Wish World

In the following days after Chrysalis tricked Shining Armor to be her eternal companion, the inner workings of the Crystal Palace changed drastically. No longer were any of the workers leaving the building, having told their loved ones that Princess Cadence was planning something big that required all staff, maids, guards, and all in between, to stay there all hours of the day.

No pony knew what was happening inside, but none inquired too thoroughly, as they still saw what they believed to be their princess daily, making a great effort to go around the kingdom and help each citizen of the Crystal Empire with whatever need they might have. When they did ask the alicorn what was going on, she would only tell them that it was a surprise that would be revealed soon, and would affect the whole kingdom, leading to the streets being filled with excited gossip as to what the royal family had in store for them.

While outside the palace gossip of what could be going on filled the streets, inside its walls it was a lot more silent. The halls had grown dark, as sunlight seemed to refuse to enter the building, even though none of their curtains were closed. If a creature were to traverse the pathways of the palace, they would find that there was barely a sound within it, as there was no staff attending to their duties, and all guards on duty simply stood their post without so much as a twitch of their muscles. The once bright atmosphere of this place had become dark and oppressive, much like its previous state when King Sombra once inhabited it.

The only sign of bright colors in the entire castle came from the royal family, in the form of the bright pink fur of both Flurry Heart and Chrysalis’ coats, the latter still disguised as Cadence. The pair were together this morning, Chrysalis carrying around the infant alicorn in her arms, as the hulking form that was once Shining Armor walked at her side. Flurry Heart looked distraught as she ineffectively struggled in the arms holding her, as even the infant could tell that something was wrong and was made uncomfortable by it. The guards that saw this bastardized image of what the royal family once was did nothing to try and help the child, or so much as make a concerned comment, as they knew well what was happening and how powerless they were to stop it.

At this point, Chrysalis had no reason to conceal her true self while inside the palace, as all the guards had been made aware that their princess had been replaced, and that the entirety of the Crystal Empire’s military has been tricked into expressing some sort of desire to Chrysalis that she had fulfilled at the cost of their souls. With said souls indebted to Atamanna, they were forced to obey the changeling’s whims, some through the complete subjugation of their will, similar to what happened to Shining Armor, while others who were allowed to maintain their personalities complied to avoid becoming like the rest.

As for the actual staff, their services in cleaning, cooking, and attending to the daily maintenance of the castle were unneeded at this point, as the castle was now being magically sustained through the will of the Djinn, and because of that many of them had been banished to the lower levels of castle, imprisoned and made use as entertainment for the changeling at night. For as silent as the halls were now, they would be filled with the screams of those at the mercy of this imposter princess, who enjoyed making them suffer at the hands of both herself and her ‘husband’.

Coming from such a session of sadistic indulgence, while having Flurry Heart endure a night where blood curdling shrieks of agony were made her lullabies, Chrysalis couldn’t help but acknowledge how pleased she was. She was enslaved, a mere pawn in the plot of another being who stole her soul through a deception the changeling should have loathed falling for, but since that moment everything had been going in her favor. The changeling was no fool, as Chrysalis she had enough of her own free will to recognize that she should be furious over some other creature having authority over her, but she couldn’t find it in her to be angry when she had gotten far more than her initial wish was supposed to grant her. She might be but a mere servant now, but the servant of a god is a king, or at least that was how Chrysalis saw the relationship between her and her Djinn mistress.

So when the doors to the throne room were opened for the royal family, and Chrysalis saw Atamanna sitting upon the throne intended for her, the changeling could only politely approach the goat with reverence, and politely bow before her superior.

“Mistress,” said Chrysalis, “What a pleasant surprise to see you this morning. Are your affairs in other parts of Equestria going well?”

“Things have been going as intended,” Atamanna replied, “Of course, all that means is that I’ve been granting wishes without detection. I have not been lazy during the time you spent here, appropriating this kingdom in my name.”

“What is your goal, if I might ask,” said Chrysalis, never having been given privy to her mistress’ plot, “I assume that it is the conquest of Equestria, and the world, to turn it completely into a world of suffering.”

Atamanna smiled, shifting her position in the throne she was seated on slightly, “I care less about the world itself than what I can shape it into. I am a creature who requires entertainment through misfortune and bad ends, and care not of the mantles of leadership. I would only ever cease rulership of this world if it were to be the only way to cause more suffering, and there have been plenty times when a creature has made a wish that could have lead to me conquering everything, only for me to twist it in a different direction cause pure conquest would be dull.”

“Then this is all just something to keep you amused?” Chrysalis asked, seeing a slight semblance between the Djinn and a Draconequus she knew, “Then what was the point of having me go to each pony in this kingdom, and have them make wishes. Most of them were granted without some bitter twist, unless you think giving cavities to children is enough.”

“Ah, yes, that does seem a bit contradictory, doesn’t it?” Atamanna replied, “But it is a necessary act to maintain my power. The wishes I grant and the worlds I create require a form of energy to achieve and maintain, as all forms of magic come from a source. Just as your magic was once fueled by greed and hunger, and Cadence’s magic was powered by love, the souls of those I make deals with, and the misery I inflict upon them, are what grant me my abilities. At my weakest, I am merely a creature who can grant wishes as intended, but with each soul I obtain, the extent of how far I can twist them grows, as to how far I bend reality to do so.”

“So you will grant even minor wishes in order to collect more fuel for the fire,” Chrysalis said, piecing together what Atamanna was saying, “Their souls allow you to do things that would otherwise be impossible.”

“It does help that creatures are often vague with the things they want, but sometimes even the most direct wish can’t be granted without some extra power behind it. Like bending the fates of certain ponies to their doom, despite them never making a wish upon me,” Atamanna said in example, referring to Cadence, Twilight, and Starlight, who were each doomed to fall to Chrysalis’ hands, “Or creating the demiplanes that I banish some ponies to in order to fulfill their wishes, though those are often self sustaining. So to answer your original question, I claim kingdoms such as this one in order to create a reserve of suffering to allow me to continue granting wishes in a manner I enjoy.”

“Then I assume you’ve come here because your preparations are complete.” Chrysalis said, seeing that as the only reason the Djinn would present herself when not coming to personally torment some pony.

“Yes, through your efforts, every soul in the Crystal Empire is now indebted to me, and I can convert the kingdom to my specifications. All I need for you to do is gather the citizens, and…”

That same day an announcement was made, summoning every crystal pony to assemble in front of the Crystal Palace. Not a single pony declined to attend, all understanding that this was the big event that all the secrecy was leading up to, with the curiosity of every pony peaking to know what was to come.

The sounds of mutterings among the congregation was like an ocean of words, all mixing together into one another so it was difficult for anypony to understand anything that wasn’t being said directly to them. Comprehension wasn’t required though, as each attendee knew all the others were excitedly theorizing on what was happening. This came to an abrupt halt however, as they saw the figure of Princess Cadence appear on one of the castle balconies, the one directly connected to the throne room, and their conversations turned into a roaring cheer for the ruler of their kingdom.

“Citizens of the Crystal Empire,” Chrysalis said, using a spell to amplify her voice, “Thank you all for coming. It pleases me to see all of your bright and smiling faces, as we gather in celebration.”

Many in the crowd clapped at this particular line, as they assumed this was going to be the announcement for some sort of new festival being enacted to commemorate everything the kingdom had gone through, and it appeared that their guess was correct.

“As your ruler, I have had the honor to live among you, get to know each and every one of you, experience your culture, and see how the crystal ponies bring light to not only each other, but to all of Equestria. You have suffered through many hardships, especially when it came to the terrible reign of King Sombra, who brought misery to this kingdom through his tyranny.”

Many of the crystal ponies grimaced at the name of Sombra, as they still held a fear of the dark pony, but were able to quickly put on a happier face, knowing that the evil stallion would never be a problem for them ever again, not with the Crystal Heart being powered by their love and happiness.

“And knowing everything I do about you, my loyal and adoring subjects, it brings me great pleasure to say that your suffering,” Chrysalis gave a brief pause, and then with a sly smirk, finished her words by saying, “Has only just begun.”

The crowd slowly quieted as each pony registered what their princess had just said, confusion washing over those listening closely and were not just waiting for the speech to be over. They first thought that they had heard what Cadence said wrong, and then believed that the princess had flubbed her line and meant to say that their suffering was at an end. A slight few, however, noticed that a sinister expression was starting to form on the alicorn’s face, with fear growing in their hearts as a sense of deja vu fell upon them, this feeling very similar to how Sombra announced his rule a thousand years prior.

“And thus, we are all here to celebrate the Crystal Ponies, the Empire, and the end of an era, as you have escaped the grasp of a dark master, only to find yourselves bond to another who is much worse.” With that said, Chrysalis had made it clear that her intentions for the ponies below her were not of good will, and licking her lips, she finished her speech by saying, “As many of you speculated, this is indeed a festival, and what good is a festival without a grand feast.”

Placing her hands on the railing around the balcony, Chrysalis braced herself, and opened her mouth wide, a dark aura emanating from within it. Exhaling the air from her lungs, the changeling focused herself, and then started inhaling as hard as she could. Immediately, the crystal ponies felt something awful overcome them, a feeling of sickness and pain filling their bodies, as a light blue mist started seeping from their eyes, mouth, and nostrils. Some tried to will themselves to run, but it didn’t matter. Even had they not been present in front of the castle, what Chrysalis was doing would have affected them all the same, as she was calling the debts each one of them owed to the Djinn in her mistress’ stead.

The very souls of the ponies were being sucked out of their bodies with a vacuuming force, that none could fight or escape. Every second a little more of that mist, which was their very spirits, was pulled out of them, their bodies aging rapidly where they the stood as the life force was being stripped from them, legs collapsing and muscles shriveling, manes turning white before strands of hair withered from their scalps. At the moment a pony’s soul was completely removed, their perspective drastically shifted, leaving the eyes of their physical forms, and shifting to that of their spiritual bodies as they took ghostly shape. The ponies had to witness the horror of them being pulled away from their now dried out and deceased corpses, getting one last look at the ponies they once were, before being sucked by an irresistible current, leading right into the gaping maw of what they still believed was Princess Cadence.

Chrysalis kept inhaling, not so much taking in air as creating a void in her stomach that made every soul she tore from the unsuspecting population of the Crystal Empire, inescapable flow into her gullet. The crystal ponies entered into her maw tens at a time, colliding with one another, their spirits unimpeded by the small size of the flesh tunnel consuming them, as their massless states allowed them to slide in like water. All the poor victims of this could do was wail and scream in abject terror, as they fell into the darkness of their princess’ throat, believing that they had been betrayed by the ruler that had once liberated them from a terrible, but much more tolerable, existence than this.

As the souls of the Crystal Empire filled her stomach, Chrysalis felt herself fill with euphoric glee, as the widest smile spread across her face. Devouring the foolish ponies, who had no idea why this was happening them, was satisfying to a degree that she could hardly comprehend, and the sensation of their souls slipping deep inside her, pooling in her stomach, in a compressed and writhing mass, appeased the hunger that Atamanna had bestowed upon her during her transformation into Succubus. This was only further spiced by Princess Cadence’s lingering consciousness finding the whole thing horrific, and feeling a deep sorrow for the ponies she failed to protect.

The only thing that could make this better was sexual stimulation, but Chrysalis feared that if she released the parapet her hands were gripping, she would fall over due to the overwhelming sensations preventing her from properly controlling her body. As if to answer the call for this need, Incubus stepped out onto the balcony, and without need of instructions, lifted the back of Chrysalis’ dress, exposed the feminine parts that they had been ineffectively covering, and without pause thrust himself into the changeling’s pussy with his already fully erect shaft.

Chrysalis let out a moan of elation, Shining’s cock filling her insides so completely that it caused her vaginal tunnel to stretch, letting her feel every bit of his length inside her. Just as she did Shining Armor’s body and muscles, Atamanna had caused his penis to grow to monstrous size, the likes that would rip apart a normal mare had it been so brutally shoved inside them. For Chrysalis though, it was now an appropriate size to make Chrysalis feel a glorious mix of pleasure through pain, accompanied by the squeezing pressure of Incubus’ vice-like grip crushing her hips, the stallion using her waistline as a handle to force her body back and forth along the railing sex organ.

As Chrysalis’ eyes rolled up into her skull from the amount of unearthly sensations eroding her perception, her rhythmic moans would delay the process of her soul sucking by seconds, giving random individuals a moment of false hope that they might be able to avoid being swallowed, only to be easily consumed the moment she proceeded to inhale again. This moment, where Chrysalis was greedily partaking of pleasure not meant for mortal minds, she finally came to the conclusion that this was what she always wanted. Unbridled, unrestrained, pleasure and satisfaction in all forms. Her time as queen of the changelings was just in the pursuit of this, and it didn’t matter that she would eternally be second fiddle to a creature that had enslaved her own soul against her will. As far as it mattered, that former aspect of herself was gone, and she truly had become ‘Succubus’.

Incubus continued to steadily and forcefully thrust himself into his lesser mistress, acting more like a machine than a living being, as he delivered pleasurable punishment to the sex hole she had presented him. While this caused the vile mare on his dick to receive consecutive and simultaneous orgasms, he took no such pleasure from the act. The convulsing rhythm of her cunt didn’t so much as cause a biological response from the stallion, as no pleasure was felt and no cum was released from his shaft. This was only for the benefit of the completely corrupted changeling, whom he felt nothing for.

Succubus swallowed every last soul with no issue, their forms compressing, squeezing, and even merging in order to all fit inside her stomach without changing her figure in the slightest. When the final soul slid down her throat, she clamped her muzzle down tight, and slid off Incubus’ cock as the evil mare finally collapsed to the stone floor of the balcony. She had been delivered bliss, her mind barely coherent, knowing happiness and pleasure without measure. Below her were the dried out and grayed husks of the crystal ponies, most staring up to her in horrified awe, their last expressions frozen in place, creating a macabre monument to her monumentally morbid event.

Within her the souls of those very ponies screamed out as their spiritual bodies hopelessly twisted about, feeling pure agony as her stomach acids somehow burned their incorporeal forms, though didn’t digest them like she had their princess prior. They were, after all, not hers to consume, belonging to the Djinn and not her. Succubus was but a mere vessel to collect and contain them. Still, being little more than a soul bank had its advantages, as she could hear the anguish cries of those within her, many cursing the name of Princess Cadance, as they believed she was the one who had sentenced them to such a cursed existence. This served to make Cadence herself even more miserable, as anything the changeling heard, the alicorn was forced to hear as well. While Cadence knew that Chrysalis was the true target of all the vitriol being directed towards her, the fact that it was her name the tormented pony souls screamed still greatly affected her psyche, since she could say nothing in return to defend herself.

Succubus laid on the stone floor of the castle balcony for a while, taking in all the sensations like some form of twisted afterglow, enjoying the misery of this inside her as both a conglomerate and individuals, as she sought out each one of the ponies that she had granted wishes to. None in the Crystal Empire were spared, not stallions, mares, foals, nor the guards who had cowardly surrendered to Atamanna’s power. They were all within her gut, as she counted one by one, that was until a particular soul she assumed would have been in there, that she was saving as to send Cadence to the deepest depths of despair and shatter her mind for good, couldn’t be found.

This immediately pulled Succubus away from the euphoria she was feeling, eyes wide and she got to her hooves, and pushed past Incubus back into the throne room. What she saw amazed her, as she spotted Princess Flurry Heart, still as pink and lively as ever, though in a state of distress as she was imprisoned in a cage of black crystal, with no soft surfaces inside to keep her comfortable. The demonic mare had intended to make Cadence stare at her baby’s lifeless body post soul removal, but somehow the infant had been spared.

Annoyed, Succubus opened her mouth and inhaled again, assuming some alicorn nonsense was involved, and that it only meant she would have to focus on the foal directly, but as she created another soul swallowing vacuum, Flurry seemed unaffected.

“Is something the matter, Succubus?” Atamanna asked, entering the chamber, with a disempowered Crystal Heart in her possession.

“Yes.” Succubus replied, “I had given this foal many offers, and granted them all, and yet her soul will not leave her body.”

“Oh…” Atamanna replied, “That’s normal. You see, in order for a contract to be formed, the recipient of the wish must at least understand the concept of an agreement, exchange, deal, or what have you when it comes to deal making. Because of this, very young children are often immune to my abilities. In fact, I’m sure there are a few orphans sprinkled about the kingdom now that I’ll have to do something about.”

“So they don’t have to know they are enacting in a contract with you while making a wish, but they have to know what one is?” Succubus said, frustrated that something so arbitrary was preventing her from possessing Flurry’s soul and finalizing Cadence’s total defeat.

“I didn’t make up the rule,” Atamanna said, as she caused a podium of dark crystal to form from the floor of the throne room, setting the Crystal Heart upon it, “It’s a limitation of placed on to me due to the rules of genie magic, one I can’t remove no matter how powerful I may become.”

“Well then,” Succubus said, going to Flurry’s cage, and willing the bars to part so she could grab the filly by her wings, “I suppose I’ll have to dispose of the brat the old fashion way.”

Picking up the baby pony by her wing bones, Succubus, still in the appearance of Cadence, shifted her body’s shape so that her jaw and mouth could open up unnaturally wide. Tilting her head back, she positioned Flurry over the oversized orifice, slowly lowering the filly down to it. She intended to swallow the foal alive, since she couldn’t consume her soul and keep it captive, while wearing her mother’s face to do so. The terror from both Flurry and Cadence could be felt growing as they pieced together what was going on from each of their perspectives, with Flurry Heart crying frantically when her hooves dipped into her ‘mother’s’ mouth, and Cadence yelling in desperate pleas for Chrysalis to spare her child, the last thing she loved that was corrupted and enslaved by the Djinn.

Flurry made it about waist deep into the mouth of her mother’s impersonator, her hooves touching the wicked mare’s uvula as the infant tried to push away from the point of no return. It looked as if Succubus would actually swallow the girl whole, until Atamanna came over and snatched the foal out of certain demise, easily removing her from her slave’s hand.

“That’s enough of that,” Atamanna said, “I know you want to torment the soul of the princess you ate, but letting you dissolve this alicorn foal would take from me the chance to have her give me her soul once she grows up.”

Succubus’ mouth shifted back to a normal appearance, though bore a pout at the denial of her dark desires. Still, she had to obey the goat in this matter, so she made no complaints.

“Besides, I wouldn’t want to deny this sweet child the opportunity to grow up in Hell.”

As Atamanna said that, she stepped over to the Crystal Heart, holding the infant princess in her arms, and touched the ancient artifact. From the tip of her finger, the clear, blue crystal that made up the object turned a deep red, spreading from that point until its color, and the material it was comprised of, was completely altered. No longer was it a ‘Crystal Heart’, but instead a ruby one, made of the same gemstone that Atamanna kept her demiplanes within.

Without so much of an explanation, Atamanna looked to Succubus, and said to her, “Would you come over here?”

Unable to refuse a request from her mistress, the demonic mare joined with the goat, and upon getting close to the newly made Ruby Heart, felt the urge to heave. Her entire gut felt like it was turning inside out, and while it would have been natural for her to turn away from anything or anyone to vomit, she found herself compelled to aim at the heart.

“Blllllaaaaagggghhhhh,” Succubus wretched, and out from her mouth came the souls of all the crystal ponies, spewing out from her innards, to be absorbed by the Ruby Heart. Once every soul was purged, save for the single soul of the princess that belonged to her, Succubus took a step back and tried to recover from what she just went through.

“What was that?” she questioned her mistress, wiping some spittle from her lips with her arm.

Atamanna giggled, “Sorry I didn’t provide you with ample warning, but you were never meant to be the permanent container for the souls of this kingdom. Not when there was a much more thematic and appropriate option such as this.”

The Djinn gestured to the heart shaped gemstone, and from within it the changeling could see faces of ponies within it, whirling about with expressions of agony, terror, and sorrow. It was like they were a storm, the very wind swirling about from inside a container, perhaps not literally from their perspective, but simply how their torment inside the gemstone was being displayed.

“This artifact, that was once fueled by the joy of these ponies, will now be powered by their torment,” Atamanna explained, looking deeply at the imagery displayed within, while making the captive foal in her arms do the same, “The world in which they now reside is a dark reflection of kingdom, far worse than anything their previous master had designed. With this done, my powers should be fueled for some time.”

“Then that’s it?” asked Succubus, “There is no more to do with this kingdom?”

“Not exactly.” Atamanna replied, “While the hellscape they now exist in could exist on its own, I prefer to have a grander project like this managed by servants I can trust, in order to ensure that the souls within it are treated to never ending suffering.”

Without allowing for the changeling mare to ask what she meant, the goat gave a display of her power. The world around the already desecrated Crystal Empire turned dark, with the sky shifting to a color of red similar to that of the Ruby Heart, black clouds forming within it to block out the sun. The crystal streets, as well as the castle, went from a bright hue of light blue to darker and darker shades till they turned black, the light seemingly being sapped from the kingdom.

The transforming of scenery scared Flurry Heart, who was already incredibly shaken by her ‘mother’s’ attempt to devour her, and she hid her face into the chest of this strange creature holding her, hiding her eyes from the implements of torture and restraint now manifesting themselves from all surfaces around the kingdom, turning it into a twisted representation of what it once was. While at first these objects were unoccupied, many of the devices became occupied by the crystal ponies, who had seemingly returned to the kingdom, once more returned to their bodies.

Succubus knew otherwise though. This was not Atamanna bringing the ponies back to the kingdom, but instead merging the real world version of the Crystal Empire with her created nightmare realm. It was similar to what the Djinn did with the inside of the castle prior, as once Atamanna claimed enough souls of a particular region, she could absorb that location into her realms. If a pony tried to travel to the Crystal empire now, they would find nothing there but a barren wasteland, probably frozen over now that the Crystal Heart was no longer keeping the spot the Empire was located in a state of perpetual summer. As silly as it sounded, Succubus knew she too was within the Ruby Heart, despite it being right in front of her, the Crystal Empire now simultaneously existing within and outside of it at the same time, in a space isolated from the world she once knew.

“Succubus,” Atamanna explained, “I am leaving you in charge of these souls. I’m sure that you, and Incubus, will develop many means to make the rest of eternity excruciating and unbearable for them all.”

Succubus was delightfully surprised by this, as she had basically been given a kingdom to rule over, one that could never be destroyed or usurped, and told to do as she pleased with it. She would have every crystal pony kneeling before her, serving her whims, with their only reward being even more agony. She would be the queen serving a dark goddess, who only wanted her to do what she would have done anyways in such a position of power.

There was one last thing bothering her though, something she needed to know before she took on this role, “But what about Starlight and Twilight?” she asked, “I still need my wish to be finished, and have their souls at my mercy as well.”

“And you will get them,” Atamanna said, “But in due time. When the moment is right, and their downfall will grant the most despair, you will get everything you wished for. Until I say so, be patient, and satisfy yourself with the pain you’ll deliver upon these miserable souls I have given you as your charge.” The Djinn looked down, seeing the alicorn foal still in her arms. “Oh, and this is also your responsibility now.”

Atamanna handed the infant back to her servant, who bore the image of the princess of love. “Ugh, what do you expect me to do with this?”

“Raise it,” Atamanna said sternly, “She is your daughter now, though you don’t have to act as a mother to her. Simply have her fed, kept healthy, and alive, and you can do whatever you want with her. Make her your apprentice, or a meager servant girl who’ll clean the kingdom while listening to the unceasing suffering of the souls enslaved here, or have her locked away in a dungeon out of your sight, for all I care. Just make sure she is taken care of so I may one day grant her wish, and claim her soul.”

With that order, Atamanna left the dark realm the Crystal Empire now existed in, leaving her minions to manage it. While she was not exactly happy with having to take care of Flurry Heart, it was an interesting situation to be able to guide her fate. She could make the princess so miserable growing up that when Flurry was presented with the offer of a wish, she would wish for her own death. The thought of it, and the despair that would inflict on Cadence, lighted her attitude to the arrangement.

“Oh Incubus~,” the dark mare practically sang, “Go put this vermin in her nursery for now, while I plot out what I want to do with her.”

As she said this, she was also reminded that other technically orphaned foals also existed in this world now, and would likewise be at her mercy. She would become a terror among these young ponies, a monstrous queen who put them through hell until the fateful day that they would join their parents as proper servants in the realm her mistress granted her. As Incubus took Flurry Heart away, Succubus made her way to release some of the palace guards from their bindings to retrieve the few souls left in the Crystal Empire that were not bound to her or the Djinn.

As commanded, Incubus took Flurry Heart to the nursery, the filly’s confusion over what had occurred around her. The alicorn child was not your typical baby, and comprehended many things more than others her age.

From the moment of her birth, Flurry Heart had been forming memories, and thus she could tell that things had dramatically changed about her world. Flurry understood that her mother had been doing acts of evil and treating her poorly ever since that day they went to the playground, and had tried to gobble her up. She understood that this gigantic stallion with his head in a goat shaped helmet was her father, judging by his coat and tail color, and that he had become distant to everyone but her mother. She could tell that the castle she had lived in was transforming into some scary place devoid of the bright colors she had grown accustomed to and enjoyed.

What she didn’t understand was why all this was happening. She had an idea that it was somehow related to that goat woman that kept showing up in the castle, but how she was involved was lost to her, since Flurry didn’t fully understand adult language yet. In her mind, her mom was still her mom, because she looked like her and acted like her until recently, and her dad was still her dad for the same reasons.

To her, everything had just turned dark and scary, and while she might have been able to escape the arms of her father, she didn’t know how to get anywhere else where she could find help. As things were, she had to submit herself to the will of her captors, which were her own parents, and hope that in time things would go back to being happy.

To her discomfort, even her bedroom had been transformed into a dark version of itself. Her toys and stuffed animals becoming twisted and evil representations of what they once were, the plush creatures now having nightmarish, wide eyes and fanged facial features, and blood spattering on their across their bodies, while the other toys looked more akin to implements of torture than a child’s plaything. Her stroller, which was kept in the room, had more than the single body harness now, featuring several shackles for her legs and arms, as well as a set of straps in the back for her wings, to fully restrain her body when she would be locked into it in the future.

Finally, the crib itself had been turned into an enclosed cage, the bars of its sides covered in pointy parts that didn’t look sharp, but certainly would be uncomfortable to the touch. As Flurry was placed inside it, she was thankfully there was still a cushioned surface within it, though it was not as soft as it once was, and her blanket was now in a tattered state. As her father locked her in and left the room, without so much as a word to comfort the filly in this abysmal situation, she resigned herself to sleep, as exhausted as she was from the emotional stress she was going through.

As she closed her eyes, she wished that when she opened them again, things would return to normal. Unfortunately, she was now in a world where good wishes seldom came true, and when they did, it was at a horrible price.