In Which There Is Cake
“So,” asked Serale, settling into the armchair from Cobblestone, “How has your stay been so far?”
Cobblestone’s brow furrowed. “I’ve been bored out of my skull. Everything here is too…safe.”
“Safe?” Serale inquired. “How so?”
Cobblestone thought for a minute, compiling a list of all the myriad infractions, major and minor that had been perpetrated against her during her matriculation at this awful place. “I’m not allowed to be outside for more than an hour at the most, and even then for no more than three hours a day. Meals are served at three set times every day, and I’m expected to be there for each one. I’m not allowed to leave until I’ve cleaned the plate and had two drinks. I can’t help with any of the tasks here, even mending my own clothes.”
She looked up at the ceiling as if praying for patience. “No loud talking, no singing, no running indoors, I’m not allowed to take more than one nap per day to relieve the boredom, and to top it all off, there is nothing to do here that interests me. At all.”
“There’s an entire library upstairs,” Serale suggested, “You could use that.”
“Books never held much interest for me, thanks,” Cobblestone replied.
Serale grimaced. “I’m terribly sorry it took me so long to come down here. Mother’s had me in Court every day since we got back, and I’ve been completely unable to get down here and see you. You must have been terribly bored and lonely.”
“It’s not so bad,” Cobblestone said. “Yesterday, I got a visit from a noble mare by the name of Lady Hedera. Do you know her?”
Serale’s eyes widened. “Lady Hedera came to see you?” she exclaimed. “She’s one of the most powerful and influential mares in the city! Her family owns most of the trade routes in Equestria! Why was she visiting you?”
“I think she was looking to see if I had ‘potential as an indentured servant’, or something like that,” Cobblestone said. “She seemed nice enough. She even offered me a job if it turns out I don’t get an apprenticeship!”
“Her philanthropic work is legendary,” Serale said. “She’s helped so many ponies. She’s set up farms down south, provided employment to hundreds of reformed criminals, and she’s even involved in the Equestrian Crusaders!”
Cobblestone raised an eyebrow. “You seem to know an awful lot about her,” she said. “Is she a role model of yours?”
Serale flushed a bit. “Sorry. I know her from her Court duties, she and my mother work together often. But she really is a wonderful pony. A touch sycophantic, but then so are a lot of ponies back in the Court. I grew up with her son.”
Cobblestone’s ears pricked up in interest. “Oh, really? Somepony has a crush, does she?”
Serale rolled her eyes. “Please. Vino’s a nice colt, but he’s about as dense as a lamppost and seems to think he can solve the majority of his problems by swinging heavy things around. It’d be a cold day in Tartarus before I considered him to be anything other than an acquaintance, or perhaps a distant friend.”
“Deny all you want, but I think there’s something there,” Cobblestone teased. “Somepony’s been making morning prayers to Cadance!”
Serale’s eyes narrowed. “Even if I did put stock in that sort of Celestial tripe, I’d like to think that Princess Mi Amore di Cadenza, a ruler in her own right and my Aunt, would have better things to do than go gallivanting around matchmaking for me. Besides,” she sniffed, “I could do much better than Vino.”
Cobblestone held up a defensive hoof. “Fair enough, fair enough. Oyah, you’d think I’d chucked mud at you.”
Serale shook her head, distracted. “That’s not why we’re here,” she said. “We’re here because you’ve a Court hearing tomorrow. Have you been told what to expect from the counselor we sent you?”
Cobblestone nodded. “I tell my story, you tell yours, Libra tells hers, and then Lady Everstar gives her judgment after a period of deliberation. Then I get sentenced if I’m found guilty, and that’s the end of it.”
“The charges against you are breaking and entering, attempted theft of Royal property, and two charges of assault against Libra and myself,” Serale said. “There were a number of other charges, including disturbing the peace and drug abuse, but seeing as they were relatively minor, they were dropped.”
“I appreciate that,” Cobblestone said, “I don’t have the money to pay the fines for those.”
Serale smiled at the joke. “You will likely be found guilty, as I’m sure you’ve realized. Libra and I have you dead to rights. But seeing as you saved my life directly after committing these crimes, I think my mother will be inclined to be lenient.”
Cobblestone considered this. “Something the counselor didn’t mention,” she said, “Is what the sentence would be if your mother decided not to be lenient.”
Serale’s smile vanished. “Well,” she replied, “Breaking and entering carries with it a charge of three years jail time for adults, in your case it would be two. Theft of Royal property would be another five years, and assault carries with it a charge of six years per charge. Potentially, you could be in prison for around twenty years.”
“But I’m sure you’ll be fine!” she said upon seeing the look on Cobblestone’s face. “For one, nopony’s gotten the maximum sentence for those crimes in the past fifty years. Even if mother wanted to be strict, you’d get ten years at the most if you were an adult. Seeing as you aren’t, you’d get perhaps seven years in a rehabilitation facility as a child.”
Cobblestone took a deep breath. “Good,” she said. “The thought of twenty years in prison isn’t a good one.”
There was a knock on the parlor door.
“Come in!” Serale called.
Charity opened the door just a crack, enough for her to stick her head through. “Pardon me, Milady. Miss Cobblestone, seeing as tonight is your last night with us and you’ve been such a pleasure to have around, I thought I’d make something special up for you at supper tonight. Is there anything you’d like from the market?”
The bitter taste of Dragon’s Kiss was the first thing that came to mind, but Cobblestone pushed the thoughts away. She had just been through the consequences of that, and had no desire to relive them. Frowning, she considered what she could possibly ask for. She drew a blank, largely because she had never really developed a particular favorite food. Back in Crescent City, she had eaten whatever she had come across.
“Cake,” she blurted out. “All I’ve had in the past week is healthy, bland food. I’d love to have something sweet.”
Charity smiled. “I’ll pick something up for you to eat after your meal. I know a particularly good pastry chef in Lantern Plaza who makes a wonderful chocolate cake. Will that do?”
Cobblestone nodded her head jerkily. She didn’t trust Charity, though the Pegasus had given her no reason to distrust her. “Thank you,” she managed, “I’d like that.”
Charity inclined her head respectfully towards Serale before the door closed, leaving the two of them alone.
“She seems nice,” Serale said.
Cobblestone snorted. “Hob doesn’t like her much,” she said without thinking.
Serale looked at her strangely. “Why would you say that?” she asked.
Cobblestone hadn’t meant to reveal anything about Hob. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt that the less she said about Hob’s ability to speak to her, the better.
“He tends to avoid her whenever she comes by,” Cobblestone said. “That and he’s hissed at her twice.”
Serale nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I’ve always preferred the company of dogs myself, but I suppose Hob would have a reason.”
“I suppose so,” Cobblestone said.
“Clearly you trust him,” Serale replied, “Your face turned white as a sheet when she came in. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Cobblestone said, “Just nervous.”
“I hate to say this,” Serale said, “But you should be.”
“What do you mean?” Cobblestone said.
“I mean that as of tomorrow, you are going to be interacting with the Court on a regular basis,” Serale said, her tone deadly serious. “There are ponies in that hall that have been brought up from birth to lie, manipulate, and double-deal with the very best, and when you approach the throne tomorrow, you’re going to become another asset to them. They will try to use you, and if you let them, it won’t go well for you.”
“I’ve learned how to cheat, lie, and swindle too,” Cobblestone scoffed. “I think I can handle a day in Court.”
Serale shook her head. “I don’t think you understand. Ponies in the Court don’t use knives or lay hooves on one another. Mother would never allow it. But tricking others out of their fortunes, taking advantage of poorly worded contracts, learning all of your secrets, all of that is literally the only thing they do. Day in, day out, for years at a time. If you aren’t prepared, not only could you lose everything you hold dear, you could affect the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of others.”
She looked Cobblestone in the eyes before continuing. “The ponies in Court play games with contracts affecting thousands of jobs, millions of acres of land, and fortunes vast enough to buy fleets of airships or small armies of guards. Several ponies my age get together on weekends and gamble with chips representing deeds to townships. They use them as game tokens, Cobblestone. And every bit of that extraordinary wealth is earned, because they know exactly what to say, how to say it, and who to say it to.”
Cobblestone frowned. “So why are you warning me about this? I just won’t talk to anypony but Lady Everstar.”
Serale rolled her eyes, exasperated. “For the rest of your time here in Starfall? Cobblestone, you’re associated with me. Not just me, but Libra as well, and after the trial, you’ll be associated with my mother. Do you know how many ponies would love to use you in order to possibly influence what we do?”
“I hardly even know your mother!” Cobblestone said. “Or Libra! I mean, I know you better than I know them, but still…”
“I don’t think that would matter,” Serale said. “You’re connected, or at least you will be, in the eyes of the public to my family and Magus Libra.”
“Whoever tries to get something out of me will be sorely disappointed,” Cobblestone grumbled. “Mostly because I hardly know anything about your family at all, or…whatever Libra does.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Serale said. “To help you with this sort of thing. You hardly have any Court manners at all, and you know nothing about how to conduct yourself under social pressure. You’re much more used to knocking somepony’s head against a wall if they’re too nosy, yes?”
“I just punched them, usually,” Cobblestone replied. “But I see your point.”
Serale smiled brightly. “Then you’re willing to learn a few things?” she asked.
Cobblestone nodded. “Yeah. I’ll learn a few things.”
Serale straightened in her chair. “Good,” she said. “First lesson. Don’t ever volunteer more information than you have to without seeming rude. I’ve had some success with…”
Vino sat in the café, the glazed expression on his face indicating that he wasn’t hungry so much as extremely, violently bored. The pretty young waitress had been nice enough to start a tab for him, flashing a pearly white smile at him when he sat down and was given a menu to look through before he could protest his lack of funds.
“You don’t worry about it, soldier!” she had chirped, “I’ll take a rain check on that payment.”
And so he sat, one croissant and one cup of coffee steaming slightly in front of him, bored out of his mind, and wondering how Serale was handling herself. For that matter, he wondered how he was going to explain this to Captain Roughshod when he returned to the Regia to find it in an uproar. Out of all the first impressions to be made, his was going to be the impression of incompetence and unprofessionalism.
Luckily for him, the café had outdoor seating, open to the air and well-equipped with comfortable chairs, wide tables, and a low fence in between the seating area and the crowd. Vino had always enjoyed pony watching, seeing the crowds moving and shifting soothed him, somehow. It was like watching the movement of waves in a pond, or dust in an old house catching the beams of light.
This particular crowd was a market crowd, and a busy one at that. This square was known as Lantern Plaza, named for the large lantern set in the middle of the square, and was famed for its sweetshops and chocolatiers. Indeed, the scent of baking sweetbread, melting sugar, and fresh chocolate permeated the square to the point of being almost, but not quite, overbearing.
Vino smiled, lost in memory. This had been one of his favorite places to visit when he was a colt, back when his father was still alive. In fact, it had been something of a tradition for them to stop by after his father had finished with his business in Court as a reward for Vino’s patience. His sister had been quite a bit younger then, not old enough to stand on her own hooves, and between her and mother, it was hard to find a moment of peace in the Hedera house. Vino and his father would often sit in a restaurant or on a bench with their newfound delicacies and simply savor the moment, and one another’s company. Those were better times.
“Copper for your thoughts?” the waitress said as she stopped by to refill his coffee.
Vino was jolted out of his reverie by her arrival. He smiled at her sheepishly. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here,” he said. “I was just remembering coming here with my family when I was younger.”
The waitress smiled at him again as she leaned in to top off his cup. “Have you been gone very long?” she asked.
Vino nodded. “A few years,” he said. “I just returned a day ago.”
The waitress’s smile widened, dimpling her cheeks. She tossed her head, the blonde ponytail of her mane flying back over one shoulder. “Well then,” she said, “Welcome back.”
Vino returned the smile, charmed by her friendliness. “I’m glad to be back,” he replied.
“I suppose you haven’t reconnected with anypony you left behind,” she said. “Friends, family, marefriend, that sort of thing?”
“I spoke with my family very briefly yesterday,” Vino said, “And I’ve only run into one pony you could potentially call a friend.”
“No special mare?” the waitress asked. “Seems a shame, handsome stallion like you.”
Vino shrugged. “I haven’t had much time, to be honest,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll find somepony eventually, though.”
The waitress’s smile, had gotten wider, if that were possible. “Well,” she said, “Keep looking. I know plenty of mares who’d be interested in a handsome young stallion in uniform.”
“I’ll do that, miss,” Vino said. “Thank…you…for…?”
His attention was caught by something in the crowd. Or more accurately, somepony. Even more accurately, a group of ponies.
There were at least five of them, if not more, and each of them wore a shoddy tabard that appeared to have been hoof-stitched out of strangely colored and patterned fabric, lending them a sort of motley appearance, like one would find on an old jester or harlequin.
Each of them carried long staffs, and attached to those staffs by ropes around their necks were what could only be called wicker effigies. Vino’s eyebrows furrowed, trying to take a closer look, and then widened when he realized what the figures on the staffs were supposed to represent.
The first of these was painted a bright, garish pink, with a crudely painted face smeared across the head that seemed to consist largely of a pair of bright red lips pursed in an exaggerated pout. A crudely scrawled heart on her flank and the set of pink and purple wings on her back let everypony present know that this was a representation of Cadance.
The second was whitewashed save for a streak of red down her back that was clearly supposed to represent her mane, though it also appeared to have trickled down her horn as if to suggest that it had drawn blood. Vino suspected both interpretations were correct. A sun on the flank and white wings on the back identified this as Celestia.
Her twin, Luna, was painted black. Apparently blue paint had been unavailable. Still, a white moon gleamed fresh on her flank, and black wings jutted from her sides, though these appeared to be those of a bat. Whoever had constructed these hadn’t done much research. Luna’s identifying feature appeared to be a set of red-painted fangs and two pale, pupil-less eyes.
It was the fourth and fifth effigies that gave Vino pause, however. These two were clearly cast from the same model. One was painted purple with a bloodred star on her flank, and the other was a dull gray, with no mark at all save a horn fashioned of clear glass. Both of these appeared to have shrewd, shifty expressions on their faces, and the purple one appeared to have a set of military medals nailed to her chest.
Vino watched as these five ponies and their strange representations of the four Avatars strode to the center of the square, holding them aloft as they did. The crowd watched them go, curiosity and wariness mixing and mingling in their eyes. The procession stopped, and Vino realized what the fabric of their tabards was made of. Each scrap of cloth had come from a different part of the four nation’s flags.
The Earth pony who appeared to be the leader of the group stepped forward, his greyish-brown mane hanging greasily from his scalp and the red sun gleaming on his chest in the morning light. He thrust his pole into the cobblestones, where it stuck fast with the aid of a fastening spell before hopping up on a park bench.
“Brothers and Sisters!” he cried loudly enough to be heard through the crowd. “You have all been led astray! Please, lend me your ears!”
Vino’s full attention was on the speaker now, his meal quite forgotten. He didn’t like the tone of voice the stallion was using. It promised violence later on. He reached for the bladeband around his foreleg, making sure it was still fastened there.
“The ponies you see before you have elevated themselves above you! They claim to be gods that have the right to rule over you, instead of you ruling over yourselves! These false gods have lied to you from birth! Their control over you is near-absolute! But I tell you now, they are no different from any other pony!”
“Lady Everstar leads us well!” a voice called from the crowd. “She saved us from Celestia’s tyranny!”
“And as soon as she had defeated her, Everstar took the throne for herself!” the stallion retorted. “Is that the mark of a pony who cares about tyranny, save for how she can exert it over us?”
The voice fell silent, letting him continue. “Nay, Brothers and Sisters!” the stallion cried. “Everstar is no better than Celestia! Her rule promises to be just as long and just as powerful as Celestia’s was before she cast her rival down! With the help of her ally, Luna, she has created a society based around exploiting the hard work of others! Tell me, when was the last time ‘Lady’ Everstar walked among you, as she did in the early days of this great nation? When was the last time you spoke to her?”
The crowd was silent as the stallion continued to wax oratory. “And who is to say that she does not control you, just as Celestia controlled our ancestors in the days of old? We’ve all heard the rumors of what she can do! You all know what she’s been accused of! Reading your thoughts, seeing what you believe, who is to say she cannot change them herself? Or worse, who is to say her alliance with the Changelings isn’t as beneficial as she’d have you believe?”
“The Forest protects us!” another voice called out. “The Forest and its magic!”
“You mean the Forest that even now is being cut away for more factories, more farms?” the stallion retorted contemptuously. “Why, just yesterday, I heard it said that she’d sold off another thousand acres of it to be cut down for profit by one of her pet nobles! Does that strike you as an act of protection?”
“No!” a voice cried from the crowd, and it was echoed by a few more.
“And do you, the ponies she is supposedly sworn to protect, the ones who sweat in those factories and work on those farms, the ones that cut down and haul those trees, do you see any profit from the work you undertake to damn yourselves?” the stallion asked.
“No!” several voices shouted in unison. Vino felt his heart speed up a bit, and he stood from his seat.
The stallion gestured wildly to the effigies now driven into the ground. “Do these ponies care for you? Do they, for all of their supposed divinity, answer prayers to put food on your plates, or a roof over your heads?”
“No!” came the refrain.
“No they do not!” the stallion bellowed. “We fight in their armies, help run their empires, because we are told to step into line and worship them as the gods they are! But we say no!”
Vino turned to the waitress. “Who are they?” he asked her quietly.
“They call themselves the Contheistic League,” she said shakily, her face fading from a healthy blue to a pale eggshell. “They come around every now and again, start shouting at ponies. But I’ve never seen them carrying those before.”
“And they’re just allowed to do that?” Vino asked. “Stand there, and preach a message of hate, and call for a revolt like that?”
The waitress swallowed. “They never hang around long enough to be caught,” she said.
Vino stood up straight. “Right,” he said. “Go inside, lock the door. If you’ve a communication crystal inside, use it to alert the authorities.”
He didn’t wait to see if the waitress followed orders, instead vaulting the railing and heading into the crowd. He loosened the top button on the collar of his uniform, just to be safe, before pushing in further to the now-sizeable mob of ponies.
“We offer you the chance to fight!” the stallion was saying. “To take your lives into your own hooves, and to join us in our crusade against tyranny!”
Vino felt the crowd part around him as he strode to the front of the pack, ponies dispersing as they sensed trouble brewing. He kept alert as he made eye contact with the stallion on the bench.
“You there!” Vino said, pointing at him. “Have you been permitted to speak here?”
The stallion’s lip curled. “I need no authority from the false goddess!” he proclaimed. “Or one of her jackbooted thugs.”
“If you’re not permitted to speak in this location,” Vino said, “I’m afraid I’ll have to insist that you move along. You’re blocking traffic through the square, and if there was an emergency, ponies might not be able to make it away in time.”
“The only danger to the ponies here is you!” one of the other League members said, pointing at him, her voice shrill. “You, and your desire to stop the truth from being heard!”
Vino held up a hoof defensively. “I have no objection to you speaking your piece,” he said calmly. “But I do object to you doing it here, now, with no permission to assemble and preaching a message of hate.”
“Bug lover,” one of the other members rumbled. “Traitor to your own kind. You know they’re parasites, right?”
Vino’s hoof tightened. “I’m asking you again, before the authorities arrive. Leave. Now.”
The leader smirked down at him. “And if we don’t?”
“Then by the power entrusted to me by the grace of Lady Everstar, I will take it upon myself to detain you until you can be taken into custody,” Vino said.
It was at that point that the stallion who had called him a bug lover swung his staff at him, hoping to catch him off-guard.
Vino saw it coming out of the corner of his eye, stepping away from it almost fast enough to avoid contact. Thankfully, the staff was encumbered by the Cadance effigy on top of it, and instead of landing a solid blow on the back of his neck, it instead grazed along Vino’s flanks as he turned to deal with this new threat.
He focused on his bladeband, feeling the metal warm up around his hoof as a blade comprised of the same spelled metal materialized in front of him, shining bright silver-red in the sunlight. He spun in order to keep all of his potential assailants in view just in time to see another pole flick towards his face. He brought the blade up in a riposte motion, shredding through the Luna effigy before taking the tip off of the pole itself, leaving him standing in a pile of shredded wicker and wood.
Vino brought the blade up en garde. “Last chance,” he said. “I know how to use this.”
The ponies dropped their poles, pulling knives from the folds of their tabards and advancing towards Vino in a semicircle as the ponies of the crowd began to scream and scamper every which way to avoid the violence. Vino’s eyes tracked each individual member of the group, his training coming to him easily. He hopped up onto the bench behind him, thankful that there were no Pegasi in the group, only Earth ponies. Had there been either unicorns or Pegasi, he would have needed to adjust his strategy.
Suddenly, a whistle sounded in the distance, followed shortly by another. Vino smiled. Either the waitress had made the call, or one of the crowd members had alerted a constable. Either way, help was on the way.
The leader stared at Vino as if to burn the face of his opponent into his memory before turning away, sheathing his dagger.
“Let’s go!” he barked, and the five ponies sprinted into the crowd, tearing the tabards from their shoulders and dropping the daggers as they did. Without them, they blended into the crowd easily, and inside of a minute, they were gone.
Vino dispelled his blade, climbing off of the bench and waiting for the authorities to arrive. He would have some explaining to do. A thought occurred to him, and he groaned. Bad enough he was going to be disciplined for letting Lady Serale leave the castle. Now he had gone and gotten himself into trouble with the police, as well.
Charity hummed a tune to herself as she left the cake shop, parcel safely tucked into her saddlebags. The vendor had been most kind, giving her a freshly baked one for a steeply discounted price in exchange for her help in settling a new pane of glass into his display case. While it wasn’t exactly her specialty, Charity was quite good at following instructions, and with minimal fuss, the pane had been settled and she was on her way in a matter of moments.
Her ears pricked up at a commotion from the square ahead of her, and she could see a rather sizeable crowd gathering near a strange group of ponies, who were shouting indistinctly as they crowded around to hear what they had to say. Charity shook her head at the display, and resolved to take another path home, one that was perhaps a bit longer, but would have less traffic. Turning down a wide avenue shaded by lemon trees, she set off.
The walk in summer was much more pleasant, she reflected as she made her way down the street. The skeletal branches overhead were covered in fresh blossoms and growing fruit, and the entire way would be redolent with the scent of lemon blossom. Lights were strung amongst the trees, unlit now, but when night fell they would twinkle and shine like a million stars year-round. The effect was, however, lessened when she could see the unlit bulbs amongst the branches.
Charity thought of Cobblestone, and her face fell. It really was a shame that Cobblestone would need killed. She had almost prayed that Lady Serale would stay away today, but Fate clearly had other plans. She would do her duty, and do it well. At the very least, the poison would be quick and painless, an opiate to end her suffering.
A tingling sensation on the back of the Pegasus’s neck caused her wings to rise reflexively as she turned to survey the street behind her. Aside from one or two ponies walking in the other direction, there was nopony behind her. Chiding herself at her foolishness, Charity forced her wings back down and kept walking, her pace perhaps a little faster than it needed to be. She resolved to cut her walk by a bit by using an alleyway she knew of that connected the street she was on to the one near the house. Normally she refused to use it, seeing as it was never clean, but its use felt…appropriate.
Briefly, Charity considered letting the others in the house know of her duties, but she decided against it. Lady Hedera had trusted her to complete the task, and bringing her compatriots into things only complicated a simple task. Too many cooks in the kitchen spoiled the soup, after all!
As she passed by a window, she caught the reflection of something massive and black creeping up behind her, and spun around defensively, wings spread wide. But again, she was greeted with only an empty street. Heart hammering in her chest, she took a brief moment to calm herself, the tingling spreading from her neck up and down her spine, causing the mane on her scalp to stand on end. Swallowing, she continued towards the alley at a brisk pace.
It was simply nerves, she told herself. To receive such a task from Lady Hedera herself was a huge honor, and she was simply nervous about getting it done correctly. It was understandable, seeing as she hadn’t killed before. Thoughts of a cup of tea sprang to mind, and she promised herself a good hot cup as soon as she arrived back home. Or perhaps a stiff drink. She shook her head, pushing those thoughts away. Drink was what had landed her in trouble in the first place, and she had sworn never to touch the stuff again.
She ducked into the alley, eyes fixed on the street ahead of her, and the familiar sun-kissed cobbles leading to the safety of her home. There was a crash behind her, and Charity broke into a trot, nearing a canter as she hurried towards the end of the alleyway. A growl, low and rumbling, caused her to hurry still quicker, and she was nearing a gallop when something leapt from overhead, landing in front of her.
Charity took a hasty step back, a scream rising in her throat before she got a good look at what had so rudely cut her off. It died before escaping when she realized that she had been pursued by a black cat. Her hammering heart slowed as she began to chuckle, amused at how frightened such a small creature had gotten her.
“Hello, puss!” she said. “You gave me quite a fright!”
The cat said nothing, choosing merely to regard her with glowing green eyes. Charity recognized him immediately. This cat was the black tom that had accompanied Cobblestone during her stay at the house.
“Hello, Hob,” Charity said kindly. “How did you get out? Been prowling, have we? Caught anything yet?”
Hob blinked, regarding her dispassionately. He took a step forward, hissing as he did. Charity took a step back out of reflex, noting how large his teeth were. Hob was bigger than he appeared, too. Though she hadn’t noticed it before, the cat was really quite solid.
“Go on!” she said, batting at him. “Shoo! Go hunt somewhere else!”
Hob refused to move, yowling as he hunched his shoulders. The yowl turned into a growl considerably deeper than he should have been able to make, and Hob’s claws extended as he raised one paw, his ears laid back flat and his fur bristling. He took another step forward, and Charity realized something wasn’t right.
“Go!” she said. “Scat! Go on!”
She spread her wings, ready for flight, and the cat rushed forward, stopping only a few steps away. Hob was now easily up to her chest in height, and the more his fur bristled, the larger he appeared. His fangs gleamed like knives, his claws like meat hooks. His limbs were spindly and long, his mouth too full of teeth and fixed in an impossibly wide grin, his tongue a bit too red. His eyes were alight with an intelligence that was as alien to her as the intelligence of a hawk was to a fieldmouse.
Charity was petrified, her wings frozen to the sides as Hob’s tail flicked back and forth, reminding her of strays she had seen before they pounced on prey. The smell of raw meat was on his breath as his growl became something of an amused purr that could just as easily have turned into a snarl. Gone was the housecat. Here was something new, and altogether terrifying.
Charity pumped her wings for altitude, but it was too late. With an otherworldly screech, the thing Hob had become jumped after her, and its claws fastened around her throat. Thankfully for her, Hob didn’t play with his meals as most cats did. His great jaws fastened around the unfortunate Pegasus’s throat, and with a quick jerk of his head, he broke her neck in a swift, businesslike fashion.
The beast in the alley bent down, taking the body of the Pegasus into its mouth and swallowing her whole with seemingly little effort. The muscles of his throat worked once, twice, and were still. Satisfied, the thing began to groom itself, shrinking as it did, becoming the cat once more. Before too long, Hob sat on the floor of the alley alone, the sleek sides of his belly just perhaps a bit rounder than normal.
He coughed once, expelling a loose feather, and bent low, expelling an unharmed parcel, completely dry and none the worse for the ware after its trip. He bent low, sniffing at it delicately. Hob sneezed, satisfied at the smell of freshly baked chocolate cake before he bent low, taking the string binding it together in his mouth before turning back down the alley, box dangling from his jaws and his tail waving jauntily in the air. Cobblestone would be pleased.
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And Hob becomes Super Saiyan.
Hob's got some tricks... Pegasus are birdlike, so it's only fitting that the cat munch her. Some sort of spirit beast or something, though why Twilight couldn't figure him out is beyond me... or maybe she did and just let it go?
Poor Charity, knew she'd meet an end, wasn't expecting it to be quite so quick, but there ya go.
I've been uncertain for a long while now exactly what Hob was, but I think I have a few ideas after seeing this. He's clearly intelligent, skilled in certain forms of magic, can transform his body, and can control the mass of things that his body consumes. It's very unlikely that he's a changeling, pony, or any other natural species found on Equestria. I'm guessing that he's a creature from the Everfree. Everything that he did in this chapter practically reeked of the kind of magic we've seen used by the denizens of the Everfree in the past two stories.
There's also the possibility of him being sent by Luna, but I'm hesitant to go with that just yet given Twilight's response to the last time Luna started interfering with her family unsolicited. There are obviously things happening behind the scenes that we don't know about just yet, but I'm not sure that Twilight would give Luna such freedom to involve herself like that anymore. But the Everfree is literally part of her family, and controlled by someone that she trusts implicitly. If a random, powerful creature like Hob was to just show up out of nowhere and be completely trusted so close to her daughter, that's about the only place I can think of where it could have come from.
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It was more or less implied on the airship that Twilight knew, at the very least, who had sent him, though I strongly suspect she actually knows what he is. She was the only one that Hob willingly got close to other than Cobblestone, an after Twilight's examination of him, she mentioned to Cobblestone that she had acquired a very powerful ally. Twilight knows a lot more than what she's telling (as usual.....).
dude, i want my own Hob! i'd never have to worry about break-ins ever again!
Uhhh, ok.
I once had a cat that had the habit of leaving dead birds at the front door. And he always brought them headless.
Why does this series not yet have a TVTropes page????
...Huh. I certainly didn't expect that.
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Get on it, soldier!
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Whatcha got to say NOW?
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/LinesAndWebs
Betcha think I wasn't gunna do it? Didcha?
Well HA.
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i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/224/102/suspiciously-evil-sloth-meme-generator-hehehehe-all-is-according-to-plan-0229e8.png
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gamemoir.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/stop-the-presses.gif
Quickly! Send a message to Airstream to put the link into his page!
Damn nature, you scary!
Ew, I wouldn't want to eat a cake that came out of a cat's stomach.
The cake is a lie.
Well that was most unfortunate. Hardly unfair considering. Plot to take somepony's life for practical reasons and have someone take yours for equally practical reasons. Cobblestone would be very sad, I expect, given how in the dark she is.
Something tells me this might not quite be the end of it for "poor" Charity, however merciful a death it might have been. A mere broken neck leaves the rest of the body quite suitable for necromancy I would expect.
5230515 Except that Hob swallowed her whole afterwards.
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The beast in the alley bent down, taking the body of the Pegasus into its mouth and swallowing her whole with seemingly little effort. The muscles of his throat worked once, twice, and were still. Satisfied, the thing began to groom itself, shrinking as it did, becoming the cat once more. Before too long, Hob sat on the floor of the alley alone, the sleek sides of his belly just perhaps a bit rounder than normal.
She's dead man
Well.... that last part was just unsettling as fuck.
I really dislike how that went. As it was learned earlier in the story, Charity was a servant to Lady Hedera and she would have been subjected to treatment that somewhat broke her to become blindly loyal to her. It was no fault of her own as to how she became like that... just manipulation on Hedera's part. So after getting told her instructions, she set to follow them out after conditions were met.
So Hob just follows her, turns into some large beast, snaps her neck and swallows her whole? Just out of nowhere??
It bothered me even more so how he acts like it was just a casual thing. Not even giving Cobblestone the option of avoiding the poison by simply mentally telling her about it. Also allowing Charity to live and perhaps giving everyone some insight to Hedera's plans and methods. But nope, just kill and eat the girl... but still take the cake to Cob.
It's a very rare thing in which I dislike something this much in a story series that has, thus far, been rather entertaining. Hopefully nothing else like this happens.
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Terrible, but such are the ways of the Sidhe. They really don't care; life is a game to them, and mortal folk the pieces with which they amuse themselves. Or melt under a magnifying glass if they're bored.