Author's Note
I want to warn everyone, when you get to the red text, it's going to get very graphic in violence, I hope you ain't eating anything. Also, this is a replacement for Don't Give In, enjoy.
A Truthful Conversation
“Checkmate.” I stated as I cornered Princess Luna’s queen.
The baffled look of surprise that plastered itself on her face was priceless, “H-h-how did you beat me?” She stuttered.
I chuckled, “Because, you sacrificed your knights in order to keep me from the queen.” I stated, “And as you can see, I won.” I added.
She still scouts the board for any kind of flaws, but all she saw was 4 checker pieces, one black piece, Luna’s queen, and 3 red pieces cornering that queen. After a minute of observation, her face lights up and she looks at me before smiling, “You’re good.” She complimented.
I smiled because I knew what she meant, but decided to play the idiot card, “What do you mean?” I asked.
She caught my drift and chuckled before using her magic to place the checker pieces to where they were when we started and played out the game as we had played over the 10 minutes. But this time she made moves that if I had made them, I would have beaten her. She did this for about 3 minutes, before stopping to where we originally ended. She then looks at me, “You had so many opportunities to finish the game.” She states, “So why didn’t you take them?” She questions.
I smiled, “Where’s the fun in that?” I answered her question with my own, “If I ended the game way earlier, than this night would have been boring as hell.” I stated.
She nods, “But I’ve noticed you’ve been doing this for the past week or so.” She recalled, “It’s like you throw away the game, but then you jump me near the end when it’s near impossible to counter.” She states.
I nodded, “It’s an integral of any plan to lure your enemy into a false sense of security.” I explained, “And no better way to do that then to act like you threw away the game.” I added.
She nods, “That is a sound strategy, but no matter how many times we play, you always seem to find a new way to outsmart me.” She started, “You even threw away your queen just to win!” She exclaimed.
I nodded, “There’s more than one way to fool your opponent, Princess.” I replied.
She smiles at me, “Who taught you how to play checkers?” She asked.
I looked at the board rather than her and carefully chose my words, “My dad used to teach me, ever since I was 4, he taught me the importance of strategy and taught me while we played checkers.” I explained, “And I swear to you, out of the thousands of games, I’ve never beat him, not once.” I admitted.
She nods, “Where’s your father now?” She questioned.
My expression drops as the dark memory of my father’s departure, Luna senses my despair at the mentioning of the topic, “You don’t have to tell me if it’s too personal.” She assured.
I contemplated on whether I should tell her or not, on one hand, telling her would mean resurfacing that horrible memory, but on the other hand, sharing this memory could help, because that’s how you get rid of your problems, right? You tell others.
I eventually sided with the the latter, I sighed and collected my thoughts before responding, “My family wasn’t wealthy but we weren’t poor either, we were right in the middle.” I started.
[Flashback, 16 years ago]
We had just enough money to provide for a family mostly because almost everypony had some type of job, my dad was a carpenter, my mom was a caterer, and me and my sister worked at a filthy motel downtown. Whenever we didn’t busy our time with playing checkers, we were relentlessly working our asses off. Sometimes we even came back home with a few scars and bruises from abusive clients, it wasn’t nice.
But no matter how bad it got, I just kept saying ‘As long as it got the job done, then it’ll be okay’, I made a habit of saying it in my head so many times that I eventually started to mumble it to myself, even when others were around.
And one day, my dad was fired from his job for injuring a fellow coworker, he became a terribly abusive and drunken father and husband. And since one of us lost a job, it was up to us to pick up his slack, and one of us eventually had to get another job, and that one was me. Since my mom had to stay home and take care of my dad so he won’t do anything stupid, and my sister stayed to help her, I was the only one they could rely on.
So I got a job as a surgeon, yeah, I know, not the best job to give to a 10 year old, but we were desperate, what were we supposed to do?
Now, what a lot of people would be led to believe is that Equastria is a utopia of friendship and hardly any crimes are committed, but that couldn’t be far from the truth, I myself has dealt with many surgeries, ranging from a fractured ribs to taking a bullet out of somepony’s head. I even had to do a metal breast implant on my own mother after being shot in the chest with a bullet.
And as a result of this second job, I would come home late to see my dad relentlessly beating my mom and sister, we wanted to alert the authorities, but my dad was a strategist, probably the smartest in all of Baltimare, so there was no way he wouldn't convince the authorities that he wasn’t the source of the abuse, so we had to endure the abuse for a while.
Then the unthinkable happens; one night I returned home from a particularly scaring brain surgery, only to see my father stabbing my mom in the neck with a kitchen knife.
My knees felt uneasy and I wanted nothing but to throw up, I couldn’t believe it, my father killing my mother, my gut twist itself into a knot when I laid my eyes on my older sisters body who was brutally mutilated, it didn’t even look like my sister.
After killing my mom, he turns to me with a face that read rage all over, he then starts to approach me, and I started backing up. He continues to approach me before saying a line that still gives me chills to this day, “You’re the last one, the last disease in my life, once I end your life, I’ll be free.” Was the only thing that left his mouth before he started walking faster.
I don’t know why, but despite the situation, I wanted to doubt that my father was going to kill me, and I voiced that doubt, “Dad, it doesn’t have to be like this, you don’t have to kill me, I won’t tell the cops and we can fix this!” I tried to reason with a pony that couldn’t be reasoned with.
He growls and starts running at me, “Just die like a good fucking little girl!!” He shouted and started swinging his knife at me.
I ran away and dodged all his attacks, he only got a few of them in, including one on my shirt, my arm, and my leg, I was bleeding a little bit, but nothing was going to force me to fight.
Or that’s what I wished for.
With one swing, he made a gash across my face, I held my face as it was bleeding, still shocked. My dad was in front of me now and raised his knife, “TIME TO DIE, FUCKING DISEASE!!!!!” He bellowed.
And what happened next still confuses me, it was like all my rage and anger poured out of me and I was lost in a killer instinct.
Dad makes one swing at my head, I blocked the blow by sacrificing my own hand, allowing the knife to penetrate my hand and blood was spilled all over our clothes and our faces. He was surprised and I took this opportunity to do the worst thing I’ve ever done; I reached my hand in between his legs and grab his genitals. And in one violent yank, I tear his genitals off along with some pants.
He lets go of the knife and holds his nonexistent penis that was bleeding profusely. I drop the genitals and take the knife out my hand and began to violently butcher my dad, I was mindlessly slashing and cutting off anything I came into contact with, I even began to chop his arm off.
His screams of pain and begging for this torture to stop, but I didn’t comply. I eventually ended the torture by stabbing him in the neck with the knife, but I didn’t stop there, I took out the knife, then proceeded to dig my hands in his throat and tear his jugular vein, killing him instantly.
I was a mess of blood and cuts, sitting next to a corpse of my father that was barely recognizable, but worst of all, I had no family left.
[Present time]
“After I killed my fatass father, I patched myself up and left my home.” I concluded, “It took the authorities 16 years to find me.” I added.
Luna nods, “But we both no why you’re under my watch.” She started, “You tried to illegally join the Royal Guard.” She states my crime.
I simply nodded, “I’m almost inclined to have you killed, joining the Royal Guard is no joke Cheerilee, especially when you try to join illegally.” She continued, “We both know that Equastria’s government is slowly degrading, that’s why entering the Royal Guard illegally is a serious crime, if we have the wrong ponies entering the Royal Guard, it can spell the end of Equastria’s government.” She adds, “You know that right?” She asked.
I nodded again, “But I’m also intrigued as to why you did it.” She starts, “And I’m willing to give you a spot on the guard; just answer one question.” She continued, “And if you give me a half-assed answer, I’ll kill you myself.” She warned.
I swallowed my spit, I was nervous about the question and wanted to say it'll be alright, I'll just stay under probation, but something told me that I had to answer. So I took a very deep breath and replied, "What is the question?" I questioned.
She nods, "What was your reasoning for trying to enroll in the Royal Guard illegally?" She asked.
I took my time to swallow my spit and take a deep needed sigh, I had to choose the right words or I could die. I took another deep breath, collecting my thoughts, and finally forming the response, "My reason was..."
