We ended up stopping at a small little river of some sort. It was a small thing, really, well, it wasn’t. It was quite the sight, if I’m being honest. We were sitting in a valley next to a long, winding river that ran through the bottom of the valley. According to Twilight, this was one of the most efficient routes to the changeling Hive, or Chrysalis’s old kingdom. The hills were steep, almost cliff-like with how they went down at an almost vertical drop. They were stony hills too, with the top being nicely… well, topped with trees and greenery. The river itself… was breathtaking, if I’m going to be honest.

It wasn’t the largest river I’ve seen, it certainly wasn’t the longest river I’ve heard of, as it only stretches for a few miles, apparently. The more accurate description could be a creek. The sound of water rushing as it fell down a tiny, two foot waterfall and rushed forward was relaxing. The river in the specific spot we were stopping for the day was rather shallow; you could see every individual stone at the bottom of the water and you could practically walk through it. That’s what I did, actually. The water, unlike most places back home, was clear, crystal clear. So it wouldn’t result in me contracting something from sitting and relaxing in the water.

So that’s what I was doing, laying on my belly, in the water in one of the shallower parts of the already very, very shallow parts of the river. I had my eyes closed as I simply listened to birds as they happily sang their little birdy songs to the world. The water rushing past me felt… nice, honestly. The feeling of wet fur was something I could do without, but the water touching the skin beneath my pelt… It almost made me feel like I was in a very shallow swimming pool. The stones I was laying on were so smooth, that it felt like I was laying on tile flooring…

Really, really smooth tiles.

I rested my head in the water and hummed. “Oh my god.” I whispered. I knew the rest of the group was sitting along the bank of the river, probably giving me weird looks.

Ponies do like swimming, and are pretty good at it. Though sitting in kinda cold water for the fun of it was apparently bizarre to them. Just soaking a portion of their body was really, really weird to them.

“Ostri, what are you doing?” Twilight asked. I could hear her walking towards me, water was slishing, sloshing, and gently splashing as she made her way over to me. You see, we just stopped, I saw the spot, and went ‘I don’t wear clothes anymore so I can just do this’. It’s something that I’ve been hoping to do at some point in my life when I was still human. Now that I’m a shithorse, I can do this at least. I think Twilight was the one that came over here because she was the loudest, and also the only pony to mention anything.

“This is relaxing,” I said contentedly. “Very, very relaxing.” I stretched my legs forward, before laying like Superman. My wings laid, sprawled in the water, which made me realize just how nice the water feels on them. My hindlegs laid straight behind me. “This feels so good…”

“...But the water’s not deep enough to swim in. All you’re doing is getting a small amount of yourself wet for no reason.”

“It feels good. Humans like water, this water’s the clearest I’ve seen in the last two decades of my life. It’s the coolest too.” I stuck my tongue out and lapped a few drops. “Oh my lord!” I chuckled. “Aw fuck me. If I did that back home, I woulda contracted several parasites, cancer, and woulda had to get my head amputated.” I chuckled. God damn, humans are fucking up water. I will admit, for all of ponykind’s flaws, they do know how to work with nature rather than outright conquer it like humanity has.

“What?”

“Earth sucked. Equus, ignoring certain, immortal assholes, is way better.”

“Oh.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “When you feel like it, can you let me question you? I know that… your life before transporting to the present day probably is a sore subject, but-”

“Mmm, sure. Not much was kept about back then, was there?”

“No. Nopony really thought to write anything down besides scholars. Back in the day, those were far and few between… I’ve also a feeling that Princess Celestia actively erased anything from history barring you; something, anything would’ve remained of you if she hadn’t.”

“Well,” I hummed. “You can do that here, can’t you?” I asked. “Like make a magic, water proof, temporary cushion and lay on it if getting your fur wet’s a thing you aren’t all for.”

“But you’re relaxing-”

“I can relax my body and still use my brain. I am talking to you with my eyes closed, after all. If it weren’t for these wings, I woulda rolled on my side and taken a nap.” I noted that… I sniffed the thing that just wrapped itself around me. “You just want an excuse to cuddle with a sexy stallion?” I asked teasingly. A wing, very, very gently hitting me upside the head was my response along with a giggle from Twilight.

“Huh. This is kinda nice.” Twilight hummed in delight. “I suppose I should ask you… how did you make a living? Assuming you didn’t just live off the castle?”

“Oh. That’s easy. Back in the day, especially early on when the Royal Guard was more akinned to a very, very small militia. The main force at the time was the Day Militia, or the early stages of the Solar Guard. The Lunar Legion, something I was actually a relatively high ranking in, was way, way smaller. And even then it didn’t matter since there were only a couple hundred ponies in each section of the Equestrian military. Since the military wasn’t big enough to go take care of local affairs constantly without making the capital city weaker, there was a system that Everfree City used. I think it was common in other cities as well.

“Basically, mercenaries. There was a board near the center of the town’s marketplace. The crown usually offered jobs, but some ponies did put up their own jobs that they needed done. I may have been allowed to live at the castle, but most of the food I got was put on the table by me. I was one of the few ponies, that wasn’t a unicorn, that could go take care of most problems for one reason or another. Most ponies back then, and even now, are pussies. And also don’t usually think of ways to kill things. Most of the jobs back then usually involved killing some animal that was causing too much of a problem. So I used fireworks, knives, all that fun stuff. I wasn’t really good with anything I used to kill said animals with until Luna started teaching me how to fight…” I chuckled. “Only good thing I got out of dating her, a thousand years later.”

“So what was Starswirl actually like?” Twilight asked. “You seem to not like him.”

“Looking back at it, he had a good reason to not like me. But also, he was fucking racist. No matter how good an earth pony or a pegasus was, he was always looking down on them. And any mare that wasn’t Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, were treated rather poorly by him. Not abusive, or anything. He just didn’t respect them. He was a bit egotistical, understandable given who he was, but he was an asshole because of it.” I waved a hoof as I spoke. “He was, technically, better than everypony around him because of his magic and wisdom or whatever. The problem truly lied in how he genuinely thought he was better because of it. You’re only as good as how people perceive you, Twilight. It doesn't matter if you’re the best at anything, if you don’t have people that like you, or nobody knows who you are, it doesn’t matter.

“Starswirl was an asshole. The only good thing he left behind was his progress in magic and spell development.”

“...Huh.” I could hear Twilight writing what I said down. “You’re only twenty?”

“Yeah. I did a lot of thinking when I was alone after me and Luna first broke up. It dawned on me that I didn’t leave my mark on anyone besides Blaze. I fought an army, and it didn’t matter. Luna didn’t remember me at all, and I was all but forgotten.”

“You left your mark on me,” Chrysalis said. I assumed, by the splishing and the sploshing, that she was walking up to join us. I felt myself be lifted from Twilight’s grasp, and laid against a cool, hard carapace. My hooves fell back into the water. “I still remembered you, after all. I still felt some semblance of love when I first reunited with you. I will admit, my original reasoning for coming to you was not good, but having some form of love was enough to bring me back to my sanity. In fact, if you had not been the one to initially take that job in finding me while I was a changeling princess, stuck in a beartrap, I would be dead, Ostri.” She started grooming me. “Your mark is more impactful than you realize. Even if it is subtle.

“Look at Blaze, for example; she adores you more than anything. She was gushing, while you were napping, about how gentle you've been with her after she got pregnant. Plus,” she hummed as she made me open my eyes. “Look.” I started reading over the newspaper.

“Where’d you get that?”

“I teleported to the nearest town and purchased one. Well, I teleported in as Cadance, with her blessing, and got it for free.”

Princess Luna, or Nightmare Moon?

In recent times, Princess Luna has been making great strides in lifting her public image since her return from the Moon. In the spark of the incoming war from the Yetis, Princess Luna went back in time to bring back her old consort. A yellow pegasus that loved Luna with all his heart… abandoned her upon hearing of the reason why he was brought back? As it turns out, this is untrue. Princess Luna did bring back her old consort, a pegasus named Bald Ostrich. So far, he, at Canterlot, stopped the initial attack on our nation’s capital, allowing Equestria to stand another day in all her glory.

Several weeks later, when Baltimare was being invaded, Bald Ostrich, singlehoofedly, took out yet another invasion force. Princess Cadance, the Princess of Love and the leader of the Crystal Empire was there to witness it. As was the Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Both acknowledged Ostri’s bravery, as he had fought a battalion of Yeti soldiers, forty soldiers. Princess Cadance, in front of the Baltimare Refugee camp, had a few choice words to say to The Royal Pony Sisters, allegedly, mentally torturing Bald Ostrich despite his heroic acts.

Princess Luna, despite hearing of what her consort had done, chose to walk over to him and begin harassing him while Princess Cadance talked at Princess Celestia. The words… were rather unsavory.

There was a photo on the page… Huh. Luna was gonna hit me across the face before Cadance showed up and started laying into Luna’s ass with the righteous hoof of god.

Some are wondering if Princess Luna’s true personality is not too far off from her alter ego, Nightmare Moon. A cold hearted being that loves nothing more than making ponies suffer. Perhaps Princess Luna is just like her alter ego, but only in regards to making the stallion that loved her, and has fought wars for her before she brought him forward in time, suffer for doing the things he was brought to the future to do.

“Hah.” I smiled. “That’s funny. Half of that was kinda true. Well all of it was. Just not the part where Luna actually brought me back.

“Me and Cadance… may have told the press that Luna was the one that brought you back,” Twilight admitted. “After what she’s done to you, Luna’s image is the least we can do for you.”

“...Mmm. I’d rather nothing come of this. I’d rather not leave my mark on Equestria and disappear. As much as I hate this country, the people are good people, and their country doesn’t deserve to fall into ruin because their leaders are dickwads. I’d rather everypony just not do anything. I’d rather not strike back in any way, shape, or form. I’ve learnt long ago that petty revenge gets people nowhere and just leads to more violence.” Or keeps the cycle of bullshit going.

“What was Everfree City like?” Twilight asked.

“It was nice. It was pretty small, smaller than Ponyville. Though in the past, Equestria was a lot less populated back in the day. Uh…” I hummed. “Can’t say much about the people, since I usually heard them talking shit about Luna. And I was a bit mad about that at the time. It was… I’ll be real, Equestria has not changed much in the last thousand years. Everfree City looked like a less colorful version of Ponyville and was clearly built with function over form. It also had a castle in it that doesn’t look like a treehouse.”

We continued on our way the next day, occasionally, I’d have Fluttershy come in our wagon to let her study Blaze’s pregnancy.

“How is she doing?”

“Well, it isn’t too different from a fox,” Fluttershy noted. “It’s just a little longer since Blaze is a bigger animal than a fox,” she noted. She held her ear up. “They’re starting to kick around in her belly.”

Blaze chuckled. “You don’t need to tell me that,” she flinched. “I can feel them trying to run around inside of me.”

“Though the fact that she isn’t eating to keep her pups alive is weird,” Fluttershy noted. “Uhm. I think because she is a being entirely made up of magic, that she can keep her pups alive through magic alone? I’m not big into magic.”

“You are correct on that,” Blaze nodded. Fluttershy wrote that down. “What? Plan to help more kitsune or kumiho?”

“No. While it’s very, very rare for anypony to have a kitsune as a pet, it is good to have this all written down so everypony can tell if their kitsune is healthy.”

Now was a good time to say that Fluttershy managed to turn Murk into a fox puddy. She was petting him while occasionally stopping to check over Blaze and write something down. “Your Kumiho is rather lovely, Ostri. For how dangerous you claim they are, he’s quite lovely.” She smiled when Murk jumped on his haunches, and grabbed Fluttershy with his teeth. I almost jumped, but noted how my other fox literally just pulled her down, very, very, gently and was holding her like how a child would hold a stuffed animal. “Oh my,” she giggled. “This is nice. If I got to sleep like this everyday…”

“Mmm, Murk’s been helping me with my nightmares. He can dreamwalk, apparently and can help Blaze do it. So we all snuggle up together, Chrysalis in tow, and he drags everyone into my dream. It keeps my mind off of things. But yeah, Blaze and Murk, piled together, are the best bed I’ve ever laid on.” I settled down on Blaze, being careful with her belly. “I’m surprised you made Murk love you so much in like… ten seconds.”

“She’s very sweet,” Murk admitted. “It’s hard to hate her. She’s even being careful of my tails.” He nuzzled the pegasus. “This is mine now. I don’t care what you say. We are keeping Fluttershy.”

“I don’t mind. Fluttershy’s so fucking nice,” I chuckled. “Honestly, she’s so quiet that I forget she’s there,” I nodded to the pegasus who was too busy squealing in delight to care. “But when I remember she is there, or she makes her presence known… She's a delight. Honestly.”

The next few days, the lush, green countryside of Equestria slowly gave way to sand and then that sand slowly but surely started turning into greenery again. Chrysalis was watching the map in the wagon the whole time, and occasionally peeked out the wagon. Something was probably wrong, because she was getting more and more antsy. Blaze and Murk really didn’t care all that much. I nuzzled her and she nearly jumped out of her exoskeleton.

“You alright? You’re not looking like your usual, calm and collected self, Chrysalis.” She had her tail tucked between her legs, her ears were pinned against her head. With ponies, ears mean a lot of things. With a predator like Chrysalis, that means she’s preparing for a fight or preparing to flee… I think. I based a lot of ear body language on dogs, and so far it’s been accurate.

“We are nearing the Hive, and I am a bit scared of how they will receive me. On top of that… This looks nothing like the Badlands.”

“Mmm, that would be a reason to make you jumpier, I suppose.”

“Actually,” Cadance spoke up. “Last time Starlight was here, with Trixie, she mentioned just how much nicer these lands have gotten. After the metamorphosis, Thorax noted that the area started growing vegetation again. Nopony knows why, and neither do the changelings, but they do like their new home.”

“I see.” Chrysalis nodded. “That still does not quell my fears. Thorax, more than likely, has won over his brother by this point. Well, the brother closest in age to him. All changelings are related, and usually two changelings that are close in age to each other are very defensive of each other. Since Pharynx is the older of the two, he is often more dominant; he’s held a soft spot for Thorax that I once found adorable… However, I think this means that Pharynx will be more than willing to fight me for him. I do not wish to go through that.”

“I’m sure if we explain everything-” Shining Armor was interrupted by the girls, in their own wagon, screaming. I grabbed my knife and immediately jumped out of the wagon to find… A big lizard thing. It almost looked like a giant, fire-themed komodo dragon. It had red and white scales, had fucking flames spewing out of its mouth that made it almost look like a constantly flowing mustache. It just damn near torched the girls had Twilight and Starlight not made shields instantly. Shining Armor and Cadance were off my wagon immediately; Shining went into big brother mode and immediately tried putting himself between the… I guess the Fire Lizard. He started blocking its flames as the Apple Jack did her best to try and pull their wagon out of harm’s way.

Almost immediately, three more of those fuckers, all just a little smaller than the first, blasted from the ground, sending dirt, rock, and debris everywhere… Only for everything to freeze. Murk slowly stepped off the my wagon as it came to a stop. His eyes were glowing, almost on fire, as he slowly stared at the monsters attacking us. “Ostri, put your knife up. You won’t need it while I am here.” The same aura in Murk’s eyes was holding the monsters in place. “Come now, little ones, where is that fighting spirit you all had a moment ago?” He asked, tilting his head.

It would almost be cute if Murk wasn’t so fucking terrifying in this moment.

“Come now, you are fighting prey animals, and there are four of you that are still alive out of your little pack.” The lizards, which were roaring up a storm and trying to get away to no avail, had their mouths sealed shut by the kumiho’s magic. “One of you just tried making a move for Blaze,” I looked behind Murk to notice… one of the lizard things completely gored. All that was left of it was its legs. The rest of it was smeared on the ground. “And another one of you tried attacking my soulmate.” I slowly turned around to see…

“Holy mother of god.” I whispered. One of the lizard things was right behind me, with a sharp rock jammed into the back of its head. Said rock pierced the skull and went all the way through, and the rock was rather long. The lizard’s head was propped up with said rock. I slowly started backing up towards the girls, Shining Armor and Cadance. The ponies with horns were shivering in fear.

They could probably feel just how much magic Murk is letting off.

“Allow me to remind the world why kumiho are not to be trifled with. Come, spit your fire out.” The first four lizards started looking hotter, and hotter, as though something was forcing them to breathe fire, but their jaws wouldn’t open to release the flames. Murk looked at the rest of us. “Look away.” Fluttershy buried her face into Rarity, who was simply watching on, like she knew something horrifying, but simply could not look away. Her eyes were glued to the scene before her as each lizard’s skulls started burning away as fire started erupting from their eyes and nostrils. Four thuds broke our trance as we watched the bodies fall to the ground.

And just like that, the threat was gone. Murk simply sat on his haunches, before I found myself lifted into the air by his magic. Unlike the vice-grip that was holding the lizards, the magic holding me was gentle, as though I was a piece of expensive pottery. I slowly drifted through the air, before I was set down in front of the Kumiho who looked entirely different from the one that had just killed six creatures without breaking a sweat or showing any remorse. He licked my muzzle.

“Did you think I would hurt you?” He asked, sounding somewhat hurt.

“No. you just reminded me why you kumiho are fucking scary, dude. What the actual fuck?”

“Hmm. I suppose I could’ve been less brutal or ‘psychotic’ with how I approached that. However, one tried lunging for Blaze and you. That pissed me off.” Chrysalis crawled out of the wagon and started looking around. Even she nearly threw up at the sight before her. “Blaze, is luckily unharmed, and nobody is hurt.” He nuzzled me. “No matter what, as long as I draw breath, nothing shall come to harm you, or those you care about, Ostri. I will be there to keep you safe before you can blink.”

“Oh dear Celestia…” A new voice said. Chrysalis actually did throw up upon hearing that voice. “What the buck happened here?” Murk allowed me to go comfort my marefriend as everypony started looking at the new voice. Most of them looked excited, some of them looked relieved. Standing before us was a Bug Moose thing and a bunch of colorful bug horses.

Author's Note

and that seems like a good place to end it. a nice little cliffhanger and a showcase of just how violent kumiho can be; Murk was beginning to feel like a male Blaze to me, so I had to showcase just how much more cruel he could be compared to the original Best Girl. Do not fuck with Murk's family. It will usually involve a very painful death.