You did it to yourself

The Liar

The purple ‘pony’ coughed.

It was a heaving process, without directive purpose but merely instinctive wet coughing. An already congealed mess of fouled blood sprayed from its lips against the marble floor as the pony continued coughing, bracing itself with its front legs. The scarred lavender limbs shook slightly against the weight of the ‘pony’

It wasn’t really much of a pony, but then it wasn’t much of anything else either. It certainly had the features of a pony, but it was twice the height of the average pony and large red growths sprouted perilously from its skull in a backwards sweep. Barely visible between the greasy locks of deep purple mane cast nearly grey with time, the scalp and coat around the growths was torn and agitated, and the telltale signs of an aging infection were present.

The red, forked growths weighed heavily on it’s neck as the ‘pony’ gave one last gurgling heave unto the polished floor. The 'pony' gave the gelled fluid an irritated glance before bringing it's head up.

Dozens of ponies beheld the ‘pony’ with shocked horror from the large crowd in front of her. Not a living soul made a sound as the ‘pony’ giggled. It was the very same sort of horror one would display if a ravenous beast were to suddenly smash through a nearby window. Fitting.

The ‘pony’ grinned.

The final fleeting motes of light left over from long range teleportation finally dispersed into the tense air as the ‘pony’ took a step forward. The resulting click echoed through the nigh-silent room, only interrupted by the occasional nervous shuffling and fluttering wingbeat.

She took another step, and then another. Soon, she had worked up a decent rhythm, slowly stalking forwards. Her hips and shoulders swayed lasciviously with a bitter confidence, a slow vigour could only achieve if they had nothing to lose, yet nothing to gain.

A perfect closed system.

She carelessly bobbed her head from side to side, humming a happy little tune that’d been lost with time as she lapped the thickening ichor from her upwardly twisted lips. Not quite a grin, but not much of anything else. A few braver stallions in the crowd began to step forward to block her path, but she brushed them aside with a challenging glare and a dark grin. The largest colt cowed under her gaze, eyes locked to the rough stone floor.

Giving a particularly familiar looking audience member a mocking nod, the pony finally looked towards the target. The target looked back at it from upon her throne. A tired old alabaster alicorn, withered from stress and age. She grinned yet wider still, eyes sparkling as they widened. Pure white teeth shimmered with a sharpened radiance betwixt her lips.

What remained of the Royal Guard core made a motion to surround her as she cleared the crowd in front of the throne's dais steps. A predatory grin broke their drive, and a slight feint to the side broke their formation, one of the younger members stumbling to dodge out of the way.  

That ‘pony’s target sighed, hanging it’s head while waving away the armored entourage with a frail wing. Some feathers came lose, dissolving to ash as they brushed the floor where they landed.

The ‘pony’ cleared its throat, “...greetings, dear regent of the ‘Eternal’ Sun,” it rasped quietly, bowing so lowly it’s single natural horn scraped harshly against the pristine floor while the growths swayed impetuously with the skull. As it rose again, the target looked even more sullen, giving the ‘pony’ prompt to smirk viciously.

“What~, nothing to say this time?” It crooned, slowly sashaying its way up to the first step with its tail swishing from side to side, teasing the terrified guards. The Princess didn't respond, nor did she make eye-contact. Perhaps she couldn’t, instead merely hiding herself behind her once lustrous mane and forcing her eyes shut. The long pink strands were caked with filth and dust.

The ‘pony’ slammed its hoof into the first marble step, crushing it in a webbed pattern. The thunderous response of stone drew a weak flinch from the target. The red growths crackled with a fine red haze, seemingly twitching in the poor light.

“At least have the decency to look me in the eye, Sun-butt,” the ‘pony’ growled as it pushed its way up to the next step. The fragments of stone slid off its hoof onto the stone steps, crushed under the next hoof to replace it.

Reluctantly, the Princess was left to drag her dulled eyes to meet the abomination’s own. There wasn’t any need for this, that much was sure to both the monster and the liar. The Princess had lost in an age long since past, but that didn’t mean the ‘pony’ couldn’t have a little fun with it... again.

It lept up to the next step as the one it’d broken crumbled away under the weight, chunks of dusted stone rolling down the dais to the hooves of the armored remnants. They gave the obligatory token effort to look intimidating from their place near the bottom of the dais, but ventured no further. The ‘pony’ cast them a sidelong glance and flicked its tail with a grin before turning back to the target.  A few weak gags flittered through the air behind it.  

It was only a short few steps away, but decided it would leave those for later. The anticipation would make it well worth it, of that the ‘pony’ was certain.

“I don’t suppose you have anything to say for yourself, do you Princess?” The ‘pony’ murmured gently, leaning closer. The target narrowed its eyes, but remained silent. The ‘pony’ scoffed and stalked ever closer, stopping when it was nearly against the Princess. The intimate proximity caused the target’s breathing to stiffen slightly, giving rise to another giggle from the ‘pony’.

“Come on, just a retort or insult, or something. I know you have plenty of the latter just for me,” she whispered into the target’s ear, just barely audible. The ear flicked against the cold breath.  

The Princess ground her teeth in an uncharacteristic show of restraint, refusing to respond more than was necessary. The ‘pony’ clicked its tongue and took a step back with a small smirk, rolling its overly bright eyes when the Princess looked away.

“You’re not sorry, are you? Because that’d be downright absurd.” She mocked as she began to circle the throne. When she reached the back of the glorified chair, she leaned around it to place its head beside the target’s other ear.

“Because you’re never sorry. You are always right, because you. Are. Perfect,” the words were coated with a familiar honey, saccharine as they were sarcastic. The forked growths hissed with the ‘pony’ against the fouling air.

That almost got a rise, the ‘pony’ could see. The target’s ears twitched slightly down, following the grouping of surface muscles which indicated an unconscious reaction. The abomination was the only one who could have noticed it, even from this angle. It was the only one familiar enough.

“I think you are, actually,” it chortled as it pulled away and continued the slow circle around the throne, making a show of looking for something on the dilapidated dark stone walls.

The Princess’ mouth began to open, but clicked firmly shut when the ‘pony’ perked one ear up to listen. Snorting in disgust, it stopped at the side of the throne to face the still silent crowd with a suddenly bored glare.

“Shall I come back later~," the ‘pony’ sang dramatically while propping herself up against the armrest and rubbing suggestively against the target’s shoulder with its own. "-perhaps in a decade or so, when your supplies begin to really dwindle? I know you can’t keep running forever, little white rabbit-” she mocked, baring its teeth in a macabre reconstruction of a grin at a terrified looking pegasus that was backing away.

Her wings flared in the instinctual ‘panicked’ stance, twitching erratically when her rear left hoof collided with an empty can that skittered away into the darkness. The Princess remained silent as the stone of the walls and floor, just as cracked and weathered, but still strong enough to bear the weight of the dying world.

“The problem is the turtle never wanted to race in the first place.” The ‘pony’ mumbled in vague rhyme, just loud enough to be sure the target could hear. No need to devillainize herself in full view of the audience, that'd break the illusion. Couldn’t have that.

This was too much fun.

The Princess was silent for a moment before mumbling something under her waning breath.

The ‘pony’ swiveled both ears towards the target. “What was that? You’re going to have to speak up!” she called obnoxiously, a clear invitation to make sure everypony present heard what the target said.

“...did it to yourself...” the Princess finally mumbled a little louder with an obvious strain in it’s tone as it turned to look at the ‘pony’, who stared back evenly. A few silent beats passed, then it began to walk down the steps of the dais, natural horn charging with a dull burgundy. The target cleared its throat to call for attention.

The ‘pony’ ignored it, focusing for a moment. The red growths began to seep a sick shade of dull red. As her hoof touched the shattered step, plasma arced between the symmetrical growths.

“You did it to yourself, Twilight.”

With a final thundercrack and a flashy shower of sparks, the ‘pony’ was gone. A low wail echoed through the hall, the scratching of thousands of disfigured limbs against stone raising in volume as an advancing maelstrom.

The wailing increased in pitch and volume as the seconds passed, and the group of surviving ponies huddled together while the remainder of the guard took positions near the entrance.

The violent clash of magic and claw was ambiance to the silence.

The Princess’ head bowed.