My Little Fortress: Dawnpick

by Paaaad

58: A Plan Set in Motion.

Carmine is on his way home from a long day at the masons' shop. He has been satisfied with work lately.

Kat managed to sneak back into the town unnoticed so far tonight, her clothes and bits of her coat have splatters of blood on them, still fresh and warm and dribbling slightly. As soon as Carmine's in sight and alone, she would stumble out of her hiding place. She put on a blank far-away expression on her face, like the ones she sees when ponies get their 'inspirations'. She admits to herself, when she practiced in-front of a mirror, it damn well looks like she's really possessed.

Glyph sneaks back into the town, his front hooves still dripping blood, some running down his muzzle and chest as he approaches the hiding spot he had chosen. He let his eyes go disconnected and far away, and tried to take on the persona of one of the possessed ponies he had had to watch over just in case they became violent. He seemed to be doing a good job of it too.

Carmine is walking down the road to his apartment now, looking forward to a pleasant evening at home.

Glyph slowly walks out in front of Carmine, blocking his path with blood still slowly dripping from his muzzle.

Kat slowly comes up from behind, saying almost like singing a sad song of a siren... "Oh Carrmiine..."

Carmine starts to run away from the blood covered Glyph, but then runs into the bloody Kat and hears her speak. He then runs to the side towards the well.

Glyph moves quickly and cuts carmine off. "Now now... you can’t be expecting to flee that easily..." His voice sounds dead and distant.

Kat spread her wings and flies forward, landing on the other side of Carmine. "Oh... Carrrmiiine~" she sings again, less like a song and more like a hiss this time.

Carmine shrinks away from Glyph and Kat. "Don't hurt me Mister Militant, Miss Guard. Why won't you leave me alone?" He asks, starting to shake.

Kat continues her song-like speech as she begin to slowly circle around Carmine. "Silly mortal... your guard and militia aren't here tonight... it's just you... me... and him... and a message from above... or... in this case... below.."

Glyph begins to circle as well, close enough to strike out at Carmine if he wished. "Yes... we are looking forward to seeing you down there..."

Carmine faints.

*An odd noise is heard from the stock pile*

Kat stares blankly at the fainted Carmine, then sighs a little. Hearing some noises from the stockpile, she decides to continue being possessed for now.

Glyph laughs fell and terrible. "He fainted... foolish mortal couldn't even hear our message..." he keeps the voice, and the faraway look, for all intents and purposes still seeming like a possessed pony.

Carmine lays on the ground defenseless.

*An odd song fills the air*

Kat grabs one of Carmine's forelegs and gestures for Glyph to do the same with his other foreleg. "The message must be delivered..." she says coldly as she begins to drag him over to the well.

*Loud wing beats can be heard from above*

"Indeed it must." Glyph takes the other foreleg pulling him along.

Kat continues to pull Carmine, with the help of Glyph, over to the well with fresh cold night's water in it. "Then he should be awake for this."

"That he should... a bit of water to wake him then." Glyph moves Carmine right next to the well.

Nightmare Moon stands in the light of the moon, her wings flared. Her majestic black coat shines brightly as her long blue starlit mane waves in the wind. She looks down on the group with glowing blue eyes.

Kat feels a disturbance in the air...

Nightmare Moon speaks in the royal Canterlot voice: "What do you think your doing?"

"We are delivering a message of course.” Glyph looks back at Kat, “Are we going to take the water out, or put the pony in."

Kat: "I say take the water out."

Nightmare Moon buffets her wings, causing a massive gust of wind. "You have NO right to do anything!"

Kat hisses back at the Alicorn. "Watch us."

"No." She lands next to Carmine and stands before them. "I think I will just stop you myself."

Glyph glances to Kat. "Do we worry, sister?"

"Why should we?"

"I don't think we should."

Nightmare Moon smiles. "Yes you do, I can see through your brave act as easy as I see the lives of all mortals."

Kat shrugs. "Come on brother, we've got a goal to finish. The sooner we get out of theses bodies the better. It disgusts me."

Glyph nods. "Indeed sister. Foolish mortal, had he not fainted we could have left by now." Glyph moves over to the well and takes the bucket.

Nightmare Moon pulls the bucket from 'possessed' Glyphs' mouth with her magic and dumps the water all over 'possessed' Glyph and slams the bucket over his eyes. "You are finished."

Kat let out another sigh. "Why oh why must this be harder than it should be hmm? just why.." She opens her wings and pulls out one of her iron bolts, holding it with both of her hooves and placing the sharp bit of it to her throat lightly. "Well, good for me then. If the goal can't be achieved, then I'll just take this mare's life back with me."

"Oh is it time for that sister? Good, I can finally get out of this disgusting body." Glyph places his axe on the ground with the blade facing up, and lowers his neck to the blade. "Quicker this way, than dealing with the current annoyance."

Nightmare Moon narrows her eyes. "Oh really?" She takes Kats' quiver and Crossbow and throws them over the wall. "I decide who lives and who dies."

Kat grins pretty wickedly as the alicorn says that. "Oh we'll see about that.." She then begins to move the blade of her bolt across her throat slowly, just enough to cut for blood. It's small blade wouldn't actually be enough to kill her right away, though.

Glyph smiles darkly and begins to slide the blade across his neck, slowly working it across his neck, but not deep enough to kill him immediately.

Nightmare Moon looks intrigued. "More then one blow? Do you like pain?"

Kat almost laughed. Almost. "Pain? Oh this has nothing to do with pain my dear. We simply want to ask you a question before we go that's all."

Glyph grins wickedly, a knowing grin.

Nightmare Moon smiles. "Oh but I decide when you go." A silver key appears around each of their necks. "But feel free to ask."

Kat almost looked startled... almost. "Oh is that so? Then how about you take that book of yours out and check it one more time if theses little ponies won't be going tonight, hmm?"

Glyph doesn't even seem to react to the key, simply continuing to grin.

Nightmare Moon sighs. "Fine." A large ornate book appears, hovering in front of the Goddess. The pages turn themselves until the middle of the book is reached. "Oh here they are... Oh my."

Kat "Well?"

Nightmare Moon perks her ears up. "These two are protected. Do you know what a Slayer is?"

Kat perks her ears up, her eyes going slightly wider and she almost looked a little paler at the mention of 'Slayers'. The name itself made her take a step back in surprise. "O...Of course I know! Slayers... killers of... d... demons..."

Glyph shies away as well, shaking a bit in fear. "S-slayers... s-sister, y-you assured me that these t-two..."

Nightmare Moon nods. "That is right, she will pull your essence out and slowly devour it. You will be undone as she feasts. The hosts will suffer, but you will feel none of it, just the slow inevitable numbing. The cold comes for you. Leave and you may be spared, maybe." As she finishes the sound of wings beating in the distance becomes audible. "You might want to hurry."

Kat gulps, already visibly shaking and sweating. "C... come on brother... t... this isn't worth it." She stutters out before taking another step back, then gasps in, head snapping up, mouth hanging open and eyes rising up. Her body shakes heavily for a couple of seconds before she collapses fully onto the floor.

Glyph stumbles back again, his voice wavering, "I... I a-agree... n-nothings w-worth that!" His body tenses and his head and eyes roll back as he trembles. He finally relaxes, and seems like a massive weight had descended on him, his legs wobbling like a newborn foals as they try to keep him up. "B-blood... K-kat... ohh my head..." Seeming to use extreme effort he lifts his head, looking at Nightmare moon. "You... w-who are... d-did y-you h-hurt K-kat?" his voice wavers, seeming to take most of his strength.

Nightmare Moon lays a kiss of pleasant dreams on Kats' forehead, "This is a dream." and then places the same kiss on both of Glyphs' cheeks, the power of sleep in each kiss. She speaks when they both close their eyes "I will always fight for you, my loves. Any demon, I would slay them, for you." Then she speaks in an unsure whisper "Even if they are your own.” Nightmare Moon then picks up Carmine in her forelegs and blows on his nose, waking him.

Carmine shakes his head slowly. "Wha...? I? Where?"

Nightmare Moon looks into Carmines' eyes "You are safe now my child. Tomorrow you will have your whole life to be a good and joyous pony, and tonight will be a dream. Remember that we love you, and you have the power too chose." and she kisses his horn.

"I, zzuu?" Carmine goes cross eyed and passes out.

Nightmare Moon lifts Carmine onto her back and flies him home.

Kat is still left sleeping and bleeding in her own little pool of blood near the well.

---

Stiletto arrives on the seen an hour later as the sleep spell wears off. She stands above Glyph and Kat singing quietly.

Kat slowly and shakily wakes up from the sleep spell wearing off, feeling all dizzy and light-headed from the blood-loss, still not wanting to get up "Nn... whu?"

Glyph barely cracks his eyes, still feeling groggy from the sleeping spell, "G-gde.... Kat, are you... okay? Stiletto? Is... is that you... singing?"

Stiletto presents them with a basket full of crundle steaks and blood orange juice bottles "I find you two in the strangest places, what were you two up to tonight?"

Kat groggily tries to stand up, finding the floor had developed the ability to move on it's own. "Nn... I have no idea... was I bleeding from my neck?"

"B-blood... I got cut on something?" Glyph drags himself to his feet, wobbling a bit. "Kak zhe my... why are we here..."

Stiletto looks over their wounds. "How did that happen? You should eat and drink to get your strength back."

Kat nods as she gets to her hooves, still feeling dizzy. "Nn... yeah.. ugh... it smells here... I want to clean..." she complains.

"I... but... wait, Friesden... where is she? She... she's okay right? I... I need to go back to her..." Glyph takes a staggering step towards the apartments, then stops, looking at himself. "B-but all this blood... I n-need to clan myself first..."

Stiletto takes some cloth from her saddlebags and hands it to the two of them. "Lucky for you two are near the well. Clean up and I will take you home, Falacata has been teaching me how to fly faster, and when we get home I will finish my song."

Glyph nods, then goes over to the well. "U-umm Stiletto... why are you carrying a basket of food around this late?"

Kat stumbles over to the well as well, looking at her bloodied dress and frowns..

Stiletto looks to the side. "It was... a snack, I like Blood orange juice very much, and I need protein after a hard work out."

Kat picks up the bucket so she can use it get some water, before noticing something. "Um... why is there a big dent on the bucket?"

Glyph rubs his forehead. "There is? Uuugh... my head's hurting a bit too..."

Stiletto trots over to take a look. "There is?" She examines the bucket. "Glyph, this kind of looks like your head shape, did you fall in the well?"

"I... I'm not wet..." Glyph looks himself over. "I don't think so... we should really put a grate on that thing though... it seems like everypony falls in..."

"Yeah..." Kat shakes her head slightly as she dips the bucket into the well to get some water so they both can wash. Her stomach growling with the ferocity of a manticore interrupts her, though.

Stiletto nods her head. "We should get somepony to do it, first thing in the morning. But right now we should get home and eat."

"Yeah... malyutka... I hope she's still asleep... I promised I'd always be there for her... If she woke up..." Glyph quickly rinses the blood from his coat, continuously glancing over at the apartments.

Kat was just as quick in cleaning herself, though she'll still have to change into dry clothes later. "Mm... wait.." she realizes something when she open up her wings, her eyes going wide in slight panic "My crossbow! And quiver! It's gone!"

Stiletto checks Kat over one more time "Oh dear, what do we do? Do you remember what you last did with them? Wait, why is there blood all over? Do you know what happened, do you need to see Wool and Panacea?"

"I... I don't know... I think I'm fine... wait... my axe where..." Glyph looks over and sees his axe. "There it- wait... there's blood on it..."

"Did you get hit on the head and fall on your axe, Glyph? What were you doing last night, is this more," *whispers* "play time?"

Kat sighs about her lost crossbow before continuing to wash herself with more water, trying to get the blood off... and it's not coming off easily "It's going to strain so bad..."

"Fall on it? But... why would I have had it out though..." Glyph shakes his head. "I just hope nopony was hurt, with all this blood..."

Stiletto smiles. "That just means I get to take you dress shopping Kat." She then nods solemnly at Glyphs' words. "I will check the hospital, if you want me too."

Kat perks her ears up from the word 'dress shopping'. "Oohh! You’re right! I guess I found my excuse to buy more dresses!"

"Might be good... I hope that I didn't..." Glyph shakes his head again, cleaning his axe as well before slinging it. He sighs a little. "Back home you were lucky to have more than work clothes... and usually only one set..."

Stiletto reaches for her bits pouch "I can give you money to buy some new clothing Glyph. So clean up, and we can get home."

Glyph picks up his hat and puts it on. "I'm ready... I really hope Friesden's okay...”

Kat nods and sighs, finishing up cleaning herself. “Yeah I'm ready too... I guess I could go search for my crossbow later.”

Glyph leads the others back to his apartment, quietly opening the door and checking on Friesden. Luckily, she seemed to not have stirred, still sleeping just as he had left her.

Stiletto quietly walks in and smiles at the sight of a peacefully sleeping Friesden.

Kat follows in, seeing the still-sleeping Friesden. She smiles warmly at that.

Stiletto quietly speaks. "Eat, drink and then get ready to sleep. I will sing a lullaby to you all, for sweet dreams."

"You will? Thank you moĭ samyĭ opytnyĭ lyubvi, that will be nice... will you sleep here too Kat?" Glyph begins to eat a bit as he talks.

Kat smiles at that as she begins to eat a bit as well, nodding "Mmhmm... that'd be really lovely.."

Stiletto takes one bottle of blood orange juice and begins to drink. "Is that the lopony words for my love title?"

Glyph nods, smiling. "It is, it feels nice speaking my home language again..."

Kat sighs in contentment after eating a bit of the food, leaning over to nuzzle both Glyph and Stiletto. "So many languages to hear... so many languages to speak."

Glyph leans into the nuzzle. "Do you know any other languages Kat? I'd love to hear yours sometime."

"I did take me a long time to translate this lullaby... that is a good question Glyph, I have heard you use odd words before Kat."

Kat smiles and giggles as she blushes slightly from the question, pawing at the floor slightly "Mm... yes... I know the language of my homeland."

Glyph smiles more. "It's kinda fun, hearing new languages, and learning them... We have so many now..."

Stiletto finishes her blood orange juice. "These things are very interesting, but they should wait until morning. Now let me tuck you in and sing you to sleep."

Glyph finishes the last of his food, then nuzzles Stiletto once more before climbing into bed and cuddling up to Friesden.

Kat follows Glyph up onto the bed, opening a wing to cover little Friesden under it and smiles as she rests comfortably on the other side of Glyph. "Mm... sounds lovely."

Stiletto sings in an enchantingly relaxing tone:

The sun is sleeping quietly

Once upon a century

Wistful oceans calm and red

Ardent caresses laid to rest

For my dreams I hold my life

For wishes I behold my nights

The truth at the end of time

Losing faith makes a crime

I wish for this night time

to last for a life-time

The darkness around me

Shores of a solar sea

Oh how I wish to go down with the sun

Sleeping

Weeping

With you

Sorrow has a human heart

From my god it will depart

I'd sail before a thousand moons

Never finding where to go

Two hundred twenty-two days of light

Will be desired by a night

A moment for the poet's play

Until there's nothing left to say

I wish for this night-time to last for a lifetime

The darkness around me

Shores of a solar sea

Oh how I wish to go down with the sun

Sleeping

Weeping

With you

I wish for this night-time to last for a lifetime

The darkness around me

Shores of a solar sea

Oh how I wish to go down with the sun

Sleeping

Weeping

With you....
((Song: Sleeping sun by Nightwish.))

With three fast asleep, Stiletto exits the apartment silently and flies to the church. She bows before the statue of Luna and then kisses it on the top of her muzzle. “Forgive me for borrowing your form Goddess.”

---

The next morning, a bucket of black paint and a bucket of dimple cup dye*1 were reported missing.

Author's Note:

*1: A blue dye.

Comments

[AranyaP]

You know, it kept bothering me to this day how Nightmare Moon existed before Luna was born.