An exquisite corpse story is a collaborative writing exercise in which a group of people try to tell a story: the catch is that each author can only read what the author before them wrote and must continue despite not knowing the entire story. This was the result.
Lyra frowned as she glanced at the wall clock. 6:45. Bon Bon was almost an hour late. She sighed, pacing the room nervously and shaking her head. Something had to be wrong. When she glanced up, a flash of movement outside the window caught her eye.
Then, Lyra remembered something. The other morning, she swore she had seen a pony staring through the window at her. She brought it up with Bon Bon, who just shrugged and said that it was nothing.
But Bon Bon had been skittish all week. Something to do with the Monster Hunting Agency, apparently. She wouldn’t say what was going on, but Lyra could tell that she was nervous.
Could this all be connected? Lyra was sure of it. She grabbed her coat and headed for the door.
Prompt Two:
“What a lovely day,” Bon Bon said as she took a deep breath of the morning air.
Lyra nodded. “Weather team did a great job today.” She glanced upwards at the open skies. “Not a cloud in sight.”
Bon Bon smiled and pushed open the door to the grocery store. “Indeed. You can wait out here, this will only take a second.”
Lyra nodded and glanced up at the sky again. Suddenly, she heard shouting and turned around. A pony in a trench coat was galloping down the street. Before she could move, he crashed into her. “Outta my way!” he grumbled, shoving Lyra aside.
“Well that was rude!” hissed Lyra. As she stood up, her right hoof nudged something. On the ground was a brown package, addressed to some house in Manehattan.
Lyra regarded the package carefully. “... I wonder what that was all about?”
“Hey, you dropped something!” Lyra shouted as she grabbed the dropped package with her magic, only to see that the rude trench coat wearing stallion that had stumbled upon her was nowhere in sight. “Rude!”
Grumbling in annoyance she brought the package closer so she could give it a better look. Common brown wrapping paper, strong strings tying it tightly closed and an address from Manehattan written in truly awful hoof-writing at one of the sides. Yup, it was a completely ordinary looking package about the size of her head.
“Now what?” Lyra wondered out loud, right hoof placed underneath her chin. Sure, the stallion had been frightfully rude, all but tackling her and then leaving in a hurry without so much as an apology. But that didn’t mean that leaving the package on the ground was the right thing to do. But Bon Bon would be back with the groceries shortly and would undoubtedly be worried if Lyra wasn’t here when she did so, she was a worrywart like that, so going after the stallion was also out of the picture.
Groaning in annoyance she looked upwards in search of inspiration for how best to solve this conundrum, but the clear blue skies up ahead offered no solutions.
“Sorry for the wait, Lyra,” she heard Bon Bon voice as the grocery store’s door opened with a chime, only for the beige-coated mare to stop and look at the brown package still held aloof in Lyra’s magic with a puzzled expression. “What is the package for? Do you need to go to the mail?”
“That’s it! Bon Bon you are a genius!” Lyra excitedly exclaimed as she hugged her now slightly confused looking very special somepony.
“What?” the mare asked, happy for the hug but no less confused by the mint-coated unicorn actions, something that was not helped by the fact that Lyra was currently ignoring her question in favor of rummaging through Bon Bon’s saddle bags containing their newly bought groceries, as if in search of something.
“Here we go!” Lyra happily proclaimed as she held the package of muffins she had just retrieved high, as if doing so was some grand achievement. “Why waste time and bother looking for that rude pony when we can just mail the package? Sheer genius!”
“What rude pony?” Bon Bon asked as Lyra opened the package, feeling that she was missing something. A feeling that grew stronger as the unicorn grabbed a single muffin and hurled it high into the sky. “And what exactly are you doing?”
“Some rude pony that crashed into me dropped the package before hurrying away,” she explained with a shrug as she stopped tracking the thrown muffin in order to give Bon Bon a smile. “And I told you already, since finding him to give the package back sounds like a bore I’m mailing the package away to its destination, problem solved!”
Bon Bon stared at her, sometimes admittedly quite odd, companion for a few short moments, before she opened her mouth intent on asking how throwing a muffin to the sky could possibly relate to sending a lost package through the mail system. Only for an airy, chipper voice to cut her short.
“Hi, Lyra, hi, Bon Bon,” Derpy Hooves happily greeted them as she landed right next to the two mares, a smile firm on her features as she munched on the recently thrown and now no longer airborne muffin.
“Hi, Derpy, thanks for coming so fast!” Lyra chirped as if summoning the mail mare by throwing a muffin up high was perfectly normal. But then again, this was Ponyville. “Could you deliver this for me, somepony dropped it before they could send it!”
“Sure, no problem,” the grey-coated mail mare readily agreed, accepting both the package and the rest of the muffins that were her payment and storing both upon her delivery bag. “Have a nice day!”
“You too Derpy, thanks for the help!” Lyra said as she waved to Derpy as the mare took to the air and flew away in a barely controlled spiral that seemed to miss the nearby buildings out of sheer luck. “Okay, problem solved, now let’s go home, I’m starving!”
And with those words Lyra nuzzled Bon Bon and started to happily trot away, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
Bon Bon opened her mouth, as if to ask for further clarifications about what had just happened. Only to stop, close her mouth, shake her head, and decide that it probably wasn’t worth it. She loved Lyra to bits, she really did, but something she had learned from living with the mare was that sometimes it was best to let the mare’s oddities alone. It was far less headache inducing that way.
With a small sigh she followed after the mint-coated unicorn, an indulgent smile on her muzzle as she listened to Lyra enthusiastically talk about the coming lunch as they turned the corner and headed home.
Both of them missing the very frazzled and worried looking trench-coat wearing pony that had just come rushing from the other direction and was now frantically searching the area by mere moments.
Derpy drifted over the rooftops of Ponyville, waving cheerfully at the other residents who called out to her. Sure, maybe they were saying “Watch out!” or “Be careful!”, but that was usually the first thing everypony would say to her, so it was their own special version of saying hello.
“Right, I can’t get distracted now! Especially after Lyra gave me so many muffins…” said the mare, patting her delivery bag. The glorious muffins held within promised Derpy a wonderful afternoon together– “No! Bad Derpy! You’re a mailmare first and you should never forget that!”
“That’s right!” She could’ve sworn she could hear her old drill sergeant barking orders into her ear. Funny, Parcel Post sounded different from what she remembered. “Mailmare first! And friend second! Or maybe it is first too? Being a friend is pretty important, and mailmares are supposed to be your friendly neighborhood mailpony, so maybe it is first!”
“But can two things both be first?” Derpy asked aloud, tapping her chin.
“I dunno! Um, Derpy?” Wow, Parcel must have inhaled some helium and eaten a lot of sugar muffins.
“Oooh, muffins,” she murmured. She could almost taste the muffins. A trip to Sugarcube Corner after the Manehatten delivery wouldn’t hurt, right?
“Derpy!” And maybe she should visit Nurse Redheart. Hearing voices can’t be a good thing, but then again, this was Ponyville. “DERPY!”
“Wah!” Her asynchronous wings suddenly started flapping at the same time, throwing Derpy off her rhythm. She clutched her mailbag tight as she tried to recover, eyes spinning in an attempt to focus anything solid amidst the blur of colours. She eventually managed to correct herself, then looked around for whatever had interrupted her.
“Sorry!” said Pinkie before she disappeared. Derpy blinked and Pinkie was back. “Had to get your attention!” And she was gone again.
She looked down to see the party pony trotting briskly on the ground before bunching up her legs and springing up to Derpy’s level again. “I need to ask you something!”
Derpy tilted the angle of her wings, slowing down enough so that Pinkie no longer had to run to catch up. Just as she was about to descend to the ground, her friend bounced up again and waved a hoof. “You don’t have to land!”
“O-kay? What do you need, Pinkie?” She glanced in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. “D’you need to make another order with the confetti place?”
“Nah, I got enough!”–boing– “You’re going to Manehatten right?”
“Yeah, how’d you know?” Derpy patted her mailbag, double-checking that the package was still there. “Manehatten’s not on my schedule today and I’m pretty sure you weren’t with Lyra and BonBon?”
“Haha, please!” Something colourful got shoved into her hooves. She examined it and tilted her head as she read the hastily scrawled address on it. “I need that delivered today! Can you do that for me, Derpy?”
“Sure, Pinkie, but isn’t this one of your portable, time-delayed parties?” She glanced at the address again. “Who needs a party in Manehatten?”
“Who doesn’t need a party in Manehatten?” chirped the pink mare. “Anyway, this one’s super duper looper important! I’ll have a fresh batch of muffins for you when you get back!”
Derpy’s mouth watered at the prospect of even more muffins and she snapped into a salute. “Don’t worry, I’ll deliver it! As a member of the Equestrian Postal Service, I won’t let you down!”
“Great!” Pinkie stopped bouncing up and frantically waved her arms. “I’ll see you later!”
She waved goodbye to her friend before carefully placing the portable party into her bag. Flapping her wings harder to gain altitude, Derpy veered towards the east and began to soar towards the metropolitan city.
With the wind rushing under her feathers and the sun beating down on her back, she let her mind drift to other things. Between thoughts of muffins and relaxing after a long day of deliveries, the skyscrapers of Manehatten loomed closer and closer. Soon enough, she was flying between buildings, nodding at fellow mailponies who returned the gesture. All in a day’s work!
Derpy slowed down and reached into her bag to check the address of Pinkie’s package again. 123 Apple Street? Hey, wait a minute… She rummaged around in her bag for the package Lyra had given her. Huh, same address! Weird, but that makes my job easier!
She glided down towards an intersection, squinting at the street signs. Fifth Street? Gee, I’m pretty far from the main Manehatten EPS branch. Just as she was gearing up to leave, a familiar voice called out to her.
“Derpy, darling!” The mare in question turned to see Rarity trotting up to her with an earth pony mare at her side. “It’s wonderful to see you! I take it you’re in the city to make deliveries?”
“Yep!” said Derpy, placing the packages back into her bag. “Oh, Rarity, you wouldn’t happen to know where Apple Street is, would you? I don’t usually come to Manehatten, so I was wondering if you’d know!”
Rarity rubbed her chin as she thought. “Hmm, I’m afraid not, but Coco here might! She’s a dear friend and occasionally helps out at Rarity For You.” She gestured at her companion.
“Coco Pommel is my full name,” said the tan pony. “If I remember correctly, Apple Street is pretty far from here. I can lead you there if you’d like?”
“Oh, that’d be great!” Derpy nodded enthusiastically. “Lead the way, Miss Pommel!”
The pair started to make their way down the street, chatting amicably and leaving Rarity to help an anxious stallion in a trench coat descend from a taxi. He looked a little lost and was frantically gesturing to the unicorn, but Derpy was sure she could handle it. Either way, she had an important delivery to make!
They walked in relative silence. Every so often, Coco would turn her head and make sure Derpy was following her, and they’d half-smile at each other.
Finally, they reached a narrow alleyway. Coco stopped and cleared her throat. “Okay, Apple Street isn’t too far from here. I’ve got to head back to the shop, but I’ll give you directions for the rest.” She gestured back and forth with her hooves. “Take a right at the next intersection, then a left, then another right. The house numbers start at 105, so 123 Apple Street shouldn’t be far.”
Derpy saluted. “Thanks for the help, Miss Pommel! And have fun at work.”
Coco grinned. “I will.” As she walked away, she turned her head back. “Don’t forget! Right, left right.”
Derpy waved her goodbye. “Right, left, right,” she murmured. “Right, left, right.” She took a deep breath and began walking down the alleyway.
As she went, she silently cursed Manehattan’s grid plan. Apple Street was on the outskirts of the city, meaning the city blocks could stretch up to a mile long. Plenty of time for her to get distracted by a stray bakery or forget Coco’s instructions.
“No, I can’t,” she said to herself. “I have to deliver not one, but two important packages. Though I still do wonder who these are being delivered to.”
She took one of the packages—Lyra and Bon Bon’s—out of her mailbag and inspected it. There seemed to be no identifying name anywhere. Though she handled it carefully, a gentle shaking emanated from within. As much as Derpy wanted to scour the package for more clues, she was a professional mailpony. She shrugged and placed it back into the mailbag.
At least Pinkie’s time-delayed party package hasn’t activated yet, she thought. I’d be so embarrassed if it unfolded on me right now! Right, I should be taking a… left here.
As she turned the corner, she spotted a familiar stallion in the road step out of a taxi and frantically gesture to passerbys. He looked much more panicked than before, his mouth seemingly moving faster than his mind could catch up.
That’s funny, Derpy thought. I guess that means him and I were headed toward the same spot. For the most part, though, Derpy paid him no mind. She was only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Apple Street, after all.
A reassuring road sign proved her thoughts correct. N. Apple Street, pointing left. Quickly, Derpy followed it. The sun was only beginning to set—Derpy hoped that if she delivered the packages quickly enough, she’d be able to grab dinner on the way back to Ponyville and pick up Pinkie’s muffins for an evening snack.
“105, 111…” She began counting the house numbers. “117, 120, 126… huh? Where’s 123?”
She turned her head to look at the house numbers on the other side of the road. Still, they seemed to skim over her destination. She walked up and down the street, double and triple checking to make sure that she wasn’t missing anything.
Still nothing. She huffed and sat down, hooves crossed. From the corner of her eye, she saw a middle-aged mare open her door and walk outside. Derpy’s face lit up, and she rushed over to the mare. “Excuse me, miss! I’m here to deliver some packages. Do you know where I might find 123 Apple Street?”
The mare looked at her blankly for a second, as if not registering her words. Her mouth opened and formed soundless shapes as she looked back and forth. “There’s—” Her voice sounded guttural, foreign. Then she coughed and smiled. “My apologies, but there’s never been a 123 Apple Street here, as far as I remember.”
Derpy raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I had three ponies today ask me to deliver to that address. See—” She retrieved both packages from her mailbag. “Look.”
The mare tilted her head, her mouth a thin line. “Mm. That is strange. Maybe you should retrace your steps?”
“That sounds like a good idea,” said Derpy. “Thank you.” She nodded quickly and walked back the way she came.
“Right, left, right,” she muttered. “So, when I walk back, it’s left, right, left. Left, right, left. Right, left… oh!” She stopped in her tracks, turned around, and quickly scanned the road for the sign. N. Apple Street, pointing left. She smacked her head. “Silly me! I just saw ‘Apple’ in the name and got excited. I should be turning right here, and not left.” Chuckling at her mistake, she headed right, humming softly as the sun sank and the lights around her began to turn on.
She began to count the house numbers again. “105, 111…” She stopped. On the left was the same blue and white house, followed by the same green and white house that she’d seen before. In fact, everything on the road looked nearly identical to N. Apple Street, down to the swinging tire in the nearest backyard.
Shaking her head, Derpy soldiered forward, scanning for 123 Apple Street. “117, 120, 126.” It was missing again. Perhaps she’d gone left again? She turned back and retraced her steps. As she rounded the corner, where there’d been a different street before, filled with bright street lamps and a scattering of ponies, she was met with the same dimly-lit houses, the same backyards, the same street numbers.
Heart beating in her chest, she turned the corner the opposite direction and found herself back where she’d begun. She flew all the way to the end of the road, blinked twice, and saw the same row of everything. She tried heading in every direction, walking backward, closing her eyes. Nothing.
As the moon rose into the sky, she slumped to the curb, breathing heavily, her mouth dry. Through clenched teeth, she desperately scanned the house numbers again. 123 Apple Street. Where was it? Where was she? What if she was having a bad dream, or was caught in some—
The sound of creaking wheels snapped her out of her thoughts.
From the corner emerged a bright yellow and black vehicle. It moved on its own, with no one in the front to draw it forward.
In the passenger’s seat sat a very familiar stallion. Up close, Derpy could see his dirty brown mane and mud-colored coat.
She held her breath as he approached.
Slowly, agonizingly, he stuck one hoof out the taxi, then another. As he hopped out, he extended a firm hoof to Derpy.
“Uhm, yeah I have to deliver these packages but the road doesn’t have a 123.” Derpy lamented.
Rivet brought a hoof to his mouth to stiffen a laugh. “Of course there isn’t, 123 Apple street is in the Twilight Zone,” he said. “Not Princess Twilight Zone mind you. Has she ascended yet? All these hopping around and I still get lost every so often. But anyway,” he looked at Derpy now lost expression. “Don’t worry I know where it is.”
“Oh wow really? Thanks Mister Rivet!” She happily exclaimed. “So where to?”
He chuckled moving towards a wall between 120 and 126. “Right here.” He pushed a previously unseen brick, the brick slid down like a button and immediately after the world around them grew grey, in the span of seconds the wall moved opening up like a yawning maw revealing on the other side… Manehattan, but not exactly.
“This is weird…” Derpy told herself clutching her packages more firmly.
“My dear I welcome you to Twilight Zone, where all the weirdness and the mysterious comes from. Don’t get spooked by the environment now step through so that you can see the inhabitants as well.” He said with another chuckle.
Derpy looked inside the portal, on the other side she saw the same buildings that she could see behind her but they were a bit weird, some of them were lazily floating through the sky while others clearly were built upside down. The road was not made of asphalt but from stone and wood. She hesitantly took a step forward and felt a rush of air hitting her making her close her eyes.
When she opened them again she finally saw the residents of the Twilight Zone, countless different creatures some with too many eyes and some with none, mouths were a hit that season apparently because everyone had at least two or three of them. She saw posters hanging around showing famous characters like the Slender Mare, Her and weirdly enough Pinkie.
The buildings around her now had a new light to them, many of them were covered by little creatures making repairs or creating new posters. “What is this place?” She wondered.
“The Twilight Zone, silly,” Rivet told her. She spun around only to see that he was now no stallion anymore, or at least no fleshy stallion. He showed a clearly metallic texture with a chrome colouration, his eyes were unchanged and yet they showed some kind of electronic behind them. His mane was now made out of iron clinging somehow to his metallic frame.
“You are a robot!” she shouted surprised.
“Sure am, but let’s not dwell on that you have a package to deliver so come and follow me I’ll bring you to the bosses, they live there after all,” he told her starting to walk towards a seemingly random direction. He started to jump every so often until a stone from the road shot up and worked as a stepping stone letting him walk on air. Derpy followed him fascinated.
They continued through their journey in silence with the cacophony of the streets keeping them company at one point Rivet hopped down from the floating stones and entered an underground tunnel. “Here,” he said pointing at it. “Do not fear, as long as you stay close no one will bother you.”
“Ok!” She nodded and followed closely. The tunnel was filled with little markets and even more creatures of all kind of size and shape, she looked around mesmerized by the countless amount of variety, one stook up a bit more, a seemingly completely normal mare with a cherry mane and blue coat with a filly hanging around from her neck covered in a coat.
“What a cute filly,” she said to the passing couple, then the filly replied.
“I’m not a filly! I’m a tumor!” she happily replied showing that she was indeed growing from the mare’s neck and only had her forehooves and upper body.
“Shut up…” the mare said, fed up with the filly moving away, continuing her own journey.
“What a happy family,” Derpy said to herself with blissful ignorance.
“Eeyup.” Rivet confirmed. “We are almost there, come on,” he said, he took off into a nearby smaller tunnel and started to descend a ramp down into a light. Derpy followed through until at one point she felt herself no longer having to push up to not fall and instead having to push in order to not fall. And so they started to climb instead of descending.
“What happened?” she asked her guide.
“First time doing a gravity 180? Don’t worry it’s nothing dangerous. My bosses are right here.” He pointed to a narrow building, it was squeezed between two other buildings and grew in height up to at least ten stories tall. The address was indeed, Apple Street 123. She almost teared up, she didn’t fail in her duties. She knocked on the door and waited, in seconds a mare came out of the door, she was a butter coloured mare with a carrot orange mane curled up almost like Pinkie’s. She opened the door fully showing a lot of bandages on her chest and hindquarter leaving Derpy concerned about them.
“Uhm, I have to deliver these packages to the resident of this house, are you the owner?” Derpy asked avoiding to look directly at the bandages.
“Of course dear.” The mare brightly smiled offering her hoof, the instant the packages were in her hoof the latter broke and fell on the ground with a thud. “Drat.” She said looking at her own fallen hoof like a mother to a misbehaving foal. “Honey my hoof fell down again!” she shouted inside the house.
“Coming dear!” a voice, a deep one talked back. In a minute a stallion, this one with the same butter coloured coat but a bright red straight mane came to the door, his chest was devoid of fur showing the bones underneath while his right hind leg showed a big bite mark but without any blood fortunately. In his hooves he had a bandage roll and some stitches. “You have to take more care of it dear.”
“Oh come on, not my fault it always come off,” she whined.
“Sure honey… Oh hi Rivet, there are some more requests on the table can you check them out?” the stallion asked him.
“Sure thing boss,” Rivet said with a nod. “Bye Derpy it was a pleasure to know you,” he said with a bow entering the house.
“So who are you?” Derpy asked sitting down.
“Oh please dear come in we can chat inside,” the mare replied still without her hoof. She went inside and took a left in a long narrow corridor that made out the first room of the house, they entered into a cozy living room filled with pillows and a soft smell of apples in the air.
The mare sat down on a pillow while the stallion worked on her hoof. “My name is Pear Butter dear, a pleasure,” she said.
“And ah’m Bright Mac,” the stallion finished.
“Wait, you are Applejack’s parents!” Derpy said with shock. “How can you be here?”
“Oh dear, with all the theories about us being dead don’t you think this is the fittest place to live?” Pear Butter replied with a giggle.
“Oh I see,” Derpy said. “Well here are the packages…” Immediately the Pinkie Party Planner Programmer went off and covered the room with streamers and everyone now had pointy birthday hats on. “Uuuh a hat,” Derpy said looking at the hat on top of her head.
“Oh Pinkie, always a dear whenever our anniversary comes along,” Pear said looking around the now brightly decorated room.
“Sure is, and all done,” Bright Mac said finishing up with her hoof.
“Thank you dear.”
“And this is the second-” The wall crashed down, a giant lizard with eight legs, three eyes and four mouths scattered around its body scurried inside, on its back there was a bipedal crab dressed like a server.
“And this is where you are wrong!” He said with a polished accent. “The package and its secrets are mine!” He shouted using one of his extendable claws to grab the package and as fast as he came he disappeared by climbing on buildings.
“Damn you Mr. Crab!” Pear Butter said with anger.
“My package! I have to get it back!” Derpy shouted with determination.
“And you will.” She pushed a button hidden under a pillow, the wall behind Derpy turned around showing thousands of different items from grappling hooks to tiny little guns. “Take what you need dear, we will round up the PIA and give you some help later on! Don’t let it escape!” she shouted.
Derpy looked at the wall trying to decide which one to pick and so she decided.
"I'll take... this one!" said Derpy and put a tiny little gun in her hoof.
"Oh, good choice!" said Pear Butter. "Well, off you go now, don't let him get away!"
Derpy nodded and was ready for takeoff.
But Bright Mac jumped up, "Hold on! You'll need this too!"
He put sunglasses on Derpy. The grey mare touched her new glasses in confusion, "What do I need those for?"
"You'll find out," said Bright easily, "Besides, it came with that gun when we ordered this arsenal, didn't it, honey?"
Derpy flew off into the skies over the city. The trail, the monster left behind was clearly visible. Some buildings were damaged or flattened.
The lizard stomped through the street, ignoring every traffic light and street sign. The oval cars braked sharply to avoid hitting the lizard's legs. But the mass accident was inevitable. Mr. Crab laughed like a madman.
Derpy flew after him quickly. Through her sunglasses she could see which way the lizard and the crab in the suit had gone.
Even better, the glasses adapted to her visual impairment. Suddenly, a synthetic voice spoke to her. It came out of the glasses, "Hello! I'm Anita! How can I assist you?"
“Who is this?" Derpy shouted, as she flew through the canyon of houses.
"Anita! The talking sunglasses! I am an artificial intelligence! I'm available for 29.99 Bits at any Kaspro Store, and if you take out our one year's subscription, you'll also get free updates."
"Ah, okay," Derpy just said. Gradually she came closer to the three-eyed lizard. She could already see the crab sitting on her back.
“Anita, I’m almost there! What should I do?” Derpy called.
“This lizard is a Lazer-Lizzard 3000, it shoots deadly lasers out of its four mouths”, Anita talked, “Available on any Kaspro Store!”
“I didn’t asked, what it is! I asked what I should do, to hold this thing on”
“The Lazer-Lizzard 3000 is nearly indestructible. Only the driver can control it, Anita explained in her always polite sounding voice.
Derpy decided to stop this thing himself. She still had her mini-gun on her, hoping it would do some damage.
She aimed at the back of the lizard and fired a small shot. It made a "ping" noise as it bounced off the metal butt of the lizard. Mr. Crab had heard the sound and turned around: "Holy mackerel! Now I gotta step on it!"
Mr. Crabs' monster accelerated. "You ain't gettin' that package!" yelled the crab.
Derpy struck her gun in frustration. "I guess this thing is broken!"
"Thread connected to Lazer-Lizzard 3000!" said Anita. Derpy looked closer in surprise. A wafer-thin thread led from the gun barrel to the lizard. Out of instinct and intuition, Derpy pressed the trigger again and she was hurled against the lizard's butt at breakneck speed. This made another sound, but a much louder one. It went, "Bam!"
Mr. Crab looked back again. First, he saw nobody, but then two grey hooves crawled up the lizard’s back.
Derpy stood on both hind legs and stared angrily at the crab. "Give me that package, you phony crab," she yelled, “It belongs to Pear Butter and Bright Mac!”
"Try it, you mule!" called Mr. Crab and jumped off the lizard. From the crab's back, a collapsible jetpack expanded. He flew away laughing.
Derpy wanted to fly after him, but the lizard was still at top speed. It stomped through the neon streets of the Twilight Zone. He was heading straight to a large bank. It had just been robbed by two eggs with faces, legs and arms. One was already cracked in the shell.
Derpy tried to get the lizard to stop. She found a big red button in the cockpit. It was the first button he pressed, of course. From the mouth of the mechanical laser lizard a bright beam of light shot at the escape vehicle with the eggs inside. The car blew up into smithereens.
"Ooops! My bad!" Derpy shouted after them.
But Derpy suddenly had a better idea. She flew around the eight legs of the lizard and shot with her mini-gun at one of the mechanical legs.
Anita called again, "Thread connected to Lazer-Lizzard 3000!"
"Yes! I know!" Derpy moaned and flew around the lizard's legs several times. Eventually, the monster slowed down. The thin, sturdy strings made it stumble. The lizard made a howling noise and fell on its snout.
Then it also exploded and dark smoke rose, which could be seen all over the city. Creatures of different kinds flocked around the fire and watched the accident with amazement.
Derpy stood next to it and looked for that thieving crab. He was gone.
"Do you want to know where Mr. Crab is?" Anita suddenly asked.
"Oh, I'd love to," shouted Derpy in relief, "I have to take the package for Pear Butter and Bight Mac back from him. I wonder what he plans to do with it."
“He is in the Kaspro Headquarters. I’ll show you the way!”
In front of Derpy’s eyes a hologram showed up. A blinking yellow arrow showed her where she had to go.
Derpy followed the blinking yellow arrow Anita had shown her and held a hoof to the sunglasses as she made a sharp turn around a streetlight. “How far away is this Kaspro Headquarters?” she muttered as sirens sounded in the distance. Finally someone must've gone to take care of that destroyed dino.
“Approximately 3.638 miles away,” Anita chirped. “If you had bought the collapsible jetpack for 299.99 bits, we would have gotten there in 3.4 minutes.”
“Well I’m sorry I didn’t know such a thing was available to me,” Derpy sighed and turned to the left as the arrow directed her. “How long on my own power?”
“At the speed you are currently going, it will take 10.29 minutes.”
“Well then I better speed up then. Mr. Crabs will have gotten away with the package if I take that long!” With that, Derpy gave her wings an extra hard flap and continued on her way.
It was only a minute or two later when she heard a gravelly screech and covered her ears in pain. “Gah, what is that crab tossing our way now?”
“The Pterodactyl 3500, only 5999.99 bits on our Kaspro store, get one of your own today!”
“Why must you be so happy about every product?” Derpy groaned and looked up as a shadow fell over her.
“One must always be proud of the fine products they sell, and our Kaspro store is no different! We make quality products that will last you a lifetime!”
“Oh enough of that!” Derpy hissed. Her eyes grew wide at the creature flying above her. Yet another dinosaur, this one looking like a pterodactyl, only with five pairs of wings, four legs, a fanged beak almost double her size, and a whip-like tail that almost knocked her from the sky as it flew toward her.
“Let me guess, this one is ‘indestructible’ too? Is that crab driving it?” She dodged out of its way and flew lower in an attempt to evade it.
“That is correct. The Tatrododactly-5000 is being controlled from Kaspro Headquarters by wi-fi control.”
“Then I better get there before it gets me. GAH!” she yelped as the creature let out another screech and she felt her feathers singe as it blew a ring of fire at her.
“It breathes fire too?” She groaned and shook her head. “What else could go wrong?” All Derpy knew is she had to get that package back to Pear Butter and Bright Mac before Mr. Crabs figured out how to use it. If he even could with those claws of his.
There is a 75.4198 percent chance of something else going wrong,” Anita informed her.
Derpy just shook her head and dodged another bout of flame from the creature. “Great, just great. I’m not Daring Do, though I think we are related, distantly of course, but still, I’m not her! This amount of adventure goes beyond your average mailmare pony employee requirements.”
“Be it rain, or snow, or even hail, a mailpony will deliver your mail. Dangerous creatures or lightning storms are extra charge.”
“Yes, I know Anita. Just… how do I defeat this one? Will this mini-gun work like before?” She pulled out said gun and balanced it in her hoof for a moment. It had helped her with the other dino, would it help her here?
“That is a negative with its flaming abilities.” Derpy almost tossed the talking sunglasses out of frustration, but then hesitated, knowing she needed them to find this headquarters.
She dodged again as it spat flame at her and winced as it barely missed. “Come on, Anita! I need help with this thing or neither of us is getting to headquarters!”
“Kaspro headquarters 3.39 minutes away from your current position. The Tatrododactly- 5000 can only be defeated with flames or extreme heat.”
“You’re time is almost up, little pony!” Mr Krabs voice echoed from somewhere on the pterodactyl. It opened its maw and spat flames at her once again.
Derpy let out a yelp of pain as this time the flames hit her wing where it connected to her back. She spiraled downward toward a copse of trees and grassy area in the middle of the city as her vision blurred.
As she watched the ground draw closer and closer with each second, all she could think about was little Dinky home alone, never to see her mother again or know what happened on this crazy delivery. Was Bright Mac and Pear Butter’s package really worth all this? Should she just give up and let Mr. Krabs have it? If she even made it out of this alive?
She screamed in pain as she hit the first tree hard with her injured wing, fuzzy black spots appearing before her eyes. Each scratch and slap of the branches and leaves against her sent her mind reeling, until she finally hit the ground with a smack. As she drifted into oblivion, all she could hear was the distant cackle of Mr Krabs as the Tatrododactly-5000 flew away.
The first thing that Derpy saw when she woke up were the lights. She blinked and groaned, taking in her surroundings. The pegasus was currently lying in a hospital bed, with the sheets pulled up to her chin.
“Where am I?”
There was a shuffling of hooves, and Nurse Redheart trotted over to the bed. “Oh, you’re awake! Thank goodness,” the nurse said.
“What happened, nurse?” Derpy asked, rubbing her head.
“You had a nasty accident,” Nurse Redheart explained. “Pinkie Pie was bouncing off a trampoline and she managed to knock you right out of the sky. She sends her apologies, by the way, but I had to ask her to leave when she insisted on decorating your room.”
Derpy chuckled. “Oh, well that’s okay. I’m sure she didn’t mean it.” She winced as she sat up. “How bad is it?”
“Well, you had us scared when you came in first, muttering some nonsense about the Twilight Zone and Applejack’s parents, but everything seems fine now. You’re free to leave.”
Derpy smiled. “Thanks nurse!”
She swung her legs over her bed, checking her mail bag. Just one more delivery, then she could go home.
After the delivery, Derpy sighed heavily to herself. It was done. Finished. Why did delivering mail have to be such a headache?
“Ugh…” groaned Derpy, as she took a minute to simply enjoy the beauty of the orchard that surrounded her. There was such a simplistic and rustic charm to it. The place felt like love. Derpy smiled to herself. “Oh no Dinky!”
With that she extended her wing tips, and soared into the sky. She had to get home. Her little daughter needed her, and she didn’t have any more packages to deliver. The wind felt calm, yet vigorous and full of spirit. She spiraled down to her little cottage home, landing there in front of her little quaint home.
Derpy trotted inside to see Dinky eager to greet her as she dashed up to her, lifting herself up on her hindlegs, and embracing Derpy in a warm, and welcoming nuzzle, as she shouted gleefully.
“Mom! You’re back. Can you stay longer this time?” she asked with a slight pout.
Derpy nuzzled against her, and nodded, wrapping her wings around her daughter, she sighed blissfully. The package was delivered and for once she could spend some quality time with her daughter. Being a mail mare kept her busy, so occupied that she felt she hardly had time to just lounge around and enjoy the calm stillness that was family time. But not now. Now she was here, and she was going to spend as much time as she could with the ones she loved. Especially her daughter.
Derpy started supper, deciding to make some french onion soup for the both of them. It was just a simple dish and wouldn’t take her long to make. She pulled out an onion from her fridge and grabbed a cutting board, and began slicing up the onion, while being cautious not to cut herself. Once the onions were cut, she started up the water getting it to a rolling boil. She put some herbs in it to help give it more flavor, as she felt Dizzy bouncing up and down around her hooves.
“Is it done yet? Can we play now mom?” asked Dizzy, as she looked up at the water boiling.
“Go and sit down little one. This will be done in no time,” smiled Derpy, as she attended to the task at hoof. She sighed heavily. She knew she shouldn’t feel so stressed, but she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. Every letter, every package was important, and it was her duty to get it to the ponies that were waiting for it, just as Dizzy was waiting eagerly for her mom to spend some family time with her. It might not be the same as a battle for Equestria, but to her this was enough stress for her to handle. She just hoped to raise Dizzy to understand there was good in the world, to know no matter how hard things got, there was always a bright side even during the darkest moments. You could find a ray of hope, and for Derpy, it wasn’t hard to find, she smiled as she watched Dizzy playing with a ball. Hope.
“Momma is it done yet?” asked Dizzy again.
“Yes it’s done.” replied Derpy bringing the onion soup in, and carefully sitting it down on the table. She had Dizzy blow on it before giving her the nod to begin eating. She didn’t want her little one to burn herself on the hot meal.
Dizzy sat there across from her mom with a big grin plastered over her face. Derpy smiled back at her. Ah. Innocence. Derpy ate her soup, and after they were both finished, she went and took care of the empty bowls, washing them in the sink.
After that she went back to Dizzy, and took the ball in her hooves.
“I’ve got the ball now. What are you going to do about it?” asked Derpy, as she began to dash around the room, making a little tuck and run for them to enjoy. Laughter and stillness surrounded them, and for once Derpy felt calm. She knew there would be more packages. The mail never seemed to end, and there would always be trouble, but there was a certain degree of calm that washed over her, from head to toe, as she sighed blissfully.
Derpy heard a knock on the door, It seemed like the calm wasn’t going to land, she got up and went to see who it was. She was surprised to see it was Princess Twilight. What was she doing here? What did she want, and why did she look so...uneasy. Derpy gulped, and felt the sweat dripping down her cheeks.
Deep breaths. She felt her very core shudder. It was a cold day in Tartarus when Princess Twilight Sparkle showed up on her doorstep looking apprehensive. Was there another incident in the Everfree? Was there another ancient foe of Princess Celestia ready to plunge Equestria into darkness? If so, what did it have to do with her? There was only one way to find out.
“Mom, are you okay - “ Dinky looked out of the glass panes at the top of the door - “Why is Princess Twilight here? You look scared.”
Derpy felt her cheeks rise slightly. Dizzy was such a caring daughter, always caring about her well-being. It warmed her heart and she hoped that never changed.
“I’m okay, my little muffin. Don’t you worry about me! I’m not scared.” Derpy leant down and nuzzled Dizzy’s forehead. “Why don’t you just wait in your room while I talk to Twilight. After that, we can go get some muffins! How does that sound?”
Dizzy giggled merrily, returning the nuzzle and bounding off to her room. “Can we get the blueberry muffins again? Those were so good!”
“We will!” Derpy felt her smile fade as her daughter rounded the corner. Now, back to the task at hoof. She grappled the door knob and twisted it open, letting the door swing wide open. On the other side sat Princess Twilight, a look of impatience and worry on her face that quickly gave way to stoicism.
Derpy put on her best smile. “Heya Princess! How’s it going? I’m having a wonderful day, are you having a wonderful da-”
“Derpy… now’s not the time. I’m sorry, but I need something from you.”
She gazed over Twilight’s shoulder, as the house adjacent to hers had its door visited by a duo of guards. Derpy looked back towards her princess and donned a mask of false courage. “I’ll do whatever is needed of me.”
Twilight levitated a small brown package out of her saddle bags. “I need you to get this to Canterlot as soon as you can.” With utmost care, the package was placed down by Derpy’s hooves. “I would have given it to Rainbow Dash but she is… indisposed at the moment.”
“Can you do this for me? Can you get this safely to Princess Celestia?” Twilight gazed into her eyes with something akin to worry. “Can you promise?”
Derpy felt her jaw flap uselessly in an attempt to fabricate an ample response that did not outright deny Twilight’s request. So much, so quickly. She had so many questions already. What was wrong with Rainbow Dash? What was going to happen to Dizzy? What was in the package?
Never before had Twilight been the cause of a paradigm shift in her day; normally, she was the solution to whatever had disrupted it. She felt her sweat bead up near the crown of her head before being soaked up by her hair. This was not good. But she wasn’t about to deny a Princess.
“What about my daughter? Will someone watch over her while I’m gone?”
“Don’t worry, she’ll be taken care of.”
That was all the reassurance she needed. “Can I say goodbye?”
“...Make it quick.”
She whipped around and quickly made her way back into the house. “Dizzy, I have something to tell you!”
“...”
Derpy eyed her daughter from the hallway entrance. Dizzy sat on the couch, watching the window silently.
“Dizzy?”
She followed her daughters gaze. Her breath hitched in her chest.
“Momma, what is that thing?”
“It’s a sign.”
Derpy whirled around to find Twilight right behind her, staring out the same window. She continued looking before turning to Derpy. “A fair tip: When you’re flying to Canterlot… don’t turn around. You might be scared of what you see.”
Derpy felt heavy-hearted as she had to leave her daughter behind. She clutched Twilight’s package as she was flying as fast as she could to Canterlot, remembering Twilight’s warning.
“When you’re flying to Canterlot… don’t turn around. You might be scared of what you see.”
What did that mean? What could be following her? What was that shadowy being she saw in the distance?
Derpy shook her head as she kept going, not wanting to think about any of that. Her mission right now was to deliver her package as quickly as she could.
“Just get it to Celestia! Take the package to Celestia, and get home as fast as possible!” she thought to herself as she just wanted this delivery to be done and over with. No crashing, no messing up.
As she was darting over the forest, she heard a soft voice behind her. “Mom? Is that you? Help me!”
Derpy’s eyes widened as she turned her head towards the voice. “Ditzy?”
She couldn’t see anything behind her, no matter how hard she looked. As she was trying to understand what she heard, she forgot to focus on keeping her balance, her biggest mistake when flying. Derpy yelped as she made contact with the trees, tumbling and getting wacked by branches until she landed on the ground with a hard thud.
“OW! My wing! Not again.” Derpy groaned as she slowly got up. It didn’t feel like anything was broken, but she definitely felt the pain in the wing she landed on. It would easily take a few minutes for her to recover from that fall.
Sadly, she didn’t have a few minutes.
Derpy heard those faint whispers again as the shadows from the trees began to darken and grow, nearing the pegasus. Derpy’s heart began racing as she remembered Twilight’s warning.
“Sweet Celestia… I messed up!” Derpy thought as she hugged the package, watching helplessly as the shadows were nearing her. She knew that this was going to be it. Her dumb mistake was possibly going to cost her life. “Ditzy… I’m so sorry!!!”
As Derpy was waiting for the shadow to do whatever it was about to do to her, she saw a bright light hit the mysterious void, causing it to give of an unearthly hissing sound and retreat.
Derpy quickly turned around and saw one of her oldest friends, Bon-Bon, dressed in a dark hat and trenchcoat. She was holding some kind of strange weapon in her hooves. It was long and had a trigger, as if to fire something, but there was no hole in the barrel of the weapon, but a glowing light emitting off of it.
“B… Bon-Bon?”
The mare extended her hoof to Derpy as she gave her a stern look. “Follow me Derpy. These things don’t travel alone.”
“I… I don’t understand… what happened?” Derpy asked as Bon-Bon started dragging her through the woods.
“Do you still have the package?” the agent asked her sternly, clearly taking this seriously.
“Um… yes?” Derpy said as she held the package out to her. “W… what is it? Why are you here?”
“I’m not allowed to say. My job is to try and hold back the threat while you get to Canterlot.”
“Bon-Bon! Please! Why is this so important?”
Bon-Bon sighed as she turned to her friend. “Derpy, if you knew what it was, then it would have a greater edge to capturing you. Trust me. You don’t want to know,” Bon-Bon explained before the sound of soft whispers started nearing them again. “Derpy, no matter what happens, don’t look back. Focus on what’s in front of you,” Bon-Bon said as she readied her weapon.
“B… but what are…”
“Just get out of here! I won’t be behind you! Don’t stop for anything!” Bon-Bon barked as she shoved Derpy forward. “Now get out of here!”
Derpy quickly took flight again, hearing several blasts behind her as she kept flying for her life. She had no clue what that shadow was, but she knew that this package was clearly the most important thing right now.
Bon-Bon knew how her words sounded. It had been part of her training—getting the non-combatants to listen to her when she needed them to. The trick was to sound both authoritarian and uncompromising. It was a tactic the Agency had developed when they had a joint operation with the Diamond Dogs down in the southern Badlands. To get the unruly native herbivore population to listen, the predatory species assumed such a stance, though in their case a literal one, and each had fallen in line.
Bon-Bon hated to sound like this. It was the demeanor of carnivores, in her view, never mind that Lyra never seemed quite bothered by the term. She hated having to command ponies like they were little more than dumb animals to be herded into line, but unfortunately—and this she knew well, just by living in Ponyville—ponies had a nasty habit of becoming hysterical without proper direction.
And having to say it to Derpy, of all ponies!
Of course whenever she was on-assignment and had to employ such a method, she rarely had time to consider the ethical ramifications. Especially when the device she was holding just started to fail her.
Darn it, Turner… you and your lame-brained ideas might actually get me killed!
Her only reprieve was the fact that the thing she was fighting seemed limited by its large scope of abilities. Mentally she checked them off from her hidden position behind a large boulder, the weapon wrapped tightly in her hooves. It had some degree of light and shadow manipulation—that had been how it had started to spread so promiscuously. It could mimic voices—the Agency had several reports to demonstrate this. This all suggested that it was capable of several wavelength adjustments, both visual and auditory, which meant that it might be related to the Clickers in the northern ice caps, or perhaps even the Strangle-Shuffles out west—
“Mom? Is that you? Help me!”
Bon-Bon shivered. Celestia, it was uncanny how close to Dinky that sounded.
As to whether or not that the thing merely copied the voice of its victims, or otherwise stole more than that from them…
The tool started to hum, and Bon-Bon gave a triumphant grin. Just as the thing started its crooning, cruel mimicry, she leaped around the boulder and pulled the trigger. A beam of translucent azulean energy shot out. But the creature was wilier than she’d expected. Its distant shadowy nothingness coalesced into a central point, narrowly dodging the blast.
That was fine. She just needed to draw its attention long enough for Derpy to get away.
Bon-Bon began to run a perimeter around it, firing off whatever blasts she could. She did not fire at random; her shots were designed to force it in a certain direction backward, and for the moment it seemed to be working. But she knew that she could not stay for long. Pack-driven as they were, to find these creatures alone could only mean that their members were close-by.
Bon-Bon ducked behind a tree just as the shadows misted out and darted at her. She felt the tendrils miss her tail by centimeters. Through a dense foliage she shot precisely three shots, and each one tagged only the edge of the creature. But that tagging was enough. Turner’s weapon, designed, he said, “from a recurring nightmare I’ve been having for three years,” finally paid off—though it had barely touched the thing, a light smoke started to spread from where it had tapped it, and the thing shrieked.
Bon-Bon doubted she’d ever forget that sound. But for the moment, she felt relieved—they had something that could hurt these things, finally!
And that meant that now was as good of a time as any to make like a banana and—well, she wouldn’t waste her time on such an easy joke.
She turned and dashed through the woods, and the thing’s cries grew fainter and fainter. She had not killed it, but that was all right—she hadn’t planned on trying. Right now, Derpy—and therefore Princess Celestia—needed her to join them.
The forest blurred around her. Her heart was in her throat; she had not realized how pumped of adrenaline she had been, and she was already beginning to feel fatigue deep in her legs. When she thought she had covered enough distance for a breath, she slowed behind a thick tree trunk and waited, hoping the thing would not show.
“Bon-Bon?”
That must have been its sister—brother—fellow thing. She didn’t hesitate. She whirled around and fired.
But the fellow thing let out a decidedly non-thing scream, and when the light faded, Bon-Bon’s vision was filled with the quaking form of an all too familiar sight. Her eyes widened.
“Lyra?”
“Bon-Bon, what’s going on? What is that?” She pointed a hoof at the weapon. “Why’d you almost shoot me, you jerk?”
No. This… this has to be a trick. She raised the weapon again.
“Whoa, whoa! Calm down! It’s me, okay? I-I’m not a Changeling! I swear!”
The weapon hummed, but Bon-Bon hesitated. It looked and sounded like Lyra, and yet…
“Okay, what do I have to do to convince you?”
Bon-Bon quirked a brow. She didn’t think that the thing knew anything more beyond a few miscellaneous phrases here and there. And besides, this Lyra had her color—the thing she’d been fighting was all shadow, no form, an anomaly of perceptive reality.
She slowly lowered the weapon, and let out a breath. “Lyra.”
“What’s going on, Bon-Bon? What are you doing out here? What—” Lyra gulped. “Is this about what happened to Ponyville?”
She would have answered, but just then something faint reached her ears. It was a shrill cry, distant but growing undoubtedly nearer. Her eyes widened, and Lyra, reading her fear, reacted just the same.
“There’s no time,” Bon-Bon said breathlessly. “We need to go.”
“But—”
“Now, Lyra!”
She moved to grab her friend, only to be struck by her eyes shrinking into pinpricks, and an unsteady hoof raising to point. “B-B-B—”
“Bon-Bon, what’s going on? What’s—Is that me?”
Bon-Bon, feeling her hair stand on end, and against her better judgement, felt herself turn to look.
Coming through the treeline, a near perfect recreation of Lyra strode forth. The only aspect of her that gave away that it wasn’t the real thing was the wisps of black smoke where the left side of Lyra’s face could be, as well as her mane. But this visual tell was quickly benign, rectified with each passing second. By the time the false Lyra was fully visible and under the light seeping through the forest’s canopy, it was indistinguishable from the real mare.
“Run! Now!”
Bon-Bon grabbed onto Lyra and began to pull her through the woods. Lyra did her best to keep up, primarily due to the fear brought on by seeing a clone of herself that seemed to be made of darkness.
The shadow Lyra chased after them as the two mares tried their best to lose her, but no matter how the two bobbed and weaved through the trees, the monster was just a few paces behind them. In a desperate attempt to put more distance between them and the monster, Bon Bon pointed the weapon back at the thing and began pulling the trigger.
Every blast went wide, striking trees or disappearing into the forest, none even coming close to the beast. Unfortunately, all of these rapid-fire blasts caused a gem embedded in the weapon to begin glowing as several jets of what looked like steam began to bellow out of the sides of it near her hoof, and every subsequent pull of the trigger resulted in nary even a response from it.
Buck! Right when I need it the most, the damn thing stops working! Some weapon you built, Turner.
Bon-Bon turned back around to face where she and the real Lyra were headed and slung the useless weapon onto her back so it wouldn’t slow her running down. However, as the two mares were picking up speed and putting more distance between themselves and a monster, a loud, unmistakable shriek could be heard off to both mare’s left and deeper in the forest.
It sounded like Derpy, and the tone of the voice was anything but promising.
And what made it worse, the fake Lyra almost immediately broke off its pursuit of them and looked to be making its way towards where the shriek had come from.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Bon Bon said nearly under her breath before coming to a dead stop. Lyra kept running for a second, but when she noticed Bon Bon wasn’t running with her, she immediately slid to a stop and turned back towards her friend. But before she could even utter a word, Bon Bon beat her to it. “You stay there, I need to go save Derpy. Actually, keep going, I’ll catch up with you. And don’t trust anyone until I get back.” And with that, she began sprinting off.
This, however, was exactly the wrong move to make. Less than ten seconds later, Bon Bon heard the sound of Lyra screaming as well as what could only be described as wrestling from behind her. Bon Bon double timed it back to where she had left Lyra only to see two of her locked in an intense tussle on the ground.
Once Lyra was eventually able to ignite her horn and blast the other version of herself away from her, as the Lyra who had been blasted away got back onto her hooves shakily, the other Lyra turned to Bon Bon and got to her hooves as fast as possible.
“Bon-Bon, sweet Celestia, blast that… thing before it attacks me again. Quick!”
Bon Bon pulled the weapon off of her back and leveled it at the second Lyra, before pointing it at the first after a few seconds. “How do I know you aren’t that monster trying to convince me to hurt the real Lyra?”
The Lyra having the weapon pointed at her took on a shocked face at hearing this, retreating slightly as well. “Bon Bon, are you crazy? I’m the real Lyra, you’ve known me for years, please, you have to believe me.”
“Don’t trust her, she’s the one who attacked me,” the other Lyra managed to cough out as she struggled to stay standing.
The first Lyra slowly began to approach her, her eyes wide and filled with desperation. “Bon Bon, please, you have to believe me, remember all our conversations, and lunches? You have to know it’s really me.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Bon-Bon saw the other Lyra stumble as she also tried to move towards her, causing her to swing the weapon so it was now pointed at her instead of the other Lyra.
Upon seeing this, the second Lyra began to tear up. “Please, Sweety Drops, I love you, you can’t think I’m really that monster.”
This caused Bon-Bon to pause. Only the real Lyra would know her name. The Lyra she was pointing the weapon at had to be the real one. And now that she thought about it, the other one starting to approach her should have raised some alarms. She knew what she needed to do.
In one swift motion, Bon-Bon swung the weapon back at the other Lyra and pulled the trigger.
The last thing that crossed the other Lyra’s face as this happened was a look of fear and shock as she saw the determined, cold look Bon-Bon had put on.
And when the bolt collided with the other Lyra’s chest, instead of darkness, it exploded in blood and shards of bones. Bon-Bon watched in horror as her marefriend collapsed to the ground, and felt her heart sink into her stomach as she stared into the lifeless eyes of her best friend.
The void in the victim’s eyes stared into her own, their emptiness filled with the darkness only she could see, staring lifelessly, yet judgingly into Bon Bon’s soul.
Like a pile of cards, everything within her collapsed into a forlorn heap.
The weapon collapsed onto the ground with a clatter that echoed throughout the surroundings, the noise reverberating through the thin, still air. Each echo that rang into her mind painfully reminded her of her regret, her hastiness, her rashness…
Time ticked by. Even though the weapon was now calmly resting on the dirt, the echoing continued in her mind, as its frequency resonated with that of her heartbeat. At this point, everything seemed to happen in slow motion from her eyes. Dragging her head up away from her eternal friend, her vision met with the figure that confronted her reality.
Lyra stood before her, grinning cruelly at the scene, her teeth glinting with a pale hue in the fading sunlight. She remained where she stood, but her eyes shifted around to turn and glance at the discarded weapon left on the dry earthen ground like a pile of trash. Her eyes then swivelled round to meet Bon Bon’s perturbed gaze.
But that wasn’t Lyra. That was not the mare Bon Bon would associate with Lyra. No, in fact, she saw nothing in front of her but a figure. A figure of shadows that haunted her conscience right to the core of her heart. A shadowy figure that fed her malicious lies, betrayed her friendship and crushed her sense of reality. Those lies it uttered, however malevolent, convinced her so easily to commit the unthinkable.
She bowed her head down instinctively, her neck giving away to the weight of her conscience that lingered in the depths of her mind.
A soulless body greeted her vision, prompting her legs to give way with a faint thump.
She brought her hooves over to the mint-coloured mane, running them along its length, appreciating every little bit of warmth that emanated from within.
This was the real Lyra. Yes, she could feel it, in the warmth radiating into her spirit, however weak it may be. She could feel the memories flowing from the tip of her hooves up to her brain as she felt her dear friend’s warmth dissipating into the cold. A flurry of emotions rushed through her as she remembered everything, pulling the strings of her heart.
As Bon Bon’s soul proceeded to relive each experience with her closest friend, tears shrouded her vision.
Her mind reminded her of the many years that they had together forging the friendship they treasured; the many experiences that they had together reinforcing the bond between them; the many acts of friendship that they had shared together fortifying the trust between them.
And then it was gone.
All gone.
Just like that.
Words failed to describe the pain that lingered within her beating heart. She needed something, something to relieve that throbbing pain, that pain that was crying out from the confines of her spirit. She needed to forget the moments that came rushing at her, the moments that hit her so hard, so fast.
She…she needed to do something…
With her head still bowed down, she turned sideways to bring that accursed weapon into view slowly, as she mulled over her decision.
No, no matter what, the deed must be done.
In a flurry of activity, she seized the weapon from the ground swiftly, bringing it to aim at the impersonator. Bon Bon’s eyes showed no mercy whatsoever when she prepared to fire the weapon at that spiteful figure.
Yet, the figure showed no fear or anxiety. It stood there, motionless, with a sly smile emerging from its face. A sly smile that spoke of confidence in its survival against the capability of the weapon that was tightly held by Bon Bon just metres away from it.
“Come on then, get on with it! Blast me with your little weapon NOW!” the figure goaded, as it trotted forth to close the distance between it and Bon Bon. “I dare you.”
Bon Bon did not hesitate. She squeezed the trigger, causing the embedded crystals within the weapon to activate, emitting a blast. However, her hastiness to attack forced her to be ill-prepared to counteract against the recoil of the weapon pushing her back, nearly causing her to be knocked down to the ground. This sudden, almost unexpected jerk of her weapon forced her to close her eyes for a short period of time as she tried to recover from her initial state of shock.
Straining the muscles in her legs, Bon Bon somehow managed to maintain her balance on all fours as she gradually reopened her eyes to observe the effects of her weapon on that hideous, shadowy clone.
No way.
Reflexively, her jaw collapsed onto the ground, prompting her mouth to gape at the sight before her. As her eyes widened in shock, she lifted her forehoof to rub her tear-soaked eyes, wondering whether her vision was up to playing tricks on her. She then shook her head vigorously, hoping to snap herself out of any illusion that she might be observing. She even slapped her cheeks with her forehooves, praying that that could magically change the situation that she was thrust into.
But no, despite all of her efforts, her eyes were gazing into nothing but a stark reality.
Dark, sinister laughter came from all around Bon Bon. In front, the shadowy figure she thought she’d shot had disappeared, and in its place was a dark, shadowy mass of… something. Something with flailing hooves and gnashing teeth and contemptuous, glaring, hateful eyes—
Bon Bon blinked, and there it was again. Lyra — no, the shadowy not-Lyra — stood over the corpse of the real one, still laughing with a terrible sound. The light of the setting sun cast strange shadows on its face, making its all-too-familiar visage look even more unnatural. Bon Bon’s heart thumped wildly in her chest as she backed away slowly, her weapon still trained square on the figure.
“Oh? Running away, are we?” The not-Lyra’s voice was a lilting taunt, its face twisted into a mocking smile as it stepped towards her. “Ever one to act on instinct, I see.”
Bon Bon gritted her teeth, her muscles tensing on her weapon as she squared her stance. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh? Don’t play dumb with me, Bon Bon. What would you call this?” It gestured to the corpse on the ground and Bon Bon physically flinched, a stab of grief and guilt piercing her heart. The not-Lyra grinned maliciously. “I’m not the one who shot her.”
Bon Bon forced herself to tear her gaze away from the still form of what had once been her best friend. Her hooves trembled as she stared down at the creature, and her vision was beginning to blur with renewed tears. “Why are you doing this? What do you want?”
The not-Lyra gestured innocently at itself. “Who, little old me?” It turned away from her, its tail flicking playfully at the real Lyra’s snout. “What does anyone want, really? Fame? Fortune? Happiness—”
“Don’t play games with me!” Bon Bon roared in white-hot rage, her shaking hooves threatening to pull the trigger on her weapon again even though it had proven useless before.
“Well, since you asked so nicely…” Her target turned back to her. Its face was an image of malicious joy, the twisted, evil smile it wore seeming out of place on the face of her friend. It stepped toward her with a haughty gait, and its figure… changed as it walked. Bon Bon looked in horror as skin and sinew shifted, splitting and crumbling away in places until the creature looked like a corpse — the decaying, shambling corpse of her best friend. She stepped back instinctively.
“I want to see you SUFFER!” The mangled not-Lyra was suddenly right in front of her, its chipped, eroded teeth bared in a terrifying snarl.
Bon Bon shrieked as she scrambled away from the rotting face, her hooves fumbling to raise her weapon. “Stay away!” she cried out in fear and desperation, her mind racing to make sense of it all. Her trembling hooves half-pressed on the trigger of her weapon, causing the crystals embedded inside to hum softly with magical energy.
“Oh Bon Bon, you already know that won’t work on me,” the figure gloated, its horn glowing as it advanced on her. She shivered as she felt the air turning chill, and the reddish-tinged light of the sun slowly dimming as the shadows grew all around her. She tensed, her heart pumping as she held down the gun’s trigger, ready to fire at any moment—
She felt a presence behind her. Without thinking, she turned and pressed down on the trigger, just as the figure behind her lashed out with a shadowy tendril, sending a jolt of pain down her left side. In that instant, the crystals inside activated fully, sending a bright blast of light into the not-Lyra.
Darkness. Slashing claws. Ripping talons. An overwhelming sense of hate—
Reality reasserted itself as Bon Bon blinked, staggering as her left side lit up in pain. She steadied herself, favouring her injured side as she quickly glanced at it, bracing herself to see what would almost definitely be a grievous, bleeding…
...nothing?
She blinked. Her coat was unmarred by any injury, and the flash of pain she’d momentarily felt was fading away quickly. What was going on?
“Nice shot, I’ll give you that.”
Bon Bon’s head darted up.
In front of her was the figure, but it was no longer wearing Lyra’s face. Instead, it had transfigured itself to look exactly like Bon Bon — the effect was uncanny, like staring into a dark mirror. It seemed to have been unaffected by the shot, again, and its face was wearing the same arrogant grin that had been on the not-Lyra’s face.
It sat on the dirt, dusting off its hooves as it examined her with a bored expression. “Still, I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish with that weapon. Like I said, it’s not going to do anything.”
Bon Bon stared at the figure intently as it sat on the ground nonchalantly. There was something odd about this situation — she felt her mind racing as she thought back, recalling old memories…
“...I know you,” she said simply, her eyes distant.
The figure stood up, its expression replaced with a sort of dark curiosity. It sneered. “Oh? Do you, Sweetie Drops? Then by all means, tell me your grand theory, won’t you?”
Bon Bon stared down her double. “You’re my shadow. My Nightmare.”
The dark figure smiled, a terrible grin with too many teeth.
“And now that I know,” Bon Bon said, feeling an odd determination well up inside her, “I’m going to end you.”
Focus. Don’t let it get to you. Keep your guard up and your gun forwards.
Bon Bon repeated these words as she rolled to the right, a tendril narrowly missing her and flying into a tree, sending shards of bark flying in every direction. She ducked and rolled, taking cover behind a fallen log, adrenaline coursing through her system.
Guard up, stay up.
Another tendril whipped into the ground in front of her as the nightmare laughed. “Give it up, Sweetie Drops. You know this only ends one way. I’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time…”
Bon Bon growled, gripping her gun tigheter. It was useless, but at the current moment, it was all she had. Unless…
She ran a hoof through her mane, quickly finding the tiny metal disk she had hidden in there years ago. Bon Bon put it in her ear, where it extended to fill the gap and fit snugly. “Maverick, are you still alive?”
Bon Bon popped over the log and fired a few shots, which bounced off of Nightmare’s body harmlessly. “Maverick, where are you?!”
“DIE!” Nightmare shrieked, pouncing towards the log. Bon Bon quickly dove backwards, just as Nightmare split the log in half.
“Raider!” Bon Bon shouted, turning and running deeper into the woods.
Finally, there was a burst of static. “Sweetie Drops? What--”
“Thank Celestia. Maverick, I need you on my location, no time to explain! Nightmare’s back and Lyra’s down!” Bon Bon practically shouted.
“Seriously? Alright, hang tight, I’m coming!”
Bon Bon held back a sigh of relief. She wasn’t out of the woods yet, literally and figuratively. She kept running, sparing a glance backwards every now and then to try and gauge the distance between herself and Nightmare.
Suddenly, there was a shrieking in front of her as Nightmare phased up through the ground, lashing out right at her.
Bon Bon didn’t have much time to react. She bit back a scream as a tendril cut deep into her left flank.
Nightmare left as it retracted its tendril, taking great joy in seeing her injured.
Bon Bon ducked behind a tree, gripping her right side tightly. “How far away are you?” she hissed through the pain.
“Like, two minutes or so!”
She flinched as a tendril slammed into the tree far above her. “That’s too long!”
“It’s not my fault you’re in the middle of nowhere!”
Bon Bon limped away as fast as she could as Nightmare morphed into the ground again. She grunted and kept moving forwards, eyes scanning her surroundings.
There was a wisp of smoke in front of her, and Bon Bon instinctively raised her gun and shot. The figure gasped and fell forwards before ceasing to move.
Cautiously, Bon Bon approached it and turned the body over. The face of Lyra stared back at her, eyes blank and mouth open.
Bon Bon recoiled but shook it off. “Not her. You’re not fooling me with your tricks!” she shouted.
Another form lunged out at her, and Bon Bon swung her gun, making contact with its skull. The momentum knocked her onto her back. Bon Bon grunted and shoved the form off of it, only to stare into the empty eyes of herself.
“It’s playing with you. Stay focused. Don’t let it get to you.”
Bon Bon staggered to her hooves, reaching for her gun. But before she could reach it, a dark hoof kicked it away.
Nightmare smashed her hoof over Bon Bon’s foreleg, forcing her to cry out in pain. It sneered at her, still wearing her face. A forked tongue slid out from its jaws as it laughed. “You poor fool. Did you really think you could beat me?”
Bon Bon coughed, tears filling her eyes. She glanced up, but didn’t look Nightmare in the eye. Instead, she looked past her, at the strange streak of red that was flying across the night sky.
She smiled as the streak suddenly angled downwards, flying right towards Nightmare.
Nightmare sensed it coming at the last second and half-turned to face it. Bon Bon heard a screech before being blinded by a flash of light. The boom came seconds later, sending leaves and dirt flying in every direction.
She groaned, turning to her side as she tried to drown out the ringing in her ears. She vaguely saw an orange form in front of her, extending a hoof towards her. She accepted it and was pulled to her hooves.
Bon Bon coughed, shaking it off. “About time you got here, thought you were the fastest pegasus in Equestria?” she muttered.
“You act like it’s my fault you’re in the middle of nowhere,” Spitfire repeated, a worried frown on her maw. “And you’re welcome, by the way. What’s the plan? We don’t have much time.”
In front of them, Nightmare lay on its side in a small crater, twitching and smoldering. It wouldn’t be long before it would get up again. “Did you bring the Fair Day net?”
Spitfire nodded, patting her saddlebag. “Haven’t used one of these in ages. Think it’ll work?”
Bon Bon sighed. “I hope so. We passed a clearing a little while ago, that oughta do the trick. Set it up, I’ll lure him over there.”
“Are you sure? You’re still hurt,” Spitfire said, worriedly.
Bon Bon waved her off. “Yeah, but you’re the only one that can set that up.” She lowered her stance as Nightmare began to rise. “Go, I got this.”
Spitfire sighed, before drawing her own pistol and giving it to Bon Bon. “Alright, but don’t die on me.”
The Wonderbolt shot off into the air again, leaving Bon Bon with her Nightmare. But she wasn’t afraid.
Nightmare lashed her teeth at Bon Bon. “Do you seriously think you stand a chance?”
Bon Bon responded by hitting Nightmare in the head with a crystal round.
“DIE!”
“Catch me if you can,” Bon Bon spat, before tearing off down the forest. She hopped over a log as a tendril smashed into it, not bothering to look back.
She’d have to time this perfectly: if she got there too early, they wouldn’t get another chance. If she got there too late, then… well, she’d be dead.
Bon Bon flinched as a harsh whisper shot out of the trees. “You let me die,” came Lyra’s voice. “Why’d you let me die?”
“You’re nothing but a fraud,” came the voice of Agent Furlough, her old boss. “And there’s no room for frauds at SMILE.”
She shook it off. “Don’t let it get to you,” she muttered, dodging another tendril.
“I should just let you die for everything you put me through,” said Spitfire’s voice.
“You’re afraid because you know it’s true,” came her own voice, cold and indifferent. “Face it. You only care about yourself.”
“It’s all your fault!”
“It’s all your fault!”
“It’s all your fault!”
“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”
The voices rose in volume until they became a scream. It was so loud that it travelled down her ears and stabbed at her heart. Bon Bon stumbled over a rock and came crashing to the ground.
Through the swirl of voices, she heard Nightmare laugh again. Turning around, she watched with horror as Nightmare came crashing through the branches to stand triumphantly over her. “This is where it ends,” it proclaimed with a snarl.
“Hey, dirtbag!”
Nightmare whipped its head around to face the new voice. Before it could react, the forest came alive with electricity and magic. Nightmare screamed as an electrified net dropped from the trees and over its body. It twitched in pains and let out a guttural scream as the net glowed brighter and brighter.
Bon Bon shielded her eyes and held her breath. There was a silent explosion of colors that penetrated her eyelids, and a scream so loud that it shook the trees around them.
And then there was nothing.
Spitfire landed next to Bon Bon quickly. “You good?”
“I’m splendid,” Bon Bon replied, exhaling slowly. She took Spitfire’s hoof and let herself get pulled up. “That was… wow. I forgot how powerful those things are.”
“Yeah, they’re not cheap, though. Boss isn’t going to be happy with this,” Spitfire said as she looked around the burnt forest. “Sheesh.”
Bon Bon’s ear twitched as she heard a branch snap from nearby. She whipped around, gun raised. “Woah there! I’ve already been shot once today, I’d rather not get shot again.”
Bon Bon sighed and lowered her weapon. “Sorry about that, Lyra. Heat of the moment, you know?”
Lyra waved her hoof dismissively as she trotted out of the woods. “Whatever. Not the worst thing you’ve done to me.”
Spitfire stared at her, eyes wide and jaw slack. “Lyra, what… your chest!”
The unicorn looked down at the hole in her chest cavity, then back up at Spitfire. “What about it?”
Bon Bon sighed wearily, sitting down on a log. “She’s a… well, we don’t know what she is. But she can regenerate. She’ll be fine.”
Lyra poked at the hole, giggling to herself. “Oh, you didn’t know?”
Spitfire blinked, then rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “I’d rather not. But you mind telling me what the hay happened out here?”
Bon Bon looked around at the ruined forest and the now defunct Fair Day net before laughing. “Oh, you better take a seat, because it’s a long, long story...”
