//------------------------------// // Villains // Story: Ciderfest 2023 Mane Story Saturday Morning - "Realization" // by Vivid Syntax //------------------------------// “Hey Barley?” Caramel whispered as she ducked behind a stalagmite in the deep, dark cave.  “Not a great time, Caramel!” Barley shout-whispered in reply. He flapped up to the cave ceiling and clung to a stalactite. Water dripped down its surface, and his muscles burned with the exertion. “Any ideas?” A snarling pack of diamond dogs raced down the cave at them, howling as their claws raked at the stone floor beneath them. Caramel dug deep in her pockets and found a page, already covered in ink from top to bottom. She squinted and saw a small corner with some space left. With a quick hoof, she whipped out her trusty pen and narrated quietly as she wrote, “The ponies left no scent trail, and the diamond dogs rushed right past them.” She cowered behind the stalagmite and hoped the dogs didn’t have a page of their own. “For The Pink Queen!” the lead dog, a shaggy monstrosity with long fangs shouted.  “For The Pink Queen!” the pack replied. “And for treats!” The pack cheered and slobbered all over, their mouths watering at their promised reward. They sniffed at the air, and one of the diamond dogs veered off towards Caramel’s hiding place. Barley gulped above. His wings spread out, and the tried to calculate how quickly he could swoop down and pick up Caramel. A split second difference could mean a nasty bite… or worse. Caramel held her breath as the diamond dog sniffed all around. She could smell his breath as he huffed. The scent curled around her hiding place, and as the dog licked its lips… “Hey! Drover! Don’t lag behind!” The diamond dog growled, then loped away to join his pack. As their footfalls faded into darkness, Barley and Caramel breathed a sigh of relief. Barley swooped down and trotted to Caramel. “Good thinking.” “Yeah, but I think that’s all we’re getting out of this one…” She held up the page, full of ink and with no space left. Barley sighed. “We’ll deal with that in a bit. Now, what was so important that you almost gave away our position?” “Oh! Well, I was wondering something: are we the bad guys?” Barley collapsed to the floor. “...Barley?” He stood up and brushed himself off. “Caramel, we stumbled into a whole monster rally and found out Cozy Glow forged an alliance between the dragons, some of the diamond dogs, and a whole host of other nasties to get all the pages for the villains. How are we the bad guys?” Plainly, she responded, “Because of how we treated Fizzy.” Barley opened his mouth to protest, but he had no words. Instead, he slumped onto the floor, staring listlessly into the dark.  “I just wish I understood why,” he said, finally. “We ignored her ideas for the con this year…” Caramel began. “But is that it?!” Barley snapped. Caramel looked at him and saw it wasn’t in anger, though. He was afraid, panicked. “I… I really wanted to say sorry to her, but was that one mistake worth unleashing all of this?” His head slumped back down. “We have to do something about this. Even if it’s all our fault. People could get hurt.” He looked around at the dark cave, lit only with the faint illumination of glowing moss. In the darkness, he squinted at a pattern in the stalagmites and cave markings. They looked like the face of an angry nirik staring at them, but only for a moment. Caramel frowned, but then, she furrowed her brows and set her jaw. She stood up triumphantly. “Oh, c’mon, this isn’t that much worse than when Pinkie cleared us out of cider right before the convention. We’ll figure something out.” She offered a hoof. Barley looked at it and then let out a laugh, grabbing hold and pulling himself up. “You must really have wanted that cider to compare losing it to getting chased through the dark by Diamond Dogs.” “Don’t give up hope. We’ll work hard, like we always do, even if there’s no deus ex ma–” “Hello?” came the voice of Twilight Sparkle. “Barley? Caramel? Is that you?” “Twilight!” Barley shouted. The two of them rushed towards the voice and the light of a green lantern. As they wheeled around the corner, they saw her, wings flared and smiling. “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you since I saw you enter that portal.” “Thank hoofness you’re here. We were just talking about the mother of all friendship problems we’ve found ourselves in, and well, the Princess of Friendship would be a huge help right now!” Caramel said, walking up to Twilight, an exhausted but relieved smile on her face.” Twilight nodded. She fished a few pages from her bag. “So I heard! It’s why I came looking for you. Have you spoken to her yet?”  “We don’t even know where she is,” Barley said, dismayed.”And even if we did, I don’t even know what to say to her at this point…” Twilight frowned and started to speak, but Caramel, who’s eyes were getting wider, spoke up first. “...but we could get help!” “Well of course, that’s why I’m–” Twilight began. “The con attendees!” Barley shouted, eyes lighting up as well. “She’s been running the con while we’ve been lost! They must have seen her around and talked to her!” Caramel beamed. “That’s it! They can go talk with her, enter into pages about her, and even do activities related to her!  Maybe even do stuff to show they appreciate her! Every little bit will help us figure this out and get through to her. ” Barley flapped his wings and hovered with joy. “Yeah!” He dropped back onto the table. “Thanks so much, Twilight! We should get started right away. Can you help us?” “My pleasure,” Twilight said with a smirk. And then a horrible roar and the distant orange glow of dragon flame filled the cavern. “...but maybe we should get out of here first,” Barley said, sheepishly, and much, much quieter. Twilight nodded sagely, and with a few strokes of her pen, she opened a portal to someplace far, far away. Barley and Caramel shared a very quiet hoof bump and dashed inside. Twilight smirked to herself, then hopped through, following closely behind.