As the last nail was pounded into place sealing Merry inside, he could hear Soul closing all the other crates for the next few minutes until it all went silent.

“Soul?” Merry waited and didn’t get an answer, he figured she had gone back already. So he tried to relax in the crate, there was indeed space, but not quite enough to stretch his legs.

With his Dark vision he was able to see inside the crate at all the different looking gems. He couldn’t tell colors apart, but many of them were moderately sized. Not much bigger or smaller than his iPod. He couldn’t figure out how to activate any of the gems, but then he figured he didn’t want to turn any of them on, just in case one of them contained fire or something dangerous like that.

‘’Hey, its just us now isn’t it.’‘

‘Yeah it is...’

‘’‘how lovely, I get to have some alone time with my two favorite boys’‘’ Merry just sighed

‘I’d really rather just listen to my iPod during this whole trip...and laying down upon gems isn’t the most comfortable thing.’

‘’Yeah what ever, you’ll come begging us to talk to you... I know it...’‘

‘’‘I don’t mind a bit of begging either hun...’‘’ Merry just grunted and flicked through his iPod and hit play. Hoping to drown out the voices of those he knew were fake.

The Kickdrums - Animal

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia stood in shock horror as Iron Jaw told her of what the creature did and said.

“So he was yelling for his filly...Why would he think you had her?” Iron Jaw raised an eyebrow

“What makes you think it was his filly? He was just asking for a small orange pony. It kept yelling that he saw her jump down the hole. Said we were keeping her hostage or some such nonsense” Celestia’s eyes went wide.

“He said he saw her?” Iron Jaw nodded his head.

“Yes, Celestia, do you know of this creature... that Monster?” Celestia blinked away a tear in her eye.

“What you described to me... Sounded just like the ningen named Merry Sue. He came to Equestria not long ago. He was peaceful and lazed about most of the time from what I heard...Then some thing happened. He lost the only thing that mattered to him. His Adopted filly... My student Twilight was sending me reports of his behavior. She said ever since they began to live together his entire life revolved around her...” Iron Jaw put up his paws

“Wait wait wait, You telling me that THING, was peaceful until his little pup left him?” Celestia snapped back at his remark

“She Didn’t Leave him! She died, in his arms...” Iron Jaw was stunned at her sudden outburst

“...what do you mean died in his arms? How did that happen?” Celestia sniffed away a tear and cleared her throat.

“He somehow got the attention of some royal griffin families that set a bounty on his head. Bounty hunters came to town, and she ended up a casualty when the bounty hunters came after him... We were all too late to help. It was at the moment she died that something snapped...” Celestia cleared her throat again “... He suddenly became violent after his initial breakdown. It wasn’t until he showed up in Canterlot wearing what you described to me that something inside him was profoundly different. His outer appearance was the same, but his thought process... it was different.”

“But that doesn’t explain why he said he saw his dead pup enter my hole.”

“His mind is shattered. I think all the pain he was feeling was looking for an outlet of some kind, a way to heal itself. And so he imagined seeing his filly, his whole world, disappear in front of him again down your hole... I’m so sorry, its my fault he escaped. I knew he was a danger, but I never thought...” Iron Jaw brought a paw up and placed it on her back

“Hey its not your fault he went bonkers and killed over half my pack during his insane quest... But come, its our turn to go now, everyone else has left...” Celestia had her eyes closed and she tried her best to fight back tears.

Tears brought on by her new friend and old friend. Scared what Merry would become and not knowing where he was. The only thing she knew for sure was that he would show up in the griffin kingdoms at some point.

And she would be waiting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the ships deck her crew was busy getting things prepared and ready to leave.

“Captain! We have loaded the last of the food supply from port and are ready to set off.”

“All 3 months worth? We have enough water correct?” The 1st mate nodded his head with a Salute.

“Yes sir, and we also have a unicorn that specializes in distilling sea water in case things get rough.” The captain smiled

“Alright then lets set sail for the Zebra kingdoms, we need to get rid of the perishable things 1st, the gems cant go bad so we will take those last.”

“Aye aye captain!” The ships crew hoisted their sails and set off southbound along to coast to head over to the Zebra kingdoms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Complete isolation has been known to cause the human mind to break down, and reach out for social stimulation, if the need can't be met, then violent and self destructive impulses happen as they question their own reality, Others have significant memory loss. Many have been known to commit suicide or have extremely strong hallucinations in attempts to create a partner for conversions. Those with known mental instabilities end up too far gone, beyond any and all help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry was doing his best to get comfortable in the crate on top of the gem pile. It wasn’t very easy, so many things were poking and prodding him, and it was getting ridiculous. After who knows how long he began to make a little depression and was able to roll the gems around to where they no longer poked him... at least not in a bad way.

‘Music, music... what to listen too now...’ Ozzy Osbourne-Crazy Train

Merry had been listening to his iPod for an unknown amount of time now. Alone in the dark with no one to talk too. But it was fine, he enjoyed the quiet for the most part. He felt movement and assumed the ship was now heading out. It was only a matter of time before they arrived, and his crate would be taken out and dropped off in griffin territory.

Merry moved around again in his crate, his muscles were feeling stiff from being still for so long. And he was constantly adjusting himself. The light of his iPod was constantly blinding him for brief moments. His eyes would readjust every time he tried to change the song or album.

At some point Merry decided he was tired of listening to music with earbuds. So he unplugged his iPod and set it down on his chest and let the little speaker play some of the music on a low volume. He didn’t want to attract attention from the owners of this vessel after all.

Everything was going fine for the most part until one of the gems that had been jabbing into his leg became unbearable and so he shifted his weight causing his beloved iPod to slide off his breastplate and down into the endless void of gems.

“Fuck fuck fuck!” The iPod light came on briefly blinding him and his dark vision, causing his iPod to disappear into the brief darkness that invaded his vision. When his eyes finished readjusting from the light change, his iPod was gone and so was any chance of easily finding it again.

“Son of a bitch!” Merry waited for his eyes to readjust back to the darkness before he started digging through the gems where he thought it fell based upon where he had it placed on his chest. He couldn’t find it, he had been pushing gems aside and was furiously pushing his hands down into the gem pile in search of it. He had at least hoped he would nudge it, causing it to light up again.

It was all for naught, the only thing his hand would come back with were cuts and scrapes that would bleed for a moment before healing again. Now, he was alone in the dark without music...

“Now I’m gonna be bored out of my fucking mind while I travel to the griffin kingdoms.” Merry sighed and sat in the silence that began to invade his thoughts and ears.

The Silence had begun to turn into a ringing that seemed to get louder...and louder. He eventually cleared his throat and began to whisper to himself to keep the ringing from building up again.

“Something something... noise... did I leave the bath water running at the castle?” Merry released a huge sigh, the kind of sigh someone would make when they are trying to get someone's attention. Merry brought his hands up and looked at them

“Wonder how long this trip will take?” his answer was more silence “can’t be more then a week or something right? He did say it was the last stop..., but it shouldn’t take that long. I mean Hell, on foot it only took like what, 3 days? To reach Baltimare from Canterlot? Hmm...” Merry couldn’t think of anything more to say, so he settled for just making noise to keep the silent ringing from piercing his ears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How long have I been in this stupid box? Unable to sleep, unable to move properly... I feel....” Merry didn’t know it, but he had been inside the crate for 4 days now. He already had problems with silence and his iPod was the main thing in his life that kept him happy. The music would distract his thoughts and help him cope with things... But now he had lost it somewhere inside the crate among the thousands of gems he was sitting upon.

“I need my music...” Merry began to thrust his arms into the gem pile he was sitting on again not caring for the safety of his hands. He wanted his music back, he needed to hear its sweet sounds.

The silence was deafening...

Merry brought out his arms again after another failed attempt to find his iPod. He looked at the numerous cuts and scrapes on his hands. His skin was still healing, albeit slower than before, but it was still healing.

Another 7 days had passed, Merry had given up searching for his iPod long ago and began to question his own reality. Who he was, what he was...

“Why am I here? What did I do?” Merry was met with silence again. The ringing in his ears was getting louder. He got mad at the lack of a response

“Why WONT ANYONE ANSWER ME?!” Silence reigned supreme yet again. Merry curled into a ball and began to whisper to himself.

“Please... someone, anyone... I don’t want to be alone anymore...” Merry began to whimper quietly inside the crate, the gems that had been poking and prodding him from before no longer annoyed him. They were the only things that made him know he was still real and alive.

‘’I told you that you would beg for us to talk to your dumb ass again.’‘

‘’‘I do enjoy a bit of begging, but you look to be in a bit of pain sweetie’‘’ Merry looked around the crate but all he could see was the gems and the 4 wooden walls that he knew far too well.

“Who are you? Where are you?”

‘’‘Have you forgotten about us already?’‘’

‘’It looks like he has, but you gotta remember he was never smart to begin with.’‘

‘’‘I suppose you are correct, My name is Mistress and the more masculine voice you hear is Curse.’‘’

‘’Yeah, try not to forget us again boy-o’‘

“I... I’m so happy someone cares enough to speak to me again. The silence in here is deafening, and gems don’t make good conversationalists.”

‘’heh, yeah that was pretty funny, I saw you trying to scratch faces into the gems, but your finger nails would just break, why not just use your sword, ya dumb bitch?’‘ Merry reached back and grabbed the hilt of his sword

“Its... its to big too unsheathe in this cramped space. And... I cant remember why, but its important to me, I didn’t want to risk damage to it by using it on the gems...”

‘’‘What can you remember dear?’‘’

“I’m... My name... is Merry Sue and...I was... I was... I forgot what I was doing... But it was... No... it was something... Important...”

‘’I’m bored with trying to let you figure this shit out, you are on your way to the Griffin Kingdoms to save your daughter whom the Griffins had stolen from you.’‘

“My...daughter?”

‘’‘Yes dear, Curse and I are here to help guide you. We are friends of yours, powerful friends. We see things you can not, and have guided you thus far.’‘’

“Why didn’t you respond to me before?”

‘’Because you had told us not to speak to you. You were being all emo and faggy about it.’‘

‘’‘ahem, well I wouldn’t use those words exactly, but yes, you were not content with what we had to say...’‘’

“I’m sorry. I cant remember very well anymore... I’ll listen to you from now on...”

‘’Good, cause there is still some time before we arrive at our destination. It would seem your moments of isolation made you forget a lot of important things.’‘

‘’‘first thing’s first, do you remember your daughter? The reason why you are here in the 1st place is to get her back from those villainous griffins.’‘’

“I...” Merry looked at his cloak, he couldn’t see its color because of his dark vision, but something about it reminded him of better times “...she was orange right?”

‘’Yeah she was, she was an orphan you found and decided to take care of. Here, look at the wall in front of you. We’re gonna show you a memory...’‘

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry was downstairs in his home making breakfast after a long night of cleaning up the mess Scootaloo and her new friends made yesterday playing knights and dragons. Spike even came over to play the dragon role. It was cute for the most part, but Spike was still a little upset he was slain in the end.

“SCOOTS! BREAKFAST IS READY!” Merry could hear the clippity clop of small hooves on a wooden floor followed by a voice

“COMING DAD!” The sound of hooves was replaced with a light sound of air moving instead

Merry had finished cooking and placed the plate on the table. He looked to the entrance way of the kitchen and saw as a small orange Pegasus came slowly flying into the kitchen. She had her tongue out a bit in concentration as she flew herself into the seat in front of the plate.

“I see you’re getting better at flying. Did you glide down the stairs this morning?” the orange filly nodded her head enthusiastically

“Yeah! Rainbow Dash said the best way to get better at flying was to fly everywhere I go! But I still get tired and have to resort to walking at times...” Merry just chuckled a bit and sat down across from her

“Yeah I know, that’s why I’ve been making special foods just for you. I’ve been doing some research and figured out the best foods to help build your wings big and strong. Just you wait, You’ll beat Rainbow Dash someday.” Scootaloo's eyes went wide

“Better than... Rainbow Dash?” Merry just gave her a huge grin

“You better believe it kiddo. Now eat up and let me know if you want seconds.” Scootaloo nodded her head and began to eat with a gusto while Merry just began to read a book about Pegasi health.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘‘’She is your everything you know, You had no direction in life. You lived inside a spiral of self destruction in the name of fun, But she gave you purpose. She gave you love and you gave it back.’‘’

‘’But then everything changed when the Griffin Kingdoms attacked.’‘

“What do you mean? What happened?”

‘’‘Look at the wall again, we will show you exactly what happened. How it all began...’‘’ Merry looked to the wall once again to watch what they had to show him

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Griffins had come in droves to Ponyville, the large number of griffins came saying they meant no harm... It wasn’t until they started to herd the ponies into large caravans for transport did the ponies begin to panic.

Ponies were scrambling in all directions,and Merry was running through the crowd toward the schoolhouse. Scootaloo was still in school during this huge event. When he had pushed through the stampeding ponies he finally found his way to the schoolhouse. To his horror he saw all of the school children being herded into one of those caravans with the griffin's watching them intently. Scootloo looked up from the group and saw Merry.

“DAD HELP!” the griffins became alerted to his presence and immediately dove at him. Merry was able to avoid their initial attacks at 1st and knock one out as it flew by him. Merry then looked over to all the school children as they looked up to him.

“GET OUT OF HERE!” Merry had the griffins attention for the moment while he brawled it out with them. When one of them suddenly got him into a grapple hold. Merry opened his mouth reveling his canines and bit into the griffins neck, ending the struggle quickly. One of the griffins broke off to intercept the fleeing school children. Merry yelled at him in hopes of bringing him back

“GET BACK HERE YA FUCK HEAD!” it was no use, the Griffin was moving at an insanely fast pace to intercept with them. So Merry ignored the other griffins and turned around to try and stop him. Only to have the other 5 griffins block his path.

“We don’t know what you are, but you don’t look like food to us, Just let us take the ponies and you can live.” Merry gritted his teeth and yelled back at them

“Like Hell I Will!” Merry charged at the griffins only to get swiped by claws across his chest. He recoiled back in pain a bit but kept the attack on. He grabbed the griffins other talon as they tried to swipe him again. Merry then bent the griffins wrist back making a loud crack sound followed by the griffins claw going limp.

“I Wont let you take MY LITTLE GIRL!” Merry proceeded to beat and kill the griffins that blocked his path to Scootaloo. When he was finally done he saw her being loaded into another caravan with some other ponies.

Merry broke into a sprint, but didn’t make it in time, the door closed and the caravan began to take off with Scootaloo in the back looking through the bars out to Merry.

“DAAAD!” Merry released a loud vicious sounding roar as he saw the caravan lift off the ground and fly off into the distance. He saw a griffin eating a pony behind a building and rushed him. He quickly subdued the griffin as he was caught by surprise.

“Where are those other griffins taking the ponies?!” The griffin just spat in his face

“Back to the mother land to be sold off as food, the young ones taste the best when kept in cages for awhile.” The griffins beak twisted into a cruel smile as he began to laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“She’s going to be killed?!”

‘’Not if we get there on time.’‘

‘’‘yes, once we arrive in the Griffin kingdoms we will have to head to the capitol and find her among the royal families.’‘’

“Why the royal families?”

‘’because young pony flesh is considered an expensive delicacy that only the rich could afford to eat.’‘

“Then so be it...How could I forget something so... important...”

‘’‘Do not be too harsh on yourself, we suspect the gems you are hiding upon had something to do with your memory loss.’‘’

‘’Yeah, but we will keep you up to date with everything, So don’t worry your stupid little head and try to Relax.’‘

‘’‘Yes just ask us if your head feels fuzzy, we will tell you everything you need to know.’‘’ Merry stayed silent for awhile then spoke up

“Can I see more memories of my little girl?”

‘’‘Yes of course, just look at the wall in front of you.’‘’

Merry smiled fondly at the blank wall in front of him in the darkness of the crate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia and Luna were both eating breakfast inside the castle with all of the children when little Skyler asked the question

“Mom, what happened to Merry? I haven’t seen him in over a month...” Some of the other children spoke up as well

“Yeah, where did he go?”

“He never said goodbye!” All the children were suddenly asking Luna and Celestia the same thing, Where was Merry? Celestia sighed as Luna answered them

“He thought he had something important to do... I’m sure he will come back someday. But don’t you worry now. I’m sure he will, he never said goodbye right?” The young ones nodded their heads “Well I believe he never said goodbye, because he never intended to be gone for very long... He’s probably just enjoying himself...” Some of the children were satisfied with that answer, but others still wanted to know more.

Breakfast ended on a sad note. Celestia pulled Luna to the side so she could speak with her.

“Lulu, I got a report about 3 weeks ago of a creature that fit Merry's description in Baltimare.”

“What?! Why didn’t you tell me something? We could of gone together to look for him!” Celestia sighed

“I didn’t want to give you false hope, I teleported to Baltimare as soon as I got the report, but he was no where to be found, the town guards said they hadn’t seen him for 2 days and thought he left town...” Luna released a sigh as she hung her head low.

“Pinkie was correct then... We did lose him forever...” Celestia nodded her head

“Twilight refuses to consider him gone, she has been studying mind spells in hopes of finding something that would ‘fix’ him... Spike sent me a letter yesterday saying she hardly sleeps... I’m going to visit Ponyville in tomorrow.” Luna nodded her head solemnly

“Let me know if Twilight has found anything... I still can’t believe what he did to those diamond dogs...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A month and a half has passed, and the SS. Glory was on its way to the Griffin Kingdoms. A small Griffin Colony had ordered a shipment of magical gems to help them get started with setting up their new home away from home.

The crew of the SS. Glory was glad to finally be rid of the last of their cargo, Many of the ships crew had heard strange noises from the cargo bay. Many believed it had become haunted while they were out at sea.

Reports ranged from the sounds of laughter to sobbing, banging to scratching. But when ever some pony came close enough to the source all of the noise would suddenly stop. The Captain didn’t believe any of it, His ship was far to new to be haunted by some ghost.

None the less his crew was spooked and he had to finish this journey as soon as possible. They would just drop the cargo off and leave when they received payment. Hopefully the last months supply of food would be plenty for them to sail back with.

With the crew convinced the remaining cargo was cursed, he had little choice in the matter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry’s confinement inside the crate had caused him to listen to the voices in his head. To the point where he was convinced they were real and they only wished to help and guide him.

‘’‘Now remember, once we arrive wait for them to open the crate so you get the element of suprise.’‘’

‘’Yeah, Then Slaughter the lot of em. We're gonna be in enemy territory, so you wont have any allies.’‘

“What about Soul Eater?”

‘’‘Yes she will be your one and only ally, you can call out her name once its safe for you to do so.’‘’

“When the coast is clear, correct?”

‘’Would you just stop being so stupid? We’ve gone over this so many times already. We need to get you out of here.’‘ Merry stayed silent and looked at the 4 walls that have held him for so long. They were stained with streaks of his blood from the failed escape attempts to claw his way out. His hands weren’t healing anymore because he tried so often. He was forced to live with the nice tingling sensation on his hands.

When he asked the voices why it didn’t hurt when his skin was cut and torn, they simply told him it was because he was blessed by the gods to not feel such things. Merry had questioned them about many things, But the one thing that stayed prevalent were questions about his daughter Scootaloo.

Merry went silent when he could hear the sound of hoof steps on metal. So many times he had wanted to yell out for help, but Mistress and Curse told him to stay quiet and hidden until he arrived in the griffin kingdoms.

“Lets hurry up and move this blasted cargo off the ship so we can go home Skip.” Merry just sat silently in the crate listening to everything they were saying

“Buck yeah, Let those griffins deal with the haunted crates. I hate ghosts...” After some time the crate Merry was in was lifted off the ground and held at an angle. Merry slowly leaned himself against the side of it to try and keep himself from bouncing around.

“Oh god, one of these crates smells god awful, you think a dock rat got inside one and died somehow?” the other pony scoffed

“Hell if I know and I’ll be damned if I care, lets just get them off the ship.”

After about 20 minutes of travel Merry could hear voices again.

“Alright, everything looks to be in order, 10 crates of magical gems for 520 bits.” Merry heard the distinct sound of a bag of bits hitting the floor and clinking.

“You coulda just hoofed em to me ya know...” Their wasn’t a response, just the sound of wings flapping.

“Bucking arsehole griffin... Lets Pack it up Colts!” A collective of cheers could be heard as the sound of hoofs beat upon the ground away from Merry’s location.

Now all Merry had to do was wait for the griffins to open his crate...

‘’Hey, when they open it, make sure you release the demon, Can't spell slaughter without laughter after all, hehe- HAHAHAAA!’‘

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside the warehouse two griffins were talking to each other about the shipment that just came in.

“Hey Buck-beak, come on. I know we could sneak in and get some of those gems for ourselves.”

“Bet we can, I saw where they put them all.”

“Mmm I can just taste all that venison meat were gonna buy with the money we get from selling those magic gems.”

The two griffins made their way inside the large warehouse doing their best to stay out of sight from the warehouse manager. He was doing his rounds to keep any would be thieves at bay from stealing any of the starting towns supplies.

When they neared their destination Buck-beak began to sniff the air. And was soon being led by his nose

“I smell, something rotting...” Buck-beak began to lick his beak

“Dude, I can smell it too, but I cant believe you wanna eat some rotting animal”

“Its coming from this crate here...This is one of the gem crates, bucking jackpot yo.”

“Seriously dude? Your gonna eat some animal that died and is now probably all nasty? Who knows how long its been inside this crate.”

“You don’t understand bro, rotting meat has a certain flavor that cant be re-created with any kind of cooking.” the other griffin sighed and turned around as he didn’t want to see him eat some dead rotting animal

“What ever dude, just hurry the buck up, he’s gonna be coming back this way soon.” Buck-beak took out his crowbar and easily pried the lid off. He released the smell that he loved, but when he saw the animal inside he paused for a moment confused. Because it wasn’t dead, it was moving.

A bony hand shot up and grabbed Buck-beak by his beak before he could yell for help. Merry brought his canines into full view while he gave a creepy smile. Before the griffin could even begin to struggle properly Merry brought his jaws around the side of the griffins neck and bit a chunk out causing him to bleed out in seconds and die.

“Releasing the demons again, he-he-ha-ha... HA-HA-AH!” The other griffin spun around when Merry spoke, His eyes opened as wide as dinner plates when he saw his friend limp in the grasp of the strange creature.

“HOLY...” The Griffin was silenced by 3 crossbow bolts to the face.

‘’Good, now eat. Don’t worry, they taste like chicken. He-he’‘

‘’‘Once you have eaten them, we can start razing this griffin town to the ground.’‘’

Merry just grunted in agreement as he ate the griffin corpses raw.

Author's Notes:

The monsters of the mind are far worse than those that actually exist. Fear, doubt, and hate have hamstrung more people than beasts ever have.

CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

There never can be a man so lost as one who is lost in the vast and intricate corridors of his own lonely mind, where none may reach and none may save.

ISAAC ASIMOV