Kingdom of Predators

by KarasAdamas

Chapters

Chapter 1. Rebirth and Name
Chapter 2. Massacre and Hunger
Chapter 3. Food and Predator (edited)
Chapter 4. Beauty and Power
Chapter 5. Knowledge and Family
Chapter 6. Preparation and Release
Chapter 8. Blood and Ash
(Rewritten) Chapter 9. Carnivores and Foreboding
Chapter 7. The Prince of Predators and the Goddess of Wishes

Chapter 1. Rebirth and Name

Location: ???

??? POV

What's going on?... Where am I?... Who am I?

*Rumble*

What is this?... I can't see anything, everythings blurry.

*Bubbles*

It's warm and... green... it feels good, it feels safe... and I feel calm.

*Rumble* *Bubbles* *Rumble*

No, this is wrong, this doesn't feel right. Last thing I remember was being in a forest and... crying? Why was I crying?

*Bubbles*

I lost something... something important, but what?... What did I lose?

*Rumble*

Come on, remember. Why was I in a forest crying? What else do I remember? I was in a forest and it was dark, was it night time? It was raining also... and then there was that bright light.

*Bubbles* *Rumble* *Bubbles*

Enough of this! I need to figure out where I am, come on, move!... Why is it so hard to move?

*Rumble* *Rumble* *Bubbles* *Rumble*

WHY CAN'T I TALK?!

"Hmmm hmm hmmm hmm, hm hmmm hmm hmmm hmm"

What's that?... a melody?... no, it's a lullaby... it's feels familiar... like I've heard it before... from someone very dear to me.

"Soon my little king, soon it is time."

Who's there? It sounds like a woman, but there's something else in her voice. What is that clicking in her voice?

"Soon the world will be yours to take, my sweet little king. My Meruem."

Meruem? Is that my name?

*Rumble*

"Oh! You like it?" the voice said with a giggle "It's a perfect name, don't you think? It means "The light that shines above all," a perfect name for a king."

Me? King? What is this lady talking about? And is my name really Meruem?... She started humming again, it feels nice. What was I thinking about earlier?

"Sleep for now little one, soon you can come out. And when you come out, there will be food prepared for you."

Whatever, food sounds nice, but I guess I'll just sleep for now.

"Sleep well, Meruem"

Yeah, goodnight mom.

Location: Seaquestria

Queen Faust POV

When we had gotten words from the hippogriffs that a new island had been discoverd, with creatures and structures they had never seen before, I just knew I had to see it for myself. I feel bad for having to leave Celestia and Luna behind, but they'll be fine with Starswirl, that stallion is basically like a second father for the fillies. Or more like their only father since the real father in this family is to busy being a king.

My husband King Solaris is an ambisious tyrant, always looking for lands to conquer and more ponies that can worship him like a god. Just because he has the power to raise and lower the sun, like I do with the moon, he immediately starts to believe that he is some kind of immortal and unkillable god, or God King as he like to call himself.
The mere fact that we and our daughters are the only alicorns around should be more than enough proof that we are not eternal, we may outlive every other lifeform in all of Equus but that doesn't mean we can't be killed.

When I first met him I was just happy to know that I wasn't the only one of my kind, I would be lying if I said that I didn't find him handsome and charming with his golden mane and snow white fur when I first met him. But right after Luna was born, all that Love and Happily Married life was thrown right out the window. Now all he cares about is conquest and enslaving every creature that isn't a pony, he promised to bring order and harmony when he became king, but it seems that he has mistaken harmony for "Absolute Order and Control," and the nobles don't make it better since they believe that unicorns are superior to the other tribes simply because they can use magic.

The tribes are at the brink of war because of this false god and his religion, unicorns are not superior, they're not as strong as earth ponies and they are not as durable as pegasi, infact I would say that the unicorn are the most flawed out of all the tribes, remove their horn and they are just weaker versions of earth ponies. Honestly I can't wait for the day when I find out that Solaris has been killed in battle or assassinated, perhaps then maybe true harmony can finally be achieved.

We have been traveling on a ship for about a 24 hours at this point and I can tell that the King is not in a good mood. I've always been the adventures type, always looking for new knowledge and opportunities for adventure, had I not been a Queen I would have been traveling all across Equis and never stayed at one place more than ones. Solaris however, not so much. He hates traveling with a burning passion, his only motivation being the opportunity to conquer more land and spread the word of the Sun God King Solaris.

The high class battleship, that we travelled on was both comfortable and effective when in both war and simple comfort. The bedrooms where nice and cozy, not what you would expect from a battleship. With enough room for both a kitchen and rooms for weaponry, armed with both ballistas and cannons, with powerful sails to move it forward. The only downside to the ship would be it's use of oars to keep up speed, the earth ponies are forced to use their strength in order for the ship to move forward, giant oars that requires two ponies to move, 20 on the left side and 20 on the right, more than 80 earth ponies just to move one ship. Then there is all the pegasi butler and maids that fly around the ship to deliver beverages to the workers and soldiers on the ship and speaking of soldiers. The mayority of the soldiers on the ship are snobby unicorns from noble families, I say mayority because there are some good youngsters among the soldiers that actuelly take their job seriously, but sadly they are outnumbered by the veterans who have been in more than one of the kings conquests where they fight against enemies that can't fight back.
I swear the moment this kingdom becomes a monarchy, there are going to be some major changes.

"Your majesty, we're arriving at the island." said a welcoming voice from the other side of the door leading to my room.

"In a moment Nightstain," I replied, "actuelly can you and your sister come in for a quick meeting?"

The thestral stallion named Nightstain entered my room followed by his sister Nightblade. Nightstain was 1.9 m tall with broad shoulders and an intimidating stare. His fur was a dark gray with an almost blackish red mane, his eyes were a fire like orange. At first glance you would never suspect that his special talent was painting. Nightblade was about 1.8 in height, with an impressive muscular build for a mare, though that did not take away her beauty and curves. Her fur was a sligthly lighter dark gray with a dark blue mane like the night sky. Her eyes were a crystal like turquoise and her special talent was her skill with curved blades. These two are the first of a unit known as the Night guard, a unit that consist of only thestrals, and they are the only ones that I consider true friends amongs the Royal guards.

"I want both of you to pay attention, I have a feeling we might just encounter both creatures and magic we've never seen before. Solaris will definently do something stupid and if it goes beyond my control, do not engage in the combat. Whatever is on that island might just be way beyond anything we've seen up to this point, I'm not saying this as your queen, but as your friend. I repeat, do not engage in combat." I order them.

"Yes Faust!" both replied firmly.

Location: the Island

3rd person POV

The island was not massive but it was definenlty bigger than they imagined, with thick jungles that left barely any room for movement, King Solaris and his troupes had to cut their way through the thick jungles of the island with blade and magic, with Queen Faust and her Night guards farther back. Most of the Earth pony workers stayed behind to prepare the ship when they would leave the island, the ones that joined the expedition caried supplies for the soldiers. Only about a half of the pegasi servants went along with the King and his Solar guard, some flew higher up for look out. They finally arrived at a clearing and decided to make a camp, if the timestamp is about the same as back in Equestria then it's currently in the afternoon.
From what their hippogriff allies had told them about the island, there seem to be only one large village surrounding a bigger structure of some kind, whatever was on this island was clearly sentient if there was a village.
As the camp was being made Solaris with two of his Solar guards along with Faust and her two Night guards made their way to a cliff side that was a perfect view point to the village on the island. Using special magic enhanced monicles Solaris and Faust took some time to study the village and its inhabitance.
The village itself was only impressive by how far it stretched out, judging by the design of the houses it seems that they are mostly made out of some red clay, followed by roofs that where made of big green leafs picked from the jungle and vines to hold it together. There where no walls surrounding the village, not even a fence of some sort, made one curious as to how they defended themselves from wild animals, but the most impressive thing in the village was the giant structure in the middle of it. The structure looked oddly castle shaped and was made from the same material like the rest of the village, it reminded one self of a sligthly more complex sand castle you would see at the beach, with pointy towers and circle shaped windows with no glass.
Faust was immediately stund by what she saw that was living in that village, creatures that where combinations and hybrids of animals she never thought possible. Like a gorilla with the head and wings of an owl, a centaur with a mane like a lion and tail like a snake, birds with wings of a bat, pincers of a praying mantis and tail fin like a fish. Faust was both excited and happy beyond relief, this is exactly the kind of discovery she wanted and she couldn't wait to tell Starswirl and her daughters about the amazing creatures on this isl-
"How disgusting"

Fausts heart sank when she heard those words from her right and she nearly lost all hope when she saw who said those exact words.

"How absolutely repulsive" where the words that left Solaris tyranicle mouth. When he saw something that he found disgusting or repulsive there was only one thing that followed.

"Guards take your arms and prepare for combat for we are moving out immediately!" Solaris shouted his orders.

"But your highness, we just arrived and the camp is not even done." one of the younger Solar guards replied.

"Then work faster!" Solaris roared "and bring me my armor!"

"Solaris please don't do this, not again!" Faust pleaded.

Solaris answered his Queen with a backhand that knocked her unconscious, leaving nearly the entire camp shocked, except for the veterans that smirk at their Solar tyrants action.

"Your majesty!" Nightstain and Nightblade shouted in worry as they went to care for their queen and friend.

"A day long horrible boat ride followed by an hour of cutting through a damp jungle," Solaris grumbled, "the last thing I need right now is some foolish attempt at peace with some of the most hideous creatures I've ever seen! I will not allow creatures like that to stain my perfect kingdom with their filth!"

"What are your orders your highness?" one of the veterans ask way to happily.

"Genocide" Solaris said with venom in his voice.

Author's Note

So my first chapter for my first story, feel free to point out any errors and give me tips on how I can improve.

I decided to start writing as hobby so that I have something to take me away from reality for just a few moments. University and the worlds situation has really taken a mental and emotional tole on me, I need to something that isn't playing video games and watching youtube. I need to do something new, as well as something that I've wanted to do for a long time.

PS. This is a level three type anthro universe, for those that where wondering. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 2. Massacre and Hunger

Location: Mothers Chamber

Meruem POV

*Distant Boom*

What is it now? I was sleeping.

*Muffled shouting*

What is happening? What is all that noise? It sounds distant.

*More shouting*

It's getting closer! Mom! What's happening?!

*Rumble**Bubbles**Rumble*

"Oh dear! It seems they woke him up," Mother said with a voice of surprisingly unconcerned tone, "It seems he'll be born prematurely after all."

"What are your orders, Queen Mother?" a new female voice that I heard for the first time yet felt oddly familiar.

"Slow them down as much as you can without killing them, they need to be fresh," Mother said with a voice of authority.

Without killing them?! Are we being attacked?! Why would we not kill them if we're being attacked?!

"What about the king's food?!" a flamboyant voice asked.

"The food matters no more, what matters is the birth of the Chimera Ant King!"

Chimera Ant? What's a Chimera Ant? Why does it sound familiar?

"Does this mean that this is our final stand?" a muscular almost beastly voice asked.

"We have all served our purpose in the birth of the ultimate Apex Predator, just like the god that sent us here said we would," Mother answered with a voice of wisdom. "Whether or not Meruem eats his food or the invaders matters not, either way he'll be stronger than all of them."

Stronger than who? And did she just say god? What are we? What am I?

WHAT IS GOING ON?!

...I'm hungry...

Location: The Village

Queen Faust POV

I can't believe I let my guard down like that, getting excited like a filly on her birthday and receiving gifts. Of course he would find those creatures disgusting by their hybrid appearances, if there is one thing that Solaris hates in this world, it is difference. The only reason he was okay with creatures like thestrals and hippogriffs was because they were either part pony or pony like in appearance. He saw their pony appearance as a gift of the All father Poseidon, so he let it slide, but that didn't stop him from still treating them as inferior.
The discrimination towards those of complete non pony origin is the one reason we had yet to achieve peace, they are seen as nothing more than a stain on Solaris perfect world on a glass painting, something that should simply be cleaned off. That stupid specist vision of his is the sole reason why we are still at war with the dragons, griffons, minotaur, yaks, dogs and abyssians, and why the peaceful races of kirins, deers, zebras and flutter ponies have completely shut themselfs out from Equestria.

I woke up from the sound of an explosion in the distance and was immediately met with the concerned and heartbroken faces of Nightstain and Nightblade, at first I thought that it was the sounds of cannons being fired and we were being attacked by pirates on the ship. But a quick look at the dusk red sky filled with smoke quickly confirmed that the worst had happened while I was out cold. I quickly stood up and rushed towards the cliffside, nearly falling off because I got light headed from standing up too fast and I saw the view of the nourishing village being burned to the ground by the Solar guard.

I spread my wings and take to the sky with Nightstain and Nightblade on my tail, it doesn't take us long to reach our destination and seeing the village up close makes my heart fall down to my stomach. To my left I see the same Owl and gorilla hybrid I saw in the distance lay dead with his back to a wall in a sitting position, his right arm cut off and a huge gash at the center of his head, most likely from having a magic enhanced blade shoved through it. Judging by the feathers on his head and the fur on his body being light gray, it looks like he was relatively old, questions like "Was he wise?" and "Was he strong?" filled my head as tears started to run down my cheeks and I could hear Nightstain sniffling behind me as well, making it nearly impossible to not start crying.

"I didn't sign up for this *sniffle* this is not why I joined the Solar guard."

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice coming from my right and looking to see one of the youngsters from the Solar guard hugging a small body. Judging by the size it was definitely a child and her appearance was just as fascinating as the others, her legs had cloven hooves like that of a deer with brown fur and her hands looked reptilian with red scales. She was wearing a bash brown dress, showing that she was probably a farmer child, but her head was the most fascinating of all. Her head was like that of an ant, copper brown exoskeleton matching the red scales and brown fur on her arms and legs, with deep blue eyes without pupils or visible eyelids yet despite the insect like appearance she had hair buns on the sides of her head.

I make my way towards the young stallion but Nightblade passes me and places her right hand on his left shoulder, he flinches and slowly turns around to face us, his face is filled tears and snot and his eyes are red from crying to much and Nightblade meeting his gaze with a face of silent sorrow. I walk towards them and his gaze shifts to me, the image in front of me is heartbreaking, right now I'm not just seeing a young stallion holding the corpse of a hybrid creature, but a soldier holding the body of a child he could not save from what was probably a slow death by bleeding. I see now that her body was bleeding from the stomach, a deep cut going from the right side to the left, her guts close too spilling out, it was also at this point that I noticed something I hadn't paid attention to until now but their blood, it was a dark blue colour.

"Where is Solaris?" I ask the young guard, my voice nearly cracking from sorrow.

"*sniff*He is...*sniffle* Last I saw him..." he stops to wipe his eyes with his left arm while still holding the little girl with his right, "Last I saw him, he was making his way towards the large structure*sniff.*"

"Thank you," I said in a sympathetic tone, "What's your name?"

"Sentry,*sniff* Pride Sentry." he answered with a face filled with resolve.

"I'll remember that, Pride Sentry."

I turn towards Nightblade, "Let's move, hopefully we can stop Solaris and maybe resolve this without further bloodshed." but that felt like nothing but wishful thinking at this point.

As we run through the burning village we come across more and more corpses of the villagers. I would more than anything like to stop and study their appearances, but right now we have more important things to be concerned about. We see a few more rookies from the Solar guard trying to follow the orders given to them by there Solar Tyrant, but judging from the fact that there isn't a single drop of blue blood on there swords and spears, it would seem that they have failed and will likely be punished later for disobeying orders, some are crying while others gaging in an attempt to throw up.

We finally make our way to the entrance of the structure and we can hear the battles that are going on inside, I realise something odd that seems to have just registered to the Night guards minds as well. We have not seen a single corpse of a Solar guard, I know that the Solar guard are some of the best in Equestria, but the fact that there isn't a single corpse of a guard fallen in battle is too bizarre. We make our ways through the halls of the structure and run past several veteran guards shouting praises to their God King and their absolute victory. I notice that a lot of the guards seem to remain at the bottom level of the structure for some reason.

Keeping a poker face I asked one of the guards, "Why is everyone here at the bottom level?"

He recomposes himself and answers "Because my Queen, we can't get to the upper levels, there are no stairs and the only way up are these tunnels."

I look up and just as the guard said there is a perfect circle shaped tunnel leading straight up presumably to the upper levels of the structure, what a strange way to design a way up, now I'm even curious for answers of what these creatures are capable of.

"Did the king go up alone?" I turn my attention back to the guard and asked.

"He said he would finish off whatever ruler could live in such a disgusting place like this." The veteran guard answered with a shrugg.

I look up once more, make a quick calculation in my head, proceed to bend my knees and with a powerful flap with my powerful wings launch myself up through the tunnel and with elegance land perfectly at the upper level. I quickly realise that there are four corridors leading to completely different directions, since I have no idéa which way Solaris went. I close my eyes and focus my magic into my horn in an attempt at sensing the most powerful magic signature in the structure. It doesn't take me long to find what I'm looking for, I see an image in my head of a white sun surrounded by a golden flaming aura taking the shape to that of an alicorn stallion, but he is not alone.

In front of him are three other magical signatures, the one to the right is the shape of a large butterfly with beautiful rainbow colored wings surrounded by a purple flowing aura, the one in the middle is the shape of a white feline surrounded by a blood red raging aura, the last signature is shaped like a red bipedal creature with six arms surrounded by a pink compressed aura that looks like it's about to burst.

I quickly turned around facing the direction I sensed was right, making eye contact with both Nightstain and Nightblade who got up from the tunnel as I was concentrating. I wordlessly point towards our destination and fly past them down the hall, they quickly follow behind not wanting to leave me alone facing Solaris. The halls are wide enough for me to fully spread out my wings quickening our pace towards our goal, I can't see the end of the hallway but judging from how I have to turns slightly to the right as I'm flying, the halls seems to form some sort of circle and considering that there was four of them, the entire upper level most likely forms into a giant spiral each hallway leading towards one of the towers in the structure.

I immediately start to slow down as I make out a figure lying on its back on the ground. The creature is a large muscular red bipedal who appears to be male with furry brown legs with two large toes on each foot. He has six arms, two at the end of his shoulders, two out of his shoulder blades and two out of his lower back, his arms have three joints in them giving each arm an extra elbow resulting in a total of twelve elbows. His head has been cleanly cut off by the neck leaving a bald head with multiple red eyes around it lying in between his legs. Such a fascinating specimen unlike anything I have ever seen before, and here it lies dead at my hooves, killed by the stallion I once called my husband.

It doesn't take us long to discover another corpse of the silhouettes I saw, this one was another male, unlike the previous one who was naked with only fur covering his privates, this one was wearing what looked like a butler uniform, black pants, white suit with a black tie, black gloves and what appeared to be shoes made of cragadile leather. His skin was a light purple, he had a blond mane with two ant-like antennae sticking out from his head. His face was practically burned off presumably by a powerful magic blast, but I can see two mandibles sticking out from his mouth. His back was covered in blue blood with a giant cut wound from upper center down to the lower part of his back, perfectly cutting his spine in half vertically. I thought at first that he was wearing a cape of some sort but I quickly noticed that it was in fact a pair of giant rainbow colored butterfly wings. It's so sad to see something so beautifully colored destroyed by cut wounds and blue blood.

The third of the trio was further down the hall and appeared to be female, she was in a sitting position towards the wall on the right, the wall was covered in blue blood looking like someone had thrown a bucket of blue paint on it, it looks like she had been pushed too the wall with great force resulting in her sliding down in a sitting position. She was wearing a button up blue sweater and wood brown shorts, she had muscular exoskeleton covered legs with a skin pink colour, her hands had clawed fingers and there was white cat-like tail sticking out of her lower back. She had a gaping hole at the center of her chest seemingly created from a powerful magic blast and what I can assume created the giant blood stain on the wall.

My analysis was interrupted by her body twitching and I realised that she was in fact still alive and struggling to breathe. I knelt down and placed both my hands on her cheeks so that I could see her face. Her mane was white like her tail with cat ears at the top of her head and her eyes were a beautiful golden colour with slitted pupils. What I found shocking was her face, because it was like that of creatures that I thought were only a myth. She had the face of a human, flat face with a small nose, yep, exactly like a human.

"...please..." she said weakly with tear filled eyes and blue blood running down her nose and mouth, "Please... save the... king... he hasn't... been born... yet..."

As I see the life fade from her eyes I'm no longer filled with sorrow, but instead I'm filled with incomparable burning rage. I look behind me and see that Nightstain and Nightblade are standing behind me with the most rage-filled faces I've seen them do in a long time, their fangs showing and their slitted pupils appearing like nothing more than vertical lines.

"Tonight..." I say as my magic is flaring, raising the moon outside increasing my power even further, "Solaris dies tonight."
Whatever consequences that follow tonight, I no longer care.

We finally make it down to the end of the hall, seeing Solaris holding a javelin made of light in his right hand, preparing to throw it towards a bloated insect like creature, unlike the previously seen creatures this one just looked like a 3 meter tall ant queen, only difference being she had only four limbs instead of six, two arms and two legs. In between her legs was her swelled up gaster that appeared to be filled with some green liquid. I notice some form of silhouette inside of her and quickly put two and two together, realising that she is pregnant and Solaris is aiming right at her.

With magic flaring in my eyes, I focus on Solaris javelin, cancelling the spell mid-attack resulting in it combusting in his hand badly burning him. Solaris roars in pain and turns around looking straight at me with bloodshot eyes, he no longer looks like a proud Solar king in my eyes, now he looks like a mad dog prepared to bite any that comes near him. His white fur stained with blue blood from all that he has killed and his golden mane standing out on several places on his head, making him look truly insane as he is holding his burned right hand with his left.

"That's enough Solaris, if you so much as dare to raise a weapon against her then I'll cut you down myself!" I shout as I summon my silver rapier to show my resolve.

Solaris let's go of his burned hand and silently starts laughing, I notice a small flash of white light in his left hand and he quickly turns around throwing a thin golden dagger towards the Ant Queen.
I panic as I try to grab the dagger with my telekinesis, before I can however, the dagger hits the Ant Queen in her left eye with the tip of the dagger sticking out at the back of her head. Her arms that were previously caressing the gaster fell to the ground showing that the attack killed her instantly.

Falling to my knees as I give into despair over the fact that I failed to save anyone of these creatures, the last remnant of their people killed right in front of me.

"Once again you fail to change anything that I decide," Solaris starts with a mocking tone, "let us return to Equestria and tell our people how their heroic king and his guards stopped a potential threat from invading and hurting our ponies, while you stand by my side and look pretty like the trophy you're supposed to be."

Staring up at him with rage and sorrow in my eyes, I was considering making an attempt to slit his throat with my rapier, but that is immediately replace with a shocking feeling of danger as my eyes widen and Solaris seem to be experiencing the same feeling as I can see his body starting to shake with terror. A huge wave of powerful magic is being pushed past us from behind Solaris, a type of magic that is often released by starved wild magical beasts as they stalk their prey.

"Where is all of this coming from?" I ask in my head, "The only creatures that would be capable of releasing this much wild magic would be Ursa Majors or Elder Dragons."

I tilt my head to the right to look behind Solaris and see movement inside the Ant Queens gaster, soon after a green limb shoots out from the corpse followed by another, each one grabs at the new opening tearing it open, resulting in everything that is inside to fall out. A small body covered in a greenish yellow liquid slowly stands up, it seems to be roughly the size of a ten year old foal, not much larger than Celestia.

"I'm..." a tired voice snarls, "I'm hungry."

Author's Note

Second chapter, hope you all like it. :twilightsmile:
It became much longer than I was expecting. :twilightblush:

Fun fact: the reason why I called Poseidon the All father, similar to Odin, is because Poseidon is the god of the Ocean, Earthquakes and Horses.

PS. Thank you to everyone that favorite this story, tags might change in the future depending on how I want the story to go.

Chapter 3. Food and Predator (edited)

Location: Mothers Chamber

Meruem POV

What's going on? Those three went somewhere to distract whoever is attacking, now all I hear is distant shouting of what sounds like a battle of some sort. Whoever it is they're fighting sounds like a maniac.

*Thump Thump*

I started hearing a sound that I didn't register before but I'm pretty sure it's been there this entire time. The reason I didn't hear it until now is because of how distracted I got from all the other background noises. But why is it so much clearer now even though there are still noises in the background?

*Thump Thump* *Thump Thump*

It's getting faster and more intense, it kinda sounds like a heartbeat but it's not my heartbeat, it sounds like it's all around me. I feel so calm listening to it, but I'm also worried because it's getting faster. Is this mom's heartbeat?

"Meruem? Can you hear me?" Mother asked in a calm and reassuring voice, "Listen to me very carefully, because I'm only going to be able to say this once. When you're born you're going to be stronger than anyone else on this island, even amongst the invaders."

She paused.

"But always remember that there is always going to be someone out there stronger than you, the world is a big place after all. So make sure to grow up strong and then keep growing stronger, make sure to eat a lot and train alot. Make sure to be smart as well, because strength doesn't just come from muscles and power, but also knowledge and experience. Keep seeking out strength and keep seeking out opponents and prey that can test that strength."

She paused again.

"But most important of all, find a purpose to use that strength. A strong king uses his strength to protect himself, but a stronger king uses his strength to protect others. Make sure to surround yourself with allies, followers and even friends if you will, because if there is one thing that I discovered when I landed in this magical world, it is that creatures here grow much stronger when they fight for others." she finished solemnly.

*Thump Thump* *Thump Thump* *Thump Thump*

Why is she saying all of this? And why does she sound so sad? It's almost like she's saying goodbye in a way... no... no please tell me that's not what this is. I haven't even gotten the chance to meet you yet.
*Rumble*

"But above all else, even though I won't be able to see you grow up, always know that I will always love you," she said with her voice cracking at the end, "Please be strong Meruem, even when times are tough and you feel like you have no one."

It has gotten really quiet now, the only noise I hear is the sound of Mom's heartbeat, the shouting that was almost deafening out Mom's speech, has stopped.

"Seems like you're the last one," a new male voice said with a mocking tone, "Every single one of you is more hideous than the last, and you have to be the most disgusting looking one of all."

Who the hell is that?! And how dare he call Mom disgusting? Who does he think he is?

"Since you are the last one I'll give you the honor of knowing who is going to remove you from this world. I am King Solaris Alicore, Ruler of the Kingdom of Everfree, the God King of the Sun and future absolute ruler of all of Equestria... No, all of Equis."

Okay I already hate this guy, because he sounds like the personification of Pride and Arrogance. How can he just call himself a god, even worse god king? Does he think he's invincible or something? I don't care if he has gotten his life served to him on a silver plate or if he actually worked hard to get to this point. He has just shown that he is not just a prick, he is the entire Cactus.

"Now without further ado, do me a favor and die." he finnished with venom on his tongue.

*Spark* *Burst*

"YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" He screamed in agony.

"That's enough Solaris, if you so much as dare to raise a weapon against her then I'll cut you down myself!" a new female voice shouted with fury.

Who is that? She sounds absolutely furious, but at the same time there is something about her voice that feels reassuring. It kinda reminds me of mom in some way but less clicking.
It's quiet, what's happening out there?

"Hehehehehehe"

Is he laughing? What the hell? He sounds so creepy! That laugh doesn't fit someone who holds the title as the God King of the Sun! He sounds like someone that should be locked inside a room and never be let out for the safety of others and himself.

Before I could even think of a reason why he was laughing like that, I was suddenly hit with a quick sensation of pain that disappeared just as fast as it arrived, the feeling made every part of my body flinch.

*Thump... Thump..............Thump................................................*

Then there was silence but it was different from before. Now there was absolutely nothing. The silence was accompanied with an indescribable feeling of loneliness and unsafety.

What happened? What? What is this? This feels wrong, something is very wrong. It's gone, the thumping sound is gone, the sound of a heartbeat, the sound of life was just silenced. Mom? Mom, are you there? Mom? MOM!?

........ no................. not again.............this feeling.......... I've felt it before........... no................. no....................

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Ripping* *Tearing*

*Splatt*

What the hell? It's so cold... and the ground is hard. I try opening my eyes but everything is still blurry and surrounded by darkness. I feel so lonely and so fragile, but more than anything...

"I'm... I'm hungry."

My eyes are slowly adjusting to the darkness, but the blurriness is not disappearing, I can see something in front of me but I can't make out the shape. I can see that it's white and gold but I have no idea what it is, it's moving and getting closer fast, wait now it's slow. The blurriness got worse for like a second and my body felt like it was moving on it's own, I can feel that I'm now holding something in my right hand and then follow it up with my left.
Before I could ask what I was holding, I started putting more strength into my hands and pulled with my right arm. There was a weird snapping and ripping sound, I started seeing red amongst the white in my hand. It smelled delicious.
The smell was making my hunger skyrocket to the point it was painful. Without any more thoughts in my head, I opened my mouth and took a bite out of it.

I'm not sure if it was because of how hungry I was or if it actually tasted amazing, but whatever I was eating felt like the most delicious and savory meal I ever had. It was kinda chewy like beef but I was biting through it like nothing, it was also incredibly juicy like a fruit. There was something hard at the center but was so controlled by my hunger that I kept biting into it and eventuelly it gave a satisfying crunch.

"So hungry..."

What is that noise?

3rd person POV

No one knew what to think, at once all of their bodies are shaking uncontrollably over an indescribable feeling of danger, a dormant instinct that was screaming at them to simply turn around and run far away from whatever had just appeared, a sensation that is said to exist in all prey animals telling them that their survival is in great danger.
They just witnessed the birth of an Apex Predator standing at the top of the food chain, of course they were not aware that the creature in front of them was a predator, they didn't know what it was. And that fact made it all the more terrifying, the fear of survival combined with the fear of the unknown made all of them freeze in terror over what was in front of them.

Nightstain was standing wide eyed on the verge of tears, no amount of training could have prepared him for a situation like this, his hands were firmly grasping his broadsword prepared to defend himself and those around him should the situation call for it. Though he was doubting if he could even muster the strength to move his body in time considering how much he was shaking, he really wanted to just go home and spend an afternoon painting more than anything else right now. He was starting to question if he would ever get the chance to paint again after this night.

Nightblade wasn't doing much better than her brother, she was always more of a warrior than he was and had always been physically stronger than most males around her. She had made her image as this stone faced warrior maiden and kept it in check for as long as she can remember in her career. But that image was close to falling apart as her eyes were showing clear signs of terror and her mouth was shut firmly as she was holding her breath trying not to scream in fear of provoking what was in front of her. She felt like she was close to passing out, but if she did then she would be unable to protect her only family, that fear was the only thing currently keeping her conscious at the moment.

Faust's body was in a similar situation as her friends as she's kneeling down after her fall into despair. Her body was trying to respond to her instincts that were screaming at her to turn around and run, but something other than fatigue was keeping that from happening.
That something was her head, her head that was currently processing her situation and rapidly asking questions like: "Is that how they are born? Are they all born like that? Did it just speak despite being a newborn? What combination of animals is it?" and finally "How is something so small releasing so much wild magic?" Her curiosity and quest for knowledge was overpowering her instincts.

Solaris mind and body however, was filled with nothing but pain. As soon as he was exposed to the newborn's magic, he was filled with a feeling he has never felt before, a feeling that was overpowering his fear and his survival instincts.
That feeling was the feeling of being outmatched and small. Solaris has been through countless battles and fought a large variety of creatures during his long life. Dragons, Wyverns, Ursas, Behemoths and Leviathans, he has seen and defeated them all. It was these feats that led to him being worshipped like a god and what filled his ego.

But this infant, this abomination was right now making him feel small and outmatched, his initial fear was quickly overpowered by humiliation and anger. He was gonna make this creature pay for it, pay with it's life.
Using a remote teleportation spell to return his Golden dagger to his left hand he quickly rushed forward with the plan to end it right here. This was the action that led us to this current situation as the pain in his burned right hand is being outmatched by the pain of losing his left to the child's overwhelming strength. Fear soon overpowered his ego as he was watching the infant devour the flesh and bone of his left arm, filled with fear and panic he summoned a Golden Sword to his right hand and made another attempt at ending its life.

What should have followed was the sound of a magic enhanced blade cutting through flesh, but the sound that actually followed was the sound of something shattering like glass and Solaris being thrown onto his back. In a daze Solaris slowly lifts his right arm to view his glorious Solar Blade, what he sees is the same blade that cut through dragon scales like butter, shattered like a bad replica.

Pain once again filled Solaris mind as he witnessed the child kneeling down towards him and shoving its hands into his stomach. His golden armor and chainmail did nothing to stop this as the green creature was ripping it off of him, like a foal opening presents on their birthday, but the gift this time was Solaris' own flesh.

Solaris focuses his magic into his horn, planning to incinerate the creature instead, but just as he is getting ready to fire, a green blur appears for less than a second and a loud snap. Small sparks were the only thing that followed from Solaris horn or at least where his horn used to be, as it was just swiftly snapped off by the creature's powerful and fast tail.

Solaris was again feeling something for the first time, that feeling was despair, as he could do nothing but watch as the creature was eating out of his stomach.

Queen Faust POV

I was overwhemled at first with the sudden sense of unavoidable danger, but the Wild magic that was being released immediately disappeared when Solaris decided to commit suicide. Right now I could do nothing but simply watch as the stallion that has been a bane of my life for so long was slowly dying an agonising death right in front of me. I had rushed my way here with the intent to end his life without a single care for the consequences, I was prepared to end his reign once and for all.

But this, this is worse than anything I could have done to him and it's safe to say that he deserves it. He has killed too many people to deserve anything else, from soldiers, warriors, beasts, civilians and other rulers. The stallion that held the title as one of the worst tyrants in Equestrias history, one who was worshipped like a god by his subjects, is right now being slowly killed and devoured by a newborn.

I can only imagine what is going through his head right now and it's taking everything I have right now to not smile like a psychopath by just thinking about it. I take my eyes off the show to quickly look behind me and see how Nightstain and Nightblade is taking the situation right now, judging by how their eyes are wide open and mouths are twitching, it seems they are stuck in between being horrified and smiling like maniacs. Honestly I can't blame them and I wouldn't mind if they decided to openly smile at the display.

I look back towards the slow execution but my gaze shifts slightly downwards as I see Solaris horn lying just in front of me. I'll pick it up and put it away for now, we will be needing proof that the king is dead, but how am I going to explain this?
Eh, I'll think about it tomorrow, right now I'll just watch Solaris suffer. Had it been anyone else I wouldn't have even hesitated to help them, but since it's Solaris I'll let the child take it's time and enjoy its first meal. This might actually be a good time to study their species or at least their diet.

Screaming and pathetic attempts to get away followed by more screaming, this is pretty much everything that was happening. Honestly this was just sad, as satisfying as it is to watch Solaris suffer, the fact that he still believes he can get away is pathetic, his lower half is pretty much gone at this point, just die already. Eventually he managed to turn himself around and look at me with pleading eyes, I know exactly what is about to happen.

"Faust *cough* please! Don't just stand there *cough* Help me! Help your king, help your husband!" he pleaded with tears and blood running down his face.

Did this bastard seriously ask me for help? After he basically crushed my dreams and called me an object. How many times have others done the same towards him, only for him to make their heads roll. I'm gonna enjoy this.

With a smile I answer: "Burn in Tartarus you false king."

His face widens in despair and betrayal, followed by teeth grinding rage as he attempts to fire a magic blast with his broken horn. His last attack is stopped by a green hand that takes a strong grip covering his eyes and broken horn, with a loud snap his head is twisted 180 degrees and then ripped off from his shoulders, finally ending it.

I'm not sure for how long me and the Night guards silently watched as the infant finished what was left of Solaris, even the bones and organs weren't spared, all that was left was a torn apart golden armour, a shattered sword, some feathers from his wings and a puddle of blood. I get up from my knees and slowly make my way towards the infant with Nightstain and Nightblade not too far behind.
Honestly I was scared, but my fear and screaming instincts were silenced when I started hearing something that I wasn't prepared for but should have expected.

The child had started crying, it wasn't a cry that you would hear from a child that was simply distraught. No, this was a cry of sorrow and loss, I remember that despite having just been born that he had been talking, which might suggest that not only is this child extremely intelligent but is most likely aware of what has transpired, his mothers death. I continue walking towards him slowly and kneel down on one leg.

"Hey there little one," I say in a motherly voice, "do you have a name?"

He looks up towards me with tear filled eyes, "Meruem, my name is Meruem."

I was a little taken aback when I looked into his eyes, out of everything about him, his eyes were something else. Not only were they a beautiful purple colour, but they just scream power and potential, it's like I'm staring straight into a beautiful glass painting depicting a bright future. And that name, Meruem, even without knowing what it means I can tell that it is a perfect name for this one. I smile as I introduce myself.

"Hello Meruem, my name is Faust, Queen of Equestria." I say keeping a warm smile. But he seemed to tense up when I mentioned I was a Queen.

"Pleasure to meet you ma'am." he answered while bowing.

I giggle and continue, "These two are my escorts and closest friends, this is Nightstain and his sister Nightblade."

He looks towards the Night guards and they give him each a reassuring smile and bows, he then starts looking around the room and onto the floor, he then tenses up when he sees his mess.

Looking at me worried, he asked: "Who did I kill?"

"Nothing to worry about my child, the one you killed was named Solaris," I answered reassuringly, "he was a horrible tyrant who deserved everything that happened to him, you have nothing to feel bad about."

Oh, okay... so what happens now?" he asked, "I kinda just killed and ate your king."

This was a serious question that even I was unsure what the right answer would be. What is going to happen now? What are we going to tell our subjects? If Equestria is without a king, there are definitely going to be consequences. Even with my position as Queen, my authority doesn't have as much meaning as Solaris, sure Solaris was hated but that doesn't change that he had worshippers and held responsibility for the connections to some of the other kingdoms. If word gets out that the King of Everfree is gone, the other rulers are going to take action, there might even be a civil war with the kingdom being split in the middle.

But what about Meruem, his people were just slaughtered and he might be the last of his kind. We can't just leave him here, can we?

Well, at least I know the answer for one of the questions.

"Meruem," he looks up to me, "Would you like to be a part of the Royal family?"

He looks at me with wide eyes, completely shocked. Nightstain looks like he's about to pass out and Nightblade looks like she wants to protest but seems to be struggling with getting the words out.
Meruem looks down, deep in thought and then he looks towards me and seems to be studying my body, looking for anything that seems out of place. He then looks up to my eyes with a serious expression, trying to tell if I'm trying to trick him.

"Are you sure?" he asked skeptically, "Even after seeing what I did, you want to make me a part of your family?"

"Yes," I answer with a smile, "I sure my daughters would love to have a little brother."

He looks down again, thinking hard. His eyes then widen, he seems to have remembered something and been hit with some sort of realisation. I then see him smile gently with tears streaming down his cheeks, he walks towards me and wraps me into a hug with his face buried into my chest.

"Thank you." he answers while crying.

I return the hug, planting a kiss onto his forehead and say, "Welcome to the family, Meruem."

Author's Note

Faust and Meruem finally meet and Solaris met his end.
This chapter was extremely difficult to write, but I'm pretty satified with how it ended.

Please give feedback and point out any errors that I might have missed, thank you. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 4. Beauty and Power

Location: Mothers Chamber

Nightblade POV

I want to protest, I really want to, but I can't bring myself to get my voice out. Is it because I'm scared? Or is it because I feel bad?
No, it's because I know that even if I do say something Faust won't change her mind. When she makes decisions like this, which she don't do often, there is nothing changing her adventurest mind. We don't even know what this childs species is. The only thing we do know is that he's a carnivore, an infant apex predator that somehow rivals fully grown apex predators, some type of insektoid, an orphan and the last of its kind.

I love Faust just as much as I love my brother, but she sometimes gives me such a headache. She's been like this even since I became a Night guard, no it's been longer than that. How is it possible for someone who has over a millenia of experience to be so childish yet so motherly? Now when I think about it, that describes Faust perfectly, Childish yet Motherly.
Now she decides to adopt what has to be one of the stranges creatures I've ever seen on Equis. And I've seen alot thanks to me being friends with both Faust and Starswirl.

The child skin tone is a light green, or is it an exo-skeleton it's hard to tell. His body is incredibly muscular despite being just born, wide shoulder and a thin waist with a six pack.
His shoulders have these purple ring markings on them, matching well with the light green, his arms are purple with a green line going from the end of his shoulders, to his elbow and continuing down to his hands, his hands are the same dark green with light green spots on his knuckles. He only has four digits on his hands, three fingers and a thumb, all light green like the skin on his body.
His thighs and knee cap are covered in a dark green exo-skeleton and the back of his lower legs are musclular and light green, the front of his legs are covered in a purple exo-skeleton with three thick horizontal green lines going down. The above part of his feet have a dark green exo-skeleton while the underside along with his four toes are light green. His nails on both his toes and fingers are dark green.
Out of his lower back is a long elastic but powerful tail like a snake, its colours changes from green to dark green and back, at the end of his tail is cylinder shaped with a needle like stinger at the end.
His face is like similar to that of a human, flat face with a small pointy nose and a small mouth, tho I saw his mouth expand when he was eating Solaris. His antennae hang down at the side of his head and are connected to his small ears, making it appear like he has long ear lobes hanging down to the top of his chest, the end of them are dark green.
On top of his head is a helmet like dark green shell protecting his cranium, it looks like a combination between a turtle shell and a beetle, with three exo-skeletal protrusions two purple and one dark green in the middle going from the front of the shell down the back.

As I'm analysing his appearance, Faust picks him up like a small child, holding his face down towards her large chest, shielding his eyes. She stands up and gives me and Nightstain a quick glance and nods signaling to us that it's time to leave. As I'm walking I look to my left and see the handle of Solaris shattered sword, I kneel down to pick it up.

"Sister, what are you doing?" Nightstain asked.

"We will need evidence to prove that the king is dead," I answer as I look back at my brother, "a shattered sword that belongs exclusivly to him is a good sign of a new era."

He smiles lightly and looks back at what remains of Solaris, he walks back and picks up the tyrants torn apart golden chestplate and says:

"What about a bloody torn apart chestplate? Is that good enough evidence?" he asked with an innocent tone.

"*snort* If that isn't enough to convince those cultists that their "God King" is dead then I dont know what will." I say as I'm trying not to laugh, "I can't wait to see their faces."

And with that we leave the chamber and make our way back to camp. This is definitely gonna have consequences.

Location: ???

??? POV

"Why? *sniff* Why did this have to happen to me?" I say crying as I sit alone under the rain in a dark forest.
"I've lost everything, *sniff* there is nothing left that I care for." I stand up and look towards the sky.
"Why!? Why have fate been so cruel to me!? What did I do to deserve this!?" I shout towards the night sky.
"I wanna go back... *sniff* No, I want a restart, a new chance at life." I say as I give in to despair. "Someone... or something... just end it."
...
......
*KRAKOOM*

There was a bright light and a quick sense of heat and pain... then there was nothing but darkness.
I don't know how long I was in that darkness but it felt like an eternity, I can't feel my body and I can't move. Am I dead?

Then a small green orb surrounded by a dark purple flame appeared in front of me followed by a another orb that was blue and surrounded by yellow sparks.

"Wow, how unlucky can one mortal be?" a voice coming from the green orb says.

"No kidding, his mother died from cancer infront of him followed by his father dying in a car crash as he makes his way to the hospital. Then his kid sister gets murdered while he was out with his friends, then he sees all of his friends getting run over by a truck right in front of him as he stops to tie his shoe." the blue orb followed up.

"All in a week! And then he gets struck by one of your brothers lightning rods! That has to be a new record of bad luck, right?"

"How do you know it wasn't your brother?"

"Please, I've fought with my brother more than enough times to recognise his lighning, that was Zeus not Thor."

"Bet that idiot got drunk after partying to much. *sigh* Well, what are we gonna do with this one now?"

"We could send him to one our universes that we created on our free time, we can even reincarnate him as a creature that isn't native to Equis. But what universe should it be? Level 1 - 5?"

"I'd say one of the level 3 universes during the early ages."

"You mean the ones were you're worshipped as the All Father? You know it really pisses me of that you have the same title as the old man."

"Well I created them after all, it makes sense."

"Yeah, but I gave birth to one of their gods!"

"After you had intercourse with one of my creations."

"Hey, have you even tried a thick long juicy horse co-"

"Don't you dare!"

"Chill I was joking! Back to topic, what creature should he be? Hmmmm, OH! I know let's look through his memories and see if we can find something interesting!"

"That's a good idea. Those mortals have gotten really creative during the last couple of centuries."

"UWU, what's this?"

"Please stop."

"A chimera ant? Ohhhh, I like this one, let's make him a king as well."

"Is that a good idea? A species of apex predators that literally eats creatures to extinction can have a massive impact on the ecosystem and the future of the planet."

"Eh, let's just make one queen, give her a mission with a promising reward, dump her on an island, make the soldiers weaker than usual and then create an unavoidable event that brings their species to extinction."

"So you wanna take a soul of a mortal who lost all of his loved ones, only to reincarnate him in a world where he will be the only one of his kind?"

"Yep!"

"... You really are the God of Mischeif."

"And a damn good one as well, my Ocean God Friend."

"Why am I friends with you again?"

"Because I'm sexy~"

"Shut up and lets get to work. *sigh*"

As they finished their little couples argument- HEY! -followed by breaking the fouth wall, the two orbs started glowing brigthly and spin around eachother before colliding into one another and exploding into a colourfull blast that reminded me of the big bang.
Then there was darkness once again, as well as the faint sound of a heart beat.

*Thump thump*
*Thump thump*
*Thump thump*

Location: Campsite

Meruem POV

*Thump thump*
*Thump thump*
*Thump thump*

"What was that dream? Or... was it a memory?" I say as I struggle to wake up.

Last thing I remember from last night was being carried away from Moms chamber by Faust, who I can with the best of my abilities describe as a goddess. Even with her equine features like her hoofs and short muzzle, she is absolutely gorgeous. Being 2,6 meters tall, her hour glass shaped body covered with milk white fur, two large wings on her back, a long spiral horn from her forehead, rose red mane that glimmer like a clear night sky and crystal blue eyes shining like stars, you have yourself the definition of an equine goddess.
Not only is she beautiful but she's so kind, even after seeing me perform what I can only imagine as savage carnivores hunger, she still looked at me with love and care in her eyes. Just like a mother would her child.

"...Mother......Mom..." I mumble as tears start to form in my eyes.

That's right, my Mom died and Faust adopted me. I became an orphan before I was even properly born, this is the second time I've felt this. The feeling of losing a loved one, but how have I felt this before? Was that dream really a memory? Didn't I also kill someone? My second chance at life and the first thing I do is commit murder.
This is to much, I was literally born yesterday and already I've commited one of the worse crimes imaginable and lost another family. I don't want to get up, I don't want to leave this bed with this incredibly soft and warm pillow.

*Thump thump*

"*sniff* Mom *hick*" I cry weakly.

"Shhhh, there there," says motherly voice, "it's alright, I'm here."

I feel something wrap around my back and pull me closer to the soft pillow.

*Thump thump*

Only that it's not a pillow and the calming lullaby like sound I've been hearing is a heartbeat. I look up with tear filled eyes and see Faust beautiful smile, holding me in a comforting hug and pressing my head towards her chest so that I can her her calming heartbeat. We're both lying on a mattress covered with blankets in what appears to be a tent of some kind. That's right, Faust carried me back to their camp.

Faust sits up while still hugging me, I look up towards her and see her summon a napkin out of thin air, she then wipes my face with it. She is wearing a rose pink nightgown with a big opening around the neck, exposing her cleavage, she looks at me with a conserned expression.

"Had a bad dream?"

I shake my head, "No, I just remembered last night." I barely get to finish before Faust pulls me in for another hug.

I may have had my eyes closed for most of the journey back to the campsite, but I could still hear and smell the area around me. The smell of blood and burnt flesh accompanied with the cracking of fire, chears of arrogant victory and distant crying. I had an idea what the booming and shouting meant when I was in Moms stomach and my worries were confirmed once I got outside. My people where slaughtered and I'm the soul survivor, all because I was saved and adopted by Faust. I'm starting to cry again, hiding my face in Fausts chest.

"My Queen, is everything alright?" a male voice says to my right, "I heard crying."

"It's alright Nightstain, Meruem just had a bad dream." Faust answered.

The guard called Nightstain walks up to us and kneels down to look at me with a sympathetic look. One of the things I quickly realised about the Night guard is that despite his large intimidating build and soul piercing eyes, he's actuelly quite kind and gentle. I wonder how I guy like him became a guard?

"Poor thing." he says before continuing, "As much as I would like to leave you two here, we have a bit of a situation outside."

"What kind of situation?" Faust asked sounding worried.

"One of the veterans among the Solar guards picked a fight against one the younger recruits. It's same recruit we talked to yesterday." Nightstain explained.

"Pride Sentry? Well, I better hurry and get ready then."

Faust stands up and is envelopt in a dark blue aura that changes her nightgown into a light armored night blue and silver dress. She walks towards the tents exit before turning around to adress me and Nightstain.

"Nightstain please remain by Meruems side and make sure nothing happens to him." Faust ordered.

"Yes my Queen." Nightstain answered with a salute.

There was an awkward silence after Faust left the tent, neither me or Nightstain was sure what to say. Nightstains previously stoick build is starting to falter as he's trying avoid eye contact and sweats nervously. He really is one big softy trying to look mean and tough.

He breaks the silence by asking a question I never saw coming.

"Sooo, how did he taste? Solaris I mean." He asked sounding really nervous.

"Truth is that I'm not sure." I answer unsure, "While I was eating him, everything was just blurry. I was so hungry that it felt painful, so I just ate whatever was nearby not really caring about the taste."

"Oh um, sorry, for the awkward question," he said chuckling nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

He paused before continuing, "It just... felt kinda nice I guess, to know that there is another carnivore among us now."

It took me a second to realise what he had just said, then another second give a shocked answer.

"Wait, you're a carnivore?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah," he answered while lifting his lips to show his fangs, "while thestrals can survive by sucking out juices from fruit, our teeth aren't made to consume fruits and vegetables. We need to eat meat at least three - four times a week to remain healthy."

"Huh, I guess that's why he was okay with asking a question like what his former king taste like." I thought to myself.
"Wait does that mean you eat ponies?" I asked.

"NO, nono, that would basically be cannibalism." he answered defensivly completely dropping his guard.

After such a silly display I couldn't help myself from simply chuckling over how silly such a strong looking stallion is acting. After a while both me and Nightstain are laughing together finally letting the stress from last night dissappear.
Our happy moment is interupted however from both of us flinching from the sudden increase in volyme of the shouting coming from outside.

"What is going on out there?" I asked worried.

"Seems the situation is getting a bit out of control." Nightstain answered as we both started making our way towards the exit of the tent.

3rd person POV

The situation that had played out on the campsite went like this, one of the veteran Solar guards had gotten drunk and attempted to force himself on one of the pegasus maids to releave his stress. Before he could get far however the young recruit Pride Sentry had put himself in between the veteran and maid before he delivered a right hook to the veterans jaw.

Pride Sentry wasn't the biggest stallion but he was still relatively muscular. His body was covered with golden yellow fur with a dark blue mane and he had emerald green eyes.
The maid he was protecting was as curvy as Nightblade, she was a beauty with her child bearing hips and modest chest. Her body was covered with fire orange fur with a ruby red mane and her eyes were a sapphire blue colour. Her name was Flash Gem.

What followed was a foolish argument on why unicorns are superior to pegasus and the maid should have felt honored that he would even consider using her. That was answered with Pride calling him a psychopath that slaughtered civilians and served a false king, which follow with Pride taking a blow straight to his muzzle and Nighblade jumping in to tell the veteran to "Buck off!"
Nightblade was then called a freak and monster wearing pony skin as clothing by several of the other veterans who decided to gang up on her. It was at this moment that Faust had jumped in.

"Enough! What is wrong with you all? Do you have no shame?!" Faust voice boomed over the entire campsite, catching every guard, servant and worker off guard.

It was this increase in volyme that had caught the attention of Meruem and Nightstain, convincing them to leave their tent. On their right side they could see Faust, Nightblade, Pride Sentry and Flash Gem, while on their left they could see the drunk veteran accompanied by all the other Solar guards that were loyal to Solaris.

"Oh shut your mouth you Royal whorse!" everyone gasped over what the drunk veteran had just said to their Queen.
"Like you're one to talk about shame with a body and clothing like that! You're like every teenage colts wet dream! No wonder Solaris only married you for your body, shame that you turned out to be such a nagging hag. The fact that you fell for Solaris royal charm proves just what a massive whorse you are!"

"Yeah!" "That's right!" "All hail Solaris!" the other Solar guard shouted.

At this point the rest of the of the camp had gathered around to watch, making quite the audiense. One of the older pegasus butlers that looked similar to Flash Gem and three of the Solar guard recruits had joined in on Fausts side, both to check on Pride and Gem, as well as defend Faust from the veterans vocal assault.

"What is wrong with you all?" one of the recruits ask, "How can you talk like to our Queen?"

"We were loyal to Solaris not the throne! In fact, she holds no power over us or our loyalty! She's just meant to stand next to our glorious God King and look pretty, but she just had to make everything harder for everyone!" one of the veterans answer.

"Yeah now when you say it. Isn't it weird that she and her pets were the ones that came back, she even had one of the freaks with her." another veteran says, "I bet she and her monsters stab Solaris in the back and killed him while he had his guard down. They would never have been able to defeat King Solaris fair and square."

"Yeah!" "Murderer!" "Cowards!" "Freaks!" "Monsters!" "Pegacorn!" "You're no Queen of ours!" the veterans started shouting insults towards Faust and Nighblade.

At this point Meruem has had enough and started walking towards Faust, Nightstain tries to stop him but his words falls on deaf ears.
The maid Flash Gem notices Meruem approaching and gasps at the sight of him, having never seen a creature like Meruem before. Faust hears the gasp and looks to her left to see Meruem standing next to her with Nightstain to his left.

"Meruem! What are you doing here?" Faust asked worried.

"Look! See! What did I tell you? She did bring back one of the freaks! HAHAHA-!" the drunk veteran laughs and points towards Meruem like a child. Only for his laughing fit to be cut short by a green blur and his right hand he used to point with, now gone.

Faust was first furious that the drunk dared to laugh at her child and was even prepared to blast his head off. But her wrath was replaced with confusion followed by realisation when she looks at Meruem, seeing three fingers sticking out of his mouth and him crunching down on them.

Meruem makes an audible gulp and says, "Hey Nightstain?"

"Yeah?"

"To answer your question about what Solaris taste like. Well, he taste better than a intoxicated unicorn." Meruem answers not caring over the stares everyone is giving him.

The drunk started screaming, the pain and horror finally reaching his brain. While he is doing this the veterans shake in fear and then stop as they realise what Meruem had just said. But before they could take action, Meruems tail winds up and lashes out, turning into a green blur that obliterates the screaming drunk head, silencing him and covering the rest of the veterans in blood, brain matter and skull fragments.

"Quiet." says Meruem monotoned.

"Y-yu-you Monster!" one of the blood covered veterans scream.

"Yeah, I am, what of it?" Meruem answers, shocking everyone. "I killed and ate your king and beheaded your comrade. What are you gonna do about it?"

The Solar veterans horror turns into fury as they all draw out their weapons, swords, spears and axes, all aimed at Meruem.

"If you want to get to him you'll need to get through me." Nightstain says as he draws his broad sword.

"And me." Pride Sentry says as he draws his short sword.

"Hey, don't forget me!" Nighblade says cheery as she dual wields two curved blade.

Flash Gem walks forward and rips her dress apart revealing a dagger strapped to her thigh.

The old butler stands next to her and flicks his wrist revealing a hidden blade in his sleave.

The other Solar recruits walks forward, as well as some of the others that were keeping their distance. All drawing out their weapons.
The pegasus servants in the camp also join Fausts side as they reveal hidden blades and daggers as well. Accompanied by the Earth pony workers, wielding sledge hammers and tools as makeshift weapons.

The veterans are starting to realise that they are outnumbered and are starting to look nervous, but before they can surrender or say anything else Faust summons her silver rapier and points it at those loyal to Solaris.

"Let's remove the stain of Solaris once and for all, starting on this island." Faust says and the battle starts.

It wasn't much of a battle, it was in fact incredibly one sided. Despite the fact that the veterans had more experience than most others, years of serving Solaris as they fight against opponents that can't fight back had made them all rusty. It didn't help with the fact that the majority of them were drunk.
Faust had takin it upon herself to make sure that the servants were equipped with hidden weapons for self defense and make sure that they were ready to jump into action. The new recruits also took their training and duty a lot more seriously compared to the veterans that had slacked off during the latest years. The earth pony workers were also naturelly bigger and much more muscular than unicorn that the entirety of the Solar guard consist of. With numbers and more variety on their side Fausts army made quick work over the Solar veterans, with them only suffering minor injuries and no casualties.
But the battle was brought to a stop when everyone was left slack jawed at seeing Meruem take on the remaining ten guards.

Meruem was swift and fast, but more importantly, he was effective. Weaving and dodging while waiting for his opponents to strike before he does. After a while it stopped looking like Meruem was fighting and more like he was dancing around his enemies.

Nightstain was looking on in astonishment, he brought out a small notebook and before he realised, he had started sketching Meruems battle. Being an artist and spending several days without inspiration to paint, made it so that Nightstain went into auto-pilot and started drawing his heart out. He can't wait to make an official painting from his sketches. But he was brought to a stop when he heard a word he never thought he would ever hear from a certain voice, from his sister Nightblade.

"Beautiful." she said simply staring in awe at Meruem, while Nightstain was starting to think he'd gone insane.

There was only three things Nightblade admired, strength, skill, and passion. And right now Meruem was displaying all of that and more. A young creature taking on ten older creatures, all twice his size, yet he was punching, kicking, grabbing, stabbing and slashing around them like he was performing a Dance of Death.
In all of Nightblades life she has never seen anything that she would describe as beautiful, maybe pretty, but never beautiful. It was actuelly one of her brothers personal goals to make a painting that she would call beautiful. Right this moment however, beautiful was the only word she could think of.
In the eyes of others with less experience Meruem might look like he was just buying time and striking randomly, but in the eyes of those with experience like Nightblade, that was not it at all. Meruem wasn't striking randomly, he was aiming, aiming at the joints and opening of the Solar guards armour.
First he would punch or kick in order to deform the metal, then he would shove his fingers into the opening and rip the armour off. Followed by a stab from his stinger to weaken his opponents and then, the finishing blow with his powerful tail, causing blood to spray out off their bodies and turn into a red mist, painting the ground red like field of roses.

When the last guard was finally obliterated, Nightblade hadn't realised it at first, but she had walk up to Meruem, staring him straight into his beautiful purple eyes, with both her hands each holding his head gently. This was it, this was true beauty in Nightblades eyes.

Queen Faust POV

I'm not sure what to say, more than the fact that I'm absolutely amazed over Meruem skill and strength. No that's not right, when Meruem was fighting he wasn't fighting using skill and he had no experience. No, Meruem was fighting with nothing more than pure talent and instinct. Like he was made for combat.

Watching Nightblade holding Meruem by the sides of his head and staring at him with pure admiration and facination, while Nightstain is making some sketches, truly puts a smile on my face. I look around and see that my ponies have started celebrating while others were looking at Meruem with facination and caution. I can't wait for Meruem to meet Starswirl, Celestia and Luna.

My happy thoughts about the future was brought to a stop when I received a tap on my right shoulder. I turn around and see Pride Sentry with the maid Flash Gem close to his side.
"Looks like someones getting popular." I thought to myself.

He looks like he wants to ask something, he looks worried.

"Your Majesty, I just realised something that might concern you." he said unsure.

"What is it?" I asked with curiousity.

"Shouldn't it be daytime by now?"

The realisation hits me like sledgehammer. That's right, with Solaris dead we won't have someone to raise the sun. Celestia isn't ready yet, her mana is still too low to match Solaris.
Oh how could I miss something so important! What should we do? The sun should have been up an hour ago! That stupid drunk bad mouthing stallion along with all of Solaris other dogs! I didn't even realise that it was still dark because of the torches and fireplaces around the camp, I even lowered the moon before I helped Sentry and Nightblade!

But just as I was about to have another panic attack, a tingeling sensation made itself precent in my horn. It was a sensation I've felt many times, it was this sensation that made me discover Solaris and that I wasn't the only one of my kind. This sensation meant that alicorn magic was right now being used, I was starting to get scared that maybe Solaris death was nothing more than a dream and Meruem was just my imagination. But I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard a gasp from Flash Gem and saw both her and Pride Sentry looking behind me.

I turn around and what I see leaves me dumbfounded. The end part of Meruems tail was covered in a flowing golden aura and was pointing towards the horizon, and the sun was slowly making it's way upwards towards the sky with the tip of Meruems tail following.

Once the sun was up in the sky, Meruem shakes his head and turns around. He flinches when he realises that he is being stared at by everyone in the camp, eyes the size of dinner plates and mouths wide open, his gaze eventuelly lands on me.

He tilt his head to the side and ask: "What's wrong?"

Author's Note

Here's a link for those that have a hard time picturing Meruem.

Chapter 5. Knowledge and Family

Location: The Village

Faust POV

The worst thing that had become the norm during Solaris reign, was cleaning up after one of his conquests. Whether it was ruins of a kingdom, the aftermath of a hard fought battle or the genocide of a species, you would never get used to it. If you did, then that means you had become the very thing you swore to destroy. A heartless monster.

Walking through and looking for anything of value as you're cleaning up the corpses of a fantastic race you didn't even know the name of. Was the worst feeling in the world.
The leaf roofs of the village houses had been set on fire by magic, leaving the homes open and smoking. Any creature that was inside likely died a painful death of fire. The ones that managed to get out were killed by the Solar Guards instead and left to either rot or be eaten by scavenging animals.

The Solar recruits alongside some workers and servants where helping with the clean up. While it makes me happy to see them willing to help, it breaks my heart to see them crying and gaging from the state of the corpses. Adults and children alike, no one was spared by Solaris and his guards. Truly leaving Meruem as the sole survivor.

I was surprised when Meruem said that he wanted to help to. Even though I was hoping to give him a break from the cruelty of the world and not give him any more scars for the future, Meruem used the argument:

"These where my kind, I wanna know exactly what sort of creatures I would have spent my future with, had this not happened. I know this will have an effect on me and that you want to protect me. But I don't want to forget where I came from."

I've only known that boy for a days worth of time, but I feel a special connection with him that makes me believe that we are already family, if not more.

Speaking of Meruem, the fact that Meruem had somehow taken Solaris power over the sun, was more than just a surprise. It was baffling. How was this possible? The ability to absorb someone else magic is not as uncommon as you would believe.
There are multiple creatures on Equis capable of absorbing magic from another. Gargoyles, Sphinx, Umbras and Tlanusi are good examples, but there also exist magical artifacts and spells that allow other creatures to absorb magic as well. However, there is a specific fact about all of those examples, that many believe to have been the only flaw with magic absorption.
That is the fact that it can only absorb the mana that the magic consist off and cannot take the unique properties of the magic itself. Like raising the sun and moon.

But with Meruem, that is not the case. When Meruem ate Solaris, he didn't just eat the flesh and bone, he ate the magic and life force that was contained inside.
With a power like this, Meruem could easily become the most powerful creature in Equestria, no, in all of Equis. With time, he could rival the immesurable draconequus, the wish granting Sphinx and many other chaos induced entities. Many will want to have Meruem on their side and want to use Meruem for his power. I will not let that happen, he needs to be protected and kept secret at all cost.

I've already made it clear to everypony that witnessed Meruems power, that it is of most important kept secret amongs all of us. Anyone that wasn't on this island shall not be informed about this unless I allow it. Only the most trustworthy are allowed to know about this secret.

While Meruem is accompanied by Nightblade and the butler Diamond Shard, I was accompanied by Nightstain. We where making our way through the village to see the progress. It was not pretty, in fact, it was heart breaking. While some ponies were gathering up the bodies and placing them in rows, covering them in cloths and blankets, others were looking through the rubbles of the houses to see if there was any survivors or bodies burried beneath them.
Some where crying over the cruelty, others where gaging in disgust and some with stronger stomachs were nearby for comfort. This was a nightmare.

To my right I can see Pride Sentry kneeling down and once again crying over the body of a child, while Flash Gem is embracing him from behind and crying as well.
The childs body was covered in yellow feathers that had been stained with blue blood. Her arms where like talons instead of hands and her legs where like that of a rabbit. I couldn't make out the face, but I can see that she had pink fur with rabbit like ears on top of her head. I bet she was a sweet and cute girl when she was alive.

I continue to walk through the village with Nightstain, looking for anything we might have missed. We eventuelly come across a body that had been buried underneath the rubble of a house. The body was in suprisingly good condition with minimal damage.
This one looked like a giant blue lobster with a hunchback. Giant claws for arms and feet like a bipedal, with six smaller crustacean legs sticking out from its side. It didn't have anything else that made it stand out, but considering the fact that it was a giant bipedal lobster still made it facinating.
The cause of death seem to have been by bleeding, judging by the stab wounds on the side of the body. Seems like the exoskeleton was too strong for anything more gruesome,

As I was removing the rubble and preparing to lift the body, a sudden idea popped up in my head. An idea that was making me feel disgusted over my own curiousity. During Solaris reign, multiple torture and communication-type spells had been created by Unicorns, including Starswirl. One particular spell allowed an individual to temporarly revive a brain in a corpse and look through the memories.
I really didn't want to do this but I need information and this is the only corpse so far that hasn't been damaged to badly. As long as the brain is still intact, it should allow me to delve into it's memories and both find out, what these creatures where and how they lived.
After swallowing hard, I turn to look at Nightstain.

"Nightstain," I started, "I'm gonna try and delve into this ones memories and see if I can learn anything."

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" Nightstain answered with worry.

"Yes. We need infromation and this is right now the quickest and only way to do it."

"As you wish, I'll keep watch and make sure no one disturbs you." Nighstain said and turned around, away from me and the lobster.

I concentrate and focus on the head of the corpse. First I send a small electric spark to restart some brain activity, then I heal and restore any part of the brain that might have been damaged. Finally the memory spell and my spectral form jumps into the memory of the creature.

I open my eyes and find myself in a field outside the village, the surroundings look like they're covered by a thin mist and my body is slightly see through and intangible. I look around to take in my surrounding and turn to a sudden snipping sound.

*snipp snipp* *snipp snipp*

I see the lobster creature, using his claws to cut down wheat in the field and gather them up. Tying them with a rope, which must be very hard with big lobster claws, and lifts them over his shoulder. He turns and starts to walk past me before he suddenly stops and stares staight at me, his big yellow eyes with dots for pupils sent a chill down my spine. I was starting to get worried that maybe he could see me until I heard a child like voice behind me.

"Hey!" the voice shouts, "Dinners ready uncle!"

"Coming!" the Lobster shouted back with a ruff voice that had a slight garle sound in the throat.

I turn to where he's looking and I'm left shocked to see the same Ant headed child that Pride Sentry had been hugging last night, only difference being that she was alive and well.
I follow the Lobster and child to a small house near the field at the edge of the village, at the entrance stands another one of the creatures. This one has eagle-like wings on his back and insect-like claws for feet and hands, which kinda looks like bird talons. His face is like that of a primate, only that he has a beak instead of a mouth. His body looks similar to Meruems, with light green and dark green features, but the dark green parts are covered in a thin layer of fur.

"Working in the field again Bloster?" the creature asked.

"Hi Colt, did you just get back from training?" the lobster now named Bloster replies.

"Yep and it was tough as always," the creature now named Colt sighs.

I follow them inside and see in the center of the house was a small round stone table on the floor, in the middle of the table is a large open hole with grating in the middle. Underneath the table is a small fire place that glows and heats up the metal bars. Three cloths with wheat underneath are placed around the table to sit on. On the table are three wooden disks with peaces of meat on them and small clay cups filled with water. There are three types of raw meat with herbs and spices on the disks, one is fish, the other is bird and the last is a slice from some larger mammal. Beside the disks are thinly carved sharp stone that look like knifes.
The girl brings over a large wooden disk with three small bowls containing some type of sauce, three mango like fruits and some slightly larger bowls containing water with some type of citrus fruit within.

I sit down with them around the table and observe as they eat, they use the sharp stone to cut the meat and then place them on the grating, allowing the meat to cook. Then when the meat looks like its ready, they eat it directly while using their claws to pick the meat from the grating. They also sometimes eat the meat raw and give slightly different reactions from the taste.
Once they finished eating the meat they drink up the water within the cup and then uses the water within the larger bowls to clean their hands or claws. Afterwards they eat the fruits using the knifes to cut the fruit open and then suck out the juices.

They did all of this in complete silence, it was only after they finished eating and clean up before they sat down around the table and started speaking with eachother. They started talking about everyday stuff like how the days been for them and what they've done today.
During their conversation I found out that the girls name is Shidore and I've begun to understand their relations with eachother. Shidore sees Colt as her older brother, while Bloster is considered their uncle, but the truth is that they are all technically siblings because they where all born from the Queen, Meruems mother.
Their species seems to work similar to an Ant Colony, one Queen that gives birth to all of them. With workers that build, drones that gather and soldiers that fight and protect.
But over all, they look and act like a normal happy family. It makes me happy seeing them like this, but it also makes me sad knowing what happened to them.
My thoughts where broken as Shidore started talking.

"Hey uncle Bloster?" Shidore began, "I know that, as Chimera Ants, we are all born from the Queen and we take an appearance based on what the Queen has eaten, but what is Menthuthuyoupi a combination of?"

For a second, I felt as if time had just stopped. Did this girl just ask a question that answered two of the biggest questions I had about their species?
They're called Chimera Ants, and the reason for all of their appearances is because they are based on what their Queen eats. Facinating. Chimera Ants, what a fitting name.

"That is a good question Shidore," Bloster said while placing his right claw under his chin, "I'm honestly not sure. He was the last of the Royal Quard to be born so his appearance was most likely based on whatever was left inside the Queens stomach. Most likely he's a combination of a variety of magical beasts, it would explain his shapeshifting ability."

"Wait, that's the reason for his shapeshifting?" Colt suddenly interupted, "I thought that was his Nen ability."

"Nen?" Shidore and I said with a head tilt.

"Ah yes, since Shidore was born recently, you wouldn't know about Nen." Bloster said.
"Well to answer both of your questions, let's repeat what Nen is, but also what Magic is.
You see, in all life there exist a type of energy called Aura, their Life Force so to speak. In the main lands some creatures are able to use their Aura in order to perform miracles that they call Magic. Magic is something that only some creatures can perform, but those that can use magic, can do it with almost no limit. Magic is incredibly versatile and can be used for both destruction and creation, some creatures possess unique type of magic that only they can use."

By the All Father, so they knew about magic and they also knew about us. But how come they didn't interact with us or made themselves known to the rest of the world?

"We Chimera Ants are unable to perform magic and are incredibly weak towards it. If we so much as come into contact with magic we lose the strength in our bodies so that we're almost paralysed and unable to defend ourselves, it's the reason why the Queen has avoided any contact with the main land. That is also why our species evolved to have our own type of Magic, Nen."

They're weak to Magic? That would explain why Solaris and the Solar Guard where able to defeat them all so easily. If they really do get paralysed from simple contact? They would be nothing more than targets.

"There is a clear differnce between Magic and Nen. While Magic utilises the Life Force from deep within us and is connected to our emotions. Nen uses the Aura that surrounds our bodies and released at all times and is based on our bodies strength. Aura is naturally released from the pores on our skin called Aura Nodes and it is that we use in order to perform Nen. With this difference, you could say that, while Magic is spiritual in nature, Nen is physical in nature."

Their own type of magic, Nen. Instead of spiritual and connected to their emotions. It's physical and based on the strength of their bodies. I need to know more of this, this could be a completely new discovery for Equestria.

"Nen is a bit more limited in its uses than Magic but it can be performed by basically anyone as long as they know how. There are four basic types of techniques in Nen, they are called Ten, Zetsu, Ren and Hatsu.

Ten is the process of keeping the nodes open, but also having aura flow through and around the body rather than away from it. Once maintained, it creates a shroud around the user that feels similar to standing in a lukewarm fluid. Ten maintains youthful vigor and reduces one's aging, since the energy powering the body no longer leaks away; one can keep the body from breaking down and slow down the aging process.

Zetsu stops the flow of aura from their body altogether. By closing all of their Aura Nodes, the user is able to halt all outflow of their aura, making their presence much harder or even impossible to sense. Shutting off the nodes in ones eyes prevents the user from being able to see aura, but, since they are no longer surrounded by their own aura, they become more sensitive to the aura of others and can sense them much easily.

Ren focuses on outputting a larger amount of aura than Ten, projecting it outwards explosively. This amplifies the user's physical strength and durability and provides a large pool of aura for any advanced techniques or individual skills they decide to use, albeit at the cost of expending said aura. One can train their Ren to extend its duration and increase the amount of aura at their disposal.

Hatsu is one's personal expression of Nen. Its qualities are influenced by but not restricted to the Nen user's natural Nen category. Hatsu is used to project one's aura to carry out a certain function, creating a special and unique paranormal ability that is referred to as a "Nen ability" or simply "ability"'

This is way more information than I was hoping for, I'm starting to feel bad that I'm finding out so much from one individuals revived memories. But I needed information and I'm right now finding out more then I could ever hope for.

"While these are the basic techniques for Nen, they are still relativly powerful and in the hands of an expert, can be used for quite the deadly effect. For example, by tingeing one's Ren with hostility, a Nen user can exert what is referred to as "bloodlust". A prolonged emission of malicious Ren that can induce uncontrollable dread in those who cannot use Nen, paralysis and if contrasted without Ten, even death. Creatures such as predators in the wild can exert this sort of feeling without even knowing it's Nen."

This immediatelly reminded me of what I felt when Meruem was born, was that perhaps this hostile Ren he's talking about? Does this mean that Meruem can already use Nen? Yeah, that's probably the case, but most likely Meruem is using it subconsciously and is not aware of it.

"Okay," Shidore said as she understood, "but if that's the basics. What's the advanced?"

"That is a lesson for another time," Bloster said to my dissapointment, "However, I can explain what we call "Nen Catagories, in order to answer Colts question from before."

Nen Catagories? So there are different types.

"There are six types of aura. Every individual is born having one of these six different aura types. Upon learning one's own aura type, a student of Nen can set about learning to apply the technique in a unique way that suits their personality, which can develop into a unique skill or ability."

The way he says it kinda reminds me of how ponies discover their Destiny Marks, but instead of a colorful symbol that represents our talents, it's a unique power.

"The types are: Enhancers, who strengthens themselves or objects with aura. Transmuters, who change the quality of their aura to match something else. Emitters, who detaches aura from their bodies. Conjurers, creates objects from their aura. Manipulators, controll animate or inanimate objects with their aura. Lastly are Specialists, who possess an aura of unique effect that doesn't match the others."

"So what is the Royal Guards Nen types?" asked Colt.

"Menthuthuyoupi is an Enhancer, Shaiapouf is a Manipulator and Neferpitou is a Specialist, I don't know what their Hatsus are but that's probably for the better. Having everyone know what type of ability you have can be just as much of an advantage as it is an disadvantage." Bloster explained.

"Hmmm, I wonder what my type is?" Colt asked.

"Well, the most effective way to find out, is to do a Water Divination, but you can usually tell by the individuals personality. But I think that's enough for today let's go back and-"

*Boom* *Screams*

Everyone stands up and looks towards the single window in the house, several Chimera Ants a running and screaming while roofs are being set on fire by magic.
This memory was this resent? No! Why!? They where such a happy family.

Colt runs out of the house while Bloster shouts to him to stay inside, but the roof of the house catches fire and Bloster along with Shidore runs out. I follow them only to see Colt trying to fight two Solar Guards, he flares with white energy that I have to guess is Nen and dashes towards the guards. He is blasted with a magic bolt and just like Bloster explained, the Nen disappears and Colt falls to his knees unable to move. One of the guards brings an axe down towards Colt, striking him in the back. He screams out in pain before he's silenced by the other guard who cuts his head off with a sword.

"Noooooo!" Shidore screams.

The guards look towards their direction and starts charging their magic, but Bloster pushes Shidore out of the way before the blast hits them both. Bloster was hit but he seems to fight through the hit thanks to his thick exo-skeleton.

"Go! Run!" he screams to Shidore who's now crying.

The guards try to give chase towards Shidore but Bloster rush forward and tackles them to the ground before he runs to another direction. The guards recover and charges their horns again with magic and fires at Bloster. Both of the bolts hits him in the back and side, causing him to crash into the side of a house as it collapses on top of him. The guard wielding an axe runs after Shidore while the one wielding a sword walks up to Bloster.
He stands beside Bloster and looks down at him with disgust, before bringing his sword down, stabbing Bloster in the side as he says the words that will forever haunt me.

"All hail Solaris."

The memory starts to fade and blur out and I suddenly start falling into darkness.

My eyes shoots open as I fall and land on my flank. I breath heavily as tears run down my cheeks, my entire body shaking as I felt the fear and sorrow from the creature that now lies dead right in front of me. Knowing the fate of little Shidore did nothing but make it worse and young Colt, for such a young boy with a promising future to be met with such a cruel fate. It is all just as I feared, non of these creatures where monsters, these Chimera Ants, they where ordinary living and intelligent creatures with families and their own kind of magic just like us ponies. The mere thought of a similar fate like this happening to my ponies, to my loved ones, it was to much to hold in and I couldn't help but cry.

"Faust!" Nightstain yelled worried, "What happened? Are you okay? Did you find something?"

"Yes, *sniffle* yes I did. More than hoped I would find." I turn my head to face Nightstain. "They where just like us, they had families, jobs and they knew about magic. *sniffle* They where just like us."

I break down crying as Nightstain does his best to comfort me. I swear, I will not let something like this happen again and I will make sure that Meruem will be happy and have a bright future waiting for him.

Location: Mother's Palace

Meruems POV

Something is wrong, I can feel it. There is something here, but what?
After the intense morning routine of slaughtering Solaris dogs and raising the sun by pure instinct, the camp went to immediate work and clean up the village.
It was real eye-opening to find out that I had somehow absorb Solaris magic and made it my own. Me raising the sun seems to have had a huge impact on the servants and workers, it seems that alot of them still held the belief that Solaris and Faust where Gods and seeing another creature perform a feat that equaled Gods was more than just mindblowing.

Still, while the majority of the ponies avoided me, some where braver than others and actuelly went up and talk to me. Pride Sentry, who's a unicorn Solar Recruite, Flash Gem who's a Pegasus maid and her Uncle Diamond Shard who's a Pegasus butler, are the ones that stood out.
Diamond Shard has dark orange fur with a silver mane with red stripes. He stands around 1,8 in height, has a silver goatee, an elegant silver mustache and two beautiful orange wings with silver feathers at the end. His gentle smile, rose pink eyes and deep voice is an excelent way of hiding the fact that he is a trained assassin that has been loyal to Faust for almost 40 years. His special talent is his uncanny ability to keeps things hidden on his person, like the blades he keeps hidden in his wrists.

Currently, me, Nightblade and Diamond Shard are going through the village in a different direction from Faust and Nightstain. And I've had this odd sensation telling me that there is something I must do before we leave this island, and the closer we get to the center of the village, near mother's home, the tingling sensation just gets stronger.
I stop and turn towards the entrance of the structure, looking for anything that seems out of place.

"Young Meruem," the gentle voice of Diamond Shard begins, "is something the matter?"

"I'm not sure, but I feel that there is something important inside mother's home. Something that I need to retrieve."

"Well, we didn't get a chance to properly explore the structure last night," Nightblade said matter of factly, "we could take a look if you want but... that means we might return to your mothers chamber."

Nightblade is right, if we go inside there's a chance we might return to the place where I was born and lost mother. The very place that her corpse still resides. But I know that there is something within her home that I need to get before we leave and never return. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I have this odd sense that continues to pull me towards it. It's not a strong pull, it's like a small bird that's latch on to me and tries to pull me alongside it, but it's not strong enough to move me, only strong enough so that I can feel it's presence.

"I know Nightblade," I said with a slight tremble in my voice, "but I can feel that there is something that was ment for me still remaining inside. I need to get it before we leave the island."

"As you wish sir," Diamond Shard said with a slight bow, "but we're coming along."

"I never said you couldn't."

We've been walking through the halls of the structure for maybe 10 minutes, and I can sense that the pull is getting stronger and we're getting closer to the source. I begin to walk faster but stop as I feel a hand on my shoulder, I turn and see Nightblades serious but concerned gaze meeting my own.

"Meruem I know we've already said this, but I feel like I still need to remind you." She stops and seem to be struggling with her words. "We are walking directly towards where your mother is and I don't want you to receive more scars than what you already have. We can still turn around and go back."

I can hear the worry in her voice and I can sense her fear, but it's not fear for herself, it's for me. I'm not gonna lie to myself and say that I'm not scared, but I really need to find whatever it is that keeps pulling me back towards this place. My thoughts are suddenly interupted by another strange sensation. I'm not sure how I can describe it but it's like I can smell something without using my nose. There's something else I'm using, something that is invisible to the naked eye.

"I know Nightblade and I am scared, but I can feel that there is something I need to retrieve. Something that was meant for me. Something that I was suppose to receive if this invasion hadn't happened."

Nightblade and Diamond Shard seem to feel my resolve and will to move forward. Both of them want to stop me, but they know that there is nothing they can say at this point to do so.

We continue to walk forward and come across one of the corpses of the stronger beings of my people, the red giant as Faust described him. I stare at the corpse and sharp feeling of pain suddenly makes itself precent in my eyes, but it dissappears and is forgotten just as fast as it arrived. My eyes feel like they are covered in some luke warm liquid and my gaze is drawn towards the creatures decapitated head.

There is some sort of pink compressed mist at the center of the head, like I'm seeing through it to look at what's inside. I kneel down and reach out with my arms, gently picking up the head and before I can even think, my mouth begins to open as I let out an animal like snarl.

Nightblade begins to speak, "Meruem what are you-"

*CHOMP* *CRUNCH*

Nightblades words dies in her throat as she sees me bite through the cranium of the head like it was an apple.

"What am I doing?!" I scream in my head, "Why am I eating it?! Why can't I controll my body?! Why am I-?!"

Time seems to freeze for a moment as information and a message begins to enter my head.

"It seems I won't get the chance to meet you my king," a masculine voice speaks, "but I won't let my body and Nen go to waste. Take my aura, take my Hatsu, take my strength and natural abilities and make it your own."

Time begins to move again as my entire body tenses up and every muscle fiber in my body is screaming in pain and excitement. I feel a rush of energy flowing through me and I begin to speak out the name of the knowledge that I've recieved.

"Metamorphosis, Rage Blast, Rage Incarnate."

"What was that Meruem? Why did you do that?" Nightbalde asked with worry and fear present in her voice.

I stand up and turn to look at Nightblade and Diamond Shard, both giving me looks of fear, worry and confusion.

"I don't know, it's like my body started moving on its own and I think I recieved some sort of message through doing so." I explain with a tone that sounded unsure.

"Message?" Diamond Shard asked, "What kind of message?"

"It's to early to say now, but I think I need to continue moving forward."

We eventually come across the next corpse, this one looking like a bipedal butterfly. There is a similar mist flowing in the middle of its head, this one being purple instead of pink. I kneel down, grab the head, bring down my jaws upon it and just like before, I hear a voice.

"It is a sorrowful shame that I won't get the chance to meet you my lord," as flamboyant voice said dramaticly, "but I will gladly offer myself if it means you'll grow stronger. Take my aura, take my beautiful hatsu, take my skill and elegance."

I speak out loud the next information and power that I recieve as my body is filled with energy.

"Cocoon, Spiritual Message, Beelzebub, Body Reconstruction."

"Same as before?" Nightblade asked.

"Yeah... and I think I'm starting to understand the purpose of these guys." I answered.

"There should be one more up ahead." Nightblade pointed out.

We walked a bit further and find the third corpse near the wall, this one looking like a straight up cat-girl. The head was this time surrounded by a flaring blood red aura that seemed to be almost overwhelming. It was a bit harder to stomach this one since it look so human, but I just let my body move on its own and the next message played as power surged through me.

"Nyah, I really wanted to meet you, my young lord," a shipper female voice sighed, "but I'll just have to adapt and lend you my knowledge another way. Take my aura, take my hatsu, take my knowledge and dedication. Take care and make good use of it, nya."

I recieve a headache from the overwhelming amount of information that suddenly made itself into my head, I started breathing heavily as I spoke.

"Doctor Blythe, Puppeteering, Terpsichora."

"Are okay sir?" Diamond Shard asked concerned.

"Yeah, I just feel very drain suddenly from all the information I just recieved." I explained breathing heavily.

I recompose myself as I stand before I speak.

"My kind, we're called Chimera Ants. These guys where my mothers Royal Guards. Chimera Ants seem to posses a power called Nen, that allows them to perform supernatural phenomenon called Hatsu." I explained. "There is more to it than that but I feel really tired and drained. I'll need some time to absorb all this information myself."

"Understood," Diamond Shard answered, "let us return to camp so that you can rest."

Nightblade walks up to me and carries me on her back as we make our way through the halls. When we make it outside I turn my head one last time towards mothers home.

"Goodbye mother." I say before I drift off to sleep on Nightblade back.

3rd person POV

The clean up and burial on the island was a two days process of work, because the majority of unicorns that was on the island were loyal to Solaris and "removed" during Meruems introduction, the earth pony workers and pegasus servants were forced to carry most corpses by hand. There were only so many Solar recruits that weren't loyal to Solaris.
Once everything was set in stone, Queen Faust, Meruem and the rest finally began their journey back home to the Kingdom of Everfree, leaving the island that would forever be known in Equestrias History books as Chimera Island.

They made a short stop at the Hippogriff Islands, both to restock on supplies and tell the Royal family of the Hippogriff about Solaris passing. The hippogriff Royal family were trusted allies of Faust and if anyone was to know about the fate of Solaris and who was responsible, it would be them. Safe to say, the only tears that were shed that day were the tears of sympathy the Hippogriffs felt for Meruem.

The journey back home took around two weeks before they entered the Everfree forest, mostly because during this time in Equestrias History, the idea of using Low Gravity magic on wagons and have pegasus pull instead of earth ponies, was not yet invented. During the journey home, both Faust and Meruem shared what they had learned, both with each other as well as with Nightstain, Nightblade, Pride Sentry, Flash Gem and Diamond Shard, all who have deserved and earned their loyalty and trust. They also took this time to get to know eachother a bit more.

As it turns out, Flash Gem is actuelly mute and the only loud sound she can make is a gasp. She has been taught self defence and the art of knife fighting by her uncle Diamond Shard, but she has a bad tendency to freeze whenever she is put in a bad situation. Like when the Solar veteran tried to force himself on her and forcing Pride Sentry to jumped in and Meruem to turn the drunk stallions head into mush.

When the company finally arrived and their wagon went through the streets of Everfree, they were immediately met with cheers from the citizens. Because the large Royal wagon kept the ones inside it hidden with the curtains drawn, the ponies of the Everfree were completely unaware that their King was not with the ones returning. They did however notice that there was a lack of Solar Guards amongs them. Faust however was no fool, during the journey back, she, Diamond Shard and the Night guards had spent a lot of time to plan their next action in order to minimize the problem that would follow once the word of the Everfrees God King passing had come out.

Once they made it past the gates leading into the courtyard of the Alicore family, the Solar recruits along with the Night guards and Pegasi assassins amongs the servants, spread out in order to "remove" the dogs of Solaris that resided within the castle walls. As well as to inform the ones loyal to Faust about the good news. While this was happening, Faust decided that it would be good time to introduce Starswirl, Celestia and Luna about the new addition to the Royal family.

Making their way through the halls towards the most secluded place in the castle, the Royal Library, which Faust had been informed is were Starswirl and both of her daughters were currently located. Meruem was currently covered with a draped cloth both to hide him from any suspecting eyes and make it a surprise for her family.
Opening the door to the library, Faust could not have been happier hearing the voices of both her daughters being happy to see her.

"Mommy!" a small six year old alicorn filly with dark blue fur and light blue mane yelled.

"Mom!" followed a voice of a ten year old alicorn filly with white fur and light pink mane.

Both fillies ran and nearly tackled the larger alicorn to the ground as a grey furred middle aged unicorn stallion with a white mane and goatee followed up behind, but he stopped his greeting when he noticed the small cloaked figure standing behind his Queen.

"Faust," he began, "who is this?"

Both fillies who are still clinging to their mother look towards the cloaked figure, who quickly hides behind Fausts leg.

"It's okay don't be afraid." Faust says reasuringly. "Celestia, Luna, I want you to meet Meruem, your adoptive younger brother."

Both fillies eyes widen at her words as they slightly back away and try to get a better look at the figure. Starswirl is just as shocked as the fillies as he as well tries to take a better look at the figure.

Meruem leaves his hiding spot and removes the hood on his cloak to reveal his face. Nothing is said for what felt like an eternity as newly the acquainted simply stare at each other taking in eachothers appearances. Starswirl was most intrigued by Meruems appearance, but he nearly past out once he decided to silently use a spell to look at Meruems Mana Flow. It is a known fact that most creatures have an aura of a single colour that shows their mana flow, but Meruems was that of multiple colours that was so alien and overflowing that Starswirl was almost terrified. Most of his aura was primarily white, showing that Meruem was young and had yet developed his own unique colour to his aura, however, there was an invading flow of other colour that looked like they were consumed by the white aura.

Pink, purple and a bloody red were among the auras consumed, but one aura that Starswirl recognised was also amongs them, Solaris royal golden aura. Before he could muster out his words of confusion and fear however, two other voices spoke out first.

"Wow, what are you?" young Celestia and Luna said at the same time.

"Erm, I'm a Chimera Ant." Meruem answered shyly.

Both fillies approach, showing no fear or cation, just childish curiousity as they each take one of Meruems hands, Celestia taking his left hand and Luna taking his right as they inspect him before they look him directly in the eyes and smile at him.

"Nice to meet you Meruem, I'm Celestia Alicore." Celestia introduces herself.

"And I'm Wona!" Luna follows with childish joy. "You have pjetty eyes."

"Erm, thanks... you too." Meruem return shyly while blushing because of the fillies lack of personal space.

"Faust, care to inform me on what is going on here?" Starswirls says with a slight tone of urgency.

"Of course Starswirl," Faust answers showing no sign of worry, "My daughters, do you mind showing Meruem around the library. Please avoid leaving the library, it is quite busy out there at the moment and not safe for children."

"OK!" both fillies exclaim happily.

As both fillies drag Meruem away, while Faust and Starswirl go to a more private location in order to talk about what transpired on the newly named Chimera Island.

The fall of Solaris was both a joyish and celebrated event for the ponies of Everfree once the word got out.
But it was also the kick starter for a chain of events and tragedies that would follow.
Many kingdoms saw his death as an opportunity for peace, but those that were more greedy and black of heart saw it as a chance for conquest and war.
All of this would eventually lead to a tragic and horrifying massacre, were hundred of lives from all sides would be lost in a bloody event that would be a permanent nightmarish scar on Equestria.
The event would be written down in history and be known as...

The Great Feast of the Green Beast

Author's Note

Finally a new chapter! :raritystarry: Hope you all like it.

Just so that everyone is aware, I'm writing in my freetime and currently I'm studying online. This week in particular has been a stressful, mostly because of multiple assignments that I was force to send in at the same time. It was really bad. :facehoof:
Hopefully this won't happen again and I can make a proper timeline for when I'll upload new chapters.

Here are some links for characters and abilities that were mentioned: Nen, Chimera Ants
Bloster, Colt, Shidore, Menthuthuyoupi, Shaiapouf, Neferpitou

PS. Do you guys spell the name of the MLP world as Equis or Equus?

Chapter 6. Preparation and Release

Around 1300 years after the Great Feast

Times have changed in over one and a half millenia. The era of Queen Faust and the Pillars of Equestria has long since past. There hasn't been any wars in Equestria for nearly Nine Hundred years now, that is mostly thanks to the hard working Sun Goddess and Princess of Equestria, Celestia. Though this peace was not achieved without its losses.

The Alicore family has been through numerous tragedies after the death of the God King Solaris, and it is his stain on the world that is the reason for all their hardships. Cults, rebelions, extremists, arrogant nobles and war hungry rulers, the list goes on for the amount of individuals responsible for the suffering of one family that was trying to fix and hold the peace that was broken to pieces because of Solaris.
But peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. But the acts of violence only bring forth more violence and in the end, it has to be this way... Unless someone proves to be more violent than everybody else and forces the others to unite in order to defeat a common enemy.

The Great Feast of the Green Beast

The Scar of Equis

A massacre that was caused as consequence for the violence that one creature was exposed too and a punishment that was delivered by the same creature as an act of blind wrath and sorrow.
In many history books it's been described as a world wide war were every beast, monster, demon and deity were involved. A constant battle that happened at the beginning of the Royal Sisters ascension to the throne and lasted for nearly a year. But that was nothing more than a twisted lie, the oldest being on Equis and the ones that were there know that the Great Feast only lasted for 60 hours, 2 and half days. The reason it was toned down to have been an event were everyone was responsible, was to take away the idea that their existed a single creature capable of annihilating and taking away nearly 100 thousand lives from all races.

And to hide the fact that the very same creature is still alive today. Waiting for his moment to begin building and to see if another Great Feast will be necessary in order to keep peace and to protect his remaining family.

Location: Tartarus

The great prison that has existed since before the era of the God King. A great and mysterious cavern were time stand still for any being that enters the domain. There are numerous theories on why this place exist.
Is it perhaps the remains of the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods that once walked on Equis, a gift left by the first gods? Or is it an eternal energy source were primordial magic that leaks out to the mortal plane? Maybe a secret gateway to the Underworld were the souls of the damned and demons reside? No one knows for sure since the deepest parts of Tartarus has been kept unexplored. And the last beings to delve down into the depths never returned.

Only the worst of the worst is put within this eternal prison, protected and guarded by the three headed hound of Hades, Cerberus. No one can escape from the pits of Tartarus, ever since the idea to use the cavern as an eternal prison was established, with mana-locking shackles made from orichalcum and cages made from adamantine; the still toughest material around. It is impossible to escape unless you recieved outside help.

3rd person POV

Meet Meyeri, a young fiesty minotaur cow who happens to be the only cow amongs the minotaurs guarding Tartarus. Despite her milk related name, she is actuelly considered bellow average amongs minotaurs when it comes to curves. Being rather short for a minotaur; but no less strong, Meyeri is what one would call a tomboy and is considered undesired by the males of her species.
With the standard size for cows being 6-7 feet or 1.8-2.1 meters; Meyeri stands at about 1.79 meters and is covered with golden brown fur. Having a pair of nicely shaped breasts that would be considered big for Equestrian standards but small for Minotaur standards, wide child bearing hips with a blump behind and a perfectly shown off six pack. Her mane goes down to her shoulders and is a dark brown almost Black colour, with neatly curved horns that point upwards and a short muzzle. She wears a metal chest plate with shoulder guards, a helmet with holes for her horns and around her waist is a cloth that goes down to her knees with hip and knee guards.

Because of her fiesty and knuckle headed personality, she does not act like any other cow would. Most cows are house wifes and rarely leave the Kingdom of Minos. They are suppose to stay at home and be there for the bulls who have spent the whole day working or battled hard for the kingdom and help them relax with their soothing voices and soft bodies. Meyeri is non of that. Since she is undesired and considered unattractive, it was safe for her to be moved as a guard for Tartarus. She has already spent the mayority of her life playing sports, was well trained in combat and has only worked as a bodyguard for hire for visiting nobles from outside the kingdom. Because of a incident revolving a noble that didn't understand the term "personal space" she was moved to work as a guard in Tartarus.

She was making her standard patrols through the halls and 7 levels of Tartarus when suddenly she saw one of her higher ups walking past her with haste looking quite nervous. This was made even more concerning with who it was that walked past her. It was the veteran guard Sheer Force, who has been a guard in Tartarus for well over two hundred years now. With the avarage lifespan of a minotaur being around 250-320 years; Sheer Force has worked as a guard for nearly his entire adulthood and was more than ready to go into retirement. Standing a little less 3 meters tall, his scar covered grey furred body alongside his snow white mane and beard clearly showed how old and experienced he was. The fact that he looked nervous about something was extremely worrying.

Following quietly behind, keeping good distance and making sure to walk in sync with her superior so that her hooves wouldn't be heard, Meyeri followed Sheer Force all the way down to the 7th level of Tartarus, the lowest level. She looked around a corner and noticed Sheer Force stopping in front of a bland wall, making wierd movements with his hands. He repeated several bizarre movements with his hands, looking more nervous as he did, in front of a completely smoothed out wall. She decided to approach and call him out because she got worried that maybe he had gone senile, but just as she called him out.

"Hey sir Forc-" the wall suddenly split apart like an advanced runic puzzle, freezing the young cow in her advance.

Sheer Force still heard her as the wall was opening and seemed to panic slightly as he turned. He took a quick look over her shoulder and then shot glances to his left and right to see if anyone else was around. He then put on a serious expression and spoke.

"Come along Guard, you've already seent more than you should so might as well show you the rest." Sheer Force spoke with a voice of affority to clearly show the seriousness of the situation.

Shaking off her shock and swallowing her fear, Meyeri quickly followed Sheer Force down the stairs that seemingly lead to deeper levels of Tartarus.

"Tell me Guard," Sheer Force began, "how well versed are you in Equestrias history?"

"Well it isn't my favorite subject, but I'm well aware of most major events that happened in Equestria and the surrounding kingdoms." Meyeri answered in a confused tone at the sudden choise in subject.

"Then you should be aware of..." Sheer Force paused and swallowed loudly, "the Great Feast of the Green Beast."

Meyeri froze midstep, seemingly shocked at the mention of the Scar of Equis. Every country with a military history and beyond knew about the world wide massacre, the battle of gods, the great slaughter fest, the day a demon descended upon Equestria. The fact that he mentioned the darkest event in not only Equestria but most likely all of Equis history, made her shake in terror over what sort of secret that was about to be revealed to her.
They finally reached the end of the stairs were they now entered another level of Tartarus. Long halls were the walls were covered with doors with ancients runes and markings. The reveal of a completely new section of the eternal prison finally broke Meyeri out of her stunned silence.

"I-I thought there was o-only 7 levels, s-sir?" Meyeri stuttered.

"Afraid not Guard." Sheer Force answered with a dark tone.
"There are actuelly 9 levels, but nobody goes down to the 9th one since everybody who has gone past that point has never returned."

Meyeri was now more nervous than ever, the upper levels was already bad with the prisoners they held, but as they walked, more and more doors kept on passing them.
Eventuelly, Sheer Force stopped in front of one particular door that held a symbol that stood out from the others. Oddly enough, despite the ominous green glow it was giving off, Meyeri recognised the symbol as meaning "Light".

Revealed behind the door was instead of a prison cell, a massive spacious cavern, with a thin stone bridge that seemed almost natural for the cavern; rather than artificial, that led to a large platform in the center of the cavern. From the ceiling of the cavern was a massive stalactite with its tip perfectly placed at the center of the platform.
The platform was without a doubt the one thing in here that looked out of place, the platform was covered in beautiful yellow flowers that seemed to glow in such light, that it filled the darkness within the entire cavern with a calming glow similar to that of a warm fire on a winter night. The flowers surrounded a small pond with a large rock at the center, making a perfect platform for the creature that was sitting on it in a perfect Padmasana (Lotus Position), meditating in the peaceful echoes of the cavern.

The scene in front of Meyeri was in simple terms "beautiful" and the bizarre unknown creature at the center of it truly made it all look like an art piece in a museum. In a way it, it was so beautiful that it felt like they shouldn't even go near it, in fear that their presence would destroy the beauty that was in front of them. But despite its beauty, Meyeri couldn't help her own curiosity.
How is it even possible for such a beautiful scene to be available in Tartarus? They are so far underground now that it's physically and magically impossible for any sunlight to sneak in and allow for flowers to grow. Even if their was sunlight, the soil in Tartarus is completely voided of life. Making it impossible for anything to grow both on the surface and underground. So the scene in front of her made no sense at all, this was not the Tartarus she knew.
Suddenly, the creature began to slowly stand up. His eyes were still closed and his movements were smooth and in a singular motion. As if his entire body was in perfect harmony, he gracefully rose from his meditation to his full height of 1.69 meters as he silently inhaled.

"What is-" Meyeri began, but was quickly silenced by a "Shush" from Sheer Force.

"Don't disturb him," he ordered in a wisper, "just watch and admire."

At first, nothing seemed to happen as Meyeri watch the creature. He remained still for what felt like an eternity. But when that eternity ended, another began as he moved.
Slowly, it began slowly as his arms that had remained at his sides began to move. All at once, everything stopped. The sounds that echoed through the caverns, they all stopped. The dripping of water, the invading howling winds, the occasional insects and bats, all became quiet as he slowly lifted his arms. The movement of his arms left behind afterimages, despite how slowly he seemed to move.

Meyeri was just as confused over what she was seeing, as she was completely mesmerized. Despite the slow movements, he was leaving behind afterimages, the thing that happens when something moves incedibly fast. And just as that idea registered in her head, Meyeri saw something small moving next to the creature.
It was small, yet it seemed to be moving slower than the green creature. As she focused and looked closer, Meyeri began to freak out when she saw what it was that was next to the creature. It was a drop, a water droplet that had fallen from the stalactite right above him. The droplet was falling so slowly, that it seemed like it was frozen in time.

She focused back at the creature to see that his hands were now aligned with his shoulder, they had left behind fully visible afterimages that made it look like he had multiple arms. Once his hands were perfectly aligned with his head, they began to move downwards and were brought together in front of his chest to form a prayer. And then, for the first time since she had entered his cell and the first time in nearly a centuary since he began his mindbreaking training, Meruem opened his eyes.

Then he disappeared... ... ... ... ... And reappeared right behind Meyeri and Sheer Force.

It all happened in an instant, the flowers dissolved into mist, the pond erupted like a geyser, the rock exploded into pebbles, the stalactite cracked and fell from the ceiling onto the platform causing it all to collapse into the abyss bellow. As this was happening, a whistling sound followed by a powerful gust of wind, picked Meyeri and Sheer Force up from the ground and threw them towards the door as the bridge they were standing on cracked and collapse along with everything else. The entire cavern shook, as a loud sound that reminded them of a whip breaking the sound barrier was released. Before they knew it, they were now on the other side of the door alongside the Green Beast.

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10 000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10 000 times" - Bruce Lee

The best way to describe this quote is: "Repeat, repeat, repeat."
That an action is being done the same way over and over again. This repeat process of training will supposedly bring out perfection. This is the sort of training Meruem has spent his time in Tartarus. Instead of moping in his own sorrow, he used his sorrow as motivation. He spent over a millenia and perfected his body. After the first century of this training, Meruem broke his orichalcum chains in the middle of his training. His chains had to be replaced 11 times before the guards of Tartarus gave up and stated that: "He'll break them again anyway. So why waste the material? If he wanted to leave this place, he would have done so already. Yet despite him having broken his chains over and over, he has not made any attempts at breaking his mana-locking chackles."

It was true, Meruem didn't break his chackles. Because he saw them as useful for his training. With them suppressing his magic and nen, Meruem could focus on gaining full muscle control without relying on his aura. After another century, Meruem became so strong that he could both bend and break adamantine. And because of how valuable that metal was, it took even less time for the guards to give up in replacing his cage and just leave him be.
Eventually however, Meruem had gained an audience amongs the guards who were allowed to enter the 8th level, and they would spend hours watching Meruem repeat movements until he perfected them. Punch, kick, clap, jump, swing, spin, crouch and flip, Meruem would spend years, repeating a single movement until he perfected it. This training would bring any normal creature to insanity, but Meruem wasn't normal.

After spending several centuries with this training, Meruem would then spend the next 400 years meditating in order to strengthen his aura. While his chackles did stop him from using his magic and nen, he could still perform simple exercises with his aura to increase its power output.
After 200 years, the chackles shattered while a younger Sheer Force was watching him and together they made a promise. The chackles could no longer hold Meruem, the moment another pair was put on they would immediatelly crack. Sheer Force and Meruem became close friends after Meruem told the curious minotaur about his past and his plan to hold peace, Sheer Force was more than willing to help him.
Sheer Force work his way up in rank amongs the guards so that he could get the authority to be the one of the few that were to watch over Meruem and enter the 8th level. Eventuelly the veterans of Tartarus were the only ones that knew that there even existed an 8th level. Meruem during this time, spent a hundred years developing and creating a large variety of Hatsu (Nen-abilities) for the future.

Back to the present

"How many whipcracks did you hear Sheer Force?" Meruem asked as he offered a hand to the downed minotaur.

"*grunt* From the little I could hear," Sheer Force began as he rose, "about 6 or 7."

"Hmm, so around mach 6 is my limit without nen." Meruem stated.

As Meyeri was getting up into sitting position, she couldn't help but be shocked over what she was hearing.

"Mach 6? As in, 6 times the speed of sound?!" Meyeri screamed in her mind.

"Who's this?" Meruem asked.

"She's one the younger guards, she's been working here for about a year now." Sheer Force explained.

"I didn't know you hired cows, is it even safe for her to be around so many bulls?"

"She is..." Sheer Force began with difficulty, "considered undesired. Bulls tend to prefer more plump cows and she's a bit of a tomboy."

Meruem stared at his friend with a slight hint of disappointment before saying: "I'll never understand you bulls taste in women, what I see in front of me is a well trained beautiful young cow with curves in all the right places. Perfect child bearing hips to give birth and what I can guess is rather big but not overly humongous breasts that the majority of cows possess. In fact, I may be so bold as to say she's probably the most attractive cow I've ever seen. But that's just my opinion."

Meyeri could not help but feel embarrassed over what she just heard. She has always been seen as unattractive for a cow and has never gotten any compliments that went "beautiful" or "attractive". Her face is now bright red and she is beginning to feel a little dizzy, both out of embarrassment and for the fact that she's still trying to process everything that's happened so far. But before she could pass out, a question brought her back to reality.

"What's your name?"

"Eh-weh-wha?" Meyeri fumbled out.

"That's a weird name." Meruem said with a head tilt.

"Oh n-no, my name is Meyeri s-sir."

"Meyeri huh? What is your involvment in this?"

"Oh! She saw me open the door to the 8th level, I thought it would be alright since it was only her." Sheer Force explained nervously.

Meruem gives Sheer Force another dissapointed look before sighing. He rubs the bridge of his nose before looking at Meyeri in front of him.

"What is the social status of your family and how many are they?" Meruem asked in a dark and serious tone that made Meyeri incredibly nervous.

"M-m-my family consists of j-just me, my younger brother; w-hose a guard in training a-and my f-father; whose a blacksmith." Meyeri stammered her answer.

Meyeri's family have never consisted of nobility, her families status has always been that of peasants. Because of this fact, Meyeri was afraid that perhaps her families lack in value would give Meruem the reason to simply kill her in order to get rid of evidence for his escape. But what she got instead was a releaved look from him.

"Perfect," Meruem said with a slight hint of a smile that for some reason made Meyeri's heart skip a beat, "make sure to contact them and tell them that you'll be leaving the kingdom of Minos for a new home. But make sure that they don't inform anyone else of were you will be going. The location is to remain a secret between us and everyone else involved until the time is right."

"Meruem," Sheer Force began, "we have a time limit here."

"Right let's get moving."

As Meruem and his "escorts" were making progress to the 1st level, they would be accompanied with a new veteran guard at each floor. These guards were all brothers in arms with Sheer Force, were more than ready to retire so it wouldn't be wierd for them to suddenly dissappear and they were all informed over Meruems escape. When they had finally reach the upper levels, there were now 9 minotaurs surrounding Meruem and keeping him hidden from sight; Meyeri, Sheer Force and 7 other guards that were all part of the plan. Things went smoothly since all other guards were currently on lunch break and the guards involved had made sure that they were the only ones covering the lunch break shifts.

But they reached their first hindrance at the entrance of Tartarus, the hound of Hades himself, Cerberus.

And as always, he never rested and was always on guard duty.

"So what's the plan here?" Meyeri asked worried.

"Reveal me." Meruem stated blankly.

Without questioning him, the minotaurs split apart to reveal Meruem for Cerberus. The three headed hound immediatelly began to growl at the Chimera Ant, but before he could attack, a chill went up everyones spine.

Meruem did something that he hadn't done ever since the Great Feast, he released his bloodlust. Despite the fact that it was directed towards Cerberus, the minotaurs behind him could feel the hostility and killing intent of it all, they all began sweating heavily.
Cerberus on the other hand, was shaking in terror. All six of his pupils became pinpricks and he felt a sudden need to take a leak. While Meruem in front of him didn't change in appearance, in Cerberus's mind however, Meruem had transformed into something big and terrifying. And he felt small.

Cerberus whimpered as he began to lie down, the once big and scary eternal guard dog of the eternal prison, had been reduced to a whimpering puppy. He rolled over on his back to show his stomach, something that animals do when they've given up and submitted to a superior being.

Meruem began to appoach Cerberus, the guards became worried of what he was about to do and Cerberus had closed his eyes in fear of what was to come. His dog ears could hear every step that Meruem took, it was painfully slow. Flashes of Cerberus puppy days began to appear in his mind. A kind milk white alicorn with a red mane that glimmered like the night sky, carrying little Cerberus home. Feeding him, petting him and playing with him. The happiest points in his long life flash in his mind, the days before he became the guardian of Tartarus. The footsteps have finally silenced and Meruem is standing in front of Cerberus, who has now stopped moving completely. Prepared for the end, Cerberus waited for it all to be over.

The end that he was expecting never came. Instead, Meruem had begun petting and scratching him behind the ears. The sudden change in atmosphere was overwhelming for Cerberus, he had gone from the stoic eternal guard dog, to a whimpering puppy in front of a massive predator, to a now eternally grateful good boy whose life was spared. Meruem kept petting Cerberus until he had calmed down, then he spoke.

"I need to leave this place," Meruem explained as he made eye contact with the middle head, "but I'll come visit. Alright?"

"*Happy dog noises*" Cerberus answered.

Location: Outside of Tartarus

They past the gates of Tartarus without further issue and made their way down the stairway towards the forest that was at the edge of the Wasteland in which Tartarus was located. There were guard towers outside the gates but the guards that were located there were also part of the plan, so no alarms indicating a prisoner had escaped were sounded that day.
At the edge of the forest was a small gathering of minotaurs, the majority of which were cows and calfs. These were the families that were involved in the plan of Meruems escape. As families were reunited, Meruem called over Sheer Force.

"Is this everyone?" Meruem asked.

"Yes, these are all that will be joining us, excluding Meyeri's family since they aren't informed yet and the two guards in the tower. Yes this is everyone." Sheer Force explained.

"And you're certain that everyone here can be trusted to not leak any information to any nobility or royalty?"

"Yes, the majority of the ones here are either farmers, craftsmen, blacksmiths or construction workers. Plus, several of them hold a grudge towards nobility." Sheer Force explained further.

"Good, now give me your hand." Meruem ordered.

Sheer Force was already aware of what was necessary and without hesitation brought out a knife from his right pant pocket and cut his left index finger. The ones that saw the action were both confused and slightly worried over what was about to happen, that was made even worse when Meruem suddenly licked Sheer Force wound. The wound began to glow as Meruem spoke.

"Eligos (Lord of Wispers)"

Out of the glowing wound spawn a small fist sized hippocampus-looking creature with bat-like wings. The creature shimmered in rainbow sparks and gave off whistles and wispers that were barely audible.

Several "Wows" were released from the ones that saw the spectacle and Meruem began to explain what it was.

"Alright, I'll only explain this once, so listen well." Meruem paused to make sure he had everyones attention.
"This is one of my abilities, it works like a long distance communication device that will allow Sheer Force here to inform me of anything that happens. It will also be your guide for the journey that you will all be a part of."

"Wait! You're not coming with us?!" Meyeri exclaimed.

"I have some other things that I'll need to take care of, as well as more followers that need to be gathered." Meruem explained with a tone of authority.
"That reminds me, crouch down a bit will you."

Meyeri did as ordered and was caught off guard over what happened next. Meruem grabbed her horns and brought her in for a mouth to mouth. Every minotaur stared in shock, every bull was slackjawed, every cow had a deep blush and every calf were disgusted. Meyeri's heart was on fire as she never believed she would ever kiss a male in her life, she started getting into it as firework were set off in her head, but she was quickly brought back to reality by a sudden sharp pain on her tongue and Meruem pulling back. She was about to scold Meruem, but her mouth was quickly filled with something and she spit out another winged hippocampus that whistled and wispered in glee.

"There, now you can contact me as well." Meruem said as if nothing was wrong.

"Why did you do that!?" Meyeri shouted with a deep blush.

"I needed way to contact you while you're getting your family back in Minos."

"Couldn't you just tell me to cut myself like you did with sir. Force?"

"Would you cut yourself without hesitation if I told you to?"

"No... probably not..." Meyeri answered with a sigh of dissapointment.

"Exactly, now you can contact me without problem and I've ensured the first mother of my children."

"... ... ... Wait, WHAT!?!?"

"I'm pretty well versed in Minotaur culture, so I'm aware that if you grab both horns of a member of the opposite sex, you claim them as yours." Meruem explained casually.

Meyeri was left frozen in shock with a deep blush on her face. The bulls were impressed by Meruem boldness, the cows were happy for Meyeri and the calfs were still disgusted by the kiss, being children and all. Meruem turned around and began walking away as the purple marks on his body began to glow in a silvery rainbow colour.

"Hyperion (Lord of Light)"

Meruem's mark burst in silver fire and white lightning, his finger and toe nails transformed into claws of light and white wings sprouted from his back as he took to the air at lightning speed, flying west.

"Huh, I knew he was tougher than adamantine but I didn't expect him to be that bold." Sheer Force said with a shrug.

"Congratulation on getting yourself such a straight forward bull! Even though he's not a bull." one of the cows exclaimed happily, with last part remaining unheard.

Meyeri could do nothing but remain frozen in shock as one sentence lingered in her mind: "What have I gotten myself into?"

"*Sigh* Curse my curiousity." Meyeri said silently to herself.

Location: Southwest of Equestria, somewhere in the San Palomino Desert

In the middle of a large desert lies a bizarre pyramid with numerous heiroglyphs depicting the god-like entity that once upon a time ruled this part of Equestria like a tyrant. It has now become nothing more than a ruin of the glory that it once was, overflowing with tourist taking picture and being admired.

But deep within the temple, further in were nobody or pony is allowed to enter, is an alter that was once used as a throne for its ruler. In the middle of the gloomy darkness, a crack in reality opened up, showing a gateway to a warping reality were up is down and left is right. In the middle of the warp, a large female feline with wings floats in a fetal position, seemingly in deep slumber. Then suddenly as a bad omen, the sphinx opened it's slitted amber eyes and spoke in a quiet yet almost hopeful sounding tone.

"...Meruem?..."

Author's Note

Woooo! This chapter felt so good to write! I'm really proud of it, hope you all like it. :pinkiehappy:

Many questions will probably be asked about this chapter. What happened to cause the Great Feast? What is Meruems plan? How many abilities has Meruem created during his time in Tartarus? But most importantly. Why does he want children? :rainbowhuh:

Here's a more detailed explanation of the abilities that appeared in this chapter:

Eligos (Lord of Wispers)
Nen-type: Manipulation
By tasting an individuals blood, Meruem creates a small Nen-beast that works as a communication device for Meruem and his followers. Eligos can give specific instructions, orders and advice in the form of wispers that only the target hears. If the target makes contact with one of their relatives, another Eligos will spawn from the wound were the blood was deliver, the new Eligos will then attach itself to the relative. Meruem can manipulate if he wants Eligos to be visible or not, or make it so that it is only visible for the specific target.

Hyperion (Lord of Light)
Nen-type: Enhancement and Transmutation
Meruem inbuds elemental nen into his muscles, increasing his running and movement speed. This causes the purple marking on Meruems body to burn in bright silver flames and white lightning. As he runs, he releases electricity that will shock and burn any that stands in his way. His 6 senses are also put at their maximum, this causes his perspective of time to slow to the point were everything nearly stops moving. His fingers and toe nails grow to form claws of light that allow Meruem to slice and dice his enemies. By combining this with his metamophosis ability, he grows glowing white nen covered wings that allow him to fly at the speed of lightning.

PS. I was actuelly planning on having Meruem kill Cerberus this chapter, but while I was wrighting I started feeling bad for him and felt guilty. :fluttercry:

PPS. Did I use semicolon right in this chapter? I'm still pretty new to writing so please inform me.

Chapter 8. Blood and Ash

Location: Kingdom of San Palomino

Time: 1350 years ago

Sphinx POV

Another day in bondage. What more can I really say. My life doesn't hold any value other than to grant whatever wishes that the Pharaoh allows to be granted. If he feels like being generous that is, which isn't often. Villagers and travellers from far and wide come and go through these great halls in hope that I'll grant their wishes, but only if they can answer my riddles. It is what has made me and my kind into figures of worship during these dark times of the Tyrant Godking.

I was captured and taken from my homeland by Solaris around 20 years ago. He made me a slave and sold me to the Pharaoh in order to establish an alliance between San Palomino and the Kingdom of Everfree. My only light in this situation is that the Pharaoh only uses me for my magic and not for my body. These ponies are always so xenophobic in the weirdest of times. Though now when I think about it, it might have something to do with my size rather than my species. Some of the guards would sneak in to my chamber from time to time and rub one out on my body, whether or not the Pharaoh noticed is beyond me, since I'm given a bath every morning to look my best next to him. The Pharaoh has attempted to make moves on me in the past, but gave up as he couldn't reach around my body. He would get furious and decide to whip me instead, then he would take out his frustration on some of the other slaves. Though judging by what I've heard from them, he isn't anything special in bed, if what they told me is to be believed. I believe one of the pegasi slaves called him a "two pump chump", which has to be one the funniest ways to say that someone last no longer than 30 seconds. Moments of laughter like those don't last long however, as the guards had apparently heard our conversation and reported to the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh then took her away from the rest of us and I never saw that mare again.

The great halls of the throne room was quite the sight to behold. The ground was so sparkling clean that it reflected the entire room. Up on the ceiling were large light crystals, kept in huge copper bowls that was held up with silver chains, covering the entire hall in golden light. On the left and the right side were stairways with red carpeting that lead up to another level that held on large sandstone table on each side, used for festivities such as royal dinners with foreign sovereignty. The throne itself was quite simple in design, but complex in material, as well as way to large for the earth pony it belonged to. Made from ebony wood as the skeleton, with the outer shell being made of sandstone mixed with ivory, with cushions to make it comfortable and me in orichalcum shackles and adamantine chains right beside it.

Opposite to the stairway that led to the throne stood two guards. They wore leather tunics on their chests and triangular pouches, called sporrans, around their waists. They wore enchanted bronze helmets with leather padding on their heads and they wielded large rawhide shields and bronze tipped spears.
The large wooden doors would open at any moment now as the Pharaoh waited for the Alicore Family's representative.

It is weird that Solaris himself isn't showing up for this meeting. I bet he's probably out on another genocide or something... Great, I just made myself depressed by thinking of reality.

I slump down on the ground, using my arms as cushions to rest my head on. I'm fully convinced that I'll die within these halls one day, since the Pharaoh pretty much treats me like a family treasure that should be used for future generations, he's going to keep me alive for his son to use as well when the time comes. I'll never see my home again, if there even is a home to return to.
My gaze goes to the stallion which most of my hatred is directed towards, Pharaoh Zebāla. His coppar coat, sand red mane with golden streaks running through it and jade green eyes will forever be a bane in my memories. He wears a half-pleated kilt around his body with a pleated section drawn to the front. Jewelry with symbols of power carved into them, leopard skin over his shoulders and a lion's tail hanging from the side of his belt. On his head is a nemes head dress, the kind that all pharaohs are suppose to wear.

"I can't wait for the day this pig in pony clothing and his entire kingdom burns to the ground." I thought with malice.

My thoughts are broken because of an unbearably uncomfortable chill running down my spine, that makes the hair on my neck stand. I feel a powerful presence approaching from beyond the doors to the throne room, it's accompanied by two others, but they are nearly invisible to my senses as the bigger one seems to block them out and swallow them with it's presence alone. I've never felt power like this before, it's overwhelming. It makes me feel... small?
It can't be an alicorn. Solaris, Faust and their daughters are nothing compare to this thing. Whatever is moving towards us can't be anything else but a large monster. It has to be, it can't be anything else. It's like I'm being stalked by a predator.

"Presenting Prince Meruem Alicore and Archmage Starswirl from the Kingdom of Everfree!" the guard shouts as the doors open, revealing a young lime green alicorn stallion with a purple mane, accompanied by a dark gray unicorn mage with a light gray mane and beard, and a golden yellow unicorn guard with a dark blue mane.

"Ahhh welcome welcome, child of the Godking, to my humble kingdom." Pharaoh Zebāla said with the most flank kissing voice I've ever heard.

"Yes," the Prince, known as Meruem, said with a slight cringe, "it is a pleasure to be here Lord Zebāla."

That was an obvious lie, it was very visible on his face that he did not want to be here. But, even that felt odd.
His face was so obvious that it looked like it was forced, like he's pretending to be nervous and uncomfortable. The Pharaoh obviously noticed the discomfort, but not that it was an act. So he just kept talking, most likely thinking the prince was just nervous to be around such a majestic stallion.
His thoughts not mine.
They mostly talked about trading and politics, but also about their families, like how the Queen and Princesses are doing, it was a bit odd that the Pharaoh didn't ask about Solaris. But non of that matters, there is something very wrong about this alicorn. I've never heard of Solaris and Faust having a son, Princess Luna is supposed to be the youngest. Is he adopted? Where did he come from? Why is his life force so overwhelming?! It's like a forest fire of every colour of the rainbow, but it isn't a pretty rainbow. It's... sinister. Like there is a mix a hatred and bloodlust hidden amongs the colours.

I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I had zoned out the rest of their conversation. I don't know how long they had talked but clearly something Prince Meruem had said to the Pharaoh had made him upset, as twelve of his guards were now surrounding the Prince and his company.

"DO NOT THINK ME A FOOL YOUNG PRINCE!" the Pharaoh's voice boomed across the throne room.
"I already know that Solaris has fallen in battle, my spies had taken notice of his absence and I put the pieces together."

"Solaris is dead?! Since when?!" I scream in my head with wide eyes.

"With the Solar Godking out of the picture, this leaves the Kingdom of Everfree without a proper ruler." Zebāla continued.
"This means that all the rulers of both ponykind and the other races will set their sites on Queen Faust's hand in marriage, as well as the princesses. I shall be the first to conquer it and take Queen Faust for myself."

My eyes were directed to the young alicorn to see his reaction. His mask was breaking and I could see clear signs of anger and hatred within his eyes. The danger I felt from his lifeforce was beginning to become overwhelming and consume the entire throne room, but Pharaoh Zebāla didn't realise any of this.
The prince's body was shaking, his muscles were bulging out and his eyes bloodshot with rage. While Zebāla was still talking, I met eyes with the alicorn. Within his eyes, I saw something that both terrified me, but also intrigued me and filled me with hope. Those eyes were not the eyes of a herbivore.

"While I'm at it, I might as well take the young and still developing princesses as my concubines and force Faust to watch as I take away their purity."

Those words were the last straw, what happened next will forever be stuck within my memories.
The alicorn's body was covered with dark purple flames of hatred, it's pressence was so overwhelming that the guards that surrounded him instantly backed away and began to shake uncontrollably. His silhouette began to change from a young alicorn stallion to a creature I've never seen before. A body covered with a green exoskeletal armour with purple markings over lighter green skin, body shape like that of a primate and long powerful looking tail with a stinger at the end.
His head looked down as the transformation finished, before it slowly began to rise and I witnessed the most animalistic and hungry smile in my life.

Pharaoh Zebāla voice was finally silenced and he was shaking in fear for his life. His instincts were screaming at him to run far away from the creature that was infront of him. A wet stain began to grow from his crotch area and I could smell urine as a yellow puddle began to form on the ground.

"Wh-wha-wha-what-what a-a-ar-are y-y-yo-you?" he stammered out.

Instead of answering, the creatures smile only grew and his two companions went down on the ground and covered their heads with their arms. I barely had time to register as to why they did this, before the heads of all twelve guards were suddenly gone and the throne room was covered in blood, skull fragments and brain matter.
The creature opened his mouth and spoke.

"I'm the beast that ate Solaris." he said before he vanish from my sight.

I had no time to question were he went before a powerful gust of wind, followed by what sound like something earth-like shattering and the left side of my entire body was covered in something wet. The smell of iron entered my nose and a look towards my left arm to see it covered in a red liquid. My gaze continue to my left and what I see feels like something out of my dreams.

The Pharaoh's throne was split in two, with the mangled remains of the stallion painting it red. His arms and legs were on each side of the split apart throne, with the wall behind it covered with patches of fur, bloodstained clothing, organs, spine and ribs. His still beating heart fell to the ground with a *splat* and I saw the creaure standing infront of the destroyed throne with Zebāla head impaled on the stinger of his tail. He brought the head to his mouth and bit out a chunk of the cranium with a crunch, like it was an apple.

"Hmmm, he doesn't taste like royalty." the creature hummed. He then spit out what he had in his mouth and said, "Completely inedible." before throwing the head with such force that the face of the stallion got stuck on it in a screaming position like a horrifying art piece.

The creature's head moves to my direction and I thought for a second that he was looking at me, until he spoke once again.

"I know you're there, show yourself."

A whimper followed by weak hoofsteps came after his words were spoken, from behind a pillar near the throne emerged Prince Hisan, Zebāla's son. Unlike his father, Hisan never spoke ill about anyone, he didn't treat others like they were bellow him and he never agreed with his father's ideals. In other words, he was the polar opposite of the now deceased pharaoh.

"Come here."

Hisan obliged and walk towards the green beast with shaking stepps. It takes him sometime as he seems to hesitate with every step he took, but this Meruem doesn't repeat himself or seemed annoyed by how much time the prince is wasting. When he finally stands before him he speaks again with a voice of authority.

"Kneel."

Prince Hisan then proceeds to not only go down on his knees, but also smash his muzzle into the ground.

"I said kneel, not smash your muzzle on the ground!" Meruem shouted with irritation.

"Sholly!" Hisan whimpered, unable to say sorry properly as he had just smashed his face twisted.

"Stand still while I heal you."

Hearing the same creature that had moments ago painted the throne room red with blood, say that he was gonna heal the terrifyed prince left me slack jawed. He showed such animalistic brutality and took a bite out of the decapitated head of Hisan's father. But despite all that, he was gonna heal the prince that just hurt himself because of his own fear.

"Pazuzu (Lord of Pestilence)"

Meruem aura covered his tail before the stinger was replaced with a black blob that began to grow. When the blob became bigger than Meruem's body, from each side it sprouted six bird-like claws with red nails and from the top emerged four white wings with red markings. The two frontal claws dug into the blob as it began to change into a black cloak, the claws brought forth a beaked mask with glass eyes and right behind it a falcon like head emerged.

"Now, relax your muscles and don't move." Meruem ordered.
"I promise this won't hurt at all."

The newly formed creature put the mask onto it's face and began to work. The red tips of it's claws split apart and turned into pincers, while the feathers on it's wings changed into tentacles with blades and tools at the end of them.
I watched with facination as the creature worked on Hisan's face, one of it's right claws sprouted a needle that injected something into Hisan's muzzle, then two of it's claws grabbed hold of his muzzle keeping it in place. The claws and the tentacles work in such synchronicity that it was hard to follow. Before I knew it, it had reattached his teeth into his gums, mended together his bones, patched up his skin, regrown any lost fur and cleaned of the blood. Lastly, it sprouted another needle, from the left this time, and injected something into Hisan's muzzle before letting go.
So much had happened in only a matter of minutes, it was just as incredible as it was disturbing.

"There, good as new." Meruem said as he backed away from Hisan and the cloaked being disappearing from sight.

Hisan opened his eyes confused as he hadn't felt a thing, he moved around his muzzle and touched it with his hands. Just like Meruem had said, it was good as new. Hisan now looked towards Meruem not with fear, but admiration. Despite the fact that his father's mangled corpse was barely more than a few meters away from them.

"Now, let's try this again." Meruem spoke calmly.
"Kneel."

Doing it calmly and properly this time, Hisan went down on one knee and lowered his head before Meruem. Meruem brought his stinger and gently placed it on Hisan's left shoulder before placing it on his right.

"In the name of the Alicore family, I, Prince Meruem Alicore, coronate you, Prince Hisan, as the new Pharaoh of San Palomino."

Hisan head shoots up with wide eyes, most likely completely dumbfounded of everything that has happened in just one day. As he meets the eyes of Meruem however, his shocked expression is replaced with smile of pride and respect towards the creature in front of him.

"Gather up the servants and clean this place up, then let's search for and annihilate all that were loyal to Zebāla." Meruem says with a smile.

Hisan nods with enthusiasm as he rushes out of the throne room to give out the orders, his mind probably filled with hope and expectations for a new age. Meruem's gaze falls towards me and he grimaces as he sees me.
I flinch under his gaze and feel my world for a second time in my life shatter. Whenever someone has looked at me with a face like that, it was with disgust or malicious intent. I try to crawl away from him but don't get far as I'm still chained to the ground right next to the throne. I close my eyes as he approuches, feeling tears beginning to form in my eyes out of fear for what he will do to me.

*SHATTER* *Clatter*

The sound of metal being destroyed and hitting the ground is what follows, I feel myself getting lighter and my strength returning to me. I open my eyes slowly and see my shackles and chains destroyed and on the ground. Something touches me gently on the my right cheek and I meet the eyes of Meruem staring at me with not disgust or malice, but care and worry.

"My apoligies, I didn't intent for you to get so filthy." he looks to me with a shamed expression.

"I-It's f-fine," I stammer, "I'm kinda used to getting covered with unwanted liquids."
"Why did I say that!?!" I scream in my head.

His eyes go wide in shock, which is immediately followed my by teeth gritting anger.

"I swear to you," he starts with a low tone, "I will kill every last one of these pigs, even if it's the last thing I'll ever do."

I'm speechless. No one has ever gotten this upset over something that's happened to me. Even back home, I never got into enough bad situation to know what it feels like when someone worries about you.
It is... Refreshing?... Nice?... I'm not sure what this feeling is, but I like it. Is this the feeling of having someone to rely on?
My eyes meet Meruem's and I feel my heart skip a beat as I look into them. Before they were like the eyes of an apex predator, but now they seem so gentle. In fact, they're beautiful.
Meruem looks done at himself, seeing his body covered with blood and grimaces in disgust, he looks up to me with pleading eyes.

"You wouldn't happen to know were the baths are?" he asked with slight desperation in his tone.

"I do, in fact, I happen to know were the royal baths are." I say with new found energy.

Meruem smiles back at me and holds out his left hand to me.

"Care to show me?" he asked with a smirk.

Once again I feel my heart skip a beat and my face heating up. He wasn't giving me an order, but a request that felt like it had more than one meaning behind it. Had been anyone else, I would have turned them down without hesitation, but him...

I smirk and answer with: "It will be my pleasure, your majesty" as I take his hand.

"Please call me Meruem... I never got your name."

"Oh... It's Asha." I say shyly.

"A pretty name for a beautiful queen."

My brain takes a sudden stop and tries to process what he just said. Did he call me that because I'm a feline or because he plans to-
"Prince Meruem!" my thought are broken by a sudden shout coming from the middle of the throne room. The two unicorns, who I honestly forgot were still here, was trying to get Meruem's attention.

"What's wrong Pride?" Meruem asked with a headtilt.

"Well, it's just that..." the unicorn named Pride begins, "The ritual you performed on Hisan was not for the coronation of a new monarch, but rather a dubbing for knighthood."

"..."

Meruem's silence makes me lean forward slightly to get a better look at his expression, it would appear that his face has gotten several shades darker.

"Pride Sentry." Meruem says calmly.

"Yes?"

"SHUT UP!"

On the same day as I was freed from my life of bondage, was also the day I met the love of my life.

"Oh Lord of Change above! He's so cute when he's embarrassed!" I screamed in my head.

Location: Edge of San Palomino desert

Present Time

I open my eyes as I return from my trip down memory lane. To think that it's been more than a millenia since that era.

After Meruem had passed out from the injuries he recieved from the Portal that lead to the Warp, I immediatelly went into action and healed his wounds using my magic. While restoring his injuries isn't an issue, recovering his energy is gonna take some time. When my ear picked up the sound of approuching hoofsteps and the clattering of armour, I didn't hesitate to leap into the air and fly as far away from the village as I could. Which is the reason why we are currently staying in a cave, within the mountains located near the Rockfarms. Weird that those things are still around, I wonder if that Pie pony's family still owns it? Their descendants perhaps?

Except for a couple of mountain goats, bats, birds of prey and cave dwelling insects, there weren't any animals that could be considered a threat. Well, there's not that many things in this world that could really be considered a threat to Meruem, but considering he's currently unconsious I don't want to take any risks.
Looking out into the night sky with me sitting in a lotus position and Meruem peacefully sleeping in my lap is like a dream come true for me, I just wish the circumstances were different. My gaze goes down towards the ant that stole my heart.

"*Sigh* Oh Meruem, what happened that day." my eye begin to water as my memories makes themselves present once again.

Location: What's left of the Kingdom of San Palomino

The Day of the Great Feast

3rd person POV

The Kingdom of San Palomino was only one of many kingdoms that fell during the Great Feast. The melodies of destruction was flying throughout all of Equis, without anyone knowing why it was happening. Burning light was falling from the sky, beasts of unknown origin was destroying all that moved, turning them to ash and consuming them, bringing them back to the monster that spawned them. The world was in so much chaos and confusion that even the Lord of Chaos himself would be confused and terrified. Ponies, griffons, dragons, abyssinians, diamond dogs, yaks, minotaurs and all other races were being annihilated without anyone knowing why.

Within the royal palace of San Palomino, a young adult pegasus mare was running for her life. With her left wing broken because of a nasty fall during the chaos, rendering her grounded. With no other choise and nowhere else to go, Somnambula was running through the halls of the pyramid, desperately searching for her friends.

"Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive, please be alive, PLEASE!" she was muttering as her eyes were desperately searching through the halls.

Ash covered armour and jewelry from both guards, servants and nobles covered the smoking halls, having gotten hit by the burning light from the white beasts. Desperatly she was searching for her Pharaoh and Goddess.
Without looking were she was going, she ended up running into one of them.

"Ooof!" a male voice grunt.

"Ouch!" Somnambula yelp in pain as she landed on her already damaged wing.

"Miss Somnambula!" Pharaoh Hisan gasps as he quickly stands up to help his dear friend.

"Hisan!? Thank Faust!"Somnabula shout with relief as she embrasses her Pharaoh in a hug, both of them overjoyed that they found eachother.

"Pharoah!!!" multiple voices shouted down the hall.

Both ponies look down the hall and see a group of Hisan's royal guards approaching in a hurry. Both sigh in relief at the familiar faces, but the happiness they felt is quickly destroyed as a screeching sound followed by a bright light that consumes the guards. The group didn't even have time to scream in pain, before their ash covered armour fell onto the ground with a clatter.
Somnambula and Hisan watch in horror as all the ash of the guard began to float together and into the non-existing mouth of the one of the white beasts that attacked their kingdom and the rest of Equis. The creature was shapeless, it had no body, no mouth, no eyes, no ears, nothing. It appeared as nothing more than a living pile of snow white feathered wings, six sets of wings just piled together. It wasn't flying, more like floating and not even using it's wings.

Now when they are so close to it, both Somnambula and Hisan think back to something they saw when they walked through the ruins of one of Solaris churches. There were paintings and texts on stone, depicting divine entities that served a higher being, with names that translated to the Burning Ones.

They were called

Seraphim

The white beast begins to move, twisting its feathered covered body towards the two ponies. Slowly the beast began to expand, the feathers covering it's body standing and a gentle humming sound could be heard.

Somnambula recognises the sound and doesn't hesitate when she roughly drags Hisan down the corridor to their left. They barely make it around the corner as the screeching sound they heard earlier returns and a blinding white light is released from the beast. The smell of burning enters their muzzles and they immediately increase their running as they narrowly avoided the same fate as the guards.
The beast takes haste, using eight of it's twelve wings as legs, it swiftly crawls through the halls after them, like a feather covered spider, while the rest of it's wings covered the source of the light.

Corner after corner. Door after door. Somnambula and Hisan were running for their lifes through the halls of the palace, the halls were covered in burn marks, ash and armour, filling them with dread for what would happen if they slowed down. They did not stop running, because the beast was either just around the corner or just beyond the door they past. But they were both running out of breath.

"We can't *pant* go on *pant* like this." Somnambula stated, "It's going to *pant* get us at this rate."

"I *pant* think *pant* I *pant* have an *pant* idéa!" Hisan barely got out as they rounded another corner. "We need to *pant* reach Asha's chambers, *pant* she should be there."

Now, normaly the sphinx named Asha would be with her lover Meruem in the Kingdom of Everfree. But despite how the previous pharaoh treated her, she was still worshipped and loved by the ponies of San Palomino. In their eyes, just like Queen Faust was the goddess of the Everfree, Asha was the goddess of San Palomino. If anyone succeeded in solving her riddles, she would reward them with a wish, as long as that wish followed a set of rules. What these rules are however, no one but Lady Asha knows. The ponies of San Palomino believes that her not telling them the rules are another form of test to see if they really are worthy of having their wish granted and not just recieved for selfish reasons.

Finally, the two made it to the violet door covered with star-like patterns. Signifying that it was the door that lead to the chambers of the Goddess of Wishes herself.
Roughly opening the door, nearly pulling it of it hinges, and closing just as roughly when they hear that dreaded humming sound followed by that horrifying screech from beyong the closed door. Heat begins to build up on the door and both immediately back of from it as the heat becomes unbearably. They feared that it would break through but oddly enough, it didn't seem to make any proggress.

"Don't worry, it won't get through, the doors enchanted." A female voice spoke from the large bed in the center of the room.

Lady Asha's room was large, larger than even the pharaoh's and any other royalty and noble within the kingdom. It made sense considering how large she was compare to the ponies. Her bed was so large that ponies had trouble even getting on it.

Asha was wearing a veilchen violet nightgown, with golden markings sparkling like stars on her body. Her eyes were bloodshot and her nose was running, showing clear signs that she'd been crying. Her entire body was shaking as she was curled up in a fetal position on the bed.
Seeing their friend and goddess like this disturbed both ponies and they didn't hesitate to approach in order to comfort her, despite the fact that both of them had a near death experience.

"Lady Asha, it hurts me to say this while you are like this, but we need you to be strong, our ponies are dying out there." Hisan pleads.

"What even are those things?" Somnambula questions, "I've never seen monster like them before, they came out of nowhere."

"They are Nen-beasts." Asha says shakingly.

Both ponies go wide eyed at this revelation, as there was only one creature that they both know that could create Nen-beasts.

"You mean... that this is all Meruem's doing?" Hisan asked in disbelief.

"But why!?" Somnambula shout with tears in her eyes, "Why would he do this!? Why would he betray us!?"

"He didn't..." Asha states, making them both confused, "it isn't just San Palomino, it's happening all over Equestria, even beyond it's borders."

They're both speechless, the scale of this attack was bigger then they both could have imagined. Why was this happening? There must be a reason.

"Something's very wrong," Asha mutter, "Something happened to Faust, something bad, I can't sense her anymore."

Dread began to fill the ponies and sphinx. Something had happened to Queen Faust. This was most likely the reason why this was happening. This attack wasn't a betrayal, it was the result of a child mourning the death of his mother and taking out his rage and sorrow on the world that took her away.
A loud boom snaps them back to reality, they need to take action.

"We must do something, the ponies of San Palomino will be annihilated if something isn't done." Hisan struggles out with sorrow.

"... ... ..." Asha remains silent and deep in thought, thinking about her options. She sighs as she can only think of one thing that could possibly stop this.

"I have an idéa, but we'll need to go to the throne room if it's gonna work." Asha says with determination.

"The throne room? Why there? And how are we going to reach it with those Nen-beasts outside?" Somnambula asked rapidly.

"Don't worry, I can create a barrier around us that will not only protect us, but also make us invisible." Asha says with new found confidence.

"What are you going to do once we reach the throne room?" Hisan asked concerned.

"I'm going to sacrifice one of my hearts and contact the Lord of Change."

"Sacrifice your heart! Have you lost your mind!?" Hisan yells.

"I said 'one of my hearts'," Asha explains calmly to their confusion, "we sphinxs have 9 hearts. By sacrificing one of them, we can contact the Lord of Change to gain power."

"Who is this Lord of Change you keep mentioning?" Somnambula asked more confused then ever.

"Where do you think Chaos magic comes from?" Asha asked with a smirk.

Back to the present

Asha's POV

I return to the present as my thoughts are broken because of movement near my thighs and look down to see Meruem moving in his sleep, his face scrunching in discomfort as he mumbles about something.
I gently lift him up using my arms as I change my position, laying down on my side as I use my right wing as a mattress and my left wing as a blanket. I move Meruem close to me and let him use my breasts as a pillow as I hold him close. Me and Meruem would often sleep together in this position, it fills me with nostalgic joy as I get to hold him like this again. I can't help but smile over the fact that I'm finally reunited with the love of my life, it makes me wish that the others could be with us like this.
... Great... I just had ruin it myself by thinking of the ones that aren't with us anymore.

"*sigh* Celestia, Luna, Nightblade, I miss you girls." I speak in a low tone.

*Mumble*

I look down to Meruem as I here him mumble in his sleep, this time I can actuelly her what he is saying.

"Tia... Lulu... Blade... I'm sorry..." Meruem mumble with tear running down his cheek.

Hearing him thinking about the others brings a smile to my face, and I just can't help but to place a gentle kiss to his cheek.

"I'm here Meruem, I'm here now." I wisper gently.

"... Mom..." my eyes go wide as he speaks about someone that I nearly forgot about.
"... Mom... you're going to be okay..."

Tears run down my face, the image of the mare that gave us her blessing, the one who saved me from being violated by Solaris that cold night, the one I have to thank for raising Meruem as her own.

"*sniff* Yeah, I miss her to Meruem... I miss you... Faust." I wimper as I fall asleep.

Author's Note

Sorry that this chapter took sometime, I think I experienced my first writers block. :twilightoops:
Either way I had fun writing it and discovered a couple of fun fact around it. Apparently the word used to descibe a female cat that hasn't been sterilized is called a queen. Which is the reason behind Meruem's comment about Asha's name. :twilightsmile:

Pazuzu (Lord of Pestilence)
Nen-type: Specialist
Spawns a cloaked Nen-beast with six arms, four wings and wears a plague doctor mask. It is the evolved and mutated form of the Chimera Ant Neferpitou's Hatsu, Dr. Blythe, and works in a similar maner. Pazuzu can perform all sort of miracles in medicine and can perform complex surgeries that would take hours in only a matter of minutes, putting professionals to shame. However, the Lord of Pestilence is also capable of performing it's namesake. Spreading Plagues. Within one of it's tentacles spawned from it's wings, Pazuzu can inject someone with a Nen-virus, that attacks and spreads through the victims aura. The virus is airborn and covers the victim in a 2 meter wide field. If anyone enters this field, they'll become carriers of the Nen-virus. Only Pazuzu himself possess the cure and just like the virus, the cure is airborn and spreads through a 5 meter wide field from those that carry it. When Pazuzu is spawned, it is unable to move from the spot it was created, thus locking both him and Meruem in place, since Pazuzu is directly connected to Meruem's tail.

Seraphim (???)
Nen-type: ???
A white Nen-beast with twelve wings that makes up it's entire body. Utilizing four of it's wings, it protects the source of the burning light that is released from the center of it's form. Further description is unknown.

PS. I don't own any of the artwork used in this fanfic, I find them on google and deviantart, and only use them as a way to help picture what the Nen-beasts look like.

(Rewritten) Chapter 9. Carnivores and Foreboding

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7. The Prince of Predators and the Goddess of Wishes

Location: Skies above Equestria

Meruem's POV

It feels great flying again after all this time. I got to admit that what all those pegasi servants said in the past was right. "Nothing beats the feeling of wind pushing against you face as you fly at high speed."
Despite all the Hatsu I've created before and during my time in Tartarus, Metamorphosis and Body Reconstruction remains two of my best abilities. Simply sprouting wings and taking to the skies is the very definition of freedom.

Looking down and taking in the landscape of my beautiful home, I see many things that remained the same and what's changed through the centuries. Like railways going through many town and villages, so many new places were there once was nothing but land. I also discovered that apparently Tartarus is located far to the east of the Everfree, because of course it would be there.
I stop midflight as my eyes lock onto what remains of my old home in the Everfree, it's nothing more than ruins now. I guess Celestia and Luna must have abandon it after the Great Feast. Though to be fair, I've been in Tartarus for a long time, so there's definitely a lot that I've missed through out the centuries and millenia.

"Well, I'll fly back here another time. For now I need to continue flying south-west."

Location: Ponyville

Rainbow Dash POV

Ah, nothing beats a nice afternoon nap after a hard day of work. It's the least that the coolest and fastest flyer in Equestria deserves. Just me, this perfectly fluffy cloud and no other cloud or pegasus in the sky. Yep, perfect, nothing can ruin this moment.
...
... ...
... ... ...
"Huh, I thought I jinxed myself there for a mom-" my sentence is cut short as a loud sound of thunder acompanied with a powerful gust of wind flies past me. Causing me to lose balance and hang by the edge of my cloud.

"Ya a'right up there Dash?!" Applejack shouts from the ground, "Dat was a might' powerful gust ah wind!"

"Yeah I'm just fine!" I shout back as I get back up the cloud.
"What the hay was that?"

Back to Meruem

That was close, I almost hit that pegasus. Seems like there is a nice and not so little town now outside the Everfree, maybe I should visit sometime in the future.
Oh right, I almost forgot!

"Seir (Lord of Eyes)"

I spread out my arms and direct my palms towards the ground. Out of the glowing palms of my hands, small white sparks in the shape of winged big eyed ants begin to fall.
This is a Hatsu I created for the simple purpose of keeping watch. Seir is a colony of nen-beasts that are a combination of driver ants from Zebrica and Parasprites. Through them I can see what happens all over Equestria, they'll populate on they're own and spread out fast, giving me a world wide view. They aren't made for combat and they're not durable. They do however possess a stinger and powerful jaws from the driver ant part. Other than that, they appear as normal ants.

"I need to make sure to get some of them down the villages and towns bellow," I thought to myself, "that way I can have them spread out by jumping onto wagons of traveling merchants and what not."

After finishing my snowfall of little nightmares, I fly over what I believe was called the Ghastly Gorge. Seems like they've built a bridge there now. Passing the Ghastly Gorge and what seems to be a town with a Rock Farm, I finally begin to see the desert in the distance. Personally I've never understood how anyone can live in a desert, sure if you don't have a choise then I can understand. But willingly?
... ... ... Why am I even thinking about this? I have a friend to retrieve.

I stopped above a cloud to use as a platform and proceed to use my En in order to sense the auras of nearby lifeforms.
En is an advanced application of Ten and Ren. In Ren, aura usually envelops only a small amount of space around the user's body. En is when one extends their Ren so that their aura extends further than normal, then uses Ten at the same time to contain and give shape to that aura, normally a sphere. Someone using En can feel the shape and movement of anything within the area covered by their aura, with the degree of awareness and finesse depending on their level of skill. The downside to this technique is that it is extremely tiring and draining for the Nen user to constantly deploy so much aura.
I see many small signs of life within the desert; insects, rodents, plants and even the birds in the sky. Seems like my En has gotten way stronger during my time in Tartarus. In the past I could sense the auras in a 200 meter radius, but now I can sense them from nearly 2 kilometers away, I even sense the auras from the forest and townsponies right before the desert. I pick up a large gathering in the center of the desert and begin heading towards it.

"Well, it's better than nothing. Still, it's pretty weird that I can't sense her. Then again, chaos magic has always been pretty wonky."

Location: Town in San Palomino Desert

3rd person POV

The desert of San Palomino, while not as bad as the Bone Dry Desert or the Badlands, a desert is still a desert. Here they have the classical cactus fruits and camel milk, but also a large variety of tropical fruits like bananas, pineapples, coconuts and Dragon fruits. The reason why is because unlike the other two deserts, San Palomino Desert is located right next to the South Lunar Ocean, which have numerous vacation resorts.

Located in the middle of the desert is the village of Somnambula, named after the brave pegasus mare that saved it over a millenia ago. Thanks to the hard work of both earth ponies and pegasi, the village has prosper and grown greenery surrounding the village, unlike in the past when this place was nothing more than a barely livable desert. The villagers consisted of ponies from all three tribes, but the majority of tourists that visited were pegasi and other winged races, this is because they had the easiest time traveling since they flew over the burning sands of the desert. The towns primary tourist attraction is of course the towns supply of glowpaz and the Sphinx Pyramid, were there once lived a wish granting goddess; who possessed power that nearly rivaled that of the Lord of Chaos himself.
There was an old ruin gate as the entrance for the town, it's one of the few thing that was left almost completely untouched and unchanged through the millenia in order to keep some of the history of the town.

In the distance, the two guards stationed at the entrance, along with some of the villagers could hear what sounded like thunder, yet there were no rainclouds to be seen. Suddenly in the distance, several white clouds split apart with perfectly circular holes and a sparkling blur crashed down right at the entrance of the village of Somnambula. The two guards immediatelly went into defensive positions and pointed their spears at the dustcloud, were they could see the outline of a figure.

"Halt! Identify yourself or we will... we will- uh..." the pegasus stallions voice dies in his throat as he stares slackjawed and his partner, a pegasus mare, goes crimson and her winged fold out erect.

Out of the dust cloud walked a young muscular lime green pegasus stallion, a wild purple mane with dark green streaks and a long oddly snake looking tail that dragged in the sand. The stallion was quite short, looking more like a colt standing at 1.69 meters, while the avarage stallion stand at about 1.8 - 2.2 meters. His wings were large, covering his entire back side with feathers that mixed between dark green and purple while the base of his wings were lime green like his fur. In other words, he was a beautiful, well built and exotic looking stallion; who was walking through the streets wearing nothing more than a black-blue vest and nothing else. Leaving several crimson faced mares and many jealous stallions staring at the mysterious stranger that fell from heaven, both figuratively and literally. Despite being so short, he was not small at all down south.

"I feel her presence in this village, but where could she be?" *looks forward and sees the pyramid in the distance* "Nevermind, stupid question." Meruem sighs loudly to himself.

With the combined help of Metamorphosis and Body Reconstruction, Meruem possesses an extremely useful shapeshifting ability. The former transforms and reshapes his muscles and skeletal structur, while the latter changes his outer appearance; skin and hair. The only requirement for Meruem's transformations is that he has to have eaten the creature he transforms into at least once in his life. After the Great Feast, that is no longer a problem and Meruem now has a disguise of nearly every race in Equestria.

"Strange, why is everypony looking at me?" Meruem wondered in his mind.
"Is there something wrong with my disguise?"

It doesn't take Meruem long to realise what's wrong as he looks down on his body. It does however take him some time to take action, as he couldn't help but feel embarrassed at his own stupidity.

"Right, ponies don't have an exo-skeleton to hide their privates." Meruem said with a sigh, he looks towards his left to see an earth pony mare with a stall filled with different coloured cloth.

"You." Meruem said with a voice of authority as he made eye contact with the mare.
"How much for a full outfit?"

"I-If y-you buy e-everything as-s one," the mare stammered, her face completely red as she's trying to keep eye contact with her customer, but can't stop herself from taking a couple of quick peaks.
"35 bits s-sir."

Meruem reaches into the left chest pocket of his vest and brings out a wallet that he had "borrowed" from a friend earlier.

Location: Outside the edge of the Everfree Forest

"OH THAT SONUVA BUG!" Sheer Force yelled to the heavens.

"What is it sir?" Meyeri asked with concern.

"That overgrown ant stole my wallet!"

Back with Meruem

"Hope he's not too mad." Meruem thought as he got dressed in a changing booth.
Meruem now wore clothing that both made him blend in and made him quite the looker.

While not drawing as much attention as he did before, he was still quite the eye candy for the villagers, especially the mares who were practically drooling. Meruem was not unaware that his pony forms were quite attractive, there was barely any difference between his unicorn, pegasus, earth pony and alicorn forms. It isn't because he couldn't make variations between them, but because it wasn't necessary. His variations could easily pass as relatives to eachother, so if someone had seen more than one of them it wouldn't cause bigger comments than "They look similar". Because of this Meruem only made one alias for his pony forms.

Light Shine

Since the name Meruem means "The Light that Shines above all" it wasn't that odd of a choise for a pony name.

Continuing with his walk towards the pyramid, Meruem spent some time simply enjoying the views, passing off as any other tourist visiting the village. Though half his mind was also kept in the past since this isn't the first time he visited this village. In the past, Meruem had come here as a prince of Equestria in order to solve a political problem that involved the Pharaoh that ruled this town before the sphinx. The pharaoh was apparently close friends with Solaris and Faust knew that he would be a problem in the future if something wasn't done.

Finally he was at the entrance of the pyramid, but it was not only heavily guarded, but apparently sealed off with ancient runes.

"I wonder why it's sealed?" Meruem asked out loud.

"I'd be happy to tell you about it." an earth pony mare said suddenly behind Meruem. Judging by he clothing she seems to be a guide for tourists.

"I'm listening," Meruem answer with a monotone voice.
"Though I'm guessing it's not for free."

"For a handsome stallion like you? Free of charge."

"The benefit of being handsome I guess." Meruem thought to himself while giving the mare a deadpan expression.

"Long ago, this village fell prey toward an evil Sphinx, who demanded most of their crops. Like her fellow villagers Somnambula didn't have much, but she used what she had to keep others from giving up hope. The son of the Pharaoh, Prince Hisan was so moved by her compassion that he decreed no pony would go hungry again. But when Hisan stood up to the Sphinx, the beast captured him, telling the Pharaoh the only way to get his son back, was to solve her riddle. No pony would volunteer to save the prince, no pony except Somnambula.

The Sphinx gave her the riddle, 'I shined brightest in the dark, I am there but cannot be seen, to have me cost you nothing, to be without me costs you everything'. There Somnambula thought of the hardship she and he fellow villagers had experienced, she instantly knew the answer. 'Hope' she shouted and the Sphinx was so enraged it seemed she might still refuse to release the prince. So Somnambula asked her for one more challange, but if she accomplished it, the Sphinx would leave from the kingdom forever. The Sphinx quickly agreed asking only that Somnambula walk to the bridge across a deep chasm blindfolded. Further, the Sphinx had cast a powerful spell that prevented Somnambula from flying.

But Somnambula never lost hope, she knew she'd need to make a leap of fate to save the prince. Guided by the sound of the prince's voice, she easily made it across. The Pharaoh asked how Somnambula had prevailed and she explained that she had always hoped that she could make things better for her people and that hope had carried her through. The prince replaced the pearl Somnambule gave up with a string of Lopez and around her neck they glowed bright enough to light the entire kingdom."

The guide ended the presentation dramaticly which resulted in a round of applause from ponies that had gathered around to listen to the story. Everyone was cheering and celebrating, talking about how brave Somnabula and the prince was, how evil and unfair the Sphinx was and how hope is the most important thing in the world.

"That story was quite something," Meruem said with a fake smile that quickly turned to a frown, "but many things don't add up in that story."

Meruem's word caused everypony to go silent, wondering what he was talking about.

"First off, why would a Sphinx ask for the villagers crops? From many legends regarding them, Sphinx are primarly carnivores. It would have made much more sense in the story if the Sphinx asked for ponies to devour instead of crops."

When Meruem finished his sentence, many unlookers had expression of horror and some even turned green from the mental image.

"Second, if the Sphinx was so cruel and evil, why was there a pyramid built specifically for her? Judging by the hieroglyphs over by that wall, I'd say that it's almost like the Sphinx was worshipped rather than feared."

This caused many to do a double take, the villagers and tourists started to mumbling amongs eachother, the archaeologists that were nearby started to rethink about the ruins around the entire town and the guards started to feel incredibly uneasy because of an unexplainable feeling of danger. The guide was about to say something but Meruem kept going.

"Third and what most likely is the biggest flaw in the story, the timeline doesn't add up because Prince Hisan was already crowned Pharaoh during the time Somnambula was an adult."

This was the comment that nearly threw all the villagers into a frenzy, while some were angry over his claims, other started to realise that he was right and felt like their minds had been blown. Until the tourist guide finally managed to speak.

"How would you even know that?!" the guide accused Meruem, "You didn't even know what the pyramid was, so how would you know so much about our history, if you didn't know about the Sphinx?"

"Who said I didn't know about the Sphinx?" Meruem said as his aura was slowly starting to flare, "Also, my fourth point, the story didn't answer my question. Somnambula's request was for the Sphinx to leave and never come back, so why would they seal the pyramid as if the Sphinx never left?"

The feeling that the guards felt before now skyrocket. Everypony started to shake in terror over a feeling that nearly caused them all to either run or pass out. The tour guide fell onto her flank as she stammered.

"I-I don't h-h-have the a-a-answer for t-that s-sir."

"If you don't have the answer then I'll find out myself." Meruem stated as he began walking towards the sealed entrance to the pyramid.

The guards nearby tried to stop him, but as two approached and placed their hands on Meruem's shoulders, Meruem grabbed both their arms in a bone crushing grip and proceeded to throw them over his shoulders, which resulted in both stallions to crash into the civilians behind him.
Meruem now stood infront of the entrance and pulled his right arm back. As he focused his nen into his arm, it started to swell up, becoming more muscular before he delivered a punch that appeared as nothing more than a blur for the unlookers. The barrier that was previously invisible was revealed in a blue light with spider web-like cracks covering it before it shattered like glas and the entrance collapsed into dust. Everypony was left speechless as Meruem kept going deeper into the pyramid.

Location: Pyramid of the Sphinx

After several twists and turns, Meruem finally reached the place that he remember from over a millenia ago. He took in the surroundings, seeing all dust and cobwebs that had gathered and covered the walls, pillar and statues. Meruem felt both nostalgic and sad for the state that the ruins were in. He remembered when he had walked into this very hall together with Starswirl and Pride Sentry for the first time. When his eyes landed on the stairway that lead up to the old throne of the cruel Pharaoh, were he would sit with Sphinx in chains behind him like a trophy, it made Meruem's blood boil.

"I should have taken my time when I killed that pig in pony clothing." Meruem muttered to himself.

1350 years ago

3rd person POV

"Flash Gem is pregnant!?" Meruem exclaimed with a smile.

"Yep!" Pride Sentry exclaimed equally happy.

"Do you know if it's gonna be a colt or a filly?" Starswirl asked with a smile.

"According to Queen Faust and Princess Celestia, it's gonna be a colt." Pride answered with a bright smile.

Meruem, Starswirl and Pride Sentry was right now in a newly made anti-gravity wagon that was being pulled by two pegasi Solar Guards. They were on their way to have a political discussion with the Pharaoh of San Palomino and hopefully convince him to not start anything after the news of Solaris passing arrives to him.
They left the wagon and began walking through the village, that was more like a small city during this time, towards the beautiful Sphinx Pyramid as it was called.

"How did Mr. Diamond Shard take these news?" Starswirl asked with a smirk.

"He was surprisingly happy for Flash Gem," Pride started and then shuddered, "but then he wispered into my ear that if I ever even got the idéa of abandoning her and the foal, then he would make me wish that he would just kill me."

"You know, I keep hearing about how scary Diamond Shard can be," Meruem said thoughtfully, "but I don't think I've ever seen him angry."

"Well that's the thing," Pride began shakily, "he said it all with a smile."

Just as a shudder ran down their spines, they heard a bit of commotion further ahead and saw a teenage filly being held roughly by a guard.

"You little brat!" the guard shouted.

"Let me go!" the filly yelled and pleaded.

"Oh no, you know the rules," the guard said as he put on a sinister smile and brought out a one handed axe, "you know what he do to those that steal."

The fillies eyes widen in fear as he brought her arms onto a nearby bench. He raised the axe high as the filly begged with tears in her eyes, but just when the axe was brought down towards her.

"What seems to be the problem?" a young sounding voice said as a green hand grabbed the guard by the wrist.

"What! Who are you to dare stop one of the Pharaoh's guard executing justice?" Guard asked as he struggled in the cloaked figures grip.

"Who I am?" The figure said just as he removed the cloak and let it fall onto the sand covered ground, revealing a beautiful young alicorn stallion with lime green fur and a purple and green mane, "I am Prince Meruem Alicore, youngest child of the Alicore family."

Every villager was left wide eye and shocked, some even began to kneel out of reflex of hearing the Alicore name. The filly stared in awe and the guard started shaking in fear and frustration.

"Your majesty, this brat stole-" the guard sentence was cut short as a fist collided with his muzzle, loud cracks could be heard from his body before he was sent flying down the street, through a wagon and into pillar, causing it to crack and leave a pony shaped crater on it. As the guard tried to stand up, his axe was thrown and planted right into the pillar next to the left side of his head, nearly chopping his left ear off.

"Next time, use the axe on someone that actuelly deserves it." Meruem yelled down the street as ponies were left in shock and Pride Sentry paid for the wagon that was destroyed.

"Thank you." a weak voice came from Meruems right.

"You're welcome." Meruem said with a smile.
"What's your name?"

"Somnambula...er-your majesty." the filly answered nervously.

"Does your special talent have something to do with sleep walking?"

"Eh... what?"

"Nevermind." Meruem said with a headshake. Meruem took quick notice that the filly looks quite malnourished, he didn't need to think to hard over what to do next.

"Let's get you something to eat." Meruem said with a smile.

After having spent about an hour or so eating food and talking with Somnambula, Meruem knew that it was time to leave and continue towards the pyramid. But before he left Meruem saw a wagon filled with necklaces.

"Wait here for a moment," Meruem said as he quickly stopped by the wagon and return with a pearl necklace.
"Here you go."

"Oh! I can't take this," she nervously replied, "my family is already struggling and there is no way I can repay you for what you've already done."

"Nonsense," Meruem replied with a shrug, "you don't need to repay me, I'm doing this cause I want to."

As Meruem placed the pearls around her neck he said "Never lose Hope." Little did Meruem know just how much those words would effect that filly's vew upon life.

Meruem, Starswirl and Pride Sentry finally arrived at the entrance of the pyramid. The pyramid wasn't actuelly the home for the Pharaoh despite popular belief. It was more like a Castle hall were there would be political discussions and debate, as well as a place were the civillians could come in and tell their pleads and wishes. Though rarely any of the wishes that was said were actuelly granted.

The lie that Meruem and Starswirl had been sent to perform was that Meruem was the youngest child of Solaris had come to form an alliance with the Pharaoh. However, the Pharaoh turned out to be just as God-crazy as Solaris and saw himself to be above everyone else. Word about Solaris passing had spread faster than they thought and they were immediately surrounded by his foot soldiers as they reached the middle of the throne room. As the Pharaoh was holding a speech about how he planned to take Queen Faust for himself and keep Celestia and Luna as concubines, Meruem was already starting to change into his true form as he snarled like a beast infront of everyone. But what made him snap was when he made eye contact with the Sphinx that sat just behind the throne in chains.

She was massive compare to the others in the throne room, standing at about 4.5 meters tall, he fur coat was a dark cerise colour and her mane was a mix with dark grayish indigo and grayish blue violet.
Meruem to this very day, still doesn't know what it was behind those beautiful brilliant gamboge yellow eyes that made him snap. Was it the look of hopelessness? The look of having no one? Or was it just the state that she was currently in that made Meruem so angry? While her fur covered up most of it, Meruem could clearly see outlines of scars all over her body. She had a rune covered orichalcum collar around her neck; that prevented her from using her magic without permission, and orichalcum chains on every limb of her body, including her wings and tail.

It didn't matter anymore what it was that Meruem was feeling right now. What did matter was that these freaks were gonna die, he would kill and eat them all.

Back to the present

Meruem was brought back to reality thanks to a cracking sound followed by a flashing light that came from his left towards the platform in the center of the hall. There in the middle of the platform was what appeared to be a crack in reality, there were sparks of electricity in form of pink and blue lightning being released from it. The inside of the crack was constantly changing as if it didn't know were it was suppose to lead too, but for a brief instance Meruem could have sworn that he saw the outline of a very familiar creature.

As he got closer, Meruem began to feel a strong pull in form of a vacuum that got stronger the closer he got to the crack. Not wanting to risk being swept of his feet, Meruem used Metamorphosis to change his hoofs into powerfull claws that dug into the stone of the platform. Taking slow and powerful stomping steps towards the crack, the pull started getting so strong that Meruem could feel his fur and feathers beginning to be ripped of his pegasus form, but that didn't slow him down.
He was now standing right infront of the crack and the pull was so strong that several patches of fur began to leave his body and get sucked into the crack. Realising just how dangerous this situation is for his body, Meruem covers his entire being with Ken

Ken is the advanced version of the basic Ren and Ten techniques. It is a primarily defensive technique where a Nen user maintains a state of Ren for a prolonged amount of time. The amount of aura surrounding the user's body during Ken is about 10 times higher than during Ten. Ken allows a Nen user to guard against attacks from any direction, but the large amount of aura produced makes it tiring to maintain. Ken is utilized when one wants to be cautious as some Nen users choose to expand its radius so as to sense incoming attacks they are unable to see, as a miniature En of sorts.

With the preparations done Meruem braces himself as he places both of his hands at the entrance of the crack and begins to pull it open.

"This is gonna hurt." Meruem says out loud as he rips the crack apart.

The effect is immediate as all of Meruem's cloths, fur and feathers are ripped of his body and into the crack. As Meruem begins to feel even his skin beginning to rip, he changes back into his true form to have his exoskeleton protect him. But even that is barely enough as Meruem feels his flesh and muscles beginning to tear and his bones crack, if a regular creature was standing in the force that Meruem was right now experiencing, they would be liquified on the spot.
Meruem eyes nearly pop out of their sockets, but he immediatelly shuts them tight and screams as the pain begins to become too much even for him. He let's go with his right hand and reaches out hoping that the one he's trying to reach will take it. Thankfully it didn't take long for the one he's been looking for to grab hold of his hand and allow themselves to be dragged out. Just as he manages to pull out, the crack immediatelly closes and releases a shockwave that causes the entire pyramid to shake and all the dust and sand inside to be pushed out to the outside as a powerful dust storm.

Feeling himself being lifted and embraced by something that is at least three times his size, Meruem weakly opens his eyes and makes eye contact with a friend that he has missed dearly. He gives her a weak smile as she returns with a tearful one.

"*sniff* I've missed you, Meruem." the Sphinx says with affection in her voice.

"And I've missed you... Asha..." Meruem smiles weakly as he closes his eyes and fall unconscious.

Author's Note

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter because I really enjoyed writing it. :pinkiehappy:
I don't know what it is with me this week, but I just felt like I really wanted to write and get going. Which isn't actuelly that good since I have a project going on in University and I haven't even started yet. :twilightoops:

If you have any tips on were I can improve in my writing, don't be afraid to leave a comment. But also leave a comment if you just want to point out a specific part that you liked, it always makes be happy to here. :twilightsmile:

Here's a more informative description for Seir (Lord of Eyes)
Nen-type: Emission, Transmutation and Manipulation
Spawns an ever growing colony of winged ants, they appear as pure white with big pitch black eyes. These ants are the result of combining the fast growning Zebrican (African) Driver Ants and the quick spreading Parasprites, resulting in a swarm of nen beasts that can quickly go from thousand to a million to a billion, given enough time. They'll grow and spread out so that they cover every corner of every village, town, city and kingdom. They serve as Meruem's eyes and ears and nothing more. If something of Meruem's interest is discovered, he'll be informed. They aren't more durable or stronger than any other ant species out there, they do possess big mandibles for biting and a stinger, but nothing lethal. Because of how fast they grow and spread, even if you kill thousands of them, there will always be more as long as two remains.

If you have more questions about Nen, then click here.

PS. Seir's appearance is like that of the Panda Ant, but with wings.

It's adorable.