The Witch Baby; The Sibling story
The Beginning of The Storyteller Part 2
MLPFIM
Ms. Phoenix sat on my shoulder and she rubbed my cheek. I had told her a story and I was feeling better. I had been whisked away to a land of magical talking ponies and so far I’ve been treated like some sort of plague. I had found myself in another world that was very different form my own. I need some part of normalcy and telling stories were one thing I knew
So far the only thing that kept me from going nuts was my fear and telling Ms. Phoenix a story.
"Interesting." A singsong voice projected into the room.
Ms. Phoenix and I turned to face the owner of the voice. I saw two large ponies with wings and horns come into the room from the back. They took their seat on their thorns, one throne had a sun motif while the one next to it was the moon.
One that spoke aloud was largest and more like a horse, her mane was like a living moving spectrum, with the sun tattooed on her flank. The other one was smaller and was dark midnight blue in color, her mane was like a moving night sky with a matching moon and night sky on her flank. The phoenix seemed to know what to do, she took flight and perched near the thrones. "Keeping our guest company Philomena?" She stroked the birds' head. "When we were told that a strange creature was found in the lab that was ratted I believed that there was going to be some strange creature penned up here and here I find this."
"A trained lab animal nothing more dear sister, even a parrot can seem liked it has manner lets be rid of it now!" The darker one growled
"But I am a sentient species and I don't know how I got here. I woke up and they I got knocked out and I woke up here again then brought her there is nothing more to tell." I urged.
"Can you prove that!" The darker one shot back.
"Please sister, why not at least let him try, but first introduction." The white one said with a smile to me. "I am Princess Celestia and next to me is my sister Princess Luna. We are the rulers of Equestria, the land you find yourself in.”
I gave them a bow. "I don't know how I got here. I mean in this land. Where I come from Ponies are not sentient creatures." Both seemed interested in that remark.
"We could say the same thing about you." Princess Celestia remarked..
"What ever happen, I had nothing to do with it." I urged, Princess Luna looked at me still skeptical. "What can you do that will show us that you are not only not a threat but at the same level of as our little ponies." Princess Luna asked me.
"I don't know what I can do, or show you to make see that." I looked down at the polished floor.
"The most important thing here is proving not only that you're cognitive capable creature but that you mean no harm to my little ponies." Princess Celestia told me.
"THEN MAY BE WE SHOULD PUT YOU DOWN, ANIMAL!" Princess Luna roared.
“Luna show some manners!” Princess Celestia looked over at her sister. She had a stern glare and placed a hoof on her sister. "Luna calm down, you're letting your fear of the enemy eclipse you heart, as well as hampers your judgement. From what I observed he was only use as a lab animal, but I do agree with the soldiers and their assessment, that he seems to be more than a mere animal. He is a creature that needs compassion? We may even find more as we continue our raids on our enemies other laboratories." The Princess looked at me.
“Nay sister, The Shadows are too great a threat. You yourself told me of their danger and how they attacked Equestra long ago. Now we find some creature like him,” Princess Luna pointed a hoof at me. “In a lab? That is just too suspicious.”
Princess Celestia looked at me. "You see you were found in an arcane lab of The Shadows and many fear you may be a weapon. I believe you are just a specimen that they picked up to be examined. " She informed me.
“Why would they have me?” I asked still a little more than afraid.
“I have a theory...You see the Shadow have not true form and live as emorghis blobs. You may have been taken as a possible vessel for their use, in truth I do not know. ” The Princess shook her head and then started. “Right now I would not like to speculate on thier motives. We should focus on trying to figuring out your situation. What can you do to prove to us that you are not a threat?”
“Then what can I do to prove to you that I’m not a threat? What can I say or do?” I asked meekly.
Princess Celestia put her hoof to her chin. "When we first met you, you were telling a to story Philomena her," She stroked the birds head. "We could use some entertainment."
Princess Luna looked at her sister in shock. "Sister what are you proposing? That he entertain us and we might not element HIM?"
"Luna you and I have lived so long, we both know when we are being lied to by courtier. Plus, when somepony tells a story, the storyteller puts a part of his own self into it. The way he talks and his intonation of any given part speaks volumes of a ponies character. For remember when a storyteller speak they put their identity out for other to judge and thus like the thrust of a sword, a word can not be taken back once spoke." She paused for a moment. "And unlike speeches a story can not be censured as easy." Princess Celestia finished in a sagely manner.
"But he does not know any of our stories." Princess Luna protested.
"We've heard all the stories of our land about a million times, literally. Let him tell us one of his world." Princess Celestia suggested.
Luan looked at me, I could feel her eyes boring into me. "Well, do you have something?"
I was drawing a blank and I my fear was telling me that I was going to be executed any minute. That's when I noticed a set of taro cards on the ground. "Where did these come from?" I asked aloud.
"One of the many charlatans that probe us for favors." Princess Luna answered me with a wave of her hoof.
I picked them up and sat on the palace floor, I started a strange game of solitaire as I started to put them in a strange order. The Princesses were both perplexed but for me memories came to me.
I broke the silence. "When I was young we lived in an apartment building. The neighbor that use to live downstairs from us. She use to watch me and my brother when we were little." She was a heavy set Russian woman long brown hair. She also love dogs, my brother and I would fight her dog for a spot on the sofa every time. Her name was Sandy, she was kind and very funny, nice too. I remembers a story she told us with taro cars once, it was a strange story but I looked for the same cards.
I pulled them out and said aloud. "Force, Emperor, Empress, The Devil, Temperance, Justice, Death.” The Princess looked at me strangely.
"What do you mean?" Celestia asked, her voice held a puzzled tone.
"Our neighbor told us a story using taro cards, it's important to me but it's not meant for kids." I said a loud.
"Then you may proceed." Luna said firmly but was also intrigued.
Once there was a great kingdom it was powerful and impressive but... The inside pleasure held the court. A dance gone mad! All things to excess. Music all day and night. The drains ran red with wine and the gutters ripe with rotted food. It was always more, more food! More drink! More dance!
The rulers you may asked yourselves? A gray-bearded king and a auburn-haired queen a decadent dance that never seemed to end... The heir to his kingdom was a young prince, just twelve years old.
Every time his mother saw him she would pinch his cheek and hold him close the her. “Come son dance with me,” She laughed. “Look, everyone! Can you imagine how I gave birth to a shy little son like this?”
Every time his father saw him. “Speak my son, speak you dumb fool! You making your mother sad!”
The only thing that you should know about the Prince is he did not speak, not that he couldn’t but he did not. How can you speak when you don’t really know what it is you want to say?
The Prince’s closes friend was a storyteller that came to serve the king to groom a future king. In the storyteller’s home there was no need for words. The storyteller would keep him company for most of the night then send the poor prince to bed, bidding him sweet dreams. But that never, happened with all the parties and such happening all night, every night.
I paused as Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow to what I said. "How curious? A storyteller you say."
"Y... ye.. yes, that's just how it's told." I answered them in a waving voice.
"Interesting? Luna doesn't the King and Queen remind you of..."
"Our mother and father just not so hedonistic."
"You took the words out of my mouth, dear sister."
"Proceed Storyteller." Princess Luna informed me.
So the endless parties rolled one and on and the poor prince saw everything but never spoke. Sadness wound round and round his heart, squeezing it tight. So one night the storyteller decides to divine the boy’s future.
With taro cards on the table the storyteller began. “Now my fine lad choose nine. Any ones will do.” The Prince did so.
The storyteller laid them down on the table. “Now, Force... and an Emperor... and an Empress. And to come, the devil, in the form of a woman. In the future, a tower of destruction and then maybe Temperance... a journey... Justice... or death.” There was no story his only friend spoke of but the truth. “Now listen to me my dear boy. Remember, very soon you’ll have a sister. Your fine mother is going to give birth to a baby that she has been longing for. But make no mistake... She will be bad, evil infect. She’ll have iron teeth, and she’ll eat and eat. She’ll eat your father. She’ll eat your mother. And unless you escape she’ll eat you too. You must escape, for if you stay she’ll destroy you. That’s for sure.”
Prince raced back to the castle where his mother an father had just gave the court the good news, they were going to have another child. What the Storyteller said was true! That is when the Prince spoke, and as anyone knew for the first time. “Father? Father. Father!!!”
The room fell silent the Queen was speechless the King Spoke amazed. “Son... Did you just speak?”
“Yes, father.”
“What did you day?” The old King asked
“Please... I... Pleas...”
“Go on!”
“Please, may I have a horse?” The old King gave his son the horse.
"A horse?" Princess Luna asked me. He eyes had changed from fear to a more calmer look.
"There are horse in your world?" Princess Celestia asked me.
"Yes, there are horse in our world. They are not sentient and we humans use them to help us in many ways. Like beast of burden, and companions." I answered her.
"You must explain this further to us but when you are finished I want to hear what happens next." Princess Luna urged.
So, the prince and the storyteller left everyone to get eaten. For what could either of them do? A Witch Baby, with iron teeth that could tear and destroy? The Boy rode on through his tears... right off on his lonely road, with no guide and no map. He rode on and on seeking the very end of the world. And when he had given up, when he listed expected it, he stumbled on the end of his path... There was a warm and welcoming answer to his dreams, he found the Castle of the Sister of the Sun. She held out her arms, and welcomed him in to her home a gold and white castle that seemed to float on the clouds. The Sister of the Sun knew much and was like a wise mother. “Come little Prince here you can be safe and grow strong.” The Sister of the Sun was a beautiful and wise creature and was all but glad to take the Prince in. His adopted mother taught him many things; arrhythmic, reading, writing music are swordplay and archery.
In her castle the Prince knew peace, safety and rest. But he also felt something else...
For someone else a black hearted and terrible teeth, had other plans. For back in his homeland his new baby sister longed to devour him. "Hungary." Was her cry.
"Sister of the sun you say?" Princess Luna smiled at me and rubbed her hoof to her chin..
"I am sure it is not the moon." Princess Celestia told her.
"Can dream can't I? Do you not think I would be generous as the sister in the story?" Princess Luna eyed her sister.
"I guess you can dream dear sister, I have not doubt that you would be generous," Princess Celestia chucked lightly with a light smile on her face. "But can we let him continue the story is getting good."
"Indeed!" Princess Luna cried.
Time passed. The Prince got stronger, he learned many things and was fed well with good food. All would have been well except there was a tower where no one ever went to It was golden and interesting and it was only a matter of time before the boy got the urge to explore. You know how children are a closed door, as secret place... That is a place that must be explored first.
It was in that room. It was empty except for a crystal ball it was how he Sun’s Sister seen him. She knew that he would look into it and see what was going on but doesn't stop him... Because he had to, he it was something he had to do.
The boy looked into the crystal ball it was there he saw events unfold.
“What does it matter if her teeth are black?” He heard his father’s voice he was holding an large baby girl. “She isn’t dumb, are you my toad - in - the hole? My little lollipop!”
Then the next scene he saw both this mother and father holding the baby and a massive bottle of milk. “You're a big girl now! Yes you are!” His father cooed.
“I do believe she’s growing every minute.” His mother said.
“Well, she’s always so hungry...”
The baby started to suck away at the bottle and the gave a loud burp. The boy saw an army of handmaidens holding several equally large bottles of milk.
“I think she wants more. She shall have whatever she wants, my--”
The scene changed again he watched as the baby sank her teeth into her mother’s hand and tore off her finger. “She... She bit me!” His mother screamed.
Then the last scene the Witch Baby launched herself at the handmaids. With an ominous roar! The handmaids “Heavens!” One screamed. “What is she...!?” The Last words the others screamed before the baby descended on them.
The poor Prince started to cry and as he left the tower his adopted mother asked. “Are you crying, My son?” she asked in a motherly tone.
“It’s a speck in my eye. It’ll be alright.”
“That is fine my son.” She answered him. Even though she knew the true answer, she said nothing more.
"Familiar dear sister?" Princess Luna broke seeking grimly to her sister.
"Yes, I felt the same way when the same events passed for us." Princess Celestia said to her sister. She looked at me. I had stopped to make sure that they would not be interrupted. "Sorry for the interruption, again."
After that I picked up my story again.
But it wasn’t it? Time after time something called him back and the nightmare sights grew worse and worse. The poor Prince could not explain or forget what he saw. It was like needles in his heart, twisting it, tormenting him, drawing lines on his brow.
Back in his homeland his sister continued her destructive path. He watched his sister as she chanted. “Eaten father. Eaten mother. Next I’ll eat the little brother!”
The little boy growing up, full of pain. It got to be that the sun shielded him, the peace accused him, the comfort scarred him. He couldn’t bear to look again, but he had to! Probably months went by, possibly years, until one day... A tall youth climbed the golden stairs for the final time, to look at his homeland. His parents were dead, and the palace destroyed The Witch Baby had grown to a monstrous size. She’d swallowed whole cities - men, women and children and still wasn’t satisfied.
He was sad. But now he saw clearly of course, the sister of the Sun didn’t want him to leave. But when she was he’d set his heart on it. She let him go.
But his return was know. “I spy with my little eye... Something beginning with B!!! B-aby, B-reakfest, B-eautiful, B-rother!” The Witch baby said in a childish manner
The Prince found his birthplace in ruins, It’s people; died, or departed, hopefully. The Prince entered the former court. He was greeted by his sister. “Brother! I’m so pleased you could come!” She embraced him. “We have such a very special relationship haven’t we? And I’ve always knew that if I could explain, you’d see how necessary it was to act as I did. Ohh, my dear brother now I have longed for your return. I am ravenous aren’t you?”
I saw, the sister passed glances at each other. I could see that the Princess were sharing a moment of thought amongst themselves. Didn't not want to make them angry they were powerful and dangerous I didn't know what to do. The paused caused the Princess to thinks, could sense my discomfort. They both gave me a set of warms smiles.
"Good storyteller we sense that you are sacred." Princess Luna said to me.
"Yes, there is no reason to be afraid, if it makes you more conformable just call us Luna and Celestia. We are not your Princess." Celestia said to me.
"But if you say so my life could end. Then if I become a citizen I will have to call you Princess." I told her.
"True but, we could use a few more stories like that. How about we call you our friend Our friends can call us that. Would you deny our friendship?" Luna asked.
"No I guess not." I confessed to her. They wanted to be my friend?
"Would you continue I wish to hear the ending of this story." Luna gave me a warm smile.
"Yes I will." I said a little less scared.
The Princes sat in the ruins of his former home, his head was abuzz had he got it all wrong? Was this a fresh start? She asked him to play her a childhood tune that would echo through the palace while she made their supper.
It was not too long ago that a little mouse lived in the palace wall, and she saw and heard and then she warned.
“By yourself you are not strong enough. You must escape and find some help. Your sister has gone to sharpen her teeth. She’s planning to eat you up. Let me play in your place. She’ll think you're still here. Quickly! Run! Find a way to destroy her, or she’ll swallow the world!”
The mouse did as he promised and played has the Prince sister came down .
“Now to eat the poor dumb brother. I’m hung...” She saw that the mouse was playing. “Wait, where? NO!” That’s when she grew to monstrous size to chase after her brother.
The Prince did run. Like the wind, as fast as he could. He kept running, his legs said stop, but he didn’t. He saw the Witch Baby after him. Getting bigger and catching up. The Prince ran through forests over rivers, up and down mountains. Faster than anyone had ever run before. He thought that the Witch Baby would never catch up.
Unfortunately She did.
She caught up with him just as he reached the palace of the Sister of the Sun, and he felt her protection.
Just as the Prince leapt to safety of his adopted mother home his sister caught his cloak but luckily tore away from him. “He’s mine! He’s my brother, My flesh and blood!” The Witch Bay roared!
The Sister of the Sun quickly came to his defense. “He is Mine. He’s my son. My adopted Child!”
“I caught him! It’s not fair. And anyway, I’m bigger than him!!!” The witch babe wailed.
“Leave, Now you have no claim on him!” The Sister of the Sun returned.
“Look! I bet I am. Let’s play a little game. If You are stronger than me, you’ll be the winner. Go on, go on - I dare you! But if I weigh more, I can eat you.” The Prince did not move. “Coward! You’re a baby!”
The Sister of the Sun looked at her son. “Well, my son? Do you dare?”
The Prince looked at his adopted mother. “Mother, I am not afraid. I will play her game.”
So the Sister of the sun rose from the ground a large, yet simple Golden balance Scale. The Prince sat on one of the balance plats. “There. Now it’s your turn.”
His sister shrank to the size he infant size. “Don’t you bully me. I’ll do it when I’m ready.” She sat down on the other balance plat.
The Prince was heavier.
The Witch Baby started to grow bigger. “I’m winning! I’m heavier that you. And I’m stronger. And I’m Huuungry.” She said childishly before adding “And I hate you!” She laughed and flashed her iron teeth.
“Child,” The Sister of the Sun called to the Prince. “Are you going to let her win?” She materialized a bow and arrow in his hands.
The Prince understood, it was hard for the Prince. For the only way he was going to live was to prove himself stronger then the Witch Baby and to be rid of her. He steady his bow and let the arrow fly, piercing his sister in she side. Gases escaped from the Witch Baby, like the air bleeding out of a balloon. The Witch Baby was shot into the air and never came down. The Prince obviously had to come down to Earth. He could not stay in the sky, he had to get to work. He had to go back and rebuild his Kingdom, or not. Maybe he would find a wife. A princess or a beggar girl?
I could see that my story had affected them. So I went silent, afraid of what was going to happen. what were they going to say.
Luna and Celestia looked at each other for a moment. Both sisters had tears in their eyes, they were still quiet.
"A most excellent story, storyteller. For it was not a sword of justice he used, but an arrow of love, my dears and perhaps I’m not such a bad old fool." Luna said to me with a smile on her face.
"Why shouldn’t a story end happily? But in life, if you want a happy ending then you still have to work for it." Celestia finished.
"That's interesting those are the last words I'm suppose to say. Those are the last line of the story." I told them still shaking a little.
"Maybe that's because we understand things have no fear because your story told us more than you think." Celestia told me and I became a little calmer.
"So I'm not..." I started.
"No you are not a mere animal and that is clear to us now. Any sentient creature deserves a chance to live free. I am sorry for the way I acted but our land is old and has many powerful enemies."
"My sister is right," Celestia smiled. "Any pony that can express themselves through a story can not be an animal," She motioned to me to turn around. I did so and I saw no soldiers or guards. "You have also shown a bit of your character."
"But I didn't know." I told her.
"True but you do warrant a chance don't you." She smiled at me.
"Good luck storyteller. We welcome you to our land and pray you find your home." Luna added he face had adopted a softer expression long ago but now she had a smile on her face.
I gave them a weak smile because back then I did not know what lade before me but I hope this was a good sign for my future.
The sisters had dispelled my fear and I was starting to feel good. That's how it happened the beginning but not yet the end.
Author's Note
I do not own the right to My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic, it is the property of Hasbro. The story were also inspired by a Early Russian Folk Tale. The Story I am retelling was told to me by someone dear and I hope that she will be OK she is a battle with cancer and this is my attempt to make sure a piece of her will be around still.
