A Grimdark Tale
By: Naga Shark Co-written by Purple Flame
In the City of Canterlot, there was a rumour running rampant. A rumour that was more fact than even the guards and high court could conceal with their soothing words of peace. Late at night, Ponies were being foalnapped from the very streets of Canterlot. These weren't long forgotten Ponies from the deep country or the forest, but Ponies from all walks of life, prominent families all the way to street cleaners. Sometimes the pony was found alive, but the poor souls were in critical condition, their bodies beyond recognition and their speech beyond madness. Stories of all kinds erupted to explain these outrages against their kind. Some tried to say there was a bandit group plaguing their world, recruiting the young and susceptable to their ways. Some said it was a spell gone terribly wrong, leaving the city to suffer from an endless curse. The ones who had discovered the bodies, never spoke of the greusome sights, words they could never forget, and everything they had witnessed in the short moments before the guards would appear and wisk the pony away. The bandit story never lasted long, none of the stories ever did. It was like clockwork, and the family of the missing pony only had to wait. One day, two days, three days... and if they weren't found by then, the family could be sure their loved one would be found dead... or never found at all.
On a dark night, the new moon barely starting to wax crescent, the streets were empty. Not a hoof could be heard for miles in any part of the city. The high court could not ignore the outrage at the last abduction, as the pony had been the handsome, brave Prince Blueblood. The whole city had been in mourning, and no one, not a soul would speak about what had become of the young, beloved Prince.
It was because of this curfew that no one was near to hear the hoofbeats of a Zebracorn as shi stalked the streets... looking for hir next victim.
A dark cloak fell around her graceful figure. Even if the curfew had not been in place, the silken cloak allowed hir to vanish into the shadows cast by the moonless sky. The Zebracorn's eyes glided over empty cobblestone and smirked at her own pride. Shi had a good feeling that the last one she had taken from these streets had claimed to be of royal blood, but it did not matter to hir. His bloodline meant nothing to hir, as shi knew that shi had meant nothing to Canterlot. Though, now, as she scanned the empty roads and alleyways between the shops and houses, shi considered for a moment that the Prince may not have been the best selection. Shi shook her head, hir mane flopping to the other side of hir neck beneath her cloak. No, shi thought, he had been worth it. As the thought danced in hir head, a slight movement up ahead caught her attention: shi found hir next target.
The Zebracorn's eyes glided over his form, shi took in the sheen of his coat and the striking contrast it made against his horn. A unicorn stallion, and he was beautiful. Even if he hadn't been the only one on the streets, shi would have still wanted him. He was young from the looks of his size. He seemed like a better prize than even the Prince.
The young unicorn was on his way home after a long day of work, walking through the dark streets enjoying the silence. The day had been long, and it left him feeling quite worn out and tired. Seeing no guards to enforce the curfew, he decided to sit down on a nearby bench to relax for a bit, stretching his hind legs beneath the stars. He sighed loudly, not minding that no one was around to witness his loneliness. It was a nice change not having to watch others around him, friends and family bidding farewell to each other after meals spent together over tables of hot food. It had been so long since he had last seen a loving and caring face that he had told himself he had forgotten what it even felt like. He didn't want to admit it, but the silence did not make him as happy as he was pretending. Sometimes, he would pretend that when he heard a kind voice say, “Be careful on your way home,” that they were saying it to him... though they never were. He thought for a moment he had heard hoof beats and the gentle breath of someone down the street, but as he peered down the lane, no one was there. The young unicorn was not suspecting anything as he looked up into the sky, taking in a deep breath, and closing his eye. His tail wagged, brushing the bench a little as he let out a yawn. In the nearby darkness, shi watched him.
The Zebracorn struck hard and fast from the darkness afforded by hir cloak and the new moon. Shi hit him with a simple stun spell to keep the unicorn from speaking or casting spells. The curfew had turned out to work for hir advantage, while there would be fewer chances to take a new pony, shi wouldn't have to work as hard to foalnap them in silence. She followed the spell by a vicious double buck to the face to knock him out. Not a single curtain moved to witness the clamor. The High Courts had not made it safer for everyone, they had made it easier for hir.
A black fog eminated from her white horn surrounding him in hir magic, shi then lifted him up and slipped back under hir cloak and into the shadows once again. The Zebracorn had the young unicorn laid across hir back, like prey on an unnatural hunt. Shi smiled to hirself as shi trotted back to hir lair, in the cellars deep under the city, long forgotten by the city. It was there, in the cellars, that he was tossed to the floor, shrugged off like a coat shi had taken off and discarded on the floor a hundred times before.
Hir smile had faded and was replaced by malevolent grin. Reaching for something against the far wall, shi found it easily and slipped it over the unicorn's unscathed grey horn. A null ring. Shi knew what problems his horn could create, but the null ring fit snuggly around the base of his horn. Hir grin darkened; he was hirs now. All hirs. He seemed to stir a little, and shi knew it wouldn't be much longer... shi slid off hir cloak... and waited.
He barely had time to realize what was happening before he had slipped into unconsciousness. His whole body shook with an unfamiliar ache far worse than any long day at work had caused. The young unicorn stallion's eyes fluttered open, and he rub his head in pain, remembering getting bucked as if it was a bad dream or a distant memory. He sat up, muttering to himself, his words coming out broken and stuttering, "Ugh...w-what happened...my head hurts so bad... ." He looks around, but doesn't recognize the place at all. In a panic, he immediately tries to teleport back to the first place he can think of in Canterlot... anywhere but where is. But, as he opens his eyes, he still sees cold walls and the dirty floor beneath him. "W-what...w-why won't this work... come on!" he shouts as he tries again. Again and again, he tries, but nothing happens. His horn might as well not even exist. It had to be a nightmare, but he didn't have nightmares anymore... in fact, he never dreamed at all. His pain was real, this place was real, and the realization swept over him in a terror, his coat glistening with a terrible sweat. The young unicorn stood up, pushing past the fear, feigning anger and shouted, "Who's there? Hello?" An image of a young earth pony flashing in his memory. He had never seen so much blood, and the earth pony begged for her life, not even bothering to open her eyes. He called for the guards then, and like all the others who had been ones to discover a lost pony, he fled, never telling a soul about what he had seen. Now, as he stared around the room, he swallowed hard. This seemed like the type of place where unmentionable things, things like that earth pony had been murmuring about would happen. He had told himself then that the pony he had found was delirious, too physically wounded to know what she was saying. But, now... now... he couldn't hide the waves of trembling as they coursed through his body from horn to hoof.
The Zebracorn stepped into the light, the lantern above the unicorn's head cast a light on the wicked smile upon hir muzzle. "Hello pretty pony. I hope you will enjoy my play time. The last one hundred have not. Over half were left to rot."
“A hundred?” the unicorn taking in hir long blue mane and tail, hir black stripes... his eyes widening, not sure what he was seeing and hearing... he was facing the attacker, the murderer of Canterlot, the villain hirself, and shi was none other than a... a Zebracorn.
“A hundred... or so. A couple hundred? So many ponies were too forgettable for me to really count them. Surely, as handsome as you are, you'll at least give me a little good sport,” shi says as shi advances. He notices socks upon hir hindhooves. He thought only royalty wore shoes, let alone wearing socks. But, these socks that have clearly not been washed in who knows how long. They looked like they had once been white. Now, they were barely more than rags caked in sweat, blood, and other things best unspoken of. His eyes traced up hir hindquarters, lean and fit, until his eyes landed on a sheath between hir legs below hir barrel. He could easily see a pair of balls fitting for a seasoned stallion. Shi was a mare and a stallion. “Both,” he whispered unsteadily under his breath. He shook his head and took a step backwards.
"After all this time, I am tired of repeating myself,” hir gentle voice crooned, “but since I'm sure you are wondering why you can not leave. This room prevents magic from all but those who know the key." If it hadn't been for blood chilling look on hir face, hir voice would have almost been comforting.
"W-who are you, and how did I end up here?! Let me go already!” his stammer returned, but he tried to surpress it, “You will regret doing what you are doing right now!" Hir smile eerily vanished, and shi took a two steps closer to him. He matched her steps forward, growling at her feigning anger to try to cover up his fear, "Don't you dare try touching me! I might not be able to use magic, but that doesn't mean I can't defend myself. Whoever you are and whatever you are planning with your 'fun,' it doesn't mean I will go nicely.”
The Zebracorn laughed aloud maniacally just as magic as dark as soot reached out and grabbed the unicorn by his tongue before dragging him closer. "I think you have no choice but to play. My pretty prey." Shi cackled before tossing him back onto the dirty stone floor and bucking him in the nose hard. He lay there, trying to move, trying depserately to get back to his feet. But, shi was on him, hir sock covered hoof shoving a foul smelling odor against his busted nose.
"Why don't you start by smelling the scent, which based on your cowardice, is worth more than you. The dirt and sweat beneath my hooves," Shi barks at him before shi lands another hard kick from hir other hoof, landing it against the tip of his horn.
"W-what the--" he started, but before he could even say anything, he feels the course, ragged sock pushing against his soft muzzle, covering his nose in the putrid smell that travels into his nose and down his throat. He squirms under hir hoof before he has no choice but to take a breath, inhaling the stench. A violent cough racks his chest from the potent smell of them, and his face turns red as he tries to free himself. His efforts are in vain, and he keeps breathing in taking in the scent, each time he was sure the smell was somehow worsening to a point where he could almost taste it. Letting out a small wimper, he folds his ears onto his head grasping at whatever he can to dull the chaos and panic coursing through his head.
Each time the unicorn trys to pull away, the zebracorn delivers another brutal kick to his horn, nose, eye, or to his ear in methodical rotation. "I said sniff them, you pathetic creature! Try to escape me one more time, and I will have to start removing parts of you to get my point across." Shi growls feverishly, and the unicorn notices movement beneath the sheath. Shi was getting aroused with every word shi spoke and with every time he writhed underneath her.
A stallionhood that was far too big for even a stallion of hir same size, starts to slide out from under within hir sheath. Unlike the socks, it and hir body seem to be very clean. Almost surgically clean. "R-removing parts?! N-no! You cant do that..." he says, the words falling from his mouth in disbelief. He forces himself to inhale deeply, his lungs filling with the scent of the socks and a whimper painfully escaping his lips with each kick and stomp. His eyes start to tear up, unable to hide his fear and pain, "P-p-please! J-just let me... let me go! I didn't even do anything! Please," he begs. He looks up, noticing with every plea, hir cock grows under hir body, the sheath no longer covering any part of hir stallionhood. He gags more heavily from the potent smell as it fills his nose, feeling like he was breathing death into his whole body. Finally, shi notices the unicorn no longer pulling away, and sees how adamantly he is smelling hir foul socks. Shi ceases kicking him, and instead shi presses them hard to his nose, grinding the foul things into up into his flared nostrils, part of hir hoof cutting into his muzzle causing his own blood to seep down into the already stained socks.
"You did do something, though. You were born. You were outside in the city well past the curfew set by the Royal sisters. All because you believed it to be a simple rumour? Well, wake up pretty pony! It was no rumour," Shi snarls, and hir horn glowed darkly, hir magic again working it's way around him, binding his tail into a tight bun with it's own strands.
"I had to! I had to work, and... and I couldn't... I couldn't get back... back in time! It's not my fault! It doesn't matter if it was a rumor or not! I saw a pony, an earth pony,” he huffed out, the horrid scent of the socks still poisoning his lungs. But, as he saw the intrigue his words were creating in hir, he quickly changed his mind, unwilling to give hir more detail on what had become of any pony shi had taken before... he lowered his head the little he could, “You're just a crazy pony who's trying to hurt other innocent ponies to feel better!" He groaned and whimpered as he felt even more pressure against his nose. Shi was forcing him to keep sniffing them, and not a single bit of untainted air hit his lungs as he lay there, coughing wildly, drowning in the stench. His vision started to fade, and he could not see any end or way to get out of this. "Y-youre crazy and... disgusting!" he shouted through from under hir hooves.
The Zebracorn snapped into a rage, bucking him hard in the nose, the line of hir hoof catching his muzzle so hard that his eyes swelled with unwilling tears. Shi turned back to face him, fully erect, grabbing his head by his mane and pulled his head level with the monster shaft. With the socks clear from his nose, he took in a sharp breath of air before shi was forcing the entirety of hir stallionhood into his mouth. The unicorns eyes rolled back in his head, just as shi starts to thrust forward, a crazed look in hir eyes. All reason was gone. He thought he knew fear, that he had felt all the fear he could already, but it wasn't until he saw all signs of a soul disappear from hir face did he know what fear really was. A sound he had never made before escaped his lips from around hir cock loudly as shi delivered another kick to his face. Shi looks down at him, his eyes still burning with life, watching as he gags louder and louder as hir cock enters his throat, and with each thrust, shi watches him start to weaken from all the pain. Shi watches him, watches as hir cock slides into his mouth, not noticing him crying beneath the sounds of him choking on hir.
He knew it would be easier to black out, to let the pain take him. He was letting... allowing... his body to get used at this point, knowing he couldn't get away. He wanted to just give up, as his body was discarded on the ground, with his head hanging just above the dirt and stones. He was being forced up to take hir cock, and he felt every excrutiating movement shi made as hir cock slammed in again and again. The Zebracorn laughed evily as shi thrust further and harder into the stallion's throat. Shi was sure this had never entered his mind as the type of “fun” shi had in mind. But, this was fun. The noises shi was able to pull from this young, inexperienced unicorn was so much better than any shi had taken in a long while. Then, shi had an idea, one that hadn't come to hir before. Shi pulled one of hir foul socks off and placed it against his nose. He began to cough wilder than before, and as he did, shi shoved hir way back into his mouth and took hir pleasure from his throat.
He felt the sock on his nose and its scent instantly forced him to gag again, barely even muffled from the cock that filled his mouth. Tears poured freshly from his eyes, across his cheeks, and down the sides of his throat. His thoughts were a maze in his head. Without warning, his body overtook his mind... instead of the screaming thought to find a way out, his thoughts changed to the only thing his body wanted right now: for it to stop. His tongue wrapped around hir member tightly, and slowly started to stroke it, as if giving more pleasure and a better feeling would make it be over faster. The Zebracorn moans as the gagging grew loud enough to break through hir numb madness and hit hir ears. His efforts only made hir thrust harder, faster, and deeper down the unicorns throat. Still he tried desperately trying to bring hir to satisfaction... to where shi would stop... to where the pain would stop. Shi was being far rougher on this poor victim than all the rest, and yet he was not only still conscious, but he was trying to please hir.
Shi found hirself hoping he survived a full week when shi knew all the rest never made it past three days. A sharp gasp brought hir eyes back down to him, and all hir thoughts disappeared. With renewed desire, hir balls were slapping against his chin, and the poor lad knew shi had managed to fit the whole monster down his throat. Every thrust seemed to be one long moment after another with hir pulling out all the way to the head of hir cock and back in to the balls. But, it was barely enough time to get a few ragged breaths and to polish hir blunt head which he could feel was slowly starting to flare. After a while, he started to moan onto her cock unwillingly, not out of pleasure but from the pure pain the size hir cock was compared to his body... from having it fill his throat completely, making it harder and harder to get even a single breath only to be followed by his gagging from the scent of the sock that hit his nose. It continued... never ending... over and over again. His eyes finally fell shut, and he prayed for it to be over soon. He was on the edge of darkness, but something in him kept fighting to stay awake, too afraid of what would happen if he gave way to unconsciousness. Then, his tongue wrapped around hir more tightly and started moving against hir motion, just barely able to fit it into his mouth. He could feel the blood rushing to his face, turning it darker from lack of oxygen more and more as shi continued. As if shi somehow knew, the Zebracorn pulled back to let him catch his breath fully, before he could pass out. He had barely been able to return a normal color to his face before shi was ramming hirself full strength down his throat, and he felt hir flare swell to full gargantuan size. Hir seed shot straight down his throat and into his stomach. As hir release started to fade, shi pulled out, letting the second to last shot fill his whole mouth. Hir voice hit his ears like an assault, ordering him sharply, "Swallow or loose your horn." He felt pressure between his forehead and crown of his head where his horn, still useless, was. Hir cock pulsated again, and the last shot sprayed all over his face, into his nostrils, and his now open eyes. The unicorn, his body spent, felt the seed fill his stomach and his mouth. He gagged again, again out of reflex more than pain before he realized being hit in the face with even more of hir juices. The tears were flowing freely now as he kept his mouth filled with it. He shook his head, not wanting to swallow it, not wanting to try to force it down his raw throat. He tried to get up somehow, but he was simply too weak to really do anything. His body felt the onslaught end, and all that was left were the convulsions rattling his every fiber as more tears dropped onto the ground.
"I SAID SWALLOW OR LOOSE YOUR HORN!"
The Zebracorn's loud bellowing in his face awoke him from his numbed state. The pressure on his horn tripled instantly. He had no doubt that the look in hir eyes and face was pure unadulterated evil and psychotic. He was lucky he could not see it through the semen from where he had not closed his eyes in time before hir last release. He was basically blind. Then, something stirred in him. He was blind, broken, and at that moment he felt shi had taken everything from him that was left to be taken. His horn was useless now. His will was the only thing she could not take from him. He looks at hir, a new scowl on his face, still as fearful but with renewed determination. Hir gaze met his, and in that split second, he remembered who he was and spat everything in his mouth back at her. "I'm...n-not gonna listen to you any longer!” he gulped, “I d-don't care what you do to me!" Let out a deep throaty growl before making an attempt to attack, no matter how ineffective, to combat hir.
The Zebracorn snarled, and a deafening crack filled the air as a savage double rear hoof buck to the chest landed home on hir victim. Shi stormed over, pulling hir victim up, holding his mane, and another loud crack bounced off the walls. Shi held his severed horn up to eye level before shi cleared his eyes of seed so he could even see what shi had done. He didn't need to see, he could feel the excruciating pain from what was his horn. In the depths of his heart, he did not believe any pony, Zebracorn or not, would ever actually remove another pony's horn.
"Now there will be no lube,” hir voice pitched, then slowly and measured she continued, “I will be fucking your ass raw, little colt." Shi snarled again. Hir face was a mask of true rage. With a flick of hir magic, he was twisted around, and with practiced ease, shi mounts him lining up perfectly with his ponut. "Any last words while you can still talk, foal?"
"AAAAAGH!!!" he screamed, as he moved his hooves up to his horn, instantly starting to cry hard from the pain. Hir words hadn't even registered to him. His horn was gone. A new pain struck in his back, hir hooves pressing deeper into his backside as shi prepared to enter him.
"I...h-hope you die you....p-piece of shit! You're not worth anything b-being like this!" he let out, surprised he could still even speak.
The Zebracorn laughed psychotically and the sound bounced off the walls and cascaded down on the poor hornless unicorn. Shi pushed hir way forward, ripping his ponut open, barely even inside him. No lube and not a care for his comfort... in fact, she wanted his pain, all of it for what he had dared do to hir. Had he followed hir orders it would have been different. But now... now shi drove hir shaft into him without mercy the moment hir still pulsating blunt head disappeared inside him. Shi started railing his plot with no remorse and no pity. If he lived after this, shi was sure he would be singing a different tune. But, shi knew better, chances were slim that he would not live to outlast hir pleasure from mounting him.
His cries were amplified, louder than shi thought he could make in the pitiful state he was in. Still, his screams filled the room, "AAAAAAHA...J-JUST STOP ALREADY!!! Y-YOU HURT ME ENOUGH!!!" He continued to cry, wailing, but shi did not slow. He was sure he had felt pain, that he would never forget what it felt like to choke on hir cock, but now, feeling how shi pushed him open with the full force of hir body, the assault on his mouth was forgotten. Every inch of hir stallionhood was now buried in his ass, and he knew he couldn't do anything to stop it but hang there, letting it happen. Shi had won his entire body.
The Zebracorn laughed again as shi continues hir abuse. Hir heavy balls slapped hard against his own. Hir shaft and medial ring battered his prostate repeatedly with every single thrust, in and out, in and out, and like when shi was in his mouth, he can feel every vein in hir cock and every movement seems more painful than the last.
"P-PLEASE!” he screams out, “IT H...HURTS SO MUCH!” He's begging and not a single part of him feels ashamed, as he cries out loudly. Then, almost as an impulse, he tries to kick her with his back legs, wanting the pain to stop, feeling his body getting pounded heavily without a second of relief. The Zebracorn simply cackled as his kicks felt like feather strikes due to the physical weakness caused by trauma shi knew shi had caused. The idea sparks another wave of desire in hir, and shi pounds him that much harder and faster, still only working hir way up to half hir speed and power.
"ANSWER ME ALREADY YOU... YOU... YOU FUCKING...B-BITCH!" his crying has turned from ire, to mere anger, to desperation, and is becoming more quiet with each moment as he starts to feel weaker and weaker. He had already passed the point of mental delirium, but now his body was truly giving up. He was dizzy and disorientated, his entire body on fire with pain.
"Why would I answer a piece of meat that had it's chance to be more? Now, silence!" Shi barks. Without losing hir pace, shi removed the cum covered sock from his nose, balled it up, and shoved it into his mouth. She took the other sock and strethed it over his whole muzzle. It was so tight, he couldn't open his mouth but could still breath through his nose, but only along with that scent.
The young unicorm, now no more than a young stallion with his horn removed, growled loudly and shook wildly, trying everything to somehow break free before the scent hit his nose. He gagged again after sucking in yet another painful breath as shi was thrusting into him. In an instant the stench hit him, potent and foul, and his struggling slowly became less and less as finally the damage to his body and to his soul weakened him with every passing second shi laid into him.
The Zebracorn noticed. At first, he thought it was a tiny shred of mercy as hir horn glowed, and he could feel hir healing his interal injuries. But, he soon realized that this was not mercy, but another way shi had found to punish him. Hir pounding of his ass never slowed nor softened in power, so the temporary relief he felt with her healing only worsened the pain as shi ripped him apart again. Each tear and break that shi had healed, shi quickly broke anew. Shi was determined to break him entirely... if it was the last thing shi did. He would break or die. Shi was never after just his body... his body shi could and would heal, over and over again until he had given up himself to hir will. For a moment, his head dropped, shi started to go faster, shi was sure she had him bent to hir will now. But, through the muffled sock, she could hear him mutter, "I will..g...get revenge I'm..g..going to..."
He started to feel the life draining from him as shi healed him again, then renewing hir attack on his ass with more fervor than before. He could no longer take it, and his body dropped in exhaustion, his breath sounding like the ragged whisper of a dying wind. His body lay there, shaking, no longer fighting hir as shi pounded him. All shi could hear from him now were random mumbled words. He had reached madness. With a final thrust into his ponut, The Zebracorn blew hir load deep inside him. Deep enough that just the one load shi was sure he would be expelling it for a week. If he felt any release as shi pulled out of him, hir cock slowly going limp from the work, he did not show it. He laid, unmoving as shi gathered hir socks, pulling them off his muzzle and from inside his mouth. Shi almost considered not shackling him, but after the strength he had just shown, shi would not take any chances. Shi pulled a chain from the wall behind him and attached a collar around his neck, lifting his head just to fit it around him. Shi attached the chain to the cold metal collar, and his head fell limp back to the ground. Shi placed a bucket of clean water and a bowl of oatmeal before him.
With one last glance at hir new victim, shi sighed, turned, and popped out of the cellar to hir home, ready to clean up and prepare for the next day. He was hirs now, and shi was sure that he would not make it out alive. Shi knew that down here, he knew he would never be heard nor found, and the thought made hir smile, if only just a little.
He laid on the ground for a while, giving one last look to the empty room before finally passing out, silently feeling ashamed for hoping he would never wake up again.
The Zebracorn returned after a while, again, perfectly clean without so much as a hair out of place. Shi watched him in silence as he slept, how his head was laid gently on the cannons of his legs, just below where his knees crossed. It was foreign to watch hir victims sleep. Even the word “victim” sounded unfit in her head. The others would wake to hir mere hoofsteps down the stairs. Each of them would jolt awake in their own way as if waking to a nightmare. But, this unicorn just slept. Shi'd taken ponies from all manner of life, so it couldn't have just been that he had been working too hard; shi had foalnapped plenty of working ponies. This pony simply slept, his purple forlock draped casually over one eye. If shi didn't know better, shi would think he didn't have a care in the world.
After a while, long enough that even shi had lost track of the time, he woke. Noticing the chains, he seemed unsurprised that he was still here in hir dungeon, and he almost seemed unbothered by it. He noticed the water and food, and with a nearly blank stare, looked up at hir before deciding to drink and eat the food shi had laid out. "That's...s-o bad...yet...better than starving...this...g-god damn antimagic thing...ugh..." he murmured, knowing shi was there, but the words were not meant for her.
He laid back down and sighed, again speaking to himself, "No family... no friends... no one is going to be looking for me... or notice I am missing... I am just... gonna rot here alone...” and the words almost seemed like a question. That's what it came down to for the young unicorn, the question, “Am I just going to rot here alone?” And the same answer entered his head as it always did when he felt lonely, missing the connection so many other ponies had. “I deserve it. I'll die alone like I always knew I would... like I know I should..."
Shi felt invisible to him, watching him eat without saying so much as a word to hir. His last words left hir with an uneasy feeling that shi knew even fucking would not banish from hir chest. This young, hornless unicorn stallion had always believed he would die alone. It wasn't as if he had given up... but surely he had someone. Some reason to want to live. He had begged for hir to stop the day before. But, when he saw her again, he did nothing. He didn't quiver. He didn't plead for his safety. He simply slept, ate, and then slept again. Though, shi was sure he had given hir one last spiteful look after he had eaten, right before he laid his head back down, adjusting the collar and chain around his neck so that it would bother him as little as possible as he slept.
When morning came so did The Zebracorn. Again, shi was perfectly coiffed and groomed. If anyone had seen hir, without knowing shi was the cause of all the maddened and dead ponies, they would easily say shi looked like a Princess or Duchess from a far away city. Her mane looked like someone had taken the time to lay each hair in the perfect place, hir coat shone brilliantly. Shi looked stunning. As the young unicorn awoke, just as shi had reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw hir as the vision shi could have been... if he didn't know the demon that lay within hir and between hir legs.
He took the time to take in every aspect of hir. Hir stripes, her eyes, the way shi held hirself, poised in a way he had only ever seen royalty stand. In his head, he knew shi was exquisite. But, he felt no emotion for hir. What shi had done to him had planted a seed of anger, hating hir to the point where he felt nothing anymore for hir. His eyes traced hir form again, yes, he thought, shi does look perfect. His eyes reached hir hooves, perfect.... except for the socks shi had donned again. The very same ones from the day before. Shi has a tray of breakfast food and the smell alone matches the thought that shi seemed like royalty. A table appeared, along with two chairs in reach of the chains, both on only one side of the table. Shi set the tray down on hir side of the table and lifted him to the other seat. Starting to nibble on the food, he watch hir as shi ate the aromatic food surprisingly daintily for someone he knew to have such force savagery in them. The seed of anger and hurt started to come alive again. He turned his head away and shallow throaty growl, "What do you want here? To give me more pain? Again... again? Do you want to make me cry more? Why don't you just leave and let me die in peace?” he asked earnestly. He had wanted to know the question. He knew shi had brought ponies back who were still living, yet only just. Shi had left them out in the open to take their last breaths without hir looking on. Why couldn't shi do that for him? Finally, when shi didn't answer, but ate seemingly unaffected by his words, he continued, his own truth finally taking hold of his heart. “You're not gonna break me,” the unicorn said. It wasn't said defiantly, but with absolute certainly, “See, you can't break a pony who is already broken. I saw my parents die in front of my eyes... this isn't the horror you imagine it is for me, not compared to what I've seen. No matter what you are going to do... I have nothing to lose, anyways. I have had nothing to lose for most of my life. You're really doing me a favor. Even if you leave me in the streets, near death, like all those other ponies, I will accept it. I will die willingly. What you don't know, what you probably have never seen,” he said, watching hir as she continued eating, like shi had not heard a word he had said. He repeated himself, “What you've probably never seen is a pony from Canterlot who was ready to die, I don't know why I've kept myself alive all this time... See, Zebracorn, the only things I had to lose are long gone.... long gone," he saids the final words almost at a whisper, under his breath. He knew shi had heard him, and he hoped shi had heard the sincerity in what he had said. He had never spoken those words aloud. Even if he had, there wouldn't have been anyone there to hear them. At least now, as hir prisoner, someone would hear them... even if that someone had such darkness within them like shi did.
Breaking hir quiet meal, the Zebracorn finally made an acknowledgment to his small speech. Shi paused, eying the table as if considering what to eat next, but tilted hir head sideways to him, as if she was trying to hear him better. But, shi had heard him just fine. In that pause, shi acted as if shi had just heard and digested all his words, and... shi simply chuckled. "You realize that last night, before you spat on me and did not follow orders that you had a chance at something great? Now, I will make it my pleasure to draw out your time here till you either break, begging for my forgiveness from the very depths of your soul for the torture to end... or until you finally die, but not in peace and not in the streets, but at my will, my time, and at my very whim. At that point, I will simply bring you back with my magic and start it all over till you finally do break. I will remind you that there is always something to lose," shi said as casually as if discussing the weather in Saddle Arabia. Shi bit into a pear, taking another delicate bite. Shi had played this game before, but never after shi had dominated hir victim. There had been plenty others who had said shi couldn't break them, but then shi did. It didn't take long. But, here, this young unicorn had survived the night before, barely eating or drinking enough to renew his strength after what she had put him through, matching hir measured calmness with his own. He wasn't trying to be defiant or anger hir. To him, he was stating fact, whereas shi was used to hearing ponies shout their defiance loudly as if they were trying to convince themselves more than they were hir. He sounded as if was letting hir in on a secret, as if he was letting hir know that she really was wasting hir time on him... that he wasn't going to be able to satisfy hir. Hir breath caught in hir chest, the thoughts raced in hir head. It wasn't to save himself, and shi knew it wasn't meant for hir benefit either. He held no doubt that shi could not break him, and the thought started to gnaw at hir the way it had gnawed at her that he had woken the night before and not even acknowledged hir presence.
"You can't break me. I rather experience torture over and over again than begging someone as heartless as you are for forgiveness... there is nothing for me to beg to forgive me for. I begged for it once, a long time ago, and it ended in me losing the ponies I loved the most. Someone else beat you to my heart, my soul, and my will. I was just a kid, then... I am not going to fall for it another time. Begging and pleading with ponies that are like you, consumed with the desire to punish other ponies, will not change what you want to do... what you had always planned to do from the beginning,” he shook his head, knowing that he had been broken long ago. He had begged for his parents lives, sobbing for them not to be murdered, but it had done no good. He had seen it in the villain's eyes that took his parents life. All his begging had done was made the villain's eyes light up with pleasure at his suffering. He pushed the empty plate in front of him away, “At this point,” he said, “I dont care what happens anymore..." He wiped a tear off his face, trying not to think about his past anymore. "I remember how much I wanted to hurt the ponies who did nothing to try to find the one who killed my parents. I wanted them to suffer as I did. But,” he continued, shaking his head and flipped his mane to the other side, looking at hir blankly and yet through hir at the same time, “The last thing I would do is become someone like you... just cause I lost everything I had... I know where it was going to get me... nowhere. Just like none of the other ponies have brought you any real satisfaction. You won't get anywhere being this distant, ruthless miscreation that you are... You are the monster, now."
Shi didn't pause. It was if hir brain had found a loophole in his determination, and she quickly grasped on to it. Not breaking hir practiced composure, shi swallowed and said, "And, if I could bring them back for you? Both of them, hale and healthy and with no memory of any torture or their deaths? What would you be willing to do for that?"
The unicorn didn't move a single muscle, his brain would not even entertain the idea of what it would be like to have them alive. His imagination had long since given up on such childish fantasies. His parents were gone. His response nearly matched her calmness, with only a slight irritation, "All you're doing is trying to trick me into doing whatever you want... but I won't lie to myself. You want to know what I would do,” he stated matter-of-factly, “I would die all the deaths you've threatened me with just to give them back their lives... but,” he said, turning to face hir with a look that told hir he was offering her only the truth, a truth that he held unwaveringly, “if you think I will believe a single word from you... you've clever, trying to play with my past... then you are wrong once again."
The Zebracorn pointed to a pile dust and what looked like blacked sticks and the debris of a fireplace in the corner of the cellar. "You see that pile of bones?” He couldn't help but cringe slightly. Still, she continued, not noticing, “They have been here for ten years. Now, watch me prove to you that this magic does exist. What I say is true." Hir horn glowed a deep red, almost black, as the bones rose and snapped into position, reassembling themselves into the form of a pony skeleton. The unicorn, still sitting at the table, watched in horror, imagining his parents coming back to life as a set of moving bones. But, as he watched on, tissue started to form, internal organs, muscle, skin, fur, then the mane and tail, and finally a cutie mark appeared. Once fully remade, the pony took a shuddering breath before looking around. She locked eyes on the unicorn, noticing the stub where his horn had been, “
"Who are you?” she asked him, ignoring the Zebracorn altogether. “Did you get trapped in here too? Don't worry help will be here soon. Someone will find us," she said, but it seemed like she was saying it to convince herself more than to reassure him. Then, she went still as the grave.
The Zebracorn looked back over to the unicorn, and he could see the silent message shi was sending him, hir eyes filled with satisfaction and the clear question, Have I proved my point yet? He shook his head, "I still dont believe you.. You are never going to bring them back to life. You are trying to manipulate me to get whatever you desire. Bringing my parents back is a just simple trick to use on the simple minded. I am not falling for that, I am not a kid anymore. Do you understand me? I'd never believe someone who has been so heartless and cold.... someone who has done the things you have to so many ponies. I am no different to you than them,” he snorted.
The Zebracorn sighed, hir horned glowed again, summoning a contract. "I had hoped it would not come to this," shi said. The paper, the document hovered in front of him. On the contract, it stated that shi would revive the unicorn's family, remove all memories of the torture, their deaths, as well as return his horn... all in return for loyalty. But, it wasn't just for loyalty, but for also allowing hir to slake hir lusts upon his body. All injuries would be healed to full strength each and everytime, the contract promised. Hir signature was already dripping from the page in red. Blood. Hir blood. Shi held up a small pen knife, offering it to him. "All it needs is a small drop of your blood to sign it, and it is magically binding." Hir eyes glowed as greedily as the blood on the page and more brightly than hir dark magic could ever be. He read the contract over again, and then again once more. He shook his head before pushing it away with a hoof, "Pft...loyalty and letting you use me for your fucked up shit,” he summarized, mocking hir sexual appetites for the first time, “I don't know what made you think that I would ever accept that. Not even the return of my parents is going to tempt me do it. Nothing will. I'm no longer playing by your rules. Don't you get that? I'm not fighting, I'm not begging, and I am not enslaving myself to you."
The Zebracorn burned with a rage, shi had tohave him. Shi had to. Shi wanted to banish the food from the table and slam him against it... over and over again until he begged for the kindness of the contract. But, she had seen the look on his face when shi had brought the pony back to full health. Shi was certain he would soon cave to her wishes. "You would give up the return of your parents and horn simply because you think I would break this contract?” shi asked, sternly, “Do you realize what would happen if I did break the contract? Not only would I die the moment I did, but my soul would be sent to the deepest depths of Tartarus. There would be no chance of escape; Tartarus... for eternity. It is that kind of binding."
The unicorn snorted again, "I am not saying you were gonna break it. I am saying that I won't become a slut to get my parents back. Have fun thinking of something else. Now, leave me alone. The longer I see you pretending to be a person of class and dignity, the more I wanna throw up..."
The Zebracorn sighed, the pony that had been resurrected from ashes resumed moving, but almost immediately disappeared, having been teleported out of the celler to freedom. “She's home, her memories extremely vague, anything that might truly haunt her, I erased. She's free, now,” shi said. The desire to push him over to hir had surged with such pressure like a dam about to break. Shi had made sure her memories of this location were erased. Surely, that would be enough of a settlement for the hornless stallion. Something felt like it was tearing in hir chest at what shi saw when she looked at him. The Unicorn didn't seem phased at all. In his eyes, shi didn't see the slightest sign that he was even considering that what she said was true. He didn't believe shi would bring his parents back to him or return his horn. He had been telling the truth. There wasn't bitterness there behind his eyes, but a soul who had given up long, long ago. Given up? Or given up being beaten? Memories of the night before raced in hir head: the way he looked when he spat at hir, the words he had used, the way he had not tried to bargain with hir... the way he slept, muttering to himself, the way he refused hir now... all of it was flooding her mind. Shi had offered him a blood-signed contract, she thought, shocked at the very thought of what would happen if he had taken it and shi had accidentally broken it by simply not healing him enough. Shi stood up from the table, pacing wildly for a moment in front of it. Shi was torn between repeating the day before, making him pay for his defiance, but shi could see on his face that it wasn't defiance at all. Not now. Suddenly, without warning, shi looked at him with true sadness, perhaps a moment of recognition...before reattaching his horn correctly. Hir horn glowed, and before he could tell what was happening, she removed the collar from his neck. With great care, she searched his memories, finding the right one, the right location, and then they were gone... teleporting to the graves of his parents.
The Zebracorn lifted hir chin in feigned conceit, "Seeing as you will not believe me nor sign the contract...” shi said, flipping hir mane haughtily, “As a last act of mercy before I vanish from your memory..." hir voice trailed off. The air around them seemed to tremble. The unicorn knew this place... a graveyard. The fresh scent of grass filled his nostrils, and it smelled better than the fine meal shi had just been eating in front of him, the very meal he had denied to take part in.
Shi cast hir magic, for once, the colors coming from hir horn were not dark or menacing. They were a sort of silver even the unicorn did not recognize. The earth seemed to open from somewhere in the distance. At once he knew what shi was doing. Shi was reviving his parents as shi said shi would, removing the memories just as shi said. Letting out a forced breath, shi turned to him, "Are you sure?" There was a barely concealed tremor in hir voice.
He looked around, confused before noticing a pair of ponies approaching. Not far from where they stood, two graves were disturbed. The same thing shi had done in the cellar, shi had done now. “M-mommy? D-daddy...?" shi heard him say before he was throwing himself at them. Shi saw it then just as much as the young unicorn felt it... he was changing in that moment. Now, now shi had something to take from him. He closed his eyes before starting to tear up, and his body shook as he turned around, looking his parents over as they smiled at him, in a sort of dreamstate. Then, hir question made sense. Was he sure he would not take the contract is what she meant.
"N-no...,” he said, with as much conviction as when he had denied hir the first time, but clearly with a thousand times more sadness, “I am...n-not going to do it. I know they will understand. I know this is what they would want me to do... I would never sell my body... will never...” he said facing hir, but then his parents started to talk to him as if nothing had happened, as if it was the day before and he was just returning from work. The Unicorn stared hard into their eyes, his voice breaking, “I am sorry that I... never protected you... I should have done something and didn't. All I did was... all I did was care about myself. I wish I could go back, I'd rather die so you guys could have lived... just like you gave yours to keep me alive." His parents looked at him, their brows furling, looking a bit unsettled by their son's behavior. His parents exchanged a loving look between each other as if to say they knew their son was crazy but they loved him anyway. His father coughed and asked what the unicorn was talking about. Shi watched as he shook his head and started to follow them home. The unicorn felt frozen in place by magic. His parents were too far ahead to notice.
The Zebracorn approached him, He sneered at hir, “So, is this your big plan? Taunt me with my parents, then try to destroy me?” Had it been twenty-four hours before, shi would have done just that, without mercy and enjoyed every second of it. Hir face remained strong. Shi nodded as shi removed the magic sealing ring. He dropped to the ground, his hooves landing as if he just jumped over a small creek. Shi was already walking away, but he ran to her and hugged hir, “No matter what you did to me... I won't forget you... nor will I ever really hate you. No one wants to be alone forever... no one.” Shi jerked away from him, shrugging him off of hir. “You know that this is not who you want to be,” he said, not moving to hug hir again. In a tone that was mixed with fatigue, grief, and surprising amount softness, he continued, “That's not who you want to be, and you just proved it yourself. I mean it... I won't forget you.”
With that, the Zebracorn turned, never looking him in the eye and started to walk away from the reborn family. They needed to heal, now. Shi would find hir pony one day. It was just not this day. Shi heard him finally turn as well and run to catch up with his parents. His words lingered in the air around hir. He said he would not forget hir... hir horn started to glow, “Yes, you will. I'll make sure of it.” Shi cast the same magic shi had used on the pony from the cellar, his parents, and countless other ponies shi had taken. There was a reason shi had never been found, shi was too good at taking away memories. He would be one more who's memories she had erased. Shi had wished shi could have left him with hir as a memory, maybe he would think of hir once in a while. Shi was exhausted. But, at least shi did something good, shi thought to herself before teleporting back to hir own home.
That night, as his parents rustled around down in the living room of his childhood home, in the home he had once inherited from them when they passed away, he made a decision to tell his secret. Up in his room, he started to write. He didn't have to say much, but he knew it would be enough. “When I said I would never forget you, I was not lying. I am not able to forget. No memory spell can work on me. I will always remember their deaths just as much as I will always remember you giving them back their lives.” He wrote the first and only letter that night before using his horn to teleport it to the cell shi had brought him to. "It’s going to get better... whatever it is..." he had written. After that, he went back to sleep, able to rest fully once again.
The End.
