//------------------------------//
// Polymor- er... Apotheosis 
// Story: A Battleground of Kindness 
// by StormDancer 
//------------------------------//

So...
It's been a few days and the Master has been doing a good job on making sure no one found out about the open rebellion of her minions.

And by that I mean she's been in the lair, taking care of cleanup and destroying all the evidence of my efforts to idiot-proof the lair from the idiots.
I mean 'guests'.

Idiots... guests... really, it doesn't seem like much of a difference to me, but she insists that they're 'good ponies' at heart despite their extreme cowardice and willful disobedience.

Anyway, so we were all just sitting down to feast upon the flesh of the local ... (sigh) you know what? I can't even attempt to make eating a daisy sandwich sound evil. It's.... just no.

Fine... we were just sitting down to breakfast when this skull-shattering ringing started up. Spike and the Master immediately leapt up and ran out the door, leaving me to dodge cutlery and plates. I had just considered cleaning them up when my world turned pinkish and I found myself being carried through the air in one of the Master's little magic bubbles.

We traveled all the way to the Sweatstain's vile demesne, Sweet Apple Acres.

And since I'm pretty sure you all don't know that word, it's pronounced 'Di-main'.... it's the older, magical, and proper word for DOMAIN... region... personal holdings of import.

I swear, if not for the corrupting influence of etiquette, this worlds educational systems are simply without redemption.

Apparently, some little monsters had infested her trees. "Vampire fruit bats," she called them... I kid you not. Looked like crotchety doilies with wings if you ask me, but somehow this was a bad thing and she wanted 'help' in clearing them out.

My first impulse was to burn the trees, one and all, and deprive the little vermin of their livelihood. Buuuuut, the Master said that doing that would be bad, that it would hurt Applejack.

I remained silent... I never said anything about bats. Aaaaand, from the dirty looks I got from the Traitor and Applejack, I think they probably guessed as much.

Things went around for a bit, but the only one who even tried saying anything that made sense was the assassin.

THE ASSASSIN had an idea on how to get rid of the problem... and nobody wanted to listen.

Now, don't get me wrong, she and I have had a bit of a challenge in our past: that being she tried to suffocate me when no one was looking! Buuuuuuuuut, be that as it may, when you want to 'get rid of' something, and an assassin suggests an idea, generally they're the ones with the experience to go by.

So, it came as a complete surprise that they all turned against her.

Musical number... no joke. Actually had a musical number with intimidating marching and magic clouds that blocked out the sun for a bit.

Gotta remember that... the Master DOES have a bit of a vindictive side after all.

Anyway, they pretty much just decided to have the assassin terrify them into staying still and then have the Master mind-rape them into ignoring the apples.

Despite the heightened levels of stupid involved with trying to intimidate an assassin, I was kind of proud that the first thing the Master thought of was mind control and forced labor.

I knew she had it in her!

So, we went back to the Spine-Shatter Slave Plantation and started gathering up the bats.

Pinkie tied a bucket of fruit to her head and just jumped around. The Rarity put on some kind of camouflaged Arcane robes and used compulsions to force the bats to attack her helm. The Traitor ignored all that and simply flew around catching them with organ rupturing velocities, rendering them incapable of fighting back.

And in no time at all, they were all stuck in one tree. All of them. Hundreds of bulging, blood-red eyes, mangy fur, tattered wings and hollow fangs hissing and snapping in the noon-day sun. The scent of death wafting off their putrid little bodies as they railed against their enforced captivity.

It brought a tear to my eye. Ahh.....nostalgia.

And then? That's when the Master told Fluttershy, the assassin they've all been browbeating into enslaving the vampire fruit bats, that it was time to demand their complete and utter surrender.

She tried to back out again, but they just kept up until she buckled.

The Master just closed her eyes and nodded... as if there were no other possible options. Silently crushing the assassin's will until there was nothing left but terrified acquiescence.

It's moments like these when I remember that the Master really can be a cruel, hateful, and uncaring monster.

I'm so proud of her.

And in moments, it was over.

The bats were convinced that their sole source of sustenance was repugnant, dooming them to a slow, agonizing starvation and the pain of watching their offspring wither and die before succumbing themselves.

It was like a tiny symphony of genocide... and the only one who looked unhappy was the serial killer: Fluttershy.

...

I'm conflicted here. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

-~oOo~-


So, after the Master and her little minions got done brain raping some flying rats, we all went about our respective business.

And by that, I mean that the sweaty farmers went back to rolling in mud or whatever it is they do when not torturing me. The Pinkie Pie jumped around before shouting something about a party. The Traitor flew off to plot more insurrections, and the Assassin continued to watch the bat things with a sad look in her eyes.

I say a 'sad look' because I'm pretty sure she was weighing her options on how to escape the Master's enslavement without being killed in the process.

Hey, it's an inherently stressful exercise!

So, we all went home and that was the end of that.

...

What?

Oh, you noticed I failed to mention the Rarity?

Well, since you asked, she wandered off the Fields of Suffering complaining about all the sweat and dirt like any sane being would.
Unlike any sane being, she then mentioned the 'spa' no less than eight times until the Master finally caught on and agreed to accompany her. That of course is not terribly impressive...but what the 'spa' lacks in awe-inspiring anything, the fact that the Rarity distracted the Master enough that she let go of my little bubble and left me on the outskirts of the town ~is~ a feat worthy of legend.

So, we all went home, like I said, but I ~did~ decide to take a better look at these 'dastardly varmints' that the Sweatstain was so upset over.

I mean, Come On! They're bats! What's so terrifying about bats in trees? And the answer? Well, if they could spook that smelly naked warrior, then I wanted them for the Master's use.

She wouldn't have just 'forgotten' about me after all. Heh... almost got me there, Rarity. Bet you feel really proud of yourself for that one, but it's the Master we're talking about. She doesn't 'accidentally' anything.

So, she must have 'left' me when she was 'distracted' by the Rarity.

And whhhhhy would the Master 'forget' her demon on the edge of a plantation full of creatures capable of terrifying her minions?

Heh... because she wants them to be hers as well, of course.

So, there I was, hopping along through the vile land again, eyes toward the trees and doing my absolute best not to be spotted by the Applejack... or worse yet, the Big Mac, when I spotted them.

Sitting...In the trees.

With tiny little newspapers and card tables — no joke.

I snuck around, carefully watching for any sign of hostility or traps. Off in the distance, I could hear the Applejack muttering darkly, probably trying to summon one of her dark gods from the apples that lay rotting on the ground.

Silly Sweatstain, you can't sacrifice rotting fruit to summon dark powers.

You need the living... and preferably the young and innocent.

But, despite her dark cursing, the Applejack wasn't what ultimately held my attention.

Because there, in the fields, under the tree where most of the fruit bats were sitting with their little newspapers and card tables and tiny wooden radios, the Assassin was sitting.

Just sitting... and staring... hours after everyone else had left.

And then I saw it, the proof of everything I had suspected since I'd first seen her.

It was her eyes.

She was staring at the tree, and her eyes were no longer sad.

They were intense, and angry, and... probably more than a little mad.

She shivered once, and I watched as her feathers drew away to reveal leathery skin and little hooks at the joints. Her ears twitched and stretched, little tufts of hair accentuating their larger size. And then, all at once, her head snapped back to look at me and she hissed with the viciousness that had been so carefully hidden beneath a mask of timidity.

And the bats just sat there, unphased. It's like they were waiting for something.

...

Succubus. CALLED IT!

-~oOo~-


So, there I was, staring down a murderous, bat winged, demonic horsebeast. Pretty sure that sentence is all kinds of wrong but, eh, screw it.

The Master had set it up so I could get some recon on the little bat things and instead, I'd seen the proof of the Assassin's demonic form.

Sure, it was still fluffy and yellow. Sure it still had a garishly pink mane and tail. And sure, it was still the fever dream of some coked up screwloose with a fetish for horses, but now? NOW it was the fever dream of some coked up screwloose with a fetish for horses and some kinky S&M overtones.

I mean... horsebeast succubus? HA! How the hells would anyone ever top that?

I must have been laughing because the next thing I know, there's a set of blood red eyes inches from my face. Took all of a second for the laughter to die in my throat as I realized what else had changed.

She had fangs. She had full blown, needle sharp, finger length fangs and the resulting scream that erupted from my throat was matched only by the furious shriek that tore from hers.

I was running before the echoes had stopped.

Well... I was running and jumping and phasing and doing my damnedest to learn teleportation, but it's much easier to say 'running' when talking about things in retrospect.

What? You don't think I consider these things WHILE fleeing , do you?  HELLS no. There was a crazy murderous demonic horsebeast chasing me!

So, dodging and fleeing and just a bit of hiding when I could manage it and eventually getting away. Yep... that was the order of the night until, all at once, the shrieking stopped.

No... I did not look out and let her know where I was.... I learned that trick in the ashen fields while the Legion 'trained' us. If things get quiet too fast, one of three things has happened.

1) They lost sight of you and are waiting for you to show yourself. Pretty much the easiest thing in the world to do. You wait until backup comes or they get tired of waiting for you and inadvertently show themselves.

2) They got killed! Pretty much never assume this. The Legion loved to use this as a joke. Oh yheah... you ran and they all ~somehow~ died to butterflies and magic rainbows. BULL... anyone who believed this would be loaded into the cannons and used as rangefinding artillery ammunition.

If you didn't get the clue on the first round, then the next would be as the 'guidance system' of a depth charge.

or 3) something else just changed and you DO NOT want to find out what kills the things that make demons run. Saw a glimpse of a blue obelisk with a white light on top once.... heard a screeching that was like Time itself was weeping and just kept running. Never did see Rathgop after that. Pretty sure he stayed to check it out.

BUT, the point is, you DO NOT look out from around cover when the battleground gets quiet unexpectedly.

You get someone else to do it for you.

A few seconds with a stick, my claws, and one of the torture-fruits that littered the plantation's grounds and I had my decoy.

Applespaz, the fetid treefruit on a stick, volunteered to sacrifice himself for the good of the Master's favorite minion.

Okay. I shoved an apple on a stick, alright? I HATE APPLES.

It was cathartic.

Don't judge me.

That aside, I took a few deep breaths, noticing that the sun had suddenly dropped below the horizon, and tentatively stuck the fruit on a stick out from behind the tree trunk I had been hiding behind.

Nothing happened.

I mean, seriously? After all that? NOTHING?

In frustration, I shook the decoy just, you know, because that's what you do when you've had a harrowing experience fleeing from a mutant horsebeast/succubus hybrid that's multiple times your body size.

And then... the stick jolted in my hand.

The apple looked like a snake had teleported onto it.

A long, thin, very RED snake.

I let go of the stick and glanced out around the other side of the tree to see the succubus, hanging upside down from a nearby tree.... about 15 feet away.

The sudden sound, kind of like a rubber band, made me blink.

She had a stick in her mouth. A stick with an apple on it.

Applespaz, you have served the Master well. Your sacrifice will not be missed or cared about.

But hot damn.... when she spit the stick out it took me a second to realize she wasn't chasing me anymore.

A moment later explained why: she opened her mouth and her TONGUE shot out like a whip, snagged an apple from another tree, wrapped around it, and then pulled the whole thing into her jaws where she spun it around, turned those red, red, eyes towards me, and then sunk her fangs into its flesh and sucked it dry.

I swallowed.

It was almost kinky until the biting part. I mean, hells... that is one FLEXIBLE appendage.

If the Master wanted this one, she could have it.

I hid again and waited for backup. The Master would notice I was gone soon enough.


-~oOo~-


The Master didn't notice I was gone.

Or, more likely, if she had, she decided I wasn't foolish enough to come back without her prize.

Whatever the case, I spent the rest of the night curled up as small as could be, tucked into the exposed roots of one of Applejack's torture trees.

Listening to the TWIP-Sssssssssssssssllllck sound of the unveiled Fluttershy as she cut a leisurely path through the orchard around me, draining the fruits of their life and dropping their withered husks like so many twisted carcasses, well... that was disconcerting.

I do not like apples (or Apples with a capital 'A' for that matter) but never have I seen or heard such casual slaughter with such a mundane and innocuous class of victim.

That sentence needs to be shot. It is long and cruel but still nowhere near as traumatizing as listening to that creature systematically killing. I mean, by the Fel, she was just dropping their shriveled remains as casually as a Blood Elf Magister would brush a mote of dust from their pauldrons or mantle or whatever those big fancy shoulder pads are called.

It was both terrifying and fascinating in its own way.

Also, before you think I had any kind of attraction to Fluttershy, let me remind you of this one, simple, fact: she's a succubus FEKKING HORSEBEAST you sick pervs.

I mean, yheah, if your master asks for you to join in, you do your demonic duty and all, but come on... she's a horsething.

Last time I heard of some demon doing that kind of thing, there were mind altering magics, perversions of the natural order, and a whole slew of succubi waiting in the wings... literal ladies of the night... not to mention dinner and a show. I mean, when in Karazhan, you do as Medivh, but still — horsebeast... simply: no.

"Kara-zan" and "Med-div": they're a fancy human place and person respectively. They like making their words look funny. Also, crazy trans-dimensional magic from both of those. Twisting hallways, battle-ready chess games, attack trained sky eels, and giant floating carnivorous eyeballs aside, just a messed up place. And Medivh still hasn't decided if he's evil or good yet.

Wishy-washy bastard.

So, yheah, getting back to my night.

It sucked! Double entendre actually unintentional.

But, just before dawn, she flew off. Not sure where, but I was more than happy to run the hells home.

...

And no, I didn't just stick my head out to check. She flew over the tree I was hiding under and streaked off into the night just before the sun fekking erupted from the horizon.

I swear, this world is messed up something fierce. As if warlock horsebeasts and draconic butlers weren't enough, the SUN and MOON don't seem to care one fekking bit about maintaining a set schedule or even being in the sky until they feel like it. Lazy-ass celestial bodies and their indignant dismissal of one of the basic concepts of interstellar movement.

So, when I jumped out of hiding to go home, I was actually almost expecting the Master to be waiting for me with a rolled up newspaper or something for taking so long. She wasn't there, by the way, but that didn't mean I wasn't more than willing to book it back to the lair.

Only problem was, the moment I jumped out of hiding, I froze.

All around me, numbering in the hundreds, if not more, were the paper-dry remains of that succubus' gorging. That is a LOT of life she drained. I mean, to suck a victim dry is a feat unto itself, succubus or not, but even if you ignore the fact that she was draining tree fruit and not some guy or kinky chick, that is still a metric fek-ton of life...um.... juice I guess?

Hot damn. And she's afraid of the Master? Also, how the blazing hells could she still fly with that much juice in her? She should have looked like some kind of bloated, yellow furred, bat winged, soul raping tick with a penchant for pink hair dye.

Field of death and anatomical mysteries aside — recon obtained! The Master will be pleased! Newspapers will remain un-rolled and un-furnished!  The Apocalypse in scales will remain a tentative ally! All things will remain at the status quo!

And, as the sun continued its voyage over the horizon, until coming to a very abrupt halt, I realized one, very important, thing: I had very little time to get back to the lair and start up tea and breakfast.

What? The Master enjoys regularity... and I enjoy my skin.

-~oOo~-


The lair was a shambles. Seriously. No one had bothered to pick up the dishes from last night and the cutlery was just sitting there, stabbed into the floor as if the Master hadn't decided to torture anyone in my absence.

...

Well... I can dream, can't I? I mean, sure, I've yet to find any evidence of her hidden torture chambers, but still, she's a warlock with a dragon as a butler. How can she ~NOT~ have some kind of dungeon.

Then again, she did send me out to find out about the succubus so — maybe its a sexy dungeon?

I asked her and she explained that 'no' she didn't have a sexy dungeon hidden away somewhere.

I nodded and affirmed that it was okay if she didn't want to let people know about her sexy dungeon.... you know, I'm her trusted imp, I can offer assurances once in a while.

She turned bright red before telling me, VERY quickly, that she didn't have a sexy dungeon again.

I nodded and picked up the cutlery, as I assured her I wouldn't tell anyone about her secret sexy dungeon.

Again, she said she didn't have a sexy dungeon... even redder than before.

Now, what you have to understand is that, somehow, they can blush with their fur but, it's like.... subdued. So, when I saw her get even redder, it took me a moment to figure out if she was about to catch fire or just blushing harder. It's kind of a a toss up, really.

Massive magical reserves funneling through the emotional fury of a demon summoning serial killer vs incredible embarrassment not befitting a warlock. I mean, really... you can't blame me for being just a little bit unsure.

So, you know, I shrugged and said it was ok. She didn't have to tell me about her sexy dungeon.

Then she grabbed me by my ear (which hurt like hell somehow since she doesn't even have FINGERS) and drug me into the kitchen, away from Spike. Then she sat me down and said she didn't have a dungeon, sexy or otherwise, and that I couldn't go around saying things like that because it would make other ponies ask the wrong kinds of questions.

Ah, THAT I could understand. She couldn't have anyone knowing that she had a dungeon or they're start to look for it and eventually figure out how to spring her captives. I nodded, explained, and said that I understood.

She blinked at me. I could almost hear the gears grinding as she tried to piece together a curse appropriate enough to say, so I just patted her leg and turned to go saying that maybe dungeons were just different where I come from and that I wouldn't tell anyone.

I was almost out of the kitchen when she nearly yelled that 'dungeons are bad places with chains and whips and hot oil and other things that good ponies didn't do to other ponies' and that she most certainly did NOT have one of those somewhere.

I nodded and smiled and assured her that her whips and chains and hot oil dungeon, which was most certainly not a sexy dungeon, would remain our secret, and left her in the kitchen sputtering.

Then, when I was outside the door, I just laughed and whispered "the Master's got a sexy dungeon" and scampered off to clean up.

Oh, and I might've forgotten to mention the succubus, what with having to clean up. Eh... she probably already knows.


-~oOo~-


Well...
What a busy day.

First with the revelation that my Master is a kinky little closet sex-jocky and then with the Applejack ringing that blasted bell again.

Not even half an hour after breakfast and we were all running off to the torture plantation again. And, GASP, guess what! The fruits were still little piles of mush and dead plants like how I left them all of an hour ago.

Surprising, right?

Oh...

That's right. I had forgotten to tell the Master exactly what happened after she 'accidentally' left me for recon.

Whoops. My fault entirely.

Not that I'm dumb enough to tell her. Oh hells no. I've seen her when she's playing nice and I have no desire to see her upset with me.

So, you know, I just kinda... slunk off to stay out from under hoof.

What? I was absolutely NOT hiding from her merry little bloodlust tantrum. Imps do NOT hide from their Masters. Especially ones like my Master. Oh hells no.

I rather like my skin, thank you very much!

So, there they were, all gathered up and muttering about how the vampire fruit bats were still doing their whole not-starving to death thing, when the Traitor just up and shoves an apple at one of them to prove they'd done it.

Little monster had the brass balls to actually slap the sass right out of her.... knocked the apple out of her hooves and went back to reading its tiny newspaper.

I may just have to find that little tree rat and give it some kind of reward. It's so nice to see something slapping that blue menace around a bit, even if it only really smacked her ego around. Still...

But, that meant the obvious answer wasn't going to fly with them. BIG SURPRISE THERE. Horsebeasts unable to leave well enough alone? Never.

So, they agreed that they'd have to stake out the place and find what kind of thing was causing all the trouble.

Because, you know, mind-raping the local animal population didn't work, so now they should try to investigate the potential other options.

My Master's work with them is starting to pay off. They didn't even fix the bats before running off to try something new.

Suffer you hideous little tree rats! Suffer and starve and watch as my Master's will be done!

All except you, feisty old newspaper-reading tree rat. I'll make sure you get to smack the Traitor again. Don't worry, you've got a demon on your side!

But, all that aside, it looks like we've got a night of terror planned, far from prying eyes and with a decided lack of witnesses!

This is gonna be GREAT!

Oh, and the Sweatstain apparently has some kind of super apple... thing's huge... like, larger than a cart huge. Probably weights a few hundred pounds. She was all glossy eyed about it.

With how much she loves the things, I wouldn't doubt she pushed the thing out herself. Oh, don't give me that look. This place is strange as hell, horses birthing fruit fits right in with the level of crazy I've had to live with here.

Freaks, the whole lot of 'em!

Well... except for that old bat thing. At least he has some bitterness to him. Good on you little fount of vitriol. Good on you.


-~oOo~-


So!

The Master gathered all her little minions up at the torture farm just a few minutes after the sun sank below the horizon.

Still creepy as hell to see that happen. It's not like it takes hours or anything either. Just... bright and shiny day and then in the course of a few minutes, the thing just sinks. It's like, it has a mind of its own or something. I mean, don't get me wrong, sometimes things get you distracted and the next thing you know, you're looking up and the moon is hanging high in the sky while the wails of your victims add a playful accompaniment to your art project, but... I'm serious. The sun ACTUALLY starts moving faster just before night.

But that was a few minutes ago... on the walk over actually.

So, there we were, the whole merry lot of the Master's pet projects, standing around while we waited for the sweatstain to discover that her precious treefruits were being devoured by one of the Master's other minions.

Oh... I love how the Master thinks. "What's that, hapless minion? You think your life outside of my will matters in the least? Well then, I'll just gather all of us up, waste our collective time, and then crush your sense of worth when I reveal that one of my own pets was slowly destroying your livelihood the whole time!"

Hah... oh, I knew she was powerful, but this is almost drunk with power. She's literally wasting everyone's time, making them all aware of it, and then going to shove it down that orange peasant's throat just as the rest of them realize that their time and rest were only interrupted because of Applejack's self-important complaining.

They'll tear her to pieces.

That's why I stayed out of the way — not because I was hiding (though angering the Master would be a bad idea), but because she was TEACHING Applejack her place.

It was lovely. So, of course, I stayed out of the way and just watched.

The Master gathered them all up, passed out little rods that would light up on one end, and explained how they were going to go in pairs and that if anyone found anything, they'd just signal with their lights.

It was brilliant. Separate them all. Whittle down their resolve, and then gather them all up to witness her judgement!

They all wandered off, stumbling through the darkness and the countless trees of the farm. One by one, getting more and more lost as they wandered, jumping at every noise.

Oh yes, I was tempted to mess with them, but seeing just how pathetic they were? I... I didn't have the heart.

I mean, yes, they were useless. And yes, they were helpless. But come on! They're still the Master's minions. I don't expect them to all go to the local orphanage and slaughter the little drains on society together, but how can the Master function if her slaves are afraid of every little thing?

Well, as it turns out, I didn't even have to wait long enough to find out.

Fluttershy, the succubus assassin, revealed herself and showed why you do not piss off assassins in general.

She terrified Rarity, dive bombed the Traitor, nearly gave the pink one a heart attack, and shocked the Applejack into stunned silence.

I'll admit, the Master's look of confused surprise would have convinced even me, iiiiiiif I weren't her imp. I've been around her long enough to know she's a masterful actor. Still can't tell where she gets it from. The rest of these idiots are like open books, but she keeps up that facade of innocent naivete without any effort at all.

And when she 'revealed' that Fluttershy must have been 'accidentally' affected by her magic, the whole lot of them got quiet.

She made a giant glowing image, showing how when she told Fluttershy to 'STARE' at the bats, her spell must have 'accidentally' taken the bats desire to consume the flesh of the living away and given it to Fluttershy.

The implications were weighty.

The Master didn't care who you were, what you were doing, or where you thought you could hide. NO ONE, not even her favored minions, were beyond her reach.

I may have giggled when she laid out the plan to 'save' Fluttershy.

The rest of them looked like their blood had all turned to ice.


-~oOo~-


Well, never let it be said that the Master's not criminally insane.

After 'revealing' that Fluttershy, the assassin succubus, was 'accidentally' given the collective hunger of hundreds (if not thousands) of vampire bats, the Master laid out our plan to 'save' her.

It went something like this:

Cover the behemoth mutant apple of the Sweatstain's darkest fantasies with a bed sheet, piss the assassin off, then throw a mirror in front of her to make her stop moving.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

The Master actually got them all to agree to this.

I mean, yheah, I know the Traitor isn't all that bright (what with repeatedly using her face as a plow against the cobblestone roads here), but this 'plan'.... it's a new level of idiotic.And yet, they all agreed to it.

I'm actually kind of wondering if she's testing to see how many brain cells there are left between the lot of them.

Seriously, how could ANYONE think this makes even the tiniest bit of sense.

Fluttershy is a fekking ASSASSIN. She's a SUCCUBUS. She thrives on seduction, torture, and murder! She attempted blatant slaughter in broad daylight, surrounded by witnesses, and managed to get them all to SIDE WITH HER. She's been given the claws and fangs of vampire bats, scaled up to match her size, and the collective hunger of the entire flock of that pestilent air-born plague against life.

And their plan was to piss her off and slap a mirror in front of her?

Okay, in all fairness, the Master did use the giant apple as a sacrifice to lure her out... utterly destroying any hope that Applejack can salvage her arboreal love child in the process... but that's about the only part that made sense!

So, of course, it worked.

Well, when I say worked, I really mean that she came careening out of the night, dodged their attacks, and nearly escaped until she attempted to mind rape them and the Master signaled the mirror to be revealed.

So, ultimately, they did catch her. The Master 'cured' her and they all apologized for not listening to her.

Then, to keep her from slaughtering them all, the Master had her other minions follow Fluttershy's orders to condemn a full portion of Applejack's farm to paying the vermin a lifetime tithe in return for not utterly mutilating the farm.

That's right. Fluttershy sold Applejack on 'protection' fees to flying rats. To Clarify, Fluttershy just extorted a portion of Applejack's gross products in return for giving away a portion of her farm to feed wild animals that were already destroying her livelihood.

And through it all, the Master just nodded her head approvingly and smiled at the 'progress' they were making.

In the end, they all gave each other a hug, with Fluttershy within striking distance of all of them... probably so that the Master could remind them all that she has the assassin in her pocket now.

And they all went home happy and friendly.

Sounds like a great result right? The bats are safe and not dying of starvation! Applejack gets to keep the majority of her farm, just rotating out a few fields now and then while she gets free fertilizer! The Traitor gets her cider at the end of the season. Pinkie Pie got to play with her toys at night without any witnesses. And the Master got to remind them all that they only live to serve her will!

Don't believe me?

Well, here's the part that puts it all into perspective.

Fluttershy was pressured into 'helping' brainwash the bats and then brain raped not once, but TWICE while her 'friends' watched. The Rarity was  denied almost half a week's sleep when her livelihood revolves around careful social interaction and technical skill with sharp implements. The Traitor was show that she might be fast, but that the assassin can not only out maneuver her, but that her own natural skills mean that she could come for her at any time... and Rainbow would be helpless to stop her. Applejack was reminded that she's literally only allowed to live as long as she does what the Master wants... and that the Master can at any time, simply mind-rape her if she misbehaves. And Pinkie Pie? I'm not actually sure... she kind of did what the Master wanted.... and she keeps explosive ordinance in her hair, so I doubt the Master can really scare her.

Might be a few screws short of a detonator with that one.

But the REAL kicker? The thing that makes all of that pale in comparison?

It's the slow realization that I'm sure they all came to once they laid down for bed that night... the realization that the Master can literally carry and manipulate a library's worth of books, carry all of them, teleport, and mind-rape things on a whim.... and that she chose to pit them all against a demonic assassin instead of just grabbing her in her magic and fixing things in less than five seconds.

Because, you know, once that sinks in; once that really REALLY sinks in, you gotta wonder why she bothers with us at all.

I can not tell you how refreshing it is to see her with that particular smile on her face.

Especially since I caught the glint of Fluttershy's fang while they were all hugging it out. The Master 'cured' her... in front of her friends, but kept the actual cure just out of Fluttershy's reach. Remind her of her place... with a bit of the eternal hunger of the damned.

Well played, Master.... well played indeed.


-~oOo~-