• Published 29th Jan 2014
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Fallout: Equestria - Beyond the Looking Glass - Prorook363



A Crystal Pony is plunged into the Equestrian Wasteland alongside her Stallion companion and must endure the hardships of a cold, desolate world. But how long can innocence thrive in a world of dread and misery?

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V. Shadowed Ruby

"Chaos is the father of evil, just as evil is the father of pain..."

Counting Time became meaningless. Nothing awaited me within my gilded cell as I was forced to parade myself amongst my captors.
They eyed me like savage beasts while I was forced to banter and act before them, like a fool on a stage.

It may have been weeks, possibly even months since I was taken to a terrible plain dedicated to sorrow and despair. All did not matter though. I was stuck, binded by a heavy collar around my neck that pleaded for the chance to detonate. Each day was no different from the next.

Like a lifeless thing, I was chained to a wall every night, forced to be a pet for the head slaver of the base. He longed for me to please him, but I refused every time. Even in the threats of death, I became numb. I provoked him, always, and such would result in punishment. He would have never tried to kill me though, like I had hoped. He cherished me. And it was a tactical device I used to my advantage the, I had soon learned, could only be developed when all cherishment of life was drained.

For the first weeks, I was broken. I cried and fought, despite the little will and ambition that resided inside of me. All attempts were futile though, for always ended where I previously started: nowhere.

That place felt similar to the Stable – I was forced to accommodate for expectations against my will, with little hope of ever leaving. It drove me to comprehend and understand the principles of my miserable existence, that all was meaningless. The significance of such could only be valued by the most powerful of souls – an endangered species that went extinct before my very own eyes...

The voice had attempted to reside in the void within me, but it was always he that strengthened it. It had become a recurrent proponent, one that eventually became part of me. I had not allowed it to enter me in entirety however. It was a dark, heavy force that drained my physically and mentally, but never emotionally – that well had been plucked dry.

When the thoughts carried on for too long, and the pains of life alongside loneliness weighed upon me, I tried to end it all. But all attempts were futile. The world was against my every decision. Even the voice, which had plead for my death for so long, fought to keep me alive, in hopes that it too would continue to work within its sullen vessel.

Once, when they had decided to polish their precious gem, I had attempted to drown myself. Their hooves grasped onto my wet body, attempting to pull me upward as I repeatedly began to beat my chest, praying to extinguish the life within me. I was slipping through their hooves, and they too did not want me to succumb to death by my own hooves. That would have spoiled their royal engagements…as it seemed to for the voice. It fought me, telling me of the horrors that awaited beyond the afterlife and manipulating my fears to control me. And it worked.

A world of torment and suffering was what he spoke of. Eternal loneliness with all sensation of pain and fear, with the screams of the damned resonating from every direction. It was far from the crystal empire Orion once spoke of, dreamed of…believed in.

And to think Orion may have been forced to suffer from the same fate...

I had failed to end myself that day, and after that they had attempted to beat me into submission once more, but my master would not allow it. He attempted to console me, spewing philosophies that meant virtually nothing to him. He only wanted to keep me in his grasp longer…

It was then that I was forced to truly parade myself amongst slavers, forced to become a show pony. Like a prop, I was prepped and dressed in the greatest attire in hopes to please all slavers and their associates, as requested by my “humble” master.

One day, before another structured performance, my artificial silence was ruptured by the creature that yearned for my attention.

“I would not dwell on the notion of perverting your nimble frame" it muttered as it took note of my horrid show uniform, "but It is only a temporary supplement that …”

“What do you want?” I whispered quietly, huddling inside the corner of my cell as I glumly looked downward and counted the cracks beneath me. My tone had become permanently soured, and my mannerism had eroded to parallel the conditions of my prison. I became a sinister, twisted shell of my former self.

“To tell you the truth, I’ve become tiresome. This routine has become orderly, lacking any texture that truly evokes the sensation of purgatory. If I didn’t have but one thing left within you, I would have left long ago.”

“Let me guess. Is it my death?” I coldly responded, giving little struggle or thought. That deeply bothered the voice which altercated into a darker, deeper tone.

“It matters not upon the life that dwells within you, but this is not the deal I yearned to reach. I demanded impurity, not chaotic perfections!”

“Then tough luck fucker,” I shot, laying my head on the cold floor (despite the fact that I did not understand what he was talking about). “This is my prison. And as long as you stay inside of me, you’re stuck here as well. Enjoy my pain.”

The voice stayed silent, and for a moment I felt triumphant. It was a small victory, but it still made me to snicker slyly.

“Await my return, princess…” it snarled, and then it was gone. And within seconds, I felt something change in me. My body felt lighter and cleaner. For the first time, I opened my eyes fully, and looked around in shock as I felt a deadly toxin leave my body.

Despite the shackles bonded to my neck and legs, I felt free for the first time…until the hour struck twelve.

By then, a guard had walked in, untied me from my post and dragged me down to the theatre, where I was expected to perform a show.

Each time I gave a performance, I longed to commit an act of stupidity that would kill me or banish me away from these ruthless ponies. I had done so many times before though, and it had gotten me nowhere.

As I performed, I dreamed of a royal light that beamed on a single seat, with Orion appointed on it as he clopped for my successes and carried me on through my hardships, just like he did through baseball games.

The memories did nothing though, for its effects had withered and died long ago. And I too knew that soon I would die here.

{***}

Later that day, I was personally escorted by my master, who had appraised my performance and adorned me with compliments and attempted affection. I renounced every single ounce of it.

“You are magnificent!” he boasted once more, attempting to close his large frame against me. I backed off quickly as he had predicted and he merely laughed it off.

He had a large beard, a grotesque orange coat and dark black eyes that bore into the pieces of my soul.

“You will eventually sleep, my love,” he smiled, railing me in by the metal collar and binding me to the post. “I allow you to rule the day when the sun mourns the loss of its beloved homeland. But when the night regains control, I will have you. What better time to cherish a fallen star then the time of its tragic department?”

He smirked at me wickedly as I felt my eyes cast downward from fatigue and futility. Shame was gone, and guilt had died. All that was left at that moment was then.

An hour had passed since the performance, and although the stallion awaited my slumber, I did not wane or falter.

I would have never expected what came next. Suddenly my body became heavy as I felt something pass through me once more. It weighed me down, leaving me weak, and before I could react a cold voice spoke to me.

“You’re welcome.”

The door before me burst open violently as a guard frantically jumped inward. He look scared and afraid, and panted heavily as if he ran for miles.

“Sir, we’re being overrun!” he screamed, causing the orange stallion to shout.

“Overrun?! By who?” he shouted, angered by the sudden disruption.

“Steel Rangers…or we think they are…we’re not sure!”

“I want you to set up hotspots along the buildings and take those scamps out! Assemble the men and assign them to different quarters, and take out the biggest stallion you see!”

I was completely oblivious of what was going on, but I most certainly knew who was behind it all.

The guard had frantically left the room, leaving only me and the stallion together alone. The room rattled violently as rubble fell to the floor, and I quickly glanced up to see small cracks appear from above.

The stallion was adorning a suit of heavy clad armor, full of patches and scratches, and had begun to trot out of the room before he looked back at me one more time. Before I could respond, he ran off, ready to join the battle from above, leaving me alone with the voice.

“What in Celestia’s name did you-”

“I attempted to blossom character back into your dreadful life once more.”

The voice had actually helped me, and I was confused as to why. With each attempt to seek an answer however, I was only met with remarks that managed to dodge the incoming questions. As the ground began to quake, I reckoned it was time to alter my confusion.

“How did you bring…them, here?” I asked, confused as to who exactly was here. The voice did not clarify upon that matter.

“It isn’t hard to manipulate a destructive pony to commit evils…”

“Wait, you tricked somepony else? How?”

“Starlight,” the voice sighed, using my name for the first time, “As much joy as it certainly brings for you to believe that you and I are fully one, you are not the only pony to have ever confronted me…”

“What?! What do you - ”

But by then the voice had completely shut me out, with the aid of a faint noise I thought I never would have heard.

I never thought that a small click would lead to the most satisfying noise I had ever heard. As the deactivated collar fell to the floor, and the rusted chains collapsed from my forelegs, I began to run my hoof over my neck as I began to take deep breaths as if they would have been my last…which may have been proven true had I not left quickly after.

As I left the room, the entire ceiling caved inward, funneling debris through the hallway as dust and smoke flew about. It burned my eyes and lungs, but still I trudged on to escape this terrible prison.

The voice began to moan and fascinate over the destruction around me, causing me to reflect on the entity alone. It was everywhere but nowhere, alternating between specific personalities at any given time. It was witty, versatile, and dangerous. And what it had said left questions burning in my head. There was more to this thing living inside of me. It was not a part of me. It was a leech…

At last, I had bloomed forth from the wreckage of the small tower that once surveyed both slaves and slavers. Stepping out, I was greeted by the grey sky that rained ash upon the shriveled landscaped that raged with chaos and discord.

Slavers were rampantly shooting at anything that moved (slaves included). They shot at nothing frantically until they were disintegrated into ash by a variety of colored beams. Smoke plumed forth into the dark ashen sky as a fire torched an old rundown building; Stallions ran as large armored horses sprouted from behind barricades and burst through defenses.

Everywhere I turned, I was lost in death and suffering.

I did not know where to go. On one end the slavers scattered apart while these Steel Rangers in red and silver cladded armor continue to run forth after them. Nowhere was safe for me to turn, so I ran without thought, moving through the battlefield that blossomed with death.

I trotted quickly, trying to maneuver around slavers and soldiers that waged war against one another. Groups of slavers attempted to gang on these large armored beast, but all were put down before they could react. I had seen a grey stallion stomp a slaver into the floor beneath him while he rammed another slaver with his horn, only to toss him aside into a group of cowering slavers.

It had caused my stomach to twinge, for I had seen the truth in the monster’s voice.

It seemed we only longed for evils…

I could not stand still any longer. I had to keep moving if I wanted to flee, and the ambition I had to do just that left me uneasy. I was most certainly a hypocrite, and that fact stayed in my mind the whole time.

Finally, I had found myself closing in on a group of ponies, all of which were guarded by two slavers holding them by gun point. As I drew nearer however, I caught a glimpse of what truly was happening.

The slavers were holding nopony at gunpoint. They were being massacred.

A yellow stallion was taking the two slavers on, batting them aside while he used magic to incapitate them without remorse. One of the slavers cried out in agony as a loud pop resonated in the air, followed by a gurgling noise that could never be forgotten. One of the slavers had collapsed, and the other was already beaten by the yellow horse, falling to the ground with no restraints.

The yellow slave had won. I turned to the other slaves, expecting for them to hurry on and flee. But they all looked fearful, afraid. They should have looked relieved. Why did they not?

“All right!” A disturbingly familiar voice snapped that caused the world to mute out all noise, “Now, who else is next?”

I looked back at the yellow unicorn, taking a second look at the owner of the dreaded voice. It was him, there was no doubt to it.

It was the unicorn that had incapitated me before.

“What…what do you mean?” a voice asked feebly as fear and shock welled in my mind. The cannibal let out a disturbing noise that was crossed with both a laugh and a cry.

“I ain’t going to carry y’all with me, but I ain’t going to damn well starve, that is for sure!”

He then kinetically carried a weapon up into the air and brandished it before the ponies who had grown stiff with shock. The war from behind had become silenced; this was now the only war I was a part of.

“But..but…you can’t, do that…”

“Damn well I can” he snapped, setting off the weapon that brought the battlefield back into the picture. A large cry filled in the air, followed by a thud. Painful moaning ensued afterward.

“I ain’t going to kill yah, so don’t cry. I don’t want what you can offer…but I’ll tell you what I do want…”

The unicorn smiled wickedly as it began to fiddle with the weapon using his magic. “I want the tender one, right there. Yeah, you heard me…that one little-”

“No, what are you – you can’t!”

“Are you deaf or are you just stupid? Give me the damn filly or else I’ll kill all of you and take the little shit without your permission!”

My mind had frozen entirely by then as I instinctively rose up and glanced at the monster’s pony of interest. And then I saw it.
I saw them.

The foals, the youngest bunch, which hid themselves behind the closest pony they could find.

One of them was out of the herd, left vulnerable as it was left to stare at that yellow harbinger of death. The child’s muzzle trembled and its eyes pleaded for forgiveness. The unicorn brushed off every ounce of it though and drew nearer to claim this figure of innocence for itself.

My mind quickly snapped, and al senses left me. One second I was hiding behind a barricade. The next I found myself galloping toward the bastard at full speed and colliding with him as he let his weapon unload off into the sky. I was upon him like an animal, catching him off guard as I bit his face and beat him repeatedly with my hooves.

He whacked me off though, and sent me spiraling to the ground. He tried to hold onto me, but I was much too quick. As he tried to reign on top of me I had swept dust up into the air, sending fragments of debris into a flurry. As soon as the yellow unicorn had faltered, I attacked. I battered his legs, beat his sides, and bashed his skull as quickly as I could. The stallion was dazed, eventually collapsing to the ground with a heavy thud, but I did not stop there. I turned him over onto the ground and I was on top.

I pressed against his chest as I repeatedly began to stomp my hoof against his skull, ignoring his cries and pleas as I shattered his horn. I wanted this colt dead, and I wanted him to suffer. His life was dwindling and his end was inevitable. Rage consumed me, and all that I had left was hate.

He had paralyzed me. He had killed me. It was him that drove Orion and I far from our goal, far from our safety. I could remember the thoughts that coursed through my mind, bending me to push beyond my own physical capabilities, “He drove us across the river, placed us directly into the hooves of these sick twisted bastards whom I wanted dead with every ounce of my contorted heart! He killed Orion. This monster had killed Orion. It was him! It was him! He needed to pay for that, he needed to damn it!”

I was going to kill this stallion. The rage had me at its whim. I was becoming an agent of darkness and I was to be another puppet…but that did not happen. Because then he spoke.

“Such a rush is it not? To hold the balance of one’s life in your own grasp?! Now this is life! It is not the mere concept of ideals or cognition. It is that of power, and control! You fight the inevitable too much! And now that you have finally accepted it, you can now embrace the rage! End him for what he has done! Repay what must be repaid for all wrongs done to you! Bestow yourself as judge and executioner!!! Oh how I have awaited for this moment for all so long…kill him…become the very keeper of time and judgment…end the past so that you may embrace a future!”

“NO!” I loudly shouted, silencing the gunfire that continued to burst through the dead sky. I brought my hoof down heavily, causing blood to splatter across my hoof and jet across my coat. And I continued to stomp my hoof down, splattering blood in every direction as I could not stop myself. I began to shout, screaming aloud as I clenched my eyes tightly while I continued to buck until I could buck no longer.

By then I was panting heavily, and I could feel myself shaking feverishly. I looked down at my hoof that was buried into the muddy ground, both of which were tainted with blood- the stllion’s face was inches away from my hoof. He bled profusely, but he was alive – his blood had encapsulated the sides of his head, sinking into the dirt around him.

The war that waged in my mind was catastrophic. The bombs that swept the world of all life was in comparison to the thoughts that clashed with one another, sending my ideals into a flurry as I fought myself.

And like the aftermath of the war, the world became silent. And I knew not what to do. I remained still, motionless. I could not talk, let alone think. All that was left was silence.

I got up from the beaten stallion and let him lay down on the floor. I turned to the slaves who looked at me with fearful eyes and shocked expressions. I was a monster to these ponies. I had let the world win.

As time passed, a few slaves came to me and pulled me away from the unconscious beast. They held me close and said nothing, only knowing that pain resided inside of me. I cried once more, my eyes burning from tear ducts that lay dormant for months.

The battle ended as quickly as it had begun. Within the hour, the armored rangers had cleared the area clean of slavers. The one I had beaten was carried off, and his fate still remains a mystery to this day.

The rangers came to me as I sat on the floor alone, staring off into the darkness of my mind where the voice hung lowly, angered and disturbed by my reluctance to give into his methods.

And I saw him as he was; a hollow blot of nothingness, only visible with two slit purple eyes that narrowed at me with envy.