My Little Fortress: Dawnpick

by Paaaad

57: Plans for Carmine

Glyph quietly opens the door for Kat. "Shh... Friesden is sleeping..."

Glyph sees that Kat's not wearing her guard uniform today, but instead, her casual dress that blends her in well with the rest of the citizens of Dawnpick.

"Ah, right," she replied quietly, looking to the left and right to make sure nopony was looking before entering his room. "We need to talk..."

Glyph moves back into his room, sitting down. "About what?"

Kat keeps her voice low, so she wouldn't wake the filly up. "About what I'm going to be doing..."

"What's that? Is... is something wrong?"

Kat lets out a little sigh. "Yes Glyph... there's something wrong. There's a monster in the city... a true monster."

Glyph thinks for a moment... "You mean... you mean Carmine don't you."

Kat nods in reply. "Yes, that's him."

Glyph grits his teeth. "Yes... him... that... chudovishchnyĭ rogatyĭ... what about him?"

"Well... he's a monster. And as a guard of the city, it's my duty to remove any threat that comes to our city and her ponies... and I think a monster within our walls is a threat.."

"Yes... but what are we going to do about it?"

"Well... I'll try to take the monster out of him..." Her voice becomes lower, and somewhat colder. "Even if I have to cut it out of him..."

"Cut it out... do you mean... krovavaya rabota... as if he were one of our bunnies?"

Kat leans slightly onto Glyph as she looks down and thinks... "Their deaths were swift and painless... monsters doesn't deserve that. And... I never knew you could talk highpony."

"I can somewhat... but that wasn't highpony... that was my homelands language, I think it's called lopony here... And you're right... monsters deserve much more... a true... krovavyĭ simfoniya..."

"A true... what?"

"How do the words translate... a symphony of blood, would be the literal translation..."

"Mm... a symphony of blood.. I like that."

"Yes... it does sound nice... especially for this one... but..." Glyph looks over at Friesden, sleeping peacefully. "It would have to be quiet... maybe he takes a walk in the woods, and doesn't return... for her sake, she can't know..."

"She won't know... but I know she still wants him... but he doesn't deserve a sweet filly like her... nopony should suffer the punishment of being with him."

Glyph nods solemnly, "The others... I felt sorry for them... Friesden, I could take her, but the others..."

"The others wouldn't want to see their father gone into the woods and never return..."

"I would adopt them too, if I could... even Friesden wouldn't want to see him disappear..."

"As much as we want it, Glyph... we can't just make a pony disappear... not without getting ourselves into some serious trouble... but I'm not going to stand around and not doing anything about it either... lessons must be taught.."

"Yeah... we can imagine, but there's no way we could..." Glyph sighs. "How can we teach him a lesson though?"

"I'll do it... and... well... I'll find a way..."

"I... I want to help..." Glyph looks at Friesden again. "I have to help..."

Kat smiles softly, even somewhat sadly, then nuzzles Glyph softly. "You're already helping... you're taking care of her.."

"And so are you... I... I just wish that... that this seemed to be doing anything..." Glyph gets a sad look in his eyes. "Why can't I help in this? I... if it's going to cause trouble, I should be the one to do it."

Kat wraps her forelegs over Glyph's shoulders to pull him into a hug... "You shouldn't... because you need to look after little Friesden... that's why..." she sounded a little bit more sad now. "That's why I should do it..."

"Kat... mein wenig liebe... I... I need you too... Friesden needs you... promise. Promise you won't do something that will take you away from us..." Glyph pulls Kat tight to himself as he speaks.

Kat closes her eyes as she rests her head on his shoulder, sighing softly. "I... I don't know... but I promise that... I won't do anything that's too much... maybe... maybe I'll get removed from the guards... jailed... and maybe... beaten some... but I promise I won't do anything that'll get me... gone."

"Kat... no... it's not worth that. he's not worth that."

Kat shook her head lightly. "No... mein liebe. It's not about him... it's something that I must do... I... it... there's a monster inside me that... if I don't do something... I'll probably go insane... and... and if I do... I'll never be able to see you again... it's like... it's like an inspiration... it just HAS to be done.."

“M-mein... mein..." Glyph blinks a few times, trying hard not to break down. "I... I understand
n-needing to... to do s-something... but... if y-you get thrown out of the guard... beaten... jailed... I... I might not be able to stop myself..." His gaze finds its way over to the sleeping filly "E-even... even for her..."

Kat put on the best smile she could muster, nuzzling Glyph softly again "Trust me... I won't get in much trouble... you know me. if... if it'll make you feel better.. I could... lie. and, make up things... but... you wouldn't want that... do you?"

"No... just... I am having to hold myself back... like I said... a krovavyĭ simfoniya... I... I need to do something... I need to help... and... and knowing that you might get into that kind of trouble..."

Kat smiles softly, a gentle, sad, soothing smile. "You're not a monster... mein liebe... don't turn yourself into one..."

Glyph smiles, his a dark smile. "Mein liebe... you know better. You know what I am... how I feel... if you got... no... it wouldn't... wouldn't end well... for anypony. Just let me help, we can perfect what needs to be done... together. I... I can't let you do it alone... even if that means leaving her for a while... Stiletto, Flux, they can watch her... this is something that needs to be done."

Kat sighs in defeat. "Very well... but... if there were only one... we can lie... we can say that he'd gone mad and attacked us... or something... but if there's two... well.... I... I guess we could scare him... but... but what if he tells other ponies?"

"Tells them what? That the mean old militia ponies scare him? Let him fear... let him catch a glimpse of our monsters... and who would believe him? The one who threw away his foal... nopony will buy his stories... or care if they're true."

Kat nodded lightly.. "Mm... I guess you're right... who would've thought... right? Me and you... well... I guess they could imagine about you... but... well... what about that unassertive smiling cheerful Kat in the guards? She couldn't possibly be like that, can she?" she said, giving him a wink and a little giggle.

Glyph laughs. "Now now, certainly that hard working, friendly, Stallion, the one who adopted a foal that was thrown away like trash, certainly he couldn't be like that?" He winks back at her, giving her neck a little nip.

Kat eeped a little from the nip and giggles, nuzzling back softly at Glyph's ears. "Mm... course not. He's such a sweet, kind Stallion that only wants good things for everypony. Surely he wouldn't bother his time scaring some heartless old pony when he still has a foal to look after, right?"

"Of course not... and the both of them are even offering up their free time to watch all the other foals so they stay safe, how could they be ones who would threaten anypony?"

"Mmhmm, of course they'll never do that."

Glyph nuzzles Kat for a while longer, before looking up at Friesden again. "We have a foal now... a perfect little filly..." He closes his eyes, holding Kat close. "I just wish I had wings, so I could fly with you both..."

Kat smile softly and nuzzles onto him softly again. "Well... Stiletto mentioned something about mechanical wings from her homeland..."

Glyph smiles softly as well. "Mechanical wings... if only... I would love to be able to fly with you... it looks so nice up there."

Kat nodded and smiles. "mmhmm.. It sure is... I’d love to cuddle with you on a patch of clouds... you'll love it."

"I... I'm sure I would... maybe I can ask Stiletto... Are... are you looking forward to the stable mein wenig liebe? All those foals, all under our protection..."

"Mmhmm... I do... It's going to be lovely!" Kat chirps happily, opening her right wing for Glyph to scoot into.

Glyph snuggles in under Kat's wing, smiling at the thought. "I wanted to be a pen-father for a bit, back in Ironbridle... but I didn't have the choice... if... if the stables seem to do well, I was going to suggest to Virtue... well..."

Kat tilts her head slightly, "Suggest to... what?" she ask. Glyph could also feel a cold bump under Kat's wing.

"Well... suggest that she assign a small guard group to them... just you and me at first... and others that would either join, or just cycle in and out... but I think just us two would be enough..." He cuddles closer, then feels the bump. "Wait... what's that Kat?"

Kat perks her ears slightly, then realize something "Oh." she moves away from Glyph just a bit so he can see under her wing, revealing her steel guards crossbow hiding snugly under her wing along with a sheathed small dagger just below it. "Those..."

"I see... staying armed... even out of uniform. Hard to hide my axe though, isn't it."

Kat nodded and smiles "Mmhmm, it's useful to always be armed."

"But why are you hiding them? You're a guard, and even if you weren't, I don't think there's a rule against going armed... wonder if I could conceal a dagger in my overcoat..."

"Well... I was stalking Carmine... and I don't want him to notice... so I had to look like just another pony in the fort. Happy, smiling, clothed, armless, and... why'd you want to conceal a dagger anyway?"

Glyph shrugs, "Never know when you might need a weapon nopony knows you have...and technically, wouldn't it fit in more if you went clothless?"

"I can't easily hide my things if I went clothless... besides, I think he's seen me in the guards, wouldn't want him to recognize me."

"True enough... better than if I tried, I don't think there's any way he wouldn't recognize me..."

"Well... at least I think I know when and where we can find him alone..."

"Oh really? Good... that should be very fun... maybe... maybe we go for some fun in the woods first? That might add a bit of... impact."

"Wm... oh? What’s on your mind?"

"Well, we do tend to sometimes get a bit... messy in the woods... and most ponies seem to be... unnerved... by blood."

"Hmm... I just suddenly had an idea... what if... we pretend to be hit by one of those 'inspiration mood' things? Then claim we don't remember a single thing after? They'll believe us... right?"

Glyph laughs. "Yeah... there are some that make it so the ponies don't remember anything..."

"But what would the inspiration be?"

"To scare the crap out of a heartless pony?"

"Yeah... blood... fear... sounds like a fun night..."

"Mmhmm... sure sounds like it..."

"Hmm... so how are we going to do it? Just walk up on him... strike some terror? Maybe catch a few of our bunnies before?"

"Maybe... yeah... maybe we could also pretend to be possessed by some divinity or something, coming to deliver the news that he’ll have a special place just for him... a pony whom force an innocent foal away from her mother and family... and forcing a mother to abandon her foal."

Glyph smiles evilly. "Yeah... perfect... of course... if we scare him too bad... he might take Friesden back..." Glyphs face falls a bit at that.

Kat grinns just as evilly "Yes... maybe I'll even collapse right there and you come back to sense and think he did something to me? That's going to be SO great."

"Ohhh... you are evil... I like that idea a lot... maybe we wait until somepony wanders by to have that happen, so all they see is the very end..."

Kat nods, giggling "Yes... yes I am."

"But... if he takes Friesden back... just ‘cause he was scared... that wouldn't be good for her..."

"Mein liebe... you know full well he doesn't deserve her.."

"No... he doesn't... not even close."

"Well... the 'divine' can warn him to be very careful of what he'll do next... because there's hell... and there's a thing worse than that, that no word in pony will describe it.."

"Maybe, and there is plenty else you can do to scare, can't you moĭ malenʹkiĭ vampir..."

"Ooohh... to be a Vampire again hmm? Well, it's all very tempting but... wouldn't the other ponies just... you know? Put me to death for being a vampire?"

"Hmm... I suppose that one’s hard to put off to possession huh... well, you can still feed on me whenever you want..." Glyph nuzzles Kat, brushing his neck along her muzzle.

Kat smiles and nuzzles her muzzle softly at his neck, sighing lightly. "Mm... still, I wouldn't want any foals to see us like that, though... especially not Friesden... she'd probably run to Carmine and try to protect him or something... or it'll scare her for life. Other foals too, not good if we're going to be their pen father and mother."

"Yeah, so at night then, when all the foals would be asleep? Would add to the fear as well, two seeming specters of death walking out of the darkness..."

"Well, it's settled then?"

"Seems it. Now the only question is when."

"As soon as the time is right?"

"Maybe tonight... maybe tomorrow? Should be soon..."

Kat nods. "Yep, very soon!"