//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine: Bane three and Lunar malaise // Story: Gleaner Chronicles: American Monsters // by sevenofeleven //------------------------------// Foulshaper’s Lair. Late Afternoon Flash! The energy pulse went through Foulshaper’s head like a sharp silver spike. He grimaced. Sunscour was hungry and made sure that everyone knew it. If he didn’t feed Sunscour soon, he might not have a lab to work in. He placed the glowing ball of green light on a table. “Come on! Gimme a half hour before you do that annoying pulse thing. By then you will be fed.” According to the instructions, he needed pony blood and Gleaner essence combined in a specific way to feed his insistent guest. Foulshaper sent out a Gleaner call. All gleaners below the Lord level had to respond. Four showed up. To non-Gleaners, they just look like green glowing amorphous figures. All the same. He could tell which ones were more powerful. Foulshaper pointed a greyish brown paw at three of them. “You three, find me a pony. Keep it alive, no draining. Bring it to me here.” One of them whispered. “We are ssooo hungry.” Foulshaper nodded. A plume of greenish energy floated out of his mouth and into all four Gleaners. When he was done, they all seemed to glow a bit brighter then the three left. The last one floated near the ceiling. “What is your bidding master?” Foulshaper killed it and put the essence inside a storage spell. He had no qualms about killing that Gleaner, it existed to serve. All Gleaners exist to serve. That was the iron rule that all Gleaners from the Vile Council down to the newest Gleaner had to obey. Then he walked to where he kept his greatest experiments. Three pairs of eyes watched him. Foulshaper turned off the spells keeping the metal cages closed. “Know this my children. I’m your father. Serve me well and you will be rewarded. Turn against me and your worst nightmare will be your best outcome. Now step out of your cages!” Foulshaper pointed at the purple unicorn with the black mane and tail. There was a two tone green stripe on her tail and bangs. “Your name is  Glimmerlight.” Foulshaper had been able to get some of Twilight Sparkle’s essence from her desecrated crystal castle then he combined it with Gleaner magic and Remnant flesh. He wanted an alicorn but somehow that didn’t show up in the essence he copied. Of course there was a chance that Glimmerlight could grow up and become one. The yellow pegasus with the brown hair and cold teal eyes was named Shredshy. Foulshaper was able to get some essence from Fluttershy as she slept. He paused before naming his last creation. It looked too much like the failed GrinGrinder. She was a pink earth pony with straight red hair and dull blue eyes. “Your name is Gambol Gloom.” Shredshy stepped forward. “Um, daddy. Can we eat now?” Foulshaper nodded and opened his mouth. Green essence flew out of him and into his children. After a few moments, he closed his mouth. His children’s eyes glowed greenly and then faded to their natural colors. Glimmerlight took a step forward. “What are we going to do now? I’m bored.” Foulshaper nodded. “When the pony arrives-” He was interrupted as a painful energy spike shot through the lab. Something exploded and black smoke started to billow through the lair. “Wait a sec.” Foulshaper went to one of his burning worktables and cast some fire quenching spells. Before he could return to his children, a familiar face appeared on a viewcrystal. “Foulshaper are you there?” King SlashScream said. Foulshaper walked over to his viewcrystals while a frown crossed his face. “I’m here. I’m also busy.” “I gotta problem. I think Moonsour is busy doing stuff.” “So?” Foulshaper said. “I think it did something to three of my minions. They disappeared,” Slashscream said. Foulshaper sighed. “How do you know it’s not a morale problem? They could’ve flown away.” “No, they didn’t fly away. Morale is fine here. A patrol caught a small group of four ponies sneaking around. The parents got the chant and were blood on the wind. You know the smell-” Foulshaper interrupted Slashscream. “Alright, morale is fine. What do you need?” “Um, I think Moonsour is doing something to make us feel sad. I bet the missing minions splatted themselves on the ground somewhere. Anyway, I bet this nonsense will stop if I can feed Moonsour. I’m not a Gleaner Lord so I’m missing half of the recipe,” Slashscream said. Foulshaper nodded. “Fine, I’ll set something up for you later after I find a place for Sunscour. My children will be helping me.” “So, you finally made them. You were bending my spikes for weeks about them. When will I see ‘em?” Slashscream said. Foulshaper smiled. “Soon.” Slashscream hung up. Glimmerlight stood at his side watching. “Who’s that?” Foulshaper looked at Glimmerlight. “A friend who will need our help later. He lives in the clouds.” Glimmerlight frowned. “I can’t fly. Shredshy has wings.” Foulshaper smiled. “Don’t worry, I will teach you a levitation spell that will make you fly.” Gambol looked at her hoof sadly. “I don’t have any magic.” Again Foulshaper smiled. “Don’t worry. I have a spell for you too.” Then the three Gleaners appeared with a unconscious pony. He cast one more spell to clear the air then he walked up to the Gleaners. The pony was in good shape. Foulshaper pulled some blood from the pony using a spell. Ruby red streams of blood floated in the air while he pulled the Gleaner essence out of the storage spell. A few seconds later he had a greenish red ball of light. Gambol pointed at the ball of light with her left fore hoof and said, “Pretty.” Foulshaper carried the ball to Sunscour. It didn’t last long, Sunscour pulled it out of Foulshaper’s paw and absorbed it. A wave of pleasure filled the lab. Even Gambol had a small smile on her face. Foulshaper had a smile too but it faded to a frown. He didn’t like when creatures messed with his feelings. Gringrinder was the last time and that didn’t go so well. Foulshaper hoped Sunscour wouldn’t take advantage of him. “Now my children we will make this pony comfortable,” Foulshaper said. Shredshy pouted. “Why?” “We need this pony to last a while until we can get a steady supply. Now I need to also pick a safe place to make Sunscour’s tower. All of you will help me.” The lair was filled with happy voices as Foulshaper summoned up a map of Equestria. Lower Canterlot    Outside Celestia’s Council Tent Late Evening Celestia had just set the sun and was looking forward to another wonderful night. The moon was in its last phase, a thin crescent. Something was wrong though, Luna was late. A chill flew down her spine. Celestia wondered if there was something wrong with her sister. She sighed and then cantered over to her sister’s tent. While Celestia traveled, she kept one eye on the sky hoping that her sister would be able to raise the moon. There was no sister in front of the tent. Celestia stepped inside. The dark blue and silver tent reeked of fear and sickness. Also Luna lay in her bed with her eyes closed. Again a chill raced down Celestia’s spine. Thoughts of losing her sister tried to surface but Celestia managed to push them back. She approached the bed. “Luna, what’s wrong?” Celestia said. There was a too long delay before Luna opened her eyes. “Tia, I don’t feel so good. Can you raise the moon for me tonight?” “Yes. What happened?” Luna tried to climb out of bed. Her fumbling efforts reminded Celestia of a newborn foal. She was at a loss to explain Luna’s sickness until she saw that Luna’s cutie mark was a pale green color. Luna managed to stand for a bit on wobbly legs. Celestia studied her sister’s cutie mark. “Luna, I don’t remember your cutie mark being a shade of green,” Celestia said and noticed that her sister was covered in lather. Luna panted and wobbled on her hooves. “My cutie mark is white not green. I bet it’s some foul sorcery from Empress Razorhoof.” Celestia stepped forward and touched Luna’s cutie mark with her left forehoof. Luna hissed in pain. Celestia stepped back in shock. “I’m soo sorry sister. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Luna fell back on the bed with a sigh. Celestia’s mind was full of questions. She didn’t really know what was going on. “Luna, I need your permission to scan you. It will only take a few seconds.” It took a few minutes before Luna nodded. With a sigh, Celestia scanned Luna. Luna’s organs glowed with reduced health but if the sickness came from them, they wouldn’t be glowing at all. Another scan showed that the poison was coming through Luna’s cutie mark. The moon was being slowly corrupted and Luna was getting sick from that. It just took a few moments to scan the moon. The corruption was not from the moon, but there was a familiar stink of Gleaner magic swirling around it. Celestia smiled. She had several ideas on what to do. “Luna, I know what we have to do-” Celestia stopped talking when she saw Luna lying unconscious on the bed. For a quick second it seemed like her sister was dead then her chest rose slowly. Celestia breathed a sigh of relief then wrote a short letter to her sister detailing what she found. The streamers of Gleaner magic were weak, she had no doubt it would be easy to dispel them. Celestia focused and sent a wave of bright golden power up, the Gleaner spell faded away with a few green sparks. Then Celestia raised the moon. She was relieved that the crescent was white instead of green. For this night the battle was won, but she wondered about the next days and nights. A darker thought crawled into her mind. What if the Gleaners used their magic against the sun? Celestia pushed that thought away but it didn’t go far. She left the tent with lowered ears. Even the risen moon did little to lighten her mood.