Patricidium

Lightning groaned slightly as he crawled out of the bushes that broke his fall. As he came out in the open, he sighed deeply and let himself fall flat on his stomach. The feel of grass against his body was such an amazing feeling, salvation in the form of green little straws. But once he let himself relax, the pain from earlier came back.

In his wild chase to find the screaming pony, it had all gone away momentarily, and his body had been put in a state of pure adrenaline, numbing everything. Now it came back with full force once again, and the unicorn winced from the sudden onslaught of aching throughout his body.

His teeth grinded against each other as he slowly rolled over on his back. Blinking his eyes several times, he wasn’t sure if what he was seeing in front of him was actually real. In the lower part of his vision, parallel to his hind legs, a massive wall stretched out, made out of decayed brickwork, covered in moss and plants. Windows had either been broken or closed shut with boards and wood. In the middle of the wall, the door he fell through still remained open, moving slightly in the breeze.

From the outside, it sure didn’t look like a hospital. More like a factory or warehouse.

But it wasn’t the building itself that made him question reality, it was what he saw beyond it, high up in the skies. A thick veil of clouds covered the sky, and he could see the light of the sun, trying to shine its way through. Just a few rays could penetrate the thick mist, and them, just like the clouds, where green.

A sickly, pale green color, with an undertone of grey. It reminded him of the algae that could be seen in the ponds and pools in Manehatten, long since forgotten and left to be reclaimed by nature.  If he ever made it out of this place alive, he promised himself he would never get in contact with that damn color ever again. Maybe dye his mane, just to be sure.

If I make it out alive..

Upon finishing that thought, it finally dawned on him that he might die here, without even knowing where the hay he was.  Would anypony miss him? Probably not. Both his parents gone, no friends, no family. He was nothing more than another one of the millions of dots of ink covering the canvas they called life. Him disappearing wouldn’t make any difference to anypony. Another dot would soon fill the void he left.

Lightning moved his head slightly upwards, so that he could see what was behind him. He would of course see it up-side-down, if there was anything there to see. He exhaled in pain as his neck strained. All he could see from the ground was more bushes and a few trees. They were dead, dried away into nothing but grey skeletons with branches reaching up towards the heavens, like fingers trying to grab something, anything that might carry them off to the next life.

Grey moss hung from the branches, along with a few cobwebs that somehow had survived. And in one string of the moss, something had been tied into it. He squinted, and thought it looked like some sort of paper.

It wasn’t much, but it was all he had to go on, and slowly, he started to raise himself up from the ground. He wished he could have stayed in the soft grass forever, forget everything. Melt away until nothing but his mane was left, matching the color of the straws. Become one with the soil.

Once he took a few steps forward, his mind felt groggy, and he had trouble keeping his balance, but it wasn’t enough to really do him any harm. He stopped for a moment and shook his head back and forth a few times, as if to shake the grogginess away. It worked, as his mind became somewhat clearer.  On his way towards the tree, he noticed the area around him was completely silent. No birds, no wind, no sounds of life whatsoever. But there should be some sort of sound, there had to be a city or something nearby, why would there otherwise be a hospital here..?

When he approached the tree, he could see beyond it, and what he saw made him gasp in surprise.

Before him lay what looked like a small town. Or at least, what was left of it. What once must have been a beautiful and idyllic little town was now nothing but ruins. The houses had crumbled; the color of the walls had long since withered away, along with its inhabitants.  Everywhere, different states of destruction met his eyes, yet oddly enough, ever building seemed to share one specific characteristic: none of them had any ceilings.

From his place up on the hill the hospital had been built on, he could clearly see that they had roofs before, but it seemed to had disappeared for some reason. Chimneys and broken beams of support could be seen in the empty space left behind.

Several buildings had already collapsed completely, leaving nothing but piles of wood and bricks, slowly getting reclaimed by nature as it spread across the town. A river twisted and turned its way through town, and several bridges crossed the water. Water that had turned green, just like the skies, and the bridges had collapsed into the murky depths, resting on the bottom, probably already covered in mud.

Next to the river in the center of an open space in the middle of town, a tall building towered over all the others. It had probably been even taller back in its day though; now it had given way somewhere in the middle, and the upper floors had plummeted downwards, burying the lower lever and the street in debris.

So I’m not in Manehattan anymore..

But he still had no idea where he was. He’d never seen this town before, in fact, he’d never seen any town except Manehattan. And the busy streets and massive buildings of his hometown looked so different from this little village. It had probably been a nice place to live, prior to its complete destruction and deterioration.

Lightning watched the decrepit town before him in silence. It chilled him to the bone thinking about what might have caused this to happen, but at the same time he couldn’t help but see it as almost.. poetic. The way nature slowly took back what belonged to it painted a beautiful picture, horrid as it were, and the green rays of sunlight gave it all a look and feel of sickness. As if the town had died slowly as decease, corruption and pain slowly ate its way into its heart.

After a few seconds, Lightning averted his eyes from the town, and instead turned his attention to the piece of paper in the tree. Up close, he could see that it was neatly rolled up and securely tied together with a string. Why somepony would go through the trouble to fix it like this and then place it in the moss, he had no idea, and he didn’t really think about it as he grabbed it and yanked it free. For some reason, it felt unbelievably heavy in his hooves. More like he was holding a rock, and not paper.

He undid the string with his teeth, and the paper roller out flat in his hoof. He frowned as he realized it was empty. Nothing that could help him to be found on it. Lightning was just about to throw it away when he saw a tiny, faded text in one of the corners. He squinted to see what it said.

I’m always watching you

Slowly, fear seeped into his mind. Even though he’d been through so much and been subjected to so much terror, these words filled him to the brim. If an emotion could be turned into a liquid substance, it would probably ooze out of him. A clear liquid, saturated with fear, terror, horror and agony. Like stigmata, pouring out of his eyes. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he flipped the paper around.

A picture. It was a picture. One he knew all too well. Three ponies looked at him from the paper, two of them smiling happily, while the third one was busy with other more pressing matters. It still smiled though, but at his mother’s hoof he was playing with. His lips quivered as tears built up in his eyes.

“Mom..” A tear fell on the picture, soaking the old paper.

More words had been written across the picture, but unlike the ones on the back, these where big and clear. They made him tremble in anger.

ROT

IN

HELL

Lightning’s breath became harder, anger building up inside him. Somepony had stolen this picture, and desecrated it. Insulted his family. His voice shook as he yelled out into the quiet air.

“.. You think this is funny?! You sick fucking bastard!”

Somepony was playing with him. This all had to be that; a game. A game for some twisted pony who got his kicks from seeing other ponies squirm in agony and fear. He spun around in his place, trying to catch a glimpse of this pony.

“Do you see me now?! Show yourself, you disgusting cocksucker!”

But of course, nopony answered or made themselves known. He was alone with nothing but his anger. Lightning kept on yelling out profanities until his anger finally subsided and instead turned into tears. He sat down in the cold grass, slouching down into a miserable heap. He still held the picture, and he gently pressed his snout against his mother’s face.

“.. Mom... I miss you...” His tears traveled down his face and unto the paper, soaking it even more. His shoulders shivered as he sobbed loudly. Her death had been an accident, they said. A terrible, terrible accident and nopony was to blame. But Lightning knew better than to believe that, he knew the truth. The official explanation had been that she hit her head when she fell down the stairs outside their apartment, and that she then choked on her own blood.

It was a lie. A lie orchestrated by his father and his contacts within court and law enforcement. And he had a good lawyer. Everypony bought his act as the traumatized husband who’d just lost his wife. Nopony could believe that their close friend had actually finally lost it and took her life away. Lightning heard it all, and would never forget his mother’s cries. Followed by dead silence.

That had been the incident that broke something inside the unicorn. Something flipped in him, never to return to its normal state. In the heat of the moment, he’d actually laughed. He enjoyed seeing his own father, his own flesh and blood, breaking down like a child. Sorrow bears heavy on one’s mind, and it can change somepony into something they’re not.

He didn’t feel any remorse as he subjected his father to the cruel punishment he deserved. Felt no disgust as he finally got to remove the parts of his father’s body that had caused him so much agony. No more balls, no more pain. His death had not been quick. The young unicorn didn’t even react as his father’s colon emptied itself in his dying moment. Lightning hid the body in his own apartment for a few days, but eventually the stench became too much, and he had to get rid of it.

After that, his memories turned into a haze, and he couldn’t remember anything else until the moment he woke up in the hospital.

The walk down to the town had been easy. Nothing stood in his way, no obstacles or fears. If it hadn’t been for the green sky, it could have been just an everyday walk in the autumn breeze. As he approached the town boarders, a sign came into his view. It had been broken down and weathered by the elements, but it was still somewhat clear.

PONYVILLE

He’d never heard the name before, but now he at least knew where he was. Not that it would do him any good though; he would probably never find his way home again. And the only thing that awaited him there was a corpse.

Lightning made his way across one of the few bridges that hadn’t broken down yet, and found himself in the open space with the destroyed tower in the middle. He thought it must’ve been the town square at one point. He circled around the rubble surrounding the tower, trying not to get too close. He turned away from it, and instantly his heart stopped. A massive, pink pony stood before him, towering high above him. It didn’t have a head.

Once his initial shock subsided, he realized that it was merely a statue, perfectly decapitated. The head was nowhere to be seen. Moss and ivy had begun to grow over it, hanging from the broken neck like green tendrils and muscles.

The unicorn backed away from the statue, and quickly spun around. As he searched around the square some more, he couldn’t find anything else of interest or importance, just rubble and debris from the broken buildings. As he was about to leave and head further into the town, a movement caught his eyes. A piece of paper moved slightly across the ground. It wasn’t like the picture he’d found, but looked to be some sort of newspaper.

LOCAL FILLIES FOUND DEAD

As the morning sun rose yesterday, residents of Ponyville woke up to a horrible sight. The three fillies, that had disappeared a few days prior, were found dead outside their school. It was their teacher whom made the discovery, and she is currently being treated in Ponyville Hospital. Her state is said to be “traumatized, but otherwise in good condition”.  We’ve reached out to the families of the children, but they did not want to comment the incident. The cause of death is still unknown.

More on Page 5

It seemed this town had its fair share of tragedy before it fell. No doubt, the death of these children weighed heavy on the ponies in town. Perhaps such a tragedy is what started its downfall. Lightning carefully turned the newspaper around, but to his disappointment – or perhaps relief – page 5 had been torn out.

A shiver ran through his body as a clap of thunder echoed nearby. Instantly, the heavens opened up and rain poured down upon him. Sadness once again struck him, and he lowered his head. The newspaper on the ground before him started to dissolve from the rain, the ink turning the paper into a black mess.

Eventually, the ink started to stream along the ground, like black blood seeping out of the last memories of the children. Lightning observed it in silence as the rain soaked him to the bone. Perhaps it could wash away his sins. Not until he started to freeze from the cold rain did he decide to move. Slowly, he walked on through the town, still with his head low. Somehow, the rain seemed to instill him with sadness, even more so than he already felt.

Lightning stopped as he placed his hoof down on another sign, this one broken beyond repair. He tried to read it through the heavy rain.

Su

be

C rn

It was impossible to make out any coherent words, and there didn’t seem to be any building nearby that would have use of a sign. He ignored it, and instead continued his slow walk through the ruins and rubbles. Thunder rumbled above his head, often followed by lightning clashing violently. He didn’t mind any of it. He had many phobias and fears, and so far he’d been subjected to almost every one of them, even in order of which ones had the most impact on him.

Thunder and lightning was not part of it.

There was so much destruction around him that he after a while felt numb to it. He didn’t pay it any attention, and instead tried to focus on just finding a way out of there, finding a way home.

He got torn out of his thoughts abruptly as he without warning smashed his left hoof into something solid. He yelled out in anger, but got quiet as he saw what it was that had caused him harm.

Standing in front of him, a bid wooden sign. Signs everywhere… The edge of the sign was decorated with beautiful carvings on a wooden board that outlined the entire sign, and on the sides two poles looked as if they held it in place. He’d hit his hoof on the massive stone circle that the sign had been placed on. Flowers had probably grown on top of the circle ones, now it was nothing but weeds and dead plats.

The sign itself was still well preserved compared to the others he’d seen, even if the color seemed to have faded with time. Where it once probably was pink or violet, it was now much more watered down and pale, with an image of an open book in the middle.

Above the book two ponies had been depicted, with a heart between them. And for some reason, the sign had been split in half down the middle. Not a uneven cut or tear no, it was a perfect straight line, effectively cutting right through the middle of both the heart and the book.

Lightning tore his eyes from the sign and looked beyond it.

Could this be the school?

It sure looked like one, with swing sets and other similar things you’d expect to find on a playground. The schoolhouse itself lay in ruins. Broken down, shards of glass covered the area around it. The door hung loosely on its hinges, and on the walkway leading up to it, a big church bell had buried itself partially in the ground. On top of the roof, he could see remnants of what had probably been a small tower that housed the clock.

A Lightning quietly stepped inside the building, the sounds of the storm outside seemed to disappear completely. He wasn’t sure if he liked the silence or not. Nevertheless, he took some time to look around the room he was in. it was big, probably taking up all the space on this floor.

Broken remnants of school desks lay scattered across the room, as well as pages from torn apart books, glass from the windows. On the furthest wall away from him, he could see a chalkboard hanging crookedly on the wall. The floor beneath it was covered in some sort of white substance. As he came closer, his initial thought was that it was bird droppings, but when he could see it more clearly, he understood that it was actually chalk. Somepony had written all over the board, creating this pile of finely grinded chalk.

The entire board was indeed covered with writings, so much so that the black board itself was almost impossible to make out through it. And in the middle, somepony had written something, using the white chalk as outlines and the black board underneath as the actual words.

Ring-a-round a rosie,

A pocket full of posies,

Ashes! Ashes!

We all fall down.

BURN THEM

The writings made him shudder. The first part seemed to be some sort of song, though no song he’d ever heard of. The letters where narrow and thin, perfectly spaced out, yet still with a few quirks and mistakes here and there. As if a child had spent a lot of time to make it perfect. The words underneath was all but perfect, hastily written with crooked letters.

Burn who..?

He didn’t need to think on it for long. The moment the question popped up in his head, he understood whom the words referred to. Burn the children to ashes.

Lightning felt the urge to leave. Everything about this place made him worried, and thinking back to the newspaper he’d read, even more so. As he turned around to walk outside, a powerful flash of lightning illuminated to room. He was sure he could see the outlines of children in the sudden flash. He hurried to the door. When he came close, he saw something to his left that he didn’t notice on his way in; a flagpole. He couldn’t see the top from inside the building, but he could still see something hanging up there. He hoped it was just a flag.

As he stepped outside, he could see that it was not a flag. Nor anything one would ever expect to see in a flagpole. The sight was so gruesome, he couldn’t even move, and just looked up at it with his eyes wide open, even though he wanted to close them and shut out what he saw.

Hanging on a chain from the top of the pole was a filly. It had been attached to the chain by a big meat hook, piercing through one of its hind legs. Its other limbs hung dead, streams of blood running along its body, soaking into its filthy coat.

Finally able to move once the shock subsided, Lightning couldn’t do anything but whimper as he watched the frail body. It had probably been a Pegasus, since two gaping wounds adorned the sides of its back, exposing part of the ribcage and entrails. He wanted to run away once again, but he couldn’t, he was frozen in place. Not by the wounds, the hook or the blood, but by the rusty metal rod that had been pushed straight through the body. Going all the way from anus to mouth, the poor child had been skewered like a pig.

Lightning’s legs gave way, and he fell on his backside, his mind ripped apart from what he saw. He cried once again, for probably the thousand time since he woke up. For a second he wondered how much tears he could have left.

A movement caught his eyes.

Please, let it be the wind moving it, please let it be the wind…

The dead child twitched slightly. Lightning’s heart started to beat harder, threatening to pop out of his chest. He wanted to scream as the body started to move its limbs, slowly jerking and writhing around as if it tried to get loose.

I want to wake up from this… it’s not real…

The child opened its mouth. The unicorns heart broke into a million pieces when a cry escaped its lips, a horrible cry. Once he heard it, it felt like his entire world fell apart, crumbled into dust. He tried to get up, to get away, but his legs refused to obey him and he tumbled back into the damp grass, still with the cries of the child ringing in his ears.

His vision started to fade as the cries became even louder, to a point that it hurt his ears. Lightning couldn’t feel his body anymore, and he understood that he was about to pass out. All the horrors he’d seen so far, all the fear and terror he’d experienced, could compare to this. His strong, almost primal fear, made a reality before his eyes. The fear of children crying.

Before the world finally went dark, a thought snuck into his mind. This was his last phobia, the final one before his innermost fear, the final horror deep inside him. He dreaded the thought of it becoming a reality. The last thing he saw was the filly’s coat and mane. A beacon of colors in the endless sea of gray and green.

Orange and cerise.