//------------------------------//
// Year 1 
// Story: Stoking the Flames 
// by RunicTreetops 
//------------------------------//

You click your tongue as you realize that the wagon you're pulling just got stuck in the mud. You turn around and start jostling the wheels in an attempt to free the darn thing, only for your foot to sink into a deep, dirty puddle. You only have one free hand at the moment, so this is definitely annoying. With a groan, you lift yourself out of it and being pushing the wagon, eventually breaking it free of the mud's grasp.

With that done, you take the last few steps remaining until you see the familiar sight of the stone bridge leading to Opaline's castle. You've made it home. With practiced ease, you pull the wagon across said bridge, avoiding all of the sections that are old and in dire need of repairs.

Now that you think about it, those repairs are probably your job, huh?

With a sigh, you reach the castle's entrance. You let yourself in without bothering to knock. Just as you had expected, Opaline is sitting on her throne with a bored expression on her face, her mane in the process of being curled.

"I'm back, Lady Opaline."

"What took you so long? And do you have what I requested?"

You leave the wagon by the door and make your way to the throne, presenting the colorful cup that you carried all the way from Maretime Bay to your queen.

"Kiwi papaya smoothie with a purple heart. I'm sorry if the cup is a bit wet, it rained on my way back."

"Hmph." She takes a contented sip of the smoothie. "I suppose you did well enough. Now take care of those groceries, they're going to go bad."

"Yes, Lady Opaline."

You make your way back to the wagon and wheel it out of the throne room. This is a typical occurrence. You've been living with Opaline for about a year now. Every couple of weeks, she sends you on a trip to Maretime Bay to pick up groceries for the two of you. Due to the agreement you reached with the sheriff there, you have to go in the middle of the night. Luckily for you, there's a supermarket there with everything you need. Less luckily for you, Opaline always wants something specific on top of the groceries. This time, it was a kiwi papaya smoothie with a purple heart. You have no idea why she wanted that specifically, but far be it for you to disobey a direct command from your queen. Said smoothie isn't available at the supermarket, meaning you had to track down a smoothie stand, wait until the pony running it arrived first thing in the morning, wait for her to stop freaking out about the weird alien at her smoothie stand, pay for the smoothie, get out of the bay before the sheriff yelled at you, and then carry said smoothie all the way back to Opaline's castle. In the rain.

You know, when you agreed to become an evil minion, you were sort of expecting a bit more than... whatever this is.

Oh well, at least you have food in your belly and a roof over your head.

As you stock the kitchen with the many groceries resting in your wagon, you briefly stop to straighten out your clothes. Seeing as you aren't a pony, you have to make your own clothes. You've actually gotten sort of good at it, but your choices when it comes to materials are limited. No, not because of availability, but because Opaline demands that you at least try to make your clothes look like a proper uniform. Which... mostly just means purple and mildly formal looking.

After you wrap up stocking the kitchen, you begin to use some of the ingredients you bought to prepare dinner. This is also one of your daily tasks, but at least you enjoy cooking. 

Even if Opaline is a pony and, therefore, a vegetarian.

As you expertly dice some veggies, your thoughts continue to drift towards Opaline. Even though you've been serving her for a year now, you know very little about her. You know that she apparently defeated some princess a long time ago and that princess made it to where ponies no longer have magic, but... that's not a lot to go off of. Plus, knowing Opaline, she definitely embellished a few details about that story. You seriously doubt that Opaline was the "good guy" in that scenario, but as her evil minion, you're simply choosing to ignore that fact. And now that there's no magic, Opaline doesn't have any means of exerting her will over Equestria. So...

Your thoughts are interrupted by the sound of Opaline entering the kitchen behind you just as you begin preparing some broth. She sniffs at the air before giving you an unamused look.

"I must say, your repertoire of recipes is extremely limited."

"If you have any requests, I'll gladly cook them instead."

Opaline hesitates for a moment, and you struggle to read the expression on her face.

"N-no, continue on. No need to waste food." 

She starts to turn around to leave, but you interrupt her before she can.

"Lady Opaline?"

"Hmm?"

"Is that all you came in here for?"

"...I am simply making sure you're still performing competently as my newest subject. Because don't forget, the second you disappoint me, you are never entering this castle again."

"I understand completely."

"Good. Now, then."

She takes another sip of her smoothie as she nonchalantly walks out of the kitchen. You smile to yourself before turning back to the stove. As prideful as she is, you have an idea of why she actually checks in on you like this.

She enjoys having someone to talk to.





A few weeks later, you find yourself once again pulling the wagon along the old stone bridge and into the castle. Opaline raises an eyebrow as you approach her and gingerly hand her a paper bag.

"And what is this?" She opens the bag and glances inside, a look of surprise forming on her face as she removes a couple of macaroons from it. "I don't remember asking for these."

"Nope, but I figured you'd want them anyway. Er, my lady."

"Hmm." She takes a bite out of one, clearly loving it but making an effort not to show it. "I suppose this is acceptable. However, I do not approve of you spending our money without my permission, counterfeit or otherwise."

"Don't worry, Lady Opaline. I didn't spend a dime on them."

"You didn't?"

"Nope. Just swiped 'em off of the counter."

"...Did anypony see you?"

"They were too busy hiding from me. I seriously doubt that they noticed the missing bag among dozens just like it amidst the panic."

"Hm." Opaline looks you up and down before smiling. Maybe you're just getting too into the whole "evil minion" thing, but you can't help but feel excited when she does that. "I didn't think you had something like that in you. Well done, my little human."

You bow.

"Of course, my lady."

"Now run along. I have some important matters I must attend to."

Wordlessly, you exit the room with a smile, knowing darn well that those "important matters" are her favorite soap operas. 

You quickly head towards the kitchen and finish putting all of the groceries away. Those macaroons and Opaline's shows mean that you won't have to make dinner tonight, just as you planned. After storing the last couple of cans in a nearby pantry, you reach for the final bag in the wagon. Said bag contains no groceries, and you had it cleverly hidden amongst dozens of bags identical to it.

You remove what you had hidden inside of the bag: a single, leather-bound book. You quickly put the wagon away and dart into your room, closing the door behind you.

You sit on your bed as you open the book. The first page contains its title: "Equestrian Enchantments and Magics." As far as you know, it's taboo to talk about things like magic in Maretime Bay, so tracking this baby down was a challenge. You eventually learned that the family living in the lighthouse on the edge of the bay are known for being "weirdos" with a fascination for Equestrian history. With that knowledge, breaking into their home while they slept and looking through their books was a trivial task. They never even knew you were there. Heck, you could probably go back if you wanted, but other history books just don't interest you. All they might have is knowledge about what actually happened between your queen and Princess Twilight Sparkle, and why would you care about that?

Filled with excitement and wonder, you begin to flip through the pages. Perhaps, with this knowledge, you could help Opaline finally become the ruler she's meant to be. For now, though, you should just continue with your duties. After all, you don't want to look like a fool for thinking that you could do something the thousands-of-years-old alicorn queen couldn't.





With your wagon trailing behind you once again, you clutch the side of your chest with your one free hand. Your left eye is swollen shut, and the immense pain coming out of that entire side of your body is almost indescribable. Your left leg continues to falter as you limp along on your right. You breathe through gasped breaths as you open the door to the castle. 

Once inside, Opaline immediately lets out a gasp of shock and disgust.

"Ugh! What in the world happened to you?!"

"B-bear attacked me."

"A... bear?"

"A bear."

That's right, you were mauled by a bear. And it wasn't even a fantastical Equestrian bear either. Not a unibear, not a pegabear, not a bugbear, not a narbear, just... a straight up bear.

Your leg finally gives out as you fall to the floor. Your vision grows blurry, but you think you see the fuzzy shape of Opaline rushing towards you.

Oops.





You awaken to a jolt of pain coursing through your body. Glancing around at your surroundings, it appears that you're in your room. You raise your head, realizing that you somehow made it into bed. Looking at yourself, you notice that your left eye is still swollen shut. However, your chest and leg have both been crudely cleaned and bandaged. You rub at your temple, feeling a terrible headache course through you as you do. You're about to plop back down onto the bed before you notice a note sitting on your nightstand. You reach for it, carefully reading the neat hoofwriting written on it.




Your wounds have already been disinfected. Nothing is broken as far as I can tell, but you shouldn't get out of bed until you're healed. I will handle dinner until that happens. You're in charge of changing your own bandages, though. Do not expect me to baby you.

You should consider yourself lucky that I am doing anything at all. As of right now, you're a liability to me, and absolutely nothing more. Do you understand me? I said nothing more!

-Opaline




You chuckle to yourself. She's so adamant about not letting you know she cares for you that she felt the need to argue with herself in that letter. It's... cute.

Well, as long as you're here, you may as well continue trying to study that book. Your lack of knowledge about magic makes it extremely difficult to understand, but it's all you've got. Even if you're injured, you want to try to help Opaline in whatever way you can, even if she doesn't know it yet.

And you should probably be prepared for when she brings you your dinner. Forget about getting her magic back, she could probably decimate her enemies just by making them eat her cooking.

So... good luck with that.