An overpowering sense of vertigo suddenly crashes into you, and you almost fall to the ground even though your four legs are firmly rooted under you. And you… you…
What in Equestria just happened?!
You look around you, turning your face this and that direction as you try to understand what the hay you just felt.
Because one moment, everything was fine. But for a split second, you… you felt that…
How do you even describe it?
It felt like a wave just crashed against you.
It felt like the very ground moved under your hoofs.
It felt like the whole word was being twisted, forcibly bent into a straight line as something very large slithered through it.
But it only lasted for a moment.
In fact, for all that the sensation was almost dizzying, now that you think about it you barely noticed it was there. Or rather, you only noticed because
you had the means to notice it. You only realized it happened because a part of you, a very small part, already learned about this kind of thing.
You think that, if you didn't know about it, you wouldn't have noticed it at all. You think that if anypony else was here, they wouldn't even have realized something just happened.
But something did happen.
And more importantly…
You are no longer alone.
That sensation. That
thing. That mind-numbing,
world bending thing that just rushed through you. You can tell that it just landed, or perhaps burst out of the ground, somewhere nearby.
And just a few moments later, your eyes are immediately drawn to a small group of trees. A patch of woods that your explosive experiments have not yet accidentally damaged.
You look towards those trees. And sure enough, moments later you spot a figure walking out of it.
"Who's there?" you ask, your tone loud and clear, as you turn your entire body to face the newcomer.
You
think you know who it is. Because that thing you just felt, it wasn't magic. It was
something else. However, as the newcomer steps out of the tree line and into the moonlight, you can also tell it isn't your mother.
Which only leaves…
"Ae knew ye were a lil' freak… bu' ae had no idea 'ow right ae was."
The moonlight shines down on the old, battered cloak she is wearing. Every now and then you can see a hint of the hoofs of her forelegs, as she walks. And the long and purple braid of her mane dangles slightly in time with her hoofsteps.
But her voice alone was more than enough for you to know who that is.
Not long ago, you would have called her Velvet Axe. Going by the name your sister gave her, and that the mare never seemed to object to.
But now? Now that you know what she is? Now that your mother told you of her true nature?
Now that she is
glaring daggers at you, wearing a scowl on her face and keeping a distance from you that is clearly
cautious?
Now you are not so sure how to call her.
In fact, you are not even sure why she is here. Or rather, you have a
suspicion, but a good part of you hopes that you are very wrong.
Still, the mare glares at you. She walks in your direction, but she stops several hoofsteps away from you. And the way she glares at you makes it very clear she is not here just to talk.
You feel tense, the muscles of your legs coiling inside of you, as your body makes it very clear that…
… that this could very well turn into a fight-or-flight situation.
"Now, are ye just a freak… or are ye also a monster?"
You can feel a certain poison in her words. A mixture of revulsion, or disgust, or maybe even
hate.
To which your heart begins to hammer inside your chest. Because you remember Axe. By the stars, you remember being
fine with Axe. The memories almost flash inside your mind, as your body tenses up. But still, you distinctly recall how you suspected her at first, and how the two of you slowly found a common ground of sorts, until you trusted her enough to
ask for her help.
You were… the two of you were in
good terms, or at least as much of a good term as one can be with a mare like her.
So why…
Why does she look like she doesn't even recognize you, as she speaks to you?
"Are you threatening me?" you ask, although you can tell how dry your throat is as you say those words. In fact, part of you thinks you should just leave, and fly away as fast as you can. Because you are tired, you have no idea why this is happening, and you definitely
don't want to make this situation any worse than it already is.
You should fly away, go back home, or maybe just rush to Canterlot to try and find your mother. After all, she told you she had recently summoned the snakemare. So she
has to know what is going on, right?
However, before you can make a decision.
!!!
The air
splits, as if something has just sliced the atmosphere around you in two.
Because with a fluid and
dangerous motion, the Daughter-of-Axes reaches into her cloak, and draws out the instrument that is her namesake.
The great, double-bladed and antler-topped axe digs deep into the ground, as she rests her hoof on its hilt. And the way she glares at you is almost painful now, as
a rousing air starts to blow around her.
"Yer asking if aem' threatenin' ye? Well, tha' depends entirely on how ye answers me next few questions."
You are in danger.
This is dangerous.
You are in danger.
A rush of adrenaline courses through your body, and in an instant your exhaustion is forgotten. Your throat feels dry, and you think your hoofs are digging into the ground, but other than that your mind is clear.
No, it's not that your mind just became clear. You simply threw away all of the small concerns you were carrying in your brain. It's just that you stopped paying attention to anything that isn't related to
surviving the next few seconds.
Because you could die here.
You might die here.
You will die here, depending, according to her own words, on how you answer her questions.
And as you look at the snakemare's eyes, you feel like you are staring at a predator. A very large predator. It might not make any sense, but you feel like there is
something very long and very large all around you. As if a great slithering body was just outside your view. Surrounding you. Constricting against the very hills that are around this quiet and grassy plain.
"Firs' question," she says.
You swallow something dry.
"Hav' we ever met before?" she asks.
And for a moment you feel… confused. But only for a moment.
Partly because you don't have it in you to feel anything but
stress and tension right now.
But also because you…
"Yes?" you say, but you repeat yourself as soon as you realize how dangerous your doubtful tone is in this situation. "I mean, yes. We have met before. I know who you are."
The mare continues to glare at you for a few more moments, before doing some strange noise you can't identify.
"If ye sae so… Secon'. If ye sae we met befor', then how much do ye remember o' that time?"
Your heart is still hammering inside your chest, so much so that it is also painful.
However, a thrilled, adrenaline-rushed part of your mind thinks you understand where she is going with this. And perhaps why she is here.
"I remember everything," you say, trying to make your words as clear as possible. Because you know she won't let you speak for too long, so you must make sure she doesn't misunderstand anything you say. "I remember everything ever since I woke up as a filly. I remember it because I lived it."
You say that, and the snakemare's glare… narrows. Or at least her eyes narrow, as if she is scrutinizing something about you that you can't quite name.
You even swear you see a forked tongue sniff the air a few times, coming out of her mouth.
But just when you think she is about to back down-
-the very air around you grows heavier, and the ground under the antlers of her axe doesn't so much crack as it opens, and in that moment you understand that even though she is locked and chained and looking at you from behind the bars of a prison her fangs are still more than enough to pierce cleanly through you-
-because she may be a creature of poisons and locks and openings and paths, and her keys might not be as sharp as blades, but she is still long enough to constrict and crush the mountain that is your life-
-and most importantly, having her body destroyed here and now would mean nothing to her, while it would mean death to something like you-
"Third. If ye really remember tha' time, than ye remember we made a deal. Does. Tha'. Deal. Still. Stands?"
Your body freezes. Every muscle you have goes rigid from the sheer weight of her eyes. And that small but
attuned part of your mind realizes that, this whole time, you never had any chance to escape. You never had any chance to fly away, because this whole time she was already in the ground under your hoofs and waiting to pounce at you from the skies and behind every keyhole you have ever seen in your life.
Your body freezes. But your mind does not. And you know exactly what "deal" she is talking about.
"… yes," you say, although it takes effort to even force the word out of your lungs.
The snakemare holds your gaze for several moments longer, as if trying to wring any lies out of you with her glare.
Until-
…
-the air finally starts to grow lighter. And the sensation that you were being glared at by a snake the size of the horizon slowly fades away, until you can barely remember it was ever there.
And the wave of
relief you feel coursing through you is so strong you almost feel lightheaded.
"Good… good… jus' a lil' freak then, aye…" you think you hear her say to herself.
But you don't… dear
stars your body feels heavy… still, you don't really have it in you to answer her, or even say anything at all. You just stand there, breathing in heaves as too many parts of your body cry for oxygen at the same time.
"Aye then, ae'll take yer word fer et," she says, nodding to herself.
And before you realize it, Axe is walking towards you.
You are still so disoriented that you don't even believe it for a moment. But sure enough, after you blink two or three times, you confirm to yourself that Axe is walking
towards you, rather than away. Her great axe is nowhere to be seen, and she only has a practiced scowl on her face.
But much, much more importantly, you don't feel like you are staring down at
a monster hunter who is judging whether you are a target or not.
"Wha… what are you doing?" you ask, shaking your head as you try to regain your balance.
Still, you manage to recompose yourself only when Axe is standing right in front of you. And you look at the mare just in time to see her parsing through a keychain, that she took from somewhere inside her cloak.
"Fokken obvious, innit?" she says, her tone more annoyed than anything else.
"Yer keeping tae yer part o' the deal, so ae'm keeping tae mine."
She says that as she picks one particular key from the heavy keychain, plucking it out from the ring that was holding it and holding it between her teeth.
"I… what? No, what do you mean? What exactly are you planning to do?" you ask, even more confused by her answer.
But instead of answering you, the mare just…
Your eyes go wide in surprise as she quite literally grabs your face with her hoofs, and unceremoniously yanks your head downwards. Until your horn is practically aiming at her chest.
"Jus' shut up an' let me work'," she says, rolling her eyes as she does.
"Becos' a deal is a deal. Ye take care of yer hatchlin' sissah, and ae'll help ye with yer mind doors."
You barely have time to comprehend her words through her accent, let alone understand what she means by that.
And before you can even object to how she is still gripping your head-
KA-CLICK
-she
jams the key she is holding in her mouth straight into your forehead. Right above the base of your horn. And then she
turns it.
You feel pain, for a split second, as the sharp tip of the key digs through your skin. And then you feel a strange sense of
invasion as the key goes even deeper than that, as if it was somehow extending past your skull and all the way into your brain or your mind or your soul.
But finally, you feel as if a set of rusted gears were suddenly
twisted into their proper places, as the turn of the key does
something inside of you.
Axe lets you go right after that. And much to your surprise you… she just did
something in your mind, but you don't even feel disoriented. If anything, you just feel better.
You even rub the place on your forehead where she stabbed you with her key. But you don't see even a drop of blood on your hoof. Your coat isn't even prickled or damaged.
"Did… did you just help me…?" you ask, more than a little confused, as you once again turn your attention to the mare.
But as you look at her once more, you are faced with the back of her cloak, as she unceremoniously makes her way back to the patch of woods where she came from.
"W-wait! I… well, thank you?" you say to the retreating mare.
"Fak off!"
But she only gives you that one answer.
And after she is out of your sight, you feel the world
shift under your hoofs once again, as the weight of a great snake slithers away to another part of this world.
Leaving you alone once more.
