Evolution

by Joker the Hedgehog

Rating: mature
Tags: Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Other, Thriller, Original Character, Prototype, Profanity, Adventure, Shining Armor, Violence, Crossover, Sex, Death, Human, Anthro, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 6282

After arriving in Equestria via unknown means, the infamous Alex Mercer aka The Prototype hounds the Traditionalists who killed Twilight Sparkle.

Character Theme: Indestructible by Disturbed

He doesn’t know how he ended up in this pastel-colored world full of mythical creatures and bipedal, talking horses who are, despite all scientific reason and evidence he’d obtained by consuming multiple scientists, capable of using magic. All he remembers was that he had been trying to hide from an onslaught of Blackwatch operatives in some old ruins in Ireland, and the next thing he knew, he’d ended up here, in Equestria, a land that had apparently gained a new leader by the name of Twilight Sparkle, one who seemed to be… less-than-popular in the public eye, despite many a noble, as well as himself, supporting her proposed reforms, as well as greatly reminding him of his sister, Dana.

And then, some coward had Twilight killed in her sleep.

Disgusted by this, and the fact that some had only shown up to the state funeral to spread more venom and propaganda, he swore vengeance upon the entire Traditionalist faction, and those who killed Twilight, especially after hearing what she was like from her son.

Back home, they called him many things. A killer. A monster. A terrorist. He was all of them. His name was Alex Mercer, also known as Zeus, or The Prototype. He was a man, once. Now he hunts. He kills. He consumes. He becomes. The memories of those he’s hunted have become his memories. He’s seen what they saw, knows what they knew.

And now, no one is safe from his wrath.

Co-written with/edited by: KyuubiMakai009.

Published 2018-08-27 20:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-12-13 03:37:01 UTC

The Death of Twilight Sparkle

Author's Note

Greetings Gotham, Joker here! Welcome to the official relaunch of my Assassinverse-Prototype crossover! Well, we've no time to waste, so let's get this party started!

The Death of Twilight Sparkle

My name is Alex Mercer. Back home, they call me a killer, a monster, a terrorist. Here, they call me a demon, an unholy creature sent from Tartarus by the late Princess Twilight Sparkle to enact her vengeance upon those who spat on her, despised her, or had a hand in her murder. I’m all of these things. That said, most of the ponies of Equestria know me as Lord Sirius Hex, a leading member of Equestrian Parliament and one of the wealthiest ponies in Equestria, one who saw the lucrative potential in certain aspects of Princess Twilight’s reforms, yet stood a firm stance against the bulk of them, such as interracial marriages and the common folk having a say in Parliament, in order to remain on the Traditionalists’ good side. An act, of course, all so I can hunt down those responsible for Twilight Sparkle’s murder.

I arrived in the land of Equestria several months ago, through unknown means while I was trying to escape from some Blackwatch troopers in some ruins up in Ireland, and as it turns out, a few days before the crowning of Twilight Sparkle, and, through the eyes of various ponies I’ve consumed, kept an eye on the land’s politics not long after. And I’m glad I did, for it gave me new targets to hunt down and consume. You see, I’m not a person anymore. I’m The Prototype. A creature with unimaginable strength and power, and an endless hunger for biomass.

Why don’t we track this from the beginning?

A purple anthro Alicorn with a dark blue mane and tail, both of which had a magenta stripe in them, entered one of the vast guest bedrooms within Canterlot Castle, a thoroughly depressed look on her face. She wore an elegant lavender dress, a pink diamond necklace, and brown sandals with heels. Upon her head was a golden tiara. This was Twilight Sparkle, recently-crowned Princess of Equestria… although, at the moment, she was wishing she was still an ordinary Unicorn, getting ready for bed in her old treehouse/library home, back before Tirek had smashed it to splinters… Back before she had to put up with all of this hatred and anger towards her and her politics.

I just don’t understand it… why do they hate me so much? thought Twilight as she striped down to her black bra and panties. It’s not like I’ve done anything horrible to them… I’m just trying to make sure that Equestria isn’t left behind in this ever-evolving world we live in now. I mean, right now Equestria is laughably out gunned, lovers of two different species can’t get married, no matter how much they want to, and the Council is made up of royals and nobles who only have interest in themselves rather than the common good.

As Twilight snuggled into the blankets and bedsheets, she felt a wave of hopelessness wash over her. Maybe I’m not meant to be a Princess of Equestria if this is how ponies are going to treat me… Maybe I should just step down…

No, Twilight. You can’t step down now. Do you really think all of this hatred will just go away because you’re not a Princess anymore? a stronger voice told Twilight deep in her subconscious

Immediately, Twilight reached into a bedside dresser drawer and pulled out three pictures. One of them was of her and her friends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. The second was of her and the other three Princesses, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, all of them looking very formal and elegant in their dresses. The third was a picture of a pegasus stallion with orange fur and a blue mane and tail wearing a Royal Guard dress uniform. This was Flash Sentry, Twilight’s secret coltfriend… although, she was starting to suspect that he was getting ready to propose to her.

Twilight thought for a moment about what this might mean for them, given all the hate she’d received. Flash must truly and deeply love her if he was willing to risk going through all of the same minotaur shit she’d been through… and if he wanted to start a family with her.

Twilight smiled. As long as she had this group of ponies by her side, she could take anything those naysayers and Traditionalists threw at her.

And with that, Twilight returned the pictures to the drawer, and closed her eyes… completely unaware of what was going on right under her muzzle.

“Well? Are we going to do this thing or what?” grumbled a voice in the shadows to one of its four fellows.

“Are you really sure about this? I mean, we’re about to MURDER A PRINCESS—”

“Shut up! Do you want to get us arrested?! Besides, we’ve got the one thing that can make our troubles that much easier.”

As the voice said this, a faint gleam of light from a shining blade appeared. A gasp was heard.

“Is that… is that really—”

“Orichalum. The boss stallion had this thing forged just for this sole purpose… Something about getting some mare drunk enough not to stand on her own two hooves or something like that. Anyways, this is our room.”

As the five shadowy figures reached the bedroom, they silently opened the door. There, sleeping soundly on the bed, was Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Well? Who wants the honors?” asked one of the voices.

“I’ll do it.”

“She’s all yours, Gallant.”

As the single figure crept silently into the room, the orichalum blade in his hand, they felt as though a huge weight was resting upon their shoulders. Finally, the figure clamped his hand down over Twilight’s nose and mouth, causing her to awaken.

“Get on her! Keep her down!”

As the other four figures held Twilight down, the princess tried to muster up some magic. However, before the princess could muster the magic to fend off her assassin, the orichalam blade slashed across her throat, cutting deep into her flesh. As blood gushed out of the wound in her throat, Twilight stared in horror at her attacker, unable to scream or even breathe as they continued to stab her. Finally, after a moment of fruitless struggling, Twilight went limp and cold, and her eyes turned glassy. She was dead.

“Good job, now let’s get the buck out of here!”

And with that, the five killers ran for it, leaving their handy work behind.

Princess Celestia, an anthro alicorn mare with alabaster fur and a mane that resembled the lush green fields, the open blue sky, and the pink of love and compassion, yawned and stretched as she woke up and climbed out of her vast four-poster bed and made her way over to the balcony on the other side. Stepping onto the cold white marble, Celestia channeled her energies and focused them at the blazing golden sunset. With seemingly no effort at all, Celestia raised the sun to such a position that gravity would be able to take care of the rest until sundown, where Luna would take over and raise her moon.

Celestia smiled. Looks like it’s gonna be a beautiful day… considering, she thought to herself, thinking back to all of her prized pupil’s troubles as of late. I don’t understand it. If these Traditionalists can’t bring themselves to trust Twilight, then why can’t they trust me? It’s not like I’m in any danger. If Twilight really wanted to seize control of Equestria, she would’ve done it by now, and considering how strong she already was as a unicorn, I don’t think Luna and I could handle her now as an alico-

Celestia’s inner dialogue was interrupted by a member of her guard bursting into her room, a mingled look of panic and embarrassment at seeing his leader in her nightclothes. “P-Princess C-C-C-Celestia… f-f-f-forgive m-m-m-me,” stammered the guard as he started to turn beet red.

Celestia frowned. What could’ve possibly happened to get this guard all worked up like this. “It’s all right, just tell me what’s wrong,” she said.

“I-I-I-I-It’s P-P-P-P-Princess T-Twilight… sh-she’s b-b-been… m-m-m-m-m-murdered!”

Celestia could almost hear the glass in her mind breaking into a million pieces. Part of her wanted to dismiss and demote the guard because of his lies… and yet, the look on his face and the way he was acting was very, very hard to fake.

“T-Take me to her,” said Celestia, doing her best to sound dignified.

The guard was taken aback. “Your Majesty, are you-” he began to say, only to be drowned out by Celestia’s anguished voice.

“TAKE ME TO HER, I NEED TO SEE HER!” wailed Celestia.

Nodding to show he understood, the guard led Princess Celestia out of her room and through the halls to Twilight’s room, where a small crowd had gathered, mostly consisting of royal guardsponies.

“Let me through! Let me through!” yelled Celestia.

The crowd made way for her. And then Celestia saw her. Her worst fears had been confirmed.

Princess Twilight Sparkle lay on her bed as a couple of guardsponies moved around her, examining the crime scene, while a third, who had orange fur and a dark blue mane and tail, sobbed uncontrollably and stroked Celestia’s pupil’s mane. Blood was splattered all over the bedsheets, and there was a dark slash across Twilight’s throat.

Princess Celestia couldn’t believe it. She closed her eyes and called upon a healing spell. Twilight’s injuries were repaired but the alicorn did not awaken. Celestia tried a shock spell. Twilight’s body shook and vibrated as though it’d received and electrical shock, but still she did not awaken.

No matter what the tear-soaked Princess Celestia tried, she could not get any response from her beloved student. Finally, she was forced to face the truth.

Twilight Sparkle had been slain in her sleep.

“Twilight… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” wailed Celestia as she fell to her knees and wept.

One Week Later...

At the request of Princess Celestia, the Pegasi Weather Patrol had made the sky almost completely hidden under a shroud of dark gray clouds that poured rain upon those adorned in black who’d arrived for the state funeral for Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia watched on as more and more ponies filed past the glass coffin that contained the purple princess, who looked so at peace, wearing her coronation gown, her hands forever holding a bouquet of enchanted flowers that wouldn’t wilt for a hundred years… and she couldn’t stop herself from weeping. She blamed herself for bringing this fate upon her most faithful student. If she hadn’t made her a Princess, none of this would have happened.

Finally, once everyone was seated before the large podium that had been set up, it was time for the eulogies.

"Fillies and gentlecolts... today, we are here to celebrate the life of one very special unicorn, who ascended to become an alicorn princess... only to be taken from us in such a cruel fashion," said Celestia, a glistening tear on her cheek as she began her speech, pausing a moment before she could find her voice. "Twilight Sparkle was... like a daughter to me. I remember the day I met her, the day of her entrance examination... she seemed so happy, so full of life, so eager to learn new things… I could use so many words but they would never be able to truly convey how wonderful she is…. except maybe stubborn. Once she was sure of something she set to it…. and perhaps loyal as well….. I-I’m sorry… forgive me.” Celestia said as she ran off the stage, tears falling behind her, along with Pinkie Pie and Luna.

Fluttershy, a butter yellow Anthro pegasus with a pink mane and tail clad in a black dress with matching heels, swallowed her pride and, with as much courage as she could muster, took the stage.

"H-Hi... I'm Fluttershy," murmured Fluttershy, her knees shaking from both fear and sadness. "T-Twilight... was... one of my... best... friends... and... I MISS HER SO MUCH!" she wailed at the top of her lungs, causing several ponies attending the funeral to jump. Mere moments later, Fluttershy passed out from both her stage fright and sadness. The rest of the funeral, compared to the beginning, however, was really quite uneventful.

Finally, it was time for Shining Armor to do his part… something that, no matter how many times he had to it, never got any easier: honor guard. Today, however, he wasn’t just saying good-bye to one of his comrades… he was saying goodbye to the baby sister he’d watched grow up from the day she was born.

“H-honor guard!” he barked, his voice choked up. As one, the guard ponies who stood in their black dress uniforms snapped to attention, their horns glowing. “Ready… aim… FIRE!” barked Shining Armor.

As one, the soldiers fired off colorful blasts of magic, which exploded into fireworks with a loud Boom!

“Ready… aim… FIRE!”

Boom!

“Ready… aim… FIRE!”

Boom!

“Ready… aim… FIRE!”

With the last Boom! Everypony began to depart the funeral and return to the castle for the funeral banquet. Not among them was Spike Sparkle, who was a well-built purple and green dragon as tall as a full-grown stallion, despite still being a teenager. He was clad in a black suit and tie as he approached his mother’s glass coffin and sank to his knees beside it, weeping.

“I promise you, Mom. I will get stronger and I will avenge you. I’ll make these Traditionalist bastards pay for what they’ve done to you with their lives,” Spike whispered once his tears had been reduced to dry sobs.

“And I’m sure you will, one day.”

Spike slowly looked up, and saw a being not dissimilar to the beings living in the world that magical mirror he and Twilight had once journeyed through so long ago walking towards him. Spike wasn’t familiar with the material his dark clothes were made from, but something about this stranger made Spike feel very uneasy, almost as though there was something off about him. Something bad. Something… evil.

Alex Mercer knelt down beside Spike and looked at him. Somehow, perhaps from someone he had previously consumed, he knew the pain the young dragon was feeling. It was the pain of losing the only family you’d ever known. Truth be told, Alex himself didn’t really know why he had attended this Twilight Sparkle’s funeral. Part of him thought it was because it was what everyone else was doing, but another, perhaps more secluded, part of him thought that it was because there was something familiar about this creature.

“You, uh, you take after your father?” Alex asked Spike.

“What? N-no,” said Spike, sniffling as he spoke. “Twilight’s not my birth mother. She adopted me after she hatched me as part of her entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“Ah, I see. Why don’t you tell me more about her? It might make you feel better.”

Spike heaved a sigh and began to tell this dark stranger all about his mother, about the adventures they’d been on, the friends they made, the foes they’d vanquished, and Twilight’s ascendency to Princesshood.

And that, according to Spike, was went things went downhill in a hurry. Once she had been made a Princess, she started pushing for reforms that would allow the common folk to have a say in what goes on in the Equestrian Parliament, replace Equestria’s strictly magical lifestyle with a more technological one, and allow lovers of two different species to get married, among other things. Needless to say, this did not go over well with a large amount of the population, namely most of the Nobles whose families had been in power for centuries, although several of the more Noble houses actually supported Twilight’s reforms. The hatred of the fraction of what had become known as “The Traditionalists,” had nearly all but broken Twilight. And then, only a week prior, Twilight had been slain in her sleep by rogue guards on the payroll of some Traditionalist.

As Alex listened to Spike’s story, he began to feel as though this Twilight Sparkle was some kind of alternate version of his sister, Dana; both of them were highly intelligent, had a strong focus to do the right thing, and were fiercely loyal to those they considered their friends. As these similarities surfaced, Alex felt a growing hatred for the Traditionalists build up within him. Once Spike had finished his story, Alex turned the young drake to look at him.

“Listen to me. I swear on my life that I hunt down the ones who killed your mother, the ones who hired them, and pretty much everyone you hate in this world, and send them off to Hell. I will search this entire Goddamn planet if I have to. And one day, when you’re older and you’re ready, you can help me to do it. Understand?” said Alex with the utmost seriousness in his voice.

Spike gazed into this strange being’s eyes, feeling slightly unnerved by what he had just said, and nodded to show he understood.

Before Alex could say anything further, a female voice called out, causing Spike to look behind him.

“Spike! Come in! You’ll catch cold out there!”

“That’s my aunt, I-” said Spike as he looked back to Alex.

Only to find that he was talking to air.

Later that evening, a white furred unicorn stallion with a black mane and tail wearing a dark suit and tie sat in the back of his luxury car, which was en route back to Manehattan, looking out the window with an almost bored expression on his face. Lord Sirius Hex had found it a waste of time to even attend that false princess’ funeral. So, during the eulogies, he had his time spent time gossiping and spreading propaganda with his fellow Traditionalists. In truth, the only reason he had even bothered going was because there had been a funeral banquet. If not for that, he wouldn’t have bothered.

So immersed was Hex within his thoughts about the waste his day had been that neither he nor his driver noticed the long rope of black and red biomass stretched out in front of the road like a tripwire until it was too late. The vehicle flipped over the rope of biomass and continued to tumble three more times before coming to a rest upside down in a nearby ditch.

Groaning and crying out in pain, Hex cast a glance to the driver’s seat to find that his driver was already dead. Unbuckling his seatbelt, Hex began crawling his way out the shattered window. However, a moment later, he quickly realized there was someone walking towards him.

“HELP! PLEASE, HELP ME!” Hex begged of the figure approaching him, only to be thrown for a complete loop when the figure, clad in a black and red jacket with a gray hood, a white shirt, blue jeans, and black and white sneakers, grabbed him by the throat and dangled him in the air, high above his head.

“There’s no help to be had for you. But, there’s something I need you for,” Alex Mercer said, only to get a gag and a wheeze in response from Hex, causing Mercer to smirk. “I’m going to assume you just asked me what it is I need you for. Well, from what I saw at the funeral and that mouthwatering banquet today, you seem awfully chummy with these Traditionalist motherfuckers. I’ll need to use that chumminess in order to identify, hunt down, and consume the rest of your ilk, starting with those responsible for Miss Sparkle’s murder. In other words…” Alex continued as reddish-black tendrils emerged from his sides and attached themselves to Hex.

“I need you to be my mask.”

Making A Statement

Several Hours Later...

Lord Sirius Hex walked through the front doors of his mansion, and was immediately greeted by several servants and assistants, each expressing his or her relief that he had not only survived, but not been injured in his terrible accident. However, Hex could see in each of his servant’s eyes that they had been truly and deeply hoping he’d died in the crash.

If only they knew that their wishes have come to pass, Hex thought as he made his way towards the Master Bedroom. “I am not to be disturbed this evening. I’ve had a very trying day, and the last thing I need is for somepony to bother me while I’m trying to recover,” Hex instructed.

“Sir, this just aired live,” said one of Hex’s assistants as they turned on a large television. It showed a pony Hex immediately recognized as Princess Celestia, who seemed to be holding a press conference.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle may be gone, but I shall make sure that she is never forgotten. Therefore, let this be the final word in the debate that I strongly believe to be the cause for my apprentice’s death; I am taking Executive Action. Henceforth, the Twilight Sparkle Act is hereby made the law of the land,” said Celestia, as multiple reporters, politicians, and maybe a few civilians started shouting questions, stunned disbelief, and who-knew-what else at their leader, whose voice could still be heard over all the ruckus. “Every single one of Princess Twilight’s reforms are hereby approved and are now forevermore Equestrian Law. Twilight’s struggle to help make Equestria better and stronger in this ever-changing world shall not have been for nothing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve had a very exhausting day and I can practically hear my bed calling my name. This conference is adjourned,” said Celestia before she walked off the stage, tears visible on her face as she met up with and conversed with what seemed to be Princess Luna before the news anchor reappeared.

Hex’s servants and assistants looked at their boss. Hex, for his part, simply stood there, apparently at a loss for words. Finally, when Hex spoke, his voice was strained with effort to maintain control of himself.

“W-well, I do agree with Princess Celestia on one thing,” Hex said, shaking with anger. “I am very, very tired, so if you’ll excuse me, I will retire to my bedroom. Good night to you all.” With that, he entered his bedroom and locked the door.

As soon as he was sure that the assistants had left the area, Hex’s body rippled with biomass and reverted into his true identity as none other than Alex Mercer, a broad smirk on his face at the thought of how easily he had fooled Lord Hex’s assistants. Or rather, his assistants now, he supposed.

All the same, Celestia just set a match next to a powder keg. It won’t be long before it explodes if somebody doesn’t do something to control the Traditionalist mobs, thought Mercer as he flopped down on the massive and extremely comfortable King-Sized bed. Unless he was very much mistaken, someone had put warming pans between the sheets. Any man or pony probably would’ve fallen asleep right then and there. But, Alex Mercer wasn’t a pony, nor was he even a man anymore. He was Zeus, The Prototype, an Evolved. He was the genetic destiny of mankind and quite possibly ponykind, and thus, he no longer slept. He never ate, biomass aside. He never drank. And he was nigh invulnerable. Even a point-blank blast from a nuke had defeated him for the better part of three hours before he regenerated from a splatter of biomass.

Alex looked out the window, towards the moon. He wondered if the real Alex Mercer’s sister, Dana, was awake yet and how Manhattan was getting along after the viral outbreak that had occured when he busted Elizabeth Greene out of Gentek. Admittedly, he missed Dana, almost like she was actually his own sister. After a few moments of simply lying in the bed, listening to the various voices and whispers of those he’d consumed over the last few months, Alex began to feel restless. Finally having enough, he propped up a few pillows to simulate a body, opened a nearby window, climbed out and clung to the ledge long enough to close the window behind him before dropping to the ground before running across the lawn and vaulting over the security fence before any of the mansion’s perimeter guards knew what had blown past them.

Downtown Manehattan — Knave of Clubs Bar and Tavern

“ANOTHER!” Rainbow yelled in a slurred tone as she slammed her wooden mug to the ground, causing it to break into splinters. “I ain’t drunk yet…”

In truth, yes she very much was, but she just wasn't in the mood to care. Twilight's death hit the cyan mare hard — hell, it hit everypony hard in their circle of friends. Twilight was their friend, almost family even. Even her ascension into an Alicorn Princess hadn't changed that. All it did was make Rainbow glad to have a new flying buddy.

But recently, things hadn't been so hot between the two of them. On the day she died, Rainbow Dash had gone to Twilight, asking her to use her newfound role and authority to get her into the Wonderbolts. Twilight had refused, of course, and the two of them had had a big fight over the issue. Tempers had risen, and things had admittedly gotten a little heated between them.

The last words Rainbow had ever said to Twilight had been “I hate you!”

Now, she was never going to get the chance to fix things between them, thanks to the bucking Traditionalists who couldn’t see that Twilight was just trying to help make things better for all of Equestria. So, here she was, trying to drink away her sorrows and regrets in a rundown bar.

“Ma’am, you've had TEN drinks over the last few minutes. If I let you keep going, you’re going to get alcohol poisoning,” the bartender said as he denied Dash her drink.

“I-I’ll tells ya… I’m an Element of Harmony and a future Wonderbolt. Ya ain’t gonna deny me this,” Rainbow snarled as she tried reaching for a drink, but the bouncer grabbed her.

“I think it’s time you left, ma’am,” he told Rainbow before taking her to the door and shoving her out of the pub and into the pouring rain.

“Y-yeah?! WELL, BUCK YOU TOO!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she tripped over herself and fell into a mud puddle. With a little bit of effort, she pulled herself out of the ground and, much too drunk to even think of flying, started making her way down a nearly empty street in the direction she thought the hotel she was staying at for the Wonderbolts Show was in.

Unbeknownst to Rainbow as she stumbled her way towards her hotel, she was being followed by a group of thugs who had seen Rainbow stumbling around and recognized her instantly as somepony who was awfully chummy with that dead bitch Twilight Sparkle, and had been paid to rough her up in case she got any ideas about trying to push for support for the purple bitch’s changes, having no clue about the press conference Celestia had just held… and it didn’t help that they found her to be extremely attractive despite her disheveled state. Although Rainbow, through her drunken haze, was quick to pick up on her followers after they started calling after her and attempted to run faster, trying to get her wings going as she did, only to trip and fall flat on her face as her pursuers picked her up off the ground, pushing her around and tearing her clothing while barking like dogs and making smooching sounds.

“Help! Somepony please, help me!” called Rainbow Dash.

A male voice nearby cleared his throat loudly enough to be heard by the attackers, who turned in his direction. It was a strange bipedal creature that wore a black leather jacket with a grey hood and a white shirt and tan vest underneath, blue denim jeans, and black steel-toed boots.

“Let. The girl. Go,” Alex Mercer said, his voice soft yet heavily laced with menace.

“Oh, yeah? How’s about you make us, freak?!” one of the thugs snarled while the others continued to push Rainbow Dash around.

Alex heaved a sigh. “I was really hoping we could settle this the easy way, and that I wouldn’t have to paint the city red with your blood… but I guess we’ll have to settle this the fun away,” he said, before he called upon the Whipfist and impaled the pony who’d spoken in the throat with the spike on the end, despite being several feet away. The Blacklight being pulled him in, absorbing his biomass into himself and assimilating his memories, and by extent, causing the rest of his victim’s crew to freak out, completely horrified.

“What the Tartarus is that thing?!” yelled one of the other thugs.

“Did that thing seriously just eat Low Rider?!” cried another.

“Kill it!” yelled a third thug before pulling out a knife and tried bum-rushing Alex, who simply smirked as he transformed one of his hands into a claw before grabbing the idiot by the skull, crushing it into powder before consuming his victim.

“What else you got?” Alex asked the remaining thugs as his arm returned to normal, all of whom had dark patches on the front of their pants.

The thugs took one look at each other before taking off as fast as they could, throwing each other behind themselves in an attempt to escape this demon. Unfortunately for them, there WAS no escape, as Alex turned both his hands into Whipfists and launched them at the remaining thugs, impaling them before reeling them in and consuming them.

His enemies dealt with, Alex turned his attention to Rainbow Dash, who had apparently been scared sober and had the blood from the first thug that Alex had killed splattered on her. Meeting Mercer’s gaze, Rainbow closed her eyes as tightly as she could, knowing for sure this was game over for her, and thinking Twilight, I’m sorry… please, forgive me.

“Hey, you okay?” asked Alex. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Cautiously, Rainbow opened one eye and saw that Alex was looking down at her, his face cold and cruel. And yet, Rainbow Dash got the feeling that he was telling the truth when he said that he meant her no harm.

“Y-yeah…” said Rainbow in the smallest of squeaks. “Y-yeah, I’m okay…”

“Good. Get yourself some place safe. I’ve got other matters to attend to,” said Alex as he turned and walked away.

As Mercer walked away and before she could stop herself, Rainbow Dash blurted out, “What are you?”

Mercer froze in his tracks at Rainbow’s outburst, turning his head slightly to look over his shoulder at her. “Call me… Zeus. Now, get to safety. I’ve got a message to send to those who hired your attackers,” said Mercer before he began his explanation. “They were hired by the Traditionalists to try and dissuade you from following in Twilight Sparkle’s footsteps.”

“H-how do you know that?” asked Rainbow.

“I can see what they saw, I know what they knew. Their memories are now my memories. Now, Miss Rainbow Dash, I believe I told you to get to safety, so go! I don’t want you getting caught in the crossfire.”

Rainbow wasn’t even gonna bother asking how Zeus knew her name, but under the gaze he gave her, she simply nodded and finally managed to get her wings going as she took to the skies, albeit not very well due to still being fairly drunk. Alex watched the blue pegasus fly away until she was safely out of sight.

Not a moment later, however, Alex heard the sound of a gun being cocked behind him. A nagging feeling told Mercer that whoever was behind him was some form of law enforcement officer, most likely having responded to the screams of the thugs and Rainbow Dash.

“Hands behind your head and get down on the ground!” demanded the cop behind Alex, who had his sidearm drawn and had his hand on his radio. “Charlie Nineteen to Central, I’ve got a weird one for the holding cells. Looks like some kinda—AAAAAAAAAAAAARRGHHH!!!” the cop screamed as Alex turned on his heel at incredible speeds, grabbed the hand the gun was in, crushed the bones in it to powder as evidenced by the torrent of blood that was leaking down it as he forced the gun back on its owner, and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through the cop’s neck. The unfortunate stallion fell to the ground dead as his nearby partner freaked out and began to radio for backup.

Almost instantly, several more police cars including a S.W.A.T. truck pulled up to face Mercer, who couldn’t help but laugh as S.W.A.T. officers poured out to face him.

“You sure you wanna do this?” Alex asked the gathered police officers as he called upon his claws once again.

The response he got was a hail of gunfire from the cops. Of course, being an Evolved, the bullets did next to nothing to him. Alex raised one of his claws and stabbed the bladed digits into the ground, sending a wave of biomass through the stone and concrete, before it erupted into a set of massive spikes that impaled nearly all the cops and several civilians who’d grown curious, thus almost instantly sending the area into a state of panic and chaos.

Retracting his Groundspikes, Alex marched towards the two remaining, though severely injured officers, both of whom were trying to call in the military to stop Mercer as news reporters arrived on the scene and started filming the action. Alex stopped in his tracks at the sound of what were unmistakably helicopter rotors and tanks heading towards him. He could already hear the conversations between the two pilots of the helicopters.

“Seriously, though? Two combat helicopters and a couple of tanks just to take down one guy?”

“Have you even been listening to the radio chatter? Besides, look down around you! See the carnage?! The dismembered bodies?!”

Alex smirked as he grabbed a nearby car, picked it up as though it were nothing more than a toy, and threw it at one of the helicopters, sending it into a tailspin to the ground while the second opened fired, knocking Alex off his feet, only for Mercer to roll and land on his feet once again, just as a tank launched a shell directly behind him, knocking him forwards. Glancing nearby, Alex saw the smallest hint of a sunrise approaching.

Damn. Guess fun time’s over… Time to end this, said Alex as he began to charge up one of his so-called Devastators, the tendril barrage. A massive number of tendrils burst forth from Alex’s body in all directions, demolishing the tanks, the remaining helicopter, and everything else within a fifty-foot radius, before retracting back into his body.

Looking around at the devastation, Alex gave a satisfied smirk before he spotted a news camera nearby, apparently undamaged by the attack. The cameraman who had been holding it, however, was torn to shreds. Reaching down, Alex picked up the camera and checked that it was still transmitting its feed, before pointing the lense to where it showed his hooded face.

“Heed my warning, you Traditionalist bastards. The assassination of Twilight Sparkle in her sleep has brought my wrath down upon you and your ilk. No matter how hard you hit me, I will hit back ten times as hard. My name is Alex Mercer. You, however, can call me Zeus, a name befitting the closest thing to a God anypony in this nation will ever see, including Celestia and Luna. I am less than a pony, but also so very much more. And I am here to bring about your destruction.”

With that, Alex crushed the camera like an empty soda can, before heading into a dark alleyway, shifting into the form of one of Rainbow Dash’s attackers. Turning a corner, Alex strode away with his hands in his pockets, completely undetected as he whistled a merry little tune.

Meanwhile, perched on a nearby rooftop, Rainbow Dash, for some unknown reason and despite having a horrified expression on her face at all the destruction, found herself extremely attracted to the being who had not only saved her life, but had caused an insane amount of destruction and killed dozens of civilians and law enforcement officers, all apparently to send a message to the Traditionalists that had killed her best friend. And she, for some bizarre, perverted reason, was in love with it all. Then again, maybe it was the booze making her think this way. However, at the moment, all she could think about was one thing.

Twilight… what in the name of Faust Almighty have you unleashed upon us all?

Author's Note

Okay, the finalized version of Chapter Two has been completed! My co-author and I have been having some issues getting together so we can work on both of our Prototype projects, and right now its time to work on his story, which I'm still waiting to get the doc for. In any case, be sure to like, fav, follow, and comment! And remember: dying is easy, comedy is hard!