//------------------------------// // Episode 3: Fresh Start of a Nightmare - Part Seven // Story: All is for my Princess // by Hoppa_21 //------------------------------// We just stepped into the dining room, seeing all people gathered here. Even the Gate Keeper, Shop Keeper and the Nurse. The room was quite lively to say the least. The mood was...split. “My name is Sir Alexander Woods, my pleasure!” I saw Alexander greet a familiar and pristine white-coated unicorn mare. The hulking mass of trees then leaned down giving a courteous kiss to her hand. “My! A real gentlepony!” Rarity swooned. “Gentletree is the title I prefer Miss…?” “Rarity, dear. Fabulous fashionista and designer extraordinaire.” “Well, it is very nice to meet you Miss Rarity.” While Rarity was getting along, as well as Pinkie did, or Fluttershy, others were a bit more...tense. Twilight was keeping to the background. Applejack and Rainbow Dash remained suspicious, eying the demons warily and Rose… “Well, I let you know that I am a most prestigious mare!” Well...she somehow got into an argument with Celestia, while Luna tried to keep the situation from escalating. ...Such a brave mare! Luckily enough Rose noticed us arriving, or more specifically Jason, making her smile brightly as she stopped her aggressive course of actions, skipping over to greet him. “Jason!” she exclaimed happily before stopping and getting a bit uncomfortable, “You, um. Well, back then with your friend…” she trailed off, her words failing her as she poked her fingers together. Jason patted her head. “It’s fine, Rose.” He smiled, at her before slamming a fist on the table, freezing it solid. “All of you, shut the fuck up. I’m getting a little tired of the racism.” While the rest of the group looked to him, Fluttershy visibly intimidated, Rose actually squee’d and rubbed her cheeks as she felt them heat up. Celestia also turned to look at him before looking down to me, “Your friend is quite ill-mannered,” she started but was quickly cut off. “I’m also Equestrian royalty, and I’ll speak as I damn well please, you hypocrite.” Jason glared back, eyeing the rest of the room. “That includes you two.” He pointed out Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “AJ, the Apples are supposed to help those in need, they don’t hate people for no reason.” He gave Dash a mock grin. “I bet you’re parents can give you a reward for being the best racist.” While Rainbow sputtered, her words clearly failing her as she looked uncomfortable, Applejack had a deep thoughtful look on her face, before answering, “Just wary is all. He planned a coup thousand years ago and we fought ‘im and Nightmare not too long ago. So yer can’t expect us all ta be as trusting as Rares, Pinkie or Flutters.” Celestia quickly cut in, “What Applejack rightly says is that we have reasons to not trust this one. I was wary as well. And as I felt a strong magical surge from Ponyville I came over to check up on my sister.” “Oh please.” Jason rolled his eyes. “That’s just an excuse and you know it. Ya know, I bet you Princess Platinum said the same thing when the tribes united. Or maybe it was one of the other two. Way to keep the tensions going Celestia.” He gave a thumbs up. “Any excuse to justify hatred.” “I lost my sister for a thousand years. I think I have the right to feel hate. But for now I am even going as far as giving him a chance, even while restricting his movement to this very town. Or do you really expect we simply start to be friends and get along from one moment to the other?” Jason looked around before nodding. “Ya, that’s literally how the damn country was founded. Fire of Friendship ring any bells? The thing you guys reignite every year so the ghost horses don’t show up and turn everyone into icicles. I’m actually surprised they aren’t back yet.” Celestia looked back at Jason for a moment, her eyes calculating, before looking back to me. “Friendship never is easy. It wasn’t back then to times of Princess Platinum. But I acknowledge your words. They are not completely wrong. I think I will give this puppy a bit more of my trust by not restricting his movements completely.” “You’ll also make a public apology for all those demons you massacred in the past,” Jason insisted, walking over to her. “Because, you’re about the worst version of Celestia I’ve met. And I know you’re better than that.” “You are quite forward. But apologizing for the demons after a coup was tried against me is not a thing I can or will ever do. You might as well ask me to apologize to Fenrich.” Jason leaned in closer, narrowing his eyes. “Ever consider, they were justified? Sic semper evello mortem tryannis.” Celestia met his stare head on, not flinching back an inch, “Ever consider, I was justified? Or were you there and witnessed all the occurences back in the time. When my country was in great peril. With groups of demons and other bandits on the loose, pilfering villages. Or the diplomatic problems we encountered with other races?” Before things escalated further Luna quickly stepped in between the two, her small form trying to stop this argument from going any further, “We think that tis quite enough. We all have our perspectives. But we came here to feast and not to fight, didst we not?” Jason pulled back. “I know exactly why you hate demons, Celestia.” Jason tapped his head. “I know it all. What one guy did does not mean you can blame an entire race.” He leaned back in, whispering in her ear. “If you don’t shape up, I’ll make sure Twilight doesn’t get her wings.” “Fine. I will be civil,” Celestia stated after she got over her surprise of his knowledge and was glaring back, before turning away from Jason and sitting down at the table. Jason stepped away, waving his hand and melting the ice encasing the table. The room was tense. At least it was until I coughed drawing all attention to me. “If you would please sit down at the table. I will prepare lunch for you all meanwhile.” Luckily they all listened without much objection, making me sigh in relief. I really can’t use a fight here now, just as the castle is being repaired. Food always seems to bring peace, so I quickly got to it, disappearing through the kitchen doors. Barely half an hour later I was done. All the ingredients were luckily already placed for me, so I made quick work of it. I then walked back into the dining hall, a chefs hat perched upon my wolf form. I ignored Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity’s very UNFITTING d’aww moment as they spotted me. Instead I ordered the Thestrals to do the prinny servant work for now as they emerged with plates of hot steaming soup. “I present to you a frog sweat soup with caterpillar eggs, spiced with powdered batwings.” I took notice at how some guards flinched at the batwing part and rolled my eyes, before returning my attention back to the guests. Surprisingly Pinkie was the first to take the spoon in her mouth, not hesitating a second. She then smacked her lips together in an exasperated manner, before a huge grin came over her face. She then held the bowl of soup to her mouth, slurping it noisily down, before waving it up in the air. “Seconds!” she cheerily exclaimed. Despite her mannerisms I couldn’t help but smile lightly. She certainly had quite the good taste, despite her diet having way too much sweets in it. A bat pony meanwhile was at her side in a mere second as he took her bowl to get it refilled. Rainbow could only look at her warily while she simply stirred her bowl with her spoon. Not that many others reacted differently. Half of the guests were to my chagrin hesitating. Even Princess Luna! She looked a little green, making me rather frustrated with her. Luckily some others were my saving grace as they didn’t hesitate. Fluttershy for example was daintily sipping from the soup, a satisfied expression on her face. “This is really good,” she complimented, her friend Rarity which was hesitating then followed her example and her eyes lit up as she took the first spoon. “It really is! It is quite the exotic taste! Compliments to the chef!” I nodded gratefully to the fashionista. She was without a doubt someone with good taste too. I saw Punching Bag, Alexander, Rose and Stein sipping without hesitance as well. Much to my chagrin Captain Aurora was much more hesitant, and from her grimaces not liking the taste. How the weakling guard liked it but Aurora, the pinnacle of Thestral mare athleticness did not had always been a mystery to me. Shoving that thought back into the recesses of my complex mind I looked over to our transdimensional guests, seeing how they were faring. Jason and Bartz were downing the soup in seconds, while Morpheus was much more dignified in his eating. I couldn’t help but nod approvingly. It certainly was good to see that my skills could even satisfy such rare folk. However… I wished the same would go for the others. I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the rest that were not indulging themselves in my cuisine yet. “Is something the matter?” I asked irritated. “How can anypony eat such a thing!” Rainbow complained, ever so brashly, making me huff. “It is quite healthy, and a lot better than some of these dreadful hayburgers I saw ponies eating. Or Faust forbid haybacon. My cuisine is something that was developed with the many items and ingredients that came to this world together with the demons. It is quite a bit of culture I can tell you and I learned it from quite the established chef back then,” I exclaimed with pride, not that it seemed to entice Rainbow to actually eat it. “Riiiiiiiiiiggghhht,” she drawled out still hesitant, making me huff yet again. It was really hard to please certain ponies. After that bit, conversation was slow. Not that everyone minded. Rose for example was sitting right next to Jason. Her chair was suspiciously closer to him than to her other seatmate. Not that it mattered. The lull in conversation also was quickly rectified as Rarity herself was rising to the challenge of making this meal more enjoyable, along the slurping and sipping. “Princess Luna, I have to say your ponies are doing quite the amazing work on the palace!” Rarity complimented, “I remember like it was yesterday when we were trapping down these halls. It was quite different from now. Even with so little time the castle is looking to be in a much greater shape now!” “It was literally two days ago,” Rainbow grumbled under her breath, but was unheard as the conversation continued. Luna meanwhile couldn’t help but nod proudly, “Indeed! Albeit we can not take the praise for this. Fenrich did an amazing job at keeping our Lunar Guard together during our...absence,” the Princess said, looking a bit sour at the reminder, but quickly lightened up, “Without him we doubt anything like this would be possible.” “Oh? So you are quite close to him I take it?” Rarity questioned with a certain sparkle in her eyes. I didn’t know what it was, but I was sure that it was not meaning anything good. Luna nodded rapidly, “Indeed! We art together for a while now!” I couldn’t help but facepalm, or paw, as the case may be at this...unintentional innuendo. Celestia however had a more...delicate reaction. She was drinking and did a spit-take directly at Jason. Jason waved his hand, the drink falling to the ground frozen. “Don’t do that.” “Apologies…” Celestia stated, albeit clearly more focused on a different matter, “I was just...surprised,” she said before her gaze locked onto mine, with the clear displeasure of a overly possessive sister with her choice in coltfriends imprinted on it. I quickly waved my paws, “She most certainly didn’t mean it like that! We are simply close in a normal friendly and completely platonic sense.” “For now, at least.” Jason lifted his glass, winking at Luna and I. I gaped at Jason for this implication in clear unbridled indignation. Luckily I could suppress a blush, unlike the Princess whose cheek heated up a bit as she fidgeted in her chair. “Well… Let’s say we art inseparable in a sense,” the Princess started poking her fingers sheepishly and trying to move the conversation along, “We remember last night when we ought to take a bath.” My face immediately heated up, a blush this time breaking through, and Rarity suddenly got mischievous as she noted the treacherous color on my face. “Now you got me quite curious, darling! Pray tell!” The Princess smiled slyly at the fashionista as she formed a response. A response I was already fearing. “Last night we needed to take a bath after all the grime that hath gathered in our fur after fighting this hydra beast,” I saw the ponies around us shudder at the gorey memory, “But there art windows in the bathroom and Fenrich feared for our safety. He didn’t want us to take a bath because of this matter. We invited him, we will admit a bit teasingly to join us then if he really was that worried. Fenrich himself of course couldn’t help but sputter, trying to refuse vehemently. But once we said that we would bath, no matter what, even if it was a threat to our own health because of a possible assassination he decided to join, to ‘guard’ us.” “How deliciously scandalous!” Rarity squee’d with her arms hugging her and pressing close to her chest. Jason smirked, noting my squirming. “Don’t be a chood. Just tell her you like her.” “I would never! Not that the princess is not love-worthy! I mean-! It was JUST for the Princesses safety!” I sputtered out, looking away from Jason in an uncomfortable silence. “Dude, I married a queen. Buck up and tell her.” At this my gaze hardened, “There are things I rather not experience,” I simply replied looking at my own soup bowl with a deep frown. Luna noting my depressed mood, quickly laid a comforting wing on my shoulder. “Apologies. But there are topics Fenrich doesn’t like to talk about.” Jason simply nodded in understanding. Meanwhile a certain prismatic Pegasus didn’t seem to have felt the changing mood as she looked at me with a strange look in her eyes. “Bathing together. Wow, that’s creepy,” Rainbow added in a deadpan. She was of course rather late to add her own two bits into this piece of conversation. Not that she minded as she couldn’t help but grin amused, “Next thing you tell me is that he is watching the Princess in her sleep.” This quickly snapped me out of my funk as I looked at the offending mare. “I’m guarding her!” I declared proudly while puffing out my chest fluff. ...I also ignored the d’awwing Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity yet again. Insolent mares. “He really does that?!” Rainbow then asked baffled, “I thought Pinkie was spouting bull!” “Rainbow language!” Rarity reprimanded this rather tactless pegasus. “And that means you really want to ship them!” Rainbow said while accusingly pointing a finger at Rarity. I couldn’t help but raise an inquisitive brow, “Ship what?” Pinkie and Rarity took that moment to leap towards Rainbow Dash as Rarity stuffed a spoon of soup down her throat while Pinkie did the same with a cupcake. Needless to say that the combined taste made Rainbow almost empty her stomach as she was gagging loudly. Though the gagging I suppose was also a result of having a spoon lodged in her throat. Rarity quickly turned around and shook her head at me, “She is just spouting some nonsense, dear! Do not listen to her!” Applejack scratched her cheek uncomfortably, “Ya know...Isn’t it a bit too late ta deny this whole shipping shedang?” But said mare went unheard as Pinkie piped up again. Said mare had her head turned to me and nodded vigorously to what Rarity had said, “Yepperonie! Dashie definitely just didn’t break the fourth wall by remembering the Episode Review from this Episode, Episode 3!” I blinked at that, “Episode 3 already? And I’m still in my wolf form? I probably should turn back sooner rather than later. Who knows, this game could only have 12 Episodes in total after all, and I certainly don’t want to be seen by the Final Boss in such a state. Though I’m wondering when he will show up,” I mused with a paw to my chin, “Or she. Though a female Final Boss is rather unlikely, considering Disgaea’s history with such characters.” “What do you think?” I asked, turning to Jason. Jason shrugged. “I dunno. I didn’t play Disgaea. All I know is, there was a game about getting someone’s panties back.” I hummed in thought, “Doesn’t ring a bell with me. I mean, I remember one anime that had such an episode… But maybe my sharp mind is slowly degenerating after a thousand years. Albeit I certainly hope this isn’t the case.” He reached over, flicking my ear. “It was Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood.” “Ah… Well that explains it. I played the first part of this spin-off series but sadly never got around to playing the sequel. Displacement getting in the way as you can surely relate.” At that moment I felt Fluttershy, that was sitting on the chair next to me petting me, grabbing my ear and stroking it, causing my eyebrow to slightly twitch. “Could you stop that?” I asked slightly annoyed, making her look sheepish. “Oh, uhm, I’m sorry?” I let out an annoyed sigh, before turning to Jason and the two young Prince’s. “Did I ever mention how thankful I am that at least you three never tried to touch or pet me? Well, disregarding that one time if I don’t account for the ear flick,” I said giving a slight stinkeye to Jason, albeit doing it in a way to assure him that I was only slightly peeved because of it. I then broke eye contact with him, lowering my head with a sigh, “Having the softest hair, or fur as the case now may be, in all of Equus due to my lycanthrope genes is truly a tremendous burden I have to bear.” At that moment Rarity decided to speak up as she gazed at me with a thoughtful look. “You know, Fenrich, I’m quite curious as to how you have met Princess Luna. Would you share it with us?” “I’m not sure that is such a good idea,” I tried to derail this situation, but Luna only nodded approvingly. “It shalt be done. After all it would probably help so that thou all feel more comfortable around Fenrich. Tis a good way to get to know each other better. And if thou art uncomfortable Fenrich, don’t thou worry! We can tell this tale ourself!” I quickly jumped up and with my front paws on the table, “That won’t be necessary! I...better take care of that myself.” A sigh escaped my lips. I wasn’t really that willing to indulge these curious ponies, but since Luna would tell them regardless… It’s better if I do it. That way I have more control and may skip certain details at my leisure. “Ahem! This is quite the long story, so I will only indulge you in one part of it for now. If you wish to hear more after that… Then another time. In any case it all began with a simple thought coursing through my mind...”