Anger. Pure, unrelenting anger exploded from Pupa. With a gutteral shout, she leapt at the man, her disguise burning away. She felt her body grow taller, morphing into a more feminine shape. Her legs elongated, taking flying strides towards the man. Her hair grew longer, and her eyes changed back. Black, cold and full of murder. She pounced on him, seething with fury. "Tartarus spawn, eh," she asked in a low whisper. "If it's Tartarus spawn you want, it's Tartarus spawn you'll get."
The man screamed, wings flailing and limbs swinging to get her off. Pupa summoned her weapon of choice-a large battle axe, called a fasces. It was a large, ceremonial axe wrapped in a bundle of thick logs, with a crescent-shaped blade facing outwards. It was her go-to weapon, the ultimate cause of destruction. She reached out with her mind, and in a flash it was there. She smiled like a maniac, her eyes glinting maliciously. The man screamed louder, pleading with the changelings around him to help. But they stood, still as statues, terrified of risking Pupa's wrath. She swung the axe, coming down in the floorboards less than an inch away from his neck. He screamed even louder, his voice reaching a shrill volume usually reserved for calling dogs. The man pushed Pupa off him, then got up and ran, Pupa on his heels. She leapt, battle axe blade glinting in the candlelight. Screaming like a lunatic, she let the blade fall, the sharp metal cutting through his body like a hot knife through butter.
The man, waterfalls of blood flowing, scrambled away. He coughed up more blood, his whole body drenched in it. Pupa stalked closer, intent on murder. She heard and felt nothing but pain and the need to take revenge in the worst way possible-Killing anybody who hurt her.
Pupa was covered in blood. She could smell it, the tangy metallic smell filling her nose. She could feel it dripping through her hair, and she could see red boot prints on the floor. As she grew closer to the man, she could simply make out the horrified looks of the men around her.
'Let them be afraid,' she thought. 'I am a Tartarus spawn, after all.' She leaned over the man, inspecting his wounds. Fatal, if left untreated.
"What is your name," she asked firmly, her voice a deadly hissing noise. "I-I am called M-M-Mothball, your m-majesty."
"Well, Mothball," Pupa smiled maliciously. Her shadow casted a black, translucent sheet over him. "This is what happens to people who insult their rulers. It is punishable by death." Mothball screeched like a wounded animal, struggling to rise. He was weak, and losing blood. Pupa raised her fasces, preparing to strike the final blow that would end his life. She was considering beheading him with a clean strike to the neck, when she heard a familiar voice scream, "Somnius!"
Buzzy had cast a sleeping spell, and a strong one at that. Very strong.
Pupa felt her knees buckle, weakening under the spell's power. She dropped her weapon, and witnessed all the changeling guards fall over unconscious. Pupa fell towards the floor chest-first, gasping upon impact. Her vision tunneled, and she felt sick. Sleep, her brain told her. She tried to fight it, but she felt like she was swimming in a pool of gelatin. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was the look of pure horror on Buzzy's face.

* * *

"Pupa, Pupa can you hear me?!" Pupa saw a blinding light, and she felt like she was underwater. I'm dead, she thought. This is a vision. I'm dead, I murdered a drunk man, and my cousin killed me. "PUPA," screamed the voice of her cousin. Pupa heard what sounded like the crack of a shotgun. Her left cheek was on fire, and her vision cleared. What she saw was scarier than the whole Dusk family in a blood frenzy.
Buzzy, sitting straddle on Pupa's chest, glaring at her. And, judging by the hand raised to strike, she was about to slap her again. "Hold up," yelled Pupa. "Don't kill me! I'm up, I'm up!!" She struggled to rise, her limbs feeling numb. Buzzy got off her and offered to help her up. Then she shoved her back down to the floor.
"What the hell were you thinking," she screamed. "You almost killed somebody!!" Pupa groaned. Her back hurt from falling backwards. She flipped over onto her stomach, and forced herself to rise. "I don't know what came over me," she panted. "I didn't...I couldn't...oh God, I am so sorry Buzzy." Buzzy crossed her arms and turned away. Once Pupa was out of her sight, she dropped her arms and sighed. "Y-you scared me really bad," she said, notes of fear dripping into her voice. "You were set out to murder, Pupa. You went off-the-wall crazy."
"I know, I know," said Pupa, walking over to her and hugging her. Buzzy leaned into her, and spoke softly. "Y-your eyes," she whispered. "They were red and smoking." Pupa was immediately taken back to the fight she had with her father. His eyes, glowing red. She could almost sense the evil in him.
"There's something out there," Pupa murmured. "Something, or someone, is making people act strange." Buzzy pushed away from her cousin. "Come on," she said, motioning towards a shadowy doorway. "It's time to go."

* * *

Once she started considering her current predicament, Pupa was starting to think that getting hitched to Venom wouldn't be so bad. The two had been walking for hours in the dark caves, water dripping from the stalactites. The large, teeth-like rocks hung from the ceiling of the cave, casting eerie shadows from the light of Pupa and Buzzy's flashlights.
"Hey, Buzzy," Pupa asked, after another half-hour of silence. "When you knocked me out, did you cast a forgetting spell?" Buzzy was silent. Pupa grew suspicious and poked her cousin between the shoulder blades. "Hello," she said, "Equestria to Buzzy. Did you cast a forgetting spell?" Buzzy grunted out an answer. Pupa rolled her eyes. "I can't understand you if you keep grunting like a pig, Buzzy. Did you-"
"No I didn't," she shouted, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "I'm no good with those kinds of spells, so I left it alone!!"
Pupa groaned. "Great, now we gotta go back and cast the spell and start walking all over again."
"No, we don't," she said. "Those soldiers were so drunk they couldn't see straight. I doubt they'll remember their own names come dawn." Pupa considered this for a moment. The soldier that had almost become a martyr was pretty intoxicated when she had attacked him. All his buddies were as well. She could almost taste the alcohol in the air. Just to be sure, she mumbled a forgetting spell.
"Oblitus," she whispered, hoping the words would reach the soldier's memories before they awoke. She could only pray now that they would get out unnoticed. Then, she turned towards the shadowy tunnel ahead. Pupa could only guess how long the trek would continue on. She walked on, into the frigid darkness of the stone tunnel.