Of Things Amiss

by Nightwatcher

Chapter 4 : Monsters

It had been around three weeks since Lyra’s ‘incident’ with the artifact. In that time she had been in and out of consciousness and largely delirious up until four days ago. According to Dr. Scalpel she had suffered severe brain hemorrhaging from whatever that artifact had done to her. In truth she was extremely lucky to get off as well as she did, as of yet the only side effect to arise was a tingling in her extremities along with a slight unresponsiveness in her forelimbs and hazy vision. As expected she was also plagued by headaches that came in beat with her heart, thankfully Dr. Scalpel had placed her on a regime of heavy duty pain medication that took most of the pain away. Sadly some of the damage was permanent; Scalpel had told her she’d expect to have trouble walking and some vision problems for the rest of her life. It hit her hard to hear that.

Ash had ordered that the artifact be cordoned off and a seal be placed of all information concerning it and anypony related to it. Only around half a dozen even knew of its existence, and, at least to her, it looked like it was going to stay that way. She did not know how she should feel about that. On the one side, she wanted to know everything she could about that thing and a larger group of minds would be able to help, but also she knew that this was extremely sensitive information and they could not risk a leak.

Her musings were pushed away by the door to her room opening, Scalpel walking in with a clipboard.

“Ms. Heartstrings.” He began with a smile. “Good to see you awake. How are we feeling today, hmm?”

“My head hurts, my eyes too. Not much more to say.” Lyra said, rubbing her head.

“Better than yesterday, or worse?” He asked.

“A little better, think I can get out and walk for a bit today doctor?” Lyra asked, adjusting her position in the uncomfortable hospital bed, tiring of the room.

“Sorry Ms. Heartstrings, you need to stay in bed for a little while longer. Least until the headaches pass, ok?” He said, placing the clipboard on the bedside table.

“Sleep well?” He asked while checking her I.V.

“No, not really.” She said.

“Why not?” He asked.

“I’ve been getting nightmares; they’ve been waking me up. I can’t remember what they were about though, they fade too fast.” She said, picking up a small handkerchief to wipe away a line of blood coming from her nose, something that had disconcertedly had become commonplace.

“I’ll see what I can give you, ok?” He said, taking the bloodstained cloth.

“Thanks.” She said simply, enjoying the company.

“Did you hear?” He asked.

“Hear what?” She said perplexed.

“’V-Day’ was declared not to long ago. The war’s officially over now.”

“Realy?! That’s a relief.” Lyra said.

He was referring to the war between the ‘Crystal Empire’ and the ‘Protectorate’. It had gone on for around thirty years, but had thankfully been rather cold for the last number of months. She had read somewhere that Sombra, their ruler, had been captured not to long before she’d left for Corinth. Not to much longer after that the Crystal Empire was dissolved and absorbed into the Protectorate, its land and resources being broken up between the member nations of the Protectorate. Scalpel went on to tell her that the assembly, the ruling legislature of the Protectorate, was now going through war crime trials with the ruling class of the empire.

Equestria had joined the Protectorate about two hundred years ago, three hundred years after Celestia and Luna started their rule. A lot of ponies did not agree with it back then, Equestria had always been an independent entity and most wanted to keep it that way but Celestia and Luna saw the need to ‘join up’. Back then the Crystal Empire was growing larger by the day, violently swallowing up smaller nations and in response the Protectorate was formed. It was an affiliation of nations that, as the name implied, protected each other from all external threats. Equestria was, and is still, a rather small nation and could not have stood up the Crystal Empire alone. The Protectorate and the Empire had been going head-to-head for as long as both had existed, both taking up the rather morally ambiguous practice of gathering nations to gather more power. For the most part the two governments had done little more then glare at each other, with small brushfire wars popping up here and there, until the Protectorate said enough was enough.

In short order Protectorate forces destroyed many important targets, resulting in a counter attack from the Imperial military. The front line zigzagged back and forth for years with each making headway, only to lose it the next year. The Protectorate finally got the upper hoof when mages finally took down the Empires ‘m-net’, a system of using magic laced crystals to transmit and store information, effectively halting the flow of information within the Empire. The exact way it was done was not revealed to the public, but magisters theorized that it was a localized pulse that effectively ‘wiped’ the crystals clean. With their information net down, the Empire descended into a veritable chaos as they tried to get it back up, giving the Protectorate room to build up their forces and end the war.

Now that the Empire was gone the Protectorate was effectively the leading power in the world.

Lyra wondered where that left things as far as Equestria was concerned. Many in the past had railed against the joining because it weakened Equestria’s rule. Personally she was in favor of staying with the Protectorate, but the belief in an independent Equestria was still prevalent and many ‘traditionalists’ might call for a return to form. It was doubtful though that that would come to pass as the ‘Council’, the new ruling body of Equestria, were in favor of the Protectorate as were the Princesses; though even if they were not they could do little about it as most of their power was little more than symbolic now.

It went without saying that they were both very powerful, both as mages and in their influence, and well connected in their own rights.

“You appear to be getting better by the day, but the head pain and nosebleeds still worry me. I’m putting you down for another round of tests, try and get some rest.” Scalpel said interrupting her thoughts, putting down some notes on his clipboard.

“What kind?” Lyra asked.

“Simple PET-scan, no more. You’ve had them before while you were… indisposed.” Scalpel said.

“Ok.” Lyra said, stifling a yawn with a hoof as her head flared up in pain.

Lyra put her head down as Scalpel left the room, slipping into sleep before the door closed.

-=-

Lyra’s eyes opened with a gasp, seeing the same place she’d seen when the object had shown her that family. Only this time the flat geometric shapes now showed her images and moments from her life. Upon closer inspection she realized that the images were not random, more of a run-through of her entire life. Everything was on display, every last secret and desire, every thought that ever ran through her head; like she was somepony else watching and scrutinizing her every action.

“Why are you doing this!?” She screamed into the dark.

The moment those words escaped her, the flashback reached the moment in her life in which she arrived in Corinth. Each shape with a picture of Marxon, that then vanished with a strange growl. It was not like one of some predator, she could feel the disgust laced into it.

A feeling of interest entered her mind, but it was not her own and was hard to discern; like she was reading a paper from the edge of her peripheral vision.

“Who… what are you?” She called.
The area was still for a moment, as if whatever entity that dwelled there was deciding whether or not to show her. Suddenly a torrent of wind rushed in towards a point a few feet in front of her, the flat shapes kicking up like leaves and collecting into a bright ball that hung head height in the air. Then, with a flash, she found herself tossed into the life of another.

She was in a large glade, a pool of water not to far away along with a small fire and tent that was haphazardly pieced together with animal pelts. Her host, as she’d taken to calling whomever she found herself ‘in’, got up and walked over to the small body of water. As her host reached the waters edge a loud bang tore through the air, leaving ripples in the water, distorting the stallion’s reflection. Her host’s head snapped to the sky, a terror racing through him.

That confused her; she’d never been able to feel her host’s emotions before.

Her host stared up into the daytime sky for what seemed like hours, scanning the whole of what he could see with a disconcerting thoroughness. With a painful slowness her host turned back to the water, allowing her a better look at her host.

He had a copper colored coat and a grey, short cropped, mane. A rather large pair of wings were folded at his sides, the same color as his coat. Also a strange rectangular metal box sat in the space between his wings. He dunked his head into the water and pulled it out with a rear. When he landed she was greeted with a truly strange sight.

He was an Alicorn.

Previously covered up by his mane was a small horn. Very small actually… to small, like it had been taken off a newborn foal and placed on his head; barely even a nub.

Another sound made him jump, this time a base thump that shook the ground. A flock of birds took to the sky as another thump raced through the ground, then another.

Her host was staring in the direction of the sound, the same terror from before now nearly about to overcome him. With a gulp, he made off towards the source of the sounds.

Her host searched through the thick forest with a methodical thoroughness born of paranoia, he searched every nook and cranny, every overturned log, every shadow. His head popped up as he heard something peculiar.

The crying of a filly, low and quiet, he could just make it out over the sounds of the woods. Every once and a while the crying would stop long enough for a little voice to say something in an language that she could not understand.

“Mama…. wake up mama. I’m scared…. The monsters are coming.”

Upon hearing that her host began slowly moving in that direction, stopping every once and a while as he saw a field of wavy air out of the corner of his vision. He finally found the filly from a hiding spot behind an overgrown fallen tree.

She was a rather young unicorn with a pasty auburn coat and mangled black mane and she was standing over a prone unicorn. The prone unicorn was like-colored to that of the filly. Lyra noted that the unicorn on the ground, a mare, had a small line of blood coming from her mouth and a black substance seeping from the corners of her glossed-over eyes.

‘She’s dead’ Lyra thought sadly.

“Mama?” The filly spoke again.

Her host made a move to help, only to shrink back further as a low growl snaked through the forest. The filly sprang up and turned, looking for the cause of the sound. Suddenly, nearly faster than Lyra could track, a small arrowhead shaped thing flew through the air overhead. As it did a strange blue film came out of it. It passed over the filly and flashed red for a moment without stopping and then over her host’s hiding spot. The moment it flew out of sight a new construct jumped from the tree line about a meter from the filly and the corpse.

The best way she could describe it would be a metal timberwolf, but it was a little larger than the average timberwolf. It was black, the same all consuming black of the artifact, and was made completely of what looked to be thousands of floating scales. Its body was angular and its four legs tapered down to points instead of paws. Its head was a pyramid that separated horizontally down the middle into a ‘mouth’, the scales that made its ‘lips’ rotating to a forty-five degree angle pointing backwards to form teeth. Its body rippled as it let out a mechanical growl.

The filly was frozen in place, shaking like a leaf. The metal monstrosity took a step forward, moving without a sound save for the crunch of leaves under its spikes like some monster form a nightmare. For each step forward the metal beast took, the filly took two backwards, nearly tripping over the body.

“Mama... Help!” The filly screamed, tripping over her own legs, crying tears laced with the same tar-like substance.

The metal construct made no move to avoid the dead body in its way, its spike-like legs impaling the corpse as it went. It let out another growl, this one deep and rumbling.

Her host closed his eyes and turned away just as the beast lunged, filly let out a blood churning scream that was quickly hushed by a wet thunk and the snap of bones breaking.

Her host’s eyes opened to a gruesome sight.

The metal beast was standing over the mutilated body of the child, its right foreleg impaled through her neck and its hind legs had torn open her gut; spilling her organs onto the ground. She let out one last gurgle and the mechanical beast’s head snapped to hers as if it was surprised she was still alive before it brought its left foreleg down through her skull in a lightning quick motion.

Lyra inwardly cringed at the abhorrent sight.

At that her host gasped, then turned and ran as the beast’s head snapped to his hiding place. He tore through the woods like a beast out of hell, his only goal to put as much between him and the metal monster that was literally tearing through trees to get at him. The beast’s blood-covered form was quickly gaining on him though as nothing seemed to slow it. It flowed over and around trees and fallen logs like the wind, sometimes jumping from tree to tree using its spiked legs all the while howling like a predator. Her host nearly fainting as another answered the first’s call to hunt and jumped in front of him, blocking his path just as he reached a clearing.

That stop allowed the first to catch up, jumping from a branch still covered in blood. The two closed in and began to circle her host whose eyes quickly glanced between the both of them as they got closer and closer. From the head of the new one another arrowhead shaped drone popped off and flew over and scanned him before returning to its master. When it did the pair stopped growling and their mouths closed.

A scream pierced the afternoon air, inciting the blood covered hound to shoot off in the direction that it came. The other hound stayed, constantly moving to stay within his field of view. He did not have time to scream as the beast suddenly jumped at him at some unseen provocation, its mouth firmly clamping down on his neck as they collided. He felt a rush of vertigo then, with a flash, they both vanished.

With that, the vision faded; Lyra waking to a dark and empty room… and yet, she felt as though something was watching her.

Comments

[The Well Dressed Ninja]

UPDATE!

Confusing, I hope you explain soon.

[VelvetBear008]

Yay!!!

[faren455]

I don't know what the cannon for this universe is, so I'm unsure what is exposition and what is delusion.

[Flynt Coal]

Hmm... not sure where this is going, but it's interesting. A couple of grammar things: you keep using "to" in the wrong context. For example:

She had read somewhere that Sombra, their ruler, had been captured not to long before she’d left for Corinth.

This should be "too."

[Deamon]

Well, this thing is certainly living up to the Alternate Universe tag. I hope we get a bit more explanation soon.

It had been around three weeks since Lyra’s ‘incident’ with the artifact. In that time she had been in and out of concisenessconsciousness and largely delirious up until four days ago.

something that disconcertedlydisconcertingly had become commonplace.

With their information net down, the Empire descended into a variableveritable chaos as they tried to get it back up, giving the Protectorate room to bide their time and end the war.

[FinalFan]

This chapter felt random. Maybe it would have been better if I had re-read more of the story previously posted, or maybe it will be more coherent in context with future chapters—but it's something to keep in mind.