Becoming a Monster

by Telgin

Chapter 12: Becoming a Monster

It's funny. I'd lived somewhat close to a griffon town for years, but I never did learn its name. Blackfeather something, I think. I'd only been close enough to see it for myself a handful of times, and back then I couldn't read well enough to decipher the sign in the amount of time I had to view it. Understandably, I never picked up the name from any of the merchants traveling through, since, you know, they always ran away screaming or tried to kill me. So, as it was, I didn't even know the name of the town I was about to throw myself at. Not that it mattered. I never mattered to the griffons before, so why should the name of their little town matter to me?

Far off in the distance I could see it. An impressive sprawl of wooden and thatch buildings covered the valley floor, merging with lots of both natural and artificial habitations up the mountainside. The entrance at the mouth of the valley was protected by high fortified walls and an ornate gatehouse with a drawbridge over a moat that spanned the gap between mountains. The place was well protected, and we'd learned the hard way many years ago that it must have been a military garrison of some sort. I guess to justify such defenses it would have to be. An army attacking from the ground would have met an almost impenetrable target. Of course, these being griffons, they were prepared for an aerial attack. Even this far away I could see countless patrols of the cat-bird things flying in twos and threes, armor glinting in the midday sun.

Good thing I didn't care about surviving this.

I was still consumed with anger boiling over from years of repressed hatred for them and the ponies, but in the hour or so that it took me to fly there I'd managed to calm down enough to plot. I didn't care at all whether I ever left the place. In fact, if they could rekill me for good, that might have been a blessing. But even so, I wanted to hurt them. I wanted them to suffer and remember that a draconequus did this to them for all of eternity. If I just flew up and killed a guard or two before they hacked me to bits and dumped me in the moat, that wasn't going to happen. So, when I was still far enough off that none of the patrols could hope to spot and recognize me, I cast the invisibility spell. Dots and blobs of violet clouded the new blackness to be replaced by washed out and dead colors. Fitting.

None of the guards batted an eye as I casually flew right past them. Interesting that they weren't prepared for a magical invasion. I guess if they had unicorns or natural magic they might, but what were the odds that a crazy unicorn or other magical thing was going to turn invisible, fly over the walls and start killing them? Oh well. They'd probably install defenses after I was done. Maybe they'd even write about me in one of their books.

The center of town was bustling with activity. Griffons of two dozen colors and coat and feather patterns milled around, tending to their daily routines. A male and female couple were buying some cut of meat from a vendor. A young mother flew over the scene, trailed by a griffawn that looked almost too young to fly. Guards circled overhead or perched atop buildings to keep disinterested eyes on the masses. More griffawns played and pounced on each other in a small grassy plot off to the side. It must have been nice, living so carefree. I'd wondered a lot what it felt like. Once I even thought I really knew, but that was just before my eggs were crushed by three ponies. I never knew, and never would know. These griffons wouldn't know much longer.

I touched down atop an enormous statue of some griffon I couldn't care less to know the history of, conveniently placing me in the very center of the activity. A grin crawled onto my face and queasy butterflies fluttered in the pit of my stomach. Oh, this was going to feel so good. With a wave of my hand the spell ended, returning me to the realm of the visible.

It took a surprising length of time for them to notice me. A handful must have seen me when the spell shuddered and died, but probably couldn't quite make out what I was. Then they poked the nearest griffon to them and pointed at me, leading to an amusing chain of griffons dropping what they were doing to gawk at me and murmur to one another. Two guards hefted their pollaxes and lifted off with a beat of their wings.

“Hi guys, remember me?” I thrust a skeletal finger at the closest of the two. A beam of blinding light lanced out to impale her chest, and she plummeted with a choked gasp. The male with her went down with a shrill cry when I blasted a hole through his midsection. I watched the two tumble into the crowd below, where they shuddered once each and gasped their last. That did feel good. Exhilarating!

A collective scream issued forth from the civilians, long and unending as one picked up where another left off. Those who saw their protectors die from an effortless gesture on my part broke and ran, throwing themselves into the bewildered remainder and clawing or trampling to get away from me. Good. Be afraid! Despair! One panicked and took to the sky, so I picked him off with a bolt of magic to the back of his head. His smoldering body spiraled downward and crashed into a vendor's stand, spilling bolts of cloth and hundreds of things I didn't recognize into the street. More desperate screams surged out, and more and more of the griffons tried to run only to become entangled with one another in the narrow streets.

It was just a shame that I could only shoot one at a time. With uncaring precision I lined up one after another and speared them with beams of hard light. One. Two. Five. Ten. Soon two dozen griffons, male and female, young and old, soldier and civilian, laid dead or dying in the streets. Acrid smoke from burnt flesh filled the air. It was too easy. After waking up, I felt refreshed and magically stronger than I had ever been. Punching holes in them wasn't tiring me out at all. I could keep this up all day.

In fact, that sounded like a great idea! But first, the scene needed a little fire. I swept my hands through the motions and channeled a burst of mana into the nearest wooden building, the function of which I didn't know or care about, and grinned wider when its roof erupted into flame. Griffons squealed in terror and doubled back in the air to avoid the embers kicking up from it.

Something slammed into my back, hard enough that I felt it even through the magical shield I'd raised. I spun to find a soldier raising her greatsword up again, and caught the blade in my magic. She was strong though, and tore it free after a momentary struggle. Three more soldiers in light plate and wielding bows formed up overhead. As one she twisted and pulled her sword back, and the archers drew their bows.

I smiled and fired off the teleport I'd been holding.

---

The terrified screams grew distant in an instant, but once the crack of displaced air ended I could definitely make out the turmoil I'd left behind. I had no definite destination in mind when I triggered the spell, aside from making sure I'd stay within the city. The wooden wall ahead of me, adorned with shelves and a few ceramic pots, told me I'd ended up in someone's house. Whoever they were, their day was about to get a lot worse.

“Lazar, is that you?” a female voice called out. Someone approached from behind. “What's going-” Her voice cut out with a small gasp. I spun to face her, finding a white griffon with a black beak staring back in abject shock. Her beak worked silently and she took a step back. “Flying feathers,” she muttered.

She ducked aside, avoiding my blast of magic by a hair, before bolting down a hallway. I had no reason to follow her. I could have just as easily set the house on fire and left her to her fate, but I wanted to see her dead. Smoldering hatred flared up inside me, and I charged after her, winding through two turns to find myself staring her down in a large room lit by four windows. A box sat in one corner, filled with blankets. And eggs.

The griffon reared back on her hind legs and pulled a knife from a desk next to the nest box. “Stay back!” she warned, desperation obvious in her voice.

I shrugged and ripped the dagger out of her grip with my magic. “You didn't.”

With a gesture, the dagger launched forward and embedded itself up to the hilt in her chest. She fell back against the wall and grabbed the handle, gagging and choking. Fresh blood ran from the wound as she made the mistake of pulling at it, but the pain overcame her before she got far. She collapsed to her side, sliding down the wall next to her eggs. Her eyes widened with fear. Good, she was still awake for this.

I strolled forward and picked her two eggs up in my magic. “You know what else you did?” The eggs hovered down to her eye level, and renewed terror surfaced on her face. I clenched my fist. The eggs quivered briefly in the air before their shells crumpled and shattered, spraying both of us with thick egg slime. I flicked my wrist and tossed the gooey remains onto her.

She made a hacking noise that brought up blood, and closed her eyes.

Whether she was aware to see it or not I had no idea, and at that point I didn't care. It was time to get moving again. I turned and stepped away, working a spell to ignite the room behind me. Maybe she'd be awake long enough to suffer a bit.

I failed to contain a little grin.

---

“The monster is over here!” a griffon cried out from somewhere to my left.

I stepped into the street, leaving the fifth burning home behind me as I went. The sky was becoming clogged with a thickening haze of smoke. No doubt the fires I'd set were beginning to spread through the city. The homes and other dwellings up on the mountainsides wouldn't catch, but everything in the valley floor would be at risk. They'd have a tough time controlling the flames now. If I was lucky so much would burn down they'd have to leave.

An arrow zipped past my face and two more bounced harmlessly off of my shield. Blazing pain shot through me when a fourth arrow shattered the barrier and embedded itself in my chest. To my side, a squad of griffons were flying low and nocking fresh arrows, with their leader pointing a talon at me. One consequence of all of the smoke was that the griffons couldn't fly so high anymore. That kept them from finding me so easily, but when they did I didn't have much time to react. Up to now it hadn't mattered much. Just shooting the griffons was getting boring, but since the soldiers seemed to be bent on dying to me I figured I'd try something a little different. I opened my arms and turned to face them, making sure they could see how ineffective the arrow rammed through my lung was at killing me. “Yes, the monster is right here.”

They drew their bows back, and blinding light seared the world. The griffons shouted in confusion and one of their bows went off, sending its arrow in a direction that wasn't near me. I smirked, then jumped to the side in case any of them got the idea to try shooting where I was. None did, so I reached out with my magic, twisted the temporarily disoriented and blinded griffons to face each other, and knocked their hands from their bow strings. The snap of arrows launching and impacting steel armor rang out, but to my displeasure they all bounced off without penetrating.

I huffed and blasted the four of them with beams of light, dropping the first two in screaming heaps. The last two shrieked and grabbed at smoking wounds on their chest, dropping their weapons in the process. My magic was growing weaker. Those shots barely penetrated their armor, leaving blackened holes and singed feathers underneath. The survivors groaned and locked eyes with me for a moment. Their mistake. I shot again, catching one in the unarmored wing and the other in her hind leg. The first screamed anew and fell to the street atop his comrades, and the last female flew off before I could shoot her again.

Run! Be afraid! Feel what I did!

It was probably for the best that she fled, since I was rapidly realizing that I didn't have the strength to fight much longer. That was how that last arrow penetrated my magical shield. I couldn't stop many more shots, and the next one to clobber me with a halberd would cut me in half. I could probably kill a few more civilians if I found them, but by now everyone was hiding or trying to get out of the city. It was mostly just soldiers left in the streets now.

Further, my suicidal bent had been tempered a lot by the fact that I'd gotten away with killing so many griffons. I considered just running toward the largest knot of soldiers I could find rather than keep up this little game of hopping around the city and setting it ablaze, but something else came to mind: the griffons had done a lot to hurt us, but the ponies had done at least as much.

They had to pay too.

I watched embers lick up over the buildings around me, and listened to griffons shouting. I could kill a few more griffons, or a lot more ponies.

That's what I'd do.

I reached deep inside and gathered as much magic as I could. There was still more left than I expected, but this would take a lot of strength. My hands swept through the air and traced through the shapes to complete a new teleport spell. I held it for a few moments more, waiting for I knew not what. For griffons to find me? To make sure I'd done as much damage as I could? I wasn't sure.

With a long sigh, I triggered the spell and was torn through reality. Flames, smoke and ash were replaced in an instant by earthy stone, and I collapsed onto my hands and knees. I was outside of the city, but precisely where I had no idea. Thin wafting trails of smoke rose high into the sky above me, but everything was deathly silent.

I flopped onto my belly and rolled over, seeing the fletchings of the arrow in my chest sway to and fro from the motion. There was no strength left in me to stand, much less remove the arrow and repair the damage.

It would return in time. A few hours. Maybe a day.

If I was lucky, the griffons would find me and end my miserable existence while I couldn't fight back.

---

Of course, that didn't happen.

For hours upon hours I laid there, watching the smoke fill the sky but never seeing even a single griffon fly overhead. Once again I found myself experiencing the most peculiar combination of absolute exhaustion that was accompanied by neither breathlessness or sleepiness. Only with time did it gradually fade with the return of my magic.

It was dusk when I finally had the strength to sit up and rip the arrow out of the wound. Black, dead blood dripped and ran down my belly. The flash of pain subsided in a few seconds, just like the other wounds before it. And just like those wounds, a small dose of golden healing light was all it took to remove it. Fresh and bright red blood leaked from my dead arm and a tear in my stomach, but I felt no pain. Just a quirk of what healing magic did to a body that didn't know it was dead I guess.

I stared at my newly “pristine” ruined body for a long time further before I summoned the will to stand and leave the little crevasse I'd teleported myself into. My magic hadn't returned to me entirely yet, but I had the energy to fly up and get my bearings.

Blackfeather, or whatever the name of the city was, was still smoldering. The fires appeared to all be gone out now, but wisps of black smoke still trailed up from a dozen places within the valley. I was too high and far away to pick out individual griffons, but they were milling around in the gutted, burnt out city. Probably looking for wounded or survivors, or trying to salvage their ruined lives. I spat gooey, bloody spittle at the scene of carnage. Now they knew how I felt. Maybe when I was done with the ponies I'd come back and let them experience it again, just in case they forgot between now and then.

Whatever. I was done with them for the moment, and it was now the ponies who were going to get a taste of my wrath.

I inverted and rolled over in the air to face down the canyon, and with a beat of my wings I soared off. There was an absolutely perfect little place for me to start with right at the end of the trail, but there was no need to hurry. I still needed to recover a little before I got there. It wouldn't be any fun if I had to leave too soon after arriving.

---

Night had fallen by the time I got there. In the two or three hours it took to fly the trail at such a leisurely pace I'd managed to recover nearly all of my power, which left me in perfect shape to raze the little blight of pony kind upon the land. I never knew the name of the settlement at all, and soon enough its name wouldn't matter to anyone.

Being night time did leave me with the interesting problem of most of the ponies being indoors. There was a slight temptation to settle in the center of town like I did at Blackfeather and wait to see how long it took for a pony to notice me, but frankly, I wasn't in much of a mood to toy with the ponies. I just kind of wanted to kill them, and so I decided to use pretty much the same strategy that I'd adopted earlier. Fire worked very well on those wooden structures, and pretty much everything in the settlement was wood.

I touched down outside of the woods far enough away that none of the pegasi patrolling the skies could have possibly seen me, and strolled through the trees and thick underbrush to approach from a direction that hopefully no ponies would expect.

The settlement had grown since the last time I laid eyes on it.

Pushing a branch out of the way, I emerged into the clearing proper and took in the size of it all. At least three dozen buildings of various sizes and functions stood sprawled out in a semi-organized fashion. I was staring down what appeared to be a main road of some kind, along which most of the buildings had been erected. Two earth pony guards patrolled in the distance, but none were evident nearby. Why would there be? This wasn't a military outpost like Blackfeather. This was just a little pony community, filled with families trying to start a living on the frontier. Oh, but they did blow out my brother's ear drums and try awfully hard to shoot us just because we stopped by. I clenched my fists at the thought that Bone Chips or any of his associates might be there.

No, he probably wasn't here, but it didn't matter. Most of these ponies were probably innocent, just like the dozens of griffons I'd murdered earlier that day. Innocence proved nothing for them, and it would prove nothing for these ponies either. Not that they were that innocent.

Flames crackled and popped into a ball in the palm of my outstretched hand. Frustratingly, the first building I approached was a little hard to light, but in time the heavy logs caught flame. My smile grew wider and wider as the flames spread and picked up strength. Any ponies inside were about to have a bad night. Once I was sure it would continue burning without my assistance, I moved on to the next building down the street. It was just as hard to light, but it too in time caved to my will and caught fire. Embers crackled and licked at wood, and spread.

I'd set about half a dozen buildings on fire by the time I was finally noticed. Stealth was pretty far down the list of things on my mind, so I brazenly wandered into the main street to get to the next row of homes or whatever was on the other side. As I half-expected and half-hoped for, one of the guards was sprinting toward the growing flames. She almost didn't see me in her haste, but when I stepped under a magical street lamp, she snapped her head around in my direction and skidded to a halt. “What... in the world...?” The pegasus drew her sword and turned to face me completely.

“Hi there,” I replied, grinning. Hello there, first victim! I raised a hand and bored a hole through her chest with a beam of light.

Frustratingly, she collapsed without so much as a squeal. That meant I was still free to wander around and start fires without the ponies fighting back. Killing them this way was effective, but so impersonal. I didn't want to just smother them in smoke in their sleep. I wanted to see their fear.

Oh, let's get this on with, shall we? I conjured a larger ball of flame in each hand and hurled them at two different buildings. They exploded with satisfying showers of embers and cracks that resonated down the entire street. That had to get their attention, but while I waited, I kept conjuring globes of fire to launch at whatever target presented itself. For a while that was nothing but wooden structures, but I got bored and tossed a few through some windows. That elicited a startled yelp, and a smirk from me. Finally, an interesting target of opportunity presented itself. Another pegasus flew overhead to get a good look at the carnage I was wreaking, only to have a fireball zip past him.

He shouted a curse and aimed a crossbow at me. “We're under attack! Yari, get over here!”

Yari? Wasn't that one of the ponies who- I flinched and backed up when a bolt spanged off of my magical shield and flew off into the woods behind me.

The stallion above was busy grabbing for another bolt when Yari flew into view to my right. She whipped her crossbow down at me and drew aim too. “Oh, buck! Another draconequus!”

Ah, yes, she was one of the ponies that was here before. The one Revelry shot and was afraid she'd killed? Well, sorry Rev, but she wasn't going to live much longer. I lashed out with three more beams of deadly light, clipping the stallion's leg and wing and blasting a hole in her peytral. Both screamed and spun out of the sky to land with satisfying thumps and clattering of metal against the dirt path. I shot the stallion again to end his life, then leered over Yari, who much to my delight was still alive.

She pawed uselessly at the ground and tried to roll away from me, but I slammed her with a magical field to pin her down. “Remember me?” I hissed, rolling her over to face me. “A few months ago you tried to kill me and my family for walking through.” She spluttered something and kicked feebly at me. “Well, now I'm going to show you what it's like...” I charged magic into my claws and slashed at her throat, spraying blood onto the ground and my hooves.

I left the twitching and shuddering mare and spun to face the rest of the town. Ponies were starting to emerge from their homes now. Stallions, mares and foals.

A smile edged on to my face.

---

The griffons hadn't put up much of an effective fight, but the ponies were even worse. Many were groggy and disoriented from being awakened by screams or their houses burning down, and those who were alert seemed so horrified and shocked at my appearance that they didn't do much more than stare or scream before I ended their lives.

I kept using the same tactic that worked so well at Blackfeather, which made it even harder for the disoriented ponies to mount any kind of defense. With a wave of my hand I was torn through nothingness to reappear with a crack and pop at the other end of the settlement, leaving a dead earthpony stallion behind as I went. There couldn't be too many ponies left now. This place wasn't a tenth the size of Blackfeather and I'd already killed two dozen ponies at least. Good. I wasn't going to let a single one leave this place alive.

Movement caught my ears from behind, and I turned to find one of the few remaining buildings that wasn't yet ablaze. Something moved in a window, and I approached.

“It's coming!” a mare said in an urgent tone. Silverware and plates clanged and smashed against the floor, and shadows danced inside. What a shame. They couldn't hide from me.

I raised a claw to my chin to consider the best way to kill them, but before I had more than a moment to think the front door flew open and a white unicorn stallion galloped out. He flashed a sword at me, which slammed harmlessly against my shield. “Get back, monster! I won't let you hurt my family!”

There was no way I could have forgotten this pony. I grinned at him and raised a hand toward his home. “Oh, I'm sorry Dirk. I couldn't keep you from hurting my family, and now you can't keep me from hurting yours.” Magic surged through my arm and the room through the window erupted in flames. Terrified shrieks pierced the air.

“No! Leave them alone!” He slashed twice more, doing nothing more than throwing flecks and sparks of red magic up from my shield. “I'll kill you!” He drew his sword back and thrust with his entire body behind the blade, and much to my surprise it finally penetrated and dug a deep gash into my side.

I snarled and pulled away, leaving the pony with a triumphant sneer on his face. He wound up for another thrust, and I swiped my hand down. Magic surrounded him and he fell forward with a confused grunt, leaving him in a moaning heap in the grass. “You're too late, I'm afraid. Somepony already beat you to that,” I said, waving my skeletal arm at him. “Tell you what, if you love your family so much, you can die with them.” I snatched him up with my magic and hurled him through the window.

It took a moment for the screaming to start, but the stunning magic didn't last but a few seconds. I chuckled and turned to go find more victims, which took only a second.

A teal coated unicorn mare stood just away from the house, wide eyed in horror. Behind her was a little brown colt, trembling and holding his mommy's hoof. “Dirk!” the mare screamed as she stared at the burning house and listened to his dying cries.

Hey, that's no fair now. You were all supposed to die together, remember? I grabbed her in my magic and pulled her off her hooves and closer to me. She shrieked and kicked at the magical bonds holding her tight, but it was futile. “Cinny, run!” she wailed at the little foal now standing alone in the clearing. The colt looked between the two of us, but his hooves were frozen in place. “Run!” she screamed again.

“You'd best listen to mommy,” I said to him sweetly. “Run while you can. The grownups can't save you, because they're dead!”

He finally turned and galloped for the center of the burning town, leaving me with the weeping mare in my magical clutches. Oh well, best let her die with Dirk like I promised. I reared back to throw her inside too, when she squeaked, “What did we ever do to you?”

I relented, then drew her a little closer. “Do you really want to know what you did to me?” I asked, leaning close enough for my blotchy and dead skin covered snout to touch her muzzle. Warm, frenzied breaths rolled from her nostrils into mine. “Take a good look at the monster you've made, pony. You've killed, murdered and taken everything from me. Now it's my turn.”

“Wh-” She never finished her sentence. Just like Dirk before her, I lobbed the mare into the burning house and stood out front while her screams echoed through the dying town.

There were no more shouts or screams from behind me. The only sounds I could make out were the pops of burning wood and the crash of a building succumbing to its fiery fate. For minutes I watched the home before me burn brighter and hotter, contemplating the ends of all of these ponies.

Oh, yes. I was missing at least one little colt, now wasn't I?

Killing and destroying so much had left me tired, but I had the strength left in me to channel the life sensing spell. The glow of the flames died out in a a gray and washed out world covered in tiny pinpricks of life. Nothing inside the house ahead of me.

I turned and plodded back toward the center of town. There were a few lights left. Cowering. Hiding.

They couldn't hide from me.

---

The main road running through the town was littered with at least a dozen corpses, and on each side the homes and warehouses were still raging infernos. The town wouldn't completely stop burning for a full day at least, but it was of little consequence. One of only three or four lives left in the town was just up a head, amongst the bodies. Playing dead? Nice try.

I kicked a dead mare out of the way and strolled closer. Something shifted and whimpered ahead. “Mommmy...” a foal whined.

Cinny? Should have run farther. I stepped onto and over a dead stallion and saw something. A gray pegasus mare in metal armor twitched. Yari? Impossible. She'd have bled to death a dozen times over by now. I charged a bolt of magic to shoot her with again and stepped closer.

Another string of whimpers met my ears. From here I could see her leg move, and a little pink filly's face poked out. She squealed and ducked back behind it. “Mommmmy...” Cries mixed in with the whines. Oh. Yari was still dead, it just seemed that some foal was just now finding out. Her daughter? Probably.

I stepped around the corpse and looked down at the filly. She was covered in her mother's blood from green mane to tail. Little pink wings laid limply at her sides as she gasped and curled up into a tiny shuddering ball. “Mommy!”

“Mommy can't save you,” I said levelly. “Mommies can't save anyone.” I pointed a glowing finger at her. Relax, it would all be over soon.

She squealed again and grabbed her mother's foreleg. “Mommy... pleeeeeaaaaaase...” She went back to weeping and trembling.

The magic at my fingertip swirled and shimmered. Just one flash and it would all be over. Then she'd never hurt or be sad again. I would be doing her a favor, really.

She covered her face with Yari's leg and cried louder, spluttering and sniffling in absolute terror.

I knew how she felt. Poor thing. It sucked being at the mercy of a creature that held none for you. I was a monster. Pure and simple. All I did was exist and kill things. That's what the ponies believed, and sure enough, after trying hard enough that's what they made me. I wasn't a person anymore. I was the monster they always knew I could be. Best not disappoint them. The magic intensified, and I crouched next to her. Wouldn't want to just wing her.

“Mommy! Mommy, wake up! Please!!!!”

The magic on my fingertip shuddered.

It would be easy. I could stab her heart and lungs with a blast of magic and in a wink of the eye she'd be gone just like the others. Her life was in my hands. Just like mine was in the hooves of those ponies and claws of those griffons. She had no say in what I did to her. She was powerless to stop me. With a snap of my fingers I could snuff out her life like the insignificant thing it was. She was a pony, just like the others. Put in the opposite places, she'd crush me like a bug because I was a monster that didn't deserve to live.

Why should she get to live!? Why her and not Antic, or Fealty, or my whelps or me!?

I leered over the trembling and wailing filly for an agonizing eternity, rationalizing everything in my head. The magic evaporated in a frazzled poof.

With a frustrated scream I stamped my hoof, leaped into the air and flew as fast as I could away from the destruction and death I'd wrought.

They deserved it!

Comments

[Mother3Forever]

She's not completely lost to madness, it seems....

[Veprem]