Verse of the Void

Chapter 2: The Sun Has Almost Set

        Cedar walked to his old house. He wasn’t sure it would still be there, and if it was, he knew there’d be somepony living in it. But on his arrival he was pleasantly shocked.

Guess murder victim houses are hard to sell.

        It was derelik, moss and plants covering everything, most of the window’s broken. But the inside looked decent. Almost like everypony was scared to touch anything.  He walked up and pushed open his door. It scrapped the flooring as it swung open, Cedar was surprised it stayed attached to its frame. As soon as he stepped hoof inside, the world took on a purple tinge. Looking down at his hoof, Cedar noticed it wasn’t the world that was purple, but him.

        One blinding flash later, he found himself standing in the Ponyville Library with a rather erratic Princess Twilight Sparkle in front of him.

        “Hey Cedar! I wasn’t expecting you to show up again, not with skin at least. Ha ha!” Twilight’s ears twitched as she babbled, a strange dance like grace flowing through her jagged movements, “I bet you’re wondering why you’re here? Hmmmm? Well let me tell you! I have been busy, busy, busy since Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were otherwise engaged. What with raising the sun and moon and everything! Turns out my magic alone isn’t strong enough. Ha! Imagine that! Anyway, I had to do it, so I asked Rainbow Dash to help me. And she did! She helped for a long time. But then she stopped helping me. So I had to banish her to the moon for treason! Ha, ha! Funny right? Anyway! I need more help and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind?”

        “What would I be doing to help?” Cedar asked, leaning back as Princess Twilight pressed her face into his.

        “Oh I knew you would!” Princess Twilight grinned, jumping on Cedar, “Did you know before I asked Rainbow Dash, I tried using black magic to boost my spells? It worked! Kind of. And I’m still fine! I just don’t sleep anymore and I get the occasional craving for meat… You don’t have any limbs you aren’t planning on using, do you?”

        “What? NO!” Cedar yelled, throwing Princess Twilight off him.

        “Just joking! Ha, ha! Anyway, let’s head to my study, we need to get you ready to help,” Princess Twilight grinned. A purple tinge overtook the world once again and Cedar found himself standing in some sort of magic circle. Twilight flew around the room, going from bookcase to bookcase, throwing tomes off the shelves.

        “What are you doing?” Cedar started.

        “Here it is!” Twilight shouted, “Ok, so first we need to make you a mare. Don’t worry! I can do that now! I practiced on Owlicious.”

        Princess Twilight kept spewing words as she cast her spell. Cedar didn’t have time to process any of what she said, much less to react. He screamed as his whole body began to burn and shrink. Tears filled Cedar’s eyes, his head spun. The only thing Cedar could compare it to was the time he put his hoof on a hot stove. The big difference being that his whole body was on the stove and that he couldn’t pull away. By the time the world came back into focus Twilight had changed into a long robe.

        “Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that. The spell sometimes makes it feel like your skin is melting off. The spell is only temporary though, it should wear off in… Sometime! Ever had Dragon’s Tongue? It’s delicious!” Princess Twilight pranced around the room, her robe flowing behind her. Cedar couldn’t help but notice how it framed her flank. Wait, if I’m a girl, does that make me a lesbian? Or maybe a temporary lesbian, because I’m temporary a girl?

        “I see you staring. Don’t worry we can have so much fun tonight! But first we have to make it night!” Princess Twilight declared. She pulled out a white unicorn horn from within her robes. Pulling back her sleeve, Cedar noticed several scars and partially healed scabs along Princess Twilight’s leg. Closing his eyes to avoid seeing what he knew would happen, Cedar only heard a gasp from Princess Twilight. Slowly opening his eyes he looked at the deranged pony he was ‘helping’. She was bleeding out of her stabbed leg, though the horn was wrapped in a purple field of telekinetic force and floating by her head.

        “So Rainbow Dash told me this part hurts. Just a heads up,” Twilight stated as she drove the horn into one of Cedar’s arms.

        “The fuck!” Cedar yelled, feeling the horn pierce his skin and dig into his flesh. Princess Twilight pulled the horn back out and sprinkled the blood around the circle, changing softly. Cedar didn’t want to know what she was saying, he was worried that just by hearing the words he would be driven to madness just like her. Instead he curled up, cradling his injured leg. He only noticed when Princess Twilight was finished with the ritual because his flesh began to mend.

        “And now that the work is done, ready for some fun?” Princess Twilight taunted, wiggling her flank as she slid over to Cedar.

        Cedar was tired of getting tied to things. True, a bed is a lot better than a blood stained table, but he wished Twilight would have untied him before she passed out. Or gotten off of my face. Cedar decided that when Twilight said that ‘we’re going have so much fun’, she meant ‘I am going to have so much fun’. So far, Cedar had gotten zip. No, I got a sticky face. What a wonderful gift… Better than being covered in blood I guess.

        The door creaked open. Cedar tried to peek around the Alicorn resting on his face to see who had entered. Soon he didn’t care who had entered. Whoever they were, they were untying him, and that was enough for him to instantly like them. Once Cedar was untied, he pushed Princess Twilight off and stood up. Spike stood before him. Putting a claw to his lips, Spike waved Cedar out of the room. When they were out, Spike closed the door.

        “Oh thank goodness,” Cedar sighed, “Thank you so much Spike.”

        Spike looked at Cedar and tilted his head.

        “It’s me Cedar? I’m the carpenter that came over after the tree crashed through the window,” Cedar explained, “Twilight just turned me into a mare for… some reason.”

        Spike nodded in understanding.

        “What’s the matter do we still need to be quiet?” Cedar asked, lowering his voice.

        Spike shook his head. Then he opened his mouth and pointed at it. Cedar couldn’t tell what was wrong. He hadn’t ever seen the inside of a dragon’s mouth before. And I had hoped I would never have to. Though this is one of the better ways it could happen. Cedar looked for the offending object. Teeth, gums, throat ok, lips functioning, no cuts… Cedar didn’t see anything extra. Then it hit him. Spike doesn’t have a tongue…

        “Oh goddess...“ He gasped.

        Spike nodded sadly and waved him into the kitchen.

        Spike had done the kitchen up into his own private room. His bed had been moved down and placed under the table, a stack of comic books next to it. A treasure chest was poorly hidden in a bag of flower. The only thing Cedar didn’t understand was the presence of the chalkboard.

        ‘This is how I speak now,’ Spike wrote, seeming to know what Cedar was about to ask.

        “What… What happened?” Cedar asked, plopping down on one of the cushions Spike had laid about the floor.

        ‘Princess Twilight got angry when I spoke against her and threatened to tell other ponies what she was doing. So she cut out my tongue and ate it. Said that I wouldn’t tell other ponies or I would be banished to the moon. She then ordered me to go find some meat for her. Luckily as a Dragon, ponies don’t think twice about me wanting meat,’ Spike wrote.

        “Who sells meat?” Cedar asked, remembering Big Mac with a shudder and wishing he hadn’t.

        ‘Fluttershy had always given me dead animals. She understands the food chain, and though she was never happy about it, was glad that her friends were helping somepony one last time. She seems to have more than ever now though. I never get anything whole anymore, just bits of different animals. I’m pretty sure from some of the damage done to them that she’s beating them,’ Spike explained.

        “That’s terrible!” Cedar exclaimed.

        ‘At least she’s not killing other ponies,’ Spike scribbled.

        “What happened to Rainbow Dash though? Does Twilight actually have the power to send ponies to the moon?” Cedar asked.

        ‘She likes to be called by her “title” now Princess Twilight. I think she does have the power to. Though she hasn’t actually used it yet. As for Rainbow Dash, Princess Twilight ate her,” Spike explained.

        “Twilight… Princess Twilight… Ate. Rainbow Dash,” Cedar couldn’t tell if he was more shocked or disgusted.

        It turned out that Princess Twilight truly didn’t  ‘sleep’ she simply passed out from exhaustion. When she awoke, she went right back to whatever she had been doing as if no time had passed. Even though that meant that sometimes the sun rose or set several hours after when it should have. Cedar had asked Spike how other ponies reacted to that.  Spike had explained that they simply thought it was the princess trying to make her name more important. The spell did keep the sun and moon moving across the sky while the caster did other things. They just needed help to cross the horizon. Cedar wondered how that worked. Spike told him that the only place with an answer to that question would be the Castle Library, ‘and good luck getting into Canterlot, nevermind getting out.’

The gender changing spell still hadn’t worn off. Cedar was getting worried that it might never do so. Princess Twilight had taken to calling him Cinder, “Because, you know, Cinderella!” Cedar had laughed at the joke in fear of being ‘banished to the moon’. Which he helped raise and lower every day. Twice every day. No wonder her leg is full of scars. Cedar had found out that Princess Twilight always remembered to heal herself. Her helper was not always so lucky. Cedar found that he was forgotten roughly one out of every three times. No wonder Rainbow Dash only helped for so long. A wound would have gotten infected or she would have not had enough time to recover between helpings.

One evening Cedar walked into the library to help Princess Twilight only to find Rainbow Dash in her place. She laughed when he screamed and tried to run down the stairs.

        “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Don’t worry Rainbow Dash is banished to the moon, silly! Hehe! She can’t haunt you!” Cedar found himself twirled around in a field of purple. Examining ‘Rainbow Dash’ closer, he noticed she had a horn.

        “Princess? What are you?” Cedar began to ask.

        “Well, somedays I want to go see how my subjects are doing. I don’t want to draw attention to myself, so I decided to paint myself to look like Rainbow Dash! Sometimes another pegasis will try to catch me, but I just start speeding up and because they think I’m Rainbow they just give up on chasing me because they know they can’t out run Rainbow Dash,” Princess Twilight explained with a twisted laugh, “Sometimes I forget that I’m not Rainbow though and go to her house and try to fall asleep. But then they remind me that I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle! So I rush back home. For some reason I just feel so right painted to look like a rainbow. Wings are so awesome! Ever had one with hot sauce?”

        “Are we going to raise the sun or not?” Cedar sighed, “and could you please remember to heal me this time? You’ve forgotten the last two raisings in a row now.”

        “Oh, Cinder! Don’t be silly! How could I forget to heal you! You’ve been such a big help. I think I might have lost all my sanity without somepony to talk to. Ha ha he! Besides, you’re already dead! It’s not like you can die again!” Princess Twilight assured him.

        “I’m sorry, what?” Cedar asked, but he was quickly tossed to the floor as Princess Twilight jabbed the horn into her arm.

        “I think Twilight thinks I’m not real,” Cedar mentioned to spike that afternoon.

        ‘Well that explains why she calls you by name,’ Spike scribbled, ‘Princess Twilight only calls a pony by their name if she thinks they are dead. Or she’s about to banish them.’

        “But she think’s I’m not real. How could I be helping her with the ritual if I’m not real?” Cedar argued.

        ‘That mare ripped out my tongue, fucked herself with it, then ate it. Do you really want to know what’s going on in that head of her’s?” Spike rolled his eyes.

        “Good point,” Cedar conceted. Cedar had taken Spike’s advice and avoided Princess Twilight unless he was called or it was time for the ritual. It was a blessing that the Princess never stopped talking. Her constant noise made it easy to know where she was and keep out of her way. On the other hoof, you can always hear her raving at all odd hours. I wonder how Spike can sleep. Cedar voiced his question.

        ‘You get used to it eventually. For me it’s just background noise. I only notice it when it starts getting louder,’ Spike scribbled on the chalkboard before returning to his comic book.

        “For the last time! I’m not working for Mothra! Now stop asking,” Princess Twilight yelled from her room.

        Cedar rolled his eyes. He had recently noticed how often it sounded like she was answering questions. Basically anytime I’m not around really. Cedar wondered briefly who Princess Twilight thought she was talking to.

        “Cinder! Get up here! Sex time!” Princess Twilight called.

        Cedar drooped his shoulders and sighing in resignation, he climbed the stairs to Princess Twilight’s study. Well, now I understand why I keep giving but never getting. I don’t exist apparently. Princess Twilight apparently had lost her patience as Cedar was covered in a purple field and teleported to the bed.

        ‘Cedar, can you keep a secret?’ was written on the chalkboard. Spike was no where to be seen and Cedar guessed he had gone to get food. The morning ritual had just been finished. Looks like I’ve been here for Six days judging from my arm. Cedar counted the scars. With a shake of his head, Cedar sat down on his pillow bed and pulled over the book he had been working on. The one good thing about being trapped in a library: you always have something to do.

The one bad thing about being trapped in a library: you feel the need to read everything.Cedar had finished another chapter in Intermediate Transmutational Magic Theory.  It didn’t matter that Cedar was an Earth Pony, books on magic were the most prevalent in the Ponyville Library, so he found one that looked interesting and decided to get it out of the way. Then he got caught up in it and had to read another. Now he had covered most of the beginner level books and had moved up. Cedar also found himself reading to distract himself from the happenings of the last several days. Cedar heard the door creak open and clap shut.

        “Hey Spike, how went the shopping?” He asked, not looking up from the book, though not reading any further either.

        A wet thunk on the floor answered Cedar’s question.

        “Scary how Fluttershy keeps giving you fresher and fresher ingredients,” Cedar noted, marking his spot in the book, “And as for your question, yes I can keep a secret.”

        ‘Pinkie Pie promise?’ Spike wrote, the chalk clicking out his eagerness to talk about, whatever was on his mind.

        “Uh… Yeah. What was it? Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a muffin in my eye,” Cedar did his best to recite the foalish rhyme that the pink mare made so popular. Somehow.

        Spike shrugged, then nodded his approval and waved Cedar to one of the cabinets. Raising an eyebrow, Cedar followed Spike. Spike then opened the cabinet, pulling out a false backing and waving Cedar through. Cedar looked at Spike, then nervously crawled into the tunnel Spike had dug. The only light was a faint blue glow from a tiny room at the end of the tunnel. Cedar forced himself forward, looking around the room. It was all dirt, smelled terrible, and had an odd lump in the middle of the floor. The faint glow was coming from an enchanted gem stuck in the wall. Cedar went over to look at it, not seeing anything else of interest. But when he stepped on the mound of dirt, it moved.

        Cedar looked down and saw a sickly pony lying on the floor. He, or maybe she, was so dirty he blended in perfectly.

        “Sorry, I didn’t expect anypony to be down here. Are you alright?” Cedar asked.

        The pony on the floor just shivered. Cedar bent down to get a closer look at him. He was small and extremely thin. Cedar assumed that was from lack of exercise and poor nutrition. Cedar wiped away the dirt covering the pony’s cutie mark. A lightning bolt and a cloud. But that means… Cedar looked up to her, for he had decided this was indeed a mare, shoulders. There were two mutilated stubs poking out of her back. Where her wings used to be.

        “Rainbow Dash?” Cedar was shocked.

        Rainbow turned her head slightly to see who had spoken. Then she let her head fall back into the dirt.

        “I… I thought you were….” Cedar began to back out of the tunnel.