“Do whatever you have to…he’s not my brother anymore.”

-Dana Mercer

“This is no one’s fault but your own…you do understand that.”

“I understand that I had a brother once. A boy named Alex. A boy who used to play games with me, and go skating with me, and watch scary movies with me…I understand that Alex is dead now.” Dana narrowed her eyes as she spoke, regarding the “person” in front of her as nothing more than a monster.

Mercer looked at his sister with a soft expression. “I am no longer bound by ‘life’ or ‘death’, Dana. I’ve moved beyond that. Heller has as well. He just hasn’t realized it yet.” He glanced at the young girl hiding behind Dana, who stared back with tears in her eyes, her entire body quivering in fear at the sight of him. Mercer turned and began walking to the entrance of the bank vault, his feet crumpling one hundred dollar bills that were scattered all over the floor.

As he stepped one foot out, he stopped for a moment to take one last look at his sister and Heller’s daughter. Dana still glared at him, balling her fists in anger. Maya hid her face behind Dana’s leg. Mercer sighed inwardly. ‘They’ll understand soon enough’ he thought as he ducked his head through the hole, shutting the heavy metal door behind him and locking it.

"You will understand Dana…"

“Who’s Dana?”

Mercer was pulled from his memory of the last conversation he’d had with his sister, halting his steps and looking to the pink mare who had asked the question. He had almost forgotten she was still walking with him. “…Nothing. She’s not important anymore.” It was a lie. Regardless of what she’d done, helping Heller to find his daughter and encouraging him to kill Mercer, she was still his baby sister. The girl who he’d played with, the girl who he’d taught the ABC’s to, the girl he’d all but raised himself from the age of nine. The only person in the world he trusted. She was his only family…and he would never see her again.

He sighed sadly, but continued walking. After a moment, he heard the sounds of Pinkie Pie following after him again. “Are you sure? You look like Fluttershy did when she thought she had killed Princess Celestia’s pet phoenix. Do you wanna talk about it? I’m really good at cheering ponies up!” He could hear the concern in her voice; almost imagine the sincere smile on her face. Despite himself, he felt the tiniest bit touched at her words. This was the first time in years he had met someone who was genuinely kind towards him and cared about his well-being. He hated that.

“You know, I only needed the directions to your friend Rainbow Dash’s house. I don’t need your company, I can handle myself.” He said over his shoulder, changing the subject.

“But if I leave, then how will I make sure you’re okay?” She paused. “You remind me a lot of Cranky. He’s a donkey. He was new in Ponyville too, and he didn’t like me at first. That made me sad.”

“Gee, someone didn’t like you? That’s hard to believe.” Mercer mumbled sarcastically.

Pinkie must not have heard him, continuing on with her story. “I followed him ALL over Ponyville, trying my hardest to get him to be my friend. But it seemed like every time I did something for him, it only made him dislike me more.” He tried tuning her out, but it was easier said than done. Her voice had a way of boring its way into his skull no matter how hard he fought to ignore it. “…but then I accidentally burned his precious photo album and found out that his special friend was living here in Ponyville all along! So in the end, he became my friend anyway, and I learned a lesson about respecting your friends’ privacy.”

Mercer snorted. Obviously not a lesson that stuck. “Look Pinkie, I…appreciate what you’re doing for me,” The effort it took him to force that out was immense. “But I don’t need any help. Why don’t you go hang out with one of your other friends?” She smiled widely. “That does NOT mean I’m your friend. I’m simply saying, with as much politeness as I can muster, LEAVE ME ALONE!” He shouted in her face, hoping it would drive the point home into her overactive brain. She didn’t even flinch.

“I’m not going anywhere because you are my friend and I still haven’t gotten to throw you a Welcome to Ponyville party-”

“Fine! Alright, you win! Fuck, if it will get you off my back for two seconds, you can throw me a damn party!” He threw his hooves in the air, shouting exasperatedly. “You said you were planning it, right? How’s about you go back to your friends tree house, start decorating for the party, and surprise me later!” He was pleading with her at that point, something he’d never done in his life. “Just give me a moment of peace, for Christ’s sake.” Mercer had faced many creatures in the last few years, but none of them could even compare to Pinkie Pie. She was undoubtedly the worst living being he had ever faced.

The look on her face was like someone had just given her a puppy and a cure for cancer. She was happier then she had been since he’d met her, and that was saying something. “You mean…like a surprise party!?” She squealed loudly, making Mercer wince. “Wait, but if you know about it, then it’s not a surprise party.” Just like that suddenly she looked like someone had just taken the puppy back and declared the cure a fake.

“Surprise parties don’t necessarily mean the person can’t know. They just have to be surprised when they arrive.” He explained dully. It was like talking to a five year old.

Pinkie gasped. “You’re right! I’m gonna go start right now!” And with that she turned and ran off, headed back to the library in a tree.

‘Good riddance’ was all Mercer could think. Hopefully she wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. Finally finished with that, he began walking in the direction he had been before. He was heading to Rainbow Dash’s house, having already decided the Element of Loyalty was the best first choice out of the other six. He was in a field outside of Ponyville, the grass under his hooves as green as ever. Finally he was alone.

He went over his plan again as he walked, making sure he had everything planned out correctly. He had to either convert or kill one of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and then hunt down and kill the Alicorn Princesses. With them out of the way, it would be easier to begin his viral takeover. He had one chance at this, while everyone was still unaware of his intentions.

As he reached the top of a rather large hill, he came upon the sight of an odd looking cloud. It took him a few seconds to realize what it really was, and when he did he felt his jaw hit the ground. It wasn’t just a cloud, it was a cloud house. Floating just above a small body of water was a tall tower of clouds shaped into a house. It had huge classical pillars around its base and fountains of rainbow colored liquid cascading down its sides. Mercer didn’t know how it was possible to build a house like that, but after seeing a library inside a living tree, it wasn’t that much of a stretch from anything else in this place.

He approached it slowly, almost expecting furniture and other pieces of décor to rain down from inside it. Once he got right up to it, he came to the conclusion it must be under the influence of some sort of magic.

He stood underneath it, awkwardly trying to find out how to get up to ring the doorbell. He looked around for some sort of mechanism or other way to alert the occupant inside of his presence, but he saw nothing. He caught himself thinking so politely, kicking himself for getting used to this place already. He had been acting like a nice guy for long enough; it was time for something rude.

He willed his biomass to his hooves, focusing it like a spring to build up kinetic energy for one incredible leap. He bent his knees and jumped, simultaneously releasing the built up energy and shooting upwards like a rocket. As he reached the height of his jump he tried gliding, only to find that unlike every other time he’s done it, it didn’t feel right. Normally he simply lightened the biomass in his body and ejected smaller bits of mass for added propulsion, but this time he felt like he wasn’t gliding, just slowing his fall. He turned his head and was surprised to see wing like extensions coming out of his back. They were made up of black tendrils held together tightly, with three claws on the ends and thin, nearly invisible pieces of biomass stretched tightly between them. He gave them a few flaps, noting how easy it was to lift his body.

He marveled at the virus’s evolutionary prowess while angling his body towards the house and giving a few more flaps to gain some extra altitude. As he reached the front door, he slowed his descent, preparing his hooves to make contact with the porch just as he let his wings fold back into his body. Unfortunately, at about this time, he realized too late that the house wasn’t actually held together by magic. It was, in fact, held together by clouds. Which he promptly fell through.

Mercer hit the ground hard, leaving a good sized crater in the ground as he hit. It didn’t hurt him physically, but the damage to his pride was more than he would want to admit. He looked around him, searching for anyone that might have seen it. Seeing no one, he let out a relieved sigh. “Thank God no one saw that…”

“Abomination, with soul so impure; of your lack of company, I am not so sure.”

Mercer stiffened, suddenly very aware of the new presence behind him. He turned around to face whoever it was, coming upon the sight of a hooded figure wearing a long cloak with glowing yellow eyes.

“You with your thoughts so cruel and black; I know all about your plan of attack.”

His eyes widened. “How did you-”

“Be wary of me, I am not so easily shaken; regarding my ignorance, I am afraid you are mistaken.” The figure reached up and pulled back their hood, revealing a striped face and a tall Mohawk. “I sense a bloodlust that can’t be quenched; no disguise can hide your monstrous stench.” The stranger’s voice sounded feminine, her knowing glare never leaving his face.

Mercer scowled. “You seem to know a lot for a zebra. Have you been following me?”

“I see many things, you cannot hide from my gaze; it seems you know nothing of the world you seek to raze.”

“Alright, knock off all that rhyming crap, Shakespeare. If I have to listen to you come up with bad poems just to talk to me I’m gonna-”

“Hello? Is somepony down there?”

The two looked up to see a rainbow haired face looking down at them from above. She pulled her head back and jumped away from the cloud, spreading her wings out and slowly gliding down towards them in wide circles. Mercer offered the zebra one last menacing glare before wiping his scowl from his face.

The pony, who he could only assume was Rainbow Dash, landed carefully next to the two, where she then began stretching her wings and popping her neck. “Are you two arguing down here or something? You woke me up from my nap, you know.” She looked at the zebra. “Oh, hey Zecora. What are you doing here? Who’s your friend?” She gave Mercer a curious glance.

“My dear Rainbow, you are incorrect; this ‘creature’ here is-”

Mercer jumped in before she could finish. “I think what she means to say is that we don’t know each other.” He gave Zecora a threatening look. “We just happened to run into each other here by coincidence.” He said the last word very deliberately, as if to say “One more word and I’ll be wearing your teeth around my neck!” The zebra was smarter than she looked, because she seemed to get the message.

Rainbow Dash didn’t seem as smart, the confused look on her face betraying that fact. “Um…right…” She turned to Zecora. “So then, what is it that you wanted, Zecora?”

The zebra looked at Mercer again before replying. “…My presence here is for no assistance; in my wanderings, I forgot to mind the distance. Special ingredients I came to scour,” She paused in her excuse, never taking her eyes off him. “But it seems my efforts have turned up sour.” She bowed her head and turned to leave, stopping only to say one more thing. “Beware the monster with the mask of a friend; take heed, Rainbow Dash, or to Tartarus you will descend.” With that, she pulled her hood back up and went on her way.

“Well that was weird.” Rainbow said, shaking her head. “Anyway, back to business. Who are you, and why are you here?” She asked in mock suspicion.

Mercer rolled his eyes. “Well my name is Mercer, but all my friends call me Zeus.” He returned with a cliché “tough guy” bravado.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “You’re alright, Mercer. But I’m just warning you now, if you’re here to ask me out, the answer is no.” She turned her back to him, exaggeratedly flicking her mane with a hoof. He could see her smirk from the side of her face.

He smirked as well, already preparing just the right strain of the virus to infect her with. “No, actually I was just here to give you-” Suddenly he got a chill up his spine, the paranoid feeling that he was being watched washing over him like a wave. He had planned to come here, meet Rainbow Dash and simply infect her like that. But after meeting Zecora, he wasn’t so sure it would be that easy. “…Uh, I just came here to…to…” He wracked his brain for an excuse. “…tell you that your friend Pinkie Pie is planning a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party for me since I’m new in town. She didn’t want you to miss out.”

Her expression changed. “Oh, well why didn’t you just say that in the first place? I love Pinkie Pie’s parties! Where is she holding it?”

“The library in the tree.”

“Twilight’s place? Cool, I’ll head on over right now. Thanks for letting me know…Zeus.” She snorted loudly. He frowned at her.

She ran forward a few feet, jumping into the air and taking flight. Mercer watched her soar towards Ponyville for a moment before looking in the direction that Zecora had gone. He narrowed his eyes, cursing the zebra.

“Is it ever that simple?” He asked no one. When he got no response, he miserably made his way back to the party, or in other words what he was sure was his doom.

“Huh. Perhaps not.” He had gotten back to the library, hesitating at the door for a few minutes before slowly pushing it open, expecting a loud “Surprise!” to meet him. Instead he opened the door to find the entire room empty. He shut it behind him, taking a few steps inside. He looked around but couldn’t see any evidence that anyone had even been decorating for a party, let alone planning to throw one.

He shrugged, figuring the eccentric pony had just forgotten. She seemed like she’d be easily distracted by any shiny object in her path. He had just begun turning to leave when he spotted a brightly colored package with a red ribbon on the table. It looked completely out of place, and thanks to his eyesight he could see that the tag clearly said “Mercer” on it. He carefully made his way towards it, curiosity getting the better of him. He inspected it for a moment, using his thermal vision to scan the contents of the box. He was unable to see anything inside of it, which was peculiar. Carefully he leaned over, grabbing the ribbon in his teeth and pulling, the loop slowly straightening out until it popped away. He placed the tip of his hoof under the edge of the lid and quickly flicked it off.

As soon as he did that, the box seemed to explode; thick smoke billowing out of the opening like someone threw a match on a pile of kindling. Caught off guard, Mercer tried backing out of the smoke, only to find it had already filled the entire room. He heard movement, switching to thermal vision and catching multiple forms running about around him.

Just as quick as it started, it was over, the smoke dissipating into nothing, as if it had never even been there to begin with. As soon as he could see without thermal again, a thunderous “Surprise!” shouted by dozens of ponies that had come out of nowhere nearly blew out his eardrums. He looked around the room, which was suddenly decorated with balloons and streamers. There were also tables filled with all kinds of sugary treats and punch. Pinkie rushed up to him, trying to wrap him in a big hug, only finding air as he had already moved out of the way.

“You were sure surprised, Mercer! You should have seen the look on your face!” She said excitedly, still trying to get him into a hug. He ran from her, snatching a cupcake off a table and throwing it over her head. Pinkie slid to a stop, twisting around and chasing after the pastry with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. He sighed in relief once he lost sight of her in the crowd of partying ponies.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and when he looked he saw it was Twilight. She gestured over to one of the corners of the room, where a few other ponies stood. He recognized Rainbow Dash in with them. He guessed they were the rest of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. He headed over along with the librarian, and was greeted by them once he was within earshot.

“Sorry for Pinkie Pie. She loves parties almost as much as she loves making new friends.” The purple mare spoke with an apologetic smile. “Anyway, these are my friends, the other Elements of Harmony. I figured since you were so interested in them earlier, you might want to meet them.” She pointed at a white unicorn with a stylish purple mane and tail. “This is Rarity, and that’s Applejack,” She pointed to an orange Earth pony with blonde hair and a Stetson on her head. “Rainbow Dash was just telling us how you went and invited her personally, so I guess you already met her. And our last friend is…um, Fluttershy? Where did she go?” She began looking around the room, thinking she had wandered off.

“Ah think ah found her, sugarcube.” The orange mare stated, stepping to the side to reveal the yellow Pegasus crouching behind her. When it became apparent she was caught, she hesitantly stood up straight, letting her hair fall in front of her face.

Twilight giggled. “Yep, that’s Fluttershy for you.”

Mercer forced a smile. “I know. I met her earlier when I first got here. I ran into her on the street, literally.” As he spoke, Fluttershy turned her head and looked at him with one eye.

The white unicorn, Rarity, stifled a gasp. “Oh my, darling, you weren’t hurt were you?” She turned to Fluttershy, looking her over for any bruises. She looked back to Mercer. “You really need to be more careful next time, dear. Fluttershy is delicate; you should watch where you’re going next time.”

Mercer had to fight to keep the anger out of his voice. “It’s not like I meant to do it. She came out of nowhere, like she was sneaking around or something.” He looked at Fluttershy. “You were there too. Tell them your side of the story.”

When everyone’s attention turned towards her, she squeaked, trying to hide behind Applejack again. The pony shook her head and pushed her back in front of Mercer. “Nu uh sugarcube, no more hidin’. Go on, tell us.” Her voice rang with a southern drawl.

Fluttershy gulped. “…W-well. I-I was…playing hide and seek…with Gary.”

“Gary?” Mercer raised an eyebrow.

She nodded. “He’s a hummingbird…h-he sort of has abandonment issues…s-so I was playing with him to show that even though he couldn’t find me, it didn’t mean I was gone…” She paused, her face red with embarrassment. “I was sneaking around because he can fly, and he had already found me three times really easily…I guess I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” She hung her head after she finished her explanation. “I’m sorry.”

They all looked at Mercer, gesturing for him to say something to her. “…It’s…uh…it’s okay…Fluttershy. It could have happened to anyone.” He stumbled over his apology. When she looked up, he offered her the same smile he gave her before. She calmed down when she saw it, the confidence she showed earlier returning to her face.

“Thank you…Zeus.” She blushed upon saying his nickname, smiling softly. The others held back their laughter.

Mercer glared at Rainbow Dash. “You told them already?”

The rainbow haired pony began laughing hard, falling on the ground and kicking her hooves in the air. “What? They’re my best friends! Of course I’m gonna tell them when some weird looking stallion hits on me!” She wiped a tear from her eye.

“I was not hitting on you! Why does everyone keep assuming that?”

The others continued to laugh at him. Except for Fluttershy, who instead watched the dark blue pony wearing a hood argue with her friends, a look of admiration and happiness adorning her face.

Author's Note

Just so you know, I finished this chapter like a few hours after I posted the second one, so yes, I lied when I said I didn't know when I would get the next chapter out. I wrote them one after the other and saved them on the site, I just decided to wait for the right time to click publish. I'm currently working on the fourth chapter at the time of writing this, so it's probably done by now. I'm not sure, I'll just have to take future Poly on his word.

P.S. I kind of need some random ponies to use in future chapters, background or just OC's. If you want one of your OC's to make a cameo, leave a description and name in a comment or just message me a picture or something. I can just make up random ponies myself but I'd rather make you do all the work and pretend like debuting your OC in my story is the biggest honor ever. I promise if you do give me permission to use they might not die. I give you future Poly's word. Also I hate writing for Zecora. I never realized how much I can't rhyme until she came into my life. My poor, pathetic, rhymeless life.
-Poly