A black mist with the feeling of fear and dread washed over the ground every time I looked at it. Master grinned looking up as a carriage being pulled by Pegasus skeletons consumed with burning blue flames flew over Canterlot.

“Master, this feels weird,” I said, and Master looked at me for a moment. “Why am I feeling scared?”

“Lord Val is a hell stallion. He is a nightmare brought into existence through magic, he just has that presence.”

“Okay.”

The carriage flew down and slid to a halt in front of the doors. The door on the side of the carriage opened and more black mist flowed out and onto the ground. I swallowed as a heavily armored pony walked out and onto the ground. He was huge, easily twice Master’s size, and Master was already pretty big. The armor was black with a blue edging to it, but was very complex in appearance. Nothing, not even the eyes of this stallion could be seen through the armor.

“Lord Val,” Master said, bowing. “Thank you for gracing us with your presence. It is truly an honor.”

“Thou’s invitation never shall fill deaf ears,” Lord Val replied, a hallowing echo seemed to follow after each of his words along with a fresh chill of fear and dread. Like just hearing him would consume my soul.

“Please, come inside, I have party favors waiting by the pool or in the ballroom, King Al-Asitis has already arrived along with a dozen or so other guests.”

“Be it so,” Lord Val said, walking past Master and inside.

“How do you know him?” I asked.

“He was a friend of my mother, she very much liked him. My grandfather even considered getting them married.”

“Grandfather? Wait, what happen to your grandparents?”

“My grandparents on my father’s side died some time ago, when he was a young colt, but for my mother’s side they left Equestria some time ago. You’ll meet them one day, probably while we’re on our travels.”

“That’d be nice.” I looked at Al as he directed the carriage over to the side and out of the way. “So four more.”

“Yes.”

Several other ponies arrived before the next important guest came. However, this one was odd compared to the first two. She walked from the front of the property to the door, she wasn’t in something flashy, just a black outfit, it covered her a lot, but it was paper thin, and she had a single black mask to go with it.

“Prince Jerard,” she said, bowing.

“Lady Laz, it is a pleasure.” He bowed as well.

“I’m sorry I did not arrive sooner, getting dressed takes considerable time.”

“Oh how I know, please, come inside.” She smiled and walked inside. She was quite pretty with a red coat, plus a two-tone blue and red mane.

“Who was that?”

“Lady Laz, she’s our next-door neighbor.” He pointed at a mansion next door. “She is important for many reasons.”

“So, the meeting is for me to meet all of them?”

“Yes.”

“Hurry we’re going to be late!” a voice wisped, I looked around. A bolt of lightning flashed as a portal opened allowing ponies to come through. “I said hurry Little Q!” a brown stallion with a black mane shouted into the portal behind him. A blue mare with white mane was next to him, and a blue colt with a black mane came running out of the portal. The stallion and colt had a plain suit with white masks. The mare however was in a dress made completely of gems, and had a large crystal mask on.

“Ishure, Gem Shine,” Master said greeting the ponies.

“Prince Jerard,” Gem Shine said, rushing over and giving him a hug. “It’s been far too long since we saw each other.” The hug she gave was a bit too friendly, and even Master was uncomfortable in receiving it, pushing her back a bit.

“Yes, it has, Ishure, how are you?” Master asked.

“I’m doing well.” It was clear that Ishure was probably twice or more Gem Shine’s age and then some, and Little Q was probably around my age.

“Lord Val, Al-Asitis, and Laz are already inside. We’re just waiting on two more guests and we’ll start our meeting.”

“Come Little Q, let’s get inside,” Gem Shine said, and they went inside.

“What country do they own?” I asked, looking down at Master.

“Only Lord Val and Al-Asitis are leaders of a country, Ishure and Gem Shine control the largest gem and gold mines on the planet, they dictate trade between almost every country that uses gold as their main currency.”

“And Laz?”

“She’s, actually, I’ll let her tell you.”

“Who are the last two?”

“Clear Water!”

“Clear Water?” I asked, and paused looking up as a very large drop of water expanded creating a large cube of water with a shape of some kind of creature. It walked forward and I just stared at it. The thing had the basic form of a pony and head, but had a long fish like tail, aquatic ears, and razor sharp claws instead of hooves. It didn’t have fur but glass like scaled skin, and kelp that appeared to be made of sapphire as hair.

“Jerard,” the creature said in a voice without any emotion. “It was a pleasure to get your invitation.”

“No, i’t was my pleasure. Please, go inside the ballroom, we’ll have our meeting when my last guest arrives.” It nodded heading inside.

“What was that thing?”

“It was an ocean spirit, their gender changes, but generally I just call it a her because she’s generally very cuddly. They help with pirates and protecting sailors from dying at sea, they also help move our ships considerably faster.”

“Oh.”

“Every pony here is extremely important to know. You need to know to respect them like the lives of every pony in Equestria depends on it, because generally they do.”

“So, who’s the last?”

“Probably the most important guest of them all.”

“Really? But you said no more kings were coming, and who could be more important than gold, gems, sea trade, and kings?”

“Your mother would know the answer to that question.”

“Um, I don’t get it.”

Master looked at me. “Your mom does what?”

“Well she’s a lawyer.”

“And?”

“Rich pony accountant? I still don’t get it.”

“Oh don’t leave her hanging.” We both looked at a Pegasus. He flashed a smile, and I flinched a bit. This Pegasus was the most handsome looking stallion I had ever seen in my entire life. He had a pure white almost glowing coat and glowing gold mane that shimmered as it moved on its own.

“De, you made it.”

“As if I’d ever miss the chance to meet your wife.” He moved almost like he was floating over the ground, not actually touching it. He took my hoof with his before kissing it. “It is an honor to meet you Scootaloo, I’ve heard so very much about you.”

“Thank you, De, right?”

“My parents thought it’d be funny to name be Deity, but I’m far from that. However, I do go by De, so please call me that.” Master moved back, breaking De’s contact with me, and we looked at him. “I’m sorry, I over stepped myself. Please my prince, tell her, I’d hate for the suspense to linger.”

“The one biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life was set up a centralized bank system for every country on the planet. Meaning they can occur debt and advance their way of life and improve their country. De here is the president of the Central Reserve.”

“Tell me little Scootaloo, do you know what that means?” De asked.

“No,” I answered.

“It means if I want to, I could say, fund an enemy nation of some nation I don’t like and have them go to war destroying everything that country has, throwing it into poverty for as long as I saw fit.”

“De is one of the most powerful ponies on the planet, of course not the strongest or has the most magic, but he could wreck a country’s financial existence, and he is the fourth son of King Virtue, the leader of one of the strongest naval military nations.”

“And I wouldn’t say wreck,” De corrected in a matter of fact way. “More like evaporate, and my father would be more than honored to hear his mention.” De grinned. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He stomped his hoof causing a pink mask and suit to appear on him from a sudden flash of fire around his body. “I nearly forgot to get dressed.”

“Shall we head instead, all my guests have arrived, and I have a very pleasant surprise for you as well.” We walked inside.

“Oh, do tell.”

“How about I show you?”

“Oh?” De asked seductively, giggling a light bit.

“Al, is the surprise ready yet?” Master asked Al, which was standing just inside the entrance.

“I’ll retrieve the surprise Sir.” Al disappeared. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of surprise Master was talking about. If this pony was so powerful, I doubted very much there wasn’t much he couldn’t get. “This way please.” I looked up and my heart stopped, seeing Rainbow Dash as she walked out into the open in full view. The light shined off her like she was a goddess.

Wait.

What?

Rainbow Dash was the surprise? I didn’t understand. I turned looking at De, and he had stopped breathing. His eyes were locked on her like, like, like she was everything that existed in the world. Did he know her?

“You look stunning,” Master said, and she flew down landing in front of us, looking at De for a moment.

“Thanks, now give me back Scootaloo.” Master’s magic picked me up, snapping me out of my stare, setting me onto her back. “How are you doing Scootaloo?”

“I’m good, but, he stopped breathing.” They looked at De, and he gasped realizing he had stopped breathing, coughing a lot.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, making sure to cover his mouth.

“Right, so, what are we doing?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We are going into the ballroom, and having some much-needed fun,” Master said, smiling widely. Master lead the way, and I looked at De which was following very closely behind Rainbow Dash, almost to the point of him actually— I paused when I saw him take in a greedy breath, and only then did he noticing my stare, quickly looking away, taking a few steps back to keep something of a distance.

“Is something wrong?” De whispered, staring into my eyes. He had several emotions flowing through him.

“Not really,” I said slightly unnerved. I turned away and looked at the pillow area that all of Master’s guests had gathered.

“Hello, I believe all of you know each other,” Master said.

“Scootaloo, let’s go get something to drink,” Rainbow Dash said, turning. All of them stared at her as she didn’t even give them a second look, leaving for a snack table.

“Wait, I need to go back, all of those ponies are important, and the one that isn’t, or two actually still need me back there.”

“Scootaloo, I’m sure that they are all super important to Jerard, which is why I’m taking you from them.”

“Drink?” De asked, Rainbow Dash nearly didn’t stop in time as De seemed to appear right in front of her, with two blue drinks on his outstretched wing.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Thanks, but I’ll get my own.” De stood there frozen as she walked past him, not giving him a second look. It took a few seconds later for him to unfreeze. His head ticked a bit as he stared after us.

“Two cups please,” Rainbow Dash asked a maid standing behind the table. The maid set two cups of blue liquid down. She handed me one and I started to drink it, stopping at the taste as Rainbow Dash drink it easily. This tasted like rotten fruit. “What’s wrong? You don’t like blueberry?”

“Blueberry? This tastes sour to me,” I said.

“Really?” She took it and drank a sip. “It tastes good to me, maybe you just don’t like blueberry. Hey do you have any orange?” The maid poured and orange drink, and gave it to me. I took a sip and cringed. I could easily taste the orange, but it tasted off, like it had gone rotten, but I knew that wasn’t the case because it was soda. “You don’t like it? You love orange, are you feeling alright?”

“I think so, I must not be in the mood for drinks.”

“How about some food?”

A feeling of something tender in my mouth made me look down at her neck, and I bit my lip for a moment. “Actually, I think I’m not hungry. Can we go back to the meeting, Master won't be happy with me if this goes badly.”

“I don’t care what makes him happy, we could dance or even talk.”

As much as Dash meant well, wait, I meant Rainbow Dash meant well, these ponies would be important to the future, and talking really was one of the last things I wanted to do right now with Rainbow Dash.

“I want you to go home and forget about me.” She sighed, and walked over to an open table sitting down, setting me down on a chair next to her. “Clearly we need to talk. Scoots, why do you think I’m here?”

“Because you’re my friend, and you care about me.”

“And I love you, believe me, I wouldn’t be doing this for just any friend. If I didn’t care about you as much as I do. Believe me, I wouldn’t be here.”

“I wish you weren’t, I can handle Master, I don’t need help.”

“Scoots.” She went to my ear. “This isn’t about you.”

“What?”

She moved back and smiled. “If it makes you feel better, I’m not here in this hell just because it’ll save you. I saw what it did to Sweetie Belle, and I’ve seen what it’s done to you. I know what this place is, but I’m not a sacrifice either. What I need from you is to trust me and act like it’s the greatest thing in the world that I’m here. I need you to want me to be here, not push me away. Will you do that for me?”

“You need me to have you be here?”

“Yep, so can I count on you?”

“Yes.”

“Sweet, so no more of the, “I want you to leave”, crap, alright?” I nodded. “And anything you want to get off your chest?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, just tell me that you want me to be here, and that’s all I’ll ever need to hear.”

“Rainbow Dash I need—”

“Just call me Dash, Scootaloo. Just Dash.”

Calling her Dash felt good, bad and personal. “Dash, I need you here.”

“Oh come on, you can do better than that, I mean I am your hero right? Is that how you would say that to your hero?”

“Please Dash, I need you here.” She hugged me tightly, nuzzling me. Tears brimmed as I hugged her back. “Don’t leave me,” I said into her chest, my voice cracking. Her hooves started to quake.

“I’m not going anywhere Scootaloo, you’re mine,” she whispered. After a minute, she set me back down, wiping her eyes, making me do the same. “You know, you’re really starting to creep me out,” Dash said as she turned around at De, which was sitting behind her at a separate table, easily within an leg’s length. He had quickly moved to a different sitting position as if he wasn’t staring at us the entire time we had been at the table.

“Wh-no, I wasn’t doing anything.”

Dash sighed, clearly annoyed. “Listen, I don’t know who you are, but you’ve been creeping the entire time you’ve been here. You even smelled me when you were following me in here. If you’re creeping on Scootaloo, I’m going to slit your fucking throat. If you’re creeping on me, keep your distance because you’re annoying me.”

“I’m not—”

“Come on, don’t even try.”

De scratched his wing. “You really don’t remember me, do you?”

“Remember you? Oh crap, are you a fan or something?”

“You could say that,” De said unsettled.

“His name is De, Master invited him here personally,” I said, and they looked at me, before looking back at each other.

“De? Sorry I don’t know any De.”

“My real name is Deity.”

“Deity?” She looked at me. “Um, I guess, I’m sorry, I just don’t know who you are, I don’t know any Deity either.”

“I’m fourth son of King Virtue.” Dash froze as she realized something. “Do you remember now?”

Dash opened her mouth for a moment before closing it and narrowing her eyes. “I, if, oh, I can’t even. Wow, leave, or I’ll kill you,” she half chuckled.

“You’ve almost killed me once before, if you don’t remember Rainbow Dash. So, I’m hoping this won’t be a repeat.” He clopped his front hooves together nervously. “And I’m really sorry about my dad and your mom and everything.”

“You’re sorry?” She started to laugh. “Oh please, you’re too much.” Dash stopped laughing. “Leave me alone, right now.”

“Can’t we talk?”

“Your worthless father, he, do you, after what he did. If you think for a second I’ll give his hell spawn a chance, you’re mistaken. I know how you royals are, you’re not getting anything from me, not again.”

“Wait, please, I brought you food when you were locked up. I’m not like my father, I’m a good pony.”

Dash looked away for a second, pausing. “Wait, you’re Jerard’s guest right?” De looked around, and nodded. “Fine, I’ll talk to you for a price.”

“How about you marry me and I’ll do anything you want.”

Even though I had no idea what was happening, that shocked the hell out of me, and Dash was completely struck by his statement. Her brain had shut off, her face was completely blank. “Huh?” she asked, her mind couldn’t process what he had just said, even I was having a hard time understanding. After everything they had just said, I was confused as to what he even had planned here.

“Um, well, ever since you and your family was brought to my father’s country, I kinda, kind of, got—obsessed—with you.” He studied her reaction as it became something of a confused questioning look. “When I saw, you trapped, and everything. I felt really bad, and, um, just fell in love. You see, I have a hard time finding other ponies, creatures, anything really, um, attractive. So, you’re kind of, like.” He swirled his hoof in the air. “Rare, like, really the only thing I find desirable.”

This felt sooooo awkward, and I could only imagine what Dash was feeling. This was the first time I’d ever seen Dash so dumbfounded. It was pretty unsettling to see her trying desperately to find the right words, or anything.

“I, don’t know what to.” She stopped, and started to breathe again. “You fell in love with me during the literally, darkest point in my life. Then, what? I’m not understanding any of this whatsoever. What exactly did you think was going to happen here? That you’d confess your love for me, and we’d go run and get married or something?”

“Well, no, kind of, not exactly, I didn’t have a plan here. I didn’t even know you were alive let alone going to be here. If I had known you were alive, I’d have probably—would’ve hunted you down ages ago. In fact, my father, if he were to find out would, I don’t know, but it really wouldn’t be good for Equestria. Or really any country at the moment.”

They stared at each other, a few minutes went by. “Um, Dash.” Both of them looked at me. “Should I leave, or get you two a room to talk about this, or something?”

“No Scootaloo, we’re, this.” She looked back at him and he gave an awkward smile, making her get an unsure frown. “I don’t know what this is, but, I’m sure that he and I will have plenty of time to figure things out. My past isn’t scar free, but, I can’t deal with you right now De, I have more important things right now.”

De kind of smiled. “At least you’re not trying to kill me.” He half chuckled. “Or actually stabbing me.”

“You stabbed him?” I asked and she looked back at me.

“Well, when my father and I were escaping, we faked our deaths. I—um, stabbed him before we escaped. It was a very dark time. Believe me Scootaloo, you’re not the only one which has done things they didn’t want to, or had things happen to them of nightmares. Sure, you’ve got it probably the worse, but you’re not alone.”

“Worse?” De asked.

“Jerard has been torturing Scootaloo.” She turned to him. “The things I went through were heaven compared to what she went through.”

“Really, that bad?”

“She’s done things, mostly gone through them.” Dash went quiet. De looked down for a moment. “Listen, do you seriously want to make things right with me? I’ll never forgive your father, but, if you help me, I’ll forgive you for the role you played in the hell I lived through, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll give you a chance.”

“What do you want?” Dash got up, went over to him and whispered something into his ear, talking for a few minutes. “I suppose I can do that, but once all that is done you’ll have to go out with me.”

“Dash, what did you just ask?” I asked worried.

“Nothing you need to know right now,” Dash said.

“Please, don’t do something that will get you hurt.”

“She asked me to try and make Jerard go bankrupt. That won’t get her hurt.” He winked at me, and I let out a breath. “I wouldn’t let her do anything that will get her hurt. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

“Can we go back to the meeting please?”

“Sure,” Dash said, and she put me on her back, we walked back over to the group which was sitting in the pillow area, making them look at us.

“Did you finish your talk?” Master asked, sitting against the wall, Laz was to his right, Gem Shine and Ishure were to his left.

“Yes,” De said, sitting down, and Dash sat as far away from them as she could. Master rolled his eyes. “We’re good to start.”

“We’ve already been discussing,” Al-Asitis said.

“Most of it has been in the event of Prince Jerard’s death, and how to deal with certain, well uncertainties,” Ishure said.

“I understand, so where do we stand?” De asked.

“He’s gone a little off the deep end now that he has a wife again,” Gem Shine said, looking away from Master a bit.

“In the event of my death, you’ll treat Scootaloo as my sole heir to my everything, and you are to protect her at all costs,” Master said.

“That’s awful kind of you, I assume she has the keys then?” De inquired.

“All of them when she married me.”

“Finally,” De said, smiling. “I was worried after your daughter passed that the keys would be lost with you.”

“Keys?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking around.

“You don’t need to know that,” Master said.

“They’re the keys to some of the most powerful artifacts and locations of knowledge on the planet. The High-Blood family line is the only one which has the keys and access to all of the locations. Not even Princess Celestia or gods could get to many of the artifact. Of course, Prince Jerard here has done a great job of locking them away,” De said smiling.

“It was a great fear among the leaders of the world that he would die before producing a single heir to his bloodline,” Clear Water said, waving a claw at me from Master’s far left. “But I see that blessing has been secured.”

“What?!” Dash nearly shouted, standing up.

“What does that mean?” Little Q asked, from sitting in front of Gem Shine.

“It means she’s pregnant,” Gem Shine said.

“How do you know?” Laz asked, looking at Clear water.

“Clear water is an ocean spirit. It is able to sense life force,” Ishure said.

“It will come to birth, healthy,” Clear Water said.

“They can also tell certain things after seeing the mother,” De said, looking at me. “After conception, they can tell if the offspring will be born. It’s a bit like seeing in the future, but they can’t tell anything after birth other than if it will be healthy when it’s born.”

“I’m pregnant?” I looked at my belly. I knew this was going to happen sooner or later, but this was unexpected, I thought the birth control was still in effect, I guess not. It felt odd knowing, but only for a moment. All my feelings went to war with each other. In the end, it was like everything just went numb.

“She is only a week along, but it’s life will come to existence,” Clear Water said.

“Congratulations,” De said.

“Indeed,” Lord Val said.

“That is wonderful, we’ll have to throw a shower and everything,” Laz said, giggling with glee.

“Wow, that timing, it’s something,” Master said, and Dash narrowed her eyes at him. She was clearly unhappy. A year long trip, it was almost too obvious, of course Master knew. “I was just discussing with Ms. Dash how Scootaloo and I were planning to take a considerably long trip tomorrow with De.”

“That is something,” Al-Asitis said, smiling.

“Almost like you knew,” Laz said.

“I wouldn’t say I knew, but it was bound to happen.”

“I guess we’ll have to put the shower off till after you return,” Laz said, picking up a drink and taking a sip.

“You’re leaving with De?” Dash asked, sitting down with a weird calmness to her. She smiled and looked at me. Of course, her acting like that made Master pause, and glance at De which was still staring at me.

“Of course, the choice of you coming along is still open,” Master said. De snapped his head to Master which shared a brief moment of eye contact.

“I don’t see why not,” Dash said.

“Then we’ll leave tomorrow morning, but how about we all introduce each other to Scootaloo, she already knows Al-Asitis. Would anyone like to tell about themselves? How about you start De?”

“I’m sure she already knows me as well as she needs to,” De said, smiling shyly. “I’m just the president of the central banking system, Jerard got me elected there actually and I’ve met your mom a few times on my trips to Canterlot.”

“She’s in Ponyville if you want to stop by there before we leave tomorrow,” Dash said, and he looked at her.

“We’re not that great of friends that I’d stop just by her house, I’ll send her a letter. That would be appropriate.”

“Laz,” Master said.

“Ah yes, I am your next-door neighbor,” Laz said, her voice had a nerdiness to it. She set down her drink. “I am an artifact collector in the simplest terms. I also help to create magic spells, items among other things. In fact, I met Prince Jerard when he started funding my digs, I don’t know where I’d be without him.” They both smiled. “And with his funding, we’ve done a considerable service to the world with what we’ve made and discovered. I assisted in his stone spell that he is—”

“Laz,” Master interrupted in a small hurry, and she stopped. “We shouldn’t bore them with details.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Gem Shine, Ishure, would you like to?” Master asked.

“Our jobs aren’t that important, we just supply the world with gold and Gems, this is our son Little Q,” Ishure said and pet him roughly, making Little Q smile. “Jerard’s mother was actually the one which introduced Gem Shine to me.” Gem Shine smiled and they kissed each other.

“However, we never knew his mother had a foal till he looked us up, and told us that she had passed,” Gem Shine said. “Of course, we were in trouble at the time and he helped us find new locations all over the world to mine gems and gold, we would’ve gone bankrupt if it wasn’t for him. Things would be so different without him,”

“Clear Water,” Master said.

“I assist ocean currents, Jerard rifted my tribes together when gryphon invaded my egg land's, most life would not exist now. A great debt is still owed upon him.”

“Lord Val, if you desire,” Master said.

“The simplicity of his assistance of my lands, and protection against foes is how I learned of him. He secures fractal protection against many existences.”

“What?” I asked confused.

“I help protect his kingdom from other nations, provide him gold and many other things so he won’t go to war with his neighboring countries. Also, my mother’s artifacts help keep his country free of earthquakes,” Master said, smiling.

“I’m Al-Asitis, you already know me and how Prince Jerard helped lead my country to victory.”

“Yes, I know thank you,” I said.

“Good, now that introductions are out of the way, why don’t we have some dinner and retreat to the pool before the ball is retired,” Master said, and clopped his hooves together making several maids come over and set down trays with food in front of us. Al was serving all the other guests with Velvet and Sig. “Please, enjoy.” The maids took off the tops of the trays showing three dishes for each of us.

Uncomfortable silence, it wasn’t just the normal, ‘what do I say silence?’, it was, is this some kind of sick joke? Even Dash was confused when she looked at my dinner tray. A still living piglet was on the plate tied up and knocked out. It was shaved and covered in some kind of colorful caramel candy.

“Is that a joke?” Laz inquired.

“Not in the least,” Master said, and floated both me and the tray over to him, sitting me next to him between Laz and Master. Dash nearly jumped out of her skin when he did that, but De put his hoof in front of her, stopping her. “Don’t worry, I’ve been told that the piglet is brain dead.”

“I see,” Al-Asitis said, and chuckled. “I now get why she choose that choice at the execution.”

“Execution?” Lord Val asked.

“Yes, Scootaloo and I recently went and took part in Hegi Zebira’s public execution, it was quite spectacular this year,” Master said, smiling.

“Curious,” Lord Val said.

“Well dig in everypony.” Master started to eat and I frowned a bit seeing that they were all staring at me. Dash’s eyes, they felt like they were cutting clean through me, could I really show this to her?

From how Master was acting, he would be very upset with me if I ignored this or asked for something else, he had already said I enjoyed this kind of thing. If I said anything but yes I’d be in serious trouble, oh why did Dash have to be here?!

Not hesitating I moved forward and bit into the piglet’s neck, easily breaking through its skin and jugular, sending blood flowing into my mouth. The caramel candy was mind blowing as it mixed with the blood. It was like small refreshing twisters were dancing across my mouth and down my throat.

However, the squealing soon hit my ears making me look down as the squeals echoed throughout the entire ballroom. If the taste hadn’t locked my jaw, I would’ve quickly opened my mouth and had it fall to the ground, but instead I simply pushed down a bit with my hoof making a snapping sound fill the air and stop the squealing instantly. Its body hung limply from my mouth, making me dig a bit ripping with my teeth to make it bleed more into my mouth draining it completely dry after a moment.

I let go of it, letting it fall to the tray, licking my lip. That was a great drink, just the feeling of the warmth flowing around inside me was thrilling. That fear and terror, it just made me remember when Master would hug me, like I wanted to be inside Master, to feel his insides consume me.

Its pale skin glistened in the light, and I bend down ripping into the piglet’s side and started to eat the still blood enriched rib meat, getting deeper inside it and sticking my snout deeper, feeling the last of the piglet’s warmth wrapping around my snout, like it wanted me to smell the delicious liver, it was like candy mixed with something sweet and a bit salty, but it mixed together so well, I loved it.

“Excuse me, I need to, um, go to the restroom,” Laz said getting up quickly and leaving out of the ballroom. I snapped out of my entangled love for the piglet’s insides and wonderfully filling meat, to see her leaving. Ripping back, I pulled out a bit thigh from the piglet, and swallowed it.

As my eyes went to go to Master, and only then did I notice it. The ballroom was cleared other than the servants. The group was the only ponies left and Dash was staring at me. Lord Val, Al-Asitis and Master had basically finished eating. In fact, Gem Shine was covering Little Q’s eyes so he couldn’t see me. Ishure was kind of looking at me and Gem Shine was whispering into Little Q’s ear.

“What happen to everypony?” I asked, looking to Master.

“Oh, they couldn’t stand the sound of a piglet being eaten alive and having its bones snapped while some pony ate,” Master said, wiping his mouth. “You’ve been eating for several minutes, I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”

“I’m sorry.” I looked down at the piglet for a moment, I had ripped the poor thing to little bits, only a few parts of its insides were left along with skin and most of the bones. I had eaten some of those without thinking. They were so soft, that my teeth just found delight in crunching the small bones. I was a monster, this confirmed it, why was I acting so hard to hide that from Rainbow Dash? This was who I was, if she couldn’t accept that then she could leave, I had Master, that’s all I need. “Can—I have another?”

“You must be really hungry,” Al-Asitis said smiling.

“Maid, do we have an additional piglet?” Master asked.

“Excuse me Prince Jerard,” Ishure said, and Gem Shine got up taking little Q with her out of the ball room. “It would seem my wife is not feeling too well, and I think I understand why you actually called this meeting to take place. Gem Shine and I shall take our leave early. Have a good night.”

“Please, do so.” Ishure left quickly and Master chuckled.

“What did he mean by that?” Dash asked.

“You’re probably not aware,” De said, and Dash turned to him. “But somepony sent out a letter claiming that Prince Jerard was, well, it said that Scootaloo was an innocent filly, that he was in fact torturing her in brutal ways. Of course, Jerard corrected this, but when he married Scootaloo. Well, it didn’t look good.”

“But he is torturing her!” Dash shouted.

“You misunderstand, Ms.—Dash, correct?” Al-Asitis asked.

“What do you mean I don’t understand?” Dash snapped.

“Well, that letter inferred that Scootaloo was innocent. It went to lengths of several pages courting around that Scootaloo was in danger, and she was a victim. However, it takes years, or quite some time for ponies to—acquire, a taste of animal flesh. From my understanding, Prince Jerard has only had Scootaloo for a couple weeks or months. That wouldn’t be nearly enough time for her to enjoy a living piglet as much as she did. This means she clearly is not a victim and Prince Jerard’s correction was in fact correct.”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Dash said, standing up.

“It doesn’t matter if it does or not,” De said, and they looked at him. “How many common ponies were here tonight?” Dash froze as Master grinned. “If that many common ponies saw and heard and misunderstood what happen without a proper understanding. Well, Scootaloo won’t be seen as a filly, she’ll be seen as some kind of monster that eats animals. It’ll go right along with the newspaper’s report.”

“I was wondering why you had so many guests here,” Al-Asitis said, chuckling. “Oh how I love your little games.”

“I bet they were from all over Equestria,” De said laughing.

“Almost at least two from every city,” Master said, chuckling. “Several from Canterlot and even Ponyville.” Dash was at a complete loss, but she seemed to calm down and sit back down looking at the floor. “Don’t worry Ms. Dash, it was of little importance. Though this will put a nail in the idea of Scootaloo being abused for good.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t matter if that’s what common ponies think,” Dash said, smiling and looking at me. “The only thing that matters is that I know the truth and everything else can go to hell.”

“I’m relieved you think that,” Master said.

“So I’m now curious, exactly when did Scootaloo begin eating flesh?” Al-Asitis asked, drinking a bit of wine.

“A long time ago, I was trapped in a snow storm, I ate some rabbits,” I said, giving my plate to a maid, and she took it away. A napkin went to my mouth and I took it wiping my mouth clean.

“Fancy that,” De said, letting out a breath and relaxing.

“Though I started drinking my blood a few weeks ago when I ripped out all my feathers to make a pillow for Master.” Al-Asitis started to cough on his drink. “Master wasn’t happy about it either.”

“I still have it as well in my closet, it’s really soft. I’ll never leave behind it if I ever go on a trip without Scootaloo,” Master said smiling.

“So you drink pony blood?” De asked.

“Yes, Master’s blood is really good, so is my personal maid’s blood, it sooo good.” I bit my lip.

“Have thou feasted upon pony marrow?” Lord Val inquired.

“No, I don’t eat ponies.”

“Drinking their blood is only a small step from eating them,” Laz said, walking back over to her spot and sitting down next to me with Master on the other side.

“You’re back,” Master said surprised.

“Actually yes, I thought about why it’d be silly for me to leave, and I also realized how curious I was.”

“Curious about what?” Dash asked.

“Yes, I’ve never come across a pony that eats or drinks blood or meat, and I’m really curious as to what my blood would tastes like.” There was an odd silence for a moment. “I suppose that would be an odd thing to say.”

“It would be interesting to see what she thinks of it,” De said.

“Wary one should be, the thirst burns,” Lord Val said, his metal hoof scratching at his throat a small bit.

“I’m more than fine with that,” Master said.

“Well I’m not, but if that’s what Scootaloo wants, then fine,” Dash said.

“Would you like to try my blood?” Laz asked, and lifted up her hoof to me so it was easy to bite.

Quickly, I surmised all of them around me. They were curious as to what I was going to do, even Dash was watching with curiosity without disgust. How she had managed to force herself to stay through all this shocked me immensely.

“Sure.” She didn’t move as I pulled at her foreleg, I was still thirsty, so I wasn’t about to turn this down. Shock hit her as I pulled her down, stood up biting lightly into her neck as my teeth slid into her skin easily. Laz flinched slightly as I released my teeth letting her wound bleed, sucking a tiny bit.

It was, how to even begin. The blood was light and fluffy, as if it was infused with daylight warming my insides like it was the first time in my life they had ever known such warm loving light.

Hooves wrapped around me, and pulled me closer to her, I was able to see enough to tell she was hugging me as I showered my tongue with warm liquid sun mixed with a sugary sweetness dipped in this magic porcelain pudding without being even the slightest thickness like pudding.

Once I released, I nearly regretted doing it, not because they were all staring at me, but because I had stopped such wonderfully delicious treat from flowing down my throat. Sadly, I knew I had to, allowing her to sit up.

“How’d it taste?” Laz asked, looking down it me, staring into her eyes.

“It was like a river of liquid sunlight porcelain pudding mixed with this sugary coating filling me with this warmth. It felt so good going down.” I licked up a bit of blood from my lip, taking in a breath.

“That, wow, I couldn’t even imagine that taste,” Laz said. A maid came over and dressed her wound.

“Thank you.”

“Anyone else?” Master asked.

“Maybe later,” De said, looking away with his drink.

“I’m good,” Al-Asitis said, smiling kindly.

“Thinus blood dares to freeze thines,” Lord Val said.

“I shall not have her partake of my being,” Clear Water said.

“Sounds fun,” Dash said smirking, and Master’s head snapped to the side hearing Dash say that, making me turn slowly to look at her. She was sitting with her forelegs wide open for me to come and hug her.

“You’re joking, right?” De asked.

“Come on Scootaloo, I want to hear how I taste.” Things blurred a bit, but I got off Laz, moving over to Dash, she picked me up setting me on her seat. This felt fake, was this some kind of trick by Master? I closed one eye and nothing changed. “Something wrong? Don’t you want to taste me?”

“I-I don’t know,” I whispered.

“That’s fine.” She kissed me, surprising me probably the most of them all as blood from her tongue bled onto mine as she cut her tongue with my tooth. Dash pulled me tightly against her as I was instantly lost in the flavor she was feeding me.

The flavor was like nothing I could’ve imagined ever tasting in my whole life, it instantly warmed me up, setting my insides to a toasty level and seeming to make my entire body feel like it was purified. Freedom, the taste was of a weightlessness mixed with freedom, perfected happiness, and something I couldn’t even comprehend, but it was so magnificent! Tears streamed down my face

A fresh lavender chocolate, with some kind of creamy warm tender fudge with cinnamon and this seemingly unbelievable spice swirling around the heat of her blood. A feeling of love mixed as her and my tongues danced in an almost lustful manner, as if she was controlling my very existence, making me want nothing more than to feel her push me down, and rip me apart piece by piece. Just even imagining her consuming me and making me one with her was just unbearable.

There wasn’t even a need to look or care, I could feel them all become at least unnerved as my scent filled the air, even though my dress, from Dash’s kiss. Just this feeling alone was beyond anything ever that would ever possibly exist. This went beyond a need, this was something in a different plain of existence.

Then she stopped, and boy when she stopped; hell, couldn’t replicate even a fraction of the fear, hate, pain, everything bad that I had ever felt, when that wonderful heaven was ripped from me by a simple action.

“How was my blood?” Dash asked, and my body quaked.

It was, how could I even begin to answer that? What do you say to something that made even what I could imagine heaven as, seem like a fickle dream? “I can’t even describe it, heaven doesn’t compare. I—need more.”

“I think you’ve had enough,” Master said, and Dash smiled. My heart felt like it was being crushed as I was pulled with Master’s magic into a hug. “Now that the bulk of our activities are done, shall we move to the pool to have some entertainment. The Gentle Colt Guild is waiting as well as a band. Of course, if you’ve only come for lunch and some discussion you can leave now.”

“Pony’s do not entertain thyself,” Clear Water said getting up. “I shall depart for the ocean now.” Clear Water left.

“Anypony else?” Master asked.

“Let’s go to the pool,” Al-Asitis said getting up with his two mares. I stared at Rainbow Dash, my eyes were locked onto her. Lord Val, De and Laz got up at the same time as Master, as he lead the way with me floating in front of him. My belly was facing him, but my heavy dress covered me completely even from his angle.

“Is something wrong Master?” I inquired as he stared at my belly.

“Not really, but knowing that you’re pregnant is an odd feeling.”

Even if it had only been for a moment, I had forgotten. “Yeah it is weird.” Dash came up next to us. “Dash do you hate me being pregnant?”

Master turned to her for a moment and their eyes locked onto each other. “Her heart is probably burning that I was able to get you pregnant Scootaloo, I bet she even wants you to get an abortion,” Master said.

“You’re really young to be having a foal Scootaloo, but I wouldn’t ever do anything to stop that,” Dash said smiling. “Plus, didn’t that creature say you would have it without any problems?”

“Clear Water did,” Master said, and they turned going into the pool room. “But since we know about the prediction, we could change that easily.”

De and Al-Asitis went over to the large Jacuzzi, and maids helped them undress. Laz simply stood up and undid two buttons making her clothes fall to the ground, and walked into the warm pool relaxing a bit.

Lord Val stopped by some chairs and laid down. His armor hissed making everyone turn toward him. A dark mist surrounded his armor as its chest opened showing a black colt with dark red mane and tail come out.

“Lord Val, you came out,” Master said, quickly giving me to Dash, and she paused for a moment, but took me as Master went over to Lord Val.

“Yeppers,” Lord Val said completely normal, in fact he sounded like a normal colt, it was odd seeing someone so small come out such a mass of armor.

“What entertainment would you like?”

“Yield their fruits I shall.” He walked over to a mare in rather sluty clothes, and she looked at Master for a moment, before shrugging and picking up Lord Val, taking him over to a chair and laying him down on her belly.

“That’s odd,” Dash said, walking over to the Jacuzzi. A few maids came over and started to get us undressed. Master came back over and Dash nearly pulled me from the air, but she resisted the urge barely.

Master took me out of the air as Dash got into the Jacuzzi. “Is Dash acting oddly to you, like she is to me?” Master whispered into my ear, making me turn to him. Tonight, was a very odd night.

“Yes,” I whispered back. Master’s outfit evaporated inches above the surface as he slid in, slowly setting me down into the water, letting me float in the hot liquid by myself. It felt wonderful.

De was sitting next to Dash, and she frowned looking at him. There was something off about Dash. How she was acting, it was odd. The fact she was here wasn’t something I thought could happen, not after everything. How she was acting, it was almost too composed compared to everything I knew of her.

“So, is there any other conversation we need to have?” Al-Asitis asked, and Master turned.

“Not at the moment, why is there something you need to bring up?” Master asked, dipping deeper into the water, his eyes shifted to me.

“Nope, but I’m curious about how short this meeting was. Normally we have some important matters to discuss.”

“Normally yes, but I just wanted Scootaloo to meet all the important ponies this time around. She did and now we can move on to anything else we need.” Master moved over to me and kissed my cheek with a quick peck. “We can talk about or enjoy anything you want to, we have plenty of entertainment.”

“No, I think I’m fine with my own,” Al-Asitis said, pulling his two mares close to him, and they smiled, hugging him.

“Laz, how about you? Anything you wish to do?” Master asked.

“This water is almost enchanting, so very warm.” Her eyes shifted to De and Dash for a moment, watching them.

“De?” Master inquired, making De turn away from Dash. It was clear Dash was becoming uncomfortable being so close to De.

“I’m good,” De said quickly, going back to staring at Dash.

“Dash, how about you?” Laz asked, and I swiveled around a bit looking at Dash, as she glanced at De and Master.

“I sure we could do something more interesting than sitting in a hot tub, but my kind of fun it probably too competitive.”

“Doing sports isn’t something we do, but more along the lines of something we’d bet on or something to that effect, but then again, perhaps Lord Val has an idea that we haven’t thought about,” De said, glancing over toward Lord Val, and freezing.

We all turned, I paused seeing that he had duplicated himself and was currently screwing the mare in all her holes, making her moan as he thrusted. Magic platforms allowed him easy access to her. Dash blushed a little at the sudden sight, before regaining her composure. Laz just stared at the scene, a smile going across her face.

“I did invite the Gentle Colt Guild for that exact reason,” Master said, sitting more properly now. “However, I didn’t expect Lord Val to do that so openly.”

“I think I’ll join,” Laz said, getting out of the water, a maid brought over a towel, drying her off before she went over to a stallion. They kissed and she grabbed him, forcing the stallion to the ground, rubbing against him and riding him.

“I suppose privacy won’t matter at the moment,” Master said.

“What about you Ms. Dash?” Al-Asitis asked, and she looked at him. “De has been staring at you this entire time. I bet he’d be a fun lay. You look so uptight, why not relax, maybe get pregnant. He’s of decent blood, your foal would be well off, he is richer than even most of the world’s gods.”

“Some are that way, but I’m private about my personal relationships, I’m not open about them at all. De can use a whore like Lord Val, but I’m not a whore. And I would kill myself before I let his parasitic anything inside me. Even if he managed, I wouldn’t go to give birth to a monster of that bloodline.” De frowned staring at her.

“It was very rude,” Master said.

“Jerard, I think it’s time for me to leave.” Dash got out of the water and I looked down smiling a bit, however the smell of her blood made me snap up.

Blood dripped from Dash’s forehead, and De’s hoof was pressed against it, she was turned back around toward us. “Bitch,” De growled.

Dash grinned widely. “Dumb fuck,” she said, and everything around her start to warp like it was too hot.

“Dash don’t!” Master shouted, but it was a second too late, as De was hit with her hoof, which carried some kind of powerful magic blast behind it, which caused him to explode forcing the little bits to get launched through the air with little pieces of him raining against the wall behind us. Al-Asitis and Master stood there frozen in shock.

Something of a confused horror came over me as bits of blood hit me from the pieces going right over our heads, a few small bits of blood mist sprayed into my eyes blinding me for a moment, forcing me to turn away.
What had just happen? I asked that question as I turned back wiping my eyes enough to the anger in Master swelled like nothing I had ever seen before, making me whimper in horrified fear. This was a new kind of anger.

“What have you done?” Laz asked from across the way, quickly getting off of the stallion, and Lord Val ran into his armor.

“I’m leaving,” she said, turning, and Master got out of the water.

“Oh like hell you are!” Master said, his horn glowing.

“Master don’t,” I pled sounding like a sniveling little piece of trash. “Please, don’t do this.”

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE JUST DID!” he shouted, trembling. “You can’t, she doesn’t understand. Deity was one of the three most powerful creatures on the planet because of his wealth! If ponies are suddenly murdering other rich ponies for stupid reasons, there will be a world war!”

“I’m sure it won’t—” Al-Asitis started.

“Shut up!” Master growled, and Al-Asitis paused. “She just killed a really important pony, one of the most important in the world!”

“Then kill her, you can always replace the head of the bank,” Al-Asitis said, and he went back down into the water.

“Deity was a friend of mine, I’m not going to let her off with something as simple as death.”

“Master please!” I begged, my body refusing to move as the dread locked my joints, preventing me from moving forward. What was about to happen was the worst possible thing I could even imagine happening. I should’ve done more to stop Dash from being here, I should’ve killed myself when I had the chance!

“Scootaloo, this is far more serious than you can possibly understand.” Master walked forward and Dash smirked. As I went to move to at least try to grab Master, magic wrapped around me and pulled me to Al-Asitis, so I was out of the way. He and I shared a look before looking at the two of them. Tears blinded me completely knowing that it didn’t matter who won, somepony I loved was going to bleed.

“I don’t see your butler around to defend your sorry ass,” Dash said, grinning. I looked between the two of them.

“When we’re done here, the things I’m going to do to you are going to make you beg to be my personal slave.”

“Good luck.”

Master let out a breath and a cloud of smoke started to expand around him. “I don’t need luck Rainbow Dash, I’ve been to war.” The cloud formed a ball around the two of them, shielding them from my sight. Booms was all I could hear as the clouds changed colors lasting for several minutes before silence. The clouds dissipated after a moment, leaving a blood-soaked Master and a knocked out bloody Dash at his hooves.

“That was the first time in a long time since I’ve seen that,” Al-Asitis said, and chuckled lightly.

“Fucking bitch,” Master said, bucking Dash and sending her smashing into the wall. He spit out blood from his mouth with a tooth.

“Is she dead?” I asked, and Master looked at me, tears running down my cheeks, dripping into the water.

“Like I’d ever allow her to die. AL!” Al appeared next to Master. “Clean up that mess, and put her in a cage bound properly. I’ll escort my guests out.” Al nodded and went over to maids, directing them to clean things up, taking Dash personally himself out of the room. “I am sorry to all of you,” Master said.

“It’s no problem,” Al-Asitis said.

“Scootaloo, go wait in my bedroom, NOW!” he ordered.

Every ounce of coward came out as I ran to his bedroom, hiding the best I could under the bed. Master was coming and he was mad, not only that he now had Dash, and there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that he was going to make me do the most horrific things imaginable to her. What had I done? This was all my fault, and Master knew it was all my fault.

“Oh Celestia, save Dash,” I begged, closing my eyes tightly.

Author's Note

Editing done by wubsy mcwubsington