the forgotten one

Chapters

Discovery
Contact
Conversation
A side story
Confusion
Solutions
hovel
Cutiemark
Convoy
Changelings on a Train
Dreams
Vanity (side story)
Nurse Ponies (side story)
Spike (side story)

Discovery

The jungle was dark and humid, its sweltering conditions quite alien for the princess of friendship, her body not yet acclimatised, in the few short days she had been exposed to it. The journey had been both tiring and lonely, but her end goal was in sight, the citadel city of Naroc its obsidian towers emerging through the trees on the horizon like dark skeletal fingers reaching for the sky.

Pausing for a moment to wipe the pooling sweat from her forehead, Twilight took a moment to catch her breath, the end goal was in sight there was no need for her to overexert herself. In this small moment of respite Twilight thought of her friends, and why they couldn't accompany her on this expedition, there was only one amulet after all.

As she pondered this thought, her hoof rose to touch the cold hunk of metal that hang from her neck on a length of multicoloured twine, the strange alloy taking the shape of a lion's head its fangs bared in anger. All in all, it was a pretty grotesque item, reminding Twilight of the gargoyles that festooned the temple of the sun in Canterlot, their leering faces looking over the citizens of Equestria from their precarious perch as silent vigils.

Though the item was visually unappealing its value was immeasurable, the crude item projected an aurora that induces the effect of kinship to all animals upon the wearer. This projection was the only way she had made it this far, as this particular jungle was well known for its viscous predators, so much in fact, that its official name is the slaughter forest. Without this arcane magic she would surely have been torn apart, or tucked away in the stomach of some unspeakable horror lurking in the under-story.

Giving the amulet one more firm tap to make sure it was still there Twilight set off on the last leg of her journey, the road miraculously clear for not being maintained for at least a millennia, some far reaching defoliant spell holding true as lasting testament to a long dead civic worker. The cobbled road acting more like a tunnel as the thick trees of the Forrest attempt to engulf it from all sides, their immense branches blocking most of the light making it feel like late evening even though it was just before midday.

As she walked her mind wandered onto the lost city as she daydreamed about what she might find there. She had read the numerous stories of what happened here, all the myths, and conjecture of authors writing about something that happened centuries before their births. Supposedly it had been a grand city of unicorns, their magic allowing them to progress faster than other equine civilisations, but in their hubris, they unleashed something evil, the exact specifics were not clear some say monster’s, others a weapon of unimaginable power. It didn't matter what it was, as now the city was nothing but dust and echoes, a jewel of civilisation lost to the sands of time to be relegated to the tomes of history.

It was in one of these old tomes that Sunburst had found a map to the lost city, this knowledge had been thought lost for over a thousand years, and mention of an object of immense magical power was rife throughout the leather-bound book, the old pages written on the skins of flayed criminals giving the dregs of society some purpose for their miserable existence, a remnant of a darker time in Equestrian history, when it was believed that pony hide contained magical property's.

Upon hearing about this magical item princess Celestia was quick to approve a royal expedition, giving twilight access to any equipment she might need to acquire the weapon in the armoury of the royal princesses, her knowledge of old Ponish, and previous experience in high magic made her the obvious choice, especially as starburst the only other candidate was required at the crystal empires court to keep Flurryheart in check. Twilight just wished her friends could be here to see this major discovery come to fruition, even though she knew that only Starlight would really appreciate what was possibly going to be uncovered.

With her mind lost in these thoughts, Twilight ended up walking straight into a stone pillar, in her daydreamed state the large mass of stone had snuck up on her, and she had ploughed straight into it, the sudden impact leaving her sprawled out on the ground, and snapping her back to reality. Rising to her feet, and rubbing her suddenly sore muzzle, she found herself staring at a work of ancient art. The crysti-glass structure must have been two hundred feet all, its entire surface engraved with images telling the story of some significant military victory, the name of which like the rest of the city long since lost.

Glancing around the girth of the monolith, Twilight saw an immense gateway built into the outer city wall, this obelisk was clearly a show of either affluence, or power designed to induce awe in pony's when they first near the city, and she was sure there would be many more such architectural feats as she went further into the city.

At this point the anticipation was too much for the mare, and she broke out into a steady gallop to reach the gatehouse, the large entrance like the dark maw of a massive beast. The tongue a sturdy stone staircase, and the teeth in the form of marble pillars, each one a clean white in stark contrast to the night like blackness of the obsidian that composed the rest of the structure.

Reaching the steps, she began the climb to the top, the incline was shallow, so though there were a good thousand steps it was not tiring to climb them. With her pace, in short order Twilight reached the entrance, upon which she found the interior was pitch black, the obsidian absorbing any sunlight that hit it preventing twilight from seeing more than a few feet into the darkness.

Concentrating for a moment twilight illuminated her little glow stick, her horn casting a purple sheen, deep into the cavernous interior of the gatehouse. The room was larger than any stadium she had ever seen, and her light failed to reach either side of the room. The glass like nature of the stone making the floor look as if it was made of water, the light refracting across it almost like the moon over the sea.

Taking a deep breath Twilight crossed the precipice, each of her steps echoing across the hall, the room designed to handle the foot traffic of hundreds of ponies at any given time deader than a crypt. There was just something naturally unnerving about a public building being devoid of people, and the silence was putting Twilight on edge as the darkness felt like it was ready to swallow the princess, almost as if its tendrils were waiting for her concentration to flounder so it could devour her.

About what Twilight felt was half way across the room, she came across a raised plinth, on close inspection it had raised lettering engraved on it, and a large green gem mounted centrally on a stand. Squinting her eyes, she could make out 2 words in old Ponish "meddyliwch ysgafn", as if by clockwork the simple fact of her reading it caused the entire room to illuminate.

All across the cavernous room lamps sprang to life, but instead of flames they were glowing geodes, the varied minerals in their compositions giving the room a myriad of colours, like rainbows in the dark. For a moment the sudden change in brightness blinded Twilight, but as her eyes adjusted she was met with the beauty of the interior, its whole majesty now visible.

All across the walls were fresco's and reliefs, the topics covered varying wildly from battles to scientific discovery, each moment captured in paint or stone by a long gone master. in addition to this the main path was flanked by two lines of bronze busts, each stood like soldiers' at attention ready to welcome visitors to the city, Twilight recognised a few of the individuals portrayed from old story's, but most were unknown to her.

The whole room took another level of ambience when Twilight looked up, the ceiling had a magic vale projecting a calm night-sky overhead, thinking of the sun the room suddenly shifted to daytime, the lamps dimming as a false sun rose in the sky. Like a child with a new toy Twilight cycled the day, night cycle a few times, giggling to herself as she imagined this was what it felt like when Celestia or Luna did it.

After giving the device a good once over, Twilight continued her journey across the gargantuan hall, its grand architecture dwarfing the tiny pony like a house might an ant. Now exposed to sunlight the true dimension of the hall was made apparent, it must have been a mile long, and about 200 meters high the entire length decked out with the previously mentioned art forms. The grandness of the room clearly showing the arrogance of its creators as no forms of defence could be seen almost as if they didn't believe anyone would be stupid enough to attack such a grand city.

The rest of the walk occurred as a diddling stroll as Twilight gawked at the scenery, fully taking in the sights of just the first room of this city, she could barely imagine what would follow suit once she actually entered it. Reaching the end of the room, she found a series of small gates interspersed with large one’s for what she assumed were carts and other commerce. Though different in size they were all uniform in their construction, using the same stone though Twilight could not identify. in the centre of each door was a large glyph, more than likely the seal of this city if it was anything like the city of Canterlot. The symbol was flanked by two roaring manticores well a dragon flew overhead, these beasts clearly chosen as herald bearers due to their ferocity.

Using her horn, she attempted to open the door nearest to her, but no matter how hard she concentrated it failed to budge. Taking a moment to collect herself, her eyes wandered, and caught the shining of glazed bronze. Mounted to the archway to the side of the door was a large bronze plaque, the raised lettering clearly in old Ponish, and was centred around a small hole no larger than a bit.

Running her hoof over the words, she attempted to read the hard-worn lump of metal, the aeons of exposure to the humid air causing it to corrode quite severely leaving just the faint outlines of words on its enamel surface.

"i agor drws mewnosod corn. bydd ysbïwyr yn cael eu gweithredu ar unwaith"

Upon reading this twilight realised that the door ahead acted as some form of automated customs, it must have some limited capacity to read minds to prevent those with evil intent from entering. Confident in the benevolence of her quest Twilight forcefully rammed her horn into the receptacle, to which she was rewarded with a loud click, as a metal ring locked around her horn.

"This is not so bad" she said aloud to herself, before immediately regretting her choice of words.

In moments a burning sensation travelled down her horn, the pain clearly psychic in nature and not physical. The discomfort travelled slowly across her horn before entering her head where it intensified, the spell scanning her mind for the seeds of corruption to mewling protest from the princess. For a moment the stinging pain peaked, and as fast as it had entered it stopped.

With a familiar click the restraint came free, and twilight fell to the floor panting, the strain of that psychic attack giving her a sharp headache. after a few moments lying on the floor with nothing but silence, twilight thought the door might have found her unworthy, then a loud positive sounding bing rang out, followed shortly thereafter by a green light flickering on over the door. this was heralded by a garbled voice beginning to emanate from the light, clearly some form of automated welcome that hadn't played in over a thousand years.

"croeso i'r ddinas, parchwch y gyfraith chael diwrnod braf"

Twilight had no idea what the voice had said, but the fact she wasn't dead as well as the door in-front of her slowly opening told her that she had passed the security check. Wiping some dust her collapse had gained her from her breast, she took a deep breath, and passed the thresh-hold finally entering the lost city.

What she found was unexpected, the main plaza was untouched by time, the streets well-kept and the hedges pruned. If she didn't know she had just entered a lost city it would have been just like any other city in Equestria, minus of course all the signage being in a dead language.

the open plaza was made entirely of white marble, all carved as intricately as the obsidian in the gate-room clearly showing the skills of the local craftsmen. In the centre bordered with hedges was a large reflection pool its surface covered by water lily's as dragonfly's danced over its surface, well in the distance the main citadel protruded from the centre of the city scraping the sky.

After taking in the picturesque view Twilight concluded that the most logical location for the weapon to be held was the central building. with this in-mind she decided to follow the main street directly to her objective, and hopefully find out what had happened here so long ago.

The walk was long, but Twilight was like a child in a museum, every new sight surpassing the last keeping her in constant awe. there were many to be seen from main street in the distance, giant floating glass sphere holding unknown wonders, mushrooms as tall as skyscrapers windows clearly carved into them hinting at homes within.

taking a moment from her sightseeing Twilight stopped before a public water-fountain the red marble public amenity carved into the shape of a siren, its mouth spewing water forth like a sweet song into the peaceful trough below. Parched Twilight plunged her head into the cool water in the most uncouth manner, holding her head under water for a moment as she drank her fill, eyes closed to just feel the coolness of the water across her sensitive snout, the frigid water giving a clammy feeling that in the week of hot jungle was a sweet reprieve.

sticking her head in deeper to get more of the cool moisture on her face Twilight felt her nose press against a smooth ribbed object. Curiously opening her eyes Twilight found a morbid discovery, at the bottom of the fountain was a pony skeleton complete minus the head.

Seeing this Twilight let out a scream, the air in her lungs venting causing the water to bubble uncontrollably before she pulled her head from the no longer calm surface. Backing away from the fountain Twilight felt her pulse hammering in her ears, the magic of the city now gone with the realisation she might find more bodies.

Attempting to clear her mind she continued walking to the main citadel, her thoughts focusing only on getting there, and not thinking about how a body ended up in a fountain, and the morbid fact she had drank corpse water. This would prove to be difficult as the further into the city she walked the more skeletons she found, the macabre remains strewn across the road.

Each skeleton lay were they fell, as if the whole city had suddenly screamed out and dropped dead, shop keepers at their counters, guards at their posts, at one point Twilight even saw a foal carriage a mares skeleton collapsed at the handlebar, for a moment morbid curiosity took over but she reeled it back, and didn't look within the carriage continuing her journey past the sun bleached bones at a now slightly faster pace, eager to leave this bone-way behind.

As the amount of dead increase within this city turned mausoleum, Twilight could not help but observe that all the skeletons were missing their skulls, the craniums missing but the occasional tooth lay scattered amongst the corpses adding another edge to the mystery.

After a while the mental strain of so much death was beginning to weigh heavily on Twilight's mind, thankfully she wouldn't have to worry about it much longer as the entrance of the citadel was in sight. it lay on the other side of a large bridge, the imposing building clearly built on a lake island to improve its defensibility, the wide bridge offering the only way on or off the island.

Suddenly feeling very tired Twilight checked the clock in her saddle bag, she was alarmed to find it had been over 15 hours since she had entered the city, this came as a great surprise as the sun had not moved in the sky, and it had felt like it had only been an hour or two at most. Holding the instrument to her ear to check if it was ticking she was rewarded by the monotonous tone of a well-oiled machine, the instrument was working fine it was the city that was out of whack.

Looking around for some form of shelter to set up camp, twilight recognised the words on a sign, their presence signalling a covered garden. upon entering Twilight was met with the most beautiful rose garden she had ever seen, the striking colours combined with well-kept beds striking the perfect balance of beauty, style and maintenance, something rarity would have adored to see.

thinking of her friend twilight retrieved the camera from her saddle bag, she only had a few plates, but she felt this out be the best use for one of them, as if she had been liberal with her limited supply she would have used them all at the front gate.

As she focused the camera something shiny in her peripheral vision caught her eye, as she turned she saw a side door to her left. There was a golden sign over the door which was what had gotten her attention, it read "gwyrdd cyhoeddus", public green in a rough translation.

Quickly snapping her picture for rarity, twilight decided it would be worth checking out as it would help her wind down after the death march she had experienced getting here. entering the archway she was immediately proven wrong, the whole green was a grave yard.

The entire central green was lined with cairns, the stones well-kept covering the bodies below. At the head of each pile was a weapon standing erect as silent vigil for the dead, at a quick glance twilight recognised them as Equestrian made, mostly spears but a few swords, and axes mixed in amongst them. there must have been 40 or so graves each one laid out in the same militaristic manner.

This deeply surprised twilight, as the city was lost, so how in Celestia's name did members of the Equestrian militia end up out here, let alone die. As if to herald answers she heard crass yelling coming from the other end of the green, the words obscured by the distance but by their tone clearly enraged.

Staring at the source of the noise a feral looking earth pony emerged from a dark doorway in-front of her. the savage brandishing a spear of the same make as the ones marking the graves, albeit this one much cleaner and maintained.

"Peidiwch â symud fy mod i'n dod i ben", he yelled the words somewhat garbled as if not used to speaking.

As he drew near, he suddenly screamed in what twilight could only comprehend as anger, then lowering his spear charged.

Contact

For a moment Twilight's mind failed to process what was happening, her senses dulled by the long journey, but as her mind was finding a gear, the beast of a pony was closing fast, clearly set on causing her harm, the extent of which she didn't want to think about.

"STOP", she yelled her voice coming out as weak and uncommanding, a tone unfitting for a princess.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you", she continued, fear creeping into her voice as she tried to stop this needless aggression.

She didn't get another opportunity to try and talk it out, as the moment she finished the sentence the pony was upon her, with her adrenal gland kicking in her senses heightened, ready for the fight or flight response to take over, but just before she broke and ran, the pony skidded to a halt.

"Peidiwch â symud tywysoges", growled the pony, brandishing his spear in a threatening motion conveying his order.

From this point-blank range, she could finally get a good look at him, the savage clearly an earth pony, fur laced with mud concealing its true colour, this tied into his matted brown mane made Twilight think of the old derogative unicorns used to give folks like this, mud ponies a phrase not uttered in polite company, but this wasn't polite company.

"Beth yw hyn", he grunted, tapping her amulet with his spear tip, causing Twilight to flinch.

In a fluid motion, he twisted the tip snagging the twine, and in a sharp yank pulled it free from her neck, leaving the magical object hooked on the end of the implement.

"Hud dychrynllyd", he mumbled before tossing the lump of metal into the myriad of leather pouches that festooned his body, the contents probably as foul as his exterior. One pocket was unusually large and shaped like a cylinder, Twilight took notice of it, as every couple of moments he would tap it to make sure it was still there, sort of like a homeless pony and their knapsack.

it was around this time two other observations became apparent, firstly this pony stank, from a distance it hadn't been noticeable, but now looking him in the face, the pungent odour of crotch marinated in sweat was apparent, its foul stench stinging Twilight's delicate civilised nose.

The other thing was the sounds of chinking metal, the source of which seemed to be the collection of engraved metal disks hanging around his neck, at first they seemed harmless enough, but as Twilight focused on them she noticed a green unicorn horn hanging amongst them, like some grim wind chime.

"Nawr eich bod chi'n mynd i agor y drws, ac yr ydym am adael", he barked, pointing his spear towards the exit energetically, his voice staying low and gravelly.

"I am sorry I cannot understand you", said Twilight in the most cordial voice she could muster, the response clearly angering the primitive.

"rhaid inni adael, mae'r lle hwn yn sâl" he snapped, clearly wanting to get moving, again gesturing to the door, only to be met with Twilight standing resolute like a statue.

"symud"

It was at this point it finally clicked what language this tribal was talking in, a heavily guttural version of old Ponish. As she opened her mouth to try and talk, she was shoved, the barbarian tapping her forelegs with the kilt of his spear, clearly wanting to get this train moving.

"Hey" yelped Twilight, who growing tired of this farce, illuminating her horn with magical energy in a flair of anger. Instead of startling the native as he had hoped, she was met with a spear tip heading straight for her heart.

In that split-second moment instincts kicked in, Twilight teleported a few feet to the left, emerging from the magical flash to see a spear firmly thrust, where moments ago her body cavity had been.

looking in shock upon her attempted murderer, they locked eyes for a few seconds of awkward eye-contact, both standing still and silent waiting to see the others move, before Twilight broke the stalemate by breaking away into a run. The Adrenalin taking over, with the flight response wanting to put a good distance between her and this feral tribal.

Twilight took off into a rapid gallop, barrelling through the rose bushes, their thorns nicking her skin under her fur, like little needles nipping at her flesh, some drawing blood which trickled slowly down her front.

Ignoring the stinging across the front of her legs and chest, she found her way back on to the main street, glancing left and right, she didn't have much time to ponder her choices.

The hammering of hooves on cobble stone was fast approaching behind her, the assailant known, and quite clearly set on catching her.

Unable to decide her instincts took over, swinging right she headed straight toward the citadel, some primitive part of her mind thinking she could find shelter in its imposing form.

Glancing back, she saw the bearded menace emerge from the doorway, his filthy mane now matted with fresh sweat.

For a moment he couldn't see Twilight, but like an eagle survey a field for a mouse, he quickly located her fleeing purple flanks, the firm glutes bobbing as she broke away.

"Aros", he yelled out one last time, before giving up, and tossing his spear to the ground, before giving it a solid kick, clearly cursing himself that he had let her escape, now fully distracted in taking his rage out on his trusty weapon.

She had done it, thought Twilight, her mind now jubilant as she saw the brute give up, if only she had kept her eyes on the road ahead.

Feeling one of her hooves snag on a lose cobblestone, she fell forward, head impacting with the hard ground, her teeth cracked, she could taste her own blood, her clenching teeth catching some blood vessels in her mouth, basting her tongue in its coppery flavour as they exploded like fireworks.

This pain was just the start, as she continued to flip over several times, her body impacting with wet thuds, as she lost momentum, her tumbling movements became even more uncontrolled, as she careened to the right and hit the guard rail, and with a crunch feeling something in her chest give. It was there she came to a stop, hanging precariously for a second before somersaulting over the railing face first.

Hitting the cold water, Twilight felt her body sink as the frigid waters enveloped her, the air in her lungs pouring out of her winded lungs, her body unable to hang on to her precious breath, as it flooded from her throat out into the deep blue as turbulent bubbles.

In the fluid embrace of the water Twilight began to panic, she had read drowning was peaceful, but the stinging of the seemingly arctic water on her sensitive respiratory tract, was sending a physical shiver down her spine as she went into shock, all the while she had to just sit there and take it, it wasn't peaceful just silent, as internally she was screaming since the water had first touched her lungs.

As she sank, slowly her decent began speeding up, as the buoyant air in her lungs was replaced with water, she began to lose hope of survival, leaving her alone with only her racing mind as company, her body not listening to orders. Her mind going over all the horrible possibility's before darkness came to take her from the waking world, and slip into the embrace of death like every pony else in this Celestia-forsaken city.

After a few moments of this uncontrolled descent her mind going of like a sparkler, Twilight accepted her fate, she was going to die, her friends would never know what happened to her, there would be no grave, nothing more than some sort of memorial plaque on the Canterlot castle grounds, as there would be no body to bury.

Helplessly glancing at the slowly dimming sun, its bright rays not penetrating the deeps water, in the fading streaks she could see the last small bubble escaping her nostrils, the pockets of air quickly rising to the surface to escape this doomed vessel, and as her mind starved its self of oxygen, she saw darkness creeping in to her peripheral vision before slowly covering her eyes in nothing but the black as her heart slowed.

just as she felt her vision clouding over a spongy sensation met her hooves, even in her oxygen deprived state, she realised it was the alluvial bottom of the lake. This sudden stimulus giving her something to focus on, and jolting her limbs back into functioning, like an engine restarting.

thrashing about for a moment, she restarted her motor skills, and began to propel herself as fast as possible towards the surface, it was hard with her body now water laden wanting to sink, but somehow, she found the strength to swim the two or three meters to break the surface, not like a magnificent dolphin, but with all the class of a walrus trying to walk.

As her head breached the surface the first thing she did was vomit, the water pouring from her lungs with a foamy mucus, in a chorus of gagging coughs, as the fluid was rejected by her body, the slightly red tinged fluid dispersing back into the clear water like nothing had happened.

Doggy paddling rapidly to shore, hacking the whole way, Twilight beached herself, continuing to bring up waves of the water, as her lungs attempted to dredge the normally life-giving fluid from her submerged airbags. After about a minute of just spewing water, her diaphragm spasming the whole while, she felt her chest become lighter as the water was draining out of her.

After Twilight felt most of the fluid had left, she for some reason continued to cough with shallow breath's in between. with a sickly sigh of relief at surviving she rolled on her back ready to pass out, it was at this moment she then noticed a sharp pain in her chest, for her medical mind it was clear some of her ribs had cracked in the fall, and now the shock was wearing off she had begun to feel the stinging sensation the bruised area was radiating.

Coughing again she felt something in her stomach shift, suddenly feeling very green, she rolled on to her side and projectile vomited up her last meal, too weak to move she let the remains of her breakfast cascade down her front, and as usually it was filled with what looked like carrots, even though she did not remember eating any.

At this moment she just felt like dying, feeling her bladder loosen, she felt her liquid gold warming her inner thigh, before draining down her legs back towards the lake, at first the warm sensation was somewhat pleasant, but I quickly became cold and distasteful.

Feeling her bowels began to open, Twilight clenched her anus tight, she had also read that a pony shit themselves just before they died, and though she was in bad shape she didn't feel like dying yet. after a few minutes passed the urge to shit left, her body clearly stabilising after the traumatic experience it had just been through. Though feeling less like death had warmed up, Twilight still couldn't move the pain in her chest causing her to winch in pain every time she attempted to get back on her hooves, forcing her back into the trembling recovery position she found herself in.

laying there, marinated in her own filth, all Twilight could do was focus on the pain, as right now it was the only thing that was real. Trying hard to not black out she rolled back on to her belly, this sudden pressure sending waves of pain across her chest to her flanks, the nerves clearly screaming in protest against any movement.

Straining for a moment, Twilight tried to concentrate on her first aid training, she had done in her spare time, knowing Rainbow dash it had come in handy many times before. after a few tenuous moments her horn lit up, and she began fondling around with her magic, after a bit of blind feeling she seized a pretty gammy branch, wiping most of the mud off on her foreleg, she inserted it sideways into her mouth, biting down hard.

With this tooth protection in place, she began to crawl, her belly already slick with vomit, was quickly mixed with muddy skid-marks, the brown caking her belly fur, concealing the purple under a grimy mess. Soon after starting this journey Twilight realised that she was crawling through black mud, this unoxygenated mud reeked to high heaven, the remnants of rotting biological material failing to traditionally degrade, making the mud she was wallowing in stink like a septic tank, ripe with decade old horse apples.

After what felt like hours, Twilight reached the edge of the mud beach, the distance of less than 15 feet feeling like a mile.

But instead of finding some level of reprieve, she was met with the thick undergrowth that bordered the lake, the deluge of vines forming an impassable barrier for her in this weakened state.

Groaning through her wooden gag, Twilight began to crawl perpendicular to the lake, hoping to find a break in the undergrowth she could slip through, lest she pass out and be savaged by vultures in a helpless state, the foul creatures already circling above in anticipation for the meal to come.

glancing around, mewling in pain Twilight spotted the arched bridge that she had fallen from, in her haste not to drown she had in-fact ended up about one hundred metres from where she had first taken the plunge, her panicked mind causing her to swim to the first bit of shore she had seen and not the closest.

After a period of time Twilight couldn't recall, the nagging pain getting worse as she continued her death crawl, the pain coursing to the beat of her heart now and not just the exertion of moving, she finally reached the shore-side arch of the bridge. The overpasses large arch forming a shaded grotto, the far end blocked by what looked like a large tree stump, but its damp stone offering protection from the beating rays of the sun, and a reprieve from the moving that was causing her so much suffering.

As Twilight recollected her thoughts, she glanced down at her body, her purple fur was unrecognisable, buried under a mixture of blacks and browns, the mud now hard and desiccating, making her appear almost like she was made of a dirty clay.

Spitting the stick out, Twilight began to slowly roll onto her back, her body now exhausted, was in no condition to argue and quickly buckled like a faulty suspension bridge, the regal princess face planting the soft sediment. Cursing herself, and trying to spit some of the foul soil that had entered her mouth out, much to her disgust. as she was trying to clean her mouth of the unpalatable taste. As she was doing this she began to hear movement, and she heard something calling.

RIBBIT

What was that, speculated Twilight, the sound both alien and familiar at the same time.

RIBBIT

Again, the sound rang out, this time with much more resonance, the beast making it clearly growing more active. It was during these rumblings that Twilight saw the tree stump begun to move.

With a series of wet squelching sounds, the largest frog Twilight had ever seen emerged from the slick black mud, the beasts skin gnarled like bark, runny mud flowing down the cracks as it emerged from its mud nest. Initially the Goliath amphibians back was facing Twilight, but with a few shuffles the beasts piercing amber eyes met Twilight's trembling body, the gems cutting through her like a knife through butter.

Yet again, the frog called, its throat sack glowing with a crimson aura as the reverberating rattled through Twilight's bones, this defining morphological feature allowing Twilight to identify the species of amphibian, and immediately regretting it. it was a gulper frog, and a massive one at that. Twilight remembered arguing about this species with Starlight, as she believed it was capable of swallowing pony's whole, were as Twilight adamantly disagreed. Now seeing this gigantic specimen, her student’s hypothesis seemed entirely possible, thankfully she wouldn't have to experience it due to her magic amulet.

It was at this moment Twilight realised the tribal had taken her protection charm, its comforting weight now missing from her neck only replaced with a growing sense of dread, as this predatory frog looked awful hungry.

"Nice frog" blubbered Twilight, reaching out with one of her hooves in an attempt to make a connection with the creature.

RIBBIT, chirped the frog, clearly curious about this new creature in its habit.

"that's a good frog, you don't want to eat me do you", said Twilight her voice less creaky and more assertive, clearly misinterpreting the frog’s curiosity as benevolence, as it was transparently just weighing up if she was a possible meal.

Before Twilight could react, the frog opened its gaping maw, and out shot its sticky tongue, the mass of muscle hitting her square in the face, earning a shriek of panic from the Alicorn. As fast as the tongue hit her it retracted, dragging the screaming princess towards what she only knew would be her doom, she wasn't going to drown, now she was going to be eaten by a overgrown tadpole.

the pulsing muscle latched to her face yanked her forward, the princess flying towards her predator, not on her own wings but on a leash of muscle, in an instant she was halfway in the frog’s mouth, her rump and hind legs hanging limply from the lip for a moment in shock. This paralysis didn't last long, with the princess’s hind legs and partially trapped wings began to thrash, the flailing limbs doing little to the frog other than kick the now dry mud from her fur, showering the beast with ineffective shrapnel.

With this little morsel firmly locked between its Maxillary Teeth, the frog began to taste its meal, the large tongue coating the front half of Twilight with ropes of saliva, the predigestive fluid washing the mud from Twilight's fur like a biological power shower. Initially the frog could not taste her flavour, but as the frog removed the outer-shell of mud it found her salty taste most appealing, it was a mixture of tender flesh and sweat that had a most alluring flavour, further increased by her hormones from her femininity and fear.

As the prehensile tongue moved up her neck to her face Twilight could only wince and scream, her voice coming out as muffled moans, that a casual viewer might mistake for pleasure, but were instead only of terror. This screaming only escalated once the tongue found its way under her eyelid licking the jelly like tissue of her eye, causing Twilight to wail in desperation, the frog demolishing every aspect of her person, replacing her as just an object to swallow and digest.

Pressing its eyes back the frog swallowed, the rippling motion drawing the wriggling pony about a foot into the mouth of the beast, its lips coming to rest at the curve of her hips, as her wings were pushed flat, now unable to resist in her ingestion, the feathered limbs held tight to her aching ribs furthering her agony. Again, the frog licked over Twilight's body, removing the mud and lubricating her for more easy swallowing, growing tired of her flavour the frog moved to more rapidly tuck her away.

With a rolling gulp, the frog pulled Twilight's rump into its jaws, its tongue as previously immediately attacking her body, before settling upon her flower and anus, these orifices having a more intense flavour than the rest of the plump bookworm meat, causing this monster to focus on them to savour the musky taste. The tongue began to probe the tight ring of Twilight's anus, for a moment there was resistance, but the ring slipped open as it took the vast girth of the tongue. This sudden invasion of her exit only, caused Twilight the increase the pitch of her wails, the frog not just set on eating her but defiling her as well.

Twilight felt the tongue travel deep into her bowels, straightening her sigmoid colon as it impaled the young mare like a kebab, stretching her guts further than any suitor had done previously or ever would. Just as she felt like her intestine was about to explode the frog retracted its tongue turned dildo, to a small spurt of blood, an anal fissure clearly having formed from its immense girth. The retraction of the tongue left her ass-hole hanging open, and the turds that had been knocking on her back door earlier fell free, impacting the ground like hail, embedding slightly into the muddy ground, with a few tragic farts mixed between the nuggets.

Thinking the frog was done with its assault, Twilight lowered her calls for helps pitch for a moment, so that her raw throat might recover, only for the tremendous tongue to breech her clitoris, the sausage shaped mass, devastating her cervix and coming to a rest at the top of her womb. This sudden and deep violation caused Twilight to emit a primal screech, her lungs aching from all the yelling, the pain made worse by her injured ribs.

As the tongue moved around in her reproductive tract, Twilight could feel her skin stretching as the tongue tried to manoeuvre its way deeper, but was finding its self at a dead end. Finally the frog stopped and withdrew its tongue, the implement leaving Twilight's pussy agape just like her anus, a little vaginal fluid weakly dripping to the mud below.

Her eyes now blood shot from the crying at her own rape, and fear overwhelming her, twilight pissed herself for the second time today, this time the golden rain trickled down her legs and splattering the ground below washing away some of her anal blood that encrusted her rear. Though substantial the blood had already stopped and was beginning to coagulate, signalling her body had sealed whatever internal injury the raping had sustained, which was little constellation to this pony turned meal, as she was going to die either way.

At this point the frog was sated with his meal, and with a final gulp, he drew the princess turned dinner entirely into its body. From Twilight's perspective she fell a foot forward and was then forced into the foetal position, her head between her legs, this sudden compression setting off a sudden avalanche of pain as her ribs were again violently compacted.

Weakly pressing against the wrinkled flesh, Twilight continued to call for help, the air in the stomach with her already growing stale, the environment clearly not designed to sustain life, but rather break down biological material to sustain the bulk of this massive frog.

From outside the curled up form of an alicorn mare stretched the soft flesh of the frog, the bulge twitching weakly, but every time she pressed out with a wing or hoof the taught flesh pushed her back into a compact package ready for digestion, the only sounds being a desperate muffled screams and the loud groans of a overstuffed stomach ready to begin digestion.

Deciding this archway was ideal lair to sleep off this pony meat meal, the frog began to dig itself back into the mud, laying flat on its belly, and drifting back in to a dormant phase so its body could more efficiently process the hard components of this pony, the hair, hooves bones, all would be digested before dropping from its anus as a processed mass of former pony.

Within the gut Twilight was being drenched in digestive fluid, the strong acids burning her aching genitals, as well as the thorn marks that covered her chest from her previous run. The acids burning as they began to process the easily accessible soft tissue, which Twilight had no doubt would easily turn her into a rich chyme, the pulpy pony-shake fuelling the growth of this aquatic abomination.

Desperate not to digest twilight began on final act of extreme thrashing, as she bawled her eyes out, not wanting to die, the tears not just from sadness, but the low PH fluid irritating her soft violet eyes. All this resistance did nothing but burn her precious air supply, the frog had no intention of giving her more, as at this point she was just fat on its back.

After about five minutes with no visible results from her defiance the air had run out, Twilight gave up, her eyes stained red from crying closed for what she felt was the last time, as she lost conciseness, her body no longer resisting and leaving only weak twitches. She had accepted her fate, she had chanced her luck to much, and now she was just a blurred bulge in the flesh of a frog, and the stomach was her own world which she would soon be leaving for ever, as the sweet release of death came to carry her away.

Just as she slipped into the dream world for what was going to the last time, she herd yelling from outside, and then dark silence took over as she blacked out.

Author's Note

For Twilight's drowning scene and aftermath, i drew on my own experience of almost drowning, i am going to be honest if it is anything like what i experienced it is a bad way to go, your body locks up.

I fell off a dock and cracked my ribs and what happened is basically as i wrote it here, after lying there for about 6 hours, i realised that no one was coming to get me and it was getting cold, so i crawled on my belly about 500m to the service road and was found by a dog walker. honestly i feel bad for the dog walker they were just out expersising their dog and they see this revenant ass motherfucker crawling out of the marram grass, in absolute darkness.

Conversation

Groggily Twilight opened her eyes, she was in bed, and for a moment she thought it had all been a horrible nightmare, that had slipped past Luna, but as she wiped the sleep from her eyes, a sudden pain in her chest reminded her it was all too real.

Wincing at the stinging, she began to take in her surroundings, the room was quaint, but clearly unnatural, the walls made of tarnished steel, rust slowly corroding the pale blue surface. Shelving lined the right side of the room, the contents varied, but all related to survival, food, water, trinkets, weapons all festooned the wall ready in a moment’s notice, a fine metal mesh covering acting as doors to stop anything going astray.

As her eyes followed the wall, she was met with a sealed door at the end of the room serving as a bulkhead, a single port hole casting the light into the otherwise dark room, telling her outside lay just beyond its threshold. Curiously the door seemed completely different to the previous architecture she had seen in this city, seeming more fitting on a ship, but matching the aesthetics of the rest of this room.

The left side of the room was the same as the right, with the entire wall lined with the mesh lockers holding a plethora of goods, and for what felt like an age again her entire world was reduced to a confined space, this one albeit much more suitable for pony life.

Trying to pass the slowly ticking time, twilight tried to inspect her new accommodation. Looking down at the blankets covering her, she realised they were all the same, each one initially white, but over the ages had acquired a slight yellow tinge to them. This uniformity felt almost militaristic, which was fitting into the other items in the room, as well as this sleeping cot she had been placed in.

In the humble abode, Twilight felt relatively safe, at the almost normality, calming her at this point paranoid mind, her reasoning being that if whoever saved her wanted her dead, they would have let the frog digest her. with this inferred security Twilight's eyes grew heavy, her devastated body wishing to heal, in the cocoon that was sleep.

CREAK!

Hearing this sudden noise, jolting Twilight awake, the sound continued for a few more moments before Twilight located its source, the metal wheel on the door slowly rotating left, signalling somepony was opening it.

"Who is there", squeaked Twilight, her voice still hoarse from all the screaming, the day previous, so coming out as a barely audible sound.

Without a word of acknowledgement, the door opened, the metal door in dire need of oil, as its rusty form ran along a predefined track as it opened, and standing within the portal framed but bright sunlight, was the feral who had attacked her yesterday.

Silently the pony entered, a large earth-ware jar in one hoof, causing him to hobble, the movement not just-due to the awkward object, but due to an occasional cringe of pain, what seemed like a pre-existing condition. Thinking fast she pretended to be asleep, twilight still hoped the tribal meant no harm, initially he ignored her, simply placing the jar at the end of her bed and opening one of the mesh lockers, without a single sign of acknowledgement.

He stood there for a few moments, feeling around in the chubby hole clearly looking for something, the only sounds filling the room being the clink of bottles, and the occasional ding of metal. After a while he let out a resounding sound of satisfaction upon finding whatever he was looking for, as he stepped away grasping something in his hoof, before slowly closing the screen, as if an attempt to not to wake her, and then proceeding to waddle over to her sleeping form.

When he lightly pulled the covers away, Twilight tried not to move, her mind running over the possibility's, her irregular breathing getting more laboured. A look of concern flashed onto the face of the tribal, as he proceeds to place his ear to her chest to check her lungs, for what Twilight assumed was fluid build-up.

As he checked, his ragged beard tickled her belly, the coarse hairs rubbing upon her sensitive chest, nicking the still quite tender wounds, causing Twilight to the let out a pained whimper, which he seemed to ignore. After leaving his ear against her belly for a few seconds, he seemed satisfied with the working condition of her lungs, and pulled away before starting to mix some kind of potion from the items he had retrieved.

After about 10 minutes the balm had been made, and he began to lather it across twilight's chest, at first it was relaxing, the concoction soothing the aching pain on her chest, but after a few moments it began to grow warm and sting, forcing Twilight to drop the illusion of sleep.

Bolting upright, howling in pain twilight startled the tribal, who up until now must have assumed she was sleeping, causing him to jump back for a moment in shock, before holding her down with one hoof, and tried to finish applying the medical cream. As he was doing this, he was uttering words in the most soothing way his coarse voice seemed capable, but in her pain Twilight didn't understand them.

Twilight continued to struggle like a trapped animal, but for a split second she found clarity, and cast a spell, much to the terrified expression of her unsolicited doctor. As the magic hit him, the tribal closed his eyes in fear, like a dog that thinks it is about to be hit. As he fell to the floor whimpering. Seeing this, Twilight tried to prop herself up against the metal wall that served as her head board, panting heavily all the while, feeling exhausted from the strain that this spell had put on her already damaged body. Soon she found her back against the cool metal wall, Twilight calmed her breathing and waited to see if her spell had worked.

"What did you do to me?", asked the tribal, his voice still guttural but clearly in modern Ponish, as clutching his more than likely aching head, he stood back up.

Letting off a weary smile, Twilight realised her linguistic spell has worked, and she had reprogrammed the pony in-front of hers mind to modern Ponish, the ethics were dubious, but it had clearly worked.

"I cast a spell that would allow us to communicate with each other, now let’s try this introduction again, hello, I am princess Twilight Sparkle, what is your name?" said twilight bluntly, her diplomatic voice creeping in.

"Well yer majesty, I am Ratway, the pleb or tosser depending on who you ask" he replied, grinning at what Twilight assumed was his nickname, which twilight could not tell was a joke or his actual name.

"Ratway huh, that's an odd name" enquired Twilight, quite curious to see the root of this name a mother wouldn't give their foal lest they be bullied.

"Aye, but in the slum district what’s your mam gonna call you, Rosebud, your gonna stink of shite anyway might as well be onest about it", he said, shrugging his shoulders, clearly accepting the cruel name long ago.

" So, I assume you’re the relief team" he continued.

"Relief team?”, answered twilight, now confused at this revelation, letting her poker face slip.

"Based on yer expression, I guess not, might as well be onest about it, I knew I was expendable when they sent me to this paradise", his expression not giving twilight anything to work with, as he could be seething with rage, but was giving all the emotion of a statue.

As this conversation was going, Twilight was picking up several shibboleths, firstly Ratway was dropping the H from his words, a sign of a working-class background. Other words were collaborating this, but she couldn't place the accent, the whole thing coming off as a stereotypical poor earth pony. Becoming self-conscious she had remained silent for a bit too long pondering this, she threw a quick response out there.

"Princess Celestia didn't mention a first team", said Twilight trying to stop the conversation from stalling, and confused as to why Celestia had failed to mention this important bit of information.

"Well it has been about 20 years, I am sure it slipped her mind, me and my platoon were a bunch of nobody's, why would are fates concern her", even though there was a stoic exterior Twilight could sense this fact really bothered him.

"Well look on the bright side, helps here now", said Twilight, giving a smile to try and diffuse this situation before it escalated.

"No offence princess Sparkle..."

"Twilight is fine", she quickly interjected.

"look Twilight, love, your clearly not like the other alicorns, instead of blowing up my head during my overzealous greeting you ran away, and if I adn't wandered down to the lake to take a piss, you would be a steaming log of frog shit right now, no offence but you seem to me like a bit of a softshell", his voice coming off more as a concerned father then that of an insult.

"Well I didn't want to hurt you, and I wouldn't have had a problem with that frog, if you hadn't stolen my amulet" said twilight, emphasising the fact he had robbed her.

"Ey the last amulet I saw shot lightning, I wasn't going to take the chance of being extra crispy", he said clearly trying to brush off his crime by deflecting the blame back to her.

"You really are an odd pony", said twilight at this point very confused about this individuals outlook.

"I could say the same for you love" he said, more than likely as equally confused, about this strange purple alicorn who had dropped into whatever he had been doing.

"So, if Celestia sent you here, I assume you were sent to retrieve the weapon before me", said Twilight, intent on getting the conversation back to the objective at hand.

"Aye, we got it, cost a lot of blood" he said pausing for a moment for what twilight assumed was him revisiting the memory.

"Excellent, where is it" Twilight squealed, her luck finally turning around after a rough patch.

"It’s close by, once you’re a bit more recovered I can show you it, but as it stands you won’t be walking for a while, you might not have noticed but you look like shit", he said gesturing to the battered princess.

"I feel like shit as well" said Twilight, chuckling at her own dark joke in a forced attempt to break the ice, before a winch of pain returned to her face as her diaphragm shook a damaged rib.

"Well they do say laughter is the best medicine, but in your case, I wouldn't do much of it, you broke 3 ribs and its bruised to high hell, and that's before we factor in the acid burns, you’re going to want to relax and just let your body heal. I got some books if yer interested, I cannot read much meself, but I assume it will help a cultured alicorn like yerself pass the time” he said, as he walked to another locker and fished out some yellow bound books.

"Ere we go, technikal Manuel for mark 3 APC, fawna and flora of Equestria, sirvival skills". he said as he began to list the titles of the books, like a school filly just learning to read.

"They seem great" interrupted twilight, with a false enthusiasm just wanting him to stop butchering the written word.

"wonderful, to me it’s boring as buck", Ratway exclaimed clearly quite happy, with what was in his mind a masterful solution.

"Now hold still well I get the rest of this potion on yer chest, its gonna hurt like a bitch, but trust me you don't want to get an infection out ere", he said, his gruff exterior clearly hiding scientific understanding, even if he didn't know it.

"just get it over with" said Twilight with a sigh, as she began to wince, as his hooves caressed her scabby underbelly, the damaged tissues already trying to heal.

As this continued the stinging was intense, clearly some kind of strong disinfectant was mixed in with this fluid.

"What is this stuff anyway" Twilight inquired curious about its composition.

"A lot of whiskey, painkillers and a bit of plant fibre for bonding agent", he said clearly focused on applying the lotion.

"So what school did you learn this", Twilight asked trying to gauge his education level.

"Me mam taught me, then I picked up a bit more in basic, never went to school me", he said, almost seeming to take pride in his lack of formal education.

"You served in the military?", asked Twilight, the mention of basic stirring memories of when her brother set out to serve.

"Aye I did, well technically still do, you’re looking at private Ratway, of the 137th irregular infantry", he proudly stated, saying the fact with such a conviction that Twilight could almost imagine a flag waving behind him.

"So where is the rest of your unit, I would wish to speak to them", Twilight asked, clearly wanting to speak with the commanding officer of this unit, and better plan her next move.

"Yer going to need a much better spell then the one you used on me", Ratway replied, his eyes breaking contact for a moment before returning to their fixed position.

"Why are they far away? that shouldn't be an issue I know quite a few long-range communication spells, it would be no issue to combine a few to achieve the same effect, why its simp...", Twilight asked, well at the same time offering solutions, before being cut off.

"Twilight, Twilight, I am sorry love, but I don't think your spells are good enough to talk with the dead", he said, the words almost coming of as a dark joke, but judging from his expression they were deadly serious.

"So how many of you are left?", asked Twilight, this line of questioning taking a dark path.

"A number you can count on one oof", he replied, well touching the necklace of what Twilight now knew to be dog tags, that jangled from his neck.

Clearly wanting to change the subject, he handed Twilight a metal canteen, the once silver exterior tarnished by countless hooves reaching to grasp it, giving the item a dull copper exterior, his gesture clearly signifying her wanted her to drink its contents.

" Is that more whiskey", Twilight asked, honestly hoping he would say yes, as she was in dire need of a good drink.

"Its water, I got whiskey if you want it, never heard of a princess drinking hard liqueur though", he responded, the last part clearly meant to stay in his head, at-least twilight hoped, or he could simply be that badly socialised. Twilight watched as he fished around in yet another locker, before pulling out a flask, and in a quick motion seized the cork in his teeth, and janked his head to the side to be rewarded with a subtle pop. After giving the booze a swig to make sure it was good, or maybe just to calm his nerves he handed it to Twilight.

"Thanks", said twilight, before she took a swig of the well-aged liquid, for a second she let it sit in her mouth, a strong oak flavour sitting on her tongue, before with a loud gulp she swallowed, she had a few more swigs of the bottle before handing it back.

"Don't mention it" he said, before placing the flask back into the locker and closing it with a dull thud.

"Thanks for not killing me by the way" he said as he proceeded to turn to leave, his treatment administered.

"wait", exclaimed twilight, before reaching out her hoof for him to shake. Instead of a shake, he made a grumbling sound and kissed her hoof.

"do you want me to curtsy as well" he enquired, clearly not respecting formality's, but going along with it due to habit.

"No, I wanted you shake your hoof, to end this much better second impression", Twilight responded, clearly confused by this old custom, that had just come out of the blue, the very formal gesture manifesting in this very informal setting.

"You really are a strange one, Twilight Sparkle", he said before outstretching his right leg, so they could shake.

"And so are you" said Twilight, firmly seizing the shake.

The shake lingered for a few moments, before they went their separate ways, for a moment Ratway stopped at the door.

"You want me to close the blind, you might have missed it, but the sun doesn't set around ere", he said and pointing at a small piece of fabric that covered the porthole.

"Yes please", she said

"Sleep well princess" said rat way before with a loud slam, followed by the spinning of the locking wheel she was left in silence, the screen serving its purpose and leaving her in complete blackness.

In the quiet darkness, and with the pain killers setting in Twilight went into the dream lands, her mind free from her damaged body, as she relived better moments, Rainbows pranks, Pinkies cakes and all manner of other memory came flooding in. For a moment Twilight found herself back in her castle, sitting on her throne, her friends all around her, then she leaned back, but instead of finding the back rest, she hit nothing and was simply falling into darkness, the illusion shattered.

Awakening with a scream she found herself alone in the same cot she had passed out in. For a moment there was silence, before she heard the familiar creak of the wheel and the bulkhead door swung open.

"You okay, little dove" came the worried voice of Ratway.

"I think so", said twilight rubbing her eyes, as the scraggy pony approached.

"You sure, I heard a lot of screaming", his voice still very concerned.

"Just a bad dream, nothing more" replied Twilight, hoping to dispel his fear.

As her body turned its self-back on, Twilight suddenly have the overwhelming need to go to the bathroom.

"Ratway, if it’s not too much to ask could you take me to the bathroom", asked Twilight, t not wishing to ruin the bed, and retain the dignity of not having soil herself in another pony’s company. For a second he stood their confused, but then a gear in his head started turning and he sprang to her side, ready to assist her.

"Nice and slow then, give me your hoof", he said as he offered his own.

Reaching out twilight pre-emptively winched in pain, but it never materialised, her body feeling albeit it bit stiff, back in working order.

"Wait", she said, as he stepped way giving her some space.

"Twilight you’re going to hurt yourself", said Ratway, but she was quick to discard his concern, as with a drunken lung she found herself on wobbly feet. For a second she stood confidant, before almost collapsing, thankfully though there was someone to catch her this time.

"Whoa there, easy princess, let me help you", came the reassuring voice of Ratway before he placed her right foreleg over his shoulder and began to help her outside.

"How long was I out", asked Twilight in-between panting breaths, her body still not fully recovered.

"Three days love, you were catatonic", replied Ratway, his mind clearly more set on not dropping her, then answering questions.

"Honestly, I am more impressed you are walking, I guess alicorn's heal faster than normal pony's, I was sure you were going to be out for at-least a month”, he said clear to get a conversation going to keep Twilight mind of whatever pain she might be having.

After a short walk they found themselves in a clear field, a crude outhouse protruding from the otherwise flat grass. As the got closer, the shoddy construction became more apparent, the shed lacked a door and was simply 2 carved logs with a hole in between to drop of your waste.

"I can take it from here", said twilight, as she felt Ratway release her, allowing her to hobble the last distance to the latrine, with the dignity that privacy allowed.

As she reached the seat, she turned to see where Ratway had gotten to, and she saw him about 30 metres away facing the way they had come. Thankful he respected her privacy she planted her buns on the seat and felt her bladder empty, the feeling of the strained organ releasing its load strangely satisfying.

After giving the time required for the last drips to hit the bottom of the pit, she rolled back onto her hooves, and began to walk back over to Ratway, her damaged body much more healed then she expected, albeit there was nipping pain from her chest every time she moved her legs.

"I want to see the weapon" demanded twilight, as soon as she was within earshot of Ratway.

"sure, then we can get out of ere", came his response, and they set of with him leading, the gruff pony stopping every few paces to allow the princess to catch up. Before she knew it, they were at a small alcove.

"We stashed it in here once the armoured carriage broke down", said Ratway, seemingly to know that Twilight was about to ask him that very question.

"Wait here", Ratway said, before entering the darkness before emerging a few moments later with a wooden box. The box was a simple cargo crate, the wood slightly water damaged but apart from that fully standard. As she waited he opened it slowly and pulled out a metal rod, the surface intricately carved with strange runes.

"May I" asked Twilight, and without a word he placed it in her right hoof. As she was looking at it she began to read the runes, her horn lighting up as she got further along the old Ponish runes, as she reached the last few words she felt a sudden flick to the top of her horn, completely breaking her concentration.

"Hey" she snapped, giving Ratway a very angry glare.

"Trust me princess you don't want to finish that spell", he said.

"Why", she again snapped, quite peeved that he had just penetrated her personal space.

"If you had finished that incantation, your head and all the unicorns in a 50-mile radius, would suddenly suffer from a fatal case of exploding head syndrome", he explained.

"What", exclaimed twilight startled by this revelation, and dropping the rod, before shuffling back a good few feet away from the now much more dangerous item.

"Aye, it’s the reason I was stuck here, you need a unicorn to open the doors at the main gate, and are commanding officer, did exactly what you almost did, had to mop his head up with a mop, very messy", said Ratway filling Twilight in on a few more details.

"Thanks again then, that's the second time you have saved my life" said Twilight, somewhat humbled with her second close call.

"Don't mention it, now let’s get out of this paradise of a city" said Ratway clearly wanting to leave, well saying this, he placed the rob back in its holding box and shoved it into another of his pouches.

" I want to leave as well but I don't think I am ready for a week or more trek through hostile jungle", said Twilight, trying to reign in his enthusiasm with the pragmatic facts of her still weak body.

"Well, we aint going to walk, were going to drive" he replied.

"wait you have transportation" blurted Twilight, this sudden surprise coming far out of left field.

"Aye you were sleeping in it", replied Ratway casually.

"Why didn't you tell me this" yelled Twilight, quite angry such a useful bit of information was kept from her.

"I was going to, I just didn't think you would be walking 3 days after being mangled, I was going to let you heal for a bit before I mentioned any form of moving, I just underestimated how fast you would recover, he explained.

"Let’s just get moving" snapped Twilight, not wanting to hear him try and talk his way out of it, as they had a silent walk back to her accommodation. The walk was good for one thing, and that was showing how conflicted she was about Ratway, fine he had saved her, but he had an awkwardness about him she couldn't place, and it was making her uncomfortable.

Once they arrived back where they started from, she immediately noticed what he meant by transport, the rear bulkhead she had exited from was flanked on both sides by large caterpillar tracks, so the whole thing was a large mobile metal box. As she was looking at it she saw Ratway scurry over to the box, scale a short ladder and pop a hatch, before scrambling in. After he entered there was silence for a moment, then there was a strange stuttering noise, followed by some cursing and the clanging of metal, before the box roared to life. She then saw Ratway stick his head out of the hatch and begin to wave her over.

Awkwardly clambering up the ladder twilight, her joints though improved were still a little sore, the spongy tissue a little flared from the short excursion. Finding her way onto, she with a groan popped the second hatch and basically fell into a sling seat.

"You okay love", yelled Ratway over the roaring of the engine.

"Yeah I think so" she screamed back.

"Let’s get a moving then" he hollered back, before finding a gear, after grinding them for a few noisy seconds.

"O how she sings" he continued reeving the engine a few times before it began its bumpy journey to the main gate.

"Ratway, how long were you here anyway, I never asked", enquired Twilight, intent on making small talk on the ride back.

"About 20 years, might have been longer I lost count, why do you think I was so energetic when I first saw you", he replied through a happy grin, finally escaping this hell hole.

It was this fact that had Twilight deep in thought all the way back to Ponyville, she was going to have to write a lot of letters.

A side story

The stars shone brightly in the sky, their pale glow illuminating the marble cladding of the royal palace, their gleam being added to by Luna's moon, the combined celestial light causing the ivory exterior to gleam in the night sky, so that it might be visible for miles around, like a lighthouse, guiding ponies to the safe harbour that was sleep. To prince Blueblood it had another meaning entirely, power.

As he took another drag of his cigarette, he pondered what it would be like to have so much power. His aunts had been relatively relaxed with power in more recent years, but with Luna's return Celestia had begun to share duties again, not just with her fellow alicorns but also other members of the royal household.

Personally, he detested the tasks Celestia had set him, and they seemed like a waste of his skills, he knew nothing about gardening, yet Celestia in her infinite wisdom had seen it fit to make him head of the gardening committee. Letting the smoke escape his lips, Blueblood, let out a smug smirk, on the plus side at-least she was allowing him to feed again.

He had always found it funny, most citizens were blissfully unaware how Celestia and Luna maintained their youth, even princess Twilight and Cadence were oblivious to the best of his knowledge.On that note he took one final drag from his now diminished cigarette, and tossed it over the edge, watching the glowing ember slowly flutter to the ground below. Losing sight of it he turned around and returned to his royal suite ready to entertain his guest.

Closing the glass conservatory door, he then drew heavily embraided red curtain over the window, pausing for a moment to appreciate its quality, all the while a chorus of desperate mmphs came from behind him.Pulling the material taught, he was then satisfied that no wayward Pegasus would see what he was about to do.

"You can make as much noise as you like, no one will ever hear you, this room is magically sound proofed", he said as he turned to his unwilling company.

The bound mare tried to talk, but the ball-gag, firmly lodged in her mouth prohibited any form of communication except, muffled sounds of dissatisfaction.

"Let me fix that for you", said Blueblood calmly, as his horn lit up and the buckle holding the gag in place came loose.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you piece of shit, let me go right now, I will have you arrested for this..." she yelled at him.

Blah blah blah, Blueblood had heard it all before, first came the yelling, then the screaming then finally acceptance, and this mare would be no different. As she lay on his bed, legs bound he went over her form with his eyes, blocking out the protest like it was the buzzing of a mosquito, as that was all she was to him, nothing.

Everything about her was perfect, her spotless white fur contrasting well with the imperial purple mane and tail hair, even her deep blue eyes matching her diamond cutie marks that adorned her flanks.

Without saying a word, Blueblood slapped her across the face, the sudden pain causing her to recoil in horror, her neck trying to pull itself in like a scared turtle.

"Now listen Rarity, were going to play a game, nod once if you understand", he said his voice as calm as he could keep it knowing what was to come next.

"But my name isn't Rarity, its...", her reply cut off by another blow to the face.

"Your name is Rarity, and if you keep denying it, I will have to hurt you", replied blueblood in the most casual way, thinking nothing of striking the mare, he just hated when they didn't play along.

"Now what is your name?", he asked again this time the words sounding more like a threat then a question.

"Rarity" she whimpered tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"There's a good mare, was that so difficult", he said, as he unbuttoned his collar, casting the garment aside ready to begin.

"Now then I am going to ask you a series of questions, and you will answer them, do you understand Rarity?", he said as he leered over her.

"Uh-huh" she snivelled, just from her body langue Blueblood could tell she was about to start crying, her ears were pressed down, in stark contrast to the aggressive exterior she had put up when he had ungagged her.

No sooner had she let the noise out, Blueblood levitated a knife to her face, the sharp implement hovering lightly a few inches from her right eye.

"First question, are you sorry for humiliating me at the grand galloping gala", Blueblood asked, his voice remaining calm as he was at half-mast waiting for an answer.

"What" came the surprised response of the mare, followed by a scream of pain, as Blueblood cut a shallow gash across her chest, the cut not life threatening but sufficient to draw blood.

"I said are you sorry for humiliating me at the grand galloping gala" he said, repeating the question before using his magic to set up some place cards, which must have surprised the mare as she stopped mewling for a moment.

" Yes, I am so sorry, that a simple town pony humiliated you in-front of the other members of the royal family, can you forgive me", she bawled out, now terrified of what this mad aristocrat was going to do to her, causing her to stutter some words.

He paused not saying anything for a moment before he flipped the notes, giving her one more word.

"Darling" she finished as tears began to run down her face.

"Don't worry, I forgive you, but it will not save you from my wrath", he said the voice calm, but the spite he had for the mare, making him seethe with anger.

"Second question, how are you going to make it up to me" he asked, staring intensely upon the distraught mare, awaiting her response.

For a moment the mare, paused reading the Que card, not saying anything, clearly not wanting to say what was written, much to Blueblood's dissatisfaction.

"Read it" he yelled, the anticipation killing him.

Expecting to be hit, the mare spewed out the words as incoherent mess.

"What was that, I cannot hear you" Blueblood responded, slowly pressuring the knife towards her delicate blue eye, the orb now inflamed red by crying.

"I will allow you to pleasure yourself with my fabulous whore body", she wailed, a new waterfall of tears forming as she expected to be raped.

Blueblood loved this part, he was about to break her, she was close already, her perfect main now matted with a cold sweat, and the stench of terror was perspiring of her in droves, basting her tender flesh just like a Heartswarming eve turkey.

"Now which hole to start with", Blueblood said, coldly, his cock long since slipping free of its sheath, and was standing at attention, ready for use in this revenge rape.

"First you need to lube up, this should help you get nice and lubricated", said Blueblood, as he drew the knife away from the Rarity’s face, and placing the tip at the puckered star fish that was her anus. The sensitive tissue sensing the cold metal, began to clench to keep the blade out, as she began to beg in the vain hope he wasn't going to lacerate her lower bowels.

"Please, don't", she cried, her eyes shut tight, as she wailed in terror, then she wet herself.

" BUCK", Blueblood yelled, the sudden splash of yellow urine spraying his face, and breaking his fantasy. In his haste to get started, he had forgotten to cast the spell that would stop her doing that.

"Your stupid whore" he screamed, as he began to pound her head and torso with his hooves, until his white fur began to grow red with blood. In this flurry of violence, he came, his spitting cobra, spraying his sheets with his seed, as it mixed with the pooling blood on the white linen.

Suddenly feeling light headed, Blueblood fell forward landing onto of the still whimpering mare, her mind now thoroughly broken. Rolling to the side, he locked eyes with his failed lover, feeling nothing other than disdain for this useless mare, hit her one more time, this time she didn't react, and just lay here in a jibbering mass of quivering flesh.

"Why did you have to do that", whined Blueblood, a genuine sadness creeping into his normally arrogant tone, the only response he got was incomprehensible mumbling. It wasn't as if he cared for this mare, she was nothing but a magical meal to play with, it just upset him she broke his fantasy of what he was going to do to the real Rarity when she fell out of Celestia's good books.

Propping himself up, he looked at Rarity one last time, the fashionista was a mess, the blood coming from her nose running down her front staining the fur a grim crimson, and her breath was becoming irregular, more than likely from the head trauma he had given her.

Wiping his cock off, on her now rats-nest of tail, Blueblood seized her diamond marked hips with his hooves and using his magic, pulled her forward so that they were face to face, the mare now sitting on her haunches, wobbling slightly as his firm grasp held her in place.

Opening his maw, Blueblood locked lips with the mare, before with a creaky pop, his jaw dislocated, and the humid confides creeped slowly over the mare’s muzzle.Even with the mare thoroughly battered she tried to pull away, before a glowing aura surrounded her holding her in place, if blue bloods mouth wasn't currently occupied, he would have smiled he loved it when they struggle.

Pausing for a second the mare’s eyes, sparkled with hope, maybe this was just part of his deluded fantasy, she was probably thinking, but Blueblood had no intention of letting her go.Seeing this Blueblood simply moved his eyes to her horn, the white wand, encased in a magic retarding slime, the liquid had set like concrete and prevented her from fighting back, absorbing any magical charge she might have tried to fire in self-defence.

Eyeing the horn for a moment, Blueblood gave it a solid yank, the white bone shattering like a glass sculpture, the vast amount coming away as a solid piece but releasing a spray of smaller fragments, leaving a stubby nub where the oblong structure once sat. In response the mare let out a scream of pain, which came out as little more than a stifled yelp, the exclamation causing a pleasurable vibration in Bluebloods throat.

With that obstacle removed, Blueblood leaned forwards, his lips crawling over Rarity's weeping eyes, the salty liquid adding to this mare’s exquisite blend of flavours. although she had failed at being his Rarity, she was more than tasty enough, her perspiration giving her a salty flavour, mixed in with the coppers taste of her blood, as well as some fruit he could not recall that had been part of her shampoo.

Reaching her quivering ears, he felt her muzzle touch the back of his throat, the pulsating tunnel of flesh, holding fast for a moment before relenting, to the parting of a few thick saliva strands. with a gentle nudge the throat seized her snout and with a strong tug pulled her head into its dark undulating embrace, pressing her ears flat to her head as saliva began to pool within them.

Arriving at Rarity’s fore legs he reached his first real obstacle, the though small shoulder blades were too wide for his mouth to stretch over, but he had a lot of practice with a lot of meals, and again using his magic, he dislocated both legs to several squelching pops, and howls of pain from the pony that would soon entirely be within him.

With Rarity much more malleable, she slid in much more quickly, his mouth hovering over her navel and coming to rest at the curve of her hips, the mares head sitting somewhere just below his sternum, her head not yet passing through the sphincter and instead compressing his stomach down into his bowels.

For a few awkward moments, he thought he might have to regurgitate his meal, but with a sudden shift he felt the sphincter open, and the mare slither in. At this point it was all downhill from here, and he simple relaxed his gullet and let Rarity enjoy her last water slide, the long swallow dragging the unicorn down until about half of her purple tail, and the frogs of her rear hooves remained to be ingested.

Placing his hoof on her twitching hind hooves, Blueblood gave then a soft push sending them down to join their owner, leaving a short length of purple tail to slowly be slurped down like an oversized noodle. His meal complete Blueblood let out a loud burp, making him glad that this room was sound proof lest prying ears catch him being so uncouth.

"Thanks for this excellent late-night entrée, my dear, I will be sure to make good use of your magic", said Blueblood as he placed his hoof on the fidgeting bulge he assumed to be the mares head, trying to comfort her in her last moments. Waiting a few seconds to see if he would get a response, he got nothing. Seeing that Rarity had resigned herself to her fate, he let out a wet burp, causing the flesh on his belly to tighten slightly, highlighting the curled-up form of the unicorn mare within.Her weak wriggling growing more intense for a moment, before a few wild thrashes occurred, and with that she at last went still, after finally expiring in the tight confides of the growling stomach.

Letting out one more burp, Blueblood released whatever air her lungs had been transporting and rolling onto his belly spooned with the corpse in his gut. His still erect penis finding its way between Rarity's still soft buns, and with a few hard thrusts he was coming again the white fluid blending in with his fur on his extreme beer belly, getting one last fuck out of the now deceased pony.

After letting out one final load, he passed out and drifted into sleep, secretly hoping Luna was watching his lewd dreams, brought on by this sleep coma as he digested this hefty lump of pony meat in his belly. His stomach already working overtime to process this meaty meal into an easy to process chyme.

SCAT SCENE (to skip search for the word platypus)

..................................................................................................................................................................

Dong, Dong, Dong.

The loud chiming of the bells of an antique grandfather clock kicked Blueblood back into the waking world.

"UURGE", he groaned, not feeling like waking up, but the monotonous sounds of the bell persist, and he rolled out of bed, the bulge in his belly greatly reduced, no longer looking like it held a pony and instead was a small amount of pudge, like a pregnant mare.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Blueblood was met with a sharp but familiar pressure in his lower bowel, the mare had finished processing, and was ready to be let out.

Getting up he felt the crusty remains of last night’s escapades, a combination of dried semen and blood flaking off his front as he moved across the room, on his trek to his personal washroom.Planting himself down on his personal throne, he felt his bowels loosen and with a rank, bassy fart he felt the first log crown.

Straining for a moment, he felt the log push its way past the taught rim of his anus, its knobbly structure not just simulating his anus but also knocking against his prostate, causing his stallion meat to raise in anticipation for a possible stimulation that wasn't going to come, at least not at this current time.

Clenching his anus, he felt the log shear and drop into the bowl below, this let the floodgates lose, and following in the slip stream was a quick succession of rolling turds, each one easily sliding out symbolic of a healthy digestion.The rugged brown anal loaves, had a consistent texture, with no evidence of its former pony status, but the occasions clump of hair or lose tooth adding further stimulation as the logs fell free from his flanks, before with one final squeeze and a grunt he was finished.

Considering the contents of the porcelain bowl, he was proud of his work, the bowl was filled with uniform brown logs, their surfaces speckled with small bone fragments and teeth, and were filled with scattered clumps of white and long purple hairs, their colour slightly of brown in colour after being scrubbed by his lower bowel.

platypus

Wiping and flushing, Blueblood left the washroom and rolled back into bed, it was a Sunday, and he didn't feel like doing anything, except curl back up in his blankets and sleep in until the servants called him for dinner.Just before slipping off to sleep, he remembered that he had to pen a letter, begrudgingly he got up and walked over to his writing desk.

Dabbing his quill in a rich black ink, he began to write.

"Thank you for sending the mare, your spells are getting better, the issue that she doesn't think she is Rarity persists, and needs revision, if you wish to maintain my patronage. All in all, though, I am very happy with your services so far, please continue your current levels of discretion and I will send word when I require another mare.

yours the right Honourable Prince Blueblood".

And with that he sealed and stamped the letter, before casting a spell to send it to his supplier, he didn't know where he got the mares from, but his spell was improving, and they weren't missed, so unless his aunt wanted him to stop adding their magic to his own, this would probably be a long and healthy business agreement.

And with that, he rolled back to be, and soon drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the day when he could add the real Rarity to his flanks.

Confusion

Starlight was knackered, Twilight being her normal neurotic self, had arrived back from her trip in the middle of the night, and immediately convened a friendship meeting. In about half an hour all her inner circle had assembled at the castle, and were now packed around the magic table that served as the centrepiece of the room, all clearly confused as to why they had been roused from their sleep in the wee hours of the morning.

Making her way to her seat, Starlight could not help but listen in to the murmuring of the gathered mares, trying to discern if any had any idea why they had been assembled. Reaching her chair, Starlight was grateful to just be here, seeing as the first time she had sat at this table she had almost destroyed Equestria.

Looking around the small circle, she noted who was in attendance, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow dash, Pinkie pie and Fluttershy. The reliability and dedication of each mare rewarded with a personal throne, identical to Twilight's own, the only difference between them being the cutie-mark emblazed upon them, a permanent marker reserving the seats for the mares now occupying them.

Starlight's chair was a not as grandiose as the others that surrounded the table, not that it bothered her, the recliner she had borrowed from the extensive library complex, was infinitely comfier then the thrones the others had been gifted. But it did make her seem like the black sheep, as even Spike had a mini throne to the right of Twilight, which was currently empty as he no doubt assisted her with whatever this meeting had been called about.

As if thinking about him would summon him, Twilight's shadow made his entrance, standing at her side as she hobbled in, clearly worse for wear from her journey. Twilight's entrance stopping any conversation, as all attention was on her as she slotted into her throne.

"So how was the trip", said pinkie, breaking the silence with her preppy voice, the lack of sleep clearly not affecting her in the slightest.

Twilight paused, her mind clearly revisiting something unpleasant, her body language going off like flares in the night sky, as her ears fell flat to her head.

"Is something wrong sugar cube", came applejack's concerned voice, clearly picking up that something was bothering Twilight. This statement was met by sounds of agreement ringing out around the table.

"It was a mixed bag", said Twilight, even from her position across the table, Starlight could see tears welling in her eyes.

"How so, darling" enquired Rarity, the level of concern at the table growing.

"It started quite well, then I .....", said Twilight, before she just stopped and broke down crying, the revisiting of the memory's triggering a breakdown.

"Twilight, it’s okay you don’t have to tell us if you don't want to" came the calming voice of Fluttershy, the element of compassion almost teleporting to Twilight side, to provide a shoulder to lean on, which Twilight immediately accepted, latching onto the yellow mare like a lamprey. One by one the rest of the members at the table made their way over, Starlight didn't know when see stood up, but next thing she knew she was in the compassion huddle that was this group hug.

After what felt like an age, somewhere in this friend cocoon she heard Twilight stop crying, and one by one they peeled off Twilight like the layers on a friendship onion, as they returned to their seats.

After regaining her composure Twilight relayed her the details of her excursion, all Starlight could do was listen transfixed with every word, as the group were enlightened on what had transpired to their friend over the last 2 weeks, and then she got to the task at hoof.

"So, I set him up in the guest suite, and I don't know what to do with him", said Twilight concluding her story, and bringing up the point this meeting had been called, clearly wanting their opinions on this issue.

"why are you worried about letting him back into society", asked Starlight, confused at the reasoning about keeping this Ratway in quarantine.

"He seems a little unhinged, and I don't know what will happen if we just throw him off the deep end after 20 years of isolation, he might do something and hurt himself or others" said Twilight, her mind clearly set on this issue.

"Well does he have kin, as if he does we can send them a letter and they can come collect him, it always helps to see a familiar face”, said Applejack, offering a solution to the problem.

"I don't know, but the way he talked about his home-life I don't think it was the best", came Twilight's response, shutting down that idea, at least for now.

"Well if he survived 20 years, in the same jungle you have described he must be pretty tough, he will probably be fine, you worry too much Twi" came the tomboyish voice of Rainbow dash, the Pegasus clearly thinking that she had been over thinking this.

"I agree, I think your overthinking this Twilight, maybe someone should talk to him and see what he wants to do", came the reasoning voice of applejack.

"I will do it, I always like to make new friends", Pinkie butted in almost jumping down Applejack's throat at the opportunity.

This idea was met with a resounding no from every other pony in the room.

"No offence Pinkie, but if I just came out of the jungle and met some pony with your ....", said rainbow stumbling for a moment to find a word that wouldn't find offence.

"Intensity", came the luscious voice of rarity, finishing the sentence for her struggling friend.

"Yea, intensity, if it was the first thing I encountered, I might find it a bit off putting", said rainbow, clearly trying to lessen the possible blow to Pinkies feelings.

"I will do it", volunteered Starlight assertively, trying to pre-emptively stop an argument, but immediately regretting her rash choice, as there were much better choices.

"That sounds like a great idea, my favourite pupil" said Twilight in agreement, before turning to Fluttershy.

" What do you think Fluttershy, you have been your usual quite self" asked Twilight, trying to get a holistic read on the room, and undoubtedly chuffed that her student was taking the initiative.

"I agree with Applejack, Starlight should talk to him", said Fluttershy in her normal shy tone.

"Are we in agreement", Twilight asked the other members to a series of resounding ayes.

"Then we agree, tomorrow Starlight will talk to Ratway, and we can discuss it over friendship pancakes during a Bruch here, now let’s all turn in and try and salvage a bit of sleep before morning", said Twilight as the meeting concluded. One by one they left on their own accord, AJ and Rainbow helping Twilight to bed, well the rest shuffled out of the room, leaving Starlight alone with her thoughts.

It was these same thoughts that had her panicking, as she stood at the guest suites entrance door the following morning.

"What if I say something wrong, or reveal my past, or offend him somehow", Starlight mumbled to herself as she tried to work up the courage to knock on the door, having been stood there a solid 10 minutes, stuck on a hill of indecisiveness.

"What would Twilight do", continued Starlight as she tried to call herself down.

"The breathing trick", splurged Starlight, as the idea leapt into her head. Taking a series of deep breaths and long exhales, Starlight slowed her mind, and with niggling doubts gave the mahogany door three resounding knocks, the blows echoing down the deserted castle corridor.

After a few slow seconds of silence, Starlight's hopes increased, maybe he was asleep and someone else could have this conversation, then she heard a gruff reply, dashing these hopes.

"Aye, who is it" came the reply from behind the door, the firm wood absorbing much of the voices reverberation.

"Starlight glimmer, Twilight sent me to talk to you", she said as she pressed her ear to the door, to more easily hear the response. From her listening position she heard a slight rustling and then he replied.

"Ait come on in then, its open", he said begrudgingly, clearly as thrilled about this as she was.

Pushing open the door cautiously, Starlight entered the dim room. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she spotted her charge, he sat on the edge of the bed a blanket wrapped over his shoulders, only visible as a silhouette as the single lamp cast long shadows across the polished floor. Nestled upon his lap was a metallic object, which he looked to be in the source of the strange sound she had heard earlier, as he was in the process of cleaning the metal pipe, as Starlight drew closer she could see it was heavily engraved.

"I wos expecting you", he said breaking the silence, not looking up as he continued to rub the length of cloth back and forth across the pipe.

"Why did Twilight mention me" asked Starlight clearly confused, as to her knowledge this meeting had not been memoed to him.

"No love, you just mumble quite loud, heard you talking to yerself for about 10 minutes", he said, having a quick chuckle at her expense, causing starlight to blush.

"So, you know why I am here", asked Starlight, wanting to cut to the chase.

"Aye, yer here to check I am not mad as a badger", he replied, his voice calm and collected, before with a click he snapped something shut on the item he was cleaning.

" And are you?”, asked Starlight bluntly, not knowing if he was still joking.

"I don't think so", he said finally meeting her eyes, as he without looking slapped a piece of wood upon the end of the pipe, before giving a few twists of a screwdriver locking it in place.

"What is that your messing with anyway?", Starlight said, finally wondering what was so important, that he would be fiddling with it during such an important conversation.

For a moment he just sat there looking confused, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and she was messing with him, then you could see the exact moment he realised she wasn't pulling his leg.

"you never seen a boomstick before?", he exclaimed clearly surprised by this revelation.

"No, what is it?", she asked, now quite interested in this peculiar item.

"How to explain it", he said getting to his hooves, a slightly off smelling scent coming off him in the movement, as the blanket fell to the floor. Grasping the Boomstick in his hoof he began to gesture to each part listing its function, from left to right.

"This is the stock you place it against yer shoulder to absorb the recoil and steady yer aim".

" This is the hammer, it strikes the flint causing a spark that triggers the shell".

"This is the breech, this is where you place the shell you want to fire, from a small selection".

"This is the trigger it activates the hammer"

" And finally, this is the barrel, you point it in the direction of yer problems", he said concluding his little lecture.

"So, it’s a weapon", questioned Starlight, having picked up on some of its intricacies from this little crash course.

"Aye, it is and a pretty good one, makes a lot of noise, so you know it’s working", said Ratway clearly quite happy with the device.

"So what kind of "SHELLS" does it fire" she enquired, curious what that word meant, as it was unfamiliar to her.

"A couple" he replied before fishing around in one of his many pockets, before pulling out 3 different cylindrical objects the lower part a shiny brass with the upper cones differing in appearance, apart from that they were all uniform in diameter sitting about 2 and a half inches at a guess, as he began to place them on his bed. Pondering for a moment he picked up the first shell, it had a slightly orange glow to it, clearly visible in the dim room, that Ratway identified as a high explosive cartridge.

"Igh explosive, this is the one you shoot at soft things, I can tell you this much it’s not pleasant"

Returning it to his pocket, he then picked up the second shell, its exterior a dark obsidian, the end clearly heat tempered to increase its hardness.

"This is armour piercin, you shoot it at tough things like dragons and their ilk", he said and like with the first shell returned it to his pocket.

This left the final shell, its appearance dull and the end blunt lacking anything protruding from the brass casing.

"This is a blank, you fire it to make a loud noise and that's about it, wouldn't want to stand in front of it though, as it still flings some wax paper pretty fast. there are a few more types, but they are in the APC out back, stuff like flairs and the like”, he said coming to a casual conclusion.

"APC?" asked Starlight confused at the anagram.

"Armoured pony carrier", he informed her.

"you mean that big metal box outside", she said not having given it much thought, as it just seemed like a strange wagon.

"Aye"

"And you invented all this" she said returning his confirmation with another question.

"Nope, this stuff is way to advanced for a pleb like me" he replied with a self-deprecating laugh.

"Then who did?”, asked Starlight.

"Onestly I don't know, but it happened during the first contact war", he replied giving more questions than answers.

"First contact war?", this new event just adding to the confusion, as she had just thought she had figured out what he was talking about.

"Aye you know, the war that happened about 50 years ago between earth pony settlers and the dragons on the south eastern frontier, the day of ash that created the Badlands, any of this ringing any bells", said Ratway, his tone growing slightly annoyed as he went on.

"But there wasn't a war with the dragons 50 years ago", informed Starlight, now growing concerned that this pony might actually be insane.

"Next thing you will be telling me is that Princess Luna isn't Nightmare moon", he said condescendingly, as if it was a god given fact.

"Wait what, rewind for a second" said Starlight suddenly realising, this pony was completely off his rocker.

"Why did you go to the lost city?", she asked to see if he was at-least consistent with his story, and to see if it matched what twilight had said.

"Same reason as the princess, to retrieve a lost weapon, of course when we went for it, it was to defeat nightmare moon, were as with Twilight it was just to bolster the royal armour if it were azard a guess", he replied now getting as confused as Starlight.

"But that's not possible, that happened over a 1000 years ago", stated Starlight, now sure this pony was bullshitting her.

"I got the papers to prove it", rebutted Ratway, before plunging his hoof into yet another bag this one a large satchel on his waist before presenting a wad of yellowed papers.

Sceptically Starlight grasped the mass with her magic and brought them to her face, flicking through them everything seemed to check out, even the royal seals were perfect albeit it a bit weathered, and the papers had the musty smell that such aged documents should have.

"This cannot be true, this is impossible", the facts contradicting reality, these documents had to be fake there was no way they were authenticate. But the more she looked at them the more real they seemed, they were written in old Ponish a dead language, very few ponies could even read it, let alone write it.

"Ratway, I will send Spike down with pancakes in a few hours, please stay put and we will get this sorted as soon as possible", said Starlight in the most cordial way possible, before backing up and no sooner was the door closed, she broke into a gallop, with the documents in tow.

As she ran through the long winding corridors, Starlight’s mind was racing a mile a minute, this pony couldn't really be a thousand years old, Twilight would clear this all up and this crazy pony would be out of their mists come supper.

and then Starlight skidded and slid on her belly straight towards the throne room doors, closing her eyes just before she impacted them.

Solutions

Twilight sat at the cutie map, a pile of papers to her right, and to her left her breakfast that Spike had cooked her. The meal was nothing to special, just a few waffles soaked in fresh honey, but it had gone a long way in helping Twilight feel like she was home, and things were back to normal, stopping her mind resting on that horrible experience she had been subject to in the slaughter forest.

Unfortunately for her, she still had to write up the field report and send it to Celestia, so even though she would skip a few things, she still had to accurately describe her findings, and send the weapon she retrieved back to Canterlot for storage, seeing as it wasn't really practical for their needs.

Looking up from her writing, well simultaneously stuffing a waffle into her mouth, letting the warm syrup drip down her chin, in a most unregal manner, Twilight moved the box containing the weapon from the floor to the table. Popping the locks, she slowly opened the box the stare upon the rune studded rod, almost transfixed by its form the metal almost seeming to flow like the tides of the sea, then the door behind her burst open.

Slamming the lid shut, and spinning around, Twilight saw her favourite pupil, skidding across the floor on her back, before coming to a gentle stop in a flurry of papers at her side, clearly in a rush to tell her something.

"Good morning", said Twilight, giving a cheerful grin, quite happy her friend was joining her for breakfast, and evidently making some headway with Ratway.

" Twilight we need to talk", blurted Starlight, in a rush to get whatever was bothering her off her chest.

"What happened?", asked Twilight, now somewhat concerned about what had conspired in what was supposed to be a simple chat.

"It started quite well, he showed me this weapon he was cleaning, then it went downhill from there, as if what he was saying was true he was alive when Luna was banished", she spewed out, the words going off like a submachine gun, as it spewed out like projectile vomit.

"Wait what!”, blurted Twilight surprised at this claim

"That’s what I said, then he gave me these letters in old Ponish, that he claims proves it", Starlight continued, as she magically collected the scattered documents into one neat yellow pile.

"That doesn't make sense, he claimed he had been there for about 20 years", exclaimed Twilight, now equally as confused as Starlight.

"Let me see those", said Twilight practically taking off Starlight's horn, as she seized the documents with her magic, like an overzealous dog and a large treat.

Glancing over the papers, she quickly realised they were legitimate, her old Ponish wasn't the best but it was good enough to discern these were royal warrants for the collection of the weapon that now sat on the table in front of her.The dates on the documents backing up his story as they used and obscure calendar that hadn't been used for several generations.

"How is this possible" said Twilight aloud to herself as the creeping realisation set in that this pony may be as old as the royal alicorns.

"I don't know" answered Starlight, now starting to believe that Ratway had been telling the truth, detecting the twinge in Twilight's voice hinting that his outlandish claims might be true.

"Allow me to explain", came a now familiar gravelly voice from the open doorway behind them, as like a spectre Ratway moved silently to join the two mares in the large throne room, covering the distance quickly in his hobbley gait.

"I ave no idea" he said when he reached them giving a shrug, before pulling out a chair and taking a seat next to the princess.

"What do you mean you have no idea?", questioned Twilight.

"You don't just wake up and suddenly realise 1000 years have passed", she continued not believing it was possible to lose that much time.

"As I said I ave no idea, marked days for a while, gave up on that when I ran out of pencils, but I can prove its true", said Ratway confidently, as he pulled a lemon from one of his pouches and took a large bite out of it, not even flinching at the sour fruit.

"How, documents can be faked, and we don't know you enough to take you at your word", interjected Starlight, wanting to get to the end of this madness.

"Aye, tis true that documents can be faked, but memories cannot", he replied taking another bite of the lemon.

"What are you suggesting, a memory probe spell? that's not exactly ethical", said Starlight pondering the option.

"Ethical, it’s downright illegal", snapped Twilight, disgusted by the idea.

"Don't get all igh and mighty now princess, you were good and happy to rewrite my mind when it convenienced you", reminded Ratway, causing Twilight to blush, having glossed over that part in her story.

"That was different, I thought you were going to cause me harm" said Twilight trying to defend her actions as self-defence.

"Trust me little dove, if I wanted arm to befall you, I would have let the frog ave you", he answered, finishing off his lemon.

"Now when I am consenting to getting mind fucked, you get cold feet", Ratway continued producing another lemon, biting into it with a moist crunch.

"It would prove his story", said Starlight, tossing her opinion out there.

"And I aint got a problem with it", said Ratway, mouth filled with lemon pulp.

"But if it goes wrong it could make him a basket case", said Twilight concerned about the long-lasting ramifications that this spell could have.

"Trust me love, I have had worse", said Ratway, trying to dissuade her concern with masculine bravado.

"And from the rambling your student had outside my door this morning, I wouldn't be surprised if she has done it before", he continued, looking over to Starlight, who suddenly started to look very guilty.

"Have you done this before?", enquired ratight, also turning her gaze over to the pink pony. Deep down twilight wanted her student to say no, but from the look on her face that wasn't going to be the answer.

"Yes, I did a lot of things I am no longer proud of", said Starlight in a disconsolate tone.

"And that is why everypony forgives you, it’s because you regret what you did", said Twilight in a comforting voice, knowing how heavily the guilt weighed on Starlight's mind.

"It doesn't matter if others forgive me, if I cannot forgive myself", moped Starlight

With a loud bang, Twilight's attention was brought back to her guest, the source of the noise a metal canteen being aggressively placed on the table. The metal vessel, giving the sound of swilling liquid, as the fluid within settled, before with a brisk push, Ratway slid it over to the part of the table Starlight was standing by.

"What is that?”, asked Starlight confused as to what he had just offered her. Twilight on the other hand recognised the canteen, and was somewhat glad he had produced it, though it was a bit early for hard liquor.

"Booze that don't taste like piss", Ratway said casually, before fishing out another 2 canteens, pushing one over to Twilight and taking a long swig from the third.

"Is there anything you don't carry around in your pouches" asked Twilight, one part based on her own curiosity, the other to change this conversations direction away from Starlight's past.

"Only the important stuff", he replied vaguely.

"And that is?" enquired Twilight.

"Food, booze and knives" he responded, like it was the holy trinity.

"Knives?", questioned Starlight joining in on the conversation, and like Twilight not seeing a correlation between it and the former two. Before Starlight took a swig of the brown liquid, almost coughing it up not expecting it to be so strong.

"Never go anywhere without a knife, that's what me dad told me, and that motto has never failed me", he responded, as he

proudly produced a 9-inch blade, he had somehow concealed somewhere on his person.

"But back to the topic at hoof, are you going to mind probe me?", said Ratway bluntly, clearly set on this course of action.As he said this he sheaved his blade, in what Twilight interpreted as him attempting to make himself less intimidating, a hard feat for the shaggy pony.

"I guess we could give it a try", capitulated Twilight reluctantly. As it seemed he wasn't going to drop this, and it was the logical choice to get to the bottom of this quickly.

"Who do you want to do it with, me or Starlight?", asked Twilight, knowing the transfer of knowledge would go both ways, with some of her memory's bleeding over, as she was shown his. She hoped he would pick her, as there was the risk that what he saw from Starlight's past would taint his perception of her.

"I think it would be better if both me and Twilight do this together", chimed Starlight before he could answer.

"With two ponies spreading the load, it will put less stress on his mind so there will be less chance of negative side effects. It will also help stop one mind dominating the other one, as if this goes wrong it would mentally destroy one of you", Starlight explained, removing any doubts Twilight had that she had done this before, her words echoing with experience.

"If you think that is the best course of action”, said Twilight cautiously, still not entirely comfortable with what they were going to do.

"It’s the safest way we can do it, if were doing it we might as well reduce risk", said Starlight confidently.

"Then we ave reached a solution", said Ratway surprisingly happy about what was going to happen, clearly not understanding the experience he was about to have.

"Let’s get this over with then", grumbled Twilight, taking a swig of the whiskey to calm her nerves, the familiar woody taste returning, and just like before working a treat.

hovel

With the slamming and bolting of doors, they were ready to begin. Starlight was concerned about Twilight, she had accepted this course of action way to quickly, for her likening. Even now as she watched the purple mare manipulate a trio of chairs into a circle, she could tell Twilight was off in some way, maybe what had gone on in that jungle really had change her thought process. Possibly a shift towards being more upfront seeing as she had seen death and was scared that life was to short for all the paper work, or she could just be extremely curious about what rattled around in the scruffy stallion’s mind.

“Are you sure about this” said Starlight, moving over and placing a hoof on Twilights shoulder, letting her know it would be okay if she wanted to back out.

“I am positive, it’s the only way to be sure” she replied, her voice tinged with a layer of uncertainty, to Starlight’s relief, as it told her she was still uncomfortable with this somewhat excessive strategy.

“Are you ready to begin” asked Twilight turning to the unkempt stallion who had entrenched himself in one of the armchairs. After having casually placed his body harness of pouches over the left-hand arm.

“As ready as I will ever be, little dove” he replied, shuffling his ass slightly to better find comfort in the overly spongey chair, his body still not used to the luxuries of civilisation, after his long excursion.

“Before we start wandering my mind, I want to warn you, some of the stuff in ere isn’t the sort of things, two fine mares like your self should be seeing” he said blushing slightly but showing the edge of seriousness.

“it cannot be that bad”, said Starlight, intent on quashing his doubts, as if he was comfortable the mind link would go of smoother.

“We will see when we get there then” he said with an awkward chuckle, clearly beginning to get second thoughts the longer this anticipation built up.

“Shall we begin” asked twilight eager to get the ball rolling, as she took a seat to the left of Ratway, Starlight taking her lead, slotting into the chair to his right.

“Yes” he said confidently, and with that consent Twilights horn illuminated, casting a lavender glow.
For a second Starlight’s horn failed to illuminate, her mind casting back to the last time she had utilised this spell, and what had happened. But that wasn’t her any more she was a good pony know, and with that self-doubt banished her horn sprang to life. Her horn casting a turquoise glow, and for a couple of seconds both the mares just sat their channelling magic into their spiralled wands, the auras increasing in size before with a zapping sound both mares projected a beam directly at Ratway’s head.

In an instant Starlight’s vision went from seeing the face of the stallion in front of her, to the white glow of pure magic. The rolling waves of power casting different intensities of light as she penetrated the mental blocks the stallion had in place, the walls yielding easily as he let them in.

As fast as the pulses had started they yielded and Starlight found herself in an empty hovel, the humble abode lit buy a solitary candle sitting on a worn wooden table. A small collection of brass pots and pans sitting on the mantle. above a burnt-out fire the cheap metal casting the glow of gold in these limited light conditions.
For now, Starlight found herself alone, her two companions not yet reaching this point in the memory, so she pulled up a chair and waited for them to arrive. Trying to grasp the chair with her magic she got no response, the grotty stool remining solidly planted on the ground not budging a inch.

“Your magic won’t work in ere” said Ratway casually, making his presence known, from the dark corner of the room he sat in, cleaning his boom stick in the most therapeutic manner. The metal barrel, now polished and reflecting the dim light of the candle, the smooth surface contrasting with the dark engravings to make the weapon appear most beautiful.

“What do you mean wont work in here” quizzed Starlight, this problem not presenting its self the previous times she had done this.

“I ad said I ave done this before” he answered not giving away what he meant by that, before he rolled off the bed, with a loud thump as his hooves contacted the ground, before limping over to Starlight. Starlight found this odd as most ponies were fully capable in their own head, almost as if this retardation was both mental and physical.
Once he was within whispering distance, the large stallion towered over the mare in the darkness, his back blocking out most of the candle light as he leered in front of her, He began to whisper. “I don’t trust you Starlight, something smells off about ye, and I cannot place it yet.” He rasped in a calm and intimidating manner.

“If you try anything, I will trap you here, and your body will wither like fruit in the sun, your body just a usk, soul stuck in limbo for ever” he continued, his voice remained deadly serious.

“Wait what!” stammered Starlight, terrified that they had let a monster into their mists.

“Nah I am just pulling yer leg, mah brains calcified, means my mental processes are stilted and inflexible” he said chuckling to himself, his tone shifting entirely when he realised he had gotten her good.

“You shouldn’t joke about things like that, you scared me for a moment” snapped Starlight, angry at the dark joke he had pulled. The joke its self, raising further questions, as he had accurately described would happen if he had mentally dominated her.

“But in seriousness, I don’t trust you” he said, cementing the main point he was trying to convey.

“Why?” questioned Starlight, she knew she had baggage in her past, but she didn’t think the stallion knew about it. This sent her mentally panicking, the stress causing her magic to flicker of a moment as the scene of her in the library and the hovel began to meld into one. Before with a deep breath she calmed herself and the hovel scene stabilised.
“Don’t take it personal but is because you’re a unicorn” he admitted.

“But why have that bigotry?” she asked, somewhat relived that it wasn’t her past that was defining his reaction to her, and more simple racism.

“Your going to see, I aven’t had the best runs with unicorns, to much power not enough accountability, it’s a policy that as saved my life countless times, so I stick to it” he answered, getting straight to the point.

“Then why don’t you have a problem with Twilight, she has magic as well” said Starlight, confused by his logic.

“Because I know Twilight, I don’t know you” he answered bluntly, his tone coming out like a seawall.

“You met her less then a week ago, how can you trust her so readily”, blurted Starlight, confused at his easy of trust towards the princess of friendship. Not like it was unfounded, but it wasn’t normal to cast one’s chips in so soon into meeting somepony.

“two reasons, firstly she had ample opportunity to kill me, a simple flick of her glow stick and my ed is replaced by a blood mist, instead she tried to talk things out when she really shouldn’t ave.” he said scratching the back of his neck as if something there made him uncomfortable.
“The second reason is she talks in her sleep, no one with a doll called Mr Smarty pants can be too bad a pony” he said with a laugh, clearly eager to change the topic, without giving away his real reasons. Before as if answering his prayers, with a purple flash Twilight fell from the sky landing on the table with a loud crash, knocking the haphazardly placed items on top to the floor, to a crescendo of smashes and clanks.

“Ow!!!” Twilight exclaimed, before raising off the beech table with a few flaps of her feathered wings, coming to rest on her feet on the other side of the table.

“Where are we?” asked twilight immediately after regaining her bearings.

“You’re in the first night I spent in my own ome” said Ratway, happy to answer her question, giving her a smile to let her know everything was okay.

“Why did you pick to show us this memory in particular?” said Starlight, her goals now set back on getting to the bottom of this stallion’s past.

“Because the last few times I have done this they ask you to focus on a strong memory, they say it keeps your brain from melting or something”, he said before plucking a lemon that twilight had knocked to the floor up and giving it a hearty bite.

“Wait you have done this before” exclaimed Twilight, as she like Starlight was clearly confused as to what kind of context that could occur.

“Aye, they used it in the Equestrian militia to catch out spies and moles, and to guarantee loyalty, those that failed went to a certain ospital” Said Ratway, his body visibly cringing as he made mention to the hospital, as if he had had a bad experience there.

“I could show you if you want or is there some other memory you would prefer to see first, me ladies” he said almost with the flare of a showman, hinting at the former option over the latter being the more desirable option.
“Why don’t you show us from the beginning, so we can fully understand the context of later memory’s” answered Twilight, her scientific mind clearly still at play, as Starlight knew that she was mentally taking notes of everything.

“Aye, I can do that” he said, before visibly straining, as his mind tried to focus on a particular memory. As his mind located the memory Starlight suddenly felt a massive head ache storm in, based on twilights expression the same was happening to her. All three winching in pain for a second before the hovels door swang open with a glowing wall of white light filling the precipice.

“Ladies first” said Ratway, before Starlight watched Twilight take the plunge as she walked through the portal.

Cutiemark

Crossing the precipice, for a moment twilight was blinded by the bright white light, the cleansing light irritating her eyes forcing her to slam them shut. But instead of the usual darkness this would entail, she was giving a glowing pink haze, as the light penetrated through the thin flesh of her eyelids, allowing her to see the steady flow off blood in some of her larger blood vessels.

Walking forward in a blind stupor, the luminous light soon abated, allowing Twilights eyes to flutter open, the purple irises prepared for a bright light, were instead greeted by the cool interior of a worse for wear pub. The low mumbles of chatter began to fill her ears, as the pony’s that surrounded her began to converse, the muffled topics being discussed forming into a low buzz of white noise, as Twilight was unable to differentiate between any of the conversations.

“Where are we” asked Twilight, turning around to see Ratway and Starlight right behind her.

“The Two Headed Swan, finest pub in the slum district” Said Ratway with a smile, clearly having good memories of this not so fine-looking establishment. Before he walked to the counter and took a seat, waving the two mares over.

“So why did you choose to show us this memory” asked Starlight not quite understanding the significance of what was being shown.

“Simple, the gambling board” he said pointing upwards, a large blackboard stained by a thousand chalk squiggles giving it a pale ashy appearance. The days bets clearly marked, in symbols that to twilight looked like gibberish, the only thing making sense being the date, which if she was reading it right was over a thousand years in the past.

“So you brought us here because the black board always shows the days date” rationalized Twilight trying to understand his train of thought.
“Aye” he said before the scene began to flicker, the pony’s around them moving like mannequins, just popping in and out of existence. It took Twilight a moment to realise what he was doing, as a steady throbbing began to creep into her head, looking up she realised he was layering dozens of memories over each other, like a flick book, going through a cycle. The only thing staying consistent was the date on the obsidian board, the days slowly ticking forward in time, days turning into months and then years, it was at this moment she realised he was spending an unhealthy amount of time in this public house.

“Why did you spend so much time here?” asked Starlight, clearly wondering like Twilight why he had memories for several years of him just sitting at the bar.

“because I had no future” he responded bluntly, then a sharp stinging hit Twilights mind, as she let out a wince of pain, then the memory shifted.

Suddenly Twilight was falling, the muddy cobblestones of a grotty ginnel approaching fast as she landed hard, a unreassuring crunch echoing out of her chest as she cracked a rib, the sudden pain reminding her of what had happened in the jungle, making her just want to curl up and cry. Then she noticed the colour of her fur, it was the off white of Ratway’s coat, snapping her mind to the realisation she was reliving a memory from his direct perspective.

“where you at half caste” came the phlegmy voice of a clearly unfriendly pony.

“Buck!!!!!” came the voice of Ratway through gritted teeth, as he attempted to stand but instead crumpling into the open sewer in the middle of the alley, the thick stench of raw sewage assaulting Twilights nose like she had just fallen in herself.

“Bugger me sideways” choked Ratway as he began to crawl from the open sluiceway, using a nearby trash can to try and stumble to his feet, but cringing with pain he instead fell against the trash receptacle with a dull clang.

“There you are you mongrel” came the voice this time much closer, as the ugliest unicorn Twilight had ever seen emerged from her peripheral vision. The grey and brown stallions face pitted by countless smallpox scars, making it look like the surface of the moon. A grey aura enveloping Ratway and violently flinging him around the alley, his body impacting the stone walls with wet thumps, as twilight relived it with him. To Twilight it felt like eternity, until as fast as it had started the onslaught stopped.

“Now listen you crossbreed basterd, if I ever see you again without me money your fooking dead, you hear me, I would knobble you meself if you weren’t already crippled” growled the stallion, before hocking a massive loogie and spitting it directly into Ratway’s face. The green snot sticking to his short fur before slowly rolling to the mud below with a wet splat.

“tell your dad he has 3 days to pay, or I will cut those pretty eyes out of your mother’s face and depending on how I feel I might skullfuck her as well” said the stallion, thrusting his hips to establish the intent.
With his point made the stallion dropped him, the thick mud below squelching as Ratway hit it, and with that the stallion simply turned, whacking Ratway in the face with his tail for good measure and coolly walked away, slowly chuckling cruelly to himself.

With that the memory faded as the mists of time overtook the scene and Twilight found herself back in the bustling Pub, the upbeat manner in stark contrast to what Ratway had just shown them.

“What do you mean no future?” quizzed Starlight, giving no indication that she had also been privy to the beating Twilight had experienced.

“Well you ave seen my cutiemark right” he said gesturing to the mangled rat in a trap, that adorned his flanks. Most of the time Twilight didn’t really look at ponies cutiemarks, but now it was being mentioned she had a gander at the morbid special talent that he had been gifted with, giving it a half-hearted glace. Her mind more focused on to why Ratway would show her something and then not address it, then what had happened clicked, it was memory leachate, something from his mind had accidently crossed over, as she had been unintentionally exposed to a part of his past, and if more was to follow she wasn’t looking forward to it.

“You okay little dove? you got that look on yer mug that something’s troubling you” Said Ratway, having observed that Twilight had just been standing there with a confused look on her face, having for some reason checked out of the conversation.

“Yes, everything’s fine, just making mental notes” she lied, not wanting to give him any indication she had seen something she shouldn’t have, especially regarding the sketchy content she had just witnessed.

“Ait just checking you went a bit bozeyed for a moment there” he said with a relaxed laugh, not giving any indication that anything was amiss.

“What is your special talent if you don’t mind me asking?” said Twilight, seizing the opportunity to reengage with the conversation. Probing to see if he would show her more memories that would collaborate his alleged age.

“Trapping rats, nothing special” he said in a nonchalant manner, as if the core part of who he was meant nothing to him.

“There must be a story to how you got it” said Twilight remembering back to how she had gotten her own cutiemark, the day happy, as not only was she accepted into Celestia’s magic school, but she also hatched spike.

“Not much to say, whacked a rat with a shovel in the grain house, and it just popped up” he said, his tone still showing it wasn’t very Important to him. Twilight also noted to be careful about introducing him to Fluttershy as she didn’t want him to accidently kill any of her rodent friends.

“Would you mind showing us how you got your cutie mark?” asked Twilight thinking he was holding back on something, as from her experience the moment someone gained their cutiemark, it was a lot more eventful then a yeah that just happened moment.

“Sure, but as I said its aint very interestin” he said, his accent creeping in as he dropped the g, clearly not very enthused with revisiting his childhood. And like that the headache returned and all three of them grimaced in pain, as the bar faded away and was replaced by the cool dark confides of a grain shed. The perspective shifting as all three of them saw the events from Ratway’s perspective.

Within the dark interior of the silo, there was silence other then the gentle creaking of wood, and the steady breathing that Ratway was giving, the aforementioned shovel tightly fixed between his lips. The short hilt of the spade, a cool metal, just like the head, which had one side serrated as to be used to cut turf. The green paint that covered the whole length of the metal tool was heavily chipped cool steel gleaming in the candle light of a small lamp fixed atop his head.

The flickering lamp casting a yellow circle of dim light across the room as he scanned for something. His breath slowing further he fished around in one of the pouches that even as a colt festooned his body, producing a stale hunk of bread, unfit for even a bird table. Casting it ahead of him the solid lump of hard bread rolled a couple of feet, scattering crumbs like snow, before coming to a rest about 3 yards in front of him. The whole process not seeming to make much sense to Twilight who had just assumed rattraps would be a sufficient device for rodent control.

With the bait in place, Ratway gave one last sweep of the silos walls, letting Twilight get a good look at her surroundings. The walls were made of drystone walling, the lack of cement not an issue as well skilled hooves had placed the stone in such a way that it remained sturdy without the need for such a conglomerate to maintain structural integrity. The grey stones looking to be shale or limestone, the gleaming of calcified fossils twinkling in the light, as the dim yellow circle passed over them.

following the wall along, the wall the microfossils shining like gemstones, eventually the light could not pierce the darkness, instead just coming to an abrupt halt in the ebony shadows. Losing the wall as reference the lamp returned to the stale bread, the blue and green mass, still sitting where he had thrown it, as of yet untouched by the rats that he was set to kill.

For a moment he just stood there in noiselessness scanning the area around the lump, using the lacklustre torch to the best effect he could muster. Then Twilight saw it, a pair of glowing red orbs leering in the shadows near the discarded bread crust. For a moment she thought Ratway didn’t as his beam casually passed over the demonic eyes gleaming in the darkness, the torch strobing past them without the slightest acknowledgment, until the ray returned, passing over the rat a few times, each time the glowing embers growing more frenzied, as she imagined the rat salivating over the meal of bread to come.

The longer he scanned the more pairs of red eyes began to start to lurk just a few feet away from the ball of crusty bread, the eye gleams looking increasingly emaciated, as a voting block of rodents amassed ready to rush the bread the moment the opportunity presented itself. Though the numbers of eyes increased non-were as large as the initial rat, the alpha being the boldest due to its large size, which if the eye spacing was right must have been the size of a cat.

Without warning Ratway extinguished the torch on his head, the room suddenly being cast into darkness, and the sounds of the rats swarming over the bread could be heard, as Ratway charged forward, slamming the shovel down multiple times over the writhing mass of rats, the sounds of crunches and desperate shrieking could be hurt as the rats scattered. He continued blindly flailing the shovel down until the sounds of the injured rats ceased, one by one as their bodies were pulped.

Panting Ratway reignited the lamp on his head, the clicking of flint and a few stray sparks flying as the breath of fire returned to the stubby candle held within the bronze mounting. No sooner had the light returned did he shine it directly on the area he had been swinging, seeing a shallow pool of rat blood and the mangled carcasses of about a half dozen rats. Their shattered limbs pointing at odd angles as their small but strong bones had been shattered by his superior weapon, the sight causing Twilights stomach to lurch, as Ratway casually began to clean the slick rat blood from his spade, the fabric of the white cloth quickly becoming stained red with the pest’s blood.

Once cleaned of blood, he slammed the shovel into the soft floor, the metal lancing deep into the ground as it embedded itself allowing it to stand without his support. As he produced a small pen knife and began to cut each tail from the rats, he had just slayed, each one coming away with a light crunch as he severed the rat’s spinal columns. With the tails separated he placed them into a mass and using a small length of twine tied them into a grotesque faggot of leathery tails. Giving the bundle a flick to remove any excess blood he then placed them in the same pouch he had produced the bread from, before folding his knife, and sheathing it.

Looking one last time at the crooked extremities of the rats, their broken limbs casting surreal shadows on the nearby wall, the shattered limbs creating zigzags of darkness in the orange glare. Producing a potato sack, from a different pocket, he hung it from his shovel, and casually chucked the contorted rat mort’s into the crude brown sack, its course fabric getting a red tinge in the bottom corners as the rat blood began to pool there.
Pulling the sack closed, he then threw a second piece of bread, and repeated the process he had just done, this time having more success, with the light returning he had bagged nearly two dozen rats, their broken body’s filling the kill zone around the bread like a failed banzai charge. the whole scene getting worse as it went on as Twilight felt sick, she had been prepared for unsavoury things, but this was on a different level, the stallion was more efficient then a tomcat. For a moment Ratway sighed, clearly not enjoying what he was doing, the sound filling Twilight with some relief, as if he was enjoying this it would be about as red flag as you can get. He then preceded to cut each tail from the respective rats, the loud crunching of broken vertebra forever etching itself into twilights brain. the combined mass of long tails making a monstrous faggot, the mass about as thick as a pony’s wrist, as he placed it in the same pocket as the first bundle.

Discarding the corpses into the potato sack with their already fallen brethren, he slung the bloodstained bag over his shoulder and began to hobble out, yanking his shovel out of the soft ground as he left. Then an aggressive rustling started, the sound rapidly approaching as something large skittered along the floor directly behind him. Swinging his head just in time he smacked the alpha directly in the face mid lunge with his shovel with a loud ding. The metal resonating from the impact as the gigantic rat flew across the room impacting the wall hard.

Not even phased the overgrown rodent sprang to its feet and let out an angry hiss, the yellow fangs of the plague rat bared in a snarl of aggression. The rabid vermin flinging its self at him with reckless abandon, each time aiming for his face to avenge its fallen ilk, and every time he swatted the cat sized rat away. The beady red eyes of the pitch-black rat growing enraged, as its attacks were thwarted, even though Twilight was impressed by his skill, she could tell Ratway was terrified, as she could feel his heart rate elevating the longer this engagement went on, but to Twilight it was just a blur the movements confused and erratic in the dark confined space.

Finally, the rat made a mistake, and Ratway managed to trap its head under his shovels blade and putting his entire weight behind it, was rewarded with a loud squelch and a spray of blood, the cold metal blade slicing the rats head from its shoulders. Leaning on his shovel, and letting out a little cry, Twilight was reminded that in this memory Ratway couldn’t have been older than 12, the experience had been harrowing to a grown mare, so she could only imagine what it had been like for the young colt.

His crying was interrupted by a sudden glowing emanating from his flanks, turning he saw the familiar rat cutiemark fade into existence on his filthy rump. The memory not giving any real strong emotions, as he had said in the bar, just a feeling that it was business as usual. Swinging the still twitching rat carcass over his left shoulder and the bag of its clan over the other he exited the grain building and entered the glowing light.

The sight was alien to Twilight, being a medieval rookery, tall shoddily constructed building filling her line of sight, the three story buildings all built haphazardly on top of each other, clearly without the guidance of a urban planner.
“It done kid” came a phlegmy voice, as rat way turned to the left to see the unicorn who had beat the crap out of him in the earlier memory, his appearance startling Twilight, as she had not expected to be seeing him again so soon.
“Aye I got them” Ratway said dumping the bag of rats, and the now still alpha in front of him, before retrieving the tail faggots to prove the numbers he had killed.
“As I honoured, I will give you 1 bit a tail, but I see you got the alpha, so I will give you 5 extra” he said slowly counting the tails a few times before handing a leather purse of coin to Ratway, who then opened it and counted the coin just to make sure he wasn’t getting ripped off.
“Pleasure doin business with ya” Ratway said with a smile, before waddling off with his weird gait, as he got about 10 yards away from his employer he heard him yell, swinging around Ratway tried to catch what was yelled.
“If I ever need more rats killing, I will give you the first call, only work suitable for a mud pony, and its seems your marked for it now” the grotty voice yelled before the unicorn lit a cigar and went off on a stroll down the cobbled street whistling some sort of shanty as he puffed away, Leaving Ratway alone in the quite street with the only sound being the gentle clink of gold as he walked home.

With that the memory ended, the pub slowly creeping back into existence, much like how they had left it.

“See told ye it was nowt” said Ratway, as Twilight grew ready to discuss what he had just shown them.

“That didn’t seem like nothing, you decapitated a rat with a shovel” interjected Starlight beating her to the punch, as everything she had just seen was not normal.

“I have to agree, I don’t think beating a mischief of rats to death with a shovel counts as normal behaviour” concurred Twilight, somewhat concerned that Ratway had had a very bad childhood.
“Why were you even in that situation?” asked Twilight wanting the events leading up to it in context.

“it’s a long story” he said scratching the back of his neck, at this point obviously his nervous twitch, keying Twilight in that it was an uncomfortable subject for him.

“Its fine, we are hear to prove your telling the truth about you being around when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, why don’t you show us some of the time during that period” asked Twilight, wanting to change the subject as it was hitting a few nerves.

“That sounds like a good idea, there is very little written on the subject maybe you could enlighten us on what it was like” chimed in Starlight, smiling in support of the idea.

“Ait” he said, and then the headaches began again, as the smell of fire filled twilights nose….

Convoy

As before the light dimmed and Twilight found herself again seeing the world through Ratway’s eyes, the right eye blurred but some sort of pooling fluid creating a distorted view in the right side of his vision cone. This clearly bothered him, as he placed his hoof to his eye and applied pressure, when he pulled the hoof away the vision was back to an acceptable level of clarity.

With his vision restored he began to test the eye looking around casually, which gave Twilight the benefit of taking in her surroundings. He was in the back of a wooden carriage, the wood grey with mud and hard worn, the carriage made of repurposed wood so that multiple different shades of wood were present each aging differently giving the vehicle a patchwork appearance.

Wooden benches flanked both sides of the wheeled vehicle, nothing more then a plank of wood with 2 wedges of wood nailed on both sides in an unprofessional manner, using more nails then necessary as if made by untrained hooves. Sitting on the bench opposite were a few miserable looking earth pony’s, their faces solemn and almost looking defeated as if they were walking the green mile. Each pony looked different, the only things they had in common was their race, a chain with a dogtag on and a stained white armband showing a crude representation of princess Celestia’s cutiemark. The coughing coming from his right told twilight the same scene was present on this side of the cart as well, as to his left was the rolling road this crude form of transport was traversing, a second cart following closely behind with an exhausted looking earth pony stallion tugging it along.

Abruptly the unsuspensioned wheel of the carriage hit a pothole, and the whole wooden structure shook in such a way that was sure to cause lasting damage to the coccyx of all present. The sudden jolt causing Ratway to violently grasp at something between his legs, the cold feeling of his boomsticks steel barrel meeting his hoof, as he looked down to make sure it was still okay. The metal was clean, the cool steel not yet weathered or engraved into the work of art it had been in the present, instead it looked like it was fresh from the foundry’s, the smell of a furnace still clinging to it, which she now knew was what she had smelt as the memory had phased in.

“Quality transport fer Equestria’s finest” came a joking response from the pony to his right, the comment getting a few scattered chuckles from a few of the other pony’s present.

“Aye” agreed Ratway, before he swang the breech open on his boomstick before loading a cartridge and closing it again, the hammer remaining down acting as the safety.

The mumbling chuckles were soon interrupted by a banging on the front of the enclosed cart as a small flap popped open.

“Listen up you mud pony swine, by Celestia’s grace your worthless lives have been put in my charge, I expect you to die for Equestria that’s all your good for, now keep it down” came a angry voice tinged with a upper-class accent, before with a clank the wooden door swung back shut, returning the carriage to the awkward silence that had pervaded it prior to the joke.

As if the sun was scared by the outburst it rapidly nosedived behind the hills, plunging the land in darkness, and halting the convey in its tracks. The suffocating darkness persisted as Ratway fondled around with his hoof in the dark before with a few clicks and a spark his lighter illuminated the terrified faces that surrounded him.

“What’s happening? I was informed the cease fire was going to continue for another 5 hours” growled the officer in the front of the cart, his loud posh voice easily audible from within the wooden box of the cart. This outburst causing a panic in the back of the carriage, as a sudden uncertainty filled the already uneasy ponies contained within this mobile crate.

“We’re going to die” wailed a mare outside of the glow of the small lighters flickering flame, the terror in her voice palpable.

“I want to go home, I wasn’t even on the conscription list, my father is a shop keeper I should have been excluded, I am not like these other dregs” she grovelled, her words not dropping the H like Ratway did implying some level of education. For a moment Twilight felt Ratway’s mouth open as if to interject her rant, before at the mention that he was a dreg it shut like a bank vault.

“This is a corruption of justice, I don’t belong in this penal unit, among rapists and murderers, I am an accountant” she cried before just breaking down in tears and the thump of her hitting her head against the wooden wall, as she blindly flailed in the darkness.

“keep it down in there you mud farming whore, I am trying to think, another outburst like that and I will activate your geode” came the at this point pissed voice of the officer outside, his blunt threat silencing the mares mewling.

A few moments passed the only sound being the slow burning of the ethanol on the lighter wick, and the re-instigation of a pony that more than likely had TB coughing again, the dry hacking cough even at this distance disturbing the flame, causing it to dance as it cast long shadows in the darkness.

“Okay listen hard as I am only going to say this once, I know that’s difficult for you uncultured muckers, but at least try” came the condescending voice of the officer again, a little fear tinging his voice, but his years of upper-classetiquettewas keeping it well masked, that and his sheer disdain for his troops.
“I want three of you to scout out the road ahead, that moon bitch has broken the treaty, so I expect an attack, if its clear we will move up to Bogsend, if you die its 3 less mouths to feed, any volunteers?” he said, the ask for volunteers sounding more like an order then an offer.

“Aye sir” said Ratway without a thought, the words escaping the moment the officer had closed his lips.

“Excellent you’re an eager one you can lead this operation, if your mud pony mind is capable of formulating a basic plan. anypony else?” he asked, the only response he got was silence, so the glow of a horn filled the pitch-blackness, the blue light immediately getting another volunteer from the croaky voice of the stallion sitting opposite of Ratway.

“Aye, I would gladly die for Celestia’s glory” he sputtered out, holding the back of his neck well trembling in fear.

“Anyone else?” the officer asked again, even with the threat of what ever the glow of magic represented he didn’t gain a stir from the cowering ponies.

“Guess I get to pick” he said to himself with a cruel laugh.

“You” he yelled the spotlight his horn was generating falling on the mare who had unleased the tirade earlier. The light giving Ratway a good look at her, the light green mare with a sweat drenched pale blue mane and tail, her eyes like pinpricks the white’s red from crying.

“Me sir?” she asked, visibly shaking as she knew it was an order.

“Questioning an order, and insubordination, that’s 2 strikes one more and your out” he said cruelly, the glow of his horn growing brighter as if to prove his point.

“I am going to count to three and you had better get out of the carriage”

“1”
“2”

Before he could say three the mare overcame the paralysis of fear that had gripped her body and literally flew out of the back of the cart landing in a crumpled heap that slowly attempted to get to its feet before falling and faceplanting the dirt, the mud of the unpaved road now caking the front of her body, a slight whimper coming from the defeated mare.

“Just like a bog trotter to be at home in mud like the pig she is” laughed the officer.

“Now you two, help her up and get the job done, that is all” he said, before with a clunk the small door swung shut again and the sounds of someone preparing a cigar could be heard through the ramshackle wood.

Obeying the order Ratway got up from his seat, boomstick under his armpit and a moment later dropped to the road with a light clop, the sounds of his omnipresent satchels jiggling for a moment as the contents shifted. In his wake the other stallion could be heard as with another clop he joined him minus the rattle as he was less well equip. The loss of the lighter plunged the cart in darkness the small flame firmly in-between Ratway’s teeth, the warmth somewhat pleasant against his cheek.

“Guv uv A oof” he spat through the metal lighter, as he firmly grabbed the mares left shoulder, the other stallion doing the same for the right, as they pulled the mare to her wobbly feet. For a moment she almost buckled but Ratway’s firm shoulder acted as a buttress and she remained standing.

“Thanks” she stammered with a sniffle the thanks coming of more from habit then actual appreciation. Now out of the cart Ratway extinguished the lighter returning it to its holster and in the darkness firmly shoved his boomstick through one of the straps of his harness. These actions giving his eyes sufficient time to adjust to the perpetual darkness that had enveloped the land, the only sources of light being the now illuminated lamps mounted on the front of the conveys carts, as thick clouds smothered the stars.

Walking to the front of the cart the orange glow of the lamp illuminating his face as smoke stung his eyes causing tears to well.

“Sir permission to use a torch for this excursion” he asked giving a salute for good measure.

For a moment the officer just sat there puffing away on his table leg of a cigar, the grey rings of smoke floating away into the darkness the sheen of refracting light giving them a glow until they past the boundary between the light and the darkness and faded to nothing.

Twilight couldn’t get a good look at him, but she knew he was well dressed, his uniform even in the darkness appearing clean, and the sheen of his brass buttons like glowing embers in the otherwise bland surroundings. He seemed to like the question, as a crooked grin filled his face, his teeth rotted through by the high sugar diet of nobility that Twilight had read about in school. In the glow of the lamp she couldn’t discern his fur colour, but she knew he was pale with a dark mane shade, the hair seeming black in the lowlight conditions.
“You see this you ingrates” he said giving the cart wall behind him a knock, to get the occupants attention.

“This mud pony knows who his betters are, as such I feel inclined to grant your request, you may take one, don’t waste it” he continued his furrowed brow still giving a look of disgust at what he deemed to be a subpony.

“Thank you, sir” said Ratway before giving another salute, and hobbling off towards what Twilight assumed was a supply cart to retrieve the tool in question.

It was as he was fumbling around in a crate retrieving the torch, he was confronted by the stallion who had reluctantly volunteered for this little mission.

“What the buck was that shite, you was brown nosing hard” he whispered angrily, eager to keep his words out of earshot of the officer about 30m behind them.

“ye wanted to walk there in t’dark” Ratway said calmly, as with a couple of sparks the torch ignited as if to prove his point. The torch taking the form of a metal rod filled with liquid fuel the top coned in to the shape of a headlamp, the concave polished glass acing as a reflector forcing the beam in a direct manner facing forward, deeming the Lightsource sufficient Ratway slipped it onto his harness so it acted like a train nose light.

“Well no” the stallion quickly back peddled.

“Exactly, if a little brown nosin keeps me alive I would do it in a eartbeat” he replied bluntly.

“Its bad enough they got these obedience rocks in are fricking necks, I aint stumbling around in the dark like a spaz waiting for the Luna militia to gut me like a alibut” Ratway continued to add cement to his logic.

“Fine I see yer point” capitulated the stallion, not seeing a flaw in the logic that had been presented so that he would have to begrudgingly accept it.

“wot about er though” said the stallion, gesturing his head in such a way to indicate the still trembling mare waiting for them at the start of the convoy.

“aint got a clue, but she did call us all rapists, might have to oblige er in that fantasy” said Ratway, before letting out a laugh that could only signify it was a joke.

“Aye” said the stallion between an equally light-hearted snicker, the joke successfully breaking the ice.

“Ratway” said Ratway extending a hoof to shake.

“Stonespinner” the stallion replied returning the shake.

“Well Stonespinner let’s not keep the lieutenant waitin” Ratway said as he began walking down the road towards the mare, his vision fixed firmly ahead, but the squelching of mud telling Twilight Stonespinner was following behind Ratway’s unusually gait. As they passed the mare she fell into their formation one walking either side of Ratway so that they could us the light the torch he held illuminated the well past due maintenance roadway.

At this point the three ponies slowly began walking down a deserted road surrounded by darkness, the nippy night air growing cold now the sun had been vanquished. In the peace Twilight had time to think, the memory now at a slow phase as a slow bumbling walk occupied the scene the only change being the moon peeking out of the cloud layer. She had seen so much, racism, some sort of obedience geode, conscription, penal regiment, her mind was being filled with new things and not all she liked, as it was beginning to put a tarnish of Ratway’s reputation, after all how could he end up in the company of such undesirables if he wasn’t one of them. The memory speed up as the trio walked down the road so that more then an hour had passed, the steady movement of the stars visible in the now clear night sky.

The abrupt extinguishing of the torch snapped Twilight back to what was happening.

“Hey why did you turn…” began Stonespinner, before Ratway rapidly cupped a hoof over his mouth.

“Sssh, get off the road, now”, Ratway whispered his ears twitching up a storm after hearing something that even Twilight hadn’t caught, her mind to busy on what had happened previously. With his order given, Ratway began rapidly moving to his direct left and entering the drainage ditch that commonly bordered country roads. Stonespinner following suit at this point probably working out that Ratway has some idea to what he was doing, were as the mare stayed put, a confused look on her face.

“love, for the love of Celestia get off the bucking road” hissed Ratway, a clear concern emanating from his voice, as Twilight felt the kick of adrenalin flooding his body.

“Why?” questioned the ditzy mare, missing what ever Ratway had noticed just like Twilight

“Again, why should I climb into that sluice way with you two” she asked, moving closer to them to make sure they could hear her without having to yell.

Without giving her the curtesy of a reply Ratway lunged forward and grabbed her, the mare letting out a yelp of surprise and tried to scream as she was dragged into the ditch. in response Ratway jammed one of his hooves into her mouth silencing her, as her heartbeat went crazy the mare seemingly convinced he was about to rape her, and even Twilight began to have her doubts that he might succumb to a little carnal pleasure.

Instead he just sat there the warmth of the mare’s rump firmly on his groin, his dick not even twitching as he remained deathly silent, as if waiting for something, her sent filling his nostrils as her matted hair rubbed against his nose. the desperate breathing of the mare growing more and more intense as she thrashed about in his lap, his granite grip holding her steady as she slowly nudged his back into the dirt embankment of the ditch. After a couple of minutes of frantic struggling she went limp her heavy breathing growing calm as she accepted that he was in direct control, if he was going to defile her she was powerless to stop it.

“You going to be quiet now” Ratway whispered into the mare’s ear, his breath causing it to twitch at the disturbance. He didn’t get a clear verbal response seeing as her mouth was currently occupied, but she did give an assertive nod, so he cautiously retracted his hoof and release his bear trap like grip, the mare rolling off him and crawled a few feet away along the ditch away from the two stallions, curling up in a ball and rocking slightly, the mare still terrified of her two companions, but remaining quiet like Ratway had wanted.

Without the mares erratic breathing, Twilight could now hear what Ratway had heard earlier, the sounds clopping hooves, the sounds of steel horseshoes on the semi cobbled road carrying in the now frigid night air, now much closer so all three ponies present could easily hear it.

“Is that the enemy?” asked Stonespinner, his voice a mixture of anxiety and anticipation, gooseflesh more than likely creeping over his body just like Ratway was experiencing at this moment.

“I don’t know, just button it, I don’t want them to hear us” said Ratway in muffled words, as he removed his boomstick from his harness and again checked it was loaded before propping it up so that it was aimed down the road, the barrel scanning the still deserted lane, his eyes like a hawk looking for movement, but for now finding nothing, the sound gradually growing louder as the seconds ticked by.

Then he saw them, shadows moving in the dark there had to be more then two dozen, the clattering of there hooves the only sound they made as they advanced down the winding road. The identity of the travellers unknown, the only certainty was they weren’t friendly as white armbands would have stood out in the darkness, the whites catching the gleaming moonlight like the rays of the sun. realising there were to many for them to engage successfully, Ratway popped out the breech and switched the shells, loading a cardboard cartridge the end a bright red as if to signify danger.

“Mate, I am going to shoot a flare , the moment you ear the whoosh I want you to run back to the convoy, tell the lieutenant the enemy is approaching, were gonna make a break fer it, shield yer eyes its gonna get bright” he aggressively whispered to Stonespinner, who nodded and gave a grunt of acknowledgment.

“Love did you hear that” he said in hushed tones looking over at the mare who had stopped shaking and had drawn a short knobbling stick, which she clearly had no idea how to use, as she held it completely wrong and looked like she was going to do more harm to herself then the enemy. Now knowing his plan she sheathed the weapon and prepared to run.

“mhmm” she hmphed, clearly getting the jist of Ratway’s plan, though Twilight had no idea how well she was going fair as she seemed way out of her depth, even to Twilights unmilitaristic mind.

With that little exchange complete the silence returned, Ratway steadying his boomstick, the barrel firmly aimed at the lead pony in the approaching formation, the clopping of hooves filling his ears as he calmed his breathing and aimed for centre mass. Moving his right hoof slowly he primed the hammer the raised lump of metal ready to strike, the metal locking in place with a reassuring click, now ready he held his breath and pulled the trigger.

With a roaring whoosh a ball of fire flew from the barrel, the hunk of burning phosphorus lodging its self firmly in the chest of the lead pony, as the hissing of the water in his cells evaporating filled the air, the grotesque scene playing out to a chorus of his screams of surprise and agony. The red glow illuminating the entire formation, stripping them of their night vision as their irises contracted at the bright light the night turning to day, as confused yelling filled the air.

“Fuckin run” yelled Ratway, as he vaulted out of the ditch and no sooner had he felt his hooves hit the road he was off running in his normal ungainly fashion. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Stonespinner do the same as well as the mare he had yet to learn the name of. The sounds of their break out being masked under the death rattles of the pony he had hit with a flare, the ball of fire cooking his organs well they still sat in his chest cavity. After a few moments the confused yelling stopped as the Luna militia worked out they were under attack and the yells of a pursuit behind them filled the air, the soldier’s hellbent on avenging their fallen brother.

Ratway and his compatriots seemed to be easily outpacing the trained troops, their armour slowing them down, in comparison to the no existent armour of the conscript dress code, Ratway seemingly unaffected by the unknown amount of weight he was carrying in his harness as the weight was an extension of himself. With the escape seeming inevitable, Twilight took a sign of relief as she hoped nothing more graphic was going to materialise, she had never wondered what would happen if you shot a pony with a flare and now she didn’t want to remember it, that was until Ratway heard a yelp behind him.

Swing his head around, Twilight got a good view of what had caused the outburst, the mare had tripped and was coming to a rolling stop in a crumpled tangle of limbs. Observing the scene, Ratway slowed his pace, to see if she would get up, the mare trying but failing to do so.

“Bugger” Ratway mumbled as he spun around to help her up. Twilight didn’t know why he had done it, everything pointed to him hating the mare, maybe Ratway himself didn’t know but she would have to ask him latter, as his rescue began to play out.

“I got ye” he said reassuringly, the voice reminding Twilight of her brother, when she had hurt herself as a filly, the voice reminiscent of the rock shining armour was, adding further conflicting messages she was getting about Ratway’s character.

“Are you hurt” he asked, trying to asses the situation as he pulled her to her hooves, the mare immediately falling again as her front right leg wasn’t taking any weight and was instead hanging limp, like a windchime in the still night air.

“I cannot feel my leg” she mewled, which Twilight interpreted as her going into shock, the front leg well and truly broken, a large compound fracture presenting its self to her medical mind.

“Shite” exclaimed Ratway as he took in the knackered leg, realising there was no way in Equestria they were outrunning the enemy if her leg was bollocked. Glancing down the road seeing the back of Stonespinner vanish into the darkness, the urge to flee creeping in, leaving this stuck up mare to her fate seemed like a viable option, but Twilight could sense a tinge of doubt, Ratway glancing towards the sound of the pursuit, then the road to safety, and finally back to the desperate mare.

“I am gonna to regret this, I already know” he grumbled to himself, his mind set on an outcome, before he dragged the mare off the road and rolled her into the drainage ditch, this part partially flooded the mare making a splash as she sank into the mud up to her neck. Ratway joining her a moment matter the cold mud nipping at the bottom of his barrel, as he lurked in the quagmire waiting for the patrol to pass.

No sooner had he cleared the road, did the patrol gallop past a dozen or so stallions blindly charging through the darkness, assuming they had continued to follow the road in the dash to escape, not taking the time to gander at the humble trench Ratway had concealed the pair in. that was until a straggler, clearly not used to such an excursion of physical prowess came up the rear. the stallion gasping, the weight of his armour putting a damper on his stamina. He stopped a few feet away from them the loud whimpering of the mare starting as she began to feel her shattered leg, thinking fast Ratway again placed a hoof over her snout silencing her, his hoof cutting off both her mouth and nostrils stopping her from breathing. For a moment she thrashed before again capitulating to his iron grasp, her eyes rolling back in her head as she went slack, her mind going dark as she lost consciousness. Gently holding her slack body so her head was above the waters surface he remained there not even daring to breath, the soft breathing of the now calm mare the only sound emanating from the pair.

For a second the stallion looked in the direction of Ratway’s hiding place, causing him to go ridged and remaining as still as a statue, but the gaze soon passed the wandering eyes of the stallion seemingly unused to the dark. Going slack in relief Ratway watched cautiously until the stallion left in a canter keen to catch up with his friends.

With the coast clear he tired to wake the mare from the slumber he had put her in, a few gentle taps to the cheeks being sufficient to have her eyes flutter open as she stirred, battered and tired.

“What the serious fuck is your problem” she snapped the moment her mind rebooted, the mare understandably upset that he had just choked her out. Moving her leg to slap him, she instead winced in pain as the shattered limb began to ache again, a few loose tears trickling down her face.

“Here let me help you” Ratway said calmly, seemingly ignoring the outburst as he gently placed her back against the embankment and retrieved tube of some sort of drug, a red cross marking it as medicine of some description.

“What is that” she snarled, clearly not wanting anymore of Ratway’s surprises.

“tis morphine, I swiped it earlier from boot camp, its not like they is gonna need it safe and sound at the royal palace, better of out ere in the field, wouldn’t you agree”, Ratway said before plunging the needle into the mare’s upper leg above the fracture causing her to wince again, the pain still very much real until the sedative kicked in.

“So you a thief, that’s why you’re here” said the mare, a smile coming to her face from a combination of the opioid and her belief she had figured out the stallion in front of her.

“Not even close love, I signed up for this unit” he said bluntly, the tone of his voice showing he had taken offence to the mare’s accusation.

“Why in Celestia’s name would anyone come to this wasteland in any state other than duress” she exclaimed not buying the claim for an instant, the sudden movement of her diaphragm making her raw nerves chafe causing her to grimace in pain. The sunless sky at this point had allowed the temperature to drop, and a light snowfall began to occur, the white flakes sticking in both their manes as the conversation continued.

“Reasons I don’t think a stuck-up bitch like you would understand” he growled his patience frayed at this point, as every interaction he had had with this mare up to now had been a negative experience for him.

“You didn’t have to save me, I am sure they would have taken me as a POW for ransom, my father has a fair amount of coin, they would have been well compensated” she responded in a calm manner as if she had been in control of the situation the whole time, rationalising possible outcomes.

“You don’t onestly believe that do you, your legs broken they would ave slit your throat as you lay there flopping like a fish, and that’s after they decide if they wanted to rape you or not” he said harshly, the words suddenly sinking in as the mare realised he had just saved her life. The look of realisation flashed by quickly and her glare of disrespect soon returned further infuriating Ratway.

Making an angry sound and holding a hoof up to slap the mare for her delusion he paused, the limb fidgeting with pent-up rage, before with a depressed sigh he returned the hoof to the squelching mud.

“Listen love, I think we started this on the wrong hoof, I am Ratway” he said, offering a mud caked hoof out to shake, before noticing the filth and wiping it off on his breast and returning a still dirty frog for her to accept.

Looking at the hoof with a level of confusion, the mare reached out with her good hoof and accepted it.

“I am Rose Fleur, first born daughter of Golden Fleur” she said assertively, as if her name had some form of power.

“Gonna be onest with you love, I aint got a clue who……” began Ratway before a bloodcurdling screech cut off his sentence. The sound deeply scaring Twilight, there was something primal about it, like a long-lost predator was skulking the earth once more.

“What is that?” asked Rose, her body shaking like a leaf as the unholy call had rattled her bones, her response mirroring the thoughts in Twilights mind.

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out” he said as with a yank he pulled the groggy mare to her hooves for the 3rdtime today, before he lifted her out of the ditch.

“Why are you doing this?” questioned the mare, as her heavy body was pushed onto the road, the slick mud coating her fur acting as a lubricant letting her easily slip across the surface. The mare finally asking the question Twilight had been wondering these last few minutes.

Ratway didn’t answer her instead he rolled her onto her side and put her in the recovery position, leaving her there for a moment, before removing his belt, the collection of small pouches sliding off the length of leather.

“Love please stop talking, I am going to splint yer leg, I aint done this before so I need to concentrate” he said in a stern voice, before straightening her leg to a howl of pain, the ache too much for the drug to dampen. Taking her knobbling stick and then detaching the barrel from his boom stick he framed her devastated limb, the lengths of metal hopefully sufficient to hold what was left of her leg together. With the foundations in place he then proceeded to wrap his belt around the metal poles in a hodgepodge repair attempt, the belt insufficient so he resorted to using a roll of wax tape, the materials forming a tight grip on her leg as she whimpered at even the slightest movement.

With a final yank, Ratway was satisfied with the tightness of his foray into medicine, as he spat the roll of tape from his mouth and answered her question.

“Because if we don’t look out for each other no pony will” he said, before biting of the end of the tape cleanly and patting it to form a complete seal on her leg. With his task done he scooped up the scatted pouches of his equipment and shoved them into the pockets that had some level of space, his belt now serving a different purpose then its original design intention and the rest of his harness having to pick up the slack.

“You’re a real pessimist aren’t you” she said as he helped her to her hooves, the leg not able to take any weight, causing her to fall, her head coming to rest on Ratway’s now desiccated mud caked chest, the warmth of her fur pleasant in the now icy night, the mare holding for moment the head slowly bobbing as Ratway breathed, before pulling away before it lingered to long as to become weird.

“Just a realist, if you adn’t noticed your tag says expendable on it” he said tapping the small oval of metal that hang from his neck, not addressing her subtle plead for comfort, making Twilight smile for a minute a stallion joke Cadence had told her springing to mind.

“That says blood type o negative” she corrected, as even at a cursory glance it was obviously spelled out in block capitals.

“Nah love the other side” he said flipping his, so she could see it.

“Do not resuscitate, what does that mean?” she asked as they began to slowly waddle down the country lane.

“It means if you start bleeding out your aint worth putting more blood in” he responded in a sombre voice, the way he said it implying he had seen that happen.

“Then why do they list your blood type in the first place” she enquired the logic seemingly contradictory.

“So if somebody important needs blood they can bleed ya fer it” he responded, another howl echoing in the darkness this time much closer than before.

“Its getting closer” she mumbled the sedative slurring her speech somewhat as it finally reached her brain, the hotness of her breath causing wisps of water vapour to float in the air in front of her muzzle, as each breath formed a small cloud.

“We’re nearly there, just try to ignore it” reassured Ratway, but the increase of his pace told Twilight he was just as scared, but this fear seemed based on something other than the irrational fear of the unknown. His speed quickening further when the scattering of crows could be heard behind them, the caws like a demented laughs in the darkness heralding something much worse.

“shite its already on top of us” he grumbled realising running was no longer an option, not with the injured mare in tow at least. Coming to a stop he quickly glanced around for cover, or at the very least something he could put his back to, the barren farmland not providing any reasonable cover the best he could find was a small Hawthorne tree, the leaves long gone leaving a spiny mass of fibrous spindles.

Moving as fast as the Rose’s condition would allow the pair made there way to the overgrown shrub as he slowly lowered the mare to her rump, her back painfully propped up by the spiny growth.

“you’re not leaving me here are you?” she said the rhythm of terror creeping into her voice as she thought he might abandon her to her fate crossed her mind.

“Nah love, just making sure we see it coming, not in the mood to get rundown and torn apart by some orror of the night” said Ratway confidently, his gooseflesh gone as he had convinced himself he could take whatever the night would throw at him.

Instinctively reaching for his boomstick he then realised it was currently tied to the mares leg, so instead he pulled a small knife the emblem of the moon carved into it, the darkness of the engraving contrasting well with the seemingly liquid blade glistening in the moonlight. The wooden hilt filling his mouth with the taste of wax, twilight couldn’t point out the cause, but the taste seemed to be stilling Ratway’s body, his heartbeat slowing as he awaited the monster, he didn’t have to wait long.

For a few moments the only sounds was the panicked breathing of the mare behind him, and the rustling of branches in front of him as his foe approached. Realising he couldn’t see shit, he tried to restart the torch on his chest, the rolling block producing sparks, the flame just not taking, before with a sizzle a beam of light cut through the darkness.

The moment the beam materialized, it got the red eye gleam of what ever had been pursuing them. The beast was jet black, and looked to be the size of a bear, its features obscured as its natural fur colour blending it into the surrounding darkness. the sudden light had startled the beast, causing it to roar in anger, clearly dissatisfied that its prey could not see it.

“What is that!!” screamed the mare now able to see what had been hunting them, her voice being heard, but at this point Ratway was ignoring her, his eyes firmly fixed on the beast in front of him. Placing the knife in his left hoof Ratway pointed the blade at the approaching abomination.

“come and have a go if you think yer fucking hard enough” he said before returning the wooden hilt to his mouth and prepared to fight, the words coming out more like a chest beating then an actual threat, but it riled a response in the animal causing it to charge.

And just like that history repeated its self, Ratway moving like he had when he had killed the alpha rat, the normally ungainly pony moving like a trained dancer, every attack from the creature being dodged as he stabbed the short blade into the hard tissue of the monster, the growls of annoyance filling Twilight with hope that he would win this fight, he had to seeing as she was delving his mind at this very instant.

It was just when this thought had passed her mind that the creature landed a hit, the massive paw slamming into Ratway’s face, the claws partially retracted but still exposed enough to rend a shallow cut across his face that immediately began leaking sticky blood. But above that it flung him like a ragdoll a good couple of yards, the stallion landing hard winding him, as he tried to rise to he hooves wheezing like an asthma patient he could only look over as the beast approached the screaming mare, his body failing him as he was powerless to stop what would come next.

“No please, I don’t want to die” pleaded Rose, slowly trying back away with her back hooves, but the firm tension of the Hawthorne bush didn’t part and she simple stayed in place, unable to slid into the embrace of the branches.

“No, no, noo….” She screamed before being abruptly cut off, the monster slamming its open maw over her head silencing her, her muffled screams still permeating the flesh but coming out as nothing but gibberish as she began to weakly thrash in its maw. Instead of biting down the creature simple swallowed, a single powerful gulp pinning her forelegs and almost covering her barrel, the splint Ratway had constructed miraculously stayed in place though, joining the mare on her trip down the water slide. The flickering light of the torch giving him a good view of her flowery cutie mark before with another swallow her flanks joined her in the taught flesh. The whole scene triggering Twilight as her mind flashed back to her run in with the overgrown tadpole a week prior, the whole experience making her very uncomfortable, the memory flickering for an instant before she regained her composure allowing it to continue.

“Bugger me sideways and call me princess Celestia” groaned Ratway as he stumbled to his feet, the expression a new euphemism that Twilight had never heard before, and if the situation was different would have gained a laugh from her. Instead she could only gawk in horror as with another swallow the only part of the mare left in the cool night air was her weakly twitching green rear hooves and a small stretch of her blue tail, the length of hair wildly twitching as it was the only part of her not vacuum wrapped in neck flesh, the strong muscles containing the unagreeable meal, so it could more easily be swallowed.

With one last rolling gulp Rose slide entirely into the gullet, a dull but large bulge slowly moving down the creature’s neck. Ratway just remained fixed in place looking at the spectacle, his torch beam following the mass as it travelled down the throat before disappearing into the creature’s chest and reappearing as a weakly wriggling bulge in its lower belly, the mares desperate pleads easily audible as she screamed her lungs out in the stomachs acrid confides.

“Cough er up you basterd!” yelled Ratway, as he snapped from his daze and charge the overgrown furball, knife firmly locked in his jaws. In response the beast simply turned and faced him a small burp leaking from its maw, the scent a mixture of rotting meat and Roses natural musk. As this was playing out Twilights heart rate was spiking, she had just seen a mare just like her be reduced to a lump of mare meat weakly wriggling in a stomach, her mind racing as the memory began to flicker again, the scene growing hazy as her lack of focus began to affect the spell.

In the blurred image, all she could see was Ratway getting the shit beaten out of him, the pale fur growing claggy with his blood as his lack of focus meant he was being battered by the larger predator, leaving him sprawled out in the dry golden grass. The creature leering over him, the weakly wriggling bulge that had been Rose pressed against his back as the creature prepared to reunite them.

“Do it ye cunt” spat Ratway, a large loogy of snot and crimson blood flying from his mouth hitting the monster in the face, as even when bloodied his defiance remained, his refusal to capitulate steadying Twilights mind and in turn the memory just Intime to see a huge maw open up in front of him, the throat pulsating in anticipation for his arrival.

And with a simple nudge his face hit the rolling throat, the memory playing out just as twilight had remembered with her experience with the frog, as from the prey’s perspective all digestive systems seem quite similar. With a few shakes of its head and strong gulps Ratway was entirely in the throat and slowly travelling down the conveyer belt that was the oesophagus ready to be unceremoniously dumped in the waiting stomach, acids undoubtable pooling already chipping away at Roses soft flesh.

In a few rolls of the peristalsis Ratway’s head pressed against the sphincter, his entire body in a single great hug as the monster’s throat muscles tried to shove him into the stewing sack that was the stomach. For a moment the ring held tight before it relented and his head was shoved into the space, his cranium impacting the still whimpering head of Rose, the mare somehow turning herself around in the stomach, more than likely in a desperate attempt to crawl back the way she entered.

“Buck, it got you too” whined Rose, his arrival dashing her hopes of rescue as they would both digest into a shared group of turds together. The mares mewling continuing as he was forced face first underneath her, the strong throat giving him the leverage to slide under her in the slick stomach without much issue. His body slipping under her barrel, so his forehead came to a rest in the curve of her hips, nose pressed against her mare hood, the sudden pressure on her uterine bulge causing her to yelp at the unwanted contact.

“First I get swallowed now I am being defiled!” she screamed before Ratway felt the sphincter force his hips through the small space and he slid under Roses genitalia as he began to fold backwards his spine curving uncomfortably, as the gullet tried to force him into an already over stuffed organ. Spinning his body like a dolphin, Ratway managed to turn himself around and with a slurp he felt his tail slither into the stomach to join him, the stallion now completely contained in the stomach just like the mare he had ended up on top of. During the short journey his face having dragged its way across her belly and her back, now coming to a rest at the back of her head as they were forced in an involuntary spooning, his limp dick pressing against her pert asshole the sphincter winking in distress at the overall predicament.

“If your going to rape me, just get it over with, were dead anyway” moped Rose evidently giving up at this point, and feeling his dick pressed against her private parts expected he might go for one last thrill. His vision impaired by her enzyme basted mane sticking to his face, he instead tried to pull himself over the mare reaching with his hoof for her broken leg.

“Who’s the pessimist now” he grumbled as she let out another yelp as he grabbed her broken leg the splint still holding firm even after being ingested and drenched in foul stomach fluid. At this point Twilight could feel herself hyperventilating the scene playing out just like she had experienced it was only a matter of time for they were passed out and digested, even now the limited tart air supply was running low, the air that was swallowed with them rapidly depleting into the panicked and at this point broken mare Ratway was lying on top of, the only thing keeping Twilight focused was the urge to see how he would get out of this.

“What are you doing” screamed Rose as Ratway began to awkwardly yank at the splint, trying to pull it off the damaged leg. The mare spasming like the limb was on fire as the mare began to writhe in agony, the opioids more than likely wearing off as the pain became the main thing in her mind, surpassing the tight stomach she was currently balled up in.

“I am not dying like this” he snapped as with a slightly stronger yank the boomstick barrel peeled itself free from the splint, the bonding agent of the tape sizzling as it was exposed to the acid, just like his flesh would do soon if he didn’t get out of here, the gurgling of the stomach intensifying as it geared up to convert two pony’s into a load of turds and a colourful hairball. It was at this point Twilight realised his plan, he was going to shot his way out of this hell pit.

Slowly manoeuvring the long barrel in the small stomach, he somehow got the breech end to his face and pulling his other fore hoof from underneath Rose he against all odds managed to snap the breech into place, the two parts not clicking as he fumbled in the red darkness, the thundering of the beast’s heart overtaking his other senses, the rate increasing as it ran back to its lair to no doubt sleep them off. Eventually the parts finally twisted together as always, but only after a few tentative minutes had eaten into the precious air supply,

A smile creeping to his face, with the realisation that this might actually work, he opened one of his pockets and 6 or so shells fell from the leather bag, the metal objects sinking to the bottom of the stomach, so he had to blindly grope in the stinging fluid until he felt one against his hoof. Yanking it to his face he wasn’t happy with what he saw and plunged his hoof back into the bubbling broth, the mare below him now still, having passed out from the pain or succumbed to the fumes at this point he didn’t know or care.

Finding the cylinder shape of another shell he seized it and just like the first brought it to his face, this time laughing to himself as it must have been the one he was looking for. Loading it into the breach the metal snapping closed like the jaws of the monster that had devoured him he pulled back the hammer and pointing the gun past Rose’s head aiming towards the ground.

Then with a click nothing happened, the shell failing to discharge.

“This aint happening, not now” he said pulling the hammer back again, and with another click nothing happened.

“Fuckin Cunt, don’t fail on my now” he said pulling the trigger back and forth to a serenade of dull clicks the shell not arming.

“Celestias witness I am going to die” he said aloud the realisation of death creeping in just like it had with Twilight, as she realised he understood exactly what she had been through.

“No, no I am not dying here” he said a fire in his voice as he opened the breech, took the shell out and put it back in, pulling the trigger back one last time and muttered a prayer that over the monster’s heart Twilight couldn’t make out. Then the trigger fell and there was a loud bang, the stale air suddenly disappearing as any oxygen was used in the blast.

Suffocating for an instant Ratway’s lungs starving of oxygen, he felt the abdomen wall beneath him spasm and split, the over stuffed organ tearing around the hole he had punctured in the beast as it wailed in its death rattle. And a moment later he could breath his head was sucked through the hole and was now pressed against the dry earth of the beast’s lair, in the moonlight the bones and pellets of countless meals lay strew across the barren cave, as with a few wriggles of his hips he slid from the beasts ruptured belly.

“Fuck you death” he said giddily chuckling to himself as he slipped free from the moist carcass of the monster, the legs weakly twitching as it rapidly bleed to death from this gaping flesh wound.

“Enjoy that indigestion cunt” he yelled, the high of life filling him with an ungodly fervour, as he realised he had defeated something from the inside after it had confidently assumed he and Rose was just meat to digest and shit out.

“Shite Rose”, he said realising she was still in the stomach as he reached into the hole and grabbed her head pulling her free from the guts grip with a loud shlock. She wasn’t breathing her body warm but still, the breath of life having left her lungs, grabbing her tag in his hoof he looked at it.

Rose Fleur
Number: 038050
Blood type:Apos
Do not resuscitate

For a moment Twilight assumed he would follow the instructions, and leave her to rot, he had seemed quite clear about what it meant when it had been brought up earlier, and he still didn’t seem to like the mare much. To her surprise instead he placed her on her back and began to give her Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, his breath became hers as he locked lips with her and exhaled a few times before using his hooves he pumped her chest.

“Come on I didn’t give you permission to die” he mumbled before locking lips again and letting his breath flow into her. His constant compressions seemed to be working as she suddenly began to cough uncontrollable and vomited a small part of her last meal back into her mouth as her eyes snapped open.

“Am I dead?” she asked, her head in his lap, her pretty features a mess after one of the worst days imaginable, her mane still matted with the acid that was supposed to turn her to chyme.

“No, I kicked Death’s arse” he said pointing to the slain monster its blood steaming in the cold air almost as if its soul was escaping into the frigid air.

“Now lets get back to the others before they think we really are dead” said Ratway with a smile, a relief creeping through his body now it was over, at least for now, with that the memory sped up, he rebound her leg and they waddled for a hour or two until meeting up with the convoy, Stonespinner’s surprised face when he saw Ratway and Rose stumble out of the darkness, him recanting the small skirmish they had against the Luna militia, before handing Ratway back the knife he had lost fighting the monster as he explained how they had assumed they had been captured, then the memory ended and Twilight was back in the pub.

“I would like to take a break” blurted Twilight the moment she knew Ratway would be able to hear her, wanting a time to calm down as if the next memory was anything like the last she would be unable to cope.

“Why little dove, I have plenty more to show you” asked Ratway, an eyebrow raised as he gave her a confused look.

“Yes, why Twilight, we were making so much progress, the content may be a bit graphic, but this is first-hoof experience form over a millennium ago, this is a once in a life time opportunity” chimed starlight, her pupil eager to carry on the probing.

“I am feeling tired and I don’t think it would be safe to continue” lied Twilight cuffing an excuse as that seemed plausible.

Suddenly Starlight realised why twilight wanted to stop, her face suddenly flashing a look of concern and understanding as she realised Twilight might be having flash backs to her unpleasant experience with the frog.

“Yes I agree we should take a break” Starlight said quickly pulling a u-turn, much to Twilights delight as she knew her pupil was now on the same page as her.

And like that they were back in the library, the scene unchanged remaining how they had left it.

“We will continue this tomorrow I have a letter to write, Starlight would you take Ratway back to his quarters I have something to do” she said, the moment they left she closed the door with a slow magic spell and locked the door, before she let the tears out. She had tried so hard to forget what had happened to her not even a forknight ago and this last memory had brought it all back, a waterfall of tears falling down her purple muzzle as she let it out.

After about 10 minutes she reigned her emotions in and penned a letter to her mentor, the quill dancing across the paper as she recorded what she had seen, the more graphic parts causing her to stop as she bawled for a time, before soldiering on until the letter was complete. with a sigh she rolled it up and tossed it in the pile she had written so far on the curious case that was Ratway, it seemed that for every question he answered he gave her 10 more to ask. Those questions could wait for tomorrow, she was going for a walk, Pinkies cakes would be a sure-fire way to turn this downer into a better day, and with those thoughts she left the library intent on savouring some sugary sweetness with her friends to balance out the sour she had experience in that last memory.

Changelings on a Train

This was going to end badly, that was all Ratway could think about as he strolled down the winding corridors of Twilights castle, his pace his normal knobbled plod. The day had started well enough, he had awoken from the hard floor of his guest room, the luxurious bed to comfortable for his liking as he kept feeling like he was falling just before he lost consciousness, resulting in him resorting to the equally fancy saddle Arabian carpet that had lined the floor. He had been sure to mess up the bedding on the bed though lest the princess think him a fink, though it was only a matter of time before they worked out he wasn’t sleeping in it, as it wouldn’t conform to his natural musk, a slept in bed didn’t stay clean after all.

That wasn’t what was bothering him though, the day prior he had shown the good princess some of his past, and something she had seen seemed to have shaken her in a drastic manner, more than likely the frog attack affecting her more than he had realised, as she had aborted the session after his run in with a Vargeist, the whole experience clearly bothering the little dove. This combined with the message the dragon runt had given him about a weekend trip with one of the princess’s friends was scaring him, as he still hadn’t weighed in Starlight Glimmer and wasn’t partial to too many new faces, they didn’t tend to stick around from his experience.

Opening the door to the royal throne roomm the holographic map pulsing gently in the cascade of light from the tree chandelier, he didn’t have long to have his presence known.

“Ratway, good morning” came a chipper tone from the princess, her face set in a smile, as she dug into a pile of pancakes in a most un-regal fashion, waving a hoof signalling he should join her. As he walked over he noticed a white unicorn mare with a rich purple mane sitting in a chair near the princess, the 3 diamond cutiemarks on the headrest matching the ones that adorned her flank telling Ratway she was part of the princess’s inner circle, as custom furniture wasn’t cheap.

“Mornin princess” he replied out of curtesy, before carving an ass groove into a chair with a trio of balloons on the head rest, within seconds of him finding his seat the diddly dragon emerged and placed a tower of pancakes in front of him.

“Thanks” he said before the little one scuttled off, to return with his own plate, before taking a seat by the princess.

“Ratway you haven’t met Rarity yet, have you?” asked the princess, gesturing to the unicorn mare, eager to begin the introduction process.

“Naye I don’t think I ave, I would remember seeing a mare with eyes like sapphires” he replied tossing a lump of bait into the water to see if sharks started to circle, the white of Rarity’s cheeks flashing red at the unexpected compliment from this complete stranger, before returning to their normal marble white. Placing the knife and fork she had been using to eat her pancakes down with a light clink of silver, followed by her clearing her throat in an elegant cough, Rarity finally spoke.

“Are you always this this upfront in your greetings?” she replied, wiping some wayward syrup from her mouth with a frilly napkin. These few words flowing like caramel through his ears as if she had been practising in secret as to have them land perfectly, her slight accent adding more to her alluring nature.

“Only when its true love” he replied, before picking up a pancake with his hoof and shoving the whole thing into his mouth. He wasn’t lying, the mare was attractive, he had just chosen to focus on her eyes as they were a distinct deep-sea blue. This additional titbit causing a smile to tickle the edges of Rarity’s mouth.

“I think he will fit right in at the lodge” said Rarity, directing her attention towards Twilight as if answering a question that had been asked before his arrival.

“Are you sure this isn’t going to be a hassle Rarity, you mentioned this was important for your business, I don’t want to put any undue pressure on you” replied Twilight, her voice sounding sceptical, as though she felt she was forcing the white one into something.

“Nonsense darling, it’s the least I can do after what he did for you” Rarity said, her words showing a clear appreciation for his previous actions in regard to the gulper frog.

“I would also love to chat to him about fashion from his time period, I think he could give me some inspiration for one of my upcoming lines” she continued, filling them in on her secondary motivation.

“As long as your fine with it, I don’t see a problem” said Twilight now confidant in the course of action.

“Spork mentioned something about a weekend retreat, and at this point I assume I am goin with miss Rarity” interjected Ratway, wanting to find out the nature of the commitment Twilight had signed him up for without his knowledge, the whole situation reminding him of how his mam used to get him jobs without telling him until about a hour before they needed doing.

“Well darling I was going to Fancypants private lodge with a small consortium of other important designers to help him with a new uniform for his airship crew. It’s a 5 star resort so offers many things you were cruelly deprived of in the jungle, like a spa, which might I add is one oftheworst possible things that can happen to a pony…” explained Rarity, her mind becoming target fixated on the spa as she span out into a little fountain of drama, thankfully getting stopped by Twilight before she would require a therapists sofa to collapse into.

“ Rarity mentioned it over tea yesterday, and she said she had a plus one on her ticket, so I asked her if it was fine if you tagged along, as it’s a controlled environment and will let you unwind after so many years of isolation without having to worry about sensory overload” interrupted Twilight getting the topic reigned in to a concise conclusion.

“So yer saying I get to go to a 5-star resort fer free” questioned Ratway, probing for hidden snags as nothing good ever came for nothing.

“The only price is your company” replied Rarity with a friendly smile. Her interest in getting to know him sounding genuine, a trait that he wasn’t used to, as most if not all unicorns he had met wanted something from him before casually discarding him like a used chamber pot, the feeling was queer to say the least.

“That seems fair but be warned no one wants t spend a week with me” joked Ratway before rapidly ingesting a second pancake, his joke based in fact as he didn’t think Rarity yet realised that his personality tended to rub people the wrong way, mainly because of his lack of socialisation as a foal, due to his background.

“I am sure you will be fine, if you ever have any doubts just smile and nod” reassured Rarity, the mare confidant he would have little issues fitting in, based on the few sentences he had said so far, as he seemed to exude a confidence, even if he didn’t know it. Her blue eyes suddenly seeing the clock hanging on the wall its hands sitting at half 10 in the morning.

“Unfortunately I would love to continue this chat, but I need to make final arrangements with my luggage, I will see you at the train station at noon Ratway, it was a pleasure making your acquaintance” said Rarity as she suddenly became aware of the time. The mare pushing her plate away and in a regal fashion more than likely requiring years of practice, left the room at an ideal speed, not too fast and not too slow. As she walked her hips swayed sensually so that they would draw the eye of any passing stallion, the mare a pure-bred socialite through and through as if she was born to add class to any get together.

The moment she was gone, Ratway engulfed the remaining pancakes, in a similarly messy way as Twilight, before stifling a burp and turning to the alicorn.

“I am sorry about yesterday” said Ratway, as he wiped his mouth clean, with the back of his hoof.
“Sorry about what?” said Twilight raising an eyebrow, trying to play coy about the final memory of that session.

“I see you don’t want to talk about it” said Ratway begrudgingly as he let the topic slide, he had seen a few things during the mind probe from the alicorns mind and it had raised many questions, but he knew the price of that was some of his memory’s had slipped into her head, and seeing as she had gotten tilted he was dreading what they might have been, as he desperately hoped it was simply the Vargeist eating him. Mentally shrugging he knew he would cross those bridges as they came, no point worrying about something he had no control over. With these thoughts he rose to his hooves, and pushed the plate away, intent on getting ready for a few days of monging it in a hotel room.

“If you will excuse me Twilight, I ave a bag to pack” he said before he tucked his chair in and began to waddle out.

“Ratway wait” called Twilight, the words causing him to halt in his uneven tracks, his head turning to meet her gaze.

“How did you hurt yourself?” she asked, the question bugging her since she had first entered his mind, as his disability seemed to be mental as well as physical, in addition to deflect her own insecurity’s about getting eaten in an act of misdirection.

“Ask me that question when I am in the cups and then I will tell you” he said solemnly before walking out, leaving the princess and her dragon to finish their meal.

Just over an hour later he was awkwardly milling about at the train station, the small platform no different to the ones he remembered from before his isolation, the saying if it aint broke don’t fix it springing to mind. He didn’t have luggage, as he carried everything he could possibly need in a collection of pouches of various sizes that festooned his body, even so he decided to cut the weight down a little as he doubted he would need his tent, cookware and combat respirator. Now that he was thinking about it that respirator was probably past its use by date, as he made a mental note to get a new filter for it, if they still made them that is.

Rolling on his hooves, he glanced around looking for the white unicorn who was responsible for him, the clock rolling quickly towards the trains arrival time. Waddling back and forth like a caged animal, he eventually stopped and collapsed into a cast iron bench the sturdy seat not even creaking as his weight was applied to it. It was here he loitered, the clocks hands slowly ticking by as the pendulum swang,

15 minutes

10 minutes

5 minutes

Wondering where miss Rarity was, Ratway sat up from his reclined position on the bench and began to look around the deserted platform the only other pony being a stationmaster with exceptional sideburns, wheeling what must have been a dozen suitcases onto the platform. A moment later the honey like voice of the mare he had been waiting for filled the platform, as she emerged in an extravagant dress, the colours meshing like a stain glass window, a black and white sun hat adorning her head like she was off to see the races. The gleam of her jewellery also caught Ratway’s eye, she had about 2 years pay in metal adorning her body, golds, silvers and a diamond the size of a raccoon’s brain around her neck.

“Thank you ever so much for helping me with my bags” she said politely before producing a large ruby and sliding it into the stationmaster’s front pocket as payment. This massive tip making him know to always offer to carry anything heavy in the future as he was liable to be payed a lot more then minimum wage. With her luggage ready to be stowed rarity walked over to Ratway to join him on the bench, her elegant shoes clipping slightly on the limestone platform, the noon sun refracting the gems on her shoes with a rainbow-like glow, the light projecting in circles around her hooves.

“Sorry I am late darling, perfect takes time, and when it comes to Fancypants it has to be perfect, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long” she apologised, her lateness obviously related to her spectacular outfit that was befitting a princess.

“Its fine miss Rarity, I just like to be punctual” he said, not wanting to cause an unneeded issue, she was here and the train wasn’t so no issues were to be had.

“What exactly are you wearing?” she enquired, as her eyes drifted down to his body harness the leather and assorted pockets giving him a ramshackle appearance.

“Not much just my luggage” he replied, not quite understanding what she was insinuating.

“Darling..., it’s just I think it’s a bit rustic for the company were going to be in” she said trying to use a word that would spare his feelings and cause the least offence.

“What do you me…. Ooohhh” he said as he caught on to her cue and realised it was a black-tie event, and he was dressed like he was ready to siege a castle, then again he didn’t own anything business casual, so it was this or him as naked as the day he was born.

“Its fine, I took the necessary precautions” said Rarity, before her horn glowed a dazzling blue and with the unclicking of buckles Ratway’s harness was pulled away from him. An instant later a small formal collar and bow tie emerged from one of her many bags and was in a flash wrapped around his neck, a small diamond stud sitting on either collar like a military insignia. With his outfit changed like a doll, Rarity began to levitate his harness into her bag for safe keeping.

“Wait a minute miss Rarity” he said as he grabbed the body webbing and pulled a small side belt off his harness a solitary knife in a scabbard the only thing suspended from it, before allowing her to stow his items for later retrieval. Using the short length of material, he tied the scabbard to his right foreleg and returned to his seat next to Rarity, the mare looking confused as to why he had just tied a knife to his leg.

“Darling I don’t think you are going to need a knife on the train” she said sceptical of his action.

“Just a rule of mine love, never go anywhere without a knife” he replied

“Besides I might need t peel an apple” he continued, throwing a joke in there before the whistle of an approaching train told them the time to go was approaching. The metal behemoth slowly trundling to a stop a thick mist of steam flowing from its funnel like a great dragon.

What happened next was a blur, lots of hoof shakings and introductions with pony’s he immediately forgot the names of, all well dressed and a good mix of old and new money, all he knew was compared to the suits on these stallions he was underdressed like a hairless cat in winter. He just followed Rarity’s advice of smiling and nodded a lot, and so far that seemed to be working, as he let her deal with the talking as she seemed well adapted for it, her words seeming to hit the right notes every time as she manoeuvred them around the greeting carriage.

The carriage its self was formal, reminding Ratway of the royal theatre that he had snuck into once or twice during his youth, red velvet fabrics coating the floors with dark woods extensively carved serving as panelling, a large mural on the ceiling showing a pony fighting an immense sperm whale. Crystal light fittings shone up the walls slowly pulsing with magical energy giving the room the feeling of grandeur, as if the trains owner could manipulate the sun itself.

As he was letting it sink in, he somehow wandered off, losing sight of Rarity as he gawked at the roof mounted mural.

“Beautiful isn’t it” came a posh voice, the unexpected words causing Ratway to snap his head to their originator. What he found was a well-dressed unicorn stallion with a monocle, his fur the same spotless white as Rarity’s, an accompanying white unicorn mare hanging of his arm, more than likely a trophy wife, she had the looks for it to say the least.

“Aye” Ratway said casually, before immediately cursing himself, as he had basically shot a flare saying he was a massive pleb.

“it’s kind of over-whale-ming” he quickly joked hoping that it would cover for his complete lack of understanding of art, the dad joke sounding absolutely garbage as it passed his tongue as it had been the first thing he could concoct. Instead of a cold shoulder the stallion instead humoured him with a chuckle, the mare with him doing the same after a second to read the situation.

“Might I ask who you might be, I don’t recognise you from my normal guests list” asked the white stallion, his words not sounding confrontational and more a passing curiosity of who the strange pony on his train was.

“Ratway” said Ratway unsure for a moment, answering concisely in case it was some kind of trap. Before offering his hoof for the stallion to shake remembering his manners.

“And based on that question I assume yer Fancypants” he continued putting 2 and 2 together, as Fancypants took his hoof to return the shake.

“Right you are Ratway, and this is my companion Fleur-de-lis” he said introducing the mare at his side, his response not the one Ratway had expected, as instead of hubris there was an air of professional respect. Like a hawk Rarity noticed her charge had gone walk about and was now shaking hooves with the most important stallion on the train. Swooping in to the conversation, the mare moving as fast as she could without becoming uncouth quickly arriving at Ratway’s side, to bail him out of any verbal duel he might be engaged in, as even little mannerisms could be enough to start some kind of scandal.

“Miss Rarity, it is always a pleasure” greeted Fancypants, giving her a smile before readjusting his monocle and gesturing towards Ratway.

“I was just chatting with Ratway here, have you made his Acquaintance?” he enquired, the formalities of nobility elongating any conversation to a tedious degree.

“Yes, he’s my plus one” answered Rarity concisely.

“Wonderful, then we can continue this conversation over dinner, would you honour me with your presence at my table, we have much to discuss about are business partnership, and I have a feeling that your friend here has that wildcard variable, that would break the normal malaise of negotiation” said Fancypants, before he bid them a due, turned and left, fleur in tow as he went to greet the rest of his other guests.

No sooner was he out of earshot did Rarity drag Ratway to the side of the room.

“What did you say, she hissed in a low voice, her face a little red under the makeup, not with anger towards him but worry that he may have said something wrong.

“Nowt, just a crappy dad joke, onest” he said, as Rarity’s face changed from look of worry to the socialite calm she was naturally good at projecting.

“I am sure it’s nothing, you probably just amused Fancypants he doesn’t get out of the ivory tower much, so I am sure he is just interested in a different outlook on the world” rationalised Rarity, her eyes scooting in there sockets as she ran scenarios through her mind.

“Or e could just want to talk about your deal” interjected Ratway going for the more plausible solution, as he had heard something about uniforms at breakfast and assumed that related to this. Hearing this Rarity sighed as she realised she was overthinking this, the stallion outsider calmer about the situation then her, the shame of being flustered at one of her skills tasting sour in her mouth.

“I just want you to be careful, these ponys are like vultures, constantly circling to find something to backbite each other with, something you do might reflect badly on me, just try to be inconspicuous for the next few hours” she replied, her voice a mixture of compassion and conviction as she asserted her position.

“Gotcha, silent as a statue” agreed Ratway, as the rest of the meet and greet went off without a hitch, Ratway just standing there like Rarity’s shadow and only answering the questions that were asked of him, the main answer being simply his name as the upper-class rabble wanted to know who the outsider was. The situation making Ratway realise there was more to Rarity then just a pretty face, she seemed to know everyone, and they all seemed to know her, some of the mare’s present were even wearing her dresses, as he without asking learned she was a masterclass seamstress.

Before he knew it, the dinner bell was ringing, and the dapper group began to shuffle into the dining car. The car was the same as the first one, large, luxurious and shared the same theme in its furnishings, the mural in this cart being a bountiful field with a single filly staring out on the horizon, the look of peace bringing a smile to Ratway’s face as he hadn’t seen a wheat field in many a moon. He didn’t know where he was going so simply followed Rarity, her dresses large skirt like a peacock or a ranging pole, making her easy to follow, his eyes staying well away from her well-shaped ass, lest they peak, and he earn a slap. Soon enough she found her seat at Fancypants table, and Ratway just slipped into the chair next to her, already concerned by the fact there were about a dozen spoons laid out in front of him.

In due time everypony found their seats, and the first course was served, in this case it was a thick soup with scattered expensive herbs, that Ratway had no frame of reference for the scent, he could just tell there were parsnips involved in some capacity. To avoid embarrassment, he waited to see which spoon Rarity would use and simply mimicked her choices as he reckoned she had done this enough to have memorised the battle strategy that was tableware. As she delicately ate her soup she chatted with fancy pants, the two getting deep into conversation about clothes materials or something to that effect, the topic naturally flowing to local politics and other things that meant nothing to Ratway. Periodically Fleur would throw a comment in or a giggle if something mildly amusing was mentioned, but something about the mare was bothering him, his eyes glearing at her over the table as he suckled at his soup. She seemed to be hiding something, and he couldn’t place it, the feeling not sitting right with him, her laughs, seemed more then forced they seemed calculated, like her personality was a ruse, he just hadn’t worked out if she was gold digging or just wasn’t correctly socialized.

It was when he saw her reach for a spoon that he noticed it, the sound of magic sparkling, as the metal twisting left for a millisecond before going right, as she overrid her nature and made a conscious effort to appear right orientated. she was ex militia to some extent, a bodyguard, not a floozy as she was trying to project. He was confident in this assessment as she was doing the same thing he was doing with his hoof but in its magical form, the remnants of forced correction due to the majority of pony’s being right hoofed, as if you were to use your left hoof you would keep elbowing the pony to your flank, which was a fast way to start a fight in the mess hall, hence why he had learned to be ambidextrous. The fact this repeated its self each time she went to scoop a spoonful of soup cemented it as the logical conclusion, his observations only being interrupted when he was asked a question.

“So Ratway, what is your profession might I ask, it must be something important to be in the company of miss Rarity” asked Fancypants, his words bringing Ratway out of the rabbit hole that was his mind.

“I am a soldier, well was” he replied before fishing at the necklace concealed under his lone collar finding his tag before presenting it, the clanking of metal from the accompanying plates like a windchime, the lucky green horn still there as well, not that he ever when anywhere without it. This statement got the attention of all at the table, all waiting in silence expecting a longer explanation.

“Where did you serve?” asked Fleur breaking the silence, more than likely curious to see if she had served with him, her expressed interested adding fuel to the fire about his theory.

“Lots of places, the royal palace, Bog bottom, the Emerald isles, the pit” he said just listing off the ones that came into his head, the looks of confusion spreading onto the faces of the 3 others at the table as they tried to place the names.

“You know all t places that tourists don’t want t go to” he said ending it in a joke, as he could tell he was losing the attention of his audience, and just hoped he had given a sufficient answer.

“Any interesting story’s?” asked Rarity, prolonging Ratway’s suffering, as he loathed talking about himself, there just wasn’t much to say, and most of the stuff that could be said wasn’t suitable for civil conversation.

“yes, if you have seen so many places I am sure you have some grand tales” agreed Fancypants, a sound of agreement from Fleur forcing him into a corner as they dogpiled him for some kind of story.

Thinking for a moment, Ratway unsheathed the knife on his wrist, the blade glowing like moon beams, the cold silver shimmering as the stress marks of its forging made small rainbows on its surface. This blade would give him a generic story but based on the surprised looks that the shining blade had gained not just at his table but some of the others in the room, made him reckon it was new to them, as he began to tell it more and more eyes fixed on him, just as the second course was rolled out.

“During the first days of the Luna republic I were still a private in Celestia’s solar militia, job weren’t the best, but it kept bread on t table so it was good enough, better then killing rats with a shovel I can tell you that much” he began, looking down to see his platter unveiled, a large red lobster steaming as it was soaked in spiced butter.

“Excuse me but did you say Luna republic” interrupted Fancypants, a confused look on his face.

“Wouldn’t that make you over 1000 years old” added a stallion in Ratway’s peripheral vision.

“Yes, the mud pony is lying, if what he says is true he’s over a thousand years old” came a snooty voice from a yellow mare a table over, her voice filled with a pompous hubris only found in someone who had never worked a day in their life.

“Hes telling the truth, unless you want to question the evaluation fromPrincess Twilight Sparkle”chimed in Rarity, coming to his defence before the posh ponies torn him apart, she put special enthuses on Twilights name using the word like a sword to vanquish the squabbling. For a moment the room went quiet as everypony re-evaluated the situation, Ratway looking over to Rarity and mouthing thank you, as he had a feeling in his stones if she hadn’t intervened that would have turned nasty fast.

“Have you any proof” asked the yellow mare from earlier, this indigo maned bitch clearly going to stick with the topic like a terrier to a rat.

“The word of the princess is me proof” replied Ratway, thinking divine word must have some value.

“Words have little meaning here, how do I know it isn’t another of miss Rarity’s schemes to climb the political ladder, Suri Polomare was quite clear about what happened in Manehattan” she replied, in a way most untrustworthy, her hoof flicking her mane, the mass held together by at least a full can of hairspray, a bird’s nest sitting atop it, with diamond eggs. This name dropping showing her motivations in dogging the argument as an attempt to discredit the fashionista.

“Are you still mad about me cancelling the princess dress series before you could get one” snapped Rarity, quick to get the claws out when her honour was questioned.

“Moving on, what was life like back in the early years of Equestria?” asked Fancypants, eager to change the subject before Rarity and the other mare engaged in a verbal battle or worse.

“in wot way?” asked Ratway, wanting to narrow down what was a pretty broad subject. This opened the flood gates as a dozen or so pony’s chimed in almost simultaneously all wanting to get a slice of the living history.

“Were dragons a threat to livestock?”

“was life expectancy really only 25 years?”

“did you have running water?”
“What was Lunas night like?”

Too many ponies were asking him too many questions, as sensory overload set in, he just sat there gormlessly as they washed over him like a tide. The voices blending into one loud white noise as he couldn’t focus on one voice in particular. His daze only being interrupted by the popping of a cork as sparkling liquid was poured into a tower of glasses, the rolling fluid filling each glass before flowing in a mini waterfall into those below, the end result being a tower of filled glasses.

“May I be excused?” asked Ratway before getting up well sheathing his blade, as rarity looked at him in a confused manner. The white mare grabbing his arm and whispering in his ear.

“Where are you going” she said in a hushed breath.

“Got to take a piss” he said in a louder voice then he meant to, as in honesty he just wanted to get out of there, all this attention was making him very uncomfortable, sweat pooling on his fur. This attention wasn’t legitimate intreast he was a curio to these pony’s, a toy from a bygone age, they would discard him the moment they drew board, hell some were willing to turn on him before he had even done anything. If he could get out of the room, give it a few minutes and come back, hopefully it will have calmed down and he could go back to being incognito. he knew his place and it wasn’t here, if it had been anyone else he would have refused, but you don’t refuse a princess, least if you don’t enjoy breathing.

“You are excused it the second door on the right” said Fancypants, his expression giving away nothing as he gestured towards the front of the train, in a helpful manner directing him to the nearest latrine.

Powerwalking as fast as his legs would allow, Ratway left the carriage, giving a massive sigh as he entered the much cooler side car, this part of the train deserted as everypony had congregated in the dining car.

“Fuck” he grumbled to himself, he had made a scene, hopefully this wouldn’t hurt miss Rarity’s business venture, why had the princess agreed to this. Feeling shitty he slinked into the male bathroom, the room much brighter then the dimmed inner carriages, a large frosted glass window flooding the room with natural light, this intensity casting a black shadow on the door as Ratway entered and locked the door.

Splashing some water on his face, the cool fluid pleasant as he felt his red cheeks diminish, before turning the tap and gulping down a pint of water, the urge to piss presenting its self for real this time, as he wacked his cock out, lifting the seat and aiming, before draining the sea monster.
“What am I goin to do” he said to himself as he felt his bladder slowly drain, he would apologise to Fancypants, and miss Rarity, and everybody else, then probably hide out in the hotel room for the duration of the trip, he couldn’t make any more messes if he contained himself, right.

As he was pondering his game plan he heard the door behind him rattle as if somepony was trying to enter.

“Occupied!” he called out, the sudden noise causing his dick to flinch spattering some urine on the mahogany seat. This call usually sufficient to stop someone trying to force the door, instead the thumping seemed to intensify.

“Occupied!” he yelled in a louder voice, as he continued to piss, the thumping growing even more intense, at his second callout, a light buzzing filling corridor outside.

“Fucking occupied” he said stopping his piss, before opening the door so aggressively for a moment he thought the hinges might give, ready and willing to leather the knob who had ruined his stress piss. But Instead of a drunken or overly zealous business pony he found a hissing black changeling.

For a moment both of them just stood there in shock, Ratway at the unexpected enemy and the changeling as it had not expected someone to willingly open the door. In an instant both of their minds gear boxes found bite and the changeling lunged at him, as a black blur fangs barred. Running on instinct Ratway slammed the door shut hoping to lock the creature outside, but he was a second too slow instead trapping its head between the door and the doorframe. Not thinking about it he just kept opening and slamming the door on the hissing creatures head, the sturdy wood slowly mangling the snarling cranium, soon blood was flowing, the luminescent green soaking into the expensive carpet. After a few slams the creature tried to retreat, but Ratway was to fast and continued his assault until with a particularly powerful slam the changelings head caved in like a water melon, its right eye rupturing spraying ocular fluid into his face, before the head and accompanying body slowly slid down the space between the door and wall, coming to a rest in a slumped heap at the bottom.

Collapsing on to the toilet with a look of shock Ratway just sat there staring at the changeling he had just slain, before finding his senses and wiping the green blood from his face, ruining an expensive looking curtain in the process.

“What the fuck are changelings doing here” he panted, slowly getting to his hooves and pushing the door open. Quickly trying to remember his training in regard to these creatures, he knew one thing he needed his boomstick, and it was in miss Rarity’s luggage. Glancing cautiously left and right, he found the train car deserted as it had been when he entered. Grabbing the still twitching changeling carcass he pulled it into the bathroom, and propped it up on the seat, before slowly walking into the corridor, and pushing the toilet door closed with a light click, to hide the body.
Pausing for a second considering going back to the dining car to warn the others, but he decided against it, it would create even more of a scene, and for all he knew they were already compromised, the situation was dire if there was one bug there was bound to be more, they liked to infest like cockroaches after all.

All he had to do was take his time, these bugs were probably already confidant with the situation at hand for them to have attacked him so brazenly. With this in mind Ratway scaled the thin ladder that hung on the back of the train cart and clambered onto the roof, the gentle breeze flowing over him as the train happily chugged along, a gentle smoke rising from its stack in the clear day.

Reaching the flat roof, he just casually walked along the top of the train cars, not a pony or better yet a changeling in sight, the foul creatures more than likely rounding up the other passengers for their nefarious agenda. As he walked along, the beautiful vista flanking him on both sides, he tried to remember what the field guide had said about changelings, he knew they had magic, and could steal forms, but he couldn’t remember for the life of him if they had any other weaknesses, well other then being shot but that tends to put a damper on most things sunshine.

Reaching the baggage car quite easily, as no obstacles presented themselves, he hopped down the ladder and slowly opened the door to the car, the room dark but thankfully empty. In the dim confides of the cart he began to search for miss Rarity’s luggage, the task proving harder then he had thought as her numerous bags had ben scattered amongst the cargo hold, not staying in one pile like he had expected instead placed haphazardly in sorting racks, requiring he check every tag in order to locate her luggage.

The first bag he found was full of scarfs and a couple of sexy night gowns, the leather bag quickly discarded as he quickly found another and another, each one not containing the items he was looking for. On the seventh case he popped open he found his boomstick, the intricately carved weapon a firm and reassuring weight in his hooves, he had assumed shooting was still a popular hobby for unicorns, so he had brought it in case he had needed to shoot some clay pigeons. Unfortunately, this meant he had just packed standard ball shot, but opening the breech he found he had left an armour piercing shell in the chamber, well it could be worse as at least he could punt one of the bastereds through a magical shield.

Affixing the first part of his webbing now he just needed to find his ammo, miss Rarity seeming to have packed his stuff into more than one of her bags. Just as he started digging in another pile his search was interrupted by the sounds of a struggle, the whining of a mare loud, as she was man handled into the car. Ducking into cover just before the door swang open Ratway saw two changelings drag Fleur into the room, the mare crying and mewling weakly.

“shut it you slag” hissed one of the changelings before slapping their mare prisoner on the rump causing her to flinch in pain, her desperate moans not ceasing. Her horn desperately trying to glow, but a thick layer of green changeling gunk inhibiting its ability to project magic, leaving her helpless in their grasp.

“So who gets her?” hissed the other one, a cruel grin spreading over its evil face.

“Well I got the last mare, its only fair you get her, plus I feel you would carry her skin better once she has loosened up a little” said the first changeling, as he took a long lick of Fleurs face to sample her flavour. Before letting out a burp and a soggy rag of what looked like part of a hostess uniform landed with a splat in her face, giving her a good idea what they meant by loosening up.

Fuck, thought Ratway, this had complicated the situation somewhat, he still didn’t have his ammo, and now there were two changelings less then 10 feet away, about to have there way with a hapless mare. Placing his boomstick down without a sound he slowly unsheathed his blade and waited for the opportunity, the cruel words of the changelings continuing to play out.

“Do you mind if I fuck her as you swallow her?” asked the first changeling, his cock slipping from its sheathe in anticipation of his companion saying yes. This sentence causing Fleur to widen her eyes as she now knew she was about to be raped, as well as eaten.

“Sure Glaive, just pull out before I get to her rump, I don’t want to give you an involuntary blowjob again” said the second changeling.

“hey it only happened one time, and that mares pussy was like nirvana, shame she had to be turned to pulp to feed the brood, I was getting my money’s worth out of that one” interjected Glaive, explaining the event in more detail then Ratway required, and by the looks of it putting Fleur even more on edge. The banter casual for the changelings, but extremely worrying for the mare they were intending to turn to chyme.

Using this argument to slip on top of a pile of suitcases, Ratway used his more elevated position to observe the scene. Using his jungle training to move silently, slithering like a snake, unseen and ready to strike.

“About this plan…” started Glaive as with a kick he knocked the front legs out from under Fleur putting her rump up ready for him to assault, well simultaneously putting her in a position to make her easier to ingest for his companion.

“What about it?” asked the second changeling as he began to rub the joint of his jaw.

“Its nothing, I just think Earwhig hasn’t thought this through, there must have been 30 pony’s in the dinner cart, and there’s what 8 of us, no way we can eat and digest them all before the train arrives at the lodge” said Glaive a hint of concern on his scratchy voice.

“Well thatd because were not going to eat all of em at least not yet, most are getting podded, this prime lump of mare meat is supposedly quite influential though, as such she was right at the top of the list to get processed, her and that bitchRarity” the changeling having some kind of baggage regarding miss Rarity, that Ratway would have to wait to find out about.

“Wait we caught that cunt” said Glaive in a surprised tone, the only response he got was a sound of affirmation before with a creaky pop the changelings jaws unhinged, and he slowly slid his way up Fleurs muzzle. the mare going bozeyed as she stared in terror at the approaching maw, Glaive simple pressing a hoof to the back of her head holding her still, as she began to slide into his companion. In synchronisation to this Glaive began humping her rump, his cock slapping against the flesh before finding its niche and penetrating deep into her dry vagina, the muffled cries for help silenced by the gag of flesh that soon encased Fleurs entire head. Hearing this Ratway knew he had to get to miss Rarity, if he didn’t she would be leaving the train as a pile of bug guano, strewn on the tracks never to know the security of a marked grave.

“Man she’s tight” yelled Glaive, before with a moan he spent himself in less than 30 seconds of gyrating his hips, the bug not able to keep a hold of his load, Fleurs shoulders not even past the lips of his friend. The outburst earning a condescending look from his friend, who just continued to swallow.

“Hey Borer, you want to cough her up and try out this pussy” said Glaive before flicking his now lubricated dick and switching to Fleurs tight starfish. The glans pressing against the frantically winking orifice before pressing it open, the ring unable to hold back the immense bell end as it forced its way in. the scream of surprise and terror audible through the changelings chitinous exoskeleton as Fleurs other backdoor was defiled.

As the thrusting restarted, Fleurs shoulders met Borers lips, the widening of the mare’s body slowing her ingestion as her shoulder blades gently rested in the joint were his jaw connected to his skull. This didn’t last long though, as with an aggressive thrust Glaive forced the shoulders into the waiting gullet in one sudden motion, the mass of pony meat causing Borers saliva glands to fire, as Fleur must evidently be a delectable dish.

With the shoulders out of the way, Fleurs ingestion happened rapidly, each thrust of the changeling’s hips forcing her a little deeper into the slick gullet, like a nail being hammered into a wooden plank. Soon her forelegs were pinned to her side the hooves twitching weakly, ineffectual in slowing her ingestion, the manicured hoofs looking desperately for something to grasp, but finding nothing as they were enveloped in the black lips of Borer. The see-through belly of the changeling giving Ratway a good look at her desperate face, tears running down her muzzle into the pool of enzymes below, her breathing desperate as the stomach acted like a plastic bag slowly suffocating her, causing her lips to slowly turned blue, the fight leaving her just like the available air in the stomach.

With another swallow Borers lips slid to fleurs hips her cutiemarks tensing as she tried to kick, but the constant pounding from Glaive was inhibiting their effectiveness as he explored her back passage. The changeling’s eyes closed as he put his all into straightening Fleurs lower bowel, her lower gut bulging uncomfortably at his girth, the bulge pulsing to the beat of his insect heart, the sausage now rock hard as it rubbed her raw. Borers eyes were also closed as he savoured the mare meat sliding over his palette, the upper-class mare more refined then his normal fare. The changeling fantasising about what he was going to do with the lithe bulge that would soon be occupying his stomach, just because she was inside him didn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to fuck her.

This was Ratway’s opportunity to slip out, the two changelings lost in their use of the unicorn mare, there minds set on carnal pleasure, a strong distraction if there ever was one. But Ratway was conflicted, a part of him wanted to flee, leaving the mare to her fate and using her demise to slip out and save miss Rarity. The other part of him said otherwise, just like it had when he had saved his little dove, Celestia dam it, why was he a fool born with a conscious.

Ratway’s mind set, he leapt from his elevated position driving his blade straight into Glaives neck, the changeling stepping backwards as the strike took him off balance, his dick retreating from Fleurs anus, as it rapidly shrank the blood filling it pouring from his neck wound as he quickly bleed out, his face stuck in a look of surprise as he collapsed backwards onto the wooden floor. Trying to pull his knife out Ratway found the blade caught in the chitin and holding firm in the insectoid flesh. thinking fast Ratway changed his attack plan just as Borers eyes flickered opened to see why the thrusting pushing his meal into his maw had ceased, a startled look filling his green eyes before Ratway kicked him square in the chest.

The kick hit Fleur in the face, but more importantly hit Borers diaphragm causing him to hiccup and rapidly expelled the mare he had been swallowing, the skinny unicorn sliding out much faster than she had entered, her fur slick with predigestive fluids, ruining her makeup and giving her the strong smell of digestion. His opponent winded it was easy for Ratway to flip Borer on to his back and forcing a hoof down on the changeling’s neck began to put the pressure on, the coughing of Fleur filling the air along with the desperate hisses of the changeling he was strangling. The white fangs of Borer snapping at his leg trying to bite him, but soon the struggles dwindled out as with a crunch he crushed the exoskeleton imploding the changelings wind pipe.

Holding the pressure for a moment to make sure the changeling wasn’t feigning death, he then released the grip and retrieved his knife. the silver now slick with green blood, which he flicked the majority off with a rapid wrist movement before wiping the rest off on Glaives now still body. Satisfied with his cleaning job he sheathed his blade and went over to help Fleur to her hooves, the mare still coughing as her body tried to ventilate her oxygen deprived lungs.

“You alright love” he said as he slid under her right armpit, her sodden fur trying to cling to his back before she pushed him away not wanting his help.

“I am fine, I need to get to Fancypants” she answered getting to her hooves under her own power, albeit like an inebriated barfly, some sort of drug inhibiting her ability to perform motor functions.

“You sure, yer looking a little tipsy” he rebutted, seeing her struggling to walk straight, as she made her way towards the door, like a green sailor on his first day out of port.

“I am fine, I need to get to my employer, you stay put I will handle this” she snapped at him, her gratitude more than a little lacking, seeing as he had just saved her. The mare more than likely seeing him as dead weight as he lacked any magical capacity, not that it had helped her in the first place.

“ait” he said dropping the conversation as he resumed his search for ammunition, he didn’t have time to argue with an ungrateful unicorn, the mare more focused on her job then her own wellbeing. His search was quickly rewarded as he soon found another of miss Rarity’s bags, this one thankfully containing the satchel he was looking for. As he countied the shells, Fleur continued her dizzy walk to the door each step taking longer then it needed to as base on her face she was nursing a bad headache.

“By the way love, your horns still gunked, might make usin magic a tad bit difficult” he said in an informative tone, as he attached the pouch to his webbing, pointing to his forehead as if to emphasize the point. The mare pausing in the doorway before clawing at the goo that encased her horn, her clean hooves unable to dislodge the green gunk, as her horn uselessly sparkled like a cheap fire work. The mare trying this for a few moments before letting out a sigh, like she was going to do something she really didn’t want to do.

“I may need your help” she admitted, a twinge of desperation in her eyes, the unicorn shifting uncomfortably when she had to ask for assistance from the magically challenged individual in front of her.

“I wouldn’t normally ask, but the situation is dire, and you look like you can handle yourself” she said, gesturing at the two dead changelings there body’s still weakly twitching, the death not seeming to bother the white mare at all.

“Its fine love, I know me place ye don’t want a mud pony holding you back, just old still” he said as he walked over, and using his teeth slid the solid goo off like a lump of hard rock candy, Fleur shivering a little due to the sensation on her horn. The solid changeling mucus was sour, the taste slightly acidic like their personality’s, but the flavour didn’t sit long after Ratway spat the lump out, the gunk not having a discernible aftertaste.

“its not like that, it’s just Fancypant’ss protection is my prerogative, I just don’t want anyone else getting hurt, but are you sure you want to help?” she explained, her response not what he had expected at all.

“Yes, but your gonna have to follow me plan” he said as he quickly cobbled together something in his head, seeing as his game plan had just been to pick off the changelings like he had done with that shadow militia squad in the pit.

“And that is?” asked Fleur a pink eyebrow raised.

“I want you to stop t train, I will deal with t changelings in t dinning car” he said, putting it simply as he hadn’t quite got the details down yet.

“How will stopping the train help?” she enquired not seeing the necessity of the action.

“If t train doesn’t pass a station at a set time they will send someone to check it out, it means we can call for elp without using a radio” he explained, remembering going to callouts with his father on the pits mine train network and hoping that the same protocol still applied.

“Makes sense, but how do you intend to deal with the changelings guarding the prisoners?” she asked, clearly thinking she was better equipped to deal with the black bugs.

“That’s what this is for” said Ratway, as he tapped the boomstick in his harness, the motion causing the shells at his waist to jingle in the pouch.

“Besides I ave already killed 3 of t basterds, only 5 more to go” he said confidently, a brief look of pleasant surprise coming to Fleurs face as he revealed his kill count, as well as the intel he had acquired, Giving her hope this might actually work.

“That means 2 in t front of the train and 3 guarding the prisoners” he rationalised, as he ran the numbers through his head.

“That makes sense” she agreed as she mulled his plan over quickly.

“How will I tell you apart from the changelings if they steal your form?” she asked.

“Like this” he said before in a fluid motion unsheathed his knife and gave Fleur a shallow cut on her upper left foreleg, a small trickle of blood immediate springing from the wound as her horn illuminated as she prepared to blast him for his attack. She only paused because Ratway inflicted an identical injury to himself.

“Why the buck did you do that” she yelled, eyes filled with rage as her horn glowed threateningly.

“Changelings bleed green, means in a jiffy I can tell if its you, as they can’t mimic blood right” he quickly explained as he wasn’t in the mood to get fried. For a second the mare just glared at him spitefully, until she acknowledged the logic was sound and her horn dimmed.

“Next time you should ask before stabbing somepony” she grumbled, her hoof cupping the small wound as she flinched a little at the dull stinging of a shallow flesh wound.

“To be onest I didn’t know if you were a changeling or not, I just had to be sure” he revealed, as now he was certain his ally was as much a pony as he was.

“Once you stop t train rendezvous at t dining car, I might need yer elp” he said before opening the dividing door and climbing back onto the trains roof. His nerves were starting to hurt, this happened when he was stressed, that injury haunting him like a cruel spectre since he was a colt, his right eye growing hazy as the ocular nerve spasmed, clouding his vision.

“Not now” he grumbled, pausing for a moment and putting pressure on the eye, the force temporarily correcting the issue.

With his vision restored he forged ahead covering the flat roofed cars quickly until he was back at the latrine car that had started this train trek. Stepping lightly he slowly descended the ladder and opened the door to the car, the interior dark, but not appearing to be occupied.

Stepping inside he allowed his eyes to adjust to the dim car, his eye spasming again, requiring the same guerrilla first aid to be applied, again fixing the problem for an uncertain amount of time. Removing his hoof, he had a quick scan of the car, seeing a trail of green blood in a streak across the carpet, cumulating in a body covered with a large towel. The changelings evidently finding his attacker and having the humanity to throw a towel over him as a mark of respect, to conceal the body in a dignified manner.

Not encountering any hostiles, he made his way to the dinning car, each footfall silent as he wished to maintain the element of surprise. Coming to a stop at the door to the dining car, the door looking slow heavier then he remembered as he depressed the handle and opened a small crack in the door, so he could hear the situation within.

“now your all awake, that champagne was stronger then I realised, let me introduce myself, I am Earwhig of queen Chrysalis private guard, and you, you are food” came the commanding voice of the leader of the changelings. Peaking his eye to the crack, Ratway saw that there were 2 changelings, both not looking in his direction, so he gently applied pressure to the door so it opened a gap large enough for him to slink into the room as he crawled underneath the nearest table, so he could better assess the situation.

Earwhig didn’t notice his entry clearly enjoying the power he was currently wielding. His attention focused on the 30 or so ponies partially cocooned in a large group, as if they were huddled together for warmth, just awaiting their fates like sheep. Gunk coated the horns of the unicorn’s present, preventing them using their magic so they had just given up, that or they just lacked the stomach to fight, the drug running deep in their veins.

“Now to sort you into meat and battery’s” Earwhig said pointing at his prisoners, as his words were to determine their imminent destiny’s.

“Upper crust, battery” Earwhig said pointing to the yellow mare who had questioned Ratway’s honour earlier, as she was dragged screaming from the group and rapidly sealed in a transparent cocoon, her face filled with terror as she was encased in the green prison. A part of Ratway delighted in seeing her get her comeuppance, but he had a job to do as he couldn’t see miss Rarity from his concealed position, her lack of attendance worrying him as he might have been too late to save her.

“Leave her alone you brute!” came the voice of Rarity somewhere in the herd of pony’s, a defiance in her voice causing the changeling to stop cocooning Upper crust.
“Who said that” snarled Earwhig, his pointed teeth more then ready to punish the insolent pony who had interrupted his pony processing.

“I said it you cur” responded Rarity as Earwhig snatched her with a cloud of his green magic and levitated her in front of him, the mare weakly squirming in a futile attempt to break his grasp.

“What did you say you whore” he snapped, engaging in her name calling contest, before slapping the helpless mare across the face, and turning her to her side to inspect her cutie mark. Rarity holding back tears as she had not expected to have been hit by this overgrown thug.

“Arr, Rarity, I was hopping you would attend” he said his tone getting much more sinister as he realised who was in his grasp.

“The queen was very specific in how to deal with you, and I get that honour” he hissed, before his long tongue snaked from his maw, the serpentine pink worm probing deep into rarity’s nose causing her to flinch at the uncomfortable sensation as it explored down to her pharynx.

“Meat” he said aloud, as he gave Rarity her designation, before giving a long lick from her collar bone up her neck cumulating at the tip of her horn, Rarity closing her eye as the tongue swept over her pretty face ruining the mascara on her left eye.

“You taste divine” said Earwhig with a chuckle before giving her another lick this time flicking his tongue under her eyelid causing her to scream, as the long length of muscled flesh gave several circular licks to her sapphire eye, pulling away with a fake eyelash in tow which he casually spat to the floor.

“there is a lot of meat on your bones as well, your going to make a large turd” he said before giving her diamond emblazed rump a slap, the buttocks jiggling for a moment as the well-padded posterior settled.

Rarity opened her mouth to respond, but immediately received another slap, as if to say only I can talk, so sit down and listen like the bitch you are. The strike sending her reeling as she let out a little whimper, as she was just held there suspended by the aggressive changeling, her purple tail a few millimetres off the ground.

“What were you going to do, give me a sweet smile, and a few sugar-coated words, they won’t do you any good, princess Twilight isn’t here, its just you and me, and in a few hours, there will only be me” he said as he opened his maw exceptionally wide. so that Rarity could see the throat open up ready to receive her, the throat pulsing in anticipation for the well-shaped mare meat, eager and willing to process her into a steaming pile of greasy turds. Ratway was about to strike when he saw the changeling close his mouth, not going for the kill just yet.

“But that would be to easy, an enemy of the crown like you deserves more of a punishment, as much as I would relish your pretty smile tickling my asshole on the way out” he said dropping Rarity in a heap at his feet, as the mare desperately tried to crawl away. Every time she got a small distance away his horn glowed and dragged her straight back, her hooves digging into the carpet as she tried to resist, but only achieving the effect of ruffling the red floor covering.

“Firstly, let’s get you better dressed for such an occasion” he said before in one shake of his horn he stripped Rarity’s dress from her body, the mare covering her private parts in an act of modesty with her tail. The expensive garment fell to the floor in a pile of tattered fabric, that even with his limited fashion sense Ratway knew was a write off.

“How dare you” yelled Rarity, her face filled with rage, as she tried to spit in the face of the monster, the only thing she was capable of doing to defend herself, the changeling was to quick and easily avoided the unplanned strike.

“For that I will eat your sister, o what was her name, Sweetie belle, then after her your mother then your father” Said Earwhig with sadistic grin, letting the words sink in as he threatened Rarity’s family with a caustic future.

“one big happy brown family”

“And you know what’s the best part? I will do it with your skin” he said as his body was surrounded in a green fire, that once settled revealed he had stolen Rarity’s form. To prove a point, he levitated the ruined dress to his body, and made a duck face.

There last sight being there sister or daughter swallowing them whole, they will blame you for their deaths”

“No one would even know the difference, your entire family will be nothing but fat on my hips, replaced by infiltrators to eat your friends, princess Twilight, her runt spike, the list goes one, all nothing but rapidly diminishing bulges in my belly” said Earwhig, the changeling well and truly monologuing at this point. His words seeming to be having there intended effect as tears were now rolling down Rarity’s face carrying mascara residue so that her face looked like a painted doll that had been left in the rain.

Ratway had just about had it, this basterd was degrading miss Rarity like a lump of meat, and no pony had the right to do that if he was around, she was part of princess Twilights house, so by extension her honour was his.

Taking aim with his gun he steadied the barrel for the centre mass on the changeling who was hard at work cocooning Upper crust, having returned to the task as his commander played with his food. The bug blissfully carrying out his duty unaware he was getting an early retirement, squeezing the trigger a loud bang echoing out as Ratway punched a golf ball sized hole in the changeling’s chest cavity, and a manhole sized exit wound in his back, killing him instantly.

The sudden noise causing Earwhig to spin around to the sound of the blast, as Ratway flipped the table hoping to use it as cover. The changeling changing back to his normal insectoid form as he lost the concentration to maintain the illusion of Rarity’s form.

“Who dares to have the audacity interrupt” screamed Earwhig, shooting a magical blast at the table, the magic striking a corner ripping a large chunk of wood free, the flaming wood flying across the room landing in a smoldering heap a few feet away.

“Its me Ratway, the pleb” he called from the relative safety of the overturned table, as he loaded the AP shell well muttering a prayer that he didn’t screw this up. The mention of his name causing a murmur to ripple through the group of prisoners. He had one shot and he needed to get close, otherwise he wasn’t killing this fuck.

“Seize him Splinter” ordered Earwhig, not yet realising his trooper was a blood mist and a twitching lump of rapidly cooling meat.

“Splinter” growled Earwhig, growing impatient, before turning and noticing what was left of his man.

“he aint coming, I killed him, just like the rest of yer lads” mocked Ratway hoping to tilt the changeling.

“Show your self coward!” scream Earwhig, but instead of sounding commanding he suddenly sounded scared as he had realised he wasn’t holding all the cards anymore.

“Why so you can just blast me with your magic” Ratway called back, before repositioning to the opposite side of the table where he had been sitting so that Earwhig couldn’t just blind fire him.

“Why are you so scared unicorn, don’t you have confidence in your shield spell” replied Earwhig as he levitated Rarity up and held her in front of him as a human shield, one of his hoofs wrapped over her delicate throat as she made a sound of disagreement, the changelings foul breath rustling her mane as he stared intently at the overturned table.

Grabbing a discarded glass Ratway tossed it to his left, a magical blast following the sudden movement as he used the trigger-happy changelings lack of control to get a table closer, scrambling like a duck to bread as he flipped the next table. the wooden table falling with a clank, and the sound of scattered silver as he made a new piece of cover, a follow up blast taking a chunk out of the table, just as he got behind it.

“Why don’t you strike, are you scared that you might hurt this mare” said Earwhig squeezing Rarity as to elicit a feminine scream from her.

“She is nowt to me, yer gonna need a better ostage” he lied, before tossing another glass, this time the changeling wising up and not wasting a blast on the harmless crystal. God Ratway wished he had a smoke shell right now, as he was running out of ideas on how to close the gap. The changeling growing tired of this farce and was slowly chipping the table he was hiding behind a chunk at a time, soon there wouldn’t be enough wood left to shield his squishy body.

As if an act of god, the train suddenly started to skid to a halt, the force of the sudden stop throwing everything forward, the wooden tables pushing towards the front of the train as well as the unprepared pony’s within the car, realising Fleur was stopping the train, Ratway sprang to his feet and dove behind the bar, the sturdy wooden counter offering better cover then these chestnut tables. He just had to hold out until she got here, and they could tag team this scrote.

He felt a magical blast fly past him, just skimming his back fur, the heat causing the smell of burnt fur to fill his nose, the shot off due to the jolting stop. Sliding over the smooth counter he landed badly on the glasses behind the bar, the assorted liquor glasses shattering with his weight some embedding into his flesh, thankfully he had landed on his right side, so he didn’t feel it much.

“Wait your just an earth pony isn’t you, ha ha ha, you fool” chuckled Earwhig as he projected a magical shield, the emerald dome encompassing him and Rarity. The changeling clearly lowering Ratway’s threat level to non-existent once he realised that Ratway had no magic.

“Now come out and join the rest of the meat, like a good little pony, I promise you won’t suffer” offered Earwhig, but Ratway wouldn’t capitulate, he had had plenty of times to do that in the jungle, in the war, just to curl up and die, that was his lot in life, but he had always defied destiny, and today was not going to be an exception if he got a say in it.

“I don’t need magic to break a hoof off in yer arse, and I will use me good leg, so I know you will feel it!” he threatened from behind the counter. Sure, this guy had magic but Ratway had experience and the will to win, this overgrown maggot just had magic and a strong case of antisocial behaviour disorder on his side. Glancing up at the mirror advertisment above the counter he could see the face of the changeling commander seething with rage at the insult, the mud pony having the audacity to challenge his better.

“I will give you until the count of 5 then I will ring Rarity’s neck like a pigeon, what are you going to do to stop me, hit me with that pipe your carrying” threatened Earwhig no longer playing around, as he just wanted this slight hindrance dealt with. The changeling clearly not understanding the capacities of the weapon Ratway was equipped with.

“Aint no pipe, it’s the power of Celestia in my hoofs” yelled Ratway calling his threat.

“then prove it” Earwhig said calling his bluff.

“1”

“2”

“3” on the third call he began to slowly twist Rarity’s head, as she began to mewl, realising there was the very real possibility that she might die in the next few seconds.

“4”, buck there wasn’t time, Ratway was going to have to shoot this guy without Fleurs help, there just wasn’t enough time. Buck, calming himself he preaimed with the mirror, and popping up like a ground squirrel fired, the Ap shot easily penetrating the shield and striking the changeling in the outer foreleg, over penetrating and not hitting bone rendering a minor flesh wound at best, the shot going wide as he couldn’t risk going for the head, as the possibility of hitting miss Rarity was too high. The changeling returned fire shattering the mirror, in a rain of broken glass, but to slow to hit Ratway with his blast as he had already returned to cover.

“Looks like you choked, that or your princess is losing her power with age” said Earwhig through a whence, the pain in his leg suddenly setting in, the scene still visible from Ratway’s cover as some shards of glass remained in the mirror giving him a shattered view of reality.

“5” he said as his horn began to glow intensity as he forced Rarity’s head to the side as he began to ring her, the mare screaming as her life flashed before her eyes.

“Did I” said Ratway in a simple act of bullshit, hoping it would stop Earwhig’s murderous intent.

“You did, now watch your mare friend die” Earwhig said as he prepared to shatter Rarity’s spine.

“Not from my perspective, I would say you got bout 30 minutes to live” Ratway lied, hoping this changeling was lacking in anatomical knowledge, and had a healthy level of self-preservation, or at the very least a fear of death.

“How so?” asked Earwhig, a tinge of concern exposing a soft spot, his horn dimming as he stopped his attack on Rarity, the mare panting heavily, but her eyes gleaming with hope as she realised she might not die here.

“Tell me now, or I will scorch her brain, she will be a drooling vegetable, nothing more then a warm pillow” snarled Earwhig as he demanded what Ratway had done to him. This threat suddenly restarting Rarity’s frantic struggling as one hell was replaced with another.

“I hit your mikkeller artery” he lied pulling the name out of his arse. The changeling looking at the trickling blood from his arm wound with a scared curiosity, telling Ratway he had him right where he wanted him.

“I would say you have about 30 minutes to live, course its treatable if you go to a doctors, so it looks like you got a choice to make, spend your last half hour playing with us pony’s, as you slowly bleed out or you could get it treated and we can do this later mate” said Ratway confidently, as a fear over the loss of control flooded Earwhig’s face.

“Your lying, you made that up” he snarled tossing Rarity aside like a used soda bottle.

“you going to risk it, I just have to wait, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock” mocked Ratway from his safety behind the counter, reloading a standard round into his boomstick just in case Earwhig went ballistic.

For a few seconds a look of indecisiveness covered Earwhig’s face as he kept glancing at the exit, weighing up Ratway’s words as if they had some merit.

“Bugger it, I will have my revenge on you bogtrotter, until then sleep with your eyes open, as I will gut you myself” snarled Earwhig before with a buzzing of wings he made a break for it, Ratway just staying in his surrogate foxhole and letting him leave, the look of fear on his face telling Ratway he was not coming back for a while.

Waiting a few minutes to be sure the bug wasn’t coming back, he crawled battered from behind the table, making his way straight to Rarity, the mare remaining where she had been thrown.

“Are you okay miss Rarity” asked Ratway, more concerned about her condition then the sticky feeling of drying blood coating the entirety of the right side of his body.

“Yes darling…, I am fine” she said, having been able to compose herself in the time it had taken for him to be sure Earwhig had fled, like the cockroach he was.

“Your bleeding” she said, suddenly noticing the thick red that was covering his body, the glass doing more damage then he had realised based on her reaction.

“It’s nowt, I have had worse” he said, trying to dissuade her worry, before he bit the gunk from her horn, so she could free herself. Then he remembered something, there was one changeling unaccounted for.

“No pony move” he yelled sweeping his boomstick wildly across the room so everybody knew he still meant business, as startled voices filled the air wondering what the holdup was in regards to their release.

“Darling what are you doing” said Rarity before Ratway placed the barrel under her chin, stopping her advance.

“Don’t you move miss Rarity, there is one changeling still at large, and I aint letting anypony out of my sight until I have caught it” he ordered, letting her know he wasn’t sure about her originality, before he casually lowered his gun after a rapid scan of the room.

“Well that were easy” he said aloud as he pointed the gun directly at Uppercrust, the mare trying to pull back, but the cocoon preventing her attempts to avoid the bore of the boomstick barrel sitting at her head.

“Any last words scuttler” he threatened, the mare panicking as she realised he was about to kill her.

“no please I am not a changeling, I am sure a smart pony like your self would know that” she begged, her words a lot more honey coated as she tried to save her skin.

Ratway relishing it before she realised he was playing, closing her eyes and accepting her presumed execution with some level of dignity, but Just before he pulled the trigger he swang around and shot Fleur as she sat tied up next to Fancy pants. The shell blowing her right foreleg off at the shoulder, as the crowd screamed, thick green blood spewing from the wound in a glowing tide. a second later a fire encased Fleur as she was revealed to be a changeling.

“How did you know” exclaimed Fancypants clearly curious how he had been so confidant in his shot.

“Because he already saved me” said Fleur as she finally joined them, better late than never, as she immediately set about helping Fancypants out of his encasement. The bloody mark on her foreleg telling Ratway she was the real fleur, something the changeling had neglected to mimic as he had been unaware of it. That and the huge black eye that was now shining after he had struck her in the face to eject her from a changeling’s stomach, but he wouldn’t want to take credit for damaging such a pretty picture.

“Aye, when the train stopped I knew that Fleur had done her part of the plan, so the one here had to be a cheap imitation” Ratway explained, before he seized a particularly big bit of glass with his teeth and pulled it from his flesh with a small spurt of red blood, Rarity immediately putting a napkin on the wound to stem the bleeding.

“Sorry bout your train” apologised Ratway looking at the devastated dining car, the grandeur like the ruins of Rome, a few small fires in the front of the carriage where the burning table fragments had singed the carpet. As he plucked more and more shards of glass from the right side of his body, the wounds rapidly scabbing up in the warm car.

“Sorry for what, you dealt with the situation, and you saved my gem here, it’s me who should be sorry for being such a bad host” he said taking Fleur under his arm, her airhead persona returning like nothing had happened.

“Just one question what’s a mikkeller artery, and where did you learn about changeling morphology” asked Fancypants, not realising it was a heap of bollocks he had concocted on the spot.

“Well let me explain that over a drink” said Ratway, as he hobbled over to the bar and grabbed a bottle from behind the counter, popping the cap and pouring some on his wounds before taking a swig of the yellow liquid. As he was doing this The other pony’s getting Released from their bounds like a domino chain, as he propped his tired body up against the firm counter.

“Its this brand of beer, and I made it up” he confessed as Fancypants joined him followed by Rarity, as a semblance of normality returned to the car.

“Good show” said Fancypants as the recently freed barkeep poured him a small glass of expensive whiskey. Fleur having a quaint giggle over the ruse Ratway had pulled, and Rarity just looking relived it was all over. The sound of a fire extinguisher could be heard as the small fires were choked out, and within a half hour the train was moving, on its way to the resort.

It was an overnight train journey, so in time most of the guests had gone to their sleeper cabins, leaving Ratway and Rarity alone at the bar, a large number of wet wipes having been sufficient to remove the layer of blood from his fur. Now he just looked like he had suffered a minor shrapnel injury, and he knew it was going to hurt like a bitch come morning, so until then he was happy to just chat with miss Rarity. For a while Fancypants had remained but he had retired early on account of too much excitement, and now the busy car was quiet, with just the polite conversation of two acquaintances quickly turning friends filling the still night air.

They had covered a lot of topics, family, hobbies, fables and she had taken a great interest in his pocket change when he had tried to tip the bartender, as his old coins were like nothing she had ever seen before, the intricate dragon designs really tickling her fancy, that and the solar sovereign gold coin he had been saving, the lump of gold worth a month’s pay, but her smile when she had held it in her hooves was worth more than the hooker he would have used it on.

“It’s beautiful” exclaimed Rarity, her eyes sparkling as she held the coin.

“It’s a solar sovereign miss Rarity, the highest denomination of currency that the royal mint issues” he explained, letting the unicorn hold it, as she examined it under the blue light her horn cast.

“Darling you can just call me Rarity, why are you being so formal” she responded as she continued to look at the fine details of the coin like a gold monger, her voice showing she was dissatisfied with him following standard social practices, the light liquor enough to loosen her lips enough for her to finally question it.

“Because you didn’t give me permission to call you anything else” he said, looking at her in a confused manner as if this should be second nature to her.

“Don’t be silly dear, you don’t need my permission, I am not some tyrant” said Rarity with a giggle, at the absurdity of his statement. To Ratway the giggle was sweet and innocent, and he knew he had put his chips on the right tile, the mare beside him talking to him and not at him, the feeling pleasant as he wasn’t being talked to like a dog as he had come to expect when dealing with unicorns, the experience making him re-evaluate his world view like it had when he had first encountered Princess Twilight, just something he could think about in a hot tub, but with a yawn he decided to end this pleasant evening.

“it’s getting late would you like me to escort you to yer room” offered Ratway eager to turn in, as the arms of the clock had long since rolled past midnight. As if he had reminded her of the time she let out a graceful yawn, before gladly accepting the offer, so together they walked through the train until they reached her cabin.

“Goodnight mi.. Rarity, I will see you in the morning” he said catching himself as his tired mind tried to default to formal, a natural response to avoid an unnecessary flogging for insolence.

“You too Ratway” she said before giving him a peck on the cheek, before slowly closing the door and retiring to her quarters. As he turned to leave the door creaked open onelast time for the night.

“ Darling…” she said, unsure of her words.

“Yes Rarity?” he asked.

“Thank you” she said before gently closing the door.
With Rarity safe in her room, Ratway basically collapsed into his own cabin, no longer having to keep up the strong front in the seclusion of his temporary room. his mind going dark as soon as his head hit the pillow, tomorrow they would reach the resort, then he could just relax, like the princess wanted.

Dreams

Luna had her job and she knew it would be easy, she just had to go about her normal business and slip into Ratway’s dreams, poke a few suggestions and see where that trail lead. He had been a blip on Celestia’s radar since Twilight had sent her first letter stating her discovery of a pony claiming to be over 1000 years old, this letter was followed up by another letter the following day that stated Twilights certainty that he was telling the truth.

The possibility of him knowing something that could fundamentally damage the thrones grasp of power was high, and as such it was utmost priority to establish what he knew, and if necessary eliminate him. Of course, Luna was under the impression he knew nothing, just a dog long outliving his usefulness, an echo of a bygone age, and she knew what Celestia did to the last dogs that outlived their usefulness, she liked to mention it over pancakes with a level of cruel malice, as if she found the power intoxicating.

Twilight had mentioned the penal battalions, a group of units her sister had constructed, the true scum of the earth, rapists, murderers and thieves, good for nothing. This was in stark contrast to the actions she had seen Twilight describe, he seemed to have some sort of tilted morality, brutally killing a pony one minute before resuscitating another. This pattern seemed to repeat its self as she passed through the dreams of Fleur de Lis, her mind reliving todays events, her life saved by the knobbled stallion. He clearly had a deposition towards acts of extreme violence, a trait more befitting an attack dog then a solider, it just didn’t add up, and Luna was eager to start picking his mind by the time she entered his dreams.

The scene was quaint, a simple bar, the wood worn, and a large betting board above the counter, the pub empty except for a slumped over Ratway, lying face down on the hard-oak either heavily intoxicated or moping, more than likely a combination of the two. Changing her form, Luna took the manifestation of Rarity, hoping a friendly face would make conversation easier.

“Ratway darling, why are you in such a travesty of a place” said Luna as she walked over and taking a seat by the stallion, his ears tracking her as she crossed to room. Finding her seat, she fluffed her mane over her shoulder and used her magic to pour herself a drink, a thick grog filling a cloudy glass.

“Miss Rarity, what are you doin here?” acknowledged Ratway, raising his head from the counter, the motion rustling his plentiful pouches, his hallmark present even here in his dreams.

“Checking out the rustic bars of this fine town, would you care to escort me on a tour of the local haunts?” she said, Luna hoping her Rarity impersonation was up to snuff.

“Sure, let me just pay me tab and we can go” he responded, before rustling a few of his pockets looking for change.
“Allow me to share my gratitude for what you did today” she said in a luscious voice before placing a couple of bits on the counter, the clittering of the small golden coins filling the quiet room.

“I don’t think that will cut it…… princess Luna” said Ratway before downing his drink, a smirk on his face as he had somehow seen right through her disguise. Knowing her ruse had been discovered she dropped her guise and returned to her normal dark blue self, her mane flowing like the tapestry of the nights sky.

“How did you know?” she asked surprised, not quite understanding what he had used to detect her so easily, most ponies were blissfully unaware about her creeping in until she allowed herself to be revealed to help them with whatever nightmare was bothering them.

“You paid with the wrong coin love, brass like that won’t exist for another 1000 years” he said pulling out a few well circulated groats to illustrate his point, the battered brass looking nothing like the gleaming gold of the modern-day bits she had paid with.

“But this is a dream, the concepts of time and space do not exist in this realm” questioned a confused Luna, as by the logic of her domain paying with the wrong currency would be nothing to write home about, she saw weirder stuff in nearly every dream she had passed through on the way here.

“ Aint no dream, this is a memory, haven’t dreamed in years” he said pausing for a moment as if the mention of dreaming had sent a shiver down his spine before he shook it off and continued.

“Me mind might be a tad bit corrupted, but I have the sense to keep me memory’s coherent, ad me worried for a moment that I might be loosing it when Rarity walked in on my first drink I ever brought with my own brass, so I did one of them tricks in the pschologikal warfare manual and I caught ya out” he explained giving more detail on how she had slipped up, as well as the mental processes going on in his scruffy head. Luna had heard about this before but never actually met a pony afflicted by the inability to create dreams, his brain was either calcified like a limescale kettle or he was suffering some sort of deep psychological trauma. personally, Luna didn’t care she had a job to do, he was just a loose end she had to tie up, if he hadn’t met Twilight he would be a bulge in her barrel right now, but unfortunately for her he did, so she would have to be more discreet, Celestia had told her to work on her diplomatic skills and this simple minded pony would be the perfect test candidate.

“So what brings ya to my neck of t woods princess, I didn’t know you did ouse calls” said Ratway before pouring himself another drink, the foul broth not looking appetising in the slightest to Luna who was more used to expensive wines to wash down her meals, the fine burgundy liquid doing well to marinate her more lively entrees and giving her burps shaken lose by their death spasms a unique flavour.

“I came to talk to you, as we have much to discuss, so I picked your dreams as to avoid prying eyes” said Luna, cutting to business as she hoped Ratway was as blunt and straight forward as she remembered his ilk being from before her exile.

“Bout wot?” he said bluntly living up to the stereotype, his words sounding irritated about her uninvited intrusion as he just seemed to want to be left alone.

“Nothing much, just your silence regarding some of the more unsavoury elements of the royal conduct from before my exile, the crown is willing to heftily compensate you if you conform it its whim” said Luna repeating the offer Celestia had said to give him, in the event she was compromised.

“You mean stuff like compliance geodes?” asked Ratway giving her a look like he was trying to make sure they were on the same page, the mention of the rocks causing him to reflexively rub the back of his neck even in the dream world.

“that is one of many things, my dear sister greatly regrets her past actions and wishes that they remain in the past lest the spawn a scandal” replied Luna, glad to see that he had noted one of the lower key issues and not one of the big three things she had been dreading he would say. The obedience geodes could easily be pushed under a rug if they were mentioned, a necessary evil in regard to the pressing situation that was the crippling famine sweeping the land, and that was if anyone actually cared about it being used on sex offenders and rapists to allow them to die with some regard of honour.

“ Tell you what princess, I will keep quiet if you can do one thing for me” said Ratway, the words immediately making her think that he would ask for something sexual, she had walked into more then enough wet dreams involving her royal ass being railed by all manner of stallions and a few mares, to get the feeling that he wanted something carnal from her, she was an attractive mare after all. She wouldn’t do it personally of course an elaborate illusion would see to his pleasure, an unnamed mare would fill her role, and when Ratway was done she would meet a caustic end, just like many of Luna’s suitors after all she had to keep up the illusion of royal purity.

“No nowt like that princess, just an answer to a question that has been bothering me for a long time” he said noticing the discerning look coming from the princess, who’s expression quickly changed when she realised he was being a gentleman even in the dream world, a rare trait.

“And the question is?” asked Luna cautiously, not expecting he would be this easy to negotiate with, as she had expected some crazy demand like a ton of gold or a massive house, the earth pony seemed to know his place and that was good, hopefully it would be a stupid question and she could answer it swiftly.

“All I ask is for you to name any one of these ponies, you do it and you will have brought my silence” he said as a horrid memory began to play, the contents being nothing like she had expected, instead of something simple like asking how she raised the moon he was replaying a loop of his war experiences, specifically every pony he killed in the name of the celestial empire.

Some were quick and clean a shot at centre mass others were the opposite long and brutal. One that stuck in her mind was a young Pegasus stallion no more then 16 getting his head beaten in with a knobbling stick. the metal instrument turning his head from convex to concave over the course of more than a dozen strikes, the helmet doing nothing to stop his brains getting scrambled. The worst bit about the deaths was that every pony was wearing her cutie mark on his or her arm, the moon that adorned her flank, sitting with pride on their upper foreleg, they had died for her, and she had an issue she didn’t know any of their names. They were expendable she wasn’t expected to know if one was called honey buns or sparky, it was irrelevant at least until now. And it still was, she mentally said to herself steeling her resolve, they were pawns nothing more, their deaths were irrelevant, she told her self-more for her own wellbeing then actual care for her men.

“Do you know any of their names?” asked Ratway, as an orange mare’s head was scooped from her shoulders the shell connecting with her helmet dinging it like a bell before it clattered to the floor a few feet away from her crumpled and weakly twitching body.

Luna wanted to just gloss over this, she had read the reports, 34 dead here 45 injured there, but that was just pen on paper, this was it up close and personal, the stink of death was making her uncomfortable, she had never expected to be reliving the past this vividly, and it was making her sick to her stomach, a strange feeling as many a pony had met their end in its caustic embrace.

Then the memory changed, a pleasant memory slipping through the cracks, an image of a happy looking pocket bulldog mauling a cricket ball, filling her eyes for an instant before returning to Ratway stacking bodies in a ruined street in a casual manner, clearly desensitised to it all at this point to the death he had witnessed. Then she realised why he knew their names, he had been relegated to gravedigging duty on account of him being an earth pony, the task unfit for unicorns or Pegasus, he had been the ones to log the tags after the battles.

“I am sorry I don’t” she responded calmly, not wanting to key him in that she was quite bothered about what he had shown her, the memory continuing to play as if there was no end in sight.

“I assumed as much” he said as if she had given him the answer he had always expected, more than likely given the topic a lot of thought in his years in isolation. With that the memory stopped playing and the bar returned to the silent state it had been when she had first entered.

“So you won’t remain silent?” asked Luna as she had failed to meet his criteria for compliance, a sneaking suspicion that he had rigged the question just to tilt her, more than likely to spite her for the war.

“I never said that, I know how the crown treats dissidents, I don’t particularly want to die from a convenient eart attack in the middle of the night” he said, clearly aware that she had other means of silencing him, that wouldn’t arouse suspicion from anypony he might be affiliated with.

“So you will hold your tongue on such matters?” asked Luna slowly, after seeing that fear of reprisals might be enough to remove him as an issue.

“Yes but if Twilight asks any questions I will answer em truthfully, she’s done right by me so far so it aint right to lie to er” he replied, the answer not the one she had wanted, her eyes narrowing as she prepared to reject his offer.

“That is unacceptable…” she began her tone calm but aggressive, like an overbearing headteacher.

“And whys that, you scared she will see you ow I see you” he snapped, cutting her words off and dropping any formality’s that had previously been present.

“No, you assume much, know your place” she growled, his insolence pissing her off to no end, her mouth salivating as at this point she would usually devour her quarry, but she couldn’t so her mouth grew wet for nothing.

“You will remain silent, or I will find a punishment worse then death for your wretched soul” threatened Luna, seizing Ratway with her magic and bringing his face an inch away from hers, his sent on her nose as she resisted the urge to give him a savoury lick.

“No” he said bluntly, his eyes locking with hers, the stare cold unbaiting as he almost stared right into her soul, his right eye spasming slightly, his hooves unable to correct it from his current position.

“Do you want to die” she said, returning to her calm well verse tone, hoping the final ultimatum would be sufficient to end his defiance, this mud pony was denser then granite.

“That already appened, I was dead to the world for a thousand years, that were until me little dove brought me back to life” he answered his eyes still not yet blinking, the fool actually thinking he could stare down a god. Seeing this Luna began to let sparks fly from her horn, the stench of hot copper filling the room as she put a bunch of wayward magic into the tip of her svelte horn, the glowing point slowly nearing his face, the spell more then capable of inducing a heart attack, but right now she was just trying to scare him into submission.

“Any last words?” she asked as she prepared to offer him one last chance to grovel for his worthless life, he was the same as all those she had just been forced to see die, nothing but meat, a means to an end nothing more than a small person whose purpose was to die for the greater good. He opened his mouth and said something in a low voice that she could not discern, as she realised she was choking him as the pressure from her magic increased.

“What!?” she demanded bring her head close to his, so she might better hear his final words lest they be of some meagre value.

“Fuck you, cunt” he spat, before unexpectantly headbutting her in the face, the impact striking her straight in the muzzle knocking her off balance and breaking her concentration, her grasp releasing as he fell to the floor and scrambled away. She was surprised this filthy pleb had the audacity to strike his better, he was going to pay for that.

“Next time have the stones to speak to me in person” said Ratway, as he got to his hooves a few feet away, before slapping himself and waking up severing the dream, leaving Luna floating in the black expanse of the dream realm as bubbles of other pony’s sleep escapades filled her vision. That bastard he had been stalling the whole time, buying time so his subconscious could stir and he could escape her thrall, she didn’t have much time, she had to confront him in person tonight lest he spill the beans on any number of countless crimes both she and her sister had committed.

Thinking fast she dove into Fleurs dream, using her as a portal to emerge in the thin mare’s cabin, the disturbance making the unicorn shuffle in her sleep for a moment before settling back into a peaceful dream. Now to deal with that insubordinate cretin, briskly leaving the cabin Luna made her way through the sleeping cars, the occupants easy to identify based on their dreams, until she reached a cabin with the light on and a suspicious lack of dreams, especially for such a wee hour in the morning.

Peeking through the crack between the wooden frame and the small blind that covered the window of the door, she saw Ratway under the bed frantically reaching for something, the bedding a mess as if he must have practically jumped from the bed as he had awoken. Casting a silence spell to damper what she was about to do she then opened the door, and in one flick of her horn seized him like a cat would a mouse, her magical aura enveloping him so that he was simply suspended helplessly from the floor.

“Now where were we” said Luna nonchalantly, the look on the stallions face only saying one thing, Fuck, as he was clearly not expecting her to get here so quickly.

Closing the door, she stood there looking at the weakly writhing stallion, trying to think up a fitting punishment for him, but all her favourites were either messy or involved a little exploration of her personal maze, both options off the table as he needed to appear to have died peacefully. Furrowing her brow and grumbling to herself, as he was just left floating there anticipating a horrible fate, before a spark of brilliance filled Luna’s mind, she could punish him and keep him silent at the same time.

Reaching out with her magic she began to manipulate a certain unicorn mare, the white pony sleep walking out of her room and slowly making her way towards Ratway’s cabin, as this was happening his struggling had chipped off a scab causing a small trickle of blood to stain his pale fur.

“I have decided to spare you” she informed him, the words causing a look of surprise to spring to his face.

“Instead I would like to reward you for your service” she said a cruel grin coming to her own face.

“What do you ….” He started before the cabin door slowly opened and Rarity entered her eyes closed, her sleeping body just a puppet for Luna to manipulate, the fashionista blissfully unaware she was about to be used as an implement of torture for the struggling stallion.

“Rarity run!” he yelled urging her to flee, but instead Luna simply had Rarity walk to her side, the princess towering over the mare like she was a filly. Opening her mouth Luna gave Rarity a lick, the tongue moving from her neck to her plush right cheek, the mares flavour as refined as Luna had expected, Twilight had good taste in friends, she could see why blueblood was obsessed with this mare.

“MMMM, delicious, would you like to try?” she said, the question rhetorical as she was going to ram his friend down his gullet if he liked it or not. Effortlessly she forced Ratway into a leather corner chair, his legs splayed, his only reaction a confused look, as he still didn’t know what she planned to do to him.

“What are you on about?” he said, his eyes fixed on the sleeping Rarity as she slowly walked across the room towards him,expecting some kind of trickery.

“Why I am going to give you a first-class meal” she said, as Rarity’s muzzle came to a stop a few millimetres from his face, her calm breathing a stark contrast to his that was beginning to accelerate.

“But that’s unpossible, I am not a unicorn” he sputtered out, telling Luna he was aware of her ability to eat pony’s, he just didn’t know it was a simple spell, which she had already cast on his throat. The rapid glances from his eyes told her he was panicking, more than likely expecting her to force the mare down his throat so he ruptured like a burst water pipe.

“Well I am one better, now open wide for your pony” she said, using her magic to awkwardly yank his maw open, a few strands of saliva bridging the dark gap between his lips, soon to be broken as Rarity obediently slipped her nose into the waiting orifice, the mare not knowing she was feeding herself to her charge, her mind lost in a pretty rose garden.

Ratway screamed, but his mouth was full so only a muffled whimpering could be heard, as with a push Rarity’s horn scraped over the roof of his mouth as her muzzle forced its way over the precipice that was the back of his throat, the unwilling gullet trying to reject its unwanted meal but relenting as the mare forced her way in.

“Now then, back to business” Luna said calmly, as with a reluctant gulp Rarity’s entire head was safely contained in Ratway’s gullet, the look coming from his eyes telling her he wasn’t happy with his dinner. The tight bulge of Rarity’s face visible through his short neck fur, the features calm as Rarity simply slumbered away, Luna’s spell reaching deep into her mind. Because Ratway’s ability to speak was still somewhat hindered Luna continued the one-sided conversation.

“You said something about not having the stones to meet in person” she continued as with a push of her magic she forced Rarity’s shoulders past his lips, the accompanying swallow taking her to her elbows, forelegs pinned to the side of her barrel, a skin tight bulge of what was the ingested part of Rarity easily visible, her head now obscured by his ribcage already filling out his stomach, that was magically enhanced to receive her.

“Well here I am, I would expect some mouth, but I can see yours is currently occupied” she mocked, as with another push Rarity slipped further into Ratway’s body, the widening of her hips stopping her decent momentarily, as her diamond rump peacefully awaited its turn on the slip and slide of doom.

“Now then here’s the deal, your going to remain silent” commanded Luna, as she placed a hoof on Rarity’s rump, and slowly applied pressure, Ratway’s mouth stretching uncomfortably as he enveloped her voluptuous posterior. His off-cream lips covering the pure white of Rarity’s firm glutes the 3 diamonds acting like a measuring stick as each was engulfed in turn, the lumps of well-formed meat easily entering his body with a little coaxing. With the plot ingested, there were no further obstacles and Rarity began to slowly sink into him, her legs forced upwards, as Luna manipulated Ratway’s head to stare at the ceiling, allowing gravity to aid in his unwilling ingestion of his newest friend.

From here Luna went silent, simply watching the stallion finish his dinner, Rarity’s well-manicured forehooves weakly twitching as her skin felt the nipping confides of the stomach, willing her to stir but Luna’s magic impeding her ability to do so, so she remained stuck in the dream world, the subtle movements almost like she was waving goodbye. And with a final swallow she was entirely encased in Ratway, her purple tail slowly trailing it to join her in a neatly folded foetal position sitting in his lower abdomen, the mare still fast asleep, her destiny determined in what Ratway would choose in the next few minutes.

“And what if I say no?” he asked with a hacking cough, he mouth now free to speak with Rarity now tucked away in his belly, her bulge defined as you could make out a hazy form of a curled-up unicorn mare contained in his flesh. At this point Luna implanted a nightmare into Rarity’s dream so that she would wriggle, giving Ratway the full experience. The weak squirming of an unsteady sleeper causing his face to grow slightly green as he was unused to living prey, or prey of any kind for that matter.

“Then I hope you like her taste on your burps, as your going to be shitting her out in the morning” said Luna calmly offering her ultimatum, the outcome was win/win, if he said no he would be discredited and charged with murder, if he said yes, he would be silenced through fear. This would just show how much he valued Rarity’s life, as she had a feeling he had enjoyed her taste, most ponies found the act intoxicating and she didn’t expect him to be an exception.

“Looks like I don’t have much of a choice” he said begrudgingly, before letting out a burp a few loose white hairs carried with it, now free to slowly drift to the floor. With that Luna released her grasp, and he immediate put a hoof on his stomach, caressing the pony turned bulge, a loud groan signalling he was suffering indigestion before Rarity even started to be sluiced, his body not used to such a large lump of meat.

“She won’t remember this, will she?” he asked clearly worried about this ruining further relations with his mare meal.

“She isn’t even aware this has happened, you agree to silence and I will even have her clean herself up in a sleepwalk, it will be like this never happened” replied Luna, reassuring his concern, not that she cared, Rarity was out like a log, but if he didn’t make up his mind soon she would be filling out his bowels as a much browner log, a necessary sacrifice but Celestia wouldn’t be happy about it.

“And besides, if I doubt your word for a moment, I will have everypony you care about line up and pile down your throat as you sleep, Rarity, Twilight, and any others, all together in your stomach as a meaty stew, you won’t even realise it’s happening, you will just wake up in the morn with a gurgling gut. You will comply you don’t have a choice” the words sparking a glint of anger in Ratway’s eye, at the mention of Twilight, the threat to the purple princess hitting a nerve.

“Fine you win” capitulated Ratway, the stallion giving up, his pride not equal in value to his friends lives. The weak squirming in his gut intensifying both from the acid starting to get to work and the nightmare infesting Rarity’s dreams growing worse.

“Wonderful, I am glad we could reach an agreement” said Luna through a grin, her negotiation ability was successful, this would be a fun thing to discuss over pancakes with Celestia when she woke in the morn. With that she opened a portal and was about to enter it, she hadn’t forgotten Rarity, who was currently wrapped in a muscular sack working hard to digest her, but Ratway was not used to the meat diet so right now she was surly fine, she just wanted to hear him beg.

“Aint you forgetting something” said Ratway well gesturing at the wriggling mare bulge in his middle, the stallion trying to rise but the weight in his stomach keeping him firmly sat in the chair. Luna simply ignored him and began to step through the portal.

“Am I, you may have accepted my offer, but I am inclined to let you see white hairs next time you wipe” she said coldly.

“Princess please” he begged at this point genuinely believing she was going to force him to digest Rarity against his will, the power was glorious, the power of life and death based on her whim, but she didn’t want to see her sister angry, so the decision was already made.

“Fine” she said, faking a tone of annoyance, as she closed the portal and with a spark of her horn forced Ratway’s stomach to spasm, the bulge that was Rarity shifting before after a few moments began to move back up his throat the mare leaving the way she had entered.

In a matter of seconds Rarity returned to the outside world, first her muzzle emerged, then her neck, followed quickly by the rest of her body, her fur matted with predigestive fluids allowing her to rapidly vacate as she was already lubricated for an easy disgorging. Her long purple tail was slick with peptide fluid, the lengthy hairs getting stuck in his throat for a minute, her mane and tails mobius strip style ruined by her little dip in his stomach, the sopping wet hair was easily dislodged as he pulled his head back, the long hairs leaving like a reverse noodle, and with a final gag Rarity was successfully purged from his body. The mare landing in a crumpled heap on the floor in front of Ratway, her mane and tail sticking to her body as they were drenched in fluids making them adhesive to her form. After being Through all that had conspired in the last ten minutes, her breathing was still as calm as when she had first taken the plunge down his throat, and without a word she simply got to her hooves and walked out, Luna mentally commanding her to clean herself up and return to bed, ready to awaken in the morning like nothing had happened.

With that Luna turned to leave, her business had concluded and this uncultured pleb was no longer worth her time, he had a lot to think about and she assumed he wouldn’t be sleeping well for the next few nights, paranoid that she might make a return.

“Princess” he said, his voice horse from his ejection of a full-grown pony, his words barely audible over the sound of Luna opening a portal.

“Yes” she replied, ears pricked, hoping she might get a little more grovelling.

“Stay out of my ed” the sentence triggering a few coughs as Ratway cleared some phlegm from his throat.

“Behave and I won’t have to, overwise you might have a few fattening midnight snacks” said Luna, leaving through the portal so that she would have the last word, the words something for him to think about as she doubted he would return to slumber tonight, and with the rest of the train sleeping it would just be him and his thoughts, a painful situation Luna was well aware of from her exile to the vacant moon.

With that she returned to dancing through dreams, she had no outstanding duties for tonight so she could just think about what she had done in the beauty of the night. It was refreshing dealing with a dissident as there hadn’t been one since she had returned, though she was disappointed it was a mud pony, as it meant he was powerless to protect himself, there was no sport in it. But she had shown him his place and the problem was dealt with, and if Ratway stayed passive she was sure he would be useful to the crown at a future date, even if it was as a simple meal.

With her mind on food, she gave her lips a simple lick and decided she would get a meal to go on the way back to the castle after she had banished a few nightmares, she was feeling Pegasus, their powdery bones always sat light during digestion, and her entree didn’t matter, one advantage about controlling dreams was there was never a struggle, that was unless she wanted one.

Browsing the dreams, she found a rather plump looking strawberry coloured Pegasus and decided to slip in, tomorrow she could go back to helping the little ones with their nightmares, but tonight she would feed.

Vanity (side story)

“I must be perfect, this will not do, not one bit, no no no, I have a meeting with Celestia in an hour, she cannot see me like this” panicked the frantic mare as she stared in her wall high mirror, mortified by the reflection cast in the silver surface. Her attention only broken from her sculpted face by a nervous knocking on her bedroom door.

“What is it!?” she screamed, not in the mood to entertain at this moment, though her voice remained elegant even when raised in anger.

“Message for you ma’m” came an effeminate voice, unlike the usual stallion she had anticipated, this change from the norm causing her ears to perk.

“Give me 5 minutes, knock twice then enter” she ordered to the yet unseen mare, giving another glance in the mirror as she seized one of her silken veils with her magic, this time choosing a red one that matched her at current cardinal red fur. With a little adjustment it was sitting snuggly on her face, masking her shame from the lesser ponies, and causing all who look at her to focus on her dazzling silver eyes, the very thing that had catalysed this little crisis.

The morning had started well enough, the birds singing, the sun sheening, all was right in the world, she had decided to lie in for once, and when she had awoken to get ready, instead of the grape eyes she was met with her normal silver staring back at her, judging her, the scar on her face all encompassing and visible as ever.

“Why was I cursed” she mumbled, eyes focusing on the mark, imagining how it made her look ghastly. Her gaze was firmly affixed on it, target fixated for the rest of the long 5 minutes, until the cautious follow up knock she had requested chimed out.

“Enter” she ordered, the stumbling waggles of the golden doorknob telling her it was an earth pony, as a unicorn or Pegasus would have had no issue. A few awkward seconds later the door creaked open and the mare entered, clearly looking unsure of how to progress and standing there gormlessly before her training kicked in and she answered.

“Miss Vanity, letter for you from princess Celestia, its labelled urgent” said the earth pony mare, her voice young and sounded very inexperienced.

Without turning around, Vanity examined her with a scan of her eyes, not facing the mare and instead taking in her from the mirror so her gaze would not seem amiss, browsing her features like a fashion catalogue.

She was good looking to say the least, her light green fur like mint, contrasting with a pale cyan mane, the colours not meshing well, making the mares coat look like some of the expensive toothpaste that Vanity had used this morning, not distasteful but something she wouldn’t wear in public. The mares body was very similar, very standard for palace staff, a firm 7 or 8 but nothing she hadn’t seen before, the mare did have something special though, and it would suit Vanity nicely.

The mares eyes were like gems, a rich amber colour, the sort that sparkled with hope and ambitions, which would likely never be realised as she was looking quite appetising, though Vanity was willing to let this conversation play out, as there were plenty of other fine mares milling around the castle who would make a fine addition to her collection.

“Ma’m?” questioned the mare, breaking Vanity out of her perusing, the lithe unicorn suddenly becoming self-aware of her lack of interaction.

“Close the door please” she said waving her hoof to convey the urgency. As the earth pony was doing this Vanity had a quick gander at the plot of the mare, eyes settling just long enough to take in the design, seeing a brick wall with ivy crawling up it as her cutiemark, a mark she didn’t recognise, further cementing the notion that she was new blood.

“What is it Ma’m?” asked a now concerned mare, not expecting this from a simple mail delivery. The fact she had been told to close the door indicated some level of secrecy, one of the perks of the job, but It meant she was going to have to hang around until Miss Vanity could pen a reply.

“Give me it” said Vanity, as she slowly turned around, her silver stare causing the mare to visibly flinch as she made eye contact, the stern look unnerving her slightly.

“Right here” said the mare, fumbling with her saddlebag and instead of producing the letter dropping about a dozen, that scattered across the floor, rolling in all manner of directions as they scattered for freedom.

“Bugger” she muttered under her breath, as she scrambled to collect them, emerging from the scrum a moment later with the tubes tucked under he dainty armpits, the one for Vanity in her mouth. Her head bobbing as she shuffled about, funnelling the un important letters back into her saddle bag, the seconds passing by with Vanity’s unbroken glare not straying from her for an instant, the whole time she was cursing herself for being so clumsy.

“Are you about done” said Vanity coldly, not liking this mare wasting her time, as she was sure to get an unfavourable letter about her performance if she was to be leaving the room alive. The mud pony was trying her patience, and it was irking her enough to consider dropping the mask prematurely just to get this bothersome interaction over with sooner.

“Sorry ma’m” apologised the mare as she presented the letter to her better, the document baring the royal seal, the golden sun gleaming like the real thing sitting in the still morning sky. Vanity seized the document without a word, her magic yanking it from the pretty lips of the mare, and gently levitating it to her dresser, where it was carefully placed. Vanity doing this without turning away from the now shaking mare, the silence during the action uncomfortable as Vanity’s piercing gaze continued to look over the mare, looking her over like a dress on a clothes horse, still considering adding the mare to her frame, but not quite sure, as she didn’t know if amber eyes were in this season.

“Thank you, that will be all” came the frigid voice of Vanity as she prepared to strike, her decision made, she had this meeting in less then 40 minutes and she didn’t know if she would be able to find a substitute in time, better to go in regal but out of season then looking the fink.

With that the mare bowed, and turned to leave, her legs scurrying her away as she tried to leave as fast as her hooves would carry her without making it out as a sprint. She was just about to make it to the door when a loud ahem, interrupted her. Going ridged and slowly turning around she was dreading what was about to happen, this was her first day and she had already fucked it up, looking very unprofessional.

“What’s your name?” asked Vanity, her tone and posture arrogant as she looked at the pleb with such condescension from the sniper scope of her narrow muzzle. The words she had been dreading, shit, Vanity was going to write a formal complaint, she was boned, she needed this job, and she had choked on her first delivery and was going to be on the street before lunch.

“Ivy Jewel” she croaked out, looking like she was about to cry, her words lacking gumption and coming off like she was about to wet herself, as right now she felt like she had been kneed in the gut.

“Are you okay dear?” said Vanity, feigning concern, her voice taking the form of a caring aunt, the words men to soothe her coming meals nerves, the words well practiced from years in the upper circuits of the palace court.

“ye…, no, no I am not okay” confessed Ivy, feeling tears well, and realising that Vanity had gotten a beat on her emotions, and not seeing a point in not confessing her remorse for her little bumbling introduction, hoping a little grovelling might buy her a reprieve, it was worth a shot, and her dignity was cheap.

“And why is that?” asked Vanity as she began to approach Ivy her thin body practically gliding over the marble, her silver eyes firmly fixed on the watering amber of Ivy’s, the salty tears beginning to ruin the green mares mascara.

“Because I messed up, this is my first day and I have made a fool of myself….” bawled Ivy, the floodgates opening causing tears to roll down her face, at this point any semblance of professionalism gone, as she just felt like crying.

“Shush, don’t cry, it will ruin your pretty eyes, a respectable mare cannot be seen looking so uncouth” said Vanity once she reached her, offering an unexpected shoulder to cry on. The compliment catching Ivy off guard as she had not expected Vanity to give two shits about her in the slightest.

“You’re not mad?” asked a confused Ivy, looking up at Vanity whose head sat about a head higher then hers forcing her to literally look up to her superior.

“Mad, why would I be mad, your going to look great on me” Said Vanity with a smile, her veil dropping away, giving Ivy a look at the most beautiful mare she had ever seen. the words sinking in causing Ivy’s eyes to fill with confusion, in the short time before the mouth swang open and Vanity lunged forward enveloping the smooth earthpony skull in on fluid motion, ivy only able to let out a meep of surprise before being having her entire head encased in the humid confides of her employers jaws.

The time for games was over and the time to feed was at hoof. With a flick of her horn the bone projection illuminated, surrounding Ivy in a pink aura, the magic clamping her forelegs to her barrel, and suspending her from the ground, the sudden lurch this caused making the mare scream in terror. The scream was dampened by the constricting flesh, and came out as a low mmph, not that it mattered, she could cry bloody murder, no one would hear, the room sound proof, this was far from the first mare to make this upcoming journey in this little room.

Hoisting the weakly wriggling mare up, Vanity aligned her with her swanlike neck, and simply relaxed her throat muscles to let Ivy slide in. the mare posing little challenge and simply flowing into her, like Vanity was drinking a glass of water. A screaming face visible in her neck as it slowly sank, the bulge tight enough for the flaring nostrils on Ivy’s muzzle to easily be discerned in the cellophane like flesh.

With gravity on her side, this wouldn’t take long, but Vanity wanted to savour the flavour, and began to roll her tongue over her meals neck, in-between intermittent shallow swallows. The taste was what she had expected, a slight fruity flavour, something reminiscent of kiwi, but a hint of lime was tickling in, from her years of experience Vanity had found every mare had a unique flavour, some not as good as others but always divine in their own special way.

Growing conscious of the time, the ticking arms of the ornate grandfather clock making her well aware of her impending meeting, Vanity decided it was time to tuck the mare currently occupying her throat away. S ing her neck and strongly swallowing she quickly rolled her way over the mare, each swallow claiming another inch or so of flesh. Her progress evident when her late breakfasts screams increased in volume and had a slight echo, telling Vanity that Ivy’s head had pushed its way past the stomach sphincter and was now occupying the vacuous but soon to be filled stomach.

With well-practiced swallows Vanity made good progress at ingesting her quarry, only stopping for an instant to remove Ivy’s saddle bags, the foul leather, just empty calories and not something she would want sitting in her stomach. With the indigestibles removed she continued her meal, a strong gulp causing the perky rump to slip past her lips leaving the forelegs and tail to be slurped up like a trio of noodles. The last part of Ivy visible to the world was her weakly twitching hind frogs and a slowly growing wet tail as the saliva made its way down it via capillary action.

And with a final elegant swallow and a dainty stifled burp, the last of Ivy disappeared down the throat, the mare being uncomfortably bundled up in a semi foetal position in the stomach, the mare making a large and well-defined bulge in Vanity’s normally skinny midsection.

“Pardon” said Vanity to nopony in particular, just maintaining her manners after having a hearty meal, her soft frog cupping over her mouth, instinctively as if she were at a garden party. But she didn’t have an audience and was instead only serenaded by the desperate screaming from the mare in her belly, her high-pitched calls for help only barely audible through the stomach wall.

“Quiet down in there, at least die with some dignity” said an irritated Vanity to the thrashing bulge, the mare within not being compliant in her promotion to an accessory on the most beautiful mare in Equestria. If a slap wouldn’t have produced a bruise she would have given Ivy a heavy smack, but she didn’t want to taint her peachy skin, and as such was forced to endure the slowing wriggling, the mare not dying but simply giving up like the food she was, thankfully before she could run the risk of giving Vanity stretch marks.

“There you go, was that so difficult” she said placing a hoof on the head of the mewling mare, who was still gently crying, the slow strokes getting a feel for her face, the small ears, round muzzle, and the eye indentations that housed the gems that had secured her place in her gut.

“Why?” sobbed ivy, wanting to know why she had been devoured, a fate she had not expected when she had woken up chipper this morning.
“Why not, I needed a new pair of eyes, and you happened to walk in, I am a busy mare I didn’t have time to mail order in somepony, so I have to improvise, just like with any other makeup” explained Vanity as she walked back to her dresser to return to staring in the mirror.

“But why me, I must have passed a dozen stallions coming here, I am sure their eyes could perform better than mine” grovelled Ivy trying to talk her way out of the now growling stomach, Vanity’s logic seeming insane, she was talking about her like she was just a roll of lipstick.

“Don’t make me laugh darling, eating a stallion would make me ugly, only a mare can for fill my needs, why do you think Celestia surrounds me with only men, keeps re-staffing fees low, not like that glutton Bluebelle” said Vanity with a chuckle remembering the tizzy the land whale had put on when Celestia had told her to slow her roll after guzzling the staff one time to many.

“But…” started Ivy, before she felt a magical glow encompass the stomach, Vanity casting some sort of spell on the digestive organ, no doubt to speed up her processing.

“Shush, shush, its okay” soothed Vanity as she geared up the spell in her horn, the rampart fizzing in her gut intensifying, and in the process the erratic struggles of ivy within, the stomach rapidly setting to work on her burning her soft skin. The mare not getting to finish her short-lived sentence as she was silenced by the overwhelming burning sensation that was spreading like a rash over her body.

The magically enhanced stomach rapidly stripping the skin from her back, the stomach chaffing it to leather, before it ruptured, and the strong peptides flooded into the fissures dissolving the outer muscles. The pain was incredibly, getting worse and worse as the acidic waves broke over her skin, the only sound she could make was a combination of a scream and a death rattle, her throat spasming stifling the words.

The process took about a minute, the power digestion easily dissolving the mare like a sugar cube in a cup of tea, but for Ivy it felt like eternity. Her nerves slowly being dissolved out of the surrounding tissues, like the nipping of a million crabs, each content for a small chunk of her flesh. Her mouth open in silent scream the vocal cords compromised, no longer listening to her brains commands as they were now a molten soup.

Vanity assume it hurt, but Beauty is pain, and beauty is in everything, all she cared about was the end result, and as long as she wasn’t in pain who cared. Usually she would let the mare simmer for a bit as she flicked through a good book, but she didn’t have time and had exuberated the process not like it would change the result, it just meant she couldn’t enjoy it as much.

With a meaty burp, the flavour of mare meat now on Vanity’s tongue, Ivy went still, not due to dying but the fact that all the nerves in her outer body had now been severed, the brain now firing blanks as no nerves were left to carry the messages. From here the mare was quickly turned into an unambiguous mass of meat, the form quickly disappearing and being replaced by a large red ball of rapidly diminishing size, the mare turning to sluice and being readily pumped into the waiting bowels. Feeling her stomach shrinking in size as the spell got to work a hot feeling crept onto Vanity’s face as the spell began to morph her form, just like it had done with Ivy in her gut only the end results would not be a steaming turd.

She hated this part, as she felt the bone structure of her face change, bones realigning and her eyes warping as they adopted the form of the former mare who had now vacated her stomach and was now snaking through her intestines ready to be dealt with once the spell concluded.

Almost buckling over eyes shut, the heat turning to a light stinging, Vanity endured the normal cycle, and as soon as it started it was already over. opening her eyes, a Smiling vanity was greeted with a pair of fine amber eyes peering back at her, the spell that got her the cutiemark on her fine rump working flawlessly yet again.

Having a gander at her form in the mirror she saw she had perfectly duplicated Ivy’s eyes, though the originals were at this point nowhere near as pretty, and her large scar was diminished for the time being, her face as perfect as it had been in her youth, at least for the time being.

Now she just had a deposit to make, as she practically skipped to the on suite, and flicking her tail to the side set to work unloading a few logs of former mare. The process simple the shit smooth, leaving with minimal anal flexing, the greasy lengths vacating the premises quickly and efficiently, no evidence at all that they had once been a mare, instead looking like any other bowel movement Vanity would make. She had been told by the royal doctor it was something about the amount of energy the spell required, the cells going into over drive or something to that effect, it just meant that over 95% of the mares biomass would be expended preforming the spell, meaning the waste would be unidentifiable, no bones, no hair, not that she had ever checked as she was taking his word for it, as she was disgusted by the sight of faeces and had never taken the time to examine her handiwork.

Flushing without the slighted gander at her anal evacuation, Vanity returned to her dresser, opened the letter and began to read it, as she applied makeup with her horn, as like any woman she was great at multitasking.

Dear Vanity
I am sorry to inform you that I cannot make are prearranged meeting, but I have a task for you, as your presence is required at Manehattan for a very importantmission. Go to theManefairhotel, andcheck into the penthouseitsprebookedin your name.I will have some pony along with themissiondetails in due time, think of it as avacation, and have fun.

Your Regent Princess Celestia

P.S I know its your time of the month, so I assume you have already had your way with the messenger,I am not angry as I assumed you would,Ivy was a sweet mare, but she was a horrible secretary, I hope you enjoyed her.

“Great” hmphed Vanity, now she had a bag to pack, as she magically levitated the normal travel case she kept under her bed onto the luxurious springy mattress.

“Jeeves” she yelled as she began to rapidly scan through her wardrobe looking for the ideal dresses for the occasion.

“Yes ma’m” came the voice of an elderly stallion, as he gently opened to door. The pony a living stereotype looking exactly as you would expect an elderly butler right down to the Trottingham accent.

“Clear my schedule, we have an unexpected trip to Manehattan” she commanded not looking away from her clothes, debating whetherthe scarf would go with her new eyes.

“Anything else ma’m?” asked the dutiful Jeeves, as he walked across the room on his frail legs, before reaching down and retrieving the saddlebags ivy had been wearing from the position they had been discarded on the floor.

“How do I look?” she asked turning around.

“Beautiful as ever ma’m” he replied, not like he was lying, she was a dazzler, and a fine mare to be in service to, he just wished she didn’t obsess about the small pox scar on her right cheek, it was barely noticeable, but she would be fine for the next few days Ivy had made sure to that.

“Thank you, Jeeves, I will see you at the train station at three, until then you can have the rest of the day off, you will need the time to pack” Said Vanity, as she settled on the white and ebony scarf, the patterns making her eyes pop.
“Thank you ma’m” he said, and he gave a bow and departed, leaving Vanity to obsess over her wardrobe for the next few days. he would dispose of the evidence as always and meet her at the station, he just hoped she could control herself, last time she had gone to Manehattan she had changed her fur colour about a dozen times, lots of leg work to cover that up.

He would deal with it as it happened, as he set off with his normal shambling gait to his room to pack.

Nurse Ponies (side story)

“the monsters were in us all along, they just needed the clay to build them”- taken from the journal of Tacticus, in reflection of the relief of the siege of the emerald isles, the first use of the emergency powers act.

He had had this dream a thousand times, the screams of the dying echoing off the walls like an opera of suffering, the sounds of boomstick fire like the ripping of fabric, and above all the hissing fire of his own creation. Though he was not a dragon, the fire he created burned as bright as any he had seen, the poor sods unfortunate enough to get caught in the breath of his hand dragon had never lived long enough to contemplate the difference, being burnt alive was a bad way to go, so the intricacies of what was doing the incinerating was of little constellation to the cooked. Pegasus, unicorns, earth ponies, griffons, zebras it didn’t matter all fell to the flames, the ethereal screech of the fluid as it ignited upon contacting the air a powerful omen of death, the only thing left afterwards was the mouth-watering smell of well cooked meat.

But that was the past, his flamethrower long extinguished of fuel, but in this dream, he could relive his glory, a mountain of armoured chitin, the sloshing of the keg of fluid on his back giving him the dragons fire, shells bouncing of him like he was made of titanium, twas a beautiful sight. His advance never slowing, those who decided to stand and fight or were to slow to flee were turned to ash or met the crushing power of his jaws, his metal teeth rending their flesh like he was eating a sponge cake. The taste of blood getting his 3 hearts pumping, the coppery lifeblood giving him a reason to live, the urge to kill was all he had been born for and it was all he needed.

He had been a good solider, not that he had a choice in the matter, the foul rocks in his neck causing obedience through fear, and even now they chafe as a permeant reminder of his servitude. But in time the war passed and there was no need for a mobile killing machine and him and his ilk were rounded up and put down, discarded like a broken toy, fortunately for him his captors were unadapt and tasty. But that was a story for a different day, and for now he was content to bask in his combat prowess, the battle of the emerald islands filling his dream as if it was happening right now, and not long in the past, the memory as fresh as the day he had lived it.

Celestia he loved this bit, the impact of him smashing through a barricade, sending a hapless sentry who was perched on the top flying, landing with a wet splat a good 30 yards away, the thick black smoke of burning debris clouding his vision causing him to flick his eyes to heat vision. The blackness suddenly becoming clear as a summer morning, his way unobstructed, the scattering infantry falling back, leaving their wounded like cattle to the slaughter, he was still sure to this day that they wet themselves when they heard him introduce their abandoned friends to mister sunshine.

As he neared the rapidly closing gate, they had formed another line and were returning fire again, the hard slaps of boom stick fire like hail, and the pattering of a hoof cranked heavy boomstick like that of a strong rain. The fire doing little but piss him off as he broke into a sprint, his massive body capable of short bursts of speed that these unlucky basterds were about to find out.

Reaching the gate, they had just a instant to dunk fire tar on him before he slammed through the oak, the sticky black fluid instantly ignited, unfortunately for them it just meant that instead of a crocodile troll charging them they had a flaming crocodile troll charging them, the pitch doing nothing but further adding fuel to his blood lust, not that he could feel it, the sensation nothing more than the feeling of feathers on the skin.

Letting loose a primal roar he lunged forward, seizing an unprepared pony in his snapping jaws, the mare powerless to stop him, as he simple flicked his head and swallowed her whole and very much alive, taking her in a single gulp armour and all. Her bulge rippling his scales slightly before coming to a rest in his stomach gently wriggling, not that he noticed as he was busy ripping the rest of her squad apart, a head, a couple of legs, and a few torsos, all coming away like those of a set of dolls, as he gorged himself on their severed parts, his actions rapidly diminishing the combat effectiveness of the unit. In no time his scales were drenched in blood and there wasn’t another soul present other than the 2 or 3 ponies he had swallowed alive slowly going still, as they suffocated in his stomach entwined with the viscera that was their compatriots.

Patting his stuffed gut, he knew he still had more space, but this thought was interrupted by the loud sounds echoing off the horizon.

BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM

The sounds like thunder, as steel rain began to fall from the sky, levelling fortifications all around him like they were made of wooden blocks, kicking up the mud causing it to fall like rain, his vision going cloudy in the mist of loam.

BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
CLOP
CLOP
CLOP

And with that his eyes flickered open, the sands of time lost to him until he next wandered into slumber, the sounds of artillery replaced by the clopping of hooves on the street above, signalling the start of another busy day in Manehattan.

Rolling from the mass of debris he called a bed, his neck cracking in the process as the wandering obedience geodes were forced back to their normal spots, the crick in his neck disappearing as they settled in their normal place, he groggily got to his feet. His massive frame filling most of the chamber that he called his lair, bones littering the floor, a few scattered skulls peaking over the couple of inches of murky water that never seemed to drain from this stretch of the sewer. A few bones that were precariously placed on the floor were shattered as he stretched and prepared to head out.

The growl of his stomach told him he was hungry, not that he needed reminding, the flesh of rats was only good for abating the voices for so long, he needed pony flesh, lest he slump into his primal urges. Grumbling to him self he set off wading through the sewers, the septic environment serving the purposes of his swamp, the heat of the decomposing sewage giving him the thermal energy he required in the morning to jump start his metabolism, the consistent environment meaning he could remain active even in the depths of winter, so he could hunt whenever the feeling struck him.

As he moved through the snaking tunnels, at some points having to go on all fours to continue he heard the city, the sounds of ponies yelling, the roar of machinery in the factory’s, and the sound of music. It was at the sound of music where he stopped, the sweet melodies usually indicating a party or at the very least the presence of liquor, the beverage prone to lowering ponies guard and making them easier to hunt, the flat toothed prey animals really shouldn’t damper their senses when their unnatural predator was on the loose.

Pausing he took in the music, the dimples on his wide face practically allowing him to see the music, the organs a remnant of if he was naturally calling for a mate, allowing him to seize up competitor males. He didn’t speak the new tongue well, but he could tell by the choruses tune it was some kind of female power ballad, indicating the ponies gathered around were a mob of mares. Listening for a moment he heard the gentle laughter, of about 6 or so mares all chuckling at some no doubt witty comment, like a group of flamingos.

For a moment he paused by the manhole cover, gauging the sunlight, finding it to be the mid-afternoon, the sun sitting in the sky cheerful as ever, providing the fire to the land allowing life. Pressing his hook clawed hand to the metal plate he gently applied pressure to the slab and pushed it gently clear allowing hi to poke the eyes mounted on the top of his head through the precipice and scan the surroundings. He did so carefully as he was sure to stand out in a crowd, his monstrous bulk making him both intimidating and naturally scary to the prey fears of all pony kind.

As his eyes adjusted to the intense light, unlike the cool dim of his subterranean home, he found himself in a lush green garden, in some public park. Lurking menacingly, he scoped out this new hunting ground happy to find the manhole cover surrounded by dense foliage, giving him lavish cover for which to hide his muscular frame. Emerging from the hole he was grateful his body had remained streamlined for swimming, as he passed through it without much issue, just having to point his snout to the sky to allow his long face to cross the threshold.

His natural moulted brown skin colour offered him some level of camouflage, but his pale underbelly was a dead giveaway, so going flat to his belly he slowly drew closer to the sounds of his imminent dinner.

“And then Snowheart accidently took some of Screwballs medication, she gave herself a double dose, to quote her exactly “I can taste the sounds”” said a chuckling white earth pony mare, her light pink hair tied in a bun, her eyes closed as she giggled at her friend’s expense, Snowheart clearly being the yellow mare who had suddenly gone quite red, but even so had a smile on her face.

“O stop Redheart your embarrassing her” said an orchid mare, her face chubby, making her look like a fine main course, her cute freckles offering her no reprieve, and instead making her look all the tastier.

“How about that time in med school……” started a cobalt blue mare before Redheart pushed a hoof to her lips, her cheeks flushing red, as whatever the mare was going to say was a very humiliating affair.

“Now, now Tenderheart we don’t have to mention that, otherwise the girls here will know about what happened in los Pegasus” said Redheart with a giggle, evidently remembering it as a humorous affair.

“Redheart we were all there, seeing as the trip was for Sweethearts weddings hen do” said Tenderheart pointing to the chubby pink mare, the action causing Redheart to feel the fool as she had just remembered all her friends had been there for Tenderheart making an ass of herself.

He cared little for this bickering banter, the chit chat irritating him to an unhealthy degree, he was waiting for the opportunity to strike, as he had slowly inched his way towards the mares who were sprawled out on a large picnic blanket, its red and white checkers no where near as colourful as the mares reclining on it as they nibbled at their sandwiches.

Then he heard a sound to his right, glancing over he found a lone glamorous ocean green Pegasus mare leaning against a large tree that stood at the edge of the tree line, casually flicking through what looked like a fashion magazine, in the most obnoxious way possible. She was wearing clothes and jewellery, but that meant little to the crocodilian, they would digest with her or be ejected in a stool a few days down the line, though they would dampen her taste, which was a shame, but he inhaled his prey anyway, so it was no great loss.

Rising onto his hindlegs, the bones creaking as his muscle structure realigned, his body worn, but if he had known he would have lived this long he would have treated it better, but his mind was set on another task that his animalistic instincts deemed higher priority than his weary bones.

Leering over his prey, the mare’s ears gently twitching in the soft breeze as she flipped through the magazine with nary a care in the world, each page only getting a brisk glance before she discarded it with a humph, as she found it distasteful and was swift to turn over the page giving the same result like a faulty lie detector. Her eyes only breaking from the pages when a glob of his saliva fell in a strand hitting her red shirt clad shoulder as it trickled in strings from his maw. Her eyes then wandered to it, giving it a look of disgust and slowly creeping upwards, going wide upon seeing him a moment before his jaws snapped shut over her like a bear trap.

Retreating into the foliage, meal in tow, he flicked his head back, bouncing the mare into his gullet that managed to get a solid connection to her head and short red mane, and then it was just a simple couple of flicks of the head to down her, the light marine green mare disappearing with no effort, this was why he preferred mares as prey as they had smaller frames, so they went down easier and he could fit more in, their small shoulders fitting snuggly into his jaws unlike the often obtuse boxy build of stallions.
Feeling his first course slide down and settle in the gut, the mare already protesting and wriggling enthusiastically, clearly not happy with her new scenic view, he returned his attention back to the group of mares enjoying their soon to be ruined picnic. The massive reptile then melded back into the underbrush, and moved his way back towards the remaining mares, crawling towards them offering as small a profile as possible, using a flowerbed to mask his approach. The gabbing mares blissfully unaware of what was coming for them, the gap rapidly closing as he stalked his quarry, the weak struggles of his first meal making him want to add more sensation to the mass of squirming flesh, as he was sure to gulp down some air to prolong their pointless acts of defiance.

30 yards

20 yards

Looking up something didn’t feel right, the birds had stopped singing, the giggles of her friends filling the space, but it wasn’t sitting well, like some ancient prey sense was triggering, the feeling causing her ears to swivel like radar scanning for a discrepancy that might cause her to change her actions.

10 yards

“You okay Redheart?” asked Snowheart, noticing her friend suddenly going quiet, unlike her normal self especially with such rampant banter going around the group.

5 yards

“Yeah its noth…” she started a smile already on her face to discern her friends concern before, the group was hit by a train of muscle and anger. It happened in an instant, her body locking up as a creature that could only be described as a foal’s nightmare towered over her fangs barred, some metal gleaming in the light others an off white and covered in plaque. With two powerful swings of its arms it grabbed Tenderheart and Snowheart, lifting them effortlessly as they helplessly writhed in his steel grasp, suspended above the ground their hooves trying to run but finding no land to sprint on.

Sweetheart was not as lucky and the creature had slammed its jaws over her enveloping the entire front half of her body in its gnarled flesh, leaving her round rump, mulberry tail and thrashing hind legs the only part of her not encased in the crocodilian abomination.

For a minute he paused savouring the taste of the rotund mare in his wide maw, her taste flowery but with a hint of medical antiseptic, an odd flavour and something he hadn’t experienced in a long time, then he realised that all 3 mares he had seized had matching cutiemarks, the red cross a symbol of a nurse pony. His mind was distracted from pondering this as the pink maned mare in front of him let out a scream, and he realised she had failed to flee, and had remained rooted in place when he had seized her friends, how convenient, now she would share their fate.

Looking up in terror Redheart saw the creature staring right at her, its yellow eyes piercing deep into her as it sized her up like a lump of meat, the only movement a subtle bobbing of its head as it “S”ed its stubby neck pushing the screaming Sweetheart into its waiting gullet, her friend causing the scales on its throat to stretch exposing pink flesh in between the armoured scutes.

Falling backwards she tried to crawl away, her hooves digging into the well-cut grass as she tried so push herself away from it, to get help, the madness of what she was seeing overloading her system, the normally calm and collected nurse now sprawled out on the grass scrambling away from a monstrous golem, she didn’t get far.

As she turned to run she felt a firm foot on the small of her back, the monster simply placing a clawed foot down on her back, using his weight to force her down into a submissive position, as simultaneously it had a rolling gulp, and the bulge that was Sweetheart could be seen travelling down its throat, disappearing for a moment behind the ribcage before reappearing when it joined the jostling mass in his midsection.

And then the true horror of the situation struck her, it could have crushed her like a bug, but instead it was holding back, showing restraint, a cruel sentience was behind those reptilian eyes, it wanted its prey alive, it wanted to feel her struggle in its stomach. As she was contemplating this it tossed Tenderheart into its mouth, the blue mare practically disappearing in a single gulp, her pale green tail the only part of her not yet enveloped in flesh, the length of hair rapidly growing shorter as the lump of meat it was attached to flowed down the rippling gullet to be deposited in the now quite full stomach.

Hand now free he reached down and picked up the mare under his foot, well with the other hand tossed the yellow mare into his jaws, wolfing her down effortlessly, the mares like gummy bears, sliding down easily, their taste fruity but stained by anaesthetic and other medical chemicals, no doubt accrued from their work in some local hospital. The white mare in his grasp was of average build, her mane bun becoming unravelled as she struggled, the pink hair rustling in the warm air, as the sensation of her friend’s tail sliding in tickled his tonsils.

Looking in terror as the cerulean grey tail disappeared, Redheart could not look away from the maw as it approached, like sea cavern opening up to accept her as she was gently pulled towards the threshold, the crocodile hissing in what seemed like satisfaction as Snowheart settled into her new home, the writing mass of living ponies bulging its gut greatly, as the struggled against the stomach walls and each other’s bodies.

And like that Redheart felt the wetness of saliva on her face, and was soon riding down the tight waterslide, the flesh surrounding her warm, its peristalsis strong, and she was yanked in a single gulp the sounds of lungs and 3 thumping hearts filling her ears, in any other situation she would have been fascinated by this first had experience with anatomy, but right now she just felt like pissing herself in fear.

Her isolation was soon replaced by cramped overcrowding as she was thrust into the crammed to the brim stomach. Her face finding its way under a pair of what felt like limbs, the stomach pitch black and the only sensations audio and tactile. In the stomach personal space didn’t exist, the mares were forced upon each other like sardines in a can, their bodies interlocking like living jigsaw pieces, as the stomach settled to solving the puzzle of fitting them into the smallest space possible, as it set to work slowly grinding them to chyme.

It was a humid, fetid sack of desperation, all the mares struggling, their flailing limbs striking against each other as the stomach simply rolled over them like a chef kneading bread, the abhorrent smell added to by the uric smell of urine as someone had lost control of their faculty’s and let the yellow rain fall. The smell of rotten flesh was upon Redheart’s nose like a swarm of flies, the no doubt remnant stench of the monster’s previous meals, all in the same situation she was now in, and soon she would share their fate.

Her thoughts were temporarily distracted as she felt her face forced into the vaginal folds of one of her friends, she didn’t know who it was, but their acid drenched tail caressed her face like a spider’s leg, sending a tremble up her spine from the strange sensation, the lengths of wiry protein sticking to her white fur in a sodden matted mass.

The sudden yelp above her told her she had had her muzzle forced into the birth canal of Tenderheart, the stomach seemingly intent on shoving her entire cranium up a second tight Shute of flesh before she died. She had not expected this day to end like this, her and her friends becoming a broth of pony flesh, mixed and pumped through the bowels of some massive reptile, she was a nurse she knew what happened to food, and right now she had been relegated to that lowly rank, her humanity stripped from her in less then a minute, to the beast she and her friends was nothing more than a tasty snack.

Placing a hoof on the rump that was surrounding her head, she somehow found leverage and pushed her head out of the love tunnel, her face now coated in her friend’s musk, her makeup running down her face tainting her medicinally clean fur. gasping in the stale air, now able to breath freely, she felt a gently plodding like the listing of a ship, in a gentle tide, a left right rocking sensation, that after a moment and a sudden unintentional headbutt from Snowheart, she realised was the monster walking back to what ever hellhole it had crawled from, now doubt setting out to bunker down and sleep its mare stuffed gut of like a Heartswarming dinner.

“We have to get out of here” screamed Snowheart, the notion earning a mewl of terror from a as of yet unseen mare buried at the bottom of the mountain of mare flesh, her screams intermittent but clearly the sound of someone in pain, as the crushing pressure of the stomach was magnified as the acid was getting to work on her soft skin, the epidermis turning red as it was sluiced from her body.

“Struggle, maybe it will force it to hack us up” yelled Sweetheart, the words barely audible over the suddenly much louder organ, its movements gearing up as more peptides were washed into the sack like a second rinse of a washing machine. Hearing this rally cry the 5 mares began to do their best in a vain attempt to escape, but in honestly it was nothing more than a gagglefuck, a stray hoof winding Redheart as her diaphragm was hit and she began to suffocate, unable to draw breath, as she through her lack of movement began to sink into the mass of writhing ponies, all desperate to live.

Just as she reached the bottom of the stomach her friends pressing down on her she had a revelation, she didn’t want to die, she wouldn’t die, no not like this, she was going to live, the boilers of her heart firing as she began to fight back, kicking and clambering, coughing up what ever was leaking into her lungs. As she began to climb her way to the king of the hill position of this Jenga tower of mares. she was doing it, a stray hoof or head here slowing her progress, but she overcame the obstacles adrenalin fuelling her oxygen deprived body, and before she knew it her mind clouded vison blurry, she felt her muzzle press against the sphincter she had entered from.

To him all he felt was an intense and uncoordinated act of defiance, the struggles offering him some pleasure as it tickled his nerves, this was his favourite part as it was one of the only times he felt anything, his external nerves hardened and resistant to stimulation this was the closest he would ever get to what he assumed the embrace of a lover felt like.

Reaching the man hole, he simply dove into it, and found himself stuck like a cork in a champagne bottle, his now much larger gut blocking his return to his subterranean domain. Squeezing his gut to protesting sounds from the mares within, a few bones cracking as he shattered their bones like twigs to try and reduce his stomachs circumference. he was having no luck, until he felt a mass force its way back up his throat and with a pop he fell into the sewers below, landing on his gut and with a hack ejecting one of his meals, the rest screaming in pain as no doubt they had suffered some compound fractures from the immense weight suddenly dropped on them.

Rising to his feet, remaining on all fours, he rose to reclaim his meal, the white mare a mess, her pink hair looking like it had been caught in a torrential typhoon of digestive fluid hanging wet to her body. She looked pitiful hacking as she practically vomited up a pint of fluid, the caustic fluid having singed her upper lungs as she had begun the first wash of many his stomach had had planned for her.

For a moment he considered gulping her down, but he was sated, for now, and it would be fun to have something to chuck in his stomach after he was done ejecting what was left of her friends in the next few days, would also save him going hunting if the need for food struck. so, opening his mouth, he gently grasped her in his maw as to not break her and began to scarper back to his lair, having to take a slightly different route as he factored in his now wider girth.

She was limp, but he could sense her heartbeat on his lips, so she would stay fresh for at least a day or two, the mare making coughs and rolling in and out of consciousness as she had practically drowned in his stomach before he had chucked her back up in an equally grimy setting.

In no time he was back to his humble abode, the sounds of bones hidden beneath the water line snapping as he placed his weight on the concealed rods of calcium, the remnants of previous meals giving his lair a morbid vibe, like one had entered the underworld, it worked wonders scaring off the sewer workers, so he guessed it was pretty scary. Tossing the mare into a holding cage he had constructed from bones in his free time, the idea striking him a few years back when he had captured an entire fraternity of stallions who had been doing some stupid initiation, he had butchered them but in doing so he could only savour a fraction of their meat, this way he could keep a larder for future feasts.

As he crawled onto his bed to start sleeping of his meal, he heard the mare say something her voice trembling.

“What are you?”

For a moment he paused, enjoying the pulsing of his stomach, the mares within still very lively as they had yet to expire, he gulped a little sewer air as he pondered his answer renewing their struggles with false hope, the mares moving in the stomach like the gel in a lava lamp, rising and falling as they hit the strong acid, causing them to scramble over their former friends, who were now nothing more than obstacles stopping them escaping from the boiling broth. In time one or two would expire leaving the others to sit atop them waiting for their friends to liquidate and plunge them into the soup that was their friends in a now liquid state, all of them loosing their forms and becoming nothing more then a unified log.

“I am Gnarle, and you, you are food” he hissed, the water around him vibrating as he made a territorial display to further frighten the now very lonely mare, as he rolled on his debris and drifted off to sleep in full view of Redheart who would have the pleasure of observing her friends get turned to slop over the next few days, knowing her fate in its entirety before she has a retake for her ownplunge, and live what she had observed.

The fear always made them taste better, he thought, as he was lulled into a dormant state as his body prioritised its digestive faculty’s. as his mind drifted it left a whimpering Redheart, the mare basted in her fear, the hormones giving her a strong scent, her sweat marinating her fur, as she subconsciously prepared herself for when he could eat her at his leisure, he would eat her slow to fully savour her, unlike her friends who had been inhaled with only a passing taste like sweets from a bag.

Hours later, in another place, this one a lot more regal and clean then the bustling city, Celestia sat at her meeting table, the carved mahogany inlayed with ivory and ebony, the spiralling pattern radiating from a large sun in the centre, a moon retroactively inset pairing it, symbolising her sisters return. She had felt a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time when she had opened the letter from her faithful student, it was uncertainty, and it didn’t sit right with her.

She had been sat here for hours flicking through documents, the unplanned variable unexpected, but she had sent Luna to deal with it, and hopefully that worked out. What was bugging her more was the reports of a crocodile troll loose in the sewers of Manehattan, the creature deeply unnatural, seeing as it was her wizards that created it centuries ago. The missing person report stack was huge, going back several years, but for now the denizens of the city were happy to chalk the rumour of crocodiles in the sewer up to urban legend, even with the mounting body count.

The fact something, she had had a hoof in making was on a killing spree, bothered her deeply, if it wouldn’t create a scandal she would have sent in her specialists, but a bunch of robed ponies showing up was sure to draw eyes, and there was no way she would delve the depths to fight it in conventional magical combat, that was sure to end badly.

With the clocks passing 2 AM, she was about to turn in, when she heard the glass veranda doors that lead to the rooms accompanying balcony gently open, the sparkle of magic filling the room as a familiar dark mare entered, her belly large and gently wriggling under her, a curled-up form clearly visible under her conditioned fur.

“Please tell me you didn’t eat him” said Celestia with a groan, immediately thinking her sisters less than stellar people skills had failed her, and she had wolfed Ratway down to end negotiations.

“Sister please, when it comes to feeding I have some self-control, not like you and your cakes” said Luna, a burp escaping her lips with a few damp loose pink feathers, telling Celestia that the stomach contents defiantly wasn’t the earth pony stallion she had feared. Leaving the feathers to flutter to the ground, Luna pulled out the chair at the other end of the table and took a seat, her horn glowing slightly to manipulate the dreams of the pony within as to get her desired level of wriggling.

“Must you do that in a way that others might see?” asked Celestia, making note of her sister’s nonchalance at displaying her meal, the pony within clearly visible, no attempt to mask it with magic even attempted. Her sister didn’t seem to care and was much more set on selecting a fine wine from the liquor cabinet, settling on theCheval Blanc, with she gently began to suckle directly from the bottle, as no glasses seemed to be present.

“Don’t get so high and mighty sister, at least I taste them, savour them, appreciate them, you just take them in like you draw breath” said Luna, giving Celestia a stab at her sporadic feedings.

“How did your meeting go” asked Celestia, not biting at her sister’s banter, instead eager to hear how she dealt with the echo.

“Went fine, he knew his place” she answered vaguely, the answer bothering Celestia as the last time something had gone fine, it was when Luna had clogged a toilet with what was left of a saddle Arabian serving girl.

“So he agreed to my terms?” asked Celestia, intent on tickling a little more information from her sister, who seemed to be going a little red as her meals struggles slowly increased, the weight forced onto her private parts from the sitting position she had assumed.
“yep, his position caved like a pile of leaves” said Luna, as she began to pick her teeth with one of the feathers she had burped up, trying to dislodge a few loose hairs that were sitting between her well-polished teeth. Pondering this for a moment Celestia suddenly had a flash of brilliance that would deal with both of her most pressing issues, a smile creeping to her face, drawing Luna’s attention as she waited to see what her sister would say, the legitimate smile easy to differentiate from her put on smile for photos.

“I regret to inform you but your journey may have been unnecessary my dear sister, I think I have devised a more permanent solution to this little problem and another that is much more pressing” Celestia said as she hovered a file over to Luna, the blow hitting the princess of the nights self-esteem slightly as she had felt she had done a good job, only to have it undermined by the good old big sister knows best routine, as she attempted to micromanage things without telling her. Then she read the files title and realised she couldn’t have thought of a better plan herself.

“A crocodile troll, in Manehattan” said Luna not quite believing it, as she had not heard that species mentioned since her banishment and was convinced that they had been mopped up after her exile.

“If I send the lost soldier in, and he gets devoured, I can then send in my agents to capture the troll under the pretence of finding the charge of my dear student, it removes both from the equation” said Celestia proudly, as she conveyed her plan to her sister, just in case they weren’t on the same page.

“Makes sense” agreed Luna, before taking another sip of wine, the flavour of the Pegasus mare in her gut now stained in the wine, giving her periodic burps a new level to their aftertaste.

“It will be the morn soon” said Celestia, scrawling down a letter to Vanity, the mare more then fitting for the job at hand, she could make a more refined plan tomorrow, but for now this would do.

“Raven” called Celestia sweetly, before a moment later her diligent secretary emerged, her eyes heavy with bags, but dutiful as ever, having been ordered to remain outside until relived of her duties.

“Take this to the mail room, then get some sleep, I need you prepped for tomorrow your preliminary schedule seemed quite hectic” Celestia said, before giving a smile, as the mare scurried off with the message in hoof. The moment the door had been pushed shut Celestia returned her attention to her sister, who had been looking at Raven like an owl does to a mouse.

“Will I see you in the morn for pancakes?” asked Celestia as she pilled up the files with her magic and got to her hooves.
“Unlikely, I think I will be full for a few days” said Luna caressing the writhing bulge of her gut, eager for her sister to depart so that she may do some very questionable things in isolation. She didn’t receive a verbal response but the look on Celestia’s face was that of disappointment, their duties had made things difficult and they barely spent any time together outside of monarchic duties.

“Sweet dreams sister” said Luna just before Celestia reached the door, causing her to freeze at the door, at the normal parting words, having a different meaning from the dream master.

“You to” she said and then with a ping from her glowstick the door opened, and she walked out, her hoof coups clopping on the vacant castle, the only ponies present being guards who saluted her as she passed.

Before long she had wandered to her apartments and made her way inside and just as Luna had promised her dreams were as sweet as ever, her sister banishing the nightmares as always. Deep down Celestia knew it was her sisters attempts to repent for her crimes as nightmare moon, but she would never confess to it, but 8 years without a nightmare was a hell of a correlation. One day she would have to thank her for it, but for now she would play coy, and continue their relationship as normal, lest she think her big sister had gone soft.

And with a few gentle snores the princess of the sun got her beauty sleep, until the need to rise the sun returned and she would have to rise from her slumber.

Spike (side story)

He had messed up, Spike knew this, the bloated feeling in his stomach told him that much, and nopony else was going to let him forget. It had started normal enough, Twilight and the girls had put together a birthday party for him, each one bringing him a gift, not all of equal worth but it was the thought that counted, he didn’t care about the items, he just wanted to spend some time with his friends. Next think he knew, he had awoken in a large pile of assorted items and his body was growing exponentially, then it all went black, a haze clouding his memory, the images no longer coherent from that point on, making him dependant on second hoof accounts of his doings as he had no recollection of his actions.

The next thing he could remember he had awoken in a fancy bed, the gilded head rest sheening in the morning sunlight, Twilight passed out in the chair next to him, his surrogate mother by his side through thick or thin, as usual. A heavy weight on his chest as his gut bulged in a comical fashion, a large solid mass contained within that he couldn’t discern from his immobile position on his back, the loud groans of digestion echoing in the quiet room, the only other sound being Twilights calm breathing as she was lost in a hopefully pleasant dream.

Unable to stand Spike lay there listening to the sounds of his stomach struggle with its bubbling contents, the feeling reminding him of the last time he had stuffed himself on gems and ice cream, Twilight had warned him it would give him a tummy ache and he hadn’t listened, now history was repeating its self, as he groaned before a meaty burp escaped his lips.

“What did I eat?” he asked himself, his mind not giving him any hints to the contents of his stomach. The sudden words breaking the calm like a stone cast in a still lake, causing Twilight to start to make sounds as she stirred, a few moments later her purple eyes flickered open and with a groggy look on her face she spoke.

“Spike we need to talk” she said bluntly, her tone indicating something serious had happened.

“Why, what happened?” asked Spike suddenly alarmed, as last time she had talked to him like this he had been reprimanded for stealing chocolate chip cookies.

“Do you remember what you did yesterday?” she enquired, the purple mare trying to see if Spike knew what he had done wrong.

“No, nothing, I just remember waking up here, where is here exactly?” he said scratching the back of his head with one of his short arms.

“We’re at the royal palace in Canterlot, and you really don’t remember anything?” questioned Twilight a sceptical look coming from her caring eyes.
“Nope, nothing” said Spike now growing concerned as the way Twilight was talking, it was if he had burned down the library or something.

“I don’t know how to tell you this…” started Twilight, the words getting caught in her throat as she struggled to let them free like a dove.

“Tell me what” asked Spike in a compassionate tone, as he shuffled his overweight body slightly, so he could place a hand on Twilights warm face in a comforting gesture.

“Spike, Rarity…” Twilight continued, before choking again the words sticking like glue in her mouth.

“What happened, is Rarity alright” blurted Spike, his concern now able to be directed at one of his friends, who based on Twilights difficult of conveying the message was in dire straits.

“She’s dead Spike” stammered Twilight before she began to cry, the emotion to real for this to be anything but the truth, as Spike felt tears well in his own emerald eyes.

“How, what, why?” said Spike, heartbroken about his crushes demise, the uncomfortable pressure on his chest making him feel all the worse for his current predicament.

“That’s where it gets worse, Spike..., you ate her” revealed Twilight, her emotions confused, as her long-time assistant had eaten one of her best friends in an uncontrolled rampage, that she had induced.

“No, that’s not true, that’s impossible, I would never do anything to hurt Rarity, or any of you” yelled Spike, deigning the attack on his character.

“I am afraid it is true” said Twilight, as she rose to her feet and walked across the room to a large standing mirror, a tarp thrown over it so that it couldn’t reflect the luxurious room. Once she reached it the purple unicorn paused for a moment before pulling the white fabric away, the sheet landing on the floor in a crumpled heap, the reflection cast horrifying Spike.

“No” was all he could say as he stared upon the impossible. His gut was filled with the tight bulge of a unicorn mare, every part of her form easily discernible in the taut flesh. The growling capsule of dragon flesh forming a vacuum like seal on the meat it was working on, her manicured hoofs, elegant horn, perky ears, well sculpted face, everything clear as day. The flesh so compact that he could even see the bulges that her matted mane made, the royal purple hair offering enough tension to create distinct bulges where they lay pressed to her flesh, so he could see her mane truly ruined in a way that if she was still alive would have earned a girlish scream from the white mare. But now he would never hear her drama queen sounds of distress again, as the lump in his stomach was no longer moving, the mare within long since expiring in the acrid confines of his stomach, the organ more used to gemstones then mare meat, so its progress was slow in converting his friend in to fat and shit, the mare still pristine apart from a layer of enzymes coating her short white fur.

“No…” muttered Spike the words petering out like a British summer, the facts were undeniable he had eaten Rarity, he had killed her, he was a murderer. Seeing the look of hopelessness, guilt and self-loathing infesting spike’s twitching face, Twilight realised he had no idea what he was doing, the greed corrupting him like a parasite destroys a host.

“Spike its not your fault, I let this demon loose, its my mistake” said Twilight caringly, trying to lift the burden of guilt that was weighing heavily on Spike’s shoulders. Hearing this Spike’s expression changed a flurry of emotions flashing over his face, before a look of surprise cemented itself heralding a loud burp which rang out in the quite room, the spittle scattering far with a few lose white hairs that had been chaffed from Rarity’s still body.

“No Twilight it’s my fault” said Spike before he broke down crying, the repercussions of his uncontrolled actions echoing through his mind as a second burp leaked into his mouth, the flavour having a tinge of Rarity’s perfume as a reminder of what currently occupied his gut. Before the two could get into a pissing contest in regards as to who was responsible for Rarity’s untimely demise, the sound of the sound of the golden door handle clicking could be heard before the princess of the sun entered the room followed by a small entourage of pony’s, one Spike recognised as a friend the others alien to him, the gaggle bickering amongst each other like a pack of bitches at the dinner table.

“This case is unprecedented, a dragon has never been caught after murdering a pony, this could set new ground in legal regards to this specific kind of case” spoke a well-dressed stallion with a cutiemark indicating he was a lawyer of some description.

“Nonsense this is just a dragons nature, they eat pony’s, that’s it, I bet you 300 bits he will go with the loss of faculty’s defence like the coward he is, unable to hold himself accountable for what he did, in honesty they let him play with foals it’s a miracle only one pony was hurt” said another lawyer, this one a pink mare who just based on her mannerisms was a grade A bitch.

“dragon morphology is complicated, and we don’t understand most of it, there is a legitimate possibility he had no idea what he was doing” chimed in a scruffy stallion, his spectacles gammy and his general appearance making him look like he hadn’t slept in a couple of days. If Spike hadn’t known he was the master of the royal zoological collection, Spike would have assumed it was a homelesspony who had wandered in off the street after failing to sell pencils from a cup from the gutter.

A regal ahem broke their squabbling, as they shot to attention like soldiers the three ponies’ clearly aids Celestia had brought to help resolve Spike’s murder charge.

“Spike I want you to answer truthfully, did you know what you were doing when you ate Rarity?” questioned Celestia in her normal calm, commanding voice.

“No, I just found out about 10 minutes ago” he answered bluntly, a tear trickling down his face as he expected the summary sentence of execution or exile, both punishments equally horrible to him, but both he deserved.

“So you don’t remember the taste of her plump flesh on your tongue, as she slid down you throat as a wiggling bulge, her struggles slowly ceasing as she suffocated in you gut ready to be converted into a later bathroom break” said Celestia coldly, the tinge of her words clearly intending to cause physical pain in the little dragon so she could discern his true emotions on the matter.

“No as I told Twilight, I would never hurt my friends, they mean everything to me” yelled Spike, as he grew enraged as everyone kept trying to cement a fact he already knew, tears of mourning and anger flowing in equal measure as he began to cry a cry of true pain. Through this Twilight just stood there silently, unsure whether to say anything as her oldest friend was interrogated by her mentor.

“He’s guilty look at him” chimed the pink mare, her mouth curling as it spat cruel venom at Spike’s character.

“I bet he enjoyed it, don’t let the water works deceive you your majesty, his guilty and the punishment is death” continued the mare, her tone in this recommendation showing some kind of outstanding baggage in regard to Spike more than likely just because of the simple fact he was a dragon, a case of speciesism at its finest.

“That isn’t for you to decide, he’s an equestrian citizen, he deserves a fair trial” said the lawyer stallion butting in, not letting his companion’s bigotry’s run the conversation.

“Leave us” snapped Celestia, a vein showing on her forehead, as she let a hint of emotion enter her voice, the 3 aids pausing before rapidly retreating from the room. The moment the door swung shut Celestia looked at Spike with a look of uncertainty, which coming from a mare as old as her was dissertating in of its self.

“Spike I believe you, but you have done a most heinous crime, I cannot show favouritism, so when the trial happens I might have to take your life with my own hooves” she said solemnly before turning to leave.

“Princess wait” yelled Spike, his voice causing the divine mare to pause and turn her head slowly so one of her eyes partially masked in her whirling hair met his.

“Yes” she said stoically, her royal training returning after her little showing of the cards.

“What about the funeral?” asked Spike, as he wanted Rarity to have the proper send off, she had countless friends who would want to give their last respects.

“What about it, there is no body to bury, you have her in her entirety in your stomach, the best we can do is intern whatever passes through you once your done digesting her, in a closed casket ceremony, until then there will be no funeral” she said bluntly answering his question as she then returned her gaze to the door and began to walk out.

“Even then I don’t think you would be welcome, your betrayal hurt a lot of pony’s, just something to think about” added Celestia, before with a twinkle of magic and a click of a locking door she left, the clops of her hoof cups echoing in the marble hall as she walked away.

“Spike I am sorry, I couldn’t save her” said Twilight suddenly, her voice returning after her teacher had retired.

“What do you mean?” questioned Spike, not sure why Twilight would blame herself for this.

“When I cast the spell to revert you back to your baby form, I hadn’t got Rarity out of your stomach. You lay there unconscious, as I desperately tired to get her out, teleportation spells weren’t working, trying to make you vomit didn’t either, she was to large and to close to you, she was stuck” blurted Twilight her inability to act haunting her, as normally she had a solution for everything, the powerful unicorn helpless to do anything to save her friend from the hell pit of an overstuffed stomach.

“There was nothing I could do” repeated Twilight, as she too began to cry her eyes sealed shut, only opening again once she felt the caring cares of Spike’s clawed hands on her face, the immobile dragon trying to provide comfort as his belly growled loudly, the stomach gearing up to make a pony stew.
“I was the last pony to talk to Rarity, she told me to tell you something Spike” said Twilight as she was about to reveal Rarity’s last words. As her mouth opened to speak a vital fact Spike began to scream in agony, a massive case of indigestion striking his body, his bowels spasming like an immense lump of jelly, his eyes shut as his body moved in an uncoordinated fashion, his stomach not liking the massive hunk of fresh pony meat within.

“Spike, Spike, Spike” repeated the mare, her amethyst eyes pleading with the dragon to stay with her, but soon realising that he was going to hurt himself, her horn glowing as Spike lost consciousness thanks to a sleep spell, the last thing his senses picking up being the familiar scent of Twilights fur, the smell offering a short reprieve from his pain.

“She said she forgave you” Twilight said to herself, Spike already lost in dreams as to not to her it, his body going into a coma as to best utilise his small body to digest his mare turned meal.

And like that he slept, the little dragon not awakening as his body slowly digested Rarity’s, until he was rudely dragged from his bed days later. What happened next was a haze of motion, as Spike had the covers ripped from his body, and two large stallions seized him by the arms and pulled him to his unprepared feet. After that the white walls of the palace flew by, as he was blindly lead through the immense castle that had served as his prison. Before long a large door flinging open as he was led to a solitary small stool, a bucket of water hitting him in the face finally clearing his vision, before he was forced to sit on the chair, the clanking of the door following soon after as he was left with a hooded figure in the empty room.

“Are you ready to expunge the victim” asked a mare in a cloak, the garment covering her body, but the voice familiar, easily recognised as the lawyer mare from a few days prior.

“What” stuttered Spike, still recovering from the unexpected bath, his green eyes darting around the room trying to work out what the heck was going on.

“Are you ready to shit the mare you swallowed out, or what’s left of her, so her family can have a closed casket ceremony, and get some closure from your unspeakable crime” snapped the mare, at this point dropping the formality’s, as she swang her hood back revealing her angry face. This prompting causing him to look down at his body, the hard-working organ being busy at its job of converting food into fat, the belly having a more spherical shape as Rarity had lost cohesion and turned more skeletal. The fleshy parts of her body being turned to chyme as her more durable calcium skeleton had remained intact, the bones curling up as cartilage and other viscera held the skeletal remains more or less together. Rarity’s skull was distinct, pressing outwards the eyes long since digested leaving pits that his stomach conformed to, the gormless gaze haunting as it tired to peer through the thin layer of skin that separated the caustic gut from the pleasant cool air of this torture chamber.

“Rarity I am sorry” said Spike, as he remembered why he was here, his claw slowly circling her eye socket like a glass of liquor, before with a crack the compromised bone imploded with an intense hiss, as the enzymes within got to work on some suddenly exposed bone marrow.

“Your being too harsh on him, Backbench” came the voice of princess Luna, the regal mare stepping out of the shadows, her billowing mane illuminating the semi dark room like a picturesque night sky.

“He murdered somepony, ma’m” responded the mare, her startled response telling Spike this was an unexpected visit.

“And, so have many pony’s, he will serve his time, there is not reason to degrade him like a common animal tis there” she responded, her echoing words silencing the overzealous mare.

“Spike, my loyal subject, are you ready to vacate your bowels” asked his liege, her voice commanding, but underlying it seemed to be a hint of understanding, like the princess of the night had done similar evils and been forgiven.

“I will try” was all Spike could say, before the pink mare tossed a wooden bucket in front of him and made a motion with her head signalling to use the bucket for his toilet. With two mares watching him spike tried to do the normal process of relieving himself, but he had the knowledge that this turd had been a living breathing pony, and it was really bothering him as it should.

Straining for a moment, a few rank farts echoing out, Spike halted his attempts, the reeking butt gas stinging his nose as his bowels festered over Rarity’s pulped remains, the smell the opposite of Rarity’s normally flowery scent.

“Princess I am trying, but Rar…,it’snot coming out” he groaned, catching himself before he muttered his former friends name. the strain causing him to put his hands on his lower abdomen, as he could feel the turd trying to crown but not budging. The dark princess coming over and placing a hoof on his back in a comforting manner, the periodic farts causing her nose to wrinkle telling Spike they smelt as bad as he thought.

“Princess I think I am constipated” groaned Spike, the turd hurting his lower bowel as it tried to escape bone nubs poking his intestines uncomfortably as they seemed to be impacted like a Victorian sewer.

“That’s fine Spike, you will have another opportunity after the trial, I will get the apothecary to mix something to loosen her, it” said Luna calmly, before she levitated Spike with her magic and the two set off back through the halls of the castle, Luna remaining silent the whole time. Soon enough they crossed a nostalgic flower filled courtyard in front of the old chapel of the sun, the leering gargoyles looking like they were judging him for his crime, a small crowd was assembled outside held in check by the well armoured royal guards.

As he approached they noticed him, and immediately began to spew hate, shouts of murderer, racial slurs and other tripe were flung his was as he was encircled by the guards and lead to the defendant’s box, the doors slamming shut keeping the angry mob outside, leaving a much more depressed looking assembly of pony’s within.

From his elevated position he could see everypony he knew were seated in a few rows of repurposed church pews, Twilight, the girls, the CMC, even princess cadence had taken the time to come, Shining armour and flurry heart in tow. They were all dressed in black, and had the eyes of mourning, stained red with tears, pinkie looked the worst hit her main flat, unlike its normal perky frizz.

Rarity’s direct family sat at a wooden desk in front of the benches, all looking devastated, as they had every right to be, Sweetie Belle looked the worst for wear, even now mascara slowly trickled Down her face like a black wash, the filly dressing her self up for the formal event, but all it succeeded in doing was magnifying her expression of grief.

In the menagerie of sadness, celesta could be seen walking down the aisle, her golden hoof cups carrying loudly over the periodic sounds of mourning the clinks only stopping once she reached the judges seat and knocking a gavel against the table began the session.

“Spike, you stand accused of murder in the first degree, how do you plead” asked Celestia, her face a mask as she performed her duty.

“Guilty, your highness” said Spike sadly, the guilt weighing heavily upon him, before a groan came from his gut and he felt something shift, the skull within orientating downwards towards the lower stomach sphincter.

“Then it is an open and shut case, does the defendant have anything to say before I hand out the sentence” asked Celestia, as both her and the entire rest of the courtrooms eyes fixed on the little dragon, on the high stand, his large gut nearly doubling his size as it contained a sludge of processed pony.

“I do..” started Spike, another growl coming from his bowels, as he felt a loud fart emerge, the sound of escaping gas audible across the now silent room.

Blushing Spike continued.

“I would like to say I am sorry….” His words again interrupted by another loud fart, growing redder he pressed his tail over his winking sphincter and continued.

“I never meant to hurt Rarity, she was my friend, I would never in…” his words ceasing as a shart came from his bowels, spraying a chocolate fluid against the back of his seat in an anal splatter.

“Are you okay” came the voice of a concerned Celestia, Spike’s emissions seeming to worry a few of the ponys in the tall chamber, the smell of fermented pony meat and other bowel juices filling the room, as another bubble of bowel gas escaped like a bubbling bog.

“I, I am fine” said Spike before hunching over with a winced scream, before an immense bassy fart tore his arsehole asunder.

“AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG” Spike howl, his asshole being forced open as Rarity suddenly decided to crown. Rarity was a full-grown mare, her body being several times larger then the baby dragon, so in relation to body size she made a lot of waste, that Spike was now unwillingly going to shit out in front of his meals former friends and family. The liquid faeces pouring out, first coating the chair before it could no longer hold it, the waste pouring to the floor like a mud water fall, ruined white and purple hairs mixed in along with bony nubs, the diarrhoea simple flowing forth like a burst dam, the pressure of more resting further in his bowels more than sufficient to allow it to escape in a burst of hydrostatic pressure.

As the shit flooded the room, screams echoed out, the sounds of disgust and confusion, as some believed he had planned this unexpected bowel movement just to further hurt Rarity’s friends. Arching his back the fountain of faeces continuing to spring from the rupture, as this was happening Spike groaned out some words, in between his gut spasming.

“I am sorry…, I never wanted this” he managed to spit out, the flow not abating for a minute as a lake of shit had formed in the confined witness box, more than a foot deep. The foul liquid smelling a million times worse then the mare that had made it, long purple clumps of greasy hair floating at the top of it as finally the flow seemed to slow.

“Is the defendant done with his outburst” enquired Celestia, as she wiped a little of the brown mist that had splattered on her white fur away with a white handkerchief. The lull in the action giving Spike a good chance to look at the court room, Sweetie Belle was in her mother’s arms crying, everypony else seemed to be in a state of shock over what they had just witness, little did they know this was just the calm in the eye of the storm.

“Ye…” Spike started before a solid log crowned, and out snaked a millipede of ass logs, the segments filled with larger acid pitted bone fragments, as clumps of greasy hair that hadn’t left in the river of diarrhoea. The logs using the slip stream of first wave to rapidly leave his body, the semi solid logs landing in the shit lake with wet splats, before sinking in to its depths.

“Please stop” Spike groaned to himself as he held his gut wishing this suffering would end, it wasn’t bad enough that he had eaten his crush but now he was shitting her out in front of everyone she had had any real connection with, the ultimate slap to the face to the mourning party. Suddenly he felt the skull shift and begin to snake its way through his large intestine, the large lump of bone clearly visible as it disappeared into his pelvis, before a moment later the conveyer belt of shit finally stopped, but too late to prevent his anus being rubbed raw but the acidic abrasive turds.

Spike now coated in dry sweat from his body overexerting itself to try and drain the former mare from his body lay panting, his hands propping himself up, so he didn’t collapse into the sea of digested pony meat. The brown mess steaming as it cooled in the colder air that was the chapel.

“I am sorr…” he started again, before the loudest fart yet sounded out, the gas stopping abruptly as if something was impeding its escape, before a shit stained bone muzzle emerged from his cheeks, the streamlined muzzle emerging easily, each individual tooth scraping over the ring of muscle that was already sensitive from the previous abuse it had suffered. The slow creep stopping at the widening of her skull that had formed the brain case, the smooth sphere halting the advance as it was to wide for his sphincter to open for. Panicking at the alien feeling of shitting out a pony skull, Spike began to make sounds of confusion, well wriggling his hips hoping to dislodge the object, this seemed to work as with a loud gassy pop, the skull flew free, bouncing offthe chair and landing firmly in front of Sweetie Belle with a clatter, the gormless grin of the cranium looking right at her with shit filled eye sockets. This immediately started a panic attack in the filly, who dove into her mother bosom like a scared gopher, and the sudden release startling Spike who fell backwards with a scream as he slowly sank into the quagmire of former unicorn, his mouth open as he began to drown in his waste.

Rarity I am so sorry, was all he could think.

Awakening with a start in his normal room in the castle, his body caked in a cold sweat, Spike found himself on the floor, he had fallen from his bed in the nightmare, his body dragging his blanket with him as he had fell.

“Spike are you alright”, came the motherly voice of Twilight, she must have been up late studying and heard the commotion, and inquisitive as always came to investigate.

“Everything is fine, just a bad dream, nothing to worry about” lied Spike, as this had been the dozenth time he had had a dream in the same vein as this, the victims changed but it always ended in him crapping them out in the courtroom.

“do you want to sleep in your little bed by mine” asked Twilight, as since getting the castle Spike had been granted his own room, even so he liked his basket as it meant he was near his best friend, and she was within calling distance of her number one assistant.

“That sounds nice” said Spike cheerfully, as he wiped a stray tear from his eye and got to his feet, to join her at the door. As e reached her she placed a hoof on his shoulder, the warm frog a comfort as always, but something he would miss as in less then 24 hours she would be off to the supposed site of a lost city to retrieve something for princess Celestia.

As they left Spike glanced back, considering quickly retrieving his Rarity plushie, the small stuffed animal always helped him sleep, not seeing it he assumed it had fallen under his bed to retrieve tomorrow, so with that he and Twilight left, Spike drifting off in his basket a few minutes later, blissfully unaware that he had brought the doll with him, in his stomach.