Chapters 'THIS IS TORTUROUS! ' Discord yelled at his own subconscious. Which was really the only thing he could talk to.
'The only torturous thing here is you' his subconscious replied.
He was back in the garden with his own thoughts, plants, insects and pigeons so. many. bucking. pigeons! as cliché as it was it was to say... It was agonizingly boring!!
And as much as he hated pigeons before ether of his imprisonments he hated them even more now that he couldn't tern them into pillows or sandwiches 'Damed sky rats... ' He growled inwardly (not that he could do much else)
He felt his more animalistic side pacing in the literal, yet at the same time metaphorical stone cage that was his mind. He was a sapient creature yes, but he was still an animal in the deepest part of his mind.
If anything this thought only added to his already boiling anger 'the first thing I do if and when I get out -and I will- is... Well actually the first thing is exact my revenge on the sky rats but the second thing I do will be butchering that purple unicorn and her precious princess's... Naw... Maybe encase them in stone and toss them to the sky rats~! '
This went on for quite some time into the night until his attention was diverted to a pony, standing directly infront of him, it was difficult to make out as the sun had set a couple hours ago. She seemed to be a pegasus mare, she had a pure white coat and a long jet black mane along with sparkling emerald eyes but it was her cutie mark that was most distracting from the otherwise 'normal' mare. It was a black feather infront of a crescent moon... 'Huh... Wonder what it means. Why did I just think that? '
The mare smiled "it is just part of the disguise I didn't think to give it an actual meaning" he was caught off-guard to say the least. Nopony had even so much as looked at him for to long before scampering off after his second imprisonment.
Discord looked at her for a few more moments before returning to his thoughts 'now about those sky rats, I think th- '
"Did you consider giving cat's wings? Then they could kill them!" She smiled brightly, ears twitching wildly in every direction
Discord was shocked. He had thought she was just rambling to herself when she arrived. But now... 'Can she hear me? ' he asked himself.
"Yhep! I can hear everything you think-" she placed a hoof to her chest "- I'm Midnight Hawk, I'm here to criticize you!"
He laughed 'you criticize me!? Do you know who I am? ' He asked.
She nodded "Yah, You're Discord the spirit of chaos, you got you're ass handed to you by a bunch of girls using the 'magic of friendship'-" she fluttered her eyelashes "- you escaped for less then 48 hours before you were ternd to stone with a magic rainbow and you put yourself in that situation because you didn't think of a good enough plan!" She stopped her hoof
'... So... You do know me?' He would have grinned if he weren't set in stone.
"No I thought you were the guard of some sort of treasure... My mistake" she trotted closer to him "yes I know who you are. And I'm going to criticize you any way!"
He shighed 'well I can't exactly stop you now can I? '
She shook her head, her smile fading into a more serious look "nope! Any way lets start from the beginning- you taunted the princesses and the elements of harmony, if you had given them no warning you have would have given them no time to prepare! Yet you did it anyway" she curled into a lying position
'well... I wanted to rub it in I suppose ' he was still haveing trouble understanding why this mare could hear him, but decided not to question it.
She giggled "yah, don't do that next time. Any way, secondly, the elements of harmony- witch from now on I shall call E.O.H.- you let the go on a wild goose chase, witch is good, the part ware you messed up was when you told them thay were wrong to their faces ! you shouldn't tell someone that. You should've sent them off on another wild goose chase and deposed of the elements"
'Well I-' he was interrupted by the mare stomping her hoof.
"im. not. done yet. You could've just killed one of them! Without all six the E.O.H. Don't work! But you played games and toyed with them! You didn't have the gut to finish the job. Even if you managed to escape the elements 'Ranbow of justice' you would've been stopped sooner rather then later because thay still had the E.O.H.! You lost. you failed. you dug your own grave and offed yourself!-" she Took a step forward with each of the last three sentences "you didn't even try"
'What's your point? Did you just come here to insult me?! ' He noticed her eyes flash red.
She nodded and took a deep breath "In short? Yah, Pretty much" she smiled, got up and stretched.
'Why you little-' he cut himself off when she was engulfed in red smoke. When it dissipated, she was a whole different...'not possible... ' he thought to himself. She had ram-like horns, her hind legs were still the same white colour but were that of a dragon, a similar situation with her front legs- thay were white still- but were that of a lion, her body had expanded into a serpentine shape, still retaining its white colour but gaining longer fur, her cutie mark was gone, her tail was a that of a wolf long, black, silky fur adorned it, her face had a much larger, longer muzzle, red eyes with black slits as puples, her pegasus wings were much larger and looked like an alicorns wings, her mane remanded much the same, save for its length being almost doubled along with her neck length.
'You're a... a ' he couldn't even begin to form a rational thought.
"A draconequus? I know," she purred "you're one to, the sky is blue, the grass is to" the grass around her paws began to tint light blue "Oh! And I lied before, my name is Melody"
'But... I... How?! How do you exist?! ' he mentally screamed at her.
She shighed and reared up onto her hind legs, tail swishing behind her "You see, Discord, when a mommy draconequus and a daddy draconequus love each other vary much th-"
'I know where babies come from! I'm not an idiot! I meant how is there another draconequus? I thought the others were all dead! '
She shrugged "As far as I know they are. We're the only ones left, my mismatched friend" she leaned on his pedestal.
He felt several emotions he didn't even know existed wash over him. 'Is that why you can talk to me? '
She nodded and walked back to her original spot, several feet in front of him "I guess that makes sense. Though I'll admit, I didn't take you for the type to make sense" she flicked her slightly longer ears.
'Well I'm not... Wait... Did you say your name was Melody? '
She nodded again "Yah, yah, I know, I know, Discord and Melody the only known living draconequi in Equestria" she said dryly "You know what blame the author! Probably did this on purpose" she spat angrily. Then she began floating, much in the same way that he did.
'Yah... What a dick ' he agreed.
She giggled "My, my, my, what colourful language in this land full of magic and rainbows. If I didn't know any better, I might have the audacity to censor you" she tapped her chin with a finger before shaking her head "nah. Anyway, I need to get you out of that statue" she landed back on her feet.
'Whare have you been the past millennia? '
She shrugged "Romaneia, Prance, Germaneia, places like that. I traveled a lot" she looked at the sky "it's almost dawn. I have to go" she sniffed the air "like, now" she once again was engulfed in red smoke and Midnight Hawk was back.
Discord whined internally and immediately scolded himself 'okay... ' the thought was somehow sad sounding.
She smiled "Oh, don't worry Discord, I'll be back by midnight. Don't miss me to much" she said in a mocking tone. Before unfurling her wings and flying off.
Discord shighed internally 'flying cats... Why didn't I think of that? '
Pinkie pie awoke with a start. Her left ear was particularly buzzing with its erratic movements, her right eye was twitching and her hind legs spasming.
All five of her friends, who she was haveing a sleep over with at Twilight's, woke up as well. When they saw the pink mare thay rushed over.
Twilight was the first to get to her "Pinkie what's wrong?" She placed a hoof on her friends back.
"Left ear, right eye, hind legs. This can only mean one thing, an unlikely pair are forming an alliance" she narrowed her eyes as the movements stopped.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and groaned "You've got to be kidding me! Pinkie that's nice and all, but not worth waking up for!" She trotted back to her sleeping bag.
Rarity nodded "I have to agree with Ranbow on this one, a lady needs her beauty sleep!" She huffed and trotted off to her her sleeping arrangement as well.
Applejack yawned and passed out on the spot, she hadn't actually left her sleeping bag.
Fluttershy muttered something inaudible and crawled back to bed.
Twilight sighed "Good night, Pinkie"
Pinkie frowned slightly "oh well," she whispered to herself as she settled back down "it's probably just something cute like a fox and a hare raceing" she drifted into sleep among her friends.
Author's Note
Didn't originally think to make 'Midnight Hawk' a draconequus. I decided this would go better with the planed story. So yah. Sorry if you don't like that kinda thing... Heh 666... unintentional I swear!
Melody was in her library, studying... In the quiet... Fire-lit... Secluded... Library. She groaned "I. Hate. Books!" Her voice echoed in the expansive halls of the underground castle library, a library that would make Twilight Sparkle herself squee for multiple reasons. And Melody hated it. Well not the library itself, that could easily be fixed with a little paint and glitter. No, not the library. It was the studying she hated. Studying to find a spell to release the only other of her species from his stone imprisonment "doesn't even have to be a spell, I'll take anything at this point" she muttered to herself.
She had been at this for hours. She didn't know how many hours, but she guessed it was somewhere in the double digits. She didn't really need to sleep on a daily basis. Twenty four hours at the beginning of every month usually kept her going.
She grasped another book from the shelf with her magic and be began to read "let's see... 'Historical Magical Events Of Equestria'... oh goodie" she sighed.
CHAPTER 23, PAGE 789; Discord's imprisonment was an extremely important event in history. As we all know the princesses used the elements of harmony to encase him in stone. This is important to the history of magic bec-
Melody through the book into the fire "And stay in thare, devil book!" She stated, pointing at the fire place. She began to pace, muttering to herself. Soon her focus was snapped to the clicking of claws.
"Are you alright Melody?" Asked the fox, tilting her head slightly.
Melody smiled gently "I'm fine, Tune. Where is Symphony?" She asked looking around the room. Usually the two fox sisters were attached at the hip.
Tune shrugged, her green eyes flashing orange in the light of the fire "She and Note are trying to get Saddla out of her room" she chuckled "I'm surprised she took it that badly, Reed didn't mean anything by it"
Melody rolled her eyes and rubbed a temple with her paw "I know he didn't, but he caused it anyway. Reed isn't really the one to not cause trouble per se"
She and several other animals lived in the castle, which really was just a large system of halls and rooms carved into rock and polished with magic. The foxes were the only ones that could actually speak. The others asisted her with her inventing of technology and such.
She wasn't positive, but she was almost certain she helped in the accidental invention of plastic.
Tune smiled "Yes, indeed. Anyway, how are things going here?" she looked over to the fire place, that still had the now burning book inside "obviously better then expected. You haven't killed anyone"
"Not yet" she growled. Melody flicked her ears and lowered onto all fours, swishing her tail back and forth.
Tune shook her head "Oh come on Melody, surely it isn't that bad"
Melody scoffed "I'm trying to get the only other draconequus known to pony kind out of an eternity encased in stone. It's pretty bad..."
"Well maybe, but he isn't going anywhere anytime soon..." she walked to one of the nearby doors. She opened it and turned around "but don't give up before you've even started" and she left trough the extremely small door. It was designed with the foxes in mind.
Melody clicked her tongue "Damn your reasoning, demon vixen..." She twitched her tail and restored the previously destroyed book, teleporting it back on the shelf "I just wish 'not giving up' didn't involve so much reading"
Then a ear piercing screeching sound echoed trugh the castle. Melody casually covered her ears with her paws, rolling her eyes. The screeching stopped after a few seconds. Still enough to leave a creature with extremely sensitive ears like a draconequus with a ringing sound.
"I really have to come up with a quieter alarm... Wait... alarm!" She face palmed "is it really that late? Well I guess I should probably get going" she summoned her pony disguise and was swallowed by red smoke.
When it cleared she was once again the white and black pony, Midnight Hawk.
"Pony's," she hissed "they have uncomfortable hooves and edgy butt tattoos" she smiled and giggled a little "hey that kinda almost rhymes- no off topic! Not there was one in the first place. In fa- stop it! Lets just go!" She unfurled her wings and flew for the exit.
She soared high above the place gardens. By now Luna's moon was high in the sky, casting the land in beautifully-lit darkness. It was quite soothing, really, the wind in her fur and mane. It wasn't quite as nice as it felt when she did this in her actual body, but nice nonetheless.
Soon enough she reached Discord's statue. She nosedived, allowing her form to change back in a flood of red smoke. She got close enough to the ground and twisted and turned her serpentine body like and eastern dragon and landed in a puff of dust, shifting her wings and folding them neatly over her back.
She herd Discord scoff 'Show-off ' his thoughts echoed trough her mind.
Melody smiled "Totally... Worth it" she panted, flopping onto the ground with a thump.
'How vary graceful ' he spat.
Melody rolled her eyes "You're just jealous you can't do better" she hissed playfully.
'Can't really do much of anything right now '
She nodded "touché"
'...But I could definitely kick your ass at flying '
She giggled "I'll have to take your word for it" she pulled herself to her feat. She usually walked as a quadruped, easer on the tail.
'So, Melody, how old are you? ' Discord asked.
"Old? You mean my age? Well... Ten? T-ten... Nine...? no yah ten! Ten thousand three hundred forty eight"
He hummed. She had now idea how as his vocal cords were certley made of stone. Wait. Was he solid stone or are his international organs also stone? Never mind. Pointless to ask. She douted he could actually feel his organs all that much.
'I'm a century older then you. Well technically I'm one hundred and twenty two years older, but that doesn't have the same ring to it '
She shrugged and rolled onto her back, stretching. "I agree. But why do you care? Exact age doesn't really matter when you're immortal" she yawned, stretched her forelegs, flexing there claws with a groan.
'well you're currently the only livening thing I can have a proper conversation with. It's like talking to a brick wall with these ponies. Which is ironic considering im the one made of stone '
She began to purr "mmm... I have the foxes but they don't usually understand what I'm trying to say. They were never really with, and I quote, 'Disgustingly over complicated big words'"
''big words'? What did you say to them? My next question will be- you have talking foxes? '
"All I said was 'deliberately'! And yes. But they aren't my pets or my friends. More like house mates" she relaxed her flexed claws and arms and began the same process with her hind legs, makeing her joints to pop.
'Ok. Ummm... What's your favourite... colour? '
"Are you making small talk?" she mock gasped "who are you and what have you done with Discord?" She gave a sly smile, retracing her pawed arms to her chest like a meerkat, still lying on her back.
'Oh haha. Yes, I am. because for the life of me I can't think of anything else to say. So, what's your favourite colour? '
She coiled into a upward lying position. She tilted her head, eyes dotting back and forth around the moon-lit gardens, finally resting on the petrified spirit of chaos. She smiled evilly.
"Okay, I'll bite. My favourite colour is blood red. And you? What is your favourite colour?"
'polka dot ' he stated simply.
She raised and eyebrow and a questioning look spread across her face. but she quickly shook her head "if you weren't you I would argue. But since you are you... I'm not going to waist my breath trying to reason with you"
He purred, something she doubted he did vary often 'Fast learner. That's good '
She rolled her eyes and shrugged "Being a fast learner is the only way to understand anything nowadays. Favourite book?"
'Well i didn't read much in my lifetime as a free draconequus, but i did read one book I rather liked... Uhh something like 'Potions And Elixirs Made With Plants And... Things'? or whatever '
She smiled and slowed her purring, which she had been doing for a while "Yah, I think I know what book you mean 'Temporary Organic Magical Compounds And How To Make Them '?"
'Yes, that. How about you? What is your preferred slab filled with paper and ink? ' he purred.
"'Advanced Spells For Unicorns '" she smiled and coiled tighter when a cool breeze ruffled her long white fur.
'Hate to break it to ya Mel, but you're not a unicorn '
She curled her fluffy, long black wolf tail over her lions paws and rested her head on the ground, her purring never faltering. She blinked up at him, her naturally slitted puples slitting to paper thin, blurring her vision slightly "That doesn't mean I can't use it, Disco" she purred gently, flicking her forked tongue out her mouth with a hissing noise.
He scoffed ''Disco'? Is that really the best you can do? '
She expanded her puples back to there original size "Mel? Is that really the best you can do?"
'I'll think of a better nickname eventually. Before Celestia became 'Sun-butt' or 'Tia' or 'Flameing Sun Bitch' --the last one is still in the works by the way-- she was 'Princess Bubblegum' '
She tilted her head slightly hand huffed air, a common sign among animals. It was a kind of secret language between species, ponies used to understand this but that stopped many millennia ago. But it came instinctual for drakonuquii so he understood exactly what she was saying.
'She used to have pink hair, she looked much nicer like that. Trust me. Anyway, hobbies? '
"Hobbies?" She cocked an eyebrow.
'Yes... You know, what do you do in your free time? '
"Oh!" She tilted her head in thought "hmmm... Fishing, hunting, archery, drawing, reading, climbing, flying, digging, gardening, writing, practicing magic, potion making, re-alphabetizing the library, de-alphabetizing the library, managing an artificial squirrel reserve and breeding program, bakeing, studying, knitting... Oh! And running" she finished whith a smile, she hadn't taken one breath since she started her list. She flopped onto the ground, pawing at the air.
'I-I... How.. What? '
She quickly regained her composure and sat up onto her haunches "If we have one thing in common, Discord, it's free time. I however am not stuck in one spot. The point being... I have a lot of bucking time on my hands"
'You do all of that!? '
She shrugged "To name a few things. I only need to sleep one day out of the month and I can go without food for two weeks. Now thousands of years of nothing worthwhile to worry about plus being easily bored plus almost unlimited magical abilities equals a wide range of 'hobbies'" she made quotation marks with her wings.
'Okay... Umm well all I do is count each individual blade of grass... And... I'm sorry, is there anything you aren't good at?! '
She flattened her ears against her skull "I never sead I was good at what I do. I just do it cuz' it's fun. There are plenty of things I'm not good at, or can't understand... like... I've never understood why we need Physics, I have next to no social skills, I don't understand why there are culturally customs and traditions, and I've been told that, apparently, I don't understand 'morals' - whatever those are..." she sniffed the air.
'Sun-butt told me the same thing! I know that I'm not exactly the poster boy for the morally correct thing, but I know what it is! '
She smiled "Ok my tern, Monsieur! essayez de répondre en conséquence!"
'Ok... I know that's prench, what does it mean? '
She purred louder "It roughly translates to 'do try to answer accordingly'"
'How many languages do you speak? '
"Several, bringing up my 'a lot of free time' thing again. now who is your favourite princess?"
He groaned 'I suppose Dimond-butt isn't to bad '
She thought for a second before realizing who he ment "How do you know about Cadence? She only ascended a couple centuries ago"
'She came by a couple days back with Lulu and Celly, who are both her aunts apparently, so thay must have a third sibling looked away somewhere. That or something less 'conspiracy theory-ie' '
"Huh... Must be something important for her to come all the way to Canterlot..."
'They were talking about some kind of wedding with someone stallion called... Shining Armrest? '
"Armrest..? Do you mean Shining Armour?" She asked, tilting her head and halting her purring for the first time since her list.
He made a humming sound 'Na! Shining Armrest is much better, his parents really missed out on that one... But I think you're right. Shining Armrest is still better though! '
"Maybe that can be soon-to-be-prince Shining's nickname"
'Im likening you more and more, Lody '
"Still needs work. What I would give to see Twilight's face when she hears about this. Speaking of nicknames, what's Twilight's? I can't think of anything"
'its rather hard to find a rhyming yet funny nickname for somepony with the name 'Twilight Sparkle' there for you just have to come up with a different name the reflects there habits. I call her 'The Yellow StarBurst' because I hate her and all she represents, like yellow starbursts, And because of her cutie mark of course '
She smiled and laughed a little "Simple and relatable. Well played, Discord. Well played"
'Can you think of anything now? Also, your favourite princess '
"Hmmm... 'Princess Of Books'" she said
'What does that mean? '
She tilted her head slightly a shocked and confused expression on her face "You can't feel it? Little miss sun-rump is planning something big! This much magic hasn't been in the atmosphere since The 'Lerve~' princess ascended. She is going to ascend somepony, and my best guess is her fathfull apprentice and trusted element barrier miss Twilight 'Sparkill'"
'Now that you mention it... Yah... You may just be right '
"Luna is my favourite. Her night is beautiful" she smiled
'Yes, Lulu always loved to go all out... Okay! Favourite pie, mine is apple '
She smiled "Strawberry. Acum, te rog, mă enervează asta- basically, riddle me this, How many languages do you speak?"
' well... I know you were just speaking Romaneian. But I have no idea how to speak or understand it. I can speak Germaneian, Old Equestrian if that counts, and (insert clever horse pun name for Spanish here) '
"Oh! You speak (Previous clever horse pun name for Spanish)?!"
'yah, I was in Mexicolt for a century or two. I picked it up '
"I learnt in (insert equally clever horse pun name for Spain here). I'm a little rusty though. One sec... Ah!¿Cuánto tiempo te llevó? Me tomó alrededor de dos décadas perfeccionarlo. Dudo que sea tan bueno como lo fui, ¿qué opinas Discord?" (How long did it take you? it took me about two decades to perfect it. i doubt i'm as good as i was, what do you think Discord?) she tilted her head again and resumed her purring.
'No mucho, unos quince años. y estoy un poco oxidado también. creo que te está yendo bien ¿Qué hay de mí, Melody? ' (Not long, about fifteen years. and I'm a little rusty as well. i think you are doing fine. what about me, Melody?)
She laughed "you're fine as well. But I think we cut down on the multilingual use for more then one word. Might get confused. That okay with you, señor?"
'sí, estoy bien con eso, señora ' (yes, I'm fine with that, madam)
She giggled and snapped her fingers, it was a universal technique draconequii used and until Discord trade marked it, she would continue to use it. a fadora and trench coat apered on the statue.
'The streets of manehatten are a dangerous place, only I can save em' '
"What does that even mean? Never mind. Not even going to ask how you know what manehatten is. You do look good in a fadora though" she snapped the outfit away.
'Probably the best idea. And thank you. Now I know you speak several languages, and I like some surprises. So, how long have you been in Equestria exactly? '
She shrugged, pausing her purring once more "I've been coming and going for the past three thousand years. Never stayed for more then a week though. I'm planning on staying for at least another century"
She looked up at the lowering moon "Looks like we're out of time. See you tomorrow"
'i don't know... Gonna have to check my schedule '
"It wasn't a request" she purred and launched into the air at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash jealous.
And dawn began to set in.
Twilight blinked her eyes open, groaning as Celestia's sun hit them.
She pulled her self out of bed, brushed her mane and tail, and descended the stares into the main room of the Library. She was going to see her friends today, thay were going to have a picnic.
The lavender unicorn smiled and levitated a book over to her.
Princess Celestia was writing Twilight and her friends a request for thare help in the up coming wedding.
"I wonder if Fluttershy..." She cast a spell that allowed her to see her subjects. She took a deep breath "Show me Fluttershy" she commanded. A image appeared infront of her eyes.
"Please? I just want to help you" Fluttershy pawed at the injured goose, it honked and she yelped. She launched herself across the room and hid behind a couch.
"Are you okay?" she asked. The bird honked at her "I'm sorry!" She ran out of her cottage, whimpering.
Celestia stopped using the spell, a look of confusion on her face, jaws slightly parted.
"Ummm... I'm sure she'll do... Fine?" She looked at Discord again and shock her head "He'll drive the poor girl out of the country if she gets scared that badly from a goose..."
Celestia paced her study for a few moments. She stopped and stomped her hoof on the floor "I got it!" She declared.
She pulled out a photo of Twilight and her friends. And smiled, looking at Discord "Well my old friend, looks like I have a way for you to be reformed after all... With limits to your magic of course. Can't have you reeking havoc on the contrary... Again" she looked back to the photo.
She nodded to herself. Twilight would reform Discord. "Is this a good idea?" She asked herself, looking back out at Discord "probably not. But hay, it will be interesting to watch" she giggled at the thought of Discord's face when he realized she suspended his powers.
"A little mean spirited, but he did try to takeover my country... Twice"
She left her study in search for her niece, leaving the photo of the six mares on her desk.
Author's Note
I'm 99.99 percent sure I didn't come up with 'princess bubblegum' so... Yah. Hope you liked it. I tried to catch all the spelling mistakes I could. Not sure how that went. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can... Umm... Yah... Bye?
Melody was walking down one of the halls in her underground castle- witch the foxes liked to call 'the burrow'- she had no idea why.
She was humming a... well-- melody that her parents used to sing to her when she was a pup.
'funny really, ' she thought 'you could call a young draconequus just about anything. Of corse there was an actual term used by the elders before the extinction event... what was it again?... '
She padded into a sitting room she used for important thinking... and tea- but thinking for now.
Melody jumped onto a stack of pillows and circled a couple times before setleing. She didn't have anything important to do right now. She knew Celestia would come round eventually. How did she know this? Well a foxes natural sneakiness made them amassing spy's.
'Well I remember I met Soarké... or was that Erikled? Well one of the elders mentioned... Ah! draconequii young are called Esperki! ' she smiled.
She had lived in a clan for the majority of her childhood. Until the extinction event that is... at least one hundred species were wiped out via earth quake. Draconequii were nateive to Maratie, a land that didn't even exist in this dimension! she had no idia how Discord escaped this in the first place. She had noticed how he talked, he was most definitely from Maratie.
Not all draconequii had magic. in fact, magic was extremely rare in a draconequus, usuley only those of pure bred(as pure bred as draconequii could get that is) even had the slightest amount. Now she- and obviously Discord- were the exception. For some reason. She knew that they weren't related, she would have known something like that the second she saw him, Instinct and all.
She sighed and rolled onto her back, unfurling her wings and spreading them out behind her. She rased a paw and examed the long, silk-like snow white fur. She had seen drawings of Discord, he had shaggy brown, gray, and yellow fur. She had no idea if he even brushed it. His mane and two of his limbs were pretty much the only physical things that had in common.
'Discord is most definitely not pure bred. But neither am I and I've had magic all my life... ' she thought.
Pure bred draconequii weren't all that special looking, that tyipicly only looked like one animal with something it shouldn't have. Like a dog with antlers or a bear with wings. Definitely not Discord.
"Well lets see... lion, pony, horse- not to sure what the difference is in this dimension-, egal- or chicken. I'm not to sure, dragon, lizard- or different coloured dragon. Again, not sure... dear, antelope, his body... well I'm not to sure what the hell that's supposed 'ta be, bat- animal not sport, and pegasus...?" She listed his body parts, counting on her fingers "so... eleven? Or eight- depends on what you count. And me... lion, dragon, wolf, ram, horse, snowy owl, body... again i have no clue. Seriously, what serpent-like creature of mythology has fur? FUR?!?! " she rolled onto her stomach.
The only way she knew she had the wings of a snowy owl was the small gray flecks that were hardly visable, only a few shades darker then the rest of her body save for her mane and tail.
She could only gess how horrifyingly normal pony anatomy compared to draconequii. She had two hearts and huge lungs, four kidneys, three stomachs, the normal amount of digestive organs- she guessed, one brain of corse, a froked toung, and she had no idea how one could talk a advanced language and bark and howl like a wolf plus all the other animals she was made of.
She shook her head. It wasn't all that important. She would just ask Discord how he escaped the extinction event. It didn't have a name still after 8,500 years. Not that she knew of at least.
"Maby Discord will want to name it..." she thought out loud. She had never had the heart to name it. Her ears pressed agenst her skull as she remembered that week. It took her days to sift trough the ruins.
She shiged and opened a portal
The six friends and one dragon were on the train to Canterlot.
Twilight was thinking of all the was she was going to kill her brother when she saw him.
Rarity was beyond ecstatic, most probley making a mental note of all the supplies she would need.
Rainbow dash was trying and failing to sit still, ocasonaly doing a air born lap around the train cart.
Fluttershy was... being Fluttershy... so not much of anything really.
Pinkie was literally jumping for joy and speaking so fast her mouth was just about a blur. She only sat down when everyone told her to, not that it did any thing to stop her bouncing.
Applejack was cool as a 'apple in winter' or something like that, none would put it past her to say something along those lines.
Spike was being as irrelevant and annoying as usual. To an extent thankfully.
They were almost there now. They found the large pink bubble a little odd, but ignored it for now.
Discord was in the garden as always. The forcefilled around -what he could tell- was all of Canterlot. Might delay Melody if it stays up over night.
He had access to little to no acsess to his magic, But he could practically taste all the magic being pored into the air. If he could actualy taste that is. It felt nice.
But it didn't quite feel as nice as chaos magic. Regardless, it was a feeling other then boredom or loathing so he wasn't going to complain.
Probley one of the reasons he talked with that other draconequus. The mane reasons for it were, boredom, more boredom, boredom, mutual pigeon hatered, and oh! More bucking boredom! ...
Well that and... he was lonely. He had always felt lonely- no matter how many sentient things he had around him he always felt they were... different. no matter how hard he tryed to ignore it. no matter how many times Celestia or Luna said they were his friends... there was always a nagging feeling not to trust them, or at least take everything with a grain of salt.
It never mattered. Melody, was difrent, he felt trusting of her. like she was the one fleck of white paint on a wall of black paint. Or some other, more relavent metaphor.
Mabey it was because thay were the same species. He had no idia where he came from, other then biology, he had no idia what happened before he woke up in a cave with a note, a pile of books and a Phoenix.
'Yes... that note' he spat. He scanned his memory for what it said. Luckily, he placed a spell on every memory pre '1000 years in stone and the effects on a male's psyche' that allowed him to access it as though he were still there.
He groaned and slowly got up. He was in a cave.
"What the..." he whispered
He jumped as he heard a shrill from a large orange, yellow and red bird. It had a note in its beak. He took the note.
"Thanks? '8/12/26863: If you are reading this, you aren't dead. Hooray!' Uhh..." he sat up on his haunches and continued to read 'Now, if you can't remember any thing, here's the low down. I am your father, Martom, me and your mother, Aliled, decided if anything were to happen we would have a fail save for you. Currently you are only a few months old, but better safe then sorry. Now if any thing bad were to happen a spell would activate and you would be sent away in a flash of light. If you do not remember your name or age or anything like that, here's the basics, your name is Discord Qwaillmar, your current age will be implemented via magic -1,743 years TEEN-'"
He looked over to the bird "Discord Qwaillmar, 1,743 years old. I like the sound of that" he looked back to the note and continued
" 'Your birth date is Tuesday 4/1/26863 7:37 pm, your gender is male,' well I knew that 'dad'!" He said "Anyway. Ware was I... 'you are an animal called a draconequus, and you have access to grate amounts of magic- almost jaw-dropping- and you aren't even 1 yet! Anyway, The bird with you is called a phonix, she will help you. I hope from the bottom of my heart that you never have to read this, if you do... your mother and I are sorry we couldn't protect you. Good bye my son, and good luck. 4/1/27163, PS, This is your mother writing this. It is your 1,000th birthday today. Here is a sketch of you, your father and I. I decided if something were to happen... I love you my son. You should never give up, believe in yourself. I know I do. If we never met again... good bye.'" He exhaled. He felt sad... but he dident know why.
He took the sketch in his claws. The paper was a light brown and the picture was in colour. On the left stood his father. he had no idia how he knew this was his father, he just did. His father had a tan leopard left hind leg, the green right hind leg of a lizard, a yellow eagle right arm not unlike Discord's, a sky blue scaled dragon left arm, a chestnut equine head, deer antlers, his eyes had bright yellow sclera, red irises and black slit pupils, two rather large white fangs, a long orange tabby cat tail that ends in a white tip, a short black mane that went all the way between his antlers and to his forehead, and a furred dark brown serpentine body witch hosted two large unfurled black bat wings. He had a gentle smile on his muzzle.
His mother was standing to the right. She had the right hind leg of a brown bear, the chestnut hind left leg of a horse, a tan lion left arm, the right arm of a gray wolf, a light gray equine head, pail blue antelope horns, her eyes had light blue sclera, blue irises and black slit puples, with one small fang that came out of the mouth on the left, a red dragon tail with a black tuft of fur on the end, a long, braided white mane that circled her horns, a furred dirty blond serpentine body which held large unfurled light blue feathered wings. She to had a warm smile.
In the middle of them was him, Discord. He had a green lizard left hind leg, a chestnut brown horse right hind leg, his right arm was a tan lions leg, his left a yellow eagle tallon, a light gray equine head, a white antler on the left, a blue horn on the right, his eyes were like his fathers, one medium sised light yellow fang on the left of his muzzle, a red dragon tail with a large white tuft on the end, a short black mane on his neck and a small section of long white hair in between his horns, a furred brown serpentine body witch had a light blue feathered wing on the right and a dark purple bat wing on the left, both wings were an admiral size.
Discord looked over to the so called phonix "You're going to help met out?"
She thrilled.
"Good, now lets get out of this cave, eh?"
The memory began to fade and Discord was pulled back to reality... and about two thousand bug ponys.
'Of corse the first interesting thing in five hundred years happens wale I'm not paying attention! I blame the bucking sky rats... I wonder if Celestia still has that phonix I gave her?'
Melody stepped into the field. The grass was golden yellow. There were oak trees spaced trough out the field, instead of acorns thay had flowering poppies.
She smiled. Her species may be nerely extinct but Maratie was still just as beautiful as she remembered it.
A wide shallow, clear, mint green tinted river was next to her. It had a slow current and the bank and bottom of the river was coated with sparkling diamonds. A large, hevaly bilt fish slugged trough the water.
In the distance were the mountains, covered in large clusters of gemstones. A herd of silver jackalope galloped past, there long tails waveing behind them.
The gentle wind rustling the grass and her fur. She sighed.
A sea blue wyvern glided miles above the field, his long, full, navy blue mane blowing in the wind.
Her attention was terned to two Wolfeian shapeshifters who looked at her from across the river. They were surround in shadows. When the shadows cleared... they were gone.
She tilted her head. A loud zapping sound made her jump. She whipped her head over to ware the sound came frome. Thare stood the two shapeshifters in there human forms.
She could tell thay were twins. Thay had fiery red hair, emerald green eyes and pail skin. Thay both wore simple white linnen under shirts, black linnen pants and dark tan deerskin waistcoats.
The one on the left smiled and terned to his brother "Phoenix? What is that?" His tone was sweet but in a almost psychopathic way.
She knew who thay were, Griffin and Phoenix, the twin prince's born to Jade- sister of the monarch, Luner- and Marson, son of Eric 'The Dragon Blooded' they are the most insane, Bloodthirsty, Mersey-less, Powerful, sociopaths of the Farimore monarchy, rivaled only by Queen Luner herself.
Phoenix shrugged "No clue..." he terned to his brother "Never mind that! We have to find Levi, remember?"
Ah Leviathan, known in many dimensions as 'The Tormentor' he had the ability to enter someone's mind and drive them insane.
Griffin nodded and the two left.
Melody shiged and opened a portal back to Equis.
If they ever tryed to get Discord back into stone, she would have to make him come here. Witch she didn't mind. She loved it here.
Author's Note
Sorry for my awful spelling and grammar! I'm just the worst, I know. Anyway, hope you like it! I've had these characters and the dimension 'Maratie' for years. I decided they would be good in this story. I'll try to explained it better in later chapters. Sorry again.
EDIT: I fixed some of the spelling errors and plot holes. 'Luner' is long for Luna. Witch was her original name. I thought it would be confusing because… cough cough Princess Luna cough cough.
Melody played the memory again, the misty glass sphere constructing the stolen image. She scoffed, looking back to the news paper. She sighed.
"This is just... ugh!" She whipped her tail in frustration, eyes beginning to glow. She took a deep, calming breath as she tried to keep her fur from standing on end.
The changelings and their Queen were extremely ignorant if they thought that dumb plan of theirs would work.
Her wings began to puff out. She looked at them and growled deeply "traders" she spat.
She felt her stomachs growl. She groaned, drumming her fingers on one of the desks.
Melody looked up at the sky light. It was night. A good time to find food.
The room was lit by a fireplace in one of the walls and multiple torches, this room was her storage room. Multiple floors of boxes, magical items and scrap. She was an inventor so most of her scrap went to that. Everything she didn't have an immediate use for was stored here.
She lowered onto all fours- as she was privosly standing- and strode over to her record book. She flicked trugh the pages until she found what she was looking for.
Flicking her wrist, she summoned it to her. It was a dark purple silk shawl, with a seamless black patterning like the the twisting branches of brambles.
She reared up and sniffed it. It smelled like flowers and herself, it calmed her. She wrapped it around her shoulders, covering her wings.
Melody shiged and adjusted her wings so thay were pining the fabric to her, which just meant unfurling them and re-folding them. Simple really.
"That's pretty" she jumped at the familiar voice. She whipped around to be met by Reed, a black fox with a snow white muzzle and chest, given to him after uncountable years. "where'd ya get it?"
She shifted, pining her wings back down, as thay unfurl instinctively when she got spooked. She looked at him "My mother..." she answered with a sad smile.
Reed pined his ears and trotted up to her, nuzzling her arm.
She sniffed "So!" She shifted "what's for dinner?" She asked, moving her arm away from the smaller fox.
Reed looked concerned for her but didn't pry "Salad, Rabbit soup and fried fish" he said with a hint of pity of all things.
"Great!" She trotted in the direction of the dinning hall.
The ancient fox sighed and followed his master to the dinning hall where the rest of his Skulk was.
Twilight Sparkle was walking back to ponyville, carrying a book in her magical aura.
She had just been to see Zecora to borrow one of her potions books. She was there longer then expected and the sun had already set. Wale morning she was unnerved by the forest -especially at night- Spike would worry if she had stayed at Zecora's.
She was just about to walk by a bush when a sparkle caught her eye in the lamp light.
"Huh..?" She upon closer inspection she found an amulet.
It was a little hard to see in low light, but from what she could tell... it was beautiful... It was a octagon shape and silver with black patterned engraving and a gem ruby insignia of the head of a fluffy dog of some kind in the middle, it had a long, sturdy titanium chain.
"Who would leave this just lying around?" She whispered. "maybe Zecora lost it?"
She looked at it a moment more then placed it around her neck.
'It does look nice...' she thought as she brought her hoof up to her chest where the amulet dangled 'I'll ask Zecora if it's hers tomorrow... but for now... the safest place for this would be around my neck... right?'
She nodded to herself and continued to walk.
Discord was still in the garden. Bored as ever. He wished he could just sleep. But alas, having your eyes permanently stuck open didn't really help with that.
He turned his attention to the stars, he recognized many of the constalasons... including one he had never seen before. Weird. It was the The vague shape of a antler.
Weirder still... he knew its history.
'it was created by King Midnight The Vigilant as a gift to the Feniclow Kingdome's then currant monarch, King Dorian The Guardian... 'he thought automatically 'wow. Where did THAT come from?! ' he wondered.
Melody had eaten her fill and was curantly flying just over Canterlot Castle.
She hadn't bothered to change her form into that of a pony, instead flying like a wave, diving slightly then ascending slightly.
She beat her wings a couple of times, and let herself glide.
When Discord came into view she descended.
She was almost there when she heard his thoughts...
'King Midnight?' She thought.
She shifted her wings uncomfortably, adjusting there feathers into place. "You know that story?" She asked, tilting her head.
'Melody? Uhh... y-yah... I... think so? ' he sounded unsure and confused.
"Do...-" she paused, flicking her tail back and forth in thought "-Do you want to hear the whole story?" She drew circles in the dirt with her paw.
He hummed in consideration 'Sure. why not '
She took a deep breath "Well, it all started with King Midnight, the third monarch of the wolfien kingdom 'Farimore' -now known as 'The Kingdom Of The Moon' currently ruled by Queen Lunara- created a constellation as a peace offering for the Kirvort kingdom 'Feniclow' -now known as 'The Kingdom Of The Sun'
'Well that's a lot to digest... uh... Melody? '
"Yes?"
'whats a Kirvort? ' he asked.
"A Big Cat, King Solivar is a lion with golden yellow fur" she said.
'Oh... huh? Where did you get that? ' he asked, less confused now that she had explained the story but seeming to want to change the subject ASAP.
Melody shifted the shawl on her back with her wings, curling her tail over he paws "I've had it for years," she flicked one of her paws dismissively "never had much use for it though"
'its vary purple ' Discord's thoughts echoed in her head.
"Well at least it has colour" she gestured to his statue "the same can't be said for you however"
'Ouch! ' he hissed playfully.
Melody smiled, beginning to purr.
'uhh... Melody? '
"Yes Discord?"
'Why do you purr so much? ' he asked.
She cocked an eyebrow "What do you mean?"
'its just... you purr... a lot... why? '
Melody's ears pricked at this "I purr when I'm happy... I geuss I'm just happy a lot of the time. Why? Don't you purr when your happy?" She tilted her head.
'I did when I was younger, I stoped when I noticed others didn't. I gess I just learnt... not to '
Melody smiled "Didn't your mother ever teach you to purr if you want to?"
'She might have, I wouldn't know... '
"Wha dya mean?" she drawled, narrowing her eyes.
'Well... the best way to explain it would be... oh! Yes I know! I have amazeia! '
She stared at him for a moment "amazeia..? Do you mean amnesia?"
'Thats what I said' he schoffed out defiantly.
She blinked "So... you remember... nothing?"
'nothing prior to wakeing up in a cave ' he seid casually
"This may sound insesative... but you should be happy that you can't remember it"
'And why is that? ' he asked, a hint of a growl in his voice.
"Trust me when I say I'd rather not remember... the same might not be the case for you but remembering..."
'I-i see... if I may ask... what happened? '
Melody looked up at him, her eyes distent as she dug up memory's she had kept buried for many years... her ears pinned, her tail dropped, and her head hung.
"Earth quake... a big one" she trembled "I was lucky... I was born with wings... but the others... th-they.. fell..." she dug a tiny trench with one of her claws "the ground split open, they fell in... and debris fell in after them..." she filled the trench with dirt "the earth quake was so massive it destroyed the entire island... it was a vary large island..." sighing, she traced a shaped in the dirt "Every clan was whipped out... I was the only one to escape, apart from you... every one else..." she swiped her claws across the shape...
'O-oh... c-can we talk about s-something else? ' he choked out.
"Of corse... what's your diet like" she perked up and looked up at his statue.
Discord cleared his throat 'what everypony else eats... why? '
"So... vegetation?"
He hummed in confermason
"That's it?"
'Yeh... '
"How are you still alive?!" She shouted, fur standing on end.
'Dont tell me... I'm not supposed to eat like that. Right? ' he deadpaned.
"Well we have fangs for a reason!" she schoffed "we're mostly carnivorous"
'W-we are? ' he stuttered.
She brought her paws up in defence "Calm down. I said mostly we're omnivores"
'oh. I... didn't know that '
Melody shrugged "learn something new every day" she chirped.
Author's Note
Done! I did the best I could with the spelling errors.
Ps: Discord should be released- if not in the next chapter then the one after that. Thanks for reading! Sorry I'm tarrable at this.
Wolves Of Maratie (and others)
He creeped trough the grass, shifting his wight so he would hardly make a sound.
He sniffed the air and grinned.
He, however, was not the only one there that night...
Dozens of other wolves ran with the herd, they flicked their ears and whipped their tails, signalling the others. Some pounced, occasionally a lucky wolf would bring down one of the large animals and ripping them open.
He rammed into a elder female, nocking her of her hoofs. He had his meal but the others would hunt until thay had their own.
The rest of the herd was past them by now. He held the female under his paws, keeping all of his weight on her.
With jaws parted a snarl he moved his muzzle closer to her throat. She struggled but gave up within seconds. Her head rested on the ground, exposing her neck, qwicy accepting her fate. Besides, she was so old she probably wouldn't make it trough the winter anyway.
He lunged forward, ripping her throat open, moving back he watched as blood came in spurts, spraying the ground with it, His muzzle and chest was soaked in the crimson fluid. He had accidentally hit the main artery.
"Dammit.." he muttered, strikeing the ground with out sreached claws.
"Your highness" his ears pricked and he turned around. Two of his -and one of his sisters- guards were there.
"What do you want?" He growled, marking sure to expose his sharp, blood-stained teeth.
"Prince HuntingFire, your sister, Queen LunerFlight has requested your presence on her court tonight" His sisters guard said in a clear voice.
"Oh goodie" he drawled "my benevolent sister has requested I be graced with her presence" he spat, his voice dripping with sarcasm "she dident seem to wish me on her court for the last five malenia she has ruled though. has she?" He hissed.
"So... is that a yes?" The guard asked.
"Well, yes of course! I'm not just going to say no. This will most likely be interesting. So! Who cannot attend?" He asked in a cheerful tone, trotting toward the Castle.
"There highnesses Prince Danyal and Princess JadeEye" one of his guards stated.
He stoped, turning to the guards "Both of them..? huh... Ok! Lead the way gentlemen! But we should stop by the river first, I need to wash all of this blood off..."
"I'll get a maid to take your catch to your chamebers for later" one of his guards said, rushing off as the other two began to trot to the castle.
Hunter smiled and followed them.
She was siting on her throne, her tail swept to one side, her wings slightly unfurled, her ears perked, her horns shown. She drummed her fingers.
The doors swung open and her brother stepped in. He had taken on his human form. He wore a loose, long sleeved cyan linen shirt with his allegiance amulet exposed and hanging at his chest, lose black silk pants and his crown -a silver band with black patterning and embedded diamonds- He had black hair -like her- and glowing, frosty blue eyes.
"You called?" He asked, walking up to her.
"Yes I did. I assume you agreed?" She asked, halting her finger drumming.
"Yah, yah..." he took his seat on an empty chair next to her "if I ever left you hanging I'd hardly be a good brother" he looked around "speaking of brothers... where's King Salem?" He asked, looking at the empty throne next to his sister.
Luna and Salem were twins and co-rulers. Luna had ruled longer then Salem, for he had been corrupted by a Roting when thay were kids, only recently had he been cured.
"He said he was going to do paper work instead of court this week. I said I could manage with out him... I've done it before" Luna looked at the empty chair next to Hunter.
He noticed this and followed her gaze "Who else did you request?" He asked as he took a sip of his water.
"Leviathen" she said bluntly, Hunter did a spit take. Luna looked at him with a deadpan expression "are you quite done?" He nodded "Good. I asked for the twins to look for him earlier today"
"Phoenix and Griffin?" He flicked his index finger, evaporating the water in saliva he had spit out. Luna muttered a conformation, shifting her wings "So what your saying is that out of all your family you asked your murder-happy nephews to look for one of the most dangerous royal assassins in the entirety of the dimension ?"
"M-maybe? Luna shifted "Oops" she half-chucked.
Thay looked at each other for a few moments.
"I'll look in the dungeon" Hunter shighed.
"I'll look in the Garden. they are currently obsessed with useing people as piñata's"
Luna used her shadow walk ability- dissolving into black mist- and Hunter simply teleported, fading into nothing.
Melody was trotting. She was in Maratie's Rothish Forest, looking for one entity in particular.
She stoped dead in her tracks, flicking her ears, she smiled "Hello, Kitten" she purred, turning her head up to the trees.
A golden-yellow clouded leopard slithered his way down the tree.
He growled, puffing out air "Melody. Good to see you again" he said with caution.
"You to Grant"
"What do you want?" He asked, settling into a siting position, curling his tail around his paws.
"Tisk tisk..." she sighed "always with these assumptions... but since you mention it..."
"I'll do anything as long as you leave" he deadpanned.
Smiling, she flicked her tail "Well... I know that you're quite buddy-buddy with Chevix..."
"The Trickster?-" she nodded "Well... yah. Why?" He asked.
"I need an amulet that he stole from me awhile back" she explained just what it looked like down to the microscopic specks of rust.
"Fine. I'll nab it whale he's on a run. Happy now?"
"I'll be happy when I get my amulet" she opened a portal and walked trough it.
Grant sighed "This is why it's impossible for me to get any work done..." he mumbled, walking back to his post.
"This is child abuse!" Yelled Griffin as a guard dragged him along.
"Your two thousand three hundred and ninety six..." Hunter deadpanned "But with the way the two of you behave you might as well be children" he growled the last part.
Thay had caught them just before thay managed to gut one of the maids. Luna would be sure to give the poor woman a rather sizeable raise.
"You know, I could awals just edit their personalities..." leviathan chimed in. Funnily enough the twins had managed to find him before having a mood swing and wanting to murder someone.
"Naw! We just have to keep em' looked up round' midnight" Luna chirped.
Thay walked to thethrone room and finished court in a couple hours. They made sure to keep the twins locked up for a bit... to cool down.
Author's Note
I changed the tags up a bit. Not a huge fan of the new format. Sorry for spelling errors ... also...
MARY ALMOST CRISTMAS
(Or Hanukkah/Kwanzaa... i think that's how you spell it... sorry if I messed it up)
An Average Day In This Messed Up World
"Danyal?" Jaycob called out again. It was hard to smell his brother here, it smelt like animal fur and smoke from the torches.
With every cell he passed the animal inhabitants growled or snarled at the new-comer.
"Prince Jayheart?"
Jaycob jumped, violently lashing his claws trough the shadows.
"Woah there killer!"
Panting with fear, Jaycob narrowed his eyes, alowing them to adjust to the darkness "Tyler?"
A cloak-wearing young man with golden blond hair stepped out of the shadows "The one and only" he smiled.
"My god" Jaycob muttered "You nearly gave me a heart-attack!" He growled.
Tyler rolled his eyes "That's quite dramatic, don't you think?" He said sarcastically "and besides, you nearly scratched my eyes out. I think we're even"
Jaycob scoffed "whatever" he growled. Taking a deep breath, he forced him self to calm down "do you know where Danny is?" He asked.
Tyler hummed, thinking. Tyler was Danyal's apprentice, assistant, house mate and close friend. If any one knew where his brother was, It was Tyler.
"Some time soon? It's important" Jaycob asked.
"Okay, one, rude. And two, i last saw him in his lab. He's working on a new project"
"Thank you" Jaycob started on his way to his brothers lab. He found what his brother did in said lab kind of weird and sometimes just plain gross but useful none the less.
Twilight galloped trough the halls of Canterlot Castle, her amulet flying back and forth violently. When Twilight had asked Zecora if it was hers the zebra had said that she had never seen it before. So Twilight had taken the liberty of keeping it.
She slowed near the door of the throne room causing the amulet hang limply around her neck. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there, talking just out of ear shot. She cleared her throat, turning the princesses attention to her, she gave them a sheepish smile. Celestia smiled warmly back at her before whispering something to Luna.
"You wanted to see me? To give me a test?" She asked as Luna passed her "I brought my own quills"
Melody purred. She was on her favourite couch in her livening room. The room was lit with enchanted glass shards, neetly embedded in the walls, much unlike the large majority of the castle which was lit with torches and a fireplace or two, one reason this was her favourite room was because of that simple difference.
Melody flinched as she plucked a damaged feather from one of her wings.
Much to her dismay, Draconequii had to regularly preen their feathers- which wasn't all that difficult as their long, flexible necks could easily reach to the back of the wing and their ever so slightly serrated incisors made short work of parasites and debris.
Melody herself had about fifty four teeth and She wasint all that surprised that ponies feared Discord, If you look past all the chaos magic and treason, he's just a big, threatening animal with large and sharp teeth and claws.
Sighing she rolled off the couch and stretched.
Her ears pricked and she smiled "Kitten? Is that you?" She sarcastically drawled.
The clouded leopard jumped out his hiding place in one of the empty barrels scattered around the room, normally used as make-shift chairs.
"Melody" he hissed playfully.
"Someone's in a better mood today"- she smiled warmly but her tone was mocking -"Oh! Did the doctors finally manage to fish that stick out of your ass?" She purred.
Grant rolled his eyes, trotting up to her "Oh ha-ha" he deadpanned "real comedian aren't you?"
"I like to think so" she purred "Now, Kitten, did you find my amulet?" She asked as she coiled her long, slender body around his stomach "you know how important it is to me..." she purred.
Grant rolled his eyes "I didn't..." Melody narrowed her eyes, Grant put up his paws in defence "Hay now calm down, Melody. I asked Chevix if he had it and he said he hadn't seen it in years" he said carefully.
Melody sighed, uncoiling from the cat and leaping onto her couch, kneading it with her claws before settling "Well that's fine, I suppose. I don't need it..."
Grant tilted his head slightly "why do you want it, anyway?" He asked.
Melody's shoulders dropped "It was a gift..." she whispered, tucking her fore paws under her chest and curling her tail around her body.
"A gift?" Grant asked, settling on to an armchair that was about three meters away from her "From who?"
Melody looked up at him "My brothers..." she whispered sadly.
She had said it so quietly it was unlikely any creature other then a Shapeshifter would have been able to catch it. Luckily enough he was a Shapeshifter.
"Brother's? I didn't know you had one sibling, never mind multiple" he said, her ears drooped and a long, sad wine excaped her muzzle. He flatend his ears, shighing "Do... you want to talk about it?"
Melody half-smiled, it wasn't any thing sinister, just... sad. She nodded "Okay..."
He shifted, adjusting his tail "what were their names?"
Melody looked at one of the enchanted crystals "Sarrick and Arivant, we were litter mates" she said, looking back at him and frowning "I tryed to save them... thay were just... to heavy..."
Grant nodded slowly "I...I... And you blame yourself for their deaths?" He asked.
Melody began to nod 'no' but half way trough she stoped "Wait a second! Why am I talking about this to you of all creatures?! We hate each other!" She barked.
Grants eyes widened "Oh god... we... just talked about your feelings " he said with disgust.
Melody cringed "Blagh!" She cried out "Just... ew" she growled.
"Melody!" He snapped jumping over onto her couch, landing just next to her, he slapped her with his paw, grabbing her solders and shaking her vilontly "Snap out of it!"
Melody blinked a few times "Thanks" she sead before instantly regretting it.
Grant groaned and face-pawed "No, don't thank me! That is far to close into the friendship taritory for my likening!" He snarled.
"Ok, Grant! This talk never happened, capeesh?" She said.
"Agreed. And since when do you use the word 'capeesh' in a sentence?" He asked.
"Since I decided it sounds at least slightly comedic"
"So you are a comedian!" Grant smiled.
Melody scoffed "I will hurt you, little man" she hissed as she narrowed her eyes.
"There's the Melody I know and hate" he purred "Glad we're back to being not-friends!"
Melody half smiled "Likewise, not-friend" she purred "now, leave my home before I sick my Aratropi on you" she growled menacingly, narrowing her eyes paper-thin.
Grant smiled nervously "Aye, captain" he mewed as he faded into oblivion.
Melody smiled "Zephyr?" She called. A huge canine-bear hybrid known as a Aratropi trotted in. It had a short mane-like... mane-ish... a spiked fur thing thing on the back of its neck and long brown fur. This one was hers and he had a thick-ish titanium chain with a dangling tag that read 'Zephyr'. Despite their meniceing appearance, an Aratropi would never hurt a fly and were peaceful scavengers.
She gestured him over. He trotted up to her and she began to pet him "good boy" she said as she scratched behind his pointed, fluffy ears.
"Danyal?" Jaycob walked into his brothers lab. And he instantly regretted it.
In the centre of the room was an operating table, on that operating table was a male lion, or at least the front half of one, it was being stitched to the lower half of a albino female tiger.
"That's fucked up, man" he said causing his brother to look up at him "wait... no yah I'm gonna puke"
Danyal flicked his wrist, causing a garbage can to materialize in front of Jaycob, who continued to loudly do just that. But thankfully in the garbage can.
"Do you mind Jaycob?" Danny sighed "I'm trying to work"
Jaycob grunted, pulling his head away from the can, spitting out bile, blood, half digested chunks of flesh and dull shards of bloodied bone.
"Gross"
"That's rich coming from you, Frankenstein" Jay growled as he wiped his mouth, flicking the blood in the bin.
"Please, Nathan and I look nothing alike" Danyal scoffed as he continued to stitch.
Jaycob stared at him "I thought his name was Victor"
Danny looked up again, staring for few moments, he snapped his fingers, pointing at Jaycob "You mean the guy from the book! I thought you were talking about the Gralock, Nathan Frankenstein 'The Necromancer'"
Jaycob face palmed. A Gralock was a class of Shapeshifter that was born with unique powers, most notable was Chevix BlackCrow and Leviathan Poltergeist.
Danyal occupied the previously abandoned west wing Dungeons.
"Luna wanted me to give you this" he opened his satchel and pulled out a baby Dhimoreo, a small horse-like mammal originating from the northern Amithist Mountains.
Danyal walked up to his brother, removing his blood-stained gloves and placing them on his desk "A Dhimoreo? " he asked as he took the rabbit sized foal in an arm, cradling it. A full grown Dhimoreo would be just about 37 Millimetres tall at the shoulder "What for?"
Jaycob smiled and leaned ageist the wall behind him "Happy birthday, Big Brother"
Danyal looked at the Dhimoreo he was cradling in his arm and it looked at him, whinnied and pawed his shirt with its small cloven hoof. It's whinny was high pitch but not painfully so.
"My birthday... ok, but why a Dhimoreo?" He asked, looking back at his brother.
"You said you wanted a pony" Jaycob said dismissively.
"That was over twenty eight malenia ago, I was six hundred and fourty eight" Danyal said, deadpan "and this isn't even a pony its a miniatue horse"
"So, you don't want it then?" Jaycob asked as he went to grab the small animal.
Danyal gently swatted his hand awy "Don't touch Jerome" he said firmly, moving the small horse away
"You named him Jerome?" Jaycob asked with a expression on his face that could only be described as 'seriously, dude?'.
"Yes, Sir Jerome the fifth" Danyal said with pride.
"What happened to Sir Jerome one through four?" Jaycob asked in mock interest and genuine confusion.
Danyal's eyes went blank "We don't speak of it" he growled darkly.
"Armed boobytrap eh?" Jaycob said with a sigh.
Danyal brought his free had up to his chest "'twas a dark day"
Jaycob nodded "Amen" he said, pating his brother on the back comfortingly.
Author's Note
Hellooo, sapient creatures of earth! Hope you liked it. I finely learned the difference between there and their, and it only took me, like, four months! Yay me...
I'll try to get the nex one out soon. Also, I'd love to know what you think of it so far. Sorry for spelling errors and bad grammar.
I know, I know I said Discord would be released in this chapter. I can't make any promises but that should be soon.
Sorry
Hunter waved Jaycob over, the tall shapeshifter standing in the shadows of the Castle hallway just outside his bedroom. Despite his height Hunter was a accomplished royal assassin and had captured and or killed many of the kingdoms criminals. Like the dimension they called home, shapeshifters were ruthless in their laws, hiring many of the Royal family into high-ranking milatary positions.
Jaycob rolled his eyes, walking over to his younger brother. Hunter was the youngest of the eight of them but he was easily the tallest out of all the family "You know ya' don't have to sneak around, right?" He asked, standing next to the pail shapeshifter.
"I know. It's just more fun this way" he smiled "Did he like it?" He asked, flicking his black wolf tail back and forth.
"He named it 'sir Jerome the fifth'" Jaycob said in a monotone.
Hunter smiled "Good, he only names things he likes sir Jerome" he recalled the Farloo he'd gotten him for the winter holiday Searrchoo.
"Yes, indeed. But I'm more concerned about the escaped convict you're supposed to be tracking with Erica" Jaycob said, examining his sharp, blackened nails.
Hunters brain wand blank for a second before snapping his memory back into gear. He face plamed "Damn you, Jaycob" he was walking off when he suddenly turned around to face his brother "Didn't you tell Bayley, Drake and Jayson you'd help them with their study's?" He asked, laughing and running off as Jaycob processed what his brother had just said.
Bayley, Scorn and Jayson were his sons. Thay were over two thousand years old but still had a lot to learn about their world. And with their mortal mother on her death bed, it would soon be up to Jaycob and his siblings to raise the young Wolves.
"Crap" he muttered, rushing off to the dorm.
In Melody's beddroom, she was sitting on her couch, petting her cat.
Melody scratched the ears of the gray tabby cat lying on her chest. He purred, rubbing his head against her paw.
She had owned this cat for the last six thousand years or so, he was good tempered and never scratched anyone. He had a thin silver chain around his neck with a gold bell and name tag hanging just in front of his chest.
"Who's a good kitten? You are. Yes you are, Lance" she purred, stroking his striped back.
"Speaking of Kittens..." she said, flicking her ears.
A thin leather strap with dragon fangs on either side of a bone pendant dangled in front of her.
"You found it" she purred, gently taking the fragile pendant in her paws.
Grant smiled, dropping to the floor from one of the support beams "so i have" he meowed.
Melody smiled, looking over at the clouded leopard "Thank you, Grant" she whispered. Grant bowed elegantly "Here..." she said, summoning a thin ruby-encrusted silver chain out of her storage room and to her paw before offering it to the cat.
This was a common sign of gratitude between shapeshifters, gifting valuable objects in return for a kindness. Namely pendants or other jewelry. Even though she wasn't a shapeshifter she still understood their costumes particularly well, having known them most of her life.
Grant smiled, takeing the chain around his neck. It hung loosely at his chest "I thank you, Melody"
Melody nodded "It suits you" she said, wagging her tail.
He bowed again, opening a portal and jumping trough it, back to Maratie.
Smiling again, Melody teleported the pendant to a glass case across the room and went back to petting Lance.
It had been awhile since she had last saw it and she was glad Grant had managed to find it.
"Wait" she started "he never did mention whare he found it" she said out loud ceaseing her petting, causeing Lance to look at her and tilt his head "how peculiar... oh well, I'll just ask him later I geuss" she resumed her petting.
"Oh come on, Thiron!" Chevix whined, levitating next to the vary busy, very annoyed lynx.
Thiron growled "I already said no, I don't want to play any of your card games, Chevix" he said, looking the red haired coyote in the eyes.
Chevix crossed his arms and rolled his eyes "Fine. I'll just ask Grant then" he said.
Thiron nodded "Good" he said, getting back to work.
"Please?" Chevix purred, faddeing into blue-gray mist only to materialize on the opposite side of Thiron.
"No, Chevix. For the last time no. And take that ridiculous hat of your head" he said, gesturing to the hat. They were both in their human forms, so it wasn't all that much of a surprise Chevix would be wearing something like it.
"Okay, one, its a fez. And two... please ?" He whined, grabbing Thiron's arm.
"No " Thiron growled, flicking Chevix's hand away.
"But..." Chevix started, curling his long tail around the growling lynx "I won't cheat this time"
"No" Thiron said, pushing the long-furred tail off him. This was getting old "Go bother some other Gralock" he growled.
Muttering, Chevix levitated over to the door "Fine you're no fun" he huffed as he dissolved into gray-blue mist.
Sighing, Thiron clicked the pen in his hand a few times before signing a few forms.
He was one of the three head Gralock of the Sachor Dorm in the Farimore Kingdom capital, Ariclow. It was the only place where Gralock who surve the crown live. He himself was from the Kingdom of the sun. However all Gralock upon discovery automatically shipped off here to serve Queen Luna.
The reasoning behind this is simply because wolfian shapeshifters are the most powerful and therefore are more qualified to train a Gralock. Basically, the wolves can kill you, give them whatever thay want.
Thiron was one of three however, the other two being Keyrouh Summertorrent and Leviathan Poltergeist.
Chevix would have been a Head Gralock if not for his inability to take things seriously. Then agean the only reason he himself was one was because his Gralock title was 'The Scholar'. Ether way, he was more then fit for the job.
Thare was a loud bang, makeing him jump "Just one game?" Chevix asked, materializing next to the fellow Gralock.
Thiron sighed "Fine. One game and then you let me work " he growled through gritted teeth.
"Deal" Chevix said simply. He smiled hissing into the younger shapeshifters ear "About time you played one of my games" he growled playfully.
Thiron rolled his eyes "Whatever, mutt. Let's just get this over with" he growled.
"Yes, yes, vary well" Chevix purred. The term 'mutt' was an insult mostly directed at canine shapeshifters who didint have the appearance of a purebred. This didn't really affect him however, he was a purebred "Go fish or crazy eights?" He asked as he floated over to the other side of the table.
"I. Don't. Care" Thiron drawled, instantly regreting this decision.
"Go fish then" Chevix said, shuffling the cards that had just appeared in his hand. He dealt seven each and placed the stack in the middle of the table. He looked at his cards "got any 2's?" He asked.
Begrudgingly Thiron looked at his cards "Go fish" he said. Chevix grabbed a card from the pile "Got any 5's?" He asked.
Chevix looked his cards over "Go fish" he said. Thay were going to be here awhile.
Hunter walked up to Erica who growled at him "About time you got here! Our convict could be half way to The Soul Cavern by now!" She barked, her blue eyes flashing fire red.
She was a strange shapeshifter, she had long Gray hair and bright blue eyes. However she lacked horns and wings, she looked a lot like a normal wolf.
"I know, I know. Scold me later, we have a murderer to catch" he said, walking past the younger wolf.
She huffed but followed him any way.
Author's Note
I hope you like it. I'm sorry for any spelling errors.
Fun fact: I started writing this directly after the last chapter! And I re-rote it, like' three times! Mostly because I forgot to save! Kill me!
But siriosly I will try to release Discord in the next few chapters. Sorry again.
Ps; this is more filler then anything else.
It was a normal day in ponyville, the birds were cherping, the sun was shinning, the bees were buzzing. And miss Twilight Sparkle was reading one of her books inside instead of going out.
Twilight scanned the page again, memorizing each word. Her ears twitched and she tuned to her number one assistant and his own reading of a new comic he had just gotten. The tree she lived in was birightly lit by the sun so there was no need to turn on the lights in order to read.
She smiled and went back to her book, but before she could read another word there was a knock at the door. She sighed, getting up and walking to the door. She turned the knob and her jaw dropped. Standing in front of her was a ginger tiger with fiery orange stripes it also had huge, sharp horns that curled forward and looked like they could impale somepony with little more then a effortless push. But what happened next was what really scared her.
"Hello, I was told this was the home of a Miss-" he looked at the padding of his paw "- 'Twilight Sparkle'?" He looked back at her with his emerald green eyes that were literally glowing, slightly illuminating the fur around them, the pupils were slitted. She could tell it was male, mostly from the voice which was clear apart from his British accent witch was vary strange for this part of the world.
She nodded slowly, trying not to make any sudden movements "uh huh" she said dumbly.
"Oh, good" he smiled and bushed past her into her home "I've been looking for you awhile, Miss Sparkle" said the tiger. She closed the door and looked over to him.
"Uhhh..." she tried to talk but it was clear that her brain was out of order for the moment.
The tiger looked at her for a second before he brought one of his forepaws to his face "My apologies, Miss Sparkle, where are my manners. My name is Arlin ZincStrike" he smiled and held out his paw.
She cautiously took it with a hoof and shook his paw. He purred politely and placed his paw back on the ground "N-nice to... meet you?" She smiled forcefully.
"As is to you, Miss sparkle. I have been sent here by my Queen to protect and serve you" Arlin said padding over to the dragon starring at him from the couch "You must be Spike. I must admit, you look nothing like the dragons back home, thay are quadrupeds" he looked spike over for a moment as the young Drake growled at him before looking back to Twilight "Well, I will sleep down here and follow you around until I receive my next orders. But I'll stay out of you way" he purred jumping up the stairs and walking into her bed room.
Twilight looked at Spike then the door the tiger had just gone trough, her eye twitching "WHAT?!" She bellowed. Spike was fairly sure she could be heard all the way in canterlot. She was panting, eyes wild.
The tiger padded back out of her room with a confused look on his face "Something the matter, Miss Sparkle?" Arlin asked, tilting his head "Oh dear, you look like rubbish. Do you want some water or something? I can go get you some chips from that restraint I saw on the way here" he said, concerned. He padded down the stars.
Twilight growled "Stop! Dear Celestia, next thing I know you'll be asking me if I want tea!" She spat "What do you want?!" She huffed.
Arlin's eyes flashed with a bright green glow "Calm down, dear. As I said I'm here to protect you, Miss Sparkle. Now how about that tea? You seem like you could use a cup" he said, walking over to the kitchen.
Twilight took a deep breath "Sorry, Arlin... Where are you from?" She asked, sitting on the floor with a thud.
Arlin walked back into the room with a smile "I come from a land called Maratie" he said with a purr of amusement "Its a nice enough place with many strange and wonderful creatures"- he brought a paw up to his chest -"my kind being one of them"- he placed his paw back on the ground -"You see, my dear, I am a Feline shapeshifter. A cat shapeshifter if you will" he said with a hint of pride.
The high-pitch whistle of the kettle sent the large tiger into the kitchen, emerging a few moments later with two cups of chi tea in one surprisingly dextrous paw "Do you like it with milk?" He asked, she nodded "Ok. One lump or two?" Arlin questioned.
"One" she said. The tiger hovered his paw over her cup, milk and a sugar cube materialized over his paw, completely controlled by the tiger. The sugar was dropped into the tea without even the smallest splash. The milk, levitating over his paw like a wave slowly drained into her tea. The tiger did the same to his cup.
Twilight gaped along with Spike at Arlin "H-how?" The young drake asked in awe "I've only ever seen Discord do something like that..."
Arlin chucked "Being a shapeshifter has its perks" he said, levitating his tea up to his lips and taking a sip.
"I see. Your species sounds interesting... I would love to learn more about you. If that's okay with you, that is" Twilight said.
Arlin put down his tea "Your wish is my command, Miss Sparkle" he bowed.
"Grate! Fist things first, what's that necklace of yours for?" She asked, taking a sip of her tea and pointing to the pendant around the ginger tigers neck, it was silver and circle, half of it was half the face of a lion and the other was half the face of a wolf. It had the black engraving of five runes.
Arlin smiled "My allegiance pendant. I was born in the kingdom ruled by the lion, King SolerEclipse but was relocated to the kingdom ruled by the wolf, Queen LunerFlight. The runes spell my name, Arlin" he said.
Twilight nodded "fascinating…"
"Quite. But I'm afraid I must retire, it was a long journey here" Arlin said, downing the rest of his tea and walking over to a warm corner of the library.
Twilight tilted her head "don't you want a bed or something?" she asked.
Arlin shook his head "No I don't want to impose. besides, I'm quite content sleeping on the floor" he said, yawning and drifting into sleep.
Twilight shrugged and continued to read her book.
Phoenix groaned. He was bored out of his mind.
Griffin, taking a page out of his brothers book, growled.
Phoenix sat up on his bed. They were currently locked in their chambers as they shared a room.
Griffin sat up on his bed. The two beds were on opposite sides of the room.
Phoenix looked his brother over "You're bored to?" He asked.
His other half just nodded sluggishly.
"Maybe we should find another hobby?" He suggested.
Griffin tilted his head "What do you mean?" He asked.
"I mean we should stop torturing and killing the staff. Let's get a job that appeals to our need to hurt people but doesn't get us in trouble" he said with a grin.
"I don't follow" Griffin said in confusion.
"Let's put it this way... I hear auntie Luna is in need of some 'persuasive interrogators'" Phoenix said.
Griffin's eyes widened in understanding "Ohh... We get paid to torture people?" he said with a gleeful smile.
"Bingo" Phoenix said with an evil smile.
Author's Note
I know, I know "Why in the name of hell would Twilight be just fine letting a talking, magic tiger just sleep in her home?!" I'll explain later but for now you just have to accept 'because plot'
I apologize for any spelling errors. Other then that, I hope you enjoyed, have a nice day.
Luna stared at her nephews, both of which were smiling at her.
"You want to what now?" She deadpanned. They were about to repeat their request but she flicked her ear, silencing them "I know what you want... but why ?" She asked, siting on the couch of her study.
It was silent for a moment. The sun shone in through the windows of her study, lighting most of the room with little to no problems.
Phoenix was the one to answer her, the only reason she knew it was Phoenix was because of his piercings- three in his right ear.
"Because we don't like being grounded?" He chimed sarcastically.
Luna sighed "Okay... let me get this straight,"- she began to rub her temples -"you two want to work for me as my personal interrogates slash trained torturers" she said calmly.
They nodded in unison.
'One of these days I'm going to hurt them... I suppose it could end up doing more good then bad, but it could also end up doing a lot of harm. 'Yes let's give the serial killer a chain saw!' Eh... why not. If nothing else it will be entertaining '
She shrugged "Yeah, sure why not. Just don't kill anyone unless I tell you to" Luna said, wavering a hand dismissively.
Griffin nodded, again the only way she could tell him from his brother was his upside down cross necklace.
"Thanks, Luna. Ya' won't regret it" Griffin smiled. Identical twins looked alike and all but with them... they looked like clones of one another.
"I had better not. Now, go run around or something. I have work to do" Luna growled.
"Wait. You're just going to let us do this with out question? Why?" Phoenix asked.
She smirked, her golden yellow eyes glowed a little brighter "I have my reasons" She said vaguely.
They shrugged and thanked her then left her alone.
Melody sighed. She was bored. Looking around, she saw her Aritropi, Zephyr, sleeping by the fire. It was best not to wake him, he was grumpy when he woke up.
Looking back up she muttered something to herself before groaning. This waiting bullcrap was getting repetitive, it was taking forever for Celestia to release Discord. Patience was one thing Melody lacked more then anything.
Getting up, she began to hum, swishing her tail back and forth.
She wondered when she had last spoken to Discord. She realized it was over a week ago.
She narrowed her eyes "Oh crap" she sighed, unfurling her wings and flying off to the Canterlot gardens to see her petrified friend.
Chevix was casually drifting trough the ether, occasionally he would snap his fingers and somewhere, something would happen.
He shighed as he reached a window in the endless expanse of galaxy's. On the other side of this window was Thiron. The young shapeshifter was signing papers and reading reports before filing them.
It was a shame, the poor kid never really got out. Chevix doubted he had any friends out side of a Gralock or those of the royal family. Regardless of how much he didn't want to, the window was there for a reason, Chevix snapped his fingers just as Thiron went to dip his quill in the inkwell, causing said inkwell to be knocked over, spilling ink all over the desk and papers.
Chevix quickly carried on with business, not wishing to stay for the for the aftermath of the inkwell 'accident'.
It was only fair everyone had a little bad luck in their day after all 'Unfortunately Thiron has enough bad luck as it was after the whole braking a mirror thing. Only Two years left! anyway, I'll be sure to skip over him the next few times I do my rounds ' Chevix thought to himself, continuing along the starry plane.
Melody was about to dive into the garden when she stoped. There were ponys -guards- lifting Discords statue onto a carriage.
'Discord?' She thought, willing the other draconequus to hear her.
'Melody? ' she heard his reply ringing in her ears, tingling her mind.
'Discord what's going on?' She asked as a guard trotted up to a certain alabaster alicorn.
'Beats me. I was just minding my own when BOOM! And now I'm here ' he said as his petrified form was strapped to the carriage.
Melody grabbed a nearby cloud and tucked her tail under her body, laying on the fluffy sky cotton.
'Should I be concerned?' She asked, settleing her wings.
'I'll be fine, Melody. If it makes you feel any better you could always just follow us ' he said in a happy tone.
'Fine' she said. The carriage began to take off.
She sighed, making herself invisible so that she wasn't seen by somepony and she began to fly after the princess and Discord.
Arlin followed the purple unicorn into a field just outside of ponyville.
"So I suppose I'll get to met your friends then eh?" He said, padding up so he was walking next to the unicorn.
Twilight sighed "That's not important right now, Arlin. The princess wants to see us! Equestria could be in danger!" She said, speeding up to a trot.
Arlin sighed and looked at Spike who was just behind him "Is she always like this?" He asked.
The dragon nodded "Pretty much" he said, waving a claw dismissively.
Arlin nodded "I see. That's a shame, ain't it?" He growled and began to trot to catch up with Twilight "Miss Sparkle, I must request you slow down!" He growled as he caught up with the mare.
Danny jumped up onto the rectangular coffee table, looking over his brothers who were all siting on the couch infront of the brown-haired green-eyed shapeshifter.
"Brothers, I know you all are busy now a days, but we are still brothers and should spend time with one another" Danny said with a smile.
Salem raised his hand "Uhh, Danny? Why are you bringing this up now?" He asked. Salem was Luna's twin, he had snow white hair and icy blue eyes.
Danny shrugged, waving a hand dismissively at his older brother "Because you're here! After all, you've been M.I.A. for the past twenty three thousand years" he said, stepping off the coffee table and walking to the arm chair next to the couch, taking a seat.
Hunter smiled "Danny, we already spend time together. We went hunting just last week!" He exclaimed. Hunter was the youngest of all of the siblings, he had black hair and icy blue eyes.
Danny scoffed "Pufft! I know that, Hunter... Y-yo... One of my Aritropi is nursing pups and I need someone to take the pups off my hands when they turn six weeks old" he admitted.
Jaycob nodded with a sigh "I thought as much. I'll take a couple, my kennel feels kinda empty after Bluebell passed" he said sadly. Jaycob had dirty blond hair and sky blue eyes.
Bluebell was Jaycob's last Aritropi -large domestic dog-like animals- she died a few weeks ago of natural causes. She was about twelve hundred, young for an Aritropi.
Salem nodded "I will take a pup off your hands, I just found out Enrick died a few days after my infection. I could use another companion" he said with a sigh. Enrick was a cat that had belonged to Salem when he was a child.
"Right three down! I still have four more if you're interested, Hunter!" Danny said with a grin.
Hunter clicked his tongue for a moment before he sighed "Yah, why not. I've always wanted one and I could use a retriever" he spoke with caution, trying to go over the pros and cons in his head.
Danny smiled, walking over to the door "Brilliant! I'm sure our sisters would be more then happy to take the remaining three. Come by my lab in about a week and you can pick them out. I'll even give you collars and tags for them" he chimed.
"Why don't you just sell them? You are the only breeder in existance who can legally sell and with out worry of imprisonment," Hunter pointed out "You did invent them after all"
Danny shook his head "I need to perfect their genetics before I can sell them, not to mention I could only sell em' once I've neutered or spayed them, I can't have people breeding them willy-nilly like their lives depend on it just to make some quick cash" he said, leaving his brothers and heading back to his lab.
Jaycob shrugged "Oh well. Hey, do you guys think my sons would like one?" He asked looking at the other shapeshifters with a spark of curiosity in his eyes.
They looked at each other then at Jaycob. Hunter face palmed "Jay, we don't know, apart from Jade and Winter you're the only one with kids. They might like it if you took them CrystalFishing, we always liked it when father did" he said with a smile, looking out the window "i had better get going, Erica will throw a fit if I'm late again" he said, teleporting away.
Jaycob looked at Salem "I did enjoy whenever father took us and the girls fishing for those Crystal fish. I suppose I could do that. Im sure at least Drake will enjoy it" he said, getting up from the couch and walking toward the door.
"I'm thinking about stepping down" Salem's words stoped Jaycob dead in his tracks.
"Y-you're thinking of what now?" He asked, turning to face the white-haired shapeshifter.
"Stepping down. Luna has handled ruling solo for many millennia before I came back into the picture. I'm stepping on her toes. she was born to rule, I was born to follow" he flashed his icy blue eyes, marking them glow brighter "A true monarch of the Farimore Kingdom has golden yellow eyes. That is the way we were taught, that's the way it should be. She will be sole rule once more and I can go back to being Prince SalemWither, brother to Queen LunerFlight" he said looking out the window.
Jaycob walked back over to his brother, sitting next to him on the couch.
"If that's what you think is best, Salem" Jaycob said, patting his older brother on the back.
Salem nodded "I am no king, Jaycob. At least I shouldn't be" he mutterd the last bit "Now go spend time with your sons" he said.
Jaycob nodded and left his brother to his thoughts.
Arlin watched as the elements released the beast encased in stone, the princess and Twilights friends had questioned his presence but other wise had ignored him.
The stone cracked and out came a roaring animal. Who then sat on his pedestal like a vigilant cat.
Arlin trotted up to the creature and sniffed him.
Discord shifted uncomfortably as the tiger siffed him "Do you mind?" He growled at the cat.
The tiger backed up a pace or two on his face was a look of awe "Y-you are Maratie born" he said in a gasp "I've read of your kind, we had thought them extinct. But here you are..." the cat trailed off.
Discord stifled a laugh at the look of absolute bafflement on Celestia's face.
He looked back to the tiger "You know, most people introduce themselves before sniffing one another" he joked.
"I am Arlin. You are Discord" he said with a smile.
There was a yelp and a flash of white, next thing he knew he was on the grass, under a mass of white fur.
He sighed "Hello Melody, how nice of you to drop in" he purred.
Melody jumped of the slightly larger draconequus. She turned to face him, a grin on her muzzle "Hey, Discord! I fell!" She chimed.
Discord smiled warmly "I noticed"
Twilight just sputtered at the interaction "Wha- w-w-wha... what?"
Celestia gaped at the newcomer "Another draconequus?" She muttered, fear in her tone.
Melody looked at the alabaster alicorn, she throws her hands in the air "Suprise!" She giggled as Pinkie Pie gasped.
Author's Note
Sorry about that short release. I know it was a bit random but, hey, I live for random!
I apologize for any spelling errors and such. I hope you like the story so far and I'll try to wright the next chapter soon.
Melody's ears twitched at the dull thud of Rarity hitting the ground after fainting with a dramatic sigh followed by a exaggerated eye roll.
"Anywayyy... Arlin? Is that you?!" Melody flew over to the vary confused tiger.
Arlin tilted his head "Mel? Hay! I haven't seen you in years!" He exclaimed standing up on his hind legs and hugging the draconequus with his front legs.
Melody purred into Arlin's bright ginger fur. The had known eachoher since the Battle of Cosstic Hollow, which they both fought in on the side of Fairmore.
"Uhmmm care to explain?" Came the annoyed, obnoxious voice of dear Twilght Sparkle.
Melody chuffed, removing herself from the grip of the cat. She flicked her tail in irritation and stalked over to the lavender unicorn.
Rearing up slightly, she stood over the unicorn and smiled "Arlin and I have known each other for many years. Unfortunately, we don't see each other all that much" she purred, flicking out her tongue with a hiss, pupils narrowing to paper thin slits.
The unicorn growled at her, charging her horn ,no doubt with the intent of launching her half way across equestria. Rolling her eyes, Melody began padding back to the other draconeiquus -who had kinda just been sitting on the sidelines with a grin on his muzzle- with a dramatic wave of her long tail, smacking the unicorn in the face.
Shrugging as she reached the other chimeric creature, she muttered "Can't win 'em all" with a sigh and a click of her tongue.
He chucked, flicking his ears in the direction of several confused pony's and one glareing unicorn.
Looking over the snowy furred draconequus, he paused.
"Wait a second-" the lord of chaos muttered, holding up his claw and looking over to the ginger British tiger and pretending that it wasn't one of the most beautifully ridiculous combination of words "-when you saw me, you said you thought my kind were extinct. So tell me, what in the hell did you think Melody was?" He asked, not even bothering to try covering up his confused tone.
Shrugging the tiger looked around at the other beings present -most just watching these events unfold instead of doing something. for some reason...- and frowned.
"Larcen may -or may not!- have said she was a-a... a hybrid-mutt" he said hesitantly, shame flooding his tone, the last three words a barely audible whisper.
Dragon, pony's and Discord all made a 'huh?' Of varying confused tones. But they had all clearly heard it. They all wondered why the tiger was so hesitant to voice these words.
A low, feral growl from deep in Melody's throat made Fluttershy join her friend in unconsciousness.
"That high-blooded, idiotic..." she growled, her voice rose and she began to speak a tongue all but Arlin could not decipher. The syllables were quick and close-together, almost every 'r' rolled and half of the words spit. Most of it no-one could make heads or tails of. The only thing they did get were the last few words "-rsphen 'g Larcen Whsslevic el'ng, hryv dell Gherron!" She spat, seething, her fur bristled and wings half-extended.
Through it all, the tiger straightened his spine and took it head on "Calm down, Mel" he purred soothingly, which -supriseingly enough- Immediately calmed the snarling draconequus who had began to foam at the mouth. He smiled, looking to a gawking princess Celestia with a face that immediately set the draconeiqqi in to hysterics "Your majesty" he said with an elagent bow "I apologize for the inconvenience. If you want, I can ensure Melody does not bother you agin" he said in a low voice, approaching the alabaster alicorn.
Celestia looked over to the giggling pair of over-grown ferrets with a smile "No, I think I have a better idea" she said with a wink.
The tiger cocked an eyebrow at that, but shrugged and whispered a polite fairwell, trotting back over to Twilights side.
Melody stoped giggling and looked over to the tiger "I wish you would stop doing that" she muttered playfully, earning a grin in response.
Thiron was in the private Library of the dorms, skimming trough a book on wether spells. He didn't practice it him self, but it was interesting. He was siting on one of the couch's.
It was a rather dull, slow day. It was raining in the city today, rather heavily as well. 'A thunder storm ' he thought as thunder cracked loudly outside, flowed by the distant flash of lightning.
He sighed, turning the page between two fingers, skimming over a summoning spell for a wether spirit. ''works in dry climates', eh? I'll have to keep that one in mind... ' he thought.
He jumped as a deep sing-song voice began to speak directly behind him, "Really Ron, how much more boring can you get?" It asked.
Thiron sighed, turning to face the coyote. He was in human form, pale skin, reddish-brown hair, cut short at the sides and long on the top. rich green eyes, Allegiance pendant hanging loosely at his chest. He was warring a bright red button up and black slacks. Both silk. He rolled his eyes.
Thiron himself was warring a gray Cotten v-neck t-shirt and black sweat pants, his reading glasses, with his allegiance pendant dangling at his chest. His dusty light-brown hair messy from last nights restless sleep. He was fairly sure his baby blue eyes had bags under them.
"Chevix, how nice of you to pop in" he sarcastically drawled, closing his book as he knew this would take awhile.
Chevix smiled "Now, Ron, there's no need to be rude" he tutted, looking back to the book in his hands "Besides, I asked you a question" he narrowed his pupils to slits, purring in a way that should be almost impossible for a canine.
Thiron would have been concerned if he didn't know how good a mimic Chevix was. Or canines in general.
He huffed, levitating the book to a table on the other side of the room "Wether magic can be vary interesting, Vix. Which you should know, you practice it!" He hissed.
Chevix growled playfully, deep in his throat, ruffling Thiron's dusty light-brown hair with a hand, messing it up further.
Thiron batted his hands away form messing up his hair further, muttering about dogs and their low understanding of personal space and how it was to early for this. 8:45 am!
Chevix just grinned, jumping onto the couch next to Thiron, siting criss-cross on the cushions.
"Cmon', you know I only practice the bare minimum of wether magic" he pouted in that so vary BlackCrow-ien way, evident because Thiron had seen Chevix's twin brother, Harem, do it several times whenever he came to visit Chevix and help him raise hell.
Thiron shook his head "No, I did not know that" he muttered bitterly.
Chevix grinned, he looked like he was about to say something then shook his head, eyes wide "Oh! I was supposed to tell you that Arlin was assigned to a new post a few days ago" he purred, voice hyper and jumbled.
Thiron smiled calmly "Oh? That's good to hear, Vix. How long has it been since his last charge? What was his name again..." he trailed off, trying to recall the last subject of Arlin's protective watch.
The Trickster just shrugged, still brandishing his signature lopsided grin "Not sure... Something starting with an 'E'. As for how long it's been... a century and a half if my math is correct" he shifted to the arm of the couch, stretching his legs.
Arlin's title was The Guardian and he was usually assigned to protect someone of importance or use to The Queen or someone else of the royal family. Probably good genetics that need to be cross-bred with a certain subspecies or some such nonsense. Honestly, every one in the Van Darerin family must be half mad.
"What dimension?" He asked. He knew that Inter dimensional affairs were often handled by the coyote. He had no idea why.
Chevix began to examan his finger nails "Equis9HN42R6" he said in a bored tone. He groaned, rolling his head back to the lynx "Rooonnnnn~ 'mph borrrred !" He whined. Literally. Like a dog.
Thiron chucked and rolled his eyes "And why is that Vix?" He asked, amused.
Chevix glared at him, scoffed, and threw himself back against the couch "Because, I have nothing to do !" He moaned -as though the heavens themselves were cursing him-, casting an arm over his eyes.
'Dramma queen ' He thought, looking over the befallen coyote "You dogs are the strategist things" he stated with a click of his tongue.
Chevix removed his arm from over his eyes which were now sparkling with a mischievous sheen, perching himself back up on the armrest, he smiled "You cats are the most insufferable things" he mocked.
They glared at each other for a solid thirty seconds before the broke out in a fit of giggles. They soon composed themselves and stoped giggling like a couple of high teenagers.
Chevix sighed "Still bored?" Thiron asked, tilting his head to the side.
Chevix looked him in the eyes and smiled a small, lopsided smile "Less so now" he said.
Danny looked out the window of his bed chambers, it was raining today. He smiled, he had always loved the rain.
He felt the nudge of a small, furry head. Looking down he saw the fluffy tortoiseshell cat known as 'Misery' he smiled, she mewled.
"Good morning, Misery. Did you sleep well?" He asked, tilting his head. Misery looked up at him and nodded, the tags on her braided leather collar jingling.
"That's good... Have you seen Sir. William anywhere?" She shook her head 'no', Danny smiled "Oh, don't worry about it, sweet heart. I was just curious..." he trailed off.
The sound of the door opening alerted him to a visiter and he turned great them.
A pale girl who looked to be in her vary early twenties walked in. Her long, wavy black hair cascading around her. She had golden yellow irises and her pupils were relaxed into a round shape. 'haven't done anything wrong then ' he thought.
Smiling, he approached as she closed the large polished spruce door "Ah, sister mine, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked, hands joined behind his back.
Luna smiled back at him "Danny, don't be like that. I haven't seen you in a few weeks... new project?" She asked, looking around the chambers.
The room was high ceilinged, five walls (one for the door), bookshelves on the left side, various potion bottles and magical trinkets scattered on the tables aloung with books. Pushed into the far right corner was a king sized bed with dark green bedding. The wallpaper was also dark green and had a criss-cross pattern. On the right wall was three tall, multi paned windows.
That was only a hand full of things, it would take awhile to list them all.
Danny smiled "Im working on something, yes" he said.
Luna looked back to him. Only now did he notice she was in casual attire. She wasn't even warring her crown. A loose dark purple Cotten v-neck with sleeves that went to her elbows, thigh length, dark blue, silk hooded cloak tied with strings, and pastel violet silk slacks.
No jewellery apart from her allegiance pendant, silver, circle-cut. runes spelling her name 'LunerFlight Van Darerin', just below the black line work of a wolf.
He hums. His sister hardly ever took off her crown and jewellery when she was about to host court.
"Ahem... well, Salem has just informed me that he is stepping down..." she mutters.
He nods, suddenly pitying his dear elder sister "I see. I can accompany you to court this morning" He offeres, looking into her mesmerizing golden yellow eyes.
She shakes her head "No, it's fine. I requested Hunter and Primrose join me again... but could you maby... give me a hug?" She asked, he nodded, gathering her in a tight embrace.
They stayed like that for a minute before Luna pulled back, smiling sadly "Thanks, Dan. I -uh... gotta get... ready..." she stuttered, voice thick with unshed tears.
He smiled and nodded "Any time, Luna" he led her to the door. She thanked him again and walked out.
He watched her go "Hey, Luna?" She tuned to him and hummed the go-ahead "We should go hunting soon" he said.
She grinned "I'd like that" and with that, she turned and left.
Author's Note
K, look. I might make this fic first person. I don't know, I'm thinking about it. Just a fair warning.
Also sorry for not updating this 'un for awhile, working on it. Soy for any spelling errors. Hope you like-did!
(Oh my god, killlll me)
PS: I know I wasn't spot on with the personality's (espealy Discords) but I tryed ok?!
He stalked trough the tall, dark green grass, the forest clearing was lit only by lightning bugs and the silver moon light. The grass was soft and cool under his paws, soothing the cuts and scrapes on the pads.
Standing in the centre of the clearing was a large, dark grey wolf. Huge, backwards curling goat horns sitting just in front of its ears.
Huffing out a breath, he walked to the centre of the clearing, stoping directly in front of the wolf. He was careful about his body language, holding his tail at mid-length and his ears at neutral.
The familiar feeling of dread creeped along his spine, a sure sign that you are in the presences of The Tormentor. He was used to this feeling, haveing lived in close quarters with Levi for many years, so he easily shoved it aside.
It tilted its head to the side, glowing orange eyes flashing brighter. It smiled, addressing him in a deep, rich voice.
"Ah, Chevix BlackCrow. It's been awhile" it chucked, deep and rich. It sent involuntary chills up his spine.
Chevix scans the hybrid, a small grin gracing his own muzzle when his gaze lands on the rectangular pupils "Same can be said to you, Leviathan Poltergeist. I have to say, I was surprised by your letter"- he flicked his unique tail, the long, silky fur flowing gracefully behind it -"normally you don't bother with Inter dimensional affairs" he purred, tilting his head.
Leviathan scoffed, pawing at the dirt with a sickeningly sharp, black claw "Well, you know me, always shuffling in my logic" he dismissed with the flick of his tail.
"Quite..." he trailed off.
Rolling his eyes, Chevix sat, beginning to wash a paw with his tongue in smooth, practiced strokes. He was infinitely annoyed at his colleague, not that he was going to let that show, that will just encourage him more. Calling him away at 2:00 am, rather rude.
The Tormentor recoiled slightly when The Trickster began purring, face twisted in mostly mock distaste "You've been spending to much time around your pet, Chevix. You reek of cat" He taunted, gagging at the end.
Chevix stoped immediately, glaring daggers at the younger Gralock "Thiron is not my pet " he spat, looking about ready to tear the others throat open, a low snarling growl already rumbling deep in his throat.
The younger smiled smugly, not in the least concerned of The Trickster attacking him "Oh. I've hit a nerve. You are awfully protective of The Scholar, you sly old dog" he teased, smirking, only aggravating the older further.
Chevix unsheathed his claws, bared his teeth and snarled, glowing eyes flashing a sickly neon green, pupils narrowing to paper-thin slits.
The other grinned darkly "Chevix, it has been entirely to long since I've been able to trigger a reaction like that from you. I have to say, I'm rather glad we took in that stray of yours" he said dreamily, fluttering his eyelashes.
The older didn't take kindly to this ether, large amounts of clear, thick venom flowing from the venom glands and over his upper canines, dribbling down his chin.
The hybrid huffed, bringing a paw up in defence "Alright, calm down now, Yeller. No need to go picking a fight, we both know you'd win" he calmed and, reluctantly, the coyote backed off with a final, vicious snarl, spitting leftover venom on the ground.
Leviathan smirked, looking over the reddish-brown coyote in thought before shrugging "Besides, not here to discuss your dalliances-"
"I suggest you learn to hold your tongue, mutt , before I rip it out " Chevix snarled in warning, spitting like a rabid fox.
Leviathan rolled his eyes, but mostly ignored the threat "-Now, darling Vixie... how do you feel about detective work?" He asked, arching a brow.
Chevix tilted his head, a look of confusion on his face. He, of course, was still working out how to exact his revenge on the younger.
The Trickster narrowed his pupils slightly "Isn't that Andrew's job?" He asked, completely lost.
After about another five minutes of confused stuttering, the princess recived a letter from her sister, calling her back to Canterlot. She left rather quickly after that. The ponys that had fainted woke up just as Melody decided to ask a question that had been bothering her.
Melody sat next to Discord, looking over to Arlin she asked, "Hey, Arly? How are the other Gralock's doing? I haven't seen many other then Grant Thane for the last couple century's" she tilted her head as the tiger beamed and trotted into the centre of the clearing.
He cleared his throat, talking a bit faster then necessary "Chevix and Thiron have been carrying on their regular banter, you know how they are. August and Andrew buddied up a couple weeks ago and are helping Prince Danyel Van Darerin with his experiments, much to August's displeasure. Leviathan, Keyrouh and Nathan are -well, I'm not entirely sure what they're up to, actually. I know the girls and the young 'uns are working on a 'secret project'. Everyone else are just kinda siting there on the side lines, I guess" he shrugged and doubled over, gasping for air. He hadn't really breathed all that much.
Melody nodded slowly "O...kay... Well, thank you. Vary... informative" she chuckled nervously, slowly backing away.
Applejack stepped up to the panting tiger, ever the brave, and nudged him with a hoof "You all right, Suggercube?" She asked cautiously.
Arlin turned his large head to look at her "Hello" he said with a smile "Just fine, thanks. I can get a tad bit ahead of myself some times" he hummed at the end, tilting his head at the orange pony and waveing vaguely with a large paw.
Discord looked at Arlin, then Melody -and to Arlin- "What's a Groloag?" He asked loudly.
Melody looked up at him with a small smirk "Its Gralock, h-"
"That's what I said!" He cut her off.
She grinned "Obviously. It's what Arlin is, a kind of rank class in the shapeshifter society" she chirped.
Discord shrugged.
Twilight spoke up, looking over her friends "If I may ask -Melody was it?"- Melody nodded -"Melody, what is a 'Hybrid-mutt' and who is Larcen?" She asked, not even bothering to try and cover up her slightly confused, slightly curious tone. Not that anyone had expected her to, this was Twilight, after all.
Melody rolled onto her back, stretching her limbs "Larcen Whesslevic is a child trapped in an adults body -not literally, of course" she said in a bored drawl "A hybrid-mutt is the child of a hybrid shapeshifter who bred with a non-shifter spices. For example,"- she rolled onto her stomach with an odd, cat-like grace "Leviathan Poltergeist is a hybrid-mutt, his mother a wolf-fox and father a goat. He mostly looks like a wolf, though" she hulled herself of the ground, not a spec of dirt on her.
Arlin nodded, walking back over to Twilight's side "Come now, Lord Discord. The princess entrusted you into miss Sparkle's care" he said, absently scratching the base of his horns.
Discord burst out laughing, snapping back from whatever spell made him act relatively normal.
Twilight growled "DISCORD!!" She bellowed, catching she Draconequus' attention.
Melody laughed, grinning in time with the other Draconequus. Looking at the sky she clicked her tongue "I gotta go. But, I'll come back tomorrow!" She said cheerfully, launching herself into the sky before anyone could stop her.
Arlin chucked, shaking his head like this was a normal occurrence with her. On second thought, it probably was...
Suddenly, the tiger gasped in such a way it could rival even Pinkie pie "I forgot to tell her about the watch she is posted on!" He exclaimed, face-pawing... somehow. He sighed, then shrugged "Oh well, Grant will fetch her..." he muttered.
Andrew dashed about the lab in a flash at his usual 100 mph. The Detective hoped over a console, snatching a screwdriver from the other side, and hoping back over with a effortless grace only a Felidae is capable of.
August rolled his eyes, looking around the room from his animal-pelt clad armchair.
It was a large underground chamber with pail grey stone walls and polished dark wood as flooring, high ceilings. It was lit by enchanted crystals embedded in the stone work, glowing a bright warm-orange colour. multi-levelled with ladder-stairs ascending to the next floor. It was rather nice, compared to the rest of Prince Danyal's dwelling.
He sighs, watching his friend running around "Andrew?" The blondish-brown haired shapeshifter stoped dead in his tracks, twirling around with a vary elegant flourish.
Tilting his head slightly, he trots over to The Anpath "Yes, August?" He hums, not even slightly out of breath or sweaty from running around. The showoff...
"Why am I here? You seem to have this covered..." he gestured to the lab they had been permitted to work in. The tech was all rather advanced and he knew most of it was most likely stolen from some other race in some other dimension.
The Detective smiled, un-tilting his head "Well, I thought you'd be bored if I left you to tend the flat, by yourself" he said in a 'duh' tone, as if August should know this already.
Andrew and August were fild-agents, operating in New York City, New York, USA. Dimension code EH613U17, current year 2006. They shared a flat, more for convenience then finances, as they both worked in the homicide division at the NYPD and had the same schedule. Even when they weren't on duty, they worked as partners in crime in EH613U17. Not literal crime, of course. They had been stationed in that dimension for decades, used to be London, back in the 80's, hence the ascents. Well... that and British accents are fun.
EH613U17 was close to the main hub dimensions and alternate universes, therefor The Queen was slightly more adamant of posting agents in them.
He scoffed "I think I would have preferred that, Andy" he said in a mocking tone.
Andrew flashed a lopsided grin, bright olive-green eyes sparkling in their usual fashion, turning on his heel and going back to his work, his navy blue trench coat twirling around him dramatically, talking animatedly to August all the while.
"If I can figure out how to genetically edit the fertility of ranch animals -effectively making it so no matter what, females will become pregnant on the first attempt- we can cut a good quarter of work time. BUT if I can also decrease the gestation period and increase fetal development ten fold and up fertility, it will cut work less but our food stores will sky rocket!"
He finishes, fingers flying over the keyboard of a holo-console, rune-like numbers and letters whipping across the luminous light blue, slightly transparent, screen.
August nodded his head slowly "Right... well, good luck with that. Now, if you don't need me, I'll be going" he said, getting up and beginning to walk in the direction of the exit.
He was abruptly tackled by Andrew in his natural form, most likely having transomed in mid-air.
August groaned, half in pain, half in annoyance.
"KITTRYE!!" He bellowed, snarling and fighting the growing urge to latch his jaws into The Detective's throat and just shake .
Hesitantly, Andrew stepped off him, nudging his arm apologetically.
August sighed, standing back upright and glaring at the man-turned-caracal.
Andrew flattened his ears to his skull, looking up to August with apologetic, clear olive-green eyes.
Shaking his head, August went back to the armchair he was sitting in and flopped down with a huff.
He gestured to the lab "Go on then, his highness will be in soon to help" he muttered, looking at his wrist watch. He grinned "Dazzle me!" He breathed out dramatically.
Andrew stood, transforming in the blink of an eye, and nodded enthusiastically. He began explaining everything in immense detail, August wasn't listening.
Augest allowed his thoughts to wander, as his thoughts often did, this time about life as a Shifter in general. Evidently, Shifters were dimension hoppers, even able to manipulate the timelines of the dimensions they went to. Not all Shifters can make rifts and portals strong enough for Inter dimensional travel, but most of importance could.
Life wasn't bad, at least for him, he knew other Shifters had it worse. He, being a Gralock, was shipped off to the capital city almost instantly after being discovered. but the thing is, he already lived in Fairmore. The others used to live in the neighbouring kingdoms. Well, some of them, BlackCrow was from a noble coyote clan in the Wild Lands.
August knew of the BlackCrow Clan well, as well as its Master, Harem BlackCrow, Chevix's twin brother.
Take Andrew for instance, he was a Caracal, he used to live in Feniclow. Not the capital city, no, just a small farming village on the outskirts of the kingdom. He knew Andrew well, they were in Gralock training together, and later were termed together due to their ability to work so well together. He knew their teem name by heart, Alpha-7, it wasn't hard to remember, but still.had known each other upwards of twenty thousand years, both being 21,998 years old, only separated by a few months- he knew Andrew had three little sisters he hasn't seen since he got here all those years ago.
Well, life wasn't ideal but it was certainly not boring. Back in EH613U17, he had heard people on whatever crap program was on the television talk about how they were 'Alive but not livening' , a ridiculous concept in a beautiful but harsh world such as Maratie.
Here, one wrong move could be your last. No one has the patience for 'harmless rebelling' -there was no such thing- if you don't conform, find a job and work , you're sent to fend for yourself in the wilderness, with the Dragons and the Ravenous. Life was harsh, but not bad.
August was vaguely aware of Prince Danyal's arrival, but continued in his thoughts, not like he would be much help anyway. If they really needed him, they would ask.
In The Colony's, things were more tame, what with them being so close to The Hub and all it's normalcy . Most of their work involved safe transport of stolen tech and medical documents, the Shifter modo was 'The toughest dogs fight dirty' and sometimes, when push came to shove, the modo was 'Blood only runs so deep'.
August was distantly aware he had just been asked a question, he had better answer. What was the question? Oh, right, 'What in Midnight's name are you doing here, anyway?'. Tad bit rude.
"Sorry, I think Andrew finds my presence endearing. He says it's my 'aura'" he said with a shrug. This seemed to be a satisfactory answer, as his highness walked away, and he was left to his thoughts again.
The expression 'The toughest dogs fight dirty' is a common one among Shifters, they have a survival tactic that has served them well in the thousands of billions of years since they first came into existence, and that was if you play clean, you die. In a harsh world such as theirs, it was simple logic, if they are not kin, they simply are not as important. Which leads to the theft, many of the fastasical things of Maratie are of Maratareian in origin, some aren't, they steal.
Honestly, August didn't have a problem with it.
'Blood only runs so deep' is completely of Van Darerin in origin, Princess Winter came up with it. It means that, even though they are blood, they mustn't let that get in they way if needs must. Betrayal and forgiveness are common occurrences in the family. The only ones who have never betrayed one another are the Mystic Twins, Phoenix and Griffin. Though those two came with a whole different set of baggage. No, actually, no-one has ever betrayed The Queen, that would be a bad call.
Ether way, all shapeshifter's in the Fairmore kingdom had one thing in common, their priority was to The Queen and nobody else.
August shook himself out of his thoughts and looked around, Prince Danyal was conversing with a guard who had just entered. The guard was warring the typical attire, armour and such, nothing special. Just another guard.
Danyal spun around to face them "Robinson, Von Kittrye!" He called, they both walked over to him dutifully.
"Yes, sir?" August asked.
Danyal smiled "August, you know I hate when you call me that" he muttered.
August tilted his head in a way that he knew made him look absolutely adorable , "I know" he said innocently.
the royal family weren't constantly formal with Gralock's, they were all fairly close. Hell, Chevix had been friends with Luna since they were kids.
Danyal shook his head, running a hand through his dark chocolate curls "SummerTorent has called a meeting. You both were personally requested, it's probably the Fox Queen again" he muttered the last part under his breath.
Andrew rolled his eyes "Do we have to?!" He bemoaned, as though the vary world had just wronged him in all the most profound ways. Ever the dramatic.
Danyal grinned and nodded "Yup, you two and seven other Gralock's"
August chuckled as Andrew groaned and began shuffling to the door, intent on delaying the inevitable.
"Where to?" August asked the guard.
The guard squared his shoulders "The Crystal Glade, Sir" he answered in a clipped, overly formal tone.
August nodded his thanks and began to follow his friend. He jogged up to Andrew, grabed him by the wrist, and dragged him out. Andrew somehow managed chuff in what August could only assume was offence, but allowed himself to be dragged out by the coyote, grumbling about impatient dogs.
Author's Note
I think this may have gone to hell. I'm not sure. Might not do that first person thing after all -might confuse you- I just thought it might be easier on my poor, confused, sleep deprived brain.
Also, I know nothing of law enforcement in my own county, so most of the August-Andrew bits are from my vary extensive knowledge of making shit up. Though, they may not play that large of a roll here.
Rating may change to mature, Im kinda feeling restricted by the teen rating, as I have many graphic scenarios I can't get out of my head. Not sure though.
Anywhozle! Hope you enjoyed!
Oh! I know this wasn't great. I think I have finally lost my ability to... words . The next chapter should be better! Maybe...
