//------------------------------// // Chapter XVI: Relative // Story: Nocturnal Mayhem // by Silvak //------------------------------// "So what other weapons do you have? Where did they come from? Did they came from your mane too?" Party Blitz asked as she bounced behind Luna and I as we were heading down an unfamiliar hallway. "No, my weapons certainly did not come from my mane, they just are generated out of thin air, and I might have other weapons, but I don't know what they are," I answered, causing Luna to cock an eyebrow at me. "You possess weapons that you don't know of? How is that even possible?" Luna asked. Shrugging, I answered, "I don't get it all that well myself, but I have an ability to generate weapons, though I can't mass produce them," before recalling their shock reactions when they saw my sword disintegrating, which my weapons normally do when I have no need of them for the moment. "Nor can I make what I want at a whim, it's like I have a very specific set of weapons I can draw on. As to why I don't know what I have, my sword appeared different from what it once was, so odds are my other weapons got changed. It could be a minor change, or they could be changed into a completely different weapon. Only time will tell when I summon the rest of them out, though I rather not do it somewhere where something could be broken." "Interesting, yet also bothersome ability to have," Luna noted, causing me to shrug again. "Eh, it's only bothersome at first, but af—" "There you are, Auntie, and your mysterious new daughter," a male voice said in a rather elegant fashion, drawing my attention to my side where I saw a white unicorn stallion with a golden mane walking towards us, who had some collar around his neck. However, something set it on edge, probably due to the fact that the unicorn had his nose up in the air like some pompous noble, that and the fact that I saw Luna's expression darken to one of utter irritation. Based on those two things, I came up with a plan that might either be highly amusing or tempt Luna into chaining me to my bed. "Oh mother, you got me a pet pony! You shouldn't have!" I cried out, causing everypony to give me a bewildered look. "Pet pony? Why I ne—" the newcomer said before his mouth was clamped shut by my magic as I used it to drag him over to me before forcing him to lie down on his belly. "Oh, don't worry, my new pet pony! I'll take good care of you!" I exclaimed, pressing on forward as I saw the edges of Luna's mouth turning upwards a bit while seeing Party covering her muzzle with her hooves as I hear some muffled giggles behind them. "I'll feed you, and brush your mane, and clean your fu—" I continued before the stallion's horn lit up with his own magic, breaking my magical hold on him, though I was barely even trying to hold him down. "How dare you‽ Do you even know who I am?" the unicorn said, anger clear in his voice as he stood up while brushing his chest with a hoof. "Of course I know who you are, you're my pet pony who I'll be naming Sir Scrubby!" I answered with a mocking grin, to which the stallion just sputtered about in shock while Luna let out a chuckle as Party could only laugh at the scene. "I believe that is enough merry making, my daughter. This is my nephew, Prince Blueblood," Luna said, with a hint of venom in her tone when she said the word nephew. "Indeed, and you better show me the proper respect for one of such a lofty station," Blueblood said while turning his nose up. "Alright," I simply said, causing Luna and Party to cock their eyebrows at me due to knowing the kind of pony I was, while Blueblood smiled smugly. Turning my head towards Luna, I asked, "Do you happen to have a muzzle and a saddle?" causing everypony to gape at me with the exception of Party who burst out in laughter. "Why I never!" Blueblood exclaimed before he turned his attention towards Luna. "Auntie, I will be taking my leave, but please do teach your daughter some manners," Blueblood said before he turned to make his leave. "Just remember to leave that stick up your plot behind the next time we meet," I countered, causing him to pause for a brief moment, a mild growl escaping from him before he walked off. "As amusing as that was, I recommend that you don't antagonize Blueblood for he could become quite a nuisance if he desires to," Luna told me as we resumed walking down our own path. "If he's a problem, why not strip him of his title?" I asked. "Recall that he called me 'auntie'? He is a distant... relative of mine and belongs to a family line that held that title for generations. One cannot simply strip it without repercussions," Luna explained. "Ah, alright then. I'll just banish him to some rock floating in space then if he proves to be too much of a hassle," I idly replied, causing the duo to stare at me once more. "You can do that?" Party asked with a tilt of her head. "Well, yeah. Would be pretty hard to attend to the responsibilities of maintaining the spatial stability of all of existence if we can't get anywhere in a hurry. I'll just summon a portal and push him through it, and boom! One free vacation on an asteroid, no hidden fees included," I answered with a smile, while Luna only shook her head at me. "You can't simply do that to him," Luna reprimanded. Rolling my eyes, I countered, "Oh? But who would believe him if he told anypony that an alicorn filly banished him onto a hunk of dirt floating in the middle of space?" Opening her mouth for a second as she left her hoof, Luna paused, blinking for a moment before finally admitting, "You do have a point there. But please don't do it if he's just annoying you." "I'll try, but no promises." "...Either you're challenging me to a practice duel, or you deemed me to be too much of a threat and brought me here to contain the damage our fight would have," I commented as I looked at the room that Luna brought us to, which was devoid of anything except for a few targets and a couple of test dummies. Raising an eyebrow, Luna replied, "That's a rather pessimistic view of the situation." "Fighting a cosmic horror tends do lead one to think in that fashion, so what is the reason you brought me here if it wasn't for a fight?" I asked as I looked up to her. "Simple, if you are able to summon weapons such as that as well possess incredible power, I would rather minimize the risks of what could happen as we explore your powers in your new form," Luna explained. "Ah, good idea, some of my previous weapons were... quite explosive," I commented, causing Party to take on a bit of a feral grin, which I couldn't tell for certain if it was Pinkie's or Rainbow's side that caused that, but it did cause me to take a few steps away from her. Luna on the otherhoof frowned at the revelation as she said, "Then it would be best that you let me set up some precautions before you explore what kind of weapons your personal arsenal possess... I can't believe I'm saying something like that to a filly that is my own daughter." "I know right, I'm such a bad influence!" I exclaimed with a smile, causing Luna to give me a deadpanned look. "So, what should we start with first?" "Before we do begin, there is one thing that needs to be addressed," Luna replied as she turned her head towards Party. "Dame Party, shouldn't you be heading home by now?" "Nah, I'm good, since you give me that super awesome sleep after all. Also, I wanted to see what Neby can do!" Party exclaimed with a bounce. "Stop calling me Neby!" I protested, before seeing Luna lit her horn up, closing the door as a shield appeared around her and Party. "Very well then, but please remain by me at all times for your safety," Luna said as I heard a thud behind me. Turning around, I spotted while looked like some dumbells, albeit it had weights that were giving off a feeling like they were enchanted. "First, we will be testing your physical stren..." Luna started to say until I lifted the dumbells with one hoof. "That weighed one ton..." "Yeah... I'm a physical type of pony, so it's given that I should be stronger than normal," I explained before throwing the dumbells aside, flinching at the series of thuds they made as they bounced off the floor for a bit. "Since I'm still recovering from my 'death', I might still be recovering my strength, even when I"m not accounting for the fact that I should be stronger when I become an adult." "Okay... how about you show us what magic you know prior to coming to our world," Luna said as she eyed the dumbells for a moment before returning her attention to me. "Alright then," I said as I sat down as the two stared at me while I just stared back. After a minute passed, Party was the one to break the silence when she said, "Aren't you going to show us anything?" "I would, but I didn't use magic till I came here," I declared, causing Luna to facehoof. "Why didn't you tell us that then?" Luna groaned. "Cause this way is much more funnier," I answered with a cheeky grin. As Luna let out a groan, I asked, "How about we take a peek at my private armory, I'm rather curious about something." "Very well, we might as well see something that might be constant with you," Luna said Party looked on with a sparkle in her eye. Nodding, I held out a hoof, as I tried to summon out a weapon. However, this time I thought about a ranged weapon, which resulted in some kind of pistol appeared in my hoof, one that was of a silver coloration, though its grip curved off the body of the weapon, and some kind of odd disc where the hammer and bullet chamber was, and it lacked any kind of trigger. It also came with its own twin in my left hoof, causing me to cock an eyebrow at that. "Well... this is certainly interesting," I mumbled out as I wondered how I could even use it. "What... kind of weapon is that?" Luna asked as she tilted her head at the sight as I pointed the barrel to the ceiling as I felt something that might be a trigger on its handle. "It sort of looks like mini-can—" Party said before I pressed the trigger, firing the gun, its bullet striking the ceiling with the force of an artillery round, exploding against the ceiling as the two let out a cry of surprise before looking up to see that a chunk of the ceiling was gone. Apparently, the room's ability to contain the practice of anything dangerous didn't account for something that possessed great piercing power, as I saw that the disc part of my gun had a half rotation, where I felt it pulled some energy from me before doing another half rotation, complete with a click that told me it was reloaded. Convenient. "Well... that packed a pu—" "Put those away now!" Luna cried as she shielded an amazed Party with a wing. "Wait, weren't we he—" "I don't care! This room is clearly not suited to contain the dangers of your weaponry if one of them could do that! Now put them away before I ground you by sending you to the moon!" Luna shouted. "...You do know that I'll just figure out how to portal ba—" "For Faust's sake, just do it before you blow us all up by accident!"