THE WORST FEARS MEME

[discorderly]

The Worst Fears Meme

Seriously, didn't your mother ever teach you not to walk through ominous unmarked doors in ominous catacombs of ominous castles?

Or maybe you've just got a boggart in your cupboard, who knows. Regardless, you are now trapped within your own worst fears. Hopefully someone can go and get you out of them!

Comments

[caneattheseapples]

In the end the apples had never spoken and, without that, the miracle had never happened.

Jappleack's sister was still gone, irretrievable and locked away forever now, leaving Jappleack with nothing but regret for her treatment of Apple Bloom and no way to ever right it. All that there was or could be was the rolling waves of grief and regret in the wake of the tragedy.

No where to find comfort either, at least not beyond Sweet Apple Acres and her family. Everyone else was like they'd always been, like she had been: selfish, obnoxious, and happily willing to shout her down if she ever approached any of them to try to talk about her grief and regret. Gotta go, Jappleack. Shut up, Jappleack. No one cares, Jappleack. Stuck and absorbed in themselves and their own petty wants, not yet jarred out of it like Japple had herself.

Without her transportation to the actual Equestria, Jappleack was left simply broken, not reforged. The usually boisterous and proud pony was replaced with someone quiet and reserved, rarely talking and even then not much or beyond a whisper. Her fear, this time not overcome into bravery but acquiescing into timidity, kept her rooted to Sweet Apple Acres, never venturing much further than the groves of the farm when she did bother to go outside. Often just sitting and staring out into nothing.

Sometimes, as now, just sitting and staring out over the town and wondering what could have been.

[kuukai]

Somehow, Kyouko found herself in a strange Equestria. There was little she recognized about this place; everything was a loud and often ugly parody of itself. She recognized a single pony amid the chaos: the orange one sitting in Apple Acres.

She approached her friend and sat down next to her. "Weird place. This where ya live, huh?"

[angry_jerk]

He's so alone. He's so very very alone.

He doesn't know why the bear decided to prolong his death like this. None of the others ended up like this. He doesn't understand how the bear managed any of this.

Dan doesn't like not knowing what's going on. He hates that he somehow looks like a little kid. And he hates all of these people laughing at him. He's surrounded by them, chuckling at his desperate struggles, his ineffectual attempts to unchain himself and strangle these idiots one by one.

But he can't get out. He can't make them stop laughing. He can't make them take him seriously.

He can't make them like him. No one ever liked him.

[scienceintensifies]

T̀h̢è͟re ̶̛̕i͏̢s͏҉̴ ̢͞n͜o̢͘ e͘͠͠s̴c҉a̵pi̵̶͡ng͞ f̨͞ro̡̕m͠ ̸̡m̡y̴̵͞ ̷̕b̴̨e̷͜au̧̕t́͘͠y̡͟.̸̨̛

̷̨M͟y̴ i̷͜n̸̡͡fi̢͝n̢i͟t̛͞e̕ ͜g̶̕l͏̴o̵ŕ҉͡y̷ ̕wi͘l͘ļ͡͞ ͟҉c͟͢ǫn͝sum̵e y̢o̕͟u͜.


Ā̲̙̼͎̔ ̠͙̜̮̤ͣ͌̈͌̈́̄̍̚p̪̬̬̲͛̓̊͆ī͈̦͈̦̮̼̆̈́̈́ͅͅẹ͙̦̘̃c͓̯̗̪̭ͨ̊ͦ̆͊̊̊̆e͖ͪ̓ͮ̏̾̈ ̹̪̟̤ͦ̐o̘͓͚͖ͣͩ̒̈́ͧ͑͊͒ͅf̩̘̞̠̼ͤ̔ͤ̋̈́ͥ̋ ̦̦̪͍̙̳̻̮͈̍t̪̲̻̎ͭͧ͗̊̍ḣ̬̠͕͆ͮͪ͑ͬ̔̇ͬē̦̝̖͍̭̰̘̩ͬ̓̉̋ ̬̩͖̜̱̋ͯͣ́w̹̝̔̏ͧ̌̌͊̿ͩo̼̥̞̬ͥ͂̀ͭ͊ͮr͍̣̐̊̅̓l̥̖͓ͦ̍͛̆̔ͥd̥̱̳̬̠̦̍ ̝̭̞̤̗̠̗͙ͪ͐ͦ͋̇̔̏͛ͦi̙̝̬͍͙̺̥̖ͫͫ̑ͫͬ̎͋ͅs̰̦͌̔̋̊̏̐ ̮̼̫͕͇̙̺̮́̏͛ͨͯͫ̐m̪̯̀̉̈́̾i̩͔̎ṣ̠͚̲̑̌̒̂ͤ̀ͅs͔̝͑̍͛͆ͭ̀i͈̹̼̥͔̦̖ͧ̎ͅṉ̬͕̉͌ͨ̉ͯ͊ͯ̍̓ǧ͚̤̤͍̫̼̟̗͕͑̃ͥͮͭ̉̂.͔̹͇̖̰̔͂̈̚

[discorderly]

The statue of Discord sits in the middle of the Canterlot gardens.

From here, most of the city is visible. Beyond that, there's nothing but darkness. The sun is shining above, but darkness creeps across the sky as well, moving ever forward. It does not roil. There's no hint of movement, of anything lurking within. It is simply an empty void.

Soon, it will overtake the city too.

[bornoflove]

...Seriously, though, why in the world was she the one that had to save Discord?

Looking around, she stared at the void - so unlike her own, so...lifeless - before turning to the statue.

"Is this your doing, too?"

[ponymechanic]

Yeah in hindsight, Tails should have known better than to blindly open a strange unmarked door that could contain dark magic.

Either way, he too was now trapped in his own nightmare. Sitting on the ground with his eyes glowing a bright neon green while his pupils have turned red and cat-like, staring into space in a trance.

In Tails' vision, he find himself all alone in an abandoned Ponyville. All his friends have turned against him and hate him now. The Pale Pony has won and taken most of the ponies except for a select few. Apparently the Pale Pony was slowing absorbing ponies to torment the survivors.

Even worse, his ability to summon his persona has been taking away from him. As well as his project that he had been working on, along with it's blueprints. She told him she has absorbed his world as well as the worlds of his lost friends from the community. So even his other friends were gone now too.

He had nothing. All he could do is sit there and wait until the Pale Pony takes him too.

"...Why? Why did this happen? Everyone..."

Someone might want to snap him out of it soon. Especially since tears are running down his face now.

[kuukai]

They had all left her.

Teddie's violent death had been the first, and the worst, of it. The Pale Pony had taken out so much of Ponyville. She'd seen the vile thing take the Agency - her fellow magical girls, Sayaka and Mami and Homura and Madoka - Bon Bon - everyone she'd met in this place. Desperately, she'd tried to avenge them, throwing all of her magic at the creature.

It still hadn't been enough. Her soul gem had finally turned black and shattered.

She was wandering in a fog, on a pale horse. Looking for someone, but she wasn't even sure who, anymore. If anyone was left, all she would do would be to hurt them. But still she looked. If hurt was the only thing she could do, she'd make damn sure she did a good job at it.

[aheroofjustice]

"Kyouko...!"

She might be a hallucination, or she might be real. But if she looked to her far left, she'd see a very familiar blue-haired girl approaching her with outstretched hands...or hooves.

Either way, she seemed to be smiling.

[weekwizard]

Patchouli's pride and joy had always been and will always be her library. This grand library, Viole. Time and liberal use of magic had expanded the once-dull basement of the Scarlet Devil Mansion into a collection of books that rivals the Canterlot Library, perhaps even dwarfs it. It is presented here, in all its glory and grandiose size.

But something was wrong. While most would be awed by such a sight, its owner is anything but, very nearly panicking at the sight. Most might not be able to tell what has her spooked, but she knows. It's all to obvious, even standing at the entrance here. This transgression is unheard of. Intolerable. Unthinkable. Horrifying beyond all belief. Who would do such a thing? Why would they do such a thing?

All of the books were rearranged.

[thescarydoor]

Then her eyes fell out.



"Cursed by her own hubris!"

[ceasetoexist]

In the end the new town and the world on the server didn't just disappear or fade into nothingness as the power began to weaken and leave, but degraded. Transformed into what those in Mayfield had been told the outside world looked like: a barren, twisted landscape, buildings blown apart and destroyed by the force of weaponry. The ground dust and dirt, leaving nothing green or vibrant in its wake. All browns and blacks and dark reds, echoing and attesting to the destruction. To the end of the world.

Pokey walks through it. Alone. Through the desecrated town out into a stretch of land beyond it, land that's all dirt and dust and weak, twisted trees, a mockery of life. He keeps walking, hoping that, maybe, there's someone there. There isn't.

Behind him - or, maybe, in front - from a ways off, there's a sound of howling, a sound that maybe once had been human, but no longer was.

He doesn't pay it any mind. Pokey just continues to walk.

[foolish_seal]

Opening mysterious, ominous doors is rarely a good idea, but good ideas aren't Minato's style. Even though he's got an idea of what will happen inside said door, he has to go through anyway, for whatever reason. He takes a breath, throws open the door, and...

Nothing. No, really. Nothing. It's a continuation of the stone wall that the door is mounted to. The door is just that: a single door attached to a wall that leads to nothing.

In a way, that is kind of scary in of itself. Had he really become so jaded over the past few years so as to not have fear anymore? Has he regressed that much in terms of emotional range, or was it something else entirely? Either way, he can't continue on anymore, which was its own bad news. It was a dead end.

Either this was a multi-layered metaphor for a fear of the uselessness of everything and his apathy towards it all, or he broke the door. Both possibilities were a tad unsettling.

[poolicide]

As Cameron did his routine today, he waved at some of his friends to find they looked at him...different. Like he was something that didn't belong here. He must have something on his face, that's all. He went to ask a stranger if something was on his face, but as he did they didn't reply to him. They merely stared. Cameron, unsure of what happened, waved his hand in front of the pony. But they shook his head and left.

Desperate he went around asking folk what was wrong with him. But he got no answer, only strange looks. And soon enough he found that even the odd looks had disappeared. They continued about their business like..like...

"It's like I'm not here..."

He looked down to find his hooves, no his everything had become a cellophane-like material in appearance. God, you could almost see right through him. He sank to the ground. Oh god, it is true...he really is nothing.

[kingofthetvworld]

Teddie finds himself in the TV World once again, only it wasn't the picturesque utopia he and his friends worked so hard to restore it to. No, instead it was back in its twisted, fog-ridden state, possibly even worse than before. He blinks a few times to take it all in, as if he's having a hard time comprehending everything he was seeing. What happened to ponies?

What happened to anyone, actually. It didn't take long before Teddie realizes he was suddenly all alone. Again. Exploring proved fruitless, the only sound being his own squeaking feet echoing off into the distance. Which, incidentally, took him by surprise. It only now dawns on Teddie that he's in his suit, something he didn't recall putting on before showing up here.

To make matters worse, it appears as though just noticing is enough for the suit to start triggering...something. Teddie could feel the zipper on his neck begin to undo itself, ever so slowly, one notch at a time. At first it only felt like an annoying itch, or that the thing finally broke, but it just doesn't stop. The more it continues, Teddie's eyes grow wide as he can bearly barely make out something poking out of his neck. Seeping through the freed up space between the zipper, something black, rancid, and definitely not his arm.

"GAAAHH!! N-NO!!" Both paws slam onto the top of his head, pressing it down to keep the zipper shut. He'd try to actually use the, you know, zipper, but he'd rather not have his paws near that gunk. Not like it'd help, he can feel it pressing against inside him, now much determined to get out. Panicking, Teddie could only continue to cry out and run in frantic little circles. There's no one here to help him, why isn't anyone here to help him?!

[kuukai]

The world is fog, and Kyouko's soul gem glows dully. It's the only immediate source of light around here, and she steps carefully, feeling her way along through the gloom. She has to find a witch to kill, and fast. Or a PreCure.

A familiar yelling gets her attention. "Teddie??" She pauses a moment, trying to isolate the source of the sound, and then starts sprinting blindly in that direction. Hopefully it's the right one.

[thepoweroflove]

Ponyville was abandoned.

Marty didn't know how it happened. It felt like one moment everything was normal (or as least as normal as it could be being stuck in Ponyland) and the next, Marty found himself in a completely empty town. Out of confusion, he tried looking into stores and eventually into people's houses to see if there was anyone else left. Eventually Marty decided that he should take a break to try to figure out what exactly is going on when suddenly he hears a voice from nowhere.

"This is all your fault. You could have stopped this,"

The voice made Marty stop dead in his tracks. He didn't know what to make of that, after all surely all of of this couldn't be his fault... could it?

But the moment he started to question it the voice spoke again, repeating the same phrase over and over until Marty started to believe it and soon started feeling completely helpless. He wanted to just go curl up and cry somewhere, but doing that would just solidify his uselessness, so he continued searching for anyone who could help him.

Maybe it could prove that he didn't ruin everything at least.

Because I'm not mean enough to him in the game already... -_-;;;

[caelum_ignis_draconigena]

He wasn't sure what had happened... He'd been digging out a new tunnel to expand his home and then everything went dark. Skyfire woke up in a dimly lit cavern and found himself chained to the ground and sealed in... It was so very cold in there too, he could see ice starting to form on the walls and floor, frost creeping up the chains that held him down.

Shivering from cold, he looked towards the source of light... not that he could move all that much with a chain halter pinning his head to the freezing cold ground. It was a mirror, but not just any mirror, it looked and acted more like a window. He could see his reflection in it, but that wasn't all he saw.

He watched everyone he knew, past and current, celebrating his imprisonment on a sunny beach. Talking about how they hated him or wanted to be rid of him... Skyfire couldn't look away, just stare at the terrible images, shivering and shaking with cold as tears froze on his face...

[millionbitpipes]

Harvey sits outside the cemetery, coatless and hatless, and shivers in the snow.

There's an awful lot of graves in there. But no bodies. He just set them up to remember all the people the Pale Pony took. He felt like something should be done, and there's no one left to do it but him.

He's been sitting here since he finished, however long ago. There's nothing else left to do.

[want_a_vacation]

It was raining. It always did when things like this happened. The lightning might have made Allen jump, the fractal scars over his body tingle in memberance, but he was too numb. Too angry. Too hurt. All he even noticed were the bodies.

He held Shion's corpse to his chest, crying against her lifeless shoulder as if it would change anything. Jr. lay in front of him, unmoving and face frozen in anger. Gaignun's crumpled body was not far from him.

But those weren't the only corpses, only the closest. Everyone he'd fought with, tried his best to help in whatever ways he could, was gone. And he'd survived not through skill or power or even luck, he'd been spared because there was nothing he could do. It would have been a waste of effort to even acknowledge him. He was helpless, not good enough to save his friends, not even good enough to bother killing.

[misplacedxsheath]

The blood wouldn't go away. He'd been marked, cursed to have his sins on display. None would accept him, knowing what he'd done in the past. His future was barren, no redemption for someone who'd committed such monstrous acts. All he could do was watch from the outside, shunned by all but those who were even worse monsters than he had once been. He couldn't even die, he'd lost that comfort when he'd been taken from his world.

What could he do, then, but wallow in his impotence and despair? No life, no death, no future...only the past mistakes that would haunt him forever.

[strawberryredgrave]

The curse of his bloodline continues. For all of the power running through his veins, Dante couldn't protect them. He couldn't protect anyone anymore. His family, his loved ones...all were suffering because of him. Vergil, Bertie, Homura, Nephenee, Cynthia, Lady, Trish...Eva...so many people crying out in endless agony because of the blood feud started long before Dante's time.

This pain...he inherited this from his father.

The seemingly infinite number of demons take their time in torturing the lot and making sure Dante can see and hear all of it. The demons keep them near death, but don't kill them outright as the restrained demon hunter is overwhelmed with sheer helplessness. Even with his most furious Devil Trigger activated, those chains won't break and his attacks can't reach. His roar is inhuman and his struggles are ceaseless, but all of it is futile. The screams of his loved ones are all he has to keep him going, but this predicament is already a sign of his failure. He failed them and now, they're all paying the price for Sparda's betrayal.

[gigglesnortpriestess]

When there is darkness, light always seems to follow. Except this wasn't a literal meaning...somewhat.

Within the circle of demons, a blaze started to grow as they howled and screamed in surprise at the attack. Dante would know who was the one in charge of that when the golden pony emerged from the crowd and hovered over them and while she didn't have a face, the way she acted said it all:

FURY.

There was another little demon floating behind Amaterasu as she used wind magic to spread the flames around the attacking demons but that left one other question: where was their controller?

Just look for the raised fan and sword in the distance and there she was.

[magicalrealist]

She's not supposed to exist. She was never supposed to exist, especially outside the fabrications of the computer server. That becomes all too evident as the world around her is drained of all color and life. The closer she approaches something, the more her presence drains from it. It started with Princes Twilight being absorbed into her, then the books, the furniture, then the entire library. The unicorn can't control any of it; like a black hole, her body sucks up everything it can grasp, from the earth she stands on to the people and buildings around her.

All she can do is run and leave destruction in her wake, but this world, this universe, was being taken into the pony, not entirely unlike the alicorn who brought them all here. Unlike the faux Pale Pony, she wasn't after knowledge; her genetic code sought purpose. Those never meant to exist have no purpose, but how can she survive as a Twilight if she can't exist? Absorbing the real Twilight wasn't enough for her body, so when her possessions and her home weren't enough, it pulled in everything it could reach. Consume enough matter from things in this plane of existence and she'll have her own existence...that's what her genetic code concluded. And that selfish survival instinct would rob Twilight of the willpower to live, even after sustaining her life.

She can only run and hide for so long. All of existence will be pulled into her and there's nothing she can do to stop it. She's a virus, contaminating this world and taking it down with her. It'd have been much easier on everyone if she simply stopped existing...

[controledfreak]

This was absurd. A door that lead to your worst fears? How simple. How stupid. Yg'baladoth knew that there was few that would ever dare challenge her. She also knew that the task that she was assigned was not due for much more time yet. Though that fear lingered, He would not choose to behind a door. Anything that came out of this would just be a fabrication and illusion.

And yet why did she hesitate.

Annoyingly, she decided that this line of reasoning was not worth pursuing. In fact she was just about to leave when the door started to move on it's own. Strange. How was that possible? The mechanism of this enchantment required the person to use it. It shouldn't--

Just then there was a figure in the doorway, both familiar and foreign. A strange being that looked similar to her... yet didn't. The girl's mouths stretched wide as the three eyes adjusted. The voice came crystal clear and altogether foreign in their clarity.


"Hello sister. Didja miss me?"

[controledfreak]

Yggy takes a few steps back, face distorted in fear.

"Sister? I don't know you? WHO ARE YOU?"

[terraburning]

In the end, Kefka was right. The only thing she could ever accomplish was destruction - her power could never help anyone, wasn't meant to help anyone.

It was meant to destroy everything.

It started with Crmsn - strange and friendly, his alien kindness hard to grasp, his bones shattering under a Graviga as she screamed in fear. Her flames consumed the house, bright red licking at the sky as she fled - what was happening? Tears filled her eyes as she tried to understand, not wanting to believe that was her fault.

It continued with Princess Twilight, the author of her hope. The phrase 'you don't have to kill anymore' turned to ashes in Terra's mouth, flowing out and mingling with the ashes of the gentle librarian who had spoken so kindly to her. As knowledge burned around her, Terra fled from the ashes of a dream.

The third was Dust, who understood her, and who she had hoped she would be able to understand in turn. Her denial broke on the blade of his understanding, even as her power preserved him perfectly in ice. Her tears freeze as they slide down her face, and within her something else freezes as well. Terra levitates Maduin's magicite out of her cloak and places it with Dust, her determination a jagged thing of crystalline spikes as she brings her sword to bear.

The last will be Terra herself.

[mithrarin]

"What are you even doing?"

Wait, wasn't he supposed to be -- how could she even reconcile his sudden presence, now, when he wasn't supposed to be here? When he was, in fact, still preserved in ice -- and yet was right there, the Blade of Ahrah held casually at his side, while he himself looked just plain startled.

[superstylishsquid]

His power is sealed, locked so tightly inside his sword that he could never hope to manifest a body of his own. He's helpless, now nothing more than a mere object, a weapon to be used by whoever sees fit. And who is it with his hand on the hilt? None other than the one responsible for his condition in the first place.

Mundus holds the sword, stealing Alastor's power for himself to elevate him above the pesky traitors who had defeated him before. The blade screams, lightning flashing and rain falling in his anger, but there's nothing he can do. Dante's blood is familiar, he remembers the smell of it from their meeting. But now it's fresh, even the devil hunter can't stand against the demon emperor wielding the legendary lightning devil. Humanity's last defense is gone, and soon that power will be turned against mankind directly.

And it's all Alastor's fault.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Zetta fidgeted absently with his bow tie, more out of nerves than of any need to make the damn thing neater. In his finest suit and dressed to the nines, he cut quite a dashing figure, though no one could see him at the moment, tucked away in a side hall of Canterlot Castle as he was.

The door at the end of the hall creaked open, and his heart jumped into his throat -- but it was only Princess Celestia, stepping through with her usual serene smile that held just a bit of mischief as well. "Aren't you supposed to be looking officious and stuff?"

"I had to check on you... before you fidgeted through the floor and straight out onto the mountain." The alicorn stepped over to him, adjusting his tie back into place with a swift telekinetic jerk. "The crowd will not miss me, not for a couple of minutes. My sister is keeping them entertained. I have rarely seen her so happy, especially since she almost missed the last wedding we held here as a formal ceremony."

Zetta tried to squirm away from the Princess, but her magic mercilessly tugged at his jacket, his tail, and his mane, trying to put all into order. "You mean this world's Luna, right?"

"Of course," Celestia said, having conjured a small broom to whisk away a spot on the back of his jacket. "Your Luna is safely ensconced with Dame Rarity and Twilight, all of them safe from your prying eyes. Although," she added, pausing briefly as a thought struck her, "it is a bit silly to let nopony see them but each other, when they're marrying each other as well..."

Zetta grunted. "Uh, yeah, on that note... thanks for the special royal dispensation to let her marry me while she's also with Pollo."

"You love her, silly." Celestia favored him with a warm smile. "After you openly and loudly proclaimed your love for her, and Dame Rarity, and my sister from another Equestria, how could anypony doubt that? Especially after you convinced all your friends to help you make that public proposal... and you did have a lot of friends show up for that, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Zetta smiled a little, despite his nerves. "I have a lot of friends here... and I'm lucky to love such wonderful mares."

Celestia put a hoof on his shoulder, meeting his gaze with a warm look of her own. "I'm so glad you decided to put the title of Overlord behind you, and live in Equestria like this. Everypony will be so happy. Now..." She gave him a gentle shove towards the main doors. "Get out there and in place. We're going to begin soon."

Zetta swallowed hard, then lifted his head up high and walked towards the door to the great hall. Today, his new life began. Today, he would leave the old one behind.

[bornofhope]

Madoka doesn't fully recognize the wreckage around her, the mess of buildings, the desolate landscape around her...at best, it reminds her of Mitakihara City and that resemblance makes her heart ache. The world around her is falling apart. She can run, but the ground she leaves behind fades into dust. However, the ground in front of her reforms, as if the world allowed enough space for Madoka to continue unharmed. The world's appearance and desolation had no effect on her.

The same couldn't be said about those within eyesight and beyond arm's reach. They were all fighting a strange figure in the sky she couldn't recognize. As with the destroyed city around her, she doesn't recognize the threat or those fighting against it, but her heart knows and agonizes accordingly. She runs towards them, but they all insist Madoka stay back and rush back into the fight, the creature batting them all away almost effortlessly and withstanding the onslaught as if the attacks were rain. Was this enemy a figure from her past?



The future, perhaps?



Regardless of the enemy floating above them all, the young girl could only venture forward, the battle taking place around her and never too close. Her friends protecting her, perhaps? Or maybe the creature simply wasn't interested in killing her. Either way, she could only walk forward, walking until she stands before a lonely rose branch on the ground, awaiting Madoka's arrival.



It's only when she considers picking it up that a voice suddenly fills her mind. It's strangely familiar, just as this entire dream sequence is, but unlike the eerie nostalgia, this sends a hesitant shudder down her spine. She takes a step back, once again looking to the path before her and finding a strange looking creature that seems so out of place in all of this disorder. As with the voice, its appearance flushes the color from her skin.

"Welcome back...Kaname Madoka."

[aheroofjustice]

Utter despair...

It didn't matter which reality she'd come from. Anytime, everytime she chose to put her own desires aside to become a Puella Magi and help others in reality it wasn't completely selfish.

Never get recognition...

She wanted the boy to acknowledge her feelings that she never admitted, not even after the wish had been granted and he could play again.

Naive and trapped in shades of grey...

But now, as she sat on a bench, hiccuping sobs wracking her body the Gem Kyouko once warned her about seemed like it was becoming tainted black once more.

Destiny...

CW: Death, blood, etc.

[neighfeni]

Flames burned and a sickening ferrous smell rose with the heat as Nephenee shook in her anguish. The evil spirit that had possessed her had left long ago, but this pain and remorse and guilt never would.

She'd done this...she'd destroyed the town with lance and Persona and demon, and all had fallen to the lance called Hopebringer, now stained and marred by the blood of those she'd loved most.

How could...she'd only wanted to help Cálice! And the alicorn had overtaken her soul, and this had been the result.

Her voice was horse from her anguished screams, and tears and smoke blurred her vision. She didn't need to see as she walked through the despair and ruin, though - the images were seared into her mind, and she went to each fallen friend and family member, punishing herself in doing so, nudging them gently and begging forgiveness that would never come. Especially of those she loved and cherished most of all. Brothers...sisters...father and mother..her love...

The lancer would make last rites for them and herself, and then confront Cálice by herself. Likely, she'd die. But she'd die trying to atone for it.

And if she lived?

She'd never take up a lance again.