Alicorn. Chapter Thirteen. (Patreon)

Chapter Thirteen.

One wouldn't be entirely wrong in thinking that getting around Equestria might prove…difficult, for a black market biomancer and her two creations.

In terms of travel, the country had three primary modes of transportation. Four, if you were of a distinctly magical persuasion.

Road. Train. Airship. And teleportation.

Most citizens simply walked to where they needed to go, or hired out the occasional pony-drawn carriage if they were particularly well off. Pegasi of course could make the process even faster by offering flight based services, but they still generally followed designated flight corridors that the government deemed safe for daily use, most of which followed above the aforementioned roads.

Trains were also used, of course. Though more often than not they only connected between large cities and were mostly used to transport cargo, more than anything else. Teleportation was extraordinarily rare, and the cost of hiring out a mage just to move you somewhere was prohibitive for the average pony.

But airships, ah, those were lovely. Still novel and recent enough that many laws regarding them were quite lax, which meant that aside from the major airports at certain settlements, such vehicles remained firmly within the realm of individual captains, who could choose where to go and dictate their own rates.

More importantly, such vessels weren't restricted to certain flight corridors like pegasi were, seeing as they could fly significantly higher than most organic beings, thus bypassing any potential dangers entirely.

Following my metaphorical flight from the Everfree Forest, I had taken to the roads, travelling by night with Igor and moving away from the beaten path by day in order to avoid entangling ourselves with too many witnesses.

There were still some unlucky encounters, naturally. We weren't the only ones who preferred the night rather than the day. But Igor had been more than happy to dispose of those particular ponies, their dying screams lost to the winds of the countryside and swiftly replaced with the crunching of bones and tearing of flesh.

I'd even managed to harvest a functional heart from one of the corpses after my first creation had finished with it, though it had taken a firm tone in order to keep the flesh horror from trying to bite down upon the valuable organ. Still, it had been successfully incorporated into my magnum opus, and had thus brought the alicorn one step closer to completion.

That, of course, had all been a few days ago, before we had found our way to the small, isolated town of Acornwood. A quaint little settlement, not quite on par with Ponyville but certainly getting there, even if it lacked the charm of an adjacent magical forest.

But more important was that after some brief investigation, I had managed to uncover signs of Fallen Fang presence. One didn't spend so much time with such a group without learning at least some of their practices, after all. And the subtle signs of old and faded looking dead drop carvings had been enough to arouse my suspicion.

“One cider, please!”

“Coming right up, miss Top.”

Some stalking of a particularly scruffy looking cream and brown pony later, and that suspicion had been confirmed when the mare (one Foam Top) had all but led me directly to the building the local branch were apparently using as their meeting place. A small mix between a bar and cafe.

Click.

A brief confrontation, identification, and explanation later, and my new (or rather old) allies had quickly granted my creations sanctuary within their headquarters' basement, promising to contact a cult aligned airship captain who could bring me to the larger branch of the Fallen Fang, located in the lesser country of Prance.

Kssshhhh.

It was a good move. In so much as I wasn't too bothered by it, Equestria would no doubt be investigating my origins following the destruction of my lab and subsequent disappearance, which meant that getting outside of its borders was simply good sense.

Gulp.

There was just one small issue.

“Ah, that hits the spot.”

Namely in that the Fallen Fang weren't an entirely unified and cohesive entity. Each branch and splinter of the cult had their own identity and culture, with various rituals and practices in regards to life dictating how they went about things.

The Manehattan branch? Urbanite socialites with a penchant for sponsoring up and coming underground scientists. The Prench branch? Sorcery obsessed nobility that traced their various lineages to the days before Celestia and Luna had risen to power and sealed away Discord.

The Acornwood branch? A country bumpkin breeding cult that had overtaken the entire town by literally just having more babies than the competition.

The thought kept my features bland and unimpressed as the mare sitting across the table from me brazenly let her eyes rove over my (less than appropriately) uniformed body, a tinge of red sitting atop her ears as she no doubt imagined various debauched things.

It had been effort enough just to keep her and her damned inbred cousins from laying hooves on the inactive form of my magnum opus, but the price of their assistance had been ‘contributing’ to the town during my stay, namely via servitude.

More specifically, the wretches had made me a waitress in their cafe, and aside from my own defensive capabilities and the occasional reminder of Igor’s presence in the basement below us, I was fairly sure the only reason I hadn't been abducted to be used as fresh breeding stock was because the Acornwood branch knew literally all of their allies would be less than pleased about losing the mind behind their upcoming god to motherhood of all things.

Thankfully my progress wasn’t interrupted all too much by my current role. I required a larger lab, additional resources, and more refined tools to continue work on my alicorn-to-be, which meant that serving drinks and interacting with fools wasn’t too much of a waste of time.

That hadn't stopped a majority of them, including the closest one I could consider a ‘representative’ of their group, from staring at me like I was a piece of meat, though.

“You look good like that, Steady! Perhaps smile more, that constant frown really does put a damper on the mood.”

Goodness, it almost reminded me of the two ponies I had turned into Igor, how nostalgic.

A few nearby patrons, ignorant of my own thoughts, chuckled at Foam Top’s statement, even as I let my lips quirk upwards ever so slightly, the glass I had been cleaning with a rag being set aside by my magic as I leaned forward and stared directly into the earth pony’s green eyes, prompting the overly lustful mare to blush.

“You would make a fine incubator for future flesh beasts. Please consider accompanying me to Prance, I could make excellent use of your no doubt well worn womb…after I remove it from your body, anyway.”

The pony quickly found herself paling at the friendly statement, an awkward laugh escaping her as she scooted backwards in order to get some space between us, nearly falling off of the stool she was sat on in the process.

“H-Haha, wow. They really weren't kidding when they said you were bucking crazy!”

Tilting my head, I noted that the looks of perversion a few of the other establishment's clients had been shooting my way were now being replaced by wary glances, and let my smile widen, a mockery of loss injecting itself into my voice.

“Hmph, no one ever takes me up on that offer when I make it. Cowards.”

Though there was still an undercurrent of fear to her movements, I didn't mistake the blatant signs of arousal the mare apparently couldn't help but exhibit as she slowly returned to her previous position, ears pointed upright and a crimson flush overtaking her face as she looked into my eyes once more.

What a freaky thing. It was a shame her relatives would likely attack me if I tried to cut her open for inspection.

“...Still, I don't suppose I could convince you to-”

“I will not sleep with you or your family, no. Pregnancy would prove incredibly inconvenient at this time.”

“Horseapples, we've been looking to get some unicorn blood for a while now!”

Was this perhaps Harmony looking to punish me for my previous deception of Nightmare Moon? The irony of it was there, maybe, but still.

...Nah, this was just the price of keeping such vile company, most likely. Country ponies, always looking to expand their families…