-Equus, Ponyville, Market Square, Sandbar-
“So… did you notice the giant metal visitor?” I asked Gallus as we were hanging out today.
“The guy that calls himself Ectotron? Yeah, apparently Twilight says that she was checking in with other interdimensional traveling friends to see if they saw the group.” Gallus seemed to really miss having Smolder’s input on things, he really cherished arguing with her. I wasn’t as good at arguing, I don’t think anyone in my family was good at starting an argument. “Nothing happening thus far on that front, aside from the fact that our lost friends aren’t ghosts.”
Okay, change of subject, just like Rarity taught us.
“So what about that nice witch that’s basically adopted you?” I asked innocently enough, Gallus looked like he swallowed a lemon… the entire fruit without even tasting the sour juices inside.
“I’m almost an adult, does it really count if she’s looking out for me now when she hasn’t been there for me for the earlier parts of my life?” Gallus seemed to be waffling on this, because he was starting to sound fond of Kuril the second he started mentioning her.
“I think it counts. Besides, you like her grandchild Gavin don’t you?” I tried to think of something else. “You always seem happier after you visit Airship Mauled, it’s like a second Ponyville… only far more pukwudgie attacks and they are next to a forest full of giant monsters. That’s comparative to being next to a forest with numerous random magical problems like the Ever Free.”
More people from around the world were visiting Ponyville and some were even settling here in peace. If you couldn’t find a place in Ponyville, then Airship Mauled wasn’t that bad… it could sometimes be far worse than Ponyville when it came to chaos though.
“Yeah, Gavin is a cute little dude. I just don’t know how to feel about finally having someone to turn to when I’m in trouble.” That’s because Griffonstone wasn’t entirely pleasant for you Gallus. I think he has a problem with accepting a genuine offer of someone wanting to care about him unconditionally. At least Gilda, Greta, Gabby and Gruff made enough of a token effort for you. “Besides, Kuril is a crazy cat lady.”
“She doesn’t own any pet cats though.” I was confused as to why suddenly Gallus smacked himself in the face with his talons.
“Give it time!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she ran by chasing after an Abyssinian with green hair. “Get back here and take your free party like a mare Jaded!”
“But I’m not a mare Pinkie, I’m an Abyssinian Queen!” The cat shouted back as she ran from Pinkie Pie, she turned to look at Gallus and waved she ran. “Oh, hey brother, I hope you’re having a good day today!”
“Any idea what that was about?” Gallus asked in a confused tone, I just shrugged as Pinkie Pie still confused everyone at times.
-Earth, Calisota, Duckberg, Killmotor Hill, Mcduck Manor, Smolder-
“So that’s a no on Ithaquack, Saint Canard, Cape Suzette, most of Egypt, Thembria, Africa, Valhalla, Castle Mcduck, Istanbird, Istanbull which is next to Istanbird and used to be Constantinople, Mervana, Brazil, Cousin Fethry still hasn’t seen them in the ocean, Moorshire is clear aside from the killer kelpies and we at least know the parts of China and Japan they can’t be in.” Webby was one really energetic duck and she was taking our missing friends quite seriously, I think it’s because she didn’t have many growing up until she met the triplets of Huey, Dewey and Louie. Having told her about the school of friendship, she believed in friendship and took family seriously. “Haven’t found any sign of the three of them, though you’d think we’d have heard news of a large robotic ostrich by now… all I got was news about a mechanical owl named Clockwork. The things I learned about him weren’t very… er… pleasant. I’m surprised that he hasn’t come after dad’s fortune yet, that’ll likely be another adventure down the line for Scrooge Mcduck and family!”
“That’s… a lot of places actually.” When I heard they’ve been all over the world… they’ve literally been to a lot of places where they had contacts that could do a little glancing around for Pom, Shanty and Dodo. They were even using that Launchpad guy's contacts, he had about five times as many as both Webby and Scrooge combined, this was actually news to Webby. “Thank you for trying at least…”
They’ve already done so much for me, all I could do is sit here on a couch and feed Ocellus. I ran my claws over my comatose friends sparkling pink frill affectionately and her lips twitched a bit.
“Aw, don’t be like that. They are out there somewhere, I just know it!” Webby tried to keep a cheerful attitude and it was somewhat infectious.
“Hey guys, did you hear about the fracas that happened in Mesa City, apparently the Cooper Gang is on the rise again. What a time to live in… especially with the adventures we get into.” Lena walked into the room clicking away at her device. “Master thieves that steal only the best, they have a history of hard to explain thefts. I think magic might be involved in that… the only possible sighting of their activities is this one video of an incident in Mesa City involving a crane sitting on a roof, but there wasn’t a Cooper calling card there so it’s being heavily debated if the Cooper Gang was involved. Don’t ask how someone got a crane got up there, nobody knows the how or why of it online and just accepted that it was there.”
“Really Lena, being a fan of a group of ne’er-do-wells like that?” Violet, the brainy hummingbird, reminded me of a saner Twilight Sparkle as she came into the living room behind her adoptive older sister. After a moment she grinned slightly. “Not like we’re any better when we go treasure hunting...”
“Hey, at least those ne’er-do-wells are far better than the Beagle Boys are!” From what I’ve heard of them Lena, that really wasn’t exactly hard to do. “Speaking of which, some of Muggshot’s gang were Beagle Boys and were arrested after the Cooper Gang pulled a huge stealing spree on Muggshot’s holdings in Mesa City over the course of a single night. They are like a modern day Robin Hood’s Gang, if I remember right… Robin was a fox that was a thief and a master at archery who knew how to shake up Europe and apparently had ties with the Cooper Clan through some knight named Sir Galleth Cooper. I thought it would be of interest to Webby because the Cooper Clan is said to be the most successful clan of thieves to ever exist.”
“What’s the video and why haven’t they ever gone after dad?” Webby finally asked and she watched it with her taller friend. “Oh neat, never saw something that didn’t have wings fly like that before.”
“They only go after master criminals, sometimes they do side thefts as pranks and usually give back the stuff they steal in those cases. Scrooge might be a skinflint and a penny pincher, but he’s not a criminal… at least not a huge one if what I heard about farm animals and selling milk is true.” Lena looked thoughtful for a bit. “If Magica is partially responsible for the huge surge in animalistic people, then that’s another hurdle I’ll have to get over again thanks to my so called ‘relative’.”
Webby hugged Lena tenderly and I smiled at the sight. I sighed and continued to watch the footstool show, it was somewhat interesting what those roosters got up to.
I soon had Lena’s device shoved into my face.
“Oh you got to see this Smolder!” Webby could be a little pushy, but I had little else to do. So I rolled my eyes and got it over with.
The technology in this world was much friendlier and less deadly, though you wouldn’t know that if you even remotely knew the name of Gyro Gearloose. The device was like a miniature movie theater that could record things and some things other people recorded, on top of taking pictures and communicating long distances with said people.
I think I preferred face to face interaction back on Equus, but I did see the appeal of these devices.
Hitting the play button on Lena’s device, Webby and I watched a shaky scene where a building was shaking with a thunderous force sending dust everywhere. Soon a figure shot from the wall of the building and the video caught their silhouette from the side in the moonlight.
I blinked and then blinked again, I finally let go of Ocellus to rub my eyes.
“Wait… go back and pause it on the flying figure!” My sudden attention had Webby, Violet and Lena suddenly paying attention to me.
That and I stopped cuddling Ocellus like her life depended on it… which it mostly did, but I could hopefully spend an hour or so away from her without any adverse effects. I’m no expert, but it seems like Ocellus has finally stabilized after her magical blowout.
“It’s a bit difficult, because they are a fast blur… but getting a freeze frame shouldn’t be impossible…” Webby slowed the video down immensely and eventually managed to pause it on the figure. “Why, what’s so interesting about a flying thief?”
“I’d recognize that silhouette and pose anywhere… because that’s our friend Shanty!” I pointed out, her pose for the Goat Fly technique was far too unique to ignore. Leading with a hind leg, both front legs held back and her entire body streamlined to almost fly a straight line across a massive distance in spite of gravity after launching off a wall. “That’s exactly what she looks like when she’s doing her Goat Fly technique, flying kick and all!”
“Oh, that’s great news, we’ll just grab Launchpad and fly on down to Mesa City and…” Webby started only for Lena to cut her excitement off short.
“Yeah, no... sorry Webby, but if Shanty was one of the thieves involved in Muggshot’s downfall, then she’s definitely palling around with the current Cooper Gang. While that’s pretty awesome… she’s likely long gone from Mesa City. One of the things stolen from that building was one of several keys to Muggshot’s penthouse in the Boneyard Casino and a Cooper Gang calling card ended up there next to his burned body, all the stolen keys had been used to reach him in his… crystal garden?” So if Lena was suggesting what I think she was as she took her device and looked up the news. “They are no longer in Mesa City that much is obvious with Inspector Carmelita cleaning up the mess they left behind. We have no idea where they went… but I guess we could go there to look for clues or ask around about a goat at least.”
“Shanty and Dodo are alright then, I seriously doubt Dodo would be quiet if the Cooper Gang was kidnapping Shanty and she wasn’t actively assisting them. We’d have at least heard something about a mechanical ostrich fighting a pack of thieves, no way would that have been kept quiet with Dodo’s odd capabilities.” I’ve already explained familiars, Lena almost technically qualified as one for Webby. Lena was far too smart for the familiar bond though, but she had been strong enough to cling to life through Webby after nearly being killed a few times. “Dodo is definitely with Shanty since familiars always know where their partner are at all times, so she’s perfectly fine for the moment. So long as she isn’t doing anything too dangerous that is, she has a tendency to get into near death situations with alarming ease. It’s probably a pirate bravado thing knowing Shanty.”
“Then Pom is definitely the odd one out. If the Cooper Gang is actually as good as Lena says, then we’re not finding Shanty until we can find a good lead on their current hiding location or at least news of where they will pop up next.” Violet stated with a hint of concern. “We still don’t know where Pom ended up and our world has loads of canids in various heavy concentrations, the problem is that there’s nothing out of the ordinary in any of the spots I looked up in my research on said concentrations. Nothing drastic has changed in the concentration of canines anywhere. Not biped, animalistic or animal, Pom seems to be entirely capable of not making a spectacle of herself… which she will probably want to do soon, as to attract your attention to where she is if she’s as smart as you say she is.”
Lena’s device buzzed and she looked it over.
“Uh Vi, could you come with me off to the side for a minute? Something interesting just came up… it’s related to... ‘my family’.” The way Lena stressed those two words seemed to be daunting, especially for a shadow creature that was born from a witches need to steal a dime from the richest duck in the world.
Lena was thankfully not related to the world devouring monsters Pom had told us about and was an actual person. Sure she was made of shadows, but then what friendship wasn’t absolutely weird around here?
In terms of weird friendships, Launchpad Mcquack was a goofy and somewhat dim guy, but he was pure friendship potential personified and distilled into a large clumsy package. The guy was known around the world and yet wasn’t actually world famous? That’s pretty bizarre in and of itself, almost like him being poisoned by snake venom giving him the capability to speak a mangled form of Swedish… a language on this world that has been confirmed as something he doesn’t even know a single thing about and yet somehow managed to speak a complete sentence of it while halfway out of his mind.
If I didn’t absolutely know that this world had magic, then Launchpad’s very existence is a huge confirmation bias of it actually existing.
“Right, we need to take this and handle it delicately Webby, we’ll inform you if we need you to beat someone up for Lena. You should continue comforting the dragon and as for you Smolder… you should probably get back to making sure your friend is fed the necessary abstract of love she needs.” Violet was right and I quickly pulled Ocellus back into a hug. “Her recovery as a magical creature that can thrive on the concept of love alone is astounding, we’re all fairly certain she’ll wake up soon enough. Now if you’ll excuse us…”
Violet and Lena exited the living room area and Webby turned back to me.
“See, we already found two of them… or at least we kind of did. We haven’t exactly found them and put you in the same room as them… er… well this is still good news at least, you know Shanty’s alright and with a pack of thieves that sound totally awesome with going after all kinds of terribly... deadly... criminals…” Nothing could really bring Webby’s enthusiasm down, but she had to work on her tact. “I’m not doing a good job of this comforting thing am I?”
“Eh, close enough.” I answered honestly with a smile and looked down to see Ocellus’s unconscious body matching my mood.
-Lena-
“De Ville, cousins of the De Spell family, why haven’t I heard about this from… oh right, Magica never really cared about anything other than the ‘find Scrooge and steal his number one dime for ultimate mystical power’ shtick.” This was a pretty unusual message from someone of the De Ville family named Hunter, sounded like he was really reaching out to me for comfort and looking it over… it seemed like he seriously needed it. “Seriously, Magica needs a day job working at a place like Funso’s Fun Zone or something like working as a janitor.”
Hunter just basically sent me his life story. He was lonely and hoped I wasn’t a psychopath like the closest family member he knows… said family almost got him killed by sheer negligence alone. His life story sounded pretty bad, but then came the part I knew was coming.
He’s recently discovered that magic, monsters and aliens were all very much real, which led to him getting into contact with me. He gained the ability to speak to dogs after spending… how long in a cargo container?! How did he survive… magic, right. It sounded hardly survivable, but he managed it and he thought I was a 'sane cousin' when he finally decided to go poking into his family history.
He was in for a big surprise when it came to me being ‘sane’, because I was now certainly invested in learning more about him.
“Okay Vi, I’ve read this Hunter guys message, it seems legit… what did you get?” I turned to Violet and she was cringing quite badly the second I started addressing her looking up the De Spell family on the side.
“A history of psychopathic behavior towards family at best, at worst a lot of obvious cover ups for murders for the family members who weren’t nearly as outright evil as the rest of them were.” Violet looked to me with a hint of fear in her eyes. “Does he sound Sane? I’m seeing a lot of concerning stuff about what happened to his parent’s and the name Cruella comes up with an alarming frequency that I find most disturbing when it involves Dalmatians and hundreds of numerous failed therapy attempts.”
“He was apparently locked in a cargo container for six months and his aunt didn’t check on him once, said aunt is notably fairly abusive. He survived that on dog food and chew toys… but not entirely mentally unscathed, as he can understand and talk to dogs directly. So he actually has some magic to him.” I inhaled deeply and decided to bite the bullet on this one. “Sane is a state of mind we wished we could have, but we know Webby and her family. So sanity is definitely overrated to us. So… what do I do Vi? Do I try to help him, he sounds like he’s in a bad place and is the current acting owner of the company his aunt used to run.”
“Well… only you can decide that Lena, but he did contact you looking for companionship. Even as distant as you are from him, mind you he doesn’t know you’re only technically related to him via how you were ‘born’.” Violet was going to look at this from a logical standpoint, exactly why I was asking her for advice. “Blood isn’t the matter of this issue though, like how I’m your sister. I would think it has more to do with the fact that a kid is in the very same situation that you were in yourself until you met Webby and she became the greatest thing since sliced bread to you… eventually helping you break the shackles of Magica's hold over you to eventually become your own person.”
“The dude says he needs help and advice, but he doesn’t need me to come over and meet him personally… he just wants to know that he has family that will talk to him and actually… cares.” I tossed it around in my mind, that last word was fairly loaded one. This Hunter had been under his aunt’s thumb, until she was recently arrested for a number of things… which seems to be a reoccurring theme for this Cruella over the last sixty years. Said crimes included negligence and outright abuse, I’ve been there before and he’s recently discovered me because something magical was going on over there. I took a deep breath and started moving my digits about to send an answer back to him. “Violet, he needs me. He needs someone to help him keep his head above the water and I’m the unlucky person that has to do it. If he ever needs a place to stay if things go even further south over there…”
“Then the Sabrewing’s will welcome him to Duckberg with open arms.” Violet stated succinctly without pause or even a hint of doubt. “He’s family if you say he is.”
“I love you too sis…” I continued typing out a return message, I had so much to ask and so much to know. “His message stated that he is aware it would have been a bad move to contact Magica unless he was stupidly desperate, so he does have some sanity to him to recognize that piece of work for what she is. Probably has been burned out enough by ‘his aunt’ already and… I think we should seriously help him. I’m sending him my life story… except for the whole being made of shadow things, he doesn’t need to know about that quite yet. I’ll tell him if he figures out enough to ask about it.”
-Camden Town, streets, Hunter-
“Huh…” I just got a message back from Lena in the states and… someone who actually knows what it’s like. Lena was someone who knows exactly what I’ve been through and has been through it themselves, especially enough so to describe it with excruciating detail even. There was an open offer to lend me aid if I ever needed it. What she had to say about Magica De Spell let me know exactly why she’s happily adopted under the name of Sabrewing and warned me to be careful around magic.
“What is it hunter, why are you crying?” Diesel asked bluntly as we continued on our way back to the Dalmatian family’s home.
I wouldn’t exactly be welcome there, but I would try to be as unobtrusive as possible. They would hardly know that I’ve been around.
“I think my cousin is a kindred spirit...” I finally stated after wiping my tears away with my sleeves. We were walking into Dalmatian Street and frankly I was nervous about seeing Dylan. Pom seemed to be just idly keeping Diesel in line and Da Vinci was sending me worried glances. “I’ll be fine… at least someone out there knows what it’s like to be me, because they’ve certainly had it worse than me because of magic! I mean can you imagine your magical aunt haunting your body for most of your life or possibly taking control of it against your will to do horrible things? Imagine what that would be like if Cruella did that to me!”
Dante, Da Vinci and even Diesel flinched, they knew how bad that would be. I think we could all agree that we didn’t want to find out if Cruella had magic, especially if it could extend her lifespan if she were to find out that she did personally.
Lena certainly wasn’t hiding the fact that she knew about magic at all and warned me off of it despite being an openly admitted practitioner.
“Well that’s good news for you, now maybe you can face our top dogs and finally make peace with them?” Dante was pressing me about coming into their home and becoming a family friend.
I was willing to do that. The puppies would forgive me or have already forgotten I existed, but Dylan might still have a bit of a grudge given he doesn’t like anyone messing with his family. I didn’t know much about Dolly aside from the fact that she did skateboard tricks around the park and was a far more athletic dog than her space loving brother.
“So can I get to working on that portrait of you in the back yard while there’s still daylight?” Da Vinci drew attention from me and towards the alien known as Pom.