Hyper Love Surprise: Minuit Sérénitéby BloodyBubblegumChaptersC'est La Vie.Un Coup de FoudreLullabyBecause I Love You.Forget MeC'est La Vie.'Je reviens vite. J'taime, Coco.' Those were sister's last words to Coco Pommel. A misshapen agony had clogged her heart. And she didn't know what was uglier, the dress on that mare outside the coffee shop window or her baggy, restless eyes. Her sister should've been there, sitting beside her. Long-gone were her easy mornings chatting away and snacking on toast with jam. The simplest thing she missed, in retrospect, was all the cursing her sister did. Glace à la Vanille was never a timid pony, no. Sister was a boisterous and haughty one... During their hay school days, they were inseparable. She squished her cheeks and leaned her head down. They were quite the pair, her and her. Lonely, she could only stare into the street; lost in her home metropolis, Manehatten. Manehatten never slept, ponies often said, even the locals. But this time, their fair city was stricken with gloom. A rolling mist had blanketed the streets. It didn't stop businessponies and travlleing toursits from traversing the abandoned streets, but all the carriages were closed. Everypony nowadays, at least the ones she could see, were always sullen and lackidasical. "I want to..." Coco Pommel murmured. "I want to be somewhere else..." Coco Pommel muffled her lips by pressing her hooves over them. 'Isn't that what you said, Vanille. Was it me...? Did I make you leave?' A jagged tension stabbed her vitreous body. The very back of her eyes were pounding with hurt. Coco desparately rushed away to make it home. All the noise had drowned out beside her sobbing. And though she wanted to run, to gallop forever and escape the emptiness, it took root inside her, eviscerating her aorta and ventricles. Coco Pommel skidded her hooves to a stop. Her back pressed against the nearest building and she hyperventilated to offset the anxiety. Despite separating herself from Café Vanille, the image of her sister branded within. Little gremlins and fairies stalked her at every corner, masquerading in happy memories of Her, the one and only childhood friend she ever had. The one and only mare she ever kissed. The filly covered her ears in sheer distress as the barks of wardogs named Mother and Father bore holes into her temples. And she shrieked when they took her away to whip her with the electrical cord. The beast Father hogtied Coco. He tossed her into the basement just like always. The obscura swallowing her whole set her legs to motion. She ran and ran like she did all those years ago, dodging pots of scalding tea water, slipping phantoms in the alleyways. "Go away...! Leave me alone! Don't touch me...!" The monster that pretended to be her father was in the sky. He was high as a skyscraper and hammering the concrete with his hooves. He shook the earth just for her, just as her bed creaked every other night. Coco shut her eyes and jerked her head left to right. He was gaining on her. He'd cover her mouth like always. She swore it. "No...! Stay away! Stay awaaaaay!" Coco took to cowering. She curled within herself and squished her rump to the wall of an alley. She never forgot her lessons. Coco never took her rituals for granted. Her rear was pressed firmly where no one could have it. No one would hurt her inside... For once in twenty three years, she finally felt peace again... surrounded by fog. Pommel did her best to muffle her lips and breathe, sheltered by alleyway umbra. She wound up a block past her apartment. A thin shadow obscured her presence, an overcast from the apartment to her left. Red bricks and art murals dwarfed her unimposing figure. There were two stallions trotting by, one in a suit of fine Corgi Amoney design and his companion, clothed in Eyerainian robes that were atypical of most Manehattens. They were harmonious, synchronized every step of the way. They chattered casually between bites of Garlic and Salmon Chaaaaaps. Chaps was a brand of organic, low-grease and low chemical preservative potato chips. With one petite chirp, she slinked backwards till all the shadow enveloped her. Coco would only match half of their standing height. And that was standing. Crouched, her stature was a whopping two and a half feet tall. "I tell you, Furnando... Why do people always assume I'm a bad guy? Do they not like my robes? Anyway... did you hear about that business back in Ponyville. They had a pandemic or some shit like that. I mean, of all the places to be quarantined, am I right?" The saddle arabian gentlecolt earned a nod from his friend. And they shared words back and forth till the distance drowned them out. Coco could only relax and enjoy their togetherness, their comfy atmosphere. "No idea. You know Happy, I have no idea. Ponyville never gets in trouble. I wonder why, too. Weren't the elements of harmony supposed to be there?" "You see, Furnando this is what I'm talking about. Crazy shit happening everywhere. It gives me tingles. Where is Celestia? Where is Luna? Somepony says 'changelings', do you think so?" "Nmm... No, not really. I thought changlings needed love to survive. Where would they get that..?" No. That was... impossible. Not Rarity. Not her too. Coco shambled away without an ounce of fortitude. She was, for the lack of any articulate term, crushed by all she'd endured. The sky would either away into some drab compendium of patchwork wool scraps. And then it'd become a shroud of ominous abyss. Coco Pommel reached her apartment, having trotted the whole way there. Her deflated and torn leg muscles hung precariously about her bones. Gravity was her worst assailant, her worst adversary. If she hadn't galloped and jerked her body around like a crazed Deth addict, she'd have come home unscathed. The sudden weight of all her punishment dragged her down and onto her couch... Coco Pommel had closed their eyes for mere seconds; then, her door knob clicked out of place and exposed her sanctuary. Coco Pommel grappled with fatigue. Somepony was in her apartment room and her body was anchored down. A wash of nightmarish half-futures and sadistic horrors flooded her eyelids. She barely managed to tip herself toward the edge of her loveseat. Coco shut her eyes and tumbled down, sliding off and onto her side. She winced at the sharp rib pain, but bolted forward and into the kitchen. A living... shadow person greeted her there. In their hand, which was so tenebrous and alien even glancing terrified her, was a long, cutting chef knife. Submerged in blood, the wicked steel urged her closer. Coco had backpeddled till her rump struck the wall. She crouched and wobbled. A sickness tore her gut apart. Anxiety clenched her chest and she couldn't take her eyes off of it but that thing would show its teeth, it's jagged, predatory teeth. The lanky, wide-hipped monster crept forward. The room... was arid. The dead dryness gave way to bone-chilling cold that layered her home in frost. Even her own coat felt off. Frigid icicles clung to her fur as newborn children never wanted. They screamed in need as she swept them away, somehow able to maneuver her rigid forelegs. "Wh-who... are you...? Why won't you let me go?" It glided forward, fondling her cheeks. The monster closed her eyelids with its thumbs. "Mais non, who I am is not important. But you can call me Juilenne, ma cherie... Soon, the ice will take your apartment. And then I can thaw you. For now... rest. I will hold you close. You are mine, after all." "N-no..." Coco jittered, chattering her teeth away. "I-I'm not y-yours... I-I'm G-Glac-ce's" All she did was grin. "We've met before, you and I; in a dream we lived together." And that very same grin marked when Coco Pommel passed consciousness. Un Coup de FoudreWas it Tartarus she woke in. At first, only her eyes worked. Then, her frost-nipped ears, then the warmth reddening her cheeks. Everything was dark. All she saw were wide light cones slipping away from a door crevice. The room was cold and cruel, coating her in painful, crackling frost. Coco Pommel tossed and turned till her frigid body grew fluid. It kicked previously unnoticed blankets off of her frozen body. Before, she'd been struggling to stay conscious. Now, she couldn't rest. Not her mind. And not her eyes. It felt as though her lashes were forced open. Blinking, even the mere prospect of closing her eyes, was merely death, a great sleep which none could ever return. A maddening fairness slayed all the feeling within her. Not sorrow, nor temperature could sway her body to feel. Coco Pommel pushed forward and rushed onto her hooves. She broke the only thing in her way, a door too frozen to simply open. Crashing, splintering wood fell around her as she landed with a thud. All the ice dangling off of her coat came undone and shattered. The pain, the brief reminder of reality, urged her on. 'I am alive. My pain is proof I'm not insane.' Crawling forward led her toward the light. The living room lights were switched on hours before. Coco knew because she groped the nearest lamp, popped the lampshade off and held it against herself. Splendid heat thawed her chest out and burned against her. The ice became vaporous about her heart region and coated the bulb in condensation. Coco could only sigh in relief. She could only assume it was over. However, as the bulb flickered, she could hear barking from outside her apartment. A knot had incubated within her stomach. And every second she sat alone, nervous and shaking, she could feel it kicking. The knot toyed with her. It was telling her to move, lest it burrow out her gut to liberate itself. She trotted over to the balcony. And there, she saw them: vicious, meandering canine beasts. Their nature was grotesque and primal. They were thin, streamlined hounds made from flesh and intertwining equine body parts. Their legs were equine, pony even, but over their hooves were sharp, hooking components that slid down and locked into place when needed. When not, the hooking devices were pushed aside and rotated into a half-cocked resting position. Only to the opposite natural direction of each foreleg did the unlocking mechanism work. She knew because Coco Pommel saw them using it on each other. A dog beast was mating with another, and they crashed wildly against each other. The violence of their copulation made her legs buckle. To see them bumping and grinding with cursing hisses and thundering claps, was to shake her heart. It shook her through and through to relive her childhood in such disgusting voyeurism. Coco Pommel stumbled backwards, overwhelmed with wooziness. She fell limply and broke her coffee table with the sheer weight of her barely-warm body. It felt painless. But all her pain was bubbling internally. It had never gone. And that pain, streaming over her cheeks, was the very same force compelling her to move. It ached her newly capable forelegs and tore them apart when she lifted herself off the ground. Then and there, she knew what to do. Soon, that living shadow thing would come back for her. And who knew what Julienne would do. Who knew what twisted fantasies her captor might manifest. Coco surged forward and broke her apartment door apart. If she could truly stretch and articulate her forelegs, she would've bucked it open. But all she could afford was battering them down with her skull. Equine skulls, especially earth pony skulls, were lined with thick layers of marginal calcium. Trickling blood stained her muzzle. It slid down and painted her coat with memories of sports club and Glace's football games. A great silence sewed her lips shut as she peaked out the exit. The lights outside were prone to flickering. Most were dead. As far as the eye could see, a sea of black claimed the building. Narrow corridors and many, jam-packed doors stung her mind with horror. There was no time to panic... but Coco could easily be herded into a corner and turn helpless. The very thought propelled her forward and faster than she'd ever thought possible. Her barely audible hoofsteps managed to birth creaks from the floorboards. Creaks and moans would litter her heavier steps, with the lightest never even heard. Hot, pulsing pain stabbed her flank regions. By the time she descended the third stairway down, Coco was gasping for breath. The air quality was poorer, more condensed. The chilling temperature forced her lungs to work twofold. Outside, the darkness had no rule. The other world, apart from the abyss of her old home, was gloomy and well-lit. The night grew slowly and aged finer by the minute. She could already tell, choosing to glance up and gaze there, that night would fall quietly. Even the fog felt more subdued. It was thicker than usual, yet, easier to face. Coco had studied Manehatten from above and knew exactly where to go. Keeping her sense of direction would be jarring, if not totally hopeless. That was the price of freedom... running till what lay behind her started to vanish. She struck the concrete with her forehooves and readied a crouch. "... Coco, my love... Why do you run away?" Juilenne whispered, walking forward from the mist in front of her. "I... I don't want to be here. You don't even know me- s-so why are you calling me that?!" Julienne shook her head and rubbed her own lips with the palm of her free hand. Her knife hand, which was her left, had it's trademark rust and bloodstains. Only, the newest layer was fresh, almost sickening as the iron and hemoglobin took root in Coco's tongue. She wobbled in-place and shifted her eyes for an escape route. And though the shadow thing wasn't hostile... being around her hurt her chest. That old sting, in all it's sophistication, was having her heart bathed in acid. "Of course I do... I care about you. Why else would I have covered you in blankets and cleared the building of monsters. Would someone who wanted to hurt you do that...?" "Y-you... locked the door to my bedroom. You were going to leave me there... and then- you could've come back and... forced me. You were going to force me, weren't you!" A wide tremble had shaken her ventricles. Coco was barely staying conscious. All because of her, all because of Julienne and her deathly presence. Even the air grew harsher as every breath stabbed her lungs apart. And though she would not see her, because her vision was greying, Juilenne caught her from tumbling forward... "Why... Why are you holding me..." Coco wavered. "Because I love you... I'll take you there, where She is. And then... you and Glace can talk for yourselves." Her lids grew shut and stuck together. "I... don't understand you." "What is there to not understand? You were stricken by lightning when you fell in love. And so was I. Isn't it obvious, you child. You're all I have left. I won't let them hurt you anymore. I promise...." The world became black. All she articulated was bandages and ointment being applied to her head and the many ways it'd split open from her own, reckless escape. LullabyJulienne settled her into a windowseat. The silhouette thing was still as opaque as ever. Coco Pommel had learned how to read certain people, just to survive. But people like Juilenne, something internal and locked within itself, had always puzzled her. Beside her bed was her precarious companion, sharpening her knife on a whetstone. The stone itself seemed fairly pristine. Strange because it was a common Ponyville piece. And from what she could tell, they were on a train to Ponyville from Manehatten, not the other way around. Supple rattling struck her ears every now and then. The noise of the tracks was a background static. Her priority went to watching Julienne. Coco didn't see the conductor or the trip to the station; she was unconscious by then. For all she knew, it was Julienne's ruse to gain her trust. When all her defenses fell, Juilenne would strike. Something foul struck the shallows of her mind. She wanted to cease her paranoia. But nothing, not even conversation, felt very organic to her Unspoken quandries stormed her in swirling cacophony. It might've seemed wrong to deny her, to Juilenne, trust and ease. Coco Pommel shifted onto her side, veiling herself entirely between the legs. She stared outside, bogged down by half-corrupted clarity from the mist. Though she never looked back... her mind was always on Julienne. "I don't trust you... true. But I don't trust anyone I don't know personally. We just met, right? Why would I be comfortable with you right away?" "That doesn't matter. I don't need you to be comfortable with me. I need you to understand that I love you. So I won't hurt you. And I won't take advantage of you. That's all you need to know." Julienne hushed, hunching forward to lean her chin on her knuckles. They stayed sullen and noiseless, unaware of the rain that'd settled in. Coco Pommel hadn't noticed it before, but the ice, from all the frost, to the fog in her breath, was gone. Her new discovery widened her eyes. The coal locomotion whistled and shrieked in ominous warning. Their vessel, surely and patiently, would come to a stop. It's aged engine and worked whistle had lost their edge. The pull of it drew a waning cry. And that signalled their leave. A curious drizzle struck her muzzle and forced Coco to absorb her surroundings. A ghostly breeze swept some nearby leaves apart, the remainder of the stricken falling just around her. She glanced back to see Julienne... idle at the benches. Their queer seating position, which was crossing the legs and hands, made her wince. Another pain cluster choked her heart away. "You... you're not coming with? Why...?" Julienne could only rest her eyes and hurt. "Non. I would only get in the way. If I handle the monsters again, you might freeze to death. Manehatten was mostly empty, no? Ponyville, mais non. Everyone is there. Huddled in their homes with boards and booby traps. You have to do this alone." She bit her lip and shoved her tears back. "But... I-I can't fight. I can't do anything like that. What if they catch me? What if... I'm raped?" "Ma cherie... I will only hurt you. You've seen that. When I'm in danger, the ice comes. You might not be able to take me. But you can take my love. Keep it close. And when they hurt you, make it sing." Coco could barely stand. How could she fight. Someone who loved her wouldn't have sent her to do it alone, right. She didn't love Julienne. She didn't even want her around. Yet... everything felt colder. The world was cruel and fair; the sun would rise with or without them. Tomorrow would never sing for them. Instead, the birds would sing. And their sharp loon signals and mockingbird impressions would ring true despite the fog. Coco Pommel started to wobble. Even when Julienne handed her a weapon. "Ma cherie... why do you tremble so much. What's wrong?" She soothed, holding her cheeks and swelling them with warmth. For the first time in months, she really did feel safe. How could Coco have been so ignorant. The train ride. The apartment escape. Despite all their differences, something did blossom beneath her. It might've been less than love. But it was nowhere near disgust, or repulsion. It was inadequacy. Superficial tears had stricken her cheeks. They were all loose, porous and wild like crashing tides. If she could've spoken, she would've begged her to stay. Memories of Him had resurfaced with the dogs, and, in some way, the memory of him had taken her over. Coco's hooves were desparate to fly and all her anger had lied. Julienne closed her eyes. There was blood there, against her chest, but it was clear and fluid. Julienne didn't know why, but Coco was bleeding from her eyes. She wiped it away with her butcher's apron, which shown brightly in the daylight... even beneath the rain gloom. So to was her gilded mane visible. And her thin, peach-colored frame, which boasted thick hips and starved ribs. Julienne took her in to comfort her. They pressed together and let the stars bloom. "I-I c-ca-can't f-fight them-! I-I- D-don't l-l-leave me alone...! Do-o-on't..." "If I come with... which I will, how will you keep from freezing, ma cherie. How will I stop myself from losing you all over again?" Coco's muzzle pressed into her neck. They grazed flesh to flesh and coat to skin, never once devoid of sin. One fell to her knees and one rose to feel the ease, alone together in one moment of harmony caught by hooks and tennis rackets. They were on the same level, eye-level. And between them, the same look of exhaustion: a lowness of the eyes. Julienne had molten jade frozen within her; even the irises lacked shine, only milky in saturation and pigment. At once, there might've been a composite metropolis of sharp snowflakes within her pupils. But now, they were sunken ships and ruined lips, abused wonders taken for a ride and never loved. "I... I d-d-don't care. You're a-a-all I have... y-you're all I need. Please. Please- stay with me-" Coco sobbed, hacking wildly from wheezing breaths and scratchy inhales. They struck gold. It bled within them, to the pores of their cheeks, which they rubbed together, alone and one all at once, walking off to find their sun. Coco Pommel took lead. Julienne was just behind her, barely a step away from necessary maneuvering distance. All the while, she held her knife with an outstretched arm, her body sideways as it narrowed her. If any monster had met them, they'd strike her hips or shoulders first, rather than sternum and pelvis. Ponyville, old, silent Ponyville, was an expired place. All the buildings, once vibrant and happy, had fallen to vandalism and cluttered barricades. Every house, no matter how rich, how elaborate, was always locked and boarded. To Coco's horror, some were open... and burned to a crisp. They walked for hours. An endless path tricked Coco to wander in circles. The mist, to her absolute chagrin, would never let her leave. For the eighth time coming, she shuffled over to a radiant streetlight and plopped down, wearied and worn. There, the growls of a beast perked her up. Damn it. Her legs were already sore. And galloping more would tear them for sure. If only she hasn't been so reckless in the apartment. Julienne had cautioned her to stand back and find a makeshift weapon. Knives were only a last-resort for ponies. Blunt instruments were best. She instructed her to find a wooden object at best. And that's when Coco trotted away from the second growl. And then the third growl. And the fourth. And the fifth. "Oh, Luna... Oh Luna... they're all around us." Julienne took her in and whispered 'duck first and swerve around when you see them coming.' They crept along to corner them, to encircle their prey. Coco's strength had eluded her. A crashing hollowness filled her gut. And the faces of those creatures were her sister: Glace à la Vanille. Where their stomachs were, an erect limb portruded violently. It pulsed and drooled with harsh muscle. The thing between their legs was barely equine. It was painful. It was agony. Each one of them were scarred in some way... lips and jaws torn away, to missing eyes and throats flayed open by poor stitchwork. A majority of those devils were sliced right open down the middle, and their ribs were human fingers clutching away at whatever hung, even the worm clusters oozing out their wounds. They beckoned her defenses down. Sultry, yearning words slipped their tongues and each one drew closer. Julienne kept her knife up, trembling herself. Her love was manipulated. She could tell, even from a moment's glance, that they were breaching her mind for scraps of hope. An amalgamation of identical voices infected their eardrums. "Coco... I missed you so much." "Coco, where were you?" "J'taime, mon coupe de foudre..." "Ne jamais me quitter. J'taime trop..." Coco spouted her grief away and spat knives to the phantoms around her. And as she screamed, the world grew colder. Every word stabbed her chest and soon, a leak sprung forth to freeze her eyes open. She would never forget their bulging pupils and pale, sickly flesh, nor would she ever forget her sister... her real sister, and not the artifice she'd birthed to shove the pain away. "Vous n'êtes pas elle! Vous n'êtes pas mon rayon de soleil, vous êtes seulement la douleur!" At once, the illusion broke. And in her eyes, the image of her sister had barely survived. Instead, they were things with smooth faces, barely equine, more akin to blind denizens of unspoken cave systems. They lunged forward to take her, to target her. So she pounced away, left and right, her sister in her hooves; football practice had never mattered so much in her life, as ballerina, or track. All those skills, she remembered, had come from Glace. Glace was in her hooves, keeping her free from the mimic monsters. There were three taking lashes and lunges right for her. And then, in her weakened state, she grit her teeth and slammed her hindlegs forward. One of the canine beasts slumped forward and collapsed. Julienne leapt over it and straddled the back. She plunged her knife deep. A well-spaced cluster of overhead stabs managed to puncture the neck and scatter it's vertabrae. Red splendor caked her skin and she shivered, entranced in duty, entranced in her one and only purpose: to hurt. She dashed forward, toward Coco. One of the mimics had lurched forward to catch Coco unaware. It slammed forward and into her chef's knife. She scowled softly and kicked it forward, only to slash it's throat mid-collapse. Four more had joined the encounter. She only frowned and dealt with them accordingly. Two had leapt opposites of either side. Julienne did nothing more but move backwards and slash downward to flay their necks open. And when they insisted on charging foreward, she threw a soccor kick into their wounds. Sanguine liquid coated her hiking shoes. When the last mimics pounced forward to grab Coco, she spun about in perfect motion and caught them both with kicks. The first one, she struck down with a roundhouse. The second, with a mule kick and an axe kick to crush it's skull in. The rush of battle kept her irises thin and needled. In her stupor, she pressed her tongue against her teeth and blew air to the corpses. "Is that all...? Aren't there more of you...?" She panicked, checking for vitals in nearby corpses. She nearly stabbed something when Coco tackled her to the ground and kissed her. The shock, of all the feelings coursing through her, dissipated in one, sultry lick. She licked her lips and then Coco's. It brought her back. And Coco had red all over. In her hooves. In her hair. But, mostly, amassing over her cheeks, then her nose bridge. "I love you t-too... I-I can't really see. And I-I'm- it hurts to talk. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter... i-if I m-miss her. You were h-he-here. Take me home, Julienne- t-take me...." Coco collapsed. Every step Julienne took would thaw her out. And yet, she hung her head and grit her teeth. Coco Pommel, her bolt of lightning, was starting to grow motionless. Her once-frantic iambic pentameter was not waxing, but withering away. She did her best to not cry. And even though she did, sometimes, loss was inevitable. Sometimes, feelings were inevitable. Julienne had fallen to her knees. So she sang her a lullaby. She sang her a lullaby till she was nothing but a corpse. It was the only lullaby she knew in her lifetime. It was about Coco's mother. Their mother. Julienne held her sister till they'd wake up in her hospital bed. Till her murderer finally saw the truth. Author's Note https://youtu.be/x37JENBiDcY Because I Love You.A soft, monotone beeping greeted Coco's ears. And she woke right there, atop her medical bed... wrapped in bandages and glazed in medical gels. A hot, prickling sensation stung her body all over. She wished to scream. To kick something. To fall asleep. Anything. Her eyes went desultory and dotted the room with panic. There was fog outside. It'd stained the window with humidity and streaks of flash rainfall. Next to her bed was a vase of flowers. They were all unreasonably healthy, yet the vase was glass and full with water. Someone... had to refill those flowers for her. Someone who cared. Just before closing her eyes, she caught a shape by the exit. A gentle, canary yellow coat met her gaze. Her mother had dropped her bags and let the groceries shatter. The tears in her eyes, suspended curiously just about her lashes, spilled down in rivers. "Coco..." She sobbed. "Coco, oh-! you're- you're finally awake...!" She could barely cry with mother's embrace. But she did. Sometimes, loss was inevitable. Sometimes, feelings were inevitable. A surge of bitterness struck her core. And though she missed the kiss of coat on coat, her hugs were glass. Her tears were poison. So she struggled to shove her away, grunting and straining with fight. "C-coco, it's okay- I-it's me, mother-!" "Exactly... it's you..." She stumbled backwards and fell against the guest chairs. Mother had her rump against the wall. Coco Pommel bore flames in her eyes. The memory of her, of mother, combusted her chest. It filled with acid and trembled her hooves with wordless tension. She grit her teeth and shut her eyes. "Why is it you. Why the fuck are you here...?!" Somewhere deep inside, her mother's heart stopped. She scrunched her eyelids and bit her lip to stabilize her sniffling. The image of her child, all grown up, seething with red, layered in bandage after bandage, was all she needed to understand them. She understood. "Coco... I-I know I'm not- n-not wh-who you want to see-" Coco opened her mouth to interject. But, seeing her, actually seeing that look in her eyes, she could barely stomach her own hate. Swollen and red, the whites of her eyes were bleeding. Coco Pommel could kill her. She could spring out of bed and tear her throat out, she reasoned. Coco was capable... Coco wasn't some helpless little flower. No, not anymore. "So what. So what you're here now, mom. You were never here when dad took me to the basement and fucked me over the steps. You weren't here when he locked me away-! Why are you here now, then!? Why are you even here?!" Her mother shambled forward, barely capable. She grew limp with every step. Face-to-face with the truth, she could only stare. Mother's mascara snaked down and painted her cheeks, just like they always had. In the hooves of someone close, her cheeks were taken forward for examination. Coco's mother had studied her supple curves and sharp snout, to relive the parenthood she never had. That was when she broke down and shut her eyes. A god to her child, she'd been nothing but her nightmare. Her speech started steady. And as time passed, it broke to sobbing. "That's why... B-b-be-cause I should've been h-here. I should've been here for you. I'm sorry- I-I'm so fucking ho-horrible, Coco but I-I don't c-care ab-bo-bout the past...! I'm here now! I'm sorry...!" Her voice begane to wane. Coco's chest compressed tighter. "Coco... Oh Luna, Coco I- I've been sitting here everyday... everyday, praying to the sisters. just to have you back. Just to see your eyes open. I-I lost your sister already- I can't- I can't lose you, too!" 'I-I lost your sister already-' 'lost your sister' Her mind came crashing down as her synapses ran cold. For a brief moment in time, she lost herself. Repressed memories were swarming her every sense. Her mind was merciful before. It'd lock her childhood away just so she could live with herself. An angry Glace swatted her backward with a baseball bat, telling her to go, because she wanted nothing to do with her. To creep over low to the ground, she slipped low and begged Glace to help her. To accept the fact that she, in some sick way, harboured feelings for her. 'No! What the fuck is wrong with you! We're sisters! And I don't even like you that way! I never did-!' Sister raised her bat and smashed the frame of their bunkbed. The impact had shattered the ladder portion, stranding the top bunk exclusively for itself. Glace à la Vanille had started yelling. She'd started barking at her like the savage dog called Father. All her teeth grew jagged. Sister looked like a monster. "Why...?! Why don't you love me...! I need you! You were the only one I-! Ever trusted!" Barely able to walk, her anxiety crippled her. Coco was buckling and shivering in a storm of malice and unrequited hurt. And though she'd turned her back on Glace, her sister had finally realized what was wrong. Coco had never seen her face before, but she knew, thinking back, her eyes were full of tears. The emotionless tone to her reply wasn't a lack of emotion. Glace had withdrawn herself from the situation because she couldn't face the atrocities she let happen. Coco had curled within herself. And then, in violent tension, she coiled her hindlegs. "Je reviens vite... J'taime C-Coco." Glace had said, barely above a whisper. And that's when, in a fit of rage, she bucked what she thought would be the door. Instead, it was Glace's muzzle. In her excessive and reckless anger, she'd pushed her cartilage up her nasal cavity and punctured her brain. The first thing she did was fall down and hold her. "Glace... Glace I-I didn't-! I didn't know-!" A wash of tears blinded her. All she could feel was hatred wrapping her heart. All she ever felt till then... was hatred. Coco Pommel could never hold her ears for long. And though she'd practiced choking her sobs back, though she'd muffled her hooves to avoid Father time and time again, she was the one abusing. She was the villain of her piece. The last thing Glace ever said, reaching up and stroking her cheeks for the first and last time she ever would, were the words: "I love you... I want to be somewhere else. S-so we c-could start all over again..." "Glace- Glace- please don't- don't die- don't-! die-!" "Coco... Please. Stop- s-stop crying." "I-I killed you- I k-killed you- wh-why should I stop hating myself...?!" Coco leapt out of her bed and ran. She ripped her I.V out and galloped away with tearing flesh and charred, ripping fur. The walls of the hospital were ruined with water damage and time. There were nurses and doctors running amok trying to catch her, to at least save one patient that needed it. But all she did was rush through them. Nopony else could control her anymore. Coco was no one's toy. And even though Coco was barely out the hospital... her legs gave way and she collapsed outside on dead, withered soil. A mangled entrance sign caught her eye, revealing where exactly she'd been resting. The fog was thick. And the sign, brightened not by a street lamp, but candles and flowers, said 'welcome to Ponyville.' Coco Pommel curled within herself and tried not to feel. The last words she'd remember were Glace's goodbye. "Because I love you." Forget MeAuthor's Note for the end Forget Me Coco Pommel bolted upwards, basking for air. A world of pain socked her lungs dry. She did her best impression of a fish to take it all in, to simply not die. And as she stabilized, her vision started to clear. Coco Pommel had rubbed her eyes to remove excess mucus traces. "I missed you." Everything ceased. Even her ears halted, not daring to disturb that sacred voice. "Juli- G-glace...? Is that you?" "Yes it is, ma cherie... You know the truth now. And so here we are, step-sister to step-sister. Alone together." Julienne hushed, hunching over and pulling her up. The world felt right again. Yet, all was silent. Not a soul stirred. Only the ruins of Ponyville General Hospital accompanied their stay in Ponyville. The shrouding mist had hung lowly about their ankles. For once, she could comprehend the desolation. Amidst the ruins of burned, skeletal homes and half-destroyed town hall, she spotted the common homes. Countless, booby-trapped houses and derilect apartments met her gaze. Though the world was right again, it was twisted, utterly reborn. Ponyville, a place she used to have friends and family, was a patchwork shell of it's former self. The very backbone of Ponyville, the foundation of community, slept soundly beneath them. Coco eyed the old Hayburger and Quills and Sofas just north of the hospital. Fondly, she recalled Rarity and Applejack. They used to be there for her, cheering her on with her theater career. Had they survived, wouldn't they have cared for her. They'd have appreciated her without forcing it. She stared down and saw the bones of the earth, the many dead deep within. Applejack. Rarity. Her closest friends. Even if she'd never be with them, even if neither would love her, they'd actually stay. "... I should've stayed away from you, Glace. I didn't need love. I needed someone to treat me like an equine being. I didn't need love at all." Coco whispered, finally up and on all fours. "Even if you love me... what good does that do now. You're dead. And I'm a shell of what I used to be. I'm not pretty anymore and I have no one to take care of me. All I have is mom... and you. How do I feel about that?" Julienne had taken her knife out and tossed it over. Coco Pommel caught the handle between her teeth. That's when it all came back to her. Glace had taken part in some of the beatings. In some of the abuse, she was the director, her own slavemaster. Had she ever loved her in the first place, she wouldn't have left her to father so many times. Coco Pommel tossed the knife away and watched it rattle the Ponyville greeting sign. A sharp, metallic frequency pierced her ears and made a chip in the blade. "I know you love me now. But you helped Him... You hurt me, too. Why did you have to be yourself? Why couldn't you be the sister I wanted...?! Didn't you realize I needed someone?!" Her teeth were red from all the clamping, all the gritting that tore her gums. Coco's heart stopped. The only thing she felt, aside from all her hatred, all her anguish, were hands on her cheeks. Julienne embraced her one more time and locked lips. The iridescence of her, of all the promises she made, to the lie of her sweet lips, drew tears from her eyes. "Exactly, Coco. Why did I deserve to live if that was me...?" Julienne whispered, comforting her convulsing, sobbing sister. "It wasn't your fault. Someone had to take the blame... Why not me. Hate me. Remember I was never there for you. And use your understanding to keep you strong. You were never weak, ma cherie. You were just neglected. Everyone needs to be taken care of... even mares like you: too beautiful for this world." Julienne slipped away and kissed her goodbye. "Julienne...!" Coco cried, trembling and reaching toward her. "Mais non, ma cherie... You're alive. I'm gone. Mother isn't the monster you make her out to be. She'll take care of you. You need to live your life and find someone who loves you like you deserve." Her loving sister kissed her hoof and closed her eyes. She smiled there, freezing in ice, stabbing her only lover where it hurt, the fragile heart. A heart made of glass, it could never be her's. Not now. Not ever. She wobbled in her smile, to kiss her soul goodbye and shower her with roses. "Forget me." Julienne was encased in ice, forever gone. The ice formed faults. And right before Coco could hold her, she shattered to pieces. When Coco woke up... she'd find a sliver of glass neighboring her flank. She gripped her peace in wobbling hooves. Her forelegs sprang backward to pierce her throat. And she fought herself to sink it in. Over and over, she struck the area around her throat. But something inside her remembered Julienne. And she sunk down crying, not a scratch on her.
C'est La Vie.'Je reviens vite. J'taime, Coco.' Those were sister's last words to Coco Pommel. A misshapen agony had clogged her heart. And she didn't know what was uglier, the dress on that mare outside the coffee shop window or her baggy, restless eyes. Her sister should've been there, sitting beside her. Long-gone were her easy mornings chatting away and snacking on toast with jam. The simplest thing she missed, in retrospect, was all the cursing her sister did. Glace à la Vanille was never a timid pony, no. Sister was a boisterous and haughty one... During their hay school days, they were inseparable. She squished her cheeks and leaned her head down. They were quite the pair, her and her. Lonely, she could only stare into the street; lost in her home metropolis, Manehatten. Manehatten never slept, ponies often said, even the locals. But this time, their fair city was stricken with gloom. A rolling mist had blanketed the streets. It didn't stop businessponies and travlleing toursits from traversing the abandoned streets, but all the carriages were closed. Everypony nowadays, at least the ones she could see, were always sullen and lackidasical. "I want to..." Coco Pommel murmured. "I want to be somewhere else..." Coco Pommel muffled her lips by pressing her hooves over them. 'Isn't that what you said, Vanille. Was it me...? Did I make you leave?' A jagged tension stabbed her vitreous body. The very back of her eyes were pounding with hurt. Coco desparately rushed away to make it home. All the noise had drowned out beside her sobbing. And though she wanted to run, to gallop forever and escape the emptiness, it took root inside her, eviscerating her aorta and ventricles. Coco Pommel skidded her hooves to a stop. Her back pressed against the nearest building and she hyperventilated to offset the anxiety. Despite separating herself from Café Vanille, the image of her sister branded within. Little gremlins and fairies stalked her at every corner, masquerading in happy memories of Her, the one and only childhood friend she ever had. The one and only mare she ever kissed. The filly covered her ears in sheer distress as the barks of wardogs named Mother and Father bore holes into her temples. And she shrieked when they took her away to whip her with the electrical cord. The beast Father hogtied Coco. He tossed her into the basement just like always. The obscura swallowing her whole set her legs to motion. She ran and ran like she did all those years ago, dodging pots of scalding tea water, slipping phantoms in the alleyways. "Go away...! Leave me alone! Don't touch me...!" The monster that pretended to be her father was in the sky. He was high as a skyscraper and hammering the concrete with his hooves. He shook the earth just for her, just as her bed creaked every other night. Coco shut her eyes and jerked her head left to right. He was gaining on her. He'd cover her mouth like always. She swore it. "No...! Stay away! Stay awaaaaay!" Coco took to cowering. She curled within herself and squished her rump to the wall of an alley. She never forgot her lessons. Coco never took her rituals for granted. Her rear was pressed firmly where no one could have it. No one would hurt her inside... For once in twenty three years, she finally felt peace again... surrounded by fog. Pommel did her best to muffle her lips and breathe, sheltered by alleyway umbra. She wound up a block past her apartment. A thin shadow obscured her presence, an overcast from the apartment to her left. Red bricks and art murals dwarfed her unimposing figure. There were two stallions trotting by, one in a suit of fine Corgi Amoney design and his companion, clothed in Eyerainian robes that were atypical of most Manehattens. They were harmonious, synchronized every step of the way. They chattered casually between bites of Garlic and Salmon Chaaaaaps. Chaps was a brand of organic, low-grease and low chemical preservative potato chips. With one petite chirp, she slinked backwards till all the shadow enveloped her. Coco would only match half of their standing height. And that was standing. Crouched, her stature was a whopping two and a half feet tall. "I tell you, Furnando... Why do people always assume I'm a bad guy? Do they not like my robes? Anyway... did you hear about that business back in Ponyville. They had a pandemic or some shit like that. I mean, of all the places to be quarantined, am I right?" The saddle arabian gentlecolt earned a nod from his friend. And they shared words back and forth till the distance drowned them out. Coco could only relax and enjoy their togetherness, their comfy atmosphere. "No idea. You know Happy, I have no idea. Ponyville never gets in trouble. I wonder why, too. Weren't the elements of harmony supposed to be there?" "You see, Furnando this is what I'm talking about. Crazy shit happening everywhere. It gives me tingles. Where is Celestia? Where is Luna? Somepony says 'changelings', do you think so?" "Nmm... No, not really. I thought changlings needed love to survive. Where would they get that..?" No. That was... impossible. Not Rarity. Not her too. Coco shambled away without an ounce of fortitude. She was, for the lack of any articulate term, crushed by all she'd endured. The sky would either away into some drab compendium of patchwork wool scraps. And then it'd become a shroud of ominous abyss. Coco Pommel reached her apartment, having trotted the whole way there. Her deflated and torn leg muscles hung precariously about her bones. Gravity was her worst assailant, her worst adversary. If she hadn't galloped and jerked her body around like a crazed Deth addict, she'd have come home unscathed. The sudden weight of all her punishment dragged her down and onto her couch... Coco Pommel had closed their eyes for mere seconds; then, her door knob clicked out of place and exposed her sanctuary. Coco Pommel grappled with fatigue. Somepony was in her apartment room and her body was anchored down. A wash of nightmarish half-futures and sadistic horrors flooded her eyelids. She barely managed to tip herself toward the edge of her loveseat. Coco shut her eyes and tumbled down, sliding off and onto her side. She winced at the sharp rib pain, but bolted forward and into the kitchen. A living... shadow person greeted her there. In their hand, which was so tenebrous and alien even glancing terrified her, was a long, cutting chef knife. Submerged in blood, the wicked steel urged her closer. Coco had backpeddled till her rump struck the wall. She crouched and wobbled. A sickness tore her gut apart. Anxiety clenched her chest and she couldn't take her eyes off of it but that thing would show its teeth, it's jagged, predatory teeth. The lanky, wide-hipped monster crept forward. The room... was arid. The dead dryness gave way to bone-chilling cold that layered her home in frost. Even her own coat felt off. Frigid icicles clung to her fur as newborn children never wanted. They screamed in need as she swept them away, somehow able to maneuver her rigid forelegs. "Wh-who... are you...? Why won't you let me go?" It glided forward, fondling her cheeks. The monster closed her eyelids with its thumbs. "Mais non, who I am is not important. But you can call me Juilenne, ma cherie... Soon, the ice will take your apartment. And then I can thaw you. For now... rest. I will hold you close. You are mine, after all." "N-no..." Coco jittered, chattering her teeth away. "I-I'm not y-yours... I-I'm G-Glac-ce's" All she did was grin. "We've met before, you and I; in a dream we lived together." And that very same grin marked when Coco Pommel passed consciousness.
Un Coup de FoudreWas it Tartarus she woke in. At first, only her eyes worked. Then, her frost-nipped ears, then the warmth reddening her cheeks. Everything was dark. All she saw were wide light cones slipping away from a door crevice. The room was cold and cruel, coating her in painful, crackling frost. Coco Pommel tossed and turned till her frigid body grew fluid. It kicked previously unnoticed blankets off of her frozen body. Before, she'd been struggling to stay conscious. Now, she couldn't rest. Not her mind. And not her eyes. It felt as though her lashes were forced open. Blinking, even the mere prospect of closing her eyes, was merely death, a great sleep which none could ever return. A maddening fairness slayed all the feeling within her. Not sorrow, nor temperature could sway her body to feel. Coco Pommel pushed forward and rushed onto her hooves. She broke the only thing in her way, a door too frozen to simply open. Crashing, splintering wood fell around her as she landed with a thud. All the ice dangling off of her coat came undone and shattered. The pain, the brief reminder of reality, urged her on. 'I am alive. My pain is proof I'm not insane.' Crawling forward led her toward the light. The living room lights were switched on hours before. Coco knew because she groped the nearest lamp, popped the lampshade off and held it against herself. Splendid heat thawed her chest out and burned against her. The ice became vaporous about her heart region and coated the bulb in condensation. Coco could only sigh in relief. She could only assume it was over. However, as the bulb flickered, she could hear barking from outside her apartment. A knot had incubated within her stomach. And every second she sat alone, nervous and shaking, she could feel it kicking. The knot toyed with her. It was telling her to move, lest it burrow out her gut to liberate itself. She trotted over to the balcony. And there, she saw them: vicious, meandering canine beasts. Their nature was grotesque and primal. They were thin, streamlined hounds made from flesh and intertwining equine body parts. Their legs were equine, pony even, but over their hooves were sharp, hooking components that slid down and locked into place when needed. When not, the hooking devices were pushed aside and rotated into a half-cocked resting position. Only to the opposite natural direction of each foreleg did the unlocking mechanism work. She knew because Coco Pommel saw them using it on each other. A dog beast was mating with another, and they crashed wildly against each other. The violence of their copulation made her legs buckle. To see them bumping and grinding with cursing hisses and thundering claps, was to shake her heart. It shook her through and through to relive her childhood in such disgusting voyeurism. Coco Pommel stumbled backwards, overwhelmed with wooziness. She fell limply and broke her coffee table with the sheer weight of her barely-warm body. It felt painless. But all her pain was bubbling internally. It had never gone. And that pain, streaming over her cheeks, was the very same force compelling her to move. It ached her newly capable forelegs and tore them apart when she lifted herself off the ground. Then and there, she knew what to do. Soon, that living shadow thing would come back for her. And who knew what Julienne would do. Who knew what twisted fantasies her captor might manifest. Coco surged forward and broke her apartment door apart. If she could truly stretch and articulate her forelegs, she would've bucked it open. But all she could afford was battering them down with her skull. Equine skulls, especially earth pony skulls, were lined with thick layers of marginal calcium. Trickling blood stained her muzzle. It slid down and painted her coat with memories of sports club and Glace's football games. A great silence sewed her lips shut as she peaked out the exit. The lights outside were prone to flickering. Most were dead. As far as the eye could see, a sea of black claimed the building. Narrow corridors and many, jam-packed doors stung her mind with horror. There was no time to panic... but Coco could easily be herded into a corner and turn helpless. The very thought propelled her forward and faster than she'd ever thought possible. Her barely audible hoofsteps managed to birth creaks from the floorboards. Creaks and moans would litter her heavier steps, with the lightest never even heard. Hot, pulsing pain stabbed her flank regions. By the time she descended the third stairway down, Coco was gasping for breath. The air quality was poorer, more condensed. The chilling temperature forced her lungs to work twofold. Outside, the darkness had no rule. The other world, apart from the abyss of her old home, was gloomy and well-lit. The night grew slowly and aged finer by the minute. She could already tell, choosing to glance up and gaze there, that night would fall quietly. Even the fog felt more subdued. It was thicker than usual, yet, easier to face. Coco had studied Manehatten from above and knew exactly where to go. Keeping her sense of direction would be jarring, if not totally hopeless. That was the price of freedom... running till what lay behind her started to vanish. She struck the concrete with her forehooves and readied a crouch. "... Coco, my love... Why do you run away?" Juilenne whispered, walking forward from the mist in front of her. "I... I don't want to be here. You don't even know me- s-so why are you calling me that?!" Julienne shook her head and rubbed her own lips with the palm of her free hand. Her knife hand, which was her left, had it's trademark rust and bloodstains. Only, the newest layer was fresh, almost sickening as the iron and hemoglobin took root in Coco's tongue. She wobbled in-place and shifted her eyes for an escape route. And though the shadow thing wasn't hostile... being around her hurt her chest. That old sting, in all it's sophistication, was having her heart bathed in acid. "Of course I do... I care about you. Why else would I have covered you in blankets and cleared the building of monsters. Would someone who wanted to hurt you do that...?" "Y-you... locked the door to my bedroom. You were going to leave me there... and then- you could've come back and... forced me. You were going to force me, weren't you!" A wide tremble had shaken her ventricles. Coco was barely staying conscious. All because of her, all because of Julienne and her deathly presence. Even the air grew harsher as every breath stabbed her lungs apart. And though she would not see her, because her vision was greying, Juilenne caught her from tumbling forward... "Why... Why are you holding me..." Coco wavered. "Because I love you... I'll take you there, where She is. And then... you and Glace can talk for yourselves." Her lids grew shut and stuck together. "I... don't understand you." "What is there to not understand? You were stricken by lightning when you fell in love. And so was I. Isn't it obvious, you child. You're all I have left. I won't let them hurt you anymore. I promise...." The world became black. All she articulated was bandages and ointment being applied to her head and the many ways it'd split open from her own, reckless escape.
LullabyJulienne settled her into a windowseat. The silhouette thing was still as opaque as ever. Coco Pommel had learned how to read certain people, just to survive. But people like Juilenne, something internal and locked within itself, had always puzzled her. Beside her bed was her precarious companion, sharpening her knife on a whetstone. The stone itself seemed fairly pristine. Strange because it was a common Ponyville piece. And from what she could tell, they were on a train to Ponyville from Manehatten, not the other way around. Supple rattling struck her ears every now and then. The noise of the tracks was a background static. Her priority went to watching Julienne. Coco didn't see the conductor or the trip to the station; she was unconscious by then. For all she knew, it was Julienne's ruse to gain her trust. When all her defenses fell, Juilenne would strike. Something foul struck the shallows of her mind. She wanted to cease her paranoia. But nothing, not even conversation, felt very organic to her Unspoken quandries stormed her in swirling cacophony. It might've seemed wrong to deny her, to Juilenne, trust and ease. Coco Pommel shifted onto her side, veiling herself entirely between the legs. She stared outside, bogged down by half-corrupted clarity from the mist. Though she never looked back... her mind was always on Julienne. "I don't trust you... true. But I don't trust anyone I don't know personally. We just met, right? Why would I be comfortable with you right away?" "That doesn't matter. I don't need you to be comfortable with me. I need you to understand that I love you. So I won't hurt you. And I won't take advantage of you. That's all you need to know." Julienne hushed, hunching forward to lean her chin on her knuckles. They stayed sullen and noiseless, unaware of the rain that'd settled in. Coco Pommel hadn't noticed it before, but the ice, from all the frost, to the fog in her breath, was gone. Her new discovery widened her eyes. The coal locomotion whistled and shrieked in ominous warning. Their vessel, surely and patiently, would come to a stop. It's aged engine and worked whistle had lost their edge. The pull of it drew a waning cry. And that signalled their leave. A curious drizzle struck her muzzle and forced Coco to absorb her surroundings. A ghostly breeze swept some nearby leaves apart, the remainder of the stricken falling just around her. She glanced back to see Julienne... idle at the benches. Their queer seating position, which was crossing the legs and hands, made her wince. Another pain cluster choked her heart away. "You... you're not coming with? Why...?" Julienne could only rest her eyes and hurt. "Non. I would only get in the way. If I handle the monsters again, you might freeze to death. Manehatten was mostly empty, no? Ponyville, mais non. Everyone is there. Huddled in their homes with boards and booby traps. You have to do this alone." She bit her lip and shoved her tears back. "But... I-I can't fight. I can't do anything like that. What if they catch me? What if... I'm raped?" "Ma cherie... I will only hurt you. You've seen that. When I'm in danger, the ice comes. You might not be able to take me. But you can take my love. Keep it close. And when they hurt you, make it sing." Coco could barely stand. How could she fight. Someone who loved her wouldn't have sent her to do it alone, right. She didn't love Julienne. She didn't even want her around. Yet... everything felt colder. The world was cruel and fair; the sun would rise with or without them. Tomorrow would never sing for them. Instead, the birds would sing. And their sharp loon signals and mockingbird impressions would ring true despite the fog. Coco Pommel started to wobble. Even when Julienne handed her a weapon. "Ma cherie... why do you tremble so much. What's wrong?" She soothed, holding her cheeks and swelling them with warmth. For the first time in months, she really did feel safe. How could Coco have been so ignorant. The train ride. The apartment escape. Despite all their differences, something did blossom beneath her. It might've been less than love. But it was nowhere near disgust, or repulsion. It was inadequacy. Superficial tears had stricken her cheeks. They were all loose, porous and wild like crashing tides. If she could've spoken, she would've begged her to stay. Memories of Him had resurfaced with the dogs, and, in some way, the memory of him had taken her over. Coco's hooves were desparate to fly and all her anger had lied. Julienne closed her eyes. There was blood there, against her chest, but it was clear and fluid. Julienne didn't know why, but Coco was bleeding from her eyes. She wiped it away with her butcher's apron, which shown brightly in the daylight... even beneath the rain gloom. So to was her gilded mane visible. And her thin, peach-colored frame, which boasted thick hips and starved ribs. Julienne took her in to comfort her. They pressed together and let the stars bloom. "I-I c-ca-can't f-fight them-! I-I- D-don't l-l-leave me alone...! Do-o-on't..." "If I come with... which I will, how will you keep from freezing, ma cherie. How will I stop myself from losing you all over again?" Coco's muzzle pressed into her neck. They grazed flesh to flesh and coat to skin, never once devoid of sin. One fell to her knees and one rose to feel the ease, alone together in one moment of harmony caught by hooks and tennis rackets. They were on the same level, eye-level. And between them, the same look of exhaustion: a lowness of the eyes. Julienne had molten jade frozen within her; even the irises lacked shine, only milky in saturation and pigment. At once, there might've been a composite metropolis of sharp snowflakes within her pupils. But now, they were sunken ships and ruined lips, abused wonders taken for a ride and never loved. "I... I d-d-don't care. You're a-a-all I have... y-you're all I need. Please. Please- stay with me-" Coco sobbed, hacking wildly from wheezing breaths and scratchy inhales. They struck gold. It bled within them, to the pores of their cheeks, which they rubbed together, alone and one all at once, walking off to find their sun. Coco Pommel took lead. Julienne was just behind her, barely a step away from necessary maneuvering distance. All the while, she held her knife with an outstretched arm, her body sideways as it narrowed her. If any monster had met them, they'd strike her hips or shoulders first, rather than sternum and pelvis. Ponyville, old, silent Ponyville, was an expired place. All the buildings, once vibrant and happy, had fallen to vandalism and cluttered barricades. Every house, no matter how rich, how elaborate, was always locked and boarded. To Coco's horror, some were open... and burned to a crisp. They walked for hours. An endless path tricked Coco to wander in circles. The mist, to her absolute chagrin, would never let her leave. For the eighth time coming, she shuffled over to a radiant streetlight and plopped down, wearied and worn. There, the growls of a beast perked her up. Damn it. Her legs were already sore. And galloping more would tear them for sure. If only she hasn't been so reckless in the apartment. Julienne had cautioned her to stand back and find a makeshift weapon. Knives were only a last-resort for ponies. Blunt instruments were best. She instructed her to find a wooden object at best. And that's when Coco trotted away from the second growl. And then the third growl. And the fourth. And the fifth. "Oh, Luna... Oh Luna... they're all around us." Julienne took her in and whispered 'duck first and swerve around when you see them coming.' They crept along to corner them, to encircle their prey. Coco's strength had eluded her. A crashing hollowness filled her gut. And the faces of those creatures were her sister: Glace à la Vanille. Where their stomachs were, an erect limb portruded violently. It pulsed and drooled with harsh muscle. The thing between their legs was barely equine. It was painful. It was agony. Each one of them were scarred in some way... lips and jaws torn away, to missing eyes and throats flayed open by poor stitchwork. A majority of those devils were sliced right open down the middle, and their ribs were human fingers clutching away at whatever hung, even the worm clusters oozing out their wounds. They beckoned her defenses down. Sultry, yearning words slipped their tongues and each one drew closer. Julienne kept her knife up, trembling herself. Her love was manipulated. She could tell, even from a moment's glance, that they were breaching her mind for scraps of hope. An amalgamation of identical voices infected their eardrums. "Coco... I missed you so much." "Coco, where were you?" "J'taime, mon coupe de foudre..." "Ne jamais me quitter. J'taime trop..." Coco spouted her grief away and spat knives to the phantoms around her. And as she screamed, the world grew colder. Every word stabbed her chest and soon, a leak sprung forth to freeze her eyes open. She would never forget their bulging pupils and pale, sickly flesh, nor would she ever forget her sister... her real sister, and not the artifice she'd birthed to shove the pain away. "Vous n'êtes pas elle! Vous n'êtes pas mon rayon de soleil, vous êtes seulement la douleur!" At once, the illusion broke. And in her eyes, the image of her sister had barely survived. Instead, they were things with smooth faces, barely equine, more akin to blind denizens of unspoken cave systems. They lunged forward to take her, to target her. So she pounced away, left and right, her sister in her hooves; football practice had never mattered so much in her life, as ballerina, or track. All those skills, she remembered, had come from Glace. Glace was in her hooves, keeping her free from the mimic monsters. There were three taking lashes and lunges right for her. And then, in her weakened state, she grit her teeth and slammed her hindlegs forward. One of the canine beasts slumped forward and collapsed. Julienne leapt over it and straddled the back. She plunged her knife deep. A well-spaced cluster of overhead stabs managed to puncture the neck and scatter it's vertabrae. Red splendor caked her skin and she shivered, entranced in duty, entranced in her one and only purpose: to hurt. She dashed forward, toward Coco. One of the mimics had lurched forward to catch Coco unaware. It slammed forward and into her chef's knife. She scowled softly and kicked it forward, only to slash it's throat mid-collapse. Four more had joined the encounter. She only frowned and dealt with them accordingly. Two had leapt opposites of either side. Julienne did nothing more but move backwards and slash downward to flay their necks open. And when they insisted on charging foreward, she threw a soccor kick into their wounds. Sanguine liquid coated her hiking shoes. When the last mimics pounced forward to grab Coco, she spun about in perfect motion and caught them both with kicks. The first one, she struck down with a roundhouse. The second, with a mule kick and an axe kick to crush it's skull in. The rush of battle kept her irises thin and needled. In her stupor, she pressed her tongue against her teeth and blew air to the corpses. "Is that all...? Aren't there more of you...?" She panicked, checking for vitals in nearby corpses. She nearly stabbed something when Coco tackled her to the ground and kissed her. The shock, of all the feelings coursing through her, dissipated in one, sultry lick. She licked her lips and then Coco's. It brought her back. And Coco had red all over. In her hooves. In her hair. But, mostly, amassing over her cheeks, then her nose bridge. "I love you t-too... I-I can't really see. And I-I'm- it hurts to talk. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter... i-if I m-miss her. You were h-he-here. Take me home, Julienne- t-take me...." Coco collapsed. Every step Julienne took would thaw her out. And yet, she hung her head and grit her teeth. Coco Pommel, her bolt of lightning, was starting to grow motionless. Her once-frantic iambic pentameter was not waxing, but withering away. She did her best to not cry. And even though she did, sometimes, loss was inevitable. Sometimes, feelings were inevitable. Julienne had fallen to her knees. So she sang her a lullaby. She sang her a lullaby till she was nothing but a corpse. It was the only lullaby she knew in her lifetime. It was about Coco's mother. Their mother. Julienne held her sister till they'd wake up in her hospital bed. Till her murderer finally saw the truth. Author's Note https://youtu.be/x37JENBiDcY
Because I Love You.A soft, monotone beeping greeted Coco's ears. And she woke right there, atop her medical bed... wrapped in bandages and glazed in medical gels. A hot, prickling sensation stung her body all over. She wished to scream. To kick something. To fall asleep. Anything. Her eyes went desultory and dotted the room with panic. There was fog outside. It'd stained the window with humidity and streaks of flash rainfall. Next to her bed was a vase of flowers. They were all unreasonably healthy, yet the vase was glass and full with water. Someone... had to refill those flowers for her. Someone who cared. Just before closing her eyes, she caught a shape by the exit. A gentle, canary yellow coat met her gaze. Her mother had dropped her bags and let the groceries shatter. The tears in her eyes, suspended curiously just about her lashes, spilled down in rivers. "Coco..." She sobbed. "Coco, oh-! you're- you're finally awake...!" She could barely cry with mother's embrace. But she did. Sometimes, loss was inevitable. Sometimes, feelings were inevitable. A surge of bitterness struck her core. And though she missed the kiss of coat on coat, her hugs were glass. Her tears were poison. So she struggled to shove her away, grunting and straining with fight. "C-coco, it's okay- I-it's me, mother-!" "Exactly... it's you..." She stumbled backwards and fell against the guest chairs. Mother had her rump against the wall. Coco Pommel bore flames in her eyes. The memory of her, of mother, combusted her chest. It filled with acid and trembled her hooves with wordless tension. She grit her teeth and shut her eyes. "Why is it you. Why the fuck are you here...?!" Somewhere deep inside, her mother's heart stopped. She scrunched her eyelids and bit her lip to stabilize her sniffling. The image of her child, all grown up, seething with red, layered in bandage after bandage, was all she needed to understand them. She understood. "Coco... I-I know I'm not- n-not wh-who you want to see-" Coco opened her mouth to interject. But, seeing her, actually seeing that look in her eyes, she could barely stomach her own hate. Swollen and red, the whites of her eyes were bleeding. Coco Pommel could kill her. She could spring out of bed and tear her throat out, she reasoned. Coco was capable... Coco wasn't some helpless little flower. No, not anymore. "So what. So what you're here now, mom. You were never here when dad took me to the basement and fucked me over the steps. You weren't here when he locked me away-! Why are you here now, then!? Why are you even here?!" Her mother shambled forward, barely capable. She grew limp with every step. Face-to-face with the truth, she could only stare. Mother's mascara snaked down and painted her cheeks, just like they always had. In the hooves of someone close, her cheeks were taken forward for examination. Coco's mother had studied her supple curves and sharp snout, to relive the parenthood she never had. That was when she broke down and shut her eyes. A god to her child, she'd been nothing but her nightmare. Her speech started steady. And as time passed, it broke to sobbing. "That's why... B-b-be-cause I should've been h-here. I should've been here for you. I'm sorry- I-I'm so fucking ho-horrible, Coco but I-I don't c-care ab-bo-bout the past...! I'm here now! I'm sorry...!" Her voice begane to wane. Coco's chest compressed tighter. "Coco... Oh Luna, Coco I- I've been sitting here everyday... everyday, praying to the sisters. just to have you back. Just to see your eyes open. I-I lost your sister already- I can't- I can't lose you, too!" 'I-I lost your sister already-' 'lost your sister' Her mind came crashing down as her synapses ran cold. For a brief moment in time, she lost herself. Repressed memories were swarming her every sense. Her mind was merciful before. It'd lock her childhood away just so she could live with herself. An angry Glace swatted her backward with a baseball bat, telling her to go, because she wanted nothing to do with her. To creep over low to the ground, she slipped low and begged Glace to help her. To accept the fact that she, in some sick way, harboured feelings for her. 'No! What the fuck is wrong with you! We're sisters! And I don't even like you that way! I never did-!' Sister raised her bat and smashed the frame of their bunkbed. The impact had shattered the ladder portion, stranding the top bunk exclusively for itself. Glace à la Vanille had started yelling. She'd started barking at her like the savage dog called Father. All her teeth grew jagged. Sister looked like a monster. "Why...?! Why don't you love me...! I need you! You were the only one I-! Ever trusted!" Barely able to walk, her anxiety crippled her. Coco was buckling and shivering in a storm of malice and unrequited hurt. And though she'd turned her back on Glace, her sister had finally realized what was wrong. Coco had never seen her face before, but she knew, thinking back, her eyes were full of tears. The emotionless tone to her reply wasn't a lack of emotion. Glace had withdrawn herself from the situation because she couldn't face the atrocities she let happen. Coco had curled within herself. And then, in violent tension, she coiled her hindlegs. "Je reviens vite... J'taime C-Coco." Glace had said, barely above a whisper. And that's when, in a fit of rage, she bucked what she thought would be the door. Instead, it was Glace's muzzle. In her excessive and reckless anger, she'd pushed her cartilage up her nasal cavity and punctured her brain. The first thing she did was fall down and hold her. "Glace... Glace I-I didn't-! I didn't know-!" A wash of tears blinded her. All she could feel was hatred wrapping her heart. All she ever felt till then... was hatred. Coco Pommel could never hold her ears for long. And though she'd practiced choking her sobs back, though she'd muffled her hooves to avoid Father time and time again, she was the one abusing. She was the villain of her piece. The last thing Glace ever said, reaching up and stroking her cheeks for the first and last time she ever would, were the words: "I love you... I want to be somewhere else. S-so we c-could start all over again..." "Glace- Glace- please don't- don't die- don't-! die-!" "Coco... Please. Stop- s-stop crying." "I-I killed you- I k-killed you- wh-why should I stop hating myself...?!" Coco leapt out of her bed and ran. She ripped her I.V out and galloped away with tearing flesh and charred, ripping fur. The walls of the hospital were ruined with water damage and time. There were nurses and doctors running amok trying to catch her, to at least save one patient that needed it. But all she did was rush through them. Nopony else could control her anymore. Coco was no one's toy. And even though Coco was barely out the hospital... her legs gave way and she collapsed outside on dead, withered soil. A mangled entrance sign caught her eye, revealing where exactly she'd been resting. The fog was thick. And the sign, brightened not by a street lamp, but candles and flowers, said 'welcome to Ponyville.' Coco Pommel curled within herself and tried not to feel. The last words she'd remember were Glace's goodbye. "Because I love you."
Forget MeAuthor's Note for the end Forget Me Coco Pommel bolted upwards, basking for air. A world of pain socked her lungs dry. She did her best impression of a fish to take it all in, to simply not die. And as she stabilized, her vision started to clear. Coco Pommel had rubbed her eyes to remove excess mucus traces. "I missed you." Everything ceased. Even her ears halted, not daring to disturb that sacred voice. "Juli- G-glace...? Is that you?" "Yes it is, ma cherie... You know the truth now. And so here we are, step-sister to step-sister. Alone together." Julienne hushed, hunching over and pulling her up. The world felt right again. Yet, all was silent. Not a soul stirred. Only the ruins of Ponyville General Hospital accompanied their stay in Ponyville. The shrouding mist had hung lowly about their ankles. For once, she could comprehend the desolation. Amidst the ruins of burned, skeletal homes and half-destroyed town hall, she spotted the common homes. Countless, booby-trapped houses and derilect apartments met her gaze. Though the world was right again, it was twisted, utterly reborn. Ponyville, a place she used to have friends and family, was a patchwork shell of it's former self. The very backbone of Ponyville, the foundation of community, slept soundly beneath them. Coco eyed the old Hayburger and Quills and Sofas just north of the hospital. Fondly, she recalled Rarity and Applejack. They used to be there for her, cheering her on with her theater career. Had they survived, wouldn't they have cared for her. They'd have appreciated her without forcing it. She stared down and saw the bones of the earth, the many dead deep within. Applejack. Rarity. Her closest friends. Even if she'd never be with them, even if neither would love her, they'd actually stay. "... I should've stayed away from you, Glace. I didn't need love. I needed someone to treat me like an equine being. I didn't need love at all." Coco whispered, finally up and on all fours. "Even if you love me... what good does that do now. You're dead. And I'm a shell of what I used to be. I'm not pretty anymore and I have no one to take care of me. All I have is mom... and you. How do I feel about that?" Julienne had taken her knife out and tossed it over. Coco Pommel caught the handle between her teeth. That's when it all came back to her. Glace had taken part in some of the beatings. In some of the abuse, she was the director, her own slavemaster. Had she ever loved her in the first place, she wouldn't have left her to father so many times. Coco Pommel tossed the knife away and watched it rattle the Ponyville greeting sign. A sharp, metallic frequency pierced her ears and made a chip in the blade. "I know you love me now. But you helped Him... You hurt me, too. Why did you have to be yourself? Why couldn't you be the sister I wanted...?! Didn't you realize I needed someone?!" Her teeth were red from all the clamping, all the gritting that tore her gums. Coco's heart stopped. The only thing she felt, aside from all her hatred, all her anguish, were hands on her cheeks. Julienne embraced her one more time and locked lips. The iridescence of her, of all the promises she made, to the lie of her sweet lips, drew tears from her eyes. "Exactly, Coco. Why did I deserve to live if that was me...?" Julienne whispered, comforting her convulsing, sobbing sister. "It wasn't your fault. Someone had to take the blame... Why not me. Hate me. Remember I was never there for you. And use your understanding to keep you strong. You were never weak, ma cherie. You were just neglected. Everyone needs to be taken care of... even mares like you: too beautiful for this world." Julienne slipped away and kissed her goodbye. "Julienne...!" Coco cried, trembling and reaching toward her. "Mais non, ma cherie... You're alive. I'm gone. Mother isn't the monster you make her out to be. She'll take care of you. You need to live your life and find someone who loves you like you deserve." Her loving sister kissed her hoof and closed her eyes. She smiled there, freezing in ice, stabbing her only lover where it hurt, the fragile heart. A heart made of glass, it could never be her's. Not now. Not ever. She wobbled in her smile, to kiss her soul goodbye and shower her with roses. "Forget me." Julienne was encased in ice, forever gone. The ice formed faults. And right before Coco could hold her, she shattered to pieces. When Coco woke up... she'd find a sliver of glass neighboring her flank. She gripped her peace in wobbling hooves. Her forelegs sprang backward to pierce her throat. And she fought herself to sink it in. Over and over, she struck the area around her throat. But something inside her remembered Julienne. And she sunk down crying, not a scratch on her.
