Subtle Manipulations

Prophecy?

I remember the day everything began to change. How Mom planned to change others, how the world planned to change me. And these sections…this prologue of how it started, from Mom's extreme affection to the day I found the Queen…my Queen.

And how my Queen restored my backbone with but a smile. But the cost…My start ends soon…and when it does I hope I can garner at least a shred of sympathy for what I did, what she did because of her love for us.

I hope…

…

She was touching again, soft and sensuous, warm breath after warm breath bringing feelings that both confused and aroused me deeply.

And she knew it, she always knew…

I didn't want to…I just wanted to sleep, to force every word she spoke out of my mind. But with Mom being Mom...that simply was not going to happen.

"Baby…" she crooned silkily. "It's okay, shhh."

"Please," I whispered, my body trembling ever so slightly as her lips ran across my right shoulder. "I just want to sleep tonight…please Mom…"

"And you will sweetie," she soothed, her voice still soft, still alluring. "But you're so tense my darling, too tense to sleep, I can feel it. Just let me…"

My breath became shaky very quickly as I felt her hoof slowly sliding down my stomach, forcing me to grab it instinctively, halting its gradual descent.

"I-I said no, not tonight!" I stated boldly, firmly.

Did I just manage to say that?

For a moment she remained silent, so much so that I, for a brief few moments believed that I had won that night, that she would finally allow me a victory.

…

The thought was as pointless as my denials.

"Very well then," she said coldly, removing her hoof and body from my own. "If you do not want my love, then I shall not waste my time trying to give it. Let us sleep."

The sheer amount of disappointment in her voice was enough to make me shudder, to make me cringe and nigh whimper in its hostility. Anger would have hurt less.

But still…I was right in my denial, I knew I was. And so, as if to prove my point to…myself, I turned around and looked right into those magenta orbs.

The orbs in question merely regarded me apathetically…yet with a brief tinge of sadness lingering within them. Alas, whatever was within failed to matter, for with not a single word Mom turned over and put her back to me, shutting any form of nonverbal communication out for good.

I feel…No, no this is right. What she was…what she HAS been doing is wrong; I don't care how little I know. I know it's wrong!

But then why did I feel so guilty, so…lost.

If I was right then why did I feel like I was the one who did wrong?

I fidgeted nervously as I turned back over, our backs now facing the other. I couldn't help the feeling no matter how much I tried to ignore it, I just couldn't.

Maybe there isn't anything wrong with it…

But there was…I was her son, and what she did, how she treated me was beyond a mother's love.

But what if it isn't? Mom and I are two of five Alicorn's…maybe it's alright for an Alicorn to feel like that for her son…Maybe…

No, no it couldn't be true. I may have known little in regards to the true world outside, but even I knew on some fundamental level that what Mom felt for me would never be accepted by others.

Maybe she doesn't care what others think, Christ knows she does enough for them all day, every day.

But…

Maybe we're in the wrong here…Maybe we…We hurt her feelings, maybe…oh I don't know…

"Mom…"

I couldn't stop the word; it all but forced its way out of my muzzle, demanding to be said. But in the end it mattered little, Mom remained silent, shuffling ever so slightly away as I once more began to fidget.

"Mom please," I pleaded quietly. "I'm s…I don't…"

Sighing deeply, Mom finally turned herself over and looked at me…but oh how I wish she hadn't. Her expression was not one of anger or weariness, but instead cold and apathetic.

"What is it Cosmos?" she asked, her voice completely lacking in emotion…all but for a trace of what was unmistakably…hurt.

"I'm sorry…" I mumbled, refusing to look up at those impassive eyes.

"Oh?" she uttered. "And what is it exactly that you feel sorry for, hmm?"

I looked up as she asked this, stupidly, and without any thought to what would happen. But alas, as I glanced at the complete and unreserved emptiness to Mom's expression…I…I…

I felt a part of me shrivel up and die.

And so it was with little thought that I propelled myself forward and buried my face in her barrel, desperately clinging onto her as I fought to try and explain…something!

"I don't know anything!" I confessed, shivering and all but screaming for the oh so familiar comfort of Mom's embrace. "It feels wrong, but I don't know if it is. I don't think I should want it, but I think I do. I just don't know what to…what to do, what do I-"

Oh…

The sudden yet gradual feeling of Mom's hooves pulling me even closer suddenly seemed to register in my mind. The warmth, the soothing nuzzles and gentle rubs upon my back made me feel so…happy.

"Please stop looking at me like that," I whimpered, tightening my grip around her as if to emphasise my hope. "I don't…I don't like it."

"Shh," she hushes, her soothing warmth, the mere sound of her voice already dragging me, pushing me to bury my face in her barrel and know I was safe. "What we have is a love no other on this world could understand. You are my son and I love you, I'd do anything to protect you, to keep you safe the harshness of the world, and I have. Because the world doesn't understand how this is right. How the very fact that I want to love you in every way possible is something they would never condone as right."

"But it's okay," she continued, smiling tenderly as she kissed me slowly, smile widening as I shivered and returned her love in kind. "Because I have a plan, and when it comes to fruition we can show the world just how much we love each other…and the way they see it now will no longer bother as it once did. I promise."

She kissed me once again, tongue brushing against my teeth lightly, playfully as her hoof reached down and…

"I swear…"

…

…

…

Sounds, sounds, bustling with sounds. Ponies, Griffons, and everything in between…all around me, some nodding, some bowing, some…sneering in contempt.

Blinking slightly, I move onward through them, some moving, some having to be moved. The sun was setting, night was coming…and yet it was still so bright.

Why was it so bright?

Onward I walk, barely aware and yet completely conscious of everyone around me. The individuals, the buildings, the noise, oh so much noise.

I blink again…and the world is empty now. The people are gone, the buildings…louder, and yet barely coherent. But…no, wait.

Who's that?

A…creature stands before me, taller than myself and…darker, holes in her limbs and eyes reptilian…green, greener than I'd ever seen.

She…smiles at me with such emotion in her gaze. My heart flutters at the sight, at her touch as she leans in and nuzzles my cheek. She mouths something…some word, no name…a name.

But what?

The world dims around us…and she steps back, glaring behind me at…

I turn…Mom. She stands there looking…at me, through me. Her gaze is kind, loving…but frightens me terribly. I step back…and she frowns…and then smiles once more, beckoning with her hoof, inviting me to come to her, join her, be with her.

Mother…lover? I c-can't…

The world dims again…but is still so bright, why? Why is it…

I look down at a puddle of clear liquid, my reflection staring back at me in confusion. I was confused…

But then my eyes light up, the iris changing, thinning to a more draconic appearance and glowing a bright blue, as I myself…begin to glow a bright blue.

The glow pulsates around my front hooves as I lift them up, staring in abject horror as the power within said glow makes itself known. I feel…I know the result would destroy everything around me.

Canterlot…Mom…that creature.

I turn and mouth out a plea for help, but she simply smiles, not moving one inch from where she stands. I turn around again to see Mom right in front of me, I plea for help, for safety only she could give me.

Her smile, her expression contorts into one of utter surprise…but then it's back to normal, to her everlasting smile.

The power spreads throughout my body, glowing, thrumming, throbbing. It reaches my head and bursts outwards as I look to the sky and scream.

Everything destroyed, everyone dead, gone…because of-

I wake up screaming, everything around me is a blur, all I can see, all I can feel is the pain, the glow, the very fact that I exploded and devastated an entire city-

The mirror opposite my bed…I glimpse it for but a moment and freeze, my breath gone as a pale creature with blue eyes so similar to my own stares back at me…

And grins.

"Cosmos!" the door slams open as Mom runs inside, reaching me in all of a second and grasping my face gently with her hooves. "What's wrong baby, you were screaming?!"

"I…" I knew not what to say, what to do…as I looked back at the mirror and saw only my fearful reflection staring back at me. "I…nightmare, really bad one. Nothing to w-worry about."

I didn't need to look at her to know that Mom didn't believe me for a second. Nonetheless she only pulled me closer, holding me tightly as she smoothed my sweaty mane with her tongue.

What just happened?