//------------------------------// // Spite // Story: This is what we do // by Foxgear //------------------------------// This what we do Chapter 14 By Foxgear Applejack slumps in her chair, barely listening to Mr. Doodle’s math lecture, her mind abuzz as she frequently checks her watch, waiting for the final bell of the day. The toe of her boot taps the tile floor restlessly, she stomps on it with her other boot to keep it still. If she got caught not paying attention Mr. Doodle would make her stay after class. Thus, further hindering her in her mission. She wants… no needs to talk to her friends. On this rare Monday, she hadn’t talked to any her friends yet today. She saw Sunset and Twilight in English, but couldn’t talk to them. Till her grounding was done, Granny was forcing her to eat with her during lunch and her cellphone was in Granny’s custody until the end of the day. Pinkie Pie, who she shares science class with her was absent. Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were in different classes than her this semester. Mr. Doodle finishes scratching out the final number of whatever math problem he was presenting to them. His long droopy face making him look as excited as they were to in this class. It was the look of a man to who had long resigned to the fact that no normal teenager wants to learn math. “Please, make sure to do pages 234 to 237 for homework, even problems only. So, no checking in the back of the book and be sure to show your work. If you use the internet I’ll know because let’s face it, most of you are C’s at best. But if any of you insist on cheating, expect to be taking a test instead tomorrow. Class dismissed.” The herd of students stampedes out of the classroom. Eager to get on with after school activates or simply go home and play or hang out with friends. Applejack was well on her way to go to her friends or at least the ones she could find when Mr. Doodle calls out to her. Making her silently curse in the doorway. “Miss Apple, may I have a word with you?” She smiles a wide fake smile, annoyed at being held up, but kept any insults trapped inside, lest she gets another grounding from Granny for smarting off to a teacher. “Yes, Mr. Doodle?” “I’ve been going over your tests and your scores have been in decline. You were a solid B student earlier at the beginning of the year and now your falling to a low C. Have things been troubling you lately?” (Monsters, fallen pony gods from another world, almost dying… yeah, something has been bothering me.) Applejack muses while still putting up a big smile. “Nope, everything’s fine Mr. Doodle, I’m just a bit tired from the apple harvest is all. But that’s all wrapped up now, so things should be getting back to normal from here on.” Mr. Doodle nods tiredly well shuffling a stack of papers on his desk, “I see. A very mundane reason I guess, given you and your friends recent… incidents. I’m glad things are going… normally for you then. Now before you go I need you to see the school counselor.” “I need to go see Vice Principle Luna?” “Yes, she’s requested to see you. Please be sure to stop by her office before you leave. Granny Smith has been made aware of this.” Applejack’s smile sours, it sucks having a family member on the staff, everybody working in the school probably knew she was grounded and on Granny’s short leash. “Thank you, Mr. Doodle, I’ll do that.” Leaving the classroom Applejack made a beeline for the school parking lot. If she was careful and hurried she could still catch at least one of the girls. Approaching the double glass doors, a smile graces her lips as she sees Sunset and Twilight climbing into Twilight’s purple Pontiac. She reaches for the door handle, the cold air burning her throat as she gets ready to yell for them to wait, only for a firm hand to pull her back into the school. “I believe you were supposed to come and see me, Applejack,” Vice Principal Luna says giving her a firm look. “Um yeah, I just needed to…” Twilight’s car drives off. Her friends leaving her to hang. “Um… nothing, I guess.” “Good, follow me. We have someone waiting for us in my office.” Applejack looks curiously at Luna, wondering who it could be. Maybe Granny? No, Granny would have said something at Lunch. Could it be Mac? No Luna would have said it was him. Also, why would Mac come see her at school? She wasn’t thinking sensibly. That being said, her gut began to churn. What if it’s Grandpa Bailey? Did he find out she stole his guns? No, that couldn’t be, he was in assisted living and if he hasn’t found out yet, he wouldn’t know now. Hell, he might have actually forgotten about that storage unit. Still, even if that may not be the case, she was getting anxious. “Don’t worry about getting home. I’ve already talked to Granny Smith and told her I’d give you a ride home when we're finished talking.” Luna said, probably noticing her fidgeting. She was misreading it, but it was still a logical observation. (I guess I didn’t see Granny’s truck in the parking lot. Her and Applebloom must have gone home already.) They arrive at Luna’s office, well the office reserved for the school counselor, which was Luna, so she had two offices. They enter the small room, consisting of a desk with two chairs in front. Unlike most of the other school rooms, it was devoid of the usual generic school educational posters. The walls were a cool blue, probably to help students who were stressed out relax. There was no one else in the room. Luna took her seat behind the desk, offering her a chair. “Sit down Applejack.” Applejack did as she was told, sitting patiently, playing with the end of her denim skirt, a pair of long black winter socks covering her legs. Peeking up from her skirt she sees Luna’s preparing a glass of water and set it at the edge of the desk. One for her and one for herself. “So, Applejack, how are things going?” “I don’t know. What do the other teachers say? Since you seem to have them spying on me.” Luna looks exhausted, sighing deeply as she takes a sip of water, “You know that isn’t true Applejack. It’s true that I may give you and Applebloom a bit more attention, but I don’t spy on you regularly. Only I think it’s necessary. Judging from your declining grades, as both your godmother and your principle, and counselor, I felt it necessary to call you here.” “Uh ah, so my grades slipped a bit, it’s harvest time. You know that.” “I do, you and your siblings have attended this school through many seasons as have many other ag-kids, but none of them have dropped an entire letter grade in all of their classes during harvest. Also, normally I am not legally allowed to tell you this, but since you’re a special case, all of your friends, minus Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, have also been performing rather poorly lately. Starting exactly one month ago, after a certain incident. Do you see where I’m going with this Applejack?” She crosses her arms, not meeting the older woman’s questioning gaze. “Things didn’t go as planned is all. We still won in the end, that’s what matters.” “True, true,” Luna nods, producing a clipboard from under her desk. “But it was different than the fall dance, the battle of the bands, the Friendship games and camp Everfree, right? Every battle was tougher than the last, at camp you actually fought a bit before holding hands and blasting the villain away with a rainbow. At the end, everyone, including me, walked away without so much as a scratch. This is just educated guess, but this last time at Holder’s boulder, you walked away with more than a few scratches, right?” Applejack grabs her shoulder with a trembling hand. The screams of her friends echoing in her ears. Droplets appear on her skirt, she looks up at Luna, tears falling down her cheeks. She wipes them away, but they keep coming. “We got more than a few scratches,” She chokes, trying force back her tears. “We got hurt. We didn’t win, not at first, before Mac, Sixes, and Aria got there. We were strung up like freshly hunted deer waiting to be butchered. We were out for most of it when Mac and the others started fighting, but it finally hit me. Like it probably should have when we faced Maddie.This is dangerous. We could actually be killed! There was no rainbow this time, no friendship conquers all, we straight up had to obliterate that guy, Grau. Sixes and Sunset did the final blow, but I was actually trying to kill him! And he would have killed me without a second thought either.” Luna sat silently, watching Applejack’s haunted green eyes graze over. She had suspected this. That the girls were surpassing the event, playing it off as just another magical adventure, but deep down it was affecting them. It was showing in their grades and perhaps in their friendship. It wasn’t by design, but the magical group of girls were split up this year. None of them all had the same class together, nor did any of them share more than one or two classes with the others. Again, this wasn’t by any meddling on the school’s part, it’s just the way the girls chose to set up their classes. But that lack of unity was creating distance between them as they all slowly, but surely worked toward their lives outside of school. “You’re a junior this year, right Applejack?” Applejack nods, Luna offers her a tissue to help clean away the tears. “And what are your plans after High school? You have one more year, but it’s good to start thinking about such things now. So, what is the magical monster slaying farm girl going to do next?” “Ah… Ah, don’t know,” Applejack admits, her accent coming on extra thick in her emotional state. “Ah’ve always thought Ah’d farm, but Mac owns the farm. He’d have to give me a few acres to start or Ah’d have to go try and find my own place, but land is so expensive and now with all this magic stuff… Ah, don’t know anymore. Nothin’ really jumps out when you know magic exists. There’s a door to a whole other world just right outside the school and probably more beyond that! It’s… it’s overwhelming.” “Well, it’s refreshing hear you say that because that’s how it’s been for me and Celestia and well all of us really. Can you imagine how hard it is for Mr. Gizmo to teach science when people can sprout pony ears and fire Kamehameha’s from their hands?” “Only Pinkie and Rainbow tried that and we didn’t think it’d actually work and blow up the school equipment shed!” Applejack quickly states Luna, looking bemused as she laughs. “And we thought it was a gas leak and the janitor smoking, thanks for clearing that up.” Applejack blushes, laughing awkwardly, “No problem.” The mood of the room shifts to a much more relaxed tone. Applejack and Luna exchange wholehearted smiles. Luna sets aside her clipboard. No longer talking as a Vice Principle or a school counselor but as a godmother. “Does it feel better now? Not that one talk will fix everything, but are things a little better?” Luna asks reaching under her desk again and pulling out two Dr. Peppers, one for herself and one for Applejack. Applejack excepts the can, giving a short quick nod, “Good, hopefully, I’ll have as much success with the others. I’ll be honest with you, seeing you kids fight off evil all the time… it makes us adults feel… well, useless. So, whatever we can do to help, let us know.” “Thanks, Luna, you’ve been a pretty chill godmother through all this craziness.” “Chill, not the most faltering compliment for fudging your absentee reports, but I’ll take it.” Luna grins taking a sip of soda. “So how are things with Mac? Do you talk to him often?” “Ah talked to him a bit this last harvest, but before then not very much. What with Granny taking my phone and truck.” “I suppose, are you still getting used to the sirens as sisters in-laws? I know the wedding isn’t till after Adagio gives birth, but their marriage is official as far as the state is concerned or did they not file at the courthouse yet?” Applejack nods, “Yeah, they filed, but Granny doesn't care about that. She doesn’t count it official till the Preacher says I do. She’s a bit set in her ways like that. I’ve spent some time with Sonata and Aria, their kind of fun to hang out with sometimes. I visit them most Saturday’s at the Apple stand. We get along for the most part I think. Still, it’s a bit weird sometimes. Knowing your brother’s ahh… plowing a pony mermaid’s fields.” Soda sprayed from Luna's nose, the sugary soda running down her hand onto the desk as she tries to fight back a laugh. Grinning she sets the soda can down, swiping the desk down with a cloth, “Yes, I suppose that can be rather… weird.” The two share a laugh as they settle into a comfortable silence. “So,” Applejack said after a minute passes. “Didn’t you say someone was waiting for us?” Luna checks her watch, “Yes, I fibbed on the time, but she should be arriving soon. I was hoping you could help her out as this is a matter that falls into your current field of expertise.” There’s knock at the door. “That’s probably her, you can come in now!” Luna calls out. The door opens, Applejack turning around to come face to face with the odd-eyed stare of Derpy Hooves. The blonde-gray girl said nothing as she took the seat next to Applejack, pulling out her phone, she holds it in front of Applejack’s face. A picture displayed on the screen. Applejack squints, the photo was of a burning house with two shadowy figures standing in front of the house. She sucks in a breath, spotting the severed heads in one of the figure’s grasps and the unmistakable outline of pony ears on their heads. “What’s this?” She askes looking between Derpy and Luna. Derpy puts her phone away, leaving the floor open for Luna. “Well,” The vice principle begins. “I’d hate to jump to conclusions, but they may be your next foe.” Applejack looks at her, then to Derpy, and then back to Luna. A chill running down her spine as she thought of the severed heads. Only one phrase could describe the feeling of absolute dread in her stomach. “Oh fuck.” “Aria! It’s cold!” “It’s October Sonata, of course, it’s cold.” Aria drawls, playing Tetris on her phone. Scowling in disgust and annoyance at the lack of people in the square today. Not that she could blame them. That wind was raw! She was wearing a long sleeve shirt, a sweeter and a heavy jacket and her nips still felt like they were going to freeze off! Did some wendigo’s come through a portal or a yeti? It was too damn cold! Shivering under her blanket Sonata, in only a sweater, looks at Aria with big puppy eyes. “Can we call it a day early? Or can I at least go home and get another coat or maybe go warm up at Sugar Cube Corner?” She sighs, looking at the barren plaza and then to the bakery across the street. It did look inviting, hot cups of coffee, fresh warm pastries… “Yeah, screw this, pack it up and let’s go get ourselves a treat. We fucking deserve it after enduring this shit for three hours.” “Yay!” Aria shakes her head at Sonata’s childish antics, but that was Sonata, “Come on, let’s get this stuff packed up and get inside.” The two clean up the stand in record time. Their desire for warmth and treats pushing their fringed bodies to work faster. The apples and treats are put away in the back of the pick up with the table. Eagerly they wander over to the Sugar Cube Corner. Sighing as the warmth and smells of the bakery defrost their frozen bodies. As they stood in the doorway they took a quick glance at the other patrons. Two men. One old, one young, probably in his thirties. The younger had his back to them, but the older man… he looked familiar. “Hey, Aria! Come on let’s order!” Sonata demands, louder than necessary. Making Aria blush in embarrassment for the both of them as she made her way to the counter. With every step she took, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched and not just watched, but glared at. She peeks around her shoulder, catching the younger man doing the same. A single gold eye peeking out from under his baseball cap along with unruly strands of red hair. “What do you want dearie?” Mrs. Cake asks her. Sonata already sitting down with her order and a cup of coffee. Aria looks over the selection with a keen eye, not really sure what she wants. “I’ll just have a long john and coffee.” She said. Mrs. Cake quickly grabs the desired donut with a wax paper napkin and hands it across the counter. “Two fifty, coffee is over there.” Aria lays the money on the counter, excepting the donut with a quick smile. Pouring a cup and adding sugar and crème, she sits down across from Sonata, who was humming a little tune as she bounces in her seat. “Do you have to act like a god damn child all the time?” Sonata stops her bouncing, her lips quivering as she hangs her head, “There’s nothing wrong with being happy Aria. You should give it a try from time to time.” “I am happy,” Aria growls taking a big bite of her long john. Sonata’s face still sullen. She sighs, setting down the half-eaten donut. “Sorry, this fucking cold has me in a bad mood. Why can’t they just let us sell goods inside? Why do we have to wait till it snows till we can move into the community building?” “Because the city doesn’t want to pay for the extra cost of heating the community center if they don’t have to by law. The city ordinance was written that as long as there’s no snow or it's not twenty below vendors must sell outside in the plaza. There’s a bill being looked at by the city council to change that if that fails you’ll have to organize a petition for a public vote too bypass the council.” The older man explains, he turns around in his chair, giving the two sirens a big goofy smile. “I’m sure if you young lovely ladies were to go around asking for signatures you’d have enough in a day.” “We could call it ‘let’s not freeze our asses off’ bill!” Sonata cheers, which made the old man laugh heartily. “Well, it sure has a ring to it,” he laughs, slapping the table. Aria stares at the old man, feeling something familiar about him. His tawny peach skin, the shape of his face, his brawny stocky frame, and that beard, he kinds of reminds her of… “More coffee?” Mrs. Cake interrupts holding up a fresh pot of coffee. Everyone nods, accepting the free refill. “Why don’t you gals come sit with us? We were just talking about the latest hubbub in town.” Accepting the invitation Aria and Sonata move tables, sitting on the old man’s side of the table. His younger companion giving off an unwelcoming vibe. He was bundled up in a heavy blue coat, a gray scarf around his neck obscures the lower half of his face, while the bill of his ball cap shadows his face. The only thing really standing out about him were his piercing gold eyes. There seem to be a lot of anger behind his gaze, but he remains silent, sipping his coffee. “So, what’s been going on in town? We usually get the load down from our customers, but we didn’t have any today.” Said Sonata between sips and bites. “Well,” the old man chuckles, “Then you're in for a treat. One house in little Hispania got torched last night and another house just disappeared without a trace.” The younger man grunts, “There were traces left. A bunch of powdered diamond dust was found at the scene. Course we have no idea how that’s involved.” “Really? Entire house disappears and there’s only dust left behind? Sounds like something out of fairy tale,” Aria snorts in disbelief, but really she was racking her brain about what equestrian creature could have done that. Nothing really came to mind, unless a there was an evil crystal pony mage about. “I’ve heard stranger things,” the younger man speaks up. “I’ll grant you the dust house is strange, but the house fire isn’t anything special. Just some gang violence. Word around the bars is Del Rio Toro is at the breaking point. Lots of the hideouts and members have been killed in the last month. Course this just means some new gang will set up shop in their place.” Sonata and Aria look beside themselves, “We have gangs here? But we're just a small town.” Sonata voiced with a scrunched brow. The young man chuckles, making her pout at possibly being mocked. “Canterlot township is a sub-district of the Canterlot City, we’re a bit removed from the city proper, but we are still technically part of it. Most of the time gangs like to set up their drug productions in these more rural areas and then ship them to the city. Since they don’t like to attract attention they usually refrain from being violent and causing trouble to the public, but it’s always easy to spot a drug house.” “How do you tell?” Aria asks with interest. The young man scratches his chin, looking thoughtful, “Well, it’s not a given rule, but the signs are unruly lawns, no maintenance on the house, never see the residences and the smell of the house if you ever happen to find yourself inside. Why you interested in getting a fix?” “No, no, just want to know what to avoid,” Aria replies quickly with a chuckle. Really there was no point in getting into the local gang problem they apparently had. They had much bigger things to worry about. Like the house being turned to diamond dust. Maybe they should have Sunset write Princess Twilight and see if there was some new creature in Equestria or they could go through the mirror and ask themselves. It would be nice to go see how Equestria has changed these past thousand years. Maybe they could go there on vacation. “Hey, hey, Aria!” Sonata yells starling the pink siren from her thoughts. “Uh, what?” “Shouldn’t we be getting back? This was fun and all, but we should probably be getting back to the farm, right?” Aria checks her watch, it was twelve thirty if they weren’t going to work the stand they should probably go home, eat and do some work around the yard. At least the trees should block the wind a little better. “Yeah, your right. Nice talking to ya two. Maybe we’ll run into each other again.” “I’m sure we will,” The old man replies, “Small town after all.” The two sirens dispose of their napkins, set the coffee cup on the counter for Mrs. Cake to retrieve and walk out of the bakery. The cold wind assaulting them instantly, stealing away the warmth in an instant. Checking traffic, they quickly dash across the street to the plaza parking lot. Once there they start the pickup and they wait a few minutes for the heater to start blowing warm air before driving off. “Those two guys sure were nice to talk too, the old guy was funny and the that young guy… he…” Sonata trails off with a dreamily look. “You could hardly see his face, Sonata. If you ask me he seems kind of shady. His knowledge of the workings of gangs and drugs adding to that.” “Yeah, but he smelt good.” Aria wrinkles her nose, it was a bit stuffy so she couldn’t smell good at the moment, “Smell? What did he smell like?” Sonata swoons, “Like a stallion.” Aria shoots her a confused look. “You know like Mac? Just all male and…” Aria nods along, understanding what her sister was saying, a few moments later her brain finally processed what her sister was saying, “Wait, what? A stallion? You mean he was Equestrian?” “Maybe, kind of, he did smell a bit off. Kind of like Mac does, so maybe he’s a human/pony like Mac?” Sonata questions aloud as they pull into the yard. “Should we go back and ask him?” “What and sound completely insane? Hey guy we just met, was one of your parents a magical pony from another world? Cause if so, we are magical sirens from the same another world and our biology finds you attractive.” Aria says sarcastically. “Was that what you planned to say?” “Well…” Sonata says poking her fingers together. “Maybe not quite on the nose as that, but something like that.” “Tch, whatever. I still don’t like that looks of that guy and that old guy looked familiar too.” “Maybe he’s one of your boyfriends back from the forties?” Sonata jokes, making Aria growl. “Ok, ok, sorry. Still, now that you mention it, both of them seems familiar, but I can’t place my finger on where I saw them.” “Hmm… we’ll have to do some digging on them then. What were their names?” Aria asks looking at Sonata, who shrugs back. Slapping her forehead, Aria curses, “Fuck, we never got their names!” Back in town, in the back allies of Canterlot, the two men from the bakery walk down the trash-filled alley to a back door with the words VFW post 0756 emblazed on the door. They enter, coming into a dimly lit bar/restaurant. A handful of veterans and biker looking folks scattered about. As they made for the stairs, they wave to the man at the bar to follow and all three climb the stairs to the office on the second floor. Once inside the young man pulls off his cap and scarf, tossing them onto the bed in the room. Revealing his wild red hair and red skin, he falls into the chair with an ‘oof’ grabs the bottle of whiskey on the table and takes a swing. With his free hand, he directs the other two men to sit on the chairs in front of the desk. “Thanks for the help Bailey, sorry we disturbed your nap.” The young man says offering a glass to the old man Bailey. “Nurses ok letting you have this stuff?” he asks pouring liquor into the glass. Bailey laughs, accepting the glass, “Huh, I’m nearly eighty now. Might as well enjoy life a little bit before I die. Maybe when my first great-great-grandchild is born I’ll just kill over. It’s about the only thing I want to live to see at this point.” He takes a swing. “Oh boy, that’s the stuff!” “Still I can’t thank you enough for helping us out,” The young man says pouring a glass for the other man. Bailey continues to laugh, waving off his gratitude. “Ferocious, Stryker, you boys were Nico’s best friends, to me you might as well be sons, same as him. Whatever you need, you can count on Bailey Apple to be there for you. So, what’s the hubbub about those girls? They looked normal to me, that blue one looked mightily interested in you.” From his spot Stryker Six chuckles, much to Ferocious’s expense, “First Luna and now another one? Maybe blue is your lucky color?” “Shut up Stryker,” Ferocious snaps. “Sorry, I know you only got eyes for Luna. You should try asking her out again before someone else steals her.” Ignoring his partner’s comments, Ferocious turns his attention to Bailey, his face serious. “Those girls attacked us in the past and they haven’t aged much since then. However, they didn’t stink of black magic like last time. Maybe they turned over a new leaf, but it’ll probably be best to keep them under watch. That’s going to be tough since they live out at your old farm Bailey. You sure your ok with Mac marrying a siren from another world?” “I let my daughter knowing marry a pony man from another world. Can’t say I see any reason to object now. As for those girls being evil in the past? Well, you gotta forgive people for their mistakes. I’ve asked around town and from what I’ve heard they’ve been upstanding citizens. That blue girl was at the community bake sale selling cookies last mouth. Does that sound like a girl enthralled by black magic to you?” “Probably not,” Ferocious laments, doubting the sirens would have the patience or the will to do such a thing without starting a fight to feed off the negative energy. “But that doesn’t mean we should let our guard down. Somewhere in this town is some magical evil thing roaming around and it already attacked once from what we know. If it’s not the sirens, all it means is there something else out there.” “Yeah, but what could it be?” Stryker asks, all three of them looking stumped as they sat back and pour another round of whiskey. She was blood snorting angrily. Tiny scratches adorn her checks, little trickles of blood mixing with her sweat. It was cold, but all she wore was a tattered shirt and skirt. Bite marks litter her shoulder, veins of black spreading across her body yet she did not yield to the pink and black snake hissing before her. “Get away from me! I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!” Pinkie Pie screams into the night. She was in her family’s quarry, alone, well not alone. The evil snake was with her. The snake she had puked up after being told she'd have to miss another day of school. Another day away from her friends. That would make four or maybe it was five? She didn’t know. Since she last saw her friends. It had made her angry. Once her father had left, leaving her shell-shocked in the barren dugout side of a hill, she let loose. Blowing up piles of rocks with her explosion power and crushing boulders with gravity. That had been the point she puked up the snake. The snake of Spite. The snake hisses, slithering closer. Pinkie stumbles back throwing a handful of explosive rocks. The snake weaves through them with ease, avoiding the half-hearted attack. Pinkie was losing steam. Her magic dwindling fast. She had tried to fight off the darkness for so long by herself, relying on the connection she and her friends share to keep the darkness festering inside her and them at bay. Now those connection were failing one by one. She could feel it. She could feel their bonds slipping away. Shattering into the darkness. “Get away,” Pinkie says weakly using gravity to force the snake down, but the snake merely tilt’s it’s head, causing the gravity to reverse and come crashing down on her, pinning her down helplessly. The snake slithers onto her belly, raising up it unfurls it’s pink wings. It's jaws wide open, it plunges down, biting the top of her breast, nearest to her heart. Black veins spread out from the bite, racing towards her heart. “No, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Pinkie’s struggles cease, her eyes going completely white. The snake slithers around her neck, nuzzling her cheek. Her pupils reappear, gone were the soft happy blue eyes, replaced with cold silver. Pinkie rose to her feet, petting the snakes head lovingly. “It’s time for the Queen to take the field.” Reaching out she senses the other three snakes, the mistress that fancy they can take her rightful role. She’d put them in their place soon enough. After all, the king had chosen her first. And no mere concubine was going to usurp her place as the rightful Queen of Bones. “What do you say little one? Should I unleash my spite now upon the foolish usurpers or let them be?” The snake rubs her cheek affectionately, hissing softly into her ears. “Yes, it will be more fun to wait. Just when they think they’ve achieved their goals, I will swoop and blow it all away! HEHEHAHAHAA!”