I Am Not Spartacus - Spartacus Is Off Visiting My Aunt

by Dan's Comments

Based in the 'Your Human and You' universe by MadMaxtheBlack
This story is NOT canon with Your Human and You

DISCLAIMER: My Little Pony is the property of Hasbro, Inc.

Celestia looked at the paint-covered walls and despaired. She could mix the colors perfectly, but when it dried, it was never what it had been and was definitely not what it should have been. She looked at the painting in her hoof of her sister and her, from a happier time. After the defeat of Discord. Luna, dear Little Luna. So unsure, so fragile, is that what she was, Celestia wondered, Or was that just how I saw her? Did she resent me 'mothering' her even then, or was that later? What did I do wrong? What could I have done that would have made a difference? The responsibility was already crushing me. Was I being a good sister, taking all the dreary responsibilities, or was I hoarding power to make myself a martyr for her? I don't even know any more. She searched the slight pout and tried to fathom meaning across the centuries. What was her hating sitting for the picture, and what was the descent into madness?

She yanked her eyes away from the picture and looked around the room. Again, despair few would have ever thought she had descended on her. I wanted this to be perfect, she thought as she looked at the wall that once again mocked her efforts. Most powerful spell caster in Equestria, and color matching eludes me.

Desperation filled her mind. It has to be right. Why can't I get it right? She looked around at all the work still to go, and the time she had left. It will never be done. Incomplete will be worse than doing nothing at all. I could have the staff do it, like the arrogant monarch she accused me of being. I have to do this. But it has to be right!

Philomena's cough brought her around. Cadence's human stood gawking at the place. The anomaly stared in mute testament to her ineptitude and bad judgement.

As if to mock my failure with Luna ages ago, even a human can see my hideous failure here, she thought as an embarrassment suffused her. She fumbled her telekinesis, dropping the precious picture over the open cans and trays of paint. Whether she or Philomena squawked louder was a tossup. The phoenix dove for the precious picture even as Celestia dove for it.

The phoenix's talons closed and she spun in midair. Celestia tried to catch it mystically and physically, but was so uncoordinated both attempts missed.

Philomena's toss was straight and true, heading straight to Percy. Celestia found her emotions influx. She both wanted him to catch it and she didn't want him to touch it.

Despite being the best outcome she could hope for, Percy catching the painting and putting it unlooked at in the drawer next to him, Celestial felt an irrational anger, wanting to thrust him aside and recover the picture, or better hurl him from the room. Don't hurt him, he's done nothing to deserve you venting your frustrations on him, she told herself and managed to rein in her temper. Not all the way if his fearful expression was any guide. Then his expression turned to pity and her temper flared.

"Are you here to mock me as well?" she demanded.

Steady, steady, he's done nothing to warrant your anger. He just rescued your precious picture. For all you suspect, you don't know why he's here.

She lowered her head so she stared him in the eye. "Did you come to remind me how I failed?" She laughed at his confused expression. Her bitterness rose in her throat like bile as she heard the ponies outside, and knew it was being replayed all over Equestria. "Oh you don't know about the wonderful holiday everyone is celebrating," she said sweetly and smiled. She almost did laugh at the horrified expression from one who'd seen more horror at the hands of ponies than anyone in a more just universe should have to face.

Just tell him! If he is intelligent, then he'll understand, she heard some portion of herself shouting within her skull, If he can speak, he's hidden it completely for five years. He can keep your secrets.

She relented, and stared at him. Never once had his gaze jumped to the door and escape. His placid expression bored into her, seemed to infuse the madness within her with a detachment. It let her speak without giving in to the impulse to lash out at everything around her. "I started this travesty, to celebrate my sister, and all the work she did. Of course I held it at night, so that's when ponies would have to celebrate it." She steeled herself so she didn't scream the rest in fury. "Then they changed it into this, this atrocity. Could I change it back?" She lifted her hoof and stared at it. "It just twisted back and slipped away. Isn't that silly?"

She laughed bitterly, trying to hide her pain and outrage at the mockery going on around her. The failure of her small attempt to welcome her sister back. And those who would never understand what saving Equestria had cost her personally. She looked at the door, and cleared the way for him. "Aren't you going to run off and tell everyone? Aren't you?" She gestured with her head and horn towards the door. "Yes, run away. Run out among all the ponies screaming that Celestia has lost to the past. Celestia keeps talking about 'her'." Celestia raised her head and she felt like crying. "But no one even remembers who 'she' is. I did that. I'm an awful sister. Tell them all that I should have listened. I should have known." She pawed the floor and whispered. "But I didn't."

She gestured to the door, making 'shooing' motions with her horn. But Percy stood there, stared, and listened. Nothing broke his countenance, nothing changed his manner or stance, and he gave no indication he would flee from this alicorn who could feel her sanity running through her hooves like sand through an hourglass. Who felt betrayal, rage and terrible loneliness.

Throw him out of here, he doesn't belong. Who does? You're doing such an excellent job, he could roll around in the paint and do a better one, she felt the thoughts battering around the inside of her head like balls on a pool table.

She felt rage at all the know-nothings who'd suggested 'all Celestia needs is a good fuck to get her head straight'. As if they'd understand that a roll in the hay would solve everything, she thought, And how would that be right. Is he really smart enough to understand? It always disgusted me that nobles would steal each other's humans, and leave the bewildered creatures as a calling card of the endless games. He is Cadence's. I have no right to him. And if he could understand, I have no right to even ask. He might 'agree' simply to avoid punishment. After all I did to Luna, I cannot do that to even a human. I can't ignore their wants and needs.

But you can ignore your own? she heard within her mind, How does that make up for Luna?

"After Discord, and Sombra, and the Windingoes, I had nothing left for my poor sister." She couldn't stop shaking. Not her voice or her body.

Why do you share with him? He doesn't care, none of them care. None of them can understand. You pour your heart out to someone with no more idea on what you had to do than the flowers of the field. They will all be here and gone in an instant and none the wiser for having been here. They nearly destroyed themselves when they controlled everything. Your sister was destroyed when just part of the burden fell on her. You've failed to uphold what you wanted and preached. Do you think any of them care? This creature standing before you will be gone in an eye blink and do you think he could understand the slow grinding of the years?

She looked at Percy, and his damned, placid expression. A doll, a toy for others to play with, not a person, not an intellect or a will of its own. A thing to be filled with all the hopes and dreams, but all of them would leak out in an eye blink. "But you don't know. You don't care. You just came in to laugh at me. The poor, pony princess possessed by primeval passions of passed prospects." She laughed at him, then smiled.

For the briefest flicker, she saw fear. And part of her wanted more. NO! she thought just as the blow fell, He's done nothing! He came out of concern. She caught him with her magic, and lowered him to the floor, but let him slide across the polished surface. He has a will. He came here, of his own free will. Why am I so angry? Because you betray everything and everyone you touch. You are going to sacrifice Twilight who loves you like a mother, in the hopes of regaining Luna, who you sacrificed to defeat the enemies of the ponies. And you sacrificed your own integrity, allowing atrocities like those who walk the court every day. You say he's done nothing? He is everything you failed to do! You are angry because you've sacrificed all that mattered to you, for creatures who could do this to a being like him. Look at him. LOOK AT HIM! He and all his kind just want to love ponies, to be part of their community, and you sacrificed your sister for creatures who would look at him and destroy him for their own amusement. For a creature, who on receiving a little kindness was willing to die in the service of Cadence, your niece. In a thousand years, your ponies have not advanced beyond the cruelty they inflicted on his ancestors. Yet here he is, trying to help you. YOU HAVE UTTERLY FAILED EVERYONE WHO CARED ABOUT YOU TO SERVE BEINGS NOT WORTHY OF YOUR CONCERN AND WHO WILL NOT CARE IF YOU ARE GONE TOMORROW!

No, my ponies are good, they are decent, they are, they are!

Ask him, you just threw him across the room and he stands there concerned about you! Not his own safety, not his life and happiness. Your ponies enslave these creatures, beat them, abuse them, kill them, and for what? A few moments surcease from their own emptiness?

No, they are good, she thought desperately, Which ones? The ones you'll sacrifice for the survival of the rest? Cadence, who's to go first against Sombra when her nation returns? Armor, who will fight where you tell him to fight and die where you tell him to die for the good of you and 'Equestria'? Twilight, who you are already planning to throw against Nightmare Moon on the wild off chance that you've guessed right about the Element Bearers? Those are the decent, valuable ones, and who'll be the ones you'll send to their destruction for the hangers on in Canterlot? That's what you've become, that's what you are. He's everything your precious ponies should be and aren't. In a thousand years, he's thrown off what your precious ponies have done to his kind, and your precious ponies have not advanced a step!

She realized she'd walked close to him, and she'd been looking at him without ever seeing him. Now she focused on him. "You hate me for all kinds of other reasons, don't you? What ponies, what have my ponies done to you? That's all my fault too? Isn't it? Isn't it?! ISN'T IT?!"

His response was to fall to his knees and raises his hands. He stayed there with downcast face, staring at the floor.

Is this what you wanted? she asked herself, Is this what you seek? You're no better than them, terrifying the helpless. Why not strike against those who truly make you feel this way? Why not cancel the holiday, ban all mention of it for a generation or two, and resurrect it as you wish? Oh, because you should have done that 200 years ago. Because the ponies needed their continuity, because you would have had to explain why the holiday offended you. Because you would have had to own up to yet another mistake in assuming your dear ponies would actually not turn everything into a horror, save what deserves to be!

She stifled her anger and gently raised his head with her horn. It hurt that he seemed to be ready to accept his death rather than fight tooth and nail as he had been defending Cadence and Armor on their first encounter. "You think I am gentle and kind, to so many, but I couldn't save my own sister." She moved her horn aside. She whispered to him, "Do you know what I'm going to do?"

I almost want him to attack, to punish me for what I have planned, she thought, It would make me feel better that someone felt outrage at my manipulation of those closest to me. Of weighing their lives against my sister's freedom, and finding them wanting. It is I who should be judged and punished, she thought and smiled at the thought that even a beating would make any difference.

"I'm going to send a mare I love like a daughter, a mare barely out of her fillyhood, off to fight the terrible monster that consumed my sister, and do you know why? Because I failed. All I could do is lock it away." She stepped back to look at the figure staring at her.

I want him to hate me for this, for what I'm doing, but he looks sympathetic, she thought, Will no one decry me for 'the lesser of two evils' or is Celestia's word all they need?

"But the trusting foal will go to her doom, or succeed, without ever knowing why," she said, hoping he'd understand, and that it would make him angry. She moved her head within his reach, and told him, "Because if I tell her, it won't work." She raised her head, and tried to think of something, anything she could say to tell him the truth, to make him angry. "I put a mare I love like a daughter, and my own sister together on one throw of the dice. Am I not angelic?" Her voice broke as he stared at her with nothing but sympathy. She bowed her head in shame. "Am I not kind and wise as those ponies all say?"

The pain of it all welled up, nothing had ever soothed that pain. She had lived with it, but today, it was fresh and raw. "Those ponies celebrating the monster who destroyed her, not the pony they should be honoring! Don't you want to be celebrating? Mocking all her achievements and talent? Celebrating her downfall? Celebrating my greatest failure? I wouldn't blame you. I wouldn't even stop you." She stared at him, and only sympathy lay on his face. She couldn't stand it anymore. She stepped out of the direct path to the door and gestured with a wing.

But he didn't race for the door, for the world of light and laughter outside. He took a step towards the madmare, and she realized why he wasn't afraid of her, and that was her fault too. "You hate me personally too, don't you? That's why you won't run from me. After all, ponies hurt you for so long and the ponies are my charge. You don't like me. You don't like them." She gestured at the door. "You're hurting me by not having fun. You want to hurt me in vengeance."

She invaded his personal space, trying to provoke a reaction, and to let him know it would be all right, she told him, "You want to hurt me, don't you. You're the only one who has a reason to hate me as so many do." He didn't react so she went further, she kissed him. "But you don't have to use knives, or teeth. Just laugh. After all, I'm the master of all I survey. It's stupid, putting this all together myself. I have servants who wouldn't make such a hash of it. As if my working on it personally will somehow make a difference in what I did," Celestia said as she stared at him, using everything she knew about humans to evoke an attack response, "As if using the symbol of our love and trust for one another to banish her in the moon will somehow be erased by a few personally chosen wall hangings and a little sweat equity."

She felt only fury at his expression, the glassy acceptance. He isn't stupid, he has to know what I'm doing. Or is he so smart that he fears punishment if he reacts, she thought, Everyone, every pony, every human must love Celestia, because I am wonderful, or is it because he pities me. That's almost too funny. A slave beaten, nearly broken, and he pities the High Queen.

She stared at him. "So laugh. It's so ridiculous, laugh! The beloved ruler of Equestria, will be hated by her blood kin, and she thinks this will make any difference. SO LAUGH!"

She reared back as he gently reached for her, as if to comfort her. "So you pity me. Am I not worth even your hatred?" she asks, "Is pity all you feel for me?"

His hand hangs half way to her, like a pegasus waiting for orders. As if he was trying to offer solace, but wanted her to accept it rather than thrust it on her unwanted.

No, I'm equipomorphizing his actions, she thought.

"Do you want to know what I've done?" she asked, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of explaining herself to anyone, let alone a clever human. "Ponies could never understand it. You could never understand it. You've never known betrayal. The evil you've faced is uniform, the same and never changing. I ignored and turned against my sister when she needed me most!"

He kept staring at her, nothing fazed him.

Maybe I was wrong, maybe he isn't smart. Just clever. He hears the tone, he sees the action, and he just reacts to that. A huge step up, but not fully sapient, she thought. Then he stepped forward, and she scrambled back away from the door.

"I won't try and stop you," she assured him and turned her head and her horn away from him. So she wouldn't watch him slip away.

Brave Celestia, so nobly letting your captive go. What do you want? How about consistency. If you were so interested in ponies not being afraid of you, why was your sister too afraid to bring her concerns to you. Is this human more important than her? No! Never! she thought, But did you give your sister a way out, before Nightmare forced your hand? Did you let her feel all the backbreaking weight, and understand why the ponies really loved you? I protected her! You shielded her from the price so all she knew was they loved you and could care less about her. I didn't. That's exactly what you did. He isn't running away from you because you're sympathetic. He isn't running away from you because you're just pathetic. A slave looks at the weakling with pity.

Celestia shook her head, and swung her tail, as if these voices were flies she could drive away. You can't even call on your allies. You can't send your soldiers and armies, you can't even consult with your experts for fear of what they'll do to her? The arrogance. You're afraid of what they'll think about you! No. You're afraid that if they see the real you, all they'll feel is pity and fear. Pity for what you did, and fear you'll turn on them.

Leave me alone! she shouted at voice.

Isn't that what you did to Luna, and look what you had to do to her? the voice told her.

Celestia cringed, then steeled herself. "Do whatever you want!" She paused, and reeled from the feeling of emptiness as she felt all her failures come crashing in on her.

I did the best I could. I am not perfect. I did the best I could, she thought, I can only try to make it up to the ones I've wronged. Ponies will love or hate me for their own reasons no matter what I do.

She confronted the deep desolation and self-recrimination that was the voices. "I don't care any more."

She felt the feather soft touch as Percy walked along beside her.

Does he know ponies, is he making sure I don't spring on him, Celestia thought, Wise, I am mad. Grief, guilt, loneliness. All of it. Over and over until it never stops. All the 'what ifs' until you doubt everything.

She looked over her shoulder at him. He's acting like a fancier buying a human, she thought, then gave a chuckle, Let him find out what every other 'stallion' who's tried that finds out. That Celestia loves her ponies more than them, that none of them can ever satisfy me. That they'll fade away and I'll continue. After everything I've done to him, it's not like he doesn't deserve the chance. Rut with a stinking human? You want me to be punished, what better way, but he doesn't stink, so will that do? She moved her tail out of the way and lowered her head in submission. Just someone else thinking they got one over on me, when I let them, because I deserve a punishment I never get.

The blow hit like a thunderbolt as he moved her tail up and over her croup. No! It can't be! she thought and shivered at what she'd felt in that brief instant. Love, sympathy, tenderness, not to Powerful, Terrible, Princess Celestia Solar, but to a woman, he was fond of. What kind of sick joke is this?

He seated himself on her croup. She turned to stare in confusion and watched him lay down on her back. She tried not to tremble as he reached for her withers. No, it's a trick, it's a trick, it's a trick! You don't deserve it, you've done nothing for him why would he care?! she thought as tears welled up and she looked away.

She felt her wings flutter as he worked, and her hooves raising and lowering as his hands worked on the knots, the tautness and as that tension unwound, she felt as if the memories she'd hidden away were released as well. As if the very tightness and anxiety were their prison. Playing in the fields as fillies. Luna lecturing her on the shapes that you could draw on star fields. Their successes and failures in alchemy and chemistry, especially both of them being the same shade of icky green for a month. Staying at Luna's bedside when she was sick and reading her 'boring' books on science. And Luna at her bedside, reading the romances and adventure stories she clearly hated to her bedridden sister. The voices were gone. Drown by a tide of good memories. Of all they'd done together. The only thread they managed was to remind her how good they were together, when they shared everything, and how the fall had begun when Celestia had 'protected' Luna from that.

If touching her tail had been a thunderbolt, him combing his fingers through her mane was the sun exploding. She could no longer deny it. He knew what he was doing, he was intentionally letting her feel what he felt towards her, and he loved her. As a friend, but it was there. No fear, no brown nosing, he saw someone he cared about in pain, and he was 'riding to the rescue'. He loved her, and he wanted her to know it. "P-Percy, don't, don't do that," she warned.

My sister loved me, and I picked my ponies over her. Twilight loves me, and I'm sending her into danger unimaginable. Cadence and Armor love me, and I will use them against Sombra. If you love me, I can't protect you anymore, the irony of it made her bow her head in shame. He ran his hands through her mane, and she tried, how she tried to push him away. Instead she felt her body reacting of it's own volition. And far more honestly. The terrible blush was only the first part of many. Her mane and tail were the worst, as if they had a mind of their own, and were reacting to a lover pleasuring them.

Celestia was beyond distractions and concerns. His hands brought relief from tension she didn't even know she had. His combing through her mane told her over and over that he cared, that he enjoyed the touch of her mane and tail stroking his bare skin. And as he worked, as if freed from captivity, happy memories of Luna, of Twilight, of so many others she thought she had forgotten in the decades and centuries that separate them. She softly called out the names of old friends, companions long lost, and even adversaries of honor and high character.

Her dark side rallied, as best it could. He loves you, does he know the fate of those who love you? The images of those, who like her stood for Equestria, but who had died in the service, tramped across her mind.

But against that, as if his hands freed them at her call, came the faces of those, those few she came upon, alive but beyond even her ability to help. They still loved Equestria, and what we should be, she thought.

They loved YOU, not your precious ideals, your precious little country, she shouted over the tide of memories, against the warm, soft comfort of so many friends over the years.

Of course they loved 'me', Celestia told her darker impulses, It is easier to love a symbol, a person, than an ideal. In battle, only generals fight for freedom, geographic integrity, and granny's apple pie. The soldier fights for the one beside her on the line, or the officer a few steps back. They couldn't love Equestria, so they loved me instead. Silence was her reply.

She felt free and loved for the first time in so long. A warrior who feared nothing, also loved her as a person, not her crown, and released delightful memory after wonderful reminisce, all the while exciting her body. She gently raised her wings and neck as far as they would go, and let out a soft nicker. Her breathing continued deep and strong, like her mightiest flight. She felt his excitement through her mane, and felt his erection pressing against her.

Thank you! For feeling me worthy, she thought as she bowed her head and wings that on paths of her despair, they had sent someone who truly loved her.

As embarrassing as it was, her body began reacting as if a stallion was mounting her. Her breathing grew quick as she felt her wings stiffening. Worse, she enjoyed feeling subordinate, and reveled in it, wanting more.

"Tighter, your legs, tighter," she gasped, and her mane and tail pressed on his legs in case he didn't understand the words. She gasped as he tightened, constricting her, reveling at the feeling of a stallion 'controlling' her, but also feeling his sympathy and simpatico with her. It felt wonder to just be a mare, not princess, not Celestia Solar, and not a self-repudiated godhead. Then he started rubbing her shoulders. She suddenly felt like he'd removed her skeleton. I know he's doing it, because he looked, and now he's rubbing harder, she thought and grinned at the idea.

He eased the constriction around her barrel, and let her sit gracefully, rather than collapse as her knees gave out. I remember, she thought as she remembered foalhood scuffles with Luna, friendly romps with friends like Percy who would let her put the crown away. Even a few stallions she could trust to get close. And that country mare who knew how to use her tongue for 'tasting' alicorns.

The first would have been embarrassing if she hadn't been buoyed up by her memories. A lowly guard, who was the first to find her after defeating Luna. In public, he seemed her harshest critic, but in private. She fluttered her wings as she remembered his touch, the slow, careful way he had of making her feel wonderful. He truly had spoiled for any stallion who'd come after.

He'd been what she needed to remind her of all the ponies who needed her, and all those who supported her. She felt herself gasping, the memories so vibrant, so real, amid Percy stroking her, running her flesh, feeling as they did made the memories so real, she could almost be reliving them.

She continued to surf through her reminiscences. The dark tide could only manage that what she was feeling wasn't real, only some, weirdly trained human was permitting it.

And who went to the effort to train him, she thought back through the fog of afterglow and continuing orgasms, And why on this of all nights did he come here to me? Who? Again, the darkness had only silence as an answer.

She felt Percy, not a human, as she is for a moment not an alicorn. She wanted him to feel the rapturous joy he has been helping her feel. He suddenly felt shock and embarrassment, over what was the single funniest thing she's encountered in generations.

I don't care if my back and tail are covered in a sticky mess, he earned the right, she thought as she looked over at the exhausted human lying on her back. Thank you, my friend, for bringing me back. For showing me the real mistake I made with Luna. She didn't need my strength. Of all the things I had, she desperately needed one thing. My weakness. She needed someone to need her, I did, but failed to tell her. I shall not make that mistake again. She bowed to him. Thank you my teacher. You have done me, and my sister a greater service than you know. She smiled at him again. I wonder how scandalized the elites of Canterlot would be if I gave him the Order of The Horn and nominated him for the Zeemangee Peace and Harmony Prize. That would be fun, possibly for him too.

Ramp it down, Tia. You're scaring him, she told herself, A hot bath will be just the thing for both of us. Maybe I can show him I'm not completely clueless about what humans like.

She walked to the bathroom, although Percy kept trying to 'escape'.

She let him loose in the bathroom. She watched closely. Watch him like you'd watch a pony, she told herself, See him that way, that's the way to see how intelligent he is. Not the mannerisms, not the silence, go a level beyond that. He isn't looking FOR something, he's looking AT everything. He seems to have completed his survey.

"Percy," she said and watched his reaction, "I can run the tub."

It's not the tub he's interested in, she thought. Then he pulled one of the long hoses from the shower, Well that proves he's no pony. He actually plans to clean up his mess. She snickered at that, as he wetted her mane and tail. She added a dollop of the floweriest, most froofroo shampoo to her tail and used that to soap him down. Darn, he isn't easily offended or embarrassed, she chuckled at that.

Then he upped the ante, continuing the massage along her back. Getting her all lathered up in more ways than one. She moaned as he worked. Her own work with her mane and tail reminding her how he enjoyed the contact, and the contest.

Do I dare?! Try it? Is it fair? she asked herself. She half-expected her darker impulses to scream their denunciations. Great, now that I want a cautionary voice, you're silent.

"Percy," she began, then frowned, "I guess I can ask you to trust me later."

He touched her cheek, rubbing softly. She leaned into the soft pressure. "I guess that's a yes." The spell was one of Luna's experiments, but afer the first 'recipient' attacked them in utter terror, then threw himself from the parapets, they agreed to stop testing.

The spell worked, the human it worked on couldn't handle it, I'm sure Percy can.

"It's all right, we developed," Celestia said, bracing to prevent suicide or self-mutilation, "By the Horn, I don't think I've got the same problem." She nervously took a step back from the lust-addled alicorn stallion. She felt her own heart beating acting faster. And then she felt herself 'winking'.

Why'd I have to make him so wonderfully luscious?! she thought as she felt her hips sway just from looking at him. Okay, we're both, gorgeous, sexy adults. Get control of yourself or you'll start squealing like a school filly. She nearly face hoofed as she realized, By the Horn, Hoof, and Wing, I've fallen in love with a human. I should have known Cadence would do something like this. I have got to quit underestimating that mare.

I could explain, and make the spell permanent. No, that's not fair to him, I've really got to get control of my hormones, then I can tail, TALK to him without being . . . oh you are yummy and big aren't, distracted. But can I make'em, or can't I? She snorted and thought she saw steam coming out of her nose.

"Ah, it's what we thought about," Celestia explained, driving out the thoughts of him 'punishing' her for her presumption, "And you can talk. If, ah, you're uncomfortable, I can change you back. It's temporary anyway. And you don't have to be so gentle."

Oh good grief, I'm completely losing it, she thought and sighed, What was the story where the sculptor fell in love with her own statue?

He pouted. "Percy just bowl for ponies' pleasure."

Celestia felt completely crushed. How could I, is he smiling? She sprayed him with the hose. And he shook the water all over the place. "NO!" she shouted, then frowned. The frown died a terrible death a moment later.

"WO-man!" he called, exactly as most ponies would expect.

Celestia found herself instinctively backing up. I wanted to be dominated, not ripped asunder, she thought as he snorted, and trotted over, chuckling at her distress.

She shoved her butt in the corner and made placating motions. "Now, Percy," she said. Her fear at his insane expression warring with her fear of his 'enthusiasm' which was visible, quite as large as she hoped/feared and primed for action. The fact her back end was very much in favor of swapping ends and weathering the storm didn't help.

Fear gave way to determination. As he advanced with a wanton expression, she braced herself to cast a spell to stun him. Why don't you just change him back? came to her unbidden. Idiot, she thought.

Then his horn touched hers rubbing softly. " 'And you don't have to be so gentle'," he repeated what she'd told him. He grinned as he sat down, never breaking contact between their horns, so she could feel what he felt. The urge to stand up and turn around was almost overwhelming.

"The Great White want Percy in the pit, all." He roared, and snarled and bared his teeth in every threat display she remembered in nature, all the while gently rubbing his horn against hers.

She facehooved as she realized, He's been playing a role his entire life. It's not hard to guess he'd play a role here, but one thought intruded, How did he know what role to play?

He must have seen her confusion, because he continued explaining, "Percy can do. When Percy fights, and ponies make lots of noise, Percy gets more food, warm, sleeping cloth, extra bath, Percy can do here too."

All Celestia could feel was horror. She looked at him smiling softly at her and brushing away her tears. He isn't angry about it, he's just - accepting, she thought as he tenderly comforted her, That's almost worse. Why can he manage no outrage, why can't he be angry about what has happened, why can't he want vengeance on those who did this? He's killed those in the pit, he could do the same here, to the nobles who've supported this.

"Percy, why?"

"Percy want to live." His shrug felt like a stab in her heart. "Ponies make noise, Percy gets matches that Percy can live with. Percy learn what makes ponies noisy, and give it to them."

The fire in her loins had become ice, and she felt like a clod of lead had taken refuge in her stomach. She desperately tried to understand how he could have every reason for fury, yet there was none. "You mean, they applaud?"

No, you know darn well what he means, she thought, Quit trying to sugar coat it. Take your medicine like a good foal and the pain will only last for a little while.

He made a sound she guessed was laughter. It was a braying, mocking sound that spoke of enjoying the suffering of others, not laughter at something funny. "Sometimes get some ponies make one noise, other ponies making another. If they all loud, Percy gets food, sleeping cloth, baths." He stroked her cheek with a wingtip and smiled wistfully. "Even pretty woman to keep."

Celestia felt ill. You wanted to know, do you still? she asked herself, What now? Leave him an alicorn, breed him back into the population, treat him exactly like he's always been treated, as a thing, but because you are doing it, for his good and the good of his people that somehow makes it better? You want to share the burdens with Luna, this is one, and even you are recoiling from what is obviously the right thing: drag him before the court, give him special status and guards to prevent his mistreatment, and let him live his life as he chooses. But you don't have the stomach for that, do you? You have to fix this. You can't trust him to live his own life because you understand better.

"The Great White wants Percy of the pit." He nuzzled her, shocking her more, because she could feel his desire to see her happy. He was happy to be someone he wasn't, just to make her happy. "I not hurt her, but you want scared."

She didn't see a monster standing up, despite the convincing performance. She saw a sage, who looked at the dark aspects of ponies, and weathered it by catering to it. "Why me?" she asked.

He dropped the monster, but the sage still remained. "Pink and the Great White first ponies who are always nice. No whip, just hard look when bad. Understand sad, hard look is Percy bad, not need whip. Not have to keep happy to stay alive, but want to make happy."

She nearly did cry when he said that. "What about Shining Armor, he's been kind to you?" She regretted the question the instant it was out of her mouth.

No, I don't want to know. Yes you do. He's just a human, if he's a threat to your Captain of the Guard, you get to prove you're as pony as anyone else. No. I wouldn't do that, she mentally argued, Put a human's life above a pony's? Above a pony the nation needs? Please, you cannot lie to yourself.

"Pink's mate," she added to prompt his response. His expression was dismissive, and she could relax slightly.

"Oh, he not hurt Percy, but he kill my mate and child."

He knows!? Celestia thought, He knows and he's done nothing?! I've got to warn Shining Armor . . . wait, he knew, and still defended 'Armor' and 'Pink' against me. Does he really not care? Is that why Cadence's power doesn't work? He's dead to love? He can feel fondness, a desire to bring joy to others, but he feels nothing? I know humans can feel love, but . . . after all we've done, he cannot anymore? We did this? This can't be.

"You aren't angry about it?" she asked, afraid of any answer she might get. What she gets was worse than her greatest fear.

He shrugged. "Ponies kill humans always."

She shied back from the mild tone and matter-of-fact expression, as if he were discussing tomorrow's weather after the weather team made its report. The simple acceptance of atrocious treatment stood against everything she stood for and believed. "Is that connotation, or denotation?" she asked.

Don't ask your next question, unless you want to hear the answer, came the warning, I thought you wanted to punish me, here it is. He would clearly service me, even die for me, all I have to do is ask. And what have the ponies I sacrificed my own sister to protect done to him and thousands like him? You tormented me with dark images and thoughts, and before me is one who's seen and dealt with worse, with none of the hope I have. Are you now afraid that he will cut my soul deeper than you ever could? He has withstood worse that what summoned Nightmare Moon, he survived worse than what Sombra had planned for all ponies, would even Discord face him undaunted? No wonder you are afraid. But I am not. I can only offer him one thing, and I embrace the chance, but first I will hear his answers.

"You don't rage against the murderer of your mate and child, because it was a pony, and that's what ponies are?" Celestia asked and braced herself for the answer. She felt the dark collection of doubts and recriminations flee back to the darkest corners of her mind in dread.

He simply nodded. She steeled herself and gathered him in. Wrapping him up in her grip. Then I will protect you, she thought, I can never make up for it, but I can promise it will never happen again.

Celestia gasped at the richness of his thoughts and emotions as their manes entwined. And through it all, a tenderness for those who had treated him well. Strangely, there was a deep powerful vein of what in a pony would be a theatricality. A love of the role, of delighting those he regarded as worthy. His feelings for her were undiluted, and genuine. It took her breath away. The effect made her woozy.

"Percy, can you come back tomorrow night?" she gasped, finding her body again responding to the very male presence caressing and comforting her, "And help 'the Great White' with the decorating?"

He nodded, then cocked his head and told her, "Change paint. Too much blue."

"But she loves blue," she said in confusion.

He touched her mane and pointed to sections. "Blue, blue, blue, but not all one blue." He gestured at the walls. "All one blue. All blue, but not all one blue."

She grinned, but bowed her head in chagrin. "You're right, and thank you. I appreciate your help." She canceled the spell and returned him to human form. She saw how tired he was.

The transformation, and all the excitement can't have been easy on him. She lifted him onto her back, and squirmed slightly at all the little signals a male pressing his weight down on her sent to instincts. LATER, she practically shouted at them.

When they reached the door to the corridor, he tried to slide off, so she wouldn't be seen acting as a beast of burden for a human. Enough of that, she thought, and held him in place, It's Nightmare Night, I can tell them it's a costume.

She looked at the small party that was winding down in Cadence's apartment. She smiled to Cadence and Armor, Armor's parents, and several of their friends. "Cadence, Shining Armor, Twilight Velvet, Night Light, I want to put Percy to bed, and then I have a rather macabre subject to discuss." It was clear they had a huge number of questions to ask, but they decided to wait.

Cadence accompanied her to see Percy safely to bed. "How can you keep your hooves off him?" Celestia teased her niece, "He's so adorable."

Cadence considered, then explained, "Shining Armor is almost as cute."

Both princesses chuckled. Cadence waggled her eyebrows at Celestia, who blushed furiously, but shook her head 'no'. Cadence's jaw dropped. Celestia gestured for her to follow.

She looked at the family, and the guards, and decided to just dive in. "I used a spell so I could communicate with him."

"Communicate with a human?" Twilight Velvet said, "That can't have been very interesting."

"It was far more interesting than you might think, and very insightful," Celestia said, she looked at Shining Armor. "You researched the raid on his first owners, the one where you began to petition changing the way humans from the fighting pits were handled."

"Yes, the dosage was wrong," Armor said, "They suffered terribly."

"One of the ones who died badly, was Percy's mate, and she lost their child while she was dying."

Shining backed up, his ears pinned back.

"The frightening thing is, he knows, and doesn't hold it against you," Celestia said.

"What?" Cadence gasped.

"He knows that Shining Armor killed his mate and child, and he holds no animosity towards him for that," Celestia said flatly.

Twilight Velvet and Night Light looked horrified.

"Like I said, interesting," Celestia said.

"But that's not possible," Cadence said, "He fought to protect us, he nearly died protecting Shining Armor." She looked around. "Why would he do that?"

"I think you can figure that out," Celestia said, "You just hate the answer as much as I do."

"This is the 'Crimson Death'?" Night Light asked, "Maybe, he should be transferred to the Guard."

"He's the guard commander's bodyguard," Cadence said. "I am not going to toss him into the barracks, or a holding pen after he's proved he is safe to us."

"Until he snaps," Night Light said, "Don't look at me that way. It's happened."

"I would think he's past that point," Cadence said, she glanced at Celestia. When Celestia nodded, Cadence finished, "After the ringleaders announced they'd tossed those kids off the side of Canterlot, Percy comforted Armor. Then in the dead of the night, someone slipped past the guard and snuck in here. The only one left between us and the interloper was Percy."

"He attacked a powerful spellcaster with nothing but a few rolls of toilet paper and fire poker. Even badly injured, he wouldn't let the assassin past," Celestia said, "Then when Cadence neutralized the intruder, Percy turned and attacked a second assassin who had come in through the window."

"I knew about the window," Night Light said, "Why was no one informed about the spellcaster?"

"Because one doesn't tell a colonel of the Royal Guard's Search and Seizure branch that a lone human fought off Celestia Solar to defend his son from her. There were enough misinterpretations and shying from shadows that night. Besides, once it was clear I was 'inside', Percy helped insure that I would not be vulnerable a second time."

The poor colonel looked stunned.

"I won't have him put down for a mistake on both sides," Cadence said. She looked at Celestia. "What did he say about why he hasn't done anything to Shining? If he knew, why didn't he do something?"

Celestia pursed her lips. "He said 'Ponies kill humans always'," Celestia said, and looked at the colonel, "It seems you have at least one person here who wouldn't have a problem with putting a human down at even the hint of trouble. Even expects it as normal."

"That's terrible," Cadence said and glanced back to Percy's room.

"It certainly doesn't speak well of us," Velvet said.

"He should be closely watched," Night Light said.

"I agree," Cadence said, then looked around, "He is very protective. That could get him in trouble."

"I think I'll change your guards' tasking," Armor said, "I don't think you need close in defense, just someone to keep the gap open."

Cadence frowned but nodded.

Twilight Velvet sighed. "So, did you talk about anything pleasant?"
------------------------------

Prince Blueblood approached the door and checked himself over carefully before knocking. The rumors about the human Cadence had picked up had reached his ears and he'd wanted an excuse to get a look at him. There were too many anomalies about the Crimson Death that had only one simple answer: preternatural intelligence.

Most ponies will miss it, he thought, But the results from the Institute, combined with the reports from the Warmasters give the best chance of him being an atavism. I have to be sure. Parasol answered the knock. The sour look was replaced by a professional smile, but he didn't care. Some things were more important.

"Oh, hello your Highness," Parasol said and turned to warn the others, "Princess Cadence, it's Prince Blueblood."

"Oh, hello Cadence," he said brightly, but the nauseating scent of cooked meat caught him off guard, "And Shining." He steadied himself and noted the steak with mushrooms and Swiss cheese that Percy seemed adamantly determined to enjoy, even if the universe brought the castle down around his ears. "Ah, you took my advice. I find that a special treat works wonders. Have to balance the carrot and the stick."

He had to stare for a moment as to cover the sudden spike of hope. The universe couldn't have delivered a more perfect specimen into my reach if I'd asked, he thought, not bothering to hide his expression.

"By Celestia's mane, is he actually using a knife and fork?" Blueblood asked, "And a napkin?! How did you ever manage that?"

Please, some clever lie, tell me you don't know either, tell me this gift from the past has you as mystified, he thought as he looked at Cadence.

"By withholding the stick," Cadence said brightly, "But I do thank you for suggesting such a wonderful carrot."

Bless you. There's still time, and a haven when I fall, he thought and gave her a genuine smile, I have plans for you both my friends. Such magnificent plans.

"Yes, of course," Blueblood said, "Well, court should be a much happier place today. Ta."

He turned and left before he betrayed anything, and before he could have a little spell. They came more frequently, and worse when he got excited. And he was positively effervescent now.

"Ta," Cadence and Armor said together.

And their smiles vanish the instant the door is closed, he thought but proceeded towards his own apartment. The young adult nuzzled him as she walked. More proof of his 'perversion'.

"Yes, Buttercup, he's everything you told me. You did well," he said, "It can work. It has to."
------------------------------

Cadence watched Percy admire the clothes. She knew she shouldn't feel like squealing with delight. But it still feels like having successfully found a gift for the hard to shop for, she thought as she stifled the impulse to dance in place. The entire kit, including the saddlebags had her cutie-mark. I want people to know, he's mine and don't mess with him. That's what Celestia's for, she thought and giggled at that.

"You missed Nightmare Night so this should make up for it," she told him as they left the apartment.

The guards, and especially the maids all smiled on seeing him. The poorly kept secret that her Highness' cheerier attitude was due to this human and the time he spent with her made him very popular. She could hardly keep from laughing at his completely confused expression at the little gifts and occasional kisses he was getting. He would fish out whatever had been added to the saddlebags, and offer it to her. Usually it was cookies, or a piece of fruit. She grinned and gestured for him to keep it.

Oh no, she thought on spotting the approach of the Minotaur ambassador. The huge creature seemed overjoyed that Celestia had become 'more reasonable' almost overnight, and was determined to express his joy. Her voice caught in her throat as he closed in on Percy. The minotaur picked the human off the ground in a huge, all-enveloping hug, and then kissed Percy on each cheek. She only relaxed when the ambassador set Percy down, and the human just stared at the minotaur.

Only when the ambassador approached her did Percy react. The hiss he gave brought the ambassador up short. The huge creature looked at the much smaller one who exuded an aura of extreme menace.

"At least he warned me," the ambassador said as he took Cadence's upraised hoof and kissed it. "Very sporting. Keep an eye on him, his shadow moves when you don't watch it." He straightened up and walked away laughing.

"Percy, that was an ambassador," Cadence said, "You aren't allowed to kill and eat them, no matter how tasty they are."

He gave her the most petulant look.

"It's a rule," she said and continued trotting along.

I wonder what the minotaur's spies will report to him. He'll probably think it's funny, Cadence thought.

Percy was putting on the sandals that he'd been gifted with, when he offered her something that froze her heart in her chest. She found herself suffused with rage, not at Percy, but what he was so innocently and nonchalantly offered her. And whoever had given it to him.

"Who gave you that?" she asked, then turned to her guards, "Who gave him that?" She pointed at the avocado, her foreleg shaking with rage. The guards and even Percy shied back from her tone.

Then she heard the disturbance, and saw a pony barging through the crowd. Cadence charged after the assassin. "Stop that pony!" she shouted, and watched Percy outpace them and charge ahead.

At an intersection, a squad of guards and several larger servants blocked the assassin's retreat. She and her guards closed the trap. The pegasus assassin flared her wings and held up a small vial. The guards hustled her back out of range.

"Who are you? Percy never hurt you!" Cadence shouted at the pegasus as she struggled to get free of the guards' grip.

"But your boyfriend did," the pegasus replied.

Cadence felt her anger go from white-hot to ice. As everything seemed to go into slow motion and crystal clarity. Percy dove over the cordon, straight at the pegasus as the vial descended. He slammed into her before the vial broke on the stone floor, and had her and himself clear of the cloud before its magic could function.

She saw the brief look of animalistic rage on Percy's face. He does feel anger, she thought back to the discussions with Armor's parents and Celestia. Then it vanished and she saw what presumably Night Light feared. The cold machine that ponies had crafted.

Percy smashed the pegasus' head against the marble, leaving her dazed. In the periphery, the guards who'd caught part of the cloud were coughing and choking. Her eyes were on Percy. She knew this was taking place in mere seconds, but for some reason to her it was slow and measured. He popped first one wing, then the other out of joint. The pain woke the pegasus and made her eyes go wide. But Percy clamped her mouth shut with one hand, like a spider over her muzzle. With his other, he gripped her hoof and made one motion that made the pegasus' limb twist in ways it wasn't meant to. Without releasing her muzzle, he did the same to her other foreleg.

He released her muzzle to let her scream in agony, as he stepped behind her, and grabbed her rear hooves and twisted them out and shoved down. He seemed almost satisfied as he stepped away.

Cadence froze, as time seemed to resume its normal speed, and Percy approached her. She was too frightened to shy away or scream as he touched her. Looking this way and that. He's checking me for injuries, she realized and relaxed, After all that, he is worried about me. She ignored the pegasus flopping like a landed fish. She consciously ignored the wails of agony from the crippled pony. She focused all she was on Percy, and hugged him in mid-check and refused to let him go.

Armor arrived with a phalanx of guards. Blueblood approached her and Percy with a medical kit. She shook her head, and watched Blueblood cringe a bit at the shrieking pegasus.

"I'm all right," she told Shining as he approached, "She gave Percy an avocado, he obviously thought it was an attack on me. So he made sure she couldn't escape."

What's Blueblood so mad about? she vaguely wondered, then Percy offered her a handful of cookies. Cadence felt as if her heart would break. She was trying to kill you, is our happiness more important than your life? What have we done to you to make you think that? What have be done for you that you keep believing that? she thought and wanted to crawl to him and beg forgiveness.
------------------------------

Solar Chaser winced as the doctors popped her joints back together again. It reduced the screaming agony that monster had inflicted on her back down to a general, dull ache. "Damned thing could have killed me."

Then the Captain of the Guard and the damned thing itself walked in. She ignored the spreading wet spot on the bed and shouted, "Keep that thing away from me! I have rights, you can't leave me alone with that!" she squealed.

The Captain grinned, and patted the human's shoulder. "Oh, Percy won't hurt you. He understands you were trying to kill him, not Princess Cadence. He's actually here to apologize and make you feel better."

The captain nodded, and so did the monster.

"But ya know," the captain said. He was just talking to hear himself talk. "It's a scientific fact that a pony can only handle so much pleasure. The ponies who owned Percy used to let him wander around the cages. Like the jewelers who keep spiders in their display cases at night. Every so often, we'd find a corpse they'd dumped, with the creepiest grin on her. Well, sometimes it was a stallion, but usually it was mares."

She didn't hear the rest, as she focused not on the kilt, but that the human was rubbing his thumbs against his fingers. He looked like a nice human, docile and attentive. But they say he took the starch out of the pole that Celestia's had up her ass for months, she thought as felt alternating desire, and horror, What'll he do to a regular mare, wait, the Captain said he killed them?

"Just really, really happy, and really, really dead."

No, he can't do that, they wouldn't, she thought and looked around for an escape, but her eyes kept coming back to the human. If she hadn't already, she felt she'd pee herself if he approached. Worse than a Timberwolf, worse than a bear or a manticore. There was no emotion when he'd tried to tear her to pieces. Her little movements aggravated the small aches into real pain. She clenched her legs together and ignored the pain.

"You have to have heard the rumors, about Princess Celestia being, tense, over the last few weeks. Well, she isn't tense anymore. I've never seen her happier," the Captain continued, "But she's an immortal, some say a goddess, with fantastic reserves of strength, endurance and magic. I can absolutely guarantee, you'll enjoy every moment of it. It'll be wonderful."

She saw the human lick his lips and she realized, He's looking forward to it! Not just his fingers! His tongue, maybe even his teeth. No, I don't want to die, not that, not spread out like a buffet for a human!

"You know, there's nasty jokes that Princess Cadence got Percy to, well, because I wasn't enough. Truth is, she needed someone to keep her hoofmaiden and four guards all satisfied, she's so thoughtful."

She stared in horror at the Captain. "Five," she squeaked, "All at once?" Despite the wet spot, she tried to crawl deeper into the bed.

The Captain thought for a moment, while the human stared at her. "No, usually it's three, then two, but they rotate." He raised his hoof to his chin. "No, you're right sometimes it is all five. A couple of times it was all seven, I still haven't figured that one out."

SEVEN! At the SAME TIME? she tried not to imagine, Can he use all that on one mare? At the same time?

"Now, now, you'll hurt his feelings," the Captain scolded.

Images of Neighponese mares, and octopi and squid having 'relations' flew into and through her mind. Dark stories about monster humans kept by the big bosses, humans so large they tear up a mare inside, and who'd get so excited about the wounded, screeching mare, they would cum until they burst her vitals. This one might be big enough, is that why they make him wear a skirt? To keep from frightening the ponies?

She focused on the Captain. "I'm just going to leave you alone, he's real good at taking direction, so if there's anything you really wanted done to you. I'm sure he can do it. Be back in a little while." He waved as he left the room.

Solar tried to burrow into the bed. She tried not to stare at the human. Staring at them invited attack. Despite that, he walked towards her. Go away! Don't hurt me! Ever ache screamed in agony now. The thought of him dragging her from the bed to force himself on her until she died made her whimper. Will I even be able to fight back, will I want to? she thought, He said they died smiling. Once he starts, will I want him to stop? Please don't touch me! Images of him on top of her, what could satisfy Celestia herself driving into her over and over again. Until I died! she remembered as he leaned over her. They died smiling! They died smiling! By the Wing, what can I do? Will I want to do anything?! She stared up into that placid face, and saw the smile. He isn't a human, he's a sex demon from Tartarus! she thought before she voided her bowels and lost consciousness.