Chapters “Crazybloom, time to switch. It’s my shift now” Blood Seed said as she approached the filly that was beside a locked door. The door was bolted, chained, locked shut, even a spell was on it. There were struggles coming from inside. There were the sounds of one who wants to get out of the cell. They ignored everything as Blood Seed took watch and Crazybloom took a break.
Blood Seed didn’t look like herself that much. Her eyes were now permanently black on the iris with her pupil color bolder. She had a scar on her right foreleg, and her cutie mark was now a pair of red scissors dripping with blood.
Crazybloom was a lot more different. Her eyes were in the same state as Blood Seed’s. Her skin had turned a bit blackish. There was a scar that went over her eyelid. Her cutie mark was now an apple covered in blood on a blooming flower.
“Let me guess, more rage?” Nuttie Belle said sarcastically while reading a spell book. Her eyes were just like them; black irises and bolder green pupils, but she had scars that made it look like she was crying blood. Two other scars were on her mouth to make it look like a doll, and a slash cut on her chest. Her cutie mark was now a doll’s eye dripping with blood.
“Kind of, but at one point, I heard her stop a bit. She said something ‘siphon’ but I don’t know what” Crazybloom said as she lied down on the couch.
“Remind me again why do we have to keep her locked up in there?” Suicidaloo complained. Her eyes had the same effect: black irises and bolder pupil hue. Her coat color was now slightly bolder than her normal one. She had a scar on each of her hooves, and one on the right wing. Her cutie mark: a bleeding stitched-up heart.
“It’s for her own good! She’ll eventually get tired and call quits” Strike said while he was at his working desk. Eyes were also now black irises and emerald green pupils. His green scales were a bit bolder than normal. There was now also a broken neck chain on him. There were scars on his stomach, over his left eye, and one that went all the way up to his arm.
“But isn’t this just stressing her out more? I mean, she got upset when I confessed the truth because it’s mostly her natural instincts to go haywire. So, maybe it’s her instincts again to go Savage since we’re keeping her in a cell like an insane pony”
“Okay, first of all, we’re all insane in our own scales. Second, there’s no way for us to change the fact that your adopted elder sister, Rainbow Dash, killed her Mistress, Fluttershy”
“So it’s my fault that Brazy’s upset about Fluttershy to the point that she created that crazy blade meant to kill us?”
“Punish. She said that our punishment depends on what it tells her to” Nuttie Belle said before absorbing her spell book again. “I remember it all like it was yesterday”
________________________________________
Brazy walked along the streets as she searched for her next victim. She knew very well this was where they mostly walked whenever they go home from Training. She looked down to a small compass that she held in her paw. This compass looked very normal, but it had a red gemstone on the center. The arm meters on it were shaped like daggers. The North, South, West, and East directions on it looked like they were written from blood. The arm that was longer pointed North, meaning that her target was coming. Turning off her Apprentice form and going into her Normal form, she lied down on the ground and pretended to be unconscious.
A certain brown colt saw her on the ground and came running. “Oh my goodness!” he went over to the alien. “Was there an accident? Are you hurt? Are you in pain?”
Brazy opened one eye half-lidded. Her eyes saw past the disguise and she knew it was her next target. She replied in a weak voice, “I don’t feel anything”
“I have a blanket in my saddlebag. Try to not move. I’ll get help” the colt said before heading back to the saddlebag he dropped.
Brazy didn’t pay attention.
The colt reached into his bag for a sleeping drug as a grin spread across his face. But when he turned around, there Brazy was, standing up and in her Apprentice form. The colt was so frightened that he didn’t realize that she casted a spell that turned him into his own Apprentice form.
Brazy lifted up her compass, but it turned into a sword. It looked like it was made of bronze, but the gemstone was still there. The next thing was that the colt was turned into a cow. Brazy used her levitation to make the colt unable to move, and she whispered one thing into his ear, “Your Judgment’s been decided”
The next thing that happened was that she drove the sword right through his heart. He never felt so much pain his life. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as his soul was sucked into the gemstone. When the process was done, Brazy’s sword turned into a bowie knife, its standard form. She took the body and dragged it to her house. There, she emptied the body of its organs and used the rest of the body for a pelt.
“Sounds like somepony tried to sneak up on me” Brazy mused when she heard Nuttie Belle coming behind her.
The filly was shocked when she saw the pelt. She was even more shocked when she saw the weapon Brazy held. It’s the Agony Blade, a weapon meant to punish Murderers, Murderesses, and Apprentices. This was only used by Servants, and she never really thought but she saw a real one with her own eyes. She looked at Brazy’s eyes; they had black irises, a bolder hue of blue, but the alarming part was the blood marks on them that resembled tears. If an Apprentice, Murderer, or Murderess turns off their sanity, they always had those markings on their eyes.
“Ever wondered why I had kept bodies or remains of two fillies and one colt that were Earth Pony, Pegasus, and Unicorn? I picked a bowie knife just in case because of a really needed purpose. Yes, it’s tiny, but that was because it was merely normal before. You see, when one creates a spell on a weapon like this, it acts as a magical conduit”
“Bunny…” Nuttie Belle began to back up.
“Once stabbed through the heart when it’s in this Sword form” she demonstrated by turning it into a sword. “This transfers your spirit into this nasty stone. The weapon’s purpose is to punish Murderers, Murderesses, and Apprentices. Every little kill you’ve done makes this weapon decide your punishment and judgment”
“Bunny…” Nuttie began to fear for her life.
“When in Sword form, it means that your spirit will be transferred into this stone to make your own personal hell. Those who made this before me had a lot to do. Then again, if it’s for avenging Fluttershy’s death, what do I care anymore?”
“Bunny, no!” Nuttie Belle tried to protest but the alien was quick and pinned her to the wall.
“If it’s for your sister, will you see her?” Brazy smirked as she prepared to stab Nuttie in the heart, but she herself was injected by a sleeping serum by Strike. Brazy tried to stay awake, but the serum was too strong and made her sleep.
“Right on time?” Strike asked as he helped Nuttie back up.
“Thank you”
“No need to; we still have to find a way to make her feel again” Strike looked at Brazy.
“How did you…?”
“This is her basement, so it wasn’t hard to find the serum from her planet to make her sleep”
________________________________________
Right after they caught Brazy, they had to try and convince her to turn her sanity back on. When she woke up, she was tied to a chair, but they forgot that she could shrink so she got out easily. They tried a lot of things to restrain her enough to get her to calm down and talk, but nothing seemed to work. She would easily escape and take another filly or colt as a Victim.
Then came the time for which Apprentices had to make their own groups to work in. Strike had to take Brazy with them since, despite her rage, she was still their friend and only they knew about her. Brazy only seemed to laugh when they thought they could get her under control, as she seemed to go more animal than normal.
As soon as groups were formed, Nightmare made them go through the next stage of being an Apprentice: the ability to switch from Normal to Apprentice form at will. Eventually, all Apprentices decided to stay in their Apprentice form when inside their houses. Eventually, Nightmare moved it to the stage where they would be able to survive fatal blows, but get scars in the process. It was also around this time did the Crusaders start to gain their cutie marks in Apprentice form.
Blood Seed earned her mark when she had to attack in Training, and she used a pair of scissors because her opponent snatched her knife too far. She gained a scar on her right foreleg from Brazy when she got scratched during the time they tried to get her to take a sedative pill. She was mostly the brawn of the group since she did most of the fighting.
Crazybloom earned hers when she had to kill a demented version of Tender Taps in a hallucination. Though it left her traumatized, she got out of it when she realized he was fine, sane, and alive. The scar on her eyes was a swipe from Brazy’s ordinary switch blade. The reason why her skin was now a bit blackish was because when they tried a restraint on her with pain involving fire so that they could make her feel again; she made a major twist that got stuck ash permanently stuck on the filly. She devised the plans and went to find the sedatives that keep Brazy easy to talk to.
Nuttie Belle gained her mark when she disfigured a doll as though it were an alive pony. The scars on her face and chest were self-inflicted because she wanted to look more like a doll. She mostly now learned about more magic so she can cast spells to keep Brazy locked in a cell.
Suicidaloo got her mark in discectomy. Let’s just say they had to have atleast one in the group who could play doctor or nurse so that in case of injury, they have help right away. Nightmare needed one to make the injury, one to play the victim, and one to be the doctor. Nuttie Belle was the victim, Brazy had fun in being the one playing killer, and Suicidaloo had to save Nuttie Belle. As for the coat color and scars, both she and Brazy got into a fight that led to violence and blood. Suicidaloo began to regret their fight when she saw that though Brazy showed such anger and rage, it also showed deep pain.
Strike got the scars from a Training session meant for the ones who wish to be Alpha of the group. The neck chain was from an incident where Brazy decided to play torture chamber, medieval-style. The bolder-colored scales came as a result from dealing with both. He was now a somewhat leader to his group of fillies, dragon, and alien. But out of all the things he had put up with, it was the alien that was the main problem.
Brazy was downright insane. She now stalked fillies and colts at night, one by one, according to what her new knife tells her. Apart from getting some petite weapon of mass destruction, the spell made her a different type of Apprentice. She wasn’t just any Apprentice, she was the Huntress. A Huntress was a type that instead of hunting on Innocents, they hunt on other Apprentices, Murderers, and Murderesses. And that spell she casted on that little bowie knife?
It turns out that Brazy’s new knife wasn’t ordinary, atleast not anymore. It was a weapon called the Agony Blade, a weapon whose sole purpose is to punish sinners and a weapon that only aliens can use. Its standard form was an ordinary bowie knife with a red gemstone on the handle. The gemstone somehow speaks to Brazy, by Little Voice. It tells her who her next target is, what sin they’ve committed, and what their punishment is. Though it looks like an ordinary bowie knife, it has many different forms that depend on the punishment. Like, if it’s a sword, that means that the target’s soul is put into the gemstone, creating their own personal hell. And if it’s a meat cleaver, it forms a curse. If, in the event, that a target escaped, but got scratched by the blade, the scar serves as a type of signal, making it easier for Brazy to find them. All in all total, it was an ideal weapon of destruction.
The group had to make sure that Brazy didn’t get them by her Agony Blade or they will be her true next target. They had tried to keep her on a muzzle, but that had risks that included that once she got it off, she would almost bite their head off. They found a sedative pill, but it was always a pain to get it down her throat. Luckily, once inside her, it makes her easier to talk to, as she seems like a taunting type now.
Then came the time for which Nightmare decided that soon they would hold competitions for the groups so that they can have their own Alphas. Strike had been training, but he always feared that Brazy’s sedative pills wore off; she would seize full control of them and thus, never go back to normal. They also all started living in some mansion altogether, because Nightmare said it would be safe, considering the disappearance of many fillies and colts at night.
________________________________________
“And, Blood Seed, you stand watch over her at night!” Strike commanded as they went down to Brazy’s basement to see how much carnage was there.
They nearly threw up from the amount.
“Look, they’re being sewn up as dolls” Nuttie Belle said as she looked at one. “Why would she do that?”
“So that even if they are ever freed, they will never again roam Equestria” Strike realized. “It’s Brazy’s Revenge”
________________________________________
“So basically, we just gotta keep her on sedative pills even during the whole fight and after that, I’ll take position of Alpha and she will be easier to control” Strike said.
“Wait, why do you have to be Alpha?” Nuttie Belle asked, a little agitated.
“Um, ‘cause I mostly give the orders around here plus I kind of already lead the group”
“Why can’t I be Alpha?” Blood Seed whined. “I’m the strongest one!”
“Physically, but not really mentally” Strike said.
“But you could barely make a ball of fire big enough to scare a dragon!” Suicidaloo pointed out.
“You could barely fly or even stay in the air for a second!”
“I cast spells to keep doors locked, why can’t I be Alpha?” Nuttie Belle complained.
“No, I’ll be Alpha!”
“No, me!”
“Me!”
“Me!”
“ME!”
They kept arguing about who it would have to be as Alpha, pointing out each other’s flaws and advantages. They kept on going back and forth. It was about to get a little ugly when…
“Wait, if Blood Seed’s here, then who’s watching Brazy?” Strike asked, voice rising.
“Meh, there’s a spell that should keep it sealed shut, remember?” Nuttie Belle laughed.
Right then, they heard a loud thump coming from the door. All eyes widened at the sound. They headed down to the basement to see that the door was being hit at, as though something was trying to break through it. They grabbed their approximate weapons as they readied for the outcome. Blood Seed had her spiked gloves on. Crazybloom had her daggers ready. Nuttie Belle readied her magic and had an axe. Suicidaloo got her various set of knives and sedatives. Strike brought along a mace.
“Um, Crazybloom…” Suicidaloo quivered. “What did you say she said a while back?”
“Something with the word siphon, why?” Crazybloom dreaded the answer.
The orange filly gulped. “‘Cause now I know why”
In a second later, the door busted open, making splinters of wood and metal fly all-round the place. A thick cloud of dust followed, casting the shadow of a silhouette of a certain alien.
“Should’ve considered that I would learn Siphon soon. And that magic spell was delish” Brazy smirked. She looked all the more demented from the months that had gone by. Her eyes were now black in the iris and solid blue in the pupils. She now donned on a black collar made of unicorn horns. She also now had scars on the stripes of her ears, stomach, tail, and even diamond stripe. Her fangs were sharp to a point that they would make you bleed at their touch. In her paw was an unmistakable bowie knife, the Agony Blade.
“Brazy, we can talk this out!” Suicidaloo pleaded, lowering her knives and sedatives at the same time.
“Talk it out?! That’s really the best that you can do?! Put me on sedatives, make me sit on a couch, that without a doubt has restraints, and make me talk about anger?! You’re all pathetic!” Brazy growled.
Right then, Nuttie Belle put both of them into the white room, mostly where they talk to Brazy when she’s on her sedatives. The alien went ballistic and headed straight for the door, trying to break it open, but it was sealed shut too. From a protective window panel on one of the walls, Nuttie Belle, Strike, Crazybloom, and Blood Seed were watching.
Suicidaloo watched Brazy trying to open the door. Behind all the anger, she saw that she was really stressed, scared, even relentless. The filly felt pity for the alien. This is merely a fit of fear. Brazy always hated the pills, so it would make sense that she was trying to say that she didn’t want the pills and she wanted out. Maybe if she got to calm down without the use of sedatives, then she may be able to talk it out.
“Brazy, please take a deep breath” Suicidaloo tried in calm tone.
The alien growled.
“I have no weapons or sedatives on me” she raised her hooves up to prove it.
“WHY DO I CARE?!” she yelled.
“I get it, you’re afraid I’ll force a sedative down your throat again. But trust me, I won’t and I don’t”
“Why would I trust an Apprentice, especially one good in discectomy?”
“Because I’m your friend, even before this whole thing happened” Brazy frowned. “Just, try not to focus on what I am, focus on WHO I am”
Don’t listen to her , Little Voice told Brazy.
The alien kept her angry face. She could try to, of course. But the anger and fixation of anger kept her from doing so. She only used to see Suicidaloo as a friend, but that was gone when she found out about her Mistress’ death. Now, she only sees her as the sister of her true friend’s Murderer.
“I can’t, Suicidaloo!” she snarled, baring her fangs.
“Brazy…” Suicidaloo tried.
That was what sent Brazy off. She used her Teleport abilities to teleport the rest of the group inside the room with her and Suicidaloo. Nuttie Belle had already begun to freak out and ran to the door, but to no avail. She tried to undo the spell, but Brazy used her own to keep them from going out. Blood Seed tried to attack, but Brazy used a Freeze spell on her. Strike and Crazybloom couldn’t do a thing since the alien made sure their weapons weren’t with them.
Brazy smirked. She could just end them all, right here and now, but then she thought of something else, something that should make the pain last a little longer.
She levitated all of them in the air. They panicked as she raised her Agony Blade and began to twirl it. They knew that any moment now, and she would turn it into one of its forms and use it on them, or even keep it in standard form and make a scar on each of them to make sure they’re her next target. But that never happened. Instead, she breathed and whispered a chant that was barely audible. Then, she opened her eyes and smirked.
“Let the battle begin”
In a second, an earthquake started and it knocked them all out unconscious. The last thing they was the grin of an orange alien.
________________________________________
Later…
Strike opened his eyes after passing out from the shock a while back. His vision was blurry at first, but then it cleared up. He had some effort in trying to get up, but he finally did. He looked around for his group, and they were all around him, unconscious. He went over to Nuttie Belle and began to shake her on the shoulder.
“Nuttie? Nuttie Belle, wake up” he whispered to her, but also half-screamed.
Nuttie let out a groan. “Strike? Where are we? Where are the others?”
“Start waking them up” he said.
“Ugh, no need to” Suicidaloo held her head as though it was pounding.
“I felt like I took a twirl in a tornado” Crazybloom chimed in.
“Atleast she didn’t take away my strength” Blood Seed tested out her hooves to make sure she was still strong.
“Where are we?” Crazybloom looked around.
The place they were in looked more like some twisted and demented version of a mansion, like a haunted house. It was dark and eerie. The place looked rather vintage. There was a chandelier at the ceiling, but it was very high up. A staircase was infront. And there were cobwebs on the broken lamp and drawers.
“I don’t know. Brazy…she sent us…” Strike tried to put the pieces together.
“To your battle field!” Brazy’s voice rang out. A second later, she appeared from a flash of light, floating in mid-air.
“Brazy, what is this place?”
“Ooh, like it? Made the place myself. It’s some sort of mansion filled with truths and memories that were all cobbled together into one haunted house, call it Insanity Mansion. Made the décor myself, but no time to fix up the place”
“Why are we here?”
“This is where we decide our new Alpha, and what better way than a haunted house? Now, let’s go over the rules of the game”
“GAME?!”
“Separate and only meet up once you meet up. Please be aware that you may defeat the one who you meet to get closer to the end. I am aware of the Healing Tea you sneaked form my basement, take it as a time-out. After the battle is over completely, all who have been defeated will be revived. And guess what? In this house, I call the shots! So, winner has to beat me in Single Combat. You win; I’ll let us out and probably even listen. You lose; well…I wouldn’t wanna spoil the surprise”
Everypony gasped.
“Brazy, this is madness!” Crazybloom cried.
“We’re all mad here” was Brazy’s last word before making them all separate into different rooms. But, Blood Seed shot a sedative pill into her mouth before she was teleported away. Brazy herself teleported away after that.
________________________________________
The young alien teleported to one of the rooms in the mansion. This looked like it could be her own room. It had a vintage mirror at the side, allowing Brazy to see Little Voice. There was also a small bed, and different dolls of her previous Victims sat on the drawers.
Brazy spit the sedative pill out of her mouth with disgust. “I can’t take it anymore! If I gotta choke down on one more of those moldy, dry, disgusting sedative pills…” she clutched her paw into a fist and drew out her Agony Blade, pretending to stab somepony with it while she was stabbing one of her practice dolls.
“Calm yourself, Brazy. Soon, you will be Alpha, not that puny-excuse-for-a-dragon” Little Voice said from the mirror.
“And then, I stuff the sedative pills down THEIR throats!” Brazy laughed with Little Voice.
Welcome to Insanity Mansion
Crazybloom opened her eyes to find herself in a type of living room. She was lying on one of the couches, which were all covered in cloth. From the looks of the room, it was enveloped in fog. Crazybloom looked around to see if any of her friends were with her. She saw that, on one of the couches, there was a pony-like figure wrapped in cloth, sitting on one of the couches.
“Blood Seed?” she approached the figure. “It’s me, Crazybloom”
The figure didn’t respond or move.
“Blood Seed, come on” she tugged on the cloth, and with one swift move, she unwrapped it. What she saw made her scream.
There, on the figure, was the doll of the colt they saw Brazy attack the night she turned off her sanity. It was now dressed in a suit. Eyes were replaced with buttons that were sewn in. The mouth was carved into a smile.
Blood Seed woke up on the floor behind one of the couches by Crazybloom’s screaming. She hurried over to her cousin, who was already beginning to vomit.
“Whoa! Crazy, are you alright?” she then noticed the doll.
“Alright?! There’s a dead colt’s body on a couch as though he’s a display! Bless his heart, would I be okay?!”
“Good point”
“Good point?! We’re trapped in a scary mansion built by our now-insane alien, there’s a doll here, we have to defeat each other in Single Combat, and all you can say is GOOD POINT?!”
Blood Seed looked down. “Sorry”
Crazybloom rolled her eyes and got off the couch. “Poor thing, I can only imagine what it was like for his life to be ended by the Huntress”
“I can’t get it through the fact that Brazy is now something whose desire is to rid the world of killers”
Crazybloom nodded. “The sooner we turn her sanity back on, the better it is”
“Don’t you think it will hurt her once she realizes it?”
“Yeah, but we have to be there for her when it happens”
“Is there even any hope at all for Brazy?”
“Her nickname means Hope; it would be ironic if there wasn’t any left in her. Now, come on! We’ve wasted enough time chatting here. We have to find the others”
Blood Seed nodded, but then she noticed something on one of the covered desks nearby. “Hang on, what’s that?”
________________________________________
Suicidaloo woke up in what looked like a kitchen. Her head was hurting from the teleportation impact used on her.
Brazy, atleast go easy on teleportation.
The filly got on her hooves to see her surroundings. The kitchen was dark like the other rooms. The floor creaked beneath her. There was a stove and cabinets. On the desks nearby, she saw small jars. Curiosity got the best of her and went in to investigate. She took a closer look at the bottle and held back the urge to puke. Inside the bottles were different organs. Each bottle seemed to have a name on its label. From the looks of it, they were from the Victims of Brazy and her Agony Blade.
Suicidaloo snapped out of it when she heard a scream nearby. She knew it anywhere, it was Nuttie Belle’s!
“Hang on, Nuttie! I’m coming!” she called out as she ran out of the kitchen. She ran in the Main Hall where they were a while ago, and the chandelier above crashed infront of her. She was able to avoid getting hit and she noticed that it was made of bones and teeth. She shuddered from fear but shook it off and ran to find Nuttie.
She finally found her in what looked like a dining room. The poor filly looked like she was hyperventilating from fear. Her eyes were wide and unblinking. And her forelegs were on her head, as though she was trying to cover out noise. She was staring at some grandfather clock.
“Nuttie, calm down! It’s me!” Suicidaloo tried to get her attention.
The filly didn’t pay attention as she kept screaming in fear. The Pegasus had to come near her to try to snap her out of it.
“Nuttie, it’s Suicidaloo!”
“Suicidaloo, you gotta run!” she screamed.
“Calm down! Brazy’s not here!”
“I’m not talking about Brazy! I’m talking about him!” she screamed again.
“What’s gotten into you?” she asked.
Right then, she heard a groan behind them. Suicidaloo turned around to see a certain colt behind them. One they thought they would never see again.
“ORION?!” Suicidaloo cried.
It surely looked like Orion; it had the same coat color and mane. He was a Pegasus. His mane was covering his face. What scared Suicidaloo other than that was the fact that he had stab markings on his chest. There were muscle tissues sticking out where the wings should be. There was a wound in his throat that suggested he had his throat slit. When he looked up, it was revealed that his eyes were pulled out. A dark aura seemed to surround him.
“Don’t look into his eye sacks, Suici!” Nuttie warned. “You can’t make eye contact with him!”
Suicidaloo was confused, but she closed her eyes tightly nodded. “Got it!” she turned around, but when she opened them again, Orion was there, infront of her. The shock and look in his empty eye sacks scared her enough to fall to the floor. Orion grinned sadistically, and he pulled out a small bowie knife.
“I wonder” he said, his voice raspy. “Who should die first? Suicidaloo…or Nuttie Belle?”
“Orion, don’t!” Nuttie Belle begged in fear.
“Nuttie Belle it is” he grinned as he appeared behind her.
“No, Orion!” Suicidaloo cried.
The colt then turned to his girlfriend instead. “Then, it’s you, Suicidaloo”
Suicidaloo cowered in fear. This was her dead coltfriend, and he was about to kill her. She closed her eyes for her fate but before he could’ve stabbed her, he disappeared.
Nuttie Belle then took deep breaths to calm herself as Suicidaloo went and tried to get her to calm down. As soon as Nuttie Belle’s breathing went back to normal, they looked behind then to see another young figure.
This one was a filly, and she seemed to be just fine as there were no parts on her that seemed injured. She looked like a Pegasus considering her small wings. She had an orange coat and flat pink mane and tail. Her eyes were a delicate icy blue. It’s unlucky that she didn’t have a cutie mark.
“Thank goodness I got him just in time” she wiped a sweat drop from her head.
“Oh, hello. You’re the one who saved us?” Suicidaloo asked.
The filly nodded. “Call me Dreamer”
“Thank you, Dreamer” Nuttie thanked the filly.
“Did you get sent here too? I thought our friend only sent us” Suicidaloo asked.
“I died a long time ago at Brazy’s paws”
That was enough to make Suicidaloo cringe.
“From the looks of you, I’d say you’re alive. I guess she found a new way to torture her Victims, scaring then as she traps us in this prison”
“What do you mean?”
“The moment I was killed, I found myself trapped in a dark room. I found that she began to torture my soul with my worst fears as she created my own personal hell. I was eventually let out like the others, but I’m trapped in this place with the other ghosts”
“Ghosts?!” the fillies cried in unison.
“Ghosts of her most well-known Victims. About three are here, excluding me. I found a way to get out of her control and be able to think freely again. At this point, if I can, I try and stop her Pawns from hurting those who got dragged in here”
“Control?”
“Pawns?”
“She casted a spell on the three that help with her bidding. They go around with bowie knives similar to her own. They’re called Pawns in that way because, like the pawn, they do her bidding. Whether you were their friend or not, they don’t care anymore”
“Do you know where our friends are then?” Nuttie needed hope.
Dreamer shook her head. “I sensed three other alive souls in this place, nothing else”
“That’s them. How do we get back to the real world?” Suicidaloo asked.
“Try to stop the Pawns, and obtain a lament from Brazy”
“Make her lament? How are we gonna do that? She turned off her sanity; she can barely feel remorse anymore” Nuttie Belle spoke.
“Despite her insanity nowadays, even the angriest creature has a soft spot. You just need to find it”
Both fillies knew what that meant. Or, rather, who. But that was practically impossible. Whatever they had to remind her of Fluttershy was nowhere here.
“I wonder at times…” Dreamer turned about face.
“Wait!” but before anything, Dreamer had vanished, leaving a small compass in her place.
Nuttie Belle went in and took the compass from the floor. She opened it to see the design. It had a sapphire in its centerpiece. The meters on it were shaped like doll arms. The North, West, East, and South signs on it looked like they were scribbled by a crayon.
________________________________________
Blood Seed read the paper they found aloud as Crazybloom looked around nervously.
“Things have been terrible for me since I found the truth behind my Mistress’s death. I was crushed to hear I Turned for nothing. When I turned off my sanity, the pain went away. Little Voice tells me one thing: Avenge your Mistress, free them all. I could see her in the mirror and she would look like me, but her voice is a little raspy. I’ll admit: I tend to feel for my targets. But it’s their fault. If they didn’t go here like us, they would be breathing air. As for me, the trio I used the night I made my Agony Blade? I put them to good use: patrolling this place I call Insanity Mansion. It has pieces of info I wouldn’t even dare touch lest I cry from reminder. Nonetheless, I do as I am told. Stop the Apprentices one by one, every night” Blood Seed read it all and was astonished. “She can still feel, she’s only denying it. We better keep any eye for of those three victims”
“Blood Seed?” Crazybloom shook her cousin.
“Don’t worry, Crazybloom. I’ll be sure to protect you” Blood Seed faced her cousin. “We have to find something here to get Brazy to calm down”
“Blood Seed!”
Her cousin ignored her. “We have to find the others, stopping Brazy comes after that”
“Blood Seed!”
“Yes, Crazybloom?”
“I…really…need to go use the bathroom!” Crazybloom shuffled her hooves together to avoid wetting the floor.
“Oh” Blood Seed was dumbfounded.
________________________________________
Strike woke up in what seemed to be a library. It was very old and dusty. He looked around for a source of light, but even the candle on the desk was spent out. He managed to find a door, but something caught his eye on one of the tables.
The piece of paper only had a few words on it, but a last word was torn out.
“Stop the Pawns, stop Brazy, don’t trust…”
Blood Seed and Crazybloom checked around the place they were in to see if they had found any usable or unlocked bathrooms. Almost all of them were either broken, or locked. Blood seed was beginning to worry how long before Crazybloom loses it.
“This one’s locked too” Blood Seed said as she fidgeted on the door.
“Blood Seed, I think I can still hold it in for a bit, we can look somewhere else” Crazybloom said.
“Are you sure? I mean…”
“I mean it!”
“Alright, if you say so”
________________________________________
“I can’t believe that Brazy is using Orion as one of her three Pawns, I am so sorry, Suicidaloo” Nuttie Belle said as she carried around the compass that Dreamer dropped a while back.
“No worries, I’m long over him” Suicidaloo said. “It was practically one-sided and he just wanted to get our group so I’m not so sad anyway”
“But still, Brazy’s controlling his soul”
“We’ll free them when we get to it”
“Still, I wonder what this compass is for. Why did Dreamer drop it?”
“Well, Brazy has Compass Mode in her Agony Blade that shows where her targets are. We just have to find what that type of Compass is for. It has doll arms for the meter arms and the North, West, East, and South directions look like crayon scribbles. We just have to find out what they mean”
“Maybe it’s for looking for how to free those souls, or maybe something Brazy once had before we got into this mess. If it’s the latter, we could use it to make her lament”
“Still, the doll arms there are creepy. It’s like they could start working any second now”
Right at that moment, the doll’s arms began to move. Nuttie took notice of its slowly turning.
“Um, Cida?”
“Yes?”
Right then, she notice that the doll’s arms were moving faster now, and began to point behind Suicidaloo. The filly screamed, “Why me?”
The Pegasus backed up from being creeped out. She was leaning on one of the mini-grandfather clocks when her coming in contact with it caused it to open from the left side. Out came a doll that resembled Orion. It was dressed in a tuxedo with a bowtie. There were cuts and injuries that showed where Brazy cut him when she killed him. Eyes were replaced with buttons that were sewn into them. The mouth was carved into a smile.
“Is that…Orion’s body?” Cida held back the urge to puke. “How sick can Brazy be?”
Nuttie then noticed something: the arms began to change direction slightly. They were no longer pointing at Suicidaloo, they were pointing at the Orion doll.
“Cida, it’s pointing at the doll”
“The doll?” Cida almost puked this time. “No wonder they’re doll arms”
Right then, both fillies heard a groan. They looked infront to see ghost Orion was back again. He looked like he was sad rather than sadistic. He was looking at the doll, his own body.
“The…compass…” he choked out.
Nuttie Belle was confused, but she was willing to try. She placed the compass infront of his face, and it sucked him in. She was shocked at first, but then, when she opened it again, he came out. What’s different was that he no longer had the dark aura around him. He had a small smile on his face.
“I’m free” he said. Right then, a white light opened up above him and he was being pulled to it. He offered no resistance and waved goodbye to the fillies.
Nuttie Belle and Suicidaloo were taken back.
“Did we just put him to rest?” The Pegasus gaped.
“Looks like it. I’d say that this Compass is for freeing the Pawns from Brazy’s control. We have to find here she keeps their doll-bodies, suck them into the compass, and let them back out”
“Right” Suicidaloo nodded. But at that moment, she couldn’t take it anymore and puked.
________________________________________
Blood Seed and Crazybloom searched the mansion for the rest of the group, and a usable, unlocked bathroom. They were pretty unsuccessful with looking for any of both. They were getting impatient and Crazybloom was holding it in the best she can. As they found their way to the Main Hall they were in a while back before separation, the cousin duo saw somepony other than themselves.
This one was a filly, and she seemed to be just fine as there were no parts on her that seemed injured. She looked like a Pegasus considering her small wings. She had an orange coat and straight red mane and tail. Her eyes were covered by her mane. And there was no cutie mark.
“It’s one of the spirits from the torn diary entry, but it doesn’t look hurt anywhere” Blood Seed said.
“Are you lost too?” Crazybloom asked.
The filly nodded. “Mm, this way”
Blood Seed was confused at first. A filly, even though they never met, wants to help them by showing the way. She can just imagine how unfortunate she was when Brazy ended her.
“Blood Seed, she told us to follow her” Crazybloom said.
The filly nodded; “Right” she stole a glance from the filly infront. “It’s unfortunate for a filly as young as that to be trapped here forever”
“Is there something behind there?” Seed asked.
The Pegasus nodded.
Blood Seed was unsure, but they had to know what was behind the door. For all they know, it could be a way to one of their friends, or for Crazybloom a toilet. They opened the door and saw that they were in the backyard of the Mansion. The grass was sickly yellow, as though life had been sucked right out of it. Plants had wilted. The sky looked like it was about to rain. The cousins both followed the filly as she walked to another door that lead inside the Mansion, but a different area of it.
“Blood Seed?” Crazybloom called anxiety in her tone.
“Yes?” the filly turned to her cousin.
Crazybloom was shuffling her hooves together. “I…don’t think…I can hold it in anymore!”
Seed grew alarmed. “Can’t you do it out here? I see dead bushes, so maybe they could give some privacy”
Crazybloom nodded. “I’ll try” she then turned to the filly with them. “Hey, can you come with me?”
The filly smiled warmly. “Sure, Crazy”
“Crazy…” the filly giggled at the nickname she was given.
“I’ll check the inside of the room so if you need anything, just scream” Seed called to them before she took a look at the room behind the door.
Crazybloom hurried over to the bushes nearby when she noticed something in the distance, a young filly who was another one of Brazy’s Pawns. She was a sky blue in coat color and solid blue in mane and tail. She was a Unicorn. She had cuts on her chest and hooves. One of her eyes was pulled out while the one that remained intact was pink.
“Let…me…go” she choked out.
Crazybloom cringed. She looked to the side to see if the Pegasus she was with was there. But she was nowhere to be seen. “What? Where’d she go?”
When she looked back at the Unicorn, she was scared to death as it was now right infront of her, eye-to-eye.
“LET ME GO!” she yelled.
That was enough to make Crazy scream.
Inside the Mansion, Blood Seed heard her cousin screaming. She tried to tug on the doors to see if they would open, but they wouldn’t even budge. She tried to kick it down, but it was too strong, despite being old. There was a cackle behind her. The earth pony turned around to see that the filly that was with them was now giving a small cackle. She looked up with a smirk, and her mane slightly parted to show her cerulean eyes.
Crazybloom ran into the room where Blood Seed was in, but her cousin was nowhere to be found. “Blood Seed?” she called out. “Where are you, Blood Seed?!”
________________________________________
“Okay, that’s about three down, we got all the Pawns” Suicidaloo said. She and Nuttie Belle were sitting on the staircase with the Compass in Nuttie’s hooves, and a lit candle they found as their only source of light. They just freed the last Pawn.
“Great, all that’s left to do now is to make Brazy lament. No problem, she turned her sanity off” Nuttie was being sarcastic.
“Try to be positive, Nuttie Belle” Cidaloo assured her friend.
“Cidaloo, I just don’t at times. Brazy really took it hard when you confessed about her Mistress’ death and that was what got her to turn off her sanity in the first place. And Dreamer said that we have to make her lament and find something that should make her. The only problem apart from her turned off sanity the fact that anything that could remind her of those days with Fluttershy are back in our house”
“But Dreamer also said that this place is filled with objects that could make her cry due to sentimental value”
Nuttie sighed. “How could you still hold on to her?”
“Hmm?”
“Almost all of us had given up on her with being nice and went military mode but you still try to be nice. How do you keep doing that?”
“For the last time, Brazy’s my friend. She’s OUR friend. We just have to make her feel that way again”
Nuttie nodded. Then her ears perked up, “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Sounds like…” she gasped. “Blood Seed!”
________________________________________
Blood Seed struggled against the restraints that the filly had put on her. It was now clearly a change in tables. Now she was the one in a straitjacket, muzzle, and was about to get put on the same sedatives she shoved down Brazy’s throat nearly every day.
“You know, it’s quite funny with all you, really” Dreamer said as she entered the room. “You foals are so easy to fool. Save you once, and you trust a stranger completely”
“Who are you?” the filly demanded.
Dreamer smirked, before the other filly Blood Seed and Crazybloom were with went to her side. “Just a simple change in coat color or mane and eyes and you already got fooled”
“WHO ARE YOU?!”
Dreamer and the filly cackled. “I’m Dreamer, and this filly who ‘helped’ you a while ago is Siren. But we are but one pony, or rather an alien. And you know her as…” right at that moment, the two fillies merged into one and a certain orange alien stood. “…Huntress Brazy”
“You sick alien! What have you done with Crazybloom?!” Blood yelled.
Brazy just cackled. “Don’t worry, Blood Seed, I’ll put your strength to good use; tearing apart those Apprentices in our group so I can take over as Alpha”
Blood Seed shook her head furiously. “No! I won’t let you make me into your Pawn! I won’t let you make me kill my cousin! I won’t!”
“Such care and concern for your weaker cousin, how cute. But you see, Blood Seed, you forgot one thing” Right then, Brazy lifted a paw at Blood’s head and began to cause painful circumstances to her mind. “I can control one’s mind”
Blood Seed fought with Brazy’s attempts. Her mind was being filled with what she did back in training. How merciless she was in her hallucinations. How she fought with her opponents during Strength Training. She tried to fight back and focus on protecting her friends, but all she would see is her killing them. Finally, she succumbed to Brazy’s spell, and a sadistic grin and insane eyes were plastered on her face.
________________________________________
“Nuttie Belle!” Strike called out as he walked along the corridors of the Mansion to look for his friends. “Blood Seed? Crazybloom? Suicidaloo?”
He immediately began to panic, “That was Suicidaloo!”
He immediately ran down the corridor to find the Pegasus. He ran as fast as he could. He finally found himself infront of a closed door. Putting his head on the door, he could hear what sounded like crying inside. He knew that was Suicidaloo crying. Taking no more time, he opened the door to see what was inside.
There, on the floor, was Suicidaloo, sobbing hysterically as tears swarmed her eyes. He looked over her shoulder to see why she was crying. Nuttie Belle was down, she had a knife in her chest and her eyes were closed as though she were sleeping. From the looks of it, self-disqualification.
“Cidaloo…” Strike whispered a she approached the filly.
“Strike?!” the filly turned around. When she saw it was him, she didn’t waste a second to pull him in for a comforting hug.
The young dragon was shocked at this reaction. “Woah! Are you oka…?”
“We got into a fight and then the next thing I knew, she was on the floor!” the Pegasus sobbed. “I knew she was mad at me, but I didn’t think she would just do this to herself!”
“Shh, it’s alright, Cidaloo. It’s alright” he whispered to her as she bawled her eyes out. He stole a glance from Nuttie Belle’s defeated figure. As hard as it was, he had to accept the fact that now one of them was down. It wasn’t big of a deal, she will be revived later in about an hour thanks to that Healing Tea they stole from Brazy’s basement, but it was still enough to make one sick. Brazy had just claimed her first victim from the group, and it only left four left.
________________________________________
“Blood Seed?” Crazybloom called out to her cousin. She had already finally gotten her privacy when she felt safe that the ghost Unicorn wasn’t there anymore. That done and off her list to worry about, she was searching around frantically for any signs of her friends. She looked around all she could and constantly opened doors that were unlocked in the hopes that her cousin was in one of them. She opened another door to see Blood Seed was there, in one corner of the room. She looked very scared and she was facing the wall.
“Blood Seed?” Crazybloom approached her cousin to try and snap her out of it.
Her cousin mumbled something, but she couldn’t make it out.
“It’s me, Crazybloom. Your cousin?”
Again, all she heard was an inaudible mumble.
“Blood Seed, are you okay?”
Right then, the filly finally turned around, insanity on her face. “We’re never getting out of here”
Crazybloom began to backpedal. “Blood Seed, what happened to you?!”
“I just got…a little talk to Brazy and well” she pulled out a bowie knife, making Crazybloom feel uneasy. “She gave me an offer to be one of her Pawns since Nuttie and Cida had freed them from her spell, and well…I took it!” she began to laugh like a maniac. “Now, come here, cousin”
“Blood Seed, this isn’t you. It’s her spell” Crazy tried to reason with her.
“Maybe, maybe not” she grinned.
Crazy started for the door, but that was closed shut with a thud. She turned around to see Siren had closed the door, a grin on her face.
“Don’t worry, this should be fun”
________________________________________
Nuttie Belle was being carried around by Strike as he and Suicidaloo went to look for the others. They decide to bring Nuttie’s body along for the ride so that as soon as the Healing Tea took effect and brought her back, she wouldn’t have to worry about where they were. It took a bit of effort to pull out the knife form her chest and patch her up with the make-do bandages around, but they did it. As they descended from the stairs, they began to think about this whole ordeal.
“I can’t believe Brazy…” Suicidaloo began.
Strike was quick to stop her from the blame, “It’s alright. Nuttie will come back in a bit; we just have to carry her along as we go”
Cida nodded and sighed. “Have you found anything around here that may help?”
“Well, I found this slick of paper in the library I woke up in “Strike handed over the paper to filly as he balanced Nuttie Belle.
Suicidaloo took the paper and began to read, “Stop the Pawns, stop Brazy, don’t trust…” Why is this last part torn out?
“No idea, it was like that when I found it. Maybe Brazy found it lying around and tore off the other half to prevent anypony from finding out what its last word is.
The filly pocketed the paper. “This doesn’t even make sense. Why would there be this place for Brazy to keep her stuff in? And the dolls made me puke at one point”
“Well, Brazy is short for Bunny Crazy”
Both giggled from that. Then a scream pierced their ears.
“It came from downstairs!” Cidaloo cried as she and Strike ran down the staircase faster and past the Main Hall. They ran along one of the other halls to where the screams were coming from and eventually found the door it was from. Suicidaloo tried to kick it open, but it wouldn’t budge. Strike made her move aside as he blew fire to the doorknob and made it melt, allowing them access. What they found inside horrified them.
There, on the floor, was Crazybloom, with her eye pulled out. She looked pretty terrified. Above her was Blood Seed with a demented smile on her face. She was holding a bowie knife in one hoof and the eyeball in the other, and was surrounded by a black aura. She was about to stab her cousin again, this time in the chest, but Suicidaloo stopped her.
“No, Blood Seed!” she yelled as she pinned the filly to the floor, and she violently retaliated. Luckily, she dropped the knife and eyeball.
“Crazybloom, are you alright?” Strike asked as he approached the filly with concern.
“Help…me…” she choked out.
“Blood Seed, what’s gotten into you?!” Cida yelled at her.
“Must kill or be killed!” the filly yelled.
“How’s Crazy?” Suicidaloo called to Strike.
“Conscious, but barely!” he answered.
“Now I know why your codename is Suicidaloo, you’re suicidal!” Blood grinned.
“Strike, do you see the compass in Nuttie’s mane?”
Strike searched confused as her looked and found a small compass in Nuttie’s mane. “Got it!”
“Throw it to me!”
Strike didn’t waste a second and threw it to Suicidaloo. The filly opened it infront of Blood Seed, causing the dark aura around her to go away. A second later, she opened it to reveal that the aura was now completely gone. Blood Seed looked around herself, confused.
“Blood Seed, is that you? I mean, really you?” Strike asked.
“Yeah, I guess” she said as she held her head. “Oh my goodness! Crazybloom!”
“Brazy made you do this to her, she drove you nuts”
Blood Seed held her terrified cousin in her hooves like a sister. “Crazybloom, I’m sorry” she was crying.
“It’s not your fault…Blood Seed…” she choked out. “Just…stop Brazy…I’ll be back…” after those words, she died in defeat.
Blood Seed sobbed hysterically. The others knew she would come back soon, but Blood Seed was just upset that she killed her dear cousin with her own hooves.
________________________________________
Brazy was in her own room, holding Crazybloom’s eye with her Agony Blade. She looked at it sadistically and began to cackle. Two down, three to go.
Strike and the others had just patched up Crazybloom’s body and waited for her and Nuttie Belle to be resurrected from the Healing Tea. When Blood Seed finally calmed down, Suicidaloo spotted a file in the shelves. It looked like it was some missing file from all of Fluttershy’s records during her stay here in the Organization.
The file read,
It has come to my attention that Butchershy and Rainbow Factory Dash may not be the only ones who were present when RFD had defeated Butcher in Single Combat. It may be possible that somepony else was there and witnessed the whole event. When we took a closer look at the scene, we found what looked like an empty vial of liquid on the floor. Upon further investigation, it was found out to be some kind of memory erasing potion. Who it was used on, we will never know. Perhaps somepony had witnessed the scene and threatened to tell everypony but RFD had shoved it down their throat to make them forget. The cameras didn’t catch who it was as that part was ripped out to prevent evidence.
“What’s in it, Suicidaloo?” Strike asked as Blood Seed readied Crazybloom’s body for carrying around.
“Some sort of lost file from Fluttershy’s records. It says that it was possible somepony else was present and was drugged to forget”
“That’s odd, who could’ve been there? Whenever they sequence a Single Combat battle, they always keep it in the files and the rooms are locked to prevent interference” Blood Seed said.
“Well, nothing here is normal in the Organization. Especially an Apprentice who is secretly a Huntress hunting other Apprentices at night”
“Suicidaloo, that thing you used on me to snap me out of Brazy’s spell, what was it?”
“Some compass that a filly named Dreamer dropped. Nuttie used it on Brazy’s ghost Pawns and now they’re set free, even put to rest. No doubt that it can’t be used on Brazy as all she feels is real anger”
“Excuse me, did you just say Dreamer?”
“Yes, Dreamer. She’s a ghost too”
Blood Seed sighed, “There’s something you need to know about Dreamer, and Siren”
________________________________________
Brazy watched their whole conversation with one of her viewing globes. She watched them as they revealed to one another what they each found out from one another’s perspectives.
“Guess I have to remove the Dreamer and Siren tactic, and keep them from entering my room. Time to get nasty”
________________________________________
“So Dreamer and Siren are nothing more than Brazy in disguise?” Suicidaloo got struck with surprise.
“Yep, I couldn’t believe she was able to split into two and morph into two fillies” Blood Seed nodded.
“Okay, if she could seize control from one of us, then deceive us by putting on a disguise, then we have to find where she is and stop her before she does worse” Strike declared.
“LIKE WHAT?!” a voice rang out behind them.
All three turned around to see Brazy with her Agony Blade in bowie knife form. She gave a smirk as though she was about to pull a new nasty trick. And with Brazy, it always that when her sanity is off.
“Brazy!” Strike cried out.
“Well, looks like you found out about my cloaks, Dreamer and Siren. But I must admit: Siren was just adorable”
“Brazy, you need to snap out of your own anger. We know you don’t really want this. Your rage is just clouding your thinking” Blood Seed tried to reason to her.
“Really? Then bloodlust is what clouds the thinking of every apprentice in this Organization”
“Brazy, think about it. If they find out, what will become of you? Is this what Fluttershy would’ve wanted?” Suicidaloo took her turn.
“Fluttershy is dead!” she growled.
“This won’t change anything, trust me”
Brazy looked down before she hissed. “I don’t trust any Apprentice anymore!”
The alien didn’t waste a second anymore as she levitated them all in the air, including Crazybloom and Nuttie Belle’s bodies. She then casted a faint glow on all of them and declared,
“Time for round three of our Single Combat battles. Nuttie Belle is out, so is Crazybloom, which leaves Strike, Blood Seed, and Suicidaloo. Only two move on to round four. Only one moves on to the final round. Defeat me at the finals and I’ll let you go and maybe cooperate. You lose, you get the point”
The next thing that happened was that they all were teleported away, while Brazy gave way to herself and teleported to the grandfather clock downstairs. She looked at it with a grin,
“Their time is running out”
________________________________________
Blood Seed and Strike suddenly found themselves in the library that Strike was in earlier.
“Great, I’m back where she put me a while back” Strike groaned.
Blood Seed noticed something on one of the floor, an open notebook. Both headed over to the table to see that it was. It appeared to be a type of diary.
February 20 We’re leaving Ponyville today, Pinkamena’s orders. As much as I don’t want to, I have no choice. Thanks to submitting to her, I have to bend to her every will, makes me wish I was still free without an Alpha to guide me. I already packed what I needed and got ready to tell the animals I was leaving. But I know that I have one friend who just never wants to be without me, my apprentice Bunny. I’ll drop her off at Twilight’s Castle, where she, Spike, and the CMC will stay until we come for them. I hope Bunny likes the carrot toy I got for her, it’s full of catnip.
“She gave her a catnip toy?” Strike asked.
“Wait, there’s more” Blood seed as they began to read some of the other entries.
March 20 I can’t believe it’s been a month since we left. Many things have happened. Rainbow seems to have been hitting on Murderjack. Pinkamena’s training Darklight for killing. Crazity made a doll that she named Pinkamina. Me, I do my usual routine, but I can’t ignore how I worry about my apprentice. How is she? Is she getting anxious? No doubt she misses me. I hope I can get back to her soon.
April 20 I’m so excited! Pinkamena got us tickets, just me and her, going to Ponyville! We’re on the train now, and I’m really happy that we’re finally going to get back our friends. As much as I wanna stay awake, I’m getting tired. Better get some rest, big day tomorrow.
April 21 I can’t believe it! We got to the Castle, but none of them were there! No Cutie Mark Crusaders. No Spike. Not even…Bunny. They must’ve left to look for us. Even worse, ponies say that they haven’t been heard from in weeks. I’m crying as I write. How I wished I stayed!
June 23 Something’s wrong. I felt a major headache today, but also something else. I felt some type of other pain, like somepony threw me to a wall. And I heard Bunny’s voice, I swear! She was looking for me. She sounded…scared. Oh, Bunny, where are you?
“It looks like a diary written by Fluttershy” Blood Seed said.
“Sure looks like her hoof writing” Strike added.
“She went back to get us, but we were already in the Organization by then. We have to find that carrot toy and use it to make Bunny lament”
Strike nodded. “But it makes you wonder, how did Fluttershy’s diary end up in Insanity Mansion?”
“Maybe Brazy hid it here to prevent us from finding it when she turned off her sanity”
Strike nodded. “Okay, we’ll take that”
“Strike, Brazy said that only two will make it to the next round, but we’re now two” they looked around to see that one filly was missing amongst them. “Where’s Suicidaloo?”
________________________________________
Suicidaloo found herself alone and awake in a dark room. She was scared from the lack of company that Brazy would now take an opportunity to corrupt her. She saw infront of her, a video playing loading a video caught on tape. When it started to play, her eyes widened at what she saw
“No, Suicidaloo!” Nuttie Belle cried as she was pinned down the floor by her friend. “What’s happened to you, Cidaloo?”
The camera rolled in to show that Suicidaloo had the same demented smile as Blood Seed did while she was under Brazy’s spell, and she also had the same dark aura around her. She held Nuttie down with one hoof and the other hoof had the same knife that defeated Nuttie. With one smooth move, Suicidaloo stabbed Nuttie Belle with the knife, ending the Unicorn. When she knew she was out, the Pegasus closed her eyes to make it look like she ended herself. The Pegasus then walked away with no remorse, and bumped into the compass that Nuttie Belle dropped, causing the events that happened from that point to occur.
With that, the video ended.
Suicidaloo was beginning to tear up. Nuttie Belle didn’t end herself for others, she did. Her defeat was on her hooves. What’s worse was that Nuttie was her closest friend when she was getting over Orion. She helped her move on. And how did she repay her? She made her look like she ended herself! There was so much to process as tears swarmed the Pegasus’ eyes.
“No…NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
From her viewing globe, Brazy was enjoying this revelation. Suicidaloo was now more vulnerable to her spell.
________________________________________
“Blood Seed, it’s never gonna work!” Strike said as the filly tried to charge again at the door to take it down.
“It will! It has to!” the filly yelled as she charged again. The door wouldn’t cooperate with her.
“The only thing that will ever open the door is as if one of us has been defeated, but I don’t want to hurt my friends. Suicidaloo doesn’t want to hurt her friends, wherever she is now, maybe getting attacked by Brazy all alone. You didn’t mean to hurt to your cousin”
“Great! So, we’re stuck here forever?”
“I have no idea. And wherever Suicidaloo is, I hope she’s fine”
“You don’t get it, do you now? You just said it, only two could go on”
________________________________________
Suicidaloo sobbed as she kept on pondering on about Nuttie Belle’s defeat. Brazy’s spell was beginning to get to her. Suddenly, the compass began to move again, pointing to South and North. Suicidaloo noticed and thought that it must mean her and Nuttie. The centerpiece then began to glow as it went up like a button.
“Nuttie Belle, are you trying to say something? There’s no way you’d ever forgive me, right?” Suicidaloo thought before she pressed the centerpiece down gently. She gasped at what it did.
It gave a hologram of Nuttie Belle looking at her, smiling warmly. The filly only said one thing, “Let’s make up, Cida”
Suicidaloo teared up from that. She forgave her. Even if she was the reason that she was down, she forgave her. She was a true friend no matter what.
“Nuttie…” Cidaloo sobbed as she held the compass close to her. “I love you…Nuttie…”
Brazy groaned as her spell subsided from Suicidaloo.
The filly then noticed that the door had opened, allowing her to go out.
________________________________________
“What are you saying, Blood Seed?” Strike dreaded the answer.
“You know that one of us has to go down” saying so, she pulled out the bowie knife from earlier.
Strike’s eyes widened at the knife. Had she gone mad again? He was about to backpedal, when he saw that she had positioned it on herself.
The filly gave a small smile. “Helping you get to that crazed alien”
Saying no more, Strike tried to stop her, but she had already stabbed herself in the chest. Blood Seed was in pain, of course. But she ignored it as she thought she had done something good. She disqualified herself from the fight, allowing the other two move on. Now, it was only up to them about who would go to final round and stop Brazy. She thought about all this as she succumbed to the bleeding and pain.
Strike was shocked as he was engulfed in a bright light and teleported out of the room. He found himself at the other side of the door. He tried to open it to come back for Blood Seed, but it wouldn’t budge. Even setting it on fire didn’t work anymore. He took it hard as he began to sob on the floor.
“Strike?” a voice called out.
Strike looked up to see that Suicidaloo was just above him, pity on her face. From the looks of it, she had just gotten out of a sad experience as well. The filly and dragon hugged each other as they tried to comfort one another of what had happened. Blood Seed was down. Three down, two to go.
________________________________________
Strike and Suicidaloo had looked around for anywhere Brazy could b, trying their best to keep anything from making them kill each other and advance to the final round. At one point, Suicidaloo had found a hallow part in the floor when they were stepping on it. With Strike’s help, they opened it and found something that may help them as soon as they find Brazy.
It was a small, worn-out, carrot toy with a cute smile.
Taking the toy with them, they ventured on down the halls. They found a door that was closed shut. Suicidaloo fiddled on the door, but it was locked. Strike had tried to blow fire on the knob, but it had been enchanted to resist fire. They decided to try a new tactic: Use Strike as a pillar and bust the door down as he blew fire. It went pretty well as it was opened. Though they had to deal with the fact that it was pretty much reduced to ash, they took a breath away when they realized where they were.
The room was well-lit up. There was a small bed to the side where a window was. The drawers nearby had dolls sitting on top of them like trophies. They were the dolls of those other fillies and colts that Brazy had hunted at night. A vintage mirror was on one side, covered by a huge cloth.
“I think this place is Brazy’s…”
“LEAVE!” a voice rang out from behind them.
Both turned around to see that a familiar orange face was in the doorway, anger in her eyes. Brazy had her Agony Blade in hand, though still in its standard form. She looked pretty ready to take one out and then battle the other next.
“Brazy, you gotta listen us!” Strike cried out.
The alien just smirked. “I’ll have your bodies for a trophy, freaks!”
Saying so, she charged at Strike. Suicidaloo was quick to block her off with the compass.
“Oh, I see that my Dreamer form had dropped my Innocence Compass. How nice of you to find it. I bet Orion was relieved” Brazy was nuts.
“Braze, listen to yourself! You’ve gone mad!” Strike said as he tried to approach from behind, but the alien grabbed him arm with her tail and sent him flying to the other side of the room.
“Brazy, please” Suicidaloo begged.
“Your efforts to stop me have been futile” Brazy said.
Suicidaloo stopped her from plunging her knife down as she called out to Strike. “Strike, can you still stand?”
The dragon got up, a little wobbly. “Yeah”
Suicidaloo didn’t want to, but the look on Brazy’s face showed no choice. “You have to be the one to fight Brazy and make her get back to her senses”
Strike was flabbergasted. “ME?! But, Suicidaloo, you’re the one that never gave up on her no matter what while I got Blood Seed to shove down sedative pills every night down her throat!”
“But one can only be convince to come back to her sense with the help of a true friend. You and Brazy were besties even before she joined the CMC back when we were just Normals. You were her best friend as Normal, and you have the memory that will give her back her sanity. Do it for us, Strike” she said before she faced the alien. “I forfeit!”
“Wise choice” Brazy said before she casted a spell on the filly. “FREEZE!”
And immediately, the spell froze Suicidaloo in her tracks. Brazy herself went away from her. “Just in case you try to intervene”
Brazy stared at Strike. “So you’re the one who will try to beat me in Single Combat? Better make things a little fair”
She summoned a table full of weapons that ranged from bowie knives and cutters to swords and meat cleavers. There were also some shields. She put aside her Agony Blade for later as she picked up an ordinary kitchen knife, so did Strike.
Strike stared at Brazy. There was no turning back now. He was ready to fight. If he let his friends down, he’ll let himself down. He let out a loud roar and Brazy let one out too.
Getting on all fours, they charged at each other. Brazy got the first swipe and almost cut Strike if he didn’t dodge. Strike tried to shoot fire at Brazy, but the Huntress jumped out of the way. Brazy threw a block of knives to fly directly at Strike, but the dragon used a shield that made them turn around. Brazy threw one knife before dodging the others. The said knife cut Strike on the shoulder.
The dragon then used her dagger to try and pierce Brazy from mid-air, but the alien used her cat-like reflexes. She then threw a smoke bomb that clouded the dragon’s sight. When he looked, she wasn’t there anymore. Strike decided to focus on the sounds so he closed his eyes and concentrated. Brazy appeared from behind, but Strike stabbed her in the arm with his blade.
Brazy merely looked at the cut and laughed maniacally. The dragon and alien then engaged in a sword fight. Each tried to keep the other from hitting them. Brazy was getting the advantage when Strike made her sword go off. Brazy fell to the ground, and was met by the edge of Strike’s blade. The dragon gave her a look, “Any last words?”
“I can’t even die anymore” Brazy then made her fangs grow and they bit on the blade, sending Strike to the wall. The dragon cried in pain as she was tossed to the side. As Brazy got up, the dragon began to bleed.
“Is that all, whimpering whelp?” Brazy mocked as she delivered a huge punch in the jaw. “Soon-to-die? Is that all?” she yelled. “HUH?!”
Strike’s body was in pain. He almost thought of giving up, and then she noticed Suicidaloo from the sidelines. He had to do it.
“IS THAT ALL?!” Brazy yelled.
Strike began to lose hope. And there, he saw it, a small locket that he once gave her as a gift, a token of their friendship. It had great sympathy and value in it. Brazy looked and saw that the locket had fallen out where she hid it and grew alarmed.
________________________________________
“Are you getting scared, Bunny?” Spike asked the alien while she looked out the window into the night sky.
“Scared? A little”
“It’s a lot worse than we ever thought”
“What if they make you into a full monster like them? I’m afraid of that” Bunny faced the dragon.
“Bunny” Spike put a claw on her shoulder. “I would never do that. And I would never hurt you or the others, for that matter”
Bunny smiled, but looked down uncertain.
“To make sure of it, I got you something as a promise” he then held up a small locket. It was a golden heart, with writing inscribed, “Besties Forever and Ever”. Bunny looked at it. “I got it before we left the Castle, just in case. It’s to establish one promise to our friendship, Bunny. I know that when we first met, I was scared of you like every other dragon. But then I saw that you were on good terms, and offered friendship. Now, I want to offer you something that would symbolize it”
Bunny smiled as Spike put on the locket on her.
“No matter what, we’ll always be friends” he said before pulling her in for a hug.
________________________________________
Strike spoke to the frozen Suicidaloo, “Cida, she’s still in there. I know it. Otherwise, she would’ve thrown away that locket by now”
Strike said nothing, but focused on the corners of her eyes.
“See? Why would I care for some old, pathetic, meaningless…” right then, she felt a few tiny droplets forming in her eyes. She put up a paw and saw them on it. “What?”
“Brazy, it’s okay. I don’t even want to fight you” he tried approaching her again, ignoring the pain he was in.
The young alien shook off the tears and went into rage. “STAY AWAY!”
“Fluttershy’s sad too. Most of her entries included how worried she was about you”
He expected that to hit her in the heart. That it would cause her to go calm. That she would ask in a worried voice, ‘Fluttershy? Who…How…Where is she?’
But instead the alien went directly infront of him and laughed as she drew out her Agony Blade. “I’m gonna give you your judgment now, got it?”
“Brazy, stop!” Suicidaloo cried, still frozen as the alien almost got to pierce Strike with her Agony Blade.
Strike then finally put together that last part of the puzzle. “We know that you were compelled to forget…that Fluttershy died before your own eyes!”
________________________________________
A certain yellow mare lay down on the floor; a huge slash in her stomach had caused her to lose a large amount of blood. She was as pale as a ghost and cold as death. Above her, a cyan Pegasus with a knife in hoof and tears in her eyes stood.
Rainbow gaped, “Butchershy, I’m so sorry I…”
“Mistress?” Bunny’s voice rang out. Rainbow turned around to see the alien. How she got there, she would almost never know. When the alien saw the body, her eyes widened in fear.
“Bunny, you saw it, didn’t you? Rainbow began to near the alien. “You just had to see”
Bunny tried to run, but Rainbow caught her and drugged her with the memory loss serum from the cabinet. Yes, she stole it from the cabinet were Butchershy keeps her emergency kit just in case. Rainbow rammed it down Bunny’s throat as far as it would go. Finally, the effects kicked in, and Bunny fell to the floor unconscious.
When she woke up, she couldn’t remember what happened.
________________________________________
Brazy’s eyes widened from the memory. She was drugged to forget about seeing the death with her own eyes. She hated how it all happened. It was bad enough that Fluttershy was dead, but it was worse to know that she drugged to forget about it. She let go of Strike and backed up, allowing the dragon to breathe. She used a small spell that brought back the others and unfroze Suicidaloo, signifying she conceded.
“It was painful, wasn’t it?” You were frustrated, weren’t you?” Suicidaloo said with pity.
“You tried to tell the truth, but you no longer had anypony to tell it to. So when you relearned one half of it, you began to…”Crazybloom added.
“It’s over now” Strike said as he removed the Agony Blade from her paw. She offered no resistance.
Brazy’s eye’s filled with tears from her sorrow. She had been hunting from rage and it never went out. All it did was make things worse for her. It only drove her mad enough to cloud its sadness. Tears streamed down her face from a long time of being held back.
“Suicidaloo, could you bring that carrot toy over here?” Strike asked.
Suicidaloo nodded and handed the toy to Brazy. “Here, it’s the last thing you had to remember her by, right?”
Brazy held the toy with great care. It WAS the last thing she had to remember her beloved Mistress by.
________________________________________
“Promise you’ll come back for us?” Bunny asked as Fluttershy got ready to leave.
“I promise. And to seal it, I got you this” Fluttershy then held up the carrot toy infront of her apprentice’s face. “It’s filled with catnip”
Bunny held it close lovingly. She was now assured that her Mistress would return for her.
“Bunny, you must know that no matter where I go, I shall always be with you” Fluttershy added as she gave a petting on the alien’s head.
________________________________________
Brazy couldn’t believe that she hid it away where nopony could find it. It held very high sentimental value. The faint smell of old catnip infiltrated her nose, teasing her about the times she would play with it while waiting for Mistress to return. It gave her all the more sorrow as she cried. She held back all her tears for so long, and now they had finally overwhelmed her.
“I’m sorry that I hurt everypony! I’m sorry!” she sobbed.
Everypony felt sorry for the poor thing. Strike was the first to come up and hug the alien. She kept holding her toy and wouldn’t even fight Strike off herself. The next moment, the whole gang came in for a group hug.
Strike looked down at the crying alien.
“I…missed…you” she sniffled.
“I missed you too. We all did” Strike said.
Brazy nodded as she made a glow surround them. The next thing they knew was that they were back in their own house at the Organization. It was good to finally be safe, but they still had to comfort a crying alien as she let out all her sorrow.
________________________________________
Later that night…
Brazy was finally asleep on Strike’s lap. She had worn herself out from her crying. The others went to fix things up. Strike stayed with her, whispering her about the good times to make sure she would sleep just fine.
Suicidaloo entered the room. “How is she?”
“Tired, I guess. She cried so much that it wore herself out, who would’ve known?” Strike said as he pat the sleeping alien. “She told us to remind her to never let her turn off her sanity again because it hurt too much. How’s destroying that Agony Blade doing?”
“Terrible. Blood Seed and Crazybloom made up and tried everything, but nothing seems to work on that thing. It’s indestructible”
“Well, I guess we could just ask Brazy how to get rid of it once she’s all better. How are things with you and Nuttie Belle?”
“Just fine. She knew it wasn’t my fault and we made amends”
“Well, I guess our group finally has its Alpha”
“Yeah, but I think it’ll be fine with you in control. By the way, we are soon going to have to get ourselves assigned to new Mistress and Masters. How do you think she’ll fare? I mean, she kinda hates to be anypony’s apprentice except for those who she trusts. And it’s hard for her to get over her old one”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it”
“Great, so are you gonna sleep down here with her?”
“Don’t want her to suddenly wake us up from her crying”
“Okay, Goodnight, Strike”
“Goodnight, Suicidaloo” he then whispered to Brazy’s ear. “Sweet dreams, Brazy”
Underneath her collar, a familiar locket appeared on Brazy’s neck.
Brazy was staring outside the window in her bedroom in her group’s house. Ever since she snapped out of her insanity, she was no longer put in the restraint room, but a room Strike and the other kept for her once she was back to normal. She just stared into the empty space of the mirror. Ever since she woke up from her sobbing, she was somehow in catatonia and wouldn’t speak at all. She barely even touched her food when it was given, and would ignore anything the gang would say to her.
Strike opened the door with a plate of carrots. “Hey”
Brazy ignored his voice and kept staring.
“I, uh, brought you some carrots in case you were hungry” he said as he put it on the table in her room. “Oh! You didn’t touch even touch the blueberries”
Nothing but silence.
“So, we have to get ready for training soon. And tomorrow’s when we have to start readying ourselves for getting assigned to new Mistresses and Masters. I know you’ll hate it”
Brazy only blinked.
“Okay, I guess we’ll leave you to it. If you need anything, just call me”
Strike closed the door as he went out, but not before stealing one last glance at the alien. Brazy let out a sigh as the door closed.
________________________________________
The rest of the group was in the living room. Suicidaloo and Nuttie Belle were sitting on the couch. Blood Seed and Crazybloom were playing cards on the table. As soon as Strike entered, they all took noticed of their Alpha.
“Hello, Strike” Crazybloom greeted.
“Hello, gang”
“How’d it go with Brazy?” Suicidaloo asked.
“Still not talking. She keeps staring out that window”
Nuttie let out a sigh, “Will she come out of that state before training? Nightmare is starting to wonder why one of her most promising Apprentices in Training has been ‘sick’ for days”
“Well, she’s upset about how she hunted other fillies and colts that were insane when she didn’t know that her dear Mistress died before her own eyes”
Blood Seed looked up from her card pack. “You know what? I think I got it!”
“Go Fish!” Crazybloom declared as she put her pack down and took the bits on the table.
“No fair! I was just talking!”
________________________________________
Brazy stared out the window as she reflected on her anger. How would Fluttershy react if she were still alive? What would she say? But some things were more puzzling. If Fluttershy died, she was supposed to feel the urge to return to E-arth because once a Servant’s Mistress or Master dies, they have to go back. It’s been over a year since her calculated death, but Brazy never felt it. Maybe something had…
“Hush now, quiet now”
“Mistress?!” she cried out as she turned around from the voice.
What she found was Blood Seed with a recorder, giving a big smile.
“Finally! Who would’ve known all you needed was to hear her voice?”
Brazy looked down in disappointment. “That wasn’t very nice”
“Sorry, but we had to get you out of your catatonia somehow”
Brazy gave a faint smile.
“Ready to go downstairs? We have to get ourselves ready for today. It’s time for us to get picked by the older Murderers and Murderesses. I mean, I know you’ll hate it, but”
The alien sighed. “Fine”
“Great, so, see you downstairs?” Blood Seed asked when she came close to the door.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a sec”
That was all Blood Seed needed to hear before going downstairs. Brazy got down from the chair she was sitting on. Before she came to the door, something shiny blurred a side of her eye. She looked to see something that was hiding under the pillow on her bed. Curiosity got the best of her and she parted the pillows away to see a familiar object.
“What were you doing there?”
________________________________________
“So, ready for Training today?” Strike asked as they approached the Training Grounds and Rooms.
“They better prepare their best punching bag” Blood Seed air punched.
“Bring on the best hallucination!” Crazybloom nearly jumped five feet.
“I wonder what they will teach in discectomy today!” Suicidaloo thought as she carried her medical kit.
“I just want to get my hooves on more fake target practices” Nuttie Belle thought.
“What about you, Brazy?” Strike asked the alien who walked beside him.
“Hmm?” she looked up.
“Um, what are you gonna be up to at Training today?”
Brazy sighed. “I guess some target practices at the walls would be nice”
“Brazy, are sure you’re okay?” Suicidaloo asked. “You’ve been quiet the entire time we walked from the house”
“I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with”
Brazy said no more as she looked down and plastered on a fake, small smile. Strike gave Suicidaloo a look that just said,
She’s not.
________________________________________
A train filled Murderers and Murderesses propped itself in the abandoned subway of the Organization. Mare and stallions of all shapes and sizes flooded out, eager to get an Apprentice to carry on their legacy. All races were present; Earth pony, Unicorn, and Pegasus. Amongst them were a certain group of six mares, guided by their Alpha, who was an Alicorn.
A certain black colt appeared to them. “Ready, Crazed Six?”
The lavender Alicorn nodded, “I was born ready”
Right then, the yellow Pegasus beside her almost collapsed from a sting in her head.
“Butchershy, my dear, what’s wrong?” the Alicorn asked as she lifted her beloved up.
“She’s here. They all are”
________________________________________
Brazy grabbed one of the shooting knives on the table and twirled it in the air with her paw. She plastered on a face that meant she was determined. She took aim at one of the targets on the wall before throwing it. It was her tenth bull’s eye today.
She went over the table and picked up another one and did the same thing. Over how she repeated this for over an hour, it was beginning to get boring and now her body was on auto-pilot. As her body moved to repeat the actions, she began to think about Fluttershy again. She remembered that Strike said that she had always been writing about her in her diary entries. How the diary got there, she didn’t know. Brazy kept on thinking more and more about Fluttershy. She was beginning to think she was going nuts because she swore she felt her presence right behind her. As she picked up another throwing knife, a hoof fell on her shoulder.
“You must be Brazy” a voice said behind her.
Brazy immediately went instinctual. “Hooves off me, freak!” she yelled as she slashed the knife in the air.
Her heart stopped for a moment. She swore her heart stopped for a moment.
There, right infront of her, was Fluttershy. She wore it was Fluttershy. Even if she change so much, she could recognize her by scent.
Her mane was no longer like her long one, instead it was shorter. A scar appeared all across her stomach, neck, and cutie mark. A small necklace with a pendant that resembles a chainsaw revealed itself. Fluttershy’s cutie mark then changed from her normal butterflies to a knife dripping with blood. When she showed her eyes, her irises turned from white to black and her pupils were a darker shade of blue.
“I can’t believe it” Brazy gaped.
“How…is this possible?” Fluttershy had her breath taken away.
“Before you left, you gave me that carrot toy to play with…” Brazy began.
“…I told you I’d come back for you but when I came back, you were…” Fluttershy continued.
Both said the same word at the same time, “Gone”
“I’ve looked everywhere for you” Fluttershy confessed.
“I’m here” Brazy said before a smile escaped her lips.
Fluttershy was smiling too. This was her Fluttershy, her Mistress. She was alive and kicking all along, no wonder she didn’t feel the urge to return to E-arth. Brazy could only learn later how she ended up in the state she was in, how she got here, and how to explain how she is right now later.
“Fluttershy!” Brazy cried as she hugged her Mistress tightly. The yellow Pegasus just hugged tightly too. Tears of joy ran down their faces as the Mistress-Apprentice duo was finally reunited.
Around the room, the rest of the group had stopped what they were doing and paid more attention to the scene unfold. They were mostly happy about how Brazy was reunited with her Mistress, but also shocked to find out that Fluttershy was still breathing air. Among them, Suicidaloo was the most shocked.
“Fluttershy” she gaped. “No way…you died…”
“Scootaloo?”
Suicidaloo flinched from that voice calling out her old name. She turned to see a familiar Pegasus that she always looked up to, as a sister.
The Pegasus didn’t look like her normal self anymore. Her eyes were black, like Butchershy’s, but her pupils were now blood red. She wore what looked like a black cape all over her body. There were grey marking that revealed the scars she had on her flank, neck, and stomach. Her cutie mark was now a red lightning bolt with a scar mark on each side.
“Never thought you had it in you, squirt” the cyan Pegasus smirked before she shared a hug with her sister.
“Sweetie Belle!”
Nuttie flinched from that accent calling her name. No doubt it was her sister.
Her mane was purple, but all messy. She had scar marking on her hooves and neck. Her neck had a scarf that hid the mark as it was pink and decorated with unicorn horns. Her cutie mark was a single gemstone with a blood drop inside it. Her eyes were black, and her pupils were deep blue.
“I know that here they call you Nuttie Belle!”
“Rarity!”
“Applebloom, there ya are!” Crazybloom felt somepony ruffle her mane playfully before she held by the now different Applejack. The filly offered no resistance and just took in her sister’s new look.
She had a scar mark on her each hoof, chin, and neck. Her cutie mark was now a black apple with blood on it. She wore a red neckerchief that hid her neck scar like Crazity. Her Stetson also now had a symbol that was similar to the one on the neckerchief: a rotten apple with blood. Her eyes were now a darker shade of green.
Blood Seed was surprised to see Applejack too, but she got more surprised when a certain pink hoof shoved a vanilla cupcake in her mouth. There, she knew it was Pinkie, but also in her Murderess form.
Her mane was deflated. She had scars on her body’s side, neck, cutie mark, chest, and cheek. She wore a collar made of unicorn horns. Her eyes were now a dark blue.
Strike looked around and watched as everypony from the group was reunited with a loved one. But he began to feel a bit lonely since he seemed to be the only one who’s loved one didn’t come back for. He was starting to feel left out when the door opened again and he finally saw her.
When she saw Strike, her eyes were filled with joy. “Spike!”
That was enough to make the dragon run to Twilight, sharing a long-missed embrace.
Brazy and Fluttershy finally pulled away from the hug. “Oh, Mistress, I’ve missed you so much”
“I’ve missed you too. I came back to get you, but you and the others weren’t there anymore”
“How did you get here? And what happened to you?”
“I’d ask the same, especially with all those scars. But, we came to get an Apprentice each” she then pat the alien. “And I found mine”
Brazy was so happy from that. So did everypony else. They all exited, one with a member of her group, about to get assigned and stay together forever.
________________________________________
That night…
Each member of the Crazed Six had each taken a member of Strike’s group, Legacy Carriers, and it was approved by Nightmare. They each revealed their codenames at that point. Fluttershy got Brazy. Darklight Sparcackle had Strike. Pinkamena got Blood Seed. Crazity got Nuttie Belle. Murderjack took Crazybloom. And Rainbow Factory Dash took Suicidaloo. They had to reveal how everything happened about how they were in the state they were in along the train to where the Crazed Six were staying. It was nice that they each got their cutie marks in Apprentice form, but Brazy still didn’t, but it didn’t bother her too much. It was a happy day for all of them.
Brazy waited until nightfall for the right opportunity to destroy her Agony Blade. As it was written in the spell used to create it, the spell used to undo it will only work if it’s done on a night of the full moon, by midnight. It was almost midnight. Everypony else had gone to sleep. Brazy decided to wake herself up and get ready to destroy the destructive weapon for good since her motive was gone.
She was getting ready to destroy it, but she remembered the conversation that took place with her and Strike a while back.
________________________________________
“Hey, what are you up to?” Strike asked when he saw Brazy at the table with a book opened, and something wrapped in cloth. “Is that the Agony Blade?”
Brazy nodded. “Yeah, I’m looking at the spell that should destroy it”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s just; I have to do it on a full moon at night”
“It’s full moon tonight”
“I have to do it at midnight, when nopony else around here is awake”
“Well, I’m happy you’re doing it, Brazy”
Brazy looked at him with a smile.
“I mean, it’s great to see that you’re destroying something that just goes nuts all the time. You were kinda in your right mind that you were noble on your targets. You only targeted those who had gone too far. I mean, I don’t know what Little Voice tells you all the time, but I’m glad you stopped listening to her. I gotta admit though: I’m really sorry about those sedatives and restraints back when you were nuts. But I’m glad you’re finally stopping it”
Brazy took that all in really well. She pretended to seem unaffected and gave a smile.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it” he said before leaving the room. “It’s finally all over”
________________________________________
Brazy thought back on those words. She had the knack for the Huntress job. At one point, she even felt it was right. She wasn’t just avenging for her Mistress’ ‘death’, she was stopping killers all around. She was putting an end to the reign of terror, and it even felt good at one point. Brazy looked down at the Agony Blade; it glimmered in the moonlight. She looked at her clock and saw it was nearly midnight. She held the weapon and tested it in the air. And at that, she knew it became clear.
“No, it’s never over, Strike” she said as something began to glow on her stomach. She looked down to see that it was on her stripe where the cutie mark should be. It glowed and then, slowly, a design began to appear. The flower on her collar underneath began to bloom. Those things would only happen once a Servant is about to gain their cutie mark. The glow finally stopped, and the flower bud on the collar bloomed into a Dill flower. Brazy had her cutie mark now on her stomach stripe, a heart with angel wings dripping with blood. Both the flower and cutie mark only meant one thing: Powerful Against Evil.
“After all, it is my Representing Trait” the young Huntress proclaimed.