The Tentacle Demon in the Pony Suit

by Parallel Black

Alien Invasion

Cuddlhu smiled as she lay her unconscious new friend on the bed. It was a slightly off smile, tilted by her confusion over why Pinkie Pie had reacted in such a strange way. “I didn’t know ponies could just… switch off,” she mused. The bed may have been a worn, old thing that had a few ferns and vines growing amongst its tatters, but she hoped it would help the pink pony sleep.

Cuddlhu walked out of the room, her false mane and tail catching on the little nicks and protruding shards of wood that lined the door frame. “What a nice pony,” she said to herself, smiling once again. With nothing else in mind to do that day, Cuddlhu sat herself in the middle of one of the pools. The nether regions of her disguise zipped open and a few tendrils coiled out to take in the water.

Just outside, three ponies made their way up the old path: an elderly unicorn, an earth-pony wearing a suit of bronze armour, and the mayor of Ponyville herself, Mayor Mare.

“Squatters I can understand,” said Mare. “What I don’t understand is why they would choose to live in such a run-down place like this, instead of just applying to have a house of their own built.”

The earth-pony, a young stallion with a brown coat and a neatly combed mane of the same colour, scanned the area as Mayor talked. His pale green eyes settled on the house itself. “I guess some people don’t know how things work in Ponyville.”

“Indeed. It’s a shame, really. We have to go through the trouble of chasing them down just so we can offer them a more permanent residence.” Mayor stopped in front of the door, looking with concern at the cracks and missing pieces of wood scattered across the old property’s façade. She raised a tan hoof and knocked on the empty door frame. “I am Mayor Mare, the mayor of Ponyville. I am willing to offer you a place to stay for the night, if you are willing to come out,” she called.

No response.

Mare frowned to herself and looked at the unicorn. “Mr. Strange, you stay here. Me and Margrave will explore the premises to see if we can find this pony. Wait here until we return.”

Strange nodded and gave her a small smile. “Yes, I’ll do that. You can thank Penny Withers for the alert, by the way.”

Mare responded with a nod before entering the building. She readjusted her glasses and squinted in the lowered lighting. “This was Mr. Greenhooves’ old home, wasn’t it? This place must have been abandoned for a good forty years if I have my maths right.”

“Given its proximity to the Everfree, I’m not surprised that it’s almost rubble now,” Margrave Creek commented.

Mare shook her head. “No. Back then, this area was one big meadow. I was a filly at the time, and I played here with my friends.” She ran a hoof across a blackened stone wall, looking sombre. “This damage was done by fire. Frankly, I’m surprised it’s still standing after all this time.”

In front of the cottage, Strange waited until the pair were out of sight before stealthily trotting his way around the outside. Once he had reached the other side, the old pony looked over the extended garden. The berry bushes, thorns and various other plants nearly stretched all the way to the edge of the Everfree itself. The trees within became gnarled and darker in shade almost immediately after one crossed the threshold, which lay just twenty or so meters from the house.

He looked back to the house and chose to enter through one of the windows. Had he not already known what he would find within, the unicorn would have cried out in shock when he saw the expression Pinkie Pie was pulling. Despite being asleep, her face had still managed to twist itself into something that made it look like she had been possessed by an evil spirit. The sight still set him off balance and he almost tumbled into the room. His face came close to touching the dust-covered floor and breaking his cover of silence.

For a moment, he stood there in that odd position, ears raised to listen for the other visitors to the house. Hearing no more movement than normal, he got up with a quiet groan and looked at Pinkie once more; She’s unconscious, but everything else seems to be normal… aside from that face… Quilliam Strange thought to himself. The voice in his mind was different to the one he had used just minutes earlier. She must have been scared out of consciousness. What in Tartarus did Cuddlhu do to her?

The pensioner, suddenly looking more spry and dexterous than normal, pricked his white ears up as he heard the voices at the front of the cottage moving further in. Without making a sound, he darted across the hallway, into the living room, and looked up.

“Are they gone yet?” asked Cuddlhu from the ceiling. She hung, suspended from the rafters by a few tentacles emerging from the suit.

Quilliam let out a sigh. “No, they’re on their way here,” he replied, his voice taking on a much younger tone. “Come down from there, Cuddle, you won’t get a chance at living life as a pony if you don’t at least get a real place to live.”

Cuddlhu twiddled her hooves awkwardly. “But why can’t I just live with you? The old ponies accepted you, didn’t they?”

Quilliam nodded. His horn glowed red and cast a net of magic over his head. The wave spread down his body, revealing ash-black chitin beneath. The changeling looked at Cuddlhu with his red eyes, and gave the frills on his head a much needed stretch. “You asked for my help, Cuddle, nothing more,” he replied in a fatherly tone.

Again, she paused. “But… w-what if they see me?”

“They’re a lot more likely to see you if you’re hanging upside down like that. You look like a pony, but you need to act like a pony as well.” He patted the ground to motion for his friend to come down, but Cuddlhu didn’t budge. Quilliam rolled his eyes and walked into the next room, out of sight. I’ll help you out, just like we planned. All you need to do is follow my instructions on what to say, his voice spoke within Cuddlhu’s mind.

Cuddlhu squinted in discomfort at the feeling. She withdrew her tendrils and instead wrapped her limbs around the old, splintered beam and allowed it to take her weight. The ponies who had come with Quilliam were calling out for her, promising not to hurt her and asking her questions.

Why are they doing that? Cuddlhu asked. They can’t see me, and they don’t even know who I am, so why are they calling to me as if they do?

The ponies here are very kind, very hospitable, Quilliam answered. Right now, they are willing to provide you with things you need, but this is only because they don’t realize what you really are. Keep yourself hidden.

Cuddlhu frowned, once again feeling like she had been denied half the answer. She hugged the beam tightly as the hoofsteps entered the room.

“I think I may have heard someone in here,” said Mare, looking around. Her eyes passed over the darkened wood and stone walls. Cuddlhu, being blue, may have blended in with the remaining ceiling and the patches of clear sky beyond, but if anything were to draw the intruders’ attention, it was the pair of red eyes, watching them from above.

They saw me!

Are you still on the ceiling??

“Hello!” Cuddlhu called and waved at her two visitors. Mare and Margrave both stared back, and found that they had no words. “I’m… holding on.”

By her scraggly, bedraggled mane, the mare looked like she’d gotten lost in a dumpster in Manehatten, and then wandered all the way to Ponyville. Possibly via an underground route of some kind.

"Are you... alright, up there?" asked Mare.

"Yes," Cuddlhu answered simply.

Say you'd like to- dammit, Cuddle!

I'm sorry, I answered without thinking again! What do I say now?

Quilliam didn't get a chance to respond, as a worrying cracking sound began to emerge from the beam. It gave way with a loud snap, coupled with a sickly tearing, and Cuddlhu fell to the ground. The pair looked up in shock to see that a portion of the squatter’s mane had torn straight off, leaving a small, gruesome patch of flesh dangling from the ceiling.

“Ah! I pulled off some of my mane!” Cuddlhu cried, covering the patch with a hoof. She saw the looks they were giving her and began to panic. “No, don’t look! This isn’t what I really look like! I have a pony mane!”

While Mare was turning green at the sight, Margrave came to Cuddlhu’s side. “Take your hoof off,” he said, his eyes wide, “I need to see the wound!” He looked back at Mare. “Give me your collar!”

“What?”

“Mayor Mare, Give me your collar!” Mare quickly realized what he intended to do, and untied her ribbon tie and removed the white collar from around her neck. Hoofing them to Margrave, the guard ripped the collar in two and wrapped the exposed flesh as best he could, using the dark-turquoise ribbon to tie the ends tightly together. Why isn’t she reacting to the injury? he wondered with a frown. She should be screaming in pain right now.

Cuddlhu looked up at the makeshift bandage with curiosity. Is this one of the things you said they’d provide me with? she asked her mental partner.

In the other room, Quilliam rubbed his face and resisted the urge to let out a groan. No, but keep it on anyway. And you’re injured right now. What do ponies do when they get injured?

They scream and die?

… I’m hoping that was a joke.

Within her hollow skull, Cuddlhu’s tentacles rearranged themselves. The movement caused her head to sway slightly, to which Margrave responded by holding his forehooves to catch her if she passed out. A quiet noise, like putty being squeezed was heard from within and a solid stream of green “blood” emerged from beneath the bandage. Cuddlhu saw her cue as it passed over her eyes and she let out a horrid scream of pain.

Margrave’s eyes went wide. Was that a delayed reaction of some kind? And is that… Changeling goo coming out of her? He wrapped his forehooves around her front as the mare began thrashing in apparent agony. “Mayor Mare, her injuries may be more severe than what we can see on the surface, we’ve got to take her to the hospital!”

“Time to go,” Quilliam whispered to himself and swiftly but silently made his way out of the nearest window. He flashed red and was once again an old stallion, ready to discover what the two had found within the abandoned cottage.

Author's Note:

Fyi if you find any random numbers in this chapter, point them out to me. The numberpad on my keyboard is right next to the arrow keys, so I may have left some 0s and 1s behind by accident...

Comments

[kamachakta]

That was incredibly amusing, hope it continues. Also, tentacle monsters of the non-rapey variety are my favorites.

[Kuumatona]

5027023 vgrhq.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/cricletrust.jpg

[Parallel Black]

5029491 The comedy shall continue. Next chapter is a little bit dull on that ides of things in my opinion, but judging how chapter 5 is going right now... I won't have to worry about a thing

5030029 I laughed out loud when I saw this. Perfect reaction there XD

[ferret]

This is the cutest tentacle horror I have ever run across. And I have run across a lot of cute tentacle horrors.

[Parallel Black]

5032678 Thanks to you, tentacle horrors are now known for their odd fascination with small, furry rodents. Now you can feel proud knowing there's an incoming scene where Fluttershy's showing Cuddlhu around the meadow, and all the Cephalopony can focus on is the beautiful - and possibly delicious, who knows - white ferret following her wherever she goes.

[ferret]

5034196

noooo how will I ever cope with this turn of events

[Malabazoo]

Gotta love the change in the mythos from evil to cuddles.

[tsaukpaetra]

A deep undercover ling? Intriguing.