From Dusk to Night

by KuroiTsubasaTenshi

36 - Racing Problems

While I had work in the morning, I spent much of it mentally re-reading my letter from Ivory while my body went through the motions. In all the excitement surrounding the ghost in Night’s head and Mahogany’s father’s raging, I’d almost forgotten. Cue rearranging my flight satchels for weather work and finding the envelope tucked in between my rations.

I do not think it is the same as my spells, but given what you describe, I can see why you made the connection. There is a slight possibility that she may be involuntarily using some form of spell. However, since she doesn’t have a cutie mark, I’m more inclined toward another theory. This may be her natural earth pony magic working overtime. While cases are quite uncommon, for some foals, the surges they experienced in their earliest stages may intermittently persist while they are still developing. Nopony is entirely sure why, but stress has been noted as a factor. Anyway, this is all speculation. I’d need to see the foal in action to draw any conclusions.

-I

P.S. Are we still on for the summer?

The comparison to surges, in particular, left me unnerved. Was this something Aster had control over? Was a few small plants the limit of her power? Or would we one day wake up to find half of Ponyville consumed by revived plants? I couldn’t know for sure without some kind of analysis, but carting Aster off to Pasture was out of the question. If Stalwart Stone didn’t kill me, Terra almost certainly would. There was always Twilight. Unless Stalwart Stone also had an irrational fear of her, she’d be an easier sell than Pasture.

As the morning—and my self-debate—wore on, the more I realized that figuring anything else out hinged on my voicing my concerns. Since I didn’t really know Stalwart Stone that well, I decided that I should tell Terra first. Then she could help me break the news.

That just meant that I had to decide how I was going to approach her. I considered downplaying things a bit, just because this was going to be yet another really weird thing on her mind. The last thing I needed to do was freak her out. I still hadn’t quite figured out the wording when I clocked out, and as I left the weather office, I was so distracted that I just about walked right past my dad.

The royal blue of his coat caught the corner of my eye and I froze mid-step. He smiled his usual soft smile as his spectacled eyes met mine. My mind immediately shifted gear.

Whenever my dad came by himself, it meant no test—a rather rare occurrence. Undoubtedly, they’d heard about my latest escapades. I couldn’t help but wonder if the collateral had been wider than I’d thought.

“Dad? Is everything okay?”

He nodded. “Your mom and I just wanted to drop in for a visit.”

“Right,” I replied, as we started walking. “So, I’m guessing Mom’s waiting at my place?”

“No. Our house.” Without missing a beat, he turned down one of the posher side streets. Ponyville didn’t really do the whole mansion thing, but the bungalows here were at least four times as large as my apartment and probably about as expensive—possibly even more, given the numerous stylized windows.

“You… have a house here?” My heart sank. While the Everfree’s proximity alone could justify owning a safe house, the timing was too convenient. To think that I’d worried them that much—it was almost crushing.

“We do now. We only wish we could have done more sooner.”

I shook my head. “No, this whole thing, it’s… Sorry, Dad.”

“Whatever for?”

“For being a foolish filly.” I let out a sigh. “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t been so naive.”

My dad stopped and looked me right in the eye. “You’ve already apologized enough. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“But—”

Leaning in, he wrapped his head around my neck, pulling me close. “Dusky. You may have approached it the wrong way, but you have a good heart and that’s not something anyone should hold against you.”

I let my chin rest in his mane for a moment before stepping back. “Even so, all this trouble is my fault.”

“You’ll get through it. You’re a strong mare with good friends. And besides…” Dad glanced left, then right. “Don’t tell anyone else, but if everyone had to apologize whenever trouble came knocking, your mom wouldn’t be able to stop.”

Then he winked.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “Dad, I don’t know how reassuring that really is.”

“What about this?” My dad turned and stepped onto the closest, carefully trimmed lawn.

This bungalow was a bit more unassuming, with off-white paneling and less flamboyant, though still large, windows. The structure was also barely more than half as large as the others. Whatever extra space this left seemed to be taken up by a line of finely sculpted bushes and a pair of soft-pink dogwood trees.

He led me along the side of the house, to the back yard. The whole thing was fenced off by tall planks that were about the same colour as the bungalow. Aside from the grass, there were no other plants present. Instead, the majority of the space was taken up by a sturdy wooden shed, its large door facing out onto a wide patch of gravel.

“It’s… certainly nice,” I said. “So... another vacation home?”

My dad chuckled. “You bet.”

The back door led directly into a roomy kitchen that could have rivaled Sugarcube Corner’s. A large, six-chair dining table sat in the middle of the room, a few bags and various knickknacks strewn across its surface. As usual, these items had been conscripted to make the place look lived-in.

There were two other exits: a door to our right that became a set of stairs that almost certainly led to the basement and a doorway straight ahead that broke off to the left and right. As we closed the back door, my mom appeared in the hallway.

Without a word, she advanced, her eyes completely steady as lavender strands bounced around them. But this wasn’t Test Mode Mom. Her movements were more hurried than aggressive. Before I could even ask, her muzzle was pressed against my forelock.

“Sorry, Mom.”

“We’ll have to step up your training.”

I looked down. “I don’t think it would have helped.”

My mom stepped back, giving me a look as though I’d just claimed the sky was green.

With a sigh, I gave my parents a quick rundown of the situation. I told them how I’d been outnumbered, how Mahogany had been a hostage, how I’d been captured, but also bailed out by my friends. They listened quietly, my mom bearing an ever-deepening frown, while at about the halfway point, my dad wrapped a wing around my withers.

When I finished, my mom was the first to speak, “They’re just lucky Nobes beat me there. Heads would have rolled.”

She stared at the back door with such intensity that I was afraid it might explode.

Knowing that there was no way I could fully understand the worry she must have gone through, I pressed my muzzle against her mane. “Sorry, Mom. But I’m safe now. Please don’t do anything drastic.”

Mom snorted. “Of course not. It’s not our job to fight criminal organizations. However, it is Nobes’s job. I plan on having a nice, long chat with him tonight.”

“I know, but, if it weren’t for him, I might not have gotten away.”

My mom shook her head. “If he’d been doing his damned job, you wouldn’t have had to get away in the first place.”

“Your mother’s right,” my dad chimed in. “Regardless of the outcome, this situation has been more than a little alarming. It is the duty of the Guard to protect the innocent and this has been a major lapse that begs discussion.”

“Yeah, I understand that. Just… please don’t get carried away.”

---

I almost wanted to go with my parents to Canterlot, to make sure they got my input. However, I decided I needed to trust my parents—not just because my dad was much better with words than I, but because Mahogany needed my support.

Mahogany had hardly said a word the rest of the night, even though we’d stayed until closing. It made me wish I’d asked about his family sooner, though there’d been no time to rectify it then. I needed to give him space, which was more than a little strange to do in a bar, but it’s not like the rest of my month had been any more normal.

After I parted ways with my parents, I headed toward the EPS store, planning to catch him as he got off work. I’d hoped to talk to Terra beforehoof, but whatever window I'd had for that had disappeared with the afternoon’s diversion. In any event, Mahogany’s trauma was more immediate. I could pull Terra aside tonight or even tomorrow.

The door jingled as I nosed it open and Mahogany, who was practically face down on a clipboard, tiredly pulled himself up so he was at least a few inches above the counter. His head looked like it could plummet at a moment’s notice. He managed something of a smile when he saw me.

“Oh, hey, Dusky,” he mumbled into his clipboard. “No packages today.”

“That’s okay. That’s not what I’m here for. How’ve you been holding up?”

“Fine. Just fine. Nothing wrong with ol’ Mahogany.” His eyes were everywhere—except on me.

I had to resist rolling my eyes. “You could at least try to lie a little more convincingly. You look like death. Did something else happen?”

He let out a long sigh. “Gimme a second.”

Mahogany stepped around the counter, a key clutched between his teeth. I took a step back, giving him space to lock the door. Once it was secure, he stood there for several moments before finally turning around.

“Somepony broke into my apartment.” His words hit me like a full-grown Ursa.

Is the Cartel already on the move again? My mind flitted back to the alleyway, with Mahogany lying on the ground.

“What?! Were you attacked? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” Mahogany waved a hoof. “I wasn’t home.”

“That hardly makes it better.” My mind was moving at a million miles a minute. This plan had to be solid. I couldn’t let Mahogany get hurt again. “We have to get you out before they come back. I know a place you can stay until we can get in contact with Noble Light.”

“What? They? Dusky, it’s just my dad. Ex-dad. Whatever.”

I blinked. “What? How do you know?”

“He just ran off with some stuff the family sent over for Hearth’s Warming and my birthday. Somepony smart would have raided my booze or searched my room for bits.” Mahogany laughed, though it was more bitter than anything.

“That’s still really awful. Why would he even do that? Is it part of the whole... disowning thing?” At the moment, I really wished I could have let him borrow my family.

“Yeah, I guess. Didn’t stop him from leaving a business card,” Mahogany grumbled.

“What?! That’s just… I don’t even have any words for that.” I didn’t know if I should be more baffled or angry. He wasn’t kidding when he said it wasn’t over.

“Haha, yeah…” Mahogany’s laugh was so defeated that I wanted to hug him. “That’s my dad.”

“You have to call the Guard.”

“Why? I don’t wanna deal with him anymore. Plus, he’ll just win, anyway.”

I frowned. “I know what you’re getting at, but getting help from the Guard isn’t a contest. Usually.”

“Usually.” He gave me a flat look.

“My case is different. His company’s a legit business, right?”

“Maybe?” Mahogany shrugged. “I’m not really up on company secrets.”

“Well, even if he is doing shady things, his company is still in a legit trade. What the Cartel does, it’s inherently against the law. The Guard will always be chasing them. For the company, they don’t draw that kind of attention just for existing. Bribery gone awry could bring the whole thing crashing down. So the odds of any… pre-existing relationship are slim.”

Mahogany looked away. “I don’t know.”

Slipping up beside him, I gave him a quick hug. “At least give it some thought.”

“Fine. Just don’t tell anyone else yet.”

---

As it turned out, Terra had a date with Stalwart Stone that night, which was perhaps just as well. When I pulled Star and Merriweather aside to discuss our research progress with regards to Bellerophon, it became a full-blown meeting.

What texts they had with them seemed to be of little more use than the ones I’d found in Canterlot. Even so, rather than sit idle, we started double-checking the books, all the while grasping for good alternatives.

By the time Night arrived, we’d gained little more than frustration. Star had resorted to triple-checking, while Merriweather was spouting off anything that came to mind.

Night snuck across the floor like a foal arriving late to class. I looked up as he settled down beside me and gave him a quick nuzzle. “Hi, Night. You doing okay?”

“I've... been better.” He smiled half-heartedly before turning to Star and Merriweather. “So... what have we learned?”

Star stared past us and sighed. “Not much, I am afraid. Bits and pieces of lore, but nothing we did not already know. After Tapioca united Ostfriesen, Bellerophon simply disappeared from the history books.”

“Twilight didn't know anything either.” My eyes flitted back to the useless book in front of me. “And I couldn't find anything useful in the Canterlot Library.”

Night wilted, tapping his hooves against each other as he looked between us. “Then what do we do? I... I mean, there's something we can do, right?”

Star and Merri exchanged glances before Merri finally spoke, “Well, we've got one idea, but it's not exactly the best plan.”

“We have access to the source material right there.” Star pointed at Night. “If we can talk to him.”

“I don't like it,” I said. While it was probably our most coherent alternative, the risk involved was potentially severe. “How can we be sure this is safe?”

Merriweather’s expression turned somber. “We... really can't. I mean, he's in there, listening, right? He reacted last time when I tried to talk at him.”

“I... I don't know.” Night squirmed.

“Night…” I nuzzled into his mane, wishing I could give him more reassurance. I wanted to tell him that if this made him uncomfortable, he didn’t have to do it. But the longer I thought about it, the more I realized that doing nothing could be just as bad.

Star leaned forward. “Perhaps you can talk with him again, Night? You have been able to communicate, yes?”

“I can try, if... if he feels like it.” Night looked away. “He's not exactly been cooperative with me.”

“Night Light.” I pressed a hoof against his side, until he turned to me again. Slipping my muzzle under his, I nudged at his chin. Then I looked him in the eye, doing my best to hide my own anxiety.

Night stared off into space for a good minute before he finally spoke, “He says he'll answer.”

“Excellent.” Star swept aside her book, replacing it with a quill and some parchment. “Now, to begin, ask him the nature of this possession. Was it a spell he was aware of?”

At that moment, Night’s eyes hardened and his posture became more rigid. It was him. I swallowed hard, pushing back on my anxiety before it could overflow.

“It was. A spell cast by a maniac, and accepted in righteous anger.” Bellerophon’s voice was cold, almost contemptuous, leaving Night a complete alien.

“Night?” I asked, hoping that he would return right that instant, that he was only lending Bellerophon his voice.

“We were not expecting to speak so directly, Lord Bellerophon.” Uncertainty washed over Star’s face, her voice wavering for just an instant.

“Y-you remember Tapioca, right? Queen of Ostfriesen? Sword of the Plains?” Merriweather blurted out.

“I remember her. I remember her prowess, her promises, her treason,” Bellerophon practically growled.

“Treason!? But, she saved Ostfriesen! She was a hero!” Merriweather almost looked more confused than angry.

Bellerophon slammed his hoof against the table. “She was a liar, and a whore!”

Merriweather opened her mouth again, but closed it when Star placed a hoof against her withers. With a cough, Star took over. “We're getting off-track. We're trying to determine how, and why, you are here, Lord Bellerophon. Please explain the spell that brought you here.”

“Very well.” He flashed Merriweather a dirty look. “After I was tossed aside by her Highness, I departed Ostfriesen. I wasn't about to betray my oaths, even if she'd betrayed me. I slew the enemies of the country. I protected lives.”

“You went rogue?” Surprise filled Star’s face once more.

This time, he directed his scowl at Star. “"I swore an oath as a Knight. As the first Knight! I simply lived those oaths with no master. And then I met Broken Tooth. He was insane, I knew it from the moment I met him, but he was a brilliant wizard, and he had discovered something incredible. Immortality.”

“Not possible, no matter how strong the magic.” Star narrowed her eyes.

“And yet I stand here, talking.” Bellerophon’s expression turned smug. “Dragon's blood is very difficult to obtain, but it is such a powerful ingredient.”

Merriweather and Star looked at each other. I’m certain we must have all been thinking the same thing. If this was true, then Tapioca’s legend must be true. Following that, would that mean that every ancient Ostfriesen knight was that strong? And how much of that transferred over to Night?

Which brought me to my real question. “You're talking, but it isn't you I see standing here. Clearly, it's not true immortality. There's a cost, isn't there?”

Some of his intensity faded. “That is true, yes. It wasn't true immortality, as you say. I still... died. But then I woke up to darkness. The spell couldn't anchor me to a body, instead, it anchored me to my armor. The only piece of my battle armor to remain is this bracer.”

He absently traced a hoof over the bracer.

“Well, there we go!” Merriweather’s eyes lit up as she clapped her hooves. “We destroy the bracer, and boom! No more possessed Flurry! Easy!”

My chest seized up.

Bellerophon leapt from his seat, blade extended and pointed across the table. “As I thought! You would let me die?! Just as Tapioca spit upon my honour, so do her descendants. You are as des—”

It was Twilight all over again, but instead of magic, it was a blade. My senses turned entirely inward. All I could see was the lightning. All I could smell was my own burning flesh. I must have reacted instinctually, as by the time I’d pushed away the fear, I was standing, my own forehoof shoving the blade aside.

I don’t know where I found the strength, but somehow I squeezed out something resembling coherent thought, “Stop! They're not Tapioca. Her sins are not theirs!”

Bellerophon glanced at me, bewilderment on his face. I stared back as sternly as I could. Wavering was not an option.

Finally, he relented and as the blade vanished, he grumbled, “It's not worth the effort.”

“Jeez, thanks Belly. You're a real winner too.” Merriweather very slowly relaxed her own fighting stance.

As I looked everyone over, I saw that Star too had been ready for action. Her stance was much more subtle, but it wasn’t difficult see with trained eyes. At once, I felt exhausted and anxious, afraid and angry.

“This is ridiculous. No one wants to kill you, but what you’re doing, it’s…” To think that Bellerophon had almost had us fighting Night, it was almost too much. I wanted to scream at him, to call him a brute and a villain. But the fact of the matter was that he still held Night’s life in his hooves. For Night’s sake, I had to calm myself. “I... I need some air.”

With that, I slipped out of the room. The closest exit was the back door, which I might have shoved open just a bit too hard. Luckily, no one was on the other side.

A cool breeze blew through my coat, skimming off just a bit of my anxiety. I took a few moments to breathe, clearing my head just enough for me to look for a cloud. I needed a few moments alone, but didn’t want to go too far.

Thankfully, there were more than a few candidates lazily hanging out over the bar. I picked one that was about a dozen feet up from the roof and settled into its soft, fluffy embrace.

Beyond this layer of cloud, the sky was relatively clear and I found my gaze drifting up to the moon. The pale light was calming, almost mesmerizing. I wondered why I hadn’t noticed its effect before. Perhaps I was just so upset that I needed to let myself drift for a bit.

The guilt began to sink in. Even though I’d needed to regain my composure, I’d still left everyone alone. Given how quickly Bellerophon had backed down, I doubted things had escalated again. Still, I’d need to get my thoughts together quickly.

Every time I thought of Night and how Bellerophon could so easily take control, I felt sick. The Night who was not Night was burned into my mind and my knee-jerk reaction was to go get Twilight. But deep down, I knew that wasn’t the best idea. What Bellerophon was doing, it wasn’t right. However, if I told her I thought he was evil, I’d be lying. I got the impression that he was more of a grumpy old stallion. A selfish, grumpy old stallion who made poor life choices, but that didn’t make him a villain.

This is not a trifling amount of magic, and I’m not sure what would happen if we hit an unintended target. Twilight’s words echoed through my mind. I somehow doubted the result would cause Night physical harm, but there are many things that could be just as bad. We couldn’t risk a repeat of ‘one-thousand years on the moon’.

I sighed. Back to square one.

“D-Dusky?” Night’s voice—the real Night’s—came from behind me.

I turned to him and only then, as moisture rolled down my already-damp cheeks, did I realize how much I’d been crying.

Night hovered down, landing beside me and wrapping me in a tight hug. “Dusky, I'm... I'm so sorry.”

Leaning up against him, I let out a short sigh. “I... I just can't stand to see you like that.”

He shrunk a bit. “I was afraid you'd hate me.”

“No, Night Light.” I pressed my muzzle against his cheek. “I could never hate you. But, him? Pulling a blade and threatening our friends—that's not you, Night! It's like you're gone, and when it happened, I kept wondering: are you going to come back?”

“How could I not come back? I have so much to come back for now. And... I'll fight for it.” His smile was nothing short of anxious.

“I wish you didn't have to fight for it.” I snuck a short nuzzle. “Just real Night, one-hundred percent of the time.”

“Wh-what? Let you…” Night stammered out, to which I raised an eyebrow. He quickly caught himself and continued, “He uh, well... wants to talk to you. He's... asking permission.”

“I... “ Uncertainty flooded over me. Surely, this was too soon. I watched him carefully and he met my gaze, a sort of soft resolve in them. “Promise me you'll come back.”

“For this? Nothing could stop me. I promise.”

Night’s posture shifted and Bellerophon stared off into the distance. “I must apologize, to you, to your friends. This isn't what I wanted.”

The edge was gone from his voice. This time, he just sounded tired. Still, I was on guard, unsure of his sincerity.

“What did you want? You made choices that you knew weren't going to end well.”

“An angry heart drove me to grim measures.” Bellerophon breathed deeply, closing his eyes as he did.

“And now you would inflict that on him?”

He exhaled slowly. “When he wore the bracer, I could see through him. The more I spoke to him, the more I could feel the world. And soon, I could be in the world around him even when he didn't wear it. I wanted to breathe and to fly again. I wanted to live, and he wanted to defend his friends. I thought... I thought we could both get what we wanted. But, not like this.”

My eyes flitted to the ground as I tried to hold my anxiety back. “Not through Night.”

“I don't know how to end this. If you destroy the bracer, it is possible that it will…” He paused, staring off into the distance again. “It may destroy me. My life has been so long already, alone in the darkness. Maybe I deserve that, yet even now I don't want to die. Perhaps that fear would keep me here. It is impossible to know.”

At the moment, he almost seemed like a normal person, just out of time and out of place. Such was the curse of immortality. I watched him closely. “So you really don't know what can be done to change this? He just has to live with you in there?”

Bellerophon closed his eyes. “I... cannot say. But, I can promise this, I vow that I will no longer force this upon him.”

“I'll hold you to your word.” I continued to watch him for a bit. Either he was a very good actor, or he was sincere enough. There was one thing that nagged at me, that I had to ask, “How long is 'so long'?”

He spoke slowly, as though recalling the memories as he went. Eventually, his eyes turned skyward. “I don't know. I couldn't keep track. The darkness swallowed everything, even the moon.”

“The moon?” I blinked.

“When I first awoke in that blighted realm, the moon shone down on me. It was a comforting presence for one who had damned himself. Then, even the moon went dark. The light inside it replaced by a bitterness.”

The moon went dark? I had an inkling, but it needed confirmation. “And... now? Is the moon still dark?”

Bellerophon shook his head. “Not long ago, the light returned. That was when I began to see the world again.”

Could it be? That, wherever he was, he could still somehow see our moon? I turned to Bellerophon. “Nightmare Moon.”

“Nightmare Moon?” He raised an eyebrow. It was only then that I realized just how out of time he was.

“She was created over a thousand years ago, or so the legends say. A terrible villain, who was trapped in the moon, until recently, when she was freed, and defeated once again… and redeemed. While she was trapped, the moon was marked by the Mare in the Moon.”

Bellerophon wilted. “One thousand...?”

A thousand years lost in darkness. I’d only spent three days alone in my dreams and the whole thing had left me exhausted. The sheer magnitude of the scale closed around my mind like a vise. To be perfectly honest, that Bellerophon was anything short of a raving lunatic was astonishing. Even after everything he’d done, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

Slowly, cautiously, I leaned over and gave him a hug.

Bellerophon tensed, and when I pulled away, he gave me an incredulous look. “Wh-what are you... It is still me, still Bellerophon.”

I nodded, though I kept my eyes on him. “I don't agree with what you've done to Night, but no one deserves what you've had to endure.”

His expression hardly changed. “I... thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. I... I will return control to him now. I shall be content with the moon, and the light it gives once again.”

“Understood.”

This still wasn’t right. Night still deserved his body back, to have his mind free from influence. But for now, this small victory, it was something.

As Bellerophon faded away, he left me with these words, “I cannot keep you two from one another. Betrayal is the greatest sin, and there is no greater pain than the betrayal of a lover. I will not cause him to betray you this way.”

Something had obviously caused him and Tapioca to have a falling out, but what it was, I didn’t know. Perhaps it was best that I didn’t know. If there was one thing I knew for certain, this was yet another reminder that legends don’t necessarily paint the full picture.

Night looked up at me, this time with a smile free from fear. “S-see? I promised I'd be back.”

Words wouldn’t have been enough, so I wrapped him in the tightest hug I’d ever given him. He tumbled back, falling flat against the cloud.

As he looked up at me, he smiled widely. “A-and... glad to be back.”

Comments

[A Joe in the Bush]

I' really happy with how things are turning out with Bellerophon. I was worried it would end with Bell!Night vs. Dusky.

Side note, how is Bellerophon pronounced? I've been using Bell-er-o-phone, and I don't think that's correct.

[Sylvian]

Hmmm, I see a potential out for Mr Grumpy Stallion....

I mean, if he is anchored to the bracers, theoretically you could get Ivory to reanimate a corpse, and put his bracer on the corpse. Since the corpse has no soul, and no mind, he'd take over it fully.... I mean, he already qualifies as a Death Knight or a Lich what with the fact his soul is bound to his bracers.

[Yami Vizzini]

Well, that's a refreshing bit of warm fuzzies after everything that's gone down.

[Meta Four]

I'm really liking this new development with Bellerophon. Up till now, I thought he'd be more antagonistic, and our protagonists would just have to defeat/exorcise/kill him. But this messier situation, where they can't let Bellerophon stay but they can't do anything simple to get rid of him, is shaping up to be much more interesting.

Dusky mentioned wishing that Mahogany could borrow her parents, and now I'm also hoping something like that can happen.

[KuroiTsubasaTenshi]

7249891
Glad to hear. It was still a bit of a mental battle, though.

You've almost got it. Instead of the end part being "phone", it's "fawn".

7249932
This is certainly some well-thought-out speculation. I can't really say too much about this, but I wanted to say thanks for taking the time to detail your thoughts.

7250450
Even Dusky has to catch a break every now and then.

7251644
Hehe, glad to hear that, since Dusky isn't allowed to have simple, brute-force solutions.

[Sylvian]

7258393

You're welcome. The idea just sort of popped into my head because I did something similar in a Warcraft story a long, long time ago. I got very familiar with how undeath works during the course of writing my death knight, so yeah xD

That said, I am rooting for mr grumpy stallion xD because I like him!

[Shachza]

7258393
7258557

"WHY AM I A MARE?!"

"Oh, woops! Wrong corpse. Sorry! Let me just fix that real quick."

"No, wait. Let me, um, figure this out for a minute..."

(I know, I know, it's not that kind of story. Still, it would make for a hell of an April Fools joke.)