Troubled So Hard
A centaur.
A fausting centaur.
Dominic was sure that fate was woven in such a manner as to mock him and his efforts.
He, as perfectly capable and willing he was to fulfill his friend’s request, denied it for the sake of her safety. He learned from the recurring patterns of the past and found that trouble always happens, one way or another, when he grants those girls their alchemical curiosities. It did not seem that way to Rainbow Dash, and forget the lack of practical application, but refusing her was probably the most difficult thing Dominic had ever done in his non-professional life. Not that he had much of a non-professional life. How could he say no to one that he owed so much? And that sad puppy-dog face that she makes. It almost made his heart want to explode.
Dominic stopped what he was doing and felt for his chest. Good, it’s still beating.
And yet it did not end right there and then. He thought it would have. He thought it was only a simple entreaty, a whim which Dash thought she could gratify by asking him. He thought that, when he said no, that would be it. He would go back to work and wouldn’t be bothered until Twilight or another one of them made their regular visit. He did not expect for Rainbow Dash to betray her own element for it. He did not expect that her ardor for hands was strong to the point of carnal lust, that she would even think about breaking into his laboratory in the middle of the night for such a ridiculous fancy!
In the end, it was not her that caused the problem. It was the unicorn, Lyra Heartstrings, who happened to intrude his home on the very same night at the very same time! He still could hardly believe it. Because of some silly and petty greed, he was almost killed and all of his work would have been destroyed with him. Because a faust-all unicorn with some sort of lifelong mental illness wanted a potion that she could have just asked for! For a small price, of course. Dominic still had a business to run. But no, she had to somehow break into his home and empty the entire fausting thing down her gullet! She very well could have died! Good riddance, he would think.
Yet she somehow survived a more-than-likely lethal ingestion of pure, concentrated natural magic.
And turned into a centaur.
What the faust.
Dominic grimaced as he recounted those embarrassing events.
Lyra grunted as her new, yet unbalanced form was thrown to the cold floor by a charging streak of technicolor. Pinned to the ground by the cyan pegasus, all six of her limbs hung in the air and her back was flat against the ground.
“What’s wrong with you?! You seriously wanted to kill us?!?!” Dash screamed in her face. Lyra cringed and shut her eyes tight. In the transformation, she had lost her horn, the source of her magic. She no longer had the upper-hoof, or in her case, since she’s a centaur now... uh... I really have no idea. To put in laconically, she was in deep dirt.
“I’m sorry, ok?! I’m sorry!” She squealed back.
“Not good enough!”
“Settle down, Rainbow Dash.” Rasped the aged alchemist. “I don’t believe she’s in any position to harm anypony. Allow me to speak to her.”
Begrudgingly, she hovered off of her and landed by her in a fashion as to blockade the narrow aisle and prevent Lyra’s escape, if she was so bold as to attempt one. She didn’t look like she could go anywhere soon. She was not yet used to her new body. The slightly-wizened earth-pony slowly stepped to the centaur’s side and craned his neck so he was face to face with her. She bit her lip in trepidation. Dominic took a deep breath...
“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW CLOSE YOU WERE TO HAVING YOUR BONES COMPLETELY LIQUIFIED AND YOUR BODY TURNED INSIDE-OUT THROUGH YOUR NOSTRILS?!?!” Lyra winced in pain. Her ears rung, but he was not done yet. “Might you have the slightest inference as to how fortunate you are to not be a bloody pile of magic-soaked meat on the floor?! That was years worth of stock potion, a potion that was only to be ingested in small, precise doses... AND YOU JUST DRANK THE ENTIRE FAUSTING THING!!!”
Her mouth hung open and her lungs seized, but she had nothing to say. The implications of what her actions might have caused were beginning to sink in. Even Rainbow Dash, who was more used to his demeanor, took a small step back in fear. Dominic snorted in unbridled anger. If his body odor made a pony heave, his breath could be used as a deadly weapon. His long, grey mane heaped itself on Lyra’s human chest and the floor beside her.
“How you are not utterly and absolutely dead is a mystery to me, child. Count yourself as one of the luckiest things to grace this planet.”
“S-sorry...?”
“YOU SHOULD VERY WELL BE SORRY! This is where your luck runs out and your punishment begins!”
Her eyes, so small now compared to what they used to be, began to water. “W-what are you g-going to do?”
“Nothing.” He stated bluntly and withdrew himself from her face. “I think living with the results of your recklessness is enough.”
“Wait, what?!”
Dominic slowed his breathing to a more comfortable pace before continuing. “You may not be dead, but with the amount of potion you took, your transformed self will not be going away anytime soon.”
“But... don’t you have...”
Oh faust, she’s going to say it, isn’t she?
“...An antidote?”
The alchemist groaned loudly and smacked his hoof on his own face, pulling in down and stretching his skin in absolute irritation.
“What?” Lyra asked.
“If I had a bit every time somepony said that word, I’d have enough money to replace all of my faulty glassware five times over, and believe me, that is quite a sum.” He looked at her straight in the eye and raised his voice so she could understand him clearly. “Contrary to the majority’s fantastical assumptions, potion-making does not work like that. You can’t make something less wet by throwing more water on it, now can you? Effects, once absorbed into the bloodstream, cannot be reversed until the formula is dissociated from the body. It’s not as simple as taking another potion to negate the effects of the first. Too many unpredictable variables, too many contradictory chemicals to take in account. Theoretically, it is possible, but I have yet to find a way to safely dispel the natural magic that is bonded to the formula. That is why they are only to be taken in small amounts; so that they only last a desired timespan.
“You, however, took several, no, an abhorrent amount of doses in that impetuous little stunt you pulled, and that’s never been done before, but I know that the effects will last a greater period of time than originally intended. The exact prediction, I have no idea. All that I have discovered in my life of alchemy is built upon and supported by hard evidence and scientific trial. Regular doses vary slightly with each pony due to their metabolism, body mass, etcetera... etcetera... With you, I can only make a few logical assumptions. With duration amplified, the discrepancy may also be extended, which means that it could last anywhere from weeks, months, years... More likely it will last a span of time synonymous with rest of your natural life.”
“T-the rest of my life?!” Lyra parroted. She looked at her hands, then bent her head to look at her green hooves. She looked like a freak. How could she ever be seen in public like this? How could she face Bon-Bon like this? “How can you say there’s no antidote? Isn’t this kinda like Poison Joke? That can be cured with Zecora’s bubble bath!”
“The effects of Poison Joke come from their magic-saturated pollen that tenaciously sticks to the fur. That bath is merely a mix of chemicals that neutralizes the pollen and dis-adheres it from the body’s surface. Without its source, the pollen, Poison Joke can no longer affect you.”
“What about that time Apple Bloom had cutie pox?”
“That... isn’t technically body transformation, but it still involves natural magic. Heart’s Desire mostly remains in the digestive tract and distributes its effects from there. The Flower of Truth is its negator.”
“But what about the love poison during Hea-”
“OH! PLEASE! I INSIST! Do try and contradict the one who’s been studying and practicing this longer than you’ve been ALIVE!!!”
She said nothing more.
“Heh, it’s not entirely bad.” He allowed himself a wheezing chuckle. “At least you got half of what you wanted.” Lyra began to sniffle.
“You deserve it!” Dash reviled.
Dominic shifted his glare to the cyan pony.
“I have not forgotten about you, Rainbow Dash! I don’t need to remind you that it was you as well who nearly attempted thievery of my creations!”
She shrank back with a nervous titter.
“Go home, girl, I’ll deal with you later. I will have a word with Twilight about this.” After a short pause, he added: “And don’t even think about beseeching anything from me for a good while!”
“Ok...” Despondently, she began to trudge out of the storeroom. Without warning, she turned right around, flew to the splayed centaur, clutched her wrist between her hooves, gave her hand a long, wet, forceful lick with her lolling, orangish tongue, shuddered in ecstasy, and shot out of the basement in an unreadable blur. Dominic stood in place and blinked.
“Eww, gross.” Lyra wiped her saliva-slick palm on her sea-foam fur.
With the unsavory happenings behind him, Dominic could resume his work. It was probably a little past midnight, but that was not an issue to the apothecary. He had trained himself over his lifetime of working to only require 4 or 5 hours of deep sleep in order to function and remain relatively healthy. It gave him more time to work, more time to discover new things and new ways to improve his grand profession. It was peculiar, though, because he never remembered creating that particular potion in the first place. Why would anypony want to be a centaur? It must have come from that chaotic little... mental vacation he experienced a few years back. A lot of strange things came out of that episode, but he remembered nothing from it. Dominic was still sorting through all the things his insane creativity brought into the world. What a mess...
So, Rainbow Dash flew back to her cloud castle home. What she was doing there, all alone and such, frankly, Dominic did not want to know. As for Lyra... well... she couldn’t just go off on her own. For one thing, Everfree was dangerous at night. A small foal could tell anypony such, but she also couldn’t go back to Ponyville looking like that. The chemist did not want to have to explain the source of panic and mayhem. Not at that moment. So, he had to keep her there, in his lab. He had her promise not to cause any trouble, and the unicorn-turned-hybrid creature did so without much hesitation. Dominic may have put a bit too much fear into her with all that yelling. His throat smarted like a bee sting. He merely worked diligently at his aged wooden tables stacked with glassware and boiling liquids like he did every day from the crack of dawn to late into the night. It was peaceful. The quietness calmed his frayed nerves while he dealt with the tedious tasks of an alchemist. Lyra did not give too much trouble. In fact, she was sitting on her haunches near the stairs, head tilted downward in keen fixation. Her newly acquired hands were at her chest, playing with her...
Her...
“Excuse me, what the faust are you doing?” Said Dominic, torn from his concentration for whatever the aberration was doing with herself.
She didn’t even bother looking up. Her hands continued to knead. “They’re so squishy and soft... feels weird, too...”
“Stop that.”
“Why?” She finally cast a fleeting glance at the scowling ebon pony.
“It’s disgusting... and annoying...”
“You told me not to bother you, so I’m not bothering you.”
“THAT is bothering me.”
Lyra pouted. “Nothing pleases you, old-timer. They’re cool, they’re there, and they’re mine. What else am I supposed to do?” She resumed her actions, experimentally groping the fleshy chest-bumps, when suddenly a red sash was thrown around her chest and constricted from behind.
“Hey! What gives!” She shouted, and yipped as the impromptu clothing tightened around her ribcage. Securing the knot tightly, Dominic then administered a drop of his own patented adhesive into the porous fabric of the sash, hardening it and making it impossible to untie without the use of a sharp object.
“Lyra, I don’t care. They were distracting me, and I need my concentration.”
She spouted an indignant huff and crossed her arms, but then she took a moment to observe his workplace for the first time as he trotted back to his table.
“What do you even do here all day?” She asked.
Dominic faced the clueless centaur. “Were you not so infatuated with fiddling with your mammaries you would have observed that for yourself!” He gestured to his proud setup of glass and metal. “Here, I create magic the only way an earth-pony can: with the use of the mystical vegetation out here in Everfree Forest.”
“Really? That’s all you do?”
He was taken aback. “This is my place in life, Lyra! I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.”
“But... don’t you get out? Don’t you have fun?”
Dominic held back his answer for a short moment. “My work has its own merits.”
“Alright.” She rolled her eyes, not convinced that anypony could be satisfied with only doing work day in day out. A hopeful thought hit her. “Hey, do you think you could just change me back by giving me a ‘pony potion’?”
“Absolutely impossible.” He replied immediately, re-absorbed in his chemical testings. “The transformation magic still resides within you, and the formula flows too strongly through your blood. Likely, it may have completely re-written your genetic code. Any attempts to transform your body into anything else would be fruitless.” Dominic picked up a flask with his teeth and poured its contents into another beaker. It went cloudy and viscous. He scribbled his observations on a piece of paper with an old quill.
“Why?”
He sighed. If he had a list of things he hated the most, explaining his work to ponies without the slightest bit of knowledge of his subject would be on there, right next to thievery and sugary foods. He could use an analogy. They tended to help explicate things to the more obtuse ones; the ones that aren’t Twilight Sparkle, who apparently was the only pony he has met so far that had enough intellect to understand what he said half the time.
“Imagine...” He glanced at his writing utensil. “...Placing a drop of ink in a flowing river, whereas the river would be you as a centaur and the drop of ink is another transformation potion. It wouldn’t accomplish much, other than make a dark blot for a short instant and subsequently be swept away and dissolved completely in the water. The chemicals in your bloodstream are already too potent to be altered, therefore your form will remain the same in spite of any magic used to revert you or change you into something different, be it a potion, unicorn magic, or otherwise. Fun fact, you’re completely immune to Poison Joke now. You can tell me how they taste.”
“So I’m stuck like this forever?”
“For the sake of not having to reiterate myself further, yes.”
She held up her fingers and clutched them curiously. Then, she shifted her four lower limbs on her equine torso. “I... guess I could get used to it.”
The alchemist didn’t bother with a response. He simply kept at his trials, mixing, heating, and decanting; furthering his frontier in the modern age of supernatural elixirs.
“I don’t think I ever got your name.” The centaur said suddenly.
He gave brief eye contact. “It’s Dominic.”
“What kinda name is that?”
“My own.”
She placed her hands on her hips, a strange sensation for her palms to feel the border between her skin and her fur. “What’s your real name?”
“One, it’s none of your concern, and two, it matters little. I am referred to as Dominic by everypony who knows me.”
“It’s just that ‘Dominic’ doesn’t sound like any kind of pony name to me.”
“That’s because it isn’t.”
“What?”
With a careless movement, his long hair fell in front of his eyes. Growling in frustration, he parted the strands with his hoof and swept them to his sides. “You don’t need to know anything about my name, other than the fact that my name is Dominic! End of story!”
She flinched. “Chill out, man. I was just asking.”
He narrowed his dark eyelids around his deep-blue irises. “You are wearing my patience thin. I did not ask for a pestiferous little brat in my mane!”
“Well maybe you should get a mane-cut!” She retorted.
Dominic ceased his actions and kept his mouth clamped shut. He withdrew himself from the table he was propped on, trotted past the counter, and stopped at the front door, all while Lyra watched him with confusion. He turned the locks on the wooden entrance and it swung open with the ring of a bell.
“Out.” He declared, thrusting his hoof toward the chirping darkness of the forest outside.
“What? What did I do?”
“NOPONY TELLS ME TO CUT MY MANE! I LIKE IT EXACTLY HOW IT IS AND I INTEND TO KEEP IT THAT WAY! GET OUT!!!”
“You’re kicking me out because I told you to cut your mane? Really?!”
“You’ve overstayed your welcome here, not that I gave you one, you depraved psychopath!”
His words stung her harder than she thought they would. “I-I’m sorry...”
“Out of my house.”
“But it’s dark... and it’s so close to Everfree Forest...”
“You didn’t seem to have a problem with that when you SNUCK IN HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!”
“I... actually came here during the day and waited until night...”
Dominic, still holding the door open, was speechless.
“But... but then what? What were you planning to do when you acquired the potion?!”
“I... didn’t think that far.” It seemed that Lyra had a habit of short-sighted planning.
“...You really are crazy...”
“I’m not crazy!!!” She shouted with tearful eyes, standing up on all four hooves and squeezing her fists until her knuckles were white.
“You’ll have a hard time convincing me.” He snarked.
“I’m not, I’m not, I’M NOT!!!!” Her front hoof stomped on the wood floor like an angry foal.
To the complete surprise of both Dominic and Lyra, a flash of black and white shot into the room from the open front door, tripped, tumbled head-over-hoof, and slammed into the counter with a harsh bang. Lyra gasped.
“Zecora?!” Dominic exclaimed. She was hyperventilating. Her eyes were red, her usually mohawked mane was ragged and windswept. With what little strength she had, she hacked up all the words she could muster from her parched, dry throat.
“Shut... door!”
Galvanized into action, he slammed the store’s entrance and refixed all the locked into their place. He surmised that the zebra would not be running unless she was running from something. Opening the metal eye slit and peering through, he saw the reason.
“Dear... Celestia...”
To be more accurate , he heard it first. He heard a thundering gallop in the distance, accompanied by a howling roar and explosive snapping sounds. Though he could barely see in the darkness, he could see movements in the treetops. By faust... they were actually being knocked over. The aged stallion began to sweat. The angry roaring became louder, coming closer and closer, when it emerged into the clearing in a blast of vegetation and splinters.
He had never seen anything like it in his entire life. The muscled monstrosity was completely hairless, save the spare, patchy ropes of lengthy, black hair that hung down its face, thinned by decay. I charged for the apothecarium, mindlessly following the scent-trail left by his prey. Dominic flinched, prepared for an impact, but it never came. Upon coming within range of the building, it came to a full halt and buried its face into its tumorous paws. Growling in hatred, it beat its cumbersome fists into the ground, each blow resulting in small earthquakes. Dominic realized that the chemical stink that hung around his home was assaulting the beast’s painfully acute senses. Giving one last bellow, the thing turned away and stomped off toward the dirt path. The earth-pony closed the slit and collapsed in relief. He turned back to Zecora. Her chest was rapidly rising and falling and her legs were twitching.
Dominic knew of the witch doctor beforehoof. Having potion-making skills that were similar to his, she was bound to come up in conversation sometime or another. He had heard much about her, but this was the first time he had seen her in person. Her hut was situated miles away from his stone homestead, so he never bothered to make a long and dangerous trip for a simple “how-dee-do”. Twilight, acting as sort of a messenger, told Zecora all about him. From what he heard the following day, it seemed that the zebra did not care for his unique, alchemical methods. He suspected that when the modest bookworm said “did not care for”, she actually meant Zecora was insulted that he did not follow the traditional ways of elixir brewing. He had met other zebra travelers in his youth, and they tended to be disdainful in that respect. He really couldn’t blame them. He was, after all, bypassing the limits of ancestral witch-doctory and meddling with the natural order for the sole sake of gaining power.
She needed help, and Lyra certainly wasn’t going to be the one to give it. She was tentatively inching closer, both afraid of herself being seen and unused to walking with a displaced center of gravity. Quickly, Dominic scanned through the concoctions he had on his store shelves.
“No... nope... no... Ah, yes.” He swiped “Recovery” from its place and brought it to the heaving zebra. Her eye fixed onto him.
“I need you to drink this.”
She did not reply, only scowled.
“Damn it, Zecora, drink it before you die of exhaustion!”
Reluctantly, she allowed him to put the scarlet draught to her lips and tilted it down her throat. The zebra felt her yowling limbs relax as a warm sensation enveloped her body. She sighed and her breathing slowed to deep, calm intakes. Sitting up, she collected her raspy voice.
“Thank you, dear alchemist. My stubborn pride was very remiss.”
“So that was the idiosyncrasy Twilight mentioned. Rhyming. How peculiar.” Dominic thought to himself. Zecora appeared to want to speak again, when she caught sight of Lyra. Her jaw hung agape.
“Oh. Meet the most recent imbiber of one of my alteration potions, Miss Lyra Heartstrings.”
Lyra waved meekly. “Hi...”
Zecora turned to Dominic with a few hundred urgent questions, but he stopped her.
“Please, it’s a long story, and we have much more pressing matters at hoof. Tell me, what in the name of faust was chasing you?”
She seemed to grimace at the recollection. “What it was, I do not know. What concerns me is where it will go!”
“Where it will go...” Understanding crept up his spine. The path... The beast was heading down the path... to Ponyville. “Oh no...”
“This beast is thirsting for blood, aching for prey. If we do not stop it, Ponyville will be in dismay!”
“There will be more than dismay, they’ll all be dead.” Both Lyra and Zecora were appalled. Dominic knew... something with that much power, the strength to rip trees from their stumps... the small town would never be prepared for an attack like that in the middle of the night. “We need to warn them. We need to warn them this instant!”
“Despite its size, the monster is also fast! If we leave now, we shall not hope to last!”
“Not if I have anything to do about it!” Rushing behind the counter, Dominic went out of sight for a few moments. A rustling was heard, followed by a crash, followed, in turn, by several angry swears. He soon returned with saddlebags and bundles of soft cloth.
“Make some use of yourself, Lyra, and help me pack.” The centaur complied, but not without some degree of chagrin at his bossiness. The alchemist went around the store shelves, pointing at all the liquids and flasks he desired to take, and Lyra carefully put them in the pack that was specifically designed for this purpose.
“Careful, Lyra. Some of these are incredibly corrosive. I don’t want a hole in my back.” She stuffed the soft cloth around the glass bottles so they would not move in transit.
“Ok, I think they’re good.”
“Really? That was rather brisk. Those hands have quite the advantage over my mouth.”
She nodded and secured the straps on the satchels and checked it to make sure they would stay in place. She seemed eager to use her new limbs, which have proven they were just as effective as unicorn levitation. Zecora, still convinced of this task’s folly, merely observed them prepare.
“What is it that you hope to achieve? How we can warn them, I cannot conceive.”
“Have a little more faith in my abilities, Zecora. We can, and we shall.” He cradled three vials in the pit of his foreleg and hobbled over to the other two. “The path to Ponyville is one long curve; it does not go directly to the town. If we sprint a straight line through the forest, we should arrive before it does.”
“You expect me to run? All of my energy has been undone!”
Dominic held out one of the vials filled with bright-green fluid. “This should help. I pray that you are comfortable with sleeping for a few days afterward, for that is probably what is to come in your disposition.”
The zebra may have been grateful for his help so far, but she was hesitant to drink anything that he made. It seemed so unnatural, his methods, not working with nature to make arcane tonics, but twisting it to whatever purpose suited him. She was a firm believer of tradition. It had been taught to her by her elders, and their teachings have guided her safely for as long as she could remember. No zebra in their right mind would go back on the creeds of their ancestors.
But she had no other option.
Without a word, she took the glass container, braced herself, and forced it down her throat. Within moments, she felt a fiery sensation seep into her fatigued muscles and charge them with electricity. She felt her blood fizz with magical power. She felt like she could run forever, across the grassy plains of her homeland, not as the zebra, the prey, but as the cheetah, the predator. She was filled with a seething purpose, accompanied by a hunger for revenge.
“We must not delay, for this monster will pay.” She snarled through gritted teeth. Forget inner peace, forget the natural cycle. If the beast wanted her blood, then she shall have some of its.
“Right!” He held out another to Lyra. “You’re next.”
She took it and uncorked the mouth, but she stopped. “I thought you said potions couldn’t affect me anymore.”
Dominic sighed. “Only transformation magic. This an entirely different... oh for Celestia’s sake, just drink the fausting thing.”
She obeyed, scrunching her face at the horrific taste of it. It was no more pleasant than the one she took earlier, but soon it gave her a energetic charge just like with Zecora. Dominic was the last to drink his, and he did so without even the smallest flinch.
“Don’t break my glasses.” He unlocked the door and nearly tore it off its hinges. “Come on! Lets go, lets go!”
Urgency overtaking them, they all ran out the door and followed Dominic’s lead. He took a hard left and went straight into the forest. The dank, gnarled trees and bushes blurred by them as they galloped without pause, concentrating on dodging vines and branches. Lyra didn’t seem to have trouble with her new body. Though she was taller and had to be extra careful with forest debris, she was running with as much vigor as Zecora. Speaking of which, the zebra casted her hard gaze in only one direction. She was focused on the path ahead and her own inner priorities. So focused, in fact, that she brought herself to the front of the group, determined to reach her goal. With her in the lead, Dominic couldn’t help but take an inexorable glance at the exotic mare’s curvacious-
“Well! Now that is an admirable quality...”
+++++
It was tired. It was hungry. It was in so much pain. Chasing that morsel of food had been exhausting. Its limbs burned. They ached. The agony was so intense... it couldn’t stand it.
Even then, it still continued to stomp down the dirt path, not taking any more chances with the forest. Animal instinct taught it that the easiest prey took the easiest paths, so it followed the trail of least resistance, eager to catch scent of a new meal after the last escaped from his clutches.
It took a slight pause in its gorilla-like lumbering and snorted the air.
Blood... Clean and untainted...
A mucus and spittle-filled moan extruded from its ever-gaping maw.
“Sslleeeshhh... Nnngeeeett...”
The beast, rejuvenated by the overpowering smell of food, lumbered towards the dimly lit town.
+++++
Fluttershy winced as Rarity applied the sterile bandage to her open cut. The red-weeping wound had been cleaned of infection prior.
“Dearie, you’ll have to be more careful in the future. The common cart has a lot of nasty sharp spots.” She said with just a hint of weariness in her voice. She, too, had been dragged into Pinkie’s party planning. Usually, the exuberant mare would have a full day to prepare, but since work came first, she was determined to labor well into the night. Fluttershy and Rarity, however, weren’t as enthusiastic of being deprived of their sleep, but they were still willing to help their friend.
“Wow, Fluttershy, first a stubbed hoof, then a big cut? Today just isn’t your day!” Pinkie Pie vocalized while bouncing in a circle around the pair, the alabaster unicorn still tending to the pegasus’s ministrations.
“Oh, I’ve had worse...” Fluttershy whispered.
“Nonsense, dear. I’ve known you for years and years, and this is the worst scrap I’ve ever seen on you.”
The canary pegasus suddenly bit her mouth closed. Using her magic, Rarity gently yet assertively wrapped her leg with an elastic band of white cloth, tied it tightly, and snipped the excess.
“Rarity, you’re so good at this. I never knew that you had training in first aid.”
“I haven’t, Fluttershy. Dressing an injury isn’t so much different from dressing in style. I suppose I have an affinity for all things that have to do with cloth.”
Fluttershy wobbled up on her hooves. “Thank you.”
“Any time, dearie, I’ll always be happy to help.”
“So...” Started Pinkie. “Are we good now? Can we get back to party preps?”
“Yes, and your friend is fine, too. So thoughtful of you to ask.” Rarity deadpanned.
“You’re welcome!” She chirped with no less sweetness than her very own “Triple Sugar” cookies. Rarity rolled her eyes as the hyperactive mare zipped back to the cart she was hauling. The unicorn returned to hers. Fluttershy floated by each of them to make sure none of the colorful cargo fell out as they headed back to Sugarcube Corner. She took extra care to watch for protruding metal.
The fashionista panted under the strain. “Please tell me, Pinkie Pie, why do you need so many supplies for one party?”
“Well, actually, I was running low, anyway, so I’m re-stocking my stores.”
“Stores?!”
“Makes it a lot easier to put together parties without having to go to the market every time. This is about four months worth.”
Rarity shrugged. “At least that makes one thing that you plan ahead for.”
If the pink pony had a reply to that, she could not give it, for her body seized and she started to vibrate.
“Pinkie?” Fluttershy wafted to her friend.
“Pinkie Sense! Combo! Big one!” Was all she managed to get out amidst her convulsions. Luckily, she had the foresight to wriggle herself out of the cart’s harness before her preternatural seizure went into full effect. Her companions could only gape with solicitude.
Hoof-tapping.
Frizzy mane.
Wall-eyed for 4... no... 4.5 seconds.
Then, she hopped into the air, did one full rotation on her longitudinal axis, and flopped onto the ground.
“SHUT UP PEPPY! I KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!” She shouted impulsively.
“Pinkie Pie! What on earth was that?” Rarity inquired.
“I... I don’t know!” Pinkie stood up. “It’s happened before, but I thought it was Ellis who would cause it!”
“Cause what?”
“I’m not sure, but something bad. Something really bad! Ellis isn’t around here, so it must be caused by something else!”
Rarity and Fluttershy looked at each other, not knowing what to say. If Pinkie says something bad will happen, and she has her Pinkie Senses to back it up, then they would believe it.
Fluttershy broke the silence. “What do we do?”
“We have to get these party supplies to Sugarcube Corner PRONTO! They’re not safe out here!”
Rarity facehoofed.
“Really, Pinkie? You’re getting all worked up because your party is in danger?”
“No! Parties mean everything, so EVERYTHING IS IN DANGER!” She slipped back into her harness and carried her cart, double time.
“Wait! You can’t expect me to go that fast!” She mushed on, bringing the heavy load to her momentum and running after the hysterical mare. Fluttershy hovered in place, chewing her hoof in anxiety. She seemed to be warring over the gravity of Pinkie’s prophetic instincts. Was it real danger, or just a false alarm? Rarity, calling from the distance, interrupted her thoughts.
“Come on, Fluttershy! We can’t let her off on her own!”
She jerked back to awareness, right forehoof falling from the side of her waist.
“Coming!” She sped to the aid of her friend.
+++++
To say that Applejack was angry was a downright understatement.
To say that she was absolutely, unreservedly furious? That would be a little closer to the truth.
But not all of that rage was directed toward the idiotic, intoxicated human that hung limply over her back as she cantered home to the farm. No, most of it was to herself. She let herself get all worked up. For nothing. For an insensitive foal of man. Her worries were severely misplaced. The only one who needed to worry was Ellis, because when he woke up tomorrow, Applejack would give him what’s what.
“Ah can’t believe it. Ah just can’t believe it!” She repeated for the twentieth time. Ellis may or may not have acknowledged her with a hiccup. “Ya get yer hands on a bag a’ bits, an’ the first thing ya do is get stinkin’ drunk! What the hay?!”
“Now, in mah defense,” He slurred from his bouncing seat. “We went bowling first.”
“Shut it.”
From his place on the ground where Applejack had first found him, his co-workers were close behind. Sawdust and Ball-Peen recounted the events of the night, including him boasting about his actions prior coming to Equestria. She was fearful of what might happen to him since he revealed his past endeavors, but the construction ponies said that nothing would come of it. Sure, he’d get a bit of notoriety for the brawl, but nopony would believe a drunken idiot. Scars or no scars, zombies were just too far-out for any of them to accept. With no shortage of chiding or scolding, Applejack heaped his slack torso over her back and started to carry him back to the farm.
“Now, ah know ah was drunk,” Pipped Ellis. “But ah swear, ah saw this one pony. She... looked like she was make a’ glass - but still movin’ an’ all - an’ filled with soda, ‘er somthin’.”
The farm pony didn’t know what to say to that.
She clopped on, the moon only barely lighting her way. It was a mere sliver, near the death of this cycle and the rebirth of another. The path was clear, though. She could just make out the distinct profile of the Apple Family barn. What she couldn’t make out was why she was , looking after him. After what he had done, after what he had put Applejack through, she shouldn’t be carrying him back to her home. She should be in her bed, resting up for another day of labor. Instead, she’s dragging an asinine drunkard on her back through the dead of the night. She should be telling Ellis to hit the road. She gave him her hospitality, and he repays her by being an irresponsible foal.
But she couldn’t leave him. One, she had her duty to do; the one Mayor Mare entrusted her to do, the one she promised she would carry out.
Two... she just couldn’t imagine life without him. It sounded stupid to Applejack, but she could not fathom why his presence meant so much to her. Was it because he was the most interesting thing to come into her life? A being from another world; a world so different, yet so morbid and dreary. Besides the occasional threat, Equestrian Rodeo, or other happenings, her life was more or less uneventful.
Applejack skipped a beat in her pacing, fatigue finally hitting her after a long day of applebucking and the postponement of her rest. The weight on her spine suddenly got heavier. Her limbs ached for relief. All she could think about is collapsing in a heap and drifting away, but she was not yet home. The barn was only a short distance away, though. If she couldn’t make it to her bed, then a stack of hay will do just fine. She changed course and headed for the red-painted double-doors.
“Hey, AJ.” Ellis finally spoke after some time. “Ahm real sorry ‘bout this. Wasn’t thinkin’ too well.”
Applejack shoved the barn door open. “Ellis, ya knew very well that we were expectin’ ya home, you just plum didn’t care! Ain’tcha got no brain, or do humans lack that particular muscle?!”
“Ah... ah kin make it up to ya! Ah... uh... this one time, me an’ mah buddy Keith-” Ellis was silence as Applejack tossed him off her back and into a mound of dried straw. She whirled around and met his startled expression with a sharp glare.
“Ah definitely do not wanna hear about yer stupid friend, or all the stupid things ya do together! Ahm tired-!” She bit her tongue and flinched away, trying to prevent her anger and her frustration from spilling out, but it was too late. The words came out. She yelled them right in his face. For the second time that day, she had let her emotions get the better of her.
Ellis merely stared back blankly, as if his mind was shoved out of sync and trying to catch up. He sighed and cast his head down.
“Well, if ya don’t wanna hear ‘bout it, that’s fine with me.”
“Ellis, ahm sorry. Ah didn’t mean-”
He stopped her with a wave of his hand. “Naw, ah think yer right. These stories are stupid. Ahm stupid. An’ because a’ that, stories are all ah go tah show...”
Applejack couldn’t see his eyes in the darkness, only the faint colors of his hat and shirt. She had never seen him this somber before.
“Ahm... ah may jus’ be the stupidest jackass on the planet. Ah could have been smart... ah could have been careful... but no. Ah had tah go be stupid again.” His voice began to falter. “A-an’ now all I have is me an’ mah stories. Nothin’ more. Jus’ me re-tellin’ ‘em as ah see fit. Nobody tah reminisce with, nobody tah laugh ‘em off with... Jus’ me... jus’ me...”
As he curled up and bit his knuckle, things were beginning to make sense to Applejack. She’d only gotten vague hints of it before, but now it was clear. There was more to him than the image of happy naivety. He regrets something. Regrets it with all his might. He’s been constantly pushing it down; beneath his cheerful smile and carefree demeanor, beneath the horrors and evils of the Apocalypse, beneath the blood-curdling moments of near-death, beneath his deepest, darkest fears of which he would never disclose to anyone. Those regrets were threatening to resurface. The friendly shine of his eyes were dimmed with an undercurrent of sorrow. Applejack knew exactly what she needed to ask; what she needed to know.
“Ellis, a pony ah hold very dear once told me that... there ain’t no such thing as you an’ yerself, that ya need tah share yer troubles with others so it ain’t so hard on you.” She moved closer and lay down on the hay next to Ellis. The human didn’t even look up. “Ah don’t feel like it’s any of mah business, but ahm here for ya, willin’ tah listen tah anything ya got tah say. But... ah think ah know what’s eatin’ ya, and frankly, ah think it’s been eatin’ me, too.” She scooted closer and gently rested her hoof on his shoulder. The shiny streaks reflecting the sparse moonlight were unmistakably there on his cheeks.
“Ah just gotta know, Ellis... What happened to Keith?”
+++++
Forceful knocking interrupted Twilight’s late-night reading. “Who could that be?” She wondered to herself. Marking her page and setting the book on the nightstand, she carefully slipped out of her bed. Spike was snoring softly in his tiny cot nearby, tuckered from a long day of library maintenance. As she quietly descended the steps, she accounted that Owlowiscious was out hunting. No nocturnal work needed to be done that night. The knock came again, more frantic than before.
“Coming! I’m coming!” She called, crossing the length of the main floor to the front entrance. Using her signature lavender aura of levitation, she turned the knob and swung the door open, surprised to find the ponies on the other side.
“Dominic?” The ebon earth-pony nodded, his wheezing breaths disallowing him to speak for the moment. He never comes to Ponyville, what was he doing here now, of all times? But he was not alone. Twilight looked to her right to find another surprise. “Zecora?” The zebra is also a rare visitor, hardly ever leaving the boundaries of everfree unless it was a special occasion. She looked to the left-
“DEAR SWEET CELESTIA, WHAT IS THAT?!?!” She literally jumped backwards at the sight of the abnormality. Lyra turned away morosely.
“That’s not fair, Twilight.” Dominic stepped inside. “Of all the ponies, I predicted you would have the calmest reaction.” His two companions filed in behind him.
“That is definitely a cause for alarm!!” She shouted, sticking an accusing hoof in the centaur’s direction. “What the hay is it doing with you?!”
“Really? Don’t you recognise Lyra here?”
Twilight’s face softened as she saw the lyre cutie mark on the side of her flank. “Lyra? Is that really you?”
Lyra nodded. “Yeah...”
“What happened?”
“She drank one of my potions and turned into that, to sum it up as briefly as possible.” Dominic interjected. “As significant as that may seem, that is not why we are here.” He paused to catch his breath.
“Why else would you be here?” Said the librarian.
“HOLD ON! I’m getting to that!” He took a few more deep breaths. “Twilight, I need you to rouse the entire town and get them to safety.”
“The entire town? At a time like this?”
Zecora spoke up this time. “A monster is coming, fetid and insidious. Its body is swollen, its face most hideous.” She winced at the recollection of its image.
“Monster?! What did you say it looked like?”
Zecora reared on her hind legs. “On two feet it stands,” She clopped back to the ground. “Walks like a giant ape. Its eyes are sunken and lifeless, its maw always agape.”
Giant ape, walks on two legs, swollen muscles, lifeless eyes... “That sounds like...” A memory clicked into place. “No... it can’t be...”
Dominic spoke again. “Now is not the time for delay! It is imperative that everypony is woken and evacuated! We don’t know how far it is from here. For all we know, it may already-”
A shrill screech cut a jagged rent of horror through the air. Panic, noisy destruction, and a monstrous bellow followed.
“Oh no...” He breathed.
All the ponies raced outside. The commotion was evident. Terrified equines galloped for their lives, screeching all the way. Mothers clung to their foals, husbands clung to their wives. Everypony abandoned their beds and their homes and took to the streets in search of safety.
A deafening crash resonated from their immediate right. The group ducked and shielded themselves as the remains of a produce cart pelted them with wooden shrapnel and ruined fodder. The mangled frame of the cart slid past them in a useless heap of miscellany. Shaking the debris from her mane, Twilight peered through the darkness of the near-moonless night in the direction of where the cart was hurled from.
It came with a audible rumble, a constant thunder as its burdensome mass impacted the cobblestones, lifted, reached forward, and fell to the ground again. It clawed its way forth, tearing the earth underfoot, a juggernaut of raw power focused on a single-minded endeavor, not acknowledging the wagon it had swatted aside as indifferently as a pony might shoo an insect. With another glancing swing of its weighty limb, it gouged a hole in the brick wall of a nearby building. The aged stone, stone that had stood in its place since the first founding of Ponyville, crumbled in an avalanche of rubble and dust. The beast thundered on, nostrils overwhelmed with the stink of flesh, its jawless mouth dribbling with sickly froth. It raised its mighty arms overhead and slammed them down on the road in an upheaval of broken rock, barely missing a fleeing colt by a hair-length.
Twilight’s joints locked in place. Her body froze in shock. The abomination that heedlessly mutilated the streets before her was unlike anything she had seen or read about before. It was a soulless leviathan, destruction incarnate, an immense husk of what used to hold intelligence, sentience, maybe even compassion, but no more. It was a monster by every meaning of the word.
And it was coming straight for her.
“Twilight! Run!” Dominic shouted after he urged Zecora and Lyra to take to the streets to give any aid they could muster. Twilight, however, was still paralyzed. The world seemed so disconnected around her. The screams, her aged friend’s insistent cries, the thumping of the beast’s strides, gradually getting louder and louder... it felt dull and muffled through her ears. Her mind moved in slow-motion. She recalled the time she was chased by a hydra, and barely escaped with her life. She remembered walking through Everfree Forest, seeing a flash of beady, red eyes and knowing nothing more until she woke up to Fluttershy. She recollected all the times of danger and near-death she had faced in the past...
Nightmare Moon, Discord, Cerberus, the dragon, the entrance exam, her first Summer Solstice, mom, dad... No, it was her life that was flashing before her eyes.
“Twilight?! Twilight!!” No response from the lavender unicorn. “Celestia fausting damn it, Twilight! Come to your senses!!!”
She snapped back to reality to see the hulking behemoth charging toward her, malevolence beaming from its decayed pupils. Its egregious nidorosity assaulted her herbivorous taste buds and throttled her gag-reflex. Her legs broke from their petrification, wheeling backwards while never taking her eyes off of the sickening fiend of wanton slaughter.
“T-TANK! TAAAAAAAANNKK!!!” She cried as she joined the tide of pandemonia.
+++++
Ellis broke through the foyer entrance and stumbled to the ground, shotgun still gripped tightly in his hand, a fistful of shells clenched in the other. His chest heaved with exhausted respiration. After a few moments of breathing, he wheezed out a chuckle and shakily rose to his feet, reloading the magazine with the soft click of each shot.
“Some run that was. Mah ol’ soccer coach always told me ah couldn’t play mid fer the life a’ me. Look who’s laughin’ now...” He pumped shell into the chamber. “Ain’t that right, Keith.” He glanced around. “Keith?” He desperately scoured the immediate area for his friend. His only friend. “KEITH?!”
Sprinting out the door, he came to the high sun casting its harsh rays on his barren, deteriorated hometown. The once proud and bustling streets were lined with abandoned cars and raging gasoline fires. The once clean buildings were in a state of apocalyptic disrepair; broken windows exuded charcoal smoke. Infected corpses were piled on the pavement leaking blackened blood from buckshot-inflicted wounds. The mechanic called repeatedly for his buddy; he hollered and searched with all his capacity. His friend’s name rang and reverberated through the empty, lifeless streets with no reply.
“Keith! Keith!!!” He kept calling and calling. Where was he? He remember that he was at his side, there was a horde of zombies... too many to take on their own. They rushed to the evac building, where safety and relief awaited them. He ran on, only looking back to see if Keith was at his side, and he was. His scar-patched face was smiling and laughing, a defiant middle-finger to any and all danger, characteristic to his firm belief in immortality that he shared with Ellis. Ellis smiled in return and fired away at the snarling zombies while backpedaling to their destination. There was a lot of running, a lot of shouting... his shotgun clicked empty, so he turned and raced ahead, Keith doing the same. That was ten minutes ago.
“Keith! Oh God... Keith!” His shotgun slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground. He sank to his knees and buried his face in his palms. Droplets trickled between his digits and pittered to the ground. “Keith... Ke-e-eith...”
There he sat, mourning his friend, stolen from him, silence only broken by the cacophonous roar of a helicopter overhead. The evac chopper, the one that would take him to safety, but what was the point of living when you are all alone...
So that’s how it happened.
He was no witness to his companion’s tragic death.
He did not hear Keith’s final words coughed out of his bloody mouth before sighing his last breath away.
He just... got lost.
“An’ it’s all mah fault!” The turbulent emotions made themselves known, splitting open the forlorn wounds and spilling out the tears of woe and guilt. “Ah- ah let him go! Ah jus’ ran ahead! Ah shoulda... ah shoulda... Ahm sorry!” He fell apart. Uncontrollable convulsions seized his body. After weeks and weeks of pushing it down, denying his fate, hoping that he would see his buddy again, knowing that he’s survived things that would kill man several times over, he couldn’t refuse the truth anymore. He couldn’t hide behind his mirthful mask, he couldn’t avoid shame of his mistake, he could no longer bring him back with the retelling of his most cherished memories with him. He was gone. Nobody, not even someone as tenacious as Keith, could survive the Apocalypse alone. His time with Nick, Coach, and Rochelle taught him that. He was his brother in all but blood. They would have traveled to the ends of the earth and back together, but fate took him away all too suddenly. All he could do was lament; moan and grieve and curse God for this cruel bastardization of grace.
Applejack watched him with a broken heart. To see such an unmovable individual fall to pieces before her eyes... it was unbearable. She thought him to be naive, yes, but she knew he had strength in not allowing himself to change in spite of the hardships he had endured. She thought he had, through the constitution of his will, overcome the grim blights of the past and strove to be kind, caring, and considerate. He wanted to enjoy life, feel the warmth of his smile and revel in the fruition of his own laughter, not be oppressed by regret or turmoil. She realized that, like herself, nopony could be without weakness.
The farmpony paused at this revelation. So different they may be, but they shared the same desire to remain strong in the face of tribulation. She gained a kinship, an understanding for his harrowed soul, for she strives for the same goal, and suffers the same weakness. Applejack thought it was impossible to discern Ellis; he was so different, so strange. Now she knew what had plagued him, what he had never told any other. Now, it was as if she knew him like she knew herself.
While he was still occupied with his weeping, Applejack wrapped her forelegs around him, bringing him close in a comforting embrace. She gently rocked him back and forth as best as her petite body could.
“Elli, don’t say that. It ain’t your fault.”
“...It’s... it’s all my fault...” He whimpered.
“No, it ain’t! Don’t blame it all on yerself. Sometimes, there’s nopony to blame. Sometimes, it’s just just a cruel twist of fate.”
He said nothing, only continued to expel smothered sobs into Applejack’s mane.
“Ahm sorry. Ahm sorry for yer loss. Ah wouldn’t know how to deal with losing my closest friends.” She let him settle down for a moment before going on. “What you did was real brave, Ellis. Ah ain’t talking about the kind of bravery ya need to fight monsters or zombies, or to stay tough when ya should be sad. Ahm talking about the real kind of bravery; the kind that ya need to show your emotions, to show that ya ain’t afraid tah cry. If ya held it in, it woulda eaten you away from the inside. You jus’ gotta open up the barn doors an’ sweep it all out.” She withdrew from his shoulder and met his eyes. They were puffy and red. They exposed his inner pain. “He’s gone, Ellis, but that don’ mean it’s the end. You hold on to all those wonderful stories. Keep tellin’ them with happiness in your heart. You gotta know that he ain’t comin’ back, but ya also gotta keep him close, because friends are forever. That ain’t all, either. Ah’ll be here for ya, too. Ah’ll be here tah listen to yer stories, tah help you when ya need it, tah hold you when yer feeling down, ‘cause ahm yer friend, an’ that’s what friends’r for.”
Ellis threw his arms around the mare and pulled her as close as he could. It wasn’t a life-squeezing hug, but it momentarily startled her. She relaxed and returned the glowing snuggle. He moaned and sniffled faintly into her soft fur as the last of his sorrows bled away in a cathartic stream of dewy droplets. He clung on, intent on not letting go for a very long time.
Applejack was elated that she was able to help a friend with his troubles, but did she really think of him as such? Have they shared enough time with each other, gained enough understanding of each other as to be called friends? When she was with the human, she felt upbeat. She felt she could smile a little wider around him. She loved his charm, his careless affect. She loved the times when he made her laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so hard. And while it irked her when he shirked on his responsibility, she was certain she could find it in her soul to forgive him. To her, Ellis was more than just a friend. He was...
He was family.
So they laid there on the springy pile of hay, locked arm in arm in the midst of the nebulous night. Gradually, the sniffling went silent and they both drifted away into much-needed sleep.
+++++
The hysteria spread like a wildfire. In but a few short minutes, the panic had reached the downtown districts of Ponyville, where the bartender of The Prancing Show-Pony was just about to close shop for the night, taking count of the liquor bottles and cleaning the floor with a straw broom. Only the stuck-up Canterlot unicorns remained when she got the alarming news from a passing evacuee.
“What? What is it? Would ya please calm down an’ tell me what in the bloody name of Tartarus is going on?” Rum Run asserted to the brown colt in front of her while she leaned on the broomstick. It was the same one that she served drinks to that night, the one with the melodious Trottingham accent.
“Some great big bloody monster is attacking the town! We need to get out of here, pronto!”
“Look, mate, last time I heard that, it turned out to be some sorry plonker who can get his plot thrown to the ground by a guy half his size.” She said while tilting her head to the unicorns who were still sitting at that same table over yonder. Why do the jerks always have to be the last to leave? She’ll have to kick them out soon. She let them stay and chat long enough.
“Yes, I know, I saw that too, but this is real!” Came his frantic reply. “I saw it myself! It’s huge! Flicked away a fully loaded cart like it was a balloon!”
Rum Run rolled her eyes. “Do you know how hard it is to lock this place up? Damn door’s so old I gotta do some pagan ritual dance and pray that the sodding tumblers will turn.”
“This is a bit more threatening than a minor inconvenience, ma’am! You lock it every night anyway, so can we just hurry and leave?!”
“No, never locked that door. Not once. Nopony’s had the bollocks to come in here and take anything from me. You know why?” She reached under the counter and brought up a large, flashing bowie knife, handle clenched between her teeth. The brown colt scooted back a few inches. “‘Cause I sleep with ol’ Sally here!” The knife thwacked into the wooden surface. “I think I know how to defend myself against a couple’a misbegotten monsters, mate. I ain’t leaving this place for as long as I live, come hell or high waters.”
He sighed. “I suppose there’s no convincing you, then. I’ll just get those other ponies over there.”
“Don’t trouble yourself.” She took a deep breath. “Oi! How about you sorry lot stop slouching around and get out of my tavern! It’s closing time!!”
Curved Swords scoffed and rose from his seat, his comrades doing the same. The begrudgingly made for the door.
“Ok! Well!” The spiky-maned earth-pony turned and cantered away. “Good health to you, ma’am.” He courteously held the door open for the Canterlot duelists, casting a glance outside. “Come on, fellows! Allons-... Oh dear...”
*Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump THUMP THUMP*
CRASH!!!
Tables overturned, chairs went flying, bottles fell off of their places on the shelves and shattered on the floor. A barrage of torn lumber scattered itself across the room as the Tank made its destructive entrance. Screaming all the way, the hourglass-cutie-mark colt sought paltry safety in the corner, putting anything and everything he could leap over between him and the raging behemoth. Curved Sword’s band did likewise. A gargled bellow shook the building, belched from the mutilated maw of the twisted hellion. Unfurling his fist, its swollen fingers wrapped around Swords, who was dazed and immobilized by the impact. He began to flail helplessly as soon as he realized he was being lifted off the ground.
“Unhand me, fiend!” The unicorn was raised nearly to the ceiling. Dread overcame the duelist. “P-please! Help! I don’t want to die-!” The Tank smashed his body into a table, splitting it to fragments and leaving the pony broken and lifeless.
“YOU WANKER!!!”
The Tank reared its head in Rum Run’s direction. She snorted in unbridled fury, her bowie clamped in her mouth.
“YOU SORRY PIECE OF GARBAGE! YOU PICKED THE WRONG PUB TO TRASH! NOW I’M GONNA GUT YOU AND TAKE EVERY DROP OF YOUR BLOOD TO PAINT MY NEW WALLS!” She charged fearlessly at the monstrosity. “I’VE WRESTLED BASILISKS TWICE AS TOUGH AS YOU!!!”
The barkeeper was effortlessly swatted aside with a glancing swing from the beast. She sailed across the bar, over the counter, and crashed into the shelves of liquor. They exploded in a spray of slicing glass and fuming booze. Rum Run fell to the floor like a ragdoll with almost every bone in her body fractured. The alcohol seeped into her gashes, engulfing her bleeding body in unbearable, burning pain before finally slipping into unconsciousness. Now unhindered, the Tank lumbered across the length of the room and ripped open another fissure to make its exit.
+++++
“Pinkamena Diane Pie! Slow down this instant!”
“No time! Bad things! Coming this way!”
“I think something is happening over there...”
Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy raced towards Sugarcube Corner with reckless abandon. The party pony showed no signs of relenting, drawing from some enigmatic source of energy to aid her endeavor. Rarity, however, was on the verge of collapsing, with Fluttershy flying between the two. Colorful parcels occasionally fell out of the confines of the speeding cart, but Pinkie was set on reaching her destination without delay.
“I can’t go on!” Wailed Rarity. Sweat clung to her pristine fur and her lovingly curled mane was bedraggled and windswept. “Pinkie Piiiiieee! Think of your friends! I simply cannot endure this toil!”
“Target sighted!” Shouted Pinkie, oblivious of the fashionista’s circumstance and just plain ignoring her complaints altogether. “We have visual contact! Standby for drop-off!”
Her hooves dug into the ground, skidding to a complete halt in front of the gingerbread bakery. Rarity’s eyes widened as she tried to halt her cart’s forward momentum, half succeeding in parking the trestle next to Pinkie’s.
“Mission accomplished!” She gave a wide, joyous beam.
“I hate you so much right now...” The alabaster unicorn grumbled between feverish gasps.
“Girls...” Fluttershy whimpered. “I think I hear something...”
They all perked their ears to the sky. There was indeed something to be heard. It was ever so distant, but clear:
A crunch of severing rock...
The quiet pitter-patter of pebbles tumbling to the ground...
A vehement grunt of exertion...
“T-twitchy tail!” Pinkie yelled, her tail moving on its own accord.
“LOOK OUT!” The winged caretaker swept Rarity and Pinkie Pie aside right before the falling slab of stone collided with the carts, demolishing both of them in one fell blow.
“My party supplies!!!” The pink mare exclaimed despairingly. She squirmed from the pegasus’s grip and hastened to the wreckage. On her knees, she scooped up the shredded balloons and ruined streamers and cradled them in her quaking hooves.
“No... no... nononononono...” Her bubbly mane began to deflate. “We were so close... we were so close...” The dirt-tainted pink decorations slipped from her forelegs. Her hair straightened completely. “It was gonna be such a great party...”
The stomps of the approaching menace caused her to look up. She sucked in a scream. Her eyes fixed on the odious beast, she scrambled backwards, kicking out her hind legs in desperation. The Tank slowly pawed towards the terror stricken victim, drool dripping off its hanging tongue, aching to sate its pain and taste the flesh and blood of its prey.
“Pinkie! Run!” Shouted Fluttershy. Rarity couldn’t speak, her throat was constricted in abhorrence. Pinkie Pie did not heed the pegasus. She was going into a fatal shock, and the Tank was converging on her at an alarming rate.
Having no other option, Fluttershy gave a mighty flap of her wings and surged to Pinkie’s aid. She placed herself between her and the monster.
“Run! Now!” Finally registering her friend’s command, the baker rolled onto her hooves and sprinted away in a blur, managing to scoop up Rarity along the way, without protest from the unicorn. The two escaped together, galloping off into the distance and to safety.
The Tank motioned after the fleeing ponies, but a pair of outstretched yellow wings impeded its path. Snarling at this impetuosity, his eyes met those of the interloper.
Big mistake.
A blazing spark had ignited in the back of Fluttershy’s brain, turing into a seething fire that bled straight to her eyes. Her pupils dilated, her eyelids wrenched open, and pure, psychological dominance lance into the beast’s corneas, locking them in place. It’s incomprehensible rage was forced down into submission. It beat its fist on the stone below, but to no avail. No living creature, no matter how powerful or ferocious, has ever broken from the fathomless control of the Stare. Through the Stare, Fluttershy pierced its very soul and saw everything that constituted its being, then she would twist it to her command.
She saw... Death... Torment... Rage... Pain... Pestilence, Decay, Violence, Slaughter, Destruction Hunger Evisceration Rot RegretAngerSorrowMadnessLongingDispairHatredBlood-
Gasping, she tore away from the eye contact, ejecting the contents of her stomach on the ground before her, reeling at the repulsive thoughts filling her mind, polluting it, destroying it. A throbbing headache banged against her skull. She couldn’t think. The Tank was suffering similar repercussions, moaning and holding its head in place. Fluttershy was the first to recover, shaking away the mental haze to find the monster still disoriented. Whatever this beast was, it didn’t come from Equestria. Nothing in this peaceful land could have suffered so much. This creature was afflicted with a sickness, one that denied its rightful peace. There was sentience behind those eyes, suspended in limbo, begging for an end to the torture. It made her sick to think that such a thing could happen at all.
The Tank was finally starting to regain awareness. Fluttershy felt her spontaneous courage melt away. With an enormous intake of breath, it threw back its arms, spewing forth a braying roar, consuming the infinitesimal pony in rancid breath. It was a fetor of putrefied meat and the abominable odor of countless opened graves. Toxic spit splattered against her face, her ears rang, her nose felt like it was aflame, and her stomach threatened to heave again, but there was nothing left to empty. The Tank raised its wrecking-ball limb above his head, prepared to grind Fluttershy into dust for all the difficulty she had caused.
Its fist came crashing down.
+++++
Dominic, Lyra, and Zecora all tried in vain to corral the sea of ponies into order. The numbers were too great. Having a centaur there wasn’t helping, either. Dominic surmised that her presence was actually fanning the proverbial fire, and with that probably adding a few gallons of confusion as fuel and a dash of the explosive powder of insanity.
“I really need to cease with the analogies that come into my head...”
“Ponies of Ponyville, head this way!” Zecora attempted to project her voice over the din of panic. “This path is safe from the monster’s foray!” She was trying her best, but the potion was beginning to wear off, making her woozy. Soon she would collapse and be indisposed for the next hoof-full of days.
“Yes! Follow her!” The alchemist assisted the zebra by coaxing more equines her way. “Follow her to the far side of town! With haste!”
A good majority of them complied, but the streets were still filled with chaos. It was like the third coming of Discord.
“Lyra!” He shouted to the centaur hiding in the alley behind him. “We need your assistance right about now!”
“I can’t!” She responded. “They’re all afraid of me!”
She was right, in a way. The ponies did fear her appearance almost as much as the monster, which was allegedly termed as a “Tank” by Twilight. He began to question the wisdom of bringing her here. He certainly wasn’t going to leave her all alone in his lab! No, that was out of the question, but having her in Ponyville was more of a hindrance than a blessing. The sight of her would make fleeing citizens veer off into another direction before any words could be said.
“Come out here anyway! We may be able to use that to our advantage! Keep them from diverging!”
“So you want me to help you by scaring them away?”
“Yes!”
“I don’t want to do that!”
Dominic sighed. “This is most intolerable...”
A wailing evacuee decided right then to path her way down the same alley that Lyra was hiding in. Without thinking, the centaur sidestepped, stooped down, and caught the pony in her lithe arms. She instantly recognized her.
“Bon-Bon?”
The earth-pony stopped mindlessly struggling and raised her head to a familiar, yet alien face.
“Lyra?”
The awkward silence that ensued was thick enough to choke a dragon.
“So... Yeah...” Lyra began. “You remember what I wanted to be for last Nightmare Night, but I couldn’t pull it off?”
Bon-Bon fainted in her arms.
She heard a bout of raspy laughter. “I occasionally wish I had that effect on other ponies.” Dominic snickered.
“It’s not funny!” She shot back. “She's my friend!”
“Well, in that case, I’m sure she’ll get used to it. Eventually...”
A call came from the distance. Dominic turned his head to see Twilight in company with Pinkie Pie and Rarity, the latter two looking particularly dreadful. The three trotted up to meet the alchemist. The first thing he noticed was that Pinkie’s mane was straight. He may not have known her for very long, and, quite truthfully, her presence was a long shot from being desirable for a stallion of an introversive lifestyle, but he knew that something was amiss when somepony’s tightly curled mane suddenly goes flat. The second thing he noted was that neither Rarity nor Pinkie were speaking. Now that was definitely when one should start assuming the worst.
“Twilight? What happened to them?”
“I don’t know! I found them running and brought them over here as quick as I could!”
He kneeled down to the drooping pink mare. “Pinkie Pie, tell me what happened.”
Her voice came out trembling. “F-F-Flutter... sh-sh-...”
“Speak up! What about Fluttershy?” He rose and did a head count. “Where is she?”
Suddenly, a thunderous boom sounded from across the town, followed by a guttural bellow that echoed forebodingly. Everypony’s heart froze.
“Fluttershy!” Cried Twilight. She turned around to rush to the source of the sound.
Dominic stopped her. “Wait! You can’t go out there alone! You’ve seen what it is capable of!”
“Fluttershy needs help, and I don’t think there’s anypony more qualified to deal with monsters then me! Stay here and get Pinkie and Rarity to safety while I go save her!”
“Twilight, I know it is your sworn duty to help a friend in need, but-”
“IT’S NOT UP FOR DEBATE! I’m going to help her and you are not stopping me!” She whirled around and galloped away, leaving Dominic hopelessly calling after her.
+++++
The lavender unicorn arrived at Sugarcube Corner. It was in disastrous shambles, like some sort of hurricane had gouged its way through. Craters and divots dotted the cobblestone ground, buildings were nearly ripped asunder, a sweltering fire raged in place of the broken husks of Pinkie’s party supply carts. She desperately searched for any sign of her friend. Canary-yellow feathers were scattered in various places on the ground. Twilight’s anxiety grew with the number of feathers she found. Her fears skyrocketed when she spotted one stained with blood. Out of the corner of her eye, she found a hoof sticking out from under a pile of rubble located in front of a gaping wound in the structure of the bakery itself. Without hesitation, she ran to the wreckage and used her potent magic to yank the heavy stone away.
When enough was removed, Twilight’s soul nearly fell apart. There was Fluttershy, spattered head to hoof in blood, gashes, bruises and dirt. Both of her wings and one of her hind legs were bent at sickening angles. She lay there, twitching pitifully, eyes flitting open and closed, chest heaving erratically.
“Oh... my... gosh... F-Fluttershy... I-I-I’m so sorry!” She wept painfully, the sight of her dear friend, whom she loved like a sister, so utterly broken before her eyes too much for her to bear. She didn’t know what to do to console herself for allowing this to happen.
A breath escaped from Fluttershy’s lips, weak and gargled with blood. “G-gone...?”
Twilight’s reddened eyes met hers. “What?”
“It... G-gone...?”
“Yes, it’s gone!”
“G-g-good...” She sighed.
The unicorn cupped her hooves to her mouth. “Somepony! Anypony! Help! Please, help!” She turned back to Fluttershy. “Don’t worry, we’ll h-have you all f-fixed up, a-a-and everything w-will be better...! Fluttershy?”
She was still. The twitching had stopped.
“Fluttershy?!”
Her eyes were shut. Her chest was no longer moving.
“FLUTTERSHY!!!!!”
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"Dressing an injury isn’t so much different from dressing in style"
"Dressing in style.""
"Dressing in style."
ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=4800416766689327&id=e4dbdf888a67e79d642431f06d8779da
546450
Oh, you piece of shit.
*found this had updated*
*Partied Hard*
546453 You don't know how long I've held in that joke from you. I've waited DAYS!
WHY?
Oh look, this is up. *Sigh* goodbye schedule for the rest of the night.
[finished reading] Well, I know that fluttershy isn't going to actually die. That would be a particularly evil, and in my opinion, stupid move. But if you litterally do kill her. Please excuse my harsh words. But yeah, good chapter.
you....you killed fluttershy*beep* *beep* *beep* *beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-*
Jeez, you asshole. I am about to hit the hay and suddenly what? You update my favorite story. And not only that, but its a 12k word chapter.
Wait.... I could read it tomorrow at flash class, lol. Thanks brah
546454 You might be thinking twice when you actually read it.
How could you?!
546515
29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2isudE2bn1rntskeo1_400.gif
546453
You're one to talk, you cruel, cruel bastard.
....
Fluttershy's dead? Well... well... good.
Now she can join me and make my afterlife better. It's been lonely and depressing here.
All horribly dark joking aside,
Why?! Why would you do that?! I could understand a few deaths from the normal meaningless ponies, but FLUTTERSHY?! Good god, man, I now hate this story! The only reason I'll continue reading it is because I wanna see how it ends, but you can rest assured that Fluttershy's pointless death has made me that much darker!
And if you try to use my story's outcome against me: Fluttershy is directly connected to my OC, and they were together. FS was a target against my OC. Not pointless, just heartless.
546554
Dear Throne...
Did they confirm her death? Did the text explicitly state that she was dead? Did they put her corpse in the ground and grieve her?
Did you note her mysterious behavior? Do you remember the iron locket?
Have faith, my follower. I have plans: story arcs, plot twists, great big kaboodles of shocking cliffhangers. Wait and see... Wait and see...
546568 Sorry. Not thinking clearly. It's 2:40 in the morning and I can't think beyond the cover of the book at this time. Thanks for pointing out those things to me, because I would not have seen them had you not responded. I apologize for my raging caffeine-induced rant earlier.
Please disregard my earlier comment.
546574
No offense taken whatsoever. I just got done with watching The Avengers. I feel a little jumpy, too.
Wait a minute...the Tank...the Tank is Keith isn't it!!! If the Tank is Keith let it be known I predicted it first!!!!!!
546544
Why is that gorilla watching a lawn mower fly away?
546578 To be honest, I fully expected Fluttershy to jump right up after Twilight said that the Tank was gone. I've seen too many comedies/happy endings that I honestly believed Fluttershy managed to put up an elaborate ruse somehow (this is Equestria, after all, where ponies pull shit out of invisible pockets). But then I saw the whole "not moving" thing and my mind that is currently screaming "SLEEEEEEEEP" at me thought "dead." Thanks for the forgiveness.
jesus.
i love the anybody can die trope
Oh... shit. I can barely respond. My eyes are teary right now.
Ellis is gonna Bill the SHIT outta that tank, isn't he?
Yes, yes today is a great day indeed for me. First: work was good, second: I received a two by two foot rice krispie treat, and now this late night chapter update to an excellent story that i finished reading within ten to fifteen minutes. All is well is with my world right now. Now i realize, it will be some time before the next chapter and that saddens me greatly.
>End of chapter
>Fluttershy is, in all likelihood, dead
>I don't give any damns
What the hell is my problem?
Someone get a defib and a medkit stat........
Now they only need someone with fire to torch the tank.....
546458 I just wanted to add that you avatar looks like he has waited for days too.
.... Update this again.... now... Or I will personally rip your soul out and feed it to the tank.... DO IT... NOW!!!!!!!!
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/296/098/062.gif
^ Me when people start reacting to the ending ^
546511
Here, take this.
SLOW-MO FOR ADDED EFFECT
546716
Where are Rarity's hooves touching...
Can't wait for Elis's moment in the spot light, but I think he's gonna need a bigger weapon.
How does this NOT have a Dark tag?
546626
546693
........
Really? he releases a whopping 12k word chapter. And you immediately scream "moar" .........
Not to be harsh, but honestly. Can't you say something constructive? Anything other than capslock and flutterageface the musical. Give him a break will ya?
546781 Screaming moar is my way of telling him just how epic and awesome this chapter was. He can take his damn sweet time on it for all I care. Longer it takes, better it'll be.
546744
mytinyphone.com/uploads/users/sexy_boy/403590.jpg
tf2chan.net/dis/src/133277142475.png
Edit:
I don't want to live on this planet anymore. FLUTTERSHY!? That Tank is getting an ass-wooping, and quite possible a mind-rape, a gruesome and dark, disturbing slow death.
He'll get what he deserves.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Fluttershy
This was a REAL dark turn... Now if you'll excuse me...
i.imgur.com/tZOS8.gif
Well, that was certainly a doozy of a chapter.
I can only imagine that Ellis is either going to break down further at the site of the Tank or go into a heroic rage.
3 in the morning.
...you're not doing me any favors here, brah.
Got a final exam the next day.
You update with a 12k chapter.
ITS ALL GOOD PEOPLE! We just need to find another closet or closed off room. Fluttershy will re-spawn then.
...goddammit, the tank actually is Keith, isn't it.
The stare has been beaten. Where's your god now?
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Fluttershy.png
OH GOD! this an epic fuckle of a mess now! crazy time is now run run run! MOAR
Gonna call it now:
Ellis knows "dominic".
May even be keith.
... long shot but meh.
Please tell me you didnt kill fluttershy?
o.o We don't need one of the L4D guys.
..No. We need Burt Gummer. From Tremors.
...And his Sniper Rifle from Tremors 2. :3
Doing what he can with what he's got. :D
546544
MY FUCKING JIMIES!
Oh noes! FLUTTERS!
“But ah swear, ah saw this one pony. She... looked like she was make a’ glass - but still movin’ an’ all - an’ filled with soda, ‘er somthin’.” Oh hey, I know that story. But I can't for the life of me remember the name of it...
No, Fluttershyyyyyy!
-Glassed