Nocturnal Mayhem

by Silvak


Chapter XXX: Steel

"Why the buck did you drop your disguise?"

"Cause it was compromised, Steel. There was at least one pony that seen it short before I kidnapped the princess, so no point in keeping it around," Quiet said as she looked at Steel with a critical eye. "Why are you still wearing that robe for? We already explored the caverns and found no ponies patrolling it."

"It's better safe than sorry, which some lings don't decide to follow," Steel shot back as he lowered his hood, causing Quiet to walked over to him until her muzzle was right next to his.

"And some lings know how to adapt on the fly! You would just freeze up the moment everything falls apart! I, on the other hoof, took the best opportunity for the hive to advance on our plans!" Quiet exclaimed as she turned around to bite my tail, lifting me into the air as she held me up in front of Steel. "We got an alicorn filly that is the daughter of the Moon Princess! There is no greater leverage than that!"

"Wait... something is off with this filly," Steel stated as he leaned his head closer to me, to which I decided to take action as I reached out with all my legs to grab onto his face.

"Hello!" I yelled in his face, startling the two as Quiet released my tail while Steel screamed in terror.

"Why is she awake! Didn't you knock her out!" Steel exclaimed as he shook his face around in a vain attempt to shake me off him.

"I did! The mixture I used is supposed to keep her unconscious for hours!" Quiet shot back, as she took out a bottle from somewhere and a rag, pouring a bunch of the compound onto it. "Hold still so I can give her a stronger dose."

Snorting at the foolishness of these panicking bug-ponies, I lit my horn up to wrap my magic around the rag before forcing it out of Quiet's hoof and onto her muzzle. This, of course, surprised her into taking a whiff of the rag, causing her eyes to droop before she collapsed on the ground as Steel said, "Quiet, don't pass out you bloody idiot!" as he grabbed onto me, trying to pry me off now.

I hung onto his face for a moment as he struggled, before crawling around on it until I was right-side up and starting into his eyes as I asked, "Hey, can you do us both a favor and stop struggling already? I don't want to end up putting you in a headlock if you don't cooperate with me."

At my question, Steel stopped to stare at me before giving me a deadpanned look as he answered, "You, a filly, putting me in a headlock. Yeah ri—gak!" before I carried out with my threat, moving to the side of his head before wrapping my forelegs around his neck. As he tried to pry my grip off him, I placed my rear hooves on his chin before pushing off of him, bringing him down as a landed on the ground before pinning his head to the ground.

"Told ya that I'll put you in a headlock, ready to cooperate now?" I stated, only for him to struggle in response. Letting out a sigh, I flipped him over onto his back, causing him to let out a muffled gasp. "Still going to struggle?" I asked, this time receiving a shake of his head, causing me to loosen my grip so he could properly breathe again.

"How the buck you, a filly, do that‽" Steel asked as he looked at me with a mix expression of confusion, anger, and what might be a tad bit of fear.

"I'm not a normal alicorn filly, if there is a norm for them," I answered with a shrug. "Now, tell me, why you two were here?"

"You'll never get me to talk, pony!" Steel as he tried to snap at me before lighting his horn with some kind of green magical aura before firing a fireball on my face. As the fireball impacted my face, he sneered at me until it faded into a look of utter shock as my face was left unharmed after the fire had dispersed. "How that... in the name of the queen... what..." he uttered out, as I rolled my eyes briefly before bringing his focus to the matter on hoof.

"Oh, you'll talk, it's just a matter of how much torture it would take to make you talk," I declared as I eyed his side.

"Yeah right, you ponies don't have the stom—" Steel said before I slammed a leg into his gut, causing him to wheeze out in pain. "What the buck is wrong with you?"

"One could say a lot of things, now comply with my demands or I will have to get a potato peeler," I ordered, only for him to look at me in confusion.

"What would you do with a potato peeler?"

Rolling my eyes, I answered, "Simple, I'll sharpen it, the use it to peel off your chitin one bit at a time until I get to your flesh interior!" as I gave him a feral smile.

"You're insane!" Steel yelled into my face as he tried to struggle again, to no avail.

"I think I been called that a few times so far, but anyways, time for you to choose, talk now or go through torture then talk? It's your choice on how comfortable your experience with me will be," I stated, causing Steel to look me in the eye as I gave him a more serious look to show that I wasn't playing around this time.

After a moment of staring, Steel finally asked, "Will you execute us still if I willingly divulge the information you desire?"

Grunting, I answered, "Yeah, I will have your heads chopped off if you be a good bug and tell me all I know. But I won't be letting you two go anytime soon."

Closing his mouth as he continued his stare, it was a few minutes later when he finally declared, "Fine, I'll talk, but if you're going to be imprisoning us, I expect you to have us treated properly."

Letting out a snort, I replied, "Of course, I may not be above torture, but I'm not unnecessarily cruel. Now pick up your friend, we're going back into the castle proper. And before you get any smart ideas, I'll be hanging onto your back, so if you try any funny business, I'll be ripping off your wings."

"I think that's exce—"

"You two are spies, so it's not. Now get moving."


"What were you thinking‽ How dare you take such actions into your hooves!"

"It was a now or never kind of deal, I might not have another cha—"

"I do not care! You are my foal and you don't have the right to do whatever you want on a whim!"

"Technically I do ha—"

"Silence! You have been grounded once, this time I will enforce it!" Luna declared in the Royal Canterlot voice, pressing her muzzle against m as she slammed a hoof on the table, shaking it as Celestia sat on the other side of her furious sister with a calm expression on her face. After coming out of the tunnels, I found the halls swarming with guards, who promptly pointed their spears at my ride and his other passenger. It wasn't long before they were herded to the dungeons while I was taking to a meeting room where the three adult princesses, Sunset, and Cadance's lover were seated around the table, with me

"Well... at least I caught a couple of spies?" I replied with an awkward smile as Luna's glare intensified.

"Luna, calm yourself. We both know that Nebula is fully capable of taking care of herself. Furthermore, as she has pointed out to us, she helped not only expose the spy in our midst but capture both the spy and her conspirator. Surely you can be lenient with her, for she most likely done this with good intentions," Celestia stated as Sunset nodded in turn.

"I agree, as flippant Nebula is, she took this in a much more serious fashion that I only saw once before. She wasn't treating this like a game, Princess Luna," Sunset added in, causing Luna's frown to lose its intensity, as Celestia nodded before she spotted something off with Sunset.

"Sunset... is there a bruise on the side of your head?" Celestia asked as she leaned over to get a closer look. "It is... how did you get it?" she continued before her eyes shifted towards my direction, narrowing me.

Shooting a smirk my way, Sunset answered, "Simple, she had Rainbow and I spar with one another and I got hit so hard that I was knocked unconscious."

At hearing the news, Celestia's eyes widen in dismay before her expression turned into a furious one that matched what Luna had mere moments earlier. "Nebula, I told you not to put Sunset in a situation that could cause her to be harmed!"

Shaking my forehooves in front of myself, I replied, "Hey! I thought she could take care of herself! I didn't think she would be knocked out in one blow! Honest!"

"That doesn't matter, Nebula. I told you not to put Su—" Celestia started to say before Luna held a hoof out in front of her, silencing her as she looked at her in confusion.

"Sister, it was a simple sparring match, hence it was a control case in order to see if the mare was capable of defending herself. Though it is a shame that she wasn't able to, I would have thought that you would have taught her some self-defense techniques," Luna stated, causing Sunset to look at her in exasperation.

"I was sucker punched! It was out of nowhere and I wasn't ready!" Sunset protested, as Luna rolled her eyes at her.

"Were you told when the match was started?"

"Well... yes, but it was su—" Sunset started to answer until Luna interrupted her by holding her hoof up for silence.

"It doesn't matter what happened, you were told the match had started, so you only have yourself to blame. When in battle, even if it was a sparring match, one must be ready for anything. Your lack of caution is what caused your injury, and as a retainer of Nebula, you must be able to defend her if the need ever arises," Luna declared, as I looked at her in confusion at how she shifted from being angry to me to chastising Sunset.

"Umm... Aunt Luna, should we be more focused on Nebula's actions and the intruders?" Cadance asked as she and her boy toy looked at each other.

"Yes, why are you sid—wait... I see what you were doing now," Celestia stated as Luna nodded at her, causing me to narrow my eyes at the two as I wonder what they're plotting. As the two looked upon me, I reared my head back as Celestia continued, "Very well, I won't step on your hooves on this matter anymore."

Furrowing my brows in confusion, I was about to say something when Luna looked at Cadance's boyfriend to say, "Captain Shining Armor, due to the fact that my daughter is incredibly mischievous on her own, and likely to be too much for Sunset to handle alone or for the Night Guard to handle, I would like to have you keep an eye on her when her retainers are gone for the next two weeks."

"What!" I exclaimed as I slammed my forehooves on the table, much to the displeasure of all that is present, with the exception of Luna who calmly raised an eyebrow at me.

"My daughter, it is time for you be punished for the way you've been acting, and your violation of whatever deal you have with my sister must be accounted for as well. Hence, with Captain Shining Armor would be the prime candidate to keeping you in check when the rest of us are unable to do so," Luna said in a tone that told me that she wasn't going to budge from this issue, causing me to say the only thing that could come to mind.

"Oh buck me."