//------------------------------// // The Altered World // Story: Greene Fields under Red Lights // by Europa //------------------------------// Mercer He crouched close to the ground, watching his targets. They were grazing, completely unaware of the second deadliest predator in the world stalking them. Second deadliest. Ugh. He stalked a little closer, silent as the grave. His goal was typical; he wanted to comfort them and he had no real idea why, and he wanted to know why. There was a way he could find out, he hoped. He didn't often consume animals, it was just so much more... difficult than consuming humans. His strain simply couldn't work on them as easily. Even Pariah, who made it a point to only eat animals, had trouble. He walked out of the grass... and the herd of wild horses immediately took note of him and galloped away. Alex Mercer brought his palm up to his forehead. "Fucking animals," he groaned. Somehow, they could always sense him, always tell he was much, much worse than a mere human. He prepared himself to give chase, it wasn't like there was anything in the animal kingdom that could outrun him, but suddenly his legs felt heavier and a sensation of weight in his guts tugged backwards. He turned around to see Pariah looking at him cheekily, arms crossed with one brow raised, his four back tendrils limp. "Zeus." "Pariah." "Are you stalking... horses?" "... so what if I am?" "The mighty Zeus, king of the gods, the infamous Monster of Manhattan and terror of the fearless Blackwatch... is stalking wild animals." "Is there a point to this, Pariah?" he snarled. Truth be told, Pariah's presence always unsettled him. It was just something that he did, like how Greene's presence had leaked emotions into him, or how animals could always spot him. Pariah's unfathomable power seemed to create an artificial gravity field around him which he could feel in the depths of his biomass despite the fact that it never attracted anything. "Zeus, you know that you're completely wasting your time. What are you even doing out here?" "I got the feeling I needed to comfort horses. I don't know why, so I'm going to consume a few." "And how's that working out for you?" Pariah's back tendrils raised themselves, a pair on either side of him and waving slowly through the air, as if caught underwater. "It'd be better if you hadn't shown up!" he snapped. "How did you even find me? We're in fucking Tibet!" Pariah wiggled his fingers, and Alex felt something burn on his left shoulder. He looked over to see a black sludge rise off his leather jacket, form an open hand, and then seep back down to where he couldn't see it. "Tracking." He bristled, red and black tendril warping throughout his body and providing the briefest glimpse at the demon that lay beneath his disguise. "Pariah... get it the hell out." It was especially unnerving that he hadn't known it was there. How had Pariah kept it hidden within Alex's own body? "No," Pariah pouted. "I don't want to." "Fine, then I will." Mercer formed his claws on his right hand and focused on the area the slime had dissolved in. Normally his body was immensely resilient; bullets went unnoticed, anything short of an RPG he could simply shrug off, and even tank shells hardly stung. With a focused effort, he weakened his biomass in the region, and sliced his claws through. He tossed the red biomass away and restrengthened himself. From the red biomass a small black slime slithered out towards Pariah, who extended his lower left tendril to the ground. The slime rolled up to his tendril and seamlessly melted into it. Pariah, so much shorter than him, shook his head. "You're so confrontational. Truly though, Zeus, why does this 'feeling' bother you so much?" he asked, his top two tendrils making air quotes. "It's my only lead on Greene," he said. "I've got nothing else!" And that was true. Elizabeth's voice was no longer among the whispers in his head, but her memories remained. Fat lot of help they were; they were impossible to interpret. Filled with a hiss that overwhelmed all noise and grainy, as if they were a video that had been poorly recorded. And there was no sign of a Redlight outbreak anywhere. There was a minor resurgence of the Black Plague in southeast Asia, but the Black Plague was a cough compared to Redlight. It'd been two months since Elizabeth Greene's presence in him had vanished. She'd come back to life, he knew it! It was only a matter of time before she made another attempt at the zombie apocalypse, and who knew how much damage she'd do before he managed to kill her? He didn't doubt he could kill her. Not at all. He'd done it before and he'd only grown stronger in the five years since. Then there was Pariah. While Mercer wasn't entirely sure Pariah would actually fight Greene one on one, if he did it would be absolutely one sided. As opposed to Alex fighting nearly to his own death to take down Mother... "You've got nothing else," Pariah said, his voice seeming to come from everywhere at once like it always did. "Because there is nothing else. I know you want to hang on to some doubt, I do. It's the safe thing to do, right? But it'd also be safe for Dana to sleep standing up so she has a smaller chance of getting hit by meteors. Zeus, there's being cautious and being paranoid." The virus, half Mercer's size, crossed his arms. "Just stop." He snarled. The biomass along the sleeves of his jacket prickled into a spiked black mass. His left hand reformed into the pronged clamp of the whipfist while his right arm shifted below the elbow into his trademark six foot blade. "What if I don't?" Pariah sighed excessively, his glowing purple eyes flickering. Childishly, Pariah tossed his head back. "Really, brother? That's your solution to everything? Hit it until it stops being a problem?" "Hasn't failed," he said. It was simple. Pariah was obviously going to try and bring him back before he was done here. Solution: beat the little fucker into the ground until he couldn't. Alex Mercer dashed at Pariah, blade ready to slice into him. As his blade came down, Pariah sank into the loose soil, melting like slop. Mercer's blade hit nothing, and Pariah was nowhere to be found. Immediately, he knelt and tensed his legs, before leaping several stories into the air. Not a moment too soon; the ground he stood on a moment ago erupted with groundspikes, black spires fifteen feet tall with razor sharp points. Pariah's unique twist on groundspikes also gave them spiked grooves running down the side that promised anyone who avoided the impalement a laceration at minimum. Mercer evaded them all and, at the apex of his jump, spread his arms and legs out. Then he pulled them in and dove straight down like a bullet, ready to slam all his strength and mass onto the region below. Before he could, the groundspikes flowed back together and reformed into Pariah. Pariah's left tendrils lashed outwards, lengthening, and grabbed him mid-dive. He was tossed to the side with horrific force, and before he could attack the tendrils they let go and retracted to their normal length. He found his balance instinctively and got back up, ready to go at Pariah a second time. Pariah wasn't willing to let him. He held up his left hand and clenched a fist. Black tendrils warped around the fist, a dark smoke-like substance pouring off. As Pariah did that, something in Alex's body stiffened, wires spread throughout his body locking in place and not letting him move. He did notice, however, that it didn't have as much of a grasp on the twisted coils of his whipfist, so he instantly shot it out. Pariah's eyed widened when the sharp claws of the whipfist approached him. Mercer's whip encountered great resistance when it hit Pariah's body, but his strength was still enough to puncture through his body and latch inside of him. He pulled his whip back... ... but Pariah wasn't the one who moved. The smaller virus dug in his feet and it was instead Alex who flew towards him. His eyes widened as he closed in on Pariah, who formed silver daggers on the tips of his tendrils and morphed his hands into claws. Alex hastily encased himself in armor, but Pariah's claws tore through his torso regardless. The wound healed, but he had lost a terrible amount of biomass. His whipfist was suddenly free and he found himself face down on the ground, again immobilized. In his peripheral vision, Pariah streaked around to in front of him. He clucked his tongue and dismissed his weapons. "Zeus, stop it. This is absurd. You know, Dana's worried about you." That got his attention. Dana was worried? "Dana's worried?" he said, voicing his thoughts. "Of course she is!" The pressure holding Alex down abated, and he leaped up. "You just up and vanished after your little 'episode', and we don't hear from you for a month! And when I finally do track you down, you're in Tibet, of all places, hunting animals instead of humans." Pariah stomped, and the ground around Alex ruptured. Before he could react, thick black tendrils reached up and coiled around his arms, waist, neck, and legs. He snarled like a caged animal and thrashed against them, but even his demonic strength couldn't overpower Pariah's constructs. He hated to admit it, but Pariah outclassed him in every field. He had more strength in one arm than Alex did in his entire body. He took RPGs like Mercer took bullets, and could run a lap around Manhattan in the time it took Mercer to cross Central Park. And his powers! Every day, it seemed like Pariah pulled a new trick out of his ass. A crossbow. Eerily familiar balls of purple lightning. Burrowing underground. The ability to take a disguise without first consuming them. It tore at him, the very concept that he was not the toughest predator on the world was anathema, but he had no idea how to change that. And so, Pariah held him easily. "I know you're worried about it, Zeus, but just face it!" Pariah's entire form flickered with black tendrils. His glowing purple eyes flashed into a sun-bright green. "She. Is. GONE!" He said with a roar. A conical blast erupted from the little 'kid's' mouth, a black shockwave that tore apart the tendrils holding him and piercing his armor without a care. Biomass was ripped from his body, weakening him dramatically. Alex Mercer was sent flying, head over heels, and even his prodigious balance wasn't enough to stabilize himself before he hit the ground with a thud. With a groan, his weapons and armor dissipated back into the form of their creator. "Please, brother. Just come back with us." Mercer looked up to see Pariah looking genuinely sad. His tendrils hung limply along his back, and his violet eyes didn't glow as intensely. Alex stood back up and spat a glob of red biomass, the virus inside deactivated. "Fine. Let's just fucking go back. I can worry about this damn urge some other time." He missed Dana. He wanted to go home to Manhattan, his hunting grounds. Back to humans, who were so much easier to consume. Back to his sister. And besides, the feeling was gone now. ***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-*** Twilight Sparkle She rolled over in her bed and got out with remarkable swiftness, yawning and stretching. She didn't really want to get out of bed, given how last night had been the first time she had slept in her own bed in a month, but there was so much to do. She had to help Spike dust the library, and then she and the girls were going to go help out Applejack on her farm, which would take up the better part of the day, and after that it was helping out anypony in town who needed it. Twilight suspected a lot of ponies would need it. She trotted into the kitchen, where Spike had already made breakfast, and sat at the table. Her list for the day was next to her plate. "Thanks Spike," she said, beginning to pick at the waffles. It was lucky she'd thought up a food preserving spell before leaving Ponyville to fight the infection. She really didn't want to imagine how much food had spoiled around the country. "No problem, Twilight." He also started digging in. Meanwhile, Twilight levitated her list for the day to her, making sure to memorize the times on it. Eight to ten thirty, cleaning the library. Ten thirty to eleven, gathering up the girls. Eleven to six, helping Applejack. Six to sleep, research on medicine and disease. Of course, that was all rounding, given time for interruptions, and traveling. Breakfast passed in silence, as did the library's cleaning. Books were still in their place, since obviously nopony had been by to check out any. Still, the entire building had acquired a fine layer of dust, and since she and Spike had only arrived home late last night, only after a good night's sleep did they have the time to clean. It went smoothly and uninterrupted; nopony came to the library even though they were open. For once, Twilight understood why. Everypony was busy. Before too long, the library was clean. It wasn't exactly spic-and-span, but all things considered it was good, and just in time to meet up with the girls, too! "Alright Spike," she said to him as she slipped on her saddlebags, stuffing her list into the left one. "I'm headed out, I'll be back at six. Think you can hold down the fort until then?" He saluted. "Sure thing, Twilight. Have fun." She grimaced and trotted to the door. "Yeah. Fun." Then she slipped outside. The weather had been scheduled to be partly cloudy, however there was a distinct emphasis on 'partly'. Twilight could see Rainbow zipping back and forth, moving clouds into place and forming water vapor with her hooves. As she passed by her, Twilight waved at her with a forehoof, and Dash returned the gesture before zipping off, having a lot of slack to pick up with the weather team's reduced membership. Twilight headed off towards Sugarcube Corner. As she walked, she couldn't help but let her gaze wander around, taking in all that had changed in Ponyville now that the Outbreak was past. Now that it was over, the true damage was evident. Empty, dark homes for sale at a fraction of their regular price, with no buyers coming. The Ponyville Post Office, with a help wanted sign. The Market only had a small fraction of the normal number of stands out. No carrots. No sweets shop, only pastries. Each sign, innocuous on its own, resonated deeply with Twilight. She'd known those ponies. Okay, perhaps not known them, but she'd talked with each of them on at least one occasion. Twilight's head snapped around in surprise at seeing a spot of black. It was Mayor Mare walking and talking with a changeling. The latter held a stack of papers in their magic as the two discussed... something. She was too far away to hear, though she imagined it was regarding housing some changelings who were moving into Ponyville for food purposes. Before too long she entered Sugarcube Corner, where the Cakes were already at work, baking fervently to make up for all the sweets that had spoiled over the duration of the Outbreak. The bell rang as she opened the door, and again when it closed behind her. The shop was empty except for Flitter sitting alone at a table, enjoying a brownie. Mr. Cake was at the counter, and gave her a warm smile. "Good morning, Twilight." "Good morning, I'm here to see Pinkie. Is she available?" He nodded, his smile growing just a touch weaker. "She just got off her shift, she should be in her room right now." "Thanks." She passed by him to the stairs and climbed them, knocking on Pinkie's door. There was a pause, and then Pinkie opened the door to her overwhelmingly pink room. Her face brightened up into a light smile. "Oh, hi Twilight!" She smiled softly in return. "Hi, Pinkie." Both of them drew together into a hug. It was terrible. Not the hug, that was fine. But what was terrible was that, while herself and the girls had all survived the Outbreak, all of them had lost family. Anypony who had parents beforehoof had lost them. While the Cakes, who were as good as family to Pinkie, had escaped unscathed she had lost both her parents and two of her sisters to the virus. The only exception had been her sister Maud, who'd actively fought the infection before being struck down by the Plague Goddess herself. Both Twilight and Pinkie had lost their entire families in a matter of weeks, and it was... good to have somepony who could relate to her. Was that selfish? She was already going to get inheritance money, she... she had enough, right? Right?! Right. They pulled away. "So Twilight, what did you need? Ooh, ooh, don't tell me. You need me to go help Applejack with her farm because she asked you last night very kindly?" Hit the nail on the head. "That's right, Pinkie. You're free right now, right?" She nodded vigorously. "Alright, then let's head out. Rainbow should be getting everypony else." "Okay." Just okay. No 'dokie lokie'. "Let's get going. Ooh, I almost forgot!" Pinkie zipped back into her room and zipped back out with her saddlebags on. "Can't forget to bring snacks!" "I thought Rarity was bringing lunch?" Twilight asked with a tilt of her head. She went crosseyed when the pink mare bopped her snout. "Snacks. Big difference, Twilight." Twilight backed away, suddenly intimidated. "Yep, big difference!" she squeaked. "Alright, lets head out." Pinkie nodded and bounced after Twilight. She tossed a quick farewell to the Cakes, and they were off to Sweet Apple Acres, walking through the eerily empty streets of Ponyville. Fairly soon they arrived at Applejack's home, where the orange mare was already waiting for them, along with Rarity. Applebloom was probably off at school. Twilight briefly reflected how miraculous it was that the CMC had chosen to go on a trek to the Crystal Empire from Appleoosa when they had; if they hadn't, they would've been there when Elizabeth had snatched up the town with her virus. A lot of Ponyville's refugees had been in Appleoosa, including Big Mac and Granny Smith. Which was a large part of why they were coming to help Applejack; she definitely couldn't look after the farm and Applebloom on her own, she'd demonstrated that much a while ago. Now that Twilight thought about it, the farming industry as a whole had been hit particularly hard. Maybe it wouldn't hurt for her to start up a backyard garden or something... "Howdy," Applejack said as they arrived on the porch, circling around her. "Girls, thank ya'll so much for coming ta help." Rarity waved it off with a forehoof. "Think nothing of it, darling. We're friends, and friends help friends." "No Rares, really. I don't know... I don't know how I can make it up to ya'll. Without... without Mac and Granny, a-and with 'bloom still in school - " Rarity interrupted her with a hug. "Easy, Applejack, easy. You know that we're here for you; Rainbow Dash doesn't have the monopoly in loyalty, you know. I'll help you with your harvest, even if I do have to spend an extra hour scrubbing the dirt out of my coat." "Yep! Just point us where you need us!" Pinkie piped in. "Alright. Twi, I never was the one really lookin' at the finance books 'n all that. I know the Princesses have been comin' out with new tax laws with all the... stuff that's happened." She nodded. Twilight could've also helped out with the field, measuring soil acidity and all that, but with the first snowfall scheduled in a week there was no point. "I'll take a look. Where are they?" "They should be in Mac's ro - Mac's old room," she corrected morosely. "I'll see if there's anything I can do," she said, slipping inside the house. She saw that it, too, had been dusted since Applejack had returned. Twilight had been there before; not too many times, but enough times to find Big Mac's room, empty of everything but a bed, a nightstand, and a fine layer of dust that Applejack had yet to clean off. Twilight levitated a heavy ledger to her from the nightstand and flipped it open, revealing scrawling mouthwriting of various finances and incomes that Applejack's family had done in its operation. She flipped to the current date and summoned a pot of ink and quill from her saddlebags. Then she trotted out of the room towards the dinner table, set the book down, and got to work. Numbers and calculations came easy to her, and while there had been notable changes to the tax codes, they were few and major instead of numerous and inconsequential, so she'd already memorized them. There was a long line of undone numbers, and Twilight got set to going through it, calculating expenses and revenue that Big Macintosh and Granny Smith hadn't been able to before the evacuation of Ponyville. Twilight let her mind wander. She tried so hard to fully wrap her mind around the sheer magnitude of the Outbreak, but she just couldn't. She knew intellectually that Equestria's population had been just over six million, but that never really made an impression on her. Even growing up in Canterlot, with its population of five hundred thousand, it seemed like more ponies than could fit in the world. Equally baffling was that almost ninety percent of those ponies were gone. All of Canterlot was gone, which was absolutely... absolutely terrible. Ignoring the obviously very... personal effect it had on her, the brain drain Greene's enslavement of Canterlot had caused was immense. Some of ponykind's best and brightest were gone. The entrepreneurs, such as Fancy Pants, or savants such as Octavia. A vast amount of the wealth of Equestria - not bits, wealth - was simply gone, their knowledge evaporated. All their hard work had been for nothing! She was worried about Fluttershy, too. She was taking it hard, and had all but sealed herself in her cottage the moment they returned to Ponyville. It was obvious that the pegasus felt she was largely responsible for the Outbreak - the mere idea of which made Twilight twinge in anger - but couldn't she see that wasn't the case? After she had told all of them what happened, in the week while Elizabeth moved all her infected to the island, it was obvious that they'd only won thanks to Fluttershy. First there was the massive burst of harmony magic before the final confrontation with Greene. And second was her initial delay. Fluttershy had stopped the infection dead in its tracks for an entire week, when all they could do with Princess Celestia's blood was slow it for four days. Without Fluttershy the infected would have consumed Equestria and overrun the Crystal Empire before they even had the idea to use alicorn blood. And without the Crystal Heart, Queen Chrysalis would've been vulnerable to the infection. Elizabeth would have defeated the Princesses and turned her gaze on the rest of the world with no Alex Mercer coming to stop her. Twilight shuddered at the mental image. Elizabeth Greene, infecting and conquering, unchecked and unrestrained. And once she'd enslaved the world... well, then it was easy to assume that nothing would happen. Forever. And Fluttershy thought that she was to blame. And maybe she was, for some things such as not leaving Elizabeth, but what could she really do? Greene had still, after all, control over where she went by suppressing the virus. Still, Fluttershy was tearing herself up with guilt. Maybe after helping on the farm they could go see her, instead of Twilight retiring to the library to learn about nosokinesis. Oh, and that book of spells by none other than Starswirl the Bearded himself, courtesy of Princess Celestia. She couldn't wait to read into that one! She continued working, knowing that outside her friends were dealing with the more physical aspects of farm work. She felt uneasy about that, as if she were getting off easy, but she knew that she was by far the most mathematically inclined out of all of them. This was where she could do the most good. Where she could best help Equestria recover. The road before them was long and arduous, but they would endure as they always had. Not even Discord himself could keep Equestria down long. This was just another in a long line of challenges. Surely the most damaging one, but one all the same. They would recover. They always did. It'd take decades, maybe even centuries for them to rebuild their numbers, but for now? They'd just take it one week at a time.