Chapters It had been a disappointingly short fight, and Mara was less than happy it was over. Despite the fact, the five moved on, with Mara still grumbling about how the timberwolves had looked far more fierce than they were, and didn't even bleed real blood. At the time, she hadn't cared, but now that it was over she seemed to just be looking for an excuse. Yuki had been surprisingly quiet, Hargreaves never talked anyway, Loic just stared straight ahead and Dishwasher trudged on ahead of them all, his gaze hard and focused. Finally, the five came to a clearing, and Mara had to stop. She was starving, they all were really, but she was far worse.
"Damnit. Remember how I said this bites? I stand corrected. THIS bites. I need something that is actual flesh and blood soon."
"We'll all starve if we don't find something Dishwasher, you know that." Loic looked away from his companion as he spoke, but Dishwasher could tell he wasn't much better.
Mara had used up her strength fighting the timberwolves, but even without using their gifts, they were all weak. Pale as they were, they were clearly drained. Yuki stood hunched, her chainsaw pulling her arm nearly to dragging on the ground, and she held Conviction limply in her hand. Loic's grip on his Cleavers was loose. Hargreaves didn't seem any different, but he never did. Dishwasher nodded. This would have to work for now.
"Hargreaves, as far as I can tell, you look alright. Go on ahead of us, find something that actually bleeds, and bring it back here. Alive if possible. If not, we'll make due"
Hargreaves nodded, lifting Guillotine from his back and separating the two scissor blades, holding them like a pair of swords. He turned from the group and stalked off into the forest alone, as silent as the forest itself.
"Hey Twi, you know how I usually LIKE danger? Yeah, this is the kind I don't like. At all"
The girls seemed to agree with Rainbow Dash. Having found the trail that the mysterious beings had taken, they were surprised to find what looked like a battleground between their mystery beings and an entire pack of timberwolves. The carnage that had been set loose was among the more horrific things any of them had ever seen.
"What could have done this? I mean, there isn't any reason for this. Its just... Its slaughter for its own sake. What kind of creatures do this?" Twilight muttered, though more to herself than to the others.
"Maybe it was aliens," Pinkie said, bouncing a few times "Or robots! oh, maybe some monsters from Tartarus got lose! That's how Tirec was running around being a meanie pants after all!" Despite the horrific level of carnage in front of them, they were only timberwolves, and the lack of flesh and blood made it easier to look at.
"Oh, those poor things! I know they weren't very nice, but no creatures deserve this" Fluttershy didn't want to be here, but these were forest creatures, and this didn't sit well with her. "Twilight, we need to find out who would go hurting poor little creatures here"
As the girls talked, a Twilight was concentrating. She wasn't as powerful as the other princesses were yet, but she could feel a change in their quarry. One of them was moving. and it was moving right their way.
"Girls, we have company. One of them is coming back"
Hargreaves moved easily through the forest, heading back to where Mara had carved up those creatures. In his own mind, he figured he might catch something scavenging the dead. He wouldn't need to put a lot of effort into this if something was, and saving his energy was important for this. He might not be showing it, but he really was starting to starve. He was just better at hiding it. Aside from Dishwasher, Hargreaves was the oldest of the vampires, and could last longer than the others as well.
He was nearing the site of their fight when he heard someone talking. Six distinct voices. Peering through the trees, he realized he had found some of the local population. He swore internally, realizing that they would have spooked any scavengers. Worse, they weren't infected by the Cyborgs. A shame, as they would have made a good kill if they were. They were here to save the population though, not slaughter them. Then he got a good look at them and tilted his head. Equines? Too small for horses. Ponies? What kind of strange world was this? He shook his head and took off, heading out to find something to kill.
A soft rustle told Twilight that the creature had stopped short of approaching them. She didn't want to provoke it, but they needed to stop them, so she turned to look, ready to approach it. Before she could, it took off, racing through the forest as if it knew every root and branch. For only a moment though, just a stolen glance, She saw a face. Redder than fresh blood, eyes black as tar. It was shaped like a skull, but of a creature she didn't recognize. They had to catch it, whatever it was.
"There it goes! Come on everypony, we have to stop it! I'm sure it was the thing that did this. We can't let it get to Ponyville!"
The chase was on. The creature moved like a shadow in the night, and the ponies raced after him. Though most of them were barely keeping pace, Rainbow Dash was gaining ground, but the forest was poor flying conditions and she flew along his left, unable to overtake him to stop him. Applejack meanwhile, had caught up and ran alongside him, readying her lasso.
"Now this is some rodeo, pardner. Gave a good run, but ah gotcha now!" She said as she cast her lasso. The throw was true, and the rope circled her target....
Hargreaves saw the rope coming and smiled to himself. They actually thought to catch him? not about to happen. He focused his mind, shifting his body into the inky black mist that the others simply called The Shift. Yuki and Mara became a haze of blood, but Hargreaves, Loic and Dishwasher became shadows, and this let him slip through the rope with ease, because he simply ceased to exist for just that moment. They wanted to catch him, but he still needed fresh blood.
The cave he spotted up ahead was a good bet. Hargreaves turned to run towards it as the orange pony readied another throw. The blue one was trying to heard him, blocking his escape, so he simply Shifted through her and made for the cave. They didn't follow him in here, so he figured if they weren't coming in, there was something in here they didn't want to meet. That worked fine. Hargreaves could kill it and make his way back. Just as he had that thought, the thing made its presence known. It looked like some kind of wild cat from back home. A lion. But the scorpion stinger seemed to rule that out. Whatever it was, it was big, and that meant it had plenty of blood. The Manticore, for that's what it was, roared at this small being and decided a free meal was a free meal.
The Manticore pounced, aiming to make short work of Hargreaves, but he wouldn't be so easy to take. Slipping to the right, he slashed with one half of his scissor, a great cut sliced wide open in the beast's side. It swiped a claw at him, but Hargreaves was fast, and ducked the paw. The stinger came down and he sidestepped, but the follow up paw connected, sending him flying. Hargreaves recovered, wincing. That actually hurt. This beast may not be as dumb as he thought. The difference was that Hargreaves wasn't fighting for himself. The next attack came, and he rolled with it, taking the hit to re-attach his blades and snap them down on a paw. Guillotine sheared through flesh and bone, leaving the paw on the floor of the cave. Separating the blades, he loosed a flurry of slashes that sent he beast staggering. As it tried to recover, it found Guillotine on either side of its neck. Dishwasher wouldn't be happy he didn't bring it back alive, but that didn't matter. Blood was blood. The massive scissor blades snapped shut. The manticore never even had a chance to cry out...
"Ah tell ya, it just disappeared. Mah lasso was around it, then poof. Gone in a puff'a smoke. then back ta runnin' like it never happened. after that, it went in there"
Applejack told the girls what had happened when they caught up, while Rainbow tried to recover from the shock. The shadowy mist had felt like ice through her veins, and had shaken her pretty badly. They all heard the sounds of a fight and a manticore's roar, so they peered in to see. It was a carnal house. The strange new creature had sliced the manticore in dozens of places, and blood spattered all across the cave. Something lay in the splashes of blood, a thing they realized was the manticore's paw, and were nearly sick. Fluttershy had already passed out at the sight. A good thing she had. The creature stood on the wounded manticore's back, wielding what appeared to be a pair of giant, viciously sharp scissors. It held them open over the manticore's neck, and as the girls ran out of the cave, the could hear the wet sound of blades passing through flesh before snapping shut with a grim finality.
"Darling, can we pleeease go home now? I'm quite certain that whatever that thing is, I don't have any desire to face that in any kind of fight" Rarity said in a hushed tone, seeming paler than the pearl white pony normally was.
"Um, yeah, I second leaving the scary alien alone" Pinkie said, far more reserved than she normally was.
Before Twilight had a chance to speak, the creature came out of the cave. It held the head of the manticore in one hand, with thick chunks of it slung over its shoulders. it had its head tilted back as blood dripped from the neck, splashing into its mouth. It lowered the head as it turned to look to its pursuers, the scissors shining in the moonlight, glinting silver and wet with red.
"Girls. If it was up to me, we would. Suddenly, I have a bad feeling that decision is all his."
Author's Note
Hey there! hope you enjoy the story so far.
I wanted to clear a few things up for anyone who is confused. So, first of all, I went with the idea that they are all vampires. I know its never actually mentioned in game what they are, just that they are dead, but it seemed the most fitting for such a bloody game.
Second, you may be wondering about why the Arcade mode characters are here. Mara, Loic and Hargreaves don't feature too heavily, but I feel like they are a perfect outlet for me to have some creativity with the story, because I get to define who they are, as they never had a specific personality in game. So my ideas are that Loic is clearly bitter, his words always gruff and hard. Mara is like Yuki was before she got her revenge and Hargreaves was a personal challenge. Giving a personality to a character who never speaks.
Lastly, you may have noticed that, while Dishwasher is calm and focused like he is in game, Yuki isn't the bloodthirsty psycho. I did this because at this point, she got her revenge, so her bloodthirst is sated, much like Dishwasher's was in the first game, so the crazy, violent one ends up as Mara. Expect to see each character get some time in the spotlight in the future, if I actually continue this.
The Engineer
Silicolt Valley was the technological center of Equestria. It was the hub of new inventions and ideas, of machines and devices meant for making everypony's lives better. Data File was one such pony, and was looking into new technology that could be used to help ponies who had lost limbs or suffered crippling injuries to regain their mobility and independence. Data File decided on this course of action when his father, Creative Design, was injured by a machine he was working on in his own lab. As Data File entered his lab on the same day the Vampire's had arrived miles and miles away, he found something that wasn't there before. Sitting on his workshop table was a mask. Solid white, almost featureless save for a few vertical slits for the mouth arranged like a grate and two holes for the eye. No light seemed to pass through these openings, leaving only pure blackness. Data looked at the mask, and distinctly felt the mask looking back. Before he knew it, he was holding it. He wondered how he got so close, and when he picked up this mask. He didn't want to put it on, but here he was holding it. He stared. It got closer and closer to his face. He couldn't help himself. He put it on... The last thing that went through the mind of Data File before it was destroyed and replaced by the evil in the mask was deep regret, the realization that he would bring the end of Equestria as he felt the evil consume him. It needed a bright mind. It had found the perfect host. The Engineer awoke once more.
Hargreaves stood with the dripping chunks of manticore slung over his shoulder by a rope made of the beast's skin. He looked over the ponies arrayed before him, an eyebrow raised behind his gore coated mask, its normally red color now a shade noticeably darker. He figured he had more than enough blood, and these creatures were sentient and uninfected. If he had to fight them, he would without complaint, but he preferred not to if he could. Their body motions said they wanted to flee, but they were still standing their ground. Hargreaves dropped the now drained head and pointed with his hand. He would offer them a chance to run. If they were smart, they would take it. They had a job to do, and they were going to do it with as few casualties as possible.
The girls looked in confusion at the creature as it gestured away. Rarity shivered a little bit at the look of the creature, and Twilight took a few steps back. That mask was menacing, and the fact that none of them could see his eyes only made it that much more unnerving. Fluttershy was the first one to speak.
"Umm... Girls. I think he wants us to leave now.... So, can we? Please?"
Twilight gulped, but shook her head. She knew she only had this chance, and if she let this creature get away, it probably wouldn't be easy to find it again.
"No girls. We can't let a dangerous creature like this run free. I wonder though. Girls, it seems like it understands us. Maybe It can communicate! Fluttershy, can you try talking to it? Maybe it can tell us why it's here, or what it wants."
Fluttershy shivered and looked at Twilight. This creature was dangerous, but if talking to it would save her friends, she would give it a try.
"Um... Ok. I'll try"
Fluttershy trotted over to the bipedal creature, shuddering like a leaf as she approached. The creature stood, watching her intently with its
"Excuse me. Um, I know you can understand me, so can you please maybe tell us why you did that? Or what you're doing here?...."
Hargreaves listened to the pony as it continued rambling for a short time. He held up a hand in gesture to have her stop, then pointed at his mouth and shook his head to indicate to her he was unable to speak. He thought about it for a moment. Perhaps these ponies could be of use to the vampires, especially considering they had just about no idea where to even begin to look for the Fallen Engineers mask. Hargreaves sighed and shrugged, gesturing for them to follow before he turned to walk off. The next thing he realized was that none of them were following. He shook his head and gestured with his head. They seemed to get it this time and followed.
"Where do y'all think it's takin us?" Applejack whispered to Rainbow Dash
"How the hay should I know? All I know is that wherever it's going is probably nowhere we want to be."
Pinkie leaned in and whispered, interrupting them.
"Ah kinda doubt it Pinkie"
It wasn't long before the creature arrived at a clearing, and within the clearing sat four other creatures very similar to it. They looked tired, and every one of them was as pale as the first. It was hard for the girls to tell male from female, but two of the creatures were leaner and more slight, with clear physical differences, so they assumed these two were female. Twilight had been practically shaking. Partially out of fear, partially out of excitement. She wanted to ask questions about these things, now that she saw they were at least not aggressive towards ponies. She was ready to start asking questions when their mute guide started passing around the hunks of meat to the subdued thanks of his exhausted companions. Her questions temporarily died in her throat as each of them gulped down the vital red fluids of the chunks of manticore. As they finished their feast, Twilight finally got the nerve to speak to them.
"Excuse me? Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends. Do you mind If I ask you a few questions?"
It was one of the males, thin with scraggly hair as black as a raven's feathers, who answered her.
Twilight immediately looked apprehensive at this, asking "Dangerous? Why do you need a dangerous item? What are you going to do with it?"
"Destroy it. The object we seek is a mask that will corrupt and infect this world with a twisted cybernetic mind, robbing every sentient being on this world of their free will if not found and destroyed before it can be used. If it is ever put on, it will be the damnation of this world. We must find it and destroy it."
The girls all gasped at this, Rarity nearly fainting and Fluttershy hiding behind Rainbow Dash. Twilight still had another question.
"Wait, if you're trying to save this world, why did you do that to the Manticore? What was that all about?"
Yuki was the next one to answer, giving a low snarl as she spoke.
"We're vampires. That much should have been obvious. We need blood to survive."
"That's right. Without blood to sustain us, we start to weaken. Though normally, we get our sustenance through warfare. Whatever we kill, we consume. That's just our way. " The Dishwasher said, shrugging.
Twilight had sat with the vampires and the girls, asking questions for a few more hours. The information she had been given was frightening to say the least. The way these vampires lost their home world, forced to destroy it in order to stop the spread of the corrupting cybernetic movement after the destruction of the Engineer. The discovery of the Engineer's rebirth on the moon, and the battle to stop the Engineer from destroying the reborn civilization. It was a lot to take in. Though the young princess didn't know where this mask might be, she knew somepony who might. She decided to write a letter to princess Celestia and Luna, hoping they would know where to start looking. While Twilight kept up with the scientific community and with advancements in technology she didn't get out a lot, so didn't know where the most likely place for the mask would be, but she had a few ideas. The Vampires agreed that speaking to the nations leaders was a good idea. The group of vampires stayed the night in Twilight's castle, and the princess was glad for the company in the big old place. They would leave for the castle in the morning to find out what they could from Celestia and Luna.
The Fallen Engineer toiled away, establishing his cybernetics workshop. Several ponies had come into the building to begin their workday, only to be converted into the first of the Engineer's cybernetic minions. Those first few would become his generals. The Programmer, The Chemist, and The Inventor. These three would go out to other cities, and would create further cyborg ponies. It wouldn't take long, the cybernetics would spread. It was an easy thing. Ponies wouldn't be able to resist them, they would become far too many. The Fallen Engineer continued to toil away, creating his army. Abduct, remake, repeat. This process would continue until the world belonged to him. It was an inevitability. This world had no hope for survival....
Author's Note
So, it took a while to finally get it out, but here it is. Sorry for the delay, but it was a little challenging between work and unpacking at my new home. Still, I hope you all enjoy it. Not really sure how I feel about this chapter. Something feels off. Since I don't have a pre-reader I'm relying on you readers to tell me what you think. Constructive criticism welcome, downvotes without reading not so much. If you're gonna downvote, please at least give a reason. Thanks, and enjoy!
In the aftermath of the battle, a slightly rotund black man in the attire of a professional chef stood and looked upon an almost empty room containing a ruined corpse with a shattered mask. That was a fact that bothered him quite a bit. Not the corpse, but the significant lack of people. Chef frowned, and wondered where his warriors were. There were five of them who knew of the Cyborg threat, selected by Chef for their strength, their speed and their brutality. Not one of them was alive as humanity defined it. Not anymore. Chef had seen to that, granting them the gift of his blood and creating his vampiric champions. Their undead nature, the vampiric blood coursing through their veins, it made them strong. It made them resilient, and each of them could rend the flesh and metal from the cyborg bones.
There were five, and they were the most dangerous living things in the galaxy. Loic, who's face never seemed to be visible. Ever cast in shadows, he was a wild, unpredictable beast with his twin Butchers Cleavers, a harsh, abrupt tone and fierce glowing blue eyes. Hargreaves, the red masked madman who spoke as often as he showed mercy. His massive scissor known as Guillotine had earned the name it was given, and the black pits of his eyes made even soulless cyborgs shiver in fear. Mara, the heavy hitter, seemed to take a twisted joy in her task, and her Cloud Sword was ever stained with the remains of the cyborgs she ravaged with its razor edge and massive weight. The other two though. Chef considered them the most dangerous of his chosen. Yuki, more often called Prisoner. Her blade, Conviction, had taken so many lives it was still a shock that it wasn't permanently stained red. The chainsaw in place of Prisoner's missing arm was in constant need of cleaning to remove the remains of her enemies. Then, there was The Dishwasher. The first of Chef's vampires, it was Dishwasher who led the group, simply because he had more focus, more control over himself. That's not to say he wasn't dangerous, far from it. Dishwasher was likely the most dangerous of them all. Focused aggression, he was lightning quick and his Shift Blade, a beautiful and ancient katana, gave him still more speed and agility. He had slaughtered an army of Cyborgs alone before the war the five now engaged on the moon.
These five had been the only chance humanity had against the army that had been crafted by the Fallen Engineer, the mastermind of the Cyborg movement. That's why their disappearance after the climactic battle was so disconcerting. As fierce and dangerous as they were, they had vanished in the wake of the Engineer's destruction. The question was, where did they go? No bodies were left behind, and all five of them were simply gone, as if they had never been. Chef didn't like not knowing where the five most lethal beings ever known to man, beings HE created, had vanished to. Chef sighed, and turned to leave. As he left, he muttered to himself.
"Wherever they are, I'm sorry. I doubt that world deserves what's about to hit it, because wherever it is, if it needed them its probably already doomed"
Dishwasher was the first one awake. He groaned and looked around himself, finding his Shift Blade on the ground and his allies scattered around him. Taking up his blade, he stood and walked over to the nearest of his companions. Loic lay face down, his cleavers halfway across the room. They seemed to be in an old castle, one that should have been condemned. Dishwasher nudged Loic with one foot, getting a groan from the other vampire.
"Hey. Loic. Get up. You're not dead. Well, maybe you are, but that hasn't stopped us. come on."
Loic, for his part, chuckled at the comment and started to rise. He didn't say anything, but started looking for his blades. As he did Dishwasher approached what seemed to be a pedestal, whose only interesting feature to him was the fact that it now supported Hargreaves and his Guillotine, both of which were draped across one of the arms of it.
"Hargreaves. Get down, we got work to do. I think. We gotta figure out where we are. Grab your scissors and get off that"
Hargreaves replied to this with the same silence he always did, looking at Dishwasher a moment before dragging himself and his weapon down from the statue. Mara was already stirring, and despite the rough landing, the vampire was still smiling. She held her weapon already and headed over to the pedestal, watching the others gather.
"So, where are we and where are the cyborgs? I'm already tired of being here. This place is a dump."
"Calm down Mara" a voice from behind her said "We killed the Engineer, his power went nuts and now we're here. Lets take a minute to think before we start killing things" Yuki said, dusting herself off with her only remaining hand.
"I don't like this place either, but I'm with Yuki. I want to know what we're dealing with" Loic chimed in, his voice like ice. Dishwasher had been thinking, and already had an idea. His next words drew a grin from all of the others. Except Hargraves, but nobody could tell with him one way or another.
"Relax, all of you. We're not staying. I can almost feel it. The cyborgs are already here. they haven't shown their hand, not yet. We might be able to cut out the rot before we need to amputate the limb of this infection. We may have a chance to save this world. but to do that, we have to go find the head of this body and figure out where the decay is skulking. Once we know where to start, we'll get to work".
Meanwhile in Ponyville, Princess Twilight Sparkle had woke to a very strange feeling. Magic, of a kind she had never felt before, had suddenly appeared in the Everfree Forest. Something powerful, malevolent. No, not one. Five distinct energies. They were making their way through the forest, and straight towards Ponyville. She immediately went to rouse Spike, who slept comfortably in his basket in their crystal castle.
"Spike, wake up! Something is happening. We need to get the girls, it could be trouble."
Spike, for his part, was less than pleased to wake up at this hour, and grumbled as he slowly came to.
"What could..*Yaaawn*.. possibly be so urgent that we have to wake everypony at two A.M. Twilight? I mean, everything seems pretty normal to me"
Twilight, however, was already on her hooves and grabbing a saddlebag of emergency supplies. She didn't want to be caught unprepared for whatever these things were, and would also need a few things to wake her friends.
"I'm not sure Spike, but I know that whatever they are, they're dangerous and they're headed this way. Come on, we've gotta hurry and wake the girls!"
"Wait, what do you mean by 'They'? I don't understand. Twilight!"
Spike's protests seemed to fall on deaf ears as the panicked alicorn grabbed him and ran out into the night to get her friends and confront whatever it was that was approaching.
"Seriously, this place bites more than I do" Mara complained. She hadn't had a drop of blood far longer than any of the others, and was getting irritable. This of course meant that she was going to make the others as miserable as she was. Which meant Loic was going to keep trying to shut her up.
"Shut it Mara. You don't hear Hargreaves complaining do you?"
"I don't hear Hargraves say much of anything. Ever. So that doesn't mean a thing"
"....." the low groan was about the most Hargreaves had ever said. It was enough to silence them. At least, for the time being.
"Well Mara, you said you were bored. Looks like we found you something to do."
For her part, Mara grinned as wide as a Cheshire cat, lifting her Cloud Sword from where it rested on her back. Arcs of electricity cracked and danced along the blades keen edge as she held it before her. The others simply stood back. There was no need to get involved. Not for this. After all, Mara was more than overkill for a pack of Timberwolves.
"This will do. Oh yeah, this will do."
The first Timberwolf lunged from the shadows, straight for Mara's throat. It's jaws snapped on empty air as Mara sidestepped with a laugh, her blade falling like a lumberjack's axe, splitting the wolf cleanly in two, sending the sap that made up its lifeblood splattering across the grassy earth. The next leapt from behind, and two others from her left and right. Mara slipped by them all, her massive blade whistling through the air as it cut and crushed everything in its path, leaving a sticky, messy ruin. The Timberwolves were being tossed about like kindling, and all that could be heard was Mara's laughter, reveling in her massacre. Though it wasn't blood, Mara was in her element, the thick of combat, and she couldn't be more content. Blood, Tree sap, it made no difference. all that mattered was that it signaled another life ended. Mara just laughed, and laughed, and laughed...
Twilight had gathered her friends together and they were just outside of Fluttershy's cottage, preparing to go in after whatever had arrived in the forest, when the shrill howl of the Timberwolves was heard, followed by the echoing of maniacal laughter. The six ponies looked apprehensively at one another.
"umm.. What did ya say we were after in them woods, sugarcube?"
Applejack said what they were all thinking. Something was definitely not right, and going in after something they didn't know anything about just didn't seem like a good idea.
"Honestly Applejack, I don't know. Whatever they are though, I know they're dangerous"
Rarity looked worried at the noises, and with Fluttershy hiding behind her, it was clear she and the others were less than excited by the news.
"Darling, I'm quite worried about this entire thing. It's the middle of the night, and we're about to trudge through the forest without knowing what we are looking for. Perhaps we should wait here for them to come to us?"
"um... I agree with Rarity... lets not go in there and just, um, go back to bed...if that's ok?" Fluttershy managed to squeak out in a hushed tone.
"I know its scary, but we have to find out what we're dealing with. Besides, if we wait, they could already be rampaging through Ponyville. Come on girls, we can do this. After everything we've done together? As long as we stick together, we can handle this too!"
Her friends all smiled, each one agreeing with her. Feeling more confident, they took up their lanterns and began trotting into the Everfree to search for the source of the mysterious new power that had found its way to Equestria.
Author's Note
So, This is my first time delving into writing a crossover. Or publishing my work. I always loved the Dishwasher games and thought about how ponies would react to this band of rather violent heroes (a term that can only be loosely applied I think) arriving and proceeding to handle the situation in a way that the ponies would have never even fathomed. So I started writing this story and decided to leave it to you to judge. Constructive criticism is welcome, but simply saying "I hate this" isn't helpful, so please, if you don't like it, tell me why. Thank you all, and I hope you enjoy
