Formless, Nameless; Ageless, Faceless

Formless, Nameless; Ageless, Faceless

By Queue

Fear Is the Mind Killer.

“... Fear is the mind killer.”

Twilight gagged the sandwich out of her mouth. Though ponies could consume meat safely, it was an acquired taste few possessed.

Blood pooled around her lips to give her speech a sick, bubbling quality, and her words were labored under the pressure I applied to her ribcage. “What… You... Doing...?”

“We’re going to play a game, Princess.” I levitated Twilight from the wall to the floor. Her breathing became less labored, but I could hear a slight catch whenever she inhaled too quickly. “You’re going to sit there without fuss...” My jaw cracked open at the base, and I regurgitated my serpentine tongue onto her prone form. My saliva and bile mixed into a viscous fluid and coated every inch of her body, forming a mucous-like jelly around her, immobilizing her. “Annd dethide hoow badly you’re going to lose.”

She struggled valiantly while I finished swallowing my tongue. Its length slid down my throat and coiled in my belly. Her horn lit up, which caused the jelly to rapidly expand and cover her bloodied nostrils, threatening to suffocate her.

“The more you struggle the more the chrysalis will constrict. You must control yourself if you wish to avoid greater tragedies today.” I trotted to the second, unopened bag with a swagger in my step. “After all...” I levitated the bag. “How can you...” I tore the bag. “Expect to save either of these ponies...” I dumped the contents. “If you are dead?”

The spike of righteous anger I felt from Twilight when she saw the prone form of Applebloom was intoxicating.

“The terms of the game are simple. You will decide which of these ponies will be slaughtered. If you choose like a peasant they will both die. If you choose like a ruler one will live.” I waited a beat. “Decide, Princess. You don’t have much time.”

Twilight’s jaw moved, her body writhed, but the only sound she was able to make was a high, nasal whine, almost a screech. Her eyes began rolling into the back of her head as she wasted what was left of her precious air.

“What’s that? I couldn’t quite hear you,” I spoke over her pathetic whimpers. “It almost sounded like you were panicking! But that can’t be, you’re a princess! Celestia wouldn’t have allowed you to ascend, she wouldn’t have sent me here if you were incapable of staying calm under pressure!”

For a brief moment her struggles allowed her mouth to break free. “Celestia would never do something like this!” she gasped before the chrysalis swallowed her again.

“Poor, naive foal. Do you think she also wasn’t responsible for releasing Sombra? Celestia isn’t as impractically benevolent as you want to believe she is.”

“She... Wouldn’t...” Twilight forced through the phlegm prison.

I began walking around the room, circling Twilight like a hunter stalking its prey. “She. Would. I already told you, Princess, you’ll need to harden your heart for the greater good. Celestia did that long ago.”

“How… Is… This… Good…?”

“It is not “good”,“ I laughed. “It is necessary. Your idealism will cause greater tragedy. In the future… And today.” I slammed my hoof on the floor. “Decide!”

“How…? I...”

“Because if you don’t I will kill all three of you. A weak princess is a liability. Be the ruler Celestia and I need you to be! Decide! The apple farmer or the filly? Who is more important? Think like a ruler!”

I stomped on Twilight’s prone form, forcing a scream from her as I snapped one of her already bruised ribs. “Perhaps you need to talk out your solution.” I smeared the mucous away from her snout, finally allowing her to breath as normally as her broken torso would allow. “What value do these ponies offer to Equestria?”

“They… They’re farmers, they make food,” Twilight whimpered.

I increased my pressure on her body. “Try again, what do they offer individually?”

“Applejack is a farmer, she makes food!”

“And the other? What does she contribute?” I demanded.

“Food!”

“Then where is her “food” cutie mark? Her flank is blank! What does she contribute?”

“She helps Applejack!”

“She can barely carry a barrel of apples! What does she contribute?”

“I...” Twilight’s eyes went wide as she began to realize the meaning behind my questions. “I don’t… I don’t know!”

I relieved the pressure on her torso and stepped back. I let my nerves calm for a moment before I spoke. “Then given the information you possess make the best decision you can as a ruler.”

“I… But Applebloom is just a filly!” She protested.

“Listen to your words. You said “just”. “Just a filly”. Even you already unconsciously recognized she has less worth than a grown, productive member of society.”

“This is monstrous… It’s our job to protect foals!”

“It is the peasants’ job to protect the foals. It is OUR job to protect the peasants. Now make your choice, I don’t have much patience left for your waffling.”

The conflict in Twilight’s mind was visible as the day’s light on her face. Her agony tasted sweet and poignant as she finally accepted the choice she needed to make.

“Then… Applejack lives...” she said with resignation.

I grinned as I pooled magic into my horn. The feelings of betrayal broadcast by Twilight reached a crescendo as her last hopes of this merely being a test faded. I cast my spell, a light flashed, and only a charred, barely recognizable corpse remained where the sleeping filly once laid.

I sniffed the foul air for a moment, the scent of death brought back fond memories. But I could reminisce later, I still had finish my work, I still had to beat Twilight into complete submission.

“And now you are finally thinking, in a miniscule way, like a ruler, Princess. Now I can “begin my lecture”.”

I wasn’t surprised she was in shock, I had destroyed her youthful idealism in a day. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure she would survive it. This kind of thing had sent ponies into suicidal depressions in the past, and Twilight wasn’t particularly known for her emotional stability. Her resemblance to Luna was uncanny at times, so it was no wonder why Celestia held an irrational fondness for her.

She wouldn’t be responsive for a while, so I let her sit in silence as I busied myself with work. I had to cover my tracks, after all. Among other things I incinerated the burlap sacks used to transport the game pieces, I devoured the remains of my bacon lunch, which was made sweeter by Twilight’s saliva and bile, and I evaporated the gooey chrysalis around Twilight. The most time consuming thing I did was scrubbing my magic signature from the building, especially from Applebloom’s desiccated corpse.

Eventually I cleared my throat to get Twilight’s attention. She was laying on the ground, mired in a pool of her own filth and pain. The only indication she was still aware of my presence was a slight twitch of her ear, but she was listening. “Your question, you asked why ponies weren’t panicking after the Elements were lost. You’re assuming ponies didn’t panic.”

I observed her for a moment, gauging her reaction to my words. She showed no indication of having any investment in my words, but I continued anyway. “Celestia and I decided panic and fear were not the optimal responses to the situation. We needed ponies to remain calm, so we commanded it.”

“How.” Twilight spoke in a monotone, detached and unfeeling.

“The same way I commanded you to lose your idealism. Through manipulation and force.”

“So. You murdered innocents.”

“Yes, we did.” I smiled to myself, she was catching on. “To prevent the chaos and destruction of an uncontrolled panic we… disposed the most… Let’s call them “excitable”. We disposed the most excitable ponies whenever they started to incite panic.”

“Murder would cause panic.”

“After I murdered Applebloom you calmed down significantly, didn’t you? Well, “deflated” and “exhausted” would be a better way to describe it. Regardless, murder isn’t the only trick we use. I also have… friends, who encourage whatever feelings and ideas we determine are most beneficial at the time. That mailmare was one of them, for example.”

“Ditzy.”

“Yes. From now on she will be my liason with you.”

“My brother.”

“He doesn’t know. Like you, he is an idealist at heart, but he is most valuable believing his work is just, so he will never be told,” I explained.

“And Cadance?” It was slight, but I detected a slight accusation in her mood and tone.

“She has known for a long, long time.”

“So you did the same thing to her...”

I laughed, which caused Twilight’s fur to stand on end. “No. She was simply told. There was no reason to crush her spirit.”

For the first time since Applebloom’s death she moved her head to look at me, she bore the pain to move, and she looked me right in the eyes. “Then... Then why? Why did you do this? Why was Applebloom’s death necessary? She didn’t need to die!”

I stood up and stomped my way in front of her. Her eyes were big and fearful, but she didn’t have the energy to do more than inch back an imperceptible amount in her efforts to cow from me. “Because you are you, and Cadance is Cadance.”

“I don’t understand!” She pleaded.

“Your lust for knowledge is insatiable. If I had done nothing you would have discovered the answer by yourself. Until now no one has had the good sense to curb stomp your curiosity or idealism. She died to teach you a simple lesson: Don’t interfere.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it, Princess.”

There wasn’t much left to say. I had accomplished most of what I needed to do, all that was left was to tie up a few loose ends. “I would assume I shouldn’t need to say this, but you understand you are not to tell anyone about this meeting, correct? You will suffer this same punishment tenfold if you do.”

Twilight shot a nervous glance at Applejack and her darkened sister.

“Oh, them? We’re going to say you did that. When you are asked you will say you were experimenting with a spell and it went wrong. You will say Applejack was lucky to be mostly unscathed, you sustained serious injury, and poor Applebloom lost her life,” I gloated before I started walking to the door. My form slowly faded with shimmering air as I spoke my last words to Twilight. “I trust we’ve come to an understanding of your place in this world, Princess. Don’t disappoint me.”

I left her on the floor, broken in mind, body, and spirit.