Candlelight flickered across rugged floors and polished marble walls. Paintings and portraits of various subjects were dimly visible in the darkened room, their features largely obscured. An ornate, masterfully crafted wooden desk complete with swirls and engravings that must have taken a large amount of time and effort to define sat against the wall, holding the light source among other effects.
A quill held in a golden aura of magical energy scrawled across a parchment, leaving behind elegant cursive in ink defining a decree to take place. The quill halted many times in its journey across the parchment, never too early nor too late to replenish the ink upon its tip. The writing was perfect, without mistakes. There were no grammar or spelling errors, no misplaced ink, no blots, and no unusually thin nor thick letters. The writing proceeded with the regularity and perfection of a well-oiled machine, something one could only achieve after countless years of practice. Or rather, centuries.
Princess Celestia hunched over her desk, horn aglow as she finished up drafting her latest decree involving the abolishment of an outdated law that had been brought to her attention. It was a rather odd one that punished citizens who redirect conversations to awkward topics. Celestia never remembered this law existing before, and she felt that she would have noticed and remembered if she witnessed even one incident of a pony reporting somepony else to the guards for an official spanking as punishment for being awkward.
At least, until a member of Canterlot nobility dug up the law as a way of getting petty revenge on a rival noble via public spanking a few days prior.
Despite the ridiculousness of the law she didn’t remember passing, or the perfect elegance of her writing, Celestia’s mind wasn’t quite on what she was doing at the time.
No, it was on Equestria’s resident humans. Or rather, one of them.
Princess Celestia had concerns.
She was a very old being, as well as a very experienced one. She knew from many long years of diplomatic talks and fighting off enemies of her country, that gut feelings have a significant place in her success. She understood that she should never make rash decisions based solely on one such feeling, but it never stopped her from heeding her feelings. The only time her feelings failed her was during an... unfortunate incident with her sister and a possessive force by the name of Nightmare just over a thousand years ago.
So she figured she should be forgiven if she felt cautious about the human known as Alex Mercer.
It had been a very long time since a being was capable of... giving her the ‘creeps’ as it were. Alex Mercer succeeded in where many countless others failed; intimidating her with nothing but eye contact.
The moment when she walked into her student’s library and made eye contact with the human male, she had many gut feelings. Very simplistic, instinctive signals fired off in her brain in that moment of uninterrupted gazes meeting.
Run, her gut seemed to say. Hide, her unexpected fear shouted at her in that moment.
Predator, her most base instincts screamed. Predator!
Despite the very... strong feelings she got from the individual, she stayed true to her principles and did not act rashly on such feelings. She buried the strange and alien sensation of raw terror she got from the man, and hopefully she gave no hints of having such feelings in the first place. She’d had a long time to perfect her poker face, after all.
Even after leaving the human’s presence, the sensation remained. She felt as if something was fundamentally wrong with his existence, and from her observations of the other ponies at the party, she was the only one who noticed. Whether it be from her experience or her connection to magic, she couldn’t deny that there was something about Alex Mercer that didn’t sit well with her.
What really set off some alarm bells in her head, however, was the fact that his sister did not generate the same reaction.
The two supposed siblings were different, Celestia knew that much. Very different.
Once again, Celestia did not act upon these feelings. No, she did not offer to take them to Canterlot for the sole purpose of keeping a much closer eye on Alex. They were ambassadors to their race, after all.
It would put her mind at ease, though, if he were further away from her faithful student. Regardless of her stance on reacting to baseless feelings, it simply wasn’t right in her eyes to let Alex stay close to what essentially amounts to her surrogate daughter if he was giving her these feelings.
She continued scrawling, lost in thought as she wrote the last decree of the day. Despite her distraction her writing never wavered from perfect. She could write such a decree while blindfolded and juggling if she so desired; decrees to abolish laws were all practically the same in her country. Not much needed to be said yet still a whole page was in need of being filled.
After finally finishing the simple decree and putting away her writing supplies, Celestia noted with distaste that she was done for the day. She looked back into her room at the massive luxurious bed, frowning. After getting back to Canterlot in such short order after the welcoming party for the humans, she only had the last decree to complete for the day. It was bedtime.
Celestia knew she would not get any sleep. Not with the unsettling feelings Alex Mercer left her. She sighed, thinking of a way to occupy her mind. It wasn’t as if she could do something about the human that night anyway... unless.
Well, she supposed, a quick peak at the sleeping forms of both humans would greatly put her mind at ease.
Celestia wasn’t clueless to those who would worship her as a deity. She tried to stop it, assuring them that agelessness does not imply godhood, but some ponies simply couldn’t be convinced. What really drove some ponies into such an unhealthy cult-like worship of the sun princess, was her ability to seemingly observe ponies without actually being there. The cultists called it a sign of her omnipresence, when in reality it was a very helpful astral projection spell she had learned seven hundred years prior.
Concentrating her magic, horn aglow, Celestia cleared her mind. Her eyes closed as she concentrated, and within moments, she was staring at herself- from outside of her body.
The astral projection spell creates an intangible host with senses of sight and hearing for the caster to project themselves into. She couldn’t simply cast her soul out to fly around; souls don’t have senses or locomotion. This formless avatar of pure magic could not be detected unless one is specifically searching for it with specialized detection spells, which very few ponies even knew let alone were paranoid enough to cast it every once in a while.
Celestia commanded her intangible avatar to phase through the wall of the castle, and begin flight towards Ponyville. The avatar was very fast, but the journey still took a few minutes. Her perspective slithered intangibly through the quiet town, passing through some houses and ‘aww’ing in her physical form whenever passing a sleeping foal.
Eventually the tree library came in sight, and the eyes of Celestia swiftly phased into the building to inspect its occupants. Her physical form smiled serenely at the sight of Twilight Sparkle curled up, sleeping soundly in her bed, hoof suckled in her mouth. As Celestia’s avatar passed by Twilight’s sleeping form, her faithful student shuddered lightly, before curling into herself further and smiling a little around her hoof.
“Sleep well, my student.” Celestia had her avatar whisper, the tiny ethereal voice barely audible.
Beneath her student into the rest of the room, two beds sat.
With only one occupant present.
It took barely a second to register the red-haired form of the female Mercer sibling tossing and turning in what must have been a nightmare, before Celestia’s avatar phased through the library and was looking furiously for any sign of the missing human.
Her physical form’s eyes opened suddenly as her soul was slingshotted back into her body by the rising panic of the missing human. She closed her eyes as her breathing quickened, and started counting down from ten. She didn’t know the human was up to anything nefarious. Perhaps he couldn’t sleep, she reasoned. Perhaps he went on a pleasant night’s stroll.
This was what she told herself as she regained her concentration and started the projection spell again. Again, her avatar phased through her room’s walls and started towards Ponyville. Whatever the human was doing, he couldn’t have gone too far. As she got closer to Ponyville, she noticed something that hadn’t been there her first trip towards the little town.
There was smoke, rising from the middle of the Everfree Forest.
Celestia would have bet her left wing that the human was there. Her target acquired, she commanded the avatar to go to the fire.
Darkness shrouded the area, a flickering light illuminating about three square feet of a hallway. The walls and floor were dirty, unkempt, and cracked in some places. A thin red mist seemed to permeate everything in the building. Red, fleshy-looking vines crawled over everything, pulsing to an unheard heartbeat.
Certainly the surroundings are nightmarish, Princess Luna reflected as she stood in the hallway, taking in the surroundings with a disturbed expression. Yet she knew the nightmare was not there; she had to find the dreamer.
Darkness. Why is it so dark? Where am I?
A terrified female’s voice seemed to whisper straight into her ear. It was quiet, yet deafening. Nowhere, yet everywhere. In a dream, one’s mind was open yet convoluted. Luna, thanks to a great many years of experience, was capable of directly hearing the shallow thoughts of the dreamer of whatever dream she was in. This helped her locate the dreamer, as well as help them face their fears.
Where is Alex?
Alex? Luna hummed in thought. That name sounded vaguely familiar.
Luna slowly trotted down the hallway, horn at the ready to blast any upstart nightmare creatures that may show themselves to her. As she continued down the hallway, the red ‘vein-vines’ became more and more common before soon enough the floors and walls weren’t even visible underneath the pulsing flesh. Luna wondered what kind of creature produces something like this.
The surroundings remained dark, all the windows and lights covered by the pulsing flesh. The pitch darkness did not bother the Princess of the Night; darkness was her element after all. She could see with disturbing clarity every little growth and pulse on the grotesque fleshy surroundings.
I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t why can’t I move what is happening?
The dream appeared to be progressing as the dreamer’s thoughts were beginning to fragment from the terror she felt. Luna increased her pace.
Eventually the hallway came to an end into a very large open area of the building. The vines seemed more spread out here, though all the windows seemed to be covered from the outside by much thicker flesh growths. All along the ceiling and upper walls great grotesque pustules seemed to visible wobble and grow. Luna almost gagged at the sight of that.
Where is Alex? What is that pulsing why is it so warm? Where am I where is Alex?
Then, Luna caught sight of the dreamer. Far into the open room, a... creature lied on the ground, in a patch of the red flesh growth. Luna suddenly recalled Twilight’s letter, which had been left to her after Celestia had left the palace that day. Was she in the dream of one of these... humans? She must be; she remembered where she heard the name Alex; Twilight’s letter.
Suddenly, one of the windows near the ceiling was cleared of flesh, revealing a red-colored sky. This was very disturbing to Luna, as the sun peered through the window high in the sky, nowhere near setting.
Wait not darkness. A light! Sunlight! Ray of sunlight! A window? Where am I?
Where is Alex?
This was the fourth time she asked where Alex was. The letter informed her that Alex was the sibling of this... Luna couldn’t remember her name. A big brother, no doubt. She was asking where he is so he can protect her.
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?
The vein-vines seemed to curl around the prone human, ensnaring her arms and legs and even her torso and head. The human began struggling, but one could barely tell as the vines did not budge at all. It was as if the flimsy-looking flesh constructs were several magnitudes stronger than they should have been.
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!
Luna tuned out the panicked thoughts as she used her dream magic to pry the vines off. Or, at least she attempted. Her magic simply fizzled out on the vein-vines. Her brow creased. Why could she not touch the vein-vines with her magic?
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!?
Sure enough, as the thoughts had said, footsteps were approaching. A click-click of a bipedal gait on concrete occasionally interrupted by a squish as the figure stepped on the vein-vines came closer and closer. Despite Luna’s night-seeing powers and dominion over dreams, she could not see the figure no matter how hard she tried. Luna didn’t understand.
Oh my god I remember roaring bouncing screaming Alex screaming screaming my name what happened where am I where is Alex!?
Suddenly flashes, memories and scenes began to flash before Luna’s eyes. Bouncing, disorientation, terror, a hellish cityscape, and a big brother’s desperate face as he chased after her.
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!?
Suddenly, from the shadows came another human. Luna felt a cold chill go down her spine as she viewed the slender human emerge from the darkness. She wore a skin-tight grey jumpsuit with strange and unnatural tubes and additions all over it. The human’s face almost seemed normal were it not for the disturbing red rashes on her face and the abysmal mane-cut that looked as if a foal had taken to it with a straight razor.
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!?
The dreamer’s terrified eyes widened as she thought these thoughts, watching ‘Elizabeth Greene’ come closer and closer. The terrified human didn’t even acknowledge the lunar princess. It was as if she wasn’t even there, which confused Luna immensely as she hadn’t attempted to hide her presence.
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!?
Elizabeth had stopped right in front of the bound human, and Luna decided enough was enough. Charging up a blast of magical energy, she fired a blue beam from her horn straight into the head of the Greene human...
...only for it to do literally nothing. Greene hadn’t even acknowledged her presence.
It was then that Luna had finally figured out what the issue was. She hadn’t even thought of the possibility because it was so rare among her ponies that she almost never had to deal with it. The issue was that this nightmare was not based off of paranoia or phobias and an imagination, the nightmare was based off of memories.
Whoever the human was, she had actually gone through this clearly psychologically damaging experience. Luna’s heart clenched, wondering what had happened to the poor human after this part to ingrain this event so solidly in her memory she would have nightmares about it. She wasn’t going to let the dream continue as it was any longer, however.
Her horn started glowing as Elizabeth Greene knelt down to the human. Luna closed her eyes and concentrated, remembering that the best way to defeat a memory-based nightmare, was to simply replace the dream’s material with a better memory.
Luna shuffled through the dreamer’s mind, not actually looking at anything but just reading the emotions based around the memories. After finding a memory suitable happy enough with a hint of nostalgia, she forced this memory into the front of the dreamer’s mind.
When Luna opened her eyes, she was someplace different.
Alex Mercer stood above a massive pit of fire, his expressionless yet still stern-looking face was illuminated and made all the more sinister by the flickering shadows, his eyes the brightest thing under his hood. Celestia silently wondered how he had started a fire so big with no visible tools to do so, before dropping the line of thought for more urgent matters. She noted that he had a new article of clothing on; a black jacket with a somewhat familiar red insignia upon-
Then Celestia remembered.
The letter from Twilight- the first letter! The one about the...
The monster of Everfree.
It made sense now; the black chitin was actually his jacket, the gray head and legs his hood and pants, and the...
Well, there was no tentacle but it was a close enough resemblance to set off alarm bells in Celestia’s head. Whatever the pets of young Fluttershy saw what is now confirmed to be Alex Mercer do, it convinced them that he is something dangerous.
Celestia averted her avatar’s vision away from the human, and instead towards the large pit. It was absolutely massive, and could not have possibly been dug by one person in such a short amount of time. Celestia had trouble one hundred people could dig a hole that size in the allotted time. It was difficult to see what was in the pit, but it appeared to be bits and pieces of a building... Some of the walls of what was a building still sat on top, unburnt.
Disturbingly, the unburnt walls sitting on top of the inferno had what appeared to be dried bloodstains on them. Was... was Alex Mercer getting rid of evidence!?
Celestia had her avatar move into the inferno, knowing it could not be touched by flame or heat. She sifted through the burning rubble, until she came upon a layer made of a different material. Not entirely certain what she was looking at, Celestia altered her avatar’s perspective a bit.
Suddenly there was a half-burnt face with empty eye sockets staring straight into her soul. Celestia started, not entirely losing concentration but her avatar’s movement was thrown off. She saw the second layer of burning; human bodies. There were lots of them, their forms sliced and smashed in grotesque ways and practically poured into the pit like slurry. Their flesh charred black and crumbled away in the fire, and Celestia could watch no more- she lost concentration.
She was suddenly pulled back into her body, eyes opening wide white a sharp inhale. She practically collapsed onto the floor, hyperventilating as the images of the burning mutilated corpses was seared into her mind’s eye. She felt lightheaded and queasy, and she couldn’t help but feel young again in that moment in a very twisted way. She was very old and had seen death but... not like that. She had even a fair amount of experience with gore centuries ago when she was overseeing surgeries. What she had witnessed just then was different. Very different.
Instead of sleeping peacefully as they are opened up, these humans’ expressions were twisted with fear, pain and shock as they were apparently ripped apart. The thought of such an awful slaughter made her at least a little glad she only witnessed the disturbing aftermath.
What kind of monster murders so many in such a way, and simply dumps their bodies in a pit and sets them on fire?
Celestia shook her head, regaining her composure. It was clear that she was dealing with someone who had no qualms about killing, something very dangerous. But she still had no clue what Alex was capable of. To face this... monster of a man, she must first learn what he is can do. Charging in with blind confidence that she is the superior force got her in a very large amount of trouble during her younger days, something she learned from. It is better to overestimate an enemy than it is to underestimate.
She once again casted the projection spell, though this time it was different. The spell went very much the same way it did last time at first, phasing through the wall and finding Mercer in Everfree. Once the avatar found Alex, the differences between that spell and the last became apparent.
To detect Alex’s nefarious abilities, Celestia was going into his mind. She would sift through his memories and thoughts, and find out exactly what he can and can’t do.
The avatar had found Alex where he was the last time she saw him, still standing over the burning pit with a look of apathy upon his face.
She mentally braced herself, and pressed her avatar into Alex’s form, pressing her consciousness into his mind.
- mommy and daddy yell at each oth-
-school is not that great, no one is talking to m-
“Yes Mrs. Clarke.” What kind of dumb person makes kids write sente-
Celestia was thrown back into her body for a third time that night, opening her eyes with a gasp. That was... different. It wasn’t like the other minds she had probed in centuries past. It was organized very differently, and... it felt different. She was not merely an outside observer to the memories and thoughts, but she actually felt them as if they were her own. She experienced them.
What was strange, though, were the brief memory flashes she got before the experience made her lose her concentration. She remembered being human in the memory, but... she remembered different names for the humans, somehow. Neither of them were Alex Mercer’s name.
She had to wonder what childhood memories coming from three different people were doing in Alex’s head.
Celestia had still learned nothing, and she was not one to give up. She closed her eyes, and cast the spell again.
Where is Alex?
That was the dreamer’s first thought when the new setting suddenly took hold. When Luna opened her eyes, they were no longer in the disturbing flesh-infested building or were they within the hellish cityscape.
The human dreamer had gotten considerably shorter, clearly now a child for her species. Luna noted that this memory had nostalgia attached to it, so it was no wonder it was old.
Other human children ran about excitedly at what was clearly a large school, while the dreamer sat in this large flat black area with white lines painted on it with strange carriage-like things sitting between them. Adult humans were coming and speaking to what were clearly teachers, and some adult humans were taking their children to the strange carriages that, after they entered, seemed to move by themselves.
That memory-dream was different from the last, as the memory the dream was based off of was rather degraded with time. While the little dreamer was rather clear, the carriages and other humans had details constantly changing. Luna would look away from a human in the memory, and look back, and the human’s hair would be a different color, or their eyes, or their outfit. The carriages would switch colors, designs, and drivers every time she lost sight of them.
Alex! Alex is here!
The thought and the burst of excitement brought Luna from surrounding her observations to the dreamer, or more specifically, what she was looking at.
Approaching was the first human aside from the dreamer to not constantly switch appearance. He had short, curly dark brown hair, and piercing blue eyes. His skin was light, but not unhealthily so. He wore simple-looking dark brown pants, a white dress shirt, and a pair of strange black shoes that covered the entirety of his feet.
As he approached, Luna tuned out the dreamer’s thoughts both because she no longer needed to hear them and she wanted to hear what they say in the dream.
The dreamer sprinted towards Alex, arms wide clearly going for a hug. “Alex!” She called excitedly.
Alex smiled, and leaned down to catch her as she ran into him. They threw their arms around each other and Alex lifted the dreamer slightly off her feet. She noted he didn’t lift her very much and struggled a bit to do as much as he had. He clearly wasn’t very physically fit, so Luna wondered why the dreamer was so attached to him as a protective figure.
“What’s up, Dana?” Alex chuckled as he let go of the dreamer. “You seem unusually excited to see me.”
“Today suuuuucked!” ‘Dana’ whined. “I called Brenda a fat stupid bitch when she called me ugly. She told the teacher on me!” Luna’s eyes widened marginally. Well, she certainly didn’t expect that kind of language from a child.
“Stupid bitch, indeed,” Alex chuckled, shaking his head. He turned and pointed towards the school. “Which one is Brenda?”
Luna observed as Dana pointed towards another of the human children that didn’t change form. She was a little chubby for a child her age, with blond braids and a flowery red little dress.
Alex frowned as he looked at the child, and for a moment Luna swore his gaze was as cold as an arctic glacier. Then, the moment was gone, and he started observing a woman walking up to Brenda instead, who also had blonde braids.
“I’m assuming that’s her mom?” Alex asked, which got a sure nod from Dana in response. Alex stood for a moment, then started walking towards more of the parked carriages in the black flat space.
“Alex?” Dana called, following him with quickened steps to keep up with his lengthened stride. “Where are you going?”
“Brenda’s mom came in that car,” Alex said, pointing at the blue carriage. “So I’ll leave a message about her daughter on it.” He said, as he fished a small house key from his right pants pocket.
Luna watched, a ghost of a smirk on her face as the big brother committed vandalism to get revenge for his sister. Dana stood in front of him, keeping watch. Brenda and her mother appeared to be speaking to a teacher, which is what granted them the opportunity in the first place.
Soon enough, Alex was done scraping the car’s paint with the key. Luna leaned in to view the final product.
Brenda is a fat cum-soaked cock-juggling fuck-slut with a loose twat.
Luna couldn’t help but blink and blush at the vulgarity. That seemed awfully harsh a thing to write to a child probably less than ten years old, insulted and dismayed younger sibling or no. Dana appeared to have found it greatly amusing, though she seemed a bit young to know what those words meant. At the very least the reason for the child’s unusual propensity towards swear words was better explained.
Soon enough the human siblings were walking together away from the scene of the crime, the school disappearing in the landscape behind them as they strided down the mostly-empty sidewalks.
“So mom’s out getting drunk with her asshole friends today, so we have the house to ourselves until tomorrow. What do you say we stop by Blockbuster, pick up any movie you like?”
Dana let out an excited gasp. “Can we watch a horror movie!?”
Alex raised an eyebrow and peered down at his sister. “What kind?”
The little girl had a frankly savage grin. “Zombies!”
Alex smiled. “We’ll pick out a zombie movie then. But don’t you start complaining if it’s too scary for you.”
“Hah!” Dana laughed. “I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street all the way through at night without getting scared.”
“Zombie movies are a bit different,” Alex warned. “But we’ll get one if that’s what you want. If you get too scared you can sleep in my room for the night.”
The younger sibling smiled and hugged Alex around the waist as they walked. “Thanks, big brother.”
Before Luna could properly ‘dawww’ at the scene, an incredibly loud bloodcurdling shriek suddenly broke through the dreamscape.
Luna opened her eyes in her physical form, still seated in the throne of Night Court. A mare’s horrified screams echoed more loudly than any other pony she had heard scream. Her ears folded back and she cringed at the volume, before suddenly tensing with her eyes going wide.
“That’s ‘Tia!” She cried in alarm, before her horn was engulfed in a blue magical glow, and she teleported to her sister’s chambers.
It had taken several attempts. Several fragmented memories bombarded her every time she tried to get into Alex’s head, and every time the experience made her lose control of the spell. Her frustration was growing, as the fragmented memories continued to be both unhelpful and unsettling, because every single one of them was from a different person who notably was not Alex Mercer.
Eventually her frustration grew to the point where she had cast a locking charm on her consciousness, so it wouldn’t suddenly slingshot her back if she lost concentration. It was a dangerous spell to cast when delving into another’s mind, but Celestia was willing to take the risk for her little ponies.
So for the eighth time her projected avatar flew across the landscape of Equestria towards Alex Mercer in Everfree, she was certain this time she would get something helpful. This time, she would find out why in goodness’ name he had so many other peoples’ memories in his head.
Celestia once again pushed her avatar into the mind of the man standing over the burning pit, this time not planning on leaving until she had gotten what she had come there for.
Her physical form inhaled sharply as she entered his mind-
“-ook at me look at me! Look at what I can do! Why aren’t you lookin-“
“-pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of Ameri-“
“-iamo andare negli Stati Uniti? Perché non possiamo rimanere in Ital-”
Celestia bit her lip in her physical form, trying to keep from losing herself completely in the experience.
-keep saying that we’re going America but I don-
“-ani ga watashi no yūjin ni tsuite no?” It’s so unfair I can’t stop crying why are we go-
-at jerk took my cards! “Ms. Watson! Ms. Watso-“
-re they bloody? Did I cut mysel-
Soon, though, it was too much for her. She found herself completely submerged in the memories.
-no recess in middle school? Why? Just all classes all the time-
“¡Fuera de aquí negro pedazo de mierda!” What an asshole! Did he really just sa-
-oly shit holy shit her lips are so close to mine do I slip tongue do I just peck I don-
-likes me! He really really likes me! It was just like in the movi-
Holy hell that was rad. “I wish I could do somethin’ like that, man-“
-uck this is weird. The fuck does ‘kush’ mean anyw-
-no one likes me I could just end it right here oh my god why doesn’t he like me my mascara is rui-
“-you don’t get your grade up to at least a D, you will be held back a grade. Do you unders-“
I fucking hate algebra. Half of this crap doesn’t even make se-
-lp her with her shit and that’s how she repays me bipolar bitch-
“-ant you to be my first.” Oh fuck this is the real deal how do I start fucking wing it-!
-‘s love I can’t stop thinking about him the way he smil-
“I need some space, Bethany!” I don’t need this asshole anyway he’s a deadbeat ass my dad was ri-
-y god I’m holding my son in my arms oh my god I’m a father this is my son holy shit oh my god oh my-
“-eed to lay you off.” No no no this was the only place that would hire me fuck this recession no no n-
-rried we’re getting married! How did he pay for that airplane!? Oh my god this is the happiest day of my-
-enough income I’m going to joi-
“-e careful.” I kiss her it’s going to be the last time for a long time I’ll miss you baby-
-bout to be court marshaled but instead they sign me up for some ‘Blackwalk’ thing? Smells like bullshit to me-
“-os quieren muertos! Es América o morir! ¿Entien-“
“-isn’t some spy agency you can tell your fucking buddies about! We! Do! Not! Exist! Period! Any of you sorry little fuckwits let it d-“
-an’t believe I’m coming home. Manhattan here I come baby! Daddy’s coming ho-
“WHEN WE HUNT, WE KILL!”
“-edes llevarme a Manhattan? Mi hermano le pagará un montó-“
“NO ONE IS SAFE! NOTHING IS SACRED!”
“-‘s a transfer. Gotta go to Manhattan. Don’t worry, baby, we’ll be fi-“
“WE ARE BLACKWATCH!”
Manhattan? Seriously? The baby will probably choke on all the damn smog in that shitho-
“WE ARE THE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE!”
“-wanted to live in a big city. I don’t know, maybe I’m weird or someth-“
“WE WILL BURN OUR OWN TO HOLD THE RED LINE!”
“-amo come la mafia dannato! Mazzo di italiani a Manhattan insie-!”
“IT IS THE LAST LINE TO EVER HOLD!”
“Alex, please! You have to think about this!” “I’ve had enough ‘thinking about it’, Karen. Goodbye.”
-people are flipping out about the news. What the hell happened that’s so damn important?
Oh my god what the fuck happened at the station?
“-estimated thousands dead in a devastating biological attack on Penn Station. The bodies have yet to be identified due to quarantine-“
“-ime suspect is Alexander James Mercer-“
“We seeing action?” “Fuck yeah man, red line’s been drawn.”
“-clothes were attached to the corpse and could not be removed by conventional means. We’ve already scheduled an autopsy to find out wh-“
“’Woke up?’ What the fuck do you mean ‘woke up’? Ah, shit, get Cross on the li-“
“Mercer, Dana A. Target is in Manhattan. I want her alive-“
“-threw a goddamn taxi at it! What the fu-“
“-rget is not down! I repeat, target is not down!”
“-no body, just a bloodstain. No calls, no sign of struggle, and no sign of our resident superma-“
How the fuck did she disappear with a dead operative in her wake? There’s going to be hell to pay for th-
“-ible runner?” “Not likely. Runners can do some crazy shit but they can’t come back from the dead.”
-oly shit that guy is running up the side of the building!
“-ny sign of the perp, and you call in military backup. Do not, I repeat, do not, engage!” “Why? It’s just one guy. Nothing the NYPD can’t handl-“
“Priority target’s designation is now ZEUS.”
The time for waiting waiting waiting is over.
“-eing chased by some kind of wild fuckin’ animals!”
“MOTHER has escaped containment!” “How the fuck did that happ-“
“-nything like Hope?” “No. No, this is going to be much worse.”
“Blackwatch can’t handle this alone. We need shock troops. Call in the marines.”
-ing back home to deploy in Manhattan? Are we going to be attacked?
-on in Manhattan? Why do we need all this fucking gear in our home-
“-fuckin towlheads I bet. I swear it’s like nine eleven two point oh, with no airplanes this time.”
-ake orders from these black op guys? Who the fuck are they? What authority do they ha-
Why is the sky red like that? What’s happening?
“-oly shit are these numbers real? This can’t be contained-“
“-ese fucking amateurs are pissing me off.” “Deal with it. They go in first to take hits, we go in after to clean up. Unless, you’d like to go first?”
“-fighting real goddamn monsters. Giant apes, fuckin giant tentacles, and a guy with giant fuckin claws. All of them can fuckin toss tanks like they’re fuckin toys. Welcome to fuckin Manhattan, asshole. Enjoy your stay. I hear the pizza’s fuckin’ great.”
“The military said we should stay insi-“ “Jesus he’s puking blood!” “Oh no, get away from hi-“
“The city’s changing. You see the sky over Harlem? It’s red. Fucking blood red. It’s the apocalypse man, I’m telling you-“
“-stopped this damn thing before. Stopped it dead.”
“Saw those gasmask assholes gun down a whole family. Crying kids, crying wife, begging husband. They just fucking gunned them down. And laughed.” “Jesus Christ, and they’re calling the shots here!?”
“Priority one target! Priority one target! I need a goddamn strike packa-“
“Fucking why won’t it die!? Jesus how the hell do we fight this fucking thing!?”
“No visible effect on target. Reengagi- mayday mayday, priority one target is on our- oh shit OH SHIT IT’S GETTING IN-”
-ucking threw a car at that helicopter what the fuck oh shit he sees me he sees me oh no no no no NO NO-
“GET HIM OFF OF ME! CUT ME FUCKIN LOO-”
- happened to the body!?
What’s going on where’s my husband why is there gunfire Jesus Jesus protect me please wash away my sins with the blood of your sacrifice who is that hooded man no no “STAY AWAY STAY AW-“
Where’s my arm where’s my arm where’s my arm where’s my arm where’s my arm where’s my ar-
“-T’S FUCKING GOT M-”
-an see my ribcage oh my god oh my god oh god I can’t scream who is that help me help me help me NO-
“Non ho fatto niente! Lascio Vi prego di essere! Non uccidermi! NON UCCIDE-!”
-m in shock I can’t hear anything why can’t I move my arms my arms aren’t there ZEUS is looking at me he’s running he’s running towards me fucking piece of shit you better come finish it you motherfuc-
“You don’t have to do this! Just let me go! Let me-”
“It fucking ate him! It fucking-“
All the bullets are doing is pissing it off! Fuck out of ammo oh shit oh fuck oh FUCK-
“It won’t go down! Need backup need back-”
-ats what is feels like to have no legs weird it’s like they’re still there I can feel them there’s the fuckin ZEUS coming at me you want me to fucking cry you piece of shit you aren’t shit fucking freak my boys will fucking end you just you fucking wai-
“El diablo! El día del juicio ya está aquí! Acepto a Jesús como MI SALVA-!”
-can see my insides that isn’t good-
-why can’t why can’t why can’t mom I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry-
“You think you can fucking scare me you piece of shi-“
“P-p-please let me go! You don’t have to do this! I-I just- I’ve got family! Please let me go, please- NOO-“
“What the fuck are we dealing with here, sir?” “Something that necessitates much larger armaments than what we have.” “If those don’t work?” “We’re fucked.”
The sight Luna was graced with when she appeared in her sister’s chambers was not a pleasant one.
Celestia was in the middle of the floor, writhing and twitching, screaming like Luna had never heard anypony scream before. Tears were streaming down her face, her eyes clenched hard as more and more tears escaped, some falling into her screaming mouth.
Luna didn’t hesitate; she leapt forward towards her sister, ignoring the sound of her chamber doors being bashed open by the guard, still yelling asking if their highness is okay outside.
“Sister! What’s wrong!?” She cried, grabbing hold of her sister and hugging her to herself, in hopes of stopping the writhing. She had no such luck, and Celestia continued screaming and crying as if she wasn’t even there. Luna ran diagnostic after diagnostic faster than a mortal medic pony could even think, finding nothing at all wrong with her sister at first.
Then, a diagnostic detected a spell in place; her true consciousness was elsewhere! That’s why she kept screaming though she was unharmed! Luna swiftly cast a counter charm on her sister, effectively slinging her back into her proper body.
Celestia’s eyes snapped open, lids red-rimmed and pupils pinpricks. She sharply inhaled a shuddering gasp, and started to hyperventilate.
The guards finally managed to slam her door open, but Luna twisted her head towards them and shouted “Leave us!” before they could get a word in edgewise. She didn’t want her sister to be seen by her subjects while she was weak in such a way, and there was nothing guards or medics could do to help there anyway.
The guards did as they were told, making a hasty retreat and re-closing the door. Luna was left alone with her sobbing, hyperventilating sister.
Luna clutched Celestia to herself, holding her close. The lunar princess could feel Celestia’s body shivering violently, but no doubt that shivering was not due to the cold. Luna’s eyes widened as her nose caught the distinct pungent scent of urine; her sister was so terrified she lost control of her bladder.
Not caring about how unhygienic it was, Luna focused on comforting her sister, whispering soothing words into her ear as she shivered and sobbed. It was almost dream-like, she never thought she would see her sister like this again. The both of them were well over a thousand years old; one didn’t expect a thousand-year-old sun princess to break down sobbing and pee herself no matter who you were.
“Sister,” Luna said quietly as Celestia’s sobbing finally ceased, though the shivering had not. “What happened? What did you see?”
The vulnerable sun princess’ eyes looked toward Luna, but didn’t see her. Her eyes stared right through.
“Death.” She croaked, having a particularly violent shiver. “I saw death.”