Episode 2: Is Not What It Seems

Twilight Sparkle and Spike arrived at Sugarcube Corner. Twilight looked up and examined the place for a short while, feeling hesitant, before Spike turned to her and said…

“What’s up, Twilight? Are you more interested in the sky than this party?”

As expected, this didn’t help remedy Twilight’s feelings of anxiety. She couldn’t explain why, but the sight of a large building that housed all of her friends made her feel like she had butterflies in her stomach. First the sky, and now butterflies. All that was missing was the dark…

Wait...Spike said that this was a welcoming party for Maud Pie...could it be…?

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” Twilight began to laugh, part sincerely, and part to make the facade that she was feeling fine more believable. “Well, you know what they say. The party’s got to end some time, but the sky’s without limits!”

“Actually, the expression is “the sky’s the limit”,” replied Spike, “but glad to see you perking up!”

“What can I say?” Twilight said. “You’ve worked your magic on me!”

“Yeah,” said Spike, “I’ve really worked my magic on the Element of Magic!”

The two then laughed, entering Sugarcube Corner as the laugh of Fantasy God Discord could be heard to all who could hear him…

Oh Spike, you are terrible…I feel guilty now for having you do this, even if it is unavoidable…no light without the dark, they say…

“Wazzup, homies?” Spike greeted.

“Yeah...homies!” Twilight exclaimed enthusiastically, trying to imitate Spike. “What’s...up…”

Twilight’s enthusiasm quickly faded when she looked up and saw what was hanging from the ceiling. Tied to the beams of the ceiling were disembodied pony legs. Bound by ropes, what appeared to be real front legs that had been separated from ponies were swinging back and forth, apparently as a welcoming to the guests…

Feeling unnerved, Twilight diverted her attention to what was in front of her, Maud Pie standing in front of the punch table drinking a dark red liquid out of a red solo cup. Oddly enough, none of her friends were here, save Maud Pie, who wasn’t in her normal attire, to say the least. She was wearing a flashy red coat over her back. She also had a sword on her back that was held in place by a holster. While the holster was covered by the coat, the hilt of the sword could still be seen. It was shaped like a cross and had the initials, “M.M.”, engraved on it.

“Enjoying the scenery?” Maud asked Twilight.

Twilight didn’t respond, not being able to tell if it was a taunt or Maud just being her regular, deadpan self. She just continued to look around the place while walking closer to Maud. This didn’t look like any other party Pinkie Pie had planned. On the wall to her right, in place of a poster for the game, Pin the Tail on the Pony, was a poster of a demon with an “X” on his head and an “X” on where his heart was. Below that poster, a box of knives was on the floor.

Over to her left, Twilight could see the heads of Pinkie Pie and Applejack mounted on black plates of polished wood on the wall like the heads of deer. Below them was Fluttershy’s head, which was sitting on what looked like a snack table that was covered by a white tablecloth. All three heads were smiling warmly at Twilight. On the snack table, were three large cupcakes laid out on a tray meant to hold six cupcakes. The three cupcakes had pink, orange, and yellow frosting respectively. On top of each frosting was an added decoration, which was what looked like a disembodied human hand with its middle finger raised.

If that wasn’t unsettling enough to Twilight, what made her feel even more uncomfortable was how Spike didn’t seem at all phased by any of this. Looking behind her, she saw that he was smiling as he looked around and saw all of this…

“Wow,” he said, “I can see Pinkie Pie got creative with the decorations!”

“Yeah…” Twilight replied nervously, trying to convince herself that the decorations were fake, despite how real they looked. “I was just expecting something more...themed to match Maud’s tastes.”

“Because nopony knows Maud’s tastes better than you.” Spike retorted as he rolled his eyes.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, Spike…” Twilight replied, disgruntled. “That’s not what I was implying. You know we all know that Maud likes rocks and pretty much nothing else.”

“You know,” intervened Maud, “I like the way you said that. “Pretty much.”. You started by saying what you know to be true, then you combined it with a casually spoken opinion to create a half-truth. It’s funny, considering who you are…”

The same purple light that flashed on the computer monitor earlier could briefly be seen glowing in Twilight’s eyes…

After the light vanished, Twilight scowled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked indignantly as she moved in closer to Maud, her glaring eyes locked on with Maud’s deadpan stare.

“Nothing personal,” replied Maud, “I just forgot how easy it is to piss you off. I can still remember our conversation where you facetiously talked about “God shitting you out.” as part of an angry response to me showing you that sentient mechanical construction…”

“What have you been smoking?!” Twilight yelled, despite an awkward feeling telling her that Maud was speaking the truth. “That never happened!”

“I guess even calling you irritable is still enough to piss you off.” Maud said nonchalantly. “You really haven’t changed at all since the Awakening project.”

Twilight didn’t reply right away this time, despite obviously not being fully sold on what Maud was talking about.

“Why the hell is she talking like this?” Twilight asked herself. “I was once involved with some project involving a sentient machine and was mad about being a product of God? Talk about an oxymoron! It makes no sense! And yet...my brain is already...set on it. I know there’s no way it can be real, and yet...it fascinates me…”

Twilight then looked at the “horrors” that surrounded her once again, and felt her mind become more open to viewing them in a different light…

“Is this...really such a horrifying sight?” she asked herself. “Even if it is all real...it’s just flesh. The spirits have departed from it…even if my friends are dead, they’ve only moved on...”

It was then that Twilight could faintly hear Spike humming a jingle to himself…

“Hmm hmm huh, the oblivious pizza delivery guy!”

Spike was smiling with his eyes shut as he pointed to the entrance of Sugarcube Corner with both his hands. Twilight looked over at the entrance and was shocked to see a familiar face she never would have expected…

“K-KING SOMBRA?!” she shouted, feeling fear course through her as she saw the pizza delivery guy.

“Ha ha, no.” the guy who had the face of King Sombra replied. “I’m just a friendly, totally not suspicious guy who just so happens to look like him. The name’s Christian.”

Puzzled, Twilight raised an eyebrow before her attention was diverted to this strange character’s nametag, sewed on his green and yellow uniform, that read, “K.C.”.

“That...heh heh...wouldn’t happen to stand for “King Christian”,” said Twilight nervously, worried that the name was just an alias, “would it?”

“Pfft, no.” the guy responded, chuckling. “How old do you think I am? It stands for “Killer Christian”, a much more fitting name for a mature, civil, well-rounded member of society like myself, am I right?”

Twilight began chuckling too after she thought through what he was saying and realized the joke.

“I have to say…” Twilight told herself in her mind. “He’s definitely reminding me more of Spike than Sombra...”

“Also,” continued K.C. as he leaned in closer to Twilight, acting like he was going to whisper something in her ear when he was just talking like normal, “don’t tell anyone, but I’m secretly a demon slayer. Same as my partner over there, Maud Pie.”

K.C. said that as he pointed to Maud, who was standing on two legs by the punch table with her eyes shut and putting her front hooves together. It appeared that she was meditating as Spike was pouring punch into a red solo cup.

“The reason she’s in that getup is because she’s a demon hunter,” explained K.C., as Spike began walking over to him and Twilight, “and that’s her outfit for the job. I, on the other hand, just enjoy wearing puke-colored clothes.”

The two then laughed as Twilight began thinking to herself…

“What a relief. There’s no way this guy could be King Sombra. There’s nothing menacing about his speech, mannerisms, or anything. I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover in any case…”

Oh, the irony…

Ninja Time God Rarity said this as Spike came up to K.C. to offer him some punch.

“How about a drink, K.C.?” Spike asked him as he held out the cup of punch to him. “As a way of saying thanks for making punch and Maud Pie better? Ha ha ha!”

However, as Twilight laughed with Spike, K.C. did not. He held out his right hoof and put it on Spike’s shoulder as he gave him a deadpan glare…

“Demon hunters do not accept anything offered to them by strangers,” he explained the reason for his refusal, “even friendly ones. I’m sorry. Please do not be offended.”

“Oh, it’s okay, I understand.” Spike replied with a genuine smile still on his face. He then trotted back to the punch table as a confused Twilight watched K.C. take seven pizzas out of a bag he was holding on his left shoulder in his left hoof and hand it out to her.

“It’s already paid for, don’t worry.” he told her.

“That’s...not my concern.” Twilight said, her unnerved feelings returning, as she telekinetically grabbed the pizzas with her magic and held them beside her. “I was just wondering why you went all cold and serious all of a sudden.”

“I may be a joker, but I’m not just this story’s comic relief,” replied K.C., “just for the record. But if you really want to know what the sudden change in attitude was for…”

K.C. put his right hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, and Twilight gasped, now being able to see something that she couldn’t before...a strong aura of darkness surrounding K.C.. Behind him, she could see the apparition of a human woman that looked disturbingly similar to her...

Twilight started trembling...not just because of what she could see now, but what she could feel...this “K.C.”, despite giving off positive vibes that had led Twilight to trust that he was a good guy earlier, was now filled with an energy that was undoubtedly evil…

“...let’s just say that I wanted to set an example to not be so trusting of others…” he continued, his voice growing colder and darker. “...and that goes for me too…”

“...” Twilight didn’t know what to say.

“You’re going to find out sooner than you thought.” K.C. told her. “Sooner than they thought...why everything is not what it seems…”

Ha! You mean to make fun of us? A wasted effort. You can’t make fun of those who have nothing to hide...

Ninja Time God Rarity said those words.

The only secrets we keep are within puzzles that are meant to be solved. And all who prepare contests with challenges that are meant to be overcome have the common sense to prepare prizes for the winners…

Fantasy God Discord said that.

In other words, we’ve planned out everything, even what will happen in response to your interferences…

“Cool.” K.C. replied to what Ninja Time God Rarity said in his mind with a sinister smile on his face. “I don’t care about messing things up to get a rise out of you. Nor do I care about doing the best job I can for my “master”. I’m only in on this project for my own personal thrills…”

“Wh-why are you just standing there smirking?” Twilight asked nervously. “What do you mean by they? What do you mean by me?!”

“Your life is a party…” K.C. told her. “...that you’ve helped plan. I’m just here to help things get crazy…”

With those words, Twilight gasped in terror as K.C. suddenly stabbed her where her heart would be, using nothing but his right foreleg, which had transformed into a blade of pure darkness.

“OH MY FUCKING GOD!” Twilight screamed. “YOU-YOU ARE KING SOMBRA!”

“Oh yeah, I’m King Sombra alright…” K.C. said sarcastically. “The same way you’re Noimman…”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she came to a realization. She felt a spirit leave her...and soon, a memory came back to her, a memory of one of her...creations…

“The...human woman…” she said as she remembered the apparition behind K.C.. “I...helped create her…”

“And in turn, she helped create me…” K.C. replied, growling. “She was the one who trapped me in this existence that I will forever curse…”

Twilight started to cry.

“I AM SO SORRY!” she yelled, feeling sincere remorse.

“I’d say, “It’s too late to apologize.”,” said K.C., “if it wasn’t such a cliche and whiny saying. Not to mention that it’s not even true in this case. Time is endless in this world. Nothing is ever too late...”

“...” Twilight was silent, not understanding what he meant.

“A difficult concept for an untrained mortal mind to grasp…” K.C. made a familiar quote with a sneer on his face. “I’m sure he told Fluttershy something along those lines…”

“Fluttershy?!” Twilight exclaimed. “W-where does she come into all this?!”

“It’s only her dark sky…” K.C. retorted. “It’s only the world she rules over as God…and you...you rule over it as the other...”

“No…” Twilight said in response. “It can not be true...it’s impossible...all this time...time…”

Twilight stopped herself as she remembered what K.C. said about time, how it was endless…

“My past…” Twilight said, memories of Starcatch flooding her mind. “I made it all up…”

She then looked at her front hooves.

“This self of mine does not exist outside of this false reality…” she told herself. “I created it...forced myself to live as it to avert my own suspicions of my true identity…”

K.C. then began to laugh maniacally to himself.

“Yes, that look that displays the realization of how you’ve been completely deceived…by yourself, no less...” he said as he observed the look of utter disbelief on Twilight’s face with an evil grin. “I love that look…GAH, NO! I DON’T!”

K.C. grabbed his head, trying to fight his sadistic urges as he heard N.T.G. Rarity and F.G. Discord laughing inside of his mind.

What’s the matter, K.C.? I thought you were in this for your own personal thrills.

N.T.G. Rarity made that taunt.

“But this isn’t mine!” he shouted. “This is hers!”

You can deny it all you want, but you know full well that making others suffer is your greatest pleasure…

F.G. Discord said that.

“No, it isn’t!” he exclaimed. “I’ll never have it be that way!”

An instant after he said that, Twilight Sparkle suddenly snapped back to “reality”.

“Huh?” she said to herself, no longer seeing K.C. in front of her. “Was I...hallucinating? I must’ve been-”

Twilight paused as she, after trying to walk around to the punch table, accidentally bumped into a familiar set of boxes and knocked them over. The box on top came open and the pepperoni and sausage pizza that was inside fell to the floor. Twilight froze upon remembering K.C. hand her the pizzas, not to mention…

“...Is that...meat?” she asked herself. “But ponies don’t eat meat...wait a minute, why did I even assume that was meat? We don’t produce and sell meat either. By all accounts, I should have never seen pizza toppings like that before…”

Of course, all accounts except his…

Ninja Time God Rarity said that in Twilight’s mind.

“WHA-RARITY?!” a frightened Twilight yelled in her mind as she looked all around the room for her.

You can search and search all you want, but you’ll never find it. For it only ever existed inside your mind...

Fantasy God Discord said that in Twilight’s mind, scaring her even more.

“HAVE I GONE INSANE?!” Twilight shrieked.

“Of course not!” Spike happily reassured her, walking up to her side. “You’ve just discovered that everything you ever knew was a lie and it’s taking you time to adjust to the truth, that’s all!”

Twilight slowly creaked and turned her head over to face Spike, and looked at the disturbingly happy smile he had plastered on his face.

“Do you…” she asked in a creepy monotone as she gave him a deadpan stare. “...have something to do with all this?”

“Absolutely not!” Spike replied, still talking in an ebullient, sickeningly happy tone. “I only have everything to do with all this! Don’t worry though, your friends are fine!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, with her feeling surprised and relieved at the same time.

“...You’re being serious, right?” Twilight asked, not fully convinced after everything she had just witnessed.

“Of course!” Spike exclaimed in a sincere-sounding voice. “Come on, guys! We can drop the act now!”

He said that as he walked over to the snack table where Twilight’s friends’ heads were, clapping his hands. Twilight followed him, and seeing Fluttershy and the others’ heads turn to face him, was relieved.

“You all did good,” he commended them, “but I think we can stop now. She’s gonna figure it out eventually anyways.”

“Aw, shucks.” Applejack said, somewhat disappointed. “But I guess as the old saying goes, always quit while you’re still…”

“Game!” Pinkie Pie interjected. “Get it, because we’re deer!”

“I was going to say “ahead of the game”.” Applejack said, slightly annoyed. “That would’ve made more sense if you wanted to make a joke.”

“Oopsie!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I guess I got...ahead of myself!”

Twilight and Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at the bad puns while Applejack and Fluttershy just rolled their eyes and smiled.

“You guys annoy me so much…” Spike said facetiously. “Now, to vent my frustration, I’m going to have to tear Fluttershy’s head off.”

Twilight kept chuckling until she saw Spike grab Fluttershy’s head off the table and hold it in his right hand, grabbing it by the hair. Twilight became filled with fear once again as Fluttershy’s head began talking to her…

“I’m so sorry that I had Spike lie to you. I just really wanted to surprise you. This is your welcome back party too. So welcome back to hell…”

Twilight held her front hooves to her mouth, gasping as she began to cry.

“...the hell you created.” Fluttershy finished.