1) Celestia's Puppet Master
1) Celestia's Puppet Master
Cotton candy clouds, chocolate rain, evil plants, and a constantly changing landscape. These are only a few of the chaotic plans the lord of Chaos, Discord, used in his rein over the land of Equestria. Effective but far from his only tricks. At least, of the ones that worked.
Truth is, Discord formed many plans in his long, long life. Countless bizarre schemes to bring a bit more 'fun' the lives of ponies. Some worked, he kept those, using them slowly over a long period of time to avoid being predictable. Others failed and were forgotten. But some just bored him, quickly abandoned in favor of something more interesting.
One such plan involved creating an intelligent race of super fleas. The idea was that a race of talking, magic using fleas could be used to drive poor unsuspecting ponies up the walls. Discord found a sizable colony and gave them pony level intelligence and some magic. He figured they'd build up their society and then revolt against the ponies they fed on.
Instead, the fleas formed a symbiotic relationship with their host pony at the time, a journalist named Bold Point, and stayed secret from the rest of Equestria, moving on to Bold Point's children after he died and continuing this cycle with each new generation. Needless to say, Discord was less then thrilled.
Unable to get the fleas to really do anything chaotic and unable to remove the gifts he'd given them, Discord simply left them behind, forgetting them almost immediately. That was almost 2,000 years ago. If he bothered to look again, he'd find things a little different.
(Inside Celestia's bedroom)
A lone flea by the name of Zeck jumped onto the handle of Princess Celestia's bedroom door. Looking around quickly to make sure the coast was clear, Zeck smiled to himself. All was quiet and he pushed through the key hole and into the waiting bedroom.
A few quick jumps landed Zeck on Celestia's bed, where he found the unsuspecting Sun Princess sleeping soundly, completely unaware of what was about to happen to her. Zeck smiled wider and scurried across the bed to his target, Celectia's head. The fleas had evolved their own personalities after being left alone for 2,000 years. Such a thing would occur when retaining the intelligence of a pony.
There were good fleas, there were bad fleas, there were shy fleas, and there were brave fleas. And there was the rare flea who had nothing more on his mind than power. A flea like Zeck.
All his life, Zeck had watched the ponies from his colony. One of them could stomp out a thousand fleas with one step, but their society was structured, populous, and the most powerful nation in the world. How Zeck yearned to be able to control it.
Scurrying over Celestia's pillow, he stopped at the base of cheek and climbed up, resting upon Celestia's nose. She was laying on her back, a peaceful smile on her face. His magic would allow him to control Celestia's body completely, and no pony would be the wiser. He could control all of Equestria. He just wanted to regard the body he was going to take.
Using all of his legs, he bounced up the nose to the left, the princesses' left nostril the clear target. It twitched lightly in her sleep, the golden crown symbolizing her status nestled on top of her magnificent mane. Why she would wear that thing to bed was beyond Zeck.
Before he knew it, he was at the alabaster alicorn's nostril , the gaping hole into Celestia's head right in front of him. It fell inward with a fleshy color to the walls, covered in light white hairs. It served to remind him that even the being considered a goddess still had a corporeal body.
He bounced once more, clearing the ridge easily and entering the nose. His target was the brain, and with his magic, nothing would be able to stop him. Continuing through the nose was absolutely no problem for Zeck; it was a direct passageway to Celestia's brain and there was very little snot to stop him. The princess must have kept herself clean, but who knew that would be her downfall?
He slowly climbed down the massive and humid tunnel, excitement one his face as he neared Celestia's core. Once he got through the nose, the power-hungry flea followed the fleshy pink tunnel leading upward to the mind that ran all of Equestria. After a few minutes, he found it. The tunnel opened up into am even larger chamber made of white bone walls. The floor was covered in an odd pinkish liquid and in the center, it stood. The brain of the most powerful pony in all of Equestria. It was a pink colored organ of folds and wrinkles, with small sparks of electricity flowing over the surface. Zeck wondered if it wold be more active if Celestia was awake...Something to examine later.
He rose up to the frontal lobe, looking around. Out through the ear was really the only way he could leave if he ever needed to escape. All around him he could see the bony skull of Celestia protecting the brain from outside forces.
Too bad it couldn't protect from the inside.
Zeck tested out his front feelers, almost going mad when he realized how much magical power was contained within him. Discord had truly evolved his species thousands of years ago.
He dug the feelers into the grey matter, feeling the psychic link with the pony's mind begin to resonate with him. He couldn't believe it had been this easy. The only question left was: what next?
(Outside in Celestia's room)
The Princess of the Sun was enjoying a pleasant dream in her bed. No world threatening events, no nobles, and no armies invading. Just a nice quiet night. Though, it was not to last.
Celestia shot bolt upright as a sudden pulse of pain ran through her head. She looked left, then right. Nothing. She rubbed her head in confusion as the pain vanished, though she still felt strange. Her thoughts seemed sluggish and a bit light headed. Getting out of bed, she walked over to her night stand to look in the mirror.
"What an odd feeling." She spoke out loud to no one.
Her face seemed fine, though her eyes were unfocused. Her vision too, now that she thought about it. A quick shake, followed by rubbing her eyes did little to change the effects. She shrugged and got up heading for the door.
"A trip to the doctor might help a bit." She reached out for the door with her magic, but stopped mid step.
No need to do that now.
"What?" She looked around. Celestia could've sworn she heard a voice, but she was very much alone in the room. She shrugged, "Just my imagination."
Yes, just your imagination.
"...Yeah." Celestia stood frozen as her eyes became unfocused again. A fog came over her mind, though she didn't seem to notice or mind.
You don't need the doctor. You just need to rest some more. Listen to me, you know I'm right.
"Who are you?"
I'm you, silly.
"You are?"
Who else would I be?
"Ok, you're right." Celestia grew a vacant smile on her face. Listening to the voice in her head made her feel good, safe even. It was right to listen. After all, why wouldn't you listen to yourself?
Of course I'm right. I'm you, and you like listening to yourself. Now, enough for tonight. Go to bed. We'll talk more in the morning.
"Ok." Still with the goofy smile, Celestia walked back to bed, crawled under the covers, and drifted off to sleep, her 'friendly' voice whispering to her as she slept...
Author's Note
Might contiune this some more later on, might not. We'll see what everyone thinks. Hope you enjoy this, and be sure to PM me with any request you have for hosts or parasites. Peace out.