//------------------------------// // The Mandatory Villain Song // Story: From Savage to Civil // by Discorded SheepcityUSA //------------------------------// Timber’s emotions were already all over the place since he’d arrived to Ponyville. There were a LOT of things that he’d never even seen before in the little town, given that he had been isolated from society for a majority of his life. But one thing so far he had been able to take a big solace in, was that ponies seemed to be naturally nice and non-malicious creatures. This was a far cry from what he was used to in the aggressive and dangerous jungle, but to him this was a good thing. For a while, he was at peace with the fact that he wouldn’t need to fight anything off of him. But it would seem with the appearance of this pink one that had a hoof holding his tail to the ground, that his perception of all ponies being nice had been shattered. And of course, the pain in his tail, and the fact that he had just been very rudely awoken wasn’t helping his mood. “Diamond, leave Timber alone! You’re hurting him!” Sweetie demanded, giving Diamond an angry look. To be fair, none of the crusaders had expected any different from Diamond. Being this malicious toward a sleeping colt that had literally done nothing wrong. It was sad, but this kind of behavior is what they had come to expect from Diamond and Silver. Diamond only rolled her eyes and complied, lifting her hoof off of Timber’s tail. Timber himself wasted no time in quickly pulling his tail back and caressing it gently, hoping to ease the pain. “Nnnngh…” Timber mumbled as he nuzzled the fur on his tail. Diamond and Silver of course, didn’t feel any sympathy for the colt, and both let out snide laughs. “Oh I’m sooo sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. Seems I’ve already gone and made the little blank-flank upset~ Hahahaha!~” Diamond snickered. Silver was going to laugh as well, but before she got the chance, her nose caught wind of probably the most rancid and disgusting odor that had ever entered her nostrils. It was so horrible that it made her nose scrunch up and she gagged. “O-Oh my Celestia what is that smell?!” Diamond was about to ask what Silver was talking about, but then her own nose picked up on the horrible stench too. As expected, this didn’t sit well with Diamond. Her face turned green and her cheeks were slightly puffed out like she was about to vomit. Both fillies looked around for a moment before identifying the source of the smell… It was none other than the new blank-flank. “Oh my gosh, when was the last time you bathed; NEVER?!” Diamond asked Timber with a disgusted look on her face. Timber of course, didn’t respond and only looked at Diamond with a confused look and a tilted head. “Diamond, stop talkin’ to Timber like that! He JUST got to town; he hasn’t had the time to take a bath yet!” Apple Bloom yelled at Diamond. She had wanted to say that she was shocked that Diamond would harass a colt that hasn’t even said anything to warrant such treatment (or in Timber’s case, say anything at all) but sadly, Diamond was out of control. “Pffft and here I thought hygiene would be…I don’t know….a big thing on his priority list.” Diamond snickered, getting right into Timber’s face at this point. “But that doesn’t look like the case, now does it, smelly?” Diamond asked in a mocking tone. Timber stopped rubbing his tail for a moment to look at Diamond. As with any other pony, he couldn’t understand what she was saying, but it sure seemed like she was mocking him just from the way she made those weird sounds Timber couldn’t fully understand. Oh yeah, it annoyed him alright. But his attention wasn’t entirely focused on that… What he WAS focused on was the shiny object on the pony’s head. It wasn’t quite as sparkly as the castle that he’d met the half-unicorn/half Pegasus in, but it still really caught his attention. It was so shiny that it seemed to beckon him to reach out to it. “Rooooooogh” Timber said, seemingly in awe, as he reached out to poke the strange piece of headwear. Diamond caught wind of what Timber was thinking rather quickly and slapped Timber’s hoof away from her. “Hey hey, hooves off! I didn’t give you permission to touch my tiara! Especially not when you smell THIS bad. Who knows where your hooves have been!” Diamond yelled. The sudden contact mad Timber flinch. Diamond had actually struck him and made an aggressive gesture. In his mind, the first blow usually meant challenge and the desire for combat; and from the mocking tone she seemed to use towards Timber, he was all too happy to know that she was looking for a fight. Timber sized his new opponent up as he prepared for battle. She appeared to be slightly stronger than the winged, orange pony and the white one with a horn, but looked to be on a slightly lower level than the yellow one with the bow. This wouldn’t be hard. Timber crouched low to the ground and let out a low growl to indicate that Diamond should back off. Scootaloo looked at the position that he was in and her eyes widened. She’d seen dogs behave the exact same way before they got ready to fight. “…Well, it’s been nice knowing you Diamond.” “What? What the heck is that supposed to-“ “RRRRRAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Diamond didn’t even get a chance to finish her sentence before the colt took a deep breath and let out a gut wrenching roar that wasn’t too different from a manticore’s. It was so horrendously loud and forceful that the sheer force of it blew Diamond and Silver’s manes back and knocked off Diamond’s tiara and Silver’s glasses. The crusader’s hadn’t been prepared for anything of that caliber either and quickly covered their ears. “…Dang. That colt’s got some impressive lungs.” Apple Bloom said, seemingly in awe at how loud Timber’s roar was. It was no surprise that Diamond and Silver were both properly terrified now. They hadn’t expected ANYTHING like this to come from the colt. At most, they’d expected crying or maybe some angry yelling given that he hadn’t actually said anything throughout this encounter. But DEFNITELY not a roar that sounded like some kind of vicious animal from the Everfree Forest and scared them half to death to the point of shivering. They weren’t touching this one with a ten foot pole. Diamond and Silver both bolted out of their as quickly as their short, filly legs could possibly carry them. As they ran away, they swiped up the tiara and pair of glasses that Timber had knocked off of them with his roar, and attempted to get as far away as possible. Timber was about to give chase to the two, but Sweetie Belle stopped him from doing so by grabbing onto his tail to hold him back. “RrRmph! Timber, calm down! She’s not worth it!” Sweetie tried to yell through her teeth, refusing to let go of Timber’s tail. Timber however, was not appeased and he started to bark and growl in Diamond’s direction. Sweetie needed to calm Timber down as soon as possible, or else there would probably be a case of murder on their hooves. From the hostile way he was growling and barking, Sweetie could tell he wouldn’t hold anything back if he got a hold of Diamond. So, she did the only thing she could think of. “There there, just relax Timber…” Sweetie whispered calmly, starting to pet Timber’s back like a dog, being very careful not to touch his wings. This actually did seem to get Timber to calm down a bit. He tensed up for a bit when he first felt Sweetie touching him, and a slight tinge of red came onto his cheeks. He still might not’ve been used to filly’s petting him like this… But he had to admit it to himself, it did feel kind of good. Timber finally lowered his guard and simply let Sweetie continue to pet his back and a little bit of his mane. A slight smile came onto his face as he allowed himself to be petted and ease the stress that had been induced by the pink po-… …No. He refused to refer to that one as a pony. She seemed to be much too hostile compared to those he’d met thus far. “I know how bad Diamond can be Timber. Trust me, it’s best for everypony if you tried to just ignore her and don’t let her get to you…” Sweetie said, sighing a bit. She really wished Timber didn’t have to experience Diamond’s bullying. Unfortunately, that seemed to come with hanging out with her and her friends. It seemed that anypony associated with them would suffer Diamond’s harassment. “…You know what? Maybe now that Timber’s hanging out with us, Diamond’ll leave us alone! I mean, did you see the look on her face?!” Scootaloo exclaimed, snickering a bit at their enemy’s fear. Apple Bloom only rolled her eyes. “Ah’ll believe that when Ah see it.” Moxxy had specifically told Pansy to register for only the best hotel room that she could afford. As expected, Pansy was scared to death of disappointing her boss, so she did just as she was told. The hotel room that she’d gotten was nothing less of extravagant. It had an armchair that allowed Moxxy to feel much more close to what she was used to in her mansion, and allowed a very lovely view of Ponyville’s sunset from the large window in the back of the room. Taking a sip of wine while watching said sunset Moxxy had to admit was rather relaxing. “Hm. Good. Pansy did something right for once.” Moxxy said to herself. She’d be damned if she allowed her assistant to mess this up for her. She just hoped to Celestia that Pansy managed to get those dreaded mud-stains out of her coat. She had to resort to wearing a spare that she’d brought with her; this one being a bright white with some black stripes going down the back and sides… Resembling very heavily the white tiger the fur coat came from. Moxxy thought to herself about what the night would bring as she relaxed in her chair. Since she was operating in a protected area, she’d have to have her hunters, who should be coming in from the train at any moment, operate in the Everfree Forest under the cover of darkness. After her hunters returned to her, she would have plenty more furs that she could sell to ponies that were under the impression that it was just VERY realistic synthetic fur, or simply wear them herself. An ever growing smile came onto her lips at the thought of it, and she started to sing to herself. This day is going to be perfect~ The kind of day I look forward to all along. Everypony will swoon and purr Say how I look lovely in my furs. What they don’t know is to what it once beloooonged~ Meanwhile at the entrance to the Everfree Forest, a large group of ponies, seemingly all unicorns stood diligently in front of Pansy, who also happened to be present. All of them seemed to be wearing some form of camouflage clothing and all had hardened looks on their faces, seemingly awaiting orders from Pansy. Pansy looked out over the crowd of hunters in front of her nervously and cleared her throat. “A-Alright everypony. Moxxy’s ordered all of you to operate under the cover of night. She wants any animals you can get in there, but be on a special lookout for THIS one.” Pansy then showed the group of hunters a picture of an animal none of them had ever seen in their time of working for Moxxy. It was serpentine in body, had dark purple scales, and a bright orange mane and mustache. “Yes ma’am!” The ponies all gave a stern nod and spoke simultaneously. They then turned around and quickly galloped into the forest, out to please their boss with whatever spoils of hunting the forest would provide. Pansy stood alone outside the forest for a few moments, staring into the dark abyss that Moxxy’s hunters had disappeared into and gave a sad sigh… And thus, she started to sing to herself. This day was going to be perfect. Not the day that I would end up dreading all along. But the law we always break, And the lives of critters are at stake Maybe I wasn’t meant to be myself at all… Back at the hotel, Moxxy started to trot around the room, reveling in the abundance of fur that was to come her way, and the authority that she had over Pansy. Honestly, Pansy was a silly girl sometimes. Actually valuing these lowly creatures. It made even more words of music come to mind, and she was not afraid to express her deviousness. I could care less about your stress I’ll keep you wake till your body aches Girl, you get to break only when I saaaay. Because I’m the one whose better And you had best know that you’re lesser For soon all those filthy animals we maaaaaul! Moxxy extravagantly trotted into her hotel bedroom, where she found among the frilly, green covers and pillows, a large stuffed rabbit sitting there on the bed. Imagining as if it were a real one, Moxxy smirked and levitated the stuffed animal with her magic. She then used it to twist the stuffed rabbit’s head around and around several times, until finally, the fabric could take no more and the head ripped off, stuffing falling out of the area of the neck. Moxxy then let the body of the stuffed toy fall to the ground, threw the head into the air, and shot a light purple laser from her horn directly into the forehead of the decapitated toy. It left a small, smoking hole in it. The sight of it made Moxxy’s smile grow larger and her singing to grow louder. Run now, critters meet your doom! For Moooxxy will come for you! Cause I want all your fur to be miiiiine! Pansy was trotting her way back to the hotel now, with Moxxy’s usual minx coat on her back, now free of the mud stains that Pinkie had unintentionally caused. The walk back gave her time to think and reflect on what her life had come to. She’d indirectly had a hoof in the extinction of nearly 15 different species of animals by assisting Moxxy for the past few years. To make matters worse, Moxxy overworked her constantly and she was overall not treated very well. To say the least, she felt awful about everything. Her sorrows fueled her to continue her singing. I would escape, but it’s too late. My whole world just fades to grey. Hope? On poor critters Moxxy preeeeys. I do fear that it’s just too grim, My chances are far past slim Just watching while she slays them all each daaaay. Oh I do so hate this life Filled wiiiith fear and death’s in rife. Oooh Pansy won’t you, maybe end this striiiife?! After Moxxy had finished mangling the stuffed rabbit, she looked back at the window, the sunset finally nearing its end, which meant that her hunters were now without a doubt in the forest. Finally, the moment has arriiiived. For me, to take those precious hiiiides. As Pansy arrived at the door of the hotel, she looked up at the setting sun, dreading the massacre that was going to take place in the forest and that she would learn just how bad it would be in the morning. Just the thought that she’d somehow had a hoof in this, and that she was too afraid to do anything about it made her tear up. Stop the hunt for goodness sake Moxxy’s making a mistake Those poor critters will be- As the sun finally disappeared over the horizon, Moxxy threw her head back and let out a loud and maniacal laugh. Mine. All mine…Mwahahahahahaaa!~