Stories in Stone
Reign of Night
By TDR
…...when night turns........
House Honesty is considered one of the stranger houses. Not strange in the 'what the buck' way like House Laughter and it's constant holidays for strange reasons, but more strange in how it's built and how well it works.
There are no great families in House Honesty, beyond Lady Silvertail's, and given she is the only one allowed to go by that last name, it is a moot point. While the home city of Loyalty and Magic is Equestria's capitol of Whinnyshire, each of the other Element Bearers has taken a city as their home. Generosity in Manehatten, Compassion in Asclepius , and Laughter in Las Pegasus, Honesty has taken root in Cloudsdale.
The fact the city moves was not lost on any one and Lord Kaisur thought it was perfect.
Like House Loyalty it is individual merit that shows your place. Just because your father managed to tame a level 3 tornado on his own doesn't mean any one gives a crap about you. A far cry from all the nobles living on the coattails of their ancestors deeds every where else in Equss.
There are however four divisions in Cloudsdale that every one who lives there is part of. None are less than any other division despite what they say. Everyone has their tasks to complete and any one can advance in those divisions to have a seat on the joint council which governs. Even if you've managed to advance to be on the council, it is strongly advised that one doesn't quit their day job as while being on the council grants a great deal of sway over how House Honesty is run, it is a job that pays no bits as it is considered a civic duty rather than something to aspire too. Also if you are caught taking bits as a bribe while on the council you are usually cast out of the city, literally, after one of your wings has been ripped off.
Each of the Divisions has a differing number of representatives. The Service Division has five, The Weather Patrol has four, The Wonderbolts have three, The Shadowbolts two, and the last is Lady Silvertail herself. This makes the total votes at fourteen with lady Silvertail only voting when a tie breaker is needed in a decision.
The First Division is the Shadowbolts. This is the military branch of House Honesty and all of them are pegasi. There are few of them and and only those that have proven themselves worthy can make it into this division.
By contrast are the Wonderbolts. While they are also skilled fliers and militarily trained, they work more with the private sector. They are often Police, fire ponies, or utility workers. They also tend to run the day to day of the government and processing. Unlike the Shadowbolts, non pegasi are accepted into their ranks and currently there is a Earth Pony sitting in one of their three seats on the council. While he was not the first non Pegasus to achieve that position it is still rare enough to cause a stir.
The third Division is the Weather Patrol. While they are the largest Division their numbers in Cloudsdale are small, primarily serving as Cloud home construction and weather maintenance, as well as creating weather in the factory. The rest of their Division is scattered in offices across Equss in every major city and the majority of minor ones. Monitoring the weather in their areas and adjusting it accordingly.
The final Division is called the Service Division. This Division is the second largest and covers everything else that the others do not. Food prep, farming, transportation, janitorial, everything. When first formed they were considered the dumping ground for the useless by most of the other Divisions, in response Lady Silvertail gave them the largest number of seats on the council and informed the ones making the biggest fuss that they should not insult the ones that were the base supports of every other Division. Without the Service Division, Cloudsdale could not function.
Despite this Cloudsdale is not immune to the fear of the Cursed, though Lady Silvertail immediately made it illegal to segregate the Cursed by force, by passing the council completely to order this and as such the second largest gathering of Cursed resides in Cloudsdale. Unlike House Loyalty, while they did not throw out any of their cursed, they also did not accept refugees from other houses, letting Loyalty bolster its own ranks with those numbers.
And of course one cannot speak of House Honesty without bringing up the First Daughter.
Like the Empress's student, there is usually only one in that position, though once there were twins, but that's irrelevant at the moment. Nearly every generation a new first daughter is chosen along a family line that only Lady Silvertail seems to know perfectly. While the first daughter might be taken from the same family line for generations, Lady Silvertail might suddenly decide the foal of a family that has nothing obvious to do with the other family is chosen.
Despite the randomness of it, the council has set up a plan to guarantee that the First Daughter's bloodline continues, regardless of who Lady Silvertail chooses. Given the first Daughter is always a mare, by the time she comes of age numerous stallions have begin competing to be the one to sire the next generation. Only the strongest and smartest are chosen to ensure that the next generation has the best genetics possible. The forced procreation is continued until the current First Daughter bears a filly. At that point she's free to stop having foals or whatever she wants. Through all this the mare continues to serve as the First Daughter, which means participating in any conflict or emergency that Lady Silvertail or the Shadowbolts are part of. Several times in the past both of these actions have resulted in the death of the First Daughter, either in foal birth, or through disaster. Few of them have lived long enough to retire and if they do a new first Daughter will not be chosen until they die. There is only ever one First Daughter at a time.
While Lady Silvertail does not seem to like the required breeding she does nothing to stop it. When the first Daughter dies no matter the cause the entirety of Cloudsdale goes into mourning. This only ends when a new First Daughter is chosen, usually a few months later after Lady Silvertail has stopped grieving. No one knows where this tradition started save perhaps Lady Silvertail and the other House Lords.
When I first learned of this as a foal I likened it to the way a parent keeps buying a foal a new goldfish to pretend the old one didn't die.
While I was not corrected, I was instructed to never say anything like that near any one from House Honesty.
I was surprised with how well the celebration went. Lord Kaisur actually stayed for several hours and indulged in the food and festivities. Given what I knew about the immortal unicorn he was actually hardier than even The Empress, I was not sure he could be poisoned. The only thing that I knew that could hurt the Empress or her Element Bearers was a rare mineral that only existed in two places on Equss any more, the Spire in Whinnysor, and Lord Jer'rahd's sword.
The Waning Moon.
The tale of how he gained it was a favorite of his, as it signified the first real trust that was placed upon him by the Empress and how his friends came together to save him. Of course this was back before any of them but the Empress had acceded so poison was still a thing it seemed. Of course the mare responsible was long dead now. Once The Solar Flare was defeated the Garden Prison was mostly destroyed, only a few residents remain there for some reason. Mostly ones that the Empress doesn't recall what their crime were,are unable to safely deal with, or went voluntarily.
Of course I asked about some, and the tales of Forge Scale, Discord, and Claymore, were more than enough for me to lose any interest in what the prisoners had done while alive. Though from my under standing the last one was eaten whole by Lady Scale after some one figured out how to transmute him into a gemstone.
Lord Kaisur surprised me before he left pulling me aside to speak with me privately, sparing only a glance to Rainbow Dash to let her know to hang back.
“I don't suppose there's a point to asking how the study goes. With all that's been going on I bet you've been swamped.”
“You can say that Lord Kaisur.” I respond.
“Hey I said you can call me Jer'rahd unless we are in public...”
I raise an eyebrow at that as he blinks and shakes his head with a smirk.
“Forget I said that. Any way take you time with the research, you're a bright mare, I'm sure you'll get it. If you need any thing send me a missive I'll see to it you get it.”
“Thank you sir.”
“It's no problem.” He smiled though his expression fell just as quickly.” There is something else that has come up. While we are not sure if it is related or not to the Cursed, the timing is a little too close for it to be true coincidence.”
My ears perked as he spoke a brief glance back allowed me to take note of a series of green panel shields that formed a box around us, cutting off the noise of the party.
“What is it then sir?”
“The stars are vanishing.”
“What?”
“Not many mind you, but a few constellations have lost various points of light from them and whole clusters of stars have gone dark. We've had others looking into it and the theories range from something eating them, to old mares tales. You know the ones, about stars being the souls of dead ponies watching over the world? The theories' that the souls are leaving.”
“The former is stupid and the latter only has a bit of merit. The constellations have changed several times in the past, often enough that no one considers stars as proper navigational aides, just the moon as it's track across the sky doesn't deviate. This is likely another change like that.”
“We expect that as well, as the stars are not the same ones as they were even a thousand years ago, but for this many to vanish at once and no new ones forming is different.” Jer'rahd muttered. “ Still you've been warned in case any one asks, I doubt it will come up as we're keeping it pretty well under wraps and only the Stargazers guild has noticed it so far.”
I nod at that.
He smirked. “ Now you have two ways to become a hero if you figure out either of these. You might just be a legend if you figure out both.”
I nodded again, more importantly figuring out either would keep me in the Emperess' good graces and out of Octavia's hooves.
“Any way that's all I needed to tell you, I'm sure Luna will be sending you more information as you need it. While I don't want to rush you, the quicker this shows progress the happier a lot of ponies will be. The calmer we can keep every one the better. Having Luna's Student on the case has eased a lot of minds already.”
“I truly hope I can live up to the expectations placed on me.”
“You will Twilight. I've got faith you'll figure it out. Any way I need to get back, I've a meeting to get to about some bandits sighted out past the unicorn range. You take care Twilight.” Jer'rahd nodded, his shields dropping as he made his way back to the carriage, offering a few waves and some comments as he climbed back in. The Pegasi Guard had been enjoying the party as well, though the moment Jer'rahd started moving towards the carriage they dropped what they were doing and rushed back to hitch themselves to it.
As the silver chariot took off I sighed heavily. Hearing the emperess' real name like that did nothing to ease me with how easily lord Jer'rahd spoke of her. Particularly that if she was using me to quell unrest if I failed now the Emperess would likely present me to Octavia personally.
“What did I get myself into?”
The following night I was still mulling over what I was told. I sat on the balcony of the library next to a telescope I had brought with me staring wistfully at the sky.
Unfortunately I was only staring at clouds as the weather team had put off the rain until after the celebration in order to make sure the hot summer wasn't made worse by muggy weather and puddles. Still the humidity was stifling and the river near the town had lifted as a low cover of foggy mist. In the distance near the Maneterhorn the storm was being set off, flashes of lightning colored orange by the humidity danced along the clouds as the weather team started the process of the storm.
Rainbow Dash had picked up on my mood an had remained silent though she seemed curious to ask what was wrong. I broke the silence before she asked.
“I have a busy week coming..... no sense putting it off any longer. Do we have all the information from House Compassion?“
“If you mean the crate some hospital intern brought in earlier than yeah.” Rainbow Dash snorted flicking an ear towards the door back into the tree house. “ Not even sure how he got it inside, it's bigger than I am.”
“It should have all the data collected on the Cursed from what House Compassion has compiled. It will make a lot of my questions irrelevant.” I respond standing to stretch as a soft roll of thunder echoed behind me.
“Well that wasn't ominous.” Rainbow snarked.
“What ever. Time to make some spread sheets.” I couldn't help let a grin cross my features. This was the fun part of all this.
“Well you seem excited. Not sure why.” Rainbow muttered.
“Organizing at least ten years worth of data into a legible form that I can easily reference is going to be the most enjoyable part of this whole thing.” I state packing away my telescope and taking it inside.
“Seriously?!”
It took me about three days to go over all the information. I had medical records for every resident of Ponyville including most of the Apple farms.
Granny Smith wasn't in the pile, though I did find both Applejack and Applebloom's files. The latter was listed as a colt, with both father and mother unlisted, though. Applejack's parents were both listed on her sheet, so why not on Applebloom's as they were siblings? It was something to look into later if I had free time to kill, now was not the time. Despite this I made a note to send back with the colts paperwork telling the records office to go over the paperwork again to make sure.
Studying my new spread sheet I took note of a number of things of interest. The first was that there were only four Day Walkers on the entire list and aside from Miss Pie, all of them were young enough that they might not have gotten their cutie mark naturally yet any way.
There were no other links that I noticed , though I did remove about fifty subjects from the pile as being within the several year age gap that one got a cutie mark naturally. Some might be cursed and some might just be late bloomers. Taking them out of the data would give me a more even flow. There were no population discrepancies I could tell either aside from the Pegasus race, though that was because of Lady Silvertail's rule about not discriminating against the cursed, not many of them came here.
Rainbow could offer nothing on her own, though she stoically helped me record the data, her hoof writing surprisingly detailed, though the mare was clearly bored out of her mind by this task and had taken to doodling or trying to balance quills and pencils on the table by the end of it.
I had not idea how she was bored, this was riveting.
There was no physical quality or coloration or even blood type that could be matched by all of them. And while the information I was given didn't tell me what house Compassion checked for, my own spreadsheet gave me the clues to rule out a number of obvious answers.
Diet was not likely to play a roll, but it was something I needed to check any way. Lifestyle could be a thing as well as mental state and possible enchantments.
Basically I would need to interview everyone on my list. Unfortunately I only had a pool of about twenty Cursed pegasi to draw from, rather than the excessive amount of earth Ponies and Half Dragons. And half dragons were not going to be that useful of a case study as they sometimes didn't even get cutie marks.
So aside from talking to them I wouldn't learn anything else.
“Joy... social interaction....”
“Finally......” Rainbow sighed out.
“What can you tell me about your home life?”
“............”
“Umm okay what about your diet, what foods do you like to eat?”
“...........................”
“Any brothers or sister who might have issues?”
“..............................”
“History of mental illness, inability to gesticulate?”
“…........................”
This was less of a interview and more of a staring match. Pinkamenia Diana Pie was clearly not much of a talker as from the moment she came in until the moment she left she never said a word to either me or rainbow, she simply stared.
I had taken a few notes on the mare. She was well built like most Earth Pony farmers, there didn't seem to be an ounce of fat any where on the mare. Her mane was limp and flat hanging down over her face and back like a cape. I was rather curious as to why she kept it that long as it would likely be a hindrance to her work , but she didn't answer that question either. Her fur was a reddish sort of pink and her mane and tail were darker colors of the same. She was also filthy and had a smell around her that I did not find pleasant. It seemed less like the scent of some one who works all day and more like the smell of some one who is trying to be repugnant. Judging by her belly she was maybe a month or two away from having her foal at best. Despite her scowl and lack of care she seemed to have for her own grooming and care she wasn't a bad looking mare. I wondered briefly if the reason she wasn't caring for her looks was the foal itself.
“You think it's wheat bran?” I asked blinking at the mint green and white maned unicorn mare seated before me.
“Of course it is. Generic mills is run by House Marmot under House Melody, when Lady Octavia took over the House she pushed them into a less profitable position and this is their revenge for it. A chemical in the wheat bran they make that stunts growth and causes this curse. Either to the still developing foal or something that sticks with the parents who then give birth to a cursed foal.” The mare ranted.
“What would even be the purpose of that?” I had to ask realizing after I said it that I shouldn't have given the mare any more leeway. If I gave her enough time I'm sure she would have produced spread sheets and a board covered with pins and string.
“It's simply it creates a whole new lower class for the rich to snub and an even lower class that even the Day walkers can feel good about being above, thus keeping them docile and away from any sort of uprising. The Lords and Empress may or may not know about it and allow it because it makes them look better by trying to help the new bottom class. Which would explain why you're here instead of some proper researcher.”
“That is a borderline treasonous accusation.” Rainbow Dash growled.
“I said may or may not. I don't know for sure. They might not know and the real culprit is banking on their lack of an investigation as they devote resources to fixing the result and not the source of the Curse.”
“I have to ask... how... How did you even come up with this theory?” I mutter.
“A while back I noticed that my favorite cereal changed their mascot and since then it tasted different.” the mare said flatly.
I stared at her as hard as I could, trying to see if I could witness her brain cells dying as she spoke, but no noticeable smoke came out of the mares ears so I simply let out a small sigh.
“Thank you for your input. I will make sure I check up on this lead as well.” I comment.” You may go I have a lot of others to talk to today.”
“Alright... trust no one …..” The mare whispered glancing between me and Dash before trotting out the door.
Dash and I stared at the door for a few moments before the stoic mare broke down.
“What in Tartarus was that!?”
“ I'm going to make a note to check the chemical content of the blood samples the medical report has.”
“Seriously?”
“A stupid sounding lead is still a lead. “ I sigh jotting down the note.” And I'll take anything at this point.”
“You need to calm the buck down.” I growled.” Yelling at me isn't going to make this go any faster.”
Fluttershy glared at me as did the little black rabbit perched on her back.
“I've been forced out of my foal hood dream to come to this place because a couple of ass hats decided to bucking get rid of me rather than deal with their own tiny dicked predujeces.” Fluttershy growled back.” And you want me to calm down!?!”
“And exactly how is yelling at someone else who was sent here when they didn't want to be going to help you?” I snap.
“It makes me feel better!” Fluttershy shouted back.
I was starting to develop a feel for how Fluttershy worked. Where I didn't like ponies Fluttershy flat out hated them and chose to isolate herself as much as she could away from them. It was almost a phobia with how she reacted, but rather than shy away or avoid other ponies she lashed out at them. Rather than hiding herself away she sought to drive others off, it would have been a interesting study in itself, but unfortunately I had other things to work on first.
Fluttershy was beautiful, there was no other base word I could use to describe her. Pale yellow fur and wings, a pink flowing mane and tail that curled and ran over her form in a cascade. She was fit, but not in the 'I work out daily' sort of way, she was a natural beauty with a voice that could make hardened soldiers weep, at least when she wasn't screeching like a harpy, which was ninety percent of the time. I might have been crushing a little if her personality hadn't killed it for me.
She had nothing to offer my investigation and she and Dash didn't exchange a single word the whole interview.
“Anything... Anything at all?”
“...”
“Can you say your name? Nod or shake your head anything?” I asked.
“...”
“I think her eye just twitched...” Dash offered as Pinkie Pie remained silent.
“So are you seeing any sort of pattern?” I asked Rainbow Dash.
“Not really, that last guy was checking out your ass , but other than that nothing seems to stand out to me. Other than most of them being crazy.” Dash shrugged.
“ I think I'd be more worried if he wasn't watching my ass.” I joked.” It's a nice one after all.”
“It's alright.” Dash shrugged with a smirk. “ Been watching it for a week already.”
“That is your job.” I sigh.” So who's next on the list?”
“The ones you've been dreading.” Dash offered as I groaned.
“Fine... lets deal with Applejack first then Rarity” I grumbled.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
I stared at Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie stared at me, neither of us saying a word.
Dash of course had had enough after the first hour.
“Oh come on......” Dash whined.
“Yah been staring fer a bit sugar, but you ain't said anything yet.”Applejack smirked.
The half Zebra leaned forward a little resting her hooves on the table as she looked over at me. Rainbow Dash tensed a little though neither of them moved other wise.
“I'm trying to consider what to say here. What questions to ask. I have all your medical information, as well as that of your family, nothing physical seems to be different about any of your family. Big Mac's records show he had his cutie mark and your little.. brother is still to young to get his yet.”
I took note that the mare flinched at both the mention of her brother as well as the hesitation when I mentioned her little sister. It was slight tell, but given I noticed it so easily it could have been fake, she was a member of house Generosity after all.
Or I could have touched a nerve, neither of those inspired me to press the issue. If Applejack wanted everyone to think Applebloom was a colt, that was her business.
“I basically have been setting up conversations to get to know every one a little better, to try and under stand what might cause the feeling of longing most Cursed have. To try and figure out what is missing from our lives. Maybe see if you have any clues. I've had a few ponies give me their opinion on the matter.”
“Let me guess. Lyra's cereal theory?” Applejack snorted.
“Among others.” I sigh.
“Well I'd be wary of that one. Poor mare's been through a good deal, stress of trying to get into the Platinum Swan caused her to snap a few years back, did some time in therapy and never been the same since. Mighty nice player, but she can barely look at a lyre or harp with out losing it.” Applejack considered before leaning back and adjusting her hat. “ As for my longing. Ain't rightly got anything. Ah'm used to working hard for what ah have and ah worked my way up to mai position. Aside from a bit more time at home with mai family, there ain't much ah really desire... less yah know a way tah bring mai brother back from tha dead. But last ah checked necromancy's still illegal.”
“It's not something I was ever offered to study so no.” I responded.
“As fer an idea on what it is? Prolly nothing. Next evolutionary step fer ponies. Night became longer our colors faded to match it, eyes adjusted tah tha dark. We adjusted crops to work better with less light. This bit with the cutie marks. Could just be the next stage. Us finally evolving out of needing to have our futures painted on our ass. Personally ah can't wait until everyone doesn't have um.”
I blinked at that glancing down at the paperwork, taking note of the cutie marks of her family, in particular the large green apple with a crossed spear and sword behind it. A soldiers cutie mark, one often sought by recruiters. Her dead brother had that one. A few things made sense now about this conversation.
“As fer tha rest of it, tha part yah didn't ask about.... ah couldn't tell yah, Ah ain't one who takes tha time tah star at tha stars lollygagging.” Applejack offered
She must have noticed my eyes widen at that as she smiled.
“Loyalty and Magic ain't tha only ones who know about that little problem. But it ain't affected any one yet so we ain't worried about it.”
“The only thing the majority of these ponies have in common is the longing. But there's no connections there, aside from it's something they never seem to try or can't. Lyra want's to play again but can't bring herself too, Applejack longs for her family, the others all have something that they seem unable to reach.” I mutter tapping my hoof to my cheek.” It's not just that they can't reach, but they hold themselves back like they're stunted.”
“What about you?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Acceptance, praise, to be told I'm good enough “ I state simply. I sought that answer when I first learned of this longing issue and found what mine was.” I suppose I haven't asked you yet.”
“To be able to cut loose.”
“Hmm?” I ask looking back at Rainbow Dash.
“Since you asked that question in the first interview I've been thinking on it. I want to break free. My whole life has been structured and mediated and tested and measured. Fly this way, move this way , obey this group, ignore this, focus on this. I don't..... I remember as a foal I was going to challenge some kid to a race. Before recess came I was pulled out of there. I never had a chance to cut loose after that. Everything was training, I never got to do what I wanted to or fly just to fly, it was always missions always proving myself. I'm not even sure I know how to cut loose any more.” Rainbow Dash explained.
“Honestly darling I'm not sure why you are asking me here. Most of my kind don't even get Cutie marks. My sister hasn't yet, though she is a bit obsessed over it.” The white half dragon waved a fore claw in the air, her tail curling around her as she shifted on the seat.
Rarity was nearly twice my size, and her brilliantly shining scales still forced me to squint when ever she was near a light source. Dash had simply pulled her goggles down and I wished I had a pair.
“There is still the possibility you might gain one. “ I offered. Applejack's theory might be sound given half dragons didn't always get cutie marks and they had been breeding with other ponies for near a thousand years, some like Rarity here were more dragon than mare, while others looked like ponies save a few small scales or fangs. Others were completely pony unless one magically scanned them to see the dragon genetics.
“I understand . You are playing a number of more, esoteric leads as medical scans yielded nothing.” Rarity stated flatly.
“Exactly. House Compassion's records are not called into question here, but something is happening and I want to gather all the data I can on it.”
“An interesting practice miss Twilight. This curse has never been my field of study , but thinking it may be some sort of physiological trauma is a interesting hypothesis. I seem to recall some one else testing that before however.”
“Baelit the eighth. He studied this when it first came to be known. Most of what we know about it still comes from his research. I'm hoping to expand on that information and see what might come of it. Though at current this is simply the preliminary meeting.”
“So I shouldn't expect you to scream at me and throw me out again?” Rarity arched a brow.
“Maybe. I want to keep this as fully on track as I can without any side delves into politics.” I grumble.
“Then ask yourself this lady Sparkle. What exactly would I have to gain from making things, political as you say?”
“Because if I fix this, it's going to make your house look bad for failing it.” I state flatly.
“Hardly darling. You have said yourself you are basing this study off Baelit the eighths work. And unless you plan to not name any of your research subjects like myself in your reveal than my name will be attached to it as well. “ Rarity explained with a small fanged smirk.
I narrowed my eyes. She was correct in this. Even being a small part of something that solved a problem of this magnitude would be enough to set her for life in House Compassion.
“On top of that dear I fully expect at some point you are going to need some one with my medical skills for something. Hence why I am offering my services as more than simply a test subject.” Rarity explained.
“And as a way to keep an eye on me.”
“Of course, but you knew that was happening any way.”
“Fine. As I've asked the others. Is there anything you've been longing for?” I sigh.
“Well I've always wanted a prince to come sweep me off my hooves, but those are in short supply outside of breezy tales. “Rarity pondered. “ I suppose I have always wanted to try my claw at the world of fashion. Stitching up a perfect dress can't be that different from stitching up a gaping wound can it?”
“This is pointless.” I throw my hooves in the air with a growl of annoyance. The pink mare hadn't said a word to me the entire interview.
She wouldn't answer questions, she wouldn't acknowledge anything, she just sat there until she was dismissed. She had done this three days in a row.
I was starting to believe she was mentally handicap or mute, though there was nothing about that on her medical records. So my other option was that she was just stubborn.
“Great I'm trying to save everyone and I can't even get all my test cases to cooperate!” I grumble looking back at rainbow Dash who offered a barely perceptive shrug in her 'guard mode'
“Bull shit.”
I blinked and turned back around to face the pink mare who was staring at me.
“What did you say?” I questioned unsure if I even heard the mare talk.
“I said it's bull shit.” Pinkie Pie stated again. “ You're not going to save anyone, you're just trying to rebuild the status quo and make your own damn self feel important.”
My eyes widened at that, though before I could respond Rainbow Dash had grabbed me and yanked me away from the table, her weapons drawn as she took up a stance between me and the mare.
Pinkie Pie however didn't seem to notice as she continued.
“All you fucking assholes care about is your own damn lives. All you house fucks, and nobles and stuck up self important shit stains on the Emperess' ass. You might cure whatever this cutie mark thing is and then what happens? Nothing changes! You nobles keep being shit and treating those that keep your sorry asses fed like garbage. Like we're property to be played with, the ones supposed to protect us from that do the same thing.” Pinkie snarled. “ The guards treat our every issue like it's beneath them like we're beneath them and without us all of you would wither and die. All because we chose to be in the day or were born with brighter colors than you drab gray scale fucks. My biggest regret in this is the damn curse isn't more lethal to wipe out more of you worthless mouth breathers. I hope you fail and the empress kills you and your whole damn family for it. The only reason I even showed up here is because I was forced to by the worthless sacks of excrement some one armed and slapped some gilded armor on. Because of them and you, I'm behind in my crops this season, so some faggoty asshole is gonna have to wait longer for his rhubarb ice cream or what ever the fuck you rich types do with ninety five percent of everything I grow. Loyalty's TAXES for being allowed to live on your fucking land despite the fact I was pulled from my family and forced onto this fucking plot to keep working just because I didn't have a fucking picture on my ass like the rest of you uptight shits. I'm behind because you want to be the self inflated fuck who fixes some problem that isn't even a problem. You can't even do something useful like fixing the real problems we have, you just focus on trying to make sure every one has a happy little tramp stamp so you can accept the praise and fame that comes with it. I'd kill you right here and now and no one would miss you, your little protector might kill me, but you'd be dead before she could stop me, blades or not because I don't give a fuck about what happens to me, why would I want to live on locked in this shit hole of a life?!”
The mare had risen to her back legs during her rant, her hooves slamming onto the table with enough force to splinter it and send my paperwork flying. The whole tree seemed to shake as she spoke, I could feel the magic around her hooves flaring, being channeled into the ground around me. Books fell from the shelves, something crashed to the ground in the kitchen as the rumbling continued. What the fuck was this?
“The only thing keeping me from taking out as many of you rich fucks as I can before I die is that despite what you did to me...” Pinkie's voice softened as she placed a hoof on her gravid belly. “Is that she has nothing to do with this, and might have a chance at being better. And I'm not taking that away from her, not like it was taken from me. You want me out here? Fine, but fuck you and everything you stand for, because I'm going to be trying to make you fail just so you might feel at least some of the suffering I have. Now if you rich bitches will excuse me I have to make sure the rest of your pampered fucks have some variety in their food this year.”
With a turn that sent her chair flying to smash into and crumble against the wall, the pink mare whirled about and stormed out, leaving the a disaster for me to clean up.
As the door slammed shut snapping the bolts out of one of the hinges so it leaned slightly, Rainbow Dash relaxed, putting her blades away.
“That mare has issues.” the pegasus grumbled.