Twin Suns: Heart of the Empire
Chapter 004 - A glorious revolution.
Previous ChapterNext ChapterA revolution starts not with the first strike or even the first voice speaking out in dissatisfaction. It starts with a faulty system, the very catalyst that makes those voices of dissatisfaction grow louder, even if someone might try to keep those silent.
It starts with one little instance of something going incredibly wrong. Something like a new king rising to power and using that power for selfish means. Something like racism, poverty, enslavement, or... simply fear. Fear for your safety, those of your loved ones, or those less fortunate than you.
At one point, someone will rally those voices, leading them against those that have caused their misfortune and kept their lives miserable. All so that they could live lavishly instead.
Sometimes, it takes just that. A voice that wants to be heard and someone giving them that chance. Birch Leaf was one such pony, making her voice be heard and causing one of the greatest types of change a civilization could go through. A revolution, changing the status quo, the very standard of living of everyone in that nation. Or everypony, in this case. I have to say, these pony-isms have kinda grown on me, even though some of them were a bit ridiculous.
I was merely the one that gave her that nudge, the right conditions so that she could help her kin regain their freedom. She would have made a better queen than I, I thought as I watched her direct the odd thirty-ish ponies into breaking the chains of her fellow earthponies, breaking down the doors of those that dared to call themselves 'nobles' while having endorsed this cruelty of keeping their fellow ponies collared and ‘docile’.
Nobility my ass, there was nothing noble about that. There was nothing 'just' and 'righteous' in their actions, nothing that was truly virtuous and ethical in their motivations, and, in my opinion, they deserved a far worse fate, but it wasn't my place to bestow upon them their due punishment for the heinous transgressions they committed against ponykind. No. That privilege belonged to those they had wronged.
And, in the end, there was not a single pony that cried for those that had abused them as sex slaves, dying ‘peacefully’ in their sleep as they finally got the chance to rid themselves of the monsters pretending to be ponies.
Leaf quickly learned what I meant by how bloody this would actually get. I think she had clung on to the belief that she could prove me wrong, that this didn’t have to end with the cold-blooded murder of ponies unable to defend themselves, but she clearly underestimated her fellow slaves’ will to rid themselves of their captors, their tormentors. This much hurt... there were only those rare few like Leaf that could grant ponies a second chance even if they didn’t truly deserve it.
I understood her sentiment, it felt wrong to see these cute cuddly little ponies kill each other so... viciously. Even here, hatred can turn the most innocent of beings into vengeful killers. It didn’t sit right with me, either, as much as I thought they had all the right in the world to do this. It was downright horrifying to me, even.
I could feel their hatred and joy almost overwhelm my own feelings and it made me feel disgusted with myself that I supported this much bloodshed in the first place. I didn't want to see them be like this ever again, it was just plain wrong. I knew they were capable of so much more compassion than that, Leaf was proof of that.
That gave me all the more a reason to find and give them a place where they could finally live in peace. A place of love and harmony, just like I dreamed of. That would be something, wouldn’t it? An empire where everyone can be themselves, love who they want to love, and not have to fear that some dickhead was going to ruin their lives.
The night on that fateful day was lit red by not only hatred but also by a blazing inferno of flickering flames lighting up houses and torches alike, held aloft by hundreds of earthponies and the odd few unicorns rebelling against this cruelty of oppression and slavery, clashing with the King’s guards and his supporters in a desperate bid to earn their freedom. Some of those supporters were doing this genuinely out of a want to keep things like they were, while others, I imagine, were trying to gain the favor of their ‘beloved’ King.
Despicable, wasn’t it? To have no conscience at all, taking up arms for a cause like this... I suppose those foolish enough to let their greed guide their hoof learned their lesson the hard way that standing against a revolution would lead to their own end even sooner than the guillotine could relieve them of their heads.
Leaf and I led the quite sizable group of the most skilled fighters among the earthponies we rescued against the seat of power that one could generously call a castle if they squinted enough, breaking down the barricades barring us from entering the courtyard relatively easily.
I had to throw up a barrier with my magic as soon as we did, though, being oh-so-kindly greeted with arrows and spellfire alike. It burned through my considerable reserves faster than I would have liked, to be honest.
I was gritting my teeth as sweat gathered on my forehead, all the while the ache in my horn started to return as I poured more and more power into the shield keeping us safe from harm. “I can’t... keep this up for... much... longer! Ngh! Somepony... do something!”
One of the earthpony stallions with us gave the massive log they used to break down the barricades a glance and gave a shrug, shouldering the thing by himself like it weighed no more than a feather before he threw the damn thing up and gave it a mighty kick, sending it shattering through the defenses of the King’s guard, most likely killing a few of them outright as they had absolutely no chance to dodge the airborne log. I gave the stallion with the quartz-like white fur a thankful nod as my shield broke down, receiving a stoic one in return from ‘Mr. Hulk’.
“Are you okay, Ari?” Leaf asked, placing a hoof on my shoulder once we were safe behind the previous barricade we broke down. I let out a shaky breath, smiling back at her for her concern. I wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that right now. The ever-present hunger was back worse than before, gnawing at my stomach as well as on my mind, making me feel quite miserable.
The air of death around us was by far worse than that, though.
“I will be,” I told her, gratefully accepting a waterskin from one of the kind mares next to us. I wonder what those were actually made out of here considering, well... ponies. “We have to press the charge, we can’t allow them to recover or we’re going to be at this stalemate for days.”
“Alright,” Leaf nodded, turning to the few unicorns in our little group. “Do any of you know how to make shields?”
A young stallion that looked barely old enough to fight raised a hoof, being the only one out of the five unicorns that did so. “I-I can k-keep one up for a few s-seconds, Ma’am.”
“Wonderful, that’s not going to help a whole lot, is it?” Leaf grumbled, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “We will have to find another way, then...”
“Not necessarily,” I said, relaying Arachne’s words as she came up with an idea. “Tell me, can any of you lend your magic to somepony else?”
“That’s simple, anypony can do that,” one of the ‘mages’ answered while the others nodded along with what he said. “I suppose that would buy us some time for keeping up the shield. What’s your plan, then?”
“Rush and defeat,” Leaf said with a completely serious look on her muzzle, earning herself less than pleased looks at her ‘plan’. “Don’t say anything yet! It’s rather simple but effective if we do it right. We only need to get in there without getting hit. There are plenty of places to take cover in there while we don’t have a good defense out here. Once we are actually in there, we can engage in close-quarter combat, putting them at the disadvantage instead of us!”
I... don’t think that’s how castle sieges actually work. But it would negate the threat of their bows, and, to a degree, their magic. Considering that we had already breached the entrance... these unicorns were shit at building castles.
“You’ve got a plan, then?” she asked and I gave her a grin. “Don’t tell me you’re going to...”
“Yep,” I said with a little popping noise as my grin got wider. “I’m going to fuck them unconscious.”
“Seriously?” Leaf grumbled, giving me the stink eye.
“No, not really,” I snickered and she pouted back at me. “While I could use the energy, I don’t think that’s going to work even with a few hundred horny rabbits holding down the fort, so to speak. In a siege, your greatest enemy is someone working from within your own ranks against you, no?”
“You know, suddenly I’m glad you are on our side,” she said, turning paler than her white fur allowed. Which gave me more questions than I really cared to get answers for. I'll just chalk it up to magic and ignore the whole impossibility that was blushing and paling ponies. Madness lies down that road... “Alright, ponies! Listen up, we've got a new plan! We’re giving Araneae the distraction she needs to wreak havoc from within!”
“How’s that even going to work?” one of the unicorns asked with a skeptical frown. “She’s a unicorn and not even a noble at that, what could she do that we can’t?”
“You might be surprised,” I answered with a smirk on my muzzle, letting my changeling flames consume my form, hiding me from sight as I pictured a cute little black cat with white paws and the same shade of enchanting green eyes I gave to my unicorn disguise, praying that this would actually work.
A moment later, the flames receded and I looked up, letting out a meow as the gathered group gave me a surprised look. Immediately afterward I was, who could have guessed it, snatched up by Leaf, subjecting me to her torturous affections called ‘hugs’.
I struggled against her for a moment as her embrace was just a teeny tiny bit too tight but I gave up pretty soon after, resigning myself to my fate of being cuddled to death by a (now) gigantic mare. The affection(?) she was directing at me was quite filling, though. It tasted like sweet, sweet sugary goodness with a slightly alcoholic aftertaste which made this whole ordeal at least bearable enough for me to put up with it.
“Aww, you’re so cute like this, Ari!” Leaf squeed, shaking me a little bit in her grasp to which I let out a pitiful meow in protest. “I wish I was a changeling now, I’m so jealous!”
I directed a tired meow at her, feeling like we were wasting enough time as it was. If we get unlucky, they might just repair the damn door in the time that it takes for her to let go of me.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Leaf pouted, setting me back down on the ground while her emotions got... watery, I suppose. And a little bit salty, too. Wow, sadness really sucks, I don’t even want to imagine what sorrow would taste like. “Everypony, let’s get Ari inside! They won’t see the cat coming!”
The cheer following her encouragement was a bit subdued, but nonetheless just as enthusiastic. I picked up the keys with my mouth, whining slightly at the idea that it was dirty and had probably been in all kinds of mouths before, and quickly scrambled to catch up with the charging herd of colorfully angry ponies.
The arrows and spells that greeted us were fewer in number than the initial greeting they gave us, allowing us to break through into the castle’s entrance chamber with relative ease. It was a lot more spacious in here than what I vaguely remember Earth’s castles to have looked like. It was almost more like a palace, to be honest.
Instead of finding ponies clad in heavy armor, we found ones garbed in flowy robes and ones in what looked like genuine leather armor (they can't actually be using leather, can they?), wielding bows that were rather unwieldy by human standards. I suppose when you don’t have to use your own muscles to draw the string back, you could design weapons a lot more differently than someone without magic could.
Not that those bows did them any good, taking far too long to get ready to shoot when a massive earthpony stallion was barreling towards you with murder in their eyes. I decidedly looked away before I could see Mr. Hulk smash, not wanting to see the end result of that. Instead, I quietly slunk away from my only allies in this world to sneak around in a far too pompously decorated castle to find something that I could use against the defenders of a tyrannical king with an absolutely massive ego.
Seriously, the paintings on the walls... I doubt he had that big of a dick, really. I’m not kidding here, it looked like it was thicker than his own hoof! I mean, props to the artist and whatnot, but holy bananas... that’s disgusting. It was even decorated in jewels as if his massive football-sized nuts weren’t enough.
Somepony was trying way too hard to compensate for something, it wasn’t even funny. Okay, maybe it was a little bit, I guess. I’m pretty sure Leaf would laugh her flanks off if I were to show her these ridiculous pictures. Or she would give me the stink eye, I’m not too sure.
Our conversation ground to a halt after that, and, once I got closer to the top of the stairs, things went back to the tense atmosphere of finding myself in a location that I shouldn’t be in, in the first place.
And, as I looked over the edge of the final step, giving the tiny room in front of me a curious and cautious glance, I dryly thought that this definitely wasn’t the tower where Amore was being kept. I did find somepony here, though. Or rather, two ponies. “Princess? There’s... a cat with keys at the door.”
“What? Swirly Star, I’m not in the mood for any jests,” Princess Gold Bar replied, listlessly turning her head around in the golden cage she was locked up in, only to find my frozen, shocked self standing there in the open door frame. The princess moved weakly away from her little cot, giving me a once over in disbelief while the young unicorn mare chained to the wall gave her princess a look that told her ‘I told you so’. Both the white coat of the princess and the grey coat of... her friend, I suppose... were in dire need of a bath. Maybe more than one, if I was honest. “Where did you come from, little kitty cat?”
I gave the caged princess an unimpressed look while Swirly Star let out a snort, trying to beckon me over to her. From the looks of it, she was perhaps just as unimpressed with that question as I was. “You haven’t forgotten that cats can’t talk, right?”
“Shut up, Swirly Star,” Gold Bar pouted, giving her friend a glare. “I had a friend once that believed in innate abilities like being able to talk with animals, hmph.”
“I grew up, Gold,” Star replied with a huff. “Innate abilities are a myth... just like mares becoming archmages...”
“Or heroic knights saving the princess?” I asked, burning away my disguise, causing both of them to scream. “Oh, come on! I’m not that hideous, am I?”
They let out another scream after they ran out of breath and I rolled my eyes, waiting for them to get their shit together. Maybe I should have just gone back to my cat self and left them here, instead. They were a little bit too shrilly for my tastes.
“Who are you?!” one or both of them asked, I wasn’t too sure since, you know, my ears were ringing. They had one serious pair of lungs, damn. Or horse ears are way more sensitive than I thought. “How did you get here?”
“Uh,” I hesitated, giving a glance back to the way too steep stairs that I quite frankly had no idea how ponies of all beings were capable of using them. Seriously, I had to jump up every damn step in my little cat's body, it was exhausting. Whoever thought it was a good idea to design stairs like that deserved to be hanged. “Believe me, the answer to that question is either really simple or way too fucking complicated. You can call me Araneae or... if you want, you could call me your knight in shining armor, instead."—I coughed into my hoof while pointing out that it was technically chitin—"Take your pick, pretty lady.”
Both of them gave me an incredulous look, most likely wondering what the flying pig was going on. And maybe what I muttered under my breath, but who cares? “So, are you going to let us out or not?”
“Of course, Your Royal Poutiness,” I said, trying and failing miserably at hiding the smirk on my muzzle. “You wouldn’t know where I can find Amore, would you?”
“And why would I tell you that?” Gold Bar asked, watching me warily as I fiddled with the collar of her friend. “We don’t even know you.”
“Aww, and here I thought I was trustworthy because I’m setting you girls free from the cruel shackles that fate placed upon you so that I can be the hero I’m truly meant to be!” I said, letting out a dramatic sigh while holding a hoof to my head which... kinda unnerved the two more than my appearance did, apparently. Theatrics aside, that damn collar was putting up more of a fight than I expected. I had way too many keys to go through and it was showing on my muzzle as I, once again, tried another key because the last one rattled uselessly around in the lock. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you. Can’t say the same about that father of yours, that dickhead's head is gonna roll before the suns rise into the sky.”
“He. Is. Not. My. Father!” Princess Goldilocks seethed, glaring balefully at me. “That traitorous leech ruined our kingdom, killing my parents and locking me up like a bird because I refused to marry his ugly mug!”
“...what?” I mumbled, conveniently placing her friend in between me and her even though she was still stuck in that gaudy cage of hers. “I’m sorry, I... uh... I just assumed that... you know, king and princess...”
“You’re not from around here, are you?” she muttered, letting out a sigh. “Well, I suppose you can’t be too bad if you’re here to get rid of that... that...”
“Spawn of an ogre?” I offered, snickering to myself. Although... both Gold Bar and Swirly Star were giving me confused looks, so my amusement died a quick and sad death pretty soon after that. I really miss Earth now.
The collar on the gray unicorn finally snapped open, falling to the ground with a dull thump, thankfully breaking the awkward silence as it started to drag on a little bit too long. Judging by the marks around her throat... I could tell they had spent a long time in here. It smelled like it, too.
“Thanks,” she said while rubbing her neck gratefully. “Do you have the key for the suppression ring with you as well?”
“I don’t think any of these keys are small enough for that lock, sorry,” I apologized, pity welling up within me for her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that thing did and it looked like it was on rather tight, as well. I kinda felt bad for her, using magic has become an incredible convenience, I wouldn't want to go without it anymore. Let's hope that there are other ways to get rid of that thing (without hurting her in the process, that is). “Alright, let’s get that...”
Before I was able to finish saying my sentence, the archmage hopeful stumbled as she was about to come over with me to Gold Bar's cage so that we could get that totally degrading thing open next (seriously, why a cage made out of fucking gold of all things?). Fortunately, I caught Swirly Star just in time, helping her back on her hooves while giving her a concerned look. The embarrassed flush on her face made me feel... miserable... for her. And angry. Angry that they would treat these two so poorly because Gold Bar refused to marry that slimeball of a cockroach. It was high time that someone changed the status quo around here, wasn't it? A fate like that... it most assuredly wasn't pretty.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked, receiving a weak nod from the quite tall and lanky mare which didn’t really fill me with confidence that she was truthful about that. Gold Bar was giving her an uncertain and concerned look while I began the whole spiel of inserting the wrong key after the wrong key into the lock again. “Seriously, how many different locks can this castle actually have that there are so many damn keys on this fucking thing!”
“Most of those belong to the holding cells underneath the castle, you uncouth brute,” Gold Bar pointed out, giving me an unimpressed look now. I suppose that did make sense, although now I wish I had a set of lock picks, instead. I’m sure I wouldn’t have had that much difficulty using those instead of trying to find the correct fucking fuck shit of a key, damnit!
Right as I was about to hit... something, the cage probably... the lock gave a click and the door swung open in an almost mocking way. My eyelid twitched. Okay, then... moving on!
“Anyway! Let's get the hell out of here, shall we?” I said and watched them tearfully embrace each other for probably the first time in years. "Or... you have your heartfelt moment for a little while longer, I guess. Don't mind me, I'll just... stay here at the stairs until you're ready. It's not like we're in the middle of a war zone, right?"
"Shut up, stupid bug," Gold Bar shot back, throwing me a tiny glare as she leaned her head against the chest of her 'friend'.
"Right, sorry," I muttered, deciding to ignore her half-hearted jab with a roll of my eyes. This 'being nice' thing was more difficult than I had thought it would be at first, but... it did feel good, to be honest. And it wasn't like I wasn't off to a good start, right? Already, I have saved one pair of ponies from the cruel shackles fate placed upon them and soon, Leaf and the rest of her fellow earthponies would be free to do whatever they want, as well. Speaking of... “It's probably for the best if you two stick with me, the ponies I’m with will know you are friendlies. We will have to be careful, though, when we move through the castle. I’m quite frankly surprised that there has been no guard standing watch over you two.”
“We’ve been left alone for the most part,” Gold Bar sighed, reluctantly parting from the hug she shared with her 'best friend'. “My uncle... that cretin tried to have his way with me, but he quickly learned I’m not the defenseless damsel that quietly takes the abuse, so he locked me up here with Swirly Star instead until I ‘broke’ and said yes to his slimy proposal. If Swirl hadn’t tried to defy him by coming to my aid, she probably would have found a way to rescue me from this tower a long time ago.”
“This is so fucked up...” I growled to myself, rage trying to drown me, threatening to throw a haze over my mind until the target of my anger breathed no more. “Let’s get this over with before I try turning into a dragon to raze this whole kingdom to the ground without leaving a single thing alive. First things first, I need one of you to guide me to Amore’s cell.”
“That won’t be too much of a problem,” Gold Bar nodded. “What is your plan with the knights, though?”
“That’s... a good question, I’ll think of the answer when I get around to it,” I said, giving the stairs a wary glance. I’m not going to enjoy going down, will I?
I was still gonna ban them, though. It was an adventure going down friggin’ stairs and I had to repeat the whole spiel all over again with Amore’s tower. What a joy...
To be honest, I’d rather climb up the wall. Whether like Spider-Man or like Rapunzel with his own damn hair. Mane. Tail. Whatever.
I followed after the princess as she navigated the halls with an old familiarity, all the while trying to ignore her outraged comments about how much Gemstone had defiled her once ‘beautiful’ home. If this mess out of cobblestone could ever be called that of all things.
Naturally, the first tower we tried searching for Amore was not the correct place. We did find the ‘servants’, though. All of them fillies and young mares that had been treated no better than the princess and her friend.
I almost did turn into a raging dragon at that point had it not been for my new companions and the fact that I had no idea what one actually looked like.
Anyway, it took way longer than I would ever care to admit getting all of their chains and collars open as well, but eventually, our 'little' group was on the move again. A group that was decidedly less stealthy than I would have liked. The stench of fear wafting over from them wasn’t helping, either.
At least I was getting better at keeping their emotions from influencing my own, otherwise, this would have definitely taken far longer than it already did. That much fear wasn't easy to 'ignore', so to speak. It didn't help that I wasn't a particularly courageous person to begin with, either.
Thankfully, we had little to no problem moving through the hallways, seeing that they were pretty much empty of soldiers. They were no doubt sufficiently distracted with the little revolution Leaf and I had kicked off.
I hoped they were holding out alright, I’d hate it if something happened to her. To them, I mean. Okay, maybe I was mainly concerned for Leaf, give me a damn break.
We did have one run-in with a brown-ish unicorn stallion spotting us as we (hopefully) neared the right tower this time. It was funny to watch him flop over as I shot a stunner at him, swiftly biting his neck afterward so that my venom paralyzed him enough that he couldn’t even move his muzzle anymore to scream for help. I dragged the fool to an inconspicuous hiding place in order to make sure that absolutely nopony would stumble upon him, wrapping him up in a silk cocoon so that he wouldn't be following us once the venom began to wear off. I gave the stupid hornhead a good kick in the nuts just for good measure before turning back to my new friends.
I could tell the servants, and even Princess Gold Bar and Swirly Star, were a little bit frightened of me after I had done... that... but I could care less about them actually liking my methods when we were, for all intents and purposes, in a damn war zone.
Besides, I'm sure he deserved it. They all did. And no, I don't care that I was generalizing the shit out of this, anyone working for King Gemstone had it coming to them, it was as simple as that.
To be honest, though, I might have only done that because I needed somepony to vent my frustration out on. Both for the whole slavery thing and the abhorrent amount of keys on that damn fucking keyring. I just wanted this day to be over with and forget it ever happened.
“You know, I hope you won’t make me come back here after freeing all the earthponies from Gemstone’s clutches,” I muttered while giving Gold Bar a look that told her I was most certainly not in the mood to find out they went right back to their old ways after all the shit that has been going on here. “I’d hate to go through a rebellion like this twice.”
“Believe me, I’m going to change a lot about how things are done here,” she replied darkly, glaring ahead at nothing in particular. “Slavery was never endorsed by my father. I never thought I would get to know what being a prisoner felt like... I’m going to make sure that this doesn’t repeat itself, you have my word.”
“See that you do,” I spoke, keeping the harsh bite out of my tone as I started to move up the stairs to the next tower carefully. “You actually strike me as the fair and loving ruler your ponies truly need. A ruler is but a servant to the needs of their subjects, never forget that.”
“I... thank you,” Princess Gold Bar whispered. “I’ll remember that.”
“And maybe try to get rid of that gender restriction nonsense,” I said, smiling back at her and receiving one back with a nod. “Great. Now, take two (or three, actually).”— I cleared my throat, a bright smile on my muzzle—” Rapunzel, I have come to save thee! It is I, your knight in shining armor!”
“Do you always have to be so... bizarre?” Gold Bar asked with a raised brow directed at me. I ignored her nonsensical question in favor of... the sleeping stallion not having noticed my grandiose entrance, damnit. Oh, woe is me! My glorious plan of making him fall in love with me at first sight lay broken and shattered in front of my hooves, all of my dreams reduced to a thousand tiny little pieces! My life... forever ruined!
Alrighty, then... Sleeping Beauty it is! Eh heh heh~...
Too bad he actually woke up as I tried to get the damn fucking shit fuck of a damn fucking door open. Gah! Isn’t there an easier way to get that... Calm, deep breaths, Araneae, calm and deep breaths... There’s probably a spell for that, isn’t there? The first thing that I’m going to do once I’m done with this extremely frustrating situation is to learn magic the proper way.
Scratch that thought. The first thing that I’m going to do is ride that juicy rod of his, hot damn! I’m sure he has all the ladies fawning over him with that sweet, sweet body of his. Probably the stallions, as well. My, my...
“Who... what are you?” the bleary-eyed hunk of a stallion asked me, spotting not only my glorious self about to rescue him but also my sidekicks, Snooty Princess and Smart Goon. “Princess, is that you?”
“Yes, Lord Amore,” Gold Bar answered with a relieved smile as I kept struggling futilely like an idiot with the FUCKING LOCK, DAMNIT! Fuck this shit, I thought, turning around and kicking the damn fucking door in with all of my considerable, non-existent strength. Thankfully, the rusty hinges did most of the work for me. “I... Well, thanks for that, idiot. You could have hurt him, you know that, right?”
“Nonsense,” I huffed, turning around with a little wobble. “That... took a lot more out of me, though. Oh boy...”
“Are... you okay?” Amore asked, weakly sitting up from his ‘bed’. It was more like a dirty pile of hay, from the looks of it. “You don’t look too good.”
“I should be asking you that, shouldn’t I?” I shot back with an exhausted smile while I gave him an appraising glance (and for once, it wasn't the lewd kind). Standing up, he was even taller than me in my base form and that was saying a lot for his height. “I’ll be okay, I... I’m just running a bit low on positivity here, nothing too bad, right? It's not like I have had many opportunities to ‘fill up’, what with the revolution taking place downstairs.”
“Positivity?” he asked, giving me a confused look.
“I’m a changeling, dear,” I said, patting his head affectionately. “I suck dick and stuff snatch for free and get a meal out of it.”
“Wait, what?” the princess interjected, giving me an aghast look. “You’re a succubus?!”
“Well, if you want to put a label on what I am? Sure, might as well call myself a succubus,” I shrugged. “To be honest, though? Incubus would be just as accurate as succubus, but let's not jump to conclusions here. I’m not some kind of hell-spawn if that's what you're thinking. It would be kinda difficult to survive for long if I kill ponies left and right by draining them dry of their life force, after all. I'd rather have them enjoy it as much as I do~.”
“I don’t believe this,” Gold Bar whimpered in horror, shaking her head in denial. “Our savior is a damn pervert!”
“Eh, everypony has their kinks,” I shrugged, ignoring her antics in favor of inspecting my... Okay, yeah, no. This wasn’t really a fairy tale, I should probably stop trying to come up with comparisons, shouldn’t I?
“You’re supposed to be... honorable or something!” Gold Bar whined, leaning against her friend as she offered to comfort her.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Ms. Kinkshy,” I muttered, staring darkly down at the signs of bruises showing through Amore’s beige coat. “Do they hurt?”
“I’ll live,” he reassured me and then tried to force a tiny smile on his muzzle. He wasn’t fooling anypony with that and I think he was well aware of that. I can’t tell why, but... him trying to pretend they were no big deal felt a lot worse than seeing those bruises on him in the first place. “Out of all the... ponies... I expected to appear here, you certainly weren’t one of them. You never answered my question, about who you are.”
“Q... Uh... Araneae,” I said and a blush appeared on my muzzle as I almost answered with 'Queen' on autopilot. “Yep. Just Araneae! Sweet, short, rolls almost off the tongue... Ponies love it.”
“Like the spider?” he asked and before I could do anything, I was suddenly in the backseat of our body.
“You know about the scientific classification?” Arachne asked giddily, letting out a girly squeak. Huh. Apparently, we could force ourselves to be in control. I doubt she did it with malicious intentions considering she was currently nerding out over Amore not being a ‘simpleton’. Comparatively speaking, that is. Most people on Earth couldn’t have held a candle to Tabetha’s intelligence, and, well... even with my split personality having most of the broken version of those memories, I don’t know whether anypony in this world could truly keep up with her. Heck, I couldn’t even keep up with her most of the time and she was (more or less) me! I should know the things she knows, but apparently, all of my intelligence went into creating her...
I’m not dumb, alright?! I just... have other strengths. Like... I don’t know. Being good at seducing ponies. And shredding their minds, apparently. And getting into dumb situations. Very. Dumb. Situations.
“I, uh...” Amore stammered, leaning his head back as he got a muzzle full of viciously sharp teeth grinning back at him. “My mother kept star spiders for their silk?”
“Eee!” Arachne clapped her hooves excitedly. “Tell me more about...”
I shook my head, shoving Arachne back before she could actually frighten the poor stallion more than she already did. “Uhm. Sorry. That was... yeah. Please, just ignore that and pretend that never happened.”
“That was... a quick shift from, well... whatever that was back to...” Amore said, gesturing at me with a hoof and I let out a groan. “You’re interesting, that I have to give to you, ‘Just’ Araneae.”
“Can you not say it like that?” I groused, pouting at him. “Araneae is fine. If you have to use something else, use Ari or Ara.”
“Very well, ‘Just’ Araneae,” he said, smiling mirthfully. I facehoofed, almost hitting my horn as I did so, and let out a groan again, not at all amused. “Though, I am curious what that was about.”
“I’m a crazy succubus bug pony hybrid, what more do you want to hear?” I grumbled, feeling protective of Arachne. “Can we leave... that... alone? Please?”
“I don’t think you are nearly as crazy as you pretend you are,” he said with a small shrug. You would be the only one thinking that, I silently mused to myself. There was nothing sane about anything I have done so far, the least of which was kicking off this revolution without even having any idea of what I was doing. “You don’t have to answer my curiosity, dear. While I am interested in finding out the actual truth, I won’t press my savior for anything. I’m grateful that you came here to help me, Araneae.”
“Yeah, well... great. Let’s get out of here, then, shall we?” I muttered, pointedly avoiding looking into those damn adorable eyes of his that were full of understanding and crap. It was like they were made out of pure gold or... something more along the lines of a brilliant amber-like honey. I could just... lose myself in them, trying to figure out each and every secret hidden within them. They were that enchanting and I didn’t like it one bit. Nopony should have that much power over somepony else with their eyes alone (aside from me, that is). “There’s still a king with a head on his spine. Don’t you think we should remedy that?”
“You intend to kill him?” Amore asked and I shrugged, moving out of his cell towards the... fucking stairs. Ugh. I swear, if I can’t ban them from ever existing again, I’m going to travel by the means of portals everywhere I go (I’m sure Arachne and Shadra could come up with something along those lines, it can't be too hard if a mentally unstable madman could have figured it out, after all).
“Well, considering Gemstone is enslaving ponies left and right without a shred of remorse and the fact that I can't think of anything else that would be punishing enough...” I pointed out, curiously glancing back at him with a raised brow. “What would you do with him, instead?”
“I don’t know,” he answered, furrowing his brows thoughtfully. “I do not think that vengeance is the answer to everything, Araneae. He has done many wrongs, that much is true... I don’t think he would change his ways, either. Perhaps putting him out of his misery is kinder than locking him away for eternity. That won’t magically make everything right, though.”
“I know...” I whispered with mixed feelings, kicking my leg at nothing but empty air in frustration (and anger at myself, I guess). “The ponies of this kingdom deserve their freedom and that’s only going to be achieved with him gone. I don’t really care what you guys do with him, he isn’t really of my concern. I just want to find a nice quiet place with the ponies willing to follow me and give them a home where they can live in peace. Maybe ask Leaf if she wants to be with me if all of this works out and start my own hive.”
“An admirable goal,” he nodded, a smile gracing his lips. “You do make for a great queen, even if you try to deny it.”
I blushed and turned away from him before going down the stairs in order to avoid hearing him say any more of those embarrassing things. I should have known he would come to that conclusion after I futilely tried to hide it away from him. He wasn’t an idiot and he knew as soon as I said ‘start a hive’ that I was the queen of a new hive. Probably even earlier than that, to be honest. There are only so many possibilities one could come up with after that stupid blunder of mine, introducing myself.
As much as I liked to joke about saving my damsel in distress, I think I’ll stick with Leaf. She wasn’t nearly embarrassing me as much as he was willing to. Besides... stallions with pink manes aren’t my type of thing. Totally not.
Okay, maybe a little bit. It was kinda cute and it had that really nice transition into a blueish color near the end. Besides, that pink was more of a rose-ish color, leaning more towards red than pink. I can’t really tell without sunlight, though. Maybe I’ll just dye it pink and call it a day, I’m not the one that will have to live with that color, anyway.
Yep, as soon as I have some dye, I’ll do that and hypnotize him into believing that it is his actual mane color. He shall be called Mr. Pink henceforth until eternity!
That’s what he deserves for outing me as a queen to Miss Prissy Lady and Smart Goon. And the servants, I guess. The poor maids, I wonder what must be going through their heads right now. I wasn’t exactly the savior any of them expected and maybe that was a good thing, I’d rather not deal with the hero worship. The only pony allowed to simp for me is Leaf, I didn't need anypony else.
Or am I actually the one that’s simping for Leaf..? Nah, that’s ridiculous. Obviously, she would simp for my glorious buggy self, she pretty much admitted as such already, hadn’t she? Something something, real self better, yadda yadda, please be my succubus. Sounds about right.
I’m going to shut up now before I start thinking with my dick. Or snatch. Or both, to be honest. You know what? Maybe I really am the one that is simping for my angel. Who wouldn’t, honestly? Simp for Leaf, I should make that a law in the hive.
Right, back to... trying to figure out what to do to get this revolution over with.
“Say, do you know where the entrance to the dungeons is around here?” I asked because I only knew of the entrance in the barracks, turning to the prissy princess that should totally get that stick out of her butt. Seriously, sex ain’t the work of the devil, what’s her deal? It’s nothing to be ashamed of, acting a little bit like a... okay, wow, I really am a whore at heart. Free food, free sex, free money... Seriously, that’s like paradise come true. What more could I actually want?
“I... don’t think you want to go down there,” Gold Bar answered hesitantly, looking down sadly. “You will only find misery down there, after what my uncle openly endorsed... You said you feed off of emotions, right? Do you think you can stand all of that despair?”
“I’ll survive,” I muttered, knowing she was probably right about that. With how badly they treated her, her friend, the servants, and Lord Amore? I could barely stand the fear of the gathered ponies with me, I was going to absolutely hate going to the one place where the ‘King’ and his soldiers treated ponies even worse than the slaves that had the ‘fortune’ to see the light of the suns on a daily basis, wasn’t I? Not that I was going to have a choice in the matter, someone had to go down there and put a stop to all of it. Better me than somepony else.
Gold Bar nodded reluctantly, giving me a concerned look despite her misgivings about my ‘ethics’. She probably saw straight through my façade of trying to be stronger than I actually felt, wanting to give them the hope that everything would turn out alright. The other option wasn’t even up for debate, I won’t let any of them suffer Gemstone’s reign any longer.
And I know how I was going to tip the scale in favor of the revolution. It’s simple, really. I’ll just set all of the prisoners down below free and watch them wreak havoc, instead.
The only thing in between me and that goal were doors. With locks. And way too many keys than I could shake at them. And a fuckton of bad emotions from those that had lost all hope a long time ago. And... and the stench of decay on top of that.
Fuck my life.
The princess wasn’t kidding when she told me that it would be too much for me. I... I had naively thought that it wouldn’t be this bad, but... I should have expected this. Of course, the unicorns following Gemstone wouldn’t give a single fuck about what happened to those prisoners of theirs, would they? Why care if one or two of them die, they are easily replaced, right? They aren’t loyal to the fucking crown, right? Why care? Why care, why care, why the fuck care?
Seriously... why? Why?!
I never understood the lengths some people could take their cruelty to. Sure, I’ve been an asshole on far too many occasions in the past, I’ve been selfish so many times that I didn’t care what other people thought of me... I’ve hurt people far more often than I’d care to admit. Tabetha and Tobias the most.
But I would never do this. I would never be so cruel as to let people... ponies... die right next to each other, crammed into tiny little cells with barely enough room to turn around in.
The flames of my changeling magic licked at my frame as I moved past each cell, my own rage melting the locks completely away as I drew on those disgusting emotions of fear, despair, and hate to sustain me. I felt sick. Not only because of what I saw here but also because I didn’t care that, basically, these were ‘foul’ emotions that I shouldn’t be eating in the first place.
My stomach turned in protest, but I kept on going, deeper and deeper. Amore was glancing at me in concern as I dragged myself forward, tears falling from my eyes in heavy rivers. I ignored the sizzling sound of them hitting the floor, leaving ugly marks of my own grief behind, not unlike acid. They glowed a sickly greenish-black color, I absentmindedly noticed as I opened cell after cell despite the fact that some of them only contained decomposing corpses and nothing more.
Some of them started moving, shambling off to who knows where as the miasma of suffocating emotions surrounding me reawakened them from death like soulless puppets, most likely seeking those out that had caused their deaths. As soon as they left my range, though, they flopped back down like marionettes with their strings cut off, going back to being as dead as they actually were.
I suppose dark magic was a thing here then, huh? No wonder, tainting your magic with such foul emotions had to take its toll on the body. I felt strangely fine, though. If one could call sick to the stomach ‘fine’, that is. Fiction always made the dark arts out to be mind-warping, addicting... evil, even.
Perhaps it was.
It was hard to tell, everything felt like it was muted as I continued to stuff my stomach full with the rancid tasting emotions that I could only equate to first-rate trash. Fine cuisine for the palatable taste of the scummiest scum of the world. Those damn unicorns should be the ones feeling this miserable, not me. Damn them for their fucking racism. Damn their fucking supremacist ways. Damn them and their fucking torture of poor innocents because they dared to stand up to their damn fucking fuck of a fucktard king. Seriously, fuck all of them.
I hate them. I loathe them. I abhor them. All. Of. Them.
I will not allow a single one of them to continue doing this. Not one.
And I didn’t. Those that stood in my way, trying to stop us... me... from setting their prisoners free died a quick death. Whether it was through a hoof caving in their chest, a horn piercing their skull, fangs ripping out their throat, or... I dunno, I started getting creative as I fought my way through the underground maze, getting rid of the scum of the Earth... or whatever this world was actually called. I don’t care.
I hated these ponies, these unicorns whose sole job was to torture their fellow unicorns into compliance. They deserved no mercy. They deserved to be hated. To be loathed. To be abhorred. To be eradicated like pests.
Because they were pests. Pests that took advantage of a faulty system. Pests that had gleefully tortured and murdered their fellow ponies because their king was a spineless pig.
I ate. I ate every bad emotion I could get. I wanted to feel this bad because it would make me feel less guilty about my own emotions. I was... happy that they couldn’t continue to torture these poor ponies. I was... celebrating the end of these monsters... only to notice that, in the end, I became one in the process.
I was a monster. A monster-hunting monster. I became the apex predator of this damn fucked up world. None could stand against me as I brought retribution, nothing but pure retribution.
My eyes gazed down at the pale hoof holding me back gently and I gazed back at the charred pile of... something. I couldn’t tell, my vision was too blurry from the bubbling tears falling from my eyes. I felt like I was choking, a cloudy miasma surrounding my vision almost entirely.
The only thing I could make out clearly was that hoof. It was pale but not as pale as the one that belonged to my angel. Leaf... if she could see me right now... what would she think?
She would be disappointed in me, I knew that with absolute certainty. She didn’t want me tainting my soul with so much hatred. She had seen something in me, something that was worth salvation... and I had just proven to her that she was wrong about that.
I wasn’t worthy of that trust, that faith she was willing to show me of all beings. She saw a light that didn’t exist in a monster like me. It never existed in the first place, I was a monster. An abomination.
I didn’t deserve redemption, after all. Not after committing this disgusting, reproachable sin of mass murder. I didn’t deserve this second chance at life, I was bringing nothing but death. I should have gone with those blue angels and... and...
I let out a sob, crying tears that burned my eyes so viciously, I thought I would go blind. I didn’t want t-to... to... I n-never wanted a-any... any o-of... any of t-this! All I wanted was a family that l-loved me! Was that too much to ask for?!
Why?! Why do these fucking fuck shits do this?! To their fellow ponies?! Why?! Was it really that hard to get peacefully along with each other?! I hate this world. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!
“Shh...” the voice belonging to that pale beige... whatever the fuck the actual color was called... it hummed gently as the pain in my stomach felt like it was eating me from the inside out.
I just wanted to be loved, damnit.
To have a family of my own.
To be happy and...
I retched, whining pathetically while the wings on my back let out an angry buzz. All the while, the gentle caress of the pony next to me tried to comfort me. I heaved and whined, retching as my stomach churned in protest at what I had so carelessly subjected it to.
My stomach wanted it out, but the contents of it didn’t want to come out. It was like a war fought within me. On one side, me and my stomach, and on the other... well, it couldn’t be anything good, that’s for sure.
“It’s alright,” the voice of... it could only be Amore, couldn’t it? He hummed gently as I sobbed, heaving again and again as the contents staining my stomach with their foulness desperately tried to cling on to their snuggly warm place inside of me, happily causing me pain because I dared eat from a forbidden fruit. A forbidden rotten fruit that promised power unimaginable at the cost of me feeling like I was going to die any moment from now.
To be honest, I would have preferred death over this torture.
Finally, after what felt like never-ending agony, I was able to expel the putrid substance causing me such discomfort. I felt like the grimace on my face couldn't even do this feeling of absolute disgust enough justice.
The watery honey-like substance glowed ominously as it left my muzzle, lighting the dark tunnels of the underground caverns up in an evil haze. Out of all the places that ever existed, this was the only one that truly deserved to be called 'Hell'. I was shivering like I was having the worst case of a cold one could possibly get, a numb calmness settling over my mind like I had never experienced before.
I’m never, ever, absolutely never ever going to do that again. Absolutely. Never. Ever. Again.
“Are you okay?” Amore asked, rubbing my back just above my wings softly. “You aren’t... all cuckoo in the head, right? Please tell me that changelings are immune to the effects of dark magic.”
“If you mean that I’m going to take over the world?” I asked tiredly, heaving in the air of this rancid place greedily, feeling quite disappointed that it wasn’t fresh air that I was breathing in, instead. “Yeah, I’m totally gonna do that.”
“Oh, thank the twin suns,” Amore sighed in relief. “You aren’t a megalomaniac hell-bent on destroying the world.”
“I just told you I was gonna take over the world and that’s how you react?” I snorted, giving him a mirthful glare in the cold light of his blue unicorn magic. “I’m pretty sure that’s what someone would say under the influence of dark magic.”
“Then you have obviously never met somepony under the influence of dark magic,” Amore said, trying to crush my fragile self with a thing he dared to call a ‘hug’. This feels like déjà-vu, doesn’t it? Bigger pony, too forceful of an embrace... yep. Totally déjà-vu. “Don’t ever do that again, please.”
“Sure...” I muttered, guiltily enjoying the feeling of closeness right next to the puddle of... I can’t even call it ‘vomit’, can I? Vomit doesn’t make that kind of noise. It wasn’t supposed to make any sounds at all, damnit. It was like a low wailing kind of noise intermixed with screams and whispered nonsense, causing me to shiver everywhere with its sheer wrongness.
It’s like... negative emotions in the form of honey. Which, now that I thought about it, would be the actual description, wouldn’t it? I wonder if I could make honey from positive emotions as well. Hopefully, that wouldn’t feel like I was getting rid of my stomach in its entirety in the process.
I suppose I do have a gag reflex, after all. It’s just... in my stomach, instead. Which totally makes sense. Absolutely. Definitely. Somehow. I have next to no idea how that works and I really don’t want to find out. Ponies could be cows for all I care and I still wouldn't want to know the specifics.
Some things are better left undiscovered... aside from the knowledge of how to make honey with positive emotions, that is. The only thing I care about is not starving to death and having something like that is going to make travel infinitely easier on me (without me having to drag a willing pony everywhere I go, that is). That’s something good that came from this miserable experience at least, right?
“I can’t believe you just... did all of that,” Amore sighed, grumbling with his pleasantly deep voice. It wasn’t that deep, but it did rumble quite nicely. He had that sexy noble lord type of voice that... totally didn’t just give me a boner. Oh, well. It’s not like he wouldn’t have found out about that eventually, right? I mean, I can turn into literally anything if I put my mind into it (maybe even into inanimate objects, that still requires... testing~). I could have just as well turned into a stallion and it would have had pretty much the same effect. I think. “Is... uh... Okay, I have a pressing question here... what the hell is that?”
“What? I told you guys I suck dick and stuff snatch, what did you not get about that?” I huffed, fidgeting on my hindlegs as it got increasingly harder to ignore.
Fuck, that’s going to be a problem if I want to chop off the king’s head, won’t it? There’s no way I wasn’t going to do that after going through... all of this. Fuck being nice for once. I’ll start being nice after that dickhead doesn’t have a head on his body anymore for me to be able to call him a dickhead again.
“But...” Amore blinked, looking down at little me with an unusual amount of curiosity in his eyes. “Didn’t you say you wanted to start a hive? You are a queen in that regard, right?”
“If you mean that I’ll start laying eggs? Yep,” I answered, watching with increasing interest as his own ‘little him’ got most definitely larger. I dunno whether that was because of the egg thing or the dick thing. Maybe it was a combination of both? “Say... do you maybe wanna fuck?”
“That’s... forward...” Amore said, tomato red in the face and I watched with a little grin as his rod gave a twitch. Oh, he definitely was gay for dick, wasn’t he? That’s going to be... fun. “And quite... inappropriate. Maybe we should...”
“Oh, you’re not getting out of this that easily, lover boy,” I snickered, delighting in the fact he was the one trying to avoid my gaze now after having previously left me as an embarrassed pile of... something appropriately embarrassing. “What’s the matter, Amore? Afraid I’m going to bite~?”
“Quite frankly? Yes,” he gulped, trying to lean away from me after I turned the hug on him, not letting him escape. It was quite funny to rile him up, I have to say. Both Leaf and he tasted so very fulfilling when they were like this, I couldn’t help myself from nibbling a little bit, it was just too tempting for me to not do that. “This isn’t exactly accepted courtship behavior, I hope you’re aware of that? Besides, this type of relationship isn’t...”
“Oh, shut the fuck up,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Who cares? Are you really that much of a prude to reject the advances of a hot girl even if she has a dick?”
“That sounds so incredibly wrong and I hope you know that,” he pointed out and I shrugged. “I’m questioning life so much right now...”
“Only if you make it out to be wrong, dear. Besides, even if I were a stallion at heart, there would be nothing wrong about being gay, you know?” I whispered hotly, tracing circles with my... oh, wow. I really need a bath asap, that’s disgusting as fuck. Blood and gore on chitin, ugh. If I hadn't already emptied my stomach, I'm sure this would have made me throw up either way. At least this shit is going to wash off easier than all of the gunk in Amore’s coat. That's like... a major turn-off, holy flying pig. “Anyway! Let’s get out of here... after finding out where the exit actually is, that is.”
“You really are an odd one, aren’t you?” Amore grumbled, trying to rein in his thoroughly aroused body. He can’t ever deny that he was totally attracted to me, I knew all of his dirty secrets! I felt like cackling evilly, but that would have definitely made me look crazy. Still tempting, tho...
“I have been told the exact same thing by somepony else, this must be what people call fate,” I said, snickering slightly, feeling quite a lot better now. Negative emotions suck. Majorly. “So... you’re a lord, right? What do you think about, I don’t know... being a prince instead?”
“Are you... proposing to me?” Amore asked, staring at me like I had grown a second head. I probably could do that now, couldn’t I? That would be really weird, though. Like... I could talk to myself from two different perspectives! Which, I guess, was already kind of a thing only in the way that Arachne and Shadra had become their own entities, instead.
“What?” I asked, giving him an innocent look that (hopefully) didn’t look like I was totally trying to get into his metaphorical pants. Besides, that wasn’t actually what I meant, but if he was already bringing it up... “I mean... if you want to? I certainly wouldn’t say no to having a hunk of a stallion such as you as a husband on top of getting my waifu to simp for me. What I actually meant was leading all of the earthponies without a home into a brighter future. From what Leaf told me, you were quite adamant about helping them, so I thought that you might want to... maybe come with us?”
“Oh...” Amore said, coughing awkwardly to himself. “I... don’t know? Where would we even go?”
“Dunno,” I shrugged. “Somewhere without an angry mob of unicorns hell-bent on enslaving everything that walks without a stick on their noggin. Just say yes, damnit. I don’t know how to do all of that ruling stuff... please, do it for me?”
“You’re just lazy, aren’t you?” he smiled in mirth and I pouted back at him. Not that I attempted to refute his claim, he kinda had a point there, after all. “I suppose it can’t hurt to make sure they don’t starve to death because the only thing on your mind is sex.”
“I do not think only of sex,” I shot back, puffing out my cheeks angrily. “Who do you take me for? A nymphomaniac bimbo?”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Amore told me and I groaned, kicking a hoof in frustration. I hate not having people understand what I mean, damnit. “I can make a guess, though. You do know that one of the first things you did was talk about ‘sucking dick and stuffing snatch’, right? I find it hard to believe that you can go a day without a single thought about intercourse.”
“I totally can,” I argued, poking him defiantly. “I think about plenty of other things. Like... uh... like... eggs! Yep. There you have it, I think about... okay, yeah, maybe I do think a teeny tiny bit overly too much of sex, but can you fault me? I literally need it to survive!”
“Sure you do,” Amore snorted and I felt like he was being condescending with me... I couldn’t really tell with his weird mix of emotions, though. The prominent emotion that I could make out had to be embarrassment, I was pretty sure of that. It had that cottony aftertaste I’ve come to associate with it. As for the rest? There was a slightly smoky and spicy taste, one that was slightly fruity in a zesty way, and one that was quite rich and a little bit honey-like. I’m probably never going to figure those out, will I? Ah, well... as long as they don’t taste like the stuff I just disposed of, I’m happy.
“It’s the easiest way to get at a fulfilling meal for me, it feels nice most of the time, and I can get other stuff out of it as well, so... sex is the easiest way for me to survive,” I told him matter-of-factly. “I don’t see a problem with this.”
“I must say, you truly intrigue me, Araneae,” Amore said and that honey-like flavor was back a little bit stronger now. “I have never met somepony quite like you. Your behavior is so... unlike anything I have ever come across before.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I asked, giving him a teasing grin. “Come on, admit it! I felt the lust back there, you can’t deny that~. You’re totally hungry for dick.”
“That’s another thing to get used to, I suppose,” he muttered, glaring at me. It didn’t really reach his eyes, though, and I could tell that he was still struggling with his arousal. “You have some wild ideas about what is and what isn’t appropriate.”
“Eh, I blame my upbringing,” I said with a snort, a wide smirk on my muzzle. “My mother was a tree, you see.”
“Right...” he mumbled, giving me a disbelieving look. I’m pretty sure that’s the one thing that nopony will ever believe me on even if it is a hundred percent true. “I’m starting to believe what you said about yourself being crazy...”
“Thanks,” I snarked, rolling my eyes. I didn’t actually want him to think I was crazy, but that’s what I get for being my usual self, don’t I? I really need to learn how to shut up. Well... in for a penny and all that... “I’m going to tell you a secret because, quite frankly, you already believe I escaped some madhouse, don’t you?”
“Wait...” Amore began but I shushed him. I was feeling in the mood to ruin my nonexistent relationship with him, and, having to push corpses out of the way so we could get back to where the action currently was... well, it wasn’t helping my mood in any way.
“I wasn’t always this buggy, you know?” I said, glancing back at him neutrally. Maybe if I came across as completely serious he would actually believe me. He was giving me that look again, asking me if I was okay and I looked away from him bashfully. It was a bit funny, wasn’t it? Amore... he and Leaf showed concern for me, something I’ve never experienced before. On my first day back in ‘civilization’, I’ve already been given more compassion than what other people showed to me my entire life back on Earth. “Due to some... circumstances beyond your imagination... I’ve been floating aimlessly around in the Realm of Death. I wasn’t alive, but neither truly dead? It was a bit confusing there, to be honest.”
“What happened?” he asked me quietly and I laughed hollowly.
“I wasn’t a good person,” I answered with an ashamed grimace, looking down as we continued our walk through the tunnels. Occasionally we found a pony or two that was barely hanging on to their life and... I suppose it was a kindness to end their suffering, wasn’t it? There were far more of those ponies that couldn’t join their brothers and sisters in their newfound freedom than I would have liked to admit. “My last life... I guess it’s not actually that important anymore who I was. I’m... trying to be better. Trying being the keyword here, you have seen... all of that. I’m quite frankly surprised you are still here with me instead of leaving me behind. I know I would...”
“Everypony goes through hardships,” Amore whispered. “I suppose you have had to go through some of the worst ones. How did you die, if I may ask?”
“That’s...” I said, breathing in shakily. “It’s really complicated. I could try to explain this to you, but... I doubt you would truly understand the intricacies of a contraption that malfunctioned so horribly that it practically shredded my soul and those of two others into tiny pieces.”
“Obviously your soul survived, didn’t it? However, I have no idea how such a miracle could have happened if it was as horrific as you say,” Amore said, a sad smile on his muzzle. “I’m glad that you are still here, though. What happened to the other two? You said there were others... who were they?”
“I don’t quite know what happened to them after I ended up here,” I sighed. His concern was appreciated, but I felt like I didn’t truly deserve it. Not after what I did to Tabetha and Tobias, greedily taking what wasn’t mine in the hopes of survival. I could have actually killed them for all I know... “They... they were family, and I... I’m not proud of what I did, Amore. Some of their memories... I thought that, if I could fix the broken parts of my soul with some of theirs I could... live again? Something along those lines, anyway. Things went a lot more different than I thought.”
“That...” Amore hummed, falling silent for a moment. My wings twitched nervously as I waited for him to talk again. To accuse me of being a monster. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. It must have been hard and so very frightening. I don’t know what I would have done had that happened to me. I doubt I would have been able to stay sane after all of that.”
He... wasn’t thinking I was crazy? That I wasn’t a monster for... for more than likely causing Tabetha and Tobias to cease to exist entirely? Was he... he can’t be that forgiving, can he?
Am I dreaming? This was turning into a damn fairy tale, he can’t be that chivalrous. That’s only a thing that ever happens in Disney movies, not in real life! If I hadn’t gone through the most painful experience of my life by throwing up that gunk, I would have thought this was a coma dream after mother dearest devoured my friggin’ soul.
He can’t be that... that sweet and kind and... and sympathetic, it’s ridiculous! People aren’t that friendly, they aren’t that thoughtful and forgiving, they aren’t! People are supposed to be mean to me and ignore me, be cruel to me and hate me... and... and not that loving. I’m not allowed to have good things after... what I did. I couldn’t possibly genuinely deserve this. Amore should hate me instead of being... understanding. Considerate. Compassionate.
I don’t believe that. He cannot just believe in me, think that I wasn’t beyond redemption, right? He and Leaf. They... they can’t be... that kind, right? Amore was... something, I don’t know. Maybe he was trying to trick me, that must be it.
But... what if he was actually honest? What if... what if he truly thought I wasn’t that bad? Maybe... maybe he could help me be the person... changeling... that I want to be. Help me redeem myself of my misdeeds, embrace the light of... I don’t know. Friendship, I guess.
What if he was that fairy tale prince? Was it possible that he could be... that knight in shining armor? Instead of finding myself a damsel in distress to save... did I find an angel in disguise? A real Prince Charming? Unfairly locked away because he was too good for this world?
My... our heart skipped a beat, a warm fuzzy feeling spreading throughout our body. My legs started to feel weak again as I allowed myself to... fantasize... a little bit. What would life be like with him and Leaf there to support me, to help me when I was losing myself in the darkness?
Could I... trust them with my heart? I... I never trusted anyone else before aside from myself. I went through life like a bitter person, envying all of the other people around me for having happy lives. Now that I was closer than ever to having such a life myself... I felt fearful. And excited. And nervous. Afraid. Terrified. Worried.
Shy and timid.
Anxious and scared.
Happy and joyful.
By everything holy about dicks and snatches, I can’t... I’m not nearly worthy enough of their love! It... it felt like I would be using them if I allowed myself that little bit of happiness. I didn’t even have anything that I could give them in return! I was a friggin’ emotional vampire, a succubus, a leech... what could they possibly gain from falling in love with me?
I can’t do that to them. I can’t lead them on and make them love me, it would be selfish of me! I can’t let them fall in love with me, they deserve better! I... I don’t want them to think I’m a greedy parasite. They will see me for what I truly am! I was nothing more than a selfish jerk.
“Is everything alright, Araneae?” Amore whispered, nudging us as we continued to stand still in our own turmoil. “Did I say something that upset you?”
“Did you truly mean those words to us, Amore?” we asked, thoughts racing as he gave us a genuine look of sympathy. Please, do not let it be a lie. Please...
“Of course,” he answered gently while his eyes were filled with nothing but compassion. Always compassion and understanding. There’s no way that he could actually fake it, nopony was that good of an actor. Not to an empath.
It was compassion, wasn’t it? That sweet nectary honey-like taste? It had to be, right? Or could it be something even... greater?
“You do not find us repulsive?” we asked uncertainly, fidgeting nervously on the spot. “This? Our appearance? Our behavior? The things we have done? You do not think us to be a monster?”
“No...” Amore said, cupping our cheek gently. “What is this about? Why the plural all of a sudden?”
“We... I... I am damaged, Amore,” I whispered back, gently pushing Arachne and Shadra back from our shared control. “Sam's... 'my' death caused us to develop split personalities. We are split into three, each having a part of the memories of those that died which... reforged us anew. I'm not the one that entered that machine anymore, that person died on that fateful day and I emerged with Shadra and Arachne.”
“The excitement in the tower... who of you was that?” Amore asked, tenderly brushing a loose strand of my mane back behind my ear. “I want to know who this mystery is before me, understand her so that I can help. You don’t have to hide behind those perverted thoughts, dear. While it takes a bit to get used to, I don’t find it repulsive. Your behavior makes you... you. And your appearance as well as your voice... I have to say, it is strangely alluring. You don’t have to fear me thinking ill of you, I promise.”
“You think so?” I mumbled, almost inaudible.
“I do,” he reassured me, drawing me into an embrace that was light and comforting. “You are truly a strange being. I’m glad that you are, it would have been boring otherwise, no?”
“Yes,” I smiled slightly, leaning my head against his chest. “I suppose it would have been boring...”
“About that question of mine?” Amore inquired mirthfully and I let out a tiny chuckle myself.
“That was Arachne,” I told him, glancing up at him. “She easily gets excited about knowledge, as you might have guessed already.”
“It was an interesting experience interacting with her,” he nodded, smiling. "I'd enjoy getting to spend more time with you and her."
“Oh, you have no idea how much she is rambling about you right now,” I giggled and heard my Princess protest weakly in the background as soon as I divulged that little tidbit of info to him. “She really likes you.”
“As in..?” Amore asked and I grinned back lecherously.
“All of us do think you would make for a great mate,” I pointed out, ignoring the slight protests of Shadra as she tried to deny that she wasn’t totally turned on by the mere sight of Amore. “Shadra is being a little bitch about it, though. We’ve been trying to get her... I mean 'him'... to accept being a changeling queen, but he feels more comfortable being called a prince. For now, at least.”
“Right... also male,” Amore nodded to himself, worrying his lip in a kind of cute way. “And you are the dominant part? The one in control of your body most of the time?”
“Well, we can switch anytime we want,” I said, mischievously shoving Shadra into the driver’s seat, so to speak. My Prince(ss) immediately began to squirm around in the embrace, embarrassed of being so close to the stallion holding us to himself. Ponies were a lot more open with their affection, I’ve noticed. Maybe it really wasn’t that much of a stretch that we found ourselves somepony that could accept us for who we are.
Amore gave us, or rather, Shadra a concerned look as they tried to avoid looking anywhere near their 'totally' secret crush. “What’s wrong, Araneae?”
“Shadra...” my beautiful Prince(ss) mumbled while she desperately tried to coax either me or Arachne back into control, but we kept her there with metaphorical grins on our muzzles. There was no more denying it, I could see the egg cracking~. All it took was for a cute stallion to come across our path to get Shadra to come out of her shell. It really was adorable, watching Shadra’s behavior around Amore.
“Oh,” Amore said awkwardly. “Is this too close? I have no idea how to treat... well, any of you. I can give you some space if that makes you feel more comfortable.”
“...no,” Shadra whispered, blushing furiously as she snuggled herself a little bit closer into his embrace. “I... do... kinda, maybe... enjoy it a little bit?”
“Araneae is being mean to me,” Shadra explained, stubbornly avoiding Amore’s gaze.
“What did she say to you?” Amore inquired, concerned. “Is she treating you well? She does seem a bit... egocentric.”
“She said she was going to lock me up,” Shadra lied while sniffling with fake tears in her eyes, and I let out a displeased growl, trying to wrestle control back from that treacherous bitch, but somehow... I kept failing at it. Oh, she’s gonna get it once we are all back in the hive mind. That dirty little lying snake! “Please, don’t let her! She and Arachne are out to get me!”
“Is she now?” Amore asked with a raised brow as he clearly heard the falsehood in Shadra’s voice as she tried to sound pathetic in order to... I don’t know what it was that she even tried to do with this. “I find it hard to believe that she would mistreat her own split personalities. Not when she clearly wants nothing more than a family of her own.”
“Fine,” Shadra grumbled, pouting. “They want to stuff their dick in me.”
“I... okay, now I’m confused,” Amore muttered, looking at Shadra with a raised brow. “Aren’t you the same... changeling? As in, you’re sharing the same body? That's what having split personalities means, right?”
“Well, yes,” Shadra answered, fidgeting slightly as Amore made us look up at him and those golden amber pools of his that reflected nothing but concern and confusion back at us. It obviously had an effect on Shadra and our body, something my little Princess desperately tried to hide away from Amore. Oh, this was just perfect~. “But we also have this mental space we can retreat back into that we have started calling the hive mind where we can... uh... interact with each other.”
“You’ve been using it to have sex with yourself, haven’t you,” Amore stated, matter-of-factly. Shadra gave Amore a nervous grin and fidgeted in the wrong way which resulted in the most delightful of situations. Amore gazed down at the tip of our penis as it had just poked him close to his own dick and gave Shadra a questioning look. “And you have the hots for me as well, I take it?”
“Damn it, Ara,” Shadra muttered under her breath, trying to cover her arousal with our hooves. “I... W-well... I cannot quite deny that the... uh... that the idea of, well... that... uh... that is...”
“Okay, fine!” Shadra exclaimed, screwing her eyes shut. “I have the fucking hots for your perfectly sculpted body and I want you to stuff your dick into me like I’m your little fuck hole!”
“Are all of you perverts?” Amore asked, smiling back at us as Shadra opened her eyes hesitantly after hearing a rumbling laugh escape the throat of the stallion who was still holding on to us.
“I hate all of you,” Shadra grumbled poutily. Curiously enough, my little Princess went back to eying the tip of his penis as her mouth began to water from the sight alone. She let out a shaky sigh, gulping thickly before forcing her gaze away. “And I hate your damn juicy dick, you ass.”
“I can see what Araneae meant with you being a little... well, that,” Amore chuckled.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Shadra sighed, frowning to herself. “I swear, they are making me like dick out of their own sick amusement. I never... well, I mean... uh... I’m not... that is, uh...”
Amore let out a hum, going back to his concerned self as he gazed at Shadra. “Can they make you feel anything you don’t want to?”
“Well... no...” she said, fidgeting as her scowl deepened. "I'm better than them at the whole mind magic thing, I would know if they were trying to manipulate me..."
“Okay, then. So... you’re not currently aroused by the thought of having sex with me?”
“I... well, that’s... uh...”
Amore chuckled, nuzzling Shadra’s cheek gently. “You’re adorable, you know that?”
“S-s-shut up,” Shadra shot back and did not totally lean into his affections with a happy sigh. She can’t hide it forever~, Shadra was totally into that dick of his. “We should get back to... you know...”
“You really do make for a great queen. All three of you,” Amore stated and Shadra looked shyly up at him, prompting Amore to elaborate as she let out a confused hum. “Your concern for the wellbeing of the ponies fighting for their freedom is admirable. They aren’t even of your hive and you still think of them first, wanting to put your own wellbeing after theirs.”
“I...” Shadra hesitated, moving reluctantly out of the embrace as Amore let go of us. “You’re... not wrong. My Queen... she feels like she needs to make up for something. We all do. If living a life of service gets us closer to that redemption we seek... we would gladly give everything to those that don’t deserve their misfortune. We can’t just stand idly by and do nothing while so many ponies are suffering here.”
“As I said,” Amore smiled. “You. All of you make for a great queen. Not just Araneae, Shadra.”
“Yeah, well... if it were up to me, I would have burned this whole city down already,” Shadra grumbled, turning her muzzle up slightly. “But we consider these ponies a part of our hive, so... bleeding heart and all that crap.”
“And here you feared being a monster,” Amore chuckled. “You care, admit it. You would rather dirty your own soul than see another pony do that to themselves. That’s not something a monster would do.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew what I... what the ones we stole those memories from did,” Shadra commented, hanging her head down dejectedly.
“Trust me,” Amore whispered, lifting Shadra’s head up softly. “After watching you, or Araneae rather, viciously melt somepony’s flesh until they were nothing more than an unrecognizable black chunk of a corpse... there’s nothing you could say or do that would change my opinion of you. As long as you strive to be better, I will never think ill of you.”
“You really are making me hungry for dick,” Shadra muttered, trying to hide behind our mane as our cheeks lit up brightly. “I wonder just which one of us is making the advances here...”
“Ehm,” Amore coughed awkwardly, rubbing his neck with a hoof. “Let’s not jump to conclusions here, I...”
“What?” Shadra asked, giving him a defiant glare. “You weren’t flirting with me by being all sweet and shit?”
“We really need to work on that vocabulary of yours,” Amore grunted, sighing. “You aren’t... I’m not... that is... ugh, this is quite a difficult situation to put into words, isn’t it?”
“Sure,” Shadra rolled her eyes, brushing past Amore with a huff. “Keep telling yourself that, asshole. Here I am, figuring myself out and all that mushy crap, and the one I like is... is an ass! Being a girl sucks. I never had to deal with any of this shit as a... stallion, I guess.”
“That’s not what I meant!” Amore called after us, trotting to catch up with Shadra as my Princess kept throwing insults at the idiot under her breath. “You’re difficult to talk with, you know that?”
“Fuck you, you... you jerk,” Shadra shot back, kicking her legs angrily.
Shadra sneered.
“Fine, I’m sorry,” Shadra exclaimed, startling not only us but Amore as well. “I was too harsh on you. And maybe I thought you felt the same way about me, so...”
“You don’t have to apologize to me, Shadra,” Amore answered gently. “I should be the one that’s apologizing to you. I’ve never had somepony be so blatantly interested in me. Everypony just thought I wouldn’t be interested in them because ‘I’m too good for them’. As if that ever mattered to me...”
“Wait,” Shadra said, giving him a confused look that reflected my own puzzled feelings. “The mares aren’t all over you?”
“I’m of noble birth, Shadra,” Amore sighed. “Ponies always assumed I was to be betrothed to the Princess because we’re such good friends... but that’s all we are and ever have been. Friends. Besides, she is twelve years older than me, she's like my big sister for suns' sake!”
“That’s... wow, no wonder you are so awkward,” Shadra commented, earning herself an offended snort from Amore. “You never... you know... tried to get rid of those rumors? Or even tried dating somepony by asking them out? Aren’t stallions supposed to be the ones that propose to the mares or is that different here?”
“No. It’s... complicated,” Amore answered, shaking his head slightly with a forlorn gaze in his eyes. He almost looked... sad. “I believe in true love, Shadra. I never even considered any of this until, well... you came along, to be honest. I don’t know what to feel, this is all so new to me and... I don’t even know what love is supposed to feel like, to begin with. Quite ironic with my name, isn't it?”
“I don’t know, either,” I commented, taking back control from Shadra as she gradually lost herself in her own thoughts. “And I’m supposed to be the one that eats those emotions for breakfast. Quite ironic, huh?”
“Araneae?” Amore asked, easily noticing the shift in our tones and the more 'regal' way I carried myself with. Not that I looked very regal right now, I suppose. “Where did Shadra go?”
“Lost in her thoughts,” I answered. “She isn’t really mad at you, you know? She got her hopes up and... well, she’s not the greatest at dealing with those kinds of emotions. None of us are, actually.”
“Apparently, me neither,” Amore sighed dejectedly. “My mother must have given me the wrong name at my birth. Suns know I’m a disappointment in the family for not having a Cutie Mark yet.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, giving him an encouraging smile. “You definitely have the body of a sex god, and, if you’re worried about those butt marks, I don’t have one of those, either. Seriously, I have no idea how nopony ever made any advances on you before I did. I mean... just that dick of yours... damn.”
“Thanks...”
“Don’t be so pouty, dear,” I snickered. “You knew I was gonna say something perverted, why be so mad about it?”
Amore rolled his eyes and went back to being sulky, so I kept thinking about what he said. True love, huh? I guess I’m not the only one into fairy tales, then. Whether it actually existed, though? I can’t tell. It would be nice if it did, but I don’t think I’ll ever come across ponies in true love, fated to be together by the very universe and whatnot. Those things only ever happened in stories and that’s it.
One can dream, though, can’t they? I know I always dreamt of that, finding someone, or perhaps somepony now, that would love me for who I am and whom I could love unconditionally in turn. Then again, I doubt I would ever find somepony that would put up with my particular brand of shenanigans.
Heck, I doubt I could ever settle for any one pony, I rather liked the idea of fucking everything that had legs. As long as it could think. And talk. And wasn’t a friggin’ child. Medieval times had really fucked up laws about the legal age at which one could marry, right? Ugh. That’s disgusting.
<...right, that discussion. You know, I’m curious,> I hummed, deep in thought. <...does it count as incest if the sperm isn’t ours? Or not having any at all? I’m still wondering about what this thing between us technically is. Would it still be selfcest if we could figure out how to separate ourselves?>
Arachne explained.
Shadra snarked and I started to grin.
“Hey, Amore~,” I giggled, brushing myself against him suddenly, freaking the poor stallion quite thoroughly out. “You don’t think fate...”
“Sorry about that,” Shadra said, grumbling angrily at me as our face lit up a bright grey. “Araneae is being stupid again.”
“Oh,” Amore nodded in a subdued way, a heavy blush on his muzzle as well. “What was that about fate?”
Shadra let out an explosive breath, eyes trailing every which way as she tried to think of a 'believable' lie that he wouldn’t immediately see through only to come up short in that department. “Arachne and Araneae are getting ridiculous ideas and now Ara is afraid that our own hive is going to supersede us eventually when we grow old.”
“She does know that you’re not mindless insects, doesn't she?” Amore pointed out and Shadra snorted.
“She’s an idiot,” Shadra answered, ignoring the indignant shout from me as I was significantly less freaking out now after that helpful reminder. “To be honest, I think all of the intelligence she had went into me and Arachne.”
“That’s not nice of you to say about... well, yourself technically,” Amore chided Shadra and I let out a joyful shout in agreement... which got ignored once more. Damnit.
“She’s used to it,” she shrugged and I hissed angrily at my rebellious Princess.
Arachne giggled lecherously, and before we could have planned our retaliation against Shadra any further, our little tsundere Princess finally spotted the exit to this damn maze.
“Finally,” Shadra groused, picking up the pace, eager to get out of this cursed place.
Huh. She does have a point there, doesn’t she? I wouldn’t be surprised if Gold Bar sealed this place for the rest of time until, in a few hundred years or so, ponies will go on friggin’ school trips to see the scary place and be bored out of their friggin’ minds because there wasn’t really that much to friggin’ look at.
It puts a lot into perspective, doesn’t it? Something that looked by itself so innocuous, you would have no idea how truly horrific being in such a place actually was during times like these. How could you possibly ever imagine such horrors without having witnessed them right before your eyes? The sheer despair, the pain... those feelings cannot truly be ‘replicated’ by looking at them without actually seeing them.
Sometimes, sight blinds. It was all of the little things adding up that conveyed the true picture, and without ever having been there, there was no way to witness history in an accurate way. In a way... you couldn’t truly witness history from a book or by looking at places haunted by the ghosts of the past.
History is in the present and it’s ugly. It’s horrific. Messy. Dirty.
The world was a vicious place, whether it was Earth or this one. It was also incredibly beautiful if one gave it the chance to be the best that it could be. But for it to be beautiful, places like these had to change. This kingdom had to evolve past this dark stain on history and develop in the correct way for things to be better.
Things have to change and go differently. Everything that ever went wrong shouldn’t be repeated, that was a lesson history taught quite harshly. Don’t be a stupid fucktard and repeat the horrors of the past or find out just how horribly wrong things could truly go. All of that could simply be avoided by not being a megalomaniac asshole. Was it too much to ask for people to be decent beings?!
I’m confident Gold Bar will see to the redemption of Unicornia in time, but... this was just one place in this fucked up world, wasn’t it?
How badly did the rest of it look? Were there kingdoms of pegasi doing the same thing, only slightly different? How about the earthponies? I would hate to generalize based on what I’ve seen here, but... if one tribe thinks they are the supreme species of ponykind, what does the other races’ view on those different from them actually look like?
Could it be that I just poked one hornet’s nest and everything was going to spiral out of control from there? Already, ponies were thirsting for war to avenge those the unicorns had wronged, and I... I was that catalyst.
I introduced the thought of revolution to this world.
The idea of change.
And change rarely comes without a price attached to it. This one... this one was going to be a very bloody price, indeed.
Sometimes, it was necessary for life to change drastically on such a big scale. I just wish it didn’t have to be so cruel. So harsh, grim, and brutal. So heartless.
Everywhere in the halls of this damn joke of a castle, unicorns were lying in puddles of dark red as we moved towards the one place where all of this would finally find an end. The king’s life was the only thing standing in between the revolution and freedom.
And Leaf was the one dragging the bastard off his throne as he begged for his life, sniveling pathetically with gaudy jewelry falling carelessly from his body as she gave the spineless pig a disdainful glance, a cold look in her eyes.
Of all the ponies I had hoped would come out of this unchanged by the horrors of the battlefield, Leaf sadly proved to me that such a thing was but a hopeful thought. Not a single person of ours came out of this unchanged in some way. I have no doubt that many of them will suffer from nightmares for years to come after this.
“I am the king! How dare you stand up to me! Let go! I-I don’t want to die! Please!” King Gemstone cried, struggling against Leaf dragging him after her by the impossibly long cape of his. “I have money! I-I c-could grant you power! Anything you d-desire!”
“You should have thought of...” Leaf began and my eyes met hers for that brief moment as everything slowed to a crawl around me.
The happiness of seeing me return alive and well with Amore quickly turned to surprise, then shock. My body felt like it froze over as Shadra, Arachne, and I let out a wail as the life gradually drained out of her eyes, her gaze slowly drawn down to the dagger protruding from her chest.
I was at her side almost instantly, flames licking my body angrily from ripping a hole in space in the form of a... portal. That’s what it was, wasn’t it? I would have been elated were it not for... for this. I shakily reached out a hoof to Leaf, trying to get her to look at me with those glistening eyes that stared numbly ahead, struggling to focus on anything even as I was the only one filling her vision.
“A-Ari?” she whispered, grimacing with each breath that she took. “I...”
“Y-y-you’re o-okay, L-Leaf,” I shakily replied, chaos running rampant within my mind as I had absolutely no idea what I should do. “Y-you’re n-n-not g-g-gonna d-die! Y-you’ll be o-o-okay, I-I promise!”
“Ari...” Leaf smiled gently up at me as I cradled her body against mine, vision blurry as the cacophony of voices in the background grew more distant as I focused my attention solely on my angel, the one that has believed in me the very first. “It’s... okay...”
“No! No, no, no! Y-you’re gonna be okay! Y-you... y-you... y-you won’t d-die! You’re n-not a-allowed to die, damnit!” I cried, shaking my head in denial at her. “I-I-I... I-I’m ordering y-you as your Queen! Y-you’re not allowed to die!”
“Ari... l-look after my kin, okay?” she asked me and I blabbered out a shaky denial that it was us that would look after... after... “Please, Ari... I... I love you, Ari. Please... do that... for... me...”
I stared in utter disbelief as her eyes lost the spark of life in them that I had come to enjoy seeing so very much after only interacting with her for such a short time. They gazed lifelessly through me as if any and all emotions were gone from them. It was as if they had never been there in the first place. They were just... gone.
Slowly and carefully, I nudged her. “L-Leaf..?” I mumbled, desperately hoping she was... that she was... that she was sleeping, that was it. She must be sleeping, she’ll wake up! She has to wake up! “L-Leaf, please...”
I began shaking her, trying to wake her up from her brief slumber, heavy sobs leaving my throat as I kept calling out to her. Only her dead gaze greeted me back, her heavenly voice forever snuffed out. I would never see her smile back at me again, never feel a single emotion from her again... I...
She can’t be dead. She can’t. She cannot. Be. Dead.
It felt like I was falling down into a hole as everything around me got increasingly more dark and grey. Cold and hopeless. Leaf was an angel, right? Angels don’t die. They don’t, it’s impossible.
Amore slowly removed my tight grasp on her as I desperately tried to cling on to her, screeching at her to come back. It wasn’t fair. This damn world wasn’t fair! Leaf didn’t deserve this! Leaf was... Leaf was... she was dead.
She was dead and she wouldn’t be coming back. She was dead and... and that bastard was going to pay! I was going to rip out his testicles and feed them to him! And then, I'll snap off that tiny horn of his and shove it down his filthy..! “I’m sorry, Araneae. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Let me go!” I snarled, struggling against Amore as my eyes narrowed on the sniveling bastard that took my angel from me. “Let go of us! Let go so that we can...”
“I’m so sorry,” Amore whispered and my vision was tinted slightly blue as I got increasingly more drowsy. “We will give her the proper send-off she deserves, Ari...”
“A-Amore, I... we... need to...” I murmured, struggling to keep my eyes open. “Avenge... her...”
“I promise you, everything will be taken care of,” he said as I slumped against him in my futile struggle to escape his grasp to... to... “Rest peacefully, Ari. Everything... e-everything will be b-better once you awaken, I p-promise.”
“N-no~...” I mumbled weakly, succumbing to the urge to fall asleep.
Everything would most certainly not be better.
Nothing would ever be better again.
A revolution. It starts with a faulty system.
And ends with heartache.
The true price of freedom, of change... it is always too steep to pay. To earn your freedom is to lose everything you hold dear to your heart. A revolution is supposed to bring happiness, right? Right..?
Why do I only feel sadness, then? Why do I have to lose my angel, then? Why does it come hand in hand with death, then?
Change. History can never truly and accurately describe how horrifying it is to witness it in front of yourself. History cannot ever convey how truly devastating it feels. How hard it actually was to achieve. How mortifying and crushing and bitter it truly was to be a part of it.
Leaf... I love you. Forever and always.
I will not forget you. Never.
Rest in peace, my angel.
Rest in peace...
Next Chapter