//------------------------------// // 90. Tripartite - Part Eight // Story: Letters From a Little Princess Monster // by Georg //------------------------------// Letters From a Little Princess Monster Tripartite - Part Ate Within the tiniest fraction of quantum time, held motionless by his contact with the pregnant alicorn, Thorax existed for hours inside of a split-second, eons of experience in less time than it takes to blink an eye. And inside of that microscopic universe, there was only one sensation. Thorax burned. Unimaginable amounts of love flooded out of the large alicorn, coursing through his transformed body and burning away the impurities that it had acquired in the shadowed city. It was more than just a simple washing in the fire of love, but something overwhelming that swept through his chitin, penetrating into every muscle and organ until each cell in his body blazed with light. There was nothing but ecstasy and agony, unbearable pleasure and pain as the fire sought out and destroyed the darkness which threatened to destroy others in turn. And yet, no matter how much it hurt, even though he could feel every stab and spasm from the alicorn’s labor, he could not help but remain frozen with his nose against her flank, like a bug roasting inside a lamp. There were words now that he could pick out of the chaos, pony words so different from changeling’s chirps and clicks. The smaller pony was doing something or calling to him, it was impossible to tell through the roaring fire and pain. Help. He was calling for help. It should have been an opportunity to attack the weak pony, and a short time ago, it was. Now… something different drove him, something the old Thorax had not felt in such a long time, a visceral drive that slashed through the endless agony. Then the word. A white-hot needle of love that had no equal connected the larger pony and some creature outside of King Sombra’s spell, piercing through Thorax’s chest and holding him motionless. All of the agonizing fire was suddenly as insignificant as a firefly compared to the titanic blow that swept through his body. For one moment, he was THREE, then FOUR, before the power knocked him down onto the crystal pavement. Then the bubble of no-time surrounding the entire city popped, and blinding sunlight streamed across the Crystal Empire for the first time in a thousand years. It had been so long since Thorax had felt the real sun on his back that he stumbled to his hooves in panic, letting his disguise melt away in green fire as he crouched to flee with his translucent wings buzzing. Every sense screamed danger, although he could not tell from where. There were no creeping shadows, no insane cackling of the tyrant, not even a single helmeted thug, only the collapsed ponies and… The unmoving foal. This new/old world full of light faded away as Thorax stared at the infant and felt the fading of her heartlight. The life that she was receiving from her mother was dwindling as the larger alicorn convulsed several times, then her muscular spasms drove the afterbirth out in a squishy plop. With that, the lifegiving link between mother and foal also failed when the pulsating cord twitched once, and then was still. In mere minutes, the infant would die. By the time the mother recovered enough to care for it, to do whatever mother alicorns did to newborns who were not moving, it would slip away into the darkness. Even the other pony was no help, because he had collapsed underneath the small burden. If anyling were to save the child, it would have to be Thorax. He stumbled forward and placed a nose on the motionless infant… no, the queen of his kind. Physical contact jolted through his body again like lightning, sensing the gaping void in her life that should have been filled by the mother instead of the love going to Thorax. It was his fault for coming out of the shadows, confusing the birthing alicorn’s instincts, and stealing the love meant to breathe life into the infant queen. All he could think of was the lessons that had been hammered into his head ever since hatching. Far better for any changeling to sacrifice themself rather than the Queen come to harm. Thorax had never felt the power of so much love inside of himself, not ever, but it was stolen love, stolen from a queen. It bubbled at the edges of his carapace, burned at the edges of his , and blurred his vision while he braced his hooves into the crystal pavement, preparing to do that which he had to do. Opening his as far as it would go, Thorax released his stolen love, every tiny bit, from nose to tail, and forcefully poured it into the tiny queen until the world outside faded from view… And there was nothing. ❅ ❅ ❅ It was dark, wherever she was, and Starlight Glimmer could not even light her horn to see out of the green haze. Barely awake, she could feel herself floating, jarring with movement and a rhythmic swaying, which would not have been a problem if she could just use her magic to teleport away. Without magic, she was so helpless that it burned, although something magical had awakened her from the surrounding changeling goo, and she could not help but think of a tiny alicorn foal collapsing onto her body. It was a strange thought to consider as the changeling goo dragged her back into slumber, because she could have sworn that Sunburst was there with her, and the unseen presence of her old friend and the infant pressed between them made her frustration and anger far easier to bear. ❅ ❅ ❅ The kiss of a wet nose on his face brought Sunburst spluttering out of his faint, blinking in the unexpected brightness of filtered sunshine. For a moment, he had thought he was drowning in mucus, smothering in a pod full of greenish fluid along with Starlight Glimmer for some weird reason. Waking up brought reality back in a rush, with a sopping-wet infant alicorn looking straight down into his face. “Sphhfft!” he managed, spitting out some drool and other fluids he did not want to think about. After two attempts, Sunburst got a foreleg around the slimy foal so it would not fall while he was struggling to a sitting position and spitting away goo. The infant, no the princess was positively adorable and full of life, nuzzling up against his face like he was made of sugar— “Yeouch!” ...except the little fiend got her gumming jaws around his dripping beard and yanked when it did not produce milk as expected. Sunburst struggled the rest of the way up a more dignified sitting position and tried his best to control the infant’s attempts at facial nursing, despite the efforts of far more limbs than he had any hope of avoiding and the complete unresponsiveness of his own throbbing horn. “Your Highness,” he called out in desperation. “Can you help me with little Whatshername? I know the birthing process was tough, but I don’t know anything about taking care of—” Her Royal Highness, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had recovered far more than Sunburst had really expected, because if stallions had to go through that kind of trouble for foalbirth, they would probably be bedridden for a year or two. The princess had begun shifting in position, moving her nose in the direction of Sunburst and her foal, but to his sudden and abject horror, she lowered her face into the bloody mess of afterbirth and— “Horrack!” declared Sunburst to one side, only to stop mid-heave when he came to the realization that the princess might eat that also. “Milk!” he declared instead, scooting and shuffling to the other end of the carnivorous monster. “Foals like milk, and milk is good for them, and there’s milk right here in… um… Here!” he declared, pointing the infant alicorn in the right direction of the princess’ reclining rear and trusting in natural instinct to guide the foal where he dared not go. This would have been a very good time to run away screaming, but Sunburst was unsure of his ability to stand up, even if he could without slipping. It put him in a sensory conundrum since he could not look anywhere without seeing the princess gobbling up the post-birth mess with such vigor that his stomach wanted to jump out of his nose, and he could not listen to anything without hearing the exact same process and the infant princess’ slurping and snorting meal. That also left out the senses of taste and smell, because part of his rebellious brain kept thinking of just what afterbirth must taste like because it certainly was vanishing at a rapid rate, and every breath he took was filled with the scent of blood and various better unnamed fluids. At least the nearby native of the crystal city was not having any of the same issues, because he had managed to encase himself in some sort of crystalline cocoon, and was undoubtedly the better off for it. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Mother can adopt grandfoals if she wants them so badly. To Sunburst’s sudden growing terror, Princess Cadenza finished her disgusting cleanup of the afterbirth in a few moments, and started eating her way up the umbilical cord in the direction of the nursing foal, like a fire on a fuse. All he could think of was the inevitable cannibalization when she reached the end of the cord, and the one bit of information from a book that he could remember about foalbirth was not to cut the cord. There was supposed to be a narrowing next to the foal where it would stretch and detach naturally, but it had not managed to do either, and there was no way he could even generate a single thaum of magic from his aching horn, so that left… He moved closer to the infant quickly, bit down on the umbilical cord, and gave a cautious tug. Thankfully, it came free, so he spit out the evidence and backed away before he could go on the menu also. Unfortunately, he had a witness. With a camera. ❅ ❅ ❅ Trixie found it easier to run in a straight line on pavement than through the dark Everfree Forest. In the future, all of her terrifying challenges should be restricted to this kind of exercise, preferably with a buffet at the end. The sight of the bouncing cupcake box on Pinkie Pie’s back provided excellent incentive, and the idea that Cadence had found a clean, sunny, cheerful place to have her foal, with built-in castle and weather dome, made her previous stress melt away. That is until she thought of Twilight Sparkle, on her way to a griffon aerie/Windigo nest with only the Royal Guard to protect her. “We’ll get this cleaned up,” she panted as she ran, giving a short nod to several of the locals who had emerged out onto the streets to blink up at the snow-muffled sunshine. “All the citizens will cheer their new feathered overprincess, and we’ll be on our way to back up Twilight in an hour. With pictures and a lunch break,” she added when the distant flash of Featherweight’s camera caught her eye. “There’s gotta be a cafe or restaurant around here where the heroes of the day can get a free meal.” “Yer always grumpin’ about your belly. Keep an eye out for that test that Twilight was talkin’ about,” said Applejack beside her. The blonde farmer did not even have the dignity to look out of breath, but she did appear more concerned than Trixie expected, and was looking around as she ran. “What’s to worry about?” said Trixie. “Candybutt brought the Crystal Empire back, and I don’t see any sign of this Sombra creature that Celestia was so worried about. We’ll check her into the hospital here, get Shiny Britches to hold her little pink hoof, and we’re done.” Cresting over a low hill showed a growing crowd next to the crystal castle, and gave Trixie a sinking sensation that their task had just started. By the time they galloped up to the source of the attention, Trixie was revising her plans with every step. Cadence looked awful. The perfect pink princess had strands of frazzled mane sticking out in all directions, her hindquarters were wet and dripping, and there was a big white lug of a stallion stuck to her front end. The adorable pony pile from the crowd of her curious friends was making picking out details somewhat difficult, but Cadence looked smaller than before, and the royal couple appeared happy, so there was probably a foal in there somewhere. If nothing else, Trixie would be able to get photos of the Blessed Event’s aftermath from Featherweight, who was documenting the whole thing from various camera angles. Which left… “Sunburst?” If anything, the bedraggled stallion looked far worse than Cadence. Either he had taken the brunt of the foalbirth process, or he had really overdone it with the mane gel. He did not even respond to Trixie’s polite query, or her polite poking with one hoof. She was seriously considering a polite buck to the head in order to get his attention when a shudder swept through his body, ending in one convulsive twitch. “Trixie?” Sunburst made to stand up, only to sit back down with a thump. His blinking eyes were crossed, and the pupils were tiny specks that did not seem to be focusing on anything in particular for more than a second or two. “Oh, good. You’re here and this is all some terrible nightmare, and I must have fallen down in the bookstore and hit my head. Would you mind sending for a pegamedic? You can pay for your book orders while we wait. Do you want your copy of Playcolt in a plain brown wrapper like usual?” “Sorry, Sunny. This is about as real as it gets.” Trixie dumped her cloak to one side and removed the small bottle of bourbon, which she uncorked and waved under Sunburst’s nose. “Hello. Anybody home?” “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I don’t drink.” Despite his words, Sunburst wrapped his lips around Monsieur Bourbon’s neck and tilted his head back. Several glugging sounds later, he dropped the empty bottle and shook his head, making disgusting little splatter noises from his sodden mane. “Can you give me a minute?” “As long as you understand that I am not licking you clean.” Trixie took a short look at Shining Armor and Cadence engaged in the really disgusting and highly nauseating task of cleaning the infant. The tiny princess was nursing away, ignoring the licks in favor of nutrition. And speaking of nutrition… “Pinkie, I think this calls for a party,” said Trixie. “Where are the cupcakes?” To Trixie’s shock, the perky pink party pony did not jump on the open invitation. Out of curiosity, Trixie took off her own hat, held it out for a moment, then dropped it. A party did not ensue. A tiny thread of doubt began to work its way into Trixie’s good mood. “Sunburst,” she began slowly while looking around the sparkling city, “did you happen to defeat some sort of powerful evil named Sombra on your trip here? Maybe Cadence blasted him, or you dropped a house on him?” Sunburst shook his head and shivered. The breeze was slightly cool, but it was far better than the raging snowstorm outside of the city’s dome, and she had just run farther than her usual exercise. So Trixie tried to relax while looking around at the various sparkly inhabitants of the city as they began peeking out of doorways and easing their way down the streets in their direction. There were no obvious threats visible in the strange city, either beings of living darkness or anything really ‘Sombra-shaped’ about. There were some things missing, however. The box of cupcakes, for one. And the mess involved in a birth, secondly. And Sunburst’s cloak, come to think of it. And her own cloak, as well as her hat, which she managed to get a brief glance of as it vanished into Cadence’s mouth with the chewing motion of powerful alicorn jaws. “Still hungry,” murmured Cadence before continuing to lick the foal. Rarity looked positively horrified, but Applejack could not have been more smug. Or at least until Cadence cast a desiring glance at her hat. “We need vittles for the Princess!” shouted Applejack, sprinting into the city. “Anypony got something to tide her over?” “Good idea, Applejack!” Trixie moved as quickly as she could to jab at Pinkie Pie, who was still staring horrified at a tiny scrap of cardboard on the ground with a teeny bit of pink icing still left on it. “Pinkie! Go ask everypony about getting a party set up for our newest princess. With food.” “Right!” In a flash, the Pinkie Pie that Trixie had learned to dread was back, and vanished in a pink blur. “Rarity, go take—” Trixie waved abstractedly at Sunburst, who was still looking glazed in more ways than one “—him off to be cleaned and dressed. I swear he looks naked without that cloak. And Fluttershy.” “Eeep!” The shy pegasus backed away from the nursing princess, although Trixie was not sure if it was because she had called for her, or if Cadence had actually growled. Or maybe it was Her Highness’ stomach. “You and Rainbow Dash have the most critical job,” said Trixie quietly in a near hiss. “Go talk to all of the animals around here. Find out what happened. I don’t know if we can trust the crystal ponies to tell us bupkis, but the animals at least shouldn’t be able to lie to you. Can you do it?” An actual smile showed up on Fluttershy’s face, brief but highly obvious, and she nodded, leaving Trixie feeling a little less like a babbling fraud in charge of a train wreck as the two pegasi darted away on their assigned task. By this time, a crowd of the sparkling crystalline ponies had gathered around, looking both curious and terrified at the spectacle of a nursing alicorn until one whisper rose above the others. “The Crystal Princess.” It was too good a line to pass up, and Trixie reared up to call out, “Behold, the Crystal Princesses!” It was a little like lighting a fuse, because she could hear the echoes of her proclamation all through the odd city, caught up and repeated by every one of the sparkling ponies. It would have made her feel better if there had not also been a tiny hint of mocking laughter just barely at the edge of her hearing that followed. “Twilight Sparkle,” murmured Trixie to herself as the glittering citizens crowded in closer to behold their new princesses. “Hurry up saving my dumb husband and get your star-spangled rump here to help.”