Pain And Puppets
Regenerator 228
Chapter 9
“Are we there yet?”
“No, Pinkie.”
There was a pause, then-
“How ‘bout now?”
Fluttershy sighed softly and shook her head, “No Pinkie, it might be a while longer.”
Fluttershy had been tracking the creature for over an hour, his tracks had been easy to follow and the lack of animals in the area also helped.
Fluttershy stopped for the hundredth time and leaned down to examine a particularly deep track, Rainbow Dash flew up to her, annoyance written on her face.
“Why’d you stop this time?”
Fluttershy’s brow furrowed as she stared at the misshapen footprint, “Something’s wrong…” she said, her eyes scanning the surrounding area intently. Rainbow Dash looked slightly taken aback, it was a rare thing to see Fluttershy drop her timidness like that.
“What is it?” asked Applejack, coming closer and examining the footprint for herself.
“When I saw him last he was clawing at his face, he must have lost a lot of blood, but I haven’t seen a single drop since we entered the forest, and blood loss causes severe disorientation, but he seems to be walking perfectly fine.”
“Maybe shock set in?” theorized Twilight.
Fluttershy shook her head, “No, shock doesn't last too long, it’s taken us at least an hour to get to this point and, if he was in shock, it would have worn off by now.”
“D’ya think he mighta used magic?” asked Applejack.
Rainbow Dash shook her head “If he had magic why didn't he use if when me and him were fighting? Not that magic would’ve helped him.”
Rarity held a hoof to her chin, “I don’t think so. He didn’t use magic to stop Tom, he just broke it.”
“If we catch it then I’ll be able to perform some experiments on it to see if it has any magic at all.” added Twilight.
Fluttershy stared at her intently before saying, “First of all: ‘It’ is actually a ‘He’. Second of all, I hope you don’t thank that, just because he’s scary-looking, you can just go hog-wild with your experiments.”
Twilight looked shocked, “No! O-of course not, I would never, ever be cruel in my experiments, I can’t believe you’d even think that!”
Fluttershy sighed and trotted closer to her friend, “I’m sorry, Twilight. It’s just… it’s just that, after my nightmare, I think that he’s suffered enough.”
“What are you talkin’ about?” asked Rainbow Dash, her brow furrowing in confusion.
Fluttershy lowered her head, “I dreamed about a young… I honestly don’t know what kind of creature it was, but I dreamed that-” she shuddered and gulped before continuing “-that he was being tortured. There were these awful screams and i-it was j-just terrible!” she stopped talking when the recollection became too much for her.
Twilight patted her back and said, in a calming voice, “You don’t half to say anything else, I think they get it.”
She looked over at the others and saw that they were all wearing expressions of disgust and horror.
Fluttershy nodded before straightening up and saying, “We should keep going.”
The others nodded and Fluttershy returned to her tracking.
The Elements are coming… I can sense them. Thought the Leader as she squirmed inside the still-sleeping 228.
Her magical influence had expanded to encompass the whole of the Everfree before stopping. She could sense every, single living thing that crawled, flew, ran or slithered under the dark canopy; she wished that she had more power so that she could control them, it would have been quite useful to have an army of timberwolves and cragodiles at her command, but she needed to use her ill-gotten power wisely.
They’ll be here soon, that stupid meatbag, 228 didn’t think to cover his tracks.
She stared out of 228’s eyes and saw that he was now awake and looking at the ground, When he meets them I have no doubt that he’ll refuse to fight, he’s lost almost all of his will to live. I don’t think that they will honor his wish, but I can’t take any chances… plus, this will be the perfect opportunity to acquire that last bit of power.
The Leader focused her magic and tapped into 228’s body, commanding it to rise and hide in the deep shadows of one of the cave’s many nooks and crannies.
228’s mind fell back into a deep sleep, unaware that his body had become a puppet dancing to the whim of a parasite.
“Look, there’s a cave up there!” called Rainbow Dash, pointing at the sheer side of the mountain that they had come upon.
“She’s right” said Fluttershy, returning from her examination of the mountain's base “the tracks stop here.”
“Awww it’s such a cute little mountain!” squealed Pinkie Pie, bouncing up to Fluttershy, “It’s like a little baby mountain, hmmm… what do you call a baby mountain?”
She noticed Fluttershy giving her a confused look, Pinkie smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, Flutters, I kinda forgot that we were looking for mister Meanie Monster.”
Rarity trotted over to them with Applejack and Twilight at either side, “How are we going to get up there, darling?”
“Oh, I have a spell that will allow us to climb up walls!” said Twilight excitedly.
“Could you please cast the spell, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy, “I mean… if you want to.”
Twilight smiled at the yellow pegasus, “Of course I will, you don’t even need to ask.”
Fluttershy hid her face behind her hair to hide her blush. Twilight’s horn lit up and the familiar purple aura of her magic flowed out and wrapped itself around the group’s collective hooves. A shiver ran through all of them as the magic took effect.
Twilight turned to the others, “So… who’s first?”. Applejack raised a hoof, “Ah’ll go first, if there’s anything nasty in there Ah’ll clear ‘em out for y’all.”, she moved to the side of the mountain and began to climb up.
A second later Applejack had disappeared, having climbed over the edge of the cliff that bordered the cave.
The group waited with bated breath, hoping that their friend wouldn’t encounter anything bad. Twilight found her eyes being drawn to Fluttershy, who was worrying her lip with enough ferocity to make her cringe.
Twilight went to her friend and draped a comforting hoof around her back, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy, you know as well as I do that Applejack is one of the toughest ponies in all of Equestria, she could buck a manticore into outer space, I’ve seen her kick evil flank more than 5 times in the past two months! She’ll be fine.”
Fluttershy nodded, “I just hope that that poor creature doesn’t attack again, he must be in a lot of pain after what happened yesterday and wounded creatures can be dangerous.”
Rainbow quirked an eyebrow, “Weren’t you going on about how he’s “intelligent” and “sad” and now you’re comparing him to a hurt animal?”
Fluttershy looked her friend in the eye, “He may be intelligent, but he’s still far stronger than most of us and he seems a bit…. short tempered. I just don’t want anything to go wrong.”
“Oooohhhhkay.” said Rainbow after mulling it over for a second.
“GIRLS, YA’LL NEED TO COME UP HERE, THERE’S SUMTHIN’ Y’ALL NEED TA SEE!”
Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her skin at the loud call. The others heard the urgency in her voice and they all hastened to respond, not showing even the slightest unease when climbing up the walls.
When they got to the top they found a pale and shaking Applejack standing at the mouth of the cave.
“What did you see?” asked Twilight, coming up to the farm-pony and magically scanning her for any injures. Applejack waved a hoof to shoo her away and then gestured at the dark cave entrance, “It’s not pretty, but it’s definitely that monster’s hideout.”
The group all looked at the cave entrance, then at each other, it was clear that none of them wanted to take even a single step towards it.
Everypony that wasn’t Rainbow Dash, that is.
“C’mon, guys, stop bein’ so wimpy!” exclaimed the prismatic pegasus as the flew into the darkness. The others shared annoyed looks with each other before they each either straightened out or puffed up their chests and headed after their boisterous friend.
"Why did I even use that spell on her?" Twilight wondered aloud.
The inside of the cave was pitch black and icy cold. To most of the group it felt like they had crossed a border from day into night, but to Applejack, who had had to protect Sweet Apple Acres from unsavory and deadly creatures for most of her life, it felt more like crossing an invisible threshold from relative comfort (it WAS the Everfree forest after all) into danger.
The sandy ground muffles their hoofsteps, above them hung dozens of condensation-covered stalactites, Applejack could have sworn she saw red eyes looking at her from the darkness of the high ceiling, but when she blinked they were gone.
As they went deeper into the cave the only sounds that accompanied them were the sounds of water dripping, breathing and the faint thump-thump of their hearts…. and the weird noise Pinkie made whenever she bounced.
Everything seemed to be going alright, despite the intense creepiness of their surroundings.
Then Rarity stubbed her hoof on something, “Oh, That. Is. It! I will not tolerate this confounded darkness one second longer!”
She lit up her horn and sighed happily, Applejack shook her head, though she was glad for the light. She started to turn back to the path ahead when she saw something that drew her undivided attention.
“Uhh… girls? T-there’s somthin’ on the wall.” she said, trying to keep the fear that had manifested in check.
Rarity stiffened and slowly turned to where Applejack was pointing and the rest of the girls followed suit; when she Fluttershy saw what the light had illuminated she gasped.
There were words clawed into the surface of the wall:
PAIN MOTHER FATHER
MY BROTHER
ALL DEADDEADDEAD
THE THOUGHTS MIST
WON’T STOP THEIR SCREAMS ENDLESS
NEVER STOP HELL
Please STOP purify PAIN
pain pain STOP STOP
MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOPSTOPStopstopstop pain pain
iLLUMINATE
CANT DIE WONT DIE CANT DIE WONT DIE
I want TOo DIE
I WANT TO DIE I WANT TO die die die die to die II die dye diii die
The Element Bearers stood in horrified silence as they looked at the terrible words. Equestria was a land that had its dark side, just like any other country, but suicides were taken far more seriously than in other countries like the Griffon Empire or Minotauria. Celestia had established hundreds of therapy buildings and halfway houses around Equestria in order to lower the suicide rate as much as possible, but it was no less heartbreaking to see such thoughts expressed, especially in such a manner.
“Oh, the poor dear.” said Rarity tearfully.
“This is just plain wrong.” said Rainbow Dash sadly.
“We need to find him now.” said Fluttershy, turning around and continuing down the tunnel with her friends following behind.
It didn’t take them long to find the place where the creature slept…. and ate.
The cave ended in a massive cavern, making the whole cave a short of thermometer shape. The entire cavern was illuminated by blue and green phosphorescent fungus that clung to the stalagmites and wall. The light was the first thing that they noticed.
The bones were the second.
Fluttershy gulped, trying to calm herself by reminding herself that the creature was carnivorous and would naturally eat meat. She looked over and saw that Applejack’s mouth was set in a grim line, Pinkie’s face was screwed up in disgust, Rarity was gagging, Rainbow Dash was trying hard to look tough whilst turning green and Twilight was doing some of her breathing exercises.
Fluttershy cleared her throat and called out, “H-hello? I-is anypony there? Listen, if you’re here and you can hear me, we aren’t going to hurt you.”
“Maybe you won’t.” mumbled Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy shot her a glare and continued.
“I’m sorry if I made you sad and my friends are sorry that they attacked you, they were just scared, that’s all.”
The group waited with baited breath, but nothing happened. Taking a deep break, Fluttershy moved further into the cavern with her friends by her side. The feeling of dread lessened when she looked to her left and saw Twilight, who gave her a small smile.
Rarity found herself at the back of the group. The light from her horn created a sphere of illumination around her friends, the purple light was comforting, but it made the darkness around them even darker, which meant that they could only see a few feet in either direction.
Which meant that they were open to an attack from any side.
The Leader stared through 228’s eyes as the Elements of Harmony drew closer to the place where she had made 228 stand.
The magic…. I can smell it… she thought, trembling slightly within 228’s stomach. The smell was absolutely intoxicating, it drove the Leader to new heights of hunger and she began to move in.
Twilight was really wishing that she had learned the night vision spell that she had put at #56 in her “100 spells to learn for this year” list. The darkness was pervasive and as thick as fog.
I really hope that Fluttershy is right about this creature. she thought, she turned to look at her timid friend and saw that she was staring back at her, Twilight gave a weak smile and waved again, because she had turned her head she didn’t see the two points of pure red light that had come up in front of her.
Thankfully her hearing was good.
She heard the clawed hand swing down before she saw it and she reacted accordingly, a magic shield appeared around her body a second before the hand made contact. The blow was powerful enough to make Twilight’s teeth click together.
There was a chorus of screams from her friends as the claw battered her shield once more.
Twilight may have been more into studying than other activities, but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t picked up a few fighting tips over the years, especially not when your BBBFF was Captain of the Royal Guard.
Twilight leaped backwards and fired a bolt of magic at the creature, who hissed in pain and withdrew into the darkness.
“Girls, gather around me!” she yelled as she readied her horn for another magical strike.
“Ah knew this was gonna go poorly!” hissed Applejack as she readied herself for combat.
“I’m right with ya, good buddy.” said Rainbow Dash, hovering in the air and raising her hooves in a boxing stance.
Fluttershy didn’t say anything, but the sadness and disappointment on her face spoke volumes.
I’m sorry Fluttershy, but we have to fight this monster. thought Twilight as the hissing of the monster filled the cavern.
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Oh damn i wonder how the fight will go. I dont know who to root for, 228 is awesome but apparently out of commission, then there's the elements who i hate it when they die. Good chapter overall
4299609 I'll give you one spoiler: they won't die.
I have to admit that I was kinda hoping that 228 would regain control and rip out then kill the leader parasite.
I look forward to the next chapter.
Waiting in earnest to see how this goes. Good chapter man.
Is the up coming story arrow by any chance?
4299615 Awwww! Now why did you go and spoil the next chapter?
4300613
4299935 Oh, the Leader won't die that easily, she IS the main baddie of the story after all
4300626 Woops
4300773 Darn you to the Styx!
4300887 Fool! the Styx only swallows Robots and Renegades and, if you're wondering who I am, I am neither!
But I do own stuff that was made in Japan and I do have a Momma.
4300901 Ummm... How abou Tartarus?
4300930 Only people made from Tartar sauce go there, didn't you read Uncle Wacky's Big Book of Buffoonery in Super Large Romanian Braille that is also a history book?
4301023 Nope. Never even heard of it.
How about Hell? It's a pretty nice place, except for the smell.
4301063 I think I'm a good enough Christian to avoid that, but don't go making me have another massive faith crisis.
Anyway, how are you liking the story so far, any theories and/or questions?
4301076 I'm enjoying this story quite a bit, but I don't have any new theories at the moment. I'll let you know when I have one.
P.S. Did you know that writing something depressive while holding a silly conversation is pretty dificult?
God fucking dammit...
This is all the leader's fault...
4301121 Depressive?
4301134
4301417 I was writing a sad fic while holding a silly conversation with you.
4301547 Seriously badass emotional multitasking, my friend
By the by, are there any other groups that this could get put into?
4301615 I'm gonna be honest. I have no idea. Sorry.
4301737 That's okay, I'm working on chapter 10 right now and I think that you'll like where it goes
4301741 Good to hear!
4301760 Soooo.. why did you pick your name? It's definitely a very cool name, but if it is a reference then I have no clue what it references.
4301789 Nah, it's not a reference. I was trying to come up with a ponylike name and then it hit my like a truck.
I like music, I like gyroscopes and I like steampunk.
But those three things in a blender and you get my name.
That's all there is to it, if I remember it correctly.
4301839 It made me think of a clockwork fish swimming in a river of purple water and metal sharks.
4301846 Okay, now that's a picture I don't want to forget. That made me giggle.
4301869 Thank You
So, who is your favorite Villain?
4301923 From My Little Pony? Or can it be any villain?
4301968 MLP
4301984 I'm gonna say Discord, even though he's "reformed", but The Mane-iac takes second place. What can I say? I'm a fan of chaos and psychos!
4302018 Oh, the Mane-iac, I've gotta say that's pretty good choice, maybe I can work her into my crossover with ARROW, though I'm not sure how I'd do that..
4302078 ARROW? Oh! Isn't that that new series with a guy who's reall good with his bow? I'm not really up to date with stuff, and I live in The Netherlands.
Mines Colonel Autumn from Fallout 3 thanks for asking
4302100 It is indeed, I'd recommend that you watch both season's before reading the fic, though.
But you'll like ARROW if you like DC media and it also has the best version of Deathstroke EVAR
4302112 Hrrmmm... If we're going off MLP, then I absolutely
Deathstroke from Arrow he's so cool.
… Wat? WAT? WAT?
4302141 " Wat" what man, spit it out!!!
4302160 WHAT THE DEVIL JUST HAPPENED? THE PLAGAS CAN CONTROL A REGENERATOR WITHOUT THE HOST EVEN WAKING UP?
4302124 I'd better make a note so I don't forget to look it up. It looked pretty cool in the commercials.
4302195 I GUESS SO...WHY ARE WE SHOUTING????!!!
4302208 I DON'T KNOW! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!
4302207 It sure as hell IS
Have you seen my newest blog post announcement Cause it gives a better description.
4302220 HOLY CRAP I DIDN'T KNOW THAT DALEKS COULD SWIM!!
AND THERE ARE APPARENTLY 98 OF THEM!!!
WE'RE ALL FUCKED!!! GAME OVER,MAN> GAME OVER!!!!
4302221 It seems interesting, but I'll have to take a look at Arrow first.
4302252 You do that, I highly doubt that you'll regret it
4302296 I sure hope so! And if not? I'll sue ya.
4302332 Oh no, not Sue. She's so... disgustingly perfect
4302390 Uhuhugh... Mary fucking Sue... Hurk.
P.S. I'm gonna take a nap. No kidding.