The Life Of D-Pad

by FoxVillain321

Chapter 10: Fear

“Hey, mom! Can my girlfriend and Miss Scratch stay the night here?” I shout upstairs.

We walk into my house. All of the renovations that were done after the explosion are finished. The walls got a fresh coat of white paint, and there is new furniture. Octavia and I sit down on the sofa. Vinyl sits in one of the chairs. My mom walks down the stairs.

“Sure honey, I’ll get the…What happened to your shoulder?!” Windstorm exclaims.

Oh jeez, I almost forgot about that. I inspect my shoulder. The wound has stopped bleeding, but my arm is covered in streaks of dry blood.

“I’m fine mom. It’s just a small puncture wound.” I say, trying to not make my mom worried.

“Yeah, he just landed on something funny.” Vinyl lies.

“Oh, yeah…Mom, this is Vinyl Scratch. Vinyl, this is my mom, Windstorm.” I introduce.

“Pleasure to meet you.” My mom says, shaking Vinyl’s hoof.

“Sup.” Vinyl replies.

It’s strangely quiet for our house

“Hey, where’s the rest of the family?” I ask.

“They’re in Maneyapolis selling silver trinkets and such. Bolt and Storm Drum begged your father to take them with him. They’ll be back tomorrow.” She explains

She then grimaces at my shoulder.

“Please D-Pad, go wash up. It looks terrible.” Windstorm tells me.

I walk out to the kitchen and grab a rag from the sink. I turn on the sink and get the rag wet. I turn the sink off, and begin washing my leg clean.

“Well, I know it’s a tad bit late, but would you three like some tea?” My mom offers.

“That would be great, mom!” I shout from the kitchen.

“I wouldn’t mind some, thanks.” Vinyl thanks my mother.

Octavia doesn’t reply. I come back to the living room, my leg cleaned off. She is just staring at the floor.

“Octavia…would you like some tea?” I ask her softly.

She doesn’t say a word. After a minute, she nods her head.

“Octavia would like some tea as well, mom.” I say to Windstorm.

My mom walks into the kitchen. I start rubbing Octavia’s back with my hoof.

“Octavia…it’s okay…it’s...it’s all over now. You have every right to be angry and upset.” I say

…

“Why did it have to be him?”

She begins to cry again. “He may have not been the best father, but he was my father nonetheless. How could he do this? How could he torture ponies like that? I know they were clones, but they must feel pain too…I-I don’t know why he thought this was the best thing to do. He was never the violent type. He never hurt anypony, physically.” She whimpers.

My mom comes to us with a tray of tea cups. She gives us all a cup of tea. She notices Octavia’s crying.

“Honey, is something wrong?” My mom asks.

“No…no. Everything is fine.” Octavia replies, wiping the tears from her face.

“Hey, I’ll be right back. I have to go talk to somepony.” I say, walking out the door.

“At this late at night? Most of the ponies are asleep by now.” My mom states.

“Yeah, I just have to tell them something…” I say.

“Where in the world are you going?” She asks.

“Err…well…I just…”I stutter.

My mom looks at me with concern.

“Please honey, I just want to know where you’re going.” She says.

“…The Royal Castle…” I sigh.

She nearly lets the tea set fall off her back.

“What in Celestia’s name for?!” She asks, surprised.

I look over at Octavia, and then to Vinyl. I then turn back to my mom. I stand there, silent.

“Is everything alright? What happened to you three?” She asks.

We all stay silent. None of us say a word for a few minutes. My mom stands there waiting for an answer. To be honest, part of me wants to tell her everything. How Octavia’s dad was behind everything. How he did so many horrible things. How he died from his own creation…

My train of thought is de-railed as our door is shunted open. Lance is in our doorway. He looks like he has seen a ghost or something.

“D-Pad! You got to see this! You’re not gonna believe this if I just tell you what I saw!” He exclaims in near panic.

“Jeez, Lance! What the Tartarus has got you so spooked?!” I ask.

“It Mr. Melody! He’s…he’s…I don’t know what in Celestia’s name he is! He looks like a walking freak show! You got to see it to believe it!” He replies.

…Buck…

Octavia and Vinyl look at me.

“Well, we better hurry. I don’t want him to get away.” I say to Lance. I start walking to the door. My mom stops me and holds me back.

“D-Pad, don’t go.” Windstorm says. “Please don’t go.”

“Mom…I have to do this…”

“No, you don’t! There’s no reason for you to go!”

“MOM!” I shout. She steps back in shock. She starts to cry.

“…I just…I just…” She sniffs.

I give mom a huge hug.

“Mom…I-I-I’m sorry…It’s just…all of this happened because of me…I need to put an end to it…” I say.

She looks with concern through her tear filled eyes.

“I will come back home. I promise.” I say.

I let her go. She stands there for a minute. She then walks outside.

“Come on, we have to go!” Lance shouts.

“I am not leaving without my mother’s permission.” I state, firmly planting my hooves to the ground.

He grumbles something that I am unable to hear. I hold my ground. A few minutes pass, and my mom comes in with a long case. She sets it on the floor.

“D-Pad…” She says to me. “If you are going to go out, put these on.”

I open the case. There are two long, sharp, bladed wing guards.

“These are your father’s custom wing guards.” She says. “He made these for extreme emergencies. These guards have razor-sharp blades on them, so be careful. I’ve seen these things cut through an entire block of stone. The only thing I want from you is to promise me you will use these only if you need to.”

I nod. She helps me put the wing guards on. They’re a little heavy, but it shouldn’t prevent me from flying. The hinges on the armor allow my wings to fold up. My mom kisses me on the forehead.

“Be careful.” My mom says as she walks back upstairs.

“Let’s go.” I say to Lance as I walk towards the door.

“We’re going too.” Octavia states.

“No.” I say. “I want you to stay here. You’ll be safe here. I would never forgive myself if you got hurt.”

“And how do you think I’ll feel if you get hurt?” she shoots back. “D-Pad, I know you feel obligated to stop whatever my father has become, but you can’t take him on by yourself.”

“Lance is coming with me.” I state.

“And what if Lance gets hurt? Look…you don’t even know what my father has become. There is safety in numbers right now. It may change later, and if it does, Vinyl and I will come back to the house. But right now, we’re going.” She says.

“…you are adorable when you’re dead serious.” I joke. “Well, I already know I’m not going to win this argument…Alright, but stay next to me.”

Octavia nods. All four of us walk outside and begin our trek over to Ponyville.

“GET THEM OFF ME! PLEASE, GET THEM OFF!!”

An earth pony runs past us screaming and crying, swatting at the air. The center of Ponyville now has a large fissure in the ground and the town hall is split in two. Some of the buildings have fallen apart. Ponies are going crazy. Some are running away from things that aren’t even there. Even more are cowering in fear of imaginary creatures. I see one pony laughing hysterically with tears streaming down her face. I try to stop one of the traumatized ponies.

“Excuse me! Ma’am!” I shout.

The mare looks at me. Her eyes are completely black. She begins screaming at the top of her lungs.

“NO! DON’T KILL ME! I’LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING!” she screams. She empties her saddlebag onto the ground and runs away.

I stand there, trying to comprehend what the Tartarus just happened.

“Well…that happened.” Lance comments.

“Did you see her eyes? Completely black. Something’s wrong with everypony.”I say.

“It looks like somepony put some type of spell on them to make them afraid of…well, whatever they’re afraid of.” Octavia guesses.

“Three guesses who.” Vinyl jokes.

“Well now we have a new question: Where is Mr. Melody?” Lance says, looking around.

I instruct everyone to look around town for any sign of him. We all split up and start to look around. I head north, Vinyl goes east, Lance heads west, and Octavia walks south. Looking forward, I can see a huge pathway that has been crudely carved into the ground and many of the shops and houses. I look up at the mountain the holds the city of Canterlot. There is a crimson aura surrounding the city.

“Guys! I think I found something!” I shout.

The other three head over to me. We all look up at the aura-engulfed city.

“Bits to bagels that’s probably where we need to go.” I say.

“Well, we better start hoofing it.” Vinyl says walk forward.

“Why hoof when we can ride?” Lance says, pointing towards the Ponyville train.

We all walk over to the train. I climb into the train and look around. The train car is vacant. There are random bits of garbage on the floor.

“It looks like the train was abandoned!” I shout to everpony outside.

I walk into the engine room…and jump back to avoid getting hit with a shovel.

“Get back, crazy pony! I have a shovel! I will kill you if I have to!”

I see a tan stallion earth pony in a train conductor’s suit. He is holding a small shovel in his hoof.

“Whoa! WOAH! Hang on! We’re not crazy! We were just looking in the train!” I shout.

The stallion drops the shovel.

“Good, I don’t think I could have killed you even if I tried.” He says, taking deep breaths.

“What happened to the train?” I ask.

“Emergency stop. Somepony stopped on the tracks, and I had to pull the emergency break. I don’t remember what happened after that. I woke up with a bump on my head, and terrified ponies bashing on my door. I peeked in and I came face to face with a pony with completely black eyes, screaming about zombies or something. I closed the door back up, and I’ve been hiding in here ever since.” He explains.

…Buck…What the Tartarus is going on?

“Can this thing take us to Canterlot? My friends and I need to get there as soon as we can.” I ask.

“Yessir, if you give me a couple minutes to get this train up and running again.” The stallion says.

I run back to Octavia and the rest of my friends.

“The conductor says he can get us to Canterlot. Hop in.” I say.

Everypony gets in the train car. After a few minutes, the train springs to life and begins to move. We start out slow, and then progress to a faster pace.

A half an hour passes as we wait to arrive to our destination. We pass through the red aura…

CRRRRRRRUUUUNCH!!

We are all flung forward. I cling as hard as I can to one of the windows, and watch as our train car derails and flies off toward a hill. Our train car rolls over and over as everypony is tossed around like ragdolls in an avalanche. The car finally stops rolling, righting itself back onto its wheels. I stand up. Somehow, I manage to escape the accident with minor injuries. A few scrapes and bruises here and there, but nothing horrible. Good thing I had these wing guards on.

I look around the train car for the rest of my friends. I see Vinyl trapped under some broken seats. I move them and she climbs out from under them. She has a small gash in her right hind leg and some cuts on her body. Octavia climbs out from behind a hunk of metal. She is cut in a couple of places, but she seems to be okay.

“Where’s Lance?” I ask.

“…over here…” I hear Lance mumble.

I look around. I see him pinned against the wall by some seats with shards of glass embedded into his wings. I pull the seats away, and help him out. He winces when he tries to move his wings. He tries to walk, but he collapses after the first few steps. It looks like his right front leg is broken.

“Crap…what do we do?” I say, trying to remain calm.

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re four-legged.” He jokes. He begins to move on three legs. I bust open one of the broken doors. He makes it outside and sits down.

“Alright, that’s better.” He sighs with relief.

I look over at the train and its cars. The entire train engine is aflame. Many of the cars are annihilated. There are metal pieces and glass shards everywhere. The conductor is nowhere to be seen. I hope he’s okay…

“D-Pad, get going. You need to end this.” Lance says.

I turn back to Lance. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Oh for…look, I’ll be fine. Once I feel like I can move on my own, I’ll seek medical attention. YOU need to find Mr. Melody and stop him.” Lance says.

“I’ll stay with him.” Vinyl says. She starts to pull some of the glass shards out of Lance’s wings.

“Ow! Damn it all! Watch what you’re doing!” He growls.

I look over to the city of Canterlot. The bridge into the city is down. Handy I gue…Is that Octavia on the bridge…Did she just jump off!? No…no way…She’s right next to me. I look over at Octavia, then back at the bridge. I shake my head.

“Is something wrong?” Octavia asks.

“No…no I’m good.” I reply.

“Well, we better get going then.” she says, walking over to the bridge.

I follow her across the bridge. I look down off the bridge. I shake my head again, and continue into the city gates. My eyes must be playing tricks on me.

“D-PAD, HELP ME!!” Octavia screams.

I gallop into the city. I see Octavia cowering…at a signpost. I raise an eyebrow.

“Octavia…it’s a signpost.” I say, poking her.

She stands back up and blinks a couple times. She looks at the signpost.

“I swear to you D-Pad, my father was going to kill me.” She whimpers, still uneasy.

“Let’s try to stay together. Whatever’s going on, we’ll be safer together.” I say.

We continue our walk down the road. The town seems abandoned. That, or everypony is hiding in their homes. Many of the shops are open, but no one is tending shop. I tell Octavia that we should try and get to the royal castle. If anypony wanted a safe haven, some of the ponies would have tried to get into the castle.

As we continue on, Octavia stops at a small shop.

“D-Pad, I’m going to check for some bandages in this shop. We’ve got to have a way to control our bleeding if we sustain any worse cuts.” She says, walking into the shop.

“Very well, I’ll keep watch.” I state as I stand by the entrance.

After a few minutes, I hear Octavia scream. I run into the…Oh no…

Octavia is lying down on the ground. Her stomach is slit into. Blood is all over the floor. All of her organs are on the ground. Her heart has been stomped on. She is not moving or breathing.

No…No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!

I cradle Octavia in my forelegs. I begin to sob uncontrollably

“I’m sorry…I am so sorry…I shouldn’t have let you come…Oh Celestia…I am so sorry…”

“D-Pad, what in Equestria are you doing?”

I look up and see Octavia looking at me funny.

“OCTAVIA!!” I shout. “But…”

I look back at the dead “Octavia”. I am holding a store mannequin in my forelegs. I drop the mannequin.

“Ok…something’s very wrong here…” I say, backing away from the mannequin. “I heard you scream and…”

“I didn’t scream.” She states. “I was looking around for the bandages, but the shop has been cleaned out. What were you doing to the mannequin?”

“It didn’t look like a mannequin to me. It looked like you, and you were dead.” I explain

She looks at me with concern.

“First my father, then me dying. What is going on?” She asks.

“I don’t know, but we need to get to the castle, and we need to stay together.” I say.

We leave the shop and continue our trek to the castle. Along the way, I keep seeing multiple “Octavias” die in horrific ways. A couple jumped of balconies and splattered onto the ground. Octavia has bouts of freak-outs, screaming about how she’ll be a good girl and tells her father to stop yelling at her…

After a half an hour, we reach the entrance to the castle. Guards are running around frantically, trying to avoid random nonexistent things attacking them. A guard in a purple armor is shouting at the rest of them, trying to rally the troops.

“Hey! Over here! Can you help us?!” I shout to the purple armored guard.

He looks over at us and runs over.

“What are you two doing outside!? Don’t you know what’s going on!?” He exclaims.

“Not exactly, but I guess it would have to do with all the hallucinations I’ve been seeing.” I surmise.

“Somepony, or something, attacked the castle. This creature cast this spell around Canterlot, and now everyone is running around like crazy. The city folk are all cowering in there homes. And it’s not just here. The creature attacked Ponyville and Cloudsdale. There is mass insanity in both places…” He explains, stopping to look over at something. He shakes his head and returns his glance to me.

“You’re hallucinating too, huh.” I sympathize with him.

“My sister…I keep seeing her die in front of me.” He says in a low tone.

I flare my wings out. “Where is the creature now?”

“Inside…wait, you’re going after it?” He asks.

“I’m not just going after it…I’m going to destroy it.” I say, walking toward the entrance to the castle. The massive wooden doors swing open. I swallow hard, take a deep breath, and walk in.

The doors slam behind me. I can barely make out anything from the main hall. Every form of light has been shrouded in darkness. A red aura is glowing from atop what I assume is the stairs.

I hear a guttural roar coming from the red aura.

“Hello, Mr. Melody…quite a mess you’ve caused.” I speak to the aura.

The aura growls at me. It begins making sounds like it’s trying to talk, but all that comes out is gurgles and roars.

I flare my wings out.

“OOOOOOOOOOORAAAH!” I cheer.

I begin to gallop towards the aura. The aura disappears and I-OW!-run into a wall.

The voice begins to laugh at me. Laugh it up, asshole. I’ll stop you if it kills me. Celestia, I need some light. I look at the mural windows. Hmm…sorry about this, princess.

I kick one of the widows. It shatters and lets the bright moonlight in. I hear the thing hiss at the light.

I look at the thing that made the hissing noise, which is standing right in front of me. The creature is about three times as tall as me. Its body is splitting in parts, showing muscle and bone. Its face is completely split open, showing the skull of the creature. It has three pairs of wings, and an array of horns like it has a mohawk made of horns. Green steam is exhaled out of his nostrils. It has one bloodshot, red, eye. The other eye socket is vacant.

It opens its mouth and roars, exhaling a disgusting greenish haze in my face. My head starts to hurt like crazy. My heart starts pounding. Images of Octavia being brutally murdered by me flash before my eyes. I’m starting to lose consciousness. The room is starting to spin. It’s starting to get dark. I must…I need…to…stay…awake.

“Hello?”

Where…where am I? It’s completely black. I can’t even see what I’m walking on. I walk forward. I don’t even feel like I’m moving forward.

“Is anypony here?! Hello?!”

I see a figure walking toward me. As he gets closer, I make a discovery.

…The figure is me.

“H-h-hello?” I say to myself.

The other me smiles. “Hi! So, seems we got ourselves into a huge mess haven’t we.” He says.

“Well, you could say that.” I joke.

The other me laughs. “Even in near death, you still have a sense of humor.” He laughs.

“I’M DEAD!?!?” I shout, wide-eyed.

“Near dead.” He corrects me. “That green mist the guy breathed conked you out. It didn’t kill you, but you are unconscious and laying on the ground. It’s only a matter of time before Mr. Melody kills you.”

“Great. So I’m gonna die. Wonderful.” I groan.

“Not so fast.” He says raising a hoof. “We can get back and try and probably fail to take on the new and improved Mr. Melody. However…I have to wonder something…”

“And that is?” I ask.

A large hole opens above us. A white glow emits from the hole. I look in the hole, and see millions of happy white earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns are all congregating on an unimaginably massive cloud. They all have yellow halos above their heads and are wearing white robes.

“Why go back…when we can live in harmony forever.” He says.

“Is that…” I gasp, amazed.

“Heaven.” He says, nodding. “Just think, no more fighting. No more moving. No more prejudice. You will be accepted with open arms by everypony. We’ll finally be able to achieve the goal we’ve been striving for. Our lives will be perfect. All you need to do is let go.”

He extends his hoof outwards. I look at his hoof.

I close my eyes…

…take a deep breath…

…and swat his hoof away.

“No.”

“No?” He laughs. “Are you kidding me? No?”

“I made a promise to Octavia. Even I were given the choice to choose the perfection of Heaven and the vices of Equestria, I would fly back to Equestria just to be with her.” I say.

I start walking away from the other me.

“You can’t just turn down a perfect life!” He shouts.

“Watch me!” I shout back.

“You’ll die if you go back!” He yells.

I look back the other me. I grin at him.

“I don’t plan on dying today!” I shout.

I feel my eyes grow heavy, and I lay down onto the floor. I close my eyes.

I open my eyes. I am lying on the steps of the royal hall. Mr. Melody is sniffing my body. I slowly outstretch my wings. I then lunge at his legs. I feel my wings slice through all four of his legs. I hear him wail in pain, as I look back. He is now lying on four bleeding stumps. He begins flapping his wings trying to fly. I swing my wing at one of his wings, lopping it off. He wails in pain again. I walk to the front of him and look at him in his skeletal face.

“I’m truly sorry, Mr. Melody…You are truly a brilliant stallion. I am amazed at what you we able to do. I just we could have met before. I could have prevented this.” I say.

He looks at me. He does not growl or anything. I think he knows it’s the end.

“I am sorry…but I have to stop you.” I apologize.

He lays his head sideways on the ground.

“TELL…OC…TA…VI…A…I…AM…SOR…RY…” He gurgles.

I smile at him. “I promise I will tell her.”

I raise my hoof over his head…

…And bring it down as hard as I can…