Biomancy seemed like a cool field of magic to spec into — and it was. The limits to what you can do with it are defined by how creative you are with meat and blood. You could make yourself look pretty, you could cure yourself of crappy organs and ill health, you could get rid of scars.

You could do all sorts of things, all of which probably sounded nightmarish to some people, but not to you.

Right now, I was staring at the crucible, at three AM in my dimly lit basement, all locked in to wrangle a huge wet spider-thing that was, to a degree, my flesh and blood. I'm pretty sure that all those things, just by themselves, were nightmare fuel for the average person.

The crucible had made some noises a couple minutes ago, signalling that it was going to release Ret and that I had to stop whatever I was doing and get ready. And ready I was; a towel lay on the floor beside me, for Ret, and a roll of paper towels was on my other side, for the inevitable mess. I also had my new gun, just in case Ret somehow came out bad and I somehow couldn't put him down with just my hooves, though I doubt I would need to do any harm tonight, or morning I guess. Staying up all night probably wasn't healthy, but getting work done was worth it.

It was just waiting now. Any moment now, the crucible would release Ret and he'd go from calm and peaceful to splashing around in the red water, distressed and trying not to drown. Who knew being born sucked ass? Maybe I should figure out if I can make the crucible better in that regard somehow, but later.

The dark figure in the red water twitched. The moment had come. I had to be quick, unless I wanted Ret to drown.

I didn't waste any time reaching out with my magic and grabbing Ret, who was moving a lot more now. I'd have used my hooves instead of levitation since levitating living things is harder, but I wasn't keen on being bit. It was a bit hard to get a hold of him though since he had started full on panicking about both being underwater, and being grabbed by some big unknown thing (me). In his panic, he made a little bit of the red water splash out to the floor, giving me a mess to clean.

He was panicking now, thrashing all eight legs around and trying to get out of the water, making a mess while making it harder for me to get him out. Spider had not been anywhere as panicky as Ret, and I briefly considered just going physical. I'd have called Ret an idiot if the task wasn't time sensitive.

"Quit moving, you," I grumbled as I finally got a stable enough grip on him. I pulled him out of the crucible quickly, adding to the mess on the floor. Ret added more to that mess by flailing his appendages around, splattering the red water all over the floor and me as well, leaving little splotches that looked brown under the yellow light. Now that Ret had air in his body, he was making all sorts of sounds of distress, ranging from squeaks to a few hisses. Quite dramatic, but understandable. At least, he wasn't hissing aggressively at me.

The mess wasn't really a big deal; him flailing around was, since it was breaking my hold on him. I kept my focus though and manoeuvred him away from the crucible and towards the towel. My horn had already started aching with the effort of holding him, and I was more than happy to let him drop onto the towel, on which he landed upside down. He flailed his legs in the air and continued being noisy as he tried righting himself. I didn't give him the opportunity to do that though since I'd rather not have a wet bug running around and making the mess larger.

I grabbed the towel with my magic and wrapped it around him, trapping him. He tried freeing himself at first, but calmed down somewhat when I started drying him off. I'd have to give him a proper wash later if he was to be truly clean, but being dry should be enough for now.

It took a minute for me to be done, which also gave Ret a minute to fully adjust to his situation. He wasn't squeaking anymore and was perfectly silent and calm, like the basement. Once I was done, I slowly unwrapped the towel and freed him. He stood up immediately and turned to me, staring at me with his large black eyes, which seemed to be gauging me with far more intelligence than a bug could ever have. Simultaneously, he looked like he was lost and wanted guidance.

I offered my hoof to him, to see how he would react.

It wasn't ideal, but it was the best way I had (at the moment) to determine if he was alright or not. I hoped that he was the former, but I had to wait for him to react to get a definitive answer.

Ret didn't have an immediate reaction of any kind, which was worrying — all the other bugs had quick reactions. He just stared at me in complete, and worrying, silence, and I stared back at him to find any sort of reaction while staying cautious. It didn't help that he looked dangerous and a bit foreboding as well, but I shouldn't have been complaining about that since I made him look like he was danger. Plus, he was like the size of a housecat.

The moment stretched on for a rather long time, and I was impatient to know what exactly was going on in that little head of his, if there was anything happening in there at all. Had I messed up somewhere in making him? That wouldn't be good.

Finally, he made a move.

He stepped forward to my hoof, bumped it with his head, and chirped.

In response, I pet him, which made him chirp happily and come closer for more pets. I breathed a sigh of relief, happy that this was a success, and that my prediction of him being alright was correct. Any creatures I make in the future won't be set up for failure now that I know what caused failure, but more importantly, I wouldn't have to get rid of Ret.

Now that I wasn't worrying, I could look over his features more closely. He was a lot more furry than I had imagined, and since his hair was all fluffed up, he looked quite cute (once you got past his colouring). I picked up Ret, in my hooves, and hugged him. "What a cutie." It was probably the closest I could get to having a plushie in real life.

He seemed to object to that at first, but he didn't do anything to get away from me. It was quite nice since he was soft and just the cutest thing ever. I'll definitely keep him after Voth's done with him, and I'll... be responsible so that nothing bad happens to him. I held him a bit closer after that thought.

I hugged him for a tiny bit (ten minutes), mumbling some nice things to him all the while, before I set him down so that I could start cleaning up the mess we had made. Ret didn't wander off to explore, like Spider had when I left him to his devices, but he didn't stay at my side either. He instead climbed onto me and perched on my back. The only part of that which I minded was that I couldn't exactly pet him while he was there, easily anyway. Whatever, there was plenty of time later for that. I think I'll show him to Brush, and maybe Twilight if she doesn't get too scared of him. But after Voth's task.

It was about four AM and I was kinda tired and ready to sleep, but that was mainly because I had lay down. I'll definitely be more tired later in the day but I figured that I'll be okay.

I had called Voth earlier, and was waiting for him for a while now. He was busy with something important so I had to wait to tell him my plan, which was alright. I had decided to spend the time just hanging out with Ret, and I ended up taking him to the backyard to let him run around and look at whatever was there.

He had been doing that for a while, walking up to random plants in my backyard or other points of interest and inspecting them. I had initially sat at the deck and watched Ret do his thing, but it got boring after a while; Spider was more interesting to watch as he ran around in circles in the backyard, not that Ret was worse in comparison. They were just... different; but I care for them both all the same, maybe even more for Ret. I wouldn’t want him to get hurt, ever.

The weather was nice outside, with a warm breeze blowing, and the sky was clear with a crescent moon. I had lain down on the deck after a while, alternating between watching Ret or the sky.

It was... peaceful today, compared to yesterday. I'm not saying that yesterday was bad; it was quite good actually even though it started off poor, but it was a bit more emotional than what I liked. Well, I did spend it with Brush, so that was nice, and we discussed... sensitive topics briefly, and she... she's probably the closest friend I've ever had, and could ever have. That's why I was unusually happy yesterday and today. I'll definitely make some time to go hang out with her.

I looked up at the sky. It was still just as pretty as the first time I had seen it in Ponyville. I guess one advantage of a rural-ish town is that there is basically no light pollution. I continued admiring the stars for a while. It'd be a cool place to hang out with Brush, here in my backyard at this time, looking at the stars.

Suddenly, there was the familiar sound of distressed chirping and distressed squeaking, shaking me out of admiring the sky. I looked back down to see that just beyond the dim yellow light of the deck's lights, Ret was picking a fight with another large bug, I think. I couldn't tell from where I was.

I got up quick and trotted to Ret, magic at the ready to grab whatever I had to. I got close and saw that there wasn't a fight going on, but rather something that looked hilarious.

There was Ret, running in a circle, chirping with clear distress as he tried to shake off the bug on his abdomen. On his abdomen, covering the red spot that should have indicated grave danger, was the moth — that I should probably name — holding on for dear life and squeaking with clear distress as Ret tried to shake him off. Neither were attacking the other but they sure were making it seem like they were fighting the entire Japanese civil war by themselves.

I, being the good and responsible bug owner that I was, giggled and watched the two bugs continue their cartoonish battle for a little bit, until it ended all by itself, in a peaceful manner.

And by peaceful, I mean that the moth left Ret and took flight, making a beeline directly for my face. I swore I saw some emotion of sorts in his normally unintelligent eyes right before he made contact with me.

"Ow." I rubbed my nose where the moth hit; for a bug with flight, he was remarkably good at being a blunt weapon. I wasn't the only one who was complaining about being hit though. He had perched itself on my chest after a brief fall and was squeaking and flailing around his front legs at me, in a manner that seemed to suggest that the bug was capable of being annoyed, and perhaps, wanted to see my manager.

The sound wasn't nice though since it was rather loud and annoying, and I was pretty sure that it was slowly damaging my ears. I pulled him off my chest and held him in front of me so I could look him in his eyes, and say calmly, "Quiet, stupid bug. This is all your fault." He actually quieted down after that, and then stared at me like the dumb but cute bug he was.

I lowered him and looked at Ret to see what he was doing. He was just beyond the light, also staring at me like a dumb bug— no, wait, he was locked in, glaring at the moth like he was his nemesis. Seeing him standing there, just beyond the light menacingly, with that dislike in his eyes that made him look quite... hilarious. I was sure that he looked terrifying, but to me, it just seemed funny that he was so worked up over a bug.

"Ret, come here," I called out to Ret, which shook him out of his standing and glaring. He started walking over, but he kept his attention to the moth in my hoof. Not even a day old and he has enemies. The moth on his part didn't seem to have the capacity to care, which was nice — two angry bugs wouldn't be easy to deal with.

I let the moth go, and he immediately crawled up my arm and back to my chest, where he started the chewing thing that he did whenever he got onto me. I watched him do his cute thing, debating if I should pet him, until my attention was pulled away by Ret chirping at me.

He was at my hoof and tapping at it, no longer looking at the moth. He chirped again, which prompted me to pet him like he wanted. When I stopped, he didn't go away to continue exploring like I had expected.

"You done with the backyard?" I asked him. He didn't give any sort of response and continued staring up at me. I shrugged and turned to walk back to the deck. Ret followed me closely, being quite literally on my tail.

I lay down on the deck, curling up this time. The moth moved, trying to get to my face, but I caught him and then held him like he was a plushie, which earned me a squeak from him. In front of me, Ret had climbed up the deck and was looking at me, clearly in relatively intense thought about something, probably the moth.

"Hmm," I looked down at the moth in my hold, and he looked back up to me, I think. I should probably give him a name since he just hangs around and is too distinct to be just 'the moth'. But what would I name a bug? Ret was easy to name since it was just his primary purpose shortened. Well, all names are that, sort of. Look back far enough and you'll find that all names are just some variation of 'religious' or 'king' or some other adjective that was good at the time.

I stared at the moth, thinking about what I could name him considering his qualities. He was fluffy, and stupid, and quite squeaky as well. There's also how he has weird colours on his wings, like he flew drunk into a paint factory. All of those things give good ideas for a name.

"What could I call you?" I whispered to the bug, thinking about a name. He squeaked at me in response.

"Aha!" I exclaimed as I got the perfect name. The moth squeaked at me in what I interpreted as confusion. Ret, who had been standing in complete silence chirped at me.

I looked down at the moth and pointed at him, "Your name is... Steeve the moth."

Very creative and representative of him and his qualities, I know; you can stop with the applause for that feat of ingenuity, it's nothing new on my part. Seriously, stop.

The moth, now dubbed Steeve, didn't have any reaction to his new name besides a generic squeak, which I assumed to be his approval of the name. I responded by nuzzling him, getting a few indignant squeaks out of him. Ret chirped again and walked up to me, bumping my face on purpose. He clearly wasn't happy to watch the other bug get all my affection. I reached out with my magic and brought him closer so that I could nuzzle him as well and then use him as a pillow for my head. He gave me a few satisfied chirps even though I had demoted him to pillow. I shifted around a bit, getting comfortable with the two fluffy bugs I had.

It was quite nice right now, in the warm breeze, under the open sky, and with two fluffy creatures. As I lay there in the quiet ambience of the backyard that was only occasionally broken by Steeve making some quiet sound, I yawned. While I had told myself that I'd avoid it, taking a 'little nap' seemed a very attractive idea. If I did take a nap, I'd probably have Voth wake me up, which would be embarrassing since I was waiting on him. It'd be more embarrassing if he doesn't and I end up late to work.

Therefore, I didn't let my eyes take a 'little' rest, and occupied myself by watching the stars or observing the bugs. I did, however, take pleasure in how comfortable I had made myself; probably the most I've ever been. I nuzzled Ret again. Everything was going well.

I was proud to say that I had been awake when Voth finally came. I will not elaborate on how many times I had almost fallen asleep.

He walked out of the darkness that blanketed the far edge of the backyard, completely silent and with all eyes on me. I would have waved at him but Ret and Steeve were using my hooves as resting spots and I didn't want to bother them. I don't know if I imagined it or not but Voth seemed... tired, but as I said, I'm not sure if it was for real or just me being blind.

He stepped onto the deck and lay down beside me, putting a wing over me. It was only a visual illusion since I didn't feel anything like I usually would. Shame, he was nice to feel.

"I AM HERE WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?" he asked immediately, skipping pleasantries like usual, though he did seem eager to know. I took a quick glance at the bugs, making sure that they weren't disturbed even though only I could perceive Voth.

Seeing that they were alright, I replied in my head, "Alright, so, my plan. It's quite simple."

At his silence, I continued, "So, you can possess me and move my body around as you need. I was thinking if you could do that with some other creature as well. You can, right?"

"I CAN."

"Alright, so, I made Ret here." I looked down at the spider, and Voth's many eyes followed my gaze. "And I was thinking that you could possess him and go get the artefact." I paused for a moment, before quickly listing the pros of the plan to counter the fact that he had to do the hard part. "It's definitely a lot quicker than waiting for me to get an opportunity to go to the fortress without any suspicion, and using Ret can also help since nobody would think he's too out of place in a forest, if they see him."

I had more thoughts about Ret's ability to evade suspicion but I couldn't exactly put them into words right now since I was a bit nervous. Voth might not like the plan as much, and there might be some confounding variable that I forgot to account for. I just had to get Voth's input first, which I was waiting for with my breath held.

"YOUR IDEA APPEARS GOOD," he praised, making me sigh in relief by reflex. "WE CAN START WITH IT NOW."

"O- okay, so, do you need me to do something so you can possess Ret?" I asked, preparing to move Ret off my hoof. I hadn't expected him to get on with it right away, but I wasn't objecting to that.

"YES."

"What do I do?"

"YOU HAVE TO CARVE A RUNE ON HIM."

Wait, what?

I turned my head to look Voth in the eye, trying to see if he was joking even though I knew he never joked. Voth looked back impassively. He was serious about what he said.

I looked down at Ret, my eyes widening. I didn't want to hurt Ret, that'd be terrible, and I had promised to not hurt him. But I had made him for this purpose, being a puppet, and I'd disappoint Voth if I backed out.

Still, I felt like backing out. I hadn't expected to have to carve runes on him.

"DO NOT WORRY THERE WILL BE NO PERMANENT DAMAGE ON HIM," Voth elaborated, sensing my concern. I continued staring at Ret. This was my plan, giving him over to Voth for a while, and I should have been prepared to hear something like this — but here I was, troubled at what I had to do to execute my plan.

The breeze blew over me, but it didn't feel as nice. I continued looking down at Ret, asking myself if I should go through with my plan or find some other way. The silence which had been so peaceful some time back was now uncomfortable.

I put a hoof on him, getting a low chirp in response. Why did I not think things through entirely?

Eventually... I caved and replied, "Okay. Just... tell me he'll be fine." I shouldn't even be asking that of Voth; I could, and should, trust him, even if I was conflicted.

"HE WILL BE," Voth reassured, while simultaneously retracting his wing. The breeze seemed so cold now.

I nodded absentmindedly in response, before I slowly pushed Ret and Steeve off my hooves. They both made a few noises but didn't move anywhere. I stood up and walked in to my house to retrieve a knife. The walk to and from the basement was a blur, and I had returned with the implement all too soon. Voth was waiting for me at the deck.

"What rune do I have to draw?" I asked out loud.

On cue, an image flashed in my head in response, and I stumbled for a moment, putting a hoof to my head as it hurt briefly at the image. The image was that of the rune. The rune was star-shaped, with each of the four points having some sort of symbol on it. In the centre of it was what I assumed to be a closed eye. It was small and simple, and it probably wouldn't have been a big deal if Voth had asked me to carve it on myself. But he had asked me to do it to Ret.

Right as I recovered, Voth pointed at Ret silently, putting a heavy weight on my mind. I had to do this. I hesitated at first, which Voth probably didn't appreciate, but I didn't hesitate for too long. I got down to Ret's level, which prompted him to walk over to me for pets.

I pet him a bit before casting a knockout spell on him. "Sorry," I whispered to him as I did that. I kinda regretted getting so attached to him so quickly.

Now came the hard part. I turned him over so that I could carve the rune into the underside of his abdomen. The knife was slightly shaky in my hoof, and I could feel my ears pressed down as the tip of the knife hovered dangerously close.

I sucked in a breath and got to work.

I winced, seeing Ret spill blood from where I made the first cut. I couldn't stop, however, since I had already started and had Voth breathing down my neck. I continued caving the rune as lightly as I could, painstakingly making the four-pointed star. I had to remind myself to breathe multiple times as I did it. Once that was done, I almost took a breather — who wouldn't after having to hurt a pet — but I didn't, since it was just delaying the inevitable. I continued on with the carving, making the symbols and the closed eye.

Once I was done, I dropped the knife, and just as it hit the deck, Ret woke up.

"GOOD," Voth congratulated me as I watched Ret's body flip over with ease and immediately hop off the deck and onto the grass. It was scary to see him go off to the dark. I hope Voth doesn't let him get hurt.

Voth continued, in a voice that was clearly gleeful, "I WILL RETURN WITH THE ARTEFACT IF I CAN YOU MUST WAIT UNTIL I RETURN WITH IT."

Then, as Ret disappeared into the darkness, Voth left as well. It was quiet again, and I found myself looking down at the discarded knife on the deck. The breeze pushed aside my mane, and I suddenly felt very exposed. I picked up the knife and Steeve, and retreated into my house. I don't think I'm ever going to do anything like that, ever. I just hope Voth is done quick.

Author's Note

21m Au

Dw about Ret, he'll be okay.

I think I'll stick to posting one chapter a week since that keeps me (relatively) stress free, and gives you readers a schedule (maybe a 2nd chapter every now and then, if I feel generous or need the dopamine hit). win-win, as they say.

Wednesday shall be our day, besties :3

Lore accurate Anya:
source:Derpibooru