"Daddy, the monster under my bed wants a blanket."
Well, that was a new one. As Brass Ring put down the book he'd been reading, the earth pony looked over at his foster daughter, and asked, "Oh? So now you're doing what the big, mean monster is telling you?" She'd been going on for a couple of weeks about this monster, and how scary it was. She'd taken to insisting that he leave the door open, and the hall light on, else the monster might jump out and eat her, or something.
It had been worrying. After the divorce, the young crystal pony had been having nothing but problems, this monster being the latest. Her grades at school had dropped noticeably, and he'd often peek in on her, only to see that she'd clearly just been crying. When his wife had left, making it clear she was never coming back, and that she didn't really care about him or the crystal pony that the two of them had adopted, it had hurt both of them deeply. You spend seven years with somepony, and you think you know them, only to find out they'd only hung around long enough that they could get half your money. He was still financially secure (he'd made a huge amount of money in the stock market, enough that, even with half gone, he was still in the league of Fancy Pants out in Canterlot), but their home in Manehattan just wasn't the same. His father had always told him that it was better to be poor and happy, than rich and miserable. At the time, he hadn't believed him, but now, well, he'd trade his house and all his money just to hear his daughter laugh again.
His lovely daughter, Honey Darling, giggled(!), then said, "Oh no, daddy, that one's the old monster. A new monster came in today, and got fed up with him really quick. She hit him with my teddy bear, yelled at him for being a big bully, then told him that if he didn't scram, asap, she'd hit him with my fluffy bunny toy, too. He's packing up his things right now. She just wants a blanket because it's cold down on the floor."
Brass tried very hard to keep from laughing, but that was, quite honestly, the silliest thing he had ever heard. What an imagination she had. "Well, Honey, you know where the blankets are. And you might want to take her a pillow too. A monster like that sounds like a keeper. Best to stay on her good side."
Honey Darling nodded solemnly, then asked, "Oh, and she wanted a book, too. Preferably the kind without pictures."
Brass chuckled, then hoofed over the one he'd just been reading. It was a novel from one of his favorite authors, Page Turner, and he'd just read the last chapter when his daughter had walked in. "I just finished it. Feel free. I will want it back later, though."
Honey took the book reverently, as though she were handling some sort of sacred relic, nodded, and then took off.
What an active imagination she had. But hey, if it helped her sleep better at night, he didn't mind if she started inventing new monsters to scare away the old ones...
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"Okay, Miss Bird, I got you a blanket."
The monster under her bed smiled and took the blanket gratefully, then said, "Thank you, Honey. And I told you, you can just call me Lady." The tyke had accidentally discovered the changeling this morning, but rather than shouting for help, she'd taken one look at the changeling shivering in the alley, lost and with nowhere to go, and offered her a place to stay... provided she evicted the monster currently residing in their home.
That had been a cakewalk. Seriously, a bogeymane? She'd been dealing with those since she was five. The queen had put her in charge of taking care of the ones that tried to frighten the hatchlings after she'd caught one, tied it up, and dragged it out into the sun. They hated that. Even the scariest horror becomes powerless in the light of day. After doing that a few times, word had gotten around, and the creatures had decided it would be easier to find fear to eat elsewhere. Apparently, her name still had bite, even this far from the southern kingdoms, because once the beastie had found out he was dealing with THE Ladybird, he'd decided he'd high-tail it back to the southern kingdoms, hoping to put a hemisphere between him and her. He just needed a bit of time to gather his things, and he'd be gone.
Honey handed over the pillow, and then the book. Smiling cheerfully, she said, "Daddy also said you could have a pillow. And he had a book you could read, too. He will want it back, though."
Looking at the cover, Ladybird smiled and said, "Ah, Page Turner. Your daddy has good taste. I was hoping to get a peek at her latest." After a moment, she frowned, then asked, "Ah, if you don't mind my asking... um... where's your mom?"
Honey looked a little sad, then admitted, "She wasn't my real mommy, and she's not here anymore. Not-Mommy left a year ago. She said that she never really liked daddy, or wanted to adopt a filly, she'd just played along so she could take daddy's money..."
Geez. What a terrible thing to do to a kid. Especially an orphan. Placing a hoof on top of the youngster's head, she said, "I'm sorry I brought that up. Look, sometimes a pony just doesn't know a good thing when they see it. I mean, a nice warm house, a guy as nice as your daddy, and a sweet kid like you? If I had that, I'd never turn my back on any of it, no matter how much money I was offered. If she's not smart enough to know something that simple, then you're better off without her. Besides, you still have a daddy who loves you, right?" Honey nodded, smiling. "Then that's more than enough for anypony."
After a moment, Honey Darling wiped at her eyes, smiled, nodded, then hugged Ladybird fiercely. "Thank you," she said. Lady could swear she felt tears trickling down her shoulder. More surprising, however, was the stream of love the little filly suddenly poured into her. While small in volume, it was... potent. More so than any love she had ever felt before. It was like suddenly having been given an expresso, when before all you'd ever had was weak tea. She felt like she could run a marathon... while juggling a trio of elephants. She'd have to keep herself on the lowest possible burn, or she'd start vibrating in place from the power she now felt...
"Anytime, kiddo. Now, you need to get ready for bed. I'll make sure... Uh oh." Looking over Honey's head, she saw the tyke's father, staring, open-mouthed, at the scene. "Um, hi."
Brass Ring, after a moment, said, "Hi. Ummm, are you the one under the bed?"
Ladybird nodded mutely. Brass Ring turned towards the closet, opened the door, and stared for a moment at the creature inside. In many respects, it looked like a pony, just one with a chalk white body, no fur, mane or tail, and a complete absence of a face. Two tentacles, seemingly made of darkness, wriggled from the creature's back, and stuffed things into a suitcase. The fact that he was wearing a well-tailored suit with a bright red necktie did nothing to mitigate how utterly alien and terrifying the creature seemed...
Ladybird called out, over the earth pony's head, "Hey, Skinny, you got your stuff together yet?"
A voice, or at least, Brass Ring thought it was a voice, sounded in his head, saying, "I just finished packing up my neckties. I'll be out of here in a moment. And it's Slender, thank you very much."
"Yeah?" Ladybird asked, her expression clearly angry, "Well, it'll be Teddybear if I ever see you anywhere near this kid again. You follow?"
The abomination shuddered visibly, and the voice said, "Yes, yes, you've made that clear. I've already got a new mark in mind, a long ways off..." With that, the monstrosity slapped a fedora atop his head, and marched out, seeming to be quite angry. Brass could almost swear he heard the thing mutter, "...Can't believe anypony would do that to a sweet little filly like her. I might be a fear eating horror, but even I have limits! Oh, when I get my tendrils on that..." After the door to their home opened and slammed shut, the feed abruptly cut off. Geez, Brass would be having nightmares about that for weeks, he was certain...
Turning back to the changeling, Brass said, after a moment's thought, "Look, miss..."
"It's Ladybird," the changeling said, "You can just call me Ladybird."
Brass cleared his throat, then said, "Well, Ladybird, I don't know what kind of deal you struck with my daughter, and..."
Looking down at Honey, who was still hugging the changeling tightly, he decided that right now, he wasn't going to make any snap decisions. "...Quite honestly, I really don't care. We can talk in the morning about this. It's too late in the evening, and there's too much going on for me to process right now. We'll discuss this over breakfast. Deal?"
Lady smiled, then said, nodding, "Deal."
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A week later, in Van Hoover, Sugar Withers, ex-wife to Brass Ring, and ex-mother to Honey Darling, was found curled up in a ball in her penthouse apartment, whimpering slightly, her normally bright purple coat and mane bone white. After an extended hospital stay, and a rather impressive number of medications, she was returned home, having been assured that the thing she had seen wasn't real. They were wrong. She insisted, from then on, that the lights in her home be kept on at all times, and had mysteriously developed an intense fear of individuals in well-tailored suits, as well as anypony wearing a necktie. She also refused to step into her walk-in closet, and in fact had it chained shut. Not that it helped in any way. He kept coming back to terrify her every night. She'd spend the rest of her long, unhappy life, trying, and failing, to have a good night's sleep. And all the money in the world is worth less than nothing if you're too miserable to enjoy it...
Slender Mane, on the other hoof, was settling in just fine in his spacious new closet. He had to admit, moving up to adults had been the right decision: after all, it was rare to come across an adult with a teddy bear, or with any of the other traditional defenses against bogeymanes. As long as everypony around her kept believing he wasn't real, he could take as much fear as he wanted, whenever he wanted. It was all anybogey could want out of life.
And as for Honey Darling, Brass Ring, and Ladybird? Well... that's a story for another day.