Chapter 1: Wings

"Come on everypony, smile, smile, smile..."

Hungry.

Happy loooove hungry.

A hysteric giggle escaped the gray earth buck’s lips as he galloped, chills of anticipation rolling down his spine. Flecks of blood and spittle erupted from his throat with the effort of his breathing, spraying a fine layer of red mist over his muzzle and dingy blue mane. In the back of his mind—as always—he could hear the low rasping of the voice echoing through his thoughts. Urging him onward. Pushing him.

Kill. Tear. Eeeeat.

Happy couldn’t see them running through the shadows—it was dark-time, night time—but he could still hear them. Just ahead. Their frantic hoof-falls. Their breathing.

Running. Fleeing. Scared.

Happy felt the tempo of his pulse quicken beneath his skin. His pounding muscles were tense with eagerness.

Hungry.

The buck let out another psychotic cackle and picked up his pace. The veins in his bloodshot yellow eyes had begun to beat in time with the erratic pumping of his heart, his breath coming in short, raspy puffs as he stumbled onward. Blood seeped down his sides from fresh wounds, a thick, black-red ooze that complemented the dark patches of dead-looking hide already exposed beneath the gashes in his barding.

They were closer now. Happy could see them, dark shadows galloping frantically down what was left of the broken trail ahead. The void of black, empty space surrounded them on all sides, no cover in sight.

Happy felt his lips curl into a gleeful grin.

There were four of them—walker-ponies, earth ponies—a blue coated she-pony and green he-pony frantically bringing up the rear. Two smaller ponies, foals, gasped for air ahead of them. Their breaths were tiny and weak. They had been running for only a short distance and already their hoof-falls were faltering—less forceful, more erratic.

They wouldn’t last long.

“..mmgghahawHAW!”

Happy let out a snort of triumph. Dark circles had begun closing in on the edge of his vision as he ran, the cracked bones in his left hindleg exploding in fresh torment with every hoof-fall. Bursting veins hammered beneath his temples, pounding against his skull to the point where it felt ready to crack. His entire body screamed in agony, threatening to give out at any moment.

It was bliss.

At the sound of his wild grunt, the green he-pony whipped his head back. Even in the dim light, Happy could see his blue eyes bulge in their sockets. Another cackle escaped his lips as he burst forward in a boiling swell of adrenaline.

"Run! Tender Leaf! Kids! Run!"

The he-pony’s frantic voice cracked as the warning burst from his wheezing lungs. A shrill, despairing cry rose up from the mare at his side and the two scrawny foals shrieked in panic as a new surge of terror drove them forward.

Happy’s insides leapt at the sound. A commanding feeling—like an invisible chain embedded deep in his chest—jerked his body forward. A familiar prickling sensation had begun to flare up at the ends of his hooves and snout.

The changes were starting. His hearing growing sharper. His eyesight growing clearer. And the smells around him—

The raider’s lungs screamed for air as a gleeful screech bubbled past his lips.

“hhhahaHAHAHAHAAHA-mmghahhh! KILL, HAPPY, KILL!”

A fresh chorus of shrieks pierced the night air and Happy felt something inside his head snap completely. A tendril of electricity arced down his spine like lightning as his shrill laughter petered off into a low growl.

Vaulting forward with impossible strength, he bit down on the writhing flesh beneath his hooves and the world erupted in a shower of red.

***

A dull whine pierced Happy’s ears as he slowly stirred from the darkness. Through the murky, muffled cloud that had enveloped his mind, the stone gray pony was dimly aware of something stirring next to him. The faint sounds of ripping flesh and popping bones echoed dimly in his ears, as if coming from a distance.

A throbbing pain coursed beneath Happy’s eyes as he opened them, the effort painting white splotches of agony across his swimming vision. Nausea gripped his gut as he let out a quiet chuckle. He stifled the urge to vomit.

Gradually, however, the fog began to recede and Happy could slowly feel his body returning. A wash of satisfaction swept over him as he recognized where the sounds had been coming from. Him. His body had been the one moving. Tearing. Feeding.

A gleeful laugh echoed through the empty spaces in his mind.

Angry must have come out to play.

Without warning, a sharp tingling sensation began to work its way out from the base of Happy’s neck and over his body. With it, the sounds of tearing viscera slowed to a halt. The white splotches of light dancing before his eyes finally began to recede and, bit by bit, Happy’s senses trickled back to him.

Fatigue was the first sensation to reassert itself. Then his vision. Then scent.

Tilting his head back, the raider inhaled deeply.

Sniff. Blood.

Sniff. Spent bowels.

The smell of death was strong.

Happy cast his gaze downward.

At his hooves, a chunky, red-black paste lay smeared evenly over the ground, surrounding him like a bloody bullseye. Four vaguely pony shaped mounds of bones, tendons, and flesh lay haphazardly amid the carnage. Each was torn wide open, their mangled insides exposed to the growing light of the approaching dawn.

The two smallest mounds were twisted with particular severity—most of their limbs mangled or missing. The third, a vaguely blue tinted lump, sat with its hind legs splayed out at an awkward angle, its front half only attached by a thread of hide. The last mound, a sick shade of green and red, was missing its head altogether.

Eyes wide, Happy raised his hooves before him. Each was glazed in a thick coat of carnage, patches of it already beginning to harden in the thirsty air. Lines of puss had erupted from the infected cuts along his own legs, adding their own essence to the palette of volatile fluids.

Happy’s eyes darted back and forth between the bloodbath and his hooves in stunned silence. Then, with an exuberant cackle, the raider took to the carnage like a pig in the mud, flailing and wallowing around on his back with glee. Rolling onto his stomach a few moments later, he lifted his head to admire his work.

A half dozen crudely formed gore angels stared back at him from the ground—ghastly pony shaped imprints oozing with half-dried bits of flesh and bile.

Happy clopped his hooves at the sight.

The colors! Ohhh the colors!

Planting a single hoof at the edge of the mess before him, he pressed firmly, signing his masterpiece.

A satisfied sigh escaped his lips as he flopped onto his back to rest.

“Ahhh, Happy….happy.”

The buck let out a giggle at his own witty joke before casting his attention skyward.

Dawn had finally begun to break over the Equestrian Wasteland, replacing the near-absolute darkness of night with the slightly-less-dim light of day. As always, the thick ceiling of clouds sat there above him, unmoving, casting the wastes in the same sickly, eternal pallor of death and gloom.

Happy didn’t understand where it came from—the light that broke over the wastes every morning—but felt himself smiling all the same. Daytime was pretty-time—he could see things soooo much better when the bright clouds were smiling on his eyes.

Sticking his tongue out in concentration, Happy swung his hooves in the air before him, trying to seize a hoof-full of the dark gray fluff. After a few moments of flailing—but they looked so close!—he finally gave up, forelegs landing on the ground beside him with an irritated thump.

Shutting his eyes, he laid there for a moment, simply listening to the beating in his chest.

Gallop gallop gallop.

Happy smiled to himself. His heart sounded just like a herd of ponies galloping across the wastes.

Gallop. Gallop. Gallop.

A puzzled look crossed over the buck’s face. Glancing down, he gave his chest a tentative tap. Was it getting louder?

“Oye, dere ‘e is!”

Happy’s ears swiveled a moment before his head did, his eyes catching sight of three ponies thundering toward him. A cloud of dust followed in their wake.

Even a hundred hooves off, Happy’s keen eyes took in the form of each one clearly.

A grizzled, deep blue buck—another earth pony like Happy—led the pack, his stern expression intensified by his grungy black mane and the eyepatch. To his left galloped a dull red unicorn mare, a fierce scowl visible behind the ratty green wisps of mane that hung over her face. The third figure—a yellow earth buck with his mane drawn up into shining, emerald spikes—laughed wickedly at the lead’s right, face drawn up in a nasty sneer.

All three wore bloodstained barding like Happy’s—albeit better maintained—and sported a number of brutal looking chains and blades that clanked at their sides as they ran.

For the second time in so many hours, Happy’s blood flared as a rush of energy seized his limbs. Scrambling onto all fours with surprising speed, the buck let out a crazed laugh and lurched forward, hooves slipping comically on the slick ground beneath him. Finally gaining some traction, he sprung forward at a haphazard sprint, eyes fixed on the lead buck as the group galloped toward him.

Realizing their mistake a moment too late, a look of horror crossed over the faces of the three raiders as the giggling buck bolted toward them. Hooves failing to find purchase on the crumbly earth, they skidded forward on their rumps, clawing at the ground in a futile attempt to turn and run.

Time seemed to slow. Happy grinned wildly.

They weren’t getting away now.

Closing the gap in a heartbeat, Happy threw his hooves open and leapt forward as a guttural shout escaped his burning lungs.

“FRRRRRRRRIENDS!”

Whumph.

The three raiders let out a cry as the gray mass plowed into them.

"—Celestia damnit ya mangy git!"

"—Off the tail you stupid buck!"

"—Augh! My spikes! My spikes! I think you cracked one of my spikes!"

Giggling as he took in the familiar voices his clanmates, Happy leapt from the top of the dogpile and began to spring in happy circles around the group—a faint poing! poing! poing! radiating from his legs as he bounced along.

“Friennnds! Friennnds! Friends, friends, friends, friends, friennnnnnnds!”

Muttering obscenities, the blue stallion rose and swung his hooves around, landing a heavy buck into Happy’s side.

Crrrk! Happy felt something snap under the well placed kick as he landed in the earth a few hooves away. His eyes watered as a fresh wave of pain rippled through his side.

“Eheheheheh…”

Coughing up blood, Happy smiled at the three as he rose shakily to his hooves…and immediately resumed his lively bounce. He could already begin to the feel the tingling sensation as the bone fragments began to knit themselves back together inside his chest. It wouldn’t take long to heal—it never did. His cuts from earlier were barely visible.

Slapping a hoof to his forehead in frustration, the blue buck let out an sigh.

“Don’t even try Deuce. That buck’s a fucking idiot.”

Drawing his hoof from his face, Deuce turned his good eye to meet the mare's, spitting a clod of earth onto the ground as he did so.

“Fuck you, Rowdy.”

The mare’s cheeks turned scarlet, her green eyes blazing as her face contorted with sudden rage.

“No! Fuck you!”

A groan rose up from behind them as the yellow buck finally lifted himself from the ground. Thinner and taller than the other two, a ring of pony parts hung around his neck, swinging grotesquely as he rose.

“Can’t you two give it a fucking rest?”

Heads whipping around, the mare and buck barked back as one.

“Shut up, Scalper!”

Cringing, the yellow buck raised his hooves in submission, taking a cautious step backwards as the two resumed their shouting match.

Giggling at all the sudden commotion around him, Happy bounded up to Scalper’s side, giving his shoulder a friendly nuzzle.

For the second time, a hoof connected with Happy’s side, sending him rolling onto the ground. A fresh wash of pain broke over his body.

Narrowing his eyes in disgust, the yellow buck snarled.

“Fucking idiot. Don’t touch me.”

Watching as the buck trotted off to check his mane-spikes, Happy let out another wet cough and smiled.

“Friennnnds.”

Happy loved his friends.

***

The rest of the morning was spent scavenging the kill as Happy’s clanmates packed up what few worthwhile odds and ends they could find into three sets of identical, dingy saddlebags they had looted from a caravan earlier that week. Knives, bullets, cram—there was a surprising amount of wealth to be found on the four mutilated bodies.

Then, of course, there were the bodies themselves.

Happy amused himself with a smooth, disc shaped pebble as his companions lit a fire and went to work on the remains. Happy—or Angry—the gray raider reminded himself, giggling at the thought, had already eaten his fill. Besides, fire just ruined the flavor. Happy preferred his meals…fresh.

A shiver ran down the gray buck’s spine. He could feel himself getting excited again.

“And den, you know what I do ta’ ‘er? Ya know what I do? I fuckin’ slit her throat right in front of ‘em and buck ‘er bleedin’ of da side!”

A chorus of laughter erupted from his clanmates at the fire, prompting Happy to turn his head. Acting out the words with elaborate gestures, Deuce was standing by the fire, telling another one of his stories from the glory days. From the looks of savage glee radiating from Scalper and Rowdy, his tale was turning out to be an entertaining one.

Flipping the small stone with his snout one last time, Happy turned on hoof and trotted over to the fire, plopping down on his stomach right beside the dark blue buck.

Deuce stopped mid-sentence, slowly turning his head to face him.

Happy returned his gaze, head tilted to one side as he grinned expectantly.

Sighing, Deuce slowly lifted his hoof to Happy’s side and pushed, scooting the gray buck a leg’s length away before continuing.

“So, anyways—dis is the best part so listen good—the little one’s all like—” his voice took on a mocking tone, imitating the voice of a young filly “—but Deuce, you said you’d protect us!”

Rowdy and Scalper snickered and nodded, eyes wide with anticipation. Glancing over at their expectant faces, Happy took their cue and nodded as well—vision swimming as he rocked his head back and forth. Though he didn’t understand what they were saying—too many big words—the level of excitement in their voices was unmistakable.

Deuce let out a low chuckle.

“So I say ‘is dat so, little filly?’ Den’ I ‘oof her across the face, pull ‘er little legs apart and—“

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Happy burst out with a fresh peal of psychotic laughter, clopping his hooves together in glee.

Wiping a hoof to clear his watering eyes, he looked around at his companions. Their cheery faces had dropped, replaced with three identical scowls.

A half second later, Happy grunted as he landed on his back some twenty hooves from the fire. Eyes rolling in separate directions from the impact, he giggled as a ring of wall-eyed pegasus ponies circled his head.

His vision continued to swim as he rose shakily to his hooves and took a few drunken steps forward.

Flip flap…flop.

Falling prey to gravity’s embrace, Happy’s face met the ground with a heavy thump.

A chorus of laughter met the buck’s ears from behind. A wide, lazy smile broke over his face at the sound. His friends thought he was funny!

Staggering upright a second time, he tried again.

Flip flap…FLOP.

The laughter doubled in volume. Rolling onto his back like an oversized rag doll, Happy glanced back at the fire. His spinning eyes were barely able to make out the shapes of six raiders—three sets of blurry, identical twins in his double vision—rolling on the ground with hearty laughter.

A giggle escaped his own lips as he slumped back onto the ground, letting the waves of nausea wash over him like a melody.

***

Several wobbly strides and a few faceplants later, Happy finally managed to gather some semblance of balance and cantered off toward the low-lying hills behind the makeshift camp. His sharp ears could still pick up the faint sounds of his clanmates in the background. They didn’t pay much notice as he crested the first hill—he never wandered far from the herd.

Well—the buck giggled to himself as vivid images of last night’s chase flashed before his eyes—not unless he was distracted.

Resuming his happy bounce from earlier, the gray buck pranced forward, surveying the wastes before him in all their splendor.

A half mile off, the remains of a small, prewar town stood sullenly against the backdrop of the darkened sky—a windowless, wood and concrete testament to the past. Between it and Happy’s hill, a few rusted sky carriages and withered husks of trees dotted the landscape.

Near the closest tree, the gray buck could see a solitary pile of bones—a Brahmin skeleton from the looks of the twin heads—half buried a short distance from the base of the hill. A well-worn leather saddlebag was slumped up against its side, the top flap swept back by the wind and the butt of an old rifle protruding from the opening.

Zeroing in on the unexpected treasure, Happy leapt upwards with a gasp, all four hooves stretching out from his sides as he hung in the air a split second longer than gravity should have allowed. Then—in a raider shaped puff of smoke—he disappeared, taking off down the backside of the shallow hill at a haphazard gallop.

Careful not to trip over the pesky leather bag and rifle as he bounded forward, Happy leapt to the skeleton’s side and immediately latched onto the remaining horn protruding from one of the dusty skulls. Twisting his head back and forth, he wrenched the piece free from the pile and curled up a few hooves away, gnawing at his prize with delight.

With a resigned sigh, the skeleton collapsed inwards beside him, expelling a small plume of earth as it crumbled into a dusty pile.

Happy coughed as the sudden cloud of debris filled his lungs—wet, sticky shudders that speckled the Brahmin skull before him with dark flecks of red. He giggled at the raspy feeling, his eyes watering as they strained to see through the haze.

As the dust finally began to settle, however, Happy’s laughter turned to silence. A small, dark, waving shape began to take form in the cloud ahead of him. Slowly, the fuzzy silhouette refined itself, the buck’s eyes going wide with curiosity as the sinking plume finally cleared.

Fluttering in lazy figure eights before him was an odd insect-like creature the raider had never seen before. It’s slender blue body rested between two strikingly pink wings as it flapped, silently, a few hooves off the ground.

Eyebrows raised, the buck circled the odd creature.

No stingers. No barbs. No sharp clacking mandibles.

Happy plopped onto his flanks and scratched his head with a hoof.

Staring a few more moments, the buck shrugged. Then, bounding forward with a sudden, giddy snort, he lunged at the creature, mouth wide.

Chomp!

The creature simply fluttered out of his path, leaving Happy with a mouthful of dirt as his muzzle buried itself in the ground. Spitting up earth, the raider giggled and sprang again, missing the creature a second time.

Chomp!

Flapping in a lazy circle—almost beckoning the buck to follow—the insect turned and began to fly off into the wastes, away from the base of the hill.

Without a second thought, Happy rose to his hooves. A wide smile breaking over his face, he bounded after the creature—the periodic poing! poing! poing! of his hooves interrupted only by the click of his teeth as he missed again.

And again.

And again.

After a few minutes of bounding, Happy could feel his shoulders tense as the barest hints of an uncommon feeling began to prickle down his neck—frustration.

Letting out a low growl at the pink winged distraction, Happy crouched—legs coiled like springs—before propelling himself forward with a sudden explosion of force—

Whack!

—headlong into a cold, gray wall.

The ring of wall-eyed pegasai resumed their dance from earlier, traveling in dizzy circles through the raider’s spinning vision.

“Heheheh—wheeeeeeee.”

Happy’s tongue lolled uselessly out the side of his mouth as he chuckled. Settling back on his haunches, he grabbed his head with both hooves, holding it straight until his vision finally began to settle.

The skeletal remains of the small, prewar town he'd noticed earlier now surrounded him. Collapsed buildings—twisted mounds of rock and metal—rose from the earth like an industrial forest, giving the whole scene a cold, unnatural aura. Several small shops on the lower levels appeared intact, though many were half buried and blanketed in darkness.

A few tattered-looking banners still hung from the rusted lampposts that lined the streets, depicting faded images of ponies dressed in various types of silvery, metallic armor. Some of the ponies in the pictures even appeared to be entirely encased by their suits—strong-looking metallic figures with a single hoof raised to their impassive, masked faces in silent salute.

Brow raised in curiosity, Happy lifted a hoof in front of his own face. He pondered it for a moment before holding it to the side of his head like the ponies in the pictures.

Nothing happened.

Happy's ears drooped as he lowered his hoof, planting it on the cobblestone street beneath him and slowly lifting himself onto all fours. Casting a curious glance toward the scene around him, he caught a flutter of motion out of the corner of his eye.

Spinning his head to look further down the street, he watched as a pair of pink wings disappeared around the corner to his right.

A look of determination passed over the buck’s face as he took off at a canter, making his way deeper into the heart of the town. The place looked bigger on the inside than it had from farther out—an endless number of identical street corners seemed to appear before Happy as he pursued the little blue creature.

As he made his way down yet another rubble-strewn road, Happy found himself dimly aware of a tinge of something that had begun to creep into the air around him. It was nothing he could smell or hear—just a feeling. Fatigue began to nip at his hindquarters. A slight haziness had fallen over his normally crystal clear vision.

He wondered if the glowing, green pools of liquid dotting the street had anything to do with it.

Ignoring the unfamiliar sensation, Happy continued forward, feeling a sudden giddiness rise up from his chest as he finally managed to gain some ground on the creature. His hooves clacked on the broken pavement as he increased his gait.

Performing a couple of lazy loop-de-loops in front of him—again, almost beckoning the raider—the pink winged insect disappeared around another corner midway down the street. Happy was on it in an instant, hooves scrabbling for purchase as he rounded the same corner, eyes scanning the air.

The flapping creature had disappeared. All that stood before Happy was a dimly lit alleyway, a few ancient dumpsters and trash cans lining either side of the cracked stone path. Tilting his head in curiosity, Happy trotted into the shadows, yellow eyes quickly adjusting to the dim light.

Glancing back and forth, Happy’s eyes could make out a number of weathered pictures scrawled over the walls on either side of the alley—many depicting the same ponies that he had seen on the banners in the street. One of the pictures showed a crowd of multicolored ponyfolk surrounding a striped pony that had been drawn hanging from a tree.

By its neck.

It’s eyes had been replaced with two small black x’s, tongue protruding from the side of its mouth in a cartoonish representation of death. The ponies surrounding it appeared to be smiling and cheering, hooves raised in the air as one.

Eyebrow raised, Happy imitated the faces, letting loose with a forced looking smile as he glanced around.

Again, nothing happened.

Scratching his head with a hoof, Happy’s face lit up as a flash of inspiration struck.

Running over to the nearest dumpster he began to bash his head against it repeatedly, a hollow clang! clang! clang! echoing through the streets as he did so. Eventually, a small gash opened up on the side of his head, trickling out a steady stream of life force onto the ground below.

Perfect.

Giggling to himself, Happy went to work, dipping the tips of his forehooves into the pool of blood. With purpose, he began to trace little lines on the wall, face etched in concentration as he balanced on his hind hooves. After a couple minutes of purposeful sketching, Happy took a step back to admire his work.

A lumpy looking stick horse made of crimson streaks stared back at him, a wide goofy smile on its face. Beside it stood three similarly childlike figures, an earth pony with an eyepatch, another one with spiked hair, and a unicorn with long strands of mane hanging over her face. Each of them appeared to be staring at the pony in the center with an equally goofy smile etched on their face.

Letting loose with a grin of his own, Happy caressed the wall with a bloodstained hoof.

“Frieeeeeeends.”

He really should get back to them.

As Happy turned back toward the mouth of the alley, however, something resting on the opposite wall managed to catch his eye.

In an instant, Happy was in the air, an excited shriek erupting from his lungs. He cupped his hooves over the exposed patch of wall, sealing the fluttery pink and blue creature beneath them.

Hah! No flying away now!

Stifling a hysterical giggle, Happy slowly tilted his hooves to look between them.

Yep! Still there!

The gray buck stomped his hind hooves in triumph and let out a little squee. Pulling his cupped hooves from the wall, he opened them to take a look at the creature…

...but nothing but two, empty, dirt covered hooves stared back at him.

Confusion quickly replacing glee, Happy cast a bewildered glance at the wall.

The pink winged creature just sat there, unmoving.

Happy took another swipe, hoof landing right on top of its pink wings, but the insect didn’t even seem to notice. In fact, it seemed like the creature wasn’t even there! Like it was a part of the wall. Like it was only…

…a picture.

Happy let out a disappointed whimper and settled onto his haunches, scuffing his hooves on the ground before him.

No fluttery pink flappy insect for Happy.

Sighing, the buck lifted his gaze to the wall, eyes traveling up to take in the rest of the image. The image of the pink winged creature—as it turned out—was one of three. Two more identical insects, though faded against their yellow background, were drawn above it.

Curiosity leaking into the buck’s mind once more, Happy tilted his head back to take in the rest of the image.

The three winged insects he had found were staring back at him from the flank of a beautiful yellow mare with wisps of pink hair making up her mane and tail. She wore a warm, comforting smile, her light blue eyes fixed on a small figure sitting at her hooves.

Happy’s eyes settled on the second figure.

A cute, cherry red filly with a light blue mane stared back into the eyes of the yellow mare, front legs raised up above her head. She was wearing a frilly looking pink dress, face etched in a bright, cheery grin. In her hooves, she appeared to be holding up some thing—a blue, plastic sphere—in the mare’s direction.

Probably a weapon, Happy figured, nodding to himself.

There were some scrawlings etched across the bottom of the poster, but the gray pony paid them no notice—not that he could read the words, anyway. An odd, fuzzy feeling began to radiate outward from Happy’s chest as he studied the picture. Not the same fatiguing sensation he’d felt around the green puddles—but a warm, pleasant one that seem to well up inside of him.

It was unfamiliar…but not unwelcome.

His attention remained fixed on the pair as the feeling spread, eyes jumping from the smile on the yellow mare’s face to the one on the filly’s. Back and forth.

Back…and forth.

Back.

Forth.

Backandforth.

A giggle escaped the raider’s lips as he nodded his head up and down, enjoying how the colors blurred in his vision. With a giddy yelp, he rolled onto his back, basking in the feeling of the world spinning soundlessly beneath him.

A low, raspy growl broke the silence.

Happy’s ears shot up at the noise. The growl hadn’t been his.

Still on his back, Happy opened his eyes, staring toward the mouth of the alleyway. At first, the sudden topsy-turveyness of everything resting upside down made it hard to focus, but his eyes eventually settled on the source of the sound.

Three pairs of glowing, yellow eyes stared back at him, each embedded in the mottled face of a skeletal looking pony with mottled hide. A sudden stench—like rotting flesh—began to tickle the edge of Happy’s nostrils and the strange, fatigue inducing sensation from earlier seemed to spike, his vision growing a little hazier as he looked at them.

There was another growl and the closest of the pony shaped figures sprang forward, letting out a feral screech as it bared its jagged yellow teeth.

An explosion of heat erupted in Happy’s chest, sending jitters of unearthly ecstasy crawling through his skin. He could already feel himself changing, hooves melting into claws as his teeth began to twist and sharpen into fangs.

Flipping himself onto all fours with animal-like agility, Happy let out a guttural chuckle of his own, his voice already growing deeper by the second.

The other figures screeched in tandem, quickly following suit.

Bones shifting and reforming, his muscles expanding and pulling taught, Happy could hear the voice screaming at him from inside his head.

KILL, HAPPY, KILL!

However, bounding forward into the fray, all that escaped his wolfish lips was a bloodcurdling roar.

*****

Perk Achieved!

Ignorance is Bliss - Whatever the reason, you can't seem to approach the world with anything less than a beaming smile. Your laughter is genuine and your positive attitude infectious to those around you.

You gain a temporary +1 to your CHARISMA statistic and receive 10% less damage from attacks while crippled or fatigued.

Author's Note

RE: Edit - 7/30/13