//------------------------------//
// Chapter 34 
// Story: The Human Pet 
// by RushyFiction 
//------------------------------//

You stand in the middle of a concrete street, and deeply breathe in the faintly noxious fumes of the cars whizzing past you. As you watch them hurry off to work, exercise, meet a relative et cetera et cetera, you smirk. Busy bees, us humans. But then again, you could hardly judge, because you do have an appointment of your own.

The traffic lights signal green for you, so you cross the zebra and examine the dilapidated series of buildings in front of you. Nothing particularly distinctive about any of them - it's all a mishmash of neon, bricks and vapid advertisements, but there's a kind of junk food comfort to them. You know you fit these drab surroundings much more than the idyllic scenery of Equestria. The ponies' welcoming hooves are a home to your heart, but that grey, downcast street outside your old apartment window is home to your mind.  

You fixate on a coffee shop. You've never been there. On a whim, you walk up the steps and push the door open. The interior, to your surprise, matches your memories - not of this place, of course, but a colorful diner you'd seen in a film. Vague alien shapes surround you - you don't remember what kind of people... or aliens... inhabited the diner. You sit down on one of the window seats and pointedly raise an eyebrow towards your companion, already coiled up on the opposite chair like the overgrown fluffy snake that she is. Eris chews her long white mane absent-mindedly, only spitting it out when she realises you're there. "Anon!" She chirps. "Whatcha think?"

"It's cute." You roll your eyes, but the snark is washed away by a genuine feeling of gratefulness. "I really appreciate it." The praise makes Eris smile, and her fuzzy ears twitch on top of her head. "But I am wondering why you're still in my head. I thought you wanted me to get the fancy necklace so you could get your own body?" you ask.
"Pfft!" Eris pouts. "What do you mean, my own body? I'm in my body." Using her lion's paw, she motions vaguely at the surroundings around you. "I belong here. With you. We're a team, yeah?" 

You feel a sense of trepidation. This is going to be difficult. "But I don't understand. You were outside my body. You showed me that the fire in the Castle was fake. That Care Taker made it up."
A wide, self-satisfied smirk spreads across Eris's long snout, and she snickered. "Well, thanks to that magical doo-dah, I've become a bit of a backseat driver in here. Sorry." She burst into actual giggles. "What I did was manipulate your... well, our perception a little. I imprinted an image of myself onto your eyes. Like a waking dream. Kind of like Care Taker's fire itself, now that I think about it." 

Eris stares down onto the table in front of you, and you follow her line of sight to find a chilled, fizzy glass of Coke there. You gulp it down without hesitation, indulging in the crispness of the drink as it goes down your throat. "I can make anything real to you, if you want."
Now it's your turn to laugh, confusing the poor girl. "That wasn't real though. You're stronger, but you're still living in my memories. You made me taste Coke, because I have already tasted it. And you look like..." you wave your hand towards her furry face "... this... because I saw that statue in the Princesses' garden."

The words sour her mood, and a strong blush comes over her grey face. "Yeah, well, so what?! There's nothing wrong with being what I am! And I'm the only one of us who can do magic, mr 'I'm So Cool Cause I'm Real'. Ooh, look at me, I can drink Coke! Hey, she just said she can manipulate my very understanding of reality, but hey, I drink Coke!!" Eris shouts, her claws scraping thin lines into the table.

You hold up your hands defensively. "Hey-hey-hey, chill out now. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to say you're not real. I mean, it's weird, but... I'm glad you're here."
Eris starts chewing on her white locks again, avoiding your gaze. "... you are?" 
"Mm-hmm. There's a lot going on in my life right now... it's nice to know there's someone who can, well, kind of see things from my perspective. You're in my memories, you know that this world isn't like the world I came from. And... I have... difficulties dealing with that sometimes. I miss things... being less perfect. I miss not having to be the best that I can possibly be to live up to what these ponies expect from everyone. But you're not like that. At least not all the way."
Eris frowns, and cocks her head to the side. "Well, that's silly."
"I mean, I guess-" you start, but she interrupts you. "How can you not be best? I mean, you never want anything bad to happen, so it's not your fault when it does!" Eris declares passionately, and crosses her arms in a victorious pose. 

You blink. "I don't think that's how it works."
With a white flash, Eris disappears and then reappears sitting on top of you. "Hug!" She wraps her long, soft coils around your chest and nuzzles carefully under your neck to avoid poking you with her horns. "The good thing about dreams is that you decide." she says, rubbing your cheek playfully with her paw.



With a gentle smile on her face, Nurse Redheart strolled down the corridors at a slow gait, with soft steps, careful not to wake any of the patients during her night watch. Despite working the night shift, her smile was genuine - unlike, say, the infamous Cutie Mark Crusaders, Redheart had realised her purpose at an early age and lived it. She was all about making ponies better. Patching them up, talking to them when they were lonely and, like tonight, making sure no harm came to them during the dark hours. 

Dedicating herself to the wellbeing of others was tiresome, but Red saw its benefits. She met all kinds of ponies in her line of work, and even other species at times. Most recently, there was the sweet ape-like alien from another world that the Elements of Harmony dubbed 'Skinny'. Not to mention the first thestral to visit Ponyville in a long long time. Red couldn't lie, she'd felt a degree of trepidation when tasked with looking after a member of the notoriously furtive and brusque bat pony race, particularly a guard. Fortunately, Crimson Star proved to be a particularly bright and cooperative patient. Or so she'd thought, anyway.

Red peeked through the window of a specific ward and her eyes widened as she saw the doctors hadn't been lying. Crimson was indeed back in his bed, although now with badly bruised hindhooves instead of wings. Being extra careful not to make the door squeak, she gave it a light push and brushed through the opening into the room to get a look at his chart. However, the white pony immediately cursed under her breath as she realised she'd neglected the bat's enhanced hearing. The minute she walked in, his dark fuzzy ears twitched noticeably. The nurse froze, but it was far too late - Crimson's guard training set off an internal alarm of sorts and she found herself staring at two bloodred orbs with slitted irises. 

The bat gave a wide sharp-toothed grin. "Hello, nurse."
She released a breath she didn't realise she was holding. 
"I'm sorry to have woken you up. I just came to look at your chart." Redheart said carefully, and pulled it out of the socket at the end of Crimson's bed. "Injury sustained from a confrontation with an unspecified 'squid monster'?"
Crimson shrugged apologetically. "The Ever-"
"The Everfree Forest, right." She finished for him, vaguely gesturing with her hoof. No questions had to be asked. Besides, she had a different topic in mind. "Crimson..."
"Yeah?" The bat asked, an obliviously innocent look on his face that pulled at the nurse's heartstrings. 

Charm off. Interrogation time. 
Redheart bit her lip, but decided to just jump into it. "I hate to ask this, but there's a problem and it needs to be addressed."
"A problem?" Crimson's features drooped, and one of his ears slowly perked up to attention. 
"Yes. Now, I want you to know that I don't mean to be disrespectful about this. I just want you to hear me out, because I think you're the only one that can answer this."
When the bat didn't reply, she pushed on. "The last time you were here, when your wings fractured, there was an issue with the supply room. Two packages of donor blood went missing. At the time, I was maybe a bit suspicious, but I didn't say anything because, well..." She rubbed the back of her head nervously, and began to breathe heavily. "I suppose I didn't want any trouble with the Guard, or with... with other bats. But the good news is, I found the packages two days after you left. Just by accident, I... I saw them stuffed into the trash. They were empty, just plastic. But everypony had said the blood hadn't been in use, so I got curious. I checked them. And there were two puncture marks on both."

For a moment, silence hung in the ward. Crimson frowned, and then nodded. "I took them."
The immediate admission surprised Red so much that she actually took a step backwards. "Wait, you-... really?!" 
Crimson lowered his head mournfully, immediately defusing the tension building up in the white pony. "I'm sorry, Nurse Redheart. I didn't think anybody would notice so soon... I just had to...."

She sighed. "That anti-bloodsucking law has been pretty hard on bats, hasn't it?"
"No!" Crimson shook his head rapidly, making his fur flap around on him. "The potion Princess Luna worked out nourishes us, so we don't have to feed on other living animals anymore! We're fine, we're just... my mother..."
"Your mother...?"
Crimson closed his eyes. "She wants me to be a proper thestral. To feel like one. And a proper thestral drinks blood. So I had to get some, somehow."
Redheart frowned, recognition gleaming in her eyes. "Wait, is your mother... Crystal Star??" The thestral matriarch had attained a certain degree of infamy in Canterlot circles by publically representing the more vicious night time ponies who still longed for Nightmare Moon's rule, over 1000 years after her defeat. After Princess Luna's return, a flame had been lit in their greedy hearts again, and nothing could convince them that Celestia wasn't still holding her prisoner somehow, a mockery of the queen they dreamed of. 

"Yeah." Crimson admitted. "And I'm a Lunar Guard, I know. You should've seen Mother when I told her about the potion. She only stopped yelling when she physically couldn't." He snickered, only to remember why they were having this conversation. "I won't do it anymore, I promise. And if you want to send a letter to Canterlot, that's okay. I understand. You know, I've never been in a prison before, it'll be quite interesting." He stared wistfully at the ceiling. 

Redheart stared at the thestral, feeling split. On one hoof, Crimson had stolen blood from ponies who could have very well been in trouble without it. But on the other, she really didn't think he'd meant any harm. And he did promise...
Finally, after pacing back and forth for a while, she came to a decision and smirked. 
"If you make up for it, I won't give you up. So, as soon as you get better, I want you back in this hospital ready to fill two bags, are we clear?" She announced in an authoritative tone. 
Crimson nodded on his bed. "Yes, ma'am."
"And don't think I won't be checking hospitals in other cities. I don't want to hear about this sort of thing happening again. Our patients may need that blood to survive. A Lunar Guard can't be this short-sighted! Now off to sleep." She turned around and headed for the door, pleased with how she'd handled the situation. 
"Nurse?" Crimson called after her. 
"Hmm?"
"Good night. And thanks!" 
"Sleep tight, Crimson."



Sipping a smoky herbal tea, Zecora watched with no little amusement as the door to her hovel practically flew off its hinges, revealing a red-faced, scowling old earth pony who threw a pair of heavy black saddlebags onto the floor with a loud metallic clunk to give his poor back a break. 
"Judging from your face's hue, I see things did not go well for you." She muttered, and stood to fill her kettle again.
"Well?" Care Taker intoned sarcastically as he sat down on the opposite side of the table. "It was a disaster. Tourists, you said. The occasional bat colt or filly. Perhaps once in a blue moon, an odd adventurer with dreams of glory. Now, unless I fell asleep in the middle of that conversation, that list did not include Lunar Guards from the cult of Nightmare Moon armed with furless monkeys drawn to magic like a Changeling drawn to love!"

Zecora rolled her eyes at the cynical old pony's whinging. "Perhaps for you, some tea of lilac, lest you have a heart attack."
"That would probably be the highlight of the day." Care Taker muttered. "... but tea would be nice."
She sat down again. "While it boils, I must insist you tell me all of this... cultist?"
Care Taker nodded. "He was wearing a sigil of Nightmare Moon around his neck, the same type that she used to give out to her inner circle. Which we only remember because some of their crazy descendants are still wearing them. The night of Canterlot is thick with bats who want what Moon promised them. And you know that with something as powerful as the Alicorn Amulet, they're liable to get it."

The zebra shaman tapped her chin. "I am not convinced that Crimson Star has led us into the trouble in which you think we are."
"Crimson... Star?" Care Taker said slowly, his expression becoming increasingly grave. "As in the son of Crystal Star? Well, that's good news. We're not in trouble, we're dead. The moment Crystal Star learns that her son has access to the Amulet, she'll be coming for it and I doubt she'll be alone."
"You have little faith, I see, in the Elements of Harmony." Zecora pointed out, and poured the steaming hot lilac tea into a small porcelain cup in front of Care Taker, who gladly took it and warmed his hooves. 
"Oh, I have faith... I'm just not a one trick pony." He clacked cups with Zecora.