A tiny whimper escaped my lips as I listened to the sounds surrounding me: the low moans of my parents, a haunting noise which sent shivers down my spine; the ragged gasps of air from my twin sister just above me as she lay on top of the debris and a laugh—a laugh so obviously wicked that it struck a pure and feral fear into my heart every time I heard it.
I lay still for a few torturous minutes during which the pained sounds of my family gradually ceased. Tears formed in the corner of my eyes and I struggled to stifle a sob.
A droplet of blood fell from the debris above me and landed upon my shoulder with an unexpected splash, staining my pink coat crimson-red and a gasp tore from my mouth; I heard the ponies' quiet talking falter as they overheard my slip-up and for a moment the only noise I could hear was that of my own blood pounding in my ears. Then came the sound of hoof steps on the wooden floor and I held my breath in anticipation; seconds passed, though it felt like hours, before the stallion finally drew away.
"There's nopony else here," he informed his comrades in a rough, scratchy voice and he pawed at the ground slightly, "but it might be time for us to make our leave. I’d rather not get caught.”
"Agreed." A second pony, a mare this time, replied. "Besides, we need to run back and get the matches to burn the evidence; damn you for leaving them behind, Dagger!”
A murmur of agreement rung out amongst the group. “Fine, I’ll pop out and get them,” one pony, presumably the one named ‘Dagger’, said reluctantly, “and the rest of you can stay here and keep watch outside; I’ll be a few minutes.” Then, to my great relief, came the blessed sound of retreating hoof steps; the door opened and closed with a creak and then there was absolute silence.
Though it was foolish to do so when the ponies were still so near I began to move, my body stiff from sitting still for so long, my skin shredded from the debris that had fallen on top of me, though it was something which I was thankful for; it had hidden me from view, saved me from meeting the same fate as my family.
It took a while for me to crawl out from under the rubble, and the sight that met my eyes was horrific. My sister lay still on top of my hiding place, her eyes squeezed shut from pain and her mouth wide open as she had tried to draw in air, blood now trickling out of the corners and staining her teeth and lips red. My legs began to shake weakly when I looked at the state of her neck and I quickly spun around to face my parents, wishing their fate had been kinder.
It had not.
My father lay dead on top of my mother as if he had been trying to protect her from harm; his white coat was now hot-pink from his own blood and his wings, once magnificent with their pale blue edges, the same colour as his mane, were shredded and torn. His beautiful feathers were scattered throughout the room and his eyes, the same shade of purple as my own, were wide with terror and pain. The only respite came to me in the fact that my mother seemed to have suffered less than the other two; her head was surrounded by a pool of blood, but the hole in the back of her neck suggested she'd died quickly.
The tears began to fall thick and fast then and I felt my breathing grow steadily faster, especially when hoofsteps began to draw near to the house again; with a quick glance around the room and all the horrors contained within it I ran, galloping towards the now-gaping hole in the left wall and launching myself out. I couldn't stay in this place; I could never return to this nightmare again.
From that day onwards I tried to shut myself out from the rest of the world. A few years passed and, eventually, I even managed to block out that day from my memories, only ever thinking about it when I let my mind wander so naturally I kept myself busy. I began studying advanced magic in the Canterlot Library with express permission from Celestia herself who took a liking to me when her student, another young pony by the name of Twilight Sparkle, brought me to the castle due to my desire to learn. I didn't enjoy the studying itself so much, or at least not the theory behind it, but the lack of pain involved was pleasant.
It wasn't long before I discovered my talent for magic and with the arrival of my new cutie mark I found a new need to truly understand magic. I had soon read all of the books in the Canterlot Library—or the ones which I deemed important, at least—and, as a young mare of six years now, I decided to travel the world to learn about eastern magic; whilst staying in a small village in the Badlands, I met a stallion by the name of Night Shield, a seven-year-old earth pony stallion with a coat of purest back and a mane which shone like silver, and we began travelling together. I learnt a little about his past and, more significantly, how he was a member of the Royal Guard and was on a mission for Princess Celestia to look out for any signs of trouble in the small villages scattered about Equestria. In turn, I shared some of my past with him, such as how my father had been in the Royal Guard just like him, and I shared some of the fonder memories from my childhood. I let slip that I had run away from home, too; I caught myself, and Night Shield didn't push me when I refused to expand on my motives for doing so. I was appreciative for that.
A few more years, and we were both adults now; our friendship grew stronger until we fell in love, but we didn't bother to get married - we moved together straight away. Night took a break from his job as a member of the Royal Guard to spend time with me when I discovered I was with foal, and Celestia, remembering me, was more than happy to oblige.
I gave birth in the middle of winter—a strange time of year for foaling, but still—to a gorgeous little pegasus filly with wings dipped in silver and I called her Legacy, thinking of my father as I whispered the name to her, which she seemed to like the sound of. Night Shield absolutely doted on her and when he began working again he always took one of her tiny feathers with him.
Life was perfect and for once I didn't have to fight the memories; they stayed at bay of their own will.
And then, all of a sudden, the nightmares became real once more.
A soft but purposeful rapping came at the door and I frowned as I rose from my seat on a soft rug near the fire with Legacy, holding her with my magic as I went to open the door; why someone would be calling at this time of night, I had no idea, for Night Shield wasn't due home just yet. A group of ponies, perhaps middle aged, stood in the doorway, huddled close together as they shivered.
"May we come in?" One of the stallions asked and his voice triggered something in my mind, making me a little wary but I nodded all the same; I wasn't one to leave anyone out in the winter snow. I led them over to the fire and offered to get some hot chocolate for them before they went on their way. I kept Legacy close to my side, nervous, and I had reason to be.
The second I turned my back, I felt a spell hit my leg and I gasped as my magic suddenly dissipated and my foal fell to the floor; reaching out quickly, I grabbed her in my mouth before she hit the ground and then held her in my hooves, spinning and glaring at the ponies.
"What did you do!" I yelled furiously, clutching my daughter so tightly she began to whine. My eyes flashed, but the group only looked amused.
"Nothing that wasn't necessary," one of the mares said, her voice sickly sweet and again I felt dread at the sound of it. The ponies then stood up and finally I could see their various cutie marks.
A fang.
A drop of blood.
A dagger.
It all suddenly made sense. "Y-You!" I shrieked in horror and I reeled backwards quickly and Legacy let out a blood-curdling wail at my own yell. I tried to ignore her cries as I shouted at the ponies, "You k-killed my family!"
The stallion laughed darkly, looking confident and cocky as if he’d done this sort of thing many times before; perhaps he had, I thought with a shudder. "Oh, really? I don't recall ever seeing you before."
"I-I was hidden under the debris.” I said with a slight stutter, cursing myself for showing weakness, “My father was the… the pegasus with the b-blue-tipped wings." My response was loud but my voice shook still and betrayed me.
The large stallion bobbed his head slightly, looking smug. "Ah, yes, I recall. But that matters not now; we're going to kill you, heritage or not. Although frankly, your heritage only makes me want to kill you more.”
“W-what?”
The stallion rolled his eyes. “You really want me to explain our plan? Don’t you know how the stories go; the bad guy reveals his scheme and then he gets beaten! So… nah, I don’t think I will explain. I’d rather not tempt fate like that, you know?”
I frowned for a second before my eyes darted upwards and I noticed that the stallion's horn had begun to glow; instinctively I braced myself to fight, even if my magic seemed to have been limited by the spell which had been shot at me. Legacy's cries turned into loud neighing of pure terror as she fidgeted and whinnied, kicking out with her hooves, tossing her head. Then, before I even had time to register what was happening, she began to glow bright green as a magical aura surrounded her, and I yelled in horror before my daughter fell from my grip, still and lifeless. A trickle of blood began to trail from the edges of her wide purple eyes.
"N-No… L-Legacy..." I whispered, and then my face contorted into an expression of pure rage which seemed to amuse my attackers as they approached me. "No!"
My mind was in turmoil as I began to buck and kick wildly, yelling for help. My head throbbed agonisingly as I struggled to use my powers, the restraints placed upon me seemingly impossible to break and I gritted my teeth as I continued to fight; bending down quickly, I grabbed my daughter's still body in my mouth and refused to let go as the ponies slowly drew closer. I felt my legs carry me backwards, but I kept my head elevated stubbornly, refusing to submit.
"We're going to kill you, you know. It will be much easier if you just let us get it over with—bleeding a pony out is effective, but it's hardly our preferred method. We aren't monsters, after all; we only resort to barbaric techniques when our prey is being... unwilling." The stallion's eyes glinted as he grinned and I could have continued to step towards me, and his horn began to glow again. I let a low snarl out of the corners of my mouth as I tightened my grip upon my daughter's body, unable to accept that she was gone, even as her blood dripped onto the floor. I felt my own magic flare up inside of me, and being unable to release it made my very soul ache.
My eyes widened as I felt the wooden wall suddenly appear behind me and I loosened my grip on Legacy's body, allowing her to fall the the floor with a slight thud that made my heart ache and I looked down quickly to check she was alright. She wasn't dead - surely she couldn't be dead; it was that thought which spurred me to push her to the side and after I told her to "run along", I spun back on the ponies with a desperate glint in my eyes. I began to grin slightly, feeling suddenly confident as I laughed and my eyes widened, whilst my ears twitched, flicking back and forth wildly in a manner which one might even describe as insane.
"You're crazy!" I yelled loudly as my body began to twitch, and I made a whip-crack sound with my tail as I bucked a hole in the wooden wall. I tossed my head even more wildly that before, pawing at the ground rapidly. The group watched me for a second in amazement and I heard quiet murmurs of "She's cracked," and "Let's put this thing out of its misery," as I continued to throw myself around but the words didn't register in my brain; all the same, I was getting increasingly worked up as the seconds passed by, my actions becoming more and more unruly.
The door opened with a loud bang and Night Shield stood in the entrance, looking flustered and exhausted as if he had just run a long way. I grinned even more wildly as I saw him, and yelled in a too-high voice, "Hello, Dear! Look at these nice ponies who have come to visit us! They want to kill me, how silly is that!" I giggled maniacally at that, my ears pressed flat back against my neck now and my head flew through the air at one hundred miles per hour on a seemingly unstable neck. "Night, they wanted to kill Legacy as well, but she's not dead, no, not dead, she's just lying over there!" I craned my neck in her direction momentarily before it returned to its spasming, and I saw my mate's eyes widen as he began to run over, but then he stopped suddenly as a spell struck his flank and, unable to understand the events in my current state, I whined slightly. "Night? Nighty-Nighty? Why won't you come and see me—why don't you love me anymore? These nice ponies want to kill me, that's not very nice... Why won't you stop them? Come here Nighty-Nighty!"
One of the stallions chuckled at me, and the mare stepped towards me, wrapping her hoof around my shoulder gently which made me struggle and thrash, but she only laughed as she backed up a little. "He won't be going anywhere anymore, my little pony," she said before my husband's eyes widened further; he choked and gasped for air before a magical blade slashed his throat and he fell to the floor, spasming in the same way I was as he stopped breathing. I watched without a sound, not quite comprehending at first until my deranged brain finally worked out what happened.
"Again! Again! You did it again!" I cried, dancing on the spot and bucking in frustration, and my magic once again flared up inside of me, making fire dance in front of my eyes as the group of ponies only laughed in sadistic enjoyment of the scene before them, one of them even muttering "I almost want to keep this one—she's a nutcase, but she's funny." I snorted when I heard this and spun on the pony, walking up to him and looking into his eyes.
"You're mean!" I yelled, before bringing my forehead down on his own and knocking him unconscious. I laughed maniacally, turning to the others as I felt my magic finally return. "You're all incredibly mean! And you know what? You know what? You don't deserve any happiness. You don't deserve each other. You don't deserve anything in this world because you're too mean!"
The magic levels in my blood were overwhelmingly high, but I didn't use my powers just yet; as I stepped towards the other ponies, I noticed the way they backed up slightly and I didn't miss the large stallion's horn glowing again. "Oh, are you trying that again? That's not fair!" The magic whizzed past my shoulder and I snorted angrily, feeling a primal need to survive as I tossed my head. "No! Why can't you just be like everyone else? Why can't we all just be the same- then you wouldn't feel the need to do this!" I felt my magic flare up and with a cry, I let it out of my body.
"Why can't we all just be equal?!" The magic tore from my body and I heard the ponies scream, telling me that I'd made my mark; with a final laugh of utter madness, I felt my world blacken as I fell unconscious.
It was morning by the time that I awoke, feeling refreshed and not remembering, at least at first, anything from the previous night. I looked around myself groggily as I tried to work out why I was currently laying on the floor of my living room, until my eyes landed on a small shape behind me and I gasped as I stumbled up.
"No, Legacy... No..." I whispered quietly as the memories came back to me from the night before. Nudging her lifeless form with my nose, I let out a quiet nicker as I prayed for her to awake but alas, my filly made no response to my gentle encouragements, nor did she react when I began to nudge her repeatedly with my hoof. I was silent for a second as the overwhelming truth finally settled in my mind and then I let out an agonised yell as tears streamed down my face. I turned away, not wanting to look at the empty shell of my filly's body and then I noticed my husband's corpse, too. Galloping over to him, I murmured "N-Night?" softly, desperate for him to answer, but again, there was no reply from him.
I stiffened up suddenly as I detected a slight disturbance from behind and I spun around to see a large stallion, coat red from blood, stumbling towards me, mumbling incoherently as if in a trance and I instantly recognised him as the one from last night; snorting angrily, I watched him with sharp eyes as I backed up a little, but he made no move to attack. His companions stumbled into the room not long after him, looking just as dazed and confused as he, all with their own coats stained crimson.
"Get b-back," I snarled warningly, readying my magic as the stallion looked towards me, but I felt myself struggle to support my own weight when I looked into his eyes; no longer did they hold the malicious glint of the previous night, nor did they shine at all. Two empty black orbs stared back at me, the irises almost grey and, I noticed not long after, so were the patches of his coat which weren’t dyed in blood. In fact, the whole group watched me with the same dissociation as their leader, blinking slowly as if stupid, all mumbling slightly under their breath.
"What is w-wrong with you p-ponies?" I hissed at them, their disconcerting ways unnerving me.
"There is nothing wrong with usssss," the stallion drawled out as his companions repeated his words in exactly the same tone, and I couldn't help but notice that they all had the exact same voice; I shivered at the eeriness of the situation, and stepped backwards slightly. "We are perfectly normal... We are all the same..."
"We are all the same..."
"We are all the same..."
I watched in both awe and horror at the ponies before me, not sure what to think. They made no attempts to move, all lining up in the middle and standing still, and it was then that I noticed something even more peculiar than their discoloured coats and eyes and their bizarre behaviour; on their flanks, where a horrifying selection of cutie marks could have been found last night, were identical equal signs. The group of ponies noticed what I was staring at and all spared a glance at their own cutie marks in perfect unison, before returning their empty stares to me.
"We are all equal," the stallion slurred and again his words were repeated by his companions, "You saved us last night; you removed our talents... We are now all the same; we are equal."
"We are now all the same; we are equal."
"We are now all the same; we are equal."
The stallion then began to shake and his legs gave way as the quivering increased; for a second, the other ponies were fine until they, too, began twitching and fell to the floor along with him. They didn’t even bat an eyelid at the lack of control they possessed over their bodies.
"We are all equal."
"We are all equal."
"We are all equal."
"No more special talents."
"No more special talents."
"No more special talents."
"We are one in the same."
"We are one in the same."
"We are one in the same."
And then, just as suddenly as they had begun shaking, they stopped; in perfect synchronisation again, they took one deep breath, shuddered, and then their heads fell to the floor with a thud, their necks suddenly useless to support them. I scurried backwards for a moment before my rapid heartbeats slowed a little, and then something the stallion had said hit me; I had "saved" them.
I did this to them.
I began to think about what they said some more. No special talents, one in the same, and I began to feel a slight ray of hope through the overwhelming pain I felt.
No special talents meant no thieves, no murderers, no terrorists. There could be no wicked ponies if no one was different to everyone else; if everyone was equal, everyone would be good and there would be no more heartache.
I let myself smile very slightly as tears stained paths down my cheeks. It was too late to save my family, but I would make sure their deaths would not be for nought; they would be the ponies who inspired change. I could save everyone else from my cruel fate; it would take a while to perfect the spell, but after that... a world without special talents. A world without cutie marks. A world without pain and heartache.
It was then that I finally understood the truth; cutie marks are evil and special talents only lead to pain and heartache. I wouldn't let the rest of the world be fooled any longer, couldn't let them suffer as I had. One day, I would perfect my spell and one day, I would free this world from all evil.
One cutie mark at a time.
