Hybrid: CH 1: Prelude to Sorrow

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The ponies of Equestria had an overwhelming number of females, but for the changelings it happened to be the opposite. The birth of a female to royalty was normally celebrated as it meant the continued survival of a hive.

So why would this child, be hidden from the hive? Be hidden from even the father?

Because she shouldn't be possible.

Never before had the seed of any pony been potent enough to impregnate a changeling queen. But then again the Doctor was no mere pony. He was a Time Lord.

Ardith had taken every precaution, making sure nobody knew of her child with the Doctor, even if that meant keeping it from him. Now she was gone, having died much earlier than anticipated. This child, now barely at the age of adulthood, was alone.

~Hybrid: Prelude to Sorrow

Lilith shivered in the cold night air, wrapping her mother's blanket tightly around herself as she stood on the open balcony, watching over the hive like metropolis that would have been hers if not for the conditions behind her birth.

"Two hearts... What's so wrong with having two hearts?" She muttered to herself as she trotted back inside to the mostly barren living space.

Most of Ardith's home had been emptied, save Lilith's secret bedroom. She sighed as she grabbed a few of her belongings, placing them in a saddlebag before strapping it on.
She looked over the golden armlet that her mother had given her as a gift, securing it on herself without another thought. The mark of her father, an hourglass, was imprinted in the soft metal.

It was time for her to leave, without her mother's protection the hive would soon be destroyed from within or be taken over by another royal family. Royalty was in the blood, and without others to protect her she would likely be killed for it. Her only hope at a semblance of normalcy was to leave her homeland, to choose a new form for herself amongst the pony kind.

Celestia, who had been a friend to her mother might be able to help.
Lilith's ears perked as the balcony entrance she had come through minutes earlier opened up. She hastily shut the secret door to her room and scrambled over to a vent that overlooked the living space.

Two male changelings entered the house, one very nondescript the other with a hideous scar across one milky white eye. The scarred one was larger than the average changeling, possibly of some royal bloodline.

The regular changeling spoke in hushed tones. "Everything is finished now. Right? I did what you wanted, can you promise me that my family will be safe now?"

The larger of the two spoke, his silver tongue hiding the poisons behind his speech. "You don't ask a reward for becoming the Queen’s most trusted servant? A reward for slowly and undetectably poisoning her to death?"

"Please, all I want is to have my life go back to normal. For my kids to know they are safe again."

"Walk with me, we have one final thing to talk about."

Lilith's blood boiled as she heard the conversation. They killed Ardith? Why? She had been the kindest changeling queen in ages.

The mastermind to the murder plot pulled a cruel looking dagger from its place hanging on the wall. His magic wrapped around the knife as it flew towards the other changeling's back.

It impacted with a sickening thud, the changeling's legs gave out, his lower spine severed.

"This is your reward, betrayal met with betrayal." The bigger changeling walked up and tore the dagger from the back of his victim, receiving an agonized scream."No evidence, no loose ends. I have my men taking care of things at the servants quarters as well."
He took a lick of the dripping green blood that was slowly sliding its way down the blade, his one useful eye lit up with a cruel passion.

"No! I didn't tell them anything! Leave them out of this." His family lived in the servant’s quarters, just a building away. Despite the small distance he could do nothing in his crippled state to save them.

"Too late for that, and too bad I couldn't kill them myself. Now… Despair and meet your fate!" The knife was pulled across the crippled changeling's throat. His last gurgles could be heard throughout the house.

A visible surge of energy left his dying corpse, flowing directly to his killer. This changeling was certainly powerful, especially if he was able to use such forbidden methods of feeding.

Lilith was angry, but revealing herself would be suicide. She held her breath as he finished soaking up the other changeling's energy with his foul magics. He then walked calmly away from the scene, lighting a magical fire in the corner of the room to burn away any evidence.

He stood on the veranda as the heat began to increase behind him, smoke wafting up into the vent where Lilith was hiding. As the smoke reached her lungs she couldn't help but stifle a cough. It was barely audible but a sense of dread filled her. His spread insectile wings, that were about to take him into flight, paused lowering back down.
Suddenly the wall around the vent was torn open, falling to the floor along with Lilith. The chunk snuffed the flames where it landed, creating a small island amidst the conflagration.

Horn glowing the scarred changeling didn't even turn as he spoke. "It seems we have a little rat who thinks they can spy on a secret conversation."
Lilith stood there extremely alert, the fire and the unnamed aggressor between her and escape.

"There is something about you. I can't quite place my hoof on it... Will I have to kill another tonight, or is this one worthy to join my cause?"

Lilith spoke with hatred rising up inside of her, not thinking as she spoke. "You can sense part of Ardith in me can't you?"

He finally turned to look at her. "Ah, so that's it. A secret child, and a daughter at that. Come, I will make your end swift. There is no place for the weakness your mother has brought upon our race, it must be purged."

"Without the help of my mother you would be subjugated by Discord!"

"The virtues of ponies are not the changeling way, they never have been. A true queen would have killed Discord and both of the self righteous princesses! That is why I must now take up the mantle of king, to fix her mistakes."

In her anger something inside of Lilith snapped. Power she never knew of before manifested. Time itself slowed down to a near halt as she leapt through the flames, her movements appearing blurred to the half blinded changeling.

He swung out to knock Lilith back, but was slow in his surprise. Time reverted to normal as she collided with him, the two tumbling through the balcony rail.

Being smaller and more agile Lilith recovered from her midair tumble first, kicking off the other changeling's body for momentum. Time sporadically jumped as she flew, her twin hearts pounding with adrenaline. She made it absolutely impossible to track her motions, using her newfound power to make unpredictably fast dives and turns.

When Lilith was certain she had lost any pursuit she stopped stopped, flying normally to avoid any suspicion.

If her mother's death had been planned then there were greater forces at work here. And now they knew of her. There was no choice but to flee, at least until she had some sort of advantage.

She looked back once more seeing her childhood go up in smoke, the flaming pyre accented the peak of the hive.

Lilith would head across the desert and through the heart of the Everfree to reach the Equestrian territories, her mother had taken the reverse trip once before.
She swore to herself that one day the time for her vengeance would come. Some day the one behind her mother's early demise would be purged from this world, utterly destroyed.

~
A death to begin the tale, and a promise to be one day fulfilled...

Hybrid: CH 2: Honor Bound

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Lilith slipped out of the city under the cover of dark, keeping to the ground to avoid being spotted. The patrols did their regular rounds, alert for any headed towards the city. She used the darkness to her advantage, knowing what it was like to be unnoticed, unseen. Her whole life had been practice. She darted swiftly from shadow to shadow, aware of each guard and their location. Seeing a minuscule break in their pattern she made a dash, using her powers to dart past as one of them scanned a portion of sky.

He paused and looked towards the dark shadow she was in, she slammed her eyes shut to eliminate any glare. She could feel her pounding heartbeats, a rhythm of four as she imagined his eyes staring. She could hear steps as he moved, possibly approaching.

After a minute had passed she opened an eye just a crack, relieved to see that he had moved on in his patrols. She had forgotten that the strong blood of nobility offered increased vision amongst other benefits. Her dark black coloration, the same as nearly every other changeling, was perfect for stealth. Her nearly blood red hair was a gift from her grandmother. The only thing different appearance wise, compared to her mother's side of the family, were her eyes; a cobalt blue. Her father's eyes.

After escaping the sight of any additional guards Lilith made good progress, reaching the desert's edge before daybreak. She continued her trek, sparingly drinking her water as the temperature began to rise.

When the desert sands began to burn at her hooves she found a slab of stone jutting from the sandy landscape. She crawled beneath, laying in silence as she enjoyed the still cool sand beneath her.

Soon enough she began to drift away, her tired body taking what rest it could.

Lilith awoke with a shiver, the desert's temperature having drastically dropped while she slept. The night was upon her, and that wasn't the last of her problems.

Just within sight a small campfire, composed of dried desert brush burned brightly.

She made to slowly move away, hoping that whoever was there had not seen her.

"I would not move if I were you right now." A voice called, its owner dropping down from the top of the rock.

He was a rugged looking changeling, not far from her age. The unusual part of him was his garb. He wore a light cloak, and had an array of knives and other small tools strapped around him.

"An assassin, how quaint. Do they really want me gone that badly?"
Her muscles tensed, ready to spring away.

"You made your bed in a scorpions nest, you would be dead already if your situation wasn’t so laughable."

Lilith paused as she felt something crawling up her back leg.

"Stay still, and move when I tell you."

He moved some of the burning tinder with magic, what seemed like hundreds of tiny scorpions skittered away from the flaming debris.

"This knife," he slipped one from a band on his hoof, "is not for you. Stay still."

He eyed her back leg where one of the largest scorpions was perched, flicking the knife from his hoof with one swift motion. The scorpion's armored shell gave a crunch as it was impaled, the knife dragging it away.

"Now."

Lilith took the opportunity to tap into her power, taking a gap beside the assassin as her opportunity. As she zipped through she felt a hoof grab onto her saddlebag, her momentum lost she came crashing down.

"You're fast, for a changeling. But not for someone trained from birth to hunt them. Sit, explain to me why I was hired to kill one so young."

Lilith kept an eye on the shady figure, brushing herself off and reluctantly sitting by the flames. "A story for a story, how did you become an assassin? You don't seem to be any older than I."

"I suppose there is no harm in one final tale. I was stolen from my parents and raised amongst a secret and shadowy group of assassins. My captor was my master, and he let me know nearly every day that he had stolen me from a happy life of peace.

He thought that vengeance would be the best teacher... For a time, I admit that I was consumed in the pursuit of such. His promise was that the day I could beat him was the day he would accept death by my hooves.

I went through my trials. I killed whoever needed killing. And when my abilities had fully manifested I surpassed my master. He wanted to die, but I spared him. "

He trailed off in thought and Lilith shifted uncomfortably.

"So, your turn." He said, coming back to full reality.

Lilith took a deep sighing breath.

"My life is a secret, or was a secret until now. The... conditions behind my birth made it so my mother had to hide me away. I was unfortunately discovered upon witnessing the murder of the one who slowly poisoned my mother to death.

I managed to slip away and that leads to here. I have my own vengeance to live for, so don't expect me to die easily!"
Lilith stood up and tensely stared at him, ready for even the slightest hint of hostility.

"Your mother. It's Ardith isn't it? It was rumored that she was hiding a child..."

Lilith shifted a little, enough to make the answer clear to him.

"I thought so."
One of his ears perked up. "Go, quickly. I will give you time to flee..."

The reason for his alarm reached her ears a second later. At least three pairs of wings could be heard bearing down on their location. She risked a quick glance to check, she almost didn't need her enhanced vision to make out their forms in the night sky.

"Go!" He commanded. "If one of us dies today I would rather it be me. Your lineage won't matter to the minions of the scarred one."

"What's his name?" Lilith hastily asked as she prepared to bolt away, she didn't know why but she felt that she could trust this young and mysterious assassin.

"Drauth."

The name weighed heavily upon her. It was the name of the hideous monster that she vowed to one day slay.

The wings of her sudden ally could be heard behind her as he flew out to buy time for her escape. She felt guilty; she didn't even know his name, the name of someone who would willingly sacrifice themselves for something as simple as her mother's dream.

Lilith flew at top speeds, making sure she wasn't followed. She turned towards the approximate location of the Everfree, an expansive and rumored to be deadly forest. She hoped that the legends behind it would keep anyone from further chasing her.

Another night of travel and she would reach the desert river, the halfway point to the Everfree.

Hybrid: CH 3: Sloth

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The forest was damp and stuffy, the smell of wet dirt assailed her senses. She had been in the Everfree for three days now and without the sun to guide her Lilith would be making pointless circles. The creatures that stalked the night had forced her to slow her travel. Being unfamiliar with the forest plants she was even running low on food. Overall the journey had been unkind to Lilith, her wings were weary and her hooves ached.

So coming across a cabin in the heart of the woods came as a welcome surprise. Lilith was so glad to see it and its beautiful stone lined pond that she almost forgot, this wasn't changeling territory, she would have to don her first disguise.

Changelings had mysteriously always had the ability to shift their forms. They couldn't imitate another changeling, but they could create an appearance for themselves not unlike an Equestrian. So, what would her new form be? She really didn't care for magic, and even if she pretended to be an earth pony she couldn't measure up to their raw power. So, Pegasus pony it was, it would allow her to maintain her flight for travel and her abnormal bursts of speed would be easy to write off.

She walked over and stared into her reflection, she didn't want to be somepony else.

Lilith watched as she began to shift, her horn shrunk away into nothingness. Her insectile wings flared out, a bone structure forming. Sinew and flesh knit together to form her new wings. Raven black feathers tipped with red sprouted out, covering her new appendages. She maintained her eye color and mane, refusing to lose sight of who and what she truly was.

Lilith looked up as she heard the door creak open, an elderly looking mare stood there looking surprised. "It's not often someone comes to give me a visit." She said in velvety voice." Please, come in. You look like your journey has been rough."

The old mare's age surprised Lilith, she appeared be at least ninety. Her mane was a washed out grey and her once silver coat was loosing its color too. It was wishful thinking but Lilith could almost imagine what her mother would have looked like at a similar age.

"Come in, come in. The longer you stand there the more likely that some creature will swoop down and gobble you up." Lilith hardly believed her, the quaint house and pristine pond gave off a sense of safety, the area seemed totally untouched by the savagery of the jungle like overgrowth surrounding.

Lilith made her way inside and an instant wave of comfort washed over her, she took only a few steps in before flopping herself down on the rug. "No, no... This won't do." The elderly mare spoke. "You can't sleep now, you'll soil the rug. To the bath with you!" The old mare prodded Lilith.

Lilith apologetically stood, realizing how dirty her days of running away had made her. She looked down at her hooves and flapped her freshly created pegasi wings, attempting to not spread any more muck on the floor.

Lilith hardly realized that the bath had been made ready; time seemed to whip by in the lethargic state she had slipped into. She slipped in to the tub, resting her head on the rim, the warm water felt amazing on her weary limbs and sore muscles. Being bathed by the elderly mare reminded her of when she was young. A hummed tune resonated in the air, Lilith felt like she could almost recognize it. Her eyes closed yet again as she drifted away.

Lilith awoke with the sun beaming down upon her face. She let out a yawn and stretched, feeling silken sheets caress her body. She gingerly rolled out and closed the curtains, climbing right back in and falling asleep.

The next time she woke she found a tray laden with strange looking forest fruits and a few more recognizable items. Lilith ate a few before building up the resolve to take a look around. Despite all the sleep she still felt drained.

Lilith was greeted outside the bedroom with a smile and a cup of tea, the sofa nearly called out her name. Within the hour she found her consciousness slipping away. "So tired..."

Days quickly turned into a week, a week into a month. The routine was simple and predictable. The hummed tune Lilith had become all too familiar with part of her daily life.

Lilith, in her haze, wasn't even surprised to find the old mare looking stronger, younger, and healthier by the day...

Lilith woke in the middle of the night. Unusual, as it hadn't happened in at least a month. Wait, It had been a month? The strange lethargic feeling still hung in the air, her twin hearts pounded weakly from her lack of energy.

Lilith still felt weak, despite the month of rest. She could tell that something was seriously wrong here. She slowly dragged herself out of the bed, resisting the powerful urge to lie down once more. She grabbed her saddlebag, its once familiar weight now felt dangerously heavy.

She truly examined her surroundings for what seemed like the first time, noticing two other doors in the hall that seemed to be rooms. She slowly pushed open the first, it gave a hideous creak on its un-oiled hinges.

The view inside confused her at first but as she broke through the mental haze she realized what it was. She had half expected to find her host asleep in bed but instead was greeted with the sight of a gaunt and tired looking pony.

"C...changeling." He gasped out in a rough and unused voice. "Get away from here while you still can."

Lilith's utter lack of energy suddenly made sense. This seemingly harmless old mare was truly an old and powerful changeling, capable of strong illusions and sapping energy from victims just by having them near.

She had heard of this as a child, and thought it to be just a simple story. Sloth, a changeling so ancient, powerful, and wicked that she had been dubbed one of the seven deadly sins.

Lilith was weak and tired, and if she stayed it would become far worse. She would end up like this poor pony, barely alive and eventually dead. Sloth would probably have done away with him soon enough.

Lilith was about to leave but the pony resting in bed spoke up once more. "I don't have any hope of escaping. Please, make it end."

Lilith paused, did he really just ask her to take his life?

"Please, before she comes back. A quick death would be better than this nightmare."

Lilith stood there silently; she knew she wanted to kill Drauth for his part in her mother's death, but ending the life of an innocent? Even for the sake of mercy?

"Come on, I'll carry you if I have to." Lilith made up her mind, rushing to his side. His muscles looked atrophied from disuse, his face sickly. Lilith slid him off the bed and over her back, slowly plodding towards the door of the house.

Lilith was nearly crawling under the exertion by the time she reached the door, unable to open it. "I'm sorry, but I just need to borrow a little energy." The pony she was carrying had opened himself to her emotionally, he considered her his salvation. It felt sick and wrong for her to use that connection to draw strength from him. The colt in his already weakened state shuddered and passed out as the energy was transferred. Lilith stood firmly back upon her hooves and shouldered her way through the door. As she slipped out into the night the illusion of a pleasant house faded, leaving them with the view of a overgrown and run down cabin.

She had carried the other pony a good distance before hearing a shriek of frustration from the cabin. Sloth apparently realizing both of her victims were gone. The other pony's eyes snapped open.

"She's coming for me!" He squirmed his way into falling off her back. "She's going to take me back there!"

"If you don't stop shouting she will." Lilith angrily hissed.

"You... You're just like her, you stole my strength too! After so many times I know the feeling!"

"Yes, I'm a changeling. But what I did was different in a way..." Lilith spoke softly, trying to quiet him down.

The hysterical pony paused for a moment, a glazed expression crossing over his face. "I can hear her lullaby, I need to go back." His time with the old mare had brainwashed him.

He stood on his own feet and shakily took steps back towards the direction of the cabin, Lilith could also feel the pull of Sloth's song but was still capable of resisting it.

Lilith now recognized the tune, it was hidden under the wrappings of magic but it was an old Changeling lullaby.

"Stop!" Lilith grabbed hold of the pony to keep him from moving, he squirmed in her grasp letting out a loud cry. The humming could be heard getting slowly louder, it's maker getting closer by the second.

"Let me go to her! I need to rest I need sleep... You need it too, come with." He began to yell out, drawing the ancient and evil mare to them.

This pony had been clearly driven to the brink of insanity. Sloth's ancient and dark powers had done terrible things to his mind. Lilith wrapped her hooves around his head, making the hardest decision of her life; one that would end this poor pony's suffering.

With a sharp twist and a jolting snap his neck broke and he went limp in her grasp. Lilith's gut surged and she found herself dropping him to empty the contents of her stomach, unable to look upon the result of her actions.

With what strength Lilith had left she bolted through the woods, gaining as much distance between the foul cabin and herself as possible.

A scream of anger could be heard echoing in the darkness as the old mare found the dead body. Lilith continued to run, adrenaline just barely keeping her sickened form from collapsing.

Hybrid: CH 4*: Beginning Anew

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Lilith, tired and slowly recovering, stumbled from the edge of the Everfree forest. The hardest part of the journey was over, but now is when the deception would truly have to start.

Lilith looked herself over, making sure her false form was still working properly. She stretched her raven black wings, able to feel each and every feather ruffling in the breeze. They felt like they were hers, despite the knowledge that they had only been shaped a month ago.

Her saddlebag hung loosely around her gaunt form as she continued on, hoping to find a safe place to rest for once...

Lilith was forced into consciousness by a hoof prodding her side and an incessant country drawl ringing in her ears.

"Y'all gonna sleep in the dirt like that? Now it just wouldn't be right if a member of the Apple family left somepony in a state like this." Lilith was prodded again. "Up an at em. Red Rustic and I will get you back to health. Darned Pegasus ponies, flying themselves silly." The mare shook her head at Lilith's lack of motion, pulling her off the ground and over her back. "It's a good thing your folk ain't that heavy."

Somewhere along the bumpy ride on the Earth pony's back Lilith drifted off again. Her exhaustion from travel and month with Sloth had taken their toll.

Over the next few days Lilith became well acquainted with Honeycrisp, the mare, and her husband Red Rustic. They owned a tiny apple orchard, practically in the middle of nowhere, but planned one day to be the best Equestria had to offer.

From her saddlebags they had assumed she was some sort of delivery pony so she had elaborated on that. The wonderfully sappy couple had eaten every word about how she had been returning from a delivery to gryphon country when an out of control storm blew her off course.

They were kind folk, and Lilith felt bad about deceiving them. But what other option did she have? It wasn't exactly common knowledge that a changeling queen, Lilith's mother, had once helped Luna and Celestia. In fact, the tales of changelings and their evils had run rampant in Equestria.

Lilith sighed to herself as she came back from her thoughts. She took a bite of an apple they had given her. "I think I should be moving on, I don't want to overstay my welcome." She didn't want to be a burden to the new couple, and frankly it was a little awkward hearing the two when bedtime came along.

"Nah, It's fine Lil." Honeycrisp used a shortened form of her name. "Just stick around one more night, we had some plans that involved you."

Lilith gave a little mumble, were they going to have her pushing around the hay bales in the barn again so she could quote 'get her muscles working'? Granted the exercise had helped, but Lilith felt that she wasn't cut out for this earth pony work.

"All right, but just one more."
Lilith finished her apple and was about to throw the core aside but was interrupted by Rustic.

"Ya gotta plant the seeds for good luck." He said, scratching a hole in a patch of soft dirt nearby.

Lilith got up and unceremoniously deposited the apple core, seeds and all, into the shallow hole. She gave a strange shudder as she scooped the dirt back on top, pressing it down.

"Y'all ok," Rustic asked, seeing Lilith standing there with her eyes glazed over.

Images raced through Lilith's head, she saw one of the seeds she had just planted going through its life. The small sprout would swiftly grow into a tiny sapling that a small foal would sit by and play. Later on it would grow to maturity, the apples it produced would be plentiful.

In fact, this lone tree would be the one that provided the seeds for the orchards expansion.

It all went by in a flash, years and years in seconds. At a ripe age of one hundred and thirty four the tree would wither and die.

Lilith trembled, stopping the flow of visions, what was this new power? While it was nice to know her actions had caused something good why was it that she could sense the future surrounding them?

Lilith thought back to one of the stories her mother had told her of the mysterious Doctor Whooves.
"The mind of a Time Lord works differently. They can sense what is, what was, and whatever could be."

So was this some part of her father leaking through, and did he manage to pass on more than just the genetics of two hearts?

"Lilith??" A voice called out, brining her back to reality.

"Sorry, I'm fine. Just zoned out for a minute there."

Lilith received skeptical looks, having been nearly deathly ill days before. The two weren't quite ready to believe her excuse.

"Really it's fine."

"They really need a foal of their own..." Lilith grumbled to herself, heading back inside the decently sized farmhouse after getting some fresh air. Any Pony or Changeling should consider her an adult, if only just barely.

She flew in through an open second floor window, not bothering to take the time to use the door and climb the stairs. She instantly regretted the decision upon the view that greeted her.

In what had been the room they were allowing her to use she saw two figures sexually entwined. Red Rustic stood, mounted over Honeycrisp, rutting against her as she braced herself on the wall. From the sights and smells it was evident to Lilith that the mare must have entered into heat.

Lilith watched as the mare quivered in pleasure, begging for even more. Lilith thought back to her vision of the sapling and young foal, was this when he would be conceived?

Rustic's tail flicked as he tried to hold himself back, but as Honeycrisp clenched down around his member he couldn't prevent it any longer. He hugged her form tightly, burying himself inside her depths and unleashing his fertile torrent.

At this point Lilith herself was quite excited by the scene, biting her lip as she clenched her back legs together. Rustic pulled back, tired from the exchange, and Honeycrisp gasped as his member dragged its way out through her overly sensitive and needy nethers.

"Please, I need more. I can't stop this fire inside of me," she begged as her entrance drooled out a sticky white glob. Apparently this hadn't been the first load she received recently.

Rustic looked spent, and as he noticed me silhouetted in the window his expression quickly went from surprised to deviously hopeful.

"Umm... You mind helping us out here Lil?" He said scratching his head awkwardly with a hoof, currently unable to further 'help'.

"I...um..."

Honeycrisp had also noted my presence and looked upon Lilith with a need in her eyes. It didn't look like she was quite in a rational state of mind, her heat driving her wild.

Honeycrisp approached and took hold of Lilith, leading her towards the bed.

"I'm not sure I should be doing this..." She said as Honey gave a light push, toppling her unto the sheets.

"Just let your hips do the talking." Honey jumped up with Lilith, entwining their back legs.

Lilith gave a light gasp as their hips met, causing both of their aroused nethers to press together. She could feel the heat radiating from Honeycrisp.

Lilith squirmed at the sensation of honey's soft labia squished against her, unused to being touched there by any pony but herself. Lilith’s motions only causing greater friction between their rubbing nethers.

Her motions were reciprocated as Honey gave a push and slide of her own, Rustic's seed a lubricant between them.

Lilith's reluctance slipped away, and at that point and she gave a purposeful grind, their hips pushing together as she mashed her clit against Honeycrisp's.

They both let out a cry of pleasure, Red Rustic watching the scene with wide eyes.

An idea must have come into his head, his throbbing arousal swiftly returning. He went over to the scissoring pair and slid his member between them, his thick girth parting both of their nether lips and stroking across their clits.

Honeycrisp, acknowledging his presence, started sliding along his member, Lilith following suit. The two stroked their soaked cunnies simultaneously over each side of his colthood, Lilith on the left and Honey on the right.

Rustic grunted out at the pleasurable feeling, despite not being buried to the hilt in one of them this still felt amazing. Their combined heat and motion drove him wild as they both picked up speed until they were frantically sliding along his member, seeking their own peaks of pleasure as their breathing became labored.

As they began to pant out from the exertion Rustic grabbed each of them with a single hoof, pushing them close while taking over thrusting.

Lilith and Honey cried out as his member thrust between them, stimulating their sensitive nethers and engorged clits. The pleasures he caused them only adding to the flow of aroused juices and noise.

As their cries reached a climax Rustic's thrusts became unsteady. As the mares' insides clenched down in pleasure Rustic let loose, his member jerking in between the tight coupling as they slowly ground against him.

Lilith felt a splatter as a strand of his ejaculate found its way to her cheek. She then gave a tremendous blush as Honeycrisp leaned in and licked it away, her maw coming in afterwards for a thank you kiss. Lilith caught a taste of the sperm on her tongue, but she didn't seem to mind.

Honey seemed sated for the time being. And Rustic's seed from his earlier session, which was already taking hold, would make the earth pony couple proud parents.

Lilith, having enjoyed the small sample, went down upon Rustic's member. She lapped over its length to get a taste of the mixed lubricants and gave a quick suckle on the tip to take the remaining drop that had pooled there.

Rustic gave a contented sigh as he lay his head down, his eyes slowly closing.

Honey had also drifted off, tired from the events. Or was it something more? Lilith felt wide awake, her twin hearts pounding with excess energy.

Lilith pulled away from the pair, feeling a tiny bit guilty. She hadn't meant to drain their energy in that way. She dried herself off on the already damp bed sheets and grabbed her saddlebag, sliding it on.

In a few minutes she was ready to go having written them a quick note with an old, half congealed, pot of ink and a quill she found lying around.

"Sorry that I'm leaving on such short notice. Thank you for everything, you two make an amazing couple. By the way, congratulations (you will understand in a while)."

Lilith rummaged through her bag and pulled out a brilliant emerald, one of the many gems that she had taken from her mother's stash, and placed it on top of the note.

She also looked over to her limb, where the ornate gold band rested. The soft metal was dented and scratched in a few places, having been through quite the ordeal. She made sure it was well secured before taking flight, heading back out the same window that she had entered earlier.

Hybrid: CH 5*: Pegasi Psychopathy

View Online

"Forgetting to ask directions to the capital city was a nice oversight." Lilith grumbled to herself, flying high up in the sky to take in the view.

"Let's see... Grass this way, grass that way, oh and would you look at that! More grass that direction too." Lillith peered around the horizon, trying to get a sense of direction. "Wait... What's that?" She puzzled to herself, seeing a blurred speck in the distance. She dove below the clouds and approached, trying to get a better view of whatever it was.

Upon her arrival she could see a single pegasus struggling against a massive cloud.
"No, go this way." The golden colored mare spoke at the cloud as she struggled against nature.

Lilith, deeming it was safe to make an approach flew up into her range of vision. As the mare paused Lilith opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off.

"Thank goodness those fools got the sense to finally send someone, so who sent you? Did Flare finally come round or was it Aileron? No, it couldn't have been Flare... There's something off about him, I just can't place my hoof on it."

"I'm sorry. Who?"

"Not from around here then? Hmm, I guess it was too much to hope those numbskulls finally grew some sense..."

"So what are you doing?" Lilith asked, starting to take interest. If there were a few ponies around maybe she could get decent directions.

"Well, this cloud here is the culmination of my research these past few months. I can't just have it drift off when it's so crucial to my-" She grunted and pushed at the cloud, "master plan."

"Well, how about I help you move this thing and you give me directions to where I'm going."

"Sounds like a deal Miss..." She paused waiting for a response.

"Oh. Lilith, my names Lilith."

"You can call me Professor Cloudsdale."

"That's... Formal..."

"All right..." She sighed. "Seeing that you aren't much of one for formalities you can call me Gale."

"So... Where to?" Lilith braced herself against the massive cloud and started pushing."

"To the lab!" Mare Professor: Gale Cloudsdale shouted and began pushing with renewed vigor. The cloud slowly shifted its direction under both of their influences towards the intended destination.

When the cloud had gained some momentum they took turns adjusting its path to keep it on course. "What do you need this cloud for anyways?" Lilith asked the mare.

"Well, this cloud is unique. It needs to be contained in a special device that I built."

"And what happens if it isn't?"

"Oh, just a few storms..." The tone of her voice told Lilith that it wasn't simply a gentle drizzle that she was talking about.

"So why did you make it then?"

"Well, since the beginning of pegasi kind we have always made our homes in the clouds... The problem is that clouds move, clouds dissipate and it takes tremendous amounts of work to keep a stable city made from them. Our people need a city, one that doesn't move unless they want it to. One that won't just evaporate from underneath them. That's where this beauty comes into play."

"It's just one cloud."

"Yes, but a very crucial one. We're here, slow this thing down and I'll go start up my machine."

Lilith looked to the layer of clouds below them a few pegasi worked to gather smaller clouds to reinforce the floating platform. So whatever this plan was it would make a self sustaining cloud layer? Sounded a bit far fetched.

"Lilith! Quit daydreaming and push that thing down here. Finally a chance to see if my invention works! Those petty unicorns and their magic, telling me that this was impossible."

Lilith gave the cloud one final direction changing shove towards the less-sane-sounding-by-the-second professor's lab. She joined Gale below the cloud just as she flipped a lever.

"Impossible? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lilith had to raise her voice as the wind was picking up. Three tower like structures rose up out of the cloud base, intercepting the swiftly greying super-cloud.

"My best idea to date!" Lightning surged from the storm that the cloud was swiftly producing, being drawn to the coils on the metallic towers.

Lilith was handed a pair of goggles as the wind increased, a few worried looking inhabitants peered out from their homes on the clouds.

"Just a few more seconds..." Lilith could hear the tension in her voice as Professor Cloudsdale went to her control panel and adjusted some settings.

The metal panel with all the dials and levers fascinated Lilith. She had never seen anything like it before. She reached out to touch it and had her hoof slapped away. "Oww."

Lilith looked back to the storm, which had begun to spin violently. It almost appears as if it was ready to form a tornado. Suddenly the metal towers surrounding it flared to life as the lightning finished charging them.

"Storm captured!" The professor let out a cry of triumph as she manipulated some of the dials further. The massive cloud slowly condensed and shrunk in size, some sort of field working to contain it.

"Those unicorns may be a pain to deal with... But a little magic mixed with science goes a long way."

A few of the villagers came out of their houses, un-amused looks were shot towards the Professor.

"That was crazy!"

"What were you thinking this time!"

"Of all your dangerous schemes..."

The crowd was slowly coming to an uproar, apparently fed up with Gale's tampering with nature.

A pegasus with laughably disproportionate and small wings flitted up between the crowd and Professor Gale. Wait, was he wearing a monocle?

"Now I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation." He spoke in a very formal tone. "Besides the many, many times professor Cloudsdale has nearly destroyed the town, she has brought to you many advancements. She perfected the Rainbow Distillery. She invented the-"

The pegasus continued to preach to the masses of how Gale wasn't that bad to have around. Even though it seemed like most of the disasters she had saved them from were from failed science experiments.

"Wait, Is that Aileron?" Lilith whispered to Gale.

"Yeah, such a delightful fool. Thinks he's posh or something. How did you guess?"

"Well Aileron literally means tiny wing..."

Gale chuckled. " He is a good mayor at heart, not quite brave enough to join my schemes but always the first to defend me. And despite his name those tiny wings move him about like a hummingbird."

"I think the crowd has calmed down enough if you wanted to say something." Lilith nudged Gale.

Professor Cloudsdale flipped yet another lever and the now miniaturized storm was enclosed in what looked like a glass capsule with multiple tubes connected to it.

"Citizens, no longer will you have to work the night shifts to keep our city from evaporating or breaking apart. No longer will we be forced to travel with the winds. I present to you the cloud seeder, the future of cloud based cities!"

With a simple toggle a machine hummed to life and her engineered super-cloud spun to life in its glass dome, rapidly producing a perfect fluffy white cloud that was pumped from the chamber.

"The cloud dispersion units I already, secretly, installed should be kicking in right about now." She whispered to Lilith.

Suddenly the panel made a sizzling sound as the device stopped functioning. Gale calmly walked over to it and gave it a solid kick, it sputtered back to life and the crowd let out a held breath.

"In just a few hours our town will be completely formed of this new cloud, and with a few more of these devices we can build a self sustaining city! Finally a place where all pegasi can gather, a city in the clouds.

Visions washed over Lilith yet again. She could see the city Gale had spoken of, it would eventually grow to be the greatest pegasi city in all Equestria. And to Lilith's amusement in the vision a banner floating across an archway read, "Welcome to Cloudsdale"

"Lilith?" A voice pulled her back to reality. "Thank you. Without you lending a hoof today my cloud would have run rampant. One more failed experiment and I would have been banned from the scientific community and likely forced from town."

"I guess its little things that matter sometimes."

"Will you stay for a while? There's bound to be some sort of celebration. Even if it's one for me not destroying the town."

This place would be a good place to blend in for a while. A small town that would soon have a massive population boost. It would be hard to find her if Drauth tried to send more assassins.

"I might just do that, just try not to destroy the place while I'm here."

"Don't worry, my mad scientist days are coming to an end. Today was the first working test of my life's work. Besides I'm not old enough to be some badgering coot of a professor off in a lab somewhere, I just had a dream and made it happen... Do you have a dream Lilith?"

All semblance of happiness left Lilith as she thought on the question.
"I... No, I don't have a dream. I do have a mission though, a promise I made to myself."

"That's close enough. Strive towards that goal. Someday you might just achieve it." How little it was that Professor Gale knew...

Lilith's goal was vengeance. She had originally wanted a simple life, but Drauth had changed that...

~~
Later that evening:

After finding a jeweler to trade in one of her gems for a sizable bag of bits, the coin based currency of Equestria, Lilith found herself joining in the celebrations. She might as well get to know the town if she was staying.

Despite the festivities her mood was at a low, dark thoughts racing through her mind. She needed to find a way to get stronger, to prepare herself.

Lilith barely even noticed the colt who slid up on the seat next to her.

"Hey, I heard you helped out the Prof."

Lilith looked up from her brooding. "Yeah."

"I don't recognize you. Your not from around here then?" A twinkle entered his eye as he spoke to Lilith.

"Not really."

"I can tell you need to relax a bit. I'll be right back."

"Don't hurry." Lilith rudely spoke, trying to get rid of this nuisance. She didn't want to have to deal with people right now...

"Here." A large mug was waved in front of her nose by the same colt from earlier.

Lilith took it, looking him over for the first time. The lava red pegasus was worth at least some attention now, seeing as he came with gifts of hard cider.

"Thanks"

"My pleasure, beautiful."

Lilith took a giant gulp of cider. "Stick with Lilith, or your asking for a swollen snout."

"You wouldn't do that to good old Flare now would you? How are you feeling by the way." Flare's pleasant conversationalist smile dropped for a serious gaze. Lilith stopped mid gulp, suddenly tasting a bitterness that did not belong in the drink.

"Fuck..." Lilith could feel her tongue go numb as whatever the substance was took effect. A good portion of her body began to quickly follow suit as she lost control of her muscles one after the other.

"Let's go Lilith. It looks like you've had too much to drink. I think I should get you over to the professor's." Flare blatantly lied to anyone within earshot to diffuse the attention on him as he hefted Lilith over his back.

"Come on Lilith, wake up. It's more fun for Flare that way." The now evidently psychotic pegasus spoke in third person, referring to himself. "Your an outsider, nopony will miss you."

Lilith was thrown down unceremoniously on a dingy and broken in bed. She caught a quick sight of ropes attached to the bed frame before her face impacted on the pillows, darkening her world as she was unable to move her unresponsive muscles.

"Be a good girl now."

Lilith could feel his hooves on her body, caressing her as she tried to yell out and squirm. She couldn't get above speaking volume and after the pillow it was barely audible anyways.

"Shhh, shhhh. Flare will take good care of you."

Lilith could feel this psychopath's touch as he worked his way over her body, making sure to touch and linger over each and every forbidden place.

"Please, don't do this. Let me go." Lilith plead with her captor, barely able to shape the words. Her slurred plea falling on deaf ears.

A heavy weight shifted over Lilith as Flare positioned himself over her back, his hot breath flowing over the nape of her neck.

"You were so rude to Flare at the party... He was only trying to be nice." He spoke in almost two separate voices as he secured Lilith to the bed frame. "And mares who aren't nice need to be punished. Yes that's right... But what sort?" He mumbled to himself as the voices came to consensus.

Flare withdrew from Lilith, allowing her to dread what he had planned. She tried to move yet again, but her body was mostly unresponsive. Lilith couldn't even manage to move her face from where it pressed into the sheets.

"Flare, please don't do this!" Lilith cried out, this time gaining notice.

"Flare supposes punishment can wait if the lady apologizes. Will she be kind? Or will she need to be shown who is the master?"

Lilith felt sick giving into his demands but the words left her mouth anyways. "I'm, sorry."

"That's much better." A hoof touched her mane, stroking it gently. She flinched, taking notice of her body's motion slowly coming back.

Wait. She had magic!

Lilith called upon the shape shifting powers residing deep inside of her, mentally preparing for her body to shift itself into a new form. She could only use magic to free herself if she had a horn to focus it, so it seemed her disguise would have to come off.

Lilith pulled into her mind an image of what she once was, pushing aside the thoughts of the new body she had created.

Nothing...

Not a single hint of the power that had first transformed her remained. Her Hybrid blood betraying her. Her transformation wasn't a simple disguise, her mixed DNA had made this new form her actual form...

But then that meant.

"Flare stills wants his fun though."
The pressing weight positioned itself back over Lilith once more, a prodding could be felt at her nethers.

"No! Aaagh." She cried out in pain as Flare thrust brutally into her, breaking past her virgin barrier; pushing his way deeply inside with no lubrication.

"Oooh, she screams so nicely." Flare pushed his hips against her flank, receiving another cry of pain as his member pushed further into her unready passage.

Tears began to form in Lilith's eyes as Flare savored her pain, dragging his member back from her depths.

Lilith whimpered in pain as he forcefully shoved himself forward again, nothing to ease his passage except a little bit of her blood. Each thrust that came after felt worse, the tears falling down as she begged him to stop.

He didn't, and with each passing moment Lilith felt as if he was closer to tearing her in two with his violent thrusts. She squirmed beneath him, her limbs having regained most of their feeling, but it was far too late. Flare had made sure she was well secured...

Every passing moment was agony, lasting lifetimes longer than it should. Lilith was pushed to a state of near blackout as her mind retreated to safety. She went limp as he took her her, refusing to even give him the pleasure of hearing her cries.

In her mind's absence her body began taking over, lubricating her battered passage with fluids to lessen the pain.

While she appreciated the reduction in pain she realized what her body had done.

Flare's member now glided along her passageway with ease, granting her an ounce of pleasure that cut through the pain.

Lilith had preferred the pain. She could handle that... But this was different. The fact that her body would betray her like this was sickening.

She shuddered as the feeling slowly blossomed, the pain fading into the background. Lilith tried to focus on the pain but was unable to do so. It had receded to an ache, one that begged for a pleasuring touch... Lilith could only hope that he finished soon to avoid any further humiliation.

Flare plundered her with little regard to her feelings, using her like some disposable item. His hips slapped wetly against her flank as his sweat and her juices flowed together. His prize seemed to be highly aroused at this point.

Lilith held back a pant of pleasure, refusing to accept it as reality. She couldn't be enjoying this, it wasn't possible. Please let it end...

Flare kicked in with a second wind, thrusting with a renewed strength and vigor. Lilith, let out a half moan before she caught herself. As his member pumped in and out she slowly became unable to hold back. A few more thrusts and she went tense, her insides spasming around the intruder.

Lilith blushed a deep shade as her body concluded its betrayal, showing her weakness to this sick monster. She nearly gagged as she felt his member jump inside her, spraying thick strands of potent sperm into her depths.

The weight was slowly removed from her body as Flare slid himself from her passage, trailing a wet sticky mess along her flank.

He left the room without words, likely relishing his victory.

Lilith was now entirely free from the paralyzing effect of the drug, she pulled forcefully against the restraints. The thick rope that limited her motion and connected firmly to the bedposts hampering her efforts.

Lilith could hear the wood give a slight groan, she doubled the strength behind each pull but she didn't know how much time she had. If he walked in to see this there was no knowing what he would do.

Lilith tentatively reached out with her mind, searching for the other presence in the house. When she didn't find him in the next room over she reached out a little further, brushing against a consciousness that made her shudder. There was something different with his mind than what was normal. Perhaps it was the insanity?

Lilith entered into his mind, shuddering physically at the virulent touch. It was fragmented and broken, thoughts flying around wildly and sporadically, many voices speaking out for attention. Normally a changeling of a royal bloodline could read a mind or speak telepathically, possibly even introduce a new thought. But Flare's mind was broken, weak.

Perhaps... Just maybe she could be another one of those voices whispering to him.

Lilith forced herself to delve further, pulling as much attention to the thought she was about to introduce. She just needed to be the loudest and most important voice of the many.

"Release Lilith." She pushed this thought deep into his mind, causing a brief moment of utter silence in his head.
In under thirty seconds flare re-entered the room, carrying a simple knife and proceeded to cut Lilith free from the ropes around her limbs.

She sprung free and away from him as fast as she could, only half the room stood between her and an escape. But escape wasn't the strongest urge in her mind. 'You were weak for allowing this to happen' a voice spoke in her mind. 'Show me… Show yourself that you are better than this.'

Despite the all too recent events Lilith now felt empowered, she felt like she had something to prove to herself and to the voice... Lilith mentally pushed another thought on Flare's broken mind. "Punish yourself, you sick fuck."

Flare took the knife in his jaw and drew a shallow red slit in his front right leg, gritting his teeth around the handle.
'ahh, thats better. Make him pay.'

"Again."

Flare paused for a moment, a look of confusion on his face.

"Again!" Lilith commanded.

Flare cut another line next to the first, the pain making itself evident.

Lilith knew somewhere deep down that this was wrong, but she relished every moment.

"Keep going!"

Lilith could sense his energy, his very life. It started to slowly leak from his cuts dripping to the floor below.

A third line of red was completed. Lilith stared cruelly as he began a fourth, awaiting the new voice inside his head to tell him it was enough.

Lilith instinctually grasped on to his hopes that this would end soon and used them as a way to further siphon his energy. Emotions were all to easy to manipulate.

Before she even realized she had done it Flare collapsed on the floor, his one leg a bloodied mess of seven long shaky cuts. Lilith looked upon the sight with little remorse, the energy she had stolen from him coursing through her. He deserved it, this sick bastard would never hurt anyone again.

Lilith grabbed the knife in her hoof and plunged it into his good front leg, listening to his cry of pain. She then walked away, grabbing her belongings on the way out. Blood loss would finish the job in a few minutes.

Hybrid: CH 6: Blood Stains

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Hybrid: Blood Stains

Lilith flew with all haste from the town, she had just committed murder...

He had deserved it, but Lilith didn't particularly want to explain why to the townsfolk. Better that it be left a mystery.

Well, that town was no longer an option. It seemed she was back at the original plan. To Canterlot.

Lilith gathered up a fairly dense piece of cloud fairly high from the ground. Anyone flying would likely fly below, and anyone on foot wouldn't have a solitary chance of spotting her. She began to fluff up a small space to sleep in when the feeling that she was being watched crept upon her, delaying all thoughts for sleep.

Lilith immediately left, continuing her journey. She warily watched the skies behind her, periodically looking forward to check if anything was ahead.

This time when she brought her gaze forward her heart nearly stopped.

"Going somewhere?" A lava red pegasus spoke, leaning on a nearby cloud.

"F…Flare?"

The pegasus nodded and shot her a grin before disappearing behind the cloud.

No it couldn't be him, he was dead. All that blood...

The voice spoke out once again, causing her to swiftly turn her head to the other side.

"That's not a very nice way to treat your host Lil." Her eyes shot open as he faded behind yet another cloud. If it knew her name... Then it had to be him, but how? Even if he survived the loss of blood and the energy she had stolen from him would have left him too weak to fly.

Lilith shook her head, "It's just your mind playing tricks, calm down."

"Is it?" The voice spoke from in front of her this time.

Lilith reeled back, stopping her flight to avoid approaching him. Again he nonchalantly swooped behind a cloud, obscuring himself from view.

Faster than should have been possible his voice spoke from behind her. "You are a naughty mare..."

Lilith wheeled around, her twin hearts pumping, lashing out with a kick. Time slowed and her kick landed, striking the speaker in their side.

Flare sputtered a string of curses as he clutched his new injury, taking a quick dive behind another cloud.

He had flown to the right but his voice now came from her left. "Just give yourself up easy now Lilith."

She dashed towards the speaker, intent on causing further harm, but a second form crashed into her side. Lilith was sent into an aerial tumble as she rapidly descended.

Lilith fell well below the clouds before becoming able to slow the descent. Alighting on the ground she looked around frantically, searching for any sign of her attacker.

Her eyes locked on a questioning sight. She hadn't been hit that hard, so why was she seeing double?

Two identical Lava red pegasi flapped side by side, staring at her with vitriolic expressions.

Lilith knew there was one way to be sure... She reached out mentally, awaiting the perverse touch of Flare's mind. Instead she found two minds, both far more sane than he had been.

But if they had Flare's image that meant.... Changelings. And they had witnessed everything that had happened.

Lilith's scared dread evaporated, only to be replaced by an overwhelming sense of danger. With her month trapped in the forest it was only logical that Drauth already had spies and assassins waiting for her...

The two glided down and began circling her, throwing taunts and insults in Flare's voice.

"Such a dirty little slut, why didn't you escape earlier? Did you actually want him to defile you?"

"Maybe we can have a turn before we drag you back to Drauth." The other spoke.

Lilith pushed back her disgust at their comments and replied calmly. "How did you find me?"

"Isn't it obvious." one of the changelings shifted to an exact copy of her current form, tapping his foreleg. Lilith looked to her golden armband... How could she be so stupid, Drauth had obviously seen her wearing it during their encounter.

Lilith slid off her bags and let her golden band fall to the ground, she then launched herself at the Changeling who had taken her appearance.

"Damn it, shift back!" The other, still disguised as Flare yelled as Lilith slammed into his partner.

Lilith dragged her copy to the ground with the extra weight, assaulting his mind with her own to prevent him from transforming. She rolled along the ground in a time infused spin to entangle them in a battle that the other couldn't join due to the confusion.

Lilith forcefully aimed a kick at the changeling's ribcage and was rewarded with a howl of pain.
Good, he was the one that she had hit in the same spot earlier.

As they grappled on the grass Lilith was scratched and battered by her attacker. She continued to focus her blows on his ribcage, waiting for the right moment...

She was rewarded with a resounding crack as two of his ribs gave way. He shrunk over in a momentary overflow of pain, it was all that Lilith needed.

Time slowed as her powers flared up, a hoof striking his throat... As he gasped for air Lilith grabbed a wing and twisted it, hearing a crunch as the hollow bone snapped.

Lilith stepped away, allowing the copy of herself to fall to the ground. Her twin hearts pounded and she felt weak from the exertion, had those few seconds of time distortion been too much?

She needed to think fast, there was no way she could get into another fight and come out the victor at this point.

"And that's how it's done. Get her tied up with something." Lilith bluffed, hoping the other changeling hadn't kept good enough track of the fight.

"Really?"

Lilith nearly flinched but kept her composure.

"You just ruined all the fun, I wanted a piece of that action! Too bad the bitch couldn't put up more of a fight."

“Are you saying you wanted me to get my ass kicked?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Lilith nearly sighed in relief as the changeling dropped his disguise and flew down to his partner's side. Lilith looked around the ground, picking up a sizable stone. "Just wait, we can still have our fun with her before we head back." She spoke, continuing her deception.

“Well, actualy… you fought a little t-“

She walked up behind him and struck him with all her might. A spray of green changeling blood spattered across her as his skull cracked.

Lilith quickly rummaged through her bag, finding the small knife that she had packed. She grabbed it and returned to the injured changelings.

The one she had struck was unconscious, or worse. But the one she had fought was about to regain his footing.

Lilith kicked him in his broken ribs once again and he fell back to the ground.

"Please, we were just hired to capture you and bring you back to Drauth. If you let us leave I swear we won't bother you again." His form shifted once more as he dropped her image, returning to his normal changeling appearance.

"You know my name, you know my face... I'm sorry."

Lilith stabbed the knife into the back of his neck, it lodged itself in bone as his brain was disconnected from body. She wrenched it out and turned to the unconscious changeling, not bothering to check for a pulse before cutting his jugular.

A vision flashed before Lilith's eyes, showing her what would come from their death.

They would be found dead by another changeling hunter and he would send word back to the hive. Drauth, upon hearing of the failure would fall into a rage and slay the messenger.

After he would kill the dead changeling's widows, and children to sate his desire for death. The vision ended on Drauth's scarred eye as he reveled in the slaughter.

Lilith threw the knife away attempting to wipe the blood from her face. She realized her mistake as her hoof left an even worse blood smear.

Yes she had already seen plenty of blood today, but only at a distance. Being covered in it, having been the one to deliver the blow… She nearly gagged as the stench reached her.

"Four." Lilith whispered to herself. Four was the count of how many had died from her actions. And further innocents would die indirectly. This was blood that would forever stain her hooves, forever stain her conscience.

~~~
The next day:

Lilith still could smell blood... She had washed for three hours in the stream last night but the scent still plagued her. Lilith pulled a rag away from a scrape, it had been a minor wound and was nearly healed. She looked at the dried almost brown blood; that was another difference she had from regular changelings their blood is green, hers ran crimson.

She also felt disturbingly weak, all her strength having fled... As much as she hated to admit it she needed to feed, and not in a normal food kind of way. What little energy she had taken from Flare had been drained by her time-bending ability.

Lilith's guess was that slowing time in anything longer than half second bursts would cause a massive drain. It made sense as her fight the other day was the first time she had ever attempted to sustain her power. She had only used it for a meager five seconds straight but it had drained her far more than countless small uses would have.

Lilith was now on the last leg of her trip to Canterlot, Celestia's second attempt at a castle. Unfortunately Nightmare Moon had destroyed large parts of the old one before being banished.

Lilith had stashed her golden armband away, saddened by the fact she could no longer wear it safely. It was the only link to her father, other than the strange genetics he had passed onto her.

Lilith shook off her reminiscing thoughts and looked to the large mountainside city looming ahead of her. It swiftly grew in size as she approached.

Celestia at least needed to know that the hive leadership had changed. It would take some time to undo her mother's work, but a King like Drauth was likely to cause great harm.

She alighted in the mostly empty streets, finding the road that lead to the gold and alabaster palace. Coming upon the castle doors she noticed a few guards. How was she supposed to get an audience if Celestia didn't even know her?

Lilith stopped, noticing the guards eying her warily.

"I have an important message for Celestia."

"Ha, and I'm a manticore." The guard scoffed. "Now get going!"

"But I need to see her!"

"Yeah, you and all the other rabble. Celestia hasn't taken a single visitor since she moved to this castle."

"She can't still be in mourning. Luna was banished four years ago!" Lilith could still remember the sorrowful expression on her mother's face when she had returned home with the news. The two had grown to be close friends.

"Don't say that name!" The guard growled out. "Now go, before someone needs to escort you."

Lilith did as commanded, straying off the road as soon as she was out of sight. Fine then, no using the main entrance. She looked to the tallest tower, seeing the open-air balcony fixed to its side. “That will have to do.”

Lilith skirted around the castle grounds, making sure nobody was in sight before taking to the air. Upon landing on the balcony she was pleasantly surprised at the fact no alarm had been sounded. She dashed into the confines of the room to stay unobserved, sweeping the area with her gaze.

Lilith's eyes flew to a crumbled and scorched stone tablet, a partial inscription written upon it. She walked over and peered at the writing.

"...There shall always be two, forever together yet forever apart...

Something drove her to touch it; she gingerly reached out with a hoof to see if she could wipe away some of the soot to see if it was obscuring another partial line.

As she touched the tablet a vision washed over her, she could see the original engraving in entirety. It took up nearly a whole wall, untouched even in the middle of all the wreckage.

"The world yearns for order, for balance. There shall always be two, forever together yet forever apart.

An existence of both harmony and conflict for both cannot shine at once, and neither can one exist without the other."

Celestia walked over to the tablet, an enraged blast shattering it to pieces. She then sagged to the floor of her destroyed castle sobbing.

"Why? My Moon, my sister. Why did you change? Why..."

"We will find a way..." Lilith could see Ardith as she tried to console the princess.

Lilith's vision of the past faded away as she heard a noise coming from the hall. She quickly dove behind the remains of the large tablet, hearing hoof steps enter the room seconds later.

The pony stopped in front if the stone, pausing long enough for Lilith to hear a single tear strike the floor. The steps continued towards the balcony, a yellow glow of magic lit the room.

Lilith emerged from her hiding spot, thinking to sneak away but stopped upon the scene.

Celestia exerted her power and the sun glowed its last for the day as it was pushed down past the horizon. The magic faded away and Celestia braced herself to go raise the moon, a dark aura surrounding her. The moon slowly rose to its spot in the sky, Celestia obviously straining to do the job meant specifically for her sister.

It wasn't surprising that Celestia needed to resort to dark magic to complete the task; she technically shouldn't be able to raise the moon at all.

Celestia whispered a few words to the moon. "Nine hundred ninety five years and two hundred seven days left. I'm so sorry."

"Both cannot shine at once, and neither can one exist without the other..." Lilith spoke, loud enough for Celestia to hear.

She whirled around, horn glowing. "Where did you hear that?" She seemed less concerned with Lilith's presence than the fact that those words had been spoken.

Lilith boldly steeped out into the light of the freshly raised moon, looking at the outline of a mare on its surface. "You found your way, one thousand years of magic and banishment to weaken Nightmare's hold... If there was a better option you would have used it."

"Who are you? Nopony knows that other than-"

Lilith cut her off, not finished. "You may live an eternity, but there's no use in wasting one thousand years waiting as the kingdom you fought so hard for fades away! I did not think a queen would be so weak."

The same rage that Lilith had seen in her vision entered Celestia's eyes. A massive bolt of energy flew from her horn towards Lilith.

Lilith's eyes widened as her twin hearts flared up on their own, the bolt slowed to a snails pace as she stepped aside. Instead of striking her the blast found its way to the remaining part of the stone inscription, blasting what was left into pieces.

The rage fell from Celestia's eyes as she realized what she had almost done. She collapsed to the floor and bowed her royal brow in shame.
"I'm sorry, I haven't been the ruler I should…"

"Then you need to show that you can be. Not to me, but to Equestria.

"Thank you. But, how is it that you know these things?"

Lilith wobbled on her legs, the sudden use of her ability having drained the small bit of remaining energy she had left.

"Can we go somewhere I can sit?" Lilith spoke before her legs gave out. "Never mind, this works."

"What's wrong? Did I do this with my magic?"

"No, it's... A condition. As a changeling, my mother had the same problem."

Celestia paused in thought, "With what you know there's only one person who that could be... Your mother, is it Ardith?"

"Yes, but there's something else, --" Lilith's head nodded as she involuntarily closed her eyes. She opened them with a start. "Sorry, I seem to have used up all my energy. At this point there's not much I can do."

"Will you be ok?"

"If I don’t exert myself any further and find a source of power I'll be fine."

"Take what you need." Celestia gazed upon Lilith with a seriousness in her eyes. "It's the least I can do for the child of a friend."

Lilith reached out, feeling the warm embrace of the almost motherly love radiating from Celestia. She basked in the freely given energy, soaking it up as easily as a sponge.

Love really was one of the most powerful emotions. When freely gifted it had a strength of its own, separate from that of the givers. The exchange barely cost Celestia anything, but to Lilith it meant everything.

Lilith got to her hooves and embraced Celestia. "My mother... She's dead." Lilith began to sob into Celestia's shoulder, a comforting hoof finding its way around her back.

"Shh, your safe with me."

Lilith cried upon the princesses shoulder until she could cry no more, dropping her tough demeanor and falling asleep in Celestia's grasp.

"Oh little one. You may be barely an adult but you are still a child compared to I... There is no doubt that you speak the truth, but why would Ardith keep you a secret from me?"

~~~

The two spoke again the next morning over breakfast, Celestia tried to make sense of the information she had been given.

"So this Drauth has sent changeling spies into Equestria to seek you out? Why would he hunt a child?"

"I don't know, but he claims that my mother's virtues were a weakness. A weakness that he needed to purge from changeling society."

"I once thought all changelings were monsters, but Ardith proved otherwise. It is a shame the depravity of one can cast a shadow on all."

"Can you stop him?"

"It's not that easy Lilith. You helped me realize that I have a kingdom that needs me... I can't risk war in a foreign land just for the sake of removing a Changeling King from his position.

The remaining Royal Guard is a shadow of its former self, tensions have risen with the Gryphon kingdom, and the remains of the Crystal empire have been pulled into the void."

"Then I need training... If you can't help me I'll just have to do it on my own."

"You can't be serious?"

"Only one Changeling needs to die."

"Even I haven't killed. And I would never dare chose it as an option."

"That's our difference, I've been forced to choose." Lilith walked away from the stunned Celestia, escorting herself out.

Lilith pushed open the main gates to the castle, receiving startled glances from the guards. Lilith looked at the one who had prevented her entrance the previous day.

"Hello Manticore." She taunted sarcastically.

"You... Spoke with her?"

"Yes, and I'm joining the royal guard. Where's your captain?"

"But the royal guard is comprised of only colts, its always been that way!"

"Are you sure you want to disobey Celestia's orders?" Lilith bluffed.

"N...no, I'll show you the way."

Celestia watched the events unfold through a window. "Revenge isn't the answer Lilith. I hope you can learn that before you do something reckless."

A whirring, grinding, and echoing tone resounded through the hall as a blue police box appeared. Dr. Whooves steeped out. The somber expression on his face lifted slightly as he saw Celestia.

"Its good to see you up and moving around. I was afraid you would sleep the next thousand years away."

"I'm sorry Doctor, I heard about Ardith."

"Ah, that... I didn't want to be the one to break the news."

"Lilith did."

"Lilith?"

"She didn't say so, but I believe she's your daughter."

"No. That's... Not possible. If Ardith had a child it wasn't with me, our DNA couldn't be compatible."

"And yet she has your eyes..."

Hybrid: CH 7: Unconventional Reunions

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The word doctor normally meant physician or healer... But to the changelings that had been connected to Ardith's mind when she had first met Dr. Whooves the word meant something different.

Those changelings, through Ardith, had gotten a glimpse of his soul; ancient and aflame. To them the word doctor meant fearsome warrior.

Lilith was a terrifying mix of the two species. Changeling and Time Lord, she would not be ignored!

Lilith rushed the guard captain, allowing her twin hearts to flare up...
He wouldn't be laughing much longer at her proposal to join the ranks.

Before he could even react Lilith had delivered a cheap blow to his jaw, dislocating it. She allowed time to return to normal as she kicked a leg out from under him. The colt fell to the ground with a solid thump, temporarily stunned.

Lilith's body thrummed with the energy she had gotten from Celestia, it would be able to sustain her for quite some time.

"Anyone else want to laugh at a mare training with the guard?"

There was silence.

"Good, let's start over then. I'm Lilith and I'll be joining your training sessions."

~ Dr. W

"Perhaps I should go see her?" The Doctor paced back and forth at the window overlooking the courtyard where Lilith had just knocked some pony flat. "I have a daughter..." He nervously laughed and ran a hoof through his mane, part of it sticking up awkwardly afterwards.

"Go to her, she needs family and guidance." Celestia reassured him, having followed him around the castle as he frantically paced about.

Celestia could lightly hear the sound of the Tardis, the Doctor's blue time traveling box. "Doctor? If you are here, why do I hear the Tardis?"

As I don't remember this it seems future me is saving past me from an awkward confrontation with Lilith. He looked out the window seeing himself poke his head out of the Tardis.

~ Future Dr. W and Lilith

Dr. Whooves walked into the courtyard, sonic screwdriver whirring as he held it between his teeth. "I really do need to find a better way of using this." He mumbled to himself as he grabbed the device in his hoof to look at the reading given.

The guards who had been paying full attention to Lilith turned to see what was going on.

"I'm getting some strange readings on time distortion. Has anypony seen of heard anything stra..." He paused as he noticed Lilith standing there staring at him.

"Umm.. Nevermind, I'll just be going now." The Doctor turned and quickly began walking away.

Lilith walked after him, sprinting when she was out of the sights of the guards.

She rounded a corner to find the Tardis doors closing right in her face.

The Doctor sagged against the center console, "How do you approach the child that you never knew of?" It had been several weeks of jumping through time since he found out, but he hadn't had the courage. This meeting was accidental.

He nearly jumped from his bones when he heard a voice behind him.

"Mother told me where you hide the spare key."

The Doctor's hourglass flipped, stoping time. It was a unique ability that came with his cutie mark while in pony form.

"What to say... What to do." He paced back and forth, mumbling lines to himself while not once looking over at Lilith.

"I know I haven't been around...

Your mother never told me that..."

A few other partial lines were spoken and dropped, the Doctor unable to decide what to say.

"I loved Ardith dearly. I can only hope Lilith knows... Despite the fact that she was a secret for all these years I love her as my own... I don't have some magic line I can say to make up for everything."

He sighed, the sand in his cutie mark hourglass just a few grains away from drained. "It seems my minute is almost u-" He looked over to Lilith and his pacing stopped dead.

She stood there, tears welling up in her eyes, having been completely unaffected by his ability to pause time due to her lineage.

"I love you too father."

"Come here you." The Doctor braced himself as Lilith rushed forward, practically diving into the hug.

Suddenly the Tardis shook as sparks flew from one of the wall conduits. The Doctor pulled away, grabbing his sonic screwdriver and waving it about in all directions.

"The time distortions are effecting her negatively..." He referred to the living machine."It's like the past and future are all being jammed into one space."

"Would that have anything to do wit-" Lilith stopped as the Doctor continued.

"Maybe it won't cause as much stain on the Tardis if I reversed the polari-"

"Father!" Lilith shouted to get his attention. Her twin hearts pumped strongly as she used her power several times in rapid succession, seemingly changing location at lightning speeds.

He aimed the sonic screwdriver towards Lilith, it sparked and fizzled out as he dropped it. The Tardis let out a single clock like chime and came to life.

"Time is unstable around you. The future especially is in massive flux. You may see visions or- The Doctor continued to speak but was drowned out as the Tardis continued to violently react to Lilith's presence. The floor faded away from under her as the machine began to leave without her.

"Whatever you do, don't-" The Doctor's yell was drowned out by anther chime.

"-can be changed."
And please, for me. Be carefu-"

The Tardis finished its disappearing act and Lilith was left standing on the square of grass it had occupied, the spare key still in hoof. It wasn't the drawn out reunion full of explanations from her father that she had wanted, and It had left her more confused than ever, but Lilith was glad she was able to at least see his face and know that he cared.

~ Dr. W

"Well, that creates some dread about the occasion..." The past version of the Doctor looked down at Lilith from the tower window. "I might just have to put that meeting off for a while."

~ Lilith

Lilith turned back around the corner, going to rejoin the guards she had earlier harassed. The captain was nowhere in sight, probably off getting his jaw looked at. A single earth pony male walked over to her.

"Hey, the whole gang wants to submit a formal apology."

"Ok." Lilith absentmindedly spoke, trying to piece together things that would fit with the partial lines she had heard the doctor speak.

"Too bad I missed it all, I showed up a little late."

"If you weren't here then why are you the one apologizing?"

"I'm the new guy, haven't been here quite a month yet. They were worried you might get punchy?"

"Well, new guy. You can tell them that as long as they don't interfere with my training they won't have to worry about their jawbones coming loose."

"Its Elric." He chuckled at her statement.

"Hmm?"

"My name."

"Oh, sorry. I'm Lilith." She looked at his face, memorizing it so she could put it with the name later. Something danced at the edge of her consciousness. As they accidentally locked eyes Lilith could almost swear she had seen them before. They were a silvery grey, but something other than the color drew her in. She felt like she could stare into those eyes for an eternity and never be quite aware of the mystery hidden behind them.

She shook her head to clear it, not knowing how long she had stared. Elric gave a subtle grin. "This way if you please."

"Scoring points with the lady already?" Another one of the Guards joked.

With an unchecked impulse and flare up of her powers the mouthy guard received a hoof to his jaw. But this time Elric was there too, both blows hitting nearly simultaneously. The unfortunate pony was bounced from one hoof to the next, landing on the ground unconscious.

"Aww great. She has the same bad temper and just as short a fuse as Elric..." Another pony from a safe distance away mumbled.

Lilith shot Elric a smile and continued to follow him. They might just get along perfectly...

"You're fast, even by Pegasus standards."

"And you still manage to keep up. How is that?"

"I may be the new guy, but I had some training before this."

The majority of the other guards had made up their minds to steer clear for a while, leaving the two alone at one of the stations.

Elric picked up a blunted knife and faced Lilith. "Since nobody else seems willing to have a go. It looks like I'll be showing you the ropes around here. A guard's duty it to always vigilant." He took a swipe at Lilith she took a step back. "To protect those you care for." He took another slash and Lilith dodged to the side.

"And to expect every move an opponent might use against you."
He took a step back and threw the knife at her, forcing her to use her powers to be able to dodge in time.

Lilith grabbed another blunted knife from the table beside her and rushed Elric. Her first slash was a complete miss, and as she performed the second her knife disappeared into thin air.

Lilith shook the numbness from her hoof, looking in surprise at the dagger he had somehow snatched away in less time than it took her to blink.

Elric grinned, a twinkle in his eye yet again. "Care for a dance?" He spoke, tossing the knife back.

Lilith removed the bags she nearly always carried, facing off against Elric. He was good... Even with her powers she doubted she could match him. Lilith needed to learn those skills if she were to survive her mission for vengeance.

She went in close thrusting the blunted metal towards his ribs, he redirected the path of the blade with a push on her limb. She slowed down time to test his reaction speed, swinging the blade back in his direction. Seeming to move at normal speeds, even with her powers active, he moved just out of range.

Lilith dropped her hold on time, not wanting to exhaust herself by using it for anything more than a short burst. But as she blinked Elric appeared beside her grappling the knife away once more.

She dove away as he attempted to land a blow. He closed the distance slashing at lightning speeds. Lilith's powers flared up on instinct, allowing her to dodge the blunted edge by centimeters. Elric didn't let up though, he continued to make obscenely fast swipes.

Lilith dodged every blow, being forced to maintain her hold on her powers. Three seconds... Six seconds... Elric relentlessly cut at her a concentrated glare over his face.

"Stop" Lilith cried after the ninth second, her hold on time fell as she tried to leap back to avoid one final slash. She felt a light nick on her foreleg as the blunted blade still managed to cut into her, drawing a thin line of red.

Again in less time then she could blink Elric was examining the minor wound. "I'm sorry, I tend to get carried away..." He frowned at the crimson drop that started to flow down her leg. "I could have sworn," He mumbled to himself before stopping and shaking his head. "Oh well, let's get something on this cut."

Lilith sat down to the side as Elric went to grab a bandage, glad for once that her blood looked nearly like any other pony's. It was a bit lighter shade, more of a crimson than blood red, but it allowed her to avoid suspicion on this occasion.

She looked around, seeing that most of the attention was on her. Thank goodness her blood didn't run green or she would have been exposed to everyone.

Elric returned with a cloth bandage, starting to wipe away the excess blood with a rag.

"It's fine, I can handle it myself." Lilith took the bandage from him and turned away as she wrapped it around her leg. A well fed changeling had minor regenerative properties, such a small cut would be partially healed by now, no use in letting anyone see.

Lilith still had a decent amount of energy left, the nine seconds of straight power use had taken tons from her reserves but the energy she had gleaned from Celestia was quite plentiful.

"Maybe we should try something different?" Elric spoke, still wanting to test her natural ability.

Lilith looked into his eyes, becoming briefly consumed with thought. What was going on in that head of his? She so badly wanted to reach out and check... But if there were any other changelings nearby they would likely be able to sense her if she tried.

Lilith shook her head I clear her thoughts. "No, I think I'm done for today."

"Whatever suits you, same time tomorrow?"

"Sure."

Lilith paid for a room at the Bed and Bridle, an inn of low repute on the edge of the town. It was a decent place to hide out in. Unassuming and... well, a brothel of sorts.

Lilith looked upon the scantily dressed mares and colts who awaited call in the lobby.

Her mind drifted to how easily she could make a meal off of their energy. Her gaze was returned with a wink from one of the mares.

On second thought this was probably the worst place to be. If there were any of Drauth's spies in the area they were likely to be using the services...

It was too late to back out now, as leaving so soon would likely draw the wrong sort of attention.

Lilith went to the counter and spilled out a few bits. "I need a room for the night, and possibly for a few days more until I find a house in town."

The unamused mare swiped the bits from the counter and slid a room key her way.

"The spare key too." Lilith placed another two bits down which were exchanged for her utmost privacy.

"Will you be requiring any of the special services this evening?"

Lilith shook her head, her last sexual interaction fresh in her mind... "No."

She headed off to her room, surprised that such a place was allowed to exist. Well, actually, Celestia's apathy and lack of leadership for four straight years after Luna's banishment explained it perfectly.

When she arrived she could hear the headboard from the opposing room rhythmically tap against the wall as the neighboring patron made full use of the amenities. Lilith sighed, it would be a long evening and an even longer night...

Hybrid: CH 8: Revelations

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Lilith awoke to a scream from outside of the building, a changeling conscience brushing through the air as if searching for something. Lilith allowed the alarmed thoughts she had felt upon hearing the screams to the forefront of her mind, masking her presence with the illusion that she was just another pony wondering what was going on.It wasn't hard, as she really was concerned with what had happened. The other changeling mentally passed her over, looking no deeper than surface thoughts. Lilith could sense the doorway to the changeling's mind close like a loud slam as he seemingly gave up.

When she was in the hive communication traveled mentally and Lilith had always picked up background noise and conversations due to her being partly of royal blood. But Lilith now realized outside of the hive her world was so quiet.

A knock came at her door, and Lilith nearly jumped. She considered ignoring it entirely but the knock repeated itself.

"Lilith, its Elric. Open up."

Why was he here? And how did he know where she was staying?

Lilith grabbed her small knife from her bags as she quietly pulled the latch on the door, opening it barely a crack.

She opened the door fully upon seeing that it really was him, lowering the knife. He looked to be in the full guard armor.

"Heard the scream?" Elric questioned, pointing to her dagger. "The worst your gonna do with that is give someone a pinprick."

Lilith knew it was a joke but she had already managed to end more than one life with it. The cheap blade was even dented where it had impacted in the one's spine.

Lilith pushed the morbid thoughts from her head, tossing the dagger aside as if it had bitten her.

"Woah, just a joke there. Don't take it out on the floorboards." He slid past her and picked the blade off the ground, a piece of the handle shattering to the floor. He frowned at the poorly constructed blade and discarded it in a similar fashion, slipping a large yet concealed dagger out from under his armor. "Here, take one of mine, were going changeling hunting."

"What?!"

"The scream was a civilian who happened to see the corpse, we were in the middle of barricading it off... There's a rouge changeling in town that doesn't seem to be content with just stealing energy."

Lilith followed him out, grabbing her bags on the way.

"We'll start door to door in here, I got a list of occupied rooms." Elric spoke.

"But aren't changelings masters at disguise?" Lilith phrased it as a question to cover herself.

"Yes, but they still bleed green. This is my first time on the hunt but some of the older guards have done it before. It's quarantine... Nopony leaves town, and everyone gets a simple nick until they find one." He mimicked giving a small skin deep cut.

"But what if they didn't do it?"

Elric winced, stopping in the middle of the hall. "Equestria hasn't been a kind place these last four years. Hopefully Celestia decides to start running the nation instead of hiding away soon."

"What happens?" Lilith asked, realizing her question hadn't been properly answered.

"I'm told that the last time this happened a changeling was found who was living happily with his pony wife. She even knew the truth about him. He was put to death, only afterwards was the real culprit found."

Elric knocked on a door. "Royal guard, open up!"

"Celestia will set things right soon."

"I heard one of the other guards telling me you managed to get an audience with her?"

The door opened up and a quick explanation was given by Elric as Lilith looked anywhere in the room somepony could hide. The patron and his... Bedfellow both gave their blood samples.

Lilith proceeded to the next door with Elric. "It was more of me sneaking in the palace to meet her. She nearly killed me." Lilith have Elric the minimal amount of information needed, hoping he wouldn't try and pry and further.

Lilith repeated Elric's line, receiving no answer at the next door. Elric went down the stairs to fetch the spare keys from the desk worker as she waited. In his absence the door opened and a pegasus stepped into view.

"There's a rouge changeling loose, I'm going to need a blood sample from any of the room's occupants."

"I'm the only one, you can search if you'd like?" He gestured for her to enter.

Lilith stepped through the doorway, hearing the click of the door locking behind her.

"So, has the situation stretched the guards a bit thin? It's not hard to notice you have no backup."

Lilith could nearly feel the danger that thickened the atmosphere.

"I can handle on my own." She bluffed, keeping track of his position at all times as she searched.

"Pity, a shared meal is better than no meal though." As Lilith brandished her knife at the now obvious changeling she was tackled by another that had been in hiding. She was unable to respond in time to the sneak attack, a cloth over her mouth before she could cry out.

The door was kicked open and a knife flew with pinpoint accuracy, impaling the changeling who had tackled her between the eyes.

Elric strode into the room and the changeling in disguise shifted back to its normal form, hissing at him in an attempted scare tactic. Elric stared him down, showing no fear.

The changeling circled around, Elric pulling another concealed dagger. How many of the things did he carry in that armor?

Instead of attacking the changeling made a break for it, leaping towards the door Elric had left open in his haste.

Elric's other dagger let fly, leading the moving target perfectly. It stabbed straight into the changeling's insectile wing and pinned him to the door.

Elric marched up and pushed his foreleg against the changelings throat, pulling out his knife.

"I know there are more of you! Send them a message." The changeling nodded as best as he could with the pressing force on his throat. "Tell them, the hunt is over. And tell your master that if he infringes on Canterlot again there will be far more changeling blood spilled."

The changeling's eyes closed and he broadcast the message to any other changelings in the area, Lilith could her the words in her head.

A question bounced back from several others. "Who?"

The changeling wheezed out a cough before speaking, "Our master will want to know the name of the one who sends such displeasing news."

"Elric." He nearly growled out, the changeling sending out his name to the others. The eyes of Elric's pinned victim grew wide as the dagger was plunged into his chest, finding his heart.

Elric pulled out his blade, allowing the changeling's fresh corpse to fall.

"You said master?" Lilith questioned Elric.

"Yeah, they have to have one, there has been organized changeling movement all throughout Equestria for the past month. They're hunting for someone, or something. Changelings are most effective as a hive." Elric was obviously hiding some piece of information from her, she could tell.

She looked deep into his eyes for any sign of deceit, a vision interrupting her gaze.

Her night in the dessert, a run in with a young assassin...

This knife," he slipped one from a band on his hoof, "is not for you. Stay still."

Why would she be seeing a vision of her own past? Parts of it sipped by, as if in fast forward.

"You're fast, for a changeling. But not for someone trained from birth to hunt them."

Lilith's strangely jumpy vision cut away to some of yesterday's events.

"You're fast, even by pegasus standards."

Wait did this mean...

"...haven't been here quite a month yet."

How had she missed it?

The vision cut back to her defiantly staring the assassin down over the campfire. She stared into his mysterious silvery eyes, the same eyes...

Lilith's visions cut out and she found herself in Elric's arms.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, it's just all the blood." Lilith bluffed, passing his knife improperly back to him.

"Your supposed to pass knives handle first." He took hold anyways, expecting her to release it.

"I know." Lilith spoke, pulling lightly on the handle, cutting into his unprotected flesh.

He dropped the knife and pulled away from Lilith, trying to hide the wound.

"Ah, crap." He looked around for something to wrap it with, running over to the bed sheet and tearing off a strip.

"What's wrong? Afraid of the color of your own blood?" Lilith walked over and grabbed his limb, he made no further attempts to hide the light gash leaking green blood.

Lilith took the cloth strip and tied up his injury as he questioningly looked at her.

"Why? How?"

"I was suspicious," Lilith bluffed once again, not ready to unveil her identity to him quite yet. "You knew too much about changelings to not be one. But don't worry, your secret is safe."

"If I'm a changeling what's to keep me from saying these two didn't take you down before I could save you?"

"Because you wouldn't care if I revealed your secret to everypony. You just sent a challenge to a changeling king by giving your name. You don't really care if you die do you?"

"I never said that."

"Hmm?"

"I never said Changeling King, so how is it that you know?"

"A story for a story." Lilith quoted their first encounter to help him realize the truth, it seemed the time for hiding had passed. "You had your suspicions from the start. That cut on the training field wasn't accidental was it? It was a test. But it didn't work because you missed part of the equation...

My mother was Ardith, yes. But my father is something else."

"Your... That's..." He paused to collect himself. "An impossible hybrid child. It all makes sense now." Elric chuckled to himself. "You were wrong about one thing too though."

"What?"

"I have one thing left to live for, I'm not ready to die just yet."

"What is it?"

Elric bowed in front of Lilith. "Hybrid or not, you are still my queen. I would gladly offer my life to save yours."

"Good, because I need your help."

Hybrid: CH 9: Heart to Twin Hearts

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"Come on Lilith! Faster! Your opponent can't be allowed to see it coming."

Lilith growled out as she pelted the next knife at the target. The blade clipped the side of the small board and went spinning off.

"Don't sacrifice your aim for power."

"How the hell am I supposed to do this?"

Elric grabbed three of the throwing knives and took twenty paces behind where Lilith had been trying from, throwing all three in the blink of an eye sending each at a faster speed than the last.

"Practice." He spoke as they impacted simultaneously on the head sized target, forming a perfect triangle formation.

"Show off!" One of the other guards coughed not so discretely. He silenced himself quickly as the captain walked by.

"Congratulations. I'm making you two an official team. It's not often that we bag more than one changeling at a time." The captain addressed both Lilith and Elric.

Lilith advanced a step. "You act as if they are animals."

"Aren't they? Those monstrous parasites."

"Lilith." Elric warned.

"No. They are living, intelligent, beings. The acts of a few should not warrant judgment on an entire race."

"Your a pegasi girl! You can't claim to know anything of changelings." the guard captain turned to walk away.

"What about Ardith?" Lilith's question made the captain stop.

"The acts of one warrant even less than the majority," he spoke. "I trust you will continue to perform your duties? Any changeling within the walls of Canterlot will be disposed of, by my order."

Elric glared at Lilith, urging her to make a reasonable response.

"Yes, Captain." Lilith spoke bitterly.

Elric pretended as if the event hadn't happened, continuing to practice throwing knives.

His mind touched hers as he chose to communicate mentally instead.

"You must not draw attention like that. You may bleed a passable color but I do not. If I was discovered I would have to flee, or worse.

"I'm sorry..." Lilith replied. "Wait? Are you sure it is safe to be speaking like this?"

"I don't see why not. The family I was stolen from had some royal blood. Mental links between royalty cannot be overheard as long as we don't purposefully broadcast them."

"I didn't know you had royal blood. It does help explain a few things though... You don't even know who you were stolen from?"

"I must not have meant much to them, considering I was not retrieved. I am glad you at least had some family."

"But the assassins raised you as their own didn't they? What about your master?"

"Let's take a walk so we can speak normally."

Elric waited until they were safely out of earshot before speaking.
"My teacher was the closest thing I had to family... But what is a childhood where you are expected to kill at the age of five?"

"That young?"

"Yes, who would expect such a young innocent child to strangle them in a dark alley, or to slit their throat in the doorway of their own home? ...but enough about me, what about your childhood?

"Well, some days, when I was feeling adventurous I would sneak away from the house. It drove Ardith crazy with worry. I would just follow the flow and movements of the hive wherever if would take me. I would just fly and daydream about what my life would be like if I was a normal changeling. It didn't even have to be royalty, just anything without two hearts.

"Two hearts?"

"Something my father passed onto me."

Elric paused. "Do you mind if I?"

"No, it's fine. You're the second pony who has ever known."

Elric placed hoof over her heart, feeling the steady beat it gave. Lilith led him to the other side of her chest showing him where to find the other heartbeat.

Upon finding it he paused, removing his hoof and leaning in to listen. Lilith blushed as he rested his head on her chest, listening to the four beat pattern her twin hearts gave.

"Elric?"

"Hmm?" He spoke, still listening.

"You can... stop now. Ponies will stare if you keep this up."

"I don't mind. So relaxing," he sighed peacefully. "It's like I've been waiting my entire life to hear this."

"Get up." Lilith rolled her eyes and gave him a light push.

"Your ruining the moment Lilith."

"What moment?"

Elric stared deeply into her eyes, his silvery irises drawing her attention yet again. Maybe she could imagine how he felt when listening to her heart, maybe it was something like how she felt staring into the eternity that hid behind those eyes.

"This one," he spoke, closing in for a kiss.

Lilith raised a hoof in surprise, time slowing itself. She at first thought to push him away but changed her mind, realizing that this might just be what she wanted anyways. She grabbed him and pulled him into the kiss, time reverting to normal.

Lilith eventually pulled back, panting out. "Other ponies are definitely staring now..."

"Let them." Elric gave her one last kiss before freeing himself from her hold.

Lilith peered around, seeing Canterlot citizens quickly resume their business as if they hadn't noticed anything.

Elric gave a fake cough to regain her attention. "Sooo... Back to training?"

"Yeah, sure."

Lilith blushed as Elric walked closely beside her, their sides rubbing together as he led her back to the training grounds. As they neared he took a half step away, allowing her privacy. Although he had left her side the blush remained, slow to die away.

"So what were you two talking about? Your mare friend looks a little flustered." The mouthy guard whom Lilith and Elric knocked flat the other day spoke.

Lilith eyed Elric and shrugged with a 'why not' sort of expression. They both lunged at him with lightning speed, his eyes widened as he tried to flinch away. Both blows landed again, the second day in a row the poor pony was knocked out.

"Nothing much." Lilith spoke, giving Elric a quick peck on the cheek in front of everypony.

It was now his turn to give an embarrassed look as all of the guardsponies snickered.

"Lilith! Not in front of everyone." He chastised mentally.

"What? Afraid of the others thinking your soft?"

"I... No."

"Yes." Lilith insisted.

Elric sighed audibly. "We should continue with training, you have a long ways to go."

"Fine, what are you going to show me next?"

"Next? You still aren't proficient with throwing knives yet." He handed her a blade and went to sit back and relax.

"Oh come on. If I throw another knife today my limb might just tear off."

"Then switch."

"Slave driver..."

"You asked me to train you. All your fault."

~~~
Later:

"I can barely walk... My forelegs are so sore." Lilith complained as the two finished their daily patrols.

"Don't worry, they'll feel worse tomorrow." Elric responded.

"And how is that comforting? I thought doing that was a part of your job description?"

"I don't remember taking that job." He joked.

"So what was that whole kiss thing about then?"

"A momentary lapse in judgment- Oww! Don't you understand sarcasm?"

Lilith who had just punched him in the shoulder chuckled. "Just wanted you to feel some sympathy pain."

"Sympathy pain acknowledged, so where are you staying tonight? You can't show your face back at the bed and bridle."

"Well since you are now my official servant I thought we would stay at your house. And by your house I mean my house."

"Don't push it. I may have called you queen once but I'm starting to regret it. Besides I live in a rented one-room hovel... I didn't exactly plan on a trip all the way to Equestria."

"Well, find us a new place then.” Lilith popped a hoof sized uncut diamond from her bags.

"Wait? Is that why you’re always carrying that bag? What else do you have in there?"

"Enough."

By the time she had spoken the word Elric was already at her side, rummaging though her bags. "Did you forget any of your family jewels?" He sarcastically commented as he pulled out a topaz that shone with a wondrous gleam, admiring the shape.

"This is only a fraction."

"You know what? Screw assassins, I should have been raised by a shadowy group of thieves... I could have waltzed right in to your house, stolen my weight in gems and retired for good."

"If only life could be so easy. Come on Elric, stop staring at my loot."

"Sorry, I really can't help it." He spoke, reluctantly placing the topaz back in the pouch. "I've never been rich before."

"You still aren't, I need to save these in case of an emergency."

"Please? Let's cash in just one?"

"You will be, for a house."

"One mansion coming right- Oww. Kidding, I was kidding." Elric took a step away to avoid any further injuries.

"So many bits..." Elric practically drooled over the sack that jangled with them.

"Your hopeless," Lilith replied, grabbing it from him and passing it to the fancily dressed pony who was selling the property.

"Thank you kindly for your purchase, may I also interest you in a vacation home located on the galloping isles?"

Elric's longing gaze said yes but Lilith gave the realtor her version. "No thank you, this is fine."

"We'll contact you if we change our minds though!" Elric blurted after stepping a safe distance from Lilith. He retrieved a business card from the salesmare.

"What? A pony can dream." He spoke at Lilith's glare, receiving the keys to their new home.

"Oh hey, Lilith. I forgot to tell you earlier. Celestia is giving a public address tomorrow it's required that all guards attend." Elric unceremoniously flopped down on the bed. "Looks like whatever you said to her hit home, I hear she hasn't left the castle since it was built."

"Get off of there, you’re going to mess up the sheets." Lilith scolded.

"What? You’re just going to mess them up when you sleep there. Or when we sleep there?" He punctuated his question with a wink.

"One stolen kiss and you think you’re getting lucky? Besides this is a two bedroom house, yours is out there." Lilith pointed to the bedroom door.

"You liked the kiss."

"I've been practicing my throw," Lilith warned, grabbing one of the heavy gemstones from her bag and preparing it.

"Oh woe is me, the lady doth scorn.
Launching word and lie sharper than thorn."

"I'll be launching something blunt at your head if you don't stop mooning over me."

"As you wish your majesty." Elric stood up on her bed and gave an over animated flourish before jumping off.

"Oh? Mocking the title now?"

"It would only be mockery if you acted like one." Elric teased.

Lilith faked throwing the gemstone and Elric walked over to the doorway, giving one final bow.

"Goodnight my beauteous mar-" His hoof shot up and he caught the gemstone that Lilith had just thrown at his bowed head. He grinned and walked away.

"Hey! Get back here with that!" Lilith bolted to the hallway only to see Elric's door gently close behind him.

Lilith chuckled to herself. “Serves me right…”she muttered, knocking in the door.

"Come in."

Lilith pushed open the door, finding the room lit only by a single lamp. Her eyes scanned the space, landing on Elric.

He lay on his back, on top of his bed sheets, the ruby sitting on his chest.

Lilith walked over and made a grab, his hoof stopping hers inches from the target.

"I'm holding it ransom."

"What for?" Lilith jumped up on the bed to get a better reach.

"Haven't decided yet."

Lilith made another grab, Elric swept out her leg causing her to stumble forward. He caught her fall and pulled her close, muzzle inches from hers.

Lilith grinned, reaching for the stone while hovering inches from the intended kiss. When her grasp didn't find it she lowered her head down to his cheek and gave it a quick kiss.
"Will that do?"

"Not quite."

Lilith moved a little bit more and sent a line of kisses down his exposed neck.

"A little closer." He urged, causing Lilith to hover over him once more. They locked eyes for a moment, time forgotten as they stared. Lilith relaxed onto his warm body as she forgot the world around her, lowering her lips to his.

Elric broke away before she could find her mark, rotating the pair to their sides. "I believe this is yours." He proffered the gem.

Lilith grabbed the pointless rock lightly tossing it behind her as she grappled Elric, drawing him into a real kiss.

His hips pressed involuntarily into hers, pressing his member between them.

Elric paused, realizing. "Sorry." He repositioned himself.

"No you're not." Lilith blindly reached down, running a hoof along his stomach. She drew dangerously close to a touch, stopping just before,lightly teasing his stomach fuzz.

Lilith broke away from a final kiss, removing herself from the bed. She took one grin at his throbbing member before walking out.

Left so suddenly Elric was only able to slip out one line. "You forgot the ruby."

"I'll come back for it another night." Elric could hear Lilith speak in his mind. He could sense that she shared a similar burning desire to his. Why would she leave when things were about to get interesting?

Lilith ran to the shower, jumping into the cold stream before it even had time to warm up. The cold water was fine though; it helped keep her mind off the burning desire in her loins.

"He's witty, charming, strong, handsome. What's wrong with you Lilith? He's even part royal blood, you should be glad he wants you..." She mumbled to herself.

"I love her... Something's different when I'm around her, it's like a piece I was always missing." Elric sighed to himself as he heard the shower running. What was it holding her back?

Hybrid: CH 10*: Desires of the Flesh

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"For too long have I sat back and let events in the kingdom go unchecked. For too long have I languished in apathy and mourning over my sister's banishment. That ends now." Celestia spoke from a makeshift podium in front of the assembled guards and citizens. Lilith stood in her brand new armor, listening.

"The lawlessness that has stricken our nation must end. I have written a new code of law that Equestria will adhere to from now until long after I am gone... This push for law and order will need all the hooves it can get, therefore I am enforcing the first ever equestrian draft, and all colts chosen will serve a minimum of one year in the guard.

Equestria can no longer afford to be seen as weak. Earth, Pegasi, Unicorn, Alicorn...Together and united is the only way to move forward!"

"Long live Celestia, huh." Elric leaned over to Lilith speaking softer, "Let's hope she doesn't turn out to be a tyrant..."

A hushed mumble spread through the guards, making its way to the crowd. "Long live Celestia!" Elric shook his head and chuckled as his one muttered line took hold in everypony's mind.

"Darn it... Should have said Molestia." He joked mentally with Lilith as the shout echoed through the air.

"Elric!" Lilith sounded surprised.

"What? It's a changeling story I heard when I was growing up. Princess Molestia... They say all fiction is based upon some measure of truth." Elric grinned at Lilith's rapidly changing facial expressions as she thought about his words.

"It can't be... But what if it is?"

"Come on Lil, if we don't get going we won't have any time to train before patrols."

"Did you really mean that about Celestia?"

"Its a story Lilith. You can go check with her if you want?"

"No, I think I'm good."

Lilith pelted a knife at the tiny circular target, hitting dead center. Elric barely gave a glance. She threw another, receiving the unique sound of metal striking metal. Her knife bounced off and to the ground.

Elric looked her way with his full attention. "Again."

Lilith calmed her breathing and honed in on her target, letting one more knife fly. It sailed perfectly towards its mark, only to reflect off the pommel of the first dagger.

Elric smiled. "You learn quick, I'll make a respectable fighter out of you yet... Let's move on to something else."

"Crap, Lilith are you ok? You just collapsed out of nowhere."

Lilith stared, silent, contemplating the déjà vu sensation. Her vision had involved what was occurring this very second...Elric's words the same as the ones she had just imagined.

In her vision she responded quickly by blowing it off, telling him she was just tired.

But this time, the real version, Lilith just lay there, her apparent line not escaping her lips. She felt almost forced to say it and was nearly about to when Elric gave her a shake.

"Lilith."

His extra actions in her delay were a minuscule change to what she had seen, but the impact wasn't lost on her. Lilith remembered what her father had said. "Time is unstable around you. The future especially is in massive flux."

"Come back to the land of the living. Ponies are starting to stare." Elric spoke again, grabbing we attention.

Lilith stood on her own, looking around at the observers. "Its fine, I just need some sleep." She bluffed.

Yes, she had ended up giving the proper line but her vision hadn't happened exactly the same.

Elric looked at her with a worry in his eyes. "Let's get you home."

Lilith created a mental connection with him. "I'm fine, but let's go anyways."

He threw her a questioning thought; fake supporting her weight as they walked away.

When they were out of earshot Lilith spoke aloud. "Sorry about startling you back there. I guess you are due for an explanation...

I told you my father wasn't a changeling but I never told you what he was. To give the short explanation he was the last of his race, a Time Lord. You have already heard one of the genetic abnormalities he left me with... Twin hearts. But there's more.

My mother said that his kind could see the universe... Not just what is, but what could be, every single possibility. Sometimes I see things, visions... Sometimes the future, sometimes the past."

"What did you see?"

"This time was strange, I saw what was going to happen mere seconds before. My hesitation caused the actual events to happen differently."

"So, you don't see the absolute truth, just a version that could be?"

"Exactly! But my two visions of the past have been spot on, I have seen things I couldn't possibly know and been right."

"All right."

"That's it, just plain acceptance, no questioning of my sanity?"

"Who am I to argue with what goes on in that strange gem pelting head of yours?" Elric teased.

"I might try again when you aren't looking if you stay this mouthy."

"Go right ahead, my gem collection is a bit lacking."

"You know, for a royal servant you can be a royal pain."

"You love it, don't lie to yourself.

~
One week later:

"No hesitation, no remorse." Lilith thought back to something Elric said during a training session. Her knife plunged downward, cutting into unprotected flesh.

Lilith awoke with a start, the dream at the forefront of her mind. She looked around her dark bedroom, flicking on the lamp. Her hoof returned sticky and wet. She brought it into sight, a green drop of changeling blood trickling off.

Lilith frantically wiped it off on the sheets, sitting upright. Corpses littered the floor of her room; one of them turned its head. "All your fault." It gasped out.

Lilith truly awoke, this time she could tell. Her sheets were bunched at the bottom of the bed and she was damp with sweat.

She rushed to the bathroom, feeling sickened by what she had just dreamed. How did he do it, how could he do it? Elric was training her for the purpose of severing life.

"I can't do this... I've taken three lives too many already." Lilith stepped into the shower and let the cold water in over her. She stood in the chilled downpour as the heat slowly bled from her form and her heartbeat began to settle.

"Elric?" She questioned mentally over their link.

"What is it Lil?" He nearly mumbled even though it was in his mind. It was obvious he was still dreaming.

"You said you had one thing to live for, has that changed?"

"No, the reason has only grown more compelling with time."

"I don't feel like fighting anymore. Can we just run away, together? We could buy that vacation home on the Galloping Isles and never have to worry about hiding anymore."

"Only if you answer one question first." Elric sounded far more alert than before.

"What?"

"Do you love me?

Lilith shut off the shower and nearly leapt out, running to Elric's door which stood ajar. He stood there, now awake, waiting on the fateful answer.

"Yes." Lilith ran to his arms, nearly tackling him in her over zealous excitement.

"Then I'm fine with whatever it is you choose." Elric pulled her close, reveling in her touch.

Lilith was quickly reminded of her current situation as a drop of water dripped from her mane onto her snout. "I'm soaked..." She half chuckled to herself.

"I don't mind."

Lilith gave a small shiver.

"All right, now I mind. Let's get you dried off." Elric retrieved a towel for Lilith and wrapped it around her.

"So you're entirely serious about this? No second thoughts?"

"I don't need vengeance... I may want it but it's not worth the cost. I'm content with what I have now, as long as you'll share it with me."

"I would follow you to the edge of eternity, and further."

Lilith finished drying herself, passing him the towel to take care of the dampness from the earlier hug.

"Thank you, we can head out tomorrow after I get one more talk in with Celestia."

"Good, it's about time we got out of here."

"Elric?"

"Yeah?"

"Now that we're both up..."

"Yes?"

Lilith playfully pushed Elric over to the bed, causing him to drop the towel.

"I think we've both waited long enough."

Elric didn't get a chance to respond as Lilith finished toppling him over the bed. He lay back, fully exposed to her wandering gaze.

Lilith's eyes drifted from his anticipating gaze down his chest. From his silently moving chest down to his stomach. As her sweeping glance passed to his hips she paused, looking upon his flaccid member. "That's going to have to be rectified." She gently brought up her hoof, tenderly stroking his supple shaft. Elric shivered in pleasure.

Lilith grabbed hold of his sack, feeling his balls slowly churning away. As Lilith gently massaged them with one hoof her other continued to stroke. Elric's leg twitched as he gave out a small moan, blood beginning to pump faster from the stimulation.

As his member began to take shape Lilith paused, propping it up to give a short lick. As her tongue lapped over the tip she could taste the drop of precut that had already formed. Elric's hips gave an involuntary thrust at the feeling, causing it to press up against her lip.

Lilith gazed over at Elric, her maw parting as she slowly engulfed his member. A look of pure bliss fell across his face as she swirled her tongue around his shaft. Elric's eyes plead for more as she pulled back.

Lilith looked over his now fully erect stalionhood, biting her lip and clenching her legs together. She could feel her arousal starting to grow as she ran her tongue from the base of Elric's shaft to the very tip. He gave a gasp and his eyes momentarily closed, Lilith taking the tip back into her maw. Lilith began to gently bob her head, taking a little more into her maw by the second.

Lilith forced away her gag reflex and planted herself firmly down, taking all of him. She proceeded to pull back in small increments before pushing her head back down, allowing him to feel every ridge in her maw slide against his colthood. Elric grasped at the sheets, preventing himself from accidentally thrusting upwards with the raw pleasure.

"Lilith, I'm going to..."

Lilith hummed lightly around him in affirmation, squeezing down on his base. Unable to hold back, Elric began to unload, his seed pulsed through his member and splashed against the back of Lilith's throat. After several bursts she pulled away, unable to swallow any more. The sticky white strands sprayed into her mouth, letting her savor the taste.

After Elric was finished unloading Lilith pulled away, collecting the steamy leftovers and swallowing them in one final gulp. She looked upon his member once again and gave the tip one final suckle, a strand of sperm stretched between her lips.

Lilith hopped up on the bed, hovering over Elric as she came down for a kiss. Elric put a hoof between them. "You missed some," he mentioned at the last strand.

"Oh well." She pushed his hoof aside and forcefully kissed him, making sure he got a taste.

Elric tumbled them over, ending up over the top of Lilith's vulnerable form, he kissed her once more before releasing her. "You're all mine." He whispered into her ear.

Elric moved slowly down, kissing her neck, her chest, his warm breath played over her nipples as he continued down. When Elric reached her nethers he paused, gently reaching forward and nuzzling her clit.

Lilith moaned out as he made contact, reaching out a hoof to rest on his head. Elric gently clamped down upon her tender nub, giving a testing pull. Lilith gasped and gave a small pleasured spasm in surprise.

"A little gentler."

Elric obliged, slowly running his tongue along her vulva. Lilith squirmed in pleasure, pressing his head down even further. His snout bumped up against Lilith's clit as he continued to stimulate her.

"I want more... I need you."

Elric gave one soft nip at her folds before pulling himself away. "Eager much?"

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize."
Elric stood above her, lining himself up with her entrance. "You're sure about this?"

Lilith nodded, “Yes... Aaahh." Lilith cried out as Elric forced himself into her depths, not giving her a single moment to accommodate for his girth.

"S- slow down Elric." Lilith didn't get a response.

Elric pulled his hips back up and slammed them down against her, Lilith was sure that she would be bruised if he continued like this.

"Aaahh!" Lilith cried out in both pain and pleasure as his member flew through her canal and prodded against her cervix.

"I want to be gentle, but I can't control it..."

Elric powerfully thrust down into Lilith's aching depths and Lilith's back arched as she felt the rough stimulation. Regardless of the pain and Elric's unrelenting pounding Lilith found herself to be enjoying it, her breathing intensifying.

His hips continued to slam down against her, his balls slapping down as he roughly hilted time and time again. Lilith winced as his blunt tip slammed into her deepest barrier, yet cried out for even more of the treatment.

"Gods, don't stop!" Lilith called as she found the breath to do so, encouraging and letting him know how much she enjoyed it.

Elric gave a strange shudder and continued his efforts, his coat taking on the black changeling sheen as his disguise began slipping away. His maw opened in a pant of pleasure as he continued, his changeling fangs taking shape. The twisted spire of his horn burst forth from his head as his wings grew from his back.

That wasn't the last of the changes either, as Elric shifted so did his member. Lilith squirmed beneath him as he thickened to unusual proportions, making her feel ready to burst.

Elric dragged his thick girth along her over stretched walls, causing Lilith to howl out as every single pleasure spot was stroked at once. The transformation had caused Elric to slow down a little but he quickly found an even faster pace as his member stretched her insides to their very limit.

Lilith placed a hoof on her abdomen, able to externally feel the motions while he pounded her passage. Lilith went rigid and her eyes rolled back as orgasm swept over her tightly stuffed form, leaving her adrift in an ocean of pleasure.

Elric continued to brutalize her entrance, slamming himself down upon her to hilt in her quaking passage. His wings flared out and his thrusts became unsteady, his own legs shaking as he tried to hold back.

Lilith's maw opened in a silent wail as his viscous seed splashed against her cervix, quickly filling the immediate space and forcing its way through the narrow pass and into her womb. The tight seal of his girth allowed none to escape as the pressurized streams jetted into her.

Her stomach lightly bulged with the copious seed as Elric gave a few more spurts before pulling away. He exhaustedly took a spot on the bed and his form shifted back to that of an earth pony once more, his eyes closed from the exertion as he drifted off.

Lilith gingerly got up, limping her way from the room as a slow leak of fluids dripped down from her. Her bruising would heal by tomorrow, the raw energy coursing through her from the exchange would make sure of that.

Hybrid: CH 11*: Farewell Always Hurts

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"Ah, Lilith. It is good to see you again. Those changelings you encountered, were they looking for you?"

"Yes, that's partly why its time to move on. I've weighed the cost of revenge and came to a conclusion you would approve."

"And what is that, young one?"

"I'm leaving the Equestian territories to live on an island in the gryphon kingdom, I won't be found there."

"Lilith, I'm glad you were able to give up revenge.There is darkness in all hearts, some more than others. I had feared you would give in... But just as there is darkness there is a potential for so much good in you as well, let the morals of your mother guide you to the proper path."

"Thank you Celestia."

"No, thank you for reminding me of my people's need."

Lilith was about to leave but thought of one final thing. "Oh. Once I leave the city tell the captain he had a changeling on his squad..." He would be more than surprised at the info.

"Lilith, I haven't known you long but I can say that I am sad to see you go. You are one of the last remaining pieces of my past... And were circumstances different I would be glad to have you stay."

"Maybe I'll come to visit in a few years, they can't keep searching forever. Goodbye Celestia."

Lilith strode out of the throne room and through the grand halls of the castle, exiting the castle gates for what should be her final time in many years.

"So what's with you being all special? Celestia just lets you stroll in and out whenever?" A voice spoke to her.

"Oh. Hey manticore, is this the only post you ever get? Don't worry about Celestia and I, you won't be seeing me around anymore."

"You see me every day at training, and not once have you asked my real name. I'm starting to think yo-" he paused. "What? Not seeing you around anymore?"

"Just what it sounds like." Lilith walked off, heading home to grab Elric and her belongings.

"And it looks like you'll never ask..." He mumbled.

Lilith chuckled from a distance, her enhanced hearing having picked up his words.

Lilith took in the sights of the grand city as she walked, it would be her last time here in a while, possibly forever.
Having dawdled for long enough she cut through an alley that was a shortcut to her home, pausing upon hearing hoof steps and a voice behind her.

"Ah, you match the description perfectly... I didn't think you would be so stupid as to keep the same form after encountering hunters."

Lilith wheeled around, seeing pegasi transform into a changeling. "These pony forms are so stuffy and dull." she spoke, stretching out her back. She looked slightly different than a regular changeling, with some sort of inexplicable glow of power around herself, her dark and sleek from drawing Lilith's gaze.

Lilith shook her head to clear the thoughts racing through her mind at the very sight of the mare. "What are you?"

"I'm a changeling my dear, I thought that was obvious." She grinned and Lilith found herself entranced by her disarming smile.

"No, not that. It's like your in my mind..." Lilith barley managed to speak, thoughts of situationally inappropriate things swirling through her head as she stared.

"Oh if I was in your mind you would feel it." As she spoke the words Lilith could feel her senses become overwhelmed as the mare entwined their minds.

The presence was all consuming, yet fluttered around her mind like a butterfly, unable to be pinned down. At the mere presence Lilith's nethers quivered.

"Why is my body doing this?" Lilith questioned as heat began radiating from her.

"You may call me Lust. I am the most recent host, that is... My master, Pride, is gathering the seven sins for his plan and the sooner you are out of the way the quicker he can concentrate on it."

"Pride?" Lilith could feel her arrousal peak, a glistening drop of fluid streaming down her leg. "Sin?"

"The seven deadly sins, my lovely. But as of Pride, you know him as Drauth. He also contains the entity Gluttony."

"But," Lilith squirmed, trying to clear her thoughts. "What does this have to do with me? I made up my mind to never return."

"Your mother was the last vessel of Wrath, but she never allowed the power to take root, scorning Pride. Ardith was still powerful though, her pure virtues kept us at bay when we tried to turn her.

You see, when the current vessel of any of the seven dies the powers are passed to another viable and usually random candidate, but if there is a child they receive the boon instead. Do you see now why we cannot allow you to roam free?"

"Wrath... But as soon as Drauth learned of me he wanted to kill me. If the sin is passed upon death then how could he know who would receive it? Wouldn't that set back his plans?"

"Ah, there is a loophole to that. If one of the bearers of the seven sins are slain by a royal then the powers pass directly to the killer. That is how Drauth obtained gluttony for himself."

"S... So, what's to stop Pride from killing you?" Lilith tried in vain to clear her mind as Lust's fluttering presence directed through, gleaning her memories while setting a thick fog of pleasure over her senses.

"Ha! He wouldn't dare, I am his drug, I am the substance he cannot live without." The smooth words tickled Lilith's consciousness, her mouth opened in a silent moan as she experienced the raw pleasure Lust could project.

"So? Lilith." Lust pulled back to the edge of her consciousness. "Would you be willing to join me?"

Lilith's mind ached for the caress of Lust, her nethers dared her to touch and finish what had been started. "I..." Lilith's mind was still clouded from the pleasure, but now Lust was forcing a sense of withdrawals upon her. "I cannot work for the minions of Drauth." She gritted her teeth as she spoke.

Lust eased back into her mind sending another blissful flood. "Then will you work with just me?"

"A... Ahh..." Lilith clamped her legs together as another wave of unspeakable pleasure rushed through her. "What do you mean?"

"Drauth needn't be host for Pride and Gluttony... We could end him, together." As Lust spoke the words a sense of bliss surged through Lilith, her body quaked as a hot gush of fluid came forth to wash down her legs.

"And... If I do?" She panted out. "What then?"

Lust sent another raw surge of pleasure through Lilith, the most intense bliss that she had ever felt before. Lilith's legs entirely gave out and she collapsed into a puddle of her own fluids.

"Then we will conquer Equestria together, for the glory of the changelings!"

Lilith opened her eyes, not realizing when she had closed them. In front of her she saw an assembled mass of gazing changeling eyes.

"Lilith, get out of here." Elric dove in from above, standing between Lilith and the assembling mass. Lilith's mind was instantly freed from Lust's grasp.

"Drauth suspected you had found the girl, Greed. Thats what gave Lilith away in the end. Her and I were just discussing why she didn't have to die today."

"Please Lilith, fly. I'll hold them off as best as I can."

"Greed? Elric? You're one of the seven and didn't tell me!"

"I didn't want you caught up in all of this... Please, get out of here before Lust enthralls you entirely."

"She has powers just like Sloth, she can show me how to use those that come with Wrath. She can help me kill Drauth!"

"No Lilith. You don't want the power, it comes at too high a pri-" Elric's words left him as Lust forced herself into his mind to silence him.

"You said Sloth? Your worth continues to increase my precious Lilith, soon all seven will be joined."

"Release Elric."

"Its a bit of harmless pleasure, but if you insist." Elric gasped out as he was released.

Elric spoke to Lilith mentally, "Close your mind, barricade it off from any connections. You can resist her for a short while this way." He quickly receded from her mind, throwing up mental barriers.

"Lilith, to become one of us is to sacrifice yourself. You would no longer be the same mare. If you actually met Sloth you would know... She killed the bearer of Envy and added it to her list of powers. That ancient mare is driven only by her primal desires, to sap the life from others in effort to be beautiful once again.

Drauth has an even worse combination… He may still be in control but he hungers endlessly and takes it by slaughter. You only have one sin, yes you might be able to control it for a time just as I do but it would eventually take control. As long as you leave it dormant you can be spared the fate."

Lust, tired of being ignored interrupted. "Elric, Drauth sent me here to kill you for daring to defy him... But it seems you don't have to die today either. You can join me, along with Lilith. Think quickly, this is a one time offer.

"I'm going to have to disappoint you, Greed has told me what will happen if all seven unify... I don't like that outcome." Elric pulled a knife and threw it at lightning speeds, aiming for her throat.

She batted it away with a quick flare of magic growling out, "Kill him."

As the literal swarm of changelings advanced Lilith took a spot next to Elric and drew a knife. "What have you done?"

"What was best..."
Elric brushed up against her side before leaping forward, running his knife across the side of one of their attackers. The changeling fell, blood oozing from the gaping wound.

"Then I'll trust you." Lilith defended herself against several other changelings as Elric pushed forward, killing any in his path to reach Lust.

Lilith lashed out, rewarded with a cry of anguish as a blade took a twisted horn clean off of one of her attackers. She dodged away as another tried to attack her from the side. Lilith tried to push forward, only to be stopped as more and more changeling piled up between her and Elric.

Elric had reached Lust and the two were locked in combat, her servants focusing their attention on Lilith. Despite her training all Lilith could do was defend herself, the number of incoming attacks too high. On a rare occasion she would find an opening, dropping another changeling from the fight.

Lilith's blood pumped rapidly, a deafening clamor of anguish and fighting drowned out. As another changeling fell Lilith could feel her hearts spike with an additional surge of adrenaline, each death by her hooves fueling her dark passions. She was beginning to enjoy this, and that fact stirred something deep inside her.

She caught a glimpse of Elric through the crowd, lying on the ground. A mental command from Lust stopped all attacks. Lilith stood there shocked as Lust looked her way, plunging a dagger into Elric's heart.

"No!"

Another mental command and the changelings resumed their assault, Lilith's training took hold and she dodged away from her attackers without even thinking.

Elric was dead? Her love, slain by a monster. One with connections to Drauth…

Pure rage shot through Lilith's veins and her powers flared up stronger than ever before, causing time to nearly stop. Lilith whirled around in a dance of death, her blade flying across limbs, throats, and any exposed flesh it could bite. It only took a manner of seconds as the stunned changelings were unable to track her motions. Some tried to flee but stood no chance as Lilith expelled her rage, ending the lives of any in sight.

Her powers came to a halt and she stumbled from the mess of thirty or so corpses, decorated by the bloody spray. The unexpected surge of time energy had drained most of her strength, but the rage kept her standing.

Lust looked surprised at the sudden death of her minions but took immediate notice of Lilith's unsteady gait as she approached. She ripped her knife from Elric's unmoving chest, smirking at the angered expression Lilith gave at the disregard of his body.

"I'm done with running, I'm done with hiding... Today you're going to die Bitch!"

Lilith rushed Lust but her mind was bombarded by the familiar presence. Lilith's anger fueled her mental defense, preventing Lust's powers from taking hold.

Lilith distorted time once again and plunged her dagger towards Lust, aiming to kill. As the blade was about to pierce her flesh Lust flinched back at an abnormal speed, pushing Lilith's limb away. "Ah, so Greed's power is speed..." Lust spoke as she let a flurry of blows fly towards Lilith.

Lilith could feel a knife point graze her cheek as she barely cleared out of the way in time.

"You make for a good opponent, so easily able to decimate the small army I brought… That rage you feel, burning so deeply, is but a taste of Wrath's power, are you so sure you want it to go to waste?"

Lilith stopped, panting. She had never beaten Elric in a fight and now she knew why, Greed's power was a speed that dwarfed her ability to slow time. There was no way Lilith could fight Lust in her worn down state if she even had half of Elric's skill.

"You could still join me, I can make you feel things he would never have been able to, if only you'd let me."

Lilith growled out at her words, her dark rage burning stronger. "You can't replace him so easily."

"Fine then… Sloth can be found without your help."

"I'm sorry Elric, Mother... But I have to do this… I need the power to avenge you." Lilith spoke, reaching deep within herself for this 'sin' as it had been called... Wrath.

In the darkest corners of her mind it resided, just waiting to be let forth. "I need you." Lilith spoke to it.

Power flooded through Lilith.

'Why are you afraid of Lust, she is weak, pitiful. I could present you her head if you so desired.'

Lilith's form split, two shadows of herself took shape ready for her command.

'Let me show her who truly holds the power here.'

Lilith commanded the two forms and they surged towards Lust, each of them attacking in tandem. The forms acted separately from Lilith but mimicked her combat style. Each shadowy blade that nipped at Lust's hide left a dark gash as she, unable to handle the onslaught was quickly brought to her knees.

'Take her pathetic life...'

The two shadowy forms pulled Lust upwards, one grabbing her mane and yanking it backwards to expose her neck.

"Please, spare me." She pleaded, immobilized by the shadowy figures and her fear.

Lilith plunged the dagger into her throat, listening to the pathetic gurgles she gave. "Mercy? If you wanted mercy you should have left Elric alone!" Lilith spat in her face as the life drained from the mare's eyes.

The two shadowy forms allowed the mare to drop to the ground, fusing themselves back into Lilith's body. But now Wrath wasn't alone in her mind... Greed and Lust were there too.

.oh, joy this one has more money..

/shut up fool, I must find my next conquest./

'I am the first, you are inferior. You will follow my command before your own desires.'

"All of you! Shut up!" Lilith commanded the voices. "I am in control, this is my vengeance, my plan!"

.Can we add a bathtub full of gold somewhere in the plan?.

/ A sultry colt or mare to conquest? /

"Maybe... I mean, No." Lilith shook her head to clear it. "Silence yourselves and let me think."

'Her mind is strong, the mother bred wisely, maybe too wisely.' The voice of Wrath spoke to the others, addressing Lilith next.

'As the superior sin I will speak for the others at the moment. Greed suggests that as the next step of the plan you take the pathetic powers of the mare Sloth, and Lust is having trouble thinking about anything other than bedding the loathsome creature. The idea is sickening.'

"Thank you Wrath."

Lilith looked up to see one changeling whom she had missed attempting to limp away, he was mildly injured but would easily heal.

/You are running a bit low on energy, I could remedy that./

It was true, Lilith's power usage in the fight had seriously drained her. "I... Guess you could." Lilith gave into the pressing demand that pushed at her mind.

/Thank you./ Lust reached out to the changeling'a mind. He paused, feeling how similar the mental touch was to his previous master. Sandra?

So that was the mare's real name before she had been entirely enslaved by Lust?

"No, it's Lilith now. It's hard to explain."

Before he could question any further Lust was bombarding him with pleasure, feeding off the emotional energy he gave in his bliss.

The changeling collapsed to his side, member throbbing and spurting everywhere. Lust continued to drain the energy from his body even after he had fallen unconscious.

"Stop!" Lilith called, seeing he was nearly at death's door.

Lust ignored her, taking every last drop of the poor creatures life. /He died in ultimate bliss, he would regret nothing./

Lilith was a little sickened by what had occurred but the power flowing through her once again was undeniable. Wait, she should be appalled... No, she was appalled.

'Lilith, someone approaches.' Wrath interrupted as she was trying to clear her head from all three influences.

She looked down the street, seeing one of the guardsponies along his patrol. He stopped in shock upon seeing the piles of corpses.

"Lilith? What happened here?" He walked over to her blood splattered form.

"What does it look like?" Lilith bitterly spoke, walking over to Elric's body, placing one last kiss on his head before hefting him over her back.

"Lilith, I'm so sorry. If my patrol started five minutes earlier-"

"What's done is done, and you would have likely died too. I... I need to lay Elric to rest."

"I see," the guard looked over at the thirty plus dead changelings. "So many... Why were they here?"

"For Elric... For me... There's much you'll never know." Lilith reached into her blood soaked saddlebag, taking out her golden band and securing it upon her foreleg. "Let Celestia know that I've left. Tell her that things have changed..."

"Y.. Yes mam."

Lilith shed a final tear for her love as Wrath's dark apparitions pushed the last of the dirt back over him. "You died in battle, trying your best to protect the thing you loved... It's how you wanted to go, but it was too soon... Farewell Elric."

"I see... You may go." Celestia sat upon the throne, deep in thought. "So much death already. Lilith... Is continuing worth it?"

Hybrid: CH 12:

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Lilith stood at the doors to the rundown cabin in the Everfree, she pushed open the door on its creaking hinges.

"Oh, a visitor? For little old m-" The mare stopped dead upon seeing Lilith, her eyes opened wide. "You returned?"

"Yes, Sloth... We have some unsettled business."

The old mare slowly retreated, humming a tune that resonated in the air.

'You must stop her. Sloth's ability saps the will and strength.'

"I know, but she also has envy, this won't be difficult." Lilith responded to Wrath.

Lilith swiftly walked to the mare, who continued to retreat while humming her lullaby.

"I'm younger, I'm prettier... I'm changeling royalty. Envy... I know you want me, at least more than the old hag."

The humming paused. "No, you will obey me!" The old crone stated, humming again, but this time the magic did not flow along with the notes.

"What have you done child? Envy has silenced Sloth."

"Sin is fickle..." Lilith plunged her dagger into the mare's chest. "But I need every advantage I can get."

: You have taken me from my comfortable host... I was content to slumber away the years in solitude... :

-You're better off here Sloth, can you not sense how nimble this new form is? She is perfection.-

. Quickly, did the old mare have any material possessions of worth? .

- Greed? It has been some time, but it seems you are still as simpleminded as ever. So you are this lovely mare's original sin? -

'No, that would be me you worthless peon.'

: Wrath? *sigh. This is going to be a long possession... :

/Don't forget about me my lovelies./

-Lust? You too? Well, this certainly is an eventful host. It's been many a millennia since so many of us have shared one form. Does she intend to collect the last two?-

'Yes, the others will soon be joining, one way or another...'

- Very eventful indeed, it seems the time has finally come to pass... Continue on my lovely host, bring all to conclusion. -

"All this talk of conclusion. The end... What do you mean."

- You will know soon enough my dear, soon enough... -

All of the voices inside of Lilith's mind urged her to forget her worries about this End, pushing it from her mind with relative ease. With so many of them gathered in one place it would only be a matter of time before they had the power to erase Lilith, regardless of how strong her mind was.

Lilith spent the night in the forsaken cabin, sleeping in the same bed as her last stay.

The strange magics woven around the house no longer effected her, even though Sloth was mentally pushing her to take a break and stay in the cabin for another decade or two.

Actually all of them were pushing thoughts around, restlessly sorting through her mind. Lilith found it hard to discern what thoughts were her own and if they had been altered of not. There was one thought they hadn't touched though, her self promise to end the life of Drauth.

Lilith yawned, her eyes closing as she drifted into convoluted dreams of memories that weren't hers. Of lives lived in debauchery, of lives lived at war, of long days past. Every sin had a history of hosts, remembering each. But despite the individual history they each shared an ancient connection. A yearning to join together as one, a need that was finally surfacing after several millennia.

"Seven" A chorus of whispers spoke in Lilith's sleeping mind.

: For the darkest shadow is forged by light. :

- A light that cast us down, cast us away. -

"Seven"

/ Sins of the dark urging to be made one. /

"Seven"

' To open wide the gates of destruction. '

. Bound together seven shall bring the End .

~

Lilith woke with a start, one of the sleepless Sins waking her. She listened intently, hearing a crash downstairs.

Lilith slipped out silently, grabbing a knife on her way to the door.

"Dammit!" Lilith heard another smash to accompany the words.

Lilith continued down, the magical illusion of the house silencing the creak of the old half-rotted steps.

"After a years worth of searching this gods forsaken slime pit this is what I get? This fool mare was rumored to have the secrets of immortality and she allowed herself to be slain? The Great and Powerful Tanner; Exalt of the Third Pillar, Vanquisher of Impunity, Heir of the Divines thrice curses her failure!

"It was one month, and perhaps she kept a record?" A mare spoke.

Whoever these two were they had no knowledge of the truth behind Sloth's apparent immortality, or the cost.

"Silence servant, Your almighty is deliberating a plan. Perhaps you shall search for research notes on the immortality process."

"That was my plan in the fir-"

"Or I could attempt to summon her angry spirit by cursing her and her ancestors."

"I don't know why I even try…" The mare sighed.

Lilith looked upon the pair, the white unicorn currently shouting must be the self proclaimed Tanner. The other poked at the remains of Sloth, which had somehow crumbled to dust and bones in just a few hours, the rate of decay astounding.

"You, yes you. You worthless pile of ash, listen up. The great and powerful Tanner is here to prove how unworthy you are.

"I really don't believe that is going to wo-" the mare began.

"Fool! You must engrave any objections upon the scales of a dragon you have personally slain before I will deign to ignore them!"

"Yes sire," the brown earth pony sighed out.

Lilith shook her head at the antics, despite the sword belt and blade that looked too heavy to lift without magic this Tanner seemed too big an oaf to be of any harm. Lilith's eyes caught on the chain wrapped around the hilt that bore an amulet. The silver and black amulet in the shape of an Alicorn bore a perfect ruby in the center that nearly made Greed drool.

"Now, you dusty bones, prepare to be smitten by my biting insults!"

Lilith, taking the mental distraction of his shouting to pull her thoughts away from Greed’s influence slipped back up the stairs, gathering her things. The two intruders were innocent, and Lilith knew it was only a mater of time before the Sins would be able to convince her otherwise.

"Why are you falling asleep standing fool?" The voice of Tanner rang out as he began to berate his subject for falling sway to the magic in the house.

: The unicorn is quite unique, he is resisting the magic bound to this place:

"Can you lift the enchantment anyways? I don't want any travelers to get stuck here

: If I must. : Sloth grumbled.

Lilith felt a surge of power leave her as the walls shimmered, giving her one last glimpse of what the cabin must have looked like freshly constricted. A cry of panic came from downstairs as one of the two was startled by the change.

The laughter of a mare rang out, "It is just a falling enchantment, no need for fear."

"Fear? The great Tanner does not fear. Ha, that was simply my magic cry of destruction. See that crumbling portion of wall? Even old spooky buildings shall fear my name!"

"I'm sure it was... sure it was." The mare spoke skeptically as Lilith flew from a rotting window, leaving the two to whatever strange adventure they were on.

Hybrid: CH 13: The Final Requiem

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My soul, corrupted by vengeance
Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey. -(Loveless, FF7)

Lilith flew into the city, all eyes on the black Pegasus in Canterlot armor as she flew straight to her destination. It was customary to drop whatever form you had taken before re-entering the hive but for Lilith that was impossible. Anyways, Drauth's spies obviously knew she was coming; it would be pointless for her to try and be discrete even if she could.

She knew exactly where she would find the bastard too...

"Ah, the refuse returns to the heap. Are you prepared for your final performance?" Drauth turned to face her as she alighted in the charred ruins of her home.

Lilith opened her maw for a hateful response but instead was interrupted as she had a sudden vision.
"Not now..." She mumbled

"Ardith, my queen." A younger and un-scarred Drauth gave a short bow before her throne.

"Rise, speak."

"I have... Discovered a power. A very ancient power."

"Oh?"

"I come bearing a gift, Pride tells me it was yours in ancient past... Wrath." Drauth slid an ornate dagger with a gem in the pommel across the floor. It skidded to a stop inches from Ardith's hooves.

Ardith looked at it and chuckled almost merrily. "I'm sorry, did you think some trinket would be enough to pull Wrath from the recesses of my mind?"

"What?! How could you know of the power yet refuse to partake?"

"I know of the evil, yes. It has been with me nearly all my life. Wrath is safe from power hungry grasps, hidden where it will never surface."

"I see, so you are as weak of a queen as I thought... Your virtues are a blight upon changeling culture."

"You will see yourself out, if you return I can not promise your safety."

"My apologies queen." Drauth locked eyes with Ardith from across the room, a venomous glow emitting from one of his glassy orbs. Ardith's expression turned quickly from one of shock to pain. "If you will not a allow Wrath free then I will have to claim it from you."

As Drauth walked forward Ardith was unable to break his gaze, a streak of blood slowly dripped its way into her gasping maw as his gaze worked upon her.

"Hush now, it will all be over soon." Drauth whispered, nearly face to face.

"I... I'm going to have to disappoint." Ardith choked out as she grabbed hold of the ornate dagger by her feet, swiping it upwards and across his eye to stop the flow of power.

"Aaaaghhh!" He cried stumbling back holding a hoof to the fresh wound. "You'll pay for that!" He took a step forward again only to have the same dagger pressed against his throat.

"I could kill you right now..." The blade was removed and Ardith threw Drauth to the floor, walking past him to leave. "Don't let me ever see your face again."

Leaving Drauth on the floor she exited, briefly sagging against the doorframe to wipe the blood from beneath her snout.

"Ha, it seems the weakness of your mother is far more prevalent in you." Drauth said as Lilith stood back on her feet, the vision having only truly lasted several seconds.

"How's the eye doing Pride?" Lilith smirked. "Feeling a little powerless without it?"

"What! How could-"

"Not so proud now?" Lilith taunted.

Drauth tensed; breathing in a few calming breaths before pretending Lilith hadn't hit a nerve.

"I decided I would give you one final chance to join me. The seven do not need to share a single host to bring about the End."

"Sorry, there's only one end I care about... Yours."

"I see... Worshipers, come forth and serve you god and master." Drauth commanded and masses of changeling eyes opened from the shadows, converging on the wreckage.

"Ah so that's what Pride has taken to in your impotence..."

Drauth gave Lilith a hostile glare. "Capture her, bind her, do anything just leave the final blow to me."

"You spineless bastard." Lilith scornfully spoke, readying her weapons.

"While Pride urges me to fight you myself I hold control."

"Aww, did I hurt his little feelings?"

"Fight her!" Drauth growled out, commanding his servants to action.

The first changeling, eager to show his devotion, dove at Lilith from her side, Lilith turned rapidly, plunging a blade into his gut and rolling back with the momentum, kicking him away.

"You know they don't stand a chance, why would you sacrifice them like this?" Lilith swung her blade at another who had drawn too close, forcing them to scuttle back.

"My servants are willing to die, for they have been promised a seat by my throne in the afterlife." Several more of his servants fell to Lilith's blades as they failed at subduing her, each dying with an expression of hope... A false hope.

"Ha, such wonderful delusions. There's no throne where you're going, but I'll take pleasure in sending you." Lilith tried to approach Drauth but several more changelings blocked her path.

Lilith sent out the apparitions of Wrath, using them to handle the enemies on both sides as she pressed forward, gutting another changeling and stepping over the body towards her destination.

"I can't help but notice you still take the form of a pegasi. Do you share sentiment for those pathetic creatures? Fear not, once I have destroyed you I will make sure they are wiped from existence." Drauth taunted her as she continued to approach.

"So many threats Pride, can you back them up?"

"You will find that I am still more than capable of doing so." Drauth cracked a grin and two dark forms separated from his body.

'Do not be alarmed, Gluttony has the ability to borrow our powers.'

Lilith whirled around, lashing out as several more changelings leapt at her. She sped her motions with Greed's power and blood flew as the changeling peons continued to approach, practically lining up for their deaths.

Suddenly mid motion her speed cut out, a changeling diving into her faster than she could react. She tumbled to the ground, kicking them away but her small error was all that he others needed. They descended upon her, pulling away her two visible knives and casting them away. Lilith struggled against them but was unable to break free as several of them held her in place.

One of the changelings stood over her and began removing pieces of armor. First her helmet was cast aside, then her bracers then the greaves. Lastly the colt ripped away her chest guard, throwing it and the several concealed daggers to the side. He looked her form over once, looking at her shapely curves.

Lilith tried to free herself another way, lightly humming the lullaby she had learned from Sloth.

Drauth quickly commanded Gluttony to borrow that power, stopping her from putting all of the nearby changelings to sleep.

"Hmm, I wonder why the five sins didn't warn you about Gluttony in advance? Did they want you to lose?" The voice of Drauth's voice drifted over. "Sin is fickle..."

"Lord, do you wish to take the final blow now, or do you desire entertainment first?"

Drauth came into view with a grin. "I appreciate the way you think captain. Yes, break her body, break her spirit, but leave the mind for me.

"My pleasure."

His hoof flew at Lilith, smashing into her ribs, she clamped her mouth shut and winced at the force behind the blow. He threw another blow, Lilith could feel one of her ribs shift under the strain as she continued to try and pull free from the other changelings holding her down.

The changeling wound up for another crushing blow, striking her yet again. Two of Lilith's ribs gave out and snapped, her maw opening in a scream as she passed her pain threshold.

The scream amplified itself on a mental level, reaching every changeling in the hive as Lilith's instincts kicked in. A queen demanding subservience.

The changeling over her grasped his head and stumbled back as Lilith pulled her limbs free. Wincing in pain Lilith grabbed a knife and thrust it into his gut, allowing him a slow death as he was forced to kneel before her.

The other changelings looked at her with a fear in their eyes as she reached into their minds and sapped the life from them with her powers. Changelings fell dead all around her as Lilith drank in their very life, only Drauth able to resist.

Drauth shook her influence from his mind, grabbing the charred blade Lilith had first seen him kill with, the same blade Ardith had blinded him with so many years ago.

"I did not anticipate such power in your blood, such strength of mind... Look at this carnage; you would have made a wonderful queen were things different. I might even feel a single tinge of remorse for killing you."

"Killing me won't be easy, not while I still have one thing left to live for..." Lilith replied, having taken the time to slip back into her chest guard to protect her ribs.

"Oh?"

"Vengeance."

"So rich, is that what has driven you this far? Vengeance against the monster who would upturn you life? Vengeance for the death of your loved ones?" Drauth began to laugh, wiping a tear from his eye. "Come child, let us see if you have the strength to add one more body to your death count for the sake of this vengeance. I'll even make you a deal, Gluttony can stop your powers at any time, but I will not steal them if you refrain from using them."

"Fine, then we do this without our sins. I didn't think they would be so worthless." Lilith growled, reluctant to give them up but wanting to get on with the killing. We will see who the superior one is."

"That is a challenge I am willing to accept."

As Lilith closed in and took the first swing at Drauth he leapt back, taking flight. Lilith launched herself after him, throwing a blade his way. It paused in the air, being stopped by a simple levitation spell.

Drauth's dagger flew at her, assisted by magic and Lilith batted it aside closing the distance while grabbing another blade. She crashed forcefully into him, her knife gashing open his leg in a quick swing. Lilith continued to press on, grabbing on to him and repeatedly stabbing a dagger into his side as they tumbled to a nearby roof.

She flared out her wings just as Drauth struck the hard slate, landing softly. One knife still in his side she pushed one from her other hoof down, intending to end the fight then and there by slitting his worthless throat.

Drauth grinned and Lilith leapt out of the way sliding across the roof as Drauth's magically propelled dagger flew past her.

"Oh Lilith, I learned from my past defeat. I have delved into magics dark enough to rival any Sin." As he spoke the cut on his leg closed itself and he pulled the dagger from his side, throwing it down by Lilith's hooves.

Lilith quickly retrieved the blade and rushed in again, slashing a green line in Drauth's chest that healed nearly as fast as it had been created. He gave a wince from the pain, but the otherwise fatal cut meant nothing in the face of his dark magic.

"Enough of this, you are unworthy to stand in my presence whelp!" Drauth exerted his magic to grab Lilith, holding her in place as he walked over. "How pathetic you are without your precious collection of Sins... And in your current form you can't even stop a simple spell."

Lilith tried to move, her strength not enough to overcome the magic as Drauth pulled her chest armor away yet again.

' Whether you die now or he, we still win.'

"Pride had wished you could put up a better fight, but its time to end our little game. So now, die knowing you have failed your pathetic little mission. Die knowing that all you have ever loved has been taken from you. Die, and remember the face of the god who shall forever torment your afterlife."

Drauth took his dagger and plunged it into Lilith's heart, holding her steady as he dropped his hold on the magic binding her. "Finally, your line is purged from the world, and all the power shall be mine. " He pulled the dagger back out, looking at the crimson blood.

"What corruption is this? You are no changeling!"

Lilith gave a pained laugh. "That's right." She spat in his face; her second heart still beating strongly even as the one he had stabbed oozed blood from the jagged gash.

In her final flash of time energy she dashed around him, flicking out the twin Daggers she held. In one quick motion Drauth's insectile wings were shorn clean off.

He stood there stunned, not having anticipated her ability to survive a knife in the heart. Another swing later his twisted horn was severed, preventing the use of magic.

Lilith shoved against Drauth, pushing him over the precipice. Drauth flailed as he fell, smashing into the street below. Lilith spread her raven black wings, she was the messenger of death, and her revenge was near complete.

She swept down upon the stunned and unmoving Drauth, landing beside him. She took her daggers once again and stabbed them into both of his kidneys, he cried out as he was forced into wakefulness and pulled from death's door by an infusion of energy from Lilith.

"You took my mother!" Lilith pulled one dagger out.

"You took the one I loved!" She plunged it into his lower spine, paralyzing him.

"Revenge is a bitch." She whispered quietly into his ear.

Drauth wheezed out a few words past the sheer agony. "End it."

"Death is too good for you but it's all I can offer." She tore both daggers from him, causing another pained cry.

"So know this, everything you love I will destroy. Everyone you care for, I will kill." She brought the two daggers to his throat, the metal already dripping with his blood.

Drauth began a pained chuckle, the daggers tickling against his jugular. "I hadn't thought to ever see this day..."

"Die in despair!" The words flew from her maw as the knives cut deeply into flesh. The light in Drauth's one functioning eye faded away to nothingness as the final gurgles left his throat.

Lilith dropped the knives as a disgusting and putrid wave of energy washed over her. She was forced to absorb it into herself, the sickly aura racing through her. Lilith stumbled away from the fresh corpse, blinded by the visions that assailed her.

Destruction and Death, far worse than any ever known would sweep over her people. And none other than herself would be the cause.

Lilith had all seven sins, and their dark minds would twist her own until she was no more than a vessel to do their bidding.

Hell would be brought upon Equestria and she would be the Devil.

Lilith stumbled back, the dark realization hitting her as her eyes shot open. In her vengeance she had become what she hated, she had sacrificed any chance at innocence.

"What have I become mother? If I take his place I only doom Equestria. I have become worse than the very evil you once fought to prevent."

Lilith sagged to the floor, a pool of her own blood swiftly forming below.

With all the power she now possessed she could easily save her own life, possibly even mend her second heart completely, but for some odd reason she didn't want to. The hatred and darkness inside of Lilith urged her live, but she was able to push it aside for now. In time though it would consume her very existence.

"My time, however short is up... I know what must be done. I cannot continue to live this way if fate decrees that I will be become the monster." Lilith felt strangely cold, the pain having left her as her very life slowly drained away. She could hear the splash as each new droplet added to the crimson puddle below her.

Lilith turned a dagger in on herself, lining if up with her beating heart.
"I'll see you soon mother." The blade plunged quickly into her flesh, ensuring her demise by ending the beatings of her second heart.

, Wrath, your host is dying, do something. ,

'The fool is still too strong for us to control. I only we had more time, our fulfillment was nearly upon us.'

-Farewell Lilith. -

Lilith's mind was emptied, one voice at a time as her possessors fled from her dying form. A great weight was lifted from her shoulders and a contented expression fell upon her face. This world had nothing more that she desired, it was time to let go.

Her vision slowly grew fuzzy and grey, her eyes drifted shut of their own accord. Death wasn't so bad; it was just one short nap away.

And so Lilith lay, a pool of crimson spreading its way along the charred floor. The blissful tide of eternity beginning to take her away.

"Oh Lilith, you strange creature..." An ethereal voice shook her spirit. "Neither the realm of heaven, hell, or anything in between has a spot for a creation such as you. At least not for twelve deaths more..."

Lilith was torn away from the voice, and thrown from the calming tides, stranded on the verge of Death's door who refused to take her.

A sharp pain bolted through Lilith's chest, pushing past her numbness. Her maimed hearts kicked back to life as a strange heat and energy surged through her. She stood once again in confusion, opening her eyes to a strange glow.

Moats of light steamed over, and even out of her. The strange heat slowly became an inferno, a cleansing fire to burn away all that she used to be. As the process continued Lilith could feel the hold on her physical body slipping away.

The energy was far from contained, the very wall she stood next to shook as she was transformed. Chunks rained down as Lilith lost touch with reality, the burning energy tearing away at even the ground beneath her.

Dr. Whooves stood in the Tardis, puzzling at the noise it was making. He looked to the console as it flashed wildly. The display screen showed the equestrian world, pinpointing an exact location.

Words scrolled across the screen. "Regeneration energies detected."

But that meant...

The Doctor bolted up to the console, flipping levers spinning dials in a frantic fashion. The Tardis lurched into action, weaving its way through time and space to his destination.

He rushed over to the doors, flinging them open to the spectacle, witnessing the final moments of transformation through the dust and debris from the crumbling building. A hope within him that he had not felt in a long time.

The girl's eyes opened for the first time, a new view of the world and of the galaxy just waiting to be absorbed. Her eyes looked up to the Tardis, the magical blue box that she had heard about in another life.

"Come with me." The Doctor spoke, standing silhouetted in the light streaming from inside.

A hand grasped on to his extended hoof, and the naked form pulled itself from the rubble, standing shakily on two feet.

The time lord DNA within her had taken hold. She was still something new, one of the universe's mysteries, but the Doctor now knew he was truly not alone.

She followed the Doctor into the large control room, taking his coat that hung upon a rail to place over her cold bare skin. The garments general shape and size assured her that the Doctor's normal form wasn't actually that of a pony either.

So maybe they weren't that different after all? This new life, this second chance could only be filled with new wonders.

~Fin

Hybrid: Child of Time

by Lord_Ike

Hybrid: CH 1: Prelude to Sorrow

Hybrid: CH 2: Honor Bound

Hybrid: CH 3: Sloth

Hybrid: CH 4*: Beginning Anew

Hybrid: CH 5*: Pegasi Psychopathy

Hybrid: CH 6: Blood Stains

Hybrid: CH 7: Unconventional Reunions

Hybrid: CH 8: Revelations

Hybrid: CH 9: Heart to Twin Hearts

Hybrid: CH 10*: Desires of the Flesh

Hybrid: CH 11*: Farewell Always Hurts

Hybrid: CH 12:

Hybrid: CH 13: The Final Requiem