Dreams: Humanity

7: Watch Me Burn

The cold air swept through the darkened factory's halls, brushing aside forgotten papers holding the news of ages before and the leaves that had long since laid to rest in the safety of the walls.

That is not to say there were no other residents in the factory, because that would be a lie. There was one, a young woman with long waist-length black hair. She was clad in a plain black t-shirt, jeans, and an open trench coat. Her hazel eyes swept across the empty room, checking every inch of the area for any signs of the loot that had long since become scarce to most people.

That was her life. Retrieving the scraps her ancestors left behind, cleaning up after the messes they had made with their meddling. That was the forefront of most of the world's problems, wasn't it?

As she pondered these age old facts, a sound met her ears. A sound she vaguely remembered, one she had heard long ago when she was first born, shortly after... That incident.

The sound of a cello, joined shortly after by a piano rang out over the ruins. Her mother had played the cello, as she had aspired to do so. They had stopped, however, when the sound brought them, took her away.

The fact that she heard it now, after so long, only meant one thing: Someone was ready to die.

...

It would have been easy to ignore it, she realized. Plug her ears and wait for it to stop, for the screams to start. So easy, no risk for her.

...

So wrong.

Maybe it was the reminder of her mother, who aspired to save someone in danger, never let a soul be lost without trying that pushed her to leave the safety of the factory, to put herself in danger.

*--^--*

Eden

My mother always said women had tougher heads than men. Well, she said we were stronger headed, but they're the same thing. She said a woman could outsmart a man any day, that a woman could take a hit just as well as a man.

She was way wrong. That guy, Cian from what I heard, somehow shot a bolt of lightning into my skull, and damn it hurt like a bitch. Not to mention the fact that I had ruined any chances I had of making peace with the townspeople... Erm, ponies. I killed that stallion. To be fair, he attacked me first, but I couldn't imagine they would see it that way.

Why had he attacked me? He called me a hypocrite, said I tried to kill Cian... I didn't. I might have used him to test the effects of poison joke on another being (I was lucky to find a human to confirm the effects would transfer to me) but I knew that it wouldn't kill him.

No, he tried to kill me. Called me his sister. He seemed angry, I suppose it's possible that the hallucinations are nightmarish, always negative? They didn't seem to have a physical effect, positive or negative, on him, my arm proved as much.

If that is the case... What could be so bad about his sister to make him react so violently? Or maybe it was cause of the plant that made him act that way.

Whatever the case was, I knew when I woke up that convincing the locals of my harmlessness (of which I had little) would be difficult, if the six ponies and one man guarding my room from the inside were any indication. I looked around the room through squinted eyes in an attempt to get a sense of my surroundings without giving away the element of surprise, but that was pointless. Partly because the purple unicorn noticed, and partly because the room contained fuck all. It was a wooden chair, a curtain over a window, the door, and four oak wood walls.

I didn't have time to appreciate the lack of things to look at as the interrogation began, started by the purple pony.

She was... Interesting. Her eyes were a light purple that had a light of curiosity to them as they scanned over every inch of my body, as though at any moment I could be whisked away...

Which in light of the situation could be a serious possibility. Her mane was a dark purple with a few streaks of lighter purple and pink. She kept it neatly combed, just over her eyes.

With a clearly forced smile, she stepped forward and nodded to me. "Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What is yours?"

Be friendly. "Mine is Eden, and I wish we had been able to meet under different circumstances. I can tell we have had a toll on you." Her eyes widened in surprise, as though it wasn't obvious. There were faint dark circles under her eyes and the faint redness of bloodshot eyes made apparent that she had lost sleep over the recent events. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the movement of a quill, heard the scratching of the feather against parchment, the ink bleeding into the paper.

She nodded. "You know of my... Friend?" The slight hesitation in her voice alerted me to actually take a look at the man staring at me with familiar grey eyes. He had messy black hair that half covered his eyes, though the gaze from beneath it pierced me like no weapon had. He wore a long black coat that was similar to a cowboy duster, along with dark brown boots and black leather gloves. I could see the hilts of several daggers kept hidden in the inside of his coat, along with what appeared to be a strange looking revolver.

He pulled out the gun, noticing where my gaze laid. "This baby? Call her Grace." He smirked, pulling back the hammer. The barrel of the gun was made of a bronze like material, shiny brown with letters engraved in the side. "Yep, best damn gun made by the best damn smiths in any world." The six round chamber had an odd look to it. If it was pointed at you, it could pass for a slightly odd shaped revolver. From the back it was different. Where you would normally put the bullets there were instead small blue discs that sparkled.

I didn't want to know what it fired, if not bullets.

I didn't waste time getting to the point. "You're the stallion that tried to kill me."

"You're the bitch that tried to kill Cian and managed to kill me. I gotta hand it to you, not many people have been able to kill me, the old bastard that I am." To be so nonchalant about his own death meant he had become familiar with the concept. The humor in his eyes told me no different.

I nodded, smiling. "Well I'm flattered. And I have to be honest, I did not attempt to kill Cian, I defended myself when he was under the effects of a hallucinogenic drug I found in the woods. And if it's any consolation, I wasn't trying to kill you." It was at this point I knew that I was in the clear.

He laughed, running his hand through his hair. "That's supposed to make me feel better? I suppose I better not get on your bad side then."

Twilight stepped in front of the man, nodding. "It shouldn't be a problem from here. I'll let you know when it's safe to come back in, or when she can come out."

*--^--*

Vaelyn

I shut the door behind me, letting it shut with a click. I stepped away, down the stairs, making my way out the door and into the town.

I needed to find Cian. If there was one person who had a say in any of this, it was him. I took a deep breath, sifting through the many scents that floated through the air, pinpointing his with ease and following the trail through town, occasionally stopping when a pony asked me what I was, or some other question. I followed the scent until it led me to the cottage I remembered seeing when I helped carry the unconscious irishman to the library. That was where confusion struck, as the trail did not head to the cottage as I expected-- or hoped, I suppose.

It met with four others, three of them fresher than the other, and led into the Everfree Forest towards the strange house I had found.

Towards the gathering of wild animals I had left behind.

The timberwolves.

I broke into a sprint, hoping to catch the group before they ran into a wild animal I couldn't save them from.

*--^--*

The cello broke through the moans that echoed throughout the ruined concert hall, that overlapped the pounding of hands against windows, that fought against the sounds of shuffling feat against marble floor.

All these sounds hid the sound of the hard, determined steps of a woman sprinting across the rooftop of the concert hall. She ran for the solitary door on the rooftop, the one that she had committed to memory as the door that led to her old home.

One she abandoned when everything she lived for turned on her. Everyone she lived for turned on her.

She ran to the door, her hand brushing against the knob when she heard the screams. The screams of death. Screams she had become numb to long ago. Screams that, for some reason, made her want to fall to her knees and cry.

Maybe it was the fact that after surviving for so many years, someone could just die without putting a fight. Or maybe they did, how could she know?

She doubled over as a sudden burning pain lanced through her chest, as though it was squeezing her heart in a vice grip. She fell on her side, jerking as her hand clenched her chest, feeling for the small pendant dangling around her neck. The small onyx rock pulsed slightly at her touch, already beginning suck in the wisps of black smoke emanating from her body.

Then everything stopped.

The survivors of the slaughter below stopped crying, stopped breathing.

The dead chasing them stopped moving, stopped hunting.

The man standing on the rooftop behind the woman, did not stop.

He moved forward, resting a hand on the woman's shoulder. She did not react. He sighed, "Nice view, isn't it?" His features were hidden by the shadows produced by his top hat, although his eyes would have glowed a bright orange had he not been wearing his sunglasses. His dress pants were crease-less and clean, a clear contrast to the grimy filth of the world he inhabited. His dress coat matched his pants with its gray color, a pocket watch in the breast pocket.

He looked to his wrist watch, nodding. Stepping forward, he yanked the necklace off of the woman's neck. Then, in a flash, she was gone, off to a strange new land. Before long, she would do her job.

The man grinned, stuffing the crystal in his pocket. "Time to go to work soon. One last stop to make, though." He snapped his fingers, producing an image of a man standing in a field staring down a dark blue dragon. He snapped his fingers again, producing a bag of popcorn. "First, though, it's time for a show."