I had been running. Now I was walking. I kept walking. As soon as they were out of sight and I realized they weren’t going to chase me I slowed my pace down. I’d have to conserve energy either way, so there was that.
So I kept walking. Where? How should I know. I always had a place to go before this. Home, palace, parents, brothers, sisters… subjects. I didn’t have anywhere to go right now. Not like it mattered, did it? I didn’t have anything anymore. I was alone, yet I couldn’t say that was a new feeling.
I had never “hated” someone in the literal sense of the term. Never really been one for emotions when all I did was devour each and every one of them for power. Never took the time to savor what I took. I only knew my instincts, and my instincts always told me one thing.
MORE!
So I kept devouring. Griffons, minotaurs, centaurs. It was an addiction. Until one day… someone opposed me. Not like they were the first, not like there was something special in that. Yet it was more effective than I thought. I was continuously surprised. Yet in that resistance there were gaps. Gaps just enough to allow me to reach my goal, only to have it snatched away at the peak of my triumph by some newfound strength. As if it was meant to be that way.
I’d heard about this ‘destiny’ crap before. Never was one to believe it. Sure, I always knew how to predict events, but usually when you are able to predict something, you also get the chance to change it. Unless of course there’s something that interferes actively with your actions.
And then there was always hindsight. Hindsight that made my plans look stupid, that found gaps in my logic. There was a lot of things I could have done better, but I wasn’t one to regret things. Didn’t really care about failing so long as I could continue doing what I wanted.
That was just it though… now… I didn’t have that something. I didn’t have subjects backing up my will, I didn’t have loyal followers, I didn’t share their goals, their home, their love. I didn’t have the power I had, nor the position, nor the influence. I didn’t have the element of surprise, or other tools to get what I wanted.
Moping? HA!
Everyone had to think about their position once they had lost the battle. That’s how I won wars. I didn’t let it get in my head. I didn’t mope, I didn’t regret, and I most certainly DIDN’T GIVE UP!
But when I asked myself, ‘What do I do now?’ I was met with an eerie mental silence. Heck, there was no one to talk to right now. Not like I’d tell them what I think, but talking always made me more… comfortable. It always helped me understand what I want.
What did I want? That was a big question. I wanted my kingdom back, but that was thrown down the drain to an incompetent idealistic asshole that somehow, someone decided to make leader. I mean… who else would they choose? Not like I understood how this happened. Shouldn’t ‘I’ have transformed if Thorax was sharing love with me? Didn’t I share love with my own subjects? Perhaps it was because I loved myself more? Yeah I did, but shouldn’t all people do that? There was value in sacrifice, friendship, and love sure, but none of these are necessary for survival. I had seen too many changelings die, or wither because they gave too much love to their fellow changelings. Self-preservation was always a good thing.
I didn’t understand this metamorphosis. It was simply… meant to be? But there was no destiny, was there? No, of course not. There was no reason I shouldn’t have been able to see a more effective method to feed. There was no apparent reason why Thorax found such an abundant source of love solely because it was shared.
I wanted to know, information was power, and power was what I wanted. I knew that much. I wanted the power to shape my own future, and the future of those who followed me. I wanted to fell all those who opposed me. Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor,the Elements of Harmony, and the ponies.
Revenge? Yes, I’d like that. But more importantly I’d like the world. I’d like my will to echo across the universe, for everyone to obey my command as I fed off the non-changelings, and shared it with my own swarm.
I needed to know why, I needed to know who, I needed to know how to stop this. To find the reason for my failures.
The metamorphosis was nothing that could be stopped. It was something that happened. Thorax obviously didn’t have any sort of ‘noble’ intent while he shared his love with me. He obviously didn’t know why his form changed. In fact, I’m not even sure I felt any love course into me at all. Did it slip my mind? No… I still couldn’t feel it after all this time. It wasn’t like I was blind or anything.
Could they have been stopped from reaching the palace? Maybe… but I didn’t think this would have ultimately changed things. It’s not like they won because they destroyed my throne. If anything the throne did what it was supposed to do: stop them from just barging in and defeating me. In fact, until the metamorphosis I had won. They were all captured. But they won… was it supposed to happen? Did I miss something? What was I supposed to do to prevent this transformation? To prevent being overpowered?
There were other things that didn’t make any sense. Like, why didn’t they just teleport and catch me after I was defeated? Discord had his magic back, right? Once again, this just seemed like something ‘meant to be’. No explanation came to mind that could justify not doing this. In fact, I could think of one reason that would push Discord to catch me, torture me, hell even kill me.
What else? The fact that only four out of all Equestria even suspected that I had taken over was a surprise to say the least.
Then again, I knew from my previous attempt that all it took for things to go badly was one person. The Canterlot wedding invasion was a success. Once again, my changelings had overwhelmed the ponies with surprising ease, and having consumed so much love I had bested even Celestia.
Nothing and no one had warned me of a simple bouquet breaking her hypnosis, let alone that magic blast. Nothing had prepared me to face obstacles coming out of nowhere. It was like… divine intervention. But… no divine beings had interfered, my sight, my very perception of magic was impeccable! This was like a badly written…
...no. This made no sense. Did it? I was supposed to know everything that happened. But if that was possible how could I have foreseen it? How could I have realized it if someone didn’t want me to realize it?
!!!
I wasn’t. I couldn’t have. But now I knew, and this would no longer continue. I checked with my magic again, and again for external influences all around me. I checked my memories again and again, reasoned the points again and again like a spiral downwards into madness. I wanted to be sure that I was right. That this wasn’t something else. I couldn’t have known about the transformation, I couldn’t have predicted the magic explosion solely for changelings.
This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.This made no sense.
This made no sense….
“This farce ends here...”
...
“I won’t be a spectacle for others’ pleasure.”
...
“You! Yes you watching me, studying me, prodding into my mind. I’d like to have a word with you.”
...
“You disgust me. You hear that? Even the most evil being in this universe is disgusted by you.”
...
“You who would enjoy invading one’s mental privacy for your own perverse pleasure. How many have you done this to? How many have been victim of your incessant need for entertainment? How many have succumbed to your desires without their knowledge, and without the power to resist?”
…
“You’re one of the most sadistic beings I’ve ever seen. Even I who have toyed and made puppets of others don’t come close to your malice.”
“YOU!”
...
“YES YOU WATCHING ME!”
...
Crack.
...
Crack.
...
CRACK!
...
SMASH!
...
“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”
