//------------------------------// // Episode 2: New Endeavors of a Nightmare - Part Two // Story: All is for my Princess // by Hoppa_21 //------------------------------// I glared at the offending mares who dared to actually enter the room without her majesties permission. Jester hereby held some cat tongues out for me showing me just how far she has gone off the deep end. Definitely not a mare that can be helped anymore. And of course the rainbow mop simply continued her glaring. Before I could physically admonish both of them the Princess stepped in. And she looked a tad relieved for some reason. “Stay thy paw Fenrich. These mares art our enemies no more.” Of course it made sense, considering how she submitted to the Sun Witch. Not to mention the strange banner, as if the pink one was worried about my health. …She also still held the cats tongues in front of my face, or muzzle as the case may be. I also just noticed her rather broad and expectant grin, making me huff in annoyance. And for some reason that made the Princess sigh as she shook her head. “Fenrich, we would like thou to become more friendly with these ponies, so thou should accept their pleasantries.” I thought about it, and then after a short time saw the brilliance behind it. They are the Element Bearers, meaning getting close with them is a crucial point in crippling the Sun Witches defenses. The Princess really has an astounding eye for details! Just like to be expected! With that I bowed slightly to the pink pony before taking the chocolate with my mouth and sitting down, while simply eating it. ‘Hm… Not bad.’ “Soooooooooooooo cute!” the mare squealed in delight before bouncing back to her rainbow friend whose demeanor was still unchanged. Not that this would hinder my plans. I can simply take her down since it was obvious that she won’t be fooled that easily. The Princess nodded in approval. “Very good. Now like moderns ponies like to say that the ice hath been broken the procedure can move on!” I looked up at her. “The procedure, your highness?” “Exactly my loyal right hand. Or should it be paw now?” she asked with a grin. “No matter how eloquent your jokes are, let’s just assume that I was in my natural form,” I said before rolling my paw, “But more importantly, what is it you have planned?” Before the Princess could answer the pink one stood before me. “Aww! He doesn’t sound cute anymore!” Rainbow actually looked disappointed by that. “Damn. And here I hoped I could poke some fun at him.” It honestly didn’t surprise me this seemed to be her reason to be here. But then again, especially the weak like to use every chance they get to make themselves feel more important or stronger towards another. Reason enough I didn’t answer her. “The schedule, Princess?” I simply asked, giving her a half-lidded stare. “First would be breakfast downstairs. The young mare who saved thou is already working on it. I will tell you the rest after we have sufficiently dined.” I nodded and so we both marched past the other two mares and out the room. As we went down the stairs and into the living room the smell of eggs waned from an adjacent room. A soft humming was accompanied by this. The Princess all too eagerly stormed into what I identified as the dining area with a kitchen in the same room placed. Butterbone seemed to be working on the stove as we entered the room. “I see the preparation for the Princesses meal are going well,” I offhandedly commented, startling the shy mare. After a short time of getting back to her senses she turned around to look at us. A smile graced her lips. A smile which was replaced by a worried frown. She quickly put out the stove before leaning down to me. “A-Are you alright? Your ribs must be still hurting!” I simply waved her concern off with my paw. “I had a potion, so you don’t need to worry about me.” Much to my shock however, she shook her head vigorously as she had both of her hands placed on her hips, showing off that strange determination she beat Celestia with. “I need to take a closer look! Broken ribs are no laughing matter and you should take them seriously!” My protests quickly died in my throat as the Princess nodded. ‘I guess I could humor the mare. Especially after she was facing off against the Sun Witch like that. She might actually be a valuable asset to our forces. Other than the weak rainbow horse.’ I bowed my head towards her. It was a bit demeaning of course, since she was not the Princess, but I do whatever the Princess tells me to. I have sworn fealty to her and were meaning it after all. Butterbone quickly served the Princess her meal of scrambled eggs with toasted bread and milk. Not the most royal of meals, but the Princess was happy, so that was enough for me. After that I followed the butter mare back to her living room, where she patted her green couch. I quickly jumped up on it where she then continued to take off my bandages and examine the damage that had been done. I had to lay on my back for the examination, which was of course demeaning. In my opinion I have to deal with a bit too much demeaning acts since the past day, but only can hope to change that quickly once I satisfied that curious mare. She seemed of course rather surprised after she noticed that the damage was undone. But then again, Item World products are a rare sight to behold since not many actually have the guts to fight through it. I for one know that the Solar Guard is a bunch of foals compared to the glorious elite of the Princesses Night Guard. This applied 1000 years ago just as much as it does now. After finally being free once again I ignored the pink mare that was cooing and d’awwing as she much to my chagrin saw me as I was laying on my back like a common mutt. After that the breakfast commenced for all of us. Seemingly none of these ponies had eaten anything before coming here. Of course one prismatic mare still glared at me, but I ignored her like I did before. Weaklings don’t deserve the time of a day. Since the Princess and I were already finished I took the chance to inform myself about the other plans of the day. Something that did seem to improve her mood further. “We art invited to a great feast!” she declared joyfully, making me arc an eyebrow. The pink one elaborated further. “Yepperoni! We wanted to throw a party for both you and little Lulu yesterday but since FenFen here wasn’t in the best of conditions we decided to postpone it for him!” “Did you lass just call the great Princess Nightmare Moon by a condescending nickname?” I asked in a low dangerous voice. The Princess quickly stood up drawing my attention. “Fenrich, we art not going by that name anymore,” she started to explain, “Instead we wish to be called Luna once more. Not to mention that we doth not mind to be called that way by the pink one. It wouldn’t hurt to learn about the new customs of our land by…befriending ponies.” She seemed a bit unsure about herself. And this wasn’t the first time I noticed it since I awokened. Something must have happened to make her so. And I didn’t like to see the confident Princess fall back into such patterns. Of course for now I could only relent. “…As you wish.” I heard a snicker coming from the weakling. “Yeah. I say it’s also about time we go, FenFen.” The way she drawled out this words made me scoff mentally. It wasn’t the first time I was called that way. I still remember it. The ponies from my past. If anything this mares here are not worthy to actually use that name. But they are of course also not worthy to actually get a rise out of me. I need my full concentration to assess the current situation. And especially to find out what was wrong with the Princess. The other ponies meanwhile had finished and Fluttershy meekly agreed that they could go, at least if we both were feeling up to it. The Princess at least seemed rather eager to get a change in topic. Anything to somehow avert her attention from…me. We quickly went into the living room. I of course was walking on front. “Allow me,” I offered with a bow and then walked over to the door to open it. I still had a duty to fulfil after all. I stood on both of my hindpaws and stretched upwards to… …flail in a vain attempt to reach that accursed door knob! Too late I recognized that I was a tad too small in this accursed form to fulfill this simple task which I should have seen coming since I was only taller as a kitten by an inch or two. But I couldn’t back out now. I offered my services and the Princess was watching! How could I call myself with a good conscience her right hand if I failed such a menial task? I glared defiantly at the door knob that was threatening my position before crouching down and tensing my muscles, ready to pounce my prey. I let go and catapulted myself upwards successfully griping the knob in my paws to… …turn it without thumps. Of course things had to get complicated, but that wouldn’t stop me. I was Fenrich! And I would not get humiliated any further! So with that I set my hindpaws on the door while trying to wrench that rather resistant knob in order to finally open this door. The small claws at my hindlegs proved hereby rather useful as I could get a good grip without sliding down the door. Unfortunately I still lost my grip with my claws making me hang limply from the knob with only my two paws on the knob supporting me. I looked back at the assembled ponies, especially the rainbow-maned one was puffing out her cheeks. I simply glared fiercely at her from my hanging position, daring her to say anything. Unfortunately for me, she didn’t find my death glare as threatening in this new form. “BWAHAHAHAHA!” Much to my shame the others soon joined in on this demeaning behavior. “He’s so cute!” Butterbone squealed in delight as she swooned over my attempts to open the door. The pink asylum escapee was not any better as she was caught in between d’awwing at the scene before her and laughing. To make matters worse the Princess shot me an amused smirk. “Thou know that thou could ask for our aid in this matter, right?” I could feel a slight blush crawl through my fur out of shame and embarrassment. ‘No. I would not disappoint the Princess again!’ With that I hopped back down. The others eyed me with either amusement or comforting looks. The rainbow-maned idiot simply guffawed further in mirth. I couldn’t help but feel amusement of my own as I readied my stance. There are more than one ways to open a door after all. And since I promised the Princess an open door she would receive one. I felt my muscles concentrate for that one moment, before I let go again. My body rotated as I kicked out with one of my paws. The door didn’t stand a chance. It instantly was blasted of its weak hinges and flew straight out of the frame heavily cracked. The others, meaning all excluding the Princess, looked at my work in slack jawed awe as only a few splinters that fell to the ground reminded them about the once intact wooden door, and I couldn’t help the smug grin that followed. It seemed that even in this miniscule form my base stats alone were enough for some flimsy wood. Like expected. “The door is now open,” I simply stated with another bow. The prismatic one was the first to say something. “Seriously dude. That was a real dick move. Not to mention dangerous!” “Hmphf! You act like a pony was standing behind this door,” I said while pointing to the door that was laying quite some way from the cottage. …A door that was moving. “Ugh…” and of course groaning. I turned back to the now slightly panicky looking mares. Well, Butterbone looked panicky, the jester just smiled and hummed to herself, the Princess looked slightly unamused and the rainbow weakling seemed a tad miffed. “See? Nothing to worry about,” I replied with a casual deadpan as I took the lead of the escort, “Now let’s head out to this feast.”