Prologue- Fallen Angel p.1
Fluttershy woke up in a dark room. As she rose to her hooves, he heard a scratching sound. Where am I? She thought. The last thing she remembered was taking a walk through ponyville. Wait, she thought. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something missing from those memories. "Well, I guess I should see what kind of a room I'm in." Fluttershy said to herself. It took a lot of courage (and a lot of time) to make herself take that first step. It resulted in a metallic clank. Ok... she thought, I'm in a metal room. A metal room that she found to be quite spacious. It wasn't until after she had gotten over the initial shock that she began to remember about the scratching noise. She stopped and listened, waiting for something, anything to reveal its position in the shadows. When nothing came, she decided to call out. "H-hello?" Fluttershy feebly called into the darkness. Nothing, she thought, but I clearly remember hearing a scratching sound earlier... She decided to try again. "Hello?" she called out with much more confidence. Again nothing.
Until, she heard a growl.
Fluttershy listened as the growl became steadily louder. Oh... my. she thought as she imagined every scary monster to ever exist. It wasn't until she heard a loud thump and a small crack that she was brought back to reality, giving a scream of terror in the process. Immediately, some rather bright lights were quickly illuminated, bringing truth to the deceitful darkness. Fluttershy scanned the room to see that it was a large metallic room, about the size of a warehouse. She heard the scratching again. She looked in the direction of the noise and felt the all too familiar signs of wanting to cry.
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Jostrom watched the monitor with a sigh. It was times like this that he resented. Sure, it was fun to go get the subjects. But the waiting for them to wake up was agonizing at times. Still... he thought to himself, It shouldn't be much longer. Then we can continue father's work once again. He thought back to the last time he saw his father. Jostrom was just a foal when it happened. He remembered everything with surprising clarity and detail. He remembered asking his father if they could play when he came home, his father ruffling his mane and agreeing, stating that he had earned it, and he had, for he had recently earned his cutie mark, which bore resemblance to a test tube in front of a pony brain. Father was so proud of me that day. Thought Jostrom with a smile. He patiently waited for father to come home, he kept waiting well into the night, and the following day. Finally, there was a knock on his door. He threw it open, not even thinking about the fact that father had the key, and saw a mare in a white lab coat. "Um, are you Jostrom?" the mare asked. He went numb
"Y-yes mam." He gasped as the mare brought him into a hug. He didn't know what to think until he felt her tears, then he realized the truth. His father had been a great man, albeit a bit eccentric at times. His main field of study was psychology, seeing how the average pony mind reacted to certain stimuli and why it reacted like that. At least, that's what he appeared to study. In reality, his father had been obsessed with how the pony mind could adapt and react, driving its body to do incredible feats to preserve itself. It was this work, that Jostrom had continued. It wasn't bad. At least, that's what he told himself. After all, most ponies lived.
Most.
That word, that seemingly unimportant word cut through him like a knife. The ones that did survive were simply congratulated, given a chemical to knock them out and erase there memory. He then dumped them pretty much where he found them. It was amusing to see the results of his handiwork, as with each successful subject came more and more newspaper articles about aliens abducting ponies. The best part was the scars they received during their stay, they would all use them as proof...
His thoughts were interrupted as a large black pegasi entered the room. He watched as his metallic wings rested snugly against his body. His neon red and blue mane and tail contrasting starkly with his coat, which was a pitch black. What an interesting color scheme... he thought to himself.
The pegasi entered the room, his golden eyes never making contact with Jostrom's. "So," he began, "has she awoken yet?" The scientist shrugged his shoulders and replied with a thickly accented "Nope."
"Very amusing." the pegasi replied, thinking back to when they had tested that red stallion... Big Macintosh, was it? He didn't seem so big when he was cowering from his test. The pegasi had wondered if the "big" stallion would be as quiet as when they found him when the pain commenced, he had gotten his answer in record time.. "Alright, I'll take watch now." He said. Jostrom simply shrugged and said "OK, if that's what you really want. I need to stretch my legs anyway, but I warn you, it's oh so boring." The pegasus suppressed a laugh,
"Oh, I think I can handle it." The scientist simply shrugged and slowly walked out, "I'll alert you when she wakes up!" the pegasus called after him.
"Thanks," replied Jostrom, "I was gonna ask you to do that anyway." The pegasi watched his friend walk out of the room when he heard a scream emanate from the monitor. He whirled around, turned on the lights and switched from night vision to normal camera view. He was about to call his friend when he noticed him already galloping into the room, a look of panic on his face. "Don't worry," the pegasi said once his friend had reached him, "she's fine." Jostrom breathed a sigh of relief. "Well?" He asked, a smile forming, "You gonna deal with sleeping beauty of am I gonna have to take my seat back?"
Fluttershy looked in tears as she saw the monster on the other side of the glass wall. He's not a monster! She scolded herself. But the scene told a different tale. Mutilated bodies were strewn about on his side of the glass. Blood trails and splatters everywhere as signs of struggle were clearly evident. She looked on in horror as she saw his white coat covered in red, his fluffy tail torn and ripped with a large amount of red in it as well. "Angel..." was all she could manage to squeak. He looked at the source of the sound, his eyes making direct contact with hers. She watched in horror as he steadily approached the glass, his eyes almost the exact shade of red that now covered his coat. "A-angel?" Was all that she said, as he began growling. She immediately recognized the growl she had heard in the dark as Angel rapidly quickened his pace to a brisk jog. "N-n-no..." she timidly begged, hoping her words could reach the fluffy bunny she knew was in there, somewhere. In response, Angel quickened his pace again, until he was in a full blown sprint, he jumped and crashed into the window with a sickening thud. Fluttershy jumped back, more tears in her eyes as she saw the blood splatter her friend had left on the window. Angel backed away from the seemingly indestructible window. He began another charge but was stopped by an unknown force that cause him to collapse. She heard a voice, "Hello, Fluttershy."
She looked around the room, unsure where the voice originated from. "H-hello?" She squeaked out, her voice as timid as when she first woke up.
"Hi." the voice said with an almost cheerful tone.
"Wh-what's happening?"
"Don't you remember?" Fluttershy thought long and hard about that last one but, couldn't seem to remember anything.
"No."
"So I guess you forgot all about my friend?"
"Friend?"
"Awwww..." Came a second voice. "I thought what we had was special."
"I'm terribly sorry, but who are you?"
"It doesn't matter." Returned the first voice, with a clear tone of amusement.
"Sorry..." was all she could manage to say at a near inaudible volume.
"I guess you want me to explain everything from the beginning, huh?"
"Th-that would be helpful..." She barely managed to make that any louder than the first time.
"Here," she heard a whirring sound and looked to see a tray extend from a new opening in the wall, carrying a small plastic cup of water and a green pill. "Take the pill." She complied and immediately collapsed to the floor as a wave of nausea, along with a killer headache, washed over her.
She remembered everything. Meeting a nice stallion by the name of Jostrom, going to dinner with him. This was interrupted by a sudden image of Angel lying on a surgical table as two ponies, one being a pegasus, worked to save his life. The image disappeared as quickly as it appeared. the memories resumed as she remembered going for a walk with Jostrom, arriving back home to see the front door wide open. She remembered Jostrom telling her to wait outside as he went into the cottage alone. He called out saying that it was clear. She walked in to find all her animals lying mutilated on the floor. Tears began to well up as another brief image of the pegasi injecting a liquid into angel during what appeared to be a surgery flashed by. She remembered screaming, crying, looking at Jostrom to see a deranged smile on his face as something big hit her on the back of the head, knocking her out. A final image of the two ponies from the surgery working to find what she thought was a cure to something flashed by...
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She awoke on a cold metallic floor. She stood up to see a single bunny, with a blood stained coat walking around. It took her a moment to recall him as the bunny from her weird dream. "Angel?" She spoke the name before she realized she knew this bunny from somewhere.
"Oh, finally awake I see." A voice called from somewhere. She looked around the room, looking for the source of the voice. "You can't see me but I can see you." This thought terrified her. "Now, you see that bunny over there?" She looked at the bunny. "Angel..." again, the name kind of forced its way out.
"Precisely." Said the voice, "Do you remember why he's here?"
Fluttershy scanned her memory and recalled the two ponies working to save Angels life, "you guys were trying to save him?" It was a feeble question but it was all she could manage.
"...You could say that..." He hesitated, she thought, He stopped to think about what he was gonna say... While the thought was rather trivial and pointless, she couldn't help but think about how odd it was... "Do you know how you got here?" The voice continued. Again, she scanned her memory, but all that she could recall was walking home with her recent coltfriend, Jostrom, and finding her cottage broken into. She remembered Jostram entering the house first, then calling out for her to stay outside. She ignored him and entered to find all her animal friends mutilated and strewn about the floor. The last thing she remembered was Jostrom rushing to her, right before she felt something heavy knock her out. Sadness and worry crept across her as she realized that the little bunny on the other side of a glass wall was her best friend. Followed by a sudden fear, and anger as she yelled "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY COLTFRIEND!?!?!?" She heard a soothingly familiar voice replace the first one, "Don't worry Flutters, I'm here, but I need to ask you a big favor..." His voice suddenly took a sad tone.
"A-anything for you love..." She replied.
She heard a familiar whirring noise and turned to see a part of the wall open up to reveal a large assortment of weapons, there was a machete, a baseball bat, and other various items that could all deal a lot of damage. She looked at the rack in confusion. "You see, we've tried to calm down angel so we could help him... you saw how that went..." She looked and saw the mutilated bodies and blood. "So we decided to try using force, now this is where you come in. As scary as he may look, this is actually the most calm we've seen him since we tried saving him. We don't think he'll attack you as viciously as he did the others, which is why I'm asking you for help." She sat sown as the full realization of what she was being asked to do set in. "I'm sorry..."
"No, no..." Fluttershy said, "I-it's not your fault... you did everything you could..."
"I'm really, truly sorry, If you don't want to that's fine, but he's suffering. And I'm sure that out of all of us, you're the one who's supposed to do this..."
Fluttershy stared numbly at the selection of weapons in front of her... "I... I guess I should pick the one with the least likely chance of killing him..." She muttered to herself as she browsed her choices. Eventually, she settled on the baseball bat. "...I'm ready." She said...
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The glass wall slowly rose up, till nothing was separating the two. She waited, waited for the growling, for the feeling of terror as the little white menace charged at her. Nothing... "A-angel?" she called out, "It's me, Fluttershy?"
The bunny looked at her. No, she wasn't Fluttershy, Fluttershy was a beautiful, nurturing mother. This beast was a horrid hag that dared claim to be his mother! He was possessed by an unknown rage. This creature had done nothing, it didn't deserve to die...
BuT iT hAd DaRed To PoSe As HiS mOtHeR!!! AnD mUsT bE pUnIsHeD!!!
He fought the demonic thoughts that weren't his, but the more he thought about it... he had already killed several of those hag-beasts, and this one was actually causing offence... if anything it wouldn't be fair to the others if he let this one go...
GoOd... NoW lEt'S fInIsH tHiS!!!
Fluttershy watched as Angel slowly made his way towards her. she lowered the bat, placing it on the floor as she outstretched her arms. She was about to call at him again, when she heard him growl.
GoOd...GoOd... ThE FoOl DrOpPeD hEr WeApOn. NoW wE fInIsH hEr!
But, she's unarmed, and clearly scared. It wouldn't be right...
NeEd I rEmInD yOu WhAt ShE's DoNe!
But...
EnOuGh! If YoU wOnT dO iT i WiLl!
Angel felt a sudden pain in his head as he slowly slipped into darkness.
Fluttershy moved out of the way just in time, but still got scratched on her flank by a passing claw. She felt a sudden pain and looked to see that angel had sliced almost to the bone, and blood was splurting out in torrents. She looked in horror as the bunny landed and quickly shot back at her. she raised an arm defensively and felt another pain as angel simply grabbed on and bit into her arm, tearing out a big chunk, exposing her bone and releasing even more blood. She looked around the room and saw the bat. with speed and precision that would make Rainbow Dash jealous, she quickly scooped up the bat and readied herself for the next attack. Wait, who's Rainbow Dash? Doesn't matter, you need to stay focused. She mentally scolded herself.
HeHeH, tHiS iS wAy EaSiEr ThAn I ThOuGhT
STOP!!!
WhA? YoU sHoUlDn'T bE aBlE tO cOmMuNiCaTe WitH mE aNyMoRe!
Well you weren't supposed to be in here anymore!
Fluttershy watched as Angel jumped at her, she waited for the perfect moment, then slammed him in the side with the bat. She felt ribs crack and break under the sheer force of her attack. She watched with tears as her best friend was thrown back and slammed against a wall with a sickening thud.
GAH!!!... YoU fOoL! LoOk WhAt YoU'vE dOne!
I-I'm glad I did. I don't know what you did to me, but that's Fluttershy, there's no mistaking that...
I'lL kIlL yOu!!!
NO!
YoU'lL nEvEr InTeRfeRe AgAiN!
Mother, I'm sorry
BaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!
Fluttershy watched as Angel got back up and rushed at her again. She was ready now. She was going to finish it. As he leapt at her one last time, she swung the bat with all the force she could muster, slamming it straight into his skull. He saw as his skull cracked and fragmented, pieces pushing through his skin. She saw his lifeless body crumple to the floor. She collapsed into a puddle of self pity and tiredness.
It was over... finally over. Fluttershy winced in pain as the adrenaline wore off and she began feeling the wounds she had received over the conflict. She examined herself and took note of the various scars over her chest and back, the small piece taken out of her arm and her torn up cutie mark. As she looked numbly down at angel, twitching as the trauma she dealt took its toll on the little guy, she began tearing up. She heard the all too familiar whirring sound as a black pegasus and Jostrom entered the room. She saw, through tears, the black pegasi gently pick up Angel and carry him away. She felt the comforting feeling of her coltfriend wrapping a forearm around her and bringing her into a comfortably tight embrace. She sobbed into is shoulder as he told her that it's OK, it was over now, and he would never let anything like that happen again. He took her to a room and tucked her into bed. He kissed her on the forehead and quietly said "I'll come back in a bit." Before exiting the room. He did return, to find Fluttershy completely knocked out. He chuckled and quietly closed the door.
Author's Note
So... here we go... a couple of my other friends wanted to do a collab so we're doing it. School's been kinda hectic for them though, so I'm not sure if we'll shelve this for now and come back or what. If this does well then I'll make time for it (and I'm sure they will too)
As always, constructive criticism is appreciated in the comments section. thanks.
Prologue- Fallen Angel p.2
The following day, Fluttershy woke up, took a shower, remembering everything that happened the previous day, and exited her room. She quickly realized she had no idea where she was, only that a bunch of ponies in lab coats were walking around. They all gave her looks of confusion as she wandered about. She entered a room to find it freezing, with boxes labeled DO NOT HANDLE. she quickly exited and soon found herself in a lounge of sorts. she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down on one of the sofas, grateful for the time to relax. She then continued her journey and found herself in a lab, complete with test tubes and various containers filled with unlabeled liquids. She heard a door open, expecting to be yelled at, instead she heard an amused chuckle. She looked and saw Jostrom standing next to a rather large black pegasi, she quickly remembered him as the one who took Angel yesterday. "How's he-" she began.
"In due time." the pegasus interrupted her. Jostrom approached her and, after a quick hug, said "So I heard you gave yourself the tour, huh?" Fluttershy nodded sheepishly and blushed. "That's great." Said Jostrom, his face suddenly very serious. "I'm glad you came here, I have something to show you." He led her to the back and pulled on an unused test tube. A door opened and he ushered her inside, followed by the black pegasus. Upon standing in the room she saw a huge window. On the other side was a critically injured Angel Bunny. She was about to ask why he was here, when Jostrom explained everything.
"So as you can clearly see, your good friend Angel is laying there in critical condition. Allow me to explain. After you entered the cottage, a rabid Angel threw himself at you, striking you from behind with a lot more force than I thought..." That's weird... thought Fluttershy, It seemed heavier... "So after I finally managed to sedate him..." She realized he hadn't stopped talking. "I took you both here, to Z-base, where we quickly put angel under quarantine. that's when we tried to get him to calm down, at least to the point where we could sedate him again... we lost many good ponies... However by freak luck you found your way in there on the other side of the glass. Angel tried to attack you again, but he hesitated, which is when we realized you would be the one to stop him. Unfortunately you had passed out from fright so I simply turned off the lights and waited for you to awaken... I waited a long time, and eventually had to step out to stretch my legs, fortunately I hadn't gone very far before I heard you scream..." He then continued to tell his part of the story up until after he left her room after checking in on her. She took it all in in silence. "...Ok..." She eventually managed to choke out, feeling a new wave of emotion wash over her. "There's... one last thing..." He said, his voice lowering to just above a whisper.
"What is it?" This time it was her turn to embrace him as she draped a wing over his shoulders.
"W-we can make a cure, but.." He choked out.
"But what?"
"We'd need the essence of a pony..."
"Essence?"
"Yes, if you want to help Angel, then I'm gonna need you to help me."
"I'd help you even if Angel was perfectly healthy." She smiled.
"Please come with me..." He led her to his private lab. If she thought the last lab was complicated, this one was enough to confuse Twilight. Where do I keep getting these names from? She thought to herself, realizing that this was the second time she thought of some random ponies name.
Not only were there a bunch of tubes in various set ups, but the entire place was filled with various machines, who's purposes she couldn't even begin to fathom. Once again Jostrom led her to a back room which had a couple of chairs and a large box of some kind. He searched through the archives until he found a disk labeled "Big Mac". He placed it into the monitor and took a seat next to Fluttershy, his stomach bungee jumping from what he was about to show her. She sat patiently as the box came to life with a click followed by various sounds. She saw a large red stallion that looked eerily familiar. "So... Mr. Macintosh?" She heard a voice.
"E-eeyup." replied the stallion, obviously afraid.
"Were you planning on taking your test?"
"E-eeyup."
"Well then I suggest getting to it." Fluttershy watched as the stallion in question headed through a doorway in the wall, only to have it slide shut once he passed through. "Now," she heard the voice again, "I understand that you were behind the brutal rape and murder of the three fillies, who's names shall be withheld to contain their honor?"
"E-eeyup." The stallion hung his head in shame.
"Tsk tsk mister Macintosh, you seemed like such a gentle creature... T'is a shame, but that's why I'm here, to make sure freaks like you stay off the streets." As soon as he finished speaking, three metallic headstones rose in the center of the room. along with a fake tree that had iron balls hanging from it. "Now, let's see that strong work ethic of yours." The voice called. The stallion looked confused. "Oh come now, you know, buck the contents of the tree out."
The stallion walked uneasily towards the tree in question, never looking at the headstones. He really should have, as a blade swung out of its hiding place within one of the headstones and struck the stallion right in the flank. The stallion cried in pain as the he tried to slowly wiggled the blade out, more and more blood pouring from the wound. "Don't stop, keep going." The voice said. The stallion gave a mighty push and the blade broke off the headstone before eventually falling out, revealing more and more flesh and bone as the wound continued to grow. Still, he pressed onward. He finally got to the tree and gave it a solid buck. All the iron balls came loose and the red stallion looked rather proud of himself. That was, until the balls hit the floor.
They each erupted into a fireball that sent the stallion flying. He slammed against the wall, crying out in agony as his flesh boiled and popped, melting off various parts of his body until he looked like a true monster, with the right side of his rib cage as well as the majority of his skull visible. Not to mention the sight of his cutie mark melting away to reveal a hipbone. A lone unicorn entered the room. She saw the stallion get encased in a ghostly pale grey aura as the unicorn carried him into a different room. she could hear muffled screams coming from behind the door as the video came to an abrupt end.
She sat speechless. "Fluttershy?" She heard a tiny squeak beside her. She looked at her coltfriend, unsure what to think. "What happened next?" Was all she could manage. She watched as Jostrom shifted in his seat.
"Well, the unicorn took him to a separate room, where he extracted all the essence from that stallion. We use what he gathers to create our various cures and remedies." Fluttershy sat there and thought about it. Her eyes widened as she realized what was going on.
"You want me to help. Don't you."
"It's the only way..."
"Would I have to..."
"No, you would only help me get them here."
"And Angel..."
"That's why we're doing this... We need a very specific essence to bring him back an-"
"I'll do it..."
"What?"
"I said I'll do it."
"Fluttershy..."
"I told you I'd help you even if angel wasn't involved... but now that I know why you need it..." She put on a brave smile, "how could I say no?" Jostrom silently analyzed Fluttershy's words. He pulled her into a tight embrace. "Thank you.." was all he managed to say before he teared up. After a brief silence she finally asked. "So... do you know who we're going after?"
"Ah, yes." He replied. "I have a list of the most possible candidates..." He searched his lab, cursing as he was unable to locate said list in all his clutter. "Hey hoarder," the black pegasus teased, "I think I found it."
"Thank you." Jostrom said through an embarrassed smile. He quickly walked up to Fluttershy, laying out a list in front of her. She read the top name and felt an eerie sense of familiarness envelope her.
LYRA
Author's Note
OK! So here's the other part of the prologue. Things are REALLY starting to get hectic so I think we may well end up shelving this for now... either way we will finish this monstrosity.
As always constructive criticism is welcome in the comments section. Thanks.
Edit* We are going to continue this story, but at a much slower pace than normal. rather than do the one-chapter-a-week thing we had ORIGINALLY planned on, we're going to slow it down to 2-3 weeks a chapter to ensure quality (school is going to be stressful on all of us as we're all taking advanced classes).
