Midnight
Midnight tossed and turned in her bed as the vile and wicked evil sun tried to wake her up.
“Nu.” Midnight muttered into the cloud bed “Sheep-ef em.”
It was her day off… their day off as they managed to finish up most of the legal work leaving tomorrow for waking up at this dreaded hour and then she would have the privilege to stand around in one spot all day while countless other ponies talked about things she barely understood or wouldn’t get a say in the matter.
Midnight continued to dig deeper and deeper into the cloud until she was safely cocooned inside wrapping the bed sheets around her body not so much to keep the cold out, but to protect her from the most insidious thing know to all of ponykind… sunlight. Yes the dreaded creature of eternal sorrow that sought to interrupt her dreams tried to keep her from her rest as Midnight started drifting back to sleep.
Yes… she smiled as she finally became comfortable as the stallion of her dreams walked up to her. She could see his sexy flank as his magnificent therstal wings spread out ready to wrap her around her and pull her closer to the stallion of her dreams. Midnight was now able to continue their date through the streets of Canterlot as they both gazed up at the stars in the sky.
Midnight started to drool in her sleep as her dream boat bat pony smiled ready to kiss her … only for burst of green flame shout of his mouth forcing Midnight to jump out of her bed in fear as her bed was on fire!
Fire? Fire. FIRE! How did her cloud bed catch on bucking fire!
The flames died out as a small… Midnight gulped… piece of parchment fell on it? She slowly inched around the bed in fear not knowing if she was having a nightmare… or if that paper was suddenly going to burst into flames again.
Midnight glanced at the seal “It’s not a dream.” And moaned as not only her sleep had not only been cruelly slain thanks to this sudden and terrifying interruption… she also highly doubted that she could go back to sleep as Princess Celestia sent her a message so early in the morning.
Midnight broke the royal seal and braced herself for the bad news… Razer Wind Captain of the Royal Guard had not only informed Midnight about Celestia’s ability to send messages by magic. He also warned her not only to watch out for the sudden burst of green flames… but more importantly the messages would usually hold grave importance… or a status report, question, or duty that Midnight would have to do… or try to help employ.
Midnight unrolled the letter and slowly read “Dear Midnight, during this free period you, Lockheart, and Remedy should take the day off.”
Midnight paused for a few seconds… blinked, then rubbed her eyes as she went over it again.
“No this is not a request. I checked and yes you do have the entire day free. What I want is for the three of you to be able to enjoy yourselves… and deal with a few ponies who are not trying to get Lockheart to make some political favor or have him try to pass some bill, project, or new spending request. I also want you to make sure they don’t stay locked up in their rooms for the entire day either.”
Midnight rubbed her chin as… this was quite possibly one of the oddest letters she had received.
“Also if possible… try checking to see how old he is?”
Midnight closed the scroll and… tried to figure out what exactly was going on? Did Celestia find out about some of the projects they had to look over… or was it an attempt to allow Lockheart to avoid some sort of political whiplash that was about to happen? She sighed as her life was a lot easier when all she had to worry about was simply protecting something from getting hurt or damaged… even if most of those situations were guarding a vase or statue in the castle.
Midnight opened her door and prepared to wake the other two up because if she had to wake up at this unholy hour then everypony else had too!
Midnight opened up Lockheart’s door as a burst of green flames went off as she shouted “We just got a message from…” her words died in her mouth as she stared at him.
Honestly she wasn’t expecting him to be up… or expecting him to have been on one of those workout machines… without his jacket as his body was now glistening with sweat as he stared at her. There was something about this scene that shouldn’t have really done anything… but…
She just continued staring as Lockheart seemed rather nervous… almost in a sort of embarrassing panic and yet… Midnight suddenly felt like reaching for a cold glass of water. His horn glowed shutting the door as it took a few seconds for her brain to restart.
“I’ll be out in a few seconds!” He quickly replied in a nervous panic.
Midnight blinked as she didn’t know why a normal pony not wearing any clothes was… it must have been the embarrassment that confused her or…
“A few seconds?” she said to herself before opening up the door again “I told you not to use those spells…” Midnight facehoofed as it was too late “Your stupid spell knotted up your wings again!”
All feelings of embarrassment, blushing, and confusion had been pushed aside as Midnight preened his wings again trying to get rid of all the knots. She couldn’t help but sigh as… he really needed to get either stop using that stupid spell!
******
Remedy
Remedy gathered together her supplies as… honestly she didn’t think she would spend much time exploring Cloudsdale. She just expected to have a few free hours to eat in peace, read a book… or having to check just how far Lockheart’s unicorn magic had manage to progress.
Remedy could now hear Midnight trying to convince Lockheart to leave his room as the “not an alicorn” was quite happy being left alone in the room for the rest of the day. Remedy rolled her eyes as… Lockheart barely left the room he was assigned to in Canterlot and that included the time he lived in a jail cell. Midnight had her work cut out
.
The door was kicked open as Midnight spoke in annoyance “Oh no… both of you are coming even if I have to physically drag you both around with me!”
Remedy put away her items “Alright… just what do you expect us to do? I’m a unicorn, Lockheart’s magic fluxes could have him drop through the clouds at any moment… and you’re a threstral a sight rarely seen in Cloudsdale.”
Midnight rolled her eyes “Bat pony… and besides my idea of a vacation would be visiting Hollow Shades.”
Lockheart grumbled “Look you’re tired, we have yet to receive any new paperwork so how about you get some rest and we’ll wake you up when some…”
“No…” Midnight grumbled “No paperwork, no nobles making bargains, or dealing with complaints. You need to see that not everypony is out to get you or simply using you as a means to an end!”
“There you are!” a Pegasus shouted “We need to talk about the…”
Midnight whipped around and bared her fangs at the Pegasus wearing the business suit hissing “No more paperwork! Take you complaint and return tomorrow if it’s really that important!”
“But…” the pegasus whimpered
Midnight’s eyes seem to glow as she started to growl “Unless Cloudsdale is under siege, being attacked by some monster, or the city itself is about to fall from the sky it can wait till tomorrow!”
The pegasus turned tail and fled as Midnight turned around revealing her rather sharp fangs “Now I’ll be nice and let any of you pick were we go out to eat for breakfast as long as it’s not room service.”
Remedy stared at Midnight in… surprise. Apparently Celestia wasn’t kidding about forcing them to have a day off. Remedy highly doubted that anypony would be willing to risk the bat pony’s wrath… especially after seeing that display.
Lockheart just shrugged as he cynically replied “I give it thirty minutes at best.”
Remedy glanced at Lockheart only in confusion. Lockheart didn’t seem any bit surprised by Midnight’s outburst or worried at the fact she threatened a possibly powerful pony. Instead Lockheart just yawned as he resided himself to his fate… fully expecting his cynical predictions to become true.
******
Midnight placed her head on the table groaning “Order to go.”
Remedy head rested in her hooves as she tried not to sigh out loud. When Celestia came ponies would nearly bow over themselves just to make sure everything was perfect… one minor word or slip of the tongue could spread success or failure and that was not even including the great privilege of having Princess Celestia visit them.
They hadn’t even received their order before they had been pestered to death by questions, requests, and various complaints from both the nobles… and anypony nearby who either found one of the foreign unmarked pony’s inventions distasteful if not a “danger to their native way of life” or being pestered by questions about Lockheart’s possible alicorn status… why Celestia hadn’t officially told everypony he was an Alicorn… or the possibility if Lockheart was a changeling or what his stance was on changelings.
It was just… Morning Court was where you dealt with these problems. You certainly did not walk over to the Alicorn trying to order breakfast and pester them with complaints. You certainly didn’t move past the armed body guard who had deployed her wing blades just to try to detour the crowd… and you most certainly do not place the alicorn in the public seating arrangement instead of the private section… simply because they didn’t order reservations in advance… or “fear” of having a low born imposter eat with the important nobles and their bodyguards.
When the food finally arrived it was immediately placed in bags as Midnight lead them back to their rooms and to Remedy Cross’s shock and horror the crowd of complaints continued to follow them all the way back to their rooms… until the Cloudsdale Guards forced the mob of complaints, requests, and idiots back allowing them to escape to their rooms. Now they just sat in Lockheart’s mostly empty room just so that they could eat their meal in relative peace.
Midnight grumbled “If we can visit a spa in Canterlot without running into any problems than we can have one day off here!”
Lockheart shook his head “Doubt it.” He levitated his fork and knife and started cutting up his pancakes “We are visiting during an important meeting where most of the duration of this week is being spent going over reforms, double checking legal papers, and of course settling the issues between three rivaling groups as each one of them are trying to build their own version of an airship or personal air craft. That doesn’t even include the smaller groups, individuals or other factions who’s projects, requests, or ideas have yet to be brought up because of the current issues being settled during this week.”
Remedy sadly had to admit that… he had a point. Why bother waiting a few more weeks or even months when you could bypass all that paperwork and have Lockheart deal with their proposal now rather than later. It also brought to mind the… what she felt like was the lack of respect from a couple of ponies in Cloudsdale.
In Canterlot the nobles didn’t want to deal with Lockheart unless it suited them. They saw him as a political threat as it was clear that both sides had little if no respect for the either. Cloudsdale seemed to be giving him the same treatment as… they were letting him in on the discussions and talks… but she had a feeling that was more because Celestia told them to instead of actual respect. Instead they saw him as a foreign stranger who was barging in and telling them what to do and were only happy if he agreed with them.
Of course every other alicorn Equestria had before was born in Equestria… then adopted or raised by Celestia has they kept strong ties to Canterlot or whichever region they looked after. Lockheart had no connections, no training, and countless rumors that weren’t very flattering… After all who in their right mind would simply ask if he was a changeling right in public!
Remedy picked at her breakfast as she tried to plan out what they would do next before the list of complaints and requests grew larger enough forcing them to deal with it. She thought back to the alteration magic books she had and… wondered if he wouldn’t help her try to see if his brand of alteration magic had any similarities to Equestrian magic or if he employed a different method or reasoning to it?
Midnight whispered to Remedy “Just keep him company while I get plan B set up.”
Midnight picked up her empty plate as she left the room leaving Remedy with the task of dealing with Lockheart while she figured out some way to complete her “mission” that Celestia had given her.
Remedy sighed as this “day off” was ending up a lot harder than she had originally thought.
******
Luke
How in the bloody world did Tirek managed to escape? I jumped to the side as Cerberus wasn’t going down. Everyone had discarded their deadly weapons because killing the guard dog of hell wasn’t a good idea.
In fact trying to jump on Cerberus's back and tying a rope around one of the heads to make it pass out was also a bad idea as Johnny was left looking like a bad rodeo clown as either… the other two heads provided enough flow of oxygen to keep the third head awake… or the fact that the other two heads could snap the rope or grab anyone or tried to get on their necks.
I hid behind one of the trees as a large bolder soared past me. Rag weed was useless, sneezing powered, knock out powdered… I think the sleeping pill bottle just pissed him off… hell at this point I’m not even sure if it has a biology at this point! Maybe he runs on some strange form of outer logic like that one episode where Spike became a vicious dragon as he kept growing bigger the greedier he got.
I glanced behind the tree and saw… a three headed growling dog with bloodshot eyes.
“Why won’t you go down!” I screamed as I threw whatever powders left in my bag at the demon dog’s eyes.
Cerberus howled in pissed off rage nearly swiping me with his claws if the ground hadn’t collapsed underneath my feet. I nearly kissed Ms. Brass and her brand of thugs as they quickly motioned me to follow them down the hastily built tunnels as Cerberus started to dig.
“Boss you sure fighting big dog is good plan?” one of the Equestrian Diamond Dogs asked their leader.
Brass coughed “Of course not. That’s why we didn’t try fighting it first, but if the heist goes off… no more running for us boys!”
The diamond dogs seemed to pick up their pace as… honestly I had no idea why she joined us. Still it didn’t matter as those who wanted to stay in Equestria and those who wanted to leave had both agreed that letting Discord run wild wasn’t a good plan. Slaying Discord and getting the fame and reputation would have Celestia let us try to use the Equestria Girl mirror to leave or go somewhere close to home or clear up any criminal records or grant them a few rewards to those who wanted to stay.
Brass glanced at me “Do you have any bombs left?”
“Not any useful ones.” I quickly replied… I’d rather have the mission fail and try again latter than try to kill Cerberus.
“Found him boss!” one of the dogs shouted.
Brass grinned as… I’ll admit it. There was something about her that just made you look up to her especially when she had that grin.
“Have anything that can go down his throat quickly?” she replied in a sadistic voice as a few of the other diamond dogs whimpered.
We came out of the hole they had dug and ran into the second group trying to recover along with some of the Equestrian allies. One griffin smiled… Quick Wing I think as he had a bundle of plants as the diamond dog had their ears flatten against their heads.
“What is that?” I asked in confusion.
The griffin chuckled “These make certain that any doggy will be out of commission for a while.”
I shook my head “We tried everything else!”
Brass stared at me as I was one of the few medic/poisoners that didn’t use unicorn magic. She handed me the bag of strange plants and placed it in my wings as she said “Not everything… this is a special herbal remedy… a powerful one so me may need to wait a little and hold our breath. Either way Cerberus won't die, but he may wish he had.”
I glanced at the odd array of plants and shrugged “Just buy me some time and I’ll see what I can do.”
******
Remedy
Remedy pushed herself back up as she tried to go over the last few seconds again.
Midnight wasn’t happy that Cloudsdale wasn’t a place to relax during this week. She had did something… and probably checked with Celestia before going with her “Plan B” as she had a sky chariot prepared for us.
In order to keep our trip a secret or to ensure that we weren’t followed by more complaining ponies she had herself and Lockheart pull the cart. The chariot fell out of Cloudsdale they were stuck in a nose dive as Lockheart struggled in an attempt to pull up. Midnight was trying her best… but it wasn’t enough to get them to pull up. Then Lockheart grabbed the jugs of water that was in the cart before throwing the jugs in front of them…
Remedy glanced around her as they were still in the sky… but they had crashed into an oddly shaped cloud. She glanced at it in confusion as… it sort of reminded her of cotton candy as the fragile cloud had just saved them. She looked up and saw that the cloud… it had extended almost like somepony dropping a small weight in a ball of dough dragging it down until either the force and the weight finally broke or dough absorbed all of the impact and managed to keep hold of the weight.
She took a glance over to Midnight and Lockheart as she could hear them arguing “Are you crazy!”
Remedy applied a quick medical check to make sure she didn’t sprain anything and was happy to have only received a few scrapes, bruises, and oddly enough a slight burn but nothing really major. Even the small bit of humidity wasn’t that as she, the cart and everypony else was also alright.
Midnight shouted “And what was that trick you did!”
Lockheart groaned “I deployed the emergency landing! We were going to crash and I just…”
Remedy glanced at Lockheart as she said “Emergency landing?”
Midnight shook her head “What emergency landing? Pulling up was to ensure that we didn’t crash… and what’s all this?”
Lockheart stared at her in disbelief “It’s cloud! Every race with wings can manage to safely land on them so all I did was just heat up the water to make some steam and…”
Midnight seemed to be tugging on her hair in frustration “You didn’t know how to pull up… and yet you were able to make an emergency landing cloud in just a few seconds?”
“Why else did you bring that much water?” Lockheart argued back. “Besides you helped make this cloud too!”
Midnight just went silent as there was a small twitch in her face… a small twitch that Remedy Cross had come to learn when dealing with the Paradox made physical form. He might have just proved that he had Pegasus magic… by doing something that made no utter sense what so ever… even confusing the pony who was teaching him Pegasus magic and apparently helped make it happen.
Remedy didn’t know if this counted as a repeat of the necromancy lesson involving the skeleton chickens... or how he was able to fall through a cloud even with the magical assistance of a cloud walking spell. How one pony kept managed to confirm his ability by creating double negatives she would never understand.
Remedy just reached over the chariot and placed a hoof on Midnight’s back “Don’t… just don’t bother asking.”
Midnight turned around as Remedy knew all too well that look of utter confusion “But how did he? It just isn’t…”
“I just used magic.” Lockheart replied as if that one word summed everything up.
Midnight’s jaw was just left hanging wide open as Remedy replied “See. It’s not just me. Everypony can’t understand…”
Midnight shouted interrupting her as nearly screamed “That wasn’t magic! To make a cloud you need the proper amount of water and you just made an emergency cumulus cloud landing… and that wasn’t… I just tried grabbing the cloud to slow us down… there couldn’t have been enough water in the jugs…”
Lockheart rolled his eyes “Water moisture helped.”
Remedy casted a silence spell on her own hears so that she wouldn’t hear Midnight’s scream. She didn’t know much about weather management or how pegasi were able to do it… but she was pretty sure that wasn’t the correct answer.
******
Remedy sat in the cart making notes of what had just transpired as Midnight was forcing Lockheart to help her gather up the cloud to be stored away for later use. Lockheart seemed to think it was strange if not impossible that they could wrap up a cloud and store it in a bag… when he just defied the laws of physics… or came really close to it.
The amount of water in the cart had did not make up an elastic cloud of that caliber. The explanation when asked to go further into detail… was just as useful as the explanations he used for magic as Midnight was claiming that it should have been impossible… if not for the fact it already just happened.
Remedy made note of it in her journal as… she couldn’t help but wonder if it was influence from the chaos magic… or if the reason why he still was infected with the chaos magic was due to him nearly breaking the laws of reality whenever he did something he counted as “normal”.
Maybe it was a combination of the two?
Lockheart tried explaining it again “Look I just quickly made it hot and then tried to cool it down! There wasn’t anything easy about that!”
Remedy shook her head as she didn’t even need to be a weather pony to see how utterly confusing that statement was as she whispered underneath her breath “Maybe his parents should have named him paradox instead.”
Midnight apparently heard it and muttered loudly “Paradox? That sounds about right. How can a pony barely manage to fly… and yet make something like… that!”
Lockheart shrugged “It’s just a cloud.”
Midnight twitched said “Just a cloud?” in the same way a pony might call a fire ruby a sparkly rock “A normal cloud would have popped trying to catch us. A normal cloud would have failed yet… you made an entire length of segments connected together to slow down our velocity yet band together tight enough not to snap from under the pressure and continued adding onto the chain until we finally stopped!”
Remedy nodded “He is still trying to master basic levitation and yet he can cast a few highly complex spells with but a shrug. Now you know how I feel trying to teach the crazy alicorn.”
Lockheart tried one more time “Not an alicorn… panic also properly helped.”
Midnight had to be rolling her eyes as she replied “Then maybe I should try tossing you off the edge of Canterlot with a gallon of water tied to your back when we get back.”
“Are you crazy!” he shouted in panic.
Midnight chuckled “See! Even he finds it crazy. A normal cloud should fill up a bath tub and he made that with…”
Lockheart shouted “Then what was the water for!”
Midnight blinked “To help water the clouds…”
Lockheart just froze as he seemed utterly confused by that statement in much the same way everypony else was when he did something that made no sense. In fact it was kind of funny really… but how else did he expect for pegasi to help repair their homes or make some expansions to it?
Lockheart sighed as he had given up trying to figure it out... and yet Remedy had to know. Just what exactly made him think that making a cloud… would be easier than simply pulling up? Why in the world did he think water was for emergency landings?
“How are clouds made from where you are from?” Remedy flat out asked.
Lockheart to their surprise simply shrugged “Water vapor. You get water hot enough and it starts to evaporate… then as it rises up into the atmosphere it starts to slow down and gathers together in the same way condensation happens when you leave a cold object out in the sun only to have it wet when you come back. The moisture in the air is drawn together from the cold creating precipitation."
Remedy glanced at Midnight who… seemed to have a slight understanding, but was still confused.
Lockheart continued “So from there it was a matter of moving the jugs of water in front of us then heating up the water to create steam thanks to an over charged fireball spell… I’ll pay for the jugs… then a bit of Alteration magic focusing on the cold and trying to bring the steam together and hope that Midnight could help finish forming the cloud."
Lockheart focused on Midnight as he said “See… you helped too.”
Midnight made a slow nod “Alright… how in the world did you keep the “steam” from escaping behind us instead of staying in front of us? Considering how fast we were falling it should have dissipated or left a rather large hole after we crashed into it.”
Lockheart blinked “That wasn’t you?”
Remedy shook her head as… in theory that made quite a bit of sense, but that still didn’t explain how the cloud didn’t break or pop during their descent. She had seen enough pegasi pop a cloud by simply kicking them and the cloud that caught them didn’t have enough water in it to have kept it’s form as it should have popped.
Yet Lockheart… If Remedy could go back in time then she would find the pony that came up with the phrase Ignorance is bliss and shove Lockheart in his face. Either the ensuing madness could turn that pony crazy… or create a picture of Lockheart’s face right beside the phrase for all future generations to see.
******
Luke
We walked through the halls of Tartarus itself as we were on a time clock. Cerberus was temporarily knocked out as the “herbal remedy” was built to purge a body of all of its toxins. Needless to say when Cerberus regains he strength he will be very angry with us.
Tartarus was a unique place as they didn’t have the standard grid by grid jail cell methods. Instead they had a winding staircase leading to each criminal trapped in a circle as chains were wrapped around their arms and legs as those trapped in the circles were either stripped of their powers… or had their own powers turned in upon themselves.
I motioned for the next team to come to my location as I glanced at the current dammed prisoner as she struggled to say in a faint whisper “So cold… need warmth…”
I opened up my hastily made book on Equestrian legends ranging from most of the races to see if any ancient villains had been rewritten as children tales. Villains of old tell how a dangerous person managed to conquer so much, but villains in stories are just personifications of evils as the villains themselves don’t exist.
I glanced at the shriveled up lizard barely concealed by her mandatory prison robes… apparently used to mark the difference between sentient prisoners and mindless monsters. How many newts where in here that related to cold, fire, or is this some sort of ghost or wraith? If she's a vampire that I'm shooting a wooden stake into this cell.
Grogar and Bray are already on the kill on sight if found list.
“Who are you?” I muttered off hand trying to find her in the book.
The shriveled up lizard whispered “Ember… Emberess.”
I smiled as I found her name… an old MLP version of a crazy Aztec god or monster in the same way Daring Do's villain is judging by the style of the art. I couldn't find a lot of back lore for this one, but she came from a dead or the same obscure society Monkey butt hand's group cultist came from.
I motioned for the others to come over and shouted “Fire user over here!”
“Emberess… the Mistress… of Flames.” She whispered trying to assert her authority.
I simply nodded as she could provide a big enough distraction if things went wrong. Besides Discord strikes me as the kind of guy who would go out of his way just to torment someone called The Mistress of Flames so she would be a descent distraction for the Tirek power drain plan… or possibly the Slay Tirek because he drained Discord stage of the plan.
Once the others arrived I ripped out the page in the book pertaining to her and said “Be careful and keep this one away from fire and heat until we get out of here.”
I flapped open my wings and flew to the next jail cell trying to find another useable pawn for our goals. They had to be smart enough to want to follow us out of here, but weak enough so that when we free them we don’t have a method on stopping them. Unstoppable eating machines are not a good plan, but elemental users can easily by countered by using the opposite technique.
I flipped through the pages again “Binding… binding… who might be able to hold Discord for just a few moments?”
My ears tensed up as I could hear some shouting as a few of the others also gifted in flight was signaling everyone over to them. It turned around and did my best impersonation of Rainbow Dash streaking across the place trying to reach them.
As soon as I landed on the ground I couldn’t help myself stop grinning like a kid on Christmas morning as Tirek was staring at us in a mixture of hatred in fear. He was sitting down on the ground trying to hide the fact that one of the chains around his leg had finally been broken.
Tirek tried to sweet talk his way out of his situation “I’ve been trapped here for years powerless and now you have decided to mock me? Wouldn’t your beloved princesses be ashamed of you if they found out?”
Apparently Tirek had yet to be informed about what has happened during his imprisonment. Still Tirek was one of those types of people who had a brain and could employ tactics… but that was only after finding out that brute force didn’t work. Since he was powerless at the moment and waiting for one of us to ether enter the circle to reveal his handy work or trying to ensure we don’t slap new chains on him he had to employ his brain.
I glanced at the chains and then at him as… he looked old… like Crypt Keeper old as I could see him practically licking his lips trying to regain some of the power he once had. A part of me still can't help but wonder how the heck he managed to escape... unless he just stood by the exit waiting for the day Cerberus left the entrance.
I glanced at the others as the also grinned pulling out the chains much to his horror “Don’t worry Tirek… you’re on probation.” No one entered the circle as they threw the chains around his body and wrapping him in chains until we couldn’t see any part of his body “So don’t struggle unless you want to deal with Cerberus by yourself.”
Anyone who could fly took off getting ready to alert everyone it was time to leave. As much as I would love to add to our gallery of rouges… it was better to get out of here before Cerberus recovered.
******
Lockheart
I dropped in relief as we finally made it to Hollow Shades. I managed to finish pulling the cart and it certainly helped having the bat ponies guide us to the village but… I just laid on the ground exhausted as I had burned up a large chunk of my magical reserve.
I really hated feeling the strange combination of magical exhaustion as my body was alright… if you ignored the head ache that dulled your thoughts and made you wish you had some Tylenol if not the entire bottle nearby. In fact a part of me felt like throwing up, but I knew the magical exhaustion would easily go away after a bit of magical restoration… and throwing up would leave me tasting bile and feeling even worse.
I don’t know the exact changeling magic regeneration ratio… if changelings even have/had one, but this trip burned though quite a bit and I wasn’t expecting it to recover quickly. Cloudsdale saw me as an outsider as those who wished to talk to me either wanted to manipulate me or get something from me. Canterlot… besides the guards outside my room and the small trickle of emotion granted to me by the Night Guard or any other pony that was radiating positive emotion that didn’t make me feel sick…
Honestly I was expecting to feel like utter crap for the next few days which was why I was suddenly surprised when I received the rush of joy directed towards me… and then the pain of being tackled by half a dozen foals. The pain was not worth the small trickle of magic I gained back.
“It’s a new pony!” the first one shouted jumping on my stomach.
The sound one climbed onto my side “He’s a Pegasus!”
“No unicorn!” the third one shouted next to my face.
Midnight broke the argument “He’s an alicorn.”
All the foals gasped in awe as I muttered “Not an Alicorn!”
I opened my eyes to see a dark grayish blue filly with dark purple hair stare at me “Why does he have funny teeth and a strange horn?”
I sighed “It’s not strange.”
The filly nodded “Yes it is! Mommy and Daddy say only bat ponies get sharp teeth and you’re not a bat pony!”
A light blue filly with teal and green hair replied “Did you bring us cookies?”
Every foal’s eyes widened in hope as they jumped up and down again “Cookies!”
They sang their devilish chant as they continued to jump up and down on me… as Remedy and a few other adults managed to pry the fillies off me. A few of the ponies had started to apologize for their children’s actions after I had nearly been trampled to death.
I sucked in a deep breath as I tried to box up all my pain for latter as I replied “It was an honest mistake. They thought I was… why did they ask about cookies?”
One of the mares chuckled nervously “There’s a… new pony and every time she comes to town she brings a patch of cookies for them.”
I shook my head “I’ll have to remember that next time.”
Remedy’s horn glowed as she checked me over and said “I guess you aren’t used to a lot of visitors?”
Midnight sighed “You can ask questions later. Right now I have to introduce Lockheart to my uncle.”
All the foals giggled as a few of the colts went “ooohh!”
Midnight shook her head “Look he said I would never amount to anything in Canterlot and right now I’m one of the personal guards to an Alicorn.”
I face palmed as I repeated myself “Not an alicorn.”
Midnight chuckled “Close enough.”
I shook my head and followed Midnight. My body was sore, I burnt up a good bit of my magic… and the town was kind of creepy. It was the middle of the day… and yet it almost looked as if it was closer to sunset.
I wasn’t exactly afraid of the dark… sure I was a bit nervous, but the fact most of the buildings had a fantasy gothic architecture… well a light version of it as the buildings didn’t give the… evil villain or serial killer hiding in wait vibe, but if you just added a bit of fog and then turned out the lights.
I rubbed my chin “This place must get a lot of business during Nightmare Night.”
Midnight paused for a moment and stared at me “It’s just a small town. Why would it get a lot of business during that day compared to Canterlot or…”
I took a deep breath “How many ponies specialize in the genre of horror?”
Midnight stared at me “How frightening could a book be compared to real life?”
I couldn’t help but smile “Remind me to tell you the story of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde latter one... and if you're really brave I'll tell you the horror story called cupcakes."
Remedy chuckled a little "You do realize that's a pastry right?"
Midnight stood her ground "I doubt it would be that scary."
I couldn't help but grin as I replied "Don't say I didn't warn you."
******
Valkyrie
“You’re kidding…. Please tell my you’re not joking around.” I nearly begged him.
Steel chuckled “Really? You know most ponies would find it rather… dull.”
I took a deep breath as I had to remember that this was a fantasy world. Ponies were not that afraid of dragons because they were common… heck a lot of ponies didn’t bat an eye at Cerberus until Pinkie Pie told them to start running away and scream in panic… as Twilight didn’t seem surprised at seeing a giant living mythical guard dog… and yet they cowered in fear from a zebra because of their fear of the unknown.
What was common for them wasn’t exactly common for me… even if I had gotten used to a few things. I’m pretty sure that if I showed them a laptop or cellphone then they would be just as excited and amazed by it just like I was about meeting Cerberus even if those two devices wouldn’t make me even bat an eye.
I gave a sheepish smile “What can I say? Your norm isn’t mine… and would it be… alright to…” I gulped “Give him a belly rub?”
Steel just burst out laughing as the rest of the ponies just stared at me in surprise. Alright I might not exactly know all the social norms as I had either… made a gigantic blunder or…
Steel shook his head as tears came from his eyes “You know you are the first pony I’ve meet that is so happy being given this mission… but honestly it will be a nice break from the rest of the current insanity.”
Arrow laughed “Just wait until we have to play fetch or give him his bath. Then you’ll wish we were back on cursed clean up duty.”
I glanced at Arrow “You make him sound more like a pet than a guard dog.”
Steel finally stopped laughing as he tried to sound dignified as he replied “Well you see… every few months there is a bit of a swap on who visits Cerberus. He guards Tartarus and all the old ancient villains and monsters are sealed away. Our job is to help give Cerberus some company… and make sure everything is fine.”
Arrow groaned “If somepony or other race doesn’t check up on Cerberus sometimes he wonders about bored… You ever here the story of how the Orthros came to be? On day when nopony came to visit a dog during that time of year came nearby...”
Steel coughed loudly “And that’s enough of that story… but seriously Cerberus is like a rather large puppy dog and he does need attention from time to time. The reason why we do rotations is to ensure equal responsibility… and of course if a new villain or monster needs to be placed in Tartarus.”
I blinked “Wait a new monster or villain?”
Steel sighed “Sometimes something arrives that… is rather unusual. Something that doesn’t belong in a normal jail cell and…”
Arrow chipped in “Twenty years ago the dragons had to seal away this giant monster that ate everything in it’s path including their treasure… Either it wasn’t a sentient creature or it simply didn’t care as it even tried to eat their young. By the time they had stopped it the creature had reduced a large section of fertile land into a dry and arid desert as it had also destroyed a couple of towns.”
Steel coughed “Of course it’s really rare and most races who had placed dangerous monsters or villains in Tartarus also want to ensure that Cerberus keeps them from escaping.”
I sighed in relief as... Tartarus was currently reserved for monsters like Tarrasque from DnD than the green gak Smooze from G4 MLP. Green Smooze could be reasoned with... to an extent. Tarrasque was just a chaotic mindless monster that wouldn't stay dead and probably would be tossed in Tartarus if they could subdue it long enough.
Steel pointed at the clearing underneath us as I spotted Cerberus sleeping on the ground as Steel said “See everything is alright, but don’t expect him to continue sleeping once we land.”
Everyone landed as Cerberus continued snoring peacefully. In fact taking a look at the giant three head dog sleeping like this… made me understand why Hagrid called his three headed dog Fluffy. Everyone started to move around getting ready for him to wake up as a few pulled out fresh food, water, and a large rubber ball to play around with.
Steel looked around the area as he slowly replied “Does… something seem off to you?”
I glanced around at the surroundings and spotted nothing. Still Steel seemed a bit nervous as… everyone else was starting to relax as Cerberus kept snoring. Honestly I was hoping for a little bit more excitement from the big guy as I wanted to see if he really was a big happy fluffy dog.
Something hit the ground as we all looked towards the cave or entrance into Tartarus itself as a couple of ponies, diamond dogs, and griffins walked out of the tunnel and paused for a second… as they had four chained up people and one of them looked like Tirek!
Tirek the big bad of the group wasn’t just tied up… he was wrapped up in so many ropes he looked more like a hunting trophy as his mouth was even gaged shut! The other two mystery villains still had their evil villain hoods over their faces as they were also tied up, but the unicorns in the party still had their horns glowing ready for any sign of trouble from their prisoners.
The first one from their group shouted “Plan B!”
That’s when everything went to hell. The fliers in their group opened up their wings and grabbed the captive prisoners. The ones who were ground bound started rushing towards the forest as few of them charged towards us. Everyone prepared to stop them only for a second group to leap out of the forest and attack us from behind.
I was knocked back down to the ground by a large griffin with a scar over his eyes as he said “You won’t stop us because today… we can finally slay Discord himself!”
My eyes widened in fear as his plan was insane! They freed Tirek just to try to kill Discord the crazy powerful monster that could alter reality!
He noticed the look of shock on my face and chuckled as he was about to say something back until something hit his face and threw off his balance off as I bucked as hard as I could. I could hear him trying to catch his breath as I had knocked the wind out of him… or struck a bit further south. I gasped for air as the cool sweet breeze rushed into my throat as nearly coughed from the sudden rush of air filling my lungs.
The griffin tried to strike back only for a mace to hit him in the face knocking him down to the ground. Steel was breathing heavily as sweat dripped off his forehead as he grabbed a small whistle around his neck and blew as hard as he could.
Everyone seemed to pause for a moment as the whistle hit just that pitch that drove people nuts, but more importantly everyone could hear something growling.
I glanced at Cerberus… who had just gotten up as one of his heads was still asleep… his middle head drowsy while his right head was wide awake and that head reminded me of angry junkyard dog that caught you in the middle of the night as the bloodshot eyes promised immediate retribution to those who had pissed it off.
I cracked a smile "Today is a good day to die."
******
Lockheart
I sat on the pillow that had been placed on the floor as I waited for Midnight’s uncle. It was rather uncomfortable as two new foals were racing around me chasing each other. One silver coat bat pony with light green hair was chasing the midnight blue pony with purple hair as neither of them had their cutie marks. Remedy my part time jailer just sat safely away from me chuckling at my misfortune as the fillies continued to play.
The first filly spoke up “How’d you get your cutie mark!”
I cringed as the other one bumped into her and then started at my butt staring in awe at my cutie mark. I just had to remember the importance of cutie marks and how Equestrian society viewed them. I certainly should not try to tear my hair out as they began to bombard me with countless questions.
Remedy came to my aid “One question at a time.” And quickly silenced any hope of reprieve.
I think she's a little bit angry that I told them the Cupcake story and just how dark that fanfic was or how they couldn't look at a normal cupcake the same way after hearing the story.
The silver coat bat pony blinked “How did you get your horn mister?”
The dark coated bat pony shook his “How did you get your wings!”
It hurt to pretend to be smiling as Remedy stared at me watching for any lies… or unable to tear herself away from watching the two big eyed foals staring at me in awe as I replied “The same way I got the other one.”
They both pouted.
The silver one frowned “How old are you?”
I shrugged “Older than my teeth, but roughly the same age as my tongue.”
The dark coated one stood up on his hind legs as he tried to stare at me straight in the eyes “How come you’re not an Alicorn?”
“The same way you’re not vampony.” I countered much to their dismay.
Both foals grouped up together and started whispering loudly. Remedy couldn’t help but chuckle a little as these two foals tried to find some way for me to answer their questions… without me giving them a vague yet correct answer. Ponies can be devious… but compared to humanity they have yet to learn the ways of being utterly despicable.
After all they have yet to invent “customer service” to deal with complaints or even create the IRS.
The silver coated one pointed at my teeth “Why do you have funny teeth?”
I frowned “Their not funny… they are… just a bit… different.”
I flinched as the dark coated brat just plucked a feather from my wing. Why do all changeling tests seem to involve plucking something off a pony? Is this the reason why you don’t see many changeling impersonating pegasi because of all the feather plucking tests!
The dark coated brat stared at my feather “Why did it turn dark? Are you a tree pony?”
I blinked “What?”
The dark coated brat stared at the feather as if it would suddenly tell him the secrets “Well mom said if you pluck a leaf off a tree it turns dark… and your feather turned dark so are you a tree pony?”
Remedy held a hoof over her mouth leaving me to explain “No my father did not build a puppet and wish upon the first star he saw that night, nor do I have a cricket for a conscious…”
The dark coated brat stared at me “Because you ate him?”
At this point I had just noticed Midnight… along with her uncle… both of which didn’t even seem to bother trying to hide the fact they were laughing as I began to wonder just how long they had been watching. I just groaned as apparently the one meta joke that I quipped back… was used against me.
Remedy managed to say with a complete straight face “That would explain how you dealt with Canterlot’s nobility.”
The silver coated one stared at me “Is that why he is always evasive… so his nose doesn’t grow?”
I groaned “How in the world do they know Pinocchio?”
The uncle a dark blue almost midnight black bat pony with silver hair smiled “Some of the new residents did a play on it. They wanted to see which of their old foal tales worked in Equestria and if we knew of any good ones. Their unicorn was really good with illusions.”
I shook my head as I had apparently walked into that one… in fact judging from the foal’s smile the little brat either was preparing to use that line… or they were happy pulling one over me.
Congrats little brats. You managed to pull off something the rest of Canterlot’s nobility has yet to accomplish.
Midnight’s uncle smiled as he glanced at his grandchildren “Run along while Grandpa has a talk with the funny looking pony.”
“Okay!” They both cheerfully replied before running off.
The uncle stared at me… and that’s when his playful demeanor stayed on his face… and I could feel a hint of blood lust coming off him. In fact a normal pony under his gaze could properly feel the intense dislike he was radiating towards me… and yet skilled enough to seem cheerful to those around him.
I gave my best back stabbing pony smile and held out my hoof “Lockheart. You?”
The uncle grabbed my hoof… and I never knew it was possible to attempt to crush another pony’s hoof with a “bro hoof” as the uncle smiled “Willow Leaf, but you can call me Mr. Leaf!”
I nodded “Understood…”
The silence was left between us as neither of us knew what to say. In fact it was hard to say exactly what to say as it was obvious that neither one of us wanted to talk. I was ready to leave and he was ready to kick me out the door, but we were both forced to stay for some unknown reason.
Mr. Leaf coughed “So… what are you?”
“Alive.” I bluntly replied.
The silence continued as Remedy sighed walking out of the room as Midnight tried to chip in “He’s the pony Celestia put me in charge to look after. He’s also the pony who’s trying to help deal with the Night Guard.”
Mr. Leaf stared at me with distrust “And what’s with all these… reforms your trying to make?”
I blinked “What?”
Mr. Leaf nodded as he didn’t let up “New gear, new training… this… division thing you’re making?”
I groaned as I rubbed my aching head “Look you just can’t simply lump up all the groups into one package. Even then the new gear is to bring them up to date. The new training is to separate the groups into sections as Equestria is the only place that I’ve seen that doesn’t tend to have crimes happen more often during the night than during the day!”
Mr. Leaf frowned “Is that some sort of jab?”
Midnight tried to intervene as I countered “First of all at what? Second of all what better time is there to commit an act of burglary than at night? Anyone who does it during the day is either trying to get hostages, use the initial shock and awe of the robbery to escape… or are just plain idiots who end up getting caught. Even then there isn’t a lot of activity during the night which means tired guards having to stare out into nothing who follow a pattern that you can exploit.”
Mr. Leaf just stared at me for a few seconds “And the division parts?”
I shrugged “Technically during a time of war the Night Guard is a divisional branch of the Equestrian Military and the primary act is to separate those divisions which better suit a police force, guard duty, and those who would be able to deal with threats to Equestria wither they are an invading force or a wild monster attacking the area nearby as there are plenty of predator species that hunts during the night and dealing with those creatures need weapons and armor made during this century.”
Mr. Leaf rubbed his chin as he calmly replied “You don’t get out much do you?”
I couldn’t help but crack a grin “Actually I don’t tend to stay in place for very long. Pitchforks, torches, and angry mobs or upset lords tend to make living arrangements difficult.”
“Aren’t you an Alicorn… I mean…” He started as I flinched.
I took off the first layer of my disguise turning my gray coat black and the light blue hair back to its changeling like green quality. I opened my eyes and stared at him as… grinning pointy teeth, unusual horn, and a dark color scheme was like waving around a giant sign that said Evil Villain! Lock the doors and call for the local Heroes before he does something really nasty to you!
I sighed as his body kind of went ridged as I replied “Does this look at all child friendly to you?”
It wasn’t the changeling form… but it was far away enough from the norm to send a few shivers down their spine in much the same way people tended to flinch when they saw someone take off a prosthetic arm or leg right in front of them. They could feel the hint of something unnatural about me… I reapplied the illusion layer of my disguise turning the coat back to “normal” along with my hair.
I couldn’t help but smirk as I bitterly replied “Tell me… did a simple change in colors really need to invoke that kind of response?”
Mr. Leaf flinched as… I could feel the hostility radiating off from Midnight.
She smiled revealing her rather sharp and pointy teeth that made both of the men in the room shiver as she said in a calm voice that invoked fear in every child that had did something wrong and was just caught “Like I said. You can’t judge a book by its cover… How about you help me get some ingredients while…” she turned her head towards me “You help look after the foals. There are some snacks in the upper cabinet if their hungry and…”
The door opened up as the two foals returned… with friends… lots of friends!
“Help keep eye on Glimmer and Shimmer’s friends.” Midnight replied calmly “And yes… he’s an Alicorn.”
I flinched as the swarm of foals rushed to me bombarding me with questions as the two bat ponies adults left the room forcing me to deal with this tiny demon swarm… after a few minutes of them having finally calmed down long enough to stop shouting over each other I tried to figure out what to do next.
A lot of stories had Changelings taking care of children… giving a few cookies to orphans or feeding carrots to a bunny for a tickle or source of love to help feed on or a way to help regain their magic.
This house didn’t have cookies.
I sighed and shook my head “I wonder if they have any ice cream?”
“What’s Eye Scream?” One of the foals asked in confusion as I paused in step. “Is that one of those scary stories?”
They didn’t have ice cream… did that mean Equestria in general or this town? How could they have gone through cake, cookies, a large variety of sugary treats… that made me think sugar might possible be one of their food groups in the same way meat or grain was to humans... and not have…
I took a deep breath “I need water, sugar, and milk.”
Let’s see how much I have learned so far in the art of transmutation…
******
Remedy
Remedy walked back into the room as… she never thought the rumors were possible. That they were crazy myths or jokes told out loud and yet…
Each of the foals gazed as Lockheart in a unified effort trying to hone in on their natural cuteness that it was… it was weaponized cuteness as they even had diamond dog puppies! Those big eyes and that look! They even had little spoons sticking out of their mouths as an empty cup stood before them!
Remedy grasped her heart and managed to catch herself as she saw the first few causalities resting in the doorway. Four fully grown diamond dogs clutching their hearts stuck in a cuteness overload state as a few therstal parents also seemed to have suffered the same fate.
Lockheart sighed “Okay so you do like ice cream… should I make another patch of vanilla or”
He was pelted by a swarm of children who had just had their first taste of some sugary delight and just learned that it came in other flavors.
Remedy quickly applied her medical knowledge and started ordering the parents that managed to recover to quickly zone off the sight until the cuteness levels had just entered safe levels to prevent another cuteness overload. Given the fact a few of the children practically tackled him they might have to quarantine the place for an hour or two.
Celestia help them all as they tried to prevent anymore heart attacks.
******
Midnight
Midnight walked across the town square as she had missed this place. Sure she was a little bit tired… but what pony wouldn’t be after having worked exclusively nightshift and then suddenly being forced to work mornings?
“I still don’t like him.” Leaf replied as he picked out a few mangos
Midnight rolled her eyes “Look Princess Celestia just wanted me to help give him a day off. Just please try to be civil for one day.”
Leaf stared at Midnight for a moment “Isn’t it the job of the stallion of the house to be extremely judgmental when their daughter or niece brings a stallion home?”
Midnight hissed in panic and frustration “It’s not like that!"
Leaf slowly nodded “Right… because there are not plenty of stories about some young princess or prince falling in love with their royal guard… isn’t that why you went to Canterlot in the first place?”
Midnight held up a hoof “Okay first of all Prince Leo is a stuck up Tribalist jerk. Secondly… Lockheart is my boss!”
Her uncle chuckled “Then why do you preen his wings?”
Midnight’s wings shot out straight open as her face was in full blush “It’s not like that… I have to help teach him how to fly… and he doesn’t take a lot of care of his wings…”
Her uncle nodded as he replied “Really? You mean you didn’t bring him here just to prove something to the other mare that just happened to accompany the two of you?”
Midnight frowned as she tried not to let her senile uncle get to her “She is just his doctor… and… she’s helping teaching him unicorn magic while I teach him how to fly.”
Leaf rubbed his chin “So… I should have been interrogating the mare since you’re a…”
Midnight slapped her crazy senile uncle in the face with her wing “Just for that you are paying for the food.”
Leaf took a deep breath as his check still stung a bit “Look… there’s something… off about him. I can’t tell what… but… I know I’m not your father, but I just want to make sure you don’t get hurt.”
Midnight nodded as… she was kind of hoping her uncle would be proud of her. Midnight wasn’t stuck in the same dead end night shift jobs… even if she was moving up the ranks. Celestia was making changes while Lockheart was a literal force of change… even this little town seemed to be growing up as more ponies were starting to visit it.
Leaf smiled as he placed a hoof on her shoulder “Besides… considering how much you wrote about him I had to check to see if he was a good stallion.” Midnight opened her mouth “And don’t try to argue… First you talked about the rumors about the elusive alicorn. Then you wrote about how he and a few other ponies rescued a group of fillynapped ponies. After that it was helping out some unicorn and how everypony else was reacting to the latest alicorn.”
Midnight huffed as she didn’t like how this conversation was going “Alright maybe I talked a little bit about him… but just about everypony else in Cloudsdale and Canterlot rants about him also… just not as politely.”
Leaf didn’t look happy as he replied “You didn’t find it strange that he flinched when they asked about his cutie mark? Everypony I ever knew loved talking about how they found their talent… but him? That’s the face of a pony that’s hiding something.”
Midnight didn’t respond as… something was always off about him. His altitude, his magic… even his past. They were always off simply because it wasn’t normal in Equestria. It kind of bothered her how casually he joked about being chased by angry mobs with pitch forks… and that smile when he dispelled the illusion? She hadn’t seen a smile so… bitter before.
Leaf tapped her on the shoulder “Sorry if I… said anything wrong.”
Midnight shook her head “No… I was just… lost in thought. According to the others… he… didn’t have a good life until he came to Equestria. He didn’t even have a cutie mark until the Everfree Forest incident.”
Leaf stared at her in utter disbelief “Wha… He… he’s at least as old as you… and he was a… blank flank?”
Midnight tried to chuckle, but she didn’t have much energy in it “Sure there are a lot more blank flank adults… but… How exactly do you feel about the new foreign ponies?”
Leaf rubbed his chin “Honestly? I just thought they were more like the ones from Saddle Arabia… but after speaking to them… I wouldn’t want to live where they are from.”
Her uncle brought them to… a large sideshow stand as two ponies were working on their illusions as a nearby… band had a cello player, a DJ, and a singer? It was an odd sight… really odd but they waved at them so Midnight waved back.
Willow Leaf smiled “Apparently they just worked… went to school to get a broad sum of knowledge… then to another school and another school until they either paid for a fourth school or tried to find some way to make bits.”
His frown died down as he stared one of the groups sharpening weapons as a unicorn foal was practicing combat magic “It didn’t matter what you were good at just as long as you worked… a few even had to give up what they loved to do just to meet ends meet… and that was the standard of life…They didn’t try to earn their cutie marks… simply because they no longer had a meaning where they were from.”
Midnight felt a small shiver up her back “You can’t be serious?”
He sighed “Take a look at that foal… the one practicing a fire ball spell. A foal his age should be in school learning and trying to figure out his cutie mark. Instead he shows enough strength in combat as the others use him to help fight any monsters their commissioned to fight… sure they look out for him and do their best to protect him… but they simply have lived an entirely different existence that it’s normal for them and that’s… what frightens me.”
Midnight strained her ears trying to pick up the conversation. The young colt was talking about how exciting their last fight was… how they managed to slay the evil creepy demon bugs. How the… bug pony in the group nodded as she thanked him for helping them out.
Willow Leaf glanced at the stage “There’s something different about them. They don’t care about race, species, or gender as much as we do. Our school took in a few of the children that were with them… but there are still a few that stay in the adventurer groups.” Her uncle chuckled “We even ended up taking a few diamond dog pups in the school.”
Midnight now spotted a few of the diamond dogs as… they looked like diamond dogs. Not foreign diamond dogs that wore pants, but regular diamond dogs with pockets filled with gems and sounded like they were gargling rocks while speaking.
“When did this happen?” Midnight couldn’t help but ask in confusion.
“Oh them?” he replied as if it was common knowledge “Apparently some demon bugs started fillynapping them and the foreign ponies came to help. The diamond dogs lost a lot of their homes, but managed to clear out most of the nest… yet it wasn’t safe for them to stay there anymore so the foreign ponies traveled with them and… then they just became part of the town.”
Leaf couldn’t help but chuckle “After taking a look at the mountain nearby they just started digging making themselves a new home. Sure a few of us were a bit worried or annoyed that they suddenly took up residence… but after they showed their skill with a hammer and seeing those puppies beg.” He sighed “Did you know that the foreign ponies actually taught them how to beg? Just looking at them… it was completely unfair as nopony could argue!”
Midnight couldn’t help but laugh as her uptight uncle who didn’t like change… had been defeated by a bunch of puppies begging. Sure she wasn’t too sure if she would stand up to it any better… but the idea of just seeing a group of diamond dog puppies begging?
Leaf tried to regain his dignity as he continued “The real thing that got us stuck with them… was that the demon bugs? We spotted one that a manticore had recently killed. Sure someponies say there isn’t a difference between the two… but for anypony that actually seen a demon bug… it’s like comparing a pet dog to a diamond dog.”
The freaky monster changelings were close to Hollow Shades! Midnight scanned the town in panic first of all because she was worried about the town itself… the second reason was that she had just left Lockheart by himself after he had angered their queen which according to the reports was a crazy shapeshifting mind warping monster that wanted him dead.
Her uncle quickly placed a hoof on her shoulder “Calm down… the local guard keeps us safe as the diamond dogs help out… even then anytime we find a large concentration the foreign ponies wipe them out. Besides even with the demon bug’s abilities… they don’t interact. If one tried to infiltrate the town they simply stay quite or try to capture those who… stray too far from the town.”
Midnight stared at her uncle in horror “That’s it?”
Her uncle sighed “It’s a big forest… and we finally managed to track their nest down and got rid of it. For now everypony is trying to recover from the incident… as the diamond dogs try to treat the ones they had lost when the crazy bugs attacked them... and what the heck is going on here?”
Midnight looked up ahead… as she saw a few lines of police tape and a couple of pony and diamond dog parents waiting outside their house. Remedy was treating one of the fallen ponies as Midnight was afraid at what just might have happened.
She rushed towards the house ignoring Remedy’s warning. Hollow Shades was supposed to give them a break… it was supposed to be safe! Was Lockheart….
She stopped as soon as she entered the living room. There were a bunch of foals… even a few diamond dogs staring at her. Each of them had a small cup nearby them looking at her in wide eye excitement as they had spoons sticking out of their mouths… and Lockheart… the crazy alicorn was wearing an apron as one filly was on curled up on his back… and the other… was leaning up against Lockheart’s head with his hooves resting beside Lockheart’s horn as the small foal was sniffing the air… trying to get a peek inside the bowl Lockheart was carrying!
“D’awww.” Was the last words that came out of Midnight’s mouth before she passed out