The Hyena

Twilight woke up in blinding white.

Shading her eyes from the bright light she sat up.

Her eyes widened.

She was sitting in a padded cell and the bright white of the walls was blinding her.

Looking down at herself she gasped.

She was a human again. Though her body looked different than the one she was used to see from Canterlot High. Her skin was a pale, almost sickly white. The few strands of hair that were flowing down her shoulders had a dark color, almost black. Blood was smeared across her nude body, especially her upper body and her thighs. She noticed the blood on her hands, looking down she saw that she had been lying in a pool of blood the whole time and probably smeared the blood over herself while being unconscious. Standing up she turned around, searching for the source of the blood.

She gasped.

Behind her was the same disfigured and dismembered pony carcass, exactly the same that was hanging in Deadside, grinning at her. The retractor in it's chest was missing though.

'What's going on?' She looked around and noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Covering her body with her bloody hands as good as possible she slowly opened the door.

And gasped again.

The whole windowless hallway, the complete white corridor, from floor to ceiling, was covered in blood. Corpses were littering the floor, their heads bashed in, arms and legs twisted and broken, their former white clothes painted in red. Even the walls were cracked, deep bloody fissures were gaping in the cement.

Turning back into the cell, Twilight emptied her stomach into a corner of the cell. The stench! Even the bloodfalls hadn't smelled like that! Coughing and wretching she wiped her mouth and looked out again, barely surpressing the urge to vomit again. She was stuck here and this was definetly not a place she wanted to be.

She began to sneak through the hallway. At first she had tried to not walk through the blood but after a few steps she noticed that it was pretty much impossible, there was just too much everywhere. Following the hallway for a few steps she stopped. Leaning down, she looked at one of the victims, a man, searching for the cause of his death. Most of his body was still intact, he had only lost blood through his mouth and nose. Furrowing her brows she turned the corpse around and opened his shirt, looking at his dark chest.

Twilight gasped, staring at the wound.

His whole right side, his ribcage, was bend inwards, almost all of the bones were broken and Twilight figured out that internal hemorrhage was the cause of his death. He had bled out!

'What could have done this?' She stood up, looking over some of the corpses. They all had very similar wounds. Massive dents in their appendages; heads smashed in, arms and legs bend and twisted, ribcages dented and bend inwards. Some even had their arms and legs ripped off. Leaning down she looked down at the woman in front of her, something had hit her neck so hard that one of her vertebras had escaped through her throat, her head has almost been ripped off, only connected by skin and muscles.

Twilight began to panic. 'What did this!?'

Her eyes widened and if she had her pony ears they would flick now. Something was lurking, she was sure. She turned around searching through the hallway.

There was nothing, just the same corpses that had been there before. Nothing had changed. Twilight's mind began to panic. She felt something, a presence. Something was crawling closer.

She trusted her instincts.

Turning around she began to sprint through the hallway.

A door at the end of the hallway, the first door on this side of the hallway, caught her attention. A small sign next to the door said "Showers" and Twilight ducked inside. Heavily panting she turned around and closed the door, breathing a sigh of relief as she closed her eyes, leaning heavily against the door. The sense of dread dissipated, disappearing in the moist air and soft splattering of water.

Slowly opening her eyes she looked through the room. The room was devastated too, many of the shower cubicles were destroyed, broken doors hanging off their hinges, some of the booths were completly torn apart. Some of the pipes were busted spraying water through the room, mixing with the blood on the floor, drenching the few corpses that were inside.

Twilight began to shake in fear, wrapping her arms around herself as she began to walk through the room. She felt some drops of the cold water land on her skin, mixing with the blood, but she ignored it for now, continuing her walk through the tiled room, searching for another way out.

There was none.

All Twilight found were lockers at the far end of the room, behind another wall.

Something opened the door.

Crouching down and hiding behind the wall, she took deep breaths to calm herself, to keep herself from screaming. She heard footsteps, something was moving through the room. She heard wet splashes as someone or something stepped into the puddles of water.

'Calm down Twilight!' She covered her mouth with her hands, biting her lips. 'Just calm down, think!' She heard the steps coming closer. She had to run, it was the only way. But would she be fast enough?

'Unless...' She looked at a few of the lockers. They were empty, the doors ajar.

"I know you are in heeeeereee~" Someone, a female voice, giggled. "Come out, come out wherever you are."

Twilight jumped up, stepping into one of the lockers, and closing the thankfully well maintained door, no scraping or squeaking escaping the oiled hinges.

Holding her breath she looked out through the grooved door.

A woman, a nude woman, stepped into her sight, a long metal pipe in her hand. Her bright skin was covered in blood, her waist-deep former blonde hair drenched in red.

'Not covered!' Twilight's mind screamed. 'Garnished!' Twilight saw bloody handprints covering her breasts, her buttocks and the inside of her thighs. She saw two lines of blood in her face, and over her entry body, weird unlogical patterns all over her, like war paint.

The woman stopped right in front ot Twilight's locker.

Looking down at herself she groaned as she saw that the water had washed off small parts of the dried blood.

"Oh come on!" She complained angrily. "Stupid water!" She raised the pipe with two hands and smashed it into an adjacent locker. Twilight heard and felt the creaking of the metal as it bend under the strength of the hit, covering her moth with her hands, she bit her lip. She bit down so hard that blood began to seep into her mouth.

But she managed to stay quiet.

Swinging her pipe like a maniac the woman bawled. "Do... you... know... how... hard... it... is... to... find... fresh... blood... in... here!?" She screamed into the room, smashing the walls and some of the locker between her words, even one of the corpses on the floor got a good hit. Huffing and panting she stopped looking down at herself, she saw sweat rolling down her body taking off more of the blood.

She facepalmed. "Great..." A sigh escaped her. "Just greeeaaaaat~" Her voice was suddenly chipper. And then she laughed, a manical and high laughter and Twilight recognized it, this hyena like laugh. And then Twilight felt the unnatural feeling of being watched, as if the woman in front of her was looking directly at her. A second later her hair parted enough to allow Twilight a glimps at her neck, a tattoo adorning the soft skin. A long winged dagger, a maelstrom of wind surrounding it's tip.

'How is she still alive!?' Her mind was screaming in panic. And Twilight felt the cold grab of fear taking hold of her heart as she remembered this womans or more precise, this mares brutality. 'I thought she died in that asylum years ago!?'

Still laughing, the woman walked back the way she came, a crash and the change in the sound of the water told Twilight that she had smashed more on her way out.

Twilight flinched as she heard a deep guttural scream, a shout of pure anger.

"YOU STUPID PIPES!" She screamed and Twilight heard more smashing and crashing going on. "ALL THE BLOOD IS GONE NOW!"

Cowering in her locker, Twilight waited until she stopped her rampage and left the room, the door closed with a loud boom. 'Hopefully she's gone... and never comes back.' Twilight gulped. Slowly opening the locker she peeked out, seeing the destruction the woman achieved. Big parts of the wall were just gone, fissured and broken. Many of the lockers were dent and squashed. Her eyes went down to the body on the floor.

Twilight shuddered, turning away from the corpse, she was just happy that the man had already been dead. Raising her hands she began to rub her temples with her middle and index fingers.

Reticent "The Hyena" Shiv was still alive.

Twilight remembered the stories Shining Armor had told her about her. Apparently she had finished the academy as one of the best bat pony guards in years. Shining Armor had personally trained her. Months after joining the royal guard, it was about this time that Twilight heard her nickname and experienced her weirdly melodic laugh, she was dismissed again. Apparently she had killed multiple foalnapper without any given order and in a very brutal fashion, drenching herself in their blood. Twilight heard that a year later she died in an asylum, by suicide. That had been three years ago.

Leaning at the wall she looked into the showers and saw a lot more water rain down than before. Turning around again she saw some clean white closes in one of the lockers, a towel accompanying them.

She facepalmed at the strange directions her mind went. 'Now is definetly not the time to take a shower!' Her eyes fell back on the clothes and she shrugged. 'But I don't need to be naked.' Grabbing the plain white pants and shirt she quickly put them on, surprised at how well they fitted. As if they had been made for her.

Walking back through the showers, and drenching herself in enough water to call it "taken a shower", and soiling the innocent clothes with the dried blood on her skin, she leaned out of the door, looking through the hallway. The showers were the only thing on this side of the hallway, she would need to walk back and try the other side. But since there was only one way...

Twilight gulped as she sneaked out, her clothes dripping with water.

And then she heard something. A soft thud, like someone had dropped something soft and heavy.

Slowly turning her head she saw Shiv stand behind her, her manical gaze, her snake like eyes, piercing Twilight's.

"Fooooooound youuu~" She lilted, raising the pipe in her right hand.

Twilight ducked with a loud yelp, the hit missing her barely, she heard and felt the wall crumbling as the pipe dug deep into the wall.

Twilight looked at the hole in shock. 'That... could have been me!' She scurried backwards as that crazy women began to pull the pipe out of the wall with no effort at all. Twilight yelped again as she spread her legs to dodge an overhead strike, cracking the floor she had been on a second ago.

"Stop moving!" Shiv complained. "How am I supposed to crack your skull if you move like that?"

"How about you don't?" Twilight shouted, scurrying backwards again.

"Oh good joke!" She cackled as the pipe missed Twilight yet again, breaking the already dented head of a corpse even more. "Oh come on... boooring!"

Twilight had to escape, there was no way of fighting her. Standing up and turning around she began to sprint through the gory hallway, doging the corpses in her way.

Looking over her shoulder she saw that Shiv didn't chase her, she just stood there, following Twilight with her cold gaze.

Twilight contiuned running, past the cell she woke up in and a dozen more adjacent cells, around a corner and-

Twilight was outside now, in a square shaped courtyard, a big meadow in it's middle, the bright moon illuminating the grass. Panting heavily she looked around. The courtyard was fenced-in and connecting two buildings, the building Twilight had left, and one on the opposite side. A baldachin cast long shadows on the ways underneath them. Sprinting over the meadow to the other building, Twilight panted, grabbing the knob-

And found the door locked.

She turned around, painfully slowly.

Behind her, standing in the moonlight was Shiv, her weapon resting on her shoulder. Her expression was calm almost serene.

"Oy... who are you anyway?" She asked, slowly walking closer. Twilight walked back until her back grazed the wall. Leaning closer she looked deep into Twilight's eyes. "I'm sure I killed everyone in Block-D..."

Twilight whimpered.

Shiv shrugged. "Welp... won't change much... you are here, I have that trusty pipe of mine... you understand?" She wiggled her brows.

Twilight ducked with a scream as Shiv swung the pipe right at her head, the pipe cracked the wall.

Shiv grabbed Twilight at the collar of her shirt, lifting her up, pressing her against the wall as she pulled the pipe out of the wall again.

"You know..." Her voice was malicious, dark. Her expression had twisted into a visage of pure anger. "I hate people who don't tell me shit and then have the audacity to dodge me all day." The grab around Twilight's shirt disappeared, Shiv's hand wandered down to her throat. "I'll ask you one last thing... and you better answer or I swear by Discord's stupid face that his statue is doing, your death will be slow and very painful." Her mien turned soft, almost motherly. "Okay sweetie?" She smiled.

Twilight gulped, too scared to do anything else.

"Okay~" Shiv chirped. "How the fuck did you get in?"

"T-t-the-"

"And please stop stuttering..." Shiv rolled her eyes. "I hate stutterer..."

She gulped again. "The carcass." She whispered after a long deep breath. "In the cell..."

Shiv's eyes widened and her hand left Twilight's throat as she took a step back.

And then she began to chuckle, rising into her loud hyena like laugh only a moment later.

After calming down she looked at Twilight, her mouth twisting into a wicked grin. "Yes.... Yes! YES!" She squealed in delight, grabbing Twilight's throat again, pressing her against the wall. "You have one too right? A Dark Soul!" She laughed as Twilight nodded in shock.

And suddenly she stopped, her mien turning completly dark.

Twilight coughed up blood as Shiv rammed the pipe into her stomach, piercing her entirely, she even felt it exit through her back, pinning her to the wall.

And with the most calm and most serene face ever, rivaling even Celestia's, she leaned closer to whisper into Twilight's ear.

"You will be my little blood dispenser."

Twilight eyes widened even more as she felt the pipe exit her body, blood splurting out. Shiv grabbed her by her throat again, pressing her into the wall, cutting off her breath.

"Believe me-" Her face began to twist and change. A skull with black eyes, replaced it, her body changed into a mess of rotten flesh, her fingers were replaced with bloody claws as she lifted Twilight up, still pressing her against the wall, her voice was changing into a deep, raspy and guttural purr. "-After some months of pure pain you will begin to cherish it, to like it. And I'm sure Legion won't mind the one soul, not as long as I keep you as my pet. After all once we are done with this meager world there will be no more fresh blood left but yours..." She pulled Twilight down, licking her face with a long snake like tongue. Twilight could hear the pipe clattering to the floor.

And cried out in pain as she felt Shiv's other hand disappear into the wound, widening it, drenching her hand and foream in her blood.

"Your cold sweat..." She moaned. "Is soooo good..." Twilight coughed blood into Shiv's face as her hand exited her body again. Raising her bloodied hand she licked the blood of her index claw. "And your blood is even better." She moaned again, lustful this time, lowering her hand onto her skinned chest, printing the blood onto her flesh with another moan. "You will be formidable." She cooed.

Boom!

Twilight fell to the floor as Shiv's grip disappeared, her blood spraying against the wall. Sitting against the wall she looked up and saw Michael stand in the middle of the courtyard, the moonlight made his dark skin look even darker, his gun was pointed at Shiv.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." He exclaimed, lowering his gun he walked closer. "She belongs to me." He stopped a few meters away from her looking down on her.

A deep primal, animal like growl escaped Shiv as she turned her head to look at Michael, the big bullet wound in her head, right where here eye was, began to close, to regenerate, quickly. Standing up her body returned to the form of the blonde woman.

"If that isn't the party pooper we were warned of." Shiv's voice turning to a soft purr. "I know why you are here." She pointed at Twilight. "And that's definetly not because you want a share of that."

"I'm here to kick your ass." Michael answered.

"Is that so?" Shiv laughed, her bellowing laughter echoed into the night sky. "We're going to see." She lowered herself to a crawl, like she was a prowling animal. "This little slaughter is just the beginning you know?" Her grin widened. "I won't kill you... Legion told me about your little mask. But once I'm done with you I will drag you back to Deadside and we will start with the cleansing of this world! And after that I'm going to have so much fun with this little whore!"

"Why are you doing this?" Twilight coughed up more blood, covering her wound.

"Because it's fun to kill..." She snarled back at Twilight, turning to her she grabbed Twilight's face her with her hands. "It's fun to stalk, to prey, to hunt, to slaughter... and I'm doing this all for someone who couldn't care less about the why!" She barked her manic speech straight into Twilight's face.

"And I thought Deadside had all the crazies." Michael pointed his gun at Shiv.

Shiv's eyes widened. Turning around she looked at Michael with pure madness in her eyes, pointing at him. "And you! You will be my biggest prey!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

And then something weird happened. It looked like a puppetter had cut the ropes of his puppet. Shiv just stood there, her head falling on her chest. And like a whisper she began to move back into the darkness.

"For We Are Many!" Shiv's voice echoed through the whole courtyard even though she barely whispered the words.

Michael pointed his gun into the darkness, waiting for her.

That's when Twilight noticed something. The moon, high in the sky, illuminated the courtyard in a way that all four paths were cast in deep shadows.

"Michael..." She coughed. "The paths..."

"I know." He nodded, his gun still pointing at where Shiv stood before. "I figured as much..."

And suddenly a primal scream errupted from the shadows to Michael's right, something lunged itself at him, throwing him to the ground, swiping at him with it's claws before throwing him through the courtyard. A second later it returned to the shadows.

"Michael!" She yelped as she began to crawl over to him, blood was splurting out of multiple wounds in his upper body.

"Don't!" Michael raised a hand, signaling her to stop. "I'll get this done... don't-"

The darkness right behind Michael growled. Michael turned his head and together they saw Shiv's monstrous form walk out of the dark, her arms raised, readying herself to attack in an overhead smash.

Michael rolled out of the way as her fists crashed into the ground, dirt flying up. Pointing his gun at Shiv he fired at her nonstop, ripping off some of her rotten flesh. Shiv screamed in pain as she turned tail, fleeing into the darkness again.

A second later something growled right next to Twilight and she screamed as she felt Shiv's hand wrap around her leg, pulling her into the darkness.

And then she screamed even louder as something dug deep into her midsection, rending her muscles. A second later she heard and felt the vibration of a deep wholehearted moan as Shiv began to suck Twilight's blood.

With a loud pop and slurping sounds Twilight was flung across the yard, the moon illuminating the giant bite mark right under her rips.

Twilight felt her body going numb. Her mind, no her soul, screamed at her. The bite had even wounded her soul. She tried desperatly to move, to sit up, to do anything.

Sadly all her body managed were weak twitches.

"Yes..." The darkness whispered. "Soooo goooooood..."

And then it growled again.

"She. Is. Mine!" Shiv lunged at Michael from behind him, her wounds closed and her jaw opened wide, ready to-

Michael grabbed the pipe she had dropped earlier, jabbing it deep into Shiv's chest, piercing it.

She screamed, grabbing the pipe she began to flail around, pulling at the metal in her chest. Michael was still holding on to the pipe, his gun pointed at Shiv's face as he-

Shiv smacked his face, sending him flying across the yard.

The pipe followed swiftly, missing him though, digging deep into the wall.

"YOU. WILL. PAY!" Shiv screamed in rage as she began to walk across the yard with twitching claws. "I. WILL. SKIN. YOU. ALIVE. AND. EAT. THE. SHREDDED. LUMPS. FOR. BREAKFAST!!"

Michael sat up, groaning as he grabbed his broken jaw.

Shiv dug her claws deep into Michael's abdomen, shredding his flesh. "YOU. WON'T. NEED. YOUR. LEGS. ANYMORE!"

She screamed in unison with Michael, her scream born in rage and anger, his in agony, as Twilight's ears caught the sound of ripping flesh. "FOR. WE. ARE. MANY!" Michael's legs flew across the yard in a bloody rain.

Suddenly Shiv screamed in pain, recoiling as Michael's blood and body began to burn in a bright yellow, turning him to ashes.

Interrupting her flailing she jumped at Michael's burning body. "NOOOOOO!" She screamed at him as he raised his hand, his middle finger extended, right in Shiv's face.

And with a deep guttural growl she ripped the burning body apart.

Returning to her human form again she panted and wheezed, looking at the still burning speckles of blood on her skin. Her gaze wandered back to Twilight.

She jumped at her, grabbing her neck with both her hands, shaking her furiously.

"HOW COULD HE DIE FROM THAT?!" She screamed into Twilight's face. Loosening her grip around Twilight's neck she stood up, pacing around, mumbling to herself as her wounds began to close. "No fun... that guy is a total buzzkill... dying like that...." She raised a hand and began to nibble at her nails, still mumbling.

And then she stopped, her eyes wandered back to Twilight.

Her mien softened. "Hey there sweetie.... how are you?" She walked over to Twilight, carefully picking her up in a soft embrace.

"Sh-sh-sh-shhhh." She whispered. "It's okay... that big dumb mean- ARGH!" She shoved Twilight away, rubbing the small bitewound in her shoulder, looking at the blood in shock. "You... you bit me!" Her eyes narrowed. "Okay..." She almost sounded sad. "Be that way!" She walked over to Twilight, grabbing her hair and pulling her up. "So I guess you won't need those anymore!" Her fist crashed into Twilight's jaw, shattering some of her teeth. "Huh?! HUH?! YOU GONNA BITE ME AGAIN?! HUH?!" She screamed at Twilight, pounding into her jaw.

Dropping her unceremoniously, Twilight gargled up more blood, bone fragments and teeth.

Shiv sat down right in front of her, cross-legged, a warm expression on her face. "Come on sweetie." She began to stroke Twilight's face. "Don't be like that..." She slapped Twilight's broken jaw. "And I won't be like this!" Her fist crashed into the already broken mass of Twilight's mouth. "Okay? Okay..." She embraced Twilight. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.... I know I need to treat my little dispenser better or I-"

BOOM!

Shiv's head exploded, bone shards and blood rained down on Twilight as Michael stood behind her, his gun pointed at the stump that once was Shiv's head.

Kicking her over Michael stepped onto her belly, pointing his gun at her heart.

And fired away.

After thirty shots, Twilight stopped counting, the body twitching at every bullet that entered her.

Suddenly Shiv's legs bend the wrong way, lunging up they kicked Michael in the chest, sending him flying. And Shiv's destroyed upperbody erected, standing up. Her arms were still lying on the ground in a giant pool of blood. The legs began to change into the monstrous version, long black claws protruding out of the skin. They took a step forward-

And fell to their knees, wavering.

BOOM!

The last shot was deafening, seperating the rest of Shiv's upper body and lower body.

The rest of her body, even the blood on the ground began to stirr, to tremble and in a bright piercing light the rest of her chest was ripped apart revealing the sick purple light of a Dark Soul and a key.

Coughing and wheezing, Michael rubbed his chest.

"Oh... that bitch... broke my ribs again." He hobbled over to Twilight, looking at her broken and mangled body. "Why aren't you just regenerating?"

A shudder went through Twilight. Michael kneeled down.

"Look... the Dark Souls only work with your volition. You need to want! Do you understand?"

Twilight blinked, her numb body had no other way of telling him anymore.

"Now... concentrate... and regenerate!"

Twilight closed her eyes. She pictured herself as good as she could, she had never seen a mirror image of this body after all. And to her surprise she felt a warmth spread through her body. Opening her eyes she saw long blue tendrils grow out of her broken jaw, wiggling back and forth, regrowing and rebuliding the bones of her face.

Michael looked shocked at her, or more specific the tendrils in her face.

He gulped. "You said you had a Dark Soul!" His eyes widened even more. "This... this is no Dark Soul!" He pointed over to the pulsing body of the Dark Soul. "That is a Dark Soul! Why are the tendrils blue?"

Slowly, some feeling returned to Twilight's tongue and she gargled up something inscrutable. The rest of her body apparently still too damaged.

"This... makes no sense!" He stood up and began to pace, rubbing his chin with one hand and his chest with the other."

After a few more moments, Twilight finally felt some strength returning to her vocal cords. "I... don't know..." She gargled up, her voice extremly raspy, her jaw ached with every sound she made.

Michael looked down at her, an annoyed expression on his face. "Concentrate on regenerating... we will talk once you're back to not being half dead."

Twilight gargled something in agreement. Closing her eyes she felt a soft tingle go through her body as the warmth spread even further, healing other damaged parts of it.

A groan escaped Michael. Opening her eyes she saw that Michael had taken Shiv's Dark Soul, the tendrils softly wrapping around his body. A second later he shuddered, rubbing his neck.

"Damn... I hate this feeling." He kneeled down, picking up the key that was lying between Shiv's blood. Standing up he began to walk to the locked door. A second later he disappeared into the darkness of the building.

Twilight blinked.

And her eyes widened in shock.

A suit wearing man was kneeling in front of her, his blood stained mouth twisted to a wide grin.

Twilight blinked again.

The man was gone.

But she could have sworn that something echoed through the darkness of the night.

Something that sounded suspiciously like: For we are many.

Author's Note

I have to say, while I probably still suck at atmosphere, I like this chapter. It just feels crazy enough that it could have happened in the actual game.

Tell me what you guys think of this chapter. Hopefully it was pleasant to read.

Oh and the next chapter will return to the madness of the actual game. So yay... I guess?

Well...

Whatever...

See ya next chapter.