Tree Hugger squinted as she entered the large chamber deep within the bowels of Canterlot Castle, the furious and crackling purple glow in the center of the room nearly bringing tears to her eyes. The light was so intense that she could barely make out the mages casting the spell spread out around the room, their shapes just brief shadows in the glow. She scooted along the edge of the circular chamber feeling along the wall until her hoof found a door and she pushed it open quickly darting into the dark side room. “What’s got them going full force?” She asked as she rubbed her eyes clear.

“We got two items today.” Key Lock answered not looking up from his tome. The hidden underbelly of Canterlot Castle was one of the few places that non anomalous works containing any information on anomalous items, beings, or events could be found in Equestria. With most of it being concentrated in this small room barely the size of an office, the books piled high and a few paintings depicting odd creatures and ponies propped against the wall. “That thing out there is tough; it was barely scorched when they threw it into a fire.” Tree Hugger leaned over his shoulder to look at what he was reading.

“King Charlatan’s Game?” She read as she looked over the old pictures and text showing a regal looking being, she had no idea what but it looked like some kind of bird judging by the beak, standing over another of his kind as it clutched its bleeding face. In between them was a table with what looked like a green cup in the middle which Key Lock pointed at.

“That,” he said as he tapped the page, “is exactly what we got out there. I don’t know how it was made out of plastic all the way back then but this is what King Charlatan used to punish subjects for crimes. No justice system, he just rolled the dice at you regardless of the crime.”

“How old is it?” Tree Hugger asked as she pulled a chair out and sat next to him at the overcrowded table, careful to not disturb the piles of books. “And what in Tartarus is that thing?” She pointed to “King Charlatan” she guessed.

“I believe they were Penguins.” Key Lock answered as he leaned back in his seat. “This is an account of Far Shores expedition to the South Pole and his time spent in King Charlatan’s court. He saw a bunch of weird things that would be considered anomalous if the entire Penguin civilization hadn’t disappeared by the time he made a second trip back a few years later. Princess Celestia declared the disappearance an anomalous event and this remains the only evidence of their existence.” He closed the tome and pushed it away. “I nearly shit myself when I saw that cup out there; rushed in here to make sure I was right. That thing out there has got to be four centuries old but it still looks good as new.”

“Not for much longer.” Tree Hugger said as she looked at the door where purple light danced through its frame. “So what was the other thing they brought in?”

“No idea.” Key Lock admitted. “It’s on hold till they figure out if its victim has been cured of its affects.” He leaned forward to whisper to her and she leaned in to meet him. “It did something to Twilight Sparkle; the Princesses brought these things back themselves from Ponyville. And they were pissed when they got back.” He gossiped. “Princess Luna stormed off after arguing with Celestia about something.”

“Twilight Sparkle? Shit.” Tree Hugger muttered. “No wonder Princess Celestia is peeved.”

“It’s not just that, Stone Guard and Stead Fast came back with some other pony and they said that it wasn’t Twilight Sparkle that the Princesses were talking with but three fillies with strange matching Cutie Marks. They were the ones who found the anomalies.” He revealed and Tree Hugger’s eye brows shot up.

“That’s… odd.” She said and with the work they did she meant it. “But two anomalies in one place found by the same little girls? That’s a hell of a coincidence.”

“Rumor mill says that it may not be such a coincidence the way the Princesses are acting.” Key Lock offered but leaned away and sank into his seat. “But how was your assignment?”

“I hate kids.” Tree Hugger answered as she sank into her own seat, the topic of what could be worrying the Princesses, which in itself was distressing given how much experience they had with anomalies, suddenly off the table. “I spent all week wandering around the Manehattan train stations looking for this randomly appearing graffiti monster only to read in the newspaper yesterday that some colt found a way to magically mix spray paints to appear and disappear at his magic signature. He was using it scare the crap out of ponies as a prank.”

“How dare him!” Key Lock said sarcastically with a smile. “Did you scare him straight with stories of other anomalous mishaps?”

“The only anomalies I’ve ever found was that key that locked whatever it was put in,” room or box even if there was no locking mechanism in place, “and that living tractor. Not really anything that could be mistaken for pranks.” She argued as the purple light from the main chamber died. “Well looks like they’re done or they got tired.” She said as they got up out of their seats and made for the door. “So you have dinner yet? I was thinking of going down t-”

The question died on her lips as she pushed open the door and was greeted with the sight of all of the mages collapsed around the room their bodies unmoving and a solitary brown feathered griffon standing in the center of the chamber, it’s back to them. “Freeze!” Tree Hugger commanded as she bolted into the chamber, Key Lock following behind. She stopped a few feet behind the griffon, which by her estimation of the body type was male, and gave him another command. “Turn around! Slowly!”

The griffon did as commanded and they were treated to a slow reveal of his masked face hiding everything above his beak which remained free to allow him to speak. The mask looked like it was made of iron and seemed more like it belonged as the face plate of a full suit of armor instead as a lone face covering. There was a raised plate over the thin eye slots that Tree Hugger supposed was meant to be lowered so as to shield but blind the eyes and a complete lack of leather straps holding it to his head, the mask seemingly affixed to his face. It didn’t take experience working with anomalies to know that something was seriously wrong with this griffon but it did leave Tree Hugger and Key Lock aware of what terrible things could be awaiting them if they let their guard down.

“Evening.” He spoke clearly with an accent hinting at high society. “I apologize at intruding at this late hour but I could not allow this barbarism to continue.” He explained as he raised up one of his fore claws to reveal that he was holding a green plastic cup, the same that King Charlatan had used to punish criminals so many centuries ago if Key Lock was correct.

“Drop it!” Tree Hugger ordered as she tensed up and Key Lock shifted behind her.

“I shall not.” The griffon refused. “Your organization and Princesses have scourged the supernatural world long enough. We will not stand by any longer.” He stated as Tree Hugger’s mind raced at what nutjob group could possibly have knowledge of anomalous items let alone have sympathy for them. Suddenly Key Lock sprang for the door either out of cowardice or an attempt to summon more guards but it doesn’t matter with what happened next. With a flick of his wrist the griffon threw the dice out at Key Lock as Tree Hugger sprang toward him with a hoof raised to stop him. The griffon was too quick and dodged around her strike and dealt his own punch to her face, sending her spiraling to the ground where he quickly pinned her as the dice struck and rolled along the ground towards Key Lock.

Tree Hugger stopped her struggling as Key Lock cried out and she swung her head around to watch as her friend was murdered by some unseen force. Key Lock stumbled against the wall as his mouth was pried open and he flailed his hooves out in front of him to stop whatever was happening to him. Soon there was a cracking sound as his jaw was dislocated from his head, Key Lock making weak cries for help, and soon with a final tug his jaw was ripped from his head and flung across the room. Key Lock now freed of the force brought his hooves to his face and tried to stop the bleeding as his tongue dangled out into the fresh air.

All of Tree Hugger’s strength left her as Key Lock collapsed to the ground making weak pained gurgling sounds and the dice calmly rolled themselves back into the green cup. “Tell the Princesses we know what they have done.” The griffon holding her whispered as she glanced up at his iron masked face. “The magic is coming back. And we will protect it.” As the final dice rolled itself back into the cup he leaped off of her back and gathered up the cup and took to the air. Jumping to her feet Tree Hugger watched as the griffon closed the eye plate and clutched the green cup to his body as he soared to the ceiling. She watched as his body thinned and compressed as he neared the wall until he seamlessly slipped through the cracks of the chambers ceiling and left her alone with his warning.

Author's Note

I need to learn to stop ending Chapters on cliff hangers and cryptic warnings.

These Side Stories are going to be how I'm going to introduce the different groups that the girls are going to be eventually dealing with. I've already got the rough ideas for the pony versions of The Church of the Broken God and Marshall, Carter, and Dark Ltd. tumbling along. I don't know which ones I'm going to do but I can say that the UIU and that The Horizon Initiative probably won't be around given that the Princesses are the GOC. I can't really see a way of them existing without involving the Princesses on some level and they wouldn't be happy with their existence.