Baa-Ram-Ewe!

by Darkonshadows

145. Villains and Vicissitude.

-Equus, Ponyville, Hayburger, Sekhet-

Being a goddess for a small town wasn’t so hard, but I needed a vacation from my favorite loonies every now and then… especially when Jade was on mewling streak.

“So why does Luna look so pale?” There were times when my need to tease Celestia wasn’t as bothersome, this was one of those times and we were quietly having lunch.

I was just honing in on the fact that Luna looked like a nervous wreck of a mare.

“Either it’s because I’m going to find out why she has an Anubis plush toy or it’s because Fizzle going to figure out that Luna told Jade about what she’s been actively keeping from her.” At least Celestia didn’t look nearly as stressed, apparently getting away from her job as a princess was doing her a many favors in her much happier mood.

Luna was likely dead meat and neither of us were going to save her if Fizzle went after her.

“How is the old jackal these days anyway?” Anything to keep a conversation going when I didn’t have much to talk about, unless we wanted to tread straight into some more stressful subjects.

“He’s actually becoming a decent therapist, not that anyone can really fix Jade’s trauma or her unreasonable hatred of Saddle Arabia.” Celestia take a dainty bite of a monstrous looking hayburger without smearing her face in ketchup, mustard or any of the other various fluids it was drowning in. “Still, it’s odd for a death god to want to be a therapist, but it would certainly be really quite helpful with his given line of work.”

Celestia was fairly talented in making eating messy looking foods as cleanly as possible an art form.

-Earth, ???-

One particular monster that came from Equus remembered almost getting free the last time a portal was opened by a dumb duck witch that thought she could control the power of shadows, unfortunately she was swiftly defeated before he could wander freely away from the opening in the sky and destroy this world.

Now, due to an unforeseen cosmic acclimation of the magical trees from Elhorn, a small albeit temporary rip was allowed to open up from the shadow realm due to a small destabilization in the magic of the world as it integrated the trees properly into itself.

Said destabilization brought about an opportunity that an evil creature capitalized upon. For through that rip, a being of all consuming darkness crawled from the shadows with glaring red eyes searching and feeling around for a familiar presence to it.

Once it realized who the familiar presence was, it spread its sharp edged wings and grinned its fangs darkly.

For he would soon find a way to open this world to be consumed by shadow monsters and would get revenge on the lambkin that helped defeat his horde previously.

Now that lambkin was very much alone without the other five or her many beloved canines to face him, she was the weakest of their lot and she would die a bloody death by his hooves.

There was no escaping fate. She was the only one standing in the way of their victory on this world and didn’t care how the lambkin ended up here, just that they perished because they did.

This thestral would proceed to consume this world in a plague of shadows and that sudden beacon of strange magical power he felt would be a way to do it.

He watched the light of day from the shadows and roared his challenge to the world, for this world would know the name of the destroyer of it…

Hollow Heart.

Eternal darkness would reign and consume all!

-???-

Something of great magical power had attracted my attention, undoubtedly Lena has something to do with it. That wretched shadow, betrayed me when I was at the height of my power!

Now I was stuck acting as lowly and pathetic as a hedge witch, also doing children’s birthday parties to get by. This was something I hated with every single fiber of my very being after the power of my amulet was mostly sapped by Lena.

Now that said magic source was drawing my attention and likely the attention of many others, I needed to look into this to see what was going on.

Whatever the magical artifact that Scrooge’s brood had come across, I could use it in my latest plans to get the number one dime and earn my rightful place as the world’s most powerful sorceress!

“I, Magica De’ Spell, will make Scrooge remember that I’m not someone to be trifled with!” I raised my staff and the gem on the end of it glowed ominously as a grim smile traced my beak. “Whatever artifact he has now, whatever caused that beacon of magical strength, I would take it for myself and will have my revenge!”

The treacherous shadow may have helped in my defeat previously and weakened my amulet sapping much of its power, but this time I would prevail in destroying that which I created to do my bidding in the first place! Dealing such a blow to Scrooge’s family would be a big bonus.

I just had to strike when the time is right, there’s too many ducks for me to deal with alone with my mighty powers being as weakened as they are. I’ve heard that they recently took down all the Beagle Boys, so they should at least be feasible to approach while they are weakened.

-Location: ???, Phantom Blot-

“Something magical is afoot in Duckberg, this likely has to do with that fool Scrooge and the magical creatures he’s been harboring.” No one saw the truth like I did, all magic had to be destroyed, no exceptions. “Whatever Scrooge McDuck has allowed to happen has become our problem, we need to deal with whatever that was immediately!”

“Sir, I would like to remind you that there is a slight problem with doing an open attack on Scrooge or even Duckberg itself.” Pepper of course was right, she did make sense a lot of the time even if she was annoyingly upbeat for a minion. Still I liked her and that was a rarity in my dismal view of everything, at least I had the eggheads of F.O.W.L. in my employ after things fell through for the rest of the organization.

“Even so, we will strike when the moment is right Pepper. We cannot let this magic go unchecked.” It was far too big to ignore whatever had just happened. “We have the supplies to deal with just about any unnaturally powerful magical entity that may have just breached into our world or otherwise whatever artifact that caused such a beacon to all of those who are sensitive to such things.”

“Of course sir, always happy to help!” Pepper threw a salute and was willing to follow him anywhere. “I still think it’s a bad idea to announce our presence so brazenly after our last attack.”

Our mercenary group was going to slay whatever created such a strangely powerful magical signal, one that warped the world around it so thoroughly that something or someone had been inexorably changed forever.

The phantom blot and his army of eggheads would be doing them and everyone else a big favor by putting the sudden target of his ire out of its misery!

For magic would lead to nothing but pain and Phantom Blot would be the one to destroy it all with the power of technology. He would also like to deal with those two magical beings if he could, he had a feeling that they were responsible for whatever was causing such a large amount of magical resonance.

Whatever was going to happen, he would be ready to destroy magic without hesitation.

-Location:???, Sabu Taj-

“Ma’am something unusual lights was reported happening in Duckberg slightly after lunch hours.” Giving the helicopter pilot a grin, I nodded as I figured out who it was. I motioned for him to continue, but I already had an idea who would be there if we went looking. “Also it has been reported that… well a sheep like entity is in the area with a canine were, last seen heading near the sighting of this unusual phenomenon. I would like to respectfully state that maybe, just maybe, we shouldn’t go after her again. She’s dangerous and she’s shown that she could be doing a lot worse to us if she was to actively attack us in a real threatening manner.”

“Noted, we’re still going to go in when we get a confirmation.” I would not let Leap Lamb continue to be a thorn sitting in my side as one of my biggest failures. “This one target has to die by any means necessary, I will not let her continue to be a thorn!”

Nobody should escape my wrath, nobody would avoid me forever and I could even take on the like of the notorious forty seven. If it was all for a chance, just one chance, to put a bullet between those big doe eyes of hers!

Damn the consequences and the damages done to the surroundings, the only thing stopping me from using a nuclear weapon is that I couldn’t get a hold of one on such short notice! She assuredly wouldn’t be able to dodge one of those…. right?!

Instead I just had to put enough bullets through one area where she was, since I doubt anything else less than that will actually work where even the most powerful of explosives can’t!

The Shred Treads are assuredly going to be there too.

-Location: The city of Saint Canard, Rev Olver Ocelet-

Chances were that Leap Lamb would run north to either Duckberg or Saint Canard, who knew I would lose a number of my mercenaries would be taken down by a hero wannabe that’s basing himself off some old show?

Still, it wasn’t a total loss, since we may have found a way to capture Leap Lamb alive to find out what makes her tick. Sure the dissection might be painful and they’ll do it without anesthesia, but an autopsy of Leap Lamb would work just as well afterwards if she didn’t survive right?

“Suck gas evil doers!” Now if only this caped clown calling himself Darkwing Duck wasn’t so troublesome for his mercenaries. He was taking them down quickly one after another.

We obviously came to the wrong place and would need to head towards Duckberg, provided we could pull out without all of my men being taken down by a single crazy duck that just wouldn’t stop getting back up no matter how many explosions he’s been in.

I’m pretty sure we’ve directly hit him with a claymore mine and three grenades so far, yet that seemed to do little to stop him. There’s also the strange and scarily accurate crossbow bolts that seemed to aid him from out of nowhere.

If anything we should probably be trying to capture this Darkwing Duck while we were here, but I was already calling it in to my guys to cut our losses.

“Retreat!” We had to leave now.

This Darkwing Duck, no matter how buffoonish, was a little too much for my men. Also I’ve heard SHUSH was sniffing around here and I didn’t want them to be held by them.

-Time:???, Dolly-

“So I’m going with you regardless of wherever you’ll go Pom.” I really didn’t want to say it, I was not a dog that liked the idea of domestication. Yet here I was professing the idea that I wouldn’t mind if it was her alone. “There, I said it, I can’t go back and I only want to move forward at your side, is that what you want to hear Pom?!”

“Do you think you’ll be strong enough to keep up with her Dolly? So far things haven’t exactly been easy.” Pom just painted my nails and I can’t believe I was letting her do that after brushing out my tail. I was letting her pamper me and… well… it didn’t feel bad. At least she wasn’t trying to make me look like a show dog! “I know you don’t care much for being dependent on others, much less her. She wouldn’t do that to you Dolly, she will constantly remind you of who you are herself if she has to. You’re a brave little Dalmatian that left home, chose to partner up with someone with as many dangerous problems as her and you have proven time and again that you’re really good at supporting her. However when it comes to a direct fight, she worries about your safety… which might actually help her put up more of a fight come to think of it.”

“Yes, but I want to do more Pom. I want to be in the action more, to take down bad guys and to face the world with my head held high showing that I have what it takes to stand on equal ground with you!” I was trying to explain what I wanted to do so badly, I needed to simplify it. Crush it all down to something exceedingly simple. What do I want most exactly? Why was I still with Pom even if it will get me killed eventually? “I want the power to be able help everyone I can Pom, you most of all because you really do need all the help you can get. Why am I not feeling like I’m at my full potential? You’ve been training me to help. Admittedly I’ve been a bit scared to dive into the action… like with Dylan. He will always take action when our family is in danger, even I always went to him for safety and didn’t do much acting on my own. Now though, I’m getting stronger, more capable of taking it to the bad guys directly.”

Pom simply hummed and started working on my ears and I leaned back into the gentle constant strokes running over them.

“Do you think you are a vain dog Dolly?” Where was this question coming from Pom? Darn it you really knew how to make me feel good. “You really are beautiful to her, despite being attracted to far rougher and muddier activities.”

“I… I’m a bit of an attention hog I’ll admit, I could hardly go a day without wanting at least a little attention from my step brother Dylan. He always made time to get into an argument with me, those days are something I’m not going to forget. Simpler, taking care of so many pups and having a blast with a wild water hose, bouncing on trampolines and all those trips to the park.” I always bugged Dylan because he’d pay attention to me and even if he would get angry at the things I did, he was still everyone’s big brother at the end of the day. I thought he needed to play more and take some time off from working himself into the ground cleaning everything. “Being in a family as large as mine makes one on one time with our parents a little hard to get.”

Like my mother’s day with Delilah, a rare opportunity to spend time with a pro at helping others like dad does. She wasn’t the mother who gave birth to me, but she could get a smile out of me. Sure she played favorites with Dylan, her first puppy and I understood that completely, but she still loved me too.

“She can imagine too.” Pom stated as she ran a brush down my back, the stroke made me shiver happily. “So all this one on one time with her is something incredibly special for you huh?”

“It’s not just that Pom, you already know what I’m about. I’m not that complicated really.” I really wasn’t, Pom was a light that I wanted to protect and serve. She was a guard, something I could easily get into as a job. She’s teaching me how to fight, use magic and we shared something unbreakable like what I had with my family. My family would welcome me back at any time, this was important enough to me that I could do what I was going to. “Caper Canine... what a strange life I’m heading into.”

“You know that you’re just sleeping right? That you’re just talking to her in your imagination?” Pom continued to caress me. “Do you actually want to be her dog? When you wake up, the things you will be able to do will be amazing even if you might not know it at first. The things you will face will be even more dangerous, are you ready to face the chaos at her side?”

“Huh?” What was Pom talking about? “What do you mean wake up, I’m already…”

“Air, motion and flexibility… remember these words. For these are what you can do the easiest at heart.” Pom said sweetly, while still petting me. “You have a good heart, protect it from the encompassing darkness coming for you. You’re a little prankster, you like goofing off and you have a habit of wanting to always be in motion as much as the center of attention. However, when you are needed, you know when to get serious and you love children like nothing else. You believe that Dalmatians can do anything, now you have put your cunning mind to it… while you cannot fly, you will still soar.”

Before I knew it Ms. Shuttle was crashing because of the assassin… wait… didn’t this already happen? Why was it happening ag…

-Present, Duckberg Park-

“Oh… my head.” I sat up putting both my front paws on my skull, what just happened to me. The shattering glass disappeared into being the park again. “What just happened?”

“Does anyone else understand what she’s saying?” Blinking at the duck, Lena I believe, I looked over and saw Pom laying on the ground. With Smolder and Ocellus looking her over with worry.

“I do!” Dormarch announced, I made my way over to Pom and pulled him out of the bag.

“You can?" I asked. "Since when?”

“Since Dawkins sent me some information from his Fetch Positron unit, after the… after the assassin had Pom at gunpoint.” Did Dormarch just say Fetch Posi… oh of course, I wasn’t the only sneaky one in my family! Thought mom and dad got rid of all those things, Dawkins must have hid it in the walls. After that whole thing with our neighbor Constantine, a pompous older cat that our little brother Deepak had a good friendship with, that would be the perfect place to hide it. “Was I not supposed to tell you that? You seem a little upset.”

“Yeah, because one of my brothers got to keep one of those devices when I couldn’t!” I was a bit jealous, but then again my brother Dawkins lost his favorite toy to Cruella… so… calm down Dolly. “Look never mind that, not important, as long he's happy. Okay, what happened to us? You always seem to know our health.”

“Both you and Pom passed out at the same time, I’m not made for scanning magic, but both of you have experienced something like dreams. Also I may be mistaken, but I think your brain activity and heart stopped for an instant and then entered something relative to REM level sleep for a few minutes. In fact your brain activity sky rocketed up until you woke up and it evened out.” Didn’t understand what most of that had to do with whatever happened to us Dormarch. “Pom is okay, but I’ve noted that her irregular heartbeats are actually settling, whatever happened between the both of you might have helped with her arrhythmia. It’s either that or it’s like I suspect that her arrhythmia is a part of her magical abilities.”

“What?” I asked curiously, but I wasn’t the only one to say that. Dormarch understanding me wasn’t hard to take in, what was hard was that Pom’s heart problem might be naturally occurring.

“Pom’s Dancing Flame technique might be why she has Arrhythmia and not her injuries incurred on the way to coming here to Duckberg.” Wait, is Dormarch seriously saying that the technique Pom uses to move and react to things at insane speeds is causing some of her health problems? Yeah, that actually checks out come to think of it. Still, being able to dodge bullets is better than actually being hit by them. “I am still putting together a diagnosis of the phenomenon and will question Pom on it when convenient.”

I moved closer to Pom, feeling that she needed me for some reason. I looked down at her and saw that she was breathing, I moved my face close to hers and started licking it gently.

She squirmed slightly and opened her eyes to look at me, I felt something strange pass between us as both our hearts beat at the same time.

“Dolly, what… what happened?” Pom sat up and looked over to everyone looking at them.

“Not a clue, but I get the feeling that I absolutely saw something that I don’t think I was meant to.” I stated faintly remembering stained glass, grey and… “Air, motion and flexibility.”

“Huh?” Pom said looking at me curiously.

“I think those words have something to do with my magic.” Speaking of magic, I can really feel it in me now and this definitely wasn’t Pom sending me her strength.

It’s like it was a vague idea before and now it was fully realized. Still didn’t know how to use it or what to do with it.

“Well we’ll figure it out later Dolly, for right now I think we need to rest and not do anything exciting for the rest of the day after whatever it was that happened to us when I gave you some of my magic through our bond.” Pom then turned to everyone else and Ocellus approaching us.

“It was something big, but it all happened in an instant. I barely noticed it, but it felt really strange.” Huh, did Ocellus seemed more brightly colored than before? No, the world seemed far brighter than I was used to come to think of it. “It was like tons of emotions were singing in excitement for something for a second, then you both passed out.”

“Also it broke the wards we set up immediately. So yeah, maybe we should all go relax somewhere safe and well away from here.” Lena seemed to be paranoid as her eyes darted about for anything unusual. “Whatever just happened, it was an eleven on my weirdness meter and I’ve only ever had it hit at least a maximum seven or eight just by being around Webby and the others in general. To be fair, I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff, but something that can break the wards we set up without us noticing at first… We should definitely take things easy after that when it comes to helping a dog learn to use magic, so our house or the mansion?”

“Mansion, it’s safer that we don’t cause our fathers problems. I will inform them we will be staying over at Uncle Scrooge’s house for magic reasons.” Violet’s eyes dimmed slightly. “Oh great, now who had a bet on when I'd say that?”

“Pay up Dewey!” Louie stated loudly.

“Yeah, yeah, here you go.” Dewey passed ten dollars to Louie.

We all started to leave the park when I glanced at Pom and stopped.

“Do you think I’m vain?” I asked Pom out of the blue.

“Maybe a little, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I like taking care of you and you don’t seem to mind when I do.” Pom gave me a gentle pat on the head. “So… okay?"

"Yeah." As I'll get Pom.

Author's Note:

Dolly acquired: ???? ??????? and ????.

Pom acquired: More incoming headaches.

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[Herald of Opera]

For those who've forgotten who Hollow Heart is, he's batpony Megatron and the Equus counterpart of Them's Fightin' Herds' Devourer is his Unicron. (If you don't know how bad that make the fact that he's still alive, it means that he's Galvatron now. No, I don't expect you to know what that means. I expect you to either Google it or stop caring.)