Convocation by Need

by Etherdrone

Clearing Matters

"I'm not leavin'."

"...*Sigh*. And why not?"

"That's not the question here! The question is still why should I? I'm staying here because it's the obvious thing for me to do!"

"No it isn't! Don't you understand you're causing trouble to your mother!?"

"That is true, sweetie. You're causing everyone a lot of trouble, you know?"

"Yeah, I'm causing troble for staying in my house, ma? Give me a break! You're not the dictator of the truth! None of you are! You're just a pawn of the system!"

Yes, I am a pawn of the system for delivering a message.

"Look, I've gone through this before with you. You need to leave. You can't make your house whenever you feel like it! The humans are going to discover your secret sooner or later!"

"If they find the secret, that is a negligence from the Convocation! Their system is fundamentally flawed, brought to light by the actions of those that do nothing to stop people from finding the truth!"

What are you even talking about...!? That didn't make any sense!

"Uh... W-What do you mean?"

"It's all in plain sight for you to see! The Convocation doesn't want to take good measures to prevent humans from finding us, so they oppress us and force us to live according to their ways and laws! It's all a part of their controlative agenda, so they can have us all under their thumbs and do as they please!"

That line of thinking is so fundamentally flawed I don't know where to start.

...First of all, controlative isn't a real word, I think you meant manipulative. Second, the Convocation of the Lost isn't all-mighty and all-powerful. How can they control the humans so they never notice you? If you mess up, it was your fault, not the Convocation's! They are doing the best they can, and even that isn't good enough most of the time! Why would the Convocation try to control a group it has no real control over? Why would it want to control this group, exactly? What for? Do you want me to continue!?

Urgh...! How in Celestia's name did this get pushed onto me?

Sunset Shimmer felt like her temples would pop from her head like corks from a bottle thanks to her migraine. Not a badly justified one, maybe an overreacted one, but a migraine was what it was, and its sources still existed, stemming from frustration and the complete disbelief from the situation she found herself in.

She was now standing right next to a relatively slow-paced street. Very few cars, not a lot of pedestrians, but with a lot of possibility for both, in the right time of the day. The time was 13:37, the sky was relatively unclouded and her patience was running thin. It wasn't very often that the Convocation of the Lost would throw requests at her during daytime - actually, it didn't happen very often even at nighttime, that was a condition Sunset designed with their leader, Nimue - but they still happened. Not a single week would go by without some matter needing to be looked into.

Still, this had to be the most awkward case she was placed to deal with. She wasn't very used to giving friendly advice to her own friends yet, what gives her trying to give advice to a family? A family of Slimes, no less?

Slimes. Yes, those corporeally fragile creatures that can take the shape of any creature they wish, albeit with extreme limitations in doing so. Without proper practice, most Slimes just adjust to living in their base form, hiding from sight in the City-Vault of the Convocation, colloquially known amongst them as "The Town". And even as they assumed other shapes, they still cannot move at most speeds or they would crumble their disguise, collapsing back to their slimy appearance.

Which immediately made the Equestrian feel slightly shocked when she received a message from the Convocation, telling her that she was needed in order to deal with a case regarding Slimes that live outside of The Town. Supposedly, they had received "orders" to leave their current home because it was compromising their position, as it was due to being discovered by Humans, considering its location. A family of two: the mother, Key, and her 16 years old son, Lock, were asked to leave, and so it was supposed to be. The Convocation even received a report claiming that they had obeyed...

It was not the case. The mother, Key, had returned to the Convocation with an apology, claiming that she had submitted a wrong report by accident. Turns out she had left their house, but she then realized her son had stayed...

...Two days after she had left.

"In any case, you have no rights to take me off my home! This is a violation of my citizen rights! I have all the support of the people to protest!" the voice of the teenage slime came out, defiant and steadfast. He was truly not in the mood of leaving.

"That is true, dolly. We do have the rights to fight for our homes." Key slowly shook her head, agreeing. Sunset slowly rubbed her own eyes, them feeling much heavier than the usual.

"But you're compromising everything by staying! Didn't the Convocation warn you about the problems you can cause if you stay?"

"A man's house is his castle! You have no rights to tell me what kind of problems my castle can cause others!"

"...You live in a street drain," she retorted. She felt like she was speaking to the sewers. Turns out she was.

"IT'S MY DRAIN, HOWEVER! There are MANY like this, but this one's MINE!"

"What about your mother? Isn't this hers, too?" Sunset appealed, but Key simply shook her head, dismissively.

"I left two days ago, dolly. I don't live there anymore."

THAT'S HARDLY THE POINT!!!

Now I know why Quay shove this job onto me. I'll make sure I say thank you personally.

Sunset Shimmer took a deep breath as she looked down to her feet. Therein lied the Street Drain, lair of Stubborn Mule Mcgee and his mother, Attention Spanned. He woudn't leave even if she appealed to him. ...Maybe she was approaching this the wrong way.

"...Look. I know how hard it must be for you to leave your house," she slowly began, Key the Slime smiled widely at her, making her think her words through even more carefully. "But didn't the Convocation offer a new house for you two? That's what I was told."

"I don't believe any of your corporate shlock! I want my house, built with the sweat and tears of those that actually built a house for themselves!"

You didn't build the sewers, you little--!

"Dearie, aren't you forgetting something?"

"...Oh yeah! And also, it's easy to come by food down here!"

"I DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU EAT!" Sunset felt her throat burn as she put a stop to herself. She took a deep breath, once again, feeling her sweat on her forehead slide down her nose. She needed to fix her composure, she wouldn't be caught dead yelling at a culvert. "...I don't particularly care about your culinary habits."

"You WHAT? Did you hear that, ma?" the young slime's voice rumbled from the entrance of the sewers with indignation in his tone. "The corporate commander over here doesn't wanna know what the common folk eat!"

"Oh, my. That can't do, dolly! How will you understand monsters like us if you don't know what our habits are?" Key looked up with her greenish eyes, like a puppy. Sunset Shimmer buried the desire to keep thinking that maybe that's where she got her IQ from.

Mental faculties, Shimmer. Keep your act together.

"Get outta here! I'm not leavin' my home! I have the rights to stay here!"

"I find it interesting how you say that when your so-called rights extend themselves to compromising everyone else because of them."

"...What?"

"Do you even know why you've been asked to leave?" Sunset grunted as she slid her hand through her own face, her desire to get out of that location before people started looking at her funny growed stronger every second.

"Oh, I was!" Key replied happily, rummaging through her bag with the speed of molasses. "...What was the reason again? Um... I think I was told? In the letter I received? Where did I put it again?"

"You're clogging the drain."

"Excuse me?" the voice from the sewers grunted, annoyed. "You're going to have to try harder than that!"

"You're clogging the drain because you live in it. That's why you were asked to leave." Sunset Shimmer never deadpanned so hard before in her life, she felt like her facial muscles had died.

"Ma, is that a thing?"

"...Heeey! Look, dolly! This is my wedding ring! I can't believe this is where it was!"

"That's lovely." Monotone.

"MA!"

"Oh! Right, um... I think so? I remember being told something like that."

"Right. So, what does that have anything to do with me staying or leaving?"

"Look, if you clog the drain, the humans are coming to check it out and see what's causing that! They will find you!"

"Oh, but isn't the Convocation supposed to keep that from happening!? Where's your resources and your enforcers, Ms. Syndicate? Why don't you use them instead of turnin' a blind eye to the poor folk that have to fend for themselves, expecting help from the corporate and then getting nothing but their coldest shoulder! This has nothing to do with me! This is all your fault!"

Sunset Shimmer felt like her mind cracked.

She was there before - people pointing at her and saying that things were her fault when they were. But that's where the difference lied. She was being insulted through ignorance and through the bravado of a teenage boy that was obviously going through that particular hormonal phase that she heard so much about.

She took a few deep breaths as Key simply wobbled in place, a look impossible to decipher plastered all over her face. Sunset was faced with a question of unmitigated importance: What would Fluttershy do in this situation?

...Would baby-talking a Slime actually even work?

"L-Look," the Equestrian gagged, her physiognomy breaking, herself moving into a more meek and calm posture. "We can work things out, right? W-We don't really need to antagonize each other! We all have to work together in order for everyone to be happy, right?"

"That's TOO LATE for that, you Federal, Corportate schlock! You're nothing but a goon of the system! Your random words won't sway my resolve!"

That's exactly when Sunset Shimmer realized that she wasn't Fluttershy.

"Oh, Celestia. Please, give me strength..."

As Sunset felt her sanity being drained by the drain, Key stepped forward and pointed severely at her ex-home, a slight hint of disappointment coming from her voice.

"Baby, I don't think it's nice to call people names!" That was the first time Sunset heard some manner of authority from that Slime's voice. Except that it didn't even manage to stand up to a light summer breeze. Don't think it's nice? Way to go, Ms. Key, I'm sure that accomplished everything you wanted.

"Ma, it's not wrong for me to fight for what I believe in, is it? That's what I'm doing!"

"Of course it isn't, baby. You have to make sure you stand up for yourself and your rights."

"So that's how it is, isn't it? I'm doing my best, here!"

"I know! I'm proud of you, my baby Lock!"

"Uh. Excuse me?" Sunset interrupted, her voice cracking a little alongside her patience and desire to stay there. "I'm not only sure I don't understand, but please don't teach your son to do wrong things, for my sake? Don't make my job harder than it needs to be."

"OH! I did it again? I'm so sorry, dolly! You're absolutely right!"

Which is it? I don't think I've ever seen someone so fickle before! I wish I never had the pleasure!

"Ma, don't listen to her! Sometimes you gotta stand firm by your decisions! You have to be firm and decisive, and not beat around the bush! You have to take action and stand for what's right!!"

The Unicorn then blinked, holding her retort deep inside her throat as she turned around to spew a one-liner. She found herself actually thinking about something that was quite frankly, true!

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so the saying goes, and Sunset finally could witness such a saying come true. Maybe it would be seen a mean, or not very good overall... but a decision and an action had to take place or much more trouble would spread from this... scene. The Equestrian took a deep breath and nodded to herself. If someone had to put on the big girl pants, so it would be her.

"You know what? You're absolutely right!" She agreed with the kid, making him pause for a quick second before responding, confused.

"What?"

"You have to be firm and decisive! You're absolutely right!" Sunset claimed as her hands reached inside of her jacket's pockets. "Thank you for telling me something so powerful! I think my life has changed for the better. Really, I will remember what you said forevermore!"

"Uhh... W-What's your deal?"

"Oh, this is the deal: you're going to be nice and leave that clogged drain, or I'll drop a bottle of liquid nitrogen with you still inside." Sunset spoke with the most unthreatening tone of voice she could muster, and the effects were legendary onto herself. She felt her own spine crawl with that one.

"...You what, now?"

"You don't know what that is? It's a very, very cold substance that freezes most liquids it touches, instantly!" She gave it a pause so Lock could understand the implications behind her phrasing. "I think you know your own body enough to know that Slimes really hate being frozen. It makes their jello-like nature very, very hard... and brittle. And when you thaw, you melt alongside the ice - I wonder where you would end up if we did that."

"W-WHAT? YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"

"Get out of the drain, please," Sunset's voice was now relatively serious and demanding. She felt awful. "I'm not saying it again."

The slime grunted and complained, loud banging noises could be heard as he was probably shuffling violently inside, trying to think as hard as he could. Key, on the other hand, simply looked at Sunset with a set of very inquisitive eyes, not raising a single objection, not complaining in any way herself. The Unicorn appreciated it; finally she wasn't doing something that hindered her progress.

"Gh! Y-You monster! ...Fine! F-Fine, I'll leave! There's no need for this, OK?"

Now I know why Quay does what she does the way she does it. It actually works.

"Baby, you're finally listening to reason! I'm so proud of you!"

"Ma, I'm being threatened! Can't you see this? This she-demon is threatening me with ice!"

"H-Hey! You wouldn't leave any other way!" Sunset defended herself, crossing her arms in the process. "You brought this upon yourself!"

"Yeah, whatever, you evil, wicked beast."

"Oooh, my hand's getting sore from holding this cold bottle! It's gonna slip! Oh my! Oh, no!"

"W-WAIT! Here! I'm leaving, I'm leaving!" his voice echoed from the drain as a few banging noises began to echo from within. Sunset rose an eyebrow, confused. "Hm? T-That's... HM!"

"What's the matter?" Sunset's voice came out on its own.

"O-Oh, uh. This place is a bit tighter than I remembered, it's nothing! I can get out! ...I think."

"Oh, baby! You've been eating too much again? What did your mother say about you overfeeding when indoors?"

"I'm sorry, ma! But I just got a huge chunk of---" Sunset immediately plugged her ears and started singing Twilight's counterspell as loud as she could inside the echoing halls of her own terrified self. Thankfully, she remembered that atrocity, word for word!

Celestia, PLEASE give me strength...!

The Unicorn was pressing her ears so hard it was a miracle her head didn't crack in half. As she kept paraphrasing the worst song she heard in her life inside her own head, Key reached out to her and poked her belly, attracting her attention.

"Excuse me, dolly? I can't seem to be able to do this on my own."

"...W-What do you even mean by that?" She was more scared of knowing the answer than of anything else that happened before in her life.

"My baby is stuck but I can't seem to help him out by myself. That's strange, I never had that problem before."

Sunset took a deep breath once again as she reached over, cautiously, over the street drain. Gazing down within it, she honestly couldn't see very well, but she was sure she could see a little slime boy's face, trying to squeeze through a gap she found it was crazy he couldn't get through.

"What are you doing? You're a slime, just squeeze through!"

"And emerge a slime on the surface? I'm not taking that chance!"

Oh yeah, I hadn't thought of that.

"Hold on, I think I managed to...! Get... Through!" he grunted as a very audible popping noise echoed within, and he reache--

A HAND

"No." Sunset Shimmer stood up and started walking the other way. An exasperated gasp in stereo rushed behind her, both dumbfounded, both stunned.

"D-Dolly! We just have to help him up!"

"No. I'm not touching that hand." There was no leeway in her tone. Key shuffled in place awkwardly for a moment, as if she simply ran out of things to say. "I'm not doing it."

"You threaten me to get out of my house and then you just abandon me? What kind of--"

"I AM NOT--" she immediately stopped herself as a pedestrian passed by, throwing awkward glances at Sunset Shimmer as she found herself folding and blushing so furiously she could blend in with a purely red backdrop. "I'm not doing it. Do it yourself."

She crossed her arms, adamant on her resolve. Key simply shrugged a bit, turning back to her son's dripping slime hand and grabbing it.

Sunset would never forget the sounds she heard that day. Loud, squelching noises that she only had heard in her worst nightmares. Sounds so poignant and gross that simply thinking of them would trigger a safety device inside Sunset's mind to erase the memory of such sounds, with little success. She stood there, trying her best not to look too grossed out as the sight VERY SLOWLY unfolded before her eyes, with Lock emerging from his home and assuming a solid, human form, eventually. It was the first time in her life that she had maybe considered never eating again.

"Huh! ...There! I'm outside, now!" the chubby-looking boy, about three heads shorter than Sunset was, grumped his words with no desire to hide his animosity. "Thanks for nothing."

"You're welcome." It was difficult for her to speak. She considered that maybe self-inflicted amnesia was a good idea.

"Right, then. What do we do now?" the distinctively brown-haired boy asked while crossing his arms, his eyes just about as green as his mothers'. "You're not leaving us to fend for ourselves, are you?"

"Uh? Oh, uh. I don't think so. Weren't you supposed to report to The Town when you left? I doubt the Convocation didn't give you directions."

And it was at that very moment that Ms. Key let out a surprised gasp of realization. Both the Equestrian and the little upstart traded looks of confusion as Key opened her little bag once again, shuffling its contents inside and pulling out a little letter, that was very nicely well-kept.

"Of course...! I completely forgot. Baby, we are meant to meet them so we can find ourselves a new home!"

Sunset felt like her left ear was bleeding, but she paid it no mind. In fact, she was shocked that it took it that long.

"Excuse me?" she asked, just to add continuity to Key's train of thought. "Didn't I say that, like, a few moments ago?"

"Um... I had forgotten that was true! We were meant to go and meet the Convocation, apparently, and they will find us a place to live! Isn't that nice of them? They are such lovelies!"

"Ma! You FORGOT THAT? Where were you living in the past two days!?"

And that's exactly when Sunset offered to guide them to The Town, when Key simply wobbled in place once again, as if she ran out of things to say.

If she were lucky, maybe that's how she would be for the rest of the day. Anything to make hers end faster.

---

"And der be da rest of your things, mon. Documents, keys and all dat good stuff. Don't go 'round missin' dem, now."

"T-Thank you, Mr. Silvertusk. I-I won't."

Hm. I suppose Ms. Key never saw a troll before, Sunset inquired as the lanky, tall and tusky creature handed over the documents to the new resident of The Town, smiling a little at how coy and shy she was.

Silvertusk was one of the many intermediates that poised the workforce of the Convocation of the Lost. Those were the people you'd go to when you were to perform a specific service, or they would reach out to the enforcers to pass forth the information for a particular job that need doing. For all intents and purposes, they were the notice boards of the Convocation, in theory. Most of the intermediates just spoke to those with direct access to Nimue, but even her won't know where the single, specific issues of the Convocation lied, such as the Slime issue Sunset was solving this day.

"And what 'bout ya, mon?" he asked towards Sunset Shimmer, having her blink and look up to meet him in the eye. "Ya did a good job! Quay absolutely refused to go and do dis, so I appreciate de effort ya put on."

"Oh, it was nothing!" she said as she uncrossed her arms, making a slightly meek gesture. Apparently, Silvertusk had a miserable job getting either in contact with Quay, or having her actually do something about the monster living in the sewers. Sunset believed the latter to be the case. "Um. I guess someone had to do it."

"Yes, I would like to file a complaint about this Shlock, Mr. Troll, sir!" little Lock said as he stomped his foot as hard as a slime could without crumbling. That is, not very hard. "Would you believe this? She threatened me to leave my house! She said she would freeze me if I didn't leave! Is this how you wil ltreat us if we start living in this place!?"

"...What you say now, mon?"

"Threaten? I have no idea what you're talking about," Sunset claimed with the most honest-filled glamour in her voice, making the little Slime be taken aback.

"Y-YOU SAID IT! That you'd drop that Liquid Nitrothingie inside my drain if I didn't leave!"

"...I don't remember ever having Liquid Nitrogen with me. What are you even talking about?" The Equestrian wasn't even trying to lie too hard. This was a piece of cake, considering what she's already done before... much to her chagrin, but still. Skills are skills.

"Some little mons enjoy havin' a big imagination..."

"I-It's true! Ma, tell him!"

"...I never saw her holding anything to do anything," Key pondered as she poked her chin with her index, inquisitively. "Are you sure about this, baby?"

The little slime was stunned. Now it was his turn to completely run out of things to say, as Key finally shook Sunset and the Troll's hands, a face of pure appreciation drawn all over her. She took Lock with her as she finally entered her new home: a wall drain within the halls of the Convocation, a much better place for them to live, as far as Sunset was told. Not only it was bigger, but easier to actually slime your way in and out. She wanted to forget. The world wouldn't let her forget.

"...Liquid Nitrogen, eh? I'm gonna have to remember dat one. Dey get real stubborn sometimes, ya know, mon? Makes our job much harder than dan it already is."

"Sometimes, the kindest thing you can do is to be a little harsh on them," Sunset said as she crossed her arms, throwing a little sideways glance to the troll, who also did the same thing. "Anyways, I'm not saying anything if you don't."

"Dese lips are sealed."

Author's Note:

Man, Troll accents are fun.

Now, if you ever wonder why that particular, neighborhood street drain always clogs, now you know the reason! Don't blame me if you actually try checking it out, though. I'm not responsible for your health. Also, I thought street drains and culverts were the same thing, at first. One more point to research!

See you next chronicle!