Reborn in a Dating Sim: Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Reborn in a Dating Sim:

Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Chapter Interlude

Lights pointed down to a single point in the large room. It was supposed to be a classroom, but it was instead mostly vacant. There were no chairs, no tables, no places where students could sit. Instead there was a white room. The inside of the room itself seemed to stretch well beyond what could be considered the constraints of the building itself. Technically the ceiling should have been visible, but it wasn’t. It stretched up into an undetermined infinity. Artemis felt the entire room gnawing at her logic processors. There was something very, very wrong with this room.

“I don’t like this,” Rainbow Dash Hothoof said after a moment, “I mean this doesn’t feel like a class. This feels wrong. I can’t explain it, but the entire thing just feels all sorts of wrong.”

“I concur,” she replied as she looked around them, “This does not seem like a normal classroom. I believe that the fear something nefarious has been happening to the students coming here is well placed,” she stated as she studied the room, “I can’t detect the ceiling, at all, and the walls are designed to make one feel disoriented. This feels like a trap.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, “Yeah, it does,” she replied as she looked around, “I say that we leave. I mean, we should be able to, right?” she asked as she looked about them, “Well, we should if I can find the door. I can’t even make out where we came in at.”

Artemis pointed toward their right, “We entered from there, but I’ve noticed that wall is flush. From what I can tell the door seamlessly shuts and creates an illusion of it simply disappearing. My guess is that it either has to be opened from the outside, or the one in charge in here has a special way of opening it. Regardless, I very much doubt they are going to simply allow us to leave.”

“How astute,” a voice said from above, beside, and behind them, “It is so seldom that anyone is able to determine some of the tricks that come into place here. Then again I suppose the fact that you are a demi most likely comes into play with that. Most demi humans are known to have far better senses.”

The voice was seductive, rich, and dripping with pure sexual promise. It was a voice that Artemis wanted to learn to use for Copper. She halted that thought. Her body was betraying her, but why? Why was it betraying her logical thought right now? Copper wasn’t here. Her Captain was in a different area of the academy. Yes, he normally preyed on her mind, but that wasn’t too uncommon. She often thought of him.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow asked, her voice sounded like she was fighting against something inside of herself, “I thought that this was a class to prepare the girls for their lives outside of the Academy. This isn’t a class at all,” she stated, her voice began to sound more strained, “It’s some kind of kinky trap.”

“Kinky,” the voice snarked, “Funny how so many of you young tarts go with that word. Kinky. Yes, I suppose there is some slight amount of kink to it. I do rather enjoy what I do, and I find some sexual satisfaction from it. Perhaps in that regard it is a kink,” she thought aloud, “But then again most of you don’t enjoy it at all. I mean I can understand why. We’re going to be doing some very interesting things, and the end result is always the same.”

The white on the walls began to flake and fall away. Artemis noticed it in small sections, and then it began happening all over. Each crack showed deep greens and blacks where the white had once been. It happened again, and again, each time revealing more and more of the darkness that awaited them. She began to notice pods, large ones, that had what looked like humanoid shapes inside of them. The pods themselves were emerald green, a thick substance seemed to surround the shapes that resided inside of them.

“Now,” the voice said from all around them, “I believe that I have just the thing for the daughter of a baron. A nice way to ensure that she is completely indoctrinated into the way of thinking that the Kingdom wants for those of her station. As for the demi, well, you’re not specifically needed. I will have some fun with you, use you for a while, and then I will dump your corpse somewhere that it won’t be found. So, please don’t die easily.”

Artemis stood ready, her eyes scanning around them, and she saw it. The slight fluctuation, the change, and she grabbed Rainbow Dash and leaped back. Two dark tentacles shot out from the place that had been directly in front of them. With that move the rest of the illusion changed completely. What had been slowly cracking and revealing itself fell away. The room was completely full of those pods. There in the center of it was a single woman. She wore a white lab coat. Her skin looked less like skin and more like a collection of black insectoid shells that were linked together.

Her emerald green hair was pulled into a ponytail, and two small fangs barely poked out from her mouth, “Well,” she said after a moment, “This is concerning. I’ve never been discovered in all of the time that I’ve been doing this. I’m not sure if I should applaud the both of you or be unreasonably upset.”

Artemis studied her for a moment, “You’re from the old humans,” she stated, her voice even, “There were files of you in the labyrinth that Copper cleared.”

The creature looked at her, “Ah, find some information on my creation did you?” she asked, “Funny thing is, I existed long before they claimed to have created me. All they really did was give me a new gift, one that I have enjoyed over the years. It allows me to feed endlessly, and in return I ensure that the nobility of a certain station is at constant odds with each other. It serves the kingdom, and it serves me.”

Artemis could tell that the creature was supposed to be fetching. There was evidence that she was supposed to be attractive, but that didn’t seem to fully reach her. Granted, her body felt more intune with the desires of the flesh. She had accepted that by making the changes she had to her form she was able to fully enjoy the sensations that Copper felt all of the time. She could taste, feel, smell, and enjoy arousal. It was a full buffett of sensations, but ultimately her mind was an Artificial Intelligence. She could control her impulses, and she could focus fully on logic. It was more difficult now, but not impossible.

A look at Rainbow Dash told her that the young noble woman wasn’t as lucky. She was obviously fighting an uphill battle with her own lusts and desires. It was likely her connection to her family that was keeping her in place and not allowing her to run to the creature standing before them. Artemis studied her for a moment longer, “We will not be taken so easily,” she stated, feeling the small inhibitors that lined her avatar for safety slowly disengage, “You will find that we are not merely toys to be played with and then discarded.”

The creature laughed, “Oh, the number of times I’ve been told that,” she said with a purr, “I’ve had noble women in here who claimed to be direct descendants of great adventurers. They promised that their wills were made of iron, and that I would never turn them. I enjoyed their bodies by the end of our little time together. And of course I placed them where they belonged afterward.”

She studied her for a moment, “What of their children?” Artemis asked, trying to gauge the situation, “I mean it, what of their offspring. Surely they had to birth them.”

There was another laugh, “Simplicity in and of itself,” the creature said mirthfully, “What appears to be them are actually drones I’ve made. They take a small sample of their bodies, of their genetic coding, and they basically turn into them. The problem is that my drones are all sterile. Not a one of them can actually reproduce. That of course makes having them produce an heir troublesome. However, they are the perfect incubators when it comes to a newly created fetus. I simply take the genetic material they’ve gathered from the would be mate, place it inside of the true noble woman, and allow a small start. Once that’s done a little magic is performed and I transfer the fetus from the original to the drone. The drone carries it, births it, and then more or less abandons it upon the would be mate.”

Artemis studied her as she felt the last of the inhibitors finally unlock. She could move with the intent to kill at this point. There would be nothing that would stop her. Depending on how powerful that creature was there was a high probability that she could put her hand through her chest and be done with it in a matter of seconds. The issue was that she had little information on the strength of the insectoid shells that composed her skin. She wasn’t sure how powerful she actually was.

All she knew was that this thing was doing something terrible and it was going to be up to her to stop it. With that decision made she gently touched Rainbow Dash. She did it in such a way that it wouldn’t break bone, “Be prepared to run,” she said softly, “I am going to engage her, and I want you to leave. Go and fetch my Captain. He will come and ensure that everything is fine.”

There was no movement, and she looked at Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were glowing green, her tongue lolled out, and she was panting hard as she stood there. Looking down Artemis saw dark green tentacles slowly moving up Rainbow Dash’s legs. They were gently caressing her, moving in such a way that the young noble woman wouldn’t be startled. Whatever resistance she had was gone. It was truly up to her. Without a second thought she moved and she felt something trying to hold her. She pulled hard, causing the grip to be lost. The creature looked startled for a moment.

“How?!” she screeched as she stepped back, “You shouldn’t be able to move! That is impossible! There is absolutely no way that you could retain control of your body! I am able to control the bodies of every being! I am the master of the organic, I am the one that can become whatever I desire in order to achieve my goals! Who the fuck are you to challenge me?!”

Her fist collided with the creature’s stomach causing it to stumble back, a sickening cough erupted from the creature after the contact, “I am Artemis, servant and crew to my Captain Copper Plum Bit, I am his hand, his fist, his sword, and I am his lover,” she stated boldly, “I will be the implement of his righteous fury and terrible anger. Submit yourself to his rule, or be destroyed.”

The creature growled at her. Evidence of its anger hung around itself. There was no denying that it was proud, and Artemis knew that she had pricked his ego. But for right now she was going to do what she had come to do. She was going to ensure that it had absolutely no way of continuing its dark work without there being a leash placed upon it. It would become a servant, a slave, and it would obey her Captain. She would have this creature understand its true place.

“Foolish demi,” the creature said as tentacles sprung up around it, “I am Queen Chrysalis! I predate the old humans! I predate all life here! I am the very thing of nightmares little one, and you have ensured my wrath! I had planned on simply using you, to taste the pleasures you held, but now I will use you. You will become one of mine, and I will ensnare your beloved Captain. I will trap him, use him, and I will do it in front of you. I will have you watch as I have him breed me.”

Artemis dodged the tentacles, and she hit the creature again. She could see how powerful the creature truly was. Her skin was as strong as iron. It was like striking ballistic armor the old humans had created. She could tear through it, but not without damaging herself. In truth she needed to escape with Rainbow Dash, but that was an impossibility. What she had to do now was beat this creature, this Queen Chrysalis into submission. Only then would she feel that she had done all she could do.

Around her she noticed slight changes to the room itself. It was less like a room in the Academy, and instead it was more like the entrance to a hive. She had information on social insects. Bees, ants, and other insects that were considered social and had a hierarchy among them. This Queen Chrysalis was obviously the queen of the hive. That meant that the drones were in fact connected to her on a deeper level. If she was like the bees and ants then it was very likely that most of the drones were birthed from her. That made her wonder if her threat of breeding with Copper was a very real threat. Part of her accepted that it likely was, and that part demanded that she annihilate this creature with extreme prejudice.

The more logical part of her made her stop and take a moment. She could potentially deal with her, make her a subordinate of her Captain, and in doing so ensure that a keystone of the Kingdom was under their control. They could actively control what would happen with the border noble girls. More to the point this could shift the balance of power. She was not so foolish to believe that this was some random set up. No, she very much believed that they had made an arrangement with this Queen Chrysalis in order to maintain the power they had.

She dodged another attack from the creature, and she quickly began learning how she attacked. She would use her tentacles to strike out, and when they didn’t work she would attempt to land a hit herself. Artemis had allowed one to judge the strength of the creature. She found that her strength was close to that of this avatar. It was still less, but close enough that were it a mere challenge of strength the creature could potentially win. Still, it wouldn’t be strength that won the day. This creature claimed to be ancient, far older than the old humans that had created her, but she had been in the Capital for an untold amount of time.

That meant that her battle strategies were likely stagnant. She was likely unable to fight effectively against someone that was able to change their strategies to deal with opponents. She was going to be fighting an uphill battle while attempting to adapt. The one thing that Artemis knew about all biological creatures were that they more often than not were creatures of habit. If something worked then they continued to do those things. The evidence here pointed to more of the same.

Queen Chrysalis was attacking in predictable patterns. She was trying to subdue her, but her efforts were just prolonging the enviable. She dodged the attacks, redoubled on her own attacks, and she watched as Queen Chrysalis went from attempting to simply beat her to trying to destroy her. Finally she saw something else happening. The pods themselves began to lower. She could see the collection of them getting close to the ground, “I’ll admit that you are more trouble than I expected,” Queen Chrysalis admitted, “But I’m not above using others to get what I want. Stand down, now, or I will begin destroying the nobility that is here. I’ll kill them all, every last one, and all of that blood will be on your hands. I can promise that it will be your beloved Copper Plum Bit that suffers for it. When the Kingdom realizes that you were the instrument that destroyed so much of their nobility, they will come for him.”

The threat was real enough, and she understood that Queen Chrysalis meant it. She had allowed this to go on too long, and she had allowed this insect to get an upper hand that she shouldn’t have been able to get. That was a mistake in her battle strategy. She should have gone in for more damage far earlier. She could have broken an arm, a leg, or even possibly done different damage that wouldn’t be permanent but still debilitating.

She studied Queen Chrysalis, and she saw the two options she had. Kill her, now, and deal with whatever she’d started, or disable her now. She went with the second option. Moving faster than any organic being could ever hope to achieve she lept toward Queen Chrysalis. Her hand grabbed the insectoid creature around her throat and rammed her to the ground. The creature realized the situation she was in, and instantly she began trying to get away. She held her here, pressing her hard into the ground while her legs moved. Her body bent in a manner that was impossible for biological beings. The nearly ninety degree angle would have broken the back of a normal biological creature.

It pulled the synthetic muscles and tendons to their utmost limits, and she wrapped her legs around Queen Chrysalis’s left arm. She then released her throat, moved back, and held her wrist close. “You misunderstand something here,” she said as she held her arm, “This isn’t your hive, this isn’t a mere fight, but instead this is an operating table, and I am the surgeon.”

With that she snapped the arm. Queen Chrysalis screamed in pain before she moved toward a leg, causing the creature to attempt to retreat only to be caught. Her legs wrapped around the right leg of Queen Chrysalis. Without much trouble she snapped that leg at the knee. The creature howled pitifully. She got up, watching as the creature laid in pain in the spot she was. Whatever threats she was going to make were interrupted by her retching and vomiting something that looked similar to honey.

She moved toward her other arm, and the creature began to shake her head, “Please, please don’t!” she cried as she laid there, “Please, it will take me a solid month of painful regeneration to reform my arm and leg. Please, stop, I won’t hurt the nobles, I will let you go, I promise.”

Artemis reached into her bag she was carrying, and she pulled out something that she’d designed sometime ago. It was a simple looking collar, but there was more to it. The collar itself was infused with magic. It allowed her to use that magic to control another being. It was the first prototype for what she was going to use as slave collars. She slipped it around Queen Chrysalis’ neck, “You are my Captain’s servant, do you understand?”

The light of freedom went out behind Queen Chrysalis’ eyes. The defiance she had was gone, and it was replaced with a complacent stare, “Yes,” she answered simply, “I am a servant, nothing more.”

“Good,” she said, “Now, I will report this to my Captain, and you will begin to see what you can do to free his mother.”