//------------------------------// // New Friends - New Challenges // Story: Morsidus Grim-Record: The Last Element // by Asdera3485 //------------------------------// Chapter 9 New Friends – New Challenges It was about a week before everypony went back home to Ponyville. Morsidus was told that he would have a new guard with him. He was told of his qualifications and unique abilities. The new guard was waiting in front of the library when they got there. He was a red zebra with the traditional black stripes. His mane and tail were a more electric blue with some more black stripes. He was wearing his armor which he rarely took off except for cleaning himself or when sleeping. He had a red shield with a gold star as a cutie mark. He was standing there with a young mare, probably no older that Morsidus. She was also a zebra, but she was the normal black and white kind. Her cutie mark was a record with a lightning bolt coming down from it. They almost looked exactly the same so he thought that maybe they were twins. Morsidus walked up to the stallion. “Hello, you must be Captain SnowFire Blitz. I have heard of your qualifications and of your abilities. I have been made aware that you have knowledge about Fang.” SnowFire just looked at Morsidus with the same uncaring look that he was known for. “It is a pleasure to finally meet the one that Princess Luna speaks highly of. I have been told that I am to be staying with you for the time being. I have no care for sleeping on the hard floor. I have grown accustomed to it over the past few years of serving Princess Luna.” SnowFire then gestured to the mare. “This is my sister. It may seem like it, but no, we are not twins. She is full zebra while I am part changeling. Thus my abilities.” Morsidus just nodded. Luna told him of SnowFire’s abilities. He was more than confident that he would do a better job than Shining did. He looked to the mare as she cleared her throat. “Wassup? I’m DJ Z-Blitz. My real name though is Melody. I’m the most well known DJ in the northern Stalliongrad district. I was told that I would be staying with some sort of fashion chick. Where am I going?” Morsidus walked inside as Twilight was giving her directions. SnowFire followed him in. “Just a couple questions.” Morsidus stated. SnowFire nodded to the request. “Ok. One, Just how good with shape-shifting are you? Two, does your sister have the same abilities as you? Three, why does she seem a lot like Vinyl? And four, why do you feel ok with sleeping on the floor? We have a couch.” SnowFire thought it over for a moment before replying. “She does not have the same abilities as me, but she can perfectly replay a song after hearing it only once. And her unique ability is that she can cause thunderstorms at will. She seems like Vinyl because they lived across the hall from each other during college and then became her protégé. If there is a couch available, I will gladly sleep on it. I hate sleeping on floors. Messes with my back. As for my abilities, well….” Before Morsidus knew what happened, he was staring at a perfect copy of himself. All the same markings and everything. Even his cutie mark was copied! Morsidus nodded and walked up to the room that him and Zecora were going to share from now on. He figured that he would take a small nap before she got there. Zecora decided to go to her hut and grab her medical herbs and stuff. She probably wouldn’t be back for a while. Elayas and Fluttershy went back to her cottage to check up on Discord and the animals. Morsidus woke up an hour later. He felt a body next to him and while still in a sleep like state of mind, thought it was Zecora. He opened his eyes to check and noticed a striped red face not even one inch from his own. Morsidus ended up being so startled, he fell right out of the bed. He stumbled back onto his hooves before giving his new guard a small glare. “Dare I ask why?” SnowFire just laid there. Morsidus noticed some small snoring coming from him and remembered that Luna said that he was specially trained to sleep with his eyes open. He decided to just let him sleep for now, so he left the room and went out to the balcony. He lit up one of his cigarettes and felt instant happiness. ‘Sanity, oh how I have missed you.’ He thought. He was sitting there for a few minutes when he heard somepony crash onto the balcony . He looked over to see a greyish pegasus mare with blond hair and crossed eyes. “You okay?” he asked her. He put his cigarette in the ashtray and went to help her up. “I will be. Don’t worry. This happens a lot. Are you Morsidus?” she replied. He just nodded as she started digging through her saddle bag. “My name is Derpy. I’m the mail mare for Ponyville. Somepony wanted me to deliver this to you.” She said as she passed him a small box. He opened it to see that it had muffins inside of it. Derpy felt a little jealous. She loved Muffins. “Another Successful delivery for Derpy Hooves. Onward to MUFFINS!” She giggled as she took off at a speed that made Morsidus worry that she might crash into one of the branches. When he saw that she was clear, he went back and finished his cigarette. He had heard of the cross eyed pegasus, but didn’t think that she was too big of a danger. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outside of Ponyville, Derpy landed near a tree. “Did you deliver the package to the right pony?” asked a hooded stallion that was lying on a branch. She smiled as she replied. “Yup yup! I Even asked his name to make sure. Anything else sir?” The stallion just shook his head and tossed something to her. When she caught it, she realized that it was a double chocolate macadamia muffin. She did the biggest squee that she could before thanking him and flying off. Back at the library, Morsidus was walking around, trying to find a new spell book to read. He was especially looking for one on combat spells. He couldn’t find one. “Spike, I need you to take a letter that is to be addressed to Shining.” He called. Spike came over from the kitchen and grabbed a quill and some parchment. “Go ahead Morsidus, I’m all ears.” Dear Shining Armor, I am sure by now, that you and Cadence are aware of what happened in the Everfree. Due to that, I decided to learn some combat specific spells. Twilight doesn’t have any in her library, so I was wondering if you had any I could borrow. Thanks Morsidus Grim-Record. Spike finished writing and sent it up in green flames. No reply came right away so Spike went upstairs for some sleep. Morsidus went out back to relax and enjoy some fresh air. After a while, he decided to go back inside. When he walked in through the back door, he noticed that SnowFire was awake and was making some coffee. Morsidus walked into the main area and noticed that Zecora had indeed returned and was lying down on the couch. She was still awake. Twilight was walking around, putting misplaced books back where they belonged. She was humming a tune to herself while she did it. SnowFire came walking in, sniffing the air. Morsidus didn’t say anything, he just lied down on the floor. He levitated the box of muffins over from the table and grabbed one. He was just biting into it when he heard SnowFire yell. “NO! DON’T!” It was too late. All of a sudden, there was a blinding flash of light coming from Morsidus. Twilight was shocked to see the light. Zecora was so scared, that she ran behind Twilight. SnowFire just stood there, berating himself for not noticing the problem earlier. When the light faded, Morsidus was lying on the ground. He had a massive headache. He went to put his hoof on his head, only to realize, it was a hand! Morsidus was human again. He was even wearing the same clothes he had on when the incident at the concert happened. No one knew what to do. Their only hope for stopping Fang was just turned back into his old weak and frail form. No magic. No wings. No hope.