> The Rage of a Damaged Father
>  by InsaneJustin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> To Canterlot!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Dear Princess Celestia,

Before Merry left he had asked me to send you a letter to welcome him to Canterlot Castle as he was hoping for an audience with you. Of what he wished to speak of I have no idea. He simply told me to let you know. I am concerned for Merry Princess. When he left Ponyville he was wearing a black adamantine breastplate and helmet. Not only that he had a large greatsword over his shoulder. What worries me most is when he told Rainbow Dash of his plan to start a war with the griffins. When he arrives please do your best to talk him out of it and return to Ponyville.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.

P.S. He refused to take the train and wanted to walk, Why is beyond me. He even had Rarity put together an orange cloak for him before he left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today has been a good day for Sam and his family. He finally got the letter from one of Canterlot's restaurants, The Prancing Pony, asking for him to work as the new head chief. They had taken a wagon and filled it to the brim with all of their valuables and other things, then set out.

They had stopped in Ponyville and all the ponies were a lot nicer then he expected and the service at the Inn was impeccable. Some pink mare even threw him and his family a welcome party. He felt like the day couldn’t get any better.

“Hey dad, how much longer until we reach Canterlot?” Sam put his head up in thought.

“I’d say we can get there by tomorrow afternoon. You don’t mind camping do you?” the young grey colt shook his head

“No way, I love camping. I like using my firefly lantern every chance I get.” Sam just laughed as he looked over to his wife Grace.

“I’ll never understand why you colts love camping so much.” Grace sighed “You’ll help keep me safe from all the bugs right Mustang?” The small colt smiled and stuck his chest out

“Of course mom!” Grace just smiled with Sam as they laughed along the way.

After traveling around a bend they could see a figure slowly walking ahead of them wearing an orange cloak. It was nothing like they had seen before. It walked upright like a minotaur but it didn’t have the size and judging by it's head, it had small horns or none at all. It couldn’t of been a diamond dog because it walked completely upright instead of hunched over. The only thing that really worried them was the large sword hilt poking through the orange cloak it had upon its back. It kept a steady pace as it walked. At the current pace it was traveling they would eventually pass it up.

“Dear, maybe we shouldn’t pass that thing, it looks dangerous.” Sam just scoffed

“Don’t worry my love. We’ll just quickly pass it up, besides, would something so dangerous be using a road?” Grace gave a nervous sigh as Mustang jumped in front of Sam.

“What do you think it is dad?” Sam just looked to his son then at the thing wearing the orange cloak in front of them.

“I have no idea son, we might find out if its friendly soon enough.” Mustang just gulped along with his mother. After 15 minutes of walking they eventually were right behind the cloaked figure and Sam had decided to call out to try and get its attention.

“Oy! How are you stranger?” The cloaked figure didn’t turn around or even acknowledge the fact that Sam tried to get it’s attention.

“Sam, honey maybe we should just ignore it, it doesn’t seem to be friendly...” Grace had trotted up next to Sam and was quietly talking to him.

“It seems so. Alright hopefully it wont get mad when we pass it up.” Sam had increased his pace along with Grace while Mustang just sat in the cart on top of all the stuff. When they came up next to the creature in the orange cloak it turned to face them. What they saw under the orange cloak was a hairless flat looking face. It looked like a large ape. What happened next made Sam question wether it was friendly or not. It nodded its head down in greeting and moved over to the side to let them pass easier.  After they got ahead of the strange creature they went back to the center of the road and kept their pace going. Mustang jumped off the cart and ran up next to his dad.

“Hey dad, that strange monkey smiled at me.” Sam furrowed his brow.

“We may have misjudged that strange creature. Oh well, no harm no foul right?” Sam just rubbed a hoof on Mustangs head as they went along. “I wonder why it was bobbing its head like that though?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to Twilight’s new spell Merry had decided he would walk all the distances he could listening to music. The music helped get his mind off the past and keep him going. He was currently in the mood for some industrial dance and Eisenfunk - Pong hit the spot. Hopefully it would cheer him up a bit.

After getting directions from Twilight on how to reach Canterlot he left Ponyville. With Spikes ability to instantly transfer letters, there was no way they didn’t know he was coming. After all, he had to figure out how to get to the griffin kingdoms, and figure out which royal family was responsible in the 1st place, assuming there is more then one.

“I’m glad I custom made a spot in my breastplate for my iPod. Don’t wanna risk it getting smashed if its in my pocket when a fight breaks out.” Merry had made a small cloth pocket in the bottom left side of the breastplate for the iPod. His sallet style helmet made it easy to get his earbuds in and out without having to take it off. It reminded him of a combat helmet that the military used, but the sides came down a bit over his ears and back of his neck for some added protection.

Before Merry knew it some ponies pulling a cart had come up next to him. So he bowed his head a bit and moved over to let them pass. The Mare was a blue unicorn and the stallion a dark grey regular pony. As they passed him he noticed a colt on top of the cart, he was a grey Pegasus. Merry smiled at him as thoughts of Scootaloo entered his head. After a few minutes they were long gone and Merry sighed to himself and got back into the music.

An hour has passed since the cart from before passed him. Yet up ahead he saw that same cart on the side of the road with the blue unicorn pony talking to three minotaurs. Merry just shrugged and kept his steady pace. During the transition to a new song he heard some shouting up ahead. Merry squinted his eyes and turned his iPod off. In the distance he could hear the mare shouting to leave her colt alone. Merry quickened his pace.

“Look, all we wanted was your stuff, but you had to go and resist.” The tallest minotaur had his arms crossed as he spoke. The minotaur on his right side was holding the small colt by the neck. The minotaur on the left side was the shortest, and he was just licking his lips.

“Heh, might as well leave your little mare self here with us as well.” The mare just had a disgusted look on her face but gulped as she stepped forward

“Just leave Mustang alone, I wont...” Before she could finish her sentence Merry had stepped up in between them all. Merry placed his hand on the hilt of his greatsword and looked at the minotaur holding the colt by the neck.

“Put the kid down.” Merry just stared at them as they laughed

“Who does this little ape think he is? Don’t you think that toy sword is a bit big on you?” While they were laughing Merry rushed up to the minotaur holding the colt and gripped his wrist. He dropped the colt and fell to his knees gasping for air. Merry was exhaling the whole time the minotaur gasped for air, until the he fell over limp.

“What did you do to Scot?!” The other 2 minotaurs pulled out their weapons as the mare just held on to her colt. Merry saw the stallion from before, he was beaten pretty badly in front of the cart. Merry pulled out the greatsword and held it behind him as he got into a lower stance. When the shortest minotaur rushed, Merry lunged forward turning his body with the greatsword and sliced cleanly though the poor minotaur. Everyone just stood in awe what just happened, the Mare had turned around holding her colt in her arms not wanting to see the violence.

“You, How dare you kill Pete!” The tallest minotaur lowered his head and began to charge at Merry violently turning his head in every direction hoping to gore him. Merry performed a simple upward slash and sliced his face in two. The only one left was the minotaur who had passed out. His name was Scot apparently. Merry gathered up their stuff and tied Scot up before he woke up. The mare and colt had gone over to the Stallion who was on the ground. They were both crying, and Merry just sighed as he walked over to them.

Merry looked down at the stallion, he was still awake but 2 of his legs were obviously broken. The small colt just looked up to Merry and rubbed a tear away.

“Stranger, you can help my dad right? I saw you use magic on that minotaur! Do you have any healing magic?!” Merry just sighed again.

‘Why do kids still hit a soft spot for me.’ “Move aside kid.” Merry walked past the small pony and sat down next to the stallion and placed a hand on his chest. 

“What are you doing to my husband?!” Merry just looked at her.

“You’re lucky I have a soft spot for kids lady.” Merry just closed his eyes at her confused look. After awhile the stallions legs went back to their original shape, and he no longer had labored breathing. Merry on the other hand had some blood dribble from his mouth. When he was finished he fell over and coughed up some blood. It would be awhile before he could walk again.

The Mare just witnessed everything unfold before her eyes, the strange creature placed a hand on her husband, and his injuries disappeared, but the creature for some reason was taking damage.

“Oh my Celestia! What happened to you?!?” The mare, colt and the stallion just looked at Merry and realized he now had broken legs and was coughing up blood. Merry just sat up and looked at them

“I just absorbed his injuries, but I’ll be fine, I’m a fast healer. I’ll just need some food...” The colt ran over to the cart and pulled out a basket. He then tossed it down in front of Merry.

“Here! You can eat my lunch stranger! As thanks for helping us out and all.” The small colt just smiled at Merry as he opened up the basket. The Stallion stood up and walked over to Merry.

“Thanks stranger, when we first saw you we figured you didn’t speak equestrian or something. You didn’t look very friendly. But those minotaur bounty hunters were far less friendly. Thanks for the help, names Sam this is Grace and my boy is Mustang. You’re welcome to ride in the cart until you’re feeling better.” Merry just lightly chuckled

“Seeing as how my legs are broken, I guess I cant turn down your offer.” Merry cleared his throat “If ya don’t mind, I could use some help getting up there.” He looked over to the unicorn mare as she began to levitate him on top of the carts pile of stuff with the basket.

‘I would of liked some of those minotaurs to eat, but I don’t wanna freak them out if they are offering a free ride.’

“Thanks a bunch, just call me Merry.” Merry had taken out one of the infamous salad sandwiches and began to eat it, despite its bitter flavor. As they set off Merry raised his repeater crossbow and unloaded 5 bolts into the minotaur that was tied up. The family had continued on their way with the colt Mustang and Merry in the back, unknowing that he had just killed the minotaur they left behind.

‘Glad I made this thing mostly silent, that should make sneaking around a little easier I guess. Assuming I want to sneak around, hehe.’ Merry just laid back in the cart and decided to try and take a nap. Unfortunately for him the small colt felt like being in a talkative mood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile in Ponyville, Twilight was having a ball with the news of 3 dead minotaur body’s that were found on the road leading to Canterlot. A Pegasus mail pony had spotted them in the middle of road with a cart about a mile ahead of them. Of course guards were summoned, and they went to investigate. The conclusion was that they died from the dangerous bounty they were tracking.

Twilight knew otherwise, word was spreading fast and the only ones who knew of the bounty on Merry’s head were the Mane 6 along with the few guards that stayed behind in town after the incident and at request of Princess Celestia. With so many bounty hunter’s roaming the city’s she had increased the number of guards in each town as some added protection.

Twilight was in a rush looking for her friends, and luckily Rainbow Dash was in her usual spot napping on a cloud.

“Rainbow! Have you heard the ‘terrible’ news?” Rainbow Dash just stirred and looked over the edge of her cloud

“I’ve been napping, how could I of heard any news.” Twilight just smiled up at her cloud

“Its about Merry! He defeated 3 minotaurs on the road to Canterlot!” Rainbow sat upright and flew down to Twilight

“What really?! So he’s ok.... even though he’s only been gone for 4 hours, trouble has already found him...”

“But isn't it great?! At least he can fight.” Rainbow Dash just shook her head

“I don’t know Twilight, Griffins are entirely different, At least a minotaur is slow and doesn’t fly. I had a spat with Gilda once awhile back. I’m just glad it wasn’t a death match.” Twilight just raised her brow

“I’m sure its not that bad, Remember him fighting those two griffins?” Rainbow just looked down

“Yeah I do, he ended up with a hole in his stomach. I’m pretty sure Royal Griffins aren’t even taught how to fight, its all instinct...” Twilight suddenly got a frown on her face as she looked up to the sky.

“I pray Celestia can convince him to come back... I don’t want another friend to die because of something as stupid as revenge...” Rainbow Dash just walked up to Twilight and put a wing around her back.

“Hey cheer up, Lets go find everyone else and do something fun yeah? Maybe just celebrate the fact Merry’s still alive at the start of his journey.” Twilight smiled and looked up 

“Yeah its just the start, nothing bad ever happens at the start of a story.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Little Mustang had finally finished questioning Merry and by the time he woke from his nap it was starting to get dark out. They had pulled to the side of the road and looked to be setting up camp. Merry checked his legs and everything seemed to be in working order. When he jumped out of the cart he landed on his feet and a light cracking sound was heard, followed by a pleasure filled tingle running along his thigh and shin bones.

‘Well that cant be good, I need to find a good source of calcium so my legs can finish healing.’ Merry stretched his arms and looked around. Mustang was drawing on some nearby rocks with some chalk. ‘Hmm, wasn’t chalk made from a type of calcium? Would that even work? Is eating chalk even safe?’ Merry just shrugged ‘Well here goes nothing’ 

Merry went up to Mustang who was happy to see Merry up and walking around.

“Wow you do heal fast! Mom said we should probably have taken you back to Ponyville to get you fixed up. But dad said you would be fine because you said so. Said we should just trust our saviors words.” Merry just laughed

“Well I’m not totally fixed up yet, I was wondering if I could get some of your chalk.” Mustang just smiled and hoofed him some chalk

“Yeah sure, did you wanna draw with me? There’s another rock over there.” Mustang had pointed to another large rock nearby when Merry just flipped the blue chalk into his mouth and chewed it up. Mustang turned around to see Merry eating it and just looked at him raising an eyebrow

“Chalk isn’t for eating...” Merry just smiled as the chalk turned the inside of his mouth blue. Mustang started to giggle as Merry’s teeth were all blue. “I told you its not for eating...” Merry swallowed the rest of the chalk and stuck his blue tongue out.

“Yeah I guess you’re right, it tastes pretty bad to boot.” Merry noticed the tingle in his legs was slowly disappearing. ‘Well what do ya know, it actually works. I’ll have to remember to pack some chalk in my 1st aid kit. Chalk without color anyway. I wonder if could buy flavored chalk...’ Merry just sat down next to Mustang trying to figure out what he was drawing. It was really hard to tell.

“What are you drawing anyway Tang?” Mustang turned around

“My names not Tang, its Mustang! And I’m drawing you defeating those meanotaurs that beat up dad.” Merry just nodded his head and watched Mustang finish drawing. He really had no clue it was about anything, it looked like a bunch of scribbles. His talent wouldn’t be for art it would seem. Merry got up and walked over to the stallion and mare who had been setting up the tent the whole time.

“Thank you for your hospitality, but I must be going now.” Sam just huffed

“Come now, you weren’t lying about being a fast healer, but you're just going to leave? Why not stay the night?” Merry shook his head

“I have to head over to Canterlot, and besides those bounty hunter’s are looking for me. I don’t want to risk endangering you or your family. It was just bad luck those 3 from before decided to play highway robbers.” The stallion just looked at Merry along with his wife. They just smiled at each other and nodded.

“Well alright then, If you don’t wanna stay that’s fine with us. Just come by and visit The Pranceing Pony, I’m getting a job there, I’ll get you a free meal as thanks. It’s the whole reason why my family and I are moving to Canterlot.” Merry just smiled.

“Well aright, I’ll see you some other time I guess. If I get a free meal I’ll show up if I can.” Merry waved his goodbyes as he walked off into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry walked all through the night. It was a pretty uneventful night. The roads of Equestria seemed to be rather safe. He met a few guards along the way and told them he was just a bounty hunter looking for the alien. It was rather odd, Merry didn’t know Pegasus could have bat wings. He ended up having to the pass the time listening to some System of a Down The only band he considered to have nothing but good songs in each album. Therefore, the best way to pass a few hours of walking. 

Of course, listening to one of the best bands of all time leads to one singing along to the music and even dancing around. Or in this case, head banging. 

Before he knew it the sun was coming up and he had reached the outskirts of Canterlot. All the guards looked at him curiously as he came dancing up to the front gate. One of the guards walked up to Merry before he reached the gate 

“Halt! Bounty Hunter’s aren’t allowed into the royal city of Canterlot.” Merry just took his earbuds out and looked at the pony holding a spear up to him

“Huh? Sorry I couldn’t quite hear you. What was it you said?”

“I said, bounty hunter’s are not allowed within the royal city of Canterlot.” Merry just laughed at him and slapped his knee

“Oh don’t worry my good pony, I’m no bounty hunter, I am Princess Celestia and Luna’s future husband, your king if you will. Now if you will kindly let me pass I’ll make my way to the castle.” All the guards just looked at Merry like he was crazy.

“I uh, we don’t believe you. Such a statement is so far out there its most likely to never happen. Not until a male alicorn shows up.” Merry just shrugged and raised his hands up

“Really? You wont believe your future king? Just call your princesses and I’ll show you.” the Guards were starting to become angry

“No such thing will possibly happen you ruffian” Merry just sighed

“What if I said I wasn’t a bounty hunter and I was here to see a friend, would you let me in?” the guards just looked at each other and huffed

“No go huh? What if I...” Merry reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of sand “Give you this handful of SUPER rare sand?” One of the guards looked at the pile and laughed

“That’s just normal sand you fool.” Merry gasped

“WHAT?! I spent 500 Bits on this sand! How DARE that bastard rip me off!” Merry threw the handful of sand into the guards face and ran off. The guard yelled and started to spit the sand out of his mouth.

“Hey come back here!” Merry jumped into a group of bushes and disappeared. 

‘Well shit, now I gotta find some other way into town.’ Merry looked around and saw an unguarded area off to the far right, it looked like the train station. Merry made his way and hid in some bushes until a train showed up.He tried to blend into the crowed getting off the train. It didn’t work as he was the only non-pony to get off the damn train. ‘Its cool, just act natural. I was always on the train.’ Merry was confronted by 5 guards almost immediately.

“Halt! Who are you?” Merry just looked around and decided to go the more truthful route for once.

“My name is Merry and I’m from Ponyville, I had Twilight Sparkle send a letter to Princess Celestia to expect my arrival.” The guards visibly calmed down.

“Truly? We have been awaiting the one named Merry since yesterday. The Princesses told us to watch for your arrival and bring you straight to the castle when you were found.” Merry just sighed

‘Well fuck that was easy, Maybe I shouldn’t fuck around so much... Na its too fun. The looks those guards gave me when I said I was gonna be King was priceless.' Merry just saluted the guards and smiled at them

“Good good, Celly did well to inform you of your future king. Now lead the way to my two honey buns.” The guards just looked at him like he was crazy, the same look the ones at the front gate did actually. It made Merry wonder if they were all trained to give that same look.

The guards all huddled together and seemed to be discussing something.

“King? Is this foal serious?”

“Well both princesses did tell every guard to be on the look out for a strange creature named Merry and to give him our upmost hospitality.”

“But really, king? He’s not even a pony, let alone an alicorn...”

“Maybe the princesses just have odd tastes...Or perhaps he is hung like a whale? The princesses are twice the size of your average male pony...” all the guards continue to debate whether what Merry said was indeed true. Merry lost patience and just decided to join their conversation.

“Did you know Luna’s horn tastes like blueberry's?” All the guards gasped and moved back, some even had blushes. “Oh, and Celestia’s is sweet like honey, kind of odd if you ask me. And there this one spot on her left wing that when you...”

“Stop!” most of the guards were breathing heavy with severe blushes on their faces. “Fine, we believe you, lets just take you to the castle...”  Merry just laughed and shrugged

“Well alright then guys. Lead the way...but uh, are you sure you don’t wanna know about your princesses sweet spots?” All the guards just shook their heads trying to clear their heads of impure thoughts. 

“No Sir Merry, we are fine. Besides knowing of such things will just distract us.” Merry just shrugged

“Alright then your loss. Just thought it would come in handy when you volunteer for guarding her bed chamber door...” One of the guards stumbled over his own hooves

“You aren’t suggesting...”

“Of course I am. Even when I’m king I don’t think I could handle both princesses at the same time. They even told me themselves that the guards at their doors are usually in the room instead of outside it.” Merry just kept his cool as he kept filling the guards heads with impure thoughts of their princesses.

As they walked through the city Merrywas telling them of ‘sweet spots’ and little things they liked. Like how Luna enjoyed the back of her left ear to be rubbed while her horn is being licked, and how the 5th row of feathers on Celestia’s left wing was an odd pleasure spot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia was sitting in her throne room going over papers and other business as usual. When all of a sudden the doors opened up. Celestia looked up and saw a grip of guards walk in with a tall creature wearing an orange cloak walking in the middle of them all. Celestia remembered in Twilight's letter that Merry was wearing an orange cloak. Her slight confusion disappeared as a smile grew upon her face.

‘I wonder how long I can keep up this act...’

“Ah, Merry I see you made it to Canterlot safely. I am glad that the bounty hunters along the roads haven’t made things any less safe. I had heard horror stories of them resorting to robbing travelers.” Merry just walked out from the group of guards and approached the throne.

“Yes well, I came upon 3 minotaur’s trying to rob some poor family, so I had to deal with them. You should probably set up mini guard posts along the roads until this whole thing blows over my dear.” Merry stayed at the bottom of the staircase leading up to her throne but removed his hood and brought his cloak back to revel his armor.

“Oh my, was it near Ponyville? I heard the news of 3 minotaurs being slain along that road.” Merry just nodded

“Indeed it was Celly. Now where is Luna? I haven’t seen her for awhile.” Celestia just smiled

“She is asleep in her room. She watches over the night so she sleeps during the day.” Merry just laughed.

“Yes, she is quite something during the night.” Celestia just raised an eyebrow at Merry then looked at her guards. She noticed most of them had light blushes on their faces while they looked at her. She cleared her throat and spoke

“Yes well, you guards are dismissed, and look into setting up temporary guard posts along the roads, as Merry suggested.” All the guards saluted her and ran out of the throne room. “You know Merry, I read Twilights letter and what you’re planning to do exactly. I can’t allow you to travel to the griffin kingdoms on a suicide mission.” Merry just sighed

“So how do you plan to stop me exactly?” Princess Celestia just smiled warmly at him

“By helping you heal the pain in your heart over Scootaloo’s death. Not all griffins are evil you know. We have a few around the castle that I’m sure would make good friends with you.” Merry just laughed

“Oh I know that princess. A coin always has 2 sides, I only want the royal family or families that set this bounty on my head, that in turn led to the bounty hunters that caused the mess. I have no plans for mass genocide... I’ll just dispose of those responsible and those that stand in my way.” Celestia just sighed

“Just stay here at the castle for awhile. If nothing seems to be working, then I shall give you the information you seek. But I will not support you on your mad man’s quest. If they find out I helped you in killing who knows how many of their royalty a war will break out.” Merry just laughed

“I’ll be sure to be such a large thorn, they all forget about you Princess. Besides, if I go to them, then the bounty hunters will most likely leave Equestria, and wouldn’t that be nice?” Celestia just shook her head

“I think you're severely underestimating the griffins fighting potential.” Merry just shrugged and tapped his helmet

“As long as I have my helmet, I’m fairly confident I wont go down easy. Besides I have a couple tricks up my sleeve.” Celestia just shook her head and sighed

“Just stay here with us. Maybe we can help you change your mind. I’m sure if anyone can understand your pain the best, it would be Luna. She has had a troubled past.” Merry just sighed

“Look, I don’t care for your sob stories or anyone else’s. You can do all you want to try and convince me not to go. But I will go, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me...unless you kill me, but hey I don’t think you will.” Celestia sighed yet again.

“Fine, I will have a room arranged for you, in the meantime feel free to wander. It shouldn’t be hard finding you with that bright orange cloak.” Merry just laughed

“I would hope not princess. And I stand out more then other’s with the whole, not being a pony thing.” Merry just laughed as he left the court room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry walked around the castle and boy it was big as hell. He was pretty sure he was walking in circles and decided to just screw around until someone found him or he found someone.

“ECHO! ECHo ECho Echo echo.... PENIS! PENIs PENis PEnis Penis penis...” Merry was about to shout another word down the large hallway when he heard something clear its throat.

“I don’t think shouting such obscene things down a royal hallway will be looked good upon... Are you a new guard perhaps? When did we start hiring non ponies?” Merry turned around and saw a regular pony with a pillow as a cutie mark

‘Good upon? Is this bitch retarded? Or could she just not think of a better word?’ “Ah, I apologize, no I’m not a new guard, I am the princesses future husband. It hasn’t been formally announced yet, but they were planning to do so in a few days once I get settled in. Names Merry by the way.” The pony had a look of shock on her face

“So the rumor of a king the guards are speaking of is true?” Merry just put on a huge smile

“Its no rumor, its true and I’m right here. You know all those Business trips and or royal duties that involve them leaving the castle?” The mare nodded her head with her mouth open a little. “Yeah, its really cause they were going off to see me.” The mare just looked at him, then squealed.

“Oh my gosh! A real king! This hasn’t been heard of since the olden days! Oh I need to tell everyone!” Merry patted her on the head.

“Hey wait a minute, do you guys have a pool or something I can use? As you could tell, I’m bored outta my mind and I got lost.” She smiled and blushed at the contact.

“Oh yes king Merry. Let me take you there right away!” Merry just laughed again and smiled at her.

“Merry is fine and I never got your name.” She blushed again at having forgot her basic manners.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry, my name is Pillow Fluff. I make sure all the beds are made and in 100% working condition so that the maximum levels of sleep are reached.” Merry just narrowed his eyes and smirked.

‘Is this bitch for real?’ “Well alright then Fluff, lead the way to the Pool.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a 10 minute walk and several glances from both guards, other maids and house keeper ponies they reached the pool, it was huge and deep. 

“How big is this pool? And it’s indoors as well.” Pillow fluff just nodded.

“Yes it is, it’s the biggest in all of Equestria, its 40 feet long, 30 feet wide and 18 feet deep. The shallow end is about 3 feet deep. I’m not even sure the princesses use the pool at all though...” Merry just laughed

“Well its fine don’t worry about it. So anyway, I’m just gonna hang around here you can go now. I’m just waiting until my room is finished, Celly said she was going to send someone to get me when it was ready.” Fluff bowed her head and ran out of the pool room.

Merry looked around and saw a table with a few chairs near the middle of the pool. So he walked over and stripped down to his boxers leaving all his stuff on the table.

‘I should look into getting a hair cut, its too long now.’ Merry pulled his bangs down until they touched the tip of his nose. ‘Yup way too long.’ Merry sighed and walked over to the pool edge and leaned over to touch it. 

‘A heated pool eh? That makes this seem like a giant bath!’ Merry jumped into the pool and sank straight to the bottom. ‘What the fuck?’ Merry looked up and saw the water was about 3 feet above his head. ‘Why did I sink. I’m pretty sure I still have air in my lungs.’ Merry jumped the best he could and struggle swam to the surface and grabbed the ledge pulling himself out of the water. 

“So I cant swim anymore or what the fuck? Lets try this again in the shallow end.” Merry walked over to the shallow end of the pool and jumped in, the water only went up to his hips. Merry proceeded to walk to the deeper end of the pool and took a deep breath before the water reached his neck. Apparently he wasn’t floating, and to swim was a huge effort. For some reason he couldn’t stay buoyant without an extreme amount of effort on his part. However it made walking underwater a breeze. It was kinda gay however because Merry enjoyed swimming.

Merry just sighed to himself as he sat on the edge of the pool and flicked his feet around in the water. After a bit he got bored and went over to the table and brought out his iPod. ‘Time for some Linkin Park - Numb.’ Merry laid back on top of the table and used his cloths as a pillow. He spent about 20 minutes listening to Linkin Park until a group of ponies wearing maid outfits walked up to Merry and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Excuse us Sir Merry, but your room is ready. We will take you there when you're ready.” Merry leaped off the table and proceeded to flex as he moved to get his cloths back on. He watched all the maids blush as he made exaggerated movements to get his cloths and armor back on.

“Alright I’m ready, you can show me to my room now.” All the maids nodded and led the way to his room. Merry just followed them with a smug look on his face

“So did you mares enjoy the free show?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry was just in his room laying on his bed relaxing with his iPod playing some more Linkin Park, when a bright flash appeared with Celestia standing in the middle of his room with a discerning glare on her face.

“So it has come to my attention that you are Luna and I’s secret lover that I decided to make public with the idea of marriage. Not only that, apparently I am carrying your foal and Luna is a better lover then me.” Merry just looked at her and laughed

“Oh man, I don’t know where that part with the foal came up, maybe its because your belly is bigger then it should be?” Celestia just scoffed

“So what if I indulge a little to much cake at times... Its just so hard to find time to work it off with so many things happening.” Merry just nodded his head in agreement

“Ah yes the life of a ruler must be hard. Tis a good thing a king is coming along to help lesson your load eh?” Celestia just closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she exhaled she broke into a sly smile

“Yes, Indeed it is. I’m sure Lulu will be thrilled as well. No longer will we have to rule alone. If I remember correctly, you don’t have to sleep is that correct?”

‘Uhh...fuck, I was hoping she would get mad or something...’ “Yes that’s correct, but I don’t remember telling you that...” Celestia just giggled

“Oh I have my ways of knowing things, even if you tell me or not.” Merry just crossed his arms and nodded.

“Well alright then, if we are all in agreement, As King I demand you make me a sandwich. I just hope its made with love from you.” Celestia just gave Merry a glare

“Don’t push your luck. The day is almost out, and Luna will be taking over soon. I am going to visit her and let her know how things are now. Anyway just wait here. Lulu should show up shortly after the moon rises.” With that Celestia’s horn glows a bright yellow and in a flash she disappears again.

‘Fucking god’s can teleport, but they can’t save a life.’ Merry just sighed ‘heh, Never figured she would go along with the rumors I spread though. I hope this isn’t some ploy to make me stay longer. Now what to say when Luna comes in...’ Merry laid back into his bed and sifted through his iPod.

Before he knew it, he came across Bad Company - Feel Like Making Love. ‘I think this is perfect...hehe’ Merry just waited on the bed with his hands behind his head and legs crossed. Waiting for the door to open or Luna to teleport in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna was busy bushing her mane and preparing for the night. She really didn’t enjoy sitting in the throne room all night as no one ever came. The only things she could do were the left overs Celestia didn't finish. But even then she could only decide a few of them before the kingdom began going to sleep. It was rude after all to decide things when everypony was asleep, and night court was mainly created for ‘emergencies’ that never happened. Luna sighed as a bright flash filled her room with her older sister Celestia standing in the middle of her room now.

“Luna I must speak with you before you raise the moon and I lower the sun.” Luna put the brush down and stood up.

“What is it sister? What is happening?” Celestia just smiled

“Something interesting Lulu, it would appear that shortly after Merry arrived...”

“Merry’s here!?” Celestia just cleared her throat

“Yes he is, anyway, he spread some rumors stating that we were both his lovers, I am carrying his foal, your horn taste’s like blueberries, and he is going to be named king after our marriage in about a week after he gets settled in.” Luna’s mouth dropped.

“Wait what?” Luna touched her horn “Blueberries...” Luna gasped “Tia, don’t tell me its true! How could you go to him without me!” Celestia scoffed

“Luna please, stop being such a foal. None of it is true, I told you he was going on a suicide mission after we got that letter from Twilight yesterday. If this foolishness of his continues, he may just stay here instead of going off and getting killed. We cannot allow a one of a kind creature to go off and die due to its own stupidity.” Luna just nodded her head in agreement

“Indeed, and not testing out his magic hands would be a shame...” Celestia cocked an eyebrow

“How did you...” Luna just scoffed

“Oh please sister, I read some of the letters Twilight sends you, but really? She learned the magic of being friends with benefits and Merry’s magic hands...That was the most awkward letter she has ever sent...and most intriguing. She offered far too many details in my opinion.” Celestia just sighed and laughed

“Yes she can be a bit over enthusiastic at times. Anyway, Now that you’re up to speed, lets go do our duty.” Luna just smiled at her sister as they trotted to the balcony to set the sun and raise the moon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry saw it get dark outside and just got a smug look on his face again. About 2 minutes later a bright blue flash appeared and Luna just stood in the middle of his room.

Merry hit Play on his iPod.

“Baby, when I think about you. I think about loove. Darlin, couldn’t live without you and your loove...” Luna just backed up a bit as Merry got up from the bed 

“If I had those golden dream’s of my yesterday, I would wrap you, in the heavens, and I feel it dyin, dyin, dyin all the way...” Luna just kept backing away until she up against the wall with a light blush on her face

“Merry I don’t...” Merry just smiled and took a deep breath

“I Feel like Makin, feel like Makin love!!! Feel like Makin Love! Feel like Makin Love! Feel like Maakiing Love to yooou...” Merry whispered the last part into Luna’s ear and saw her blush even harder. Her horn began to glow and she teleported to the other side of the room.

“Well um, Some other time perhaps. We have many things that we need to do.” Merry just sighed

“Did I come on too strong? Or are you just shy?” Luna shook her head

“I uhh, we just don’t have time right now, I have to go finish up what Celestia left for me. You are welcome to join me however. Night court is the easy part of ruling...As Celestia tells me.” Merry just nodded his head

“Yes well If I am to be king soon, I guess I should learn how to do the easy things 1st.” Luna just huffed at Merry.

“It’s not always easy you know...” Merry just smiled as he followed Luna out of his room and to the throne room to begin night court.

Merry walked next to Luna with an arm around her neck. It was rather easy as she was closer to his height and not overly large like Celestia was. Celestia was closer to being a real horse not a pony. Speaking of, Luna was close to a normal pony, while the others were more like mini Shetland ponies.  As they both walked many of the guards and maids were giving glances while smiling as they passed. Luna however was a bit flustered because Merry had his arm around her neck.

When they made it to the throne room Luna donned her crown and sat down leaving Merry to stand next to her.

“Scribe, bring me the things that my sister left unfinished.” The scribe nodded and ran off, only to return shortly after with a small pile of papers. He brought them forward and separated it into 3 different piles. 

“One of them deal’s with the guards asking for more rations for home away missions. Another is about some guards wanting to transfer to being door guards, with emphasis upon your highness’s bed chambers. And the 3rd deals with an orphanage here in Canterlot.” Merry raised an eyebrow as Luna levitated all three in front of her and read through each one quickly.

“Hmm, triple the amount of rations for the guards...them transferring is a most odd request, but I don’t see why not...” Luna grumbled as she read the one about the orphanage “Didn’t we send a vast amount of bits to this one already?” The scribe brought up a clipboard and looked it over

“Umm, it would seem Celestia sent them 7,000 bits about 4 weeks ago.” Luna read over the document again.

“How many foals does that orphanage have. How could they go through 7 thousand bits in 4 weeks?” Merry just sighed

“Let me see it real quick.” Luna just raised an eyebrow at Merry then levitated it over to Merry who grabbed it and began to read it over.

‘Let’s see here...we formally request yadda yadda yadda for the children, they are in need of new things. Really, things, couldn’t they specify? I smell a scam, what’s the name of this place...The Wayward Foal. Oh yes, that sounds like a place I would love to go adopt a kid from, jesus.’

“Hey Luna baby, Lets go check out this orphanage.” Luna just raised her eyebrows

“And why would we do such an unorthodox thing?” Merry just smiled

“Because I feel like adopting a kid.” Merry just laughed “Na just fucking with ya, been there done that. But I wanna know where 7,000 bits went, I have a strong feeling it didn’t go toward the poor kids.” Luna just tilted her head up in thought

“Scribe, take over night court for me, I will be traveling out with Merry to this orphanage, I too am curious as to how they went through so many bits.” The scribe bowed his head and took his place back at the side of the throne. After Luna got out of it he placed a big crown in the center of the throne.

“I shall watch over your seat while you are away.” Luna nodded her head and walked with Merry to the throne rooms exit. When they walked out the two guards outside looked at Luna.

“You two guards, Come with us. We are traveling into Canterlot to an orphanage called The Wayward Foal.” The two guards saluted and began to follow in suit. Merry looked at them and saw them with bat wings and their eyes even looked like a cats, it was pretty fucking cool.

“Soo Luna, I’ve been wondering why the night guards look like a cross between cats, bats and ponies. Did you guys have some kind of crazy breeding program?” Luna just laughed

“No nonsense, its all an Illusion brought on by their armor and helmets. The enchantment turns a Pegasus’s feather wings into a bats, and the enchantment on the helmet gives the illusion of the cat eyes.” Merry just nodded

“Interesting...Tell me more about enchantments yeah?” Luna spent a good amount of time explaining to Merry all the different kinds of enchantments possible, but only the best of unicorns could do any of them. Having to combine a permanence spell with an aura spell with another spell containing the effect, while affixing it to something. 

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the orphanage. Merry didn’t realize it, but apparently they had entered the ‘seedy’ side of canterlot. They had passed a restaurant called The Prancing Pony on the way to their destination and Merry remembered that stallion and his family.

‘Maybe I should drop in some time...They seemed open still.’ Merry stopped with Luna and the two guards in front of the orphanage. Merry went up to the door and knocke, they heard a clatter of things fall followed by a male voice shouting through the door.

“I told you, they wont be ready for another 2 hours!” A few more things could be heard falling when the door opened. A large male unicorn with a ragged looking mane opened the door and looked at Merry. “Hey yer not that foal fiddler Brimhat...” The Unicorn stopped dead when he heard the guards behind Merry shift in their armor. Merry turned around to see the guards with an angry face.

“Hey Luna, what exactly is a foal fiddler?” Merry saw Luna grit her teeth as her eyes went white and a gust of wind came from no where. The guards slowly backed away from Luna as the male unicorn dropped his ears and his pupils went to the size of pinpricks.

“THOU DARES TO CONDUCT SUCH FOUL CRIMES WITHIN THE CONFINES OF OUR ROYAL CITY?!” The male Unicorn hunched down low while Luna yelled at him. “THOU SHALL ROT IN A CELL FOR THE REST OF THY LIFE!” at the mention of a jail cell the Unicorn jumped up and ran back inside slamming the door behind him.

“So uh, I’m guessing a foal fiddler is bad? I don’t know a lot of your pony terminology yet.” One of the guards moved forward

“A foal fiddler is a pony who commits sexual acts against foals or underage ponies.” Merry put his hand to his chin and nodded

“Ah, so a pedofile then...” Merry spun around and fireman kicked the door in “Do you guys do public executions?” Merry walked through the broken down door with a smile on his face followed by the two guards and Luna who was hovering behind them.

“COME OUT FROM THINE HIDING PLACE!”

“Hey Lulu honey, why don’t you and the guards search the rooms and gather all the young ones, I’m sure all your yelling has gotten them scared and confused.” Luna settled down and gasped

“You’re right! I forgot about the children in my rage. Guards come with me, we must gather them quickly and take them out of here.” Luna and the guards began to open rooms one after another. Each room only had 1 or 2 colts or fillies. When they got upstairs all the young children were cramped into single bed rooms, it was about 5 per bed. The thing Luna noticed was that all the children had glazed over eyes and empty expressions on their faces.

“Children do not fear any longer, I am princess Luna and these are some of my personal guards, we will keep you safe” Luna gave the children a warm smile as they all looked up at her and the guards. A loud crash was heard followed by some screaming. Shortly after Merry was walking down the stairs dragging the Unicorn by his horn. A small filly was following Merry down the stairs.

“Look what I found in a closet!” Merry lifted the Unicorn by his horn in front of Luna and the guards. Luna’s eyes went wide when she saw the unicorn was missing an eye and his genitals. “You might wanna stop his bleeding if you expect to toss him into a cell.” Luna gritted her teeth and used a light healing spell to prevent him from bleeding out.

“Where did his eye and...member go?” Merry just laughed

“Oh those? I tossed em out the window. He obviously wasn’t using them right.” Merry looked down at all the children and saw the looks of broken souls and glazed over eyes. “Hey kids come with me to this room over here.

“Merry what are you...” 

“Don’t worry Lulu, this shouldn’t take long. Watch over this turd pie yeah?” Merry tossed the Unicorn next to Luna and the guards. The kids followed suit into the room after Merry with their heads hung low. Some shuddered as they entered the room. After a few minutes a single colt came out of the room and he smiled at Luna.

“Is it true Princess? Did you come to adopt us all?!”  Luna gasped and became flustered

“I uh wha huh?”

“Yeah that nice guy told me that Princess Luna had come to personally adopt us all!” Before Luna could voice her opinion another colt came out followed by a filly.

“ITS TRUE! SHE DID COME!” Luna and the guards just looked at each other as the little colts and filly jumped around them. One after another the children were walking out of the room with the same happy expression’s and excitement at being adopted by the Princess. After all 30 of the fillies and colts were outside of the room Merry came out holding his head.

“My brain...it hurts so much, among other things.” Merry shook his head, took a deep breath and whimpered. Luna just looked at Merry and all the children.

“Merry, what did you do?” Merry just walked up to Luna and quietly whispered into her ear.

“I returned their innocence by taking all of their bad memories and healing their broken bodies.” Merry just rubbed his ass then spoke up so everyone could hear him “Now! Lets go get something to eat in celebration of your new momma, Luna!” Luna blushed and became flustered muttering random words as all the children cheered in unison and bounded around the room. One of the fillies looked over to the Unicorn who had passed out on the floor.

“Hey why is Mr. Peen asleep on the floor?” Merry just laughed and looked at her

“He passed out from sheer joy after hearing that Luna wanted to adopt all of you.” The filly nodded her head.

'None of the kids seemed to care the door was broken down, how odd'

“Yeah, I almost passed out when I saw her out here too.” The filly giggled in excitement and ran out the door following all the other kids. Merry, Luna and the guards were left in the main room, Merry just had a huge smug look on his face.

“Guard take this foul criminal to the dungeon at the castle, and you watch the children outside. And you Merry...” Luna brought up a hoof and touched Merry on the back causing him to leap forward at the contact.

“Ah, sorry about that, I’m just a little jumpy I guess, anyway what did you want?” Luna shrugged off his jumpiness and spoke

“What made you think that taking in 30 of these children was a good idea?” Merry just held his head again and closed an eye.

“They need someplace to go, they sure as fuck are not staying here. And besides the Castle looked like it could use some happy faces around anyway.” Luna just sighed and smiled at the thought of being a mother, she then remembered it was 30 kids and not just one.

She frowned.
> Moma Luna, Aunt Celly, the 30 filles N' colts, and Merry Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Luna, Merry, the guard who shall be known as Paul, and the 30 foals were traveling to the restaurant called The Prancing Pony.

“So you truly brought back their innocence and its entirety?” Merry just nodded

“For the last time yes, now unless you have a spell to get rid of my headache, please stop talking. My brain feels like its going to explode.” Luna just licked her lips and set her horn aglow. She then brought it up to Merry’s forehead and the glow moved onto his head and Merry sighed in relief.

“But what about your own mind? Couldn't taking in all those painful memories be really bad?” Merry tilted his head in thought then smiled

“I’ll be fine, I’m older I can handle it. Besides, you cant break what’s already broken.” Merry looked to the ground with a slight smile on his face. “Now I know the faces of every foal fiddler in this city, and fuck there is a lot, we can deal with that at a later date however, for now we should celebrate.” Luna just looked to the ground and took a deep breath, she then smiled

“I cant wait to see the look on Tia’s face in the morning.” She brought a hoof up to her mouth to stifle a giggle. After a bit some of the colts were shouting we had arrived. So Merry went up to the front door and flung it open as it was still unlocked. He walked in alone, it was a rather small place, it reminded him of one of those small Chinese noodle shops.

“I’m sorry sir, but we are closing soon.” Merry just sighed

“Aww really? But I’m here to see your new head chief. I think his name was Sam?” The waitress just cocked an eye and went to the back. Luna, Paul and the rest of the children walked in after the waitress left.

“This place seems rather small Merry, are you sure it will be ok?” Merry just laughed

“Yeah I’m sure this place will do just fine. I meet the head chief on my way to Canterlot, nice guy.” Sam walked out of the back with the waitress, and they both gasped at the sight of Princess Luna.

“Your Highness... and Merry? What...” Sam was just gawking as he looked around at all the children. “What’s going on?”

“Well we were just looking for a place to get some grub before heading back to the castle, and I thought what better place then here. But apparently you’re closing soon so we will have to find elsewhere to celebrate.” Merry just sighed as Sam cleared his throat.

“Well that’s true, but there’s no way I could turn down my families savior and the Princess, even if it is closing time. Jane get all of these ponies and Merry a seat and table. I hope you don’t mind a bit of overtime.” Jane just laughed

“Are you kidding? Princess Luna showed up in our restaurant! I’ll stay as long as needed if I get to hang out with a Princess!” Merry and Sam laughed as Luna got a blush on her face. Paul remained steadfast watching over everyone in the back by the door.

“Well alright then, Gonna need a table for 33, or you can just spread us out as evenly as possible.” Paul raised an eyebrow and smiled as he took a seat by the door.

They pushed tables together and arranged it so all the children could sit as close as possible to Luna. Many of the children placed orders for pasta type dishes and other expensive things off the menu. Merry picked out a fish dish while Luna ordered a simple salad. Paul actually ordered a full 3 course meal. Within minutes Jane had brought out a small salad for everyone and their drinks, except Luna, whose salad took an entire dinner plate. And after 30 minutes of waiting food starting coming out of the kitchen. 

“He’s pretty quick, we’ve only been here for like half an hour and everyone already has what they ordered.” Merry nodded

“Yes he is quite fast, or he has an army back there. Hehe” As Merry ate his food Sam walked out from the back and smiled at everyone eating. He spotted Merry and went over to his side

“How’s the Food Merry?” Sam just had a smug look on his face.

“Its pretty damn good actually. Considering you served 33 people in like 30 minutes.” Sam just laughed

“Yes well, My cutie mark is a lighting bolt with a frying pan. I picked up the nickname Lighting Hooves...” Merry took another bite of the fish and looked at him.

“What is your full name anyway?” Merry raised an eyebrow

“Sam Lighting. So the Hooves part was just added later on, Heh” Merry just smirked

“Nice, I think I found my go to spot in Canterlot from now on. How’s that Salad Lulu?” Sam went wide eyed as he turned to look at Luna who choked a bit at being called Lulu in public in front of strangers. She coughed and cleared her throat

“Its actually quite good, What is this you put on top of it?” Sam just grinned

“Its my newest thing to make salads more interesting, I call it Salad dressing, its just a basic one. Some olive oil mixed with a bit of sugar. I’ve been planning more complex ones.”

‘This guy just made Salad dressing, I wonder if he’s gonna make ranch or Cesar dressing...it will probably have a different name hehe.’

Everyone just enjoyed their meals as they all talked. Jane was having a blast talking to Luna and even just watching her chew. Sam was talking up a storm with Merry about cooking. Merry picked up a few things and in return he told him how to make his Stir fry. Telling him how everyone in Ponyville enjoyed it and with his skill he could probably mimic it. He even told him about french fries.

All the children were having a blast. They were exchanging foods and asking Luna, Paul and Merry questions. Mostly about what its like to be a princess, guard, or walking on two legs. Some of the children even told Sam they loved his cooking and wanted to come back again. When Jane found out that Luna was going to adopt all of them she gasped and fainted. Everyone laughed at Jane, even Paul. Paul eventually got up from his seat and helped Jane back up to her hooves.

“You okay there?” Jane shook her head clear and looked at Paul, she then blushed a bit.

“O-oh yes, I’m fine. Thank you.” She moved off him and cleared her throat, Paul just chuckled and went back to his seat to finish eating.  Jane went back to princess Luna’s side and kept staring as Paul ate.

“Who is that stud, I didn’t notice him before” Luna looked up and turned to face who she was looking at.

“Paul Revere? He’s one of my night guards, He’s probably the least talkative of them all. I don’t know much about him other then that.” Jane just pouted her lips out and sighed

“I think I’m gonna go talk to him. You don’t mind do you Princess?” Luna just shook her head.

“Not at all, knock yourself out.” Luna went back to eating her salad while Jane sat with Paul. They seemed to be hitting it off pretty well, but Jane was doing most of the talking.

After about an hour of everyone having a blast Merry got the bill and coughed. He handed it to Luna who looked at it and shrugged.

“I don’t have this much on me, but if you give me a moment I shall be back with the required bits.” Luna’s horn glowed and she teleported away. Sam just squinted his eyes a bit

“I hope she just didn’t skip out on paying the bill...” Jane smacked him upside the head

“She not gonna just abandon all these precious little foals here.” as she finished her sentence Luna teleported in with a large sack of bits

“Here this should cover it, keep the rest as a tip for the wonderful service and staying open later then normal.” Sam and Jane just looked at the huge sack of bits as it fell to the ground in front of them spilling its contents.

“Princess this far to generous...”

“Nonsense, I don’t normally get to do things like this as everyone sleeps during my nights. And those that don’t are normally ne'er-do-wells. Just think of this as an investment.” Sam and Jane clapped their hooves together while Merry just laughed.

“I’ll be back tomorrow with Princess Celestia, she has to try your cooking as well Sam.” Sam’s jaw just dropped

“How do you know the Princesses Merry? I thought you were just a wanderer when I 1st meet you.” Merry just smirked and turned around to face Sam.

“I forgot to mention, I’m going to be King someday, Celestia and Luna are pretty much in agreement for it.” Sam looked like he had a heart attack while Jane fainted again. Merry laughed as he left the restaurant with all the kids in tow.

“Does that mean you’re our dad, since Luna is our mom and all...” one of the colts asked as all the other fillies and colts just looked up at him. Merry just tilted his head to the side

“Yeah I guess that does, if I marry her anyway. I might only get hitched with Celestia and be your uncle...Or Maybe Celestia and Luna will be your moms and you could have two moms!” 

‘I gotta figure a way out of this shit, this rumor is starting to spread a little too fast. I fear it may get out of control soon. Heh’ Merry just laughed out loud to himself and everyone looked at him.

“What’s so funny Merry?” Luna just raised her eyebrow at Merry as he just shrugged

“The current situation is all, and the look on Celly’s face when she finds out what we did.” Merry, Paul, Luna, and the 30  kids all just walked to the Castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scribe was just sitting back in his chair playing with his mane when the throne rooms doors swung open and in walked Luna, Merry, the guard from before, and a butt load of children.

“Princess Luna! What happened?!” Before Luna could speak Merry jumped up in front of her and spoke

“Princess Luna saw all the children and decided to adopt them all out of the kindness of her heart.” All the foals were just in awe of the throne room while Luna just moved in front of Merry and cleared her throat

“Yes, as you can see we now have 30 new additions to the royal family. I would love for you to make arrangements for them all at once.” Merry raised his hand up and yelled

“FOR NOW WE SHALL TAKE A BATH BEFORE BED!” All of the fillies and colts just moaned.

“We don’t wanna sleep yet!”

“Yeah! We wanna play with momma Luna more!” All the children yelled in protest and Merry just laughed

“And that is why Momma Luna is going to take the bath with all of you. Have you not seen the royal bathroom? IT'S HUGE!” Merry walked over to Luna who was just confused at the idea of washing 30 foals. “Don’t worry honey bun, just get some of the maids to help you, I’m sure they would enjoy it. I on the other hand have some business to attend too.” Luna just raised an eyebrow at him

“And what exactly are you going to do?” Merry just smiled at her as he cracked his neck. He leaned in close and whispered into her ear

“Three of the day guards are foal fiddler’s.” Luna’s eyes went wide as Merry leaned back with the smile still on his face “I GOTTA GO CLEEAAN HOOUSE!” Merry pointed over to Paul and motioned for him to follow him.

Merry and Paul left the room while Luna and the scribe just looked at each other. Luna cleared her throat again

“Scribe, gather all the maids that are still awake and tell them to meet me at my bath. About 10 should do.”

“But Momma Luna we wanna stay up with you!” Luna just smiled warmly

“Perhaps tomorrow little ones, I’m sure you’re tired after such a long day anyway. You can adjust to staying up late with me if you wish. After all, we can get to know each other better in the bath. I have still yet to learn all of your names after all.” All the fillies and colts just looked up to Luna and smiled. As they walked to the bath many of them were running around and looking in awe at everything the castle had to offer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry and Paul walked down toward the day guards Barracks, or more accurately, Paul lead the way.

“So Paul, We should meet up with the day guards commander first.”  Paul didn't turn around or nod he simply took a sharp left

“Then we must go see Commander Blade. He took over after Shining Armor left to watch over the crystal kingdom with his wife Cadence.” Merry nodded as they walked over to Blade’s room. Apparently it wasn’t far from the day barracks. It was actually next door, he just had a room to himself. Merry barged into his room as the door was unlocked

“Commander Blade!” The white pony jumped out of bed and quickly got to his hooves with a small blade clenched in his teeth. After looking around for a bit he calmed down and spat the blade out.

“Who are you... and what’s going on Paul?” Paul just cleared his throat and motioned over to Merry who was just smiling at him.

“Names Merry Commander Blade, You’re gonna help us weed out some foal fiddlers among the day guards, 3 to be exact.” Blades face turned red as he snorted steam.

“You have proof I assume?” Merry just gave him a smug grin

“That I do, extremely detailed descriptions of what they look like and their cutie marks. Now don your armor, lets go wake them up. We have 3 predators to catch.” Blade huffed out more steam from his nose

“I’ll gut those muthabuckers alive!” Blade threw on all of his armor and weapons and charged out the room. Merry laughed as he and Paul followed him out the door and around another corner leading to a large double door. Blade spun around and bucked the door open knocking one off its hinges. Many of the guards jumped to their hooves and stared at the commander. One of them stepped forward

“Sir! Are we under attack?!” Blade just looked at him and snorted again.

“Were not under attack, Now LINE UP AND MAKE YOUR CUTIE MARKS VISABLE!” All the guards scrambled to line up at attention while Merry just walked around the room.

‘Lets see, looking for a yellow shield... a blue sword...aand aha, the axe.’ Merry pointed at the 3 stallions with the cutie marks from the memories he extracted and motioned for them to move forward. “The rest of you are dismissed, but you are more then welcome to stay.” Merry just grinned at the 3 stallions who stepped forward.

“Hello why don’t you take a seat.” Merry motioned to the nearby table with the chairs. So they sat down and asked

“Who are you supposed to be?” Merry just smiled

“My name is Merry Sue, and welcome to How to catch a Foal Fiddler.” The 3 stallions tensed up, Blue was the 1st to speak up.

“W-What do you mean?” Merry put his hands on the table and leaned in close

“You three have been accused of the rape of underage colts and fillies at a local orphanage called The Wayward Foal. How do you plead?” Axe spoke up next

“What?! That’s crazy! You have no Proof!” Merry grinned at him

“Oh really? Because 3 colts and 4 fillies disagree with you. The scar on your belly was mentioned numerous times.” Axe gulped and then Yellow spoke up

“Where are these foals then? Why not have them point us out?”

“Excellent question! You see, I have the ability to extract information from another’s mind forcefully or willingly. The colts and fillies were more than willing to give me the information. The headmaster meet with an unfortunate accident as he was unwilling to share the information. And as for the colts and fillies, they are now all bathing with Princess Luna and some smoking hot maids at the moment.” The 3 Stallions gulped visibly as Blade drew his sword and walked closer to the table.

“No wonder you three always hung out together, ya sick bucks.” Blade slammed his sword into the table and shouted. “HOLD THESE 3 CORRUPT BASTARDS DOWN!” Many of the nearby guards that didn’t leave jumped the three stallions and held them down to the ground. Blade yanked his sword out of the table and cut their manes off along with their tails. Merry shook his head in disappointment 

“Is that all? You cut their hair?” Merry just shook his head “Let me show you how to deal with sick bastards like this.” Merry walked up to the Stallion he named Yellow and looked him in the face as the other guards held him down.

“I don’t know how you got this way.” Merry reached over and grabbed his testicles “I know its not alright.” With a huge grin on his face his began to crush them with all his strength. Through the Stallion screams Merry yelled “SO I’M BREAKING THE HABIT!” A popping sound was heard as the stallion passed out. Merry released his grip and moved on to the next Stallion, Blue.

“Please stop!” Merry just laughed as he griped Blues testicles 

“But I’m breaking your habit!” Merry began to squeeze with all his might again. “Clutching the cure, I...” Another loud pop was heard as the stallion passed out. Axe looked on in fear as he struggled to get away.

“Please you don’t have to do this!” Merry just laughed again as he shook his head

“Why does that sound so familiar? Oh yes that’s right, that’s what little Lincoln told you right before you told him to...What was it again?” Merry reached down and grabbed his testes and grinned “ah yes that’s right, SHUT-UP AND TAKE IT LIKE A STALLION!” Instead of crushing them he simply pulled back and ripped them off. Axe screamed and Merry shoved Axe’s torn off balls into his mouth, shutting him up.

“Quit your bellyaching ya stupid foal.” Axe foamed at the mouth as he passed out. Blade, Paul, and all the guards in the room backed away as Merry looked up to the ceiling and sighed.

“That’s a decent stress release. Now, you guys head back to bed after these 3 are taken care of. I have a big day planned tomorrow with Celestia.” Merry left the barracks with his hands in his pockets leaving all the guards behind.

“Commander Blade?”

“Yeah private?”

“I’m scared of Merry, I hope he really isn’t going to be King.” Blade and Paul nodded.

“Me too private, me too.” Off in the distance they heard Merry yell

"I'M BREEAKING THE HAABIT!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna was washing several of the little colts and fillies with her magic while some unicorn maids did the same.

“Oh my, Princess Luna are we really going to have so many cute fillies and colts around the castle now?” one of the maids was looking at Luna who had her tongue out in concentration while washing one of the colts.

“Yes, Merry decided that we should, I was skeptical at 1st, but I’m starting to enjoy this lifestyle already.” Luna rubbed her nose against a colt and hugged him. “Besides, They all love their momma Luna!” all the fillies and colts cheered in unison

“Yeah! Momma Luna is the best!”

“Does this make me a prince?”

“Oh oh! Does this make me a Princess?!”

“Doesn’t this make us all royalty!?” Luna laughed and smiled

“Yes, you are all technically Princes and Princesses now. But that means you will have responsibilities when you get older as well.” Some of the kids moaned a bit but stopped when they heard some noise coming from outside the door.

“This is Luna’s bath right?”

“Yes Sir Merry, Luna, several maids, and the young ones are all inside at the moment, I suggest you wait out here.” Merry laughed

“I do what I WANT!” Merry flung the door open and waltzed inside. “Hi Everybody!” The maids, Luna and some of the fillies tried to cover up and shouted

“What are you doing?! Get out we are in the bath!” Merry just face palmed and laughed

“What does it matter? You’re all naked 90% of the time anyway, what does a little water matter?” Several items were thrown in Merry’s direction until a blue magical bolt hit him squarely in the chest and flung him outside.

‘Magical bolts, another weakness.’ Merry just laid on the floor where the bolt flung him and put his hands behind his head. “I’ll Just wait right here then!”

The door guard shook his head and closed the bathroom door. After a few minutes Merry got bored and put in his earbuds. Hoobastank - The Reason. He began to sing out loud as he lay upon the floor.

“I’m Not a Perfect Person!” the guard just looked at Merry

“There’s many things I wish I didn’t do, but I continue learning. I never meant to do those things to you!” The guard looked around and didn’t see anyone else around him.

“And so I have to say before I gooo! That I just want you to know!!” The guard raised an eyebrow

“I’ve found a reason for me! To change who I used to be!!” The guards eyes went wide

“A Reason to Start over NEEWW!!! And the reason is yoou...” The guard began to blush

“I’m Sorry that I hurt you” the guard shuffled around nervously

“But uh, you didn’t hurt me...” Merry ignored him and kept singing

“It’s something I must live with everyday! And all the pain I put you through. I wish that I could take it all away! And be the one who catches all your tears! That’s why I need you to heeaar!” The guard was starting to blush even more as Merry just sang on the floor looking at him.

“You know I uhh...” the guard spun around and saw Luna and a few maids had peaked their heads out to see what all the noise was along with some of the fillies. Merry ignored the fact they were now looking at him

“I’ve found a reason for mee, to change who I used to bee! A reason to start over neew. And the reason IS YOOUU!!! AND THE REASON IS YOOOUU!” Luna and the maids all blushed with the guard. Luna yelled out the door at Merry

“What are you talking about!” Merry just smiled at their confused and blushed faces as he continued

“I’m not a perfect person...You know you look pretty sexy with your mane down like that Luna. I guess a little water goes a long way.” Merry took out his ear buds and stood up. “So you guys done in their yet?” Luna just sighed

“Let us dry off and rinse the last few off, and we will be done.” Merry just crossed his arms and nodded his head.

“Eggcellent.” While Merry waited outside a few more maids came up to the bathroom door. They nodded at Merry and the guard, then shouted through the door.

“Princess Luna!  The rooms for the children have been all set up.” Princess Luna walked out of the bathroom followed by the maids and children.

“Good timing we have just finished our baths. Now we can get the children ready for bed.” Many of the children moaned is disagreement.

“Now now children, there is a big day planned tomorrow. We still have some things to do to make sure you are all a proper part of the family and coronations must be done as well. And introductions must be done for my sister in the morning.” Some of the foals dropped their heads but agreed to it anyway and they were all whisked off to the rooms. Six in a room and they each had their own beds. The rooms were more like large apartments with three bathrooms in each one. When Luna and the maids had finished tucking all the children in she sighed and decided to go back to her throne room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Merry! You can't sit in the throne, Princess Luna will be back shortly!” Merry waved his hand limply at the scribe as he put on the crown that was on the seat.

“I do what I want. I’m going to be king anyway.” The scribe sighed in defeat

“Fine just don’t blame me if Luna gets mad at you.” Merry just laughed

“She wont get mad...I think.” As Merry finished his sentence and sat down Princess Luna walked through the door and gasped.

“What are you doing?!” Luna ran up to Merry

“Just seeing what its going to be like as a king is all...its kinda boring.” Luna just sighed and used her telekinesis to take the crown off Merry and set it to the side.

“Yes night court is rather...boring.” Merry raised as eyebrow and stood up

“Why don’t you let me take over tonight while you go back to sleep.” Luna just cocked her right eyebrow at Merry and tilted her head.

“And why on Equestria would I do that?” Merry just gave her a smug smile

“Because you and Celestia are going to hang out with all the kids tomorrow while we travel around the city to flaunt our stuff.”

“Huh?” Luna thought for a moment and smiled “Yes that is a good idea, nothing ever happens in night court anyway, and I would to love get to know the children better...If they are indeed to going to stay with us.” Merry nodded his head

“Yes, of course it’s a good idea I came up with it. Now you should get your rest so you can stay awake all day, or most of it anyway.” Luna nodded her head in agreement

“Yes, I haven’t had time to be with my sister in awhile. This will be perfect if you are going to ‘watch’ over my duties for tonight.” Merry nodded his head again

“Yes yes, big day tomorrow so get your self some rest so you don’t yawn all day.” Luna kissed Merry on the cheek

“Thank you for letting me have some fun, for once...” Merry just shooed her out of the room

“Yes I know I’m a saint and everything. So go do yer thing while I do mine. I’ll come get you with the kids so we can go wake up Celly.” Luna giggled and left the throne room leaving Merry and the shocked scribe behind.

“Sir Merry...” Merry turned around and looked at the scribe

“Hey you wouldn’t happen to know anything about prisoners would you?” The scribe shook his head

“No, I do not deal with them and I only know what comes in the papers, or if something serious has happened.” Merry just nodded and sat back down in the throne and sighed.

“So is there really nothing to do during night court?” The scribe tilted his head in thought.

“Well, yeah nothing happens normally. Sometimes during holidays it can get busy around here, or if the Gala or some other large event comes along that will go into the night. But there is no such thing happening any time soon I'm afraid.” Merry just sighed again and put his earbuds in.

“Well alright then, you are dismissed, you may do what ever it is you feel like doing, I’m just gonna sit here. Oh yeah, when does Celestia usually wake up?”

“Its around 5 A.M. she wakes up, prepares then raises the sun while Luna lower’s the moon. Then they eat breakfast together and exchange pleasantries before Luna goes to sleep.”

“Hmm, sounds like a boring type of schedule poor Luna is stuck with. No wonder she seemed so happy at the idea of hanging out with her sis during the day time.” Merry just sighed “time to pass the time with some music then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna was sleeping peacefully after having a hard time getting to sleep. It's pretty hard to sleep when you’re not sleepy. She was probably only asleep for 4 hours before Merry barged into her room being as loud as possible.

“WERE ALL LIVING IN AMERICA! AMERICA! ITS WUNDERBAR!” Luna literally fell out of her bed yelling

“Merry! Did you need to wake me in such a rude manner? And what is America?” Merry just laughed

“Haha, sorry Lulu. I was listening to all the Rammstein albums and some of the songs just got stuck in my head. America is the country I am originally from. Its an alright place, I just think it could be better managed, some areas anyway” Luna just shook her head and walked over to her vanity mirror and began to fix her mane.

“What time is it?”

“Its 4 A.M. love, we gotta go get the kids and make sure we get to wake Celestia up as well.” Merry just had a huge grin on his face and Luna just raised an eyebrow

“Are you planning to wake her up the same you did with me?” Merry just gave her a stupid grin.

“I have something even better planned for her. Now hurry and lets go.” Luna decided to just use a spell to fix her mane up and put on her royal decorations. They left her room and nodded to the guards as they traveled to the rooms the children were sleeping in. 

When they got to the rooms Luna and Merry woke them all up gently, telling them they were going to go wake Celestia now. Many of the children immediately woke up while others needed a bit more convincing before waking up before the sun was up.

With the children all awake and ready to go they traveled to Celestia’s room, they had about 10 minutes before she woke up. It was a good thing the maids had placed the children’s rooms so close to both Luna and Celestia’s rooms. When they got to Celestia’s room the two guards looked at the massive group coming and just raised an eyebrow at what was happening.

“Hello there gentlemen, we are here to wake Princess Celestia so she can begin her day, I know she will be waking shortly but we want to surprise her.” The guards nodded and opened the door. The door closed behind them when everypony was inside. Merry just put his finger up to his lips and said

“Shhh, I’m gonna wake her up now.” Merry crept over to her bedside and went up to her sleeping face. He proceeded to put his right hand on her face and kissed her on the lips. “Its time to wake up baby girl.” Celestia’s eyes shot open and realized she was face to face with Merry and her lips were wet.

“TIS NOT FAIR!” Merry turned around to face Luna as Celestia jumped out of bed not completely sure what just happened.

“What exactly...” Celestia saw all the foal’s in her room standing around looking at her. “Who are they?” Merry just smiled as he spoke

“Luna and I got busy last night, nothing too crazy ya know? But uh, say hello to the 30 new filles and colts that will be joining your family, Aunt Celly.” Celestia’s mouth dropped as Luna went up to Merry

“Why did she get a kiss when all I got was you singing stupidly loud!?” Merry just cocked an eyebrow

“You sounds jealous Lulu, Did you want a kiss as well?” Some of the fillies giggled while the colts just went blegh.

“I-I uh, I just, guuh!” Luna closed her mouth and puffed out her cheeks. Causing Merry to laugh who just walked over to her and placed his hand on her cheek.

"Have some suger baby.” Merry kissed her on the cheek “I’ll give you some more sugar another time. For now we must go!” Luna began to blush a bit while Celestia was still just confused

“I need an Explanation as to whats going on.” Merry just chuckled

“Yes yes, well last night we went to an orphanage and Luna loved them all so much she wanted to adopt all 30 of them, so we did. I’ll give you all the details at a later date. Fo now the introduction must begin! Children, would you kindly introductory yourselves to Aunt Celly?” All the children ran up and around Celestia with big grins on their faces as they began to introduce themselves.

“Hi, My names Adam Apple!” 

“I’m Abbie Feather!” 

“Names Charlie Horst!” 

“I’m Daisy!” 

“They call me Echo Ed!” 

“You can call me Fifi” 

“My note said I’m called Pink!” 

“Just call me Floyd” 

‘OH SHIT! PINK FLOYD! I wonder if those two will combine and make a musical band’

“My name is Gizmo Gears!” 

“You can call me Grimm” 

“They call me Hannibal.” 

“And I’m Lecter” 

‘That sounds familiar.’

“Hi princess, my name is Isabelle.” 

“Aand maah naame is Ju-Ju Jinx” 

“I am known as Kalypso .” 

“you can call me Kira...” 

‘The shy type huh?’

“MY NAME IS KRATOS!” 

‘GOD OF WAR! Oh wait...’

“My name is Lillian Lily” 

“I’m Loki, Princess.” 

“Hi I’m Maggie Pie!” 

“My name's Nick!” 

“They call me Noah Ark!” 

“I AM OZZY OSBOURNE!!”

‘WHAT THE FUCK?!’

“Mah names PJ Aunt Celly, its short fer Peanut Jammer” 

‘How did they come across a name like that? No wonder he goes by PJ’

“You may call me Quincy Adams” 

“My name is Robin, like the birdie” 

“My name is Sandy” 

“My name is...um, its Lincoln.” 

“My name is Tabitha Aunt Celly!” 

“And last, but not least is me, ZOEY!” 

Celestia gave them all a nervous smile and a giggle as they each introduced themselves.

“My word, It may take me a bit of time to remember all of you, but I shall try. Why don’t you kids go wait with Luna on the balcony while I speak to Merry for a moment.” All of the colts and fillies jumped up and down as they traveled to the balcony with Luna behind them all.

“Merry explain this at once!” Merry sighed

“Long story short, I convinced Luna to go visit the orphanage that was asking for more money. When we got there with some guards we found out they were running some kind of sick foal fiddler business. So we shut them down and I opted for Luna to adopt all the children after I absorbed all the children’s bad memories of being sexually molested. Not only that but I also absorbed all the damage done to their bodies...basically making them all virgins again.” Celestia’s eyes went wide at what Merry had just said.

“So all those children...” Merry put a hand on her mouth

“Just forget it all happened and just go along with it ok? I also have vivid memories of everything that happened, I know who is a foal fiddler and who isn’t now. I remember all the Cutie marks. And 3 of them were in your day guards no less. Oddly no night guards, guess that says something about the screening process eh?” Celestia sighed

“I’m assuming you took care of those day guards already?” Merry just grinned

“Of course I did Celly. Now if you want more details it will have to be at a later time when the little ones aren’t around. Luna can give you some details seeing as how she was there the whole time.” Celestia smiled warmly at Merry

“It sounds like you were very busy last night indeed, and Luna does love children, However 30 may be a bit much for her to handle all at once.” Merry just scoffed 

“Pish posh my dear, she is a god, if she cant handle 30 prepubescent children how could she handle a country? Now go and do yer thing so the kids can watch and we can all go out for Breakfast!” Celestia just looked down at Merry

“Breakfast? We wont be eating in the castle?” Merry shook his head

“Nope! Were gonna go to a place called The Prancing Pony.” Celestia just raised an eyebrow

“That low end place in the bad part of town?” Merry just chuckled

“Didn’t seem all the bad to me, and the food was exquisite. So bring all yer bits cause were gonna need a table for 33 plus any guards you bring along!”

Celestia face hoofed as she walked out to the balcony followed by Merry.
>  Moma Luna, Aunt Celly, the 30 Foals, and Merry Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	All of the children were thrilled to witness Luna bring down the moon while Celestia brought the sun up. The little Unicorn fillies and colts asked if they would be able to someday do that. Celestia giggled while Luna tilted her head up in thought and just answered with the classic maybe. 

After the sun was up Celestia turned around to Merry and just shook her head. She went over to her door guards and cleared her throat to get their attention. 

“Would you two gentlecolts care to join us all for breakfast in the city?” The two guards looked at each other and then saluted Princess Celestia before walking up to her side

“We would be honored Princess.” Celestia smiled as she left the room followed by Luna, the kids, Merry and the 2 guards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the large group of ponies walked down the streets of Canterlot everyone bowed as the two princesses walked by and the princesses would simply nod back. One of the ponies went up to Princess Celestia after he bowed

“Princess, are you leading a school field trip or something?” Celestia shook her head and giggled

“No no, nothing of the sort. I am an aunt while Luna here seems to of adopted these 30 fillies and colts over night...” The high class ponies simply nodded then paused for a moment at hearing what Celestia just said.

“Wait what?!” Merry just laughed and he went between Celestia and the ponies

“We have a schedule to keep here, if you don’t mind we are heading over to get some breakfast at The Prancing Pony.” Merry gently pushed the stunned pony out of the way and led the way to the restaurant in question.

When they arrived a crowed had formed behind them as they traveled. Merry opened the door to the establishment and announced his presence.

“HEY GUYS I’M BACK! I brought some guests as well.” The waitress from last night, Jane, looked up from the pony who was already seated and placing an order. When she saw Celestia and Princess Luna she fell over a bit but caught herself before falling completely. 

“When you get the chance I need seating for 35 over here.” The 2 other ponies in the restaurant stared in awe at the 2 princesses walking in who were  followed by 30 children.

“I don’t know Merry, this place doesn’t seem like it would make high class food.” Celestia just looked around and saw the place looked rather plain. Merry just shook his head in disappointment

“Celestia my dear, All the great things in life aren’t on a silver platter, sometimes they are found in a dirty hole. All it takes is a keen eye and bit of time, Now let us get our seats yes?” Jane had run into the back to bring out some extra chairs and a fold up table to accommodate the large amount of ponies. In a few minutes everyone was seated. Jane wiped some sweat off her head and took a deep breath

“Now that everyone is seated, I have just one question. What made you come back Luna?” Jane looked Luna directly into the eyes as she waited for an answer.

“Well, honestly it was the cooking, or preparation if you will. That salad I ordered was delicious. Sam’s Salad dressing was something entirely new, and frankly I loved it.” Jane got a huge grin on her face

“Be right back.” Jane galloped into the back of the restaurant and into the kitchen. About a minute later some excited shouting could be heard from Sam in the back. They both came back out from the kitchen and Sam just gawked

“Well I’ll be damned, I didn’t think you would come back with the whole family so soon.” Sam just laughed. “Merry ya son of bitch, You actually brought both princesses and all the little colts and fillies with you?” Merry just laughed

“Yes, yes I did, now if you don’t mind we would like some breakfast.” Sam just chuckled

“Well alright then, Jane will take your order while I prep the kitchen up.” Sam went back into the kitchen and the sound of pots and pans being brought out was clearly heard.

The two guards took their seats by the door while the children were seated around Luna and Celestia yet again. Merry, Luna, and Celestia sat in a table in the middle of the madness with a few of the children. Jane was going around collecting orders from the children and came to Princess Luna and Celestia last.

“I shall have a salad, and some of that dressing that Luna spoke well of.” Jane nodded and turned to Luna who was looking through the menu and pointed at an item on the list.

“This wasn’t here last night, when did you make new menus?” Jane just frowned and looked at Merry

“After he told Sam two new things to try he went home and made them, he promptly created new menus and went to bed late last night. His wife came with him this morning and told him to sleep more, but he insisted on coming to work today and told her to come by later with Mustang for a surprise.” Jane just shook her head “Honestly he needs to watch his own well being. I’ve only known the stallion for two days, and I figured out he was reckless with his own health.” Merry just grunted

“Thanks for the story doll cakes, but could we place our order now?” Jane just glared at Merry as she brought out her notepad, Luna cleared her throat 

“Well that was rather rude of you Merry, but none the less I want to try some of these fried potato strings with another delicious salad.” Jane nodded and turned to Merry

“Yes, I will take the uh...the...Potato Discs with a side of Mackerel.” Jane scribbled in her notepad and then went back into the kitchen to hand Sam the huge order. Merry just leaned back in his chair and looked out the window.

“Do people like watching Royalty eat or what the fuck?” Merry just looked at the huge amount of ponies standing outside the window looking in. The only thing he noticed that was different was that many of them wore cloths. Like suits, pants, and ties. It was really weird looking. Luna and Celestia turned around to look as well and gasped

“Sister, Why are so many ponies outside? Are they just waiting for a spot to open?” Celestia just bit her lip

“Actually, this would be the 4th time I’ve eaten a meal outside the castle, its always been this way. For some reason ponies like watching royalty eat.” Celestia shook her head “it’s the reason why I always eat at home.” Merry just smiled

“Let em watch, I bet they are all super jealous that they cant come in and eat with the princesses and their 30 new kids.” One of the colts at the table looked at Merry.

“Yeah! I cant wait till school tomorrow when I get to tell everyone my mom is Luna now.” Merry just looked at him

“What was your name again?” Before the Colt could answer him Luna spoke up

“He is Kratos, Merry.” Luna pointed her hoof at the colt then went around the table “Lillian, PJ, Ozzy Osborune, Zoey and Sandy are seated at the table with us.” Merry’s mouth just dropped

“You memorized all of their names already?” Luna nodded her head

“But of course, I am their mother right? I should know their names.”

‘’Bitch better know the names of her kids''

Merry looked around and couldn’t figure out who said that, but shrugged it off because Luna and Celestia didn’t say anything about it. The rest of the meal went as normal, everyone ate and had a good time, the crowd outside grew to an enormous amount of ponies. It looked like they were going to a show of some kind. After an hour or so everyone had finished eating and conversing and the bill came yet again. For some reason Jane passed it to Merry again, who just made a funny face and handed it to Celestia.

“Why do you always pass me the bill Jane?” Jane just smirked

“I figured the king would be able to handle such a little bill.” Merry just scoffed

“Yeah ok, I'm not the king yet, so my dates will handle it for me.” Celestia just raised an eyebrow as she looked between Merry and the bill then sighed.

“I suppose this match’s up for a party of 35.” Celestia levitated out the bag of bits she brought and took out the required amount plus an extra 30 for the tip.

As they were leaving Merry looked out into the crowd of ponies and saw a little orange Pegasus sitting on top of one the ponies heads.

“Excuse me for a second ladies, I need to go check something.” Merry broke off from the group and went into the crowd to the pony that had the young orange Pegasus on his head. By the time he reached the blue pony the orange one flew off into the sky and disappeared. 

“Hey, who was that little filly who was sitting on your head just now?” The pony and everyone else around him just looked at him and around at each other.

“What are you talking about?” Merry looked around at all their faces and then back to his group who was just staring at him. He sighed

“Nevermind...” Merry looked at the regular pony and saw his cutie mark, he had a vivid flash back of the orphanage again with that same cutie mark of 2 bowling balls. “Say what’s your name?” The blue pony just shuffled his hooves around a bit

“Its uh, my name is Turbo.” Merry just nodded his head

“Alright, why don’t you come with us to the castle, you seem like the fun type.” The blue pony suddenly got excited

“Really? In the castle!?” Merry just nodded his head 

“Yup, let us hurry now.” Merry went back to the group and nodded at Celestia who just raised an eyebrow at Merry and the new pony.

“Who might this be?” Merry just cleared his throat

“I have personally selected this gentleman to join us at the castle... or would it be gentlepony? I still haven’t gotten all of your terms yet.” As the stallion looked around at the group he was smiling, but his smile faded when he saw all the children around Luna. Luna noticed how his demeanor changed when he saw the children.

“I uh, On second thought I have other business to attend to.” Before Turbo could leave Luna levitated him back near one of the guards.

“Nonsense, join us at the castle would you? I’m sure we all could have plenty of fun. Guards keep him company yes?” The guards simply nodded and stood on either side of him to prevent him from leaving again. Celestia just raised an eyebrow at Luna’s actions and dropped her head low to whisper to Merry

“Is he one of them?” Merry simply nodded and pointed up to the sky

“LET US BE OFF TO THE CASTLE NOW!” With Merry yelling many of ponies had brought their hooves up to block the sound. 

They all traveled to the castle together and the whole way Merry was making exaggerated steps as he put an ear bud in. He began to sing some lyrics to the song Disturbed - Never Again.

“All that I have left inside is a soul that’s filled with pride. I tell you never again. In a brave Society, Didn’t end up killing me.” Luna, Celestia, the guards, Turbo and the children all looked at Merry as he sang

“Scream with me, Never Again! NOT AGAIN!” Some of the children in the group also shouted after Merry did

“NEVER AGAIN!”

“NOT AGAIN!” Merry laughed as he continued to sing.

“A generation that was persecuted endlessly, Exterminated by the Nazi war machine. We will remember, let the story be told to realize how we lost our humanity.”Celestia and Luna looked at each other as they kept walking

“You Dare to tell me that there never was a Holocaust. You think that history will leave the memory lost? Another Hitler using fear to control. You're gonna fail this time for the world to see” Celestia looked at Merry

“Merry who is...” Merry didn’t bother to let her finish and kept going

“All that I have left inside is a soul that’s filled with pride. I tell you never again!” Celestia just shook her head at being interrupted mid sentence.

“In a brave society, didn’t end up killing me. Scream with me...” All the children joined in this time louder than before

“NEVER AGAIN! NOOT AGAAIN!!! RA!” Celestia and Luna just looked at all the children and Merry as they shouted together in the middle of the Canterlot street.

“For the countless souls who died, Their voices fill this night, Sing with me NEVER AGAIN!” The children sang the never again line with Merry with just as much enthusiasm as before.

“They aren’t lost you see, The truth will live in me, Believe me NEVER AGAIN!” Merry stopped singing and just kept walking like nothing happened. Celestia and Luna weren’t gonna have any of that, they wanted an explanation.

“Merry what was that all about?” Merry just turned around with a confused look on his face

“What was what?” Celestia face hoofed while Luna spoke

“That song, it was a song correct? What was it about exactly? Who was that Hitler character?” Merry just sighed

“At a later date perhaps, I’ll just leave it as a dark time within human history where the man named Hitler hunted a specific type of person, with the thought of extermination in his mind.” Merry got his smile back “But the only thing you do need to know, is that it will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!” Merry had stuck his hand into the air as he yelled up to the sky. Merry then turned to look at Turbo who was still between the two guards, he pointed at him and smiled

“Never again” Turbo gulped as they finished traveling to the castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone went into the throne room with the exception of Turbo and the 2 guards, who went straight to the dungeon per request of Celestia and Luna.

“Merry now that we have a bit of time, we must speak for a while.” Luna interjected Celestia

“But sister! Merry took over night court for me so I could get some sleep and so we could spend the day together with the children!” Celestia sighed

“Yes I know Luna, I only wish to speak with him for a moment, why don’t you take the children out to the courtyard to play? I will join you shortly.” Luna nodded her head with a smile on her face as she led the children out.

“Come children! Let us go have fun in the courtyard while we wait for my sister to join us!” The children happily bounced around as they followed her out the door.

“Now that the children and Luna are gone things can get serious here.” Merry nodded his head at Celestia

“Indeed, when are you gonna tell me how to reach the griffin kingdoms? Or am I just gonna be forced to wander aimlessly?” Celestia just sighed

“I wont tell you yet, first we should talk about you, and how Luna ended up with 30 kids. You once told me you were an open book, I hope that still stands now?” Merry just grinned at her

“But of course, you just need to ask the right questions.” Celestia took a deep breath

“Why? Why must you travel to the griffin kingdoms just to enact revenge?”

“Why? You ask me why I wish the see the river’s run red with the blood of those responsible for causing her death? I know full well I am partly to blame for it. It was me they were after and she ended up being collateral damage.”

“Merry, you are not to blame, and neither are the griffins that set the bounty on your head. It was all the bounty hunters fault, He went after her specifically for his own sick games.” Merry just growled

“So its all that bounty hunters fault? Who’s fault was it that the bounty hunter came in the 1st place? The Fucking Griffins! And who’s fault was it they placed a bounty on my head? It was my own stupid fault. We’re all to blame.” Celestia sighed

“Alright then, we can pick this up again later, but tell me again how Luna now has 30 children?” Merry just laughed

“Well you see, it all started when...” ‘’Celestia didn’t save her either’‘ “...when Luna was looking over the paper work that was left over from the day before and one was an orphanage asking for some money. The scribe said you had already sent them a bunch of money before hand but they were asking yet again.” 

“Yes, but how does that explain why she has 30 of them now?” ‘’Let him Finish ya fucking Whore!’‘ Merry cleared his throat as he looked around the room

“Well uh, Hey did you hear anything just now?” Celestia just looked around

“No I didn’t hear anything...” Merry just sighed

‘So am I going crazy now?’

 ‘’You were always fucking crazy you stupid bitch’‘ 

’‘’Its rude to call him that Curse’‘’ 

 ’...fuck’

“O.K. so anyway, uhh, I convinced her to travel down to the orphanage with me to see what was going on, that’s when we find out they were running some sick shit down and we fixed it up all good like. However there was no way in hell I was going to let any of those kids stick around there any longer, So I took away all of their negative memories of that place and any physical damage.” Merry grinned at Celestia as he closed his eyes. 

“It was kinda cute actually when they snapped back into it and the light returned to their eye’s, they would look around the room and ask me what’s going on. So I made something up real quick and the 1st thing I thought of was...”

“That Luna came to adopt them all?” Merry just smiled

‘’SHE DID IT AGAIN!’‘

“Yeah, Figured you could afford it anyway.” Celestia just sighed then smiled

“Well alright then, Luna has always had a thing for kids.” Celestia giggled a bit “She still tells me of the time she went to Ponyville and a small colt told her she was his favorite Princess.” Merry just rubbed the back of his head

“Hey Princess, what do you know about hearing voices of those that are not in the room?”

“You mean like a spell or...?”

“No, just hearing voices, like a crazy person.” Celestia pondered it in thought for a moment

“I’m not quite sure, it sounds like a mental illness of some kind. Why do you ask?”

“Oh nothing really, just wondering what you ponies know of psychology.”

“Well, it isn’t much, we have only had a few cases over the years of ponies going crazy, and when they do, it's normally the fault of the god of Chaos, Discord, but he has been sealed up and only escaped once recently. But that is all said and done now.”

‘Great so they know nothing of this? I doubt there’s a spell to fix it now.’

‘’Yup’‘

‘’‘Do not fret dear, its not going to be all that bad’‘’

‘’yeah! Its just the two of us ya numb nuts!’‘

‘’‘Must you always be so rude Curse?’‘’

‘’Shut-up Mistress! Go choke on a fat dick!’‘

“Well alright then Celestia, I’m gonna go to my room for a bit to unwind. I’ll come find you guys later I suppose.” Celestia raised an eyebrow at Merry as he turned around

“Are you Okay Merry?” She brought up a hoof and touched him on the shoulder causing him to jump forward and spin around breathing heavily. He exhaled and raised a hand at Celestia

“Sorry about that, I think I might of bit off more than I can chew when I brought all those kids to normal.” Celestia just raised her brow in concern

“What do you mean exactly?”

“When something touches me and I don’t see it happen, my mind is flooded with images of what had happened before...you know when the kids would just be grabbed and brought into a room or something. I’m going to have to get used to that.” Merry just shook his head “Anyway, I am going to unwind in my room for a bit. Time for some happy thought time” Merry brought out his iPod and began to scroll through his list.

‘Hmm yes, this should work Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom’

‘’That songs gay! You need something more violent and angry!’‘

‘’‘I think it’s a perfect choice’‘’

Merry just shook his head again as he hit play on his iPod. He walked away putting his ear buds in. Celestia just watched him leave with a worried expression on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile in Ponyville Spike was reading through the daily gossip magazine, Ponies, and went wide eyed at the article about Princess Celestia and Luna.

“TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!! TWIIILIIGHT!!!” Twilight came down the stairs with a frown on her face

“Spike what is it this time? You’re not seriously reading through one of those Gossip magazines again are you? I swear just because Rarity does something doesn’t mean you have to as well.” Spike just huffed some green flame from his nose

“I’m only doing it so we could have something to talk about... But anyway look! There’s an article about the Princesses!” Twilight went wide eyed and snatched the magazine from Spike’s claws with her magic and she read it. Twilight jaw dropped

“King?! The Princesses are going to get Married?!” Twilight went through the article some more “It doesnt give any details on who the king is! All it says is that its not a pony!” Twilight quick bout of confused rage settled fairly quickly as it hit her “MERRY! WHAT DID HE DO?!” Spike slowly backed away and lifted his left claw up

“Calm down Twilight, maybe its not what you think.” Twilight just glared at Spike

“Calm down!? It says Celestia is carrying his foal AND LUNA’S HORN TASTES LIKE BLUEBERRY’S!!” Twilight was fuming and looked like she was ready to burst

“Twi please lets go see him! Maybe its not as bad as you think! They are probably just exaggerating!” Twilight calmed down and clapped her hooves together

“Excellent idea! Lets get the girls and head out to Canterlot to clear this mess up!” Twilight ran upstairs and grumbled to herself “why doesn’t my horn taste like blueberry’s...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry was just laying on his bed talking to himself.

“Soo, the angry ones name is Curse, and the nice ones name is Mistress then?”

‘’That’s right ya Stupid fucking bitch, took you long enough!’‘

‘’‘Please Curse there’s no need to speak in such a way’‘’

‘’But if I don’t tell him he’s a dumb bitch, who else is going to do it?!’‘ Merry just sighed

‘’‘Because calling him a dumb bitch is totally unnecessary Curse.’‘’

“Yeah I don’t need to be told things I already know.”

‘’BAWHAHA! Not just that but you’re pretty damn useless, your only talent so far seems to be killing things.’‘

“Hey Curse, shut the fuck up.” Merry sat up in the bed

‘’Why should I? What are you gonna do hit me? You cant even find me ya bitch!’‘

‘’‘Curse that is enough, can you not see you are upsetting him?’‘’

‘’Aww, is the poor little faggot gonna cry now?’‘ Merry gritted his teeth and yelled as loud as possible

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Both of the voices in his head stopped responding when the door to his room opened and a maid walked in.

“Is everything ok, Sir Merry? I heard you yelling from down the hall.” Merry just sighed and rubbed his head

“Yeah I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”

‘Guess I shouldn’t yell when talking to you two.’

“Well, alright then Sir Merry, do you need anything?” Merry just watched as she came up to him.

‘’Hey, you should totally fuck her, I bet she would let you.’‘

‘’‘No! Don’t do such a thing! What if she is saving herself for someone?’‘’

‘’If she was saving herself she wouldn’t be swaying her hips and tail like that in our direction.’‘

‘Would you both shut-up? Besides, my dicks too small to do anything good.’

‘’Who cares as long as you get yours?’‘ Merry looked up as he thought for a moment then shook his head.

“Yeah, can you take me to see Celestia and Luna? I think I’m done relaxing for now.” The maid nodded her head

“Yes of course, they are still out in the yard, follow me” Merry followed her out the room toward where the Princesses and the children were.

‘’Look at her sway! She wants the D!’‘

‘’‘She is swaying pretty hard’‘’ Merry just face palmed as he followed the maid

‘Could you two just shut-up for awhile please?’

‘’fine... yer still a stupid bitch’‘

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia, Luna and the children were just playing in the castle garden when Merry showed up with the maid. Celestia nodded her head at them

“Good afternoon Merry and Julie, Have you come to play tag with us as well?” Just as she said that one of the children ran up and bopped her on the back of her leg

“TAG! YOU’RE IT!” He promptly ran away as Celestia just smiled. Merry just shrugged 

“Ehh, I’m not really one for Tag. Hey I was wondering If I could go see the castle enchanters and what not?” Celestia put a hoof to her chin in thought for a moment

“Yeah sure, I’ll have Julie here escort you, she is good at those sort's of things, LUNA!”

“Yes sister?” Luna lifted her head as she looked in Celestia's direction

“Come here for a moment please” Luna walked up to Celestia when she saw Merry.

“What is it dear sister?”

“Oh nothing much, Merry just told me he was going to visit our enchanters, Also...” Celestia brought up a hoof and bopped Luna on her side “TAG YOUR IT!” Celestia promptly flew over to the children and stuck her tongue out.

“TIS NOT FAIR!” Before Luna went back to the group she looked at Merry “Look for Swirl, she’s one of our best.” Luna then flew up into the air and went straight at Celestia

“PREPARE TO BE TAGGED SISTER!” Merry just shook his head as he laughed

‘’Maybe this Swirl mare will let you hit it and quit it?’‘

“Come Sir Merry, it seems I am to be your guide today.” Merry just nodded his head

“Indeed it does, I hope you don’t mind.” She shook her head

‘’Maybe she can lead us to the bed’‘

“No I don’t mind at all, it beats dusting things that don’t need dusting” Merry just nodded his head

‘’Maybe she can dust your D!’‘

‘’‘Please, that’s enough Curse’‘’

“Yes, please guide me to the enchanter’s.” Julie nodded her head and led the way again.

‘’SHE’S DOING IT AGAIN!’‘

‘’‘Maybe that’s just how she walks?’‘’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Swirl was working in her lab when the door was suddenly opened and in walked a maid followed by a creature on two legs wearing an orange cloak.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my lab?” The maid bowed while the taller creature just stood his ground and looked at her

“Excuse us, But Sir Merry here insisted on seeing you so that he could obtain some enchantments.” Swirl nodded her head in understanding

“I suppose you already have permission from the princesses?” Merry just smiled at her

“Yes I did, she had this lovely maid Julie escort me here.” Merry just patted Julie on her head, and she pulled back blushing. She cleared her throat

“Well um, yes, I must be going now. I’m sure you will do just fine now.” Merry just nodded his head

“Yes, yes I think everything is under control now.” Swirl raised an eyebrow

“Wait, so you’re just dumping him on me now?” Merry just laughed as he shooed the maid out the door

“Not quite, why don’t you tell me the kinds of enchantments you’re capable of, Princess Luna said you were the best.” Swirl just scoffed

“Of course I’m the best, It is my talent after all, and I can do any enchantment you could think of. Assuming I know the spell base for it anyway.” Merry thought for a moment

“Do you have anything that can amplify sound? You know, make a whisper sound like a yell?” Swirl just rolled her eye’s 

“Of course I do, that’s ones of the easier ones.” Merry just grinned at her

“Perfect! Lets get started shall we? I have a few other things that should be interesting as well.”

Luner and Merry spent several hours working on enchantments, or actually, Merry just watched as Luner did the enchantments she was able. Merry had her enchant his armor with some spell resistance and his cloak with a mending spell so if it were ever torn or damaged it would return to normal over time.  Last but not least he had her enchant his iPod with that amp spell. It was the 5th generation Nano so it had a built in speaker that would play music if headphones or ear buds weren't plugged in. 

“Hey Swirl, I have one last question for you.” Swirl groaned

“Ya know, I thought I would have some peace and quiet today, but I guess not if you’re just going to keep having me enchant things.” Merry rolled his eye’s

“Okay, its two questions now. 1st question is, can you enchant a living being, and second do you know how to reach the griffin kingdoms?”

“Enchanting a living creature is possible, but dangerous, and to reach the griffin kingdoms? I suppose you would just head to the east coast and find somepony heading in that direction, probably onboard a merchant ship.”

“Is the griffin kingdoms far or something?”

“Well not exactly, it only takes about 2 days travel by airship and 4 days by water, you see they are across the ocean above the dragon lands. They have been bugging Celestia for land here in Equestria, a griffin colony if you will, but they insist on taking an area of land that Celestia is already setting up a new town, much like Ponyville...” Merry put up his hand

“Ya, know I really don’t care much about the politics, all I wanted was some directions, and thanks for that, now last question...” Swirl just rolled her eyes

“And what could your last question possibly be?” Merry just gave her an awkward smile

“You wouldn’t happen to know an enchantment to make my dick bigger would you?” Swirl just face hoofed and tossed Merry out the door using her magic.

“Is that a no?!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The train was pulling into the Station at Canterlot and a purple unicorn mare forced the door open followed by 5 more mares, 2 were earth ponies, 2 Pegasus and the last one was another unicorn.

“Twilight, I read that article as well, but I think you’re just over reacting a bit darling.”

“Its just soo, Arg! Even if none of it is true I would like to know who spread such false rumors so I could give them a piece of my mind!” Applejack walked up to Twilight and tipped her hat

“Just calm down fer a moment Twi, let's just head to the castle and see whats going on.” Pinky Pie bounded up next to Twilight and gave her input as well

“Yeah! It cant be as crazy as the papers make it out to be! Besides I don’t think Merry could even get a pony pregnant to begin with anyway! We’re too different!” Rainbow dash flew up above Twilights head

“Yeah Twi! Pinky is right, they would have to adopt or something, and besides, you even said it yourself all he had going for him was his hands, and without your magic it was pointless.” Fluttershy just nodded her head

“Yes, I was most... disappointed when I found out, I mean, its not like I could go to Twilight every time we wanted to...you know.” Twilight just rolled her eyes

“Lets just head out girls, I would like to get this cleared up as soon as possible.” Twilight hung her head as she marched in the direction of canterlot castle followed by her 5 best friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry had wandered around the castle until he found a guard and demanded he be taken to the kitchen. After a short trot and a walk he ended up in the castle’s kitchen. Merry had decided enough was enough, and hopefully getting drunk would stop the nagging voices in his head. Because if it did, he was gonna have to find a way to bring a large amount of liquor with him.

“Sir Merry, what can we get you? Dinner will be ready in about 2 hours from now.” Merry just waved his index finger at the chief.

“No need good Sir, I would just like something to drink.”

‘’You think you can drown us out with booze?’‘

“What would you like to drink? We have juice water, milk, tea, coffee...”

“Your strongest Liqwhore!” The chief put a hoof to his chin

“Alcohol Sir?” Merry nodded his head

“Yes, and make it the strongest thing you got.” The chief nodded and pulled a green bottle from a cabinet and poured him a shot glass worth.

“No No! It must be a big glass! You see, I want to NOT know what’s going on anymore.” The chief just raised an eyebrow

“Try this 1st, then maybe I’ll get you a bigger glass.” Merry rolled his eyes and picked up the shot glass. He sniffed it and winced, he then downed it as fast as possible and gagged.

“Oh God! What proof is that?!”

“Its 180 proof, we use this when we Flambé certain recipes, its still quite drinkable.” Merry jumped in the air and clicked his heels together

“Fuck yeah lets get wasted!” The chief backed up a bit

“But I cant drink on the job!” Merry just smiled at him

“Pfft, Just say I forced you to drink then, I don’t wanna get fucked up alone, I’ll feel like a lame.” The Chief sighed

“Alright fine, the next head chief is coming in an hour anyway.”

“Na Na! Everyone here is gonna drink! Even the guard that led me here! Were gonna get fucked up and have a good time!”

‘’‘I hope you know what your doing...’‘’

‘’Yeah! Ya Stupid BITCH!’‘

“PAARRTY!”

The Chief brought out the other bottles of the Flambé liquor and poured out 6 glasses for Merry, the guard Stin, himself, and his 3 assistants. After the 1st 3 shots everyone was completely trashed. Merry on his fourth was actually farther gone then everyone else.

“WE NED MOOSIC!” Merry brought his newly enchanted iPod and unplugged his earbuds and put on Billy Idol - Rebel Yell.

“Sing with me if you know the Lyrics!” Everyone else just wobbled around a bit as they looked at each other

“Rast night my Rittle dancer came dancing to mah door. Last right mah rittle angrel came hoppin on mah floor. Hey come on baby, do ya got a Ricense fer rove? And if it expire-rez, Pray for Help FROM ABOVE! IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR! SHE CRIED MO MO MO! WIF A REBEL YELL! SHE CRIED MO MO MO! MO MO MO MO!”

Everyone tried to sing along with Merry as best they could, and Merry even replayed the song a few times until everyone was singing the song together as best as drunkenly possible. It was completely butchered by sober status, but by drunken standards it was epic and done perfectly.

“Cerestia and Runa must hear us SING DIS SONG!” Exclaimed Merry as loud as possible, The chief, guard, and chief assistants stuttered for a moment

“But, we cant do dat! We could be Fired! I can’t loose mah Job!”

“Nonsense! If she gives you rip! I’ll just give her some of mine and say it was all mah Ideer, so don’t yall worry none, Let uss head out!”

Like most drunken idea’s this one was considered perfect and fool proof. They would perform for the princesses and probably get a pay raise or even better, a compliment from the princesses, Merry however, just felt like doing some karaoke with an audience. 
> To the East!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Mane 6 had just reached the castle entrance when the guards greeted them all with enthusiasm. 

“So good to see you all! After your help with Princess Cadence’s wedding we expected you to show up as well.” The Mane 6 just gave a confused look “Glad to know you will be hosting this wedding as well.” Twilight gritted her teeth

“So the Wedding is Real!?” The two guards stepped back a little

“Well uh, yes it is, a lest we think it is. We haven’t heard otherwise from the princesses, and with all the newly adopted foals, how could we think otherwise?” Twilight and Fluttershy fell over while Pinkie Pie tried to hold back a giggle. Applejack spoke up before anyone else could speak 

“Would yall just take us to where the princesses are? We would like to speak to 'em before anything serious happens.” One of the guards nodded his head

“Yes of course, just follow me, I’ll lead the way to the Canterlot Garden’s for you.”

The Mane 6 just followed the guard out to the gardens as they all looked to each other in confusion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry and the guys were also walking toward the Canterlot Gardens when he suddenly had a change of heart.

“Hey you guyses, I don’t feel like singing to da princesses anymore, How aboot you go wifout me?” They all looked at each other as they wobbled around and thought for a moment.

“But, How are we gonna sing that song if we don’t have your moosic thingy?” Merry thought for a moment then put his hand in the air.

“I know, how aboot I just set it to git ready to play and allz you’d have to do it hit play to get da song going?” The ponies looked at each other and nodded

“Yes that could work, we could have this Unicorn Stin here hit the play button for us.” Stin nodded in agreement

“Yes, all long as I only has to press one button I’m sure I could get it working.” Merry nodded and brought out the iPod. Through his drunken haze his tried to select Billy Idol, and in the end, he hoped it was.

“There ya go, Just hit the bottom button here to play. Its paused right now, so it should work. I am going to head out now, Hope you guys have fun.” They all nodded to each other when one of the assistants turned around

“Hey wait, what if one of da princesseses ask us where you went-ed?” Merry tilted his head for a moment

“Just tell him I went to meet some old friends. They should know what I mean.” They all nodded their heads in agreement,

“Okey Donkey ten Merry, Have someone guides you so you aren’t lost.” The guard Stin commented

“Will do mah good Sir, Have fun singing to da princesseses.” Merry gave them a little bow as he handed the only unicorn his iPod.

‘’Now we can go have some fun!’‘

‘Indeed we can.’ Merry wandered around the hallways until he found a sober guard and demanded he be taken to the dungeons to see all the prisoners.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Princess Celestia, Luna, and the 30 children had grown tired of playing and were simply talking about various things in the yard, such as royal standards and other such things that they would have to know if they were to be part of the royal family.

A guard came up to the princesses followed by 6 familiar mares who were shocked at the sight of the 30 children. Twilight was the 1st to jump up to them 

“Princess Celestia and Luna!” She bowed along with the other 5 mares “Is the magazine Ponies really true?” Princess Celestia and Luna looked at each other, then back to the Twilight

“Twilight, what are you talking about?” Twilight took a deep breath

“The Magazine Ponies had an article about you two today, It said you were both getting married to the same stallion who isn’t even a pony, but not just that. It said you Celestia, you are carrying his foal and Princesses Luna’s horn tastes like Blueberry’s!” Celestia Nodded her head with a small smile.

“I didn’t realize it would be in the papers so fast, but as far as I can tell you, No we are not getting married Twilight. This was all just an elaborate rumor set up by Merry during his short visit here. Apparently when he 1st arrived he introduced himself as the new king and many believed him. But his ploy to get Luna to adopt these 30 wonderful foals was entirely unexpected though.” Twilight released a sigh of relief

“So then it was really a lie then...Wait, Luna adopted 30 foals?” Luna nodded her head

“Yes I have, and they are all wonderful. You see Merry took over night court last night so I could get some rest and stay up today with my Sister Tia and the young ones.” Luna went over to a nearby filly and cuddled her “It was such a nice gesture, I thought I would never get any proper time with them because I rule the night.” Twilight and other girls just all looked at each other with a bit of confusion on their faces when a group of obviously drunk ponies wandered into the garden.

Everyone looked at each other with confusion written on their faces when Rainbow Dash suddenly perked up

“Hey! Isn't he one of the day guards? What’s he doing with those chiefs?” The guard Stin ran up and bowed in front of the group and put the iPod down on the ground in front of him.

“We are here to sing a song for the Princesses, it was Merry’s idea, and it is a good one. We hope you willz enjoy our show.” Princess Celestia just raised an eyebrow at him and the other 3 as they all stood in front of the Princesses and The Mane 6 who were surrounded by all the children. Twilight Spoke up again

“So wait, Merry convinced you all to get drunk, and then come sing a song? Where is he now?” They all put their hoofs to their chin and then shouted

“To See Old Friends!” Stin used his magic and pressed play on the iPod “Now without Further ado! The song Billy Idol’s Rebel yell!” It wasn’t actually Rebel yell though. With Merry’s drunken haze he actually selected DJ OZI - Juicy Pen. Needless to say,it caused a great deal of blushing faces, many questions from the children, and an outraged Twilight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Merry entered the castle dungeons he sneezed and the guard asked him if he was ok.

‘’‘I wonder who is talking bad of you?’‘’

“Yeah I’m fine, someone is probably just talking bad about me.” Merry smiled at him as the guard just raised an eyebrow at him in confusion.

“Well here we are, what did you need down here anyway?” 

“Oh you know, just came to see some old friends from Ponyville, oh yeah and that guy Turbo that was brought in today. Hey where are they located anyway?” The guard nodded his head.

“They are down this way, Celestia deemed it best to keep all the criminals you found near each other, just in case I suppose. This dungeon isn’t all that big to begin with though.” Merry just nodded his head

“Alright well last thing I need is the key to their cells, and you can be on you’re way, unless you wanna stick around.” The guard just raised an eyebrow again

“If you are going to speak to them face to face, I would like to stick around to make sure things don’t turn sour quickly.” Merry just gave him an inane smile and nodded his head.

“Oh goodie, an audience. Now 1st order of business are those bounty hunters from Ponyville.” Merry and the guard walked down the cell line until they reached the cell with the grotesque zebra and hornless Minotaur. The guard opened the door and Merry walked inside.

“Hey guys, How ya doin huh?!?” The Zebra just rolled over a bit and gurgled while the Minotaur scooted back against the wall.

“What do you want from us now?! You already took everything from us! Stripes cant speak and the best he can do is roll around! I am now a shame to my family because both of my horns are missing...” Merry just gave him a big toothy grin 

“Oh ya know, I was kinda hoping you would tell me the family name of those that hired you.”

“We were never formally hired we just got a poster and headed this way from rumors and other things we heard.” Merry took a deep breath and sighed.

“Oh really now?”

“Yes, we know nothing of our employers, all I know is that we were to bring back the bounty dead or alive to the harbor city of Pisa in the griffin kingdoms!” Merry rubbed his chin

“O rry now?” Merry thought for a moment

‘Looks like I have my lead now.’

‘’yeah! And now we just need to head east and find a boat’‘

‘’‘time for fun now yes?’‘’

‘I thought you were the nice one?’

‘’‘Only to those that deserve it’‘’

“I just want to be released when this is all over so I can go live the rest of my life in shame.” Duke dropped his head while Stripes just rolled again and gurgled. “Merry just reached into his breastplate and pulled out a large gem that had a hazy white color swirling around in it.

“You know, I found this in the enchanters room with the label perpetual healing gem on it. I wonder how well it works, I need to test it 1st ya know?” Dukes eyes got wide while Stripes attempted to move away as fast as possible. The guard just stood awkwardly outside the cell as he looked in.

‘’hey hey, why don’t we try to see if we can make that fat fucker thin again yeah?’‘

‘And how would we do that exactly?’

‘’oh idk, why not just strip away his flesh and use the gem to keep him alive yeah?’‘ Merry just put a huge toothy smile on his as he walked over to Stripes.

“Hey, I have an idea to make you thin again bro! Now Hold Still!” Merry stiffened his hand, and jabbed his fingers as hard as possible into the Zebras side. He easily pierced his soft flesh and began to rip sections away. Stripes couldn’t even struggle away or try to fight back, all he could do was gurgle until he passed out.

‘’Are you a trained medical professional?’‘

“Hey uh, sorry if you get mangled, I’m not exactly a doctor and I’m still pretty drunk, but at lest I’m not slurring anymore! HAHA!” Merry had made a nice pile of flesh behind him and ended up pulling out a few large sacs of lumpy flesh.

“Hey, this looks like that tumor I saw in that youtube video awhile back, How cool...I wonder...” Merry hit the large sac with his fist and it literally exploded throwing bloody juices and other foul substances around the cell, himself, and Stripes. The guard who was watching the whole time turned around and started throwing up

“Stop you’re going to kill him!” Merry turned around with the red and black streaks on his face and looked at Duke

“Oh yeah, almost forgot, I was supposed to be testing this gem I found. Hehe” Merry brought out the gem and looked at it.

“How the fuck am I supposed to use this thing?” The guard finished his retching long enough to answer him.

“If its like those 1st aid healing gems, you just need to hold it near the wounded area and it should work automatically.” Merry shrugged and did just that, he held it close to the large open wound in Stipes side and it began to close and regenerate all the flesh that Merry had pulled out. It seemed the large Tumors and other sacs of flesh weren’t being replaced. 

‘’Hey look! Ya did make him thinner! But we should get the rest of those balloons out of him When he’s awake, its no fun if he ain’t squirming.’‘

‘’‘I agree’‘’

“Well uh, hey it works after all, I’ll continue when he wakes up, now Duke its our turn to play a bit!” Duke just stood up with wide eyes and got into a fighting stance

‘’aha! Some real fun!’‘

“I’m not just gonna let you torture me!” Merry just lifted his arms to his side, palms up and shrugged

“I never expected you too” as Merry slowly closed the distance between them Duke spoke again

“I told you everything you wanted to know! Why are you doing this!?” Merry just smiled inanely at him and said

“Because its fun, heh-heh-ha-ha-HA-HAHA!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Princess Celestia was traveling with the mane 6 while Luna took the children to their rooms. Twilight had Merry’s iPod and a scowl on her face.

“You really think he went to the dungeons Celestia?” Celestia just sighed

“You know how Luna and I are able to read into others minds Twilight?” Twilight nodded

“Merry used to have 2 sides of him from what Luna told me. One good and the other evil, or beast like. When I spoke with him today, I could only identify one, it felt like a mix of both good and evil. I don’t know what happened to him ever since Scootaloo’s passing, but its something devastating. And the fact he healed those children you just saw, I believe it made his mind unstable.” Twilight got a confused look on her face with the other Mane 6

“What do ya mean healed Princess?” Celestia looked over to Applejack and sighed again

“Somehow by a stroke of pure luck he stumbled upon a foal fiddler business here in Canterlot, he brought back all of those children and removed any and all traces of abuse. But his healing... its not true healing, He just absorbs it and makes it his own.” Twilight’s jaw dropped

“So he has the memories of 30 sexually abused children floating around in his mind right now?” Celestia nodded her head

“Yes, that is why we must hurry and try to prevent anything drastic from happening. I have no idea what is going through his mind right now, He was erratic enough with his decision making.” Celestia and the others quickened their pace to the dungeon. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Duke laid in a heap on the floor while Merry licked the eyeball he held in his hand.

“Doesn’t taste as good as I thought it would.” Merry crushed it in his fingers and kicked Duke onto his back and used the gem to heal his eye. The bleeding stopped, but a new eye didn’t grow back.

“So it cant replace things like major organs huh? Only muscle and tissue damage ehh?” the guard had been watching the whole time and could no longer keep silent. Well as silent as one can be while retching.

“Merry, Sir I would advise you to stop, this is way out of line, they can't be hurt until the trials are over, and the way they are being treated is quite horrible...they might die.” Merry just turned around and looked at him

“Death is a release, I don’t want them to die, I want them to live as long as possible. Playing isn’t as fun when the toy no longer responds, but I guess you are right. Lets move on to that other prisoner yeah?” The guard just shook his head, 

“I’m leaving, I can’t handle this anymore. I’m going to leave the key and pretend I never saw any of this to begin with.” Merry just shrugged as the guard walked away and shuddered. Merry left the cell locking it behind him, whistling no tune in particular while spinning the key ring around his finger.

Merry went down the hall way looking into each cell until he found the one with Turbo inside.

‘’well well well, if it isn’t that pedophile Turbo, Should we castrate him as well?’‘

‘’‘We must also test the healing gem some more!’‘’

‘I have a better idea.’ Turbo just crawled to the back of his cell as he tried to avoid eye contact with Merry, hoping if he couldn’t see him, then Merry couldn’t see him ether. The cell door creaked open.

“W-w-what do you want f-f-from me?!” Merry just giggled

“Oh not much, just the excitement of testing this amazing healing gem is making me all giddy and hyper. Now I only have a few more tests until I know the limits.”

“W-What could I possibly do to help you?!”

‘’Tell him to squeal like a piggy!’‘ Merry just began to laugh

“Squeal like a piggy for me!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia and the mane 6 were almost at the dungeon when a guard in front of them was walking down the hallway with a somber expression upon his face. Celestia stopped in front of him and he barely noticed her presence before he bowed his head.

“Excuse me, but have you seen Merry?” the guard shuddered and nodded his head

“Yes, he was in the dungeon.” The guard dry heaved a bit getting their attention.

“What is wrong are you feeling sick?” Fluttershy went up to the guard and put a hoof on his shoulder

“No, well kind of...” He looked up to Celestia and narrowed his eyes “Princess, you cant let Merry be King, there’s something wrong with him. I...I took him to the dungeon as he requested and its like he snapped or something. He was talking to himself, and I cant even repeat what I saw him do...” Celestia lifted a hoof

“It is fine, we are on our way to stop him now.” Celestia and the other’s began to run down the hallway to the castle’s dungeon entrance, when they entered they could hear Merry singing and some wet slapping sounds.

“You played your part so well, a Modern Romeo, you came on Cupids wings. And then you flew away. Something something something, Burned with Desire. Something something, but you left me in the rain...” Celestia cautiously turned the corner and walked down the hallway to the cell where they could hear Merry humming a tune to himself while singing lyrics to what sounded like some kind of a love song.

“La de da...yes I know.” Merry made a loud audible sigh. “Look I used the healing gem so he wouldn’t die, But it would seem he doesn’t get blood back...Yes he does look rather pale, but I’m almost done here.” Another wet slap could be heard “I think that does it...Yes I’m done experimenting now...Na I think I should just leave, I’ve been here far to long anyway...Yeah, heh, that was pretty funny, cant believe how gullible those ponies around the castle are.” Celestia arrived at the cell and gasped followed by The Mane 6 who also gasped, except for Fluttershy who passed out and Pinkie Pie who’s mane and tail deflated.

“The itchy right knee and watery eye are always bad...” Merry turned around to see Celestia and the mane 6 outside his cell with looks of horror and disgust on their faces. Merry had used Turbos blood to write and draw all over the walls and floor of his cell, Turbo himself had passed out who knows how long ago and was covered in scars.

“Oh, I wasnt expecting to see you girls here...Actually I was hoping I wouldn’t see you at all.” Rainbow Dash was the 1st to speak up in her disgust of the scene

“Merry! What in Equestria have you done?!” Merry just looked at her then around the cell

“Yes, I suppose it is quite messy, but these are the names and cutie marks of all those foal fiddlers, Curse said writing it out in the blood of one of them would be fitting.” Twilight had finished losing her lunch and spoke up

“Who is...Curse...” Merry just looked up and tapped his foot

“No, there’s no reason to call her that... Of course she doesn’t know who you are...anyway, Curse is the fellow that...Actually...I look crazy don’t I?” Celestia stepped forward and opened the cell

“Yes, and I would suggest you stay here under close supervision, and I believe you need to be punished for your violent actions. Even though he was a criminal, He still has his rights to a certain degree... Merry, are you hearing voices?”

“Why yes I am, I can hear yours, mine, Twilights, Niji’s and some others as well. But that doesn’t make me crazy, it just makes me not deaf right?” Merry just laughed as he walked out of the cell closing it behind him, 

“Let us leave this place yes?” Celestia sighed and led them all out of the dungeon and told the nearest guard to send medial help to all the prisoners in their cells, and to get the names and cutie marks of everypony in Turbos cell before washing it clean.

“Hey, You wouldn’t happen to have my iPod would you?” Twilight nodded her head while looking at the ground still and floated it up to Merry who promptly took it and plugged his earbuds back in. “So did you guys enjoy the song at all?” Everyone just sighed and or grunted

“It is not something we wish to discuss...” Merry looked at his iPod and laughed, “whoops I put the wrong song to play in my drunken stupor.”

They continued walking in silence because the ponies couldn’t really think of anything to say, but then Merry reached under his right arm pit and grunted out in pain a bit.

“Thats odd...” as if on cue a red fairy flew out from under his breastplate for Merry to see.. “Oh hey, its you again, I remember you, what is it this time?”

“The evil and naughty deeds have piled up enough times to make the big boss happy enough to give you yet another boon!”

“Well its about damn time!” The ponies all just stared at Merry who was talking to nothing while looking at a wall. “So what do I get this time? Something more useful then the last one I hope.” 

The red fairy grinned at him and flew up to his arm, then into his shirt and up against his chest

“What exactly are you...” Before Merry could finish he felt a searing pain on his chest for a moment then it was gone. With the red fairy returning to fly in front of him. “...Well what the fuck was that for?” Twilight was about to approach Merry when Celestia put her hoof in front of her and shook her head and silently mouthed the word wait at her.

“Big Boss said to make sure this boon hurt when you got it. But you can now summon a Fiendish Servant to your side!”

“That doesn’t sound like a boon to me, it sounds like a spell... and why did it have to hurt?”

“Don’t question Big boss! Big Boss does what Big Boss wants! He said you needed punishment for stealing them last time.”

“Ok, So how do I summon it then?” The red fairy put his palm into his face and shook his head

“You really are stupid huh? 1st you need to give it a name, Then you simply call out his or her name. I already set it up within your chest, so you now you just need to pick a name in your mind!”

“Its that simple huh? No gimmicks or anything?”

“That simple! He can even talk to you, but only you can understand him or her...I’m Done Explaining things! I wanna go see Big Boss again!”

“Well alright then...”

“Oh one more thing before I leave, Big Boss said if you take the power for your self again, he’s going to eat you!”

“Good to know...” the fairy disappeared into the floor and Merry just shrugged it off.

‘Now to think of a good name’

‘’Hey ya think if its female it will let us hit it?’‘

‘’‘thats a stupid question, of course it will.’‘’

“Guys please, stop with the stupid stuff...” Merry turned around and looked at all the ponies who were just looking at him. “What’s up?”

“Who and what are you talking too?” Celestia just looked at Merry along with the other mares in the room.

“You guys didn’t see the little red fairy who was flying around over here just now?” They all shook their heads simultaneously

“Yer right Princess, Merry aint right in tha head anymore. He’s gonna need some help.” The princess nodded at Applejack. She turned to Twilight who began to make her horn glow and Merry was levitated into the air.

“Hey put me down! I have stuff to do!” Twilight was looking a bit strained as she levitated him up into the air.

“Nonsense we are going to visit the medical wing right now and have you looked at, seeing and hearing things are not a good sign at all.” Merry sighed in defeat as he was brought to the medical wing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The white unicorn pony wearing the white doctor coat was examining Merry with a spell that was enveloping his entire body. After awhile the Doctor gave a puzzled look at everyone.

“Well, Technically speaking, you are dead, but at the same time you are moving around and talking. The only thing really active is your brain. It is extremely confusing.”

“Wait, didn’t ya say you died at one point Merry?” Applejack was looking Merry in the eye as she spoke

“Well yeah and I was sent here to do a job, but I always wondered my self.” The Doc coughed into his hoof before speaking again

“As far as I can tell, your body remains pretty much inactive, and your heart beats for the sole purpose of transporting materials through your body. My spell couldn’t detect any of the normal activities done by cells and other parts of your body only seem to become active if needed or damaged. I have a theory you could survive as just a head, but I don’t think you would volunteer for such a test...” Merry raised an eyebrow

“Hey I’m all for Science, but I like the kind of science that leaves my head where it is. Hehe” The doc cleared his throat again

“Well, I also noticed your body is storing vast amount’s of raw materials in the muscles and inner organs, various different vitamins and minerals. It is increasing you’re total weight by an unnecessary amount, I think you weighed in at 230 pounds. What is the average weight for your race when you are only 5'6"? Merry’s jaw dropped

“Wait wait, 230 pounds?! Are you sure? Because last time I checked I was only 120 pounds.” the doctor raised an eyebrow

“Really? Well based on your current muscle and skeletal volume, you should only weigh around 170 now, but with all the added and stored nutrients your body is holding, its adding about 60 pounds, its quite extraordinary really, you could probably go months without having to eat and you wouldn’t lose any muscle mass.” Merry just shook his head

“Hey what can you tell me about my brain? How’s it look?” The doc just looked over to Celestia who just nodded, so he cleared his throat again

“Well my scan showed me it was quite active, in parts not normally active, such as the part of your brain that perceives sound, it was showing signs of activity even when the room was silent.” Merry just scratched his head

“Oh really? It wasn’t all that silent for me...” Celestia sighed

“I have heard enough, Merry I am going to have guards watch over you while I search for somepony that can help you.” Merry just sighed to himself and laid back in the hospital bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘’Hey faggot, we gotta get outta here and get to that port city.’‘

‘’‘I agree, we shouldn’t linger here any longer.’‘’

‘Well might be kind of hard with the 4 guards watching the front door of my room. Not to mention they strapped me to the bed...’

‘When did they do that though I don’t even remember.’

Merry just laid in his bed as he sat there pondering what to do.

‘’‘you could always call on that new servant you got, he just needs a name.’‘’

‘The problem with that is I am bad at making up names... what if he doesn’t like it?’

‘’well then it just means he will think you’re a stupid bitch as well’‘ Merry let out a sigh as he went through a list of names.

After about 20 minutes he decided to go with the name Soul Eater. Because why the fuck not? He liked the show and it was supposed to be a fiend of some kind. Why not name him Soul Eater? 

Perfectly legit name for a demon thing. But how should Merry call him? Like he would a pet? No he wouldn’t want to make him mad, might as well go for the classic way to summon something.

“Soo... I Summon thee Soul Eater to my side?” the lights in the room flickered for a bit before a pony with pitch black fur appeared at his side. Of course it was a fucking pony, why couldn’t he get some cool demon thing with claws? With a sigh he examined his ‘fiendish servant’.

His fur was darker than black with the mane being a lava red color. His eyes had a cat look to them, it reminded Merry of Luna’s night guards. The tail’s colors didn’t match the mane at all, in fact, the tail’s hair color looked completely out of place for the fiendish pony... It was Orange... Suddenly a female voice filled Merry’s head.

“Master, what do you wish of me?” ok, so it wasn’t a male pony. Merry still had trouble figuring out who was male and female by looks alone.

‘’Its cause yer a stupid racist bitch.’‘

“Can you undo these binding so I can think of a way out of here?” Soul nodded her head and went over to the cloth bindings. She looked them over and opened her mouth reveling a row of razor sharp teeth and chomped through them as if nothing was there to begin with. 

Merry raised an eyebrow but ignored the fact his pony servant had a mouth full of razor sharp canines and began to undo the rest of them. 

When he finished he equipped all of his stuff again and scratched his head. 

“I really wish I didn’t process out alcohol so fast... I was only drunk for a good half hour before I started to sober up.” with a sigh he went over to the window and looked outside.

‘Well shit, they put me in a room that overlooks a cliff side...that makes escaping a bit more difficult...’ Merry looked around his room and gathered up all of the sheets and pieces of cloth he could find. He tied them all up together to form the classic bed sheet rope. It worked in movies, why wouldn’t it work now?

‘’maybe because you’re a stupid bitch and your knots suck?’‘ Merry let out a groan and tested the strength of all the knots before he tried to put his shitty plan into action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia was pacing about in the throne room with the elements of harmony as they tried to figure out how they could help their friend who seemed to have gone insane with some kind of blood lust. Not to mention he was seeing and hearing things.

“Princess are you sure we don’t have some kind of spell or something?! What happened to him?!” Twilight was looking up to her mentor with hopeful eyes

“Yeah, he was no where near this crazy or violent when he left Ponyville!” Rainbow Dash was flying around the room in distress.

“H-He’s like a whole n-new p-pony now...” Fluttershy was openingly sobbing

“We need to bring him back before he goes too far...” Pinkie Pie had tears streaming from one eye as her mane and tail remained deflated with her colors darkened.

“We need ta let em know we are there for em! He’s just lost in all of the sadness from losing his filly...” Applejack had brought her hat down to cover her tears. She knew the pain a lost loved one can cause.

“I just can not believe it... He was so well mannered and even tempered before... He was kind to a fault... ” Rarity shook her head and smiled “ ...did you know when Sweetie Belle had accidentally caused Merry to roll down a cliff side...” she choked back a few sobs “ He blamed himself for it... Even though Sweetie knew deep down it was entirely her fault. She was practicing magic and...” Rarity broke down causing her mascara to run. 

Celestia smiled warmly at them for not wanting to condemn him. After all, it cant entirely be his fault right? He was indeed talking to unseen entities, they had to be manipulating him in some way. She briefly wondered if there was some kind of reversing spell. She may have been alive for thousands of years, but that doesn’t mean she had to memorize every spell, that wasn’t her duty. Celestia sighed and cleared her throat getting everyponys attention.

“We will find a way to make him better, do not worry girls, until then we just need to keep him under close watch and prevent him from injuring his mind any more. The fact he is hearing voices and seeing things disturbs me greatly...” Celestia looked over to Twilight.

“Twilight, I would like you research mind spells. Ones that could seal or completely remove memories. Also, one that could help him from hearing the voices we saw him talking to in the dungeon...” Twilight nodded her head in excitement

“Of course Princess! I will head to the Canterlot spell archives right away!” Twilight galloped off without a glance back, eager to get Merry back to normal.

“What about us princess?” the rest of the elements looked up to the princess with eyes hopeful that they could help out in someway.

“You 5 will assist me in helping Merry get over the pain within his heart. That is the 1st step to recovery for him.” Four of the ponies nodded in approval except for one dejected pink mare. Both of her eyes were watering, and her tail had curled up into a tight ball behind her.

“Merry is gone...Forever.” She began to openly sob while the others gave her a confused look. Only to suddenly be replaced with worry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry was hanging out the window after having tied his makeshift rope to the beds leg. He scared himself shitless when the bed started to drag itself and he suddenly began falling at a rapid pace, only to stop after the bed hit the wall under the window.

‘Now to begin the next part of my brilliant plan of escape.’

‘’Actually your plan is fucking retarded as shit, are you sure you’re sober?’‘

‘’‘I agree, this is fucking stupid’‘’

‘Calm down guys, all I have to do, is swing a bit so I start sliding down the cliff side when I let go of my rope, I’ll be fine...’

‘’you are a bitch that it both stupid and dumb.’‘

‘’‘le sigh’‘’

Merry began to swing himself when he heard some noise from above him, probably the guards checking on him after that noise from the bed, time to be quick. After he got what he thought to be enough momentum he let go of the rope and began to fly toward the cliff wall.

Merry realized his ability to judge distance... was very bad. He didn’t even get near the cliff wall, he was a good 10 feet from it before he began to descend at a rapid pace. Lucky for him the cliff extended out a bit the further down he got. Eventually he was close enough to the wall to where he could touch it.

Merry reached his hands out and they began scraping against the wall, hoping to slow his decent some, he kept his hands against the cliff face. It wasn’t like it hurt, but from the amount of pleasure from his hands, he was sure they were getting torn the fuck up.

He then brought his legs into play, he pushed his feet to the cliff face, and he began to slow...until his foot hit some bump sticking out causing his foot to catch, flinging his knee into his chin. He then tumbled backwards and began to tumble down an 80 degree cliff side.

“FUUUUUUUUCK”

‘’Told you, ya bitch that is both stupid and dumb’‘

‘’‘I wonder if we will live through this?’‘’

‘’as long as this dumb bitch doesn't land on our head, we should be good to go after a quick rest’‘

‘FUCK YOU GUYS!’ Merry continued to tumble down the cliff and he couldn’t help but think he’s gone through something like this before... Oh yeah, when Sweetie Belle wanted to try levitating him. In hind sight he probably should of asked to move away from the cliff side he was currently resting at. Seriously, why did Ponyville have a road that ended with a cliff? He could never figure that out.

Merry’s thoughts of the past were rudely interrupted when he finally stopped rolling. His whole body was filled with a mind numbing pleasure. It reminded him of that time he tried ecstasy. Everything felt like sex, and that’s kinda how his entire body felt right now. Except for the part where he couldn’t move... He wasn't even tied down this time.

“SOUL EATER! COME TO ME!” out of nowhere the fiendish pony materialized next to him.

“Good, now if you would. Please start dragging me east, I have places to go.” Soul simply nodded her head and grabbed her master by the bottom part of his cloak and began to drag him eastward.

‘Excellant, now I can rest and travel at the same time...’

‘’‘really? Your just going to make your new servant drag you until you heal?’‘’

‘’I think he did fall on his head. Our poor home is stupid now’‘ Merry just sighed and closed his eyes. He was perfectly content at having her drag him while he healed, he was hoping a quick nap would at lest allow him to move on his own.
> Descent into the Rabbit Hole
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Merry awoke still being dragged. It was dark out so he must of been asleep for a few hours at least.

“Hey, stop dragging me Soul.” Soul let go and stood by his side unmoving while Merry stretched as he stood up. Cracking his neck and back he figured everything was healed back up. 

He checked himself over and couldn't see anything out of place or twisted at an odd angle. The only thing was his cloak was dirty and nasty looking. It seems she dragged him through some mud.

“Hey Soul, next time go around things like mud when you have to drag me yeah?” Soul simply nodded 

“Yes master, any other requests?” Merry just raised an eyebrow at being called master.

“Just one for now. Call me Merry from now on.”

“Of course Master Merry.” He face palmed

“No no, just Merry.” Soul stared at him for a moment before responding.

“Ok...Merry...” Merry nodded his head

“Yes good, Now lets keep heading east. We need to find a port city to take us to the griffin kingdoms.” Soul simply nodded and fell in line next to Merry as they continued to walk in the direction she had been dragging him.

After about 5 minutes of walking in silence Merry brought out his iPod and went through his list of songs. He selected Hollywood Undead - Kill Everyone.

‘’ Hey stupid bitch, good song choice.’‘

‘’‘couldn’t you pick something with a little more cheer?’‘’

‘’This song is cheerful!’‘

‘I cant really listen to the song with you fucks being so loud over it.’

“I’m sorry Merry, I will try to be quiet...” Merry turned around and looked at Soul Eater who stopped walking and looked back at him.

‘Can you hear my thoughts Soul?’ Soul nodded her head ‘Can you hear any others?’ she just shook her head no

“I can only hear your thoughts Merry, No others.”

‘’So she cant hear us?’‘ Merry just looked at her not thinking anything for a moment

‘’‘Hello Dear!’‘’ after waiting for Soul to respond, nothing

‘So you really can only hear my voice?’

“Yes Merry, it is a telepathic link between the two of us. As long as we are both within 1 mile of each other the link will stay active. I am also linked with your emotions so I will be able to know if you are distressed or in trouble.” Merry just raised an eyebrow at that little fact.

‘’ sounds kinda scary... and Hot’‘

‘’‘Very Hot’‘’

“So basically, you know what I’m thinking and feeling all the time then?” Soul nodded her head and continued to stare at Merry.

‘’I wonder if she can feel your lust?’‘

‘’‘test it out!’‘’

‘’Think some sexy thoughts!’‘

‘Well alright then, sounds like fun.’

“How would it be fun?”

“Simple, I don’t need to speak out loud for you to understand me. I simply think it, and bam you’re on your way.”

“But how is that fun?” Merry thought for a moment and shrugged

‘You’ll find out soon.’ Merry began to think about some of his past times with Twilight and some other past sexual experiences... Nothing, she continued to stare at him with a blank expression.

“Merry, why are you suddenly filled with lust?” Merry just sighed, he had hoped for a blush or something, but he got nothing. Was she just an emotionless fiend? Only time will tell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some time earlier the guards had walked into the room they were supposed to guard and found it empty.

“We are so fired...” The guards spent a few minutes trying to figure out who was to report to Celestia about their screw up. Needless to say, they decided to draw straws... Only to be interrupted in the middle of deciding by Celestia herself and the elements of harmony, minus the element of Magic and Laughter.

Celestia scanned the room, seeing the empty bed by the window and the curtains and bed sheets missing. He couldn’t of possibly gone out the window right?

“What happened to Merry?” she looked at the guards who were nervous and somewhat scared to reply.

“What. Happened. To. Merry.” one of the guards finally broke down.

“We heard a noise and decided to come check it out! And when we got here it was like this! He was nowhere to be found!” Celestia walked over to the bed.

“Did you check out the window?” the guards looked at each other

“But Princess... that’s a suicidal drop if you don’t have wings...” Celestia went over to the window and saw the line of tied up cloth leading down about 25 feet then ending abruptly. Did he simply fall the rest of the way?

“I am going to check out the ground floor. Send a search team and some medics... I hope he survived the fall...Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy...” they both went up to the Princess “...Join me in the early search, we will find him and bring him back...” The element of Loyalty nodded with the element of Kindness as they followed their Princess out the window and down the cliff side.

As they flew down, the cliff face had obvious signs of something sliding down it around the mid point. If the trail of blood wasn’t a sign, then the small gashes in the stones along the way down were. The odd thing is, the blood trail suddenly ended and was replaced by what looked like dents in the cliff side every few hundred feet. 

A huge indent in the floor at the bottom of the cliff was all they were left with.

“Where could he of gone?!” Rainbow Dash was zipping around the crash site trying to find some kind of a clue.

“Um.. There’s some blood on the um.. Grass over here...” Celestia and Rainbow Dash zoomed over to the butter yellow pegasus to inspect the blood. There wasn’t much, just a few splotches every few feet.

“Did he really just fall down a cliff side and walk away?” Celestia had a look of pure shock and a hint of excitement. She had no idea how sturdy his body was. It was already a medical marvel in it self. The only problem was the most important part was damaged... his mind.

“Quickly we need to find him! He couldn’t of gotten far!” the two pegasus nodded in agreement and began to follow the light blood trail.

After following it for a few minutes the trail had disappeared completely. They had expected to find him resting under a tree. How could he of just healed on the go like that? Or maybe he just stopped his wound from leaking blood everywhere.

Frustrated Rainbow Dash flew up above the tree line and scanned the area.

“Arg! Stupid Trees!” Celestia set her horn aglow and began to cast a locator spell, it wasn’t very strong but she hoped it would at least track his location down. The nearest thing she could detect was some strange pony, but no Merry.

“How could he just disappear like that?” Celestia put her head down as a single tear fell from her face. Pinkie Pie was right... He was gone forever...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“My legs are dangling off the edge, the bottom of the bottle is my only friend. I’ll think I’ll slit my wrists again, and I’m gone gone gone gone...” Merry continued to sing with a happy tune in his voice. 

Soul Eater seemed to not care that he was openly singing about killing himself. After all, she could only sense happiness with a hint of sadness. Since she was summoned, she realized her master was full of rage and fury, but more than anything. He was filled with a great sadness and regret.

It wasn’t until the ending lyrics of the song came in that he began to stumble his words. She could feel his emotion of sadness growing as he spoke the words.

“I wish that I could fly, way up in the sky. Like a bird so high... Oh I might just try. I wish that I could fly way up in the sky. Like a bird so high... Oh I might just try, Oh I might just try.” Soul was confused as to how a song could cause an emotion such as sadness.

“Merry, why are you sad now?” Merry just wiped his eyes and cleared his nose. He contemplated telling her about his adopted daughter Scootaloo. And decided why not, she was going to be with him from now on anyway. 

“Its just, the ending line reminded me about my little girl is all. She would tell me the exact same thing at times. It was one of the reason’s why I did everything I could to support her...” Soul Eater could feel his emotions begin to swirl into a torrent of love, hate, sadness, regret and shame, the biggest one being rage. Did his child do something to upset him?

“Where is she now?” Merry just looked back at Soul and sighed closing his eyes.

“Someplace she cant be hurt anymore...” Soul decided that was the best she could get from him as the emotion of sadness was starting to overwhelm even her. She simply nodded her head as they continued to walk eastward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry and Soul had walked through the night as it was becoming daytime. They had exited the forest and found a trail leading in the same direction they were traveling in. As the sun was coming over the horizon they could see a couple wagons in front of them. It looked like they had set up camp right next to the road for the night.

“Come along Soul, perhaps we can hitch a ride if they are heading in the same direction as us.”

‘’you think we can find any action here?’‘

‘’‘Please Curse, this isn’t some action movie.’‘’

“Of course Merry.” Soul quickened her pace to stay next to him as they approached the caravan. She couldn’t let her new master get hurt. It was bad enough she aided him in his horrible escape plan. She was sure he was already dead until his voice echoed within her mind.

To her surprise he was still very much alive. And had asked her to drag him eastward instead of finding help. Now here she was, walking next to her master, who was only a few hours ago completely broken and unable to move.

To say the least, she was impressed, not many fiends could do something like that. She briefly wondered what else her master was capable of until she realized they were approaching the small group of 3 wagons. A light brown earth pony was the 1st to approach them.

He slowly walked up to them with a bit of concern on his face before he puffed up his chest and spoke.

“I don’t know what you could want with some poor travelers, but I assure you we have nothing of value worth stealing.” Merry just stood there and waved his hand.

‘’The nerve of this bastard! I say cut him down!’‘

“If you please good sir, me and my friend are simply tired of walking, and we were wondering if you happen to be heading to the nearest port town from here?” The light brown earth stallion just stood in thought for a moment. 

So far so good, they haven’t attacked yet, even though the bipedal one seemed to look like one of the many mercs he had seen so far. He was far from dangerous sounding. His friend just kept a blank stare on her face as she looked between them both. He couldn’t be that bad right? He had a pony with him, as strange as she looked.

“Well, Alright then, what are your names?”

‘’Give him fake names!’‘

‘’‘no no, you should just give him your real names.’‘’

‘’Fuck that! Say your name is Five Finger! And hers is Death Punch!’‘

“You can just call me Merry, and my friend’s name is Soul. She can’t exactly speak, but she does understand what is said.” the earth pony stallion nodded his head

‘’LAAAME’‘

“Name’s Beet Hooves. Shame such a pretty Mare is Mute... How did it happen?”

‘’Like beat feet or... what?’‘

‘’‘Maybe he farms beets?’‘’

‘’wait did he just hit on our Servant?’‘ Merry just mulled over what he said quickly and made something up

“She was born that way, but I grew up with her so I can understand most of her gestures and things.” Beet nodded his head

‘’Smoooth’‘

“Aye I can understand that. I have a mute family member as well. Takes awhile but he can usually get his point across.” He sighed “Anyway follow me I’ll introduce you, one of the wagons is bound to have some space for you to rest in. By the way,we are heading toward the port of city of Baltimare, its connected to horseshoe bay.” Merry nodded his head

‘’‘So many horse puns’‘’

“Awesome, thanks for the hospitality Beet.” 

“Don’t thank me yet, we have to travel through some diamond dog territory. With all the mercs running around we heard they are becoming a little antsy and increasingly territorial.” Merry just nodded his head.

‘’I SMELL ACTION!’‘

‘’‘Hopefully not, I would hate to see such nice ponies get hurt’‘’

“Well I’m sure it can’t be that bad.” The earth stallion Beet simply chuckled at Merry’s remark

“I hope so laddie.” The earth stallion lead Merry and Soul toward the group who looked on in earnest to see what they could possibly want at the literal crack of dawn. 

“Thunder Hoof, and Hard Buck...”

‘’Did he just say his name was Hard Buck?’‘

‘’‘yes he did actually... hehe’‘’

“...This here is Merry and Soul, they asked if they could travel with us to Baltimare. It’s ok with me, but I don’t have any room in my wagon at the moment, think one of you can provide for two weary travelers?” Thunder and Hard gave Merry a critical eye along with Soul. After a few moments they seem satisfied.

“Are you some kind of merc laddie?” Merry looked over to Hard and shrugged

‘’Tell him yes!’‘

“Not at all my good man, this weapon of mine is simply for self defense, from said mercs. Who happen to be strolling upon our beloved soil of Equestria.” Hard and Thunder nodded their heads in agreement

‘’Bitch!’‘

“There’s always room for someone that can help defend us from attacks. You can join my wagon over on the left. Talk to my wife Soft Buck and she can get you settled in and what not.” Merry nodded his head at Hard Buck and went toward the wagon he indicated.

‘’Think we could softly buck her?’‘

‘’‘With Merry’s size it shouldn’t be that hard!’‘’ Merry cleared his throat as he walked closer to the wagon.

“Merry, why are you so polite to these lesser creatures?”

‘Its Simple, I really don’t want to walk the entire way, and I would hate to just end up on a beach far from any city. If they are indeed traveling to a port city then we can just tag along... and what makes them lesser?’

“Because they are weak and frail creatures, What is stopping us from killing them and simply taking the wagon? I could pull one while you rest in it.” Merry just thought for a moment for a response and found one.

‘’I like her... A lot.’‘

‘Well, I just like the company of them I guess. And like I said before, I have no idea how to get to the city. It works better to be polite and go along with the flow.’

“I think I understand. You are simply saving your strength for something more important than killing a bunch of weaklings.”

‘Yeah, lets go with that explanation.’ Merry arrived at the wagon and slowly walked around until he saw a mare stewing something inside a big black pot.

“Excuse me, but I’m looking for Soft Buck, Hard Buck sent me.” the mare turned around giving them both a critical eye.

“Is that slack jawed husband of mine hiring body guards now?” her tone was dripping with venom

‘’she seems like a bitch’‘

‘’‘yes indeed.’‘’

“I don’t like her tone Merry... can I kill her?”

‘No’ the mare Soft Buck just sighed

“Sorry, I’m a little on edge, with us entering diamond dog territory and all. you'll have to forgive me but I didn’t know you were coming so there wont be enough food for the two of you.” Merry just shook his head

“Oh not to worry, we ate before we entered your camp here.”

‘Wait, do you eat Soul?’

“I don’t need to eat, but I can.”

‘Alright that’s good I suppose.’ the mare released a sigh.

“So tell me stranger, how much is my fool of a husband paying you?” Merry just chuckled

“Nothing at all. We're just along for the ride to Baltimare. If anything happens, well I’d have to help right? Common curtsy dictates it.” the mare had a questioning look upon her face.

“So then, whats with the big sword on your back? You cant just tell me its for show?”

“Aye yes, I have seen my share of fight's here and there, but its mostly here for self defense.” the mare nodded her head in understanding.

“Yes with so many mercs running around these days I can understand that... anyway let me show you a spot you can rest at in our wagon as we travel.”

Soft took the pot off the fire and trotted to the wagon. She showed them around it for a bit. It was packed full of stuff. Merry assumed it was the belongings of other family members. He simply nodded his head at her explanations and noted the spot closest to the edge was for him and Soul.

“If you two will excuse me I have to wake up the youngins for breakfast. We should get a move on soon so feel free to rest for now.” Merry nodded his head

“Yes of course, thank you again for the hospitality.” Soft Buck simply nodded her head and walked away. Merry got into the wagon and tapped the spot next to him indicating Soul to get up next to him. She hopped up with no problem and sat next to him.

“What now master?” Merry sighed

‘I told you to call me Merry remember?’

“I apologize Merry, I forgot.”

‘Well don’t worry about it to much.’

‘’Isn’t it common for a master to have sex with his servants?’‘

‘Now we simply relax and wait to reach our destination.’ Soul slowly nodded her head at the thought of just relaxing. She laid down huddled next to Merry who had also decided to lay down and listen to his iPod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, all the ponies that had gathered around to eat breakfast were looking at their new wagon mates with a bit of intrigue and interest. Especially the younger ones. 

“Oh my gosh! Did you see that mares tail and mane!? It was like a lava red and fire orange combo, So cool!” one of the colts scoffed

“Oh please, did you see the two legged one and his sword? That thing was huge! I bet it cleaves Hydras in two with a single swing!”

All of the young children began to bicker over what was cooler. The big sword or the pony with cat eyes and different colored mane and tail.

Some of the older stallions could only complain that they shouldn’t of gotten married at such a young age to an “average” looking mare.

One of the children eventually pointed out that the new mare didn’t seem to have a cutie mark yet and wondered why. Soon the adults caught on to that fact, and some odd stories seemed to pop up. 

Such as how she was just one unlucky mare to have no talent, or perhaps the product of some cruel unicorn playing a joke upon her. 

What ever the case, there was a mix of sadness and fear. A fear that her curse could spread. And a sadness of losing such an important aspect of ones self.

While all the gossip spread around, Merry was simply relaxing with his earbuds in while Soul’s ears would twitch every which way picking up all the gossip about the two of them.  At one point a stallion speculated that the two of them were lovers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trip was pretty uneventful for the most part. Most of the ponies seemed to ignore them or be overly nice to Soul. Asking if she was ok or if she might need anything.  It was funny actually, Soul would just look over to Merry and then shake her head no, each and every time.

Merry lost count after the 20th time somepony came up and asked if she needed anything. It was getting kind of ridiculous. 

“Why do they keep asking if I need anything?” Merry just shrugged

“I don’t have the slightest idea. Maybe all the stallions and some of the mares think you’re some kind of sexy exotic pony.”

‘’‘are you hitting on your servant?’‘’ 

“While you were resting I did hear some of them speculate that we might of been lovers. But many of the stallions wouldn’t believe it.”

“Interesting... I think I could work with that...wait, how did you hear that?”

“My hearing is 4 times better then a normal pony. It isn’t hard to pick up sounds from a decent distance away...Like to your left.” Merry turned to his left and saw 3 stallions walking and talking together. “Those 3 are talking about how you must be packing heat to snag such an exotic mare.” Merry just shook his head and chuckled.

‘’BAWHAHAHAAHA!’‘

“Oh how I wish it were true. Tell me, what do you think about us being lovers?”

“It would be nothing new to me. The leader always has the privilege of mating with his herd whether they want to or not.” Merry nodded his head

“I see, but how do you FEEL about it?” Soul looked Merry up and down

“Indifferent.” 

‘’BAWHAHAHA!’‘

‘’‘she basically said you can fuck her, but she really doesn’t care and she isn’t impressed with your looks. heh...’‘’ Merry decided to try something... out loud, he went through his iPod and picked out a song Escape the Fate- Gorgeous Nightmare.

“I’ve got another confession to make. So complicated, Let me try to explain. Don’t want this feeling to go away. So it stays, it stays...” by this point many of the nearby ponies had slowly wandered closer to hear what he was saying out loud. 

“What are you...” Soul looked over to Merry as he continued

“Is it the way that you talk? That’s causing me to freak.” Merry was looking at Soul as he continued to sing the song only he could hear

“Is it the way that you laugh? That’s making my heart beat.” Merry bent over so his face was closer to Souls

“Is it the way that you kiss? It’s gotta be the way you taste...” Merry licked Souls muzzle and moved his head back up singing out loud. 

“You’re such a gorgeous nightmare! Old habits never seem to go away. You make me feel brand new, yeah. We resurrect, its like I’ve come back to life.” Soul began to look around at the large amount of ponies that had stumbled closer to the two of them as they kept walking with the wagons.

“I feel so alive! I Feel So Alive!” Merry had his arms raised up into the air as he shouted, then brought then down and made a shrugging motion.

“First impressions are hard to erase. Etched in my mind and it just wont go away. Maybe I’m playing my cards way to safe. I’ve gotta change, change, change...” Merry walked closer to Soul until he was nearly touching her.

“Is it the way that you feel against my body?” as he sung he made it so his leg brushed against her side as they walked

“Is it the way that you act, so damn naughty” Merry ran a hand down from her head toward her flank.

“Is it the way that you shake, when your flank moves to the bass?” Merry ended with his hand stroking her flank. Soul had a light blush on her face.

‘I win.’  Merry stopped singing and just looked at Soul with a smile on his face

“Win what?! In getting everyone’s attention?!”

‘I made you blush, so I won.’ He moved his hand back up and ruffled her mane a bit before putting his hands into his pocket's. He continued to hum the tune of the song.

Merry didn’t realize that her extremely dark fur made it impossible to see a light blush, her face had become a bright cherry red by the time his hand was resting on her flank. It only seemed like a light blush had barely begun to emerge.

‘’Well, that seemed like a complete waste of time.’‘ Merry just had a smug grin on his face

‘’‘I believe he is trying to flirt with his new fiendish servant. Even though she clearly stated it wasn’t needed.’‘’

“Now everyone is staring at us...more then usual... now they all think were lovers of some kind because you sang that little song and licked me. I hope you’re happy.”

‘Oh yes, I am.’ Merry kept his smug grin on.

‘’‘was that to answer me or her?’‘’ Merry just put his other ear bud in as he chuckled and let some music take over his thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had continued like that for awhile. Merry with a smirk across his face, ear buds in. Older ponies all around spreading more gossip about the sex life between Merry and Soul. Younger ponies speaking about how Merry must be some great warrior on a quest to defend his beloved from the new villainy running around Equestria, and other such nonsense. 

Soul was flustered beyond all belief. She could hear almost every piece of gossip about her and her new master. Most of it was about them being lovers or that they were eloping. At one point she thought someone had said she was carrying his foal. It was with that ever prominent blush on her face that everything came to a halt.

“Everypony, we are about to go through the Diamond Dog's territory!” Merry was looking around ear buds still in.

‘what did he say Soul?’

“We are about to enter the diamond dog territory.” Merry nodded his head and took out his ear buds.

“... Calm down, we should be able to get through just fine. Keep a close watch on your children and loved ones, stay in a tight formation.” All of the ponies nodded their heads and pulled into a tighter group. 

Everyone was walking in-between the 3 wagons. 2 in the front with the 3rd in the middle hanging back a bit. Making a reverse triangle formation. It didn’t take long for every one to begin walking again, at a slightly slower pace. 

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, no contact with any diamond dogs. Merry thought they would get through without a problem. 

“Something is approaching us quickly...” Merry looked around but couldn’t see anything yet.  Until three Diamond dogs popped out of the ground in front of their little triangle formation.

“Ponies Halt! Why you trespass in our lands?” the 3 pony leaders went up front and center, still staying a good distance from them.

“We are just Passing through! We are heading to the Port town of Baltimare!” The diamond dogs face scrunched up in thought.

“You no want diamond dog lands?”

“Of course not! We are just 3 families heading to our new home.” The diamond dog put on his thinking face again

“Then why you no take train like other ponies? Train go around Diamond dog lands instead of through it like Road!” The diamond dog was obviously trying to cause some kind of disturbance or maybe just get them to confess they were after their territory. The ponies simply sighed

“Because we wanted to all travel together, and figured a nice family road trip would be fun while saving us a few bits.” The diamond dog nodded his head

“Yes, Family Pack important. Russ here understand. Ponies wait here while Russ get you Pass.” The ponies looked confused for a bit

“A Pass for what?”

“A Pass to let the diamond dogs further in know you’s ok.” the Diamond dog Russ jumped back into his hole and returned 5 minutes later holding a large quartz crystal in the shape of a heart.

“Return crystal to nearest Dog before you exit our lands. If no diamond dog present, just toss into nearest hole.” With a nod he jumped back down his hole followed by the other two diamond dogs. The hole was filled in shortly after.

‘’No action it seems.’‘

‘’‘good to know they are letting us pass’‘’

“Merry, that burrowing sound is coming from all around us, but this time it’s leaving.”

‘What do you mean, all around us?’

“Those 3 that popped out were just scouts I guess. But that noise was coming from every direction, they had us surrounded.”

‘Clever dogs... they may speak with crude English, but they seem to have a sense of battle tactics’ Merry and the group continued to travel mostly unhindered. 

They were stopped a few times but when the diamond dogs saw the crystal they would apologize and be on their way.  The traveling was pretty uneventful through the diamond dog territory until they were close to the end. It was starting to get dark out again. 

The ponies eventually figured they should rest, with the crystal heart the dogs weren’t giving them any trouble. So they should be safe to set up camp right?

The ponies had set up some tents and had a small fire in the middle of them all. It seemed they were going to be ok, but ponies had volunteered to be guards and watch just in case. 

Merry was listening to his iPod yet again next to Soul who was asleep. Though his music, he heard giggling. Merry paused for a moment and took out his ear buds listening for it again. He closed his eyes and this time it was, a laugh, coming from outside the camp. But he knew this laugh, he had heard it so many times before in the past...

‘’that sounds like...’‘

‘’‘is it truly?’‘’

Merry stood up and slowly walked outside the wagon circle looking into the distance. Then he heard it again, the familiar laughter of a filly. He spun his head to his right to try and catch the sound.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, it was Scootaloo! She was running around in the darkness and stopped a little off into the distance. She looked over to Merry and smiled, she even waved at him. Then she shouted

“Cutie Mark Cave Spelunker!” Merry’s heart sank.

‘’She’s alive! Quick go get her back!’‘

‘’‘Yes! Its dangerous in there! She’s going to need help!’‘’ Merry broke into a sprint in the direction he saw her disappear. He slowed down until he stood at the mouth of a hole in the ground. He looked inside but he couldn’t see her anywhere. Then the sound he had hoped to never hear again, her scream.

“AHHH! DADDY HELP!” Merry jumped into the hole unsheathing his blade.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soul awoke to some very powerful emotions. Fear and Hate were resonating in her Master right now. Thinking some pony did something to upset him she looked around the camp, but saw that everyone was asleep and her master was no where to be seen. She decided to contact him.

“Merry where...” She was hit with a sudden wave of rage

‘WHERE IS SHE YOU FUCKING DOGS?!’ Merry was yelling in both mind and body. She had to find him and figure out what was happening. She decided to follow the trail of raw emotions she was feeling. It eventually lead her out of the camp toward one of the many diamond dog holes... She soon started following a trail of bodies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“DON’T MAKE ME ASK AGAIN MUTT! WHERE. IS. SHE!?” The diamond dog was cowering in a corner of the room eyes wide at the monster that had come in asking about a small orange pony, killing those that didn’t know or dared to fight back.

“Please don’t kills me! I has never seens a small orange pony! We don’t take slaves!”

‘’'Hes a FUCKING LIAR!’'‘

‘‘KILL HIM TOO! THEY ARE KEEPING HER FROM YOU!’‘ Merry raised his blade up above his head to bring it down upon the dogs head when the dog shouted to stop

“Stop! I can take you Alpha! Maybe he knows! He knows everything!” Merry lowered his sword and just glared at the diamond dog.

“Take me to your alpha then.” The dog bowed and got excited at the fact he was going to live and walked down a side tunnel while indicating Merry to follow him.

“This way, this way! Alpha will know!” Merry began to follow the diamond dog down some tunnels, they were passing other diamond dogs who were looking at him with both fear and hate upon their faces.  It didn't take long for them to enter a large chamber lit up with torches and guards around all sides. 

‘That fucking alpha better know something...’

In the center of the room sat a large diamond dog. He was big and full of muscle, this dog didn’t have the slack jaw most of his brothers did. Covered in plate armor except for his feet, this diamond dog sat with obvious power. The reason he was the alpha was clear. Merry didn’t care how powerful he was, He simply wanted his little girl back.

The huge diamond dog sat his chair unmoving. He looked at the strange bipedal creature that walked into his throne room, weapon drawn. He looked to the cowering dog in front of the strange bipedal creature and demanded an answer

“What is this you have brought to me Teddy?” the diamond dog in front of Merry bowed

“This creature has caused some distress and is looking for a small orange pony he said went down one of our holes.” The Alpha looked over to Merry then back to Teddy

“What do you mean, distress?” the huge Alpha raised an eyebrow

“He um... he killed everydog that didn’t have an answer for him... b-but I told him you should know!” The huge diamond dog sat up from his seat with some anger in his voice he spoke

“Was that what all the shouting was about?! How many did you kill creature?” Merry just gripped his sword

“I lost count after 12...” the diamond dog growled and barked back at him

“We have not taken any ponies! If one of my dogs did they would of notified me! We made a pact with CELESTIA for protection, as long as we never take slaves!”

‘’He’s lying you know...”

‘’‘they are all against you...’‘’

“Don’t Lie to me Dog, I saw her enter one of your holes! Shortly after I heard her cry for help!” the diamond dog raised an eyebrow at that

“She yelled for help? If she did my dogs would of reported such a thing. Sound resonates for miles to us within our tunnels.” Merry’s heart skipped a beat at that

‘’‘Don’t listen to him!’‘’

‘’Yeah! They are all working together! I bet they are in league with the griffins!’‘

‘’‘Yeah! He already said he was in league with Celestia!’‘’

‘But...’ then he heard it again, from behind the diamond dogs throne, her scream.

“DADDY!” Merry’s eyes shot open as he looked at the diamond dog. The dogs mouth turned into a big toothy grin 

“That fool filly doesn’t know when to shut up...” Merry gritted his teeth and charged at the huge diamond dog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soul had been running down the tunnels looking for Merry. She eventually bumped into some diamond dogs who looked at her confused until they saw her orange tail.

“Orange! Is this da pony that creature was shouting for?” they looked at each other then back to her.

“Quickly we must go to Alpha with the pony that has orange! Come with us pony!” Soul nodded her head figuring they were talking about the same Alpha her Master thought about and followed in suit with them. She eventually entered a large chamber room and saw Merry standing in front of a huge diamond dog, probably the Alpha.

‘But...’ Soul heard her masters voice, it was full of confusion and self doubt, until it all suddenly turned into a Fury. She had seen demons and devils rage about when they were mad about something. But the fury and rage she could feel resonating from her master was so thick it was tastable upon the tongue. 

The huge diamond dog brought up his arms that were covered in armor and was able to deflect Merry’s 1st swing with sparks flying through the air.

“RELEASE HER NOW!”  Merry kept swinging rapidly with no skill involved what so ever. The guards from around the room dropped down on all fours and began to charge in Merry’s direction to protect their leader.

“Behind you Merry!” Merry spun around at the sound of Souls voice and saw the diamond dogs charging at him. He immediately made a wide sweeping arc at the dogs as they leapt at him killing two. The other 4 got him into a dog pile.

“MASTER!” Soul jumped into the fray seeing her master in danger. She charged up to the dog pile and began smashing her front hooves onto the faces of the diamond dogs. Breaking teeth and jaws alike. After knocking the two dogs on top down she saw the bottom two diamond dogs. 

Their bodies were withered and looked as if they had been dead for years, and Merry looked like he was younger. He shoved their dead bodies off and stood up, cracking his neck. He nodded at Soul with a smile, then back toward the Alpha.

“I wont ask again you Overgrown Mutt. RELEASE MY DAUGHTER NOW!” Soul looked over to the huge diamond dog who just had a look of fear and confusion on his face.

“I don’t know what you're talking about! We don't have ponies in our mine! Why do you keep attacking unprovoked like some crazed beast!?” the diamond dog barked back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You will never see her again fool! She is being taken to the teleportation circle to be taken to the Griffins as we speak!” Merry’s eyes widened as he said that. 

“I’ll Fucking kill you, YOU STUPID BITCH!” Merry raised his sword up and ran at the diamond dog who just laughed at his anger.

Soul watched as Merry began to attack the diamond dog Alpha. Merry was putting up a relentless assault against the alpha who was simply defending himself from his seemingly crazed opponent. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Help! Help me! Send word to Celestia we are under attack!” Many of the diamond dogs began to jump into the fight while a few ran out of the tunnel. Soul was hit with an even bigger wave of rage, and the emotion of betrayal for some reason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“HELP ME YOU FOOLS! AND SEND WORD TO CELESTIA THAT OUR MASTER PLAN IS IN EFFECT!”

Merry made quick work of the inexperienced dogs who jumped into the fight with the help of Soul. The Alpha had retreated to behind his throne and had gone through a door. 

‘’Hes trying to escape!’‘

‘’‘GET HIM!’‘’

“YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!” Merry cut down the last diamond dog in his way and ran to the room behind the throne to give chase.

Merry kicked the door in and saw the Alpha standing near a pentagram in what looked like a treasure room. Scootaloo was being held by some Diamond Dog inside the pentagram.

‘’‘Quick! Before he sends them away!’‘’

‘’Cut him down before they send her off!’‘

“Daddy! Don’t let them take me please!” Merry could see a look of fear with tears in Scootaloo’s big lavender eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soul was confused, she couldn’t figure out who Merry was talking about. She didn’t know Merry's child had been with them. Let alone was taken by the diamond dogs. But here she was fighting along her masters side to get his daughter back. It didn’t matter though, her master would never lie to her. Even if he did lie, she couldn’t disobey. It was her duty to serve him until the end of time.

As she finished the last diamond dog in the throne room to ensure nothing would sneak up behind them. She was hit with fear, anger, and oddly enough, Hope. She ran to the back room that the Alpha and Merry had run into.

She saw it was a room filled with gems and gold coins. In the back was the Diamond Dog Alpha and Merry. The diamond dog had taken a fighting stance because he was cornered now, He knew there was no escape now. If he wanted any chance to get out of this alive, he would have to fight this strange creature.

The diamond dog pulled out his own sword from under a pile of gems. It was smaller then Merry’s but it was a weapon none the less.  Merry charged at the alpha and brought his blade down only to have it parried to the side followed by a swift kick to the chest from the Alpha.

The Alpha had his fangs barred and his eyes were filled with a blood lust. With Merry still on the ground the Alpha leapt at him and landed on top. The dog placed his feet on Merry’s biceps pinning him to the ground.

Merry wasn’t looking at the Alpha who had him pinned though, he jerked his head up and looked between the Alphas legs, to the back wall they were standing near when Soul had entered the room.

Soul felt frustration as Merry struggled to break free, and then his hope died. As some tears had begun to form she was hit with a huge wave of sadness.

“Why must you take her from me again? What did she ever do to be treated like this?” the Alpha just looked at his opponent who was on the ground. Merry had tears running down his face.

“Take who? You have been talking nonsense the whole time. I heard you yelling in my tunnels about wanting your filly back. I’ve told you before. We don’t have ponies in these caves. We do not take slaves, we live peacefully as best we can.” For some reason, as the diamond dog spoke. Merry’s face had begun to twist into anger. Merry’s hands gripped the Alphas ankles, and he looked in confusion until he felt a pain he had never experienced before.

“GRAAAA!” The alpha attempted to pull away but for some reason he couldn’t break the grip on his ankles. He was feeling weak and his mind was failing him. It felt like a hot cord was being pulled through his body toward his ankles and was leaving him.

It was a sickening feeling. He looked at his once beefy hands, they were now thin and frail looking. His teeth were being sucked back into his gums. Everything was in pain. It wasn’t until he looked down at the creature who was holding him down did his eyes open in fear.

Merry was giggling in pleasure. His incisors and premolar’s were being replaced with sharp canines and his jaw line was getting bigger to accommodate the new teeth. The muscles in his neck and head were becoming thicker and stronger. He gained in bulk while the Alpha was losing his muscle mass. 

When the alpha thought he as about to die Merry let go of him. The once powerful Alpha collapsed under the weight of his own armor. Merry stood up and began to stretch and crack his neck.

Soul was shocked at what she witnessed. Did her master just steal that alphas strength? But that’s impossible. She heard about stealing another creature's magical ability, but never their physical ones. Her Master looked more like the diamond dog now. His muscles were thick and powerful looking. His head was bigger and so was his neck. His front teeth had all be replaced with razor sharp canines that resembled the Alphas.

She looked over to the alpha who laid in a frail heap on the ground. He could barely move now, he looked like he was nothing but skin and bones. Merry walked over and picked the Alpha up by the scruff of his neck, and smiled in his face. Merry’s voice was considerably deeper now.

“I Will track her down, you were foolish to tell me you were sending her to the Griffin Kingdoms. I now have a new reason to head there now, to save my little girl.” Merry then threw the diamond dog into the corner of the room and began to walk out. Soul followed behind him and looked up to his eyes.

“Merry, are we on a quest to save your daughter?” Merry simply nodded

“Yes we are Soul... I, I thought she was dead, but I saw her! She was alive and well! Then the diamond dogs took her, they are working with Princess Celestia and the griffins...” Merry shook his head “... I don’t understand why she would work with them to keep her away from me, But I don’t care. Not anymore, I will kill everyone in my way. And when I find her we can be a family again.” Merry put on a small smile as a tear rolled down his cheek

‘’We must be a family again’‘

‘’‘yes, we must do everything we can to make our family whole again.’‘’ Soul nodded her head

“Of course Merry, I will always be by your side. I will help you find her and get her back.” Merry just patted Souls head as they headed out of the diamond dog tunnels and back to the camp.
> Short adventure in Baltimare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Merry and Soul returned to the pony camp without any trouble and they began to rest. When morning rolled around many of ponies were shocked and or scared at Merry’s new look. When they heard him speak some of the ponies asked if he was getting sick. Merry replied with a simple yes.

The ponies took it as some strange biped sickness that caused you to gain in girth and have a deeper voice. Once they were assured it wouldn’t spread the ponies had calmed down and went back to their daily routines of walking and talking while Merry was allowed to rest inside a wagon during his fake sickness.

When they neared the edge of the Diamond dog lands they couldn’t find a single dog to give the crystal too. So they opted for dropping it down the nearest hole they could find, and went on their merry way. 

Merry spent the rest of the trip relaxing in the back of the wagon inspecting his new muscles and teeth. His sword that was already light enough, seemed to weigh almost nothing now. His armor and clothes were no longer a ‘snug’ fit, but were now tight and constricting. Even his breastplate seemed to be squishing him. He wondered if he could get it adjusted in the town they were headed too. 

It wasn’t until another day had passed that they finally reached the Harbor city of Baltimare. The ponies seemed to be happy that the journey was over even if one of their guests got ‘sick’ toward the end of it. Merry was able to bid them farewell as they entered the City, he had to find a boat willing to take him, or at least a boat to find so he could be a stow away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere a Diamond Dog was running as fast as possible down a tunnel system that would take him directly to Canterlot. It was a relatively new tunnel that had been dug for emergency situations such as the one his pack was currently having.  He only hoped that his alpha and pack would still be ok by the time he could return with help.

Ruckas the Diamond Dog had been running non-stop for the past 8 hours down this straight shot tunnel. He finally came to the exit and burst through the wooden door and into a room with 3 pegasi. Celestia had placed a small guard post on the exit of the this tunnel because it was linked to her Diamond dog allies. They were still a few miles from Canterlot as Celestia feared if it was any closer then her ponies might fear a Diamond dog invasion. 

Ruckas was out of breath and his legs were shaky, with a raspy voice he called for water which the guard ponies brought to him.

“What happened to you dog? Did you run all the way here?” the dark blue Pegasus was eyeing the dog as he lapped up the water between his heavy gasps for air.

“Strange Creature attack Pack. Alpha was holding it off. I came for help from pony allies.” The 3 guard ponies stiffened up at the word attack.

“Blue Lighting, Head to Canterlot immediately and have a team sent out to Iron Jaws Cave... Also inform Celestia our Diamond Dog allies were under attack as well.” the dark blue Pegasus saluted and flew off leaving a dark blue trail behind him.

“What’s your name dog?” the white Pegasus asked

“Name be Ruckas. We wait for others?” the white Pegasus shook his head.

“No, Heavy Thunder and I will accompany you back. If they are still fighting maybe we can turn the tide a bit.” Ruckas nodded his head and got another bowl of water and gulped it down.

“Good good, Alpha might need help. The Two Leg Monster was powerful and very angry for some reason. Kept yelling for orange pony.” the two guards raised an eyebrow

“You didn’t kidnap any ponies did you?” Ruckas moved back in fear a bit, knowing the treaty would be broken if they ever kidnaped a pony.

“No No No! We Never hurts Ponies! The Monster came in killing us left and right yelling for an orange pony! We don’t know why!” The guards nodded their heads understanding the distress behind his voice.

“Lead the way then, Lets see what we can do.” Ruckas nodded his head as he took another mouthful of water before the 8 hour run back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Run back took 10 hours as the Pegasi were unused to running for long periods of time in the dark. Ruckas would be forced to wait for them and bring out his only light gem to help guide them. Once they arrived the silence caused Ruckas to worry. One of the pony guards noticed the look of worry on his face and spoke up

“Whats the matter? Can you hear something?” Ruckas shook his head

“I hear nothing... and it scares me. We be close now...” Ruckas and the pegasi were slowly making their way through the tunnels until they came upon some dead diamond dog corpses.

“My Celestia Ruckas... I hope we aren’t too late...” Ruckas began to quicken his breathing, when he left there was no where near this many bodies near the emergency tunnel. His eyes widened in sudden realization, where was his Alpha?

Ruckas began to run around through the tunnels around the corpses and entered the throne room only to find dead diamond dog guards laying around. But he didn’t see his alpha anywhere, He began to sift through bodies in search hoping he wouldn’t find his great leaders body among the dead.

“Help Ruckas look for Alpha!” The two pegasi nodded and with a bit of reluctance started turning bodies over and looking under others in search of the missing alpha. When they finished sifting through the room they didn’t find the body of Iron Jaw.

“Treasure room! Maybe he hide there!” Ruckas dropped to all fours and bounded off a wall to get over a pile of corpse's and head to the treasure room in the back. He flung the door open and yelled

“ALPHA YOU HERE?!” He twitched his ears around and could hear raspy breathes. He slowly moved to where he could hear the breathing and saw the Alphas armor laying in a heap, but it looked empty. He went over and went to pick up the helmet, but realized a head was still in it.

To Ruckas’s horror he saw his alphas face, except it no longer held the strong fearless looking leader he knew. What he saw looked like a frail diamond dog elder who was knocking on deaths door. With a raspy voice Iron Jaw spoke

“Ruckas...glad to see you’re ok...How is the rest of the pack?” Ruckas blinked away a tear as he saw his alphas prized front teeth were missing, his voice sounded so weak...

“I don’t know Alpha...” Iron Jaw coughed

“Please Ruckas, Find the remains of our pack, and make sure they stay clear of the monster wearing the orange cloak... He somehow stole my strength...” Ruckas nodded his head as fast as possible and turned around to see the 2 pegasi

“You hear Alpha! We must gather rest of pack!” the two Pegasi nodded grimly, they were too late to help

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry had been walking through the town of Baltimare for a few hours now. Many of the ponies steered clear of him because of his fearsome size and sharp canines. He was having great difficulty keeping the ponies from fleeing at the sight of him. It wasn’t until some guards approached him with a report that he was dangerous did some pony finally speak to him. 

“Halt creature!” Merry turned around to see the guards approach him. With a raised eyebrow he stopped walking and crossed his arms waiting for them to come closer.

‘’Lackeys of Celestia?’‘

“We had reports of a strange creature in an orange cloak scaring citizens and the like. You seem to fit the description.” Merry just sighed and began to speak, the guards took a defensive stance at the sight of his canines.

‘’‘just normal town guards, I bet they don’t know anything’‘’

“I’ve been trying to ask ponies for directions to the Harbor, but it looks like I almost found my way there without their help. You wouldn’t happen to know of an armorer around here, would you?” the guards loosened up a bit at his question.

‘’‘If you thought things through, taking that bastards teeth totally wasn’t needed’‘’

’‘but it raised his bad-ass level by at least 5, not to mention all the strength you gained, I bet you can cut through steel like butter!’‘

“Yes, over on Alistair street there is a smithy. He should be able to help you. Might I ask why you are in our town? You don’t look... like a vegetarian...” Merry cleared his throat from some Flem that seemed to have built up for some reason.

‘’Winner winner chicken dinner!’‘

“I’m just looking for a ship that can take me to the Griffin kingdoms I have business over there.” One of the guards nodded his head

“Yeah we occasionally have merchant ships that head in that direction, you would have to board with one of them... Ponies don’t often leave Equestria for vacation. You’d be hard pressed to find anything other than a merchant ship.” Merry nodded his head

‘Why would they want to leave a paradise? Pretty sure the griffin kingdoms cant be that nice if they had emissaries here to ask for land on Equestrian soil...’

“Thanks guys, I’ll see you around...” one of the guards began to rummage through his armor and pulled out a pin

“Here take this, it will prevent other guards from questioning you and the local ponies will know you mean no harm when they see it.” Merry took the pin and looked at it. It was in the shape of a shield with a lighting bolt behind it.

“Thanks, do I keep it or...?” the guard just waved a hoof

“Yeah keep it, they are easy enough to make. Just make sure its pinned someplace, so its easy to spot.” the guards nodded their heads at Merry and Soul as they walked away. 

‘’Sweet a free fucking pin. Ask him for some more shit!’‘

Merry looked at the pin and wondered how a Pegasus or earth pony was supposed to get it on. The little needle clip was small and unless you had fingers he couldn’t see them getting it on unless they had help from a unicorn. He decided to stick it on his cloak where his collar would be.

Merry went down the path the guard had pointed him too for the smithy and after some time was able to find it. When he got inside the pony at the counter sized him up real quick and then stared at the hilt of his blade.

“Let me guess, you need your sword sharpened big guy?” Merry chuckled showing his new canines and smiled

‘’I bet he knows his way around a sword’‘

‘’‘Well he does work at a smithy’‘’

‘’sometimes Mistress, you need to think a little dirtier’‘ 

“Not at all my good pony, I need to have my breastplate adjusted, I gained some weight and its now a tight fit...” the pony raised an eyebrow and looked over at the dark mare that walked in behind the large creature.

“How long have you had it? You don’t normally outgrow something like that. Maybe you should just get a new one.”

‘’Bastards always trying to sell shit.’‘

“Ah its more of a family heirloom, I'd rather have it readjusted or something.” the stallion nodded

“I can understand that. Come here and let me have a look.” Merry walked over to the Pony and removed his cloak. The Pony stallion whistled and looked back to the mare.

“I’ll be with you in a sec Miss.” 

“Her names Soul and she’s with me.” The Stallion grunted and began to look Merry over.

“Looks like I can just change out these straps, but I cant extend the metal or anything, you would have to get it completely reworked or get a new one if you want it to cover all the way to your belt line... This looks like it was made for someone half your size.” Merry just chuckled

“Yeah, I’m the biggest one in the family...” Merry gave him a smile 

‘’Biggest in the family eh? Your dad must have the smallest dick ever then’‘ Merry stopped smiling and grunted

“... so how long until you can get some new straps on it?” Merry began to unstrap it but was having trouble getting it off because of it being so tight.

“Well, based on how they are attached, it should really only take half n hour at most. Do you want me to sharpen your Zweihoofer as well?” Merry looked at him funny then realized he just replaced the word hander with hoofer.  Merry just shrugged and figured why not

“Sure, how much is this gonna cost me?” The pony took the sword and looked at it

“Does this sword have an Adamantine edge with a mithril core?” Merry just nodded his head

‘’‘He sounds shocked...’‘’

“Yeah, Made it myself with a bit of help, its my own design.” The stallion simply looked it over in awe.

“How did you get these two metals to stick together like this? I don’t feel any enchantments... Normally magic is used to forcefully blend the metals together.”

‘’It’s always magic this, magic that with these fucking ponies.’‘

“Well it’s simple in planning, but the work takes awhile. You see you start with the mithril core, then you use a drill and make a hole that goes all the way through on what will be the edges of the blade...” Merry points to the bottom near the hilt “...here and...” he points to the center “here and about...” he points to a spot 3 inches from the end of the blade “...here.” 

‘’He’s stealing your idea’s and shit nigga, stop telling him stuff.’‘

The Stallion had taken out a piece of paper and was making notes “ After that you have to set up a special mold that will hold the mithril core in place while you pour cooling adamantine into the mold. If its too hot the adamantine will start to melt and mishap the core. It’s really more of a syrup that gets poured into the mold, it takes some time and you gotta be able to bounce and shake the mold a bit to get any air bubbles out of the cores drilled out tubes... But that’s really the only hard part, After that its just a simple matter of sharpening and dressing the hilt and what not.” The stallion had finished taking notes and looked up to Merry

“That’s simply fascinating, I never even thought there could be a way to combine the metals without magic...If you let me study your swords design for a bit I wont charge a single bit, this idea of yours could be revolutionary to the metal industry. It could give earth ponies and pegasi the ability to craft great items without the need for a unicorn... Why the Tartarus didn’t we think os something so simple before?” Merry just shrugged

‘’‘Probably because the ponies use magic and aren’t really smart enough to think otherwise.’‘’

“I always figured if something was filled with magic you ponies never seemed to care how it could be done without it.” The Stallion mumbled a bit

‘’Hit the nail on the head with that one’‘

“True, I always figured it could only be done with magic and never questioned it... Anyway come back in an hour or so and it will be ready.” Merry bowed his head

“Well alright then, I’ll be back later. Come along Soul, Lets head out.” Merry walked out of the shop followed by Soul who simply looked between her master and the Metalsmith before following Merry out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia had arrived at Iron Jaws territory with an envoy of guard ponies and a smaller group of medical ponies to help the wounded. What she came across was nothing short of what she would call a massacre. 

Dead Diamond dogs were in piles outside the tunnels, the still living diamond dogs were carrying them out of the tunnels when she had arrived. The diamond dogs noticed her and immediately bounded up to her

“The Pony Princess has arrived! Go tell the others!” Celestia looked down on the diamond dogs with a gentle smile

“Are we too late? Did Iron jaw destroy the creature that attacked you?” The diamond dogs ears dropped down as they looked at the floor

“Alpha was hurt badly...his teeth and strength are gone... we take you to him, Maybe your magic can fix him!” Celestia didn’t like the sound of that. She had known Iron Jaw for awhile, she knew of the strength he possessed. What creature could of done that to him?

The smell of death was heavy in the air inside the tunnels. She kept a strong face on as she was led toward the throne room and held back a retch at the smell. The combination of blood, death and rotting bodies was strong. She briefly wondered how they would air out the tunnels.

In the throne room was what looked to be the remains of the diamond dog pack, females and pups were a common sight. It would appear many of the adult males were killed during the fight. They were all huddled around a makeshift bed made of blankets and pillows. Celestia walked up to the group, and they made way for her when they saw her. On the makeshift bed she saw a frail diamond dog, she wouldn’t of been able to recognize him if it weren’t for the eyes. The blue and green eyes that Iron Jaw had.

“Iron Jaw my friend... What has happened to you?” Celestia looked behind her toward the medical ponies and nodded them forward. They moved forward and began to cast scanner spells to diagnose the problem.

“I am not sure myself, one minute I was defending my self from some monster that invaded our tunnels, and the next minute I felt my strength leaving me. It must have been magic that the monster used on me.” Celestia had a tear in her eye. The once proud and powerful Iron Jaw was reduced to this shambling and weak sounding creature before her.

“Princess, Physically there is nothing wrong with him, he’s as ‘healthy’ as a dog his age should be.” Celestia and all the diamond dogs in the room raised an eyebrow at the medical ponies explanation.

“Pony lie! Alpha is only 9 years old!”

“Yeah he looks like he’s 37!”

“Must be ageing spell!” Celestia’s eyes widened at the mention of an ageing spell, it would certainly explain why he looked so old.

“Stand back, let me try something...” Celestia did a scan of her own to detect the presence of any spells, she could find none. If it wasn’t an ageing spell then what caused him to age? No matter, she would simply have to cast an age spell of her own to make him young again.

Celestia’s horn burst into a bright yellow glow. After a minute Iron Jaw began to glow as well. Celestia had kept the spell going for 5 minutes and with every passing second Iron Jaw seemed to be getting younger and younger until he looked the same age he had been before. The only difference was that neither his muscles or teeth came back. When Celestia finished her spell she let out a loud gasp and Iron jaw slowly rose to his feet. 

“Princess! Why would you cast such a dangerous spell?!” the medical ponies had all rushed to their princesses side to help her stand. Age spells drained a lot of power, even for an alicorn. When she finally caught her breath she spoke

“Because Iron jaw was a friend in need. Now lets get you and your pack to Canterlot, it isn’t safe to stay here. That creature might come back.” Iron Jaw nodded his head

“Of course Princess, I thank you for giving back my youth. I thought I would die of old age at the age of 9.” Celestia nodded her head and walked behind the throne. Her horn began to glow again as she opened a telepathic link to her sister in Canterlot.

‘Luna, Wake up...’ Celestia waited for 10 seconds then did it again a little louder ‘Luna WAKE UP!’ after another 10 seconds she got a reply

‘What is it Sister? What has happened?’

‘Our Diamond dog allies were attacked, I am at their cave system, I need you to set up the end link for the portal I am going to make, head to the throne room and wait for my signal’

‘Of course sister, We are to take refugees?’

‘Yes we are, it isn’t safe for them here.’ Celestia looked up and around her at all the diamond dogs and ponies who were simply looking at her 

“I am going to make a portal for you all to travel back to Canterlot safely, My sister Luna will be waiting at the other end for you all.” Many of the diamond dogs seemed to be excited at going to Canterlot, or maybe because of the idea of a magic portal, she wasn’t sure which.

“You know, I remember when you 1st offered to create a portal for us... I was a fool to deny it...” Celestia released another sigh

“It isn’t your fault, I never expected you to come under attack either, I simply made the portal suggestion as a way for us to keep in touch better...” Celestia set her horn aglow again, and after a bit a stone circle appeared on the floor in front of her, with her horn still glowing she contacted Luna.

‘Luna get ready, here it comes!’

‘I am ready!’ With a sudden explosion of light everyone in the room was blinded and when their vision returned they saw the stone circle with a blue aura around it. Celestia was panting heavily now. She had just performed 2 heavy duty spells within a short time frame. She caught her breath again and spoke 

“It is ready, step on the stone slab and hold still for 3 seconds, it will teleport you to the Canterlot throne room where my sister Luna is waiting.” The diamond dogs nodded their heads and began to take the portal. Iron jaw went up to Celestia and placed his thin paw upon her back.

“I thank you Celestia, That monster needs to be stopped, or at least known about so others can avoid it.” Celestia nodded as she watched them teleport

“Yes, tell me, what did this creature look like?”

“Well it stood on two legs and its face was pink and hairless. It had a black helmet and used a large sword... but what stood out the most was its orange cloak...” Celestia just looked over to Iron Jaw, her eyes shown a look of fear and sadness grouped with confusion. 

He had just described Merry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry and Soul were walking around looking for the towns harbor, Baltimare was a huge fucking city. The hour the smith had estimated was long and since gone by the time they finally reached the harbor. Merry went around to different merchant ships asking around if any were on their way to the Griffin Kingdoms. He had finally found a ship that was destined to the Griffin Kingdoms, they were to make a shipment of Magic gems for things such as heating and lighting. 

“Yeah we are headed to the Griffin kingdoms, its our last stop before we head back to Baltimare here... Only problem is it’s a full ship, we don’t have any space for another crew member.” Merry just sighed

“That’s fine man, hey what’s the name of your ship anyway?” The stallion perked up a bit, he loved talking about his pride and joy.

“She’s the SS. Glory my good uh... Sir. I’ve had her for awhile now...” The pony talked on and on about how great his ship was and how he came into possession of it. Where it was and everything else you could think of. Merry knew the ship inside and out by the time he finished.

“Wow, Your ship sounds like an amazing vessel, Shame I wont get to ride on it, perhaps another time then...” The pony nodded

“Aye, it is a shame, perhaps next time.” The pony saluted and went on his way.

“Merry, why did you listen to him babble nonstop like that?”

‘Because my dear, he told me everything I needed to know, I’m going to stow away on that ship and hide in one of the crates that’s bound for the Griffin Kingdoms, I’ll be able to relax the whole way.’ Soul nodded her head

“Will I be joining you in the crate?” 

‘Actually I was just thinking of having you seal me into one and then you can go home until we arrive or if I need help.’

“As you wish Merry.” They started their trek back to the smithy. Their long trek back because with Merry’s shitty sense of direction they got lost several times and didn’t get back to the smithy until it was getting dark out.

When they got inside the Pony at the counter looked up at them “Welcome back! I almost thought you weren’t coming back, I had plenty of time to study your sword and I must say it looks to of been a work of love and labor.” Merry just gave him a soft smile as he looked at the sword

“Yes...it was.” Soul felt a surge of emotions come from Merry and wondered why the sword would cause such things.

“I take it everything went well then? It looks even sharper then it was before.” the Stallion nodded his head with a big grin on his face.

“Oh yes, Adamantine edges can retain their sharpness for years even with much use. Your’s was still plenty sharp but I brought out my high grade sharping stones and oil and made it even better, watch...” the earth pony somehow pulled out a strand of hair from his mane with a hoof and dropped it over the swords edge. The hair was split in half, soon as it touched the blade.

“God damn, how did you get it so sharp?”

“Trade secret... actually, here.” the stallion handed Merry a pitch black sharping stone and a small bottle of some blue oil. “You can know about my trade secret, if your idea goes through I will be one rich pony.” Merry looked at the two items then back to the pony

“What is this stuff?” 

''More free shit! Huzzah!''

“The stone is a rare piece of obsidian enchanted to never wear down, the grain on it is so fine it lets you make the edge of blades razor sharp. And the blue oil is extracted from the fallen scales of blue dragons. It adds durability and a bit of magicalness that I don’t quite understand. I just know it works better when paired with the obsidian stone.” Merry raised an eyebrow at the earth pony who did not even understand how his own trade secret worked.

'''The blade will stay forever sharp now... How... useful.'''

“Well thanks, I’ll make sure to keep this stuff handy then. “ Merry strapped his breastplate back on and noticed it was no longer a tight fit, but it still stopped short above his belly button. It was smaller, but it no longer felt like it was constricting his breathing. He strapped the rest of his gear on and bid the smith pony farewell.

On his way out he started heading toward the harbor again, it was time to become a stowaway in the SS. Glory. Thanks to a talkative pony he knew exactly where it was...If he could find his way to the harbor anyway.

It wasn’t until it was late at night and most of the city had long since gone to sleep did he find his way back to the harbor. Now all that had to be done was to find the SS. Glory and stowaway inside a crate bound for the Griffin Kingdom.

It took some time and with the help of Soul Merry had finally found the ship he was looking for. It was tied to the harbor with a thick rope. He couldn’t see any other path that lead up into the ship. He figured they were probably going to leave in the morning. He clung to the rope and scurried his way aboard the ship. 

When Merry reached the ships deck he looked around using his dark vision and could clearly see no pony around, so he quietly started making his way toward what he hoped was the cargo bay. 

Soul had simply teleported to Merry’s side once he was on board in a flash of flame. Scared the shit out of him it did, but he refrained from yelling out when he saw it was just her. Merry motioned for her to follow him closely.

While they were traveling through the ship they could see no guards or anyone on night shift. Apparently Equestria doesn’t seem to have problems with people stealing cargo on ships. 'Good' Merry thought, that made things easier for him.  After wandering the ship and passing the barracks were everypony slept, several times, he found his way to the cargo hold.

‘Alright Soul, were looking for crates filled with Gems, Those were bound for the Griffin kingdoms.’

“Yes Merry...” Soul and Merry began to open and check crates at random. Near the back stood crates of many different sizes. It wasn’t until they had finished checking all the ones in the front end did Soul find one filled with gems.

“Merry I found a crate over here filled with gems.” 

‘Good job, now let me see here...’ Merry looked at the side of the crate and saw the label as GC bound.

‘So GC means griffin kingdoms? Or maybe griffin Colony?’ Merry just shook his head ‘what ever, check the bigger ones with the label GC bound Soul, I would like some moveing room to strech...’ Soul nodded her head and went to all the bigger ones in the back and checked each one. She found one and poped it open, it was only half filled with gems for some reason.

‘Wonder why they only filled this one half way up...maybe a filled one is too heavy?’ Merry shrugged and jumped inside ‘Alright Soul, seal this crate back up and seal the other's back up before you head to your home plane.

“Yes, of course Merry. Call my name as soon as you reach the Kingdoms, We will find your daughter.” Merry smiled at Soul

“I will call for your help for sure Soul. You’re like family to me now.” Soul nodded her head and began to pound the nails back into place sealing Merry into the crate...Into the dark.


Alone

> Alone in the Dark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As the last nail was pounded into place sealing Merry inside, he could hear Soul closing all the other crates for the next few minutes until it all went silent.

“Soul?” Merry waited and didn’t get an answer, he figured she had gone back already. So he tried to relax in the crate, there was indeed space, but not quite enough to stretch his legs. 

With his Dark vision he was able to see inside the crate at all the different looking gems. He couldn’t tell colors apart, but many of them were moderately sized. Not much bigger or smaller than his iPod. He couldn’t figure out how to activate any of the gems, but then he figured he didn’t want to turn any of them on, just in case one of them contained fire or something dangerous like that.

‘’Hey, its just us now isn’t it.’‘

‘Yeah it is...’

‘’‘how lovely, I get to have some alone time with my two favorite boys’‘’ Merry just sighed

‘I’d really rather just listen to my iPod during this whole trip...and laying down upon gems isn’t the most comfortable thing.’

‘’Yeah what ever, you’ll come begging us to talk to you... I know it...’‘

‘’‘I don’t mind a bit of begging either hun...’‘’ Merry just grunted and flicked through his iPod and hit play. Hoping to drown out the voices of those he knew were fake.

The Kickdrums - Animal

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia stood in shock horror as Iron Jaw told her of what the creature did and said.

“So he was yelling for his filly...Why would he think you had her?” Iron Jaw raised an eyebrow

“What makes you think it was his filly? He was just asking for a small orange pony. It kept yelling that he saw her jump down the hole. Said we were keeping her hostage or some such nonsense” Celestia’s eyes went wide.

“He said he saw her?” Iron Jaw nodded his head.

“Yes, Celestia, do you know of this creature... that Monster?” Celestia blinked away a tear in her eye.

“What you described to me... Sounded just like the ningen named Merry Sue. He came to Equestria not long ago. He was peaceful and lazed about most of the time from what I heard...Then some thing happened. He lost the only thing that mattered to him. His Adopted filly... My student Twilight was sending me reports of his behavior. She said ever since they began to live together his entire life revolved around her...” Iron Jaw put up his paws

“Wait wait wait, You telling me that THING, was peaceful until his little pup left him?” Celestia snapped back at his remark

“She Didn’t Leave him! She died, in his arms...” Iron Jaw was stunned at her sudden outburst

“...what do you mean died in his arms? How did that happen?” Celestia sniffed away a tear and cleared her throat.

“He somehow got the attention of some royal griffin families that set a bounty on his head. Bounty hunters came to town, and she ended up a casualty when the bounty hunters came after him... We were all too late to help. It was at the moment she died that something snapped...” Celestia cleared her throat again “... He suddenly became violent after his initial breakdown. It wasn’t until he showed up in Canterlot wearing what you described to me that something inside him was profoundly different. His outer appearance was the same, but his thought process... it was different.”

“But that doesn’t explain why he said he saw his dead pup enter my hole.”

“His mind is shattered. I think all the pain he was feeling was looking for an outlet of some kind, a way to heal itself. And so he imagined seeing his filly, his whole world, disappear in front of him again down your hole... I’m so sorry, its my fault he escaped. I knew he was a danger, but I never thought...” Iron Jaw brought a paw up and placed it on her back

“Hey its not your fault he went bonkers and killed over half my pack during his insane quest... But come, its our turn to go now, everyone else has left...” Celestia had her eyes closed and she tried her best to fight back tears.

Tears brought on by her new friend and old friend. Scared what Merry would become and not knowing where he was. The only thing she knew for sure was that he would show up in the griffin kingdoms at some point.

And she would be waiting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the ships deck her crew was busy getting things prepared and ready to leave.

“Captain! We have loaded the last of the food supply from port and are ready to set off.”

“All 3 months worth? We have enough water correct?” The 1st mate nodded his head with a Salute.

“Yes sir, and we also have a unicorn that specializes in distilling sea water in case things get rough.” The captain smiled

“Alright then lets set sail for the Zebra kingdoms, we need to get rid of the perishable things 1st, the gems cant go bad 	so we will take those last.”

“Aye aye captain!” The ships crew hoisted their sails and set off southbound along to coast to head over to the Zebra kingdoms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Complete isolation has been known to cause the human mind to break down, and reach out for social stimulation, if the need can't be met, then violent and self destructive impulses happen as they question their own reality, Others have significant memory loss. Many have been known to commit suicide or have extremely strong hallucinations in attempts to create a partner for conversions. Those with known mental instabilities end up too far gone, beyond any and all help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry was doing his best to get comfortable in the crate on top of the gem pile. It wasn’t very easy, so many things were poking and prodding him, and it was getting ridiculous. After who knows how long he began to make a little depression and was able to roll the gems around to where they no longer poked him... at least not in a bad way.

‘Music, music... what to listen too now...’ Ozzy Osbourne-Crazy Train

Merry had been listening to his iPod for an unknown amount of time now. Alone in the dark with no one to talk too. But it was fine, he enjoyed the quiet for the most part. He felt movement and assumed the ship was now heading out. It was only a matter of time before they arrived, and his crate would be taken out and dropped off in griffin territory.

Merry moved around again in his crate, his muscles were feeling stiff from being still for so long. And he was constantly adjusting himself. The light of his iPod was constantly blinding him for brief moments. His eyes would readjust every time he tried to change the song or album.

At some point Merry decided he was tired of listening to music with earbuds. So he unplugged his iPod and set it down on his chest and let the little speaker play some of the music on a low volume. He didn’t want to attract attention from the owners of this vessel after all.

Everything was going fine for the most part until one of the gems that had been jabbing into his leg became unbearable and so he shifted his weight causing his beloved iPod to slide off his breastplate and down into the endless void of gems. 

“Fuck fuck fuck!” The iPod light came on briefly blinding him and his dark vision, causing his iPod to disappear into the  brief darkness that invaded his vision. When his eyes finished readjusting from the light change, his iPod was gone and so was any chance of easily finding it again.

“Son of a bitch!” Merry waited for his eyes to readjust back to the darkness before he started digging through the gems where he thought it fell based upon where he had it placed on his chest. He couldn’t find it, he had been pushing gems aside and was furiously pushing his hands down into the gem pile in search of it. He had at least hoped he would nudge it, causing it to light up again. 

It was all for naught, the only thing his hand would come back with were cuts and scrapes that would bleed for a moment before healing again. Now, he was alone in the dark without music...

“Now I’m gonna be bored out of my fucking mind while I travel to the griffin kingdoms.” Merry sighed and sat in the silence that began to invade his thoughts and ears.

The Silence had begun to turn into a ringing that seemed to get louder...and louder. He eventually cleared his throat and began to whisper to himself to keep the ringing from building up again.

“Something something... noise... did I leave the bath water running at the castle?” Merry released a huge sigh, the kind of sigh someone would make when they are trying to get someone's attention. Merry brought his hands up and looked at them

“Wonder how long this trip will take?” his answer was more silence “can’t be more then a week or something right? He did say it was the last stop..., but it shouldn’t take that long. I mean Hell, on foot it only took like what, 3 days? To reach Baltimare from Canterlot? Hmm...” Merry couldn’t think of anything more to say, so he settled for just making noise to keep the silent ringing from piercing his ears. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How long have I been in this stupid box? Unable to sleep, unable to move properly... I feel....” Merry didn’t know it, but he had been inside the crate for 4 days now. He already had problems with silence and his iPod was the main thing in his life that kept him happy. The music would distract his thoughts and help him cope with things... But now he had lost it somewhere inside the crate among the thousands of gems he was sitting upon.

“I need my music...” Merry began to thrust his arms into the gem pile he was sitting on again not caring for the safety of his hands. He wanted his music back, he needed to hear its sweet sounds.

The silence was deafening...

Merry brought out his arms again after another failed attempt to find his iPod. He looked at the numerous cuts and scrapes on his hands. His skin was still healing, albeit slower than before, but it was still healing.

Another 7 days had passed, Merry had given up searching for his iPod long ago and began to question his own reality. Who he was, what he was...

“Why am I here? What did I do?” Merry was met with silence again. The ringing in his ears was getting louder. He got mad at the lack of a response

“Why WONT ANYONE ANSWER ME?!” Silence reigned supreme yet again. Merry curled into a ball and began to whisper to himself.

“Please... someone, anyone... I don’t want to be alone anymore...” Merry began to whimper quietly  inside the crate, the gems that had been poking and prodding him from before no longer annoyed him. They were the only things that made him know he was still real and alive.

‘’I told you that you would beg for us to talk to your dumb ass again.’‘

‘’‘I do enjoy a bit of begging, but you look to be in a bit of pain sweetie’‘’ Merry looked around the crate but all he could see was the gems and the 4 wooden walls that he knew far too well.

“Who are you? Where are you?”

‘’‘Have you forgotten about us already?’‘’

‘’It looks like he has, but you gotta remember he was never smart to begin with.’‘

‘’‘I suppose you are correct, My name is Mistress and the more masculine voice you hear is Curse.’‘’

‘’Yeah, try not to forget us again boy-o’‘

“I... I’m so happy someone cares enough to speak to me again. The silence in here is deafening, and gems don’t make good conversationalists.”

‘’heh, yeah that was pretty funny, I saw you trying to scratch faces into the gems, but your finger nails would just break, why not just use your sword, ya dumb bitch?’‘ Merry reached back and grabbed the hilt of his sword

“Its... its to big too unsheathe in this cramped space. And... I cant remember why, but its important to me, I didn’t want to risk damage to it by using it on the gems...”

‘’‘What can you remember dear?’‘’

“I’m... My name... is Merry Sue and...I was... I was... I forgot what I was doing... But it was... No... it was something... Important...”

‘’I’m bored with trying to let you figure this shit out, you are on your way to the Griffin Kingdoms to save your daughter whom the Griffins had stolen from you.’‘

“My...daughter?”

‘’‘Yes dear, Curse and I are here to help guide you. We are friends of yours, powerful friends. We see things you can not, and have guided you thus far.’‘’

“Why didn’t you respond to me before?”

‘’Because you had told us not to speak to you. You were being all emo and faggy about it.’‘

‘’‘ahem, well I wouldn’t use those words exactly, but yes, you were not content with what we had to say...’‘’

“I’m sorry. I cant remember very well anymore... I’ll listen to you from now on...”

‘’Good, cause there is still some time before we arrive at our destination. It would seem your moments of isolation made you forget a lot of important things.’‘

‘’‘first thing’s first, do you remember your daughter? The reason why you are here in the 1st place is to get her back from those villainous griffins.’‘’ 

“I...” Merry looked at his cloak, he couldn’t see its color because of his dark vision, but something about it reminded him of better times “...she was orange right?”

‘’Yeah she was, she was an orphan you found and decided to take care of. Here, look at the wall in front of you. We’re gonna show you a memory...’‘

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry was downstairs in his home making breakfast after a long night of cleaning up the mess Scootaloo and her new friends made yesterday playing knights and dragons. Spike even came over to play the dragon role. It was cute for the most part, but Spike was still a little upset he was slain in the end.

“SCOOTS! BREAKFAST IS READY!” Merry could hear the clippity clop of small hooves on a wooden floor followed by a voice

“COMING DAD!” The sound of hooves was replaced with a light sound of air moving instead

Merry had finished cooking and placed the plate on the table. He looked to the entrance way of the kitchen and  saw as a small orange Pegasus came slowly flying into the kitchen. She had her tongue out a bit in concentration as she flew herself into the seat in front of the plate.

“I see you’re getting better at flying. Did you glide down the stairs this morning?” the orange filly nodded her head enthusiastically

“Yeah! Rainbow Dash said the best way to get better at flying was to fly everywhere I go! But I still get tired and have to resort to walking at times...” Merry just chuckled a bit and sat down across from her

“Yeah I know, that’s why I’ve been making special foods just for you. I’ve been doing some research and figured out the best foods to help build your wings big and strong. Just you wait, You’ll beat Rainbow Dash someday.” Scootaloo's eyes went wide

“Better than... Rainbow Dash?” Merry just gave her a huge grin

“You better believe it kiddo. Now eat up and let me know if you want seconds.” Scootaloo nodded her head and began to eat with a gusto while Merry just began to read a book about Pegasi health.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘‘’She is your everything you know, You had no direction in life. You lived inside a spiral of self destruction in the name of fun, But she gave you purpose. She gave you love and you gave it back.’‘’

‘’But then everything changed when the Griffin Kingdoms attacked.’‘

“What do you mean? What happened?”

‘’‘Look at the wall again, we will show you exactly what happened. How it all began...’‘’ Merry looked to the wall once again to watch what they had to show him

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Griffins had come in droves to Ponyville, the large number of griffins came saying they meant no harm... It wasn’t until they started to herd the ponies into large caravans for transport did the ponies begin to panic.  

Ponies were scrambling in all directions,and Merry was running through the crowd toward the schoolhouse. Scootaloo was still in school during this huge event. When he had pushed through the stampeding ponies he finally found his way to the schoolhouse. To his horror he saw all of the school children being herded into one of those caravans with the griffin's watching them intently.  Scootloo looked up from the group and saw Merry.

“DAD HELP!” the griffins became alerted to his presence and immediately dove at him. Merry was able to avoid their initial attacks at 1st and knock one out as it flew by him. Merry then looked over to all the school children as they looked up to him.

“GET OUT OF HERE!” Merry had the griffins attention for the moment while he brawled it out with them. When one of them suddenly got him into a grapple hold. Merry opened his mouth reveling his canines and bit into the griffins neck, ending the struggle quickly. One of the griffins broke off to intercept the fleeing school children. Merry yelled at him in hopes of bringing him back

“GET BACK HERE YA FUCK HEAD!” it was no use, the Griffin was moving at an insanely fast pace to intercept with them. So Merry ignored the other griffins and turned around to try and stop him. Only to have the other 5 griffins block his path.

“We don’t know what you are, but you don’t look like food to us, Just let us take the ponies and you can live.” Merry gritted his teeth and yelled back at them

“Like Hell I Will!” Merry charged at the griffins only to get swiped by claws across his chest. He recoiled back in pain a bit but kept the attack on. He grabbed the griffins other talon as they tried to swipe him again. Merry then bent the griffins wrist back making a loud crack sound followed by the griffins claw going limp.

“I Wont let you take MY LITTLE GIRL!” Merry proceeded to beat and kill the griffins that blocked his path to Scootaloo. When he was finally done he saw her being loaded into another caravan with some other ponies.

Merry broke into a sprint, but didn’t make it in time, the door closed and the caravan began to take off with Scootaloo in the back looking through the bars out to Merry.

“DAAAD!” Merry released a loud vicious sounding roar as he saw the caravan lift off the ground and fly off into the distance. He saw a griffin eating a pony behind a building and rushed him. He quickly subdued the griffin as he was caught by surprise.

“Where are those other griffins taking the ponies?!” The griffin just spat in his face

“Back to the mother land to be sold off as food, the young ones taste the best when kept in cages for awhile.” The griffins beak twisted into a cruel smile as he began to laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“She’s going to be killed?!”

‘’Not if we get there on time.’‘

‘’‘yes, once we arrive in the Griffin kingdoms we will have to head to the capitol and find her among the royal families.’‘’

“Why the royal families?”

‘’because young pony flesh is considered an expensive delicacy that only the rich could afford to eat.’‘

“Then so be it...How could I forget something so... important...”

‘’‘Do not be too harsh on yourself, we suspect the gems you are hiding upon had something to do with your memory loss.’‘’

‘’Yeah, but we will keep you up to date with everything, So don’t worry your stupid little head and try to Relax.’‘

‘’‘Yes just ask us if your head feels fuzzy, we will tell you everything you need to know.’‘’ Merry stayed silent for awhile then spoke up

“Can I see more memories of my little girl?”

‘’‘Yes of course, just look at the wall in front of you.’‘’ 

Merry smiled fondly at the blank wall in front of him in the darkness of the crate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia and Luna were both eating breakfast inside the castle with all of the children when little Skyler asked the question

“Mom, what happened to Merry? I haven’t seen him in over a month...” Some of the other children spoke up as well 

“Yeah, where did he go?”

“He never said goodbye!” All the children were suddenly asking Luna and Celestia the same thing, Where was Merry? Celestia sighed as Luna answered them

“He thought he had something important to do... I’m sure he will come back someday. But don’t you worry now. I’m sure he will, he never said goodbye right?” The young ones nodded their heads “Well I believe he never said goodbye, because he never intended to be gone for very long... He’s probably just enjoying himself...” Some of the children were satisfied with that answer, but others still wanted to know more.

Breakfast ended on a sad note. Celestia pulled Luna to the side so she could speak with her.

“Lulu, I got a report about 3 weeks ago of a creature that fit Merry's description in Baltimare.”

“What?! Why didn’t you tell me something? We could of gone together to look for him!” Celestia sighed

“I didn’t want to give you false hope, I teleported to Baltimare as soon as I got the report, but he was no where to be found, the town guards said they hadn’t seen him for 2 days and thought he left town...” Luna released a sigh as she hung her head low.

“Pinkie was correct then... We did lose him forever...” Celestia nodded her head

“Twilight refuses to consider him gone, she has been studying mind spells in hopes of finding something that would ‘fix’ him... Spike sent me a letter yesterday saying she hardly sleeps... I’m going to visit Ponyville in tomorrow.” Luna nodded her head solemnly

“Let me know if Twilight has found anything... I still can’t believe what he did to those diamond dogs...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A month and a half has passed, and the SS. Glory was on its way to the Griffin Kingdoms. A small Griffin Colony had ordered a shipment of magical gems to help them get started with setting up their new home away from home.

The crew of the SS. Glory was glad to finally be rid of the last of their cargo, Many of the ships crew had heard strange noises from the cargo bay. Many believed it had become haunted while they were out at sea.

Reports ranged from the sounds of laughter to sobbing, banging to scratching. But when ever some pony came close enough to the source all of the noise would suddenly stop.  The Captain didn’t believe any of it, His ship was far to new to be haunted by some ghost. 

None the less his crew was spooked and he had to finish this journey as soon as possible. They would just drop the cargo off and leave when they received payment. Hopefully the last months supply of food would be plenty for them to sail back with.

With the crew convinced the remaining cargo was cursed, he had little choice in the matter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry’s confinement inside the crate had caused him to listen to the voices in his head. To the point where he was convinced they were real and they only wished to help and guide him. 

‘’‘Now remember, once we arrive wait for them to open the crate so you get the element of suprise.’‘’

‘’Yeah, Then Slaughter the lot of em. We're gonna be in enemy territory, so you wont have any allies.’‘

“What about Soul Eater?”

‘’‘Yes she will be your one and only ally, you can call out her name once its safe for you to do so.’‘’

“When the coast is clear, correct?”

‘’Would you just stop being so stupid?  We’ve gone over this so many times already. We need to get you out of here.’‘ Merry stayed silent and looked at the 4 walls that have held him for so long. They were stained with streaks of his blood from the failed escape attempts to claw his way out. His hands weren’t healing anymore because he tried so often. He was forced to live with the nice tingling sensation on his hands.

When he asked the voices why it didn’t hurt when his skin was cut and torn, they simply told him it was because he was blessed by the gods to not feel such things. Merry had questioned them about many things, But the one thing that stayed prevalent were questions about his daughter Scootaloo. 

Merry went silent when he could hear the sound of hoof steps on metal. So many times he had wanted to yell out for help, but Mistress and Curse told him to stay quiet and hidden until he arrived in the griffin kingdoms.

“Lets hurry up and move this blasted cargo off the ship so we can go home Skip.” Merry just sat silently in the crate listening to everything they were saying

“Buck yeah, Let those griffins deal with the haunted crates. I hate ghosts...” After some time the crate Merry was in was lifted off the ground and held at an angle. Merry slowly leaned himself against the side of it to try and keep himself from bouncing around. 

“Oh god, one of these crates smells god awful, you think a dock rat got inside one and died somehow?” the other pony scoffed

“Hell if I know and I’ll be damned if I care, lets just get them off the ship.”

After about 20 minutes of travel Merry could hear voices again.

“Alright, everything looks to be in order, 10 crates of magical gems for 520 bits.” Merry heard the distinct sound of a bag of bits hitting the floor and clinking.

“You coulda just hoofed em to me ya know...” Their wasn’t a response, just the sound of wings flapping.

“Bucking arsehole griffin... Lets Pack it up Colts!” A collective of cheers could be heard as the sound of hoofs beat upon the ground away from Merry’s location.

Now all Merry had to do was wait for the griffins to open his crate...

‘’Hey, when they open it, make sure you release the demon, Can't spell slaughter without laughter after all, hehe- HAHAHAAA!’‘

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside the warehouse two griffins were talking to each other about the shipment that just came in.

“Hey Buck-beak, come on. I know we could sneak in and get some of those gems for ourselves.”

“Bet we can, I saw where they put them all.”

“Mmm I can just taste all that venison meat were gonna buy with the money we get from selling those magic gems.” 

The two griffins made their way inside the large warehouse doing their best to stay out of sight from the warehouse manager. He was doing his rounds to keep any would be thieves at bay from stealing any of the starting towns supplies.

When they neared their destination Buck-beak began to sniff the air. And was soon being led by his nose

“I smell, something rotting...” Buck-beak began to lick his beak

“Dude, I can smell it too, but I cant believe you wanna eat some rotting animal”

“Its coming from this crate here...This is one of the gem crates, bucking jackpot yo.”

“Seriously dude? Your gonna eat some animal that died and is now probably all nasty? Who knows how long its been inside this crate.”

“You don’t understand bro, rotting meat has a certain flavor that cant be re-created with any kind of cooking.” the other griffin sighed and turned around as he didn’t want to see him eat some dead rotting animal

“What ever dude, just hurry the buck up, he’s gonna be coming back this way soon.” Buck-beak took out his crowbar and easily pried the lid off. He released the smell that he loved, but when he saw the animal inside he paused for a moment confused. Because it wasn’t dead, it was moving.

A bony hand shot up and grabbed Buck-beak by his beak before he could yell for help. Merry brought his canines into full view while he gave a creepy smile. Before the griffin could even begin to struggle properly Merry brought his jaws around the side of the griffins neck and bit a chunk out causing him to bleed out in seconds and die.

“Releasing the demons again, he-he-ha-ha... HA-HA-AH!” The other griffin spun around when Merry spoke, His eyes opened as wide as dinner plates when he saw his friend limp in the grasp of the strange creature.

“HOLY...” The Griffin was silenced by 3 crossbow bolts to the face.

‘’Good, now eat. Don’t worry, they taste like chicken. He-he’‘

‘’‘Once you have eaten them, we can start razing this griffin town to the ground.’‘’

Merry just grunted in agreement as he ate the griffin corpses raw.
> A Monster, with a hint of Mercy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Bill the griffin was making his rounds flying around the warehouse making sure no griffin was stealing goods. It wasn’t until he saw a dirty orange color near the crates that had just arrived did he notice something was amiss.

“Stupid thief, using such bright colors...” It wasn’t until he got closer that he noticed something was wrong, the open crate nearby suggested that it was a thief, but he could also hear the distinct sound of bones being crunched and flesh being torn. Instead of making himself known he landed softly behind a nearby crate and peered over at what it was doing.

“That’s the last of em... Is it time?” Bill couldn’t see anything else nearby except the pools of blood and feathers on the ground around the creature in the dirty orange cloak.  His blood suddenly ran cold and he ducked back behind the crate and tried to slow his breathing, he didn’t want whatever it was to see him. 

“Oh?” Bill suddenly heard the sound of a clip being undone and before he could see what happened a blade’s edge tore through the crate he was hiding behind. The blades razor sharp edge cut the crate in half and tore him along the back crippling his wings.

The contents of the crate spilled all over the floor. They were steel pipes, and they were cut cleanly as if they had been butter. As Bill just crawled away in pain he looked back at his mangled wings, he heard the monster speak in a deep raspy voice.

“Wanna play a game? You hide and I’ll seek!” Bill looked in horror as the monster stood on two legs with the creepiest smile he had ever seen. Blood dripped down along its face and its canines were stained red with a feather between some of the teeth.

“You better hurry!” Bill began to crawl away, the cut was deeper than he thought and his back legs weren’t responding properly.

“Hurry!” The monster began to make heavy steps, Bill yelled for help in hopes of some griffin hearing his plight.

“Help!”

“Hurry!” The steps were getting louder

“Someone Help!”

“HURRY!” The steps became heavier 

“HELP ME!” Bill was suddenly grabbed by his back leg and pulled back, then brought up into the air. The monster bent over to look into his face

“You suck at this game...” The creature licked its lips and then smiled “...I’m still kinda hungry.” Bills eyes went wide as the monster opened its jaws.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia and the children were all eating dinner/breakfast together.   Most of the children had adapted to staying up all night with Luna. Some even joined her during night court and made it much livelier. The night guards were worried at 1st with the presence of so many children, but in the end they didn’t mind, it made the job more enjoyable. 

Luna was happy because night court was no longer the boring chore it once had been. When they were finished eating Celestia pulled Luna to the side once again to tell her some news.

“It would seem Twilight Sparkle has stumbled upon some old spells of Star Swirl the Bearded. Some very old spells that deal with the mind...” Luna suddenly became ecstatic

“That is wonderful news sister! Tell me, how far has she gotten?” Celestia bit her lower lip

“Not far I’m afraid, but it’s a start. I was hoping maybe you could visit her. Dreams are somewhat like delving into a ponies mind correct?”

“But of course sister, you delve into their mind and search the subconscious for the dreams.” Celestia nodded

“When you have the time, please visit Twilight and give her your advice on these spells. They sound similar to your dream scape spell.” Luna nodded her head

“I will head out to Ponyville at once sister!” One of the children overheard Luna say she was going to Ponyville and spoke up excited

“I wanna go to Ponyville too Mom!” He was soon followed by 29 other children who voiced the same excitement at going someplace with their beloved mother. 

Needless to say, Luna ended up going to Ponyville that night with 30 children in tow...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry had finished eating the 3rd griffin and began to stretch all of his limbs. Being stuck so long inside a cramped space made some of his movements feel awkward. He had also lost a lot of weight while in the crate. 

From his finger nails breaking off from trying to carve faces into gems, his skin breaking and blood oozing from self inflicted wounds, all from his failed escape attempts. He had gone through most of his bodies stored reserves. 

The feast the 3 griffins provided for him brought him back to his full glory. After absorbing the diamond dogs strength, essence, bone mass, and teeth. Merry broke the 6 foot mark and was full of muscle. No longer a measly 5 foot something weakling.

He was a powerhouse standing at 6'5", His two handed sword no longer risked dragging on the floor, and his cloak looked to be a foot too short now. Because of the diamond dog’s he had absorbed, he stood slightly hunched over, and his eyes looked a little bigger then before.

His muscles had gained the most obvious bonus, his skin looked like it would burst from his muscles alone and his sword, while already light, felt more like a feather in his hand. Cutting through that crate with the steel pipes was far easier then it should of been.

Merry looked around the warehouse and could see no other griffins or creatures within view.

‘’‘It is safe, call her to your side.’‘’

‘’Yeah! Hurry up!’‘

“SOUL EATER! COME TO ME!” after a few seconds a flame pillar appeared on the ground in front of Merry, seconds later the pillar ended and Soul was standing in the center of the burn mark upon the floor.

“Merry, I had thought you dead! Are we to continue the search for your daughter once again?” Merry nodded his head and smiled

“Yes, but 1st we must raze this griffin village to the ground, will you help me...friend?” Soul look confused for a moment at the word friend but ignored it and answered

“Of course, it is what I am here for, To help you with whatever you ask of me.” Merry gave Soul a warm toothless smile.

“You are a great friend Soul...” Soul was a bit confused, she could feel a different set of emotions from Merry she hadn’t felt before. It seemed closer to that of a child’s emotions, simple and to the point. Instead of the layers she had gotten before, it was coming in single waves. Some thicker than others. She figured it was because he had just mellowed out a bit since she last saw him.

“How are we going to raze this town to the ground Merry?” Merry looked away and opened his mouth to show his teeth as he smiled.

“Very simple my Dear, we kill everything in our way as we watch this village burn to the ground... You like fire right?” Soul gave Merry a toothy grin as well

“I was born in it.” Merry looked back to Soul and laughed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had searched through the warehouse for fire starting supplies. What they found was a crate full of a Lamp oil. Merry had made a bunch of torches using the wood and some bolts of cloth he had found inside another crate. Soul carried all of the unlit torches on her back while Merry grabbed an already set up lighter powered by a gem.

‘’Hey hey, look what I found in your memories, I think this will make things more enjoyable for you!’‘ 

Slipknot- I am Hated

“The world is my enemy now isn’t it?” Soul looked up to Merry

“Perhaps because we are in enemy territory.” Merry nodded his head.

“1st things first, lets set this stupid warehouse ablaze.” Merry took one of the glass lamp oil bottles and put a rag into the open end of it and lit it on fire after soaking it in some of the oil. He then chucked it into the remaining crates of oil he didn’t use.

After a bit of time the glass of the other lamp oils could be heard breaking as the fire began to spread. As the flames filled Merry’s eyes he looked to Soul and said

“Remember, we’re here to Fuck shit up. Let no one stop you, if you need help call for me, Now you head left, and I’ll go right.” Soul nodded her head and left after Merry lit the torch in her mouth and Merry took some of the torches off her back.

Merry ran down to the right and was setting homes and buildings on fire as he ran. Setting fire to them was easy enough as most of the homes had straw roofs or were made of unprotected wood entirely. Simply walking by with the torch against the building would set it ablaze. It didn’t take long before griffins wearing armor showed up.

“HALT FOUL CREATURE!” Merry spun around to see griffins wearing armor and helmets, they didn’t seem to be armed with any weapons. Probably because they had claws and didn’t think they were needed.

“What do you fuck heads want? Cant you see I’m busy setting your shitty town ablaze?” the Griffins became hostile immediately and dove at Merry using a speed he was not prepared for, let alone match.

The griffin in the middle went straight for his chest while the other two went for his arms. The griffin in the middle was unpleasantly surprised when his claws couldn’t penetrate Merry’s chest, instead his claws shattered and his wrist broke upon impact. The other two griffins met their marks and pierced through Merry’s arms, digging their claws into the wall of the building behind Merry that had just been set ablaze. 

The griffin with the broken claw and wrist squawked in pain while the other two lifted his cloak away reveling his adamantine breastplate. Merry smirked at the griffins even with his arms impaled upon the wall behind him, he felt no pain. He only felt Pleasure.

“What’s the matter you overgrown chicken? Never seen real armor before?” Merry burst into laughter while the two griffins holding him back looked at each other a little worried. Normally when they used this technique, the subject was killed or subdued immediately. 

“Merry, I require your help!” Merry turned his head to the left as soon as he heard Souls voice, then looked to the griffins 

“My friend needs help, Don’t try to stop me.”  The muscles in Merry’s arm’s flexed for a moment and a crunching sound was heard followed by the 2 griffins shrieking in pain. He then promptly headed butted both of them and began to sprint in the direction Soul was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Stop running little pony, hand over the torches and come quietly.” 3 Griffins had backed Soul into a corner, she dropped her lit torch while she was running hoping to lose them. Unfortunately something that can fly is hard to evade.

“Damn pony is lucky the Equestrian treaty prevents us from killing her...”

“We could always write in the report it was self defense...”

“They would never believe it, dang ponies are way too timid.” As the griffins closed in upon the silent pony they could hear heavy stomps coming from behind them, getting louder as each second passed.

“What is that sound? It sounds like one of those clumsy Minotaur...” As one of the griffins turned around to look behind him he saw a bipedal figure wearing an orange cloak sprinting in their direction. 

“When did a Minotaur get into the this town?” The other 2 griffins shrugged

“Hes coming this way...and he’s taking out his sword...”

“So he’s hostile?”

“I don’t know, lets take off before he gets any closer, I don’t wanna take a chance...” The 2 griffins took off and began to hover in the air, but not so high as to let the arsonist pony escape, but high enough so the Minotaur couldn’t reach them.

The ugly Minotaur sprinted passed them and knelt down to the pony, then brought her into a hug. Much to everyones suprise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry held Soul into a tight hug much to her surprise. 

“They didn’t hurt you did they?” Soul shook her head

‘’Don’t forget about the griffins fuck nuts.’‘

“No they didn’t, you got here just in time.” Merry released a breathe he had been holding and dropped his head looking to the ground

“I’m so glad you’re ok Soul. Lets not split up again. We should stick together.” Soul nodded her head

“I agree.”

‘’The griffins you stupid bitch!’‘ Merry turned around to look at the griffins, they had begun a dive attack. So Merry grabbed Soul in his arms and kept her under him, making sure she was behind his breastplate. They would have to pierce through his body and 2 layers of adamantine if they wanted to reach her.

Luckily griffins claws aren’t made to go through adamantine, the griffin aiming for his body broke his claws and arm this time around. The other two griffins had aimed at his arms near the shoulder. They actually penetrated and cut through, so Merry released his griped upon Soul and flexed his muscles yet again.

The griffins felt the sudden pressure on their wrists, it didn’t crush them but it only held them in place.

“Soul, if you would?” Soul nodded her head in silence and reared her hind hooves up and began to smash her back hooves upon the griffins that were held into place. When they fell limp she stopped and Merry relaxed letting the griffins fall to the ground. The griffin with the broken claw and arm flew off to get help.

“Merry! He’s escaping!” Merry just laughed

“Let him, Let him get as many of his allies as possible, I will crush them all! Fuck griffins, I hate them all, they are nothing but animals that need to be destroyed for what they did...” Soul just looked over to Merry and felt the emotions of rage and hate she had known so well, except... It was different somehow. The rage seemed to spread across the entire griffin race in place of individuals...

As Merry watched him leave he inhaled a deep breath and begin to sing a light hum. 

“This looks so pretty, do you wanna burn it with me?” Soul just smiled up at Merry as he continued to sing a song

“We can use the trees as torches!” Soul looked over at all the trees, there were indeed a lot of them near homes.

“Do you wanna burn it with me?” Soul nodded her head at Merry 

“We’ll fill the streets with corpses!” Merry let out a thunderous laugh as Soul responded

“Lets watch this city burn!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna and her 30 children, along with some of her lunar guards, landed in the center of Ponyville. Everyone exited the newly custom made chariot and began to walk through the dimly lit town. 

“What are we gonna do here mom?”

“Are we here to regulate someone?!”

“You can use your canterlot voice when you yell at him mom! Just like you did with the banker yesterday!” Luna sighed as she smiled

“No, we are here to meet an old friend. I am hoping to help her with some complicated spells she found.” some of the unicorn fillies and colts perked up at the idea of some magic.

Luna had been letting the children attend her night court sessions and after going out with Merry to check on that orphanage, she took it upon her self to personally check things that seemed suspicious or awkward. The children had gotten to see her use the Canterlot voice a few times, Luna didn’t mind them tagging along, as the children would often ask questions that she herself might of overlooked or didn’t seem important. 

Thanks to the filly Pink and the colt Floyd she was able to uncover that bankers embezzling plan. It was the 1st time she had used the canterlot voice in front of the children, she thought she had scared them, but instead they were excited and wanted to know how they could do it as well. Kratos was the most interested colt in learning about how to use the royal Canterlot voice.

“Here we are children, the towns library, the pony Twilight Sparkle is who we are looking for.” some of the colts ran up to the door and began to knock. Luna and the others came up to the door as it opened and a small purple dragon opened the door. All of the colts except one backed away at the sight of the small purple dragon.

“DRAGON! HAVE AT THEE!” Luna watched as Kratos barreled Spike into the library and stood over him in triumph.

“Did you see that mom!? I took down this dragon who was snooping around Ms. Sparkles home!” Luna just chuckled as Spike groaned on the floor.

“Let him up Kratos, I forgot to mention Twilight’s assistant is Spike the dragon.” Kratos mouth made an O shape as he stepped off Spike. Spike got up rubbing his head.

“Well then, Twilight told me you were coming, but I didn’t realize you were going to bring all of them with you.” Luna just smiled warmly at Spike and looked around at the children who had begun to look around the library or inspect Spike. None of them had seen a dragon before.

“Yes well, They wanted to come along and I saw no harm in it.” Spike nodded his head with his eyes closed and arms crossed.

“Yeah, well, I just hope they don’t mess up the Library, I spent all day cleaning it today. Its the weekly Friday cleaning, the big one of every week...” Spikes eyes suddenly lit up “... Hey you wanna see something cool?” Luna just raised an eyebrow

“I’d rather discuss the spell details with Miss Sparkle.”

“She’s going to be out for a bit longer, Pinkie Pie and Applejack dragged her out to have some fun, since she’s been doing research for the past 3 weeks straight...” Luna sighed in defeat, she would just have to wait for her return, but hopefully with the sight of her chariot outside someone would spread the word and she would arrive sooner then later.

“Well alright then, What is it?” Spike clasped his claws together as he got a smile on his face.

“Alright well look here, After Merry told me everything he knew about dragons, and wrote down what he didn’t have time to explain. I’ve been learning things about my own fire, or breath weapon as he called it. Merry said my breath was more of an energy base that I could manipulate with some practice, it took me a few weeks but... Check it out!” Spike held out his hands and took a deep breath, after a few seconds he exhaled into his hands and a green gas slowly crept out.

Luna and all the children were in awe at what the green gas changed into. It took the form of a large sword in Spike right hand and a shield in his left, it was just big enough to cover his form. Spike ended it with holding the green sword high above his head.

“Spike, you can use magic?!” Spike shook his head.

“I’m not really sure if its magic or not...” one of the colts leapt forward and held out his hoof

“Hey can I hold it!?” Spikes eyes went wide, and he jumped back keeping the green weaponry away from the colt.

“NO!” The colt had a look of hurt on his face and Spike just sighed “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell, but only I can touch them, They are dangerous to anyone else. I cant even let them touch the floor, Twilight got mad at me last time because they ate through the floor...” Luna’s eyes went eyed along with the children

“Wha- What do you mean?”

“These are made from my breath, and my breath is an acidic energy apparently. So these are made of acid, and I guess because its mine, is the reason why it doesn’t hurt me.” Spike held them above his head and released his grip on them, only for them to dissipate into the air. “I haven't figured out how to make them safe yet, as of now they are just dangerous weapons... But its still really cool. I just need to work on it more...” Spike had a look of sadness on his face

“And how did you get your breath to do such a thing in the 1st place?” Spike put his claw to his chin in thought for a moment.

“Well, I just visualize what I want, and as long as I keep the image in my head as I exhale my breath, it just takes that shape.” 

“Have you tried making something that isn’t a weapon? A plate perhaps?” Spike just got a blush on his face as he moved his foot across the ground

“Well uh... no...but I mean... That’s not very cool...” Luna just chuckled

“Try it, I would like to see what happens.” Spike sighed

“Alright, just stand back.” Luna and the children nodded and stepped back giving him plenty of space.

“Just remember Spike, a simple Plate, Not dangerous, no weapons, a simple plate...” Spike nodded his head and held out his claws again and inhaled, a few second later he exhaled and a green plate took shape in his claws.

It didn’t look much different from the weapons, but it seemed to be denser in spikes hands, and a bit heavier as well.

“Now spike, set it upon the table if you would.” Spike eyes opened up.

“B-But! It will just melt through the table!” Luna nodded her head

“It might, this is just a test, I would like to see if its possible to make things that are useable and safe for everyone to touch.” Spike just looked at Luna with an eyebrow raised

“Well, alright, but if Twilight asks, it was your Idea.” Luna just chuckled as Spike put the green plate upon the table, and to Spikes great surprise, it didn’t eat a hole into the table and fall through, it just sat there.

“Wha-bu-How?” Luna just sighed as she walked up to Spike

“It is as I thought, when you wanted a weapon, your magical breath created a deadly weapon. But when you wanted a simple plate, it created a simple plate. I’m sure if you visualize a sword for protecting, in place of hurting, it wouldn’t eat away at everything it touches.” Spike just looked at Princess Luna and back to the green plate.

“I never thought of that...” Spike just smiled “...Maybe I can get it to work, I would never forgive my self if I ended up hurting someone I was trying to protect...” Spike just shook his head to clear it

“Oh where are my manners, Let me get you some tea and snacks while we wait for Twilight to return.” the green plate on the table dissipated into nothing as Spike rushed over to the kitchen. Luna just smiled

“Yes, we would love some, thank you Spike...” one of the colts spoke up from the back

“I don’t like tea!” Luna just sighed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry stood in the center of the village as it was burning to the ground. Griffins were running and flying around attempting to put the flames out. The guards no longer tried to fight him, Merry had brought out his sword and was cutting them in half whenever they got into range and moved slow enough.

None of the griffins could inflict enough damage to keep him down for any length of time, his regeneration was quickly healing any wounds he would take. And for every wound he took he killed one of them. It was a suicide mission to attack him, They opted for just attempting to put out the flames on any of the nearby homes.

“I think we did a good job setting this stupid town ablaze, don’t you think Soul?”

“Indeed Merry, it reminds me of home.”

“Home huh, tell me, why would a burning village remind you of home?”

“Because I reside in the 606th and 607th levels of the abyss. Volcanos and magma lakes are not uncommon, and this burning smell reminds me of my youth on the 606th level.” Merry lifted an eyebrow

‘’Did we forget to mention she is a fiend? A devil spawn? Hehe’‘

‘’‘Worry not Merry, She is still a friend.’‘’ Merry nodded his head with a smile and he watched the village burn.

“What do you wanna do now Soul? Shall we just watch this village burn? Or do you wanna go kill some more of those dirty griffins?”  Soul puckered her lips out in thought for a moment.

“Why don’t we kill any on the way to the hill over there? I would like to get an aerial view of the flames.” Merry just smiled then released a laugh

“Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea. Come on then.” Merry began to walk a straight path toward the hill in the distance Soul had pointed too.

‘’You planning to get kinky on that hilltop?’‘

‘’‘I’m sure she wouldn’t mind it...’‘’

‘’except for the fact you have the short end of the stick! Bawhaha!” Merry released a sigh as he walked and would glance over at Soul from time to time.

Merry and Soul kept a slow N steady pace as they walked through the streets of the burning village. Admiring their own handy/hoof work as they walked.

“How did you get that brick one to burn?” Merry looked over to the building Soul was looking at.

“Oh simple, I kicked in the door and set it on fire from the inside out. Once the furniture caught the rest of it went up like magic.” Soul nodded her head.

“That makes sense...” She smiled as she looked into the flames.

They soon continued their slow pace and ended up walking into a brightly lit neighborhood.

“Its like daytime here isn’t it?” Soul just chuckled

“Yes, it is like daytime...” Soul took a deep breath and exhaled “... smells so good.” Merry took a deep breath as well

“Smells kinda like a Hickory barbeque...With chicken on the grill.” Merry released a sigh “I miss eating BBQ chicken with some good old BBQ sauce, shame this world is mostly ruled by a vegetarian race.” Merry began his slow walk trough the burning village when he could hear a faint sound of crying.

Merry looked over to a nearby building and saw it ablaze like the others. ‘Stupid griffins...’ Soul looked up to Merry then over to the house he was looking at.

“You can hear that griffin hatchling crying for help as well?” Merry’s eyes widened a bit

“Hatch...ling?” Soul nodded her head

“Yeah you know, a child, a baby. Its parents probably forgot about it during the blaze we were setting up. The griffins sure are stupid.” Merry began to walk to the house

‘’Don’t do it.’‘

‘’‘You cant go in there, For a Griffin!’‘’

‘’Who cares if it’s a child! When it grows up it will be just like the adults!’‘ Merry stopped walking and clenched his fist.

‘’‘Just leave it!’‘’

“I...”

‘’Don’t you Fucking dare!’‘

‘’‘Don’t Fucking Do it!’‘’ Merry inhaled sharply and released a yell as he charged into the burning building. 

Soul just watched Merry as he ran into the burning building, she quickly followed after him. His emotions were in a jumbled mess, and she couldn’t figure out why, was the sound of the griffin child causing him grief? Either way she had to follow him and make sure he stayed safe.

Merry ran around the house, it was hard to tell where the sound was coming from, it wasn’t until he ran through a blaze in the middle of the floor did he enter what would of been a child’s room. If the wooden toys on the floor were any indication, he didn’t know what would be.

Merry looked around the room and could hear some coughing from the closet. It was blocked off by some fallen debris. 

‘’Just leave you stupid fuck!’‘

‘’‘You have no business here! Its your fault this place is burning anyway!’‘’ Merry just went over to the debris and began to move it out of the way, the flames of the burning wood searing the flesh of his hands.

“I can’t do it. Even if it is a griffin, I can’t knowingly kill an innocent child because of its older races foolishness...”

‘’God Dammit, you’re so fucking weak...’‘ Merry got the rest of burning debris out of the way and opened the closet door. Inside he saw a small griffin curled up inside a blanket. The small griffin looked up at him with magenta eyes and a mix of white and orange feathers.

For a second Merry’s vision did a bit of an inverted loop and he lost his balance for a moment. When he looked at the griffin again he saw Scootaloo, but blinked and shook his head. When he looked again it was the same small griffin, It wasn’t Scootaloo, it couldn’t be.

“W-W-Who are you?” The small griffin looked up at Merry with tear stained feathers.

“Just someone that came to get you out of here, now come on.” Merry scooped up the small griffin in his arms and turned around to see Soul standing behind him.

“Merry, why are you saving this griffin child?” Merry began to run out of the house, using his cloak and the blanket to shield the small griffin from the smoke in the air.

“Because Soul, I have a weakness for children and young cute things... Besides...” Merry spoke the next part in his mind so the small griffin wouldn’t hear him. ‘I cannot take out my anger on an innocent child, when it’s the stupid adults that did everything...’ Soul simply followed closely behind Merry and he jumped out a window and landed on his back, cradling the small griffin in his arms.

“Alright...” Merry unfolded his arms and placed the small griffin on the floor “...Now run along, the rest of the village has evacuated or are helping put out the flames.” The small griffin just looked up to Merry

“But, Who are you?” Merry just looked off into the distance before he responded back.

“Just your friendly neighboorhood Spiderman!” Merry watched as the small griffin began to run down the street away from all the flames that surrounded them.

'''Are you fucking serious right now?'''

“Soul, lets go to that hilltop now...” Soul nodded her head and followed behind Merry who began to run out of the village.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna, Spike, and the children were enjoying their tea and snacks, some more than others.

“So when do you expect Miss Sparkle to be back?” Spike put his teacup down and picked up one of the cookies

“Soon I hope, She knew you were coming, but they wanted to get her out of the house regardless...” Spike began to munch the cookie when some of the fillies and colts approached him

“Mr. Dragon Sir, we were wondering... What’s its like to be a dragon?” Spike raised an eyebrow

“Well, what do you mean? Because being a dragon is overall pretty awesome.” Some of them just went ooh and awe at Spike claiming to be awesome.

“Well like, what’s it like to have scales?”

“And Claws!”

“And what do gems taste like!?”

“Well hang on guys, one at a time. As for scales well, I don’t know. Oddly enough they stain as I found out with blueberries, and my claws? I have to keep them dulled so I don’t accidentally damage things I pick up... But gems.” Spike began to drool a bit. “Its hard to explain, I cant compare the taste to anything that ponies eat... except... Well Rubies taste kinda like strawberries and cherries combined. And a fire ruby tastes like strawberries and cherries with hot sauce. That’s the closest to taste I can figure out.” One of the colts raised his hoof and Spike just scratched his head in confusion a bit before pointing him out

“Um, can I try eating one?” Spike and Luna laughed

“No, sorry, Dragons like me have special teeth and jaw builds so we can easily crunch up gems to eat... I remember when Merry tried to eat one of my gems...” Spike chuckled to himself for a moment “...he cracked his teeth and had to get Colgate to fix them.” Luna just looked at Spike as she chuckled a bit at the thought as well.

“And why would he of done something so silly?”

“Merry thought that gems were softer in this world and wanted to see if he could eat one. It didn’t work, ha-ha.” As Luna and Spike reminisced about the past, Twilight bust the door to the Library open followed by Applejack

“Ah’m a telling ya sugarcube, you need to get out more.” Twilight released a sigh and looked back to Applejack

“Yes I know Applejack, but Princess Luna is...” Twilight stopped talking and bowed before Princess Luna as she looked into the kitchen where everypony and dragon was sitting. 

“Rise Twilight Sparkle, I am here to help you with the spells you found.” Twilight nodded in excitement

“Oh yes yes yes! Please if you would, I’m having trouble with it. It stated it was extremely dangerous, and I didn’t want to risk casting it incomplete. With you here I’m sure we could figure it out!” Applejack just bowed and looked inside at all the kids eating snacks and drinking tea.

“Are these the young’uns Ah heard so much about the las’ few months Princess?” Luna nodded her head.

“Yes fair Applejack, if you don’t mind, I would love if you could watch them while I show Miss. Sparkle here the basics of mind spells.” Applejack just rubbed her Noggin under her hat

“Well shoot, I would love ta watch em for a moment. Lets go play in the main room fillies and colts. Lemme show ya'll some farm pony games.” All of the children were excited to learn some new games. Applejack looked at one of the colts and squinted a bit.

“Hey you, yeah you, the colt in the back, whats yer name?” The colt in question just looked around and then spoke up

“My names Adam Apple Miss. Applejack.”

“Well I’ll be a dragons uncle. You look just like one of my cousins from Manehattan. Different name though.” The fillies and colts all looked around at each other.

“How big is your family Applejack?” 

“Well lemme think here...” Applejack counted her hoofs a few times and looked up into the air continuing to count. “... about 145 known Apple families are spread across Equestria. Of course most of em take different last names when they find their special somepony.” Applejack continued to talk about her family and all of its extended members that she knew about to the children as she lead them out the main room.

“Now that the little ones are gone, I must speak with you in private Miss Sparkle.” Twilight nodded her head as they went upstairs, Spike stayed in the kitchen to clean up the mess they all made.

“What is it Princess?” Luna released a sigh

“Mind spells are a very dangerous thing to do. Without Proper training, your astral self can be a manifestation of your physical body, and if you die whilst delving into another’s mind, you’re real body will die as well.” Twilights eyes opened up in shock

“Well, how do I prevent something like that?!” 

“1st, you will need to move to Canterlot for awhile, I will teach you everything you need to know so you will be prepared when the time comes. But another thing, when you delve into the mind of another, it is a labyrinth and without the proper commands you could be lost forever, I will teach you those as well.”

“How do you know so much about mind spells Princess?” Luna sighed yet again and looked out the window up into her night sky.

“Being the princess of the night, I am also the ruler of dreams, When I dream dive, I push myself past the sleeping ponies conscious and find my way into their subconscious, and everyponies mind is different. Some are easy to find, others are hidden or locked away. Without a direct link with your horn to the target, it is nearly impossible to find what you are looking for without extensive training and experience. But worry not, I will help you.” Twilight looked a little sad

“But, if you’re so much better, why don’t you do it? Why don’t you just delve into Merry’s mind and fix him?” Luna released a sigh and responded with a hurt tone of voice.

“I only knew him briefly in the time he was here. While you and your friends were with him far longer and got to know him on a personal scale. You would know his mind better then I would... I’ve been into his mind before Miss Sparkle... It was a scary place. You will need to prepare yourself for when the time comes, and I will personally see to it that you are fully prepared. Its been quiet for almost 2 months, he is bound to show up soon.”

“I know... Do you think he’s... dead?” Luna shook her head and smiled

“Nonsense, I heard how he escaped from the castle, the fool jumped from the window and fell down the mountain side, then apparently walked away from it. He’s surely alive, he probably just took a boat, the long way to the griffin kingdoms.”

“I hope he's alive as well... I should of tried harder to keep him here...”

“Did you... perhaps hear about what happened to our Diamond dog allies in the east?” Twilight nodded her head.

“Yes, some sort of deranged monster... Killed a lot of them, then just left.” Luna nodded her head.

“Yes indeed, the description of the monster from the living diamond dogs fit Merry’s description. Do you know why he did it?” Twilight shook her head with eyes open in shock horror.

“He said... Merry was yelling for them to release Scootloo, For some reason he thought they had her... He thought she was still alive. He’s gotten worse Twilight, and I’m afraid when we find him, it might be too late.” Twilight closed her eyes

“No! We Will find him, and we Will make him Better again! You just wait, I’m going to get this spell down in a week, you just see. I’m going to learn everything, so when we hear news of him again, we can all head out together and get him back!” Twilight dropped her head as tears formed in her eyes. “Pinkie Pies Pinkie sense can’t always be right... Can it?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry and Soul sat on the hilltop overlooking the village as it burned to the ground. Merry released a sigh and looked over to Soul.

‘’You’re a fucking Pansy son of a fucking bitch, you know that? How the fuck can you just torch a whole village filled with woman and children, then just go and save one of em from a fire?’‘

‘’‘You have to remember, they are Griffins, They killed you, your family and friends. Then they turned the pony princess against you as well. You cant show them any mercy.’‘’

“Soul, I cant harm a child, Something inside of me... hurts when I see or hear a child in trouble. I don’t know why... I know I should hate all the griffins but...” Soul released a sigh as she looked at Merry.

“Merry, if I may speak freely?” Merry nodded his head. And was swiftly hit upside the head with a hard hoof.

“Next time you run into a burning building, Wait for me! I had to look everywhere! And next time let me move the burning debris! Fire doesn’t hurt me, I could of moved it myself! Why do you do so many stupid things?!”

‘’She needs to hit you harder.’‘

‘’‘and more often.’‘’ Merry smiled and said the next line with a bit of a tune to his voice.

“I can’t believe that when I breathe, there’s one good thing inside of me, just one good thing inside of me...” Merry just looked down at the burning village “... Because I’m broken and part of a dying breed on this world... I don’t even remember what my original intent on this stupid place was...” Soul released an audible sigh as she sat back down next to Merry.

“We came to find you’re little girl remember?” Merry just smiled

“Yes, I know that, but... Before I had a little girl to take of, before all of this. I don’t remember what my place on this world was. I’m the only one of my kind here...” Merry laid down on the grass and looked up into the night sky. “... But I guess none of that matter now does it?” Soul laid down in the grass next to Merry and looked up to the stars with him.

“So what now?” Merry thought for a moment then began to smell something.

“Actually, we should probably head to the nearest river or something, I just realized how nasty I smell.” Soul snickered a bit.

“Yes, I didn’t want to say anything, but you do indeed smell bad, like a corpse actually.” Merry stood up and began to walk to the water front a decent ways up current from the burning village.

“Well gee thanks, I think a salt water bath should do the trick for getting rid of most of it then, at least until we find some fresh water.” Merry headed down to the water and began to strip down, Soul followed closely behind and just watched.

“Soo, Are you gonna give me some privacy? Oor what’s going on?” Soul just looked at Merry and he could hear her laugh

‘’Give her the D you pansy bitch.’‘

“Just checking some things out is all, I’ll turn around if you wish.” Merry just sighed

‘’Tell her to turn around, She wont be impressed with your small ass dick.’‘

‘’‘HAHAHAHA’‘’

“Yes I wish, now spin around.” Soul made a pouty face and turned around.

Merry stripped down and brought some of his under garments into the water with him to rinse them off as well. When Merry smelled his underwear he gagged and almost threw up into the water. With a quick scrub around his body he stopped when he touched his shoulder, it felt different. He looked over to it and saw a large scab thing. It was brown and purple with some puss escaping from it.

“What in the fuck...is this...” Merry poked at it a few times but felt no pain or pleasure from the area at all, it was all dead.

“Something the matter Merry?” Merry looked up from his shoulder over to Soul, she was still facing the opposite direction.

“No nothing is wrong, just cant figure out why I smell so bad...” Merry began to viciously scrub at the spot until small chunks began to break away and the smell gradually disappeared. He watched as the flesh in his shoulder began to slowly heal over again filling in the hole he had created.

‘’We told you that you were just a corpses kept alive with magic. Your shoulder rotting away is proof, you need to be on the look out for that stuff and get rid of it before it gets too bad.’‘

‘’‘yes, the magic preserving your body and healing it seems to be getting weaker.’‘’ Merry just sighed.

“How do you guys know that?”

‘’We told you ya stupid fucking...’‘

‘’‘what he means to say is, We know because we are the all seeing oracles that are here to guide you because we are your friends, even if Curse gets a little mad at times.’‘’

‘’yeah, anyway. When are you gonna hit that? Or did you become some kinda faggot?’‘ Merry released another heavy sigh as he walked out of the sea water and began to put his clothes back on.

Merry walked past Soul, and she jumped up to follow him. Now they were headed in whatever direction the road would take them. 

About 2 hours later as Merry’s cloths began to dry, he started to get itchy.

‘’‘That what happens when you use salt water to clean your cloths and bathe...’‘’

‘’Yer a stupid bitch.’‘
> I Used to be Human
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Meanwhile in the Griffin Kingdoms, The king and ruler of the griffins, Diamond Claw, was having a bitch fit because the griffin colony he poured so much money into, was recently destroyed.

“What the Buck do you mean It BURNED TO THE GROUND?!” The many griffins present cowered a bit at their king being so angry.

“Sir, we had reports of a two legged creature along with a black and orange pony setting the town ablaze. The survivors gave testament to it.” The griffin king, Diamond claw, put his right talon up to his chin.

“Two legged monster you say...” Diamond Claw began to look through a pile of papers until he stopped at one with the Equestrian royal seal upon it.

“Blah blah...blah de blah... walks on two legs, had adamantine armor and a two hoofed sword with an orange cloak... was anyone able to give an accurate description?” One of the griffins stepped forward

“A guard with a broken claw and arm said it wore an adamantine breastplate, he broke his claw upon its armor, others said he used a two taloned sword and wore an orange cloak over his armor.” The griffin king suddenly began to laugh 

“Hue hue hue, It would seem the pony princess lost this creature, if we play our cards right... we can use it to start a war with them...” Many of the griffins eyes grew wide at the statement of war

“But sir, they have magic, we can’t win against that!” The king looked over to the griffin that dared speak against him

“It just so happens, that if a unicorn is paid enough, they will betray their beloved country, I am making Magic proof armor for my armies at the moment, and soon, Unicorn and Alicorn magic will mean nothing to us! We will claim the magical land of Equestria, and we will never have to worry about dragons again!”

The Griffins present within the kings throne room began to cheer in unison at the idea of taking the blessed land for them selves.

“With the magical equestrian soil we will be able to easily farm and raise our own livestock! Never again will we have to hunt...unless you wish too! And the pony flesh! We will once again be able to freely taste the sweet flesh of ponies!”

“But how are you going to stop the princesses your majesty?” The griffin king chuckled to himself before he looked at the griffin who asked such a stupid question.

“How? Its simple, with this creature they are missing, it all becomes so simple. Once we capture and chain it up, we will call the princesses to claim him, and with our new magic proof armor, we will destroy them in an ambush! Its perfect...” The griffins in the room began to cheer

“The rise of the Griffins is at hand!” The throne room was in a chorus of cheers as the griffin king bowed his head to his subjects. 

“Now, tell me how everything went down in that village, we need to capture it if we are to have the perfect bait to lure those pony princesses into our ambush.” The griffins nodded their heads and told him everything they knew, Even the small griffin that claimed to of been saved by the two legged creature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Merry, do you have any idea as to of where we are headed?” Merry just kept walking with a large stride and his hands making large motions as well, it was a completely exaggerated walking style.

“I have noo idea Soul. But I figure if we follow a path, we will find a town at some point. We will keep doing so until we find some of the royal families that have her. If possible, we will force them to point us in the right direction. I’m sure a small amount of threatening will get us the info we need from some commoner...”

“I suppose so Merry, It just seems like a lot of walking on our part...” Merry just laughed out loud

“Please Soul, walking is good for you, keeps you from getting fat!” Soul just looked over to Merry

“I wont get fat! I hardly need to eat as it is on this material plane.” Merry just closed his eyes as he chuckled.

“Yes yes I know. But still, I can feel my muscles wither away if I don’t use them... Probably just some mental thing but whatever. Walking makes me feel strong, or at lest like my muscles aren’t withering away into nothing...” Merry just sighed

“Let us keep going, we will find a town at some point in time.” Soul just nodded her head as she kept close to Merry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia was attending a meeting with some ponies about remodeling part of Canterlot. They wanted to get rid of one of the poorer districts. But Celestia wasn’t having it, the restaurant she liked, The Prancing Pony, resided in that area. And she would rather die then let the amazing restaurant Merry brought her too be taken down. Heck that amazing invention of Salad dressing still wasn’t available on the market yet, and she could only find it there. 

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna going out to eat was no longer a rare occurrence, it was quite common now and it was only at that particular restaurant. Their business had begun to boom incredibly so, and Celestia figured these rich ponies didn’t like the thought of new money entering their places. So they aimed to shut it down before it became too big.

“I am sorry my dear ponies, but you have still yet to give me a valid reason as to why this district needs to be replaced.” The ponies in question began to mumble to themselves and look at the paperwork they brought with them, looking through it in hopes they missed something.

“Celestia, if I may be as so bold as to say... you don’t want to remodel the area, because a restaurant you favor is in the vicinity?”

“Well yes, a restaurant that My sister  and I enjoy going too, is indeed within that area. You should visit it at some point. The chief there is quite good, I was actually planning on making him a castle chief at some point...” The ponies within the room looked almost appalled at that idea

“A commoner chief Princess? How could he possibly make good food?” Celestia’s eyes narrowed at the royal ponies

“I do not like to waste my time with narrow minded foals, You are all dismissed until your views have widened.” Many of the ponies present widened their eyes in shock, but left without a single word of disagreement. Celestia released a sigh after they had all left. 

Shortly after everypony left a message appeared before her face, so she grabbed it with her magic. Celestia opened the letter, thinking it was from Twilight, but was instead shocked, it held the seal of the Griffin kingdoms. With a bit of excitement she opened the letter and began to read it.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Dear Princess Celestia,

It has come to my attention, King Diamond Claw, that a creature fitting the description of the one called ‘Merry’ has arrived within my kingdom. I’ll have you know that he burned down a colony I had recently set up along the sea as a port city. We lost many griffins that day and he has now gone missing. We plan to pour all of our resources into his capture. I will send word when we have him within our grasp. You are free to join me and wait within my castle for him if you so wish. I urge you to bring your sister and any guests you wish to bring along as well.


~Your friend,
Diamond Claw.


``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Celestia was taken aback by the letter.

“Burned a village to the ground...” Celestia began to tear up “Merry, what has happened to you? You said you didn’t want to do such things...” Celestia steeled herself and blinked away her tears of sadness.

“SCRIBE!” A pony with a piece of parchment and ink well as a cuite mark ran out from the side

“Yes your majesty, how can I help you?”

“Send a letter to each of the elements of Harmony. Tell them to prepare for an extended vacation from home, and that Merry is within the Griffin Kingdoms. Also, tell Twilight Sparkle and my sister, that Merry has appeared within the Griffin Kingdoms.” The scribe pony bowed his head.

“Yes your Majesty, right away.” The pony ran off outside the courtroom to send the letters and tell Twilight and Luna the news.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Merry and Soul did not notice the griffins flying high above the ground and hiding among the clouds. They were being watched, and closely.

They were traveling through a rocky mountainous area. When they happened upon a camp site nestled in a cliff side not far from the ground.

“Well I wonder what lives in that there holey-O.”

“Probably griffins of course, we are on there lands.” Merry nodded his head

“True true... Lets see who’s home, I could use something to eat anyway...” Soul followed Merry until he began to climb the cliff face. 

“Aren’t you coming with me?” Soul just looked at Merry with a, are you seriously asking me that right now, face.

“I can’t exactly climb like you...”

‘’you fucking idiot, she doesn’t have hands.’‘ Merry made an O shape with his mouth as he climbed back down.

“Oh yeaahh, alright then...” Merry picked her up and slung her around onto his back “Put your forelegs around my neck and hang on, I’ll bring us both up there.” Soul nodded her head and snuggled her face into his neck as he climbed up. When Merry reached the top he crawled into the open space and looked around.

Inside they found several large looking nests, all of which were completely empty. Merry walked around the cave and quickly found out, the place looked abandoned. Bones of animals were piled in the back of the cave and the nests didn’t look to be in good shape either. 

But then again, Merry wasn’t an expert on nests, hell for all he knew they could of been recently made. If it wasn’t for the layer of dirt and dust on some bones in the nest, he would of thought something still lived here.

“Well this sucks, Don’t they have some kind of place they stored food? They must of left something edible...” Soul began to search through the bone piles only to come back empty hoofed. And Merry did the same looking around the nests, only to come up empty handed.

“Well at least its cool in here, we can rest for a bit. Walking for 3 days over rocks N crap tends to mess up your feet I guess...” Merry took off his shoes, that after so much time, were really nothing more than hobo feet covers. Merry crawled into one of the nests and relaxed inside it.

“This nest isn’t that bad actually, even if it’s made of sticks...” Soul looked around and slowly crept into the nest next to Merry and laid down.

“Yes, this is good, I could use a quick nap, I was tired for some reason, I wonder why...” Merry leaned back and got into a completely relaxed position as he closed his eyes.

‘’Sleep well faggot.’‘ Merry cleared his throat and grunted

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You are doing splendid Twilight. It’s a good thing Spike here is volunteering for your spell practice.” Luna looked over to Spike who was just sitting in a chair with his arms crossed.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t of agreed if I knew exactly what was going to happen... I got in trouble yesterday for something I did 2 months ago!” Luna chuckled and Twilight looked sternly at Spike.

“You told me Pinkie came over and ate all of my sweets. You got in trouble for lying and eating all of my sweets...” Spike just huffed.

“I wish I knew you were going to be using your new spell to go snooping around...” Twilight sighed

“I’m sorry Spike, but its for a good cause... And besides I’m learning so much from Luna, and being able to put it into actual practice is really helping me.” Spike just sighed.

“Yeah yeah I know... I miss Merry, He was cool to have around... mostly because of all the stupid stuff he would do...” Twilight chuckled.

“Yes, I miss him too, that’s why I’m hoping with this spell I’m working on, along with a few others, we can get him back...” Suddenly the door to the dimly lit room was opened with a Scribe panting heavily as he entered

“What is the meaning of your intrusion?” After the scribe caught his breath he spoke up.

“Celestia got a letter from the Griffin Kingdoms, we are to head out as soon as the elements of harmony arrive. The Griffins saw him and are pouring all their resources into his capture.”

“Capture? Why would they need to capture him like some kind of wild animal...”

“I don’t know your majesty, Perhaps you should ask your sister for more details, I was simply charged with telling everypony the news and what was going to happen...” Luna waved her hoof dismissing the scribe and so he bowed and left the room.

“Things are developing a bit faster then I had hoped Twilight, But at least we have him within our grasp now...” Twilight nodded her head

“I just about have it down...Lets go talk to Celestia, I would like to know what’s going on.”

“Agreed, Let us take a break from the practicing.” Spike released a sigh happy his thoughts would no longer be invaded for the sake of practice. He had been caught unaware yesterday as his thoughts wandered to that of Rarity... Twilight’s face was so red.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry couldn’t sleep, no matter how long he closed his eyes he wouldn’t lull into slumber. He was tired, he knew that, but as he laid with his eyes closed, sleep wouldn’t take him. So he opted for just resting in a sleep limbo of sorts, his body limp and too tired to move, but his mind continued to work.

‘’Can’t sleep huh? That’s fine, this motionless rest works just fine.’‘

“Hey Soul, are you awake?” Soul slowly turned her head around to face Merry

“Yes I am, are we done resting now?” Merry just grunted and opened his eyes

“In a bit yeah, still feel kinda sleepy, though, I have no idea why.” After a few more minutes of laying down inside the abandoned nest, Merry got up and out of the nest. As he was patting off his pants and back from the dust a red fairy flew out from under his breastplate.

“Who in the fuck are you?!” Merry jumped back, unsure of where the red fairy came from.

“Did you forget about me already? I’m the big bosses personal messenger and delivery fairy!” The small red fairy raised his arm into the air and pointed at the ceiling as he gave his introduction.  The red fairy then looked over to Soul and nodded his head.

“OH! Hey Zamut, I haven’t seen you in awhile. So you got stuck with this block head huh?” Merry looked over at Soul who nodded her head at the red fairy.

“You know this guy Soul?”

“Yes Merry he is Timalt, the Balor Lords right hand fairy.”

‘’Yes trust the little guy, he’s helped you out a few times as well.’‘

‘’‘Yes indeed, you have nothing to fear from him.’‘’

“Well alright then, if you say so... So what do you want?”

“Oh, its not what I want, its what you want!” Merry cocked an eyebrow at that.

“What do you mean, what I want?”

“Big Boss is happy about your last deed! So many young souls! So innocent! Not only did you break the record of most evil deeds done in a day, but you also made the guys in white cry! It was so wonderful said the Big Boss!” Merry’s arms dropped to his sides and he just looked at the small red fairy

“W-What do you mean?” The red fairy flew up to Merry faces and just giggled

“Why the fire of course! We saw it all! Big boss had opened up a viewing window because he said and I quote “something big is about to happen”. Setting fire to that village in the middle of the night was so unexpected! They didn’t even have a system in place to put out fires to begin with! And setting them on fire from the outside! It beautifully kept any inside from escaping! An evil Genius you are! And oooh my goodness, the hospitals! The sick, weak, injured, and orphans inside sounded like music I tell you!” Merry faltered a bit, he knew he had caused deaths in the fire, but he never thought...

“Ohhh, you should of seen all the young ones! It looked like they were all waiting in line to go on a ride or something! Sorting them all out was something else entirely! The guys in white and blue couldn’t handle so much at once, because nothing of that scale has ever happened before! And that’s only half of it! Big boss said you deserve an excellent reward for your efforts!” Merry had fallen down onto his ass, The news of him being responsible for the deaths of children...

He just... He didn’t know them but... when he thought of all the things they were going to miss out on now... He just... He felt tired, even more tired then before. He no longer wanted to move, He no longer felt the energy to go on, he felt... dead inside.

‘’Hey Faggot, Stop being so Glum.’‘

‘’‘you cant let it bother you, They were griffins.’‘’

Soul had noticed the sudden change in Merry, Something really strange happened to him. She felt nothing from him, Nothing at all, he felt empty.

“Merry, are you ok?” Merry just stared blankly at the floor as he sat down.

“You ok big guy? You have to ask for something from Big boss!” Merry sat still unresponsive.

“Merry, Pick something so we can go get your little filly Scootaloo. Something helpful.” Merry’s eyes lit up

‘Thats right, I still have a job to do...’ Merry stood up and looked over to the red fairy. “Give me something so... I wont feel as...tired...” The red fairy just looked over at Merry and snapped his fingers.

“Be right back!” Timalt disappeared in a red poof of smoke. And came back a few minutes later with a pink portal behind him.

“Back! Now tell me, Left or right, Right or left, Decide the side!” Merry raised an eyebrow at the red fairy.

“What...?” The red fairy groaned

“Right side, or Left side?” Merry thought for a moment. 

“Right side I guess, I am right handed after all, Am I gonna get some kinda gauntlet or something?” The red fairy grinned at Merry

“Something like that, now...” Timalt held out his little right arm to the side and it suddenly transformed into a huge blade. “... hold still!” Before Merry could even react Timalt swiped his blade arm down cutting Merry’s right arm off, along with a bit of his chest and shoulder in a flash.

Merry’s severed part fell to the floor followed by a large amount of blood gushing out.

“You moved!” Merry fell to his knees and used his left arm to grip at the area to try and stop the bleeding. “GLORK! GO!” From the pink portal a light brown mass shot out and latched itself to the open wound on Merry’s side.

“The fuck is this!? What did you do?!” Merry yelled as the red fairy just giggled

“Oh that’s just Glork, He’s a parasitic demon that will be taking control of your right arm...by being your right arm... and part of your chest it seems... Why did you move? My aim was perfect!” Merry didn’t have time to argue as the pain was unbearable. He could feel the bubbling and popping and the flesh crawling around on his side. He could feel it moving around inside his chest, as if it was spreading.

“Why the fuck does it hurt so much?!” Merry was gritting his teeth bearing the one thing he hardly ever felt and would never get used to, Pain.

“I don’t know...Oh yeah, You might wanna make your self known as the leader or something. If you don’t he will just invade your whole body and take over.” Merry stood up and used his left fist to pound on the bubbling flesh on his right side.

“The fuck are you doing?! And say something like that sooner!” Merry began to concentrate, but he could feel that same bubbling and popping feel spread though his body until it reached his neck. It suddenly stopped and retracted back. Suddenly a mouth appeared on his right shoulder as what looked like an arm began to form.

“Hey buddy, Names Glork, looks like were gonna be one and the same now. I’ll recognize you as the leader simply because this body looks interesting...hehe.” the mouth was suddenly joined by an eye that turned into some sort of snails eye stalk as it extended out and looked around the room. “But if you start fucking up, I wont hesitate to take over for yous! He he he!” The eye suddenly looked over to Merry’s left arm and then back to the arm that was forming.

“How’s this look bro?” Merry brought up his left and right hand... He had two left hands.

“I have two left fucking hands...” Merry picked up his severed right arm and brought it up for the parasitic demon Glork to see. “...This is what it should look like.” after a few seconds the right hand looked like a right hand and all was better... for the most part.

“With Glork as your right arm, You shouldn’t be as tired now! His demonic energy will help fuel you and keep you alive along with your already failing undead powers!” 

‘failing undead powers... that would explain the tiredness.’

“So... I’m some sort of undead, demon thing? Am I even human anymore...” the red fairy and his new arm began to laugh.

“You weren’t human to begin with! You stopped being human the moment you died.  But you’re nothing but an abomination now.” With that the red fairy just giggled and disappeared into a flash of red smoke.

“Hey buddy, I’m gonna go into a bit of a hibernation, you can have full control for now while I sleep. All that blood you lost made me tired, but you should be fine.” with that the mouth and eye disappeared, and Merry’s right arm no longer felt numb.

“Lets go Soul...” Soul just nodded her head and followed Merry, When they reached the cave exit, he picked her up and leaped from the ledge and landed with a loud thud onto the floor, afterwards he set her down.

“Are you ok Merry?” Merry made a sniffle sound as he continued to walk.

“Yeah, I’m fine...” Soul felt waves of great sadness emanate from Merry as they walked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia stood in front of all her little ponies in the throne room. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were all in her current presence, Luna was standing next to her and was intent to learn the news as well. She began her speech with a deep breath. 

“Merry has been found within the Griffin Kingdoms.. However he is not the same as you once knew. The news I received from the griffin kingdom was not happy at all. He is currently responsible for the destruction of a village and the death of hundreds of griffins.”

The mane 6 were at a turning point within their lives, they knew Merry had changed, but not into some mass murdering monster. Twilight didn’t want to believe it

“What do you mean Celestia? Is it possible the griffins have him confused with something else?”

“I fear not Twilight, Merry has... Deteriorated since we last saw him... Did you perchance hear of the diamond dogs 2 months ago?” all of the ponies present nodded their heads.

“Oh yes princess, dreadful business that, some vile monster attacked them without provocation correct?” Celestia nodded her head at the white fashion pony

“Yes, it is true, and that vile monsters description, matched Merry’s description. He was still wearing the armor he had made along with the orange cape you made for him Rarity.” Rarity’s eyes went wide along with the other ponies except for Twilight, who simply looked down to the ground with sad eyes.

“Anyway, the griffin king, Diamond claw, has invited us to join him within his castle while we wait for his men to capture Merry, apparently they are hot upon his trail and expect to apprehend him soon... Hopefully they will have him once we arrive via airship in a weeks time.”

“So were a heading to the griffin capitol princess?” Celestia nodded her head at Applejack

“So I hope you are all ready for a quick trip to the Griffin kingdoms? Hopefully we can bring Merry back with us Safely.” All of the ponies nodded their heads and Luna brought Celestia to the side for a moment.

“Sister tis it all true?” Celestia nodded her head sadly.

“Then, we shall come along as well, the kingdom of Equestria shall fair just fine without us for awhile... Besides, we can still raise and lower the sun or moon from outside the castle.” Celestia smiled and nuzzled her sister

“Yes of course, but what of your children?” Luna sighed

“They should be just fine sister, they’re strong children, they can get along without me for a few weeks.” Little did Luna know, several of the children were hiding behind a pillar and when she finished her sentence, they all jumped out from behind it.

“WE WANNA GO GET MERRY TOO!” Luna sighed as her older sister laughed softly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry, Soul and Glork had been traveling though the mountainous regions for awhile now. It wasn’t until Glork spoke up did they take pause before continuing upon their journey. A mouth formed on Merry’s forearm and it began to speak to him.

“Hey buddy, I don’t know if you can tell, but we are being followed by some flying critters in the sky. I didn’t think much of it at first, but they’ve been up there far too long to just be traveling.”

“What do you mean Glork?” An eye opened upon Merry’s forearms and moved it self up to be eye to eye with Merry.

“I mean, some fuck heads are following us, And more keep showing up. I have a bad feeling about it buddy.” Merry nodded his head

“What do you suggest we do?” the mouth formed a smile as it’s eye looked Merry eye to eye.

“I say we set up camp and hope they try to invade us! After all, we are evil, why wouldn’t we want to kill the spies following us?” Merry put his hand to his chin.

“ I’m not... Never mind, camp we shall then. You up for some camping under the stars Soul?” Soul looked over to Merry and nodded her head

“Of course, Merry.”

“You like him don’t you Zamut? I’d recognize that look anywhere” Soul looked around before responding

“Well, of course I like him, he’s my Master, why wouldn’t I?”

“Don’t play it off like that Zamut, everyone knows how you are with your masters. Its always the same isn’t it?” The mouth on Merry’s forearm gained a sly smile as the eye looked back and forth between Merry and Soul. Merry just sighed as Soul looked away.

“Shut the fuck up Glork, she’s just a friend of mine. I wont tolerate anyone making her feel uncomfortable.” Glork just smiled as he looked at Merry

“Oh I see how it is, tell me, how many times have ya done it already?” Merry just looked down at the demon that was occupying his right side with an expressionless stare.

“I said, Shut The Fuck Up, I wont hesitate to cut you off killing us both.” The mouth on Merry’s arm visibly gulped, it knew he wasn’t kidding, He would really cut off his own arm(otherwise known as Glork) killing them both.

“Sorry buddy, I didn’t mean it like that...” Merry just grumbled to himself as he looked for a suitable spot to set up camp.

‘’Way to tell him Merry, Fuck that demon bitch’‘

‘’‘You can’t let the demons tell you what to do, Glad you can overcome them’‘’

‘I thought you guys said that red fairy fucking thing was safe to trust’ Soul looked over to Merry, she could hear his thoughts, and it didn’t sound like they were directed at her, could Glork hear his inner thoughts as well?

‘’well, it is safe, considering it didn’t kill you.’‘

‘The fucker lopped my favorite arm off!’

‘’‘well you did gain a powerful ally no?’‘’

‘Fuck that shit! I want my FUCKING ARM BACK!’ Soul realized he was having a conversation with someone she couldn’t see or hear. It bothered her.

How long was her master talking to someone she couldn’t see or hear? She knew of few demons in the abyss that talked to themselves or to voices only they could hear... They were very unpleasant to be around.

‘’Well... How about you stop being such a little bitch. You’re no longer tired right?’‘

‘Well, yeah...’

‘’‘And that’s what you asked for.’‘’

‘But, I didn’t mean like...physically tired...’

‘’Stop being such a little bitch you fucking pussy. They are griffins, what does it matter?’‘

‘’‘Yes, you can’t let it get to you, All griffins are evil anyway.’‘’ Merry just sighed as he continued to walk around looking for a spot to camp out at. It wasn’t long until he found a spot among some rocks with a small spring flowing from the rocks in the mountain side.

“Oh you have a good eye buddy, you found yer self a natural mountain spring... Water looks a little mucky, but beggars cant be choosers ehh?” Merry just smirked and he laughed lightly

“Of course not Glork.” Merry and Soul began to gather wood and other things to set up a make-shift camp to post up for a short while. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Female griffin was traveling through the night sky when she spotted a fire down below under some rocks, it didn’t look like your common griffin camp sight, considering it was on the ground instead of on top of a cliff. But none the less she opted to land in hopes of them being friendly and not minding her company for a bit.

She landed just outside and she heard hushed voices speaking. She opted to speak up as the fire was blurring his vision as she couldn’t get a clear view of the occupants around the fire, but one of them looked like a pony...

“Hey what’s up? I saw your fire as I was flying by. Was hoping I could use your place to rest for a bit... If that’s cool with you guys anyway.” She could clearly hear 2 voices speaking before. Suddenly a deep masculine voice spoke up

“Yeah, come on over, I don’t see... the harm in it.” The masculine voice began to grumble a bit as she walked forward. When she got closer she could see a black pony with a bright orange and red mane. She nodded at the pony and looked at the strange creature that stood upright.

It looked strange, like a minotaur, but... hornless and its legs were bigger...stronger looking than a minotaur’s legs, it was hunched over kind of like a diamond dog, but its face was furless, it confused her, but beggars cant be choosers right? She sat across from the strange biped and flipped the feathers on top of her head out of her face

“Sup? Names Gilda by the way.” The strange biped just shuffled about in his seat a bit but didn’t respond so Gilda looked over to the pony

“He doesn’t speak much huh?” the pony just looked at her then over to the Biped. The biped responded shortly after.

“Sorry... Gilda, But Soul doesn’t speak. Or actually she can’t speak, she’s Mute you see. But she’s a damn good friend... My names Merry by the way.” Gilda smirked, her camp buddies finally spoke up

“Well aright, I’m cool with that I guess... So where you guys headed?” Merry just shrugged his shoulders.

“No idea, were just kinda wandering as of now.”

“Are you for real right now dude? You’re just wandering around in the mountains near the griffins capitol Gryphus, and not even knowing what your doing?” The strange biped looked up at her, and she saw his eyes... His eyes looked so tired.

“We’re near the capitol?” Gilda nodded her head

“Yeah its just a few miles that way...” Gilda pointed to the east. “...Of course without wings, it would take you a few days to get there... Hey you got anything to eat?” Merry shook his head

“Sorry, we’re just kinda... kinda just... Camping...” Gilda nodded her head

“I see how it is... Hey, want me to go fetch us something to eat? You know... as like a peace offering or something? I don’t feel like using your fire and offering nothing in return.” a smile donned on Merrys face.

“If you can find something be my guest.”

“Well alright dude, but I aint gonna bring nothing back for your pony friend, there isn’t alota daisy’s on these mountains.” Merry just smirked

“Its fine Gilda, bring back what you can, we’ll be waiting.” With a nod she took off into the sky.

As Gilda flew around up high in the sky looking down on the mountains, she looked at all the mountain ridges in hunt for a mountain goat. If she was lucky one would be out for a late night snack...

She didn’t know what to think of Merry and Soul around the camp fire, they seemed so... queer. She would of thought the pony was uncool, but the fact she was mute made it hard to know if she was cool or not. You cant really make a judgement based on unknown factors.  That biped Merry was an entirely different matter. She got a creepy vibe from him, yet he seemed nice enough. It was a bit confusing but she opted to trust him as she could detect no malice in his voice.

It didn’t take long, using her inborn eagle vision she easily spotted a small goat out for a midnight snack, and she silently swooped down and clawed its neck open, it quickly bleed to death. She then picked it up and hung it upside down to let the blood drain out as she flew back toward the campsite. 

One thing bugged her though, where did that second voice come from if Soul was a mute? Mute meant they couldn’t speak right? So where did that other voice come from? It sounded male as well, even if it did sound a bit off. Was that biped just talking to himself in a different voice like some kind of lunatic?

Well regardless of the circumstances, she was bringing back a goat as a peace offering. Hopefully they would let her stay the night by the fire. She didn’t mind sleeping without a fire, but sleeping next to one was always the better of the two options. She landed near the fire again only to find them missing.

“Hey, where did you guys go?” Gilda looked around and couldn’t spot anyone near the campsite, as she searched around she looked up into the sky and could see a bunch of griffins in armor flying off holding a few bundles of things.

“Well if that ain’t suspicious I don’t know what is... Looks like they’re flying toward Gryphus...” Gilda began to tear into the goat as she stayed near the fire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15 minutes before Gilda returned to the campsite to find it empty, Merry was arguing with his inner demons.

‘’You should of just killed her on site! I bet she’s working with those fuckers flying above us anyway!’‘

‘You don’t know that, she looked normal enough... I refuse to kill anyone that has nothing to do with my end goal.’

‘’‘That mentality is going to get you killed Merry.’‘’

‘killed... I’m not that lucky.’

“Hey buddy, why didn’t we just kill that stupid griffin?”

“Glork, we kill when I say so, if you try to kill anyone or anything I don’t want you too... we’re going to have a problem.”

“Hey buddy, you’re no fun, you know that? Tell him Soul!”

“I follow Merry’s wishes, no matter what they are.” Glork just grumbled to himself for a bit then spoke up again

“Hey buddy, it seems like those griffins above us are starting to come down toward us.” Merry smiled again

“Let them come, I’ll show them despair.” The mouth on Merry’s forearm smiled. 

“That’s why I let you keep control buddy, only a body built on cruelty and other fun things could be so strangely built.” Merry narrowed his eyes at that statement as he focused on the darkness outside of the fire. The fire was messing with his dark vision, it was actually blinding him to anything beyond the fires light. Perhaps if he sat with the fire to his back he would see more...

Merry stood up and walked to the opposite side of the fire only to peer into the darkness. After a moment he was hit by half a dozen darts in his legs and arms. Merry looked over to Soul to see she had been hit with darts as well, except only 2. 

“Why did I get hit with 6 blasted darts?” Merry brushed them off as he rushed over to Soul. She was out cold. Sleeping darts? They intended to capture him?

“Hey buddy, Fight on, its gonna take more then a couple sleeping darts to take you down!” Merry rose to his feet and peered back into the darkness.

“Bring it on you Fuckers!” as Merry finished his sentence he looked up and was promptly hit with 5 more darts straight into his neck. He suddenly blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The griffins that had been following Merry for the last few days were still following him, as boring and tiring as it was to stay airborne for so long, it was necessary. If they didn’t keep their distance they would be detected and probably killed. They had to switch out to new guards every 8 hours to allow the others to rest their wings for a bit. Now it finally looked like he was slowing down. He had set up camp and even a small fire was burning, they hadn’t seen him do such a thing since his whole arrival here. Did this monster really just walk 4 days straight without rest?

They finally got what they had been waiting for. The powerful sleeping darts. They were supposed to even take down a rampaging minotaur. Surely a few of these would do the trick of taking him down.

“Did that civilian leave yet Private?” The griffin saluted his Captain

“Yes Sir, it looks like she went out to hunt for a mountain goat, we have about 20 minutes before she returns from the hunting grounds Sir.” The captain grunted.

“Plenty of time for us to extract the monster before she returns, we were lucky he didn’t attack her outright. Now lets move out!” The griffins began a dive bomb decent toward the camp and hovered just outside of earshot as they readied their expensive imported blowdarts.

“Sir, he’s looking right as us...”

“Impossible...” The monster was looking at them, directly at them, and it didn’t look happy.

“Fire, Quickly! And remember its wearing armor on its chest!” all of the griffins unleashed their blowdarts hitting the monster in the arms and legs. Several missed and 2 of them hit the black pony resting in the background.

“Ya idiots! Why did you hit the pony! It better not be dead...” The captain stopped speaking as he witnessed the monster move over to the pony and lean down, then quickly stand up.

“Bring it on you Fuckers!” All of the griffins felt a sense of dread

“Why isn’t he going down?! Hit him again quick! In the neck!” All of the griffins quickly readied and fired another volley. Much to their surprise and relief, the monster collapsed backwards.

The griffins captain brushed some sweat off his forehead “Alright quickly tie em up and lets get going.” the other griffins nodded and without a moments hesitation, tied up the monster and then left on their way toward the Capitol. King Diamond claw should be happy. His plan was coming to fruition. 

Suddenly the bundle containing the monster began to stir as they flew toward the capitol.

“Buck buck buck! He’s waking up already! Hit him some more!” They had to hurry along and get him contained with those magical chains Diamond Claw had set up. They were running out of sleeping darts...
	
> Monsters should fight monsters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Diamond Claw was sitting in his throne room. He had the creature chained up inside a cell he had created for the simple pleasure of keeping it close. It was after all, the cause of much grief. 

He had learned this creature was responsible for the deaths of his eldest children, Zed and Ezreal, and Celestia knew about this creature! But that’s just fine, this gave him even more leverage for the war he had planned. Now he could avenge his sons and save some money.

The useless bounty hunters couldn’t catch or kill him. But it seems everything worked out in the end. Now he had the creature trapped inside a custom made cell and held back with magical chains. Unbreakable chians... At least that’s what the unicorn he paid had said.  The sleeping agents the creature had been pumped full of were finally wearing off... even though by all means it should of been dead after having received such a large amount.

“It would seem you’re finally awake, monster.” Merry was laying face down in the cell. He began to sit up and look around at his surroundings.

“Where in the hell am I... And why am I naked...” Diamond Claw laughed as he stood from his seat and walked over to Merry’s Cage.

“In a monster cage my friend. Made of the finest steel, and you're held by enchanted unbreakable chains as well. The chains are built into the solid stone wall behind your cage. So unless you take the wall down, there’s no escape for you.” Merry sat down cross legged inside his cage and looked over to the griffin calling himself Diamond Claw.

He was a unique looking griffin, one wing was blue while the other was red, and his claws... didn’t look natural, they were jet black instead of the tan off white color other griffins had.

“Soo, why aren’t your claws made of diamond if your name is Diamond Claw?” The griffin gave him a huff and held out a claw.

“Simply because I can cut diamonds with my claws. But monster, I have big plans for you.”

“Oh really? What sort of plans? Do they involve me getting raped or something because your gay? Is that why I’m naked?” The griffin grew angry.

“Are you calling me a Cock Rocker? Do I look like a Flamingo?” Merry looked the griffin up and down for a moment.

“Hmm... So where’s your husband at anyway? He off waxing his junk for you? HA-HA-HA!” Diamond Claw inhaled deeply and then released it as a sigh.

“Guards!” soon several griffins showed up wearing shiny black armor. Diamond Claw just kept looking at Merry “We will kill you in due time, but till then I need to you alive until Celestia and her ilk arrive.” Diamond Claw turned to the guards “Keep him sedated at all costs.” the guards bowed

“Yes King Diamond Claw.” Merry stood up in his cage and pulled against the chains.

“Wait a minute you fuck head! Are you the one who stole my little filly Scootaloo!?” Diamond Claw turned around and gave him a sinister smile

“Steal a filly? Why I would never steal one...But I did eat one yesterday... Hehe- HA-HA-HA-HA!” Merry clenched his fists and pulled at the chains even harder.

“What could you hope to accomplish? There’s no escape for you, you evil creature.” Merry had his arms held out as he pulled against the chains. The guards outside the cage began to clear their throats nervously. Suddenly a light crack could be heard.

The guards and Diamond Claw looked over to the wall the chains were attached to. A small crack had formed in the wall.

“SEDATE HIM NOW YOU FOOLS!” The guards rushed to sedate Merry only to stop when they heard a sound of a bone being snapped. They looked to see Merry’s left forearm had broken. His hand fell limp and was touching his elbow.

“Hah...Ha-Ha-ha! No escape for you! Your bones cant handle the pressure needed to break out!” Merry stopped fighting the chains and just used his right arm to hold his left into the proper place. So it could hopefully heal.

The guards gained a smug look on their faces as they opened the cage and began to sedate Merry by forcing him to drink some green liquid. Merry didn’t fight back, he was more focused on his arm healing properly. Glork made a small mouth and whispered to Merry when the griffins had their backs turned.

“Hang on buddy, I’ll figure us a way out some how...”

Merry’s eyes began to get heavy, so he laid onto his back with his left forearm in its proper position, hopefully it would heal correctly. So Merry would play along for now, Glork said he would help him get out of this...

“I know you think you’re special, but you ain’t nothin’... YOU AIN’T NOTHIN’ DIAMOND CLAW! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A COCK ROCKER!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How much longer you reckon until we arrive Princess?”

“Yeah mom how much longer? Its boring on this airship...” Luna sighed and stopped reading the book she had brought along.

“Now children... and Applejack, We will arrive in about 2 more days.. Now why don’t you go join Pinkie for another one of her parties?” The fillies and colts scoffed

“Her parties aren’t as fun anymore... They were for the first few days, but everything’s always the same.” Applejack cringed as she agreed with the children.

“They’re right Princess, Pinkies parties are always a blast, but partying for 5 days in a row tends ta wear any pony down... except Pinkie Pie anyway...” Suddenly Pinkie Pie walked out and onto the deck

“Hey guys, what chu all talking about?” Applejack gulped then looked around

“Just uh, talkin bout when were gonna arrive... yeah, that’s it. Anyway Ima go see what Twilight’s a doing.” Applejack quickly walked off toward Twilight who was talking to Celestia. The colts and fillies just all began to wander off in random directions around the airship trying to avoid eye contact with the pink mare.  Pinkie just shrugged and began to walk back down into the ship.

“Well I have to go back to the party, Don’t wanna leave Fluttershy all alone for too long.” The rest of the ponies nodded their heads as they watched her go down below to her never ending, We’re gonna get Merry back party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry was sitting on a park bench in Ponyville. He had been watching the Cutie Mark Crusaders play at the park. It was peaceful, and he felt something he hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever, Happiness. For some reason or another he couldn’t move though. He wanted to stand up and go play with them, but he couldn’t leave the bench he was sitting upon.

‘’Hey faggot, guess what?’‘ The park suddenly sunk into the ground and was replaced with red earth, and stone walls began to grow around him.

‘’Those griffins pumped so much of that tranq into you, you became fucking delusional.’‘ The ponies he had seen standing in the park were growing feathers and beaks.

‘’‘Yes, snap out of it. You are chained inside the throne room. They stripped you of everything.'’‘ Merry looked down at himself, and his cloths started to melt away.

“Hey buddy, they haven’t noticed me yet. Hopefully I can help you out of this situation... But these chains...” Merry blinked his eyes several times and saw golden shackles on his wrists. They were connected to a chain that sparkled gold like the cuffs. They seemed to shimmer all sorts of different colors.

“Where am I...” Merry was incredibly sleepy as his vision started to become clear he looked around and saw at the end of the room he was in sat a huge throne of some kind. Around him were shiny metal bars. They didn’t look golden like the chains on his wrist so they were probably just regular bars. As Merry began to stir a griffin standing outside his cell turned around.

“Hes awake! Hes awake!” The griffins rushed over to a nearby chest and pulled out a small vial. Soon 3 other griffins rushed into the room and opened his cage door.

“Hold him down! He needs to stay calm until those stupid ponies get here! Diamond Claw doesn’t wanna risk him breaking out.” When the 3 griffins got into the cell they pulled another set of chains and Merry was pulled back against the wall. 

He tried to struggle, but he couldn’t find the energy to fight back, so he just hung limp against the wall of his cage as the griffin holding the vial opened his mouth and poured the vile green liquid down his throat.

“Bucking hell man, How can such a small creature handle so much of this tranq? Its been several days and we keep having to up the dose... This stuff isn’t cheap...” After Merry swallowed the rest of the fluid they released his chains and he fell to the ground.

“I know what you mean... I still think we should of let him keep his under garments, I don’t wanna have to look at that pitifully small thing all day...” The 4 griffins burst into laugher as they walked out of the cage and locked it behind them.

“Soon buddy, soon”  Merry just laid in the cell face down as his eye lids became too heavy to keep open once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soul was locked inside a cell away from Merry. The griffins had been questioning her, but couldn’t get any answers from her. Due to equestrian and griffins treaty laws, they would have to hand her over to the princesses once they arrived. But the griffins had other plans, they just needed for her to speak.

“Tell me Pony... Why were you following that... creature around?” Soul just sat silently inside her cell staring at the griffin with a cold stare.

“Why wont you speak? Are you... in love with that creature? Are you trying to protect it?” The griffin began to loose his temper at the silent treatment, Soul hadn’t said anything, let alone grunt or even make motions. “We aren’t going to feed you until you speak!” She continued to look at him with the same cold stare he had been getting for the past few days.

“Have it your way! Starve for another day, see if I care.” As the griffin walked out of the area she could hear a gate slam shut and an angry yell.

“Merry? Can you hear me?” She had been trying to contact him the whole time, and most of the time she got back silence as a response, or incoherent babbling. Its like he couldn’t hear anything she said.

‘These lies are leading me astray. Its too much for me to stay, I don’t wanna live, this destiny, It goes on endlessly.’ Why was he singing? What was going through his mind right now to cause such thoughts.

“Merry please answer me”

‘I see you so please stay strong, I’ll sing you one last song and then I'm gone...’‘

“MERRY!”

‘Soul please don’t yell, your right next to me you know.’

“You can hear me Merry?!”

‘Of course I can, you are standing right next to me, now if you please, don’t interrupt me again. These ponies paid good money for a show. I aim to give them one.’

What? Was he still hallucinating? But its fine she got through to him finally. Now maybe she could convince him to call her name and get a short summon off!

“Merry, Please call out my name, as loud as you can!”

‘Why on earth would I do that? You must let me finish this song.’

“Please! Do it for me!”

‘Weell... I don’t wanna disappoint all of these ponies, but Mistress said I should anyway, what the heck, I’ll add it into my song.’ Soul waited for the summons, all he had to do was say or even think the full name he had giving her, and she would be able to use her demonic power to teleport to his side.

And then, and then those griffins would pay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The griffins standing outside of Merry’s cage turned around to look inside when they could hear some mumbling.

“Holy bucking Minotaur shit, is he waking up already? We just gave him a vial not more than 5 minutes ago.” The griffins peered in closer to see if they could hear anything he was saying.

“Is.. He singing? Or reciting poetry? What the buck?”

“Well they did say large doses of this stuff has some side affects turning them into crazies... Kinda why it was banned from use in hospitals.” The griffins just kept looking at their face down prisoner as his mumbling became louder and louder.

“Fit me for a straight jacket, put me in a padded cell, I’m a danger to you all...and I’m a danger to my self...” The griffins gulped and looked over to the chest

“Go grab another vial, maybe two...” the griffin on the left quickly went over to the chest and grabbed two vials out and came back.

“Alright I got them, lets give him some more quickly before he becomes even more coherent.” When they got into the cell they flipped Merry onto his back, that’s when he shouted as loud as possible.

“WHY WON’T THEY LET ME BE?! OH SOUL EATER MAKE IT STOP!” As the griffins tried to empty a vial down his throat a circle of flame appeared next to them causing them to quickly leap away in fright.

After a bright flash Soul appeared next to Merry. What she saw caused her to fly into a bout of rage. Her master was naked laying down on the floor, chained inside of a cage.

“What the Buck?! You’re not a unicorn, How did you do that?!” The two griffins guards raised their weapons and aimed them at Soul. 

Soul glared at the two griffins and snorted out visible flame and smoke. The two griffins were still standing above Merry. The sight of a pony snorting flames was something new, and a little scary. It wasn’t until they saw her grit her teeth, did they think something bad was going to happen... Ponies shouldn’t have fangs.

“Merry Grab their legs!” Merry’s hands went over, and he grabbed a back leg from both griffins.

"Yes yes, I got the chicken legs. They are the KFC extra crispy kind." Both griffins looked down to see Merry holding onto their legs. 

“Crush them!”

"K" Soul charged at the griffins just as Merry began to issue bone crushing strength into both of he griffins back legs. With the pain of their legs being crushed, they dropped the weapons and began to squawk in pain. As they were squawking and screeching in agony Soul bucked the griffin on the left in his face, breaking his beak and part of his skull. The griffin on the right however found out how much a fiendish ponies fangs hurt. 

It hurts a whole fucking lot. And when its in your neck, it just about cause’s death after you bleed out, but Soul wasn’t done with just a bite. She snorted again and flames filled her mouth sending a stream of flames into the griffins neck. He was cooked alive from the inside out starting at his neck.

Soul let go of the griffin in her mouth and began to inspect Merry. He looked ok, but his left forearm looked a little off center for some reason.

“Glork, are you awake? Are you coherent?”

“Of course I am Soul, but Merry... his mind is mostly gone, it comes back in waves, but that stuff they keep giving him is seriously fucking his shit up more than it already was. At this rate I wont have anything to take over, He’ll just be an empty shell... Not that I really care though.”

“Are you not affected by the stuff?”

“Only mildly, Merry here is starting to become immune to it as well. They’re having to give him more and more, what used to be a small needle is now several mouthfuls.”

“What have you been doing this whole time?!”

“Well, just reenforcing his body, these chains cant be broken it seems, I’ve tried everything I could when the coast was clear, but the only weak point is in the stone wall over there.” Glork made and eye and looked over to the wall that was anchoring the chains. “Merry was already able to make a crack, but his left forearm broke in the process, I’ve been reenforcing the bones in his body so they wont break next time. I’ve also done some muscle modifications, and if his adrenaline kicks in his strength and speed will increase, This body is so interesting. Everything will soon be done, As a side note. Did you know when he receives an injury endorphins are released? Like a Stupid amount, he doesn't even feel pain, I've testing his body around as he sleeps. I'm gonna have so much fun with this body when its mine!”

Soul sighed, she had hoped to break Merry out, but the state he was in, he was useless like this... It mattered not, She would guard him until Glork had finished, by then the stuff they had been giving him could wear off, and they could break out together. Souls ears perked up, she could hear a group coming to this room.

“I heard something from the throne room! Did he escape?!” Suddenly 4 griffins entered the throne room and looked over to the cage to see Soul inside of it. One of the griffins spun around and turned to the griffin in the back. “You! Get reenforcements! On the double!” The griffin saluted while the other 3 griffins moved in to try and subdue the pony that had broken into the monsters cage.

Soul lowered her head again and snorted out more smoke and flame. The griffins raised an eyebrow and looked at the 2 dead griffins inside the cage. One of them was charred black at the neck.

“Be careful, it looks like that pony has magic somehow, even though she’s not a unicorn.” Soul didn’t leave the cage, she knew she had a better chance inside of it. They would have to enter it one at a time. Or they could lock her inside it with him, it didn’t matter, She wasn’t going to leave his side again. 

Soul stood a little ways back from the cage door as the griffins slowly went up to the cage door. As soon as the first griffin set his front claw through the cage door, She sprung into action leaping toward him and spinning around to buck him in the beak quickly. He fell back but his beak hadn’t broken, she didn’t use enough force that time, but then again, she didn’t mean to. The griffin sat back on his rump rubbing his beak.

“Quick little mare ain’t cha?” The griffin stopped rubbing his beak and groaned a bit as he grabbed at his belly. He fell over on the floor and began to grunt. “Oh gods it hurts... What did you...” The griffin coughed, and a green red goo flew out of his mouth and onto the floor. The other griffins got wide eyed and stepped back from their fallen comrade. The strange pony had done some strange magic to him, and they feared magic.

Soul got back into her defensive position as she huffed out more smoke and flame from her nose. The griffins just looked between Soul and their fallen comrade who just laid on the floor groaning in agony as he continued to cough out more goo.

“What did you do to Murry?! You Bucking pony!” One of the griffins forgot his fear and ran up to the cage, He held out his pole axe as he charged into the cage. He aimed to run her through but she quickly side stepped and grabbed the pole axe by its wooden handle and snapped it in her jaws. The griffin quickly released his weapon and made a swipe at her.

Soul wasn’t quick enough to move out of the way and got a slashed across her back.

“GAH!” Soul raised a hoof and a sickly green aura enveloped it, she quickly launched it into the griffins chest who stumbled back against the cage wall.

“Soul... why did you scream?” Soul turned around to look at Merry, he had flipped over to be face down on the ground again. His face was turned sideways looking at her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scream.”

“Well, ok then, I must get back to entertaining my people...Scootaloo is supposed to show up to see me perform today.” Soul just looked at his eyes, they were glazed over and looked to be seeing something so far away, but he was happy for once.

Soul returned to facing down the griffins. The one she had just struck writhed on the floor inside the cage, his feathers had begun to fall out.

“Oh buck oh buck!” As the last griffin turned around to leave the room he was stopped by the incoming 20 griffins that entered the throne room.

“Corporal, we have everything here, now...” the griffin holding the massive crossbow scanned the room and settled his eyes upon the black pony in the cage. Near her were two obviously dead griffins and another one seemingly dying.  Another was right outside the cage surrounded and covered by some kind of red green goo.

“What happened here soldier?” 

“It’s the black mare sir, she has some kind of magic I’ve never seen before. Murry over there was hit in the face, the next thing we know he’s been coughing up goo and moaning in pain... and Reese over in the cage, I don’t know, he was hit as well and now his feathers are falling out... And it gets worse, The creature chained inside the cage, well that pony isn’t letting us near him. We can’t administer any more of the tranq, at this rate he will wake up completely and attempt to break out once again.” The griffin captain turned around and made a fist with his claws and spun it over his head.  All of the griffins holding crossbows loaded a bolt and took aim.

“Aim for the mare, Diamond Claw said she’s expendable anyway...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 ‘’‘Snap out it!’‘’

‘’WAKE UP FAGGOT!!’‘ Merry twitched as he tried to keep his eyes open

“...Fire on my mark.” He turned his head around and saw Soul. Merry brought his arms up into a push-up position. Soul was standing directly in front of him, and looking what was in front of her, was a large group of griffins all aiming their crossbows at them.

“Whats... going on?” Merry said groggily.  Without turning around Soul responded

“Are you back Merry?” Merry just continued to look around him then shake his head.

“Well, this is my house. Who are those guys over there? And why are they aiming flowers at us?” Soul didn’t respond she simply snorted out smoke and flame as she looked at the griffins.

‘’‘Snap out of it! They aim to kill her!’‘’

“Huh?” Merry looked dumbly though Souls legs and at the griffins who were suddenly holding crossbows.

“FIRE!” Merry’s eyes opened wide as he heard the clicks go off. Without a moments hesitation he grabbed Soul by her tail and yanked her back behind him as he stood up.

“Buck! Did we kill it?!” The griffins all looked over to the chained creature as it stood upon its knees with its back facing them. With all the crossbow bolts in its back, it looked like a pin cushion. After a moment they saw the black mare struggling and then break free of the creatures grasp.

She looked... Pissed that he had saved her. He simply patted her head and said

“Pretty ponies shouldn’t fight monsters, monsters should fight monsters...” Merry stood up and faced the griffins, he looked down at his chest and saw blood on it... 

‘That’s where Souls back was...’

“What the Buck?! How can it still be alive?!” The griffin captain just stood in absolute shock at what he was witnessing. How could a creature of his size take 20 some crossbow bolts and still be alive? Yet alone move? This... thing was a monster.

Merry turned back around and looked over at Soul, and ran his hand across her back and looked at his hand... it was covered in blood.

“Its nothing serious Merry, don’t worry...” Merry put his left hand on Souls head. Shortly after a gash appeared on Merry’s back among the forest of bolts. With a smile he looked down at Soul and patted her head

“Now the pretty pony can be safe...” Merry grabbed the chain attached to his right hand with both hands, began to pull at it.

“STOP HIM NOW! GO!” many of the griffins ran to the cage while others dashed to the nearby chest containing all of the tranq. They would have to subdue him and force him to drink again.

Two griffins moved to either side of the cage and yanked on the chains pulling Merry back.

But they had resistance this time. When they tried to pull the chains to hold him back against the wall of the cage as they had done last time, Merry simply tugged back giving the griffins a run for their money.

“I AM A LION, AND I WANT TO BE FREE!” With a powerful yank coming from Merry’s end the 2 griffins holding the right side chain were pulled up into the air, and the chains anchor inside the wall made a cracking sound.

“GOD BUCKING DAMMIT!” All of the griffins were scrambling around the room, but were weary to enter the cage with the dangerous creature and magical mare.

“WHY IS MY THRONE ROOM SO NOISY?!” All of the griffins stopped except for the ones attempting to pull on the chains holding Merry back.

“Your majesty! Well you see...”

“SILENCE YOU WELP! I can very well see with my own eyes your incompetence has caused his marefriend to escape to his side.”

“But sire, she has magic!”

“Magic? How can a non-unicorn use magic?” Diamond Claw looked around the room and saw the burned griffin, a pile of green and red goo shaped like a griffin in the middle of his floor, along with another griffin that was completely featherless and looked to be pale and skinny.

“Foul magic it would seem... All of you! Grab his chain bindings and hold him back, I will deal with this magical mare myself.” All of the griffins saluted and ran over to the sides of the cages and began to work together to pull the chains back. With 10 griffins on each chain Merry was eventually pulled back and brought up against the wall of the cage again. As his back hit the cage wall some of the bolts in his back were pushed farther in and began to poke out of his chest. He just hung against the cages wall and looked down at them all.

King Diamond Claw calmly entered the cage and looked over to Soul, so she got into a defensive stance and snorted out some smoke and Flame.

“Well well, it would seem this little mare is mad about something? I wonder what it could be, hmm?” Soul ran up to him and spun around kicking him in his chest, he faltered a bit. But then stood back up and held his ground.

“Well, it would seem the armor aspect is holding up well. But what of the spell resistance I wonder? Come, cast your little spells, lets see what happens shall we?” Soul got into a lowered stance again as a sickly green glow enveloped her front hooves.

“Oh? A green aura I see. Most definably foul magic.” She charged at the Griffin King yet again, and he just stood there and took both of her front hooves without budging an inch. She quickly spun around and tried to buck him with her hind hooves, only to be slashed across the back mid turn.

“GAH!”  She jumped away from his slash and looked to him. Her spell had no affect on him like the last griffin. He just stood there, licking her blood off his claw.

“Ohh, foul stuff your blood is, it’s a bit spicy... I’ve never had spicy blood before.” He rolled his shoulders and cracked some joints. “Now its my turn.” Diamond Claw flared out his wings and with blinding speed burst forward at Soul.

Soul was nowhere near quick enough to dodge out of the way and took a direct slash from his black claws across her side. Diamond claw didn’t stop as he used the cage wall to bound back and immediately fly by again slashing Souls other side wide open.

“GAAHH!” 

“SOOUUL!” Merry screamed and pulled against his chain bindings. The griffins holding onto his chains were suddenly having some trouble keeping him pinned flat against the wall. Diamond Claw didn’t take notice as he just stopped and looked at the mare he had just deeply cut along both of her sides.

“Merry, I’m sorry, I couldn’t protect you.”

“Still standing I see, you’re pretty strong. I’m surprised you just didn’t immediately fall over and die...” Soul fell over and began to pant heavily. “... ho ho ho, I spoke too soon it would seem, but admirable none the less.” Diamond claw looked up and over to Merry who was once again pulling on his chain bindings trying to break free. All of the griffins in the room suddenly felt an ice cold tingle run down their spines.

“I’ll fucking kill you... I’ll fucking kill all of you. I’ll turn your whole fucking race into nothing but a distant memory! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!” Merry pulled at the chains yet again, and the griffins that had been holding him back were no longer able too.

They were all suddenly flung into the air off the chains, and he rushed at Diamond claw only to be stopped mere inches from reaching him. Merry began to flail his arms against the chains bindings, reeling his arms back then swinging them forward pulling and tugging at the chains anchors inside the stone wall. 

“Id like to see you try beast.” He moved his claw over Souls head and made a sinister smile as he slowly began to crush her head under his claw.

“AAHH!!” Merry could hear Souls screams echo inside of his skull. With each scream she made he began to use more and more force as he attempted to rip the chains from the wall.

“You know, it amuses me that I haven’t heard her cry out once during this whole ordeal.” As he spoke more griffins moved into the room and they moved to pull at his chains.

''I'm just gonna leave this here for you'' Five Finger Death Punch- Bulletproof

“I’LL SHOW YOU THE MONSTER YOU HAVE CREATED!” Before the griffins could grab hold of the chains and pull it tight, Merry swung out his right arm and the wall cracked giving his right fist that few inches it needed. His right fist hit Diamond Claw directly on the beak. Merry tried to follow it with a left, but the wall didn’t give way, instead his left forearm broke again.

“USELESS FUCKING ARM!” Merry began to pull and tug at the chain even with his forearm broken, as it flailed around it kept making sickening noises as the flesh and bone inside his forearm was mashed together

“WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING!? PULL HIM BACK ALREADY AND GIVE HIM MORE OF THAT DRUG!” With 20 griffins on each chain they pulled it tight again, and Merry was once again held up into the air. Except he didn’t hang calmly, he thrashed and kept pulled at the chains, not caring that his left forearm was broken, and the flesh was beginning to tear away.

Once he was up against the wall of the cage several griffins flew in and began to uncork vials and were trying to get him to drink it.

“Hold him still!” Any of the griffins that got close to his head were having to pull their hands away from his razor sharp canines, he had already bitten off the claws of a few griffins before this, and no one wanted to be the next victim.

“YOU WON’T BREAK ME!” One of the griffins moved his head a little too close and was immediately head butted, his beak broke and some of the beak pieces were embedded in Merry’s forehead.

“NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY!” The other griffins lost there temper and just threw the glass vials into Merry’s mouth hoping to get some of the green liquid down his throat.

“YOU CANT SHAKE ME DOWN!” Merry chomped down on the glass vials and his mouth filled with blood as the glass cut up his mouth. 

“I’M FUCKING BULLETPROOF!” Suddenly Merry brought up his legs and wrapped them around a nearby griffin and pulled him in close and bit the Griffin on the neck and began to eat him alive.

“AARGGG haalp...” The griffins screams were quickly silenced as Merry chewed through his neck and his head fell to the floor. The other griffins stared in horror as he just continued to eat the griffin he captured, bones and all. When he was done he let the rest of the body fall to the ground.

“YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME?! YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT!” The griffins began to pour all of the little glass vials into one huge bowl.

“I’LL BURN YOUR FUCKING EMPIRE TO THE GROUND! I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!” All of the griffins bum rushed him at once while the one holding the bowl hung back. Merry thrashed against them and several more griffins lost their beaks and had chunks bitten out of them. Merry’s left arm was able to grab hold of one of the griffins wings and that griffin suddenly fell to the floor looking like a withered corpse.

The other griffins had finally gotten a grip on him and held his mouth open using a chain they had picked up. The griffin holding the bowl immediately flew over and poured its contents down Merry’s throat. When the bowl was empty they all backed off, and the griffins holding his chains backed off as well.

When Merry fell down to the floor he coughed and looked over to Soul, she had gone silent and he couldn’t see her breathing anymore. He slowly moved over to her and pushed her a bit.

“Soul...” Silence, nothing, she was dead. Tears began to well up in Merry’s eyes as his eye lids became too heavy for him to hold open.

“Sorry buddy, I’ll try and fix your arm and get these bolts out...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back on the airship. Pinkies eyes began to water, and Fluttershy went over to try and see what was wrong.

“Oh Pinkie, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“My pinkie sense cant always be right can it? It can be wrong just this once... Oh please oh please let it be wrong.” Fluttershy brought Pinkie into a hug and stroked her deflated mane.

“Don’t worry Pinkie, we will get him back... We’re supposed to arrive tomorrow morning.” Pinkie just buried her face into Fluttershy’s mane and wept.

“Something bad has happened to him again... I just got the same twitch a twitch when Scootaloo...died.” Fluttershy’s eyes began to fill with tears as well as she and Pinkie began to cry in the middle of her party.  Rarity happened to walk in on the scene and stopped to look at the happiest pony she knew, look so depressed. 

“Why darling, what ever is the matter?” Pinkie turned around to look at Rarity

“My Pinkie sense... it went off the same way it did the day... Scootaloo...” Pinkie couldn’t finish her sentence as she just burst into tears. Rarity brought a hoof up to her mouth in shock

“Oh my Word! We must tell the other’s immediately, perhaps we could speed this up!” Rarity galloped out of the room and up on deck where she saw Twilight speaking with Celestia. She galloped over and bowed her head.

“Celestia! Excuse my rudeness but, Pinkies Pinkie sense went off again, she said... It was the same one she got when Scootaloo... Passed.” Celestia and Twilight went wide eyed at this statement.

“How accurate is her pinkie sense...” Celestia looked down to Twilight

“Its never been wrong before Princess...” Celestia looked up to the sky then looked down to Twilight.

“Twilight, please tell my sister I will be below deck with the engine crew.”

“What are you planning to do Celestia?” Twilights eyes went wide

“I’m planning to get us there by nightfall today.”

“But Princess! Nightfall is supposed to be in 3 hours!” Celestia gave her a smile

“Then I better hurry shouldn’t I?” Celestia teleported in a bright flash and moments later the Airship was suddenly traveling at what seemed to be a dangerous speed.
> Remember Everything
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Diamond Claw was sitting on his throne, looking over the mess that had been created. The griffin that had turned into goo was impossible to clean up. When a servant had finished cleaning it, she too started to cough up the same goo and ended up collapsing in a spot not too far from the original. She was turning into that same green red goo, and no one wanted to touch her. Whatever that goo was, it was infectious and they didn’t have the right equipment on hand to handle such a thing. So he was stuck with some unsightly jelly goo in the middle of his throne room, until he could find a unicorn willing to magic it away.

The featherless griffin had died at some point, and the medical staff said it was from a heavy dose of a lethal toxin they couldn’t identify. That black pony... the monsters marefriend had some dangerous spells on hoof. But she could cast them without being a unicorn, it was a mystery. He had told his medical staff to search her body for anything magical. Perhaps she was just a freak and had a horn someplace else upon her body.

Diamond Claw looked out his window and saw that the sun would soon be setting. He just hoped the ponies didn’t arrive before he could get this place properly cleaned and have the chains anchor reset inside the wall. How in the hell did it crack the wall like that? Before his arm had broken, long before he even got that far. Was it getting stronger? 

The thought of that monster getting stronger sent a chill down his spine. He sent a team in to remove the bolts from its body and provide light medical aid to keep it from dying on them before Celestia could arrive... But they returned and said there were no bolts or broken bones of any kind. But how could that be?

He was sure the monster was riddled with crossbow bolts, and its left forearm had broken...For the second time actually, then hit Diamond Claw. The creature had broken that same forearm, twice, in the 6 days its been inside that cage.

How could that be? Bones take about a month to mend, how did it mend fast enough to be broken again? Let alone strong enough to pull at the chain again.

Diamond Claw was having second thoughts about keeping the creature inside the throne room any longer. Hell, he should probably have it killed while its still under the effects of the tranq, there’s no telling how much longer it will stay down until it needs a second bowl full. Its already been laying motionless for the past 2 hours. Hopefully a bowl full of the tranq will keep it down for the night. He would need to requisition more of it from his alchemists. 

Diamond claw stood up from his throne and walked over to the chest containing the vials of tranq. He nodded at the guard who was standing in front of the chest, and opened only to get a grim look on his face.

“All we have left is two vials?” the griffin saluted and without turning his head responded

“Yes your majesty, I had already gone down to the alchemists, they said the last of it will be ready in the morning, to make more they require 600,000 more bits to pay for the ingredients...” Diamond Claw grunted. He never understood why Zebras charged so much for herbs that grew commonly in their lands. Perhaps he should find a way to take them over after Equestria.

“Give that monster these last two vials, hopefully it will still stay down until we get more in the morning.” Diamond walked away and went over to the wall holding the chains anchors. He looked in disbelief at the wall filled with cracks. He walked over to the right side and looked at the anchor.

Diamond claw gave it a tug himself, and could hardly move the chains anchor himself, let alone pull it from the wall. As he was about to walk away, the stone masons he called for arrived.

“Good evening your majesty what can we...” the stone workers looked over to the wall he was standing in front of and looked at the creature chained inside of the cage face down. “...Don’t tell me... that... Thing, damaged the wall like this?” Diamond nodded his head and gestured to the wall

“Indeed, it would seem the bindings anchors I had you make were insufficient in holding him back. Your stone work is weak.” The griffins masons sputtered for a bit

“B-B-But Sire! This stonework was made to withstand dragon fire and enemy siege weapons! The anchors alone weigh 200 pounds! With all due respect Sire, but that’s no simple creature, if it did in fact did this alone. Its an outright monster...” The griffins looked at the wall and to the creature again. “...We’ll see what we can do, but no promises.” Diamond just began to walk away back to his throne.

“Very well, if it fails again... I’ll have you killed. Because of your shoddy work, the creature was able to hit my royal beak.” The griffins gulped and quickly got to work with resetting the anchor in its proper place and placing a bunch of magically enhanced mortar. 

Only the best, they didn’t want to die after all. Once they had it reset they went about sealing all the cracks with the magical mortar and were finished after about an hour and a half of fast paced repair work. As soon as they finished and bid their goodbys another griffin with a worried look on his face ran into the throne room.

“Sire! Sire! The Ponies have Arrived! They wish you see you immediately!”  Diamond Claw gritted his teeth behind his beak in silent rage. He hoped they would come tomorrow, his throne room was still a wreck... But then again, he needed to kill Celestia and Luna followed by the creature.

Or perhaps the creature 1st... The magic resistant armor was finished. The creature seemed like a bigger threat, but none the less he would surround them all once when they came to claim the creature.

“Tell my elite guards to dawn their new armor... and lead the princesses to the throne room here. I’m sure they miss their pet monster.” The griffin bowed his head and left the room in a rush again to carry out his new orders.

Diamond Claw sat in his throne and placed his crown upon his head and his cape on his back. He needed to look the part after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they landed Luna took control of the situation as Celestia rested for a while. She had exerted a lot of magical power in the last 3 and a half hours and would likely need sleep to regain her full strength, but this was no time too sleep. They were about to get back a friend they had all missed.

“Children, stay close, I know this is an exciting time for all of you, but you must...” Luna was interrupted by some of the children and Pinkie Pie as they rushed past her and down the ramp to the ground.

“I wanna see the Griffin king!” shouted one of the children, Luna sighed as she used her magic to pull them back.

“Stay close or you will get lost... and don’t run off again. We are here on royal duties and must be respectful.”

“But I thought we were here to get Merry!” shouted another one of the children.

“Yes we are, but it is rude to leave our airship without proper permission for us to dock. We have to wait for the messenger to return.” The children and Pinkie Pie sighed. The rest of the mane six had gathered and were waiting beside Luna and the children.

Everyone sat down patently awaiting the return of the griffin messenger, he seemed to be taking his time as 20 minutes had past when he finally returned.

“His majesty, The King, will see you now.” Luna nodded her head and lead the way down for everypony to follow. The Messenger gave Luna an odd look as he watched all of the little ponies follow her down the ramp in an orderly fashion. “Are these... Children and mares going to be joining us?” Luna looked back at all of them and then smiled at the griffin messenger

“Yes of course, they are all here for the same reason, to pick up Merry.” The griffin raised an eyebrow

“Who is Merry?” Luna sighed

“The creature that... burned down a village.” The griffin gasped and stepped back in astonishment

“That vile monstrosity has a name?” of the mane 6 Twilight and Applejack voiced their opinions.

“He ain’t a Vile Monstrawcity!”

“He’s our friend! I would like you to speak of him with respect!” The other mares all nodded their heads in agreement. While the griffin just looked back and forth between all of the mares and the looks on their faces.

“My apologies, it would seem... Griffins and Ponies have different views upon what a monster is...” The Griffin cleared his throat. “... now if you would follow me I will take you to the throne room where King Diamond Claw is waiting with the... With Merry... If I may ask, where is Celestia?” 

“Celestia is taking a short rest and will join us shortly, if you could leave some griffin here to lead her to us, that would be great.” replied Luna as she nodded her head

“Oh... well. I suppose that’s fine then.” the griffin mumbled something to himself as he leads the way to the throne room. 

After a decent walk down some extravagant hallways they finally made it to the throne room. Diamond Claw was sitting on his throne. Near the back of the large room, what looked to be a large box was covered with a large red blanket sat looking oddly out of place. Golden chains could be seen coming out the back of the box from under the red cloth. The box was very suspicious, as were all the guards posted inside the room. It was probably a griffin thing thought Luna, they did have to deal with dragons. It was then she noticed another smaller box in the middle of the throne room, it also had a red cloth thrown over it. Why would he have something in the middle of his throne room?

“Luna, it is good to see you, I see you brought a large group of company...But where is Celestia?” Diamond Claw was looking around as Luna cleared her throat to speak.

“My dear sister is resting for a moment, she expelled a large amount of magic to get us here in a hurry.” Diamond Claw chuckled to himself for a moment

“In a hurry to get back your pet?” Luna cleared her throat again and raised her chin

“Merry is not our pet, he was a citizen of Equestria until... some things happened and he went missing. Have you found him?” Diamond Claw let out a low growl

“Yes we did, I’ll have you know he has killed many of MY citizens. Decent griffin folk who wanted nothing more than to live in peace... and he killed them! All of them!” Luna lowered her head a bit as did the mane 6, the children just looked up to Luna with some confusion on their faces.

“Mom, Did... Did Merry do something bad?” Luna looked down about to answer her child when Diamond Claw spoke up before she could.

“Yes, your ‘friend’ Merry killed an entire villages worth of honest griffins. Not only that, but when we tried to take him into custody he killed many of my griffin soldiers. I had told them to use non lethal force, because he seemed important to you and Celestia... In the end, only more of my citizens, MY loyal griffins died.” Twilight stepped forward with a tear in her eye

“I’m Sorry King Diamond Claw, but Merry is... Something happened to him, I know there’s no way we can make it up to you, But do you have him? Something was wrong with his brain... I wanted to try and fix it, make him normal again.” Diamond Claw raised an eyebrow at the word normal.

“You mean, he wasn’t always like that?” Twilight and the rest of the ponies all shook their heads.

“No way your uh... kinglyness. Merry was a good friend, he was calm and collected... well most of the time, but he never went outta his way to hurt somepony... unless he thought they deserved it.” Diamond Claw huffed out a bit of steam from his nostrils in anger.

“Deserved it? You mean like my sons Ezreal and Zed?” Luna’s eyes widened at that statement. The cause of this whole mess, when they went to visit Ponyville, those two arrogant griffins insisted they come along. That’s when everything went downhill.

“So you know... It was out of our control Diamond Claw. We...” Diamond Claw raised and slammed his black claw into the ground

“Enough... you can have IT back, but I expect compensation. We can discuss it once Celestia arrives...” Luna nodded her head in acceptance, she figured they would have to do something in return to keep good relations with the griffin kingdom. But now that he knew everything... things were probably going to get really bad. They would most likely have to give up land in Equestria for a colony. Hopefully they could still talk him out of settling in an area that wasn’t already occupied by ponies.

Diamond Claw got up from his throne and walked over to the large red box at the end of the throne room. He walked around the box in the middle of the room giving it a wide girth. Luna couldn’t figure out why, it seemed like he was avoiding it. As Luna neared the large red box she could hear some kind of voice singing from underneath the it, Was Merry inside? Diamond Claw grew a large scowl on his face.

“La lalalala lala la... la lalala lala... la lalalala lala...”

“How is he awake?! He can’t be awake yet!” Luna and all of the ponies couldn’t figure out what he meant by that. But Diamond Claw proceeded to rip the red cloth off revealing a huge steel cage with black bars. It was built right next to the wall and inside it was a large creature that looked like Merry sitting naked with his back to them. 

“Well that big thing can’t possibly be...” It wasn’t until they saw what was left of the dragon tattoo on his back did they know it was truly him. It was so scarred it was hardly recognizable anymore. 

“But... that dragon...” Some of the children wiggled their way forward to get a better look.

That’s when they saw that the golden chains were connected to Merry himself. All of the Mares were suddenly angry at him being naked and chained inside of a cage. Before they could voice their opinion, they could hear Merry was singing.

“I will never be afraid again. I will keep on fighting till the end. I can walk on water I can fly... I will keep on fighting till I die... What is this?” Luna ushered the children behind her as they just looked at him. Merry turned around to look at all of the ponies.

“Have you brought ponies to do your bidding, thinking I wont kill them as well Captain Feather Butt?” Merry smiled at them, showing the sharp canines. All of the ponies gasped, he didn’t have those teeth before. While the ponies were at a loss for words Merry spun around to face them still sitting with his legs crossed. Then he looked down to his right at an empty spot on the floor.

“No Mr. Biggels Worth. I tolded yous, I can’t pour you another... Well I don’t know if the ponies would like some Whiskey. Let me ask.” Merry turned his head up to face the ponies.

“Mr Biggels wants to know if any of you mares, fillies or colts would like some delicious Whiskey?” All of the ponies looked at each other, then the mane six and Luna looked over to Twilight. The children just had confused looks on their faces, this wasn’t the Merry that was with them for the few days at the castle.

“Twilight! Do something!” Twilight looked over to her friends and then to Diamond Claw.

“Open the door, I need to be near him for this to work.” Diamond Claw raised an eyebrow at the purple mare.

“Are you sure?” Twilight nodded her head at Diamond Claw

“I’m positive I can fix him!” Diamond Claw moved his claw to his chin in thought for a minute.

“Fine, Do what you want! Just don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Merry picked his head up as Diamond Claw raised his voice at Twilight.

“Glork did you hear that...?” Merry tilted his head down to his right shoulder and then nodded “Indeed, The soon to be dead shouldn’t talk so loud.” Twilight gulped as the cage door was opened and she walked inside. The griffin guards quickly locked the cage door behind her.

“Merry?” Merry looked up from his shoulder and over at Twilight, he gave her a critical eye.

“You didn’t bring any of that green liquid stuff? Or are you perhaps... hiding it? And how do you know my name?” Twilight shook her head

“How could you forget us? We’re your friends! From back in Ponyville... don’t you remember? What happened to you?” Merry just leaned forward putting his elbow on his knee and his head on his hand looking at her with one eye.

“Ponyville... Ponyville... So you’re a survivor from when the griffins attacked Ponyville? What are you doing here?” Twilights eyes began to tear up. He couldn’t remember her at all it seemed, and what was he talking about, griffin attack? Luna spoke up and looked over to Diamond Claw.

“What green liquid is he referring to?” She looked to one of the guards then over to Diamond Claw.

“Just a simple tranquilizer that was used in his capture, what was it called again...?” Diamond Claw looks up to his ceiling then back to Luna and shrugs. “I forget, but the Zebras use it to put to sleep attacking Tigers and other large dangerous animals.”

“You can’t be serious Diamond Claw... Did you use the dreaded Gonzo on Merry? How much have you given him?!” Diamond shrugged nonchalantly. 

“Can’t be that much, I’ve only had him for about a week.” Luna grew visibly angry with Diamond Claw.

“That vile stuff destroys minds Diamond Claw!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few minutes before the ponies had arrived Merry was having a wonderful dream about a normal life in Ponyville as if nothing had happened.

“I don’t know Scoots, I don’t think Featherweight is the right one for you. Perhaps you should hold off on getting married.” Adult Scootaloo just glared at Merry, her overbearing dad.

“You just cant understand our love dad!” Merry just shook his head in disappointment

“I still think a solid earth pony would do you good. I know they can’t fly but hey, they are very dependable!” Merry just smiled at Scoots as she puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

“No way dad... Me and Featherweight are getting married, and that’s final!” Merry just put his hand on his chin in thought

“Well... I see I cant persuade you... but maybe I can talk Featherweight out of it...”

“What! Dad, NO! You will do no such thing!” Scootaloo stomped her hoof into the ground.

“Scootaloo please, if he cant even stand up for himself, what makes you think he can stand up for you? Let me just test him and...” The world suddenly rippled as a new voice entered

“Merry, wake up, I just finished the modifications to your body.”

“Did you hear something dad?” Scootaloo was looking up into the sky, and so was Merry.

“I-I.. I don’t know...”

‘’Wake the fuck up faggot.’‘

‘’‘It is time to wake.’‘’

“Merry WAKE UP!” The peaceful world shattered as Merry opened his eyes to the dark. He sat up but couldn’t see anything or anyone.

“Good, your awake finally, don’t worry much, during the modifications I took control over a lot of your body. I put your liver into overdrive so that sleeping crap they kept giving you wore off in no time.” Merry looked down at his shoulder and could see some white teeth glinting in what little light there was.

“Whats... who...” Merry shook his head and the memories of being captured returned to him. “Diamond Claw...”

“Yeah about that, let me tell you what I’ve been doing for the past 6 days. I spread myself as evenly as possible throughout your body so that it could be modified, and you know what? Your body is fucking hard as shit to modify. What should of taken me a few hours took days. Your bodies ability to regenerate was most troublesome. Its hard to deconstruct something when it starts to rebuild as its gets broken down...” Glork coughed for a moment

“But you know, being an all powerful beneficial parasite has its perks. I was able to do so much. Also your left hand is able to absorb pretty much everything. As such I used it to absorb the stone in the floor to help reenforce your bones. You probably feel a bit heavy, bu that’s because all of your bones are rather unbreakable now. I had to redesign all of your bones on the cellular level to do it, but it should work out just fine.” Merry brought his left hand up to his face, it didn’t feel any different, maybe a bit heavy, but he figured that was because he was still sleepy.

“Anyway, I turned your kidneys and liver into overdrive so that you could over come that sleeping tranq. I can set pretty much any part of your body to maximum efficiency. And not just that, I can take off the muscle limiters now. So instead of only 30% of your muscles used, you can use up to 100% of them... even when the adrenaline kicks in it was only about 60%.” The little mouth on Merry's shoulder just gave him a big smile letting the teeth glint with Merry's dark vision.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you’re beyond the average monster now... well when I turn it on anyway. I can stop it if I think its dangerous. I won’t let you kill yourself here. I’m part of you now, remember that little fact...”

‘’Hey! Check it! Found something good!’‘

‘’‘why don’t you sing along to it?’‘’

Basshunter- I can walk on water

“Yeah sure... don’t worry... I still love me some good music...”

“Who the fuck you talking too buddy?” Glork stopped speaking as Merry just started to sing a little tune for some reason.

“La lalalala lala la... la lalala lala... la lalalala lala... “ Suddenly Merry’s world filled with light, and it was so colorful. It was like looking through a prismatic stone. The colors of the rainbow were everywhere he looked. 

“I will never be afraid again. I will keep on fighting till the end. I can walk on water I can fly... I will keep on fighting till I die... What is this?” Merry turned his head to look behind him at the voices behind him.

“Have you brought ponies to do your bidding, thinking I wont kill them as well Captain Feather Butt?” Merry just smiled at all of them.

‘’Those Ponies...’‘

‘’‘what are they doing here?’‘’

Suddenly Merry turned his head down to the right and saw what looked like a man wearing a full body suit was sitting at a bar with a drink in his hand. Merry felt like it was good, seeing the little man there. Like he had known him for years... his name was Mr Biggels Worth.

‘I say good Sir, could you pour me another whisky? I’m still frightfully thirsty. And perhaps those ponies would like a nice stiff drink as well hmm?’ Merry glanced back to the ponies and then looked back to Mr Biggels.

“No Mr. Biggels Worth. I tolded yous, I can’t pour you another... Well I don’t know if the ponies would like some Whiskey. Let me ask” Merry lifted his head and with a smile kept his eyes on them.

“Mr Biggels wants to know if any of you mares, fillies or colts would like some delicious Whiskey?” as no pony responded, Merry’s smile faded and he sighed.

“I figured nopony would want any whiskey, it is just too refined of a taste for them...”

‘’It sounds like they are talking about you.‘’

‘’‘Let them, they can do what they want! They will never take you!’‘’ Merry just chuckled to himself as he thought of it. There’s no way a couple of random ponies could take him if the griffins had trouble. Merry’s ears perked up at the voice that picked up next,

“Fine, Do what you can! Just don’t say I didn’t warn you!” 

‘’Its that fucking griffin King Faggot! What is he talking about?!’‘ Merry looked up to see a purple pony standing in front of the cages door looking at Captain Feathers.

“Glork did you hear that...?” Merry tilted his head down to his right shoulder

“Those that need to die shouldn’t speak so loud...hehehe”

“Indeed, The soon to be dead shouldn’t talk so loud.” The purple pony gulped as the cage door was opened and she walked inside. The griffin guards quickly locked the cage door behind her.

“Merry?” Merry looked up from his shoulder and over at the purple unicorn, he gave her a critical eye.

“You didn’t bring any of that green liquid stuff? Or are you perhaps... hiding it? And how do you know my name?” The Purple pony shook her head

“How could you forget us? We’re your friends! From back in Ponyville... don’t you remember? What happened to you?” Merry just leaned forward putting his elbow on his knee and his head on his hand looking at her with one eye.

‘’‘she must be a survivor from the attack.’‘’

“Ponyville... Ponyville... So you’re a survivor from when the griffins attacked Ponyville? What are you doing here?” The purple pony looked sad for some reason. And she was crying, what the hell was she crying for?

“Merry...”

“How exactly do you know my name anyway? I haven’t told it to dem yet...” Merry gestured to the griffins in the room.

“Merry, I’m a friend from Ponyville, I’m... I’m going to cast a spell and have you remember, don’t worry, it shouldn’t hurt...” Merry raised an eyebrow as her horn glowed a purple color and soon after a small purple ray hit him in the head. Memories began to flood into his head. All that he had forgotten and others he had hoped to forget.

It wasn’t just his memories that came to the surface, it was also the ones of the children that he had saved from that horrible orphanage. Everything flooded into his mind at once, and it was a terrible overload. Merry fell over in a lump breathing heavily. The next sentence out of Merry’s mouth was fragmented.

“You pony sick how help brain hurt.” Merry shook his head and stuck his tongue out. “You dun right wing...” Merry growled and shook his head. “BRAIN! NO! LAZY! LEFT!” Merry grabbed at his hair and pulled on it in frustration.

“Haggle se plugh!” Some of the children laughed as Merry continued to speak gibberish. Merry looked up and to his amazement, all of the children in front of him looked like Scootaloo. Merry suddenly got a huge grin on his face as he looked at all of the Scootaloo’s in front of him. Some laughing while others had a slightly scared look on their faces.

Merry brought his hands up and placed them behind his head, effectively giving himself a set of hand ears. He took a deep breath and stuck his tongue out making a funny face at them.

“Wraggle De Flargen Sparkle! Figgle de Moon le Sun boot!” Some more of the children continued to join in the giggle fest that Merry had decided to provide. And Twilight was relieved, he seemed to have remembered who he was from the memory spell. But, something was still wrong with him.

“Merry, I’m going to enter your mind, so... hold still” Merry stopped his laughing and looked over to Twilight. He gave her a confident look with a smile plastered on his face.

“So Gangsta!” Twilight just gave Merry an odd look as he continued to look at her with his stupid smile... that same smile he had on all the time when he was in Ponyville with Scootaloo.

Twilights horn gained a huge glow to it as she touched it to Merry’s forehead. He just closed his eyes and leaned forward as she touched it to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight opened her eyes to see an almost empty void in front of her. She could see floating rocks all around her, and each one had a door or some other object on it. She looked around at the rock she was standing on and sure enough it had a door upon it. The doors color was a pale grey. As she looked around she could see each door had a different color to it. Curious as to where the door lead she walked up to it and opened it.

Inside she saw a grass meadow with two young creatures that looked like a smaller version of Merry running around. When she walked inside, the door shut behind her, but it was still visible. She went over to them as they were playing. Twilight cleared her throat as she began to speak.

“Hi, My name is Twilight Sparkle who are you?” The two small ningans looked up to Twilight with eyes wide and mouths agape.

“A PURPLE PONY! TOMMY! IT’S A PURPLE TALKING PONY!”

“HORRY SHHIT!”

“HAHA! You said SHIT!”

“NO I DIDN’T MERRY!” The two boys continued to argue back and forth until Twilight cleared her throat. And they noticed her again

“Oh almost forgot you where here!” the sky suddenly started to darken.

“Hey Tommy, where did that bruise on your arm come from?” Tommy covered the bruise on his arm with his hand.

“Yesterday, I fell down some steps...” Little Merry just shrugged

“You gotta be more safer Tommy!” Tommy nodded his head and looked up to the sky.

“Hmm, I’m sorry, but its getting late I have to go home now Merry... I’ll play tomorrow though, for sure!” Twilight looked down and saw that little Merry was nodding his head enthusiastically

“Alright then Tommy! I’ll see you tomorrow!” they waved goodbye to each other and as the boy named Tommy disappeared the world Twilight was in suddenly began to swirl and change. As if the sands of time were being fast forwarded.

They ended with her standing next to Merry who was at a dinner table, he looked a little older and depressed.

“Mom...”

“Yes sweetie?”

“What happened to Tommy? He used to live down the street... But I don’t see him anymore...” Twilight looked to Merry’s mother, she had dark red hair and a soft motherly glow about her, it reminded her of Celestia. The smile she gave during her response reminded her greatly of Celestia as well.

“He moved, don’t worry about him Merry, he’s fine...” Merry nodded his head. And for some reason Twilight could feel herself filling up with sadness. She couldn't understand why she was suddenly feeling sad, so she looked a Merry and cast a spell on herself that Luna had taught her. When the spell was complete she could see a light grey aura surrounding Merry, it was touching her. When she moved away from it, she no longer felt sad.

Merry’s emotions were starting to influence her... Luna hadn’t told her that was possible.

“I can’t wait to meet him again...” The word ‘again’ echoed as the world suddenly broke down again and fast forwarded. 

She was standing inside a small room surrounded by books and Merry was standing in front of a man that she had seen at the dinner table beforehand.

“Hey dad, do you know where Tommy moved? I wanna send him this letter I wrote!” Twilight saw his dad visibly cringe at those last words.

“Son... there’s something... I need to tell you... your mother wasn’t being completely honest last week at dinner...” A grey cloud exploded outward from Merry. Twilight broke out into tears with Merry as his father told him that his best friend Tommy had died because Tommy’s parents weren’t the best and would hurt him from time to time. And that one day the hurt was too much and Tommy didn’t make it. 

Twilight had never seen Merry cry before as an adult, but seeing him like this, was too much, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose a close friend. She ran out of the room and as she exited the grey door she ended up back on the rock she had started from. She looked back to the door she had just exited from and saw the door slowly closing as she could see Merry crying his eyes out in front of his father.

The grey aura Merry was emitting was pouring out of the door until it closed completely. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mommy?” one of the colts looked up to Luna after looking at Twilight and Merry.

“Yes? What is it Ozzy?” 

“Why do Twilight and Merry have tears on their faces?” Luna looked up see tears were starting to form and move down their faces.

“Because Ozzy, it would seem Twilight uncovered something from the past... and it was painful.” Luna closed her eyes and hoped Twilight would be able to handle it on her own. Fixing a shattered mind was no easy task.

The fact Twilight was crying with Merry had her worried. If she couldn’t control the emotions packed into Merry’s memories it was going to be far more difficult and dangerous to finish her job...
	
> The show must go on
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight laid down on the rock she had started upon, she didn’t feel like moving just yet. She was too depressed about what she just witnessed.

“Merry told me his home world was messed up but... How could a parent cause the death of their own child? How is that even possible?” Twilight sat around on the rock for a bit longer until she steeled her resolve.  

“Ok, I need to get this fixed, this mind isn’t normal at all, nothing is connected...” Twilight took a deep breath and moved a hoof from her mouth to out in front of her as she exhaled.

“Ok, 1st things 1st, I need to repair the connections between all of his memories” Twilights horn began to glow as she concentrated.

The harder she concentrated upon the spell that Luna taught her, the more the floating rocks began to move together. When she finished her spell she looked up to see that about 20 rocks had gathered around the one she was standing upon. 

“Oh my Celestia... how am I going to finish connecting all of these!” Twilight groaned in frustration as she looked around her and saw a countless number of floating rocks in the distance.

“Cheero my good lady!” Twilight looked around but couldn’t see anything around her.

“Who said that?”

“Down here Ms. Sparkle!” Twilight looked down to her right side to see a very small ningen wearing a bright orange suit with a jet black top hat and a monocle. In his hand he held a bright purple cane. He tipped his hat as he looked up to her.

“My name is Mr. Biggles Worth, but you may call me Worth. I thank you kindly for bringing me closer from atop my rock. It gets quite boring being all alone, Shall we travel together my lady?” Twilight blinked a few times unsure of what to make of what she was seeing right now. Was this the same Mr Biggles Worth that Merry had been talking too?

“Um, yes I suppose? Do you know your way around here?”

“My Lady, I am both a Gentleman and a Scholar of refined tastes, of course I know my way around this rugged terrain. And I would be a terrible gentleman to not accompany you upon this journey of yours.” The small man bowed low yet again then spun his purple cane around to point over to his right side. “If I may make a suggestion, I say we travel down this way with haste.” Twilight smiled at the small man and nodded her head

“Yes of course, You wouldn’t happen to know how to fix any of this mess would you?” Mr. Worth just turned around and then pointed directly up with his cane.

“Fix? My dear, this mess is beyond fixing. It would be far simpler to wipe it clean and begin anew. But...” Twilight looked up to see a giant land mass hovering above them “... that is the central hub. All of the rocks you see floating are merely imaginations, ideas and memories that broke from it.  When one comes close to the central hub it is brought to life, so to speak...”

A sudden explosion is heard followed by a clunk. Turning her head Twilight sees a large black chain has shot down into a rock about a few hundred feet below where she and Biggles Worth were standing.

“Did you put him to sleep with your spell Ms. Sparkle? It would seem he’s dreaming again...” Twilight looked down at the rock and on it was an orange door with magenta swirls.  

“...Good good. It grabbed something pleasant...” Twilight just watched as the rock was pulled up to the large land mass above them.

“Well yes, It’s part of the spell but... What happens when a rock goes to the large land mass?” Mr Biggles Worth gained a smile upon his face

“You’re about to find out my dear, now stay close and watch the magic.” Before Twilight could ask him about the magic she heard a large click coming from directly above her. What see saw reminded her of those memory viewing windows Luna had shown her while traveling through Spikes mind, but it was on a much larger scale.

“Is that?” Twilight watched as the large screen turned white then color slowly began to come into view. It was the Ponyville school yard but... it looked like it was from Merry’s point of view. The view was looking over everypony’s heads and the picture would have to look down when somepony spoke.

“Yes, this is a memory, depending on what was pulled up different things will happen. Memories give way to something like a movie for us to watch. Ideas will build up on the central hub until its complete or gets tossed out. Or if a rock containing an imagination is pulled... well lets just hope we aren’t anywhere near when something bad gets pulled in.” Twilight just watched as the movie continued, it looked like one of the days when he would go pick Scootaloo up from school. 

“So if we get to the central hub Mr. Worth... Will I be able to fix things?” Mr Biggles worth adjusted his monocle in thought for a moment.

“Well, I suppose you could. After a bit of work you can get things in order so things are no longer picked at complete random.” Twilight nodded her head in confirmation.

“Let us head up then Mr. Biggles Worth.” Twilights horn began to glow, but for some reason her teleportation spell didn’t take them anywhere. “Wha- What happened?” Mr. Biggles Worth looked around then up to the sky for a moment.

“It would seem... We have to take the long way around Ms. Sparkle... Follow me.” Mr. Biggles walked to the edge of the rock and looked over at the nearest one to them, and leaped across toward it.

“Wha! How? What?!”

“Hurry Ms. Sparkle, Before it travels out of reach!” Twilight opened her eyes in a bit of shock, and then ran as fast as possible and leaped after him.

Twilight flew though the air as she felt as light as a feather. She leaped so hard she thought she might of over jumped, but as she neared the new rock gravity seemed to take hold and bring her down on top of its edge.

“Oh wow, I had no idea traveling could be so easy!” Mr Biggles Worth nodded his head.

“Yes well, if you follow me, it shall all be easy like this. I told you before, I know my way around here... Now let us continue Ms. Sparkle.” Twilight looked back at the rock mass she had created and shrugged, hopefully she could do a faster job of connecting the memories at the central hub.

Twilight and Mr. Biggles leapt from rock to rock. Twilight wondered at all of the different color doors they passed. The colors ranged from pitch black to eggshell white. Some even seemed to be off colors of a common color. 

It wasn’t until they landed upon a rock that they took pause. On it was a mighty Lion. Bigger than she had ever seen in any equestrian zoology book before. The large lion was covered in scars and seemed to be missing an eye. Twilight felt a chill run down her spine when it looked down to them.

“Mr. Worth, why have you returned?” The large lion looked over at Twilight and tilted his head to the side a bit. “You look... familiar...” The large lion squinted its remaining eye at Twilight then reeled back in distrust.

“You! Why are YOU here!? Have you come to finish me off?!” Twilight opened her eyes in shock. What was this giant lion talking about? Finishing him off?

“I-I’m sorry, but I don’t...” The lion released a loud roar at Twilight

“Mr Biggles Worth, what is the meaning of this?!” Mr. Worth simply bowed his head and placed his top hat against his chest.

“I apologize Dallin, I had no idea Ms. Sparkle here was the one that wounded you... We shall take our leave then...” As Worth placed his hat back upon his head and turned around to leave, Dallin spoke with a loud rumbling voice

“Wait, I still desire to know why you have come here in person... in pony... Twilight.” Twilight looked over to Mr. Biggles and he just nodded his head at her.

“I came to try... no, I came to fix what is broken here, I want to get Merry back to his old self.” The lion gained a smile on his face.

“I see, Well Twilight, perhaps you should start with me then. For you know, I represent Merry’s Pride. And I was mortally wounded by none other than you.” Twilight began to stumble her words as she tried to think.

“I, bu... when...What are you talking about?!” The lion just sat down on his rump and sighed.

“Think back to the date you had with him. After that drink the pink one gave you and him...” Twilight thought for a moment then gained a blush on her face. Thinking about the time they had in her bedroom... then when she carelessly insulted his manhood, causing him to get dressed and jump out the window... Twilight lost her blush and instead got sad.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t in my right mind at the time. I...” Dallin interrupted Twilight before she could continue her apology

“That is enough, the expression upon your face is enough. Let the rest of it be unspoken words. Now what do you plan exactly?”

“Well, I thought if I could get up to the central hub, then I could fix things from up there better than down here.”

“True, fixing things down here would be like trying to empty the oceans with a small play bucket. Using the central hub might be a little faster. Probably close to using a normal bucket to empty a large lake... Let us be off then.”

“You’re coming with us?”

“But of course, I cant allow a lady to travel a potentially dangerous area with only a gentlemanly scholar at her side.”

Twilight smiled up at the giant lion as he turned around and looked to the nearest rock that would lead them upwards.

“I must let you know beforehand Ms Sparkle, we will have to get rid of the 2 that are currently controlling the central hub right now.”

“What do you mean? I thought Merry would be up there or something. Who’s controlling him?”

“2 things that were brought forth from a traumatic past... but it wasn’t his own that these things came from... We best hurry along.” As Dallin reached the edge of the rock, a bunch of little rocks began to form as his foot came down preventing him from falling.

Twilight just watched in amazement as a path opened up before them as Dallin lead the way. The path of rocks were slowly spiraling upward toward the nearest rock above them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Up inside the central hub, a man dressed in torn clothing with the left side of his head shaved completely bald was watching a monitor. On it was a purple pony traveling with a small human wearing a top hat and suit. In front of them was a large battle scarred lion as well.

“What does that stupid bitch think she’s doing? What can she possibly fix? Its her fault everything exploded around here... Mistress!” the angry man turned around to look at the large breasted woman behind him. The woman was wearing black leather clothing with torn blue jeans and brandishing a whip over her shoulder. She turned to him and sighed

“What is it Curse?”

“That purple bitch is in here, she’s trying to find her way here and fix the fucking mess she made with her stupid spell.”

“You mean the memory spell that made this mess? The same one that blew up the memory banks?”

“Yes that fucking memory spell, not only did it destroy the memory banks, it blew up all the hard work we did making him the way we want him. Now Merry remembers everything about everything!”

“Yes well, He still thinks we are his friends, we can still do what we can to set things in order right? Our order anyway.”

“Yeah, but the purple bitch is gonna have to die so she doesn’t fuck things up again.”

“I agree. You keep and eye on her, I’ll keep reworking his memories the way they need to be...” Mistress licked her lips as she slapped her own behind with the whip in her hand and walked off toward the back room.

“How dare she fuck this up. I’ll never get to see the world burn at this rate...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being inside an astral body is great, for one you never become tired, at least not physically. Twilight, Dallin and Mr. Worth had been traveling for what seemed like hours. Twilight wondered how many hours had past, the spell she used made hours within the mind last only a few minutes in the real world.

“Do you mind if I ask you a Question Dallin?” Without turning around Dallin responded as he kept the steady pace going.

“I’ll answer if I can, what is your question?”

“Well, I’ve been wondering about all of the doors and the rocks. So far, about 95% of the rocks I’ve seen have doors. And the other 5% were empty or had something on it that wasn’t a door. Why is that?” Mr. Biggels responded in place of Dallin.

“Ms. Sparkle I thought I explained it already, the doors are memories and then the things like us, are his ideas and imaginations, and even his personality traits.”

“Well that’s true, but what about the colors? What’s the difference between them? I was only ever in Spikes mind, but they were labeled instead of color coded... And why is everything destroyed? Merry’s mind has no structure.”

“I can answer that one. The colors are based on the emotion that is the strongest at the time of its creation. and as for why everything is a mess? I honestly have no idea. Before everything exploded... Areas were just missing, or in complete ruin. Some areas looked like they were pieces together with spit and gum. But to answer your question as to why everything looks like this? For some reason or another Everything was released, and those that we thought lost, suddenly came back. And I mean EVERYTHING.”

Twilight was suddenly aware that this mess was probably all of her fault, she did recall being told that Merry had taken in the memories of those 30 children. Did her memory spell also cause him to remember all of those as well? Was the sudden overload of memories the cause of this huge mess?

“As for what the door colors mean? Well, Stay away from the shades of blue, black, grey, yellow... Actually stay away from all the doors. Except the pink ones. Those are the interesting ones.”

“What’s behind the pink ones?” Dallin and Mr Worth got a big grin on their faces

“Merry’s lustful thoughts and actions. Some of them contained you actually, we all got to see them.” Dallin looked over to Twilight as she got a huge blush on her face. While Mr Worth simply coughed into his hand

“Ah we're here...” Twilight looked up, still blushing, and saw the large land mass that had been floating above them was now eye level with them and really close. “Now, we just need to find a safe path and...” Dallin was cut off as a loud explosion was heard.

A large chain was flying directly at them. It didn’t look like the chain that had grabbed all of the other rocks as they were traveling. This one looked dangerous, The chain was a bright red and had spikes on it. For some reason Dallin and Mr Worth got a very serious expression on their faces. And turned to look around the rock.

“Not good Sir Dallin... this is not good at all.” Dallin took a deep breath and nodded his head in agreement.

“Indeed, we are in the wrong place at the wrong time...” Twilight looked back and forth between the two of them then at the door. It was a black door with white stripes, or was it a white door with black stripes?

“Whats wrong with that door? And why is the chain red instead of black?”

“Those two must of been watching us...” Dallin looked down to Twilight as he spoke. “...White doors are memories of terrible pain... Merry doesn’t have a lot of those, but Black doors are hiding monstrous nightmares...” Twilights eyes widened at what white and black doors were. This door was both!

“As for the red chain... it gives whatever it attaches to free reign, basically... Merry is going to re-live a nightmare, and we just got invited along for the ride...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hmm... This isn’t good, I can’t do much against magic...” Glork witnessed the purple pony cast two spells on Merry. The 1st one basically made his head pop, and the second one put him to sleep. And no matter what Glork did, he wasn’t waking up. And for some reason the room seemed really tense. Ever since Merry went to sleep the room was deathly silent.

Glork made himself a small eye and looked around the room. For some reason it contained at least 3 times as many guards then usual. Not just that, but it looked like they all had adamantine armor on. To make matters worse all of the ponies couldn’t keep their eyes off the sleeping Merry. It would be impossible for him to discreetly do something with them all watching like that...

Unless he kept his movements limited to inside Merry’s body...

Glork got to work. He wasn’t sure how well this would work, but he couldn’t risk Merry sleeping any longer. He had overheard that griffin king talking about killing Merry, his host, after the ponies arrived and were dealt with. He couldn’t waste anymore time, his life was at stake now.

For some reason, Merry began to have labored breathing as if he was scared...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Twilight, Dallin and Mr Worth were standing on the rock staring at the door. It slowly began to creak open, the closer they got to the central hub the more the door opened. The spell Twilight had cast upon herself still seemed to be active. As the door opened a mix of black mist with white mist crept from the door.

“Ms Sparkle, Stay behind Dallin and I. We shall stop what ever comes forth from that door...” Twilight nodded her head and stood behind them.

Twilight watched as a giant hand grasped the doors edge and moments later a large face appeared from the shadows of it. It had a twisted cruel smile upon its face. It slowly pulled its way through and 2 more followed out after it. Just as big with the same twisted smiles on their faces. The one in the middle spoke with a voice that would make one think it was stupid, but strong.

“Well Well, are you friends of that girly boy Sue?” Twilight just looked at them then back to her two protectors, they stood silent staring at them stone faced. “Fine don’t answer, We’ll still beat the crap outta you, and I mean that literally. Ha ha ha!” the other two joined in the laugher as their rock finally connected to the central hub. 

Something Twilight never expected to happen, happened. Instead of the giant screen appearing like with most of the other memories. They were seemingly teleported away and appeared in a playground with the 3 monstrously huge ningens. Twilight looked around her and saw Merry on a swing. 

He was just a small boy all by himself, and he looked sad. The 3 huge ningens shoved their way past Twilight, Dallin and Mr Worth as they moved to Merry.

“Hey there Girly boy Sue. I heard about your grandpa and grandma’s death. Do you know how they died?” Merry just shook his head sadly as he swung back N’ forth on the swing.

“They died because of you! They couldn’t stand having such a weak girly grandson like you!” Merry clenched his eyes shut and gripped the swings chain harder.

“Shut-up Kyle! That’s not true!”

“Its totally true. I mean come one, Merry Sue? You should been a girl! Haha!” the other two bullies joined in the laughter and the cruel joke they were using upon Merry.

Twilight couldn’t just watch, She had to do something. Even if this was just a memory. 

“Guys, we have to help him! We can’t just let them bully him like that! Its so cruel!” Dallin and Mr. Worth just shook their heads.

“There’s nothing we can do but watch, and hope we don’t become their target when they are finished.”

“Yes Ms. Sparkle. The red chain is dangerous. We got caught in it,  we will be lucky to get away unharmed, its best we sit back.” Twilight closed her eyes trying to ignore what was happening in front of her. There had to be something she could do... She suddenly heard a smacking noise. She opened her eyes to see Merry had a clenched fist and one of the giants holding its cheek.

Twilight suddenly remembered something Princess Luna had told her about nightmares. They can be dissipated, but its best to face your fear to make it disappear forever. Standing up to them should make them go away or something right?

“Now you’ve gone and done it little Sue!” Twilight was wrong, they didn’t go away or get smaller, instead they got bigger and muscles that weren’t visible on them before suddenly became clear as day. She watched in shock horror as the 3 huge ningen shaped things beat upon Merry. 

First they pushed him around then took turns punching him in the face. It wasn’t until Merry fell to the ground on his hands and knees did they let up for a bit. But only for a bit, the twisted smiles on their faces got even bigger as they began to kick him in the ribs and continued until he was in the fetal position shivering. 

“This isn’t right, why is no one helping him? He couldn’t of been alone during this right? This is a just a really bad dream right?” Dallin sighed as he continued to watch

“This was once a memory, but it left such an image on him, it became a nightmare for awhile, Merry was finally able to forget about it. But... it came back for some reason.” Twilight felt even worse now, he was having this nightmare because she brought it back with her careless memory spell.

When the bullies stopped kicking him they just stood over him. Twilight was glad they had finally finished and would no longer hurt him. But what Dallin and Mr. Worth had said earlier echoed in her mind. 

...become their target...

Twilight had decided it best to try and find a place to hide or keep out of sight from them, she began to look around the area with a bit of panic, not wanting to be the next target that they beat mercilessly. But before she could find a place to hide, she heard what sounded like water hitting cloth. Confused as to hear such an odd sound she looked back over to Merry. What she saw disgusted her.

The bullies only stopped beating him so they could pee on him! Twilight suddenly felt ashamed of herself, worrying for her own well being over a friend that was in trouble. She had to do something, even if none of this was real and only a dream, she had to do something.

“Dallin, Mr. Worth, step aside...” Dallin and Mr Worth turned around to look at Twilight who was charging up her horn to cast a spell of some kind.

“Ms. Sparkle! Please don’t!” Twilight wasn’t listening to them anymore, she charged up her spell and fired at the 3 nightmare bullies. It impacted the one called Kyle on the back and exploded in a purple haze.

“Why did my spell explode?! It wasn’t supposed to explode!” When the dark purple haze faded away, the 3 giant bullies were still standing, but looking directly at Twilight and her 2 companions. They didn’t look happy at all. 

“Look guys, Little Sues friends think they can help!” Twilight stood her ground, even if this was a nightmare she knew they couldn’t hurt her... at least physically. But why did her spell explode? They were supposed to of disappeared, banished. Luna taught her that spell. Did she miscast it?

“Ms. Sparkle, I highly suggest you end the spell that’s keeping Sir Merry asleep... This can get bad very fast.” 

“No! I haven’t fixed anything yet! And we’re so close!” The nightmare bullies were making their way over cracking their knuckles as they walked closer to them. Dallin just chuckled to himself.

“I see were gonna have to find a way out of this then...” Dallin inhaled a deep breath and released a loud roar at them, while striking a powerful pose.

“I supposed if a gentleman must get into a scuffle it should be for a lady.” Mr Biggles Worth placed his top hat down upon the ground with his coat followed by his shirt, he folded them both up and placed them on the ground behind him.

The 3 nightmare bullies weren’t intimidated by Dallin at all, they simply ran and jumped on top of him. Surprisingly Twilight saw Mr. Biggles Worth grab a bully by the leg and tear him off of Dallin, then slam him into the ground. How he did such a feat was beyond her as he only came up to their shins. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As all of the ponies just watched Twilight sit next to Merry channeling her spell. Diamond Claw was pacing back and forth inside the throne room. He wants to take the stupid ponies out now, and all at once. But he had to wait for Celestia to arrive, hopefully... Speak of the devil.

Celestia walked into the throne room being lead by a small female griffin that was left to be her escort when she was ready to join them.

“I apologize for my tardiness. But I was a little tired from the travel over and needed a short rest.” Diamond Claw could see the bags under her eyes and tiredness in her voice. This was going to be easier then he thought.

Then the delicious looking green filly spoke up catching everyone's attention.

“Moma, why does Twilight have a black eye?” Everyone looked over to Twilight, she did indeed have a black eye. Luna sighed

“It would seem Ms. Sparkle needs more practice separating her spiritual body from her real one...”

Diamond Claw just looked to his guard captain and nodded his head in confirmation to begin the operation. He saluted and began to make claw signals at the numerous griffins about the room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“AHH! That hurt! Why did that hurt!?” Twilight was holding a hoof up to her eye as one of the bullies got a lucky swing and got her square in the eye. Not wanting to get hit again she leapt away and tried to cast that spell Luna taught her to make nightmares go away. She just needed to put more power into it, she was sure of it.

Twilights horn gained a second layer to it and launched it at the bully that hit her in the face. It didn’t explode this time, the spell sunk into the nightmare bully and he just looked at his hands. Light began to shine through parts of his hands and spread until the light enveloped him and he disappeared. 

The other 2 bullies took notice of this and began to back off.

“We’ll get you for this!” they ran off and the nightmare seemed to end as the area dissipated and she found herself in the familiar broken world of floating rocks.

“Aha! We’re back! Now lets get things back in order then!” Dallin stepped in front of Twilight Followed by Mr. Worth.

“We could of died you know. Lucky for you we were strong enough to fend them off... and when did you start sporting black eye liner?” Twilight just got a confused look on her face. Black eye liner? She shook her head.

“Never mind that! Come on we have to hurry!” Mr Worth just finished replacing his coat and top hat.

“Yes well, we did come all this way didn’t we? Its about time we finished this little task here.” Mr Worth and Dallin spun around to lead the way for Twilight when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. The little Merry was still in the fetal position on the floor. He didn’t disappear like the rest of it. Was this his actual self? Twilight slowly walked up to him. He no longer had signs of getting beat up, his cloths looked normal and no longer wet.

“Hey Merry, are you ok?” Merry just turned his head up to look at the voice addressing him and saw Twilight. He got a smile on his face.

“Oh hey Star butt. What are you doing here?” Merry got out of his fetal position and sat up looking at Twilight who had a blush on her face.

“I told you not to call me star butt.” Merry just gave her a big grin and a light chuckle.

“Yeah, that’s right, Where you going?” Twilight looked behind her at Dallin and Mr Worth. They had stopped and turned around waiting for her to catch up to them.

“I’m off the central hub to see about fixing this mess I made.” Merry put his hand to his chin as he thought for a minute.

“Sounds interesting... mind if I tag along?” Twilight gained a smile on her face

“I would love it if you joined me.” she held out a hoof and Merry grabbed it and pulled himself up into a standing position. He looked just like how she remembered him. He put his hands into his pockets and followed Twilight.

They walked for a few minutes and then everyone stopped in front of a large flat building that seemed to go on for miles in each direction.

“This here’s the control hub Twilight... and this is were we part ways.”

“You can’t come inside with me?”

“Sorry, but we're just thoughts and imaginations, we can’t enter unless we hold a strong enough presence... But Merry can go in with you” Twilight looked over to Merry who just shrugged and walked up to the door and pushed it open.

“Lets go my sweet lavender princess. Perhaps adventure awaits inside.” Twilight got another blush on her face.

“I told you not to call me that anymore as well...” Merry just laughed as she followed him inside.

“You think they will be ok Sir Dallin?”

“Yeah, they’ll be fine, It looks like Merry got back in control after he saw her, did you see the look on his face?”

“Aye, I did... Would you like some Whisky while we wait for the results?”

“If you can get me a bowl of some yeah, I don’t have hands...”

“But of course Sir Dallin!”

Back inside the control hub Twilight was looking at all the different doors around her. This place reminded her of Spikes mind, each door was labeled and the space between them was moderately short.

“Ok, think Twilight...” Twilight took a deep breath as she looked at the door labeled Language. She opened it and inside it was a destoryed wreck of a room. Books papers and pictures were thrown everywhere. 

Twilight closed the door and she gave her horn a glow and channeled a spell at the door. After a few minutes she ceased her spell and opened the door. The entire room was now neat and tidy. Everything looked to be in place once again. She turned to look at Merry and he placed his left hand on his head and shook it back and forth for a moment.

“What did you do? For some reason... I feel smarter.” Twilight just giggled

“I repaired the language part of your memory. Now lets head to the other rooms and get to work on them as well.” Merry just shrugged and followed her with his hands on top of his head.

Twilight decided it would be best to cast that memory repair spell on every door she passed. She couldn’t of been even half way done when she started to feel exhausted. Was she running low on her magical power now of all times? When she was almost done?

Between heavy pants she continued to cast the spell until she felt like she needed a break before she collapsed. She sat down on her rump next to Merry who had taken to just sitting crossed legged as he watched her work.

“Glad your taking a break, my heads been itching like crazy. And its kinda hard to scratch your brain.” Twilight gave a light chuckle as she took a breather. 

After a few minutes she heard a nasty male voice yell from down the hallway.

“Hey you Purple bitch! Who said you could fix what you fucked up Huh?!” Twilight didn’t recognize his voice or appearance at all. He was dressed in torn clothing with the left side of his head shaved completely bald. He looked like some kind of punk, even by equestrian standards. Merry stood up in front of Twilight.

“Now Curse, I can see why you're upset, but you know she’s a friend who was only trying to help, even if she did make things worse... She’s trying to fix her mistake, so calm down bro.” Curse simply growled

“No way man, its all an elaborate trick Merry! She’s been using spells left and right to insert herself throughout your life! This Purple bitch is working with Princess Celestia!” Merry looked down at Twilight who had a horrified and confused look on her face.

“I... No, that can’t be right...” Merry slapped his head “... you're just fucking with me right Curse? I mean... that wouldn’t... Why would she implant memories of us having kinky sex?! That’s... that’s CRAZY!” Twilight began to blush at the thought. She remembered the times he would come over late at night once a week.

“Its crazy but true Merry! She’s got herself so deeply ingrained! That’s why she made this mess inside your head To hide her true intentions! Let us kill her and be done with it!” Merry just sat back down with his head in his hands.

“I... Let me think... Twilight what’s your say in all this?” Curse seemed to be enraged that Merry was asking Twilight for her opinion on the matter.

“What! Your going to hear this Purple bitch out?! I’m your friend, remember?!” Merry grumbled something that Twilight couldn't hear. But she decided to tell him what she knew so far.

“Merry, right now I am projecting myself inside your mind. This thing called Curse, this thing isn’t real, he’s not your friend. You have to remember Merry. You lived in Ponyville for awhile. If he was your friend wouldn’t you remember anything more about him?” Merry squinted his eyes as he looked at the floor in thought. Curse growled and clenched his fists

“That’s it! I’m killing this purple bitch now before she can poison your mind anymore!” As Curse stomped forward he pulled a knife from behind him to strike Twilight who just stood her ground and closed her eyes. But then something happened that she didn’t expect. 

She heard the sound of a knife piercing flesh but didn’t feel it. When she opened her eyes she saw that Merry had caught Curses knife with his palm and closed his fingers around Curses hand preventing him from pulling back.

“I just remembered two things right now. The 1st thing was that a long time ago. Twilight said my dick was smaller then a baby’s. If she wanted me to see her in a good light, why the fuck would she implant a memory like that? And second...” Merry looked back at Twilight and smiled ... “You’re a fucking asshole that convinced me killing young griffins was ok... Next to the fucking bitch Mistress!” Curse just growled as he tried to pull his hand free from Merry’s grip.

“No! Wait! You have to...” Merry Slugged Curse across the face and sent him flying back.

“Now let me tell you something. Even though you live in my head and whisper things to me. Killing children is never acceptable. Adults I have no qualms over, don’t get me wrong I could kill adults left and right and not feel a thing, why? Because as far as I’m concerned they lived a full life and what ever choices they make are their own. But a child? A youngin that hasn’t reached adult hood... that’s entirely different. All children do stupid things, but that's because... well all kids are stupid and do stupid things, so we gotta forgive em and let certain things slide. But an adult should know his right from wrong, and if he makes a wrong choice that ends up causing his or her death? Then oh well... I... I kinda forgot where I was going with this...hmm...” Merry looked back to Twilight and smiled.

“Hey Twilight end yer spell, you did enough, lets back to the real world besides... I still have to kill a certain griffin...” Twilight opened her eyes wide

“You can’t kill him! Its, its... It’s not right!” Merry sighed.

“Fine... fine... I’ll just beat him to an inch of his life then. I won't kill him for taking my little girl, I did kill his sons after all... an eye for an eye right?”

“But... Merry what about...” Twilight was cut off when Merry suddenly interrupted her.

“Oh yeah! Of course how could I forget! Come it should be around here somewhere...” Twilight just looked at Merry slightly confused for a moment but followed him regardless. After a brisk walk and a trot they stopped in front of a room labeled music.

“Here we are! Fix this room for me too yeah?” Merry opened the door and peaked inside. It was a mess and part of the room was missing.

“Alright... But you have to promise me not to kill him! I guess... beating him up a little is ok...” Merry just grinned ear to ear as Twilight channeled her spell at the door. When she finished Merry opened the door and waltzed inside.

“Awesome awesome... You did a great job... lets listen to this before you end the spell yeah?” Twilight just nodded her head. As Merry picked a silver disc off the shelf and then walked over to a large stereo system and put it inside. It reminded Twilight of the one Vinyl Scratch had.

Pink Floyd - Sorrow

Twilight sat next to Merry as sounds began to slowly be played. The song was slow, and made her think of a desolate field or a landscape that might of been torn apart by war. But it suddenly picked up while still holding on to its sorrowful tune.

“Hey Twilight, if you could have one wish. What would it be?” Twilight looked down to the floor in thought for a moment.

“Well, I’m not so sure, I mean, I have everything that I... well. Right now I’d want you to come back with all of us to Ponyville...” Merry smiled and continued to listen to the song for a moment.

“If I had one wish, I would want a reset button for life. The ability to fix past mistakes and broken promises...”
> A Place to Die
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Griffins began encircling the ponies as they continued to watch Merry and Twilight. Luna and Celestia were distracted with each others attention. Luna was telling Celestia on what she had missed with Diamond Claw finding out about the incident in Ponyville and how Merry was involved and demanded reparations.

“I see...” Celestia sighed “...it was inevitable, and I was foalish to think nothing negative would come of that incident.” Celestia looked up at Diamond Claw only to notice that they were now surrounded by all the griffins that had previously been scattered around the throne room.

“Why are we surrounded Diamond Claw? What is happening?” The rest of the ponies looked around at Celestia’s words, and they too noticed they were surrounded with the griffins giving them glares or being completely stone faced.

“I commend you for coming to pick up your Pet, on such short notice. I am truly impressed. I had hopped to have a few more of my griffins properly equipped for your arrival. But it seems you’re too tired to defend yourself properly at the moment.” Diamond Claw simply smiled at Celestia and Luna

“Diamond Claw! You will end this foalishness immediately, or you will face dire consequences!” Diamond Claw snapped his claws and all of the griffins encircling them began to close in.

“The rulership of ponies and Alicornsis over. The rise of Griffins is at hand. My people may not know it, but they are being repressed by you and your greedy little ponies. You refuse to share your magical lands filled with plentiful food with my griffins. Your little ponies don’t have to worry about dragon attacks everyday!”

While Diamond Claw was giving off his little speech Merry and Twilight were waking up. Before Twilight could get a word out on what was going on, Merry put his hand over her mouth to hush her. No one was watching them. Merry leaned in close so he could whisper into Twilights ear.

“Hey, can you dispel magic?” Twilight immediately understands the situation based on how the griffins were aiming spears at her fellow ponies and the king giving some speech about how the griffins were treated unfairly and robbed of opportunities. She whispered back to him

“Yeah I can, but why?” Merry leaned in closer brining up one of the chains so she could see.

“Because these chains are enchanted with a spell so I can’t break them. I mean look at them! They look so thin. Once the spell disappears I can easily break them.” Twilight looked at the chains and nodded her head.

“Yeah Ok, I think I can do that. I’m still tired though, so hang on.” Twilight focused some magical energy into her horn and a small beam hit the left chain, and the spot she hit lost its golden sheen and went to a dull silver color. Twilight began panting when she finished casting her spell.

“That looks good! Now the other side if you don’t mind.” Twilight nodded her head and struggled to cast the spell again. This time a smaller blast came out, only half of a link lost its sheen.

“Sorry, Merry. That’s the best, I could do.” Merry just patted her on the head

“That’ll do Twilight, that’ll do.” As Twilight laid down to rest she closed her eyes, comforted that Merry was petting her head. Merry looked up at Diamond Claw and saw he was still going on with his nonsense. Merry decided to wait a little bit before he would interrupt him.

“Hey Glork...” a mouth appeared on Merry’s shoulder

“Yeah buddy?”

“Release that limit or what ever so I’m at 100%, you can do that right?”

“Yeah no problem buddy.” Merry felt a sudden surge of energy causing him to shudder in place with excitement.

“And that’s why, I am going to kill you Celestia and Luna, along with every non-griffin here. For the Glory of the true master race, Griffins!”  Merry looked at the ponies, and all of the little ones were huddled around Luna legs. The rest of the mane 6 were standing behind Celestia waiting for her response and reaction. Merry however was tired of listening to him babble. And with the chains weakened in certain spots he should be able to break free now.

During this pause Merry saw it as a golden opportunity to make his entrance in this dire situation. He inhaled  deeply and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Let me tell you why that’s all complete and utter bullshit!” Everyone spun around to see Merry standing inside the steel cell with his hands on his hips looking upward at the ceiling. “First reason is, I’m still alive. Second reason is you left the oven on. Third, your taste in decor is absolutely terrible. And fourth is, well I actually just really fucking hate you.” Diamond Claw was visibly upset at the fact Merry was awake and just insulted his throne room.

“What can you do about it?! You’re locked up inside that cage and held back by unbreakable chains!”

“True, true, It would seem that way... You mind if I ask you a question Mr. Claw?” Diamond Claw just chuckled to himself

“Fine, I shall humor you beast, ask your question.”

“Tell me, what did you do with Souls body? The black mare you captured with me?” Diamond Claw lifted a feathered eyebrow at the question and smirked. Celestia and Luna were confused, as they didn’t know he had been traveling with one of their little ponies.

“Her body? What a silly last question to ask. Its in the garbage of course, with the rest of the commoner trash.” Celestia and Luna were both appalled at his answer along with the rest of the mane 6, the children had frowns on their faces.

“Ah... I see.” Merry spun his arms wrapping some of the chain around his forearms and swiftly yanked at them. With a loud snap the chains broke in the spots Twilight had dispelled. Diamond Claw and the griffins were horrified to see him break chains that were unbreakable. All of the ponies simply stood in awe.

“Now to just get these stupid bars out of the way...” Merry gripped two different bars and began to pull at them, a few second later they began to bend and a large gap was formed.

“RRAAAARRGH!!! The bars! They bend and twist with my berserker strength!” Merry laughed after he said that “Hoe boy, I never thought I’d actually get to say that after doing the actual deed.” Merry cleared his throat as he stepped out of the cage. “Now, if you could just hold still, Diamond Claw, while I kill you? K Thanks.” Diamond Claw looked around the room, not wanting to be captured by the monster that had just so easily broken out of the cage that contained it without a problem about a week ago.

“Kill the monster 1st! The ponies wont be able to harm you with your magic nullifying armor!” Diamond Claw lifted up into the air as he yelled. There’s still one thing the monster couldn’t do, and that was fly. He still had the upper hand as far as he was concerned.

Merry watched him fly up into the air and scowl. Diamond Claw was in the one place that made it near impossible to get to him, in the air. Merry turned to look at all of ponies that were just looking at him, unsure of what to do in this situation.

“Why don’t you all go hide inside of my cage and set up a magical barrier? I’ll be fine...” The griffins no longer surrounded the ponies and were making moves to surround Merry, but they knew he was dangerous, they had taken to the air like Diamond Claw.

“This ain’t right at all! We came to save you Merry! You can’t just up and turn it around like this!” Merry looked up at the Griffins circling around him in the air.

“Just get in the cage with everyone else Applejack, besides Twilights passed out from overexerting herself. She did enough...” Applejack stomped her hoof along with the rest of the mane 6, except Fluttershy and Twilight who was asleep.

“We won’t chicken out!  We’re gonna help you fight!” Luna and Celestia had ushered all of the children inside the cage while the still conscious mane 6 argued with Merry.

“Yes Darling we may not look like much, but we can be handy in a fight I'm sure.”

“My Party cannon will get the job done in a jiffy! Then we can Party!”

Fluttershy just eeped and went into the cage with the children. Merry turned around to face them taking his eyes off the griffins encircling him from above.

“I told you girls, I’ll be just...” Merry was rudely interrupted as 10 of the griffins immediately dive-bombed him spears 1st when Merry took his eyes off them. The spears pushed though his body at downward angles impacting with the floor. “...fine.” All of the Ponies screamed in horror and Luna magicked all of the younger ponies around so they wouldn’t watch.

“Haha! So much for you monster! Taste griffin steel and die! Die die die!” Diamond Claws gloating was cut short when Merry grabbed the two lowest flying griffins that didn’t immediately retreat after running him through with the spears.

“Glork, handle the spears, I’ll handle everything else.” A mouth appeared on Merry’s right bicep.

“Already on it buddy.” Merry grinned at the 2 griffins in his hands and spit out some blood on the floor infront of him. He then looked at the ponies who were in shock at what had just happened and spoke

“What doesn’t kill you will make you a killer.” Merry closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then smiled at the griffins struggling in his grip. “I’ll be taking your wings.” The griffins opened their eyes in shock and confusion. 

He wasn’t really going to rip their wings off and take them was he? The griffins suddenly felt a weak warmth along their wings and back. The heat quickly increased to a searing pain. The griffins shrieked in agony as it felt like their wings were melting away. What was this monster doing to them? 

The griffins watching everything happen from above saw a bulge appear on Merry back. Their allies wings were getting smaller as the bulge on the monsters back was getting bigger. Without warning the bulge suddenly exploded causing the spears in the area to break apart and fly away. What came from under them, was a pair of bloody wings. The wings kept getting bigger until the two griffins no longer had wings and went limp in Merry’s hands.

Merry unceremoniously tossed the 2 limp griffins away and brushed the rest of the spears off as Glork had done his job. Glork had broken down the parts of the spear that were inside the body so the remains could just be brushed off if they didn’t fall off.

Griffins and Ponies alike just looked on in confusion, horror, or were just plain speechless. They had never seen something like that before. 

Something clicked in Celestia’s mind, Was this what had happened to her Diamond Dog friend a few months ago? She admits Merry did resemble Iron Jaws build before the incident, But what she saw was... horrifying. The act of stealing physical features seemed to cause such extreme pain, she wouldn’t wish it on anyone. 

And Merry, he was different from what the ponies remembered. They haven’t seen that face before. A look of pure joy that they had never seen before, and all of it from causing pain. Only the mane 6 noticed the strangest thing of all. Because Merry was naked they could see that he was erect from everything happening. 

Merry looked behind him and looked at his new wings for a bit. After a while they began to move and make some weak flaps. 

“Wings are so weird... these look a little too small. Maybe I get some magic to help me fly?” Merry began to flap the wings faster and harder. After a good 10 seconds of everyone just watching they looked around at each other. He wasn’t lifting off at all, just spreading dirt and dust around on the floor.

“Well this sucks...” Merry looked up at the griffins hovering above him. “... why don’t two more of you come down here so I can take your wings as well! Mine aren’t working very well right now...” Merry just put his hands on his hips and grinned at the griffins flying above his head. Diamond Claw found his voice finally and spoke up

“Monster! Hurry and kill it!” All of the griffins flying above Merry looked at each other and began to shake their heads in disagreement.

“You go first! I ain’t going!”

“Buck that shit! Did you see what it just did?!”

“Dragons can’t even shrug off damage like that!” After the griffins finished arguing with each other they looked down to Merry

“Hey you! Monster! If we stay outta this, will you leave us alone?” Merry put his hand to his chin in thought and began to laugh.

“Yeah sure, why not. I only wanna kill that Skag Lick of a king anyway.” All of the griffins looked at each other then over to Diamond Claw and shrugged dropping their spears.

“I always liked the ponies anyway.” one nameless griffin commented. The griffins that Diamond Claw himself had assembled from veteran fighters flew away toward the ponies inside the cage and landed in front of it.

“Duel it out, we’ll just watch. We don’t wish to lose our lives for something none of us really wanted anyway.” Celestia and Luna looked at the griffins that started standing outside of the cage that they were now all hiding inside with a barrier Luna was keeping up.

“What do you mean? Not all of you wanted to take over Equestria?” Celestia spoke with a weary voice. One of the griffins spun around to look at her.

“Yeah, the thought of taking over Equestria so we could eat ponies and live mostly dragon free lives was our mad kings idea. Well the dragon free part would be nice. Anyway, he got a taste for pony flesh and changed. He used to be the advisor until he talked the last king into letting our king be decided by the strongest fighters...”

“Strongest fighters?”

“Yeah something like that. Its set up so that anyone can challenge the current king for his throne through the way of a duel. I don’t know all the details because I wasn’t into that stuff, but apparently Diamond Claw is a top notch fighter, and with noble blood in his veins, it made him the ideal king... at the time anyway.”

“So if Merry wins the supposed duel you have set up with them, will he be the new king?” The griffin put on his thinking face along with the other griffins that overheard their conversation. Several of the griffins turned around to look at each other and then shrugged at each other.

“I guess he would yeah, the rules never stated the challenger had to be another griffin of royal blood...” Celestia and Luna got a glint in their eyes as the other ponies were just mulling that fact over.

Diamond Claw just watched as his Elite soldiers abandoned him to go sit with the ponies. Leaving him to fight this body part stealing abomination alone. Diamond claw became scared he would have to fight this thing all alone. He was a capable fighter, but what he had seen so far made it seem like winning wasn’t going to be possible. He decided to hide his fear with anger.

“Cowards! All of you! Where’s your warrior spirit?! Your Griffin Pride!? Your...” Diamond Claw was interrupted by Merry

“Shut your beak you whining bitch of a bird. Are you afraid to fight your own battles? Have you no backbone? Have you no spine? It should be you on the front lines! Show me your griffin pride, your warrior spirit! Or are you just a giant chicken in a griffin body?” Diamond Claw was enraged. A monster of commoners blood was insulting him. And not just his personal self, but his griffins pride and warrior background. His blood line! Insulting a griffins credibility as a fierce warrior was like telling them they were worthless as a griffin. Diamond Claw growled as Merry merely grinned at him.

“I’ll kill you myself you bucking monster! You may have wings, but you’ve already proved them useless! I still have the advantage of flight and speed! Once I’ll kill you, I’ll kill those traitors and the feeble princesses!”

“Cool story bro, but you gotta get through me first you fucking bitch!” While Merry just stood there with a crooked smile on his face, Diamond Claw used his powerful wings to give him an extreme burst of speed to enter a dive bomb at Merry.

Glork may have increased Merry speed, but he didn’t improve his eyes or Merry’s ability to cope with the new speed. Merry just stood there dumbfounded as Diamond Claw embedded his claws into his chest. Diamond claw quickly used his back legs to kick off, pushing Merry to the ground as he backed away to a safe distance. Merry just laid on his back as he grasped at the two new holes in his chest.

“Well, that’s an eye opener... Let’s get it on!”

Five Finger Death Punch - Back for More

Merry jumped up and ran in Diamond Claw’s direction. Only to see him take off back into the air. Not wanting him to get out of reach again, Merry squatted down and leaped up into the air after him.

Diamond saw Merry jump, so he stopped going up and quickly changed his direction so he was to the right side of Merry as he was ascending into the air. Diamond Claw proceeded to swipe his claws into Merry’s right side abdomen. Merry however, didn’t even flitch at the attack and lashed his fist out hitting him in the side. To no effect however, Diamond Claw was still wearing that adamantine breast plate, all Merry’s fist did was push him back a few feet in the air.

Merry on the other hand began to descend. In an effort to see if his wings were truly useless he flared them out in an attempt to glide back to the ground. He didn’t glide, at all.

“The wings! They do nothing!” Merry yelled, yes yelled. Not screamed like many of the griffins and ponies thought as they witnessed him crash land into the throne turning it into a pile of scrap wood and metal.

Merry rose from the dust cloud that erupted and walked out brushing the dust, wood chips and metal bits off his body. He actually pulled a wood chunk out of the gash on his side that Diamond claw gave him. Diamond Claw laughed as Merry was pulling himself out of the debris.

“Stop flying around you stupid faggot and fight me griffin to monster!”

“Ha! I am fighting like a Griffin! Now just hurry up and die you stupid monster!” Merry was getting frustrated at the fact the wings he had stolen were completely useless, and the Skag lick of a griffin king kept flying away staying out of his reach. So Merry opted to throw things at him while he was flying around in the air.

“What are you...” Diamond Claw opened his eyes wide as pieces of his throne were now being flung at him. For some reason the monster was able to throw them nonstop is great succession, but with terrible aim. Half of them he didn’t have to dodge. Diamond Claw just flew around as the awkward pieces of broken metal and wood flew by him or made him float over to the left or right to avoid impact. “You can’t hit me! Its pointless!”

Merry reached for another piece of debris only to grab an actual spear that had gotten mixed up in the pile. He griped it and threw it the way he had learned from watching and playing video games all those years. The arch back, lifting of the foot, and the full body movement involved with a power throw.

The spear flew with such speed and power it embedded itself in the ceiling above Diamond Claw without him even noticing it go past him. If only Merry had better aim...

“Fuck! I missed again!” Diamond Claw looked above him at the spear that was halfway embedded into solid rock. He had to admire the craftsmanship of those griffin smiths. The damn spears were able to penetrate solid rock and not break upon impact. Then he gulped and was glad the monsters aim was so bad.

“I told you it was pointless monster!” Merry was getting tired of being called monster, he was one after all, but he didn’t need to be reminded every 12 seconds by a skag licker.

“My name is...” Merry crouched down 

“Merry Sue!” He then leapt into the air directly at Diamond claw again.

“How do you do?!” He quickly ascended, closing the gap with an arm outstretched reaching for Diamond Claw who quickly flew to the left side this time.

Diamond Claw prepped for another claw strike when Merry suddenly spun around mid air turning his body and brought his right leg down to impact with Diamond Claws skull causing him to plummet to the ground and land on top of a box that was for some reason placed in the middle of the throne room.

All of the griffins in front of the ponies suddenly cringed and gasped. The griffins because they knew what was under that box, the ponies because it looked like it hurt a lot. 

Merry attempted to glide back down toward the ground again using his wings, only to plummet straight down to the ground like meteor. Merry quickly got up and brushed himself off again as he walked over to Diamond Claw who was groaning on the ground where he landed.

As Merry got closer he noticed Diamond was now covered in some green and red slime. Merry had never seen it before as when Soul Eater had used the contagion spell he was asleep. Merry walked up to him only to have his body no longer listen to him. He stood frozen while taking a half step.

“No way buddy, he’s as good as dead now. He’s been infected with Slimly Doom now. Its best if we avoid him until he dies. We don’t want to risk catching it as well.” One of the smaller ponies pointed a hoof out at the mouth that appeared on Merry’s shoulder. Glork for some reason decided to make himself visible this time around.

“Mom look! Merry has another mouth on his shoulder, and it was talking!” All of the ponies and griffins looked to his shoulder to see the mouth move to his upper back on the right side and have an eye grow as well.

“Yeah! I’m tired of hiding my self! Now that you’ve seen my buddies power, you should fear him and be amazed!” Merry grunted and snapped back

“Glork! Shut-up and give me control back!”

“Sorry buddy, I was just trying to keep you from doing something stupid is all...”

‘’yeah faggot don’t be doing stupid stuff now’‘ Merry growled at the voice in his head

“What ever! This feels weird. I can feel my muscles move, but not move. I can’t explain it."

“Well that’s cause I’m overriding your muscle movement signals, I did a lot while you were asleep buddy. But don’t worry its just preparations for when I get your body anyway.” Merry just sighed, he would rather die then let some demon control his body and do as it pleased.

‘’‘you never know, he might do good.’‘’ Diamond Claw was beginning to stir

‘Shut the fuck up, I don’t wanna hear from you two.’ Diamond opened his eyes to see himself covered in that horrible slime

‘’You can’t be rid of us forever!’‘ He then looked over to Merry, who for some reason was standing frozen in front of him with his eyes closed

‘’‘We are here to stay love’‘’ Diamond Claw grinned. He wasn’t going to die like this alone.

‘Shut-up shut-up shut-up!’ Merry was suddenly impacted with what felt like a wet feathery embrace. He opened his eyes to see Diamond Claw had wrapped his arms around him covering him in the red green slime as well.

“I won’t die in agony alone you monster!” Merry just smiled as Glork released his hold on Merry’s muscles in shock and despair. Merry returned the embrace of death brought by the griffin.

“Then us go together in a glorious revolution of death!” Merry gave him a powerful bear hug until a loud crackling snap was heard. Diamond Claw went limp in his arms. Merry then placed him under his arm like he was some kind of package. He then turned around to face the ponies and bowed.

“Thanks for coming to get me guys but... it seems like I can’t go back with you.” Twilight woke up a few minutes before to witness the end of the battle, to see Merry knock Diamond Claw down into the slime stuff then to stand victorious over his body. Then to see the cowardly Diamond Claw latch onto Merry because he didn’t want to lose alone.

Twilight witnessed his glorious victory over the bad guy. To witness his heroic hair flow in the wind. (He had yet to get a hair cut during everything he’s done.) Only to have her hopes of him coming back with her crushed when the bad guy jumped on him with that wicked slime. She spoke out to Princess Celestia and Luna in a plea.

“Princesses! Their must be something we can do! Don’t you know of any cures for diseases?” Celestia shook her head with Luna.

“If that is indeed the dreaded Slimy Doom, then there is nothing we can do. It is a demonic sickness that we thought was contained within Tartarus. If it is indeed the real thing, then there is nothing we can do but burn the slime pile once they die...” spoke Luna. Celestia looked just as sad as Luna and the rest of the ponies.

“I’m sorry my faithful student, is it as my sister says. The disease acts so fast we were never able to develop a cure for it. Only contain and prevent its spread until it was gone...” Merry whistled when he looked at all of the ponies look so sad in front of him.

“You guys shouldn’t weep for me! Don’t be sad that I’m leaving! Be happy!”

“Why should we be happy to lose a friend?!” Merry felt a pang in his heart, he forgot they considered him a friend, even though he merely thought of them as mostly annoying.

“Well, I admit losing a friend...” Diamond claw began to vomit out slime. “... that’s nasty. Anyway, losing a friend is always a sad thing, but think of it this way. I’ll be able to see my little Scoots again...” Merry looked down to the ground with his eyes glazed over “.. Besides I’m tired and I wanna see her again...” Merry’s eyes began to water “... I miss her.”

Diamond Claw vomited out some more slime. As a response Merry just began to crush Diamond Claw who was under his arm and he squawked in response to the crushing strength.

“You’re ruining my sad moment you stupid fuck.” Merry hit Diamond Claw in the face when he began to make more gagging sounds. One of the griffin guards spoke up.

“If you both die, who’s going to rule over the griffin kingdom?!” Merry just raised an eyebrow at the question. He could feel his insides beginning to churn.

“Why are you so stupid? Let Celestia and Luna take command. Unite the griffin and pony lands, isn’t that what Diamond Claw was trying to do in the 1st place before he...” Merry closed an eye and vomited a small pile of slime. “... fuck this shit acts fast. Anyway, wasn’t he planning to do that before he went bat shit crazy and wanted to take over the world or some shit?” Celestia and Luna looked to each other and shrugged

“I suppose we could but...” Merry interrupted them before they could give a reason not to take control.

“Then its settled! Princess Sun Butt and Princess Moon Butt...” all of the children giggled at the names Merry had given the princesses ”...will take over command of the Griffin Kingdoms and help the Griffins prosper along side ponies! Now...” Merry vomited up some more slime. “... Now I’m gonna go find a place to die.” As Merry turned around to walk away a mouth formed on his right arm along with an eye.

“Buddy! I don’t wanna die! We can beat this stupid fiend disease! All we gotta do is keep eating bio mass until the disease runs its course!” Merry just shook his head in disagreement

“I disagree buddy. I’m tired, I’d rather just hit my own reset button on life itself right now.” As Merry was walking to the back of the throne room Glork began to scream.

“I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die! I! Don’t! Wanna! Die!” Merry suddenly stopped walking as he lost control of his muscles.

“Glork! Stop right now!”

“No! I don’t wanna die! What kind of living being are you?! Have you no survival instinct?!” The ponies watched as Merry dropped the limp Diamond Claw to the ground as his hands moved up to his head.

“Stop it you stupid parasitic demon thing!”

“No! I refuse to die when I have such a perfect body at my disposal! I’m taking control now!” Merry could feel the bubbling in his chest build up and push itself up to his neck. Merry had no control over his right hand as it went up and gripped his hair and began to pull upward

“What the fuck are you doing?!” 

“Removing you!” Merry felt control return back into his legs, so he ran toward one of the throne rooms large glass windows and threw himself outside through the glass, Not wanting to fight himself in front of the ponies. He never understood why royalty in this world liked building their castles up on the cliff sides of mountains.

As Merry and Glork fell down the side of the mountain, they impacted upon several cliffs that jutted out the side of the mountain. The small cliffs crumbled under the sheer massive weight Merry’s body had become. They continued to fall as Glork continued to fight for control of Merry’s magnificent abomination of a body.

At some point Glork was able to assert himself enough to where he tore Merry’s head off with his own right arm. Instead of blood gushing out it was simply a bubbling mass on his neck stump. Glork tossed Merry the Head away as he continued to fall.

As Merry the Head slowly stopped spinning from the throw, he looked out to the horizon.

‘I wonder how long I can live as just a head... probably until I hit the ground. Hehe’ Time seemed to slow as he looked at the night sky toward the moon. He simply closed his eyes and let gravity take him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ponies and griffins just looked at each other dumb founded at what just happened before their eyes. It looked like Merry and the strange mouth on his arm had an argument about control or something. Then Merry dropped Diamond Claw and threw himself out the window. It really didn’t make any sense to them. Celestia being the 1st to find words spoke up

“I know losing a friend is a sad thing, but his body must be found and burned when it degenerates into a goo pile, it’s the only way to prevent the spread of that terrible disease...”

“He’s gone just like that?! We didn’t even get to say goodbye or anything!” Yelled Rainbow Dash.

“But didn’t Merry’s talkin arm say they could beat it? What’s a biomass anywho?” Questioned Applejack as she slowly walked out of the cage with the others.

“Biomass is the total mass of a living organism, essentially Merry’s arm said all he would have to do is eat...” Twilight gulped as she explained “... animals, ponies, griffins, etc.” the rest of the mane six shuttered at the thought of Merry having to eat large amounts of other living creatures just to beat the sickness. 

“We must take hold of the current situation, we can grieve this loss at a later time, for now we must prevent the spread of that terrible demonic sickness.” Spoke Celestia to the griffins and the mane 6. She knew now was not a time for mourning, if that sickness were to spread it would be disastrous. 

The griffins followed her orders without question and began to block off the areas where the green red slime was while others left to get torches. The ponies on the other hand were less enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. 

Rainbow Dash seemed the most troubled by it, What kind of friend was she, when she didn’t even help Merry? Even though he didn’t ask for help, and told her to stay out of it, she still felt like she should of done something.

“I’m going out to find out where he landed. Don’t try to stop me.” Without waiting for anyone else’s response. Rainbow Dash zoomed out the window going straight down with a rainbow trail following behind her. The other ponies just watched her leave in a flash.

Rainbow Dash Flew down the mountain side, the bright moon was provideing ample light to see everything. She could see the damage he had caused while falling. Evidence of rock slides were all over the mountain side. At the bottom was a mass of rocks and dirt. She landed just outside of the rock mess and began to search around, Many of the rocks were far too big to move. She would have to wait for Twilight so they could dig him out. While she hovered over the rock pile she saw what looked like a mass of hair to the left of the pile. She slowly flew over to it until she heard Merry’s voice.

“That fucking doctor was right, I can live as just a head...”

“Merry! You’re Alive!” She quickly flew over until she was floating above his head looking down at him. “At least, I think you’re alive? How can you talk?”

“Hell if I know Niji... Find a stick or something so I’m not face down anymore yeah? Wouldn’t want you getting sick.” Rainbow Dash looked around and found a small tree and broke a branch off. She then pushed Merry’s head so that he was looking up at the sky.

“Ahh, that’s better, thanks Niji... Tell me, how bad does it look? You think I’ll make it?” Rainbow looked around nervously, she wasn’t the element of honesty, but she still didn’t like to lie to friends.

“You’re gonna be just fine, so uh, relax...” Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly. Merry smiled and gave a soft laugh

“You’re as bad at lying as Applejack is...” Merry blinked a few times. “... I’m not gonna lie Niji, I don’t know where my body wandered off to. I saw it stumble away after I landed. And honestly I’m surprised my skull is still intact, I guess all my hair braced my fall or something.”

“What do you mean your body walked away?”

“Yeah you know my arm? It was a parasitic demon I picked up like... a month ago? I have no idea. I lost track of time while I was passed out inside that cage.”

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh, this is bad, very bad! You think he went off to get that biomass he yelled about?”

“Probably... hey, You ever plan on having kids Niji?” Rainbow Dash became flustered and confused at the question and odd subject change.

“I, well. Uhh. Someday, but after I become a Wonderbolt. I don’t want a kid slowing me down until then.” Merry would nod his head if he could. He wasn’t sure, but it felt like he was getting lower to the ground.

“Welf thash goof.” Merry realized his face seemed to be destabilizing. He no longer had total mouth control. Rainbow Dash looked to Merry the Head and saw that he was starting to look green. The slime was taking over.

“Goofbye, Nifi, Telf ofers I say bye too...” Rainbow just watched with tears filling up her eyes as Merry closed his eyes with a content smile on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry opened his eyes shortly after and was in a waiting room, it looked familiar. The terrible decor and dirty walls. The only difference was that everything seemed taller. It wasn’t until he tried to move he realized something. He was still just a fucking head. He was back in the damn waiting room where everything started, but he was just a head now.

“Well this flipping sucks...” Merry did his best to look around the room and realized that people weren’t inside this waiting room. At least, not humans. Ponies, griffins, minotaurs, and other strange exotics were in the room with him. He was in Equestria’s netherworld waiting room.

‘Might as well get comfy I suppose...’ Merry moved his lips and chin around on the seats cushion and then closed his eyes.

About 40 seconds passed and he opened them again looking around the room. ‘Not having a body fucking sucks so bad right now.’

‘’Tell me about it...’‘

“What the fuck?! Why are you still here?!”

‘’you can’t get rid of us, just because you die doesn’t mean we are gone.’‘ 

‘’‘Yes, we are here to stay love. Don’t forget it.’‘’ Merry began to pout as everyone in the waiting room looked over to him to figure out why he would yell like that.

“The voices! They won’t leave me alone, even in death! Woe is me.” The others in the room turned away not wanting anything to do with an insane spirit that was just a head.

Noticing everyone in the room suddenly turn around to ignore him, Merry became upset. Upset to the point he would annoy them until someone talked to him to end the boredom. Being just a head, the only thing he could do was sing. Sing as best a bodyless head could.

Hollywood Undead- Another way out.

“Whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh” some of the ponies turned to look

“Whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh” more of the ponies looked at Merry

“Whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh” some griffin heads began to turn

“Whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh, I wish there was another way out” a single minotaur looked over to see what was going on.

“Voices won’t go away. They stay for days and days.” The ponies exchanged glances with each other as they listened to him sing.

“They say some awful things, ways to make you fade away” Merry’s voice was cracking here and there, but he wasn’t doing a that bad of a job. The griffins thought differently having sensative ears.

“I don’t think no one’s home. And we’re just here alone” Some of the ponies began to move their heads to the tone of Merry’s voice. Deep as it was he had a decent going rhythm. 

“I better find you first, before you find the phone” Everyone raised an eyebrow at the word phone. Because apparently Magic negates the use of things like telephones.

“You better run, better run, better run, yeah I’m coming after you. When you’re sleeping at night, yeah there’s nothing you can do” Some of the ponies stood up and trotted over to better hear his singing. The griffins had just about enough of it while the minotaurs could less if he continued or not.

“There’s no place you can hide cause I’m coming after yo-yo-you. I wish there was another way ou-ou-ou-ou-oooouuuut for you” The griffins had finally had enough of his terrible singing.

“Shut up you insane head!” The ponies backed away, but some stood their ground.

“Hey, we liked his song. What was wrong with it?”

“His terrible singing voice was piercing my ears to the point I wanted to claw them off!” the other griffins nodded in agreement

“Well, he is just a head... How are you singing as just a head anyway?” Merry looked up and would of shrugged if he could.

“Magic I would guess.” 

Suddenly the door burst open and a short fat man in a suit came running inside.

“Merry! You son of a bitch! What did I tell you about going and dying on me!?” a green pony in a nurse outfit walked out behind him.

“Sir, would you kindly stop yelling. This is the equestrian netherworld, what are you doing here?” the short fat partly bald man ran a hand, with only 3 fingers on it, through his hair as he pointed to the head on a chair surrounded by some of the ponies.

“I’m here for the son of bitch that just gave me a shit ton of paper work... What the fuck happened to your body?” Merry just looked at him with a smile as the ponies shuffled out of the way.

“Oh you know. Glork kinda stole it from me... that's not gonna be a problem is it?” the suited man face palmed and grumbled.

“Shit, now there's gonna be even more paper work...” he looked at Merry then at the pony nurse, then back to Merry. “I’m gonna have to carry you aren’t I?” Merry just looked around and puckered his lips out

“Maybe...” The fat bald man in the suit walked over and picked up Merry’s head, sticking it under his armpit before walking back out the room grumbling the whole way.

“Oh God! It Smells! Aaarrggg!”

“Shut yer yap, besides, not like the dead can do anything about smells anyway... Call me Marcus. We're gonna end up working together for awhile now...”

Merry gave back a muffled response as they left.
	
> Epilogue: Demi gods are dicks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Merry the head was tossed onto a chair filled with phone books so he was able to see the top of the desk. Marcus had wanted him to see what was going on while he went threw all of the paper work.

Most of the paper work had to deal with why the agent in question had returned early. From reasons varying from boredom, pregnancy and vacation time. However, with the fact Merry was missing his body, that still contained the magical glass gathering vessels a lot of problems and questions arose.

Such as, who was going to get them back? And why was his body lost? Marcus spent a few days drilling Merry back and forth with questions that were many and the same. It was so god damn boring, that Merry tried to turn the answers into a song. It failed miserably. 

“I told you, for like the 100th time already. Glork, the parasitic demon I got as a stupid boon. Decided to take control of my body after I said I no longer wanted to be there. He then preceded to use my own arm, to rip my head off. Then he ran away.” Marcus was writing down inside the 300th document that day as he listened to Merry.

“And what about that part with the slimy doom?” Merry sighed as he would once again repeat himself.

“Yes my body was infected with slimy doom shortly before he took control of it.” Marcus continued to write without looking up.

“Well... when your body dies, it will return to us and you can get it back. But until then, yer just a head.” Merry raised an eyebrow at that comment. The 1st thing that sounded different in what sounded like forever.

“You guys cant like... make me a new body or something?” Marcus shook his head as he reviewed the paperwork.

“Sorry Merry, But your spirit body was still attached to that physical body, and since its still lives, so does the spirit within the body. Though you may be separated it still lives and moves without you. Your body is basically a zombie. The spirit is trapped and unable to leave the body until it completely dies.” Merry mulled it over in his head

“What if I got a temp body or was just reborn or something?” Marcus looked at Merry with an unsure look. Then shook his head.

“The last body we loaned you is now missing, along with your spiritual body.” He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “Even if we did get you one though the reincarnation process, you would be born with an exceptionally weak body. A body without a spirit is a frail shell...” He took a deep breath and exhaled. 

“The spirit plays a very small role with a living being, but without that small role the body crumbles. Did you know there’s over 1 million things that could go wrong with the living body at any point in time and cause death? It’s a wonder it even works at all really.” Merry just looked down at the desk.

“What about her?” Marcus looked over at Merry with a raised eyebrow.

“Her who?”

“You know who, Scootaloo.” Marcus narrowed his eyes and looked at Merry.

“What about her exactly? Hmmm?” Marcus had raised an eyebrow as he looked at Merry.

“How is she? Would I be able to see her?” Marcus stroked his chin with his 3 fingers.

“Well, I could have it arranged, but would you really want her to see you as just a head?” Merry thought for a moment.

“Well, I’d like to see how she’s doing, then I’ll decide to see her or not.” Marcus nodded his head and opened a file cabinet behind him. He looked through it for a minute before pulling a thick file.

“Here we are, your file. It’s gotten considerable thicker since the last time I saw it. You must of done a lot in the past 9 months or so.”

“Wait, I wasn’t even there for a whole year?”

“Yeah pretty much, the body we loaned you should of lasted about 2 years before you had to come back. But you ended it 15 months early... Fucking paper work man.” Marcus opened up the file and began flipping though the pages. “Here we are...” he pulled out a single piece of paper and looked at it. He turned it over wrote something on the back, then folded it in half. Then folded it in half again and tossed it up into the air and it vanished.

“Now we just wait for the reply.” Merry just looked at Marcus with a confused look.

“Are you a wizard?” Marcus chuckled.

“Not at all, its just part of my job. We don’t use computers here, its all paper work and magic.” Merry just pressed his lips together as he thought.

“Soo, you guys do have reincarnation then?”

“Yeah, it’s a unique process. You see, Angels, demons, devils, spirts and the like. Were all once living sentient creatures of some kind. Then they died, their spirts crossed over and they could choose to go back, or stay, live and work here. Most don’t so the waiting time is extremely long. If you wanted I could put you in the line and you could go back to the land of the living in about 500 years or so.” Merry cringed at that waiting time.

“Is there some way to speed it up?” Marcus put his 3 fingered hand to his chin.

“Well... kind of, it involves pulling a lot of strings and bribes, but its possible to get the waiting time down ta 2 or 3 years I suppose... why?”

“Personal reason that I will make clear if its possible for me to do... what kind of bribes and strings would need to be pulled exactly?” Marcus just leaned back in his chair and placed his hands on his belly in thought.

“Well let me think here... Azul, Sterben, Umbra, and Vita are the main 4 you would have to bribe so they pull the right strings for you.” 

“Mhmm, and what if I wanted to be re-birthed in an exact way?” Marcus raised an eyebrow at Merry

“Like what exactly?”

“Like, would I be able to pick the parents or anything?”

“Well, you would have to get Vita to pull even more strings for you along with Umbra... What is it you’re planning exactly?” Merry just smiled at Marcus

“You’ll find out soon enough, would you be able to get me in touch with them at all?” Marcus just narrowed his eyes at Merry the Head.

“You know, even if you are re-incarnated, you will most likely die again from being born with a frail body. It’s a very high possibility you won’t even make it to adulthood you know.” Merry just smirked.

“Yeah I know, you told me. I don’t plan on bringing myself back anyway...” Merry just looked at Marcus who still had his eyes narrowed. “... Soo, can you or am I gonna have to roll my way out and find em?” Marcus sighed and opened up a drawer on his desk and began to rummage inside of it.

“You know, if it wasn’t my job to help with everything I am asked to do, I wouldn’t even bother with this insane request of yours.” Merry just smiled back at him as Marcus pulled out a small box and placed it on the desk. After he placed it on the desk a piece of paper appeared in front of them and floated onto the desk. Marcus picked it up and read it aloud.

“We are happy to inform you Marcus, Employee ID# 56,435,345,902. That your request for the disembodied head of one Merry Sue to visit his adopted daughter of a different species and world has been approved. Courtesy of Vita.” Marcus smirked as he set the letter down. “Maybe you won’t need to pull that many strings after all, I wonder what you did to have Vita herself approve this...”

“I must be a Wizard.” Marcus just looked at Merry with one of those, That’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard you say, faces.

“Yeah must be, lets go...” Marcus picked up Merry the Head and slung him under his armpit again as he headed for the door.  Merry let out a muffled cry.

“Wwwhyyyy?!” Marcus just chuckled

“Because you gave me an ass load of paper work to do.”

As Merry suffered from a smell most horrible he noticed they stopped walking after awhile, but Marcus wasn’t letting him go.

“What are you doing here pony?” 

What was a pony doing on this side? Wasn’t he back in the human side of the netherworld?

“I was told Merry came back, I wanted to see him.” Merry recognized this voice! It was Soul! Marcus brought Merry the head out from under his armpit so she could see him. Merry just smiled at her.

“Hey Soul!” she smiled and nodded her head at him.

“My real names Zamut you know. The Master and familiar bond was broken when I failed to protect you and died.” Merry rolled his eyes

“Pfft, what evea’s babe. Walk with us yeah?”

“Well I...” Merry interrupted her.

“Nonsense! Come along with us! I insist, hey you mind carrying me on your back? Marcus here is in need of a shower. I may not have a body, but my nose sure as hell still fucking works.” Merry just did his best to glare at Marcus who was behind him most likely grinning like a mad-man.  Zamut smiled at Merry and nodded her head.

“Fine, I suppose I shall travel with you, if for just old times sake...”

“Haha! Excellent, now lets go to where ever Marcus was taking me.”

Marcus lead Merry and Zamut down the many corridors and hallways and even through a few doors. The damn place was a maze and Merry was sure to get lost if he had to travel by himself alone. He was somewhat thankful he didn’t have a body right now.

The next door they walked through lead them into a bright white hallway with the floor looking like it was covered in fluffy clouds. Zamut made a disgusted groan as she walked on the fluffy substance.

“Hey is this heaven Marcus?”

“One of many. You see, there’s a separation of the races and species because some complained about having to look at the ‘ugly’ humans or the ‘ugly’ quagrins. Separating them just made things simpler in the long run, of course there’s areas where all races and species can converge, but they mostly stick to their own kind. Kinda odd how in the other place they don’t bother to separate them simply because they don’t give a fuck if they get complaints. Haha...” Marcus cleared his throat “.. Anyway, she should be down this way.” As they walked around they were getting glances from the ponies that saw them walking around completely out of place.

“Hey, Why do you know where she is exactly Marcus?”

“Because its part of my fucking job... Just 120 more years to go before my turn to be re-incarnated comes up and I can be done with this stupid job. Never again to deal with all this afterlife bullshit... at least until I die again.” Merry just looked away from Marcus as he continued to speak about his past some bit. 

That was until he saw her playing with some other colts and fillies at what looked like a park made of clouds.

“Hey! Stop, slow down! I don’t want her to see us...” Zamut stopped walking and looked at them all playing around.

“Which one is she?”

“The orange one with the magenta hair... She looks happy. Heh, you know what’s funny? I didn’t even know what the color Magenta looked like until she told me that was her hair color.” Merry and Zamut just watched for a minute or so until Marcus cleared his throat.

“So what are you gonna do?” Merry thought for a moment

“I think... I’ll just go see those higher up dudes and leave her alone for now, she looks like shes having fun.”

“Well alright then I can...” Zamult began to walk over to them with Merry still on her back.

“Hey wait...!”

“You went through all of that with me, and in the end you aren’t even going to go see her? Screw that, You‘re gonna see her weather you want to or not.” Merry sighed, being just a head, he had no way to escape, even if he did roll of her back, he wasn’t gonna get far.

As Zamut walked up and got closer to the children playing, they saw her approach and stopped playing wondering what she would have to say. Let alone what that thing on her back was.

“Is Scootaloo here?” Scootaloo perked up her ears and slowly walked forward in front of the other children.

“W-who are you?” Zamut bowed her head a bit before responding.

“My name is Zamut, I was a friend of your fathers and...”

“You knew my dad?! How is he? Where is he?! But.. If you’re here... then... Is he ok?!” Zamut just smiled and turned sideways so She could see Merry the Head. Merry just had an awkward face on as he looked around. Scootaloo was speechless along with the rest of the children and other nearby ponies.

“Hey Scoots...uhh, do you think my new diet is working?” Scootaloo jumped up and tackled Merry the head off Zamuts back and hugged him.

“Why are you just a head?! What happend?!” Scootaloo began to have tears form in her eyes.

“Hey hey! What did I say about crying?”

“T-To, not do it around you...”

“Exactly! I can’t take that shit... uh, shiz. I said shiz.” Scootaloo giggled as she blinked the tears away.

“But why are you a head?”

“I told you, I’m on a new diet, you think its..”

“Shut-up dad! Don’t lie to me!” Merry the Head just sighed.

“Sorry, I went and did something crazy. I went and got back at the guy who took you from me...”

“You did what?!”

“Yeah and that’s kinda why I lost my body...”

“Was it him? Did he make you a head?”

“No, no it was other reasons, I won. Beat the crap out of him actually... just some stuff happened and now I’m a head.” Scootaloo Bonked Merry on the top of his head with her hoof.

“That’s for going and doing something crazy, and losing your body like the idiot I know you are.” Scootaloo brought Merry the Head into an even bigger hug then before. “ This is for coming to see me even if yer just a big stupid head now.” Merry chuckled.

“I’d hug you back if I could but uh, no arms. So Ima settle for just kissing you on the cheek...” Merry cleared his throat. “... you mind uh... lifting me up so I can?” Scootaloo giggled and brought him up so he could give her a kiss.

“Tell me Scoots, what’s your opinion on going back to the land of the living, but having Rainbow dash be your mom this time?” Scootaloo was speechless

“Yeah, I don’t know all the details yet, but if things work out, I can get it set up for you, you probably won’t remember anything and what not, but, does that sound ok with you?” Scootaloo finaly found her voice and shouted

“Fuck yeah!”

“Hey, Who told you that word!?”

“You did! Fuck yeah!” Merry just laughed along with Marcus while Zamut just watched silently

“Well alright, Ima go figure this shit out then.”

“Wait, but, what about you?”

“Hmm? Me? I’ll be fine, so don’t worry about it and just enjoy yourself alright?” Scootaloo just looked at Merry while Zamut per him back on top of her back. Scootaloo finally nodded her head as they began to leave.

“Don’t do anything Stupid again!” Merry just laughed as they walked away.

“I’ll try.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They ended back up in Marcus’s office with that little box still on top of his desk. When they got back Marcus instructed Zamut to place Merry the Head on the desk. When she did Marcus opened the small box and brought out what looked like a piece of glass that was cut and shined into a perfect circle. Marcus held it up to his eye as he looked at Merry. And began to count silently. When he brought it down he smiled.

“It looks like you have enough memories to feed them for the bribe part. Now for the strings part...” Marcus began to look around the file cabinet and pulled out some papers.

“Alright, I can handle the strings part...” Marcus looked around for a minute “...aha!” he stopped in front of a cord that seemingly came from nowhere. “Don’t say anything too god damn stupid alright?”

“Wha...” Before Merry could finish Marcus pulled the cord and Merry suddenly appeared on a pedestal in front of 4 moderately sized being, Merry guessed they were about 7 feet tall or so. Merry just looked around at them

“Wazzup?” Azul, Sterben, Umbra, and Vita all looked at each other. They all nodded expect for Umbra.

“I’ll agree to let this fools request go through on one condition, besides of course the obvious one of us eating his memories. I want him to be re-incarnated along side the one named Scootaloo.” They all exchanged glances and shrugged. Seeing it as no big deal, Merry on the other hand looked at him.

"How do you know everything already?" Merry gave them all a suspicious look.

"Were demi gods, we know everything." said the large buff one on the right, from his color scheme, he was probably Azul. Merry cleared his throat to continue.

“I was told if I’m re-incarnated, theres a good chance I am going to die...” Umbra just floated over to Merry the Head and looked at him.

“Exactly... but I wont let you die, I will feed off your continued sufferings as you live. Of course you will die if something bad happens. But for the most part, you wont die of ‘natural’ causes.” Umbra smiled showing a mouth full of wickedly sharp blue teeth. Merry just looked down at the floor in thought for a minute. 

“If I take this, you will honor every part? With Rainbow Dash being the mother? Scootaloo growing up a perfectly healthily filly?”

“But of course, of course, we Demi gods always honor our bargains... Right?” Umbra turned around to look at the other 3 who simply shrugged. “So then, do we have a deal?”

Merry thought for a moment more “Only if I can pick out some more minor details and stuff.”

“Done.” the others all vanished from the room except for Vita. Who stood motionless as the others left.

“Tell me, Merry, What were the minor details you wished to add before we take our shares?” Merry thought for a moment more.

“Make her one of the strongest flyers... and make sure she’s the color of awesome...what ever color that is. And I guess I could go for some awesome color as well, since you know, my life’s gonna suck a fat dick apparently.” Vita nodded her head, and Merry appeared back in the room with Marcus and Zamut.

“So how did it go, did you fuck shit up again?”

“Sorta... Me and Scoots are gonna be twins and Umbra wanted to feed off my sufferings as I live... fuck it, yolo.”

“Are you serious Merry? Also, what the fuck does yolo mean?”

“Yeah, but that’s future me’s problem... and yolo is uh, Nevermind that was probably the stupidest thing I ever said in my afterlife.”