//------------------------------// // The Confession // Story: Slave to Desire // by libertydude //------------------------------// Haven doubled back to the original street, Izzy whispering directions as they skulked down the largely empty streets. She’d hated slowing down, loving the feeling of the rushing wind through her feathers, but she realized that the move was useless with creatures that could also fly. The thought also occurred to Haven that the creatures would more likely be searching the air rather than the ground for a pegasus. So the two of them walked quietly to their destination, keeping to the lengthening shadows that started to cover most of the streets. “Over here,” Izzy whispered, pointing down the alley they were hiding in. “The building on the right, next to the alley.” She trotted towards the adjoining building, Haven stepping lightly behind and her eyes darting all around them. The sky still held splotches of hippogriffs far above them, but they couldn’t see them even with their excellent eyes. Shouts came from a distance off. Haven focused on Izzy, who pointed to a door that opened up into the alley. Izzy smiled. “We’ll go in here so they won’t see us out front.” Haven nodded, following her through the door, whose rickety hinges squeaked. No creature seemed to stir from the noise, however, so Haven simply closed the door. She took in the sight before her. The bar had certainly seen better times, with the cobwebs hanging from the wall shelves behind the bar. Dark, dusty bottles stood in random places along the shelves, if they were standing at all. Just as many seemed to be collected in small piles on the floor or tipped over on the bar itself. Haven watched her step, careful not to step anywhere with shattered glass. “What’d I tell you?” Izzy said. “Empty as a bowl of cereal.” “Yes,” Haven said, sighing when she looked at a cockroach on the floor skittering back to its hiding place. “Though I will confess, I would have preferred a more luxurious hiding spot.” Izzy grinned. “That’s the Queen Haven I know!” Puzzlement filled Haven’s face. “What do you mean?” “Well, it’s just that ever since you saw that whatchamacallit attacking Blitzwing-“ “Hippogriff. Half-pony, half-eagle.” “Right, that. Anyway, ever since then, you’ve been, well…weird.” Haven scoffed. “You’re one to talk, Miss Moonbow.” “No, I mean weird for you. You became all silent and serious and not focused on glam and your appearance at all. I mean, you haven’t even fixed your hair yet.” Haven glanced into the dusty mirrors behind the bar and groaned. Her mane was disheveled in every place, and her tail looked like it consisted of nothing but split ends. “Oh, this will be such a chore when I get to the hotel.” “Okay, but why did you become, you know, super serious and stuff?” Haven stared out at the outside light, already dimming from the oncoming sunset. “Miss Moonbow, under ordinary circumstances, I would let the mystery twirl around in your mind for the rest of your days.” She sighed. “But today is a strange day for both of us. Besides, I suppose I owe it to you for saving my life from Blitzwing.” Izzy beamed, before hopping up onto an empty barstool. The seat gave a loud squeak once her rump landed upon it. “Story time!” She cringed a moment, recognizing her loud exclamations were antithetical to their hiding. “So,” she now whispered. “What’s the deal? Did you used to be a Royal Guard? Eat a special fruit that made you the best fighter in the land? Read too many Miss Mare-vel comics as a filly?” Haven cocked an eyebrow at the eager unicorn for a moment, then took her own seat at the bar. She stared ahead at the dusty mirrors in front of her. “Miss Moonbow, I need to tell you something about Pegasi royalty.” She leaned against the bar, her stool creaking with her weight. “As far back as our recorded history goes, our culture has prided itself on having the fastest and strongest warriors in the world. And for the longest time, it was believed that the Kings and Queens of Zephyr Heights should be strongest of the bunch. Lead by example and all that.” Haven turned to Izzy, eyes hazy like she’d woken up from a long dream. “So, all the way back when I was a filly, my parents trained me in the same arts that their parents had trained them in. How to be the fastest flier, how to be the strongest lifter, and…” Her hooves clenched. “…how to be the smartest fighter.” Izzy gasped. “You mean…you were trained to be the Bestest, Fastest, Strongest Pegasi Ever?” Haven wanted to laugh at the unicorn’s earnestness, but she held her face firm. “If you want to call it that. For us, it was just the normal thing to do if you wanted to rule. We needed to fight as well as our soldiers did and be as smart as our most intelligent scientists. That meant hours of physical, mental, and social training. Doing work-outs that would make the most intense bodybuilders give up after ten minutes. Reading scientific and military journals so fast that you could absorb an entire novel in twenty minutes. Understanding psychology to the extent you could influence others’ decisions by a mere smile.” “Woah,” Izzy said. “You must have become super-duper smart and strong.” A vainglorious smirk came across Haven’s face. “I did. I remember how proud my father was when I managed to pin him to the ground, even though he was twice my size. My mother gave me an entire closet of silken dresses when I managed to finish a mathematical equation none of the royal scientists could crack. They both cheered when I became the belle of Zephyr Heights’ society parties, beloved by everypony who exchanged words with me.” Her smile softened, more wistful than vain. “I still remember the faces of all the stallions who were begging me for a dance that night.” “Aaw,” Izzy cooed. “It must have been so wonderful being the best Pegasi ever.” “It was…sometimes.” Haven’s hooves clenched. “But most of the time, it was just hard. If a new flight record appeared, I had to beat it. If a new scientific field popped up, I needed to become an expert in it in five hours instead of five years. I needed to be the best.” She stared back into the mirrors, eyes hardened with determination. “And I was. I was. I was the strongest, the smartest, and the most beautiful queen to ever live. I earned my crown, and nopony could argue I didn’t deserve it the day my father passed.” Her eyes fell down to the ground, head shaking. “But there’s always aftereffects from that kind of life. I was always on edge, perceiving every single problem as a direct challenge toward me. Any flier who went a little bit faster than me had to be surpassed. Some scientist who discovered a stronger conductor had to be superseded by my new conductor.” She was quiet for a moment before saying: “I even married Zipp and Pipp’s father because I’d been feuding with another girl for his hoof. For the first few years of our marriage, I brought him with me every time I went to parties I knew that mare would be at. Not because I wanted his company, but because I wanted her to know I had won. I loved him, make no mistake, but our love was secondary to me. I needed him as a trophy to know I was the best.” She looked down at the bar at her fractured reflection. “It wasn’t until I was pregnant with Zipp that I realized how much I needed to change. If I kept things the way they were, I would’ve been trying to sabotage my own daughter with her own training, just to make sure I was still the best. So, I just quietly ended all of the training, for both myself and Zipp.” Izzy nodded. “It must have been hard to change so much of yourself.” “In some ways. I’d always loved the parties and the attention, so emphasizing that part of myself wasn’t hard at all.” She looked outside, where the shadows had lengthened all the way across the street. “It was that hot-blooded part of myself that needed to be shunted away. That desire to be the best and to beat whoever challenged you, whether mentally or…physically.” Izzy shuddered, thinking back to their scuffle with the hippogriffs. “I couldn’t hide that part of myself out there,” Haven said. “It was like a switch went off in my head and I just wanted to hurt those hippogriffs.” She turned away from both Izzy and mirror. “It’s not the part of myself I hoped to see coming here.” Izzy extended a hoof to Haven’s shoulder. Her soft breathing echoed throughout the empty bar. “It’s okay. You’re not just some arrogant meanie who wants to beat everypony you meet into a pulp. You were trying to protect me and Blitzwing.” Her hoof dug a little deeper into her fur. “Even back when you were pretending to still be able to fly, you did it because you thought it would keep your subjects calm.” Haven nodded, less in agreement and more acknowledgement she had heard Izzy’s words. Looking back up at Izzy, her face grew determined. “What I am is not important right now. What’s important is who these hippogriffs are working for.” Izzy leaned back in a thoughtful pose, pulling a pair of thick glasses out of her mane and placing them over her eyes. “Indeed. And since you’re the super smart one, what would be your theory, Queen Doctor Haven?” Haven rolled her eyes, before pulling out the vial. “I’d say whoever’s in charge of this invasion is the one feeding the hippogriffs this.” Izzy leaned forward and pontificated the vial, scratching her chin. “A fair assumption. Do you think that’s what was making that griff all weird?” “I know it.” “Mind altering substances of ill intent.” Izzy’s eyes started rolling to the back of her head. “The tool of all meanie heads and ne’er-do-wells.” Haven shook her head. “The problem is determining what it’s made from. Without any scientific equipment, we couldn’t know if it was made from pollywood or petunias.” “Perhaps, Queen Doctor Haven,” Izzy said, hooves touching together, “we can do the old sniff test, as fashioned by Dr. Manedel in his experiments with peas?” Haven stared at the faint traces of green shining through the glass. “This could be dangerous to even sniff.” Haven extended the vial to Izzy. “Here, you smell it.” “Okay!” Izzy took a long, deep whiff. “Mmm-mmm! Smells like cinnamon.” Haven stared at Izzy for a few moments like a scientist to a lab rat. Then, seeing no change come over the unicorn, Haven took a sniff of her own. Izzy’s cinnamon claim had been true, though Haven detected something else. Faint, but still strong enough to bully its way through the rest of the ingredients… Her eyes went wide. “Witchweed,” Haven said, holding the vial now like it was a dead snake she’d prefer to throw away. “Ooooh!” Izzy said. “My mom used to tell me about that. She said that it could increase a unicorn’s magical powers.” “Yes, but with a very nasty caveat: addiction.” Izzy nodded. “Yeah, even before we lost our magic in Bridlewood, the town elders banned Witchweed. There were a bunch of young unicorns who took it to ace their magic quiz at school, but they took too much and they went a little, y’know…” She spun her hoof in a clockwise motion beside her head. “…Coo-coo.” “I’ve heard of batches driving ponies insane, but enslaving an entire race to your will is unheard of. Witchweed is supposed to be very short-lasting, no more than five minutes at most, but those hippogriffs were going several minutes without needing another dosage. And there were thousands of them!” She shook her head. “I’m afraid we might be dealing with a bigger menace than we’d initially hoped.” Izzy gasped. “Do you think whoever’s behind this made a batch for ponies too?” “Absolutely. They were trying it on Blitzwing.” She sat up. “But only on Blitzwing. Izzy, did you see anypony else being force-fed the potion during our escape?” Izzy scratched her head, glasses coming slightly eschew. “Now that you mention it, no. We saw ponies being abducted or beaten up, but not drinking anything.” “Exactly. What if whoever’s behind this doesn’t have the formula for ponies yet?” “What do you mean?” “Well, when Blitzwing attacked us, he was trying to kill me rather than just incapacitate or capture like the hippogriffs were doing. The hippogriffs’ master wanted all of us alive, but Blitzwing was going to kill me under their control. Whoever distilled this probably knew the potion they used to control the hippogriffs wouldn’t work entirely on the ponies. Witchweed is a very tricky plant to distill, so different species would probably need different variations of the same potion. Just to be sure, though, they decided to test the potion on the first pony they got their hooves on, and Blitzwing happened to be the first one they came across.” Izzy gasped. “But that means whoever kidnapped all those ponies probably wants to test new and improved potions on them!” Haven nodded. “And when they happen upon the right formula, they’ll turn pegasi, unicorn, and Earth Pony alike into mindless slaves for their army.” “Then we’ve got to go warn everypony outside the city.” Izzy started for the door. “First Zephyr Heights, then-“ “No,” Queen Haven said, standing up. “We’ve got to stop whoever’s doing this now, by ourselves.” “What?!” “Think about it, Miss Moonbow. Right now, the hippogriffs’ master has only the hippogriffs themselves to protect them. They can’t control any of us ponies yet, at least not effectively. They’re probably holed up somewhere nearby, trying to perfect the potion that’ll control us.” “Makes sense.” “Right now, they’ve got the hippogriffs out searching for any stragglers. If we try to leave, we’re more likely to be spotted fleeing than if we head right for where the mastermind is hiding.” She sighed. “Besides, even if we do escape the hippogriffs, by the time we reach Zephyr Heights, the leader may have perfected the potion and switch everypony to thier side. Instead of fighting one army, we might bring our reinforcements into a situation where they’d have to fight four.” Izzy gave a glum look. “You’re right. But how are we going to find this mastermind? Maretime Bay is not a small place, and we’d have to search-“ Just then, the dusk having fallen deeper, a bright glow appeared outside the window. Both Izzy and Haven’s first instinct was to jump over the bar and hide, but they withheld the urge to instead stand extremely still. For several seconds they waited for the glow to move or wane, but it just sat still in the bar window. Carefully, Haven eased her way toward the window. Peeking from the side of the window frame, her eyes widened. The glow came from a distant hill that sat above the town. Atop the mound was a large circular building, whose lights now beamed out into the town below like Hearth’s Warming lights. Dark splotches interrupted the flow of light every few seconds. Shadows of hippogriff wings cast dark shadows upon the city below, and harsh cries could be heard from the building. Izzy, having worked up the courage to follow Haven to the window, gasped as she stared up at the sight. “They’ve taken over Canterlogic!” she squeaked, her glasses falling to the floor. “More than that,” Haven intoned. “They’ve made it their base camp.” “Do you think that’s where their leader is?” “I’d bet my entire kingdom on it.” Izzy fiddled with her hooves. “So, assuming you’re right, if the mastermind’s there, how do we stop them?” Haven, still staring out at the display, gave a terse response: “We kill them.” Izzy’s face filled with horror. “W-What?!” Haven sighed and turned toward Izzy. “Miss Moonbow, whoever is controlling the hippogriffs is doing so through a blood potion. Mixing their own blood in with the Witchweed, the potion gives them control of all those who drink it. It’s the only way a mind control potion of this scale could work. Thus, there’s only two ways to break this mastermind’s hold: either wait for the potion to wear off, which we have no guarantee would happen, or sever the blood link that anchors the mastermind’s control to the hippogriffs. And there’s only one way to do the latter.” “Maybe there’s a misunderstanding,” Izzy said in the softest voice she'd ever used. “Maybe whoever’s doing this can be convinced to change and turn everypony back and we don’t have to hurt anypony…” Izzy’s sentence faded while she looked back at her companion. The darkness had fully encompassed the city, as well as Haven’s face. Yet still visible from Canterlogic’s glow was the burning eyes of the Queen and a look that made Izzy shiver. It was the face of that mare from so long ago, who would take pride in standing on a challenger’s neck and hold a lover as proof of war booty rather than from affection. “Maybe,” Haven said. “But I’m prepared if we do need to hurt somepony.”