Path of a daughter

Casting light into the night from braziers and torches emitting blue flames, the highest spire of the Castle of Two Sisters towers over the tallest trees of the Everfree forest. Even as just a ruin, the castle is equally majestic as it is sinister. Despite its nightmarish and eerie outer appearance, what’s happening inside the castle’s bowels is much worse.

There are countless hidden and deathly silent rooms in the maze-like underground, yet one doesn’t count among those. This room is square, with a hollowed-out, circular area in its center with only one exit consisting of a shattered set of stairs which gives it the feeling of either a giant jacuzzi or an arena. The latter is more likely, as there are ragged and terrified ponies wearing shackles on their forelegs huddled together in the middle. The reason why is simple - pony-sized eggs belonging to gods-know-what are lining the wall of the pit and seem to pulsate as if ready to hatch. Three wiry, yet strong-looking, bat-winged ponies are standing each by three of the four sides of the room, all wearing dark purple helmets and chest plates and armed with spears and spiked, combat horseshoes. The main reason why the scared prisoners, which the ponies clearly are, aren’t trying to escape or fight, however, is the final figure watching them - a black, female alicorn wearing a smooth, light blue helmet and royal regalia adorned with the symbol of a moon standing by the room’s entrance.

Staring with superiority at the group of trembling ponies, the dark alicorn’s horn lights up with faded, red aura, and she traces a magical symbol in the air as if carving it directly into the bleeding flesh of reality. The symbol pulses, and one of the catatonic ponies tenses up as they start choking, pawing at their neck while their eyes roll backwards. The other prisoners shuffle away as much as their chains allow and one mare downright screams when her back touches one of the large eggs surrounding the inner edge of the pool.

When the suffocating pony stops making noise, the alicorn flicks her horn, and the pony’s body twists one final time like a rag being wrung out with a series of sickening crunches of a skeleton losing battle against such devastating telekinesis. As if expecting something, the alicorn’s gaze shifts and lingers on the eggs, but nothing happens and she tosses the pulverized corpse at one of the still responsive victims - a stallion who yelps, heaves as if he was about to throw up, and starts sobbing when nothing comes out. Whatever the grim show was supposed to cause didn’t happen.

The crimson sigil pulses again and more prisoners whimper this time, looking at each other to see who’s the next victim. This time, it’s a red-coated, earth pony stallion, not catatonic, and muscular from hard work, his physique untouched by starvation in contrast to most others. He must be from the most recent kidnapping haul. Unfortunately for him, it looks like his musculature only serves as a challenge for the sadistically grinning alicorn because she skips the choking step and starts twisting his body despite him grunting in resistance. His grunts turn into screams once the first rib snaps like the crack of a whip, yet the alicorn doesn’t speed up despite the pony losing control of his body out of sheer agony. In fact, she seems to slow down, and the dim glow of her horn violently twists the heads of every prisoner towards the gruesome spectacle, prying their eyes open for good measure.

“Monster!” screeches a ragged, orange mare, whose healthy build hints at her being from the same recent raid as the stallion, while the others whimper.

The alicorn’s smile only grows as her telekinetic grip turns everyone’s heads again, this time towards the brave, stupid, or simply hopeless victim.

“There is so much untapped hatred and pain in you,” says the alicorn in a tone smooth like butter as she her horn glows again, this time not with the previously shown dark magic but with the pale glow of full moon, “I see, this one is your brother,” she laughs and the visible red glow cast by the evil rune hanging in the air around the red stallion’s chest tightens.

“Ya gotta fight her, Big Mac!” the orange mare calls out a desperate yet the most useless supportive platitude she can.

“Y-Yup!” grunts Mac.

“Oh, he is,” the alicorn lets out a single, short laugh, after which the room goes silent with the exception of the stallion’s grunting and the whimpering and heavy breathing of other prisoners. To the prisoners’ surprise, the alicorn’s telekinesis lifts the red stallion out of the pit and sets him in front of the alicorn. Only when Big Mac is on all fours again, the telekinetic glow surrounding him dissipates. The alicorn measures him, clearly impressed, “You are strong, even for an earth pony.”

“Yup,” grunts Mac, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

“It would be such a waste to simply sacrifice you in order to awaken my new tools, wouldn’t it?” grinning, she glances at the large eggs.

“Yup.”

“You’ll do much better as an addition to my Nightguards.”

“Nope. Nope. Nooope,” Big Mac shakes his head before the pain of his crushed torso warns him that he should stop moving.

“Maybe I’ll transform you into some behemoth monstrosity to use against my enemies then.”

“Nnnn-nope!”

“Tsch! Indecisive,” the alicorn shakes her head, “Nightguards it is,” she looks him in the eyes while her own turn into pools of white glow. Moments later, Big Mac collapses on the floor. Before anypony can do anything, he rises again, blankly staring at the alicorn who simply states, “I am Nightmare Moon, I am the night, and now you serve me.”

The stallion takes a deep breath and replies:

“My brothers and sisters, warriors of the night! We stand at a crossroads. The weak sun may offer false hope, but we know the truth. Nightmare Moon is our queen, the embodiment of true power! Her eternal night blankets us in a glorious darkness, a time for dreams and shadows.”

“Uh- oh- I- well-” Nightmare Moon blinks and leans back in surprise. Unperturbed, Big Mac continues:

“Let our enemies tremble! Let them fear the moon's cold gaze, for it is a reflection of Nightmare Moon's will. We, her loyal subjects, swear our unwavering devotion. We fight for her dominion, for the night shall reign supreme!”

“SHUT UP! Go back to your normal speech or something,” Nightmare Moon glares at him.

“Yup,” Big Mac nods.

“You’re still under my control,” she adds.

“Yup.”

“Perfect.”

The orange mare charges towards the edge of the arena, aiming to use the eggs to climb out even with her shackled legs. Everyone screams, some trying to stop her in fear of more punishment and some encouraging her. The glowing, blood-red sigil still hanging in the air pulses again, letting out an invisible shockwave that stops the mare in her tracks, leaving her shaking and straining against some invisible force mid-pounce. Her muscles bulge, she growls, and with the snapping of reshaping bones her muzzle sharpens and teeth sharpen, molars lengthening into fangs. She suddenly roars, the tears on her cheeks hissing out as her eyes burn out from the inside with sickly green and yellow fire. Witnessing the transformation, the other ponies squeeze themselves against the eggs lining the pool’s edge, now more terrified of one of them than whatever might the eggs contain.

That is their mistake.

Of course they can’t know it, but the alicorn can see their fear as a cloud of mist swirling and growing around them, and that mist is now finally being absorbed by the eggs. She smiles and flicks her horn. The transforming mare roars again, all traces of equinity gone from her voice and leaving only a beast full of hatred, and more noises of shattering bones and tearing muscles come from her legs. Her skin and coat there bulges, and what looks like hard bark rips through from her knees down, forming clawed gauntlets around all four legs. The finished abominable mix of pony and a timberwolf finally breaks the chain holding her forelegs together as well as the invisible bonds of magic and looks around, hungrily licking her lips, just as the eggs start to crack. With a flash of the alicorn’s horn, all shackles binding the pony prisoners vanish as well.

One terrified prisoner inspired by the orange mare immediately tries to use the egg to climb out of the pool, their leg breaking the shell and falling on the floor. Their fall strips a part of the shell and reveals the emaciated-looking equine creature within, which walls out, briefly twitching before going still. More and more eggs crack, now on their own, and the creatures inside awaken. They look like ponies, starved, coat-less, and covered instead in black, skin-imitating armor. Some are taller, some bulkier, some are even foal-sized, but all have razor-sharp teeth and fangs.

Without any signal, the guards stationed around the pool throw their weapons into it at random, both spears and spiked horseshoes, before jumping in as well, unarmed but still wearing their armors.

“Finally!” the alicorn lets out a sadistic chuckle and announces, “Only the last ten of you will walk out of here alive. Yes, that goes for you, ponies, as well. Aren’t I such a merciful ruler? Now pick up the right tool and KILL!”

With a telekinetic shove, she sends Big Mac flying into the pit again. The glowing glyph pulses again and sears the order into the minds of the monsters and the newly created lycanthrope as well, awakening the former and fully releasing the latter.

The free-for-all begins.

***

As the confused and hungry nightmare changeling who would later claim the title of the Queen takes a crushing blow to the face from a desperate and terrified earth pony, she wakes up with a gasp and raises her head, immediately fully aware of her surroundings.

Nothing has changed since she passed out moments after the ponies who captured them gathered everyone in one car and set up guards. The soft thudding of the train’s wheels is still there, the nineteen mind links that respond to her instinctive mental ping are there again, showing that her king have grown a little stronger, her father is still there, telekinetically writing something into a small book, and an armed pony alerted by her movement is watching her with narrowed eyes.

We’re all alive. Everyone managed to feed a little before they got caught and, since they didn’t resist much they didn’t waste energy on fighting. We’re hungry but not dying of starvation anymore.

There’s nothing left to do but to rest and recover.

The Queen lays her head down on the carpet again, closes her eyes, and lets the slow breathing of 1 and 2 pressed against her from both sides lull her back to sleep.