Chapters The water around her began to shift; rocks, sand and small sea creatures continuously bashing against her prison. 'What's happening?' Cherie thought from within the impervious self-sustaining prison that Mannequin had built just for her. 'Has someone found me? Have they come back for me?' A small bud of hope and terror bloomed within her heart. Hope that someone had come to free her from this hellish existence, and terror at the thought that the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine had come back to torture her or give her to Bonesaw for an experiment, not that there was much difference.
Cherie didn't know how long she had been trapped at the bottom of the Boat Graveyard, it could have been years for all she knew, but almost anything was better than being trapped down here for thousands of years with nothing but her thoughts to occupy her time. Being trapped for long periods of time with nothing but your thoughts was an effective way of causing insanity, and Cherie wasn't sure how much longer she would last before she began begging for a relief-even through death-from this punishment.
Her prison was moving erratically, that much she could tell for sure, though what was happening she couldn't say for sure since she was unable to see at the moment. A sudden change in the chaotic movement of the water surrounding her sent a burst of alarm through her body, and an ominous feeling crept up her spine, sending her into a panic. A distorted drawn out sound echoed in her ears, and she got the distinct impression of falling, which confused her considering that she was at the bottom of a body of water, there wasn't any farther she could possibly fall.
The sudden total destruction of her prison sent Cherie into shock as her senses, which had been almost unused within her prison, were assaulted by the bright light of the sun and the explosion of undistorted sound; a drastic change from the pitch black and mostly soundless prison that had been her home for who knew how long.
A scream escaped her lips as she slammed into what felt like dirt, a sudden numbness from her left arm alerted her to the fact that her arm was probably broken. Cherie lay there for a while, her long black hair with red highlights splayed out around her and tears of pain and joy dripping down her cheeks onto the soft earth below. Her eyes slowly opened, greeted by a dark and gloomy forest that was so overgrown with plant life that Cherie was surprised there was enough sunlight for the bushes and flowers in the undergrowth to survive at all. She breathed in deeply, and the dank and musky smell of wet earth filled her nostrils; it had rained here recently.
Looking down at her left arm only confirmed that it was broken, which caused Cherie to sigh. She had been through much worse during the tests she had endured in order to cement her place in the Slaughterhouse Nine, but a broken arm would still cause problems that she would rather be without. Twisting her body so she could get her right arm underneath her, Cherie lifted herself off the ground a foot or so until she could get on her knees. She grimaced at the sight of her torn up jeans, she would need to get some new ones once she got back to civilization. The thought of civilization made her grin, she was free! A laugh tore itself from her throat, scratchy and rough from under use.
Shoving herself to her feet Cherie stumbled forward a few steps before catching herself on a tree trunk, where she took a second to find her balance and catch her breath. After she was done with that Cherie slowly maneuvered her broken arm into a position where, after messing with her bright pink shirt for a little bit, she was able to create a sort of makeshift sling to hold her broken arm while she tried to find a way to the nearest city or town.
Taking a few steps forward Cherie looked around for a bit, searching for a sign that showed her the way to the closest town, before finally deciding on the direction that seemed to have the least amount of undergrowth blocking her way. She moved slowly, checking beneath her feet to make sure she wasn't going to step on something dangerous, and checking around her to look for signs of any possible predators that might be nearby. She was pretty sure that she could twist the emotions of any animals with a large enough brain to be afraid of her so they stayed away, but she wasn't certain, so she kept an eye out just in case.
it was around an hour later that Cherie sighted a stream of light from an opening in the canopy above, and she made her way towards it as fast as she could while still being careful. When she got there she emitted a bubbly cry of joy, it was a clearing, a respite from the repressing darkness that seemed to stretch forever. Moving forward at a fast walk Cherie entered the clearing and made her way into the middle of the slightly oblong area. She sat down in the grass lifted her chin and closed her eyes, loving the feeling of the cool breeze gently winding its way through her long hair, brushing it out of her face like the hand of a lover.
It was when she heard the telltale snapping sound of a stick under a foot that Cherie knew she had made a mistake. She was on her feet in an instance, the superior reflexes she had gained as a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine coming to her rescue as she dodged a beam of light that had been headed straight for her unprotected back.
"Shit!" She yelled as she dodged three more beams before making a break for the quite large area of trees where no beams of light were coming from. 'They're herding me' The pattern in which the aggressors were firing the beams suddenly made sense to Cherie, and she jumped over a beam that came from the direction she was running. After feinting to the left she quickly sprinted right, her legs burning as she pushed her beaten body to its limits. Her face twisted into a grimace as she dove through some thorny bushes and kept running. Cherie could hear the clopping sounds of a horse behind her, and while she wasn't sure why whoever was after her was on horseback, she couldn't care less at the moment.
Cherie gasped in delight as she noticed that she was finally coming up on the edge of the forest, and she pushed herself harder even though it hurt. She had not survived the punishment of the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine just to be captured by some dumbasses who didn't even know what a car was.
She broke out of the forest a hundred meters ahead of her pursuers, and she quickly surveyed the landscape before making the decision to enter the city that was a mile away at most. She could feel the anger and rage coming from her pursuers, but she was too exhausted at the moment to play with them. He first priority was to escape.
She was almost at the outskirts of the city when she realized just how close her pursuers actually were to catching up with her. Making a hasty decision that she knew could cost her, she took out a small syringe out of her pocket and injected it into her bloodstream. One of the great things about Bonesaw was that she always had medical supplies on hand, so stealing a syringe filled with adrenaline was quite easy. Cherie grinned as her body went into overdrive, allowing her the extra burst of speed she needed to get away.
Briefly looking up as she entered the city Cherie saw a large banner with the city's name stretched across it in bright bold letters. 'Manehatten?' She thought curiously. 'Isn't it Manhattan?' Cherie shook off the part of her that continually whispered in her ear how wrong all of this was and dashed through the outskirts and into the heart of the city itself.
The sudden absence of light as the sun plummeted down the horizon caused Cherie to start panicking. 'What the hell? That's not supposed to happen! Oh god oh god oh god. Where the fuck am I?' Acting on instinct Cherie rushed into what appeared to be a marketplace, and instantly regretted it.
"Fuck me..." She breathed out, eyes as wide as they could be and mouth dropped open in utter shock. There standing in front of her and looking just as shocked as she did, was a red-furred Unicorn with a bright green mane and a pencil in its hoof. Slowly backing away from the mythological creature that could somehow hold a pencil Cherie twirled on the heels of her feet and took off in the opposite direction, only to come face to face with a Pegasus. Her eye began twitching erratically as she looked around to find herself surrounded by Unicorns and Pegasi of all different colors and sizes. "I've gone mad!" She spoke, a shrill laugh bubbling forth from her chest.
"Somepony contact one of the Princesses!" Cherie heard one of the abominations speak before she collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.
Cherie acted before Celestia could react, forcing the princess' head backwards with a fast strike from her palm then following it up with an elbow to the side of the head which sent Celestia careening into the bed Cherie had woken up on. Dashing to the door before Celestia could recover, Cherie wrenched the two inch thick wooden blockade open and fled the room.
She found herself in a hallway with doors spread out evenly on each side -about every ten feet or so- and large incandescent lights shining down from the ceiling. At the end of the hallway to the left was a door that presumably led to the main lobby of the building, and to the right there was a much larger set of double doors with a rectangular window inset in each door. Cherie could see a small grassy hill dotted with a myriad of different colored flowers through the windows, and she made a snap decision to exit through that door. Cherie may not have known where she was at the moment, but she was certainly not going to wait around and find out from the natives. She had places to go and people to fuck over, she had no time to have a tea party with some talking horse-like creatures.
Dashing down the hallway in this kind of situation left a bad taste in Cherie's mouth, reminding her of several circumstances where she and the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine had to do something similar. Shaking off any feelings that would distract her as she approached the door, Cherie slowed down just enough to grab one of the door handles, swing the door inwards and rush outside, making sure to swing the door closed behind her just in case Celestia had recovered enough to follow.
Cherie crouched and moved along the right side of the building keeping her hand along the wall so she didn't accidentally stray out far enough for one of the natives to easily spot her. Peeking around the corner once she reached the edge Cherie spotted the outskirts of the city she had arrived at before she fainted. Seeing as there was a grassy hill behind the building she woke up in, she was probably at the edge of the city, not far enough away to be in the outskirts, but not so close that there were skyscrapers everywhere in sight and not a hint of nature besides the occasional tree planted in one of the sidewalks.
Knowing that the outskirts of this particular city would be a great place to hide from her previous visitation to the place on the run from some of the natives, what with the beaten up fences and all sorts of crap lying about, Cherie made her way around back around to the other side of the building where she wouldn't be in plain sight of any natives going for a leisurely stroll. Once she had reached the opposite side Cherie began sneaking her way through some tall grass that probably hadn't been taken care of in a few weeks.
In no time at all she had reached her destination and hidden out of view in an ally behind a dumpster that looked like it was rather close to bursting out the seams. "Ahh..." Cherie sighed as she stood back up to her full height, glad to be done with the whole moving around while crouching thing. She leaned against the wall, resting for a bit before she moved on. There was no need to tire her body out from constantly running around with no food or water.
Cherie hummed as she thought about what to do next. She would need to locate a near constant supply of food and water first, then she would need to do something about shelter. While she could survive with out having shelter from the elements, she wouldn't be able to do it for very long. After she had succeeded in securing all three of those, she could afford to find out more about this odd place called Equestria that she found herself in, and see if there was a way she could get back to Earth Bet, as there was no possible way she was still there. She would know if there was a place called Equestria where the natives were miniature talking horse-like things.
Moving through the outskirts unnoticed was pathetically easy, none of the natives were even around, most likely because it was the middle of the day and they were all off doing whatever horse-like things do during the middle of the day, but still, she was practically walking down the middle of a street in plain sight and she hadn't been noticed yet. If this was how the whole of 'Equestria does their things then it would be the simplest thing ever to go about her business without gathering attention.
"Stop right there creature!"
And maybe she had thought too soon. Cherie slowly turned towards the direction of the voice, spotting a white furred equine without a horn or wings, and wearing some kind of roman looking armor pointing a spear in her direction. "Now why would I do that?" She replied dryly.
"Lay flat on the ground with your hooves above your head right now or I will have to use force!"
Cherie's right eye twitched. "No."
The equine looked like it was about to say something but Cherie had little to no patience to chat with anything who couldn't tell the difference between hands and hooves, and so she turned around and kept walking. If the equine had a death wish and chose to attack her then she would do the honors of teaching it why you don't mess with something you know nothing about, painfully .
She could hear the equine charging her from behind, and she let out a soft groan; she was really not in the mood at the moment. Falling to the ground just before the horse thing reached her Cherie lifted herself up with her arms and swung her legs around, knocking the horse's hooves out from under its body and leaving it winded on the ground while she got back to her feet.
"You're quite stupid you know that?" Cherie spoke while snatching up the spear that had fallen to the ground and twirling it in her right hand, debating on how best to teach the equine a lesson. "And I know just how to teach you a lesson!" She exclaimed as she put a foot on its throat to keep it from moving and ripped its helmet off with her free hand, allowing her to poke the equine's forehead with the tip of the spear. With a flurry of sharp jerks of the spear she sliced into the equine's head, leaving a single word inscribed for all to see.
"You'll always be stupid you know that? And this will only prove that to anyone you know. I wonder if anybody will even want to be seen with you once they see this." Cherie giggled as she stepped back from the screaming equine and admired her handiwork. The wounds she had cut into its head would probably be healed the same way her arm had been, but it would certainly scar. "I'll be keeping this spear of yours, Stupid ." Cherie mocked, emphasizing the word she had sliced into his forehead.
With that done she ran off before others arrived, the spear grasped tightly in her hand as she fled the outskirts of the city.
Cherished Frustrations (Being Rewritten)
The first thing Cherie was aware of as she was brought back into the world of the living was voices, lots of voices. Noticing just how cold she was feeling at the moment, Cherie realized two things. One, that she was laying face up on a bed, and Two, that her clothes were currently not on her body. Knowing that a good freak out, while probably making her feel better, would not help her currently, Cherie decided to face whatever situation she was currently in the old fashioned way; kick ass now and ask questions later.
Waiting until one of the natives was within her reach however, was a boring endeavor, as all they seemed to do was talk.
"So what have you discovered about it so far?"
"Well, first of all Princess, we've determined that the creature is female, and that-" Cherie tuned out at that point, waiting for one of them to touch her before she took action.
The slightest brush against her side was all it took to get Cherie to act. Throwing her body over the side of the bed she landed on all fours and glanced around her, quickly taking stock of the situation. Lunging forwards Cherie reached her hands out and clasped them on both sides of the head of the miniature horse she assumed was the scientist that had been speaking with the 'Princess'.
"Don't move an inch or you'll regret it!" Cherie whispered harshly in her captive's ear, her heart pounding in her chest and adrenaline pumping through her veins. She glanced up, spotting a tall alabaster equine that appeared to be a cross between a Unicorn and a Pegasus with a long mane of many colors that seemingly defied gravity. "You!" Cherie snapped out. "Go get my clothes!"
The equine -Cherie couldn't think of a name that would fit her- stared at Cherie with eyes that conveyed shock, sympathy and anger all at once for several long awkward moments before walking over to one of the corners of the room nearest to the door where a box sat on the floor. Cherie watched the equine warily as she opened the box, revealing the clothes that Cherie had been wearing before she fainted.
"Toss them over here." Cherie ordered. She was momentarily surprised when the equine obeyed without question, lifting them up with the tip of her horn before swinging the long bone Cherie's way, the clothes sliding off of it and landing at her feet.
"Now then, what are we supposed to do about you?" Cherie mused, glancing down at the shivering miniature horse who's head she held between her hands. "Wait a moment," Cherie stared at her left arm. "I could have sworn my left arm was broken."
"It was, we fixed it for you."
Cherie jerked her head up at the soft lovely voice that belonged to the equine across from her. "Well then I suppose a thank you is in order, but don't think for a moment that this will earn you any favors from me." Cherie replied.
The equine nodded without a word.
"Now then, where am I?"
"Y-y-you a-are i-in E-equestria." Cherie almost jumped at the shaky voice of her captive.
"Equestria?" Cherie repressed a laugh at the ridiculous name. "How cute." Cherie waited a second before continuing. "That's what I would say if I was nicer kind of girl, but since I'm not I'll tell you what I really think."
"Do tell."
Cherie forced herself not to flinch at how close the voice of the equine in front of her sounded. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Cherie warned, glowering at the equine.
The equine frowned. "I apologize, I didn't mean to startle you."
"Whatever. Anyway, I think it's a stupid name." Cherie snarled at the equine. "And you better BACK the fuck up before I do something drastic."
The equine's abnormally large eyes narrowed at her threat. "I would suggest that you release my subject this instant." The lovely tone of the equine's voice was gone, replaced with a level of seriousness that almost scared Cherie, almost.
Cherie sneered. "You think you can scare ME? Do you know who I am? Well I'll tell you regardless. I am Cherish of the Slaughterhouse Nine and compared to my teammates you're nothing but a child who doesn't know their place in the world yet." She knew she wasn't really a member of that group anymore, but this talking equine didn't need to know that.
The sound of music roared in Cherie's ears, the anger of the equine in front of her almost overwhelming her. This equine was special if she could produce such strong emotions. Cherie's mind grabbed a hold of the anger and tried to twist it into an unconquerable fear that would cause the equine to collapse where she stood.
But nothing happened.
She tried again, exerting the power she had gained from her trigger event, the worst day of her life, which was caused by her father Niko Vasil, also known as Heartbreaker.
Again it failed to work.
"No No No No NO!" Cherie screeched at the top of her lungs, her arms shaking with the effort it took to prevent herself from snapping her captive's neck. "This CANNOT be happening!" Her legs threatened to collapse beneath her as she struggled with the realization that her power wouldn't work these abominations, a power which had only ever failed to effect members of her family and the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine.
"That's IT!" Cherie exclaimed shrilly to herself. "This is all just a dream, I'm still trapped within Mannequin's prison at the bottom of the Boat Graveyard." She rambled off as she shoved her captive away and dropped to her hands and knees.
Cherie faintly heard the captive asking 'Princess Celestia' if she was alright, but Cherie took no heed of what was happening around her, too absorbed with her effort to come to terms with the fact that her power was useless against the natives.
"Cherish."
Cherie looked up at the usage of the cape name she had taken, tears of disbelief rolling down her face and dripping down onto her hands which were scrunching up her bright pink shirt.
The equine, no, Princess Celestia, was sitting down in front of her and looking down at her sadly, the equine she had held captive having disappeared. "You've been through something terrible haven't you?" The sheer amount of pity Princess Celestia was feeling enraged Cherie.
Slowly climbing back to her feet Cherie turned around and made short work of putting her clothes back on. "You wanna know something Princess ?"
"What is it?"
Cherie spun back around and glared at Celestia, her hands clenched tightly into fists at her side. "I HATE being pitied."