Bits of Ash

by No one is home

The Faithful and the Unclean

“She’ll be… taken care of?” The filly’s father asked with trepidation, looking nervously at the town Meister

“She will be treated with all the respect of the royalty potential in her soul,” the sickly priest answered drawing a happy nod from the settlement’s leader, “And in return, we will surrender more than enough in trade to pull your village through two winters.”

“Daddy,” the filly pleaded in mortal terror, “I don’t like these ponies… I want to go home…”

“What the hell is this?” The freak stumbled into the meeting, obviously inebriated and having listened in on more than was any business of his or his companion’s.

“Unclean!” The priest shouted. “THIS is the corruption we fight to cleanse from the world! This abomination is why we need a new Empress!”

“Six designated targets detected.” A small, white, metal filly stirred sleepily from her place on the giant’s back, guns whirring mechanically into place.

“This is no business of your’s outlander!” The Town Meister snapped.

“Seven targets detected.” Bullette corrected herself. “Request permission…”

An orange serpent sprung from the freak’s mouth, looking the gangly grey priest in the eyes, “Safety Protocols disengaged, Bullette. Threat level Chocolate Bran Muffins authorized.”

“Prepare for final internal evacuation.” The filly smilled wicked as her autotuned voice rang out through the hall.

The surrounding settlements would never again so much as considered trading goods for fillies. They would never dare.

“So there is no happy ending,” Ocellus noted saddly, “Because it’s really like he said and it never really ends.”

“Oh don’t be sad,” Discord smiled warmly, “Maybe it never ends… but that doesn’t mean the end of happiness…”