as she held up a block with her magic. Kittery Abigail smiled and replied "I knew you could do it!" The other scientists look at the aura field keeping the block afloat. One of them, speaking for the entire group, said "I... I can't believe it!" Kittery turned to them and said "John, you owe me $10 dollars." After being handed the money, she said to the whole group "Well, this gives us more to research right?" Matthew spoke up "Understatement of the year 2021". Just then, Twilight's concentration slipped, sending the block into an air vent. "Whoops!" John looked up the air vent. "This is just a hypothesis, but I think she put a little more into that spell than she wanted to". Kittery looked up as well. "Hey, well the first time I did a lab project, I tried to show the effect of lemon juice on potatoes. Still have no clue why it got stuck on the ceiling". Dan looked at Kittery strangely. "How?" "My mom covered the potatoes in sodium hydroxide. I, for one, think she was pulling a prank on me". "A plus for originality". As the memory faded, Twilight's sadness overcame her. Just then, both sides of the highway came to a halt, letting the filly finish crossing the road. It stayed stopped for a while, which is good because she had a hard time getting over the mid road boundary. On the other side, she ducked into the trees. How did it all fall apart so fast? She thought to herself. I have a laptop. There is a coffee shop nearby. I can look it up. She got the laptop bag off her back. She was going to open it, when she remembered who it belonged to. She hesitated, then started to cry. All those emotions she held back for her survival came rushing out, even faster than the tears. "Why? Why does it have to end like this? Why?" She wailed. In her sorrows, she just had to remember one of the best times in her life to hammer the nail in even further. Twilight had collapsed to the ground by the time she was done with her memory. Drive fading, she gave herself some (small) consolation with this: There is nothing I can do about it. I have to be strong or die. She trudged forwards, towards her only chance for survival: A Starbucks. Whoops, forgot the laptop. She walked back to the computer and decided to put a hoof to the power button. Welcome to functOS v42 r77 ____/\ \/ USERNAME: █ Twilight always wondered why Kittery had a text prompt come up instead of pictures. Putting that in the back of her mind, she entered her login. USERNAME:X42 PASSWORD:lw42kittab Logged into "Starbucks WiFi" Network. WARNING: NETWORK UNSECURED. LAB SERVERS UNAVAILABLE. X42@KitteryLaptop ~ $ chrome -B="Daily Show" Twilight didn’t really understand what she typed, but she did know it launched the Daily Show website. She clicked the latest episode and waited through the ads. The Daily Show “Hello, and welcome to the Daily Show! Our guest was going to be John White, but,” John Stewart gesturing to his right as he continued, “He turns out to be on a scientist team that leads right into our big news for the day.” He turned to face the camera as he straightened out his papers. “We have made intelligent life.” The audience is dumb struck. John raised his his hands, as if to say ‘really? nothing?’. “Seriously? Weren't at least one of you at the taping of the Colbert Report?” After looking around, seeing if he gets any response, he put his hands down on the table. “But, it is, surprisingly, true.” A picture of the six fillies appeared on the left of the screen. John pointed at the picture as he said “And yes, that is a photograph. Not the cast for a new cartoon show.” The audience went “awww”. John looked over at the picture, then to the camera. Talking in a comically stern voice “Yes, I know it’s,” He looks down at his paper, “adorable to use their wording for it but-” His gaze snapped back to the picture, now with an attempt at a ‘cutesy’ face on. “Aw wu witle pownes! I jwest wana wub thwat witle fwace forever!” The audience cheered, snapping John back to his normal state. After the crowd calmed down, John looked right at them and said “Now, we know of this because CNN had it on in the morning. I just want to show you how they handled it.” Clips showing CNN talking about Jennifer Lopez’s son come up. “Yes, that is what they showed for most of the morning time slot. Not the FACT THAT WE HAVE MADE INTELLIGENT LIFE!” The audience cheered. “Not only that, but they payed you 3 million dollars to have your crew come and tape them! CNN, I don’t care what Jennifer Lopez’s son will do in the future. He’s not as important as this!” At that point, Twilight’s thoughts drifted to her hungry stomach. She didn’t even have breakfast today. I think I’m going to eat some crumbs over there… What am I? An animal? Twilight sighed. Survival first, dignity second. Her attention drifting to the laptop, she closed the lid and packed it up. Her horn flared, lifting the computer on to her back. Twilight trotted slowly to the Starbucks. Surving just to spite some jerk… life has gone to the toilet. Twilight came to another road. The uncaring cars roar past, their lights only reminding Twilight how much she was in the dark. No! Mind! Don’t remind me how good my life was! It’s depressing enough as it is! But her mind refused to listen. The Lab, 2022, June 5. Twilight stood in the mane room. Everypony else has gone to sleep, but she couldn’t. Twilight looked out over the room from a perch made from blocks and binders. I feel cold. What’s wrong? Woops, What’s wrong with me? Just then, she heard the sound of a car pulling into the drive. Huh? Twilight, listening intently, then heard someone get out of the car, open the door and take their coat off. Who is it? Kittery opened the door to a surprised Twilight. Twilight questioned with “Why are you here?” Kittery smiled and said “Shhhh... Twilight, don’t talk so loud. You’ll wake them up.” Twilight, embarrassed, said in a quieter, softer voice “I’m sorry.” Kittery gently patted the small filly. “It’s ok. Sometimes we all need a little reinforcement. But, to answer your question, I came back because I knew something was wrong.” Twilight lept into her arms. Kittery cuddled the filly until she fell asleep. Twilight returned from her flashback. These engines don’t have that warmth. They have no joy. After a while, the traffic stopped for pedestrians. Twilight began sneaking under the cars. Is it a pattern if it only happens twice? Twilight ate some crumbs and whatever else raccoons and rats feed off of. It was horrible, but it was food. Twilight yawned. I should go to bed. She moved some trash in the alleyway around to make a “bed”. She fell asleep on the pile of trash, alone. As she faded out of consciousness, she saw this: She was over Kittery Abigail’s body again. This is off to a bad start. Blood leaked out of the holes in Kittery’s body, onto Twilight’s hooves. I wish she was alive. At that moment, the blood turned into black goop, and flowed back into Kittery’s body, then she woke up. Yes! Yes! Yes! Kittery spoke. “Yessss… This specimen will do nicely…” Oh fuck. Twilight replied, losing faith that this was really Kittery. “Kitt? What’s wrong?” Kittery, with a voice that did nothing to sooth the increasingly frightened filly, said “Don’t worry, your true form will awaken soon, MUTANT!” Wh-What? I’m not a mutant! Twilight squeaked out “I’m not a mutant! It’s me, Twilight!” Fingers growing into tentacles, “Kitt” stood with a look of indifference on her face. “What you were or what I was matters not. The only thing that matters is what we will become, Yog-Sothoth!” I don’t know what that is, but it doesn’t sound good. While “Kitt” was talking, the blood on Twilight’s hoof turned into black goop. No! NoNoNo! NoNoNo! NoNoNo! NoNoNo! NoNoNo! “Kitt” pointed the mass of tentacles that used to be her hand at Twilight and said in an echoing voice, “Yog-Sothoth! Silence this thing!” Twilight tried to scream, but the quickly growing tentacle wrapped itself around her muzzle, preventing all communication. GET IT OFF! FUCK NO! The monster that used to be Kittery shouted in a chilling, echoing voice “COME, WRETCHED HELL SPAWN! SERVE YOUR CREATOR!” Hell spawn? Oh fuck. On “her” call, the other five ponies came out of the shadows, revealing their dripping, mutilating forms. I have to get out of here. I don’t want to become like them. “HELL SPAWN! FUSE!” And with that, the other ponies mixed into one mass of black goop that became a chair for the monster. On “Her” new throne, “she” pointed a projection of black goop at the vita-chambers, which turned into the same malevolent substance. “YOG-SOTHOTH! MAKE THE LAND AND SEA PART OF YOU! KETH’LGHR GEHLKIGHR’GHRRETH! I OFFER THE PURPLE ONE AS TRIBUTE!” Gehtigkillkillkill. Gehtigkillkillkill. Gehti… SHIT! It’s messing with my brain! “Offer the purple one as tribute”? FUCK Twilight tried to run, but her quickly forming mutations made this useless. Come on legs! you can do it! “THEY CAN’T ANYMORE. YOU WILL BECOME PART OF ME! YOU WILL BECOME PART OF MY HORRIBLE CREATION!” Twilight was bound to the floor, stuck in the black goop, mutated into a form that is simply a indescribable abomination she couldn't even bring herself to look at, never mind conceive. What am I? What have I become? “WHAT YOU ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!A MUTANT!” “She” said as “She” threw Twilight into the abyss of goop outside. Twilight woke up with a start. She looked herself over. Good, I’m not a monster. Sitting, shaking in the cold night Twilight thought to herself I wish someone was here to comfort me. Someone to hug me. In a soon becoming predictable fashion, her mind drifted to an appropriate flashback. The Lab, 2024 December 8th. Twilight woke up from a nightmare. “Bwaah!” Looking at Kitt with her tear covered eyes she whimpered “The other ponies ganged up on me and kicked me out!” Kittery hugged and comforted the quaking filly. “I won’t let them kick you out.” All of a sudden, black goop started dripping out of Kitt’s mouth. With a cold tone, she said “You’re too useful!” Black cracks formed around the filly’s vision. As a scientist spoke up, the cracks widened and her vision blurred. She thought she heard him say “Abigail! You’re acting crazy! Is there something wroGehtigkillkillkill Gehtigkillkillkill Gehtigkillkillkill... As he continued, Twilight’s memory slowly collapsed. Twilight shook. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Had Twilight forgotten who Kitt was? No. It couldn't be. To know someone for your entire life just to forget who they were as soon as they died? Twilight froze. What if she was always like that? No. She couldn’t accept it. If that was true, she would have taken the bullet. If that was true, she’d die. Curling up into a small ball, she got hit with a terrible revelation. She either was like that the whole time, or I’ve forgotten who she is. I’ve either gone crazy, or I’ve finally realized the truth. Putting those disturbing thoughts aside, she looked out of the alley onto the sidewalk. She saw people oblivious to her pain running with coffee to their jobs. One man wasn’t so obvious to her plight. A man by the name of Deviant Andover noticed her. Dev walked into the alley and picked her up Twilight curled up. She didn’t know what to think of him, but she was in no condition to fight him. He picked up the laptop and put it in his backpack. He cooed to the filly “You poor thing. I’ll be nice.”