This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.
A Celebration of Fear
I awoke in a lavish bed in a room that overlooked the entire city. The sun was beginning to set, telling me I had slept for quite a long time, but that could be expected after fighting a powerful and insane General of an army that was out to invade my home. I stared up at the ceiling of the room and put my hooves behind my head only to pull my left leg out again and thrust it up into the air as I felt something strange on it.
I was surprised to find the Hero’s Gauntlet was still on my leg. I tried to pull it off of me, but it stayed on tight. I tried harder, pulling it even more, until I felt a pain coming from my leg. I stopped and took a closer look at the Gauntlet. I remembered that the jewel had started flashing as I used it in our fight and how the Gauntlet had suddenly sprouted grotesque veins across its normally pristine surface. I observed it even closer and saw it had the same veins all over it and that they were slowly pulsating.
To my pulse.
I shuddered as I realized that the Hero’s Gauntlet was now…a part of me. I was never supposed to be a hero, I would never be a hero, but the Gauntlet didn’t care. I sighed as I knew what this would mean. I’d have to fight more monsters like Destruction.
The door of the room opened and I rose my head from the plush pillows and warm covers to see a pretty pegasi mare come into my dimly lit room. She wasn’t wearing her armor and her silver coat was lustrous in the escaping daylight from the windows of the room. A match blazed to life and Siren rose to the ceiling, lighting a large candelabra that hung from the ceiling. The room was soon filled with a warm light that made Siren look even more resplendent.
Until now, Siren’s flank had been covered by her armor I always saw her in, but now I got a lovely view of her. Not only did I enjoy looking at her flank like the pervert I was, but I also saw her cutie mark, a hilt of a sword with wings sprouting from it. She also wore an identical pendant to her father, a dark eight sided starburst made of the rarest of all metals found in the desert and the lifeblood of the Star family; meteorite.
The Star clan was well known throughout Oattara. Ever since the Sand Ponies left Oattara in the Ancient times, the Star clan became the rulers and most respected of all the Clans and Lords of the city. For anyone who lived in the gutters like I did, having the last name Star was a dream that fueled the imaginations of fillies and foals. I the realization that I was in a room with Siren Star and that I had kissed her and made advances (repeatedly) to a member of the Star clan seemed to zap my wits back from day dreaming about her flank.
“Good evening, Deft.” She said to me with a small smile.
“Good evening yourself.” I replied. “Can I assume I’m not on death row anymore?”
“Yes, you stupid stupid idiot.” Siren laughed. “Do you know what’s going on below?”
“Of course I do! It’s not like I’ve been in bed all day.” I replied sarcastically.
“There’s going to be a large feast in your honor.” Siren said as she sat on the edge of the bed. “All the elite of the city will be there and I can tell you that you will be making a few enemies tonight, simply because you exist.” She said solemnly.
“I’ll deal with it.” I told her as stretched.
She wrinkled her nose. “When was the last time you bathed?”
I felt my face turn a dark shade of red. “Two weeks ago.” I mumbled. Of course a high-class mare like her would be used to perfumy, clean stallions.
She pointed towards another door in the side of the bedroom across from the bed. It was recessed into the wall, so I didn’t see it when the room was filled with shadows. “Go in there and grab a towel and brush. Then follow me.” she told me.
I did as she said, grabbing a thick towel and short bristle brush, and I followed her out of the bedroom and down a hall. My hooves clip-clopped on the warm sandstone underneath and after a few minutes of walking and mostly right turns, we stood outside two large doors in what felt like the center of the Central Citadel.
“There should be everything you need inside to clean yourself. I’ll see if I can’t get somepony to come wait on you while I go and finish some preparations for you at the celebratory feast. After you are clean, just have your attendant come get me.” Siren told me before she started to walk away.
“Thank you Siren.”
“I’ll return that thanks when you don’t smell as if you’ve been rolling around blood.”
“Can’t handle the stink of the sewers? You are a noble, born and bred.” I replied, smarmily.
“And you’re an alley-cat, born and stinking.” She returned it with a smirk.
I shook my head and walked in through the double doors. Inside was another room, only this one was made of tiles and had small clay bottles on shelves before another pair of heavy doors. I opened up a small vial and smelled what was in it and found out it was the oils that the wealthy put in their mane. I put it back on the shelf and went through the doors. Steam poured out of the room filling my vision and making the room completely white for a moment. I walked in and found the floor to be the same tiles, but in the middle of the room was a large recessed bath, much like the public ones down in the poor districts, but this one was filled with warm water. I threw my towel and brush down at the side of the bath and jumped in, letting the warm water cover me and cascade over my shoulders as I rose from the water and sat down near the side of the bath. I sighed and relaxed, wondering how rich you had to be to have one of these.
I felt relaxed and warm, but after a while I started to feel like I would fall asleep again. How could the rich spend so much time in places like this? I decided to get to work and scrub down so I would look-and smell-presentable for the rich folks. I felt better after a good couple of minutes of scrubbing grime and dirt away but I felt a little sick as some of the dirt came away red with blood. After checking myself for wounds, I realized it wasn’t my blood. This was Destruction’s last strike at me. I pulled myself out of the water and threw up on the tiles near the bath.
“Are you alright, Hero?” asked a worried voice as I heard quick hoof-steps hurry towards me. I wiped the bile from my mouth and saw the voice belonged to a unicorn stallion that looked a little younger than me, but was also a little taller and heavier. His tan coat smelled of a very fragrant spice and his shocking teal mane and tail were combed neatly and his magenta eye were full of concern. His cutie mark was what looked like a barber’s blade and he stooped down to help me to my hooves, away from the vomit and the water.
“I’m not a hero.” I told him sternly and he shrunk back.
“Are you alright then?” he asked.
“Yeah, just, ah, too much time in the water.” I said. “I just need to get out for a moment.”
“Understood sir. I will clean up this mess and then I will be along to wash your mane and brush your coat.” He said with a nod and a smile.
“What the buck are you talking about?” I asked him with a raised eyebrow.
He looked appalled at my language. “My name is Blade number Five, sir. I am a personal attendant to the Chairpony. It is an honor to have my Mistress command me to serve you. If you would be so kind, I would gladly take care of washing your mane and grooming your coat.”
“You’re a slave.” I said with a sudden realization. “So your Mistress is Siren?” I asked, not knowing she owned slaves. All my life, I had seen slaves doing errands for their various Lordly masters and the rule of hoof was to never mess with them. They might be enslaved, but they were educated and property of the rich. Unless you wanted to start a fight with the master, you didn’t bother the slave whatsoever.
“Yes sir. If it pleases you, take a short walk around the bath. This often happens to those who stay in the waters for too long; not enough movement causes it. I will be at your beck in just a moment Her…sir.” He said with another smile and he was off fetching another towel to clean up my mess.
I did as he suggested and gave the silence a moment to think about this predicament.
Well, for starters, I was with yet another person of a social class that I was never supposed to have interacted with before. But I guess if I hadn’t already broken through that hurdle then I wouldn’t be here.
Secondly, I didn’t really like the whole concept of slavery. In the alleys, we had always gotten at least an escaped slave once or twice a year. They always came to us with stories of torment, torture, and pain. I also knew some other alley-cats that went and sold themselves in the flesh markets in the rich districts and became slaves. Those ones I didn’t understand the most. True, being a slave would keep you fed, warm on cold nights, and let you sup with the rich. But it also meant giving up one of the only things we poor could truly call our own: our freedom. We weren’t hampered down by any commitment other than those we put upon ourselves. We could go and do anything we wanted, as long as we weren’t caught. Slavery…slavery was strange to me.
By the time I circled around the large bath, the puddle of bile was gone from the tiles and Blade Five was sitting at the edge of the bath with bottles of the oil and fragrances, my brush and towel, a pair of scissors, and a small bucket. He rose and greeted me with a smile.
“If it pleases you, sir, would you sit in the tub once more so I can make sure your mane is washed?”
“You can drop the ‘sir’ thing. I’m scum, remember? Did you see what happened to Destruction?”
His face went white. “Yes, si…yes. It was quite brutal.”
“He called me ‘Hero’, another name I don’t want and don’t need. Deft Hooves is all the names I need.”
“Understood, Deft Hooves.” He said as I slipped back into the tub. The bucket levitated in a grasp of magenta magic and then dunked itself under water, rising back above my head.
“If you would close your eyes, Deft Hooves.” Blade said. I rolled my eyes at his formalities, but did as he asked. Warm water cascaded over my head and I felt my mane get brushed out and scrubbed. Then Blade added the oils and soaps to my mane and brushed it out, rinsing it out again and again until I could smell the smoky, incense like fragrance that Blade added to my mane.
“If you would not mind, Deft Hooves, I will cut your mane now.”
I started to turn in surprise, but the way he did his job made me calm and if he was cutting the manes of Lords and Kings, then maybe I was fine in his hooves. “Not frilly or anything. Just…trim it or something.” I told him. He agreed and soon the air was filled with the sound of blade on blade.
Eventually he asked me to dunk my head under water to rid myself of extra hair and I did so, making sure to rinse some of the fragrance out as well. Then I rose from the bath and he started to dry me off, surprising me.
“I can do that much, at least.” I said, taking the towel out of his magical grasp and I started to rub myself down. I yipped as I felt the brush on my withers and spun around to give Blade a scowl.
“I said, I can do that much.” I said between clenched teeth.
He just gave me a smile. “I believe you can, but don’t you think it would look better if I did it?”
I grit my teeth and glared at him. “Why you little…”
“Deft Hooves, I have been trained in such things since birth. I can assure you that I will do a better job than you.” He cut me off.
I snarled and got up in his face. “Don’t you tell me what to do. What the hell happened to that ‘if it pleases you’ stuff?”
He smiled back at me with a mischievous look in his eyes. “Mistress had told me that you would be belligerent, so it would be best to make fun of you as a distraction…”
“While I came around and held you in place while you get your coat brushed!” said a cherry mare’s voice as I went spinning and eventually was held upside down in a magical embrace.
“Hey! What are you doing! Let me go! Let me down!” I shrieked as Siren tied up my hooves with towels and then I was gingerly let back down onto the tiles. I tried to squirm away, but Siren simply stepped on the towels binding my hooves together and I couldn’t escape.
She smirked at me from above. “I thought you liked this sort of thing?” she said.
I returned the smile, if not a little hesitantly. “I normally would, love, but OH GODS GET AWAY FROM ME WITH THAT BRUSH!” I screamed at Blade as he came closer.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“I thought I told you nothing frilly.” I mumbled murderously at Blade number Five as we left the baths.
“I did only as my mistress asked.” Blade said with a hint of a grin on his face. I hissed at him and was about to punch him, but then Siren called my name.
“Yes?” I asked a little suspiciously, not entirely trusting her after the brushing incident. I suspected I had gotten some sort of trauma from that.
“Come with me.” she said with a nod to the right of the doors. “Blade, we will see you at the banquet.” She called to him.
He bowed to her. “It would be an honor, mistress.” He said before walking away in the opposite direction.
Siren led the way and started to talk, but I cut her off. “Never again.” I told her.
She laughed and said “You’ll need to get used to that if you’re going to be the Hero of Oattara.”
“I’m no hero.” I replied.
“You say that now,” she said, walking ahead of me and swishing her sail under my chin, “but did you know that Heroes can take any mare they want as a wife?”
I stopped short and started to laugh, only to canter over to Siren and stay next to her as we walked on down the hall and talked about the various members of the council I would have to meet and remember, her father being the most important, or at least in my mind.
We came to the grand hall too soon and my pulse jumped as I was thrown into a world I knew totally nothing about. The grand hall was, well, grand. Its vaulted ceiling filled with sculptures and glass to make it look like it was made of crystal, the dozens of columns carved like wildly enormous trees, and the cavernous space of it all truly was a sight for my lower-class eyes to behold.
“Come on.” Siren said, leading me by a hoof over to where the most elite of the elite sat, at a raised table with an open square in front of it so performers could entertain there. I started to balk and try to slow Siren down as we walked between the tables for the commoners, but Siren had thoughts of her own. She led me straight up to the dais, but stayed with me as I was introduced to all the nobles and they measured me with their words and wit.
I was feeling that I did pretty well for a poor street urchin, until Siren’s father came to me and introduced himself. He walked up to me with a commanding gait and gaze and looked me over with his harsh emerald eyes, the eyes that Siren first looked at me with when she thought I was nothing more than the poor trash I still truly am. He cleared his throat and started to speak in a refined, if not a deep, voice.
“I believe we have already met, Hero Deft Hooves.” He put up a hoof before I could get a word in. “Yes, I know you are not a Hero. That much could be seen today. That fight was far from elegant and our Heroes are taught a little thing called ‘mercy’ towards those who yield. No matter, the Gauntlet has chosen you whether I like it or not and I have no say in such things.”
“However, I do have say in who my daughter is marrying.”
“Huh?” I said stupidly.
He looked at me with eyes that were balls of green fury. “You told me today that you would marry my daughter. You are the Hero of Oattara so you may choose any bride you want, but, I don’t like you. So don’t you make me dislike you even more by saying all your boasting was for naught. Don’t you break my daughter’s heart.” He said viciously, his words scalding me with their fury.
“N…no sir. I love Siren.” I said truthfully, if not a little meekly.
He gazed down at me and snorted. “Quite. I can see that much in how you two look at each other. How old are you?”
“Sixteen.”
“Let’s hope you grow some by next June. It’s embarrassing if the Bride has to bend down to kiss the Groom. Now, let us sit and feast to your victory.” He said as he turned on a dime and strode towards the table.
I just stayed there burnt out by what he had told me until I felt a soft presence on my side. I jolted and saw it was Siren, flushed and smiling.
“Did he just…?” I asked in amazement.
“You asked for it to be in June.” She said before kissing me. I almost fainted right there and then, but I was pulled along in a haze to the table and I ate and watched the entertainment in a delirious veil of joy. The veil was only thickened when the wine was spread out and soon I was kissing Siren after each sip, her giggling at me, the jesters, and how her father loosened up and started to get along with me as the hours burned away.
Near the middle of the night, as the banquet started to turn into less of a feast and more of a drinking contest, the dancers in the middle of the floor, the cleared out square for entertainment shrieked. My drunken brain barely comprehended what was going on as a horn sprouted from one dancer’s middle and she was lifted into the air, struggling and screaming on what looked like the ghost of Destruction, only with a horn.
Her screams frightened many lords and servants who ran from the room, but the Council rose with me while four stallions came into sight. One I knew right away; the General called Fear. He stood off to the side of the other three silent and ever-watching. Another one was bulky and blue with a terrible predatory feel about him. His navy blue coat had a large dusky-yellow splotch around his fanged mouth, the same color as his blind eyes and the highlights in his pitch-black, greasy mane and tail. The other two, the unicorn who had gored the poor dancer and a pegasi looked exactly the same as Destruction did, only the pegasi had a large scar over his right eye, his eye that was ruby and gold. That one’s eyes sparkled with more than the fury and savagery that Destruction’s and the unicorn’s did. His eyes told of conquest and a never-ending bloodthirst. I knew he was Doom.
He stepped up to the dais and begun to talk. “’And they ran across the sands, away from their homes, to the barren desert that would show them no mercy, much like those invaders who had them ejected from their homes.’ Does that ring any bells?” he quoted to all of us, before nodding to Fear, who disappeared in a puff of black smoke, making somepony scream.
“I am Doom.” He told everyone with a twitch of his eye. “And I hate it when ponies try to run, and when they scream for no reason.” He said, glaring in the direction of the pony who had screamed.
“She will be the first to die. See to that Pain.” He commanded the blind blue stallion who smiled and showed off his fangs.
“Why? That is all I ask.” Said Silvarion Star to Doom, making him turn around and face him.
Doom just smiled wickedly and whistled. The unicorn who looked like a carbon copy of Destruction tossed his head down and the corpse of the dancer hurtled towards us, but Doom caught it in a hoof.
“Thank you Demise.” He said as he held the corpse’s head between his hooves. “This is why. The years of slaughter, the banishment, it will be repaid.” He said as he crushed the skull of the dancer between his hooves, covering both he and Silvarion in a mist of blood and brains.
Silvarion, to his awesome strength, raised a hoof and wiped the blood from his mouth. “And here I thought I had gotten sprayed with enough brains for one day. I guess I was mistaken.”
Doom chuckled and grasped the pendant around Silvaron’s neck lightly. “So, you are of the Star clan, which means you’re the Chairpony of the Council of Lords, yes?”
“Yes.” He answered.
“Where is the Hero of Oattara? The one who killed Destruction. The one who killed my brother.” He said as he yanked the pendant off of Silvarion’s neck.
“The Hero left after the battle. We knew you would be looking for him, so we exiled him.” Silvarion lied.
Doom stared dead into his eyes and then looked down the table evilly, but smiled sinisterly as he saw Siren. I gulped and pushed down the want to strike him as he came up to her and examined her pendant. She was holding as still as she could, but I could see her hoof drifting towards a knife on the table. I grabbed her other hoof in my hand under the table to stop her. It would do neither of us any good to die here.
“Another of the Star clan, Chairpony? She smells like you.” He said as he sniffed her mane. “Is she your child?”
“Why do you care?” I asked Doom. “The Hero is gone. Lord Star saw to that today after what he did.” I said with all the bravery I could.
Doom looked surprised to being talked to. So he slapped me. I was pushed from my chair and fell to the ground with the taste of blood in my mouth while Siren called my name and then I heard her choking. I wanted to get up and fight, but a look from Silvarion told me to stay on the ground, hiding the Gauntlet from these monsters. If they knew who I was, they would surely kill us all.
“Who is this whelp?” Doom demanded as held Siren aloft by her neck.
“He is Deft Silvertongue. My squire.” Silvarion said.
Doom grunted and threw Siren down beside me roughly and I heard a few bones in her delicate wing crack. She gasped, but I held her close as Doom started to laugh.
“Teach them some respect you foolish Chairpony.” He said with loathing in his voice before turning to me.
“To answer your insolent question though,squire, I care because you and your Chairpony are lying to me.” he said before pausing and then yelling “WHERE IS THE HERO?” into Silvarion’s face.
When Silvarion didn’t answer, Doom sighed and turned to his other brother, Demise.
“Send the signal.” He commanded with a wave of one hoof while the other went to his brow. “I just wanted this to go nice and easy, but noooo.”
Suddenly, the grand hall became even more crowded as Fear reappeared, but this time with a whole cohort of angry, villainous stallions who just reeked of bloodshed and fury. Screams went up in the air and Doom winced at each and every one of them.
“If you do not tell me where the Hero is right now,” Doom said between clenched teeth, “then the slaughter will start with those who screamed.”
“Fine, fine. Please, calm down.” Silvarion pleaded. “I’ll tell you where the Hero is.”
Doom smiled broadly, almost likeably. “There, was that so hard?” he asked. “Now where is he?”
Silvarion mumbled.
Doom wore a look of confusion and came closer to Silvarion. “Could you repeat that?”
“RIGHT HERE!” Silvarion screamed as he pulled a thin rapier out from a hidden chamber in his seat and the rest of the Council did the same with their own weapons and rushed at the soldiers, Generals, or in Silvarion’s case, punched Doom right in the face.
As Doom staggered back, Silvarion turned to me and yelled “GET HER OUT OF HERE! BLADE! PLAN THREE!”
Suddenly Blade was at our sides and helping us up. “Hurry,” he said as chaos erupted around us. “We can use this to escape. We need to get to your bedroom Mistress.”
“What?” Siren said, but Blade pushed her out a hidden door behind a large tapestry on the wall behind us and pulled me through, closing the door behind us. However, the heavy door didn’t block Doom’s shout of anger and then the command he issued after.
“FEAR! FIND THEM.”
The three of us looked at each other and then we ran. Blade led, but Siren and her long legs were right behind him. Luckily I was used to running from the law and other thugs in my home so I was able to follow right behind them.
We ran and ran and ran until we were out of breath and then sprinted up stairs and down corridors even after that. At some point we slowed to a walk and our haggard breathing and hoofsteps were all that we could hear. However, it seemed that we were close to Siren’s room so it was alright. Finally, we came to a hall filled with doors of hammered silver on each side.
“These are the Heroine’s quarters.” Siren explained as she opened up her room and slipped inside, Blade and I following her in. The room was Spartan. Besides a small wardrobe, armor rack, desk, chair, bed, and bookcase (with more books than I’d ever seen) there was nothing, or not as much as I thought a mare of her status would have.
“Now why did my father send us here?” she asked Blade as she went over to her armor rack and started putting each piece on, gasping as some of them touched her broken wing. I went over to her and helped her so she wouldn’t be in pain and she gave me a brave smile while Blade fooled around near her bed.
“Ah!” he said as he reached under the bed and hit something. Suddenly, the bed started to slide back into the wall as a secret staircase opened beneath the bed. Siren and I gasped as a small breeze flooded into the room. Our escape would be quick and then…well we’d figure that out afterwards. But right now, we needed to get out of here.
“This was one of the plans your father had in place if something ever happened.” Blade said cheerily. “It was strange, because sometimes he sounded as if he knew something like this would happen.”
“Let’s just go.” I said. “The longer…”
I was cut off by a black mist filling the room and then coming into existence in front of us as a large black pony with ruby red eyes. As with everything he did, he was silent. However, we were not. The three of us screamed as we charged at him, no weapons, no plans, just fight or die. Fear just rolled his eyes and suddenly darkness was all that we saw.
“AHHHHHH!!!!!” We screamed our war cries.
“Please be quiet.” A silken voice said and we quickly shut up as the darkness receded from our eyes and I saw where we were. I’m certain all of us were shocked at where we were, but I was the most amazed and scared. All of us were certain that we would be taken straight to Doom, but we were outside in the city, as we could see the Central Citadel off in the distance. What was even more shocking was that I knew exactly where we were. We were three alleys down from where the family met up three times a week to distribute stolen good and to just get together. No outsider would have known of this place.
“Who are you?” I asked him with wonder.
“And why did you do this?” Siren asked, her eyes slits.
Before he answered, one of his hooves shot out and grabbed Siren’s broken wing. She cried out and I was about to attack him, same as Blade, but Siren’s cry turned into a peal of laughter.
“Hahaha! That tickles!” she said as he removed his hoof and she flexed her wing.
“Amazing.” She whispered, fully comprehending what just happened. “You fixed it.”
Fear just nodded and then turned to me. Our ruby eyes met and I could see things in his eyes and I started to look away. Fear’s hoof shot up once more and he kept my gaze glued to his eyes. I saw glimpses of… of what seemed to be the future and it was no lie. I saw Fear kill Silvarion Star. I saw him lead his army not only into the city of Oattara, but to combat against the New Equestria Empire’s soldiers who came to claim Oattara back. I saw Oattara four years from now, even more derelict and depraved. And then I saw a whole horde of outlaws and marauders, bloodthirsty thieves, daemons and dragons invading the city. I saw Fear standing over our wounded and broken bodies along with Doom at the final battle. But I saw no more as I pulled away and threw up on the ground.
“This is part of what I can do.” Fear said calmly as he turned away from us. “You three have seen my other abilities. And now, I must leave. Go to the alley-witch, Deft Hooves. She will tell you what you need to know. Ask her eyes.”
“How do you know all this?” I said, wiping the bile from my mouth. “You may be able to see the future, Fear, but how do you know of me, the alley-witch, my home?”
Fear gave me a sad smile before glancing back to the Central Citadel. “Doom told me to find you, not to capture you. Plus, he should know where to find you: ‘No matter where you go, scum always flows back into the gutters.’” He said, quoting a common saying we gutter-dwellers had. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “There is one last ability I have hidden from you. But now you will see it. I am sorry.”
He disappeared in a fall of shadows, leaving the three of us there, alone and wondering.
“He grew up here.” I said calmly, knowing only someone like me would know what to do in this place, where to go.
“Does that mean he’s our ally?” Blade asked hopefully.
“I…I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure.” I replied, the visions of the future jumbling my mind.
“But then what did he mean about his ability? Was he apologizing for leaving us here?” Siren asked.
“I…”
I was cut off by Fear’s last ability. The Central Citadel shook violently as an arc of black light shot through the upper half of the tower and sliced in a diagonal and jagged cut. I faded away after a moment, but then the top half of the Citadel exploded, sending chunks of dangerous rock plummeting to the ground.
From where we were, the Citadel seemed to fall in slow motion, the shrapnel and debris that was once Oattara’s mighty tower just a terrible nightmare.
But the reverberations of the debris hitting the ground, plus the shrieks, screams, and fires that followed were no nightmare.
It was a living horror.
I could only hold Siren as she cried and Blade as we lost all feeling.