Chapters This was a familiar feeling. My arms and legs were chained to the walls, the sprinklers were on to keep me from summoning my ghost, I was gagged to keep me from using my paralytic voice, and I was blindfolded. Must've finally been taken off the tranquilizers. I couldn't tell for how long it had been since this started, I just knew that it started on a mission out in Afghanistan, when I discovered I was an Ajin. I'd heard about them before. People who couldn't die. I had felt bad for them, forever unable to leave this world behind once their time came, to not be bound by the sufferings of the world. Even worse still was that they were dehumanized by both the government and the media. Any Ajins that had been discovered were likely being tested on.
When I'd been shot in the head in an ambush, I'd been surprised to wake up with a gasp, and resumed fighting with my even more surprised comrades. They didn't say a word about it until after we'd wiped out the insurgents, but back at camp, they asked me a slew of questions. I answered them the best I could, and prayed they wouldn't turn me in. My faith was rewarded, as they never said a word to anyone.
My luck ran out when a new guy joined the squad to replace a dead squadmate. When he saw me come back after taking 5 rounds to the chest, he reported me instantly. When the containment unit came, I dropped my gun, and gave up. They may be taking me in for who knew what, but they were still brothers, brothers who had family. I couldn't shoot them, but I should have run when I had the chance.
The door opened for the first time in forever, and in came frenzied footsteps, "Don't worry, I'm here to save you. I'll get you out." Came a masculine voice. I heard the chains being snapped by bolt cutters, one by one as I was freed.
I took off my gag and blindfold, and gave him a quick thanks. He nodded only once, and told me to follow him. I didn't really have a choice. He knew this facility, and I highly doubted that this would be a trap.
On the other side of the door, were some clothes on a table, and a bunch of scientific monitoring systems that were beyond me.
"Quick, put on those clothes, and let's get out of here. Today's Christmas, so most of the staff are at home, but there's still a skeleton crew, and we can't get caught."
I grunted in response, and started putting on the clothes. I had to hand it to this guy, he picked out some really good clothing. Cushy socks that breathed, steel toed combat boots, standard Marine combat pants, a white t-shirt, underwear, long spandex underwear, a heavy brown coat, a black neck warmer that would cover my neck and my face up to my nose, a pair of black tinted shades, a short brimmed military styled black hat, and fingerless black gloves. I would be well disguised for traveling.
"Done? Good. Let's get going. Once we're safe, I'll give you the rest of what you'll need. Come on!"
We left the facility, sneaking our way through the many corridors into the garage, where we got into a van, and left in a hurry.
We drove on for a few hours, and arrived at an abandoned warehouse, "Ok, this is it. Knock on the door 5 times, pause, and knock once more. When they ask, tell them your name, and they'll let you in."
I put a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a smile, "Thank you, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."
He smiled back, and nodded. I hopped out of the van, walked up to the closest door, and followed his instructions. Inside, I met a wiry man who carried a pump shotgun, and looked at me with sympathy in his eyes. He directed me down a few hallways into an almost empty room. Inside, was a man behind a table that had a large duffle bag on it.
"Have a seat." He gestured at a chair opposite to him, and I sat in it.
"Ed, do you know who we are?" I shook my head, "We are the Ajin Rights Movement. Largely, we provide safety for Akins that may have been discovered, and we work to achieve the basic human rights we deserve.
"Right now, I'm here to lay out the options we have for you. Would you like to hear them?" I nodded with a stoney face, "Alright. Well, the simplist, and also least helpful, is that we send you on your way without anything more. I doubt you want that option. The second option, is little better. It being, we give you some supplies like money, food, water, a fake ID, and a weapon or two if you want. We could even direct you to Russia for sanctuary. Despite their reputation, they actually have nothing against Ajins like most of the world seems to have. They have granted sanctuary before, and have said as much that they will continue to. The third is much more complicated and will take a while. That being, we create an entirely new persona for you. Fake birth certificate, Social Security card, plastic surgery to change your looks, the entire works, and house you while you rebuild your life. The last option, one I would hope you'd choose, would be for you joining our cause I'm working behind the scenes. You won't have to do anything you don't want to, though we'd still expect you to at least help out. So, which option would you like to take?"
I was stunned at the depths that these people said they would take to keep me safe. But one question dominated my mind, "How can you afford all of that?"
He smiled, "We're Ajins, we can regenerate organs if they're removed. We sell those off to groups who are more than willing to buy them from us at very genorous prices. So what'll it be?"
I had already made up my mind. I wanted to do most of this on my own, and there were a few people I wanted to visit, "Option two. What can you spare?"
I had to admitt, those other Ajins were pretty nice people. Back when I still watched the news, they had made Ajins out to be heartless. But these guys had done me a massive favor. A nearly perfectly sharp Ka-BAR knife (a Marines best friend) and a classic M1911 .45 Colt pistol. It was simply made, but the stopping power behind the heavy bullet made me feel safe. They'd even given me a hefty sum of money, as well as fake IDs and a passport.
Now, I was outside my wife's house. It had been nearly 7 months since I'd been captured, and standing here, at the lip of the driveway, I was struggling to not cry, not run away, and not just crash through the door all at the same time. Instead, I just had this goony looking smile on my hidden face as I tried to act as normal as I could walking up to our front door.
I wonder if Kyle is going into kindergarten yet. Does he remember me? I wasn't around a lot before I... we knew what I was. Always taking tours in the Middle East.
I had arrived at the door. Steeling myself, I knocked firmly on the door, and waited. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but the door eventually opened to Jackie. My wife.
"Yes? Can I help you?" She asked.
Smiling and crying at the same time, I pulled down my neck warmer and pulled off my sunglasses, "I guess you could say that." Her face broke my heart. She looked absolutely terrified.
"What's wrong honey?" I asked, starting to feel a little afraid myself.
She whimpered, "Please don't hurt me!" I felt like I died a little inside.
I stuttered out a confused, "W-what? Why would I? Jackie, it's me, Ed! Your husband. Remember?"
She cringed away, but didn't close the door, "Please, just go away you-you monster!"
Another part of me died. All those months, the only thing I'd thought about was her and Kyle. And now she was afraid of me for what I was.
"Jackie, you're hurting me. I'm the same Ed you fell in love with. I'm the same Ed that fell in love with you. I still love you. I'd never hurt you. Don't you know that?"
She shook her head angrily, "Just go away!" And slammed the door in my face. I stood there for a second, stunned and crying.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, "Jackie, I don't know why you're afraid of me, but... I won't give you a reason to be. If you want me to leave, I'll leave. I love you."
I stepped away from the house, and walked down the street, donning my disguise, and openly weeping.
It was snowing heavily, but I didn't care. I'd been walking for days now, not having stopped the whole time. I felt empty, without hope. This must be what it felt like to be dead inside.
Police sirens screamed from behind me. I didn't pay much mind to it, even as it stopped right behind me.
The doors opened, and a man yelled, "Freeze!" I stopped, and turned to face the officer. The officer was wearing a winter jacket of the police department, and pointing a 9 millimeter at me.
"Can I help you?" I asked with a broken voice. A shot ran out, the zip of a bullet passing by my ear. I immediately dropped to the ground while drawing out my pistol. Officers were good at their jobs, but they were a far cry from being crack shots.
My own pistol roared out a response, sending a bullet straight into his leg. He cried out in pain as he collapsed, clutching his leg.
Unthinking, I went over to him, and applied a turnaquit to keep him from bleeding out. I went to his car, radioed in his position, and booked it.
I was sitting in a small snow cave I'd dug on a hill. I was cold, but it didn't matter. When you can't die, very little does. I yawned, and confident I wasn't going to be found, let myself fall asleep.
*Meanwhile: in Equestria*
The Elements of Harmony had Discord surrounded, and the Princesses had managed to disable his Chaos magic. Bored, he listened to the little upstart, Twilight, drone on about how he had been wrong in his attempt to use friendship for his own personal gain.
He knew that for the moment, he was beaten, but that would matter very little. For he had one last trick up his sleeve.
"And now, we banish you to stone Discord!" Twilight finished her speech, charging up her horn and beginning the spell.
"Alright fine, but you should know one last thing."
Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof, "Yeah? And what's that?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just that I helped a race of creatures from another planet into space exploration. When I told them about you, they seemed very interested in taking over. I believe their exact words were, 'We'll wipe them out of existence.' They're called humans and come from a violent planet called Earth. Look a little like you, only without any fur or a muzzle."
And the spell finished, sending a blast of a rainbow charging at Discord, sealing him in stone, preserving a disturbing smile.
Ed
I woke up from a nightmarish dream of a monster made of many animals laughing at me. I was so terrified, that I immediately rushed out of my snow cave, and ran deeper into the forest. I didn't have a destination, I just ran. I ran and ran, ignoring every sensation besides my terror of the dream.
My foot caught on a root, and I was sent flying into a snowdrift. Instead of hitting the cold snow, I smashed into a hard surface that broke my nose.
Bleeding profusely, and letting out a few choice curses, I picked myself up, and looked at where I'd fallen.
Cobblestone? Where'd all the snow go? Someone put their hand on my shoulder.
"Teleportation spell not going the way you planned?" A soft, feminine voice asked. It sounded as though she was trying to console a child.
"Ha ha, very funny." I replied sarcastically.
"I wasn't being sarcastic. Many Earth... wait, where's your tail?"
Tail? I turned to look at the lady, and immediately got over my irritation as my entire mind shut down. It looked vaguely like a human, except it was covered in purple fur, had a horn and wings, giant expressive eyes, a muzzle, and a long tail. Might I add that this creature was naked, and had mammory glands? Granted the fur covered them, but she was still naked.
Finally, my mind caught up with my eyes, and cofusion addled my mind.
"What... are you?"
She tilted her head, just as confused as me, "Uh, an alicorn?"
"Huh?"
"A pony with the strength of a Earth pony, the magic control of a unicorn, and the wings and abilities of a Pegasus. You aren't from around here, are you?"
Standing myself up, I shake my head, "N-no. In fact, I haven't the slightest clue of where I am. 'Ponies' like you don't exist where I'm from."
"Oh, where's that then?"
"Earth."
Her face paled, "You wouldn't happen to be a human, would you?"
I wondered how she could know that, seeing as how I couldn't possibly be on Earth anymore, but I let that slip from my immediate concerns. If she knew what humans were, maybe she could send me back!
"Yeah! How'd you know? Are there more humans like me here?" She didn't answer me though. Instead, she retreated back several steps, yelled for the guards, and a strange light began to surround her horn.
"What? What'd I say?" Again, she didn't answer me. The light from her horn fired at me, slamming into my body with the force of a cannonball, sending me flying across the street into a heap.
I moaned, clutching what I knew were broken ribs. I coughed up some blood, which probably meant that one of my ribs had punctured a lung. I weakly pulled down my neck warmer to get the blood drenched cloth away from my mouth.
While I laid in the street, hooves clopped up to me, "For conspiring against Equestria, you are hereby under arrest, human ."
"Fuck man, I just got here!" I gasped out. There was an impact against my head, and my vision faded out.
I jumped awake in the telltale fashion of having just died. Initially, I was confused. What had I died from? What happened? Then it started trickling in. The purple ali-whats-it, the horn blasting me, the strike to the head. I must've died from internal bleeding.
I opened my eyes to discover darkness. Only now did I recognize the feeling of cloth covering my eyes, and strong ropes holding me down into a chair. At least I wasn't gagged.
"HELP! SOMEBODY! PLEASE!" I struggled against my bindings, only to find that they had been expertly tied, leaving me no room to move my arms from my body.
A rusty door creaked open, and slammed shut just as a clopping sound of hooves could be heard approaching me.
A masculine voice seemed to almost chuckle, as though he couldn't believe his luck, "Well, well, well! I what do we have here? It looks like one of the scumbags that wants to invade our country."
"I don't even know where I am or what the hell you- GAH!" I was struck in the gut, hard. It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my stomach. I coughed and wheezed, trying to recover from the blow. For some reason, it reminded me a little about hand to hand combat training. When someone sees a strike coming, they can act any number of ways to lessen the blow. But if someone doesn't see it coming, they can't react, so all the force of the punch connects with the target.
Whoever it was, growled, "You don't get to ask questions. That's my job. If I don't hear what I want to hear, I'm going to beat out of you."
"I haven't done anything, I swear!" I cry desperately. I feel another impact, this time to my ribs. The bone didn't crack, but it would certainly bruise.
"You and I both know that's not true." He whispers into my ear, "We know that Discord gave you humans the ability to travel through space, and that he told you all about Equestria."
I cough, "What the hell's Equestria?"
This time, he hits me in the jaw. I could feel my teeth being ripped out of my gums, and hear the clatter of bone on cement. I let my head duck forwards, and shoved out the teeth that hadn't left my mouth.
"Now are we gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way?" I spat a bloody glob towards the voice, and was rewarded with the sounds of disgust coming from my tormentor.
"Fuck. You. Monster." I gasped out.
"The hard way it is then."
I soon found myself in an odd position. My arms were clasped in irons, and splayed out tightly enough to hold me slightly aloft. I don't remember how I got here, but I was almost positive that I hadn't fallen asleep.
"Let's get started shall we?" The voice from earlier asked, "When is the invasion scheduled to begin?"
I remembered the Geneva conventions rules about what a captured soldier was required to say when in captivity. Name. Rank. ID number.
"Ed Murchov. Private First Class. 638-20-6712."
A whip cracked, and heat irradiated off my back. I groaned at the pain, but didn't cry out. I wouldn't let them have that.
"When is the invasion?" The whip cracked again, and more heat developed across my back. I repeated my montra. Another whip crack.
"I don't care about whatever that is, I want to know when the invasion will begin! Tell me!" The whip lashed out at me several more times, eventually to where I lost count. I just knew that my entire back had to be torn apart. The whipping finally ended with the sounds of panting. Exhausted panting.
"What's wrong, pretty pony ? All tuckered out from your little tantrum? Take my word for it, there is no invasion. Humanity will forever be stuck on Earth."
"Horse- *heave*- apples!" He gasped.
I snorted, "Is that all you have for a curse? Grow a pair of balls ya bastard." He hit me where the whip had bitten me.
I laughed, "That almost tickled! What's the matter? Run out of gas, pretty boy?" That was a lie. It really hurt like all 7 levels of Hell was burning my back, but I just wanted to piss the guy off.
He growled angrily, "Your turn Glint." The voice said, as his feet (or hooves, I guess?) clip-clopped on the ground. The creaky door opened, and in came someone new.
"My my, look at you. You have quite the collection of scars over the years haven't you?" The voice was soft and seductive, and it sent shivers up my spine, "I bet you have quite an impressive amount of pain endurance. As well as," she got up real close to my ear, and whispered, "endurance."
Oh, she wasn't going where I thought she was going. "You know, if you'd only tell us what you knew about the invasion, you could have me all to yourself. I know you can't see me, but I'm quite the attractive mare."
She did. "Two things. One, I'm married. Second, you're terrible at playing good cop bad cop. I know that you wouldn't let me screw you, no matter how interested in me you act. I know you all hate me. And before you even try to ask, no. There is no invasion planned, I've never heard of anyone named Discord until you brought me here, and even if there was some way, some impossible way, that humans managed to find their way here, and even more impossibly that I somehow knew, what makes you think that I would tell you anyways? I'm a grunt, not some high ranking general."
I heard a huff, "And how do we know you're telling the truth?"
I shout in exasperation, "THEN WHAT'S THE POINT OF ME BEING HERE IF YOU WON'T BELIEVE A WORD I SAY!!!!"
"Because we know that your kind will be invading our home any day now."
That... that was funny. Any country, at all, managing to assemble an invasion force, on an unknown planet, and launching that invasion in only a few days? I burst out laughing, something I hadn't done in recent memory.
"You're serious? Lady, the officers back home could barely decide on the location of a fucking latrine without the help of their sergeants, much less an invasion. Plus, no military in their right minds would ever invade a country they don't know the terrain of. Even if they're using outdated maps. Besides, I've seen what one of your horn heads can do. We wouldn't touch this country with a mile long pole."
I heard a growl, "What. Did. You. Just. Say!"
I was going to regret this, no doubt, "A horn head, you dumbfuck."
"Apologize."
I laughed again, "Fuck you, let me go, and have that prick apologize to me. Then I'll-OOF!!"
She scream a feral rage, kicking, punching, clawing me with her finger nails, doing anything and everything in her power to hurt me. At one point, she kicked me in the shoulder, and I heard the pop of the joint dislocating. I screamed in agony, as she seemed to latch onto that shoulder, brutalizing it further.
She just kept screaming for me to apologize, until she too was exhausted, and left the room. I could hear the *drip*drip*drip* sound of my blood pooling on the floor, and feel the gouges in my chest where she'd scraped me. My arm was useless now until I died again and the reset fixed it. I was hanging in a very painful way, with my left side hanging frightfully lower than my right. I pulled as much as I could with what muscles would respond to keep myself up, nashing my teeth in agony.
Hours pass by with nothing happening. Eventually, I can feel sleep begin to overcome me. Hopefully, I'd die in my sleep so my wounds would heal.
*Royal Lodgings*
"So, sister, we have found ourselves a human. What has become of it?" Luna asked. She'd heard little of the events that had unfolded over the day, and she wanted to learn what she could.
"It is currently undergoing interrogation, however, we have learned little other than his name and rank in the military. He claims that there is no invasion planned, however I find that doubtful. Could you look into his dreams, and see if you can coax some information out of him?"
"I will try, sister. But our subjects needs come first. If I have the time, I will see to him. By the way, what is his name?"
"Ed Murchov. He was a private in his military, see if you can use that, and he might open up. Be warned, he seems to be a steadfast liar."
*Ed*
Seeing as much hell as I have, nightmares were an inevitability. I never could have thought they'd be so bad.
Buddies, long dead, accused me of letting them die when I could've done something. "You can't die, so why did you let us?" I tried in vain to make them leave me alone. That bastard who'd sold me out appeared in front of me.
I was chained once again, and he whipped me in the same way as my interrogator had, with the same words, and the same voice.
"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" A loud, overwhelming voice commanded. Everything faded until I was lying on cold concrete, panting.
"Who's there? Please, help me!" I cried. A tall, dark figure stood before me. She had a very beautiful body, save for the fur, and a very seductive stance as she walked towards me. However, all this was set aside by the glare coming from her face.
"Why the fuck am I dreaming of this?" I ask aloud.
"I am not a dream. I am Princess Luna of Equestria, human. I control the moon, and have domain over the dreamscape. I am here to ask you some questions."
"Yeah? You going to torture me with nightmares? Beat it, I already told Chump 1 and Chump 2 all I know. Besides, I'm not entirely convinced that you are real."
"We have reason to believe you do know something. As for your disbelief," She kicked me in the balls, and I bowled over in pain, "I believe that is enough evidence."
I gasped, "What's your problem with my balls? Urgh. Fine, you've convinced me. Was it this 'Discord' you people mentioned? Look, I don't know who that is, and even if my government had hidden him, there's still no way that any country on Earth would ever dare to try and invade this place."
"I find this difficult to believe. Discord may be a trickster, but he doesn't lie."
"Great, you don't believe me. Well let's see. First, we don't even know of your existence. Well, I do, but that's because of recent events. Second, we don't know of any other planets that can support life. Third, we don't have the technology to get here. Lastly, why would we attack someone without knowing who we're attacking, and what the terrain is like? That's just asking to have our asses handed back to us on a silver platter.
"As for your friend Discord. Well, people change. A trickster is one step away from a liar, and it's an easy threshold to cross."
Luna shook her head, "In all the time I've known him, he has never lied. Half truths, maybe, but never lied."
I gave a sigh, "A half truth is also half a lie. You aren't building a convincing argument. I'm guessing he lied just to mess with you. If he can use magic, then I'm thinking he brought me here, somehow, to make it more convincing."
Luna straightened after hearing this, "My sister warned me this might happen. You may have a silver tongue, but I can see through your lies!"
I raised an eyebrow, "Uh, be careful when you say 'silver tongue'. Where I'm from, that usually describes someone who's good at getting people in bed."
She frowned, and disappeared from my dream. "Well at least I can get a good nights sleep."
For months (or at least I assumed it were months) I was tortured in a great many ways. After only a week of the usual beatings and whippings, they moved on to worse, more painful ways of torment.
It moved from the beatings to a combination of sleep deprivation, the continued visual deprevation, a constant drip of water on my head to annoy me, and electric shocks to not only induce pain, but also keep me awake. Did I mention they were attached to my one eyed snake? I've had to stay awake for days at a time before in the Marines when I was out in the field. I'd thought I'd been tired then. Now, I was just miserable. The water drop pissed me off to no end. I couldn't get any peace with it. The electroshock really hurt. Imagine your inside boiling inside your skin for what feels like an eternity, just to find out that it was only a second or two and go through it all over again. They could hear the echo of my screams of pain going around the world to meet up with us again. After each session, my throat would be raw.
My shoulder was killing me, but at the very least my recent cuts and lashings healed over. I could've easily killed myself and have the wounds heal over that way, but keeping the scars would at least provide some nice bragging rights if I ever made it out of here. That brought up something strange to me. If my skin developed scars or something, they'd stay if I reset. But everything else went back to the way it was. Strange.
Every time they asked me a question, I told them there was no invasion. If they asked again, I told them my rank, name, and ID number. Then there'd be a slap or punch, and they'd keep going. They still fed me though. Unfortunately, I still had to crap. They left a bucket though.
When they finally let me sleep, Luna would visit for more questions. Even though she never seemed to believe me any more than nights prior, she kept the nightmares at bay, and opened the door to lucid dreaming, where I controlled what happened. Mostly, I fantasized about escaping or being set free to wander through a world of untold wonders just waiting to be discovered. But once or twice, I would think of what I'd wanted when I was a kid. To be a farmer, working the fields to come home to a loving wife.
But Jackie killed the wife part. In those dreams, I imagined only working in peace, away from the ponies that wanted to hurt me. Once or twice, I spotted Luna watching me from afar. Once in a bush, another on the battlements of a prison castle. Like the one from Spongebob when they have a sand castle war, the one Patrick made. Only it was pitch black with rust and chains hanging from various heights.
I hoped to high Heaven that she took this to heart. Meanwhile, my heart would be working overtime trying to keep me alive. Granted it wasn't needed.
*War Room*
Luna, Celestia, and Shining Armor sat around the table, several empty and still full pots of coffee surrounding them. They stared at the map as though glaring would tell them where the humans would be coming from.
"So how goes the interrogation Celestia?" Shining asked, visibly swaying in his seat.
"The same as always. That there's no invasion, his name, rank, and a sequence of numbers that doesn't match any maps. It's been nearly a month, and no other humans have shown up."
"He also claims to not know how he got here, that no military from his world would ever invade someplace they don't know about, and had never heard of Discord until we started saying his name. His dreams are usually nightmares of being tortured by our subjects, and other humans. I believe that when our ponies are torturing him, he is only fearing it since it was what humans did to him. Once we dispel those, he often dreams of him being released or escaping so he can wander or start a farm." Luna added.
"I fear that only the Elements of Harmony would be able to get him to talk now, and they won't be back for another month, at least." Celestia said, giving a long yawn, which quickly spread to the other two, "Until then, we hope that the human will tell us the truth."
*Ed*
I woke up to the door slamming shut, loudly awakening me. For a brief moment, I thought it was a cannon going off, but remembered exactly where I was not a moment later.
"Looks like someone , is awake. Feel like cooperating yet?" That voice sent chills through my body. It sounded just like Heath Ledgers' Joker from The Dark Knight Rises.
"I have been from the start. You people just won't listen."
He hummed, "Looks like we'll need to... encourage you. Let's see what we have here." A cloth was tossed over my face, and the man grabbed my hair, holding my head in place. Water poured over my head, soaking into the cloth. Instantly, I started choking as air made itself scarce. He held me there, thrashing in vain as I felt myself begin to start dry-drowning.
I'd never been waterboarded before, so all the feelings overwhelmed my mental fortitude, and I began to panic. I was going to die like this over and over again, suffocating. My head felt faint as my lungs burned like fire.
When my struggles started to weaken, the cloth was ripped off my head along with my blindfold, allowing me to see for the first time in ages. I was in a fairly large cell, my chains attached to the wall. The floor was made from old, cracking cement, the walls of cinder blocks, and the single, coned light that hanged above me his what the ceiling looked like. I could see a table on wheels just peeking into the light, but I couldn't see what was on it.
"Whoops, better put that back on." The Jokerish pony said, putting my blindfold back on, "So, when is the invasion going to begin, friend ?"
"There...*pant* isn't one." I gasp out.
"Mmm, now that isn't what I wanted to hear. Let's try again. When... is it?"
"I told you, there isn't one."
"Ooh, you want some more, don't you. Naughty colt . I like that."
"Ah hell."
A few clops of the hooves towards where I knew where the table was and back, I braced for what was next. What I didn't expect was for me to be suddenly forced into a chair, my arms and legs bound to the arm rest and legs of the chair.
*WHACK-CRACK*
I screamed in agony as something hard hit my shin.
*WHIP-CRACK*
My knee was now busted. Pain lanced through my entire leg. I could feel, in agnonizing clarity, exactly where the bone had cracked and shattered.
"Oooh, looks like that leg won't be useful to you. Now! Are you going to tell me what I want to know, or am I going to need to... convince you further? "
I growled in pain, I was actually considering just telling them some random day, probably that it was a year or so later. But I remembered something my father had told me when I was a kid.
I had come home from school angry. When I had told a teacher about a kid who was bullying me for being Russian, he had called me a liar. I was angry, and of course told the teacher all he had said, but she didn't punish him, spouting some crap about learning to not taking everything to heart. I was still angry when I got home.
When I had came home, and told them why I was so angry, my father took me aside.
"Syn, I know you are angry, but you must not let it bother you. To fix this, you must always tell pravda. The truth. In time, people will learn you do not lie. As for the child who bully you for being Russian? Trakhat yego. Fuck him. You are the son of Russia and America. Rossiya makes you strong in body. Amerika gives you a good, honest heart. Both give you the strength you need in zhizhin'. In life. Remember this, for as long as you live. Myurkov ne lzhet. Murchovs don't lie."
With a renewed fortitude for telling the truth, I gave a smile "I'm not a liar, and I won't become one now!"
"Hmm, not what I wanted to hear."
Two more swings, and my other leg found itself to have a broken shin and kneecap.
The pony that I was now calling Joker, sighed as though he were disappointed, as I heard the clank of metal against metal. Must be whatever he hit me with.
"You know, fingers are quite, useful . They let us grab things, feel the texture. We're luckier than the cows, they're stuck with pointless hooves, and don't have magic like unicorns do. However, they have one drawback..." Something sharp clamped over my finger. A sense of dread flowed over me, "it hurts a lot when it suffers," *SNAP* "trauma ."
I screamed again. It felt like someone had driven nails in my stump. "Oh don't worry, you won't bleed out from loosing a finger . Oh nooo! The arteries aren't big enough for that. In fact, you could loose several fingers before you even faint. Want to find out how many until that is ?"
"No, please! No! It hurts so much!" I whined.
"Then tell . Me! Tellmetellmetellmetellme! TELL ME!"
"I told you. There is no invasion. Murchovs. Never. Lie."
"I don't believe you." he said low and darkly. "Looks like we get to have some more fun, don't we? Time's awasting!"
"Snap." Another finger was cut off.
"Snap." A third.
"Snap!" He said louder, as the fourth finger on my hand was cut off, leaving my thumb.
"SNAP!" He roared as cut off my thumb.
"There is no invasion! I swear!" I beg.
"Mmm, looks like we're out of time. I'll see you next tomorrow, or in a few hours! Who knows? Think about what you have to lose. What will I take next time? Will it be your other fingers? Toes? Maybe what's left of your teeth? OOOOoor, your eyes." He left me in the chair, making a perfect imitation of the laugh, making me try to shrink in my seat, even though I was still sat down.
I smelled something foul. It was my piss.
"Khotel by ya umeret."
Author's Note
Just for a frame of reference in case you haven't seen the movie, here's this. You'll be hearing it all day.
https://m .
The Joker came back several more times. He'd taken to his threats. He yanked out my toenails and fingernails before cutting them off, pulled my remaining teeth, drove a screwdriver into my legs, and dislocated every joint I had. The water boarding didn't stop either. All the while, demanding me to tell him when the invasion would begin with that creepy voice of his.
After I was left in my cell, still conscious, to mellow in my misery, I summoned my Ghost, and quickly killed myself with a clawed hand to my heart.
I jolted as I revived, and immediately summoned my Ghost again. I was not going to stay here with that maniac and his promise that next time he'd scoop my eyes out. I could take the pain from the other methods, but I didn't think I could take my eyes being taken out while I was awake. I broke my bindings quickly, and had my Ghost tear down the door as quietly as I could. That didn't exactly go to plan as the door screamed as it were pulled off the hinges.
I waited by the side of the door, listening for a guard to come by and investigate the noise, but none came. Cautiously, I entered the one way hallway. Nobody was there. I stepped quietly across the concrete, my Ghost leading the way.
I found my way around, often times looping around by accident and getting myself turned around as I searched for a way out. Oddly enough, I didn't find many guards here, mostly just cells. Few of them held prisoners, but I decided it was probably for the best that they stayed where they were. None of them looked like they'd received similar treatment as I had, and had beds and a source of water and a way of relieving themselves.
Some of the awake prisoners asked me to release them, others cowared away from me, and yet still some didn't acknowledge me.
Finally, I came to the first door that wasn't to my cell. This one opened without a sound, and peeking around it, I saw a mass of guards milling around. No doubt they knew of me, so I used my Ghost to create a distraction.
My Ghost made it's way into another room, empty of guards, and started making as much noise as possible by knocking around the furniture and banging on the walls. The guards sprang from their places, and ran into the room, however a small contingent decided they were going to secure the prisoners. Just in case.
Crap . I closed the door and looked for a place to hide. Nothing. Desperate, I hid against the wall where the door would be when opened.
The door slammed open, hitting me instead of the wall, and the guards rushed through. I peeked around the corner, and saw them rushing down the hallway and out of sight.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and ducked out the door. Problem was, there were three unicorn guards still in the room, and they all saw me enter.
"Uh, hi?"
"GET HIM!" They bum rushed me, which was honestly funny to watch since they all crashed to the ground in an awkward tackle after I leapt to the side. I ran to the door not being occupied by guards trying to fight my Ghost and the furniture, and got the hell out with the three guards in hot persuit, sending spells at me that barely missed.
I took a quick turn, ran a small ways, and took another turn, only to barrel over a very large white... what did that first pony say? Whatever, I'm calling them whats-its. Anyhow, I basically ran into it, impaling my stomach on that long horn of hers.
I was stuck gagging, a long, thin horn protruding through my torso to the other side as I lay above a startled woman. This was actually the first pony I'd seen wearing clothing and no, armor doesn't count.
She hastily activated her horn, which burning inside of me, and managed to remove me from her horn, and throw me across the room.
I landing heavily, and immediately started crawling away. I brought my Ghost from the room it had distracted the guards in, crashing through several walls.
It arrived in the hallway, bursting through the wall as I was begging the recovering pony to not hurt me. The pony was alarmed by this, staring at the gaping hole with nobody there.
"Look, I'll just be on my way out, and you won't hear from me. But if you try to stop me, I will fight, and you won't be able to keep me from breaking down as many walls getting out as I have to."
I didn't wait to let her respond. I turned around to run only to be tackled to the ground and stunned by some one new. I tried to sit up, by my face was grabbed, and pushed back to the ground hard enough to knock me unconscious.
*Shining Armor*
I breathed a sigh of relief as the human relaxed into unconsciousness. Until we examined his cell, we wouldn't be able to determine how he escaped.
"Are you alright Princess?" I asked, still panting from the long run over.
"I am fine, but I worry about him." She said, pointing at his body, a pool of blood pooling around him and getting on my hooves.
"Horseapples," I cursed, "we need to get him into the medical wing fast! How'd he even get this?"
"Not necessarily. I'm not as much of a one trick mare that my subjects take me for." She said charging her horn, "I also know healing spells." She launched the spell onto the human, just as he was waking up.
"No wait! Don't!" And it hit him.
"As for how he got it. I'm afraid he accidentally ran into me and fell on my horn. I hope he doesn't take it personally."
The human growled in pain on the floor, clutching his stomach and writhing, "Ugh, what did you do to me!? It hurts even more now! Like it's gonna-" he was cut off when his torso literally blew up, a larger gaping hole right through his stomach. He screamed in pain, clutching his open torso for a few seconds, before he went limp, his eyes open.
Silence. We didn't move for a few seconds before Celestia screeched, "BY FAUST I KILLED HIM! How could that happen? It was only a healing spell?" She fell to her knees, clutching her now blood soaked face, staring at the body and the pieces of organs that had splattered around.
Shining Armor didn't answer. He was staring at the human stomach that had impaled itself on his horn. Gingerly, he pulled it off, then dropped it to the ground. He turned to the side, and started throwing up explosively.
Just as he gave his last heave, the human gasped, jolting upwards. He patted down his stomach, sighed in relief, then looked at us.
"What the fuck-" *BAM*
I'd hit him across the face, almost screaming zombie. Examining him on the floor, we could see that his wound had healed over, not even scarring.
"What in Tartarus is going on?" I asked.
Shakily, Celestia responded, "I believe that he has a rather, violent reaction to magic, but once it pushes through, it works the way it should. We at least learned something about humans through this. If you would please return him to his cell, I need to destress."
"Of course. We'll have him questioned when he wakes up."
*Ed*
I moaned as I woke up, finding myself back in the chair. I groaned, angry with my failed escape attempt.
"Look who's awake? Our little escapee has returned." Joker said. I groaned, not anticipating what was going to happen.
"Today is going to be... special. You're going to tell me... how you escaped." A whip cracked over my chest. However, this one was different. It had many tails, and in them were sharp objects. So when the whip struck me, it stuck until he pulled it across and off my chest. I grit my teeth and moaned in agony as my flesh was ripped apart.
"Who helped you?"
"No one! No one helped me!"
He cracked the whip again, flaying more flesh, "Then how did you do it?"
"I broke the bindings." Anticipating the next question, and bracing myself, I summoned my Ghost.
"And how's that? You haven't escaped before."
"You came." My Ghost slammed a fist into his head and quickly broke my bindings. Taking off my blindfold, I saw Joker on the ground, not moving. I spit a luegy at him, and left through the open door. Again, no guards.
"They don't learn, do they?" I chuckled.
I ran down the corridors again, this time, searching for something to seal up my new cuts that were bleeding.
*War Room*
"So did you learn anything Captain?" Luna asked, having been updated about the escape attempt.
"Not much, but we did. The ropes he'd been tied with had been ripped apart, and the door to the cell had been forced open from the inside. The only thing I can think up is that he's really strong. But that brings up some very disturbing implications."
"Indeed. If he does possess this strength, then he has the ability to kill anypony with a single punch. However, he hasn't hurt anyone. For a scout of an invading force, they would probably be willing to kill anypony that gets in their way. And since he has this ability to escape, why did he chose now, of all times?" Celestia asked.
Luna seemed to have an epiphany, "I believe that I may have the answer to that. In the days leading up to his escape, his nightmares took a new turn. A disturbing laughing voice of a pony with no face had been cutting off his fingers and toes to eat. He hadn't dreamt of his escape plans, which leads me to believe that his escape was a spur of the moment decision. Something bad is occurring, and I fear what it may be."
"Indeed. Hopefully the Elements of Harmony get here quickly. They're only a days worth of travel out."
*Ed*
I'd found a room labeled as prisoner belongings in my wandering, so I ducked inside to find no one there, but nearly a hundred lockers with names on them. Mine had been labeled "Human".
I used my Ghost to rip the door open, and collected my things. No more freeballing, thank God. My shirt had a bad burn hole in the middle, so I decided to put it to use with my lighter, so I could keep these scars.
I rolled my shirt up, and bit down on it. A took a deep, calming breath, and flicked the lighter on. I held the lighter to my gaping wounds unflinching, cauterizing them closed. When it was finally over, I sighed in relief, and closed the cap over the flame.
With that done, I retrieved my gun and knife, placing them in their holster and sheath respectively, and headed out of the room.
I came across the same door to the outside as before, and again, I peeked around the corner. Still more guards. Not wanted a repeat of last time, I looked around for something that could help me. What I found, was a massive vent. I couldn't reach it from here, but my Ghost could help me up, and I did just that. The vent came open, and I slipped in. I dispelled my Ghost, and crawled through the vent.
It wasn't very cramped in here, allowing me enough room to comfortably crawl about, even turn around if I needed to. This gave me a good reason to really doubt their security. I mean, it really sucked. No guards for the cell blocks, no alarms, easy access to the door, and now this? Almost made me laugh.
I crawled along, and found a vertical vent. Peering through, I saw an empty room. Perfect. I removed the vent, and jumped out. I didn't really care if I got hurt. If I did, I could just kill myself and revive. If I didn't get hurt, well, that's just a plus.
I landed feet first, onto a table. What I should have done in the vent, was look down, because then I would have seen the three ponies sitting at the table. One of them I had impaled myself on.
"Goodbye!" I yelled, making a run for the door, only to be tackled again. The white guy had grabbed my legs and was trying to shift upwards to further control me.
"Fuck off!" I twisted to deliver a swift punch to the side of the head, dazing him enough for him to loosen his grip so I could scramble.
I got to my feet and took only two more steps when the other two tackled me to the floor, grabbing my arms quickly to keep me from swinging. However, their heads were in good positions for a reverse head butt.
I jerked my head back, and felt my skull impact one of theirs, and kept repeating until they let go.
"You insulant little-" *CRACK* I interrupted the blue one with a well placed elbow, knocking her on her back.
"Right back at you assholes!" I yelled, punching the white one. She took it much better, hardly even flinching. I blinked, and sent another at the soft bone behind her eyes. My fist impacted against her palm. My other fist had the same result.
I looked at her with surprise, "That's enough. We're settling this now." Her horn started lighting up.
I pulled my fists out of her hands to raise them up in front of my face, "Don't kill me!"
*BAM* The blast of magic hit me. It felt like someone had turned on a jumper cable inside my head while my brains tried to push their way out of any orafice that it could, and I screamed in pain. I couldn't move any more than that, so I was stuck looking at the white thing whose eyes were glowing.
*Celestia*
I had entered his memories quicker than I had expected, and I was getting more and more frustrated about not finding any plans, but as long as I was here, I might as well learn about our enemies.
I started at his earliest memories he still had, when he was 6 years old and watching the news with his mother. I myself shared the terror of watching the massive sky scraper that his memory placed as "The World Trade Center", be rammed by a plane. The building poured out thick black smoke, and the few close ups the tv had, showed people jumping to their deaths.
On the ground, it was chaotic. People were running one way to get away from the burning building and the debris, while firemen and police rushed to try and save people. Then the towers collapsed, engulfing the cameras and obscuring the view on the tv.
I moved on quickly, basically skimming over the information. I came to his high school years. He was relentlessly and harshly bullied and harassed over being Russian, which I learned was a country rival to the one that he lived in. His father, early on, told him that Murchovs don't lie, which he seemed to take to heart.
When he became a senior, he got a girlfriend, a pretty young woman. Ed adored her, but I could see something in her eyes that made me not trust her. She was just... off in the way she acted. Finally, when Ed graduated, he enlisted with the Marines. Boot camp was miserable all around, and much more brutal than even our special forces training, and had included brutal psychological torment and training, but Ed endured, and actually enjoyed some of it.
That was as far as I could go when I was suddenly ripped out of his mind. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked over to Luna, the owner of the hand.
"Sister, you need to stop for now. I do not think that the prisoner will be able to handle much more."
Looking over, I saw what she meant. Ed's eyes had rolled up into his head, bleeding from there as well as his nose and ears. His entire body was twitching from his odd position, on his knees and leaning so far back it looked like he should be falling over. Then there was that strange ululating sound that he was making.
I reached out tentatively, and touched his knee. Suddenly, his eyes rolled back to see, and he looked straight at me. He screamed, an unholy, unnatural scream of terror as he backpeddled away from me as quickly as he could from his position.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!!" He cried in terror. He started crawling away in a way that dragged his legs, whimpering in pain.
I flinched in shock. This... reaction was something that disturbed me to my core, and I realized something. In my haste, I had violated one very, very important value. Ones' life memories were not something to be forced to give from a spell, and was dangerous for the subject to endure. I had hurt him in body, and in mind by forcing him to relinquish his memories.
"Ed, I'm sorry. I-"
"SHUT UP! Don't talk to me! Stay the fuck away!" He screamed. I felt my heart wilt, ashamed that I had done something so wrong, and had instilled such a fear in somepony, even if they were the enemy.
Shining stomped a hoof, "Don't talk to the Princess like that!"
"Shining, it's ok. He has every right. For now, let's just get him to his cell."
*Ed*
I was scared. Truly, honestly scared. It wasn't the pain that scared me, it was the fact that these ponies held such a power as to force themselves into your mind. Luna I didn't really mind. I actually appreciated that she ended my nightmares, and that was as far as she ever went. But that white one forced her way into my mind, forced me to remember things I had tried to forget.
And now I was in my cell, where the Joker was no doubt going to take his revenge on me. I should've killed him. I should've fought through the terror and tried to run when I had the chance.
"Welcome back, human. You gave me quite the welt. I'm going to return the favor . And since healing magic works on you, that means I get to have some special fun."
I prayed that I would die, and stay dead. I tried to summon my Ghost, but like always when I was scared, it didn't come out.
*Hours later*
I sagged in the chains. Joker had been very methodical in his choice of torture. First was the whip with many tails. After that, he drove iron nails under my fingernails and toenails. He left those in there as he broke my bones and electrocuted me. After being satisfied with that, he removed the nails, along with my finger and toenails, and used his bolt cutters to cut off my toes and fingers.
But it seemed as though he wasn't finished, because he cut my tendons, making me unable to use my legs or my arms. The pulled out my teeth, and then he had chuckled.
"You won't be needing that blindfold anymore." He tore it off, and I watched with horror as he took a sharpened spoon, and slowly scooped out my eyes. Then, the last method of his torture came. He slowly, inserted what felt like a blade into my throat. He went straight for my vocal cords, because I could no longer scream. I knew he'd missed my veins and arteries because I wasn't feeling fuzzy. Wished he had though, then I could heal.
I was blind, mute, my limbs paralyzed, my body was broken, and my mind was muddled with all the pain. The Joker had left me, saying he'd bring a unicorn healer down the next day, maybe.
So I hanged there, crying blood. Quietly. Never before, had I ever wished to die than at that moment. And my Ghost didn't return.
Author's Note
Only a few more chapters to go!
*Ed*
I don't know how I managed to fall asleep, but even in sleep, I could still feel the pain. The headache, the gashes, the phantom pains of my fingers and toes, my eye sockets. In my dream, I sat on the floor, hugging my knees and silently staring into the black void.
"Greetings, human." A familiar, formal voice greeted. I grunted in response.
"I just wanted to check up on you after the unfortunate events of today."
I turned to stare at her with lifeless eyes. When I spoke, there was hardly any life to it, "Check up on me? You didn't notice then."
She tilted her head in confusion, "Notice what?"
"My new scars, and the wounds I had to cauterize. All thanks, to your people. Just... leave me alone, alright? I'm just... tired. I need to be alone."
Luna shook her head, "My subjects would never hurt a prisoner of war, even such as yourself."
As she said that, my face turned from its emotionless mask, to a look of rage, "You think that your interrogators wouldn't hurt me? If you'd only look for yourself, you'd see for yourself how badly I've been treated. After my second recapture, they broke my spirit. They gouged out my eyes, flayed my flesh, cut off my fingers and toes. I'm honestly surprised it didn't kill me. I wish it had, that way the pain would go away."
Luna recoiled in shock, "You would want to die?! Why?!"
"I'm in constant agony, and the only thing that would stop it would be to lie. Which I refuse to do. I will not violate my morals, or else I am nothing."
*Twilight*
It had been a very long month. Settling things with the dragons and the surrounding villages hadn't been the easiest of things to do, especially with how stubborn they were. Now though, they were no longer trying to expand their territory, and had a decent trade deal with the local villages. Still, it had been a very long journey, and they were all very tired.
Then Celestia had asked them to the castle on a matter of state emergency, and they had came as soon as they could. They entered the throne room, like so many other times, and walked up to the throne of Celestia and Luna.
Celestia smiled warmly, like she always did, but it seemed she was tired, and worn down. Maybe even a little sad. Luna, however, seemed deeply disturbed.
"Hello my little ponies. Thank you for coming as soon as you have. Twilight, you remember that human you ran into in the city?"
Twilight nodded, "Yes. I do. Why, did you find out when the invasion is?"
Celestia shook her head, "No. The human, Ed, has revealed nothing to us. He keeps saying that there isn't an invasion, but we highly doubt that. I believe that you 6 are the only ones who would be able to get him to talk."
"Consider it done Princess!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, followed by assurances from the other five that were there.
"Before the guard escorts you down there, we need to tell you some things that may help you with the questioning. Firstly, he was a soldier once in his military, though we don't know much of his actions in his service we do know that it has caused immense trauma to him. He lost many comrades in combat, and blames himself, but Luna couldn't divulge why in his dreams. From what she could tell, though, is that at some point on his world, he had been tortured, but we don't know how severely.
"He's also successfully escaped from his cell twice now, so we believe that something has him scared and wanting to escape. If you can, try to divulge the truth. One last thing, before you go. Twilight, I know your affinity for magic, and I must tell you that he very much hates it. He especially loathes and despises magic that affects the mind in most ways. When I looked through his memories, he had been not only physically hurt through hemorrhaging in the eyes, nose, and ears, but he'd also been deeply mentally distraught to the point where he had to be dragged across the floor to be brought to his cell. Last night, when Luna spoke with him in his dream, he expressed a desire to die." Everypony gasped in shock.
"H-he wants to die?" Fluttershy whimpered.
Pinkie Pies' mane deflated, "Guess a 'Thanks for helping save Equestria' party wouldn't really be helpful then." she said depressingly. "But maybe we could still cheer him up."
"Well, let's get on with it. We ain't doing any good just standing here." Applejack said with somber conviction.
The group were led by a guard to the dungeons where the human was being held. On the way, the group asked the guard what he knew about Ed.
"Not much. I haven't been to his cell before, or in the dungeons in general. Just enough to know the layout."
When they arrived to the humans' cell, they stopped. They smelled something that smelled oddly sweet and metallic. The elements didn't know what the cause was, neither did the guard. The guard used his keys to open the door, and let the girls inside.
When the girls entered, Twilight pulled out a gem enchanted to record their surroundings. Twilight activated it the moment they saw the human hanging in his chains in the middle of the room, slumping forwards, hiding his face and most of his body in the poor lighting. Almost immediately, Twilight cast multiple light spells to the walls to help them see him better.
She regretted it instantly. Surrounding the human, was a massive pool of blood and gore. One could see long strips of skin and unidentifiable pieces of flesh in the puddles.
Rarity and Fluttershy threw up, Applejack stuffed a hand in her mouth and hunched over, trying not to barf. Pinkie was on the brink of tears, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash stared in shock. Gently, Twilight used her magic to lift Ed's body so they could confirm that it was indeed his gore on the floor.
Again, she wished she hadn't. His body was torn apart, massive gashes covered his torso, exposing bone, muscle, and even more horrifying, some of his digestive organs, most of which were pulsating and twitching. His tendons were cut in many places, and much of his body was beginning start forming angry boils. What she didn't know was that these boils were being caused by her. What scared her, was that he was still breathing, if shallowly.
Quickly, she cast another spell, one that would heal his wounds. Immediately, he woke up and started thrashing. Rarity and Fluttershy had just turned to look again, only for them to catch a sight of another horror. His eyes had been gouged out. Fleshy, glistening cords were hanging in empty, bloody sockets.
Ed was thrashing violently, convulsing and trying to scream, giving them a clear view of his cut throat. All that came out was a disturbing whine from his lungs. Finally, when the Elements thought they couldn't watch, he shuddered, and wherever the spell had touched, exploded in a gory mess that reached the Elements.
Everypony but Twilight screamed. Twilight just sank to her haunches, staring in shock and horror at the bloody carcass of Ed, hanging loosely in the chains. Just as she was about to recover enough for the flood of emotions to hit her, Ed's body jerked suddenly as all his wounds vanished, still leaving behind a nasty collection of scars.
The body jerked again, and the head flew up, making a gasping sound. He whinced as the sounds of 5 mares screaming.
"SHUT UP!" He bellowed, silencing them. "Holy shit, you're all louder than a group of banshees screaming." He sighed tiredly, "Thanks for killing me by the way, whoever did it. And I am serious."
Twilight paled, "I really... k-k-killed you?"
He nodded, "Yep. Wait. Your... your that same one who killed me the first time and got me stuck in this hell in the first place!"
"FIRST time? I didn't kill you at all. And what just happened anyways?" Twilight practically shrieked.
"The first time you killed me was when we met, though it wasn't outright. You broke my ribs, and they punctured my lungs. I bled out while I was unconscious from internal bleeding."
"But you're still here! Not dead!"
"Yeah, I'm an Ajin. I can't stay dead. It's more of a curse than a blessing. Trust me."
"I thought you were a human though! If I'd known you weren't a human, then this wouldn't have happened!"
Ed scowled, "Don't ever say I'm not a human. I am. Just a... subspecies of human. A rare one at that."
"I can see why they sent you as a scout to our planet then." Rainbow said, trying to sound intimidating and failing at it.
"Oh for fucks sake! How many times do I have to say this? There is no invasion! My people can barely fly a few men to the moon, much less an army to some unknown place in the galaxy! Hell, I barely even know where I am."
I turned to Applejack, who had recovered, "Applejack, is he being honest?"
"He is. Heck, there wasn't a lie in all he's been saying."
Ed turned to look at Applejack with surprise, "Really? You believe me?"
She nodded, "Course, I'm the Element of honesty. I can see the difference between the truth and a lie like you can tell if there were clouds in the sky. Except with Discord. He's so chaotic that I just can't tell."
Ed just shook his head, "I didn't understand most of that, I just wish you'd been here earlier. Then I wouldn't've had to go through all this shit. Uh, would you mind cutting me down now? This ain't exactly comfortable." Twilight quickly released him, renting the cuffs attached to his wrists in half. He muttered a "thank you" while he rubbed them.
Rarity, swallowing her bile, asked, "Speaking of which, what happened to you? You look absolutely terrible!"
"I was tortured. It started right after I woke up. Most of these scars are from what they've been doing to me. A good number of them are from when I was a soldier. I got real torn up from all that." He pointed to some some of the smallest scars, little holes that looked like they'd scared over badly, "Got these from being shot by an AK. Bullets got stuck inside me, so doctors had to dig them out." He pointed to a nasty scar that looked like a monsterous tumor, "Got this from a grenade. Don't know how I survived that. I got more, but I don't want to make you sick. Or at least sicker. So, when can I leave?"
Twilight cleared her throat, "Well, first we need to deliver this revelation to the Princesses, but I think we can bring you with us for that. I think they need to see this all for themselves."
"Good, let's get out of here."
*Ed*
I was scared. I was walking in the center of the six pony girls, and every time we passed a guard, the guards would glare daggers into me and grip their weapons tighter. One wrong move on my part, and there was little doubt in my mind that they would beat the hell out of me and leave me to die in agony.
For fucks sake, I just wanted to run and get out of this nightmare. So I kept pace with my only safeguards, the girls, anxiously. My eyes darted back and forth, watching for an attack, and I kept running my hands.
Thankfully, the journey didn't involve any beatings or attacks. We arrived safely at a pair of decorated doors, which Twilight opened, and told us to wait outside until she called us in. It took all of five minutes for her to wave us in. Inside was the room that I had fallen in on my second escape attempt.
Inside were the same ponies. The killer white one, the stubborn Luna, and that guard who was always in the way. Needless to say, I was terrified. My eyes locked onto the white one, and I refused to move. My heart was racing, my breaths quick and heaving, and I was sweating enough to drown someone.
"It's ok, Ed. No one here is going to hurt you." The yellow one said with a soothing, reassuring tone.
I didn't respond, but took a shaky step forwards, like a man taking his first step on his own after physical therapy. I took a seat at the table as far away from them as possible. The two sisters wore no expression on their faces like a mask, but the guard was staring daggers into my skull.
The white one spoke, "Alright, Twilight, what is it that needed to be shared that requires him to be present?"
"This." Twilight pulled out a yellow crystal, and with her magic, 'activated' it. I wasn't expecting the light show, but I refused to leave my seat. The crystal was apparently a hologram of sorts, showing what had happened in the room with absolute perfection. The princesses and guard saw my condition, as well as my body exploding from the spell, and the conversation afterwards.
When the hologram ended, the princesses looked revolted, and the guard was in open shock.
Finally, the white one spoke up, "How many times have you... died, here?"
I counted in my head, then spoke aloud, "When I first got here, again when 'the Joker' started torturing me, though I killed myself to heal, when I first met you two and you hit me with that spell," I pointed at the white one and the guard, "and lastly, when Twilight tried a spell. Seriously, what's with you ponies and painful murder spells?"
Each time I counted off a point where I died, they wilted. But when I asked that question, they visibly flinched.
Luna replied, "They were healing spells. Apparently, they don't work on you."
Celestia cleared her throat, "As much as I would love to believe that Applejack is correct in her assessment, I am unwilling to risk that there is still an invasion coming. I'm sorry, but if you wish to be released, and receive compensation, then I need to perform another mind reading of you."
I scowled at her, "No. You won't be doing that. EVER. Again to me. Does she know how to do it?" I asked, pointing at Luna.
"Yes, but why won't you let me? I promise that I won't hurt you again, and it'll be quick."
"Because I don't trust you." I stated with venom, "To humans, the mind is sacred. It is the one thing that we can never lose, and is always private. We only ever share what we think to loved ones, and those we trust. What you did was ,in a sense, a grievous assault on the most valuable thing to mankind. You did not ask, you forced yourself into my sanctuary, and forced me to remember things so you could see what you wanted to. There's a word my kind has for this, and it's called 'mind- raping'." Everyone around the table recoiled. "Yes, it is that bad to earn that title. Luna may have invaded my dreams, but she helped me, then she asked for information. Granted, information you already had, but that is neither here nor there. The point is, she helped me, and when I asked her to, she left. If I didn't ask her too, she would passively watch me. I trust her to not to force me into anything, and to back out of it if I chose to. That is why."
With my monologue finished, I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms. The white one looked badly hurt and on the verge of crying, while everyone else looked somber and thoughtful.
"Very well, with your permission, I wish to examine your memories." Luna asked.
"Let's get this over with."
Her horn glowed in a dark blue aura, and the spell impacted against my head.
I was in my mind, if I were to guess. Luna floating beside me. I showed her, willingly, my memories from where the white one had left off. I showed her my military graduation, and how proud my parents were, I showed her my deployments, what I had to do. I showed her what I did when I was home, hunting and doing work to keep me busy. I even explained things or loaned knowledge of things that she didn't understand. I finally came to the point where I discovered I was an Ajin, and all that had happened after that. I showed her what happened when I had been turned in, how I had suffered. I showed her how I was freed, and what happened when I came back to my wife.
Lastly, I showed her what happened when I showed up here. I opened up my physical memories into her mind so she could feel what I felt, and together, we shuddered and screamed in pain that passed by as quick as I let the memory pass. I showed her this, all the way up to where she entered my mind.
I opened my eyes suddenly, realizing that I was no longer in my mind. The ponies around me looked frightened, and touching my hand to the underside of my nose, I thought I knew why. I had been bleeding out my nose heavily. I snorted some back in, and wiped my face with my arm.
"Satisfied?" I asked darkly.
Luna, looking shaken, nodded, "I am. Sister, there is no invasion. Discord has lied to us. It is time to confront him."
An hour later
We stood in front of a stone statue depicting an obomination of nature. The creature was made from a combination of many others, and somehow, his stone set smug made me cringe. I didn't know why.
"Alright, the chaos magic inhibitor and retardants are in place. Time to bring him out." Celestia, as I now knew her name, said.
The girls activated their elements, and a show of lights shot out from them into the statue, releasing the monster within.
Released from stone, the monster groaned as it stretched. Looking at us, finally, he smiled sinisterly.
"Ah, so you've finally come to the end of the game. I must say, I was fully expecting you to deny his memories as a fallacy. Congratulations, you've proven me wrong, and beat my trump card."
Trump card? I was just part of his scheme? I scowled at him, "So that's why you took me from Earth? Because I was just a tool?"
"Oh yes. I was hoping that you'd stir up some chaos for me, or that my threat would cause some. But you all proved me wrong. Instead of losing their minds, the ponies simply organized in ways I couldn't fathom as possible, and you resisted fighting even after that pony whipped you and the other scratched you. So much so that I had to use what little power I still had to form an avatar to try to, let's say, persuade you to do what I wanted. I must say, that Joker character was fun to play as!"
"So you admit it? You ponynapped him, and tortured him? Just so you could fight us?" Twilight asked accusingly.
"Yes yes, I did. So let's get on with the show, shall we? Blast me to stone, I'm ready." He posed, arms folded, making a devilish smile with closed eyes and looking away.
I brought out my knife, and walked up to him, "I've got a better idea." I plunged my knife into his heart, elliciting a gasp from the ponies and Discord, "You die so you can't do this ever again." And pulled my knife downwards, tearing a massive gash into his serpentine body, and forcing him to his knees.
"You're a horrible, twisted person who's caused so much pain and misery, and can only think of it as a game instead of trying to make up for your crimes. And that's just to the ponies. They're too soft to do what must be done to someone like you. With no magic, you're going to die. Right here, right now. What you must realize, is that you did this to yourself. You brought me here, and you are the one who made them hate me, and ultimately, killed me through your actions."
Discord stared at me, clutching his guts that had started to hang out of him. Slowly, the life in his eyes started to dim and gloss over. Finally, he stopped breathing. I cleaned my knife on my pants, and turned away from his body, stalking off away from the ponies, who still stared at the dead body of a mad god.
*Non-Cannon addition thanks to 001101598730*
My rage was built. Discord thought he could do what he had done, and get away with it? No. This was going to end.
"I've got a better idea." I drew my knife, and drove it to where I thought his heart would be. You're going to die, so nothing like this can happen again. You sick, twisted, and all the shit you do, you think is a game. The ponies, they're too soft, forgiving of this. They can't do what must be done."
Discord weakly gasped for air, and weaker still tried to move the knife. "Please, don't kill me. I'm sorry." I moved the knife, back and forth, earning a cry of pain, "Sorry? You want mercy? No. there is no backing out, no escape from your punishment. Through you, I've died several times. I asked for mercy, and you continued without a care. That's murder. And a death sentence follows. You brought me here, you made them hate me, made me , hate them for while. With no magic to back you up, you're just like everyone else. You aren't special, you get no special treatment, and you're going to die here. You dug your grave, now lay in it with some dignity. "
With that, I pulled down, ripping open his hide for all to see. Discord could no longer stand, and he fell onto his back. I drew out my pistol, and aimed it at his head, "Say hello to the Devil, 'cause your going to Hell." And I pulled the trigger, splattering his brains across the grass and dirt. I holstered my gun, and walked away from the horrified ponies, who were staring at the lifeless corpse of a mad god.
Author's Note
I've been thinking of making a sequel to this revolving around Ed's life afterwords, but If like to hear your opinions on this.