Mare Doloris

by TinCan

Consequences

I recovered and re-installed the translator into my suit as quickly as possible. As acid as Nightmare Moon's tongue could be, if I had to choose, I'd take the verbal abuse over the physical any day.

Once she had a comprehending audience again, the princess brightened and repeated what she'd been saying before in a gush of words.

"Did you see me, Pangolin? I did it! I crushed her! Literally!" she said, beaming and jumping about atop the collapsed ceiling. "She was so certain she'd won, but I was just tricking her. Thought she'd killed me, but she was wrong! I changed myself—a spell—thought I'd lost it ages ago." She leaped back to the arena floor and circled around me. Her smile faded. "While you two were conspiring together, I was watching! You couldn't see me; I turned myself into a vapor, but I was there. I saw everything. What were you talking to her about for so long? If you're from the stars, how come my sister knows your language?"

The circling reminded me of an aquatic predator closing on its prey. What could I say? What story would allay her suspicions?

No, I chided myself, no more thinking like that! No more self-serving lies. If I had been honest, if I had been treated her decently from the beginning, no doubt our relationship would be on far better footing than this constant back-and-forth of abuse and deceit.

I told her everything. An evil thing had taken control of the statue, something that was using her; grooming her as a weapon against her people. I told her it wanted her to kill without thought or hesitation, like a mad beast. I told her it blamed me that she had not, and tried to get me to abandon her, first through cajoling, then threats. I had, of course, refused. It had demanded that I work with it and gave me a couple tasks to accomplish, but I would see my scales rot before I obeyed. Why, if that little statue had not distracted it at the right time, it would certainly have killed me for my defiance!

My explanation was met with a curt snort and narrowed eyes. Why should I expect any different? It was an outlandish story, and I had lied to her before. Still, I pressed on.

Couldn't she see what had been happening, I pleaded. Some alien power was trying to control her, to make her into something terrible! If she was not to be a pawn in some evil being's great game, she must reject it and forswear its plan to 'bring about nighttime eternal.'

Nightmare Moon's eyes widened at this. "She told you that, did she?" the princess said, voice low.

I already knew she planned to kill all life on the planet, but to do it in such a drawn-out, lingering fashion! It wasn't just. The worst villains deserved a swifter demise than that, to say nothing of the children, innocents and blameless beasts she'd slay on her homeworld!

"You don't even know what you're talking about. My vengeance will be like nothing ever seen beneath the stars."

Before I could contradict her, she continued. "But as a matter of fact, I do know that an alien power is trying to make me dance to its tune. How could I have failed to notice? It hasn't exactly been subtle."

She did? Hope faintly stirred within me. Nightmare Moon was definitely too proud a being to allow herself to be led wittingly.

"Furthermore, I agree completely. This interloper is my enemy, and wants nothing more than to bring me to ruin! I'd be a fool to obey it."

Yes, yes! She understood! Increate be praised!

The pony gave me a wry smile. "After all, it already tried to burn and poison me to death."

...Oh.

Well, she had a point, but there really was another being at large seeking her anima's ruin! I swore upon the Increate to attest to my honesty. I told her my theory about the 'misbehavior' of the other statues all having a common source. I admitted that I had tried to kill her, but that I now deeply regretted my murderous behavior. Having seen the creature that was working toward her spiritual demise, I did not wish to be like it.

"You really believe what you're saying, don't you?" she said wonderingly.

Of course I did! She saw through my lies before, why couldn't she see my honesty now?

Nightmare Moon sighed and sat in the middle of the floor. "I know what's going on here," she announced, looking weary.

I was telling her what I saw! That was what was going on!

She nodded knowingly. "You saw and heard exactly what she wanted you to. None of it was true."

But that made no sense! Why would the artificial Celestia pretend to yield, then fight back only to sacrifice itself charging into that terrible cloud? They had nearly reached a compromise; wouldn't her sister have left it at that? For that matter, if it was merely made of Nightmare Moon's memories, how could it comprehend a language she herself did not?

"No! It was all lies! She'll say whatever she has to if it'll give her what she wants. Just like you, just like all of them, but she's smarter about it than the rest." She hunched her shoulders sulkily.

What did it want, then? It seemed the altercation ended badly for it.

"My sister only miscalculated for once in her life." A flash of doubt passed over her features. "Maybe I did make her wrong."

It was clear I couldn't convince her of what I'd heard. I changed the subject. Maybe she was right, I admitted, and I was completely wrong about what was going on around me, but I knew what was going on within. Before, I had seen Nightmare Moon as a problem, a disaster to be averted to save beings like myself. When the fake Celestia tried to get me to abandon her, I had realized my own injustice. She too was a being who suffered and hoped and lived. All my high ideals were mere hypocrisy if I did not also care for the ills of the creature right before my face in addition to the unknown strangers. Perhaps, (I thought to myself) the others of her race were just as cruel and ornery as their deposed ruler!

She dismissed my earnestness with a wave of a hoof. "Words, words."

She should allow me to prove myself, then. How could I help her? How could I make her life better? I placed myself at her disposal and parted my jaws in what was meant to be a friendly smile.

Nightmare Moon drew back, suspicious. "She told you to do this, didn't she?

Just the opposite, as I'd already mentioned.

The pony seemed at a loss for what to do, then noticed the cart lying upside-down beside the wall and smiled at me unkindly.

"Very well," she said, sticking her nose in the air. "You certainly don't deserve it, but I'll give you a chance. As the conquering heroine, decorum requires that I travel in the proper fashion. No more of this trudging around through the sand like a helpless exile. I need to be above the crowds."

I had no idea what she was getting at. On my own world, those of greatest status were permitted to remain in positions of safety, bellies to the ground, while those of lesser rank showed their un-scaled undersides as a sign of respect and obedience. To exalt herself seemed... lowering, somehow. I asked whether she was going to start flying again.

"Flying? Of course not! There's no air out there to lift myself through, and self-levitation looks ridiculous."

But what about the dome of air she could carry with her? Would that not serve?

"Ugh, know-nothing ground-pounders!" Nightmare Moon grumbled. "That's just as bad as pulling myself about by my horn. No, I'm going to ride home, and you're going to pull me. You should be honored; stallions used to fight for the right to draw my carriage."

I looked to the trolley, then back at the huge creature looming above me, and then off into the middle distance.

"Or perhaps you weren't sincere about wanting to help me?"

Not so! It was just, I didn't see the point when we were the only ones out here. Furthermore, the disparity in our sizes meant that—

"Pangolin, I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to think very carefully before you answer. Were you going to make a comment about my weight?"

Without a word, I hurried over to the cart and turned it upright.

She smiled. "That's better."

A single flap carried the princess onto her new chariot, the top of which was just large enough for her to sit without hanging her toes over the edge. I doubted the non-slip surface was very comfortable. When I started to gather up the canisters and the mixer which the statue had strewn about the arena, she made an impatient gesture.

"Just leave those there. I'll need them for next time."

Next time? Before I could ask what she meant, the magical force patching the ceiling suddenly vanished. The pressure equalized with the vacuum with a bone-rattling thump and more pieces of debris tumbled from the ceiling. My ears popped painfully, and for a single, terrible split-second I was pulled skyward in the wake of the escaping gases. I crashed back to the arena floor.

Atop the cart, once more encased within a smaller bubble of air, Nightmare Moon laughed uproariously, rolling on her back waving her legs in the air.

After recovering, I stumbled to the cart and back into the zone of air. "Do you do that on purpose?" she asked, still giggling. "Fall that way, I mean. Whenever you drop, you land about as gracefully as a one-legged earth pony, and usually on your head."

I curtly answered in the negative.

"Good, it's funnier that way."

I strapped myself into the cart's harness in grumpy silence. I was fortunate that the floor was flat and smooth and the gravity was negligible, or otherwise I don't think I could have moved her bulk at all. As it was, we trundled along toward the door, which she opened with her magic. The stairs, too, glowed with blue light and aligned themselves into a ramp, surely something she could have done just as easily on the way in.

We lumbered on more slowly through the sand in silence for a time. Then, unexpectedly, she spoke again.

"It's that clumsy armor you wear. The helm is heavier than the rest. Use that giant tail of yours as a counterweight next time. Just swing it in the direction you don't want your head to go."

I stopped and turned to look at her with honest surprise. Did Nightmare Moon just give me... helpful advice? To keep me from hurting myself?

My wordless reaction of disbelief was a greater insult than any rejoinder I could have concocted. She stiffened and tossed her head back. "I can't have you breaking your neck the next time there's a little tremor," she explained, refusing to look at me.

I got over my surprise, thanked her for the suggestion, and promised to try it the next time the opportunity presented itself.

"Just save your breath and keep pulling. I'd hate for you to run out of air before we got back," she said sourly, apparently interpreting my response as a sarcastic dig at her violent tendencies.

Well, if the shoe fit...

Turning her attention away from me, Nightmare Moon began using magic to amuse herself. The plain to either side of us glowed and rippled, then a column of sand leaped over the path ahead, hanging in the air and shaping itself into a triumphal arch bedecked with colorless flowers and bunting. I obligingly pulled the cart under it. As soon as we passed beyond, her attention left it, and the top-heavy structure collapsed back into nothing. She tried more complex shapes next; first paired statues (the immobile kind, thank the Increate) of herself rearing, touching their front hooves to create a gateway, then a trellised passage thickly overgrown with some sort of climbing plant whose leaves trembled as if stirred by a wind.

It was actually rather pleasant in the shade. If I squinted, pretended my visor was hiding the color, ignored the terrible silence and stillness of the air, and forgot my current predicament and company, it was almost as if I were back on a hospitable world. I complimented her on the artistry of the creations.

“I thought you didn't like it when I quickened the dust."

It was more than that. The ponies she'd sculpted were amazingly ornate and lifelike (I assumed) as well. It was simply harder to appreciate her skill when I expected them to turn on me at any moment.

The princess smirked at my explanation. "You mean you don't like it when strange figures appear out of nowhere and try to murder you?" she said, pretending to be mildly surprised. "What a coincidence; neither do I!"

I slumped in my harness. I really had sabotaged myself from the start, hadn't I? Were the roles somehow reversed, I wouldn't have trusted me an inch either. Like this very trip, winning Nightmare Moon's trust would be a long, slow, difficult slog. Stammering, I lamely insisted once more that I regretted my earlier behavior.

Her rage burst forth again. Even before she spoke I could almost feel the heat of it on the back of my head.

"Liar! All you care about is tricking me into doing your bidding! You want to make me like you? Then shut up! Just shut up and pull!"

Obediently shutting up, I placed one foot before the other before the next and got the trolley moving marginally more rapidly through the passage.

We came out the end of the trellised walkway to find a small crowd of dust creatures lining the path. These were not ponies of any sort, however. There were slouching long-armed knuckle-walking things whose long, pointed muzzles were filled with fangs. There were also four-legged winged figures. Half their bodies sported avian feathers and beaks, while the other half had sleek mammalian features. Behind this crowd of improbable beings rose the bulk of a gigantic winged reptilian. All of the statues stared at me hungrily. Was one of these moved by a force outside her magic? Were all of them? Had the thing that accosted me before grown impatient so soon?

My passenger chuckled. "Here, since ponies don't agree with you, I made these instead. Don't you like them better?" Nightmare Moon asked, knowing I did not and delighted by the fact. "Unlike some creatures, they never bother hiding their true intentions. It's 'steal this' and 'enslave that' and 'eviscerate the other thing' all night long! Even though I had to fight them over and over again through the years, their honesty was refreshing. I bet you could learn a thing or two from them."

Then these represented the other intelligent species on her world?

"I told you to shut up... and yes, a few of them, though 'intelligent' is stretching it a bit. Do you enjoy the company of your fellow monsters? I think they like you." The crowd fell into step behind us, keeping their distance but never looking away from me when I glanced back or wearing any expression other than naked hostility.

Instead of continuing to trade looks with the vicious things, I fixed my eyes on the shelter ahead, its beacon and the field of solar collectors glinting from up the slope. Just a little further. She always showed more restraint in the habitat; she didn't want to break it. just a few thousand more steps and I'd be back inside, away from collapsing ceilings and possessed statues and the eternal, radiation-sleeted, eye-popping vacuum.

I'd still be with Nightmare Moon, though, so the reassurance gave me only a limited sort of comfort. I reminded myself that she hadn't forgotten her promise about my life, and that a real living being to speak with (or at) was clearly a luxury of which she intended to take full advantage. For all her anger and insults and accusations and rough treatment, she hadn't left me alone for a moment. That was my 'edge,' as my brother would say; I was the 'only game in town.' I suppose I was a little like him now, playing deadly powers against each other to wrangle a bit of peace and security for their intended victims.

Considering how he ended up, I hoped not to follow in his footsteps too closely.

"Stop, you worm! What do you think you're dong?" Nightmare Moon suddenly yelled behind me. I stopped and looked backward (difficult to do while harnessed) and saw that she wasn't talking to me. The massive reptilian statue had drawn close to us, fangs bared. Behind it the rest of the mob were also advancing as if preparing to attack.

Nightmare Moon stood up in her seat, turned around and waved a foreleg in a swift gesture of dismissal at the statues. The blue cloud that accompanied her magic rippled over her horn.

The simulacra continued their approach undeterred. As I watched, frozen in fear, their sculpted faces distorted in ways I doubted were naturally possible.

"Hmph! I should have figured this would happen when I made monsters on purpose." She looked back at me. "Pangolin, did I tell you to stop? Get moving!" she ordered, clearly bothered but still yet to accept the fact that her creations could be controlled by another.

Of course, it was not as if I could have outdistanced those things even were I not burdened by the trolley and its none-too-petite passenger. I strained for all I was worth against the harness anyway and made the cart trundle forward again.

"I command you to stop!" Nightmare Moon shouted. "Not one step closer, you oversized dust bunnies!"

I shouted for her to just destroy them; they were being controlled by her true enemy! No doubt it would use them to kill me and further harass the miserable princess.

"Would you give it a rest for a second? I have everything under—" she snapped back at me, before dextrously ducking beneath a swipe the nearest statue threw at her. "—control!"

A fiery ray shot from the tip of her horn and raked over her attacker. The statue glowed for a second and then dimmed, reduced to a drippy mass of dark, cloudy glass. Despite the gruesome fate of their fellow, the other statues continued charging at the princess, and, laughing with battle-lust, she blasted them to slag one by one.

While the others kept her busy, one of the half-avian ones darted around and seized me, severing the cord of my harness with a flick of its talons. I called out for help, but Nightmare Moon was too engrossed in the carnage to notice.

The creature dragged me a short distance away, rolled me on my back, pinned me beneath a talon foot and leaned down until its cruelly hooked beak filled my vision. I cringed away, expecting it to peck at my eyes like carnivorous birds back home.

Instead, its beak parted and a familiar, chillingly calm voice whispered to me in my own language. "A reminder, little one: I am in control here. You have guessed by now that her oath prevents me from using her power to kill you. This does not mean you are safe. I will still complete my task regardless of what you do; destiny has decreed it."

Remembering what it had tried to do last time, I clasped my upper claws protectively over the translator socketed into the back of my suit. In a moment of uncharacteristic cunning, I activated the device's recording feature.

"You may keep your toy for now. It will serve me. You will serve me too. Obey my commands. Have her tell you about the Crystal Empire. Read in your library what unicorns are." It lifted the other birdlike leg and dragged a single hooked nail across my faceplate, leaving a stark white groove in the transparent material. "If you fail to do this, I will remind you again."

Inwardly smiling, I promised I would, then asked if it truly thought it could control Nightmare Moon. When I replayed this conversation for the princess, she would surely accept my claims. It was time to let the truth work for me for a change!

The statue's birdlike face was unreadable. "I think you do not yet fear me as you ought. Let me give you a lesson. It only takes one eye to read." It shifted its grip to hold my head still and reached for my face again with its free claw.

It had refused to rise to the bait! Self-congratulation forgotten, I began to panic and flail uselessly in its stony grip. If it opened my helmet, even within the zone of air... were we still in it? How hot was it? How much pressure? Was it still oxygenated? And the radiation, too! I hadn't checked my suit's readouts since entering Nightmare Moon's bizarre arena, and couldn't now while I was pinned. Did it know? Did it care?

Apparently it did not. With a single claw, it pressed down on the helmet's faceplate directly over my left eye.. fractures radiated from the spot, and a horrible high-pitched whistling alerted me that my suit's atmosphere was escaping through the minute hole it had created.

Something I couldn't see made it halt, withdraw that terrible point and look away from me. "This interview is over. Remember," it hissed, "I am never far from you." An orange glow spread across its head, then over its whole upper body as the simulacrum collapsed sideways, a molten ruin.

"Ha, you like that?" Nightmare Moon, still standing on the cart, jeered at the remains. A wisp of smoke curled from the tip of her horn. The wreckage of the other monster statues littered the ground around her. "I learned that trick from your friend down there. That's power from beyond the stars! You'll all get that and worse when I get my throne back, just you wait!" She resumed her seat, dangling her front hooves over the side and grinning smugly at me. "Looks like my 'true enemy' can't put up much of a fight."

I struggled to my feet, holding a gauntlet over the rupture in my helmet (a wasted effort) and trying to find the emergency patch I kept in one of the suit's many pockets. The effects of the escaping atmosphere were already making themselves apparent. My ears popped, my eyes ached like they wanted to leap out of my skull, my nostrils bled profusely, and I felt light-headed and woozy. Weakly, I called again to Nightmare Moon for help. The entire landscape seemed to tilt up and strike me in the side before I was aware I had stumbled.

My body refused to rise again. My eyes were clenched shut against the falling pressure and all I could hear was the whistling whine of my precious air bleeding away. Not now, I pleaded to the Increate and anything else that might be listening. Not like this! I had finally figured it out; I knew what I was meant to do!

The last sounds that reached my ears were the lowering hiss of my air running out, my suit's alarms warning me of the fact and that nasty, heartless princess saying something. Probably laughing at me.

I managed to curse myself for a fool before darkness and silence swallowed my consciousness.

Comments

[DerpedRainbow]

I had a scary thought while reading this chapter. I can't tell if she is insane, or Tsundere. Then I started thinking about the differences between the two. I did not find many.

[ozxecho]

4165214 that is very true