The Adventures of Damon Lipton
Chapter XIV - Arrival of the Master
It had been a slow month for Ponyville. The ponies had now gotten used to the sight of Damon wondering around the town with Berry Punch or her daughter or both. Everypony had heard of what three of the Elements had nearly done to him and all had made mental notes never to get on their bad side. Especially Pinkie Pie.
To the day, Damon had never spoken of what horrors he endured from her. Only mentioning it had something to do with ‘sugar overload’.
Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie had all felt bad about what they had done to Damon after realising they were being way out of order and had tried to make amends for it. Rarity had insisted she would make Damon a bunch of new robes, one colour, one material, all to go with his current attire which he accepted. Pinkie had promised to throw him the greatest party ever, scrapping the plans for the original party and had spent the past month planning a new one. Damon had made it very clear to her that he wouldn’t miss it for the world and was somewhat dreading the whole thing, not sure as to what the crazy pink mare considered a party.
Applejack had continuously apologised for her behaviour, going on and on about how it wasn’t very neighbourly of her. She’d managed to convince Damon to come round one day to spend it with the Apples, to truly make it up to him. At first he’d been a little sceptical about it but after persuading from Berry and Pinchy. He had decided to accept and they arranged the date.
That date was today.
Damon grumbled as Celestia’s sun shone through the curtains and slowly raised himself out of the bed with a low groan. Rubbing his sockets he stretched popped his spine before grumbling again and standing up. He quickly got dressed and headed downstairs, ready to have some breakfast.
He was too tired to fully take in his surroundings and didn’t hear the sound of little hooves coming from behind him. Before he could react he lost his balance and fell onto his front with a yelp a sa small pink blur tackled him by surprise.
“Morning, Uncle Bones!” Pinchy giggled.
“Hey, Pinches…” he groaned, “mind getting off me?”
Pinchy giggled and got off Damon who groaned as Berry poked her head out from the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about.
“You know, Damon,” she smirked, “you really should be careful where you tread.”
“B-but I,” Damon stuttered, “it was—”
“Yeah, Uncle Bones,” Pinchy giggled, “you need to be more careful!”
Damon sighed in defeat as the filly ran to her mother for a hug and slowly trudged his way into the kitchen, taking a seat and grumbling to himself. They all ate breakfast in relative silence as Damon contemplated coming up with an excuse for not going to see Applejack at the farm, he also hoped she had forgotten about it and he could’ve used that to his advantage.
“So, Damon,” Berry started, “looking forward to your day at the farm?”
Damn... he thought, “of course I’m not, I still have nightmares about what she and the others did to me.”
“Oh it couldn’t have been all bad, there were far worse things they could’ve done,” Berry replied.
“That’s what Pinkie did…” he grumbled.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, look, do I really have to go, Berry?” Damon whined.
“Yes, you do,” Berry replied, bopping him with a mixing spoon.
“Evil,” he muttered.
“I can go with you, Uncle Bones if you want?,” Pinchy offered.
“Yeah, I could do with someone on my side. Can she Berry?” Damon asked.
Berry raised her eyebrow and smiled seeing Pinchy giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes ever as her lip quivered. Her smile faltered and she rolled her eyes when she saw Damon trying to do the same thing, letting out a defeated sigh.
“Alright, alright. Just no galavanting into the forest okay?” she warned.
“Yes ma’am,” Damon saluted.
“Thank you, mummy!”
“Your welcome, sweetie,” Berry chuckled giving Pinchy a kiss on the head.
“Shall we set off, Captain Pinches?” Damon asked.
“Of course!” Pinchy declared, clambering onto his shoulders, “onwards!”
Berry smiled as she watched the two depart the house, Damon making boat noises again as Pinchy ‘steered’ him using his skull.
The ponies in town watched with smiles and chuckles as Damon ‘sailed’ through the town with Pinchy. He had conjured up a hat for her on her request in the shape of a trihorn, as well as an eyepatch. Pinchy was holding onto his skull with one hoof whilst the other was pointing him in the direction she wanted him to go.
They soon saw Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo ahead of them also seemingly heading towards the direction of the farm and a mischievous grin formed on Pinchy’s face.
“All hooves to battle stations,” Pinchy whispered to him, “ready the water cannons!”
“Aye, aye Cap’n,” Damon smirked, understanding exactly what she was on about.
As they came closer to the three fillies, Scootaloo was the first to get the strange feeling of being followed and turned around. She was about to say hello to Damon when Pinchu suddenly cried out.
“FIRE!”
Before the crusaders could react, Damon shot a blast of water from his hand that soaked the fillies who screamed. Pinchy and Damon laughed as the three wet fillies glared at him before they all grinned mischieviously at the pair.
“Get him!” Scootaloo cried.
Damon suddenly was jumped by the three who managed to get him to the ground as Pinchy - who decided to turn against Damon - began to tickle the lich.
“N-no! S-stop I’m ticklish!” Damon said in between laughing.
This only served to increase the tickle attack of the four fllies as Damon wriggled on the ground in laughter, begging for mercy to befall him.
“Keep going!” Pinchy giggled.
“Cutie mark crusader, tickle champions!” The other three cried in unison.
“Alright, that’s enough.”
The looked up to see Applejack with a grin as she looked down at the group, holding back her own chuckles.
“Aww but sis,” Applebloom started, “we was winnin’!”
“Ah know, ah know. But Damon looked like he was ‘bout to bust a gut… least I think he has a gut.”
“Actually, I don’t really… nor am I ticklish which begs the question why I was laughing…” Damon muttered as Applejack helped him up.
“Thanks,” Damon said.
“Don’t mention it, and don’t worry. Ah won’t tell anypony you were defeated by four fillies,” Applejack snickered.
“Hey, they ganged up on me! I was just… waiting for the right moment to launch a counter offensive,” he protested.
“Uhuh… sure,” Applejack laughed.
Damon grumbled as he picked Pinchy up as well as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle who begged him to do so. With Applebloom on her sisters back and Damon carrying Pinchy with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo on his shoulders, the group headed off towards the farmhouse.
As they came to the farm, they were greeted by Big Mac who shook Damon’s hand firmly.
“Nice ta meetcha finally, Mister Damon, names Big Macintosh. But ponies round here call me Big Mac.”
“Likewise, and please, just Damon is fine. Mister makes me feel very old.”
The two shared a chuckle as they came to the front door of the house, standing on the porch. Big Mac raised a leg in front of Damon and stopped him.
“Okay… you’d better wait here, Damon,” Big Mac started, “Ah better let Granny brace herself.”
“Understandable,” he replied as Big Mac walked into the home.
“Ah hope this doesn’t end badly…” Applejack muttered.
“What’s the worst that could happen? The way your town paints your grandmother makes her seem like a saint, I’m sure everything will—”
Damon was interrupted as a blur of green rammed into his gut and sent him flying backwards off the porch and into the dirt. He coughed and groaned, looking up to see the angry eyes of an old mare looking down at him.
“So, yer jus’ can’t wait fer me to kick the bucket? Figured you’d come by and try to take me now eh? Well, ah may be old, but ah got a lotta fight in me still!” She said.
“Lady,” Damon started getting up, “I don’t know what—”
He was interrupted again as the mare reared her back legs and bucked him twice, once in the stomach making him double over and then again in the head. Sending him backwards with a flip. Damon shakily got to his feet, dazed and confused beyond belief before the mare grabbed his hand and flipped him over and slammed him into the ground. He cried in pain as he stood up slowly and tried to focus his magic.
“So, you think yer fancy magic will save you now?” she growled before punching him again, “how’d ya like that?”
“LADY, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?” Damon shouted as he held his stomach. “GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF!”
Damon then before felt something tackle him to the floor and start punching him in the face. He quickly raised his hands and a small shield formed around it, deflecting the blows.
Applejack - who up until this point had watched along with the others in shock- quickly ran over to the crazed mare along with her brother and pulled her off Damon.
“Granny calm down! What’s wrong with ya?” Applejack asked.
“The reaper’s come to take me away!” Granny cried.
“I have not!” Damon protested, “and I’m not a reaper I’m a lich, there’s a difference!”
“Ah likely story!” Granny glared at him, “Why I oughta—”
“Granny, he’s telling the truth. This is our friend Damon Lipton, ya know, the guy Applejack tried to beat up?” Applebloom said as she and her friends rushed over.
Granny looked over to Applejack who blushed with embarrassment and raised her eyebrow.
“This true, Applejack?” she asked.
“Uh… yeah… kinda,” she muttered.
Granny stared at her with a blank expression.
“Well… he insulted mah apples!”
“Don’t start that again…” Damon grumbled.
“Enough of yer bickerin’’!” Granny snapped before turning to Damon, “Ah do apologise, Mister Damon. Ah thought you was the grim reaper!”
Damon chuckled as Granny starting guffawing loudly. The laughter was contagious as soon everyone had joined in.
“Alright everypony, lets git on inside!” Granny chuckled.
As they walked into the house, Applejack nudged Damon in the side and looked up at him.
“So uh… no hard feelings right?” she sheepishly asked him.
“Nah, what’s done is done,” Damon replied as he picked Pinchy up.”
Applejack nodded with a smile as they all made their way into the home.
Luna looked absolutely bored as she listened to the white stallion in front of her drone on. She sighed softly as she gently tapped her hoof on the throne, already not looking forward to the night court, given she hadn’t actually started it yet. The stallion - who was known as Money Bags- had demanded to see one of the princesses immediately and Luna was the only one around at the time, she had agreed to listen to him as she was happy that a pony wanted an audience with her. But now she was regretting it. Money Bags had been waffling on for an hour and seemed to not be close to stopping.
“And that is why, dear princess, I insist on there being a tax increase for the owners of small businesses and a decrease on larger shop owners such as myself,” he concluded
“Yes, very good, Money Bags. It’ll be looked at soon enough,” Luna sighed.
Money Bags bowed as he left the room leaving Luna on her own. She groaned and rubbed her temples as her head throbbed slightly, grumbling under her breath about the greedy little so and so. She lifted her head up as the door opened and she glared at the intruder before recognising them.
“Oh, its just you nephew,” she sighed.
“What’s wrong, auntie?” Blueblood asked with a look of concern, “you look absolutely worn down.”
“It’s the nobles again, I still can’t get my head around everything that has changed since I was… away,” she replied with a sigh.
“Well… if you’d like, I haven’t got anything planned for this evening so I can take over the night court for you again if you like? Auntie Celestia says that it’s good practise for me,”
“If you would, Blueblood,” Luna smiled, “I’d much appreciate it. I’ll just go and raise the moon and I’ll be off.”
Blueblood smiled as Luna stepped down and made her way out of the room and towards the balcony that she and her sister used in order to perform the ritual of lowering and raising the sun and moon. As she opened the door to the balcony, Celestia was already there waiting for her.
“Lulu you look tired, would you like me to do the night court for you?” Celestia asked.
“It’s okay, Blueblood is taking over for me,” Luna replied with a smiled.
Celestia smiled to her as they both began to the ritual. First, Celestia slowly lowered the sun as Luna began to raise the moon over the kingdom. Once it had been completed, the two sisters embraced one another before Luna gave a yawn and they went about their separate ways. With Celestia returning to her bedroom as Luna walked to hers, thinking about the past month.
The past month had caused a large uproar in each the night and day courts as nobles and dignitaries demanded explanations as to who or what was sighted being chased by the Princess of the Night, Celestia and Luna had to explain that they had received an ambassador of sorts and through miscommunication was residing in Ponyville for recovery of - as they put it - ‘the stress of the job’.
Luna returned to her room and took a well deserved bath before slipping into her bed and snuggling against the soft pillows. Smiling in contentment as she closed her eyes.
There was a loud crackle light lightning followed by a flash of white before something landed in her bed, causing her to be thrown up slightly and flail her legs.
OH ANCESTORS NOT AGAIN! she thought.
She saw another bipedal creature slowly raise from the bed and dust itself down. Unlike Damon, however, this one was clearly alive. It took a few steps forwards and stumbled before steadying itself and looking around at its surroundings. Luna watched as it raised a white hand, seeing it glow briefly before a sigh escaped the beings lips.
“I can sense him… could I finally—”
It stopped mid sentence as it turned round and saw the blue alicorn staring at him in confusion. It blinked before dusting itself again and giving a polite bow.
“Greetings, I bear you no harm.”
“HI. I’M STAYING CALM THIS TIME!” Luna replied.
It looked at her a little confused before shrugging it off and looking around.
“I’m looking for someone, perhaps you could assist me?” it asked.
“Who a-are you?” Luna asked it.
“Hmm? Oh, my apologies! I never introduced myself.”
It bowed lowly one last time before smiling at the alicorn.
“My name is Elder Kalanar, I’m looking for my student. Damon Lipton.”