The Lulamoon Files

The Lulamoon Files

Chapter Ten: Monstrous Auction

Written by TheCrimsonDM

It was a rather short ride, especially considering the speed at which Rarity drove, to the supposed auction house. It was a three story tall building, with a large parking lot. We drove up to the front doors where an usher took our car for us. Walking down the red carpet and through the double doors had a surprising effect on my pride. It felt like I was meant to be here, like I was very important. With a beautiful mare by my side I felt like queen of the world.

The lobby was a nice large open space, and several stallions in black suits, or mares in stunning gowns all stood around talking. Rarity led me to a backdoor where a large stallion with black glasses and a suit stood guard. There was a revolver at his side.

“We’re in a hurry, the password is; Shoo-you-buggering-fool,” Rarity snapped.

The guard stepped to the side and let us through. The hallway beyond was dimly lit, and the further we went the less electrical the lighting became. Candled sconces replaced the light bulbs as we neared the end. A door led to a large dining room with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, glowing crystals sat proudly in them casting brilliant soft blue light over the room. There were over two dozen ponies here, a few of them wore hooded cloaks that covered up their faces, but others proudly wore fancy clothing. I could see food being held aloft in telekinetic auras and even if the ponies were wearing hats, it wasn’t impossible to know that they must have been unicorns.

“What is this?” I asked feeling very dumb all of a sudden.

“It’s the Black Magic Auction,” Rarity whispered as we made our way through the small crowd. “Now try not to stand out too much, dear.”

This was lining up to be a terrible first date. It also crossed my mind that if Twilight saw me here, she’d kill me on sight and wouldn’t even have to defend her position to the council. This was the wrong kind of company for a wizard on parole to be having. Still I was curious, what could have gathered such an assortment of wizards, and dark wizards at that.

Mr. Rider was talking to a unicorn with a beautiful white fur coat, and a short cut but very stylish blond mane. He didn’t even try to hide his horn, instead offering a gleaming smile to anypony who looked his way. For a moment I actually found myself wondering what it would be like to spend some time alone with this stunning stallion.

Rarity must have noticed because she nodded toward him with a frown. “That’s Blueblood, he’s a noble from one of the unicorn cities. From what I hear he’s here to get power so that he can bolster his position in politics.”

“So he’s a politician?” I wondered. What house could he belong too. He didn’t look like a Sapphire to me, or an Obsidian. Judging by his suit and tie, I doubted he was Jade either. That left Ruby, and Pearl. Both of those houses had a flashy look and attitude, only one of them was more flamboyant than the other.

Mr. Rider of course noticed me and with a wave of his wing he beckoned us over. This was not going so well. I kept my eyes peeled and spotted both Spot, now wearing a cast on his arm, and a minotaur next to him nearby. Mr. Rider was certainly protected.

“Well if it isn’t Miss Lulamoon, my dear how has it been?” Rider asked in an almost friendly demeanor.

I could still feel the aches in my bones from my two recent encounters. “It’s been a rough day.”

“I can see that. My apologies to your current situation, if there is anything I can do to help, just let me know,” he offered. “After all, friends help one another.”

It was a challenge, but I managed to not vomit at his false kindness. “Just keep your dog in check, if he attacks me again, being thrown through a car will be the last of his concerns.”

Rider’s eyes widened. For a split second he opened his mouth to reply, but stopped short. He caught himself, steadied, and gave me a hard look. “Oh, well I will be sure to do just that.”

I hadn’t expected that. It looked like he had no idea that Spot had tried to kill me earlier. Which meant that his man was acting without his knowledge. That would be two ponies now that were working under his nose. I could only imagine the kind of punishment that Spot was going to be in for this later.

Not wanting to be ignored anymore Blueblood walked up and held out a hoof. “Hello, fillies, my name is Blueblood, noblecolt of house pearl, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Rarity was dumb enough to reach out. He grabbed her hoof and gently kissed it. I watched with boiling anger barely being held back as she withdrew her hoof and her cheeks went pink. “Oh my, well it’s a pleasure. I’m Rarity, and this is my date, Miss Lulamoon.”

Blueblood’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, the warlock.”

“I am not a warlock.” I felt that anger rising even higher.

“You were. And until you have proven yourself worthy of freedom, you are.” He stuck his nose up in the air. “I must apologize but I will not dirty myself by speaking to a warlock, or their beautiful cohorts. Mr. Rider, I shall take my leave of you, but do keep my offer in mind.”

Mr. Rider smiled that same sick smile. “Oh, I will.”

I turned and was surprised to see that there were two other ponies coming our way. One of them wore a dark gray cloak, similar to that of a warden’s cloak, yet it was ripped and torn at the bottom as though age and fighting had gotten the best of it. She had peach colored fur, and red and yellow locks fell over her face. Her partner was a stallion, a little taller than Wind Rider and had dark gray fur with a pitch black mane, he however wore a red velvet suit with a white frilly undershirt. His horn was almost glowing with red heat and the crown on his head was gold with gems of every shape and color built into it.

The unicorn stallion smiled. “Miss Lulamoon, I am Sombra, the king of shadows. This is my acquaintance, Sunset Shimmer. Princess of the Sun court.”

The king of shadows had earned his infamy. He was a warlock of the highest caliber, and conducted the underground trade on all illegal goods. Many wardens had gone out to bring him down, very few returned, and those that did were broken ponies.

“Sombra,” I said coolly, keeping my inner freak out contained. “I hardly expected to see you here. Didn’t you hear, there’s a mad warden on the lose?”

“Oh, you mean that incident you had with Twilight Sparkle, yes, I’d heard about that. She was quite furious that you just left a massive manticore corpse in sight for the entire city to see. I think she is really looking forward to your next meeting.”

I shivered. “I bet she is.”

Sunset spoke, her tone was quiet, yet commanding, “I think we should get ready, the auction is starting soon and I wish to see what you're selling today, Sombra.”

Sombra beamed. “I bet you all are.” He turned. “Until we meet again, may the dark watch over you.”

While he left, Sunset stayed just a moment longer. “You shouldn’t have come here, Lulamoon.”

With that cryptic and threatening sentence Sunset seemed to have deemed herself done talking to me and left. I stared at her, she felt familiar, as though I should know her better than just a princess of the Summer Court. Then again, I didn’t know the Summer Court had a princess either, I didn’t mess with the Never Never, and it didn’t mess with me.

Mr. Rider took one last look at me. “I hope your affairs are all in order, Miss Lulamoon. Oh, and please keep my offer in mind.”

I watched him leave as well. This was just great. I was sitting here with a mortal earth pony that I had the hots for, surrounded by potential enemies, each of which were stronger or had an upper hoof on me, and the auction for illegal magical items was about to start. How do I keep getting myself into these situations?

In a few minutes the stage lit up with sparkling light that had no visible source. Two unicorns stepped up on stage, both were peach with red manes, and they looked very similar to one another. The only difference was that one of them had a mustache. They wore stripped suits that were almost offensive to the eye.

“He’s Flim,” said one.

“And he’s Flam,” added the other.

Together they said, “And we’re the world famous Flim Flam brothers!”

Even if I thought their style of clothing was disgusting, I did like their flair. For a pair of unicorn brothers I thought it was almost attractive, too bad they were likely too stuck on themselves to know that the one who really deserved all the attention was currently sitting somewhere near the back of the room.

“Alright folks,” Flim said. “Don't we have some treats for you today?”

Flam’s horn lit up and the curtain behind them was drawn open to reveal a pony sized casket that was closed, nailed shut, and chained. I got the feeling that whatever was in there was deadly, dangerous, and beyond my ability to face. Rarity leaned forward as if transfixed by the scene.

“This here is the casket of the one and only vampire pony Count Drake Blood. The first, and last of the true vampiric race. The black court, the undead, the deadly, the life stealing, the rotten, the abysmal. And for the low starting price of sixty thousand gold bits, this can be yours.”

I blinked. That was more money than I think I’d made in my entire career as a wizard thus far. The fact that they were asking for that much meant that whatever Count Drake Blood was must have been worth it. I don’t know what they’d want with a vampire, but I was sure it wasn’t good either way.

A white mare rose her paddle via telekinesis.

Flim smiled, it reminded me of Mr. Rider’s sick grin. “Do I hear Seventy thousand? No. That’s sixty thousand, going once, twice, and sold! Miss White Blood you may have your long departed husband back now.”

That… was a case I was going to stay far away from I decided. It was one of my rare moments of intelligence. Of course after that they sold a haunted car for thirty thousand bits, the ashes of some holy saint for twenty five thousand, and a few other things that I didn’t want to remember. Finally we were at the end of the auction, and I noticed that Mr. Rider had yet to buy anything, though I feared he knew exactly what was being saved for the end.

Flim stood there with a valiant smile as though he’d just made a killing tonight. Considering I think he made near five hundred thousand gold bits, I could see why. He opened up the curtain to reveal a cage covered in a white tarp.

“Here we have the last, and greatest of our prizes for sale,” Flim promised the crowd. “Right now it is under the influence of a deep sleeping spell, because if it wasn’t we could all very well die right now.” There was the smell of sulfur coming from the cage that caught my attention. Something glowed ever so slightly from under the tarp, a deep orange color like fire.

Flam spoke as his horn lit up, the edge of the tarp was covered by his aura. “May I present to you, a real, live, dragon!” he yanked off the tarp and from inside the cage I saw it. The dragon. It had green scales, with black spikes along its back. It was slightly larger than a car, so it wasn’t fully grown yet. Yet still dragons were notoriously powerful, hardy, and worst of all magic. The EUP spent its early career wiping the dragons out of Equestrian Borders and even then went so far as to slaughter them in their own homelands. Dragons still existed to be sure, I mean I was looking at one, but they were endangered and hidden.

“Is… is that real?” Rarity asked in a voice so quiet that I almost missed it.

I swallowed. “Yeah. That’s one Tartarus of a monster.”

“W-what would somepony even want with a dragon?”

“If they could control it, they would have a weapon beyond power. Of course dragons do not like ponies, I can’t help but to think that the dragon there is just wanting to go somewhere quiet to hide out. This… this is pretty much slavery.”

“Your right you know,” Mr. Rider said. “And it would be a shame if nopony came to its rescue.”

I almost spat my bit right there and then. That’s what Rider was after, he wanted a dragon. Of course everypony in this room would obviously want a dragon.

Flim was the first pony to speak after the initial shock in the crowd wore off. “Now folks, this is an extremely rare opportunity, only made possible by our generous benefactor. So you can imagine that the starting price will be understandably high.”

Yeah, like your prices weren’t ungodly already.

“One hundred and fifty thousand bits for this wonderful creature.”

I stared at him and the room fell into dead silence. I barely heard my own breathing over the cold stillness that now filled the room. Everypony was stiff, their muscles rigid, and their breathing short. Every hair on my body was standing straight out, and gooseflesh erupted along my legs. I was terrified, more terrified than I think I’d been that day. What if somepony used this beast on me?

“Ahem,” Mr. Rider cleared his throat calmly. I jerked my head over to see that his paddle was raised.

“That’s One Fifty going once,” Flim said.

A paddle raised up in the crowd and a male voice followed. “One hundred and Seventy thousand.”

Flam jumped in. “One seve-“

A female’s voice erupted from the crowd. “Two hundred thousand!”

“Two ten!”

“Two thirty!”

“Two seventy!”

“Three hundred thousand!”

Finally there was no longer a contender. Flim was able to speak again. “Three hundred thousand going once, twice, and so-“

Mr. Rider stood up and raised his paddle. “Four Hundred thousand!”

I think my gut dropped somewhere when I heard him offer up enough money to buy a small city. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was willing to go that far for a dragon. A dragon under his command! I didn’t know what he wanted with a dragon, but whatever it was it was too much to deal with. I watched helplessly as Flim sputtered, and Flam had to jump in.

“Once, twice, and sold to Mr. Rider. Welcome to the dragon club. Membership is extremely exclusive,” Flam said.

Things were quiet, and as I walked out with Rarity neither of us spoke. All I could think of was what would happen if Rider had a dragon under his command. What would he do with it? Who would be hurt? The city couldn’t exactly stop him already, but with a dragon, the magical world would be unable to do much to him either. Was he really making his play into my world already? Or had he already been there, in the shadows, growing in power and size and it was almost too late to stop him from conquering my world as well?

I didn’t know which it was, but I did know one thing. As I watched Flim and Flam going out the back doors of the auction house I realized that somepony was going to have to stop them, and that this pony was going to be very stupid or incredibly great. I was incredibly great, although I was beginning to feel more and more stupid all the time.

“Rarity,” I said very quietly, very carefully. “Where do they keep all of their stuff?”

Rarity stared at me. “In the back, I was already there earlier, but I didn’t touch anything. I didn’t know what was dangerous and what wasn’t. I… I saw the dragon’s cage, but I didn’t think-“

“Could you get us back there again?”

She nodded. “Yes, but what-“

“We’ll figure that out on the way. Let’s go.”

For a moment Rarity looked at me with horror in her eyes. Then a smile grew over her lips and her eyes flashed proudly. “Oh, I knew you were a fun one. Follow me.”

And follow her I did.