So You Have Chosen Death?
It was another sunny day in Maretime Bay as Zipp and Misty walked down the street. It was a casual day for the princess and her lady in waiting, nothing too exciting was going on today, just two friends spending time together. "Nice day, isn't it?" Zipp said in an attempt to start some small talk.
"It sure is, Pri-I mean Zipp." Misty quickly corrected herself, earning a chuckle from her pegasus friend. It had been a few weeks since the trial regarding the unicorn's crimes while serving Opaline that ended with Misty being assigned to Zipp as her lady in waiting.
During the days quickly following, Misty had taken the sentence as a life debt rather than a form of mercy, and would often address Zipp as Princess when in public while also doing anything possible to serve her, to which Zipp would repeatedly tell her that it wasn't necessary. Thankfully, Misty was starting to understand more of not just Zipp as a pony, but also what her status with the pegasus really meant. Zipp was not a royal like Opaline was, often preferring to do things herself rather than have somepony else do tasks for her. Now most of the time they spent together was that of equals rather than mistress and servant.
To Misty, it felt good to have an actual friend. Almost family in a sense, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.
"So, what should we do today?" Misty asked.
"Hmmm." Zipp thought before suggesting. "We could always swing by the ropes course. Haven't been there in a while."
"I haven't been there in ever." Misty said before the two shared a laugh at the joke.
They continued on their trotting when they heard the faint sound of hoofsteps behind them, three to be precise, and faint whispers. "You go up there." One of them said, sounding like a filly.
"No, you go up there." Another insisted, also sounding like a filly
"I don't wanna make her mad." The first filly said with slight fear.
"Well, I'm not doing it." A third filly said.
"Maybe we should just leave before they notice we're following them?" The second filly suggested.
"That's a good idea." The third filly agreed.
An idea that was immediately shot down when Zipp and Misty turned around to see it was the Pippsqueaks that were following them. The three fillies saw that they were now noticed and came to a stop. "Uh, hey there, Princess Zipp, Misty." Seashell greeted the two mares, deciding to be the brave one of the group.
"Hey." Zipp replied, confused by the three fillies' actions, before asking. "Can we help you with something?"
"Uh..." Seashell tried to say, but just couldn't find the words.
So Peach Fizz decided to help her out. "We just wanted to ask about something regarding Pipp." She said.
"OK." Zipp said with even more confusion.
"Why don't you ask Pipp herself?" Misty asked the same question the pegasus had, allowing her to nod in silent agreement.
Being the only one of them that hadn't spoken yet, Peach Fizz and Seashell looked to Glory for the next response. "It's just...." She struggled to find the right words before settling with. "There are some things we've heard about Pipp that we wanted to know if they are true or not."
From the way the Pippsqueaks were acting, it did not give Zipp and Misty a good feeling on what the fillies had heard. "What was it?" Misty asked them.
"Well, we heard from Carotang that Pipp........" Peach Fizz wanted to say, but seemed really afraid to do so. In fact all of the Pippsqueaks seemed frightened to say what they needed to say.
And rightfully so as Zipp's look turned from confused to serious when she heard her sister's rival being mentioned. The pegasus stallion was another performer with a large following in Zephyr Heights, but he always seemed to want to get it even larger. And that meant going after some of the competition in order to monopolize the business. It was not unknown to the white pegasus that he had tried many times to upstage her sister. So learning that he was saying things about her, that was not good news. Especially when Pipp was still suffering from guilt over the trial.
"What did he say?" She asked the Pippsqueaks scarily, frightening the fillies and preventing them from answering as they huddled together in fear.
Knowing Zipp was a default bad cop, Misty decided to step up and be the good cop in this situation. "Hey." She said to the fillies as she knelt down to their level. "It's okay. We know whatever was said wasn't said by you, so we're not going to be mad at you regardless." She assured them before asking. "Now can you tell us what Carotang said about Pipp?"
The Pippsqueaks looked at each other for some reassurance before Seashell spoke. "He said that Pipp was an uncaring tyrant in the making that doesn't care about anypony else and crushes those who oppose her. Especially regarding you." She said to Misty directly
"Well, that was it paraphrased." Peach Fizz added. "The real thing contained a lot of words we don't know, and feel we shouldn't be saying out loud."
Hearing what the Pippsqueaks said was being spoken about her sister behind her back made Zipp seethe with rage. So much so that everypony could here the boiling inside of the pegasus and backed away fearfully. "That's what he's been saying?" She asked, using every fiber of her being to not loose control and snap at the Pippsqueaks. At least, not yet.
"Like Peach Fizz said, mostly paraphrased to keep the bad words out, but the rest of it is completely true." Glory said as she pulled out her phone to show the mares. "Look!"
Zipp took the phone from the filly and saw Carotang being interviewed. "That doesn't sound like the Pipp we all know." The interviewer said in disbelief to what Carotang just said.
"It's true." Carotang nodded in confirmation. "The only reason she shows any interest in the Pippsqueaks is because they put her name on the chart. You should've seen what she said to me when I confronted her about it. She said, and I quote 'If I hear your name mentioned in my presence ever again, I will make sure you and anypony who supports you will never see the light of another day again.'" He said in a bad imitation of Pipp's voice.
"That lying little." Zipp growled as she knew for a fact that Pipp had never said any such thing regarding Carotang.
"And with what she almost did to that poor unicorn, why shouldn't we expect anything less than the truth?" The stallion continued. "If it weren't for her sister finally standing up to her, that unicorn would've been locked away for ever for crimes she didn't do. All because Pipp forced her to confess to the Queen."
"That's not true at all." Misty said as now the phone was in her hooves. At that point, there was no truth being said at all in the interview, so Misty just turned off the phone and handed it back to Glory.
"It's not actually true is it?" Seashell asked. "Pipp didn't really do that to you did she?"
"Of course not!" Zipp snapped, frightening the filly, and making all three of them jump back at her tone. Realizing her mistake, Zipp took a deep breath to calm herself slightly and apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. But the truth really is that Pipp never did any of that, and has never considered her fans nothing more than ratings boosts."
"Really?" The Pippsqueaks said with hopefulness in their eyes.
"Yes." Misty nodded. "While it was true she was mad at me for playing a part in Zipp's recent struggles, the truth was that she was so ashamed of herself for things she thought she did, and took them out of me as an unfortunate coping mechanism. But when she realized that, she felt even more disgusted with herself. She even almost went so far as to nearly delete all of her accounts since she felt she was not a good influencer for you and everypony else."
"She did?" The Pippsqueaks said in surprise to learning Pipp nearly did that for them.
When both Zipp and Misty nodded in confirmation, the three fillies were relived to know Pipp wasn't the kind of pony being said. But that worry was replaced with a new one. "But what about Carotang?" Peach Fizz asked. "He's gonna keep spreading lies about Pipp."
"Oh, he won't when I'm done with him." Zipp said before suddenly taking off.
"Zipp?" Misty said in surprise to her sudden action.
"Where is she going?" Seashell asked Misty.
"If I had to wager a guess, I'd say she's heading straight for Carotang himself." Misty guessed.
"But he's currently preparing for a live stream." Peach Fizz told her.
"I doubt that's going to matter to Zipp. If anything, she might actually like that more than confronting him alone." Misty said as she knew her friend was going to need help with this. "I'm going to go help her. Can I ask you three to do me a favor?"
As Misty told the Pippsqueaks her plan, Zipp was head straight on a path of revenge. "You know what you must do." She heard her dark side tell her.
"Oh, I know exactly what he deserves." Zipp agreed with her for the first time.
At his studio, Carotang was standing on his stage as he began his livestream. "Greetings Zephyr Heights and beyond. It's me; Carotang. The stallion there for his fans, unlike certain other influencers that we don't want to name here."
"Oh? Is one of those yourself?" Someone asked him.
Not recognizing the voice and thinking it was one of his crew, Carotang jokingly replied. "Oh, of course not! I just said that I am here for the good ponies of Zephyr Heights, and not using them like that......." He stopped when he then realized the voice wasn't that from one of his crew and instead from another celebrity. Turning around, the stallion saw Zipp standing right behind him. "P-P-P-P-Princess Zipp!?" He nearly screamed in fear at seeing her.
"Hey." She greeted him rather casually before saying. "Quite the audience you've managed to gather here."
Managing to compose himself slightly, Carotang responded with. "W-Well, ponies have come to me as a source of comfort after everything that has happened." He carefully tried to answer.
But he wasn't careful enough. "Yes." Zipp replied as she approached the stallion. "Actually, that's something I think we need to discuss. And I think all of the ponies watching should be listening to this too, so let's not shut off the cameras just yet."
From the increasingly dark tone coming from the mare, Carotang backed up nervously. "N-Now, I know it's hard to believe, with her being your sister and all. But you must understand that Pipp-"
"IS NOT YOUR PLAYTHING!!" Zipp snapped as she grabbed the stallion by the throat and tossed him behind herself.
"AAAAH!!" Carotang hissed as he tried to stand up, only for Zipp to land directly on top of him. More specially, on his wings. "MY WING!!" He shouted in pain.
"Yeah, hurts doesn't it!?" Zipp growled in anger. "And that's only a fraction of the pain my sister is going through BECAUSE OF PONIES LIKE YOU!!" She shouted as she shifted one of her hooves from his wing to his throat.
"S-S-Secrui-" Carotang tried to scream before he was cut off by Zipp.
"Oh, don't even think about calling for help." She warned him. "The only way you're getting out of this is by telling everypony the truth."
"Th-Th-Th-The truth?" Carotang tried to play dumb, or rather was being dumb as that earned him was Zipp pressing down on his wing even harder and probably either broke or dislocated it. "AAAAH! That was my good wing!"
"You know what truth I want said, and you're going to say it if you want the pain to end." Zipp threatened as she shifted hooves to let the stallion know the other wing was next if he said anything stupid again.
Despite his predicament, Carotang still held one ace in his non-existent sleeves. "Y-You're crazy!" He told Zipp. "You just can't accept the kind of pony your sister is. And now, with this being streamed all over, everypony knows exactly the kind of pony you are. So it doesn't matter if I tell the truth or not, everypony's going to assume you forced me to say it!" He smirked triumphantly before he realized EXACTLY what he said. "Uh-oh."
It was at that moment that everyponys' phones went off with an alert of a new upload. Opening them up, ponies everywhere say a file titled 'Carotang exposed' posted. "Well, isn't this just perfect timing." Zipp said as she removed herself from atop Carotang and sat down to look at what was posted. If Carotang thought he could escape, which he obviously tried to do, before Zipp pulled him in uncomfortably tight as read off what she found. "Look at this, ponies. We have Carotang insulting his fans and calling them 'blind lemmings'. Oh, here's Pipp offering to shout you out, for no personal gain mind you, when she supposedly threatened you for making any public appearances. And, what's this? Should I play this recording that is titled 'My Plan Against Pipp?'" With every word, Zipp brought Carotang in closer and closer, almost cutting off his oxygen supply completely.
"T-that's a lie. There's no way they actually got that all on video!" He exclaimed, once again realizing too late he basically revealed he was playing everypony.
"Never underestimate my skills." Misty said as she then appeared on stage.
"You!" Carotang gasped as Zipp decided to let him go so he can speak to Misty proper. "Why are you doing this? All I said against Pipp was for you. All to correct the injustice you suffered at the hooves of her and the Royal Family."
"No, it wasn't 'for me', it was all for you." Misty countered as her horn glowed and she held the stallion in place. "All of this was never because you cared about me, or what I went through. You never even said my name once. All of this was just a move on your part to upstage Pipp so you would be the most loved artist in ZH."
"And you know, I don't care that you're using my past to further your own image. I don't care about that. What I do care about is that you are using my name to hurt my friend!"
"But Pipp-"
"Is my friend, and I will do have to to protect her from ponies like you." Misty told him firmly before adding. "Seeing you in person, you actually remind me a lot of Opaline. Both seem big and with lots of power, but you're actually very small and insecure, always feeling weak."
Smiling at Misty's burn, Zipp grabbed Carotang by the throat again and pulled him in close. "Listen to me, and listen to me well. If I ever hear you badmouth my sister again....well, I can't say it since there's fillies and colts watching this, but know that it will make the hell Misty and I went through look like nothing in comparison, and it won't stop until I say so. Is that understood?"
Looking directly into Zipp's eyes, Carotang could've sworn he saw them change before he squeakily nodded. "Good boy." Zipp smiled as she dropped him to the floor and prepared to leave with Misty.
But Carotang wasn't done yet. "You think you can just walk away after what all of Equestria saw you do?" He asked Zipp.
"Meh, public opinion on me hasn't ever bothered me before." Zipp shrugged. "If ponies want to think of me as the crazy big sister, let 'em."
"Besides, you got bigger problems." Misty added as she pointed behind the stallion to the main reason she took a while to get there.
Slowly turning around, Carotang found himself face-to-face with Queen Haven and Hitch, both glaring at the stallion with looks of pure hate. "You." Haven hissed at him.
"You might want to start a new stream with an upped rating." Misty whispered to one of the crew, who just nodded and turned off the camera before things got too violent for an all ages stream.
It was close to sunset when Zipp and Misty returned to the Brighthouse, congratulating themselves on a job well done. "I didn't know you had that in you, Zipp." Misty said as they entered the door.
"Yeah, I guess it does pay sometimes to have a dark side inside you." Zipp said before she glared and said. "But that is the only time we will ever agree on anything!" Misty looked confused a who Zipp was talking to before the pegasus answered with. "Wanted to make sure she doesn't get any other ideas."
"Gotcha." Misty nodded in understanding.
"Still, if anypony should be receiving the praise, it's you." Zipp said as she playfully nudged the unicorn. "Uploading that file really helped in the long run. I don't even know how you got all of that."
"Well, let's just say that I have experience." Misty joked and the two shared a laugh before she got serious for a moment. "But seriously, we should probably update your security. It was way too easy to get that information."
The two opened the door to the bedroom and went up to see Pipp was in bed, a place she has been spending a lot of time lately, with the Pippsqueaks standing near her, Bestie in her hooves indicating she was watching the live stream. When she heard her sister and Misty enter the room, she looked up at them with tear filled eyes. "Z-Zipp." She stammered out. "Y-You did that on a livestream....for me?"
"Of course I did." Zipp answered as she went over to give Pipp a hug. "I'd do anything for you, Sis."
"B-but you could've been seen as crazy by everypony. You could've lost control of yourself and-" Pipp tried to say before Zipp stopped her, mainly to not corrupt the Pippsqueaks.
"And it would've been worth it." She stated firmly before adding. "The first one, I mean. The second one was never going to happen."
"Yeah." Pipp said, seemingly agreeing before she turned to Misty. "And Misty, I really can't believe you said all of that."
"I just couldn't stand by and do nothing. If Zipp was going to make her statement for everypony, so was I. You're basically family to me, Pipp. And I acted as such to protect you both." She said before she joined in on the hug.
"Awwwwww!" The Pippsqueaks said in response to the scene of sisterly affection before them.
The three mares stayed in that position for a few moments before breaking off and allowing Pipp to speak to her fans. "Pippsqueaks, I should also be thanking you. Not just for telling Zipp and Misty, but also for believing in me even after all I had done." She said, slightly looked ashamed at the last part.
She was met by the three fillies jumping into her embrace, surprising the young princess. "You're welcome, Pipp!" Seashell said.
"We knew you couldn't be that kind of pony." Glory said next.
"Even after what happened, you're still the best to us." Peach Fizz finished.
This made Pipp tear up with happiness even more. And with Zipp and Misty joining in on the hug again, it seemed to be a happy ending for everypony.
Well, everypony but one.
"GAAAAH!!" Carotang exclaimed as he was zapped by Izzy's magic. "I said I was sorry!" The charred stallion exclaimed before being zapped again. "AAAAH!"
"Yeah, but that's more sorry you got caught, rather than actual regret for your actions." Hitch pointed out before speaking to Izzy. "Just make sure not to shock him too much, Izzy. The Queen still needs him to be able to clean out the Royal Gardens."
"Awww! But it's fun!" The purple unicorn whined. "I get to be like a lie detector and zap him any time he says something wrong."
"Yeah, but now its starting to get slightly beyond just karma." Hitch cautioned.
"I don't deserve this." Carotang whined before getting shocked again. "AAAAAH!"
"Wrong!" Izzy beamed.
Author's Note
Okay, I think it's very clear at this point the entire Royal Family take family love very seriously. Don't go after one of them, lest you want to go through a world of pain.
Not really much else I need to say. The A-hole deserved this and more. And I was just happy to deliver the punishment.
