The Broken One

My booted steps echoed through the halls as I rushed to the throne room. Thoughts of Cindra being in danger raced through my mind as I walked and froze my heart. The very thought of losing somepony close to me was intolerable. As I opened the doors of the throne room I spotted the zebra between two guards.

“Miss Zecora”, I called, startling the zebra. “I have to ask that your audience with me be postponed. I have to find my assistant.”

“Why is it a servant you look for”, she asked in a thick accent, “when danger knocks at your very door?”

“What danger is at my door”, I asked and scratched my head.

“A pony whose form is not set”, she said darkly. “She has not awakened just yet.”

“Did this pony have a golden leg”, I asked nervously

“Her leg does shine, this is true. Might it have something to do with you?”

“That’s Cindra”, I shouted. “Where is she?!”

The zebra said a few more things in rhyme and began leading the way out of the throne room. I told Silver Lance to grab another guard and come with us as we stepped down the stairs outside of the castle. He called to some random guard and the two followed us into the woods. We followed the rhyming zebra for a while before we arrived in a clearing with leafy plants scattered all over. There, frozen in the center of the clearing, was the changeling I was searching for.

“Cindra”, I called out as I ran to her side.

Her eyes darted to me as tears of relief streamed down her face. She tried to move but couldn’t. I stroked her cheek and whispered calmly to her as I glared at Zecora. She met my gaze calmly, but there was a hint of confusion on her face.

“What”, I growled at her.

“The history of you two I do not know”, she said quietly, “but you are putting on quite a show. This paralysis will not last, but when she is free she must eat fast.”

“Fuck you”, I snarled before turning to the guards. “Watch her closely.”

I picked Cindra’s stiff form up and carried her out of the woods while the three others followed me. Once back on the trail I told them to keep up and took off at a run. It was awkward with the frozen changeling in my arms but it worked and before long we were opening the doors of the castle.

“SHADOW”, I boomed in a Canterlot Voice.

Right away I heard hooves scrabbling on the stone floor and looked up to see a vampony streaking at the zebra. I shouted for her to stop and she did, eyeing the newcomer with distrust as she zipped over to check on the changeling in my arms.

“She’s gonna have to feed when this shit wears off”, I told her before turning to Silver. “Escort Zecora to the throne room. I’m taking Cindra to our chambers and then I’ll be back to deal with her.”

As Silver nodded Shadow and I made the trek up the stairs to our chambers. Just before we got there Cindra went limp in my arms with a shuddering gasp. We burst through the door and rushed through the antechamber. I settled the trembling changeling on the bed and stroked her mane.

“Give her all the love you safely can”, I told Shadow quietly. “If she needs more than you can give then feed her lust. I have to deal with this damned zebra.”

My fiancé nodded her understanding and I stormed back to the throne room. I passed a few housekeepers who bowed to me as I went by and I nodded back to them. The entire way I was trying to decide what to do about the zebra before I made up my mind to hear her out before deciding on a punishment.

You already know what the punishment will be, Discord laughed in the back of my head.

“Shut up, dad”, I snarled sarcastically.

I strode in the open doors of the throne room and went straight to the perplexed zebra. I stood there staring in silence before I growled deep in my throat. Silver whispered in my ear and I nodded before taking a seat on my throne.

“Zecora, come here”, I said evenly. I waited until she was standing directly in front of me before I continued. “Would you mind telling me why you attacked a member of House Everfree?”

“I regret using that charm”, she replied, “but I thought that she meant harm.”

“So you attacked her out of misplaced fear”, I murmured. “I can forgive you because you didn’t do it out of spite but there must be repercussions.”

“I understand, your Highness”, she sighed. “I must answer for this mess.”

I motioned her forward and she complied. The look of confusion on her face almost made me laugh when I had pointed at my lap but she did as I asked. I placed my left hand on her back and charged my right hand with magic. She turned her head to look at me as I raised my hand into the air and understanding dawned on her right as I brought my hand down on her flank.

The first slap left a nice red handprint on her flank as she jumped and tried to scurry away. I held her down tightly as I continued administering her punishment. Her attempts to escape ceased almost immediately as tears and some kind of native language flowed from her. By the time I was done her flank glowed like a cherry.

“Now”, I said as I let her regain her hooves. “You’re forgiven, but keep in mind what happens when somepony does wrong.”

“I am not a child”, she muttered, “though that punishment was not mild. I do not wish to feel that again, so I shall not repeat that sin.”

“The point has been made”, I said as I stood up. “I have a changeling to take care of.”

“Would it be possible to accompany you”, Zecora asked. “I’ve never met a changeling, this is true.”

I glanced at Silver and he took up a post beside Zecora as I motioned for her to follow me. I led the way to my fiancé and assistant in silence, only speaking to answer the few questions Zecora asked about me. Before too many questions could be asked we stepped into my chambers to see two mares cuddled up on the bed as one set of yellow eyes watched us in the darkened room.

“What is she doing here”, Shadow hissed, making Zecora and Silver jump slightly.

“She’s here to meet Cindra”, I said but calmed the vampony as she leaped out of the bed. “Liebsche, she wanted to apologize and find out more about her.”

“If you touch her again”, Shadow hissed as she got in her face, “I’ll make my husband’s spanking feel like a tickle. Do you understand me?”

The zebra nodded in fear as she shrunk back slightly. In her own way she expressed no desire for trouble but was just curious about the changeling. I nodded to Silver and he took up a position inside the door. I stepped over to the bed and brushed Cindra’s mane out of her face.

“Cindra”, I whispered quietly, waking her. “How are you feeling now?”

“Better”, she whispered back tiredly before her eyes landed on Zecora and she scrambled to the farther side of the bed. “What the fuck is she doing here?!”

“I can see a simple apology will not do”, Zecora sighed sadly. “I’m guessing you wish to punish me, too?”

“Huh”, Cindra asked in confusion.

In response Zecora turned her flank to Cindra and even in the twilight of our chambers the redness was still visible. A small giggle slipped from the changeling as she rounded the bed slowly. She came over and hugged me before she advanced on Zecora. She stopped a few feet away and stared at the zebra in absolute silence.

“Why?”

The single word was greeted with silence for several seconds as Zecora bowed her head.

“Paralyzing you was the wrong thing to do”, she whispered in her thick accent. “I must admit I was scared of you.”

“I may be a monster”, Cindra uttered through the tears forming, “but I still have feelings too.”

“I do not know what to say. Perhaps we may speak another day. I apologize for putting you through hell, but before I leave I wish you well.”

The zebra bowed to us again before turning and sadly walking away. I watched a single tear fall to the stone floor before she disappeared from view. Cindra walked slowly back to the bed and climbed up to curl up in a ball.

“Help Zecora find her way out”, I said to Silver.

As he hurried from the room I crawled up on the bed and curled myself around the poor sniffling mare. I felt movement and looked up into a pair of glowing yellow eyes. I rested my head against Cindra’s shoulder as Shadow wrapped herself around the other side of the crying changeling.

“It’s okay”, I whispered as I stoked her mane. “You’re safe here.”

Before too long Cindra’s breathing leveled out and she slept peacefully. I continued stroking her mane as Shadow placed a kiss on Cindra’s cheek. Without a word she slid from the bed and entered the bathroom. After about ten minutes I began to get worried so I eased off the bed and followed her.

“Shadow”, I called softly as I approached the mare.

“Go back in there with her”, she replied coolly as she propped her front hooves up on the counter.

“What’s wrong”, I asked as I came up and slipped my arms around her.

“I don’t want you to see me like this”, she hissed as she pulled away from me.

“Like what”, I asked. “Showing emotions? Caring for someone you love?”

“No, I mean like this”, she snarled as she spun to face me.

Her eyes glowed red as she shoved me away from her. Her fangs glinted in the pale light from the candles nearby and I could see the veins on her wings standing out. She snarled again as she launched herself at me.

“Fuck”, I gasped.

We collided and went down hard. I grabbed her neck as she snapped her jaws shut inches from my face. I threw her off of me and scrambled backwards regaining my feet.

“What’s the matter, dear”, she hissed as her voice echoed oddly. “Don’t like what you see? Well I’m sorry to say that this is what you have to look forward to! It isn’t pretty, but it’s effective.”

Wow, I thought. I can feel some kind of power radiating off of her. It almost feels familiar.

She took a few steps closer and crouched into a fighting stance as her wings unfurled. She stood there as if waiting for something, but I couldn’t figure out what. She leapt at me again and I wrapped my arms around her as her furry body slammed into me. A sharp pain ripped through my left arm as she sank her fangs into me but I held her close.

“Take as much as you need”, I grunted. “I’ll give my last drop of blood for you.”

She drank greedily and I held her, stroking her mane and ears as she had her fill. Her breathing began to slow from the frenzied pace of just a few minutes prior and she went limp in my arms. As her fangs slid out of my shoulder I eased her down onto the floor and curled around her.

“Let me go”, she choked out through tears.

“No.”

“Please let me go”, she sobbed.

“Why”, I whispered and stroked her cheek.

“I don’t want to hurt you again”, she wailed. “I don’t want to hurt anypony anymore! I’m a monster!”

“Shadow Bloom, you listen to me”, I said sternly. “The only way you could hurt me now is to leave me.”

“But you have Cindra”, she sniffled.

“Cindra isn’t my fiancé, you are”, I replied. “Are you really going to leave two weeks before our wedding?”

“I thought you didn’t decide on a date”, she whispered.

“I just did”, I smiled. “You need me, but I need you a whole hell of a lot more.”

“What about Cindra”, she asked.

“Well, I haven’t thought that far ahead”, I admitted.

“I’m fine with being a consort”, Cindra’s voice came from the doorway. “As long as I get to be with both of you I don’t care.”

“Bisexual bug”, Shadow said with a wet chuckle.

“Magnificent mare”, she retorted as she flitted over and flopped on top of both of us. “By the way, that thing with the glowing red eyes and super aura was fucking hot.”

The two mares’ lips pressed together before they turned their attention on me. Shadow locked her lips to mine as Cindra shimmied down between her thighs. Things just began to get interesting when a green flash of flame dropped a scroll of parchment on my forehead. I groaned and unrolled the parchment to read it.

Prince Jackson,

I want my daughter back. I will be coming myself to collect Princess Cindra. I do not want open war between our nations, only Cindra. My subjects and I will arrive at Castle Everfree at noon in three days under parlay. Any hostilities shall be viewed as declarations of war and justice will be swift. Please, think of your dear fiancé and unborn foal. It would be a shame for anything to happen to them.

Queen Chrysalis

“Well, fuck.”