Disclaimer: I don’t own MLP or Amnesia: Justine
Madness Evolved
“This is the best trip I've ever been on.” said Dusk Sky with a contented sigh.
“Is that because of me or is that because you've never been to Neighagra Falls?” asked her husband Bronze Medal.
Dusk giggled, “Both.” she said with a cheeky grin, Bronze chuckled and pulled her closer.
The two ponies walked down the winding path that led to the hotel, it was the perfect place for a honeymoon; quiet, beautiful and not too expensive.
Bronze began to whistle a tune as he trotted beside his wife.
There’s nothing that could go wrong today he thought.
Bronze’s ears pricked up when he heard a rustling coming from the trees on his left side.
He shrugged it off and kept moving, had he stopped right when he heard the rustling he would have seen the cold eyes watching him and his wife.
When she was very young Justine Florbelle lost her mother, not long afterwards she began to show rather... worrying tendencies, her father- a psychotherapist by trade- saw her, not as a daughter who needed help, but as a test subject.
Over the years he put young Justine through a series of tests designed to study her growing psyche, the nature of these tests began to take its toll on Justine’s already unstable mind, her issues were made worse by the constant reminders that she wasn't a beautiful as her late mother.
Over the years her madness increased until she had become a full-blown psychopath. After murdering her father and taking over his estate she began building her Cabinet of Perturbation, which was designed to aid her in her her pursuit of the two things that really mattered to her: Tests and Results.
Then she met them: Alois Racine, Basile Gireaux and Malo De Vigny.
Her loyal Suitors.
How fun it had been to torment them and turn them on each other.
When she had driven a big enough rift between them she had drugged them, taken them under her estate to her Cabinet and tortured them.
When their pain no longer satisfied her she decided that it was time for the Ultimate Test: she finished mutilating the Suitors, caught the three people that had been sent to investigate her and then gave herself amnesia through heavy drug induction.
When she had awoken she had been thrust into a dark world of monsters and prisoners.
It took a seemingly endless day of trying to save the three people and avoiding the ghastly things that were stalking her before she regained her memories and left the Suitors and the other three to die.
Then she had become stricken with an illness that she had been susceptible to ever since her teenaged years: Boredom.
Soon she found herself returning to the massive underground catacombs that housed her Cabinet, to her surprise she found that both Alois and Malo had survived.
Alois had chased her down and very nearly killed her, but her superior intelligence had won out and she had trapped him behind bars, taunting him afterwards.
Then Malo came for her .
Justine had watched as Alois broke down and apparently realized just how much of a fool he had been, then Malo had crushed his neck and turned on her.
Justine knew that he was the most physically powerful of the Suitors, despite what Basile said, she had started to run when the red light had enveloped her.
There was a brief flash of pain, a sound like cloth tearing and then nothingness.
Now she was here in this new world.
A world of talking, brightly hued horses who could use magic and were developed enough to have a monarchy.
The possibilities for new tests were nearly endless; she had even begun planning.
First she would find a means to acquire some of the magic that would allow her to look like them, she had a feeling that her current form would be a bit too- distinct.
After that she would find a suitable residence and re-establish her Cabinet of Perturbation, she would have to find a job that would provide her with a decent salary, which probably wouldn’t be too hard considering the ponies seemed to be absurdly kind.
After that it would only be a matter of time before she would ensnare more potential suitors.
She smiled to herself as she imagined cutting them open to see how they worked, breaking their horns off to extract their magic, she would abacinate them, harness them and then see how long it took for them to go insane, when she had enough data she would move on to other species.
Justine walked back to the abandoned house that she had had the luck of waking up in, it was small, obviously built to accommodate ponies, and it was cold, but it was better than nothing.
As soon as she was inside the darkened house she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise, she had the feeling that she was being watched from the shadows.
Spinning around she scanned her surroundings, only to be see nothing but bare walls and mouldering furniture.
Justine felt a shiver run through her body just as a breeze blew through the broken windows, was it her or was it getting colder? She knew that this place had odd weather fluctuations, but the onset of the nightly chill seemed to have come early.
Justine sat on a moth-eaten bed that had been placed in the corner of the main room, she leaned her back against the wall and breathed out to try and calm herself.
Her breath came out as a fine mist.
The cold hit her like a wall of ice, making her feel like her very bones were freezing; outside she could hear the wind pick up, which brought with it the sounds of rustling leaves and creaking wood, Justine looked out one of the windows and was shocked to see snow falling.
Justine got up and walked to the doorway, the snow was covering the ground in record time and there were already icicles forming on the boughs of the trees, Justine tried to look past the trees encircling the house but saw only a veil of darkness so thick it looked almost solid.
As Justine peered into the darkness she got the same feeling as before, but now it was even more intense, dread began to cloud her mind and blur her vision as she wondered what was happening.
Justine felt herself being drawn to the darkness and she stepped out onto the carpet of fresh snow, she felt like she had entered a dream, everything seemed to slow down and blur at the edges like a frosted glass.
She made her way to the very edge of the darkness on numb feet, around her she could hear the wind increase in force, yet it barely seemed to disturb the spidery branches on the trees or the snow on the ground.
The darkness drew closer and, as it did, Justine heard a very familiar laugh.
Justine snapped out of her revere as dread became pure terror.
Then the person behind the laugh spoke.
“Bonjour, Mademoiselle Florbelle, It’s been a while since I smelled your fear, now I get to do more than just smell it: I get to taste it.”
Justine whimpered as Malo stepped out of the darkness, or did the darkness move back from him? The Mad Suitor was just as naked and skeletal as he had been the last time she saw him, but now his chains, collar and wounds were gone, leaving only smooth, pale skin.
But that was not what made Justine so afraid, what made her afraid were the two eyes sitting in his sockets: yellow eyes with mismatched, red pupils that seemed to gleam with insanity.
Justine attempted to turn so she could start running, but she found that she couldn't, she looked at her feet and screamed when she saw that the shadows had stretched out and wrapped themselves around her ankles.
She looked back up and found Malo’s gaunt face only inches from hers, he smiled at her and she recoiled: he had far more teeth than could possibly fit into a human mouth.
“Poor little Justine” Malo crooned, “ alone in this new world of Ponies and Gryphons and Dragons. You’re like-what was her name? Oh yes, Alice Liddel from that novel, Through the Looking Glass, I always liked that story, but now it seems like I get to live it.”
“If I’m Alice, then who are you? The Mad Hatter or the Queen of Hearts?” asked Justine, regaining some of her composure, composure which was quickly lost when Malo gave her his answer.
Malo’s deranged grin widened to impossible lengths, “I guess I’m the Cheshire Cat... and I've just caught a little mouse.”
Justine realized what he meant and opened her mouth to scream, but Malo’s teeth were quicker, they sheared through her throat like a hot knife through butter.
The last thing Justine saw were Malo’s bloodstained teeth shining like pearls in the moonlight.
Malo licked the blood from his teeth and sighed in contentment, he had wanted to do that for a long time, he looked at her body and felt his stomach rumble, I think I’ll eat her in a bit he thought I need to test my powers a little bit more.
Malo raised his fingers and snapped.
The trees surrounding him all turned into massive, purple centipedes with moth wings and ram horns.
SNAP!!
The individual snowflakes on the ground became very small human skulls.
SNAP!!
A chocolate cloud appeared above the skull-snow and began raining bits of cotton candy.
SNAP!!!
The abandoned house vanished in a puff of smoke and was replaced by a towering building composed of freakish angles and rusty metal.
Malo grinned pridefully at his accomplishments like a child who has just learned to fry ants with a magnifying glass, he snapped and teleported Justine’s body into his castle, leaving only a pool of blood behind.
The Suitor began to walk to his castle when he realized that something was very, Very wrong: He had no clothes,
Malo looked down at his nude body and groaned in frustration, This will NOT do! he thought angrily, How will I strike fear into the hearts of all of these succulent little morsels if I am naked?!.
He looked around for something that would suffice for clothing:
The tall pine tree in front of him? Too hard he thought
That cluster of truffles near that old log? I don’t want to attract swine he groused
Justine’s attire? It’s too tacky he whined
Then his new eyes were drawn to the shadows that nearly encompassed him and he smiled.
He snapped his fingers and the shadows began to stretch out towards him like the tentacles of some ancient sea monster reaching for a hapless sailor.
They pooled around his feet and then began to undulate and move like dark water, he watched in utter glee as the now liquefied darkness enveloped his feet and began to creep up his legs. He held out his hands and let the shadows that lurked in between the trees latch on to his arms.
The shadows, now given some kind of terrible sentience, slithered over his thin body, making the pale skin as black as pitch.
Within seconds the living shadows had formed knee-length boots, pants and an overcoat with coattails and an undershirt.
He smiled, then just as quickly frowned; something was off.
With a gasp he realized what it was, he snapped his fingers again and the blood from Justine’s throat wound bubbled and then shot into the air, it became like a red mist that floated to Malo as if blown by a stiff wind; it wrapped itself around his neck and hands to form an ascot and a pair of gloves that were colored crimson.
Now this attire has color he thought with a smirk.
Now all I need is a mode of transportation
He snapped his fingers and several dozen chitinous insect legs erupted from the ground underneath his castle, making clicking noises as they dug their clawed ends into the hard earth, Malo stepped to one of them and allowed it to lift him to his front door, which looked like a mouth screaming in agony.
The instant that he was beyond the threshold the mouth snapped shut, Malo walked up the flesh-wrought stairs that led to the second and a half floor, he snapped his fingers again and a tear appeared in the fleshy wall like a fresh wound, Malo looked out at the peaceful land before him and giggled at the thought of all the fun he was going to have.