Sheol


                                            https://web.archive.org/save/https://mlpol.net/mlpol/282598#284592


                                            Sheol


                                            >it takes you a few minutes to realize something is wrong

                                            >namely, that you don't know where the fuck you are

                                            >let's see... did you take a wrong turn at...?

                                            >wait, where were you even trying to go?

                                            >were you trying to go somewhere?

                                            >what the fuck were you doing just now?

                                            >you're currently walking through a level, orange landscape covered by a yellow sky

                                            >you'd think you'd remember walking into some place like this

                                            >or waking up or something

                                            >yet here you are, apparently in this wierd-ass place without realizing it

                                            >is it some sort of amnesia?

                                            >let's see...

                                            >your name is Anonymous, or Anon for short

                                            >this is only the second time you've unexpectedly ended up in a bizarre new world, the first time being when the magic bleach yeeted you into Equestria some years ago

                                            >you hadn't counted on showing up as a nondescript little filly though

                                            >a bit hopefully, you look down at your body to see if it's changed back

                                            >nope

                                            >damn

                                            >anyways, all your memories are in order as far as you can tell

                                            >with the exception, of course, of just what the fuck happened that led up to you being in this place

                                            >hey wait a second

                                            >what if this is like that shit from Memento?

                                            >you know, where the dude gets a head injury and forgets everything that happened since then every few minutes or so

                                            >you zone out for a few seconds

                                            >well, no further memory loss as far as you can tell

                                            >probably

                                            >so what the fuck is going on?

                                            >looking at your surroundings, it doesn't look like there's anything in sight for miles

                                            >there's probably not much point in continuing to walk

                                            >but it sounds better than just sitting here psyching yourself out

                                            >so

                                            >onward you go


                                            >there is no way of knowing just how long you've been going

                                            >the lighting in this place never changes

                                            >there are absolutely no landmarks to measure your progress by

                                            >and your hooves leave no impression in the hard, smooth, orange ground

                                            >floor?

                                            >you don't know

                                            >but at some point

                                            >you look up

                                            >something has caught your eye

                                            >something has broken the golden stillness of the sky

                                            >there's a small spot of blue up there

                                            >the spot gets bigger

                                            >grows a head, hooves, and wings

                                            >and shouts at you

                                            <"Anon?"

                                            "Rainbow Dash?"

                                            >she lands with a grateful whush

                                            "Oh good, a responsible adult. I don't suppose you know the way out of here?"

                                            <"Gimme a break, I've been flying in this wierdo place for hours! I didn't think I was gonna find anyone at this rate."

                                            >Dash leans to stretch those glutes

                                            <"I was kinda hoping you had a plan."

                                            "Walk til something happens."

                                            <"That's basically my plan, but with walking instead of flying."

                                            "Got a better one?"

                                            >Dash scowls at the barren landscape

                                            <"Not really."

                                            >and so

                                            >you walk


                                            >step

                                            >step

                                            >step

                                            >the process becomes mindless

                                            >insulated from both your surroundings and your thoughts

                                            >you may as well not even exist

                                            >it's not until your hoof comes down on nothing

                                            >and you stumble

                                            "Whoah."

                                            >Dash has been hovering overhead, and didn't suffer this particular mishap

                                            >the ground has begun to decline into a valley

                                            <"Hm?"

                                            >down in the valley lies what can only be described as a nice little villa

                                            >white walls, pillared arches, a bright blue swimming pool

                                            <"Weird."

                                            "For sure it's the valley of death."

                                            <"What?"

                                            "Nothing. It's a reference."

                                            <"You're one weird kid, Anon."

                                            "Well, something happened, so I guess we're done walking now."

                                            <"You're not seriously gonna go down there, are you?"

                                            "Why not? See any other water nearby? I'm thirsty as shit."

                                            <"You can't drink pool water."

                                            "They probably have faucets."

                                            >you start trotting down into the valley

                                            <"Oh, this is so lame..."

                                            "Come on. You scared?"

                                            <"N-no!"

                                            >a rainbow blur whizzes past you

                                            >Rainbow Dash appears by the door of the villa

                                            >you break into a light jog and catch up with her

                                            >you reach for the doorknob, but Dash holds up a hoof

                                            <"Whoah, kiddo. It might be dangerous in there. Let me go in first. You know, to protect you."

                                            >Dash flexes her wings

                                            >you groan

                                            "Okay, sure, fine, go."

                                            <"Not gonna beg me not to risk my life for you?"

                                            "Bluefast, my hooves are so sore I don't care about risking my own life for a good sofa, let alone yours. Let's just go."

                                            <"All right, all right, geez."

                                            >Dash hesitates dramatically

                                            >then throws open the door and summersaults inside

                                            >she scans to the left

                                            >scans to the right

                                            >then throws back her wing to give you a 'come hither' signal

                                            >you clomp inside, deliberately as loud as possible, and slam the door behind you

                                            <"Sssshhhhhhh!"

                                            "Yeah sure, whatever. Listen, I'm gonna go find a bathroom. If it smells like I'm taking a ginormous shit, it's because I am."

                                            >Dash's ears prick up as if something has alarmed her

                                            <"Anon, you can't."

                                            "Huh? Why not?"

                                            <"Because I was gonna do that."

                                            >with that, Dash disappears, leaving behind only a rainbow contrail

                                            >no fuck shit damn piss cock niggers that cunt can spend all day hogging a shitter

                                            >you run after her

                                            "Please no!"


                                            >fortunately, the villa apparently has multiple bathrooms

                                            >the one you found even has a shower, for advanced freshening up

                                            >once you're done with that, you head back out into the main living room

                                            >Dash is sprawled out on the couch

                                            <"Hey, sport."

                                            "Hey. So something just occured to me."

                                            <"What's that?"

                                            "Someone probably lives here."

                                            <"I hope so."

                                            "Think they'll appreciate us making ourselves at home when they get back?"

                                            >Dash shrugs

                                            <"Dunno. I just hope they'll be able to tell us the way out of bizzaro town."

                                            "That's a good point."

                                            >something on the wall attracts your gaze

                                            "Uh, hang on a second."

                                            >you point at a framed photograph hanging on the wall

                                            >you'd call the creature in the photo a minotaur

                                            >except that you've met minotaurs

                                            >and this guy looks more like a giant, scarred man with bull's horns crudely sewn onto his scalp

                                            "What if that's the guy who lives here?"

                                            >Dash grimaces

                                            <"Uh, maybe he's friendly?"

                                            "Or maybe he eats ponies?"

                                            <"Eugh. That'd be bad."

                                            "Yeah."

                                            <"Maybe we should get out of here."

                                            "I think we should get out of here."

                                            >Dash hops off the couch, and together you head for the door

                                            >it's just that, when Dash opens the door

                                            >she slams it shut again

                                            <"Anon."

                                            "Huh? What happened?"

                                            <"I don't know if we should go out there."

                                            "Why not? There's nothing out there."

                                            >Dash just shakes her head

                                            <"I really don't think we should go out there."

                                            "Oh, let me see."

                                            >you crack open the door

                                            >and promptly slam it shut again

                                            >you hit the lock for good measure

                                            "I don't think we should go out there."

                                            >what exactly is out there?

                                            >well

                                            >they're ponies

                                            >almost


                                            >the ponies outside are...

                                            "What the fuck are they?"

                                            <"Why would you ask me? I don't know!"

                                            "Well, pick me up. I wanna look out the peep hole."

                                            <"Whoah, no. It is way too scary out there for a little kid to be looking. I'll look through the peep hole."

                                            "All right, fine, just tell me what it is."

                                            >Dash looks through the door's peep hole

                                            >and violently cringes

                                            <"Ah! No! No way! Uh uh!"

                                            "Pussy."

                                            <"Oh, you think you're so tough? Why don't you take a look then?"

                                            >Dash hooks her hooves under your forelegs and hoists you up to the peep hole

                                            "Finally. Thank you."

                                            >you peer into the horde

                                            >the creatures are slow

                                            >shambling

                                            >and deformed in very

                                            >very

                                            >odd ways

                                            >only years of browsing imageboards could have prepared you to gaze upon the blasphemous forms with your sanity intact

                                            "Dickshitting nipples..."

                                            >actually, dickshitting nipples is about the only bizzare body modification you don't see out there

                                            >that one has heads sprouting out of its spine

                                            >you catch a glimpse of one in the air, eight wings beating in unison on its sides

                                            "Guess I can't ask you to fly us out of here then..."

                                            <"Huh? Why not?"

                                            "Hang on a second."

                                            >an idiot pony's head lolls atop a gigantic hoof

                                            >one, built like a centipede, skitters by with dozens of torsos and scores of legs

                                            >that one has...

                                            "Oh, there are dickshitting nipples out there. Interesting."

                                            <"Anon, you are such a weird kid."

                                            "Yeah, well, I've seen enough. Put me down."

                                            >once you're back on the floor, you take a deep breath

                                            "Well that is horrifying."

                                            <"And? What are they?"

                                            "Just a lot of really deformed ponies, as far as I can tell. They don't look very smart."

                                            <"Do any of them fly?"

                                            "Oh yeah. And fast, too. I wouldn't risk trying to fly out of here."

                                            >Dash frowns

                                            <"They couldn't outfly me though, right?"

                                            "Dunno. I wouldn't wanna find out the hard way, though."

                                            >Dash groans

                                            <"Yeah, guess not."

                                            >you scowl

                                            "One thing I don't know is what the hell we're supposed to do now."

                                            <"Well, at least the big horned thing probably won't be coming back any time soon."

                                            "Yeah. Unless those things are his pets or something."

                                            >your mind goes racing

                                            >trying to think of some solution

                                            <"Anon."

                                            >some possibilty

                                            <"Anon."

                                            >some slight sliver of hope

                                            <"Anon!"

                                            "Huh?"

                                            >Rainbow Dash pats you on the head

                                            <"Maybe we just need to chill out for right now. Those things showed up, maybe they'll go away. Let's just wait and see. It's not like they're bashing down the doors or anything."

                                            >the storm in your brain subsides

                                            "Yeah. All right, yeah. Yeah, you're right."

                                            >something in the way your heart is beating makes you wonder if you believe what it is you're saying

                                            "Let's just wait for now."


                                            >days pass

                                            >the creatures don't

                                            >well, you assume it's been days anyway

                                            >night time doesn't happen here, but you've fallen asleep about four times

                                            >there's actually a large stockpile of food in the house

                                            >where did it come from?

                                            >and why is is mostly hay and flowers?

                                            >there's a few cuts of meat you would have enjoyed if you still had an omnivore's digestive tract

                                            >so the owner couldn't have been a vegetarian

                                            >but on the whole, the pantry is very pony-friendly

                                            >it's impossible to tell why this would be

                                            >you've performed a few experiments to gauge how aggressive the creatures are

                                            >most recently you tossed one of those cuts of meat out of a high window

                                            >it landed in the midst of the creatures with a satisfying slap

                                            >but they ignored it

                                            >they ignore everything

                                            >you're beginning to wonder if you could just walk right through them

                                            >but then, even if you could, should you?

                                            >for miles around, this villa is the only apparent source of food, water, and shelter

                                            >but if that's the case, then what are the things outside eating?

                                            >and where were they hiding that neither you nor Rainbow Dash saw them in your wanderings?

                                            >and if the owner of the house is away, he must have gone someplace he thought was worth visiting

                                            >since all the food in the house is still good, he must have been here recently

                                            >but where else is there to go?

                                            >are there some sort of people there who could help?

                                            >you spend every day stuck in this mental deadlock with yourself

                                            >you can't make anything add up

                                            >it's hard to say for sure, but it seems like Rainbow Dash must be having some similar conflict

                                            >she spends all day looking out one of the second story windows

                                            >eyeballing the flying creature

                                            >it never seems to land

                                            >day after day, it takes lazy circles around the house

                                            >but every so often

                                            >it goes fast

                                            >real fast

                                            >for just a second

                                            >and then it resumes its normal course

                                            >you hate it

                                            >you hate all of them

                                            >you wish they'd go away

                                            >even though you're not sure if they'll hurt you

                                            >hell, even if they turned out to be totally harmless

                                            >they're not wholesome

                                            >they're not healthy

                                            >if you've gone to sleep four times, then this must be the fifth day

                                            >it's on the fifth day, then, that the monotony is broken

                                            >it's on the fifth day

                                            >that something changes

                                            >you're raiding the fridge when you hear a loud pounding on the door

                                            >you rush to the main entrance

                                            >and hesitate

                                            >maybe you should go get Rainbow Dash now?

                                            >if nothing else, she can reach the peep hole to see what's knocking

                                            <"Anon, are you in there?"

                                            >your eyes widen

                                            >it sounds like Rainbow Dash outside


                                            >every horror movie you've ever seen is telling you not to touch that fucking door

                                            "Bullshit it's Rainbow Dash!"

                                            <"Anon, come on, I'm hurt out here!"

                                            "No you come on, that's the oldest monster trick in the book!"

                                            <"Anon, these things are touching me and it's weird, please!"

                                            "What, just touching you?"

                                            <"Yeah, and it's freaky, so let me in!"

                                            >huh...

                                            >it definitely sounds like Rainbow Dash

                                            "All right, so how'd you get hurt?"

                                            >a pause

                                            <"I was trying to fly out a window, and that thing with all the wings bumped into me."

                                            "It just bumped into you?"

                                            <"Yeah, like it didn't even see me. It's still up there."

                                            "So you're not in the house."

                                            <"No, I'm not in the house."

                                            "And there should be a window open upstairs."

                                            <"Yeah, there's a window open, what does this have to do with anything?"

                                            "I'm gonna go check."

                                            <"Ugh... Hurry up!"

                                            >you run upstairs, calling out Dash's name

                                            >there's no response

                                            >you locate the open window pretty quickly

                                            >it's the same one she's been staring out of this entire time

                                            >and when you rear up to close it, you spot her down on the ground

                                            >one of her wings is flopping pretty uselessly at her side

                                            >and, just like she said, the creatures are just bumping into her

                                            >like they don't even see her

                                            >all right

                                            >so you go downstairs and you let her in

                                            >and she staggers inside

                                            >and...

                                            <"Ugh, finally!"

                                            >nothing untoward happens

                                            >you close and lock the door behind her

                                            >it's not til she's safely inside

                                            >that you notice something

                                            "So, uh... your wing looks pretty bad."

                                            <"Yeah. I think it's broken."

                                            "You don't look like you're in a lot of pain though."

                                            >Rainbow Dash cringes

                                            >then frowns

                                            <"I'm not."

                                            "Huh?"

                                            >she eyes her own wing nervously

                                            <"My wing feels... really good right now. I've got a couple of cuts and scrapes that feel pretty good too."

                                            "What?"

                                            >Dash looks up at the ceiling and sighs

                                            <"I feel really... really good. And it's weird. I just... Can you help me get this thing set so I can sleep it off? Hopefully it'll hurt like normal when I wake up."


                                            >fortunately, this isn't Dash's first broken wing

                                            >she's more or less able to tell you what to do

                                            >and once it's done, she passes out on the couch without any fuss

                                            >you stay with her til she's asleep

                                            >and then you stay for a long while after

                                            >you really think you ought to be more uneasy about all this

                                            >you wonder if you should find some way to secure her in place

                                            >just to be on the safe side

                                            >well, maybe that would be the smart thing to do

                                            >but to be perfectly honest, you're running out of mental energy

                                            >and it's hard to muster up many more fucks to give

                                            >you decide that shutting yourself up in the master bedroom will make you secure enough for the time being

                                            >because even on the off-chance Dash somehow turns into one of those things or something, it's not like they can open doors

                                            >and if you're wrong, whatever

                                            >at any rate, the master bedroom is where you left that book

                                            >you see, the cloth for Dash's wing-splint had to come from somewhere

                                            >and though you were sorry to rip up that nice Oxford shirt, it had to be done

                                            >but while you were searching, you found it

                                            >the book

                                            >once the door is shut behind you, you hop up onto the bed and grab the book

                                            >it's not written in horse-runes

                                            >it's written in English

                                            >the book is handwritten, and bound in a moleskin cover

                                            >a journal

                                            >the journal of one Dr. Dick Katz, who you assume is the owner of the house

                                            >is Katz the man with the horns?

                                            >you don't know

                                            >what you do know is that you can't go on just sitting around and worrying in circles

                                            >at best, the journal will shed some light on your situation

                                            >and if not, it might give your weary brain a much-needed break

                                            >and so

                                            >you dive right in


                                            >"My name is Doctor Richard B. Katz, and my adventure has been a strange one.

                                            >I shall attempt, in the course of this writing, to assume nothing whatsoever of my audience. I realize, of course, that this is a strictly impossible task. Indeed, assuming I'll have an audience at all is the sheerest vanity, and assuming they'll read English is wishful thinking.

                                            >But given my experiences thus far, I must try - to the limit of reason - to assume nothing at all of you. You could be anyone, from anywhere, from any time.

                                            >And for the peace of my mind, I must write.

                                            >I was born on a small planet called Earth, in the Earthly year of 2046. It was around this time that my species - mankind - began to develop what can only be described as psychological powers.

                                            >When I was a boy, my power of mind was poorly understood, and made me an anomaly. Now that I am a man - fifty-four years old, in Earthly time - such powers are commonplace, and I am proud to say that it is largely through my efforts that they are now largely understood."


                                            >an intrusive thought jolts you out of your reading

                                            "Aw, man. I could've lived to see my grandkids be telepaths."

                                            >you shake your head and try to look at the bigger picture

                                            >whoever Katz is, he's from what you would consider the future

                                            >how exactly could he have ended up in this place before you?


                                            >"As a psychologist, I pushed the limits of the human mind further than they'd ever been before.

                                            >And it was in the year of 2100 - the beginning of our twenty-second century - that I planned to reveal just how far the mind of man could truly go.

                                            >I'd spent years crafting a new world within my mind. A simple world - with a plain orange surface and a solid golden sky - but a world nonetheless.

                                            >Even as plain as it was, the effort of maintaining an entire world within my mind was taxing enough. The details could come later, after the experiment had proved successful.

                                            >Yes, the experiment. The experiment was all-important. I drove off friend, family, and colleague alike in the pursuit of my glorious experiment.

                                            >It would all be worth it when I had proven that it was possible to bring the world within my mind to physical reality, and to bodily travel to it.

                                            >Yes, that was my dream. Imagine, dear reader, the possibilities. Several psychologists pooling their powers of mind together could sculpt a veritable utopia, and really send people there.

                                            >Hunger and living space would never pester mankind again, for every man could really have his own garden world if he wanted it.

                                            >Ah, but I miscalculated. Grievously miscalculated.

                                            >My world, I was able to bring to reality.

                                            >My body, I was able to transport to it.

                                            >Yet somehow, I cannot seem to return.

                                            >I know now that I can never go home."


                                            >you slam the book shut

                                            "Oh, man. I know what that's like."

                                            >this is really, really, not comforting reading

                                            >it says right there in the first few pages that it's not possible to go home

                                            >but hey, maybe there's a later entry where the guy figures it out somehow

                                            >after all, you haven't exactly seen any humans around here

                                            >and if Katz isn't here, he has to be somewhere

                                            >right?


                                            >you poke your head out the door

                                            >you figure if Rainbow Dash was going to go wrong, it would have happened by now

                                            >not that you have any real basis to think that

                                            >you head down to the couch where Dash was sleeping

                                            >and

                                            <"Hey 'Non."

                                            >flapping her wings easily, she's hovering a few feet off the ground

                                            "Uh, should you be flying right now?"

                                            <"Eh, it feels all right."

                                            "But, wasn't your wing broken?"

                                            <"I thought it was, but..."

                                            >she pulls a little loop-de-loop

                                            <"I guess it wasn't."

                                            "I see..."

                                            >you don't see

                                            >that thing was fucking broken

                                            >you saw it flopping around

                                            >hell, you felt it when you were setting it

                                            "Well, uh, how are you feeling?"

                                            <"Really good, honestly. It's kinda weird."

                                            "Right, well, don't try any more daring escapes, all right?"

                                            <"Yeah, yeah."

                                            >you head back up the master bedroom

                                            >there's a brief internal debate as to whether or not you should pile furniture against the door

                                            >but you realize you're probably too small to do that

                                            >what the hell is going on with Rainbow Dash?

                                            >she's definitely raising some red flags in your mind

                                            >but she's acting like herself

                                            >ugh

                                            >maybe you should think of something to ask her

                                            >the sort of thing only the real Rainbow Dash would know

                                            >like, um...

                                            >well, you'll think of something

                                            >but if you hear "I wouldn't worry about it" come out of her mouth you're getting the fuck out of here no matter what

                                            >anyway

                                            >maybe there's something in Katz' journal that'll shed some light


                                            >"Among the many things I failed to anticipate was the presence of a lifeform in my world that I did not create.

                                            >Her name is Sudsy Days, and she calls herself a unicorn.

                                            >A brief description of Miss Days' species will probably be relevant here. She is a quadruped, a bit over one meter in height, sporting one hoof on each leg and one spiraled horn on her head.

                                            >Her land she calls Equestria, and the current year in that land is the 893rd Year of the Sun. It is ruled by a single princess, and inhabited by a people called ponies, of which Miss Days' unicorn race is a subspecies."


                                            >ah

                                            >893 was well over a hundred years ago in Equestria

                                            >that might explain why this place already exists to your point of view, despite Katz being from Earth's future

                                            >you know, through some sort of, uh...

                                            >dimensional time shift bullshit

                                            >trying to work out the exact details is giving you a headache

                                            >back to the book


                                            >"Sudsy Days, through her horn, possesses a power of mind unlike anything the Earth has ever seen, which she refers to as magic.

                                            >She, like me, was attempting to bring a mental world to physical fruition when she arrived here. I can only assume that the psychological factors which were introduced by Miss Days' experiment are precisely the factors which interfered with my own experiment, preventing me from returning to Earth.

                                            >It is interesting to note that though Miss Days' mind contributed to the creation of this world, it seems to have conformed more to my simplistic vision than to her apparently complex one.

                                            >According to Miss Days, it was her intention to create a world where the laws of nature should be altered so as to provide instant comfort and healing to the injured and the sick."


                                            >all right, that does shed some light

                                            >probably

                                            >maybe

                                            >maybe Dash's wing healing so fast is just a normal thing in this world

                                            >you hadn't even considered that

                                            >you turn the page


                                            >"Combining our powers of mind, Sudsy Days and I were able to create a comfortable home within a valley. From this home, we attempted to devise some way of returning to our respective worlds.

                                            >Sudsy had more success than I. She was able to establish a mental link to her home, but it was not enough for us to pull through to the other side.

                                            >We soon discovered, however, that it was enough to pull ponies from Equestria over to our side.

                                            >I suppose my own psychological influences are to blame for the bizzare results of Sudsy's work. It seems as though she created a sort of wandering doorway. A portal to this world, sporadically claiming ponies from any locale in the Equestrian sphere.

                                            >We soon had three more ponies trapped with us, none of them with the same mental power as Sudsy Days herself. It became more imperative than ever that we find some way out of this world.

                                            >At this point, we still believed that this world was solely the one that I had envisioned. We hadn't yet realized to what degree Sudsy Days had contributed to it.

                                            >We began to learn one day when one of our victims, a pegasus, slipped and scraped her knee."


                                            >uh...

                                            >speaking of injured pegasi...

                                            >you've got a bad feeling

                                            >you get out of the room and head downstairs

                                            >Rainbow Dash isn't by the couch anymore

                                            "Dash? Where are you?"

                                            <"In the kitchen. What's up?"

                                            >you trot into the kitchen

                                            "Hey. How you doing? Your wing all right?"

                                            >you get probably a bit too close and poke at the offending appendage probably a bit too much

                                            >she jumps away a bit

                                            <"Yeah, geez, I'm fine. What do you want?"

                                            "Nothing, just uh... Think of any good escape plans?"

                                            >she sighs

                                            <"I don't know. I guess Twilight and the gang are bound to come look for us some time."

                                            >she shakes her head

                                            <"It's kinda hard to think right now. I'll probably go to bed pretty soon here."

                                            "Yeah. Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Night, then."

                                            <"Yep. Night."

                                            >you head back upstairs to your book

                                            >a glance outside the bedroom window tells you absolutely nothing about the time of day

                                            >just a yellow sky, orange plains, and hordes of deformed ghoul-things

                                            >when are you going to tell Dash about all this stuff you're learning?

                                            >you forgot to ask her a question about herself, too

                                            >whatever

                                            >you nose the book back open


                                            >"You see, Miss Day's plan for a world without pain or injury was manifested in the form a new kind of microscopic life. I shall call them somazoans.

                                            >They have minds, of a sort. Primitive, but I can feel them. They mean only the best. They think they're helping.

                                            >And in a way, they are helping. I suspect that, once infected by them, it becomes impossible to be injured, to feel pain, to fall ill, or even to die.

                                            >When we first realized that the somazoans existed, we assumed that they knew what they were doing.

                                            >We were wrong.

                                            >When we saw how quickly the poor pegasus' knee healed, I took it upon myself to make a number of small incisions on my face. Sudsy took on some experimental injuries as well.

                                            >Somazoans enter the body by open wounds. The pleasure begins immediately upon infection.

                                            >The mutations don't start for a few hours after that."


                                            >mutations?

                                            >mutations!

                                            >you race over toward the window

                                            >there are more of them now

                                            >the ground outside, which had seemed so solid before, now spits up groping hooves like a viscous fluid

                                            >the creatures are crawling up onto the surface

                                            >have they been... burrowing?

                                            >amidst the horde of ghouls, you spot it

                                            >a human hand rising from the orange

                                            >you race over to the bed

                                            >grab the book

                                            >and curl up in a corner

                                            >a corner where none of them can see you

                                            >no, no, no, no

                                            >you have to be misunderstanding this somehow


                                            >"By the time the poor pegasus began to sprout extra wings, everyone else had already self-inflicted experimental injuries

                                            >The somazoans apparently thought that I could use a pair of horns upon my head.

                                            >This, in itself, wouldn't have been so bad.

                                            >It's the pleasure.

                                            >The pleasure.

                                            >The pleasure.

                                            >It's the pleasure that's driving me mad.

                                            >The four ponies, their minds have already been broken by it.

                                            >I am the last, I think, because of my large body.

                                            >But my mind.

                                            >It's.

                                            >Even now I'm laughing.

                                            >I tried, with the last of my mental energy, to reach out to Earth one last time.

                                            >I may have made things worse.

                                            >I think I grabbed my maternal grandfather, as a young man, and flung him into some point in Equestria's future.

                                            >I can't tell.

                                            >No more energy to try and rescue him.

                                            >It would be interesting, as a scientist, to note what happens to me and my works because of this. If anything.

                                            >I don't think.

                                            >I don't think.

                                            >I don't think my mind will hold on long enough for that.

                                            >I hope the mouth to this hell doesn't swallow him.

                                            >I hope it doesn't swallow anyone.

                                            >I'm slipping.

                                            >I can feel it.

                                            >I can feel it.

                                            >I can"


                                            >the writing is illegible after this point

                                            >you close the book

                                            >you really

                                            >really

                                            >have to check on Dash

                                            >you're going to have to pass that window to get to the door though

                                            >you take a deep breath

                                            >and do it

                                            >you try not to look

                                            >but somehow

                                            >you turn around

                                            >and there

                                            >in the midst of the ghouls

                                            >he stands

                                            >easily twenty feet tall

                                            >with shining, obsidian horns

                                            >little, fleshy wings flutter uselessly on his sides

                                            >dark red scales adorn his face at spotty intervals

                                            >and

                                            >he's laughing

                                            >you can't hear it so much as

                                            >feel it

                                            >it's an idiot laughter

                                            >the idiot laughter of an idiot devil

                                            >you get ready to fling open the door and race away from the sight

                                            >but the door flies open on its own

                                            >it hits you in the nose pretty hard

                                            >it's...

                                            "Rainbow Dash! You're-"

                                            <"Hehehehehehehehehehehehe..."

                                            >she's sporting a third eye on her left cheekbone

                                            "Holy hell..."

                                            >and that's when you feel it

                                            >a droplet of something sliding down your face and splashing on your lips

                                            >you raise a hoof to your mouth and look at it

                                            "No."

                                            >there's a little crimson sparkle resting there on your hoof

                                            >nosebleed