//------------------------------// // That went about as well as expected // Story: New Life of a Crow // by Knight of Crows //------------------------------// Griever POV It took a while, but Eris calmed down enough to have a conversation with. I looked to the princesses again and saw they still had conflicted looks on their faces, they probably never expected to see the Spirit of Chaos turn into a sobbing mess, most certainly not while being held close by their knight and his girlfriend. They're probably thinking I was right and she is the real victim or she's a really good actor. "Celestia." Eris tensed up after hearing her name "Yes?" "I need you to make sure your guards don't do anything stupid while we get Eris to my room." "Why would-" "Need I remind you what I said earlier? Either someone is going to be stupid and attack her or provoke her on sight. I would rather not have to clean your guards off the walls if I don't have to." I thought to myself I could just fly to my room, noticing it is in sight "Actually, I'll be flying to my room, less trouble that way." I summoned my wings and used wind, lightning, and fire to boost us, if anyone saw us they wouldn't have known who or what it was, they would have probably thought it was a trick of the light or something like that considering how fast that was. I set Eris on the bed before getting back to the conversation. "Misty, can you tell me what you meant when you said yes to Eris? All that did was upset her more from the looks of it." "I told her she could join." "Join what? I don't remember starting something that other people could join." "I said she could join our herd." come again "I'm missing something here and I can't for the life of me figure it out. What is a herd?" "It's when a stallion or in your case a man enters a relationship with more than one mare." Eris spoke up "Polygamy? That's not frowned upon anymore?" this is news to me "Only for ponies as about 1/5 of the population is comprised of stallions, the other races are about 50/50." "So basically Misty said 'welcome to the relationship'? I don't quite know how to respond to this, I did not know you were okay with this kind of thing Misty, hell I didn't even know you were Bi." "I never minded sharing unless the other person did it behind my back. The princesses brought herds to my attention not long after I was restored. They've also had an interest in you since before they brought us to Canterlot." this is also news to me "While I'm not exactly against any of this, I have to ask why they have any in the first place?" "Why wouldn't they? You've been nothing but good or at least reasonably so," wow, way to make me look back at my choices "you're the first to treat them like people instead of royalty in centuries, you don't judge them or even their darker halves, you exposed and dealt with a big part of the nobles corruption, you've offered to further improve the world with relics of the past, and you have a long life span which depending on how much your mutations altered your body could mean eternity." "What's my life span got to do with this?" "You really haven't figured that out yet?" no, I haven't so please tell me Misty "Tell me, how old do they look?" she asked me "They look no older than their early twenties." where are you going with this "How old do you think they really are?" "They're at least 1,600 years old." then it hit me, why didn't I realize this sooner "Oh God, they're like me!" "And so am I." Eris said "But even I'd like to know how someone as perceptive as you didn't realize this sooner." I would like to know that more than you "I'll just blame it on being so occupied with recent events. Speaking of recent events, I still need to brutally torture Blueblood. Any ideas?" "Ryan!" Misty said "Sorry. Anyway as I said I'm not against it, more surprised and a little scared than anything to be honest." the princesses walked in about halfway through that sentence, Eris tensing up again after they did so "Scared about what?" Luna asked "Oh nothing, the stud's just scared of adding a few more ladies into his herd. Being with just little miss Wolfy here for who knows how long and polygamy being new to him is all." Eris said trying to calm herself down "Humans were mostly monogomous in relationships, only a few countries didn't look down on polygamy, and the ones I can think of didn't exactly treat women fairly. I'm not against this whole 'herd' thing, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about it considering the only romantic relationship I've ever had was with Misty. Before we get into that though, you two and Eris have some business to settle." I put my arm around Eris to make sure she knew I was here to help her through this as the princesses took a seat "I can't even put it into words how I'm feeling right now. I'm assuming you heard that little episode in the gardens right?" Eris said "We did. We are sorry for what we've done to you." Celestia said "MhmhmhmmmmhmhmahahahahahHAAAAAHAHAHAHHA!" there's the mental instability I was expecting "YOU'RE SORRY? IS THAT GOING TO UNDO THE TARTARUS I'VE HAD TO LIVE THROUGH? IS SORRY GOING TO REMOVE ALL THESE SCARS I HAVE? IS SORRY GOING TO GIVE ME BACK ALL THOSE YEARS OF CRUELTY I'VE HAD TO LIVE THROUGH? IS SORRY GOING TO GIVE ME BACK ALL THOSE YEARS YOU AND YOUR IRREDEEMABLE SUBJECTS STOLE FROM ME? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO APOLOGIZE WHEN YOU CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND MY PAIN! WHAT ELSE COULD I HAVE DONE WHEN ALL YOU AND EVERYPONY ELSE SAW WAS THE MONSTER YOU WANTED, NO FORCED ME TO BE?" my God she has some lungs, she didn't even stop to inhale once "WAAAAHAHAHAA" and she's crying again. MISTY, you're better at helping pe- oh, nevermind, you're already on it "Yeeeaah, I think I was right about everything I said before about what she went through growing up. Eris, look at me." she did as I asked "You're not alone anymore, you have friends now who will happily fuck up anyone who fucks with you. Those people who hurt you are long dead now, probably in unmarked graves in a place no one visits. This is a new start for you, and you're already making progress. We'll help you as best we can, but only if you'll let us." she latched onto me and continued crying into my chest for a while, we continued where we left off when she calmed down "Eris?" Luna said only to receive a glare in response "We truly are sorry for what we and our subjects did to you, we can't change the past, but please allow us to help you as best we can." Eris's eyes started tearing up again, but she regained her composure and said "I can't forgive you. I don't know if I'll ever be able to, but fine, you can do what you want." +1 cute cuddle buddy gained +1 possibly mentally unstable girlfriend +2 more? This is going to be a long few weeks at the most