The Queen of Shadows

by megabyte97

Morals?

‘Mind, body, and soul… it always comes back to the basics of the mind, body, and soul,’ I think, idly twirling a bone from the skeleton between my fingers as I stare at the sleeping filly.

Many individuals wonder how far others have to be pushed in order to make a deal with the devil. The answer is surprising to most: it doesn’t matter how far others are pushed, but the direction they are pushed.

Starswirl did not care for her family, but when she was spurned by her peers she made a deal to serve me in exchange for acknowledgement for her work. Starswirl’s mind, while brilliant, could not handle the reality of her work, which she had dedicated her life to, being rejected.

Hurricane pledged her loyalty in exchange for eternal youth so that she could always protect those precious to her, and destroy those who would wish them harm.

Platinum believed in her very soul that her tribe was superior to the other two and swore her allegiance in exchange for proving this. The unicorn tribe discovered how to move celestial bodies soon after.

I pull myself out of my musings and look at the bone in our hand. Scootaloo is no different from any of my followers, I simply need to make the right offer.

Something tugs at me from the shadows before one of my pets silently appears in front of me carrying the curious ring from before in its jaws…

I blink, realizing that I had completely forgotten about the minotaur. The bull probably knows how to handle himself, but… The fact that I had forgotten about him…

“...Is the bull alone right now?” I ask my pet. The hellhound growls an affirmative after dropping the ring. “...Show me,” I say, placing a hand on the mutt’s head. Our eyes unfocus and I can see the bull, lying in the wagon he was pulling, sleeping in the cool night air in a dark alleyway. I take our hand away from the mutt’s head and blink, assessing the situation.

He is a servant, but at the same time the fact I had forgotten about him is concerning. He’s an asset, but he could very well become a liability if he is captured. The binding spell placed upon him is fragile, absolutely nothing like the contracts in the sense that if it is broken there is nothing stopping the bull from exposing me before I am ready to reveal myself.

“...Leave,” I command the mutt. The hound disappears into the shadows a moment later.

…

I push my conscious into the ethereal plane and look around at my servants, searching for a particular chain. I find it fairly quickly, the shoddy oversized chains standing out against the finer quality chains my older subjects wear. I follow it back to its source, a glowing blue outline of a bull lying upon the nonexistent floor.

‘...He’s a loose end,’ I think trickling a tiny bit of magic through the chains. ‘His life was forfeit the moment you chained him to your will.’ The magic meets resistance when it starts to pull… I start pulling harder. ‘Why do I care so much?’ I pause, the magic faltering in my grip.

‘Why do I care so much?’ I ask, looking at my ethereal hand.

I have killed and murdered so many individuals that I have lost count, I’ve torn apart families without batting an eye, I have broken others so thoroughly that they have begged me for the mercy of death… so why am I hesitating?

My ethereal hand shifts as realization dawns on me. Looking at the tan fur covered hand I grip the chain tightly and force more magic than I would ever need down the links towards the bull’s outline.

‘Because it is the first time my host has killed,’ I think before yanking the chain back. The chains rattle and strain for a moment before giving way and the outline of the bull fades away as an unrecognizable heap.

I pull us from the ethereal plane and look down at our hands. They’re covered in a familiar red liquid seeping into our fur and staining the bone from the skeleton.

I focus on breathing, forcing us to take deep long breaths and assess the situation once more.

‘Okay, the minotaur is out of the equation… FUCK! Okay, relax, these aren’t your emotions, you’re just the one feeling them, hehe… Don’t panic Daring.’

I take another deep breath and close our eyes, ‘Stop panicking, you’ve killed before, and this is no different… I only just- stop thinking and calm the fuck down.’

I don’t know how long it takes for us to calm down, but one thing is made very clear to me, ‘I need a new host. One that is more… comfortable... and less naive.’

With a final deep breath, I open our eyes to find the home exactly how I left it, and I walk towards the lavatory. I look in the dusty mirror and start to practice smiling and looking like everything is fine in the world. I might need a new host, but until I can find one I need to make sure not to draw attention to the one I have. Our eyes are wide and the smile is shaky at best, too big, artificial, a lie a toddler could see through. I can feel the blood on our hands crusting over and pulling on my host’s memories I turn the knob on the faucet and watch as murky water starts flowing out. I wash our hands as thoroughly as possible without what my host calls soap with the end result being slightly tinted fur on our arms.

I go back to practicing with the mirror for a while before something tugs at me from behind once more. Turning around I hear someone trying to open the door, the handle is jiggled for a moment before stopping and a moment later I hear the lock on the door clicking open.

Wrapping our form in shadows once more I step forward and prepare to meet whoever is at the door.

Author's Note:

Everyone has a price, it simply takes one bad day to find out what it is.

Comments

[Sky Blue CMC]

There's a new group dedicated to TTYD... this story should be in it!

[Sky Blue CMC]

8003005 Yeah... I would have to agree... but I have my own voice for her: The Beast from Doctor Who: The Satan Pit.

[Sky Blue CMC]

Awesome! Instant 100 Star Points! ( x 100) LEVEL UP!!!

[megabyte97]

8072457

Toad Town actually, a nod to the first Paper Mario.

[Brass Cogs]

8072531 That's what I thought.