As Katrina crawled along, a sudden voice entered her mind.
It was always unnerving when Katrina D'Gant played around with her head. It was more so when Queen Serena popped up to enquire about her doings.
Katrina, my dear dark one, what mischief are you up to now?
Katrina jumped, leaping a good three feet in the air. Only by hastily spreding her wings and catching a slight breeze did she keep herself from falling and doing serious harm.
Answer me, Katrina, or I shall come after you myself.
"Nothing, your majesty. Absolutely nothing. I swear, I am keeping the promises." Katrina muttered, hissing the s at the end of "promises".
Speak louder, Katrina. I can't hear you. Serena coaxed.
"Nothing." Katrina said, a little bit louder, putting nothing into it.
You picked a fight again, Katrina. D'Gant tells me you are stirring mischief. We can't have that, can we? Serena asked her, amusement tinting her voice.
"N-no, my lady, we cannot." Katrina stammered meekly.
Goodbye for now, Katrina. I will be checking up on you soon. Remember your promise- if you break it, I will break my half as well.
Serena's voice vanished, and the lingering presense of her magical ability and her very goodness was gone as well. Katrina shuddered visibly, unnerved by Serena's sudden drop-in.
She began to speak to herself, wandering down the path back towards Cealano and Nightmare, in plain sight.
"She found me, and sensed D'Gant in me. She took me in, and put a holding spell over me. But I broke the bonds, yes, I broke the chains that bound me to her. Or so I thought. She found me again, and made me promise never to fight against Ponyland, and took my precious Tatanya from me, with such cruelty, and gave her to another pony to foster her, cultivating her mind until it was as good as she was. She swore to rip D'Gant's soul from mine, and make me die an anguished death of agony as I lost all my magic. . . if I fought against her. So I will not fight."
Katrina's dark voice was tinted with anger. The humble memory of having fallen on her face before the powerful queen, begging for mercy, pleading for safety, was bitter. She remembered the anguish as Tatanya had been taken from her, she remembered the plaintive cry of the little one- "'Tina, Mother!"
Tears of agony and pain rolled down her face. Just because she was mostly evil didn't mean she couldn't love- she had loved Tatanya more then her own life. She vowed yet again to take Tatanya back as her own- if she could find her under her new pony name.
She came back upon Cealano and Nightmare. Banishing the tears from her face, she looked at Cealano with question.
"Has that nasty creature Silent Menace stopped by yet? She and I have a score to settle- insolent unicorn! She must think we lack a brain." Katrina took her new-found frustration out on the memory of Silent Menace.
"Queen Serena has a spy among us. I have recieved word that someone here has been leaking information." Katrina told them, crushing Katrina D'Gant's listening ears as much as she could, blocking her connection with the world she had become part of, causing the voice to cry out in misery and pain.
It was an audiable sound- the sound a heart makes when it is torn in two, though deeply diminished. Katrina winced, her eyes filling with tears- for she had joint mind with D'Gant, and knew the thoughts in her head and the feelings in her mind.
With much reluctance, she let D'Gant find her outside connection, relief flooding into her deeply. She couldn't do that ever again.
Posted on Aug 20, 2001, 2:32 PM from IP address 206.107.181.68