- (This continuation of the story leads into http://pastebin.com/u/AetherPony's now-abandoned "War Attempt". The Anonymous of that story is a different human, but "Shermanon" eventually also plays a role. My Little Anon: Another Story is a separate continuation.)
- >How long?
- >Oh, how long has it been...
- >This acrid miasma of choking ash invades your lungs, always
- >From there, it worms its way through your being
- >Physical, and even your soul
- >It is binding, like barbed hooks twisting, always in a never-ending tangle
- >Punishment for your self-inflicted damnation
- >There is nothing you can do about it
- >And despite your innate human ability to adapt,
- >It always tingles with just new enough of a painful sensation to keep you hating it
- >Temperatures fluctuated between extremes with no apparent pattern
- >From hotter than the human body can possibly endure prolonged exposure to,
- >To cold enough to chill your blood, expanding it and causing you great, insufferable pain
- >Howling winds whisper through your already shattered mind
- >You are always, forever, on the precipice of madness
- >Why do you resist?
- >Because you are Anonymous
- >Your mantra used to be that you did not forgive, and you did not forget
- >The former has changed
- >You have learned the value of forgiveness
- >Forgiveness of what Celestia has done to you
- >You focus, instead, on what she did for you
- >You find yourself wishing, many times, that you would have walked down a different path
- >If you could only go back and alter your destiny, you would
- >But that moment was, possibly, your most righteous
- >After all, could Equestria handle humanity?
- >Even as a human who did not fully grasp his own humanity, you seemed to bring with you only chaos
- >Well, you guess that's what you were supposed to do
- >But you couldn't stand it
- >Sadly, this ended in a tragedy for you
- >It's the norm in equine culture for self sacrifice to be rewarded
- >This isn't what you had in mind
- >But you resisted
- >Because the memory of your friends remains strong
- >It has become something of an obsession
- >Perhaps you were mad, after all
- >It helps to cope with the atmosphere
- >This desolate, saltine wasteland of charred granite and swirling flame
- >Endless layers of eternal torment at the end of existence
- >Truly, you have hit rock bottom
- >And there is no salvation from this
- >Your body hangs from a series of chains
- >You have become a convenient punching bag for extra dimensional creatures
- >On the edge of the abyss, you dangle in darkness
- >Like a marionette whose master has forgotten you
- >The heavy, wrought iron links are fused to your flesh and bone through the same infernal coronas that The Boss once wielded against Celestia and Luna
- >Try as you might, you could not break these cuffs
- >What you wouldn't give to feel that mane once last time
- >Serenity made manifest!
- >But no, now, all you feel is a blunt object slamming into your stomach
- >You heave, and vomit up a wad of infinite blood
- >They wanted to keep you alive, forever
- >To punish you
- >“Fuckin' inbreed...â€
- >You can barely make out individual voices anymore
- >But you look up once you settle at the bottom of your hang, seeing none other than the Boss standing over you
- >“Don't look at me!â€
- >A wrought iron baton, glowing with heat, swipes up your face
- >You throw your head back, and whimper in pain
- >If your friends could see you now... they would be ashamed
- >“You just couldn't leave it be, could'ya?â€
- >He spoke to you with insane malice
- >“You just couldn't butt out, you HAD to get involved.â€
- >He raises his baton over his head, chewing on his cigar
- >You wince, knowing what's coming
- >WHACK
- >CRACK
- >BonBon the Destroyer didn't seem so bad compared to this
- >Behind him was the Dog Father himself
- >You open one eye to look upon him
- >He is only slightly taller than The Boss
- >Well dressed
- >He was tormented, too, being in this most dismal of realms
- >But he has worked hard to make the best of it
- >Whatever constituted 'best' in this land of agony
- >He watched
- >One part content that you were being punished for what you did
- >A sick, twisted pleasure that you unwillingly entertained
- >But the other part knew that he would have to wait a thousand millennia before he got another chance
- >He never spoke that you've ever heard, oddly
- >But he commanded his machine with ruthless efficiency
- >You grinned at him, defiantly
- >Mockingly
- >The baton came down on you again
- >“Why, you little shit!â€
- >The Boss said once more, and you felt your head hang uncontrollably low
- >A paw gripped your collar and hoisted you into his face
- >“You liking this? Huh?â€
- >“HUH!!?â€
- >You winced
- >“Yeah, that's what I thought. Well, BUDDY-BOYâ€
- >He spat his cigar butt onto the ground and looked back to you
- >“You've got countless eternities to think about what you've done.â€
- >“We're going to make you bleed, Mister Anonymous.â€
- >“You're going to BLEED until you bleed TIME ITSELF!!â€
- >WHACK
- >CRACK
- >The beatings continued
- >As they did, they went on for what felt like hours
- >But you felt something
- >Something that you have not felt since...
- >You look up, and there is nothing
- >Except for a baton that comes crashing into your face
- >But you can feel it
- >Over the pain, over the sting, over the burn
- >There's a warm... comfortable feeling
- >It's...
- >A dark blue aurora comes to your mind as foot falls dampen the howling winds
- >Hope
- >You didn't believe it at first
- >Why would you?
- >But with the falls of what you interpreted as hooves, and an increasing glow of power,
- >Your heard jumps up to your throat
- >The Boss, and the Dog Father, fail to notice
- >Even as the source of your rising spirits is so close
- >WHACK
- >CRACK
- >Streams of crimson flow and squirt from your body
- >But despite the unholy pain
- >Despite the supernatural gravity of lingering damnation
- >You plant your feet under yourself, and rise
- >You stand over the two mobsters, looking out over them
- >Your eyes fill with thick tears
- >Your mouth slowly forces its way past the internal scaring and muscle weakness into a smile
- >From ear to ear, you smile and your breath picks up
- >Your chains no longer feel as heavy as they hang off of you
- ...Luna?
- >You weakly say, your voice raspy
- >Your beard caked with blood
- >The Boss and the Dog Father both looked on you with hatred at first
- >But they both raised brows, and looked behind them
- >They could not feel what you could feel
- >But all three of you saw as forms pierced the darkness
- >And, funnily enough,
- >All three of you were equally confused
- >Your eyes narrowed
- >The silhouettes presented to you...
- >That wasn't Luna
- >But it felt like Luna
- >What in Tartarus?
- >With acrid smokes swirling about them, you could make out only minimalistic features
- >The most catching one was that of a...
- >A...
- >You recoil
- >No, this wasn't another dog
- >This was something like you
- >Something... human
- >A human being
- >And accompanying it?
- >There was a small creature, a chimera of sorts
- >It looked like one of your friends
- >But it bore upon its brow the horn of a unicorn
- >And, lopsided from the center, the antler of a deer
- >One of its forelegs was the muscular talon of an eagle
- >And swaying side to side was a long, serpentine tail
- >You could not figure it out
- >The two crime dogs couldn't, either
- >However, a lash of arcane power -
- >That of Luna herself -
- >Struck your binds, and the links shattered like so much brittle glass
- >Instantly, upon being free, you act on instinct
- >Self preservation
- >You dash forward, malicious in your intent
- >The Boss turns around
- >You grasp him in your left hand by the tuft of his collar and lift him off the ground
- >Before he can speak, you throw your hips into a right cross into his snout
- >He whines
- >You don't stop
- >You hit him again, and again
- >You're in that place, again
- >The place that landed you here
- >Your eyes go blood shot
- >You are ruthless
- >He gives a canine squeal, dropping the baton which clattered on the floor
- >You still don't stop
- >Cross after cross
- >Hook after hook
- >You pound his face
- >You are a human jack hammer
- >SMACK
- >CRACK
- >Wet snap of bone and flesh and cartilage
- >What does his brain look like? You are curious to find out
- >The Dog Father looks on you with horror and immediately begins displaying his fingers
- >Flames overtake his hands
- >He is preparing to end you
- >To send you into oblivion
- >You cast away the limp sack of meat occupying your hands and prepare yourself
- >But before he could cast his spell, a hand yanks the Dog Father back by the shoulder
- >And your eyes widen as you watch
- >Watch as a human hand, trailed by an arm that resembles fleshy patchwork,
- >Bursts from his chest, fingers splayed out in claws
- >Loose bones fling outward, and blood splashes across your features
- >The Dog Father chokes
- >And then your savior kicks the body forward, letting it fall
- >You look into the darkness for a moment, wondering just what is looking back at you
- >And then you both close the distance
- >You are standing face to face with the source of your salvation
- >“I guess I'm not the only human after all.â€
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