Revenant

by Zimprus Nalune

Wraith

Author's Note:

Here it is. Been a while since I last posted anything. And for the love of Chrysalis, don't flip out about unexplained stuff anymore, okay? Just because I don't drop a crapton of exposition right off the bat doesn't mean I won't explain stuff later down the line.

I'm not apologizing for the delay. I said stuff would now be coming out when I was good and ready, and I intend to keep to that, for better or for worse.

That said, I appreciate everyone who is here. I really do. You guys are the lifeblood of my muse, don't forget that.

Go read my blog post for further information, and for a poll about future information.

“I won’t lie, brother, I really thought you had done away with me for good.”

I grumbled to myself at Parasite’s words, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of a response.

“Your mind is quite the tumultuous thing, brother,” he mused. “Betrayed twice over, possibly a third… and yet you did not learn after the first time? I see… maybe that is what was intended? You are Disconnected, after all.”

“Shut up,” I muttered. “The last thing I need is you in my head right now. Not like it matters much.”

Parasite paused for a moment.

“I suppose that is a problem, isn’t it? If you starve to death, you’ll just fade away… but it’s far more likely that the ponies will execute you before then. At least they gave you the courtesy of some final entertainment.”

“Yeah, like it matters much…”

“Oh, but it does, dear brother. You...we, can simply drink in the love and adoration those mindless morons send Trixie’s way. You’re an Elite, but it seems you have the abilities of an Infiltrator, at least as far as feeding goes.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Infiltrators have the innate ability to take in love from their surroundings, even when it’s not directed at them. It’s a trait our king engineered into their subspecies, so they could collect love better than our race ever could.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t. Just figure out your mission and be done with it already. The faster you do, the faster I can be reborn.”

“What are you talking about!?” I yelled, slamming my hoof down. “I’m sick of being told nothing! Between you, Nebula, and Trixie, I can’t get any answers anywhere!”

The sudden sound of my cell being opened caught me off guard. I turned to the door just in time to see one of my two guards punch me in the jaw.

I fell to the ground, barely registering the impact as dizziness filled my senses. It wasn’t for a few moments that I realized the guard had his hoof on my throat.

“Remain silent, prisoner,” he said firmly. “A Watcher will come for you within the hour.”

I tried to spit out some response, but all I could do was groan through the dizziness. The guard swiftly lifted his hoof off of me and exited my cell, resuming his post once more. I waited until his back was turned, then slowly rolled onto my stomach. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes. I was getting more and more fed up with everyling around me.

“I’ll kill all of you!” I yelled, trying uselessly to climb to my hooves. “Everyling! Pony or changeling, I’ll end you ALL!”

“I’ve heard quite enough, brother, Parasite said, sounding incredibly bored. “Raving and wasting your energy does nothing to help you, nor myself. If you insist on revenge, better to wait until they come for you.”

I growled to myself and slammed my front hooves onto the ground. This was unbearable. I literally could not take any more of this imprisonment.

The way I saw it, I could sit in my cell, catch a fancy show with my previous servant as the centerpiece, then wait for whatever the ponies decided to do with me.

Or, I live for the next five minutes, and go out fighting.

“No more,” I growled.

“Revenant,” Parasite warned. “You are making a mistake, one you cannot take back! Stop now or we both die!”

Without responding, I lunged at the bars to my cell, banging against them with all the energy I had. The guards jumped back in surprise, but a moment later leveled their spears at me and glared.

“We have standing orders to keep you subdued,” one of them said loudly. “Cease and desist.”

I didn’t offer them the satisfaction of a reply, and instead bit down on the bar closest to me, trying to gain my freedom by any means possible.

The guards didn’t waste any time, stabbing at me with their weapons. They obviously didn’t aim to kill me, as the spear tips only opened up cuts on my shoulder and neck, pretty small ones considering. They burned horribly, and I almost let go of the bar in my mouth, but I just clenched my eyes shut and continued beating away at the bars.

I was braced for the stabbing that was sure to come, but when it didn’t, I opened an eye to see the guards had planted their spears in the ground and were standing up straight. I wondered for a brief second why they hadn’t attacked me again, but that question was answered as I felt a sharp blow to the back of my neck.

Instantly, my body went numb, and I fell to the ground.

Every sense I had went ballistic. Colors flashed in front of my eyes, my ears felt as if hot water was being poured into them, my tongue tasted a million different things, and my nose felt chilled and smelt nothing but blood. Even my horn vibrated unpleasantly, wildly changing between the feeling of no magic at all and filled to bursting.

My limbs felt dead and heavy, but had no problems spasming on their own. I flopped about randomly on the floor, unable to control my movements in any way. My wings buzzed uselessly every so often, sending me up into the air where I immediately fell back down, seemingly landing on my head every single time.

There was a bright of light, and all of a sudden everything stopped.

I found myself tied to a metal slab, limbs splayed out. Chains threaded through my legs pulsed with a bright yellow light, and I felt my wings virtually crushed against the slab by rocks.

I blinked a few times before anything else came into focus. I wasn’t in my cell anymore, just in a well lit stone room, but I knew I was just as trapped when I laid eyes on the grayscale pony next to me, dressed in a familiar coat and fedora.

“You have recovered,” she said. “You changelings have evolved much. But as you have just experienced, you are not as invincible as you claim to be.”

“How many of you are there?” I asked, annoyed. “Do you all have a thing for me or something?”

“We Watchers number under one hundred,” the mare responded. “And yes, you are unique among your kind, and thus you have our particular interest.”

She turned to a table behind her, hoof hovering over a number of pretty sharp looking tools. I gulped as she picked one up, inspected the blade on it, then put it back down and continued looking.

“Before your final entertainment, I am tasked with ensuring you will be as little of a threat as possible,” she said aloud. “Princess Luna herself will take charge of your interrogation and execution, and I am sure you would agree handing you off to her in your current condition would be… unprofessional.”

I said nothing as she finally settled on one tool, a chisel. Her fedora glowed with an inner light as the tool was levitated up and burst into flames, turning red hot in a matter of moments.

“Lah feim, creature of deceit. These are the words of your demise.”

The chisel came closer, and I knew exactly what she was going to do. I started to tug at the chains holding me, but no matter how hard I pulled, the wouldn’t budge. I looked around, hoping that if anything was going to save me, if I only got one more piece of knowledge from the Voice ever again, I needed it to be now.

Parasite was silent, absent. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t blame him.

I could feel the heat coming off the chisel as it drifted closer and closer, the Watcher apparently happy to take her time. Her face was blank, and for some reason, that turned my desperation into anger.

The searing hot tool finally touched my chitin, hissing as it burned it away. A split second later, the chisel was thrust deeper, pushing past the layers of protection and burning everything underneath.

I screamed.

I screamed until I ran out of breath, and then some.

I can’t describe how intense the pain was.

I felt my flesh being burned, reduced to ashes, reduced to nothing. I thrashed and kicked and screamed some more, but the Watcher next to me was completely unmoved, and only continued pressing the chisel into me, slowly dragging it across my body.

Not too soon, I felt myself blac-

“Not yet!” the Watcher yelled, her horn blazing alight.

I felt like I was kicked in the gut at that very moment. I felt revitalized, springing back from the brink of unconsciousness. Briefly, the feeling of burning alive and recovering lost energy mixed, making a weird feeling of dying and being very much alive at the same time.

Then the energy flow disappeared, and I was screaming again.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” I cried, feeling tears starting to roll down my face. “IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO, I’LL KILL EVERYONE!”

The Watcher didn’t reply, just stood over me and continued carving up my body with that infernal chisel.

***

I don’t know how long it took.

I don’t know how long I screamed.

I don’t know how many times I was jolted back from the brink of unconsciousness...

I don’t know how long that… monster…

I don’t know why Nebula put me through this…

I don’t know…

I couldn’t muster up the energy to look around, so my head just lolled from side to side.

I couldn’t muster up the hatred to shout or be angry any more, at anyling or anypony…

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to close my mouth or just leave it open, a line of drool dripping down onto the rest of me…

I couldn’t bring myself to lash out as I felt the chains binding me removed, so gentle it would have been funny… if I could laugh…

Now that I wasn’t being carved up any more, the world was looking pretty nice…

Now that I wasn’t being tortured, I think I almost looked forward to Trixie’s show…

Now that I… that I… wasn’t… a prisoner… I… I was almost sorry…

I was sorry…

Tears came easily enough, I’d been crying for most of the time… I think. If I could meet Trixie again, I’d apologize to her… I’d never treat her like my servant again…

I cried, but I did it silently. The Watcher might have decided to hurt me more if I did it too loudly. I stayed quiet, and I stayed limp. Anything to make sure that pain wouldn’t come back.

Anything. Anything in the world to make the pain stay away. I’d do it.

“I believe you are fit enough to see our princess,” the Watcher announced. “She shall execute you soon enough, you needn’t worry about future torment. This is your last day to live.”

Dying…

I could see myself welcoming death.

Just to make the pain go away…

A pair of Night Guards came into the room. The Watcher started talking with them, too quietly to hear. That was fine, soon it would all be over.

The guards lifted me up…

… all that came from me was a weak whimper, even as the fresh burns all over my body were rubbed far too harshly.

Even as I felt like I was being burned all over again…

Burned… branded… like some kind of animal…

An animal that they just dumped back into it’s cell, because it was too deadened to respond…

An animal that they hated so thoroughly, they treated it even less than their pets, probably…

I don’t think I was crying over and over… I just think the tears never stopped…

I felt sick, like I was going to throw up… but I couldn’t…

I laid on the floor, shifting every time I felt I was going to fall asleep, because… because…

Because if I fell asleep… she’d just wake me back up...

***

Eventually another set of Night Guards, or at least I think it was another set, opened my cell without a word and picked me up. I guess it might have been the same ones, I never saw or heard them leave exactly…

The guards dragged me by my forehooves, not even bothering to look down at me. The dragged me through twisting hallways, and I could have sworn we looped back around a couple times. But that might have just been because the hallway I looked up to see every so often appeared the same. Not too much different than the ground, really…

We went up some stairs, more stairs, more stairs…

Around corners, more corners, more corners…

I heard a door creak as one of the guards opened it, and the other took to drag me through, dumping me on the floor as soon as my hind legs were clear. The floor was clean, white, and seamless. Completely different from the stony floor I had been on the past few days.

“On thy feet, vermin,” a familiar voice ordered.

“I… can’t…” I croaked.

A blue haze filled my vision as I was levitated up to my hooves. A chill passed through me as I felt a bit of energy forcefully shoved into my body, giving me enough strength to stand on my own. I could walk, maybe.

I looked up from the floor to see a pair of blue hooves, clad in some silvery shimmering shoes. I gulped weakly as I realized who was standing in front… no, who I was standing in front of.

“P...princess Luna…” I whispered.

A hoof, not Luna’s, grabbed my chin and brought my head up. I found myself staring into the eyes of Lieutenant Leviathe, but as opposed to last time, she was stoic and reserved.

“Listen well,” she said. “You are in the presence of Her Dark-”

“Lieutenant,” Luna cut her off.

“Apologies, my princess,” the Night Guard said, bowing her head to the princess. “As I was saying… Revenant, I believe?”

I gave a tiny nod.

“Revenant,” she repeated. “Thou art in the company of Princess Luna, Regent of the Night. She will be watching thee whilst the entertainer Trixie Lulamoon regales Manehattan with her talents. If thou art compliant and respectful, thine execution will be swift and painless. If not… I need not tell you what tortures await.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Luna said sternly. “That will be all.”

Leviathe let go of my head, which dropped back to the floor, bowed to the princess, then left. Well, at least, that’s what the sound of a door opening and closing told me, I didn’t dare look up from the ground.

“Changeling,” the princess spoke, just a tad angrier than she had been at Leviathe. “Thy… Your name? Revenant, is it?”

“Yes,” I said quietly.

One of the guards behind me gave me a solid kick in the flank. I almost jumped and yelped, but instead I forced myself to just sort of crumple to the ground.

“Bow when addressing your princess,” he said angrily.

I shut my eyes and gritted my teeth. Slowly, I pushed myself back up, being careful to make sure I was bowing the entire time. The guard that had hit me grunted in approval and stepped away, and I sighed as quietly as I could. My flank still burned, but at least he wouldn’t…

“He has been thoroughly broken,” Luna commented flatly. “My commendations to whomever performed this task so finely.”

The princess stepped closer and stuck a hoof out to me. Unsure of what to do, I just stared at the shoe, watching it sparkle and glisten.

“It seems it’s braindead,” Leviathe said matter-of-factly. “Come now, beast, too-”

“Leviathe!” Luna said loudly. “Thou hast said enough! Remain silent!”

“Yes, My Princess,” the Night Guard squeaked.

“See that you remember.”

Luna’s hoof moved, and the next thing I knew she and I were at eye level.

“Very soon, my little changeling, we shall see how your kin responds to the deaths of his own,” Luna said with a small smirk. “And when I have you both, there will be one less head on the hydra, and one less scale upon its body.”

The princess let my head drop back down. I started to wonder who exactly she was talking about, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“Come now, my subjects,” Luna announced. “The jester begins her display in an hour, and you have two guests of honor to escort. I expect that this little changeling and I arrive unharmed.”

The Night Guards all bowed to Luna. Leviathe rose first and started barking out orders.

“Fall in!”

I was guided next to Luna as the guards began to take their positions. I spared a glance up to see that about ten or so guards that had formed a rectangle around Luna and I, holding spears and swords at the ready, but not drawn or aimed just yet.

A chill ran down my spine. I looked up to see Luna giving me a blank stare.

“Be at peace,” she said solemnly. “Face thine end with dignity. We cannot take that away, and though mine own subjects have moved beyond it, I will grant thee the respect of a fallen foe.”

Her wings shifted, and her eyes darted off to the side before looking at mine again.

“Thou wert once possessed of brilliant eyes, I am told,” she muttered. “A shame they are so dead now.”

“Princess?” Leviathe asked. “We are readied.”

“Excellent”, she replied. “Squad! Forward, march!”

The entire group began to move forward. The guards all marched forward simultaneously, making a steady rhythm as they made way for Luna and I. I kept my eyes to the ground as we left the prison I had been kept, and entered back into Manehattan.

I was greeted with the screams of a crowd.

It was some mixture between excitement and absolute hate. They cheered for Luna, but they spat at me. I winced and stumbled as I felt the overwhelming hatred that the unseen crowd radiated, all of it directed at me.

Neither Luna nor the guards made any effort to stop or calm the crowds, not that I expected them to.

It felt like an eternity that we spent, moving through the streets of Manehattan. Every step of the way, I felt sick to my stomach, ready to vomit. I stopped a few times, unable to prevent myself from dry heaving, but after an especially harsh hit from a random guard I managed to find the motivation to sort of stumble forward instead of stopping whenever I felt like emptying my guts out.

“I tire of this display,” Luna announced. “How much farther? I would be rid of this public posthaste.”

“Just around the corner, Princess,” Leviathe immediately responded.

I silently thanked whoever or whatever might be watching over me. I sighed in relief. Finally, I could see an end to all… this.

“...round, all ye citizens of Manehattan!”

My head snapped up from the ground. I knew that voice.

“Come, come, there’s room for everpony!” the voice called out, obviously magically amplified to be heard by everyone with an ear turned. “For the first time in many moons, the Great and Powerful Trixie will regale you will magical acts of untold magnificence!”

I shivered uncontrollably. Her voice… I dreaded it. I remembered how she had swatted me aside like, well, a bug. I could still remember the fires that covered me as I spun out of control into the sky.

My breath caught in my chest.

“Not again,” I whimpered.

Luna glanced at me and raised an eyebrow.

“What matter bothers thee?” she asked. “Come, tell us.”

“Don’t… please don’t…” I whispered.

“One chance… that’s all you get.”

I froze as Parasite’s voice passed through my head. One chance? How could he… I couldn’t. Not any more. Tears were filling my eyes at the very idea. There was no chance. I just wanted it to be over. I would skip the show, skip the entertainment. Just to make the emptiness and the stinging of my face as tears fell from my eyes go away.

“Then silence thine mutterings, if thou hast nothing useful to say,” Luna commanded. “It is unbecoming of thee.”

“Yeah, I’d say,” a new voice spoke above Luna.

Luna looked up to the sky. I saw the corner of her mouth twitch, but I couldn’t tell why.

A trio of creatures dropped down right in the middle of Luna’s guards, who jerked towards them but returned to their former positions almost as quickly. I blinked at the sight of the newcomers, having never seen anything like them before. They seemed familiar, but…

“Regina Irene,” Luna said in a flat tone. “We are honored by your presence.”

“Basta Princess Luna, I know you detest us,” Irene waved a talon dismissively. “It is rare to see anyone that is fond of gryphons.”

Gryphons… that’s what they were. Their front halves were like eagles, with feathers, claws, and beaks of differing tints. Their rear halves were lions, and it seemed that the dusty brown pelt was shared between them.

Two of the gryphons were covered in shining metal armor, silver as opposed to the gold of the Equestrians. Swords were resting in their sheaths, but oddly neither gryphon seemed anxious to draw them.

Regina Irene didn’t wear any armor. Instead, she wore flowing green robes, with golden threading along the edges. On her head was a golden circlet embedded with a sapphire, and with one claw she held a golden staff tipped with a large crescent. Inside that crescent, a square, pyramid, and sphere seemed to float around each other randomly.

“Very well then,” Luna said, frowning. “We will be pleasant, but if thou dost not appreciate our respect, we shall not give it.”

"I appreciate you not disrespecting me so," Regina Irene narrowed her eyes. "But enough of that. I heard you have a changeling in your custody, and it seems the rumors were correct."

“This beast’s incarceration will not be long,” Luna added. “Nor shall it itself be long for this world.”

“Whatever,” Irene waved a claw. “Non giv culo di un topo. The beasts haven’t touched my people, so it doesn’t concern me.”

“Thou shalt say otherwise in the coming days,” Luna muttered. “Regardless, we assume thou art intent on seeing this harlequin Manehattan is so conflicted over?”

“Worried your performers won’t hold up to gryphon tastes?” Irene grinned. “I wouldn’t worry, we don’t have many of our own. She could fall on her face and I’d laugh.”

“We would imagine anyone might find humour in that,” Luna agreed, remaining stoic even though she sounded a little less tense.

“Aye,” Regina Irene turned to me. “Now about that changeling…”

The gryphon started circling around me. I tried not to look directly at her, worried she might do something. I winced as her staff prodded me a few times, sometimes tracing directly over my burns.

“Oh, that’s depressing,” Irene said, tapping a few points on my back. “I’m not sure what more embarrassing, that you need suppression runes at all, or that this changeling is still bursting at the seams with magic.”

"That is far enough, Regina," Luna snapped. "Thine questioning of our runecrafters is not well received."

“It’s not questioning,” Irene replied cooly. “It’s outright disappointment.”

Luna was starting to show her anger, frowning at Regina Irene, who frowned back for a moment before waving her claw again and turning away. Luna sighed to herself and gave me the same irritated look, which I immediately shrank back from.

“Quite the deceiver, is she not?” Luna asked. “I never cared for illusionists myself. I still wonder how one so obviously a liar finds herself Regina…”

I said nothing, looking back to the ground. Thankfully, Luna only sighed and turned her attention back to the procession.

“We’ve wasted quite enough time,” Luna said. “Guards! We move at once.”

The guards around us didn’t say anything, but started moving again as soon as Luna gave them the order. Irene muttered something to her own guards, and they were gone as quickly as they came.

***

It seemed like it took forever for Luna, her escort, and me to arrive at the city center where… HER show was being held.

My hooves shook a little bit more with each step I took towards the center of Manehattan. I don’t know if it was the crowd around us screaming their hate for me, or the fear of having to face Her once again, or maybe even how the ponies planned to kill me afterwards.

It was probably all three.

Over the heads of all the ponies surrounding us, I caught sight of a stage. It was made of mixed metal and wood, with globes of magical light sparkling everywhere. From where I was standing I could almost make Her out, a light blue speck throwing out crimson bursts of magic every once in a while.

Ponies were standing in front of the stage, watching Her displays. I shivered as I felt the emotion in the air. She clearly wasn’t well liked by the Manehattan ponies. That meant, since She was the center of attention, everyling’s focus had shifted away from me, and instead of unbearable the air was now just slightly tortuous.

My legs suddenly gave out, letting me fall to the ground. I whimpered weakly as my face slid along the ground, and I tried to hold back tears as my burns followed. I couldn’t go on anymore. My limbs just shook in place whenever I tried to get them to move.

“Halt!” Luna called out.

I could feel her eyes as she looked down at me, disgust radiating off her. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore it, but the more I did the worse it seemed to get. My stomach was stirring again, and not in a good way. I coughed a few times, then swallowed hard. I didn’t care how humiliating it must have been to lie on the ground, I just didn’t want to feel any worse.

I just wanted it to stop.

Slowly, the disgust faded, and I assumed Luna had turned her attention to Her. I coughed a few more times, waiting and dreading to hear Her voice. It could have been forever, and it still wouldn’t have given me enough time to wait.

“Welcome, citizens of Manehattan!” She greeted the crowd, her voice magically booming through the city center. “For one day and one day only, the Wondrous and Omnipotent Trixie shall show you all feats of magic you have never dreamed of!”

The ponies began muttering to each other. Most were angry, some were confused,a others didn’t seem to care. It seemed like She had been here before, and left a pretty bad impression.

“Yes, yes, Trixie appreciates your praises!” She called out. “However, Trixie assures you, lovely citizens, that while you may have been amazed with her displays in days past, Trixie has far more to show!”

There was a pause as I heard another set of magical blasts go off. Even in broad daylight, they were bright enough that I could see the whole rainbow of colors flash against the ground. Red was what stood out the most, the color of blood.

The crowd around me began stomping against the ground hesitantly. The air was changing, and I could feel the anger slowly fading away. I let out a breath that had gotten caught in my chest, almost sighing in relief. It wasn’t a sigh though, because I was too busy panting. I could feel the sun beating down on my back, heating me up slowly but surely.

How come noling else seemed like they were so hot?

“Thank you, thank you,” She said smugly. “You are too kind. Now, watch, and be amazed! Trixie has many more wonders to show! The show will last all day, but anypony who is unable to endure Trixie’s amazing magical prowess may leave at any time.”

I closed my eyes and whimpered into the ground.

***

I found it amazing how someling could stay so still for long.

Luna had remained absolutely straight, not relaxing for even a moment. Unfortunately, this meant that, since I was so close to her, I could feel the anger, however much she kept it in.

Lying down for who knew how long hadn’t done me any good. My legs seemed just as exhausted as they were when I collapsed. The sun beating down on me had only grown worse, and it felt like my carapace was boiling. In fact, that’s what every part of me felt like it was doing. It just seemed worse on my back. It was probably because I was all black, and not the off-grey that-

I felt something land on my head, interrupting my thoughts with a sudden itchiness. I opened one eye and noticed a few things. It seemed to be darker, which meant that Her show would probably be over soon. That was both a terrifying and a wonderful thing. I wanted to end the pain I was feeling, but I was still scared of death.

The second thing I noticed was a purple… something hanging in front of my face. It looked like some kind of fabric…

“The hat has chosen!” Her voice cried out, sounding more excited than I remembered. “Step forth, Trixie’s new assistant! Come now, allow Trixie to see you!”

I heard hoofsteps all around me. I opened my other eye and tried to lift my head up. To my surprise, Luna was looking at me in shock, everyling but her taken a step or few away from me. Her face quickly changed from shock to irritation, but what I felt coming from her was harsher than that. For once, it didn’t seem she was directing at me.

I felt myself being lifted up, and I panicked as my vision was filled with a red haze.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t so much as twitch a wing in protest.

I watched the crowd of ponies pass underneath me as I flew through the air. They were all looking at me with some mixture of fear, wonder and even… pity?

I continued flying against my will until the ponies were replaced with wooden boards. Only then did the aura around me fade, gently letting me down to stand on top of the wood. Of course, I couldn’t and I just fell the moment it let go of me entirely. The purple thing on my head vanished in an instant.

“Well, well, well,” She muttered, too quietly to be anywhere but right next to me. “Look what the hat dragged in.”

Something inside me stopped.

No.

No no no.

“Citizens of Manehattan,” She began. “Trixie is most sorry one of you will not be joining her onstage. However, as you all can plainly see, Trixie now has much material for her routine!”

Murmurs passed through the air. I couldn’t make out what was being said, as I was too focussed on the terror creeping back into my mind. I thought I was going to be executed, not die being used as a… plaything. There wasn’t any room in Her voice for arguing or misunderstanding.

She… T… Tr…was… She… I...

I was going to die.

But She was going to make fun out of it, for her and every pony who was present.

“But first, Trixie shall indulge in one of her favorite pastimes!” She announced. “For one time only, the Wondrous and Omnipotent Trixie shall share with you the story of her escape! An escape from the clutches of the changelings themselves!”

I felt my body being levitated against my will, and soon She and I were staring face to face.

“Don’t look so dead, Revvy,” She sneered, placing her hat back on. “We have quite a story to te-”

Her sneer faded along with the magic holding me the instant her hat touched her head. She let out a yelp as a blue spark flashed along her horn, thrashing her head left and right until her hat fell off.

The moment it did, her magic returned, and I was snapped back into place.

She looked at the hat, then to me.

“You’ll pay for that,” She promised, putting on a false smile. “I’m going to make you suffer now.”

So, as harshly as she could without making it look like she was deliberately hurting me, Trixie began to tell her story, using me as a ragdoll for her to interact with.

The worst part was that she never lied. Through it all, she told the truth, but made it so that she seemed like a big hero. And the throng of ponies ate up every word of it.

Our stay and escape from the Everfree. She had been held prisoner, and together we had escaped from an even worse changeling, of whom I got to play the part.

Our time on the road. She hadn’t harmed the soldiers, but I did and forced her to help me.

The brief time we had actually been in Manehattan. She had finally gotten the opportunity to expose me, and done so to prevent me from hurting anyling.

It was a short story.

It made me realize how short my life had been, and how much of it had been filled with… nothing. Just hate and bitterness, and blood on my hooves.

“The moral is this, fillies and colts,” She said, marching back and forth across the stage. “Good ponies like Trixie will always prevail, no matter how devious the enemy.”

She suddenly turned to me.

“But as you may see, the enemy still stands,” She continued. “But Trixie will not allow this creature to harm anypony ever again.”

“Enough!”

Her head jerked to the side, a smirk on Her face.

“Princess Luna, Trixie is honored. She will offer this creature as an offering to you.”

“NO!”

For a moment, She was taken aback. My eyes looked out to the crowd of ponies just in time to see Luna speeding towards us. The princess landed hard on the wooden stage, a few boards cracking under her landing.

And the anger radiating off of her was sickening.

“I said no more,” Luna hissed, her voice incredibly low. “Did Jetstream put you up to this? Tell me.”

For Her part, She just looked confused.

“Trixie knows of nopony named Jetstream,” She said. “But she assures the princess that she is more than willing to dirty her hooves for a moment. You are welcome.”

“TRIXIE-!”

Her head flicked towards me.

Her horn flared for a briefly.

I felt something punch clean through my chest and out my back.

And I fell to the stage.

Something felt… wrong.

I thought death would be painless.

I shivered and curled up, coughing uncontrollably. For a moment after, I could still see and hear clearly, but soon everything became muffled. There was a ringing in my ears, blocking out all sound. My vision blurred until even my own body was blurry. Something was beating against the inside of my chest, feeling like it was going to burst out any second. Every part of my body was burning up. There was the vague thought of being sick, but I didn’t even know if changelings got sick.

I felt something slide up my throat as I was coughing. Not like I was throwing up, but like it was just leaving my body. A little more came with each cough, and soon I could feel it overflowing in my mouth and spilling onto the ground.

I felt the stuff, whatever it was, all along my face. I could see it was blue, but nothing else. More and more of it came up my throat, just creeping out of my body. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be disgusted or not. Was this what changelings did when they died?

Suddenly, there were weak tugs on my body. It was almost like being levitated again, but whoever was doing it kept giving up immediately.

There was a voice in my head, I noticed.

Not like Parasite, it just growled and seemed to do a weak sort of roar. I felt it thrashing around in my head, not hurting but definitely not right. I wanted the voice to stay. It didn’t feel right for me to be hearing the voice at all, but I didn’t want it to leave. I wanted it to stay, just to stay with me.

“Dugghhh ohhhhh…” I managed to gurgle out through the flow of blue stuff from my mouth.

I didn’t even know what I had been trying to say.

I wanted to cry. Everything left me as soon as I found it. Why couldn’t I have something, someone, stay?

Why?

I let out a particularly harsh cough as everything faded back into focus. Ponies’ voices were panicked and repulsed, Luna and Her were arguing over my body, and the blue stuff I had been… regurgitating had formed into a pool around me.

As if my body knew I was fully aware again, I stopped coughing. The blue… liquid stopped coming up. Oddly enough my chest didn’t hurt at all.

I just laid where I was for a moment, letting everything come to me. I felt… different. It wasn’t a good feeling, but I couldn’t help but hope it would stay with me. Something was wrong with me, and if this feeling went away it would just make the wrongness more severe.

With a low hiss, I pushed myself to my hooves. I ignored Luna and Trixie, who stopped their arguing to stare at me. I ignored them, looking out across the sea of panicked ponies, who were now in hysterics at seeing a changeling apparently come back to life right in front of them.

Something felt wrong.

I blinked two sets of eyes.

Wings shivered and tentacles wiggled slightly.

Wait.

I looked around. There was something below me, and it was…

Me?

I blinked at myself.

That was weird. I didn’t remember having blue veins running all over my body. I was pretty sure the grey chitin was colored wrong, too.

I also didn’t remember a giant, blue, transparent squid showing up.

Something was wrong.

I heard a low growl and looked around again. The next thing I knew, I was only looking through one pair of eyes, was sent me stumbling backwards. I looked up to see the squid flailing around, a dull sound coming from it as it’s tentacles whipped every which way.

“Trixie Lulamoon, what have you done?” Princess Luna asked, sounding both angry and afraid.

The squid, hovering just above us, turned and looked down at me. A low rumble ran through the air. Now getting a better look at it, it looked less like a squid, and more like a giant changeling head with six or so tentacles waving slowly behind it.

The rumble suddenly rose to a much higher volume. The floating head’s tentacles lit up with a golden glow and rose into the air above it. Without thinking, my wings sprung to life, buzzing and sending me into the air.

The thing stuck exactly where I had been standing, blowing the entire stage to smithereens in the blink of an eye. Luna and Trixie were sent flying, apparently having had just enough time to throw up shields of some kind before the blast hit them.

Ponies started screaming, and it was like Ponyville all over again.

The floating head somehow bellowed without a mouth, and shot up into the air, before spinning around and flying directly into the ground.

It didn’t stop.

It just went right through the asphalt of Manehattan like… like it was intangible.

I stayed flying in the air above the crowd, watching the ponies scatter. None of them seemed to notice or care about me, Luna, or Trixie, except the guards who had escorted us here. They were fighting through the crowd to get to their princess.

I found that… funny.

I smiled, just a little bit.

They were so selfless.

Something in the back of my mind told me to fight them, to kill them for being so stupid as to disregard their own safety. But I couldn’t. It would feel wrong.

I blinked.

Something was wrong.

Comments

[Slip Kid]

That is... ridiculously cruel of the ponies.

[Br2nd66]

why am I thinking the word hollow

[Ayumi]

Well this story has a freaky way of bringing a god-like changeling into play. I mean eesh just reading it made revenant almost like an immortal. Crazy but good story holy shit.

[Big Brain Boi]

So uhh... Is it dead? Would be a shame to get this far in only to find out it's dead.

[Teraunce]

interesting story. too bad it's dead.