Caverns & Cutie Marks: High School, High Stakes

by TheColtTrio

Chapter 21: Light Patch continues to be best (citation needed) tertiary character

Light Patch sighed as he stared at the crowded street, watching people walk around. For once, it seemed as if everyone had forgotten he’d existed. Wits End had disappeared earlier that morning on flimsy pretenses; Purple Heart had to deal with Heart Burn, or so he said; Princess Twilight had gone somewhere again; and Science Twilight was doing... science. The rest of the girls also had their various reasons to be elsewhere, leaving him alone, caught up on homework, and board.

After cleaning around the house for a bit and trying to do a little writing, he finally gave up and decided to instead go walking around the town. Just as boring around the house, he thought, but without being at the house. Join the heroes, save the world, meet new sentient beings, and be bored in new and exciting places. Somehow he didn’t think that poster would draw many new people to the hero club.

He chuckled as he threw out some tag lines and simple sketches of the potential posters until the idea played itself out. After that he went back to writing, managing to make some amount of progress on a few fanfics that he’d found interest in working on again; at least until he felt someone’s eyes on him. He looked up to see a teen standing right in front of him. With a yelp of surprise, he tried to scoot away and ended up pushing himself over the back of the bench.

“You don’t seem too observant when your working,” the teen said in a familiar monotone.

Light Patch hauled himself back up to hang on the back of the bench and get a better look at the girl who’d surprised him. Her dark purple hair fell down just past her shoulders, with a simple straight cut and style. Her green eyes were the only other point of color; the sundress she wore matched her hair in color, and her skin was a darker grey. After a few moments, she held her hand out to the lighter grey teen.

“My name is Maud Pie. I’m one of Pinkie’s Sisters,” she said as she helped Light Patch up, her grip strong enough to mistake for a rock. “You’re Light Patch, correct?” she asked after she’d watched him gather up what had been scattered in his failed panicked flight.

“Yeah. Pinkie mentioned having sisters, but it’s never really come up the few times we’ve talked,” he said, plopping his writing notebook back into his bag.

“Pinkie has talked about you,” she replied, her monotone not changing an inch.

“Nothing too bad, I hope,” he joked back.

“She says your misguided by the false prophets of pancakes. The rest is good,” Maud replied simply.

“Yeah that... that sounds about right,” the lighter grey teen replied awkwardly, the two of them silently staring at each other. “So, what are you up to?”

“Talking to you.”

Light Patch fought to resist face palming. “I mean before you ran into me.”

“Walking.”

A deadpan expression flashed over his face. “And before that?”

“I was standing,” she replied, earning a sigh from the teen.

“Why were you standing?”

“I was watching a bird sharpen its beak.”

“That actually sounds like it would have been cool to see.”

“You still can.”

“How so?”

“I was recording the rock the bird used,” she replied, pulling out her phone. “Would you like to see the video?”

“Actually, yeah,” Light Patch said, sitting back down on the bench as Maud sat next to him and brought the video up. Maud quietly navigated through her phone’s menus in silence before pausing to look at the teen next to her.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I record rocks?” she asked.

“I wasn’t planning on it. I figure you’ve got your reasons.”

Maud turned back to her phone and continued finding the video. “What kind of reasons can you think of?”

“Well, it could be educational; for use in some sort of project or something. It could be just cuz. Maybe it’s B-roll or stock footage for something else. Or you’re going to use it as the backdrop for an animation of a stick figure or something climbing up the rock.” Light Patch finished with a shrug. Maud paused for a moment to consider his words.

“Those are all probable reasons,” she replied neutrally before looking back at her phone and pressing on a picture that brought up a video file. She held her phone in a way to allow for the both of them to watch the screen. The first couple of minutes of the video was simply of a large rock. Occasionally a bug or something else flitted past the camera. Eventually a bird flitted down, alighting on the top of the rock and hopped around a little before leaning over and starting to rub its beak on the side of the rock.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this bird,” Maud said as they watched. “I record this rock often, and the bird seems to like that rock as well.” Failing to hear a response, as she’d come to expect, she looked up to find the teen.

Light Patch’s eyes were locked on a figure jerkily moving along the other side of the street. Without saying anything, he quickly stood up and quickly crossed the street. He looked around, trying to will his eyes and ears to cut through the push and noise of the rush of people going through their day. He did the only thing he could and moved to join the flow, going in the same direction he’d seen the figure he was now trying to follow heading.

After a few minutes he finally spied a glimpse of the figure and fought harder against the flow of people to get closer. He was just barely able to keep track of the person he was following thanks to the crowd parting to allow his focus to easily pass. He was not as easily able to progress through the crowd, causing him to lose sight of his focus more than once, every time it was harder to regain sight of the person he was following.

Eventually, however, his difficulty was eased greatly when the target shuffled its way into an alley. Light Patch quickly drew even with the edge and peaked in to see Just Duty in a weird slouched position half way down. Mindful of the crowd around him, he quickly slipped in, trying to not seem suspicious. Once he was sure the crowd wouldn’t care, he carefully snuck closer to his target, trying to keep objects obscuring line-of-sight. The closer he got, however, the more he ended up having to duck as Just Duty seemed to be able to hear him and would glance behind him, almost catching Light Patch more than once.

Hiding behind a dumpster, Light Patch was just able to make out that Just Duty was seemingly muttering to himself, but not what he was saying. He wanted to get close enough to hear, but just trying to move past the dumpster would leave him in the open easily long enough for Just Duty to hear him. At this point, the sheltering noise of the crowd was gone and left Light Patch high and dry.

Just as he was about steel his neve and try to move closer, a hand covered his mouth, smothering his yelp of surprise. He looked down and saw a familiar dark grey tone, and turned to find Maud behind him.

“Why were you following him?” she asked quietly.

“I noticed him moving down the sidewalk, but he was moving very weirdly and I don’t think he saw me, but he seemed to be less vigilant too,” the lighter grey teen replied.

“He was moving with a strange gait,” Maud confirmed.

“How did you-”

“I followed on the less crowded side of the road,” she quickly but still quietly replied. “Why were you sneaking up on him in the alley way?”

“His stance looked really odd and I wanted to get closer, then I realized he is muttering and I was hoping to get close enough to hear what it is that he’s saying,” Light Patch replied. “But the crowd thinned out, and I’m worried I’m gonna get caught.” Before he could say anything further, Maud reached out and started searching his pockets. Before he could object, she fished out a phone lent to him by Pinkie; it was older, but if they needed to get in touch with him it could still take calls.

Maud flipped the phone open and quickly tapped away at its buttons before pulling out her own phone. She tapped in a few more buttons on her phone and then quickly answered the call she made with the older one. She then handed the phone back to Light Patch and stood up, walking calmly towards Just Duty with her own phone held out in front of her. The teen, still hidden behind the dumpster felt his heart catch in his throat, but saw that Just Duty never even twitched as Maud closed the distance.

Finally he could hear—very faintly—Just Duty’s voice coming through the phone he held. Finally realizing Maud’s plan, he put the phone up to his ear. “The Light Patch you are concerned for is not yours,” Just Duty rasped, just barely audible. “And I understand that as a guardian of the town, you feel the need to protect any and all within its limits. But this is for the betterment of all involved.”

“We do not wish to kill them. We need them for our plan. We took your weapon simply because we know it is expected for a town guard to remain armed. We know not even how it works.” The tone of the rasp changed to a harsher whisper.

“They are as dangerous to your world as they were to ours.”

“We simply wish to have a home again,” Just Duty continued to answer the silent half of the conversation.

“They will help us. They were the heroes. They will help us. We will bring them to us, and then they will help us,” the tone of the voice changed again to a more self-assured tone.

“If they will not help willingly, then they shall help like you are helping.”

“Your body will be yours again when we have them,” it finished in a harsh whisper, causing Light Patch to finally connect the dots. Just Duty was being mind controlled by someone who was after him and his friends. This being was good enough to also start effecting everyone's minds, considering the castle and other strange things around town, as well as change the world to a scary degree. His mind took this information and began to run with it as all sorts of villainous reasons and plans for what was happening flashed through. This was enough to cause his more logical half to seize up and, with the adrenaline of pure panic, he took off, running back towards Canterlot High to try and warn the others.

His flight was not silent, however, and Just Duty whirled around to see Maud standing with a phone outstretched in her hands towards him. “Someone dropped this,” she said, shoving the phone into his hand before turning to follow the panicked teenager.

The Hydra looked at the phone through Just Duty’s eyes and, unsure about the device, simply shoved it into its pocket to return to what it had set out to do originally; ignoring the protests and questions of Just Duty’s mind.

* * *

A pair of mint-colored teens stood at the edge of the woods, the sounds of children playing in the park behind them. Aside from their hair length and clothes, the two teens were identical.

“D-do I have to do this in my school c-clothes?” Witstang stuttered, shifting uncomfortably as he looked between the roots and leaves. “I only h-have so many good clothes like this.”

“Oh relax,” Wits said, taking the first steps towards the trees. “Think of this as incentive to start doing your own laundry.” He stopped alongside one of the trees and looked back. “Are you coming, or what?”

“Huh? Oh, right.” Witstang hurried to keep up with his alternate universe counterpart. “C-can I ask you a question?”

Wits led the way into the forest, with Witstang trailing behind by a few steps. “You’ve asked two already and I’ve asked one,” he said, “so let’s assume we both have free passes for asking questions.”

“Oh, okay. Th-that works.” Witstang was silent for a moment as he searched for the words he wanted. “S-so, you’re me from another universe, right?”

Wits chuckled. “From my viewpoint, you’re the one from another universe. But semantics aside, pretty much, yeah.”

“Are you f-from the same universe as the o-other Twilight Sparkle?”

“Mmm, not quite. My world’s more like this one, what with everyone being humans and all. Definitely no magic, as far as I know.”

Witstang was silent again. “So we’re, like, the same person, right? With the same things happening? Then how come you’re not… stuttering and… messed up, like me?”

Wits End came to a stop and looked back. His counterpart had stopped a few feet back, his eyes locked on his feet. After a moment of thought, he shrugged and walked back to Witstang. “You know,” he said, taking a seat on one of the larger tree roots. “I’m gonna let you in on a secret that Side Track doesn’t know.”

“Huh?”

Wits laid a finger along the side of his nose and winked. “I’m actually halfway through my twenties.”

Witstang’s eyebrows shot into his hairline as he took a seat on the root next to Wits. “Really?”

“I’ve gone through high school kinda, college; even got myself a job.”

“In game dev?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” Wits leaned in, resting his forearms on his knees. “So, as a Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, lemme give you a hint.” He watched as Witstang leaned in as well, almost mirroring his pose. “If you think shit’s hard now, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Witstang’s face paled. “Wh-what?”

“Ohhhhh yeah. Trust me, you’ve got the worst years you’ve ever seen coming up. First you’re gonna go through college, and every day you’re gonna wonder how you got there without finishing high school. Then you’re gonna graduate from college, and your gonna feel like your life has come to an end. It’s gonna be tough getting out of bed in the morning, ‘cause getting up means dealing with the broken pieces of yourself in the mirror. You’re gonna think it’d be easier just giving up entirely, ‘cause you’re in a hole with no way over it.”

The blood had drained from Witstang’s face entirely now. “O-oh…”

Wits grinned. “But you know what? You get over that hole. You pick up those broken pieces, keep the bits you want, and toss the rest of them into the trash.” He balled one hand into a fist, then jerked the thumb at his chest. “You finally get to look in the mirror and say ‘yes, I can do today’. You look yourself in right in the eye and say ‘you can do this’.”

Witstang stared at his counterpart, his mind spinning. “R-really?”

“Hell yeah, you do.” Wits’ grin widened. “And I did it by dragging myself through the mud every day to get there on my own. Imagine what you’re gonna do knowing there’s another side to get to.”

Witstang, stuck somewhere between tears, terror, and relief, sniffed and dried his eyes on the back of his sleeve. “Wow…”

“...Of course, this world runs on rainbows and gumdrops, so it might end up easier for you. You’re playing on easy modo right now.”

“Wha- hey!”

“Plus you’re already in high school here. That’s a big point of difference. It’s entirely possible your divergence number is is greater than 1 compared to mine.”

“Hold on!” Witstang jumped to his feet. “You can’t dump something like that on me, then tell me it might not even happen! That’s a seriously messed up thing to do to a younger version of yourself! That’s, like, self-child-abuse!”

Wits stood himself, brushing off the seat of his pants. “But you’re not stuttering now, are you?”

Witstang stopped. “W-well…”

“Ah well, baby steps for easy modo.”

The longer-haired teen opened his mouth to retort, but decided against it. Eventually, he changed subjects. “What’re we looking f-for, anyway?”

“I was kinda hoping you knew,” Wits replied. “All Side Track told me was to go look in the forest for a mysterious something. I figure with how things work in this world, if we wander long enough we’ll find it.” He started making his way through the smaller plants in the way. “How do you know her, anyway?”

“We’re friends.” Witstang followed a few steps behind. “I mean, I guess w-we’re friends. She was my neighbor, a-and she just kinda… latched on.” He smiled. “I mean, she always h-had an active imagination, but once I got accepted to C-Crystal Prep, that’s when she g-got all weird and started the Resistance. I think s-she’s trying to make sure we stay friends.” He paused, and looked forward at Wits. “Are you not f-friends with her in your world?”

“No, and curse you and your detestable 3D life.” Wits’ expression had turned sour, his shoulders hunched as he shoved his way through ferns. “Childhood Friend Manic Pixie Dream Girl-having sonovabi-”

The mint-colored teen was cut off by a growl from the underbrush. Both of the teens froze as a dozen grey wolves moved out of the foliage, forming a semicircle in front of them. The leader, a massive specimen with a scar across its muzzle, stood in front of them with its teeth bared.

“Oh, sugar honey iced tea,” Wits muttered as he started to turn back.

“Don’t move.” Slowly, Witstang raised his arms and straightened his back. “Keep your eyes on the leader, and make yourself look as big as your can.”

“It’ll take us until we’re 20 to be taller than 5-foot 5,” Wits hissed, locking eyes with the scarred wolf and mirroring Witstang by raising his hands over his head. “Looking big is a non-starter. If things get bad, how many do you think you can take?”

Witstang resisted the urge to shoot a look at his counterpart, keeping his eyes on one of the other wolves. “In a fist fight with a wolf pack? Maybe an eighth of one. Start backing away slowly.”

“Great,” Wits muttered. The two Witses started moving back, taking each step carefully to avoid getting tripped up. “The two of us together, we can minorly inconvenience one of them as we’re eaten.”

“If we’re lucky, they’ll let us out of their territory. As long as we don’t look too aggressive or wea-”

They both froze as a howl reverberated through the trees. From the shadows of the forest, a massive canine shape pushed its way through the branches and brambles, hot wet breath coming rhythmically from its open mouth. The wolves parted to let it pass, their heads lowered in submission as its wooden, bark-like form moved closer to the two teens. Its head lowered, baring teeth made of giant thorns.

...And licked the two of them at once with a giant, wet, leaf-like tongue.

“Gah! Pbbth!” Wits stumbled backward, wiping the mixture of sap and saliva from his face. “What the- Taxi?”

“What is that?” Witstang asked, watching as the giant wooden wolf’s tail wagged happily, clearing the ground of plants and small stones. “Why isn’t it eating us? Why is it wagging its tail? What is going on?”

Wits rubbed the Timberwolf’s muzzle, grinning as it leaned into his hands. “She’s a friend from the last world we got stuck in. She’s a powerful ally to have in a pinch, and also a good doggy! Yes she is! You’re a good dog, you are!”

“Hang on.” Witstang held the bridge of his nose with two fingers, trying to process what was going on. “You’re friends with a wood dog from another dimension?”

“Timberwolf, yeah.” Wits turned back to Taxi. “What’re you doing here, though? You should be off having awesome wolf adventures back in Roania.”

“You speak Timberwolf?”

“No, that was what Fluttershy was for. I’m hoping we have a Lassie situation, where she can give us a hint that lets us work it out ourselves.” Wits stopped petting Taxi, stepping back to where Witstang was. “So, how did you get here, girl?”

With a snort, Taxi jerked her head over one haunch. After one moment, it turned its body to the left and knelt down in front of them. “Wh-what does that mean?” Witstang asked.

“I think this is where she takes us to the old well to rescue Jimmy.” Wits climbed up the Timberwolf’s side, taking a seat behind her shoulders. “Come on, let’s go!”

Gingerly, Witstang followed Wits onto the wolf’s back. “I didn’t think her name w-would be litera-AAAAAAAAAAUH!”

Taxi took off through the forest, with the rest of the wolf pack following behind. They soon arrived at their destination: a giant dome-shaped building, partially overtaken by the forest around it. Sliding to a stop in a spray of pine needles and twigs, Taxi knelt down again to let her pair of identical passengers off.

“This is just a day for callbacks,” Wits said, sliding off easily. Next to him, Witstang landed in a heap before picking himself back up. “This is that library we went to for information about the game world. Didn’t really do much good except foreshadow some stuff that happened later.”

“So th-there really are things from other worlds coming to Canterlot,” Witstang muttered. “This is…”

“Really cool, but also terrifying?”

“....Yeah.”

Wits grinned as he turned back to Taxi. “This is great, but we already figured out the game world was overwriting this one. Why bring us here?”

Taxi chuffed, and shot a look at the scarred wolf. Without another sound, the wolf entered through the partially open door. A few seconds passed before it reappeared, a massive hardcover tome in its mouth.

“What’s that?” Witstang asked.

“A book,” Wits responded as the wolf dropped the book in front of him. “‘Tomb of Horses’? Good to know the puns made it over here…” He picked up the book and started flipping through it. “Wait a minute… This is the adventure Discord was running. Roads Crossed, the bandits, Roania; it’s all here. Is this Discord’s playbook?” Taxi nodded. “This would’ve been useful a couple of years ago…”

Witstang pulled the book from his counterpart’s hands. “There’s a page tabbed near the back.”

“How could you tell?”

“I r-read a lot of books. Don’t you?”

“Well… yeah.” Wits glanced off to the side. “Manga, mostly. Recently.”

“Oh? Did Fullmetal Alchemist ever finish?”
“Oh dude, you’ve got a treat waiting for you.”

Witstang stopped himself from asking for spoilers as he reached the tabbed page. “Here. It l-looks like some sort of optional boss. D-did you ever fight something called ‘the Hydra’?”

Wits shook his head. “Definitely not.”

“W-well it looks like your D-Discord friend was looking forward to the fight,” Witstang mused, looking through the notes scrawled in the margins. “It looks like he b-based each head off of a different person he knew. D-do you know anyone called… Fluttershy?”

Wits End was silent for a few seconds. Eventually, he turned back to Taxi. “We’re gonna need a ride back to the park,” he said, climbing back on the Timberwolf’s back immediately. “Bring the book!” he called down to Witstang.

“What?” Witstang made his way up the side of the Timberwolf, holding on the tome in one hand. “What’s going on?”

“Discord put a bit of us into each villain he made for us to fight. Just Duty for Patchy, Bael for Purple Heart, and Holdfast for me.” Wits’ expression was uncharacteristically serious. “They were powerful enough to overthrow Discord and take over the game.”

“That… sounds bad.”

“It was. And that was with each villain taking from one person.” Wits looked back at this counterpart. “Imagine what would be possible if he did the same with six people.”

Witstang paused. “They could take over the world,” he replied.

“Or more than one. Onwards, Taxi!”

* * *

Purple Heart’s right eye twitched violently as Bael skipped cheerfully beside him, licking happily at his freshly bought ice cream cone. The older teen stuck a hand into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. A mosquito fluttered out of the folded leather opening. His eye twitched again.

“You have an unhealthy obsession with ice cream,” he stated blandly, glancing aside at the shrunken villain.

“What can I say?” Bael shrugged, grinning glibly. “Ever since I found myself in this dimension, I’ve grown attached to many things. Ice cream being one of them.”

“Anything else in particular?” Purple Heart inquired.

“Ramen, ya’know,” Bael replied, smirking, eyeing the older teen. Blue eyes twitched again.

“Seriously?” he growled. “Fishcakes?”

“Why not?” Bael replied. “It’s good. At least I’m not eating it every single day morning, noon, and night. I have standards.”

Purple Heart snorted. “For food, maybe,” he retorted, “but not puns or references.”

Bael laughed lightly. “Owch. Is that child abuse?”

“No,” Purple Heart returned. “So buck up, shortstuff, you’re fine.” The younger teen scowled and pouted petulantly.

“I’ll get bigger eventually,” he mumbled.

Chuckling, Purple Heart patted the boy’s head, earning him a green stink eye. “Keep telling yourself that, kid.”

Bael ducked out from under his companion’s massive palm and scooted several paces ahead, turning back to Purple Heart to stick out his tongue. Then he dashed down the street, cackling as he ran.

“Dammit!” Purple Heart swore, pelting off after his errant ward in hot pursuit. Every corner he turned, he just managed to catch a glimpse of Bael dashing out of view. This continued for block after block, leading them further and further towards the city’s western limits and the forest beyond.

“This kid is gonna be the death of me,” Purple Heart sighed, slowing as he finally caught up with the running youth. Bael turned to him, a wide grin on his face. Purple Heart arched an eyebrow at the cone still in the boy’s hand, sans ice cream. Either the boy had eaten the remains of his treat as he ran, which was unlikely, or he’d dropped it along the way. Lifting a hand to cover his smile, Purple Heart eyed his charge.

“What happened to your ice cream?” he asked innocently. Bael blinked and looked down at his ice creamless cone, staring at the dilapidated dessert. While the youth was staring blankly at his fallen treat, Purple Heart caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. His head turned to track what he’d saw.

The foliage of the underbrush shifted to reveal a raccoon.

At first glance, the raccoon appeared normal. It’s face was wreathed in shadow from the trees. Purple Heart could hear its snarling from across the clearing. Then it stepped into the sunlight.

Purple Heart stiffened as the animal approached, leaving a trail of dead grass and leaves in its wake. Tentacle-like spores sprouted from the raccoon’s back, undulating mindlessly. Blue eyes flicked to a seething Bael, wondering if the shrunken villain had noticed the creature’s presence. The brush shifted directly behind Bael and Purple Heart sucked on air, his warning dying in his throat as a behemoth of a bear lumbered out of the trees. The beast was also covered in writhing tentacles, though the coverage was nearly total compared to the raccoon

Purple Heart looked around the clearing, hoping that they hadn’t been surrounded yet. No such luck. Birds, squirrels, chipmunks, a deer or two, more raccoons, a dozen rabbits, and even a few wolves appeared from the surrounding forest. Every one of them were infected with the deathly spores.

“If I get out of this alive, I am never telling Fluttershy about this,” Purple Heart swore, rushing over to grab the still pissed off Bael.

“WHAT?!” Bael snapped. Purple Heart jerked his hands away from the younger teen.

“Don’t look now, but we’re surrounded,” Purple Heart said. Bael frowned, looking around at the infected animals. A dark grin that had no business being on a teenagers face appeared.

“Perfect,” Bael hissed. Purple Heart blinked, eyes widening in realization.

“Aw noes,” he moaned, dropping to the ground as Bael lifted a hand towards the animals. Green threads spat from his fingertips and connected with the rabbits, bending them to the ex-villain’s will. Then he jumped, avoiding the bear’s claws. As the other animals rushed to intercept Bael, Purple Heart looked on, not noticing the green thread sneaking over to latch itself to the nape of his neck.

Bael grinned as the connection was made and he lifted Purple Heart to stand next to him on a tree limb just out of the bear’s reach. The ex-villain snorted a chuckle at the expression on his former rival’s face.

“Hey, would you rather I left you down there all alone and defenceless?” he asked gibly.

“I’d rather fight under my own power,” Purple Heart retorted.

“What power?” Bael couldn’t help the taunting tone in his voice. “You’re just a human now.” Purple Heart’s eyes narrowed.

“If you had to be human too, you’d be a hell of a lot more humble,” he sneered.

“One can wish,” Bael returned, ducking the flurry of birds that tore through the air where his head had previously occupied. He thrust a palm at the birds and more threads burst from his hand, latching onto them. The flock immediately pulled a mid-air u-turn and set about harrying the other animals. A raccoon scrabbled up the tree and was just about to take a bite out of Purple Heart’s leg when said leg suddenly jerked, kicking the infected animal across the face and off the tree.

“AUGH~!” Purple Heart cried, holding his leg. A sickly purple bruise formed on his shin where the raccoon had made contact. “If I die of infection, I’m gonna haunt your sorry ass for all time!”

“Live now, argue later,” Bael replied, commanding his threaded animals to attack the other infected creatures. Unerringly, Purple Heart was dragged from his perch and crashed onto some squirrels and chipmunks, crushing the animals under his massive weight. Bael leapt down and set about kicking and punching anything with tentacles, including his hijacked minions. Purple Heart’s body leant what support it could, sans powers. While Bael used grace and crushing blows, Purple Heart utilized his size and mass to simply outweigh the smaller opponents.

Before long, all the animals were either dead or under Bael’s control. Purple Heart felt his body released back under his control and he sagged, gasping for breath. Bael simply burst the hearts of his remaining minions and they collapsed like stringless marionettes.

“Well, that was fun,” Bael decided. “I want a new ice cream though.” He turned to leave the clearing.

“Care to explain where these came from?” Purple Heart called after the retreating teen. Bael looked over his shoulder to see his ex-rival staggering to his feet.

“They seemed rather interested in you,” the purple teen continued, eyeing Bael. “Not once did they actively attack me until I was under your control. What could possibly want to kill you in this world?”

Bael squinted his eyes as he considered the abrupt line of questioning.

“Come to think of it, I saw something just like these animals on my way to Mistakwe with Tinker Tempest,” Purple Heart added, gesturing at the defeated animals arrayed around them. “Were these animals, and that boar, perhaps your-”

“No.” Bael was standing right in front of Purple Heart, eyes bright with contained rage. “The corrupted boar was not mine, nor were these creatures. As a matter of fact, neither Holdfast nor Just Duty can claim mastery of these corrupted animals.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“You should be. I’ve no idea where these infected beasts came from. They are most certainly part of the game the draconequus created. I guess they managed to sneak in after me,” Bael said.

“Oh,” Purple Heart repeated. “Could they have been part of some other quest? A DLC or extra module?”

Bael opened his mouth to respond, but balked, eyes narrowing in thought. “Now that you mention it, there was rumor of a beast in the mountains that held dominion of common woodland creatures,” the former villain recalled. “A beast with six voices and six heads.”

Purple Heart blanched. “Another boss villain,” he breathed. He ran forward, grabbing Bael as he went, ignoring the teen’s squawk of surprise. “Shit just got real. We need to tell the others that we may be dealing with another villain.”

“Another one?” Bael asked as he flapped along in the wind behind Purple Heart. “For whom?”

“The girls.”

Bael blinked. “Oh shi- BLEGH! Watch where you’re running! I don’t want to swallow anything unnatural!”

“Then keep your mouth shut!” was the retort as Purple Heart sped through the streets toward Canterlot High. Bad news was never the best way to end the day. No sir.