-Three days later Jade-
I woke up feeling very comfortable, mostly because I had Fizzle wrapped around me. Can you say super model mare friend? I believe Fizzle will look good enough to be one in the future. Sure the scarred eye or broken horn might not be for some people, but she’s definitely attractive. The cage couldn’t be more comfortable, the only thing uncomfortable about all this was that Sugar was in the cage with us.
“How, how did you manage to do it?!” Entered Screaming Star, screaming at us and making a nuisance of himself. His gleaming silver fur, alongside his rusty red and blue streaked mane, all looked to be standing on end.
He was about to wake up Fizzy, I currently think she was too comfortable and lovable to wake up. She did happen to be snuggling up against me.
“Quiet, you’ll wake her up.” Knowing his special talent was screaming loudly and being violently beaten up by his leader, it was unlikely he’ll acquiesce to let Fizzle sleep happily.
“I don’t care if I wake her up!” Well you certainly weren’t a good host Screaming, then again you had a very valid reason to be mad at me despite not having evidence to back anything up. If he woke Fizzle up he was going on the list of petty kitty revenge. Aside from Flamberge, no one else was on that list at the moment. So he’d be fast tracked for reprisal by his proximity alone. “How the buck did you get out of that cage? Not once, not twice, but ten times over the last three days since we put you in there!”
“I didn’t get out of the cage at all, I’ve been the very model of a damsel in distress.” Yeah, I actually managed to keep my face straight while saying this. I surprised myself sometimes.
“So you weren’t the one that stapled all my furniture to the ceiling?” He eyed the novelty industrial sized stapler sitting in the cage Fizzle was supposed to be in. “Not to mention the several other juvenile or highly annoying things you and your friends have done over that last few days. I know there’s at least one more person in your group somewhere in the Night Fright Grotto and I will find them!”
“How could I have possibly been responsible for that?” I stated quite clearly as if I had no idea what he was talking about. Something tells me that Screaming wasn’t buying it. “I’ve been in here the whole time and I have an alibi in the thestral patrols. They can confirm I’ve been in this cage when the incidents occurred.”
The nearby thestral guard nodded in an amiable manner, agreeing with the fact that I had yet to seemingly leave the cage.
“Then how do you explain that sad excuse for a unicorn cuddling you?” He pointed at a snoozing Fizzle who started to twitch and turn in her sleep while tightening her grip on me. I didn’t like what he said about Fizzle and he was very close to earning my eternal ire. “The cages are teleport, phase and portal proof. No amount of magic could have possibly moved her from that cage to this one, the only other viable option is a thestral! No pony would be stupid enough to defy my orders or the will of Lord Hollow Heart. None of the keys are missing and they are a good fifty feet away from the cages at all times unless needed.”
“Well duh! If we can’t use magic and we can’t get to the key, then how did we do it then mister smarty slacks? I doubt we’d know anyone here.” I kissed Fizzy on the forehead and she calmed down, she then dug her nose deeply into my neck and inhaled sharply. At least she wasn’t choking me anymore.
I enjoyed being a cuddle toy, mostly because it made Fizzle smile in her sleep. Something she seldom does while awake, such a sight goes well with her beautiful eyes. She tries not to let me know her insecurities, because she knows exactly how I’ll act to make things better.
“I don’t know, but I’ll eventually figure out how you got that giant yellow hippopotamus toy into Hollow Heart’s room.” That wasn’t even the worst we’ve done over the last few days Mr. Screaming. “The fact that it’s twice the size of the doorway is the most disturbing thing about it!”
Shouldn’t you be more focused on how I got the smell of durians to flood throughout all of Night Fright Grotto city… town… village? It drove every thestral wild with trying to find the fruit, they loved that smell.
All thestrals were relatively fruit crazy and if it wasn’t fruit, then it was bugs for this insectivorous pony species.
“Sure you will, once you get over the fact that it’s completely and physically impossible for me, Fizzle or our horned rabbit companion to escape these cages.” A total lie that was, we’ve done it multiple times. Sugar’s horn could cut straight through the bars, but that would give away the game. “Though I must admit that I am completely stumped as to how Fizzle got out of her cage to get into mine to use me as a snuggle toy.”
It wasn’t easy, but we managed to get out multiple times in varying different ways. I couldn’t cast away the bars and Fizzle’s magic couldn’t imbue them with different properties to make them brittle.
There was also that thing were we painted a lot of rooms with a stupidly bright shade of neon green. One would ask how we did that, I on the other hand would ask why there was such an abundance of unused bright neon green paint around here in the first place.
I guess not all the thestrals here were cultists, which would certainly explain their initial incompetent showing on the surface at the monastery above us.
You’d think they’d use dark purple paint, but no. The actual color scheme around here was grey, dark brown or blood red. That didn’t fit nightmares color scheme of dark purple, pale blue or black at all.
So again, why did they even have a room full of bright, as the sun itself, neon green paint in the first place?
“So you say… well you won’t be that much of a nuisance to everyone any longer. I’ve gotten our fearless leader to agree to throw you into a gladiatorial fight to the death with our special defenses.” Oh, Did Screaming Star plot my death while plotting his bosses at the same time? How quaint. “You’ll meet you’re doom today!”
“Before that, can I ask why you had the world’s largest stockpile of eye searing bright neon green paint?” I liked the color, but it was so bright it made the walls glow as if it were a highly radioactive toxic sludge. It was a really nifty effect… also the paint just might be glow in the dark for all the wrong reasons. To think the paint seemed so normal in the paint cans.
“I don’t want to talk about it with the ever confounding likes of you!” With that odd statement, Screaming turned away from us and stomped off. “I’ll be back to escort you there personally to make sure you don’t do something funny, also you won’t be getting a last meal. I want you to die on an empty stomach!”
Sugar chittered cutely while bouncing around in the cage, she at least hadn’t gone stir crazy and was being well fed to make sure she doesn’t run amok. I eventually woke up Fizzle and since the coast was clear it was time to do an age old guard tradition, goofing off while on the job.
The thestral guard moved over to the cage and unlocked it. We didn’t necessarily need Blade’s help to escape the cages, but it was the thought that counted. She motioned for us to follow her and we eventually came up to a table with several thestrals sitting at it.
“So guys, who’s up for a game of Cheat?” A fun card game for all of us and several friendly thestral guards.
“Jade’s here, now it’s a party!” One of the thestrals commented out loud in a lackadaisical tone. “Shuffle the deck Hard Tell and let’s really bust loose!”
-Hours later Night Fright Grotto Arena, Kuril-
Oh thestral culture was so interesting, when it wasn’t the evil side of it at least. The cult was prominent since they did kind of build this place, but there was a lot of thestrals here who weren’t cultists.
In fact there was a group called the Exceptionally Valorous Equine Neophytes, we made contact with them and they were pretty friendly despite the dark atmosphere around here what with the evil thestral cultists being a majority.
Like Jade pointed out about the Order of Dark Dreams spelling ODD, the thestrals we met were called EVEN. EVEN was an organization that worked as an opposing force that was quite underhanded in a good way.
With their leader Prime Number, they were slowly converting thestrals away from worshipping nightmare moon and or nightmares, monstrosities and other truly dark things in general.
Instead of nightmare, they worshipped the original princess of the night Luna and were trying to pull the rug out from under the cultists. Don’t honestly know which thestral started it, because Prime certainly didn’t. They were fighting a slow and steady uphill battle with ODD.
Enough about them though, I wondered where Daring got off to. I knew Jade, Fizzle and Blade were having fun. Sugar was protecting Jade and so far… things didn’t really seem altogether bleak for a cult dedicated to making things worse for the whole world by the very nature of their doctrine.
I’m just waiting for a shoe to drop as I spent quality time with my little chick Jacky, after we robbed the monastery of some valuables and weaponry. There were ninja here and they were in both ODD and EVEN factions. Jade was going to be so happy I got her a few ninja things that I bartered off of EVEN, including an instruction manual for smoke bombs.
“Mom, jerk butt is coming out.” After having gotten some attention, Jacky pointed to Screaming Star moving to stand next to the throne that Hollow Heart sat on. He looked angry, my kitten must have been going the extra mile this time.
“I wonder if Jade did enough to warrant whatever ODD is going to send at her.” My little tom cat was crazy in a way even I sometimes couldn’t follow.
The silver stallion thestral with the dark purple hair didn’t look very nice at all, just from his appearance alone I can kind of see why Prime was so set against him leading these thestrals into the ground. His absolute authority as head nightmare cultist sounds horrifying now that I’ve actually seen him.
“This better be good Screaming Star.” Hallow Heart leaned back in his throne looking contemplative.
“Oh it will be, because today we’ll get to see a sun priest be thrown into the arena against our mightiest weapons!” Screaming Star let loose a dark chuckle. It didn’t take much for me to guess that they didn’t care if the crowd could hear them or not. It did have me a bit worried about what my tom cat was going to face. “This will be an event of pain and misery of the likes none of you have ever seen before! We’re going to toss three beings into the arena to be killed, their screams will be music to my… our ears!”
“This could prove to be entertaining… provided that the priest’s death is not too quick.” His red eyes stared deeply into Screaming’s in a demented manner. “Tell me, did she come with a moon priest?”
“No, but I’m quite sure she’s a sun priest and that she won’t be leaving the arena alive.” Well that caused a few shudders throughout the crowd. It was that kind of ruthlessness that gave EVEN a hoof hold here in the first place. “She’ll soon be a bloody smear on the ground with what I have in store for her.”
The thestrals gathered in the stands watched as several guards forced Jade, Fizzle and Sugar into the arena. They looked perfectly fine in a manner of physical health at the moment and only Fizzle looked a bit worried.
My kitten doesn’t seem very worried about her situation in the slightest. Sugar just looks as sweet and playful as she ever does, I don’t honestly know why everyone fears her.
“I’m kind of surprised that no one in the stands care that we look like really odd thestrals.” Yes Jacky, a beaked thestral and another sporting cat ears with matching tail does look odd from an outsider’s perspective.
I’m relying on us being weirdness censored, that way nobody will notice anything amiss about us. It was working really well too, I’m surprised that none of the thestrals around here had pinged us yet with their voices yet. What a polite bunch of ponies these people were.
I was eventually going to run out of illusion dust if I kept abusing it like this.
“First up, and possibly the only one needed, the Quake Maker!” The ground started rumbling and I saw cracks forming in the center of the arena. I had the sense to think something dangerous was coming.
-Night Fright Grotto Arena, Jade-
“First one’s mine, Fizzle can get the harder stuff and if we really get into trouble…” I motioned to Sugar who perked up and looked slightly aggressive. “We have a secret weapon. Sugar protect Fizzle, unless it looks like I’m in too much trouble.”
Sugar looked around attentively while flicking her long ears about, she growled adorably.
I didn’t get a chance to say much more, something erupted from the center of the arena. A line of cubes that started grinding together. Eventually a cloud of dust erupted from the tower and I saw it for what it was, it was a bunch of connected spheres leading up to the head of a golem.
Said head was a red glass like core that a bit of rock moved around and it seemed to glare down at us. If I had to guess, the Quake Maker was the thing that dug out Night Fright Grotto.
A fifty foot or so long rock snake made of boulders that don’t necessarily need to be connected to it, this was going to be a bit problematic.
I moved forward with a look of determination on my face, magic missiles were my best bet for damaging the golem’s core. I had no illusions about how this was going to go, this was going to hurt if I get hit even once. I do not stop sustaining the knife for any reason unless I absolutely needed the griffon feather... or something else.
I would only fire a magic missile in two occasions, if I was guaranteed a hit and if I needed a distraction. Otherwise I was going to tire myself out too fast and I wouldn’t be able to take down the thing that possibly dug out the grotto in this thestral infested mountain.
“Here, goes nothing.” I charged forward. “Hey, boulder face, come at me!”
The golem reared back and up, the battle started with it diving for me.