Beep. Beep. Beep. The constant beeping of the heart-monitor was a clear reminder that I wasn’t supposed to be here; I just came in for a check-up but that was almost a day ago. They’ve been running nonstop tests, stabbed me with so many needles I’ve lost count.
Why won’t they tell me why I’m here?!
The door to my room swung open and several men and women entered, one of the blond guys stepped up and picked up my chart, “Good evening, Felix, can’t sleep?”
“Sorta, I like to think of myself as nocturnal but it’s really just insomnia.”
“We’re sorry about all these tests, Felix, it seems we found something while doing your blood work,” the blonde doctor said while a female doctor stepped around the others and looked over his shoulder while he continued talking, “It’s nothing serious, you’re going to be fine.”
“No you’re not, says here; you’re dying,” the raven hair doctor said as she read the chart.
“I’m dying?!”
“W-what,” he looked like he got gut-checked, “No, no, who told you that? You’re perfectly fine, we just wanted to-“
“But she just said that the chart said I was dying,” I shouted as I pointed at the raven-haired doctor.
“But I didn’t say anything…” the female doctor behind the raven-haired doctor spoke.
“Ooh… now this is interesting, can you see me?” The doctor only I could see floated through the other doctors and sat herself on my windowsill while the others whispered to each other and I heard several of them say something about hallucinations.
“That’ll be all Felix, try and get some sleep alright?” Blondie said as he and the others filed out of the room.
I waited a bit to make sure they were far enough away so they did hear me talking to what they assumed was a hallucination, “Who or what are you and what do you want? Why did you say that I was dying?!”
“Because it’s true, the doctors believe it so why wouldn’t you? Why do you think they’re holding you here? A better question you should be asking is ‘how can I see you?’, my answer would probably be the old saying; men are dogs.” She slid one of her long legs of the other and gave a haunting smile.
“What do you mean by that? That doesn’t answer my questions of who you are and what you want,” I slammed a fist on the rail of my bed and the beeping increased.
She gave a wistful sigh, “That should have told you who I am; I miss the old days… My name is Treyia and there’s nothing I want, could there possibly be something you want? I’m sure I could give it to you if you gave proper tribute… Could it possibly be you no longer wish to be here? Do you wish to be cured or to die, maybe it’s what your life is like at home; no one to love you, no one for you to care about-“
“Shut up!”
She waved a hand dismissively, “Maybe that was out of line but nothing that wasn't true to some extent. Listen, do you know how little this happens to me? I find someone who can see me only to find out their dying of a terminal disease, I want to help.”
“T-terminal? …What kind of tribute do you want,” I asked, letting it sink in What if she’s right and I am dying?
She clapped her hands together happily before leaping over to me, “Okay, okay, I’ll cure you but you’ll need to compete in a Game for me.”
Why did that sound like it was capitalized?
“A game?”
“U-tut-tut. I can’t give you the details; it’s really complicated and incredibly ridiculous. You’re at a crossroad young Felix, do you accept my deal?”
I think on it for little more than a second before I nod, Anything is better than dying in a hospital bed.
“Excellent!” She laced her fingers and cracked her knuckles, “I love this part of my job.” The air rippled and a card materialized.
“What the fuck,” I shouted as I tried getting out of bed but the I.V in my arms ripped that idea out of my head.
“It’s simple dear, it’s magic… Mortals, honestly… Here's my card, once you read it we can get started,” she passed me the card.
“Come infernal, terrestrial, and heavenly Hecate… goddess of the broad roadways, of the crossroad, thou who traverses to and fro at night, torch in hand, enemy of the day… This sounds wrong…”
“Keep reading!”
“Friend and lover of darkness, thou who rejoices when the bitches are howling and warm blood is spilled, thou who art walking amid the phantom and thee in place of the tombs, t-thou whose thirst is blood, thou who will strike chill and fear in mortal hearts, Gorgo, Mormo, Moon of a thousand forms, cast a propitious eye on my sacrifice?”
Treyia, or Hecate as the card called her started to glow, mainly in the eyes and hair that seemed to be sparkling like a night sky, “I see and grant…” She ran a soft hand down my face as the I.V.s and monitoring equipment fell out and off before turning off. “Cast aside one form for another, Rise from the depths as my Piece. Howl and let my presence be known.”
Whatever she was doing happened in a flash of black light, a brief flash but still incredibly painful, when the flash faded the room was empty and seemed so much larger. “Treyia,” I asked in a rather high-pitch voice that shouldn’t have come from a man my size. I grabbed my throat with my hands but they were replaced with paws, “Is that my voice? Are those my hands?! What did you do to me?! Show yourself!”
“Well that’s odd… I was sure that since you could see me then you would turn into something dog related or at least an owl… maybe an owlbear,” Treyia’s voice sounded from the area she stood at before, there was a snapping sound and a mirror floated to the bed and I got a good look at what I looked like.
I was barely bigger than my aunt Theresa’s tabby but I was pitch black with bright emerald eyes and a rather long, think, and oddly shaped tail. “Holy shit… you turned me into a cat,” I shouted at where I thought she was.
“Yeah… I don’t understand meows, great; find someone to talk to and I transform them into a cat! I can’t speak cat! Ugh, where’s Bastet when you need her? Whatever, off you go!” She picked me up by the scruff of my neck and I went limp and couldn’t fight back, “I’m not really sure you can understand me but oh well, try to win,” She shouted joyfully over the sound of a vacuum sucking then tossing me into a hole in the floor. “Try to land on your feet! I hear cats are good at that sort of thing!”
Chirp. Flick. Chirp. Flick.
“What is that?” I opened my eyes to see a dim canopy of leaves overhead, another chirp sounded and the flicking happened again. The was a crack that sounded as if it was right behind me and I jumped and spun in the air to face the noise but there was nothing there but more trees.
Would it be too much to ask for some light around here? As I thought that blue flickering light surrounded me revealing a wolf’s head.
“Shit!” I took off like a bullet away from the head as it snapped at where I was before it followed close on my tail, I glanced back to see how close it was only to see the tip of my tail engulfed in blue fire, “FIRE!” My repeated screams attracted more of the wolves as I ducked and jumped over fallen trees, I came to a clearing where I saw a wide river, “Yes! Fuck you mutts, no kitty-changas for you assholes!” Energy poured into my limbs as I leaped across the river and landed on the other side where I quenched my tail. I grabbed my tail in both paws to check for burns but there were none, "weird… I'll think about that later but first; how do I get out of this place?"
I looked around the forest, taking in the sights, the smells, the feelings. I felt as my paws spread apart and let the dirt in between the toes, Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. Wait what about the wolves? I looked over the river to see them just staring at me with glowing green eyes, I don’t really know why but I arched my back and hissed at them, trying to be menacing. Well it works for cats back home…They growled at each other before splitting off and heading back into the woods, I turned around and did so as well but I was following something else; the smell of food and I was starving.
I sprinted through the trees until I found the edge, I stepped out of the trees into the moonlight. I took a deep sniff and found where the smell of food was coming from; a cottage on a hill so ways off from the treeline, Who would willingly live next to this place? There was a light coming from several of the windows so I decided to try to see if they’d answer, when I got there I raised two clawed paws and started scratching the door, “Hello? Is anyone home?!”
“Whadya want,” a deep sounding, almost Boston-y voice called from the other side of the door, “There’s animals trying tah sleep in here! Most of us ain’t nocturnal ya hear?!”
“I’m sorry… I just got here, I was in those woods and I smelled food and I thought maybe…” There was silence for a moment before the voice sighed and the door opened slightly.
“Come on in, just don’t make a mess; Fluttershy won’t be back fer a day or so,” the deep voice turned out to belong, surprisingly enough, to a white bunny, “What, cat got yer tongue? I’m a bunny with a deep voice, yous coming in or what?”
“R-right sorry… wow, I just didn’t expect a bunny to be able to talk; you’re not like a magic bunny are you?”
“Course not, I’m all natural, Shorthair,” he closed the door after I entered and led me through the oddly large living room, “Since you mentioned food I suppose you’re hungry… Probably some dry food stashed somewhere so the others can’t get to it, let’s check the kitchen.” I followed the hopping bunny into a cozy looking kitchen.
“So uh, names Felix.”
The bunny stuck his head in one of the lower cabinets as he looked for the feed, “Felix the Cat eh? Not the strangest name I’ve come across 'round here, name’s Angel Bunny. I take it since you have a name then you have an owner right?”
“No I don’t…”
“If you don’t have an owner then who named you,” I heard him ask in a strained voice as he pulled the bag out and poured quite a bit on the floor, “Bon appetite.”
I picked up a piece of dry food in my paws and sniffed it before it slipped right out of my paws and I sighed, “I miss my hands… As for who named me, my parents did… what did you not have a name before?”
“Nope,” the bunny smirked as he watched me try and pick the pieces up to eat them, “Fluttershy may not be a bunny but she’s a close second, I give her trouble every now and then but I don’t mean it. Who cares what those other ponies say about her, she’s the best.”
"Ponies?"
“Oh yeah, she’s great,” another voice spoke, softer, as a robin flew down and landed on the table over us, “Name’s Crest, I done busted my wing last spring, Angel brought Fluttershy to me and she patched me right up. I come by every chance I get to pay her back… why you be staring at me like that?”
Come on she’s right there, do it! Doitdoitdoitdoit!
I started making a clicking sound and felt the tip of my tail twitch, before I knew it I was pouncing at Crest and knocking over furniture. “Feral cat! Every animal for themselves!” There were several more screams as a couple more birds flew the coop and mice, hamsters, and ferrets scurried to their homes. I almost had a gerbil in my claws when a flash of white fur came at me and kicked me away from my prey.
“Hold it there, Shortfur, calm down! We gots rules around here and you almost broke to primary one! You may eat other animals out there but yous ain’t out there, yous in here and in here we don’t eat our fellow animals. We’re all friends in here,” Angel held up his paws in a non-threatening way, “Understand?”
I breathed deeply until I calmed down before bowing my head feeling lower than a snakes belly, “I’m sorry… That’s never happened to me before.”
“It’s cool, Shorthair, happens to all newbies. It takes a lot of patience and will for natural predators to live like this. Let’s go finish that food and try to ease that hunger eh?”
“That might be for the best… Hey, Crest mentioned that this Fluttershy patched her up, is she a vet,” I asked as we went back to the food and I stuffed my face, Surprisingly it’s not nasty.
“Nah but she might as well be, she takes care of just about everyone here; we gots beavers, bunnies, bears, birds, snakes, bats, and pretty much everything you could think of. Fluttershy even befriended a Manticore, I mean holy pellets how outrageous is that?” Both of our ears twitched as the grandfather clock struck 1 a.m. “Whelp, looks like it’s time for everyone to get back to sleep. You too, come on and I’ll scrounge up a bed for you.” I followed him to a closet where he pulled a dog bed from the bottom of it, “Sorry but it’s the only one yer size I could reach.”
“It’s fine…” I took the bed in my teeth and nearly coughed at the smell, "ugh, wet dog smell." Angel motioned over to where his area must have been and I joined him where we both fell asleep.
“Hey Shorthair, wake up,” I heard Angel’s voice shouting at me before I felt a kick in the chest.
“Eh, what’s the matter?” I rolled over sleepily but got another kick.
“Wake up and get off me! Yer thumpin’ huge!”
I snapped my eyes open and immediately noticed that everything did indeed seem smaller, “What… How?” I stood up and Angel fell out from under me, gasping for breath. I seemed to have grown quite a bit, I was as big as the couch next to us, “What happened to me!?”
“I don’t know but yous gots to figure out how yous did it,” He ran out from underneath me to the window, hopped up, and looked outside, “cause Fluttershy is walking up to road right this minute! Oh pellets this isn’t good, she brought that candy maker with her! Every animal for themselves, scatter! I’m so sorry Shorthair but yous gots to get out of here!”
“How,” I shouted at the teeny bunny who was frantically looking for a way out.
“The window, come on!” He hopped up on the kitchen table and flung open the doors and I started crawling out but I stopped halfway, “Why did you stop?! She’s almost here~!”
“Not to cause any more panic but… I’m stuck,” I deadpanned and I heard the impact of a tiny paw to face. He started pushing me from behind when there was the sound of a key in a lock then the door opening.
“That’s strange, I could have sworn I locked the door before I left- Oh my goodness, Angel,” the voice spoke barely above a whisper, even when she saw him trying to push me out the window.
“Monster,” another female voice shouted that must have been the candy maker everyone was running away from. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, I’ve got this!” There was a clatter of furniture and I felt an odd weight settle on my back that rolled me and it back into the room.
“What the-!” I landed back on my paws and swatted at my attacker.
“Bonbon, I think maybe you should,” Fluttershy’s voice was cut off by ‘Bonbon’ yelling before she tackled me, “Okay then,” there was a pause before I heard the flap of wings and a mouse toy on a string bounced up and down in front of me.
I was too caught up in the moment so I started swatting at it instead of my attacker, I clamped my two front paws around it then immediately shrank back to normal size, “Dang it, I liked being big!”
“Fluttershy, why did you interrupt, I had it on the ropes.”
While they talked I finally got a good look at the two of them, “Holy shit they’re horses…”
“Come on Bonbon, look at this cute little guy.”
She picked me up in her hooves and held me out to the crazy attacker, “Hey, what are you doing, put me down! I don’t like to be manhandled- er kittyhandled!”
“Idiot, act cute,” I heard Angel shout as he hopped up and down on the table, “Fluttershy’s trying to back you up, do you know how hard it is for her to do that?”
She’s trying to help me? I guess it couldn’t hurt to play the cute-slash-adorable card… just this once. I pulled out some of the cutest moves out of the internet cat playbook.
“See, he’s just a cute, harmless, and adorable kitty... that can become bigger,” Fluttershy snuggled me while Bonbon just glared at me.
Oh man she smells like wild-berries. I thought as I began to purr which snapped me out of it, quick, what would a normal cat do? I wriggled back and forth until she let me fall to my paws, I fwipped my tail at them before jumping on the table then out the window where I continued to listen to their conversation.
“Fluttershy, how many times do I have to tell you; stop befriending monsters, one of these days it’ll come back to bite you, Celestia forbid.
“But that sweet little thing wouldn’t have hurt me or Angel Bunny wouldn’t have let it inside.”
Bonbon sighed loudly, “You can’t entrust your safety on a rabbit.”
“Bunny,” Fluttershy corrected.
“Same difference, look; if that thing goes crazy like that again. I will ahve to contact some friends in Canterlot that can help with this sort of thing. We can’t have a monster cat running around Ponyville.”
Angel hopped down from the window into the bush next to me, “Yikes, some rough stuff going on in there…”
“Yeah…” I just continued looking off in the distance at the town, “I thought I was just a cat… why didn’t Treyia tell me what I was?”
“Don’t worry about it Shorthair, there’s animals all over the world that don’t know what they are… Take those rabbits living in the burrow our in the yard; some of them have antlers! Yous don’t see them wondering what they heck they are, does you?”
“They don’t need to wonder, those sound like Jackalopes…”
“Oh… well that explains one mystery… so who’s Treyia, your owner,” Angel gave my shoulder a friendly punch to try and cheer me up.
“No… I told you; I don’t have an owner, she’s just the one responsible for me being here…”
“Oh so she’s yer mom!”
“Something like that, if you look at it from a certain angle. Do you happen to know what I am,” I asked him, if he had seen a Jackalope then he may have seen another creature like me.
He tapped his chin and his face lit up, “Not a clue… but! I do know someone who might. Follow me, we’re taking a trip to town.”
He took off like a bullet and I was forced to give chase, once I got into the groove of running I had to stop a couple of times to let Angel catch up, “Alright Shorthair, this is ridiculous, let me hitch a ride. Yer way to fast, even for a cat.”
“I noticed that as well… I can also jump really far, it’s how I escaped those weird wolves in the woods; I jumped clean over a wide river. Although I contribute that to more my tail being engulfed in blue fire than by actual skill.”
“Geez Shorthair, yer just full of surprises aren’t ya,” Angel asked as he hopped aboard and gripped my ribs and neck, “Alright I’m readeeEEE!” I went from zero to nope-speed in three seconds, we hit town shortly after and I had to slow down to make the sharp turns, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, there it is. The big gaudy looking blue building over that way.”
“…Is that a carousel?”
“How should I know? Ponies are thumping weird, just live in a cave like everything else!”
I stopped in front of the door and did a double-take, “Is that a door handle? How do they freaking open them with hooves?!”
“They just turn them, that’s the extent of my knowledge… Just slip in through an open window- hmm, doesn’t seem to be any open.”
“Now what,” I asked in a huff, “Maybe I should just will the damn door open!“ There was a click and the both of us stared as the door swung open, “Did I just?”
“Did you just? Add it to the list and we’ll get to it later, go inside,” the bunny spurred me on like a cowboy.
“Oi!”
“Heh, sorry.”
Walking into the building I saw a darkened side room full on mannequins –or would they be ponnequins?- covered in different types of cloth, Angel led me into a back room where there was a snow white cat sleeping in a posh little kitty bed, “What now?”
“Don’t worry, I gots this. If this bunny knows anything it’s how to get a girl’s body thumpin’,” hopping over to the sleeping cat and blew into her ear and whispering something that got it twitching.
In a voice that would have been at home on the posh of southern ladies the cat spoke in a silky voice, “Mmm I do declare, you best be a tom of your word-“ one of her eyes popped open when Angel started snickering, “Oh… it’s just the hairball. Mmm what do you want Bunny? I need my-my-my, who is that.”
I started feeling uncomfortable as she continued to stare at me, my paws feeling like they were warm. Angel laughed at my obvious discomfort and took the reins thankfully, “Opal, this is Felix. He showed up at Fluttershy’s last night while she was gone-“
“He can’t stay here, Bunny, if Rarity saw him she would have kittens because she would think I was having kittens.”
“Good because I wasn’t going to ask that. I was going to ask if you knew what he was.”
“I’m afraid I don’t follow dear,” Opal stretched out and flicked her at us.
“Show her, Shorthair.”
“Show her what,” I asked, shaking my head free of the cobwebs that seems to form.
“The thing, you know…” He waved his tiny arms in an expanding motion.
“I can’t do that in here, it might destroy something… wait, what about what I did with the door!” I looked around the room until I laid eyes on a toy mouse; I closed my eyes and willed the thing to move. When I opened my eyes the room filled with a sickly green glow that followed wherever my eyes went, I looked to where the toy was to find it floating several inches off the ground… and it was alive.
“Not really what I meant by move, brain!”
“By the stars,” Opal murmured as she weakly batted at the mouse as I made it float to her.
“No! Please, please, please don’t eat me! I’ll do anything you want,” the now living toy squealed as Opal batted at him.
“Woah,” I pulled the poor thing away from her, “Um… sorry about that?” I set the mouse on the ground, patted it on the tiny head, and it hugged my foreleg as it cried in happiness.
“You’re too kind, I won’t forget this,” the mouse squealed as it ran out of the door into the street.
“Darling… I’m all for pitying a poor creature but that was my toy mouse…” Opal just gave a longing look at the door where it ran out, “I wonder if it still has catnip in it…”
“Opal, come on girl, focus. We need yer help, do you know what Felix is,” Angel said as he clapped his paws in front of her nose.
“Not a clue darling but he is quite cute… oh, what about the lizard that’s always here making goo-goo eyes at Rarity? He lives with a librarian, right?”
“Nah, Spike’s a good choice but how would we ask him? He can’t understand us,” Angel ran a paw over an imaginary beard.
"A library, of course, I’m a fucking idiot!"
“Hey Angel, I think I should try the library. Mind pointing me in the right direction?”
“Sure but he can’t understand us, the best you could probably do is general meaning, we’ll see you later Opal. We might as well get out before Rarity wakes up.”
“Oh my gosh,” a squeaky voice shouted the stairs, making the three of us jump, “Another kitty!”
Angel froze as he whispered to me in a strained voice, “Don’t move… if you don’t move it can’t see you.” The little white pony ran down the stairs then straight at us. "I was wrong, it can see us," Angel shouted as he bolted out of the room with me shortly behind him.
“What happened to not moving?!”
“That was then, this is now Shorthair. Just thumping run!”
I heeded his advice and ran after him to the front door, the strange energy filled my limbs giving me a boost so that when I passed Angel I grabbed him in my teeth, flipped him onto my back, and zipped down an alley to get away from the small unicorn. “So what was that all about?”
“Trust me, if yous knew what she could do to food yous wouldn’t want her touching yous,” he stated plainly before nudging me with a foot to got left towards a large… tree-house? “There ya go Shorthair, Golden Oaks Library, as promised.” He hopped down from my shoulders, “Sorry to ride and run but I need to get back to Fluttershy, she might need some help. See ya Shorthair!” With that he bounded off back to the little cottage on the hill, leaving me just sitting there staring at the tree.
Well, might as well take a look inside, I tensed my legs and leaped onto the first floor windowsill, Hmm, looks like they’re open… That must be the lizard Opal was talking about, he’s kinda big for a lizard. Now… how to get his attention? Hmm… Treyia said when I spoke I was meowing… Maybe I just need to talk loud enough and the meows might be loud enough… Here goes, please I just need him to understand me…
“HEY! Open up! Open, open, open! Hungry brain wanting to feast on knowledge!” The lizard’s ear-fins twitched as I shouted at him and he turned towards my directions, “Yes! Over here, open up!”
“Umm… Twilight,” the lizard yelled in a strained voice up the stairs, “Did you cast a spell on me?”
The pony that must have been Twilight walked down the stairs, “No Spike, I haven’t cast any spell on you. Why?”
He pointed to the window I was sitting in, “I think I just heard that cat talk… It said hey.”
Twilight looked at me and I gave my best sad face, she melted instantly and the door opened with a sparkling purple aura, “Aww, she’s so cute! Isn’t she cute Spike?”
“She,” I shouted indignantly as I backed away from her, “I am offended! This is a one hundred percent man! …Well, used to be anyways.” Twilight made several choking sounds while her left eye twitched, “Holy shit! Can you understand me?” They simply nodded and I bounced around the room and did a little dance, “Yes! I don’t know how and I don’t care! You can understand me!”
“W-what are you?”
“I don’t know…”
“But Normal animals can’t talk,” Twilight said as she walked around me with a studious eye.
“This coming from the talking horse and lizard.”
“Pony.”
“Dragon, dragon, I don't do that tongue thing!”
“Meh, I’m just calling you what Opal says,” I paused for a moment, letting what he said sink in, “Wait… are you really a dragon?” He breathed a plume of emerald fire which made me jump, “Holy crap that’s cool! What’s it like being a dragon?!”
“I’m sorry what was did you say,” he asked, giving Twilight a look, “You heard that too right? He was speaking normally, something about Rarity’s cat then I breathed fire and he started meowing again.”
“I’m not meowing! We were just having a conversation, sweet lord what is going on!?”
“Okay that time I definitely heard equestrian word mixed in with the meows,” Twilight’s horn glowed and several things lifted off the table, “Maybe it’s a spell of some kind or possibly chaotic residue from Discord’s escape. I’ve never heard of something like this before, I mean Fluttershy says she can understand them but I believe that’s more of body language than actual talking.”
My eyes grew wide as the stuff floated across the room, I ran over and started jumping at a book trying to catch it, “You! How are you doing this?!”
“How can I do this? Odd, that time it was full Equestrian… Well this is just a simple telekinesis spell, I learned it back in Canterlot when I was a filly.”
“Spell, like as in magic?”
“Magic? Yes actually, it’s a form of Light magic.”
“I can do this too! I tried lifting one of Opal’s toy mice but I thought move instead of lift and it came to life! Watch,” I focused on a book and stuck my tongue out of the corner of my mouth in concentration and everything went a little green as the book started floating. “Hah! It’s floating!”
“Whoa, Twilight, I thought Unicorns were the only ponies that could do magic,” Spike said as he stared at the glowing green book.
“We are or at least we’re supposed to be… Spike, get me all the books we have on cats or mentions cats… even the ones that seem far-fetched, don’t want another Zecora incident,” He nodded before going to the shelves and started pulling books off them, “So tell me, do you have a name?”
I scratched at my ear for a minute before answering her and dropped the book, “Name’s Felix. Nice to meet you Twilight and Spike. Man, Opal was right about coming here; I’m sure you’ll find out what I am in no time.”
“Opal, you mean Rarity’s pet cat?” I answered with a nod, “So animals do have their own language? Oh my gosh, this is so exciting! How do you talk exactly?”
I thought back on it for a moment, I just talked normally and the other animals just spoke normally, “Well… I just talk normally, maybe your brain just isn’t wired to understand it?”
“Then how am I talking to you then?”
“I don’t know, like you said; maybe it’s a spell or whatever…” my stomach rumbled, “Shh, don’t do that, that’s rude!”
Twilight just laughed slightly, “Seems like you could do with some food, let’s see what I can find in the kitchen.”
She was gone for a couple of minutes so I spent that time just picking the book up and dropping it over and over while giggling a little. Guess this is what Treyia was talking about, I wonder what else I can do… Hmm; magic, that weird thing with the robin, enhanced agility, speed, and jump… Hmm, what else? Does the blue fire count as magic?
Twilight entered the room with a tray with food-stuffs and a pot then set it on the only empty table before I launched myself up there as well, “Do you drink tea?”
“I did back… home… I don’t know if I can now but sure I’ll take a cup.” She levitated a cup over to her, filled it up, and passed it back to me where I lapped some out and immediately yowled.
“What’s wrong, it shouldn’t be that hot,” she poured herself a cup and sipped it, “No it’s not.”
I was rubbing my tongue with my front paws trying to get it to stop hurting, “Hath thoo evah,” I realized I was talking through my paws and took them out, “Have you ever heard the expression; sensitive as a cat’s tongue? That tea’s boiling hot to me…”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” she apologized before trying to take the cup back but I stopped her with a paw.
“It’s fine, I’ll just let it cool, is there anything to eat on that tray?” I looked on the tray and saw a familiar red-dotted cookie, “Oh goodie! You have jammy-dodgers here!” I lifted one with my magic and nommed on it while making yummy noises.
“Um… Felix, what’s going on with your tail?”
“My tail,” I asked as I turned my head and found that my one long tail had unwound into two, “Whoa… that’s freaky…” With a little concentration I could move them independently of each other, “Scratch that, this is freaking cool!”
“Spike~” Twlight shouted to the little dragon, “add cats with two tails to the criteria.”
“We only have one book with mention of a cat with two tail but you’re not going to enjoy the answer,” Spike said as he pulled an odd looking book with a string binding, opening it started to read from it but Twilight took it out of his grasp.
“Yokai of Neighponese Folklore… Has this always been in the library, where did you find it?” Spike pointed at the shelf where he found it and Twilight inspected it, “This shouldn’t be here, this spot belongs to Starlight’s Astronomical Scientific Studies. Note to self; Find and return said book to its proper place.” Spike scribbled the note down on a piece of paper he pulled from somewhere while Twilight sat back down across from me with a smile, “Sorry about that, since this is the only book we have with mention of something with your description then you might have to go to Canterlot.”
“Oh goodie, let the magical semi-talking cat take a roadtrip ‘cause that wouldn’t end horribly.”
“Right… Let’s see,” She cracked open the book and just stared at the pages, “Why on Equus do we even have this book?! It’s all in Neighponese!”
“Neighponese,” I asked as I tested my tea and found it had cooled considerably so I started lapping at it.
“It’s the language primarily spoken on the island of Neighpan. Spike, do we know anypony that can read Neighponese?”
“Hmm, sounds like japan… wonder if there’s any relation,” I mumbled to myself as the two talked.
“Well… Maybe Cheerilee? She is a teacher and I think there’s a Neighponese student in the school.”
“It’s the best guess we got, let’s go pay Cheerilee a visit Felix,” She stood from her seat and started walking to the door.
“But my tea is finally drinkable,” I whined as I looked down at the almost full cup.
“Then why don’t you just bring it with you?”
“Right… magic,” I lifted then happily pranced out the door after her.
"Okay Treyia, remember what I said about missing my fingers? This totally makes up for it!"
The trip through town was something though; nothing attracts attention like a Unicorn leading a cat levitating a teacup through town. I stopped a couple of times because I thought I saw something but the need to keep up with Twilight outweighed my curiosity. For about five minutes before I saw a one of those feathery cat toys bouncing down a side street. “Trap? Trap… I mean who would be dumb enough to chase after that thing,” I said while chuckling, “It will be mine!” I took off like a bolt to the obvious trap, I saw another cat going after it and I body check him before launching myself at the toy, severing the string, and going straight into a sack that got pull shut, “Hahaha! It’s mine pussywillow!” I heard the other cat give a hiss along with a swearword before there was silence.
“Hello~?”
“Yes! I can’t believe that actually worked!”
Ooooh shit… Is that that Bonbon pony? I pressed my paws to the burlap sack, using my claws to scratch a hole big enough to see out of and it was indeed Bonbon… and some minty Unicorn.
“Thanks for the help Lyra, my cousin Lemon Tart has been looking for this little guy for some time. I would have just grabbed him but snuckems here never did like me, wouldn’t hesitate to try to claw me.”
“The hell kind of name is snuckems, if you going to fucking lie then you might as well give me a damn good name! Look I’ll give a shot; I am Death, I am Flurry of a Thousand Claws, Feaster of Blood! I am Megeclipse!, destroyer of all things cute and cuddly!” I shouted out of the hole.
“It’s no problem for my best friend,” ‘Lyra’ said as she floated my sack to a pink pet crate while I continued yelling obscenities at them, “My, he certainly is a talkative little guy. I’ve never heard a cat meow so much. Does someone want a kitty crunch, now be a good little guy while I put you in the travel crate.”
I stuck my arm out of the hole and just started swiping, “I’m not a damn pet! Put me in that thing and you will feel the fury of my… mind… power-thingy! Magic! Yes, I will curse you two to the end of days!”
“Hey, hey now, none of that,” Lyra placed my sack on the floor of the crate and I heard the gate click, I found the opening of the sack and rushed out of it, “I see why you needed my help Bonny, he certainly is a feisty little guy. Here you go.” She passed a handle to Bonbon and she started pulling the crate somewhere while Lyra went a separate way.
After several minutes of being pulled around and the only view I had was of a pony’s ass I had just about enough. I had a theory about how Twilight and Spike could understand me; maybe it was because I really wanted them to and now I really wanted to give this nutjob a piece of my mind, “Oh my god would you just push the damn thing instead of pulling it?! I’m tired of staring at your ass!” She stopped pulling to look around trying to find the source of the voice. “That’s right sweetheart, behind you! It’s the fucking cat,” I grasped the metal gate with my front paws and shook it as hard as I could and she turned around.
Her eyes narrowed at me while a creepy smile came across her face, “I knew it! Think you can just waltz right into town, demon cat? Well not on my watch, the organization might be shattered but I’ll still do my job! I’m taking you to Canterlot where you’ll be put where you belong.”
"Demon cat?" What she said suddenly hit me, she knew what I was! “So… you know exactly what I am? Going to lock me up and throw away the key?”
“That’s right! Can’t have any of you monsters wandering around Equestria like you own the place,” She reached a set of wooden steps and proceeded to drag me up them.
“If you know exactly what I am, why don’t you say it? Come on, say it!”
“No! Names have power, if I just go spouting off names to a Bakeneko then we’ll be in- Oh horseapples…”
“HAH! Hahaha… So I’m a Bakeneko eh?!” I continued to laugh maniacally, "I have no idea what a Bakeneko is but I best continue acting like she just broke Murphy’s law." “Foolish pony… You know not in what affairs you mettle I-,” I saw Twilight looking around as she walked past me, “Oh shit- Twilight! I’m in the carrier! I’m being pussy-napped! Wow that sounded better in my head, just help!”
“Felix,” I heard Twilight shout as she ran up the stairs.
“Buck,” Bonbon swore under her breathe as a train whistle sounded off nearby signaling departure. She looked back at Twilight before pulling me onto the slowly moving train.
“Stop,” Twilight started calling out but the train whistle stopped me from hearing what she was saying.
The train had pulled to far away for Twilight to jump on it like we did, I glared at Bonbon through the bars before sighing in defeat, “Ooh what’s the use…”
“That’s the spirit, once Princess Celestia sees you then she’ll know what to do with you,” Bonbon curled up in one of the car’s seats after rolling my crate out of the aisle. I just sighed as I laid my head down on my paws as I listened to the click-clack of the train tracks.
“Halt,” a voice shouted, startling me awake, “No unauthorized visitors on the palace grounds. State your business.”
“Passphrase MH-90210.”
“…Very well, Princess Celestia is still in day court so I will take you to one of the waiting lounges-.”
“No thank you, I know the way. Just get her majesty,” Bonbon ordered the other pony then continued on to whatever or wherever this lounge is.
I managed to get some good looks of the palace that wasn’t filled with a frame of her butt, “Dang, talk about your White House.”
“I guess it is quite the sight for a monster like you, used to nothing but cave walls, bones, and blood littering the floor.”
I laughed internally, "I wouldn’t go that far, sure my apartment wasn’t the greatest but I think it’s a step above a bloody bone littered cave."
She opened a purple-stained door and went inside, leaving my crate towards the center of the room I got a good look around; a fireplace, several large cushions littered the room, a shelf weighed down with books, and a small kitchen area where I saw Bonbon put a kettle on a stove. A few minutes later the kettle was whistling and she poured it into a teapot and brought it over to a low table next to the cushions, there was a flash of golden light and a tall white pony with wings and a horn stood there.
“Good day, Princess Celestia,” Bonbon said as she bowed her head, “Tea?”
“Hello Sweetie Drop, I mean Bonbon, no thank you. I wish to know why you used the code,” Celestia said, the look on her face was difficult to make out.
Bonbon got up and rolled me over to Celestia, “This had just made it into Ponyville, it first showed up at Fluttershy’s where I ran it off but it showed up later that day in town…”
“Is that a-“
“Yes, ma’am.” Bonbon took a sip of tea before continuing, “You of all ponies know about these matters… When I captured it, it had called out to your student and she came running. I’m led to believe it had bewitched her to help it.”
“Bewitching? Charismatic maybe but most would deny the hell out of that,” Sitting up I looked Celestia in the eye and gave a sniff. “Twilight was helping find something out… little miss bag’em gave me the answer to my question I had given Twilight so I guess I should say thanks…”
“It… can talk,” Celestia asked surprised.
“Indeed Princess, it’s the first one that has been able to. It might be far more powerful than the others… it can levitate things as well; I saw it floating a cup of tea as it followed Twilight. This information made it imperative that I bring it straight to you for a decision,” Bonbon bowed once again before backing away from the crate.
“Speaking of; mind giving me a cup? I’d ask for a smoke but I don’t smoke… This is the sorta thing you do at an execution right,” I asked Celestia just stared at me in thought of what to do. “You know… I just remembered something,” my eyes flashed green, the crate’s door swung open, and I escaped from the crate only for Celestia’s horn to flash and all the doors and windows vanished, “Shit…”
“I’ve decided… It can’t stay here; if it does it will be undoubtedly disastrous for my little ponies,” her horn glowed once more and a golden aura encased me, “I’m sorry but I can't allow a Bakeneko to remain in Equestria and for disobeying the orders given to you I'm sending you with him to make sure he stays out."
"What?! But Princess, I was just doing my-," Bonbon started saying before the Princess' magic took hold and we were gone in a flash of light.