//------------------------------// // One Man's Pride // Story: Dawn of the First Day // by Miniscule Literary //------------------------------// "I have more than a few ways to convince you, Alfonz," Cadance explained, rising to her full height. "I do hope you reconsider. It may not be a fun process..." "Bite me," the man replied, though he wasn't sure if that would be taken as rejection or a suggestion. "Alright!" Cadance said, sticking her nose up at him. "You asked for it." Suddenly, the alicorn's horn began to glow. Before Alfonz could hurl himself out of her reach, a shimmering, phantasmal heart shot into the man's chest, taking his breath away as he slumped against the headboard of the bed. Alfonz lay still, expecting some sort of reaction. At first, it seemed his foe's spell had failed. Looking back at Cadance with a snide smirk, he quickly realized this was not the case. He no longer saw the alicorn as yet another crazy pony trying to shag him; instead, he saw her as the most beautiful creature he had ever had the privilege to behold. The shape of her body, the brilliant colors of her mane, her enticing smile; he felt as though he could've died happy, just by being in her presence. It was agony, just to be as far as he was from her. "Feeling better?" she purred, displaying her luxurious form on the bed. Alfonz stared in stunned silence, his mouth agape. "Make love to me, Alfonz." Every fiber of the man's being told him to do just that; to throw himself upon her and become consumed in the pleasures of the flesh. But something held him back; a nagging voice in the back of his mind, telling him all was not so. It started as a whisper, drowned out by the intense passion for the alicorn, but eventually grew in volume. This voice was his own thoughts; these feelings for Cadance were nothing more than the twisted creature's attempts to manipulate him. And it seemed to be working. Alfonz slowly inched toward Cadance's stunning form, taking in her every detail of every curve with his eyes, infatuated by her beauty. The voice, however, was becoming deafening. He had to fight it; this was not him. She was trying to turn him into some love-sick zombie. He had to fight. Suddenly, the man cried out in pain, clutching his head as he fell from the bed. Cadance, surprised, crawled to the edge of the bed to look at him; she found him writhing on the ground with his arms over his head, as if experiencing a horrific migraine. The man screamed and snarled, clearly in intense pain. "Alfonz?" she called, trying to get his attention. The man only continued to struggle, his muscles tense as he forced himself to his knees. He moved as if there were several tons of weight on his back; every inch was agony to him. Just as soon as he got to into a kneeling position, he fell forward, his head pressed against the carpet, twitching and writhing as he fought. "Alfonz!" Cadance tried again, growing frustrated. "Don't fight it, my love! You're making it harder than it needs to be!" "...No...!" Alfonz growled in his agony, picking himself up with extreme effort. His teeth were clenched, his gaze furious; he stared, defiantly, at Cadance. "I...can't...I won't...!" "Enough!" the alicorn replied, her horn beginning to glow. Alfonz's screams intensified, causing him to collapse forward once again, convulsing violently. "Your resistance was amusing, but its really getting old. Get up here now." The man only continued to scream and gasp, his temples throbbing across his skull. His hands grasped in vain against his head, trying to find some outlet to make the pain stop. He would not allow himself to give in, no matter how easy it may seem; but as the pain continued, he found it harder and harder to resist. He was losing strength at an alarming rate, and his mind swiftly, desperately, searched for more. "I...already told you..." Alfonz snarled, pushing himself up once again. His body quivered with the strain, as if he were about to break, but he found his speech coming easier to him. "It will take more...than head games to break me...You may have invaded my mind and my body, but there's one thing a sayian always keeps-" "A what?" "HIS PRIDE!" Alfonz roared, screaming incoherently into the heavens as he tried to drown out Cadance's influence on his mind, body, and soul. On his knees, fists clenched, muscles tense, the man screamed with all he had left, summoning an impossible amount of will to break the alicorn's magical hold over his mind. Cadance herself, taken by surprise, retreated back from the edge of the bed, her eyes wide. After a full minute of screaming, Alfonz fell silent, letting his body go limp. The light seemed to fade from his eyes; although he continued to stare upward, his head held back, his gaze had no focus. All struggling ceased; it was a miracle the man had not yet fallen over. After another minute, Cadance finally approached the edge of the bed to look at him. Confused and even a little bit frightened, she had no idea just what the hell had happened. "Alfonz?" she said lowly, prodding his shoulder tentatively with a hoof. The man did not respond. "Alfonz?" "Princess Cadance!" a voice called from outside the door to the bedroom, followed by a number of forceful knocks. "Is everything alright in there?" Guards. She couldn't even begin to explain what was going on... "Yes, fine, thank you!" she called back, hoping it would be enough. After a minute of silence, she assumed it was. Her focus swiftly returned to the vegetable in front of her. "Alfonz, please don't be dead!" she pleaded, jumping off the bed and landing directly in front of him. Her usual smugness was replaced completely by fear and confusion. The alicorn tried waving her hoof in front of the man's face, lifting him up herself, and even use her magic to detect what ailed him. In the end, he simply fell over, staring blankly at the carpet without any response. "Oh no," Cadance cried softly to herself, breathing deeply. "Oh no, no, no! How can this happen to me?! I just wanted...Celestia and Luna..." she trailed off, burying her head in her hooves. She had killed him, she was sure of it! Somehow, the man's efforts to resist her had taken his life, and it was all her fault. She had to bring him to Celestia. Her kin knew best; she would know if there was any chance of undoing the damage. Placing the man on her back - she could barely concentrate, and didn't trust herself to carry him with magic - the alicorn demonstrated a surprising amount of strength as she carried him from the room. As she made her journey through the palace, numerous guards asked if they could lend any aid, but she paid them no mind. Too many questions; she would talk to Celestia and Celestia alone. It was only then that the thought of her kin's whereabouts occurred to Cadance. Surely, Celestia would be in the throne room, conducting the daily operations of Equestria. She couldn't exactly drag the lifeless corpse of her would-be suitor into the room, then. Thinking swiftly, she flung open the door to Celestia's quarters, placed Alfonz on the larger floor pillow, and raced out of the room to find the alicorn herself. "Celestia!" she called as she ran into the throne room, looking around wildly. Of course, the ruler of Equestria was at her place on the throne, looking to Cadance with considerable surprise. She was not alone; numerous royal officials were milling about the throne room, and they, too, turned to regard her. "What is it, Cadance?" "Please...I need your help...it is very urgent," Cadance pleaded, pointing to the route she had just taken with a hoof. She didn't exactly seem to be in the best of condition; her mane was frayed and unkempt, and her stare reminded Celestia of a pony who had been awake for several days straight. "I can see that," Celestia observed, lowering a stack of paper to the ground beside her. Standing, she trotted over to her kin and continued down the hall, Cadance trailing behind her. "So what exactly is the problem?" "Its Alfonz," Cadance began, shaking her head. "He's in serious trouble." The two quickened their pace. In no time at all, they were at the threshold of Celestia's quarters; inside, they found Alfonz laying on his back, exactly where Cadance had left him, staring blankly and lifelessly at the ceiling. Celestia approached swiftly, looking him over with a frown. She lowered her head to his chest, listening closely for his heartbeat. "Is he...dead?" Cadance asked, bracing, as if about to be struck, for the answer. "No," Celestia said with a short sigh, her gaze shifting to her wayward kin. "He seems to be in a coma. What happened, Cadance?" "I don't know!" the pink alicorn lied, feeling significantly more relieved. "We were getting to know each other, and suddenly he just went down! I didn't know what to do!" Celestia only stared at her, scowling. The smugness had returned somewhat in Cadance's tone; from experience, Celestia knew that she wasn't telling the truth. Almost immediately after, her eyes widened as a very dangerous thought occurred to her: who would tell Luna? And more importantly: How would she take it? "Ok..." Celestia began, breathing out deeply. "We need to proceed very carefully." "What do you mean?" Cadance asked, growing concerned. Luna couldn't sleep. How could she? Her mate was taken from her, against her will, possibly never to be seen or heard from again. Cadance always had a tendency to take their suitors away from them. It was that damn power over love! Not that she really needed it; with their previous suitors, as stallions, they were usually more than willing. Cadance just used her power to keep them from her and her sister, for whatever twisted reason. At first, Luna thought it was out of spite, but after a while she thought perhaps Cadance couldn't help it. She was drunk off her own pleasure; she couldn't resist the temptation, especially when it came so easily. Celestia, meanwhile, was far too disinterested in the subject to care, and Luna... She was not exactly the most normal pony. Ruler of Equestria or not, many of the stallions found her to be either too much to handle, or too bizarre to deal with. The former was especially the case during the time shortly after her redemption at the hands of the Elements of Harmony; she wasn't exactly very easy going. By the time she had gotten a grip on the new ways to socialize, the stallions had already begun their disappearance. She felt she would be alone forever, until she found Alfonz while wandering through Equestria's dreams. And now he, too, could be taken from her. Luna would damn well fight, should Cadance try to take him back to the Crystal Empire. She hoped it wouldn't come to that; if it did, Alfonz would likely be too far gone to be brought back. The thought alone made her shift uncomfortably in her bed, staring with a frown at the nearby bedside table. "I can't take it any more!" she said suddenly, throwing off the blanket. Crawling to the end of the bed, she stepped off with a huff. A few particles of light seeped in from underneath the blinds; Celestia had finally raised the sun, it seemed. Perhaps she would go for a walk. It wasn't often that she was awake enough to enjoy the sunlight, after all. Finding it to be more productive than sitting around in bed, Luna set off down the hall toward the royal gardens. She had always enjoyed the gardens; less so at night with Discord around, but it still had its moments. "I'm not sure what it was about." Luna's ear twitched at the sound, slowing to a halt before turning another corner. "I heard a lot of noise coming from her room, and then a few minutes later, she came out with the 'human' on her back!" "Why in Equestria would she carry him like that?" a second voice joined in. "I'm not sure, but he wasn't moving. I think something may have happened. You heard all those reports when the stallions were still around." "But could a Princess really be capable of something so careless?" "Hey, they're mares, just like us. I'm sure they can get lost in their own pleasure sometimes. A shame, though. He was such a looker." Before the other guard could respond, the two suddenly found themselves in the presence of royalty. "Princess Luna!" the first exclaimed, the two bowing their heads. "If I may: what are you doing up at-" "Where are they?" Luna snarled, expelling a gust of air through her nose like a bull about to charge. The guards took a step back as they noticed the alicorn's enraged state. "...Where are who, your highness?" "Cadance and the human," she explained with another snarl, her gaze burning with fury. "WHERE ARE THEY?" "I-I don't know!" the guard stammered, recoiling. "I saw them head down the hall, toward the northern end of the palace!" Without another word, Luna shot off down the hall, her teeth clenched. If Cadance hurt so much as one hair on Alfonz's head, there would be hell to pay.