Live A Life, or Forge It

The next three days passed fairly normally, without anything of note happening in the middle.

Yeah, the day after the death of Franco everyone asked to me what happened during the night, since they heard screams coming from the dungeons, but my answer was cryptic on purpose:

“I had some problem with... black waters plumbing”

I was referring to the fact that Franco, basically, was killed because he could not leave me for go into Fate's “playroom”, see Fate poop, and make him happy.

While Celestia and Luna figured out that Franco was dead, but never understood the details; Cadance and Shining Armour were left confused, but they, overall, didn't cared about it.

The only one that got interested by it was, incidentally, also the one that, according to the common sense, should be left out from such themes.

Yes, you got it.

Indiva wanted to know what I did in the dungeons of so loud and noisy.

I've tried to make her forget about it, but she kept asking and asking.

I, finally, capitulated while I was eating a mushroom ham toast with goat cheese: while I was eating, she forced me to look at her face, saying with a begging tone:

“Pleeeeseee... teeeeellll meee...”

Then she blinked.

That was pretty effective: I could not say “no” to a such cute face, especially if said face belonged  to a very pleasuring filly.

So, after placing my sandwich back in the plate, I said to her:

“Well, it's weird to explain, Indiva, but I will try to tell you: basically, one of the prisoners called me for a 'talk' with me.

Don't ask, I don' even remeber what was his made-up excuse for having me in his cell.

Anyway, once I was in the cell, the prisoner launched a spell that opened a portal open on other worlds, and tried to kidnap me.

Luckily, the guards caught him before he could drag me in, and a fight between the captive and the guards erupted: the results was, of course, the captive killed”

Well, it was decently pulled off: no mention of humans, but I still stated that some guards were involved, and I talked about portals without talking about Fate; and seemed expository enough.

Indiva asked while flailing her hooves:

“Have you fought in the dungeons ? Oh, wow ! Tell me more ! Tell me more ! Tell me more !”

Sighing, I said:

“That's it Indiva, really”

She kept asking and asking, but I still refused to tell her more.

Indiva frowned, and asked to me what ? Had to hide to her.

I answered:

“You will find soon... maybe tomorrow, maybe in two months: this secret is all in the hands of Celestia”

And so Indiva stopped pester me, and started to beg explanation to Celestia, who, thankfully, didn't lost her patience, and said that all was due to be revealed.

Indiva was greatly disappointed.

After breakfast, before returning in my room, I asked Celestia:

“So, is the 'revelation day' already chose ? And, if the answer is yes, the trap is ready ?”

While the white alicorn bringer of the day walked away, towards the throne room, she said:

“No, Venicio, I haven't choose a day for your revelation, but I am thinking about it.

Fear not, thought: I will find it once the flood of red tape will calm down”: that said, she went to do her duties; and I returned to my readings in my room.

Five days later, my sleep was interrupted suddenly by the sound of hoof steps over the stone that made the floor of my room.

I opened slowly my eyes, and saw that the room was still quite dark, but with some visibility, sign that I was woke up slightly before the dawn, or slightly after that.

Either way, I didn't usually woke at hour, nor somebody ever woke up at that hour for nothing, so I said:

“Who is there ? What do you desire from me ?”

A very recognizable voice spoke up:

“Raise and shine, Venicio: today it's the end of your persecution, and the start of a new life.”

I smiled widely, and, in a burst of energy, I went down from my bed, already knowing what was awaiting me.... the day that I dreamed since I tasted for the fist time the fists of my brothers.

The day of  Wrath and Tears.

The day, where my brothers were going to regret their choices.

The day, where I was going to prove that the Fate can be fought.

The day, where was going to sign my liberation from my past, and the start of a new life all projected in the future.

I followed the white alicorn in the hallways, towards a room that was set only for the occasion.

While I passed, the last night patrols bid good morning to Celestia, while the first day patrols did a military greet before moving on.

After a rather long walk in the decorated hallways of the building, I finally reached a big, red, wooden door, whose handle was too for from my reach.

Celestia lit her horn, and opened the door with her magic, letting me get in.

The room, unlike pretty much every other room in Palace, was lacking of objects: there were only four candle holders on the sides of a mosaic in the middle of the room, and nothing more.

The light of the candles revealed eight armored shapes in the limelight: said shapes did, I think, since I could not see very well, the military greet.

One of them, a red pony dressed like a red and black landsknecht dress, stepped towards the center of the room, and said:

“Greetings, Excellency. What is the criminal  to execute today ?”.

I was offended by this phrase, and I said annoyed:

“Excuse me ?”

The pony rotated his head, and saw me: he stared at me widely, even if I didn't do anything of notable after entering in the room.

He said:

“Majesty ? With all respect for your great wisdom, are you sure of condemn a kid to such a punishment ? I don't think that he is even in the right age for receive the capital punishment...”

Celestia addressed to the pony dressed like a german mercenary:

“He is not here for a crime that he committed: he is here for regain his true body. You will see soon, Mastro Titta”

Odd: Celestia's executioner had the same name of the most famous executioner in the Papal State.

Anyway: the executioner bowed in excuse, and went in the shadows, for then return with a little book that he levitated with a red aura.

Celestia took the book with her magic, and started to flip through the pages at a fast pace, seeking something in them, likely, the spell for turn me back into a human.

Finally, the white alicorn stopped leaf through the pages, and placed the book over a book holder made of ebanon; book holder that I overlooked at the first look of the room.

The luxfero alicorn addressed to Mastro Titta:

“This is the spell you shall cast on him. Don't worry too much about hurting him: he showed to be a very resilient pony, in past occasions.”

That said, Celestia told me to place myself in the middle of the mosaic, try to put my front hooves in the air, and brace myself.

And so I moved into the mosaic in the middle.

To a closer inspection, I saw that the mosaic represented various ponies turning in every kind of animal or object: wolfs; harpies; cats; cows; sometimes pots... pretty much everything.

Said represented ponies were, mostly, weeping and/or suffering, like if the transformation was, for them, a punishment for some kind of crime; or it was painful.

Or both.

Either way, it made the place look creepy, thinking about the fact that the place was ridden with the tears of criminals turned into... something else; and the idea that the  transformation in animal,or object is, actually, akin to the Death Penalty in Equestria was reinforced by the words of the   landsknecht-executioner, and his name, the same of a famous hangman.

Anyway, Mastro Titta moved slowly towards the book holder, made several signs to the figures in the shadows, who lit their horns: the light coming from the aura gave a better view of the other ponies there present in the room, revealing that the other seven figures were covered by a black   cloak with a golden “Ω” stitched over their cowls.

Then Mastro Titta lit his horn, and, after re-reading the page of the book, told me to stay up, like the rearing horses.

I tried once, but I didn't stood up for enough time for let them change me.

So I tried again, and again, and again.

Finally, at the seventh attempt, I was successful: I got on my rear hooves, and reached a stable balance.

From what I could see, from he horn of the supposed executioner, a red beam came, and hit my rear hooves, somehow liquefying them, and causing in me some pain while doing so.

Meanwhile, seven stripes of different shades of red started to whirlpool around me, making my fur fall off; causing me to grow up in terms of height; reducing my nose; and, somehow, creating from nowhere some fabric, that sew itself up while I was transformed.

This process wasn't painful at all, and, actually, it caused in me, for some reasons, arousal.

It was, indeed, the “weirdest boner” !

Anyway, after a minute or so of  red stripes and beams hitting and whirling around me, I was completely changed: my red; small; agile body, was replaced by my usual muscular; big; pale white  body.

Then I looked to my arms and my hands: I was wearing a brown military jacket with matching long trousers; black gloves and  military boots.

Over my left shoulder, where was a green velvet rope, with some tassels hither and yon on the rope.

My green belt featured a black holster, with a Beretta 92FS in it; and, on my right shoulder,  an ARX.

The weapons and the clothes I was wearing were familiar to me... I touched my head, and noticed that an ha was on my head.

I took it off, and saw that was a black helmet with a cockade of Italian Flag: over the cockade, a very familiar golden pin; and, most important, three black feathers.

Then I finally realized what happened.

Somehow, my transformation back  into a human gave me the parade uniform, and the weapons, of a Bersagliere.

Namely, the Italian shock troopers.

I was pretty surprised by that, since I wasn't in such attire, when I was kidnapped by Fate; nor I had ever wear said uniform.

After my agitation wore down, I put my hat back, and said to Celestia while doing the military greet:

“Bersagliere a rapporto !”

The white alicorn said fascinated:

“Quite impressive dress, Venicio: is it your formal attire ?”

I chuckled:

“No, Celestia, actually, this is a parade uniform of a military unit of my country. Military unit that I never served in”

The white alicorn commented:

“It still looks good, somehow.  Anyway, it's time do the last touches for our trap: come with me, we will discuss about it while we have breakfast.”

I nodded, and, finally, in my true body, reached the dining room.

Clearly, I forgot about the implication of begin a human again...

First of all, everyone in the palace looked at me oddly: they didn't freak out, like I expected, but they weren't unresponsive either.

When I entered in the dining room, my entrance was followed by a VERY loud squeak; and two awed voices saying:

“Celestia, what is... this thing ?”.

One, high pitched, lovely voice asked:

“Who is ?”

I said to everyone in the room:

“Venico Euilocleo ego sum, et hoc meam veram forma est”

After saying this, I looked at the faces of the ponies in the room.

They were priceless.

Cadance was looking at me in pure awe and interest, and, when she shake out from her awe, she asked to me where I had found my “dress”.

Once the pink alicorn heard my answer, she commented that, surely, it looked good, for be a military uniform.

Shining Armour, after the initial surprise, started to look closely to my rifle and my gun. He seemed quite charmed by both weapons, even if he maybe didn't had even an idea about what I was carrying; and, when he heard my answer to Cadance's question about the origin of what I was wearing, Shining said:

“This is a military uniform ? Well, interesting: I never saw any other kind of armour, or parade uniform, that had such a pallid choice of colors. But I guess they had reasons for do it like this”

What about Indiva ? She lost control ! She launched herself towards my legs, and started a flow of words and questions that I could not computer, for the sheer number of questions asked, and the noise she made while scraped  my boot with her body, like the cats that signed their territory.

Since I wasn't sure about how to react to Indiva's behavior, I started to laugh awkardly , and tried to de-attach Indiva from my foot with my hands.

But what I got was just puppy eyes from the lilac unicorn, and my hands pounded by said filly.

I said to her:

“Come on, Indiva, leave my foot: if you do, I will tell you something about my race, before everyone else, outside from this Palace, will know something !”

Actually, I didn't meant to tell her anything about humanity before anyone else, since I wanted to avoid to tell about the human race with a bored voice; but I wanted to exit from that embarrassing situation as soon as possible, and so I said it to her, in hope that she was going to forgot it.

Luckily, she forgot about that.

My breakfast was, compared to the past days, was quite small: the only edible thing in range were the mushroom ham; the bread, and the salad: as you can guess, the other kind of foods weren't edible.

My lack of food was replaced by loads and loads of words from Celestia: she asked me where it should be held; where the guards should be placed; how said guards should be armed... a very long discussion on the trap that I wanted to set.

Well, it seemed turning out quite, well, since almost everything was chose in the minimal detail, color of the capes of the guards that were going to catch my brothers included.

Anyway, after eating, I come back in my room, telling Celestia that I needed to take a shower.

But, instead, I returned to my room for check out if I had some bullets for my rifle and my gun, and see how many shots I could fire.

After entering in my room, I put the rifle down, disassembled it, and looked at bit closely to it, only to see that it was already loaded with a cartridge, but with the safety still on: I decided to left it on, since I wanted to avoid accidents.

Then I took a quick look to the pistol, and saw that it was still loaded, and that I had other three cartridges for said pistol.

Well, it was decent: in case of danger with my brothers, they would suffice into stop them.

I reassembled my weapons, and went towards Celestia's room, in order to know where my “revelation” was going to happen.

Celestia told me it was in the Palace's courtyard.

And so I went there, already feeling the sweet  taste of revenge in my mouth.

I was determined like I never was in my life.

Me, Enrico Eulocleo, and my sister Diana, were going to enter in Equestria, and avenge our brother Franco, killed by our renegade brother Venicio.

Venicio... that poor bastard.

I, admittedly, beat him up, when he was little, but I did because they told me it was the right thing to do.

Plus, his counterattacks were so weak, that I thought we were all playing, or pulling pranks, 17 on 24, everyday.

I thought that behind his tears; there were laughs.

I thought that, behind his despair, behind his rage, behind is desire of run away from home, but never do it for the estate of our parents; there was brotherly love.

I realized that Venicio didn't appreciated that only when he broke Franco's nose, after Franco burned down Venicio's schoolbooks.

I saw the scene, and laughed, thinking that they were funny.

But, when Venicio heard my laugh, he took the collar of my shirt, and asked me:

“What's so funny, Enrico, WHAT'S SO FUNNY ?”

I  asked timidly:

“It is... supposed to be funny ?”

Venicio said:

“Ah, so, see your siblings fight is funny ? And, tell me, is this funny"

He kicked me

“Or this ?”

Venicio punched me in the stomach, making me whimper.

When I was on the floor, he said:

“Enrico, now, is it funny ?”

I said no, then Venicio asked me more questions that, honestly, don't remember right now.

Anyway, after a long streak of questions, he said:

“So, your reason for why you attacked in the past... is because you thought that it was the right thing to do, and that I was enjoying my beating ?”

I nodded: when I nodded, Venicio looked a me dumb folded for two minutes, and, after slapping me,  he said:

“I knew you were dumb like a bullet... but, what the fuck Enrico, this throws away my last hopes about your intelligence !

Even after eighteen years of life, you can't tell the different from pure evil from pure good, AND YOU CAN'T SEE IF THE OTHER ONE IS SUFFERING FOR REAL OR NOT !

I know you aren't an Asperger, or an autistic, so you aren't justified: this is plain idiocy, Enrico

And, you know what ? Your inability of judge what's a joke and what's a serious business is one of the reasons for why I wish to leave this fucking fuckfest of dickheads like you !

I wish with all my heart to kill you all, but if I do so, then I will be disinherited, and goodbye estate and liberty !

And so I bear you, as I did in the past.

But, soon, you; Franco; and Diana will experience the pain and the fear on your skin !

You will repent for all your crimes you did on me... but it will be too late, and, over your mangled bodies, brambles will bloom !”

Only then, I understood that I was just abusing him, and I stopped to  attack him, and, actually, tried to be helpful to him.

He refused any help coming from me, saying that he wasn't going to accept the help of a past enemy, in fear of back stabs.

When he disappeared, five years ago, I weeped silently: after all, I had to apologize to him for all I had done to him in the past.

Soon after his disappearing, the god-child Fate contacted me and my brothers, and offered to us glory, in exchange of Venicio's head.

Since the rewards was interesting, I accepted, but, since Day One, I always refused to hunt Venicio, and spent all my time regretting my choices; creating plans for convince Fate to give up to kill Venicio, and just capture him; or, once he is spotted, defend him from my brothers.

When we spotted him in the house of the equine farmers, I actually stole the gun that Franco was going to use on Venicio that night.

And, when it was time to reach Venicio in the Royal Palace, I didn't told to Franco what really happened to Venicio, despite the fact that I saw him picked up by a blue winged unicorn.

And I kept covering him, by telling to that stupid kid Fate random location in Equestria, telling him that Venicio was there.

Of course he wasn't there.

I actually felt a small desire of revenge towards Venicio, only when he killed, indirectly, Franco, by closing the portal over him.

Garanted, Franco refused to let him go, and just return to Fate's “playroom” for see the Eternal Toddler pee.

Granted, Franco could just have waited some more, and get picked up safely.

But I still felt dismay towards Venicio, and a part of me wanted see him punished.

Plus, since our parents, after hearing that they survived to one of their son (I told them that Venicio escaped somewhere in the world, and that was why we saw them only during Ferragosto and Christmas), over to cry like a river, actually thought about suicide, I  felt a huge boost in my desire of punish Venicio.

Not punished with death, but still rebuked.

Anyway, after the horrendous result that he had with Franco, Fate decided, for his next try to get Venicio, to bond Diana to an airy rope, that, according to Fate, was capable of teleport the owner back in his room, if the owner shake it five time from left to right.

And I was tasked to give Diana the weapons, and Venicio's position.

For the first task, it was easy: just a Glock and a combat knife.

The second part ? I saw, on the TV screen in the Tatical Room of Fate's Home, that Venicio, dressed like a Bersagliere, was armed to the metaphorical teeth, and he had a big escort of armed guards at his side: basically, it was impossible go in the crow, and snatch him.

Or kill him, for the matter.

But it was still possible to sneak behind him, yank the rope, and get back to Fate's House.

So, I found a spot, right between the pulpit, and the crow, where Diana could land, and grab Venicio's foot without begin seen.

After I chose the location, I waited the order of open the portal...