Deadspace: Nova's Tale

Chapters

New Friends?
Alone
No escaping the past

New Friends?

Edited by: donald trump card
Chapter 1: New Friends?

After the unicorns had discovered there are planets other than Equestria beyond their vision through the use of newer, magically enchanted telescopes it didn’t take the pegasi long to break out of the pull of Equestria. Driven by their own curiosity and promises of untold riches they had managed to reach the outer limits of Equestria years before anyone had predicted.

Joining unicorn magic and science with earth pony intuition and engineering the land bound ponies soon followed the pegasi in ships that as time went on became progressively larger and larger. The largest of the ships, Flying Cities, were able to carry nearly entire populations of cities into space.

However a new planet hadn’t actually been reached until Twilight Sparkle had found a way to amplify teleportation spells through large generators, allowing ships to move over distances that would take years in a matter of seconds. Because very few ponies actually knew teleportation spells, the spell had to be stored for later use. Thus spell batteries were born. Since unicorns weren’t required to cast teleport spells, ships could now be mass produced. Now the ponies of Equestria had solved two problems, breaking from the grip of Equestria, and reaching worlds unfathomable distances away, but one still remained.

The void of space was dangerous to ponies, as the first pegasi to leave Equestria soon learned, the ships would have no use if nopony could step outside them to explore. This is where the earth ponies stepped in. The RIG (Resource Integration Gear) was the gift of the earth ponies to the rest of Equestria. Integrating the spell batteries on a much smaller level the earth ponies were able to tap into their power and use it to make suits almost as intricate as the ships themselves.

Soon colonies began surfacing on the planets with the most abundant amount of resources. Flying cities were soon being repurposed and linked together to form massive stations on planets quickly and efficiently. This provided the ponies with a base of operations while away from Equestria, and to some it became a safe haven, a permanent home.

Knowing almost nothing about what was actually out there ponies started filling in the gaps with stories, some telling of planets made of gemstones, others of other planets filled with ponies just like us. After a research team completely vanished, new ideas of what was out there surfaced. These stories weren’t as nice, the gruesome creatures some ponies came up with made an ursa major seem like your best friend.

Taking every precaution to ensure that no more ponies were lost Celestia ordered the unicorns and earth ponies to add some form of protection to the RIG. Upon further research the earth ponies had done their best to armor the suit, but some parts had to be left unarmored to allow for limbs to bend to their fullest extent. The earth ponies refused to sacrifice mobility for protection, in the field ponies needed to be quick and operate efficiently.

The unicorns came up with something a lot more sinister. They created the first energy weapons. A rather ingenious design again made possible by spell batteries. The weapons themselves were folded up on both sides of a pony, behind the helmet a pony was able to deploy, and fire them with a mechanism that fit easily into the mouth of the pony. To ensure that the shots were accurate the unicorns used the same technology the holographic projectors used on the weapons to produce small beams of light in front of the pony, highlighting the path of the shots. The suit handled reloading the weapons with a rather ingenious design. The suit held a certain number of clips that were loaded into slots easily reachable on the breast of the suit, one slot for each gun, this allowed for ponies to carry two different weapons if they chose, variety is the spice of death after all. The clips in the suit were automatically cycled into the weapons as the empty ones were ejected. The earth ponies even integrated an ammo counter into the helmet’s HUD. Celestia was hesitant for lack of a better word to produce such dangerous weapons. It wasn’t until Luna promised to implement rigorous safety training for the weapons, and to personally oversee them that Celestia agreed.

At least that’s what I remember from school, I wasn’t a clever pony and rarely paid attention to history. I was more interested in the future, I always found myself fascinated by the newest technology. When I got my cutie mark (a computer with what looked like infinite possibilities on the screen) I thought I was destined to be great, an inventor, an engineer, or even entrepreneur.

But no, I was stuck on a planet jokingly named Nightmare-Moon by Celestia. More specifically I was trapped on Eclipse station, the largest space colony in existence, with the glorious task of being the spell battery repair pony. I don’t know why they have an official position for this, these damned things almost never break, and they’re so simple to repair everypony should know how to do it. In my three years here I’ve had to fix maybe two batteries. I would quit but there are virtually no openings anywhere else that fit my skill set. After all the strings my uncle had to pull to get me this job I knew he would be furious if he found out I quit. So for now I was Nova, spell battery repair pony.

I admit, I was never without something to do, my work days were always full, but goddess was it boring. I often found myself working through breaks to make sure every spell battery got checked, in the off chance that one was malfunctioning. Even with the most boring job under Celestia’s sweet sun I refused to allow myself to be blamed for power going out for anypony in my sector.

The worst and most time consuming part of my day was when anypony wanted to go outside the station or come back in I had to be called down to check the spell batteries on their RIGs before they left, and again when they came back. Usually I don’t mind doing this, after all it is for their safety, but when I’m crammed behind a generator with a mouthful of tools I get a little mad when I’m expected to drop everything I’m doing so somepony can go out and explore this goddess forsaken rock.

Today was no different, as I was in the medical bay stuck behind a generator in a space so small my RIG couldn’t even fold out the Industrial Severing Cannon (ISC) I’m supposed to use to open up the latch with a miniature one in my mouth straining to reach the final lock static came from my radio, followed by a familiar but unwanted voice.

“Where’s my spell battery pony?” the voice questioned “I wanna go outside and do my job, unlike somepony.”

“Whatever Orbit” I responded, spitting out my ISC. What I wouldn’t give to be a unicorn. “I’m heading to the airlock now.” I said, trotting towards the tram, if I could get there before it left then I could save at least 10 minutes, if I missed it I’d be hoofing it to the airlock.

Luck wasn’t on my side, as I sprinted to try and beat out the closing doors I skidded to a stop, the tram slowly moving away. With a long sigh I turned towards the airlock and began walking slowly. Why don’t they have a unicorn to check the batteries I thought to myself? It would be ten times easier than me crawling behind every generator. Probably because nopony is as desperate for a job as I am I concluded as I turned the corner to be met by a pony in a dark blue RIG.

“About damn time” Orbit joked.”

“You know, the worse you treat me the slower I’m going to work” I warned, as I slowed my trot down to a crawl.

“Then you can explain to the Director why I’m not out there finding anything.” He retorted, unamused by my antics.

“So tell me have you ever actually found anything out there? Or do you goof off as much out there as you do in here?” I questioned as I opened the slot on Orbit’s flank, examining the glowing battery. Orbit remained silent, staring at the airlock. Clearly he didn’t have a comeback. After Twilight Sparkle herself had discovered an artifact of some sort about a month ago in an area Orbit had already “searched” he never talked about his findings to anypony. “Your battery’s all set, I’ll see you in two hours” I finally said, breaking the awkward silence.

“Actually I upgraded my RIG” Orbit bragged, probably beaming under his helmet. “I’ve almost doubled the amount of oxygen it can store, so I’ll be seeing you in four.”

“Alright four hours then, maybe I’ll actually have some free time today.” I replied, for once I was legitimately impressed with Orbit.

“Not if you stay here talking to me Nova, now be a good little mare and go back to checking batteries.” Orbit chided, stepping into the airlock.

“I’m a year older than you.” I reminded Orbit as the door to the airlock swung shut behind him.

Walking back to the generator I decided to take a detour through the stores. As I walked through food stall after food stall I couldn’t help myself I had to grab something to eat. I looked up and saw advertisements for the two opposing food giants here on Eclipse, the “world famous” Flim Flam brothers and Sweet Apple Acres. I finally decided to pick up some apple fritters from Sweet Apple Acres, their prices were always cheaper (and Applejack was a lot cuter than Flim or Flam). I sat down at one of the tables right out in front of the store, A large cutout of Applejack immediately behind me and began to enjoy my first break in months.

I sat there enjoying the rest, I almost never had time for things like this, my days usually consisted of: work, eat, sleep, repeat. I’ve never had much of a social life, the only pony I ever really talked to past a simple hello was Orbit. As I bent down to pick up the last bite of fritter I heard a gentle voice ask “excuse me ma’am, do ya know where the Celestia quarter is?”

“It’s over by the Director’s building, about a 3 hour wa......” As I looked up I nearly had to pick my jaw up off the table. In front of me was an orange mare with a blonde mane, just starting to grey. Quickly I checked the cutout, comparing it to the mare in front of me. They couldn’t be the same person, but every time I checked behind and in front of me I was met by the same face, I almost lost track of who was real and who was the cutout.

“Yes, sugarcube it’s me, in tha flesh.” Applejack chuckled as I stopped turning my head back and forth. “So where’s this Director’s building ya was talkin’ about?”

“It...It’s back that way” I said pointing a hoof towards the airlock, still trying to get over the fact I was talking to THE Applejack. “Once you get to the past the..... the school hang a left th... then it’s just a straight walk to the Celestia quarter-you can’t miss it..” I could barely form coherent sentences.

“And how far away is tha school?” Applejack questioned.

“About a two hour walk, and another hour till you reach the Celestia quarter once you take the turn.” I said beginning to get slightly more comfortable talking.

Applejack frowned, “Ah didn’t think this place would be so big, they really should have maps somewhere.”

It was clear Applejack was new here, her lack of a RIG was a bigger giveaway than her being lost. “Actually all RIGS have a navigation function built into them, you should really consider picking one up.” I said, feeling proud to have done my good deed for the day.

Almost immediately Applejack snapped back “Ah ain’t givin them Flim Flam wahoos a single bit!” The sudden change in her demeanor caused me to cringe a little. I knew she and Flim Flam were competitors but I didn’t know how strongly she felt about them. “Ah’m sorry, for snappin at ya like that. I shouldn’t ‘ave expected ya to know me an’ Flim Flam ain’t exactly on speakin’ terms.” Applejack said, sensing my unease.

“It’s ok I really shouldn’t for...” I begun to apologize only to be interrupted.

“No no, ah shouldn’t be takin out mah anger on ya, ah truly am sorry sugarcube,” Applejack said, quite apologetically. “Ah’ll make it up to ya somehow. Would ya mind showing me where ah’m goin’, if’n ya have the time that is? Ah was never good with directions.” Applejack added, a smile washing over her face.

I thought about this for a short while. I had to be back in time to get Orbit, and I still had batteries to check, this once in a lifetime opportunity probably wasn’t going to happen. On the other hand it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, how could I possibly pass up such a thing? “Sure, I’m not busy,” I lied, “I have time.”

Applejack had been prepared to a long walk only to be pleasantly surprised when I told her that we could take a tram all the way to the school, cutting a two hour walk down into a 10 minute ride. On the tram we shared the typical things anypony shared when meeting a new friend (I assumed, I wasn’t really sure I’ve never had much practice talking to ponies). The stories of our family, our current lives, our friends (or friend for me), and the story of our cutie marks.

We stepped off the train almost directly in front of the school, I checked the enormous clock hanging directly above the school, it was nearly 3:00. Oh no I thought we have to get out of here, and quick. As the clock was about to strike 3:00 I turned to Applejack and told her “Get ready” with a grin on my face.

“Fer what?” She asked, quite confused.

Here we go I thought as the bell rang and children of all ages rushed out of the school, surrounding me and my newfound companion. Applejack was taken completely by surprise, and nearly fell over when being bumped into continuously by filly after filly. “Woah nelly!” She called out as her legs were swept out from under her.

As quickly as the wave of children had appeared they were gone, off to get their daily dose of fun. Laughing quietly I picked up Applejack’s hat and handed it to her as she dusted herself off. “This is why ah like Ponyville,” she scoffed “Only 15 fillies ah gotta worry about when they git out.”

Still chuckling to myself I told her “you get used to it, c’mon we’re almost there,” I said, looking down the long hallway that eventually led to the Celestia quarter, motioning for Applejack to follow.

As we walked on I slowly began to run out of things to talk about, I had already been over my social life, my family, I had nothing left. I really was a boring pony. Applejack however, seemed to have plenty of stories to make up for my lack thereof. The more we walked, the less I talked and the more I listened to Applejack’s monologue. To be wise, one must think of something stupid, and then not say it

Applejack noticed my retreat from the conversation and she tried her best to pull me back in. She was finally successful when she swallowed her pride and asked about her rivals most popular item: RIGs. “So what’s that doo’hickey on yer back there fer?” She finally asked.

I shot her a puzzled glance, did she actually want to know? Or was she tired of hearing her own voice? I didn’t care, I finally had something to say after 20 minutes of silence. “It’s a display of my general health, it’s on every RIG. It allows everypony around to quickly check how you’re doing.” I told her.

“Ah see, and what about all them fancy lights on your legs there?” She said, pointing to my forehooves.

“Those are hologram projectors, they let you have a video conference with anypony who also has a RIG, it’s the only way you can talk to somepony across the station,” I responded. “Not only that but they also show what’s in my saddlebag, and how much of a charge I have left on my ISC, along with other little things like time, direction, and stuff like that” I added.

“An’ what exactly is an ISC?” Applejack asked, still eyeing the tool.

Checking my surroundings to make sure nopony would notice I folded out the one thing I held nearest and dearest to my heart, Isaac(pulling out a dangerous tool in the middle of the station was frowned upon, I can’t imagine why). Showing it to Applejack I saw her green eyes widened in amazement as she looked over the tool, her eyes then followed the beam of light projected from it. “It stands for Industrial Severing Cannon,” I told her, “it’s the tool to use for cutting and welding. I’ve had him since I was a filly. It can cut through pretty much anything here on Eclipse given enough time.” I couldn’t help but grin. I loved this little cannon. I spent hours every day taking it apart, cleaning it and delicately putting it back together. I took the time to personalize it, I hoof painted my cutie mark onto the side of it, and changed it from a dull grey to a more eye pleasing maroon. I had modified everything on it both internally and externally. I can guarantee I had the most powerful, reliable, and best looking ISC on Eclipse. However after being transferred from construction to spell battery detail, I’ve never had a chance to use Isaac like it should be, and it was nearly killing me inside.

“An just where do ya put the... er, magic in?” The orange mare looked at me quizzically. I slid open the rectangular slot on the front of my RIG and pressed down on one of the small batteries held inside, and popped it out for Applejack to get a closer look. I pressed the clip back into my RIG and closed up the slot with a satisfying click and looked back up at Applejack.

“Ah” was all she said, followed by a quick nod. Before I could say anything she quickly followed up with another question, “What’s that contraption around yer neck?”

I demonstrated how the suit’s helmet was folded up around my neck, and explained that it made life easier for us less magically inclined ponies.

“Anything else you want to know?” I couldn’t help but beam. I felt proud to be able to show off my knowledge.

“One last thing,” she told me. “What’cha mean when ya said a navigation system?”

“Oh that?” I said while lifting a hoof, A blue trail of light appeared on the ground, vanishing in the distance down the hallway. “A simple design, hold your hoof up for a short while to activate it, then it highlights the path to whatever destination you set.” Applejack was speechless, clearly impressed. I was about to ask her if she needed help picking her jaw up off the floor before she finally said, “Ah never thought ah’d be considerin buying somethin Flim or Flam came up with, but ah think ah’m gonna have to make an exception.” I was shocked, if I were her I would never admit to being impressed with my rivals merchandise. I’d sooner lie.

“Well, here we are, the Celestia quarter,” I stated as we pulled up to what resembled a small town, a tribute to Celestia in the shape of her cutie mark adorned the largest building in the center.

I turned back the way we had came, planning to leave Applejack to whatever it was she came to Eclipse to do when I heard “umm, where ya goin? Yer not just gonna leave like that are ya? I still have to introduce ya to Twilight.”

“Oh... I-uh thought that once we got here we’d go our separate ways” I admitted, avoiding Applejacks gaze. I checked the clock again, I had a hour and a half until I needed to let Orbit back in, plenty of time. “Allright,” I told her, “where’s Celestia’s star student?” As soon as I said that I had the sudden urge to facehoof. Applejack didn’t say anything but I could hear her trying her best to not crack up as she turned to head towards the building with the huge tribute to Celestia on it. On the upside my red coat and RIG hid my blushing well. Soon I was face to face with the mare responsible for me being on Eclipse station, (no not my mother) Twilight Sparkle.

“Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed as we stepped into her office, “what.... How did you get here?”

“Well ah’ sure didn’t spread mah wings and fly up here mah’self.” Applejack said jokingly. “And to answer yer first question ah wanted to congratulate ya on yer new job in person.”

I could see Twilight begin to blush, “Applejack you didn’t have to go through all this trouble.”

“To be honest ah had to get away from the farm for a spell, Applebloom and her friends were drivin’ me crazy.” Applejack sure is.... open about her personal life, I could never be that truthful to somepony I thought in quiet contemplation. As Applejack and Twilight continued their conversation I started to pay less and less attention and started thinking more about myself.

I checked the time again, I only had an hour and ten minutes before Orbit would be waiting for me in the airlock. Why did I come here, I’m so far behind in work I’m going to be up all night making up for lost time. Do I even have enough time to get back to Orbit? He’s not going to be very happy waiting in the airlock for me to finish my “date” with Applejack.

My train of thought was derailed when I laid my eyes upon the artifact Twilight had uncovered about a month ago. I couldn’t explain what I was feeling being in its presence, it felt like the artifact was emitting rhythmic pulses every few seconds, but they were ever so faint I hadn’t noticed them until I focused on it. Beyond the physical level I felt like something inside of me wasn’t right, it was almost as if my soul was being twisted, to match the shape of the artifact, turning me into something I didn’t want to be.

“I see you’ve found the Marker” Twilight said, breaking me out of my trance.

“Is that what you’ve decided to call it?” I asked, still feeling uneasy about being in its presence.

“Well, I haven’t found any use for it yet other than a paperweight, and Paperweight isn’t as good of a name as Marker.”

“Makes sense,” I reasoned “have you really gotten nowhere with it?” I said, hoping to take my mind off the pulses I kept feeling.

“Nothing yet, I was just about to start testing how it reacts to spells, but Spike ran off somewhere earlier today and I don’t want to start without him nearby to record the results.” Twilight explained

“Just like im’ ta run off when yer about ta put im’ ta work” Applejack said, almost at the same time as I was about to ask who Spike was. “Might aswell go find im’.”

That was probably the best idea I’ve heard all day, I felt more uncomfortable being near the Marker than I did talking to ponies. I’ve never wanted to get out of a room so badly in my life, I started heading toward the door hoping Applejack and Twilight would follow me while saying, “So where do we start?”

“He’s probably off somewhere eating, we might as well check the food stalls first.” Twilight said with a sigh, “He’s always eating.”

After searching every food stall, store, outlet, cart, and shop in the Celestia quarter at least twice Spike was nowhere to be seen. “If he’s not eating then where else could he be?” I asked.

“Spike’s always eating.” Twilight said, sounding deeply concerned, “it’s not like him to disappear without telling me where he’s going.” She sounded a bit scared now.

“It’s alright Twi.” Applejack said, comforting Twilight. “We’ve only been searching fer a little over an hour, and there’s still a lota places he could be, we’ll find im’.”

AN HOUR! Oh Luna no, don’t tell me she’s right!. I quickly pulled up the clock on my RIG only to have what Applejack said confirmed. How could I have forgotten about Orbit? He’s going to kill me! Or worse, he’ll tell the Director and I’ll be fired. I’m going to lose my job, my home, my savings, everything. Then he’ll kill me.

“Hate to abandon you guys but I have an emergency I need to tend to!” I yelled over my shoulder as I started sprinting back towards the school. With my legs burning and chest heaving I finally reached the school, and didn’t stop running until I reached the tram platform only to see it begin to pull away from the station. “Oh come on, can’t I catch a break just once!” I yelled out stomping my hoof. Everypony nearby turned their heads, there must have been at least 30 pairs of eyes staring at me. I really wanted to swear, it took all my self restraint to hold it back, I had never been one for swearing, and I hadn’t planned to start now.

Not thinking because of my panic and all the stress I bolted off towards the airlock, the tram would be back in twenty minutes, and the run to the airlock would take me at least an hour. I’ve never ran so fast, or for so long in my life. My lungs felt like they were about to explode and my legs were sure to give out soon. I paid no attention to them though, my thoughts were elsewhere. I even ignored all the strange looks everypony was giving me as I ran by. As I pulled up to the airlock I was on the verge of tears. “I’m so sorry Orbit!” I said between sobs, “please don’t be mad! I’ll make it up to you I promise!”

I had been warned about what would happen if I opened the airlock door when it wasn’t pressurized. It wasn’t my job to do it, that was done inside the airlock, but I was trained to check it every time, it was rule number one for Celestia’s sake. However teary eyed, on the verge of passing out from both a panic attack and exhaustion it slipped my mind. I pressed the button to open the door, and the force I felt was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I was sucked into the airlock and thrown against the back wall, slamming my head against it. The sharp pain in the back of my skull soon became an unbearable pain that engulfed my entire head. Lying on the floor, my vision blurred by a combination of being on the verge of passing out and blood in my eyes I saw the corpse of Orbit. His blue RIG was colored sanguine with his own blood, the floor around him was the same way. If he was that bad what condition was I in? Is this how I die? I tried to look back at Orbit and call out to him, but nothing came out of my mouth and I saw two Orbits begin to dance around my vision. As my vision began to fade I thought I had caught sight of Orbit’s dismembered leg beside me. I had never seen anything so revolting in my life, I felt the sudden need to vomit, but my vision went black and I lost consciousness before I ever had the chance.

Alone

Chapter 2: Alone

I was freezing, never in my entire life have I ever been this uncomfortably cold. I tried to open my eyes but my battered body resisted, after a short struggle and a fit from adjusting my eyes to the light I was greeted with a sight that seemed straight out of a nightmare. I was surrounded by ponies, each one unmoving and strapped into a gurney. Even more were stuffed into tubes and frozen. It took a while to realize where I was, I was trapped in the morgue. All around me lay dead ponies. I tried to jump back, to put some distance between me and the dead, but I was strapped down like all the others. Damnit I hate being in these. I bit my tongue, almost drawing blood. Nova! You know better than to swear!

The sickening sound of rending flesh, followed by horrific screaming tore me out of my inner monologue. I turned my head just in time to see sharp blades painfully tear out of the bottom of the front hooves of a beige pony, covering the gurney in black blood. The pony’s mouth twisted in what looked like agonizing pain mixed with bloodlust. The expression soon faded as it’s mouth soon split apart into four separate sections. The... Creature, in addition to the necromantic screaming had begun flailing its bladed arms not unlike a dying insect, attempting to break out of the gurney.

Panic set in and I began to do the same. I didn’t have sharpened appendages, but I did have experience. After a few minutes of squirming I had managed to free myself and slowly began to pick my way past mutilated body after mutilated body. I had been suppressing the urge to vomit at the gore ever since I regained consciousness, I couldn’t hold it anymore. I heaved repeatedly, the foul taste of bile staining my mouth. I picked up the pace and hurried past the flailing abomination and away from dead.

As I began walking up the stairs to the reception room of the morgue I decided to go back and put the creature out of its misery, it was a pony before this after all (or at least it looked that way), and it didn’t need to suffer more. I braved the frigid temperatures and the sight of dead ponies once more to do (what I thought was) a service to a pony I barely knew. I pulled the firing mechanism for Isaac into my mouth, which should have deployed him. I didn’t hear the satisfying sound of a capacitor charging, and the vibrant blue light didn’t appear, only a disheartening click followed by an error buzz from my RIG. I glanced at my side in horror, Isaac was missing! “Isaac! Where are you!” I called out, half expecting an answer.

I bolted back up the stairs, the only thing I cared about was finding Isaac. I was running down a hallway when a dark blue RIG turned the corner in front of me. I galloped over to him, glad to see somepony else alive. Only to be returned to my nightmare when I noticed this pony had the same bladed hooves as the one downstairs. The creature’s neck was broken and dangling. It was also missing a leg and moved very slow, dragging itself forward using only its front legs. The realization hit me like a train, that creature was Orbit!

Tears had begun to form in my eyes as I mouthed the words, “I’m so sorry Orbit.” Orbit seemed to respond with a low grunt, as he continued crawling towards me. He blocked my only exit, and I knew his intentions were to kill. As he got within reach of me I did the only thing I could do. Swallowing the fear building up inside of me I turned around, closed my eyes, and bucked as hard as I could. This merely staggered Orbit, but I didn’t stop with one buck, I brought my hooves down on what used to be his head over, and over, and over again, each hit emitting a sickening crunch. I cried a little harder with every stomp. Each time I struck Orbit I was hurt emotionally as much, if not more than he should have been physically. I didn’t stop until he had been turned into a bloody paste. I first looked at my blood stained hooves, regret taking hold of me. I then turned around and looked at what had been Orbit, feelings of dread and remorse washed over me as I broke down, crying uncontrollably. Up until I met Applejack, Orbit had been my only friend, and I had killed him twice in the course of a day. At least I thought it had been a day, I pulled up my clock to see that I had been out for over 4 hours, I should be well into my work day.

Wiping tears out of my eyes I continued on my way. I had no idea where I was going, what I was doing, what was going on, where everypony went, or if there was a way out of here. I had begun piecing together a shoddy plan that would surprise me more if it worked than if it led to a horrible death.

As I reached the reception room I found the corpse of a sage unicorn slumped over the receptionists desk. Burn marks from an ISC could be seen all over the desk and on the walls surrounding the room, clearly this pony had gone down fighting. As I trotted past I caught glimpse of a maroon object lodged into the skull of one of those creatures that lay dead beside the unicorn. I knew that maroon anywhere. Letting out a small squee I rushed over to Isaac, ignoring the mutilated and disgusting creature in front of me. I wrapped my mouth around him and pulled, dislodging him from the skull of the creature. I should have been at least slightly hindered from putting my mouth near such a revolting mass of blood stained skin, but seeing Isaac pushed the thought out of my mind. As I put Isaac back in his rightful place by my side I couldn’t help but expressing my joy for finding him again. “It’s good to have you back. I’m never going to lose you like that again.” I said, as I nuzzled him, not caring about the black blood I was smearing on my cheek. I had begun to open the exit when I couldn’t help but feel anger towards the sage unicorn. She had abused Isaac, almost breaking him in the process of lodging it in one of those creatures skulls. I couldn’t help myself, as rage welled up inside of me I aimed Isaac at the corpse of the unicorn and fired one retribution shot into the lifeless body.

As I walked out of the building into the labyrinth that was Eclipse I checked my saddlebags, as I suspected the unicorn had taken everything of use from me. Which wasn’t much but it still bothered me all the same. I was now stuck with barely any batteries for Isaac and who knows how many of those creatures running around.

Twilight was basically a celebrity here, she had to be well protected. Hopefully I could convince her to extend that protection to me. However the morgue was even further away from the Celestia quarter than the airlock was, I put my pathetic excuse of a plan into action and began walking toward the Celestia quarter, preparing for the long trek ahead of me.

At least that’s what I thought, with everypony gone, and nearly every building I’ve seen so far destroyed, looted, or swarming with creatures. I had assumed the trams lost power. This however, wasn’t the case. I began trotting over to the parked tram, glad to be able to cut my travel time down considerably. As I was about to board the tram the doors slid shut right in front of my face, as if to mock me. “Well.... Fuck.” I said aloud. The little voice in my head nagged Nova! You need to stop swearing, remember your morals! But lately I’ve begun to pay it less and less attention, morals don’t mean as much when societies been destroyed. I bucked the tram as it pulled away from the station. I’m going to ride one of these things eventually, even if it kills me.

I had decided to take a detour back to my apartment, if those things came from dead ponies I’m going to need to prepare for the worst. Waiting in the elevator was agonizing, I was pressed into a corner out of the fear of one of those things breaking through the ceiling. After what seemed like an eternity I had finally made it to the 5th floor. I hopped out of the elevator and quickly scanned my surroundings, the lights had gone out on this level and the only light available was from the window at the end of the hallway which displayed a placid scene of the void of space. I clicked on the light I had attached to Isaac, but the beam flickered out almost as soon as I had turned it on, it had been damaged when the unicorn lodged it into the creature’s skull. I crouched low and began walking slowly, constantly checking my surroundings and listening for anything that wasn’t a pony.

I slid open the door to my apartment to see that it was exactly as I had left it, books everywhere except the bookshelf , the bed unmade, papers scattered across the floor, and my tools dispersed across my work bench. As I walked into my back room to check my safe I noticed it was already unlocked. Somepony had gone through my things! I swung the door open expecting to find all my bits, ISC batteries, and bio gel to be gone. However that was not the case, the only things missing were my bits and the few vials of bio gel I bothered to keep around. The batteries had been left untouched, and the thief was kind enough to leave one vial behind. I began filling my RIG and saddlebag with ISC batteries, when they were nearly full I glanced at the lone bio gel, weighing the option to bring it with me. If I bring it then that’s less batteries and less shots for Isaac. If I’m careful I won’t need it, I should leave it for somepony else. I filled my saddlebag the rest of the way with more batteries. My saddlebag was rather small, I could only hold 5 batteries but it’s better than none.

I heard a necromantic groan as an abomination wandered into my apartment. I jumped out around the corner to meet my foe, Isaac ready to fire. The creature had learned how to stand on two legs, the bladed forelegs now held in the air pointed at me. Before I could fire the creature charged me, out of a panicked reaction I shot the creature square in the chest. Black blood exploded out of the wound as it let out a screech of pain and stumbled crashing into the wall beside me, still alive and trying to kill me. Putting four more shots straight into it finally caused it to slump over motionless. Breathing heavily I took a second to collect myself, then started slowly stepping over the lifeless body. The creature sprang back to life, wrapping its bladed forelegs around me, pulling me closer to its mouth. As I was pulled face to face with it I slid behind the safety of my helmet and tried as best I could to push away. As I pushed against the creature its bladed forelegs dug into my back, causing me to yelp in pain. Isaac folded out once more and I unloaded 3 shots directly into the creatures razor sharp mouth, exploding its head. The body went lifeless and the blades loosened their grip. I threw the lifeless corpse off of me and walked back to the safe, I downed the foul tasting mixture that was bio gel and the wounds on my back slowly began to stop bleeding. They wouldn’t fully heal, or stop hurting for a while, but at least they weren’t bleeding. Three new rules I thought to myself Decapitation is better than body shots, double tap, and shoot the ever living fuck out of them. They like to get back up.

Back on the ground level I took a quick glance around, in the distance I could see those demonic creatures wandering aimlessly. They were too far away to pay me any attention, and I did the same for them. I saw the tram begin to pull into the station again and this time I made sure I wasn’t going to miss it. I made it into the tram with plenty of time to spare, I danced around victoriously while waiting for the doors to close, and I gave the tram a revenge buck, cracking one of the windows. I told you I was going to ride you, even if it kills me!

The tram set off towards the Celestia quarter and I took a seat to enjoy the 30 minute break I had until I reached my destination. The moment I let my guard down and dropped my helmet to get comfortable a window behind me exploded. I quickly spun around and was face to face with another one of those creatures. Like the other one it was standing on two hooves. Also like the other one it sprinted towards me, bladed arms flailing. I slid behind the safety of my helmet once more and began to unload at the creature with Isaac.

BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!

I had fired three shots at the creature, two striking its leg dismembering it. The other hitting it square in the chest. As the creature fell it emitted an ear splitting howl, and the body went limp. I shot it again but it didn’t react, it had died almost immediately after losing its leg. Apparently dismembering them kills them faster than shooting where vital organs should be. I didn’t question this realization however, at least now I could save ammo. Just in time too, three more windows exploded in a hail of sharp shards of glass, two in front of me and one behind. I quickly fired at the legs of the two in front of me, missing my first shot but my next four finding home in the legs of the two creatures. They both howled in pain and dropped to the floor, I spun around just in time to see the last creature swinging a bladed hoof at me. I jumped back, but not fast enough to completely avoid the strike. The blade embedded itself in my helmet piercing far enough to cut a gash uncomfortably close to my eye. I twisted in pain and was partially blinded, my left eye forced shut. Isaac fired blindly at the arm of the creature dismembering it but not killing the creature. As the creature wound up to swing again Isaac had dismembered its other arm, this time it slumped over, lifeless.

After a short struggle I had managed to dislodge the dismembered blade from my helmet. Blood was freely flowing from cut over my eye. My helmet was useless now since the strike had caused it to lose power, it no longer displayed any status monitors such as time, ammo, inventory, location, and to make it worse the visor was blank and cracked so seeing out of it was impossible. I dropped the safety of the helmet again and saw that the two creatures at the front of the tram weren’t dead, and still crawling towards me. I soon fixed this as both of them lay decapitated. The top of Isaac slid back, and with a click the depleted battery popped out, and my RIG cycled a new one in.

The tram begin to gain altitude and travel over buildings now. Below I could see what used to be the central hub of Eclipse, it was where everypony went for shopping, eating, and socializing. It was always crowded at every point in the day, but now it was a ghost town. Small fires, broken glass, and dead bodies littered the hub. I had never been lucky enough to spend time in the hub, but I had heard that it was always fun, only now I’ll never have the chance to find out.

I was overcome by a touch of sadness, but that feeling didn’t last long, a loud thud brought me back to reality. A creature had landed on the roof and was now attempting to cut its way into the tram, only it wasn’t only slicing the roof apart, it was also slicing the connection to the rail. I looked up with my good eye to kill the creature before it dislodged the tram, but I couldn’t see it, let alone get a clear shot. With a loud snap the tram was now in freefall, but not for long as it soon crashed on the roof of one of the tallest buildings on Eclipse. I was thrown around the tram throughout the entire fall.

Dazed I got to my feet as the tram slid closer and closer to the edge of the building. I lept out one of the many broken windows as my helmet enveloped my head (safety first!). After tumbling violently I finally came to a rest safely on the top of a high end apartment building. The tram slid off of the building, taking the creature on top with it, a satisfying explosion ensued as the large spell batteries powering the tram released all of the magic contained inside in one short burst, incinerating the tram, the creature, and anything else nearby. “When I said ‘even if it kills me’, I didn’t mean it as a challenge!” I yelled aloud at nopony in particular, but it felt good to voice my frustration.

I sat on my haunches catching my breath as I attempted to wipe the blood out of my eye, but it kept flowing. The only thing I succeeded in doing was staining my grey RIG red. Slowly but surely I was being broken down, my back still hurt from the first creature, and after the tumble from the tram the rest of my body felt just as bad. I got up and moved towards the door to get off the roof, but my body protested with every step. I was too weak to buck the door open, so I let Isaac do the work for me. The lock melted from the heat of the magic bolt, and the force of the shot threw the door open, breaking one of the hinges. I had been in this building checking its spell batteries before, it was right next to the airlock and one of the more important buildings on Eclipse. Only the richest ponies could afford to live here, now it was deserted and filthier than my own apartment.

After clearing two floors looking for anything to stop the growing pain throughout my body, and the blood pouring from my eye I concluded the building was deserted. I had yet to see signs of anypony or any of those creatures. I made my way into the buildings medical bay expecting everything to be looted and destroyed, which was partially true. The entire bay had been cleared of anything useful, the only thing untouched was the lone safe near the end of the bay. Walking was beginning to get more and more difficult, I slowly made my way over to the safe and fell against it, using it to support my weight.

The lock required both a numerical combination and a password, neither of which I had. I spent all of five minutes trying as many combinations as I can until I finally gave up. Fuck this I thought. The voice in my head didn’t bother saying anything this time. Isaac’s spell battery charged as it folded out. I fired at the safe, a small circle of red appeared where the shot had hit. Several shots later the small circle had nearly consumed the entire front of the safe. What was left of the door swung open revealing the contents of the safe. Inside the safe had been an obscene amount of bio gel vials, but in my carelessness I had melted most of them, bio gel now began to pool on the floor. I flopped on my back in the puddle of bio gel, the cool liquid felt like a gift from Celestia herself. The wounds on my back thanked me.

I took in my surroundings as I lay there recovering, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror. I hadn’t been awake for more than a few hours and my face was already covered in blood, some of it not even mine. Dried blood was caked around my eye and on my cheek, my hooves stained red with Orbit’s blood. I had two gashes nearly the entire length of my back, blood was splattered on my RIG’s spinal display, but I could see it was glowing an ominous orange. I looked like I walked straight out of Tartarus. Not only that but I had already begun losing my morals. It took all of a few hours with no society for me to give up my self promise to not swear. I was turning into the old Nova, which scared me, I left that part of my life behind and didn’t want to return to it.

My spinal display gave off a slightly healthier yellow light when the bio gel had stopped working its magic. I walked over to the safe and took as many vials as I could, I knew their importance now. I ached slightly, but it was bearable. Moving was infinitely easier than before but nothing like what it should be. I was tired, my eyelids becoming almost too heavy to hold up. I found a door labeled “SECURITY” and figured it was the best place to find some place at least halfway safe to sleep.

I pushed open the door cautiously ready to jump back from bladed forehooves. A searing bolt of magic whipped by my ear, scorching my mane. With a yelp I jumped behind the door, the foul smell of burnt hair filling the air. “WOAH! What the hell is your problem!” I yelled, poking my head around the door. I was greeted with the sight of a pony in a severely damaged teal RIG. I could see the visor lights were flickering, about to go out completely, leaving the pony behind the helmet nearly blind.

The RIG called out “Ah’m sorry! Can’t see too well in this here suit!”

“Applejack?” I called out, a friendly face is exactly what I need right now.

“Thats me, but who’s out there?”

“It’s me! Nova!” I exclaimed gleefully as I trotted up to Applejack. Looking at Applejack’s RIG I noticed she didn’t have a spinal display, this could only mean she scavenged it off a dead pony or killed for it. “Um, Applejack... Where did you get this RIG?” I asked nervously.

“Well, after those things started attackin’ ah decided ah needed some protection. Figured a dead pony wouldn’t mind.” Applejack stated, “The back thingy didn’t wanna come along, so ah left it.” She added, looking at her spine.

“Let me help you out a bit” I said as I hit the disengage switch on Applejack’s RIG. The helmet lowered and I was once again greeted by that friendly face and vibrant green eyes.

“Nova! Ya look like ya lost a fight with an ursa major!” I knew what I looked like, Applejack must of gotten quite a surprise when her helmet dropped.

“Nothing big,” I assured her, “just made a few friends.”

“Ya look like ya need a good sleep, follow me, ah know where we can hole up for th’ night.” I wanted to throw my hooves around her right then and there, it was as if she was reading my mind.

Applejack planted her forehooves on the handle of an immense steel door, and with a large effort opened it, revealing her hiding place. She had taken refuge in a walk in safe. “As far as ah know, them things can’t get in here.” She waved a hoof, beckoning me to join her. “There’s a handle in here, we can’t get locked in.” She added, sensing my reluctance to be locked in a safe.

Once inside the safety of the safe we began chatting as if we were old friends. We caught up on what had happened after I left her and Twilight, shared stories of how we survived, our close encounters. We each recalled our experiences up until where we sat now. As the conversation continued we somehow ended up on the subject of family again. Applejack had nothing but cheerful, playful, and proud memories of her family, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth about mine.

I never knew my real family, I was adopted by a family of unicorns when I was just a filly. What a family of unicorns wanted with an earth pony like me was beyond my understanding. I didn’t have fond memories with them, to say the least.

“Well, my father was a doctor, my mother an engineer, and my older brother ended up at Celestia’s College for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot.” I told her, leaving out the enmity I felt for each and every one of them.

“Twi went ta that school,” Applejack noted. After a long pause she finally added “Ya sure are fortunate ta have such a diverse family. Ah bet they’re proud of ya for finding yer own way.”

The doctor, engineer, magical prodigy, and construction pony. They were REAL proud. I thought to myself as I closed my eyes for some much needed sleep. Sleep didn’t come easy, thoughts of my “family” filled my head. After a long while my stream of consciousness faded, and I dropped into a fitful sleep.

No escaping the past

Chapter 3: No escaping the past

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I threw the covers off me as I jumped out of bed and ran down the hallway, it was my first birthday with my new parents and I was ecstatic with anticipation. I didn’t know what to expect, but my imagination brought up images of a cake larger than me, a mountain of presents, and my sadistic brother smiling at me for once. I flew down the stairs and rounded the corner into the kitchen, where I skidded to a stop. I searched everywhere, in my mother’s workshop, my father’s office, the basement, dining room, family room, bedrooms, and kitchen. The house was empty, no pony around, the only hint of there ever being anypony here was a note left hanging off the counter.

I got on my hind legs and strained my neck to reach the note, after a long while I finally managed to knock it off the counter and sat down to read it. I sat there trying my best to decipher the note, I could make out my name and a few short words like Mom, Dad, and love. I didn’t have trouble reading because I was stupid. It’s just that words and letters sometimes got mixed, flipped, and switched around. Sometimes I can’t comprehend what was in front of me. Every time I tried to read the same thing always happened, and I got discouraged. I tried to make my family understand, but no one believed me, I was certain they thought I was stupid. After staring at the note for what seemed like hours I managed to put together that they wanted me to practice reading.

No mention of my birthday, or at least one I could make out from the note. Birthdays had always been a big deal to the fillies at the orphanage and we always planned makeshift parties with what little we had. I had been accustomed to at least somepony wishing me a happy birthday so it being forgotten left me rather disheartened, but seeing the word love gave me a sliver of hope. I gave up trying to understand the note and looked back at the counter, I could see the edge of a bowl on the counter. I had made out the words “breakfast” and “counter” from the note, so I assumed the bowl was for me.

Like the note the bowl was just out of my reach. I stretched as far as possible but I could barely touch the bowl with my tongue, let alone move it. The nearest chair was in the dining room, and I didn’t feel like dragging a chair halfway across the house, so I settled for a simpler solution. I bucked the cabinet below the counter, the hit shook the counter and moved the bowl slightly closer to the edge. My eyes widened in delight as I saw what was in the bowl, dandelions, my favorite food. A few loud bucks later the bowl was on the verge of tipping off the counter, my goal was in sight. As I wound up for the final buck the bowl was surrounded by a veil of dark green magic.

“Hey, that’s mine!” I yelled as the bowl floated over to the pitch black unicorn that was my brother.

“I was told to keep you out of trouble, and bucking the counter is causing trouble. If these are making you cause trouble then I don’t think you should have them,” Dusk reasoned.

“Why do you hate earth ponies? What did we ever do to you!” I was on the verge of tears, I had only tasted them once before, growing in between the cracks of the playground. It was the best thing I ever tasted, I needed to have them.

“I don’t hate earth ponies, I hate you.” He said, his smile full of venom, “once you learn magic, you can have these back.” He said nothing more, and turned away from the doorway and headed back to his room with MY dandelions. I started to say something back but I was cut off by having to dodge the book that came flying through the doorway, followed by Dusk mocking “Try not to slobber on it this time.”

I couldn’t figure out why Dusk hated earth ponies as much as he did, but I knew his reasoning was brought on by his own conceptions of power and superiority in magic. I picked up the book in my mouth and jumped up onto my favorite chair. The first thing I did was lick the cover, just to spite Dusk.

After staring at the title for a good minute I managed to make it out as, The Mare In The Moon. I dreaded reading, I knew what letters made what sound, but sometimes the words didn’t form coherent sentences. Or on bad days the letters didn’t even make words. I tried my best to open the book one page at a time, but being an earth pony I wasn’t as graceful as a unicorn. I tried to flip the cover gently with my nose but ended up giving myself a papercut and flipping to somewhere in the middle of the story. I didn’t bother trying to go back to the first page, I’d still be lost even if I did. After staring at the book for a few hours I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, I face planted into my book and fell asleep.

I was awoken a long while later by the sound of a mare coughing and a door closing. A white mare, my adopted mom was standing in the doorway looking at me lying face first in my book. She let out a disappointed sigh, and I returned a sheepish grin. I knew I let her down, she gave me two things to do today, and I ignored them both. “Well... C’mon,” she finally said, “no point in making you do things you’re incapable of.” She turned, heading towards her workshop and I gleefully followed, completely ignoring the blatant insult she just threw at me. I didn’t care, I loved being in my mother’s workshop, surrounded by technology, in my element. I had gotten my cutie mark in there when she let me take apart an old computer.

She was working on a new type of tool, apparently a cutting tool that was small enough anypony could carry it, but powerful enough to cut through almost anything a construction pony faced in a workday. I gathered that information from the many diagrams and blueprints she had hanging on the walls. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if you can’t read. I was eager to help her, I wanted nothing more than to make up for neglecting the little they asked of me, even if it was nearly impossible for me to do on my own. Most importantly I wanted to prove I wasn’t stupid.

“I left my notebook on the shelf in the dining room can you go grab it?” My mother said, looking up at me for the first time in an hour.

I wasted no time in a response, I only nodded and trotted off for the dining room. When I got there I couldn’t see it on any of the shelves at eye level, or the ones I could reach on my hind legs, this meant that the notebook was on the top shelf, way out of my reach (of course). I couldn’t go back to my mom empty handed, I couldn’t fail her, especially after today. C’mon Nova, it’s a simple problem that needs a simple solution. Just stack your way up to it. I agreed with the little pony in my head and dragged a chair over to the shelves and began slowly stacking whatever I could find on the chair. I began with any books I could find laying around, the first being The Mare In The Moon. The next being some big, red book my father read and talked highly of about these creatures called “humans” entitled The Man With Two Names. The next few books I grabbed I couldn’t make out the scrambled titles, so I just threw them onto my ever growing stack. Soon I ran out of books and I began searching for other viable objects, I finally chose the couch cushions and placed them at the very top of my now highly unstable tower.

I carefully, and skillfully ascended the tower. When I reached the top the notebook was easily in reach. I gleefully stuck out my neck, reaching for the book when I was enveloped in a familiar dark green veil. I was forcibly pulled off my stack and brought face to face with the bane of my existence, my brother.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?” He chided.

“I was just about to grab the notebook! Why did you do that?” I complained.

“To stop you from hurting yourself, why would you do that in the first place?”

“Mom asked me to get her notebook! How else was I supposed to get up there? Since you’re here, can you at least get it for me?”

“No, mom didn’t ask me to get it, that’s your problem.” And with that, Dusk was off, heading back to his room to practice becoming the magical prodigy Mom and Dad were so proud of.

He knew I didn’t want to let Mom down, but he put me in a position where it was all I could do. He could have easily levitated the notebook down to me but he didn’t, he wanted me to go back to my mother, to tell her I failed, to admit I was inferior. I looked up at the notebook, on the verge of falling off the shelf. As rage welled up inside of me I wound up for a buck. As soon as I let loose the door to the house opened once more. My father was greeted by the sight of me bucking the wall. My rear right hoof broke through the wall, becoming stuck. The force of the buck not only knocked the notebook off the shelf, but the entire shelf fell, crashing into the one below it, and the one below that one as well. Shards of glass, family photos, college degrees, awards, and broken trophies all lay scattered across the floor. I was clipped by a picture of my “grandfather” a stallion I never knew, but I assumed he was important to my father, he seemed hurt that this picture was ruined out of everything.

He had been levitating two bags, but dropped them both in shock at what I had just done. Purple frosting and chocolate cake exploded out of one of the bags as it splattered on the floor. The other bag tumbled down the stairs into the basement, slowly thumping as it struck each step. Finally coming to a rest with a loud THUD. My father looked at me, and I wanted to die. He didn’t say anything, just stood there, I could see rage building up in his eyes. I lowered my gaze, I couldn’t look my father in the face, it was probably best I didn’t. I knew he was doing his best to hide his anger. He didn’t say anything as I dislodged my leg from the wall, cutting my leg in the process. I started to walk towards him only to be enveloped in magic once again. I soon found myself floating and was tossed into in my room, the door slamming shut behind me.

I could hear my father and mother yelling through the wall, apparently that cake had been for me, as well as the personal computer that had tumbled down the stairs and was nothing more than a paperweight now.

In the months I’ve been living with them this is the first time I’ve ever heard my mother and father yelling at each other. My father was louder than my mother, I could hear him clearly through the wall, he was insistent on bringing me back to the orphanage. I didn’t blame him, I didn’t belong here, why did they even pick me in the first place? I sat there doing the only thing I could do, cry. I strained to hear my mother try to defend me, she at least acknowledged that she sometimes forgot how much she used her magic. She at least kind of understood the difficulty I was having, she didn’t approve of me punching a hole in the wall, or destroying her prized possessions, but she sympathized with the difficulties I was facing adjusting to my new life. I blamed Dusk for all of this, ever since I was brought home I’ve had to put up with his hatred of earth ponies. This wasn’t the first, second, or even third time he’d done something like this. He took every chance he had to bully, belittle, and boss me around. I’ve had enough of it, something had to change, it was either him or me.

I skipped dinner because I couldn’t bear to face my “family”. After a long while my parents tried to talk to me, but I knew it would only end in more yelling and crying. “Nova, your father and I want to talk to you.” I ignored them and continued crying, all I could think about was being dragged back to the orphanage.

“I don’t want to go back!” I yelled out through choked sobs. I may be not be wanted here, but at least I wasn’t cold, hungry, and alone. I was still sobbing when my door was wrapped in my mother’s gentle pink magic. She was just as furious as my father, but she was better at hiding it. She wanted to coax me out of my room and calm me down before she sent me back to the orphanage. As the door began to open I bucked it shut, shattering the pink magic around it. Over choked sobs I heard a long sigh, followed by fleeting hoofsteps. I jumped up onto my bed and closed my eyes, my leg protesting the movement. It had been bleeding slowly since I bucked the wall, but I hadn’t paid it any attention until now. A small puddle of blood stained the carpet in the middle of my room. Daylight still shined through my window out but I didn’t care, I had nothing left to live for today, I was done with it, maybe tomorrow would be brighter.

I awoke late in the night, nopony but Luna herself was up at this hour. I tossed and turned trying to go back to sleep but I couldn’t. The pain in my leg had died down and there was only a small blood stain on my blanket. My gaze shifted to the stain on the floor, a dark red circle the size of my hoof. I stared at it for a while, mesmerized that it had once been inside me. It gave me ideas, I slowly opened my door and headed for Dusk’s room, but I took a detour through my father’s office. He was the town doctor, medical supplies and papers littered his office but with little effort I found what I was looking for. Dusk was a heavy sleeper, he didn’t even stir as I opened his door and clumsily climbed up onto his headrest. I sat next to him, looking over him. The handle of the bonesaw felt cool in my mouth. I liked being in this position of power, it felt... Right.

It will be easy Nova. Just take him by surprise. You can do it before he even has a chance to use his magic. You’re stronger than he is. Without his magic he’s nothing. He doesn’t deserve it. Take it away from him. Take away the source of his power, his pride. It’s the horn that torments you. Punish the horn, not him. A simple back and forth motion. It’ll be quick. Barely any blood. No. Cut lower. Into the scalp. Draw more blood. Thats what we need. More blood. More pain. More regret. Make him regret listening to his horn. Stain the room red. The floor. The walls. All red. Take his blood away from him. He is undeserving. He has so much. He doesn’t need it. It would look better on the walls for all to see. Careful though, don’t want to kill him. Forcing him to live as that which he hates earth is a far worse fate. He won’t be able to push you around anymore. You can make them see how difficult it is to live as an earth pony. Make an example of him. Just saw off his horn and be done with it. Just hold him down and saw with your mouth. You can hold him down. He’s powerless to stop you. Send a message to him and everypony else.

I was about to go to work when Dusk began shaking violently, blood began draining from his mouth and eyes. His face exploded into a red mist. Tendrils shot out from what used to be his face and wrapped around my head pulling me into a fanged mouth. The mouth closed shut, sawing into my neck.

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I awoke shuddering and in a cold sweat as I looked around, I was still safe within the confines of the safe. Applejack lay next to me fast asleep, completely unaware of my inner torment. I started to sob softly, I repressed these memories for a reason. I didn’t want to return to that dark corner of my psyche. I had been seeing a doctor weekly to cast a spell to keep these memories suppressed. All I wanted to do was run into the doctor’s office, and have them blast my brain with another memory spell, so i could forget the memories and just get on with my life. But he wasn't going to be at his office. If he was even alive.

My vision blurred and the world became tinted a dark orange, moving became nearly impossible and my head exploded with pain. The walls of the safe cracked. Blood seeped out of the cracks as a raspy yet vaguely familiar voice slithered into my head. It sounded close, faint, and dead. The voice echoed in my head, I knew it from somewhere but I couldn’t put a face to it. The voice was ominous, sinister. “The cracks are showing, the memories are seeping in. Do remember what happened to you? The ones you hurt, the lives you ruined? They’re coming back Nova, it’s going to happen again. One by one the memories will return, each one eating away at you, slowly breaking down your sanity. Soon you’ll be nothing but an empty husk of dead space. Soon you’ll break, and when you do I’ll be waiting for you.”