> Enforcing Change Side Story 2 > by Scootaboom1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Ch 1 Boitatá > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire Works I am the newest commander of the Anti Monster Society or AMS for short. I used my talent for explosives to fight monsters when I was a field agent. Now I was mostly a pencil pusher. For now though I was taking an file with an assignment to one of our best agents. As I approached the training grounds I heard the tell tale signs that she was there. Entering the training ground I saw agent Sweetie Drops throw three heavy metal balls into the air before bucking them towards a set of training dummies. Not only were the dummies smashed to peices but the wall behind them to. I sighed when I saw all the damage. Don't get me wrong I did my far share of damage in my day but now that I have to deal with it I really understand why they considered me a problem child. When she saw me she asked me if there was an assignment for her. The monster she was after is called the Boitatá a fire snake who lives in a river habitat. When ponies first moved to the area their actions caused heavy damage to the local habitat. This caused the Boitatá to become enraged and it began to attack the ponies. It had initially been sealed away but now that the seal has decayed it is back. Sweetie Drops' mission was to locate it and ensure that it was not a threat to ponies. And if it was a threat she was to deal with it at her discretion. She said that she would handle it and left. Some may worry about sending a single young mare to handle such a dangerous monster, but she takes after her father when it comes to strength. Honestly I sometimes worry more about the monsters than I do her. Sweetie Drops The most difficult thing about the Boitatá that I will have to deal with is that despite it's aquatic it was proficient in fire. As I collected the supplies I felt that I may need an agent by the name of Pretzel Stick came by to chat with me. She was pretty good with a spear if you asked me but she was just to soft for this kind of work. She was inviting me to a party with some of her friends but I had a job to do and couldn't stick around. Eventually I made my way to the area where the Boitatá was located. Just upstream from the local town there was an area of dense foliage. Before I entered the foliage I drank a potion that would protect me from fire. As I carefully walked through the foliage I noticed a slight movement below the waters surface. I reached into my saddle bag and as the Boitatá latched out of the water I pulled out a large ball of cottage cheese and kicked it into the mouth. The Boitatá choked on the cheese and I pulled out an axe and chopped it's head off. I pulled the body out of the water and found that it had recently layed eggs. After drinking a potion that would let me breathe underwater I investigated the area for it's nest. When I found them I smashed each and every one of them. As I emerged from the water I saw Nightlight. He was a member of the night guard and a friend of my dad. He liked to keep an eye on me. I asked what happened to the mate. He explained that Boitatá were solitary creatures most of the time. The female would have stayed to it's territory but once the eggs hatched the male would have led them downstream to the ocean before returning to it's own territory. They would have been a problem for all twenty one of the settlements that would have been in their paths. As for what he did to mate. Well he relocated it already and had already prepared a draft for the report that I would have to write. It effectively said that Nightlight had already been at the location and had already made preparations to relocate the Boitatá. He then said that he was going to get rid of any evidence of the nest and asked me to prepare the female for him to remove once he was done. I started to curl it up before I started to write my own report. As I finish the first section of the report I heard Nightlight emerge from the river water with a container. I asked if he got what he wanted. He did but just stood there. When I asked if there was anything else he needed he sighed and said that I knew that he would not be able to cover for me all the time. I knew this and told him that I knew it. When he managed to dispose of the female Boitatá body and container he said his goodbyes and left. Whatever I didn't need anyone and I won't lose anyone. I decided long ago that I would not let anyone else suffer like I did. > Ch 2 Mares of Diomedes > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweetie Drops Here it is. A joint mission. We had gained Intel on a set of four incredibly dangerous creatures. The AMS was after the Mares of Diomedes who were to be locked in Tartarus. I had never heard of them before but when I asked no one was to sure about where they came from. So I asked Nightlight if he knew anything about them. Only a few seemed to know that Nightlight spied on our meetings every now and again. When Nightlight seemingly appeared out of nowhere he started to explain the origins of the Mares of Diomedes. Diomedes was a practitioner of dark magic who lived six hundred and forty seven years ago. He made his base on a small island off the coast of Equestria. He mostly kept to himself but he over the course of a few days he abducted four fillies and experimented on them with dark magic to be his brides. As a result of the experiments the mares became highly carnivorous and cannibalistic. The night after the experiments on the fillies were completed they ended eating him in his sleep. As they tried to find a way off the island a ship of warriors came ashore to prepare an ambush on the dark magic user. When they arrived the fillies convinced them to take them back to the mainland. They explained that Diomedes was not there at the time but should return in two days and they would have a much easier time if they were not in a position to be used as hostages. But by the time the ship made it to shore the crew had been devoured. All this was learned through journals left on both the ship and island. The fillies though were never found. The names given to the fillies by Diomedes were Podargos, Lampon, Xanthos, and Deinos. Podargos was a sky blue pegasus with a cloud colored mane who was quite fast while in the open air. Lampon was a grey unicorn with a mint green mane who blinded foes with a flash of magic before ripping their throats out. Xanthos was an earth pony who was yellow all over add was believed to be the one who treats the injures of the others. Deinos was a dark grey earth pony with a black mane who led the other four. When they were originally abducted by Diomedes she was the oldest and likely felt responsible for taking care of to others. Regardless of how we chose to fight them we take care to avoid their bites which could easily rend through metal. After that Nightlight left and we began to make a plan for how to deal with them. Deinos The girls and I were resting in a cave for the night. As I looked out of the cave and into the rain. I felt empty as I did so before looking to the others. The three whom I had considered a family for years no centuries at this point. The three were sleeping peacefully. I couldn't imagine my life without them anymore. I had to make sure that they would stay safe. I was the one who they looked to for when they needed it from Diomedes. As the morning sun rised I shook the others awake. After that we continued on our way. In the distance we saw a small town that would likely be perfect for our needs. Keeping to the edge of the woods and town we were greeted by a light brown unicorn mare and a muscular orange earth pony stallion. The mare was named Pretzel Stick and the stallion was named Heavy Lifting. They were move into a house just a little into the woods and two of their friends would be helping them move in. In addition to a potluck. When the pair learned that we were not from the area and I told them that we were considering moving here as well they invited us to join them this evening. This was perfect, a decent meal for each of us and they would all be isolated in one place. The ones who would be joining us would also be bringing the food for the potluck which as far as we cared was a bonus. If we were lucky we could even blame it on a monster that supposably lived in the woods. I had felt the gaze of some kind of beast for the past two days at this point. If it even chooses to attack us we could eat it ourselves too. Or at the very least use it as a scapegoat. As we waited for the time to come we decided to kill time in the town. When we saw some fillies playing and talking about the future I saw a slight and strained smile on my sisters. When was the last time I saw them all do that? The last time I saw Lampon smile was about a month ago. Xanthos was about a year ago and Podargos was around the same time. When it finally came to go help Pretzel Stick and Heavy Lifting with moving we made our way into the woods. When Heavy Lifting let us in I saw how small the interior of the house was. We were lead to a small living room where we were introduced to an earth pony mare named Sweetie Drops and a unicorn mare named Sweet Lemonade. When introducing ourselves Sweet Lemonade offered us some of her own home made lemonade. Sweetie Drops I had spent the last two days watching these monsters and now as they approached Sweet Lemonade it was almost time to put an end to their murderous ways. When they were close enough Sweet Lemonade squirted they in the eyes with her super sour lemonade before Pretzel Stick throw her pointed pretzel sticks into their eyes to prevent them from clearing their vision. Once that was done Heavy Lifting and I went in to incapacitated them. Once we put restraints on them we moved to lock them up in Tartarus. Apparently they planned to try and find a cure for their condition. Foolishness. > Ch 3 Nue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweetie Drops When the AMS started to get reports from towns which involved a few recurring elements. The sound of some kind of bird before or after strange events. The bird had an unnerving sound to it but that the events have been getting worse. It apparently started simple enough. First ponies would find doors of all kinds suddenly opened or closed in addition to objects being moved around. Then more important stuff started to disappear. Documents, expensive products, and even life saving medication. Then things started to get weirder. Mean spirited letters, graffiti, dishes smashed, and mutilated animal carcasses. This was at about the point where we started to investigate what was going on. The first major clue to what was going on was strange dreams and visions of a monster. The monster had the head of a howling monkey the body of a tiger and the front half of a snake. Sometimes before or after a one of these incidents a the shadow of a monkey, tiger, or snake would be seen. After hearing about one of the incidents resulting in a filly being injured I decided to go help Pretzel Stick who had originally been assigned to the task. Pretzel Stick had been staying in an old inn in the town which was known for it's spa. The inn had dealt with quite a few of the incidents. I planned to get my own room before searching for Pretzel Stick to help her with the investigation. When I entered the inn I was shocked to see Pretzel Stick wearing a uniform and cleaning the lobby. What was she doing? If this incident is not resolved then ponies could die! Without thinking I asked her what she was doing only to get a response from who I learned was the owner. Apparently Pretzel Stick had caused the boiler to burst and was working to pay it off. When she had some free time she explained that she had gone down to the boiler room which guest were not allowed to enter and thinking that something was wrong with the boiler messed with the nobes causing it to burst. The inn had three other guests all earth pony stallions. A skinny blue one, a muscular brown one who rarely left his room, and grey one of average build. They were apparently taking advantage of the drop in price from all the recent events. While I started to investigate on my own I found that the stallion who stayed in his room had some kind of argument with the grey stallion. Yet that was about all I learned since not a single incident occurred. I went to check up on the filly that was okay but when I returned I found Pretzel Stick and the owner confronting the grey stallion. He started to laugh manically as a black fog flowwed out of him and he called out to two individuals who he called snake and tiger. Two more clouds of black fog flowwed into the room and covered the stallion and he transformed into the monster that the reports described. The monster towered over them as the fight broke out I joined in to help Pretzel Stick against the beast. When the head howled it would sound like the bird call that had been reported, but far louder. When it did this my vision would blur and shake making it hard to move. The tiger claws would slash at us tearing apart anything in their paths. When we tried to get behind it the snake head would lash out at us. We managed to continue to avoid the attacks but we were not making any progress on beating it. Suddenly the voice of the grey stallion called out in rage asking why snake and tiger were holding back. The snake lightly chuckled and said that he couldn't forget the act of kindness Pretzel Stick had shown him. The tiger had apparently been talking with the snake about this and frankly he hated monkey as I learned the head was called. Snake When I went to the boiler room I had originally planned to just turn off the boiler, but I had never used a boiler and had no idea what I was doing. When I turned some of the valves and before I knew it the boiler was on the verge of exploding. Things had got very very out of hoof. I only wanted to cause a minor inconvenience not blow the inn up. Then that mare Pretzel Stick came in a told me that she would fix it and to get back for my own safety. She managed to minimize the damage but I was still panicking. Monkey would be mad. He didn't want to be to inconvenienced by the boiler being broken. I thought that monkey would kill me, but Pretzel said that she would take the blame for it. Sweetie Drops As the different parts of the monsters continued to conflict with each other. Then they started to come apart and the snake and tiger parts started to fade away. As this happened to monkey head continually cried out about them abandoning him. As they faded away I looked around and saw Nightlight with a almost smug grin, but in the blink of an eye he was gone. Pretzel Stick and the owner did not seem to notice. Pretzel Stick then explain to me that the owner of the inn had been a member of AMS in the past. Together we wrote our report on what had transpired before returning to base. > Ch 4 Nalusa Falaya > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Short Sighted When I learned that I was talented in optometry my family celebrated. But it was still too early for me to really focus on advance studies since I was still young. Not that I minded being able to continue goffing around and having fun. One of my favorite places to have fun was the wooded area of trees in the park. It was one of the only places in the park where there was a decent amount of shad, or at least one that is not regularly visited by other ponies. Sometimes I would use the shad to take a nap during the day. When I went to it today though I felt some pony watching me Looking around I noticed that it was just a large crow. I must have been new to the area. As I left though it seemed to keep watching me. Though I never did see the nest it must have been living in the wooded area because it was always there. Sometimes I would bring a little bit of corn in my saddle bags for it. It had no problem with me hanging around with it but whenever I would bring a friend or some pony else was around the crow would not show up. Since I didn't want to make the crow uncomfortable I had decided to keep it as my little secret from my family and friends. When I would spend time in the wooded area where the crow would be I noticed that it would come out of the shadows. When I say that it came out of the shadows I mean it. It walked out of the ground as though it were the most natural thing in the world. When it did this it would have wisps of shadows would come off of it. This got me thinking. So one day I looked at it and asked if I could see what it really looked like. Suddenly it's body melted into a mass of shadows and turned into some kind of large pitch black iguana. The biggest difference was that it had long jagged teeth. Well besides the other stuff. As I continued to observe my shy friend I noticed that it would start acting strange the later it was in the day. It would get a nervous twitch randomly and occasionally make a growling or gurgling sound. I was starting to get worried that something was happening to it when I was not around but I had to be home for dinner. Maybe I could sneak out without my parents knowing. When I was on my way home I was offered a sample from the cream colored mare who had gotten a part time job at the candy shop. My parents wouldn't want me to spoil my dinner but it looked really tasty so I took one regardless. After my parents had put me to bed I had decided that it was time to sneak out. As I made my way to the park I thought I saw the shadow of an adult but I couldn't see any pony. Shrugging I continued to the park and saw the trees. When I approached the tree line I heard the growling. When I made my way into the trees I saw my shadow friend but something about them was different. They were standing on their hind legs and far larger than before. As it hissed in me while drooling. Before I realized it my shadow friend slashed at me with long sharp claws. But before they made contact everything went black. Sweetie Drops After getting her filly out of the way and knocking her out I started to fight the monster. Nightlight had called it a nalusa falaya. While they were docile during the day once night fell they became highly aggressive and territorial. As it slashed at me I made sure that the filly was safe from it's claws. Since it did not have a physical body I would have to use a item Nightlight had given me. It was a wooden bottle with a cork tied to it. When I shoved the opening into the nalusa falaya and said the activation code. When I did the nalusa falaya was sucked inside and the cork sealed it inside. As I made sure that the cork would not come loose Nightlight walked towards the filly saying that he would erase her memories from the last five hours before returning her home. Before he left he said that he would relocate the nalusa falaya when he finished. Or would he? > Ch 5 Nuckelavee > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweetie Drops I had recently had to deal with a few monsters that isolated prey before violently tearing them apart. The lou carcolh, a bauk, and a gryphon called the black annis who had metal claws and a taste for other gryphons. And now it seemed that I was dealing with another such creature. I came to Trottingham to investigate a series of disappearances that were occurring in the area. The culprit appeared to be a completely red centaur. Though from the sound of it they were disfigured in some way. Three agents had previously been sent to handle the situation but two had disappeared just like the victims. Before I left I was joined by Nightlight which was strange. He would normally just observe from a distance but right now he was not even trying to hide. When I asked why he was not observing from a distance he said that he had a bad feeling about what was causing the disappearances. So he decided that it was best to come with me openly. When we arrived our first course of action was to question the surviving agent Sweet Lemonade. Heavy Lifting and Pretzel Stick had not been found and likely never would. Even if Sweet Lemonade was still recovering from being attacked we needed information on who we were fighting. She was not completely consciousness but I tried to question her regardless. The first thing I learned was that there were actually more than one culprit. The second thing I learned was that they would appear out of the ocean. Sweet Lemonade had slipped in a puddle while running from them before they reached her she threw her lemonade at them. After a while she noticed that they had disappeared and she stayed there until she was found by locals who then brought her to the hospital. The local authorities had been doing their own investigation and when Nightlight returned to tell me what he learned he held a grim expression. Apparently some kind of black blood had been found on the beach where Heavy Lifting and Pretzel Stick had disappeared. When I asked if he knew what that meant he said that he had an idea but really hoped that he was wrong. When I decided to investigate on my own I was lead to an old mare with a moat around her house and water tower near by. According to her there have been signs of the return of the nuckelavees. When the old mare described what a nuckelavee looked like I understood why they would be misidentified as centaurs. Since they seemed to have an aversion to water I decided that the best way to fight them was with water guns. I also learned that they would not appear about a day or two after it rained. As for Nightlight well he just went off on his own to make his own preparations. Not sure what he is planning but he normally has good ideas for this stuff. While he was doing that I would prepare a stake out for the three nuckelavee. As I waited on the beach for the nuckelavee I saw three large red forms as they emerged from the sea. When they did I heard veagely familiar voices but I knew that it was a trick by the nuckelavee. As they approached it was prepared to cut off their escape route to the ocean using a sprinkler system that was already there. When they passed it I turned them on so that they could not run away. In their surprised state I jumped out and shot them with my water guns. Though because there were three of them and only one of me it was a battle that required constant dodging as they reached for me with their long arms. The fight lead us towards the old water tower when my water guns ran out of water. As I backed away from them the water tower collapsed on them. The water seared them nearly beyond recognition as they were pinned by the towers metal. I stared at the sight in confusion when I heard Nightlight behind me. Looking back I also saw the old mare who explain that she had planned to open the water tower on the nuckelavee to drive them away, but Nightlight had convinced her to let him just drop it on them. He said that I should go rest while he got a hose to finish them off for good. When I returned to my hotel room I realized just how exosted I was and collapsed. > Ch 6 Bugbear > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweetie Drops The time had finally come. I had gotten a report that would lead me to the location of the Bugbear. Fire Works As Sweetie Drops left I reminded her that our job was to capture monsters as needed not kill them like what Nightlight did with the nuckelavee. Even if they killed two agents and retired another. Nightlight After the whole incident with the nuckelavee Celestia had started to consider absorbing the organization into the guard and/or dissolving it. When she learned that I kept the fact that Sweetie Drops was a member of AMS from her dad. Iron Shield was not happy with me. Though after she captures the bugbear I was sure that I could convince her to retire to Ponyville. Hopefully not all of the fillies and colts will be killed. Jelly Filling When I was taken by the bugbear I was not sure of what would happen to me or the other fillies and colts. I was hoping that it was actually going to be a nice monster but went it ripped open a colts gut while he was still alive and awake. That was when I realized that I was going to die. Sweetie Drops The entrance to the cave was actually quite well hidden from view. As I entered the cave I started to notice the smell of blood. I took this to mean that I was in the right cave. When making my way through the cave I made sure to keep myself quiet and had taken a potion to mask my scent from the bugbears' excellent sense of smell. As I went deeper into the cave I heard the sound of fillies and colts whimpering. I also heard snoring from a clearly large creature. My heart started to pound in my chest. I had finally found the bugbear and could finally take my revenge, but now my legs felt like jelly. I started to take deep breaths to calm myself down. Now was not the time to panic not when I was so close to my goal. I took my axe out and looked into the room with the snoring. I considered beheading it then and there but the fillies and colts all had unobstructed views of the beast. Even if they had seen it tear their friends apart they didn't need to see that. I swapped my axe for a morning star and a powerful sleep potion to make sure it won't wake up. Unfortunately I stepped on a fragile bone waking it up. When the bugbear opened it's eyes it swung it's forearm at me which I narrowly avoided by jumping. Despite having the ability to fly the interior of the cave greatly limited it's movement. This made it easier in some ways and harder in others. When it slammed it's paw on the floor I hit it with my morning star. As it tried to bite down on me I bucked it as hard as I could. In it's dazed state I poured the potion into it's mouth knocking it out cold. Thanks to the potion it would be out for at least a week for now though I needed to contact the others to take the remaining fillies and colts home. Nightlight Before the bugbear escaped from Tartarus I had made sure that it would lay low until the time was right. Celestia had already decided that she would dissolve the AMS but I had convinced her that it had to wait until the bugbear escaped. When Sweetie Drops asked why I didn't go after the bugbear when it escaped I said that it was outside my jurisdiction. Unfortunately she didn't believe that and asked when that ever stopped me with a raised brow. I sighed and said that I was going to make sure that the bugbear will not be a threat again until the time was right. As she started to walk away I told her that I had a sweets shop that I could give her located in Ponyville if she wanted it. She had accepted and left mentioning something about finding a roommate. > Ch 7 A Second Slice of Life > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bon-Bon Now that Lyra knew about my past she had all kinds of questions about it. Lyra When Bon-Bon and I got home from Cranky and Matilda's wedding so many questions about Bon-Bons' past. How did she become a monster hunting secret agent? Why did she became a monster hunting secret agent? What was it like being a monster hunting secret agent? Bon-Bon Lyra bombarded me with questions that I knew I would have to answer now that she knew my secret. Her first and second questions got me to think. It was not something I had thought about in years by this point. I thought back to my brother Brave Shield and how he fought the bugbear to give me time to get to safety. After that day I moved to live with my father in Canterlot where I took night classes. I had gone to friend of my dad for training with the hope of getting revenge. I chose to not tell her that the friend was Nightlight. As I thought back on it though I realized that Nightlight never tried to discourage me from seeking revenge. In fact the more I thought about it the more I realized that Nightlight seemed to encourage it. When I mentioned that to Lyra started to come up with a kinds of wild conspiracy theories that I shot down immediately. Well after that my dad found out that Nightlight was encouraging me and forbid him from training me to be a weapon. Regardless I was recruited by the AMS a few days later. Though I noticed that Nightlight would still watch over me from afar. The AMS had formed over a thousand years ago under a different name but as monster related incidents started to stop being common the organization became inactive in any meaningful way. But a few years ago monster related incidents started to resume again Equestria was much better equipped to handle them. Even so the AMS of the time decided to resume activity. Eventually I had become the best agent in the AMS. There were times where I would secretly kill a capture target only for Nightlight to cover it up for me. We then decided to change the topic to something else. I had known that Lyra had attended Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and that she had been "friends" with the now Princess Twilight Sparkle so she had met Nightlight before but didn't know the truth behind him. As far as she knew he was just a member of the night guard. Though it did make me wonder if he knew that I would become friends with Lyra. Actually how much did he know? As the days passed on Lyra and I became closer than we ever had before. For example I learned that Lyra had chest fluff of all things, I had thought that only pegasus had that. I managed to even talk her into growing it out and she was so fluffy. When the winter time started to come around we would snuggle up with hot coco. We only continued to grow closer when eventually peace was made with the Changelings we ended up learning that Nightlight was a changeling. Lyra started to come up with all kinds of theories about him but I pointed out that since we had both known him personally. Though I pointed out that even if we did than there was a chance that he won't tell us anything significant. Though I to admit that the idea of learning his secrets was appealing. Nightlight More time has passed. And right now the only thing standing between me and an angry Bon-Bon. I could just use time magic to undo my slip up the information that I left her brother to die. Fortunately I didn't leave the battle axe out plus Lyra and Velvet will calm her down eventually. Until then though I will stay safely on this side of the door until then. Then a hoof burst through wall next to the door. Note to self make sure that the walls surrounding reinforced doors were stronger than the doors. Fortunately I am a master of escape. Unfortunately Bon-Bon was a master of pursuit so I was not likely to get away by normal ways. Unfortunately those would only really work if I could break her line of sight for long enough but she was not going to let me at this point. As she made her way into the room I noticed that she was not immediately going to kill me so that was a plus. She had apparently just wanted to hear directly from me why I left her brother to die. I gave her a similar speal to the one I gave Twilight and her friends about being careful about altering events. She fortunately accepted my answer and started to leave but just before she left she said that she had a letter to send. Velvet looked at me and asked if I thought Iron Shield would take that news better. Knowing him the answer was no.