//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Four Days- Day One, A Mother's Plea // Story: Rag Doll // by No one is home //------------------------------// “I don’t know if I can do this, Uncle Cornelius.”  The first door is always the hardest to open whn your leaving.  “It feels like I’m running away.” “You literally can do this OC.”  I don’t even know right now if I’m being bad, good, or just pragmatic.  “We’re not running anywhere.  We’re going to walk through that door and tell your mother, whom I assume is also an adorable eldritch horror, that we’re leaving.  Then we are going to walk away, not run, walk at a comfortable pace.” “Mom is the one ling that outranks me!  What if she says no?”  Okay, OC is getting scuttle-y.  I need to calm down those nervous hooves. “Then we leave anyway.”  I smile because that is the facial expression sewn on my face.  “I don’t get the vibe that she would literally imprison you.  So you shall face parental disapproval.” The first door is always the hardest.  The “throne room” Is just that.  It’s a smallish room with a throne.  If I was in the mood to be honest with myself I’d question if the throne or the room were the larger. “I said three days, Ocilia!” And holy shit she is terrifying.  She has sword arms.  “I very specifically remember telling you yesterday that we had to consider this carefully.  Then earlier today, it seems like we had this same talk.” “I… I’m leaving mom.  I’m going to the surface.” Honestly I don’t know how she stands up to that.  I’m going to just assume that OC is in a less terrifying stage of her life cycle. “Ocillia, I need to talk to your doll.”  And that is a lot of angry mother mantis-pony to be glaring at me.  “Alone.” “Mom, I…”  OC wants to take up for me, but even I have standards. “It’s okay, OC.”  None of anything that is happening is okay.  But I’ve gotta focus on bug mom.  Who I gotta say is kinda a bright green Changeling Waifu Mom of the Year, right up to her…I’m going to call it shoulders?  It’s a weird gray area between pony and insect anatomy where her serrated mantis sword arms start.  I am once again thanking narrative convenience that I don’t have biological urinary functions anymore.  “Your Majesty, you're right.  I took advantage of the situation and forced the timeline.” “Uncle Conelius!”  That look hurts.  It should hurt.  Lies are easy, that’s what makes them so addictive, but the truth always hurts. “I know who you are.”  Pretense of sending the lady bug out of the room is gone like the wind that fueled Scarlett O’hara’s weird self insert ship-fic.  “The underhive are the keepers of the history the pegasi wanted to bury.  And we have books that are only passed from Queen to Queen.  I know who and what you are, Ragdoll Charlie.  Maybe my daughter should hear this conversation.  What deal did you make with my daughter?” “I asked her where she wanted to go, Your Majesty.”  Yes, I am being super polite to the giant bug horse with murder arms.  Once again thankful that… nope there was some liquid up in that fluff and it just escaped.  I can in fact be terrified into wetting myself.  These are good things to know. “You didn’t ask her what she wants?”  And she only gots the two sharp teeth but damn if she don’t know how to use them.  And OC is right, her mom is the absolute squintiest.  “You didn’t ask her what she was willing to pay?” “I don’t make those deals with little fillies, you’re majesty.”  If you’re going to tell a lie, tell a big one. “You are a liar.”  Admittedly I did not expect to be called out this fast.  “You are not unknown to my court, Ragdoll Charlie.” You know you are in trouble when anyone’s mom uses your full name.  “Give me one good reason why I should let my daughter walk out of the hive with you.” That’s a good question,  at this point she can’t even stop us,  and I feel that she gets that.  This answer isn’t for me, and it isn’t for her.  “She can leave, she can walk away.” “I understand.”  She actually bows to me and this is weird.  “All I want is that you don’t make any other deals for my dauhter with the text.  All I have to pay you with is our history of you.” Everything I ever wanted… -=-=-=-=- We began as just changlings.  Refugees, really.  We ran away from the Mad Queen, in the time of war.  We followed the Mother Queen.  The ponies gave us our own place in the undercity, then the Mother Queen left, and the ponies took our place back.  In the badlands hive the Mad Queen was overthrown, and most changelings rallied behind the new king to reclaim and rebuild our homeland.  But a hive remained in the shadow of Old Canterlot. We watched the Kingdom of friendship rise, and then we watched it fall.  And then we hid, and we gathered the history, the stories that the pegasi above us threw away.  And such stories they discarded like garbage.  Stories of humans and princes that were just too kind.  And the story of a tiny changeling queen who stood up to the Mad Queen and her Unnamed Vizier in a bloody path from the undercity to the royal court.  The ponies she fought and shed blood for exiled her to Tartarus.  There are reasons why we hide, Mr. Ragdoll.  And that is when you came in.  These are stories even we keep buried. The tale of the Too Kind Prince, who only meant well for the world.  The tale of the Vagabond who only wanted to live in the world.  And the tale of the Nopony who only wanted to end the world.  It is a tale of three aliens that fought over our fate.  No one remembers who won,  but the cost was obvious for all to see. And this is where your story comes in, Mr. Ragdoll.  The First Queen of the Underhive was given a doll, a companion to escort her on the long walk out of Tartarus.  The story says that Ragdoll Charlie could open any path.  And the First Queen took advantage of that mercilessly.  My daughter wants to escape.  I… I can’t stop that.  But don’t let her go that far!  Don’t let her make those deals!