“Momma!”
That was the name.
Momma. Mother. Monster.
It was all she had at the very end.
Momma.
That was what she was called and she hated it. She hated what it meant.
“Momma!” The shrill cry of a foal that was supposed to be hiding.
The little weapon she brought with her.
The epiphany of her life… Her little faint voice bounced and echoed against the walls of the cave.
Sole lit a soft light from her deformed horn before thinking better of it. The light withered and she coughed up black blood that dripped on the floor with a burning sound so similar to acid.
If there was one horrific way for a unicorn to die, it would always be magic related. Phantasmagoria, the greedy death, was what it was called. If a unicorn wanted more magic, there was a simple way to do it. Hack at your horn and burn the wound with captured dragon fire.
The unicorn's magic would never be able to heal the wound and the magic would constantly think the unicorn was in danger. The magic would be beautiful like a flame let loose on a tree and the damned unicorn would be it's wood, slowly burning away as an afterthought.
Magic simply didn't come from anywhere. It needed to eat as well. Quietly, it ate away the life, the body, the mind and then itself. There was once a little story that unicorns once came from a bit of living magic that ate itself to exist as something of spite against the laws of the universe. 'No, wait,' thought Sole, 'that was the wrong. The story didn't go that way.'
Too bad; she had inflicted the disease on herself. The mare had to save her magic and she had spent too much of her time thinking as a mother.
‘Momma’ was not her name and being called that weakened her resolve.
“My name is Sole Epiphany and I am doing the right thing,” she whispered into the friendly darkness, desperate to convince herself. “All of the sins I’ve committed had a purpose. A great purpose. A purpose worth destroying lives for.”
You’re simply not worth that much to me and hurts to admit that it is true no matter how much I would like to be Momma.
She couldn’t risk going back now. There was a plan. A very important and detailed plan she had to keep to. If she didn’t, she would be lost. Her meaning, the definition of her life would be erased, bland. She would go back into the pony she was at very beginning. A hollow pony far too content to watch the world go on by. A pony who could not be bothered to fear Death or notice that Life was unfair.
Memories of a pony drowning, her eyes watching… AND WATCHING. AND WATCHING. AND WATCHING… The struggling, screaming and the bubbling water… The reason why that pony died was because she was meant to die. And the reason she was here because she was meant to…
“Momma! Where are you? Momma.” Soft hooves click and clacked against the smooth cave floor. The weapon, her foal, the little kiddo that was far too kind was getting closer.
At the very end, she would have that name. Momma. A brand, a chain, a synonym to her very person.
What more could she ask for?
“Kiddo.” Sole cried out, the echo tore into her mind, the sins piling up into her heart before becoming nothing more than a word, bringing the foal with sharp ears. The weapon of her desire. Her little kiddo.
“Momma,” The little one said joyfully like a hymn, a devoted mocking prayer. “You did the signal for me to get lost but you didn’t come back. I went looking for you. Momma, let’s go home and forget the plan.”
“Don’t ever say such a thing! The plan is all I have. All we have!” The mare muttered hysterically. “Posey, I’m sorry about yelling at you. It’s just happening so fast-“
“If you really believed that, you wouldn’t have left me behind, Momma. Let’s go home. To the coast and back to the ship, the Jolly Smile.” Posey tried to reason with the mare that was now slinking back to the ground.
“The only reason why I left you behind is because you won’t stop calling me that word!”
“But Momma,” Posey said softly, not at all understanding the pain inflicted whenever she said that word.
“Stop saying it. Stop! Call me, Sole Epiphany. Okay.” The young mare interrupted as she tried to struggle on to her feet.
“I’ve considered abandoning the plan each and every time you call me ‘Momma’. I can’t. If I did, it would mean I would have to reject what I’ve believed in for the last six years. I refuse to go back being that pony.”
“But it’s disrespectful to call adults by their full names.” Posey recited to Sole who frowned. Posey had yet to break that horrible habit of hers.
The strange belief that kindness and hard-work actually meant something.
Sole wondered if Posey managed to live to a ripe old age, would she regret her words. No one grows up anymore in this warped world. They simply grow old and their dreams wither away with their bodies. “Children are meant to be seen, not heard.”
“I’m pretty sure I didn’t raise you to be such a polite child.” Sole chided as she walked past Posey who frowned. “So desperate for my kind words, are you? You are just becoming as manipulative as your Momma. Get on.” Sole bent down and flicked her tail back and forth, trying to keep her body from numbing.
"I'm not manipula- big word you used? I've been calling you Momma since forever. Why can't I do it now?"
“Because of the plan! Get on already.” Frustrated, Sole picked up Posey by the little saddlebag on the foal’s back and threw her on to her back using her teeth.
“But Mom- I mean Sole. It’s dark. How do you plan to find our way?” Posey asked as she wrapped her arms and legs around Sole to get a better grip.
“Check the bag. The plan is never wrong.” Sole reminded even though she didn’t really need a light. The stench of corrupted magic made the entire cave rancid and all she had to do was keep her mind together until they found the source.
Posey sat up and took the saddlebag off her back. She stuck a hoof in it and dug around until she pulled out a Sun stone. She placed it into her muzzle and bit into it. There was a quiet click and then a beam of bright emerged from the little stone, illuminating the whole cave in its splendor. Posey made a loud squeak and Sole looked around to see why Posey would make such a sound.
Oh yeah, she remembered, there would be corpses in this particular cave.
Posey began to shriek and cry, her hot tears poured onto Sole who snapped in annoyance. Using her tail, she hit the back of Posey’s neck with a sharp flick. Posey slumped forward and rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof in pain.
“Calm down. You’ve seen worse. You’ve been with me this whole time, so I know you have and these bodies don’t even smell. They are made of stone.” Sole chided as Posey took in a deep breath.
"Your legs. They are turning gray.” Posey stated as her stupid kind eyes widened as the little wheels in her brain began to actually think. Posey wasn’t stupid. She was worse than stupid. She was naïve. “Why am I not turning gray, too?”
It was true. Sole’s bright red coat and blond mane were becoming duller and duller by the minute. But no matter. “Posey, it kinda sounded like you were questioning the plan.”
“I’m not… It’s a good question!” Posey stated as she pouted. “I’ll be quiet now.”
The corpses or better yet, statues of ponies trapped into stone were scattered around. With faces of pure terror, the statues were of various poses of ponies attempting to flee. This was likely as far as the ponies managed to get before the corrupting magic overwhelmed them. They were so close to escaping as the entrance leading down the mountain was only few feet away.
Sole examined one of the statues before knocking it over while Posey bowed her head and said a little prayer for their souls. The statue hit the ground with a loud thump before instantly disintegrating into fine dust.
“These statues are a good sign. We are definitely going in the right direction now.” Sole said hopefully as she began to walk around the fallen souls and enter deeper into the mouth of the cave.
“But there are so many. There like 20 of them here. How come nobody came to rescued them?” Posey shuddered as she clung tightly to Sole’s back.
“Anyone who came to rescue them would have turned into stone themselves.” Sole listed off blandly. “Besides, it's a magical kind of stoning. Not naturally like turning into stone for disturbing a Cockatrice. That’s just being frozen and easily reversible. Unlike, gods and magical folk, we ponies are made of flesh. Once a part of flesh becomes stone, it never becomes the same again. It rots fast and the whole body will reject it.
“Now imagine your entire body over taken, turned into stone. You won’t die right away. Oh no, the natural magic you have inside will try to protect you but what good will it do, when your organs, your blood and your flesh is stone? I hear that takes three days for a pony to die that way.” Sole finished smiling softly. “I’m not sure if that’s the way I want to go.”
“Go?”
“You are really naïve. Keep quiet and say not a word.” Sole said as she began to cast a light invisibility spell over the child. Now, the monster in this cave would think she was only alone and didn’t bring a weapon with her. All that could be considered strange would be the Sun stone that would be floating in the air.
Wait. Floating in the air?
“Posey! Place the Sun stone on my back and hold it so it won’t look out of place.”
“…sorry…”
Sole concentrated as she walked, charging up a spell that she had practiced for the last six months, allowing her body to manually take her into the den of rot and decay. The cave led further down into a tunnel, stone flowers of daisies and butterfly cocoons laced over the ceilings while statues blocked the way occasionally. Sole noticed that these ponies were always on their bellies with their heads in a bow, pleading and begging at something that would give them no mercy. She couldn’t help knock and smash those particular statues.
They were just pathetic, she told herself. Even if she felt a bit jealous, that those ponies would just give up. Give up on all common sense to stop running and attempt to reason with the monster that had been chasing the rest of the group. If they had seen the way they looked when they died, they would thank her for putting them out of their misery.
“Posey… Get off my back and find some place to hide.” Sole whispered as she stretched, Posey slid off her back and turned off the Sun Stone as the tunnel had enough natural light shining through the cracks of the ceiling.
"Why? Is something about to happen? Can I help?” Posey asked as Sole listened to the tunnel. Something was moving but Sole wasn’t sure what she was hearing.
“Plan.” That was all Sole had to say as she heard Posey’s footsteps to be heading in the direction they came from.
The ground shook and Sole pulled her mind from her thoughts and looked around her. The tunnel’s wall was alive with expanding stone flowers oozing disgusting perfume pink fog over her.
The monster knew she was here in its domain.
Sole sucked in a deep breath and began to run to the exit. The walls shuddered as a slick mutated thread of magic shot out from the flowers, wrapped around her legs and pulled. Sole bit her tongue and spat out blood on the threads. The threads snapped and Sole took off out of the tunnel, emerging into something of a mockery of a throne room.
Hundreds of pony statues were placed around a great stone tree, hollowed and layered in shimmering crystal butterfly wings. Above, there was a large hole allowing light to enter and bounce off the many glittery forms and mirrors hoisted in various places, creating a festival of light and rainbows. The monster perched upon the top plume of the stone tree stared down at Sole who froze at the sight of it.
The monster of legends, of horrific tales of travelers who spoke only of its magic, could never prepare her for what she saw. Its wings were transparent and pink with ancient runes that faded in and out of sight upon the fleshly appendages.
The monster’s main body was of an emerald green with multitudes of butterflies attending to it. The stench of corruption from a light flutter of its wings nearly had Sole falling over.
The butterfly flapped it wings and addressed Sole in a ghastly voice. “I am Kindness, for I am kind and the greatest of the Elements. Look upon my beauty and know of my form, imperfect and lowly creature. What brings you to my dwelling? Very few ponies even survive the way here due to the fact the power of my blessing is too strong for them.”
“I have come to…” Sole huffed as she tried to keep her stance, as the stench of the magic was speeding up the stoning process. “To kill you!”
“Foolish little pony.” Kindness laughed. “To come to my keep on a fool’s errand? What a complete waste of both your and my time. If I was like any of my siblings, barbarian and inferior, I would entertain that thought with a battle or unleash holy terror on you until you were nothing more than a mangled soul inside a meat bag but I am kind. I am kind, for I am kindness and because I am such, I shall give you the greatest mercy. Death and a place within my home.”
The butterfly stretched its wings to their fullest length and flapped. A great wave of distorted magic shot out and Sole was on the run, shooting out parts of her spell-work onto the circular walls. Kindness watched as Sole blasted strange red magic that missed its form by miles.
“What a pitiful display but what should I expect from a mere pony?” Kindness said snidely. “Come now, stop all of this running. You are only tiring yourself out.”
“On no, Kindness, I won’t stop running. I won’t stop breathing. You see, I’m so happy right now. So happy. This is what I was born for.” She cackled, cried and sobbed with twisted happiness. “I know that you don’t understand, but I’ve been spending the last six years getting ready to meet you. Making plans upon plans, crossing my T’s and dotting my I’s… Kindness, I gaze upon your form and I know MEANING.” Sole closed her eyes and re-opened with her pupils gone with her eyes' sockets overflowing with magic.
She screamed in Star-Writ, a lost language of the Cosmos. The points of the walls that she had hit became a Celestial rune that shot out beams of red light, creating a five star pentagram.
“What is all this madness? Do you dare try to bind me?” Kindness tried to fly away from the seal that had formed around it but it was kept in place by the holy magic. Instead, it concentrated its magic on the floating figure, desperately trying to turn the mortal into stone before it was too late.
Sole only grunted as the flesh and bone of her lower body merged together and her coat became gray.
She couldn't turn back now. It was all or nothing.
Sole charged up her horn and cast the final spell.
"This is it. Thank you for giving my life meaning. Kindness, you monster of decay and twisted mercy! " Sole screamed as her magic surged out of her horn and eyes. The Manifestation of Kindness was attacked by magical strands that forcibly caused its body to rupture in on itself. The explosion sent Sole flying into wall before she fell to the ground. Part of her hoof, already turned into stone, broke off and she gritted her teeth to hold back her cry of pain. Sole collapsed, heaving out blood on the ground. She cried softly for a few second before she felt a hoof smashing into her side.
Sole cracked open an eyelid and saw the new form Kindness had taken.
Kindness was now an earth pony with pink skin and hair of yellow, pink and purple. It even had a cutie mark. Sole snorted as she stared at the cutie mark. The cutie mark had the image of Kindness former self surrounded by white daisies. With the seal Sole had used, Kindness should have been stripped down to nothing more than a spirit with only the ability to barely tip over a glass.
But of course, it would be able to take on another form despite the seal she placed on it.
Sole opened her mouth and spat blood into Kindness’s eyes. Sole crawled away as Kindness cursed in pain as it wiped away at its unnatural eyes that too carried markings of runes swirling within its sockets.
“You stupid, stupid, worthless creature. Did you think that it would be this easy to defeat me?” Kindness screeched in pain and indignation. “You don’t deserve death. Death isn’t kind enough. Not for you. I’ll rip apart your soul, essence by essence! Maybe I’ll cause your body to self-destruct a couple of times for amusement?”
Kindness lifted up a hoof that had a heart tattoo that glowed. It tapped the tattoo twice against the ground and the souls of the many pony statues manifested in the natural realm and became one with Kindness. A wave of light blinded Sole’s eyes momentary as she watched Kindness ascend into another form. Ripping out Kindness’s body was a pair of crystal butterfly wings, golden with glimmers of pink and purple faintly seen.
“You may have sealed most of the powers that relate to my original form but every single soul in my territory can become energy for me to regain it. And guess what? It also includes yours.” Gleefully Kindness gloated as it trotted slowly to Sole’s dying body. “Any last words, foolish mortal?”
“That soul count of yours,” Sole coughed as she tried to look Kindness in the eyes. “It’s off by one.”
“What?”
"Now, Posey! Now!"
With loud approaching hooves and a saddlebag that appeared to be floating, Posey ran from the tunnel and charged Kindness who broke the invisibility spell. Kindness was not amused to see the little foal that was charging at it like a warrior, face red with anger.
“What is this? Using as a child as some sort of distraction? How low of you, foolish pony. Fool me once, shame on you but to fool me twice…”
“Not exactly.” Sole replied as she struggled to get on her hooves. “The seal I placed on you didn’t lock or remove your powers. It simply sent them somewhere else. Posey, don’t forget the incantation, it’s the most important part.”
Kindness’s eyes bulged as it realized the implications too late.
“Oh, yeah… I am a bearer of the elements of Harmony. You are my element and you will bend to my will! I am the you who is a pony and you are the me that is magic. As I am Kindness, for I am kind, you and I are two beings who are meant to be as one. Separate, we are divided and corrupted. Together, we are divine and holy. Let’s us be one!” Posey recited as with every step she approached, Kindness lost its form, piece by piece. The magic that left it swarmed around Posey's neck and became a gold necklace.
Kindness tried to escape but the pull of Posey was too strong. All of its magic holding its essence drained away into Posey until the necklace was complete and adorned with a pink butterfly.
“That was very anti-climactic, I think.” Posey remarked as she fiddled with the necklace. “But the plan worked after all. What happens now, Mama? Will all of the statue ponies come back alive because like it happens in the stories, the evil magic is reversed and everyone is happy? We’re heroes… I mean heroines now!”
“Stop being so naïve and stupid.”
Posey looked up to see Sole, bloody and beaten, standing over her. Sole’s body was now mostly stone with the magic still spreading and hardening what was left. Sole pulled off the necklace off Posey’s neck and dropped to the ground and smashed it.
Posey’s eyes watered and started at Sole. “Why did you do that? It felt funny to have that thing around my neck but it was the good kind of funny, Momma. And the other ponies and you are going to turn back to normal any moment now! I’m not being naïve.”
Sole’s hoof shot and smacked Posey across the face. “I told you not to call me Momma anymore. I’m not your mother.”
“Yes, you are. I-”
“I watched your real mother drown inside of a well. You had a sister too but she was already dead before your mother wound up in the well. Your real mother named you Fluttershy. The only reason I saved you because I had an epiphany after digging through that mare’s bags and finding you.” Sole smiled grimly. “I took on a new name after I had that Epiphany and took you with me.”
Posey’s eyes watered and she held back a sniffle “I don’t care. You took me in and you cared for me and-”
Sole’s legs wobbled and she sat down on the floor in a relaxed position. She lost all feeling in her lower body as it stiffens in place. “I took you in because of the plan I had. I used you for my own gains. Doesn’t that hurt you to know that I wasn’t being kind at all when you were with me? Don’t you hate me now?”
“Why do you want me to? Why? Why? Why?” Posey repeated as she cried uncontrollably.
“It’s better for you to hate now. I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”
Posey wrapped her forearms around Sole’s neck and nuzzled her. “Fine. I hate you. Does that make you feel better, now meanie?” There was a light glow around Posey’s hindquarters and she gained a cutie mark. Sole vaguely felt the urge to point out the mark but Posey might still be concerned with her dying.
“Kiddo… I was expecting that you were going to call me Monster. Really now, calling me meanie? Don’t you know any bigger words?” The magic was now reaching up her neck, turning it to into stone.
“What was your real name?”
“Star Struck. Ahh, that brings back the memories. I was a mindless unicorn extremely unsatisfied with life but with no will to do anything about it. Posey, because you hate me so much, promise me that you will smash my remains.”
“But, you said that it can take up to three days for a pony to die in stone. We could- I could-”
Sole only gave Posey a look.
“Right. Stop being naïve. Got it. What do you want me to do?”
“Head back down the mountain to the old druid’s place. He’ll be taking you in as a apprentice. I’ve already arranged things so that you will be well off. And Posey, remember to hate. Hate or the manifestation of Kindness will overtake you.” Sole closed her eyes and placed her head onto her cold stone hooves.
“Momma, did you ever love me?” Posey whispered. "I really wanted us to back to the ship even though you said that you didn't like sleeping in close quarters with pirates, cutthroats and rebels without a cause. I never got what you meant when you called them rebels without causes until much later. And that other word. You know, that word you'd called them that I'm not suppose to say in public. They acted like they enjoyed pillaging coastal towns and robbing ponies-" Posey told stories of their many misadventures and things that she learned to pass the time.
Posey knew that her mother could no longer respond. She touched her mother's head and gave a light tap.
It was stone now but Posey couldn't bring herself to leave.
She stayed even when Sole's coat became cold to the touch.
She stayed even when she could no longer hear Sole's labored breath.
She stayed even when Sole's heart stop beating.
Posey stared at the statue of Sole’s corpse and lifted a hoof. The hoof hesitated before hitting the statue with full force. The statue cracked and became a pile of sand and dust.
Posey got up and resolved herself not to cry as she left the mountain, knocking over all of the statues she saw along the way.
From the dust and sand, a lone soul emerged and took the appearance of a pony. It sighed as it looked at its soul form, see-through and far healthier than it ever had been.
Momma. Mother. Monster.
It was all she had at the very end.
Momma.
The soul covered its face in it's hooves and began to wail in its despair.
