Chapters Kathy Thorndale was just like every other sixteen year old girl at her high school; she went to class everyday, she studied for her classes almost all the time, and she thought about boys every now and then. That was all she had in common with the other girls. Most of the time she was either lurking behind the group whenever something was happening or when someone talked to her she remained quiet. She was one of the shyest students at the school, but the teachers turned a blind eye to it because she was doing so well in her classes and the other students tended to ignore her.
"Hey Kathy! How are you doing?"
Then there was the one student in the entire school, across at least three hundred students, who bothered to try and befriend her, despite her attempts to be left alone. Joey Larkson, a sixteen year old boy, was the name of her shadow and she was getting used to seeing him wherever she went while she was at school. He was one of the few Bronies in the entire school, labeling him as 'gay' to the rest of the student body and left him with little friends to hang with. Lucky for him there were two or three more Bronies hanging around the school, so he wasn't completely alone in that regard.
Kathy sighed and set her pencil down, letting her eyes linger on the drawing she had been doodling while she had patiently waiting for the first bell of the day to sound. Joey had infected her with, as he called it, the 'Magic of Friendship' and had somehow pulled her into his fandom despite her attempts to stay away from it. She had to admit, though she would never admit that she adored the characters of the My Little Pony show, she did enjoy the unique creatures she discovered. One such creature was Discord, the mix match creature known as a Draconequus, who savored laughter and chaos more than anything else.
Her drawing was of one such creature, a purple coated Draconequus that she had taken to calling Pandora, the Spirit of Madness.
"Oh sweet," Joey said, standing behind her and looking over her shoulder at the still incomplete drawing, "you've got another drawing of Pandora. If I didn't know any better I'd say that she'd be you if you ever ended up in Equestria. Though let's be honest, if you ended up in Equestria I wouldn't be far behind you."
Kathy sighed as she pulled the drawing into her art folder, where she kept all the drawings that she had been working on when she wasn't busy with schoolwork. The first time she had drawn Pandora she was using Discord as a reference, but once Joey saw it he had wanted one of his OC, a unicorn stallion that he called 'Stargaze'. Once Joey had given her all the colors that he desired on the stallion's coat and mane he left her to work on him, though it had taken her a whole week to even complete the drawing. With it in hand Joey had somehow convinced his friends to commission her to draw their own 'ponysona's', the only other ponies she had drawn.
"Hey Joey," one boy called, just as he and another girl approached the table Kathy was at, "Alice and I were wondering what you had planned for the weekend."
Alice and Jared Silvermen weren't related by blood or anything, they just happened to share the same last name and that seemed to be the bases for their friendship since the day they met. After a few days they had discovered that Joey was also a Brony, so they naturally attached themselves to him and seemed to be anywhere that he was. As a result of that they had also discovered the schools shyest girl around and had taken it upon themselves to befriend Kathy and try to cure her shyness. That was before they asked her to draw their OC's, a pegasus mare named 'Cloud Strider' for Alice and an earth pony stallion called 'Ironside'.
"Yeah, my parents are going to be out of town for the weekend," Alice continued, just as she and Jared took a seat across from Kathy and Joey, "and they told me that I could invite a few friends over to hang out while they were gone. Nothing as major as a sleep over or anything, but we can play some video games or catch up on the latest season of My Little Pony. Jared and I are about halfway through the season, so don't ruin anything for us if you've seen the later episodes."
"I'd have to ask my parents," Joey replied, not even bothering to think about it, "but I don't think that they'd be against me from hanging out with a few friends. How about you Kathy?"
Kathy looked up for a moment to say something, but then shut her mouth and simply shook her head. She already knew that her parents would be gone for the weekend and that they fully expected her to do something with a friend, if she made one while they were gone. She knew that she would never really make any friends until she was out of school and got a job somewhere, but even then she really didn't know if she could make friends. She thought about replying to the question anyway, but before she could even open her mouth the bell started ringing and a bunch of students moaned at the same time.
"Oh well, we'll talk again later," Joey said, getting onto his feet before turning towards the building that held his first period class, "I'll see you guys at lunch then."
Kathy barely acknowledged Joey or the twins, as most of the students tended to call Alice and Jared, as she collected her backpack and headed for her classroom. She passed by several students, barely lifting her head as she made her way to her first period, her English class, and took her seat at the back of the room. Her classmates slowly joined her and began taking their seats, chatting amongst themselves until their teacher, Ms. Rocksworth, joined them with their assignment for the day.
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Kathy let out a sigh after the day had passed her by. She had paid attention to her teachers, wrote down the assignments that she failed to complete during class, and even ignored the lunch hour by simply going to the library to work on her drawing of Pandora. When the final bell had rung she quickly made her way to the side of the school that the buses came to so they could pick up the students and waited as dozens of students joined her. Eventually most of the students were standing around the gates, waiting for the security guards to open the doors and allow them to leave the school for the weekend.
Before the security guards got close to opening the doors Kathy felt a tap on her shoulder, but she immediately knew who it was without even looking.
"Sooo?" Joey asked, leaning on the wall next to Kathy as Alice and Jared joined them, "How about it Kathy? Want to spend some time with the three of us, or are you going to study for Monday again?"
"Let me check before I agree to anything," Kathy said, pulling herself into her jacket while Joey sighed.
"We have got to work on this shyness of yours," Joey replied, rubbing the back of his head for a bit, "but I'm sure that, given time, we'll be able to warm your heart and get you to open up to some people."
Before Alice or Jared could say anything the security guards opened the gates and the flood of students began to spill out towards the buses, allowing Kathy to fall in quite easily. She quickly made her way to her bus, climbed on without a moment wasted, and made her way towards the very back of the bus, where she took her seat and waited for the others to get on. Despite the fact that her bus was almost full every day she still somehow found herself sitting alone on her bench, but all it did was allow her mind to wander while the bus moved on its route.
While the buses departed from the school and began to travel on their individual routes Kathy barely listened to the chatter that came from the other students on her bus. Many of them were talking about their plans for the weekend, one of them mentioning that they were going to visit family somewhere close to the border and another saying that she was going to watch a movie at the theater. Some of them even mentioned that they were holding a party at the local pool and that they had invited most of their friends to come over. Kathy didn't mind not being invited, as most of the students either didn't know she existed or barely noticed her at all.
Eventually the bus came to her stop, allowing her to get off after five other teenagers made the trek from their seats to the front of the bus before she did. Lucky for her and her parents the bus stop was at the top of the hill, sitting right next to the mailboxes that housed the mail for everyone in the neighborhood. She pulled out her keys, drew out the mail key, opened her mailbox, and pulled out what little mail there was before closing the door and locking it tight. She then made her way down the hill, walking towards her two story house while she wondered if she would catch her parents before they left.
"Hello?" Kathy called, after opening the door and looking around for anyone, "Mom? Dad? Anyone home?"
After a few moments she decided that she was alone and locked the door behind her, before making her way to the kitchen and tossing the mail on the counter. Before she really did anything else she approached the table, pulled off her backpack, pulled out her art folder and art supplies, and then gently pulled out the drawing of Pandora she had started earlier. She gently pulled her headphones on and picked a song in her playlist, letting the music fill the silent house as she continued the work she had started earlier. One way or anything she'd finish the drawing and add it to her folder that kept all the drawings of Pandora she had already done.
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After what seemed like hours of drawing, inking, and coloring Kathy finally finished not only the drawing she had meant to work on, but three more that involved Pandora. Each of them showed her character, but the main difference was that Pandora wasn't alone in these three drawings. The first was of Pandora and Stargaze, followed by the second being Pandora accompanied by both Cloud Strider and Ironside, while the third and final drawing showed Pandora surrounded by all three of them. Kathy thought it was odd that she would actually add the others OC's into her drawings of her own character, but maybe they were actually rubbing off on her.
"Hahahahahaha."
Kathy looked up in surprise as she heard, or thought that she heard, someone laugh over the sound of her music, but there was no way that someone could get into the house without a key or violently break one of the windows in. Even with her music at half volume she would have heard the noise if someone broke a window, but after pulling herself out of her chair and looking over the main floor she was certain that no one had broken in.
"Hahahaha, oh lovely Pandora. You are so cute when your confused."
Kathy spun around, searching for the sound of the voice that seemed to be speaking all around her and yet there was no one around her to speak of. The voice, whoever it was, sounded familiar, yet she couldn't place her finger on who or what it was. She was fairly sure that she knew who it was, yet the name seemed to escape her.
"Oh? I do adore how your running around like a chicken with its head cut off."
"Who are you?" Kathy shouted, staring at the walls as if she was expecting something to happen.
"You know me, yet you cannot name me. Turn around and I'll show you who I am."
Kathy slowly turned around and her eyes widened as she spotted the mix match creature that stood directly behind her. It wasn't any mix match creature out of some horror story, but it was the original Draconequus that the Mane Six and the Princesses had feared for some time. She knew who the creature was without it having to say a single word, yet the word, the very name of the creature, caught in her throat as she tried to say it.
"I am Discord," the Draconequus said, reaching out to touch her with his clawed hand, "and you, my dear, must be the ever loveable, and very much insane, Pandora I have heard about."
"N...n...no," Kathy replied, shivering as the Spirit spoke the name of her character with ease, "I'm...I'm not Pandora."
"Your not?" the Spirit asked, as if he was mistaken but then changed his mind, "Oh, but I do believe you are. I can Hear the Madness inside the deepest parts of your mind, almost as if you want her to come out and play."
Kathy tried to back up, but she found that her body would not respond to her urges. She wanted to get as far away from the Spirit as possible, but whatever hold he had her in she couldn't shake it if she wanted to. She was barely breathing when his claws stopped a few meters from her eyes, as if they would cast a spell on her all by themselves.
"You are lovely, my dear Pandora," Discord said, his voice washing over her and holding on tight, "It may not be now, it may not be tomorrow, and it may not be a few days from now, but you will welcome your true self into your life. Trust me in this my dear, Pandora will become your life and soon you'll love the madness that hangs around you. I shall awaken your inner madness and you'll likely black out from the intense pain that's to follow, but you'll survive and eventually you'll be like me. Too bad you won't remember our little chat, over wise it would have been funny seeing you trying to tell people that I actually came and visited you."
The last thing Kathy remembered was an intense rush across her entire body as her body hit the ground and she, like Discord predicted, blacked out from the pain.
Kathy woke to the sound of something, or someone, pounding on a rather large piece of wood. She moaned and pulled herself off the floor, rubbing the side of her face before the truth of her predicament dawned on her. She had no idea how she had ended up on the carpet, as the last thing she could recall was the fact that she had been working on her Pandora drawings. Speaking of her artwork she quickly returned to the table and found the four pictures that she remembered working on, but then she found a fifth one laying under the others. This last drawing, one that she could not remember drawing at all, was similar to her other drawings in the regard that Pandora was the main focus once again.
She was, however, shocked to find that the other creature in her drawing was none other than Discord, who was simply waving at Pandora with the caption 'I'll see you later, my sweet Pandora.'
Before Kathy could wonder what had compelled her to draw such a picture she heard the pounding on her front door again, causing her to put down the drawing and move towards the door. She had the feeling that she knew exactly who was at her door, but as she reached the door she hesitated to place her hand on the doorknob. If it was actually Joey in front of her house then the reason he had come was to ask her if she had decided on spending the day with him, Alice, and Jared or spend her time studying for school. Seeing how she had no idea what she had done after completing her drawings she figured that she could at least spend some time with them.
"For Celestia's sake Kathy," came Joey's voice from the other side, causing her to jump slightly, "I know your home. Open the door, I'm worried about you."
"If it...isn't my stalker," Kathy replied, pulling open the door and finding Joey standing there like she suspected.
"More like a concerned friend," Joey chuckled, before noticing something odd, "Did you sleep in your clothes or have you spent the whole night drawing?"
Kathy looked down at herself and found that she was, indeed, wearing the same clothes that she had been wearing the day before. She quickly pulled out her cellphone and checked the time, finding that it was six in the morning...Saturday morning. She was amazed that she had worked on her drawings for so long that it made her sleep in her old clothes and not wake until it was the following day, but she was terrified that she was missing parts of her memory. It wasn't natural, losing hours of memory like that.
"I...must have spent the night...in yesterday's clothes," Kathy said, more to herself than to Joey, "Just give me a couple of minutes and I'll be ready to...entertain guests."
Joey just nodded his head and let the door slowly close in his face, but he stopped her as a thought entered his mind.
"Do you mind if I come inside?" he asked, motioning behind him to an elderly couple walking up the street, "I honestly don't think people will leave me alone since I'm standing out here, staring at your front door as if I'm planning on breaking in and robbing you blind."
Kathy let out a sigh and let Joey come inside the house, but only after telling him that he was restricted to the first floor and making sure that he fulfilled the 'Pinkie Promise' to make sure he stayed on the lower floor. She had no idea how she would prove whether or not he came upstairs, but she was trusting his word that he would not follow her upstairs.
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Once Kathy went upstairs Joey sighed and looked around her living room, wondering if he should just sit on the couch and stare at the television until she came downstairs. Instead he moved to the kitchen, where he spotted a table that was partly covered by pieces of paper with some drawings on them. When he got closer he found that the drawings were all about Pandora, starting with the one he had seen Kathy drawing the previous morning. The second was of Pandora with his own OC, the unicorn called Stargaze, followed by a third what had her with the OC's of Alice and Jared, Cloud Strider and Ironside. The fourth drawing was of Pandora with all three of them, which warmed Joey's heart to see that Kathy actually cared about them.
The fifth drawing was stranger, as it contained both Pandora and the original Draconequus, Discord.
He knew that Kathy was obsessed with the Draconequus race, because whenever he or the others mentioned Discord her eyes seemed to light up and she paid more attention to the group. Drawing Pandora for the first time was like she had admitted that she was obsessed with the Draconequus, but it turned from a tiny little thing into an obsession. He knew that Kathy wouldn't admit to liking the show, but she was as much of a Pegasister as Joey was a Brony and he was okay with her not telling him. She'd come around one day and tell everyone that she had fallen into the fandom as well.
He heard the doors opening upstairs and figured that Kathy was finally done with whatever she was doing, so she put down the drawing of Pandora and Discord and moved back to the staircase. When Kathy came down the stairs he found that she was wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a light blue shirt, which he thought was much better than the clothes she had worn to school.
"Well...this is as good as I'll get for now," Kathy said, moving to the kitchen to collect her keys and noticing that her drawings had been moved just a tiny bit.
"Couldn't help myself," Joey admitted, seeing how she was staring at the table, "I noticed that you had finished your drawing of Pandora and I wanted to see what else you had done last night. I must say, its nice that you drew all our OC's together with Pandora, as I'm sure that she would enjoy the company at long last."
"Joey..." Kathy started, hoping to cut him off before he said something stupid.
"What?" Joey asked, shrugging as he walked to the front door, "If Pandora exists then I'm assuming that she's pretty lonely, sitting in a blank space until you give her something or somepony to play with. Those drawings are telling me that your finally letting her have some friends, though I'd stretch those limits by including Discord as a friend. That Draconequus is bad news, even if he's in a cartoon world and we're out in the real world. Now come on, Alice and Jared are likely concerned that we're not at Alice's house yet."
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Kathy had been slightly irritated with Joey for coming to her house and pounding on her door, when a simple text message would have done the trick and saved him much more time. The first day they had met he had insisted on giving her his phone number, so that he could wait for her to reach out for a friend to hang with some day. The only reason she had texted him in the first place was so that Joey would have her number in case she really needed someone to call a friend one day.
What she was annoyed with, on the other hand, was his insistence that Pandora was real and that she was sitting in some empty world, waiting for Kathy to fill her void with life. She liked to think that her characters were, in some reality, alive and lived their lives as they saw fit, but she knew that it would be impossible for someone, or something, like Pandora to be real. She had the feeling that he was going to bring Pandora up more in the future and knew that he was going to pull Alice and Jared into the mix as well.
When they finally arrived at Alice's house they found her standing out front, twirling a stick in her hands before she spotted them coming and snapped it in half.
"Your late," Alice accused, staring hard into Joey's eyes as if searching for something.
"I am never early, nor am I late," Joey replied, returning her stare with ease, "I arrive precisely when I mean to. Plus I had to stop by Kathy's house and make sure that she was planning on coming to your get together."
"Well, we've got soda and a few shows we can watch," Alice said, opening the door and welcoming them into her house, "plus some games that we might take turns on in case we need something else to do."
Alice's entire main floor was open concept, as the moment that Kathy entered the living room she could see the kitchen and the stairway that lead to the second story. After taking a right turn before the kitchen she found herself in a large entertainment room with a widescreen television that put Kathy's television to shame. Alice seemed to have quite the collection of television shows on DVD and a fair number of games that she could play on the PS3 that rested below the screen. Jared was sitting on the couch across from the television, already involved in whatever game he had chosen before they had even arrived.
"Learn to shoot the enemy," Jared growled, talking to the people he was playing with online, though he was missing a gaming headset, "What, am I surrounded by fillies who don't know how to play a simple shooting game? We should be dominating the other team, not falling to our hooves in defeat and giving them our flag."
"Oh don't mind him, he's an idiot sometimes," Alice chuckled, taking a seat next to Jared and picking up the second controller, "Now, before we get into something together, Ironside and I have some insolent foals to deal with."
For the next ten minutes Kathy and Joey watched them turn the tide of the online battle, how she would never truly know, and somehow led their team to victory. Kathy knew that if the communication was turned on they would be hearing their friend's team cheering in victory and the enemy team cursing in defeat. She had no desire to hear anyone shouting curses over a simple video game, but before she could congratulate them on a job well done they shut down the game and threw in a four player game. Alice was quick to pick up the spare controllers, turn them on, and gave them to Kathy and Joey.
The four player game was one of those adventure games that Kathy had heard of, but she had never had the chance to play one of them before today. She had always been busy with school and her homework, so she had never put time aside to enjoy herself with something like a video game. Alice and Jared, being players one and two, were quick to make their characters, ironically named Cloud Strider and Ironside, before it was Joey's turn. Joey, seeing that they already had a warrior and an archer, picked out a wizard that was, also ironically, named after his own OC, Stargaze. Kathy quickly picked an elf warrior that could provide assistance to the main tank, in this case Jared's character, who, after a few seconds of debate, she named Pandora.
"Well then," Joey said, not surprised that Kathy had chosen that name, "the gangs all assembled and ready to do battle with the enemy. Now, let's teach these foals the meaning of teamwork and friendship."
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An hour passed before Kathy began to lose interest in the game, mostly because the enemies were beating the stuffing out of her more often than her friends. She knew it was going to be hard with her inexperience, but she never expected that she would be three levels behind her friends. They didn't seem to mind that she was falling behind, as long as she was having fun they didn't care if they all died and had to restart at their last save or survive by being the last man standing. She let them think she was having fun, because she had no idea what else to do if they decided to stop playing the game.
"YEAH!," Joey triumphantly said, after the group had felled the first boss of the game, "I'm all for taking a break and getting back to wiping the floor with our enemies in a little bit."
Kathy took the chance to excuse herself and headed to the bathroom, locking the door behind her before she grabbed a small towel and wiped off any sweat that might have been on her face. What she couldn't explain was why she felt angry at them, after all it was just a game and they were doing their best to teach her how to play the game.
"They're weak," she heard a voice say, causing her to look around in concern as if she hearing things now, "Your strong. Crush the life from their bodies and the wills of anyone else that would stand in our way."
Kathy looked at the mirror and froze in place when she realized that her image didn't have her light blue eye color, but rather a red tint she had seen somewhere else. They looked so much like the red eyes that she gave Pandora whenever she drew her, but Kathy knew that it was impossible for her reflection to have those eyes.
"Oh don't give me that look," her reflection continued, "Just head to the kitchen while they are all busy with the game, grab one of the bigger knives, and slice them to pieces."
"N...n...no," Kathy replied, shaking her head in horror at the thought of doing harm to her friends, "Y...y...you can't m...make me."
"Don't be a fool my dear," her reflection said, despite the fact that it was starting to fade, "The Madness will call again and every time you ignore me the call will only get stronger. One day you'll finally give in and Pandora will have her way."
Kathy continued to stare at the mirror long after her reflection faded from the glass, her mind trying to work out exactly what she had seen and what she had heard. Pandora wasn't real and couldn't have found a way to speak to her in the real world. It just wasn't possible for that to happen. The only thing that terrified her was that her mind was telling her to put an end to her friends, but she couldn't do that to any of them.
"Hey Kathy," Joey said from the other side of the door, "you all right in there?"
"Y...yeah," Kathy replied, wiping the rest of her sweat off before opening the door, "Just...cooling off before we continue."
She had no reason to tell him that she was starting to hear and see things that not even she could explain, so she kept the short conversation to herself and joined the others once more. She just had the eerie feeling that she may very well be at the beginning stages of becoming an insane and mad person eventually.
"Hey Kathy, check out this sweet weapon I picked up," Joey said, just as Kathy emerged from the bathroom and giving her little time to relax, "A 'Champion's Sword of Intelligence', carrying twice as much magical power as the weapon I was previously using."
"Really dude? That's sick," Jared staring at the screen, "well, as the main tank I am now the proud owner of a 'Gladiator's Reaver', capable of dealing triple the amount of damage. And, as a added bonus, I've got a fire enchantment that could deal up to 50 points of damage per hit. Talk about a weapon that fits in well with the tank."
"Oh quiet you two," Alice told them, casting a quick glance at her screen before closing it, "I've got a 'Predator's Longbow of Prowess', capable of penetrating light armor and dealing nearly five times as much damage from afar. Plus a nice shock enchantment to cast whoever I put an arrow into. And, as a secondary weapon, I've got a special "Hunter's Blade', useful for taking anything down that gets too close. We even have a nice sickle waiting for Kathy when she gets a few levels higher."
That was when Kathy remembered how pitiful her own character, whose armor and weapons were falling way behind the other's characters, was. It was mainly because she was so inexperienced at playing games, so she made many of the novice mistakes while learning the basics, like walking through fire. Still, she was annoyed with her inability to aid her friends, though she really hesitated to think that they were at that level of friendship.
"Oh don't look so grumpy," Joey commented, taking a sip out of his drink before picking up the controller again, "We'll get you on par with the rest of us and then we'll really kick flank."
Kathy glanced at her character and realized that, by dying so often, she was lacking in armor and weapons. It made her irritated, but she knew that if she kept getting mad at a simple video game then she'd never learn how to make it through the later levels of the game. She also knew that if she continued to get mad at something she would eventually begin to sweat and she'd see something that wasn't there, just like the bathroom mirror. She picked up her controller and sighed, preparing herself for the fights that she was sure were coming their way and, she was certain of this, the death of her character.
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Three hours. That's how long they played the game before they finally took a break. In that amount of time they had somehow managed to clear through the first act of the game and partway through the second act, though they wouldn't say how many acts the game actually had. Kathy managed to somehow make her way to being a single level behind her friends and her character was now decked out in armor that made her last longer in a fight. Her friends got excited whenever they managed to take down one of the bosses, which was to be expected with as hard as the bosses were getting.
While the others moved to get some replacement refreshments Kathy switched the television to the news network and caught a comment about a 'chocolate milk rain' somewhere in the world. Seeing how it was impossible for the clouds to rain chocolate milk Kathy assumed that someone, somewhere in the world, was playing a prank on the people of the world. Her friends appeared to be thinking the same thing that she was thinking, that it was just some harmless prank that some moron was playing. They all knew that Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, wasn't real and that there was no way that something like this would have happened on its own.
When they finally set down their controllers Alice went into the kitchen and the others followed her, where each of them made something for lunch. Instead of going out of the way to make something large for lunch, like spaghetti, each of them simply made a sandwich and grabbed another soda from the fridge. While they ate their lunch Alice and Joey discussed what they were going to do in the second act of the game, as they had reached a part where they had to choose which path to travel down. Jared spoke up after a minute, choosing to listen to them talk before adding his opinion, but it seemed that either choice was fine to each of them.
"What do you think Kathy?" Jared asked, noticing that she had chosen to remain silent, "Which path do you think we should take? Should we hit the Elemental Planes now, or should we wait until the third act and hunt down the Holy Artifacts until we're ready?"
Kathy had been thinking about that ever since she had seen a mention to the choice when they had started the second act, but she had to wonder which would be tougher on them. In her mind she knew that finding the Holy Artifacts would eventually aid them in attacking the Elemental Planes, though she knew that, with some effort, they could deal with the Planes in time.
"I think we should take on the quest to find the Holy Artifacts," she said after a few seconds, "apparently their buffs will give us the edge against the enemies of the Elemental Planes, so it wouldn't hurt to make sure we have them with us."
After some more discussion they decided to go ahead with Kathy's idea, which meant that they had to begin a long quest line to find each and every one of the Holy Artifacts, of which there were seven. Once they finished their brief lunch they returned to the den, took their seats, picked up their controllers, and took the game off pause, the music filling the room once more. With their decision in mind they took of in search of the first Holy Artifact, though Kathy made sure to keep an eye out for anything dangerous that the others didn't notice.
Four more hours passed before Kathy finally set down her controller and called it quits, pulling back from the game while she watched the others continue the fight with the end boss of the second act. She had gotten better the longer she played the game, but in a moment of overconfidence, where she took on the role of the main tank by accident, the boss had killed her in a single instant. Her friends had mentioned before hand that she stand back before fighting, but she had ignored them on accident and had paid the price. Still, they were able to beat the boss and end the second act, where all they had to do was fight a little bit more and they'd reach the save area.
Once there they distributed the armor and weapons they had recovered from the boss amongst their characters, before they finally saved the game for the last time and powered the machine off.
"I cannot believe how much of the game we completed in one day," Jared commented, taking a sip of the fourth soda he had grabbed since they had started playing, "two whole acts in a single day. I must say, I am impressed with how much we got done."
"We really should have stopped after the first act and switched to something else," Alice replied, casting a look over at Kathy, "We should have showed Kathy how to play all sorts of video games, instead of sticking to the fantasy world we chose to open up."
"Oh, its fine," Kathy said, actually enjoying the story the game had told them way more than the actual game play, "well, I had better get back home and get a start on my homework, otherwise I'm afraid that I might be available to something tomorrow. It was...a pleasure to play some games with you guys..."
"We'll cure you of your shyness yet," Joey chuckled, following her to the front door, "If there's anything planned for tomorrow I'll be sure to contact you so you can plan ahead of time. Have 'fun' working on your homework."
Kathy bid Joey farewell, which was something she almost ever did, and made her way back down her street, heading towards her house as she wondered what happened to her. She was a shy girl, yet she had gone with Joey, played a game she had never played before, and had actually opened up to the others for a few moments. They had broken through her defenses for a moment, as if she was actually getting used to the idea of having friends, before she had slammed that door on them once more. Though her mind kept returning to the forgotten castle that they had visited in the game, one that had been suspended in the air by magic, and could suddenly envision Pandora taking a liking to the ancient location.
As she got closer to her house she spotted a familiar women walking her way, though as she focused on her Kathy realized that it was none other than her first hour teacher, Ms. Rocksworth.
"Good evening Ms. Rocksworth," Kathy said, shoved her hands into her pockets as her first hour teacher brushed her off and continued passed her, as if she didn't exist.
She had no idea why one of her teachers would ignore her, but she figured that it must have been because she didn't want to be bothered while she was out of the school.
Once she was back inside her house she locked the front door, hurried to where she kept her art supplies, pulled out a sheet of paper, and began to draw the image that had taken hold in her mind. She could see Pandora, floating in the middle of the empty throne room, but the longer she dwelled on it she began to restore the place to better suit her oc. She added a throne to the back of the room, a long table for when Pandora's guests arrived, a few torches to lighten the area up, and a couple of stone statues, with the one closest to the throne being one that looked like Discord. She went a step further, adding small paintings to the edges of the hall, each one of them belonging to one of the villains that existed in Equestria so far.
As she stared at her work she couldn't help but notice that there were still some empty spots lingering in some places, so instead of leaving them she decided to add a little more to the room. She threw in a few magical items, two of which were mere copies of the Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony, but she did add one item from the game she played with her friends; the All-Seeing Eye. It was a special orb that allowed its owner to see everything inside the land that they controlled, which is why in the video game the main villain they had been fighting to defeat had it. She thought of it as a gift to her oc, as an apology for not giving her anything until she had been invited over to hang with Joey, where she also gave Pandora her first friend.
An hour or two passed before she was completely done with the picture, though when she set the pencil down and stared at her work she knew one thing, she had spent too long on it. Kathy sighed and got up, before making her way to the couch and laying down on it, trying to relax her hands before she considered working on her homework. That was when she noticed how late in the afternoon it was and decided that she would have to work on all of her homework tomorrow, which she wasn't looking forward to. She yawned before closing her eyes, drifting off to sleep after the long and tiring day she had been through.
A few minutes passed before she started coughing and her hands flew up to her head, as if a headache had hit her and was inducing some pain, before it suddenly died down. When she opened her eyes they weren't the same blue color that Kathy had, but the red tinted eyes that she had given Pandora so many times. Pandora smiled as she pulled herself up, stretching her body as she checked to see how dark it was outside, finding that it was at a decent level for her plan. She walked into the kitchen and pulled out the largest kitchen knife that she could find, grinning as she lightly ran her pointer finger over the edge.
She had the perfect person in mind to use as her first victim.
Ms. Rocksworth sighed as she finished putting her dinner dishes in the dish washer and picked up the wine glass that she had been drinking from, staring at the last of the wine she had poured for that evening. After a moment she downed the rest of it and placed the glass inside the dish washer with the rest of the dishes, closing it before returning to her dining room table. She had been grading papers before making her dinner, but now that she had finished she knew that she would need to continue grading so she could give her students their papers back on Monday.
Just as she picked up her red pen to continue grading the dining room lights went out, though after a second or two more the rest of the lights in the house went out. A moment later the rest of the house went quiet, almost as if someone had purposely cut the power to her house and was coming to do harm to her. It was moments like this that made her wish that she had bought a gun, any gun, and kept it somewhere safe, so it could be used in case someone wanted to hurt her.
That was before she heard a crash behind her and turned around to see that one of her glass stands had fallen over, shattering the glass and scattering the books she had kept on them. She thought that was all she had to worry about, so when she turned around to get up and fix the power she came face to face with the person responsible for everything. The person, who she was sure was a young girl and was likely in high school, stood near the archway that she had passed to get to the dining room table, though she was shocked to see who it was standing before her.
"Kathy?" she asked, glancing down at her hands and finding a kitchen knife in her hand, "What...what are you doing with that?"
"I am doing what Kathy could not," Pandora laughed, her entire body shuddering before she regained control of herself, "It is time to say goodbye, Ms. Rocksworth."
Before Ms. Rocksworth could even defend herself she found the knife sticking out of her chest and blood was beginning to come out of the would she had been given. The knife came again, though this time it reached for her neck and cut deep, the impact knocking her backwards onto the ground and her blood began to pool around her. She stared up at Kathy in fear and in terror as she pressed her hand against the wound, trying in vain to close the gushing wound and save her life. She made one more attempt to reach for the nearby phone that she kept in case the lines had been severed, but before she could reach it the knife went right into her heart and her life, as she knew it, was over.
Pandora began to chuckle before laughter escaped her, the thrill of the kill and the madness that she had released into the world giving her a joy she had never known until that moment. Despite her hold on her body weakening she knew that she could have some fun with the world she had experienced, though it was all up to Kathy and her will. Either way, Pandora knew that she'd be back to have some fun another day.
Kathy moaned and picked herself off the floor, wondering how she had ended up in the position to being with when the last thing she remembered was her working on another of her pictures. As she opened her eyes she noticed that it was morning, which told her that she had worked on both her homework and her drawings so much that she must have collapsed in exhaustion. She placed her hand on the table and pulled herself up, making sure that she didn't fall over and hurt herself, until she was sure that she could walk. As she started towards the kitchen she looked down at herself and realized that she was still wearing the same clothes from the previous day, just like the day before.
She shook her head and moved on, noticing that there was one kitchen knife missing from the holder, only to spot it sitting on a towel nearby, drying off she assumed. Once the knife was accounted for she continued on her way upstairs, where she knew she needed to take a shower and get cleaned up, just in case one of her friends showed up. It felt strange to think of Joey, Jared, and Alice as her friends, but somehow thinking of them as such kept her mind at ease and gave her a sense of calm.
About thirty minutes later she came back down the stairs, dressed up in different clothing, where she stretched and fixed herself some breakfast, ignoring the knife completely. She pulled some cereal out of the cabinets and poured it into a bowl, which she then preceded to fill with milk before taking a seat at the table, making sure to avoid her drawings. She noticed that she drew a smaller picture of Pandora hosting a party, though her company was an old earth pony mare, not as old as Granny Smith but maybe as old as Pinkie's mother. As she stared at the new mare she wondered why it reminded her so much of her first period teacher, Ms. Rocksworth.
As she finished her meal she walked to the sink and started to wash the bowl out, only to be stopped by someone knocking on the door, where she set the bowl down and moved towards the front door. There she found Joey, though this time he seemed terrified or even scared about something.
"Joey..." Kathy said, not exactly sure what to say to her new friend, "what's wrong?"
"Its Ms. Rocksworth," Joey replied, pointing down the street at the cop cars that Kathy was just now noticing, "Someone broke into her house last night and killed her..."
"Oh my god..." Kathy said, terror filling her as she realized that there could very well be a killer in their town, "but I only saw her yesterday on my way home..."
"Whoever did it made a mess of her," Joey commented, referring to the fact that his father worked in the Police and told him a bit every now and then, "According to my father she was cut in three to seven different places, but whoever did the dirty deed didn't even steal anything from the house."
"Who else knows about this?" Kathy asked, knowing that the question sounded stupid even as it left her mouth.
"Half of the town already knows," Joey exclaimed, sighing as he calmed himself, "there's to be a curfew starting at nine o'clock, so the cops can find and arrest whoever did this. They know that the weapon had to be a knife, but the culprit took his or her weapon with them and left little clues for the cops to follow up on."
Kathy was filled with horror that something could have happened in her own neighborhood, much less to one of her teachers, so she excused herself and let Joey continue down the street, no doubt to tell the others about the murder. She closed her front door and started to make her way to the back of the house, but before she got too far she circled back and locked the front door. Once that was taken care of she went to the back of the house and locked it tight, making sure that there was no way for someone to break in and get to her.
As the day slowly moved along Kathy made sure she was busy with the remaining pieces of her homework, of which there was little of, and drawing Pandora. She couldn't shake the feeling every time she stared at the mare that looked like her first period teacher, it was as if she was staring at her still. As she worked she was compelled to add the new pony, which she was calling Ms. Opal for the moment, to her drawings, so when she drew another group picture the pony appeared in it as well.
As she worked the hours seemed to slip by, but with as many works she made she couldn't shake the feeling of terror that she felt when she learned of Ms. Rocksworth's fate. Her parents were supposed to be back that night, but as the hours ticked by and the day turned to evening she knew that she wouldn't be seeing them until the following day. She kept the television off, so she didn't have to listen to news about the murder, and ate a light dinner when the time came to do so. Though while she worked she was sure that she could hear something, or someone, whispering words to her, though she couldn't make them out.
When it finally came time to go to sleep she headed upstairs and immediately dropped into her bed, just wanting the day to end so she could forget what happened earlier that day. Not a minute later she moaned and turned over, her eyes snapping open and revealing the red color once more. Pandora smiled and climbed out of bed, stretching her arms before heading down the stairs, where she found her knife waiting where she had placed it. She gripped the handle and picked it up, making sure that it was perfectly balanced before moving to the kitchen table and the drawings that rested on it.
There she spotted a picture with the person she had killed the previous day, only turned into a pony and added to Kathy's collection of ponies that she considered to be Pandora's 'friends'. There were many more for her to add to the collection, but first she needed to head outside and collect them, though she had the perfect place in mind.
Night came easily to the Jackson Steel Company warehouse, where one of the guards walked around the perimeter and sighed as there seemed to be nothing interesting happening that night. He had heard the news of a murder in the town, a Highschool teacher by the sounds of it, but the Police had no leads at the moment that they were willing to share with the public. He felt for the students that liked that teacher, but it had nothing to do with his security job, other than the fact that they had the possibility to be visited by the murderer.
"Alexander," a voice said over the radio, causing the guard to inch towards the reply button, "I'm getting reports from the other guards that some of the lights broke on the other side of the lot and I sent a someone over to repair whatever lights he could. But that was ten minutes ago and now none of them seem to be responding to me now. Do me a favor and check on them."
"Will do boss," the guard replied, turning around so he could head back the way he came, "I'll see what's preventing them from calling in."
It was ironic in a way, as he had just thought that it was getting boring in the warehouse and then something happened, though he was expecting more than some broken lights and annoying coworkers. The walk over to the area his boss had mentioned was indeed lacking lights, though from what he could see there wasn't any sign of whoever had been sent to repair the lights or the workers that had called it in. As he walked forward he began to see pools of red liquid everywhere, liquid that he was sure was blood and made him think that the murderer was somewhere near him.
"Boss, we've got a problem," Alexander said, speaking into the radio while looking for some clues, "the guards that were posted over here are missing and there's blood everywhere. There's also no sign of the guard you sent to repair the lights either. Boss, you there?"
He waited for a moment, listening to the channel in the hopes that his boss would respond to him, but just when he was about to give up hope and return to the clock in station he heard the radio click on. What he heard was random words that were whispered to him, but he couldn't make any of them out as he turned around to leave the area he was in. That was when he found a knife sticking out of his gut with the handle visible, though he wondered how he could have missed the person who wielded it.
"Hehehe, I thought I got them all," a young feminine voice said, though it sounded like it came from five different directions, "but when you fall I shall have finished off all the people who call this building home. Thirteen guards needed to protect whatever is in this building, thirteen souls to be claimed by the madness I command."
Pandora stepped partway out of the shadows to watch the last guard fall, his life force fading away as she claimed his soul for herself and grinned in the process. Her smile faltered for a moment as she felt a pain in her forehead, but it quickly passed as a pair of horns sprouted out, horns that she knew would be just like Discord's. Once the deed was done she claimed her knife and wiped it clean on the guard's uniform, her grin remaining as she laughed and made her way out of the area.
There was more for her to do before dawn was upon her, though she couldn't wait to see the look on Kathy's face when she heard the news in the morning of her work here.
Kathy moaned as her alarm clock rang, signaling the start of a new day and that she needed to get up, but she wasn't in the mood to do anything at all. She knew that Monday would be knocking on her door, in the form of her parents no doubt, and she'd be up and about, facing whatever disastrous news was no doubt coming her way. After a few minutes of waiting in her bed she let out a sigh and got out of bed, yawning as she shuffled into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Once she emerged from the bathroom, changed into fresh clothes, she tossed her laundry into her closest bin and went down the stairs, silently hoping that her parents were home. She opened the door to the garage real quick, but quickly noticed that there were still no cars and went back inside, silently wondering where her parents were. She suspected that they were delayed in their return, so she went about making her breakfast and took her usual seat at the dining room table, where most of her incomplete drawings sat. Today she noticed that there was one with Pandora sitting in the throne room she had drawn the previous day, only this time she noticed something different about it.
There were thirteen ponies, all dressed up in azure colored royal guard armor and each possessing a near lavender coat that matched the color scheme she had given Pandora.
"Now when did I create a group of guards for you?" Kathy asked herself, wondering when she had decided on a definite style for the guard, something that she had been waiting to do for a while now.
"I created them myself," a voice replied, causing Kathy to look around in surprise, until she noticed that one of her solo drawings of Pandora was moving, "I mean, I studied Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's guards and then made a decision based on what I saw, though it took me a while to figure all this out. I only hope that you agree with my choices."
Kathy picked up the page that she could have sworn she had seen Pandora move on and stared at the draconquues, wondering if her imagination was getting the better of her at last. At first nothing seemed to be different, but then as she was about to put the page down the image of Pandora pulled its arms off of the page, pressed them against the edges, and literally pulled itself off the entire page. The mini Pandora looked up at her and waved, though Kathy had no idea if she should return the gesture or start freaking out and turn herself into a mental hospital.
"Personally I like the color of their armor and their coats," the mini Pandora continued, walking over to the other picture to study the colors, "Azure was always a pretty color in my opinion, so I figured that it would be a great idea to use it in the armor. And we both know where their lavender coats come from, thanks to my own beautiful colors. Well, come on now, tell me what you think about my choices!"
"I must be going insane," Kathy replied, shaking her head as she wrapped her arms around her chest, "there's absolutely no other explanation for whats happening to me."
"We're not insane Kathy," the mini Pandora said, stepping up to her and staring her in the eyes, "oh no, we're just plain mad. You may not agree with my methods, but soon you'll find that your as mad as I am and then you'll agree that we'll need the protection from our enemies. Here, let me show you exactly what I'm referring to."
Before Kathy could say anything the mini Pandora fell back onto its original page and went flat, as if whatever she had seen was over and her imagination was done with her. She stared at the page for a moment, thinking this was all in her head, until she felt something tap on her shoulder, though she could have sworn that she felt a claw of some kind. She gulped and turned her head back to see who was behind her, only to come face to face with a full sized Pandora, who was grinning at her. The moment she realized that her mind wasn't playing a trick on her she started to rise, but Pandora's hand connected with her head and the world around her vanished.
When the world came back into focus Kathy found herself in the middle of a large throne room, though the more she looked around the more she recognized where she was. Somehow she was sitting in the throne room she had drawn for Pandora, where she could host a party for her friends, though it surprised her to find that she was actually sitting on the throne itself. Or at least she thought she was, as the moment her eyes went down she noticed that Pandora was indeed sitting in the chair, all thanks to the body structure and coat color that Kathy had given her.
She found her gaze lifting to look around the room, telling Kathy that she was not in control of what she was seeing and that Pandora was showing her whatever she wanted. Pandora looked to both sides of the chamber, showing Kathy that there were guards everywhere, meant to protect them in case something came for them. Sitting in a few of the chairs were her friend's characters, Stargaze, Ironside, and Cloud Strider, followed by a pony that Kathy had seen the previous day, one that she had named Ms. Opal. Then her gaze lifted once more, leaving her friends behind to focus on several ponies that must have entered the chamber without their invitation.
Kathy was surprised to find out that the four ponies that stood before Pandora were none other than Applejack, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle. While she made a mental note that there were two Elements of Harmony present, the actual Elements and not the ponies that wore them, she also noted that Princess Cadence and Shining Armor looked furious.
"Pandora! Your reign of terror ends now," Princess Cadence shouted, nodding to her husband as he pulled out a horn and blew a signal note, "We shall stop your madness and free the people of this city from your control."
"My madness?" Pandora asked, her voice echoing across the chamber as her guards moved forward, "Please, the citizens of this fair city enjoy their lives under my rule. None of them are suffering, none of them are starving, and they are all content to live out their lives under my rule. You would want to see me defeated and my rule shattered, but think what would happen to the citizens that depend on my guards and I to keep them safe before you do anything drastic."
Just as the image around her began to fade Kathy watched as Pandora stood up and extended one of her arms, just as the doors fell down and crystal guards poured into the chamber. The chamber distorted as Pandora's magic settled into the stonework, something that Kathy knew came from the powers that she had given her. The only thing she wondered about was why Princess Cadence would be leading a charge against Pandora, with her family and Applejack in tow.
"Now you see what I meant," Pandora said, pulling her clawed hand back as Kathy recognized that she was back in her house, "Princess Cadence and her allies want to fight us, so we need to do everything in our power to stop them before they succeed. I shall meld with you just a tiny bit, just so you can keep an eye out for those who might possess our enemies powers. It will only hurt for a second..."
It took a second for it to happen, but the moment that Pandora pressed some of her powers into Kathy the entire world around her went black for a moment. She also felt something shift inside her, giving her some form of pain that she was unfamiliar with, but then it slowly began to fade away as fast as it had arrived. Then her world snapped back into focus, her kitchen table and kitchen reappearing after a couple of seconds, though she noticed nothing different.
She looked around for Pandora, but instead of spotting the draconquues like she did last time there was no one around her at all, making her wonder if she had imagined everything. As she got ready for school she had no idea what her eye color had changed to that of Pandora's eyes.