Xellos stretched out his arms as he flew over the borderlands of Equestria after a long couple months of being away from the country. He had been out checking around for any sign or word of the escaped convicts from Tartarus, yet there was nothing to be found. Normally he wouldn't interfere with how things were going in the world, unless it amused him, but with the threat of the greatest of the monster race around he had felt he needed to help out.
The monster bypassed his usual grounds around Ponyville and flew directly towards the palace in Canterlot. The guard, on seeing him approach, watched him warily as they had standing orders not to do anything to provoke him and to let him come and go as he pleased. So as he landed and walked along the path toward the throne room they kept a wary eye on him, a few hoping that one of the more annoying nobles would cross his path as they had heard stories of what he would do to them. Unfortunately, though fortunately for the nobles, the halls were clear as he made his way into the throne room.
Celestia looked up from the paperwork she was looking through when the doors opened to see the biped striding through. She was about to roll her eyes at the interruption until she saw the serious look on his face, causing her to frown. “What troubles do you bring me now, Xellos?” With a frown the purple haired creature shook his head.
“More troubling news than anything. The escapees from Tartarus are nowhere to be found and none of my contacts have heard anything either. It's like they have disappeared from this world entirely.” Celestia's frown deepened at the news as there were hundreds of inmates that were unaccounted for. Some of them were even potentially world ending threats that should never have seen the light of day ever again.
“That is disturbing information. I had hoped that they could be found before they become a threat again, but for them to just completely disappear?” The princess sighed as she nodded toward a waiting servant to go and let the kitchen know to prepare the evening meal. With a gesture toward Xellos she started walking towards the dining area with the monster joining her at her side.
“There have been no sign of them in Equestria either. Though lately my agents have been inundated with reports of disappearances and strange cults. They do not seem to be related at first glance, but the vanished ponies all mentioned something about drums.” Xellos frowned in thought before he shook his head and motioned to the dim gems on his talismans.
“You're right. They don't seem to be related to the monsters as far as I know. The last two lords have a different style to them which doesn't involve drums or cults. I'll try to look into it though since it may be some other monster involved, but it could be something else entirely.” The princess nodded as they came upon the door to the princess' personal dining room before turning toward him.
“That is a relief. I was expecting you to refuse, but the help is greatly appreciated. May I ask why though?” Xellos smirked as the door to the dining room opened revealing Luna sitting at the table inside who glared at him on seeing his form.
“That, is a secret!” With that he vanished from sight leaving the princess of the sun to shake her head in exasperation.
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Xellos yawned as he flew over Sweet Apple Acres as the moon rose into the sky. He hadn't told the princess but he had heard about the disappearances before but the cults were new. Considering it was a recent thing that had only happened after the Tartarus breakout it was rather suspicious. He only knew of one creature that was supposed to escape, and his knowledge of the other inhabitants was sketchy so he had no clue as to who was responsible.
While considering what he was going to do about the situation, he spotted a familiar white figure slinking through the orchard. Raising an eyebrow he slowed down, the monster floated down behind the form of Angel as he was peering around a tree. Standing over the rodent he peered around the tree himself to see five mares rushing through the apple trees.
“So, what's been going on since I had left?” The bunny froze before peering upwards at the tall biped. Seeing that it was Xellos he shook his head with a sigh at seeing the unwelcome figure.
“Oh great, now you are here. Can this day get any worse. Can you please at least try not to make things any worse than they already are? I don't know how, but Twilight somehow did something to Fluttershy while trying to stop some vampire fruit bats and now she is flying around with bat wings feeding off of the apples around here like some kind of feral beast.” Xellos raised an eyebrow as he looked from the bunny to the panicking mares on the other side of the tree. As he looked at them, he began to actually feel out the area with his senses and noticed an imbalance. As a creature of chaos he had an affinity for it, so when he felt a gaping hole where there should have been chaos, and a beacon of chaos flying around the area he could guess what had happened. Disappearing from view he reappeared near the beacon of chaos and caught the flying form of the changed Fluttershy.
“Well now, what do we have here?” Flutterbat blinked in confusion at the figure that had popped up out of nowhere but when she recovered she began hissing menacingly as she bit at the arms holding her. Xellos just smiled down at the bat pony before reach out with his free hand towards her head. As his hand made contact, Flutterbat's froze up and began to melt away as his hand worked its magic.
“Come on girls, she should be somewhere out here.” Twilight lead the group of mares as they hunted for their friend in Sweet Apple Acres. They had a plan to change her back, but they first needed to find her and lure her to where they planned to trap her. They thought they had found her a short while ago, but when they arrived in the area they thought they had heard her they found nothing. They were starting to worry that she may have left the area. A voice sounding from up in a tree they just passed brought them all to a halt.
“You know. I always thought that I was the one that was supposed to drive you all batty. Of course it would have to be Twilight that manages to screw up a spell and drain all the chaos from one creature to one of her friends, imbuing her with everything she removed from the other. I would have thought that the lesson with the parasprites would have been enough of a lesson to not use magic to mess with a creature's natural feeding habits.” Twilight blushed at the reminder before she glared at the monster hiding in the tree above them. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness around him they noticed a familiar figure curled up in his lap.
“Fine I screwed up, I admit it. Are you happy? Now what are you doing with Fluttershy?” Xellos floated down out of the tree cross-legged, revealing the biped clearly with Flutterbat curled up in his lap, his hand scratching behind her ear. Seeing this the other mares blanched until they noticed that their friend was unharmed.
“What are you doing to Fluttershy? She looks rather... content.” Xellos shrugged at Rarity as his hand continued with its ministrations.
“Well when her secret admirer expressed concern over what was happening I just had to see what I could do to help.” The jaws of the mares dropped as they heard this, while Xellos glanced towards a white figure further back who proceeded to glare at him and brought a paw up to his eyes before pointing it back at him. Looking back at the mares again he found Rarity up in his face.
“Ooh! A secret admirer!? Our dear Fluttershy!? Ooh, tell me, tell me, tell me!” Her exuberance earned eye-rolls from her friends as she bounced in front of the monster. With a smirk, he raised his other hand with a finger pointed skyward.
“Now that, my dear, is a secret.” At his response Rarity's ears drooped as her friends chuckled at her. As the mare backed away, Xellos' hand drifted down and started rubbing at Flutterbat's belly. The feral mare froze up at the sensation before she rolled belly up in his lap and started purring. Hearing the new sound the mares turned their attention to their friend and as one, except for Pinkie who was bouncing in place obliviously like usual, blushed at the sight before them. Rainbow Dash flared her wings after a moment and stomped towards the pair.
“Hey! Just what do you think you are doing to Fluttershy!?” Xellos looked confused before glancing down at the mare in his lap.
“Um, giving her a belly rub? Why, did you want one as well?” The monster smirked as Rainbow Dash backed away while violently shaking her head. His question was answered by another pony who appeared in front of him, bouncing in excitement.
“Ooh, ooh, ooh! Memememe! My turn, my turn!” Seeing Pinkie Pie's excitement, Xellos just shrugged before tossing Fluttershy into Rainbow Dash's forelegs before the pink mare took her place. When his hand began rubbing at her belly she let out a moan of contentment as her tongue hung from her mouth.
Rainbow Dash was distracted from this as she looked at the feral pony in her grip who was blinking at her in confusion. Before she could react, Flutterbat started growling before she let out a hiss of anger at the cyan more and flared her wings.
“Oh, ponyfeathers.” While the prismatic-maned mare tried to deal with her friend fiercely attacking her, Twilight rubbed at her head with her hooves. Looking between the two scuffling on the ground and her pink friend sprawled in Xellos' lap, she sighed in annoyance.
“Really? Can this night get stranger? Well at least we found Fluttershy and I have the spell to turn her back to normal. Rainbow Dash, bring her along to Applejack's home so I can cast the counter-spell. Rainbow?” She looked over in confusion as she couldn't hear the two any longer to find them in an embarrassing position. While Rainbow Dash was all scratched up from her wild friend, she had managed to calm her down and had her on her back in front of her. With a bright red face she kept rubbing a hoof at her friend's belly, keeping her calm as long as she continued though she growled whenever she slowed. Looking up, Rainbow Dash glared at her friends, her face bright red, as they tried not to look at the two.
“Not. A. Word.” With and embarrassed chuckle, Twilight carefully levitated the two, keeping them in the same position as she carried them back towards the Apple Family home to try and put everything right.