//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Performance Anxiety // Story: Gleaner Chronicles: American Monsters // by sevenofeleven //------------------------------// Stifle Swamp Foulshaper, a grayish brown bear with piercing green eyes sat in the middle of his lab. The sight of his green glowing equipment and torn pink flesh should have raised his spirits but it didn’t. Not even the sight of his greatest creations sleeping in their cages couldn’t bring a smile to his face. Only one thing could bring him this low, failure and his impending death. His executioner was a being that he had served for many centuries, Empress Razorhoof. Well, that was the name she had in this world. Ponies respected and revered alicorns, so the Empress was an alicorn. Foulshaper could’ve been an alicorn, but he wasn’t into ponies. So he chose the form of a bear. He knew of some gleaners that didn’t bother with having a form, they thought that it was vain. All that power to constrain oneself to a physical body could be used for other purposes. Foulshaper didn’t know of any gleaner that thought that way, but the Empress mentioned there was one Gleaner Lord on an occupied pony world that had similar thoughts. Every once in awhile they would sit and talk about many things besides their work. From her, he learned about the Vile Council, the leaders of the Gleaners. These beings were almost gods. Most of the missions to subjugate worlds came from the council, they would tell Razorhoof and she would pass on anything relevant. He could tell she feared them greatly. On a whim, they could kill the Gleaner Lords in charge of a world and replace them with others. It was rare though. They could force the Empress to kill her minions if they became a liability. Foulshaper was quite sure she removed several minions that worked with her. One day they were gone and she wouldn’t speak of them other to tell him what needed to be done. A chill raced down his back; maybe this time, he would disappear? Foulshaper frowned, he wasn’t responsible. Most of the failures were really his minions’ fault. He spent centuries fighting the almost universal saying, “It’s so hard to get good help.” Again, his mind went over the problems he had with making useful servants. The first group was Gleaners, green glowing amorphous forms. To a non-Gleaner, they all looked alike. All of them fed on life energy from sentient organic creatures called Essence. Lords just had more magical power and were more intelligent. Another benefit was that they didn’t have to hunt, depending on where they lived there was an essence pool to handle their hunger and spellcasting needs. The creatures had some interesting abilities. Like ghosts, gleaners traveled through solid matter. Also, they became invisible too. A few could cast spells. Their greatest ability was how they used their hunger for essence to create more minions. Fully drained enemies became allies, and they would spread their hunger to others. Foulshaper used that to great effect when attacking towns. Defenders usually would have their military units facing Foulshaper’s forces. He then would send gleaners to feed on the ponies and creatures some distance away from the front lines. That would create a disaster for the forces in that town because they couldn’t fight a war on two fronts. Also having to kill relatives or even essence hungry foals would make the most hardened soldier hesitate. There were some drawbacks to using gleaners. Even though most couldn’t be harmed by physical attacks, they all could be hurt or killed by magic. Also, they didn’t like being cannon fodder, but there were others that would fit that role better. Completely drained enemies become Essence Husks. Spy gleaners noticed that the ponies called them Remnants. Creatures who only lived to regain what was lost. Since they didn’t get tired, there was no limit other than running out of victims. This was handy during battles. Their single-mindedness was a strength and a weakness. Morale wasn’t a factor, so they would just keep attacking until there were no more enemies. Sometimes, the purity of purpose became a deadly flaw. Since Remnants only cared about getting more essence, they weren’t very flexible. Drained pegasi couldn’t fly or, much less walk on clouds. Foulshaper found that out the hard way when he saw them falling as he attacked Cloudsdale. Husk unicorns did blast enemies with magic to stun them, but that was the best they could do. Some gleaners could control Remnants for better results. Pegasi still couldn’t fly, but they could use blasts from their wings to create blinding dust storms. He heard that some unicorns were able to do more sophisticated spells, but that seemed unlikely. Once the local population was subdued, a large army of Remnants was too much of a burden. Most of them were destroyed, and the rest kept in storage areas. After studying their flaws, he came up with a new creature. He created Shriekers; pony-sized balls of greyish-brown spikes that feed on solar energy. They couldn’t fly as fast as the speediest pegasi, but they had an affinity for teamwork. Since the creatures didn’t have any limbs, they couldn’t do any melee attacks. To balance that, he gave them the ability to create an energy blast powerful enough to vaporize threats. A group working in unison could cause even more damage. Some of these creatures were smart enough to learn magic on their own. Foulshaper realized they needed one more thing: A leader. He created a king, King Slashscream. His new king needed a kingdom. What better place for a flying monarch than the city in the clouds, Cloudsdale? He flew there with an army of gleaners and the new monarch. Foulshaper remembered that day. He remembered the cold that bit through his fur and the sun was just rising; the patrolling griffins and ponies were gilded by the light. Slashscream waited with his forces. The patrols formed up and faced the invaders. Several ponies and griffins flew back to the city to warn the others. Then Slashscream and his minions began to hum then it changed to a scream. A whitish-green wave of power crashed into the city. Buildings disintegrated. Ponies and other creatures fell on the clouds unconscious or dead. Foulshaper felt the hunger of the gleaners behind him. “Wait. I want to see what the King can do. You will get fed.” So far, he was impressed by the king and his army. They swooped down on the ponies lying on the clouds and killed the ones that were still alive. Foulshaper grinned as the defenders were reduced to a red bloody mist. However, his smile faded when he spotted more ponies wake up and fight back. There were even some unicorns that managed to create shield spells against attacks or use their magic to blast the invaders into flaming bits. Then the remaining griffins attacked, and this time they found a way to dodge the enemies' blasts. Since the attackers didn’t have any melee abilities, they were torn apart quite easily. Slashscream forced his army to pull back and form up, but the spells from the unicorns were causing a lot of casualties. A blue blur appeared, and it managed to avoid blasts and take out more minion with a well-timed series of punches and kicks. For a moment, it slowed down long enough for Foulshaper to see who or what it was. A cyan colored pegasus mare with rainbow colored mane and tail hovered for a few moments like she knew he was watching her. Fear filled Foulshaper’s, heart. It would’ve been easier to just kill the pony, but Razorhoof had ordered that none of the ponies containing the Elements of Harmony were to be killed. Foulshaper knew from centuries of working for Razorhoof not to go against her orders. He hoped that he could drive her away. He called some gleaners to him and sent them to capture Rainbow Dash. They weren’t as fast, but they didn’t tire. If  Rainbow were to take a break to catch her breath, his gleaners would be all over her. Every few minutes, Foulshaper called for more reinforcements and then he sent them after Rainbow Dash. A quick glance down at Cloudsdale showed that the forces attacking the city were having more success. Most of the defenders on the cloud were now Remnants and they rampaged through the city. Slashscream and his remaining minions were focused on trying to stop Rainbow Dash, but with little success. Their numbers were dwindling fast. Then suddenly, a bright flash tore through Foulshaper’s eyes. Colorful images were burned into his burning retinas. To make matters worse, his head throbbed from the attack. As a side effect, his levitation spell failed and he plummeted out of the sky. After several frightful moments, Foulshaper regained flight and flew back to the city. He wondered if they had won. There were only four minions left serving Slashscream now and they were flying in aimless circles. The Remnants on the ground were climbing to their hooves. Slashscream wobbled toward Foulshaper. “Hey you guys, stop doing that! Get over here before I knock the spikes offa ya.” He turned to Foulshaper, ”I want that blue nag with the rainbow mane dead! Dead!” Foulshaper didn’t want to argue about it so he just nodded. “I need more minions. Can you make more for me?” “Yes, we can go back-” “No, here! There is a power source not far away. I heard some of the sky ponies talk about a ‘Rainbow Factory’ We could use it to make more minions. If we leave, we will lose control of this place. I want this place!” Foulshaper nodded. “I need more equipment to make shriekers. I’ll give you command of the forces here. Don’t waste them. We won’t be getting more for a while. I’ll go back and get my tools.” When he returned, most of the defenders were either dead or had fled. He smiled, the memory of working with Slashscream to control the strange pony building’s magic was one of his best. Eventually, they were able to turn the rainbow factory into a factory that made shriekers. It seemed like Foulshaper had found the right mix of obedience and proactiveness that would be useful. Unfortunately, over time, he found that his optimism was premature. Slashscream abducted the Prophetess from the sprawling refugee camp where most of the Canterlot ponies lived. Instead of keeping her for the Empress to study, he decided to kill her. Somehow, ponies were able to sneak into Skyshriek Tumult, the converted home of the shriekers and rescue the Prophetess. Losing her was an error punishable by death. Then again, Slashscream wasn’t the only one to lose an important pony. Fluttershy slipped through Foulshaper’s paws. Well, kinda. While exploring the edges of the Everfree forest, Foulshaper found an ambitious timberwolf that he was able to corrupt. The changed creature adopted the name of Rotvine Crushroot. Rotvine brought members of his pack to Foulshaper so he could bestow power on them. It seemed like a good deal; Rotvine would rule a part of the Everfree and provide useful info on the area. Later on, they became  Fluttershy’s jailers. Again, somehow she was freed by ponies, and half of the Everfree went up in flames. Foulshaper didn’t know what happened to Rotvine. Even though he had recruited creatures to do the work for him, they failed. There was one creation that didn’t fail him. The Train. The Train didn’t fail him because it just rode on its tracks unless Foulshaper needed it to leave them. He remembered when he created it. He remembered how the hot sun shone down on him as he stood next to the silvery tracks. In the distance, a steam locomotive pulling several cars thundered toward him. Foulshaper smiled. The ponies who got on to escape mayhem and chaos were going to get quite a surprise. He cast a spell that would stop steam engines. Then he teleported the engineer to a spot right next to him. He pointed a claw at the fear-filled engineer. “Watch, my little pony, and see something amazing!” When the train ground to a halt. Foulshaper used his power to paralyze all of the passengers. He wanted to make sure they didn’t miss the fun things he had in store for them. A moment later, green energy flew from him and tore the life from most of the victims. Seconds later, a green-tinged stream flew back. The taste was much more vibrant than what he could get from the essence pool. After that snack, he was ready to work. Foulshaper walked up to the train and again focused his will. With a growl, he used his gleaner power to grab the remaining live ponies and fused them to the cold metal. They tried to struggle, he felt them fight against the melding, but his will overrode theirs. Black metallic pony faces appeared along the sides like they were etched. Eyes flashed in the windows of the passenger cars. After that, the locomotive awoke with a shuddering steamy cry. “Yes! My child, you’re awake. I have to do one more thing.” He focused his power in his left paw until it shone like a bright green star. Then he slammed it on the tracks. For a moment, the entire rail system was a part of him. Then that feeling faded away as the rails turned into melted flesh. “As long as you travel along them, you will be fed. Remember, you can leave the tracks when I command it.” The Train whistled in agreement. “Now, my Train, deliver your cargo of woe to all stations!” It left Foulshaper alone with the engineer. He turned his attention to the witness. “Well now, you don’t look like something that could survive traveling around areas with all sorts of monsters. That’s okay, I’ll mark you so they will avoid you then I will give you a message to pass on.” A bright green glow covered the engineer who writhed in agony as his mind was overridden to be a herald. When the spell was done, the poor victim got up. “Well, go on and do your job.” The new messenger galloped away to the north. Foulshaper watched him. Unlike The Train, his life was probably going to be pretty short. Few creatures could endure having their minds destroyed and remade. Like The Train, he was totally obedient. His latest creation was quite content to ride the rails until his next command. Foulshaper shrugged. He would try again on another project. The next construct would have been his best, but it was flawed. Losing Pinkie Pie could definitely be blamed on him. Unlike the other situations, where he was too far away, this event happened within walking distance. Razorhoof turned a section of the marsh into a place of sadness geysers and pools of tears. Then she worked with Foulshaper to make a guardian named Gringrinder, who would make sure Pinkie stayed in her pool. He used some of Pinkie’s essence and gleaner magic to create a giant clone, except this one, had straight red hair and could crush enemies with powerful emotions. That part came from Razorhoof. She also gave him a bunch of spells to scan and view the area. If something went wrong, he could see exactly what was going on. Several spells were connected to Gringrinder. When she stood up, Foulshaper thought he had the perfect guard, but he still added a killswitch in case she turned against him. In time, his misgivings would be proven right. The jangling of the security spells broke Foulshaper out of his designing trance. He rushed over to one table as viewspells showed him what was going on at Pinkie Pie’s pool. It looked like some ponies had her on the ground. It took a moment for him to accept what he saw. The sadness geysers were enough to keep Foulshaper away, and yet there were ponies right in the middle, waking up Pinkie Pie. He glanced at the other viewspell which showed Gringrinder moving toward the ponies. He should’ve felt some relief, but somehow, he felt things were going to get worse. Foulshaper glanced from viewspell to viewspell as he saw things collapse. Somehow, Pinkie Pie was able to convince Gringrinder to become her friend. The viewspells didn’t have sound, but Foulshaper could sense what was going on by looking at faces. Instead of a frown, Gringrinder smiled. Feelings of anger and betrayal burned through his heart. Foulshaper activated the killswitch, but it failed. With a roar that rattled the devices on their tables, he rushed outside. While he rushed to Gringrinder’s location, two feelings fought in his mind. One was volcanic raging anger. He felt betrayed by his creation. All he did and it turned against him. The other one was pure fear. Failure to recover Pinkie Pie would definitely annoy Empress Razorhoof, and few minions did that too many times and survived. He hoped he had a chance. Foulshaper ran faster. He reached the edge of the sadness geysers when the wave of happiness hit him. The bits of joy he got from the discussions with Razorhoof were just weak and cool embers to the overwhelming warmth that filled him. His ancient and malicious heart cracked. It was almost like the times before he was a monster hiding in a noisome swamp making abominations. Foulshaper hoped for another wave to come, and shatter his heart like glass, so he could just die with a smile on his face. Moments later, nothing happened. Foulshaper pulled himself out of the stinking cold muck of the swamp and raced toward Gringrinder. The greyish-brown forest blurred as he ran. Finally, he reached the traitorous creature. Foulshaper focused and cast the killswitch spell just as she was focusing on another happiness burst. Her bright blue eyes dimmed as the spell did its work. She uttered a mournful cry as her life faded away. He sent a message to the Train to stop nearby and unload some Remnants and gleaners. Then he grasped her head. The rest of the memory was a red rage-filled haze. He looked around his lab, as it maybe would be his last time here. As though his gloomy musings conjured her up, Empress Razorhoof’s voice came through a viewcrystal, “Foulshaper, come to the throne room.” Foulshaper sighed and cast the security spells for his lair. He took another forlorn look at his newest creations then left. Outside, the mangled head of Gringrinder was stuck on a bloody pole. Foulshaper ignored it as he concentrated on invisibility and levitation spells. With a sigh, he flew into the afternoon sky. Reluctantly, he thought about what she could do to him. A quick and painless death was the best outcome, but then again Empress Razorhoof was a master of Enchantment, mind magic. She could put all sorts of horrible things in his head, and he would believe it. The image of O’vioj surfaced in his mind... That poor creature was the object of a mission back when he and Razorhoof had different names. For this situation, she was called Arikaya and, well, Foulshaper forgot his name in that world. He hated the fetid steaming city lit by a bloated red sun that climbed ponderously to its zenith then as slowly fell down to sunset. The stink and shine of copper was everywhere. He hoped that the mission could be quickly done, but it seemed to take ages to do what was needed. The Vile Council had sent them to investigate why the last delivery of essence was low. It didn’t take Foulshaper and Arikaya long to find out that O’vioj the Pale, a non-gleaner creature, was feeding on essence. Normally, such creatures wouldn’t get any benefits, but somehow O’vioj found a way. He also agreed to meet them in private to discuss the situation. Foulshaper just knew that this was a trap. O’vioj the Pale was the Lord of the Copper Tower, a building that dwarfed the massed hovels around the Royal Quarter. In his private chambers, the shiny copper walls reflected the images of Foulshaper, brawny adventurer carrying a sharp-edged copper halberd and Arikaya, a tall thin woman wearing a green cloak with light green details. On her dark haired head was a black circlet. The last image was O’vioj the Pale, a white pile of gluttonous flesh wider than two or more men sitting on a floating copper chair inscribed with bright green sigils. Arikaya gazed at O’vioj. “I don’t understand. Why are you having problems delivering essence to the Vile Council.” O’vioj wheezed for a moment. “Someone in my inner circle cast a gut rot spell on me. Since you’re not from around here, let me explain. Gut rot causes the victim to have problems digesting their food. A few slices of bread suddenly didn’t fill the stomach anymore. Two loaves were needed. As the spell progressed, more and more food is needed until the victim starved to death in the midst of plenty.” Arikaya nodded. “Surely a mage of your stature could sense and deal with such a spell. Right?” O’vioj wheezed again. “Yes, but the spell was subtle and I have great appetites. By the time I realized what was going on, it was too late. I did punish the one responsible, but the damage was already done. I didn’t want to spend every waking hour eating. There are other hungers I wanted to sate.” He smiled. Foulshaper wanted to look away, there was something disgusting in O’vioj’s sharp-toothed smile. O’vioj continued, “I found a cursed lore book that showed me how to use other’s life energy to feed myself and bypass the gut rot damage. The essence came in handy, though there were side effects.” His body sloshed wetly in his chair. Arikaya sighed. “You could’ve contacted the Council.” “Are you that naive? Your foul council would’ve gotten rid of me and gotten someone else to take my place.” “Well, I see that you’ve done a wonderful job.” The red sun shone on the flushed face of O’vioj as he sat in his copper floating chair. “Petty Gleaner Lord bitch. You want to challenge me? I know spells that would crush your skinny body to mush. I also learned how to use essence to increase my power.” Arikaya just smiled. “Vyyka cake is so tasty, the frosting is thick like flesh and the insides ooze with oola sauce red as blood.” O’vioj peered at Arikaya. “Did the glickas take your mind? This is no time for discussing pastries-” O’vioj looked at his left hand, and licked his pale fleshy lips. Quick as a wink, he pulled out a copper dagger, and cut his hand off. Foulshaper was surprised at how sharp the dagger was to cut through an arm so quickly. Meanwhile, O’vioj cut pieces off of his doughy white hand and gobbled them down. Sometimes, he spat bones on the plate, and when his hand was finished, he raised the shiny copper plate to his face and licked all of the blood off. The disgusting spectacle made Foulshaper’s stomach roil but he managed to keep his food down. Would O’vioj die now? He didn’t, he cast a greedy hungry look at his slowly spurting stump. Another slice and part of his arm lay on the plate like a bloody bone-filled cookie. O’vioj just popped the slice in his mouth and smiled. He continued to cut off more slices from his arm, but his movements were slowing down. Foulshaper figured he was dying, also he was running out of bits to cut off on his left shoulder. O’vioj wheezed. “It’s like eating a bit of Heaven on this foul Earth.” Then he took his last breath and died with his eyes open. The chair fell to the floor with a dull clang that echoed through the entire tower. Arikaya smiled. “The Lord of the tower has fallen. We have more work to do.” He had to know. “Did he die not knowing what was going on?” Arikaya smiled even wider. “No, I showed that gluttonous creature that he had a belly full of his own flesh instead of his favorite pastry. The mix of emotions was quite tasty, though it was too much along with the blood loss for his malformed heart.” That memory almost broke Foulshaper’s concentration, but he managed to continue flying. After a few minutes, the green glowing towers of Canterlot came into view. He wanted to savor his dwindling time alive, but he worried that being late would make things worse. After a sigh, he added more power and dived toward the Royal Air Balcony - the place where messengers could land and go directly to the Princess with important news... except now there wasn’t a princess on the throne. An Empress ruled now. Foulshaper landed with a grunt and looked around. The Remnant and gleaner guards next to the door bowed to him. He nodded and passed the open dark wooden doors. Stained glass windows painted his grey-brown fur with all sorts of colors. He ignored it. He stopped before the golden throne room doors and watched as Remnants unpacked several boxes of pony statues. These weren’t ordinary statues - inside them, there were real ponies, contorted and twisted. Foulshaper could taste the pain and fear coming off of the awful artwork, and even though he was worried about dying, the emotions from the petrified ponies brought a smile to his face. This was the work of Eya Sore, a true gleaner artist. Foulshaper hoped to meet her, but first, he had to survive today. He approached the doors and they opened. The last time he was in the throne room, it was to celebrate their success at taking Canterlot. Other than some of the banners being removed, it was the same white and gold motif. Empress Razorhoof, a thin bright green alicorn with black eyes sat on a throne that was two sizes larger than her. She was busy sorting through a pile of pale green scrolls with dark green ribbons. Below the throne, the shrieker king waited impatiently. He kept bouncing back and forward. To Foulshaper’s left, he noticed a podium with two strange lights on it. One had a steady green glow that was almost too bright to look at. The other one’s glow waxed and waned. He tore his gaze away from the strange orbs to focus on business. Foulshaper nodded. “King Slashscream.” King Slashscream nodded back. “She’s treating us like guano! It’s so petty.” Foulshaper wanted to tell Slashscream that she could hear him, but then again he should be smart enough to know that. The Empress fixed Foulshaper and Slashscream in her dark gaze. “Both of you have performed poorly. Losing two of the Elements of Harmony is something that is worth serious punishment, but losing the Prophetess in addition to that...that  is a much graver failure.” Slashscream thrust his spikes at the Empress. “The ponies surprised me, but with your support, I can crush them all!” Foulshaper’s ears and tail drooped. He was expecting a killing blow soon. It seemed like Slashscream was going to make the Empress even angrier. The Empress leaned forward, “Foulshaper, you need to exert more control over your creations. Slashscream should know better than to point his spikes at me.” Foulshaper bowed. “Your Majesty, I’m-I’m sorry, but Slashscream is his own creature.” He could feel Slashscream give him an angry look. Empress Razorhoof sat back on her throne. “Foulshaper, your habit of giving incompetent creations important tasks reflects poorly on your judgment.” Slashscream bristled. “I think your decision to keep the Elements of Harmony alive is an incompetent decision. Also, I think your command to keep the gray sky pony, the Prophetess, alive is a terrible decision.” The dark voids of Empress Razorhoof’s eyes grew as large as the throne room, and Foulshaper felt like he was falling into them... Foulshaper found himself in the sky, the ground below was a cloud-shrouded gray mass. He wondered how he got there. There was no teleportation energy surge, he would’ve sensed that. Maybe. Teleportation magic wasn’t an area of study for him. No matter, it would take a moment to focus on a levitation spell, and his plummet to the ground would be stopped. It wasn’t like this was the first time he had fell while a spell failed. That’s when he got a shock; the basic levitation spell was just some nonsense in his mind. He checked the other spells in his memory, while the ground crept closer. For some reason, all of the spells were turned into worthless lines of childish poetry. Fear tried to move into his mind, but he pushed it back. How did he lose his spell memories? It didn’t make sense. Then the image of O’vioj’s pasty face appeared in his mind. For a moment, he felt a bit of relief. He wasn’t really falling. Empress Razorhoof was using her enchantment magic on him. The feeling faded away as he realized he had no way to fight the mental illusion, or whatever it was. Every time he tried to concentrate on anything, he would get distracted. The wind whistling past his ears, the feeling of falling, it all felt so real. Foulshaper remembered hearing about the power of the mind, and how impressionable it was. If a person died in their sleep, they would die in real life. That idea drove him to try and break out of the spell, but again he failed. Another thought suggested that maybe this was all for the best. Foulshaper shoved that thought back, he wanted to live. He wanted to see his greatest creations grow up and reach their fullest potential. No, he wouldn’t accept death so easily. A quick look down showed the ground leaping up to grab him in a crushing embrace… He was back in the throne room gasping for air. For a moment, he thought about blasting the Empress with magic, but his anger faded away to cold embers. So he just gaped open-mouthed until the commotion next to him grabbed his attention. Slashscream was lying on the floor sobbing, “No fall no fall!” Foulshaper felt a bit of pity for the creature. He looked at the Empress, who bore a smile on her face. He could tell she liked humiliating her minions. She frowned and pointed to Slashscream with her left forehoof. “Compose yourself, you imbecilic spiky creature!” Slashscream sobbed for a moment and finally stood up. Once Empress Razorhoof knew she had his attention, she continued. “If I sense even an iota of attitude from you ever again, I will dredge up such horrors from the foul muck you call a brain, you will wish for death. Do you understand?” “Y-yes, Empress,” Slashscream said. Empress Razorhoof turned her void-dark eyes on Foulshaper. “Don’t make me do your work for you. Tell your creatures who rules here and what’s appropriate behavior, or we will have problems” Foulshaper nodded. “Yes, Empress.” Empress Razorhoof looked back at Slashscream. “Listen carefully, you ignorant creature so you know these things. There is a Tree of Harmony, it is a source of the Element’s power. Until we either control or destroy it, we can’t kill any of the Elements of Harmony. ‘Why?’ your tiny spike brain asks. Well, if we kill one, the tree will pick another pony. We might get a respite for a bit, and then we will be under attack from somepony we don’t know. By holding one or more of them, we could stop them from interfering with our plans. There is also the chance that we could corrupt them to serve us.” Slashscream nodded. Empress Razorhoof continued. “By killing the Prophetess before I had a chance to interrogate and or corrupt her, you would have deprived us of a chance to learn more about our enemies.” She raised her voice a little, “You do realize that if we kill all of the ponies, we lose the emotions and life we feed on. Our job here is to make the ponies suffer, not to kill them. Now, the Vile Council, the ones who hold our lives in their cruel claws, are concerned with our slow progress. I must explain to them why it’s taking too long to pacify these ponies. Alas, you clueless spiked creature, you don’t know of the threat from the crystal ponies from the north. If the two of you hadn’t made a mess of things, we would be in a better position to pacify this region so we could deal with the northern threat. I’m so glad that Twilight Sparkle and Rarity were in the hands of competent guardians offworld. If they were entrusted to you, we would be feeling the full might of the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses now.” Empress Razorhoof got off the throne and walked to the podium. She pointed to the bright orb. “This is Sunscour. The other one.” Then she pointed to the one that changed from bright to dim. “This is Moonsour. Treat my children well or death won’t be a refuge for you. They require a safe place to grow. Feed them pony blood and gleaner essence. Foulshaper, you are responsible for Sunscour. Slashscream is responsible for Moonsour. As they grow strong, they will tear command of the sun and moon from the feeble princesses hooves. Once my creations have control, well we will see. I’ve left instructions in the podiums.” She vanished with a blaze of green. A smile covered Foulshaper’s muzzle, showing his white and sharp teeth. Death wasn’t going to fall upon him yet. Of course, the Vile Council could decide to wipe them all out and replace them with other Gleaner creatures, but until then, he had work to do. Slashscream floated up to get his instructions. “Well, we survived.” Foulshaper nodded then stepped around the podium to get his instruction scroll.  He felt almost happy, he was alive and there was something new to work on. The ponies are going to see some wonderful things real soon, he thought as a smile crossed his face.