Fall of Equestria: Meet Thy Maker

Chapters

The Death of a King
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance Part 1
Acceptance Part 2
Acceptence Part 3
Finality
The Study of a Tyrant
Epilogue: Birth

The Death of a King

Author's Note

Happy anniversary! And thank you to all my watchers and fans who stuck with me after the finale of Bruised Apples. As a bit of a thing to celebrate the one year anniversary of what is perhaps my most popular story, I decided to make a little thing I had in mind since before I finished my little project last year. A story about how the king of caribou deals with his own demise.

Now some of you might be asking "what is the purpose of this", and well... I'll say that its nothing malicious. I just wanted to write a tale featuring one of the most well know characters of the setting... who hasn't really had any real character development in the setting that basically revolves around his existence. Consider it a character study (Though perhaps not a very good one) of how a person who thinks themselves invincible reacts when he learns that he's feeding the maggots.

For those here for the sexiness that is heavily prevalent in FoE, I'm afraid that this story will not have much in the way of clop. It will have a reference or a slight nod here or there, but outright sexual situations will not be featured. Just a bit of a warning for those looking for that sort of action in their reading material. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy.

The Death of a King

The Grand Galloping Gala had always been a night anticipated by many to be the greatest event of the year. For the attendees, it was a night where some of their greatest dreams could be achieved. Where they would see spectacles that they would see nowhere else. Where they would be able to meet and mingle with some of the most illustrious members of Equestrian society, and take in the luxurious decor of Canterlot Castle. For some it was a time to celebrate the year’s accomplishments. For others, a time of new beginnings. For the king of the caribou though, none of these reasons fit his motivations.

The caribou king, Dainn, while attending the pony created ceremony, had no interest in joining in with the others who invaded the annexed castle he called his home that evening. Instead, he sat far away from them atop a stage, looking down upon them all as they made use of his slaves and consumed his food like maggots on a carcass. Dozens of stallions, and their insignificant slaves, all scurrying about to make the most of a night that they did little to help create. Ingrates that only assisted his species in bringing order to this world because they wanted to weasel themselves into his favor. Con artists, corrupt guardsmen, and other such rats that bent wherever the wind blew, taking the path of least resistance because they were too cowardly to do otherwise.

These ponies, stallion and mare alike, sickened Dainn. That he had to tolerate their presence due to a brief moment of usefulness was appalling. Yet, they were only a part of the filth that filled his dining hall with their stench. There were others who were there only because of the ‘cure’ the caribou had created that forced their complacency. An enchantment that made them see things in the way the caribou wanted them to. That the female sex was inherently inferior. That those not blessed with a dick at the moment of their birth were stupid, frail creatures that were not fit to have any form of responsibility or respect. That any woman, regardless of age, race, title or upbringing, was not worthy of any role greater than being a subservient pet who provided pleasure to a male master, and that not only was this what they deserved, but it was what the female mind truly desired.

Those under this enchantment, such as Prince Shining Armor, were Dainn’s loyal, and unwitting, pawns. Blissfully unaware that they were committing atrocious acts of rape and tyranny in his name. Simply doing what the thoughts that flooded their minds commanded, and instilling the caribou’s regime of sexual domination and female oppression every time they stuffed their engorged cocks into a mare’s mouth. Still, Dainn could not pretend this was true loyalty. If anything, these equine males were worse than those who had aided him out of greed or fear. Disgusting creatures who under other circumstances would have seen women as equals, or betters. Those who might submit to the rule of a female with no question. Who had done so in the past, and would probably do so again if not for the enchantments in place. The brainwashing, and Dainn knew that he could call it little more than that, that made them into cock guided automatons was the only thing that guaranteed their compliance, and so were scum where the other more conniving stallions mere vermin.

Lastly, there were the mares themselves. The lowest of the low. Things so beneath anything in status that there was nothing other to refer to them as than ‘female’. The alicorn princesses that he kept as personal pleasure tools were one thing, the serving staff and ‘celebrity’ mares that were deemed of a higher quality were another, but his guests had brought in whatever eyesores they felt would impress their fellow males, be they less than adequate red collars, or the repugnantly defiant black collars. The sight of their use, which was in great quantities and variety, didn’t interest the caribou king in the slightest, as despite the demeanor of his race toward sex, he wasn’t so guided by lust as them and only involved himself in sexual activity when his body needed release, or he had to make a point. Thus, Dainn could not enjoy the massive orgy taking place in his palace, and could only dwell on the mess to his palace that it was creating in its wake.

Perhaps though, that was not the only thing weighing heavily on the caribou king’s mind that made it impossible for him to enjoy what was suppose to be a celebration of the anniversary of his rise to power. He should have at least been happy to see that his trusted caribou generals and council members were having the time of their lives taking pleasure from the red collars, and mercilessly violating and tormenting the black collars. He should have been pleased by the company of the white alicorn slave caged next to him, who adored a purple collar that denoted that she was broken and defeated beyond any form of repair. He should have gotten some kind of sadistic satisfaction seeing the former princess Luna suspended painfully by her ankles and wrists as every male in the castle took turns ravaging her three unwanting holes and caked her with cum. This was all a display of how absolute and unstoppable his power was in the world, of his wealth and majesty, but truth be told… it was an illusion.

In all honesty, the past year had not been as prosperous as he and his fellow caribou liked to present it. Things were not so overly positive, nor garnered anywhere near the results he was expecting by this point. For starters, it appeared the enchantment the caribou created to quell uprisings and instill order was not as good as he would have hoped. There was a small amount of stallions that were completely immune to it, ‘Incurables’. It wasn’t a lot, but enough to be noticeable, and that was a problem, since most formed resistance groups in attempt to free mares and remove the caribou from power.

Not only that, but the brainwashing magic was proven to only affect ponies, and not the other races of Equestria. Buffalo and Zebra had both at one point fought against his regime, only to be forced to bow before his might in the end, but they had to have the entirety of their males switch into the females to control the former, and given deals that they wouldn’t suffer a more hands-on approach from the caribou’s rule for the latter. It didn’t bother Dainn in the slightest that he had to turn an entire race into women to ensure they would never rise up against him, which the buffalo appeared to have the power to do, but the idea that he had to make an agreement with the Zebra, allowing them to have a populous of females who weren’t being treated as they should, didn’t sit well with him.

Sure, part of the agreement was that a portion of their women be sent to Equestria to serve a life of servitude, but it nowhere compared to the amount that had been spared. Dainn couldn’t do anything about it though. In reality, the deal was a bluff, as he couldn’t permanently station men in the Zebra nation when there was still problems with rebels in what was to be the capital of the world once his plan would come to full fruition. Perhaps once he had fully brought Equestria under his heel, but for now he needed every man he had, especially since there was more than one occasion where his own caribou soldiers and citizens would be found murdered by what had to be rebel attacks, and covering up such events to make it appear that his people were untouchable was no easy task.

Of course, other species across the globe reacted similarly, such as the dragons being unapproachable because of their outright power that surpassed that of most other creatures, and lived in hostile lands that made it difficult to get close enough to them. He was still trying to figure out a way to get them under control, having tamed one of their kind that had taken up residence in Equestria to some degree, but the method he used wasn’t repeatable on a grand scale like that of his Crystal Cock enchantment. Then there were the diamond dogs, who had taking up a more interesting and adaptive method of causing trouble for the regime, in that they were spreading chaos through kidnapping slave mares and ransoming them back to their owners at a high price.

As amusing as this was, it got the king many complaints from his pony citizens, and just like with the zebra issue, Dainn had no real answer to it. He had sent in soldiers before to deal with the dogs, but their caverns were too vast to find any kind of base of operations, and the creatures themselves made a mockery of his men with simple tricks that were designed to frustrate and confuse. It was one thing to fight an opponent who would easily submit to your tactics, but when having to deal with creatures who didn’t fight fair, or face you in favorable conditions, there was little to do but retreat. Ultimately, all he could do to make it seem like he was still in control was to allow the dogs to continue their acts of piracy, and place the blame on the ponies for not keeping track of their property.

Thankfully, there were a few races that were not so difficult. The changeling queen easily gave up when given a promise of leniency, which was one that Dainn had no intention of keeping long term, and the gryphon males likewise didn’t fight his rule when the offer of gold was on the table. But as with those few ponies that sold their own kind, these two groups only served to disgust Dainn with their underhanded obedience. The bug queen should have surrendered without any need of a deal, simply because her place was being squished under the hoof of men, and the gryphons shouldn’t need constant compensation for doing what they are supposed to do. Why did someone as righteous and justful as Dainn have to constantly associate with vultures and vermin that would pick his body clean the moment it showed signs of illness? It was a problem, as there was plenty of blood in the water as it was.

Overpopulation brought on by the flood of female slaves coming in daily. A shortage of food brought on by over exacerbation of resources. Heavy droughts, warm winters, and otherwise uncontrollable weather created by Equestria’s unique climate that needed to be magically managed and a lack of substantial male pegasi that could handle the task. All of these issues appeared to have easy solutions, but they would be unacceptable. He wasn’t going to send the prizes his men earned back to where they came from. He wasn’t going to start rationing food and show that his kingdom was barely surviving. Most of all, he was certainly not going to let the female pegasi have their feathers back in order to aid the weather team. So for now dealing with the conniving cowards and schemers of this world would have to do, as it was the only thing to make the problems that plagued Dainn’s kingdom let up even slightly. However, every small ease to a current problem lead to a future issue that felt much worse. Despite how much he wanted the rest of the world to believe that his power was unmatched, his kingdom unbreakable, his people as if an unstoppable force of nature, his entire regime was built upon little victories at great cost.

It never use to be this way. Back in the caribou’s homeland, his people thrived. Before the rest of the world learned of caribou, the cervine race had their own grand kingdom, if somewhat smaller than Equestria, that they ruled with unparalleled power and authority. No one in their lands questioned their method of leadership, and even nature itself bent to the will of the caribou male, existing as an extension of their desire to express themselves sexually, and assure that females knew their natural place in life. Caribou females were inherently born in a manner that was appeasing, and needed little training to get the results their male masters needed from them. Most importantly, there were no rebels or the like that did everything in their power to fuck this order up. Everything just worked, because that was what it was suppose to do.

Of course, that was all before The Cycle. That was when Dainn’s mentor, King Svardagr was in charge, and before the destruction occurred that forced Dainn to leave the isolated island that was his home with as many supplies, sex slaves, and soldiers loyal to him that he could fill into a few boats. How was it that Equestria could have so much more than the homeland, in both resources, and technical and cultural advances, and still need so much work done to it that it was completely unmanageable? How did it stay afloat for a thousand years under the incompetent leadership of the woman he now called his concubine? Why was it that the caribou nation, in all its perfection, was doomed to failure when the pony nation flourished with all its mistakes?

“King Dainn”, a voice said, breaking Dainn’s concentration on the thoughts that plagued his mind.

It was one of the nearly worthless pony guards of the castle that addressed the caribou king. Dainn had allowed the stallions within Celestia’s formerly established guard to keep their former ranks when he assumed control of Equestria, but just as with the civilian populous, most only swapped loyalty because of the enchantment placed on the kingdom. Thus, while they were still addressed by their previous ranks, their roles were changed significantly. Now they mostly served as errand boys, doing whatever menial task arose that Dainn’s men didn’t find interesting enough to deal with themselves. This usually pertained to delivering messages, lugging around heavy objects, or fucking and torturing the princesses and castle slaves to keep them in check when Dainn couldn’t be arsed to do so himself. Otherwise, they were just kept around to act as an intimidating presence for those who might want to attack Canterlot Castle. Those who might want to stage an assassination attempt would easily be scared away by the sheer number of armed soldiers in the palace, even if Dainn himself didn’t believe a battalion of pony warriors added up to the capability and skill of a single caribou male.

“What is it?” Dainn replied to the unnamed guardsman, downing the last sips of a wine goblet he had been using to nurse his troubled mind, not so much as looking at the loathsome equine that stood closer to him than the pathetic creature deserved.

The guard stood in respectful attention, a position befitting of a male of such a lowly species, and proceeded to say, “You wished to be notified when a couple hours passed midnight.”

That was the best news Dainn had heard since the night began. It meant that it would not be too much longer until the freeloaders would be vacated from his home. Before that though, he would have to address them, and allow them to view his council as they ravaged the former symbols of heroism of Equestria, the ‘Elements of Harmony’. These six mares had had their bodies violated and sexually devastated time and time again since the time of their collaring, and even over the course of the Gala itself as Dainn had witnessed, but this would be the perfect capstone to the event that celebrated Dainn’s and his brood’s dominance over both females and ponies alike.

After that, there was a to be a little ceremony to take place with one of them after that, a speech to be given by an earth pony hick amongst their feeble ranks that had recently submitted to caribou rule and earned a red collar, but that wasn’t anything of great importance comparatively. She would say her words, partake of a reward of pleasuring the king with her unworthy mouth to prove her loyalty, and the night would be over. More a spectacle devised for PR reasons than anything else, and would be amongst the least noteworthy of the Gala’s events.

With this time frame set in Dainn’s mind, he slowly rose from the position he most took comfort in, and approached the front of the stage to get the attention of his ‘guests’.

Suddenly, something overcame the monarch about halfway to his destination. A sense of vertigo, accompanied by an odd feeling of displacement filled his being. It felt as if his surroundings had changed in an instance, though his location was exactly the same as before. Still, the caribou king had a sense that he was now somewhere, or somewhen else.

After the initial confusion, he begun to notice that he was having trouble breathing. Something was constricting his throat, and getting tighter as the seconds passed. He flailed to remove it, but no matter how hard he shook or how forcefully he pulled at the obstruction with his hands, nothing gave. Shock set in, and for the first time in forever, panic struck Dainn and took over his senses. This only lasted a moment though, for as quickly as the unfamiliar emotion came, it just as quickly left as another sensation flooded every bit of the deer’s consciousness.

The sensation was intense, agonizing, and coursed through his body unlike anything else he had ever felt before in his lifetime. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. His body had frozen, and his senses were all overlapped by this pain, and his body’s urge to evacuate all unnecessary fluids from itself. When his muscles finally loosened, he could feel a stream of piss exiting from his slowly deflating shaft, taking with it chucks of other, more viscous fluids. His whole being collapsed shortly after, causing the king to drop to his knees, being spared a face plant with the wooden floor of the stage he had spend the night sitting upon only because something was keeping him upright. Something tightly wrapped around his throat.

Dainn struggled to comprehend what was going on, how he could have ended up in this position of vulnerability, but his mind wouldn’t focus on anything but the pain. Even as an orange furred, blonde haired mare arose in front of him, he couldn’t connect the tear obscured visage to being the cause of his immense suffering. He didn’t understand that just moments ago, she had driven her hoof into the most sensitive part of his body with a force that would crack concrete. That the sickness he felt was brought upon by his sack rupturing, and his testicles smashed like grapes between a pair of fingers. That the entirety of what he called his crotch was now compressed into a hoofprint shaped crater within his body.

Stunned as he was, Dainn could do little as events moved on without him. The caribou felt the firm grip of a hand wrapping around his muzzle, but could do nothing to react to it. His body gave no resistance, nary a flinch, to the hand’s presence, or the mighty pull that followed shortly after. A new pain arose from this sudden jerking motion, that of breaking bones, twisting flesh, and a collapsing windpipe. At first the sensations joined with the already traumatizing anguish he felt, mixing to form a new kind of hell within his mind. Not long after though, both sensations began to fade, bringing a strange sense of calm with it. With his mind settling, he could finally focus, and take in the image of the red clydesdale in front of his eyes. He knew this stallion. Not personally, but well enough to know he was the brother and handler of the orange mare that was part of the ‘Elements of Harmony’.

It was then when everything came rushing back. After the scheduled orgy between those six mares and his personal council, the earth mare known as Applejack had gotten up before the crowd of sexually sated ponies and caribou as planned. She had delivered her haphazard speech, and all but proven she was a reformed mare. Then she had been offered her reward, and had proved otherwise. Rejecting to slurp on the most regal rod the world had to offer, the mare had made a mockery of the king in his own home, which was something he couldn’t abide by. She had to be punished, immediately and thoroughly, but with things as they were, that was difficult.

Dainn never took the hands-on approach when punishing mares, always allowing others to do so for him. Even Celestia had been trained into her submissive state by Hrathr, because Dainn felt no need to do tame her himself. However, this defiant earth pony female had challenged Dainn directly, so it had fallen upon him to deal with her directly in turn. If he didn’t, his image would have been tarnished. Then again, that wouldn’t have compared at all to how badly it would have looked if this mare gave him even the slightest physical resistance while he attempted to discipline her. Part of Dainn’s image was that his power was unparalleled, and if an earth mare of all things were to prove that wrong in the presence of so many influential ponies as those that attended the Gala that night, then word could, and probably would, spread quickly. He had already watched as she had resisted Ivangir’s powerful might with ease earlier, one of the most strongest caribou the king knew, and there was a history of a mean streak in this orange pony, so the king really didn’t want to risk a confrontation if he could avoid it.

So at first the Dainn had tried to give her another chance to give in. Tried to persuade her by using the logic of her own inferiority, only to meet with no results. Then he attempt to use her friend, the purple alicorn, to show her reason. As with all stubborn mares though, the orange pony would not budge. It had all been so undignified, that she had been backing him up into a corner without so much as lifting a finger.

In the end, he had seen no recourse but to attempt intimidation with threats of ‘physical’ persuasion, and he had made his move upon her in hopes that her nerve was not as steely as it appeared. Before he could even lay a hand on her though, her brother had stepped in, and had started strangling Dainn from behind. Everything between that and the moment the mare’s hoof impacted with his balls was a blur, with the moment of comfort he felt from earlier that night a mere flashing of slightly better time before his eyes. Even with this understanding though, Dainn still refused to accept what had apparently happened.

“And so Dainn stared at the clydesdale, his murderer, with the most intense hatred one could give to another being. As if trying to burn his rage into the pony and leave a mark of it upon the red fur of his body. This would not prevent his fate though, and soon the caribou king’s vision faded into darkness.” With an utterance of those words, a cloaked figure slammed close a sizable tome in its hand, curling it up between its arm and body as it looked at Dainn. “Does that about sum it up?”

The caribou didn’t pay the figure any mind, he had more pressing matters on his mind. Such as the form of his own body laying at his hooves, twisted and beaten, in ways that one clearly could not survive.

“Hello~ Are you listening to me? This is the physical manifestation of Death calling.” The figure proceeded to say, jumping down from the pedestal where the traitorous orange mare had given her speech, upon which it had been sitting. “Look, I know this is probably a big deal for you and everything, but we got a lot to do and Death waits for no man. Or is that time? I always get those mortal metaphors mixed up.”

The figure approached the caribou, and placed its hands on his shoulders to guide him gently away from what appeared to be his corpse. Dainn only took a few steps before planting his hooves firmly on the floor to prevent himself from going any further.

“Who are you?” he demanded sternly, glaring at the hooded figure with the same rage he gave the red stallion before.

“Weren’t ya listening to me as I did the whole ‘This is Your Life’ speel. I. Am. Death. Nice to meet ya!”

The figure extended its hand, only to have Dainn knock it away. “You cannot be ‘Death’, because I know that I’m not dead.”

“Oh boy… you’re one of those types huh. I know how to handle this. I’ll just have to give ya the talk. Where to start... Well when a really strong pony hates a sexist tyrant very much-”

“Silence!” said Dainn, taking hold of the figure by one of its arms and its hood. “I’ve had enough of this foolishness! Take off that disguise and show me who you really are.”

With a simple yank, the hood was removed to reveal what it had been obscuring. However, what lied underneath was not some stereotypical skeletal visage, but instead was that of a mare. A purple, crystalline unicorn with dark blue hair, with her horn defiantly intact. This confused the caribou more than it answered his suspicion.

“Do… I know you?” he asked, intensifying his grip in anger to a level that should have crushed the pathetic mare’s bicep.

The mare didn’t cry out in pain by this gesture though, and only gave him a toothy grin in return for his effort. With that look, that expression devoid of any fear or respect for the caribou, Dainn realized that this was going to be another situation he couldn’t simply intimidate himself out of.

Denial

“Dainn’s confusion grew and grew with each passing second the mare didn’t submit to his power. The pain he was pouring into her arm with his grip should have made her knees buckle, scream in agony, or forced her expression to change to one of a being in suffering, but nothing of the like happened. Instead she just stood there and took it, narrating the situation to the ex-caribou king as he stared at her dumbfounded.”

Dainn couldn’t stand the indignity of being mocked so openly by someone so low in status as a mare. Still, it was apparent that what she was saying was true. Her defiance was confusing to him, as she was merely shrugging off the hate filled crushing force of his grip as if it didn’t exist. This was more than simple bravado, and he had a very good idea of why this unnamed mare disguising herself as some deathly apparition could do such a thing. All it would take to confirm was a quick test.

Balling his free hand into a fist, the caribou sent a full forced punch in the mare’s stomach, using her undeserved confidence as a means of catching her off guard. As expected, the pony didn’t even have time to react to avoid the attack, and thus took it without an ounce of resistance. In fact, there was far too little resistance. His hand didn’t stop when it connected with the meat behind the female’s cloak, or anything else for that matter. It just slid through and ended up on the other side of her.

“Oh!” The mare announced in a playful, ‘surprised’ tone, “Will ya look at that. Looks like you got me. Woe is me.” As she spoke, the mare placed the back of her hand to her forehead, and bent backwards slightly in a feint. Doing this, the mare slid off Dainn’s arm, her body becoming wispy like smoke as she pulled away. In the same motion, her arm escaped the caribou’s hand in the same manner, the appendage literally slipping through the caribou’s fingers before his eyes.

Having gotten away from Dainn, the smoky fragments that escaped the mare joined back together with the rest of her form, and with their return her body and clothing were made whole, completely devoid of any signs of the damage Dainn had just done to her.

“You know, for a dead guy, you sure are lively.” The mare stated, her smile returning to her face to further taunt the caribou king.

“Cute,” Dainn replied, unfazed by her continued disrespect, “But now I understand exactly what’s going on.”

“Is that so?” She asked, leaning backwards and lifting her hooves right off the ground so she could float in mid air, revealing more that the law of reality didn’t apply to her. This only strengthened Dainn’s deductions.

“None of this is real. This is all an illusion.” Dainn said with absolute assuredness. It was one of the few things that explained this predicament perfectly.

There was a well known, at least amongst caribou, flaw in the magic resistant armor they wore. For all the magical attacks the armor could simply absorb, things like illusions and charms were not something it could prevent. It wasn’t knowledge the caribou liked getting out, as it was a simple weakness that could be exploited, but such a thing could be easily stumbled upon by accident. The mare in front of him did have a horn after all, and Dainn would have to be a fool to ignore that some mares had potent magic at their disposal. None as powerful as a caribou’s, but dangerous if used properly.

Still, Dainn was not worried in the slightest about this situation. Caribou had a simple trick to deal with this minor weakness. Such trickery was always part of a ploy to confuse or manipulate, so if a caribou ever saw anything that didn’t fit with their personal image of the world around them, they would just deny it completely. Simple solutions to simple tricks, and thus there was no way that he would allow this cloaked mare to convince him that he had been killed.

However, his disbelief alone didn’t appear to be enough to break this spell. It probably had to be broken externally, much to Dainn’s annoyance, and until someone found out what was going on in the real world, he was stuck alone with this phantom. He could simply ignore her, but that would prove dull in the long run if his stay in this state were to be an extended one. If he got the mare talking though, perhaps she would let loose from those lips something he could use, before putting them to better use once she was physically in his clutches.

“So what?” he said, not looking at his captor directly as he gave a sideways glare to her, “Aren’t you going to continue trying to convince me that you are death?”

The mare, had gone into a relaxed state as the caribou made his declarations, having all but fallen asleep as she got comfortable on her pocket of air, “Hey, it doesn’t matter to me if you don’t think I’m the real deal. Even if I’m some figment of your imagination brought on by your slip from the mortal coil, the fact of the matter is that you have a spot on owl impression.”

What a crude attempt to throw him off guard, reminding him of the vision of his death that she implanted in his mind. No matter, it was clear she was just deflecting this back to him in order to keep up the facade. He could play along, for a little bit at least. “I have to say, this is not what I was expecting.”

The cloaked mare opened a single eye before replying with. “Were you expecting the forty two virgins afterlife then? Sorry, we’ve been in short supply since your rise to power.”

“No,” Dainn replied sternly, “What I mean is that for an aspect of death, you are not all that intimidating.”

The mare seemed taken aback by that, sitting upright as her smile left her face in a hurry. It was a shame that Dainn couldn’t take enjoyment from that expression, as it meant nothing in this imaginary realm. It didn’t last long either, giving way to a display of childish anger as she puffed her cheeks up at the caribou king. “Of course!” She said, grounding herself once more before pacing around in the dark void that enveloped the stage they were on. “Everyone always expects a grim reaper. Look, it’s not my fault you didn’t get the whole ‘pale horse’ treatment.”

“Then who’s, pray tell, is it?” asked Dainn, though not really caring about this meaningless line of dialog.

“Well, if you neeeeed to know,” said the mare, turning herself wispy again in order to glide over in front of Dainn in the blink of an eye, and state while press a finger into the breastplate of his armor, “It’s you, bucko!”

Dainn didn’t care much for this mare’s explanation, tone, or assertiveness as she poked at him, and thus she received from the king what any female would have in that moment. As quickly as he could manage, Dainn sent the back of his hand into her face, though was dismayed to see it go straight through without so much as harming a hair of her fur coat.

“You know…” the mare said, stepping back to place her hands on her hips, “Most people incorporate the incorporeal thing into their minds fairly quickly.” She gave a Dainn a small moment to huff in response, before going on to say, “But get this… I am a conceptual being. An entity who is composed of the thoughts and ideas of those who wish to personify me. And because of that, I take the form of how a person sees me. Trust me, I’d love to challenge you to a brood off, but the thing is that Death, as a concept, is not seen the same way by everyone. Some people see me as something to fear, while others see me as a companion of sorts, or a friend, or a potential love interest… You name it, I’ve been it.”

“The only thing I see you as is annoying.” said Dainn, this nonsensical banter of things that couldn’t possible be true grating on his nerves.

This made the mare’s smile return though, accompanied by the an announcement of, “Exactly!” Followed by a long laugh as she continued to explain, “You are so irritated by the concept of your own demise that you only see death as a bother. Then again, that’s how you perceive anything that goes against you, isn’t it?”

“Then I take it all the puns you’ve been spouting off…”

“A byproduct of your complete lack of a sense of humor, I’m afraid. Don’t judge me too harshly though. I’m doing my best to tell a joke that will knock ya dead. Until then, just consider me your divine comedian.”

“I think I am done with this now,” Dainn said, a bit of a growl forming in his throat.

“Come on, getting a few chuckles before going to Hell might make it less of a daunting inferno.”

“I am not going to Hell.” Dainn stated, neither believing that he was worthy of divine punishment, or that such a realm existed to begin with.

Such things as ‘eternal damnation for doing misdeeds’ were mere superstition, which he denied completely. What supposed force in the universe could dare to deem someone worthy of such a fate. Morality was just a mere concept, and not as black and white some would want it to be. A person who slaughtered hundreds could be considered a saint, and a person who never did anything wrong in his life could be marked a pariah. Any action, good intentions or not, could be commended or condemned at the whims of the viewer, and anything could be justified.

“Don’t dare think you can frighten me with such an empty threat. I know without doubt that no such place exists.”

“Well…” the cloaked mare said, for once being a bit sheepish when responding to Dainn, “Yeah, you might be right about that.”

“Wait, what?” Something about her agreement caught Dainn’s attention. It was not the sort of thing he expected a rebel to say, for starters. Those that defied the caribou usually cursed their very existence, and declare that they were the worst creatures ever spawned. They deluded themselves into thinking that the were the protectors of Equestria, when they clearly just short sighted fools trying to disrupt the order Dainn gave to Equestria. Thus, it was a little odd to hear this one not likewise casting him into damnation.

“You see…” said the mare, twiddling her fingers together as she spoke, “There might not be a Heaven or Hell, at least not for people like you. While I really hate to say it, you’re a bit of a special case. Rather annoying really, but when a person like you kicks the bucket, there are certain rules that have to be followed.”

“Like me?” Dainn questioned, “So a man of my caliber gets special treatment upon their death, I suppose.” The caribou still had no reason to believe that he was truly dead, but he was a bit curious as to where the mare was going with this.

“Look, I know this phrase has a double meaning for you, but don’t get a big head over this. This stipulation has nothing to do with how many alicorn princesses you managed to rape in your life, or how many lives you ruined for the sake of ‘progress’. It’s more about what you ‘are’ than what you’ve ‘done’.”

“A king? A conqueror?”

“None of that. I’m not going to go into detail, but let’s just say that it’s that special trait that has protected you from being carted off to some realm of eternal suffering or glorious paradise plane, or whatever it is you mortals assume life after death is. Some might say it's the thing that has protected you for most of your life.”

The mare was getting that tone again, that one of arrogance and disrespect. How Dainn wished he could just grab her by the throat and teach her first hand what her place was.

“You see, according to the rules of death, a person like you isn’t guaranteed to stay dead. In fact, you have the gift of..” The mare cleared her throat, and deepened her voice slightly, “Having as many lives as the universe thinks you deserve.”

“And that means?”

“Think of it as reincarnation, except that you don’t have to go through all those awkward years of puberty and wondering if ya like getting it the dick more than giving it.”

“You dare!?”

“What I’m trying to say is that should the universe decide that you have some purpose to fulfill, well then lucky you. You get to wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, and continue your life. And as a bonus, you won’t even have that pesky knowledge of all the times you’ve died before floating in your head.”

It took Dainn a moment to pick up on what the mare was saying, but when he did he couldn’t help but be pulled in, “Are you implying that… this is not the first time I’ve died?”

“Would that be so much of a surprise? I mean I know that you like to turn a blind eye to anything that doesn’t agree with ya, but what makes you think that someone wouldn’t have tried to off you by now? You can’t assume that you're immune to retribution, or that everyone in the world aside from yourself is either too cowardly or too incompetent to do the deed.”

“And yet, by what you are saying, their attempts end in failure regardless. They may kill me, but I have always returned. If I am to believe you are being truthful, then my rule is beyond even death.” As much as Dainn didn’t like the continued accusation that he was dead, the notion that his death was overall pointless was quite satisfying. “And if I am alive, I can enact my revenge on those who sought to remove me from power.”

“That’s the spirit,” The mare said, “Except there is that little matter of not remembering what had happened.”

“But surely something like my death wouldn’t go unnoticed. If I am to humor you this notion of my demise, then my assassination was witnessed first hand by a good portion of my best caribou soldiers.”

“Yeah, those men of yours definitely watched everything happen. They were so terrified when you were put down that I thought we might have had a few more joining us. Good thing they didn’t keel over though, you don’t know how much work has to be done for a mass murder. Well...” A flash of crazed, sadistic glee went over the mare’s face. It was as if her mind wandered over some form of knowledge tucked away inside her skull, that sent her dangerously to the edge of insanity. With this crazed expression splashed across her face, she glided over to Dainn one more time, getting close enough so the caribou could take in every detail. “Then again, maybe you do!”

This behavior didn’t impress Dainn, but he was now associating this mare’s entire personality to a certain pink mare he knew of. Not exactly the same, but the qualities of annoyance mixed with insanity were similar. This female would have fit well into a purple collar, and perhaps that would be the fate Dainn would arrange for her upon her inevitable capture.

“You cannot intimidate me with random behavior,” Dainn said, placing a hand on the muzzle to push her away lightly, knowing by this point that any more appropriate actions would be made moot, the mare not wishing him any real satisfaction in this illusion, “Your feeble presence doesn’t make a dent against my will.”

“Fiiinnneee… You sure know how to kill.” The mare gave a long, awkward pause, one that made Dainn suddenly aware of the silence that surrounded him. The two had been going back and forth so much that it had gone unnoticed until now. Of anything, the complete lack of sound was the most chilling thing about this situation, and even a man like Dainn felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up in the face of the void. it was almost a relief when the mare followed up her previous sentence with, “The mood, that is.”

“If you are trying to insinuate something, I’ll let you know that I have never killed anything in my life. Even those dangerously stupid rebels are simply blanked and turned into something more viable. If you were death, then you would understand that.”

“If you say so,” the crazed expression slowly shifted back to the mare’s standard smile, “But seeing as I am who I am, I might just be a little more of an authority on this matter.”

“Really? Because from where I stand, you haven’t said anything that gives me confidence in your abilities or intelligence. You have been spouting off nonsensical and overall contradictory bits of information, and all in an attempt to confuse me. I’m sure rambling like a buffoon fools some more weak minded individuals, but you have no sway over one such as I.”

“What can I say?” The mare shrugged, sticking her tongue out partially, “Death can be a bit senseless at times.”

“...” What could Dainn say to that? It wasn’t that the worlds were immensely profound. Quite the opposite. Her words and gestures were so monumentally stupid that he could find no adequate argument to it that wouldn’t drag Dainn down to her level. She was certainly a paragon of idiocy. A perfect example as to why females could never achieve any form of intellect, as the more they tried to be smart, the more they revealed how little they actually understood.

“I believe I have reached my limit.” Dainn said with certainty, “So why don’t we get to the inevitable conclusion to this situation. No more games, no more stalling, just finalization. If you were indeed ‘Death’, then you could prove it. Take me to wherever it is I belong after my supposed passing. Be it this reincarnation you spoke of, or some journey to some final destination, you should have the power to enact it. So do it or leave me be.”

The mare briefly touched a finger to the side of her head, and imitated the expression of being in thought, though by now Dainn knew the mare was beneath such a function. “You mean… right now?”

“Of course right now.”

“No can do.” she replied cheerfully, far too aware of the frustration such a response would cause, “But this is another one of those things that’s your fault, not mine. You’re still processing your death, and being incredibly stubborn about it. Until you can learn to get past it, you can’t move on to your new life, or your eternal rest.” The mare hunched over, lifting her arms half way while wiggling her fingers at the caribou. “You might even become a wandering spirit, cursed to walk throughout the land of the dead forever. OOOOooooOOOOoooOO…”

Dainn gave a closed mouth sigh, “Very well then,” With those words, Dainn finally decided that any further interaction with this female would only lead to counterproductive results. Thus it was time to follow the one piece of advice she gave that made any sense. Turning on spot, Dainn turned away from the cloaked pony, and started walking into the void that surrounded them.

“Hey! Didn’t you hear what I just said!?”

“Yes, and I’m moving on. If I am to be trapped in this delusion, then I will be better off with my own thoughts than with an idiotic creature like you.”

“Hmmm… Ok then, have fun.” the mare said with a wave that the caribou couldn’t have possibly have seen. “But if you need me-”

“I won’t.” Dainn stated, his stride unhesitating.

“If you do, just call my name. I’ll be lingering in your shadow until then.”

“Don’t you dare follow me.”

The mare giggled, “Oh I won’t, but don’t think you’ll escape me. No one ever succeeds in that, and when the time comes I will search for you, I will find you, and I will… well you know.” Dainn made no reply to the mare’s comment, and treaded deeper and deeper into the darkness, leaving both her and the vision of his dead body behind.

The mare didn’t mind though, not the least bit concerned that Dainn wasn’t getting past his issues with death, that he was attempting to avoid them altogether. No matter how much Dainn refused to believe it, the reality was that he had been murdered, he was dead, and one way or another he was going to have to come to terms with more than just his demise. After all, how one dealt with death was on par with how they dealt with life, and Dainn had a lot of life to deal with, as he would soon find out.

“Things are moving along quickly enough, I suppose.” Death said, pulling out a piece of paper, a quill, and an ink well from her cloak. Resting the container of black liquid in the air in front of her, she dipped the end of her feather into it. With the pen loaded, and a sense of delight brought upon her current personality, she struck a mark on her paper with deadly speed and precision. “Stage one complete. Now on to stage two.”

Author's Note

Have you met a person who just wouldn't listen? Someone who you would try to tell something that was important, but they actively shoved their fingers into their ears in order to just go on doing what they wanted to do? Of course you have, we have all met that person. Even if you ARE that person, you have met another person that has the same problem.

These are the people who never see things as their fault or accept that they have a problem. Those who do stupid things on a daily basis, are told they are doing stupid things, and then continue to do those things because they see themselves in the right. It can be frustrating to have to deal with these kinds of people, especially when you see how self destructive such an attitude is, but the truth of the matter is that most people don't like to believe they are wrong.

Statement of the century, I know, but when it comes down to it people hate the concept of being "wrong". They can be mistaken about something. Have a slight error about some small detail, or maybe be ill informed about a bit of trivia, but to actually be wrong about something... my god.

This of course is when denial sets in. Where people start to rationalize how it is that the other person is wrong, and how they are perfectly in the right. This starts a bit where they believe the other person has made an error, is ill informed, or (in a bit of irony) in denial themselves. It doesn't even have to be about anything important either, just some stupid discussion can pop up about how Kevin Bacon wasn't in Footloose, and a person can become a braying jackass.

Denial seems to be one of those things that people fall into easily, and is more easily sustained when the person doing it "can't be disproven". An example from my real life comes from a person I know who considers themselves fairly religious. Now I am a christian too (and seeing what I constantly write about, I can see if that is a little shocking), but I feel that most of what we consider "The word of god" to be a bit on the humanistic side to be simply taken at face value. If I were to put in polite terms "I'm a christian whose views most other christians would not agree with", and that's fair since I never say that I have all the answers.

However, this other party is one who "does have all the answers", and so when you start trying to point out certain flaws in their philosophies, they will at first try to convince you using bold assumptions on something based on some passage that caught their eye once, or just some vague thing they were brought up to believe, and then when you start to use basic logic to explain way these ideas are flawed, they start to become verbally hostile. I won't go into examples, and honestly I'm not that offended with the person's viewpoint, I just see it as an outright refusal to accept any other viewpoint than their own as a possibility, thus it is an act of denial.

And this is exactly how I see the caribou of FoE as well. From the minorest no name peon, to Dainn himself, they all seem to have this inherit need to refuse even the most obvious flaws of their philosophies. It is something that is needed for the setting of FoE, because if there were a group of caribou among their admittedly small band of refuges that didn't approve of the way caribou go around enslaving women, then it would just cause a fuck ton of problems, and that sort of in fighting, or depth of character as some might see it, was not something the person that made the setting cared about.

So the caribou always appear to have a justification for their horrific actions, and outright deny truths that they can evidently see, because if they accepted those things as fact, then they would have to change, and change is really hard. In reality, what denial comes down to is that it's a shield that attempts to protect us from change, and for the caribou those shields are always on maximum charge. The question is though... can one overcome their own purposeful ignorance, or maybe more importantly, can someone else overcome it for them?

Anyways, from here on out I'll be updating the story weekly. Expect the next chapter in 7 days exactly :twilightsmile:

Anger

Darkness. That was the world Dainn existed in. A pitch black realm of shadows that had no color, no shape, just an empty infinite.

Ever since leaving the purple mare, there had been nothing else to interact or communicate to, and nothing to occupy his mind but his own thoughts. It had to be a limitation of the illusion placed on him. The mare clearly didn’t expect him to leave the little scene she had set up for him, and thus there was literally nothing beyond it. Surely this was the cause of a mistake in design, as she could have very easily created a room that could keep him held if she couldn’t be bothered to produce a more stimulating environment. Typical female incompetence.

Dainn had to tell himself this as he pushed through the void, because he didn’t even want to think of the possibility that this was intended. If it were, then the mare’s plan was obvious, and seriously problematic. A realm like this was devoid of any and all forms of sensation; deprived of things to hear, objects to touch, scents to smell, foods to taste, and sights to see.

It was awfully close to one of the known female breaking techniques his people used, trapping a insolent female in bondage so restricting that they couldn’t move, with a thick blindfold over their eyes that shut out all light, heavy pads in their ears to remove any sound, and a gag in their mouths that forced it to gape wide open. With all those restrictions to the things that allowed the contemptible creatures to perceive reality, time would begin to lose all meaning to them. Hours could feel like days, days like months, and cause an onset of hallucinations that could drive a weak willed woman to insanity if allowed to suffer through it, a result that wasn’t entirely undesired. A woman didn’t need a mind to fuck after all.

Unfortunately, men were just as vulnerable to this technique, if assumed more resistant. The maddening effect of such emptiness had the potential to turn anyone into a gibbering mess of psychological damage. Even Dainn, with his assumed superiority over most beings in the world, could feel the void taking it’s toll on him. While his hooves were firmly stepping on some sort of floor that blended in perfectly with the abyss, an intense sense of vertigo draped him like a thick sheet, like he could at any moment fall into the endless black. A weaker man might have ran back to the perceived safety of the stage and the mare by now, but Dainn was nothing if not resolute. He had made a decision, and he was going to stand by it, knowing that to do otherwise would be to fall into the mare’s trap, and would be an admittance of defeat against her illusion.

“This trick is nothing.” Dainn said to himself, both to reaffirm his resolve and to create some form of sound for his ears to pick up. Likewise, Dainn found himself licking his lips, waving a hand in front of his eyes, and brushing an arm across his nose periodically order to satisfy his senses’ need for stimulation. He was able to stave off that need using these methods for what felt like a long time, but as he continued his march he found the frequency of these events becoming so close together that Dainn started noticing that his actions were becoming automatic.

Stop it. Dainn thought, his tongue wondering on its own along the outer rim of his lips, with his hands following its example by tapping fingers against his palms. When placing direct thought on the matter of stilling himself, the caribou found it was possible to cease these gestures, but the moment his mind tried to wander away from that thought they would start up again.

The lack of self control was bothersome, then it became annoying, and then infuriating as time went by. He could tell that the complete lack of any form of interaction was wearing on even the psyche of someone of his immense will, and that if this were to keep up, it could be possible that his mind could slip away.

“No…” he said aloud, partially trying to appease his sense of sound with his own voice, “That will not happen. There is no possible way that I will fall to such a simple tactic as this. All I need to do is hold out long enough for my men to notice my situation, and then I will be released.”

Dainn assumed that this was true, and that someone at the party would have to notice him sooner or later, but with each passing second that confidence waned a little more, and this led to him questioning why he was still trapped in this spell to begin with. Was no one at the gala paying enough attention to him to see that something was wrong? Were the admittedly incompetent pony guard gluing their eyes to the sights of females being sexually conquered by his party guests? Were his own caribou soldiers so preoccupied with food, drink, and pussy that they couldn’t turn a glance his way? Was even his own council so inept that they couldn’t tear themselves away from a flesh hole long enough to check on their king?

He didn’t want to believe that his men were so worthless as to be incapable to help their ruler in this one moment when he actually needed them, but the alternative answers to this dilemma were much more harrowing. What if he had never gone to the gala, and instead that too was an illusion caused by the mare. If that were the case, he could be literally anywhere. On his throne, in his bed… perhaps even in some secret location unbeknownst to anyone if the mare had the ability to teleport. Then there was an even more dreadful thought; what if this mare could manipulate perceived time within her spell. What if she could turn seconds into minutes, hours, days, or even years. He hated to believe that was possible, as such a feat would certainly be well beyond that of any female, but that rationalization was fading as quick as his grasp on reality in this world devoid of anything but himself.

What it all came down to though was that Dainn had no way of escaping this himself, and he could no longer believe that any others were coming for him. How could something like this happen to a person like him? With all the power he held, with the vastness of his intellect, with all his servants, money, followers, and legion of loyal caribou, how was he so easily forced into a position of powerlessness? He loathed these circumstances that he was now forced to endure. The injustice of it all was simply unbearable, even for a man of his stature, and though he had resigned himself to the fact that there was no escape, he made a desperate cry of “HELP ME!” out into the darkness.

Dainn expect only two things from this plea. Either the cloaked mare would show herself once more, or she would simply ignore him as he would her own pathetic pleas when their roles were reversed. These were the only two possibilities in a world that only held two people in it. However, something else happened that he hadn't expected.

“Help me…”

Dainn’s ears heard the words he had yelled echoed back to him, which normally wouldn’t have been odd with how loudly he had yelled, but that would have ignored the fact that there was nothing for the sound to bounce off of. Or was there? Perhaps there was something hidden in the never-ending shadows. It seemed strange, that there would be some random object in the illusion, but at this point Dainn would rather there be something than nothing. All he had to do was locate what that something was. He needed another echo to follow. Thus, Dainn took another deep breath, and prepared to let loose another yell.

Before he could though, another sound came to his ears. The words “Please… Save me…”, weakly coming in the distance. It was then that Dainn realized that the original ‘echo’ hadn’t come from him, but from someone else. He hoped so at least, as otherwise he was succumbing to his sensory deprivation and slowly going mad. When he was presented with those two options, he chose to believe the first one was the one that was true.

Dainn walked as quickly as he could towards the direction he believed the voice came from, and was rewarded with more sounds. “Where…” he heard, slightly louder than before, “Where is my master…” Now closer, and with the addition of the proper honorism for a male, he could tell that the voice was female. Had the cloaked mare gotten herself into trouble? It was a silly notion to believe that someone could be harmed by their own illusion, but there were no limits to the foolishness of women, and especially that of mares.

As he approached though, another voice came to Dainn, this one deep, gruff, masculine, “How long… How long… How long…” It said in repeat, a hint of hopelessness resonating from it.

This new voice gave Dainn reason to hesitate, as he hadn’t anticipated that another male would be here in the void. What were the implications? Had the cloaked mare trapped others like himself to this? He hoped that this was true, as this would at least give him someone to speak with that could grant him some form of conversation, something to keep his mind off the nothingness, but it was just as likely that this was just another part of the spell. Knowing this possibility, Dainn continued onward in his pursuit, as what other choice did he really have?

It was easy to follow the voice, or voices as it was, since the female voice likewise called out for her master periodically, but the closer he got, the more voices joined with them to form a chorus. They utter things such as “forgive me”, “end my torment”, "why am I here”, and such other dismal things uttered in sorrowful tones.

“Where are you!?” Dainn called into the dark ahead of him, “Come to me!”

The voices stopped all at once at Dainn’s call, returning to the dark realm its pure, unending silence. For the first time since his arrival in this realm, the caribou felt a sense of fear grow inside him. Fear that he may once more be condemned to being alone again. To his relief, the silence didn’t last long, and only a few seconds later the hoard of voices started repeating the word “Who”.

“It is your King!” Dainn replied, knowing that any in Equestria would be able to identify him by title as much as if he had stated his own name.

Once more the voices went silent, and Dainn felt the sense of fear return. This time though, it wasn’t the completely muted environment that gave this sense of foreboding, but a feeling of anger and bloodlust filling the air. It was so overwhelming that it felt as if it had mass, a cloud of pure dread that Dainn was engulfed in. Dainn found himself unable to move, fully restricted by his terror, staring into that black abyss, and as he did, it stared back at him.

Before his very eyes, a series of dull, purple orbs appeared in the shadows. First only a few, then a dozen, then hundreds. They formed in pairs, and grew bigger with each passing second. Then, forms started to take shape from them. Blackened bodies that bore few features that differentiated from one another, save for a vast variance of size and general shape. Some were short, clearly female things with curvy hips, breasts, short tails, and a pair of small protrusions on the tops of their skulls. Others were large, muscular creatures that all were roughly his size or larger, wearing racks of antlers of a disparity of size upon their heads. While their blackened forms were obscured in shadow, Dainn could tell what these horrific beings were suppose to be. They were caribou.

Dainn’s rationality fled, his usually stoic expression evaporated. Even one as confident of his own abilities as he was could tell that the swarm shambling with ungodly speed in his direction was too much to defend against. He tried to flee, but his knees gave way, and he tumbled to the shadows that he was using as ‘ground’. Prone, the caribou could do nothing as the flood of forms attacked, grasping and clawing at him as they all called out accusations.

“Destroyer.”

“Deceiver.”

“You were suppose to guide us.”

“You were suppose to protect us.”

“We were condemned to this hell because of you.”

“How will you make up for this?”

“It’s all your fault.”

Dainn struggled as well as his body would allow, but the hoard was as powerful as they were relentless. He could only manage to push a small few off him before being pinned down, and subjected to the most brutal lynching one of his kind had ever endured. His clothing, the ceremonial armor chest plate, the cloth shirt underneath, his pants, and even his boots were torn away, leaving all that was underneath exposed.

“Is this flesh?”

“Is this life?”

“Where is our life?”

“Give back what you took from us.”

Dainn laid there as the creatures continued to claw at his skin, equally frightened and bewildered by what they had to say. What did these creatures have against him? What had he done to make them so angry at him?

No, this has to be another illusion. This can’t be real. These creatures are all in my mind.

Dainn wanted to disbelieve the existence of the things attacking him. He had to disbelieve, because if they were real, then he was surely going to die. That he could be certain about. They felt all too real though, the scraping and clawing and tearing at his body, an intense heat radiating off these shadows that threatened to devour his own warmth. This was going to be the end, unless something happened.

“STOP! RELEASE ME! LET! ME! GOOOOO!”

Dainn tried to command the creatures away, stressing his voice as much as he could to influence them, but it didn’t phase the shadows one bit. They just continued with their assault, unabated, with the intent of tearing the stag apart.

“STOP!!!”

The word boomed through the void, hitting the shadows with a force that was able to make them physically recoil. Slowly, they recovered from the shock, hesitating to move an inch, but when they did, they fled back into the darkness.

Dainn, shaken, picked himself up carefully. He was panting, panicked, and sore, but mostly… he was confused. As much as he would like to have taken credit for driving off those monsters, the truth of the matter was that it was not his command that made them run. That voice had come from someone else. The question though, was who?

A long exhale of breath came from the darkness, joined by a small rhythmic tremor that could be felt through the ‘ground’ beneath Dainn. “I know you…” said the same voice that called off the swarm, “All too well.”

A part of the void appeared to split and dissipate, like a thick fog in the wind, making way for another shadow in caribou shape. This one large, towering, and imposing, his form as huge in comparison to Dainn as he was to a pony female. Dainn scrambled to his hooves as this behemoth of a creature made its approach, and hoped that it had not spared him from the others just to have him to himself.

The creature stopped just before the beaten and bruised monarch, all regalia that identify that title in tatters around him, and bent down to bring himself eye to eye with the much smaller caribou.

Again, he let out a deep exhale of breath, as if the very act of using his lungs was a grand chore, and spoke a single word, “Dainn”.

Dainn was as shocked by the announcement of his name as he was stunned by this hulking shadow’s presence. The rack of antlers sitting upon his head was enormous, his muscle mass huge and solid, and most notably there was a rather large appendage dangling from between its legs that defined the creature as male, and dwarfed Dainn’s own in a ratio similar to their difference in size. Everything about this creature screamed superiority in comparison to Dainn.

“I haven’t seen you since…” The creature started, pacing around Dainn as he stood stiffly, the smaller caribou believing that the larger male could strike if he gave the slightest movement, “Well since we arrived here.”

“A-and who are you?” Dainn said with a slight studder, knowing that a response was being demanded from him by this entity.

“You do not remember?” The creature replied, “Or is it that you’ve chosen to forget?”

“I know not of any like you.” Dainn answered, tightening his backside as the creature went out of his peripheral vision, not daring to turn his head to follow.

“Of course not. There are none ‘like’ me. I am the epitome of what it means to be male. A paragon of leadership, and master over all I survey. Even here, in the land of the dead, I rule over my subjects…” The creature placed his lips next to Dainn’s ear, hitting it with a breath that felt hotter than the most furious of flames as he ended his sentence by saying, “And they kneel before me.”

Upon that declaration, Dainn found his knees collapsing underneath him, forcing him to catch himself to prevent from hitting face first to the floor. It was coming back to him now who this intimidating figure was, as there was only one person who had ever lived that could do this to Dainn.

“King Svarndagr,” he spoke in a hushed tone, “But I thought that you had-”

“Died?” The figure said questioningly, “Indeed, I had.”

“Then how are you here now?” Dainn asked, having little doubt that this was who he believed he was.

King Svarndagr, the former caribou king before Dainn. Of all men Dainn had ever known, Svarndagr was, as he had said, the epitome of what it meant to be a male. He was powerful, respected by all, and a ruler of his domain in every sense of the word. His rule was absolute, and his kingdom mighty. There was none who would go against his command, no matter what he demanded from them, and many believed that it was through his sheer power alone that the caribou homelands achieved its peaceful existence.

“How am I here?” Svarndagr asked sarcastically, coming back to Dainn’s front, “You should know the answer to that more than anyone else. No, the real question should be ‘Why did it take you so long to get here?’, Dainn.”

“Me?” Dainn questioned back.

“Of course you,” Svarndagr replied with a calm that hid the true fury behind the meaning of his words, “Why is it that you were spared the destruction of the kingdom, when all my other pupils died with me? When my kingdom died with me.”

That was a difficult question to answer, as the truth didn’t look favorably on his part. How could it, when any way one looked at it, he had left Svarndagr, and most of the other caribou, to die?

“Are you going to explain yourself?” asked Svarndagr, his impatience beginning to rise, “Or shall I be forced to use my old method of extracting information from you.”

Dainn’s pupil’s narrowed, and a grimace flashed onto his face, knowing that could only mean one thing. Regardless of whether or not the truth would put him in a bad light, he had to admit to the king what he had done to preserve the caribou race, as the alternative was not an option he wished to explore.

“It’s not like I wanted to leave your side,” said Dainn, cold sweat forming all over him, “But I learned of something that threatened the very existence of the caribou,”

“I assume that you are speaking of The Cycle.”

Dainn’s sweat volume doubled on the spot, “You knew about that?” Information of The Cycle was not something Dainn believed anyone outside of his own inner circle knew about. A long lost secret of caribou history, of how their kingdom would rise to absolute power, only to be decimated from within shortly after.

The knowledge of this circular process of prosperity and devastation was unknown by all caribou of the homeland, as there were few who had the ability to read the text that it was recorded on, and even fewer who held interest in such an old document. Of all the caribou within Svarndagr's kingdom, Dainn was the only one interested enough in such academic pursuits to have stumbled across its secrets.

Every few centuries, when the caribou reached the height of their power, the current king would achieve a state where their own power would be too much for them to contain, and they would become consumed by it in a violent explosion, taking everything and everyone around them with them. It tended to come about in times when the previous event would become forgotten from memory, when all those who had experienced it first hand had passed, and thus allowing a king to have no reason to limit their ambitions. From previous iterations of this event, it appeared that the devastation was never enough to completely wipe out the caribou, only make them start a new from scratch, but Dainn rightfully worried whether the next Cycle would be different, and if it would come soon. After all, Svarndagr was the most powerful caribou king in history.

“I did not know about The Cycle at the time,” Svarndagr said with a weak chuckle, “But after my demise I found Death very forthcoming with explanations concerning the methods and reasons I died.”

“And you believed her?” Dainn question, believing he meant the cloaked mare.

“Her?” said Svarndagr, “If you are speaking of the creature calling itself Death, then I’ll say that I didn’t at first. For the longest time I couldn’t fathom that I, the greatest of caribou kings, could have died in such an inane manner. Time, however, has a way of changing one’s opinions, and I have anguished here for what feels like an eternity.”

“Then you must understand, I-”

“I must?” Svarndagr said, a simmering anger now evident within his calm, “What must I understand? That you fled in fear of your own death? That you left me to die? That you stood at a safe distance while thousands of men and slaves were devoured in fire, and condemned to a universe of nothingness?”

“I didn’t run to save myself!” Dainn replied in panic, raising his normally dull tones in order to be heard over Svarndagr's booming voice. “I did it to preserve our race! Before you completed The Cycle, I banded together as many caribou men and women as possible, and set sail for a land where we could survive! Had we had stayed, there would have been nothing left of us!”

“And what did that achieve?” Svarndagr questioned, “You left with a handful of men and enough does to keep your dicks wet, and to what end? We both know that I was the kingdom. No one else could lead our race with the same kind of absolute power I wielded. Who else could keep you sex-focused idiots in check long enough to run a kingdom?”

As he spoke those words, the purple orbs that made Svarndagr’s eyes widened, and a revelation dawned upon him with a remembrance of how Dainn had identified himself earlier.

“YOU?!” he yelled, the single word making every strand of fur on Dainn’s body become displaced, “You dared to assume that you could live up to my title?!”

Dainn flinched in the presence of his mentor’s wrath, “I was one of your students! Who else would have been better to take your role?!”

“You…” Svarndagr answered, “Were the worst of my followers.”

“What?”

“Of all of the jackals who were just waiting to take my place, you were the the last one I would have ever chosen.” Svarndagr paused, and then smirked his shadowy lips at Dainn, “Let me rephrase that. I had never considered you as an heir to my legacy.”

“Svarndagr, you must be talking out of anger. You had to have had me as an option. I was the smartest of all your students.” Svarndagr once more gave a low chuckle. Dainn however, did not see the humor. “What is so funny?”

“Because you just defined the exact reason I didn’t consider you. You had your nose buried so far down in those dusty scrolls of yours, that you paled in comparison to your peers when it came to skills that truly mattered to caribou. The others were better at raiding the settlements of weaker species, were far more powerful, and were much more reliable when capturing and enslaving females.”

“But I was studying the cornerstone of our people’s magic. Learning how our runes worked, and how to read what they meant.”

“That’s the point,” Svarndagr said curtly, “You were wasting precious time trying to read the runes, when all you needed to know was how to make and use them. Even the rune masters didn’t put that much effort into their craft, which was why they excelled much further than you ever had. That was the reason I didn’t consider you over any of the others. While you were learning to spell your name, they were being trained to conquer nations.”

“That can’t be true…” Dainn replied, the information his former king was bestowing upon him hitting a weak spot in his soul he didn’t even know he had, crushing it completely as Svarndagr discarded any feelings Dainn had on the matter.

“Oh please, the only reason I ever tried to train you to begin with was because Sindri recommended you, and when I learned of your limitations, I only kept you around to read off the scribbles of surrender sent to us by the soon to be enslaved.”

“I have no limitations,” Dainn barked back, drained of any respect he had for his former king, becoming tired of being talked down to by the one he had once aspired to become like.

“Really? Then I suppose those knees of yours just like to collapse all on their own? Everyone in the kingdom could notice how often you had to sit down. How could I ever depend on a man who can’t stand on his own two hooves long enough to engage in proper combat?”

“I can stand perfectly fine!”

“Then there was your crazy ideas of allowing the males of conquered species to join our ranks, when anyone could see that a person who would turn against their own kind could just as easily do the same to anyone else. They simply can’t be trusted.”

“Well I-” As much as Dainn wanted to dispute Svarndagr’s claim, he had come to learn the hard way that this was true.

“Then of course, there was your sexual problems. How you found no satisfaction in the glory of taking a female and using her for her intended purpose. Forget being a king, you were hardly fit to be a man. Then again… we both already knew that you did much better in another role.”

For the first time since encountering Svarndagr in this dark realm, Dainn intentionally looked away from him. The implication would have been obvious to anyone, and after hearing Svarndagr mention it, any assumptions that this reunion could be all some illusion evaporated. Svarndagr himself was a person that any caribou knew of, and one could have slipped knowledge of him to some untrustworthy pony in Equestria. One could have mentioned that Dainn was one of his students. None alive could have given this information.

It was not uncommon, what Svarndagr was speaking of, as bisexuality in caribou society was something that many partook in the homelands, and still engaged in after the annex of Equestria. Many would even admit to it openly. However, what they never mention was how caribou males acquired male partners.

As one might assume, in a society made to emphasize and exalt the values of masculinity, no one really wished to be on the receiving end of such a coupling. On the other hand, many did wish to give, as it was a distinct way of showing that they were dominant, even over other males. As such most, if not all, pairings of this nature came from when one male found another that he wished to screw, one lesser in rank than themselves, and then used their higher standing to coerce them into sleeping with them.

For caribou males like Dainn and his peers, this problem of ‘pulling rank’ was not an issue for them in most cases. As Svarndagr’s students, the were considered to be higher in status to any other, all save for one man, and when the king called… you answered.

“Yes… that’s the demure look I used to enjoy when you entered my chambers.” Svarndagr mocked, “It is a shame I can no longer partake in the pleasures of the flesh.”

“Are you finished?” said Dainn, doing his best to convey his discomfort with the topic.

“Does it bother you to learn what I really thought about you for all these years? How worthless I truly saw you? Was it really something that eluded your understanding for so long? I thought you had to have known. After all, why else would I pair you up with incompetent soldiers like Ivangir and Vestri? One so enwrapped with his sadistic tendencies that he would forego his duties, while the other one was so lost in trying to form the simplest of tactics that he hardly ever did anything.”

“Enough…” Dainn said in hush tone, his stoic demeanor starting to come undone.

“I didn’t even care enough about you to stop your interactions with that cursed caribou. What did it matter to me if his bad luck turned out to ruin you? If anything, it would serve you right for being stupid.”

“I said enough!” Finally, Dainn could hold back his temper no further. King or no king, Svarndagr had pushed him so far over the brink that it was now inexcusable. He had insulted his men, his capabilities, and his masculinity, but the results of his actions spoke for themselves. “I will not stand here as you belittle me when I am the savior of our race. Had I not sailed from our nation with as many caribou as I could grab, then we would all be dead.”

“As you said before,” said Svarndagr, “And perhaps you are right on that end. Am I to believe though that you feel that was an act of good then? That you had no motives behind it than to preserve the caribou?”

“Yes,” answered Dainn, “My only goal was to guide them to a place where we could continue our ways after The Cycle had caused its destruction.”

“I wonder about that…” Svarndagr stroked his chin, his mind conjuring thoughts that would test Dainn’s character, “If your intentions were truly righteous, then why not try to prevent The Cycle all together? Why not tell me of your findings, and spare the lives of thousands?”

“I couldn’t trust that method,” Dainn replied, “For all I knew, The Cycle could happen at any moment. If I had went to you first, I may have lost precious time I needed to get others to safety.”

“And yet you had plenty of time to ready boats, food, and ample supplies for your departure, along with any other unnecessary things you decided to drag with you.”

“That isn’t what I meant!” Dainn screamed, temper flaring up like before, “How would I go to you and tell you that your power was killing you? That in order to save the kingdom, you would have to weaken yourself? No man would have believed that to be the truth, and you would have thought me insane had I tried to convince you.”

“Clearly enough believed you that a small group followed you to some new land.” Svarndagr countered, “Which reminds me, I did want to ask… how did you make your selection of caribou stags and cows? Did you only take those who were physically powerful and attractive? Did you make your choices based on intellect and talent? Did you collect the finest that our indomitable race had to offer? Or… did you simply bring along those who sweared loyalty to you?”

“You seem intent on making me out to be the villain here.”

“Aren’t you?” Svarndagr asked, “Can you say that nothing you did was self-serving? That you made no move that could only be seen as what’s best for you and not everyone else? How many had to stay behind so you could take along just one extra warbeast, or that extra case of aphrodisiac? How many lives were casually tossed aside so you could take an archive of dusty scrolls along with you? How many slaves were stowed away to reward those who mindlessly followed your command?”

“I took only what I needed, and left behind only what I had to.” Dainn answered, resolute in the self asserted fact that he had done nothing wrong.

“Is that what you told yourself when you set sail, not knowing if The Cycle would take place in one minute or one year? Is that why you left behind all those who could challenge you for right of leadership? No, we both know that this was a planned out move you did so that no one you took with you would step on your toes. You coveted my role as king, just like all my students, and when you saw an opportunity, you took it. Had it been anyone else but you, I’d almost be proud.”

“I’m telling you, that’s not true!”

“Then perhaps one final question? If you really believed that I could not be saved, that our nation was doomed, and that there was no time left you could spare… Why not take me with you instead?”

“What?!” Dainn asked, finding no logic in Svarndagr’s hypothetical suggestion.

“Why didn’t you lure me out into the middle of the ocean where I could’ve gone through The Cycle at a safe distance from our kingdom? Just you, me, and enough soldiers to convince me that this wasn’t some ploy? Surely with all those brains you’re suppose to have, you could have come up with something, and by doing so you would’ve saved all of our people, instead of mere hundreds.”

“But… if we had both died, who would lead them? You said so yourself; you assumed that with your death our kingdom would be finished.”

“And you assumed that wasn’t the facts of the matter, so why not sacrifice yourself and let someone else rule in our stead? Is it because you believed the same as me? That you were the only thing that could keep the kingdom, or what small scraps were left of it, from falling apart at the seams.”

“OF COURSE I WAS!” Dainn howled, doing his best effort to expel all air from his lungs, “DO YOU TRULY THINK ANY OF THOSE LUST-CONSUMED MORONS COULD RUN A KINGDOM?!”

The two caribou kings stood in the complete silence of the void, with only Dainn’s breathing as he caught his breath making a sound between them. It had been some time since Dainn had let loose his anger, an anger that might have been building throughout his lifetime, as there was plenty to be angry about. The stress of ruling a failing kingdom. The fact that said kingdom was failing because of the antiquated and idiotic practices of your own people, along with the inability to change anything, because if you tried, the very men who saw you as their glorious leader would turn on you in an instance. The constant turmoil of being under fire from the rebellious ponies of Equestria, putting up with bold faced defiance, and having only the most treacherous to consider allies.

This, topped by his former mentor’s declaration of hatred for him, and his disapproval of his academic pursuits, had turned him into a seething mass of fury, that sought the one thing that all caribou men eternally sought, but never seemed to find: release. The yelling helped. It eased the internal conflict of emotions that warred within him, but it didn’t resolve its roaring storm. Thus, in the end, it was as worthless and unreliable as any black-collared rebel, any red-collared slut, any brainwashed stallion, any backstabbing traitor, and even any of his own men, who frequently found new and creative ways to make the kingdom he had claimed with his own two hands sink faster into the inescapable pit of its ruin.

It was not easy… holding back all this rage for the sake of being the leader of a people whose every law was based around such a meaningless concept as sex. To portray the outward strength, wisdom, sophistication, and presence that demanded the respect of all the cretins he was surrounded by daily, all without so much as a complaint when others didn’t bother to follow by his example. Yet he had to endure, as it was the only way to keep what he believed was rightfully his.

“You know, Dainn,” Svarndagr said, breaking the silence, “ I believe I was wrong about you. That look on your face, it reminds me of what I used to see in my mirror. The unrelenting anger of having to tolerate those inferior wretches that littered your kingdom, who only abide by your command because you are a means to an end. Yes… I see now that you and I are not so different. There is only one thing that may truly separate the two of us.”

“What is that?” Dainn asked, thinking that Svarndagr had had a change of heart, and knowing that it was all too late. The damage was already done, and he would never be able to see his mentor as he used to ever again.

Svarndagr grinned widely, wider than he had thus far, wider than Dainn had ever seen a creature grin in his life. It was unnatural, with the curvature of the ends of his lips stretching so far back that they seemed to touch the base of the dead monarch’s ears.

“You have yet to feel the true fires of betrayal. To have someone you kept close to you destroy your very being. Here… let me show you… so we may truly be of like mind.”

Before Dainn’s very eyes, the former king of caribou’s shadowy visage started to form a light from within him. An orange and yellowish illumination that swirled around in his chest, roiling around wildly, as if combating his form for dominance. It swelled and swelled, growing outwards, bloating Svarndagr's body in slight degrees as it did.

What is this? Dainn thought, knowing it could be nothing good. Then another thought crossed his mind, I have to escape, now!

Dainn turned around, and walked as quickly as possible away from the inflating form of Svarndagr, only glancing back once to see that the other stag was not even attempting to chase. Instead, he just allowed whatever it was inside him to gain more and more control. Knowing his old mentor well, Dainn could only come up with one conclusion of what this meant. That Svarndagr didn’t believe that a chase was needed, and that his efforts were in vain.

Still, Dainn moved as quickly as his legs would take him away from where he had been, hoping that Svarndagr was mistaken, and that he could get away unscathed. And then it happened. An eruption, a massive sound of destruction like none other Dainn had ever heard before, and with it a light that turned the black void into an endless field of white. Dainn didn’t have time to look back again, nor did he need to, as he knew what this was. It was The Cycle, the catalyst of devastation that annihilated the mightiest nation the world had ever seen. Even in this realm, having been long dead, Svarndagr still held within him the destructive power he wielded in life, and with a willful submittance to it, he allowed it to once more consume him.

As far as Dainn had made it, it took not even a second for the blast to reach him. He was devoured instantly, the massive magical explosion spreading out far and fast. At the apex of its growth in size, both Dainn and Svarndagr would become but two small specks inside its light, hardly enough to be noticed if someone were observing the sight.

Trapped within this raw force of power, Dainn experienced the same flames those he had left behind felt on the day Svarndagr completed The Cycle. A searing agony that sought to burn him to the bone, to blast off all traces of flesh from them. They were so intense, so overwhelmingly hot, that he knew that survival was impossible, even for one as strong as himself. All he could do was clutch his own body as it burned, and hope that the end would come to him soon.

It didn’t, though. No matter how long he waited, with each second in this fiery existence of pure pain, his consciousness didn’t fade. He couldn’t even pass out. All he could do was crumble to the floor, and perceive torment so terrible that nothing else compared. He could feel his fur charring, his skin cracking, and his own eyes boiling. He screamed for an end, but The Cycle kept his voice from escaping his mouth, filling the orifice with more fire that poured down into his throat to violate and destroy his innards in the same manner it did his outer form.

Eventually, Dainn relented, and submitted to the seemingly never ending inferno that The Cycle created. Every struggle and flail only made the pain worse. Every cry for finality allowing it to delve deeper inside. With it being apparent that death would not be delivered by this avatar of agony, all one could do is resign to compliance to it. That did not bring it to an end, but it eased the intensity ever so slightly. It was the fate of those so overpowered by a force far beyond themselves, that all they could do was try to minimize their suffering, and curse their very existence.

Author's Note

So anger... boy do I know about this specific bit of the emotional spectrum. Getting a bit personal here, I have actual issues with my own anger. The first part of my issues is that I am always angry. Well not always, but i would say that a majority of my life consists of being pissed off about someone or something around me. There is not a single person I have met in RL that hasn't found a way to set me off, and if you wanted to say "what about friends or family", well then you'd find that those are the people who usually give me the most problems. In fact, if I were to say that there are people I know who haven't upset me, then it's because i don't know them well enough.

To be honest, it is a mentality that I have learned to overcome over time, or at least deal with. Instead of being a 8 year old stabbing kids in my class with sharpened number 2 pencils, I have learn to vent my frustrations through other outlets that don't cause people so much bodily harm. Video games are a good one, as are card games, and music, but generally it all comes down to one thing in general that relieves the stress of near constant rage in side me: fantasy.

I love "playing pretend". I like acting out my deepest, darkest thought in an environment where no one gets hurt, and most of all, I love to be the villain. Villains get to have all the fun. Good guys always have to work too hard to stay within a line of rules and regulations that they impose upon themselves, or have imposed on them by some "higher power". Villains, well they just do what they want, when they want, and without worry of repercussions (even if they do receive justice). As a villain, if I see something that pisses me off, I can just remove it entirely, or if I'm feeling particularly cruel, I can just start stabbing it so I can take in the sounds of its screams. Honestly, the best way of working off a case of the furies is to put someone else in a worse situation than you. Tends to balance out the world when someone else is more miserable than you (even if it is just pretend).

This is a quality I see in the caribou as well. From how they walk around with permanent scowls, to how they only seem happy when someone else is in pain, they have the tell tell signs of a people who simply aren't happy with how things have become. One might say that this would be normal for a people who lost 99% of themselves in some tragic "accident", but honestly this doesn't seem to be the case.

For one thing, they never seem to want to bring up that specific detail of their back story, unless giving an exposition dump, and are more focused on turning the rest of the world into their own little paradise. One were everyone respects them, and they rule over everything, and they can bang an endless supply of sexy women. It's the perfect power fantasy, yet they still seem so unhappy, still act like the world around them is such a bother.

If I were a psychologist, and I'm not but I like to dabble in mental issues (especially since I have so many myself), I would say that caribou society, being one that puts being the top dog alpha male above all other goals in life, is one that would suffer from a cultural case of bullying. Where those who step outside of the norm, those who are considered "inferior" because they don't conform to a strict set of ideals, would be the target of heavy teasing and physical abuse.

These individuals would be the ones targeted for the "rank pulling" mentioned above, when concerning to caribou male/male relationships, because they would be perceived as easily manipulable, and above all else, weak. They aren't one of they guys. They are nerds, or the handicapped, or the mentally disturbed. Outcasts among their own people because they are just a little bit different from everyone else. I could even see the victims of such a relationship perceiving being picked out as a mate by a stronger male as a good thing, a show of being accepted into something that they were previously excluded from, that is until they realize that they are just there to play the part of a woman, the thing their culture believes is the lowest of creatures.

And yeah, I'm not pulling this out of my ass either, as this was at one point a sub plot for a canon story. Perhaps not on as grand a scale, but at one point Poprocks had an idea for a caribou character named Melvin. He was to be a midget who was, you guessed it, picked on and bullied by Dainn's caribou for his height (because even among the freaks there are freaks). Because of this, Melvin would have a sort of respect for the women, because he understood what it was like to be put down just for being what they were, and admired the black collars a little for their resisting their fate. He was probably was still going to be an unrepentant rapist, but hey at least he got it.

So yeah, I can truly believe that Dainn was a relatively "smart" caribou, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he left the caribou lands. He picked out all the caribou who were outside of the norm to get loyal followers who wouldn't question this mass exodus, those who were probably happy to get away from all the assholes who made their lives miserable. Unfortunately, they had already been taught that that kind of behavior was natural, and thus just continued the cycle of hatred and bigotry in Equestria, taking it out on the new bottom tier. Shame that Dainn couldn't teach them to at least be more respectful to one another, but then again that might just be a sign that he is not a very good leader.

Bargaining

Who knew how long that eruption went on for? For Dainn, an eternity passed before the torment receded, freeing him from that maddening pain. When it did though, the blinding white faded back into black, bringing a darkness devoid of white hot fire. For one who had to endure the agony and heat of pure light, the abyss was comforting and cool. The aches of Dainn’s smoldering flesh no way compared to the fires that had turned it that way.

For the longest time, Dainn made no movements, content to just stay curled up on the floor. He had no reason to intensify his fleeting pain with unnecessary action. Thought was different though. Thought strained no muscles, and caused no further suffering, thus could be done freely.

While consumed by The Cycle, Dainn could think of nothing but the hellish burning of his body. With it gone, now his thoughts could go elsewhere - to how he had gotten to this point. How Svarndagr had unleashed his full fury upon him, how the mare claiming to be Death’s avatar brought him to this place, and how that was all sparked by the impetuous act of a stallion defending a mare.

Yes, Dainn had finally come to term with his own demise, through the experience of a thousand more within an intense ball of fire that rivaled the sun. He no longer denied that he had been on that stage the night of the Gala, that he had been overpowered before his subjects and peers, and that he was killed by two pony assassins. It was an unjust and unfair death, but it happened.

And because it happened, he had been brought to even more ruin in this miserable excuse of an afterlife. Left with a body that now matched that of the other caribou damned to this existence, and realizing that those forms were a result of The Cycle as well, with their skin blasted clean of defining features, and charred to a black than near matched the void around them. It was a wonder that they could move as they did when Dainn saw them, but he supposed that their undying rage was motivating enough for them to forego the never ending nightmare that was this place.

Dainn didn’t have to accept this fate though. Unlike the other caribou, he had a way out. Death had told him that he was special. That he could be reborn into the living world, that he had an infinite amount of do-overs that he could take advantage of, and as of now, he had fulfilled the requirement given to him.

“D-D-D-Death…” He whispered out in words he found difficult to speak, beckoning for the mare, craving what she promised more than anything he ever had in life. “I-I’m r-r-ready. T-t-take m-me.”

The hooded figure appeared, seemingly blinking into reality before the wreckage that was Dainn. As she had said before, the time would come when Dainn would embrace what she represented, and she was there when the moment arrived.

Dainn could not see the mare, his eyelids having long since been melted together, but he could feel Death’s chilling and quiet presence. “P-please,” he begged, for the first time that he had ever recalled doing so, “I’ve a-accepted the t-truth. I-I’m dead. S-so do a-as you s-said you would. S-Send me b-back h-home.”

The figure bent over, tilting its head towards the ruined caribou, and uttered a single word, “No.”

“N-no?” W-what do you meant n-no?” Dainn asked, not in anger, but absolute confusion, “I h-have accepted m-my death. Y-you said I needed to do that in o-order to leave this p-place.”

“I did,” Death replied coldly, “As it is an important part of moving forward from one’s own demise. Acceptance alone is not all that is needed for the reincarnation that I talked about before, though. As I stated; you, and those like you, are allowed as many lives as the universe believes you deserve.”

Dainn had thought himself tricked for a moment, but then realized that there was little reason for the mare to have mentioned these details before if she intended to keep him in this realm. Even if he were still to have the notion that this was all one incredibly powerful illusion, if they intended them to stay here, then nothing would had stopped her from saying so. There were some sort of rules to all this. Ones that Dainn didn’t understand.

“T-then please t-tell me, w-what must I do t-to leave?”

“Nothing,” Death replied, “You have done all you can do. Now it is up to the powers that be to decide if your existence is necessary.”

Dainn didn’t like the sound of that, as it implied that these unnamed forces might deem him unworthy for some arbitrary reason. What did they even consider as ‘necessary’, and what would happen to him if he didn’t fit their criteria? He had to know. “W-What happens if t-they-”

“Should the universe not find your existence needed,” Death said, predicting Dainn’s question, “Then you will have to stay here until it changes its opinion of you. The universe is a fickle thing, and what it takes interest in can change on a whim.”

“And i-if it never c-changes?”

“Then you will be discarded.” Death said bluntly, “Such is the way of your kind.”

That news horrified the caribou king, as he equated it to being left in the abyss to rot. To be trapped in this world of nothing, his only company being the dead, the damned, and the relentless agony he felt. What if the other caribou found him like this? Would they tear him to pieces like they had tried before? What if Svarndagr found him? Would he be subjected to The Cycle once more? What if there was something else in this darkness that wanted to harm him? In his current state, he didn’t believe he could defend himself against the weakest of attackers. From vengeful caribou shadows, to the lowliest black collar mare, he would be at the mercy of anything that found him like this.

In fear of such an outcome, Dainn reached forward, foregoing all the pain brought on by movement, and latched onto the mare’s cloak. “There must be some way to hasten the process.” he said, believing that Death must have held some sort of answer for his suffering. “Some sort of deal we can come to. What if I swear my allegiance to you? Make sacrifices in the name of death? Surely my soul does not compare to the hundreds or thousands I could send to you. What do you say?”

“Your offer… does not interest me.” Death answered, “I am not some creature who greedily devours the souls of the dead. I am merely a guide provided to send those who have died to their rightful destinations. There is nothing for me to gain from blood sacrifices or any other such offerings, nor would there be anything for me to lose should you try to keep things from me. I have no wants, needs, desires, weaknesses or fears that you can prey upon as you did with mortals in your lifetime. I only abide by the rules of death.”

“T-Then a challenge!” Dainn exclaimed as he increased his grip strength, believing that he found another way out of this hell, “Surely the rules say something about allowing me to prove I am deserving of my life!”

“You have been listening to too many stories created by those who believe they can overcome their own inevitable fate. There is no cheating death, no paying yourself out of Purgatory, and I do not accept two coins to cross the River Styx. All things, even things like yourself, eventually are met by their own end. The only thing that changes is how one deals with it, and thus far you have dealt with it poorly.”

Dainn loosened the grip on the cloak, not finding the solace in Death that he had hoped for. “Then why are you here? To taunt me? To accuse me of some momentous sin?”

“No…” Death replied, “While you are indeed guilty of much, that is not why I am here.” Without warning, Dainn felt Death’s grip grab him by the arm. As one might expect, the touch of the mare was cool and soothing, numbing the burning sensations brought upon by The Cycle. This allowed Death to raise the caribou up, standing him on his hooves, without the stag screaming into the darkness. “Now let’s fix you up a little.”

Death brushed its hand on Dainn’s body, and with each swipe, pieces of the char that clung to it fell off, revealing underneath not raw flesh like one might assume, but untouched fur. The cloaked figure continued with this until it had cleared away any signs of the damage done to Dainn, returning him to how he had been before having been set aflame.

“There, you can open your eyes now.”

Dainn was unaware of what Death had done, but he knew that he suddenly felt like a new man, in the most appropriate use of the phrase that he had ever encountered. His muscles, having been made decrepit, were filled with a strength near forgotten. Not only that, but his seething agony had vanished completely. He didn’t feel so much as a single ache throughout his being, when just moments ago it was all he knew.

“T-This…” he said, opening his eyes, feeling the sensation of sight after so long without it. He was completely restored. “Is amazing. How did you...?”

“Is is so strange?” Death asked, “As I explained, I am a conceptual being. As such I represent all aspects of death, and to some death is just as much a symbol of renewal as it is a depiction of finality.”

Dainn was hardly listening to the cloaked pony, too much in awe of how much he had changed. The contrast was like night and day, his body having been reverted to a point before all the pain. The only thing that remained was the terrible memories of his time in the fire.

Dainn had never felt particularly grateful for anything in his lifetime, finding all that he had been given by others things that he had rightfully earned through his talents. This time though, he could not rationalize any means that his healing was his doing. “Thank you...” he said, turning towards Death, expecting to see the mare’s smirking face looking at him.

What he actually saw made the stag recoil, taking a quick jump away from the robed figure. It was not the purple unicorn mare whose face he saw, but instead the image of a large, red earth pony stallion. Unlike the mare, he didn’t wear a permanent smirk, but a neutral expression of indifference.

“What’s wrong?” Death wondered aloud, “Are you seeing something you didn’t expect?”

The change of appearance was pretty jarring, but not just because it defied expectations. The issue he had was that he knew this stallion that death had become, as it was a face he could never forget. That of the stallion that had broken his neck like a dried twig.

“Whatever you see, do not worry. I am the same Death that you spoke with before.”

“Then why do you look different now?” It wasn’t as if Dainn had never met a creature that could change its form. There were such things as changelings, after all. It just seemed odd that an aspect of a natural force would do so, except if it were to be screwing with him.

“It’s no great mystery,” Death explained, “You’re just taking me a bit more seriously now.”

“I… I suppose that makes sense.” Dainn replied, not really understanding, but figuring that there was no need to dwell on this minute detail. In truth, he was still too relieved at his restoration to care, and despite the form Death took, it didn’t seem to seek his harm.

“Good,” Death said, equally wanting to not dwell on the topic, “Then we can move on. There is a purpose for which I brought you here.”

“Brought me…” Dainn looked around, and found that he was no longer in the center of the dark void that he had become accustomed to, even within his blindness. The sky was still blacker than the deepest night, as was the distant horizon, but the floor was a square, wooden structure of some sort that stretched out far enough that it could have fit into a large sized room. Dainn and the cloaked stallion were not the only things standing upon it either.

Looking around, there was several pieces of furniture. A bed, a table, several chairs, desk, bookshelf, fridge, stove, and several other amenities one would need for basic living. They were nothing extravagant, nothing like what he had adapted to during his time as king of Equestria, the kind of furnishings that would be found in the homes of commoners. Dainn, in his excitement of having his body restored, simply ignored all of these things, too busy examining his own body to notice any of them.

Death made its way over to the table, placed at the center of the room, and pulled out a chair. “Please, take a seat. Then I will explain everything you will need to know.”

Dainn gladly took the offer, not caring that this simple wooden chair in no way compared to his kingly throne. It felt like long time since he could sit down properly. When in place, Dainn asked the question that Death had set him up for. “What do I need to know?” He had come to accept that he was at this creature was his only method out of this place, and that meant that he had to know the rules he’d have to follow.

“I believe you have learned at this point, that traveling out into the abyss is not a wise idea.” Death said, walking to the other side of the table, taking his own seat, “The only things you will find out there are vengeful spirits, or an oppressive nothingness.”

Dainn nodded, finding that this was the case. For a person like himself, that dark realm was nothing but hostile.

“I allowed you to go and discover this own your own, but it was never my intent to force you out there. I wasn’t going to stop you from doing something so stupid, but in the end I was always going to guide you here. As the avatar of death, I can be uncaring and cruel, but also merciful. This would be an act of that mercy.”

“And what is it exactly?” Dainn asked.

“It is a safe space,” Death replied, “A spot within the void in which nothing can harm you. So long as you do not venture beyond the boundaries of this place, none of the others here will be able to get to you. You will also be provided with entertainment, as that bookshelf over there has on it any book that you could think of on it. The fridge will also be supplied with any forms of fresh produce and drink you can think of, though you will have to prepare anything yourself.”

“Hmmmm… I’m not exactly a cook.” Dainn stated, as preparation of food was the work of females.

“And I’m not exactly a fairy godmother,” said the red stallion, “But we must learn to make do. Either get use to simple fruits and vegetables, or hone your skills with a pan. You’ll probably have plenty of time to practice.”

“And what about company? Will I be provided with some companionship as well?”

“You can have plenty of companionship. All you have to do is walk back out into the darkness like you did before.” Death’s answer reminded Dainn of the attitude of its previous form, but for some reason he felt that this wasn’t supposed to be a joke. “Otherwise, you’ll be here alone with only your thoughts as company.”

“And everything else? The bath, the desk?”

“Just more things to keep you occupied. There is paper in the desk if you feel creative, and the tub is to help you relax. It’s probably not the level of comfort you were use to when you were alive, but you’re not the king you once were.”

To be honest, the quality of the things in this zone of safety was not an issue. Perhaps if he had gone with Death to begin with, if he hadn’t experienced The Cycle, then he would have complained or outright refused these accommodations. Now he was just glad he didn’t have a bed made of darkness and a blanket of scorching flames covering him. With this, and his body’s renewal, there was very little to gripe about with this arrangement. The only complaint Dainn could have was that he would be the only one within this place. Did that matter though?

Could Dainn not live a life of solitude in relative comfort? That was one of the questions the caribou had to ask himself. Before the ordeal of dying, Dainn had lived as a king with hundreds of servants at his beck and call, and even more soldiers at his command of both the pony and caribou variety. Before that, he lived in the caribou homelands, and had his loyal followers and supporters, those who eventually became his caribou council.

While he had a very reclusive personality, he appeared to be a very social creature. He may not have enjoyed the attention being king brought him, but that was because a large part of being a king was having to be responsible for the nation he lorded over. His own people were easy to please, but the stallions were always bickering about something. The admiration of his subjects was nice, but expectations from them were unwelcome. He had always saw being king as what Svarndagr had portrayed it as, where people praised you for being powerful, and you could delegate matters of the kingdom’s management to those whose time was less important.

As much as he didn’t personally care for sex, he did like being fawned over. He liked having someone around who appreciated that he was the best that caribou kind had to offer. People who catered to his every whim, and submitted to his superiority. It was indeed the most intolerable thing about this realm, that everything within it seemed intent on destroying him, and in Svarndagr’s case adding a lecture to the destruction.

What it came down to was that as much as Dainn, in life, thought that everyone else was beneath him, he still wanted their company. No, he needed their company, but he always wanted it on his terms. He desired to be respected, obeyed, and even feared if that brought on the first two things, but despised being belittled, defied, and hated. Maybe that was part of his caribou heritage, or maybe it was just his own personality. Either way, he felt that an existence alone would not be an enjoyable one. That begged the other question he had on his mind; Was there any alternative, save for casting himself back into that inhospitable darkness.

“I have to say, while I appreciate this small gesture, I’m not sure I can live this way.” said Dainn boldly.

Death responded by glibly saying, “Fortunately, as one of the recently deceased, you won’t have to.”

“No, what I mean is that for me, an existence without other people is unacceptable. But so too is one where everyone is a threat. In both, I feel it is likely that I’d go mad.”

“Then it is a good thing you forget about this experience if you get reincarnated.”

“But as you said, there is a possibility that that will never happen, and not because of anything I’ve done, but on the whims of some force that I’ve never met. It all just sounds so incredibly unfair.”

“If you think that death is unfair, then you should get better acquainted to my counterpart.”

“You’re starting to spout off jokes again…”

“And you’re finding my unwillingness to give into your wants bothersome, so you’re bringing my snark on yourself.”

“All I’m trying to ask is this… Is there no way to change my fate? Is there truly nothing that I could at least try in order not be stuck here like this?”

“Hmm…” Death leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, “Well that depends…”

“On what!?” Dainn jumped at the implication that there was some way out of this situation, not caring if he lost all presence or poise in the process. He was desperate.

“Do you consider yourself a religious person?”

“Not… really…” Dainn replied, settling himself back into his seat. Caribou believed in the power of fate and luck more than any fictitious deity, with fate guiding all inexorably to their intended roles in life, and luck deciding if one would be born with the privilege of being male, or cursed to serve as a female. “Does this relate to this ‘universal force’ you keep referring to?”

“Kinda,” said Death, “But not really. What I have in mind is technically part of the universe, but is also a separate entity to it altogether. To be honest, they don’t really do anything with the universe on the whole anymore, happy to let things go about on their own course, but one could say that they were the thing that set everything in motion.”

“Then you are referring to some sort of ‘God’ then.” Dainn deduced, seeing as Death was implying that this entity was a creator of sorts.

“You could call it that, if it makes things easier for you. If there is anyone who you could appeal to about your situation, then it would be the one to go to. I have to say though, most people find ‘God’ to be even more uncaring than me when it comes to the plights of creatures such as yourself.”

“And you can take me to this God then?” Dainn asked, willing to try anything.

“Well I am a conceptual being,” Death stated, “And many do find Death as a guide to ‘God’. So yes, I can. What will happen after that though, I don’t know. Honestly, you might just end up in someplace even worse than here if ‘God’ deems your life to be one of sin.”

That comment did worry Dainn a little. It struck of the concept of universal morality. That there was some force out their that decided that there was a clear right and wrong, and that it might side against him. Then again, if this God was the being that created everything, then they had to have created him and the caribou too. It would be hypocritical of such a being to allow them to exist as they were, only to condemn them to hell for doing what they were made to do.

“Fine, take me to God,” Dainn said, using that rationality to bolster his confidence.

“Very well,” Death replied, “But I alone cannot take you to ‘God’. It requires an act of faith on your part.”

“Am I going to have to pray?”

“If you feel it will help, but it can be a bit simpler than that. If you want, just close your eyes and count to ten. When you are done, open them, and you will be with ‘God’.”

“Okay…” said Dainn, seeing no reason Death would lie to him at this point. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and started counting, “One… Two… Three… Four…”

Dainn could hear Death raise out of his seat, and move over to him, “I can’t say that our time together hasn’t been enjoyable Dainn.”

“Five… Six… Seven…” Dainn continued, not letting the red stallion deter him from his task.

“But I do believe this is the last time we will meet, one way or another.”

Death placed his hands on Dainn, putting one on his shoulder, and another around his muzzle. It felt terribly familiar to Dainn, as it was the same grip that the stallion who killed him had just before delivering the fatal blow. The same stallion whose form Death had taken. It unnerved Dainn a little, and made a cold sweat form under his fur, but it only delayed his count slightly.

“Eight…… Nine……”

“Goodbye.”

“TEN!”

Dainn anticipated a sudden sharp pull from Death to finalize the process, re-killing him to usher him to God’s doorstep, but nothing happened. The presence of Death just… vanished, and in its place Dainn felt a gentle warmth. Without even opening his eyes, he knew he had to have been in the presence of God.

However, even though he had just appeared in God’s domain, God didn’t address him. He didn’t tell him to kneel before him, or come forward to speak his case. He didn’t even greet him. He just remained silent. It admittedly scared Dainn, enough that he refused to open his eyes, lest he found God glaring back at them in anger.

“Excuse me,” he said bowing forward in his seat, trying to be as respectful as possible, knowing this entity was his last hope, “Your majesty, no, your godliness. I am Dainn, King of Equestria. Master of women, and Lord of the caribou. I have… been sent here by Death in order to plead for my life. If I could have a moment of your time, which I know is of the most importance, I would be eternally grateful.”

Dainn stood there for a moment, not so much as bringing himself back upright, as he awaited God’s reply. Nothing came though. Not so much as a huff of disapproval. He didn’t know if he had upset the deity some how, or… anything really. He was getting absolutely nothing from this creature. Dainn stood there for minutes doing nothing except worrying internally, until finally his own impatience got the better of him, and he cracked open one eye to sneak a peek at his only chance of salvation.

What he saw shot true terror through his being, and made him feel the greatest dread he had ever encountered. There before him, was a pure white alicorn, with a mane of blood red. One that was unmistakably a mare.

Author's Note

You know... I really don't have much to say on my personal experiences with "bargaining". In my life I've never really had to do much where I tried to slip out of a situation through pleading or offering things. I am a fairly rational person who looks at the day to day chores of the world as things that we either have to accept and do, or just bypass all together.

That might be a bad thing really, because I do have to say that while there is a downside to bargaining, there is also definite up side, that being that you get what you are wanting or need. So what if you sell your soul now for the riches of the world. That is future you's problem, and present you is having the time of his or her life. Then again, I just hate the idea of being indebted to something or someone. That is why I always pay my bills on time, and never really barrow money from people.

Then again, it's not like I haven't done the opposite to others. I have often helped people with their problems when it comes to things like moving heavy furniture (because for a girl of 4'11, I am amazingly strong) or lending out money because I assumed in my mind they would eventually do the same for me further down the road. It is a deal made without any writing, but still assumed to be in effect because one should receive some form of compensation for their efforts. Now money is one thing, as I never expect more than what have given out, and most people have paid me back what I have been owed, by those special favors that involve physical labor... well that is where it seems this specific devil is never given her dues. Then again, I don't complain much about it, and have taken to just not doing more favors for those people anymore. Simple solutions for simple problems, even if I am out a few hours of my life that I could have spent elsewhere. No biggie.

As for where the caribou fit in here... well I'm not sure if they are like myself, or in debt up to their eyeballs. Going on the ideas of their exodus from their devastated homelands, the caribou were basically chancing everything on a place that could have just... not been there. What if Equestria was a fairy tale to them, and they had just floated out into the ocean, aimlessly going to some place that didn't exist. Dainn really was tossing the dice here and hoping everything just worked out for him, cause anything else would have not been acceptable. Same goes with severing Celestia and Luna's horns, because Dainn had no reason not to believe that the two were actually controlling the sun and the moon. In fact, it is pretty much proven in another official story that they still do, and yet for some unexplained reason that doesn't become a problem later. We all know that for FoE, that is just a plot convenience that is never explained further than "Gravity took over. Go Team Caribou", but what if logic took over and Dainn was now stuck in a world cast in eternal night? Dainn and the caribou sure likes to gamble the lives of everyone for the sake of keeping their dominance boners erect.

On the other hand, the caribou don't make direct bargains. They pretty much throw their weight around and take what they want. The only people they have even the lightest of tabs with are the stallions that helped them take over Equestria without the need for mind control, but then again if those ponies ever brought that up, I'm sure they'd be tossed a mare or two and the caribou would consider their debt cleared, no matter what cost it was to said stallion, because they were paid through "liberation". They might not even consider their to be a debt for the same reason, and may even lash out against such males for bringing it up in the first place. I'm curious as to how many of those gender switched males are actually rebels, and not someone who had a deal altered on them. Actually, that could make for an interesting FoE story. One of a traitor male who agreed to provide services to the caribou during their invasion planning, had his finances completely wiped out in the process, and constantly tried to get reimbursed for their part in the take over, only to make so much of a fuss about it that the caribou silence him by taking what little assets he had left, and turning him into the personal slave mare of some other higher up. Maybe a rival who also made a deal with the caribou, and just happen to have saved his own fortune from the same decimation by being stingy about what he donated, thus making it so the one more loyal to the caribou's cause is punished for said loyalty. Hmm... how terribly interesting.

I guess what it comes down to though is that the caribou seem to believe that the world, in a literal fashion, owes them everything, while the truth is that they owe everything to the world.

Depression

This is insane! Dainn thought to himself, eyes glued to the creature before him, the one that he was told by Death was God itself. A pony?! An alicorn!? A… FEMALE!?!?

Before his death, Dainn didn’t believe in such a thing as a God, believing that men were the true masters of their own destinies, deciders of their own fates, rulers of their own domains. To assume otherwise was to say that there was something out there that could rend control from you in an instance if it so pleased, and for something to exist that held more dominance than the caribou was a very un-caribou concept. Though if one were to humor the notion, they would have pictured such an entity to be undoubtedly male and most likely caribou in form, wanting to make itself in the image of power.

To see this instead, knowing what this creature was supposed to be, would have sent any average caribou into hysterics. Dainn himself wasn’t quite taking it well either, not twitching so much of a muscle in fear that it would be one that offended. Did she know what he had done to the creatures that represented her? How could she not? He had taken over all of the pony kingdom, enslaved everyone within it into physical or mental bondage. There was no way that could go unnoticed.

If she did know though, she didn’t show it. There was no expressions of hatred on her face, or any other for that matter. The alicorn wasn’t so much as looking at him, just standing there with her eyes closed. No, not standing, she was... sitting? Dainn wasn’t sure. The way she was doing it looked odd. Her rump was firmly planted on the floor, but she was not sitting cross legged or with her legs in front of her. Instead, the way she sat looked… animalistic. It looked like she was sleeping, which was in its own way was more off-putting than if she had been mad with him. Was she even aware that she had company.

“Hello.” Dainn said, wanting to get the alicorn’s attention. Still, there was no response. “Hello!” Again nothing. It was bothersome being ignored, especially since Dainn’s whole reason of being here was to have an audience with God, but he wanted to err on the side of caution when it came to addressing the entity. She was supposedly the only one who could guarantee his return to the world of the living, so doing anything to upset her would not be wise.

However, caution didn’t need to interfere with his curiosity, and if the alicorn was indeed asleep, then he could use this opportunity to get a closer look at her. So he approached her, taking precautions with his steps in order not to wake the slumbering god.

To his amazement, his stealthy approach worked, and the alicorn hardly moved a muscle. She appeared oblivious to Dainn’s presence, which the caribou couldn’t shake as being odd. This was supposed to be God, right? How is it that such a powerful being, one who could possibly restore his life, couldn’t detect him?

It started to make Dainn think, and start to rationalize this with his caribou mindframe. Perhaps this creature wasn’t God. In fact, this looked nothing like what he would have believed a god would have looked like. For one, this creature was small for an all powerful being, her body mass being less than his own. Then there was her form. It wasn’t like any other pony he had seen before. It was more bestial, with her hands having been replaced with another set of hooves. Her body was sleeker too, and lacked breasts at her chest.

Animalistic as her form was, there was a certain beauty to it. Aesthetically, it fit the caribou’s view of women as well, matching the outward image to the internal one. In a way, she was visually the very depiction of a female, perhaps a perfect representation of what a mare should be, or perhaps how they were always supposed to be.

Then a thought crossed his mind, one that made sense of this situation. This female wasn’t God. It was God’s slave. Of course a divine creator would make something of such perfection for himself, though he had to say that allowing her to keep her horn and wings, plus the lack of a collar, were choices he didn’t approve of. Coming to that conclusion though, it begged the question of where God was, and why Death had sent him to this creature instead.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” The alicorn asked, finally opening her eyes, giggling a little as the caribou took in her visage.

“So you are awake.” Dainn said with disdain, no longer having any sense of reverence for this creature, and unsurprised that it could speak english, “That’s good, as now you can take me to your master.”

“My… master?” The red haired mare replied, lifting a brow. “And who do you think that is?”

“Don’t play coy with me.” Dainn answered, “I was sent here by Death to meet with God. When I got here, all I saw was you. A beast like yourself clearly isn’t a God, so I must assume you’re supposed to lead me to him. So why don’t you be a good mare and-”

“Take you to the creator?” The mare said, interrupting the stag. The alicorn lifted herself up from her sitting position, standing on all fours, and walked past Dainn, her hooves clopping loudly against the darkness beneath them as she wandered off in what seemed to be a random direction. “I suppose that wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Excellent,” Dainn said, staying close behind the alicorn, “You’re the first thing I’ve met in this place that has been helpful. It’s a bit refreshing, actually.”

“Is there a reason that people don’t want to help you?” The alicorn asked, looking back to the caribou following her.

“Nothing legitimate…” Dainn said in reply, knowing well the alleged reasons people had to be apprehensive towards him by now, but still seeing it as more their problems than his. Experiencing The Cycle might have taught him a little about humility when it came to his current circumstances, and gave him a proper perspective of how he couldn’t do anything himself to get out of this situation, but it didn’t remove his self-importance, nor his sense of righteousness.

“That is a shame.” said the alicorn, veering to the left, “I hate it when people go out of their way to make people unhappy. Then again, I think that is a sentiment shared by all creatures.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Dainn said back to her, having met his fair share of people who only wished to do harm - some of which his closest allies.

“But would you say that you wish to harm others?”

“Well of course not,” Dainn replied, truthfully not considering his rule or methods as ever being harmful.

To him, the ponies, gryphons, buffalo, zebra, diamond dogs and every other race of the world that he had conquered were like a mass of backwater tribesmen who had yet to learn how things truly functioned, living among their females like equals, and allowing their given societies to fall to ruin by doing so. To force a male into a proper way of living through military dominance was simply a method of re-education that would benefit the world greatly as later generations started seeing caribou values as their own. To crack a whip across the back of a woman was to reaffirm her place in the world, and thus prevent more serious harm later on. Everything Dainn had ever done was helpful to those he had taken responsibility over, and thus he never felt remorse for any of his actions or those of his men, because it was all for the greater good.

“I thought so,” The alicorn said, turning to the left again, “You don’t seem like a sadist to me.”

“Were you trying to determine if I was?” Dainn wondered aloud, thinking that perhaps this slave was testing to see if he was worthy of meeting her master.

“No, I am not here to judge or condemn.” she said, as if answering his thoughts.

“Good.” said Dainn, “It’s wonderful to see a female that knows not to question a male’s actions.”

“Have you had trouble with women before?” asked the alicorn.

Dainn wanted to tell her no, that of course a male like himself couldn’t be ‘troubled’ by any female, but when he went to speak, an image flashed in his mind, one of the orange mare that had destroyed his manhood in a single devastating strike. The memory unnerved the king, and forced him to hold back on his declaration of inherent superiority towards women. “Could we change the subject…” he said instead.

“Why of course.” The alicorn agreed, giving a slight smile as she continued walking, raising her head up a little to point her eyes to the darkness above. “They are lovely, aren’t they?”

Confused at the mare’s statement, Dainn tried to track her line of vision. “What are you referring to?” he said, seeing only the endless, ever present black that enveloped this world.

“The stars,” she answered, “They look beautiful as they twinkle in the distance. So full of life and possibility.”

Dainn squinted his eyes, trying as hard as he could to see these alleged stars, but still he saw nothing. It appeared that God’s servant was a bit deranged, or perhaps just stupid. The way she spoke most certainly sounded like the ramblings of a moronic child who didn’t understand that stars were simply balls of fire floating out in the vastness of space. It reminded him of the myths the ponies used to spread about their alicorn princesses, and how they could direct the movement of the sun and the moon. Of course such things were mere propaganda, spread to make lesser ponies believe the princesses were powerful, and one that he easily debunked by removing their horns and proving the two celestial bodies moved on their own. Nothing but fairy tales believed only by the ignorant.

This level of idiocy made Dainn wonder if this mare was even capable of guiding him. As far as he could tell, she was just leading him throughout the darkness in a wide circle. In fact, with a third turn to the left, he was all but certain that was indeed the case. “Mare… Allow me to ask you a question. Is it the intent of every creature in the afterlife to make me the fool?” With that said, Dainn planted his hooves, refusing to go any further on this fool’s errand.

The alicorn sensed that the caribou has stopped, and likewise stopped in her tracks. “Is something wrong?” she asked, turning back to face him.

“Ever since I have gotten here, I have been put into situations where I am made to look ridiculous. First I had to deal with a version of death that acted like an utter fool, and teased me while I could do nothing to prevent it from doing so. Then I was met by my old mentor, who proceeded to berate my every achievement before utterly annihilating me. After that, Death returned to me, in the guise of my killer no less, and said that he would deliver me to God, and instead I find a mare who is more animal than pony, who is now wandering about in the endless void as I follow her about unquestioningly. I want to know, is this all some divine joke being played at my expense?”

Dainn didn’t know why he bothered to ask that question. If the events leading up to it’s utterance was any indication, then he wasn’t going to like the answer to that. Maybe it was just the habit of supernatural creatures to fuck with mortals upon their deaths, fill them with false hope and then give them the run around until they finally broke. That was a dismal thought, but one that seemed to fit what was happening to him.

The mare, having heard Dainn account of his time in the afterlife, removed any signs of happiness from her expression. “I see… I could understand why you’d feel that everything here is jerking you around. You’ll have to forgive me.”

“For what exactly?” Dainn crossed his arms, ready to hear exactly what part in all this the alicorn had played. Far be it for a female to be anything but a nuisance.

“You wanted to meet the creator, yes?” The mare said, planting her flank back down on the floor. “Well then… hello.”

“Hello?” Dainn asked, confused.

“I am the creator.” the alicorn stated clearly, “I am the one who started everything. The one who set in motion the events that led to your creation.”

“You’re… kidding…” Dainn said, not as willing to believe this mare was God as he was when he first arrived. Then, he had just leapt to a conclusion because she was the first thing he saw, and he expected the first thing he saw to be God. Now that he had time to think, it was logically unsound that a female could ever be a deity. It defied the basic rules of nature.

“I wanted to give you time to adjust and relax, so you wouldn’t be intimidated by my presence. I am not here to invoke fear.” The alicorn could tell that Dainn was beyond skeptical, and was standing firmly in the realms of disbelief, but she felt he was still deserving of an explanation.

“Is that so…” Dainn said, reflecting what the alicorn knew, “So you are the all-powerful being known as God. And I suppose you can prove this?”

“Do I have to?” the alicorn asked the stag, “With everything else you have been through, do you need more proof?”

“I believe I do.” Dainn said, tempting fate against this mare who to him held no presence of power.

“And why is that?” she questioned once more, “What could possibly make you question that I am not who you were told I was?”

Dainn assumed that this question would come, but he knew just enough about the rules to believe he could trump the alicorn’s assertions. “Let me ask you one thing. Are you one of these ‘conceptual beings’, of the likes of what Death claimed to be?”

“In a sense, yes.” the mare said, being as direct as she could be with the stag. “I am, in form and ability, the amalgamation of the concepts of God when it comes to this universe.”

“Then I have no reason to believe you are who you claim. It is my understanding that conceptual beings appear to those in forms that represent a person’s views of the concept. I may admit that by the rules explained to me, my need for God in my current situation could give form to one, but I refuse to believe that my mental image of one would ever be a female. Even in my deepest of subconscious, that is an impossibility.”

“And why might that be?” asked the alicorn.

That lack of knowledge only made Dainn’s stance on his opinion stronger, as he believed that God would certainly know the mentality of his own creations. “I would never see a female as being greater than I. Females are weak, stupid, useless things that never aspire to the greatness of any male, let alone I, the powerful and mighty king of the caribou.”

That declaration caused the mare to chuckle, which honestly wasn’t that odd to Dainn. He had become accustom to the insolence of females. He also assumed that like in case of death, any attempt to punish this mare would not be possible. So instead, he just let her do as she wanted, though it went against his nature. After all, even if she was a false God, she was now not only his only chance to eventually find the real God, but the only other creature he had as company as well.

“You are a king, you say? That is hilarious.”

“And why is that?” he asked, the alicorn’s words begging the question.

“Well… because of this.” The alicorn’s horn began to glow, and in from the darkness a rather large standing mirror came flying in.

Such a feat didn’t surprise Dainn too much. This wasn’t the first time that furniture appeared out of nowhere in this place, and levitation magic was simple enough, even among unicorn mares. If the alicorn thought this would impress him, then she was sorely mistaken.

Of course, that was not the mare’s intent. What she really wanted was to utilize the object to explain her previous words, and she did so by setting the mirror in front of Dainn with the greatest of ease.

Dainn’s eyes popped open, and his pupils shrunk, staring at the form of a naked caribou that stared back at him with equal amounts of disbelief. Of course, his nudity wasn’t what threw him off. He recognized that he had been rendered nude by the army of dead caribou that he had encountered before. His reflection though was wrong. Horribly wrong. Mind-numbingly, mouth-drying, heart-stoppingly wrong. If he wasn’t already dead, he would have keeled over on the spot. Instead, his knees gave way, and he fell backwards on his rounded bottom.

Of course, part of the problem was that his butt wasn’t supposed to be round. It was suppose to be a firm, chiseled ass, that of a caribou warrior. Nor was he suppose to have a curvy figure, or a pair of pouty lips, or two small nubs atop his head for antlers, or a set of D cups hanging from his chest. It was the most horrifying thing that Dainn could have ever imagined. Worse that the thought of being alone forever, being torn apart by the vengeful souls of dead caribou, or even having to endure The Cycle. Somehow, without him even noticing, the stag had become a cow.

Dainn touched himself, making sure this wasn’t some illusion held within the mirror, but he found that the differences held by his reflection matched his physical appearance. Every curve or bump a complete duplicate of what the stag saw in the mirror. He kept searching his form though, hoping to touch upon something that could dispel what he saw. It was only when he felt around for his manhood and found his fingers sinking into a hole in his crotch, feeling the digits poke inside him, which in turn sent a shocking new sensation into his.

The surprise of this new feeling caused a knee jerk reaction, his hand momentarily losing control, making him push the fingers inside him even further. This caused the sensation to grow exponentially, as it also did Dainn’s fear. In his mind, he equated it to being stabbed with a knife, with the freshly created orifice having an incredible sensitivity to it, having for the first time been touched by anything. In repulsion, Dainn removed his hand with great haste, causing the feeling to spike temporarily, and eliciting a yelp from his mouth as it overwhelmed him. He wanted to deny, to refuse the new found feelings in his crotch, but unfortunately another sensation on the fingers he removed pulled him back into reality. One of wetness, that coated his fingers in fluids he was all too familiar with. With that all denial dissipated, proving to the once proud king that the mirror showed only reality. Dainn screamed, with a very feminine sound exiting his muzzle, all the while scooting farther away from the vision of himself. This was a nightmare. Of all the worst possible things, this was THE, WORST, POSSIBLE, THING!

From behind the mirror, the red headed alicorn poked her head out. “Is something the matter?” she said, the chipper tone of her voice and the gleeful expression she wore letting Dainn know that she knew exactly what was going on.

“Change me back!” Dainn yelled at the mare, the female voice tearing out his throat.

He had never been so distressed over anything more than he was over this transformation. Not the death of his mentor, not the destruction of the caribou homelands, not even his own death. To be ‘switched’, as the caribou put it, was the most terrible fate that could befall a male, and for Dainn specifically, it was the biggest, most awful, most tragic event that could ever happen.

“But how could I do that?” The alicorn questioned coyly, “I am a mare, and by your own definition, I am entirely powerless and worthless. Surely you don’t believe that such a creature could do such a drastic transformation.”

Dainn got on all fours, and scurried over to the alicorn as fast as his four appendages would take him. “I’m sorry!” Dainn said, lowering his head before the alicorn. “I get it! You’ve proven your point! Just change me back!”

“So you believe me now when I tell you that I’m the creator?”

Dainn had to admit, what the mare had done to him was no small feat of magic. It was not a simple process to change a person’s gender. For the ponies, the very notion of that act was impossible. For the caribou, it was only possible through the use of a device that harnessed a lot of runic magic, a device that at the time of Dainn’s death was located in Canterlot, and was one of a kind, a relic made from materials and magics from the caribou homelands that were both lost to The Cycle.

For this mare to have altered his gender, without him even being aware of it, required incredible magic ability, the likes unheard of by any pony, caribou, or anything else. It alone didn’t prove godhood, but it proved that the alicorn was one with the power to change the world around her at a whim. Though he could not mentally accept her divinity, the stag could not refute that he was outclassed by a wide margin.

“Fine! Yes! You are God!” he said, hoping to sway the alicorn, “Just turn me back, please! I beg of you!”

Looking down on the doe before her, the alicorn took some pity on Dainn. Using her horn’s magic, she lifted the mirror up again, and set it aside the caribou. “Take a look at your reflection one more time.”

Dainn didn’t want to, but he obeyed. As a female, it was all he could do. His eyes once more met with his pathetic female form. Dainn wasn’t one for crying, but the sight was bringing him to the verge of tears. Had his men saw him like this, they would have no compassion for his situation. A man who was switched had as few rights as if they had been born a woman. Of course, this was under different circumstances than if he had been switched through the normal methods, but he had little reason to believe that any caribou would see it that way. After all, there had never, in the history of the caribou, been a time when a woman had been switched into a male, not even if they had been born a man to begin with. To be female was to have no rights, and there were no exceptions.

Dainn didn’t have to look at the humiliating form for too long though. Only a few seconds passed before the alicorn flipped the mirror around, revealing that the backside of it was also a mirror. However, this side didn’t show the doe he had seen before, and instead reflected back the familiar male form of the caribou king, the once proud figure bowing before an alicorn with misery evident in his eyes.

“Sorry about that,” the alicorn said, stepping away from the stag, “But it looked like the only way to get through to you was to do something drastic. Why don’t you sit down for a moment, and I’ll explain a few things to you.”

Dainn was hardly listening, far too busy re-examining his body to make sure that everything was back where it belonged. Exploring his naked body, there was nothing he could see that was out of place. His muscles were just the right level of toned, his antlers were the proper length, and his chest had deflated back to a flat surface. The first place he had looked before all that though was back to his crotch, relieved to no end to find that he had the proper set of genitals.

The alicorn had once again changed him in a drastic manner, and did it so incredibly fast that he didn’t even realize that it had happened until he saw it with his own eyes. Everything, in the mere instance that it took to spin a mirror around. This was far above that of the caribou’s magic, as switching was a process that required several minutes at the least to accomplish. It was also suppose to be an incredibly painful experience. It was another testament to the mare’s skill that he didn’t feel a thing.

“Now then… before I begin, I think it’s time I learned a bit more about you.”

Having been shown a taste of her magical might, Dainn's complacency had skyrocketed. He would have been more than willing to answer any questions she had, but that was unnecessary. With a glow of her horn, the mare picked up the mirror once more, and to the stag's amazement, rolled the object in upon itself like a newspaper. Once twisted into as thin a tube as the pony could create, she began to spin it around in the air randomly and rapidly, so fast that it became a pseudo-sphere of blurred shapes.

When the mirror slowed down, it was no longer the rolled up hunk of metal and glass as it was before, and instead had turned into some sort of handheld telescope. Like any telescope of its type, it was a cylindrical cone with glass lenses on either end. Along that cylinder was a vast array of arcane symbols, which were placed upon segmented sections of the object.

Bringing the telescope to her eye, the mare looked out into the void in a seemingly random direction. “To remove some confusion, I’ll tell you that while I am a concept like you assumed, my form is not decided by your subconscious depictions as to what a god is. The one who chose this form for me is the universe itself.”

“I keep hearing this ambiguous ‘universe’ being mentioned by creatures like you and Death.” Dainn said, having settled down a bit with his restored masculinity. “What is it exactly?” If anyone should be able to explain that concept, it should have been God.

“The universe…” the alicorn said, twisting the segments of her viewing glass as she spoke, “Is the guiding force of all that we know as reality. It is what decides our every action, or at the very least guides us to how it believes we are suppose to be. It is composed of thousands, if not millions of forces all working with and against each other at the same time. Some benevolent, some malevolent, some indifferent, and some far more involved than they probably should be. They are the shapers of what you would know as reality, and what I know as the realities.”

“Realities?” Dainn questioned.

“Yes. Despite what you may believe, there are other worlds beyond your own. An uncountable number of possible and potential realities that abide by their own rules, and function separately from one another.”

“I-is that really possible?” the stag wondered aloud, surprised to hear there were worlds outside his own, and curious as to how different they were.

“From what I’m learning from my interscope, I can see that you are a fairly arrogant person, but I hope you really didn’t assume that you were the center of the universe.”

“Well... “ The caribou said aloud, before sheepishly backing away from the mare’s accusation.

“Anyways,” she said, spinning the segments of the scope a few more turns, “As a result of the universe’s contradictory nature, a large amount of chaos exists, which in turn is why a vast amount of realities exist. Some silly, some abysmal, some bright and happy, and some profound in their own ways. All of them though have a set of constants that exist in all of them, in one way or another.”

“Such as?”

“Certain rules of reality, certain people, certain events.”

“And I take it that the caribou are one of these constants.” Dainn said with confidence, having no trouble believing that his race was not only dominant in his world, but in all worlds.

“Actually, no.” The alicorn said, shooting down the stag’s assumptions. “You’re people appear to exist in a select few realities. You are, in fact, an anomaly when it comes to the universe. Something created by the chaos, by a force that wished to use what I have created toward their own ends. Whether or not it did so malevolently, I cannot be absolutely certain.” Lowering her interscope, as she called it, Dainn could see a distinct look of displeasure.

“Then might I ask what the constants are?”

“Have you really not figured that out yourself? It should be fairly simple seeing-” The mare said, her once kind tone carrying a bit of hostility within it. However, with a shake of her head, she took a step back from the thoughts within her. “Excuse my tone. I know that none of what I saw was your fault. You were just doing what you were made to do.”

“What I was made to do?” The king once more was lost by the alicorn’s words. It sounded like he had been coerced into something without his knowledge, and that whatever it was, it was making this God unhappy.

“You see, Dainn,” said the alicorn, speaking his name for the first time, “The constants I speak of are the ponies of your world.”

Dainn’s heart sunk, understanding a little more what the alicorn had been talking about. He had assumed something similar earlier, upon first seeing the mare's form, but all recollection of those assumptions had left him until she directly told him that it was fact.

“Not only that,” she went on to say, “But zebra, buffalo, gryphons, diamond dogs… Every creature that you had bend under your will was a product of my design.”

“Then... then… Oh no...” Dainn suddenly felt very small. He remembered Death’s final warning to him, that if God found him unworthy, then it was very likely that he could be condemned to a fate even worse than being stuck in the abyss. At this point he had no reason to believe that any other outcome was possible.

“These creatures, and the world they reside in, are the constants. Ponies are supposed to be the rulers of Equestria. The Elements of Harmony are supposed to be its protectors, and the princesses exist to maintain balance, not only with the kingdom, but with the world on the whole. From what I have seen, you and your people exist only to tear down my creations for reasons that I would rather not try to understand.”

The alicorn gave a heavy sigh, glaring at the creature in front of her with something that felt to the caribou like resentment. How else could he interpret the feelings of a creature whose creations he had, as she probably saw it, ruined. If the caribou were the anomaly in God’s design, and the ponies her chosen people, then what they had done to them could only be seen as blasphemous in her eyes.

“W-wait!” Dainn said, his mind racing to reason a way out of this predicament, “If the caribou are so terrible, then why have you not stepped in to stop us?! You must believe we have done something right if you allowed us to take over Equestria.”

“You don’t seem to understand my position in this,” the alicorn replied, “While I did create the structure of reality that both your people and my creations reside in, I have long since stopped directly influencing with it. I set the groundwork, but I did so that other forces would do as they will with it. It is not my place to stand in the way of this chaos, and so you were allowed to do as you pleased in the reality given to you by the force that created you. It is for this reason that I’m not exactly angry with you, simply perturbed by what you appear to represent.”

“And what is that?” Dainn cautiously asked, still worried about God’s opinion of him.

In return he got a single, damning word from the mare. “Perversion.”

It was upsetting, to say the least, to hear that from God itself. To know it looked upon you and the actions that you had accomplished with such condemnation. This was far worse than when Svarndgr have made him aware that he was not respected by his own mentor, with his every action and goal now deprecated to such a degree that Dainn finally saw the futility of it all. Depression didn’t describe this feeling in the least, though despair was a more apt title for it.

“Now don’t assume that your world was the only one that had ever been based around sexuality. That isn’t the problem…” stated the alicorn, wishing to clarify herself, “But it seems that your very motivations are to destroy and contradict all that I’ve made. You have corrupted and desecrated relics that I put in place to protect the world. You’ve enslaved every last one of my creations based on a misguided premise of ‘male dominance’, torturing, raping, and maiming to prove a meaningless point, and all the while proving that you knew next to nothing about the world you existed in. If not for the fact that the powers of the universe allow for different realities to have small discrepancies in how they work, you would have destroyed your world simply on the merit of the sun never rising again.”

“You mean-”

“Yes,” said the alicorn, cutting Dainn off, “Celestia and Luna are supposed to raise the sun and the moon. I don’t even know how you could assume otherwise. You do understand that ponies have unique talents, and that those talents are symbolically represented by the marks on their flanks. You even utilized that symbolism to your own ends, having branded Celestia’s own mark with a symbol of chains imprisoning her talents, and as well as using a device to blank and remark ponies in order to alter their talents to ones more attuned to your goals. You only got away with something so impetuous and stupid because you existed in a reality that was literally created to cater towards your people’s desire to sexually dominate others.”

Dainn didn’t wish to upset God more than he already had by his mere existence, but what she had said begged a question. “But… then… if my reality was built to service me and my people… then why is my kingdom in shambles? Why did the Cycle happen? Why… am I dead?”

“Because while there was a force that created the caribou, and wanted them to come out on top regardless of the inane actions you took to do so, there are forces that saw your people’s existence as a blight on the universe. These forces worked against the one that made you, creating other realities in which you and your kind were defeated and destroyed. The force that created you saw this as harmful towards the reality he created, and thus tried to resist, but that only served to receive more retaliation, until finally their influence leaked into your world. One way to look at it is to say that it was their vengeance that caused your demise, as it had many times before. Another view might be that these forces allowed logic to be implemented upon your reality, seeing as the force that made you had tried to ignore the consequences of your actions, as damaging as they should be to any world. The only exception is your ‘Cycle’, which appears to be an intricate part of your creation. If not for it, you would have never had a reason to leave for Equestria, and the rape and enslavement of ponies is the only purpose for your existence.”

“That’s… disheartening… to say the least.” Dainn said, outwardly taking this new information well. In his mind though, he was finding it hard to process it. He wasn’t even sure that he understood it all, despite the alicorn seemingly explain it in the simplest terms she could for him.

From what he could piece together, something created him and the caribou, as well as the reality they existed in, in order to forge a world where they could violate the creations of God for whatever reason. This force, whatever it may be, then intentionally destroyed their homelands and thousands of lives with the creation of The Cycle in order to invent a reason for Dainn and his followers to embark on the journey to Equestria. From there, the force had intended to bend the rules of reality itself so that whatever goal it had intended could be achieved without issue, which then apparently drew in others to fight against this and set order back to reality, creating other alternate realities in order to have some effect on the one he was from, ones where he likewise met his demise.

It made Dainn ponder what his purpose for being was, now that he knew that there were things far beyond him dictating his every move. Was this entity that created them the aspect of fate that caribou believed in? Something that pushed all probability in their favor, no matter how ridiculous it was? He couldn’t be certain, but it made some sort of twisted sense. It also gave Dainn a thought that chilled him to the bone, one that he loathed more than any concepts of a female God, or him being considered a joke to his former king. That for all his life, he was not, as he believed, in control of his own destiny. That in actuality, he was just the pawn of some otherworldly force, one that took any form of will that he might have had and manipulated it towards its own ends, just as he had controlled the stallions of Equestria. The irony of it all pierced him, and fill him with an incredible sense of revulsion towards this entity.

“I believe that is enough explanation for now.” said the alicorn, breaking Dainn’s train of thought, “It’s time that we got down to the reason you are here. It’s time for you to make your plea.”

“My plea…” Dainn said with dismay, the very point of this encounter with God finally being brought to the forefront. He didn’t even know where to begin. How could he dispute his worthiness to live to a God who deemed his life a blight against her creations?

Fortunately, he didn’t have to begin his case immediately, with the alicorn continuing to say, “I believe a change of scenery is in order.” With a lift of her foreleg, followed by a sequential drop of her hoof, the abyss Dainn had grown accustom to instantly changed. No longer was he surrounded by the black void, but instead was met with walls and floors of pure white marble. The alicorn mare had moved herself in the split second, to a large desk at the back of this room, positioned at an elevated level than the caribou. He himself had been relocated to a space behind an oaken table, with a chair nearby made of the same material, with another table set up across from him.

“Dainn,” The alicorn’s voice boomed forth from her muzzle with a gentle, but undeniably powerful presence, “When we first met, you declared that it was never your intent or wish to harm others. Therefore, I must assume that you believe that your actions are a means to an end, and that that end is a better outcome for the world that you existed in than what it would be without you. Thus, if you wish for me to grant you another chance at life, I decree that you prove that your belief is true, and your motives are just.”

With that said, Dainn understood fully where he had been brought to, and what this was. This was a courtroom, and this was his trial. One where he would plead his case, and be delivered the final verdict on his fate.

Author's Note

Depression is a big deal in this day and age, being one of the most talked about emotional conditions in the media as a whole. There are always articles or news segments or commercials that talk about "how to reduce depression", "how to deal with depression", "how to overcome depression", and with good reason too. Depression is perhaps the most powerful of our negative emotions, either being caused by or being the cause of pretty much every other negative emotion.

It is also fairly easy to become depressed, because there are plenty of thing that can make a person depressed. Stress, sadness, feelings of inadequacy, of being manipulated, of being treated unfairly, loss of something important, a general disillusionment of the world around you, prolonged periods of nothing exciting happening in your life, or simple "just cause". Life, in and of itself, can be seen as a bleak thing that cares not about you and what you find important. This is why people dedicate themselves to something, be it their job, a hobby, science, god, or the simple pleasures of the flesh. People will do anything to find purpose in their lives, anything to preoccupy themselves and stave off those feelings of depression that come with the tedium of life.

So what would happen if you had dedicated your life to something, did everything you could to perfect your skills and become one of most, if not the most, prominent member of your field... only for someone to tell you that you got it all wrong. In this story the example used for this is in "god", which I would think that it would be awful for someone to have God to tell them that "they fucked up", but it doesn't even have to go that far. Perhaps all it takes is for for someone to grow up wanting a career in singing, manage to make a few hit songs, and then by doing so have a chance encounter with the singer/songwriter who inspired them, to which said person tells them flat out "I think you're shit". It's not impossible, as we should all know that one doesn't need to be good to make something successful nowadays, and what a horrid thing if this were to happen.

Now I would say that in this situation, one must evaluate if that opinion does have any meaning, because it is complete possible that the person you idolized is in reality a douche bag, or simply has poor opinions about your craft based on their own preferences and experiences, but there is the possibility they could be right. You really might suck at your favorite sport, or be a terrible manager, or not have the skills that match your chosen vocation in an optimum manner, and if you come to that conclusion, well then you now have a long trip down from that mountain of good feelings you had been climbing till then.

For a person like Dainn, the very thought of being a failure must be troubling. He is, by the results of his actions, absolutely perfect. His troops never fail in battle. He never receives even the slightly bit of damage. Women fall to their knees before him and offer their bodies to his desires (willingly or not, it doesn't matter). Men look up to him and aspire to follow his ways (at the very least this applies to his own people). He had built up a world conquering empire that only has beneficial properties for his people, pulling the caribou up from the ashes of their civilization into a new one where they thrive even more than before (mostly because they just leech off the hard work of the other races, but hey, it still works). To have done all that, and then to be told by both his mentor and the "god" of his reality that he was stupid and that his accomplishments not only mean nothing, not only that they were factually damaging to the world on the whole, but that he hadn't even hadn't even done any of these grand achievements himself, that he was simply a puppet to some unknown force all along.... Well gosh, I couldn't even begin to assume how terrible that would feel.

On the topic of "god" in this story though, I do want to make it clear that am not trying to use Fausticorn as a mouthpiece for any specific viewpoint here. In fact, I am trying my best to keep the character neutral, or at least have an entity that approves of anything that leads to an overall beneficial result. This stance is kind of based on an old quote I believe came from Faust herself, wherein she said that she really doesn't mind what people do with the characters she creates, so long as people are enjoying themselves. That is a great viewpoint from a content creator (because let's be honest, people are going to draw porn and some "darker stuff" whether the creators of their chosen subject approve or not), but I do get the feeling that she probably wouldn't enjoy seeing what FoE does with the characters she dedicated a portion of her life developing. A "do what you want, just don't show me that shit" kind of mindset. I could be wrong about this, Lauren could be the kinkiest one of us all, but who among us would like to test those waters? :derpytongue2:

Anyways, the next chapter is going to be the last one before the epilogue, and thus I am going to assume that it will take a little longer than usual to release. I would expect it in 2 weeks, but if I get it done sooner, it will be released sooner.

Acceptance Part 1

A trial…

Of all the indignities that Dainn thought he’d ever have to suffer through, he never thought that he would have to go through one of these. Trials were for those who were a menace to society, or had done acts that brought harm to others. He had always been a good, law-abiding citizen in the time before he was the one making them, and of course as the king he never had to worry about breaking his own decrees.

Those were caribou laws though, and he no longer had a reason to believe that they applied, having learned that God was a female pony of all things. Now he had to defend himself, and on her terms. He couldn’t help but believe that this whole thing was rigged against him.

Looking at the alicorn sitting in her elevated position, he had to ask the question that was nagging at him. “How is this fair?”

“Excuse me?” the alicorn replied, honestly surprised with his brashness.

“Don’t assume I haven’t noticed your attitude towards me. Ever since you looked in that scope of yours, you’ve been treating me with resentment. It already appears like you’ve made your opinion about me already, and all this is just for your amusement.”

“Dainn, please do not assume that I run things like your people do.” She said, keeping the gentle tone of her voice. “I do intend to make this as fair as possible, and as I said before, I am not here to judge you.”

“Hard to believe with you in a judge’s seat.” God or no, Dainn didn’t appreciate that he was being looked down upon by a female form, and if this was going to be the end, then he lost nothing from being in a bad mood. Damned if he did, and damned if he didn’t.

“Perhaps, but contrary to what you’re assuming, it's not I who you need to convince. I am here only as an observer. These are the ones you must persuade.” The alicorn’s horn glowed, and she turned her head to the table across from Dainn. From behind it, three figures appeared, each recognizable to the caribou in one way or another.

Of these three figures, the first was the most familiar to the caribou, having been at the end of his leash for little under a year before his death. She was a pure white alicorn with hair the colors of an aurora, the mare who anyone who resided in Equestria would know as the former princess, Celestia. It was nice to see the face of a creature he knew was dedicated to him after so long, and even more so that it was his most thoroughly trained slave. Dainn’s heart nearly skipped a beat at the sight of her, but his excitement died quickly as he started noticing some things that were off. No, not ‘off’. More like terribly wrong.

The stump that adorned her head, the proof that he had defeated her, that he had stripped her of her title of ruler, was no longer there. What was there was a long white horn, the likes of which females of his kingdom were forbidden from having. Somehow, some way, the remnant of her horn had been restored, but that was not the only thing. She also had two large, fully feathered wings poking out from her back, both lacking the typical pegasus wing binders that were as strictly enforced as the dehorning of unicorns.

Those two major discrepancies from how he remembered her had sent up red flags for Dainn, but there was more to the mare than what he had immediately noticed that would have made him aware that something was amiss, such as her lack of a collar of any kind, the fact that she was wearing the garb she had worn the day he took over Canterlot, and the look of resentment she was sending his way. This was not at all how he remembered his living trophy of conquest.

“I see you are giving Celestia some odd looks,” said the alicorn atop the stands, “Allow me to end your confusion by saying she is not the mare you know, at least not entirely. She is in every sense Celestia, but she is a Celestia that had defeated you that day you went to Canterlot.”

“Impossible!” Dainn replied, outraged by the mere notion that Celestia could have bested him in combat.

“Far from it,” Celestia rebutted with fury, “When we fought, our battle was a simple one. You had tried to confront me one on one, as your men and my guards fought one another. I quickly realized that you were at a huge disadvantage, lacking any abilities to fight me when I took the battle to the sky. With you unable to effectively fight back, it was only a matter of time before I overwhelmed the protection your armor gave you, and ended your reign before it started.”

“You lie!” Dainn yelled, slamming his hands down on his table as he rose from his seat. “You did no such thing! You fought me hand to hand, hooves firmly planted on the ground as you tried pitifully to fend off my warhammer with a sword you summoned with your magic! In the end, you had fallen before me, and I was able to slip a ring around your horn, and a collar around your neck.”

“Dainn!” the red headed alicorn spoke, filling the court with her commanding voice, “Do I have to remind you about what I said before? This is a Celestia from a reality where logic was able to prevail, and you lost on the simple merit of being unable to fight Celestia on her terms in her kingdom. Caribou, as creatures stuck to the ground, lack the ability to deal with flying opponents that can fight safely at a range. Sure, you had corrupted some pegasi beforehand to assist in your takeover, but even in your reality, they were too preoccupied with Celestia’s royal guard to help ground her. In a one on one battle, your odds of winning are minimal, and the only reason you defeated her in your reality was because she went against logic, and fought you on the ground in melee combat, where you could have every advantage.”

“But-!” Even with God saying it to him, Dainn couldn’t conceive a world in where Celestia had defeated him. It just wasn’t possible.

“But that has nothing to do as to why she is here,” said the red maned alicorn, “Celestia’s presence is to act as an opposing opinion to your reign. The voice of pure objection to what you have done. Aside from that, it would probably be best that you not inquire too deeply about her.”

“And what of you?” Dainn said, looking to the next one in line, “Surely you can’t be against me.”

The one Dainn spoke to seemed like an odd choice to the king of the caribou, as the second person was a caribou himself. The stag in front of him was slightly overweight, and a bit shorter than Dainn, his face holding the characteristics of a scholarly caribou, and not the gruff features of one of the king's soldiers. As he looked around his new environment . shooting glances at all of the creatures that accompanied him in the nearly pure white courtroom, Dainn noted that he didn't share the default frown that Dainn and so many of his fellow caribou, and instead wore an almost serene smile, creating an uncanny valley effect for Dainn. The caribou king wondered who this caribou was, as even he didn't know all of his caribou subjects of course, but he was fairly sure he had knew all those he considered of 'higher education'. Perhaps this was one of his Magistrates. Most of them had been appointed on Vestri’s or Sindri’s suggestion, all save for Gunne, so it was possible one slipped though his field of acknowledgement.

“I am not against you, King Dainn.” the stag said, reassuring the caribou across from him that he was not some sort of traitor to his race as Dainn feared. It was unthinkable for a caribou to commit such an act, but who knew what tricks could be pulled by a God that could seemingly do anything.

“Well good to finally find a sensible stag like yourself after so long. Could you please tell me your name? I would like to know what I am to call my ally in these proceedings.”

“It’s Eadgil, and I wasn’t finished with what I had to say.” the stag replied to his king, a stoic look now forming across his muzzle, “I am not here to condemn you Dainn, but I am also not here to speak on your behalf. I will say that unlike Celestia here, I don’t see you as being some demonic entity bent on destroying everything for the sake of what our race considers ‘The natural order’. I acknowledge that without you the caribou would have ceased when Svarndagr completed The Cycle. I’m also not in the best position to condemn you, given that I participated in your rule for far too long, no matter how reluctantly. However, I cannot side with you either, as I’ve seen what destruction you cause when unchecked.”

“What?!” Dainn yelled, having predicted something like this, but still incredibly displeased that it became an actuality.

“It is as I said before. I cannot condemn you without condemning myself. Unlike you though, I am aware of the damage our race has done to others. Having been one of the privileged citizens of your kingdom, I’ve watched as you unwittingly committed countless acts of cruelty against a population that neither wanted nor needed your… no, our brand of leadership.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this…” Dainn said, exacerbated at this insanity. Hearing an ignorant pony or a gryphon say something like this was common, but this was not the mindset of a stag who lived in the homelands and knew better than this. That any stag could be so thoroughly indoctrinated into these poor ideals of themselves was infeasible, and yet here one was, spouting off pure nonsense.

“This, Dainn,” said the red-maned alicorn, “Is our neutral perspective in this debate. Having gone through both the rule of your mentor and yourself while coming to an understanding of the potential advantages and flaws of said rules, he will be a viewpoint we will need in this.”

“And where did you happen to pull him from?” Dainn asked, annoyed, “Because he can’t be from my world.”

“He is from a world not too different from the one you came from.” the alicorn stated, “With the only difference being that he and a small band of caribou identified the damage you were doing to Equestria, and did what they could to mitigate that damage done to your own culture over centuries of misguided ideals.”

“How did you-?” Dainn started asking Eadgil, but then backed out of his inquiry. “No, nevermind. I don’t want to know. It will only make me more disgusted with you.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Eadgil replied, “But I assure you that I won’t allow that stance to interfere with my own judgements and arguments during this trial.”

“How reassuring…” Dainn responded, having little faith in this race traitor of a caribou.

With the caribou now having been dismissed, all that was left was to address the third person the alicorn had summoned. However, Dainn really didn’t want to. Given that both the previous people were those who should have been close to him, and loyal to his cause through proper training or common sensibility, he had no reason to expect anything more from any third entry into this group. This wasn’t just any third person though… Dainn had met this one already, and he didn’t really want to have to deal with them again.

Of course, the third person wasn’t going to accept his silence, and shortly after the caribou received an “Exccuussee me, but how much longer do you plan to ignore me?” from a certain crystal mare.

“I was planning to remove you from my life,” Dainn replied, looking away from the avatar of death, who had appeared to have reverted to its previous form. “Especially after you told me we would never meet again.”

“Oh right,” said the alicorn, knowing what Dainn had gone through in his journey after his demise, “You have encountered this visage before. This is not the avatar of death though. This is a mare who in one reality was very close to you.”

“How so exactly?” Dainn asked, tilting his eye just a little more towards the crystal mare’s direction. Now in his peripherals, he could see some things that were actually pleasing to his eyes.

The mare looked exactly as Death did in his recollection, except that she lacked the black, reaper-ish cloak that was draped around her form before. In fact, she lacked any form of coverings, and bore her body bare before him, with a modest B-sized rack on display as her lower body teasingly hid under the horizon of the desk. She also had atop her head a proper horn stump like Celestia should have had, and a red collar tightly looped around her throat. The sight of the formerly annoying and aggravating image put into its proper place should have been greatly appeasing, but her face had that smile on it. The same one that Death wore, the one that seemed to arrogantly hide something behind it.

“Does it even matter?” the crystal mare said, responding to Dainn’s question, “I could be anypony. I could be your personal slave, or your lover, or maybe the person who killed you, but it wouldn’t matter here. We both know that we are from two different worlds, and that once this is done we’ll part on our separate ways, with all memories of this removed. Until then though, I’ll be acting as the voice of... approval I suppose it would be.”

“Voice of approval? I am suppose to rely on a mare in such dire a time as this?”

“Yes, and no.” the unicorn answer, leaning forward till her breast touched the top of the table she was standing behind, her arms placed before her to keep her from outright lying atop it. “While I certainly enjoyed your rule in my world, and saw little wrong with my place in it as my necklace clearly shows, I am here more as a witness than someone to speak on your behalf.”

“A witness to what?” Dainn was beginning to loathe how his responses were all turning into questions.

“Oh I’m sure we’ll find out over the course of this trial. For now, why don’t we just keep it a mystery, sweetie.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Dainn shot back.

“As you wish,” The mare stood herself up, and put her arms to her sides, presenting her front in full display. “I’ll be on my best behavior. The name’s Schorl by the way.”

“I see that introductions are out of the way,” the alicorn said, having patiently waited for all parties to be acquainted, “So let us proceed. You have all been brought here to determine the fate of Dainn. He has come to me in the hopes of being reincarnated immediately, instead of waiting to see if the universe finds some use for him. As such, I have given him a task that he must accomplish to receive that gift; he must prove that his methods were overall beneficial to his world. You three have been brought here to either dispute or confirm any arguments he may have. However, there are a few rules that must be followed when doing so.”

“What kind of rules?” asked Celestia, the others having almost said the same thing themselves.

“Firstly, none of you are allowed to lie in attempt to prove a point,” the red maned alicorn stated, “All arguments must come from either speculation or facts known to you. However, none of you will have to assume that this rule will be attempted to be broken. You might not have noticed, but as of the moment you entered this room, none of you have been capable of even forming a lie in your minds. Therefore, all words you speak are the truth, at least as far as you understand.”

“Awww, but lying is one of the few things I’m good at.” Schorl bemoaned, though doing so in a sarcastic manner that anyone could pick up on.

“Secondly, no one here is to verbally assault Dainn or any other during this process. Whatever petty squabbles you may have will be ignored, and as such this chamber will likewise stifle them for the sake of brevity and creating a neutral environment.”

“That's fine with me,” said Eadgil, “While there is much I could say against Dainn, I would rather not impede things with a random outburst.”

“Thirdly, as we are here to definitively clear up whether Dainn’s actions were beneficial to his world, we will be using a unique method of discern what is to be considered fact, speculation, opinion, or a disproven falsehood.”

“And how do we do that?” asked Dainn, expecting more of the divine mare’s magic to intercede any efforts to try and deceive this court.

“This one might be better off show than told,” the alicorn replied, “So why don’t we start off with a bit of a warm up. Dainn, could you please give us an opening argument towards your case.”

An opening argument? So she wanted him to begin the proceedings. That would be simple enough, he assumed, as he didn’t necessarily need to present an unbreakable opinion, just something that could stick.

“Very well, then how about this? As I was informed earlier, there are a grand amount of possible realities. Therefore, if this is true, then it goes to reason that ‘It is possible that a good outcome could come from a villainous act’.”

As Dainn spoke the words, he and the others were shocked to see them appear in front of him, as if being typed out by some unseen typewriter, in the form of giant blue letters that floated in mid air.

“This,” said the red-maned alicorn, “Is a ‘speculation’. When one of you makes one, you will find that the important parts of it will be produced in physical form before you. Dainn, would you like to clarify what you mean by this, to make your speculation stronger?”

Dainn was a bit off put by the physical representations of his own words being presented before him, but he decided to do as he was told, as it only seemed to be useful information. “Well… I have to assume that you all see me as some villain. That by your own words you have deemed me to be the bad guy in all this. If that is the case, then fine. I’ll take that, but you cannot judge me guilty just on that merit.”

“And why not?” Celestia questioned.

“Because this isn’t about if I am good or evil. I could be the most dastardly creature in existence and it wouldn’t matter. What’s important is that ‘I’m on trial to determine if my methods are beneficial to the world’.” His words appeared again, this time in red letters, which stood before the previously made ones like a shield.

“This is what is known as a ‘fact’,” the red-maned alicorn said, continuing her tutorial, “One can use facts to bolster their speculations and opinions, backing them up and making them harder to break. Also, one can tell the difference between a fact and speculation by its color. Note though that for simplicity's sake, strong opinions will be lumped up with your speculations, and will likewise be colored blue.”

“So no matter what we believe, a fact will be red and a speculation and opinions will be blue.” Eadgil concluded, stroking his chin as he pondered what that meant. “So what happens when we present a counterargument?”

“Why don’t you try and find out?” The alicorn said with a smile.

“Then… I think I know what to say to get past your blockade of words Dainn. It is true that the idea that you are either good or evil has no place in this discussion, and I’ll even admit that it is possible that a villain could still raise a mighty kingdom that is overall beneficial for its people. However, this trial is to determine if you could claim this for yourself in your own world. Thus, “It doesn’t matter if other realities can achieve this if yours can’t”.

Just as with Dainn, the words appeared in front of Eadgil, though they did not stay still. Instead, the moment they were formed, they shot forward towards Dainn’s own statements, and barged right through both the fact and the speculation behind it with no resistance.

Dainn ducked for cover, assuming the words were going to ram him, but they came to a fast halt before his desk. As he rose back up, he had to look at them looming dauntingly over him. “What was that?!” he asked the mare in the judge's stand.

“That was your argument being destroyed by his counter-argument.” said the alicorn, “Counter-arguments are green, and are used to attack statements with a use of one’s own. However, if a counter-argument is weak, it will be just as easily smashed against a strong argument.”

“What a shame.” said Schorl nonchalantly, leaning her back against the desk as she observed her finely trimmed fingernails. “That the king was so easily beaten by such a simple argument. He was so close to something useful too.”

“And what would that be?” Eadgil asked, curious about what this mare had to say that could go against his statement.

“Well, it’s as you said before. This trial has nothing to do with whether Dainn is good or evil, because ‘A king who is considered evil is just as capable of both success and failure as one that is considered good’.” The words appeared in red, and blocked the path of the green ones standing before Dainn. “Let’s be honest here, your argument doesn’t even do anything but reiterate what we all should already know, so it’s kinda pointless to bring it up to begin with.”

“That’s a bit harsh…” Eadgil replied, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

“Don’t get me wrong. I get why you had to make it, but overall there was no reason to bring it up. So what if the king’s opening argument would have stood? Even from your end you should see that this case didn’t hinge on one simple statement. Would it really have done anything if you let him have such a small win?”

“If we are to properly judge Dainn for his actions, then I feel it is important that we scrutinize everything he says to see if it holds any water.” replied Eadgil,

“I couldn’t agree more.” said Celestia, backing up the caribou next to her.

“Whatever, but if you’re both going to nitpick every little unimportant detail, then I’m not going to be a part of it. I’ll gladly focus on the more important things.” Saying this, the mare tilted herself back on the table until her back laid flat on it, allowing her to look at Dainn upside-down while he got a decent look at the valley between her breast through the letters obstructing his sight. “That is, if it appeases my lord.”

“That’s… fine with me.” Dainn answered the mare, wanting this to be over with as quickly as possible, and hoping that the less discussion there was would allow for less chances for someone to counter his side of the debate.

“Great!” the crystal mare said, turning over and resting her chin on her hands, “Now can we do something about these fruitless discussions cluttering the courtroom? I’m done looking at them.”

“Very well.” The red-maned alicorn made her horn glow, making both the green words and the red words vanish before the group. “Though if you would have waited, they would have done so on their own.”

“Well I didn’t know that, now did I?” Schorl said, hamming up a mischievous tone in her voice as she played what Dainn felt was a dangerous game with God. “On that note, might I ask why?”

“As one final explanation to this process,” said the alicorn, wanting to wrap up things and start the trial proper, “Any opinions, arguments, or speculations that cannot be refuted by anyone will be considered as fact, and thus will be deemed understood by all parties as such. As you put before, such statements do not need to remain in play, though they can be returned to later if needed. Otherwise, it is recommended that you all move on once a topic has been confirmed, as it serves no purpose to anyone to dwell on a point that has already been agreed on.”

“Good to know.” Picking herself up from the table, the mare once more went upright, “Well I’m ready if you all are.”

“I’m ready.” said Celestia.

“As am I.” said Eadgil.

“And you, Dainn?” asked the creator.

“I… I believe I am ready.” he replied, not really prepared, but not knowing how one could be in this predicament.

The two pairs of ponies and caribou looked over one another as the alicorn representing the creator looked over at them, exchanging expressions of determination, seriousness, and concern over the procedures. Even the crystal mare, who had been up to this point combative and dismissive with her words was showing restraint and acted more respectful now that the case had officially started, but there was no telling how long that would last.

For a while, the four stood in silence, not knowing who should make the first move, and start the first of what probably would be many debates on Dainn’s leadership and personal motivations. This lasted until finally the alicorn sitting above them said, “Is there none of you who would wish to start us off properly?”

“I would.” Of the four, it was Eadgil who responded first, as if he had been wanting to say something from the start, but was waiting for the proper permission to begin. “Dainn, let me start off by saying that it is a pleasure to see you again in such circumstances, as in the world I came from, you had died before I ever got the chance to confront you for your crimes.”

“Of which I assume you have a large list.” Dainn retorted, assuming that Eadgil would make similar accusations as those he had heard endless times from self-righteous mares who believed themselves to be equal to men, cried out from their blithering mouths right before they were shown the proper use for those orifices. Thus, he did believe he had a certain degree of preparation for those kinds of accusations.

“Yes, I do.” Eadgil replied, “And I’m certain that you know exactly what I am talking about, because I personally don’t feel that someone can do things as cruel as you and I have without understanding their implications. From where I stand, you knew exactly what you were doing, but you just didn’t care.”

“Then go on and start your argument.” Dainn said, finally relaxing a little in his provided seat. “And I’ll prove to you that what I did had only the best of intentions.”

“Perhaps for the caribou,” Eadgil remarked, “I will not try to deny that you tried to do well for all of us. You did what you had to in order to save our race from the brink of disaster, and at the same time you created a kingdom where we would be able to continue our ways and traditions without interference, but at the cost of the livelihoods of so many others.”

“So is that what you are getting at? That I treated the ponies unfairly in all this?”

“As much as you may assume otherwise, that is the case. No matter how one looks at it, what you did to them was horrific.”

“Oh yes,” Dainn started sarcastically, “It was so horrible that I gave those stallions the ability to lead their own lives without the need for some incompetent princess leading them into ruin.” Dainn shifted his glare to Celestia, and continued with, “I may have learned that you were indeed the thing that controlled the sun’s movement, but even with that important role, ‘Your status as a leader was undeserved’. How many times have you failed to defend your kingdom from threats? How many times did you suffer defeat at the hands of creatures who wished to use your kingdom towards an evil end. Chrysalis wanted to turn your people into food from what I heard, and even your own sister was a threat who wanted to cast the world into eternal darkness. Do you deny all this, or will you tell me that those are some more convenient changes of your world from mine?”

“No,” Celestia stated, “‘We both come from very similar worlds, and the only important change was that I prevented your attempt to cease my kingdom’. I was defeated by both my sister and Chrysalis as you had heard in your world, and I will make no excuses to either incident. I was beaten, and it shames me to say that I wasn’t able to protect my people.”

“Such an incompetent leader,” Dainn accused, “Every time you had even the most basic of threats come your way, you folded like a piece of paper. Where would your kingdom be if not having been saved by some external force time and again?”

“Way to go my lord!” Schorl exclaimed in support of the caribou king, “One could certainly use the fact that the princess can’t properly defend her kingdom as an example of poor leadership.”

“Perhaps,” Eadgil added, “But Celestia isn’t the one on trial here, and this is leading away from the topic I wanted to address.”

“Oh sure, try to sidestep the point I’m trying to make.” Dainn said, feeling he gained some ground here, "That despite my mistakes, ‘I was a better leader than Celestia’. Her own facts of the matter support this truth.”

“You’ll have your time to dispute that later,” said Celestia, “But for now I think it would be best to respect your former ally’s turn.”

“Ally is a strong word,” said Eadgil, “But I thank you for allowing me to speak.”

Dainn could see what Celestia was going for. She was stalling for time so she could think up a proper counter-argument. It was a tactic that showed how pathetic she truly was, unable to face this simple challenge head on. Still, it was an effective one in the right hands, but knowing Celestia as he did, and how incapable she was for anything useful, he felt allowing this small delay wouldn’t hurt him as long as he steered it more to his favor.

“Fine, I’ll be happy to table this for now, but only if when we return to it that Eadgil stays out of the debate. After all, if she cannot defend against my argument that she is a poor leader, then that proves my point in itself.”

“There is no way-” Eadgil started, but as he did Celestia lifted her hand to stop the stag.

“It’s fine,” she said, “I am willing to face you on your terms this time, and still come out on top.”

Dainn grinned. This Celestia wasn’t too different from the one he made his personal pet, and the female’s pride was going to be her downfall. If she was going to face him alone, on his terms, then no doubt she would fall as she did in his world. He could almost feel the tide shifting into his favor with this one impetuous act.

“And what about me, my lord?” Schorl asked, “Am I not allowed to join in when that happens either?”

All this time, the crystal red collar had appeared to be fairly helpful, protecting him once from Eadgil and cheering on his own attack. She really didn’t appear to be a threat, and if that were to change she was still just a mare. Regardless of what he had learned about the supposed usefulness of Celestia and Luna, he still didn’t see any reason to assume that was the norm, and instead the exception.

Even the notion that God was a female no longer made a reasonable argument to the usefulness of females on the whole, as by this time he rationalized that the apparent gender of the entity was moot. The alicorn was a concept, and a concept couldn’t have gender. It could be considered female, treated as female, but that didn’t make it any more a female than a cart that was called a ‘her’ by it’s owner.

Because of this logic, Dainn had no fear the possibility that the two mares might speak against him, as should they join together, he would no doubt beat them with his superior mental abilities. “I have no problem with that, mare.”

“Thank you my lord, I’ll do my best.” the crystal mare answered to the stag, obviously delighted that she received her king’s permission to participate.

“And how is it fair to let her join in?” asked Eadgil, “The red collar has been on your side from the very beginning, and no doubt she would only team up with you against Celestia. I find it odd that you would be so cowardly as to resort to the help of a female.”

“It’s ok Eadgil,” Celestia said, cutting in on the caribou’s protest once more, “As much of a danger as she might be, I fear I’m not as familiar with Dainn’s version of reality as she is. Without you to confirm facts, I’ll need her testimony to back up my thoughts on Dainn’s leadership.”

Eadgil still didn’t like the idea of this mare, who had obviously been indoctrinated to Dainn’s ways being about to talk against Celestia when he couldn’t speak for her, but he appeared to be out voted in this matter. “Fine…” he said reluctantly, “Then if that has all been decided, I think it’s about time we got back to the point that I was trying to make before.”

“Go ahead,” said Dainn, “Express your feeble point about… What was it you were trying to prove again?”

Eadgil rolled his eyes, but went on despite the dismissive behavior of the king. “To put it frankly, ‘Your policies as king were detrimental to all but your caribou citizens’. I’d even go as far as to say that ‘Your only concern was the well being of yourself, and those most loyal to you’. Namely the caribou council that you created after King Svarndagr’s demise.”

“You might say that, boy, but the color of your words alone prove that to merely be your opinion. While my rule was perhaps heavy handed, but ‘My rule was clearly beneficial for everyone within it’.”

Eadgi smirked, crossing his arms at the king. “Seems your assumptions are just as much opinion as mine. Why don’t we try to settle this with some facts instead? As we both know, ‘You expressed heavily that your intent for the ponies was to liberate them from the incompetent rule of their princesses’.”

“Which I did.” Dainn said reactively.

“That you did, but I don’t believe that you liberated them, so much as dragged them into something they didn’t want to begin with. This is evident in the fact that ‘Black collars exist’. As we all should well know, a black collared mare is one that is unwilling to cooperate with the caribou way of living. One who has to be forced into it, and is raped and tortured frequently because of their lack of participation. I find it difficult to see how this can be seen as beneficial for ponies such as them.”

“That is simple enough to explain,” replied Dainn, “Though I’m surprised I have to do so for a caribou. I suppose it can’t be helped though, seeing how your world view has been skewed so badly. You see, boy, ‘It is easy to determine that these black collars are, like all females, nothing but a bunch of animals that need the guidance of males to exist’. As such, there is little difference between a black collar and an untrained beast. As for the torture and rape they receive, ‘There is little difference between the treatment of a black collar and a red collar in that regard’. Few things differ from what a male will do to a black collar that they wouldn’t likewise do to a red. Just like with our own caribou cows, things like belittlement, embarrassment, whipping, branding, and bondage are all things that a red collar can experience in their lifetime, and as you should know it is something that females enjoy having done to them. Though black collars may complain about these things, even they show arousal when put under these circumstances.”

“If that were true, then why do we have a black collar to begin with? Why not have given all the mares red collars, and removed all preconceptions of a difference?”

“Why does one put a muzzle on a dog?” Dainn replied, “Because in its lack of understanding, it can be a danger to itself and others. ‘The black collars exist to prevent possible problems in a master being too lenient or too trusting with their slaves’, for as much affection and attention one can show a beast, it can still be unruly and harmful to things around it.”

Eadgil grimaced, “I take it that this is the same philosophy that you take when it comes to dehorning or defeathering mares.”

“Of course it is. It is the equivalent of declawing a cat. If a female is to be domesticated, it needs to understand that it has no options other than to submit. In order to enforce that idea, they must be relinquished of the things that made them believe they were equals to their male counterparts, which are likewise the same things that put them in constant harm by giving them a false belief that they are in any way capable.”

“You could have found a better way of dealing with them if that was your belief. You could have trained the mares to better utilize their abilities for the betterment of your newly established kingdom. Taught them how to use their magic properly if you felt they were doing so in a harmful manner.”

“Heh,” Dainn scoffed, “‘Better’ is such a vague term. One used by those who believe they have a point to present, but are incapable of expressing it. Surely there was a ‘better’ way for me to go about things, but not without the hazards that come from approaching these stupid mares with a light hand. For all we know, ‘They could have brought Equestria itself to ruin should they have had magic to aid them in their misguided attempts of rebellion’. ‘I certainly can attest to the damage they caused without having access to spells or flight, with my own death to act as proof of that’. ‘With those abilities, they probably would have made the caribou extinct’. ‘The removal of their horns and wings was something necessary for us caribou in order to protect the caribou way of life’. ‘That conclusion was something I came to when I learned what mares possessed the abilities they had’.”

A flood of words filled the courtroom, joining with the other statements Eadgil and Dainn had been making up till this point. This sudden increase gave Dainn a huge advantage though, on both the fronts of facts and opinions. It pleased the caribou king to have gained such a lead, and to watch as the lesser caribou across from him begun to ponder about his current predicament. Surely he was at a loss to go from here, having hit most of the common disputes made towards caribou about their supposed mistreatment of women.

“I’m finding something odd about all this.” said Eadgil, hand on his chin as he thought aloud. “So what you are saying is that you removed the horns and wings from mares because they were dangerous?”

“Why take my word for it? We could simply ask the witness that has been provided for us.” Dainn shot a glance over to the crystal mare next to Eadgil, and said to her, “Would you not agree that you were more dangerous with your magic than you are without it?”

Both caribou looked to the red collar as she worked out that question in her head, taking a few moments to really think through what it meant. “Well… yes. ‘I was certainly a bigger threat to others with my magic than without it’.”

“See,” Dainn said, “Even the mare admits it. As if she could not in this room that won’t let us lie.”

“I see…” said Eadgil, still wearing a bit of concern. He stood there pondering for a moment, looking over all the words floating in the air around him, and then looked over to red-maned alicorn. “Could I possibly add one more rule to help clarify these proceedings a little?”

“Trying to change up things to make them go in your favor?” Dainn asked, both pleased that the other caribou had to resort to some sort of trickery, and miffed that he was attempting it.

“I promise that it doesn’t go against anything we have done before, and that Dainn had already done this himself just a moment ago.”

“Very well,” said the alicorn, “What would you like to add?”

“Just make my next words appear in a different color than the ones presented before, and I’ll explain from there.”

The alicorn responded by making her horn glow, and telling Eadgil “You may proceed”.

The caribou turned his gaze back to Dainn, looking directly into his eyes as he spoke his next sentence. “‘Do you really believe that the mares posed any threat to your kingdom’?” The words appeared in purple, and made Dainn wonder what Eadgil was getting at with this. Eadgil noted the somewhat confused look on the king’s face, and begun to explain what his new addition was. “This is a direct question to you, Dainn, one that I feel needs to be answered to clarify your position on the matters at hand.”

“And why does it matter so much that you have to have it literally spelled out before the court?” Dainn replied.

“Because I feel that despite the limitations given to us, you are a true politician at heart, and able to weave a web of lies without actually saying them. Answering this question will allow us to see what you really think, and further prove that you didn’t have the well being of your citizens in mind when making decisions. Of course, if you feel intimidated by this question, you are by no means forced to answer it, but I think that you understand that refusal to answer is implicating in its own way.”

Dainn could see what the other caribou was saying, as refusal to answer the question was essentially an admittance of some form of guilt. So one way or another, the question would be answered, even if it were by silence. “Then I suppose what-”

“What I want to hear is you answering the question directly,” Eadgil cut in, “Not you stepping around it with a well crafted sentence.”

“Fine then, no. I would never honestly say that I had ever seen any of the females as threats to my domain. Me and my army where stronger, smarter, and more cunning than the whole of Equestria’s females combined, and had nothing to fear from those few that had the power to forge a feeble attempt of resistance against our might.”

With Dainn’s answer, the question faded from existence, having served its purpose, and giving Eadgil the answer he was looking for. “Thank you Dainn. You’ve given me exactly what I needed to cut your words down to size. You see, if you don’t believe that the mares were a threat, whether horned, winged, or what have you, then you really didn’t need to remove them for the reasons you stated before. Or in other words ‘You had no ethical reason to remove them from the mares, because they posed no threat to your empire’!”

Once more a line of green words shot from the side of the opposition, and easily smashed through several of Dainn’s statements before impacting with one of Dainn’s facts and shattering itself. This relieved Dainn, as his wall of text was able to hold against the stag, as he had hoped it would.

However, Eadgil looked pleased with the results of his attack as well, despite it not making its way completely to Dainn. “‘There is little difference between the treatment of a black collar and a red collar in that regard’, ‘The black collars exist to prevent possible problems in a master being too lenient or too trusting with their slaves’, ‘That conclusion was something I came to when I learned what mares possessed the abilities they had’.” he said, reading aloud the remaining statements.

“Is there a point to this?” Dainn asked the other caribou, starting to feel a little unnerved in the aftermath of the attack.

“You have set up quite the wall, Dainn, which is something I’ve come to expect from you.” Eadgil said sternly, “You never attacked unless you were surrounded by wards and soldiers to back you up, and once you took over Equestria, you hardly ever left Canterlot Castle unless your protection was guaranteed. It appears that your approach to debate is the same, or perhaps this is your first real experience with a person you can’t have dragged away to the dungeons.”

“The point, boy!” Dainn yelled, Eadgil’s attitude becoming grating to his nerves.

“The point is that with all the fluff you added now gone, we can see the facts of the matter, and deduce a logical conclusions from them. There was a reason all your speculations vanished in the blink of an eye, and that can be deduced by looking at what remained… and by what else left. Have you noticed that your statement attesting to the power mares had ‘whether horned, winged, or not’ has left the field, despite being a fact?”

Dainn had not noticed that. He had only been focused on his barrier holding the brunt of Eadgil’s attack, and not what damage it had done.

“It was the only fact you gave that actually supported the notion that pony mares could be potentially dangerous, and was depicted as being fact, but it wasn’t something you actually believed in. Having it removed along with a few of your other statements makes what remains have a slightly different meaning. For example, the idea that you came to the conclusion that horns and wings had to be removed as soon as you were made aware of their existence, even though they couldn’t harm your regime. Without everything else muddling the issue, it seems to me that you only wished to do this to prevent them from having ways that proved them to be equal to males or, to press a bit further, made them superior to the average caribou male.”

“You speak nonsense.” Dainn rebutted.

“Do I?” Eadgil replied, “While I’ll admit myself that I don’t see ponies as superior to us, I believe we both know that they possess abilities that have certain utility that we do not. The unicorns alone can cast spells freely, while we are limited to making symbols to do anything more complicated than levitating objects. This spontaneous ability to weave spells gives them an advantage of speed when it comes to magic. Then there's the vast array of magics they have access too, with ponies seemingly having thousands of magics to aid them based on their special talents, while our spells only focus on sexuality and simple manipulations of elements.”

“That means nothing. Mares were still incompetent when it came to said magics, not knowing how to use it in ways that benefited Equestria.”

“Can you really say that?” Eadgil questioned, placing his balled up hands on his hips as he gave Dainn a somewhat smug smirk, “Before you became king, you had to have heard of the feats the mares had done to save their lands from imposing threats. You even referenced the negative parts of these events earlier, of how time and again Celestia failed to protect her kingdom. It’s amazing that there was even a kingdom for you to claim, or it would be, if not for the Elements of Harmony. Where Celestia might have failed, those six mares succeeded in maintaining Equestia’s peace.”

“That is undeniably true,” Schorl piped in, “Those six mares did do a lot before your arrival, my lord. Well, them, Princess Cadence, and Prince Shining Armor. Then again, this is just more common knowledge Eadgil is spouting off, as the king surely knew this. ‘Dainn did make a point to present those six as false heroes after all’.”

“Common knowledge as it may be, Dainn cannot acknowledge the negatives without likewise accepting the positives.” said Celestia.

“Exactly,” Eadgil agreed, “And this is what brings me to his other two statements, of how black collars are to prevent owners from being too lenient, and that there is little difference between the treatment of red collars and black collars. Knowing what I know of the treatment of mares, or any other non-caribou females, I can agree with both these notions, but not in the way you wish to present them. Or, to make a better correlation to these two statements, you invented the black collars to assure that those against your regime would be treated poorly, but then that poor treatment was just made universal among all females. Not that it mattered to you, as their well-being was never a priority if it meant they would no longer defy your will.”

“And where is your proof to that?” Dainn asked, trying to block Eadgil’s attempt to make him out to be a monster towards his citizens, even those as lowly as the females, “All that you said thus far is still easily explained as our people doing what we knew was right in order to correct the behavior of mares to be more suitable for the new kingdom they would live in.”

“Oh!” squealed out the crystal mare at Dainn’s words, “That is a wonderful way of approaching this.” Schorl then turned her head to the two next to her, “Let’s assume that the caribou’s rule was unavoidable. That Dainn was undoubtedly going to rule Equestria, and caribou values of male superiority were going to be the norm. ‘Would you say that Dainn’s methods took things too far’? One could argue that for females who were not not going to just conform to this new order, this level of discipline would be needed to make it stick, and in the end any harm done was negligible when compared to the benefits it would garner further down the road. Looking at it that way, the mistreatment of mares could be seen as simply ensuring they understood what would be expected of them in the future.”

“You’re treating the subject of torture like it’s relative to spanking a child.” Eadgil responded to the unicorn.

“Well I can say that there was plenty of spanking involved.” Schorl replied, sticking out her tongue at the caribou, “So as for my question.”

“It is easy to see that Dainn went too far, and not only from the point of view of someone against the regime.” Eadgil answered, before turning back to Dainn. “But I suppose you see things differently.”

“Of course. No matter what you might believe, and despite what was done in my kingdom, ‘There were limits in place to assure that females stayed healthy and functional’. The result was always to get the females to serve obediently, and despite the pain and restrictions put upon them through the removal of unneeded extensions from what was considered the normal pony form, no debilitating harm was done to them. A unicorn can pick up things or perform a task without magic, and a pegasus doesn’t need to fly to get from one place to another.”

“I thought you might say that…” said Eadgil, the tone of his voice growing darker, “So I have to wonder if you have forgotten or simply wish to ignore the purple collars.”

“Purple… collars?” Dainn said hesitantly, immediately seeing where this conversation was heading.

“Yes, the purple collars. Living proof of how far beyond your own rules you are willing to go.”

“Now wait just a moment.” Dainn said, wanting to give his side of this before Eadgil started spouting off his points. “I-”

Eadgil wasn’t going to allow it though, as he had heard quite enough of the king’s excuses, and was pretty sure there would be no legitimate explanation to this particular topic.

“You should know well that ‘A purple collar is used to indicate mental illness in a female’.”

“Yes, but-”

“And that this wasn’t usually done on accident, but frequently done with intent in a practice known as ‘purpling’, wherein an owner of a mare would go out of their way to break the mind of a mare through use of torture and sexual abuse.”

“That’s true but-”

“And unless you’re drastically different from the Dainn of my world, this is a process that you cannot feign ignorance or disapproval of, as you had this done to one of your personal slaves.” Eadgil’s eyes shifted to the alicorn next to him, “Forgive me for saying this, Celestia, but in my experience of reality you had been captured and made Dainn’s slave. For a while, you resisted him, and were a black collar, but shortly afterwards you started wearing a red collar.”

Celestia eyes widened in shock at this revelation, which Dainn took great enjoyment in seeing. “That’s a good look on you Celestia. Reminds me of how you looked when I tore the dress from your body at the same time I tore away your title of princess. The boy speaks the truth though, I did break you. Made you my willing pet. To see the look on your face as you lovingly licked my cock.”

Hearing Dainn, the white alicorn recovered her composure, but said nothing to Dainn in rebuttal. Instead, said to Eadgil. “I suppose there is more to this than just that, isn’t there?”

“Yes,” Eadgil answered, “For some reason, Dainn didn’t stop at making you a red collar. Whatever he did, he pushed and pushed at it until he felt that you deserved a purple collar around your neck.”

“I see…” Celestia said, retreating into thought.

“I know that news must be distressing, but it proves that Dainn didn’t care at all for the mental health of females, even though he recognized purpling as brain damage. Seeing how purples mostly behave as sex-crazed, it would have been easy to claim they were just incredibly eager red collars, but he wanted others to know what he had done. He used purple collars as examples to others, to instill fear into femaless, let everyone know that he could destroy their brains if they didn’t fall in line, and that no one, not even a princess, was safe.”

Dainn stood there, taking in what Eadgil said, and having trouble arguing the logic. Everything that was said was rational, and Dainn found it difficult to disagree. After all, everything he said about purple collars was true when it came to what status they defined a mare as. Not only that, but he couldn’t honestly say that he cared that mares had their minds broken, or that he didn’t feel some sort of pride in breaking Celestia. That put him in a bad spot however, as this was very credible evidence that he didn’t put the well-being of the female half of his kingdom as a priority.

“So, Dainn…” Eadgil said, certain he had cornered the dead monarch. “Do you have anything to say on this matter?”

He really didn’t. Had he not been in this court room, he could have denied his participation in all this, or said something to the degree of how this was helpful to the mares, but with the circumstances he couldn’t say things he knew were lies. As much as he hated it, Eagil had formed a very convincing argument against him.

“Perhaps I do,” Celestia said, surprising Eadgil with her interruption, “I’m finding it very difficult to believe that I was broken by a tyrant such as Dainn.”

“Of course you do,” Dainn told her, “You lack the first-hand experience of being at my mercy, and as an uneducated mare, you still have that revolting pride about you.”

“This has nothing to do with pride,” Celestia replied, “But my duty to my kingdom. I would never submit to you when my kingdom’s future was at stake, and my people were suffering. However, I may make you believe I had been in order to bring your guard down, or pretend to have done so in order to protect my people. So I’m giving you an out here, at least with me, by saying that ‘You didn’t break my mind like you assumed’. Can you agree with that opinion?”

“No,” Dainn didn’t have to think about the question, or the implications of refuting it. He would not suffer the thought that Celestia could not only resist him, but trick him as well. “I will not agree with that. ‘I know I tamed you’, and nothing will convince me otherwise.”

For the first time, Dainn launched his own counter to the group, and with it smashed Celestia’s claim without issue, a personal theory as it was.

Celestia watched her statement shatter, but did so unflinching. She had expected this from Dainn, and suffered nothing from his refusal to accept the possibility. “Then I’ll retract the opinion, for now at least, and leave you in the same position you were in before. Eadgil, you may continue.”

Eadgil didn’t feel he really had to, believing that he had ended this here and now. With this one section of debate, he had irrefutably shown Dainn that his kingdom was built on a mountain of ruined lives. He might not even have to move on to how similar arguments could be made for the treatment of stallions, who Dainn had willfully brainwashed in order to get them to act like the average caribou male, and by doing so stealing any of the freedom Dainn promised them with his ’liberation’.

Just as Eadgil thought he had won though, with Dainn’s only reply being silence, he heard something that interrupted his assumed victory. The sound of clapping emanating from aside him, making a sarcastic applause. He didn’t have to guess where the sound was coming from, as he knew that it had to be the red collar among his trio that was making it.

“Bravo,” said Schorl, not ceasing her claps as she spoke, “You have proven without a doubt that our lord didn’t have the slightest concern about whether or not any females under his rule were treated even remotely ‘fair’. Bra… vo…” There was something in the crystal mare’s sly demeanor that Eadgil didn’t like, the way she so easily agreed with his side after siding with Dainn since the start. And what had she said? ‘I would have been a bigger threat to others with my magic?’ He might have been overthinking it, but that implied that she was a threat to others. She was up to something, but what it was, he could only wait and see at the moment.

“However~… What’s your point?” The mare said, singing the first part mockingly, while ending her sentence with a dull tone.

“My point is-”

“Moot,” she interrupted, “As what does it matter if Dainn brainwashed and tortured his way to the top.”

“It shows that Dainn did not have the best intentions towards his subjects.” Eadgil argued.

“Perhaps that would matter if we were trying to find out if Dainn was an Equinitarian, but we aren’t. Must I remind you again. ‘The topic of our discussion is if Dainn’s methods are beneficial to the world’.” The mare’s words were confusing to everyone involved in this debate but herself, receiving odd looks from all but the creator. She noticed this, and sighed, “I guess I’ll have to explain. Tell me, what do you believe is more important? Personal freedoms or public safety?”

Eadgil thought for a few seconds. “To be honest, I think the question is meaningless. A situation in which these two are even at odds with each other is already a sign that something is going wrong in society on a fundamental level. The very fact that mares are inclined to rebel against Dainn’s regime to begin with proves that it isn’t in their interest. The rebellion is not just an accidental fact, it’s a symptom.”

“I suppose that’s what I should have expected from the neutral voice in this. And what about you, princess?”

“I believe the freedoms of the people are more important.” said Celestia, “I’ll admit, I wish my kingdom was more secure, but it would all be for naught if it came at the suffering of my citizens.”

“And what about you, my lord? What about your opinion?”

“Of course the safety of one’s kingdom is more important,” stated the caribou king, “What good are all the liberties in the world if one does not have the power to protect them?”

“And there you have it.” said Schorl, “Three different view points, each equally valid. So in this case…”

“If Dainn can prove that he can benefit his citizens with safety, then it doesn’t matter what he does to those he lords over.” Celestia said, reasoning that that was the topic the crystal mare was trying to lead them into. “Then… what we have to do is prove that he doesn’t have a hoof to stand on for either position.”

“You are surely welcome to try,” Schorl announced, “And I have a brilliant idea. Why don’t we use this as a segway into what you and the king discussed earlier. You know, that whole thing about ‘who’s the better leader’.”

“That… is a wonderful idea.” Dainn agreed, feeling as this was his chance at a second wind. Surely he could prove that his leadership kept the kingdom much safer than what Celestia ever had. “So how about it Celestia? Are you ready to challenge me one more time?”

“Yes, I’m ready,” Celestia said without fear, understanding the terms mentioned earlier would be set into motion, but also seeing this as the best opportunity to defeat Dainn in this battle of wits.

Author's Note

So once again I got a bit more delayed than I thought I would with a chapter. Took a week off, then experienced bouts of writer's block, distractions, and bouts of frustration with one of my colleagues when dealing with certain parts of this one that turned what was suppose to be a two week thing into a three week thing. Not only that, but then I started to notice the size of the chapter, and how I was hardly halfway through with what I wanted done with Acceptance to consider it finished. I had to break it up into parts, else I'd be gone for months.

Then again, perhaps this gives me a few extra times to do some of my "after story" anecdotes, and you to delve deeper into my own mind. So instead of my views on "acceptance", which I will get to, why don't I talk a little about my current issue, a misunderstanding of "scope".

It seems to be an issue I deal with quite often with my stories, where in I will come up with an idea in my head, map out the basic details, and then get to work without truly understanding what I had gotten myself into. For an easy example of this, I point myself back to Bruised Apples. My original concept for it was roughly seven chapters featuring AJ going through her journey of becoming a red collar, and sequentially losing that status, with the help of her brother. Over time though, I extended that simple concept to 21 chapters (22 if you count the alternate ending), with bits and pieces added all over the place. There was a point where I had the two Appleoosa chapters as one, and was foolish enough to believe that the gala chapters would likewise be a single one.

This is an issue that goes even further back though, as one can see it with my non-FoE related work too. For instance, my original story was suppose to be maybe 3 chapters long, but I stretched it out to about 5 because people were actually interested in my screwed up little world. Not that I care about popularity, but I must admit that feedback did keep me going on this far past the point that I originally assumed (*wink, wink, nudge, nudge*). However, there was a bit of a difference back then compared to now. Back when I started, I just jotted down whatever came to mind with little care of what I was typing. Kinda just getting some wonderful ideas out of my system as they came. I plotted out some stuff, sure, and that lead to me creating internally a few timelines for both FoE and my other story (with basic plots mapped out for... 6+ extra story arcs each), but when I did write my stuff was so littered with errors because I had a hard time stopping and looking at my stuff.

Nowadays, I seem compelled to plot out my every word till to make sure everything is perfect, as I'm a bit more invested in my work and presenting a little more than the kinky, sadistic stuff in my head, though I do sometimes wish I could set that aside and return to my playground of suffering without all the platitudes attached. If fact, I plan to go back to something that looks more at those aspects after this one, putting my other projects on hold for that.

Now, to relate this a bit more with FoE... I know I've made complaints to this subject before... but I feel that my issue of "lack of perception of scope" is something that is shared among my former colleges in the contributors' group, backed up by the number of abandoned story arcs there are. Now I know that they all have their own supposed reasons, some probably more legitimate than others, but what I see here are a bunch of people who had their own ideas for stories, wanted badly to write them out and have them be a part of something they enjoyed (FoE canon in this instance), and then started to realize what that entailed.

Over time, they started to lose momentum, or started having other interests, or simply took a step back and realized that what they were writing wasn't as interesting or exciting as they thought and then... stopped. They never wanted to write out long, drawn out story arcs, or things that had extended plots. They just wanted to make stories about ponies getting plowed. Nothing wrong with that, but they had put themselves into a position where they had promised more, and never delivered. So they quit; some doing so in a profession manner, some stopping all together to go back to their own thing, and one particular person coming back only to pick up small scraps of praise from stragglers seeing their story for the first time after years, only to have them make more promises they never intended to deliver on.

In the end, it probably would have been better if FoE's story was simply a bunch of fan made one shots, but I know at this point that would have never worked on my end. I always inflate things to beyond my original scope, because words keep popping into my head. Sure I could try to trim it down, but then that would be taking away part of what I was trying to convey, and lose part of the meaning I was trying to present, even if that meaning is something as obvious as "Dainn treated non-caribou like shit".

BTW, Eadgil is a cameo from another FoE related story, and if you are interested in him, I suggest you check out Freeville Chronicles. I'm sure the author for that would enjoy your feedback too.

Acceptance Part 2

The crystal unicorn crossed her arms, placing them under her breasts to push them up and make them look fuller, for no other reason than what appeared to be her own amusement as she struck a provocative pose.

“So you think you’re ready, Celestia?” Schorl asked the princess in mocking tone, “Then allow me to remind you of what you agreed on earlier. You are going to face off against King Dainn in verbal debate, and without the help of your deer friend there.”

“I still believe that this is incredibly unfair.” Eadgil stated, knowing that the crystal mare was going to do her best to bolster Dainn’s arguments.

“Ok Eadgil, we all get it,” Schorl said, removing one arm from under her tits so she could flick a portion of her long mane aside, “You like to be the smartest guy in the room, but now it’s time for everyone else to get a turn.”

“What’s the matter, boy?” said Dainn, noting the looks the other caribou was giving the red collar, “I would’ve thought you enjoyed taking orders from a mare.”

“Oh please my lord, don’t say something so ridiculous.” Schorl said with a scoff, “As if I am in the position to be ordering around a male.”

“I’m not even sure someone like him could be considered male,” Dainn added, “He is a perfect candidate for switching in my opinion,”

“Enough,” Celestia butted in, “Your fight is with me now Dainn, and I don’t appreciate being ignored.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, I had almost forgotten you were here. Such an unimportant creature as you are.”

“Dainn, I can tolerate your antics for as long as you want, but if you wish to leave this place-”

“Then I need to show you your place once again, of course.” Dainn said, finishing Celestia’s sentence with his own perspective on the matter. “Then why don’t we begin? I’ll even start us off with the point I brought up before. ‘That I am a better leader than you’.”

“Nice try Dainn,” said Eadgil, “But the topic at hand is if you were able to provide safety for the citizens of Equestria.”

“And already you are breaking the rules in place.” said Dainn, annoyed that this other caribou wouldn’t stop butting in.

“I’m not breaking any rules,” Eadgil replied, “If I recall right, I’m just forbidden from helping Celestia, and this isn’t helping as much as it’s keeping things from getting derailed.”

“But there is no derailment involved in the king’s statement,” said Schorl, “As the notion that he was the better leader can be easily attributed to the fact that he provided improved protection from external forces.”

“That’s right,” Dainn said with confidence, “‘With Celestia in charge, the kingdom of Equestria was frequently being attacked’. From what I heard, it was almost like the citizens of her kingdom were set upon by some sort of problem on a weekly bases.”

“You say this,” Celestia spoke up, now that the debate was starting proper, “‘But do you even understand what the kingdom went through before you showed up’?”

“Of course I do,” Dainn said without hesitation, “‘The rumors were very specific about what your sister did as Nightmare Moon’.”

Dainn’s words flew at Celestia’s question, but the alicorn was prepared this time, “Then you should know that ‘I was the one that orchestrated her defeat’.” Celestia’s fact generated itself before her question, blocking it from Dainn’s counter-argument, which crashed into the red letters and shattered on impact. “While I had not personally dealt with the situation first hand, ‘I did send my prized student to stop and purify my sister’.”

“Your prized student…” said Dainn, lingering on the words, “Oh yes, you mean the purple alicorn. What was her name again?”

“I believe it is ‘Twilight Sparkle’, my lord.” answered Schorl, an evil grin beginning to form on her muzzle.

“Oh yes, that’s right. Did you know that in my world, Celestia, that 'Twilight Sparkle submitted to my rule’. ‘She gave up both her wings and horn of her own free will’, and happily gave her body to the desires of men, and assisted me in violating both you and your sister alongside the fourth one of your abominable species. She was such the eager red collar, always lusting to learn of some new depraved act, to delve into the depths of what it meant to be a woman.” Dainn chuckled a bit, watching Celestia cringe at his testimony of what her beloved pupil would have been like had she lost to him in her own world. “And I believe it goes without saying that this is all true, since none of us are capable of lying here.”

As much as it hurt Celestia to hear that, she knew it was just an attempt from Dainn to unnerve her. It had little to do with the current discussion, and nothing to do with her own world. Plus, even if she wished to take Dainn’s bait, the words that appeared from his statements were revealing more than he probably understood, and allowed Celestia some leeway to keep faith in her student.

“Try as you might Dainn, I’m not going to let you ignore that my actions put into motion Twilight’s ascension to one of the six Elements of Harmony, and that because of that, she was able to protect Equestria where I could not. ‘This also lead to the defeat of Discord’, who you must know tried to send Equestria spiraling into chaos at one point.”

“He undoubtedly knows about Discord,” said Eadgil, “In my world, he claimed to ha- mrph!”

The caribou’s words were halted as the crystal unicorn next to him leapt onto his back, and clamped her hands down tightly over his snout and jaw. “That’s enough of that.” she said in a playful tone, “Whatever part Discord played in the king’s world, the main point to make with it is that ‘Discord never made himself a threat to Dainn’s kingdom’.”

Eadgil was put off by the mare’s handling of him, but chose not to retaliate. Not that he felt he couldn’t, as though he was a more scholarly caribou, he was still strong enough to outmatch the strength of the unicorn. Rather he didn’t wish to bring potential harm to the mare, who he assumed had been indoctrinated into believing Dainn’s way was proper.

“On that note, I do think this is deserving of a little penalty.” said Schorl as she held tightly to the caribou, “As such, I don’t believe Celestia should be able to press on with any questions about Discord.”

“I agree with that sentiment.” Dainn added, wanting to punish both Eadgil and Celestia in any way possible.

That was a step too far for Eadgil though, and reaching up to his muzzle, he tore Schorl’s hand away. “Enough! This is a court case. I can overlook this little attack, but by what reason are you trying to limit our information?”

“You brought it on by breaking the established rules, repetitively I might add,” said Schorl, “So you really don’t have room to object to this.”

“Rules I didn’t agree to, I might add”, Eadgil pointed out. “I never agreed to being silenced. The three of you overruled me. And now I see that you only pushed for this in order to keep us from finding out the truth of the matter - and you will go as far as physically attacking others in order to achieve that end.”

“Oh, I didn’t even hurt you with that little grab.” said Schorl, taking a standoffish stance.

“Whether you hurt me or not isn’t even the issue”, Eadgil frowned. “This isn’t a schoolyard, and I’m not personally offended. I don’t complain about being hurt, I point out that you’re not above getting physical in order to prevent the truth from coming out in a court case.”

“Please, both of you. Let’s move on,” said Celestia, content in leaving the issue of Discord behind, and not interested in starting a squabble that would further derail the matter at hand, “There are more villains repelled by Twilight and her friends than just those two, such as Sombra and Chrysalis.”

“That’s funny, I thought that this place couldn’t allow lies, as from what I heard it was…” Dainn stopped on his last word, not wanting to utter the words his lips were trying to form.

“You heard it was whom?” Celestia inquired, having lured Dainn into a trap.

“‘That those two were defeated by Shining Armor and…Cadence’.”

“That is true,” Celestia said, confirming the events, “The finishing blows on both Sombra and Chrysalis were in a large part because of them, but the Elements of Harmony played a pivotal role in both events.”

“And what does this prove? That you’re leadership is what spared Equestria from the brink of destruction? One could just as easily say you got lucky on all accounts.”

“As one could say about you,” Celestia rebutted, seeing the circular logic Dainn was presenting, “And where would we get by attributing luck to our every decision? It would be folly to do so, thus it is better that we take for fact that the state of our own versions of Equestria were brought on by our own actions.”

Dainn gave Celestia’s comment a snort, remembering that God had practically said that luck was on his side in all his endeavors through the intervention of some universal force. Why she would be beyond that same influence by some other force was beyond him, but she was right that it would be pointless to say that their actions were not of their own doing for the sake of this debate.

“None of this negates what I’ve said though. In fact, it only further confirms the frequencies of the attacks on your kingdom.”

“It does prove though that despite it all, ‘My decisions lead to the protection of Equestria against these numerous attacks’.” Celestia’s words, while not contradicting Dainn’s facts, showed the flaws of their design. Dainn was trying to use them to display that Celestia and her kingdom were considered a weak and easy target to external forces, but no matter how she was perceived, Equestria still stood after each of these attempts of conquest and invasion. The frequency of it all only compounded to show that no matter the threat, Equestria managed to pull through, and that was at least in part because of events Celestia set in motion. Because of this, Dainn’s statement crumbled before her counter-argument, and the king was left without his verbal shield.

Of course, Dainn wasn’t going to take this lying down. This small triumph of logic couldn’t set him back, as he knew how to put the princess back in her place. “Perhaps you did protect your people in some manner, but ‘You were the one to put them in danger to begin with’. You lack the presence of a real leader, and even though you repelled those who besieged your kingdom, you invited them to attack you in the first place.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Celestia said to the caribou king, “‘There is little reason to believe that you would not had suffered the same attacks had you been in my place’.”

“Is that so?” Dainn asked rhetorically, “Well perhaps your fool of a sister would have tried to stand up against me, not knowing of my might, but I know from experience that Chrysalis would submit to me. As for Sombra, I unfortunately never had the opportunity to find out, seeing as your beloved mares destroyed him. For all I know, all he needed was proper guidance. His goals were similar to my own, from my understanding, and a push into the right direction may have stopped him from enslaving males in the same manner as he did mares.”

“You do realize that Sombra had been driven mad from a thousand years of imprisonment, yes?” Celestia questioned, “I doubt that you would have swayed him in that state, and even had he not have been, he was not the type to make allegiances.”

“Ah yes, his imprisonment. That does bring up another important point. Tell me Celestia, ‘Of the four threats of Equestria we have used as examples, how many of them were problems you had dealt with before, and allowed to become the problems they turned into’?”

It was the first time that Dainn had bothered using the ‘question’ option that Eadgil had created, but he found it deliciously ironic that the traitor caribou’s addition was being used in such a manner against the princess. Dainn knew enough about the legends and rumors of these four to predict the answer she would give, and it would not be in her favor.

“All of them,” Celestia answered, not attempting to hide her involvement with the four villains, “Luna and I both were responsible for imprisoning Sombra and Discord, and I likewise imprisoned both Luna and Chrysalis on my own.”

“Then it is fair to say that because you didn’t take more permanent measures with any of these four, ‘You are responsible for any of the suffering they caused upon their return’.”

Unlike all the other times Dainn had made an accusation against Celestia, this time hit directly on its mark. Celestia found it impossible to deny her own part in the actions of these four. Luna herself hadn’t caused that much damage upon her arrival, knocking down a couple of royal guards who had been trained for such an inevitability, and making a failed attempt on the lives of Twilight and her friends. Sombra likewise had no opportunity to actually harm anyone, just causing mild trauma in the crystal ponies due to his presence. Discord and Chrysalis however, they had caused real damage in the kingdom, and in a sense, Dainn was right that she could have prevented it from coming to be. Not only them, but there were others of whom she could have dealt with in more effective ways that would have saved her citizens from undue suffering.

“At least when I come across a problem, I take care of it.” Dainn continued, “I have troublemakers watched over constantly, and stripped of their harmful abilities. If that doesn’t stop them from openly rebelling, then purpling and blanking is their fates. In any case, this guarantees the safety of the kingdom by removing any potential threats. ‘It may be a heavy and strict punishment, but the results speak for themselves’.”

“Can you say the same, Celestia?” Schorl piped in, “Or do your many failures keep you up at night in shame?”

The white alicorn did feel a strong sense of responsibility for all these events, and while Twilight usually fixed these mistakes of her past, they were not suppose to be the burden of her protege to bare. It was part of the reason Celestia didn’t believe that she could submit to Dainn as his slave, not legitimately at least, regardless of what rules Dainn’s world had that forced things into his favor. To do so would be an abandonment of her duties as princess, and an allowance of her people’s suffering. It was also because of this that she couldn’t allow this tyrant to be reborn into another world to continue his terrible reign.

“Dainn, I can admit that I have made plenty of errors in my rule. Ones that have caused the ponies of Equestria pain and misery. You however are pain and misery, and I will not accept that you could lead the ponies better in my stead.”

“Then you are just being stubborn,” Dainn remarked, “As I said, ‘None of your typical villains were a threat to my kingdom’.”

Both Dainn and Celestia’s eyes widened as they watched the words appear in blue. Dainn’s words were not fact, just his assumptions. That lead leeway into his kingdom being in danger. The problem was that Celestia couldn’t determine who was in fact the threat. It could have been any of the ones mentioned before. It could have been some villain that Dainn was unfamiliar with, of which there were many. It could have even been someone that Celestia didn’t know about, so long as they fit the profile.

Thus, Celestia couldn’t just take shots in the dark, as Dainn could just deny any of her accusations, since it appeared he didn’t know himself who was the threat. With no knowledge of the threat, and no logic towards figuring it out, Dainn wouldn’t be lying if he said he thought it was impossible. Then again, there might have been some way to root out a possible suspect. Something that both rulers had experienced in different ways.

“Dainn… ‘Did you ever experience an onset of black, thorny vines that attacked Equestria shortly after you had control over’?”

“Grasping at more straws?” Dainn asked back to the alicorn.

“Answer the question.”

“Yes, we did encounter the ‘creeper vines’, as we decided to call them.”

Celestia found it odd that the vines had the same name in Dainn’s world as her own, but that had little to do with why she made her inquiry about them. “And I assume that they caused problems for you, or am I wrong?”

“Not enough to be considered a threat,” Dainn replied, “They acclimated to enchantment of the Crystal Cock fairly easily, and for some time were very amusing as they violated every mare in their path. In many ways, they acted like the rape pods we had brought from our homelands.”

“But they were enough of a problem that you had to get rid of them.”

“They became an issue, yes.” Dainn admitted, “Being that they were difficult to cut, and had a tendency of keeping mares away from their masters, we had to fix the problem. It took weeks to figure out their origins, but we eventually uncovered the location of a tree in the Everfree Forest, which the vines were coming from.”

“The Tree of Harmony,” Celestia clarified.

“We noticed that the tree had several shapes within it that matched the gemstones that gave your ‘Elements of Harmony’ there undeserved powers. We had tried to alter those gems in a similar manner as the Crystal Cock, but we found them to be much more durable. Thus when we finally found a use for them, we gladly allowed them to be relinquish them back to that tree, being mere useless trinkets to us. The ceremony was quite the spectacle. You should have seen how happy your student was to give up her burden of power.”

“That’s funny, because ‘In my world it took Twilight just a day to fix the problem’.” Celestia stated, knowing exactly why Dainn would have such a lengthy delay. In his world, all the alicorns had their horns removed. No horns meant no alicorn magic, and no alicorn magic meant that there was no way to finish the potion Zecora had made to look into the past and learn of The Tree of Harmony.

This lead Celestia to a couple more conclusions, both coming from an assumption that Dainn wasn’t giving out all the information he had on the incident. For starters, if he had encountered the vines, he also surely encountered their destructive nature. They may have been affected by the caribou’s vile enchantments, but that wouldn’t have stopped them from bursting from the ground and reeking havoc throughout Equestria. Celestia was pretty sure that the amusement gained from their presence was short-lived once the caribou noticed the damage they were causing to their newly conquered kingdom. Dainn said that he didn’t perceive the vines as a threat, but the way he spoke the caribou would not consider flaming rocks falling from the sky as threatening

Then there was the question of how they found the tree in the first place. A full scale search of the kingdom might have been put in place, but even then The Tree of Harmony was not in an easily located place, nor a place most would want to venture into unprepared. No, Celestia assumed that someone had to tell him, and if the alicorn had been imprisoned, and not allowed to be dragged away by the vines like in her world, she could tell where that information came from. She might not have given it immediately, wanting the caribou to sweat a little, but in the end the suffering to her kingdom would have gotten to her. If that were indeed the case, Celestia had no doubt that Dainn would never bring up her involvement, even if she asked a direct question.

So instead she decided to ask one that he would answer. “Now that we have confirmed that the creeper vine incident happened, and detailed how you dealt with it, I have one last question on the topic.”

“Then speak it, mare.” Dainn said with disdain, seeing no point behind this path of questioning Celestia choose to travel down. The only point that she had made thus far is that in her way the problem was solved quicker, but to Dainn quicker didn’t necessarily mean better.

“My question to you,” Celestia begun, eyes unflinching as she stared down Dainn, “Is ‘Do you know what caused the creeper vines in the first place’?”

“I assume that ‘It was just another bit of incompetence on your part’. Yet another oversight that could have been prevented had you just been more aware.”

The words projected themselves towards the question, and smashed into them, bursting through in a fashion not unlike the times before when a counter-argument defeated a statement. Dainn believed that he had once more shot down the mare, as all of the bad in Equestria could be attributed to her lack of capability as a leader. It was a unstoppable statement that could prove her at fault for any wrongs. Even if she tried to pin something on him, he could just turn it around and say that if she had been a better leader, then none of it would have ever happened.

As he was basking in another victory though, he became aware that Celestia’s question hadn’t been completely demolished, and that his unstoppable statement had… stopped. More accurately, it had gotten stuck in the purple words, causing slight damage, but not shattering them completely like usual.

Celestia took a deep breath, and looked at the damage caused. She understood why her question didn’t stand up against Dainn’s response, but also knew why it didn’t get destroyed either.

“As vague as your statement is,” Celestia said, “It is not untrue. Had I have done more to investigate the tactics of my enemies, then the creeper vines would not have been a threat to either of our worlds. I always could have been a better leader, but as you said before, ‘better’ is just a word used by those who don’t know how to express something.”

Dainn smirked, “Good to see you finally starting to see reason. Now all you have to do is submit to the fact that ‘I was better than you’.”

“However,” Celestia went on to say, “It is important to see one’s own faults, as much as it is to be able to see the faults in others, and this is where you have failed to understand that you aren’t infallible either.”

“I might have made a few mistakes so far as God and the Universe is concerned, but from my understanding, in my own world, I am perfect.” Dainn put out his arms before him at waist height, beckoning Celestia to make whatever feeble attack she thought she could. “If you can say otherwise, then be my guest.”

“Gladly,” Celestia said, “Because for a supposedly perfect being, you are incredibly flawed.”

“What?” Dainn snapped back, believing this to be nothing more than an offensive bluff.

“After all, if you were really perfect, then you would have learned the true cause of this disaster.”

“I just said it was y-”

“‘That the one who caused this disaster was Discord’!”

The words appeared with a thunderous rumble, and unlike before, they did not launch themselves at Dainn’s words. They didn’t have to, as their very presence was enough to decimate any contradicting statement, turning them to dust before they vanished.

“In my world, we found out shortly afterwards that the seeds were planted by Discord. From what you have said, I can tell that you didn’t have the means to figure this out for yourself, so that means that you were incapable of discerning a potential threat to your kingdom.”

“Wait a moment,” Dainn said, finding himself now on the defensive against the alicorn princess, “Didn’t we already agree that matters involving Discord were off the table?”

“Actually,” Eadgil piped in, “You only agreed that Celestia couldn’t ask questions about him. And while I won’t add any assistance with this new information, I must admit that knowing what I know makes this argument… interesting.”

Dainn looked to Schorl to deal with Eadgil’s interruption, who just shrugged, not seeing anything that Eadgil said as breaking the no helping rule. “Damn it, Discord…” The king muttered to himself. He should have known that such a chaotic being would cause some sort of trouble for him.

“So, what we have come down to,” Schorl said aloud, raising her voice so that none could ignore her, “Is that Dainn had a problem with a creature who is, at best, unpredictable. That really doesn’t sound like much of a condemning statement to me.”

“S-she’s right,” Dainn chimed in, “This still doesn’t remove the fact ‘That none of the other three dared go against me’.”

“You mean like Sombra, who was already dead.” Celestia replied, “Or Chrysalis, who uses trickery to catch her prey, and specializes in conquering men, or my sister who…” The thought of Luna brought pause to the princess. At first she was going to bring up that Luna was no longer Nightmare Moon, and thus not a threat to the kingdom to begin with, but then it dawned on her what Dainn had just said in his big, blue words.

Dainn believed that Luna had never gone against him. That she might have been a disobedient mare and a black collar, as Celestia couldn’t see Luna as being any more willing to submit to this tyrant as herself, but to him she was unwilling to do anything against his will. Dainn truly was so delusional that he assumed that he had his kingdom under absolute control, even as he was presented with logical evidence that he didn’t.

Then another series of words Dainn had made earlier came back to the forefront of her mind. Ones he had made earlier to prove his methods as legitimate, and were registered as fact. ‘It may be a heavy and strict punishment, but the results speak for themselves’. Those words lingered there, unscathed by any attack.

“Dainn… You’re dead.” She said solemnly at the revelation that formed in her mind.

“A fact I am well aware of, I assure you.” he said back.

“No, I mean that, for all the safety you say you have to offer towards your citizens, you ended up dying.”

“Well, yes,” Dainn admitted, unable to deny it when it was stated earlier what this trial was about, “But that doesn’t mean it reflects my abilities to defend my kingdom.”

“How does it not?” Celestia questioned, “You believe yourself to be the strongest and smartest of all the caribou, right?”

“Well that could be debatable.” Dainn said, his nerves riling up again.

“Oh, you are being too modest my lord,” said Schorl, “It is well known that ‘Dainn is considered the strongest and smartest caribou of his kingdom’.”

“So if you were to die, then that means you were defeated by something that could potentially destroy the empire you built.” said Celestia, glad for once to have the crystal mare’s commentary.

Dainn shot Schorl a quick glare of disapproval, but then turned back to Celestia. “Just because I died doesn’t mean I had to have died to someone. ‘I could have died for any reason for all you know’.” Dainn was banking on Celestia’s lack of knowledge on this one, as she couldn’t say for sure if he had been murdered or not.

“Didn’t Eadgil mention earlier that you had been killed?” asked Celestia, remembering that it was brought up.

“I did,” Eadgil answered, “And even our host brought up that our two worlds are incredibly similar.”

“No more out of you, boy.” Dainn said, seeing this verging on another breach of the rules, “Unless you want this line of questioning to end now.”

“Are you afraid of what I might say?”, Eadgil smirked.

The look given to him by the other male repulsed Dainn, having seen that smug expression from many a stag, but never directed at him. Still, he had to focus, and take back the ground he had lost.

“Fine, I was killed. But who is to say that what I left behind wouldn’t be able to uphold my kingdom without me? Powerful men and submissive women who all wish to carry on my ideas, and the ways of the caribou, the ways that are part of the natural order.”

Instead of a response, the other caribou just reacted with a chuckle.

“I am saying that,” Celestia answered, having a more direct response for the caribou king, “As I have no doubt in my mind that you were not defeated by some external threat, the likes of which my kingdom had to attend to so very often, but from within.”

“What is that even suppose to mean?”

“In all your assumptions of perfection and invincibility, wherein you never see anything as being a danger to you or your loyal followers, that everything can be, and in your mind is, conformed to your perspective of the world… You have neglected the strength of those you wish to rule over.”

Dainn’s eyes widened, as the mare was dangerously close to pinpointing a killer, as vague as his assumptions were.

“Your methods are designed to make it so no one would ever side with you, unless they were under your mind controlling enchantments or felt there was a way they could profit from your cruelty. You may have swayed a few ponies to your side; the weak, the corrupt, and the cowardly.” Leaning forward, Celestia slapped her hands down hard on the desk before her, causing Dainn to recoil from the commanding aura she was giving off, “But there would be plenty remaining who would oppose you to the last. The same rebels you mentioned previously, those who were not corrupted by any of your schemes. With how carelessly you ignore the danger they represent to you, it is without a doubt that ‘One of the ponies you thought you had under your hoof brought you to your end’.”

“GGGGRRRRRRR!!!” Dainn could do little more than growl in response, infuriated that Celestia could be so right. How was this even possible? She was a female. Females were not suppose to be this smart. They were not suppose to be able to figure out complex details by the use of deductive logic.

“Dainn, you have no ability to protect the citizens of your kingdom, because your kingdom is one built against itself. Those who side with you are corrupt, those that don’t are slaves, and those who aren’t slaves will always look for ways to defy you. They may not act out to avoid your petty ire, but they would never consider what you do as right or just, and when you finally put them in a position where they have no other options, they will do whatever they can to bring your reign to an end.”

Dainn grabbed his head, and leaned forward, not getting why this was going so bad for him. He was the smartest caribou, no, smartest male who had ever existed, and thus was likewise the smartest being in his world. He shouldn’t have been able to be out debated like this, and yet here he was, struggling to see where he could go on from here. He could try to speculate about the possibilities of his kingdom being perfectly fine if everyone simply did what they were suppose to, but it would be a fruitless endeavor, as the fact still remained that they didn’t. Everything wrong with his kingdom could be pinned on the ponies that inhabited it, and how unwilling they were to acclimate without magical coercion or bribery, but ultimately the disorder of his kingdom could be projected back to him.

He just was unwilling to accept any of this. No matter if it was true, if everyone was incapable of lying, or that it was logically sound, it was all rubbish. He was a good king. He provided his people everything they needed and desired. So what if a few suffered? So what if thousands suffered? Overall he did what was best for everyone. He enforced the natural order between males and females. He was not the bad guy in all of this.

“So…” Dainn heard uttered from across from him, causing him to lift his eyes up just enough to see Eadgil and Celestia with their head turned to Schorl, who had a large, toothy grin. “We went through all that, proved that Dainn doesn't care about either the happiness or safety of his people… And for what?”

“What do you mean ‘for what’?” Eadgil asked, feeling that his restrictions had been lifted at this point, Celestia being the clear winner of the previous debate.

“How many times do I have to say it? This whole trial has nothing to do with whether Dainn can make those he rules over happy. It’s not even about if he can make them safe. ‘The topic of our discussion is if Dainn’s methods are beneficial to the world’.”

Eadgil rubbed his temples. “Alright...”, he said. “Tell me one thing. What is 'the world'?”

“Isn’t that the question,” Schorl said, slipping in a giggle before adding, “But for the purposes of this debate, why don’t we define ‘the world’ as ‘the living creatures and environment that inhabit the reality Dainn lives in’. That shouldn’t be too loose a definition, since he exists in all of our realities.”

“Okay, then. How many of these creatures does one need to benefit in order to benefit ‘the world’?”

“Wow, you are really picky with the details.” Schorl snarked, “But let’s say that as as long as his actions have an overall positive outcome, then it should be seen as beneficial, even if the difference is only by one person.”

“But then your entire point is moot. Because by that definition, it does make a difference whether those who live under Dainn’s rule are safe and well-off or not.”

“Oh, how small you think,” said Schorl, “How… short term. It is to be expected though, I suppose, seeing that from the start, you both have been attacking this from the wrong angle. How brilliant our lord’s misdirection was, making you both go around in circles over some nonsensical notion.”

Celestia was starting to become a bit unnerved by the crystal mare’s words, believing for a moment that Dainn had in some way tricked both her and Eadgil. “What angle are you talking about?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Schorl said, walking herself around to the other side of the table, “You guys have been going on and on about morals, rights, and the general well-being of all those sweet, innocent ponies under our lord’s rule… as if that applies to someone like him. What does any of that mean to Dainn, or his little band of caribou men?”

Eadgil smiled. “Well, Dainn did present himself as a savior of Equestria, or at least its males, but I actually agree with your point. However, I would like to point out that it was you who just a moment ago defined the benefit of the world as general well-being, not us. As you bring up over and over again, ’This discussion is about whether Dainn’s rule was beneficial to the world’, nothing more, nothing less. It is not about whether he was even concerned about that. By your own criteria, it wasn’t beneficial to the world. Pointing out that it wasn’t even meant to be changes nothing about that fact.”

“Perhaps you would be right, to someone who doesn’t see the bigger picture, but to do that, one has to understand that Dainn isn’t some sort of hero. That everything he did was for himself. His kingdom, his followers, the safety of the caribou, the lies that he made to make himself out as a savior of all malekind, those were all byproducts of making sure he got what he wanted. You both go on and on about his actions like they matter, but what do they matter to a villain?”

Dainn slammed his fist down on his desk, outraged at what he had just heard uttered from the mouth of this insolent red collar. “'I… AM NOT THE VILLAIN HERE'!”

Schorl had spun her head around at the sound of the king’s anger, pupils narrowed in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“I am not the problem!” Dainn said pointing across to the three on the opposite side of the room from him. “All of you are the problems! Females who don’t understand their place! Males who have misplaced sympathy for them, and so called followers of my ideals who make me look bad by association! ‘I am the one in the right’!”

For a while, the room was brought to silence, Dainn’s rage shocking those at the other desk. The king usually never showed any kind of emotion, preferring to be stoic to all he encountered. For them, this was the first time seeing the imposing creature in such a state, though for Dainn it was just an emotion he had been allowing to get out more frequently.

“Oh…” Schorl said, taking some time to recover from the outburst, which likewise allowed Dainn to calm himself down. “I see…” she went on to say with a sigh, “And here I was hoping you were at least different in that regard. Seems that I’ve made a mistake.” The mare’s own expression dramatically changed, from one with a perpetual smile across it, to one that looked blankly at the one she had been calling lord. “Allow me to correct that.” she finished, sitting herself upon the front of the desk she had been standing behind all this time, crossing her legs, and placing her hands upon her knees.

Dainn looked in bewilderment at the red collar, as the helpful mare now looked to be taking a defiant stance against him. “Wha-”

“Oh no, no need to speak,” Schorl said to the caribou, “Not yet at least. But please, allow me to reintroduce myself. 'My name is Schorl Tourmaline'. 'I am a villain', and 'I’ll be your opponent now'.”

Author's Note

There is an old quote that comes from Shakespeare. "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them". On a personal level, I fit into... none of these categories. I most certainly wasn't born into greatness, as I am a simple girl from a family that at best could be considered "lower middle class". I have family members who have managed to do well for themselves, but most of them want little to do with my side of the family.

I have never aspired to do anything great in my life, happy to be one of the little cogs in the machine of society, and living an average life where I stay at home most of the time, play video games, and occasionally type out long winded fanfics. The greatest things I've done in life is get my associate's degree in computer programming, and purchase a house. I have no real aspirations beyond dying in said house, and living as comfortable as possible until said demise. Aside for that, my only long term goals are to work as hard as I can to satisfy those incredibly basic goals, and maybe winning a card game tournament from time to time.

As for greatness being thrust upon me... well I would like to say that people have low expectations of me. I'd like to, but there have been those times when people look to me for leadership, because no one else can be arsed to take it up themselves. This is never anything grand, just stuff like directing a group project for my aforementioned degree, or being the one to step up to responsibility when seemingly everyone around me wants to take the path of immediate self destruction. Even so, I would like to believe that most of these tasks are incredibly simple, and that anyone could take up my role, had they the gumption to do so. What I am trying to get at is "I am no one special".

So juxtapose that with someone like Dainn. A man who has grandiose aspirations. He isn't the type to simply be one drop in the sea of mediocrity, he wishes to be the Neptunian god that controls its ebb and flow. He cannot be content with being the direct student of the king and possible future king of the caribou, how he was born great. He cannot be content with having saved his race from disaster, the time greatness was thrust upon him. Nor can he be content with having conquered a nation with what was essentially his own two hands, which was his aspirations to greatness.

Dainn, in his mind, must be the lord of everything. He must control not one nation, but every nation. He can't simply be the most powerful thing in Equestria, but the most powerful thing in existence. he can't simply live with the knowledge that he is an intelligent being, but must be smarter than everything else to the point that he has pseudo-precognition, where in all around him essentially dance to the beat of his perception of reality, and thus he always makes the right move because everyone else acts as a puppet and does what he wants them to do.

Of course, none of this is realistically possible, even in the realms of fantasy. Dainn cannot live in a world where those who oppose him are inexorably compelled to failure. There will always be someone in the world smart than him, and likewise someone stronger. By now, it if fairly clear that the concepts that Dainn is the best person ever, with the best men ever, and the best kingdom ever are just delusions built in his head to satiate his massive ego, of which uses caribou ideas to back up.

Celestia isn't a bad leader because she fucks up constantly. Quite the contrary. People like to use Celestia's poor ability to fend off the final bosses of each season as an example that she shouldn't rule Equestria, but fail to look at her the rest of the time cause she doesn't matter to the series at those times. However, in times of peace are when Celestia shines, because she is the one who runs the machine that is Equestria. I remember an episode where she was sitting in her throne with a stack of papers that could fill a dictionary, and reviewing and signing each one. Celestia at one point was Equestria's protector, when she had the power of the elements, but that time has passed, and now she acts as a diplomat and the guiding force behind Equestria on the whole. When things happen, they happen because she makes it happen. Now I could point out points were it looks like she could have flubbed in this department too (like the whole buffalo incident or the like), but when it comes down to it we can see that Celestia is good at her job because outside of those times when someone comes to wreck her shit, her lands are ran in a peaceful and efficient manner (usually).

Dainn on the other hand runs a kingdom that is constantly at ends with itself, and where those who want to screw over everyone else are the winners. It is a paradise for people like Flim and Flam, where in they get a free pass to do as they please with a populace brain washed into thinking that anything that makes women miserable is a must have, and a hell for those who are on the receiving end of said scams.

So Celestia isn't a poor leader because she's a woman, or she can't defend her kingdom. She is a poor leader because she has to be, else it would hard for Dainn to uphold that his way is "better", because then people could compare the two rules and the affects they cause on equal ground. If Celestia was a guy instead of a woman, Dainn would have likewise found a reason that Celestia "had to be removed" because he wants to rule everything, and Equestria is part of everything.

In the end though, I wonder what is truly the better position here. To be like me, and have low expectations for life and your lot in it, allowing for an easier ability to be content, while living a less than stellar life, or to be like Dainn. To want a spectacular, if unobtainable, life where in your contentment only comes from 100% success, and in turn that success has you shouldering the weight of the world. Actually, no, I don't wonder that, as Dainn's goals in life contradict his wants. He doesn't want responsibility, which comes with leadership, he wants the perks that stem from it. If he was given a stack of papers to sign, he'd delegate the work to someone else, no doubt. At least in my observations, Dainn doesn't know what to do with the world, except condemn it for not living up to his assumed perfection.

Acceptence Part 3

Dainn was left speechless by the crystal mare’s declaration. He had not the words to respond to her, not the fortitude to withstand such a brazen attempt to confront him. The way this mare spoke with sheer confidence, unwavering posture, and mocking tone to him was nothing less than stunning.

“Heh…” he started, his feelings eventually making their way to the surface, “Ha! Hahahahahahahaha!”

It was, of course, not that the mare was the least bit intimidating that he had been brought to a brief silence, but her immense foolishness. He couldn’t believe that a pathetic powerless pony mare had the gall to stand up to him in such a manner. It didn’t matter if she wore one of the faces of Death, the absurdity of a red collar trying to talk to him with such an attitude to him of all creatures who existed. Surely she had some undue bravado because of God’s enforcement of a ‘no hostility’ rule, but in any other situation Dainn would have had her severely punished for her insolence, with sexual tortures done to her by his loyal followers that would push her far beyond the limitations of her frail, female body.

The mare took his laughter in stride though, not moving from her seat upon the desk, “Mind sharing your joke with the rest of the class?”

“You are the joke,” Dainn managed to get out amidst his laughter, “You are sitting there with this pompous attitude, announcing yourself as a villain of all things, as if it gives you some sort of authority.”

Schorl’s blank expression gave way to a grin, “I suppose I can see the humor in that. Though that doesn’t affect the truth of the statement.”

“The ‘truth’ of the matter is that it is a ludicrous notion. One doesn’t declare themselves a villain, because to do so is to inexorably declare themselves as evil.”

“You don’t say,” Schorl said, switching her attention from the king to her fingernails.

“To declare one’s self evil denotes an innate sense of morality, in which one can tell the difference between right and wrong, and then purposely decide to go against the morals they have set in place for themselves. It is a contradiction of internal logic on the part of the person saying it, and only a madman would consider themselves in such a manner.”

Schorl kept her attention to the ends of her fingers as the caribou king gave his speech about the inherent flaws of one calling themselves ‘evil’, but the others in the room were not as nonchalant about this turn of events. Both Eadgil and Celestia were left bewildered by the crystal mare’s sudden change of allegiance, set off by what appeared to be petty reasons that lacked any apparent motive for the crystal mare. What stake could she have in whether Dainn considered himself evil or not?

Schorl’s switching of side’s brought the attention of one other in the room as well, prompting the red maned alicorn to speak after a long period of silence from her. “Schorl, am I to understand that you have changed your stance on Dainn and his methods?”

“Not quite.” replied the crystal mare, “I still believe in Dainn’s methods, but it is impossible for me to defend a client who refuses to accept the only defense he could have. At this point, I wish to test his convictions, and see how they stand when faced with the undeniable truth of his role in life. One can be an active supporter of an ideal, and still see the flaws inherent in it.”

“Very well… You made proceed then.” said the alicorn, returning to her role as an observer.

“Thank you, I will take great joy in facing off one on one with my king in a battle of wits, alternate universe or not.”

“Excuse me,” Eadgil interrupted, “But do you expect us to sit idly by as you and Dainn go at it? For all we know, ‘You are doing this with the expressed intention to let Dainn defeat you in debate’.”

Schorl lifted her eyes up from her fingers, giving a dis-enthused look to no one in particular. “I suppose that’s something I can’t assume at this point, seeing how you like to butt in. You and the princess may feel free to add whatever commentary you like, so long as you don’t interfere too heavily.” Turning to the stag behind her, the crystal mare lightly tapped the tip of his nose, “Wouldn’t want to give the king an easy out, would we?”

“I believe that is what Eadgil fears you are trying to do.” Celestia said, likewise worried about the mare’s true intentions.

“Fine, if it will put your mind at ease,” Schorl cleared her throat, faced forward, and straightened her posture, “‘I have no intention of granting Dainn an easy victory, nor do I intend to concede in order to allow him to win. I will face him with the set goal of defeating him in verbal debate, and will strive towards that goal to the best of my abilities’.”

Before the group appeared the longest truth statement yet, clearly defining the crystal mare’s aim in this portion of the trial. There was little room for one to fit in an assumption of treachery with that in place.

“Besides, why would I want to perpetuate this deadlock any longer than needed?”

“Deadlock?” Eadgil asked. At this point he thought it was clear he and Celestia had the advantage.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t figured out how this works yet.” Schorl replied, “We have two members that believe Dainn and his kingdom serve no practical purpose, two members who see value in it, and an interfering, impartial god mare watching over us as if these squabbles mean something, which means they do of course. But then, we have to ask why it matters.”

“Well I assume that it’s because she is determining Dainn’s fate based on whether or not he can appropriately defend his actions, which as of this point he has not.” said Celestia, deducing that to be the case.

“Sorry Sun Butt,” Dainn said, finding an opportunity to show Celestia’s ignorance, “But God has already expressed that they are just an observer in this affair.”

“Precisely my point.” Schorl agreed, “Which means that ‘This conversation only matters to ourselves, which in turn means that we are the acting jury of this trial, the outcome depending on a majority vote’.”

The other three gave pause to this revelation, finding the crystal mare’s assumption to be logical, especially given that the alicorn had recently asked if Schorl’s opinion had changed. The four were in a deadlock that could only be broken when one person submitted to the ideas of the other. Had either Eadgil or Celestia given in to Dainn’s point of view at any point, then he would have walked free.

“Well then, it seems we are in an unfortunate stalemate.” Dainn said, seeing the outcome. “You two are so stubborn that you will deny any proof I give you, and while the red collar is acting defiant at the moment, she has still been trained well enough to know not to go against her better.”

“I think you’re all overlooking something”, Eadgil remarked. “Let’s safely assume Dainn is correct in his assumption that Celestia and I will not change our opinion. If that’s the case, the vote will either end in three to one, in which case Dainn is convicted - or the result will be two to two, in which case no decision is made, this trial never ends, and we sit here for all eternity. Or at least that’s how I would assume this works.”

“Well lookie there, deer boy does have a bit of brain in him,” Schorl said, keeping her demeaning tone towards Eadgil, “As far as it goes, it appears we are stuck until someone is convinced to swap their vote. The problem is that no one seems to want to change their minds about their position in this. It is a seemingly endless debate, isn’t it?” The mare draped her eyes with her arm and leaned backwards, imitating some tragic pose, all while keeping a smile plastered on her face. “Of course, that fate for us can be avoided if one of us just gives in and admits their side is wrong, and that is what I intend to make happen.” Lifting her arm up slightly, exposing one eye to Eadgil, the mare ended her melodramatic mini speech. “So do you mind if I get this show on the road, or do you want to keep asking me pointless questions?”

“I didn’t ask you any questions”, Eadgil pointed out. “I made an observation, and it confirms something I have been suspecting all along.” He shot a glance at their red-maned host, then he turned back to Schorl. “But okay. Show us what you’ve got.”

“Good,” Schorl said, lifting herself back up to face Dainn, “So your majesty, my lord, his highness, king of caribou, conqueror of women, and whatever titles you like to be called by these days, why don’t we take this opportunity to discuss how much of a hero you are, and all the good that you have done with your kingdom.”

“Gladly,” Dainn responded, “Though I feel it would be redundant to go over the topics that we have previously discussed at this point. It is clear to all of us here that none of us had any truly convincing arguments when it came to the topic of public safety or general well-being of the citizens of my kingdom.” A short chuckle was heard from the other caribou at Dainn’s statement.

“Oh of course my lord,” said Schorl cheerfully, “I’m not a big fan of repeat performances, and as I said before, that was all just fluff anyways. If one is truly to get to the bottom of all this, then we need to look at the problem at the source.”

“Which is?” asked Celestia.

“The caribou themselves, of course.” Schorl answered, “We need to see if the ideas that they hold so dear to themselves hold any water whatsoever-”

Eadgil chuckled again. “Been there, done that.”

“And to do that we need to stop with opinionated assumption and speculations, and rely solely on facts.”

“And what facts would you have to convince me, mare?” asked Dainn, confident in his chances of avoiding a lonely existence now, seeing as he had three captive members of his world now to keep him company for as long as need be, trapped in this convenient deadlock. He began to wonder if that was God’s plan all along, and if so, then the deity surely placed its favor upon him.

“Well how about this for a start, perhaps the easiest fact one could present to a person like yourself. ‘Females have more value to them than you and your followers want to believe’.”

The words did appear as fact, but that meant little to Dainn. “I suppose we should be selling you for a few coins more in the slave market then?”

“That’s cute,” said Schorl, “And something I would expect from you, my lord, but you should understand that what I am referring to is their abilities, not their literal worth in gold. But let me humor your position for a moment. What is your opinion on… oh let’s say unicorn magic? Female unicorn magic to be exact, seeing that you don’t see it as ‘dangerous’ to your people.”

“My stance on it is that ‘It is something unnecessary for a mare to have’.” Dainn quickly answered, not needing but a moment to formulate his long standing opinion into words.

“Care to elaborate?” Schorl said, leaning forward a little more, “Inquiring minds would love to know why this is the case.”

“You want me to go into detail?” asked Dainn rhetorically, “Fine, gladly. Mare magic is feeble, useless, without purpose, and ultimately a waste granted to their unworthy forms only by an unnatural accident of birth.”

“Now we are getting somewhere,” said Schorl, “But please, enlighten us as to why it is an 'unnatural accident'.”

“‘Females are not supposed to have magic in the first place’.” Dainn said, anticipating the blue letters this time. He was informed before the trial that mares were indeed supposed to have magic, but that was in other worlds, and his world apparently ran by a different set of rules. “Caribou women go through their entire lives without such power, no matter how small, and they stem from a race that has access to one of the most potent, if not the most potent, magic in existence. If our mighty race produces such feeble females, despite our males being so mighty, then how is it not an accident that your inferior race creates ones that do?”

“Poor Dainn,” Schorl replied, “Still assuming that everyone has to play by your rules. I could spell out how flawed these thoughts of yours are, but perhaps that is not my place. Eadgil, you’re a man. Could you please inform Dainn about the logical fallacy in his argument, where a woman like myself cannot?”

Eadgil nodded. “Aside from him assuming quite a few things about ourselves that still require proof, his main fallacy lies in the assumption that everyone has to be like us. Why would that be the case?”

“Well of course they can’t be like us,” Dainn said to argue Eadgil’s assumptions, “The entire lot of the other races are inferior to us in every way, with only rare genetic freaks like the alicorns holding powers different, but not beyond, our own. However, as even you should be aware of, the caribou’s ways follow the laws on the natural order, and thus our culture acts as the very pinnacle of civilization itself that all others must follow to survive. ‘If not for the caribou interceding and leading the other races, showing them how things are suppose to be, then they would have led their kingdoms to ruin’. Try to dispute that, boy.”

“Well, if that was true, ‘Why haven’t they already?’”

“Heh, the boy got it in two.” Schorl said aloud, “That would be the question to ask in this case. And before you give us a ‘What are you talking about’ or some other such knee jerk response, I’ll explain the arguments at hand.” The crystal mare adjusted herself once more, resting her elbows on her legs, bringing her hands together, and placing her chin upon them. “As you may be aware, my king, your reign upon the lands of Equestria are fairly recent in its history. Before the arrival of you and your people, ‘Equestria had stood as a kingdom for over one thousand years’, with the history books having a fairly good record of the events that happened in that time. ‘The other nations you have conquered likewise existed for this period of time, or sprouted up within that time period because of Equestria’s existence’ such as the Crystal Empire.

“Is that your argument?” asked Dainn, “That all those nations lasted a long time inherently means that they would not fall apart without my rule? Would you say the same to a horologist observing an aging clock as it slowly ticking away to its last seconds?”

“Kingdom’s rise and fall all the time, my lord,” said Schorl, “Thus is the how the passage of time proceeds, as nothing lasts forever. However, I do think it is easy enough to prove something using time as a variable on which we can evaluate success with.”

“...Go on...” Dainn said, having recognized a terrible pattern when it came to him trying to dismiss what sounded to him like nonsense, and not wanting to make a further fool of himself by prematurely assuming victory.

“You see, my king, success is a relative concept. For instance, to you Equestria was spiraling to its own destruction, which could be seen as a valid observation.”

“If an incorrect one.” Celestia added.

“But… if we compare it to other existing civilizations, we can see that Equestria did fairly well for itself. Like if we were to compare it to Griffonstone, which pretty much was reduced to a bunch of truly selfish people living in shambling huts after their previous king lost track of a silly little trinket. One could easily see how in comparison, Celestia did very well with her kingdom.”

“I suppose if you want to compare Celestia to the vultures, then yes, she did an ok job in outlasting them.” Dainn relented in the best way he could.

“And if one was to compare it to a civilization that destroyed itself, or perhaps came fairly close to it, then she would have to be considered better by default, yes?”

Dainn winched a little, having identified what the crystal mare was leading him to. “So you are trying to say that if the caribou are to be considered a lesser civilization because we fell victim to a natural disaster.”

“That’s funny,” Schorl replied, “I personally wouldn’t think that something like a king exploding because his power hit critical mass could be considered a natural disaster." This raise the attention of the two caribou in the room, both slightly surprised, though not entirely shocked, that the mare knew that little tidbit of information.

It was enough though to have Dainn ask the mare plainly, “And how do you know about that?”

“I asked,” Schorl replied, “One of your priorities was re-educating us lowly females so we knew caribou history, so asking the right questions brought me a lot of the right answers. What I didn’t get from there, I got from reading those revised history books that you were so eager to have mass produced upon your succession to the throne. Needless to say ‘I know quite a bit about the caribou, both before and after your takeover of Equestria’. Getting back on topic though, I’m not sure if I should be surprised you call King Svarndagr’s little bout of not-so-spontaneous eruption as a natural occurrence. It does make for a nifty title though. ‘Svarndagr, The Cervid Natural Disaster’. I wonder if someone could make an insurance claim on The Cycle.”

“Be it that his was brought on by an accident-” Dainn started.

“An… accident?” Schorl cut in, “Oh, I’m sorry, my information must be a little mixed up. Here I thought that Svarndagr’s Cycle was something one could predict, that it was something that happened several times before with other leaders because they were genetic freaks whose power went beyond the limits of average caribou to the point that they couldn’t take it. But of course I must be mistaken, seeing that you are saying otherwise. I suppose the whole act of The Cycle is just made up, and you had no reason to leave your still standing homeland.”

“You are twisting my words.” Dainn said, knowing well that the events of The Cycle did happen.

“No, I’m exaggerating. Making nonsensical leaps of logic based on a likewise nonsensical statement from you, my king. You see, this was always a problem with you. You’d say something you thought sounded smart in your head, but never thought of the implications of your words, assuming people would just take them at face value and never question you.” The crystal mare took a deep breath, separating her condemnation of the caribou with what she had to say next. “I am getting off track though, so how about I get to the point. About the caribou, and their so-called ‘Supreme Society’. Let’s assume for a moment that the two kingdoms, Equestria and your homelands, begun at the same time. That one thousand years ago, you both started the foundations of your respective civilizations at the exact same moment, and grew up side by side, never interfering with one another until your homelands went up in a blazing ball of fire. Even had The Cycle only happened one time, then the caribou would have lost out in this unspoken contest, because the ponies managed to last longer, and not only did they last longer, they managed to thrive on their own terms.”

“Again, you can’t-”

“Oh, but I can.” Schorl said, once more stopping Dainn from completing his sentence, “Because that is the case if it happened once. However, ‘The Cycle’ is just that, ‘A cycle of destruction that nearly wipes out your race and everything you work up to when someone decides to grab onto more power than they can handle’. How many times has your race sent itself back to the stone age in one impetuous act? Enough for you to find records about it. Enough for you to try and prevent it.”

“Then you are basing this on a time period you cannot confirm.” Dainn said, posing his argument. “‘Caribou could have lasted longer than you could assume’.”

“But even if they have been around for a million years, ‘We can only count the time within the two most recent Cycles’. Those are the points where your civilization started over again, and when they ended. Don’t try to defend with something silly like ‘Equestria might not have lasted that long’ either, as we know for fact that ‘Celestia has ruled Equestria for one thousand years’.”

Dainn’s statement was smashed like so many before them, and there was little he could do but take it. It was true that Svarndagr was not the first Cycle, and that they happened close enough for records to be kept of it after the destruction. It was also true that The Cycle was something that could be prevented, at least theoretically, just so long as a caribou didn’t breach the power limit their bodies could contain.

“I have a question about this,” Celestia said after a long silence, “If you knew that your people could explode if they were too powerful, then did you ever worry the same about me and the other alicorns?”

“Of course not.” said Dainn, as well as Schorl, in unison.

“You really think that he would assume that a pony, and mares at that, could hold such power?” Schorl went on to say, “It’s part of his caribou supremacy fallacy, to believe that others are not capable of harnessing such power. Never does he assume that it is his people who are the inferior ones, because they cannot channel power as easily as others.”

“You dare?!” Dainn said in outrage.

“Yes, yes, I dare,” Schorl said dismissively, waving her hand to further show her lack of care about Dainn’s rage, “Because ‘Ponies do have powers that rival or outmatch your own, and can even use their bodies to channel other forms of powerful magics through them’. The Elements of Harmony are an example of that, as it is a powerful, seemingly unstoppable magic force that their avatars can use without exploding a kingdom.

Eadgil rose from his seat. “Dainn, the mare is wrong about a few details.”

“Oh, of course I am.” Schorl slid in sarcastically.

“But she got the gist of it right. Comparing our magic to alicorn or unicorn magic is misleading since it’s actually more similar to earth pony magic - but aside from that, she’s right that we weren’t able to channel it properly, which leads to the Cycle. And everything I know by now makes me think we did this to ourselves. We crippled our abilities by the very way we set up our society - and at least in recent history, we didn’t even understand them properly any more. Heck, we even foolishly believed half of our population didn’t even have magic.”

“Half of our… What are you blathering on ab-” Dainn froze, and then pieced together what the other caribou was trying to say. “ARE!? YOU!? MAD!? I could understand in their stupidity these ponies might assume to be our equals, but for one of our own kind to believe that our own females could even hold magic! Exactly how far have you been corrupted by these creatures?!”

“I believe we are getting off track again,” said Celestia, partially amazed at how easily Dainn flew off the handle at the mere assumption that caribou females could have some power. “But if Eadgil thinks this has any bearing on this trial.”

“Honestly, I don’t think it does.” said Schorl, “Seems more like a personal dispute of opinions. I can get with the sentiment that there might be more to the caribou cows than what Dainn, or any normal caribou, would assume though. It wouldn’t be such a far stretched idea to assume that they are just forced to assume they are powerless. Would make my point all the more potent.”

“What point!?” Dainn said, still immensely infuriated.

“Still don’t see it? Don’t worry, I’ll ‘point’ it out for you. Picture this, you have just had everything you knew destroyed because your leader unwittingly enacted a murder-suicide pact upon his entire kingdom. You manage to escape, taking with you whatever scraps you can hold, and barely make it out alive. After a long trip on the open sea, and weeks of scurvy because you decided fruit wasn’t as important as lubricant, you stumble upon a new land. A land brimming with life and prosperity, run by a race of creatures who treat each other as equals for the most part. No wait, not just a singular land, but a whole ‘nother world filled with all sorts of different people who managed to not only co-exist with each other, but not blow themselves up in the process. You set foot upon these unspoiled, fertile lands, and the first thought that goes through your head is… ‘How the hay did they fuck this up so badly!?’.”

It was clear to Dainn that the mare was describing the caribou’s arrival to Equestria. “I still don’t see-”

“Cause you don’t want to see,” said Schorl, “You left an isolated section of the world, that had destroyed itself because its leader was going down a literally self destructive path, and when you saw the rest of the world, how it somehow survived without following the caribou’s ‘natural order’, you immediately assumed that it was everyone else who had done something wrong. ‘Can you give any real proof to why that assumption could possibly be true, except that you want it to be’?”

“Yes, I can,” Dainn answered, “Equestria was under the rule of a female.”

“Sorry, strike one.” Schorl shot back, “We already established that Celestia’s rule provided more protection and better quality of life than yours.”

“You said yourself that meant nothing.” said Dainn, believing that the crystal mare’s own words would shut her up.

“Strike two,” she said in an increasingly triumphant manner, placing her hand upon her waist while sticking out her chest, “I said that didn’t matter to a villain, which you adamantly deny being. Of course if you want to change your mind about that.”

“I will do no such thing,” said Dainn, taking a firm stand against the notion, “I have sat here taking your accusations since the moment we started, each of you tossing around half facts and wild speculations in order to discredit and demonize me. If there were mistakes made in MY kingdom, they were not my own. If there was discontent, it was because people didn’t understand my vision. If there was a lack of safety, then it was because there were those who chose to cause others danger because they were fighting for a cause they could only assume was right. None of this proves in any capacity that I was a poor leader, or that I was in the wrong. All it proves is that ‘There were others that had a different concept of what was right’.”

“You claim that we don’t understand your vision,” said Celestia, “But how can we not? Two of our ranks have experienced it first hand, and while I was spared from seeing what depths your depravity would have lead to had you succeeded in your plan, you had done enough to Equestria already for me to know what you had in mind.”

“You know nothing!” Dainn lashed back, “If you did, then you would be at my hooves begging for my forgiveness. Pleading that I pardon your feminine ignorance. ‘I had nothing but good intentions for a world I saw as flawed’, and what I got in return for my efforts was scorn and a broken neck. No matter how many mares were forced into the roles destined for them, no matter how many males were ‘brainwashed’ to take up their rightful role of superiority, no matter how many were blanked, or switched, or driven insane, the end result was always going to be a perfect, and unified world crafted through my guidance. No more need for wars, no more greed or corruption, no more civilizations being laid to waste. All peoples brought together under a single concept; the supremacy of men over women. Given time, I would be able to make this happen, and all the assumed suffering would not only come to an end, but would be understood by all who went through it as necessary for the world to reach the pinnacle of societal perfection.”

Eadgil stood up from his seat. “We’ve tossed out half-facts and wild speculations, huh? Well then. No more half-facts and speculations - just questions. Earlier on, Miss Tourmaline asked if you can give any proof that everyone not following the caribou way was doing something wrong. You answered that the proof was that females were in charge. Schorl shot that down by what you would call half-facts and wild speculation, but I actually just wanted to ask another question. ‘How is that proof?’ How does that even logically connect to what she has actually asked you?”

“There is no need for him to answer that,” said Schorl, looking at the stag from her peripherals, “Dainn is simply displaying one of the many aggravating characteristics of ‘The Hero’. An unbreakable sense of conviction for their own ideals. Whether or not he can give a legitimate answer is irrelevant, it is unlikely that he will be persuaded that his position is wrong, and will only come to the conclusion that we are somehow mistaken.”

Eadgil chuckled. “You know this and I know this. But let me ask you this: I essentially just asked him to give a proper answer to your question. If there is no need to answer it, why did you ask it? What is your strategy here?”

“That would already be revealed if not for your interference,” said Schorl, “So why don’t you be a good boy for a moment and let the grown-ups talk.”

The stag gave another chuckle in response. “There is a saying. One who has to say ‘I am king’ is no true king. While you think about that, I’ll do the mature thing and sit down.” With that, he took place again.

“Whatever achieves the goal, I suppose.” replied Schorl before adjusting her iris’ back to Dainn, “But like I said, the answer to my question is unimportant, not when compared to our king’s objective. I can agree that the concept of universal unity is appealing, no matter the methods it takes to achieve it, that is so long as the king didn’t cause the suffering inflicted upon the other races for alternative motives like sadism or his own pleasure. After all, hurting people for the sake of hurting them would undoubtedly be an act of evil.”

“‘I have never hurt someone for my own amusement’,” Dainn said with confidence, “I only use pain as a motivator for instilling obedience and educating females. While I cannot say the same for my men, ‘I have not, nor would not, do something that would hurt others without a just reason’.

“I see, I see…” Schorl said, rubbing her chin, “Then perhaps it is time I asked you a question that is important to this discussion. A hypothetical, if you would humor me.”

“If it is hypothetical, then I have no reason why I should. It would just be conjecture either way.”

“Then I’ll just talk and you can choose to respond if you please,” Schorl said before starting her question, “Let’s assume that you were still alive. That you had never died and you were still enacting your campaign to take over the world. However, despite your best efforts to unite all under your vision, you just don’t have the power to do so with what you had at hand. Your men are powerful, but there are lands that are simply too far away for you to properly annex. Saddle Arabia, Zebrica, the dragon kingdom. None of these places can be appropriately subdued without spreading your forces to thinly to maintain a foothold on what you have under your control, and even if they submitted to your laws when you showed a bit of force, they could just as easily default back to their normal way of life the moment your men left. Even within your own kingdom there is strife caused by creatures who disturb your peace, such as the diamond dogs, not to mention the rebels who want your throat. Your only allies are those ponies who had betrayed their nation of their own will and the gryphons, both of which are untrustworthy. ‘Would you be content with these conditions’?, ‘Would you be content in a world where you were not in total control’?

To Dainn, this was starting to sound less like a hypothetical question and more like a recounting of how things were upon the time of his death. He remembered being troubled by these very things the night of the Gala, and that he had no immediate answers to them at the time. “No, I would not be content with this. ‘I would do everything within my power to fulfill my vision’.”

“But what if your power wasn’t enough? What if with even all your horses and all your men, you couldn’t piece together the fragile eggshell that is your vision?”

“Then I would find another way,” answered Dainn, “I would stop at nothing to achieve my goals of supremacy.”

“Well, king of kings, what if I told you there was a way to make you the most powerful thing in existence? That you could have all the magic that you ever needed at your fingertips, and you already had everything you needed for it at your disposal.”

Dainn went silent for a split second. It was starting to sound like the mare was trying to tell him something, with the questioning being awfully specific. “If there is something you are trying to say, then say it mare.”

“Well, you remember those Elements of Harmony you couldn’t get working for you? In the world I came from, when they were given to the Tree of Harmony, a blue box appeared near it with several locks.”

“Yes, that happened in my world as well.” said Dainn

“As it did in mine.” said Eadgil, confirming a pattern.

Celestia didn’t answer though, the mentioning of the box causing her to look away from the rest of the group. Her silence denoted more about her knowledge of the box than any words she could have said.

“Then the box is a constant within our worlds,” Schorl declared, “And luckily, I know what’s inside. A magical force that exceeds even that of the elements. All one needs to do is find the keys for it, and they would become the most powerful thing to walk the planet. It is a power that no one could ever contest with.”

“Intriguing,” Dainn stated, “And you are saying this is a power I could obtain?”

“Of course,” answered Schorl, “In fact you did. In my world, you found a way to create the keys that open the box by bending each of the six mares that represented the elements to your will. With each one you acquired an item that became a…”

“Don’t tell him!” Celestia yelled at the crystal mare, “Do you understand what would happen if Dainn had that sort of magic? He would be unstoppable! No one would be safe from his tyranny!”

“He would have figured it out on his own anyway,” Schorl said, hardly caring about what the alicorn had to say, “But I suppose what I want to know is if this Dainn would likewise use this power to claim what is rightfully his.”

“Why would I ever not?” Dainn said, sounding somewhat disgusted the mare thought otherwise, “In my world, I am the epitome of power, and as such a power such as that is only fitting to be held by me. My only regret is that even should you all do the right thing, and conceded to me, I will not be able to take this knowledge with me. As the purple mare says though, I would probably figure this out myself.”

“So let me get this straight… you would try to acquire this power?” Schorl asked, wanting clarification.

“Yes, of course.” Dainn said clearly, “‘I would certainly acquire this power’ and use it to finalize my conquest of all.”

Schorl smiled, “I thought you might, as you did in my world as well. You were so happy to have that incredible magic in your possession… for the five seconds it took before you destroyed everything.”

It took the others a moment to understand the meaning behind the crystal mare’s words, but Eadgil was the first to realize the implications. “Ha. I think I know what happened. Dainn, you just said that you would without any hesitation or second thought repeat the very same catastrophe you saved us from.” He paused for a second. “Uh, sorry to hear, Schorl. Sounds like an awful way to go.”

“You are actually buying into her lies.” said Dainn, chastising the other caribou for going along with Schorl’s crazy story, “What she said is monumentally stupid. She.. she is trying to say that I enacted The Cycle myself, when I-”

“When you knew the exact cause of it in the first place, yes.” said Schorl, finishing Dainn’s sentence for him, “I know that it sounds silly when you say it out loud, but that is exactly what happened in my world. Of course I wasn’t at ground zero when you opened the box and gained the power you oh so craved, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t get to me all the same. There really is no escaping an explosion of that size.”

“But you’re not even dead.” Dainn said back angrily.

“And what makes you assume that?” Schorl spoke calmly, “While our two associates might have not suffered the agony that is one’s own demise, there is no reason you should assume you are the only ‘Dead One’ present. The only reason I know it was The Cycle that killed me is because I died, as it allowed me to meet Death itself, and it was very forthcoming with the details of how I, and the rest of the inhabitants of my world, came to such a spectacular end. If that alone doesn’t convince you, then allow me to make it irrefutably clear. ‘I. Am. Dead. And it was your Cycle that killed me’.”

“N-no,” Dainn refused to believe that was the case, despite the red letters forming before him, “That is ridiculous!”

“Why is it ‘ridiculous’?” Schorl taunted, “Do you think yourself exempt from the same fate that befell the other kings before you who so greedily coveted power? Do you think that you have in some way surpassed every other caribou in existence, that you are just ‘that good’ that the rules don’t apply to you?”

“It is ridiculous because if you knew from the start that this was the outcome for me, my kingdom, and my world ‘Then you would have never sided with me in this trial to begin with’!”

Dainn’s words appeared in green, and readily charged Schorl’s statement of being deceased, but upon contact, it shattered into more pieces than anyone could keep track of. “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” went the Crystal mare, “There you go again, just assuming that everyone has the same motivations as you. Haven’t I made it clear that ‘I’m a villain’, and thus I am not bound by anyone’s concepts of morality. I just do as I please, without a care of who I hurt or how it affects the world around me. Just so long as I get what I want in the end.”

“I must admit though,” Celestia chimed in, “This does seem incredibly suicidal on your part. I can hardly see what you have to gain from allowing Equestria to be destroyed by Dainn across several different iterations.”

“Destruction isn’t an end goal, it is a byproduct.” Schorl explained, “I’m not sure you are aware, but if the king is resurrected, he will not be starting over from the beginning in some new form. More likely, he will set into a place and time where he can continue being his terrible self. Events are undone and rewritten, and he just keeps on keepin’ on. I know this because Death said the same applied to me, or anyone else with our ‘unique quality’.”

“Which is?” Eadgil inquired.

“Unimportant,” Schorl replied, “And unknown to me before you press further. However, if one is to look at Dainn’s motivations, reactions towards certain stimuli, and how he treats his subjects when given supreme power, they can be able to determine two undeniable outcomes in any world in which he exists. Either he will be defeated and removed from his seat of power… or he will end up destroying his kingdom.”

“‘How can you say those are the only two conclusions’?!” Dainn asked before Schorl could go any further, demanding answers, “In the wide span of infinite possibilities, how can you insist that these outcomes are set in stone!?”

“Because of how you behave,” Schorl answered, “And how you can’t accept something else out there being more powerful than you. We know by now that you will do whatever you can to acquire more power, and will destroy any you can’t possibly control, like the magic of the princesses. However, Equestria is littered with forces of great power that can be easily utilized by anyone. Amulets that amplify the wearer’s magic over time, books that allow the reader to craft the world in their image, and of course the aforementioned box. How many times do you think that you would gobble these things up without a second thought, casually stepping onto the razor thin wire that is the separation from having just enough power, to just enough to set off The Cycle building up inside you?”

“T-then what if they didn’t exist in the world I am reincarnated into?” Dainn followed up, wavering ever so slightly on the conviction he held with the previous question.

“Then you would attempt other means to gain power. Perhaps you’d start siphoning magic away from the ‘undeserving mares’, or try to take advantage of some gullible creature to obtain their power for yourself. You’re a smart man, I’m certain there are thousands of ways you could devise to end your life and the lives of all that serve you.”

“‘A-and what if I-I didn’t’?”

“‘You would’.” Schorl said without an ounce of doubt, “Like a monkey with a typewriter, if you are given enough time, and enough resources, you would devise the perfect plan to gain the power you lust for more than anything else. That is, unless someone stops you first, which is a result that is sure to arise in this realm of infinite possibility, as you described it.”

“B-but I know now. I can p-prevent this mistake. I c-can keep myself from…”

“You say that, my king, but you and I both know that isn’t how this works. You said it earlier even. If you are reincarnated, you will not get to keep any memories from your afterlife. You will just do what you would have anyways, unaware that in one way or another, your reign is always on a timer.”

“And when it does, and you are still the one on top, then it is you and you alone who are to blame for all the death and suffering that comes from it.” Celestia added, trying to press in the point that nothing good could come from Dainn’s rebirth into any world.

“Are you, the self-proclaimed hero of not only the caribou, but of the world you rule, willing to inflict that fate upon those who live within it?” Eadgil finished, bringing a close to the final argument given by Dainn’s opposition.

Dainn was truly at a loss for words. Of all the things he felt he could defend; the torture, the brainwashing, the enslavement, and the violation, all of which he had always had carried out for the notion of the ‘greater good’, he could not defend this. If there was one thing the caribou never did, it was cause the deaths of others. For all the other alleged sins they could be accused of, this was one line they never crossed, at least for as long as Dainn knew. Even the worst offenders among mares and rebels were only subjected to blanking, but if he were to continue this fight to be reborn and win, his actions would cause the deaths of more than he could possibly ever know, in more realities than he could possibly ever know. Schorl had said his Cycle in her world killed everyone. In this room wherein no one could lie, why would he assume she wasn’t being literal? This brought upon a new sensation to Dainn, one that he found repugnant, and one he never thought that he’d ever have to endure: A sense of self-loathing.

“I…” All this time, Dainn had believed he was doing the right thing.

“I…” That he would be the one to lead the world into a utopia of his own design.

“I…” That no matter what he did, it was always justified, because in the end, it would bring about a perfect future, where his ideas brought about peace and prosperity, the likes surpassed even that of Svarndagr’s kingdom.

He never once stopped to think about how wrong he could possibly be.

“Could you please speak up?” Schorl asked the caribou king, “It’s hard to understand you when you mutter to yourself like that.”

“I… relent.” He said loudly enough for the others to hear, despite being completely consumed by despair and revulsion for the life that he had wasted on such a meaningless goal, and the unknown amount of lives he had likewise wasted before it.

He was caught in his own endless Cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, always ending in either fire, or the end of a knife, with the latter always being the more merciful of the two. The mare was undeniably correct with her assumptions. With the way he pursued power, and no foresight of his fate, there would be no end to it. However, he could see his future clearly here, and that the only way to finally close this Cycle, was to bring everything to an end.

“I surrender... You win… My rule can benefit no one…”

Author's Note

So here we are at the end of the stages of grief. Of all of the stages, acceptance is probably always going to be the hardest one to deal with, as it is the only one that ever asks anything of a person. It asks them to give in, to put aside their own wants or emotions, and surrender themselves to the reality the have been fated to exist in. For Dainn, he must finally realize that no matter what he does, and no matter what choices he makes, it will always end in failure. He strives to acquire greatness like the kings before him, and quickly forgets that the candle that burns twice as bright lasts half as long.

The idea that Dainn would try to go after the Rainbow Powers isn't something out of the blue either. It was one of the things I had planned with NCN as an ongoing plot point in FoE, of which you can see in the alternate ending of Bruised Apples, though NCN of course never understood that Dainn acquiring that kind of power would lead to something that he himself had set up in the caribou's back story, which I feel is just sad. To casually toss around canon and then forget about it, or choose not to acknowledge it when something new arises. I suppose one could speculate that the Rainbow Powers could "purify" the caribou, remove whatever defect they have makes them go off like a roman candle, but why would it? The caribou don't represent any aspects of Harmony. If anything, they actively go against them. So I see the event of opening the box in two ways, either Dainn opens it, absorbs the UNLIMITED POWAH inside, and goes boom, or the powers go back to their rightful owners, restores them in body and mind, and they defeat dainn in a manner similar to how Tirek was defeated. To otherwise ignore the implications of "The Cycle" would be insulting to the readers who chose to pay attention to your lore.

But I'm certain that is what NCN would have wanted. For Dainn to just go uber powered to finally cement his reign on Equestria in a permanent manner, despite how much caribou have been designed in a way that makes that impossible. Unfortunately, I have to accept that FoE, at least the FoE that NCN wanted, is never going to be as clever, or consistent, or thought provoking, or even just "Good" as I would have wanted it to be. If I had my way, I would have crafted it into something on par with "Fallout Equestria" in scope. Something that people could be interested in and be legitimately good in its own right, if having themes that made people a bit uneasy. I will always say that the issue with FoE is not its subject matter, but how the people in charge chose to use it. One could make a "Fall of Equestria", and remove the stupid from it, but that requires effort, and that is something few wish to put into something that to them is just a personal masturbation tool.

Which of course goes back to Dainn and the caribou, as this can be seen as an analogy to their own take on Equestria. Its not something they actually want to take care of and shape into something viable. They already did the "hard part" by barking out a set of poorly conceived rules. Its everyone else's job to keep it all together now as they sit back and stroke off to the world they created (and sequentially get pissed off when things turn out differently from what they wanted).

Then again, everyone else has already accepted that things in FoE will probably always be that way, and that nothing will change until the last person with a bit of talent losses interest with the setting. Its a damn shame, really it is, but at this point "poor story structure" and "contrived settings" have become synonymous with FoE, and only those who really really like the images it produces are willing to overlook it (And even then most at least acknowledge the flaws).

I suppose this isn't really a very good look into my own psyche when it comes to acceptance, but to be honest I've never had an issue with this. I have come to terms about how their are things in my life I can or cannot change. Even with FoE, I realize that it will always be seen as a shit setting, despite how much effort I put into it, and how much I enjoy the themes of bondage, rape, slavery, ect. Even so, acceptance doesn't mean that I can't continue to do what I can to make it ever so slightly more enjoyable, for both myself and others.

Finality

Upon Dainn’s utterance of his admittance of failure to the kingdom he had forged, time literally stopped in the room. All other participants of the trial froze on spot. There were no witty retorts to his confession, no smirks or bouts of laughter at his expense. Not so much as a single twitch of movement came from the three across from his table, each of them becoming as still as statues.

Dainn, on the other hand, didn’t feel this sudden stopping of time’s flow, nor did one other that occupied the room with him. The red-maned alicorn, the one who was acting as impartial observer to the trial and divine creator of the universe as Dainn knew it, was likewise able to move freely, and thus descended down from her seat, hitting the floor with the gentlest of clops as her four hooves touched the polished marble floor.

“I see you have finally cast aside the delusions you had placed on yourself.” the alicorn said, heading towards Dainn at a steady walk.

“How could I not?” Dainn replied, only registering her words as he stared down at the tabletop beneath him, his body hunched forward as he held his head. He was still having trouble dealing with the avalanche of revelations crashing down on him. With a simple understanding that his acts, that everything he had worked so hard to achieve, were only ever going to cause ruin, it painted a dark picture over his previous perceptions of himself.

No longer could he claim heroics for his countless acts of violation towards a race incapable of fighting back, or that his ends justified the means. He couldn’t even feign ignorance, because he knew what The Cycle was, and simply ignored its implications on himself when he found that knowledge inconvenient. If he had just stopped and thought, took a moment to actually look at what he was doing, to truly observe the atrocious acts he and his men were committing in the name of a goal they couldn’t accomplish, then perhaps he would have found another way.

Dainn wanted to at least believe that was the case, but now he wasn’t so sure. After all, how many times did people tell him that he was wrong? That he was only causing more problems with his rule? That he was no king? Dainn had always dismissed those claims as the words of the uneducated and the rebellious, but that was the problem. He never once took a moment to consider if they were right.

“So what now?” the caribou asked, still hanging his head in defeat.

The alicorn placed herself on the other side of the table from Dainn, dividing the two of them with the wooden structure. “What do you think should happen?”

“I don’t know…” he replied solemnly, “I want to say that you send me back to my world with this knowledge of how much I screwed up intact, but something tells me that isn’t how this works.”

“I’m afraid not,” said the creator, “Beyond my realm, beyond the land of the dead, and within the realities in which you exist, you can only ever be a version of yourself, and without such a…” The mare took a moment to look around at the surroundings of the grand courtroom, “Dramatic method of convincing, you would never come to these conclusions on your own.”

“Then you decide,” said Dainn, “Apparently my choices only lead to terrible ends for myself and others. Send me back to the abyss, remove my ability to be reincarnated, destroy my already doomed realities for all I care.”

“Dainn, I created this scenario for you to achieve one goal: not to condemn or condone, but to give you context.” the alicorn said gently, “I would not destroy the worlds created by the presence of you and your kind, as such a world is no more or less worthless than any other, no matter what kind of creatures exist in it. However, it is important that all those who inhabit a world understand their role in it, and that is something that I don’t believe you have ever, or would ever accomplish without anything short of divine intervention.”

“I agree…” Dainn admitted, his ego too crushed to try to contradict the mare, “And I now have the context you wished me to have. So with it I will say again, you decide what to do with me. As God of this universe, only you can unerringly make a decision that will not lead to the same kind of disaster I would cause in your place.”

The alicorn took a deep breath in, and as she exhaled everything around Dainn and herself faded. The courtroom, the furnishing in it, even Celestia, Eadgil, and Schorl. Everything dissipated, and returned back to the darkness that Dainn had become accustom to, and now found comforting.

“If that is your viewpoint after all this, then I believe that it is time that ‘Dainn’ ceased to be.” the alicorn stated to the caribou who was forced to rise as his seat faded away.

“Are you going to cancel out my existence all together?” Dainn questioned, seeing that as the most likely outcome for one such as himself.

“Not entirely,” the alicorn replied, “Dainn will have still existed, and his deeds will still affect the realities which he has touched, but his existence will end here. Dainn will no longer be allowed to be reborn into new worlds. Dainn will not dwell in the land of the dead. Dainn will not have a physical presence anywhere, and will only be a memory.”

“I… understand…” said Dainn, submitting to the mare’s judgement, “But if I may… if this is going to be my final moments… Could you please show me one last mercy.”

“And what would that be?” asked the alicorn, knowing that last requests were common among those seeing their finality.

“I have so many questions. So many things that have only been half told to me throughout my journey to this point. Though it might be meaningless, if my being is to come to an end I would like to know the answers to these questions, answers only you can provide.”

The alicorn looked at Dainn with pity, knowing well that he was in a sense as much of a victim in this than anyone else. The circumstances of his creation, in both his world and from the external forces that manifested his being, never gave him a chance to be anything else than what he was. Yet in this time where he had been shown that all he was made to believe as truth throughout his life were false, he chose to seek answers, even though his existence was coming to a close. It was an admirable trait in itself. One that showed a great deal of humility from one who mere minutes ago assumed himself infallible.

“I shall grant you the answers to three more questions,” the alicorn said, “It is the least I can do for one on the brink of annihilation.”

Three questions. That is what Dainn was given in his final moments. It seemed like so little, but he assumed that God would have given him just enough to satisfy his curiosity. It was up to him though to decide which ones to ask in order to reach that gratification. He would have to think carefully on which questions were most important to him.

However, he did already have one question in mind that he just had to ask. “God… if my existence was such a blight on any world I touched, why was I allowed to reincarnate to begin with? Death had told me that there was something special about me. That the universe itself had taken interest in me to the point that they would revive me at their discretion when I died. Before, I had believed it was because I was a necessary force, maintaining balance and order, but now I know this isn’t the case. So what am I that I was given this undeserved chance to ruin countless versions of the same world?”

“I see,” the alicorn replied, “You wish to know your purpose and why the universe took interest in you in the first place. I will try to answer this in a way you can comprehend.”

“And I will do my best to comprehend what you say.” said Dainn, realizing that what a god had to say on the topic of ‘purpose’ might have been beyond that of what a mere mortal could decipher.

“I had touched on this before the trial, about how you were created by a universal force, and how other forces interfered with that force’s vision for my creations. It might be hard to understand, but imagine all these forces as… the writers of your destiny, and that you are but a character that exists in the stories they wish to tell. You are molded from the moment of your inception into an image and role that they desire, to fulfill a purpose of their desire. They give you a reason for being, and as long as they find you worth including in their tales, they will continue to bring you back as many times as they deem necessary to fill in the space they have deemed you fit in.”

“So I exist… to amuse these forces?” Dainn reasoned aloud.

Understanding that this wasn’t Dainn’s intended second question, and not wishing to rob him of it for misspeaking, the alicorn answered it without penalty, as it was directly related to the original first inquiry.

“You amused some of them, that is for certain. For others though, you were just an outlet for their own sense of righteousness, or a scapegoat for their ideals. A person such as you allows an easy excuse for other characters, of both similar and opposing viewpoints, to exist as well. Of course, you are not the only person with such a fate either, as all within your reality are subjected to being the unwitting characters in a story of someone else’s crafting.”

“Then again, why am I so special that they chose me to bring back time and time again?” asked Dainn, reiterating his original question.

“That is where you are mistaken.” the alicorn answered, “You are not special. In fact, most of the people in your world are subject to the same process of reincarnation. Most are used more often than yourself, but you are such a prominent example of the views you represent that those who wish to champion or demonize these ideals use you as an example. You’re not even unique as a conqueror of Equestria, or as a person who wishes to make slaves of my creations. There have been many ‘Dainn’s, of many form and many names. Be they a zebra who wishes to fit all ponies into his shackles, or a centaur who wishes to lay waste to Equestria for vague reasons, there will always be some version of what you represent, even after you cease to be.”

“That seems… unfair,” said Dainn, “If I am to be compared to a character in a book, then the way I am was never of my choosing. I simply followed the path given to me by the hands of my fickle writers.”

“And yet you are who you are.” the alicorn responded, “And nothing can change that. Dainn is Dainn, just as Celestia is Celestia, and Luna is Luna. There might be variations on their beings, but in the end the core of the character can never be altered.”

There was something to what the god said that rang true to Dainn. Be it that he was guided or not, in his own mind he had never seen anything wrong with the way he acted till now. Whatever principles and concepts he represented, they were as much a part of him as the blood coursing through his veins. Thus his fate was as much his own design as it was those who wrote his story.

“Ok… I think I understand.” the caribou said, sinking ever slightly more into his despair.

“Then what of your second question?” asked the alicorn.

That was a tough thing to answer, as there was still so much that could be told. There was one thing on his mind though, a question that spoke measures about his role as king of the caribou, and his perceived responsibility to that title.

“What happened to my men? My people?”

“You wish to know what happened to them throughout all realities?” the alicorn ask hesitantly. Even for one such as her, that would be a bit of an undertaking.

“Not exactly,” Dainn said, already knowing that in most realities the caribou ended with his realization of supreme power, “I simply wish to know what happened to those I left behind.”

“Ah, you wish to know of the world that you were last killed in. That is something that I can easily explain.”

The mare made her horn glow, and retrieved her telescope from the void. Dainn watched as she made a few turns of the segmented sections, aligning the arcane runes on it in ways that only she understood, until the device emitted a cone-shaped light from the large end on it. The light landed on a patch of the darkness surrounding them, and projected before Dainn a moving image of several caribou.

With the group of caribou, Dainn quickly discerned three things. The first was that they were all stags, the second was that they were held naked within shackles that bound their wrists and ankles, with chains leading from one another to link together their respective appendages and limit their movements as a group. Lastly, he recognized a few familiar faces in the crowd, as the focus of the projection was placed on those at the front of the pack.

It was his council, the eight men that he kept closest to him during his rise to power and reign, each bearing their own set of bruises and magic induced burns. They were so proud and cock sure when under their king’s command, but now they stood with a lacking any of the sign of their former confidence. Instead they wore faces of terror, outrage, and resignation, with the one at the start of the line looking the most frightened of the lot.

Dainn knew this stag as Vestri, the man who had been his right hand man and primary tactician. In the projection though, he was a trembling mess, his antlers broken to jagged stumps, which disabled him from using magic of any kind. Thus handicapped, and with the shackles placed on him, Vestri was essentially helpless as a pair of pony guards removed him from the others, and escorted him forward.

As the projection followed his movements, Dainn soon saw what terrified him so, and understood immediately how one of his bravest men could be reduced to such a state as the device his people used to turn undeserving males into females came into view.

“After you were killed, your kingdom quickly crumbled. The spell you had placed over Equestria was brought to an end, and your men were for the most part captured and subdued.” explained the alicorn, “And understanding that caribou females were a drastically less threat than stags were, the ponies took what they believed was an appropriate and just measure to assure those who enslaved them could never do so again.”

Vestri tried to struggle, frantically so as he did everything in his power to stay away from the machine, but as more ponies came to help the others, the stag found himself being forced into the machine, and strapped into place. Never before had he seen Vestri plead and beg as he did when a pony, the one Dainn knew as Shining Armor, went over to the activation lever for the device. Tears freely flowing from his eyes as he tossed aside any dignity he had if it meant there was the slightest of possibilities that he could be spared this fate. There wasn’t though, and without even the smallest ounce of remorse, Shining Armor flipped the switch and started up the runic magics that powered the machine.

Runic symbols lit up all over the switching machine, flowing into Vestri, altering him as it had so many males before him. Dainn himself watched horrified as the man begun to shrink, his muscles keeping their firm definition, but becoming more slender and sleek. As that happened, several other parts of his body grew outwards, becoming fuller and more rounded, those being his hips, ass and chest as feminine features took shape. His face likewise formed a sleeker, more rounded shape, losing many of the rough, masculine edges that easily separated a male caribou from a female, while at the same time his dick and testicles retreated inside his body, leaving behind a newly formed slit, and a tiny nub to form a clitoris.

The entire process was exhausting, for both Vestri and Dainn, not made easier for either participant by the endless screaming Vestri made during the process. It left Vestri as a frail vision of his former self, his features so drastically changed that one would not recognize anything about him, save for the color patterns of his fur and his eyes. When the guards came to remove him from the device, they hardly had to loosen the straps that bound him due to the difference between his new form to his former one. Once removed though, they gave Vestri a moment to reflect on his new form, dragging him over to a mirror which was placed there by the caribou for that very purpose.

“I hope you’re happy with your new body, ‘Vestria’,” Shining Armor said to the newly created doe, “Cause you’re gonna live in it for the rest of your life.”

The sheer amount of terror plastered on the doe’s face was beyond measure, her narrow irises darting around to all the male ponies that had their own eyes locked on her. He, or rather ‘she’ now, knew that she had become completely helpless, and what happened to females when at the mercy of men. Those thoughts only became intensified as another caribou, a male wearing armor like that of the pony guards, came up from behind and wrapped a red collar around her slender neck.
Dainn knew this caribou well, as he was one he took great interest in. He was Gunne, a stag deemed cursed by his own people, all save for Dainn himself, and perhaps the ignorant females who didn’t know any better. What a surprise it was to Dainn to see him cooperating with the ponies, as his loyalty to the caribou ways always appeared to him to be one of Gunne’s highest priorities. Yet there he was, using his own magic to seal a leather collar around the throat of his commanding officer.

As the collar became bound to its new bearer, the effects of the runes etched on its inside took effect, suddenly stimulating the neck muscles of the doe trapped inside it with a rhythmic massage. It was an unintended side effect of using materials that the ponies had on hand after toppling the caribou empire, but it affected Vestri’s sensitive new form all the same. She could feel the sensations travel through her, arousing her feminine mind with fresh feelings unlike anything she had felt as a male. It was enough to excite her inexperienced mind and body, igniting a strong arousal that moistened her nethers, caused her nipples to stiffen, and elicited a low moan from the depths of her being.

Gunne looked at the fallen former stag with disgust, and with very little notice tossed her by her new collar to a group of pony guards. “Take the bitch.” he said callously, “Do with her what you will.”

Dainn had expected the stallions to act on the offer. To do what came natural and take advantage of the female on the spot. Instead, they simply reapplied her shackles, and then attach to a ring bolted to the wall as they went on to place the next caribou in line into the device.

“The ponies ended up changing the genders of a large majority of your race,” the alicorn spoke up, “With very few escaping that fate. After that, all who collaborated with your rule, both caribou and pony alike, were sent to Tartarus to serve out sentences given to them by a newly appointed pony committee, some left there to never see the light of day again.”

The mare gave the telescope a small flick, and the projection changed from the stags to a bunch of caribou cows, who were being cared for by mare and stallions who took pity upon them. They, unlike the males shown before them, were not bound or collared. They were even given concealing clothing, which was an odd sight for Dainn to see on the female deer.

“The ponies, however, had mercy upon your females, seeing them as just another set of victims created by your race’s misogynistic ideology. The committee decided it would be best to rehabilitate them and adapt them to a new life where they could join the ponies as equals. It was not an easy process, of course. After having been treated as property and slaves for so long, only having their sexual talents treated with any kind of appreciation, it was hard for the women of your race to go beyond that. Many never truly adapted either, but the ponies kept trying in the hopes that eventually their ways would take hold, even if it took generations.”

This information gave Dainn a lot to think about. Seeing what had become of his people after his passing, it became a little more understandable how someone like Eadgil could come to be, as if the ponies were reforming does, they would more than likely try to do the same with the less dangerous members of the male population too, especially if their intent was to make the species continue on under their own ideas of social structure. If he had learned of this before the trial, he would have been furious, but having been enlightened of his own misdoings, he couldn’t muster the effort to be angry. How could he be mad at the ponies for trying to change his people in the same way he tried to change theirs?

“I believe that answers your question on the fate of your people.” the alicorn stated, allowing the image of the somewhat confused, but otherwise content does to continue on uninterrupted. “Speak your final question, so we may bring an end to this.”

There were still so many things that Dainn could ask. A near bottomless pit of inquiries about his life, and about the universe itself, but one question ate at his soul more than any other. Of all the things he could want in his final moments, he would like some form of absolution for all he had done. Some purpose for his existence besides to spread suffering and ruin. There had to be some justification for it all, and it seemed like the crystal mare from before knew what that was. At least, she had heavily implied that she had the answers when it came to why his rule was actually a benefit to the worlds he inhabited. In all honesty, Dainn couldn’t figure out what it could be, but if there was an answer, he wanted to know.

“I would… like to know how the crystal mare would have defended my actions, had she not gone against me in the trial.” He said, acknowledging that once this was answered, his time would be at an end.

“That is an odd request.” the alicorn replied, “I had come to believe you thought the words of mares, and particularly that one, were nonsense.”

“Perhaps, but she seems to be the only one of that trio who believed I had any redeeming qualities. Even if it is nonsense, I would like to know what it was.”

The alicorn closed her eyes, and fell into a deep thought. Dainn didn’t know exactly what she was doing, but stayed quiet and still as she meditated, Several minutes passed in this shared silence, but his patience was inevitably rewarded when she opened her eyes and said. “The mare seemed to have a very inventive method of proving that you were something needed by the worlds you inhabited. I don’t know what could have gave her this point of view though, as such an understanding of the workings of the universe usually isn’t found among mortals.”

“If it’s enough to perplex an entity such as yourself, it must be a very persuasive argument.” Dainn replied, hoping it to be the case. Hoping that perhaps he could be told that his efforts were not all for nothing.

“I believe the strength of the argument is a relative notion, but not one without merit.” The alicorn went on to say, “What she proposed was that you were a catalyst for the evolution and advancement of the world on the whole.”

“I had always assumed something of that nature, but why do I feel that this isn’t going to be in the way I had thought…”

“It isn’t.” the alicorn stated bluntly, “As to her, you were a proponent of natural selection. She would have proposed that if not for your existence, then the creatures of Equestria, and the rest of the world, would never have had such a daunting foe to overcome. You and your kingdom were one of the most difficult things that ponykind has ever come up against, and by defeating your rule, they have become more prepared than ever to face off against any future plights that would come their way throughout history. The best weapons are forged in fire.”

“But what of the worlds that didn’t overcome the caribou?” Dainn asked, assuming a flaw in this logic, “They would be utterly annihilated. They wouldn’t gain new strength or knowledge to face further turmoil. They would all just cease to be.”

“And that is where the argument earns its relative nature. If an infinite amount of realities are formed, and half are destroyed, while the other half thrive, would you consider that a failure? Would you consider it a success? Would you consider it all meaningless? In the end, it is up to the observer to decide, but in this example we are saying that those who profited from this coin flip could only do so at the expense of those who suffered. Even ones like Eadgil and Celestia couldn’t truly argue that they didn’t gain something from this, as their very existence in the forms present in the courtroom could only be if you existed as well.”

“I have to say… that is a fairly flimsy argument…” Dainn said disappointed, as it didn’t change the fact that he was still pictured as the villain of this tale. Of course, that is what Schorl wanted to portray from the very start, so why did he assume otherwise?

“And yet it is the truth,” the alicorn said, twisting the segments of her telescope once more. When she stopped, a new projection appeared. One of ponies, working together and rebuilding their world, “Despite all the mistakes you have made, and the horrors you created, the threat you represented inspired unity within the ponies unlike any before.”

The images swirled and reformed, showing several stallions helping groups of troubled looking mares, providing them with food, shelter, and an ear to listen to their tragic experiences. “You awakened a sense of compassion in them that had been lacking in the time before your arrival”

The image shifted again, and this time landed on three young fillies with their hands joined together, wearing collars, but smiles with hope as they called out “Cutiemark Crusaders Freedom Fighters!”

“You forced even the youngest to have the courage to fight against your ways, and give their part in toppling your regime.”

Another shift, and this time the image fell upon a group of pegasi, each wearing blue uniforms with lightning bolt designs upon them, with both male and female flying side by side in formation.

“You sparked within them a determination to face any obstacle, no matter how great, or how much of a perceived handicap they have.”

Switching again, the image finally transformed into a scene of six mares Dainn recognize. The six Elements of Harmony, all restored to the forms they had before the Fall had started. Every horn repaired and every feather regrown, as they joined together to hug the yellow one in a tearful embrace.

“And you gave them the opportunity to grant forgiveness for the sins committed under your rule, even to themselves.”

The image zoomed out, until the entirety of Equestria was in view.

“In a sense, the misery and despair you spread had laid way for Equestria to experience more joy and hope than it ever could have without you, and just like the power of love and friendship, ‘Hope’ is it’s own form of magic.”

Dainn flinched at what he saw, identifying a form of peace and harmony that his kingdom could never have had. It was both sickening and disturbing, the feeling of knowing that this was what he had kept from being. What his existence would have prevented had he continued unopposed. He had been a fool, and now more than ever, he felt that his immediate dissolution was well deserved.

“Of course, Equestria will always have another enemy to face.” said the alicorn, the projection revealing several menacing figures, some ponies, some not, and some races he had never even encountered. “But you have done much to expose those hiding behind a facade, those who only wished to manipulate and control others for personal gain.” With those words, the image of Vestri’s personal slave mare appeared, showing her being dragged away in chains, along with several other stallions and mares who had betrayed their princess and kingdom for the caribou’s favor.

“That, Dainn, is the legacy you will leave behind with your death. Not one of tyranny, enslavement and rape, but one where no one will have to suffer from those concepts ever again.”

With that declaration, the images stopped, and the light from the projection retreated back inside the telescope. To Dainn, that acted as the signal for what this had all been leading up to. There was no more to show. No more answers to give. It was time. What other note could he go off on?

Without so much of another word from either the caribou, or the godly alicorn, the process began. The horn atop the mare’s head covered in a glow unlike any before. One of a deep darkness, a black void that was thicker than the one that formed the world around Dainn. He could tell from the mere sight of it that it was oblivion. That as soon as God did what it would with that spell, he would be no more. He was afraid, as how wouldn’t he be when faced with his complete and utter end. He closed his eyes, but that did nothing to prevent him from seeing that shadowy mass. So instead he decided to look away, finding the act to be neither cowardly or courageous, simply a coping mechanism.

However, when he did, he saw something. Something that he had never seen before in his stay in the void. Off in the distance, there was a speck of light. Then he noticed that there wasn’t just one, but many. All around him, twinkling at a distance that he could never conceive to reach, were clusters of stars. Seeing them, he couldn’t help but turn his body to look at them all, and in his last seconds come to the understanding of what they were.

It was the universe, in all of its glory. A countless number of worlds and realities that would never again be subjected to the corruption that he represented. Perhaps they would undergo their own trials. Perhaps they would fail to overcome them. Perhaps they were, like the reality he originally came from, doomed to destruction from their conception. If such a reality existed though, then surely there was another where the opposite was true as well, and maybe that was all a person could ever hope for. That no matter what wrongs came to be, there would be some place in the universe where the right things would happen instead. Nonetheless, now seeing these stars, the caribou king had to agree with what God had to say about them before the trial. That they were all beautiful.

With that final though, Dainn heard the sound of some devastating force from behind him, and then-

The Study of a Tyrant

Author's Note

So, here we are again. Over one year later, and I have made it to the end of another long Fall of Equestria arc, though this time with a little less malice behind my actions. I'm sure that some people might see this as just another attack at FoE, and it's characters, but I promise you it's really not. If I truly hated everything about this setting, then why on earth would I take the effort to make such a story that looks at all it's flaws like I have here, or take the time to remember so many characters important to the setting and their roles within. No, this story was created, in a sense, to do something that I felt that FoE was never going to do itself, no matter who wrote about it or made pictures for it. That something was "give Dainn an actual character".

Before I begin, please allow me to say that unlike the story itself, I'm just writing this out as I think of stuff that pops in my head. There are no proofreaders for this section, and no pre-planning (save for the thought that I would eventually write something like this). Thus there will be typos, there will be disjointed sentences, there will be things that sound completely moronic. I am not very articulate, and my mind is a cluttered mess of information. Feel free to see this all as a girl crazily rambling to herself, as that is what this is, and any moments of "insight" are purely accidental, I assure you.

So about that Dainn character (in the literal sense of the phrase). It has been over three years since this setting started, and what can we really say about him? Well we know from stories and images of him that he is the king of the caribou. That he wears an almost permanent frown on his face. That never seems excited or phased by anything, that he pushes the ideals of male superiority, and that he has a thing for sitting down (seriously, 90% of material about him have him flat on his ass). After all this time, and so much done in a universe that is essentially centered around him, this is all we know.

Well, this is all that the average person can glean from general observation at least. There are a few other things that one can decipher about Dainn if they look a little deeper, like the fact that he never personally trains his slaves, handing that job off to anyone else because he can't be arsed. Or that he seldom comes up with plans of action for himself, allowing his council to decide every action the caribou take, never questioning their judgement, even when the actions are silly, stupid, or against his own wants. We can see that sex doesn't really interest him, as he is just bored by the prospect of having two princesses as his personal sex slaves, and thus only seems to participate in the act because it is expected of him as a king. Still, this really isn't a lot of information for the guy to really gauge who he is.

The problem is, that as far as NCN was concerned, Dainn was never suppose to be a thing people focused on. Dainn, and to a further extent the caribou, were simply a plot device to allow FoE to have a "reason" to be, and that is fairly easy to deduce from the material produced by him and his group. If one looks at the images, one can quickly see that for being the big bads of the setting, the caribou have a surprising lack of presence in a kingdom they are suppose to dominate. Nine times out of ten, it is some corrupted male pony who is violating a mare, because the caribou where never meant to be a "thing". They weren't even present in the first images for the setting, as they were a concept invented after its conception.

As a result, the only time the caribou ever got any real attention is when someone else was particularly interested in them, or had some stake in the character. Vestri is a fleshed out character to some degree, because he was someone's personal OC created to prop up the ponisona they created for FoE. But aside from him, Dainn, maybe Ivangir and (to provide a personal example) Gunne, how many of you can even name one of the other caribou council members? How many of you could name someone besides Dainn?

The caribou are, in a sense, stage props. They only exist in FoE because NCN "needed" them to validate his setting, and weren't even his idea to begin with, as they were suggested to him by one of his artists. If he wanted to, he could have just made a setting where male mlp character treated female mlp characters as inferior for no real reason, and gotten the same results. He might have even gotten less hate for it too, as I don't see people like Whitekitten getting bitched at nearly as bad, but perhaps that is because I don't look at comments for him images with as much intensity as those for FoE.

Back to the point though, which is Dainn and his complete lack of character, and how that came about because the person who created him only saw him as a means to an end. It is sad that this happened, really. As much as it might seem otherwise, I like Dainn. I like his concept, and what he represents as a villain, flaws and all. I like that he's egotistical, stoic, and I even the misogynistic subtly racist aspects of his character because those traits are attractive in people who are suppose to be evil (which is a problem for him because in the eyes of his creator, he is not. That is a whole 'nother tangent though). He has the potential to be an incredibly complex and interesting character, but instead he is reduced to a masturbation tool that hardly sees any use.

Now there is nothing wrong with sexualizing a character. We in this fandom do it so often that we have easily recognizable nicknames for characters that go to the point of naming the sexual situations they find themselves in, or the sexualized forms they are depicted in. However, I would like to believe that we, as fans of MLP, enjoy sexualizing these characters because we enjoy their personalities or identify with them on some level. One cannot identify with Dainn in any way more than that they side with the ideals he represents, or identity him as anything more than "the leader of a bunch of misogynistic tyrants". Thus people either ignore him or, again, treat him as a prop, and usually that turns to stories where people just kill him off to get rid of an aspect of FoE they can't possibly enjoy, the caribou themselves. Funny how people can like the setting, all the bondage, slavery and sex, but simply don't want to deal with the caribou cause there is nothing to relate to with them. They aren't even enjoyable as villains, cause they hardly do anything, and when they do, they seem to do it poorly. It all just seems like a waste of a good idea to me.

So I decided the best way to fix this in the case of Dainn was to finally give him focus. To make him a character in a story that explored who he was, and how he'd react to things outside of his comfort zone. The answer seemed to be "poorly", but that is not a bad thing. It just part of his character, and it's not a bad thing to be angry, or depressed, or confused, or what have you when things go spiraling out of control, and I don't care who the fuck you are, you aren't always going to have things stacked in your favor, so these aspects will be even greater when something inevitably go wrong after a long time of getting everything you want unopposed. I find Dainn's reactions in this story to be very natural, and while I might not have expressed what I wanted him to feel as fluently as someone else might have, I still feel this story does more to flesh out Dainn as a person than has been done with him in the entirety of FoE's 3+ years.

Still, I don't really think it gives a good display of his backstory and how he came to be, as all the information is jumbled up and out of order. So, in a last attempt to make Dainn an actual character, here is my written backstory for him and all his accomplishments.

Dainn, The Caribou King:

While Dainn's exploits as a king are very well know, his youth were shrouded a bit more in mystery until his upper teens. He had simply appeared one day in the caribou capital, penniless, without anything to his name save for a strong sense of determination and self importance. Understanding that this alone would not allow his survival, he joined one of the local slaver groups, but found quickly that he was he often fell behind in his job when compared to others who had a lifetime of experience in the task when compared to him, because of a lack of said experience and a mild disability wherein his knees were weak, which led to him needing to periodically sit down. This led to him being discovered by a caribou named Sindri, who had taken note in him because of his complete lack of natural talent, and noticed that Dainn had interests in other matters that most caribou didn't, namely that he had a large interest in their runic magic beyond just the simple use of it.

Dainn wished to actually understand the runes, and how they worked they way they did. In an age where the average caribou didn't understand that a rune was in fact a written word with meaning, this interest was seen as important for a youth to have by Sindri, who was an older caribou general who served King Svarndagr directly. As such, Sindri introduced Dainn to Svarndagr, and expressed his desire to have Dainn trained by the king as one of his disciples.

Svarndagr agreed as a favor to Sindri, but soon found that he had no personal interest in Dainn himself. Dainn did enhance his abilities as a slaver under Svarndagr's tutelage, but his progression was much slower than that of his peers in that field. Many times Svarndagr wanted to be rid of Dainn, but Sindri kept insisting to give him time, to which Svarndagr would relent to as he had owed Sindri much over the course of their lifetimes, and this seemed like such a simple request.

Over time, Svarndagr secretly begun to resent Dainn, seeing Dainn's failures in "male matters" as a failure on his own part, that he then started to project onto others, eventually seeing all his students as failures undeserving of inheriting his throne. This lead to his eventual sexual use of Dainn, believing that if the stag couldn't do the tasks of a male, he would perform the tasks of a female. While sharing the bed of the most powerful male in the kingdom was seen by Dainn as an honor, he soon found that the king held nothing back, and it didn't take long for Dainn to find the act of sex as a generally unpleasant experience. This led to an eventual disassociation to it as a source of pleasure, even when he partnered with a female.

Despite all this though, Dainn never relented in his personal studies, and eventually became one of, if not the, most well read and intellectual caribou in the kingdom. This talent of his went unnoticed by Sarndagr, but was recognized by Sindri, who was amazed by his progress as a caribou scholar, which was a rare vocation in caribou society. As such, Sindri requested that Svarndagr allow Dainn to be in charge of a small brigade of military troops, assuming that Dainn's intellect would allow him to flawlessly guide them.

Past the point of attempting to dissuade Sindri's plans for Dainn, Svarndagr allowed the request, but personally hand picked the worst of his soldiers in every field to act under Dainn, hoping that it would help staunch the damage that he assumed Dainn would cause when given a position of power. Of these men were two who went by Vestri and Ivangir, who would eventually be part of Dainn's caribou council, and Gunne, who was considered cursed by his people.

Some time after that, Dainn stumbled upon the secrets of The Cycle, a terrible prophecy foretelling of a destruction that came about when a caribou king reached the penile of caribou power. Having seen signs within the king that correlated with this, Dainn felt he had only one choice, and gathered up as many of his most loyal and unquestioning followers to follow come with him offshore, in case The Cycle happened immediately. If nothing happened, then they would simply return and plan for the inevitability, but this was a precaution for now.

Knowing the king was too proud to believe the truth, Dainn requested several boats and supplies under the guise of an exploration mission to discover new lands to conquer. Svarndagr agreed, too tired to dispute it, while hoping that Dainn and his group of lackeys wouldn't come back, for whatever reason didn't matter to him. Before leaving though, Dainn asked Sindri to come along too, to which Sindri agreed.

As luck would happen, the night of their departure was met with the destruction of their homelands do to Svarndagr succumbing to The Cycle, causing an explosion so large that just the sight of it told all who witnessed it that the caribou nation was decimated. Having been correct in his assumption, Dainn was now left in charge of a group of what remained of the caribou, a small percentage of their once great nation, and thus guided them towards a land that he had read about in his studies. A land that the caribou had been banished from long ago. A land called "Equestria".

My god... that little back story actually makes Dainn out to be a somewhat interesting character, and gives him a reasonable set of flaws in the fact that his king utterly loathed him and saw him as "less than a man", while still showing that he is actually a capable person who has talents the caribou need, even if they don't appreciate them. Amazing how easily that can be done with just a little effort.

Anyways, I suppose that is all I want to say on Dainn. Thanks to all of you who actually read this, and I hope that it was entertaining for all of you. And here is hoping however Dainn is next depicted (as I know it's gonna happen) it will be in a better way than what we have gotten thus far.

Epilogue: Birth

Nothing. No sight. No sound. No scents. No tastes. No feelings. No sensations.

No concept of what these things even were, or memories on which to base such ideals off of. No experiences of happiness, or sorrow. No times of triumph or failure. No pain, or pleasure, or hunger. Just the ever present darkness, and the silence of the void.

One in such a state could do nothing but wait. Not even thought could take shape, as one who knows nothing can’t attempt to understand anything about the world around it. Thus the nameless entity did so, blissfully unaware of the passage of time, having no concept of that either, or previous sensations upon which to measure it by.

Nothing is forever within the bounds of eternity however, and this too applies to nothingness. Thus, the nameless entity inevitably felt it’s first sensation. It shot through the entity like a pulse, granting it the experience of feeling. It felt that it was surrounded by something aside from the void. Something thick, and heavy, without truly understanding what those two things were.

Along with this feeling of being completely covered came a feeling of warmth, which granted the entity another new sensation, emotion. It felt safe, protected, as if nothing could harm it so long as it stayed where it was. This wasn’t entirely true though, as over time another new sensation came, the emptiness and pain of hunger. This prompted the entity to move for the first time, twitching a bit in a desperate attempt to be rid of this feeling, without really understanding what it meant.

The movement itself did nothing to relieve the terrible feeling, but eventually it felt something enter into it, filling it’s core with a substance that removed the hunger, and once more brought peace. At that moment, it knew that something was watching over it, and once more believed that so long as it stayed where it was, it would be safe.

This cycle repeated itself numerous times, with each prompting of movement making the entity stronger, and as time went by the entity found the act of moving itself as pleasurable, having developed concepts for enjoyment and displeasure through the act of its feeding. These movements brought about another revelation, that of the borders of its universe. It had once believed its boundaries non-existent, that it was within an endless void, but now it found that if it pushed far enough there was something there that was keeping it in place. It didn’t matter though. It was not as if the entity had a concept of freedom or restraint, or a drive to be anywhere else but here, so it found contentment within the safety of this place.

Still, as time went on, this space began to become less and less, and while the entity didn’t mind that, it was the space itself that could no longer accommodate its presence. All at once, the entity felt the space contract around it, and as it did, the fluids that filled the void between the entity and the border evacuated the space through a breach it had been unaware of.

This sudden absence of warmth took away the notion of safety from the entity, and filled it with a new emotion: panic. It reflexively tried to struggle against what was going on, but another contraction began pushing it from the space it had called home for so long. For all the strength he had gained, this new force was infinitely stronger, and was violently pushing it along some path that had been just beyond his barrier. It pushed and pushed, and all the entity could do was submit to its will as it did.

For a being just coming into the concept of time, this felt like it was taking a long portion of its still fresh life, but when it finished, the entity found itself barraged by new sensations. The darkness that had surrounded and comforted for so long gave way to a blinding light that burned its eyes. A chill shrouded its body as air hit his wet form for the first time, sounds of voices hit ears that it hardly acknowledged it had. All culminated with the sensation of being hoisted up by it’s legs by some force gripping its ankles. It was all far too much for the entity’s simple mind to process.

Only the sudden sting of something sharply slapping against his rump snapped it out of its stupor, and forced the entity to let out its first scream, which in turn caused him to draw its first breath in this new world.

“Congratulations, Runa,” the entity heard, though not understanding what these sounds meant, “It’s a boy, and a healthy looking one at that.”

The sounds of heavy panting met the entity’s ears, and then another voice spoke, saying to the first, “I-i’m so happy *huff* mistress. *puff* Can I *pant* see him?”

“Just a moment, I want him to get a good look at me first. Imprinting and all.” the first voice said with a giggle.

“Imprinting?” the second asked.

“Nothing that a cow like yourself would understand, you worthless caribou.” The first one replied, “Well perhaps worthless is a bit too harsh. After all, you performed your role as an incubator quite well.”

“T-thank you mistress.”

The entity felt itself being rotated, still suspended by its ankles, made to face a specific direction as something else gripped his head. At first he saw nothing but the light, but that eventually died down, and before him was the upside-down visage of a massive, shimmering, purple creature with long, flowing blue hair, and an odd stump-like protrusion coming from it’s forehead.

The creature, the first thing the entity ever truly saw, bore a wickedly devious grin, one that even one such as the entity, in all its innocence, could tell was full of malevolence and ill intent. Without so much of a notion of the concept, the entity knew it was looking into the face of evil. Yet as the first thing he gazed upon, he could only acknowledge this creature as his benefactor, and thus had very conflicted feelings of what to make of his new existence. It was enough to cause the entity to start crying once more, but out of emotional discomfort instead of physical pain.

“Aww, it’s ok.” The creature said, bringing the entity into a cradle, “Mama Schorl is going to take good care of you from now on, my little Dvalinn.”

Author's Note

Thank to all of you for reading my story. It took quite some time to make, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing so. After this, I am planning to hold off on FoE related content for a while and get back to my original series, Equestria Trainers' Society.

Before that though, I do want to make a bit of a one chapter story featuring my newest OC creation. So stay tuned, and lookout for my next story starring Dvalinn, son of Dainn :rainbowwild: . Until then, seeya later!