Uncomprehending
It was possible to learn a lot about the book just from the printing style. Several of what might be possibly be individual letters had been rendered in something closer to portrait than calligraphy, and not all of them came at the start of what she was guessing to be paragraphs: the majority of such elaborate works could be found there, but others appeared at the end of character bursts, with a few strays in the middle. Moving to the page border found heavily-stylized ink vines braiding through each other in a way which Cerea couldn't quite disassociate from the more solid animated ones in the forest: simply looking at the edge design was making her neck ache. And truly major events found little pieces of art darting in and out of the lines, a chase conducted in near-shimmering images throughout the story.
It told Cerea that the ponies had been through a period of illuminated text, just like certain portions of medieval Europe. The rendering of the art suggested an Impressionist surge had taken place with at least partial overlap, and the solidity of the original ink transfer told her that an engraving plate had been used. The book smelled old, had the must of centuries lingering in permanent aura, she'd been incredibly careful about opening the cover -- but the colors were still fairly bright, and that said a lot about their ink.
Or the magic they use to preserve it.
Was that possible? Invoking magic made it feel as if just about anything was. Spells to make books last...
She knew a lot about old books, because most of hers had been something close to ancient. Cerea knew how to be careful with them. The required delicacy of her touch had reached the point where she could go into a manga shop, read an entire volume on the premises (presuming she could both get into the aisle and no one asked her to move), then put it back onto the shelf without leaving the faintest ghost of a crease upon the spine. (Not that she generally would because like so many other natives of France, Cerea regarded manga as something which would be better worth examining once it finally managed to completely grow up. A nation which often treated comics as high art wasn't entirely ready to grant full respect for a relative youngling.) She was aware that some of these books were older than a few of the ones upon her own shelves. Admittedly they weren't quite as delicate: she'd noticed some fairly heavy reinforcements on the corners, which went nicely with the front cover and its lingering bite marks.
Opening books by mouth. Nosing to the next page. The necessities of a world without hands. And she wondered how the painting had been done: if the arts were the exclusive realm of those who could move things with hornlight, whether thin brushes were strapped to forelegs, or -- if it was just done by mouth. She was vaguely aware that human artists dealing with various degrees of disability had worked that way, and when an entire species had no other choice...
The book (one of a hundred and fifty-three in the cell: there had been plenty of time to count them) told her a lot just through the way it looked. But it couldn't tell her the most crucial thing, and so Cerea, who hadn't quite found a comfortable place on the stone floor, miserably gazed down at the bright colors, knowing none of it was her fault while still feeling as if she'd somehow failed again.
But I'm going back to him --
-- no. I can't think about it that way. Not yet.
There was a place for optimism and in Cerea's life, that location just about always seemed to be well away from her quarters. The dark Princess had said that they would see what they could do about sending her back. They would try. But the promise had been for attempt, not success. She could be back in Japan tomorrow, or -- it might take longer. Pinning all of her hopes on an instantaneous return just left that much more to be dashed. But there was a chance to return to her love --
-- is he all right?
He probably was. He had an odd knack for survival, something which was a necessity just to live through a few expressions of liminal affection: in particular, Miia's tail hugs had a way of compressing the rib cage (just before collapsing the lungs), Meroune liked to kiss while fully in her environment and could neglect little things like 'let my partner come up for air', and Suu's affection occasionally went past (and through) the slime girl's membrane. But he wasn't indestructible. He was tough for a human, but he needed help with so many things because he was human, and -- realistically, hosting seven liminal girls meant there were both a lot of situations which demanded help and just about as many opportunities to get hurt. Cerea did her best to ride herd over the household, but she didn't always succeed and without her moderating influence -- it was moderating, no matter what Rachnera insisted on calling it --
-- and what are they doing?
The initial answer arose from fear, with the inner images showing a race where one participant had been disqualified after leaving the track. Not even second any more: a competition where she'd outright lost, her love claimed by scales or fins or, worst of all, spider legs. But she managed to banish most of it, because she knew that wasn't right -- or rather, it wasn't a scenario which would come true just yet. Yes, some in the household would certainly find their own path to his affections to be somewhat more clear without a centaur body in the way. But none of them, not even Rachnera, would have made an immediate move. Because in a way, the household was something like a family, and...
I vanished.
I've been gone for days.
If her absence continued... there would be readjustment. A sorting of the new order, and some of that might lead to fresh vacancies: she could easily picture terrified parents pulling their children home. But given how long she'd been missing -- they were still looking for her.
It was so easy to picture the events. Cerea went for morning runs: the entire household knew that, although it had taken a while before the fact had truly stuck with Papi. The duration of those gallops was a variable, and so they wouldn't have been too concerned until she'd missed breakfast. After that... another hour before they went out into the neighborhood? Papi searching from the air, and flying always seemed to help the harpy concentrate on what needed to be done. Meroune, once bundled into her wheelchair, had the least trouble dealing with the more skittish neighbors: a simple hairstyle adjustment added to the blanket hiding her fins and hands clasped in her lap so that none could see how they were webbed -- the mermaid could effectively pass for human, at least for a little while, and so it would have been she who went door to door (at least for those places without front stairs), asking if anyone had seen or heard something. Rachnera was more likely to just drop in on people and if the trees were tall enough, some of that would be from overhead.
Once that had failed, Ms. Smith would have been summoned and since it wouldn't have been noon yet, the unfair presumption would have had her first words upon arrival as a protest regarding having to be up so early. The truth was that their government liaison was nightmarishly lazy -- right up until the moment someone gave her a job which couldn't be passed onto someone else. She would have been the one to both call and direct the police, along with utilizing available liminal forces. Doppel and Zombina would have taken over on house calls, with Manako doing her best to trace Cerea's hoofsteps. Before mid-afternoon, uniformed officers would be on every street and shortly after that, the media might become involved. Broadcasting her picture. Asking people to call, Email, make contact to tell them anything they knew.
And eventually, someone would have contacted her mother. Told that parent that her daughter had found yet another way to disappoint her. Kidnapped or worse. Potentially having lost the fight of her life through forfeit.
Because that was one of the nightmares. The laws were so poorly written, and there were humans who hated the integration. There were crimes committed against liminals who couldn't even defend themselves without being removed from the country, and while the humans were, in theory, equally subject to prosecution -- they attacked in groups. Traveling packs of alibis.
There had already been assaults against some of the exchange students: Cerea herself had once been on the absolute edge of being pushed off that cliff. So many of the liminals feared that it would eventually become worse. The potential to become worse was always there, and that was in a nation which had at least tried to participate in the great experiment.
(There was a reason Cerea had found herself so far from home. The moment when she had wondered if she could ever think of herself as French again.)
Humans became angry, the miasma of fear expressing itself as anger clogged the air, and -- she would hesitate. Because to defend herself might see her escorted to the airport, her love lost forever, and given the choice between that and suffering a few blows...
With humans, she hesitated, when a just world would have let her attack. And Rachnera mocked her for it.
Rachnera had her own method of dealing with the problem.
"It cannot continue to work," Cerea had insisted within the echoing confines of the huge bathroom. (She was typically extremely formal with the arachne, at least for spoken terms: the strictly inner vulgarities occasionally managed to get a censored word in.) "You are relying on fear. That they will be so terrified of what you might do after they report you as to say nothing. Eventually, one of them will find their spine. A few words to the wrong people and Smith will no longer be able to save you. Fear doesn't last."
"So you claim," Rachnera had countered, lazily lacing hardshelled fingers around each other. A small construct was beginning to emerge between them.
"And your webs hardly vanish. You're leaving behind evidence --"
This was interrupted by a shrug. "-- so call it evidence. It still means someone has to testify." Three visible eyes (the right tier) joined the wicked fanged grin: the others were obscured by light purple hair. "It'll never get that far."
"It has to." And Cerea didn't know how she felt about that. She didn't like the arachne, she didn't feel as if she ever would or could, and losing Rachnera would mean one less problem in the house, that much less competition for her love's time -- but to see that rival deported...
"I use their fear." Another shrug. "It's easy."
Which was when Cerea had partially turned away, all the better to conceal the mutter. "For you."
But it was still heard. Rachnera often overheard things, to the point where Cerea wasn't entirely sure that the ears on the human portion were the only ones.
Softly, "Oh, is that today's issue?" A skittering noise: the big body getting closer, eight legs forever scuffing against the floor. "They look at me and they're afraid, because arachnophobia is something which humans simply need to be reminded that they've always had. But when they look at you, when their gaze moves to that which isn't part of their own bodies... that's not what they perceive, is it? They see something they've tamed. Broken. Not so much partner as servant, not so much servant as slave. They see you, and they can't be afraid because they feel like their entire species has already won..."
She refused to look back. Forced the sudden surge of anger into her features, made them go blank and stiff. But her spine was tight from tail to neck, and she could feel her shoulders beginning to shake.
Somehow, Rachnera's unseen pause felt like a thoughtful one.
"Which creature," the arachne finally said, "kills more humans than any other in the world?"
Nothing would have made Cerea turn. "Spiders." Because of course it was going to be spiders.
It produced a merry giggle. "Oh, if only. No, Cerea, the honor of greatest reaper goes to the mosquitoes. It's the malaria, you see. You might never believe me if I gave you the true number, but -- it's not a small one. They do their best, and never think about what they're doing at all. And then, on the tier just under that, you have the multitude of deaths from allergic reactions, which brings us to wasps and bees and hornets --" and the delighted peal was just a little too quick "-- oh my! Too soon?"
She forced her hand away from her face, went to war with the blush and lost.
I tried. I did everything I could and one still got through...
"But not spiders," Rachnera mournfully said, the regret as faked as the apology. "At best? Billions of humans, and perhaps two dozen spider-caused deaths in a particularly busy year. In fact, do you know which animal regularly bests those numbers by a factor of three or more?"
"I do not care --"
"-- horses."
Hands of flesh abruptly went limp. The ones covered in chitin made soft skittering sounds as they moved against each other.
"Yes," Rachnera thoughtfully continued. "Horses. All that strength, all of the mass -- and I think a girl so dedicated to hiding her true weight from the world will know exactly how deadly that combination can be. A hoof kicked into a human skull is something of an impediment to living. And still they think they have you tamed, conquered, enslaved... until the whip hand comes down one too many times. They know you're stronger than they are, Cerea. It's why they feel they have to conquer you. Because if they don't..."
Hard digits pressed something against her palm: softer fingers automatically closed.
"Maybe they need a reminder," Rachnera had whispered, and a pointed tongue flicked against the furry ear. "Of who could be in charge, if she wasn't so nice..."
Eight legs sprung into a leap. The scuttling moved to the ceiling, eventually wandering into a hallway.
And after a while, Cerea had looked at the miniature silken whip in her hand.
She didn't like the arachne. She wasn't sure she ever would. However, in terms of sheer physical power -- if nothing else, they had that in common. But in how humans reacted to it...
I want...
She looked at the book in her hands again. The colors, the artistry, and everything else.
-- there was a whinny from outside the door, one which almost seemed to have a question mark attached.
She didn't reach for the disk immediately: she had to wipe her eyes first. "Yes?"
"I heard..." An awkward pause. "Um. I heard something," the little horse went on. "It was sort of like... can I come in?"
Cerea had no right to order a knight away from anything, especially as the prisoner being watched. "Yes."
There were a few equally-awkward metallic sounds, and then the door opened. Cerea had to drop her gaze in order to watch the deep black pegasus hesitantly enter, and it let her see the three other Guards who were still posted in the corridor.
"Is something wrong?" the little mare asked, with her right hind leg carefully nudging the door mostly shut.
"No," Cerea lied.
"Oh. Um. Because it sounded like -- um. If it was one of us, it would have been..." Feathers rustled, possibly from sheer embarrassment. "Did you have any questions about tomorrow?"
She was aware that the subject was being changed, and she welcomed the switch. "I didn't understand what the Princess said about --" what had the word been? "-- residue? Signatures?"
"Oh," Nightwatch said. Hooves slowly, reluctantly shuffled closer. "Um... with magic... everypony who does magic works in it their own way. It's sort of like mouthwriting. No two ponies are going to produce a character/letter/concept which is exactly the same shape. And it's possible to see/feel/know or learn a little about the caster, and the spell, by examining the signature. But it's something which fades. You only have so long before there isn't anything to work with at all, not which could be understood. There's ways where we would already be past the limit. But the palace has a few things which could help. Princess Luna is taking them out of the armory tonight. And tomorrow, we'll try to find where you arrived, before the signature fades to the point where even those devices won't do any good."
Cerea slowly nodded. "So the longer she waits, the less there is to learn."
"Yes. Normally we'd try to plan a little more, but there's no chance." The little mare softly sighed. "And that's why I have to go off-shift in two hours, because Princess Luna wants me to come along. The palace has medicines/potions for staff members who need to sleep in a hurry because of a shift change, but I hate..." Stopped, and feathers rustled again. "Um. You should probably sleep too, but we can't give you any potions, because we don't know how they'd work on you. Maybe if you... read yourself to sleep --"
"-- I can't read."
The pressure of humiliation squeezed blue eyes shut, and Cerea turned her head away: it kept any tears out of sight and this time, she'd managed to suppress the little sob.
"Um," the pegasus initially tried: this was followed by a rather weak "What?"
"I can't..." Her breath caught in her throat. "I..."
I don't know you, and all you know about me is that I'm something you're afraid of. But after tomorrow, I may never see you again.
Or the pony could wind up guarding her cell for months. But somehow, it felt as if this particular humiliation had a chance to stay behind. Locked away in the cell forever.
"...I used to read a lot of stories," Cerea softly said, still without looking at the mare. "I still do. But for a while, stories were -- everything. And there are books in this cell, and I was thinking... that I'd never read any of them. That no one from my home ever has. I had shelves full of stories no one's seen, I took a book down, and... I forgot that the spell doesn't let me read." And there was nothing left for keeping the pain from her words. "I'm surrounded by stories I'll never know..."
Cerea never saw the silver eyes blink. She could only listen as the hooves shuffled again.
"Um," Nightwatch said, and part of the warm breath wafted across Cerea's fingers. "The Tale Of The Second Sunrise. Recorded and translated by Frith Inlé. It's... a collection of what would normally be foal stories, but these don't come from our nation. Um. The tales are foreign: the printing was local. So this was probably put here for someone who was temporarily held during a war and knew our language. And they're old stories. I know they're not taught in our schools, and I'm not sure most yaks can still be bothered."
Yaks. Ponies and yaks: it made Cerea briefly wonder about deer. "Oh. Thank you."
Another warm breath.
"Um. So. 'Ice thirsts for light. Ice tries to capture that which some would say harms it. But it longs for that touch, for it does not bring pain. Only change. The two are so often confused --'"
Cerea's eyes shot open.
The little pegasus backed up before raising her head, allowed the centaur to briefly look directly into silver. Moved forward again.
"I don't think it's a long one," Nightwatch decided. "Less than two hours, anyway. So. 'This is the tale of the ice which loved the light, and some would say the ice paid the price for bringing it forth...'"
The two females listened to the words, for it was a story both ancient and new. In time, it ended, and the pegasus tried to nudge the sleepy centaur towards the bed. Soft protests came back, and the larger body eventually settled in against a slightly different patch of floor, leaning against the bookcase for support.
The black pegasus glanced back through the doorway as she cleared its threshold, and then silently sealed the cell.
Stats
Page generated in 0.053 seconds
Total duration
1,015 users online
152,944 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Awww! That ending! So sweet!
And the Rachnea conversation... Coool!
That book analysis! Nice details!
Some deeply personal stuff for Cerea here... which means that a lot of it's going over my head.
I understand it abstractly, but I'm missing a lot of context. Still, every good crossover should try to involve both series to a roughly equal degree; I can hardly complain about this given my own work.
Also, tantalizing hint of a fascinating fable... albeit a long one. Not like yaks have a lot to do on those cold, unbroken winter nights.
Now to see what tomorrow brings...
I have been reading this story and really like it. So they first thought Cerea was with Tirek?
Nice chapter. Liked the Watership Down reference near the end there. Especially since "Frith Inlé" literally translated means "Sun Moon".
I love the small bonding moments in this chapter.
This sounds like an interesting world. I should start reading the manga, is there much of this stuff in it? I like political stuff, but there's only so much 'hatred and intolerance' I can deal with at once. Though with X-Men continuing to nose dive, I do need a replacement...
Dang. Now I really want to marathon Monster Musume to gain a more complete understanding of the story.
Rachnera is a master of more than web manipulation. There's more than a little resentment toward humans bubbling under her chitin, and she's trying to stir up Cerea's frustration with her inability to act upon anything humans could do to her.
It's so sweet how Cerea and Nightwatch are bonding over stories. If she could get over her initial mistrust of centaurs, Twilight could be great friends with Cerea.
Maybe somewhere, in Fluttershys house, a certain rabbit is annoyed about being disturbed.
Looks like Cerea is making a friend.
9517462
It's mostly an ecchi harem with moments and arcs that get serious.
9517656
Damnit.
9517659
Don't take my word for it, someone who knows the series better might disagree with me. I don't necessarily think that could be true, but it's possible.
There are so many times I read this and think it'd be a thousand thousand times better if liminals vanished into myth.
Like unicorns and pegasi. Same place.
9517605
9517438
El-ahrairah always deserves what he gets. 🐇
That chapter ending was adorable.
Nice to see some more interaction. Very nice take on Rachnera!
9517468
I'll be honest with you, aside from like, one or two asshole gangster characters who haven't shown up in twenty or so chapters, there's not really a lot of hardcore discrimination going on.
See the story is made out to be more slice of life than anything else, but the author made the mistake of trying to do too much worldbuilding with not a great idea as to how.
The 'exchange system' set up with the girls is ridiculous, it makes no sense at all, in a lot of ways hinders the ability to actually integrate them and get the various societies to know each other. For example, Llamia (snake woman) have no males, they need humans to reproduce. In the most recent chapters, it's revealed that the government body in charge of the system has stopped males from visiting Llamia controlled lands even those who want to go willingly (Llamia used to kidnap men, which they stopped doing when they signed up for this) and it's literally becoming a problem of dwindling birthrates.
Nice chapter.
I continue to enjoy this story. :)
9517462
Uhm, not really... Monster Musume is best described as a romantic comedy with lots and lots of fanservice.
I like this story. That is all
9517808
What are you even talking about? Rachnera kidnapped Protag-kun because he'd acted against her expectations - she thought all humans were as greedy and selfish as the ones she'd encountered previously - and wanted to 'tease' him until he showed his true colors. There's no indication that she was planning to kill him, much less make it a murder-suicide.
She isn't crazy, she's just massively cynical and, er, devoted to her "hobbies". She's the only one of the girls (except maybe Lala?) that hasn't regularly given her 'honey' a thumping, whether through negligence, over-enthusiasm, or similar. She hides her true emotions a lot, but she definitely has a thing for Kimihito.
*Cute sleeping centaur-waifu noises*
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/015/453/b47.gif
9518394
Mm, my bad then, it's been a while since I read the manga.
Damn. I don't know Rachnea, but that flashback was fascinating. The layers buried in their conversation really drew me in, with the negative interactions of genuine dislike and malice that still don't preclude an equally genuine moment of empathy for a fellow being suffering in oppression. That whole hidden 'they know but we don't' aspect where things are left unexplained until the narrative forces the characters to reveal it and change the whole context of what came before as you see it in that new light.
The ending scene was completely different. I really felt for Cerea, suddenly and horribly illiterate in what should have been a dream come true with all this time in the world to explore entirely new stories and worlds. That horrible embarrassment of then having to admit that to someone else, an essential stranger too. It makes the end even more poignant and heartwarming. Thanks for this one, Estee.
9518433
Very cute indeed
A really touching end to the chapter ... I've had to read to those who cannot, and it really makes one think about how much of a handicap illiteracy alone would be....
9518394
Rachnera is pretty tsundere when it comes to expressing positive feelings towards anyone. It's a mix of her naturally aggressive nature and keeping people at a distance because she fears rejection.
Side note: When you take into account her overall body mass, Cera's breasts are actually in proportion rather than oversized.
Has anyone ever worked out what a semi-plausible arrangement for centaur innards would be?
Just off the top of my head, I think that the heart and lungs (horse sized) would take up the whole humanoid section, with everything else in the equine half. The reasoning being that along with the brain, those are the organs with the highest survival priority. That way, in the event of serious injury to the equine section, it's easy to restrict the blood flow via artery dilation at the "waist".
That ending, Nightwatch reading stories to the "big, scary" centaur ... much d'awww
I'm really curious, are there any conversations as intelligent or introspective as this in the manga or anime? Because when I look at the character designs and read the premise, I always think it just seems like pandering, wish-fulfilling trash.
9743174
The manga is a lot more thoughtful than it looks, and the author does make a serious effort to make the characters feel real, especially Rachnera and Cerea. However, at it's core it's an ecchi harem romcom so there's limits to the formula.
9517462
9517656
9518070
While the other two are right, Monster Musume does have its moments where it does dive into discrimination and how the integration process would work out. It does primarily focus on comedy (which is one of the funniest reads I've found) and echi moments but it really does go out of its way to show character interactions and the manga plays a lot with biology and actually uses the girl's animal traits and such for jokes, information, and even drama at points.
It's a pretty good romance comedy harem series and it has a lot of good character growth as it does have its fair share of darker periods. I'd highly recommend it.
9841820
You should read some of the more serious monster musume fics sometime...Some people really know how to drag out the full potential of a story with lots of racial fuel.
Here's a pretty good example, as they have some scenes that definitely werent in the anime...(unsure if they were in the manga.)
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12242981/1/Blank-Slate
(Just realized part of another message somehow spliced into my comment...corrected that.)
I can’t imagine I didn’t notice the reference here before, but I don’t remember it. Maybe I just didn’t comment on it because IronLucario2012 already did.
The translator’s name makes me wonder if it’s old enough to be an alias for Celestia and Luna, though.
This story makes me want to watch the anime, but I have to ask a question first: How similar is it to High school DXD?
Well that didn't age well.
For a character who's featured as little as she has up until now, the way you've written Rachnera leaves a very strong impression.
Rereading and, knowing the future, this line makes me smile so much.