Author's Note

Hellooo, Yes, I am (somewhat) back, with a story that I definitely wrote anew and absolute didn't spot on my desktop, after I forgot about it for... checks calendar

3 Years

The Murder Maid

You wake up on yet another morning in Canterlot. Your head maid already stands by your door, ready to help you into your clothes and start your day.

“Good morning master.” She says in a flat tone, showing it to be nothing more than a routine line for her.

“Good morning, Alpha.” You greet back.

“For the millionth time, master, please don’t call me— “

“Yes, I know, you want me to call you by your real name, but the contract stated that I have the right to give you any name that I want. Admit it, you’re just miffed that you didn’t read the small prints back then.” You cut her off.

Alpha is the oldest in your roster of currently six maids. Her behaviour is just what one might expect of one in such a high position: uppish, conceited and bossy.

You get up and dressed. Your standard suit, fit exactly to your measurements (and enchanted to always be) and a quartet of the best horseshoes one of your status can buy.

“So, Alpha, who is on the service roster today?” You ask casually, as your maid closes the buttons on your vest.

“Master, I am certain that you’re aware that today is the new maid’s trial day?”

“Ah, yes. Well, I think we’re ready, so let her in.” You say. A few days ago, you’ve put up a job listing for another maid. After all, seven-maid rosters are in this year and your status calls for a sizeable contingent of maids anyways.

On your call, a young mare enters the room. She looks a bit like the Element of Honesty, Applejack, but a bit younger and with her mane worn open instead of braided.

“Good morning, master. I am— “

“Eta. As long as you are serving me, your name is Eta.” You cut her off. She seems a bit irritated but puts up with it.

“Yes, certainly, master.” Is all she says to it.

However, her professionality in this situation seemed to be only for show, as as soon as you left the room, she already messed up quite a bit – she left the room before you. However, since you are a kind master, you just put it up to her being nervous and turn a blind eye – for now.

However, this wasn’t the only incident and a few broken vases, a coffee stain on your vest and the death of your favourite mug later, you have no other choice but to end the trial early.

You don’t give her a speech or anything, mostly because you’re already fully occupied with biting back your anger. Instead, you just point to the changing room and Eta understood. She walks in and comes out a few minutes later, with her maid uniform neatly folded and left in the locker. You allow her to apologize for the trouble she had caused and give her a small number of bits for the work she had done so far, before sending her out.

Six little ponies serve their master to the end. The seventh that was meant to come was never seen again.

“Good morning master.~ ” Comes an uncharacteristically cheerful greeting that rips you out of your sleep. When your groggy eyes scan the room, you only see Alpha standing by the door as usual.

“Alpha?” You ask.

“Yes, master. Good morning.~ ” She answers with that same cheerfulness.

“…Okay, what’s wrong? The only time I ever saw you cheerful was when I broke my leg and couldn’t move for a week.” You ask suspiciously.

“Can’t I just be cheerful for once, master? I think that young mare yesterday had quite the positive impact on me.” She answers.

“That failure? Heh, figures that you are cheerful when something causes me trouble. Well, at least that means everything is normal for now… but don’t go jumping and singing through the mansion again, you hear? Last time was disturbing enough and that was when I could only hear it from inside my room.”

“Of course, master.~ ” She answers.

“… I get the feeling that now that I said it, you’re gonna do it on purpose… Anyways, who’s on the service roster today?”

On that call, a maid enters the room. She is the second maid you hired and thus holds the name of ‘Beta’. Coincidentally, she is also the second oldest.

“Good morning, master. I am your personal servant for today.” She said. Beta prefers to do the dressing herself when she is on personal, however you know that secretly, she is just competing with Alpha for the head maid spot.

After dressing up, you go to have a long breakfast, this time without hot coffee being spilled all over you, but sadly also without your favourite mug.

You are reading the newspaper as usual, when a headline catches your interest.

“Young mare found dead in alley close to Anon-Mansion.” You read out loud. “Hmm, it would seem she couldn’t bear her own failure, huh?”

“If I were her, I would’ve done the same. That girl was just not worth living with all the trouble she had caused.” Beta says from beside you.

The rest of the day goes by rather swimmingly. No cups were broken, no dirt spilled and except for Alpha dancing and singing through the halls, everything was just as always.

Six little pony maids went out to take a dive, but one of them swam up too late, so there were only five.

Another day breaks and you wake up as usual. You get up, spot Alpha beside your door and greet her: “Good morning, Alpha.”, with the hope that your previous misfortune was now out of her system.

“Good morning, master.” She greets back, to your relief in her usual flat tone. Albeit something strikes you as odd.

“You seem a bit slow today. Is anything the matter?” You say, referring to that you were the one to greet first.

“Apologies, master. I happened to be deep in thought when you got up.” Alpha says still in her regular flat tone, as she moves to help you into your clothes.

“Oh? Is there something that even the ever-stoic Alpha is concerned about?” You chuckle at her, however she doesn’t so much as twitch out of her character for even just a moment.

“Only a few concerns that come with my position, that would be unprofessional of me to burden you with.” She says, still in her regular flat tone. You almost find it strange. It is such an un-Alpha thing to say but said exactly how she would say it. Then again, Eta has indeed left quite the mess, not to mention the open spot that still needed to be filled, so this might well and truly be an edge case.

You decide to stick with that and carry on with your day, saying your regular line: “So, who’s on the roster today?”

At that cue, Gamma, the freshest and, again, coincidentally, youngest maid in your roster steps in and greets you with a slight cheery tone: “Good morning, master! I will be your personal maid for today!”

Gamma is your favourite maid in your current roster. She’s just a tad younger than you, has all the curves in the right places and to top it off, you are quite certain that she always purposely places herself in such a way that you get to see all the good spots. You have long since noticed that you carry feelings for her, not of the romantic kind, mind you. However, if you were any less concerned about your reputation as an employer and a noble, you would certainly call upon her for some more… special services.

The day goes smoothly, for the most part. Gamma accidentally spilled a few drops of coffee, when she was pouring you some, however in comparison to the veritable torrent that assaulted you just two days prior, you feel that this wasn’t even worth taking note of.

You are just about to take your first sip of coffee for the day, when from behind you, you hear the oh so dreadfully familiar sound of pottery shattering. This is followed by a short silence, before Gamma screams out at the top of her lungs, making you almost spill your precious coffee.

You spin around and quickly ask: “Gamma? What’s the matter?” However the mare seems incapable of answering or even noticing your question, instead staring at the window leading out into your yard with horror.

“Th-There!” She says in a horrified tone, with her hoof pointing outside. “I-In the pool! B-Beta!”

You set your mug down, get up and look outside. Indeed, there she was. Beta. She was drifting in the pool with her face down, clearly lifeless.

Without a word, you step over to Gamma and take the opportunity to hold her in your forelegs. You are aware that you should probably show a bit more shock at the sight, but in truth this wasn’t the first maid from your roster that died in the line of duty, hence why Gamma was the newest and not Zeta. And besides, you find that mourning the dead is only a waste of time, as neither does it bring them back, nor does it honour them in any way.

In that sense, weren’t you honouring her far more by taking the opportunity her death provided, to hold and comfort Gamma?

A few moments after you decided to give your fullest in honouring Beta, Alpha came storming into the room. She didn’t seem any more concerned than she usually was, however you spotted just a momentary glance flicking over to you and Gamma.

“Excuse me master. I thought I had heard somepony scream.” Alpha excused and is just about to leave again, when you stop her.

“Oh, you heard right.” You say and flick your head to point out the window. Alpha silently follows your point and looks out, where she spots the dead Beta. Her reaction to that is little more than a short “Ah.”, before she nods to you and says: “I shall immediately arrange the clean-up.”

She then leaves, while you spend the next few minutes comforting Gamma. She apologises profusely afterwards, but in truth enjoyed the entire time that it lasted. She does her best to pull herself together afterwards and the rest of the day passes without any further incidents, although you must admit that the loss of Beta left somewhat of a bitter taste in your mouth. After all, you will now have to fill two maid spots instead of just one and, if you’re quite honest, you enjoyed the little competition Alpha and Beta had going between them. It made the ever-stoic Alpha seem a bit more… alive.

Five little pony maids were fewer than before. One got locked up in her room, so there were only four.

Again, morning comes and again, you wake up with Alpha standing beside your bed. Again, you follow your usual routine with Alpha and again, you say your signature line… except that this time, nopony comes. Both you and Alpha look expectantly at the door, but nothing happens. Alpha leaves your side and trots to the door to look outside, but there’s nopony there.

Just as you want to make a comment, you suddenly hear hooves running down the hallway. Delta wasn’t usually one to be tardy or even to oversleep, but you suppose anypony can have a bad day once or twice and since you are a kind employer, you will turn a blind eye.

At least that was your plan, but then you notice that the sounds of running were intermixed with sniffles and panicked cries:

“Boss! Boss! Something terrible happened!” You hear, as Delta nearly slides past your door. The terrified mare stands before you with a tear-stained face, her coat unkempt and her uniform only haphazardly thrown on. Whatever had transpired, it seemed important enough to her to ignore her outward appearance.

“What happened?” You ask her, making sure that her panic doesn’t carry over into your voice.

“It’s… it’s Gamma, sir, she… she…” Delta heaves between her sniffles. She’s clearly hyperventilating and on the verge of collapse, so you do the only thing that comes to mind, grab her shoulders and look her deep in the eyes.

“It’s alright. Calm down, Delta, and tell me what happened.”

The Mare sniffles and wipes a few tears off her face, before she answers quietly: “It’s… It’s Gamma, sir, she’s…” A short sniffle escapes her and she takes a small moment to compose herself again.
“When she didn’t come out of her room this morning, I went to see what took her so long. H-Her door was locked, so I went outside to look through the window and saw-… and saw…”

She doesn’t make it any further and starts bawling again. However, this time you don’t have the thought to comfort her, as instead your thoughts follow your hooves in rushing towards Gamma’s door. You rip the master key from your pocket and open her door, only to reel back at the sight that awaits you.

Before you, just a few hooves beyond the reach of the door, lies Gamma… or at least that’s what seems logical, seeing as this is her room. The corpse itself doesn’t give much evidence towards this, as over half of its coat, from the face down, is missing and the skin beneath it, including the eyes, seems… burned? No, there is no steam or radiant heat to support that. However, the damages streak themselves from her face down to her haunches, almost like a liquid had washed over her. A short look through the room seemingly confirms this, as an empty bucket of the powerful cleaning agent you’ve bought lies toppled over, close to the corpse.

You can’t take it anymore and flee out of the room, one hoof held before your muzzle to hold whatever’s trying to escape in long enough for you to reach the bathroom. You barely manage to tell Alpha in passing to call the guards, as you rush into the bathroom, slam the door shut and dry heave over the toilet. At this point, you are very glad that you haven’t had breakfast yet.

Still, even with no ammunition to work with, your stomach keeps you locked in place until the guards arrive. At that point, you muster all of your strength and force your stomach to shut up. Then, you leave the bathroom with as much dignity, playing it off as if you had actually just gone to the bathroom.

Outside, you are met by two guardsponies, whom you quickly lead to the scene of the crime. They look it over once, ask if anypony has touched anything inside and upon your answer, close the area and leave.

For the rest of the day, Gamma’s room is swarmed by forensics teams and investigators. All residents of the estate, namely you and your maids, are questioned and put into separate rooms for the time being, on one side so that the potential culprits can’t communicate with one another and on the other side, so you don’t disturb the investigation. Once all is done, you are released from your temporary detainment and one of the senior guardsponies approaches you.

“Sir, are you count anon, perchance?” he asks politely and you answer in a slightly disgruntled tone.

“Yes, of course I am! Now, what about my maid?”

The guardspony checks his notes and humms.

“So… as far as we could tell, there seems to be no sign of any outside force that may have led to her death. However, we found that one of the upper doors of her wardrobe was slightly ajar and behind it, we found a few buckets of cleaning agent, similar to the one next to her. As far as we can tell, the bucket fell onto her when she tried to grab it and emptied itself over her head, leading to the injuries and the loss of hair. We also found that her throat was swollen shut and that the area around the swelling was also covered with that same agent. Thus far, our investigators share the consensus that some of the agent must’ve entered her throat and caused it to swell shut, leading to suffocation. However, only an autopsy will provide conclusive insight towards the actual cause of her death.”

You nod absent-mindedly, as you process everything. Truth be told, you were only listening with half an ear, as the confrontation with the facts forced you acknowledge something else that you’ve pushed from your mind just hours earlier:

Gamma is dead.

The guardsponies packed up and ask permission to do an autopsy on the corpse, which you give. As the guardsponies shuffle out of your mansion, you are joined by all of your maids – or at least those, who remain. All of them seem to be just barely holding themselves together, if they aren’t already dry from the crying. Only Alpha still seems to remain as stoic as ever, something that, for once, you actually come to appreciate.

You tell all of them to take the rest of the day off, seeing as even you yourself will probably need some time to process all of this. Losing Beta was bad enough, but now Gamma only one day after… what is happening?

Four little pony maids got to the edge to see, but one of them just leaned too far, so there were only three.

You wake up, the loss of Gamma still clogging your nostrils, yet mercilessly shoved aside by the passing of time. As always, Alpha stands ready by your door, seemingly the only constant in your currently very much changing environment.

She says her signature line: “Good morning, Master” and you answer her accordingly, yet this time with a tone, almost as flat as hers. You try to bring a bit of your usual kindness into it, but you fear that if you were to let even just a little bit of emotion flow into your words, it would mostly just be sadness.

“So, who’s on personal today?” You sigh, as Alpha gets to work on your clothes.

Hearing the cue, Epsilon steps into the room, seemingly in a similar state as you are, yet also more proficient at staying professional.

Epsilon, after the loss of Beta, is the second oldest maid in your roster. Her personality is that of a caring mother and she treats you accordingly. You usually tell her to stop when she starts acting like that, but secretly you like it. It reminds you of your actual mother, may she rest in peace.

“Good morning, Master. I shall accompany you today.” She says, as Alpha closes the last of your buttons.

“Very well then. I suppose, I would like some pancakes for breakfast.” You say, knowing that Epsilon absolutely loves making pancakes and hoping that it will lift her mood just a little.

“Certainly, Master.” She says and opens the door for you.

However, it seems that your attempt failed, as you can not only see and hear her mood, but also taste it. Yet, you put up with it. You chew through burned pancake after burned pancake, hoping that that will at least better her mood a little. However all it did was insult your taste buds.

You are just about to cleanse your palette with some good coffee, when you hear several loud banging sounds from above you, accompanied by what sounds like a female scream. Moments later, you see a shadow shoot by your window, followed by a wet impact.

You don’t dare look outside, as you can already well imagine what happened, simply by Epsilon’s panicked gasps and sniffles.

Yet again, your home is swarmed by the guard and yet again, you find yourself temporarily detained and questioned, albeit this time, the tone of the interrogation is quite different.

This time, the questions were more personal, digging deeper into your relationship with the victim and the strange circumstances surrounding her demise, as well as the past few days.

Delta had apparently been cleaning one of the roof lights, when she inexplicably toppled over and fell out onto the roof, from where she then slid down to her demise.

“Very well, that should do it, for now.” The inspector says finally, after way too many questions. He stands up, puts his stack of papers into his saddle bags and makes for the door, but stops right in front of it and tells you over his shoulder:

“Oh and, dear count, if I was in your place, I would be very careful from now on. There are some rumours about your going around our department, the nicest of which are about some questionable safety standards. If you’re not careful, you might find more popular than you would like.”

And with that ominous warning, he and his henchponies finally leave you in peace.

Three little pony maids asked what they’ve come into. One couldn’t bear it anymore, so there were only two.

You didn’t sleep that night. How would you? All those losses, all the death that surrounded you these past few days. Who in their right mind would even dare shut an eye after all that?

For the first time since you remember, you see Alpha entering your room. It’s so early! Several hours before you usually wake up. Has she always been here this early? Has she always silently stood there, watching you, guarding you in your sleep during the early morning hours? The thought calms you a lot, even if it’s only a notion at best. It makes you question, if you ever really knew Alpha, before all this. Had you ever actually cared to look beyond what she had shown you every day? You can’t remember.

Still, her presence calms you down, and so you find at least a few hours of comfort before the day begins properly, with your usual routine.

“Good morning, Master.” Alpha greets and you reply in kind.

“Well, I would ask, who’s on duty today, but there’s only one left, is there?” You say and, on that cue, Zeta enters the room.

After Gamma, Zeta is the youngest mare in your contingent. She’s around your age with pretty decent, yet only slightly above average looks. She’s nice to be around and makes for good eye candy, whenever you’re having guests and Gamma isn’t available.

“Good morning, Master. I will be accompanying you today.” She greets and opens the door for you.

“Splendid. Well then, let’s make the best of things.” You say, more to finally banish your own thoughts, than anything else. However, while it helped for now, the effect would only hold for a few moments.

As usual, you and your personal maid make for the dining room, while Alpha goes on and sees to her duties. However today, you didn’t even make it into the east wing before tragedy struck – or rather you saw the tragedy that had already transpired.

As you pass through the entrance hall, you notice some movement out of the corner of your eye. You turn your head to see what it was, but in hindsight would’ve better ignored it.

What you see is a distinct pony shape, dangling from a rope attached to the railing of the upper floor landing on the other side of the hall. Even without taking a closer look, you know who it is. After all, who could it be? Zeta is with you and you saw Alpha go the other way only moments earlier.

You feel numb. Your legs give out beneath you and you slump to your haunches. You feel… empty. The constant presence of grief, loss and anger over the past few days have robbed you of any energy and compassion you may have held before. You feel no pain, no fear, no dread. No, what is happening is far more scarier than that.

You’re getting used to it.

In your silent shock, you barely notice Zeta moving behind you. However, what you do notice very quickly is the sudden warm and soft sensation on your back and the two hooves wrapping themselves around you, as she softly and soothingly hugs you from behind.

Again, the guard comes to your house and again, you’re confronted with a virtual avalanche of questions. However, this time you barely take notice of it. The investigation flies past you with nary a note taken by you and only once they leave, once all the ruckus ends, the ponies leave and the lights are out, do you finally come back to your senses.

You let Alpha accompany you to your bedroom, where she helps you out of your clothes, as usual. You slip under the covers, just as Alpha leaves and try to sleep. However, after only a few minutes, your efforts are interrupted.

“Master, are you still awake?” Zeta asks, as she enters your room.

“Yes, what is it?” You ask.

“May I… that is, uhm…” She fumbles for a moment. “May I spend the night here with you?”

You are a bit surprised for a moment, but quickly realize that she must be just as shaken as you are. Perhaps, she also shares your difficulties sleeping?

“Certainly.” You say. “My bed is large enough, after all.”

You scoot aside, making room for her. She slips under the covers beside you and you attempt to sleep again. However, a few moments later, she speaks again.

“Why?” She asks.

“Why what?” you ask back.

“Why have you always been looking at Gamma, but not at me?”

You’re a bit at a loss about what she might mean. You can’t remember ever having avoided to look at any of your maids. Sure, you aren’t looking at her right now, but it’s the middle of the night. The darkness around you doesn’t leave much to see anyways.

Zeta turns around next to you and speaks again, this time with more desperation in her voice.

“Even now that she’s gone, you’re still not looking at me.”

You turn over to her and look her in the eyes.

“What do you mean? I’m looking at you right now.”

“No, you’re seeing me, but you’re not looking at me.” She states again sternly.

“But, again, I am loo… looking… at…” You trail off, as you finally get a good look at her. Your eyes trail her body from the top to the bottom and for the first time you notice all the subtle and not so subtle ways she’s showing herself to you. The way she’s looking at you with a slight blush over her cheeks and a single tooth showing, as she bites her lip. The way she slightly tilts her head so you can see her neck and how she holds her forehooves out of the way to give you a better look at her belly. The way she’s lowered the covers just enough so that you can barely see her teats in the darkness, the sight of which immediately makes some of your blood flow southwards.

“Ah- I…” You stutter, but she doesn’t let you say anything.

“All this time, you only looked at Gamma, but she was only playing with you, enjoying the benefits you afforded her. Meanwhile, I was right here! I want you to see me! I want you to look at me! I…
I… want you.”

Before you can react, she leans forward and pulls you into a passionate kiss and while you can feel your fifth leg start to tent in the covers, her desperate haste makes it hard for you to actually get in the mood.

Her hoof wanders down and gently strokes your growing member, while she hungrily looks into your eyes, your mouths and tongues still entangled.

She breaks the kiss and throws the covers away, revealing your slowly hardening cock. She then moves down between your hind legs and gently draws her tongue along the back of your member, matching her pace to that of its growth.

Then, once you’re finally at full mast, she licks around your flare and is just about to take it into her mouth, when you press your forehooves against her shoulders and stop her.

“No, Zeta… remember the rules. If you take this any further, I’ll have to void your contract.” You say. You meant to say it more in a threatening tone, but in truth you are far more afraid of losing her and your voice carried just that.

Zeta closed her jaw and smiled at you. It was a hungry, knowing smile that she kept on her, while she slowly crept forwards, brushing your cock along her belly and rubbing it between her teats.

“Oh, is that so? Are you afraid that you will have to send me away?” She coos. “That makes me so happy, you know? To know that you want me near you. That’s why I even took this job – to be near you. To get closer to you. But all I managed to do was to get you to ignore me in a different way.”

She paces closer and, as her forehead presses into yours, she gently presses down on you, embracing you and rubbing her teats and vagina against your penis.

“I… I don’t want to just be your maid anymore, anon!” She moans, as she rubs herself on you. “I want to be more! I- Haaah I always wanted more! I love you, Anon!” She cries, increasing the pace of her rubbing more and more and faster and faster, until…. She slowly comes to a stop.

“But right now… haah haaah I’m still your maid, anon, s-soo…” She gets up and turns her back to you, moving just past your hind legs and placing herself face-down, butt-up right in front of your member.

“Y-Your maid has just messed up a lot, Anon. Won’t you come and punish me?” She asks seductively, wiggling her behind and showing off her wet and winking entrance.

By now, your dick is screaming to finally give her what she wants and what’s worse is that your mind has joined in the chorus. You move as if on autopilot. You can’t think anymore. You don’t want to think anymore. All you want to do is to punish that maid.

You get up and immediately mount her, her slit already so wet that you easily slide in to the hilt, accompanied by a very satisfied moan from Zeta.

You bear down on her, pounding her relentlessly and making her gasp and moan each time you hilt yourself within her. Each time you pull back, you feel how her inner walls refuse to let you go and each time you come back again, you feel her sucking on you with everything that she’s got.

“Oh yes, anon! Punish me! Punish this foolish, lovesick idiot!” she cries, her tongue lolling out and her eyes rolling up.

You increase the pace even more, making her pant like a dog in a race.

“Ah~ Ah~! Anon, I- Ah~ - I’m s-hah~ sorry, I—” She doesn’t manage to finish the sentence, as her whole body seized and her snatch starts to pulse.

“Anooooon~!” She screams, as she cums. Yet, you don’t relent, pounding her through her orgasm , the convulsions massaging your cock and pleasuring you until you also feel the pressure building. You try to pull out, but Zeta pushes back against you, keeping you inside her until it is too late. You feel the first wave shoot through your shaft, crossing the point of no return. Seeing as it was now pointless, you instead ram yourself as deep as you can into her, pressing her face into the mattress.

Your orgasm lasts far longer than you had ever thought possible, making you realize just how long it was since you’ve last been with a mare. Each pulse sends what feels like gallons of your seed down your shaft, the feeling supported by Zeta moaning with every pulse.

Then, once your mutual bliss finally subsides, you pull her up towards the pillows and draw the blanket over you, hooves holding her from behind and shaft still stuck within her wet warmth.

“Sooo… I mean, I’m the one who made the rules. Perhaps I can make an exception…” You muse.

Zeta giggles at the thought. “No, Anon. As much as I appreciate it, I wouldn’t like it if you changed your own rules, just because I had sex with you. I… I’m afraid, you have to let me go…”

“Oh, is that so?” You say, as you lean over her. “I see how it is. First you seduce me and now that you got what you wanted, you want to ditch me. But I won’t let that happen.” You tighten your hug and place a teasing kiss on her neck, eliciting a sweet moan. “I’m never gonna let you go now. Never ever. Never… Yawn… ever.” You says, as you slowly drift to sleep.

Two little pony maids wanted to have some fun. One of them went a bit too far, so there was only one.

The next morning comes and you immediately feel the void between your forehooves, the lack of soft comfort in your face… and the lack of wet warmth around your member. As you open your eyes, you see Alpha standing beside the door as always, only this time, she deviates from the routine.

“It seems, Master had a little fun with Zeta last night. Well, at least she knew what that meant for her.” She says, nodding towards a small piece of paper lying on your bedside table. On it, only five words are written:

“I love you. Good Bye.”

Loss. Grief. Anger. Desperation. All those feelings would’ve been perfectly normal in this situation. However, you just feel empty.

You wordlessly let Alpha dress you up and you wordlessly go out into the hallway. Yet, this time, you don’t go to the dining room. You’re not hungry, not in the mood for eating and nowhere near comfortable enough to just sit there. Instead, you take a stroll through the mansion. Through those empty halls filled with busy mares only a few days ago, but now eerily empty.

You don’t know, how long you were walking around. An hour? Two? Five? It doesn’t really matter to you. You just walked through every hallway, every room, every chamber of your mansion without any real goal, Alpha always dutifully following you. It was only a coincidence that you found your way into the maid’s quarters. It was only a coincidence that you saw Alpha’s door ajar. It was only a coincidence that you noticed… the smell.

You gently push the door open, without protest from the owner. As you do so, the stench increases tenfold, having you reel back for a moment, only to leave you stunned once you get over it.

There, in the room, lies a corpse. It looks and smells like it’s decomposing already, probably at least a week old, but that’s not what stunned you. What stunned you was who that body belonged to.

You spin around to confront ‘Alpha’, but as you do, you only spot a big, black mass slowly enveloping you and the last thing you see is how the impostor’s maw closes around your head.

One little pony maid was already long dead. The impostor that took her disguise then took her master’s head.

Broken Heart sits at her father’s café, looking at the Anon Mansion in the distance. Almost a year has passed since she had worked there. Almost a year since she had visited her Master in the night. Almost a year, since she had conceived his child.

Her father stands behind the counter, cleaning glasses and glancing over to her every once in a while. The café is busy today, especially considering what day it is. Almost every seat is taken.

Every seat, except for the one right in front of her.

The door opens and a young stallion she hasn’t seen in quite a while walks in. He looks around, spots her and sits down right in front of her.

“Hello… Zeta.” Anon says with a sly smile.

“You don’t need to play around. I know who you are and I know why you’re here.” Broken Heart hisses at him.

“Yes, I know that you know. Why else would this place be so packed, if the sign outside clearly reads ‘closed’? Did you really think you could ambush me?” ‘Anon’ asks, clearly insulted.

Broken Heart takes a deep breath, her eyes never leaving the stallion in front of her.

“I assure you, this isn’t an ambush. The ponies that are present here are my friends and family. They are here so that my son can someday learn the truth about where his mother went… and so that they can try to protect him, should you not hold your end of the bargain.”

An arrogant grin slips across ‘Anon’s’ face, as he chuckles. “You need not worry. Us eldritch horrors are bound by the laws of this universe to always keep our bargains. Even if I wanted to, I have no choice.” ‘he’ assures.

Broken Heart scans ‘his’ eyes for a few moments, before closing her own and sighing.

“Alright… let’s get this over wi—"