You Can Make It Anywhere.
“He never really stops, does he?” Diamond Tiara asked in slight wonder as she watched Scorpan run out of the carriage, cheerfully frolicking all around as they exited the carriage right in front of Big Apple Tour’s at a far more sedate pace.
“Does he being unconscious count?” Grogar snarked as he watched his son-in-law climb a lamp post for reasons that frankly eluded both of them. “Because if not, then sadly, no.”
“Huh, well better be you to deal with it than most other beings, I guess,” Diamond snarked right back. The pink earth pony really didn’t know when it had happened, but she found out that trading barbs and snarky comments with the retired dark lord to be one of the most pleasant parts of the tour.
“You are a conniving, vindictive little thing, aren’t you?” Grogar questioned with a hint of approval and a tiny smirk as they both watched the lamp post snap due to the gargoyle's weight and dump Scorpan back into the ground in a graceless heap. The moment immortalized by Joyous Spring ever present camera. “It pleases my heart to know that there is still some hope for the future generations!”
Huffing in fake annoyance, Diamond Tiara followed the retired dark lord towards where Prompt Service was getting their souvenirs and other end-of-the-tour stuff. All the while trying not to think too hard at the fact that, after her initial panic had been exhausted, she had apparently struck some kind of easy friendship with the Tyrant of Tambelon. Oh, sure, she knew she could be abrasive at times, but knowing she had far too much in common with the former dark lord when it came to humor and conversation interests wasn’t something she had wanted to realize about herself.
“Like you could possibly judged such things, oh, great warlock. How many times was your peerless self defeat again?” Diamond needled the ram, as she decided to shelve those issues for later. Much, much later.
“I’ll let you know that my judgment is flawless! Especially when compared to a species I won’t mention that seems unable to manage to go a single week without some kind of cataclysm happening in their kingdom!” Grogar needled Diamond right back, smirk firm on his features as he feigned nonchalance.
“Surely the troggles weren’t that bad? I mean, sure, the fact that they chose to allow you to lead them speaks very poorly of their overall intellect. But still!” Diamond exclaimed in fake surprise, the smirk on her muzzle mirroring the one on Grogar’s.
“Not bad, not bad at all,” Grogar replied with a barely perceptible chuckle. “But you better lose the attitude if you don’t want to see exactly how I got my reputation, you cheeky little brat.”
“Grumpy old ram,” Diamond grumbled back good naturedly as she prepared for the next round of their little verbal game, only for her to immediately jump backwards as a green blur suddenly passed right next to them with enough speed to cause a gale before proceeding to tackle a slowly rising Scorpan back to the ground despite his massive weight.
“Scorpy, did you miss me!” the green scaled creature happily shouted as she coiled her long snake-like tail around the gargoyle and started to rain down kisses upon his face, an action that was being repeated by the many snakes that seemed to constituted the being's hair. “Did you enjoy the tour with dad? I hope he didn’t give you too much of a hard time!”
“Stheno, dear, please keep your activities with your boy-toy to somewhere that I cannot see them,” Grogar growled in annoyance with a shake of his head, to no effect as the embracing couple acted as if he hadn’t even spoken. All the while Joyous Spring kept darting around the couple in order to get the best angle for his next picture.
“I did miss you, hunny bun, you know that!” Scorpan happily exclaimed as he enthusiastically hugged the gorgon back. “And it was hardly a bother, why, dad even managed to make a friend!”
“Truly!?” Stheno gasped in surprise and wonder, as she let go of her husband and turned to gaze at a now face-hoofing retired dark lord with sparkling eyes. “Daddy, is this true, did you make a friend?!”
“Now, let’s not blow things out of proportion!” Grogar grumbled as he started to try and divert his daughter’s attention. Only for a certain saddle arabian to decided to add his two bits on the matter.
“Why, yes! Despite a rather rough start Mister Grogar and Miss Diamond have gotten along fabulously in the later parts of our tour!” Joyous Spring helpfully said to Stheno as he moved towards the couple with a blinding smile. “It warms the heart to see a friendship bloom in even the harshest of situations!”
As the green scaled gorgon absorbed the equine’s words and turned her sparkling eyes and huge fanged smile straight towards her form, with a sudden sinking feeling Diamond realized what was about to happen moments before it actually happened, not to say that served her for anything. For, just as she started to attempt to make a run for it, the gorgon had already slithered up to her with frightening speed and proceeded to show why some species of snakes didn’t need venom to take down their prey, as she proceeded to hug the life out of the pink filly.
“This is truly wondrous news! Hello, little one, I’m Stheno!” the gorgon happily stated as she continued to treat Diamond like a stuffed animal as she spun and twirled her around, hugging her all the while. “I cannot say how happy I am to hear you gave my grouch of a father a chance! Why, this is a case for celebration!”
"Stheno, dear, this is really not necessary!” Grogar tried to interject as Diamond tried and failed to break free of her captor’s embrace, only for his daughter to immediately cut him off.
“Nonsense! This is the first friend you have ever made of your own free will, dad!” she stated it as if it was a foregone conclusion as she finally stopped spinning and gave her father a knowing look. “It is a momentous occasion and we will celebrate it!”
“Don’t be absurd, I have plenty of friends!” the retired dark lord shot back in clear annoyance. “I play poker with Gusty, Bray and the boys all the time!”
“Oh, please, minions and former enemies don’t count! And besides, that only happened because Gusty simply has no idea when to back down and refused your refusal of his friendship!” Stheno promptly replied with a quite final nod of her head, a teasing smile on her features. “And then proceeded to drag his friends along for the ride, this is the first time you decided to make a friend!”
From the way they were talking about it, it was clear that this was an old discussion that was often rehashed between the two of them, not that Diamond particularly cared, being quite busy trying to free herself from the gorgon’s constrictive hug.
“What’s going on here?” Diamond heard her own father ask, making her stop her struggles in order to see that Filthy Rich had just come down from a carriage and was taking the whole situation in.
When his eyes fell upon her still trapped form between Stheno’s arms, Diamond expected many things to happen. But her father turning towards the gorgon lady holding her captive and starting to politely talk with her wasn’t one of them.
“Lady Stheno, what a pleasant surprise seeing you again so soon!” he greeted the gorgon as he started to trot towards the group, apparently unconcerned by Diamond’s fate. “And I see you have met my dear princess! Diamond, meet lady Stheno, the newest partner and business associate of Rich's Barnyard Bargains! Lady Stheno, meet my daughter, Diamond Tiara.”
“So this is the precious princess you were talking about? Rich, you really didn’t do her cuteness justice!” Stheno gasped in mock outrage, giving Diamond a final hug before offering the very disgruntled filly back to her father. “She is truly adorable!”
“Why, thank you,” Filthy Rich gladly accepted the compliment, before he turned towards Diamond with a cheerful smile. “And what about you, princess, did you enjoy the tour?”
“It was okay,” she grunted as she attempted to put her mane back into some semblance of order.
“Rich, you will not believe this, but my husband and father where on the same tour as your Diamond! And she actually made friends with my father during it!” Stheno cheerfully proclaimed as she proceed to hug her disgruntled looking father.
“My, that is quite a coincidence! Thank you for taking care of my precious princess, my good sir!” Rich said toward the ram without a hint of fear, which for his part simply grunted and nodded his head in answer. Before the earth pony seemed to be struck by a sudden idea. “Oh, I know! You still have a few days left before you must leave the country, isn’t that so?”
“Indeed, that is the case,” Scorpan promptly replied from Stheno’s side. “Why do you ask?”
“Why, you must come visit us in Ponyville so that I may properly thank you for this! We would gladly welcome you all into our home!” Filthy Rich happily proclaimed, as if the idea couldn’t possibly go wrong in a million different ways that Diamond could think from the top of her head.
“Can we daddy? Please?” Stheno pleaded to her father, showing a very masterful use of the puppy-eye technique in the filly’s honest opinion.
Grogar grumbled under his breath as he attempted to break eye contact with his pleading daughter, only for her to slither in such a way that no matter how he moved his head she remained right in front of him. “Oh, fine, why the heck not!”
And as Stheno and Scorpan cheered at the news and her own father chuckled at the whole scene, as Joyous Spring bid the group a warm farewell and she thought about what would probably follow of bringing a retired dark lord, a clueless gargoyle, and his apparently quite boisterous gorgon wife to ponyvile, she found herself mirroring Grogar’s words as she let out an exhausted but amused huff.
Why the heck not, indeed.