Pony Beatsby JonathanSharpChaptersChapter 1: a new dayChapter 2: the gist of itChapter 3: the first timeChapter 4: the pact?ProlougeChapter 3.5: a break?Chapter 1: a new dayMemories swirled and shuddered in his mind, just out of reach of his consciousness. He saw a face, it was beautiful, yet it caused him to get so angry he shook. He felt a sharp pain in his head as a pony put his fractured skull back together with magic. The new feeling of healing magic made him writhe as it fixed his cuts, bruises, and broken bones. He could almost open his eyes, just on the edge of being awake, when a sharp injection of morphine went into his head. He went numb, and quickly fell back into his subconscious. Beat woke up in a bed that he had only seen when escaping, but realized it was not in the caves he had finally escaped from. He sighed as he looked out the window to see the calming night sky, only disturbed by a flash of green on a faraway mountaintop. He looked around his room to see his saddlebag on a desk and got up. He wobbled, feeling weaker than he was previously, then trotted over to the desk to look at his stuff. He had forgotten exactly what he had in his bag, as he had taken it from his captors. So he decided to look over it again, hoping to find something good. He opened a small flap to find the potion, but still couldn't read the label. He put it back and felt the main flap of his new saddlebag. It was woolen and mainly colored brown, with the exception of a few red blotches. He opened the main flap and saw a notebook, a small battery, and a large bag of bits. He opened the notebook to see it had written down something as he opened it. He closed the notebook, as it was gibberish to him and picked up the small battery. He felt a tingle as he touched it and decided to put it in his pony pocket, so he could feel the power it gave him When he felt it for a while. He felt better instantly, and perked up, feeling much stronger and not wobbling anymore. He got his saddlebag and trotted over to the door to leave when he heard hoofsteps from the other side. "Who's there?!" Beat yelled to the approaching figure. "Is he awake now?" A voice said softly. The hoofsteps sped up and Beat was surprised when they started to open the door. He closed it again and repeated "who's there?!" The figure behind the door jumped when the door hit it in the face. "My name is Rainy. And ouch!" Beat replied by asking "Why are you here?" The voice replied "Why I'm here to visit you of course. I'm the one who found you in that tree." Beat decided to pull her inside, causing her to yelp in surprise. He secured the area by locking the door, and closing the blinds. "W-why'd you do that" the Pegasus said nervously, fidgeting in a corner. "I'm securing the area to make sure they don't see me." He said as the sun rose over a faroff glowing green mountain. Chapter 2: the gist of itRainy Days was a yellow Pegasus with a green mane. She was a weather pony and a mail mare. She had always worked two jobs since she had gotten out of Cloudsdale academy. She had heard of the changeling attacks on Canterlot before, but they were all fended off by the royal guard. She never knew how exactly they fended the changelings off, with the princesses unable to use the elements of harmony, but they always came through. She was trotting to the hospital to deliver the medicine in a package, when she heard a deafening thump. She turned around, startled at the loud sound to find a grey Pegasus without an id had crashed into a tree. She gasped as the leaves settled and she saw blood oozing from a large cut on his head. She swore she had seen a slight shimmer in his form, that went away when she blinked. She quickly got her first aid kit out and put gauze on his which made him let out a cry of pain. She put him on her back and started galloping to the hospital. It started to rain on her. "Help!" Rainy cried as she burst through the door to the hospital panting. The doctors turned and gasped as they saw the severely injured and weak grey Pegasus fall to the floor, unconscious and barely breathing while his savior collapsed from exhaustion. "What are you going to do to me?" Said Rainy nervously, a bit of fear in her eyes. "Why, I'm going to repay you of course." Said beat as he remembered her carrying him to the hospital. She froze at the implications of the word repay. What did he mean by that? She thought to herself, not knowing what he meant to do. Was he awake when she had saved him? Or did he see her going through his saddlebag and finding that weird cider potion? Was he mad, or happy? Did he want to do something to her? She started to faint when he grabbed her foreleg and kissed it, causing him to blush. He then hugged her and thanked her for being so kind. "You're the second pony I've met that's been so kind to me" he said while shaking with happiness. "I've been beaten, yelled at, and driven to insanity all my life, but you're the first to treat me like a real pony." He then let go of her and trotted over to the window. "My captors are probably everywhere looking for me." He said as he looked down at the floor. "Who?!" Said rainy as she snapped back to reality. "Captors?! Who, and what are they? No more slave organizations exist anymore." Beat shrugged and opened his saddlebag. "I don't know about slavers, but they ran a lot of tests on me and killed many other ponies." He pulled out a notebook. "I can't read but I found this notebook in my saddlebag. It seems to write itself. Could you take a look at it?" He waved it at her. "Sure, I'd love to." She took the notebook and opened it to page 1. It was a neatly written notes section on some kind of experiments called evolution of sound. But only the title was written in equestrian. The rest was written in a foreign language that she had never seen. She turned the page to see that words were being written as she looked at it. It was a list of titles under a header that read performances. The first one read "I can't remember." The rest were blank boxes of varying sizes and shapes. "Wow, that's weird." She said as she hoofed it over to him. "I couldn't actually read most of it." She sighed. "And here I thought you were going to do something to me." She said embarrassed. "What do you mean, hurt you or something?" Said Beat, who was confused. "Maybe, I thought you might..." The thought trailed off as she blushed immensely. She looked him over. He wasn't very colorful, but he was muscular and his coat was shiny and soft. She then realized he was very handsome colt, he even seemed her age. She looked away and thought to herself. "He's kind of cute. Maybe he's interested or something." She looked at him again. "I thought you might have meant something more.. adult as payment." She said while blushing even more. Beat cocked his head to the side, having no clue what she meant by adult. "Whatever do you mean by that." He said walking closer. He tripped on an iv stand, falling onto rainy and knocking her over. His face fell onto her crotch, and she let out a yelp of surprise. Beat started to get up, but heard hoofsteps on the other side of the door. He quickly got back down again and put a hoof on rainy's mouth to keep her quiet. "He should be up now Madam." Said a doctor on the other side of the door. "Good. I should bring him back home soon." Said an oddly familiar voice. The door to the room rattled. "Oh. I must've locked the door, let's go get the keys." "Ok, I need to see him quickly though." The hoofsteps resumed, and they eventually faded. Rainy squirmed on the floor. She moved Beat's hoof from her mouth and stood up. "Well.. That was.. Strange. And umm, who was that?" She said while looking away and blushing. "She's.." He started to say but couldn't as a large headache formed, causing him to cry out in pain. "I can't remember, but we need to leave, now!" He opened the window to find a group of ponies standing around the entrance. He recognized all of those faces. He grabbed Rainy's hoof and jumped out the window to fly to the nearest cloud. Rainy squirmed in his grasp, and tried to fly away, but when she saw the confused and panicked expression on his face, she decided to go with him. They climbed onto a cloud and hid from the crowd of ponies at the entrance to the hospital. "So, what's going on in the outside world these days." Asked a slightly calmer Beat in a hushed tone. Rainy was confused at the question, but then remembered that Beat was captured all his life, and would have no idea of society, culture, economics, or even politics. "Well, I better tell you something." She said while shrugging. "Equestria is a pony civilization in which the two princesses of the sun and moon watch over. There are other races, but let's stick to Equestria. So there are four races of ponies: the earth ponies, the unicorns, the pegasi, and the alicorns. There are mostly earth ponies, who are in tune with nature, science, and have incredible strength. The unicorns are a physically weaker race with the ability to cast magic and can manipulate things around them just by thinking. The pegasi are basically earth ponies with wings and the ability to manipulate clouds to control weather. Alicorns at all other pony races combined, they are the rulers of this land, and boast great power." "The currency system we use in equestria are bits, which are round gold coins. We are currently at war with the changelings, who are a race of bug like alicorns that are substantially weaker, can copy any pony's form, they feed on love, and are led by a queen, whose power rivals Celestia's. Oh, and Celestia is the princess of all ponies, and the one who raises the sun. We treat the alicorns like gods, because they are extremely powerful, and live for up to 10,000 years. There was a group of six ponies that could wield our ultimate weapon, the elements of harmony, but all but one of them died in the line of duty while fighting the lord of chaos, Discord." Beat listened vigorously while keeping an eye on the crowd. "Hold on a second." Beat said to Rainy as a beautiful earth pony walked out of the doors to the hospital with an angry look on her face. Beat immediately got enraged at the sight of her face and started to grit his teeth. It was... mother. Chapter 3: the first timeMother walked out fuming. "Spread out!" She bellowed. "Find him at once!" The group of ponies that surrounded the hospital saluted and marched back to the forest. Mother stayed behind and went on a rampage. "All of our work, gone!" She cried in anger and sadness. "He mustn't get far, lest he figure out his, abilities." She grumbled. Beat was scared now. How did they find him? How did they know he'd be at the hospital? He looked to Rainy with an urgent look on his face. "We need to go, quickly." She looked back at him and nodded. They flew in the direction of Ponyville and Beat looked back to see that Mother hadn't noticed. As they approached Ponyville, a flash of green caused them both to stop. They landed behind a cottage, and peered around the corner to see large sheets of green goop covering the streets of Ponyville. Beat looked around and saw a sign of a bag of bits and a bag filled with supplies attached to a building. He turned to Rainy. "What is that building?" He asked. "That's the general store." She said while looking around in a panic. "Let's go then, I've never been to a general store before." Beat said with a smile. Rainy nodded but then asked "Do you have any bits?" Beat dug into his bag and pulled out a neatly woven pouch the size of his head. "Will this do?" He said opening the pouch to reveal several hundreds of bits. "Whaaaaat!?" She exclaimed as her eyes lit up. "Is it not enough?" Beat asked. "That's more than enough to feed a family of four for 6 months!" She said as her eyes turned into bit signs. "Then can we.." Beat was interrupted by a hoof to his mouth. "Where did you get this?" she asked accusingly. "It came with the bag I took from my captors." He replied. A small beep came from his bag. He jumped at the sound and recognized it instantly. "Tracking magic!" He said terrified. "I need a new bag." He looked to the general store. "I hope they have one." As they trotted into the store, they were greeted by an angry mob. They yelled at them but too many ponies yelling all at once just sounds like gibberish. "Stop!" Beat screamed at the mob of ponies. "What's going on?!" He shouted as they stopped yelling. A small unicorn replied "There's changelings attacking, didn't you see any?" Beat shrugged and said "Nope, not one. But I came to buy supplies." The mob settled slightly but then the air stiffened. "Is he or she one of them?" A voice said from the middle. The small unicorn stepped up. "I'll cast a spell to turn changelings back." She said, frowning as if she had done it many times before. A faint glow came from the unicorn's horn, and extended to touch Beat and Rainy. Beat felt a slight pain throughout his body, but ignored it. Rainy looked fine though so he assumed he was just feeling an ache from his earlier crash. "They're clean!" Said the unicorn with a sigh added. The pain was now gone. Beat stepped forewords. "Can I buy some things?" He asked. A pony walked to the register. "What can I get you?" The shop owner asked with a smile. Beat looked around and felt tired. He decided on picking up a new black saddlebag with a sign that showed it kept out water. He trotted over to a small shelf and picked up some matches and a first aid kit. He also saw the store was trying to introduce a new product, or at least Rainy told him that. She said they were emergency rations, for ponies to eat in the event of a flood or disaster. He picked up five bars and a raincoat on the way back to the register. As he walked over to the store owner, at the register a pack of two batteries caught his eye, and he chose them as well. He dropped the items onto the counter and waited for the store owner to calculate how much he owed. "That'll be about fifty bits sir." He said with a grin. Beat looked to rainy to see if she agreed with the price, and when she saw him looking she nodded. Beat counted out fifty bits and put them onto the counter. The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow, and Rainy quickly placed two bits on the counter alongside Beat's fifty. The shopkeep nodded and put all of Beat's items in his new bag. He then added a small sticker that had the store's logo on it, and waved them off. As soon as they were out of the window's sight, Rainy pulled Beat aside and sighed. "I should have told you about taxes." She mumbled kicking a hoof into the ground. "Whenever a store sells something there's a four percent sales tax, which the customer is supposed to calculate and pay accordingly." "What?" Beat said confused. Rainy sighed and said "Come on, pay me back." Sticking her hoof out and grabbing for her two bits. Beat reached for his bits and got three bits out instead of two. "Here's your two bits back, plus one for the information." He pushed the bits into her hooves, and grinned. He then took everything from his old saddlebag and dumped it into his new one. He tossed the old saddlebag aside, looked to Rainy and said "let's go." They started trotting to the center of town, but Rainy stopped Beat. "Wait, I forgot my stuff at the hospital." She said and excused herself. She flew to the window of the hospital to be greeted by a trio of changelings, two of which were wrapping an unconscious earth pony in a green chrysalis and the other was cowering an a corner, half transformed into Beat. As she touched down, the two changelings making a chrysalis whipped around and screeched at her, making a small yelp escape from her mouth. The changelings then jumped onto her and pinned her down, their mouths leaking a green liquid while they sniffed at her head. Beat was sad to be alone again. He walked over to the town square and gasped as he saw at least twenty bug like ponies with fangs and holes all over their bodies. They all had faint coloring surrounding them, and they were integrated into the midst of a group of cowering ponies. The bug ponies looked at him funny, but didn't react otherwise. The other ponies however went wide eyed and started swiping at him with sticks and small gardening tools. Beat flinched as one came a few inches from hitting him in the jaw. He looked around puzzled as to why they would act like that when he only walked up. His eyes landed on a mirror and he walked over to it. He looked into the mirror to find that he looked like one of those creatures, or rather like a hybrid. He jumped as he saw the reflection, and started to faint when the small tingle of the battery faded away, leaving him almost limp. He quickly removed it and placed a new, larger battery where the smaller one used to be in his pocket. The tingle came back and he got up again, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world. He trotted back to the mirror to see that he was back to normal, and he looked over to the crowd of ponies to see them baffled at what had just happened. Rainy shuddered as a changeling licked her ear. It inserted it's tongue and started draining something from her head. It felt wrong, like her brain was bleeding out and her feelings were leaving her. Then she remembered that they feed on love, but only if the pony were strongly in love or in a relationship with a powerful pony. She squirmed and struggled to escape, but she couldn't break free from their grasp. Suddenly the changelings feeding on her started coughing, gaging, and choking on the love they were draining from her. "What are you in love with?!" One changeling screeched at her. "What? I'm not in love!" She said back to the changelings, who looked at her with a frown. "Then what were we eating?" They said in unison. The changelings had a point, but she really hadn't the slightest clue as to how she was in love with him already. Or maybe he was just powerful. The changelings moved her over to a chair and tied her to it. "Well, let's wait for him to come, shall we?" One said while grabbing a small piece of fabric and tying it around her mouth. Beat backed up as a jolt of pain went through his head. His knees buckled and he collapsed. The group of ponies kept swiping at him and one hit him in the flank where his cutie mark was, sending a strange pulse throughout his body. He could see that it affected the other ponies as well, because they shook from the pulse along with him. His headache worsened, and he cried out in pain as a new entry formed in his notebook. "Side effects: memory loss, extreme headaches, and need for sustained electrical power to keep psychic field operable. Some extreme mood swings may occur." It read aloud to Beat as he stood up, ready to begin his performance, his cutie mark pulsing steadily. Something was missing. (I Can't Remember) I, came from below, chained and tortured. I, alone emerge from captivity to see the light of day. We, are all in this world together, so why do we fight? We can be so much more, we can be so many things So why do we cru- Beat was interrupted by a loud "klonk" sound from the back of his head. Somepony had thrown a rock at him. "A rock!? Seriously!?" Beat said while shaking. He was pissed. Or was it possessed? He galloped to the nearest pony and bashed his head with his hoof, making a loud crackle. The angry townspony flew into a tree from the blow, and fell to the ground dead. The rest of the ponies gasped as Beat turned around and grinned wildly with one eye blank. Beat chuckled. "Who's next?" He said in a playful tone. Chapter 4: the pact?Beat snapped back to reality. He was in an alleyway, with small blotches of red covering him. He was inside of a rain catcher barrel, and he had a scrub brush in his hooves. He looked behind him to see a large group of sleeping ponies covered in the same red liquid. He got out of the barrel, completely washed of the red liquid. He decided against checking on the group of ponies behind him when a large carriage landed and a swarm of armed guards flooded out from inside of the carriage. He quickly snuck the other way and felt a pulse from his cutie mark as he got onto the street. He looked around to see that a large shop with a record and a speaker on it's sign. He heard hoofsteps behind him and dodged into the shop. A few guards rushed past the door. "Not again!" A voice cried out from behind him as he watched the window. He spun around to be met by the angered gaze of a white unicorn with a blue mane who was wearing purple sunglasses. She pulled out a large speaker and turned the dial till it wouldn't turn anymore. Beat realized it was probably a weapon and looked for something to throw. He stuck his hoof in a nearby rubbish bin, and only pulled out a small cd. He wondered why he picked it up in the first place. He quickly pocketed it as the unicorn across from him started the machine. Beat felt a click in his cutie mark, and it started to pulse at a steady beat. It was ready. The unicorn inserted her horn into the device and cast a spell to power it. It blasted out extremely loud beats of music, that started to push on his very soul. He started slipping out of his body when the beat from his cutie mark intensified. It matched the machine's beat perfectly. Beat felt an impulse again. (I can't remember, I accept. Finalized) I, came from below I, emerged victorious We are all in this world together. Why do we crush each other, We all have hopes and dreams! I can't remember why we fight, I can't remember how we can, Save me from this spiraling madness that is life. Protect me from my foes. I am ready. As he finished the poem, the device exploded, blowing the unicorn and Beat backwards. Beat stood up first. "What?" He said with a blank expression. The unicorn stood up. She straightened her sunglasses and trotted over to the counter. "What can I.." She started before throwing up into a nearby trash can and shaking uncontrollably. She started to cry. Beat trotted to her side and rubbed her back softly. She slowly stopped shaking and stood back up. "You're not going to hurt me?" She asked, still a little nervous. "Why? You only acted like that because you were scared, right?" He asked in a soft and consoling tone. She nodded and hugged him to say she was sorry. Beat trotted back to the other side of the counter and smiled at her. She smiled back and asked again "What can I do for you?" Beat looked around quickly. "Do you have any more small discs like this? And can you tell me your name?" He asked as he flashed the thrown out disk. "Maybe. I'll have to look for them." She moved to the back of the store to look for them just as a unicorn guard trotted into the store. "Have you seen a changeling with only one eye?" The guard asked Beat calmly. Beat looked at him confusedly. "No I haven't. Why?" He asked the guard. "He attacked a large group of ponies and killed them and the changelings hiding with them. We have no idea where he is, but he's going to jail." The guard replied. "What do you mean killed?" Beat said. He'd heard the word before, and a few others related to it, but never understood what it meant. He asked the guard and the guard said that it meant that a creature just wasn't alive anymore and that they were dead, but another creature had made them die. The guard gave him a strange look and cast the spell that the other unicorn had cast. The spell hurt him again, but this time it didn't hurt as much. And this time, Beat knew why it hurt him. He gave no sign of discomfort, and the guard seemed satisfied. "All right then." The guard said with a sigh. He trotted out of the store just as the unicorn with sunglasses emerged from the back. "Oh yeah, I forgot to check, good to know you're not one of them." She straightened her sunglasses. "The name's Vinyl Scratch by the way." She said as she put a small hard CD case onto the counter. "What's that?" Beat asked curiously. "It's a case full of those tiny disks. I just can't open it." Vinyl said in an unsure way. An earsplitting crack came from Beats cutie mark. Beat looked in his pocket to find that his disk had shattered into pieces. He took the pieces and threw them into the trash bin. He looked to Vinyl. "Could I.." He started to canter to the counter when he tripped on a loose wire. He tumbled over the counter and landed on Vinyl, his face landing on hers. "Woah dude, dinner first." She said while laughing. Beat stood up and went back to the other side of the counter. This might become a pattern. "Well, as I was saying, could I try something?" He said while pointing to the case on the counter. "I think you already have, but sure." she said while giggling. Beat was still clueless to this whole "Adult" thing and just ignored it, grabbing for the case. He picked it up and put it in his pocket, to a satisfying whir sound from his cutie mark. He felt it open in his pocket and a disk came out. But nothing else happened. "He shrugged and said goodbye to Vinyl, giving her another hug. She hugged him back. "You still need to pay you dummy." She said into his ear. He pulled away and asked "How much is it?" "I have no use for it, and nopony else would buy it, so I'd say about five bits, no tax." Vinyl replied happily. Beat smiled and gave her five bits. He turned to leave when he realized that Vinyl no longer had any protection. "Hey Vinyl, do you want to come with me?" He asked politely. Vinyl assessed her situation. She was in the middle of town, without her protection, and she was alone. "I'll come with you!" She said quickly, going behind the counter to pick up her things and her keys. She got her saddlebag and trotted to the door alongside of Beat. "Wait, I told you my name, what's yours?" Vinyl asked Beat. "My name is Beat. Sorry I forgot tell you." He said as vinyl locked the door to her store. "It's cool, I kind of attacked you and made it awkward." She replied as they started trotting. "Let's go to the hospital, my friend is waiting." He told Vinyl. She nodded to him and trotted alongside him. "What's taking him so long!?" The changeling screamed at nopony in particular. He paced back and forth intensely, almost making a groove in the floor. He turned to look at rainy. "I'm tired and bored of waiting, let's have some fun guys." The changeling in charge said in a mischievous tone. The other changelings nodded. Rainy gulped. She wished she had stayed with Beat. Just then a creak was heard from downstairs, and two voices were heard. "Finally, somepony is here." The lead changeling said. But then a look of confusion came across his face. "What is that?" It said, disgusted and curiously. It closed it's eyes and cast a detection spell. It then had a look of dread on it's face and ordered the other changelings to seal all entrances to the room. All but the one still shaking in the corner agreed, and all entrances were closed off. "Looks like we're stuck here for a while. Let's have some fun." ProlougeBeat galloped as fast as he could towards the bright white light. He heard shouting behind him. "Fall back!" A colt yelled as he got to the mouth of the cave. Beat slowed to a canter to catch his breath and wandered the forest for an hour or so. He came to a pond and saw his reflection for the first time. His reflection was shattered four ways, and he only saw two pieces. One was a grey unicorn with red eyes, a blue tail, and a pink mane. The unicorn had a rest note as a cutie mark. The other was an all grey Pegasus with cuts and bruises all over his head. He had a speaker for a cutie mark. Beat looked at his wings and wondered how a reflection could split like that. He started to notice the sun setting and started trotting in that direction, hoping to find some sort of civilization. He tripped on a tree stump and dropped his saddle bag, spilling it's contents all over the wet grass, noticing a potion. It was clear like water. He put his belongings in his saddlebag, and tried to read the label of the potion, but the letters swirled and tangled in his mind. He suddenly got really thirsty, and decided to drink it. As he drank it, he noticed a crisp smell, and the taste of apples. He put the potion back in his saddlebag, and felt pins and needles in his wings. He flapped them once and rocketed into the air. He soared above the trees and let out a yelp at the new sensation. He saw a large cluster of buildings and wanted to get over there, and as soon as he thought it, he was soaring in that direction at such a speed, he couldn't open his eyes. He tried desperately to slow down, but to no avail as he slammed headfirst into a tree. Chapter 3.5: a break?He was in freefall. The air swirled past his plummeting body and screamed at him. Suddenly, it stopped. Beat stood up in a foggy forest. There was nothing but trees and dense vapor surrounding him. He flapped his wings, but the fog only swirled and he didn't feel any lift. He started walking in a random direction, and found himself at the lake where he first saw his reflection. He heard a warped scream from the inside of the lake, and a ripple came up, with a red taint in the water. His reflection came up again, but something was different. This time only three reflections were there, each separated by a fine line. First there was him, nothin different except his wounds were gone. Then was a scary one eyed reflection, with fangs and red blotches in his coat. Lastly was a strange bipedal creature, which was wearing a hoodie and jeans, with a checkered fedora. The bipedal creature had fear in it's eyes, and was beating on the other side. Beat felt scared himself, and started to remember something. A group, surrounded by fire on all sides. Corpses all around them. Beat was crying. Mother stepped through the fire making him and the others with him cower in fear. Beat was hysterical. He was broken and traumatized. Mother walked over and shot the other three there with him in the head. Beat felt their souls combine with his. Beat stood up. "Why!?" He shouted, while his voice was shaking. "Why not me as well!?" Mother chuckled "Because you loved them. And that's not allowed here. They were interfering with our progress. And when you break the rules, you must suffer." Beat was letting go, he was furious. He charged at mother and attempted to punch her. She quickly dodged and threw him on his back. "You're going to regret that!" She yelled, inches from his face. "No I won't." Beat said smiling. Mother turned around to read the panel that sparked behind her. "Reality stabilizer" it read in faint glowing letters. Beat took this opportunity to bite her neck. He took a chunk of her flesh when he pulled away. She cried out in pain. Beat stabilized himself as a siren went off. Two realities combined, and he felt himself change shape and fell over onto mother. His final words in this reality were. "I won't lose to you." His eyes closed and the memory faded. Beat snapped back to the forest as another scream, much clearer this time tore through his head. He stumbled onto the middle of the lake and stood on his hind legs, covering his ears with his forelegs. He fell backwards and the lake's surface shattered. He was in freefall again, but he fell quickly into a light and was back to his reality.
Chapter 1: a new dayMemories swirled and shuddered in his mind, just out of reach of his consciousness. He saw a face, it was beautiful, yet it caused him to get so angry he shook. He felt a sharp pain in his head as a pony put his fractured skull back together with magic. The new feeling of healing magic made him writhe as it fixed his cuts, bruises, and broken bones. He could almost open his eyes, just on the edge of being awake, when a sharp injection of morphine went into his head. He went numb, and quickly fell back into his subconscious. Beat woke up in a bed that he had only seen when escaping, but realized it was not in the caves he had finally escaped from. He sighed as he looked out the window to see the calming night sky, only disturbed by a flash of green on a faraway mountaintop. He looked around his room to see his saddlebag on a desk and got up. He wobbled, feeling weaker than he was previously, then trotted over to the desk to look at his stuff. He had forgotten exactly what he had in his bag, as he had taken it from his captors. So he decided to look over it again, hoping to find something good. He opened a small flap to find the potion, but still couldn't read the label. He put it back and felt the main flap of his new saddlebag. It was woolen and mainly colored brown, with the exception of a few red blotches. He opened the main flap and saw a notebook, a small battery, and a large bag of bits. He opened the notebook to see it had written down something as he opened it. He closed the notebook, as it was gibberish to him and picked up the small battery. He felt a tingle as he touched it and decided to put it in his pony pocket, so he could feel the power it gave him When he felt it for a while. He felt better instantly, and perked up, feeling much stronger and not wobbling anymore. He got his saddlebag and trotted over to the door to leave when he heard hoofsteps from the other side. "Who's there?!" Beat yelled to the approaching figure. "Is he awake now?" A voice said softly. The hoofsteps sped up and Beat was surprised when they started to open the door. He closed it again and repeated "who's there?!" The figure behind the door jumped when the door hit it in the face. "My name is Rainy. And ouch!" Beat replied by asking "Why are you here?" The voice replied "Why I'm here to visit you of course. I'm the one who found you in that tree." Beat decided to pull her inside, causing her to yelp in surprise. He secured the area by locking the door, and closing the blinds. "W-why'd you do that" the Pegasus said nervously, fidgeting in a corner. "I'm securing the area to make sure they don't see me." He said as the sun rose over a faroff glowing green mountain.
Chapter 2: the gist of itRainy Days was a yellow Pegasus with a green mane. She was a weather pony and a mail mare. She had always worked two jobs since she had gotten out of Cloudsdale academy. She had heard of the changeling attacks on Canterlot before, but they were all fended off by the royal guard. She never knew how exactly they fended the changelings off, with the princesses unable to use the elements of harmony, but they always came through. She was trotting to the hospital to deliver the medicine in a package, when she heard a deafening thump. She turned around, startled at the loud sound to find a grey Pegasus without an id had crashed into a tree. She gasped as the leaves settled and she saw blood oozing from a large cut on his head. She swore she had seen a slight shimmer in his form, that went away when she blinked. She quickly got her first aid kit out and put gauze on his which made him let out a cry of pain. She put him on her back and started galloping to the hospital. It started to rain on her. "Help!" Rainy cried as she burst through the door to the hospital panting. The doctors turned and gasped as they saw the severely injured and weak grey Pegasus fall to the floor, unconscious and barely breathing while his savior collapsed from exhaustion. "What are you going to do to me?" Said Rainy nervously, a bit of fear in her eyes. "Why, I'm going to repay you of course." Said beat as he remembered her carrying him to the hospital. She froze at the implications of the word repay. What did he mean by that? She thought to herself, not knowing what he meant to do. Was he awake when she had saved him? Or did he see her going through his saddlebag and finding that weird cider potion? Was he mad, or happy? Did he want to do something to her? She started to faint when he grabbed her foreleg and kissed it, causing him to blush. He then hugged her and thanked her for being so kind. "You're the second pony I've met that's been so kind to me" he said while shaking with happiness. "I've been beaten, yelled at, and driven to insanity all my life, but you're the first to treat me like a real pony." He then let go of her and trotted over to the window. "My captors are probably everywhere looking for me." He said as he looked down at the floor. "Who?!" Said rainy as she snapped back to reality. "Captors?! Who, and what are they? No more slave organizations exist anymore." Beat shrugged and opened his saddlebag. "I don't know about slavers, but they ran a lot of tests on me and killed many other ponies." He pulled out a notebook. "I can't read but I found this notebook in my saddlebag. It seems to write itself. Could you take a look at it?" He waved it at her. "Sure, I'd love to." She took the notebook and opened it to page 1. It was a neatly written notes section on some kind of experiments called evolution of sound. But only the title was written in equestrian. The rest was written in a foreign language that she had never seen. She turned the page to see that words were being written as she looked at it. It was a list of titles under a header that read performances. The first one read "I can't remember." The rest were blank boxes of varying sizes and shapes. "Wow, that's weird." She said as she hoofed it over to him. "I couldn't actually read most of it." She sighed. "And here I thought you were going to do something to me." She said embarrassed. "What do you mean, hurt you or something?" Said Beat, who was confused. "Maybe, I thought you might..." The thought trailed off as she blushed immensely. She looked him over. He wasn't very colorful, but he was muscular and his coat was shiny and soft. She then realized he was very handsome colt, he even seemed her age. She looked away and thought to herself. "He's kind of cute. Maybe he's interested or something." She looked at him again. "I thought you might have meant something more.. adult as payment." She said while blushing even more. Beat cocked his head to the side, having no clue what she meant by adult. "Whatever do you mean by that." He said walking closer. He tripped on an iv stand, falling onto rainy and knocking her over. His face fell onto her crotch, and she let out a yelp of surprise. Beat started to get up, but heard hoofsteps on the other side of the door. He quickly got back down again and put a hoof on rainy's mouth to keep her quiet. "He should be up now Madam." Said a doctor on the other side of the door. "Good. I should bring him back home soon." Said an oddly familiar voice. The door to the room rattled. "Oh. I must've locked the door, let's go get the keys." "Ok, I need to see him quickly though." The hoofsteps resumed, and they eventually faded. Rainy squirmed on the floor. She moved Beat's hoof from her mouth and stood up. "Well.. That was.. Strange. And umm, who was that?" She said while looking away and blushing. "She's.." He started to say but couldn't as a large headache formed, causing him to cry out in pain. "I can't remember, but we need to leave, now!" He opened the window to find a group of ponies standing around the entrance. He recognized all of those faces. He grabbed Rainy's hoof and jumped out the window to fly to the nearest cloud. Rainy squirmed in his grasp, and tried to fly away, but when she saw the confused and panicked expression on his face, she decided to go with him. They climbed onto a cloud and hid from the crowd of ponies at the entrance to the hospital. "So, what's going on in the outside world these days." Asked a slightly calmer Beat in a hushed tone. Rainy was confused at the question, but then remembered that Beat was captured all his life, and would have no idea of society, culture, economics, or even politics. "Well, I better tell you something." She said while shrugging. "Equestria is a pony civilization in which the two princesses of the sun and moon watch over. There are other races, but let's stick to Equestria. So there are four races of ponies: the earth ponies, the unicorns, the pegasi, and the alicorns. There are mostly earth ponies, who are in tune with nature, science, and have incredible strength. The unicorns are a physically weaker race with the ability to cast magic and can manipulate things around them just by thinking. The pegasi are basically earth ponies with wings and the ability to manipulate clouds to control weather. Alicorns at all other pony races combined, they are the rulers of this land, and boast great power." "The currency system we use in equestria are bits, which are round gold coins. We are currently at war with the changelings, who are a race of bug like alicorns that are substantially weaker, can copy any pony's form, they feed on love, and are led by a queen, whose power rivals Celestia's. Oh, and Celestia is the princess of all ponies, and the one who raises the sun. We treat the alicorns like gods, because they are extremely powerful, and live for up to 10,000 years. There was a group of six ponies that could wield our ultimate weapon, the elements of harmony, but all but one of them died in the line of duty while fighting the lord of chaos, Discord." Beat listened vigorously while keeping an eye on the crowd. "Hold on a second." Beat said to Rainy as a beautiful earth pony walked out of the doors to the hospital with an angry look on her face. Beat immediately got enraged at the sight of her face and started to grit his teeth. It was... mother.
Chapter 3: the first timeMother walked out fuming. "Spread out!" She bellowed. "Find him at once!" The group of ponies that surrounded the hospital saluted and marched back to the forest. Mother stayed behind and went on a rampage. "All of our work, gone!" She cried in anger and sadness. "He mustn't get far, lest he figure out his, abilities." She grumbled. Beat was scared now. How did they find him? How did they know he'd be at the hospital? He looked to Rainy with an urgent look on his face. "We need to go, quickly." She looked back at him and nodded. They flew in the direction of Ponyville and Beat looked back to see that Mother hadn't noticed. As they approached Ponyville, a flash of green caused them both to stop. They landed behind a cottage, and peered around the corner to see large sheets of green goop covering the streets of Ponyville. Beat looked around and saw a sign of a bag of bits and a bag filled with supplies attached to a building. He turned to Rainy. "What is that building?" He asked. "That's the general store." She said while looking around in a panic. "Let's go then, I've never been to a general store before." Beat said with a smile. Rainy nodded but then asked "Do you have any bits?" Beat dug into his bag and pulled out a neatly woven pouch the size of his head. "Will this do?" He said opening the pouch to reveal several hundreds of bits. "Whaaaaat!?" She exclaimed as her eyes lit up. "Is it not enough?" Beat asked. "That's more than enough to feed a family of four for 6 months!" She said as her eyes turned into bit signs. "Then can we.." Beat was interrupted by a hoof to his mouth. "Where did you get this?" she asked accusingly. "It came with the bag I took from my captors." He replied. A small beep came from his bag. He jumped at the sound and recognized it instantly. "Tracking magic!" He said terrified. "I need a new bag." He looked to the general store. "I hope they have one." As they trotted into the store, they were greeted by an angry mob. They yelled at them but too many ponies yelling all at once just sounds like gibberish. "Stop!" Beat screamed at the mob of ponies. "What's going on?!" He shouted as they stopped yelling. A small unicorn replied "There's changelings attacking, didn't you see any?" Beat shrugged and said "Nope, not one. But I came to buy supplies." The mob settled slightly but then the air stiffened. "Is he or she one of them?" A voice said from the middle. The small unicorn stepped up. "I'll cast a spell to turn changelings back." She said, frowning as if she had done it many times before. A faint glow came from the unicorn's horn, and extended to touch Beat and Rainy. Beat felt a slight pain throughout his body, but ignored it. Rainy looked fine though so he assumed he was just feeling an ache from his earlier crash. "They're clean!" Said the unicorn with a sigh added. The pain was now gone. Beat stepped forewords. "Can I buy some things?" He asked. A pony walked to the register. "What can I get you?" The shop owner asked with a smile. Beat looked around and felt tired. He decided on picking up a new black saddlebag with a sign that showed it kept out water. He trotted over to a small shelf and picked up some matches and a first aid kit. He also saw the store was trying to introduce a new product, or at least Rainy told him that. She said they were emergency rations, for ponies to eat in the event of a flood or disaster. He picked up five bars and a raincoat on the way back to the register. As he walked over to the store owner, at the register a pack of two batteries caught his eye, and he chose them as well. He dropped the items onto the counter and waited for the store owner to calculate how much he owed. "That'll be about fifty bits sir." He said with a grin. Beat looked to rainy to see if she agreed with the price, and when she saw him looking she nodded. Beat counted out fifty bits and put them onto the counter. The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow, and Rainy quickly placed two bits on the counter alongside Beat's fifty. The shopkeep nodded and put all of Beat's items in his new bag. He then added a small sticker that had the store's logo on it, and waved them off. As soon as they were out of the window's sight, Rainy pulled Beat aside and sighed. "I should have told you about taxes." She mumbled kicking a hoof into the ground. "Whenever a store sells something there's a four percent sales tax, which the customer is supposed to calculate and pay accordingly." "What?" Beat said confused. Rainy sighed and said "Come on, pay me back." Sticking her hoof out and grabbing for her two bits. Beat reached for his bits and got three bits out instead of two. "Here's your two bits back, plus one for the information." He pushed the bits into her hooves, and grinned. He then took everything from his old saddlebag and dumped it into his new one. He tossed the old saddlebag aside, looked to Rainy and said "let's go." They started trotting to the center of town, but Rainy stopped Beat. "Wait, I forgot my stuff at the hospital." She said and excused herself. She flew to the window of the hospital to be greeted by a trio of changelings, two of which were wrapping an unconscious earth pony in a green chrysalis and the other was cowering an a corner, half transformed into Beat. As she touched down, the two changelings making a chrysalis whipped around and screeched at her, making a small yelp escape from her mouth. The changelings then jumped onto her and pinned her down, their mouths leaking a green liquid while they sniffed at her head. Beat was sad to be alone again. He walked over to the town square and gasped as he saw at least twenty bug like ponies with fangs and holes all over their bodies. They all had faint coloring surrounding them, and they were integrated into the midst of a group of cowering ponies. The bug ponies looked at him funny, but didn't react otherwise. The other ponies however went wide eyed and started swiping at him with sticks and small gardening tools. Beat flinched as one came a few inches from hitting him in the jaw. He looked around puzzled as to why they would act like that when he only walked up. His eyes landed on a mirror and he walked over to it. He looked into the mirror to find that he looked like one of those creatures, or rather like a hybrid. He jumped as he saw the reflection, and started to faint when the small tingle of the battery faded away, leaving him almost limp. He quickly removed it and placed a new, larger battery where the smaller one used to be in his pocket. The tingle came back and he got up again, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world. He trotted back to the mirror to see that he was back to normal, and he looked over to the crowd of ponies to see them baffled at what had just happened. Rainy shuddered as a changeling licked her ear. It inserted it's tongue and started draining something from her head. It felt wrong, like her brain was bleeding out and her feelings were leaving her. Then she remembered that they feed on love, but only if the pony were strongly in love or in a relationship with a powerful pony. She squirmed and struggled to escape, but she couldn't break free from their grasp. Suddenly the changelings feeding on her started coughing, gaging, and choking on the love they were draining from her. "What are you in love with?!" One changeling screeched at her. "What? I'm not in love!" She said back to the changelings, who looked at her with a frown. "Then what were we eating?" They said in unison. The changelings had a point, but she really hadn't the slightest clue as to how she was in love with him already. Or maybe he was just powerful. The changelings moved her over to a chair and tied her to it. "Well, let's wait for him to come, shall we?" One said while grabbing a small piece of fabric and tying it around her mouth. Beat backed up as a jolt of pain went through his head. His knees buckled and he collapsed. The group of ponies kept swiping at him and one hit him in the flank where his cutie mark was, sending a strange pulse throughout his body. He could see that it affected the other ponies as well, because they shook from the pulse along with him. His headache worsened, and he cried out in pain as a new entry formed in his notebook. "Side effects: memory loss, extreme headaches, and need for sustained electrical power to keep psychic field operable. Some extreme mood swings may occur." It read aloud to Beat as he stood up, ready to begin his performance, his cutie mark pulsing steadily. Something was missing. (I Can't Remember) I, came from below, chained and tortured. I, alone emerge from captivity to see the light of day. We, are all in this world together, so why do we fight? We can be so much more, we can be so many things So why do we cru- Beat was interrupted by a loud "klonk" sound from the back of his head. Somepony had thrown a rock at him. "A rock!? Seriously!?" Beat said while shaking. He was pissed. Or was it possessed? He galloped to the nearest pony and bashed his head with his hoof, making a loud crackle. The angry townspony flew into a tree from the blow, and fell to the ground dead. The rest of the ponies gasped as Beat turned around and grinned wildly with one eye blank. Beat chuckled. "Who's next?" He said in a playful tone.
Chapter 4: the pact?Beat snapped back to reality. He was in an alleyway, with small blotches of red covering him. He was inside of a rain catcher barrel, and he had a scrub brush in his hooves. He looked behind him to see a large group of sleeping ponies covered in the same red liquid. He got out of the barrel, completely washed of the red liquid. He decided against checking on the group of ponies behind him when a large carriage landed and a swarm of armed guards flooded out from inside of the carriage. He quickly snuck the other way and felt a pulse from his cutie mark as he got onto the street. He looked around to see that a large shop with a record and a speaker on it's sign. He heard hoofsteps behind him and dodged into the shop. A few guards rushed past the door. "Not again!" A voice cried out from behind him as he watched the window. He spun around to be met by the angered gaze of a white unicorn with a blue mane who was wearing purple sunglasses. She pulled out a large speaker and turned the dial till it wouldn't turn anymore. Beat realized it was probably a weapon and looked for something to throw. He stuck his hoof in a nearby rubbish bin, and only pulled out a small cd. He wondered why he picked it up in the first place. He quickly pocketed it as the unicorn across from him started the machine. Beat felt a click in his cutie mark, and it started to pulse at a steady beat. It was ready. The unicorn inserted her horn into the device and cast a spell to power it. It blasted out extremely loud beats of music, that started to push on his very soul. He started slipping out of his body when the beat from his cutie mark intensified. It matched the machine's beat perfectly. Beat felt an impulse again. (I can't remember, I accept. Finalized) I, came from below I, emerged victorious We are all in this world together. Why do we crush each other, We all have hopes and dreams! I can't remember why we fight, I can't remember how we can, Save me from this spiraling madness that is life. Protect me from my foes. I am ready. As he finished the poem, the device exploded, blowing the unicorn and Beat backwards. Beat stood up first. "What?" He said with a blank expression. The unicorn stood up. She straightened her sunglasses and trotted over to the counter. "What can I.." She started before throwing up into a nearby trash can and shaking uncontrollably. She started to cry. Beat trotted to her side and rubbed her back softly. She slowly stopped shaking and stood back up. "You're not going to hurt me?" She asked, still a little nervous. "Why? You only acted like that because you were scared, right?" He asked in a soft and consoling tone. She nodded and hugged him to say she was sorry. Beat trotted back to the other side of the counter and smiled at her. She smiled back and asked again "What can I do for you?" Beat looked around quickly. "Do you have any more small discs like this? And can you tell me your name?" He asked as he flashed the thrown out disk. "Maybe. I'll have to look for them." She moved to the back of the store to look for them just as a unicorn guard trotted into the store. "Have you seen a changeling with only one eye?" The guard asked Beat calmly. Beat looked at him confusedly. "No I haven't. Why?" He asked the guard. "He attacked a large group of ponies and killed them and the changelings hiding with them. We have no idea where he is, but he's going to jail." The guard replied. "What do you mean killed?" Beat said. He'd heard the word before, and a few others related to it, but never understood what it meant. He asked the guard and the guard said that it meant that a creature just wasn't alive anymore and that they were dead, but another creature had made them die. The guard gave him a strange look and cast the spell that the other unicorn had cast. The spell hurt him again, but this time it didn't hurt as much. And this time, Beat knew why it hurt him. He gave no sign of discomfort, and the guard seemed satisfied. "All right then." The guard said with a sigh. He trotted out of the store just as the unicorn with sunglasses emerged from the back. "Oh yeah, I forgot to check, good to know you're not one of them." She straightened her sunglasses. "The name's Vinyl Scratch by the way." She said as she put a small hard CD case onto the counter. "What's that?" Beat asked curiously. "It's a case full of those tiny disks. I just can't open it." Vinyl said in an unsure way. An earsplitting crack came from Beats cutie mark. Beat looked in his pocket to find that his disk had shattered into pieces. He took the pieces and threw them into the trash bin. He looked to Vinyl. "Could I.." He started to canter to the counter when he tripped on a loose wire. He tumbled over the counter and landed on Vinyl, his face landing on hers. "Woah dude, dinner first." She said while laughing. Beat stood up and went back to the other side of the counter. This might become a pattern. "Well, as I was saying, could I try something?" He said while pointing to the case on the counter. "I think you already have, but sure." she said while giggling. Beat was still clueless to this whole "Adult" thing and just ignored it, grabbing for the case. He picked it up and put it in his pocket, to a satisfying whir sound from his cutie mark. He felt it open in his pocket and a disk came out. But nothing else happened. "He shrugged and said goodbye to Vinyl, giving her another hug. She hugged him back. "You still need to pay you dummy." She said into his ear. He pulled away and asked "How much is it?" "I have no use for it, and nopony else would buy it, so I'd say about five bits, no tax." Vinyl replied happily. Beat smiled and gave her five bits. He turned to leave when he realized that Vinyl no longer had any protection. "Hey Vinyl, do you want to come with me?" He asked politely. Vinyl assessed her situation. She was in the middle of town, without her protection, and she was alone. "I'll come with you!" She said quickly, going behind the counter to pick up her things and her keys. She got her saddlebag and trotted to the door alongside of Beat. "Wait, I told you my name, what's yours?" Vinyl asked Beat. "My name is Beat. Sorry I forgot tell you." He said as vinyl locked the door to her store. "It's cool, I kind of attacked you and made it awkward." She replied as they started trotting. "Let's go to the hospital, my friend is waiting." He told Vinyl. She nodded to him and trotted alongside him. "What's taking him so long!?" The changeling screamed at nopony in particular. He paced back and forth intensely, almost making a groove in the floor. He turned to look at rainy. "I'm tired and bored of waiting, let's have some fun guys." The changeling in charge said in a mischievous tone. The other changelings nodded. Rainy gulped. She wished she had stayed with Beat. Just then a creak was heard from downstairs, and two voices were heard. "Finally, somepony is here." The lead changeling said. But then a look of confusion came across his face. "What is that?" It said, disgusted and curiously. It closed it's eyes and cast a detection spell. It then had a look of dread on it's face and ordered the other changelings to seal all entrances to the room. All but the one still shaking in the corner agreed, and all entrances were closed off. "Looks like we're stuck here for a while. Let's have some fun."
ProlougeBeat galloped as fast as he could towards the bright white light. He heard shouting behind him. "Fall back!" A colt yelled as he got to the mouth of the cave. Beat slowed to a canter to catch his breath and wandered the forest for an hour or so. He came to a pond and saw his reflection for the first time. His reflection was shattered four ways, and he only saw two pieces. One was a grey unicorn with red eyes, a blue tail, and a pink mane. The unicorn had a rest note as a cutie mark. The other was an all grey Pegasus with cuts and bruises all over his head. He had a speaker for a cutie mark. Beat looked at his wings and wondered how a reflection could split like that. He started to notice the sun setting and started trotting in that direction, hoping to find some sort of civilization. He tripped on a tree stump and dropped his saddle bag, spilling it's contents all over the wet grass, noticing a potion. It was clear like water. He put his belongings in his saddlebag, and tried to read the label of the potion, but the letters swirled and tangled in his mind. He suddenly got really thirsty, and decided to drink it. As he drank it, he noticed a crisp smell, and the taste of apples. He put the potion back in his saddlebag, and felt pins and needles in his wings. He flapped them once and rocketed into the air. He soared above the trees and let out a yelp at the new sensation. He saw a large cluster of buildings and wanted to get over there, and as soon as he thought it, he was soaring in that direction at such a speed, he couldn't open his eyes. He tried desperately to slow down, but to no avail as he slammed headfirst into a tree.
Chapter 3.5: a break?He was in freefall. The air swirled past his plummeting body and screamed at him. Suddenly, it stopped. Beat stood up in a foggy forest. There was nothing but trees and dense vapor surrounding him. He flapped his wings, but the fog only swirled and he didn't feel any lift. He started walking in a random direction, and found himself at the lake where he first saw his reflection. He heard a warped scream from the inside of the lake, and a ripple came up, with a red taint in the water. His reflection came up again, but something was different. This time only three reflections were there, each separated by a fine line. First there was him, nothin different except his wounds were gone. Then was a scary one eyed reflection, with fangs and red blotches in his coat. Lastly was a strange bipedal creature, which was wearing a hoodie and jeans, with a checkered fedora. The bipedal creature had fear in it's eyes, and was beating on the other side. Beat felt scared himself, and started to remember something. A group, surrounded by fire on all sides. Corpses all around them. Beat was crying. Mother stepped through the fire making him and the others with him cower in fear. Beat was hysterical. He was broken and traumatized. Mother walked over and shot the other three there with him in the head. Beat felt their souls combine with his. Beat stood up. "Why!?" He shouted, while his voice was shaking. "Why not me as well!?" Mother chuckled "Because you loved them. And that's not allowed here. They were interfering with our progress. And when you break the rules, you must suffer." Beat was letting go, he was furious. He charged at mother and attempted to punch her. She quickly dodged and threw him on his back. "You're going to regret that!" She yelled, inches from his face. "No I won't." Beat said smiling. Mother turned around to read the panel that sparked behind her. "Reality stabilizer" it read in faint glowing letters. Beat took this opportunity to bite her neck. He took a chunk of her flesh when he pulled away. She cried out in pain. Beat stabilized himself as a siren went off. Two realities combined, and he felt himself change shape and fell over onto mother. His final words in this reality were. "I won't lose to you." His eyes closed and the memory faded. Beat snapped back to the forest as another scream, much clearer this time tore through his head. He stumbled onto the middle of the lake and stood on his hind legs, covering his ears with his forelegs. He fell backwards and the lake's surface shattered. He was in freefall again, but he fell quickly into a light and was back to his reality.
