The Adventures of Damon Lipton.
Chapter IV - Misunderstandings and a new friend.
Twilight looked back up to the clock and bit her lip before sighing and continuing to pace about in the library, Spike was sitting on the sofa, munching away on another gem cupcake and watching Twilight pace whilst reading a comic. Around her were the other girls who were looking concerned as well, Fluttershy still hadn’t turned up and they were beginning to worry about her whereabouts.
Spike had insisted over and over again that she was most likely running a bit late, what with her animals, and they should just remain calm. This however fell on deaf ears.
“Girls, we need to get over to Fluttershy’s house. I think she’s in danger,” Twilight suddenly said.
“Twilight… I really think you girls are overreacting slightly,” Spike said, casually turning a page.
“Over reacting? Over reacting?!” She shouted, “a new creature is on the loose, heading to Ponyville and Fluttershy hasn’t arrived yet! For all we know, she’s in grave danger!”
“Ah have to agree with ya there Twi,” Applejack replied, “it ain’t like Fluttershy to keep us waitin’ like this.”
“She’s probably just fussing with Angel, you know how much of a basta-” Spike stopped as Twilight gave him a glare, “little so and so he is.”
“I doubt it,” Rainbow countered him, “it wouldn’t take her this long to get herself ready.”
“You guys are being ridiculous!” Spike snapped, “just calm down, I’ll go find her if you're that paranoid,”
“We can’t let you do that pint size, it could be too dangerous and we wouldn’t want you getting hurt,” Rainbow said, placing a hoof in front of him
“I’m not a baby, Rainbow, I can take care of myself!” Spike grumbled.
“So, is that why do you ask me to tuck you in at night sometimes, Spike?” Twilight teased.
The girls giggled as Spike blushed in embarrassment before storming upstairs in a huff, Twilight then turned to the girls and continued talking.
“Okay, so should we go straight to her house as a group or split up. Just on the off chance she is town?”
Before anyone could answer, the door the library burst open and a frantic looking Roseluck rushed in, panting heavily.
“Monster! Everfree! Fluttershy! Kidnapped!” She managed to say in between her pants.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Rainbow said, “start again.”
Roseluck took a deep breath as she regained control of her breathing.
“Me, Lily and Daisy were heading to Fluttershy’s house for our weekly get together when we saw this horrific, ugly, evil creature run out of the forest. It was running right at Fluttershy before it dragged her into her home and closed the door!”
“What!?” The girls shouted in unison.
“We ran here as fast as we could to tell you, what with the Elements of Harmony and everything!”
“Okay, thank you, Roseluck. You stay here with the rest of the town and we’ll go help Fluttershy!” Twilight replied.
She then dashed to a box and opened it, revealing the elements inside. She levitated the respective elements to their owners as well as holding onto Fluttershy’s for her.
“But, Twilight,” Rarity began, “won’t the Elements be useless without Fluttershy?”
“Maybe, but it’s worth a shot. And besides, we might be able to get to her in time to give her her Element!” Twilight replied.
“Then we can have a ‘Hurray for not being eaten by the monster!’ party for her!” Pinkie grinned as she bounced in place.
“Alright girls, let’s go!”
“Again, I’m really sorry about scaring you like that, Miss Fluttershy.”
“Oh, it’s quite alright, Mister Lipton. I was just startled by your… appearance.”
Damon sipped dantley from his tea cup, which confused, intrigued and slightly horrified Fluttershy. She had woken up after fainting to find herself on her sofa with a blanket carefully over her, looking up she was surprised to see Damon in her kitchen, walking towards her with a tray holding two tea cups and a tea pot.
“That’s totally understandable, it’s not everyday you see a lich walking about is it?” Damon chuckled.
“Lich?” Fluttershy asked him.
Damon was about to tell her what a lich was, but stopped himself when he realised just how innocent Fluttershy was in his eyes and decided to spare her some of the details.
“Magical skeleton,” he simply said.
“Oh… I-I see, so you can use magic?” Fluttershy asked, taking a sip from her cup.
“Yes, I can. I’m a student of the Mages Council of Cyrium,” Damon replied proudly.
“I-I’m sorry, but where’s Cyrium?” She asked nervously.
Damon stroked his chin, trying to think of a way to reply without confusing the mare even further.
“Uhm… far, far away,” Damon replied.
“I see… more tea?” Fluttershy asked, lifting the tea pot up.
“Thank you,” he replied with a smile.
Fluttershy poured him another cup as she watched in fascination as he began to drink it, watching the brown liquid slide down his spine and disappear into his robes. She swallowed hard and decided to ask him a question that had been on her mind since they had started drinking tea, amongst other questions.
“Uhm… M-mister Damon? Could I-I ask you a question?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Where… where does the tea go, you know, a-after you drink it…” she softly asked him.
Damon opened his mouth to reply but found no words for a reply, he closed his mouth, opened it again, closed it and then tilted his head up slightly as he stroked his chin in thought.
“Hmm… you know, that is a good question, I’m not entirely sure of it myself to be honest. I mean, so far I've managed to eat apples and drink tea like I would if I was still human.”
“Human?” She tilted her head at him.
“Bipedal creatures,” Damon explained briefly,” I’m sure you have bipedal creatures in this world right?”
“W-well… there are diamond dogs… they’re b-bipedal canines…”
“Well, picture that then but without the fur, ears or tail I suppose.”
Fluttershy nodded, getting an image in her head as he continued.
“But yes, to go back to your original question. I simply have no idea how I can eat or drink or where it goes for that matter, by normal logic I don’t really need to eat or drink as a lich…”
“What do y-you mean?”
“You’re quite inquisitive, aren't you, Miss Fluttershy?” Damon chuckled.
“O-oh, I’m s-sorry…” Fluttershy whimpered, “I-I didn’t mean to upset you…”
“No no no it’s okay, I was just teasing,” Damon quickly replied.
“Oh… okay,”
Damon stood up slightly and leant over to reach for a biscuit near Fluttershy, he sat back down and began to nibble as he continued again.
“Anyway, like I was saying-”
Before Damon could continue, the door to Fluttershy’s cottage burst open and off its hinges. Damon and Fluttershy quickly turned their heads to see what exactly was happening. In the doorway stood five other ponies, each with a look of anger and determination in their eyes.
Damon blinked** before giving a friendly wave to the group, some crumbs falling from his mouth.
“Oh hello there, are you friends of-”
Damon was interrupted as a blur of blue slammed into him face first, causing him to fall out of the chair and to the floor.
“Ow! My face!” Damon cried out.
“Don’t worry Shy! We’ll save you!” Rainbow shouted.
“What was that for!?” Damon shouted back, rubbing his face.
But… he’s not-” Fluttershy started.
“How dare you kidnap a mare you ruffian!” Rarity said through gritted teeth, interrupting Fluttershy.
“But-” Fluttershy started again.
“Now Twi’!” Applejack shouted.
“Right, Applejack!” She replied.
Before Damon or Fluttershy could say anything, Twilight’s horn glowed and Damon was tossed to one side, violently crashing into the far wall with a loud thud. As he groaned and rubbed his head, Fluttershy’s Element was levitated off Twilight and onto Fluttershy’s neck. The girls braced themselves, ready for the Elements to power up.
But nothing happened.
They looked to one another in confusion before seeing Fluttershy looking back at them looking angry.
“Just what do you think you are doing?” She demanded.
“Saving you from the monster?” Rainbow replied.
“What monster?” Fluttershy asked, “the only ones here are us and Mister Damon,”
“Who?” Applejack asked.
Fluttershy pointed with her hoof over at where Damon had been thrown.
“He’s Mister Damon,”
The girls looked at Damon as he sat on the ground against the wall, his head slowly rolling about. Fluttershy gasped and rushed to him in concern. The others looked at each other again in confusion, trying to process what exactly was going on.
“Are you ok, Mister Damon?” Fluttershy asked him.
“I’ll have the calamari…” Damon murmured.
Fluttershy turned back to the others, anger etched on her face and stomped over to them. As she began to argue with them over what Damon was actually doing, he shook his head and blinked a couple of times as he watched them argue.
“Why in the hay should we apologise to it?!” Rainbow demanded.
“Because you kicked him, Rainbow!” Fluttershy shouted back, her shy demeanor gone.
“But… he was trying to eat you!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“We were having tea and biscuits, that’s it.” Fluttershy replied.
“But Roseluck said he dragged you into your house,” Rarity said.
“Because I fainted in surprise when I saw him, his appearance is slightly... unsettling but he really is a nice guy!”
Damon nervously watched as the bickering increased, seeing this as an opportunity to skedaddle, he slowly rose to his feet and began to tiptoe his way to the door.
“Hey!” He heard the one called Rainbow yell, “where do you think you’re going?”
“Hey look! A three headed walrus!” Damon shouted suddenly in blind panic, pointing to his right.
“Huh?” Rainbow looked to where he was pointing.
The second she did so, he quickly cast a spell under his breath and smoke shot out from his mouth quickly filling the room and causing the girls to cough.
“It can use magic?!” Twilight shouted in alarm between coughs.
Twilight quickly regained her composure and cast a spell that quickly dispelled the smoke, leaving the six girls alone in the room. They looked around trying to see where Damon had gone before Pinkie bounced up and down pointing out of the door.
“There it is! It’s going into town!” She shouted with a grin.
“Oh no… if the town see it…” Twilight’s eyes widened, fearing how he would react to the town reacting to him, “we need to stop it!”
“Come on, we better get it before it causes more mayhem!” Rainbow said before shooting out the door after Damon.
“Right behind ya, Dash!” Applejack replied, running out the door.
Pinkie, Rarity and Twilight soon followed them, leaving Fluttershy by herself staring after them.
“But… he’s not evil…” She whispered before running after them.
“HOLD STILL SO I CAN PUMMEL YOU!”
“LIKE HELL I WILL!”
Damon ducked as Rainbow shot over him, narrowly missing him by mere inches. He threw his hand into the air in her direction and another small amount of earth ripped from the ground and shot towards her but also missed. Damon wasn’t trying to injure the mare, rather, try and deter her from chasing him, which wasn't working, and he continued to run down the path. By now he had come to the edge of the town and ponies left right and centre had started screaming and running in all directions, as he rolled out of the way of Rainbow trying to dive bomb him, he couldn’t help but feel the feeling of deja vu again.
‘This is just like with that crazy blue horse all over again!’ He thought to himself.
He quickly darted down an alleyway and slammed himself up against a wall, holding his breath as he prayed Rainbow didn’t spot him. He cringed as a gust of wind blasted him as a blue blur shot down the alleyway and disappeared, Damon waited a few minutes before he let go of the breath he was holding and slid down the wall.
“These bloody horses are crazy,” he muttered to himself, “damn you to Oblivion for sending me here Dorian…”
Damon slowly peeked his head out of the alleyway to see if the coast was clear, he could still see ponies running around in fear and screaming but they seemed more confused, as if they were trying to see where he was exactly in order to know in which direction to flee.
“Maybe… I can make it back to the forest and come up with a new plan…”
“Or ah could jus’ kick your sorry flank to manehatten and back!”
Damon spun on the spot and came face to face with the pony called Applejack, behind her was the pink one who was bouncing on the spot and the white unicorn who was giving him a nasty glare.
“Now jus’ give yerself up pal, you can’t take all of us on,” Applejack glared at him.
“What did I do exactly?!” He demanded, waving his arms dramatically, “all I did was eat some disgusting, worm infested apples and accidently give-”
“Hold up…” Applejack said, lowering her head down,”What did you jus’ say ‘bout mah apples?”
The two behind Applejack looked at each other, a sudden look of fear on their faces as they started to back up. Damon could feel the air around him suddenly go cold and a sense of dread filled him, and just like with the one called Luna, he had obviously made a terrible, terrible mistake.
“Uh… they were disgusting and worm ridden?” He replied without thinking.
Twilight looked around her frantically, as they had approached the town Rainbow had suggested they split up in order to try and find the creature quicker, at first Twilight was hesitant due to the fact it could use magic but reluctantly agreed. Rarity and Pinkie had gone to the east side of the town whilst Rainbow had remained in the air, Twilight had opted to cover the west side of the town with Applejack, but had split up with her in order to run back to the library to send an urgent message to the Princess.
“Where could it be?” She wondered aloud, “I’m sure that-”
She was interrupted as a loud crack resonated throughout the town followed by a high pitched scream, which was soon followed by the figure of the creature flying at great speed past her from an alleyway nearby and into another, followed by a loud crash as it obviously collided with something.
The chaos in the town stopped briefly as all eyes slowly turned towards the alleyway where the creature had shot out from to see a very angry Applejack storm out and barrel towards the other alleyway with Pinkie Pie and Rarity in tow.
“NOPONY TALKS BAD ‘BOUT MAH APPLES!” She roared.
“Applejack!” Twilight shouted, using her magic to grab the angry farm pony and stop her in her tracks, “what they hay do you think you’re doing!? You don’t know what it could do to you!”
“But it said that mah apples were disgustin’ and worm infested! And ah ain’t gunna let some poncy, skeletal thing get away with that!” Applejack snorted.
“But you don’t know what it’s capable of!” Twilight said, “you shouldn’t just run in like a bull in a china shop, Princess Celestia will be here soon to help us. I’m sure of it.”
Applejack gritted her teeth as she glared down the alleyway, then back to Twilight and let out a sigh.
“Alright Twi’, what do ya have in mind then?”
“We need to corner it somehow, I can then cast a bind spell on it to hold it safely whilst we wait for the Princess.”
“Alrighty then, how do ya wanna go about doing that?”
Before Twilight could speak, Rainbow Dash landed on the ground beside them just as Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity finally caught up to them.
“Sorry guys, I lost it. By the way, what was that scream just now? That wasn’t the thing was it?”
“Mhm! Applejack kicked him really hard after he said some mean things about her apples,” Pinkie replied.
“They ain’t disgustin’ or worm infested…” Applejack muttered.
Fluttershy winced slightly, she wanted to defend Damon but she knew Applejack and Pinkie would never lie about something like that. She began to wonder if Damon wasn’t what he appeared to be and decided to remain quiet for the time being.
“So, what do we do now then?” Rainbow asked.
“Twi’ has a plan,” Applejack replied.
“Well firstly, I was thinking that we could corner it but Applejack seems to have taken care of it by kicking it into that dead end alleyway,” Twilight started.
Applejack snorted as she continued.
“I then need you guys to keep it from getting out so I can channel my binding spell on it to prevent its escape before the Princess arrives.”
“Are you sure shes coming?” Rarity asked as the others looked to Twilight for reassurance.
“Well… I didn’t hang around for Spike to receive a reply,” Twilight admitted, “but I was very insistent on the urgency of the matter!”
This seemed to give the girls the reassurance they needed, after all, Celestia wouldn’t ignore a desperate cry for assistance from her personal student especially how recent the Nightmare Moon incident was.
“So, how do we got about this then, Twilight?” Rarity asked.
“Okay… this is the plan…”
Damon groaned as he got up from the now destroyed pile of crates he had slammed into, wincing as he placed a hand over his chest.
“I think I’ve broken something…” he winced.
Muttering under his breath, his hand glowed white as he slowly rubbed over where Applejack had kicked him and sharply inhaled through his teeth as the spell began to fix his injuries. Satisfied that he was somewhat healed for the time being, he slowly stood himself up and dusted himself down before realising he was trapped in the alley.
“Oh… bollocks…”
“U-uhm, M-mister Damon?”
He spun round to see Fluttershy by herself in the alleyway, looking concernedly at him.
“Oh, it’s just you, Miss Fluttershy,” Damon smiled and knelt down to her level, “you don’t know how nice it is to see a friendly face.”
He noticed Fluttershy wince at his words, some tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
“Miss Fluttershy?” He asked.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“Sorry? For what?”
He suddenly felt a rope binding around him tightly, causing him to wheeze as the air was squeezed out of him before being levitated into the air slightly. Damon looked down to see the rope being held onto by Applejack and the purple unicorn’s horn glowing, he realised that it was a trap and looked at Fluttershy with a mixture of betrayal and admiration for being willing bait as it were.
“Alright, we got it!” Rainbow smirked.
As the girls grinned in triumph and congratulated one another, Damon panicked and tried to break free of his bonds but stopped. If he got out, they would simply trap him again immediately and may possibly use more excessive force. Trying to think of a plan, he suddenly remembered a story that Kalanar had told him about his youth about how he had escaped capture and decided to just go with it.
“So…” Damon began, “it’s nice to know you are all racist bastards.”
The girls gasped and looked up at him in shock, Rarity glared at him with anger in her eyes.
“How dare you use such crude language in front of a lady such as moi, and how dare you accuse us of such a horrendous thing!”
“But it’s true,” Damon continued, “I mean, you all assumed I was evil right from the start. Did any of you stop for a moment and think, ‘hey, this guy seems to be alright, let’s get to know him!’ “
Fluttershy was about to raise her hoof in the air but decided it was best to keep quiet as Damon continued.
“But no, you automatically decided I was evil and try to kill me just because I’m different to you. You all sicken me...”
“But, we weren’t being racist to you, you started this!” Rainbow retorted.
“No… he’s right Dashie…” Pinkie sniffled, “we jumped to the wrong conclusion.”
“He kidnapped Fluttershy!” Applejack countered.
“I told you already…” Fluttershy sniffled, holding back her tears, “we were just having tea…”
“He’s just trying to trick you girls!” Twilight shouted, “he attacked Rainbow!”
“But only because Rainbow attacked him first,” Pinkie retorted.
“I hate to admit it, Twilight, but Pinkie is right. We did attack him first…” Rarity admitted, “we are racists…”
As the girls continued to argue over whether or not they were actually acting on a racist impulse, Damon used this as a distraction and quickly cancelled Twilight’s spell without removing the magic link so she wouldn’t notice the spell was being severed. He also cast a charm to keep the rope where it was, so Applejack wouldn’t notice the fact he had slipped out of it.
Carefully tiptoeing past the girls, thanking the fact they were so locked in their argument they didn’t pay attention to him, he snuck out of the alley before making a desperate dash for the far side of the town.
Princess Celestia landed in the centre of the town alongside Princess Luna and a few guards, watching as the ponies stopped running in fear and looked relieved to see the Princesses. Celestia and Luna were taken aback by the bombardment of shouts from the townsfolk.
“Monster!”
“Attacked the Elements!”
“Insulted Applejack’s apples!”
“The Horror!”
Celestia raised a hoof silencing them, she was about to ask what exactly was going on before she turned along with Luna, the guards and the other townsfolk towards an alleyway where loud shouting could be heard.
“We are NOT racists!”
“Yes we are!”
“Pinkie, no we are NOT!”
“Hey, where the hay did it go?!”
“Oh no, it got away, quickly girls!”
Twilight and the others rushed out and came to a screeching halt as the looked at the large crowd of ponies looking back at them somewhat confused.
“P-princess?!” Twilight spluttered.
“I think you need to tell me everything that happened, Twilight, from the beginning…”
Damon panted heavily as he leant against the tree, swallowing slightly and peeking out, he tried to see if he had been followed. Thankfully, he had managed to give them the slip and let out a sigh of relief.
“Finally… now I can figure out what to do…” he muttered.
He noticed that the park he had run into was deserted, no doubt the ponies who had been in the park had run away after hearing of a ‘monster’ attacking the town. He thanked the gods that it was deserted and decided to take a quick stroll to clear his mind in order to try and work out what to do next, paying close attention to any new sounds as to not get taken by surprise should he be discovered.
“All these horses are bloody crazy, well... maybe not Miss Fluttershy I mean, she did seem nice up until they tried to bind me.” he spoke aloud.
Damon sighed as he continued walking deeper into the park, crossing his arms behind his back and looking to the ground.
“Maybe I should try some more experiments on what I can and can’t do as… a… lich.”
He came to a sudden stop as he suddenly realised something, something fairly important in his new form.
“If I’m a lich… that means I have a… oh… Gods… what the hell did Dorian put it into?!”
Damon began to panic slightly as he resumed his pace, bringing his hands together and tapping his fingers against one another.
‘Oh no, this is terrible! I need to find my phylactery, how could I have been so stupid and forgot about that!? Curse you to hell Dorian!”
“Hey, so you’re the one causing the ruckus I take it?”
He shot his head back at the sudden voice, freezing slightly as he wheeled on the spot to see a pink pony with a mulberry coloured mane sitting on a bench like a human would, she had a picture of a strawberry and grapes on her flank and she was looking at Damon with interest.
There was a brief silence as Damon flinched and closed his eyes, bracing himself for another scream or for another attack. Carefully opening his eyes, he looked over to the pony who was looking back at him in confusion.
“You okay?” She asked him.
“Uh… well not really, I’ve not exactly had what you would call the greatest day, you know?” Damon replied.
“Tell me about it,”
She smiled at him and patted the spot beside her, out of curiosity, Damon slowly made his way over to the spot and sat himself down and leant back.
“So, wanna talk about it?” The mare asked.
“It’s a long story…” Damon muttered in response.
“Well, my daughter is at her godmothers for the weekend and I don’t really have anything else planned tonight so I got time,” she replied with a smile.
Damon was about to insist he was fine but saw the genuine concern and interest in the mares eyes and sighed to himself, he tilted his head back and looked up into the sky before replying.
“Well… alright then, it started when I was writing a report...”
“You mean… he isn’t a threat Princess?” Rainbow asked.
The girls had just finished telling Celestia and Luna what had happened that day, during this, the guards had spread out trying to find any information on where Damon had run off to.
“Yes, Rainbow Dash, I looked into his soul and couldn’t detect any signs of evil from him. Granted his appearance suggests otherwise, he is harmless.”
“But it kidnapped Fluttershy!” Applejack said.
“I’ve told you already girls…” Fluttershy started, “I was just surprised by him, he made me some tea and we had a chat. That’s all.”
“But he attacked me!” Rainbow protested, “and called us racist bast-”
Rainbow was silenced by a tug on her tail from Applejack before she could swear in front of the Princess
“Oh? And who attacked who first?” Celestia asked, raising her eyebrow.
“Well… we may have attacked him first…” Rainbow admitted.
“So is it safe to say, that Damon acted in self defence?” Celestia continued.
“Ah guess so…” Applejack replied, “but he insulted mah apples!”
“Yes, as I’ve heard but tell me, Applejack. Is it possible that he had taken a bite out of an apple that did have a worm in it? Thus, putting him off the other apples?”
“You… have ah point Princess… ah guess ah just got over protective of mah families pride and joy…”
Celestia nodded, happy with Applejack and Rainbow’s admission.
“And Twilight, I specifically said in my first scroll he was not a threat. And now because of you and your friends recklessness, he’s missing and probably terrified,” she scolded.
Twilight shrank down slightly as her ears lowered.
“I’m sorry Princess… I just thought that…”
“It’s not me you need to apologise to Twilight,” Celestia sighed, “I know your intentions were good, but you girls need to apologise to Damon when we find him.”
The girls nodded, feeling ashamed and guilty at what they had done.
“That goes for you too Luna,” Celestia said, turning to her sister who had remained quiet.
“I know, Tia, I know…” Luna pouted.
“Princess!” A guard saluted her, “an eye witness claims that Damon headed to the park not too long ago.”
“Thank you Sergeant,” Celestia said before turning to the girls, “now lets go find Damon and sort this mess out properly.”
“... And now I have no clue what he’s put my life force into, liches are meant to chose for themselves but that bastard Dorian probably did it for me and neglected to tell me where or what it is!”
Damon sighed as he finished his rant, the mare looked at him with pity and gently patted him on the back.
“Thanks… it’s good to vent you know?” He smiled at her.
“No problem,” she replied.
“But I have to ask, why haven't you freaked out over me like the others?”
“Dunno, you seem like an alright guy to me,” she shrugged lazily and smiled at him.
“Thanks, that means a lot,” he smiled at her.
The two sat in silence for a while as they let a cool breeze blow over them and listened to the rustling of the trees before the mare spoke up again.
“You know what you need?”
“What?”
“A drink!”
“You know… that’s not a bad idea at all! Wait… as in… booze?” Damon asked,
“Of course booze!” she replied, “I know this great tavern by the edge of town where they don’t judge anypony, pony, griffin, minotaur doesn't matter what you are, everpony is welcome there.”
Damon silently thanked all the known Gods that this world had alcohol as the mare got down of the bench before sheepishly looking back at him
“Oh, I didn’t get your name,”
“I’m Damon, Damon Lipton,”
“Cool name, I’m Berry Punch,” she replied.
“Alright, nice to meet you, lead the way!”
Berry grinned as she and Damon walked side by side down the pathway, heading towards the tavern near the edge of the town.