//------------------------------// // Concerns // Story: Philosophy, Deceit, and the Regrets of a Monster // by MenialLabor //------------------------------// Princess Celestia had concerns. One would think that this goes without saying, but her little ponies, bless their hearts, had a habit of making poor assumptions. While they never bring this up to her in person, many seem to believe that she raises the sun every morn then proceeds to relax and eat cake (curse that tabloid) the rest of the day. The reality of the situation was that a nation the size of Equestria takes quite a bit of effort to govern. While appointed officials and nobles can ease some of the burden and prevent Celestia’s need to micromanage, she still needs to handle a great number of things. However such things were, at the time, the least of her concerns. Her concerns were centered around (aren’t they always) Everfree Forest, and the recent magical anomaly that was sighted within it. Really, if the anomaly had just stopped after unknown animals howling, she would just assume the problem (if there was one) would solve itself like Everfree problems usually do. After all, Everfree had a nasty habit of doing things itself. Then a report of some never-before-seen monster had ruined that. Everfree has always been strange, but never before had it just spat out some entirely new creature. She’d been around for almost as long as the forest itself, after all. She would know. Under normal circumstances after hearing of some unknown bipedal betentacled creature, she would immediately send a squad of guards to keep Ponyville safe and discourage any beast from coming too close. However, the report of the creature was vague at best, and apparently supplied by the pets of the Element of Kindness. The letter had detailed that Fluttershy had no memory of the supposed encounter, as she had fainted and apparently gotten temporary amnesia. Celestia wasn’t one to ignore her subjects, even the pets of her subjects, but the evidence suggested that the animals were jumping at shadows. That wasn’t to say that she was going to completely ignore the letter though. Celestia had written a reply warning Twilight and her friends to keep townsponies away from the Everfree for a while, and to send her a letter the second anything escalated. So the princess then lowered the sun, hoping her concerns would soon follow it below the horizon and out of sight. It was not to be. After the sun had been lowered and her sister had taken over court, Celestia still clung onto her concerns as she restlessly tossed and turned in her bed. She had the worrisome feeling that she should have sent a few guards to Ponyville anyway… “It smells like cat piss.” Blacklight and Dana stood outside of the mouth of a medium sized cave, Blacklight holding in his arms three six packs of sodas and assorted junk foods stacked high enough to cover his face. The sun was beginning its descent on the western horizon, and Blacklight wasn’t about to let Dana sleep outside. Blacklight nodded. “That’s because a cat pissed nearby.” “I figured. It smells pungently of cat piss.” Dana clarified, wrinkling her nose. “It does.” He nodded again. “Cats bury their piss.” “They do.” “So for it to smell this much like cat piss, a very big cat must have pissed. Recently.” “Indeed.” Blacklight agreed. “So… maybe we shouldn’t go in that cave?” Blacklight looked at Dana. “Felines aren’t cave dwellers.” “Yeah, and unicorns don’t exist. We were wrong about one certainty, we can be wrong about another.” Blacklight blinked. That… was a surprisingly logical assumption. “Fair enough.” He admitted. “But there’s nothing in that cave right now.” “How do you know- super vision?” “Super vision.” He confirmed. Not a lie; his vision is quite super compared to humans. Dana blinked and shook her head. “Right. But what if this hypothetical cave-cat came back while we’re sleeping?” “I’ll stand guard.” Dana turned to him. “All night?” “I don’t need to sleep” at all “as often as normal.” He explained. He figured this was readily apparent, considering she had never seen him sleep. She creased her brow. “You know, I read a study online that going without sleep does some bad shit to the mind, even if you aren’t tired.” That is true. It’s a good thing my mind is nothing like a human’s, Blacklight inwardly chucked. “I mean, like” Dana continued. “sleeping is when your brain sorts out all kinds of stuff. It just isn’t healthy to go without it, even if you don’t physically need it.” While touched by her concern, Blacklight couldn’t help but be a bit bewildered that she would assume that her brother, someone she knows is a genius and has a doctorate in genetics, would not know this. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He said. “I can handle it.” “Fine. But I’m keeping watch tomorrow night.” She conceded, in that ‘argue with me and I’ll launch a verbal assault the likes of which never seen before‘ tone. Blacklight was getting good at identifying her tones. In the end, Blacklight would much rather withstand a hail of missiles launched by Blackwatch than withstand a hail of angry words launched by his sister. “Alright.” He reluctantly agreed. It shouldn’t be too hard to pretend to sleep the next night, and he can leap into action the moment something is even slightly fishy. Yeah, he’ll let her ‘keep watch’ the next night. He won’t be happy about it though. Sleep deprivation is unhealthy, after all. Dana sighed and started walking into the mouth of the cave. “I’d better not step in cat piss. That smell will never come out of my socks.” Blacklight followed after, both soda and the assorted bags of junk food still held in his arms. “Jesus’s erect nipples its cold in here! I thought caves were supposed to be warm!” He heard Dana complain while he set his cargo in a secluded corner of the dark cave. “Cave temperature varies depending on location and altitude.” He helpfully told her. “Great! Now I know! And knowing, as it turns out, was approximately zero percent of this fucking battle!” She raved as she found what Blacklight assumed was a relatively comfortable spot, and lied down curled in a fetal position. Blacklight frowned. The temperature wasn’t low enough to be life threatening, but apparently it was low enough to be uncomfortable. He quickly decided upon a way to rectify the situation. With a flick of thought, his form changed in unseen ways. He could feel as he sculpted his mass and silently allocated the excess flesh held within the ‘leather jacket’ back into himself, while he separated the jacket from himself, a difference only he would notice. With the article of ‘clothing’ no longer attached to him, he swiftly pulled it off of himself, leaving only the gray hoodie and dress shirt. He wordlessly stepped over to Dana, who was shivering whilst curled up on the floor still. Because his biomass is always writhing beneath the surface unless he forces it not to, he generates quite a bit of friction, and in extension, quite a bit of heat. He can obviously control his temperature and mimic that of a regular human’s temperature, otherwise the military would have been able to easily track him using thermal imaging. He chooses not to lower his temperature when he doesn’t have to, as he is stiffer and less agile when he forces his biomass to still. It takes at least half a minute for his biomass to become loose and agile enough for him to move with the same impossible agility he normally has. Really, the heat had always been a useless side effect. It seemed then that he found a use for it after all. He placed the biomass jacket on his sister, startling her due to darkness obscuring his movements. The biomass wouldn’t do anything detrimental unless he willed it to, and it will continue to subtly generate heat throughout the night. The only reason he didn’t make a blanket out of biomass was because Dana would inevitably question where it came from. If she questions the heat, he can easily say it’s left over from him wearing it for so long. If she questions why he himself is so hot, then he can say he had an abnormally high fever ever since he was infected with the ‘superpower’ virus. Not exactly realistic, but she had been assuming up to that point that his abilities point to his infection giving him superpowers. He was thankful at least, that being infected with a completely beneficial virus that hands out superpowers was more believable than being literally composed of the stolen flesh of his victims. The longer he thought about the lie, the more improbable it seemed, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Dana believed him, and that Dana believed that he was, at the very least, fundamentally human. “Thanks, Alex.” He heard Dana mumble as she curled into the jacket. Blacklight nodded as if she could see him in the darkness, before turning around and walking back to stand guard outside of the cave. And so he stood there, motionless like an ever-vigilant golem until the sun rose, wondering what the following day would bring. Darkness. Why is it so dark? Where am I? Where is Alex? I try to stand. I try to move. I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t why can’t I move what is happening? Where is Alex? What is that pulsing why is it so warm? Where am I where is Alex? Wait not darkness. A light! Sunlight! Ray of sunlight! A window? Where am I? Where is Alex? Red. So much red. Everything is red. Red with blood? No no no not all blood. What is it? What is it? Meat? Why is it pulsing? Why does it move? Why am I so warm? I can’t move I still can’t move why can’t I move? Why am I pulsing is that a heart why am I so warm!? Where is Alex? It’s on me why is it on me oh god oh my god it’s on me it’s all over me oh my god oh my god oh my god the red stuff is on me! Footsteps who is that? What do they want? Will they help me am I like them what is happening where am I where is Alex!? Oh my god I remember roaring bouncing screaming Alex screaming screaming my name what happened where am I where is Alex!? Footsteps coming closer who is it who is it who is it please don’t hurt me please don’t don’t no where is Alex!? There. There she is its what’s her name that college girl from Hope Elizabeth Greene it’s Elizabeth Greene what is she doing where am I she is looking at me oh god she is looking at me Alex Alex where is Alex!? Oh no no no she’s walking towards me why can’t I move why can’t I run oh god why does she look like that what is she doing what is she doing she’s standing over me she’s looking at me why can’t I run why can’t I move oh god oh my god where is Alex!? She’s kneeling over me what is she doing she’s smiling why is she smiling her eyes are so dead why is she smiling oh god she’s going to touch me why can’t I scream why can’t I move why can’t I run where is Alex why isn’t he helping where is Alex where is Alex!? Her voice is echoing everywhere why does she sound like that like so many what does she mean why is she leaning in she’s going to touch me don’t touch me I don’t want this I don’t want to die please don’t touch me why can’t I move why can’t I run where is Alex where is Alex where is Alex where is Alex Alex Alex help Alex help me Alex oh my god Alex help me please save me save me save me Alex please save me Alex help me help me ALEX! Dana awoke gasping for breath, covered in a cold sweat. She sat up, hyperventilating, her eyes snapping to every corner of the cave she occupied like a terrified animal. She held a hand to her erratically beating heart, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. “Holy shit that was intense.” She said to herself, taking another shuddering breath. Dana closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously, as if attempting to physically dislodge the nightmare from her mind. She’d been having nightmares ever since that ape thing came for her and the events that followed thereafter. She wasn’t entirely certain what had happened after she fainted in the monster’s grasp, as most of her memories were fuzzy as if she wasn’t entirely lucid while they happened and had hallucinated them. She did remember Greene rather vividly, however. Just as fucked up as the images on her brother’s computer depicted. She had this bloodstained grey jumpsuit on with a collar that met her chin, covering her neck. It had wires, pumps, straps, and other crap she couldn’t really recognize on its arms, legs and back. Her skin was deathly pale, only visible on her uncovered hands and face. She had red splotches on her face, and Dana wasn’t exactly sure if they were bloodstains or some kind of rash. Her hair was red, short and uneven, as if it was cut by a young boy. By far the most unnerving thing about her was her voice. Dana wasn’t even sure if she imagined this or not, as out of it as she was in those dull memories, but Elizabeth sounded like she was several people speaking at once. Even long after she had stopped speaking, you could hear echoes repeating what she had said as if someone was right behind you whispering into your ear. Dana shivered. She didn’t know what happened to Greene, but Alex said she had gotten killed sometime during her coma. He said that was why the infection was dying out, though Dana could also wager that the infection was also dying out due to lack of people to infect. What with most of them being dead at that point. Dana remembers rather clearly the first thing she saw when she woke up after the whole ordeal. An ugly fluorescent light, and Alex’s face staring down at her, concerned, still covered with that stupid fucking hood. It wasn’t comforting that she woke up in a morgue, but he said that the morgue belonged to Ragland, the doctor she had recommended him. She couldn’t help but laugh at the irony that she, just like her brother, woke up in a morgue after she should have been dead. Key differences being that she still had her memories and she didn’t have superpowers. She would have really appreciated superpowers, though. Dana sighed and looked at the cave floor in front of her, and the leather jacket occupying it. She must have thrown it off of herself after her violent awakening. She looked at the jacket with distaste. She never liked his new sense of ‘fashion’, his fashion being never fucking changing his clothes ever. She actually managed to get him to wear something a mugger wouldn’t once, then she took an hour long nap and he was already dressed back in his damn leather jacket/hoodie getup. She just gave up after that. Really, that was one of the other quirks of amnesia-Alex. She knew Alex would never wear that kind of crap before he woke up in a morgue with no memories, and now he fucking refuses to wear anything else. He said he woke up wearing that getup, and it made her wonder why he woke up after supposedly being dead dressed like a fucking alley rapist. Speaking of her brother, where was he? She looked up to the mouth of the cave, not seeing him present. She blinked, before standing up and picking up the surprisingly hefty leather jacket in one hand. He’s probably just taking a piss out in some bushes. With that thought, she walked out of the cave. She stood outside, looking around, before a faint whimper caught her attention. Blacklight was, despite his rather short violent life, surprisingly patient. He stood still, not moving even once throughout the night. There were no predators, small animals, or even birds within his sight. It was almost as if they were avoiding him, as if they could sense how dangerous he is. …Which they shouldn’t be able to. Despite not breathing or blinking throughout the night, he gave no detectable sign that he was not an average human. If he was detectable to animals, the military would have wised up and used dogs to detect him. Perhaps it was the unknown that frightened them; after all, most animals fear humans at a glance. But for there to be nothing; absolutely no sign of any wildlife as if they were aware a predator was nearby… Something was wrong. Blacklight didn’t see, hear or smell anything. Nothing is quiet enough to escape his senses, especially in an environment such as the one he occupied. He was the only viable predator in the area. He scowled. The animals knew something. It’s not that alarming if animals understand his true nature, but it makes him… paranoid. What if the equine inhabitants of the town he was planning on scouting can sense him somehow, like the animals apparently can? That would… complicate things. Blacklight wished there was a way to know for sure before trudging into the town with his ever-fragile sister in tow. Then, as if some higher power was listening to his thoughts, in came a source of information. It was a few hours after the sun had risen when he had heard it. “Mí̱laálogo!” The shout came from a scratchy voice from a distance far beyond the range of human hearing. Blacklight blinked out of pure bewilderment when he translated the statement the voice shouted as if it were a curse. ‘Horseapples’? Then he heard a scream, steadily increasing in volume as if it was getting closer to his position. Blacklight averted his gaze to the sky. It was then did he sight the cyan blur rapidly approaching his position, screaming all the way. He tensed, wondering if he should do something. Then the screaming blur zoomed beneath the tree line, before smashing into the hill the cave his sister was sleeping in was located to the right of his position. He couldn’t see where it landed, but it was close. Blacklight hazarded a glance behind him, to find that Dana had not awoken from the noise. He then glanced around his surroundings, before mentally shrugging. If anything approached the area, he would hear it, as he was fairly certain the equine had crashed nearby. He then began the short trek to the crash site, ducking and weaving around branches the whole way. He was rather surprised by what he came across. The site itself looked like he himself just decided to fall from the sky rather than a small winged equine. The canopy had a strangely large hole in it allowing light to shine through, clearly the point of impact. The dirt and vegetation had been uplifted in the creature’s path, leaving a large streak of disturbed ground leading straight to the small stone cliff-wall that the creature had impacted. The creature itself was a previously dubbed ‘pegasus’ judging by the wings. Blacklight hadn’t seen this one before; we was pretty certain that even if he had the memory of an average human he would never forget anything with a literal rainbow for hair. Its fur was sky blue, its mane and tail a rainbow ranging from the colors red to violet in a far too consistent pattern to be natural. A quick aside glance towards its rear confirmed its gender, with its evidence of femininity being displayed with ‘her’ tail being sprawled away from her the way it is. The pegasus’s fur was matted down with dirt and mud from the crash, with clear red scrapes all over her body. Her left front hoof was clearly dislocated, as was her left wing. A gash lied upon her head, slowly trickling blood out of it, the cause of such obvious from the small speckle of blood on the wall she collided with. Honestly, Blacklight was surprised she was even alive, let alone barely injured (comparatively to what should have happened). He expected a small equine moving at those speeds to be reduced to either an unpleasant stain or a fleshy bag of broken bones and ruptured organs after a crash like that. He clearly underestimated the durability of the creatures. On the up side, Blacklight finally had a reliable source of information. It was perfect; the female clearly crashed into a dangerous forest, so none of the other inhabitants would look to him or his sister if she suddenly… disappeared after such an event. After all, forests are a dangerous place to be wounded and alone in. He could easily consume only her head to get the precious memories, and leave a half-eaten mutilated corpse for closure if the natives came looking for her. They’d assume she got picked at by some predator. He took a step forward, but stopped when the female equine whimpered. He gazed down curiously, seeing her eyes clenched and her muscles tensing in pain. She was still conscious. Barely. That just seemed improbable after a crash like that anything could be conscious afterwards. Blacklight internally shrugged. It didn’t matter if she was conscious or not; she wouldn’t have a chance to scream regardless of her state of alertness. Blacklight took another step forward, wearing a genuine grin. Luck was finally on his- “Alex are you back here? Did you hear- holy shit!” Dana exclaimed as she worked her way through the foliage behind him. His grin snapped back into a frown faster than a human eye could even follow. Motherfucking- “Holy shit it’s actually a- wait, did you do this!?” Dana was next to him, gawking at the sight of the apparently ex-mythical creature. Blacklight turned to give Dana a flat look at the question, before gesturing to the upturned dirt and the hole in the canopy. Dana blinked. “Oh. I suppose I should have- wait no fuck that. You weren’t fucking with me!” Blacklight looked at Dana with a half-lidded expression. “I thought we had established that.” “We did but holy shit it’s actually a fucking horse with wings! And it’s got fucking rainbow hair! Mane! Whatever!” Dana said, dancing in place like a child, before suddenly stopping with a creased brow. “Wait, is it dead? Please tell me it isn’t dead; I’ve seen way too many dead things recently and this little guy is too cute to be dead.” Blacklight was about to answer before a pained moan erupted from the small equine answered for him. “That didn’t sound like a horse sound.” Dana stated the obvious. “That didn’t even sound like a guy sound and-“ She stopped, her eyes widening. “Wait didn’t you say that they were sentient!?” “Sapient.” Blacklight corrected. “Same difference- whatever- look!” The virus frowned. Sentient and sapient are not even close to synonymous. “We have to help her!” Blacklight nodded his head, internally grumbling at the loss of his meal. He shouldn’t have stopped to gawk. Opportunity missed. He vowed not to hesitate should another such opportunity present itself.