Alex Mercer, The Blacklight virus. The prototype. Or as the military called him, Zeus. The being who had managed to kill the center of the infection what was currently spreading across Manhattan island, Elizabeth Greene. The being who had defied Blackwatch and the military, with the help of his sister, Dana, and a few others. Even super soldiers and a chemical gas known as bloodtox couldn't bring him down. The military was currently trying to nuke Manhattan, to stop the spread of the infection. The bomb being on a aircraft carrier known as the USS Reagan, which he had boarded.

Blackwatch had nearly managed to kill him by injecting him with a "cure" to the virus, which he managed to repel, thanks to a certain doctor known as Ragland.

His biggest mistake was re-using it against Greene by injecting it into her, making her body resist it and thus, creating a being known as the supreme hunter.

Said being was now kicking his ass.

He went flying across the aircraft carrier that he had boarded, hitting the floor hard. He winced slightly in pain and looked up to see the supreme hunter making its way over to him, killing marines and blackwatch on the way. It tried to trample him, but he managed to jump pack to his feet, dodging to the side.

Then he heard something that he didn't want to hear.

The bomb was going to explode in 30 seconds.

He'd forgotten about that thing while he was wrestling with this big fuck. He noticed that the marines and blackwatch troops were all being evacuated off of the ship.

"Oh shit, this isn't looking good."

He shapshifted his arm into its blade form and tried to cut the supreme hunter's arm off, but the thing wasn't having any of that. It grabbed his blade and threw him against the deck once again, causing him to tumble and fall onto his back. He winced again and then he heard it.

"10 seconds."

Before he could react, he felt something pull on him. Something tugging at his body.

Then whatever had a hold of him managed to blast him backwards.

"WHAT THE FUC..."

The last thing that he saw was the explosion of the ship and then...nothing. He felt nothing.

Everything went black.

Sat in her castle, Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship...

Was reading.

Nothing like a good book to pass the time, right?

She heard the door open slightly, causing her to cease her written adventure, making her frown a bit. She didn't like being pulled out of a book mid reading session.

Her expression softened as Spike, her assistant and best friend, came in. The little dragon walked over to her and sat next to her, peering at the book.

"What you reading this time, Twi?"

She smiled at his interest and closed the book, placing it on the table in front of her. "Oh, nothing new, really. Just re-reading some of the Daring Do books."

He rolled his eyes and smirked. "Them again, huh? When's the next one coming out?"

She walked towards the door and turned to face him, still smiling. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Could be a while. We've not had any contact with A.K. Yearling for a while now." She put her hoof on the door and opened it, glancing through the door at him. "I'm heading to Zecora's now like I said earlier to pick up some herbs. I shouldn't be too long. Take care!" And with that, she slammed the door shut, leaving Spike alone with the book. He walked over to the table, picked it up and brought it back to the chair with him. He opened up the book and chuckled. "Daring Do never gets old."

The Everfree forest. A place of solitude, a place of danger...

A place what currently was confusing Mercer.

He'd woken up in this place not too long ago. He had no idea where this place was or what it was, but something that he did know was that he had to get out of here. And fast.

"Gotta make it back to Manhattan..save Dana...save Manhattan..."

He stopped as his eyes widened in realisation.

He got pulled back by...something.

And then the bomb went off before he could stop it.

He screamed in rage and punched the ground so hard that it made a massive hole. His sister, Manhattan...all of it was gone. He had failed.

"Dana....no....I'm so sorry...I couldn't save you...I couldn't save Manhattan...I couldn't stop them..."

Suddenly, a roar came from behind him. An animalistic roar. He cut off his anger fueled thoughts and turned around.

To see a creature with what looked like the body of a lion, a scorpion's tail and a pair of wings what looked like dragon's wings from human folklore. He looked it at in shock and interest.

"The fuck is that thing? This another creation of the virus?"

It roared at him, charging him. He quickly reacted by jumping over it as it nearly collided into him. He looked at it and growled. He morphed his arm into its blade form and stared daggers at the creature.

"I don't know what you are, but I'm going to kill you."

Twilight sung to herself quietly as she made the trek into the Everfree forest. She knew how dangerous it was in here, but she didn't care. She was capable of handling herself when it comes to the creatures that lurked in there.

For the most part, anyway.

She eventually found the track to Zecora's house. She was about to start the walk towards it when she heard something that sent a chill up her spine.

A roar.

She turned around and stared in the direction where it had come from.

Whatever did that sounded like it was in pain.

Extreme pain.

She was about to turn back around until she heard it again. Only this time worse. Much worse.

And then she heard something that she didn't expect. A voice. A masculine voice. It sounded like it said something along the lines of "Hope you enjoyed that."

She had a look of confusion on her face. What said that? And what did it mean by it? Were some ponies in here? No, no one really went into the Everfree. And even if it was that...what was that roar?

Looking down and sighing, she turned once again towards the direction where she had heard all the commotion from. Her interest had raised too high now to simply ignore it. She galloped away, trying to find out what had made all of that noise.

The creature was now bleeding on the floor, having lost both of its front limbs, it slowly succumbing to its wounds. Mercer, having morphed his arm back into its original form, looked at the creature in interest. "Wonder what you are. You made a bad choice by trying to attack me, I'm afraid." He suddenly fell to one knee, breathing heavily. The fight with the supreme hunter earlier had weakened him severely. He needed to recover. He needed more biomass. He looked towards the now terrified creature what was still bleeding profusely on the ground.

Bingo.

He morphed his arm back into its blade form and with one mighty swing, cut the creature's head off, not even giving it enough time to make a noise. Tendrils emerged from his body, pulling in the large creature into his own body. Even though it was bigger than him, he still managed to consume it, making him fall to his knee once again, clutching his head. He saw its memories. It was known as a Manticore. Manticore...where had he heard that before? Greek myth?

He got to his feet and shook as his form changed. He roared as a pair of wings emerged from his back. He turned around to see that they looked like the Manticore's wings, except that they were covered in spikes and black biomass. He flapped the new addition to his form, lifting himself up into the air, testing them out. He landed back onto the ground and smirked. "Damn, didn't expect to get any new abilities. These babies will definitely come in handy."

Before he could think of what to do next, a sound came from in front of him. Something that sounded like...a horse galloping?

Galloping towards him.

He used his new wings to fly up to a nearby tree, perching on a branch, waiting for whatever it was to show up. After a minute or so, a being came into view. It resembled a pony...but it was a purple sort of colour with a...horn and wings?

He scoffed. "Where the fuck am I? Did I get sucked into a kid's show or something?"

He heard something from down below him that caught his attention. The thing was coughing, sounding like it wanted to vomit. He looked down to see that it had found the pool of blood that was previously the Manticore. He chuckled slightly.

"Seems like the thing doesn't like blood."

He thought on what to do. Should he kill this thing and consume it? He did need more biomass.

But then it spoke,

"What in the hay happened here?"

He stared at it in interest. Was he going crazy or did that thing just speak?

Infected creatures didn't speak. Apart from the supreme hunter, anyway and that was only because it was able to copy the voice of whoever it consumed.

A thought suddenly came to him. "If this thing is intelligent...maybe it can tell me where I am? And hopefully, how to get back to Manhattan." He knew it was a long shot, but what other choice did he have? He needed to get some answers. And if it wouldn't tell him what he wanted or was aggressive towards him, he could always just consume the thing and get his answers that way.

He heard a voice calling to him.

"Hey....hello? Can you hear me?"

He looked back down to the see that the horse was currently staring up at him in shock and interest.

"Well, fuck. That's my cover blown. Well done, Mercer."

He shook his head in frustration and jumped down, morphing his body into its original state. He didn't need the wings right now.

It stared at him, looking him up and down. "What...are you? Can you understand me?"

He stood up and raised his head to look at it. "Yup, I can. Before I answer you, what's this place called?"

It looked shocked at his response and slightly miffed off that he didn't answer its 1st question. It shook its head and looked at him again. "You're currently in the Everfree forest."

Mercer looked at the creature in confusion. Everfree Forest? He'd never heard of that before.

"Everfree Forest?"

The thing nodded. "Yes...but more importantly, as I already asked...what are you?

He cracked his neck, making the creature wince slightly. "Not really any of your business. I need to know how to get back to Manhattan."

It tilted its head in confusion.

"Man...hat...tan?"

Mercer facepalmed. "Ah screw this...why am I talking to a horse? I'll find my own way back."

He turned around and started to walk off, only to hear walk after him. He turned back around to face the creature and saw that it had an angry look on its face. Apparently wasn't very happy with his choice. "Now listen here, I don't know what you are and how you got here. I've never seen your species before and it's very clear that you are as confused as I am, but there's no need to be so rude. And anyway, the princess needs to be informed about any new species that ends up in Equestria, so I'd be grateful if you could at least tell me what your species is known as."

Okay, now this thing was really starting to annoy him. He gave off an annoyed snort. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but you're really starting to piss me off. I need answers as to how I got here and how to get back...and you're really not helping. Now, you can either back off or...actually, I could do with the extra biomass..."

He looked at it and smirked. It noticed this and backed away slowly, getting into a defensive stance. Its horn started to glow.

"I don't know what you mean by that, but I suggest that you stay back. I don't want to hurt you but I will not hesitate to defend myself if you try anything."

Mercer laughed and morphed his arms into their claw form, making the creature stare in disbelief and shake its head, slowly inching itself away from him. "Wha-t....what are you?"

He smiled. "Your end."

Author's Note

So, this idea sprang to me the other day. I've played Prototype so many times over the years and it's one of my favourite games. Thought I'd try and do a fanfic on it. Tell me what you think. See ya and take care, guys and gals.