You awaken with a scream, shooting upright. There are multiple reasons as to why this may be the case.
First of all, you were recently falling to your death. That beautiful night sky still burned into your memory, along with the velocity and direction it was leaving you. Surely the fear would be in the forefront of your mind.
Secondly, it could be the pain you were in. Your injuries were adding up, for sure. Hooves, no matter how round and strangely soft they look from a distance, hurt when being shoved into your chest.
And third, the most likely reason, is that you were waking up in Celestia's private study. You've known quite well, ever since you were a child, that if you're in here...you're in trouble.
"You're awake." Turning your head, you notice a tall white mare, a veil of the doorway's light surrounding her. This fades, of course, as the door closes behind her, a distinct locking noise heard as her horn glows.
"Celesti-" You start, not even sure what to follow it up with. But you're interrupted by her head leaning into your shoulder, feeling her sigh against you.
"You had me worried, Anon..." She states, breaking her normally stoic nature. You can feel the warmth emanate off of her. A mother's love? Or simply being the princess of the sun, you can't tell which. Either way, you bring an arm up to hug her, though it pains you a bit. Not nearly as bad as before. You must have had time to recover...
"How long have I been asleep?" Is the first coherent thing you manage to say. She pulls away, looking down at you. "It's been nearly a day. You're safe now." Safe?
"What happened to Shining? Cadance?" A natural reaction. After all, they were the only things endangering your safety.
"They're okay. The guards apprehended the intruder, and it was dealt with. I'm sure Cadance is quite antsy to see you again!"
Your heart sinks, as your mind remembers the gravity of your situation. The last you saw of your bugfriend, she was being dragged into a window. The 'intruder', they call her. Keep a straight face.
"Yeah, I bet..."
How little she knows. What Shining did to your body. What Cadance did to your mind. What the 'intruder' did to your heart. But you have to play along, now. This goes beyond her being revealed, it's far too late for that. You know Celestia, you've seen her rule. She'll do anything to protect her beloved Equestria.
You hope she didn't go too far.
"You rest as long as you need to, Anon." She gets up, smiling down. "I'll be sure to have dinner brought to you!" To which you wave an arm.
"No need. I'm not very hungry..." You are. But you'd prefer no intrusions. Celestia's a tad smarter than that.
"You need to eat something. It'll be up shortly." She says firmly, leaving the study, closing the door. Notably, no locking noise. That's comforting. As you hear her hoofsteps fade to nothing, you stand. Painless, amazingly. There's still a pressure, a bruising at your chest. Pressing it hurts. A lot. So let's not do that again. Walking to the door, you open it, looking out to the hallway. There's a guard next to your door, who turns to you.
"Ah, hello young one. Feeling better, are we?" A grunt, no one recognizable. One of the many guards sent to chase you through the royal gardens. You nod in reply, stepping out. "Try not to strain yourself. I'll let the royalty know you're up and about." As he goes to move, you stop him with a hand to his shoulder.
"No no...I'm, uh, heading there myself. You're relieved for the night." You amaze yourself at your own quick thinking...amazed at the stupidity, that is. You just gave an order. To a guard.
"...sure thing. Take it easy, champ." The guard nods, heading off in the direction of the barracks. The amazement settles in once more, not at the thinking, not at the stupidity...but at the fact it worked. You head the opposite way, but instead of moving towards the dining hall, you have more pressing locations to be. The palace's halls are no secret to you, and it's not long before you're at the entrance to the dungeon. Down the staircase you go, making it to the guard on duty.
"Ah, Anon. Glad you're up and at 'em, it looked like that thing roughed you up good." Keep it cool.
"Yeah. I'd like a few words with it." You say, walking more forwards. The guard shakes his head.
"Sorry, no can do." It hits you hard, enough to break composure.
"Why the hell not?! I need to talk to her!" You say, quite angered. For reasons, of course, the guard is unaware of. Luckily for you, he can fill in his own blanks with what he knows.
"It's not here. The Princess had it taken away." He sneers a bit. Not at you, of course. Just at what he 'knows'. "After what it did, it's probably dead." The dungeon guards tend to keep their minds open, as well as their mouths. After all, how often does anyone come check on them? Saying nothing, stewing in his words, you turn, heading back for the staircase. He's left with a single lingering thought.
Her?
Moving back to the staircase, you take the steps up, beginning to climb. No. She's not dead. There's no damn way it's all over just like this. All that work, everything you've been through...everything SHE'S been through. Shaking your head, you look to the doorway, heading into the hall. A bit more pink there than you remember.
"Anon..." A solemn, soft female voice is heard. It's her. Who else would it be? She stays there as you cross the final step to the hallway, looking at her with your sunken eyes. "I'm really glad you're okay..." It's really, really hard to believe. But sincerity is dripping from her lips with every word. She sounds sad. Guilty even.
"Me too." You respond, gauging the situation. You have a hatred for this mare. A seething, deep hatred. But with the news you just received, is it even worth it? She walks towards you.
"Look...I..." She bites her lip, holding back her words. Her gaze is even averted to the side. "...I just want..."
"What?" You say, quite a bit indignant. You've been dealing with enough shit, her stuttering isn't something you need. Swallowing her pride, or something else that's impeding her speech, she takes another step.
"I just want you to come to dinner...I want to forget...and just...move on..." She looks up to you. A well practiced pity stare, you're sure. "Can...WE...move on?" Her necklace twinkles for a moment, her now cutiemark's inspiration. The crystal heart you begrudgingly gave, adorned on her neck. Clearly she's proud of it.
"..." It takes you a moment to still your swirling thoughts. The bug that you had your being set on is...well, gone. Dead. You mentally shiver as you come to terms. Dead. And this mare was willing to do whatever to have you. Would it be so bad? She steps forward once more, very close to you now. Inches. Remaining silent...you nod slowly, resigned to your fate. You bring a hand up to her head as she leans forward, pressing into you. Lightly caressing the thin chain that is now her necklace, your crystal gift the centerpiece. You sigh a sigh of relief as the embrace occurs.
You saw it.
The small smile. Not of pleasure, of contentment, of simple loving joy. Of victory. A devilish smirk you've become all too familiar with. Your fingers grip around the necklace.
She had to convince you.
She raced to see you. She had to talk to you first. There was no way she could let anyone else say anything. Using her soft words and actions, lulling you into submission. You tug against the light gold chain, beginning to turn.
She was afraid she would lose you.
Your other hand presses into her neck, hard, as you turn, still gripping the necklace. She's thrown off balance, literally, and is sent behind you. Which wouldn't be so bad, had you not been standing in front of the entrance to the dungeon. The crystal heart snaps off her neck as she falls backwards, out of your reach.
She knew something.
The sound of the pink mare toppling down the dungeon staircase would have been music to your ears, had you stuck around to savor it. As soon as she was out of your sight, and thus out of mind, you bolted down the hall. Crystal heart in hand, you clutch it tightly. Cadance never gives up until she's sure she's won. From the pettiest of games, to the harsh reality that is your life. You know this from experience. If she had not yet won, that means there must be another player.
Chrissy is alive.
By thunder...you updated again...in less than a year!
Hype.
Awww Yissss, it's getting real good up in here.
Ahem.
Man, I can't wait till the next update. What's going to happen?
4947965
Wouldn't be fun if I just told you, now would it?
WOOOO MORE
sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/headshot-bitch-you-just-got-owned.png
[on mobile]
damn poor guy, kinda curious as to why no one listens to him. or why he is so quick to give up speaking his mind.
Bitch just got tossed
That was fun. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
4948310
Probably because he's an idiot and never says anything to anyone. He had Celestia right there - the one being who could actually sway events, and the one who would probably sympathize if she knew the truth. But instead of trying - just once - to get Celestia to fix things he decides that blowing off everyone who might care and taking matters on himself is somehow the better option.
So instead of potentially having some help to fix things he's now guilty of attempting regicide.
4947909 Twice.
4948489
I hate it when protagonists do that.
They have a perfect chance to end a dangerous situation...but decide not to say anything because 'Fuck it I'ma handle this myself!'
4948489 Aye the guy is a bawbag
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4948611
The question is, will Celestia believe him? Or will she think that Chrysalis did something to his mind? There are only three people who know the truth, Chrysalis, Cadenza and Anon, one is trapped and deemed a monster, one is doing her best to keep it that way and the last one doesn't want to waste time on ponies thinking he's being mind controlled. I wonder why he doesn't tell anyone...
4948489
4948611
I'd agree with you if this was some older dude in Equestria, but he's just a kid! Thinking they can take the world on their own, having no one to go to. We've all been there once, and he's there right now.
Kids can be dumb.
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I appreciate the chatter about the story. Comments or critiques, I'm glad you all took the time to read. Hope you're looking forward to more!
4948751
That's not a factor of age, have you seen how stubborn people can be? He just has no one he can trust, if he tells Celestia he'll probably be placed under house arrest and have a lot of personal time with Cadenza to 'break through' whatever the changeling 'did' to his mind,
4948806
Even if Celestia doesn't believe him outright, she has to at least check out his story.
But that's not the only thing she can help with. Has he ever told Celestia that he just doesn't like Cadence and that Cadance is harassing him in spite of it? No? That's what I mean. Things are simply festering because he can't actually do anything about them (he should know this after years of being unsuccessful with driving Cadence off) and he won't tell anyone else that something is wrong.
Maybe Celestia won't help, but if he doesn't ever say anything then she's guaranteed to do nothing from simple ignorance.
I seriously want to laugh evilly after what happened to Cadence.
4948870
True, he would have been able to tell her about the blackmail after -at most- a year because what's Cadenza going to say? 'There was a changeling here a year ago?' Hah, Anon could turn the blackmail on her, 'why didn't you tell anyone about such a dangerous threat to the kingdom?' Cadenza hasn't been smart enough to dig up any new blackmail on him in several years.
Wow, there are few fics where i feel such loathing for Cadance, but congrats, you manegd to get her on my shit list "for this fic that is."
Dude...That was some damn good detective work right there
its such a good story!
Does anyone in fiction know that communication would solve most problems?! So frustrating!
Yup still a good story.
4950231 How exactly would communication solve the problem presented in this? "Oh hey Celestia, I'm best friends with/dating this bug thing I found in the garden, she feeds off love, and your niece is a stone cold bitch who's been blackmailing me for years!" I can really see that going well.
4956888 Well not with that attitude. But a nice sit down with calm conversation can go a long way
*Cadence wakes up to see changeling with Leonidas face over him*
"This is Sparta !!!!*
YES! Update!
RUN, ANON RUN! FIND YOUR CHANGELING! GO!
as soon as she fallsencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTMLTPYcI0Pupdx944LrrgDhkI_rVdmB-oxqbzvvm7XAu9NjDE4nw
Where's the update?
4966593
Gah, I messaged a mod about it. Editing the new chapter now, accidentally tapped the publish button, updating with an empty chapter. I immediately unpublished it, but the damage was done, clearly.
Edit button's too close to the publish button. Anyhow, that just means there's more being typed as we speak. Stay tuned.
4966600
Will do
4960672
Better:
x1.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/Here+_757d0fb66ca3d6096575fe8024c2a14e.gif
4966981 DAMNIT I WANTED TO USE THAT GIF
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Can we agree that this version of Cadance deserves it, at least?
4967497 hahahha that bitch deservers more because i think cadance wants to play a game
[youtube=TwJFdFI8Kt8]
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Can't see the new chapter yet.
One of the best stories I have ever read, I can't wait to see what happens next.
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fucking kek
Anyone mind telling me why there is a password set up to view the new chapter and what it is so I can continue reading this awesome story?
4968738
Not sure why there's another chapter for you to attempt to read, it's not ready quite yet! I'll be updating it as soon as it's finished, I'd suggest not guessing the password. Just in case you guess right.
4968984 time to LOAAAADDDDD THE PASSWORD GUN!!!
Did he just snap her neck if so finally killed the bitch