Minecraft: A Pony's Tail

"No!"

BANG BANG

...

"My god, he's alive!"

...

"Let me through! I can save him!"

"Your highness, my lady, he can't be saved!"

"Quiet fool! I can save him or else I will personally step down as queen!"

...

"Arid, hey, Arid!"

Arid's eyes fluttered open. He was in normal mode, pinned to a tree by a half-dozen ropes, and was surrounded by raiders. On the tree next to him was Torch, who was the one talking to him.

"Let me guess, you want to know how I plan on getting out of this?"

Torch nodded. "You've always had a plan before."

Arid sighed, then heard the hoof-steps. He turned to see what he could only guess was the raiders' leader. He was a full head taller then Arid, with worn iron armor covering his body. His eyes glowed a cruel yellow.

"Well well, boys, look what we got here! A pair of stallions who just threw down their arms to be captured by us! Too bad we're not recruiting!"

"Yes, indeed. Such an inconvenience." Arid drawled, interrupting the leaders speech. "Too bad. You'll have to kill us. What a shame. Oh well. Get it over with. Kill me."

The leader, initially confused by Arid's words, smiled. "We aren't going to kill you so easily, We'll torture you, long and grueling. We'll make you suffer. We'll tear you apart, limb by limb, but keep you alive, so we can just torture you some more. You'll have to watch as your friend dies."

Arid yawned, temporarily untying his ropes to scratch the back of his neck, them politely retied them around his hooves. Then, menace in his voice, he replied in kind. "Indeed. And I will suffer as bad as you say. However, it will never match the suffering I'm going to do to you. I will start by murdering everypony you ever loved, and forcing you to watch them die in agony. Then, I will dig out your eyes slowly, one after the other. Next, I will cut off your tongue, so, even when you want to, you can't scream, and no one will hear you. Following that up, I will use a cheesegrinder to slowly cut up your limbs, inch by inch. While you cry in agony as you slowly loose your legs, I will cut your tail off. I will peel your body, so your blood will bleed all over the ground. Your nose will go next. Your ears will be long gone. And no, I won't kill you. I will leave you, and you will just lay their until your brain finally decides to shut down. And then, your soul will go straight to the Nether, where you soul will be reincarnated as one of Evil's soldiers. And even then, you will not be safe. I will hunt you down even in the Nether, and I will do the same, again and again, for eternity! So, be warned, I will not suffer a millionth of the grievances I will put you through!"

Every single raider in the vicinity had take a step back, and Torch's mouth hung as loose as if he had been on the noose. He had never seen Arid act say things so violently. It disturbed him, and it certainly wasn't the Arid he knew. The Arid he knew was a kind and generous friend. He blinked. Where did he get that notion?

Meanwhile, the leader, recovering from Arid's words, whinnied. "Ha. But how are you supposed to do that when your all tied up? You can't hurt me!"

Arid smiled, and changed in front if their eyes. The raiders, taken aback by the fact Arid was a changeling, froze up for a quarter of a second.

All Arid needed.

Immediately, the ropes came off, and Arid pushed off the tree, flew through the air, and rammed straight into the leader, snapping his neck instantly. The leaders sword flew into the air, and Arid, using his magic, deftly caught it with his magic, and murdered the closest three raiders.

This all happened in the time it might take for a plane flying at full speed to go a foot.

For another three seconds, silence dominated the camp. Then, every single raider drew a weapon, a full count of fifty well armed raiders vs 1 changeling.

They didn't stand a chance.

Arid dealt with them quickly. Withing a minute or two, it was all over.

Arid, walking back to Torch, stopped when he heard a sniffling. He turned to see a young mare, another raider. Desperately, she swung a dagger at him. He caught her hoof deftly, disarmed her, and pushed her back, and she fell to the ground. Arid, consumed by a rage, used his magic to chain her hooves to the ground.

Torch, realizing what he was doing, tried to stop him, but being tied to a tree reduced him to shouting. "Arid, don't! It's an instinct, overcome it! Arid, your a good pony! Your not a changeling! Your a kind pony, whose not only my guide through this but my friend! No!"

Despite spewing words even Torch didn't understand why he was saying, Arid ignored him, consumed by the one thing that drives any changeling:

To feed.

...

An hour later, after Arid was done with the mare, and finished untying Torch, the pair, items retrieved, walked out of the dead raider camp, heading back where they came. They were utterly silent, Arid completely ignoring anything Torch tried to ask.

After a while of silence, and as the sun was going down, Torch finally stopped with Arid's lack of answers.

"Why'd you do it?"

Arid stopped dead. For a moment, he remained silent, but then he began. "A changeling can and must feed. It's natural, and it lended me strength."

Torch scowled. "So, instead of letting her die in piece, you torture her? Arid, you aren't that type of pony! You're a good pony! You're my friend, and you certainly aren't normally like this! What has gotten into you! You're keeping secrets, lying to me, and now you act like some beast! Arid, answer me!"

Arid, still not facing Torch, looked down. "I don't know Torch. It's been a long time, and I'm trying to figure it out myself. I remember my past, unlike you, but I can't make much sense out of it anymore. So you and I are in the same boat. Once I figure it out, I will tell you unless it will harm you. Until then, I will not answer your questions."

Torch sighed. "Fine. But don't do that again."

Arid internally flinched. He had lied.