//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Into the League // by Seth Typofather //------------------------------// “Eat up Angel,” Fluttershy urged her closest animal companion, holding out a freshly cleaned carrot. Angel sniffed it before turning his head away, chin raised in defiance. “Come on…” The bunny swatted it out of Fluttershy’s hoof, making squeaking noises. The yellow pegasus gasped. “Angel…! Who taught you such language!?” Angel pointed to an empty corner of the room, squeaking. Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion, staring at the corner before turning her gaze to angel. It wasn’t beneath Angel to lie, of course. Sighing with a roll of her eyes, Fluttershy turned her back to the corner to pick up the carrot and try again with her pet’s fussy appetite. It was gone. A gust of wind blew through her now open window, causing the pegasus to squeal in fright. Wings flared to make a leap for the ceiling, she panted heavily. “Sorry for being late, Flutters!” a sly voice echoed from the kitchen. “I had to make a quick pitstop at Pinkie’s for some ingredients!” Relief washing over her, Fluttershy smiled. “That’s fine, Discord. Wait- no it’s not!” Discord’s disembodied head popped into existence on a nearby wall like a mantlepiece, a confused look plastered on his face. “Well if oatmeal isn’t fine I could make my paper-fire surprise.” Angrily pointing a hoof to Angel, she glared deep into Discord’s eyes with her signature ‘stare’. A moment of awkwardness seemed to pass between the two before Fluttershy finally spoke. “What sort of language have you been teaching Angel?!” she hissed. Genuinely confused, the God of Chaos arched an eyebrow. “I have no clue what you’re on about… if you don’t believe me ask your little pest,” he stated, one of his eyes popping out and rolling like a marble towards Angel. The pupil turned into a mouth which said, “Well? It wasn’t me was it?” Angel shook his head, pointing to an empty corner of the room again. Discord’s eye grew arms and turned to Fluttershy, crossing them. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “That’s fine, time to see what our fuzzy friend here was pointing to,” Discord began, his whole body forming around his eye as he slithered to the corner. His ears twitched, was his mind playing tricks on him or could he hear…chewing? “Alright, show yourself,” he demanded. “Twenty-one hours, 12 minutes and 2 seconds undetected,” a high pitched voice replied, what replaced the empty space in the corner was a small fuzzy creature wearing a scout’s uniform. In one hand a half-finished carrot and the other holding a blowdart gun. It appeared to salute with a cheerful grin, proudly stating, “A new record!” “…What?” Fluttershy barged past, squealing, “He’s so cute! Ooh, what species of animal are you?” “I’m a Yordle,” he replied. “Captain Teemo of the Bandle City Omega Squad at your service!” The creature’s cheerful demeanour seemed genuine enough, but something did not sit well with Discord. He seemed…too cheerful. Arching his eyebrow, he stared at Teemo, wondering what he is hiding. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, he sighed. “I’ll get it.” Floating over to the door, he peeked through the keyhole to be met with another eye staring at him. “Why Pinkie! What a surprise!” he joyfully exclaimed, opening the door. Much to his annoyance she did not come alone. “Oh, hello Sparkle, Rarity… what are those two freaks?” “You’re one to talk,” Tryndamere shot back, getting a giggle out of Pinkie. Furrowing his brow, Discord growled, “What’s going on here? First we find this rodent in the cottage now we have two hairless apes, I’ll just head off to Canterlot then.” He disappeared with an audible pop. “He’s not this much of a grumpy pants, what’s got his goatee?” Pinkie joked, Rarity chuckling while the rest simply rolled their eyes. “Hiya Fluttershy!” she called out, waving through the doorway. “Ooh, cool doll!” “That’s not a doll,” Ashe corrected. “That’s Teemo, still trying to break your record?” “Yes, ma’am,” he cheerfully replied, still being cuddled by Fluttershy much to Angel’s disdain. “You could put me down now, please.” Fluttershy blushed. “Oh! Sorry, you’re just so cute.” She let the Yordle go, he was as tall as Spike now that Twilight got a good look at him. “Sure, cute,” the barbarian sarcastically remarked. “We’re wasting time.” “Tryndamere’s right,” Twilight clarified. “We need to be at Canterlot by nightfall, and I might need to do a one-to-one interview with Teemo in the meantime during the train ride. I mean, if that’s fine with you?” “Not at all, I’d be happy to answer any questions you got,” Teemo answered with his signature grin, a grin which sent shivers up her spine. Note to self;…keep an eye on Teemo… “Is that a dart gun?” Pinkie slunk low to inspect Teemo. “Cooooooooool, whaddya shoot out of it?” Staring at his dart gun, Teemo seemed to space out. His body appeared to tremble slightly, his face partially obscured by the helmet. “Teemo?” The soft voice of Fluttershy knocked him out of his trance. Looking up he saw that he was surrounded by concerned faces, the king and queen of the Freijlord knowing exactly what had just happened and keeping their distance. “Are you ok? Do you need anything?” “I’m fine,” he bluntly replied. “To answer your question, Pinkie, right?” “Yeah?” “This shoots out a special dart coated with a special poison I gather myself, another type of dart is a blinding dart that I shoot. The poison is fatal, one dart could send Tryndamere packing.” Curiosity was replaced with fear, all five ponies stepped back. “You wish!” cackled the barbarian, lightening the mood ever so slightly. “Problem is, I’m out of ammo for the poison. Oh well.” Teemo shrugged, unfazed by the ponies’ reaction. “I’ll just improvise.” Twilight scooted next to the two humans and whispered, “Is he always like this?” “Only when distressed,” Ashe whispered back. “Please be careful when interviewing him…” Clearing her throat, the alicorn announced, “We should get going, the train will be leaving soon and Applejack is already at the station to save our carriage. Oh and don’t worry Fluttershy, Spike and Owlicous will be taking care of your friends, believe it or not those two are better than I’ll ever be with animals.” Nodding, the yellow pegasus nuzzled Angel goodbye, sating the bunny’s craving for attention. “Will Rainbow Dash be coming?” "Give her a minute... she's always late for bein' so fast." Applejack rested herself against the reserved carriage, her signature stetson hat covering her face. She never knew why it felt good to have it this way when resting, maybe it kept the sun from glaring down on her face or maybe it just looked cool. Raising the hat, the farmpony stared up at the clock, only ten minutes until the train leaves. “Applejack!” Called out Twilight, waving from across the station. “Ya’ll cuttin’ it a lil’ bit close with timekeepin’, sugarcube,” Applejack responded, dusting off her hat before catching a glimpse of the two humans and Yordle. “Uh, new friends?” “Yuppers!” Pinkie answered in Twilight’s place, bouncing into the carriage. “Well shoot, any friend of Twi is a friend of mine!” Holding out her hoof, the farmpony shook Ashe’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Ashe smiled while shaking her new friend’s hoof. “My name is Ashe, this is my husband, Tryndamere and this is Teemo.” Tryndamere responded with a grunt to his name, Teemo simply saluted. “All aboard!” the conductor bellowed, blowing his whistle. “We can continue sharing our stories on the train, no sense in wasting time, nice to meet you, Applejack” said Teemo, tipping his helmet with a smile and hopping aboard. "Hut, two, three, four!" Once all was said and done, luggage packed and beds prepared for the night, Twilight approached Teemo with feigned confidence. Clearing her throat, she got his attention. “Are you ready for your interview?” Nodding, Teemo hopped off of his bed. The alicorn’s horn began to glow before both her and the Yordle teleported to the cargo, three boxes aligned into two makeshift chairs and a table. “Well, what do you want to know?” His usual cheerful voice sounded much sombre, a murderous undertone complimenting it. Caught off guard by his response, Twilight stumbled over her words. “I-I well, I wanted to know…” Remembering her question, Twilight stood firm and delivered her it with confidence. “There’s something you’re not telling me, and it’s something that Tryndamere or even Ashe won’t or can’t tell me.” “The question,” Teemo said sternly, his eyes briefly fully opening to stare directly at her. Twilight gasped in response, what were glaring her down were not eyes of an innocent scout, but the bloodshot crosshairs of a trained war veteran. Realising what he had just done, Teemo lowered his head. “You want to know my story, don’t you?…Have a seat.” Twilight nodded, sitting opposite to him, eyeing him warily. He rummaged through his backpack, lifting out a new helmet and resting it on the table. “I used to live by a code…”