//------------------------------// // Got Wood? // Story: The Captain of Mining // by Raybony //------------------------------// “Are ya sure this is a good idea?” Applejack asked as they came closer to their destination, just on the border of Whitetail Woods. “Wouldn’t it be easier if ya’ll went to a mill and get yer logs?” “I would agree with you Applejack, but considering that Sparklez has more experience in this sort of thing, maybe using the conventional methods may not earn the same results.” Twilight said as she looked back to her friend. “Plus, it’s better to try what normally works before anything else, in this case chopping the tree down.” Sparklez added as he looked at the remaining members of the group. Rarity deciding she had to look after her store and stop her sister from making disasters. Fluttershy had decided to go to her cottage again, wanting to relay the news to her animals about her absence for the time being. Kerry deciding to accompany her as a way to reassure her, plus she liked playing with the mare’s mane and wings. This left Knievel, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Twilight and himself to go on their little journey to a nearby forest. “But wouldn’t ya’ll need an axe or saw for the job?” Applejack asked with a small frown. “Seems like ya don’t know how this stuff works partner.” “Don’t worry, we don’t need any old axe for this, when you got these.” Sparklez said as he showed his arms, earning confused looks from the ponies. “I can normally chop trees with my fists.” He said trying to bring some clarity into his last statement. “What? That sounds ridiculous.” Rainbow said as she heard what Sparklez said. “How in the wide world of Equestria do you think that is possible?” Rainbow asked as she brought her hand to her face, annoyed at how silly Sparklez sounded. “Hey, I’m just going with what I got. maybe the same thing can be applied here now.” Sparklez said in his defence, even he knew how crazy and stupid he sounded. “So far most of the things that I know of work here, at least its worth a shot.” “Sparklez is right,” Twilight said as she came next to the man. “We are not familiar with this whole new environment, and don’t know if we can find alternate ways to deal with this threat, so it’s best if we follow Sparklez example.” Twilight finished, giving the man a smile. Sparklez returned the smile before looking back to the front, seeing the vast amount of trees that made up Whitetail Woods. “This place looks really nice, you sure its ok for me to do this here?” Sparklez asked as he looked at the scenery. “It is fine, we are only here to collect some materials. If we seem to need more we can try the surrounding wild forests, located outside of Ponyville.” Twilight responded as she was the one that had suggested for them to come here in the first place. Sparklez was about to question as to why not go to the forest that was near Fluttershy’s place, but remembered that monsters were coming out of that place more than anywhere else, hinting that it was probably really dense and mobs would prefer to appear there. “So, what are you going to do? Cast a spell and make the tree cut into pieces?” Rainbow asked, more out of the fact that she still didn’t believe that Sparklez was suppose to cut a tree down with no tools. “Don’t be silly Dashie,” Pinkie said as she hopped around in her usual manner. “He said he was gonna chop wood, so that means that he will karate chop it with his hands.” Pinkie said with a large smile on her face. “Darn it Pinkie, even ah know that is impossible, he can’t possibly cut that tree down like that, he’s not even that strong. No offence partner.” Applejack said with an apologetic smile to the man, who waved his hand dismissively. “Well, Pinkie isn’t too far off with her guess,” Sparklez said which elected an ‘aha! I knew it’ from Pinkie. “I’m actually gonna punch it.” He said the last part like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Rainbow just started laughing, falling to her back as she laughed at the man’s ridiculous statement. “Oh that’s rich, for a second there I thought you were serious, hahaha.” The primatic mare said between laughs. Twilight shook her head at her friend’s behaviour, expecting as much from her. “Any idea how you are gonna do that Sparklez?” Twilight asked looking at the man, not quite certain how he was gonna pull off the bizarre feat. Sparklez cracked his knuckles, walking one of the near tree stumps of the forest. “Only one way to find out.” He said as he brought a fist back before delivering a hard punch into the trunk of the tree, keeping it there afterwards. No one said anything for a few seconds, waiting for the man to do anything. “Umm partner, ya alright?” Applejack said as she came around to check the man. Sparklez had a strained smile on his face, as if holding a laugh in. “...Fuck!” Sparklez screamed at the stop of his lungs, making the mare next to him rear back. Then proceeded to continue his burst of curses as he let go of the pain that he was now feeling. Applejack came to the side of her friends, just watching as the man continued his rant. “Ya know, for some reason ahm glad Ah can’t understand half the stuff he’s sayin’” Applejack commented. “Even I’m glad I didn’t learn the meaning of this words on my trip through the mirror, I have a little hunch they are related to some of our more strong vocabulary.” Twilight said as she watched Sparklez with a weird look. “Ow, way to be gentle.” Sparklez said as he let Twilight treated his wound with some medical equipment that Pinkie seemed to have carried in her mane, no idea why. “Teaches you to jump in and try to punch a tree like that, if that is what your game expects you to do in a regular basis, then I’m worried on the mental state of the po-people responsible on creating it.” Twilight said as she finished applying the disinfectant around Sparklez wound, before starting to wrap it with a small bandage. “Unless humans in your world are crazy on a regular basis.” “More on the ‘like to be silly once in a while’ basis.” Sparklez said in a joking manner, wanting to take his mind off the slight pain he still had. “But I’m sure you have your fair share of silly ponies here.” “We sure do, take Rainbow for example, always making the situation worse with her silly decisions.” Twilight said with a small chuckle, finding it nice to talk so casually with the man. “Hey, my plans are not silly, they just don’t end up as I intended them.” Rainbow said, crossing her arms in indignation. “Don’t worry Dashie, it’s the thought that counts, and I always like your ideas.” Pinkie said, trying to cheer up her friend. “Oh relax sugarcube, Twi is only teasin’ you.” Applejack said with a small giggle. “Don’t you agree big guy?” Applejack said, elbowing the side of knievel with her foreleg. Knievel looked to the orange farm-mare then to the others as he tried to think of an answer. “Umm, guess so?” Knievel said, rubbing the back of his head with one of his giant hands. “Did not know purple pony liked blue lady.” Twilight stopped what she was doing and looked at the golem with an eyebrow raised. “Of course I like Rainbow, she’s my friend.” Twilight said seeing the statement of Knievel confusing. “Umm, sugarcube, ah think he means that you like her, like her.” Applejack said with a bit of an awkward smile. “Huh?” Twilight asked, confused by her friend was entailing, she soon opened her eyes wide in realization as she got a faint blush on her face. “Oh, umm. I d-don’t like her that. Not saying that you’re unattractive or anything Rainbow, just…” She drifted off, not wanting to make the conversation more awkward than it already was. Sparklez seeing that everyone was a bit of an awkward spot, decided that he may change the subject and break the tension. “Well, umm, shall we give this another go then?” Sparklez said as he stood up. “Hang on Sparklez, you can’t be seriously thinking of punching a tree with an injured hand!” Twilight said as she stood on the way of the man, stopping any advance towards the woods. “Twilight, hello~?” Sparklez said with an eyebrow raised as he twirled the fingers of his uninjured hand in front of the alicorn’s face. “You could say I’m ambidextrous.” Sparklez said with a small grin. “Ambi- what?” Rainbow asked, the sound of the word too strange or alien to her. “It means that he can use both limbs with the same level of dexterity.” Twilight answered the pegasus question before turning back to Sparklez. “Even so, what are you hoping to achieve if you didn’t manage to do it the first time?” “Find the proper way to do the job, I’m certain that I can get the wood, I just need to figure out how to do it.” Sparklez said as he rubbed the head of Twilight. “So don’t worry, I know to not make the same mistake twice.” Sparklez said with a smile as he walked around the mare. Twilight was lost for a moment when she felt the hand of the man pet her mane, an electric feeling going down her spine as she enjoyed the sensation of the digits rubbing her scalp. As soon as the man left her, she came back to reality as the blissful sensation left her. She turned her head around to see the man lightly tapping the trunk of the tree as if it were a door and was waiting for someone to answer him. “What are you doing?” Twilight asked as she raised an eyebrow, confused at the man’s actions. Sparklez turned his head around to address the mare when she asked him. “Testing to see if it needs a certain force to start breaking the block.” Sparklez said as he faced the tree trunk again, knocking on it this time harder than the first time. “Start breaking it? I thought you wanted to chop it down, not destroy it into tiny pieces.” Rainbow asked as she was weirded out even more by the man’s words. “You would think that, but strangely enough, when you break a part of the tree, it gives me the whole log instead of bits and pieces.” Sparklez said as he started to lightly punch the tree now. “But this tree is either petrified or is stubborn as a mule with me.” The sound of a mule could be heard inside of the forest, where a mule with a few groceries inside his saddlebags could be seen. “Eh, hmm.” It said as it frowned towards the human. Sparklez looked at the equine with a raised eyebrow, feeling himself on the spot he tried to give a response to him as he had a good idea why he was staring at him. “Umm, no offence?” Sparklez said, which eased the frown from the mule in question. “None taken.” The mule said before starting to walk away, heading to where one would suspect his house was. Sparklez looked at the departing equine a bit longer before looking towards the ponies that he was accompanied with. “Does he always appear when one says that saying?” Sparklez asked, having felt that it was a common thing. Twilight shrugged, not quite sure herself. “He does go around town once in a while, funny enough, he has been around every time somepony says that.” Twilight said. “Ok then. Back to business then, why is this tree not breaking?!” Sparklez said as he went to punch the tree, not as hard as the first time, but it still hurt a bit. “God damn it, its like its made of metal or something.” “Don’t give up Sparky, you just have to try harder!” Pinkie said, hoping that her words of encouragement will bring Sparklez’s hopes up. “I wasn’t, like I said I need to figure out how to do this. hmm, maybe it needs to be another type of punching.” Sparklez said as he twisted his body a bit, before delivering a punch with the side of his fist. “Ow!” Sparklez exclaimed as he shook his hand, trying to get rid of the sting of pain. “Any more bright ideas genius?” Rainbow asked with a smirk, finding it a bit funny seeing the man doing his antics. “Karate chop, come on. That never fails.” Pinkie exclaimed, bringing a foam finger with the inscriptions of ‘#1’ written on it. Sparklez stared at this for a moment, but soon shrugged it off, knowing by now that it was best not to question it. “It’s worth a shot.” Sparklez said as he brought his hand back once again, this time a bit hesitant as he really didn’t want another episode with pain. He put aside the doubt as he sent the hand towards the bark and. “GYOUCH!” Came the yelp of pain from Sparklez as he shook the hand with vigour as it pained him as well as annoyed him from constantly being put up with pain. Pinkie looked with a frown, pouting a bit. “Guess it doesn’t solve everything afterall.” She said as she watched Sparklez still in his fit of pain. Sparklez ceased to shake his hand as the pain had subsided, before he looked at the tree with a glare. “Why won’t you just let me cut you down!?” Sparklez yelled as he went to the tree again, his rational thinking gone for the moment as he now had a hatred for the wooden object. “Uh sugarcube, no need to get mad ‘bout it.” Applejack said as she saw the man fuming, walking to the tree again. Sparklez didn’t listen to his friend’s comment, now more than determined to cut that tree down no matter what. He stood in front of the tree, bringing his arm back again for a punch, the other facing forward as a guide. “Sparklez wait!” Twilight shouted as she her friend about to punch the tree again, with his injured hand no less. She was about to pull him away with telekinesis, when she suddenly saw a thin see-through layer of white mist appear in both his hands, the mist from the hand near the tree extending itself to envelop a section of the tree in the same white mist. Sparklez brought his arm to the tree, upon impact, he didn’t recoil in pain as one would expected, but the tree trunk now sported a small crack mark on it, a dim light seeping through them. After Sparklez managed to let go of the small anger that he had, he took notice of what he had done. He shook his head as if to see if he had imagined things. But he gave a inner cheer as he saw that the crack remained on the bark. “How the hay did you do that, no, what the hay did you do?” Rainbow blurted out as she saw the spectacle, she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Sparklez just grinned turning to face the human mare. “That is old school, minecraft mining.” He said before facing the tree again, and reeled back a bit in surprise as he saw the crack sealing back up, now only but a dot of light before it finished repairing itself. “Well that’s a bummer.” Sparklez said as he frowned at the tree, hoping that the little reset for mining blocks of minecraft wasn’t present here, well, beggars can’t be choosers. “Was that what you meant by chopping it down?” Twilight asked in a bit of awe, surprised at what she had seen, where one would consider such act impossible for non magical users. “Yep, now all I need to do is do the same thing that I did, repeatedly, until I get the wood.” He said plainly, not really wanting to elaborate at the moment, as they needed to take advantage of the time they had to collect all the basic materials they could. “Well that is good to know and all, but did ya really have to get angry at an ol’ tree and then punch it?” Applejack asked, not seeing Sparklez as the type of pony, or human in this case, to just get steamed over something so silly. Sparklez merely shrugged at her in response. “In all honesty, it was more of a desire to accomplish my goal, fueled by a bit of anger.” Sparklez said as he stood in front of the tree again, going back to his last stance, hoping that it was the key to mining the wood and any future blocks. He was rewarded when he saw the same mist from before appearing on his hands, then extend out to a part of the tree. He grinned as he brought his fist forward, electing another small crack on the log. This is going to take no time. Sparklez kept hitting on the log, the cracks had spread around it a lot by now, making it look like it had been covered by a glowing spider web. Why is this taking so long?! Sparklez mentally shouted, really annoyed that his progress was being slowed for the simple fact that it took longer to mined the block that it usually took on the game. Make that another of the bumps of realistic Minecraft. “Is this gonna take any longer? Because I think I can do better things than this at the moment.” Rainbow said in a bemused way, bored out of her mind as she kept watching the man beating on the tree. “Sparklez, are you certain that this is the most efficient way to do this? It has been about three minutes and nothing has happened,” Twilight asked as she too was starting to get a bit impatient. “And from your look, you weren’t expecting it to take this long either.” Sparklez continued to punch the tree, at a slower pace than before as he was losing motivation. “Don’t know why, but this should had taken a few seconds, not this long.” He said as he was wishing for an axe at this very moment to speed up the chopping process. “Hard to believe, no?” Rainbow said as she looked at Pinkie and Applejack, both playing a game of cards at the moment. “I’m sorry ok? Must be another detail of the game to reality issue, like I said nothing is like I expect it.” Sparklez said, really wishing that he had some kind of instruction manual as to how this all works. “But I guess we know that it all still works right? It would be worse if we weren’t able to do anything at all, as it would mean th-” She was cut off by a loud pop sound coming from the direction of Sparklez. Sparklez looked to where he used to be punching, to now see just air and now a swirl of mist going around his hand, his HUD quickly showing the shape of a rough square, which resembled the tree that he was punching. He grinned at this, finally able to make some progress, but was surprised when he heard the sound of a heavy object hitting wood. “Timber!” Pinkie yelled as she and Applejack moved out of the way of a falling tree, just barely managing to avoid it. It hit the ground with a loud thump, making the ground shake from the force. “The what?” Sparklez asked in confusion as he saw the tree now laying on the ground. “Why did it fall down?” “Well there is a thing call gravity genius,” Rainbow said as she helped her friends stand back up. “What were you expecting it to do, float in mid air or something?” She asked bemused, not getting the man’s way of thinking. Rainbow looked at the man as he just remained silent, not looking directly at them as he had an awkward smile on his face. “...Please tell me you’re joking.” Rainbow said as she read the man’s expression clearly. “Umm, no?” Was all that Sparklez said as he sheepishly smiled. Rainbow just facepalmed at that, not believing Sparklez’s madness, kind of like Pinkie, but more toned down. “But did you manage to collect the wood? I heard a strange sound before the tree fell.” Twilight asked, wanting to make sure that their efforts were not in vain. Sparklez answered by extending his hand out, showing the still swirling mist on his hand. “I believe that this was well worth it.” He said as he thought of putting away the wood block/energy, which traveled from his hand to a new pouch on his belt. “Wait a darn minute, that little show of lights in yer hand was the piece of tree that you just removed?” Applejack asked, as she saw the tree that laid down on the floor. “I believe so, but I rather not place it down to save the time of collecting it again.” Sparklez said. “I do not believe this!” Twilight said as she stood next to the tree stump. “The tree was cut perfectly! it doesn’t even show rough imperfections of any kind!” She continued as she analysed the wood with her magic. “Guess the rule of things being square still apply then.” Sparklez said as he looked to the fallen tree again. “But now I have to chop the rest, urgh, this is going to be annoying.” “Oh, why don’t you ask Dashie for some help?” Pinkie said as she pushed the mentioned friend with her head towards the man. “Wait Pinkie, I don’t know how to do what Sparklez did!” Rainbow said as she fought against her friend pushing her. Sparklez smiled at the mare for a moment before responding. “No problem Dash, it’s rather simple.” Sparklez said as he went ahead and explained how he was able to break the block with his fists, still, Rainbow seemed a bit hesitant. “I don’t know. It still seems so weird, even after I saw it with my own eyes!” Rainbow said, ruffling her wings a bit as she set the feathers back in place, showing her insecurity. “Don’t worry about it, we can try again another day if it doesn’t work. Still, why not try now and get it out of the way?” Sparklez said as he walked to the fallen tree, judging how much he would be able to get out from the size of the chunk he took before. Rainbow looked at her hand for a second before looking back at the man, giving him a smile. “Ok then, bet you I can get rid of most of the tree before you.” She said, taking the stance that Sparklez told her, flinching slightly when her hands were surrounded by the white mist. Sparklez just gave her a friendly competitive smile. “You’re on.” He said as he went to punch the tree already, followed by a slight hesitant Rainbow. Twilight smiled a bit, seeing her friends get along so fine with each other. Fluttershy could be seen walking through the streets of Ponyville, the sun starting to set telling her that she needed to leave her home for the night. She really didn’t like the idea, and feared for her little friend’s well being as she wouldn’t be present. A small stir brought her attention back to her back, seeing Kerry and Angel lightly playing with each other, Angel was on top of the feline as he played with the ears of the feline, making her giggle a bit. Fluttershy smiled a bit at seeing the two getting along so well, she feared that Angel wouldn’t like having company or that Kerry was hanging with her more than the bunny recently. But she was glad that this was not the case. She was so distracted that she didn’t see the other pony that was coming her way until she bumped into it. Fluttershy squeaked in surprise as she turned to face the pony that she had run into. “I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to get in your way.” Fluttershy said in a low nervous voice as she backed away a bit. “Flutters? Hey, how you been?” Came the voice belonging to the pony that Fluttershy had bumped into. It was a mare with a white coat, with stripes running around her body at different intervals, a pair of wings could be seen snuggled to her sides, and to the side of her haunches was the image that resembled a cat face of sorts, blue in color as two white lines crossed in the middle, forming an X, and a pair of orange eyes to finish it off. Her mane was a brighter shade of white as it stood out from her coat shade, a small glint could be seen coming from her ears, which showed a pair of gold earrings that were clipped, the ears were missing a bit on the top, showing that they had been injured in the past. And a pair of coffee brown eyes looked at the yellow pegasus, as the ponies owner gave the mare a smile. “Been a long time since we last chatted.” The stripped white pegasus said. “S-silent Paw, I’m sorry for running into you, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, I’m sorry.” Fluttershy shied away behind her mane. Silent Paw just gave a chuckle at the mare’s response. “Oh Flutters, you know I like to be called SP, no need to worry about it, it was an accident.” The mare said as she gave Fluttershy a pat on the back. “O-okay then,” Fluttershy said in a small tone, still a bit embarrassed at herself. “So, how have you been?” Fluttershy asked as she looked at the mare in front of her. “Oh I’m fine, thanks for asking.” She said as she soon took notice of the two critters on Fluttershy’s back. “Oh, I see you have some company.” SP said as she nuzzled the pet rabbit with her nose, then looked towards the feline. “And who are you little one?” She cooed, addressing the cat with a smile. Kerry gave a smile as she responded. “Names Kerry, nice to meet you!” SP snapped her eyes open in shock, taking a step back. “Sh-she talked!” SP exclaimed as she looked at the feline, who now had a sheepish smile on her face, realizing her own carelessness when speaking. “Don’t worry Paw, she is nice, and a friend of mine too.” Fluttershy said, trying to calm down the stripped mare, who just kept staring at the feline. “Umm, Paw, you ok?” Fluttershy asked, slightly concern for her friend. That was soon dismissed as the mare gave a loud squee, “Eeeeeeeh.” She said, with a large grin on her face, before she jumped forward, catching the feline in a tight embrace. “That makes you so cute! My dad told me only big cats were capable to learn Equestrian. And you are just adorable!” She said with glee, as she hugged the cat tighter. “Help, can’t breathe, too tight!” Kerry said a little frantic, as she flailed her arms about in an attempt to escape the lovable constrictive embrace. Upon hearing the feline, SP released her grip slightly, but still strong enough that she wouldn’t let the feline go. “Oh I’m sorry, but I just adore cats of all forms, and you being able to talk, a domestic cat! Was just incredible, and you are so cute!” She said as she gave another hug to the feline. Kerry was desperately trying to escape the hugging machine that was Paw, not really liking being carried around like this with her paws off the ground. Finally, SP let go of Kerry, laying on her belly as she looked the cat in the eye. “Are there more of you? Can you understand animals? How old are you? Are you like a changeling and can change into other feline creatures?” SP asked with sparkly eyes, excited by all that was happening. “Umm, I, well.” Kerry coughed a bit, finding her current situation really awkward, more than usual. “Umm, Paw I think you should give her some space, if you don’t mind that is.” Fluttershy asked weakly to the Eccentric mare. SP looked at the shy pegasus with a confused look before looking back at the feline, who seemed really uncomfortable by the invasion of her personal space by the stripped mare. “Oh sorry!” She said quickly, backing away a bit. “I was so excited and I wanted to know everything that I could from you and-” She was stopped by a small paw resting on her lips. “Girl, calm down. You are nearly as crazy as Pinkie Pie, and that is saying something.” Kerry said, putting her paw down. “But is nice to meet you at least.” She said as she gave the mare a smile. Paw smiled at her, glad she wasn’t making her uncomfortable anymore. “Nice to meet you as well, a bit weird talking to another feline who is considered domestic through the Shadow Clan.” SP said with a bit of a thinking look. “Shadow Clan? Who?” Kerry asked, confused by the name. She decided to get on top of Fluttershy again, feeling it would be better for both her and Paw to talk. “Oh nothing, just a clan that my dad comes from, or at least used to.” SP said, a bit saddened for a bit, but soon perked up. “But I still love him anyways, and my mom does too.” Kerry looked at the mare for a bit, judging by her looks it was obvious that she was only half pony, guessing by the stripes she guessed zebra. “I’m guessing your folks must be happy for you then, and who did you get the zebra inheritance from?” Kerry asked, really interested by this. Paw just heartily laughed at that, confusing the feline. “Oh I’m not half zebra silly, I’m half tiger.” She said like it was no big deal. Which Kerry didn’t take it as so, if her gawking mouth was anything to go from. “Wait what? That can’t be, you are a pony, and don’t even resemble a cat in any way!” Kerry said not believing what she was hearing. Angel patted her on the back, as he showed that he didn’t believe it either the first time he heard about it either. “I guess so, other than the stripes, I really don’t look like a tigress. But I can tell you about that another time.” SP said as she looked behind Fluttershy to see a small group of ponies and three bipedal beings walking about. “Hey, aren’t those your friends Flutters, and who are the other three?” Fluttershy and Kerry both turned their heads to see the mentioned group walking through the street, Sparklez and Rainbow looking a bit tired for some reason. “Oh they are, if its ok with you Paw, can we chat another day? I don’t want to be rude but I-” Fluttershy was cut short when the other pony started talking. “Its ok Flutters, its nice to see you once in a while anyways, but talking to you is always good too.” Paw said as she started walking away. “I’ll catch you later, and I hope to know what you’ve been up to.” She said, getting out of earshot. “Come on Flutters, we better check that the others are ok.” Kerry said as she looked at the sky, seen as the sun had lowered on the horizon a few minutes ago, now the bright moon providing the only source of natural light. Fluttershy nodded, wanting to see how Sparklez and the others had fared. She waved at Silent Paw a final time before trotting towards her friends. SP had seen the pegasus wave at her as she continued walking, she smiled at herself as she always enjoyed the company of the shy mare. “Well, better get home now, don’t want a repeat of last week.” She said as she started walking through the streets, going towards where her house resided. As she passed an alleyway, she heard some rustling coming from inside. She came to a stop, curious as to what made the sound. Listening more intently, she couldn’t sense anything that may lurk inside. She gave a shrug, then went to continue walking, only to stop when something wizz past her face. She looked around, trying to see what was it, but didn’t see anything. She then heard the sound of soft steps coming from one side, but when she went to look, there was nothing there. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” She yelled at the darkness, since there wasn’t a lamp post close to her location. She looked around frantically, fear starting to come to her as she heard the steps come and go all around her. When she turned around again, she was surprised by a mass of fur smacking into her, making her fall to the ground on her back. At first she thought it was some kind of wild life trying to eat her or something, but soon dropped the idea when she heard a small meow. Opening her eyes, Paw saw that a small gray cat was resting itself on top of her chest, a deep frown on its face as it kept its eyes closed tight. Its meows seemed strained, keeping a rigged face and trembling slightly once in a while. Paw soon dropped her worries and fears and went to see what was wrong with the small feline, getting up into a sitting position. “Hey little guy, what’s wrong?” She said with a soft worried voice. The cat just meowed again, it was clear that it was in pain from something, but it wasn’t sure what. It reached its paws forward, touching the mare’s muzzle lightly. “Don’t worry little guy, I’ll find Fluttershy to help you an-Mmmhph?!” She was cut short as something sticky landed on her face, covering her mouth. On instinct she let go of the feline as she brought her hooves to her mouth, touching whatever obstruction was on her face. Feeling it with her hooves, she felt it to be sticky as she first thought, but bringing a hoof to her face to see what it was, she looked at a strange black goop that seemed to move on its own. Fear immediately took over, making her try to grasp the goop from her face as she thrashed around, trying to use whatever she could to free herself. But it only served to help the goop reach inside her mouth as it traveled toward her throat. She started gagging, feeling it slide down her esophagus. She reared back as she backed away into the darkness of the alley, her body hidden from all eyes. As the sounds of the struggling mare continued, the small form of the feline could be seen stirring, a small trail of the same black goop hanging from its mouth as the same vile substance moved itself towards the alley where the struggled continued, where a faint glow could now be seen. The feline opened its eyes to reveal white orbs instead of pupils, but it soon started fading away as it revealed a pair of light blue eyes. The cat looked around for a bit, confused at its surroundings, before its attention was brought by a figure standing right in front of it. It gave it a meow, in hopes that it could help it as it felt weak. The figure didn’t do anything, just standing there before it lowered itself down, a white hand reaching to pet the head of the feline, before it spoke. “Good kitty.” It said, rising back up to two legs, before bringing a leg up, and then bringing it  back down on top of the form of the grey feline. “I think I’m gonna like this quite a lot.” The figure spoke, the moonlight shining on it to show a familiar white face with stripes and an even whiter mane, who was sporting a malicious grin and white eyes. “Let the games, begin.”