"Who are you?"
"You're a bad pony, good ponies don't hurt others."
"Do you even know who you are?"
"Do you even have a name?"
"I hope you die!"
You turn around at the sound of a knock at your door. You swing off your bed and stretch out. Your head is throbbing for some reason, you can't even remember what happened last night.
You walk into your entry and stumble to your door. You try to open it, but something is blocking the other side. You push hard and crane your head out of your apartment. A small cardboard box is sitting in front of your door.
You levitate it inside to avoid having to see any of your neighbors. You walk it into your kitchen and set it on the table. It can wait until you find something to eat.
You rummage through your fridge and find some leftover salad. You don't know how old it is but you decide to take a chance. You sit and start eating, a glass of water helps to sooth your sore throat and clean up the fog that has been hanging over you since you woke up.
The cold salad is rather bland, but just the thing to settle your stomach. You finish the simple meal and levitate the box over.
A large blue stamp on the box tells you who it's from. You slowly pull it open and pull out a folded note, a knife, and a diamond dog mask out. You set the knife aside as you look the note over. The same blue seal hard pressed into the back of the note means that this is official.
The note is almost completely blank. Two addresses, times, and the words, "It's time" all printed in a royal looking font.
You realize you can't put it off anymore and slowly pull yourself into the bathroom. You step into the tub and find a large bottle of black dye they gave you when you first agreed to this. You quickly soak yourself with the shower head and start pouring the dye over your body. once your coat is a steely jet black you use another navy blue dye on your mane and tail. Not that anyone is going to see your mane with the mask, but sentiment is sentiment.
Once dry you look at yourself in the mirror, you look just like the two ponies that brought you into this in the first place. You can barely remember what happened that day, only that after it you kept getting letters.
You don't like looking at yourself, deciding to go and get a jacket on and try and cover what you can before heading out. You pack everything into a saddle bag and head down to your cart. You throw everything in the back and start off down the cobblestone road towards the train station.
You reach the station at midnight. The last train pulling into station just as you unhook yourself from your cart. You hurriedly pull off your jacket, pull on the mask, and pull your knife along with you. You walk calmly towards a duo of rough looking ponies blocking the entrance to the train station, "Whoa there colt, you don't wanna go in there." One stepped forward, stomping his hoof, bringing attention to the large metal shoe he was wearing, "Might get hurt."
The other one walked over laughing, "You do know it's not nightmare night right kid? Cause ya look like an-" he was cut off by a sudden surge of blood from his neck. You dug the knife in deep before tearing it free of his flesh, hacking apart his throat and sending him rearing backwards before toppling onto his back.
The first stallion stared in awe as blood sprayed the cheap rubber mask. You feel like laughing as you feel the warm liquid spray into your coat. So enthralled are you that you completely forget about the other pony standing next to you.
You feel an amazing pain as you are tossed roughly to the floor. Your right eye knocked free of the socket and now staring at some cobblestone. Your mind goes blank as you realize what has happened. You manage to swing your head around just in time to catch a second stomp with your muzzle. You taste copper as the stallion starts putting weight on the side of your head. You feel him rear up and get ready to stomp your brains into paste when you release your spell.
Your broken bones knit themselves back together, the stallions throat mends right in front of your eyes. You're back, having just pulled the mask on with the knife hanging magically beside you.
You clear your head and walk to the duo, "Whoa there co-" You waste no time in driving the knife into the steel shod one's chest, yanking it through his flesh and pulling it deep into the second stallions throat. The first dies on impact with the ground, the second flailed weakly as he pressed his hooves into the gash, only managing to let more blood flow as the cut widened.
You ignore his garbled screams as you hurry into the train station. You take your time, not wanting to have to repeat your previously excruciating lesson. You peak around a corner and see a mare bashing a vending machine with a piece of pipe. You find a nearby bottle and hurl it into the wall behind on your right. The mare's ears perked up at the sound, her curiosity calling her over to investigate the shattered glass.
She leans in, mumbling something through the pipe in her mouth. You bull rush her, sending the pipe across the floor and the mare into a wall. She sits there daze while you hurry over, forcing her head against the wall and slashing her throat wide open. Her head falls like a puppet with the strings cut, slouching to the side and falling into a puddle of blood.
You find the pipe and carry it and your knife with you further into the station. You hurry through each room, ending when you find three ponies standing on the edge of the platform. You decide to get to it, charging like a maniac and swinging the pipe into one of the ponies skull, splitting their head wide open before getting bashed by a large spanner. You can see your blood pooling in the muzzle of the mask as you cast your spell.
Once again standing in plain view of three ponies, you see them charge. You just stand there, eventually hurling your knife into one of the charging duo. They fall in horrific pain, screaming and trying to pull the dagger from their flesh.
The other one with the spanner winds their head up, you quickly bring the pipe down on the spanner, shattering their teeth and forcing the spanner to the ground. You take no chances and swing the pipe into the side of their head, the metallic thud causing the last, unarmed pony to flinch. You walk towards her, kicking the knife deeper into the dying stallion as you bear down on the terrified mare.
"Please, you don't have to do this!" You bring your pipe up and let it rest on the side of her head before reeling back, "Please! I don't wanna die!" You ignore her and slam the pipe into her head. Blood showers you and the wall behind you. You levitate your target away from her grasps. A hard leather case now sits stained with blood as you press the pipe into the dying mares flesh.
You slowly increase the pressure, impaling the mare with the narrow head of the pipe and tearing apart her organs as you sink it through her stomach. A sputtering red cough and a small seizure later and she stops dead. Satisfied with your carnage you pick up the case and run out of the building.
You throw the case and the mask in the back of your cart and pull the jacket around your chest. Your flank still stained with blood and dye, you decide to make a quick pit stop in someponies yard and hose yourself down. The cold water shatters your rage, a sudden sickness wells up in your stomach.
You manage to rush into some bushes and vomit a green paste before staggering back to the hose and cleaning yourself off. The dye runs off your coat and tail and into the grass. The blood swirls around the puddle of dye as you finish and hop the fence to get back to your cart.
With yourself cleaned up you hurry to the second address. You pull up in front of a large club, pulling the case out and hurrying behind it. You tuck the case behind a dumpster and turn to go back to your cart.
A boyish voice of a mare breaks your concentration, "Hey! I can hear you back here!" In a moment of panic you hop onto the dumpster and hurl yourself over the adjacent wall, falling over it and landing in a back alley. You can feel pebbles and sticks in your back as you pull yourself upright and rush to find your cart.
You reach your cart, strap in, and bolt into the night.
You walk into a slightly busy pizza place, "Hey there pal, welcome." The stallion behind the counter smiles at you as you reach him, "Say, I know you, you're that stud with the dame. You know the one!"
You just stand there and wait impatiently.
"Yeah, you and that mare with the tail. Where is she? You two didn't break up did ya?" He finally got the hint after looking at my scowl long enough, "Okay then...the usual it is." He hurries back and tosses a large box onto the counter, "For a friend of Flim and Flam it's on the house."
You ignore him and take your pizza to your cart. With everything done for the day you head home to eat and get some well earned rest.
Are you proud? Do you like hurting them?
It's okay, I like hurting them too. Their blood is nice and warm.
You're going to Tartarus, you're a terrible, horrid, disgusting excuse for a pony.
Where are you right now?
You sit on a chair at your dining table, nursing your headache and chewing on some three day old pizza. Casting the spell always makes you feel sick for a few days, not to mention the nightmares that follow your near deaths. The way that stallion had knocked your eye out, the way the teeth of that wrench dug into your skull made your coat stand on end. You don't really remember the pain, but the pure tactile sense of having your body beaten into pulp was enough to turn your stomach inside out.
You end up only eating half of one slice before pushing the rest to the side. You don't feel much like eating, even the half a slice was forced. You were expecting another package soon and going out with low blood sugar was a surefire way of getting yourself actually killed.
You muse on your pseudo immortality. When you live in a world without consequence what is left to do? You suppose you're doing it right now, murdering, letting your muscles work in overdrive, feeling that adrenalin rush as you crush someponies' skull. More than the killing though, this town needed to be cleaned up. Sure the tourists and even most of the locals lived well. But for us, the forgotten, the lower class, the workers, we had to put up with these ponies extortion long enough.
Your thoughts are cut off by another knock at the door. You slowly right yourself and head over to the door, you swing it open and find another box sitting on your stoop. As with the last you bring it inside and toss it on your kitchen table. But there is something else, a pink note with a drawing.
You pick up the note and look it over: Monsters seen at train station, many dead, brutally murdered.
You smirk to yourself as you read the article. ...appeared to be a loose diamond dog...
You love how easy it is to get away with it. Then again, the only ponies you killed were scum, no one besides them would be looking for you. You walk around and eventually pin the note to your wall. You crane your neck around, letting out a series of pops and cracks as you did.
You know what this is gonna be, and thus waste not time in heading to your bathroom and dyeing you body. You think it strange that the colors were based off some thousand year old legend but decide it's just to scare ponies that see us.
You stare at yourself in the mirror, your personality gone, replaced by legion. You don't know how many others are doing this, but you know there are at least two. It doesn't really matter to you, you're not doing it to make friends. Quiet the opposite in fact, you're doing it to make enemies, to put a dent in those thugs that think they rule this city.
You realize how long you've been looking at the mirror and decide to get to work. You rush into your kitchen and pull the box open. Same as before a note and a mask, this time of a phoenix. The note is far more interesting: Good work, continue to bring justice to these worthless excuses for mules. An address and times once again sat at the bottom.
You throw the mask in a saddle bag and put a jacket on. You hurry outside and hook yourself into your cart.
You pull up across the street from the target. It's a rundown apartment building with a few thugs out front. You hurry into a blocked off alley and pull your new mask on. You feel a sudden heat surge through your body as your legs start to tremble. You feel as if you could kick a building over if you tried. You walk out of the alleyway and are immediatly confronted by two thugs, "Well well...looks like another one." A fat looking pony snorts at you, "Tell ya what kid, you leave now and we might think about letting you go."
You stare at him, the other pony taking a step forward with a chain dangling from her mouth. You turn away from them, "Heh...good ide-" You rear your back legs up and buck the duo. One of your hooves breaking the fat pony's jaw and sending him to the floor. The other gasping for air as you landed a heavy kick across their ribs. You're in no mood to repeat your initial fuck up and decide to waste not time in stomping what little life was left in the duo. As you crush the chain pony's skull beneath your tread you're knocked to the ground. You manage to roll and end up on your feet as a bat is brought to your ribs. You wince in horrible pain as you hear your ribs break.
You manage to keep it together just long enough to headbutt the mare's muzzle, knocking the bat free and knocking her teeth out. On the ground you vengefully stomp along the mare's side, beating her until you can see a piece of shattered bone jut through her flesh.
You give a moments thought to using your spell to mend your ribs but decide a few broken bones for three lives was a fair trade. You do what little you can to mend your bones, mostly stemming the pain and keep them from getting any worse as you walked towards the apartment. You here loud music blaring from the inside as you push into the entry. The entire place is littered with empty bottles and other rubbish.
You figure the best place to start would be the music, from there you're sure other ponies will come running. You hurry up a flight of stairs until you reach the third floor. A pony with a goatee and a cigarette glances at you before charging you. You rear up and wait until he's within reach. You slam your hooves forward and send the cigarette flying from his mouth. He reels back before headbutting you. As pain swirls through your body you jerk your head up and jam your horn into his throat.
You charge forward, tearing the pony's insides to ribbons before throwing him off. Your head throbs as you try to steady yourself and make your way down the hall. You slowly turn the knob and hobble your way in. You take two steps before feeling a searing pain in your side. You whip your head around and see a pony driving a knife through your side and into your kidneys. You scream as you fall to your side. You see the crazed pony, knife in teeth, ready to end your life. You cast your spell and are forced to relive the stabbing in reverse. Once outside the door again you don't use the knob, instead bucking the door of the hinges and charging in.
You slide in sideways and buck your hips at the air, meeting your target half way and sending their head into the drywall. You look over to them and see a blood stained pipe now exposed in the wall. You don't feel like you hit them hard enough to send them into the wall that hard. Your thoughts are cut off by screaming. You pick up the knife and duck into a bathroom.
"He's dead!" Somepony screams, "We're gonna find you, and when we do, we're gonna make you suffer like the last one!"
You hide in the shower and wait. Soon enough the door slams open, cracking the wall and revealing an angry looking stallion with sunglasses. You immediately don't like him, and thus, kicked the door back into him. His neck is quickly crushed between the door and the frame. You put all your weight into it as you slowly strangle the stallion with the door.
Eventually he goes limp, and as you let the door go he slumps to the floor. You look at the stallion a final time before kicking him in the face and shattering his glasses. It was stupid and spiteful but it felt good.
You peek out of the small room and see a stallion searching room by room. With his body half in and half out of a doorway you charge him, knocking into his flank and sending his head into the door frame. He sits dazed for a moment before finding a knife at his throat. You lean in close and stare at him.
"Easy! Easy!" He tries to claw away, you jerk him back in place with your magic and press the knife deeper into his flesh, "Hey- hey listen- hey no, hey! Upstairs!" He points a hoof to the roof, "They're keeping him upstairs." You slowly lean away from him, "Hey I helped you right? You're gonna let me go, right?" He smiles wide.
You start to contemplate what to do with him, cut off by a loud thud from behind. You pin the stallion with your foreleg and turn around. A pony wrapped up in a crazy outfit and a hat is staring at you. They stare at you for a moment before taking off.
You turn back to the stallion and slam his head into the door frame a few times. A small bit of blood coming from a cut tells you it's enough. You're not supposed to show mercy but it's hardly a mercy to rot away in a cell for years and years.
You run out of the room and give chase. You're undoubtedly headed to the same place, what ever that funky looking pony wants it's going to get in your way. You make it back to the stairs when you have to stop. The deep bass throbbing through the entire building was making your doubtless concussion all the worse. Headbutting ponies was a surefire way to keep them down but the toll it was taking on you was physically impairing.
Each heavy thud of the music, each step on the hardwood stairs, each rumble and vibration was making you nauseous. You feel like you're dying as you make it to the next floor. No guards. You decide to keep going.
You're half way up the next set when suddenly somepony started screaming as they tumbled down the stairs. You sidestep them as they bash their head on the steps. You fight through your growing headache and charge after the mystery pony.
You find a similar scene at the fifth floor, bodies strewn outside an apartment door. Screams and thuds resonating through the walls. This is it. You charge in and see a couple bodies strewn across the room. All unconscious. You hurry, going room from room until you run across a dead pony strapped to a chair. You know who this is, or rather was. The black dye was a dead giveaway.
So is this what you were here to do, if this was a rescue it was a failure, if this was about revenge then you aren't about to disappoint. You walk back into the main room and start slitting throats. One by one they went from asleep to dead as you cut their throats wide open.
You drive the knife into the last and give it a twist as you hear a low moan from another room. You don't bother pulling the knife out, instead charging off and slamming into the moaning door. You're instantly reminded of your ribs as you nearly buckle.
You stay standing just long enough to see the mystery pony hovering over a cream mare with a light blue striped mane bound on the floor. You move to fight them but they jump through a window. You rush over to the window, it's pitch black.
You turn to the mare on the ground. She is beautiful, young, very young. What in the name of the goddess was she doing here?
You decide it doesn't matter and levitate her onto your back, "No!" She kicks weakly, "No more...please."
You feel a sudden guilt as you carry her past the bodies and down the stairs. You manage to make it to the ground floor before falling to your knee. You limp outside and see where the pony had jumped, they must have been a pegasus because there was no way an earth or unicorn pony would have survived that.
Once again you try to focus, the music had left, but was replaced by a loud ringing as you were validated on your concussion thought. You do your best to hurry and carry the mare across the street and into the alley.
You slowly load her into your cart and grab your jacket, "Please just let me go, please...I'm sorry."
You want to say something, you wish you could. You feel at the scar on your throat before pulling the jacket on and hooking yourself to the cart.
You make sure the mare is still bound, you don't want her jumping out at full gallop. Not that she could, the way she was kicking it was obvious she was hurt in some way, maybe less hurt than you but still hurt enough that it would impair her.
You're going to have to skip your usual ritual and head straight home. You toss the mask in the back of the cart and hurry off.
You pull up and stash your cart. The mare didn't kick as you set her on your back. You hurry into your apartment and set the mare in your bed. You leave her bound as you take a shower. You feel your actual appearance might be a bit more comforting than the blood stained nightmare you are right now.
Once clean you hurry and find the mare whimpering. You find a pair of scissors and start cutting her free. You leave her eyes covered as you run into your kitchen and find a glass of water. You hold it against her lip. She purses them and tried to pull away, "No!" She whips her head back and forth at the contact. You hold her head still and slowly tip the glass until the water makes contact.
She realizes what it is and opens her mouth. You let her head go as you slowly water her. She finishes gasping for air, "Thank- you- thank you so much."
You smile, once again wishing you could speak. You pull a sheet over her and get on top of her, unsure of what she might do when her vision is returned you don't want her wrecking your apartment. You levitate the scissors to the back of her head and snip the cloth blindfold. You throw it away and set the scissors aside.
Your mind goes blank as two bright cyan eyes blink hazily at you. Her mouth hangs open, you quickly cover it with a hoof. You put some weight on her as you force your other hoof to your mouth. You wait until she nods, then slowly remove your hoof. You wait until she's had some time to look around, and once it's apparent she's not going to move you step off the bed.
"I was...the ponies...then...who are you?" She muttered hazily. You open your mouth to speak, a useless gesture that immediately reminds you of your stupid agreement. She stares at you for an answer. You get flustered before pointing to your throat, a thin scar running up your throat.
She takes a moment before nodding, "Well I..." She goes to move, immediately crumpling back down on her left back leg. She shrieks as she tumbles back to the bed. You hurry forward and pin her down. Once she's resubdued you slowly lift up the sheet and take a look at her leg. It's badly bruised and swollen, but nothing appears to be broken, "It hurts!"
You look at her and nod, you point at her, then to the bed, then make a sleeping gesture. She takes a moment to process it, "Stay here, sleep here? I don't even know where here is!" She starts growing afraid as she kicks her leg. You can see tears forming up at the edge of her eyes. You can't take it. You move to the edge of the bed and pull her against you.
She takes a moment before wrapping a hoof around your back and holding on tight. She chants her fear over and over again as you try to calm her down. After several minutes she seems to calm down, "They'll come for you..." She mumbles, "If they find out you took me...they'll come for you."
You look at her, the thought of the ponies you've killed crosses your mind. You shake your head hard, "Yes they will!"
You stomp your hoof hard and shake your head again. You stare at her for a long time, eventually breaking eye contact and feeling a surge of pain throb in your head, "They will come, I know it." You turn to her in a mix of pain and anger. You charge over to her and grab her by the shoulders, you shake her hard before staring at her. Once you've got her complete attention you mouth the words, "If they do, they die."
She finally realizes the depth of your communications and stares at you, "You...you're a bad pony?" You cringe and look away, you look her dead in the eyes and nod, "Then why'd you help me."
There's a long pause as you let her go and turn away. You never thought you would regret losing your voice so much, but this was agony. She look at her a final time before pointing at the bed. You walk out and spend the rest of the night sitting at your kitchen table in the dark.
You think saving her makes you better? It doesn't, nothing will change what you are, a killer, a killer pony. That's all you'll ever be is a killer, a murder, a monster, a nightmare!