//------------------------------// // A Claw-terlot Wedding, Part 2, Part 2 // Story: Twilight Gets a Puppy, Season 2 // by TDR //------------------------------// Twilight Gets a Puppy Season 2 By TDR A Claw-terlot Wedding, Part 2, Part 2 Rahs reevaluated his opinion on the guard that was escorting him. He wasn't an idiot, he really was a dick. This was made clear as they trekked all the way back around the castle and wound up at entrance of the castle where he came in. The Guard then promptly pushed Rahs out the door and closed and locked the door behind him leaving Rahs in the small court yard outside. Rahs could barely pick up the yell from the Guard about his sister no longer being in the castle as the door slammed shut. The whole goal it seemed had been to waste his time. A low growl escaped his throat as he wondered if asinine Guards were on his hunting list. He could probably get a pardon from Luna, but he didn't want to abuse that. The thought of revenge made him a bit queezy and he opted to think more on it later when he had the time to track down this, Obvious Plant. Stupid name for a pony, but there were a lot of names like that. Right now he needed to find either his sister and let her know of what he felt or one of his brothers to make sure they were alright. A flood of magic that strong meant it was close and cast one one of them. It might just be Shining getting a doctor to give him something for his headache and exhaustion so he could make it through the wedding, but this had likely been going on for a while now judging from his own sickness. Some one was casting something along the link that tasted like chocolate and he needed to stop it. Or maybe he'd have some one else stop them until he could stop trying to revisit a lunch he didn't have. There are things to be said about Spike Sparkle that many don't take note of. The purple and green drake was rather short, shorter than the fillies with him in truth, despite him being older than they were. His sister theorized that he would have a sudden growth spurt that would be like the chaos driven one on his birthday though milder, but she had no idea when and Bleu hadn't offered a suggestion either when he asked in his letter. His sister was the most powerful mage of her generation and it had been a number of generations back before any one saw any other pony even close to her level. At Twilight's current level of progression, not only would they need to invent new spells for her to learn, but it was expected the Princesses might let her move their celestial bodies simply for a day off. And by all rights she could probably do it. His oldest brother had the strongest shield spell at his beck that any one, including the princesses, had ever seen. Shining Armor also completed what was widely regarded by anyone as the most grueling basic Guard Training that had been ever been devised and had graduated it with honors. While working with the Six Sixty Sixth, the tally of creatures driven back or destroyed was the closest contender to Princess Luna's from the pre war of night days. It was no where near her tally, but it was far above any one elses currently living. His other brother, Rahs Sparkle was a magic neutralizing beast. A creature that had been taught how to fight in three different styles of unarmed combat. He could heal from near any injury so long as there was enough magic in the area for him to eat and he single handedly made the God of Chaos, a deity that had taken the Element's of Harmony wielded by both Princesses to beat, his personal chew toy. While none of these things was an accomplishment for Spike himself, it was well known that the Sparkles tended to have heated and sometimes rather physical arguments among the siblings. These fights could be viewed as terrifying to any one who knew the siblings and they often resulted in property damage and the occasional emotional scarring. And Spike was known to WIN some of these brawls. Spike was after all a dragon, a baby dragon true, but a dragon none the less, and a demi god dragon at that. This fact and who his mother was were often glossed over in favor of being worried about who his siblings were. The changelings in fact focused mostly on him being the clever Sparkle, and did their best to keep him distracted, completely forgetting that he was a dragon. And dragons are by no means weak. Particularly one who spent most of his days carrying large stacks of books and climbing ladders, often both at once. Despite his baby fat, the little drake was freakishly strong for his size and could quite well do a lot of damage if he intended to. This was something 'Scootaloo' and 'Sweetiebelle' found out the hard way as while headed to the theater to see what was playing he turned on them. They had turned down an ally to cut through to the next road for a short cut and the next thing they knew he had them both pinned to a brick wall, his claws digging into their throats a little as he kept them aloft. A glare and the tightening of his claws into her white fur kept 'Sweetiebelle' from trying a spell on him, the green magic fading from her horn as fast as it formed. He had asked a simple question before they came into the ally. Almost off clawed in fact, as if he wasn't expecting an answer. “So what should we try for the next cutie mark crusade?' Clearly the non answer and the 'Whatever you want.' he got back in turn were not satisfactory. Spike growled at them, green flame licking among his razor sharp teeth. “I am going to ask this once, and only once. Where are the real Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo, and so help me if Applebloom is so much as missing her bow......”Spike growled out.” Let's just say you don't have high enough stats to make THAT saving throw.....” [ Canterlot Mare-iott] “Mmmm, right there Mac.” Twilight nearly purred feeling the large stallions hooves work into her back. Most of her concerns were melting away as Big Mac showed quite well why he sometimes used to moonlight at the spa for extra bits. The massage was taking her mind off the crap going on, though it didn't hurt either the large stallion was practically looming over her as she lay sprawled out on the couch practically melting into it. She was also quite away of something else that was starting to poke her hip that was going to be getting a lot of attention from her soon enough. Of course since the universe hated her , her rooms door burst open revealing Rahs. “BORK!” Rahs sounded before stopping dead in his tracks, his eyes going wide at the position the pair were in, before he promptly turned green and ducked back out into the hall feeding what was left of his dinner to a fake plant in the corner. “THIS IS WHY WE KNOCK RAHS!!” Twilight shouted her ears flattening to her head as her 'object of interest' quickly seemed to retreat as Big Mac moved off of her. “WOOF!” Rahs howled back. “Oh get over it, you'd think you would have learned by now after walking in on Shining and Cadence... TWICE!” Twilight growled.” At least all I was doing was getting my back rubbed....” “Eeyup..” Mac added sitting off to the side with a large pillow placed over his lap. The large stallion was doing his best not to pout. “This had better be important!” Twilight growled as Rahs came back into the room growling as well. “Bark, Yip, grrr.” Rahs stated in annoyance. “A spell, what spell? And what do you mean it tastes like chocolate?” Twilight blinked. “Ruff....” Rahs explained. “What?” Mac asked. “He says something cast a spell on one of us that tasted like chocolate and he thinks that's whats making him sick.” Twilight pondered.”You felt it through the link?” Rahs nodded sitting down in one of the chairs with a loud sigh. “Well I've not had anything cast on me, it might be Shining at a doctor, but when I saw him earlier he didn't say he was going to one..... Where's Spike?” As she asked the little drake could be seen tearing down the hall past Twilight's room towards the one he shared with Rahs. A moment later he ran back, collapsing onto the ground out of breath, a large book in his claw. The three of them stared at the little drake until he caught his breath. “Pod ponies... Scootaloo, Sweetiebelle...... foal napped..... replaced....... ah my sides..... “ Spike gasped out “What?” Twilight blinked as Rahs moved to get the small dragon some water from the rooms kitchenette. “Scootallo and Sweetiebelle have been foal napped and replaced by pod ponies!” Spike tried again after another moment or two gasp for air. “Okay, I say again, what?” Twilight commented.” Is this one of your comic books?” “No it's not! The threat of attack on Canterlot is already here, ponies are being replaced. I hang out with the crusaders all the time and neither of them were acting like they usually do. Heck Applebloom refused to go with us even when Applejack gave her permission to. Normally I have to use a crowbar to get her away from me, particularly after my birthday and the other two were just acting weird.” Spike explained. “Might jus be nervous?” Big Mac offered. “I considered that too, but I asked them about crusading for a cutiemark related to the wedding or the party, A CUTIEMARK, and neither of them cared.” “Woof.” Rahs pointed out. “Yeah okay, that's weird.” Twilight agreed.” Not exactly cementing me on your pod pony theory though.” “Well, I confronted them and one of them turned into a bug pony thing, all black chitin and stuff like an beetle but in pony shape. At first I thought it burst into flames like a spy movie but it was trying to scare me into dropping it. But, well, fire,.... like that's something for me to be afraid of. But it told me they had the girls.... Then they both tried to escape....” “What did you do?” Twilight blinked. “Shoved them in a trash can, flame welded the top on it, threw that in a dumpster and melted the top closed on that too, before running back here.”Spike muttered. “I couldn't take the risk of any one else maybe being a pod pony and knowing I knew.” “Why here?” Big Mac added. “Cause It's easy to tell if Twilight's been replaced. Observe. “ Spike stated holding up the book in two claws and started to bend the spine of it. “AHHH!” Twilight shouted launching herself forward and knocking Spike out of the way, as she snatched the book from his grasp. She quickly cuddled it to her chest.” Oh you poor thing, did the mean little dragon hurt you? I'll protect you...” “Oh yeah, that's Twilight.” “Eeeyup.” Big Mac agreed. “Ow.” Spike muttered. [ Under Canterot. 9 hours before the wedding.] Cadence looked at the ponies and changelings around her with a sigh. The duplicate mane five were here as well as a number of Guards and castle servants that had been grabbed. She didn't want to pull them away at a time like this though her hoof had been forced. All of them were milling around nervously before 'Cadence', though they all stopped as she started to speak. “ Alright the wedding is tomorrow morning and thus far we've managed to keep everything on track. The main guest is still none the wiser and neither are the Guards or the Princesses. The rumors of the invasion some one leaked have actually helped us in this, so I'm only going to half kill who ever blundered there.” Cadence snarled. “The problem right now is the infiltration force is down a large chunk of their number after capturing the Bearers as a precaution. Thankfully the element's themselves are out of the picture as most are still in Ponyville, of the ones here only Magic is at large as are the Sparkles so be on Guard.” There was a general murmuring from the gathered crowd at that, though it cut off as 'Cadence' spoke again. “We're in the last stretch and I want no surprises, you all know this one was a gamble, but the reward... and revenge was too great to pass up.” Cadence added. “That said I've got to call you back to keep watch on the Bearers for tonight to make sure nothing happens. There's only nine hours left until this is over. I don't want any issues now. The team watching the Sparkles will be excused from this duty.” “My Queen, Body Double and Firefly have not reported back yet.” one of the changelings stated. “It should be fine, hopefully they went to a late movie with Spike Sparkle, the last report said they were going to try for that to make sure he stayed tired tomorrow. Rahs Sparkle is still sick and was lead around most of the day to tire him out as well. And hopefully Twilight and her colt friend will get up to something that will wear them out, we've been adding some love honey to their food most of the day, that should keep them busy tonight.” There was a bit of laughter with that though it died quickly. “Alright Junebug, you're watching Rarity, make sure the cocoon isn't drying out, if possible assure her every so often that the cocoon will not change the color of her mane and coat and will dissolve away cleanly with some salt water. Tell her to take a beach trip or something.” Cadence ordered and a changeling nodded in response. “Domino you'll be watching the fillies, be cautious but also be careful and don't let them loose no matter how cute they try to be. If one of them gets hurt some how the plan going awry would be the least of our problems.” Cadence stated. The changeling disguised as Rarity nodded. “Pokerface, you'll be watching Applejack when we get her back up here I doubt there will be any issue since you already took her down yourself..... Pokerface..... Hey Up here!” Cadence clicked her tongue. Applejack had been looking over the Changeling disguised as Rarity trying to see if she could tell the difference when one of the changelings next to her elbowed her and pointed to the front. “Wha? Oh, uhhh, sorry my queen....” Applejack stammered. “You know what never mind. Butterfly you watch Applejack, Pokerface, you're on pink duty. The guard there will tell you what you need to do.” “OOOOOOOH.......” was the chorused groan from all the other changelings in the group, most of them looking at Applejack with pity or amusement. “ Darter you watch Fluttershy, and Guile and Wasp will keep an eye on Rainbow Dash, the rest of you are keeping an eye on the rest of the prisoners, they've already been fed so don't worry about that. Nine hours left my subjects, lets get this done.” There was a break of sorts and the group scattered. After a moment of confusion one of the changelings pointed Applejack down a tunnel that had been filled in to be a rather tight passage as if to prevent something from rolling out. The mouth of the tunnel was also covered in warnings scratched into the slime and rock as well as a tally count of injured. Applejack swallowed shifting her cooking apron a bit as she moved down the tight tunnel into a fair sized chamber. Two changleings were leaning back against the wall staring at a massive green ball that was glued to the walls and had a very angry looking pink face poking out of it. “Oh thank the stars you're here, this mares gonna kill us. Look what ever you do don't let the cocoon dry out, add to it as much as you want, but DO NOT, let it dry out . She's been cracking it if it dries out to much, we lost a whole nother team when she got her arm out.” The one changeling shuddered. “We've been trying to get them to bring the yellow one in here to show that she's alright but the Queen won't allow it. I hate to say it like this Poker, but she's your problem for the next eight hours. We've tapped a pipe over there for water to keep it moist and there's a bucket by the faucet. We are outta here good luck.” Both changelings very quickly ran out of the room. Applejack frowned looking back at the tunnel, her ears perked as she looked up at the glowering eyes of Pinkie Pie, her eyes and nose all that was exposed in the mass of green slime. Applejack looked around once more before trotting over to fill up a bucket of water, setting it before the bound mare. She then smiled reaching into a pocket on her apron to pull out a salt shaker. “Dun worry Pinkie. This'll get that stuff right out of your mane an coat.” Applejack smirked.