A Minion for the Night

"SUCH SCRUMPTIOUS SUCCULENCY!"

"Slow down! Not so faaAAAAHH!"

The guards present in the castle watched, dumbfounded and frozen in disbelief at what they were seeing. There was the strange creature from before, running at full speed down the corridors, with Princess Luna seated upon his shoulders, an axe in her magical grasp as she gave a yelp at each corner he took.

Wall straight ahead.

"I CAN SEE THE LADDER!"

"Left! Go left!" Luna shouted desperately.

"FASTEN YOUR SEAT-BELTS FOR THE CEREMONY!" Krieg gave a maniacal laugh as he took a left... and ran straight into Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, all of them coming to rest in a groaning heap of hooves, feathers and wiggling fingers.

"I found him..." Luna managed to croak from her position on the floor.

"I can see that," Celestia groaned as Krieg happily bounced up and down on top of her.

"What about Spike?" Twilight asked from somewhere between.

"He is alright, if shocked a bit. Though I am starting to have the feeling that the creature did not even intend to actually harm him..."

"UUUUUHHHUUUU!" Krieg swooned as he fished Twilight Sparkle out of the pile and gave her a bear hug. "THIS PILLOW IS SOFT BUT IS IT HUGGABLY SOFT?" Twilight let out a gasp as he ran his fingers over her. "I CAN SMELL THE HAPPY SUNSHINE! WHERE'S MY SPOON? I WANT TO EAT THE RAINBOW DROPS!"

"Can't... breath!" Twilight wheezed but started to grow pale when she saw him reach for his axe. "Wait wait wait! That's no spoon!"

She's not a box of candy.

"SHE AIN'T NO PILLOW EITHER!"

The three ponies stopped in their actions, staring at Krieg with surprised faces. "Did that," Twilight asked. "Did that sentence just now actually make sense?"

Lady, none of this is making sense anymore at this point...

"It did... Let me try something," Luna scrunched her face and carefully dangled the buzz axe out of Krieg's reach. "Do you want the spoon?"

"SPOON!" Krieg let Twilight drop to the floor and jumped after his weapon.

"Let us return to my chambers," Luna started to walk with Krieg in tow. "We will need to get to the bottom of this." She made the buzz axe dance. "Come on, try and catch-" she saw Krieg crouch. "Don't. You. Dare."

"RIDE ME TO THE PEANUT BUTTER CASTLE OF SCREAMING FLOWERS!"

A few minutes later the four of them had returned to Luna's chamber.

"Let's not do that again," Luna put on a sour face as she tried to rearrange her feathers. Krieg had simply chucked her onto his shoulders and had made a mad dash for her chambers, with Celestia and Twilight struggling hard to keep his mad pace.

"It's amazing though," Twilight tried to catch her breath. "He doesn't even appear to be tired..." She cast a look over to Krieg, who was currently busying himself by juggling his buzz axe. "Even after all that running. His endurance and strength are amazing!"

Hear that?

"I CAN HEAR THE PHANTOM PAIN CALLING!"

"That isn't everything," Luna commented with a worried glance. "Earlier, when I found him... he hurt himself with his weapon."

"He did?" Celestia eyed his figure with concern. "I see no wounds."

"His wounds closed the moment he opened them," Luna replied. "We have to keep a good eye on him to ensure he doesn't repeat it though."

"That's incredible! I wonder what else he can-" she stopped as Krieg suddenly squatted in front of her, his blood-shot eye on the level of her own. Twilight gulped nervously as she watched his head twitch every now and then. "Heh... nice minion."

"DOES THE LITTLE PONY WANT A PRESENT!?"

You're not really going to do that, are you?

"A gift?" Twilight raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Careful, Twilight. I am not sure what he would consider a gift." Celestia carefully observed him.

Twilight put on a hopeful smile. "Maybe he wants to be friends?" she returned her attention to him.

"DOES THE LITTLE PONY WANT A PRESENT?" Krieg repeated his question with strange ferocity.

"Uhmm... I guess?" Twilight managed to answer.

Wrong answer...

Before any of them could even react Krieg placed one of his hands on the floor and brought down his buzz axe with the other, separating his small finger with a loud crunch and a shocked gasp from the ponies.

Krieg picked up the severed finger and held it up in front of Twilight while a new finger started to grow from the stump almost instantly.

"PINKIE FOR THE STINKY!" he laughed happily as he held the bloody trophy towards her.

Twilight looked like she was about to faint.

Krieg jumped in a desperate attempt to reach his buzz axe, but Luna's magical grasp was holding it out of his reach.

"GIVE ME BACK MY SPINE TINGLER! I CAN'T EAT ALL THIS PUDDING WITHOUT A PROPER SPOON!"

"You are not getting it back," Luna barked at him. "Now sit!" Krieg sat down on his haunches like a scolded dog.

Still can't believe that actually works...

Luna gave a nod. "Good." She turned back to Twilight and Celestia. "How is Twilight?"

"He just..." Twilight stammered. "I said... and then he..." she looked at the finger lying on the floor with horror. "What is wrong with him!?"

"We will find out that for ourselves," Celestia shook her head with a sigh. "Try to calm down, we will need your help with this."

Twilight gave her mentor an uncertain look. "Why? What are we going to do?"

"We will enter his mind," Celestia stated with a firm voice. "We shall see for ourselves, what has happened to his mind... and whether the damage can be repaired..."

They... they can't be serious.

"If what Discord said is correct, that is." Luna commented carefully. "For all we know, he could always have been like this."

Enter Krieg's mind? Are they insane!? Tell them to stay out! This is way too dangerous! Stop them!

"THE PEANUT BUTTER CASTLE AWAITS ITS VISITORS! THERE'S MINIGOLF ON THE SECOND FLOOR! DON'T FORGET TO VISIT THE PIT OF HEARTS! COME ONE COME ALL! BRING YOUR KIDS ALONG TO THE PARADE OF ORPHANED TEARS!"

"Steady your mind and concentrate, Twilight." Celestia spoke up. "Only the stars know what we will find once we enter his thoughts."

Lady, entering ain't even going to be your biggest problem... Getting through and out sane again, that's going to be a big one...

Krieg watched the three Alicorns around him with amusement before returning to jumping after his weapon. Then, there was a flash of light and three new voices found their way into his shattered mind.