//------------------------------// // Chapter Four // Story: My Little Skaven // by Autocharth //------------------------------// Thanquol grounded his teeth furiously and imagined eating the little beast’s guts in front of its pain-filled eyes. To his credit he restrained himself, even when Angel Bunny started pulling faces on him. He had awoken in a less than pleased mood, having slept through the rest of the day and night in the beast’s strangely comfortable bed. For a while he had suspected it had poisoned him but had eventually dismissed the idea. It was too easily frightened to attempt to do such a thing to its better. Still, he had best find some way to ensure it knew he would punish it properly if it failed him. Perhaps the rabbit- No, wait. Thanquol was trying to ‘befriend’ it. Without his magic to protect him he had little interest in risking antagonising it. He stroked his whiskers and leaned heavily on his staff. The various trinkets and amulets hanging from it clinked slightly when he shifted his weight. He chittered angrily and stamped his foot impatiently. It had told him there was a town called ‘Ponyville’ nearby, full of other pony-things and it wanted him to come with it. Yet it had the nerve to keep him waiting while dealing with its pointless little pets! “I’m done.” The wretched beast whimpered apologetically. “Sorry to make you wait but Angel was being a fussy little bunny.” It said with a weak smile. Ever magnanimous Thanquol resisted the urge to beat it over the head to teach it a lesson. After his initial burst of warpstone fuelled confidence reason had asserted itself. His host had explained the nearby ‘Everfree Forest’ and its danger, yet despite its obvious fear the creature remained close to it. It also lived on its own save for the damnable little beasts following its every word. All this led to only one conclusion. His brilliant mind had deduced that Fluttershy must have a protector of some sort. Something or someone stronger was ensuring the pony-thing was left in peace. While the dangers of the forest could be exaggerated the ever-vigilant Thanquol knew not to make assumptions. The pony-thing appeared knowledgeable on beasts and nature so it must have some idea, however inaccurate its own fear might make it. “You are forgiven.” He muttered impatiently with a flap of his paw in its direction. “Let us leave-go, now-now!” he stamped the butt of his staff on the ground for emphasis. It nodded obediently. “A-Alright. You must really want new clothes.” It murmured quietly. This was true. It seemed Thanquol’s tumultuous journey had done substantial damage to his robes. The various trinkets, the arcane power of many gone, had survived as had his belt. Of his sword there was no sign. He thumped his staff again with as much dignity as a rat in a make-shift bedsheet robe could. “Yes-yes, I wish it very-highly.” Thanquol nearly bared his teeth before remembering that about Fluttershy’s likely patron. Whoever it was must be powerful and without his magic to defend or destroy… Thanquol had the utmost confidence in his mind’s ability to devise a cunning plan. Still, it was hardly worth the effort to antagonise a no doubt reasonable being, he decided. Sensing her patient’s lack of patience Fluttershy took his free paw by the hoof, holding it in the crook of her ankle. He resisted automatically for a moment before grudgingly allowing her to lead him down the path. Fluttershy smiled comfortingly before turning her head back to face forward. She began to hum a quiet, beautiful tone absently that nearby birds picked up and joined in. Since she was looking away the timid mare missed the rage that built up in those beady, hateful eyes. The dark emotion was smothered although not without his grip on his staff tightening dangerously. Thanquol settled for glaring at every tasty little beast in sight. After a few minutes of enjoying the reactions of the animals drawn by Fluttershy’s hum something occurred to him. How was it influencing the beasts? Clearly they were being drawn to the pony-thing and by its actions he had worked out that it was a caretaker for the local animals. It might have told him so of course, but Thanquol had obviously already worked it out before hand. He sniffed at the air and stretched out his senses, mundane and arcane both. Though animals continued to peek in from bushes and trees as Fluttershy sung there was no magic in the air. The pony-thing was unremarkable to his finely-tuned senses even as its song brought the beasts to heel. His tongue lashed at his lips and Thanquol wondered how long it had been since he last partook of his warpstone. Too, too long, surely. Just a pinch, to focus his mind- No! The Grey Seer mastered himself with some effort. He had managed to recover another two pouches of warpstone snuff, a far too small purse of warpstone tokens and a single finger-sized silver. Until he knew how far from the nearest outpost of the Under-Empire he was it had to be rationed! But it couldn’t be all that far, he reasoned. Thanquol knew he was perhaps the most knowledgeable skaven alive, though in his modesty he chose not to brag, but even his immense wisdom could have a hole or two in it. The Under-Empire spread from the Old World to Cathay and from north to south. Surely he would find an outpost easily enough. Drooling slightly he drew shook his paw out of Fluttershy’s hoof and pulled out one of the snuff-pouches. The pony-thing was looking at him but he paid it no mind as he quickly drew a small amount of the black-green dust up to his nose. Fire raced along through his veins and his tongue whipped madly in the air from his now slack jaw. Fluttershy’s concern only grew as he took another sniff of the strange dust. Thanquol had refused to even let her touch the bags holding any of the green-black stuff and it was starting to worry her. The way he had been so desperate to get some and his sudden shudders and limp expression made her fear the worst. After a few seconds of letting the fiery touch of warpstone sharpen his mind once again, Thanquol snapped his attention back to the pony-thing. It was staring at him with wide, frightened eyes. Good, he thought, working his jaw for a moment. Fear was good. “Um, a-are you a-alright?” she asked hesitantly. Was it medicine? Was he sicker then she thought? Fluttershy’s worry grew every second. He took a few moments to answer in which she only got more fearful. “Yes-yes, I am good-strong.” He thumped his chest lightly. The way he winced did not go unnoticed. “Uh, let me just, um...” as delicately as she could Fluttershy took his paw again and gently began to let him put his weigh on her. She brushed her mane out of her face and looked hopefully at him. “I-is that better?” Thanquol gave the pony-thing a haughty look, pondering if a good kick was in order for its presumption before commanding it to take his weight again. He caught himself at the last moment and put his foot back down. “Much better-good.” He nodded grandly, holding his staff in the crook of his elbow while he stroked his whiskers in a practiced gesture. It highlighted his intellect. “We should move-travel again. Quick-fast!” Was there something wrong with his whiskers? Fluttershy would be sure to ask later. For now she settled for resuming their journey. What a waste! Thanquol glared at the pristine, untouched land around him and felt supreme contempt for the pony-things. How much black corn could be grown to feed the skaven warmachine? The warpstone forges that could be constructed in such space would give any rat who commanded them – and Thanquol had exactly the rat in mind – would allow an incredible increase in production unlike any seen in centuries! All the trees would provide materials and perhaps there were minerals deposits the stupid beasts had failed to exploit nearby. The wide, open fields he could see through the lowering number of trees would be perfect pastures for keeping the pony-slaves. Very wide, in fact. Extremely open. Open to the sky. The big, empty, skavenless sky.... The blue of the clear, clean sky was becoming ever more apparent through the trees and without conscious thought Thanquol’s grip tightened on Fluttershy’s hoof and he pressed closer to her. All skaven were, to some extent, naturally agoraphobic. They were at home in the massed horde of their fellow ratkin with the press of walls on all sides. Most lived their entire lives underground forever surrounded by other skaven. If there was one thing Thanquol could honestly claim to be was well-travelled. He had gone from Araby to the Chaos Wastes in search of opportunities to prove to his many jealous and bitter rivals the genius that was Thanquol. They had hounded him to the most remote locations forever sabotaging his other-wise flawless schemes yet never able to prevent him escaping. It suddenly came crashing into his mind that he was alone who-knows-how-far from another skaven, lacking in magic, stuck on the surface. Not to mention injured and Thanquol knew full well what happens to the infirm. He ought to know, he’d eaten enough of them. A foul smell reached Fluttershy’s nose. Her muzzle wrinkled as she sniffed at the air. Before she could make any connections Thanquol began to pull back down the path away from the horrifyingly open sky. ‘He’s shaking!’ she let him pull back into the comforting shadow. It was apparent where the smell was coming from. Thanquol was crouching down, hissing madly with near-feral rage. He was too alone! Where was the comforting press of kin around him? The lack of pressure and freedom of movement induced a nearly physical ache. Anything, anyone, even a Pestilens plague monk! If a battalion of the insane diseased fanatics of their equally mad Great Clan had appeared brimming with fatal illnesses he would have gone running and leaping into their midst. Fluttershy lowered herself down next to him. She could recognise the signs of an animal in distress easily and he was giving off so many. In particular she guessed it was something to do with leaving the forest. While she had never met any of his species before Thanquol was obviously related to rats in some way. A bad reaction to the sky, perhaps? His eyes had been sensitive to light as well, too sensitive for a creature who lived in the daylight – or rather, perfectly suited to a race that lived in darkness. Her hoof began to gently run across the dirty fur on the back of his neck. “There there.” She murmured sweetly. “It’s alright. I’m here, you don’t have to be afraid.” The irony of her saying that was not lost on the timid pegasus but she pressed on. The shred of rational thought left in Thanquol’s mind noticed the way the pony-thing’s submissive posture was gone and how it spoke without stuttering. Fluttershy let out a squeak as she was suddenly pulled in tighter. He held on as though letting go would kill him and for all she knew it just might. Instead of resisting she stroked the back of his head and the base of his horns. A few minutes later she was suddenly pushed away. Thanquol rose from his crouch, teeth grinding with rage. To be so humiliated! Only the urgent cry of his body to acquire more warpstone had broken the trance he had been put in and only that same need prevented him from simply staving in her head with his staff. “Say-speak nothing!” he snarled once his bloodshot eyes opened from the euphoric thrill of warpstone induced high. “Tell-squeak to no one or I break-smash home!” Surprised by the sudden reversal of attitude and violent threat Fluttershy took a few steps back. She quickly got her thoughts in order. ‘The poor thing is just embarrassed.’ she told herself as she promised not to tell anypony. Nonetheless, she frowned. ‘But he is being a bit rude.’ He eyed her suspiciously for a few more seconds before nodding himself. “Let us go. I need-need new robes.” He commanded imperiously. Fluttershy nodded hesitantly. He did need something to replace his old robes and her, uh, now stinking bed-sheet. Thanquol failed to notice how close he stayed to her side as they approached the sun-lit exit. If he was the sort of reflect he might have realised that he had stopped thinking of her as an ‘it’, a distinction he had extended among lesser races only to the mad Slayer and his spiteful henchman. Nor did he notice the way sticking close to her relived some of his tension, almost like being in the comforting company of another skaven. It sickened him when he realised what was going on. In his mad desperation his mind was using the pony-thing as surrogate kin to keep from going mad. His teeth gnashed angrily. How? Nothing of the sort had happened before! Grudgingly he admitted the last time it had happened when he was adrift on ocean far from home there had not actually been anyone around of any kind. Even then he had been able to take comfort in the body of his rat-ogre Boneripper until the last morsels had been devoured. Only the Horned Rat’s own luck had led him to drift into a port without being seen by the humans. Once the smells of other living creatures and the stink of a man-city had reached his nearly comatose body he had awoken. Thanquol felt quite proud that it had only taken a few tasty beggars before his senses fully returned to him. He absently ran a finger along the inside of one of his nostrils in search of wayward warpstone. Perhaps this could be of use....Yes, he would use it! The pony-thing clearly had sort of fixation of healing animals. She had mentioned something about a mark, which he reasoned was a brand of some kind to show her occupation. Was the mark magical and somehow assisted her in fulfilling that duty? *** The strange creature with Fluttershy was exactly the sort of thing to cause certain ponies to panic the entire town. Normally, at least. But a dilemma was presented itself as ponies stared and winced at the smell when it got too close. On the one hand it was s strange, horned bipedal rat in a dirty sheet glaring at everypony. Its gaze was strangely unsetting and nopony could meet its stare before looking away. None could really explain the feeling, because the population of Ponyville had largely never had cause to look into the eyes of a creature that considered them less than a living thing. On the other hand...it was with Fluttershy and she did not look nervous. Or at least anymore nervous than usual. While Rainbow Dash had bragged about the incident with the dragon, since Fluttershy was far too shy and modest to do it herself, and how the timid mare had talked the dragon into leaving on her own but many found it hard to believe. She was Fluttershy, for Celestia’s sake! How could they look at themselves in the mirror if they were afraid of something that she could apparently handle with ease? For his part Thanquol could not stop looking in every direction, trying to see as much as possible. There were so many! They were disgustingly coloured but he was certain the Moulder breeders could work that problem out. Their buildings were crude and weak compared to mighty skaven construction techniques, of course, but they seemed well-made...for non-skaven. Many of the pony-things were stopping to stare at him and those he greeted with a glare. None could look for long and this pleased him. While they did not cower in quite the same way Fluttershy did they also seemed to lack much of a backbone. Good. Some lacked wings, he noticed, and had a horn. None had both horn and wing. He sneered contemptuously when he saw the tips were dulled. The tips of his own blessed horns were razor-pointed. What was the point of a horn if it was not sharp enough to stab with? By far the kind lacking in horn or wing were the most common. A base form, he deduced, from which the others had sprung. Perhaps they had somehow acquired a controlled form of mutation much like the mutators of Moulder could achieve through mastery of breeding and warpstone exposure. The smells were odd as well, not at all like the horses he had caught wind of before. The air was so disgustingly clean, lacking in proper skaven-stench. All of the pony-things had marks on their sides, no two completely identical. All the attention was flustering Fluttershy. She discreetly tried to hurry Thanquol. It was really getting to her and she wished everypony would stop looking. Thanquol probably would not appreciate being stared at either. Fortunately the journey to Rarity's store was relatively short. Thanquol snorted as Fluttershy led him to the building. He could smell it and there was nothing about it he liked. “We’re just about there.” Murmured the pony-thing, opening the door. “Come on in.” She smiled at him. Idly he considered giving her a smack with his staff for giving him an order before remembering that would be a bad idea. He had to be subtle. Unfortunately any idea of that went out the window. “Fluttershy, darling, so glad you could make it on ti-” Rarity froze halfway into hugging her friend. She stared with mounting horror at the thing Fluttershy was leading in by the hoof. Thanquol fought the urge to hiss at the horned pony-thing. It was looking at him strangely and there was something off about its scent. “Uh, Rarity? I’m sorry to interrupt, um, this is Thanquol. He’s-” A loud feminine shriek pierced the air and every ear-drum within a block. Everypony recognised it and shrugged. A few who had seen the creature following Fluttershy had a sneaking suspicion about what the cause was. It had looked rather filthy. The shriek came to an end when Rarity fell away in a dead faint. Thanquol hissed from where he was pressing himself against the wall, claws clapped over his sensitive ears. Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Oh dear.” *** There’s chapter 4! Its easier to work on this compared to Justice Itself when at uni. Hmm, I should probably be working on my Academic Writing assignment but meh, got till Tuesday. I’ll do it tomorrow while at uni and finish chapter 10 of Justice Itself when I get back from work tomorrow night. This is a bit longer then I wanted because I just couldn’t find a good place to finish so it kept dragging off. The main point of this was to establish why Thanquol is not going to be totally evil to Fluttershy and the other ponies. Oh, he’ll WANT to be. I’m going to do my best to make him as monstrous as possible while finding ways to prevent him from acting on his urges. It will frustrate him no end. He’s still getting his high off warpstone dust but without the boost in magical power its not lasting as long or giving him the usual empowerment to destroy at whim. I couldn’t really be bothered to make a big thing about the ponies of Ponyville reacting to Thanquol so I devised the reasoning about ‘if Fluttershy isn’t scared it would be embarrassing to be scared’, which is essentially the sentiment there to the random ponies. Ah well, hope you enjoyed the read. Please comment, I love comments. I practically feed on them, or at least my writing does. By that logic (or something indistinct I’ll call logic for now) that means I’m one or two relations from being a changling. I’d love to be able to shapeshift. For one thing, who needs to worry about brushing your teeth if you can shape-shift them into clean, healthy teeth?