The Life of Penumbra Heartbreak

by Unwhole Hole

Chapter 37: Friendship Redux

Burnt was quivering, and not in a good way. She had practiced that for the day the king finally decided to deploy her like the rest of the girls. This was afraid quivering, and on a metal table no less.

“Please don’t put me to sleep,” she whimpered.

The doctor- -an oily, young unicorn, a former student of Necrophile of Canterlot- -raised a bushy eyebrow. “As in general anesthetic? No. We don’t use anesthetic here, this is the Crystal Empire. And if you continue this drug-seeking behavior, you’ll get drug. Through the street. Behind a cart.”

“No, I mean, my leg...are you going to put me down?”

“Now your talking nonsense. Idiot horse. This was so much easier when my patients were already unalived.”

“Are you going to unalive me?”

The doctor looked closely and incredulously at Burnt. “No. The risk of explosion is too high. Also, consorts get special privilege. If you were a crystal pony, we’d just banish you. You get this.”

He lit his horn, and in an instant Burnt’s ankle was snapped back into place.

The doctor looked up with a smile on his face- -a smile that quickly faded. “Where is the screaming?”

“Screaming? Why?”

“That was supposed to hurt. A lot.”

“That?” Burnt looked down. “Oh. No. I didn’t even feel it. I’m a royal concubine. If I couldn’t take that much pain, I wouldn’t survive one knight with the king.”

“Meaning?”

Burnt spread her front legs as far as they could go. The doctor shudder.

“More than I ever needed to know. Thank Epona he uses that filthy zebra as his personal physician. Or that magicless hack.” He sighed. “Regardless, you have type three poison joke poisoning. The varieties grown here are especially virulent, and prefer cruel jokes. The filthy striper can prepare an antidote once she finishes whatever you’re doing.”

“But I need it now! I have to serve the king! What if today is finally the day he decides to- -”

“To snuggle a BROWN unicorn? No. You’re a calming factor for the girls who are actually attractive. Now get out of my office, I have surgery to perform. I need to do some experimental leg switching. Hopefully they scream more than you.”

“You have terrible bedside manner.”

The doctor made a rude gesture. “At least I’m not ugly and BALD.”

Burnt burst into tears, because it was true. She was both ugly and bald- -as well as experiencing lingering burning from being thrown through a pile of nettles. And worse, all by a pony she thought was her friend.

Facet, who had been standing in a shadow and waiting, approached from the side. “Please don’t cry. Here.” She gave Burnt a small vial.

“Huh?” Burnt picked it up. “What is this?”

“A cure. It’s not as good as Lady Crozea’s. I don’t have access to the same reagents. It will work more slowly, but I think it will help.” Her voice became quiet. “But please, tell no one. If they knew- -”

“Part of my job is keeping secrets.” Burnt swallowed the vial without opening it. “Thank you.”

“I am partly responsible for what happened. I should have stopped her.”

Burnt smiled. “No. You wouldn’t have been able to.”

Facet frowned, knowing it was true. A slave had no right to give an order to a princess, or anyone else for that matter. Even Burnt, a slave herself, outranked her, holding a position that many crystal ponies desperately wished they were permitted to. It would be better than starving in the cold.

The door to the medical brig opened suddenly, and Penumbra- -in full armor and makeup, as always- -stepped through.

Burnt squeaked and dove under the table. “Please, no more! Mercy! I’m soft and NAKED!”

“Facet Flare. I need to have a word with you.”

“My apologies, princess. I am short on time, and, frankly, there is nothing for me to say to you- -”

“It is not a request. And it will not take long.”

Facet was forced to obey. It seemed that the princess had finally embraced her role- -and Facet supposed it was better that way.

Penumbra led Facet out of earshot of Burnt.

“What is it you require, Lady Princess?”

“An apology.”

“I apologize for being so impermanent, Lady Princess.” Facet bowed. “Please forgive me.”

“No, not from you, from ME. I’m still...learning. But that is not an excuse. I listened to Chrysalis instead of asking you, even though I know that you like...liked...me while Chrysalis and I...are a bit too similar to coexist without a little friction. What I did to Burnt was wrong, and my fault.”

“Then why are you apologizing to me?” Facet pointed. “You’re right. What you did was cruel, but you need to apologize to HER. You don’t understand how hard it is for us- -”

“Maybe I don’t. What do you think? You’ve seen every minute of my life. How is being a princess any different from being a slave?”

Facet opened her mouth, but was not sure what to say. “You...you aren’t powerless. Like we are.”

“I know. And I want to use that power to help. You, Burnt, Chrysalis; Zither, Holder, Scarlet Mist...Crozea. And all the others. The whole kingdom.” She looked at Burnt, who was still cowering. “I don’t think an apology would be enough for her. So I prepared something else.”

The door opened again, and the whole room fell silent. Sombra stepped into the room.

“My- -my king!” squeaked the doctor, who was in the process of restraining his transplant patients. He bowed. “I was not anticipating an inspection, if I had, there would be more screams- -”

“Leave us,” ordered Sombra. “In fact, I order you to shove your horn into a fruit of some sort. Perhaps an orange. And wear it all day like that.”

“My- -my king- -”

Sombra leaned close. “Or do I have to bend you over and punish you?”

The doctor squeaked, and then cried out. “Nurse! NURSE! Bring me the horn oranges! QUICKLY!”

He then promptly escaped. Penumbra watched him go, and then used her magic to release the crystal ponies that had been prepped for the experiment.

Sombra’s horn lit with dark green light, and he pushed the table Burnt was hiding out of the way. She looked up at him, her eyes wider than any pony eyes Penumbra had ever seen.

“Sexy…king…”

Penumbra stepped forward. “I spoke to my father,” she said, to Burnt. “I informed him that you felt neglected. It was a simple oversight in scheduling.”

“R...really?”

Penumbra nodded. “He was saving you for a special occasion. I think this occasion is special enough. The king rarely gets treated to a fully shaved mare.”

Burnt’s eyes grew even wider, and she had started to drool and quiver- -in a good way. “Is this true, my king?”

“Apparently,” growled Sombra, glowering at Penumbra. “Yes. Definitely true. And I am definitly the real Sombra. Not a changeling in disguise or anything. Because if I did that and got found out, I would TOTALLY be BANISHED from the kingdom and probably be, oh, I don’t know, eaten by the reigning changeling queen?”

“Well, Burnt is not a changeling queen, so you do not need to worry about the effects being permanent.” Penumbra nodded to Burnt. “I am sorry for having played a mean joke on you. I hope this makes up for this. I have business to attend to with Facet concerning my mainfesto. I will leave you two alone.”

“Wait, what? You didn’t say anything about- -”

It was already too late. Burnt had leapt onto the “king” and wrapped him tightly with all four of her legs, holding him in a crushing death-snuggle.

“You won’t regret it, my king! I have grade A certification in every known technique of snuggling, cuddling, smooching, snogging, and the other thing, and I’ve only started THREE fires this week!”

“Penumbra you dirty little horse, you will regret the day you- -EEP!”

“Teehee! I made you squeak!”

Penumbra hardly heard. She had returned to Facet with a smile on her face.

“That is not the king, is it?”

“Nope. There’s no way he’d listen to what I have to say. Besides, it’s just snuggling.”

“You...do know what concubines are for, right?”

“Not a clue. Do you like tea? I also need to apologize to Emeth, and give him back these.” Penumbra held up a small pile of tiny derped golems. “And I think he’d love to meet you. This will probably take a few minutes. Then Chrysalis is going to teach me how to fly so I don’t look like an idiot in front of a bunch of mutant cocks.”

Facet smiled, chuckling slightly. “If that is your order, my Princess.”

Comments

[Davidp1522]

Im so glad they made up so quickly