Nine Lives, Cat's Eyes

Chapters

(Edited 4-3-17) Chapter 2: It's because I'm black isn't it!?
Chapter 3: Mistress of the Night and Cat-scratch Fever.
Chapter 4: Azure Flames Dancing on the Horizon
(Edited: 4-3-17)Chapter 1: Cat, I'm a kitty-cat and I meow, meow, meow and I meow, meow, meow.

(Edited 4-3-17) Chapter 2: It's because I'm black isn't it!?

I awoke to the smell of rotten eggs, ”Oh god, did I forget to empty the fridge again? That smells rank…”

“That’s because we’re in the Volcanic Wastes you idiot,” I heard Bonbon’s voice screech at me and my eye snapped open when I remember where I was. The sky was cloudy with smoke coming from several large volcanoes and the surrounding ground was grey stone that flaked easily; possibly shale. “Do you realize you’ve doomed me?! What was Celestia thinking; it’s dangerous outside of Equestria… even as a member of the T.R.T. this place is a bad place to be, nopony in their right mind would willingly come here!”

“Tert?” I stood up and gave a long stretch, Man it’s great being a cat- er, Bakeneko, I’ve never felt so great!”

Bonbon sighed heavily before answering, “Well since I’m stuck here with you with no obvious way back home… Lyra is going to be in such a fit when I don’t come home… The T.R.T., the Tartarus Response Team, is dedicated to tracking down creatures deemed too dangerous to be around normal ponies and relocating them to where they can’t cause damage.” She stepped in front of me and gave me a seething glare and hissed, “Like you…”

“Please, I’m about as dangerous as a marshmallow,” I thought back to my time in the woods, “a flaming marshmallow but it’s still a marshmallow…” I heard several cracking sounds and my ears swiveled to pinpoint it but it was coming from almost everywhere, “Do you hear that?”

Bonbon took a moment to listen for the cracking, “Oh buck… we must be near a vent or possibly thin shale… either way I don’t want to be here.” She started walking in a direction that didn’t seem to be cracking.

“H-hey wait up,” I shouted as I ran after her being sure to keep my pawsteps light, “Listen Bonbon or Sweetie Drops, whatever your name is, I didn’t mean for you to get stuck out here with me. I’m not even psyched that I’m out here but that’s in the past I guess. Let’s just let bygones be bygones, I mean what’s stopping you from just going back to Equestria?”

“It’s Bonbon and what; be on the run for returning to Equestria after being banished?! Why did I even want to turn you in, I was finally settling in at Ponyville…”

I hopped up onto her shoulders and gave her a soft pat, “Well we’re birds of a feather now so I guess I can forgive you, I’m pretty far from home as well.” She started bucking like a bronco and I had to sink my claws in to keep from being sent flying, “What are you doing?!”

“Get.Off.ME,” She shouted after each kick, “You’re not going to bewitch me as easily as you did Twilight! What did you do, offer her forbidden knowledge?!”

“Bonbon stop or you’ll,” I tried reasoning with her but there was a loud crack as the ground beneath us started to spider-web and fell apart, “to late…”

She pitched forward as her hooves fell through the ground while she screamed, it was some kind of chute that went straight down several feet then angled off sharply where we gained a bit of speed despite Bonbon trying to slow us down. We came to a crashing halt where we went skidding across the floor in opposite directions, Bonbon was on her hooves in an instant, “Where are we?!”

“We’re underground, that’s the extent of my knowledge.”

“Ponyfeathers, I can’t see a thing down here,” Bonbon swore as she frantically starting turning in place.

“Odd, I can see just fine…”

“You’re a cat for Celestia’s sake! Of course you can see in the dark,” Bonbon said as she walked around and straight into a wall, “Buck!”

I held my tails in front of my face, "Alright, let’s see if I can do something about the dark…" After a couple of false starts the tips of my tails were engulfed in balls of blue fire that lit up the entire room in blue light, “There we go! Can you see now?”

“Now I can,” She complained, rubbing her snout. “Would have been nice a few seconds before-hoof.”

“Hey you’re lucky that I got lucky with that idea,” I shouted as I walked around stone pillar-like formations.

“What do you mean by that?! That’s a skill that all of your kind possess, it’s called Ghost Lights. If that’s difficult for you then you must be a newly transformed Bakeneko… which raises the bigger question of how in Tartarus are you speaking?!”

I just shrugged, who knew cats could shrug, “Twilight thought it was magic.”

“Tch, that mare thinks everything unnatural is related to magic… most cases she’s right,” She scrapped a hoof along the wall and licked it.

“Gross!”

“Oh shut up, you lick your own butthole. We’ve fallen quite a way; Thirty-eight meters… maybe forty,” she spit out the dirt and walked around a bit until she came to a dark opening. “But it’s way too warm, even for the Volcanic Wastes.”

“Hey! I have never, ever, everevereverever licked my own asshole! Quilted all the way!” Pausing for a moment to take in what she said I noticed it was rather warm around here. “Why is that anyways?”

“Who knows with the wastes, let’s see if this leads back up to the surface. I don’t know about you but I’m not up to climbing up thirty plus meters up the way we came,” Quickly taking several steps until she reached the light’s border and stopped, “Well come on then, get walking.”

A quick hop later and I was sitting on her flank, “Solve two problems at once; you need light and my paws are hurting.”

“Wuss… Just no funny business, furball.”

“Seriously, how can you be so angry at me; I’ve looked in a mirror and this face is flipping adorable,” I cried out as I smooshed my face at her. She just continued walking as she ignored me, “You have ice in your veins woman.” The tunnel started dipping slightly and the temperature rose some more, there was rumbling to our right then rocks started falling away to reveal massive pincers, “Holy shit! The hell is that?!”

Bonbon quickly backed up as the rest of the pincers came out, it was a large dark red beetle with chunks of rocks sticking out of it, “I-I think it’s a Gem Bug but I heard they only live directly under or in the vicinity of volcanoes.”

“What do we do,” I whispered in her ear, “Run, don’t run? Will it try to eat us?”

The beetle set its glossy eyes me and I gave a squeak, it was as big as Bonbon is and Bonbon just stood stock still, “Unless you happen to be made out of solid ruby then I doubt it, they only eat the type of gem they’re made of.”

“Dang~ bet they’re worth a pretty good bit,” I tried giving a long whistle but it came out as weird moaning sound, “Forget that I just tried that.”

“Yeah whatever,” Bonbon just stared at the thing and followed it where it was going, “Why is it here though, I’m going to follow it.”

“Meh, do what you want, I’m just a passenger for the moment but if you get yourself and by extension me killed I’m going to be peeved.”

We followed the Gem Bug further into the tunnel until I saw red light mixing with my blue light further down the tunnel as well as becoming swelteringly hot. Exiting the tunnel we saw pools of magma where even more Gem Bugs were sitting on the edges and some bathing in it.

“Whoa, what are they doing,” Bonbon shrugged then stiffed as one of the pools of magma pulled itself. “Ha! Well at least I know what you’re scared of now, burning hot magma!”

“I’m perfectly fine with normal magma, it’s the moving type that worries me,” She followed the hulking pony shaped blob of magma as it stepped on several of the bugs, “It looks like they’re crushing the Gem Bugs to eat-,” The magma pony’s form rumbled slightly as the bugs it stepped on came crawling out of it shimmering, “-or not…”

That’s just fucking weird… I hopped down only to hop back on her, “Shit the floor’s boiling. How are you not in pain?”

“Hooves?”

“…Right. Can you see any entrances around here,” I asked as I looked around frantically.”

“No,” she started to shout and I clamped my paws over her mouth with a hiss, “Wait, there’s one, on the other side of that creature that looks like it goes upwards.”

“Then step lightly, twinkle hooves. That fur coat looks highly flammable,” She just nodded and back into the wall to keep as far from the magma pony as we made our way around. As soon as reached the entrance of the tunnel the Gem Bugs started chattering and hissing, it seemed to have a strange effect on the magma pony; it started rumbling deeply and turned to face us, “Shit it’s seen us! Go!” The familiar shading of green on everything returned and I used the magic to snap the supporting structures around the room and chucked them at it in an attempt to stall it but they just passed through it harmlessly. With the cave’s supports gone the place fell to pieces while we ran, “Okay, that wasn’t my best plan…”

“You think?! Sweet baby Celestia in a rainbow, don’t rip the supports out of anything while we're still inside it!” The road split up ahead, “Right or left?!”

“Right.”

“Left it is,” she cried as she leaned left and I pulled her ears until we went right, “Ow, ow, ow, bucking quit it!”

“Then listen to me! You almost got us trapped!” I let go of her ears when she stopped trying to go left, “The smells that way circled back so it must have been a dead-end.” Nodding she kicked up the pace when the heat rose some more and I saw the edge of the magma gushing up the tunnel.

“Is there anything coming up the tunnel,” Bonbon cried out without looking back.”

I spared a glance back at the oncoming magma, “No~ but I wouldn’t slow down if I were you.”

Bonbon twisted her head around and screeched, “Idiot! Why didn’t you tell me it was that close!”

“I didn’t want you to worry alright?! Why can’t you just trust me when I say something,” I stamped a paw several times on the small of her back. “I’m just trying to help!” She just huffed while I whipped my tails back the way we came, lobbing fire-balls at the magma that just absorbed it, “Figures. Idiot, why would fire work on that thing.”

“I see light,” a shout from Bonbon shook me out of my mental reprimanding.

“It’s outside, I smell a breeze! It freaking stinks of sulfur but it’s fresh! Whoohoo,” I cheered her on until we exited a cave into a terrain I didn’t recognize but who can blame me, everything looks the same.

“There, we’re out of the cave now get off me!” I hopped off and kneaded the earth and sparse grass.

“Now to do something about red-hot,” I looked around and spotted something that might do it; a large rock, “That’ll do it.” I picked it up with in a green aura but it gave me a slight migraine as I strained a bit, the living magma reached the entrance of the cave and bubbled at us but didn’t leave, “Come on then, I’ll smash you out of existence!” It slowly retreated back into the cave, I laughed, and two Gem Bugs crawled from the magma, “Shit…”

“Just had to open your mouth didn’t you?”

“Yeah well,” I slammed the rock down on top of the bugs with a loud crunch, “My threat still stands.” I looked off in the direction of the setting sun and I thought I saw the silhouette of some buildings, “Hey, is that a town?”

“Yep it’s a town,” I read off the sign on the way in, “Granite Junction… and you said that ponies would have to be- I mean, meow~!”

Several ponies and a couple of griffins ran up to us and placed a necklace with several ornaments decorating it much like a charm bracelet, “Welcome to Granite Junction, travellers,” a mare and stallion said while the griffin placed some kind of flower crown on my head and since I was pretending to be a cat I just purred, “You’ve just caught us preparing the town for Nightmare Month, we had a situation recently and were forced to start late this year, luckily we’re only a week late. Let us welcome you to our town; you and your cat must be exhausted!”

“I guess,” Bonbon said with a pause while looking around, “I’ve never heard of a town like this so far outside of Equestria. There seems to be a member of every race here, that’s remarkable.”

“Oh my goodness! Did everyone hear that,” a pink-tinged griffin shouted to the others, “She’s from Equestria, isn’t that just the most absolutely grandest thing ever?!”

“Oh yes, we’re so very proud of our little town. Equestria just seemed to stop sending traders down south as of late so we’re what one would consider… self-sufficient,” a mauve pony said as they led us past the gate, when the air dropped several degrees, to a mult-floored stone building, “Here we have On the Rocks, our local watering hole and tavern where visitors sleep and across the street we have Madam Ting’s Café and Fortune Parlor.”

“What about all the other buildings,” Bonbon replied, taking it all in with a smile like she took happy pills.

“Well isn’t that just the grandest question ever? The rest of the buildings are residents except for the group over there,” the mauve one pointed over to a section of the town that formed multiple rings, “That’s the Bazaar, if you have things you need or just want to buy things then feel free; we may not get visitors from Equestria but we get a rogue merchant ship every now and again. Do you have anything you wish to trade?”

Bonbon pulled out several chunks of ruby and amethyst from the Gem Bugs, Where was she even keeping that? She doesn’t have bags.

“I have some gems we found earlier,” she said ecstatically, “Do you think they could be traded?!”

“Why certainly my dear,” ‘Mauve’ said, placing a hoof over Bonbon’s shoulder, “Let’s go take a look then?”

"Something about this place doesn’t seem right." I wound my tails together to hide them and shook the flower crown off while I broke off from their group, ‘Mauve' seemed to be the only one talking while the others would only speak to make a singular statement. “This requires investigation,” filling my limbs with the strange energy I launched myself on top of a building and spent several hours going around town. I started by checking the rooms of the tavern, On the Rocks; several rooms with belongings in them but none of their owners. Next I scaled back down to the street that was now lacking the bustling sound from earlier, a hop over to Madam Ting’s, looked in a window that revealed even less; different species, both the customers and waiters, just going through the motions of eating in a café. "Something fuck-y is going on around here," I proceeded down the street to check out the bazaar but a little foal was ushering me over to an alley, “Well this seems legit…”

I jogged over to the filly and each time I got close to her she’d take off further into the resident’s area, noting the darkened and broken windows, I continued on until I seen her enter a low stone building that looked extremely decrepit. Entering the building I found the foal huddling by herself near a wall with carvings and stains on it, she spoke in a reedy voice that could barely register as a whisper, “…Read the wall…”

“Alright?” I spared a glance away from the small child to look at the wall, there were carvings all over it varying in height that said many things; ‘Moon always full.’, ‘Dawn slams the gates.’, ‘Can’t leave then.’, ‘Where’s my voice?’, and ‘Mommy won’t leave…’ “Well isn’t this scared-shitless-ville, population: me.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” The little filly started sobbing, I sat on my haunches and put a paw on her shoulder and she stiffened.

“It’s okay, my name’s Felix. What’s yours?” She moved her mouth wordlessly and flickered out of existence when a guttural growl came from the entrance, “Oh… well shit.”

I turned to face the growler and found two beings there; a large snake-man that seemed seriously dehydrated and one of those bipedal dogs that was missing all of its fur and covered in taunt skin. It opened its mouth and fog escaped to the floor as it spoke in a voice that’d make smokers envious, “The girl did well…” It slurped the piece of meat that used to be its tongue back in its mouth, “Shame she only brought cat, guess we’ll add her to feast.”

I steeled my wits and spoke, “You’re not adding anyone to any kind of feast, freaks!”

“So it talks, is still not enough for feast,” I sprung forward and tried to run past the zombie dog but with blinding speed it snatched me in its disgusting mouth and shook me before throwing me to the ground. It gave a harsh laugh, “Shouldn’t have come then, curiosity killed the cat.”

“At least cats have nine lives maggot farm, what’s your excuse huh?” I stood up on shaky legs; his teeth did a number on me with bite-marks on either side of my shoulders that was already leaking blood.

“Town is town… but not town also… *sluuurp* We live in town, never die but…”

“But you have to feast on flesh!”

“Small price to pay… feasts turn into bait like pony foal… *sluuuurp* or they trade while their energy feeds town…”

“Bonbon!” I looked at the wall and remembered back to when we entered town; Bonbon was ridiculously happy after they put that necklace on her, “Stupid Bonbon, so worried the freaking cat was going to bewitch you that you missed the people eating town that did! Wait, why wasn’t I affected?”

“Not know… *sluuurp* Will find out when we pick at your brain…”

“Sorry pal, but that's not going to happen. Now get out of my way, I have a companion to save!” Blue flames coated my fur as I grew and grew until I was the size of a VW Bug from back home, I took a deep breath and let out a fearsome roar. The snake-man hissed before lunging at me, I swung my massive claws and easily took the snake’s head clean off with a spray of rotten smelling black stuff.

“Much better… *sluuurp* Now there’s plenty to eat!” With the same speed as before he dove underneath me and flipped me onto my back as he snapped at my neck.

I got my rear legs under him and sent him flying through a stone wall then stood up, he was still kicking but had now been disemboweled and was trailing bile and black stuff, “That’s fucking disgusting…” Before he could launch another strike I sprinted over and ripped him head off in my claws. Taking several deep breaths I started for the bazaar, getting jumped by more ghouls and each time I knocked their block off until an honest to goodness Minotaur started trailing me. I managed to ditch him a couple of times but he always seemed to find me, I spotted Bonbon at a bazaar stall with a massive stack of boxes and bags tied to her back, “Bonbon! We got to go!”

“Are you kidding?! This place is great, there are so many things to buy here,” Bonbon shouted as she held up some kind of clothing.

“Bonbon you have to listen to me; this place is dead!”

“Are you kidding me, there’s tons of ponies shopping,” She looked around with glossy eyes at the empty bazaar.

“Oh my god we don’t have time for this!” I picked her up in my magic and held her to my back as she started flailing, “You’ll thank me later!” With that I took off for the front gate and almost made it when the Minotaur came barreling through a house. “I’ve had enough of this shit! Let us pass or else,” I roared and my tails burst into flames.

“Neither I nor my master fears your pitiful flames or your broken goddess,” it punched a fist into the ground and pulled out a chain that it swung at me and missed, “Once dawn comes you will be one… Your life will belong to my master and you shall serve.”

Dawn slams the gates! I just need to get out of town, dawn’s almost here! I rushed the minotaur, leapt over him with ease, and made my way to the gate. I felt intense pressure on both of my tails, I turned around and he had them both in his meaty hands completely ignoring the flames.

“You cannot hope to defeat me in time to beat dawn, accept your fate plane-hopper. Forgo your pathetic goddess and join us.”

“I don’t need to beat you,” I strained as I pulled him along the ground with each word, “I only need to get… out!” With that final word dawn hit and I was sent sprawling into the dirt. I still felt the grip on my tail, looking back I saw his hand still there but it started crumbling to dust in dawn’s light. Bonbon was suddenly silent as well, her kicking as well as her screaming had stopped as she laid slumped on my back, “Ugh… come on Felix, you put one paw in front of the other~” I sang the song as I walked west and found a sandy bank of s large river, It’s weird, ‘Mauve’ said they had visitors come in on ships and there was a harbor but they’re several miles from the ocean or even this river, what’s with that?

The blood loss and ravenous hunger finally won out and I collapsed on the sand, “So… hungry… and tired… man I could go for a chicken quesadilla, like twenty of them.” My body shrunk until I was back to small cat size with Bonbon lying on top of me, listening to the sounds of the river as I accepted the darkness.

“Is he going to be okay, Doctor Petpal,” I heard Bonbon’s voice over a sea of static.

“It appears as if he’ll make a full recovery, if I didn’t know any better I would say your cat was mauled by a Diamond Dog,” ‘Doctor Petpal’ said as I felt a hoof run over my wounds but it felt odd, “It’s simply remarkable, three hours ago the poor thing was at the Green Pasture and then its heart-rate returned to normal and the wounds were almost gone.”

Seven Left… Wait, why did I think that?

“Yeah, he’s something else, do you think I could have a moment alone with him,” Bonbon asked the doctor who hummed and left the room with a click. Bonbon walked over and laid her head on me slightly and started cry, not like full on family death but really sad character death kind of cry.

“What happened,” I asked as I cringed internally as the tears hit my back.

She sniffled and cleared her nose on a hankerchief, “Well I finally came to we were on a beach and you were underneath me, bleeding heavily. I looked down and saw the thing that I was wearing, it was disgusting; it was made of bone, sinew, and teeth. When I took it off, flung it into the river, I started to remember what happened while I was treating you… I just wanted to apologize… and to say thanks; you really saved my flank out there and for that I’m grateful and I should offer an apology for how I've been acting. I should have know something was wrong, nopony has celebrated Nightmare Month in centuries since it was cut down to only one night about five hundred years into Luna's banishment.”

“It’s cool Bonbon, by the looks of it you managed to keep the loot you bought… that’s an upside,” I said, trying to be light-hearted, “Where are we anyways??”

She stood up and dried her eyes, “After I bandaged you up I followed the bank north until I found this place; Port Redstone. Don’t worry about anything, this town I actually know of; it’s the only town that’s safe for travellers and is close enough to Equestria. Remember what I said about they’d have to be out of their mind to come to the wastes? It mostly stems from this place.”

“Huh… well if we’re so close to Equestria why don’t we just go on back there? I know we’re banished or whatever but you said it yourself; this shit is cray,” I stood up easily as my wounds were almost gone, “Honestly that white bitch can screw a red-hot poker.”

“You can’t talk about the Princess like that!”

“Why not? She’s not my princess… especially after kicking my ass to hell both figuratively and metaphorically. Help me get these things out of me, I’m fine, I’m starving. How long was I out?”

“Two or three days?”

“Whelp looks like I can go without food before it starts really effecting me for almost a week. Good to know,” I flinched as she pull the last of the monitoring equipment out of me and I eased my stiff body on her back, “Tally-ho Bonnie, let’s hope this place sells fish! I mean if they live on a river then they must but who can tell, you ponies are crazy.”

“Bonnie?!” She gave a snorting laugh, “What’s with the sudden familiarity?!”

“Well we’ve apologized to each other, haven’t we? That makes us friends as far as I’m concerned so I came up with a little nickname for you. …We are friends right,” I asked in an unsure voice.

“Sure,” She gave me a smile, “We can be friends… and thanks.”

“Excellent! Now let’s eat~!” We left the vet’s office and headed for a restaurant looking building and I ordered so much fish I was filled to bursting. The waiter was great; didn’t even react to the fact that a small cat had just ordered a cubic fuck-ton of fish.

Author's Note

Chapter two is go~!

It's offical, two chapters for me is the point of no return so I'll be sticking with it, not to mention I really liked writing this surprisingly.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter because just thinking it up at three in the morning freaked me the fuck out, I don't handle spoopy things well... but it's fine~.
I'd like to thank everyone who commented and added this story to a bookshelf, the notifications were rolling in as fast as I could get to them which is a new one for me.
So... thanks!

Chapter 3: Mistress of the Night and Cat-scratch Fever.

I sat on a fluffy pillow as I watched the conga line of races on the street; different types of ponies, furry versions of the dog ghoul I had torn apart -which turned out to be called Diamond Dogs-, griffins, a minotaur, couple of things that looked like a lizardmen, and honest to goodness cat-people. “Aloha cousins,” I shouted with a goofy grin and a couple of them looked up, smiled, and waved at me.

“Stop drawing attention to us Felix, as of right now we have three options on how to get to Equestria. One; we hoof it across the border and hope we reach Hoofington but that might take a week or more, two; stowaway on one of the airships-“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa; there are airships here?! Why don’t we just buy the tickets?”

“Yes as I was trying to say; stowaway on one of the airships because the tickets are bucking expensive and we would be checked before departure and arrival, or third; hitch a ride from one of the sailing ships heading up the river to the sea and travel up river to Tailton Spring –I have a cousin who lives up there- but we’ll have to deal with the active volcano en-route.”

I deflated a little, “Dang, I would have loved to fly… I’d have to go with the third option and sail, I’ve been on a few boats before and my guts are cast iron!” I got a little laugh out of her and it perked me right back up before I thought back to the doctor’s office, ’Three hours ago the poor thing was at the Green Pasture and then its heart-rate returns to normal and the wounds are almost gone.’ I doubt it means anything, people are confirmed dead only to come back loads of times…

“What are you thinking about, Felix?”

“H-huh? Oh… nothing just wondering… how long was my heart stopped,” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, afraid of her answer.

“What was that,” Bonbon looked up from her notes and checklists.

“How long was I dead for,” I cleared my throat when it came out louder than I was expecting.

“Oh… like Dr. Petpal said; you were… gone for three hours then your heart started up and the bite marks started healing at an incredible rate. Needless to say it surprised both of us, I had heard of the old mares tale that cats had nine lives but I didn’t believe it.”

“Me either… Hey! This means all this planning is pointless; you can just go back to Equestria since I’m technically dead,” I gave a small smile to Bonbon, hoping she’d get the message.

“I still plan on going back and giving Celestia a piece of my mind but…,” she looked over me at the smoke-stained sky, “I’ve done wrong by you and I wish to make it up; I got you banished from possibly the safest place on Equus after foalnapping you because I couldn’t get over what I used to do.”

“What about your friend, Lyra?” She looked down at the papers she was rustling and pulled out an envelope.

“I wrote her a letter telling her that I was going to be stay at your owner’s place for a while, hopefully she’ll understand.” Bonbon held the letter in her hooves for a few extra moments before setting it down. “So let’s get down to business, I’ll go find us a ship to sail on and you stay here where you can’t get in trouble.”

“Hey! I can stay out of trouble just fine thank you, trouble just can’t stay out of me,” I flicked my tails at her, “This is probably a bad time to ask this but… you’ve encountered other Bakeneko right?”

“Shh-shh, don’t say the name!”

“Sorry but what’s the worst that can happen from saying their names?”

“Agents of TRT have been critically injured because they spoke a creature’s name and it acted like a beacon for the creature.”

“Dang… anyways what I meant to ask was; since you know about them, do you think you could teach me?” Her flustered look was all I needed, if I were to learn how to control these abilities who’s to say I won’t turn on her, “N-nevermind, forget I asked.”

“No, no, I’ll be happy to teach you, I can’t have my partner so inept at using his Faust given abilities. You’re just lucky that I read the manuscript about your kind before I foalnapped you to prepare myself. Other than increased abilities associated with felines -strength, speed, agility, and balance- it said you’re able to conjure ghost lights in the form of fire, electricity, and/or light, change sizes, some of you can cause misfortune and disasters to happen, no poison known to pony seems to affect them, as well as having spiritual awareness which I guess is how you knew something was wrong in Granite Junction as well as apparently being able to use magic and having multiple lives…”

“Oh, I also brought a toy mouse to life back in Ponyville. Not on purpose, I thought move instead of levitate and it came to life. I believe it’s still out there; it ran off when I said I wasn’t going to eat it.”

“And now I can add reanimation to the list… because good guys totally use necromancy. I guess that counts under ‘magic’ so I won’t hold it against you,” she gave me a look to let me know she was joking. “Honestly not much is known about your kind’s abilities but the boys back home believe most of the superstitions about cats stemmed from you; like when a cat sits on your chest it’s stealing your soul… things like that.”

“Well that’s fucking dark…”

“Don’t take it to heart, Felix, there are far worse things roaming the world than you; I’ve been hearing stories about some sheep monster roaming the Wastes that sprays acid,” She stood, closed her folders, “I’ll be on my way then, maybe I can help you practice when I get back. There’s a pouch of Bits in the desk if you get hungry.”

With that she was gone, leaving me alone in our room, Maybe I’ll take a nap until she returns, how could I possibly get into trouble by sleeping? I laid my head down on my windowsill pillow and dozed off to the sounds of Port Redstone.

Stalking, rustling grass, and a full moon was all it took; my blood was at a boil as my large form bound past the thick trees. I crouched down onto my belly as I spotted my prey; a small yellow filly with a red bow in her hair. She seemed to have lost her way, even better she had found her way to me. She started looking around as if looking for something, fear filled her eyes, my tails twitched and I started making clicking noises of those of my feline ancestors.

“Help,” she cried out with a southern drawl, “Anypony?!” A split second later the night air was filled with my roars and her screams as I chased her through the woods until there were no woods left; only apple trees, “Applejack! Big Mac!”

I knew I had her cornered now, I could smell it on her; she knew she couldn’t escape. My haunches tense as I readied a leap at the filly when a booming voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once. “CEASE THIS, FOUL BEAST!”

“Princess Luna,” the little pony squealed as dark smoke swirled around her and a dark winged blue unicorn stood before her, “If you’re here then this is just a dream! I can just wake up-.”

“NAY CHILD! DO NOT WAKE, IT WILL CONTINUE TO HAUNT OUR PONIES,” She shouted as a midnight black glaive with a blade that gleamed of moonlight materialized in her hooves, “TO TARTARUS WITH THEE, FOUL HAUNTER OF DREAMS!” I dove out of the way as she charged with the lance; I let loose another roar as I flung azure fire at my attacker. “ENOUGH,” she wiped the flames out with a single swing of her weapon then pointed it at me as chains materialized around me effectively pinning me to the ground, “Thine reign of terror over Our ponies ends with thine life.”

No! Wake up! WAKE UP! As the dark princess struck my chest with the glaive I awoke in our room then immediately fell out of the window onto the floor. Trying to get my heartbeat under control I dry-heaved while rubbing my chest that ached as if it had indeed been pierced, “Christ, maybe I’ll just take a walk… maybe get drunk…”

Ruffling through the desk I found the small pouch of coins that I placed around my neck before opening the door with my magic and slid down the banister effectively launching myself onto the first floor. The pony running the front desk just looked at me as I walked out and I gave her my best meow. We had agreed that I should just keep pretending to be a normal cat unless not given a choice. Sucker~

***Outside Granite Junction: A Few hours earlier.***

A large shadow fell over the sparse ground outside of Granite Junction as a large griffin glided to the ground with heavy wing beats. The griffin’s long bald neck turned as it surveyed the desolate mining town, no building stood but it reeked of rotting corpses and necromancy with trace amounts of living energy and one near-death.

“It seems to be dormant… for now,” The black-winged griffin gave a shrill whistle and the fluff around its neck shook and the lump on the griffin’s back jumped off to the ground and the griffin spoke in a baritone voice, “Pierce, find the two that got away.” The red and blue armored creature let out a shriek and took off westward on its hind legs, occasionally leaping high into the air to glide and give its legs a rest. The odd griffin took one last look around the ghost town before following the fierce looking creature named Pierce in a slow flight. Pierce led him to a river bank where the Near-death succumbed to its wounds and collapsed, “It’s rather large… Very little blood must have just fallen out of consciousness.” Pierce gave a series of clicks and chirps while nipping lightly at his talon, “What is it Pierce?” Pierce sniffed at the large impression then at several hoof prints and large pawprints in the sand. “Hoofprints? So the Living be the form of prey while the Near-death be the form of a predator. How did the pony drag the body away? This is most unsettling…” He gave three chirps and Pierce hopped aboard, holding on with his clawed wings and tail like a backpack. His wings shook violently, he looked north along the bank of the river and his little eyes gleamed, “Near-death has met Death and its journey… is done. Let us go, Pierce, its spirit may have lingered after being in that town and it is our duty to help it pass on.”

***Port Redstone; Present***

“I know it’s here! I can feel it, Life and Death were dancing in that room,” the black-winged griffin shouted, banging his claw on the vet’s desk. “Show me the large cat’s corpse!”

“Celestia damned vultures,” Dr. Petpal muttered to himself. “I told you already, this is a pet hospital! We don’t work on big cats here!”

“Tell me where the creature is that died in that room or else.”

“Or else what,” Dr. Petpal asked and the vulture clicked his tongue, signaling the creature strapped to his back to hiss and intimidate the doctor who took a loud gulp. “I-is that a?”

“A Lurker? Yes it is… Will you tell me what I wish to know now?”

“Alright fine I’ll tell you but I don’t want this getting back to the board; they’ll think I’m crazy and revoke my license! I haven’t operated on any large cats like you assumed but I did operated on this one mare’s pet cat, it had succumbed after being bitten by what could have only been a diamond dog and the wounds were oozing black goo. The poor thing died while I was operating on it.”

“I know that it died here, I’m asking where is it now?”

“I was getting to that, the mare took it home. Just an hour ago the thing’s heart started beating again and it came back to life!”

The vulture griffin paused for a moment, staring at the doctor with its tiny eyes before signaling Pierce back and giving him a piece of meat, “Thank you for sharing this information with me. Where is this mare now?”

“I-I think she left the name of the place she was staying at,” Petpal shuffled through his filing cabinet until he found what he was looking for and passed it to the vulture with a shaking hoof, “O-owner said her name was Bonbon, there’s a picture of her and the cat inside for insurance purposes. Please just go now?”

The vulture griffin took the file and gave a smile that made Dr. Petpal cringe, “Thank you for your help.” When the vulture griffin left Dr. Petpal let out a sigh of relief as he mumbled about how he should have taken that job at the Canterlot Zoo. On the street outside the vulture opened the folder as he walked to the hotel the pony was staying at, a frown crossed his face as he studied the picture of a black cat lying on the operating table, “Two tails? Something about this seems wrong…” As he moved the folder away from his eyes he spotted cat that was identical to the cat in the picture but it only had one tail. On a hunch the vulture took to the shadows and followed the cat until it went inside of a tavern, “Well this is certainly a new one…”

***Felix | Port Redstone, Slicker than Grease Tavern.***

Taking a peek inside I saw that it was filled with all those unsavory types; grizzly, scarred, and vicious looking, This is a den of scum and villainy! Oh look, pretzels! I slinked through the hooves and paws of the other drinkers until I was at the bar, hid myself where I didn’t think anyone could see me, and spoke to the bartender in the deepest voice possible but it still came out kind of squeaky, “Got anything for felines?”

There was a pause as the poor pony was looking around, trying to find me, “Um… hello?”

“I said, do you have anything for felines.”

“Oh, um… we have catnip wine…”

Here we go! I hopped up onto a stool in front of him and gave a toothy smile, “I’ll have some of that!”

If there was a record playing I’m sure it would have scratched as everyone turned to me, Bonny can’t complain, I really can’t help it this time. Their faces are- Oh shit, knife! I hopped over to the next stool as a serrated throwing knife embedded itself where I had been sitting. The owner, one of those lizard things wrapped in cloth from the neck down, “Foolish insect, you shouldn’t have left your hive.”

“Hey now, I don’t want any trouble.”

“To late Changeling, die quietly and with little mess.”

What’s a Changeling? I felt a growl rumble in my chest and tried sounding as dark as I could muster, “I don’t know what you think I am but you best sit your scaly ass down before I make you into a vest… actually I better not, it might smell even worse than you do.” There were several laughs and ‘ooohs’. “How much for a bottle of that wine, dude?”

“A-a bottle is twenty-five Bits,” he stammered out, eyes barely above the bar.

“Dang… hold that thought,” I said, holding a paw out at the lizard thing before pulling off my pouch of coins and counted out thirty of them, “A little tip for not being an asshole bartender, sorry if it’s not the right percentage; I’m terrible at math.” The pony just nodded, took the money, and slid a silver bottle and a red saucer. “…is that supposed to be a joke?”

“N-no sir, that’s how the Bast drink theirs…”

“Oh… sorry about that then,” I reached out to the bottle with my tail and used them to pour a saucer full. I tried sipping it but it just ended up soaking my whiskers, “Damn, now would be a really good time for some sippin’ lips.”

“Stop ignoring me,” the lizard man screamed as he pulled the bottle from my tail, “Lisk hates bugs with attitudes!”

“Hey! I was drinking that,” I shouted indignantly.

“Or what? You’ll maul me with you widdle teeth and claws?”

When he said that my mind flashed back to the dream I had had; wanting to tear into my prey, I left the flashback only to meet a scaly bitch slap that sent me careening into the wall and slid to the floor.

“Ow… Asshole, didn’t your momma tell you not to hurt animals; especially the cute ones? I’m giving you one more chance… put down the bottle and sit your ass down before you really regret it. I was taught if someone comes after you with the intent of causing a ruckus; give them two warnings before you beat their faces in.” He pulled out another knife, I sighed as my eyes glowed and it encased the lizard known as Lisk. “What was I thinking on making you into a vest… you would make a much better puppet. Do a little dance for the nice people!” I made him go through the motions of the chicken dance as his eyes widened in fear.

“Sever the puppet’s strings,” a deep voice said as a large odd looking griffin that looked like a buzzard variety stepped through the swinging doors. “I came because I was wary that your brush with the ghost town had tainted your soul… I see I was right; you have many lives within you and this is not natural.”

I glared at the intruder as he stepped up to my puppet and took the bottle he had taken from me, “Of course it’s not natural, I’m not natural! I died four hours ago and I feel like I’m an entirely different person! You seem to know about how many lives I have in me so tell me; am I still me?”

“One way to find out; would the you before continue to treat a life as if it had no worth; whether it was evil, good, or because it ‘deserved it’?”

“W-well, no…”

“Then sever the string… that is how you will know.”

I looked at the glowing lizard, fear welled up in his eyes and it nearly broke me; I closed my eyes and stopped the magic. I hung my head as there was loud scrabbling and a bang as the door swung so hard it fell off its hinges, “…Thank you.”

“No worries; it is my job to help those that have passed, this is the first time I’ve met one with a flesh body that wasn’t trying to eat me so this is a nice contrast,” He placed the bottle back onto the counter and placed a small bag in front of the bartender who he stared at with his tiny eyes, “A bottle of Dragon Dread Liquor please.”

“D-Dragon Dread?!”

“Is that a problem?”

“No but I’m required by law to warn anyone who attempts to purchase it.”

“Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all before; don’t drink and fly, don’t stand next to any fires, and watch out for the Fire Ruby shards at the bottom.” A black bottle that flickered with red whenever the sun hit it just right and the black griffin took both bottles to an empty table, “Since you were here for a drink, let’s drink. It’s always nice to have company for a drink.” I nodded then hopped up on the table where he poured shot glasses of flame-red liquor.

***Half an hour, a bottle of Dread, and a third of wine later***

“Everybody wants to be a c-cat, cause a cat’s the on-only cat whooz knows where it’s at,” Felix sung as he stood on his hind-legs and danced on the table.

“Everyone is picking up that feline beat,” Geoff the vulture griffin sung in a deep voice.

“Nyan Nyan Nyan-nyan-nyan,” laughing so hard Felix fell on his back onto the table.

“I can’t understand you if you start meowing…”

“Who’s The Cow King,” Felix slurred before his limbs went limp and he passed out.

Geoff ruffled his feathers and dropped his drunken act, well partially due to the fact that the Dread had a delayed effect on him. He stood up from the table and draped Felix’s limp body on his back right behind Pierce who sniffed at the cat, “Don’t eat him, I can’t have you drunk; you’ll never track right after that.” The other drinkers watched as the vulture toted out the cat that had made Lisk the Lowdown its plaything with no idea what the hell had actually just happened.

A while later Bonbon returned to their room only to find Felix laying on his back laughing along and cutting up with a strange looking griffin, “Felix, what in the name of Celestia are you doing?! Who said you could let strange griffins into our room?”

“I didn’t let a strange griffin into our room… I let Geoff into our room. Geoff, Bonny. Bonny, Geoff,” Felix giggled as Bonbon glared at the nickname.

“By Faust you’re drunk!”

“I certainly hope so,” Geoff said as he lifted his head, “I paid good Bits for that Dread.”

“Why are you drunk?! I told you to stay in the room and out of trouble.”

“And I did. *hic* I laid down and went to sleep but I had the strangest dream; I was trying to eat this little pony with a ribbon in its hair and *hic* this pony called Luna appeared then she started attacking me… I mean what’s up with that… Why would I dream of some dark pony trying to deep-six me.”

“Princess Luna tried to kill you? Wait, wait, wait… you were trying to eat a little filly?!”

Felix just raised his paw above him and looked at it with longing, “Sometimes I wish I still had fingers… cats are cool but being human just had so many more perks.”

“Don’t ignore me, Felix,” Bonbon shouted as she stomped a hoof, “Why were you trying to eat a filly?!”

“I don’t know Bonny, it was just a stupid dream. Sometimes you do things you wouldn’t normally do and I don’t think I would have eaten her; I was just chasing her. She ran to this farm place, shouting something about liquor and burgers, then that fake princess showed up and tried to shish-ka-bob me.”

“I don’t think that Luna was a fake Felix, Princess Luna patrols the dream of ponies; it’s her job,” Felix’s eyes gain slight clarity when Bonbon dropped this news on him.

“Oh… perhaps I best go apologize then,” he started saying something else but he slumped over giving a mewling snore every now and then.

“Sweet Celestia what has my life become as of late,” Bonbon asked herself before giving Geoff a look, “So what’s your story, why are you hanging around Felix?”

“I was hunting someone, well technically they’re a something now but as is a falling pebble into a calm pool.” Geoff took a swig from the silver bottle of catnip wine and blanched as he corked it, “Gods this is terrible.”

“What is it?”

“Catnip wine…”

“Aren’t griffins part feline,” Bonbon asked as she trotted over to her desk to put up her folders.

“I’m a vulture griffin, we’re part jackals… which are dogs,” Geoff corrected. “That’s beside the point, I believe you have met who I was hunting… in that town?” Bonbon froze then gave Geoff a suspicious glare, “I found where the town appeared but when I got there I noticed that two life forces had escaped. I can normally sense life forces of living beings but it is difficult and those that are near death are easier but not by much. I had Pierce track you to the river bank where I felt your friend die, here in town and that was how I found you.”

“Who’s Pierce?”

“He’s asleep at the moment but he’s a Lurker from the Black Marsh, I hatched him from an egg and from then on he’s been my loyal companion… so long as I remember to feed him.”

There was several seconds of silence before Bonbon gave a polite cough, “So you were looking for Granite Junction?”

“Yes, well specifically the party behind it. While Felix and I were sharing a drink he told me what had transpired inside before offering his help to purge that foul place.”

“Ooof course he did… good thing the ships won’t make sail for another week.”

“Say… about what you said about that dream princess; is that true?”

Bonbon just gave an odd smile, “Absolutely, Princess Luna is very good at patrolling the dream realm.”

“Do you think Felix could chance upon her like he said he did?”

“Doubt it, Princess Luna comes to the dreamer not the other way around. She probably sensed his messed up head and popped in to check it out.”

***Meanwhile inside Felix’s messed up head***

I ducked in between two huge shelves of books just as a large fiery explosion rocked the enormous library behind me, “Shit!”

“My books,” I heard a familiar voice scream and I saw Twilight running to me with her horn glowing.

“Twilight?”

“Felix?”

“What are you doing here,” we both asked at the same time.

“CEASE THESE GAMES CREATURE,” Luna’s voice echoed far above the bookshelves in the domed part of the roof.

“P-princess Luna? But that would mean this is a d-dream,” I saw the gears turning in her head as the building around us groaned as if it were falling apart.

“NAY TWILIGHT SPARKLE, YE MUST KEEP-,” Luna started to shout but the world shattered around us and I was flung into the dream corridor, it’s like this endless void with doors just floating everywhere and each door is a someones dream “This isn’t going how I planned it,” I said to myself as I kept flying until I went through a door. I hit the outside of a window that let me see into a small classroom where several of the small ponies had animal heads and the teacher’s face and ass were switched, “What… the fuck?”

“So thou can enter daydreams as well,” I heard Luna’s cold presence behind me.

Her horn glowed and we ended back in the corridor, she had her lance at the ready and I just flopped to my side, “Geez, I try to come apologize to you and you chase me…”

“Apologize?”

“Yeah… you know, for that incident earlier with that little pony; I thought I was just dreaming. Heh, dreams, who knows why you dream what you dream?” After I caught my breath I sat on my haunches, “Man, who knew real life stamina translate into the dream world.

“Real world? Thou jest, thou are but an apparition of some poor pony’s terror that has run amuck and nothing more,” she pointed the glaive at me once more as she spoke then banged it on the nonexistent floor with a thud.

“Nope, I’m real. I’m just sleeping off a bottle of Dragon Dread and Catnip wine,” I laughed at what I must look like.

***In the real world***

“Ugh, who knew real life stamina translated into the dream world,” Felix grunted as he twitched.

“Uh…” Bonbon said slack-mouthed, “I don’t think I want to know what he’s dreaming of if it involves Princess Luna. Too late, it’s already in my head. Sweet Faust I can’t get it out of my head now!”

***Now we return you to your regularly scheduled crazy.***

“It is no matter to Us,” Luna leveled the glaive at my face and I gave a withering sigh, “Thou are a danger to Our ponies so thou must be dealt with posthaste.” I just gave her a flat look, “Pray tell; what is thine look for?”

“Why are you talking like that?”

“This is how Equestrian royalty is expected to speak… or We did.”

“Odd, Celestia doesn’t talk like that.”

Luna set a calculating glare on me, “Thou have been acquainted with Our sister?”

“Yep, I got really acquainted with her, well, her banishing hoof that is. Thing has a hair trigger,” Luna’s look softened when I said banished, “Well no point just standing out in the hallway, I’m going to be passed out for a while more so let’s have some dream tea and crumpets… I don’t actually know what the hell a crumpet is so I’ll have to improvise.” I just started walking in the direction that felt as if it led to my dream room and found a blue door with wavy markings, “Are you coming princess?”

“Nay, thou shall not enter another ponies dream. Thine actions are causing much duress.”

“Good thing it’s not a pony’s dream, I’m… eighty-two percent sure this is my room,” I flicked my tail and the door swung open to reveal the hospital room I had been staying in when I was human. “Odd, why would I be dreaming of this place? We’re having tea so let’s do it right; I’m thinking… a café.” No sooner had I thought that it had appeared, people sitting around drinking coffee, tea, and pumpkin spice lattes. “Oooh better yet, a maid café… nah, better not.”

“W-what,” the dream princess gawked at all the humans walking around, “You seem to have great dream control… and imagination… for a feline.”

“Hey, you dropped your ye olde speak.”

“We didst nothing of the sort!”

I just smiled and hopped up into one of the empty chairs in the middle of the room. I motioned the dream waitress over with a wave of my paw, “Yes, hi, I’d like the biggest size of a caramel frappe.”

“Anything for you, Felix,” she said happily as she jotted it down on a pink notepad, “And you Luna?”

Luna seemed taken aback for a moment when the waitress said her name, “Staring at the moon all night, please.”

“Sure thing sweetie,” tapping her pad twice and it transformed into a large tray with two humongous coffee mugs the size of waste baskets that she placed in front of us before leaving with a hop.

I gave Luna a smirk, “Staring at the moon all night?”

“The strongest legal coffee that may be sold or purchased in Equestria,” she said matter-of-factly as she tipped the drink back. “The pony whom had provided it to Us said he hadst been awake for three days then slept for four.”

“Damn, surprised it didn’t stop his heart,” I leaned forward to sip from the straw sticking out of it, “So where were we? Oh right, I was apologizing for chasing that little filly. Honestly I didn’t mean her any harm; I just thought I was having one of those dreams where you don’t know why you’re doing it.”

“Really…”

“Yep,” I took another long sip, prolonging the pause until the cold coffee went straight to my brain causing me to slam a paw on the table, “Gah, fuck, brain freeze! I didn’t know you could get those in dreams!” The café and everyone that had come into existence were immediately coated in ice… “Well that’s certainly strange.”

“This room is the metaphysical projection of thine dreams,” Luna took a tentative sip of her coffee, “Why would thou order cold coffee? It’s supposed to be hot.”

“Why do people warm up chocolate milk and call it hot chocolate?”

“Touché,” Luna gave a little chuckle, “Forgive Our- my, aggression towards you… I’ve been… away… for some time and wasn’t aware the process of dream manipulation had been released to the public. You still need practice but I’m sure a Unicorn that could manage to process the astronomical limits of spacial and psychological strain-”

“Process the what? What are you talking about? I just found out about you from this pony that I’m with; she told me that you police dreams… I wasn’t aware that I was in someone elses dream… up until that bit with Twilight recognizing me then immediately exploding. I just thought you would come to me so I could apologize.”

“So thou are not a Unicorn who had found a way to copy Our work in hopes of spreading nightmares,” Luna asked as she gave me an incredulous look.

“Nope, I’m just me… So,” I chirped, obviously trying to change the subject, “I noticed that look when I said banished, I sense a story there.”

“…”

“I’ll share mine if you share yours,” I said in the sweetest voice I could, causing her to huff and set down her drink, “yes~ story time!”

“I… suppose it started one thousand years ago-“

“Whoa, wait what?”

“The story, it started one thousand years ago.”

“You don’t look that old.”

“Thank you for the compliment but may I finish or even start the story,” she asked and I drew my paw over my mouth, indicating silence, and she proceeded to tell me how she was banished to the moon for a thousand years. The story lasted for what I figured to be fifteen minutes, “-and with the help of young Twilight Sparkle We were purged of Nightmare Moon and welcomed with open hooves by Our sister.”

“Wow… Wait hold on… How did Twilight know what to do?”

“Why don’t we ask her,” Luna gave a smile and emptied her second trash can cup of coffee, “Twilight has a tendency to spend the night studying which makes for an interesting sleep schedule.”

“Ah yes, reminds me of college but with less beer, hookers, and concussions,” I said solemnly, “Good times… So shall we find her?”

“Art thou forgetting something?”

“No? Oh! Right, my banishment; well I was sitting in a hospital bed after I was held for tests- no, wait… that’s too far back.” I thought back, thinking of the time in the woods, “Ah right, next thing I know I’m a cat in this evil forest being chased by wolves, I found shelter in this little cottage after talking to this bunny and…” I imagined up of Bonbon, “she showed up with the cottage’s owner, somehow realizing I wasn’t the average cat, and chased me out. That was went Angel introduced me to Opal –she’s also a cat but like a normal cat- who directed me to Spike, Twilight’s familiar-“

“We believe she refers to him as her assistant.”

“She has a bond with a dragon, I know several people back home that would cream themselves to have one. Anyways; get there and Twilight helps me out on finding out what I was –it involves prior events that involved running from the blue fire on my tail- found mention in this old Neighponese? book that she swore she didn’t know was there.”

“Oh! You’re a Nekomata,” Luna cried out as she gave a laugh, “It’s no wonder Our sister banished you, your race has been seen as monstrous and bloodthirsty, labels that your kin have not or wish not to rebuff.”

“Nekomata? But Bonbon called me a Bakeneko…”

“It’s no different than calling a Macintosh and a Granny-Smith the same thing, they’re both apples. They’re essential the same thing with a few differences… Namely Bakeneko can’t grow… well they do have shapeshifting so technically they could just shapeshift into a bigger form… actually maybe there aren’t that many differences other than one of them being pony-eaters.”

“I have shape-shifting?!”

“You did not know this?”

“No! Dude, if I could have shape-shifted I would have made myself look like a pony and avoided a whole bunch of trouble,” I shouted then rubbed my temples with my paw-pads.

“Unlikely, any Unicorn worth their salt could recognize a shape-shifter with a little study. Well since our stories have been shared let us find one Twilight Sparkle.” Her horn flashed and we were back into the corridor standing in front of a tan door, “Good, she is asleep…”

Her horn flared once more and Bonbon stood in her place, “What’s with the costume change?”

“We are the Mistress of Night and Twilight is familiar with us as thou had seen before when she ‘exploded’. Most ponies do not take finding out their dream well; most instances result in something similar others turn into lucid dreams where they act out their fantasies…”

I gave a polite cough, “Fantasies huh? Ever uh… walk in on them doing you?”

“It is best we enter now, just act like a normal cat,” she said ignoring me and opening the door to reveal the small library back in Ponyville. ‘Bonbon’ called out in her normal voice, “Twilight? Are you here?”

Spike came walking out of the kitchen with a broom and apron, “Hey Bonbon, She’s upstairs studying.”

‘Bonbon’ smiled at the little dragon, “Oh, okay… maybe you can help me; do you know how Twilight knew how to stop Nightmare Moon?”

“Oh yeah, I was there,” the little dragon smiled as he pussed out his chest, “She read it in a book while trying to find out about the elements of harmony which led her to the old mares tale of the Mare in the Moon.”

“There was a story about that,” ‘Bonbon’ asked, I could almost here a twinge of Luna in her voice, “What did it say?”

“It said that legends states that on the longest day of the thousandth year the stars would aid in her escape and she would bring about eternal night.”

“Thank you, I’ll be going now,” ‘Bonbon’ quickly turned around and we left the dream. When the door closed she reverted back to herself, “We suppose We shouldn’t have had expected more, Our ponies will always fear us… We are surprised Our sister even welcomed us back.”

“Well that answers how she knew but it raises more questions, if Celestia wanted you to stay banished then why did she work to release you?”

“What,” she asked with a befuddled look.

“Your sister is the princess of the sun right? Well the sun is a star… ‘The stars will aid in her escape’? Maybe I’m reading too much into this…”

“It matters not, thank you my furry little compatriot,” Luna boomed with a laugh, “Thank you for the drink and story, maybe next time We will not try to end you.”

“Yeah, I’d like that… hey luna? Can cats get hangovers?” She gave a shrug, “Well waking up has a fifty-fifty chance of sucking so I’ll just bear it. Til next time Princess Luna.”

“And to you, Felix Azuretails,” she cocked her head and the look I gave her name, “You do not approve?”

“It’s great, at least I have a last name now,” I gave her a smile and I left the corridor.

***Back in the world of disappointment and lack of maid cafés.***

I opened my eyes then immediately clenched them shut, “Yep, cats can get hangovers… Life officially sucks!”

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Bonbon remarked with a closing sound of her notes. “Have a nice dream,” she shouted loud enough to make my head throb.

“Ugh… I wonder if you killed me and I got brought back, would it remove this hangover,” I asked myself as I wondered.

I heard Geoff click his beak over on the couch as he stirred, “The matters of life and death are not so trivial that you may use them to forgo hangovers.”

“Sorry… but yes Bonbon, I did have a nice dream; I got chased around several dreams, watched a unicorn explode, and had ridiculously sized cups of coffee with the Mistress of the Night! Ow…”

Bonbon looked perplexed, “You mean you actually found her?” I nodded and she slumped back into her chair, “I thought she was the only one who could do that…”

“Don’t feel bad, she thought that as well… Also found out I’m not a Bak- Urm, one of those. She called me a Neko- …herm, this not saying their names is difficult, turns out the two are similar but separate creatures.”

“Well that is good news,” Geoff murmured, “The ships won’t be here for a week so you can keep your promise and help me purge that town.”

“Yeah sure, I’m just glad that coffee didn’t come with me because that would have- wait, what’d you just say,” I shouted at the vulture griffin then cringing as it brought more pain.

Author's Note

Dun. Dun. DUUUUN

:Discordsquee: After many... hours of... brainstorming! Yes, let's call it brainstorming... Here's the third chapter of Nine Lives! Got some drunken shenanigans, he was having an identity crisis of sorts, finally found out who was tailing them (Oh right, someone was tailing them :derpytongue2: ), dream coffee date with Luna, (hehehe Twilight essentially exploding... *plays it on a loop*), and an oncoming purge!
I'd like to thank the readers who are still enjoying it, the new guys who weren't warned prior to delving into the story, and a special thanks to Aku for being a totally awesome user for proofreading/getting sneaky-peekys~ of this chapter. You rock!

Thanks for reading, Camp out!

Chapter 4: Azure Flames Dancing on the Horizon

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(Edited: 4-3-17)Chapter 1: Cat, I'm a kitty-cat and I meow, meow, meow and I meow, meow, meow.

Beep. Beep. Beep. The constant beeping of the heart-monitor was a clear reminder that I wasn’t supposed to be here; I just came in for a check-up but that was almost a day ago. They’ve been running nonstop tests, stabbed me with so many needles I’ve lost count.

Why won’t they tell me why I’m here?!

The door to my room swung open and several men and women entered, one of the blond guys stepped up and picked up my chart, “Good evening, Felix, can’t sleep?”

“Sorta, I like to think of myself as nocturnal but it’s really just insomnia.”

“We’re sorry about all these tests, Felix, it seems we found something while doing your blood work,” the blonde doctor said while a female doctor stepped around the others and looked over his shoulder while he continued talking, “It’s nothing serious, you’re going to be fine.”

“No you’re not, says here; you’re dying,” the raven hair doctor said as she read the chart.

“I’m dying?!”

“W-what,” he looked like he got gut-checked, “No, no, who told you that? You’re perfectly fine, we just wanted to-“

“But she just said that the chart said I was dying,” I shouted as I pointed at the raven-haired doctor.

“But I didn’t say anything…” the female doctor behind the raven-haired doctor spoke.

“Ooh… now this is interesting, can you see me?” The doctor only I could see floated through the other doctors and sat herself on my windowsill while the others whispered to each other and I heard several of them say something about hallucinations.

“That’ll be all Felix, try and get some sleep alright?” Blondie said as he and the others filed out of the room.

I waited a bit to make sure they were far enough away so they did hear me talking to what they assumed was a hallucination, “Who or what are you and what do you want? Why did you say that I was dying?!”

“Because it’s true, the doctors believe it so why wouldn’t you? Why do you think they’re holding you here? A better question you should be asking is ‘how can I see you?’, my answer would probably be the old saying; men are dogs.” She slid one of her long legs of the other and gave a haunting smile.

“What do you mean by that? That doesn’t answer my questions of who you are and what you want,” I slammed a fist on the rail of my bed and the beeping increased.

She gave a wistful sigh, “That should have told you who I am; I miss the old days… My name is Treyia and there’s nothing I want, could there possibly be something you want? I’m sure I could give it to you if you gave proper tribute… Could it possibly be you no longer wish to be here? Do you wish to be cured or to die, maybe it’s what your life is like at home; no one to love you, no one for you to care about-“

“Shut up!”

She waved a hand dismissively, “Maybe that was out of line but nothing that wasn't true to some extent. Listen, do you know how little this happens to me? I find someone who can see me only to find out their dying of a terminal disease, I want to help.”

“T-terminal? …What kind of tribute do you want,” I asked, letting it sink in What if she’s right and I am dying?

She clapped her hands together happily before leaping over to me, “Okay, okay, I’ll cure you but you’ll need to compete in a Game for me.”

Why did that sound like it was capitalized?

“A game?”

“U-tut-tut. I can’t give you the details; it’s really complicated and incredibly ridiculous. You’re at a crossroad young Felix, do you accept my deal?”

I think on it for little more than a second before I nod, Anything is better than dying in a hospital bed.

“Excellent!” She laced her fingers and cracked her knuckles, “I love this part of my job.” The air rippled and a card materialized.

“What the fuck,” I shouted as I tried getting out of bed but the I.V in my arms ripped that idea out of my head.

“It’s simple dear, it’s magic… Mortals, honestly… Here's my card, once you read it we can get started,” she passed me the card.

“Come infernal, terrestrial, and heavenly Hecate… goddess of the broad roadways, of the crossroad, thou who traverses to and fro at night, torch in hand, enemy of the day… This sounds wrong…”

“Keep reading!”

“Friend and lover of darkness, thou who rejoices when the bitches are howling and warm blood is spilled, thou who art walking amid the phantom and thee in place of the tombs, t-thou whose thirst is blood, thou who will strike chill and fear in mortal hearts, Gorgo, Mormo, Moon of a thousand forms, cast a propitious eye on my sacrifice?”

Treyia, or Hecate as the card called her started to glow, mainly in the eyes and hair that seemed to be sparkling like a night sky, “I see and grant…” She ran a soft hand down my face as the I.V.s and monitoring equipment fell out and off before turning off. “Cast aside one form for another, Rise from the depths as my Piece. Howl and let my presence be known.”

Whatever she was doing happened in a flash of black light, a brief flash but still incredibly painful, when the flash faded the room was empty and seemed so much larger. “Treyia,” I asked in a rather high-pitch voice that shouldn’t have come from a man my size. I grabbed my throat with my hands but they were replaced with paws, “Is that my voice? Are those my hands?! What did you do to me?! Show yourself!”

“Well that’s odd… I was sure that since you could see me then you would turn into something dog related or at least an owl… maybe an owlbear,” Treyia’s voice sounded from the area she stood at before, there was a snapping sound and a mirror floated to the bed and I got a good look at what I looked like.

I was barely bigger than my aunt Theresa’s tabby but I was pitch black with bright emerald eyes and a rather long, think, and oddly shaped tail. “Holy shit… you turned me into a cat,” I shouted at where I thought she was.

“Yeah… I don’t understand meows, great; find someone to talk to and I transform them into a cat! I can’t speak cat! Ugh, where’s Bastet when you need her? Whatever, off you go!” She picked me up by the scruff of my neck and I went limp and couldn’t fight back, “I’m not really sure you can understand me but oh well, try to win,” She shouted joyfully over the sound of a vacuum sucking then tossing me into a hole in the floor. “Try to land on your feet! I hear cats are good at that sort of thing!”

Chirp. Flick. Chirp. Flick.

“What is that?” I opened my eyes to see a dim canopy of leaves overhead, another chirp sounded and the flicking happened again. The was a crack that sounded as if it was right behind me and I jumped and spun in the air to face the noise but there was nothing there but more trees.

Would it be too much to ask for some light around here? As I thought that blue flickering light surrounded me revealing a wolf’s head.

“Shit!” I took off like a bullet away from the head as it snapped at where I was before it followed close on my tail, I glanced back to see how close it was only to see the tip of my tail engulfed in blue fire, “FIRE!” My repeated screams attracted more of the wolves as I ducked and jumped over fallen trees, I came to a clearing where I saw a wide river, “Yes! Fuck you mutts, no kitty-changas for you assholes!” Energy poured into my limbs as I leaped across the river and landed on the other side where I quenched my tail. I grabbed my tail in both paws to check for burns but there were none, "weird… I'll think about that later but first; how do I get out of this place?"

I looked around the forest, taking in the sights, the smells, the feelings. I felt as my paws spread apart and let the dirt in between the toes, Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. Wait what about the wolves? I looked over the river to see them just staring at me with glowing green eyes, I don’t really know why but I arched my back and hissed at them, trying to be menacing. Well it works for cats back home…They growled at each other before splitting off and heading back into the woods, I turned around and did so as well but I was following something else; the smell of food and I was starving.

I sprinted through the trees until I found the edge, I stepped out of the trees into the moonlight. I took a deep sniff and found where the smell of food was coming from; a cottage on a hill so ways off from the treeline, Who would willingly live next to this place? There was a light coming from several of the windows so I decided to try to see if they’d answer, when I got there I raised two clawed paws and started scratching the door, “Hello? Is anyone home?!”

“Whadya want,” a deep sounding, almost Boston-y voice called from the other side of the door, “There’s animals trying tah sleep in here! Most of us ain’t nocturnal ya hear?!”

“I’m sorry… I just got here, I was in those woods and I smelled food and I thought maybe…” There was silence for a moment before the voice sighed and the door opened slightly.

“Come on in, just don’t make a mess; Fluttershy won’t be back fer a day or so,” the deep voice turned out to belong, surprisingly enough, to a white bunny, “What, cat got yer tongue? I’m a bunny with a deep voice, yous coming in or what?”

“R-right sorry… wow, I just didn’t expect a bunny to be able to talk; you’re not like a magic bunny are you?”

“Course not, I’m all natural, Shorthair,” he closed the door after I entered and led me through the oddly large living room, “Since you mentioned food I suppose you’re hungry… Probably some dry food stashed somewhere so the others can’t get to it, let’s check the kitchen.” I followed the hopping bunny into a cozy looking kitchen.

“So uh, names Felix.”

The bunny stuck his head in one of the lower cabinets as he looked for the feed, “Felix the Cat eh? Not the strangest name I’ve come across 'round here, name’s Angel Bunny. I take it since you have a name then you have an owner right?”

“No I don’t…”

“If you don’t have an owner then who named you,” I heard him ask in a strained voice as he pulled the bag out and poured quite a bit on the floor, “Bon appetite.”

I picked up a piece of dry food in my paws and sniffed it before it slipped right out of my paws and I sighed, “I miss my hands… As for who named me, my parents did… what did you not have a name before?”

“Nope,” the bunny smirked as he watched me try and pick the pieces up to eat them, “Fluttershy may not be a bunny but she’s a close second, I give her trouble every now and then but I don’t mean it. Who cares what those other ponies say about her, she’s the best.”

"Ponies?"

“Oh yeah, she’s great,” another voice spoke, softer, as a robin flew down and landed on the table over us, “Name’s Crest, I done busted my wing last spring, Angel brought Fluttershy to me and she patched me right up. I come by every chance I get to pay her back… why you be staring at me like that?”

Come on she’s right there, do it! Doitdoitdoitdoit!

I started making a clicking sound and felt the tip of my tail twitch, before I knew it I was pouncing at Crest and knocking over furniture. “Feral cat! Every animal for themselves!” There were several more screams as a couple more birds flew the coop and mice, hamsters, and ferrets scurried to their homes. I almost had a gerbil in my claws when a flash of white fur came at me and kicked me away from my prey.

“Hold it there, Shortfur, calm down! We gots rules around here and you almost broke to primary one! You may eat other animals out there but yous ain’t out there, yous in here and in here we don’t eat our fellow animals. We’re all friends in here,” Angel held up his paws in a non-threatening way, “Understand?”

I breathed deeply until I calmed down before bowing my head feeling lower than a snakes belly, “I’m sorry… That’s never happened to me before.”

“It’s cool, Shorthair, happens to all newbies. It takes a lot of patience and will for natural predators to live like this. Let’s go finish that food and try to ease that hunger eh?”

“That might be for the best… Hey, Crest mentioned that this Fluttershy patched her up, is she a vet,” I asked as we went back to the food and I stuffed my face, Surprisingly it’s not nasty.

“Nah but she might as well be, she takes care of just about everyone here; we gots beavers, bunnies, bears, birds, snakes, bats, and pretty much everything you could think of. Fluttershy even befriended a Manticore, I mean holy pellets how outrageous is that?” Both of our ears twitched as the grandfather clock struck 1 a.m. “Whelp, looks like it’s time for everyone to get back to sleep. You too, come on and I’ll scrounge up a bed for you.” I followed him to a closet where he pulled a dog bed from the bottom of it, “Sorry but it’s the only one yer size I could reach.”

“It’s fine…” I took the bed in my teeth and nearly coughed at the smell, "ugh, wet dog smell." Angel motioned over to where his area must have been and I joined him where we both fell asleep.

“Hey Shorthair, wake up,” I heard Angel’s voice shouting at me before I felt a kick in the chest.

“Eh, what’s the matter?” I rolled over sleepily but got another kick.

“Wake up and get off me! Yer thumpin’ huge!”

I snapped my eyes open and immediately noticed that everything did indeed seem smaller, “What… How?” I stood up and Angel fell out from under me, gasping for breath. I seemed to have grown quite a bit, I was as big as the couch next to us, “What happened to me!?”

“I don’t know but yous gots to figure out how yous did it,” He ran out from underneath me to the window, hopped up, and looked outside, “cause Fluttershy is walking up to road right this minute! Oh pellets this isn’t good, she brought that candy maker with her! Every animal for themselves, scatter! I’m so sorry Shorthair but yous gots to get out of here!”

“How,” I shouted at the teeny bunny who was frantically looking for a way out.

“The window, come on!” He hopped up on the kitchen table and flung open the doors and I started crawling out but I stopped halfway, “Why did you stop?! She’s almost here~!”

“Not to cause any more panic but… I’m stuck,” I deadpanned and I heard the impact of a tiny paw to face. He started pushing me from behind when there was the sound of a key in a lock then the door opening.

“That’s strange, I could have sworn I locked the door before I left- Oh my goodness, Angel,” the voice spoke barely above a whisper, even when she saw him trying to push me out the window.

“Monster,” another female voice shouted that must have been the candy maker everyone was running away from. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, I’ve got this!” There was a clatter of furniture and I felt an odd weight settle on my back that rolled me and it back into the room.

“What the-!” I landed back on my paws and swatted at my attacker.

“Bonbon, I think maybe you should,” Fluttershy’s voice was cut off by ‘Bonbon’ yelling before she tackled me, “Okay then,” there was a pause before I heard the flap of wings and a mouse toy on a string bounced up and down in front of me.

I was too caught up in the moment so I started swatting at it instead of my attacker, I clamped my two front paws around it then immediately shrank back to normal size, “Dang it, I liked being big!”

“Fluttershy, why did you interrupt, I had it on the ropes.”

While they talked I finally got a good look at the two of them, “Holy shit they’re horses…”

“Come on Bonbon, look at this cute little guy.”

She picked me up in her hooves and held me out to the crazy attacker, “Hey, what are you doing, put me down! I don’t like to be manhandled- er kittyhandled!”

“Idiot, act cute,” I heard Angel shout as he hopped up and down on the table, “Fluttershy’s trying to back you up, do you know how hard it is for her to do that?”

She’s trying to help me? I guess it couldn’t hurt to play the cute-slash-adorable card… just this once. I pulled out some of the cutest moves out of the internet cat playbook.

“See, he’s just a cute, harmless, and adorable kitty... that can become bigger,” Fluttershy snuggled me while Bonbon just glared at me.

Oh man she smells like wild-berries. I thought as I began to purr which snapped me out of it, quick, what would a normal cat do? I wriggled back and forth until she let me fall to my paws, I fwipped my tail at them before jumping on the table then out the window where I continued to listen to their conversation.

“Fluttershy, how many times do I have to tell you; stop befriending monsters, one of these days it’ll come back to bite you, Celestia forbid.

“But that sweet little thing wouldn’t have hurt me or Angel Bunny wouldn’t have let it inside.”

Bonbon sighed loudly, “You can’t entrust your safety on a rabbit.”

“Bunny,” Fluttershy corrected.

“Same difference, look; if that thing goes crazy like that again. I will ahve to contact some friends in Canterlot that can help with this sort of thing. We can’t have a monster cat running around Ponyville.”

Angel hopped down from the window into the bush next to me, “Yikes, some rough stuff going on in there…”

“Yeah…” I just continued looking off in the distance at the town, “I thought I was just a cat… why didn’t Treyia tell me what I was?”

“Don’t worry about it Shorthair, there’s animals all over the world that don’t know what they are… Take those rabbits living in the burrow our in the yard; some of them have antlers! Yous don’t see them wondering what they heck they are, does you?”

“They don’t need to wonder, those sound like Jackalopes…”

“Oh… well that explains one mystery… so who’s Treyia, your owner,” Angel gave my shoulder a friendly punch to try and cheer me up.

“No… I told you; I don’t have an owner, she’s just the one responsible for me being here…”

“Oh so she’s yer mom!”

“Something like that, if you look at it from a certain angle. Do you happen to know what I am,” I asked him, if he had seen a Jackalope then he may have seen another creature like me.

He tapped his chin and his face lit up, “Not a clue… but! I do know someone who might. Follow me, we’re taking a trip to town.”

He took off like a bullet and I was forced to give chase, once I got into the groove of running I had to stop a couple of times to let Angel catch up, “Alright Shorthair, this is ridiculous, let me hitch a ride. Yer way to fast, even for a cat.”

“I noticed that as well… I can also jump really far, it’s how I escaped those weird wolves in the woods; I jumped clean over a wide river. Although I contribute that to more my tail being engulfed in blue fire than by actual skill.”

“Geez Shorthair, yer just full of surprises aren’t ya,” Angel asked as he hopped aboard and gripped my ribs and neck, “Alright I’m readeeEEE!” I went from zero to nope-speed in three seconds, we hit town shortly after and I had to slow down to make the sharp turns, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, there it is. The big gaudy looking blue building over that way.”

“…Is that a carousel?”

“How should I know? Ponies are thumping weird, just live in a cave like everything else!”

I stopped in front of the door and did a double-take, “Is that a door handle? How do they freaking open them with hooves?!”

“They just turn them, that’s the extent of my knowledge… Just slip in through an open window- hmm, doesn’t seem to be any open.”

“Now what,” I asked in a huff, “Maybe I should just will the damn door open!“ There was a click and the both of us stared as the door swung open, “Did I just?”

“Did you just? Add it to the list and we’ll get to it later, go inside,” the bunny spurred me on like a cowboy.

“Oi!”

“Heh, sorry.”

Walking into the building I saw a darkened side room full on mannequins –or would they be ponnequins?- covered in different types of cloth, Angel led me into a back room where there was a snow white cat sleeping in a posh little kitty bed, “What now?”

“Don’t worry, I gots this. If this bunny knows anything it’s how to get a girl’s body thumpin’,” hopping over to the sleeping cat and blew into her ear and whispering something that got it twitching.

In a voice that would have been at home on the posh of southern ladies the cat spoke in a silky voice, “Mmm I do declare, you best be a tom of your word-“ one of her eyes popped open when Angel started snickering, “Oh… it’s just the hairball. Mmm what do you want Bunny? I need my-my-my, who is that.”

I started feeling uncomfortable as she continued to stare at me, my paws feeling like they were warm. Angel laughed at my obvious discomfort and took the reins thankfully, “Opal, this is Felix. He showed up at Fluttershy’s last night while she was gone-“

“He can’t stay here, Bunny, if Rarity saw him she would have kittens because she would think I was having kittens.”

“Good because I wasn’t going to ask that. I was going to ask if you knew what he was.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow dear,” Opal stretched out and flicked her at us.

“Show her, Shorthair.”

“Show her what,” I asked, shaking my head free of the cobwebs that seems to form.

“The thing, you know…” He waved his tiny arms in an expanding motion.

“I can’t do that in here, it might destroy something… wait, what about what I did with the door!” I looked around the room until I laid eyes on a toy mouse; I closed my eyes and willed the thing to move. When I opened my eyes the room filled with a sickly green glow that followed wherever my eyes went, I looked to where the toy was to find it floating several inches off the ground… and it was alive.

“Not really what I meant by move, brain!”

“By the stars,” Opal murmured as she weakly batted at the mouse as I made it float to her.

“No! Please, please, please don’t eat me! I’ll do anything you want,” the now living toy squealed as Opal batted at him.

“Woah,” I pulled the poor thing away from her, “Um… sorry about that?” I set the mouse on the ground, patted it on the tiny head, and it hugged my foreleg as it cried in happiness.

“You’re too kind, I won’t forget this,” the mouse squealed as it ran out of the door into the street.

“Darling… I’m all for pitying a poor creature but that was my toy mouse…” Opal just gave a longing look at the door where it ran out, “I wonder if it still has catnip in it…”

“Opal, come on girl, focus. We need yer help, do you know what Felix is,” Angel said as he clapped his paws in front of her nose.

“Not a clue darling but he is quite cute… oh, what about the lizard that’s always here making goo-goo eyes at Rarity? He lives with a librarian, right?”

“Nah, Spike’s a good choice but how would we ask him? He can’t understand us,” Angel ran a paw over an imaginary beard.

"A library, of course, I’m a fucking idiot!"

“Hey Angel, I think I should try the library. Mind pointing me in the right direction?”

“Sure but he can’t understand us, the best you could probably do is general meaning, we’ll see you later Opal. We might as well get out before Rarity wakes up.”

“Oh my gosh,” a squeaky voice shouted the stairs, making the three of us jump, “Another kitty!”

Angel froze as he whispered to me in a strained voice, “Don’t move… if you don’t move it can’t see you.” The little white pony ran down the stairs then straight at us. "I was wrong, it can see us," Angel shouted as he bolted out of the room with me shortly behind him.

“What happened to not moving?!”

“That was then, this is now Shorthair. Just thumping run!”

I heeded his advice and ran after him to the front door, the strange energy filled my limbs giving me a boost so that when I passed Angel I grabbed him in my teeth, flipped him onto my back, and zipped down an alley to get away from the small unicorn. “So what was that all about?”

“Trust me, if yous knew what she could do to food yous wouldn’t want her touching yous,” he stated plainly before nudging me with a foot to got left towards a large… tree-house? “There ya go Shorthair, Golden Oaks Library, as promised.” He hopped down from my shoulders, “Sorry to ride and run but I need to get back to Fluttershy, she might need some help. See ya Shorthair!” With that he bounded off back to the little cottage on the hill, leaving me just sitting there staring at the tree.

Well, might as well take a look inside, I tensed my legs and leaped onto the first floor windowsill, Hmm, looks like they’re open… That must be the lizard Opal was talking about, he’s kinda big for a lizard. Now… how to get his attention? Hmm… Treyia said when I spoke I was meowing… Maybe I just need to talk loud enough and the meows might be loud enough… Here goes, please I just need him to understand me…

“HEY! Open up! Open, open, open! Hungry brain wanting to feast on knowledge!” The lizard’s ear-fins twitched as I shouted at him and he turned towards my directions, “Yes! Over here, open up!”

“Umm… Twilight,” the lizard yelled in a strained voice up the stairs, “Did you cast a spell on me?”

The pony that must have been Twilight walked down the stairs, “No Spike, I haven’t cast any spell on you. Why?”

He pointed to the window I was sitting in, “I think I just heard that cat talk… It said hey.”

Twilight looked at me and I gave my best sad face, she melted instantly and the door opened with a sparkling purple aura, “Aww, she’s so cute! Isn’t she cute Spike?”

“She,” I shouted indignantly as I backed away from her, “I am offended! This is a one hundred percent man! …Well, used to be anyways.” Twilight made several choking sounds while her left eye twitched, “Holy shit! Can you understand me?” They simply nodded and I bounced around the room and did a little dance, “Yes! I don’t know how and I don’t care! You can understand me!”

“W-what are you?”

“I don’t know…”

“But Normal animals can’t talk,” Twilight said as she walked around me with a studious eye.

“This coming from the talking horse and lizard.”

“Pony.”

“Dragon, dragon, I don't do that tongue thing!”

“Meh, I’m just calling you what Opal says,” I paused for a moment, letting what he said sink in, “Wait… are you really a dragon?” He breathed a plume of emerald fire which made me jump, “Holy crap that’s cool! What’s it like being a dragon?!”

“I’m sorry what was did you say,” he asked, giving Twilight a look, “You heard that too right? He was speaking normally, something about Rarity’s cat then I breathed fire and he started meowing again.”

“I’m not meowing! We were just having a conversation, sweet lord what is going on!?”

“Okay that time I definitely heard equestrian word mixed in with the meows,” Twilight’s horn glowed and several things lifted off the table, “Maybe it’s a spell of some kind or possibly chaotic residue from Discord’s escape. I’ve never heard of something like this before, I mean Fluttershy says she can understand them but I believe that’s more of body language than actual talking.”

My eyes grew wide as the stuff floated across the room, I ran over and started jumping at a book trying to catch it, “You! How are you doing this?!”

“How can I do this? Odd, that time it was full Equestrian… Well this is just a simple telekinesis spell, I learned it back in Canterlot when I was a filly.”

“Spell, like as in magic?”

“Magic? Yes actually, it’s a form of Light magic.”

“I can do this too! I tried lifting one of Opal’s toy mice but I thought move instead of lift and it came to life! Watch,” I focused on a book and stuck my tongue out of the corner of my mouth in concentration and everything went a little green as the book started floating. “Hah! It’s floating!”

“Whoa, Twilight, I thought Unicorns were the only ponies that could do magic,” Spike said as he stared at the glowing green book.

“We are or at least we’re supposed to be… Spike, get me all the books we have on cats or mentions cats… even the ones that seem far-fetched, don’t want another Zecora incident,” He nodded before going to the shelves and started pulling books off them, “So tell me, do you have a name?”

I scratched at my ear for a minute before answering her and dropped the book, “Name’s Felix. Nice to meet you Twilight and Spike. Man, Opal was right about coming here; I’m sure you’ll find out what I am in no time.”

“Opal, you mean Rarity’s pet cat?” I answered with a nod, “So animals do have their own language? Oh my gosh, this is so exciting! How do you talk exactly?”

I thought back on it for a moment, I just talked normally and the other animals just spoke normally, “Well… I just talk normally, maybe your brain just isn’t wired to understand it?”

“Then how am I talking to you then?”

“I don’t know, like you said; maybe it’s a spell or whatever…” my stomach rumbled, “Shh, don’t do that, that’s rude!”

Twilight just laughed slightly, “Seems like you could do with some food, let’s see what I can find in the kitchen.”

She was gone for a couple of minutes so I spent that time just picking the book up and dropping it over and over while giggling a little. Guess this is what Treyia was talking about, I wonder what else I can do… Hmm; magic, that weird thing with the robin, enhanced agility, speed, and jump… Hmm, what else? Does the blue fire count as magic?

Twilight entered the room with a tray with food-stuffs and a pot then set it on the only empty table before I launched myself up there as well, “Do you drink tea?”

“I did back… home… I don’t know if I can now but sure I’ll take a cup.” She levitated a cup over to her, filled it up, and passed it back to me where I lapped some out and immediately yowled.

“What’s wrong, it shouldn’t be that hot,” she poured herself a cup and sipped it, “No it’s not.”

I was rubbing my tongue with my front paws trying to get it to stop hurting, “Hath thoo evah,” I realized I was talking through my paws and took them out, “Have you ever heard the expression; sensitive as a cat’s tongue? That tea’s boiling hot to me…”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” she apologized before trying to take the cup back but I stopped her with a paw.

“It’s fine, I’ll just let it cool, is there anything to eat on that tray?” I looked on the tray and saw a familiar red-dotted cookie, “Oh goodie! You have jammy-dodgers here!” I lifted one with my magic and nommed on it while making yummy noises.

“Um… Felix, what’s going on with your tail?”

“My tail,” I asked as I turned my head and found that my one long tail had unwound into two, “Whoa… that’s freaky…” With a little concentration I could move them independently of each other, “Scratch that, this is freaking cool!”

“Spike~” Twlight shouted to the little dragon, “add cats with two tails to the criteria.”

“We only have one book with mention of a cat with two tail but you’re not going to enjoy the answer,” Spike said as he pulled an odd looking book with a string binding, opening it started to read from it but Twilight took it out of his grasp.

“Yokai of Neighponese Folklore… Has this always been in the library, where did you find it?” Spike pointed at the shelf where he found it and Twilight inspected it, “This shouldn’t be here, this spot belongs to Starlight’s Astronomical Scientific Studies. Note to self; Find and return said book to its proper place.” Spike scribbled the note down on a piece of paper he pulled from somewhere while Twilight sat back down across from me with a smile, “Sorry about that, since this is the only book we have with mention of something with your description then you might have to go to Canterlot.”

“Oh goodie, let the magical semi-talking cat take a roadtrip ‘cause that wouldn’t end horribly.”

“Right… Let’s see,” She cracked open the book and just stared at the pages, “Why on Equus do we even have this book?! It’s all in Neighponese!”

“Neighponese,” I asked as I tested my tea and found it had cooled considerably so I started lapping at it.

“It’s the language primarily spoken on the island of Neighpan. Spike, do we know anypony that can read Neighponese?”

“Hmm, sounds like japan… wonder if there’s any relation,” I mumbled to myself as the two talked.

“Well… Maybe Cheerilee? She is a teacher and I think there’s a Neighponese student in the school.”

“It’s the best guess we got, let’s go pay Cheerilee a visit Felix,” She stood from her seat and started walking to the door.

“But my tea is finally drinkable,” I whined as I looked down at the almost full cup.

“Then why don’t you just bring it with you?”

“Right… magic,” I lifted then happily pranced out the door after her.

"Okay Treyia, remember what I said about missing my fingers? This totally makes up for it!"

The trip through town was something though; nothing attracts attention like a Unicorn leading a cat levitating a teacup through town. I stopped a couple of times because I thought I saw something but the need to keep up with Twilight outweighed my curiosity. For about five minutes before I saw a one of those feathery cat toys bouncing down a side street. “Trap? Trap… I mean who would be dumb enough to chase after that thing,” I said while chuckling, “It will be mine!” I took off like a bolt to the obvious trap, I saw another cat going after it and I body check him before launching myself at the toy, severing the string, and going straight into a sack that got pull shut, “Hahaha! It’s mine pussywillow!” I heard the other cat give a hiss along with a swearword before there was silence.

“Hello~?”

“Yes! I can’t believe that actually worked!”

Ooooh shit… Is that that Bonbon pony? I pressed my paws to the burlap sack, using my claws to scratch a hole big enough to see out of and it was indeed Bonbon… and some minty Unicorn.

“Thanks for the help Lyra, my cousin Lemon Tart has been looking for this little guy for some time. I would have just grabbed him but snuckems here never did like me, wouldn’t hesitate to try to claw me.”

“The hell kind of name is snuckems, if you going to fucking lie then you might as well give me a damn good name! Look I’ll give a shot; I am Death, I am Flurry of a Thousand Claws, Feaster of Blood! I am Megeclipse!, destroyer of all things cute and cuddly!” I shouted out of the hole.

“It’s no problem for my best friend,” ‘Lyra’ said as she floated my sack to a pink pet crate while I continued yelling obscenities at them, “My, he certainly is a talkative little guy. I’ve never heard a cat meow so much. Does someone want a kitty crunch, now be a good little guy while I put you in the travel crate.”

I stuck my arm out of the hole and just started swiping, “I’m not a damn pet! Put me in that thing and you will feel the fury of my… mind… power-thingy! Magic! Yes, I will curse you two to the end of days!”

“Hey, hey now, none of that,” Lyra placed my sack on the floor of the crate and I heard the gate click, I found the opening of the sack and rushed out of it, “I see why you needed my help Bonny, he certainly is a feisty little guy. Here you go.” She passed a handle to Bonbon and she started pulling the crate somewhere while Lyra went a separate way.

After several minutes of being pulled around and the only view I had was of a pony’s ass I had just about enough. I had a theory about how Twilight and Spike could understand me; maybe it was because I really wanted them to and now I really wanted to give this nutjob a piece of my mind, “Oh my god would you just push the damn thing instead of pulling it?! I’m tired of staring at your ass!” She stopped pulling to look around trying to find the source of the voice. “That’s right sweetheart, behind you! It’s the fucking cat,” I grasped the metal gate with my front paws and shook it as hard as I could and she turned around.

Her eyes narrowed at me while a creepy smile came across her face, “I knew it! Think you can just waltz right into town, demon cat? Well not on my watch, the organization might be shattered but I’ll still do my job! I’m taking you to Canterlot where you’ll be put where you belong.”

"Demon cat?" What she said suddenly hit me, she knew what I was! “So… you know exactly what I am? Going to lock me up and throw away the key?”

“That’s right! Can’t have any of you monsters wandering around Equestria like you own the place,” She reached a set of wooden steps and proceeded to drag me up them.

“If you know exactly what I am, why don’t you say it? Come on, say it!”

“No! Names have power, if I just go spouting off names to a Bakeneko then we’ll be in- Oh horseapples…”

“HAH! Hahaha… So I’m a Bakeneko eh?!” I continued to laugh maniacally, "I have no idea what a Bakeneko is but I best continue acting like she just broke Murphy’s law." “Foolish pony… You know not in what affairs you mettle I-,” I saw Twilight looking around as she walked past me, “Oh shit- Twilight! I’m in the carrier! I’m being pussy-napped! Wow that sounded better in my head, just help!”

“Felix,” I heard Twilight shout as she ran up the stairs.

“Buck,” Bonbon swore under her breathe as a train whistle sounded off nearby signaling departure. She looked back at Twilight before pulling me onto the slowly moving train.

“Stop,” Twilight started calling out but the train whistle stopped me from hearing what she was saying.

The train had pulled to far away for Twilight to jump on it like we did, I glared at Bonbon through the bars before sighing in defeat, “Ooh what’s the use…”

“That’s the spirit, once Princess Celestia sees you then she’ll know what to do with you,” Bonbon curled up in one of the car’s seats after rolling my crate out of the aisle. I just sighed as I laid my head down on my paws as I listened to the click-clack of the train tracks.

“Halt,” a voice shouted, startling me awake, “No unauthorized visitors on the palace grounds. State your business.”

“Passphrase MH-90210.”

“…Very well, Princess Celestia is still in day court so I will take you to one of the waiting lounges-.”

“No thank you, I know the way. Just get her majesty,” Bonbon ordered the other pony then continued on to whatever or wherever this lounge is.

I managed to get some good looks of the palace that wasn’t filled with a frame of her butt, “Dang, talk about your White House.”

“I guess it is quite the sight for a monster like you, used to nothing but cave walls, bones, and blood littering the floor.”

I laughed internally, "I wouldn’t go that far, sure my apartment wasn’t the greatest but I think it’s a step above a bloody bone littered cave."

She opened a purple-stained door and went inside, leaving my crate towards the center of the room I got a good look around; a fireplace, several large cushions littered the room, a shelf weighed down with books, and a small kitchen area where I saw Bonbon put a kettle on a stove. A few minutes later the kettle was whistling and she poured it into a teapot and brought it over to a low table next to the cushions, there was a flash of golden light and a tall white pony with wings and a horn stood there.

“Good day, Princess Celestia,” Bonbon said as she bowed her head, “Tea?”

“Hello Sweetie Drop, I mean Bonbon, no thank you. I wish to know why you used the code,” Celestia said, the look on her face was difficult to make out.

Bonbon got up and rolled me over to Celestia, “This had just made it into Ponyville, it first showed up at Fluttershy’s where I ran it off but it showed up later that day in town…”

“Is that a-“

“Yes, ma’am.” Bonbon took a sip of tea before continuing, “You of all ponies know about these matters… When I captured it, it had called out to your student and she came running. I’m led to believe it had bewitched her to help it.”

“Bewitching? Charismatic maybe but most would deny the hell out of that,” Sitting up I looked Celestia in the eye and gave a sniff. “Twilight was helping find something out… little miss bag’em gave me the answer to my question I had given Twilight so I guess I should say thanks…”

“It… can talk,” Celestia asked surprised.

“Indeed Princess, it’s the first one that has been able to. It might be far more powerful than the others… it can levitate things as well; I saw it floating a cup of tea as it followed Twilight. This information made it imperative that I bring it straight to you for a decision,” Bonbon bowed once again before backing away from the crate.

“Speaking of; mind giving me a cup? I’d ask for a smoke but I don’t smoke… This is the sorta thing you do at an execution right,” I asked Celestia just stared at me in thought of what to do. “You know… I just remembered something,” my eyes flashed green, the crate’s door swung open, and I escaped from the crate only for Celestia’s horn to flash and all the doors and windows vanished, “Shit…”

“I’ve decided… It can’t stay here; if it does it will be undoubtedly disastrous for my little ponies,” her horn glowed once more and a golden aura encased me, “I’m sorry but I can't allow a Bakeneko to remain in Equestria and for disobeying the orders given to you I'm sending you with him to make sure he stays out."

"What?! But Princess, I was just doing my-," Bonbon started saying before the Princess' magic took hold and we were gone in a flash of light.

Author's Note

Whee~ First chapter of my story in the CGotG universe is completed! It has taken a day and night of writing and I'm finally happy with it, hope you guys feel the same~ Camp out.