Silence passed and no one moved, neither the dumb humans or the little mutants. They simply boggled at me, most of them slack jawed in amazement and fear. The humans shifted uneasily and other than their movements and my own harsh, ragged breathing there was silence all around. Not to sound cliche’d but you could cut it with a knife. Then all of a sudden, as if someone had flipped a switch, there was a reaction. One of them, a cream coated one with red hair, screamed like a little bitch and fainted right on the spot. This prompted the rest of the mutants to give off screams of their own and began to run and fly in all directions, yelling about the infected, talking human.

As for me, I flipped my shit. Big time. Made all the other times look like piss in comparison. And really, could you blame me? In a very short amount of time I had been accosted by some greasy old creep, I’d been drugged, experienced excruciating pain, I woke up in a hippie cartoon land populated by these fluffy little monsters, I went through an existential crisis; I discovered the people here were stupid beasts, playing the pet to lower life forms and in the midst of this nightmare, I retained my awareness and intelligence. I was at my wit’s end, and the little monsters were there, all around me.

The other one, Caramel, was still there, hovering over the hick and a conflicted look upon his mutant face, as if he couldn’t decide whether to remain and lend aid to his ilk or run for his worthless, miserable life. He kept staring at me with those abnormally big, bulbous eyes and it made me even angrier.

“Stop looking at me, freak!” I screeched, my hands tightly balled into fists.

He blinked and recoiled before turning tail like the little coward that he was, leaving the still writhing hick to lick her wounds. I glanced briefly at her, feeling a sick sense of satisfaction.

All around me, the… ponies were still screaming and, in the confusion and chaos, the humans were stupidly stumbling about. Some of them tried running aimlessly, but more often than not, crashed into houses or the fleeing little pests; others… burrowed underground, with such speed that they disappeared after a few seconds of digging, much to my amazement and a number still must have gotten riled up or confused or something, for in their frenzy, they actually bit and scratched at the little pukes.

I looked to the pandemonium around, and it filled me with a curiously agreeable sense of elation to see the little monsters running from me. It was short lived, though, when a voice, loud enough to stand out even among the ruckus, yelled.

“You jerk! You’ll pay for that!”

It came from above, and I looked upwards only to see a conglomeration of colors speeding right into my face. The impact knocked me clean off my feet, sending me quite a ways away as I landed on my back. I winced, preparing myself for the inevitable agony of fractured bones, but despite a sense of disorientation and a ringing in my head, I felt perfectly fine. The fact that I was still unharmed, much less conscious, left me utterly perplexed. At best, an impact like that should have left me with a nasty bruise and quite a bit of pain. At worst, I should be dead.
Further adding to the WTF factor was one of the winged pests, with multicolored hair, glaring daggers at me as she came back for a second assault. She crashed into my still-lying body and began to pound away with her filthy hooves.

“Nopony hurts my friends!” shouted the freak in a scratchy voice. Add that to the prismatic hair and the tomboyish vibe all but radiating off her and you had all the making of a lesbo. Or bi… agh, who cares?!

The fact remained that this lesser creature thought itself above me, beating me with her hooves with the clear intention of causing harm. It looked like she was putting her everything in the blows but even so, rather than the agonizing pain of horse hooves pounding against me, all I could really feel were forceful taps-- not painful at all.

All of a sudden, the fury and indignity that had been heaped upon me today bubbled back up to the surface in full force, a fact not helped by the lesbo mutant. In a flash, I grabbed both her legs as they came down for another barrage and pulled them wide. I yanked her struggling form closer while I reared up and my forehead collided forcefully against her snout.

A cracking sound and a cry of pain were my reward as her head was flung backwards from the force of the hit, blood dribbling down her nostrils. She fluttered back up, holding her hooves up to her snout in an attempt to stop the blood flow, an exercise in futility as hooves were ill suited for such a task.

I scrambled to my feet, glaring daggers at the lesbo. “Don’t touch me again, beast,” I hissed.

The lesbo’s eyes, shut tight from pain, suddenly flared open and locked on to me. “Why you…”

She shot forwards again, ready for another round. Reacting on instinct, I hastily raised my arm to intercept her and, to my moderate surprise, actually succeeded in catching her by the throat mid-flight. Baring her teeth, the lesbo thrashed, yelled and grunted in exertion, struggling to break free, flapping her wings furiously and kicking up large clouds of dust, but my grip was as unyielding as a vice.

But, wait. Did I just…

Realization hit me and I blinked. I was hoisting this freak of nature in the air with only one hand. Granted, she wasn’t too big, but still, she must have weighed at least a hundred pounds and I knew I didn’t have nearly enough arm strength to pull off such a feat. The lesbo, realizing her struggles were futile, opted instead to hurl a glob of disgusting mutant spit at my face.

“Gah! What in the…!” I recoiled at feeling her slimy warm saliva hit me. My arm worked furiously as I wiped it away with my sleeve and made sure to keep a hold of the lesbo with my free hand. I shuddered in revulsion as the warm ickiness of her gunk settled in my face. There wasn’t enough soap in the world to completely get rid of the feel. While I was distracted, she kept on struggling as if hoping she could break free. But those hopes were dashed away as I leveled my gaze back to her, now filled with absolute fury. “You filthy, little...” I slugged her in the gut and a pained gasp escaped her lips. “piece...” I hit her again. “of shit!” And once more for good measure.

The mutant wheezed and she let out a number of hacking coughs. Either I was way stronger than I thought I was, or she was just fragile because somewhere around her fourth cough, several droplets of blood flew out her mouth to land either on my hoodie or the ground around me. Her face was set in a mask of agony, and her struggles had ceased almost completely and now, only her hooves were weakly grasping at my hand, yet another oddity on the shitstorm that had befallen me today.

But even though the fight may have been knocked out of her, my blood was still boiling hot and I was not yet done punishing this freak of nature for her insolence, which is why I hoisted her over my head with both hands, reared back and threw her as hard as I could. She sailed through the air at high velocity until a carrot stand stopped her trajectory, practically exploding and sending bits of wood and produce from the sheer force of the impact. What few of the little pests remained had stood by to watch the spectacle, but now that I had thoroughly defeated their ilk, the screaming began anew.

It was all too much for me. I ran. I didn’t know why, but I ran. There was no particular destination. I just wanted to get away from this town and its nightmares. The ponies screamed even louder when they saw me move, the little pussies, but I just ignored them. The one good thing about the situation was that, in the panic and confusion of the populace, I was able to make a getaway.

I ran wildly, ignoring everything else and simply tried to find a way out. I collided against a number of the little pukes, purely by accident but even so they were sent flying away as if hit by a car and a curious crunching sound resonated each time I collided against them. I think they might have cried and wailed in agony but I wasn't paying much attention. Whatever the case, be it by skill or luck I managed to get away with none of the freaks following.

It surprised me, though. I wasn’t in the best of shape, to be honest. Yet, as I hunkered down beside a house near the outskirts of town, I realized I should have been sweating and panting like crazy at this point. Not so much. In fact, I felt like I could keep running on and on forever until the end of time. Is this what runner’s high feels like? Weird. Add it to yet another freaking thing that doesn’t make sense.

But that was a moot point. Now that my adrenaline was wearing out, a sense of panic began to creep in. Or at least, it should have. It might have been the sheer surrealness of the situation, but I was surprisingly calm. Not that I wasn’t scared, which I was, but my mind was surprisingly clear. I considered simply giving in to despair and wallow in misery for a while, but a more logical part of my mind knew that the little turds would be on the lookout for me, and I couldn’t simply stand idly by and risk the chance of them finding me.

I tried to think of what my next move should be. Calling for help was not exactly an option, so that was out. I need to get away from here, but… damn it, where do I go? It’s pretty safe to say I’m not on earth anymore. I can’t call mom, I can’t go back home and… shit, I bet I don’t even have what passes for basic human rights!

I growled in frustration and slammed my fist into the ground, hoping to relieve some of the enormous amount of stress and anxiety coursing through me. What I didn’t expect was for the earth to completely crumble under my blow, nor for there to be a decently sized crater where my fist had made contact.

I yelped in surprise and scrambled away, looking wildly in all directions to see if anyone had heard. No. Good. However, now that I calmed down, the most prominent question on my mind was… How in the world did I do that? Last I checked, I didn’t have nearly enough arm strength for such a feat. All in all, I suppose it’s just another topping to the shit sundae that has been this day.

Still, a part of me couldn’t help but be curious. Exactly how strong am I? Well, I suppose I could try to find out. There’s plenty of trees out here I could punch, and letting out my frustrations on innocent vegetation might help take some of the edge off. I got up and made my way over to an especially large tree, its trunk nearly as wide as I was tall and inspected it.

It towered over all the other trees in the immediate area, the bark was gnarled and had a weathered, crotchety old look to it. The thing must have been ancient. I made a fist, reared back, and slammed it against the trunk with all my might. Almost immediately, I got a faceful of splinters and wood shavings, causing me to cough uncontrollably and double back as my eyes were assaulted by countless debris.

A few minutes later, my eyes red and puffy from tears and debris, I took a good look at the tree. My fist had completely driven a hole through it. I looked at my hand, noting that not only was it not broken, but it wasn’t even sore, or bleeding from scraping against the rough wood. So… I’m super strong and on top of that, I have super durability as well. Just fucking great.

I brought up my hand for inspection. Perfectly unblemished. I bit down on it, lightly at first, but gradually applying more and more pressure until finally, the pain was too much to bear. Sure enough, it sported teeth marks and there was some redness as well. Hmm. So I can hurt myself. I have to admit, this is kind of cool.

That, and it gave me a sense of comfort to know that, if push came to shove, I could easily dispatch the mutants should they confront me. I mean, if I can drive a hole through a massive tree, cracking a skull like an egg should be no problem.

Hmm, this needs further testing.

After a quick glance around, I spotted a stone no larger than a baseball. It took a bit of application on my part, but it was soon reduced to pebbles and dust.

Brand new world, superhuman powers, stupid humans and pastel colored little freaks… what does it all mean?

I was so consumed with the many possibilities of how I could use these new abilities to my advantage that I didn’t notice the soft thumps of hoofbeats on grass come closer, not until it was too late. I whipped around, fist reared back, ready to send the little beasts into oblivion, but they were faster. All I saw was a pair of hooves, coated with some sort of metal horseshoe heading straight for my face.

My world exploded in pain and I could have sworn I saw stars as I let out a strangled yell, my body falling backwards and collapsing like a lump of dirt.

“O-oww…” I moaned and brought up my hands, carefully tending at the point of impact. Whatever it was I was hit with had done quite a number, but I was not yet unconscious. Darkened spots flared sporadically through my vision, but be it by my newfound toughness or sheer force of will, I somehow managed to stay conscious and by the edge of my vision creeped in one of the freaks.

He was a dark green in color, I think, and built heavily. Either he was arrogant or just plain stupid, because he bent down to examine me and did not seem too worried that I was still awake.

He looked up, some distance away from where I lay and opened his mouth to speak. I'm not sure what he said. In my state of semi unconsciousness, his speech was more like a garble than anything. He got an equally unintelligent response and nodded, turning his attention back to me.

He lifted his filthy hoof, the metal covering it gleamed as it touched the sunlight and I knew right then and there he would try to finish the job. As if in slow motion, his hoof came down, ready to meet my head.

I’m not too sure what happened next. The little turds weren’t able to completely knock me out. I felt myself being dragged, then… flashes. They took me back to the town. Some sort of building. Large and with cages. Humans in them. There was growling, the smell of sweat and violence in the air. I felt myself being tossed in a metal cage, the bars digging into my skin in an uncomfortable manner.

I don’t know how long it was, but my consciousness returned fully. Gotta imagine, if the little turds were able to disable me, those legs of theirs must have packed considerable power. My head hurt for the first few minutes after I regained full consciousness, but that quickly passed. My senses recovered soon after and I was able to take stock of my surroundings.

The room I was in was hot, small and grimy. Wooden and bare save for a few crates. The only dim lighting came from two lanterns hung by the only visible door. I shifted uncomfortably in the metal bars of the cage and stood up, the throbbing pain in my head now almost gone.

There was a single window. Chipped and dirty, but not so much that I couldn’t see past it. I was in the upper floor of what seemed to be a warehouse of some sort and from what I could make out, there was an arena of some sort dug deep into the ground. On the ground level above, surrounding it, were cages filled with humans; some male, others female. All naked and in a state of agitation as evidenced by the muffled growls and snarls that muddled into my room.

Someone had abducted me. Two of the filthy dog-horse creatures. I brought a hand up to my forehead, where I’d been struck and noticed a dry, crusty sensation. After scratching away at it, I could see it was blood, but only a surprisingly small amount. It seemed that my newfound invulnerability had managed to take most of the brunt of the attack, and good thing, too. Because if not for it, I would most certainly be dead right now.

"H-hey, is anybody there?" I called out but there was no response.

Christ, at the very least they could have put me in a room with AC. Miserable little bastards...

I grabbed one of the bars of the cage and gave an experimental squeeze. I then pulled with all my might, struggling to bend or break the bars, hoping my newfound strength would be enough to make an opening and I could make my escape. No such luck, other than a slight creaking noise.

Shit, what is this made out of, mithril?

“That won't work,” said a menacing voice.

I gasped and looked over, only to see one of the horned freaks. What? When did he get here? He'd been lurking in one of the darkened corners of the room, the creep. He stepped forward confidently into the light and I could begin to make out his features. He may have been smaller than me, but even at first glance, I could tell his very being radiated an air of menace. So much so that a primal, subconscious part of me caused me to back away in self preservation.

He inched closer and closer, and I was able to take in his appearance. A blood red coat, black mane and icy, soulless eyes that pierced through me without effort. “Those bars are magically reinforced titanium. You won't be breaking through them anytime soon.”

No matter what he may have looked like, I refused to be cowed by this inferior creature, so I stepped forward in defiance, raising to my full height. “Let me out of here you, you... thing." I said in my best demanding tone, though it might have been offset by the slight hitch in my voice.

An evil smile formed along the bastard's muzzle. “Well, will you look at that. An actual talking human. You'll fetch a nice prize.”

Prize? What?! Oh, my God. The humans out there, in the cages... he intends to sell me! Like I'm some common animal! “W-what are you going to do to me?”

“Normally, a lot of things you wouldn't like. But a unique specimen like you; pure and unspoiled... well, that would be a waste. No, I'm gonna keep you clean and healthy and then-- well, who knows. I'm sure there’s somepony somewhere who’ll pay top bit for a human like you.”

That did it. I lost my composure and slammed against the cage. “Goddamn it! I have my rights! Let me out of here!”

He smiled cruelly. “No, I don’t think I will. And you best get used to spending the rest of your life in a cage. Or don’t. Either way, you won’t be my problem soon enough. It’s nothing personal, you understand. Merely business.”

“You filthy little creature,” I seethed. “You’re not going to get away with this!”

“I already have,” he said smugly. “But I should go. I have better things to do than listen to the ramblings of a freak of nature.” He glanced over at the window. “The show should start in a few hours. Enjoy.”

Show? What is the draft beast talking about? I didn’t get a chance to ask, as he left without another word, leaving me to stew in my misery. I tried to escape again, this time attempting to budge every square inch of the cage, but no such luck. I was well and truly stuck until the mutants decided to do what they would to me. I looked around for anything that might be useful, but save for a number of crates, the room was empty.

Time passed. I don’t know how much and no one else came in to check up on me. I tried a few more increasingly half-hearted attempts to escape, but they were no more successful than the first time. I spent the first hour or so in panicked, hysterical fits, my mind running wild at the possibilities the little turds had in store for me, but even that eventually grew tedious, so I had little choice but to make myself comfortable and try to keep an eye out for an opportunity to escape. After all, the freaks seemed to be little more than medieval peasants. How smart could they be? The whole situation just screamed of cheesy villainy. One of them was bound to make a mistake.

But that would have to wait. There was nothing else to do at the moment. As the day(or night) wore on, the activity in the space out my room seemed to increase. From out my window I was able to make out more of the freaks as they shuffled into the warehouse. Crates were moved around the outside of the pit, used as seats of sorts.

A chilling thought occurred to me. The neglected, shady building. The pit, the unintelligent humans in cages. Was this some kind of perverse fighting ring? To my horror, it was. More of the mutants came and eventually, the show started.

Somehow, someway, the cages that housed the humans lifted into the air and into the pit, opening and carelessly dropping the humans into the pit. The assembled freaks cheered, jeered, and made raucous noise as the fight began.

In a twisted, sickening display, I watched the humans tear each other apart, be it by using nothing but their bodies or crude, makeshift weapons that were thrown in. Big and small, muscled and wiry, male and female. They were all made to fight. There was a scrappy one, though. Tough bastard refused to go down, even though he nearly died more than once.

It was all too much for me. Like most anarchist teenegers, I fancied myself to have a bloodlust, and youtube videos had made desensitized to violence. But watching something on a screen and watching it happen in real life are two very, extremely different things.

My stomach heaved and I retched violently into the floor. I fell on my knees, gagging and gasping as the contents of my stomach emptied. Then the door opened and in came in two more of the horned ones, one grey, one blue. They both seemed annoyed.

“Is this the human Darkflare talked about?” asked the blue one.

“Looks like. Don’t look like much if you ask me,” the grey one said, not looking too impressed.

Yeah, asshole. Why don’t you try saying that without a metal cage between us?

“I dunno,” the other one piped up. “She’s a real cutie. Too bad the boss wants her ‘pure’. Wouldn’t mind a quick roll in the hay with her.”

Uhh, what?

The other one made a grimace. “Ugh, I don’t know how in Celestia’s wide flank you can stand doing that.”

The blue one shrugged. “Hey, don’t knock it ‘till you try it. If you train them right, human females are actually better than mares in some cases.”

He still didn’t look convinced. “I’ll take your word on that. Let’s just board her on the train and get it over with. We could still catch the end of the fight if we hurry.”

“Right, right. Where’s she going again?”

The grey one sighed. “Weren’t you paying attention, idiot? It’s the Manehattan facility.”

“All right, all right. Don’t get your saddles in a twist. I’m being all proactive and stuff, see?”

With no warning, and in yet another WTF moment for me, his horn lit up and from it, he shot a red projectile of magic at me. The bolt passed through the cage and made contact with my chest. I yelped and scrambled away in fear, but the thing, whatever it was supposed to do failed, as I only felt an itching sensation.

The both blinked in surprise and the blue one opened his mouth. “Oi, you see that? She resisted my stunner.”

“You didn’t use enough juice, you moron,” chastised the grey one.

“I used plenty!” Blue retorted.

“Then why is she still conscious?”

“Because… who cares? I’ll get her this time.”

He charged another shot and I flinched, lifting my arm for protection, but his piddly attempt was just as ineffective as the first one, my invulnerability negating whatever it was supposed to do.

“Hah! You cast like a foal!” crowed Grey.

“What in Tartarus is wrong with this thing?” asked Blue as he frowned, rubbing at his horn with a hoof.

“It’s probably her. Looks like Darkflare found himself a magic-resistant human.”

Magic?

“Alright, then. Let’s both of us try a stunner at the same time. Maybe that’ll be enough.”

“Yeah, fine,” grumbled Blue.

Wait, this could be my chance. I’ll play possum and when they open the cage, I can get the drop on them and escape! I watched in apprehension as they both charged up a shot and let it loose. As soon as they hit, I groaned and slumped from my position. Hopefully that’ll fool them.

“Alright, let’s load her up,” said Blue in a satisfied tone.

I kept my left eye opened by a fraction, just enough that I could barely see. I felt an odd sensation course through my body. Almost like the gentle rocking of floating on water and a light purple glow surrounded me. It took everything I had to not freak out right then and there, but I managed it.

“Damn it. We can’t even levitate her. Just where did the boss find this one?”

“Who cares? We get paid either way. Let’s just load her by hoof.”

I heard the clip-clop as they came closer. Yes! Come on, you little monsters. Just a bit more and…

There was the clink of metal on metal. The lock turned, followed by a creak as the metal door swung open. I felt one of their disgusting hooves nudge me and like a coiled snake, I struck. In an explosion of movement, I grabbed the offending limb with both hands and twisted with such force that the leg, which belonged to Blue, snapped completely as he let out an agonized howl. He reared on his back legs, his now useless limb flopping wildly through the air in a morbidly comical manner.

I didn’t stop, not for a second. Immediately after I disabled him, I turned to Grey and launched myself, tackling him against the bars of the cage. His horn lit up and shot me a beam point blank in the face. It didn’t do anything.

His eyes widened at his failed attempt and instead tried to use force to fight me off, but my superior stature and superhuman strength was more than enough to hold him in place.

Keeping a hold of him with my left hand, I raised my fist up high and brought it down with all my might upon his skull. The blow was so powerful his whole entire cranium caved in, with shards of shattered bone sticking out his head. The brain itself, having nowhere else to go, propelled out his nostrils, showering me in blood and bits of brain matter while his right eye socket was completely crushed, causing the eyeball to pop out, still connected by a veiny tendril to its cavity.

The body spasmed and slumped to the floor, all the while emptying its bowels, filling the room with a foul stench. I recoiled, holding a hand to my nose and turned to Blue, who at this point was trying to hobble out of the cage. He looked back at me, covered in blood and standing victoriously atop the corpse of his soiled ilk. Must have been quite a sight, as he redoubled his efforts to get away.

I was quicker, though. I strode over and lifted him up by his throat, holding him in a vicegrip. “And where do you think you’re going?” I whispered in a deathly quiet voice, feeling immense satisfaction at the sheer terror in his bulging eyes.

He opened and closed his mouth doing a good impression of an idiotic dying fish-- as if he was trying to speak but couldn't get the words out. Hmm, I think I'm choking him. I let him loose and he fell unceremoniously, his broken leg taking the brunt of the impact, a pathetic moan escaping his lips. I gave him one good kick to the gut and made my way to the door.

It led to a dimly lit hall and, after following it, I opened a door, but almost immediately closed it as it led to the center of the warehouse where the fight was taking place. I may have had the equivalent strength of a hundred grown men and a terrier, plus a high degree of resistance to attacks but even so, I knew heading out into a room full of the little monsters was a stupid idea.

That and the fact the winged ones were flittering about meant that it would be nearly impossible for me to get out without being noticed. I couldn’t risk it. Even if I managed to outrun them, there is still the fact I don’t know where this place is or if there are more of them waiting outside. No, I wouldn’t be able to go that way.

The crowd roared again and shortly after, the body of a human girl was lifted out of the pit, surrounded by a soft yellow light. Her body was carelessly tossed into a large cart where three unfortunate victims of the freaks lay, covered in blood with their limbs sticking awkwardly out the sides. The sight of it sent a new wave of revulsion and loathing through my being.

I shook my head vigorously, trying to put the matter out my mind, not that it did much good. I’d wasted enough time. I had to get the hell out of here. Closing the door, I took deep steadying breaths and inspected the area, taking stock of my surroundings. The hallway was empty, but there, further up, there was a window from which the night sky shone.

There was a problem, though. It was too high for me to reach. Walking with purpose, I headed back to the room where I was caged, the sight of Grey’s corpse sending a slight pang through my chest, but I immediately shoved it aside. There was no use feeling bad for these animals. Blue whimpered as soon as I came into view and tried to scuttle away, but I didn’t pay him any mind.

A number of crates were stacked in the room. I could use these to give me a boost and escape out the window. I spotted a good sized specimen and moved forward to lift it, but no sooner did I pick it up when I felt an odd sensation in the back of my head-- a loud thunking noise following and I stumbled, the crate falling off my grip.

I rubbed at my head, not out of pain but rather by instinct. I saw a wooden beam, about the size of a baseball bat hovering in the air, surrounded by a light purple glow. The same glow coming out of Blue’s horn.

Before I could react, the bat swung in a wide arc, hitting me in the temple with what would normally have been a fatal blow. The sheer force behind the attack sent me reeling into the side of the cage, rattled but relatively unhurt. The bat came again for another try, but this time I catched it in mid swing, Blue’s eyes widening in horror as his hold over the weapon completely dissipated.

I was less than pleased at this. In fact, I was downright furious. Even after I opted not to finish him off, the little shit decides to up and try to kill me anyway? Gripping the beam so hard my fingertips sank deeply into the wood, I stalked forward as panic set onto Blue’s eyes. He was in the process of stammering something along the lines of ‘Please don’t’ when I sent the beam crashing down on his skull with a single blow.

I didn’t pause to examine the fruits of my work, but it was a safe bet to say he was most likely dead. A wet squelching noise filled the room, followed by the stench of shit.

I scrunched my nose. Yeah, he’s totally dead.

With no more distractions, I was able to move the crate over to the window. Peeking out, I could see it was a good twenty feet off the ground. I jumped without hesitation, landing on my stomach and completely knocking the wind out of me, but otherwise I was unharmed. Several seconds of wheezed breathing later, I shakily stood on my feet. Nothing broken. Good.

Now the question was where to go. On one side of me was the town with the Disney shacks. On the other was an ever expansive green plain. Neither were good choices. I had no idea how to survive out in the wild and given recent events, I was more than wary about staying in a town populated by the little monsters.

I sighed in frustration. Is it too much to ask for a fucking break?

I didn’t get the chance to think too long on it. The still night air carried a commotion that caught my attention. There were soft hoofbeats. Many of them, coming closer, but not exactly in my direction. I kept to the wall of the warehouse and steadily inched closer to see around the corner. A gasp escaped my lips, a spike of alarm coursing through me at the sight.

There were more of the mutants there, but almost every one of them were identical and dressed in some… golden renaissance armor. Hm, attack of the clones. Leading them, however, was one of the little beasts. Purple in color, but even more mutated than the rest of them as it had both a horn and wings. Shit, are they here for me?

Turns out they weren’t. They charged into the warehouse and all hell broke loose. There were yells, screams, the sound of fighting and more than a few crashes. Curiosity got the best of me and, inching closer and taking care not to be seen, I peeked through the door.

It was a hectic scene as the-- what I’m assuming to be guards or police of some sort, swarmed in and proceeded to subdue the rest of the little monsters. The horned ones shot beams of varying colors, the flying ones did some sort of mid air jujitsu and the normal ones, which I guess got the short end of the evolutionary stick, brawled it out on the ground.

The guards subdued the rest of their ilk fairly quick. It seemed that pitting humans against each other was illegal or something, kind of like dogfights back home. I had mixed feelings about this. Up to this point I felt nothing but loathing and contempt for the little turds, but the zeal they showed in apprehending the criminals slightly rose my opinion about them.

The purple one drew my attention. She yelled for a medic or something and I could see a human male laying beside her. It was the same scrappy bastard fighting in the ring. I’m surprised he made it this far, but his body was a whole bloody mess. Who knows, maybe he can pull through this as well, provided he’s not considered a threat and euthanized.

It was more or less a matter of cleaning up after that, and I got the hell out of there. Maybe, just maybe, the little mutants weren’t all bad. But they still keep my kind as pets so the’re not all that good either. Whatever the case, I chose to retreat back to the town, feeling it was a slightly better choice.

I skulked through the perimeter, not wanting to go in and at the same time trying to find somewhere I could spend the night. No such luck. I went further and further, ducking and darting all the way for worry the little turds would notice me, not that anything happened. It looked to be that in this rural mud village, the denizens turned in early to bed, but still. Better to not take chances.

The night dragged on, with me feeling increasingly desperate until I found a potentially good spot. It was a cottage built right in the outskirts of the town, no more than about a dozen yards from what looked to be a heavily wooded forest. The night limited my vision, but I could make out a chicken coop and various bird houses plus the chittering of many animals. Would this be the equivalent of some redneck naturalist?
I looked around me once more and considered my options. The place was largely deserted and isolated. Maybe I could break in, subdue whatever lived in the house and steal a few things for the coming days. Not the best of ideas but to tell the truth, I wasn’t in the best frame of mind at the moment. That and I also couldn’t think of anything else to do. With undue caution, I moved forward in an exaggerated tiptoe motion and gingerly opened the door.

Didn’t seem to be anyone there, but then again, the place was pretty dark. I could see furniture, couches, desks and a variety of animals sleeping all over the place. Lizards, mice, rats, rabbits, squirrels, beavers, raccoons, cats, dogs, birds of all sizes and… was that a freaking bear?! Okay, so maybe this wasn’t the best idea.

There was a shuffling of movement and I looked down to see a white rabbit glaring up at me. The fact that even a lowly rabbit could do something like glare rendered me silent for a moment. A moment too long as the rodent beat the ground with his hind legs, creating a surprisingly loud thumping noise.

Every single animal roused from sleep. The rabbit then emitted a loud string of chittering and squeals at me, while I just stared stupidly at it, not knowing what to make of the situation. The vermin was getting more and more worked up until it jumped to bite me in the shins.
Gah! What in the name of…! I kicked the pest, sending him well across the room where he impacted the wall with a wet crunching noise and fell, never to move again. It was one of those moments when you realize you’ve fucked up big time, as every animal was up and alert and glaring at me with vengeful hate.

Now, I realize at this point that I have surpassed the physical limits of a normal human but even so, seeing a bunch of murderous woodland critters charging at you, with a twelve hundred pound bear leading the charge, tends to set off a primal trigger that floods your body with pure, unadulterated fear. This was a prime example, evidenced by my shriek of terror as hundreds, maybe even thousands of pounds of flesh, teeth, claws, scales and feathers mobilized.

I ran like a madwoman, arms flailing and made a beeline towards the darkened woods, pretty much the only place where I could go with all the animals hot on my heels. After few minutes of running in near total darkness, tripping and getting bitch slapped by branches, I managed to lose the angry mob. I was sweating bullets, bent over and panting as I struggled to catch my breath.

“Oh… *wheeze* oh, man. *gulp* That was… way too close.”

Murderous animals notwithstanding I now had a whole new problem. Namely, I was lost. In a forest. At night. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. No, no, no, no no! Come on, Jackie. Just remember the direction you came in. Um, it was… that way, right? An hour later and I was still trudging blindly through the woods

Agh, fuck me...

The blocky white structure of Ponyville Hospital stood on the western edge of the town and it was through its halls that Nurse Redheart trotted with a tired step, something she tried to keep from showing in her posture. It had been a hectic day today and the overworked mare wanted nothing more than to call it a night and go lay in her nice warm bed, preferably with a nice cup of tea. All in all, today had been anything but typical. Then again, days in Ponyville had a tendency to not be typical, but never in this way. Oh, sure the hospital and its staff was regularly kept busy.

Injuries in Ponyville were not an uncommon thing, but even those tended to be relatively mild. Farmers would come in now and then with heatstroke or dehydration as they tended their crops and fields with devotion and zeal, sometimes forgetting to take as good care of themselves. They were also often afflicted by aches and pains brought on by labor and farming equipment, but those too could be treated in a jiffy.

And of course there were the boisterous colts and fillies, whose daring and rough play would lead them to be taken in by their parents. All in all, about the most serious things the hospital would have to deal with were births and the occasional broken bones, again, things that magic and modern medicine would easily remedy.

The hospital staff had been able to step up whenever the occasion needed but even so, recent events, namely, Twilight’s coronation as the newest princess of Equestria had merited the hospital to undergo a change of sorts. The nation’s newest ruler had chosen to reside in the quaint little town, something that raised many an eyebrow throughout the land. That was all well and good as neither the Sun or Moon princesses had pressured their newest addition to relocate, but at the end of the day, despite her humility and affable personality, Twilight was a princess all the same and therefore a pony of great importance.

It was due to this that, at Celestia’s discretion, Ponyville Hospital had gotten a renovation. Certain members of the staff had received more advanced medical lessons, given by the personal doctors of Celestia and Luna who had been dispatched with orders to train the Ponyville staff on the care and physiology of alicorns. Though the newest princess looked enough like a normal pony, albeit with an additional set of appendages, her body, magic and core would undergo subtle changes throughout the years as it fully adjusted to its new state, as well as the influx and change in her magical abilities.

Of course, it would have been simpler to appoint new doctors hoofpicked by the princesses themselves but Celestia, kind and considerate to her subjects as she was, couldn’t simply put the staff at Ponyville hospital out of work, so it was with this in mind that Redheart and her peers were enthusiastic to learn as much as they could. After all, what could be more honorable or prestigious than being responsible for the well being of one of the nation’s rulers?

That’s not to say it was all bread and roses, as the trainees were put through the wringer. Endless studies, mock procedures and drills ran them ragged for three months, but at the end, when their overseers deemed their training complete, the hospital staff celebrated their newfound experience and knowledge by throwing a celebration within the hospital, with booze, cakes and good food to be shared all around, from the lowliest janitor, to the receptionist, to the aides and the patients themselves(barring any upcoming procedures or dietary restrictions, of course). Naturally, the substantial increase in their salaries didn’t hurt either.

So it was with this that the hospital staff, with a renewed sense of confidence and ability, felt they could handle whatever the future would hold. The events of today had put that notion to the test.

Earlier in the day, an exasperated Redheart had tended to Berry Punch, who was a regular… well, customer, as patient would be a bit of a misnomer. Ever an enthusiastic, happy drunk, Berry Punch was no stranger to the clinic at Ponyville hospital. It was no secret that the mare held a strange sort of fondness for the sauce.

Oh, sure, it seemed harmless enough, for even as the mare seemed to be in a constant state of drunkenness, she was surprisingly well behaved. She didn’t cuss, she didn’t loiter, misbehave or elicit inappropriate behavior such as using the town as her own personal toilet, with the exception of throwing up in public whenever she surpassed even her own considerable tolerance for alcohol; to her credit, more often than not, she usually managed to find a trash can in which to expel her stomach’s contents.

She might have even passed as a ‘model drunk’, if such a thing existed, if it wasn’t for the fact her impaired motor functions and alcohol-fueled numbness to pain left her prone to many an accident, thus the reason for her frequent visits to the hospital clinic. Today had been no different and Nurse Redheart had sighed and resigned herself to treating a particularly large lump atop Berry's head, the cause of a nasty fall.

Though in the past the fretful nurse had often chastised the earth mare in the hopes of stopping her reckless behavior, she had ceased to do so some time ago as the incorrigible pony had no desire to change. So when Berry Punch had come in with yet another alcohol related accident, Redheart did what she had done so many times before.

She treated the injury as best she could, gave the earth mare a poultice for the pain and hangover and allowed her to sleep it off in an exam table-- and was wondering whether or not she was enabling this behavior and whether or not she should take more direct steps to prevent it-- that at that moment the doors to the hospital burst open and in came none other than princess Twilight.

Whatever thoughts Redheart harbored about offering a lower standard of care were swept away as following in the alicorn's wake were more ponies-- townsponies and they were carrying someone else, held aloft by a thick blanket that was stained with blood. That was but the beginning of a seemingly never ending hellstorm of frantic activity as in a matter of minutes the hospital was swarmed with patients in need of care.

Rainbow Dash had been the most severe case by far. It was a well known fact that the tomcoltish pegasus’ dream was to join the elite team of the Wonderbolts, often practicing her moves and coming up with all kinds of stunts and sometimes this led her to inflict injuries on herself as a result… but never like today.

There had been evidence of severe trauma in the pegasus’ abdomen, whatever had hit her had done so with enough force to practically render her organs to mush. Her liver had ruptured, sending toxins throughout her bloodstream and if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d also suffered severe hemorrhaging and internal bleeding, to say nothing of the three broken ribs, foreleg, a concussion and various wooden splinters embedded in her side. It had taken well over three hours of feverish work but in the end, they’d managed to at least stabilize the pegasus.

Nopony said it aloud, but they all knew the reason Dash wasn’t dead at the moment was due to their recent training and of course, the renewed supply of equipment, potions, salves and poultices specially commissioned by Celestia in case of emergencies, far ahead of what a small town hospital would normally carry.

Then there was Applejack. The hardy farmpony was a less severe case than Rainbow Dash, but no less important. Redheart had seen her share of foals who were brought in, crying as, for some reason or another, they had managed to bite their tongue. But unlike most, or... well, all of them, Applejack was hit with enough force to completely bite off the tip of her tongue.

That by itself would not be especially worrisome as the damage could be repaired, but it was obvious the farm mare had been assaulted. By who or what Redheart did not know, but what she did know was that it hit her with such strength that not only did her jaw shatter completely but several of her teeth were knocked out as well. Last but not least was the concussion that resulted from the sudden and severe blow as her brain collided against the bony skull meant to protect it.

Fortunately for Applejack, modern potions and medicine would allow her to fully recover in a couple of weeks, but that was not the end of it, not by a long shot. About a dozen more patients came in, having been bitten by humans, who apparently had been worked into a frenzy and still more arrived, with more serious injuries. Broken bones and trauma, as if they’d been hit hard by something. A piece of machinery perhaps? There were many questions, but neither Redheart or the other nurses or doctors had time to dwell on them, or to seek out answers. Perhaps after everything settled down and things cleared up, princess Twilight could make an announcement or something to fill them in what happened.

The staff at the small town hospital was not especially large and the sudden influx of patients had to be treated well into the night. No sooner had the hospital personnel made a sizable dent in the number of patients needing treatment that in came even more victims for them to treat, ponies escorted by the royal guard, wearing magic suppression rings or otherwise bound and there were even a number of humans to boot! Princess Twilight's among them.

Thankfully, despite the commotion and panic that engulfed the hospital, there had been no casualties. The only possible exception to this rule was Rainbow Dash. She was in no immediate danger of passing, but she was not completely out of the woods either. The doctors had treated her as best they could but now it was up to the pegasus to fight on, and Redheart was fully confident she’d manage to pull through.

Still, the possibility was there, and it was all too real, which led Redheart to perform the one aspect of her job she truly hated. Dash’s friends had to be informed of her current state and it would undoubtedly bring them no small amount of fear and worry. Truth be told, she had no idea how they would react, as she’d never had to do this sort of thing before, but everypony else was busy and so it fell to her to deliver the news.

The nurse pony kept silent and contemplated as she trotted through the once immaculate hallways of the hospital, now lined with several scuff marks and various bits and pieces of medical accessories strewn about. There were a number of ponies shuffling restlessly about as well, worried looks on their faces as they waited outside patient rooms, no doubt friends and relatives of today’s unfortunate victims and there was the wailing of little foals here and there.

Redheart paid no attention to this and merely walked on, the faint sense of apprehension that welled in her belly rose steadily as she neared the double doors that led into the waiting room, where the friends and family(or just friends in Rainbow Dash’s case) of Applejack and Rainbow Dash were anxiously waiting for news. She reached the doors and, after taking a deep, bracing breath, pushed them open and trotted on to the expectant looks of the ponies inside.