Would you take a bite?

by Jay Cruiz

Rating: teen
Tags: Sex, Gore, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Human, Main 6, Romance, Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash
Length: 19170

Look, I was a depressed guy, nothing and no one to live for. Suicide fixed that , or so I thought. Now I'm in Equestria, and man my life is just getting weirder and weirder every day. And I find myself inexplicably attracted to a cetain cyan pon

Currently being rewritten to fix all grammar issues and story inconsistency

I always thought life was a bit dreary and after losing everything I had nothing to live for. So after an unfortunate accident whilst drunk I find myself here in Equestria, I think is the name, with a butt load of talking cartoon like talking ponies. They have magic, which is nearly impossible for me to do, but still attainable, but that isn't the strangest part. I have conversed with a deity of light, one of dark, one of love and another of chaos, but that isn't the strangest part. I met the saviors of this place, The Elements of Harmony, six fun loving and caring mares. And the worst part is I think I fell for one of them.
My name is Evan Wright and I am now living in Equestria.

Art BOZE-JP
Edited by zubafa and as of 2/24/2013 MLP Lover
As of 2/1/13 Proof read by Nekosama321, Cold Spike, and The Grim Reaper

Published 2012-12-20 18:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-10-30 04:56:56 UTC

Chapter One: A first class ticket to... uh somewhere? (Revised)

I never had too much luck with members of the opposite sex or people in general. Who am I kidding? I was afraid of people. Not afraid as in a mouse is afraid of a cat but afraid as in I didn't like being around people I didn't know. It made me feel like they were scrutinizing me, looking at all my little flaws and whatnot. I was, am, a very paranoid person. My luck was shitty, you name it I sucked at it. Especially women.

Any and all females kinda just laughed at me. I was never really "one of the guys", no matter how hard I tried, ha. Of all the thing to be worried about at this point in time I'm worried about females. But I guess when your about to commit suicide because your getting nowhere in life, have nothing to live for and no one left to turn to your mind tends to wander. As I sat there with this gun in my hand, I began contemplating the end of my existence, as I knew that resisting the call of the never ending sleep was inevitable.

"Stop being a bitch, do it!" I was talking to myself. How insane do you have to be to talk yourself to death? "Stop being a little bitch and do it you pussy!" I laugh, a choked and deranged sound and put the barrel up to my temple, only to lower it a moment later. "Well world its been a hell of a ride. Mom, sorry but I can't go on with this. The depression and panic attacks and all that good shit." I laugh again. I wipe my nose and lay back on the bed, making sure my suit was still in good shape.

Lifting the barrel to my temple I squeezed the trigger.

"Later wo-"

BANG!

If anyone tells you that death is exciting, its not. I lie flat on my back, drifting here in this dark abyss, floating. No sounds, no light just never ending silence. I don't know how long it has been since I died. All I know is that this place is incredibly boring.

"So this is hell? Funny I thought it would be a lot worse.  Where the fuck is the fire? Where's the brimstone? Actually, this may not even be hell. It could be purgatory for all I freaking know." I tried to move and found that I couldn't. It was as though my body was tied up- no if I was tied up, I could move around a bit more. It was more like I was strapped down to some invisible table. I tried to lift my wrists and legs, but they wouldn't move, the same thing happened when I tried to flex my back. "Okay, definitely strapped onto something," I muttered quietly. "Hello? Anyone there?" As I feared there was no answer, just my voice echoing back and mocking me.

"Fuck."

I soon became aware of my breathing. A physical impossibility for a corpse. I shot myself in the head and yet am still breathing. You never know how much you take breathing for granted until you cant do it anymore. And sight, that too. Speaking of which, why can I see light through my eyelids?

Raising a hand I shield my eyes and groan as I find myself staring into a bright light. "What...? I'm dead." But the surface I was on was real. "I'm dead, I should be DEAD!" I dig my nails into my arm and the pain is real, far too real.

Goddamn useless ass waste of space I am. Eh, I can't even kill myself correctly. Wait what, but more importantly, how? There is no logic! ERROR 404. Please shut down and restart. Yeah, that's the sound of me trying to process what is going on. Crying out in distress I bolt upright and look around in bewilderment. What I see confirms my suspicions, I am still alive, somehow. I could feel the panic in my system rising, threatening to overwhelm me. No, stay calm. that's how people fucking die in theses situations. They panic. Breathe in and out slowly a few times and then look around and try to memorize the surrounding area. I managed to quell the fear and began to look around the room I was in, hoping to find a weapon of sorts or at least something to tell me where in the fuck I was.

All white room. Mattress supported by a rather large wooden frame, appears to not have any springs in it and yet it is very comfortable.  Small sink/toilet in the corner, thankfully it has toilet paper. Worst case scenario I flood this bitch. Moving on, wooden door with an old fashion handle and lock, and what appears to be a slot for food? I attempted to open it but as I suspected it was locked. Wherever I am, the people in this place obviously don't want me to get out. Sighing in frustration I shook my head. "Hello? Anyone? A little help?" I could hear movement outside the door along with hushed voices. "I know that you are there, don't fuck with me! Tell me where the deuce I am right now! Or if you're going to ignore me at least send in some water!"

When no one answered I punched the door, bruising my knuckles and making the wood creak slightly. "Would it help if I said please?" I said sarcastically. Moments later the slot slid open, much to my surprise, and a plastic tray with a few pieces of fruit were pushed in. Blinking in surprise I grabbed the items and sat on the bed looking them over. I have played enough video games to know not to eat this shit. The tray however? I can  make a makeshift weapon that I can hide on me.

After emptying off the tray I examined it, checking it for any flaws that I could exploit and found none. Shrugging I knelt next to the bed and began the laborious process of slamming the tray against the wooden leg to break it. Fifteen minuets later I had no luck. Whatever this thing was made of, it sure as hell wasn't anything I had ever dealt with. Collapsing on my butt I sighed heavily. "Something here isn't right. All the noise should have attracted someone. This is crazy." I yawned widely, and shook my head. "Whoa, what the hell? Why am I so tired?" I tried to stand, and managed to make it to a half kneeling half prone position, with my upper body on the bed. "No. Don't sleep. Need to be alert. Gotta watch my back...don't trust...place..." As my eyes drifted closed I faintly heard the door open and saw a rather blurry outline in front of me. The last thing I remember is a flash of violet eyes.

The sound of a door snapping shut woke me from my musings. Groaning I grabbed my head, I had a really bad headache, it was like someone kicked me in the side of the head. "Ow," I groaned. "Sonuva-"

"Oh, eloi deyla ney-ish?" The voice that interrupted me was melodic, calm and unmistakably female. Like a small stream the foreign words trickled over my ears, gentle but also hard and commanding.

"What in THE FUCK!?" Looking up for the source of the voice I see something that makes me think I have severe brain damage and are in a coma or some weird shit. I found myself looking into the lavender eyes of a, I shit you not, a goddamn unicorn. A damn tall ass unicorn with purple eyes. It had wings too, oddly enough, and a weird multicolored mane that billowed- no flowed in a nonexistent breeze.

"Eloi deyla ney-ish?" It- she- repeats.

"Ah, so this is what eternity is? Trapped in a room with a unicorn?" God it's like that episode of Invader Zim when he tried to trap all those kids in a room with a moose...... I weighed my options and ddecided to make a break for the door. I stood calmly, smiled at the weird pegacorn thing and waved. "Nope, nothing to do here." I proceeded to walk out of the door, only to see more unicorns, and some pegasai and a few regular ponies. "What..?"

The sound of my voice stopped them all, every eye focused on me. "Erm, hi?"

"O zuella kathoi!" The voice of the female unicorn sounds from behind me and I turn slowly.

You ever had one of those moments where you see feel something or someone staring at you but you can't tell what? As if there was someone who knew you intimately staring at you as you slept? Like a parent looking over your messed up report card, and you can feel their disappointment, even though they never say anything? That's how I feel now. I turned and saw the crature, and I mean actually saw it. There was so much about it that I couldn't describe that I dropped my jaw. It was about the size of a large horse, with fur as white as virgin snow. Large white wings were slightly extended from its back and as my eyes traveled toward its face I began to feel more and more scared, this thing radiated power. Now when I say it radiated power, I don't mean it felt like I was staring at a police officer or something, no, I felt as though I was staring into the face of a being way beyond my own simple comprehension. I'm not one for religion but I think that it's a god of some sort. By the time my brown eyes met with its purple ones I felt as though it knew everything about me. As our eyes were locked I could feel all the past wrongs, all the hurts, sins and other misdeeds piling up on me. Man, it was crippling, I felt my legs give out and I dropped to my knees dumbly before this radiant creature with tears flowing down my face. I could feel the compassion coming off of her, emanating in such powerful waves it reduced me to nothing but an emotional wreck.

Something akin to concern flashed across he and she reached a hoof out to me. I jerked away, feeling as though my sins were too great for something that pure to touch. Snorting a bit the creature took a few steps back and barked out what seemed like a few orders.

"Aoi annah, lezelk il bin contu." Its voice was so soft and lilting, almost motherly in a way.

A small brown pony, a normal one, zipped up to her and bowed. "Zel, Mic Celestia. Nana fey bon zelch?"

"Nen, bon zelk ney feyto aldunas. Pazad mishca ordoorvos. Seil!" Spinning around she walked off, leaving the pony there stunned and me slowly reaching out to her.

"No, please... don't go..." The light she shed slowly faded as I fell into the sweet embrace of sleep.

I awoke to a strange feeling, it was as though someone was dragging a mesh net throughout my core. Whatever it was it was warm and had a smooth steady beat, not unlike a heart, but that made it all the more it felt invasive. Groaning I rolled over and stumbled to the toilet, seeing through half working eyes. I spent a few minuets praying to the porcelain gods, which is a lot harder to do when you have nothing in your stomach.

"Malis nah zen zil no foram?"

"Ugh, you know I don't understand your blasted language you twat waffle!" I huff a bit and open my eyes only to stare into the blue ones of, get this, a unicorn. I yelped and scooted back a bit, trying to get some space between us. I look around and see that I am in the room where I woke up. I guess they carted my sorry ass back here.

It frowns and a moment later its horn lights up and I feel that presence in my core again, making me feel queasy and afraid. I slowly slid backwards, my ass dragging along the ground in quite an undignified manner and my eyes never leaving it. That light thing isn't natural. No way in hell. It is very possible that it can be a threat to me. Priority number one; don't piss this thing off. As All of this was happening in my head the unicorn took the opportunity to take a few steps toward me, its blue eyes narrowed slightly.

I could feel something coming from it, something that was very familiar but I couldn't place what. I stood quickly and felt a jolt of surprise and fear centered in my chest that was not my own. I looked at the unicorn, I could see that it was trembling slightly. Reaching out slowly it shrunk back and I felt the fear spike.

What the fuck? How the- no, not the time. I need to find out where the hell I am and what happened. I turned towards the door and tried to open it, but was stopped by its lock, again. Shit. Kneeling down I began to examine it, my inner nerd taking over and trying to figure out the easiest way to open it. Reaching in my pocket I felt around and luckily found a bobby pin. "Pfft, even in god knows where I still find my moms hair crap in one of my pockets."  Sticking the pin in the keyhole I proceeded to try and pick the lock.

Five minuets later I moaned in exasperation at the stubborn door. "Screw it," I sighed. "It's not like I know what the deuce is going on anyways." Turning back to the unicorn I smiled slightly. "Well bonehead, looks like it's just you and me huh?"

As I spoke to it I felt as though the emotions I felt were not all my own, as if I could feel its emotion coming through this, this connection for lack of a better word. Worry, curiosity and genuine concern were the main things I could feel. Smiling gently I put my hand out slowly towards it, palm up in a non threatening manner. When it didn't stop me I slowly put my hand on its head and scratched behind its ears. The unicorn stiffened for a moment, causing me to stop but after a second is rubbed its head into my hand again.

"Zlaos nel shardik..." It said in a relaxed tone.

Another female huh? "Ya know what little unicorn?" Little wasn't the proper term for her. She stood about three and a half feet from the floor to her shoulder. Her form was smaller than the winged unicorn I saw earlier so I had to think she was a pony. Looking down and her hooves I saw that they were about as large as my palm plus the first segment of my fingers. "I don't find this as weird as I should." The sound of my stomach growling made me laugh and her to jump a bit.

"Oh, hil don bish no wales?" She face palmed-facehoffed?- and lit her horn up. A moment later a plate with an assortment of food came floating in the room. Apples the size of my hand, pears, watermelon slices and all sorts of fruits, and also for some weird reason grass and oats.

OK, so that horn obviously has some kind of special properties. The only creature on earth that can make light like that is an angler fish, and seeing as how I am not in the ocean, and that's a horse, I'm going to have to say that that thought is wrong. Magic? Possibly. Its horn lit up and stuff came floating in. It cold also be some sort of special effect or some bullshit like that.

"Um, is this mine?" She looked at me with her head cocked to the side. Sighing a bit I point too the food and pantomime eating and then point to myself. Smiling widely she nods. I begin to examine the food; you can never be to careful right?  Seeing nothing wrong with them, i began to eat the fruits with gusto, only to stop a moment later and look at her. She smiles again, but I feel bad just eating all of this without offering her any, so I grab an apple and offer it to her.

She blushes a bit and shakes her head, as she does that I feel a hint of-embarrassment?- coming through the connection. Frowning a bit I set the apple down and begin to muse my situation.

I tried to kill myself but instead find myself here in a world with colorful talking pones, unicorns, pegasai and what appears to be some sort of pegasus unicorn god....... Shit.

Chapter Two: Yeah...no.

After a few moments of musing I looked at the unicorn who was with me. "What's your name? Pfft, why am I even asking it’s not like you can understand." She smiled a bit, her cheeks still tinged with red and the feeling of embarrassment still lingered in the link or whatever the hell it was. "Ya know you’re really a cuddly looking thing." I laugh and gently mess her mane. She really is too; her hair-mane?- is a chocolate brown and her fur is a nice tan color, almost brindle, looking at her I find myself smiling like an idiot. She laughs too, a sound like wind chimes.

"Ana lo hass ete?"

I frown and shrug, shaking my head no. I guess it’s time for charades again.... I pretend to talk, point to her then myself and shake my head no. She looks puzzled for a moment and then points a hoof to me, shakes her head, pantomimes talking and then points to herself. I nod slowly and she smiles, her horn lights up and a second later and she winks out of existence with a bright flash of blue.

Startled I jump back and look around for her. Stretching a hand out to the spot where she was I feel nothing but air. Mystified I begin feeling all around the little room trying to find her. "This isn't possible. People-pony things- can’t just up and disappear of the face of the goddamn world! Shit's just not possible." Granted this world may not have the same laws of physics that earth did, hell it may not even have the same atmosphere. If that's the case then I would be dead, again. I was trying to stay calm and rational, but that was't happening.

A moment later there was a pop and she reappeared in front of me. I reach out cautiously with a shaking hand and touch her mane, making her laugh again. Her smile was pretty big but slowly shrunk when she saw the look of intense confusion and fear on my face.

"Sol, nal zin las?"

Internally I tried to come to grips with what I saw. No. Nope. Not real. Just plain and simple this is all just blunt force trauma from the gun misfiring. I could feel myself shaking, not in fear but in disbelief. I had seen the unicorn do some levitation already and kind of ignored it but this, this proved that they could do something supernatural or some shit like that. I was terrified. She stepped towards me but I scrambled back, looking for something to throw. My hand grasped something and I threw it, yelling "Stay Back!" The watermelon rind hit her in the face with a muted "Fwump". Startled she backed up and shook her head, snorting.

"Was leh nan cha?!?"Her voice was indignant, and a bit hurt.

"I-I don't know what kind of game you are playing but this shit is NOT funny!" I started searching for something else to use as a weapon, digging through my pockets and under the- wait what? "Where the hell did these clothes come from!?" I can't understand this, I was wearing a suit when I died and now I'm in some black jeans and a long sleeve black V-neck shirt.  The hell? "Nonono. No. Bad reality! Bad! Stop fucking with me, NOW!"

The unicorn slowly inched towards me, her blue eyes concerned. "Was enien? Nah les bon sae?" She nudged me with a hoof eliciting a shrill screech.

"No, back up you little bugger! Stay back, I don't wanna have to use ....." I search in vain and just grab the tray from the bed. "This!" Swinging the tray like a heater sheild I tried to fend off the approaching monstrosity... Sounds badass right?  In all reality I just took a step back, slipped on a carelessly placed apple core and slammed my head against the wall hard enough to knock me out.

Switch

Audible Range - Audi for short-believed that the day would start off normal; wake up in the barracks, eat, and train. Everything was going swimmingly, well other than the fact that Shining Armor was being even more of a hard flank than normal. Little did she know she was going to be dealing with a very freaked out...being....

Ignoring the appraising looks she got from some of her peers Audi went along with her standard routine, wishing that something mildly interesting would happen. Don't misunderstand, she loved being a royal guard, but things can get a bit boring and repetitive after a while. Especially since Not a darn thing happened in canterlot.

Midway through her second set of one hundred push-ups the captain called for a halt.

"At ease soldiers," Shining ordered. There was a light jingling of armor as the regiment fell into a more relaxed pose. "I must say, I am quite pleased with the scores you all attained on the aptitude tests. Well, almost all of you." He looks off to the side and a blue pony coughs in embarrassment. "Ahem, anyways Princess Celestia to-" Shining Armour was cut off as a young servant ran to him.

"Captain! Captain!" A brown earth pony ran to the captain, visibly bursting with news.

"This had better be good Saccharine," he huffed.

"Oh, it is it is! Princess Celestia wanted me to tell you..." Saccharine whisperers something into the captains ear that makes him freeze.

"Are they sure?" He shoots back in an low tone.

"Y-yes sir, they called for you and Audible Range specifically."

The white unicorn nodded and dismissed the servant. "Audible Range, it seems as though our Princess needs us. The rest of you will continue on with the morning drills, and Lieutenant Sharp is in charge." The brindle mare saluted and began to follow her superior as a burly orange pegasus jumped up and started to bark orders.

"What is it sir?" Audi was quite nervous. To be pulled aside by the captain was one thing, but for Princess Celestia to pull you is a whole different level of terror.

"What I am about to tell you is not to leave us. If any hint of this gets out you will find yourself court marshaled and imprisoned faster than you can teleport. Got it?"

"Y-yes sir," she said, gulping.

"Approximately thirteen hours ago a being was found unconscious on the Princesses balcony. She immediately called in the Solar Guard and had it removed and placed in a hidden room. Now this being is unlike anything we have seen before. Judging by its body structure it is bipedal. It has little fur, mainly on its head; its appendages are reminiscent of a monkeys paw, having four prehensile digits and oppose-able thumbs. Seein as how we have never encountered one of its kind before we are referring to it as subject Zero." Turning left down a corridor that Audi hadn't even notice Shining continued uninterrupted. "That isn't the most shocking thing; it’s wearing clothing. It's sapient. Not long after it awoke the first time we tried to feed it, it refused to eat or drink and instead tried to break the tray on the bed frame."

"Really? Any idea as to why sir?"

"One of two things: it was angry, or it was trying to make a weapon. I am thinking it may be the latter because it did seem to exhibit signs of anger but they were only short spikes in its relatively stable, if not paranoid demeanor." The captain turned to her and sighed. "Until we can understand it we are just going to have to keep it isolated and sealed off from all the population. don't worry, when it was first found a medic ran a scan on it and determined that it carried no harmful diseases or bacteria. But just to be safe the room it is in has an antibacterial enchantment on it. And that's where you come in."

"M-me? What am I supposed to do?" She said bewildered.

"Try to talk to it, understand it. More importantly: see if it poses a threat to us." Stopping short at a door he gestured with a hoof and grinned. "I have faith in yo-" He was interrupted as the door opened and the creature walked out. It stopped and looked around with a look of confusion on its - face? It opened its mouth and said something in a foreign language before Celestia walked out behind it.

"Please, wait!" It appeared she was trying to calm it, but it stiffened suddenly and looked at her. What could only be described as a look of love, fear and sadness over came its visage. Falling onto its hind legs tears began to stream down its face. The princess tried to reach out a hoof in reassurance but it shrunk back.

"Someone take it into the room, It’s fainting."

"Me, Princess Celestia? I mean I'll do it." The same servant that came to warn us stepped forward.

"Fine, but be warned it seems very fragile. Do not hurt it, at all. You would not like to incur my anger about this." With that she beckoned to Shining Armour and walked down the hall, leaving Audi, Saccharine and a few other ponies with the creature. It reached a limb out towards her, weakly calling before it collapsed onto the ground.

"Well then...."

No more than five minutes later Audi found herself in the room with the strange being. It could talk, but the language was unknown to anyone in the castle, or Equestria, or maybe even the planet. Swallowing nervously the mare looked at the looked at the sleeping creature. It wore all black, strange seeing as how its skin (very fur less by the way) was a rich chestnut color. Its face was quite flat, having no muzzle at all. There was fur growing on what looked like its chin, and it had intricately woven hair going down its head.

"Might as well find out a little bit about you." Lighting up her horn the brown mare used her magic to scan its nervous, circulatory, endocrine, and respiratory systems. "Hm, the digestive tract is quite similar to ours, but the stomach seems to be filled with a less powerful acid." Marking her notes down on a small notebook that she kept in her armor she gently opened its mouth she saw that it had both canines and molars. "Appears to be an omnivore. Molars in back, canines in the middle and flat incisors in the front... How interesting." Increasing the magic going to her horn she intensified the scan, only for it to roll over and run to the toilet where it voided its stomach with force. The mare was disgusted but using her magic contained a small sample of it and placed it in a small container to be sent off to the lab for analysis.

Leaning in a bit closer she examined its face, watching its eyes flicker before opening up. It stared for a split second before crying out and scrabbling back.

"Oh, I'm sorry did I frighten you?" Audi was worried that she offended it somehow. Frowning she performed a spell of her own making; an empathy link. It allowed her to get a basic feel of any pony or beings emotions. She felt the waves of confusion, sadness and a a bit of rage, all bubbling within it. The spell worked two ways though, while she could sense its emotions it could sense hers too.

Reaching a forelimb out cautiously it began to scratch Audi behind the ears. She froze with the unexpected feeling but after a moment rubbed her head against its limb.

"That feels amazing," she purred.

The creature laughed, a deep booming sound that seemed as though it belonged to a male. Saying something in its native tongue it continued scratching her head, the deep soothing voice confirming her suspicions, but the sound of his stomach growling made her jump.

"I bet anyone can understand that huh?" The mare face hoofed at her forgetfulness and laughed. Smiling a bit she levitated a plate of food that was graciously left by Saccharine to the unknown male’s sitting form. He says something in his foreign tongue and huff with irritation realizes that Audi can't understand him. Pointing to the food, pantomimes eating, then points to himself. Audi smiles and nods, and watches with curiosity as he eats. Smiling widely he began to devour the fruits like a mad animal, pausing for a moment to offer Audi an apple. The brindle mare started and shook her head, feeling a bit embarrassed that a strange creature would want to give its food to a complete stranger.

Once full the being assumed a somber demeanor and stopped moving for a moment. A feeling of deep sadness, dread and a bit of cynicism leaked through the connection making Audi flip an ear worriedly.

Is he okay? Just as she opened her mouth, it spoke. It seemed as though he was questioning her, but a booming laugh dispelled that notion. Frowning internally Audi opened her mouth, only for the being to reach out and ruffle her hair a bit more. He laughs again making her jump a bit but she joins a moment later.

"I guess you're all right huh?" She smiled and the male just shrugged and pantomimed not being able to understand her. Wait, what? I think we're on to something here! The brindle pony smiled internally and proceeded to clumsily mimic the beings movements, causing it to smile and nod its head. Papyrus scrolls and a quill! Gathering energy in her horn Audi winked out of existence, only to reappear in the guard’s barracks to grasp a paper scroll and a quill. Repeating the previous action she found herself back in the room, smiling wildly the whole time, or rather she was smiling. The being reached a shaking limb out to her and gently messed her mane, all the while it had a look of pure horror and disbelief on its face.

"Hey, are you okay, what’s wrong"

He yelled and began to scramble back, visibly freaking out. Audi raised a hoof to motion for him to stop but a melon rind flew out of his hands and hit her in the face.

"What was that for!?" And how did I not notice the rind?

Visibly stressed the creature scrabbled around, seeming as though he was looking for something important. Smiling in victory he grasped a tray in his forelimb and swung it like a one would do with a small buckler shield, shouting all the while. Audi tried to warn him but was a moment too late: he took a step back and slipped on an apple core he carelessly threw and fell back, slamming his head on the wall with a sickening crunch. Shocked Audi just stared at the being. Not even a moment later Shining Armour walked into the room irritated.

"Audible Range! What the buck was that- WHAT IN THE NAME OF TARTARUS DID YOU DO!?"

Chapter Three: Here we go...again.

   It's been four hours since her first contact with Subject Zero. Audible Range sat in the chair, numb as her superior officer bellowed at her. Her mind was numb from the previous events. It- he, was afraid of me. No pony has ever been afraid of me, ever.

    "Range........Range! RANGE!"

The tan mare looked up at her captain, blinking . "Sir?"

    Pinching the bridge of his nose between his hooves the captain sighed. "Look, only two people were in that room; you and subject Zero. I don't know what happened in there and I need to make sure that it wasn't your fault. So once again, what happened?"

    "I-I don't know sir. Everything was going fine, or at least I thought it was. He was calm the entire time I was there, but when I teleported... Oh..."

"Oh what?"

"He freaked out. By that I mean he tried using the tray to fend me off" She bit her hoof, and stared at the wall for a moment before continuing. "The way it was swinging it makes me think that it was trying to defend itself from harm. I don't  think he likes magic sir."

"His response was to become violent? Well that seems like all the more reason for us to put him under! I will not risk the safety of my-"

"Sir, he was afraid. True, he did appear to be slightly hostile when we first met but I think that he needs another chance. Not to mention the fact that you would be hard pressed to find anypony willing to end a life."

Shining Armor snorted and slammed a hoof on his desk. "I don't care what you think. We need to look out for what is best for our people. We have no idea what Subject zero  is capable of! He could have some backup plan to kill us all. If him being perpetually unconscious means that they will stay safe then so be it. I personally will end his life if I have to."

"Really captain, is that how you feel?" He jumped at the gentle voice of Celestia. "I selected you for this job knowing that you would put the safety of Equestria before anything else, but to take the life of somepony who only wanted to protect himself and leave them in a vegetative state? As for him having a backup plan, I highly doubt it. When I spoke to him there was nothing but confusion in his eyes. I sensed no ill will coming from him at all." Celestia stepped into the room and smiled gently at Audi before turning her eyes to the captain. "However, I also agree with you captain, he may have abilities that we know nothing about. Though I am curious, has anyone done  a scan on him?"

    "Yes princess," Shining replied quietly.

    "Not a standard medical scan, a Swirl scan. Has anyone actually taken the time to do a proper  examination his physiology ? We don't need him to talk just yet, that would be great but is not what we need." Her violet eyes narrowed as she began to think. "Captain, you have my permission to take a small group into his room, no more than five ponies and at that no more than two unicorns. If that is not possible, can we have him brought to the lab? Only so we can do a full scale analysis of his form."

    Shining Armor nodded his head. "That's a rather sound plan," he murmured before turning to Audi. "Do what you can to examine him. But here's the thing; how would you want to transport him? I would rather not risk using magic on him until we have a proper reading of his body, not to mention he's too big for one pony to carry. Finally  let's not forget that we are in the middle of the castle. If you can figure out how to get it done without upsetting him too much then go ahead and move him. I want a copy of the lab reports when you complete it."

    Audi saluted and turned to leave but Shining held her back once again. "Remember Range, you screw up... It's your flank, I wont be able to overlook anything again." With that final warning he let his subordinate go, watching her walk away with narrowed eyes. Why is it that I feel like this is all going to go to tartarus?

"Captain, a word if I may?" Celestia said gently.

"Princess?"

Celestia closed the door with a gentle burst of magic, and began to pace the room slowly. "I do not trust that creature. There is something about him that is off. I could see it in his eyes when he looked at me. There is a certain emptiness that is quite disturbing."

The captain flicked an ear as his face took an apprehensive look. "What do you mean?"

The princess stopped pacing and looked at him with dark eyes. "Captain Armor, I hereby invoke Standing Order 66. If, and only if, this creature is proven to be a danger to this country or its ponies, it is to be eradicated with extreme prejudice. Do you understand?"

Shining Armor stood still,  eyes never leaving his never leaving hers. O-order 66? That has only been issued twice in the past 1500 years. She must really be paranoid about this thing to issue this. Can it really be that disturbing to her? Swallowing he opened his mouth and tried to speak, only for his answer to come out as a weak and feeble "yes". Clearing his throat he tried again. "Yes princess, I understand. Under Royal Order 66, this creature is to be terminated if, and only if, it has been deemed a hazard to Equestria or its citizens."

Nodding to herself Celestia summoned a large chair and sat in it. "I do not want to harm this creature, but he seems so empty. Dangerously so."

"Empty? In what way?"

"They say the eyes are a window to the soul, and looking into his soul I saw nothing. Naught but emptiness and sorrow. There is a disturbing lack of life in him and yet he walks around unaffected." Her voice was quiet, almost worried in a way.

"Is it possible that he is a construct of some sort? Or a creature of the underworld escaped? Maybe even a dead being forced into life by some cruel necromancer?"

"Those are possibilities, but I cannot draw a conclusion until the paperwork is given to me. At this point all I can assume is that he is a hollow shell of what he once was. That vital spark of life that he held is now gone, leaving him alive, but at the same time not living." Her voice became a whisper.

You ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right? Yeah, that's been the way I felt since I have woken up here in fucking horse land...

I sat up groaning. My head felt like I had been hit by Floyd Mayweather or some crap like that. Shrugging it off as best I could I walked over to the sink and began running  a bit of water to wipe my face with when I heard the door open. I stopped the water and slowly looked over my shoulder, and was surprised to see five ponies walking into my room, well 3 actual ponies and 2 unicorns. I immediately put myself on guard. I saw the little mare that was with me earlier in the group and relaxed just a bit. I smiled slightly when we met eyes, but she grimaced and looked away.

Ok, so what the fuck is about to happen here? Five versus one, 2 that can warp reality and 3 that just look tanky. This isnt going to go well at al-

My thoughts were cut off when a large strip of white cloth flew at my head, making me duck and swat it away. The moment I moved the three regular ponies struck- they rushed at me, trying to back me into a corner. I jumped back a bit to avoid their movements, my eyes switching from target to target. Thank god for Dark Souls or else I wouldn't have seen them moving when I ducked. Speaking of ducking, I swatted the strip of cloth again, only it wrapped itself around my arm and slowly began to slide up towards my neck like some sort of possessed two dimensional snake.

I began to frantically paw at the cloth, attempting to remove it while keeping my eyes on the ponies in front of me. It wasn't coming off! I began to bite at the fabric, hoping to tear it off my face, but the moment that my mouth connected with it, it wrapped itself around my neck and over my mouth in an almost liquid fashion. My screams were muffled as my hands scrambled around the cloth like large brown spiders.

There's no seam! This is just one solid piece of cloth! Nope. Nah, y'all can't just roll up an do this shit and think that you're going to get away with it. My hands clenched at it, pulling and yanking but it wasn't coming off. Releasing the fabric, I stood crouched over slightly, panting from the exherstion. My eyes frantically looked all over the room, searching for a way out. If I can just take out the two in the back then I'll be fine. I hope. Cracking my neck and fingers  I stood up to my full height and slowly raised my right fist.

"Come on you lousy sons of bitches. I ain't going down without a fight," I said, but it came out more as a muffled growl. Raising my other fist up I began to slowly shake my left hand, a trick that I learned keeps your opponents focus on the constant movement so they are caught off guard by the punches. I kept that pose until one of them leapt at me, hooves outstretched. I quickly sidestepped the obvious move and kicked at them with ann my might, my foot making a loud thunk as it connected with their rib cage. The winded pony slid to the ground behind me, wheezing. I turned to the others and smiled at them, my eyes narrowed slightly. They looked at each other and rushed at me at the same time.

This is where it gets weird. As they stepped toward me I noticed that they were moving slower than the other guy. I had enough time to vault over the first pony, land on my feet and slide under the second one and shoulder my way between the two unicorns guarding the door before they knew what happened. Looking around the hall frantically I spotted a glass window about forty feet down that lead to what looked like a small garden. Nodding quickly I began to run towards it, the sounds of shouts and clopping hooves not far behind me and gaining.

Thirty feet. A set of hooves wrapped around my waist, prompting an elbow to the muzzle and the immediate release of my body.

Twenty feet. The little unicorn appeared before me, her horn glowing slightly. I jumped over her, realizing that I was at least three times higher than I normally would be. I hit the ground running.

Ten feet. So close.

Five feet. Four feet. Three, two, one..

I jumped again, curling into a ball as I hit the glass. I uncurled myself the moment I cleared the edge of the building, aiming for a soft landing. Thankfully I was only on the first floor. I hit the ground hard enough to make me lose my balance and roll to a stop on my stomach, not before landing in a patch of glass. Gasping for breath I tried to pull myself into a sitting position, only to cry out in pain as a lance of pain shot up my right wrist. Looking down I moaned in shock at the twisted mass of flesh and bone that was my arm and hand. A large gash ran from my inner wrist to my outer elbow and my whole hand was cut to pieces.

I heard shouting above me, causing me to look up and see eyes staring at me from all the available windows. Clutching my bleeding appendage I staggered to my feet and looked around for somewhere I could try to hide. Spotting a small alcove, I painfully limped over to it, wincing as my shredded soles touched the sharp blades of grass. After what seemed like an eternity I reached a small bench and collapsed. Leaning against the wall I exhaled slowly before biting my left shirt sleeve and pulling it until my arm was free. Bracing myself for the more painful part, I slipped my torso out and with a yank ripped the shirt off of my mutilated arm.

Tears ran down my face as the open wound was rubbed by the rough fabric. Goddamnit. I can't do this. Its hurts too much. Tilting my tearstained face towards the sky, I silently began to pray to whichever god was listening. Jesus, Buddha, Zeus, it didn't matter. All that matteres was having the strength to wrap this wound up and trying not to pass out. Setting my jaw I sniffed a bit to clear my nostril and looked at the shredded remains of my shirt. Gripping it between my teeth and my left hand I tore it into strips and began the slow and painful process of wrapping my arm and putting it in a sling. I was about halfway done before the sound of hoofbeats gained my attention. Looking up slowly my eyes met the horrified looks of the ponied that were in the room with me. One of the unicorns, the little one who seemed to always be near me, barked out what seemed like a few orders, causing the group to advance on me.  I grimaced weakly before blacking out.

Audible Range sat at a small table surrounded by four other guards explaining her plan to move Subject Zero from his room to the lab, which was three floors below in the basement and on the other side of the castle.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait a second. So you're telling me that you just want to let it wander aimlessly around until he reaches the Lab? No. I say we cuff and muzzle it, and lead it to the lab by leash and go from there," Stone Cutter growled, slamming her obsidian hoof on the table.There was a round of muted agreement as she finished her statement. "Less risk. Simpler than that whole convoluted plan you had Range." Cutter sneered, her silver eyes narrowing in a patronizing fashion.

Audi blushed and looked down before nodding in agreement. "I didn't mean for it to be convoluted but it just kind of happened. Anyways, if we do this Jax and I will have to be the ones to get the muzzle and leash on him. But due to his shape, I think it would be best if we were to use minotaur restraints on him. Well aside from his face. I think a standard straitjacket and leg restraints couples with a wheelchair would be the best things to move him with. Agreed?" Several nods were all she was met with. "Ok, so we get the restraints, go to the room, Cutter and Swirl will hold him while Jax and I put the restraints on him."

Fifteen minutes later Range and her associates found themselves outside of the room containing Subject Zero. Turning to Jax Audi spoke to him in a low voice. "I really dont want to hurt him, so try to be gentle when we restrain him, okay?" Jax grinned, his smile giving her all the conformation she needed. Opening the door, the group slowly entered, watching as the creature slowly stiffened. It turned, water dripping off of its face and looked at them, its eyes narrowing for a moment before settling on Audi. She had to look away, its gaze was so intense that she felt a flash of fear. Jax took advantage of its momentary lapse in concentration to fling a piece of polymorphic fabric at it, making it duck and swat it away.

The three earth ponies slowly crowded in on him, trying to push him back into a corner. While they did that Jax moved the fabric towards him again, making it land on its arm. The fiber flowed up its arm like water before latching on its mouth and wrapping around the back of its head to form a single unbreakable piece of cloth. Panicking it began to viciously claw at its face trying to remove the enchanted item. Subject Zero stopped struggling after a moment and looked at them, determination in its eyes. It spoke, but the words were muffled, as it did it raised its arm and began to gently shake one of its hands. Stone Cutter and Iron Hoof readied themselves to move, but Swirl launched himself at it, smiling viciously. The creature sidestepped it easily and kicked at him, its foot connecting with his side with a rather painful sound, making him wheeze and collapse.

Cutter and Iron looked at each other and nodded before rushing at it. Subject Zero lurched forward, placing its hands on Stones muzzle and pushing itself over her, and did a sliding dive under Iron. Hoping on its feet a split second later it shouldered through Audi and Jax, leaving them dumbfounded at its sudden burst of speed and dexterity. Their confusion only lasted a few seconds before they were chasing after it. Stone cutter was the first to reach it and latched onto its abdomen, only for it to strike her in the face hard enough to break her nose with a sickening crack and loosening her grip enough for it to slip away.

We cannot let him get out of here and outside. Audi ran as hard as she could but she knew she wouldn't be able to catch up to him so reaching into her mind she accessed the aether and using it pulled herself out of existence, only to reappear a few feet in front of him. "Stop! Please!" Her cries were ignored as Zero continued to run, and when he was right in front of her he jumped. His form easily cleared her four foot frame, easily going an additional six feet over her head. His landed on the ground with a loud thwap and moments later the sound of breaking glass sounded throughout the castle. Spinning, she rushed to the window and her eyes were met with a horrifying sight; Subject Zero was on the ground bleeding and there were eyes at every window trying to see what caused the commotion.

"Jax! Teleport to the captain and fill him in on what just happened. Cutter, you and Iron take Swirl to the infirmary and bring back three medics, also get your nose fixed. After you do that I'll need you to run damage control Jax, Find any and everypony that saw this and wipe it out of their minds. We can't have a repeat of the Rainbow incident. I'll be in the courtyard trying to keep him from losing too much blood." Audi didn't wait for an answer before leaping out of the window and slowly creeping up to him. By the time she had gotten close to him, the three medics were right behind her, ready to step in at a moments notice to heal him. She noted that his arm was wrapped in what looked like his shirt, stopping most of the bleeding. He looked at her weakly as he raised his left arm and extending the second digit on it before passing out.

Nodding to the Medic, Audi stepped back and allowed them to bring out a large gurney and gently put him on it. The group talked amongst themselves quietly, debating on what would be the best course of action. "Take him down to the lab. I want a blood, stool, and urine sample. If possible try to be as non invasive as you can. I'll be explaining this to the boss. Again." Sighing she shook her head and slowly trudged back into the castle, leaving the mess for the eraser crew that was standing by. Why can't it ever be easy?

Chapter Four: Testing, testing. One. Two. Three....

Audible Range

"Explain to me again how it managed to get out?"

"I don't know sir. Subject Zero displayed speed and dexterity past what the initial examination showed possible. He was able to take down an earth pony with a single blow, evaded capture by myself and Jax, not to mention he was able to leap three meters in the air with no assistance. There is no way anything with his physiology should be that agile and powerful. It simply isn't right."

"And yet he still bled, is that correct? He may be something we can gain to study. Has the blood work come back yet?" Shining Armor looked up from his hooves, his blue eyes narrowed slightly. "Just notify me if anything changes," he said before walking out of the room.

Looking back I felt my eyes crease with worry. Subject Zero looked skeletal, his face sunken in and gaunt. His eyes wandered below his closed lids, his lips moving but making no sound. I gently rolled his head towards me and began to give him small spoonfuls of soup, hoping that he would keep it down. However I doubted it. Ever since he was brought to the infirmary he began to lose weight. Everything we fed him came back up less than an hour later. He wasn't even keeping water down. If this kept up he would die from malnutrition and dehydration. Silently I stood next to the bed, my eyes worriedly scanning Subject Zero. He was asleep, his chest rising and falling as he almost gasped for air.

His face was pulled into a grimace and his body shuddered, his legs twitching and jerking as if he were running from something. I watched in mute fascination as his hands scrabbled on the blankets like spiders wrapping their victim in web. Crying out he shot up, his injured arm shooting out as if to grab me, only to stop a few centimeters away. His eyes were open but void of life, staring into the space that I had once occupied. His mouth opened and a whisper escaped it, a word said with such fear and pain that it brought tears to my eyes. He sat like that for a moment longer before collapsing back, his injured arm hitting the bed with a loud thwack.

As I looked at his arm, which was now properly treated, I finally noticed what appeared to be a cutie mark on his shoulder and another on his chest as well. Upon closer inspection I realized it was a sigul/tribal marking of some type. It consisted of a large circle containing a hexagon, and within it was an upside-down pyramid with partial circles connecting it to the hexagon. There were glyphs and what appeared to be his language going around the inner perimeter of the circle, as I leaned in to examine it closer he began to stir again.

"What's wrong with you," I murmured over his gently moving form. "Why are you so frail? What's making you sick?" Sighing I shook my head slowly. "At this rate I'll never know." I looked at his face and was shocked to see his eyes open and staring at me, but they weren't glazed over- they were focused, on me. "T-tiller. His eyes are open. His eyes are open!" I felt a surge of relief at that sight.

The medic assigned to him rushed over, his stethoscope on subject Zeros chest a second later. His eyes never left mine. He opened his mouth and tried to speak, only to be cut off by ragged coughs and wheezes.

"Evan."

Confusion was evident on my face as he spoke. My head tilted to the side as he raised a limb and pointed it to himself. "Evan." He said something else, but all I really heard was that one word. My eyes slowly widened as it clicked in my head. I pointed to myself and slowly said my name. "Audi." I then pointed to him and pronounced the word he said slowly. "Evan?"

He smiled slightly and nodded. "A-audi," he said, pointing at me. His voice was whispery and faint, like a quill scratching on paper. "Evan," he said pointing back at himself.

I smiled, tears in my eyes. "Tiller. Get the princess. Now!" I ordered, hoping that Subject Ze- no Evan stayed awake long enough to see her. I looked at him, and noticed him raising his arm back and pantomiming something with his hand, as though he wanted.

"Water." Rushing to the sink I filled a glass of and brought it back to him. The moment his hand touched the glass held in my magic he recoiled, dropping the glass and turning pale. I only had that warning before he rolled over to the side and vomited, his frail form convulsing with the effort of trying to empty his already empty stomach. He eventually managed to lie back down. He smiled slightly, looking apologetic.

Getting up I smiled and shook my head, showing that it was ok. Grabbing a mop I began to clean the bile off the floor. I heard the door open, causing me to turn around. There in the doorway stood Princess Celestia.

"I heard the subject is awake?" Her purple eyes widened in surprise as she took in his emaciated form. The moment she stepped over the threshold Evan made a strange noise, something between a shriek and a cough, making me look at him. His eyes were wide and darting around, his chest was rising and falling rapidly as he gasped, no hyperventilated. I could see his skin turning pale underneath the sheen of sweat that was covering him.

I opened my mouth, only to be cut off as he went ridged, his breathing all bit stopped, and I noticed a that his mouth and eyes began to shimmer slightly. The heart monitor he was attached to want haywire, picking up to the point where it sounded like one wavering note. All this happened in less than ten seconds.

Celestia stepped forward, her face creased with concern only to recoil as blood began to leak from his eyes, nose and a small trickle flowed from his ear. He looked at me and I saw that the whites of his eyes had turned a almost black and his irises were a crystal blue. He opened his mouth one last time and made the shrieking nose again before pitching forward into the mess of fluids in his lap.

The room was still for a moment before everything erupted in chaos. Voices overlapped as the med ponies rushed into the room, taking his vitals, inserting iv drips into his veins. I was shortly ejected from the room, unable to move from the pure shock. I looked at the princess and saw her face mirrored mine.

"I-i need to lie down for a moment," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "Please stay in the castle until I call for you." Her voice was soft, her eyes distant as though she was staring at something on the far horizon.

That was almost a week ago. I barely left his side, not even sleeping. I began to run myself ragged worrying. I couldn't leave him. I felt like a mother looking after her sick child, ironic since he was around my age and a different species. I was nodding off when I felt a hoof on my shoulder.

"Get some rest. Don't worry about him. If there's any change you'll be one of the first to know."

I smiled wearily and shook my head. "I'm fine Shiney, I got some sleep last night." More like fifteen minuets, but he didn't need to know that.

"Horseapples. I know you've only left his side twice in the last three days. Go get some sleep, seriously, I will have you removed by force if need be."

"When you put it that way... I'll be back in a few hours." I balked at the stern look. "Okay, tomorrow then."

I sat in my living room staring into my fireplace, mesmerized- my mind drifting in and out of focus. I had spent the last few hours unsuccessfully trying to relax. It seemed that no matter what I did Evan stayed on my mind. Sighing I extinguished the fire with a simple hit of magic and slowly trudged up the stairs to my room. I flipped on my bed, to spent to even brush my teeth. Sighing quietly I wrapped myself up in my blanket and curled into a ball, trying to clear my head. After a few hours of tossing and turning I eventually managed to get a few hours of restless sleep.

It was around eleven when I woke up. I panicked for a moment before I realized that I was in my own home. After staying in the castle for over a week It felt strange and uncomfortable to be in my own bed. Stretching slightly I shook myself off, trying to get rid of the last dredged of exhaustion that clung to me like dew on a flower just after dawn.

"I guess I needed sleep more than I thought... He can be a bit of a turd sometimes but the captain knows when to release people of duty. But that's neither here nor there," I muttered before sitting down. "Now heres' a real question; what should I eat for breakfast?" After debating with myself I decided on eggs and waffles.  Just as I sat down I hear a gentle tapping as if someone was gently rapping on my door. "Right as I freaking sat down... This better be good," I muttered stomping to the door. "What?"

The little colt, who still had his hoof raised to knock on the door, jumped back squeaking. "S-sorry to bother you so early in the morning Ma'am but I was sent to give you this by the captain," he said quietly while handing over an envelope.

Great. Now I feel bad. "Thank you, and I'm sorry for snapping at you. Consider this my apology," I said while taking the envelope from him and giving him a ten bit coin. His eyes got big and he smiled before saluting and galloping off.

Opening the letter I began to read it aloud.

Miss Range, I request that you meet me in the throne room at your earliest convince. There are quite a few things I would like to speak with you about. Many of which pertain to Subject Zero, as well as this morning newspaper. Best regards,

Princess Celestia.

"This morning's newspaper? What is she talking about?" I looked around my front porch before I spotted it. Upon reading the headline I paled: Curious Creature Caught Creeping around Castle!

"FUCK!"

It's been three days since the indecent with Evan. I tried to see him earlier today but he was still under quarantine. Sitting in the mess hall I idly swirled my spoon around in my oatmeal, gently blowing raspberries at no one in particular when a hoof touched me in the side. Looking up slowly I saw the head captain staring at me.

"Walk with me Audi. We have some things to talk about." The tone of his voice made me cautious, he sounded tense and uncertain. I nodded and stood, leaving my uneaten food behind. As I followed him out I opened my mouth, only for him to cut me off.

"Hold your questions for when we get to the throne room. The princess have a lot to talk to you about." The rest of the trip was made in silence, making it seem as though we were walking for an eternity...

"Tell me what you know about Subject Ze-"

"Evan."

Celestia blinked, her face showing mild surprise before she smirked. "I commend you for being able to interrupt me and not worry, but that is neither here nor there. What do you know of him? Do you have any inclination as to why he reacted like he did?"

"I am also curious about this sister. Did he have this reaction the first time he saw you?" Celestia shot Luna a look that said 'later' before turning back to me.

"So far I haven't been able to gather much on him, at least not in the mental sense. Physically however I've found a few things. He is an omnivore, he has both molars and incisors as well as canines. He appears to be quite young, maybe twenty or so. He is actually quite similar to a monkey, but it's very distant. Like how we are similar to horses- the same on some part of out genetics but also extremely different. His heart is just between his lungs, which absorb a similar amo-"

"Not to be rude but that isn't what I meant. So I shall reiterate; do you know why he had such a violent reaction to my presence?"

"Your presence? Not to my know...ledge..." My mind flashed back to the notes in his file and him vomiting after he touched the glass I held in my magic. "I may have a reason."

"And what is that dear?"

"When he first woke up he was fine, sitting up and able to speak a bit, however when I gave him the glass he got ill. It was as though he had a reaction to my magic."

Celestia looked pensive for a moment. "If this happened with you, we may need to test it out a bit more just to see if it was the magic that was making him ill. I will have it tested with nine more unicorns with you as the controlled variable."

As per her request we tried to test how magic Affected Evan and we got the results that I expected. His body was violently rejecting magic of any kind no matter who it was from.

Later that week I was on my way back to Evans room when I saw a big commotion near the infirmary. "What happened?" I asked a pegasus who had a wing in a splint.

"That creature happened," he muttered looking at me with a bruised face. "He got violent when anyone got near him. eventually we had to restrain him but not before he managed to injure a few unlucky souls."

"How did he injure you?"

"He's strong. Way stronger than we anticipated. He managed to throw off an earth pony with one arm before we got him restrained, but even then he managed to grab my wing hard enough to pull it out of the socket," the guard laughed, his voice bitter. "Looks like we all are going to be out of  commission for a while. Hell, Blueberry took a blow to the head so hard she got concussed. I don't care what the princess says. That. Thing. Is. Dangerous." With that he made a disgusted noise and walked away. A moment later he turned to look at me, his eyes narrowed. "That thing needs to be sent to Tartarus or put down, end of story."

My mind was reeling, Subject zero violent? Needing to be sent to tartarus?  I didn't want to believe it, but they were dealing with an unknown creature. Oh crap. Turning heel I ran down the opal corridor towards the science ward, hoping that the guard was lying. However the sight that greeted me when I got there dashed my hopes.

Subject Zero was sitting in a large chair, his arms and legs restrained by thick cloth manacles, but that wasn't the part that horrified me. Blood was splattered all over the room, there were bloody hoof and hand prints everywhere, there was a rather deep indentation in the wall that resembled an earth pony. My eyes slowly raised to him and I became more and more nauseous with every centimeter. His hands were covered in blood, and I could clearly see bone sticking out of one hand. His arms were a mass of lesions and bruises. His head hung down limply,  his face covered by his hair matted with blood. I could see more of the substance dripping down on the floor like a slowly leaking faucet. I stepped forward slowly, drawn by a horrified kind of fascination. At the sound of my hoof steps he looked up, causing the blood to drain from my face. He looked at me with a sad bloody grin before spitting the aforementioned liquid onto the ground, along with a small ragged piece of something. I reared back with horror and was almost sick. It was a piece of an ear. He ripped off an ear? Oh goddess. He is a monster...

Swallowing my revulsion I timidly stepped forward until I was standing in front of him. "Why?" The question was retoric but he answered anyway, not that I understood him.

"You worthless animals. I ought to fucking kill you all for what you've done to me. I don't care if there is a god in this world... Those who did those things to me will pay. I swear on my fucking grave. I. Will. Kill. Them." He smiled again before his eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped forward unconscious.

"MEDIC!" I bellowed, my eyes wide in alarm. A group of med ponies galloped into the room, only to freeze when they saw the blood pooled around his chair. "I need a medic in here that knows how to treat bipeds. NOW!"

Shaking themselves out of their revulsion and horror they promptly began barking orders at one another. Moments later a large gurney was wheeled into the room and Evan, whom had been gently released from the chair, was laid upon it. A light brown earth pony, a mare by the name of Cinnamon Swirl put a stethoscope up to his chest whilst looking at the clock. "Heart rate is 45 bpm," she stated curtly. "I need his file." A random unicorn passed it to her and she began to compare his current vitals to the ones previously recorded. Attaching a blood pressure cuff to his arm and began pumping it. "Bp is 60/40, hes got a dangerously low blood pressure. I need a 500 mL lactated ringer, some antiseptic, bandages, isopropyl alcohol, sutures and a needle. Now!" That last part was shouted when the unicorns tried to heal him but failed, their horns coated in that heat like shimmer that indicated magic use without results.

I was rushed out of the room, where I stood in the doorway, looking in at the flurry of activity with a numb sense of awe. I need to report this to the princesses. If he did this because he is violent then he must have to be put down. But no creature would do anything this drastic unless it was brought on by some kind of previous trauma.

"HE was WHAT?!"

I was terrified. I'd had never seen either of the princesses angry. Judging by the blood red eyes and flaming manes, I figured everything was about to go to tatarus. Or at least the two unicorns who tortured the subject were. "W-when I went into the room they were holding him in I saw what they had done to him. His entire body seemed malnourished. His skin was covered in aether burns, but they looked as though they were from healing spells gone awry more than anything, but it's hard to be sure. His limbs were covered with open wounds, after closer examination it looked as though he had been bound to something and it rubbed his raw, to the point where his skin came off."

Celestias face showed a disgusted look before it changed to sympathetic then back to rage. "How is he now? Any word?

"He seems to be alright, however an issue has occurred when it came to healing him. Our magic wasn't working, we hoped that his immunity or resistance, whichever you want to call it, would be weaker now that he's unconsious. It just dissipated, as though he was a sponge for aether. We tried healing potions, but he just vomited them up as though he had ingested ipecac. He cannot stay awake at all. He has moments where he seems fully aware of his surroundings, but then he blinks and its gone. It's as though he's retreated into his mind so deep that he can't get out."

Celestia gazed off into the sunset, her face pensive. "There may be a way to check his mind, though it may not work.."

"Why is that Princess."

Celestia looked down at me and smiled sadly. "Because he has no magic within him. I could tell that from the moment I saw him. His heart, soul- whichever you want to call it- is dark. There is, or rather was nothing in him,  he is a literal vortex of silence and possibly now anger."

Stunned I sat still,  feeling as though the world around me had stopped. No magic. Empty. The void. My mind began to race as long forgotten stories swam through my head. The void. Pure darkness in mortal form. A shade.

"I have a question for you my little pony. Out of everyone who has been in contact with Subject Zero, would you say that you have had more experience dealing with him?"

"Well, that's a bit of a vague statement. I haven't been around him too much, but I have been able to use an emotion spell or as I refer to it, an empathy link. It worked rather well, but I was unable to get more than vague emotions from him."

Celestia nodded, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Out of everpony in the guard would you say that you are the best when it comes with that particular spell?"

"Oh no, far from the best but also not the worst. Any reason why it's important?"

Celestia smiled for the first time since she sat down. "I believe I may have a solution to accessing his mind, however I need to discuss it with my sister first. I shall let you know if my theory is correct after I speak with my sister, please wait here as we explore this theory."

It was late evening when the princess' returned to the room. Standing in front of me they shared a look before Celestia began to speak.

"After speaking with Luna, we have done up with a plan to attempt to understand Subject Zero. Luna has told me that within the past fortnight she has been able to sense an unknown presence in the dream realm. We believe that it is his mind trying to deal with this drastic change."

"Indeed. What my sister is suggesting is that we attempt to break into his dream to attempt to understand him.  However I feel as though it would be better if you were the one to make contact. He would most likely have a more favorable reaction to seeing you than anyone else."

I bit my lip nervously. "What would you have me do? Other than the obvious."

"Try to look into his mind, learn about where he came from, what he's capable of doing. However I warn you to be cautious, what we are attempting has only been done once. You must be able to guard your mind as you explore or you run the risk of being lost in him. Knowing these risks, are you willing to do this?" Lunas eyes were focused on me like a manticore that sighted its prey.

Is this going to be worth it? It seems more dangerous than anything I've ever done. Princess Luna will be there to assist me. But... This sounds terrifying. I'm not sure I could keep my concentration doing this...

"Miss Range?"

I jumped as I felt a hoof touch my shoulder. Looking up I saw Lunas purple eyes staring at me with worry. "Sorry, I was just lost in thought. This sounds dangerous, downright terrifying actually, but my curiosity is getting the better of me. I'll do it."

Luna and Celestia shared a look and I swore that the day princess slipped her younger sister something. "Good to know Miss Range. If you wouldn't mind, I would like to do this as soon as possible. Tonight if you have no objections."

I shook her head. "Why wait? I can't lie, I have a severe itch to know how his mind works."

"Excellent."

I sat in a small chair, my lip caught in between my teeth. It was a nervous tick of sorts I had picked up from my mother. My worrying was cut short as Luna walked into the room.

"Ready? First thing I will do is put you to sleep, afterwards I will push you into his dream. Remember, stay focused. Do not go astray. His mind is a foreign territory. You cannot die in a dream, but you can experience pain. So do not attempt anything." Before she could respond Lunas horn began to flow and Audi felt herself drift off to sleep.

Opening her eyes Audi found herself in a large chamber surrounded by thousands of different color stars. Upon closer inspection she realized that they weren't stars but aether marks, each one emitting a different signal. Amazed she focused on a pale one streaked with purple, only to see an alabaster unicorn with a triple diamond cutie mark smiling as she accepted what appeared to be a fashion award.

"Audi?"

Spinning around she saw Luna smiling slightly. Stepping forward she smiled sadly.

"Beautiful are they not?" She lifted a hoof and gently poked the dream Audi was previously looking in. "Seeing my little ponies so content in their little dreams brings a happiness to me that makes me regret those thousand years I spent on the moon. All the amazing thoughts that I missed. All those Beautiful dreams left unseen." She sighed sadly and gently blew the dream away where it hooked its brethren like a dandelion seed in the wind. "No matter, back to the task at hoof. This is what we are looking for." Swirling her hoof she moved them to a small black and blue speck. "Brace yourself, its going to be a bumpy ride."

Audi stepped forward into the orb of thought and was immediately assaulted by visions and feelings that were not her own. Screaming she tried to pull herself away but to no avail.  Screaming she was whisked away into the vortex that was his mind.

The pain in my arm is what woke me up. My eyes opened and I began to scream. It felt like someone was putting digging into my shredded arm. The pain in my arm abated enough for me to catch my breath so I began to frantically look around, seeing nothing but beeping machines. I looked down and saw that my feet were bandaged up and the blood had been wiped off of my chest and abdomen. I tried to sit up but I found myself strapped down again. All of this was taken in in a few seconds, my attention was drawn to my right side where I saw two unicorns standing over my outstretched arm. I opened my mouth to yell at them but upon seeing that I was awake one of them jabbed something into the gash on my arm.

I have experienced a lot of pain. I've broken my shoulder before, almost lost my left pinky, ripped my scrotum while skating (long story). I've even had my heart broken. But nothing. And I mean *NOTHING was as painful as what they put in my arm. I ceased to exist. I was no longer human. I was an amalgam of pain and fear. I could feel my back arching against the straps so hard that they cut into my skin. I could feel my throat going raw, I even began to taste blood. It went on like that for an eternity. I couldn't handle it anymore and blacked out.*

Water splashing across my body shocked me out of my comatose state. I gasped and wrenched my eyes open, only to slam them closed when a bright light shone in my face. I tried to keep them closed but something forced them open, and a droplet of some dark liquid was dripped into them. Almost immediately my eyes went dark. I heard them begin to talk and felt something lift me up and set me on the ground. The voices stopped abruptly and the sound of them walking grew distant.

Shaking slightly I touched my arm, only to find it completely healed. I felt a small object on the back of my hand, and when I moved it a lance of pain shot up my arm. *Great, they put a fucking shunt in me. Now what? Shaking my head I simply wrapped my arms around my legs and stared into the darkness with my now sightless eyes...*

I haven't been to sleep in so long. It's hard to tell how long it's been since I still can't see. I think its been three or four days. Hard to tell since Iv'e only received a single meal. I don't want to eat, I'm pretty sure the foods drugged. I left it in the corner to rot. I feel weak from exhaustion and hunger. Every time I doze off something shocks me right in the spine. The first time it happened I made scoot to back into a corner and just stay there, but it didn't matter. Zap! Right in the damn spine.

I'm beginning to hallucinate. They came in here and injected something into my hand. I don't know what it was. It felt like ice in my veins. I had a conversation with a friend of mine today. He told me to count to a thousand. I dont know what he means by that.

"Five hundred and sixty two," I moan out quietly. "Five hundred and sixty three, five hundred and sixtty-AH!" I felt another lance of pain as a needle stabbed me in the leg and injected its contents in me. I could feel it working its way up my leg. Burning. Crawling. It was as if someone put fire inside me. "FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FOUR!" I was beginning to slip...

I'm tired. So tired. I dont know what they're going to do to me next. I've finally been allowed to sleep. Unfortunately it was only for a few hours. They have me standing up. That weird facewrap is on again. I didnt notice it until I tried to lick my lips. I'm really thirsty. I haven't drunk anything since they put me down here. I'm pretty sure I'm in the danger zone. Hehe. Danger zone. LANA! Danger Zone~! Hehe. Archer. At least  I can see again.

I'm loopy from dehydration. I'm sure its been about 5 days. I'm going to die here. I'm okay with that though. No more dealing with this shit. No more wishing. Just bliss.

They gave me food and water today. I was so ravenous that I ate it all and drank so fast that I was sick.

It's been about two weeks since the torture stopped as far as I can tell. They've been feeding me regularly. I feel stronger. My thought are no longer fragmented and disorganized. It's a relief. If I wind up dying here, at least I'll be myself.

I sat on the floor staring intently at a crack that was in the wall when the sound of the door opening broke me from my musings. Two ponies walked in; a unicorn and a regular one. They were both burly as hell. I knew the procedure. Standing up I put my arms out at shoulder level while they put a straitjacket on me. The first time this happened I fought back as hard as I could, but I received a shock so powerful I pissed my pants and almost had a seizure. I stood motionless until they got through putting it on me before leading me out of the small room and into the larger section of the lab. Normally there were table and all sorts of lab equipment in there but it was all gone, replaced with a large treadmill and monitor.

They put me next to the treadmill, and removed the restraints. I moved to get on the machine but they stopped me. Electrodes were put on my temples, all over my back, scattered across my chest and all down my legs once my pants were removed. A special mask was put over my mouth and nose. Once all the connections were in place they put me on the machine and made me run. I was fine for the first fifteen minutes. They had me at a light jog. Then a full scale jog. Weirdly enough I wasn't out of breath after 45 minutes.  The speed increased again. Now I was flat out running. I could already feel that stitch coming on. Maybe another 5 or 10 minuets of running before I was out of breath...

Don't you just hate it when you're right?

I've been running for almost 2 hours. I can't breathe. Every time I stop they shock me in the ass with a high voltage bolt. I don't know what's worse.

Its been three hours. I can't go on. I'm running and vomiting at the same time. The treadmill is slippery. I fall. They shock me once. Twice. Three times. It hurts so bad. I cant move. I'm pretty sure that I'm about to be beaten. They drag me into another room and spray me off before tossing me into my cell.

I'm holding weights today. My body is still sore from yesterdays running. I can feel my knees shaking from the exertion. I don't want to drop them. I'm pretty sure I'm holding about a hundred pounds of iron. My hands are slipping.

Shitshitshit. Come on, gotta keep it all up!

The weight slips from my hand and lands on the floor. I follow it seconds later as a powerful blow knocks me off balance. I slowly get to my knees, my eyes on the ground. *Make yourself look small. Look weak. Look vulnerable. They'll get bored faster.*

I hear them talking. Always the same two voices. One deep and mocking, the other shrill and grating. I still don't know what they look like. They always wear hazmat suits with reflective visors. I can tell theyre both unicorns though.

I'm blind again.

I'm used to it. But it's different this time. I'm pretty sure there is an animal in here with me. I can hear ragged breathing along with my own. I clenched my fists as I heard a gentle tapping sound. As if nails were being tapped on the floor gently. Tap-tap-tap-tap. Taptaptaptap. TAPTAPTAPTAP! I cringed and raised my hands up trying to protect myself...Only to find nothing.

I figured out that I was hallucinating about the animal. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have ptsd from this. Or worse...

They have me running again. I hope I can avoid getting shocked.

It's been three hours. I can feel myself starting to slip.

I tripped and got catapulted off of the treadmill. I'm pretty sure I Broke my wrist.

Yup, broken. Its swollen and hot. Whenever I try to move it I can feel it grinding. I can't do anything about it. I'm in this cell naked. Fuck.

Audi pulled herself from the memory, her body shaking as she tried to rid herself of the horror that she had just suffered.

"No wonder he hasn't woken up yet. Anyone would retreat into their mind after that-" the rest of her sentence was cut off as another memory pulled her in.

Shaking her head Audi found herself in a large sparsely furnished room. looking around she noted a table with two chairs, a bod on a counter with glowing numbers that flashed intermittently, what appeared to be a refrigerator-"this is a kitchen, duh." cautiously moving around the room she became aware of voices in the distance; a tired female and an angry male. It sounded as though they were arguing. Following the sounds of the voices she came upon a scene that made her freeze in her track. Two more creatures like Evan were standing near each other, the males face was contorted, and his arms flailed around violently as he yelled at the female, completely unaware of the spittle that flew from his lips. The female was standing in front of him, her face impassive as she stared into the gaping maw of the male. After a moment the female looked over the males shoulder, and her eyes widened as if she saw Audi. Scruntching her mouth she made a shooing motion in her direction. the sound of footsteps behind he make her flinch and spin around. Standing behind her was a smaller version or Evan. The young boys eyes were locked on the female, who Audi realized must be his mother. realizing she was shooing him away Evan nodded and ran through the kitchen and up a set of stairs, with Audi right behind him. The moment he reached his room Evan closed the door and grabbed a stuffed tiger off the floor and crawled onto his be, staring out the window vacantly. His lips were moving slightly, as if he was singing. Intrigued Audi moved towards him, curious as to what he was singing. At first it was unintelligible, but to her amazement she it slowly becoming understandable to her.

"...and I don't want the world to see me, cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am..." His head turned and he stared at Audi, his small eyes narrowing. "Who are you? You shouldn't be here. NO! GET OUT!" at the last two words his eyes flashed blue and Audi found herself tumbling into darkness.

"How did he just do that? How can he have noticed me so quickly, or at all for that matter? Only unicorns can notice if someone is in their mind. How can he have-" Audi was cut off as her mind was suddenly assaulted by a massive pressure. The presence coated her mind, seeping into every nook and cranny, sifting through memories and feelings at a speed that made her eyes water with pain. After a moment the presence slowed down and she felt an ever growing curiosity coming from it. The pressure lessened but only enough for her to be able to move her mouth. "Hello? E-Evan?"

The being in question opened and insubstantial door and walked out in front of her. Tilting his head slightly the void was replaced by a larger slate roof what had 4 gargoyles on it. He smiled and the pressure in her mind lessened even more, but the presence remained there. "So," he said, his mind conveying the meaning of his words as he spoke them in his native tongue. "What are you doing here? How dare you? What made you think that you had the right to violate the one place that mankind has held sacred? The one safe place that my kind has that has been impenetrable for hundreds, if not millions of years? WHAT GIVE YOU THAT RIGHT? ANSWER ME GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" He was in front of her a tenth of a second later and he had the barrel of a strange grey object pressed between her eyes. "You have exactly 10 seconds before your brain decorates this roof. Ten. Nine. Eight Seven. Six. Five."

Audi shrunk away as his rage became more apparent, the sky slowly darkening as lightening began to flash in the background. "You've been in a coma for almost a month! You're dying! Do you not care-"

"No." Audi was caught of guard by that one word. She didn't know if it was the resigned tone he used or how empty his eyes were.

"What? H-how can you not care? this is your life, how can you just throw it away?"

He looked at her, his brown eyes filled with pain. He walked forward until they were face to face and he leaned forward so that his lips brushed her ear. "Because this wouldn't be the first time I died." he began to shake slightly and she realized he was crying. "I don't want to live anymore. There's too much pain in my life. Too many grudges, too many hurts, too many wrongs. I've committed the gravest sin a human can do. I committed suicide. I was ready to face my fate. I was ready to embrace hell, the torture that awaited me wouldn't be anything different from what I lived. But lo and behold I awaken, still alive," he laughed, a bitter constricted noise. "Gods a fucking joker. Or maybe this is my repentance, being forced to live again."

Audi was horrified by what she had just heard, his voice was so calm and steady as he said he ended his own life. She was beyond horrified actually.

"Just get out." He turned and gently waved causing a door to appear. "Please. Just leave me be."

"But-"

"JUST GO!" He whirled on her, his eyes glowing blue and raised a hand up, pushing her towards the exit. "Just let me be woman." Before she could utter a word he forced her out of the door and back into the waking realm.

Audi Sat next to subject Zeros bed, her brow furrowed with worry. It had been almost a week and a half since had contacted him in his dreams and he hadn't woken up. He stirred and at times even talked, but he never awoke. I kept the empathy link active the whole time, slowly letting myself become acclimated to the creatures moods when he slept.

What's going on in your head?I thought, My lip caught in my teeth. Why is it that you haven't woken up yet? Your emotions have been rather stable the last few days, but...

"We need help in here!"

The guards jumped up and rushed to the room. Sargent Cutter, a large black earth pony mare arrived first, her smokey blue eyes widening at the sight. Evan had its back towards the door and was fighting the ponies trying to restrain it to the bed, its limbs lashing out and it let out a snarl. With a tremendous heave it threw one across the room, before turning and staring at Cutter, its eyes...

It's eyes aren't even open! Cutter braced herself, crouching low to the ground and preparing to jump. Subject Zero smiled at her before extending a long limb in her direction, saying something nearly intelligible and collapsing, its body lying limply, like a puppet who has had its strings cut.

"Did you catch that?" Jax asked quietly, his voice quivering.

"Yeah, it sounded like it said something really creepy."

"Beware." Cutter murmured to herself. "That sounded like it said beware..." How was it able to say that if it didn't know our language yesterday?

I looked down at the notepad she had sitting on the mattress, it had a few words on it, each one said when the creature was unconscious. "'Beware. Shadow. Shape. Coming. Protect. Help.' What in the world do you mean?" When she had first caught wind of the message she spent a few days in the royal library, looking for anything about the term Shadow shape. "What do you mean?"

"Danger..." Audi froze, her ears swiveling toward the source of the voice. "Shadow... shapes... protect... help..." There was a feeling of fear centered in the pit of her stomach that, she realized with a start, was emanating from him.

The last word was whispered in a voice that made her look at Subject Zero in surprise. His voice was pleading, begging her to help with something she knew nothing about. Shaking her head sadly she got up and began to head home for the day. "Sorry Big guy, I don't know what you mean."

"HELP ME!" The feeling of fear almost immediately morphed into blind panic. Subject Zero sat up and began to blindly grasp at the air and scream, a sound so shrill it caused her fur began to stand on end and her eyes to water. It wasn't a scream of terror or anger, it was pain. She froze, her eyes huge and her body stuck in fight or flight, as scientists and mages poured into the room, all converging on Subject Zeros form.

"What did you do?" A mage screamed at her over the noise.

"I don't know! I just got up to walk away and he started to scream!" She shouted back. "He's panicking about something in his mind!" The mage she was shouting at cocked his head before he lit his horn up and cast a muffle bubble around Subject Zero, leaving the room  a bit quieter.

"What do you mean he was fine before you got up? Has it formed some quasi-magical bond with you unconsciously?"

"Formed a what now?"

"I'm asking you if you have preformed any magic on him recently?"

"Yes I have why?"

"Seeing as it came from a world without magic, it is very possible that its body has formed an attachment of sorts to you since your aether was the first it cam in contact with... Sit back down."

"I don't understand how that will help." Audi replied doubtfully, but still sitting down.

"I don't believe it." All the mages looked a bit mystified when Subject Zero calmed down almost immediately when Audi sat next to it. "We need to run tests." Turning to his comrades the mage muttered a few things causing a few head nods and a snort of irritation.

"Until it is awake we cannot do much, however I will be leaving one of mine here with you so they can get a proper reading on the aether flow in the room." The head mage nodded at a small grey unicorn, motioning for them to step forward. "Sail, I trust you won't screw this up will you? And stop bouncing around."

The aforementioned pony smiled sheepishly. "Sorry sir," He smiled as he turned to Audi. "Just blame that on my ADD baby. No, in all seriousness, you can count on me to record everything sir." Sail saluted his senior sloppily as he walked out the door. "Putz."

Shaking his head sail walked around the room, pulling strange devices out of cabinets and tinkering with them for a moment. Walking over to the creature he looked down at its exposed wrist before grabbing its with magic and looking at the clock. "I need you to watch it for me, let me know if it starts to react." Sail ignored anything Audi said and began to chant quietly, his horn spewing off random magic sparks and he messed with his equipment.

Evan

I had been walking through this forest for hours. I hadn't seen any signs of wildlife at all, until I came across a large glowing insect on a tree. I approached it slowly, watching it fan its large wings out before taking off and slowly making its way towards the horizon. I took off behind it without hesitation. There was no way I was going to let something like that get way from me without at least getting a closer look. I lost it a few times but that tale tale glow always put me back on track.

After what seemed like hours I found the bug fluttering around a large flower on the base of a lake. Crouching down I began to inch towards it, my eyes held in place by that soft golden glow. When I had deemed myself close enough i gently extended a hand and captured the bug. It was in the span of about two seconds that I realized something.

I.

Fucked.

Up.

Those were the words that immediately came to mind when my whole arm erupted in an ice like grip. A voice cut into my head screaming gibberish at me, but it was the same five words, and before long I realized I was screaming them too. They were burned into my mind, a fiery slash across my consciousness

DANGER

SHADOW

SHAPES

COMING

"HELP!"

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The blog of Evan Wright and Rainbow Dash

Any questions for him and or her can be asked and answerd by them

Chapter 5: Mind Games

I was lost in my mind. I couldn't focus. Snatches of conversations past and memories not my own whirled around my head in a symphony of chaos. I tried to center myself around what I knew were my own thoughts but I was snatched away moments later. This went on for what felt like an eternity before I gave into the madness. Minutes or seconds later, I couldn't tell, I felt something brush against my mind. Something familiar. Latching onto it I screamed with all my might: "Help Me!"

I sat up panting, my whole body covered with sweat. A snort next to me caused my head to whip to the side so fast I got dizzy. Slumping over my arm nudged the lump in the chair causing it to stir.

"Huh? What's that?" The voice belonged to the brindle mare that was in my mind.

"Audi?" My voice was dry and frail.

"Evan?!" She shot up and looked at me. Holding up a hoof she got  up and turned on the lights causing me to wince and hiss.

"I-it... H-hurts," the unfamiliar words jumped to my lips, mentally echoed by hundreds of voices conveying the same meaning. Squinting at her I could see her mouth was hanging open. "Light...bright...need...off." I struggled to force the strange words out. Each movement of my mouth dropped a syllable heavier than anything I have ever held. "Need..." My jaw clenched in pain as a lance of pain shot through my temples. I began to lean back, knowing I was about to loose my grip again. "Need.."

I was lost in a cacophony of voices and memories. My senses were assaulted from all sides. I could feel it all. It was overwhelming. I fell to my knees with my hands clasped against my head as another vision assaulted me. I was kneeling on the ground, covered in glass and soot stoned marble that was stained red, my ears were assaulted with a cacophony of explosions and scream all muted beneath a low buzzing. I felt something drip down my face, causing me to wipe the liquid.. I immediately knew what it was. Blood. The same blood that coated my hands and clothes. The blood that pooled out from the fallen form of a pony. Horrified I reached out to touch the body. My hand shook and each heartbeat thundered in my ears, as my hand finally touched the body to roll it over I screamed when I saw-

"Evan?" I felt a gentle tough on my arm, making my eyes open slightly, seeing that the room was dimmer I opened my eyes completely.

"No... Big..White...One...feel..." I curled my hand into a fist and brought it down on the bed. I knew what I needed to say. I knew the word in my native tongue but I struggled to find it in this new one.

"Feel?" Audi had her head tilted to the side and shook her head slightly. "Sanyah? Lotesh?"

I couldn't understand those words. I gripped my temples in frustration. Multitudes of words jumped to my head but they were gone moments later. My head began to throb as I continued my inner battle between English and this odd pony tongue. I felt something wet on my lip making me freeze. I numbly touched it and brought it to my eyes. At first I thought that it was blood but after seeing that it was a deep blue instead of red I was thrown off. Rubbing the viscous liquid between my fingers I blanked out and I said the first thing that came to mind. I didn't know if what I said made sense, hell I didn't even know if I spoke that in English or not. Looking up from my fingers, which were somehow clean, I saw Audi staring at me with her mouth open. The only sounds after that were the heart monitor and the gentle scratching of a quill from in the corner of the room.

Audi was the first to recover. She blinked a fer times before motioning to the table next to me. "Drink." It was a gently spoken command said slowly as if she was talking to a child. Which in a way she was. Once I was finished she began to slowly speak to me. "Can you naavsh el?"

Scrunching my face up I tried to reply. "I...yes...you..little.." My finger went to my temple and tapped it with each word.

Squealing with what I would assume was delight she tapped her front hooves together. "You are maiq. Hai tol try to move qui."

I am maiq? Weak, that's what it means. I nodded slowly. "No.. know.. much..words... only... little..." At that point I began to feel myself nod off. "Be...here...when.. awake?"

She nodded and smiled sadly. "Yes, I'll be here when you wake up."

I slipped in and out of consciousness for what felt like a week, it was hard to tell though. Every time i opened my eyes I saw that the amount of ponies in my room would change dramatically. First there would be two, then six then one and so on.  Every time my eyes opened I saw that the little brindle pony, Audi, stayed next to me. My unfocused eyes would  meet hers and she would smile warmly before her face drained back into a state of worry that aged her severely. After lapsing into another restless dream state I became aware of the feeling of someone in my dreams- again. It's kind of hard to describe, it's similar to when someone walks up behind you and you feel their aura before you hear them. Kind of a subtle discomfort.

"Æther cannot exist on the mortal plane without a conduit. An empty vessel will collect Æther until it cannot anymore. When that happens all worlds shall bow inwards and for a moment the vessel will become the center of all existence."

The voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere all at once. I sensed someone behind me so I whirled around, my heart hammering. A hand slid over my left shoulder and a deep, breathy voice began to pur in my ear.

"Oh look at the little time bomb. Ah, I remember when everything was simple." I froze, the voice sounded wet, like the speakers mouth was full of blood. I felt my body freeze as a shriveled blackened hand slowly crept across my face, not shriveled- burning! The hand clamped down on my face, the palm covering my mouth and nose and I felt this horrible pushing sensation, it was as if someone was shooting water into my skull. I began to jerk and gargle, my mouth suddenly full of whatever the thing was pumping into my system.

"Watch the eyes. The eyes are the key to it all. Watch the eyes." The thing let me go and stumbled into my line of sight. It was vaguely humanoid, it was wearing what appeared to be boots and a taslets. Its upper body was bare other than a glowing circlet of some light metal with a large diamond shaped jewel embedded into it that was perched upon its head. It turned to me and I saw that the beings eyes were glowing with that same ethereal glow as the jewel. It opened its mouth and uttered a shot sad laugh. "I wish that it didn't have to be this way but when you're dealing with the unknown then you're taking risks. Just remember; the eyes are the key to all of this." It embraced me and gently placed a kiss on my brow. "I'm sorry for what's about to happen."

"Wha-"

It slammed a hand into my chest, its fingers slicing through skin and bone like knives. It grasped my heart and began to squeeze it whilst chanting in a dark echoing tongue. The language was echoing, the words staying in my consciousness for brief flashes like lightning. IT let go after a moment atd I slipped to the ground, my heart hanging heavily in my chest, unable to breathe. It looked at me one final time and laid its hand flat against my heart.

"CLEAR!"

"CLEAR!"

A bolt of what felt like fire lance across my chest and through my extremities. I tried to yell but my voice wasn't working. Something forced my eye open and shined a light into it, the process repeated itself a second later with my other eye.

"His pupils are irregular, heart started again as well."

"He's having trouble breathing."

"Are his lungs clear? Let's intubate..."

The rest of it faded out was something wrenched my head back and shoved something deeply into the depths of my chest.

I swam back to consciousness for the umpteenth time and blearily saw a random unicorn doing something in front of me. I tried to talk but all I could manage was a muffled grunt, I apparently was still plugged into a respirator- how I didn't notice that? I'll chalk it up to being unconscious for a while.

The nurse froze and looked at me, their eyes- a startling shade of blue- widening as i gently gargled and flexed my hands. "Don't move. I'll get the doctor."

It was my turn to freeze. That was english. I understood that! The doctor walked in a moment later smiling at me.

"Ah, Mister Wright, it's good to see you up and alert, we were afraid we lost you," his voice was quiet and pleasant but held the no nonsense edge to it. "For right now we ask that you don't move around very much. That spill from the window was more serious than we first thought." He produced a manila envelope from somewhere and pulled out an x-ray and held it in front of me. "You had a pretty bad subdural hematoma, which is a -"

Bleed within the brain

"-bleed within the brain," he finished indicating a large dark spot on what appeared to be a CT scan. "We were able to stop the bleeding, but we had to shave your mane off to get to the area. I apologize, we did not know if your mane style held any type of cultural significance to you, I-"

I held  up a hand and gently motioned it away. Motioning from him to my mouth then finally to my ears, I asked him my silent question. How can I understand you?

"Ah, from what I was able to tell Miss Range was able to devise a spell that works on your mind to translate, its rough but it gets the job done. May I examine you? I would like to get you off of that respirator and back on your feet as soon as possible."

I nodded ever so slightly and relaxed my body and he stepped over me and began to gently prod and poke, stopping only to ask yes or no questions. After fifteen minuets he stepped back and nodded smiling. "I wouldn't say that you're going to be back in top shape but as of right now you're about eighty percent of the way there. Your lungs sound clear as well so we can go ahead and take you off of this and get some food in you, eh?"

The doc- i've been calling him Smiles because of his ridiculously white teeth and his Canadian accent- put me under again to remove the breathing tube and when I woke up again I had three guests in my room. Audi, the White One and the Blue One. Audi was right next to my bed and she smiled at me, her eyes full of tears. I extended my arms around her in a hug and held her tight.

"Thank you. Thank you." My voice was dry and brittle but happy. I pulled back and wiped the tears out of her large eyes. "No need to cry dear."

"It seems as though you already made a friend," SHE said. SHe was the large white one. Rainbow colored hair flowed gently over her shoulder and her deep purple eyes locked on my own. "It's nice to meet you Evan Kelsier Wright, I am Princess Celestia ruler of Equestria and tamer of the sun."

"That must be a hell of a job toots cause you look beat." The words left my mouth before I could stop them. I closed my eyes expecting to be vaporized but I heard a gentle laugh, it sounded like chimes. Cautiously opening an eye I saw the the blue one behind princess was giggling, her hoof covering her mouth.

"I told you 'Tia. You're getting old."

"Princess Celestia, excuse me for I meant no offense, i simply have never seen eyes that are so warm, or so tired in my life."

"Luna hush," Celestias voice was sharp towards the Blue one- Luna- but warm towards me. "It is quite alright Evan Kelsier Wright, I have been told that my eyes are a bit startling. But first allow me to apologize to you on behalf of all of Equiestria." Her head bowed and her eyes closed slowly. "You have been mistreated by agents of the royal crown without cause, and for that you have my deepest ap-"

"Please stop Princess Celestia." My voice was growing stronger now, mostly because I drank the water that was offered to me. "I hold no ill will towards you nor your people. What is done is done, we cannot change it. I just ask that the offenders be punished."

Celestia looked at me solemnly before nodding. I agree, however since you are the one they assaulted I shall leave their punishments to you."

"I'm  sorry. What?

Chapter 6: Too Much Responsibility

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