Every Prince Deserves a Princess

I dragged myself forward and through the tight passage as best I could, heart racing and mind swimming with possibilities. I was headed in the same direction that Instar had emerged from, and those screams... those screams had been close. Someone had died nearby, and with the unbranching tunnel leading into the blackness before me, it was likely only a matter of time before I found her most recent victim. The thought sent a physical shiver down my spine as my flesh began to crawl... and my eyes began to leak. I was going to die. Whether it was within minutes, hours, perhaps even days... there was no way that Instar's grand plan involved my survival.

"Don't keep me waiting, rich kid," came the call from farther down the tunnel. Amazingly, her deep, husky voice, just dripping with lust and a deadly invitation caused my skin to convulse even more than the prospect of oncoming death. She was intelligent, scheming, determined, and deadly... a spider whose web I had unknowingly walked into, and one whose bite had more venom than my harshest criticism. There was naught I could do to protect myself from her, and it was likely that she had expected my every move within her little 'game'.

"C-coming, Darling..." I replied, trying to inject some humor into the situation for my own sanity. Instar didn't reply, the only noises following my statement a faint buzzing of wings and a wet squish. The second reply had come from beneath my hooves, and following my instinct, I looked down, only to immediately wish I hadn't.

My right forehoof was deep within some poor bastard's chest, his flesh and ribcage ripped open. The fallen pegasus had worn armor of the day guard, and the dull golden plate had been torn asunder in a giant, jagged hole, as had his chest beneath it. My hoof rested within his chest cavity, surrounded by broken fragments of rib, punctured organs, and copious amounts of blood. My mouth hung open in horror as I brought the hoof back up toward my face, watching a dark crimson stream of gore work its way down toward my knee. Without a second thought, I backed up, fell to my haunches, doubled over, and vomited upon the stone floor of the tunnel. The dark yellow and green mixture of bile and partially digested food splattered across my hooves, painting the fur a sickly, undignified color. I found that I couldn't care less as the warm sickness splashed against me, and I slammed my eyes shut, hoping and praying that I would wake up at any second.

"Open your eyes."

I didn't obey, and instead wrinkled my nose while turning my head away as the familiar aphrodisiac hit my nostrils like an oncoming train.

"Open your eyes, you disgusting little worm," came Instar's voice, her hot, carrion-scented breath brushing across my cheek. I obeyed, only to find the changeling princess towering over me, her face leaned down just before mine as she glared into my eyes with a look full of hatred. "Listen, watch, and understand something."

I shook my head in a final act of defiance, the expression of worry that I was no doubt broadcasting betraying my false bravery. Instar walked around beside me and took my chin in one of her hooves before forcefully turning my head to the sight of the carcass before us. The stallion's features were twisted in agony, his eyes wide and neck snapped in addition to the large hole in his chest. The lopsided face stared back up at me from the ground, and I found myself unable to look away from the pony's horrified features as Instar whispered into my ear.

"What you're looking at right now is a failure of a stallion. A pony not worthy of life. A pony who trusted in me, who followed me, and who never questioned my intentions. He marched behind his leader, just as he was trained to, did his duty, and lived his life as he was told. He never stopped to wonder why. He never protested as I lead him into the cave. He saw Shining Armor, he saw what was supposed to be, and he listened to the words of his loving superiors until it was too late. He only ever questioned me once... and that was at the last second, right before he died. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

I shook and turned my face ever so slightly within her grip, barely able to look into her eyes. Instar moved her face slightly forward to allow eye contact, her pupil in a deadlock against my own. I couldn't find the words to reply, but apparently, I didn't need to.

"In my time as Moss, my purpose was twofold. I stalked you for years, skulking the streets and the outside of the palace. I watched in silence as you went about your comfortable little routine, never once breaking the mold or wondering why. You were so complacent, so blind... and therefore, I decided to shake things up. I heard about the little bid to build a homeless shelter, and saw it as the perfect opportunity to strike. It was something you would never do. Something you needed, and something that could take you out of your comfort zone. It was the first step toward helping you become a man."

I huffed aloud, struggling against her grip to no avail. "Helping me? Why would I believe you had intent to help me!? And why me? You could've done this to anyone!"

"I don't expect you to believe it. I helped you because you are a pathetic, undeserving fool, wasting your potential. I knew you had it in you to be something greater, but you've squandered your talents since the day you were born! As for why you specifically... that's because you can give me what I need, in a way few others can." Instar released her iron grip and walked over to the corpse. She raised one of her hooves before bringing it down upon the pony's skull, caving it in with a wet crack. I didn't look away.

"A-and what do you need...?"

Instar's angry glower twisted into a knowing grin, and her eyes flickered ever so slightly before she turned her head to look down the tunnel ahead of us. Her mane fell into her face once again, the curtain of blazing orange hiding her dark violet eyes from view. "You'll find out in time, just before you give it to me. Think on my words, 'Prince'. The stallion in front of you did everything he was supposed to, and never thought for himself. I'm asking you to look at the situation from all sides, before doing what you think you should. You don't have enough information yet to make that call."

"Is this another 'game' of yours, you putrid witch?" I asked, matching her mysterious aloofness with a bit of poison.

"Everything is a game, Blue. Now, follow me until you're ready to choose your side in this little war, or I'll remove you from the board."

I stumbled forward after her, trodding once again upon the corpse, the path too narrow to avoid the desecration. I stopped only when my nose was right up against her own, and Instar looked down with a bemused look. I had had more than enough of being toyed with and feeling like a simple pawn.

"Then why not kill me!? Why risk all of this, for your own sadistic pleasure? You must know that I won't pick 'your' side, of all sides! After what you've done to me, what you did to Shining... whatever it is you have 'planned' for Cadenza..."

"Why not kill you? As I said- you have potential. The potential to be an invaluable ally, or a way to sustain myself for quite some time with all that pent up love you're harboring for the other princess in your life." Instar giggled as her fangs slipped from her mouth, seeming to extend and flex as though they had minds of their own. "That, and I'm confident that once you see the truth... you'll reconsider your words."

Her words did nothing to help my fury subside, and so, I rebelled in the only way I could think to. I spit. The wet glob of saliva impacted Instar's forehead before running down alongside her nose in a slow, sticky trail. She didn't even blink as she spoke, her voice low and even.

"If it were anyone else, at any other time, in any other place, I would lift you from your hooves, quite easily, I might add, and slam you into that wall, with my hoof around your neck. I would choke you, reveling in your every gargle and the crackle of your windpipe, before sinking my teeth into your neck and getting a taste of that dark fluid you ponies seem to rely so much upon. Then, I would slowly, agonizingly push a bone from the tip of my hoof, inches from your eye, before letting it gently, calmly slide into the socket. I'd let it go unhindered until it contacted something hard, drinking in your screams, before ripping it out and driving it into your chest, just beneath the ribs, and twisting to aim it downward. Then, I'd proceed to unzip you, letting your intestines slowly loll out of your stomach like your chest was an overstuffed suitcase, all the while watching you twist and scream as you bled out onto the floor. Just before you expired, I'd reach into your chest, take whatever squishy, vital organ I could find, and sink my teeth into it in front of you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Instar asked sweetly, with a mocking tilt of her head. I could only silently nod, the entire scenario vividly playing through my mind as she spoke. "Good. I warned you once that you didn't know enough to make a choice, and you made one anyway. This is your second, and last warning. Follow me."

The princess turned on her hoof and walked farther out into the darkness, and I hurriedly followed. How I didn't piss myself again, I'd never understand. We walked for quite some time in absolute silence, before the rock beneath my hooves turned an odd sort of tan, the color growing lighter as we reached the mouth of the cave. Sunlight poured down onto the stone, and the sight of a treeline somewhat below us clued me in to the fact that we were indeed exiting onto the side of a mountain.

Instar's skin began to bubble slightly as it changed color, her proportions warping and twisting to shrink into the form of a familiar green annoyance. Creeping Moss stood before me once again, and my heart ached at the sight. I knew it wasn't him. I knew there never was a 'him', but at the same time... I had found some sort of comfort in the body before me. I couldn't help but stare longingly as he bent low, rolling aside a rock to reveal a hidden duffel bag, which my former mate quickly slung across his chest and shoulders.

"Town's just down the ridge and about a mile through the trees. You up for a bit of a walk, little boy Blue?"

I let out a tiny chuckle, and resigned myself to my fate. What choice did I really have? There was nowhere to run, and I was being held captive by the very body I had grown to love.

"With you? Always."

'Moss' simply rolled his eyes and set out down the narrow path before us, which wound down to the forest below. "Don't lie. It's unflattering."

"Then explain your own personal need to do so," I quipped.

"Never said I was pretty, did I?"

I fell silent. She had a point.