-Ponyville, Apple Family Farm, Applejack-
Well things were going fairly well, or at least I’d like to think so. The economy was for the most part pretending to be alright, but it was only a stopgap method overall. If they asked me for fancy mathematics, I’d direct them right to my big brother Big Mac to figure something out.
Still the nations of the world working out something seems to be looking up on things, plus there’s news of the Storm Creatures vying for more open peaceful relations. It seems like the changelings are the first to attempt an open friendship. The Storm Creatures lands apparently had lots of sugar cane and changelings went nuts for gnawing on the stuff.
Might even be seeing a new batch of students at the friendship school soon, Twilight was still dithering on the two Storm Creatures that lived down in Airship Mauled. We’re also trying to open communications with the chimera, they were fairly secluded from the world aside from Bloody Maries.
“Well the news seems to be decent today Big Mac.” I opened the newspaper and started looking for any other interesting articles. “Although Rarity trying to settle textile based disputes between the lambkin and changelings isn’t going anywhere fast, goodness knows both people are stubborn like mules to one another… no offense.”
“None taken.” The mule at the window retrieved his pie and left with a grin on his face.
“Eyup.” Big Mac nodded afterwards.
“At least the alpacas are becoming welcome everywhere, provided they don’t accost someone without getting to know them first even if they are a first sight love case.” Looking over the newspaper I decided to ask the one other pony living in this house about things. “How you doing Sugar Belle?”
“Things are relatively okay I think, but Velvet certainly has gotten more upset that Arizona won’t beat the snot out of her and Paprika barely ever goes within thirty feet of them. At least our family is more together than that, but I think we’re being used as a crutch for their numerous problems.” Yeah that was a thing to be acknowledged Sugar, but what could we actually do to help the highly dysfunctional ‘Arid Paca’ family exactly? “Goodness knows why that dark unicorn Oleander needed a crate of fresh apple pies or what Pinkie was doing with her, oh and Pinkie has some kind of weird friendship mission that might take a few days? Someone will have to pick up her slack.”
“I’ve got that taken care of!” Cheese Sandwich was at the window, the guy was basically Pinkie’s other half and a fine stallion to boot. Like Maud Pie and Mud Briar, Pinkie and Cheese were two halves of a whole. Also for a guy who owns a joke factory, he was quite serious about making ponies happy. “So, how are things going Apple family? Any concrete proof that Pinkie is related as a cousin yet or were the newest documents smudged too?”
“Smudged.” I answered alongside Sugar Bell, Big Mac, Granny Smith and Applebloom with big grins. Greatest mystery of the world, are Pies and Apples related? I’m obligated to say yes.
I continued to peruse the recent paper at my leisure until… well if that don’t beat all, Jaded getting hornswoggled by four puppies! Looking at the picture that spoke a novels length of words, I started laughing.
-Earth, Saint Canard, Outside the Novelty Anvil Store, ????-
“No, not again!” After their outburst, the payoff from so much fine maneuvering came about.
Both Hotshot and Flygirl received anvils to their skulls, the resulting sounds the anvils made brought a faint smile to my beak.
I planted my fighting staff at my side and idly listened to them groan with their heads buried in the street. The red blindfold that covered my eyes hid my sight, but I could see almost everything. For I was Cold Shadow, Maui Mallards other side and I was done here. I reached up to the blindfold and pulled.
With a swirling vortex of magic I ripped away the red blindfold and disappeared into the ether and all that was left in my place was Maui catching the magically generated red blindfold as I looked on at him immaterial to this realm.
“Nice work Cold Shadow… are they still alive?” Despite the fact that the anvils landed on their heads and were crushing their skulls into the pavement, they would survive with splitting headaches at best. At worst their cracked skulls might relieve them of their powers or their cruelty. “That’s a relief, can you point me in the direction of Launchpad and Stegmutt now?”
Maui prepped his beetle blaster and was ready to seek out more danger, he did not use me lightly nor did he abuse the gift of being able to call upon my strength freely. Even if he did abuse my gifts slightly, I would not be upset with him.
Only if he fell completely to darkness would I ever look away from his light as his bound shadow.
I considered the whispers of things afoot among the many realms of pure darkness. The shadow copy of that sheep like entity, Pom I believe, was bringing light to where it shouldn’t feasibly survive and has instead become a thriving impossibility.
Apparently the shadow forged copy of Pom somehow received what should have been a dead heart from someone who had absolutely no use for it, yet it revitalized in the shade. They have become something strange all their own and new hearts that were forged from so little… for the power of six was created in the darkness by the very darkness itself.
Darkness in light and light in darkness, worlds continue to balance and sway upon the breeze of chaos.
We lived in very interesting times as our world watches the splendor of it all Maui.
-Saint Canard Power Station, Pom-
“What happened here?” Exhaustion might be getting to me, we have been running around the city a lot. It was a good thing the moles weren’t threatening and that the sun was shining on the city once again even as we were a little past noon. Dolly just walked alongside me and gave me a worried glance as our stomachs rumbled. “We really need to get something to eat soon if we’re going to have to do any more fighting.”
The limited amount of fighting I’ve done so far hasn’t really taken any heavy toll on me, but this was bound to be an all-day thing even if all the moles were going to be gone by the time we were done here with the power station.
“Apparently we be running into Megavolt or that be what he called himself at least. He be taking control of Gizmo Gal, but I be dealing with him swiftly… he is being really weak to water.” Shanty was running around and doing things I couldn’t fathom at the moment and I wasn’t about to ask as it seemed important. “Where does this be going?”
“The one on the left Cut-Lass…” A weak sounding Gandra was on the floor and covered in bloody bandages and looked quite deathly pale. She turned her head to me and winced. “Lightning guy next to me took control of me. Didn’t know he could control machines, he got the ones in my body… caused some serious internal problems for me. I should be okay… after a while… how did things go outside?”
“Backup arrived in a timely manner, we didn’t receive more than a few scuffs and the moles are dealt with one way or another. If the sun wasn’t disabling enough to them, then the Terra-Firmians arriving certainly were.” I took up the PET from the back of my head and swept it around. “Have you finished rerouting the power?”
“Yes, we’re working on the communications blocking Megavolt was doing here and are currently fixing several other problems. I’m the electrical expert here and I need to be here to fix this… I also need a hospital after having my body partially ripped apart from the inside.” Poor Gandra, she came here from Duckberg to help and look for her boyfriend, then she gets controlled by some villain and badly hurt.
“Can I investigate… is that guy even alive?” I asked of the charred body next to Gandra.
“He be breathing, but there is being something unusual about that.” Shanty moving something else.
“And that would be?” I asked idly, things in here seemed okay.
“That he doesn’t have a heartbeat…” Dormarch stated in confusion. “Biologically he is reading as alive to me, but he doesn’t have a pulse… which is odd for an electricity based super villain. You think he would have a pulse.”
“What?” Both Dolly and I asked at the same time, equally confused by the news at the body that seemed to be breathing to us.
“I can confirm that the body appears to be breathing, but it doesn’t have a heartbeat.” Fawn would know as she’s the medical expert here. “It’s quite disturbing really. If you can figure out why the body is like that, it would be greatly appreciated. ”
Moving over crispy burnt body that seemed to be breathing with Dolly, I reached down with a hoof and started wiping away the charred portions from the guy’s face and then took a strong sniff. I immediately reeled back as if slapped.
“Agh…” My nose was assaulted with a strong particularly strong and familiar smell, Dolly glanced at me and then took a long sniff with her own nose.
“Oh my dog…” Dolly reeled back and was holding her nose. “Well that scent is very familiar for us isn’t it Pom? Though smelling it close up and personal like that was extremely unpleasant.”
Yes, yes it was Dolly, even if we didn’t smell it quite so directly like this the last time we ran across it. Now my suspicions of magic being in play were a certainty… now if only I knew more about magic to know exactly what I was dealing with here.
I could call Lena, but she was probably currently busy with the Jambalaya gang. We had plenty of time to meet up if nothing goes wrong and there was always a strong possibility of it.
“Dormarch are you picking up anything odd about the body with your sensors, aside from the lack of heartbeat?” I held Dormarch over the body, I was making absolutely sure of everything about what was going on here.
“Organs in the right place, odd level of brain activity, but not abnormal. It all looks normal to the scanners aside from the lack of heartbeat and the fact that the guy is still breathing being an impossibility in this case.” Well that could confirm some of the things that I thought I knew already.
“There’s also this other bit of smell… it’s faint, but it almost smells like… no… no way, it couldn’t be!” Dolly sniff and reeled back holding her nose. “Call the ‘fam’ and ask for Spot!”
“What’s got Caper Canine riled up?” Looking to Fawn as she finished fixing something according to Gandra’s directions, I thought about what to say.
“She smelled something quite off about this guy.” She smelled something I wasn’t familiar with. Since she could recognize the smell, we might have a problem here. “I’m going to find out what has her so agitated.”
It wasn’t long before we got an answer on the PET, it was Dolly’s step mother Delilah.
“Hello, is this a social call? It’s quite terribly late and I’ve just got off a long day of work.” The Dalmatian on the screen yawned. “Can whatever it is wait?”
“I’ve run across the smell of a 'De Ville' mom, and not the good kind either.” Midday here, late night there, after Dolly spoke Delilah looked far less sleepy and much more focused and awake.
“Are you sure of this Dolly?” Delilah suddenly looked quite worried for our safety, with more of a focus on her step daughter. I understood a mother’s prerogative, even if Delilah wasn’t Dolly’s birth mother.
“Oh yeah, I remember that smell from the vial you have of Cruella De Ville’s odor, this smell is very much one for one almost. Get Spot, she might be able to help us out with this as she knows more about De Ville’s than we do… she’s practically a veteran at dealing with them.” Good idea Dolly. If this was a De Ville as you say it is, then we needed the current living expert on them. “We’re safe for the time being mom, even in a city full of thugs it’s relatively quiet here. Pom and I are going to save the day… whatever way it need saving.”
“I’ll do so right away. Spot, I know you’re busy cleaning, but we may have a De Ville emergency on our paws!” Delilah was not trying to be too loud and the chicken soon was immediately on screen with Delilah, she had come running.
“Did you see the De Ville personally?” The first question out of Spot’s beak was hurried.
“No, smelled her thought, I know she’s female at least and it’s definitely one for one to Cruella almost.” Dolly was getting very antsy and shifty as she looked around and whined, I calmly placed a hoof on her back.
“Okay that immediately rules out PH, Dimsdale and Cecil De Ville. Of them, two are still alive and have had families that Dalmatians wouldn’t want to go anywhere near. Is the smell younger or older? I pray that you didn’t run into one of the immortals.” The what?! Those words from Spot made Dolly freeze in place. “Don’t worry, they can be defeated as long as you keep your head about you around them, also you might need the help of a chicken… any chicken really! Dalmatians are good against De Ville’s, but chickens are even better if magic is involved. Cats can also do some things, but the success varies depending on if they are shamanistic felines or not.”
“Well there’s The Rubber Chicken, a biped super hero who’s being held captive somewhere.” If I had to guess as to Rubber Chicken’s whereabouts, I’m pretty sure he’s held captive wherever Negaduck currently is. “We… don’t know his current location.”
“I have a good idea that he’s being held captive out of the way precisely because he’s a chicken and a major threat to the De Ville present in your area. Chickens like me are basically immune to De Ville’s when they are capable of doing magic.” As Spot looked to be wracking her brain, Dolly came back from sniffing the guy we’re tentatively calling ‘Megavolt’.
“Old, but also… young? It’s a strange the smell is kind of in two places, like she’s old, but… I’m guessing that this De Ville has never aged?” As confused as Dolly look she shook her head. “Maybe… no… wait, yes, I’m quite sure that’s what it is.”
“Rules out Malevola De Vil who is older than dirt and Ivy De Ville who is aging normally, one is almost permanently sealed quasi-immortal and the other… hopefully has never had children and is currently in a mental health ward for a split personality disorder. Said personality is decidedly pure evil attached to what is supposed to be one of the rare good De Ville’s, if anyone was wondering why Hunter doesn’t have anyone looking out for him even the good De Ville’s have nasty problems. I’m pretty sure the both of them are indisposed...” There is this uneasy sense of dread building here Spot, give us some good news. “You might be dealing with a De Ville I don’t know about personally… or even a De Ville I thought I had defeated previously.”
“When you say defeated…” Delilah looked a bit sick to her stomach.
“I have never killed a De Ville, but some do get sealed away and they can escape confinement from time to time. They can have a tenacity worse than most living things on this planet… and sometimes things that are not entirely of this world.” Now Spot started pacing around Delilah. “Dimsdale De Ville is still active in a time warping location, hopefully I’ll be around to deal with that when that comes up again. Might need to take a few weeks off from running the Bark Brigade out of the house to make sure they never come after the family. Anyway… is there anything else that you could use to help identify the possible De Ville you’re dealing with?”
“Well… there is one thing, there’s this odd overpowering scent of blood.” Slowly started Dolly looking unsure if she wanted to continue this line of thought.
“We’ve smelt this odd smell twice from two different bodies, it comes from bodies of people that don’t exist in this world naturally.” I was trying to figure out what else was part of the smell, it was really quite noxious.
“Yeah, that smell of blood is strong and nasty, don’t know how bloodhounds can handle that going up their nose all the time.” Laying on my back while looking at the screen, Dolly propped her up chin with her right paw and scratched at the top of her head with her left. “That smell is almost overpowering the De Ville smell, which is more subtle than it should be.”
“Oh no… be very careful whatever you do, you’re currently dealing with a De Ville that knows blood magic.” Staring us down through the PET, Spot eyes were narrowed. “Blood Magic is exceedingly dangerous, especially when it’s done right and in the hands of a De Ville.”
“Are you implying there’s good blood magic?” Delilah asked, probably out of curiosity given she works in a hospital as a nurse dog.
“Good blood magic does not need any blood to be spilled, only the user in this instance can only ever use their own blood to empower a given spell and never that of another forcibly taken. It can also be part of something called family magic, such magic can even come from strong familial bonds alone. You only need for everyone to be blood in name and quite literally mean it with all your heart, the Dalmatian family has always had plenty of that magic as something naturally occurring. It’s nice to know that Dalmatians still love so easily.” Turning back to us Spot continued. “If you’re being heavily distracted, then assume some form of trap or powerful blood ritual is being set up somewhere you’re not looking. I’m advising serious caution and to look out for strange patterns or markings in your surroundings… do not stand inside any circle you can visibly see.
“Do you have any idea as to who we are dealing with? Is it possible for them to make golems like this that can breathe, but don’t have a heartbeat?” I showed Spot the body of the so called ‘Megavolt’ and she hummed.
“No, if anything De Ville’s don’t usually create. They usually imitate, destroy, lie, cheat, steal and a whole slew of other nasty things… but create? That body you’re seeing has got to be an imitation in some form, maybe good enough to believe that it is alive or is actually alive in some way, but it is definitely not something natural and not something Blood magic is normally capable of.” That earned our attentions Spot. "Blood magic can do things like illusions, manipulate reality to a certain degree and the like, but creating something like that without a prohibitively large cost? Not possible, there has to be some huge price for that guy’s existence.”
“He’s apparently a super villain named Megavolt from the Darkwing Duck show, capable of controlling energy and any devices that have energy flowing through them.” That’s what we knew of Megavolt at least.
“He actually has the powers he’s said to have in the fiction? Definitely some form of imitation. Never quite as capable as the real thing, but still very dangerous. There’s only one De Ville I can think of that might be capable of this, but she’s been long since dead and I’ve never actually dealt with them personally so you might be fighting them blind.” That wasn’t very comforting Spot. “Athena De Ville might be your problem.”
“Let Pom die Dolly, things will be much better off if you do!” A frantic Dante Dalmatian burst into view shouting that and spooking both of us, he looked quite panicked. “I can’t explain myself right now, but do not help her when she gets into danger until she dies. You’ll understand why I’m telling you this when the time comes, everything will turn out better for it! Trust me on this sis, please! Pom give Dormarch to Shanty before you do business, especially with the reaper!”
A second later the two Dalmatians and chicken disappeared from view.
“Call… disconnected…” The visage of Dormarch looked a bit shaken a second later, I looked to Dolly and she looked back to me.
“You know I really wouldn’t let you die right? Not even if Dante says it will somehow make things better…” Dolly looked up at me quite visibly upset, but then again Dante was able to predict the future with a fair bit of accuracy. At what point does he see me dying as being a good thing really?
I’m kind of terrified now. I knew Dolly would do everything in her power to protect me, but that was a strange thing to hear from someone so nice since we first met. So why was Dante asking his sister to not help me and wanting me to die? Why did he ask me to give Dormarch to Shanty?
“Fawn, can you contact Jitters at the hospital? I need to confirm something.” Maybe Dante wasn’t telling us the whole story because the actions we might take to prevent things from happening the way he sees it. I turned to look at Dolly. “When the time comes… do as Dante says, don’t help me.”
“What, but, Pom I’m not abandoning you, I came all this way to protect your backside and…” You had a right to be angry Dolly, but I was going to put my hoof down on this.
“Keep your connection to me open, but don’t help me until I die like Dante said to do.” The look Dolly had on her face was that of betrayal.
“What… why?!” Did Dolly not trust her brother, I certainly did.
“I trust our family.” Looking like I slapped her with my hoof, Dolly blinked wildly at me and frowned before hugging me tightly.
“Just so you know, I’m not happy about this Pom!” It had to happen Dolly.
I might have an inkling of something, but I might not know until after I’m dead.
-One meal and a bathroom break later, Dolly-
Shanty was holding onto Dormarch and made sure to keep a hold of him. Shanty looked to me as I whispered something to her and Dormarch translated my words carefully.
Shanty nodded and we both looked to Pom sadly, this was going to be hard to watch happen.
“Come on Cut-Lass, Caper Canine, let’s go!” We were heading towards a jewelry store heist in progress by Steel Beak. “We’re going to all be heroes by the end of this day.”
Yeah, heroes… it was so hard to love Pom right now.
It was going to be painful for all us to watch her die and not do anything to stop that assassin guy from finally getting the kill he was being paid for. Having to keep a steel trap on my heart for the time being was excrutiating, if necessary.
I absolutely hated it, but after all was said and done Negaduck... we're getting the last laugh!