Author's Note

Part 2 of chapter 7, for those wishing to skip the scary part. Again, ideally both should be read. This chapter however, should cover the first well enough if one has skipped. Please do let me know if it does not or any confusion arises.

Contains mare love and dinky being cute.

Many thanks for the overwhelmingly positive reception. Shout outs to shadowwolf.

Perdition. Part 2.

Chapter 7.
Perdition, Part 2.

“So… we’re all done?” Dinky chirped quietly to Miss Cheerilee as a few other fillies and colts scribbled across their tests. She broke a silence that had been more or less maintained for the last three hours in the hot and cramped school house, the open windows allowing in the ambient bustle of the market down the street and the humming winds from the mountains. The Royal Aptitude Test for Adolescents had finally come at the end of this school year, Ponyville’s prepared student body studying diligently to meet their marks and prove to the state that Cheerilee had done her job.

The standardized testing was minor filter, as even the brightest minds in the school struggled mightily with it. Cheerilee’s ever-practiced teaching had seen everyone ready for it just as it had every year since then. Once again Ponyville could boast a one-hundred percent passing rate. With Umbra’s fiercely enforced study habits and tutoring, Dinky would surely be in the top percentile of the class.

“That’s it.” Cheerilee chirped sweetly, her motherly voice sending a warm spark into Dinky’s heart. The young mare danced on her hooves in utter elation as another school term wrapped up for the summer.

“I’ll send the results to your Mommy and Daddy. You’re free to go.” Squealing to herself with pride and excitement, the unicorn skittered about the desk and embraced Cheerilee in a quick hug. Taking her bags from the nearby hook and pushing her way through the door, your daughter beheld just how fantastic and expansive the world could become.

Ponyville opened wide to her with the blinding sunlight and the stark heat carried on the wind. Green bloomed from every crack and cranny to make shady patches in the soft grass where the care-free and the smiling set up picnics and quiet reprieves. At this time, about noon, the market bustled with ponies going about their business and taking breaks from their jobs. Free from school and free from any manner of responsibility, the pinkish unicorn suddenly found everything so much sweeter. The air carried the familiar scents of seasonal release, like flowers and apple butter and blossoms. Colors glowed with blinding brilliance in the sunlight, stark whites and greens and oranges strung up as awnings to offer comfort. The soft ground baked into airy and crusty dirt that kicked up when hard hooves scratched and crushed it, thus adding an Earthy hint to the warm season. Rain hadn’t come for several days, making for a far more dry and pleasant heat that ponies could enjoy.

Her homeland opened wide for her and presented welcoming arms like the leaves of a rising flower. Everything and everyone was alive and energetic again in this eternal cycle of her young life. Light and unique joy filled her chest as she excitedly trot through the town toward the forest, passing by many a smiling pony sipping cool cider from mugs and sweating bullets of heady musk. Fillies and colts were already running around in their little posses of playmates and gossip, chatting about or beating one another with sticks at the less busy junctions in the streets. Dinky ignored them, choosing instead to indulge in her absolute most favorite pastime of all summer.

Over the bridge and between the thistle groves where the mud built up thick and stinking, just under the willow that hung drearily over the river and in between the trees grown intertwined like lovers. There was a more straight-forward path to the saw-mill, but this one was merry and interesting. She checked to see if the emperor tree sprig had grown any, pleased to find it had already gained several inches since last week. Dinky returned to her own little patch of greenish moulds grown in a tree stump that Aunty Umbra helping her to cultivate it for the antimicrobial potions and tinctures it could create. The bees’ nest bulging out from beneath an oak’s under arm was none too happy to see her, but the aggravated scouts threatening to sting the young filly didn’t dissuade her from checking in on the local pollinators. Just as Aunty Umbra had described it, perfectly balanced yet chaotic. It filled her with security to find everything how it needed to be, now there was just the matter of acquiring a partner with which to enjoy it all.

“Lumber routes across Equestria have seen an increase in the amount of trading posts over the last year such that an increase in the overall cost of travel has mandated smaller crews for the hauling however with the need to increase load sizes-” On and on and on the dull pony dressed lightly droned on before you and the gaping mouth audience he had. Under the roof of the mill so as to hide in the shaded portion of it, the lumberjacks gathered together to hear a presentation from one of Timber Lane’s partners up north, where much of your processed product was ultimately shipped for construction and ship building. In his starchy shirt and simple tie the older stallion looked rather trustworthy, but his skills in oration did not reflect his professional sheen. Many of the boys were simple farm-folk that weren’t too keen on much besides wood, steam, mares and cider. Good, tough men each and every one of them, but dull as rough iron. You looked at your team from time to time to find them in the same state of utter befuddlement throughout.

Tim insisted that it was best for the entire crew to be present for the company briefings. Afterall, the lumber-pirates outside of Fillydelphia and the spreading of branch rot fungus was directly linked to their livelihoods. But unlike you or Tim, most of the boys were just there for the bits. They really couldn’t care less if taxation along the river was done by the ton or by the log, nor did many of them have the smarts to grasp why market supply and demand curves necessitated a certain amount of stockpiling. Some of them could barely tell the difference between steel saw teeth and carbide saw teeth. But they were some of the best, straightest sawing jerks this side of Canterlot.

So you sat and half paid attention to the briefing, fading in and out as something in the corner of your eye caught your attention. Over the drone of a boring and monotone voice the tiniest clop of tiny hooves broke your focus and jerked your vision toward the forest. A blob of yellow and ashy pink poked out of the dense brush with glistering eyes pointed right at you, excitedly prompting you to move.

“As such the cherry wood stockpile should be emptied within the next month in order to capitalize on the coming fall season as many ponies celebrate-... Mr. Anon what are you doing?” He asked politely as you stood up from your wooden chair and wordlessly made your way toward a set of stairs just outside the awning. The older stallion watched your slow and considerate movement with great focus until you started pulling off your work shirt, likewise reaching down to pull your boots off and toss them into the shade.

“Aw hell…” Tim grunted to himself, relinquishing you to the higher duty suddenly thrust upon his head supervisor. Dinky came sprinting out of the weeds like a giddy puppy hopped up on sugar, repeating the same little run she had done so many times in the past. While she bolted toward you, you slowly suggested where to go, as each step up the stairs led to the rough wooden walkway built on top of the mill’s roof.

“Wha- what in Celestia’s name is he doing?” The sturdy business stallion witnessed your daughter come soaring up onto the saw dust covered platform before chasing you up the stairs. A full on dash across the roof could be heard when bare feet and little hooves alike smacked onto the wood above, both you and Dinky running like mad men across the platform and toward the deep, gentle moving pool where the product usually gathered. Today it was rather empty, thanks to the hard work the boys had pulled that week. You and your daughter ran fearlessly and leapt off the edge of the platform you had purpose-built for this stunt. Simultaneously hitting the water, the tremendous splash rocketed upwards and made a dazzling rainbow in the blistering sunlight.

“Hm… that’s… yes…” The visitor mumbled to himself as you and your giggling daughter resurfaced, paddling down the gently flowing river and talking amongst yourselves.

“YEEEEEEEHAAAW! Did you see how far I went, Poppy?!”

“Goodness gracious, sweetpea! You shot up like a cannon ball!” She giggled helplessly and twisted about in the water, splashing the refreshing and cool broth all over her warmed and heavy fur.

“I flew like a pegasus! I was like a hundred hands in the air, Poppy!” Tim had learned not to bother you during so-called “Dinky time.” The general rule was understood that your one and only child gained priority over anything besides the mill going up in flames. Especially in the summertime when Dinky had so much time and you so little before she grew too mature for her old poppy, these moments spent lazily swimming down the river through the woods were too precious to be discarded. Your tiny equine girl clung to your back after paddling a short distance through the crystalline and fresh smelling water, letting the current slowly push her human vessel down the silty, deep track. Despite being ostensibly made of brick-like muscle these days, you still floated rather pleasingly in the relieving river.

“Poppy, what was it like back where you used to live?” Dinky chirped in your ear as she hung half in and out of the water. Just like she did whenever you two had a rare moment to bond, the child always barraged you with questions.

“Used to be that everyone looked like me. Lots and lots of humans in big, big cities like Fillydelphia. But I lived outside the city in a big building called an ‘apartment.’”

“How come no humans ever come and visit you?”

“Don’t know any here. I’ve been gone so long they all forgot about me.” The filly pouted at such a sad notion.

“How come you live in Ponyville? And not a place with more humans?”

“I like it here. It’s where your Momma and your Aunty live. Quiet, too.”

“Can we go to the human place?”

“I don’t think so, babygirl.”

“Why not?”

“It’s so far away. And no one remembers where it is anymore.” You hummed before making a rather quick swish through the water, pushing yourself over the sandy shoals just so your belly skid across the soft silt.

“Poppy?”

“Yeah?”

“Were there ponies where you used to live?”

“Ponies? Sure, sure. Just not a lot of them.”

“Were they unicorns? Were they nice, like Miss Applejack?”

“Hm… not really. They weren’t a talkative bunch.” She paused and clung tightly to your neck, squeezing herself to you as the canopy above grew thicker and thicker. The stillness of the woods was broken only by the buzz of insects looking for mates and the songs of birds looking for food, a peaceful roar the mind could quickly grow attuned to. Dinky idly watched as the passing plants and rocks and trees grew out of the river’s edge like hairs spread perfectly about the world. The cool water running through her fur, the warm sunlight beating against her back and the security of her enormous father put the filly in a rare state of relaxation.

“Poppy?”

“Yes, Dinky?” You answered again, swimming slower so your mouth could better remain above the waterline.

“You think the Princess is gonna come and take Aunty Umbra away?” The question sat your windpipe like a led weight crushing your throat closed. Immediately your mind was brought back to that serious question that had yet to be truly resolved. For now you could assure her that no such thing would happen, that it was but a nonsensical nightmare she might’ve had completely divorced from reality. But you naturally had little insight into the goings on of Equestria’s politics. Twilight sent her report, Celestia and Luna had no doubt read it by now and someone somewhere was going to make a decision on it. Denying the danger Umbra had posed during her outburst was out of the question. Any and all justification the authorities might conjure up for taking your wife away would be entirely reasonable and difficult to counter.

That she was still with you and not locked up in Twilight’s castle was nothing short of a miracle itself. Whittling all this down for Dinky’s understanding took you several seconds.

“Hm… I don’t think so.” You answered, coming to a stop in a particularly fat bulge in the river where the sand washed away and left a deep pool.

“I don’t know so. But if they were gonna, they would have.” Dinky squeaked and detached from you to paddle about in the cool and clear water. Her utter confidence in you let her circle and swirl about comfortably to expel that ample store of youthful energy in her, for there wasn’t a thing in the world that could go wrong when her mighty human father was nearby and watching. You had to admire how she could entertain herself so well out in the forest, far away from games and books and toys and other such childish things. You recalled your spoiled self back in the day, playing with blob-shaped plastic electronics and novelties aplenty that your parents selflessly gave to you. Growing into the man you were now, such ungratefulness made you rather bitter towards the younger Anonymous that once held your place.

Now that was all gone, but a memory to you and you alone in this strange world. Dinky flicked her eyes from leaf to leaf, stem to mighty trunk and muddy bank to sandy shore. She always seemed to be looking at something skittering about in the brush that you just couldn’t see, like something or someone was calling out to her in the woods with innumerable and tiny voices. Watching in fascination, the little filly made you reflect silently on higher things that she could probably never put into words herself. No intention of causing such introspection, just the purest form of acknowledging just how little you understood about this place.

“Sometimes I wish they would.” Dinky chirped without a hint of fear or malice in her voice. Your feet scraped against the soft bottom and rested against a rock below, grounding you for this strange conversation.

“Dinky. That ain’t very nice to say about your Aunty.” You grunted with a patrimonial tone.

“I know. Aunty doesn’t like the Princesses.” The fantastic unicorn dipped below the surface for a moment before literally popping back up above the surface in a flash of magic, carelessly splashing down in the relieving pool.

“They put chains on her and hit her and made her look stupid in front of all her friends. I’m not ‘sposed to say their names in the house.” Rolling your eyes at the memory of such a rule, you let the wiry little filly continue explaining her strangely anti-Umbra sentiment.

“But Aunty doesn’t feel good. They can make her better.” That Dinky could say something with such a relaxed tone and clear mind was concerning to you. From the mouth of a babe something shockingly cognizant and conscious.

“She’s told me… but I ain’t ‘sposed to say.” A deep breath hissed from your nostrils and rippled the water in front of you, the sound of it lumbering out of your chest forceful enough to scare off minnows hovering below the surface.

“What’s she told you, Babygirl?” You asked quietly, trying to be as soft as possible. Dinky halted her swim to float for a moment and think about it, both ears perked skyward to radiate more heat from her fuzzy body.

“I’m not supposed to say… but Aunty Umbra says something’s wrong with her.” Your daughter blew bubbles with her nose like a care-free child would on a playdate, not in the middle of a brutally honest conversation.

“Her Poppy never loved her. Her Momma never loved her. No pony ever in the whole world ever loved her. Aunty says you’re that ever cared about her.” Dinky said these words with surprisingly gravity for a child. Her usually chipper and high-pitched voice mellowed into a dower note played again and again, the droning quality reflecting such a subject matter.

“She ever tell you about her Dad, Dinky?” Your daughter pondered the question for a moment, dipping her head beneath the water to wet her gilded mane.

“He was a bad stallion.” She said simply, her face pinching inwards in disgust.

“He gave Aunty Umbra away and never checked on her. She said he was a bad poppy.” Sun rays beat down on the back of your neck like the last few hours beat down on your conscience. The illuminating nature of such a conversation forced you to simply stand there in the rejuvinating water like a statue and soak it all in.

“I’m not supposed to tell any pony…” Dinky hummed before wading up to your shoulder and carefully whispering in your ear.

“But Aunty’s scared you’ll be like her poppy. That if she ever does have a baby, you won’t wanna take care of it.” His image came back to you as the words came from the little filly’s mouth. Images of a stark figure clad in black, standing high above with weapon in hand. A man to surpass you. A warrior to destroy everything in front of him. Half of Umbra’s power in a human figure that no Equestrian might have the strength to match. In truth it filled you with terror, the very idea that something you might produce could harbor within in demonic desires of destruction and the capability to bring such nightmares to life. Breathing deeply, you tried to dispell this fear.

Just as you had done with Dinky, you expelled all fear of creation in this alien world. Somehow, someway, you knew that it would be alright. If it took to your dying breath to bring peace to your family, that’s what you would do. Dinky felt the intrepidation in you and certainly percieved that this fear might be more real than she anticipated.

“No… I couldn’t.” You huffed, casting your eyes down into the water and watching the rippling waves distort your own figure.

“I know what it’s like to be alone. I know too well how it is when you ain’t got no one to love you.” You daughter had heard little about your life before her mother came into the picture. What kind of man you were before the taming touch of Derpy Hooves elluded her simply because she never asked. The young pony stared at you and marveled at the mystery hidden within. She could only think of her family as unchanging monoliths. Eternal forces of motherhood, fatherhood, nuturing and caring. That you could be any different than the man you were now, that you could exist without someone to work and strive for was nothing short of incredible to her. The little unicorn snuggled up on your neck and nuzzled your cheek, a carry-over from her time as a little melon-sized babe in your bed.

“You know what it’s like to be at the riverside…” Several tense seconds passed in that wood, several seconds of unparalleled thought. Both you and your energetic daughter hardly moved a muscle in that moment, for the aura of the air was simply too thick. Hot and fresh air rushed over the water as it moved along its eternal course like blood through the land, washing away the silt and muck on the banks in the same monotonous and steady form as your thoughts. Dinky floated down the creek some with her hooves limply paddeling, a motion you soon followed.

“Welp… they’re gonna need me back at the mill. Let’s get goin’ babygirl.” Dinky loved watching you rise out of the water. The entirely verticle push ripped the surface tension apart and made it rain heavy beads down like a thunderstorm in a pleasingly mighty manner. Especially for a creature as small as her, seeing you push out of the depths was like watching a ship rocket out of the vast emptiness below. Both you and her clambered onto shore with sodden jeans and sodden mane hanging heavily acround your bodies, inviting you both to shake off the excess moisture in a canine fashion.

“You wanna get some ice-y pops before that?”

“Yessum! Yes- yes- yes!” Dinky cheered with magic sparking from her horn and a floppy wag from her soaking tail.

“Good. ‘Cuz it’s way to hot out here to walkin’ around soakin’ wet.” You grumbled in return, smiling and rolling your pants up just enough to keep the saggy ends from draping through the dirt below.

“I heard Pinkie got a new flavor today, Poppy! Like- like pomegranate or passionfruit.”

“I didn’t even know we had those here.”

“Yeah, yeah! They had them come in from Phillydelphia! Applebloom told me all about it! They have a big farm out there that grows all sorts of weird fruit from around Equestria. And sometimes they-...”

And so the day began once again with some manner of levity. The mid-summer’s sun cleansed the river water from your skin and clothes just as the events of the day had cleansed your mind of doubt. As if your morning talk with Umbra hadn’t been enlightening enough, Dinky had found a way to further temper your resolve. Sitting there in the shaded padio of Sugarcube Corner with ice treats and sweat rolling down your neck, all seemed well. The tremendous burden of choice had been lifted, finally giving you some manner of confidence. Watching her sit there, idly watching the ponies go by with such wonder and energy in her eyes poured a simmering hope into the bottom of your heart.

As if to say that your choice in all this was all that the world needed to eventually right itself. How or why, when or where, it was no longer up to you. You had played your part and made that promise to wife and daughter alike. No matter who or what came before you, you wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes as Umbra’s long forgotten father. His very name brought you back to that morning in darkness, where the clouds built so thick from the mixing of cool and warm air that the moon was entirely blotted out.

Fog crawled about the ground when the summer moisture condensed against the cool greens of plants and the window panes of ponyville, making for an altogether darker and more mysterious night than the rest. The house itself was made a comfortable temperature then, if not for the soggy humidity creeping between the walls and beading up on the ice box. Heavy air like this made Umbra’s mane puffy and more curly than normal and often made Derpy’s feathers far more flaring and brilliant. Both mares needed more maintenaince in the warm seasons, something that their “maretime” often saw to when you were shirking your duties as a husband.

Pushing a fan into one of the windows and turning it on, you tried to direct some of the cool night air into the house with its current. Sucking in the perfumed and sweet scent of summer instantly dried some of the exhausting sweat on your back, though it could never dull the eyes drilling into your skull. Sitting plush and furious at the dinner table, her favorite mug filled with coffee and her mouth curled into a sharp snear, your wife sat waiting for answers. Whenever she brought the pink and sloppily painted cup to her lips and politely sipped, the flash of “Aunty Umbra is the best!” would taunt you with purple, delicately painted letters. Impressive caligraphy for a six year old, no doubt due to Umbra’s training in proper writing with magic. The script was undoubtedly inspired by her own floral and flowing style of cursive.

Regardless, she stared at you with concerted effort, as if it might pry open your chest and reveal all the answers she desired then and there. Prefering not to wake Derpy, the two of you thought it better to take such a heated talk downstairs.

“So… guess I got some explaining to do.” You grunted to yourself, turning to face the mare. Your dark wife cocked an eye brow in silence with both ears turned toward you in attention. The plush and soft face twisted and turned into so many conflicting emotions, none of them very positive or receptive to whatever it was you had to say.

“You remember what I said at the lake?” The mare didn’t answer right away, instead chewing on the words and spitting them out with little care. Reddish magic gripped your boxers and pulled you toward her with the weakest suggestion it could muster.

“Remeber how I said, ‘I want to help you’ Babygirl?” The pulling didn’t stop until you were smacking distance of her. Standing close enough to feel her warmth, the Queen then countered by giving you the harshest stink-eye known to equine-kind.

“You have trapsed through my most inner thoughts unwelcomed. Not only that, but you have done so with the aid of that loose, nosey royal.” The mare retorted with conflicted poison in her voice, as if she herself didn’t really believe the words.

“What you have seen is my own business. Locked away for a reason.” Umbra said with a whimper rather than a growl. Simultaneously she threw her eyes to the swirling cream in her cup and let her vision blur into the steam rising gently off it.

“My King surely now holds sordid opinions of his Queen… henot only knows but hath seen for himself the miscarriage of justice that were her life.” Your dear and pudgy wife hung her head in shame, casting her deep green and red eyes to the table with trembling lips. The very sight sickened you in a pungent and poisonous manner. Fists formed in place of nurturing and loving hands so they could become dangerous weapons. Strangling fingers squeezed and muscles tensed into bundles of powerful cord primed and prepared for something- anything at all- to just try and hurt what was yours. The simpering little mare before you inspired that protective instinct at the very base of your brain, a masculine urge to destroy everything if it meant keeping what you held dear safe.

“I wanted to know. I needed to know.”

“You trespassed with the aid of that blue tyrant. You have conspired against your Wife.” A snort of frustration left your nostrils in a huff far more aggressive and domineering than you intended it to sound.

“She came to apologize.” Umbra shook her head with a sick grin, cocking an eyebrow as she sipped her milky and sugary drink.

“Surely the Princess of the Night herself can go about molesting any stallion she so pleases. Why in Equestria does she always try and “apologize” to my husband? Is it too much to ask that he not be disturbed by the presence of thirsting mares?” You wished you could share in her weak little laugh, but the accusation still made you furious enough to strangle someone.

“I forgave her. On one condition.”

“To see what troubles me, eh?” You nodded to her, sitting next to your wife and making the chair creek with your exhausted weight.

“Could you not have assumed? So curious as you were, Anon?” A hand took her hoof between capable and strong fingers, squeezing her securely to reenforce your bond. The ring on your finger sparkled with a dull glow within the diamond, growling magic perking Umbra’s innate mystical senses.

“Umbra, Sugar. I could guess you had some issues. But nothing like-... that.” Her usually plush and curvacious lips thinned into a line just barely splitting her muzzle, her dower eyes narrowing to the table and staring a hole through it.

“Hmph… Indeed. So very trite, isn’t it? A young mare abandoned by her father, raised alone in the forests with nothing but malice in her heart? Surely Dinky has read a more compelling story in school.” You gripped her tigher and pulled on her foreleg, pleased to find her limp and willing to come closer.

“Umbra, I-” She leaned forward and kissed your hand, staring at you with transfixed eyes stained by centuries of wretched magic.

“You needn’t explain.” She hummed, pursing her lips before sipping her coffee once again.

“That you would dare enter my realm, brave its hostilities and seek the truth defies my expectations.” Her words were dim and weak, albeit with the tiniest flicker of a candle’s light hidden within.

“I cannot approve of turning to… her for assistance. But to torment yourself for my sake? I am sincerely befuddled, Darling.” The chair creeched against the floorboards when you scooted closer to her, putting your nose mere inches from hers.

“Your father spoke to me.” Her eyes fixed to yours like an iron bar was connecting them, flinches of anger making her lip tremble and twitch.

“What did that rotten pariah dare say to my human?” She snarled.

“Tell me what happened and I’ll spill it.”

“Don’t bargain with me as you do with that idiot fog-horn of a Princess. I am your wife and you shall-” Leaning forward shut her up rather instantly, for lip-to-lip contact clogged both her mouth and her thoughts. She flinched and first, but the muscles in her neck simply refused to pull her away. Something about this contact simply said so much, drew her in so tightly and filled her with such affection. Her necklace jiggled at the bottom of its polished chain, rumbling with magic as her chest rumbled with a pleased purr.

“Mwuah… now tell me.” You huffed into her cheek, the tip of your nose nestled between her nostrils. Umbra huffed a deep breath of your familiar and reassuring scent, swallowing the stone in her throat.

“Rrrgh… I was born… to a slave and Stoic Stone. Mother always said that I had been birthed from the loins of a great stallion, but during 'inopportune times.’” You kept her close all the way, listening intently and kissing her nose to encourage more.

“He took her in the summer during a thunderstorm… I was born shortly after the spring thaw. When the Empress discovered my presence in his chambers? She…” Your precious wife choked on the words and refused to say them, for her lips were frozen in place. Even as a barely conscious babe, she remembered the piercing and ferocious cold so vividly.

“She ordered me… to be drowned. And for my coward of a father to watch.” The images flooded your mind again, replaying from the night before like a projection on the opposite wall.

A poor mare, sodden with freezing snow and clutching her babe to her chest. A dark child perverted by corrupted magic straight from the womb. A frigid river with an armored father weighing the options of smothering his child, or living his life in abject shame. Umbra’s eyes stared into the table below, reliving that moment most would’ve forgotten mere seconds after it happened at that age.

“But… for reasons beyond even me, he sent us away. With not an ounce of bread or a drop of water, my mother carried me to a village to spare my life.” Her body shivered in cold spasms of fear. Instantly the blood drained from her flesh and limbs, turning her into a quivering and freezing ball of angst. It made you reach about her once again and clutch your wife tight against your warm figure.

“She raised me in the shadow of the Empire, always migrating from village to village so no one would remember her face. She waited for him to return one day and take us away from the forest. Take us to the castle and live with him forever and be happy. The very blood that ran in my veins was his… but of course, the nobles and the mages and the royals did not appreciate commoners and royals making little demons such as I. Such power and intellect in the flesh of a nobody… the most dangerous creature to walk Equestria.” Her body folded into yours naturally, submitting to the pumping and living warmth of a body prepared to defend her at any cost.

“So… eventually… when she became old and grey and I hardly aged a day in thirty years? I knew who I truly was. And when I demanded answers? There was not a soul to give them. Only that damnable word every half-witted villager spit at me.” She sighed deeply and paused, chewing her cheek at the memories of being a child-faced adult, simply because her alicorn heritage extended her life far beyond that of an average pony.

“I joined the military, the guard, the Emperial Legion and finally the Royal Knights, working and plotting all along to rise high enough so I might see him again. And then… well.” She finally smiled somewhat, her eyes flashing with purple haze when such a savage moment in her life reflected in her mind.

“I did what I do best… destroyed it all.” For several seconds you let the silence pass, unsure what to say.

“Now you see our Son standing in my place. One who has yet to be born and already I have destroyed that as well.”

“Hey, hey… Don’t be cookin’ off like that and talkin’ a bunch of nonsense.” You said with a gentle smile and arms strapped about her. Umbra covered her face with her mane and hooves, especially when you were close enough to breath down her snout.

“I already know you’re crazy, Sugar. I always knew that.” The laughy and joking tone of your voice fell on deaf ears that morning. Umbra sniffeled to herself and wiped her nose raggedly, still unable to face what she considered to be yet another reckoning in her long life.

“That you colored it so… our offspring imagined so heinous and wicked. Turning against you as I did my horrible father? You think of me as a monster, Anonymous." Those powerful fingers ready and able to kill in defense of your home crept along the curve of her shoulder and behind the shivering tower of her neck. Through the jungle of Umbra’s curling and thick mane you dug, defeating any weak protest your poor, exhausted and needy wife could put up.

“You want the truth? Or a lie?” You asked the same way you might ask at work when someone badgered you with a stupid question. For such a crushingly heavy situation it might’ve seemed entirely inappropriate. But given the severe lack of levity in your woman’s face, a different tactic was certainly warranted.

“What manner of truth could a weakling such as I swallow? A royal in the eyes of my beloved no longer… but a squalid murderer just as they always said. As fit for the moniker of ‘Queen’ as I am ‘worthless.’” Gravity would be Umbra’s worst enemy this morning. Specifically the pulling and crushing strength of your arms ratcheting her closer to you. The natural warmth and firm shield of a human’s chest made her instantly lean into it and cast aside whatever foolish worry she had bottled up in her jiggly gut.

“The truth is… you really scare me, Umbra.” You huffed into her head, kissing between her ears with a gentle and noisy little peck. She held still as a rock under the effect of your words, unsure how to absorb such a comment.

“The things I’ve seen… will haunt me to my dying day. And how exactly I’m ever going to sleep again… I haven’t quite figured out yet.” Speaking directly into her head, the words transfered into sweet vibrations rumbling through her bones. The relaxing force of such thoughts physically interacting with her put Umbra at an ill manner of ease, one that was at least more receptive than a tightly bound and bundled stress.

“You really do scare me. I would’ve never guessed that you had that kind of… place in you. But I know better.” The pony sniffled at your chest, burying her nose in your slick chest to suck in the relieving scent of a familiar family member.

“How long have we been married, Babygirl?” She grunted the answer at first, puffy and swollen eyes acclimating to the darkness of your masculine bossom.

“Mh… three years, my King.” She answered quietly. Brace-like arms secured about her body and squeezed tighter around her shoulders, inviting the pony to utterly fold in on herself and become vulnerable. She obliged the warm and compact hold, for it flooded her chest with such honey and sweetness that it was simply irrational to deny. A thundering heartbeat pulsed against her and stimulated the ring dangling from her silver chain. Yours and hers hummed gently in the dawn’s gloomy light, a connection of love immortalized in precious stones beyond value.

“And in all that time… you’ve been a mother for my child.” You said, stroking down her neck and kissing her twitchy ear.

“A sister to my Derpy.” She snorted again, finding it all so childish and silly. Perhaps the iron Sorceress truly was at the end of her mental rope and all that one could do to help her was talk in such an infantile manner. Umbra knew with absolute certainty that in any other state she would’ve rejected such a degrading manner of conversation. She was a grown mare, after all. Not some babe in need of being talked down to and carefully educated on the state of things.

But even the ancient Queen had to admit how wonderful it felt to be cradled in human muscle and whispered to. For the time being, she would allow it.

“A painter, an academic and my wife. My beautiful, soft, squishy wife.” The sentiment pounded in her head like thunder growling in the mountains, soothing her into a delirium of pleased purrs and soft squirms to get tighter against you.

“I know well enough what you did. I ain’t stupid. I’m not gonna pretend like none of that ever happened.” In the silence, Umbra felt her insecurity well up thick and hot from the bottom of her gut. The looming sense of confrontation hung on her back like a devious creature clawing and scratching into her flesh, never leaving her be in this moment of weakness.

“But… even if it wasn’t real, even if it was just a dream, your Father gave me some pretty sound advice. I like to think.” She twitched at the mention of the man, sneering to herself as ancient disgust washed across her.

“I ain’t gonna make the same mistake. I know what I got and I don’t intend to give you up any time soon.” Palms squished about her cheeks and extracted the sleepy mare from your chest. She grunted and whined as you forced her to look at you, gentle and circular strokes on her cheeks softening the blow of your confession.

“You fear our child… you fear that they inherit my power.”

“I won’t lie.” You answered confidently, kissing her softly in the dark. She returned it with a needy squeak and hooves pawing at your front.

“I am. I don’t know what in the world he’s gonna do.” Another kiss grounded the pony in reality, assuring her that there was no risk of being ejected from this sweet, heavenly embrace.

“If he’s anything like you, Lord knows the whole world is gonna be watching him.”

“If he is anything like you, my King, they need not be concerned.” Umbra iniated her own kiss this time and brought her hooves up to your shoulders.

“The thing is… I don’t care anymore.” You said with deadly seriousness, gripping her securely.

“If he’s the worst little rotten bastard that ever was born, if he’s a the goodiest little choir-boy in the world- it doesn’t make a difference.” Umbra stared on in absolute awe, suddenly overtaken by your being. The mare was awash with feelings for you, completely and utterly drowned by your quiet and hushed speech. For the first time in her long life, Umbra knew what reverence felt like. That belittling and humbling desire to worship another, to see them as higher than one’s self and to dedicate to their misssion floored her to no end. A mind-set she had spent many lifetimes trying to impose unto others so easily thrust itself onto her.

“Long as I have you here, I ain’t worried about it.” You confessed in a huff, stroking her cheeks and watching the thick fluff brush across your calloused digits.

“My Wife can topple empires, kill kings and make goddesses scream like little girls. I doubt some runt is gonna get the best of her.” Umbra sighed sweetly and pushed into your grasp, hoping that perhaps it might just envelope her entirely. She felt this coming being’s presence for so long now, but could never pin a true emotion to it.

Excitement. The prospect of finally meeting this new son that might go on to do great and honorable things for the family. Fear. What strength she might give him and how his mind- polluted by her corrupted magic- would use it. And finally, a most overwhelming desire. Not only to see her own legacy carry on, but to see an improved version of her King. Finally, the perfect mixture of cunning, drive and stalwart strength. It all filled her chest with a helium-like weightlessness that boiled up into a smile across her snout, one you siezed upon and kissed adoringly.

“For you, babygirl. I’ll get us through it.” Her heavy and tired eyes met yours in a spark of contact that made both your wedding bands shimmer with energy. Flowing love coursed through the physical contact of man and pony, polarizing the short distance between you both until an arc of flowing current was made. Soul to soul, heart to heart. Through your adoring stares a promise was made that stood firmer than any mountain and with more authority than any alicorn in a crown.

“If this is all true… then show me proof.” She hummed her words and kissed you again between heavy breaths.

“My King, make love to me.” She commanded simply, pressing another smile to your face.

“Lay with me as if it would bring the end to all things. Think of that thorny terror when our child is wielding his weapon high above your head… and conquer it.” Sometimes living with mares as dramatic as Umbra required you to practice not laughing. The sultry and cheesy lines pouring out of her mouth tickled both your humor and your arousal, a rather dangerous mixture in such an intense moment. Her distracting eyes cast the most intense lear a mare could manage, thankfully pulling much of your attention away from prodding thoughts. Focused hands crept down her back and slid over her rotund hips, securely digging into the soft flesh below and latching tight to her fuzzy rear.

“Oooooh… no stallion has ever coveted me as you have, Anon. My horror consumed them and they saw not a mare, but a monster.” She hissed as you lifted her easily from the chair below and hoisted her pudgy belly against your front. Gasps of hot breath ran across your neck when she squished against your broad and uncompromising front, all four legs instantly bolting around your body.

“How does such a brave stallion fear something like their own child? Are you truly so wise that you might know your son’s future? Or was your judgement clouded like my father’s?” The tactile feel of her body against you was enough to nurture your masculine excitement. That short trot to the couch stretched on like infinite plaines as she continued to try and break your resolve.

“Mmmph… Even if our spawn would burn the earth beneath our hooves just for the pleasure, I would still give birth to them. Just to fulfill my duty to you. Just to- UMPH?!” Unceremoniously Umbra was dropped from her comfortable perch in your arms and allowed to plummet onto the couch. Her foot-high plummet was just enough to stir her mind a bit, an airy fwump! of butt meeting cushion eliminating much of the noise on impact. Her hooves stuck out in the air stupidly as her head rested against the armrest, a massive human shape blotting out the weak kitchen light some yards away.

“Getting a little verbose, Sugar.” You snickered, grabbing her rear legs and playfully wrenching them outwards. The dark Queen gasped as she was exposed and toyed with, your hands and fingers like hydraulic clamps compared to her squishy and limp legs. Forelimbs curled up and over her chest, hiding somewhat behind her jiggly belly.

“You think you can convince me? That if you just keep talking I’m gonna back down?” High-pitched whines and chitters of flustered excitement left your Wife when you pressed down on her legs, bulging out her puffy and needy sex. Much like her engorged and dark labia below, Umbra’s eyes likewise bulged and opened wide to accept you.

“Umbra, babygirl, sugar. C’mon now.” A kiss on her cheek trailed down jaw and morphed into nibbles against the thin flesh there. Your equine woman seized and huffed in gleeful surprise with a blush running so deep it reddened her very soul. In the hazy darkness of the sun just barely breaching the horizon far away the unicorn was left with mostly tactile feedback to enjoy, the touch and weight and warmth and aroma of a powerful human male effective as it always had been in nullifying her higher mind. No thoughts, no protests, no will. Just total and utter submission and a willingness to comply.

“I might be dumb, but I ain’t a liar.”

“N- no…” She grunted with flashing fangs of pearly white. The mare’s entire form quivered when your broad front met hers, a slight squish of contact putting your boxers against her bare body and eliciting a squeaky-

“Hah~!” The pleasured music of your mares had always been an invigorating thing to witness. Soft cries of mirth injected into cries of strain when dealing with such a bigger body. Certainly not a canal-busting and mind-breaking manhood like a stallion, but a will to use it properly that couldn’t be matched. Umbra needed only the suggestion of penetration to fall into her natural and feminine rhythm.

“You want proof? Alright… I’ll give you proof.” A gentle but authoritative bite introduced a mildly painful pacification. Nowhere near enough to break the skin, but still tight enough that your pointed incisors made themselves very present. The pony’s heartbeat boomed against your chest in throttles of pressure and excitement at a pace rapidly increasing. It floored you to no end when she whined and gasped into your ear, breathing deeply and steaming up your vision with hot breaths of girly need. Her hips pushed into yours, raising up to contact your barely-restrained manhood and kiss it with sugary and sticky smooches.

You countered by forcing her wide and pillowy hips right back down into the couch below. A slow and forceful buck that ground her into the dirt made both the charcoal unicorn and the couch groan in strain, especially when the bulge of your turgid length plowed into her soft snatch and spread her rubbery lips in an animalistic manner.

“Hah~! Hnng, A- Anon~! Ooh divine- my King~!” She gasped little whispers of pleasure and need each time you touched her. The mare’s mouth became a hushed speaker for every praise and adoration she had for you, one trained to remain quiet and polite after sharing a house with a child for so many years. It used to be that she would purposely holler loudly and boldly for the neighbors to hear, thus spreading the so-called “glory of Anon’s prowess” to the rest of Ponyville. In this more personal and intimate manner though, you found it far more stimulating. As if she were so overwhelmed by the mere presence of your breeding rod that it stole her ability to be obnoxious and boastful.

The slight slit in your striped undergarments finally did give way under your hardening length, spreading just enough for your firm and hot flesh to touch her off. Your nerves screeched like fire alarms when the wet and soft padding slurped against the bottom of your shaft, similar booms of endorphins running down your spine when Umbra mewled a low-

“Huhnnng~...” on contact. She bit her lip and stared up at you with reverence and love in her sickly eyes, drooling slightly in the wash of pheromones and hormones clouding her judgement.

“Anon- hah~! Hmmph, yes~. Love meeee~...” She beckoned you into a kiss that was happily accepted. Smacking lips mirrored slurping glides and gentle pushes against her tight opening, a love-tunnel that had never relaxed even after seven years of breeding. Her hooves shook and jittered around your hips before closing around your body and clasping you tightly. Another knock of force bounced her against the couch, inspiring yet more whimpers and cries of desire.

“Please- please~! Yes, Anon~! Give it to us! My King~!” Such words of encouragement couldn’t be denied. Umbra gripped your hanging and heavy shaft in her weak magic, the most gentle and silky touch making you grunt in surprise. Her eyes were watery with affection and lust, demanding you stare into them and watch the subtle hearts forming in her pupils.

“That’s it… get a hold, Sugar.” You snarled huskily into her face, watching her expressions twist and turn from excited mirth to prepared dread. She would receive no mercy or pause in this bout, that much she knew. There was motivation in this, a sincere and intense drive to prove something. No gentle morning fuck simply for the fun of it. No casual encounter focused on the mere pleasure of man and woman coupling.

This would be for a higher reason.

Thus Umbra was submerged beneath a deep ocean of dedication when she lined your rounded end up with her pumping opening. Like electrodes meeting, energy flowed through both you and her in a reciprocal cycle of bliss. Warmth poured from your rod into her waiting flower while a rocket-like pleasure shot up through you. The natural and oft-practiced art of mating was so wonderfully repeated by the both of you in such happily adopted positions of submission, dominance, acceptance and giving. Umbra looked upon you like you were the sun and the moon, glorious power so above her that words could not do you justice. Your hands cupped her cheeks and held her close, snaking about her as if she were the most precious and rare treasure in all existence.

In that last moment before the plunge, you looked into her eyes and searched for hesitation. You plunged into the mire of her muddy, blood-spackled, rusted and horrific world to sniff out any sense of fear or dread. The wretched past lay inside her, every murder and lie and backstab gurgling in an endless swamp that was somehow packed in your beloved wife. A thousand life-times of suffering all in one spot you were about to slide your most vulnerable part inside of. The genesis of what could be Equestria’s most awful threat, the half-breed cross-species freak that could follow his Mother’s twisted path and raise hell up from the deep in his quest for power.

All of it existed in a superposition of time, waiting on you to collapse it. Give Umbra her child, potentially destroy the nation. Give her nothing, ensure you destroy her. In your rational mind, the choice was clear. But when breathing her scent, feeling her warmth and adoring the wretched and vile flower that her soul had bloomed into, logic was the first thing to be cast aside. You and her never looked away as the folds of flesh wrapped about one another in a fluid movement of slow muscular contractions and slurping noise. Her dark lips spread around your intrusive rod, joyfully squeezing for you as the downfall of Equestria may or may not have been decided.

“Haaahn… Ooooh divine above… My Kiiiiiing~~~...” She trailed off into a whimpery ecstacy below you, her hooves holding your head as another kiss was shared. A promise made in silence, written and signed by pressing into your wife’s plush opening. Her welcoming and familiar cavern remained tight as a drum for you, always maddly squeezing and milking and sucking as if she intended to permanently entrap you inside her. Rings of undulating muscle goded you inside, tracing up your alien length and rippling with excited need upon each pulse of her heart. The dark Queen’s royal and metered voice sputtered into high-pitched and breathy whines of pleasure that danced across your ears with a most delicious and satisfying tone.

“Hmmph! Hnn- unmph~!” She gasped and huffed into your face as man and mare bonded once again. The rounded end of your manhood nestled snugly against her cervix like a dear friend coming to visit once more, the fleshy kiss of slimy contact sparking that old feeling of purpose in your wife. Stars sparkled in her vision whilst she took hold of your shoulders, tightening her grip for dear life as the slow and deep thrusts rocked her up and down.

“Ugh- IMMPT~! Anon~!” She squealed and sputtered at you when the back and forth motion stretched her guts and pulled at her delicate flower. The smooth and measured motions of an experienced mare-breeder like you accounted for her delicate and soft texture, never once daring to be too rough for your plush wife. She lay there in absolute comfort now accentuated by the pounding pleasure of a man’s presence. Umbra stared still at you with narrowed and sleepy eyes fixed eternally to the matching stare of her stalwart protector. The man that would make her whole again and restore what had always been missing.

“Hnnf… I love you, Umbra.” You grunted to her inbetween grueling plunges inside her. Her soft snatch spread so smoothly around you, squeezing and milking with a buttery grip that made your nerves screech in need. The simple and ancient portions of your brain demanded a hard and fast pace. Nothing so sweet and subtle and deliberate as this. Her body was masterfully crafted for this, soft and squishy thighs and chubby buttocks and a rotund belly cushioning every soft blow while dark insides worshiped your sensitive shaft. She looked so helpless below you, unable to even sit up to properly kiss you with her trembling and puckered lips.

“I love you more than any Princess, any job or any fool that would take you away from me.” Growled words soothed her into a yet more accepting state of utter limbness, her body submitting to its beloved role as a human plaything.

“My~... husband… oooommmrrrph~~~...” She chirped and bit her lip before you could kiss it. Every word came between the staccato interruption of the increasingly passionate breeding below, quickly falling apart into drooly jibberish barely erupting from her mouth.

“I’ll kill any pony that comes between you and me. I’ll strangle Luna before I ever turn my back on you. I’ll give a hundred demon babies before I ever even consider not loving you.” Truth be told it was hard to talk and love at the same time for you. Sweat beaded up on your back and neck from the summer warmth streaming through the windows and the humid fog outside, sapping your endurance. Her sweet and slobbery opening drooled warm nectar down your gonads, adding yet another stain to your long-suffering couch. Churning lava inside her made for incredible heat around your manhood, driving you mad with the plush walls and the squeezing muscles drawing out your seed.

One look in her face however confirmed that your efforts were indeed worthwhile. She was smiling dopily and drooling on herself when such a savage decree left your lips. Pleasure and devotion unmatched covered her in a mask of pure bliss, the dark and sinister Queen beaten down into the most pliant, subservient and powerful mare in Equestria. For you, the man that would give her life, a second chance, a child to call her own, nothing was too drastic. Nothing was too improbable. Nothing would ever bring her back to that frigid riverbank bereft of security and safety.

“Hah- nng! Babygirl, I ain’t got much left!” You hissed into her face as she pulled you down. Her nose touched to yours and the darkness of the night slowly burned away under the intense sun, illuminating your final moments of endurance in mellow orange light.

“Claim me~~~.” She cooed as your seed rushed inside her, painting the mare’s guts with alabaster kings and queens waiting to be. Her fertile insides could do nothing with the mismatched material, vainly taking it within her garden and swirling it about mournfully. Sacred and filling and pleasurable as it was, there was still no use in such fresh, virile and sweet human essence. Its presence- in the form of a weighty exhaustion washing over every fiber of Umbra’s being- was all that she required. Immediately her racing thoughts and aching muscles were put at peace. A quiet and content peace that a child might feel when settling in for a wonderful night of sleep. Everything would be okay, everything would be as it needed to and the forces at work would see to it.

Her orgasm was dwarfed by the sensation of sweet relief. Relief from the howling gales of her own turmoil that had blown her down for centuries. The weightless joy of such a finality made her utterly dumb and soft under your panting body, her eyes meeting yours in a final stare of love unimagined.

“My King…” Was all she could say before you embraced the pony and lifted her from the seat. Morning’s imminent arrival would rouse Dinky sooner than you wanted, leaving almost no opportunity to make such an adult situation disappear. Fortunately, your sticky, sweaty and panting wife looked to be in the perfect mood for a bath. She curled into a soft sphere of fur and dripping sper. and short breaths, utterly unaware of your slow and careful carting up the stairs. All she could think was the name floating in her mind, the mysterious monikor that danced at the edges of her thoughts for so long.

That day, out in the field by the house where the sunlight shone most bright, Umbra lay and let the world dance around her. In the shade of a lone birch tree, the powerful unicorn simply listened closely to the elder languages of the material and immaterial. Grass and flowers grew taller and stronger around her body, for the positive energy pulsating in the ring about her neck amplified the nourishment and metabolism of the flora. Just as her mother had been all those eons ago in the cold taiga of the Crystal Empire, the so-called Queen returned to her long-forgotten pleasure of green magic. The thanks of the grass, the beckoning whistles of the flowers, the somber moans of the trees, the dark grunting of the stones. It all mirrored her inner monologue, finally a single voice speaking for itself with not a chirp of interruption.

Say for one, of course.

“There you are.” Squeaked young Dinky, her fur still damp with the scent of a muggy river. Purple stains about her mouth saturated her fur with the syrupy remains of ice-cold treats.. Umbra felt her tiny hooves against the packed dirt of the sun-baked field, only opening her eyes so she could joyfully see her niece come close and lay against her.

“I was looking for you, Auntie.” She said with a surprisingly soft and adult tone, the childish excitement endemic to her age quieted. Umbra smiled warmly and pulled her close with magic, nuzzling her most precious pupil.

“Come… come closer Dinky.” She beckoned with the most gentle tone she could manage, one that could only be heard from an inch away. Dinky obliged with a hum of safety and satisfaction, settling against her teacher’s side with a forelimb placed over one of Umbra’s.

“Poppy made you feel better.” Dinky said with pride in her voice, sensing the change in Umbra’s tide. The magic aura around her was entirely different than it had been the day before, even the night before. No longer the thick storm cloud of changing energies and twisting patterns confusing the mind. The smiling mare kissed her Pupil’s cheek in agreement, beaming with radiant energy like a star peacefully drifting along its predestined course.

“Indeed he did. Anonymous has made all well, just as he was created to do.” Dinky giggled and watched as her Aunty stared off into the forest, her green and red eyes tracking invisible shapes in the distance with great interest.

“Poppy fixes everything.” She said gleefully, taking great pride in the “purpose” of her father. Umbra had always said you were brought here for something, though the how or why were never really clear. Now, after all she had seen, it was spelled out in letters bold and clear as the storm clouds hovering over the far-off mountain peaks.

“Have you heard his name again?” Dinky questioned politely, trying not to agitate her otherwise calm and relaxed Aunt. Umbra closed her eyes and thought for a moment, her magic manipulated twigs and grass blades and rocks naturally, forming the word that had been repeating in her thoughts for some time.

“It has come and gone… though I never knew it to be a name. Just as the future always is, the image is unclear and unpredictable.” She grinned at the forming word below, finding that it was indeed just like the coming presence she had felt for so long.

“We are so lucky to taste it. To feel it like the wind through our manes and the sounds of the forest. It may be beyond words and come delivered in moments of uncertainty. But in that fraction of a moment Dinky, you must trust that if it was shown to you, it is nothing to fear.” The young filly watched as the final touches were put into place on this yet unspoken name, a new sound created just for this beast that would be birthed unto Equestria one day.

“Ozymandias.”