Prototype: Equestrian Menace

Mercer had ran for six hours straight, going far beyond the speed of mortals, little more than a blur on the landscape, never tiring his mind set on his goal. He had ran through towns, leaving a few craters and crushed carriages in his wake, even a pony, which he had smacked inside when it had gotten in his way.

When he had finally slowed down it was because he had finally arrived at one of his two destinations; his run coming to a light jog as he came up alongside the train station, nothing more than a dull light over a bench accompanying him there. The sun had yet to inch over the horizon but just by glancing at the moon he could tell it wouldn’t be all that long before the night would be over, and despite being almost all-powerful he’d rather not fight literal gods toe to toe.

He’d much rather get the jump on them, he was still a novice compared to them even with a few dozen lifetimes worth of memories all about magic in his head. Vaulting up onto the platform his form changed into that of an equine with a grey coat and a light orangish mane. Continuing at a brisk trot he hopped off the platform and continued on into the town, which had yet to wake up to the nightmare that was stalking their streets.

As he passed the first couple of houses he realized he had no idea exactly where these Elements of Harmony lived, sure he knew the town but it was still a whole town and he couldn’t just consume everybody… well he could, but he didn’t feel like it today. Shrugging his shoulders he walked up to one of the houses on his right and raised himself onto his hind legs to kick it down when he heard an odd whistling sound.

Craning his head towards it his eyes grew as wide as saucers as a grey pegasus flailed her hooves in the middle of falling from the sky. He could’ve and would’ve avoided her if he had expected, besides who in their right mind wakes up this early in the morning.

Without a sound she slammed into him and bounced off his side almost comically, rolling several times before coming to a stop. With a raised eyebrow he thought about maybe consuming this one, but as she sat upright and he saw her derp eyes he thought otherwise.

“Hey how’ya doing?” She asked innocently, apparently unfazed by slamming into him at easily fifty miles an hour. He stared at it for a moment before replying.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” He asked warily turned around, still posed to kick the door open.

“Medical condition.” She said with a smile as she stared back at him, albeit one eye rolled around in a circle.

“Uhuh…. do you know where any of the Elements of Harmony live?” Better to just ask then risk contracting whatever she had, sure he was a virus and could alter his genetic structure at whim, but… magic had a way of fucking things up.

To his surprise she nodded. “Yup sure do! I’m friends with Dash, the Element of Loyalty!”

Lowering himself back down to the ground he raised an eyebrow at that statement. “Do you know where she lives, I have some uhhhh….” Come on dammit he had the minds of some of the smartest people from Earth, shouldn’t be that hard to come up with a lie on the spot. “Urgent world-threatening news to give her.”

Her mouth gaped open and she sprang to her feet, making him jump slightly at her sudden movement. “Come on then what are we waiting for!” With that she blasted off into the night sky.

Swearing under his breath he grew his own set of wings and chased after her, surprised at the speed the mare showed, right after she had slammed into him. He shook his head of that thought and kept chasing her through the sky and noticed they were heading to what looked like… a fucking cloud house.

Yeah just ignore that and focus on the mare who was busy trying to beat the front door down. How can she not beat down a door made of literal clouds, it was nothing but air! By the time he touched down on the outer edge of the cloud the grey mare had wised up to jumping through a window… also made of clouds. Just… just why?

He stood outside waiting while the mare flew around inside knocking over, including but not limited to, a sofa, a bed, what sounded like a dresser, fridge, part of a wall, eggs. He gave up counting what she hit and waited outside, knowing that if this Dash pony was home whoever it was a deep sleeper. “Come on Dash you home?”

A minute later the grey mare stepped outside and gave him a sheepish grin. “I think she’s away for the moment.”

Yeah, no shit. Clearing his throat he looked at her and back through the door she had just stepped through, pretty sure he saw the hints of a fire there. “Umm… thanks, can you point me to where the Princesses live?”

“Yeah sure! Which one? You have Princess Twilight’s castle over there!” She pointed to a castle he had somehow managed to not notice on his fly through town… even though it was fucking crystalique. “And then there’s  Princess Luna and Celestia’s castle up there on the mountain!” She finished with another gesture towards said mountain.

He looked her over once again, focusing on the eye that bounced around everywhere before shivering. Something about it just creeped him out, and he more or less made a zombie apocalypse. “Err, thanks.” With that he shot up and away from her and rocketed towards the farther castle, because it’d be better to get the ones farther away done with. Especially if there’s going to be two of them.

As the wind rushed across his form he thought about the Royal Twins. Luna, practical goddess of the night, traversed through dreams, raised the moon and lowered it, and was in charge of night court. Celestia, the opposite was the one who handled the sun, day court and managed to handle a country over a thousand years. If he was thinking this right and these memories weren’t just opinions, then that’d mean Celestia should be sleeping and recharging her magic.

So she’d be the first one to die naturally. Followed by Luna, then the Elements of Harmony because he had no idea where the hell one of them was and it’d be best to get them all together so they wouldn’t have a chance to hide. Smiling at the ease of this he continued flying, the air whistling in his ears as his wings flapped once every few seconds to keep his speed going.

Nearing the outcropping of the castle’s ground he slowed down and perched on the edge of a railing, staring at the many windows, a few of which were lit up this night, the shadows of ponies walking across them every so often. His eyes went to a little balcony set into one of the tower like parts of the castle, then to another that was more or less on the opposite side.

Safe bet that those were the Royal Chambers. Dropping off of the railing he sprinted across the castle grounds, head kept low as he heard the sound of metal clanking against metal in the distance. Nearing the wall he leapt upwards and used his wings to give himself even more of a boost and landed on the balcony, his front hooves transformed back into claws.

Silently stepping forward his claws traced the individual crack in the stone floor, as his magic creaked the door open slightly. Peeking through the hole he didn’t see anything, or to be more specific anybody. Edging the door open he took a step inside and looked around.

The walls were painted a light blue, a massive bed big enough for a dragon to sleep in took up the middle, which was covered in stuffed animals and pillows, a dresser took up another side of the room and then there was what looked like a stereo. Glancing up he saw a moon painted onto the ceiling, radiating a almost unnoticeable light. Well this was probably Luna’s room then.

Pulling the door shut behind him he flew over to the other balcony, and pushed on the door slightly and was surprised when he felt resistance. Quirking his lips he looked at the lock and rolled his eyes before sticking a single claw in and started fiddling with the locking mechanism. Five short seconds later he was rewarded with a satisfying click as he unlocked the door.

Edging it open he peeked into a room similar to Luna’s minus all the blue which was replaced with a goldish color, and the moon in the ceiling was replaced with a sun. That and the stereo was replaced with a stack of books that went to the ceiling. Ignoring that he turned his attention to the bed and to his dismay found it to be similarly unoccupied.

Where the fuck would they be? Growling he stepped into the room and strode towards the door, his form changing back into that of Mercer. Well if he had no idea where the Royal twins were then maybe their guard would. With a thought his eyes turned to that of thermal vision, where he could see any living being’s body outline in terms of heat and looked at the two ponies standing outside the doors.

Raising his claws up, he slammed them into the ground, and both of their heat signatures jumped up into the air as his spikes impaled every part of their body. It took a moment for him to start consuming the duo but as their memories flooded into his mind he snarled, cutting off his link to them and letting what was left of their bodies drop to the floor.

They all left! Luna somehow learned of his fucking presence and took them all down to Manehattan! “Damn it all to hell!” He yelled as he ran back to the balcony and jumped off of it, ignoring the screams of a guard he landed next to. A wave of biomass across his back and a jump off the castle grounds and he was flying back towards Manehattan.

There was more to them than meets the eye it seemed, for Luna already knew of his existence, albeit only barely referring to him as a demon when she told the guards why they were all leaving. Was she a mind reader? Wouldn’t put it past a being that could walk through dreams.

Well regardless of whether or not they knew he was here now, they still needed to be consumed. Only other person that could have ever helped him with his plan was now dead at the bottom of the sea, so he’d just have to finish it by himself and kill the perfect being.