The Festival of the Dead

Chapter 13: Many Faces of a Friend

They were all back in the fields of Shabriri's mind, the same gentle music coming from nowhere, as if they had left seconds ago. Avnas let go of his friends hand and smiled at the princesses. "That should answer a good chunk of any questions you may have about my past. If you have any more, I promise that there isn't anything worse I could show yo- OOF!"

The princesses had pulled Avnas into a hug, holding him tight. After a good minute or so, they released their captive of affection.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I moved on from being bothered by that a long time ago, comes with a long existence."

"What happened after you left with Shabriri?" Luna wasn't sure why the demon had been in the village, but was grateful for it now.

"He escorted me to the gates of paradise, only thing is, right before he got me in, we were stopped by one of the demons, said he could give me a real important job, making sure people didn't get hurt too much by any of the more evil of the gods and demons. Being a little kid, I agreed in a second, still don't regret it."

"What about your paradise?"

"I live in paradise every-single-day! I just didn't want to hurt anymore for someone that was torturing me, that and I wanted to get back at that jerk."

The princesses were surprised to hear Avnas' wish, not because it wasn't warranted, they thought he should be able to do whatever he wanted to that monster, but because he didn't seem strong enough to exact revenge on a god himself. "What did you do?" Asked Celestia.

"I knew I couldn't do anything, it hadn't been more than a few years, I was still little. So one day Shabriri comes up to me and tells me that he has an idea for how to get back at him."

Shabriri laughed to himself. "Looking back on it, considering that we're both gods, it seems childish."

"What did you do?"

"I went to his personal realm, an endless desert covered in decay. I sneaked over to his bed and cast a spell to ensure he didn't wake up too soon." He took a break to laugh again. "I dragged him at least ten-miles from his home, right in the middle of the god-forsaken desert and I... gave him my usual parting gift." Both of the men burst-out laughing at the memory.

"You left him in the middle of a desert... blind?" Luna was amazed at the turn in karmic-retribution.

"Blind 'till the day he ceases to exist."

"Shabriri, I could... I could hug you right now." Luna said between unlady-like guffaws, not that she was the only royal present that was laughing like a sailor.

He chuckled good-naturedly "I'm afraid I have to decline, it wouldn't be proper for me to go around, embracing the royalty that I hardly know."

Avnas spoke again. "Well, I think we've covered most of the big subjects, if either of you come up with anything else, feel free to find one of us... or die. Those are usually the two most common tactics, though, I may suggest the former as being funner, not that I should talk..." He saw the look from the princesses. "Only kidding! Jeez, you let some ponies see your life as a lifetime movie, suddenly you can't be morbid anymore."

They had talked for a little while after waking-up in the booth, Luna's pool of drool only bested by Avnas'. The sisters decided that they should be going and headed out. They were surprised it was dark again. They must have been under longer than they thought. They didn't mind, it had been a good day, all in all.

"Did you see that pool of drool? I bet a filly could have drowned if they weren't careful!"

"Lulu, if I remember correctly, your drooling was only a very small bit less than his." Celestia couldn't help but poke fun at her sister when she could.

"Not the point sister, his was still worse."

The sisters both felt a few things at the same time. First they felt very warm, more-so than they should with both the snow and it being night. Second, they were aware that they were being watched. They looked around for whatever was giving them the feeling. After searching everywhere, they finally noticed a small figure looking at them from down the street they were on.

It was a small fox-like creature with antlers growing out of it's face... sort of. It had an eerie mask on that was facing directly towards them. The antlers had small candles balanced on them, lit with fire that didn't seem quite natural. It illuminated the snow around it, forming a small beacon in the dark.

The sisters were worried, they didn't know what this creature was, while it was clearly evident that it was looking for them specifically. Since they were still close, they decided to go back to the parlor to get some answers. They slowly backed towards the entrance, not breaking eye-contact with the small masked creature. It watched them go, staying in it's spot in the road.

After they went inside, they lost the warm feeling, they realized it must have something to do with the small creature. They found both the friends getting into the alcohol back at their booth. "Oh, hello again, ladies. Is something wrong or are we just making you become that drawn to us?"

Celestia decided to dismiss the comment. "Do you know about a small, mask wearing creature with antlers? Sort of looks like a fox?"

Avnas sobered up. "That, Cele, is a Kitsune, and trust me, if it let you see it, you got nuthin' to worry about."

"Why does it matter if we saw it, it was just looking at us sort of creepily."

"I'd like to see you look anything but creepy when your face is a mask. Anyway, there kind is sort of... weird, if they don't like you, good luck with the rest of your life. If they do like you, as is probably your case since it showed itself, that means you have some bad-mojo coming your way that it is gonna stop."

At least reassured that their stalker wasn't going to try to murder them, the sisters thanked the rapidly-approaching drunks and left again. As they left, they heard Avnas yell, "Oh! And don't think it's just an animal, darn things are smarter than you would ever believe!" They didn't see the spirit waiting for them. Not wanting to take chances at their usual hotel, they decided to stay at the library since Twilight was sleeping at Fluttershy's that night and Spike was with the CMC at their clubhouse, most likely getting in trouble.

As they approached the library, the sister's knew that their plan had failed miserably. They got the warm feeling again, telling them that they had been caught. They decided to just continue as normal, if the fox was planning on helping them, why worry about it? The guys hadn't seemed too concerned. Sure enough, waiting in the branches of the tree was their new friend.

It's mask is different. How does it even do that? Quickly realizing that she should have asked more, but too lazy to walk all the way back to the parlor again, Celestia decided to leave it at a sigh and head into the library.

The Kitsune wasn't sure what was wrong with the sisters. Was the first mask too scary? I always use that mask for the greetings! Ponies are weird, friendly, but weird. Maybe I should just disguise myself when I watch them. Whatever, the trouble will be here soon, then I can go back to that place they were in, it smelled nice, like flowers.