Clipper's story

``` Clipper was running behind Hatter as the camp fell apart around her. It was like a repeat of her hive all over again. Once again Hatter was there to protect her, and once again she was too scared to do anything to help.

This time however, Hatter’s skills proved not to be enough for them to escape, and guards closed in from every side, encircling them. Clipper watched sadly as Hatter threw down his knives. She knew that it was the correct thing to do at the time, but even so, she was still mad at Hatter. This was exactly why she had not wanted him joining an army.

But she was also angry with herself because she had failed to prevent him from joining despite her many protests. She should have tried harder. She should have done a lot of things. Her life was full of regrets, and Hatter was the only thing she had to cling to.

She should not have come here. She should have stayed back in the Everfree. She shouldn't have trusted that bloody griffon.

Things only got worse for Clipper from here. She was not kept with the other prisoners, instead she was forced to watch as the love of her life was stabbed with a spear and plummeted to his death in a lake.

She had screamed and struggled against the guard that was holding her, but had been totally helpless to do anything to help him except scream his name. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she attempted to kick the guard away from her. It was not enough, the generic looking guard being too strong for her.

Clipper felt her hate for the royal guard grow even more. She was going to slaughter every single one of them if she got the chance. But that chance never came, and she was dragged away as sobs racked through her body.

She was still not kept with the other prisoners however. Instead the changeling was kept in one of the small white tents that the batponie’s had been using to stay in before… Before they had all been cut down in the surprise attack.

Clipper dived onto the sleeping bag, burying her face in the fabric to silence her sobs. Hatter was dead. Hatter was dead! The fact echoed in her head over and over again, and each time it did another sob escaped her lips. She needed to do something. She needed to make this pain stop.

She knew that killing the griffon who had stabbed her lover would not bring him back, but it would at least make her feel like she had given him a proper send off and let him rest in peace.

So Clipper sat do, wiping the tears from her eyes as she begin to plan. She was going to kill the griffon, and then she was going to escape and follow the river in the hopes of finding Hatter’s body.

Hazy Daze entered the tent twelve minutes later and found Clipper lying across her sleeping bag with a seductive look in her eyes. Hazy gave a smile, “Oh, you look like you’re feeling better.” He noted, sitting across from her with a chuckle.

“Y-Yes~ Changelings don’t really feel love, and with Hatter gone I need someone new to give me a good fucking and fill me with love.” Hazy chuckled, climbing up onto her back and wrapping his talons around her neck. Clipper gave a pleased shudder, starting to grind back against Hazy with a needy whine.

Hazy smiled, resting his head on her shoulder and cooing as his cock slowly hardened, pressing warmly into her back. Then Clipper suddenly turned, her fangs bared and rapidly closing in for his neck. Hazy did not even flinch, his talon moving and grabbing her head roughly, holding her at bay as he laughed softly. “For a changeling, you really are a terrible actor. I saw it coming almost instantly.”

His other talon swung in from the side, smacking her across the face as the griffon stood up. Pain burned across the side of her face, and then one of his taloned hands closed around her throat, the griffon grinning down at her in a sadistic fashion.

He pinned her head against the floor and laughed, “I guess if you really want me to fuck you though, I can do that.” Clipper felt fear blossom in her chest, and her legs kicked at him. His armour nullified the blows against his chest easily, and he held her forelimbs down with his talons. She attempted to bite him again, to tear his throat out. But his head swung forward, smashing his helmet between her eyes and stunning her.

By the time she recovered his length was pressing between her legs. She screamed, attempting to kick him off one final time, but then the head of his member slipped between her legs. She let out a sharp cry as it entered her dry lips, which locked around his cock and tried to force it back out.

Hazy was not bothered in the slightest however, just continuing to slowly force his length into her with a loud, lusty moan. Clipper let out a scream, trying to throw the griffon off her with all her might.

It did not work however, the large griffon member slowly forcing into her, inch by agonizing inch. She screamed, her dry love tunnel was trying to lock the member out, but it only managed to make it dig into her in even more painful ways.

She did not want to give him the pleasure of crying, but the feeling she was experiencing was horrific. It was like her very soul was being torn apart, leaving her feeling like she had been hollowed out from the inside.

Hazy did not feel bad in the slightest, her tunnel was clenching around his cock in the most amazing of ways, trying to force it out, but only managing to milk it in even more pleasurable ways. He shuddered, needing to defile her even more.

He pulled back, then let out a thick wad of spit right in her eye. She hissed angrily and attempted to bite him again, but he was having non of it, hilting his member into her roughly. He gasped, cawing in a bestial fashion as he pulled his hips back.

He took in the pain in her eyes, letting it fill him with a pleasant feeling, and then he slammed forward, hilting his length in her in one rough motion. She cried out in shock and pain, arching her back.

Tears begin to form in Clipper’s eyes and Hazy leaned down to slowly lick them up, moaning in a mocking fashion. “That’s it Clipper. Your lover is dead. Just let all those tears out… You’re mine now!”

And then Clipper got lucky, her fangs breaking the skin of his throat and breaking the skin apart. She shook her head roughly, trying to tear the skin apart. Hazy cursed, his fist smashing into the side of her face and knocking her back to the ground.

The griffon pulled away, a hand holding his throat as he glared at her.”Fucking bitch! I’ll be back to do worse to you later!” He stormed out of the tent, a taloned hand wrapped around his throat as blood poured from around it.

Clipper lay back, crossing her legs to cover up her sore vaginal parts, but the tears pouring from her eyes had stopped, and a blood stained smile was plastered across her face. She had got the bastard. And if she had gotten him once, she knew that she could get him again, and if she could, then she could escape.

Hatter was roaming through the forest, his machete cutting down the undergrowth as he followed the map. He felt like some famous jungle explorer! He wished that Necrosis had leant him a plinth hat to complete the image, but he brushed the foalish thoughts from his mind.

He was pretty sure that he was getting close to his destination, but he was not the best at reading maps, so there was no way to be sure. He knew that if he followed the compass he would either get to his destination, or he would make it to the other side of the forest and know that he had messed up.

His compass had stopped pointing north however, he did not know if they were meant to do that, but he knew that the needle always pointed north, so he kept following it blindly. Soon close to four hours had passed, and darkness closed in from every side.

He had stopped needing to cut down the undergrowth so his horn was not providing any light. He realised this was problematic, and pulled out his blade once more. This was when he begin to notice that the plants he was passing had already been cut down with a machete. Something else had been through here recently.

Hatter was starting to get tired, he wondered what time it was, and so stopped to pull out his pocket watch. Flipping it open he checked the time. His watch hands seemed to be broken, spinning around at a speed that made it look like it was about to take off.

He frowned deeply at it, and then it begin to melt like butter in his hoof, distending and thinning out until it had become more like a pizza then a watch. The stallion was reminded of a famous painting for a brief moment, and then just as fast as it had happened it was over.

The pony prodded the watch in an unsure fashion. He was quite sure that it was not designed to do that. He must have been very tired indeed. He decided that he was going to set up camp right here.

Pulling out the sleeping bag that had been packed for him, he considered making a small fire, but that would likely attract gnats. He unhooked his saddle bag, pulling out a plastic wrapped sandwich and unwrapping it before sliding it into the sleeping bag to stop any hungry animals from stealing it.

He slid into the sleeping bag with his sandwich, sealing it up to keep the insects out. Then he quickly devoured the sandwich, which seemed to be peanut butter flavoured.

After he was done, he lay back and relaxed, slowly drifting off.

He had weird dreams that night. He was a butterfly with beautiful bright blue wings, flapping about on a warm summers day as the sun shone from above, warming every inch of him, and helping to dry out his brand new wings.

He flapped down to a flower, a long proboscis slipping from out of his mouth and digging around for nectar. Finding a large deposit at the bottom of the flower, he scoped it into his mouth and let out a content sigh.

Life as a butterfly was simply the best. He could fly about all day and all he had to do to get food was fly over to a pretty flower and bury his face in it. He flew to the next flower and let out a smile, stopping to sniff this one deeply. It simply smelled amazing! Like roses and hot chocolate!

He buried his proboscis in the flower, slurping up the sweet liquid with a happy flap of his wings. He then took to the light blue sky again, spreading his wings out to the sun as he flew over the forest with a smile.

The trees looked amazing from up here, the lush green leaves spread out like a blanket below him. He wanted to get a closer look at the forest, so flapped down and landed on a tree branch, looking down at the forest creatures below.

A large deer buck, with a rack that was absolutely huge, was munching on a patch of grass that looked delightful. A doe was nuzzled into his side, also munching at the grass. They looked happy, so peaceful together.

And then the bucks antlers slowly rotted away, falling from his head. He did not seem to notice at all, continuing to eat his grass. Hatter wanted to scream a warning, dark black clouds closing in over head, blocking out the sun. He knew that something bad was going to happen, and was totally powerless to do anything.

A lone timber wolf closed in on the buck, who lowered his head to get ready to fend it off. He charged, and the timberwolf did not miss a beat, leaping onto the buck and sinking its teeth deep into its shoulder. Hatter attempted to help, but his body was frozen in fear and he could do nothing.

The buck reared up, but could do nothing to stop the timberwolf now that he had gotten hold. It screeched, a noise a deer should not be able to make, and then it fell, and the timberwolf tore into his neck, spraying blood everywhere.

The buck did not seem distressed by this however, he seemed more distressed by the group of timberwolves that were dragging the doe off by her hind legs. Hatter felt panic rising in his chest, and he screamed louder and louder.

But the screaming did nothing, and the dream fell away.

Hatter snapped awake in his sleeping bag. There was some kind of warm gunk pressing into him from every side. He was still in shock over the nightmare, but still let out an “eww!”. He could not find the inside of the zipper, but as his hoof clawed around madly for it, the sleeping bag parted with a noise like tearing fabric, his hoof bursting into the open air.

The stallion let out a gasp, poking his head through the hole that his hoof had made, slowly forcing his shoulders out as well. The sleeping bag ripped more, and then Hatter slipped out in one smooth motion, letting out a gasp as he flopped onto the forest floor.

He was soaked in some kind of strange gunk. Maybe an animal had slobbered on him, or somepony had played a prank. He did not really care at the moment. He was absolutely exhausted, despite the fact he had just woke up.

It seemed like he had slept a good few hours too, as the Everfree was the kind of dank darkness that meant it was morning, rather then the choking darkness that meant it was night time.

He attempted to get to his hooves, but they flopped about from under him like limp noodles, failing to support his weight in the slightest. He looked at them and frowned. He moved his front hoof over to one of his rear legs, scraping some of the gunk off it and bringing it to his face.

It was orange in colour, he did not have any idea what it was, so he did the only thing he could to identify it, he pressed it to his lips and dabbed his tongue onto it. It tasted foul, so foul he did not dare swallow it. He spat the gunk out to the side, making a disgusted noise.

“What the fuck is going on?” Hatter questioned out loud. He could feel a strange pressure in his back. He turned and looked towards the strange pressure. He had a pair of bright blue butterfly wings hanging limply on his back, soaked in the strange gunk. “What, the fuck is going on?” He repeated, confused at his current situation.

He looked towards his sleeping bag, which had somehow become a cocoon. Hatter quickly came to the conclusion that he must have still been dreaming. That was the only logical conclusion. He attempted to snuggle back into his cocoon and go back to sleep, but the goo was rapidly cooling, making going back to sleep impossible.

Hatter let out a growl of annoyance and climbed out of his cocoon, his new wings flaring out to the side from the rage coursing through him. “OK. I will repeat myself one last time. What the fuck is happening?” He screeched.

Laughter echoed all around him, and a patch of forest opened up into a path that was clearly a trap. Hatter was sick of all the weird stuff, the nightmare having really shaken him up.

With his machete held tightly in his magic, he advanced down the forest path, a deep frown clear across his face. Whoever was doing this too him was going to get a blade to the face. He was forced to fold his wings into his sides to prevent them catching on the undergrowth as he advanced down the path.

Passing through the final layer of undergrowth, Hatter’s magic failed him for a moment, his weapon clattering to the floor. There was a huge oaked table set in the middle of the forest like it had always belonged, and sat at the table was the strangest creature he had ever seen.

His body was snake-like, he had a horse’s head, with a deer antler on the right side of it, and a blue goat horn on the right. He had a small fang peaking out from between his lips, his right arm was a lion paw, his left hand was that of an eagle. Hatter could not see his legs, but he knew that they would be strange too.

As Hatter picked up his weapon, he noticed that the strange animal had a pair of tiny mismatched wings, one of them belonging to a bat, and the other to a pegasus. He could have shown, and not told about all of this, but it was important to let his brain process this information as quick as possible before it got over loaded.

It still failed however, his brain sent into a spin as he almost dropped his weapon again. It was only now that he noticed the food on the table. There were several teapots in several mesmerising and wonderful colours. Next to the teapots were teacups in even stranger colours.

Then there were the cakes next to those, and they looked heavenly, Victoria sponges, tea cakes, eclairs, battenberg, bakewell tart… Several other cakes Hatter was unable to identify.

They all shared a common theme however, they all made Hatter want to shove them in his mouth and keep them safe in his belly. He looked back to the weird, chaotic creature, and realised he was now wearing a copy of Hatter’s jacket and hat, sized up and moulded to his from.

“What is this?” Hatter asked. The chaotic creature flew out of his seat and hovered in place, his wings not flapping in the slightest as he violated all the laws of physics and logic in one sweep.

“It’s been ages since I had some company,” The creature explained, “I just want to make everything perfect and play some games!” He said in a gleeful tone. Hatter looked back at his wings, then back to the creature “Did you do this to my back? Who the hell are you?”

The creature bowed in mid-air, taking his head off and holding it to his chest as he took a bow. His hat somehow stayed floating in place, and he reattached his head beneath it as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “My name is The Ancient One, or… Discord!” He grinned, throwing his arms wide and snapping his talon.

Instantly, several of the teapots and plates of cakes gained sentience and begin to do a strange, lively dance around the table. Hatter tried to hold onto his anger and remember what an important mission he was on, but the sheer amazement of everything that was happening had him at a loss.

He watched a plate of small crustless cucumber sandwiches leap over a steaming pot of tea, and he felt a foalish urge to clap his hooves together in glee. He quickly crushed that urge however, remembering the wings sprouting from his back.

“That’s impressive, but why did you make butterfly wings come out of my back?” Discord floated down to his seat, sitting down with a grin like a Cheshire cat. “Oh, that? I made you into an alicorn OC. It’s traditional.”

Hatter understood about half of what had just been said, but it did not really matter. “Well would you mind removing them from my back? I really do not appreciate them.”

Discord gave a chuckle, rotating until he was sat upside down. “Some ponies would love the chance to have wings!” Hatter frowned, but slowly moved over to the table, sitting at a chair that quickly rotated so that he was floating upside down too.

He attempted to keep the serious look on his face. “Well if you are the Ancient One, I need to ask a favour of you. After you rid me of these wings.”

Discord gave a laugh, “That’s not how bargaining works, you are meant to give me something I want, then I give you something that you want.” “Well I was a rebel figh-” Hatter was suddenly flying backwards, stopping a mere moment before he smashed into a tree.

Discord was before him an instant later, his eyes filled with rage like Hatter had never seen before. He fell silent, all words failing him as Dicord’s lion paw pressed into his throat. “Don’t mention either side in this stupid war.”

Hatter gulped, then nodded slowly, showing that he understood. Discord backed up, setting him back in his seat. “Now, what are you here for?” He tried to keep calm, not letting Discord get to him, he was scared however, but he managed to bury that deep down.

“I want to save my lover. She has been captured. That is all.” Discord apparently found this funny beyond words, his serpentine body wiggling about as he laughed manically. It was not a healthy laugh, it was the laugh of someone that had been through too much for too long.

The stallion was not stopping him any time soon however, clearly if a creature this powerful was unhinged, he wanted to do as little as possible to annoy him. “Is that it? I lost someone I loved very much too, and it almost destroyed me. I understand your pain.”

Hatter nodded, he could understand why this creature was insane now. If Clipper got killed, he might go mad too. Discord put a talon to his chin, like he was thinking deeply. “I have not had anyone to play with in ages. If you can make it through my maze, I will give you all the help you need.”

He knew not to trust such a chaotic creature. “And if I lose?” Discord chuckled softly, “Then you would have to stay here with me, as my plaything.” He chuckled “Fine. I will play your game, Discord. But if I win, you better give me all the help I want.”

Discord bowed down, looking up to Hatter with a sly grin “Then a deal is struck, and the game begins.” His taloned fingers snapped together and suddenly Hatter was in a white void. It only lasted the smallest moment, and then he was suddenly dumped onto a grass path at the start of a hedge maze.

On the upside, his butterfly wings seemed to have vanished. That was a silver lining at least

The stallion slowly looked around the maze, giving a light frown. Hatter had expected something a bit more imposing from such a frightening creature, but he was glad that it had not been imposing. He was quite sure that a typical maze with a minotaur in it would have been extremely boring.

Well at least as far as scary mazes went, being gored by a bull would be the exact opposite of boring. He was not going to get anywhere sitting around however. Climbing to his hooves he begin to move through the maze.

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