"Ow... my fucking head," I thought, even though it was quite hard to do so.
I had woken up not too long ago, in a bed that lay in a room fit for a ruling monarch, decorated with all kinds of luxuries, such as lavished furniture, paintings, and the massive bed which I layed upon.
I sat up on the bed, ignoring the immense pain that shot through my body as I did so. I noticed that I was no longer wearing my dress, it replaced by bandages that covered my whole body, all of them stained with golden ichor. Then, as I looked around the room again did I also noticed that something was very wrong.
My staff wasn't there.
I need to find it.
Quickly, I jumped off the bed, only to collapse onto the floor as immense pain shot through my legs.
"Dammit!" I growled, quickly getting back to my feet, ignoring the pain that went through them with each step. Now limping, I went to the door with determination. Swinging it open, I entered into a hallway which, as I suspected, was devoid of any life.
The pain was excruciating at this point, but I pushed on through, looking for whoever I could question on my staff's whereabouts. The most trustworthy was Stiermann, but I don't know if he's somewhere close, as with my aching head it was hard to sense magical signatures.
I passed on by multiple other hallways, peering into all the rooms in the vague hope that my staff would be in one of them. I soon passed by the kitchen, where I found the first mortal being I've encountered in this city. He was in the middle of baking something, but stopped as I came in. I expected him to at least become somewhat frightened by me, but instead he fawned over me, calling me "savior" and "hero" multiple times. I didn't listen to much of his praises, however, as I then withdrew from the kitchen, continuing the search for my staff. As I continued looking, I thought back on the mortal's words.
Why had he called me savior? I didn't come here to save him, or his city, I came here because there was something that was useful to my plans located here. This city had no value other than that.
"Whatever," I thought, "let the fool have hope. I always love to see their faces when it's shattered in front of their eyes."
But yet, he called me a savior, a hero. I never related myself as some sort of hero, especially given my position as a Goddess of death and destruction. Even when I was Spartacus' most skilled and valuable assassin, I was never called one. Popular, yes, but not a hero.
I continued to venture down the hallway, soon coming across more mortals, who gave me the same praise as the one in the kitchen had given me. Praises I shouldn't be getting. Praises that were full of naive optimism and hope.
After some time, I arrived to the familiar throne room doors. It sounded as if there was quite a lot of activity going on in there, which meant that everyone could be in here. Along with many others, as there were far more voices than just four or five.
Mortals. It had to be.
Taking a deep breath, I entered.
Least to say, Aurora's had her hands full for quite some time.
After the Goddess had defeated the mortal King, she had arrived on the scene to see Zerstörung in a pool of blood. Unexpectedly, Cadence helped with patching her up and getting her to safety, as the Princess said that she'd help anyone in need, no matter if they're an enemy or not.
Afterwards, they soon encountered the mortal group of ponies who defeated Baron and Stiermann. Once again, Aurora became surprised when the captives convinced them to leave again, promising to contact them daily with letters. Aurora didn't know how they could do that, given that there was most likely not going to bw any communication with the outside world, but if what they said caused the mortal group to leave, then she was fine with it. There was no way she'd ever be brave enough to face all of them on her own, especially since they were able to take down Stiermann and Baron.
Regardless, as they went back to the throne room, Aurora felt guidless. Her Goddess was in no position to command, and Baron and Stiermann still had yet to return. She was alone, left to do everything herself, and it was terrifying.
Even more terrifying when an army of mortals came through the throne room doors.
Aurora first thought that they were attacking, but was once again surprised once they demanded where the "hero and savior ape" was. They said they wanted to award her for her protecting the city. Aurora, knowing that who they were talking about was the Goddess, began to stall them as much as she could, with the captives helping as well.
And that was where they were as of now.
"We've been waiting long enough!" A mortal shouted.
"Yeah! Where is our hero?" Another hollered.
"Please, be more patient! She's just... uh... getting ready!" Cadence said, trying to calm the croud.
"It doesn't take that long to get ready! She may be a mare, but even they don't take this long!"
Aurora wondered why they were even lying in the first place. It didn't make sense why they were. Maybe they were to keep the Goddess' reputation intact, but that was only a guess.
"We want to see her! Right now!"
Just then, as if on precise queue, the throne room doors opened sloorly, and Aurora was once more surprised when the person who walked in was Zerstörung herself.
The mortals immediately turned to her, and upon seeing the Goddess, showered her in praise. But she didn't seem to care about them. She began to walk through the mortals in a limp, said mortals opening a path for her. The Goddess was staring at her intently, with a look of pure anger.
Aurora then realised that she had the Goddess' staff in her possession. It only was because she wanted to make sure that no one would take it. Of course, Zerstörung didn't know that. Even without her staff, the Goddess still held an aura of authority that could easily cause fear to build up within anyone.
Quickly, Aurora tossed the staff, which the Goddess catched without trouble. Whether it was out of fear or loyalty, she wasn't sure.
"Thank you..." Zerstörung drawled. She then turned to the mortals gathered within the throne room, eyeing them all with hostility, "Leave us. I would like to have a private discussion."
If it was Aurora or any of the captives suggesting this, then the mortals would have argued against it, but since it was their so-called savior, they did nothing but obeyed, filing out of the throne room.
When it was clear of all mortals, the Goddess snapped her attention back to Aurora, with eyes that were dangerously narrow.
"I've heard some mortals call me a savior and hero," she stated, "so I want an explanation as to why, from the beginning."
Aurora gulped. This was going to be long.
How very convenient. I'm seen as a hero because I defeated the mortal King on my own. And because of that I was granted to all of the luxuries of this city as a reward. They were also willing to follow any command I gave without question, which meant now that the population was now firmly under my control.
Twilight and her friends were also convinced to leave for good. How that happened, I don't know, but at least I had one less thing to worry about.
My dress was now being sowed back together by the city's fashion designer. Cadence attempted to convince me to stay in the bed I was in until that was was finished, but I remained stubborn about it.
But if there was anything I was very curious about, it would be the whereabouts of Baron and Stiermann, as they still have yet to come back from their defeat at the hands of Twilight. The longer they take to come back, I decided, was going to make my planned punishment for them more severe. If they were even alive, of course.
But now, my bandaged form sat on the throne. And now that I wasn't wearing my dress, I realised how cold it actually was.
A mortal named Ink Writer, a light purple unicorn with an azul mane, was giving me a briefing of everything around the city. I had named him my personal servant, one to serve me without question and one who was not to speak to me in any manner other than loyalty.
Of course, he spoke of nations that were most likely dead by now, since his own had been gone for a thousand years.
To the city's west was the nation of Yakyakistan, for which he characterized them as "idiotic brutes who love to be violent".
To the east there was Griffons, which he characterized as "honor-driven to the point of idiocy".
Then to the south was Equestria itself, for which he summerized as "the cause for all of our problems relating to the tyrant King who once ruled over us".
To the north, there was nothing but snow and mountains, places inhospitable to mortal life.
With me now armed with this little amount of information, and an entire city behind my back (at least for now), I planned for said city's expansion to other places. In my name, of course.
And soon enough, my perfect world would take shape, its policies already moving about the city. Eons old Spartan doctrines were now being revived here. Soon, an army of warriors will be born, and they will expand my power across the mortal world. Their loyalty will be unmatched, as if they were machines rather than biological beings.
But that was years from now, and I already had plans for going to the Pantheon in search of Faust's crystal heart. The one I had used was only a normal one, and while it was used to protect the city from its surrounding environment, there was no good it could do other than place an orange barrier around the city, making it have an ominous fiery orange sky.
After that trip and me becoming Creator, I'll wait until the opportunity to cause a conflict in which will break the hearts and minds of every mortal involved in it.
So if you haven't figured out yet, I'm going with my first plan. And it was going to be good.