//------------------------------// // Episode 3: Fresh Start of a Nightmare - Part Two // Story: All is for my Princess // by Hoppa_21 //------------------------------// “BWAHAHAHHAHA! YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS FENRICH!” the guard captain said clutching her sides as she let it all out. I couldn’t help but groan and rubbing the bridge of my nose while Luna giggled softly behind her hand, finding it amusing. Pinkie however started rolling on the ground as well besides the guard captain. Not that I expected any different from her. Fluttershy only smiled softly. Luckily the guard captain managed to regain her composure after a minute of her raucous laughter as she rubbed her sides and kneeled down beside the other bat guard once again. “Sorry, I just didn’t expect that, is all,” was her plain answer, which still held some mirth in it. I simply rolled my eyes at the guard captains childish antics. She can be glad I was not judging her rang on this, otherwise she would stand quite a bit lower on the career ladder. “Anyway, now that this issue is resolved, Princess let me introduce you to Aurora, Captain of the Night Guard and…” I said as my gaze fell on the other guard which made me want to groan, but still thanks to my overdemonly abilities in keeping a stoic demeanor I didn’t, and simply frowned lightly, “another generic guard. You don’t need to remember his name.” Much to my chagrin this unimportant nitwitted night guard took this moment to speak up. “I-I’m really happy to finally meet you Princess! I heard so many great stories of how you were protecting us and were fighting many monsters, thieves and threats. I’m j-just so happy to be able to serve you!” the nervous stammering generic guard brought out making Aurora snicker as she elbowed his still deeply bowing form. “Geeze. We get it PB. Childhood hero and all that,” she said with a teasing grin, before turning to the Princess, “But I will admit that I’m also honored to finally meet you, though I imagined you being bigger, especially around the chest area,” she replied cheekily as she made grabbing movements with her hands in front of her own chest. While Luna couldn’t help the blush that appeared on her cheeks I scowled at Aurora’s blasphemy disapprovingly. “What?” “Nothing. I’m just thinking how long I should give you latrine duty.” “Ha! Jokes on you! We don’t even have a latrine here!” “Then I will order you to make one so that you can do the duty!” “Wha-! Hey! Fenrich that’s no fair!” she protested indignantly, while Pinkie simply giggled, making Aurora pout at her. “Anyway,” I continued ignoring both of them, “she will be in charge of the guard. Her behavior might suggest otherwise but she is the most capable of the entire guard and will be a valuable asset to serve you.” Aurora thankfully composed herself after she stopped her grumbling. “Yup, that’s right. Anyway, I of course heard that the Princess decided to rule alongside her sister instead of taking over, but it wasn’t mentioned how,” she gestured with an amused smile at me, “this came to be.” “The Elements of Harmony were used as a weapon against us, draining us of our levels and weakening us, forcing our surrender. The less said about this shameful event the better.” “Gee, that must have sucked big time.” “It did ‘suck’ indeed, albeit I would prefer it if you could keep your language a bit more formal around the Princess. Anyway I have work for you to do. Our current situation is rather harmful for the Princesses safety. Therefore I will have to take a risk. A risk I would like your support in case something happens.” “A risk?” she echoed, turning serious as I nodded. “Yes. The Princess needs a suitable accommodation. And as much as I appreciate Fluttershy’s kind offer, her cottage won’t be enough,” I commented, and saw said mare shooting me a sad smile, “So I plan on unleashing a powerful artifact in the hopes whatever it summons will be able to solve our problem. But if said being turns out less cooperative…” “You want me to be ready with the entirety of the Night Guard?” I nodded, “Exactly. I hate taking risks like that, but I also can’t allow the Princess to be a sitting duck after this assassination attempt.” Aurora reeled back at this news quite shocked. “Woah! Woah! Woah! Hold up a second there, Fluffy! Assassination?!” The Princess immediately stepped in sighing, “Fenrich, tis was a mere accident. Some foals foalishly bringing in a foul beast.” I simply shook my head at her good-hearted nature. She wouldn’t expect some foul nobles to plot against her, but I did. “I don’t believe in coincidences,” I stated. “Fenrich…” Aurora stepped in, “Yeah. I honestly don’t want to sound paranoid like Fluffy here, but I would also prefer you having some safe roof over your head and so on. You are both in a weakened state. I mean, why risk it?” I nodded gratefully towards Aurora, before turning to the Princess again, “I hope you will trust me on this decision.” Luckily the mention of trust did just what I expected it to do, as the Princesses face turned instantly into a supporting smile, “I will. I always do.” Of course some might berate me for steering her in that direction deliberately with a simple choice word. But it was only for her own good. Sometimes she needs guidance, just like she guided me once. I looked around the group, all seemingly ready to move on. “Good. Now let’s move closer to the Everfree. And see if we can’t solve this problem.” It didn’t take long to gather the troops outside Ponyville at the edge of the Everfree. 10 minutes tops. I imagine the Royal Guard would take longer for this same task. But then again, you can’t compare a cake made by the finest confectioners with a cheap cupcake. “Cupcakes are not cheap!” Pinkie quickly protested, making me jump slightly at her sudden appearance beside me, as I raised a confused brow. She took it as an invitation to continue, “Does this-“ she said while holding out a cupcake, “-look cheap? Or taste-“ she shoved said cupcake in my muzzle, “-cheap to you?” The cupcake surprisingly looked as well as tasted like a fine piece of black forest cake. How she actually knew my favorite was beyond me, but at this point I didn’t question her seemingly enormous demonic powers. I was just glad that she seemed to stand on the right side. There are some opponents I have no interest in facing. Of course I still needed to face her now to give her my judgement of this cupcake. “It certainly is surprisingly good, I will admit. Although I should not indulge too much, since I don’t want to get out of shape.” And it was true. Pinkie seemed to love to feed me chocolate. Just for breakfast she was stuffing me with cat tongues. On the other hand I could indulge more than even that fat-butted alicorn of the sun. Demon metabolism was even more powerful than an alicorns metabolism after all, meaning getting overweight for a demon was a real challenge. I also always had the suspicion that the Sun Witch secretly resented me and all demons for this advantage. “That’s okay, FenFen. But you also shouldn’t go too long without something sweet either. You know what they say: A cupcake a day keeps the frown at bay! And since you are frowning quite a lot FenFen you should eat quite a lot of cupcakes! Or cat tongues!” I didn’t dare to object, but… honestly, how a normal pony can keep their figure while being close to her is a real mystery to me. And I will probably have to be careful that she won’t be fattening the Princess with her sugar addiction. “I understand. But step back now, since I will start the summoning.” She luckily nodded happily and me and did just that. I then opened the menu and went straight to the item section, where I when went to the warehouse part and looked up the cylinder. I found it quickly enough and materialized it into my hand. Energy immediately flowed from this little trinket. The promise of either a powerful ally or foe. I poked it with my own demon essence and it played its all too familiar message again. I am the changer of shape, seeking to understand the many forms of life. Call for the man of many shapes during your hour of need and I will come, a one man army. Activate the cylinder and in a flash I’ll be ready to clash. An army sounds promising. Even though I had no intention of using it for war in this instance. The Princess certainly wouldn’t approve of it sadly… Instead I will have to see if this being can simply solve our current predicament. Honestly, the probability was not really that high, but currently it was a chance. And I would take it. All so that the Princess will stay safe, as well as live in reasonable conditions once again. Despite how much I appreciated the gesture from Fluttershy, her room hardly was up to par with Princess standards. Not to mention that it couldn’t house the entirety of the Night Guard. With that my decision made, I concentrated on summoning this being. “Changer of shape. Your aid is direly needed in those hard times. Come forth and serve the one and only true Princess of the Night. Be the vassal that will smite her every hindrance and make her night shine gloriously over the light of the inferior sun once again. I, Fenrich, right hand of the Princess of the Night summon you!” “He is rather theatrical,” said Aurora with a smirk as she stood ready on the sidelines for what was about to happen. Punching Bag only gave a stiff nod, as all his muscles were tense from the situation. He without a doubt was imagining what creature exactly would be summoned and how dangerous and frightening it would look. The cylinder let out a green flash, blinding us for a moment. I blink my eyes, noticing a rather tall man, wearing a t-shirt that advertised ‘Black Death vodka.’ He had waist length hair, worn out jeans, and a strange device that took up most of his arm. Next to him was a shorter male, who had a unicorn horn and a pair of wings. I could just make out a pair of hooves poking out the bottom of his pants. He also wore a pair of jeans, and a shirt featuring a stylized warrior on it. Punching Bag, being the dimwit that he was breathed a sigh of relief as his picture of a dangerous foe didn’t come true visually. But I could still feel the power emanating from the taller one. He clearly had a high level, which could be both good and bad. Good, because he might be able to do what is needed, and bad that he might be hard to fight if he turns out to be a sun-loving foe. Despite all that I moved on. Introductions were in order. My wolf-like form certainly not the most fitting for such a task, but it will have to do for now. I stood on both my hindpaws, gaining a bit of height, even though I of course still was being dwarfed. “And you must be the changer of shape,” I started, eying the taller being intently, “I have a job for you.” He held his hand up, looking at his shadow. “Alright Morph, it’s fine, you can come out.” I was going to ask what he meant, when an adolescent, four legged pony foal emerged from his shadow. He only came up to the mans knee, sporting a light blue coat and white mane. He was also, apparently, an alicorn. Of course I couldn’t say anything about his size, considering my own diminutive form was only slightly larger than his. But it certainly was going to be interesting.