//------------------------------// // 308. Doused Flames. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Equus, Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres, Arizona- “So while there are some slight issues with Velvet’s body that might cause some complications, our kid inside her is at least doing alright. The reason her body temperature is entirely off is because the baby is making her body run hot which…” I trailed off remembering what Dr. Bones said about Velvet possible complications, I wasn’t going through life without a reindeer to beat me up and Velvet would be that reindeer. “Is bad for reindeers considering they live colder climates that’s more fitting for their biology, but doesn’t her visiting Huoshan a few times help with her resilience to higher temperatures?” Applejack finished knowing how worried I was about Velvet. “At least Hearth’s Warming is easier for you.” “Yeah that’s true. She does have some resilience, but it’s still kind of a problem for Velvet to be going through all this what with Paprika being distant to the both of us too. At least she still cooks and leaves stuff out for us to eat.” I sighed loudly, then perked up slightly. “So need a carpenter to help fix your stuff pro bono? It’ll help me advertise my work and won’t exactly be a problem to me.” “Awe come on now Arizona, I don’t want you working for me for free just because we’re friends. We Apples try not to be charity cases, no matter how nice your mother is… bounty hunting aside.” Applejack’s brother Big Mac was expecting his first foal with Sugar Belle and I thought I’d offer some neighborly ‘weirdness town’ help, Applejack was rather ecstatic for her brother and so was Apple Bloom. “I insist Applejack, besides I need to work on my strength for the Tambelon mission.” If I were any other cow, I wouldn’t have the capability to drive nails into wood with my bare hooves. I’m not any other cow though, I’m Arizona ‘Earthshaker’ Arid and I really don’t need that much money to get by. Velvet on the other hoof was high maintenance to Paprika’s exceedingly low. “Yeah, I kind of have to do that too, Pinkie says it’s going to be a Doozy and a Humdinger of a bad time. Twilight doesn’t want us endangering ourselves, but she should know better than to leave her friends out of a right mess she could use some help with.” Wonder if Applejack would like a sparring partner? Fœnum Arizona was getting stronger by the day and might be a bit younger than me, but Applejack would be a good test for how far she’s come. “Consarn it all, I know she has a lot on her plate with being a fancy ruler and all, but we’ve gone through a lot together and she’d be crazy to think we’d stop helping her now.” “Yeah, nice, brainy, but gets stuck in her own little headspace a little too much, got some contracts with her when I accidentally ended up in Canterlot Castle and had to fix the damages my body caused by plowing through multiple walls after a training incident.” That was after the incident where I was testing how many ‘wobble counters’ we could do before it became too much. Paprika could hit really hard. “I swear a lot of carpenters and architects in Equestria are more about aesthetic than function given how quickly buildings break apart in dumb ways. I reinforced the entirety of Canterlot Castle and made it basically impossible to topple over or damage easily without the whole mountain coming down with it. Even then I made sure that castle would remain mostly intact in such a scenario, mom is proud that I have a vocation that can make up for all her destructive and over the top tendencies when she’s not doing bounty hunting stuff.” “Well that explains Rainbow Dash’s complaints that she couldn’t literally crash Twilight’s days, really ought to talk to that mare about who she really wants to crash into.” Applejack rolled her eyes and there was a faint hint of a blush dusting her cheeks. “Still nice to know you can Rainbow Dash proof anything… can you do it to my home and everything around here and how much would that exactly cost us?” “Depends on materials you want to use, weather pony proofing wood isn’t hard. If you want to really make sure Rainbow stops crashing into things for the fun of it, then I’m going to suggest some really solid bricks to really make her start paying attention to where she’s actually going.” Built tough, cow tough, because my mom was an explosively destructive nutcase when it came to making and using explosives in any situation. Mom’s definitely earned the ‘Mad Cow’ title as a bounty hunter and no bounty would be dumb enough to believe that she isn’t going to make at least one thing in her vicinity explode when a target is spotted. “Also there’s a discount for practically being family given. My mother gets along with all of you so well… when she isn’t actively lighting a stick of dynamite and chewing on it.” “If I didn’t know you’re mother very well, I would think she was a complete idiot to even keep doing that.” Applejack did know my mother very well though, my mom takes every opportunity to drop in on the Apple family to make sure they were getting on and that’s when she wasn’t bugging me about the grandchildren she and Kuril were getting ready to spoil into the ground. I seriously missed my pa on days like this where I had time to think. Fortitude and Flamberge were some good pals, but since they are usually off doing something ludicrously danger and to the tune of eldritch, abomination and eldritch abomination, I rarely got to hang with them. I guess I could get to know my diamond dog construction team a bit better. “My mom has a literal taste for explosions Applejack, she can tell you the exact yield and what was used in any explosion just by seeing the aftermath of said explosion. She’d even know the minute details of the accelerants, retardants or other things that might have affected the explosion in a variety of ways. She’d actually know far more information than anyone would be comfortable with if she was actually caught up in said theoretical explosion, provided she wasn’t the primary cause of it.” I was beginning to believe my mother actually held no fear when she fought and killed that massive world snake that Pom once lived around with her canines. “It’s still a might bit terrifying to know we got someone we can turn to who’s as tough as she is that knew my parents, then there’s you Arizona and our family has other friends too if we ever needed help. Never been so afraid for and of someone who is that much of a thrill seeker that even Rainbow won’t last three days in her presence.” Applejack that was putting my mother way too nicely, ‘thrill’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. "If we absolutely need help, we'll definitely ask for it." My mother walks into a bar is becoming a common lead in to the question of, how quickly did it explode? “Well you can also turn to Grace or Calloway, my mother’s closest friends are good cows… also it’s probably safer to get Grace’s aid on anything and it’s just a quick trip to Airship Mauled… unless Grace is in the Chaos Realm with Veles again. I’ve stopped questioning that relationship or how it’s working, it’s kind of like watching Discord and Fluttershy interact.” We both nodded at that, no need to think about that can of worms too hard. “So back to the topic at hoof… how much Rainbow Dash proofing are you looking for and how much do you want to annoy her? I know you think she's cute when she's upset.” -Pokémon Realm, A day later, Aurora Infirmary, Dolly- “So what’s going on with you guys? You already know what’s up with me, strange worlds full of really weird creatures Dylan is definitely jealous that I’m getting to meet.” Pom left me here to tell her if Smolder or Shanty woke up, Dodo recently did and he was worried about Shanty. Dodo was eating quite a bit of metal and food to heal from all the damage he took in that fight. I was missing a small spot of weight on my back, Lit was with Pom in making sure the fire guys weren’t causing any more problems personally. “I’m pretty sure there’s a world out there where Poodle Wolf is an actual real thing Dolly and you’re living the fantasy world dream, of course he’s going to be jealous. Also if you want interesting then there was a thing with a ‘painting vampire’ Da Vinci destroyed the other day at the art museum.” At Dante talking her up, my shy puppy sister blushed and looked away. “It wasn’t that big a deal.” The quiet voiced nervous artist stated. “I just didn’t know a paintbrush could even do something like that.” “Nice, would like to hear more about that Da Vinci, bet it must have been scary… probably not as scary as some of the stuff I’ve been through though.” I was happy my family was getting into some weird stuff and were actively having their own adventures. I just hoped they stayed safe… gah, I’m turning into that safety dork Dylan in my head. “That still went far better than some of the things I ended up doing with your ancestors, art is a form of magic all its own Da Vinci and you really saved the day.” Spot the zombie chicken said while sighing and crossing her wings. “Our Bark brigade unit would have been proud of that particular accomplishment... warms my metaphorical heart even.” Speaking of adventures, who knew that the King of Ignis, Hideous I believe his name was, used to be a farmer? I certainly didn’t, also his parents apparently hated him. King Even shared an oddly curious understanding with that Hideous guy. I didn’t envy his position of having to talk about what to do with the fire monkey after he killed the Low Blow guy. Blood Rabbit was also still around and detained, didn’t know what we were going to do with a magical flying fir horse with a horn. “Still, things are a mess around here and Pom keeps asking if Shanty or Smolder are awake yet, not much we could have done to stop this from happening. I’m not currently worried about Pom, she has Shiny, Dazzler, Frizzy and Lit with her.” It was still kind of lonely without Lit on me, I was getting too used to him climbing all around on my back. “How’s the kibble situation Dolly?” Dante couldn’t do his future sight thing across dimensions, he still cared enough to ask about one of my major problems. “It… is… fine…” I said slowly with my left eye twitching. “Yeah, Dolly’s going through withdrawal.” Sighed out Da Vinci. “Remember when Dylan challenged her to go an entire week without eating kibble and only eating alternatives?” Several of the puppies present on the screen shuddered. “Yeah, yeah, I know I can get a little… anyway how goes getting into the contact with the Mighty Clucks?” I asked because Pom did want to keep up on that situation. “They are happy that Canard Thunderbeak is alive and that we sent them several screenshot pictures proving he survived his dire circumstances.” Dawkins answered while giving me a curious look. “Also it’s ‘ducks’ Dolly, Mighty Ducks. The Mighty Clucks is a team of baseball playing super powered chickens… still odd that that’s a statement I can say out loud and not sound like I was completely insane dog.” Says the guy likely dating the robot dog he made, so I wouldn’t exactly discount the insane thing. Hockey playing alien ducks and super powered baseball playing chickens, what was even the major difference there? “She’s avoiding the issue...” Da Vinci stated while giving me a sad look. “Look kibble doesn’t grow on trees, but at least I have things I can eat around here… it all tastes pretty strange and new, which has been a plus in my book.” Not that it was helping me get over my slight lack of kibble. “My sense of taste is going where no dog from our world has gone before and that’s something I’m enjoying.” “Yeah, speaking of going where no dog has gone before, Mars was quite nice. Wish it didn’t have moderately evil Martians on it though.” Dylan said walking onto the screen in a space suit with a lot of burnt bits on it and dripping with white fluffy goo stuff. “Guess what, dream achieved sis! Still going to stay in the McDuck space program even with the weirdness the McDuck family tends to attract.” “Dylan you’re back! That was actually kind of fast…” Dante stated while looking over our brothers damaged space suit a few of the other puppies were giving Dylan a worried look. “Yeah, the regular Oxychew was definitely better being relabeled as the dog flavored brand.” Dylan stated as he started to peel himself out of the battered spacesuit that looked to be heavily armored. Some would say the caution was going overboard, anyone who knew McDucks knew better. I knew the need of having some decent protection around those guys. “Mars was as amazing as I thought it would be! Again, the Martians had to ruin things slightly, but all in all it was fun and the McDucks have put me on standby for a while after that adventure.” “So did the burn marks come from the martians or…” I asked slowly. “Launchpad crashed us back into the planet like ten minutes ago… I just survived reentry and he happened to crash the landing pod in London, I figured why not see my family while I’m in the area.” Dylan stated bluntly with a shrug and an easygoing smile that seemed unnatural on his face. “It’s kind of terrifying that I’m beginning to actually trust that I’m going to survive it every time as long as Launchpad is the reason why we’re landing in any way, shape or form. Still not getting in a submarine with him again when it comes to underwater space training camp, I’ll just say that I’m entirely thankful for the existence of giant friendly kaiju krill and leave it at that. Launchpad apparently finally satisfied his crashing bingo card too. I bet the insurance company that owes him now is going to be impressed that he survived an orbital drop going twice the speed than a normally safe orbital drop… the only reason he doesn’t have that as a world record is because Donald got to it first by surviving going three times the speed of a safe orbital drop in a literal screaming metal death trap. I did have a little freak out when the parachute wouldn’t deploy at the right time. When the parachute ripped off entirely then deployed perfectly afterwards, that was annoying, but apparently that wasn’t such a huge issue as the insides of the pod catching fire spontaneously. Thankfully the fire extinguisher promptly exploded.” “Are you okay bro?” I just stared at Dylan and he stared back at me. “Perfectly fine… though the nightmares and mental trauma of it all will never likely end.” Dylan flopped onto his back groaning. “… HUG!” I shouted immediately and despite not being there, every Dalmatian in the house swarmed Dylan immediately. Most of them avoiding the discard and damaged spacesuit. “Thanks Dolly.” Dylan mumbled from under the pile of puppies. “No problem bro, I’ve got my own things to get back to. Talk you guys later, Bow-Whacka-Wow!” I shut the D-vice’s connection to home and then put it back where it belonged in hanging from my neck. Nice to see Dylan got what he wanted. I went back to watching Smolder and Shanty, nice to see Dylan got his dream job and it wasn’t like that was the first time he survive sky diving without a parachute. Ocellus was at Smolder’s side and she was taking care of her while I watched over Shanty. Dodo was still fixing himself, somehow, by eating metal and food. I’m not questioning my friends and family on their abilities when mine were downright bizarre. Everyone in Aurora was kind of messed up at the moment and Pom was the only one keeping Aurora’s border secure. The thought did bother me a little, but Pom was always reliable. I checked in with her and let her know my family was doing fine and she seemed relieved to hear that the Dalmatian family was still going strong. -Between Greenleaf and Aurora bridges into Ignis, Pom- As bored as I currently was, I wasn’t going to jinx anything as long as things here stayed quiet. Most of Aurora’s units were out of commission. Geoff was surprisingly the only one fit for duty as a militia member and he was staying within the border of Aurora and the Bidoof were currently taking down the wall between Greenleaf and Ignis. Even the Muk who was apparently fairly tough was out of it. Now that I know a Muk was a large pile of living toxic sludge, I tried not to think about things too hard when it came to his girlfriend being a Wooloo on Geoff’s team. “Pom.” I jumped and shrieked a bit and then calmed down when I noticed it was just Dazzle. “Sorry, I know you’re a bit tense with two of your girls getting seriously hurt. They are fine and in good care at least.” “Yeah… they are.” I decided to sit down and let my heart travel back down from my throat, my nervous shivering was clearly not that of any form of excitement. “There, there, it’s okay Pom.” Dazzle carefully hugged me and my shivering slowed down. “Yeah, because we’re here to help keep the peace!” The Torchic and Cyndaquil were here and apparently became quick friends after Lu Bu’s demise. Yay, two Pokémon… my mind certainly wasn’t currently a mess of anxiety and cynicism, oh no I was very bright and happy at the moment…. honestly now! Sighing I looked to the right at what would eventually be a small lake from an attack that had been aimed at Shanty. The raw power of that attack could still be felt in the air, what horrors did Shanty face to ensure that attack didn’t destroy the connection between Ignis and Aurora? “You have our unit at least as well, we Litleo of the militia tried to stay neutral through the whole thing and tried to keep it contained. We’re sorry we clearly couldn’t do more to stop this.” The fire lion stated while drooping as he and five others approached. “We heard news that Hideyoshi was going to announce something important today.” “Then take a seat and hope everything happens.” Because I was expecting something interesting to happen, it was more unlikely to happen. “Doubt that, it seems Ignis and the ambitions of those who would conquer has been very well truly doused since the rebels heard of Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu’s deaths and Red Hare’s capture.” The lead Litleo sat down with us and seemed to be considering things. “Yet, Hideyoshi isn’t happy with how things turned out, so that explains whatever he’s going to announce. Hopefully it’ll fix some of the unrest still happening in Ignis.” “Mmm…” My noncommittal grunt was followed by me looking to the sky, my girls and I kept running into so much trouble. Some of it was self-inflicted by me having too strong a conscience. I had hoped to draw danger away from the girls and it still came to them, so it wasn’t just me that drew trouble like a moth to an erupting volcano. At least Ocellus was fine, but that Lu Bu guy’s killer aura and malice had terrified her almost to complete speechlessness even if it wasn’t a bad headache for her to begin with. Not that Shanty fighting him ended very well either, but she survived mostly on her own merit so there was that. I’m not even sure what Evan was going to do with Lu Bu’s magical weapon, but it was something no one wanted to wield given the dangerous feel it gave off. “So what’s Pugilis like if any of you have been there?” I already know fighting types and fighting tournaments were a thing. “I’m asking more about the landscape, the general region and not the people who are bound to be constantly training and achieving peace by constantly preparing for war.” “Fighting types usually aren’t that bad, but they can run as hot headed as fire types sometimes. They just like exercising a lot more than most Pokémon and are consistently active.” The Litleo then sighed. “That’s not what you wanted to know about, usually they live in a relatively hilly region, have some light forests, grasslands and lots of dojos… dojos are a given in Pugilis where fighting styles are kind of everywhere and everything there. In any case the kingdoms castle is just one big dojo built at the base of some mountains in the center of their holdings and have pathways leading to various other places including Violight, Chrysalia, Illusio, Terrera and some say there’s a pathway to the Fairy Type kingdom Titania between Chrysalia and Illusio. The Fairy Type Pokémon are a bit reclusive and well hidden, so nobody is sure if those rumors are true, but there are fairy types around Chrysalia and Illusio so there has to be something to it.” “Well that’s nice to know.” I was curious about some of the things he just told me, but really small talk was just to pass the time. “So… beyond the volcanic landscape, what’s Ignis normally like culture wise?” “Well the mildly volcanic mountainous aren’t eruptive though they do spill lava sometimes, brown grass is the norm where plant life is concerned and plenty of flatlands around here. The resources here are more towards goods in the form of metals, but this region is lacking in food and some medicinal resources. The most any Pokémon really needs to use around here is a Rawst Berry for burns, oran berries for healings, but for advanced sicknesses… well if the rebels didn’t mess with Greenleaf then we’d be able to get our medical supplies from there. The air is dry, but constant warmth, we fire types like the heat of this region, but as far as farmlands go the soil is good quality in only specific areas where the mildly volcanic activity won’t end with crops getting burnt up by lava. Recently Hideyoshi kind of caused a lot of issues with trying to build up the region and as you can guess things went down here before Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu perished.” -Origin Space, Arceus- “What are you going to do with that father of all?” Mew asked as I held the soul of Lu Bu in front of me with raw power and scrutinized it closely. “Nothing more than keep it locked away, we wouldn’t want the invasive ‘Moon Cell’ to get a dangerous pawn to summon.” I just had to keep the soul off the board and try again, Lu Bu’s soul was quite fierce and trying to regenerate a body from nothing. It was quite amazing how powerful some mortals can get through sheer force of will. Lu Bu was a monstrous fighter to the point that he’d even fight his own death. Had I let him create a body out of his soul, he would have had a chance to permanently destroy himself completely if that body were to be destroyed. -Nearby, Tamamo no Mae- It was her, the very depiction of that mystical statue! She was gorgeous and would be a good husband for Tamamo… there were a few problems though. I noted the biggest problems I could sense about her as I looked over her adorable form. She was a masterpiece that most true canines could appreciate. The first problem I noticed was that she didn’t have the golden wool of her kind. The second problem I noticed was that she didn’t have the magnificent feathered wings for flying. Lastly where were her guardian the constellation canines? She was obviously connected to one… two? Well she was connected to some canines at least, I can feel something like that. I could definitely feel she was a Chrysomallus though. She was a golden ewe yet… she didn’t look it? Was she hiding her powers or did she not know she even had them? I could feel the power she should have, but it seemed… off as if she was passively using it in some way. Okay, Tamamo, no need to be nervous. Approach her with good cheer and maybe… she wouldn’t mind me following her around for a while. The Chrysomallus wasn’t strong in body, but I definitely knew strength via raw perseverance and a stubborn will to keep living when I saw it. I also saw something like suicidal thoughts and wanting to give up on life. It was a conundrum seeing so much anxiety in someone so gifted with a uniqueness. She had a legend to her too, like Lu Bu did before Hideyoshi apparently took him down. I started to move towards the warmth, the attractive aura, the blazing inferno of a beauty that my sense couldn’t let me look away from. It lit a fire in my chest just to be this close to her, she was like a bonfire to be in the presence of and I just had to talk to her! -Pom- “So Chrysalia will continue being allied with Violight and now Aurora and the other kingdoms, I know they’ll help the kingdoms if there is trouble on the rise… they are the major purveyors of honey and have the large fruit orchard in the world!” The Grubbin stated with good cheer, he apparently happily followed us out of Violight and hasn’t stopped since. I glanced at Lit and he made a shrugging motion before squeaking, yeah I get the feeling that he was excited to be exploring the world too Lit. “Why are you here?” I mean, I didn’t mind him being here, but this was the same traveling Grubbin who vouched for the character of my friend and me to Ginchiyo despite not having known us for long when we met up before going into Professor Pong’s laboratory. “To help of course, I also want to be friends with you too and you seem like you’re well-traveled!” Aw the Grubbin was just as sweet as Lit. “Traveling alone is kind of lonely… and I want someone around to be a witness to me becoming a Charjabug!” Apparently there was a difference in Bug Type Pokémon when it comes to a difference of being speech capable or not. Lit was one of the ones that wasn’t speech capable, but he definitely understood spoken languages and wasn’t as simpleminded as his appearance may make him seem to be. That Lit understood Dolly was interesting in and of itself. “Well okay then.” It was curious that Grubbin seemed full of life and enjoyed so many things. “Um, excuse me, hello I’m…” Turning to the fox with multiple tails something in me made me stare her down in the eyes. Soon I was narrowing my eyes and whatever enthusiasm she had to talk to me the nine tailed fox put all her tails between her hind legs. Kitsune, Tenko and Teumessians among other magical foxes were not unknown to the world of Equus, this fox was a local version of a kitsune. It was definitively a Pokémon version of a kitsune, I could see the bright eyed hope in her eyes die quickly as I saw something deceptive in what she was about to say before my stare made her stop. She had gleaming silver fur that looked soft and the tips of her tail were blue, she was majestic looking from outward appearances, but… There was something in her eyes that told me all I needed to know about her. “No.” I said simply, everyone was looking between me and the fox and she wilted her ears pulling back, she flinched harshly as if I had just slapped her physically. “My name is Pom Lambchop. Whatever it was you were about to say, even if it was entirely in jest, just don’t.” “Okay…” She said quietly and looked like she wanted to collapse in on herself. “I’m… Tamamo no Mae.” -Tamamo- Pom seemed so wonderful until I got up close, what I found was quite terrifying when she stared me down. I saw a looming shadow with a pair of glowing eyes glaring down on me when I was about to call her ‘my husband’. I felt so small under that massive crushing presence of her staring down at me. I felt it, I would never be able to ever call her ‘my husband’, she read me like an open book before I could even begin to try and deceive her with my false cheerful act. If I tried to force it… she’d reject me to a level that would never stop hurting even worse than the eighty thousand troops I fought because I was thought to be a demon. I killed so many in the name of self-defense, but this wouldn’t be self-defense since she would be the one defending herself from my advances as I was the one that sought her out. I couldn’t even think of making that claim now as she stared into my soul and put out the fire of any false affectations I could have piled on her from the start, Pom was not dumb and had immediately read my intentions fully even if she hadn’t known what they exactly were or where they were going. I just knew that if I tried from that point, she wouldn’t want anything to do with me. The size of Pom’s spirit was ridiculous, I knew she was a Chrysomallus, but her presence alone dwarfed my own mystical and long lived life with such ease and she’s barely lived for more than twenty years. She wasn’t even actively doing anything. I’ve heard of things called noble phantasms, spiritual power brought to life based on legends… but this… yeah… something else. -Pom- “So… what did you want to talk about Ms. Mae?” I said earnestly hoping that she wasn’t about to do something I would not appreciate. “Several things actually…” Her mood was muted, but she didn’t seem entirely dead inside. She was far more dangerous than she appeared, that was for certain. That I even cowed her so easily was curious. “You’re lonely aren’t you?” The reaction to that was stumble back and flop onto of her tails and shiver. “Yes.” Ms. Mae answered honestly. “Why?” I glanced around to make sure nothing in Ignis was going poorly and no army was marching on Aurora or Greenleaf. “I’ve done a lot of bad things…” Tamamo was being far too honest, but I wasn’t about to force her to tell me what. “Do you want a friend?” The look I received was one of utter astonishment. “…” Tamamo let off a whining noise. “How are you so good at this?!” “I’m generally good at reading someone’s character, you have a lot of regrets… killing isn’t one of them.” I said flatly. “It isn’t… so why would make a joking offer of…” Mae continued and I cut her off. “Who said I was joking, I just asked if you wanted a friend. It wasn’t an offer of friendship, I asked a yes or no question, a very simple one at that and you’re dodging of the question is making me curious.” I noted Tamamo’s ears perked up, but her tails stayed between her legs and under her body. “Let me ask you this again, do you want a friend?” “… yes…” Okay, so I’m making progress with this weird fox named Tamamo No Mae who likely killed a lot of people, but not without a very good reason behind it. “Now I want to ask… do you need a hug?” I heard a soft snort and looked to Dazzle who grinned at our interactions, she went back to looking around to make sure that we weren’t caught off guard. “I would like one…” After Mae said that I just made my way up to her and hugged her gently, then started rubbing her back. “Are the things you want to talk to me about violent or something inane?” I calmly asked as she leaned into my touch. “No… nothing violent, I try not to kill unless they attack first and or were a bad faith actor.” Mae might have had some psychological issues. “Also it isn’t inane, I just want to ask if you know about what you are?” “What do you think I am?” Please don’t say ‘black sheep’, that is one of things I’m trying to believe I am not. I certainly didn’t feel like one, I was far too different from the lambkin legends to actually be one. “A Chrysomallus.” That… okay… yeah… wait… no… I… could it… “Are you sure?” No…. no…. no, no, no… no definitely not, please don’t say… “Yes, I’m quite sure.” Well Tamamo No Mae you just explained why a good portion of my life has gone the way it did, I’m also glad to have met Tianhuo at all. “Well that’s a horrifying bit of news, how did you come to that conclusion?” It explains why I wanted to fly so much and my anti-magic wool properties. “I’m not exactly of ‘this world’ if you catch my meaning and one of the things I’m good at detecting is magic, you’re unique brand is right up there with being related to a legendary flying golden ram.” Mae, this is something I really probably didn’t want to know. “You’re even kind of becoming a legend in multiple universes you haven’t even visited.” I took a deep breathe, then said one thing. “Aries Constellation?” It explained way too much, was I hyperventilating? “Yes.” Tamamo seemed more worried for me now. I was hyperventilating. Oh Goddess Jiutian, the marmalade conspiracy was just confirmed… my people were right about everything! -Dazzle- What was a Chrysomallus and why was Pom shutting down right in front of us from hearing about it?! Pom’s eyes went eerily blank and hollow as she sat down and barely blinked as her eyes stared off into the distance. -Aurora Infirmary, Dolly- Whoa, what the?! Pom, are you okay, you’re acting a little… “Dolly…” I could hear Pom’s voice as if she was in the room with me. “Can you please reassure me that I’m not going to be sacrificed for something? I just… I need hear it from you.” Why what was going on Pom? Why would anyone sacrifice you for something, also you’re healthy and not nearly dying at moment so what are you going on about?! “I’m… having a major existential crisis at the moment… of the likes that would horrify my friends when they thought what they were seeing in me was just my combat potential. Even Oleander and Fred… Fred didn’t even see it… not even he could see… oh gods…” “You’re kind of freaking me out here Pom… what’s got you so messed up in the head?” She was getting really depressed… no that wasn’t quite the word for what she was feeling. This... this was far worse. “Arceus he knew… I ignored it for my own safety… I didn’t want to hear it… he knew I ignored it for my own safety...” Yeah, Pom, you’re not making a lot of sense. “The secret behind the golden glow of my wool…” Is the world growing colder? “Well… there’s one thing worse than being a black sheep in the lambkin culture... and I'm it... heh heh... I really don’t talk about lambkin culture much with my friends do I… hahaha… nobody has to know but those who heard Tamamo blurt it out loud…” Pom, do you need me to come running? “No Dolly I… this… Baa-Ram-Ewe… lambkin be true… lambkin be true…. lambkin be… CHRYSOMALLUS…” Suddenly I felt something in Pom snap, the world suddenly grew lifeless around me as if something sucked all the color out of the surroundings. My eyes widened and I grabbed my skateboard and helmet to burst out of the castle in seconds. I was blazing for Pom, she needed me, she really needed me right now for something extremely important… it was just a feeling, but I needed to pull her back from whatever was happening to her by being next to her. By the time I got to her a few minutes later, I find her just laying lifelessly on the ground staring at the sky repeating the words ‘lambkin be true’ in her head a lot. With several of our worried friends and a strange nine tailed fox that seemed guilty of something. “What did you do to Pom?!” Dazzle angrily growled at the fox. “Dolly wouldn’t be here if something wasn’t wrong with Pom!” “I’m... I don’t know… unless… oh… oh dear.” The fox seemed to be wide eyed and horrified about something, I can deal with that later. “I think… I might have just made a huge mistake by telling her what she is.” Didn’t matter, Pom needed me! I tossed my helmet to the side and leapt from my skateboard for her as I approached, I landed on top of her and put my paws around her neck and hugged her for all I was worth. “Dolly…” Pom didn’t say that out loud, but I heard her voice through our connection. “Do you know what the meaning of ‘sacrificial lamb’ is?” There was something about the question that I hated with an intensity like nothing I’ve ever felt before, Cruella De Ville... who was that, a girl scout cookie seller? “Pom, hug me back, don’t do whatever it is you’re currently doing, hug me back!” She wasn’t paying attention to me and I wasn’t about to answer her question. I looked at everyone standing around and then raised my right paw and slapped Pom across the face drawing an amount of blood from her nose. Pom’s mouth wasn’t moving, but I heard her clearly. I slapped her again. “Pom, I need you to come to your senses!” I screamed, she wasn't responding to me. “Lit... I know this sounds dumb, but strike me with a bolt of lightning!” I clamped myself onto Pom’s face, closed my eyes and grit my teeth. I could hear Lit squeaking worriedly. “Lit, just do it!” I begged, this was important. I instinctively knew what I had to do to stop whatever was about to happen and it required me to hurt myself. It was like a small part of me was urging me forward to knock us both out at the exact same time, something in my chest… my heart was guiding me. My heart and something else was guiding me… there was like a small bit of extra warmth clinging to it. “I promise little bud… everything will be okay…. just… just do it. Hit me!” Lit closed his four blue eyes, gave an upset squeak and before anyone could stop him, my world exploded into pain before darkness took me and Pom. -Aurora Kingdom, Castle Infirmary, the next day- I awoke with scorch marks and bandages covering my body… Pom was covered in said marks too, there were tears in her eyes when I woke up and looked to her. I was right at her side. “Dolly I’m… sorry… that you are connected to someone like me...” Gladly take a lightning bolt for you anytime Pom! I felt the immense amount of love in that statement when she said it mentally, but I did not get the reason why she apologized. “I know you would again… not that it'll help in the long run.” I pulled myself up onto her chest and laid back down and rested my head on her to feel a slow somehow upsetting heartbeat, she just raised both her hooves and started hugging me. I hugged her back, still relatively freaked out by whatever had gone wrong with her. I had felt it and still didn’t know what it was about. “...” Pom just continued to keep her eyes closed and held me tight. It felt like something inside Pom, a part of her, just tried to die really hard and I stopped it in time. That something was still thankfully there though… I didn’t know what it was, but there was something in my heart telling me to never, EVER, let Pom out of my sight in the coming days until that horribly foreboding feeling went away. -Tamamo No Mae- I broke her by telling her exactly what she was… nice going Tamamo, someone offers you true comfort and friendship, then you immediately screw them up severely. It doesn’t help that I don’t know how to make this right, but… “If you want Pom to be better, you’ll have to find a way to reignite her spirit.” That was as much of an answer as I could give them to the problem at paw. I couldn’t tell them exactly what had went wrong, that was up to Ms. Lambchop to discuss with her friends. I’ve already done enough damage as it is. “Pugilis knows all about spirit, maybe they can help!” Evan stated, but I don’t think he quite understands what’s wrong with Pom. “Hey, where are you going?” “To think about things.” I… would try to find a way to make up for what I’ve just done. -Pom- At least Smolder and Shanty weren’t awake to hear about this. The world seems so dull now…. I think… I think Dolly is the only thing keeping me from… I grasped onto Dolly tighter, holding onto her for dear life and she was doing the same to me. She was an anchor, something to stay focused on like.... like Tianhuo. - . . . . Baa at birth with happy little form. Ram through the battle of life until weary flesh is severely worn. Ewe will eventually meet death, where from everything Ewe will be shorn. For afterwards, it'll be as if they had never been born.