//------------------------------//
// The Cutest Little Monsters 
// Story: A Beautiful Swallow 
// by Skijarama 
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        This was more than humiliating. After flying me all over the place in the sky and almost making me throw up from motion sickness, the Griffon tied me up by my tail to a tree branch in the middle of the park. Why did this damn thing have to keep showing up? I struggled in vain, trying to untie myself, but I lacked the muscle power or strength to bend that far when hanging upside down by my tail.

        “Well, well, well!” An oh so familiar, and at the same time, oh so very detestable voice called out. I groaned and glared in the direction of the voice as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon approached.

        “Do you idiots want something?” I snapped, crossing my forelegs over my chest.

        “Now that you mention it, we still have a score to settle…” Tiara said sinisterly. It only succeeded in pissing me off, rather than intimidating me.

        “Oh, do we?” I grumbled, narrowing my eyes at her.

        “Remember? That day in front of the school house? You yelled at me and threatened to hurt me.” Tiara said, tone going low.

        “...You’re kidding right? You’re still sore over that? That was almost two years ago!” I half-yelled, flailing my forelegs around for emphasis.

        “I never forget when somepony wrongs me.” Tiara snorted, leaning down to look at the ground.

        “Well, maybe you oughta remember that next time you pick on somepony. Might just save you some trouble down the line.” I snarled, crossing my forelegs again and returning to glaring at her in silence.

        “Last I checked, you’ve broken your fair share of hearts, too. Like, oh, I don’t know… Starless Night?” Tiara quipped as she scooped up a small rock in her hooves.

        My eyes widened and a sinister scowl spread across my face. “Shut. Up.” I growled, tensing up significantly.

        “It’s not like there's much you can do from up there, you know.” Tiara replied, smirking up at me and tossing the rock in the air before catching it again.

        “Diamond Tiara, I swear, if you open that stupid mouth of yours one more time I will break your neck!” I suddenly screamed, my breath coming in angered pants.

        “Ooh, touched a nerve, did I? And do you think you’d really be able to get away with that? You’d be locked up before you could say ‘Tiara was right.’” Tiara snarked out before pitching back and throwing the stone at me. I winced as it struck me in the forehead before falling uselessly to the ground.

        I let out a blood-curdling scream of rage and started thrashing, starting to swing wildly from the branch. My eyes never left Tiara though, my hooves swiping uselessly at her with the intent of trying to grab her. She was too far away however. “Come closer and say that to my face!” I raged on, trying to swing to the tree so I could kick off of it. Maybe if I moved hard and fast enough my tail would come undone or just rip. Either way, I’d be free to beat this stupid little-

        “Nah. I think I’ve done enough damage to you, pinata. How about you just let it all soak in for now? Come on, Silver. Let’s get out of here.” Diamond Tiara replied with a tone of fake pity before bumping hooves with her cohort and trotting away, leaving me to scream and thrash angrily against the tree.

        Eventually, I managed to calm down enough to stop thrashing and try to undo the knot holding me in place with a bit more rational thought. Nothing worked however. I was too far away from the trunk to be able to swing over and use that to climb onto the branch. In the end, I had to resort to sitting there, waiting for somepony to come along and get me down.

        Thankfully, Rainbow Dash came along less than an hour later. Apparently, everypony had gone to a Pinkie party for the griffon, Gilda. It had ended in disaster, reportedly, as Gilda was a terrible party guest. One way or the other, I was down from the tree. My butt was sore for a few days, but oh well. When I got home, I was more than tired, humiliated and a little depressed. 

Tiara had made a point. I did break Star’s heart, and the guilt of how I used her like a shield was still weighing me down pretty badly. I wound up sending a letter to Swallow telling her about my encounter with Gilda and how she left me dangling from a tree. Naturally, Swallows reply was filled with concerns and some ranting over Diamond Tiara, but also cautioning me to not do anything rash.


<^><^><^><^>


        It was a few weeks after that incident happened, and school was the last place I wanted to be. So I simply didn’t go. Diamond Tiara’s comments and remarks left me feeling vulnerable and uneasy. I had sent in a letter to Cherilee saying I wouldn’t be attending for a while. I was well aware that my grades were suffering horribly, but at the moment I didn’t care. I was more focused on trying to keep my emotions under control. Mom had started harping on me about going back as time progressed, which wasn’t helping my mood.

        Naturally, though, I couldn’t keep away from it all forever. It was a friday, no more than an hour after school gets out. I was up in my room reading a book, trying to tune out the rest of the world for a while. I heard some talking downstairs before a knock came to my door. I looked up and grunted out a confirmation.

        The door slowly swung open to reveal Mom and Miss Cherilee standing on the other side.

        “Nettle, Cherilee wants to talk to you.” Mom said, gesturing for me to follow. I groaned, put my book down and followed them downstairs. Soon enough I was sitting in a chair with Cherilee sitting across from me.

        “What do you want?” I asked, a bit more sharply than intended.

        “Nettle, you’ve missed over two weeks of school. Your grades are plummeting and your friends are worried about you. You need to come back to class soon.” Cherilee explained, looking at me sternly.

        “I’m sure you think that way, but as long as Diamond Tiara is there, I am not going near that school.” I snorted, leaning back in my chair slightly.

        “What did she even say to you?” Cherilee asked with firm curiosity.

        “None of your business.”

        “Stinging Nettle, if it’s keeping you away from school then it becomes my business.” Cherilee replied, looking at me intensely. I looked away, closing my eyes.

        “It’s personal.” I said quietly before sighing heavily.

        Cherilee opened her mouth to ask more questions, but mom thankfully barged into the conversation to interrupt. “Do you remember the incident in the plaza a couple of years ago? Related to Swallow?” She asked Cherilee, stepping forward.

        “Yes, why?” Cherilee asked curiously, turning her gaze to my mother.

        “It’s kind of similar. A romantic mishap of sorts that sort of… tore him down. Diamond Tiara pushed the buttons related to that issue.” Mom explained, looking over at me.

        “I see…” Cherilee said quietly looking at me with worry in her eyes. “Nettle, I know it’ll be something of a challenge, but I’m here to help. You need to come back to school.” 

        “I…” I looked up to my mother for some reason. Maybe I was just looking for some kind of encouragement. She smiled and nodded. “I… Ugh, fine. I’ll come back on monday.” I said half-heartedly. Cherilee smiled.

        “I’ll hold you to that, Nettle.” She said before standing and exiting the building. I slumped tiredly against the chair I was in and let out a long, tired sigh.


<^><^><^><^>


        Monday rolled around soon enough. I was tired and annoyed, but was able to focus well enough on what was going on to only be mildly confused because of how much stuff I had missed. I managed to get a bit of help from Brimstone, luckily enough. School, on behalf of Princess Celestia’s visit later, came to an early close for that day and I started on my way home. Naturally, life had to turn around and slam it’s spiked horseshoe into my flank.

        I heard something of a commotion coming from the marketplace as I was drawing closer to it, but paid little attention. I started paying attention when a big wave of purple magic suddenly expanded from the marketplace, washing over me and every other house in the area. My eyes snapped wide open and I looked towards the marketplace. All was quiet for a minute. What the hay was going on?

        My answer came in the form of returning panicked screams from the market and a large number of tiny specks flying towards me. I raised an eyebrow and backed up slowly, but rapidly gaining speed. What were those things? They were adorable, but oddly threatening. Their big eyes and happy smiles were quite cute, but the speed and determination with which they were coming at me made me suddenly fear for my life.

        So, I turned and started galloping the other way. I was a bit slow to the draw, however, and the first batch caught up with me. Before I really knew what was happening, I saw a large mouth open wide and then snap closed less than an inch from my eye. I stopped and shook my head to shake it away, whatever it was. Much to my surprise, my glasses suddenly flew off my face.

        I looked on as my trusty glasses were suddenly devoured by a small swarm of tiny colorful ping-pong balls with eyes and insect wings.

        That’s about when my vision went to tartarus. I operated purely off of instinct and ran for my house. All around me chaos and mayhem filled my ears as multi-colored blurs shot all over the place. I heard ponies screaming and crying out as the situation got worse. I tried to tune it all out as I rushed to get to my house. It wasn’t far, that much I knew.

        My speed and blurry vision didn’t really allow me to tell what was happening, which resulted in tripped on a stray piece of wood that must have fallen from a partially eaten house. I was back on my hooves in a hurry, though. I was near my house, that much I knew. I couldn’t read the numbers on the doors, and this time, I didn’t exactly have the luxury of being able to count in my head and find my house.

        Thank Celestia I was spotted, though. “Nettle!” I heard Noctis calling. I turned and bolted for him. He was standing in the doorway, forelegs outstretched towards me. My depth perception, shot as it was without my glasses, caused me to plow right into him and send us both tumbling into the house. The door was rapidly shut by Dad.

        “Nettle, oh my goodness, are you okay?!” He asked, kneeling down to check me for wounds.

        “Yeah, I’m fine.” I replied, getting up and helping Noctis to his hooves. “What the buck are those things?!”

        “I don’t know, but-” Noctis started to answer before the sound of shattering glass could be heard from upstairs. From my room, to specific.

        “Oh, crap!” I exclaimed, charging up the stairs at a full gallop, almost tripping multiple times. I made the turn and entered into my room. The window was shattered, the frame partially eaten. Already all of my stuff was in shambles. My bed was currently being devoured, along with some of the words from my books. I know that sounds crazy, but seriously, these little things were drinking them up like soup.

        I heard the sound of rustling papers and turned my eyes to my left in  time to see my lockbox flying open. Three of the little creatures were beginning to suck the words out of Swallows letters! A sudden, unforgiving rage filled my system. I charged and stomped down, feeling something scrunching underneath my hoof. The rest of the buzzing in my room suddenly got considerably quieter as the other creatures looked on at me in shock, floating still in the air.

        “Get. OUT!” I screamed, stomping at another one. It managed to evade my hoof, but they got the message and shot out of my room. I immediately turned my attention to the dead ball-like bug on my floor and the partially eaten letters. As the rage filling my system began to subside, it was replaced with a sense of sad disappointment. 

        I just stood there for a while, just staring at the ruined letters while the chaos continued to rage on outside. I scooped up the letters, which had fallen out of the lockbox, and gently set them back in before closing it. I let out a sigh and turned my attention back to my broken window and the swarm outside. Oddly, things seemed quiet. I approached the window and glanced out. Many of the horrible little creatures were now bobbing up and down in the air as though to music.

        Speaking of which, I heard what sounded a small band playing down the street. Glancing out my window, I noticed a pink blur which I could only assume was Pinkie Pie marching down the street, I was later informed that she went about it completely straight faced, playing perhaps five or six different marching band instruments all at once. Don’t ask me how, it eludes me as well. All I know for sure is she was playing the music, drawing the creatures into a trail behind her. they were following the music? Weird.

        With the mayhem having subsided, at least for now, I retreated down the steps into the living room to make sure all was well.


<^><^><^><^>


        Ponyville was in shambles after that. Luckily, repairs were in progress pretty quickly. After taking my part in the repair effort of the house, I sent a letter to Swallow to tell her about this odd occurrence.

        Swallow

        Well, this week was eventful. Ponyville was basically torn to pieces by little floating ball-shaped bugs called Parasprites. No need to worry, all is well here. Repairs are underway and nopony was seriously injured. I kinda wish you had been here to see it all happen, but at the same time I know I wouldn’t want you here at the time of the infestation. It was kinda scary.

        I lost my glasses during it all. The little bugs literally ate them. I was blind for a while, there, but I’ve got new glasses now. They’re an updated prescription, so that basically means I can see better now.

        How are things going with you? Anything new or fun to tell me about? What about the dream world? Is all going well there?

        ~Stinging Nettle.

        Her response came in a little over a week.

        Nettle

        I heard about that incident from a newspaper. The pictures made the damage look absolutely dreadful! I’m glad things are getting fixed up. Apparently, a group of ponies is being sent to aid in the repairs. I hope everything is back to normal soon. What sort of glasses do you have now?

        And as for the dreams, well, I hate to tell you this, but they ended. It’s been over two weeks since my last one. It all ended on a sort of bittersweet, final note, though. I doubt they’ll ever come back. It’s kind of depressing, knowing that I’ll never get to see some of the friends I made in there, but I know that they are a part of me. I can revisit the memories whenever I want.

        ~Twinkling Swallow.

        It was a little saddening to hear that her dreams had ended. It had basically been a non-stop story for me to listen to and help influence ever since I met Swallow. but, like she said, she could revisit the memories, which I was a little envious about. The issue is, I can’t do that. I can never see it the way she did. I can’t hear the voices or see anything beyond what my imagination paints for me, and that in it’s own right is ultimately a flawed image.

        But, ultimately, it matters little. Time continued to pass. Ponyville was back on it’s hooves soon enough. Everything seemed to be going well; that is, until a few months later, when order and harmony would die all across Equestria. Well, at least for a day or so and it all started with a field trip to canterlot...

That I missed because I was sick. Ain’t I just lucky, huh?