The Sound of Madness

A few hours had past since Derek had killed the crocodile, alligator thing. He hadn’t come up with a good name for it, and he had too many things to deal with than naming a random creature. Derek had found a relatively stable table, and had laid out the guards patrol patterns when he swiped it from the barracks.

“Okay then, guard changes every four hours, with how well they are trained, I’m assuming they all get to their posts in time, leaving no short window. Could always take out both when they are about to switch… how long will they be asleep for. Probably ten minute window there. What else,” rummaging through his pockets, he dumped some more magic-canceling rings, a guard roster, some biscuits, and letter, “okay, letter-” his stomach rumbled, “biscuits first.” Wolfing down the biscuits, his throat started to get dry, but he ignored it.

“Okay, the rings will probably be useful. I did see a few pegasus guards, but I should be able to cripple them before they can escape. I honestly don’t care about who’s a guard or not, what’s this letter?” Opening it, his eyes widened, before his mouth turned into a small smile, which grew into a manic grin. “Well well well, guard short huh? Oh, young love, how useful you can be. And not even going to tell them you’ll be gone, what a foolish colt. Now then, what’s his post?” Trailing a finger down the list of guards, he spotted the name on the letter, one Zephyr Spark. “Let’s see, his post is, the lake beneath Canterlot? Why would they… oh. OH! The sewers! Haha! Oh Celestia, I get full movement throughout Canterlot, and you don’t even know it. Now then, this guard’s date is in a few days, so what to do before then?” His stomach growled more, and he looked down, amused. “Well, what do you want me to do? We are public enemy number one, want me to just waltz into the nearest town, order a hamburger with extra fries, and walk out?” His stomach went silent. “Heh… I’m going insane.”

Walking out of the room, the scent of dried blood hit his nose. He wrinkled his nose, before looking down at the corpse. The blood on the floor had turn slightly darker, and had traveled through the cracks. The beast still had the banner over it, but there was something under it, moving. Raising an eyebrow, he pulled out the broken blade, and lifted the covers. Underneath was another crocodile alligator thing, yet smaller.

“A baby? Why are you… oh… oh son of a bitch.” Ripping off the banner, Derek grabbed the beast’s tail and looked under it, and sure enough, it was female. “Fuck, she must’ve got hurt protecting it from that manticore… I just killed a mother.” The baby bit his shoe, and he looked down. It was gnawing on the leather boot, it’s teeth not strong enough to bite through it. Bending down, he grabbed it and held it up to his face. “I know you can’t understand me, but I’m sorry.” It closed its jaws, and turned its head, eyes wide with wonder. ‘Thing’s cute, I’ll give it that. But I can’t just kee-’ It yawned, before jumping out of his hand and dropping into his coat pocket, before curling up and falling asleep.

“Well… I guess I don’t have a choice in the matter, do I? Goddamnit, how am I supposed to keep a baby with me, while trying to kill Celestia and Luna.” It squirmed a bit more, before settling back down. Looking down, he sighed, before going towards the entrance of the ruined castle. A cool breeze washed over him and he noticed it was dark outside, with only the moon’s ray to light the grass outside the destroyed door. Sitting down on the cold stone, he brought out the baby crocodile thing, and put it in his lap. Stroking it, he looked out into the forest, before closing his eyes and humming. The baby stirred, looking up at him with one eye, before it heard the singing. It fell asleep instantly, hitting his leg. The whole forest seemed to listen to the song, the trees whistled and swayed with the song. In the distance, howls could be heard, matching the song.

Everything was silent besides his voice, echoing throughout the forest, carried by the winds into Ponyville, helping the townsfolk fall asleep. The whole world could’ve heard him, but Derek didn’t care, he only did what felt natural to him. Eventually, he stopped, before lying on his back and sighing. His eyes fluttered shut, and he fell asleep. The hatchling snuggled into his lap, letting out a small purr that vibrated throughout his body.

Back in Canterlot, Celestia looked like she was preparing for war. Her magical bow was leaning against a small table, the power of it pulsing throughout the room. She had her royal regalia on, as well as magical armor, thicker than dragon scales, and lighter than her own feathers.. Shining Armor had his guard armor on, his helmet sitting on the desk.

“Shining, the guards are prepped for tomorrow?” She noticed a small nod from the corner of her eye. “Good.”

“Um, Princess,” she looked up from the table, noticing his look, “why are we sending the best guards after one creature? He honestly didn’t look very powerful, just, snarky and overconfident.”

“Make no mistake Shining, he has been on this planet since the birth of it. He isn’t honorable, he will use dirty tactics to mess you up, his confidence is just a mask, to mask that he is a brutal fighter and a tactical mastermind. The one thing that he doesn’t have with him is his weapon. He’s weakened without it, for it amplifies his magic tenfold. We must strike before he has any chance to find out where it’s hid.”

“Um, where exactly is his weapon?” Celestia looked at him, before shaking her head.

“I’d rather not say. If anyone besides Luna and I knows about it, there’s a chance it could slip. Sorry Shining.” He shook his head, his armor shaking when he did so.

“It’s fine Your Majes-”

“Shining, you’re dating my niece, and you are the brother to my student. Call me Celestia.” Shining looked almost uncertain to do so, but the gentle smile of Celestia told him it was fine.

“It’s fine Celestia, I understand. When do we move out? Also, you do realize this will be the first time the guards will be in an actual fight, right? We’ve never had to actually fight anything before. Their training is perfect, but they’ve mostly handled drunk ponies or thieves, never something that could kill them.” Celestia looked at the table, nodding.

“I understand, which is why I’ll be fighting him.” Shining’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth, but Celestia shook her head. “The guards will set up a  defense field around him, so he can’t escape. They’ll lock him up when I defeat him and we’ll bring him to the Elements, so he’ll be locked back up… for good this time. We move out in the morning, where I can use my powers to their fullest.”

“And what about Princess Luna? What will she be doing during all of this?” Celestia pondered about it, before looking past him.

“I’m sure she will be fine… I’ll stop day court for a few hours. I’m sure they will understand. Now then, it’s time for us to get some rest,” Shining saluted and put on his helmet, before walking away. Celestia looked back at the table, before yawning. Levitating her bow, she teleported to her room, before hanging the bow up on a rack above her fireplace. The wall that exploded had been repaired, being replaced with a chimney and fireplace. The workers got right on it, and it still surprised Celestia that they could work so fast. Lifting the covers of her bed, she fell into it, and let the covers fall down over her.