Megan
United States
Washington State
Airway Heights outskirts
8:37 PM
An older woman sat in a boxcar, watching the trees roll past; reaching up, she slowly ran her hand over her shaved head. A thin layer of greying blonde peach fuzz was just barely visible. Leaning from the opening, she took a deep breath and slowly stood up. She stepped back before jumping and barely stifled a yelp as she hit the muddy ground, rolling. A faint whimper just narrowly escaped her mouth as she lay on the ground, hearing the train continue to rumble past her.
It was hard to know how long she lay there, but eventually, she began to work her hands against the muggy ground, pushing herself back up. Taking another deep breath, she worked her bare feet back underneath herself and forced herself to stand. Her knees wobbled, but she slowly began to walk, her eyes facing forward as she made her way through a thicket of trees. She let out an annoyed grunt as she pushed the brittle twigs out of her way before nearly stumbling into a drainage ditch that lined a crumbling road.
She then began to follow the road, glancing at the various abandoned ranches and homesteads lining it. A deep frown formed on her face as she slowly passed them by. The older woman's mood only further soured as it started to rain, forcing her to pick up her pace. In the distance, she could see the road ending, giving way to a dilapidated wooden gate blocking off a dirt road. She stopped before the entrance, focusing on a nearby sign obscured by some bushes. Leaning down, she brushed the leaves out of the way, revealing the faded painted sign, the words Williams Family Ranch just barely legible.
Biting her lip, she brushed her hand over the sign, watching the paint chips crumble to the ground. Shaking her head, she stood back up and turned her attention to the gate. A rusted padlock and chain could just be seen but did little to stop her as she climbed over. As the rain started to pick up and soak through her clothes, her teeth began to chatter. Desperate to escape the oncoming downpour, she began to jog, her numb feet sinking deep into the muddy road. In the distance, she could see the barn and ranch house, badly neglected but, by some miracle, still standing. She briefly glanced at a well near the old barn; the ancient stones have crumbled over the years. She slowly approached it and looked down, seeing that it had been filled in with concrete.
Desperate to get out of the rain, she pushed her way to the porch, trying to ignore the splinters digging into her feet. The door was boarded up with a faded and water-stained foreclosure notice nailed to it. Groaning, she turned her attention to the windows, climbing back off the porch and slowly circling the house until she saw one window still intact, if a bit cracked. She let out an annoyed moan, seeing it was on the second floor; thankfully, an overgrown tree was nearby for her to climb.
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The older woman shivered as she peeled off her soaked clothes and tossed them to the side before slipping into a flannel shirt that seemed several sizes too large, along with some overalls. They were clean by some grace of god, a bit musty from sitting in a drawer for several decades. The socks weren't much better, with holes in them, never mind being oversized, but they were better than nothing. She pulled some dusty boots over her feet, finding they didn't fit; taking some of the moth-chewed bed sheets, she stuffed the old boots with fabric until they worked well enough. Once dressed, she turned her attention to the room she was in, the master bedroom.
There was a thick layer of dust on everything; the room had been empty longer than the ranch's forecloser, after all. Even after so much time, being in the old master bedroom felt uncomfortable to her. Turning her attention to the photographs on the wall, she slowly brushed her hand over them, cleaning away the dust. This revealed the deceptively happy-looking couple that once bedded here, a petite blonde woman with long golden locks wearing a pair of jeans and a blouse. Next to her, a large, burly man with brown hair and stubble could be seen, a noticeable gut filling out his flannel shirt and overalls.
Looking along the wall, she could see the couple's story unfold, from their firstborn, a bright-eyed baby girl in frilly overalls, to their second, a mischievous-looking little boy with a baseball cap looking comically oversized on his little head. The final picture had the petite woman missing, with the father sporting a forced smile, his hand resting on the boy's shoulder, who wore an uncomfortable-looking smile, and the eldest daughter holding a baby girl with little pigtails. She sighed slowly, taking the photo down, and opened the frame, pulling the picture out. She stared at it for a few moments before slowly tearing the father out and discarding it; she continued to stare at the children with longing before slowly folding it up and slipping it into her pocket against her chest.
Exhaling, she began to make her way out of the room, having to jimmy the old door knob a few times to get it to unlock. Opening the door, she slowly walked through the old hallways, peaking into the rooms lining it. They looked like they had been tossed over as if the occupants had hurriedly left. Arriving at the last room before the stairs, she pushed her way in, seeing it was as bad as the others. The bed frame was smashed, the window broken and boarded up, and toys and dolls were left broken on the floor. Sucking her lip, she began to make her way to the closet, opening it and kneeling down, brushing her hands over the termite-chewed floorboards. After finding what she was looking for, she pulled one of the boards loose, reaching into the darkness she felt around before pulling something out: a tarnished ruby heart-shaped locket.
Standing back up, she exited the room, going deeper into the ruined house, into the old basement. She pressed on to the old root cellar, her nose wrinkling at the unpleasant smell of decay and mold. Her eyes centered on a hearth that seemed out of place. Approaching it, she lifted the rusted fire grate with a grunt of effort and tossed it aside, revealing some loose bricks. Looking around, she spots an old fire iron, which she used to wedge them out, one after another. Panting, she smiled, looking at what was revealed: a small stack of saran-wrapped crash and a cigar box. Grabbing it, she cracked it open and pulled out an old revolver; she leaned her forehead against the cylinder, closing her eyes.
"I'll make everything right... I promise, Majesty." Her voice was like gravel like it hadn't been used in decades, a tear leaking down her face.
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State of Lincoln
Buzzardville
Stater Brothers Market
7:37 PM
Tirek stifled a yawn as he slowly wheeled his cart down the isles, stopping now and then to look at random items on sale. Despite his exhausted demeanor, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. Reaching up, he rubbed the fur on his neck, trying to brush them back down, yet they constantly bristled. Mumbling, he trotted to the butcher counter and looked over the various meats on display.
"Hmm... I'll take one pound of the cottage bacon, just over a pound of the eye of round roast, and let me think.... the pork shoulder looks great, I'll take it." He pointed out the various types of meat to the apathetic-looking teenager on the other side of the counter, who proceeded to weigh and wrap up the chosen cuts.
Tirek grabbed each parcel of meat and set it down into his basket. Once he got the pork shoulder, he slowly wheeled to check out. As he loaded his groceries onto the conveyor belt, he had that weird feeling again, making him shift uncomfortably. While he waited for his groceries to be rung up, he looked around, seeing the store was relatively deserted. Rolling his shoulders, he pulled out his debit card and slipped it into the reader before collecting his groceries.
It was just getting dark outside as he made his way to his SUV, shoving his groceries into the trunk and tossing the shopping cart to the side. Seemingly in a hurry to get away from whatever was instinctively unnerving him. As soon as he slipped into the driver's seat, he peeled out of the parking lot, leaving tire marks on the asphalt. Pulling onto the two-lane highway, he couldn't help but look in the mirror as if expecting to be followed.
Seeing nothing but a dark, sprawling road and badlands, he began to try to steady his breathing. Even as he approached the gated trailer park and passed the code-protected gate, he struggled to relax. Pulling into his small driveway and began to unload the groceries, the moment he slipped through the door of his double-wide trailer, he quickly turned all the locks. Tirek leaned against the door, sighing momentarily before slowly trotting to the kitchen to put away the food.
Rubbing his large hand over his face, he made his way to bed, not even bothering to make dinner. He didn't so much lay down as fall onto the mattress, creaking the bedframe under his bulk. He kept his eyes shut, taking deep breaths, finally finding himself able to relax as he felt the soft bed form around him. Letting out a sigh of relief, he began to open his eyes slowly, finding a strange old woman looming over him on the side of his bed. Before he could react, she cracked the butt of a pistol against his temple, knocking him out.
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State of Lincoln
Buzzards Oasis Trailer Homes
15 Miles from Sulferhoof and the Equestrian Reservation
12:27 AM
The older woman stared down at the centaur, having spent the last hour tying him to his bedframe. Lighting a cheap cigar, she inhaled deeply, causing the tip to glow bright orange, before pulling it out and jamming right into his cheek to wake him up. The large centaur's eyes shot open, his yelp gagged by a thick bandana in his mouth. Any further attempts to scream for help were silenced by a revolver pressed against his forehead.
"That's a Colt M1878 pressed against your skull, loaded with .45 hollowpoint; it won't just put a bullet through your head, it will blow it clean off your shoulders..." Her eyes narrowed. "Make so much as a peep without my permission, and these sheets get stained red... understand, Tirac?"
Tirek seemed frozen as he realized what was happening before slowly nodding his head dumbly. Grabbing the corner of the bandana sticking out of his mouth, she roughly pulled it out, leaving him coughing and gagging for breath. He instinctively attempted to bring his hands to his mouth to try and cover the dry coughs, only to feel the rope around his wrists creak, wide eyes widening in terror. "T-take w-whatever you wan-." He was silenced by the woman slapping him with the pistol.
"I didn't give your permission to speak, Tirac." She growled, gritting her teeth. "What's wrong? Not so high and mighty now that I have a gun this time around?"
Tirek looked confused. "I-I don-" He was silenced by her punching him, cracking a tooth.
"Didn't give you permission to speak..." She scowled at him, pulling away from the centaur and looking at his nightstand, seeing a framed photo of Chrysalis and Cozy. Grabbing it, she looked it over, her eyes centering on the small pink pegasus filly with the shaved mane and unfocused stare. "I assume the mare is a product of the Rainbow of Darkness?... Just what are you planning for the filly, your damn cur? Perhaps corrupt her into a new monster for your army?"
Tirek looked disgusted at what she was implying, which seemed to catch the invader off guard. "How dare you... after all she's been through, you think I'd-." He was about to yell at her for even thinking he'd do such a thing to her before remembering what she said, biting his tongue.
The woman exhaled slowly, glaring back at him. "Speak..."
"W-what do you w-want from me?" He was finally able to ask, struggling to speak.
"What do I want? I want your damn confession!" She grabbed his throat, digging her nails into his throat. "Speak!"
"F-Fine, I-I confess! I attempted to steal the pony's magic four times! F-first at the beginnings of the Celestial S-sisters Rule, then-" He was silenced by another pistol whip.
"I said confess!"
"I-I'm trying! A-after I was banished to Tartarus, I eventually attempted to manipulate a filly into absorbing all the magic of Equestria for me, so I-" He was smacked again.
"I said confess!" She screamed into his face. "Speak!"
"I'm confessing! What more do you want?!" He was increasingly panicked and desperate.
The woman growled again and slowly cocked her revolver, making the centaur's pupils shrink. She then roughly grabbed his face and forced him to look her in the eyes. The woman stared into him, her eyes seeming to search for something. "What's your name..."
"Y-You already k-know, it's Tirek!" He mumbled
"I want your full name, Tirac..." She pushed the barrel against his head, pressing it down hard enough to hurt.
"T-Tirek... The Lessor...." He closed his eyes and lowered his head, mumbling in shame.
"You're not him..." The woman stared blankly, seeing the tears leak out the corners of his eyes.
W-wha-" He opened his eyes just in time to see the butt of the pistol coming back down, knocking him back out.
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State of Lincoln
New Ballard
Shady Pines Retirement Housing Community
11:54 PM (5 days since Tireks home invasion)
Grogar hummed gently as he filled a kettle with water from the sink. Once it was filled, he slowly trotted to the stove and set it to boil. While that was being done, he used his magic to levitate a silver tea tray from a cupboard onto the counter. He carefully began to dress it with an ordinate tea set he rarely used; he lofted the black teapot on his face. His eyes seemed to follow the thin golden webs that decorated it before nodding his head, seeing no blemishes. He turned his attention to matching saucers and tea cups, gently polishing them with a tea cloth before humming in contentment and setting them down on the tray.
He then turned his attention to the fridge, slowly opening the door with his hoof, and levitated a large white box. The extravagant logo of the Crystal Tea House decorated the sides; opening the lid, he inhaled deeply, a faint smile forming before setting the box down next to the tea tray. He carefully lifted two princess cakes onto the small dishes before nodding. He then levitated the teapot to the sink, filling it with steaming water; once filled, he set it back down and proceeded to dig around a nearby cupboard. After a few moments, he found what he was looking for a small black tin filled with dark, dried leaves. Using his hoof, he took a few measured pinches and tossed them into the teapot.
"I know you're there, Megan... I'm ancient, not deaf...." He took the tray into his mouth and carefully trotted into the sitting room, setting the tray down on the coffee table before sitting back in his chair. "I've made your favorite, Majestys personal blend. Even have those little princess cakes you used to eat with her..."
He leaned back in his chair, waiting before his old ears swiveled in the direction of some heavy footsteps. His dark red eyes gazed at the woman, slowly appearing out of the shadows with her glinting revolver pointed at him. Despite the glare of unbridled hatred in the eyes of the intruder and the seriousness of the situation, Grogar seemed calm. He had a slight smile on his face like he was greeting a grandchild, which only further aggravated the woman as he served the tea.
"My my, you've grown so much since last I saw you." He chuckled warmly. "I remember when you scarcely came up to my barrel." He hummed before motioning to the couch. "Please sit; you must be exhausted from your journey..."
Megan grits her teeth but slowly sits on the couch, keeping her pistol trained on the old ram. "You know why I'm here, don't you?..."
"I can certainly make some educated guesses..." He grasped one of the tea cups and brought it to his lips, taking a small sip and letting out a contented sigh. "There are very few of us left from the old days..." He looked down into the cup, looking nostalgic. "Catrina is senile, Tirac hasn't been seen in over two millennia, cave crabs ate Squirk, Erubus was purified, Lavan was snuffed out, Hydia was burned at the stake, her daughters and descendants following soon after... Nasty business that was..." He shook his head. "It was only a matter of time before you came looking for answers..."
"Don't act like you care... I'm just here for your confession." She ground her teeth.
"and shoot me, I assume?" He looked at her gun amusedly, like seeing a child point a cork gun at him.
"Mhm..."
"Well, I suppose you want to know what happened to your precious ponies that made them go so wrong?" He tilted his head, taking another sip.
"What did you do to them, Grogar?... tell me, and I'll just shoot you in the head instead of your stomach." She aimed the gun at his gut.
"Ah, a quick death versus a long and drawn out one, how lovely." He purred, clapping his hooves together, seeming almost proud of her. "Please, have a cup of tea, maybe add some honey; it sounds like your voice is rather strained, dear..."
"You think I'm just gonna drink something you prepared? How stu-"
Grogar rolled his eyes, took a spoon, dipped it into her cup, and added it to his own before sipping again. "See?"
Megan observed him before reaching down, taking the cup, bringing it close to her lips, and sniffing it. She had a look of shock on her face as she took a small, measured sip.
"It's been a long time since you had Majesty's special tea, hasn't it?" He tilted his head. "Please take your time to savor it; I can begin telling my tale once you're ready."
Megan's lip quivered as she tried to hide how much tasting the old tea blend affected her. Memories of days long past slowly wafting back from the dark recesses of her mind. Majesty's gentle, almost maternal smile filled her vision for a brief moment. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to focus. "How did you get this recipe?..."
"Nothing sordid despite my reputation, I assure you... It took some digging, but I was able to glean it from her old journals..."
"You expect me to believe that?"
Grogar hummed. "Look in the drawer to the left on the coffee table. Page 57, she kept rather... detailed records, believe it or not."
Megan stared at him for a moment before slowly reaching her free hand to the drawer, finding it slid open relatively easily, finding something very familiar inside. A dark purple velvet-bound book sat inside, with the image of five glittery blue flowers printed on the cover. She blinked carefully, tracing her fingers over the surface almost longingly before carefully lifting it and setting it down on the table. Megan could practically hear the voice of Majesty chastizing her for touching it, making her flinch, even after all this time.
"It's alright, Megan; she's not here to scold you now." Grogar leaned back in his chair.
Megan carefully opened the book and flipped through it, her eyes settling on the page. Sure enough, she found the recipe written down in the hoof-writing she recognized all too well, along with detailed farming maps based on the assumed yields of the ingredients to avoid waste. She then began to flip through the book, finding all sorts of ledgers of various goods she remembered were produced in Dream Valley by the little ponies.
"Strange she would keep such a thing away from you, isn't it?" Grogar asked.
"I dunno what I was expecting, but I'm still waiting for yo-"
"Didn't you ever find it strange that you never saw any baby ponies in Dream Valley?" Grogar asked.
Megan blinked and looked confused at such a seemingly random question. "I was there when Buttons foaled."
"Yes, you were, weren't you? She was so confused, wasn't she? Thinking she had a nasty tummy ache... she was so insistent on getting to the castle that Majesty would know what to do..." He hummed. "But since you grew up on a horse ranch, you knew it wasn't a tummy ache... tell me... how did she look when she saw that little foal come out?"
"She was young..." Megan remembered Button's reaction to birthing a foal like she didn't understand.
"Why would she? Majesty was the pony's maternal figure, wasn't she?" He said as if reading her thoughts, lifting one of the plates of princess cake in his hooves, levitating a dainty fork in his magic before taking a small bite, savoring the taste. "But wasn't it odd how the other ponies reacted to Buttons being a mother?..."
"They... were a little naive... so what?"
"Megan, Megan... think for a moment... how could that little Kingdom exist if they never had little foals? Did you believe Majesty birthed them all? Or they just never aged? Then again, days and weeks could pass in your world, yet you would always find them waiting for you like you never left..."
"Enough! Just get to th-"
"Page 157..." His eyes stared into hers. "You'll find the answer there."
Megan reached back to the book, seeming to hesitate, her mind racing at what Grogars game was. Flipping through the pages, she looked at very detailed records spanning numerous pages. "It's just some birth records and goods being sold and shipped to other kingdoms..."
"Tsk tsk tsk... read the book more closely, dear..." He wagged his hoof at her like he was scolding a child.
Megan looked back down, her eyes slowly scanning over the pages; she seemed to freeze as a pit grew in her stomach. "N-no... s-she wouldn't..."
Diagrams of pedigrees spanning back generations gave way to ledgers. Titles like Stud and Broodmare loomed at the top of various collums, with names of ponies she remembered so well underneath in brackets. Brief descriptions of the foal's appearance followed these, but no ink was wasted on the foal's names, only titles like C#23 or F#42. This was followed by purchasers with titles like Saddle Plains, Riding Crop Creek, and Halter Heights. A collum on the far side of the page was filled with the generous amounts of bits received for each transaction.
"W-what t-the... Fuck is this?!" She struggled to swear as she felt her heart start to beat erratically.
"Hmmm?" He tilted his head. "You worked with animals, Megan; I assumed you would understand exactly what you're looking at?" He looked sad, or was he disappointed?
"This... It's like my d-dads..."
"What did your family do again? Forgive me, my memory isn't as sharp as it used to be in my old age..." He seemed to think. "Ah yes... you bred horses, that's right! Your father kept very similar records, didn't he, and I assume you did the same while you were forced to take it over during his absence?"
Megan could only stare at the pages silently, her mind refusing to accept what she saw.
"The best way to train animals is to have them imprint on you, isn't it?..." Grogar tilted his head while taking another sip of his tea.
"...yes..." She nodded her head, exhaling slowly. "So what... what do you expect to happen now? That I'm just going to forgive you?... are you about to tell me you're the true hero in all this?" She glared, slowly closing the book.
"Nothing that cliche; I'm a retired villainous goat, Megan... I have no illusions about what I did; they were unforgivable, and if there is a god, I will have to face that..." He looked up, inhaling. "But I respect you enough to tell you the truth... even in our supposed fantasy land... there is no stark black and white, just many shades of grey... Do you want to know what I did to your precious ponies to make them do what they did? The answer is right before you, nothing; they always had that darkness in them just like any living creature..."
He looked at Megan. "Even now, you're trying to deny it... You're telling yourself this is some grand trick... a final master plan to destroy the thing you hold dear..." The old goat frowned. "You couldn't let go of the past... when the portal between our worlds closed... your siblings moved on, explaining away the adventures as flights of fancy to escape your deteriorating homelife... You even tried to dig that old well deeper with your bare hands as if that would reopen the portal... much to the concern of your neighbors.."
Megan frowned deeply. "CPS came for Danny and Molly..."
"Things didn't get better after that, did they?..." He looked depressed. "Western State Hospital isn't exactly a place you get sent to if things are going well..."
"It's not my fault nobody believed me..." She rubbed her thumb over the cylinder of the gun in slow circles.
"A grown woman talking about how she needs to take her siblings back so they can find the magical talking ponies... I'm sure the police loved that, especially after she attempted to kidnap... sorry, I meant to rescue her siblings from their foster families..." Grogar shook his head. "Sounds rather insane in hindsight now, doesn't it?"
"It was all true..." She rotated the cylinder with her thumb, making the gun click.
"Indeed... but in your situation, the truth only made things worse... meanwhile, your siblings moved on, accepting the lie that there was no Ponyland... it was all a game made up by their big sister that went a little too far..."
"What are you trying to say?... just get to the point so I can shoot you already!" She couldn't hold back the urge to scream at him.
"Why didn't you grow up like they did?..." He finally asked the question that had been on his mind for so long. "Why couldn't you move on from Ponyland?... You could have had so much... When I was brought into this world, I expected so much from you... The little girl who defeated my army, who struck me down with nothing more than her hands... how could I not?" His hooves seemed to shake a bit as he held his teacup.
Megan froze, looking wholly caught off guard. "What?..."
"Heh... You expected me to gloat about your misfortune?... to twist the knife deeper?... No, the truth is... I'm disappointed. You're still that young girl who struck me down countless millennia ago. You were supposed to be... so much more..." He sounded almost like a melancholic grandparent.
Megan froze, her mind trying to understand what he said. Before she could react, she had already raised the pistol and fired. A loud bang rang out, and gore filled her vision; Megan fired again and again until the gun was empty, leaving only hollow clicks, continuing to pull the trigger out of reflex. She stared wide-eyed, her hand shaking as she dropped the pistol, allowing it to clatter against the floor, struggling to come to terms with what she had just done.
"It was supposed to be a paradise..." She whispered as the tears started to fall.
"Paradise doesn't exist." She heard a familiar masculine voice from behind; before she could react, a powerful arm wrapped around her neck and held her in a chokehold. She was forcibly wrenched up from her seat, knocking it over, her feet just barely touching the floor as the assailant seemed much taller than her.
"No... no, it doesn't..." Grogar slowly sat up from his chair, seemingly unharmed; after a few tries, he managed to get to his hooves and slowly circled the table, looking down at the discarded pistol on the floor. Raising his large hoof, he slammed it down, crushing the gun with a sickening crunch.
Megan stuttered, seeing the pistol revealed as nothing more than a toy. "W-what?..." She didn't have long to contemplate what had happened before she felt a needle pierce her skin, and things started to get woozy.
"Sweet dreams, sis..." The voice behind her whispered.
Grogar stared as he watched the old woman go limp in her brother's grip. Dann-no, Daniel wasted no time cuffing her before dragging her out of the room. He was pulled from his thoughts by the smell of noxious cigarette smoke filling her nose, making him cough. "Must you do that here?..."
An elderly man slowly stepped out from the dark hallway nearby, a freshly lit cigarette in his mouth, which he seemed to savor like fine wine. His simple, well-worn, but cared-for suit starkly contrasts the authority and foreboding he radiated. "I waited long enough." He inhales slowly before exhaling the smoke. "That was a lovely performance..." He looked down at the old goat. "We now know she can ID old threats from your world... but more importantly..." He looked over; Daniel had returned, holding a tarnished locket. "We have the exotic matter we were looking for..."
"What will happen to her?..." Grogar asked.
"Hmmm?" The Cigarette-Smoking Man tilted his head. "After her escape from Western State Hospital, she's no doubt an extreme danger to the American public... why she stalked and broke into the home of an innocent centaur, then attempted to murder a respected food critic!" He shakes his head. "She'll obviously have to be sent to a much more... secure facility for the good of the American public." He said while taking the locket from Daniel inspecting it closely.
"I see..." Grogar glanced at Daniel, hoping to see some sort of familial care... love... for what was about to happen to his sister. But the grown man just looked impassive, like all good G-men.
"We'll need you again eventually... don't go dying on me just yet, things are about to get interesting..." The Cigarette-Smoking Man slipped the locket into his pocket and walked past Grogar, flicking his finished cigarette into one of the teacups as he left; Daniel soon followed after him.
"Monster...." Grogar muttered under his breath, shuttering as he sat back down; even with that man gone, his presence hung in the air. Sadly, he stared at the untouched princess cakes as he sat in the darkness alone. He wouldn't sleep that night or the next, as one of this world's monsters had left their mark on his home.
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I honestly was not expecting Megan to make an appearance here even after the chapter focusing on Grogar.
I thought that maybe she would have died of old age a long time ago and one of her descendents would play a role, but this is a lot more compelling and a lot sadder than I could've expected.
I love the contrast between Grogar in his previous chapter and Grogar here.
I kind of get it.
The destruction of Equestria and the death of pony culture was humorous but impersonal to Grogar.
Grogar knew Megan, knew the love she had for her family, and saw the hero that she could be. Seeing all that potential waste away and all that love decay into apathy brought him no joy.
Great chapter and hope to see what else is in store.
Wow, that was amazing little conversation between two of the figures from The Old Days. Also very interesting way of connecting older generation characters to the newer one. Haven't really seen some of the older villains in stories here.
Keep it up. This chapter was a really compelling read.
Given the wording, Catrina seems to amazingly be still around but just as a ditty old lady, possibly wherever any Abyssians settled now. If anything Grogar seems to be literally the only one who made it out decently well all things considered given here this Tirek isn't even the same one as G1's. I liked the touch that this Tirek was actually disgusted that someone would even think he'd corrupt someone into a mindless monster. Even he's got some standards. Seems Megan at least spared him, altho he's likely going to be pretty rattled up heading back to work.
"So hey, what happened to put you out for a week?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that some psycho human who apparently knew my ancestor somehow assaulted me and almost blew my head off."
Smoke filling HIS nose. Other then that, an excellently written story. I too feel the pain that Megan felt, that desire hold on to her beliefs despite what happened, and the betrayel she felt upon reading the journal. Truly a powerful chapter, and I am glad that this story is continuing.
I find it interesting that Gorogar of all people seems to care for Megan more than her own family does now
When i saw the words "G-men". I thought it was talking about the G-men from half-life for a sec. Or am i correct?
I don't get it. What was on the journal that got megan racked up?
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Well gman stood for government man, so it still fits yo use the same term.
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That the ponies in her time were just raise and used like property, just like her father did in their farm.
They knew very little of adulthood, each time a foal was born, their ruler snuck them away. Then she sold the foal to another town or kingdom. While the main group were none the wiser. They didn't knew what motherhood was, just playing with sunshine and rainbows.
In essence, Megan childhood shattered, her beloved friends were just part of a factory. Long gone while her own life was ruined holding onto the belief that she could go back to what she thought was paradise.
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and here i was hoping for a pony version of the black mesa incident. Or at least the superportal or portal storm.
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Oh, I see
I have no clue what thus chapter is about?
Could someone give me the short version what its about?
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Megan Williams is a character that dates back to the original MLP series or G1 as it’s affectionately called. She was a “normal” young girl living on earth on her family’s horse ranch up until a Pegasus (Firefly) flew out of the old well on her family’s property and begged for her help to save their friends from Tirac (an evil magical Centaur). After this adventure she would continue to travel to their world, eventually bringing her siblings Danny (her younger brother) and Molly (her baby sister).
The fact she was not only willing to run off to Ponyland but also drag her siblings along with her always troubled me. In this case, she was trying to save them from their deteriorating home life and take them to what she thought was a paradise. She showed some signs of also being a parentified child as well, which doesn’t bode well for her homelife either… the problem is once the portal to Earth and Ponyland closed she couldn’t move on. Her brother and sister slowly grew up and brushed off the adventures as nothing more then games that they played to escape their terrible homelife, but Megan couldn’t handle that, it was real, she remembered it, she did it! Because her inability to move on, she effectively destroyed her family and her life, ending up at Western State Hospital… in real life, that’s not a place you go to get better, it’s a place where your sent to be out of sight and mind.
Grogar being one of the few creatures who not only knew Megan but actually fought her, has an odd admiration for her. She beat him with nothing more than her wit and hands, against his vast magic and undead hordes. More importantly because of her, he grew and evolved as an individual. She was supposed to be so much more, and yet, imagine finding out this great hero who had done so much, became so little?… it’s not a victory he wants…. He wasn’t showing her that journal to be cruel either…
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It’s worse, I was trying to imply what Megan wasn’t actually fighting and protecting a “Kingdom”, rather a plantation right out of Disneys “Song of the South”. Majesty didn’t need to use much force to keep her ponys in line, she established herself as their only “maternal” influence after all. She also wasn’t just selling foals there, she had a lot of other goods flowing out of her operation, she certainly didn’t make or harvest those goods herself, but she had plenty of ponies to assign “chores” too. It looked pretty and peaceful on the surface, but once you looked closer… it lost its luster quick.
When Grogar gave her that ledger/journal it finally all clicked, Megan’s paradise didn’t exist… it never existed, and that caused her to have a psychotic break.
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Thank you for the explanation :)
Turns out its a happier story than what I was exspecting, for better or worse
Ooohkay, that's... a much darker take on the original MLP series and the franchise as a whole than I expected. Then again, I had been wondering what Grogar was going on about with a young human girl when he talked to Twilight way back when.
And the idea of a literal cartoon villain calling a human a monster... dear god, what the hell is going on here?!
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Grogar might have been at the top of the food chain on Equis, but he’s on Earth now. The Cigarette Smoking Man is the apex, meanwhile Grogar is barely a blip on the radar. This terrifies the old goat in many ways, because he’s long since learned it’s not fangs, claws, or gnarled horns that make monsters…
What’s even worse? He knows about the man’s existence (and is even familiar with him), and isn’t dead yet. That might not necessarily be a good thing…
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So essentially Grogar was a big fish in a small pond, and he now finds himself in an ocean. Here, there be sharks.. Here, there be whales..
Damn, Grogor having empathy? He has changed. I feel so bad for Megan. Forever stuck in the glory days, trying to make sense of the current state of the world, only for life to smack some reality in her face. And her having a mental break the same as Celestia is beyond cruel irony
I’m not good at wording things so I’ll just say it blunt. I love this story but not this particular chapter because I think it takes away from what the main tragedy of what the story could have been. The canon past of Equestria is so vague and contradictory that you can easily bs a lot of head canon into it, even more so when you’re making fan fiction. After I read the rest of the story before this I had a certain theory as to where the story was going or what happened. When Lauren Faust made the show she included a lot or references to past gens of mlp. One of the ones that didn’t make it through because of executive meddling was Celestia’s name was going to be Majesty as a reference to Majesty from Gen 1. The canon history in the show is so vague and even self contradictory that you can bs a lot of event into it, even more so when doing actual fan fiction. When I read the rest of this story I thought it was leading to a story where Celestia used to be Majesty from Gen 1 and was hoping to take her world to become friends with Megan’s world. The tragedy part would be where they didn’t know the magic required to do that would give mana burn and brain damage to an alicorn because they didn’t think it was possible. So in trying to reunite with her old special friend and savior she accidentally brought massive catastrophe to both worlds, not due to any character flaws or wrong choices, but because of something she couldn’t possibly foresee. It would be like if achieving true world peace on our world somehow made it explode killing everyone. Still love this story and am glad to see you’re still posting.
As expected, another great episode to the point where even the comments are entertaining to read, I follow all your stories especially "Rise of an Empire, Fall of Another" which is my favorite and I look forward to its return.
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¿Cómo Megan destruyó a su familia? ¿A qué te referís con que Megan es una niña parentizada? Y ¿Qué es lo significativo de ese hospital?
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No entiendo ¿Que hacía Majestic con las crías que vendió y cómo se relaciona con Equestria?
So Danny became the Cigarette Smoking Man from X-Files. So what about Molly? Is she the equivalent of Scully?