//------------------------------// // The Torment of Our Minds // Story: Son of Invention // by Zman537 //------------------------------// (Jenny: Golden Oaks Library) Jenny’s eyes were watering as she contorted her face in pain. Celestia’s shout of surprise had been akin to several fog horns going off in her ears. Thankfully, it had only lasted for a brief moment, and there was a distinct lack of ringing in her ears... somehow. It seemed that little bonus wasn’t helping the headache it caused though. Owwwwww...... Rarity and Twilight’s manes were blown back from the force of the shout as well, and were holding their place in the air, Twilight’s mane going to her left, as she was sitting next to Celestia, and not in front of her like Rarity. “I-It is as I said your highness... Sweetie Belle told me she had been playing with her new friend Boris, who happens to be... Invention’s... son.” Celestia’s composure from earlier was gone as she stared in shock. She could only shake her head in a small attempt to regain it. “I... apologize for my, outburst. I wasn’t expecting any news of such to be brought to my attention.” She took a look at her tea before shaking her head and standing. “I... I need to think about this.” Twilight shared a worried glance with Rarity as Celestia left the Golden Oaks, Leaving only Jenny, Luna, and themselves. Luna sighed before taking a sip of tea to hide her muttering. “No wonder she gorges herself on cake...” She set down her cup before looking over at Rarity. “I apologize for my sister. But may I ask for more details? Did your sister describe this Boris to you in any way?” Rarity nodded and regained her posture before speaking. “That she did, your highness. Sweetie had described this, Boris, to have a similar appearance to what I remember Invention looking like. The few differences I can acquire from what she told me is that Boris is smaller, has a blonde mane, green eyes, and that there was something strange about them.” Jenny cocked her head to the side. “Uh... strange? How exactly strange?” Rarity tapped her chin as she levitated her tea back to her face. “Sweetie said they didn’t look “real” to her. Something about looking like they were made from one of my emeralds, and they also seemed to glow somewhat.” Jenny leaned back a bit and took a long drink of her tea. “Oh. Uh, that’s rather... inhuman, for lack of a better word.” Twilight looked over at her in curiosity and Jenny set down her cup and pointed at her eyes. “Humans only have a set number of eye colors possible. While possible to have green eyes, radiantly bright emerald green is not one of them. Neither is the ability to glow.” Jenny put a hand on her chin. “Thought that’d be admittedly a little cool.” Everyone in the room was silent as the two unicorns and alicorn looked at Jenny. Rarity started to look around a bit until a snore from upstairs caused them all to look up. Luna closed her eyes before smiling politely at Twilight. “I am afraid I must be off Twilight. The Night Court was canceled due to recent events, and I am to need my rest for tomorrow's inevitable petitions and angry nobles.” Both unicorns and the lone human bowed slightly as Luna made her leave. When she had left, Jenny barely stifled a yawn as Rarity failed to do so. “Oh my, It is getting rather late.” Rarity turned to Twilight and gave her a friendly smile. “I assume that our original plans for a picnic this weekend with the others are up to debate?” Twilight shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I’m sure we can get this mess sorted out before then. If Invention happens to be a father, he can’t be all bad can he?” Both of them shared a small, yet uneasy, laugh before Rarity took her own leave and headed back to her home. Jenny just awkwardly sat on the couch before sipping her tea a little. Twilight was still standing at the door when she cleared her throat and Twilight’s ear flicked some. “So uh.... where do I sleep?” Twilight jumped a bit before turning to face Jenny again with a blush on her cheeks. “Oh, uh. I could get the spare room ready. It shouldn’t take long.” She hastily trotted over to the stairs before sheepishly grinning at her guest. “Be just a moment.” Jenny shrugged after the unicorn was out of view before taking a long drag of tea and sighing. She was silent until she was sure that she was alone before she started to mutter to herself. “Now I wish I had some alcohol. It’d make whatever kind of dream this is more interesting.” (????) I woke in the middle of a forest. Similar to that of the Everfree, I felt the magical energy of the enchanted forest, but while the energy felt the same, I could sense it was different. Another world… I thought to myself. Despite this being my third or fourth world, I was feeling homesick. The ring on my finger burned a sickly red hue, an indication of a Sinner. My brows lifted with surprise. Not only a Sinner, but one of Pride! “We are to have much fun, Sinner…” (Invention: Everfree Forest?) I walked through the darkened trees, looking at the gnarled branches in confusion. “What am I doing out here? Wasn’t I just in my ship?” I heard a snap come from my right and put my hand on my blade. “Who’s there?” Another snap from behind caused me to turn, draw my blade, and point towards the source of the noise. “Show yourself!” I looked around the forest, seeing nothing but still on guard. Always could be an animal, but I didn’t feel like being lunch at the time. The snapping stopped suddenly, leaving me to think that I was either spotted by whatever was stalking me and it was waiting to pounce, or that it was just a deer that had lost its way before seeing me and running. I lowered my blade some, but kept it in my hands as I continued on through the brush. “There must be some way out of here. Now which way is my ship?” As I walked through the forest blade still in hand, my normally stable mind began playing tricks on me. I started to hear...music? It consisted of a chorus of muses singing to me over the screech of metal scraping against metal. I stopped in my tracks and started looking around again, trying to find the source of the sound, only for it to seemingly come from every direction possible. Even covering my ears did nothing to end the onslaught of sound as it continued to viciously tear through my eardrums. My ears rang from the screech of the metal and my vision started to tremble. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind of the noise and pain. When that didn’t work, I tried focusing on whatever birds I could find, only there were no birds to be seen anywhere. Just what kind of a forest does not have any birds!? Then, I saw it… This thing, this monster of a man, come from behind the trees. Behind it, it scraped the largest blade I had ever seen, making the same horrible screech. Its feet thumped against the ground, his steps heavily exaggerated, but when I tried to get a look at its face… All that was there was this big rusted steel contraption I haven’t seen before, and what looked like a rotary lock on the back of it. The music slowly faded out as the thing walked out of my sight. I realized I was kneeling on the ground, as if I waited for it to come and get me. There were even tears beginning to form from whatever the creature had instilled into my mind. I rubbed my eyes and sheathed my sword before I stood up and walked in the exact opposite direction. No way, no how am I going to let that thing get to me. I need to get home, and fast. I heard another twig snap, and I instantly turned and whipped out my blade fearing that the monster was behind me. Only the trees greeted me once more. “Nothing… I’m getting paranoid…” As I began to sheathe my sword again, a low groan froze me solid. I dared not to turn around. Keeping my breath as calm as I could, I slowly walked forward only to have a resounding thump and a screech come from behind me. A red glow of some kind came from behind me. Then, it roared. I heard the air howl as his blade came crashing down as I dived away, cutting the tree next to me cleanly in two. I stared at the raw strength of this beast, this monster from Hell itself. Even the craziest part of my mind was telling me to run and hide. I was going to be damned if I didn’t listen to it, so I quickly started sprinting in the opposite direction. As I ran, I could hear it charging after me. For some reason though, no matter how hard I tried to activate my boots in attempts to fly out of reach, they simply would not turn on. I even searched through my coat and found all of my items and materials gone. All I had was my sword and.... Why do I have Boris’s Crystal on me!? I stared dumbfounded at the crystal that hung from my neck as I continued running towards the top of what looked like a hill. The act ended up costing me as I felt my foot get snagged on an exposed root and my ankle let out an obscene pop. I cried in agony as I tumbled down the hill’s rugged slope, coming to rest down at the bottom covered in scrapes and cuts. I groaned as I tried to stand, propping myself up and looking at the hill again. Nothing. I let out a sigh and looked down at the crystal with a small smile. “That was a close one. Wouldn’t you sa-” I stared down at my chest and saw not Boris’s crystal, but another. This one, a large red ruby, cut into the shape of a perfect, triangular pyramid that pointed down, and had a six-petaled flower encompassed in a circle engraved in the top face. I hadn’t seen this specific crystal in over 1500 years. It.... It had been what fueled him all those years ago. But.... but it had to have been destroyed! Why was it here!? WHY IS IT ON MY NECK!? I tried to take it off, but it felt like it weighed a ton despite it bouncing freely on my neck. It began glowing the same sickly red as the beast before I heard a howl rage in front of me. I looked to see its massive blade hurtling towards me, and out of desperation, I held out my sword to block his attack. So imagine my surprise when it worked. I looked up at his struggling blade as it pressed against mine, sparks flying every which way. He made a howl of frustration and took the blade in both hand before pressing down. Now I was one struggling to keep his sword up. Your pain is that of a parent who has lost a child… A rather feminine echo in my head, Will you not allow him to set you free from your torment? “Like Hell I will!” I said to the woman’s voice before I rolled out of the way of his sword. I tried to stand, but it felt as though my ankle was broken. Further inspection showed that I had, indeed, broken my ankle. I cursed my bad luck and tried to hobble away. This guy is either very quiet, or he is faster than he looks, because during my little hobble session, he managed to get in front of me without my notice. I tried to turn away, but a meaty hand tightly grasped my throat and raised me in the air. He had to pivot his whole body to look me straight in the eye, and it was unfortunate he did, because in the same token I could smell his rancid breath. I truly tried to fight back against his unrelenting grip, but my face of confidence quickly turned into one horror as I realized there was no way out of this mess. I was likely going to suffer a fate worse than imprisonment… I’m sorry Boris, Vicky… for not being there all the time. Ed, Steve… Please try to make due without me again? Celestia, what I did all those years ago was for the good of peace and safety, you did not want Him running around as much as I did. Robin… I’m so sorry… I felt the creature tighten its grip and then it tossed me to the ground where I heard a resounding snap. My left leg was bending in a obscene direction, and I cried out in pain. I could only look up at the creature that loomed over me as I heard a voice call out through the darkness. “What have we learned to today, young one?” I trembled as I started responding. “...I learned… That it’s better to confront your…” I paused for a moment and closed my eyes tightly, lost in thought. “No… W-what have I learned?” As I continued to try and come up with an answer, It looked down at me, as if it was contemplating on what it should do. When it had decided what to do, I wasn’t expecting it be so fast. I felt a pain burst from my chest as it moved faster than I could blink. Looking down, I saw its-- no his blade sticking out from me from the very center of my chest. As everything went black, it leaned down and whispered to me. “You have learned nothing from your past mistakes… Zeke...” (Invention: The Gilgamesh) I woke with a start and quickly found myself sitting where I had laid down before having gone to sleep. My heart was pounding at a ridiculous pace, and my head was matching each of my heart's pulses with a painful one of its own. I quickly checked myself over, searching for the wounds that had been inflicted on me. However, there was no gaping hole in the chest, my ankle still worked fine, and my leg was absolutely fine. I got up and looked through my coat as it hung next to me on the remnants of the bookcase. I proceeded to check every pocket, finding that everything I remembered was still there, in shape, and exactly where I left each one. I took several deep breaths before I sat down next to the book case, slowly losing the fight to stay awake. I still had trouble going to sleep, however, as every time I heard one of the ships gears screech or howl from the wind, I shot up right away and reached for my sword… The Eyes of the Pyramid had only one emotion: Rage… and for whatever reason I don’t think it was dream… But more of a vision… I let my mind drift back to the memories that the dream had brought forth, feeling the pain of my heart tearing as I began to silently cry. My gaze had moved to a spot on the wall that I remembered having a photo hanging from at one point. While the pictures were all long gone, I could still remember in vivid detail just what photos went where. The faded rings on the wall helped with the exact locations. But the one that was in my room aboard the Gilgamesh, the one I looked at now, had once held a photo I had taken of all of my family. Boris, Victoria, Robin, Steve and Ed. Heh, the generator that Boris had named Chuck. Even he was in the photo, smiling between Boris and Victoria as Robin stood next to Victoria, and I stood between Steve and Ed behind them. The home I had built practically from scratch had stood proudly in the picture behind us and all of our smiling faces. We were all so happy back then. It had seemed like, nothing could have ruined that moment. But life, and the very world itself, is a exceptionally cruel mistress that cares not for our personal desires. It only ensures that each rendition of itself goes along the correct path. If I had known that all those years ago.... maybe, I could have stopped him before it had gotten out of hand. I’m so sorry... Alex... Robin... I’m so, so sorry... When I managed to sleep that night, it was dreamless.