The crew eventually made their way to the town of Ponyville. With the ship docked at one of the town’s ports, the group went on to walk to Count Takumi Jo’s estate.
“I still can’t believe that a person like Count Jo lives in a backwater town like this…" Rainbow Dash commented.
“This back-water town is our home Dash.” Applejack said as she and Damien made a mean glare at Rainbow Dash, forcing Applejack to quickly shut her mouth.
“I still can’t believe He’s YOUR godfather.” Aiya said with amazement. “to have someone as big and as important as Count Takumi Jo.”
“Ugh, I don’t really get it. What’s the big deal about this Count Jo guy anyway?” Spike asked.
“He kinda helps runs Ponyville with Madam Mayor.” Applejack explained.
"He also owns multiple companies and business in both Equestria and on other worlds," Hyde commented.
“with someone of his standards, why does he not live in Canterlot?” Twilight ask.
“He’s not really into the big royal snob life…n-no offense.” Blaster said
“He just likes to keep to himself. He doesn’t like it when a whole lot of attention is drawn to him and his herd.” Edward explained.
"Hmm, fascinating," Aiya whispered, as Twilight nodded in agreement.
As the group walked, they eventually came to a grand lavish castle sitting in the middle of the forest, a castle that quickly took Twilight’s interest.
“Wait…is…is that?!” Twilight gasped.
"Yep, the Castle of the two sisters," Edward responded.
“But…But…it looks so new! I thought it was in ruins!” Twilight shouted in amazement.
“Obviously Jo fixed it up so people can live it in…Duh…” Damien said in a deadpan tone, earning him a mean glare by Twilight.
As the group walked up to the door, Applejack and Damien turned to them,
“Look, before we go anything further, I should warn you…Jo’s herd can be…a little out there…” Damien said with a hint of grimace in his voice.
“How so?” Aiya asked.
“You’ll see.” Applejack said with a smirk on her face as Damien used the door’s knocker.
After three knocks, the door slowly opened. Soon enough a large middle-aged man with brown hair that was slicked to the side, complemented by a short well-kept beard and a thin mustache. While wearing butler attire and a monocle and had a stone-faced expression on his face. Aiya, Twilight, and Spike all marveled at the size of the man.
"Hey, Benson," Damien said to the man.
“Howdy Ben, is Count Jo here?”
Upon seeing the two, Benson’s stoic look soften into a smiled. “Master Runner, Mistress Smith. Tis good to see you.” He bowed slightly. "and to answer your query, I'm afraid the master stepped out and it's unclear when he shall return." He replied. Suddenly, three loud bangs were suddenly heard throughout the woods, taking Aiya, Twilight and Spike off guard while everyone else looked on in the direction of the shots, "Well…it seems the master will be returning soon. Right, this way everyone." Benson said as he leads the group inside.
-*****-
As the group stepped in and walked through the front foray, Aiya, twilight, and Spike all marveled at the sight of the beautifully decorated design.
“This place is amazing!” Twilight commented.
“Yep, you have our friend Rarity to thank for all of it.” Pinkie Pie said as she skipped down the hall.
“Rarity? Hmm, where have I heard that name before…” Aiya said while thinking.
“She’s the niece of that big shot entrepreneur back in Canterlot…Fancy something...I think.” Applejack explained.
“FANCY PANTS?!!” Twilight and Aiya both sounded in shock.
“Indeed, Sir Fancy Pants and the Master have been business partners for quite some time," Benson explained. "While Sir Fancy Pants handles things in Canterlot. Ms. Rarity handles her own business here in Ponyville. Now come along, the Mistresses’ of the house are expecting us.”
“of course they are…” Damien sighed in annoyance, while Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Edward snickered, leaving Aiya confused.
It wasn’t long before the group entered what looked like the old throne room, which was now made into a lounge room. There sitting in the center were two older women. The taller one had long wavy, greyish-violet hair, violet eyes and a horn on her forehead. The second woman was a bit shorter, a little younger looking with short brown hair, emerald eyes and appeared to be heavily pregnant.
As the group approached the women, Benson stepped forward, “Mistress Marianne,” he said to the taller lady, “Mistress Christine,” He said to the shorter lady, “The Crew of the Dawn Threader as arrived.” Benson announced as everyone bowed to the ladies of the house.
Silently, both women stood up and walked over to the group and stood in front of Damien. Damien looked up and was taken back by the lady’s stern and serious looks at him. “ah geez…” he mumbled.
“Go on…you know they wanna hear ya say it.” Applejack said with a coly look, which was joined by everyone else expect for Aiya, twilight, and Spike who were left puzzled.
Damien continued to grumble under his breath, trying hard to hold in his frustration. However, the looks from both ladies were suddenly too much for him. With a deep sigh, he finally gave in, "Hey…mama Mary…mama Cris…" Damien said in a low and mumbled voice.
“Ma…ma…?” both Aiya and Twilight asked in confusion.
As if on cue, both women soon grabbed hold of Damien and held him in a tight group hug.
"OH, MY DARLING LITTLE BOY DAMIEN HAS RETURNED!" Marianne shouted.
“WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” Christine said next.
This sudden show of affection stunned Twilight, while everyone else busted into laughter, Even Aiya had trouble keeping in her giggles. Embarrassed and angered, Damien looked at the group with daggered eyes. However, the tight squish from the hug prevented him from doing anything.
“so, what’s going on?” Aiya asked while chuckling.
“Those two are his godmothers. And even though neither is his birth mother, they still treat him like he is." Hyde explained.
“Trust me, it’s been like that since we were little.” Applejack commented.
“Aww~ That’s so adorable.” Aiya giggled.
It was at this point, both Marianne and Christine both stared at Aiya with blank looks.
“Damien…whose that girl?” Marianne asked while cracking a smile.
“She seems pretty interested in you.” Christine giggled.
The sudden turn of questions caused Damien to blush brightly, “S-she’s just one of the princesses we were hired to travel with…t-that’s it…” Damien quickly explained.
“OH?” Marianne coly asked.
“Are you sure? ~” Christine asked in a teasing tone.
Damien’s face turns even a brighter red, as Aiya and Pinkie both giggled as a response.
“He’s right I’m afraid,” Applejack said while stepping in.
“Applejack!” Christine happily said as she went to give her a warm hug, “it’s good to see you, how your grandmother?”
Applejack smiled and returned the hug, “She’s doin’ fine. And like D said, we wer' chosen to escort these princesses around the place. Some sorta learning field trip. Anywho, Tis here is Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Upon noticing that her name was called, Twilight quickly stepped forward and bowed to the ladies. “it’s an honor madams. As well, this is my assistant, Spike.” She said while pointing to Spike, who only waved.
“Twilight Sparkle? You mean the granddaughter of Celestia and Luna?” Marianne noted.
"It is us who should be honored, Princess." Christine bowed, in which Damien responses by rolling his eyes. However the conversation is interrupted by the sound of little footsteps coming down the hall stairs,
“Big brother D! Big brother D!” a small voice calls out as a small body tackled Damien’s leg. Damien smiles as he looks down to see a small little boy with short wavy greyish-violet hair like Marianne’s, hugging his leg. “Big Brother D! it’s me! It’s me!” the boy happily cheered as he stared with huge golden-brown eyes.
Damien responses by ruffling the boy's hair, "Yep, I see you lil ankle biter." Damien smirked as the boy smiled. Aiya marveled by how genuine Damien’s smile was, as Christine and Pinkie giggled at the scene.
“Jiro.” Marianne called out softly, “we have guests. Don’t be rude, introduce yourself.”
The boy, named Jiro, looked to the group as saw Twilight and Aiya and to Marianne, "Yes mother." Jiro than walked to the two princesses. "How do you do, I'm Jiro Jo," Jiro said as he bowed and smiled at the princesses. At that moment, both Aiya and Twilight get all wide-eyed as they fuss over Jiro.
"He's so cute!" Aiya squeals
“look at his lil smile!” Twilight gushes.
"Hmph, …it's not all that…" Spike huffed while crossing his arms.
The sudden attention caused Jiro to blush and hid behind Applejack’s leg, “It’s ok Sugercube, their harmless.” Applejack reassured him.
“well their not gonna fool me! I’m spoken for!” Jiro proclaimed.
“Oh? Is that so?” Aiya asked while giggling.
“Mhmm!” Jiro nodded, “Applejack is going to be my future wife! Isn’t that right?" she asked while looking up to Applejack.
Everyone looked to Applejack as she rolled her eyes while smirking before picking up Jiro, “That’s right Sugercube, you’re the only one for me.” She said as Jiro planted a small kiss on her cheek. Which caused some of the group to chuckle.
“I thought I heard trouble.” A second voice said another person walked down the steps. The source of the voice was a young man, with light hazel eyes and skin and long, dark dreadlocks that reach his shoulders. “Are you ya’ll a sight for sour eyes.” He smirked as he walked towards the group.
"Whose that?" Twilight asked.
"Keisuke Dai, Jo's assistant, and partner." Hyde replied, "He's been working with Jo longer than anyone here."
"I always knew the fearsome twosome would return to these neck of the woods," Keisuke commented.
"Hey, Keisuke." Both Damien and Applejack said in dull voices.
“Huh? What was that?” Keisuke asked with putting his hand to his ear, “I didn’t hear a ‘big bro’ in there. Care to try again?”
Damien and Applejack both rolled their eyes, “Hey big bro Keisuke.” They replied.
Keisuke replied by placing his hands on both Damien's and Applejack's heads and then ruffling their hair, "Hehe, that never gets old. Hey Hyde, Blast, Dash, Ed, Long time no see." He said to the group. "and Pink, how you been? I see you're still hanging around these nut jobs." He smiled.
"Aww, they're not that bad." Pinkie pie cheekily replied.
“You’re one to talk!” Rainbow Dash retorted, in which Keisuke laughed.
“Still a rowdy bunch as always.” Keisuke said as he suddenly notices Twilight, Aiya and Spike. “ah, you much be the princess I’ve heard so much about. I’m surprised these dorks haven’t sent you all running screaming into the hills.” Keisuke chuckled only to be elbowed in the stomach by Applejack.
“They almost did…” Twilight mumbled to herself only to be elbowed in the side by Aiya.
“OH, OH! Big brother D! there’s someone else who wants to see you!” Jiro shouted before jumping out of Applejack’s arms and ran to the stairway’s banister, where he pulled a small leaver, in which a large doorway slowly opens in the stairway. Damien's eye widens as he saw what Jiro was doing.
“Oooh, He means ‘him’” Keisuke chuckled.
"Oh yes, ‘he's' missed you a lot, Damien," Marianne commented.
“I’m sure ‘He’ has.” Applejack said as she and everyone else moved away from Damien, all the while, Aiya, Twilight, and Spike were confused. Suddenly, a low growl is heard from the doorway, taking the princesses off guard and watched as Damien froze in place.
Once the doorway was fully open, a figure leaped out of it and tackled Damien to the ground, making him yelp in the process. To the Aiya's and Twilight's shock and amazement, the figure that tackled Damien was a dragon. The dragon was large, about the size of a small horse, with gray scales covering its body and black ones on his underbelly. It seemed to walk on all four legs, a long tail and short neck, had two large horns on the back of its head and had a long snout.
The dragon stared down Damien while making a low growling noise, all while Damien stared at it back. Suddenly, after a few more minutes, Aiya and Twilight were even more shocked by what the dragon did next. The dragon began to lick Damien’s face all while it wailed its tail.
Damien laughed as he tried to block the dragon’s tongue, but it did little to help, “Ok boy! Ok! Stop it! I missed you too!” Damien chuckled while trying to get the dragon off him. Confused by this interaction, all Aiya and Twilight could do was stare. But one feature that caught Aiya’s attention, a large spiked collar around its neck and attached to the collar was a keychain with the word ‘ACE’ on it. At that point, something clicked in Aiya as her eyes widen.
“THAT’S ACE?!” she yelled in shock.
“What?!” Twilight’s said with a stunned look.
"Well yea, of course, that's Ace. D's told you about him before. He's one of the dogs he and Applejack owns." Hyde noted.
“Yea, but he didn’t say Ace was a DRAGON!” Aiya shouted.
“Wait, so if that’s Ace, whose the Border Collie?” Twilight asked.
“That’s Winona, my dog.” Applejack replied.
“Then whose the little English toy spaniel?” Twilight asked again.
“That’s Chica” Blaster replied.
"Well, those that big old English sheepdog?" twilight asked once again.
"Duh, that's Moose." Pinkie Pie replied.
Damien and Ace watched the group as they talked, during which Ace let out some grunts and growls at Damien, “Yea, she is kinda slow…” Damien seemingly replied to Ace.
“I heard that!” Twilight shouted angerly. “Wait, you can understand that thing?!” Twilight then asked in a shocked tone.
"and this ‘thing' can understand you, so watch it," Damien replied in a nasty tone while Ace growled at her.
Spike, after hiding behind Twilight’s leg, finally steps up and approaches Ace, “Whoa…never met another dragon before.” He says before walking towards Ace.
“Spike! Wha-what are you-” Twilight tried to stop Spike but was halted by Aiya.
Spike approaches Ace with a smile, “Hiya Ace. I’m Spike” he says while holding out his claw to Ace. Ace sniffed Spike a bit and begins letting out a few grunts and barks before moving his paw to shake Spike’s hand, “Well it’s nice to meet you too.”
“you can understand him too?” Twilight asked.
“well duh, He’s a dragon, I’m a dragon. So why not?” Spike replied.
“yea Ms. ‘princess of friendship’” Aiya reassured her friend, “Spike’s just making a new friend.”
"He's kinda pudgy though," Jiro said while poking Spike's stomach, to which Spike responded by swatting Jiro's finger away.
“Hey! I’m not that heavy!” Spike retorted.
Suddenly, a smile appeared on Twilight’s face as she giggled, “looks like someone needs to cut back on the gemstones.”
Spike groaned and facepalmed himself, “Not you too Twilight…” he sighed as everyone ruptured in laughter.
“Ahem!” a voice called out, putting an end to the laughter. The group looked over to see a medium-sized gentleman, from his looks he seemed to be about the same age as Damien, with his short chestnut hair and large amber eyes, while also wearing some rough hunting attire. But his most defining feature that caught everyone’s attention, aside from the huge shotgun he was carrying, was the scowl on his face and the mean glare that seemingly cut deep into everyone in front of him, especially Aiya and Twilight.
Joining him was a young maid with blazing red hair formed into two pigtails as she was holding some of the gentlemen’s hunting gear.
“FATHER!” Jiro shouted before running to the gentleman, “Applejack and Big Brother D are here!” Jiro happily announced while hugging the gentleman’s leg.
It was now clear to Aiya and Twilight that the gentleman in front of them was none other than Count Takumi Jo himself. Takumi pats Jiro’s head and walks over to Applejack and Damien, “You’re late.” He bluntly says.
“We came as soon as we got your message.” Applejack explained.
"Yea, we got here as fast as we could," Damien said in a harsh tone, earning him a glare from Takumi.
“Oh quit being such a grouch Takumi," Marianne said to her husband, "regardless if they were late or on time, they’re here”
“and with guests…” Takumi grimly said as he spotted Aiya, Twilight and Spike.
“Don’t you remember Takumi? Applejack and Damien were chosen to escort two of Celestia’s students.” Christine responded.
Takumi snarled at the mention of Celestia’s name, “Celestia… she just had to dump her wards onto my business…”
Twilight was a bit upset by the way Takumi addressed her beloved teacher, but she pushed those thoughts aside and stepped forward to him, “Count Jo, it is an honor to meet you in person, I am-”
“Princess Twilight Sparkle of Canterlot and your comrade is Princess Aiya of Mount Aries. Also with you is your assistant Spike.” Takumi said, taking both princesses and young dragon by surprise. “Yes, I know who you are. Ms. Pie has been keeping me in touch with your travels.” Takumi explained. “if you’re here, you might as well help out as well.” Takumi commented as he looked over the group, while also giving Blaster a dirty look. “Benson, Molly, gather everyone in the library and prepare the pensieve," Takumi commanded to his butler.
"Yes, master," Benson said as he and the maid now named Molly went on to the library.
“What’s a Pensieve?” Aiya asked.
"A Pensieve is a fancy stone column Jo uses to upload into a person's orb," Hyde explained.
"Yea, you know, our orbs, as in those little crystal-like spheres everyone carries around cause everything we do or learn is imprinted on them and if anyone loses their orbs, they won't be able to make new memories and will eventually become hollow hushes of our former selves," Keisuke explained.
“Uh, yea…we already knew that…why are you explaining it?” Applejack asked
"Well Duh, for the explanation of course." Pinkie Pie replied.
“See, she gets it.” Keisuke smiled as Damien rolled his eyes.
“Basically, Takumi hates explaining something more than once to a person, so whenever he has a group to talk to, he brings out the Pensieve and uploads the info directly into our orbs, that way it’ll be easy for us to remember and we won’t forget.” Blaster explained to the princesses.
"Father really hates to repeat himself," Jiro commented.
While Aiya was fascinated by the new concept, Twilight wasn’t so sure, “You mean…you look…into our Orbs?”
“Relax Sparkle-butt, No one is breaking any taboo. We’re putting stuff into our orbs, not looking in them or taking anything out.” Damien reassured her.
"He's right Twi, if fact, the royal guard kinda do the same for new recruits to help them better learn in training and combat," Edward said to her.
“Same with the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow Dash noted.
“Yea Twi, relax.” Aiya said to her comrade, “It’s all fine, wished we used a Pensieve when we were at the academy. Would have made things much easier instead of being up all night reading out of those dusty books.”
“Where’s the fun in that…” Twilight mumbled to herself.
With that, everyone followed Takumi down the hall while Marianne, Christiane, and Jiro stayed in the throne room.
-*****-
The group soon entered a large library study, which made twilight drool with excitement upon seeing the sight.
“Easy girl, one thing at a time," Aiya said to her friend before looking around herself. “I don’t think the Canterlot library has this many books.” She noted.
“The master has traveled to many lands, and each time he brings back something of their culture," Benson explained.
"Yep, So I guess you can say, Jo, is a bigger book nerd than twilight." Rainbow Dash snickered, while completely unaware that Takumi was standing right behind her, eyeing at her as she chuckled. It eventually took a soft sigh from Takumi that got Rainbow Dash’s attention. Once Rainbow Dash saw Takumi, she smiled nervously as she slowly and sheepishly moved away from him as he glared at her, all the while Applejack facepalms herself.
“enough nonsense. Gather your orbs to the Pensieve so we can proceed.” Takumi demanded.
With that, Benson brought out a large stone pillar, in which everyone soon took out their orbs. Damien with his red orb; Applejack with her bright orange orb; Edward with his blue orb; Rainbow Dash with his cerulean orb; Hyde with his silver orb; Blaster with his white orb and Pinkie Pie with her bright pink orb. One by one, they each placed their orbs in an open slot of the Pensieve. Finally, it was the Princesses' turn to insert their orbs. Aiya happily took out her pink and white orb and placed it in the Pensieve. Twilight was a lil bit more hesitant, but reluctantly took her mulberry orb and placed in it next to Aiya’s.
"Now then, Let's get started," Takumi said as he took out his Dark crimson orb and placed it at the top of the Pensieve. Once all the orbs were in place, the Pensieve began to power up, “Begin the Download.” Takumi said as a beam of light shoots out of his orb and hits each of the other’s orbs. It was at this point; everyone’s eyes began to glow, seemingly putting them in a trance.
"I always hated this part…" Damien grumbled as his eyes began to glow.
Once fully powered and the orbs in sync, The Pensieve projected light on to the wall, a sorta makeshift movie projector.
"Alright, listen up all of you." Takumi commanded to the group “For the past few weeks, Ponyville has been under attack by a mysterious figure. At first, it was small pets and animals, but recently these attacks have expanded to civilians and travelers. Three days ago, Mayor Mare asked me personally to investigate these attacks. Soon after I soon realized what I was up against, an Amazonian Wendigo." Takumi said as pictures and drawings of a savage reptilian-like creature appeared on the wall before Takumi continued,
“For those who don’t know, Amazonian Wendigos are nothing like the wendigos from the hearth’s warming stories, these creatures are flesh-eating monsters who only come out at night. And if the legends are to be believed, if you are ever bitten or scratched by one, you turn into one.” Takumi explained while showing diagram pictures and primitive drawings of Amazonian Wendigos, attacking and eating helpless victims. One picture showed a victim violently turning into an Amazonian Wendigo. The sight greatly unsettled Twilight and Spike, though Aiya sat in wonder of the presentation.
“As you can see from these drawings, Amazonian Wendigos are shown to have scaly skin like dragons and it’s impossible to penetrate, something I found out when none of my bullet rounds were able to wound it. They are also known for having superhuman strength, can move faster than the eye can blink, razor sharp claws and talons, and powerful large jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth which they use to chop large chunks of meat from their pray, all of which I’ve seen firsthand. Their most knowable figure is their giant red eyes, which can see things and people from miles away and have infrared heat. Takumi explained as more pictures and diagrams seemed to confirm this information.
“for the next two nights I tracked the beast down through the Everfree Forest, but with no avail. However last night I managed to corner the beast, unfortunately, I understated the creature’s strength and intelligence and it escaped before I could finish it. This is where you all come in.” Takumi said, gaining everyone’s attention. "Each of you have your own talent I believe can help put a stop to this creature. And through my studies, I've found that the creature has several weaknesses we can exploit.”
“The first being is their sense of scent, while powerful it’s extremely sensitive and hates sweet smells. One of which happens to be apples, as I have found no evidence that it's been near the Sweet Apple Acres." Takumi explained while Applejack took a sigh of relieve. "The second being…you," Takumi said as he looked to Damien.
"Wait, wha?" a dumbfounded Damien said as everyone looked to him.
“To be more precise, I mean the Botain people," Takumi explained. "I've heard that these creatures originally came from the world of Bota. Because of this, Botains can easily track and hunt them. It’s also said that Botains can beat a wendigo into submission with their bare hands. So in a way Damien, you’re our trump card.” Takumi explained as he showed pictures and drawings of a group of people, seemingly Botains, hunting down and beating Wendigos.
“great…” Damien said dully as he rolled his eyes as
As the presentation came to an end, the Pensieve slowly began to power down and everyone’s eyes stopped glowing. A little dazed from the sudden download, Aiya shook her head, “Much better than reading out of a dusty book.” She commented.
Unbeknownst to her, she didn’t see twilight look over to Damien, “I’ve Shinning talk about Botains before, but I’ve never really believed him…does this count really think he can stop this monster?” she thought to herself.
As everyone went to retrieve their orbs, Takumi explained the plan, "Here's what's going to happen. I have I mentioned a single scratch from this creature could be harmful. luckily, I requested that Ms. Rarity commission some protective gear for us all. Keisuke, Molly, and Hyde will be the lookout while we get our gear." Takumi said as he gathered his gear, “Oh, and you three can take Blaster for a meat shield.”
“How come I’m the meat shield?” Blaster complained.
“Because I said so. Because your small, insignificant and expendable. Because I’LL BLOODY PUMMEL YOU IF YOU DON’T!” Takumi yelled back while grabbing Blaster by his collar.
“c-can I get a second opinion…?” Blaster nervously asked. Only to be met by Takumi letting out an ungodly animal-like growl as a response. Blaster relents and retreats to hide behind Hyde.
“Now then, It’s almost sunset. We should get to Ms. Rarity’s boutique soon.” Takumi commanded as he left the room With Damien and Applejack behind him.
"A bit uptight, isn't he? And his mannerism, I can see where Damien gets it." Twilight whispered.
“He’s just worried about this whole wendigo situation. You would be too if you were in his shoes.” Aiya reassured Twilight.
“Still…He has a lot of nerve ordering us around…” Twilight mumbled as she walked away with Spike close behind her.
-*****-
As everyone was gathering their gear together, Takumi pulled Applejack and Damien aside.
“Let me something perfectly clear to you two.” Takumi said in a stoic voice, “Even though I’ve allowed these ‘princesses’ to join us, I will not be responsible for what happens to them.”
"They ain't look like much, but these gals can handle themselves." Applejack replied to him. “Ai’s talented in all sorts of defense magic and Twi’s the lil sis of Shinin’ Armor.”
"Ah Yes…Captain Shining Armor…" Takumi said with a hint of displeasure in his voice. Damien looked away, trying to hide the cringe on his face upon hearing the Captain's name.
"Now I know y'all two have an issue with the Captain, but Twi's different. She'll surprise ya." Applejack reassured them.
“My, My Applejack…” Takumi said while looking at her with a stern look, “if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re fond of this Princess.”
Applejack’s face suddenly turned bright red, “We-well uh…y-you know…I-I was just be-being tha-that’s all!” Applejack stuttered
Takumi however, paid little attention to Applejack’s outburst and turned to Damien, “and you? What do you think?” he asked.
Damien didn’t say anything as he looked over to Aiya. During which, Aiya was looking over the assortment of gear and weapons Takumi had gathered for the group. At the same time, Ace had walked up to her and nuzzled her size.
“Oh, hello there.” Aiya said to the dragon-hound as he continued to snuggle her, "Aww, aren’t you sweet.” She said as pets Ace’s head. Ace seemed to purr at Aiya’s touch.
“hehe, Ace likes you!” Jiro pointed out as he chuckled.
"Aww, and I like him too." Aiya smiled as she continued to pet ace.
As he watched this, a small smile appeared on Damien’s face, “She’s alright…” he mumbled.
Takumi leaned in close to Damien, "You're not doing anything inappropriate with that girl…are you?" he asked with a narrow look in his eyes.
“WHAT?!” Damien shouted in response to Takumi’s question, “D-Don’t be stupid! I-I-I would never! Be-besides it’s her whose al-always trying to pull something! N-not me!!!” Damien argued in a frantic state
Despite Damien’s protest, Takumi’s expression told him he was unconvinced. Even Applejack looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
With this face turning red, Damien groaned, “FORGET IT! Let’s just deal with this stupid thing!” he shouted before storming off in a huff.
-*****-
Once everyone was fully geared, they prepared to leave, "alright, it's almost dusk, Keisuke, Molly, Hyde…and Blaster…make your way to the shack and report anything suspicious. The rest of us will make our way to Ms. Rarity's for the rest of our gear. Understood?” Takumi asked the group, in which they all nodded in agreement.
“Yea! Let’s murder stuff!!” Jiro happily cheered while holding up his toy bb gun. While Jiro’s outburst was met some eye-rolls and small fits of laughter, Takumi, however, gave his young son a stern look. Takumi then turned to Benson before snapping his fingers and pointing to Jiro. Benson nodded his head to Takumi who then proceeded to take Jiro’s toy gun away from him, picking him up by the back of his shirt and handing him off to Marianne, “Hmph…I don’t get to do anything…” Jiro pounded as Marianne kissed his cheek and Damien pats Jiro’s head.
"One-day Ankle bitter, one day" Damien reassured him, all the while Aiya smiled on how sweet Damien was acting towards Jiro.
“Now then, without further delay…let us be off…” Takumi ordered the rest of the group.
“Yea, let’s go kick some Wendigo butt!” Spike himself cheered.
"actually Spike, I want you to stay here with Lady Marianne and Lady Christine," Twilight said to her small assistant.
“What?!” Spike shouted in shock, “But…but Twilight!”
“No buts Spike. We’ve never faced something like this Wendigo before. And if anything happens to you, I won’t be able to live with myself.” Twilight said with a worried look.
“But Ace gets to go!” Spike argued.
“Ace is a bit more experience and more mature with this kinda thing.” Applejack replied.
“That’s not fair! I’m mature too!” Spike whined while stomping his foot, “I wanna go too!”
Twilight only smiled softly and pats Spike’s head, “Now Spike, behave. If you do, I’ll be sure to give you a large sack of rubies.” She commented.
With the mention of rubies, Spike's attention was caught, and his mood lightens a bit. But he didn't want to show it, "B-big…Red ones?" Spike asked.
“The biggest you’ve ever seen.” Twilight smiled.
Spike still pounded but the thought of rubies soon clouded his mind, soon enough he let out a deep sigh, “Deal.” He said before suddenly hugging Twilight, “Please, be careful.” He said softly.
Twilight smiled and hugged him back, “I will” she replied before going off to join the others, leaving Spike with Lady Marianne and Lady Christine.
-*****-
"yes, Madam Mayor, my team and I are about to handle it. Rest assured the situation is completely under control. Please try and maintain the curfew a little while longer…alright...Goodbye Madam Mayor” Takumi said as after he finished his phone call with Madam Mayor Mare. "Alright, people let's get a move on." He says as he moves to open the door. "The creature could appear at any minute, let's get to our assigned stations- "
"COUNT JO!" a voice called out, stopping the count in his tracks.
“ugh…not now…” Takumi grumbled and facepalmed himself as he recognized the voice.
Everyone looked behind Takumi to see who was at the door. What they saw was a young girl, wearing a long green dress with bright cyan eyes, Pale grayish rose hair and relatively small grayish gold wings. With her arms on her hips, she gives Count Takumi a mean glare, a look that deeply annoyed Takumi.
“Whose that?” Twilight asked.
“Hehe, that’s Fluttershy.” Pinkie replied while giggling.
“Oh~ So that’s Fluttershy.” Aiya commented as an evil grin formed on her face, all the while watching Damien facepalm himself, “She’s cute~” Aiya thought to herself
Fluttershy marched herself up the stairs and directly to Takumi, “Count Takumi Jo! I should have known, I heard gunshots last night and his morning as well, and I knew it was you. You have a lot of nerve hunting outside of season! I thought we had an agreement!” Fluttershy argued with Takumi, which only annoyed the count.
“We’ll just be heading off then…Cya guys…” Keisuke said as He, Hyde and Blaster walked out the door, followed by Molly who was being dragged out by Blaster,
“Always when it’s getting good…” Molly mumbled.
With a deep groan, Takumi tried to keep his composer, “Ms. Fluttershy, how pleasant to see you…again…” he said while forcing himself to sound polite, “while yes, that was me with my rifle, I was not hunting. I was attending to some important business." He explained
, "what ‘business' requires you to use a double-barreled super shotgun?!" Fluttershy demanded to know.
Takumi’s eye was twitching heavy as his annoyances intensified, “My apologies Ms. Shy but I don’t have time to explain further, time is of the essence and we need to get going." Takumi said as he tried to move to pass her, only for Fluttershy to block his path.
"Well, I have nothing but time." Fluttershy declared.
Takumi’s anger was slowly reaching a fever pitch as he glared deeply at Fluttershy, only for Fluttershy to match him with her own glare.
“Fluttershy Breeze…the only girl who can talk back to Count Jo and Live to tell about it," Edward commented as Rainbow Dash chuckled.
Damien sighed and stepped forward towards Takumi and Fluttershy, “Hey Flutters…” he calls out.
Upon hearing and seeing Damien, Fluttershy’s tough dimeter melted away, “D-D-DAMIEN?!!” she shouted as her face turned a bright red and her wings stuck outwards, “Wh-what are you doing here?!” she asked
“Well, Takumi kinda asked us for help. You know all the news about those killings?” Damien asked as Fluttershy nodded in response, “Well, We and Takumi were just about to catch the thing responsible, but we don’t have much time. Got it?” Damien said with a warm smiled.
“Y-yea…I-I guess…” Fluttershy said while still a bit fluttered around Damien.
Damien replied by patting Fluttershy on her head, “Good” he smiled. At the same time, Aiya was fascinated by how warm and welcoming Damien was.
“Hehe, she always had a soft spot for him,” Applejack commented to Aiya.
“Good, now that that’s settled, Let’s be off!” Takumi commanded and walked off.
"Not so fast!" Fluttershy shouted, “I’m going with you.” She declared, stunning everyone.
“W-Wait what?!” a dumbfounded Damien shouted.
“Now yer sure about this Sugercube?” Applejack asked her, “it’s kinda a very dangerous job.”
"Oh, I'm certain. If whose ever doing these attacks poor misguided animal, then maybe I can convince it to stop." Fluttershy said with the utmost confidence.
“’misguided’ would be an understatement.” Rainbow Dash whispered, followed by Edward elbowing her in the stomach.
Despite this, Damien and Applejack were still unsure. But before they could protest any further, Takumi spoke up.
“UGH! FINE! SHE CAN COME!” Takumi shouted in a huff. Suddenly, Takumi reached down into Fluttershy’s dress, surprising everyone, especially Fluttershy, before eventually taking out her lime green orb.
“Damien. Jack. Fill her in.” Takumi said before throwing Fluttershy’s orb to Applejack before storming off, “Fucking kids…” he mumbles under his breath.
Applejack sighed deeply, “Come on ya’ll, let’s get a going.” She said as she walked off, followed by everyone, except for Damien and Fluttershy.
“So…what’s going on?” Fluttershy asked.
“It’s kinda a lot story…” Damien explained as he took out his orb,
"HI, there~," Aiya said popping next to Damien's shoulder, surprising him in the process.
“Seriously…” Damien glared at Aiya.
Aiya ignored Damien's mean looked and processed over to Fluttershy, "Hello there, I am Princess Aiya of Mount Eris. It's nice to finally meet you, Ms. Fluttershy." She smiled.
“Oh, that’s right. You’re that Princess Damien was traveling with.” Fluttershy smiled. “I hope Damien has been kind to you on your travels.”
“Oh yes…” Aiya said as she wrapped her arms around Damien’s arm while making sure that his arm was also in between her breast, "He has~" Aiya smiled.
“Wh-What the hell?!” a fluttered Damien shouted by Aiya’s sudden action.
This, however, didn’t effect Fluttershy all too much. After seeing how close and clingy Aiya was to Damien and quickly puts two and two together. Without hesitation and after a deep gulp, Fluttershy had also taken hold of Damien's other arm, while also placing it in between her breasts as well before smiling at Aiya herself.
“Y-you too Flutters?!” Damien yelled as he was starting to freak out.
At this point, all Damien could do was try and fail to struggle is way out of the girl’s grip. But the girls didn’t pay any attention to Damien’s movements, all they did was smile intensely at each other.
“HEY YA’LL THREE! QUITE YER DILLY DALLING AND LET’S GET A MOVE ON!” Applejack shouted, catching all three’s attention.
"Applejack's right~ we should get a move on," Aiya commented while still smiling.
“Indeed, we should get going.” Fluttershy smiled back.
However, instead of letting go of Damien, the girls instead kept their grip on Damien and seemingly dragged him along.
“Oy…their going to be like this the whole time…aren’t they…?” a disgruntled Damien thought to himself.
As this was going on, Pinkie Pie was watching the three the whole time, “Hehe, this is going to be an interesting evening.” She snickered to herself.
-END CHAPTER-
Author's Note
Fun fact: the pensieve in this story is very loosely based on the Pensieve from the harry potter books, if you don't know what that is, look it up.
also, important announcement here
“Long ago in the land of Equestria, the land was under the rule of a wise and powerful Alicorn King. Under this reign and with his children at his side, Equestria thrived in a grand era of peace. But as time went on, one group grew envious of the King’s power and plotted to steal it for themselves. These creatures of shadow were known as the Spiral Legion.”
“One fateful day, the Legion launched an all-out attack against the king and his children to seize power for themselves. Reluctantly, the King was forced harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony. A great and terror battle took place, in the end, however, the King and his subjects were vicious, and the Legion’s most powerful members were banished to Tartarus. However, in the aftermath of the fight, Many of the King’s children were killed in the fight and the remaining Legion members stole the Elements and swore vengeance against the King and Equestria.”
“Guilt-stricken by the loss of his children and the Elements of Harmony, the King went into self-imposed exile to atone for his mistakes. However, before leaving The King entrusted the rule of Equestria to his two surviving daughters. The eldest using her powers to raise the sun at dawn and the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and all of Pone kind.”
“Over time, the story of the Alicorn king, Elements and the Spiral Legion faded into legend and the land of Equestria is now in a state of peace and harmony for all.”
-*****-
Nighttime, somewhere in the border between the town of Ponyville and the Everfree forest. As the bright moonlight shines down, a lone figure slowly walks through the thick brush of the forest. The figure is a young gentleman dressed in rough hunting clothing, a pair of goggles, and a large semi-automatic shotgun in hand. Moving ever so slowly, the gentleman keeps a watchful eye of his surroundings. He sniffs the air around him, trying to regain the scent of prey he nearly loses.
The Gentleman continues to move until he hears a loud crunching noise. Cautiously, the gentleman processes slowly towards the source of the sound. The gentleman followed the noise to an open clearing, where he saw it, His prey.
In the middle of the clearing was a large reptilian creature with dorsal fins on its back, arms, and head, sitting in a crouching position. From where the gentleman was, all he could see was the creature’s back. The Gentleman quickly and quietly took an aiming position, with the barrel of his shotgun pointed straight at the creature’s head, however aiming was a bit difficult as the creature’s head kept bobbing up and down.
Suddenly, the creature's head stopped its movement as it slowly sitting up, before slowly turning its body slightly to the side. It was then the gentleman was able to get a better look at the creature's face, it's large snout, visor sharp fangs, and its large red eyes. It was also when the gentleman saw that the creature's snout and fangs were dripping with blood. A closer look revealed that the creature was feasting on the corpse of a dead animal, a deer or some sort. However, the Gentleman didn’t have time to worry about the poor animal.
With the creature now still, the gentleman was able to take perfect aim. However, a feeling of dread washed over the gentleman, the creature wasn’t looking to its side…it was looking straight at him.
The Gentleman quickly tired to the pull the trigger of his gun, but before he could even blink, the creature leaped at him tackling him to the ground. With only his shotgun, the gentleman was able to keep the creature at arm’s length as the creature tried to claw and chop at him. Eventually, the gentleman was able to swat the creature away. However, the creature was able to regain its balance and take a defensive stance.
“RRRAAAWWWRRR!!!” the creature roared as it once again charged at the gentleman, only this time, the gentleman was able to fire off a round from this shotgun, sending the creature flying into a tree.
Stunned, the creature quickly stood back up, before leaping into the trees. With the moon’s light now blocked by clouds, the gentleman desperately tried to find the creature within the tree line while also reloading his rifle. Soon all was quiet, nothing was heard except for the gentleman's heavy breathing. But he remained unphased, his eye focused solely on the tree line, watching, waiting for the creature to make a move.
However, without warning, the gentleman was hit by the side and fell hard to the ground. He quickly regained his composer and realized, the creature tricked him, and didn't attack from above but had stricken him from the side. The creature now stood over the gentleman with its red eyes aimed at him. The gentleman tried to reach for his shotgun, but the creature had knocked it away. The Gentleman had greatly underestimated the creature's intelligence. At this point, the creature looked as if it was going to slash the gentleman with his sharp claws, until…
“MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!!!" the gentleman shouted as he unleashed a barrage of punches at the creature, knocking it away from him. With the creature once again stunned, the gentleman raced for his rifle and once again took aim at it. Only this time, the creature slowly backed into the shadows. With one final roar, the creature disappeared.
Dumbfounded, the gentleman suddenly realized why the creature retreated, the sun was beginning to come up.
“Damn…” the gentleman grumbled.
“Sir! Are you there sir? SIR!” a voice called out. The gentleman looked down to his belt to see that the voice was coming from a small radio.
The gentleman sighed and took the radio and held it up, “Yes I’m here.” He replied.
“Thank goodness. The sun had just come up.” The voice noted, “were you successful in your mission?”
“No, it got away before I could finish it. It’s stronger and smarter than I thought it would be.” The gentleman replied.
“Damn…it’s a shake sir, what will you do now?” the voice asked.
The Gentleman sighed as he fixed his messy hair a bit, “It’s time to cash in a favor…bring them here on the double.” The gentleman commanded.
“Right away sir.” The voice obeyed.
-*****-
The sound of a buzzing alarm clock echoes through a small room, Next to it, a sleeping figure slow stirs in bed. It’s not long before soft groans are mixed with the clock as a hand reaches for it and shuts off the alarm. The figure soon sits up on the bed, the figure is a young girl with long silver-white hair with pink tips, hazel eye, dark cocoa skin and a chocolate color horn on her forehead. She strengths out her arms before crawling out of bed and looking out the window to see a beautiful sunny day. Her name is Princess Aiya, a student of Princess Celestia.
“Dear, Princess Celestia
It's been three weeks since you sent Twilight and me on our ‘tour' of Equestria. While Twilight has yet to get used to her new surroundings, I, however, have embraced it with an open mind and heart"
Still, in her pajamas, Aiya leaves her room with a small box of bath soaps with her.
“Moring Aiya.” A voice says from behind. Aiya turns to see a small purple baby dragon standing before her.
“Good morning Spike.” Aiya warmly smiles, “is Twilight up yet?”
“Not Yet, I was just about to though” Spike replied.
Aiya sighed and shook her head, “That girl, she’s been acting so suborn ever since we left Canterlot.” She then looked back down to Spike, “if you somehow manage to get her up before I do, tell her I’ll see her for breakfast. I’m going to the bath.”
“Ok then.” Spike nodded and processed to walk off, only to stop in his tracks, “Wait…isn’t he usually in the bath around this time?” Spike asked.
Aiya made a sinister, teasing smiled, “That’s what I’m counting on.” She replied before walking off.
“Since we started our travels I’ve met and seen many new faces and places. But so far none have compared to the friends I’ve made while aboard the Dawn Threader. For example…”
As Aiya walked down the hall, she heard the conversation of two voices,
“You sure you want to do that?” one voice said.
“Would you relax? I’ve done this hundred times.” A second voice said.
“and you’ve gotten electrocuted a hundred times.” The first voice said.
A few moments later, a loud bang followed by the sound scream with a loud crash following next.
“Told you so.” The first voice said.
Aiya looked to see two figures before her, one was a tall young man, with blonde sandy short hair, silver eyes and skin the same color as her's, wearing repairman clothes. The second was also a young man. while although on his back and buried under recently fallen items, had Cobalt hair with sliver times, baby blue eyes and was a bit shorter than his partner.
“Just a…minor…set back…” the fallen young man said while clearly dazed.
"Hyde and his brother Blaster, two of the ship's pilots and mechanics. Hyde is more of tall silent type and mostly allows his actions to speak for him. And then there's his ‘brother' Blaster, despite his…goof nature, he's smart for his age, he could give some of Canterlot's top scholars a run for their bits. Both have worked on the ship for a year and are pretty close with the ship's captain."
Aiya giggled at the brother’s interaction before moving on. As she passed the den, she walked by two more figures, one a young man with short white hair with silver tips, pale white eye, a horn on his forehead. The second was a young woman with bright rainbow hair, Light coco skin, cerise eyes, and light grayish cerulean wings.
“No, you can’t.” the young man said
“Yes, I can’t!” the young woman said.
"Nope," the young man shook his head.
“UGH! Why is it so hard to believe that I can do it?!” the young woman shouted.
“Cuz last I checked Dash, you can’t reverse time just by reversing a planet’s rotation.”
“If I fly fast enough I could…” she pounded.
“You’re hopeless.” The young man sighed.
“The royal escorts you chose for us have also been opening welcome. Your nephew Prince Edward is a perfect gentleman and it helps that he's already friends with the crew. His comrade Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, is a bit of a different story…if you had told me she was the younger sister of the legendary Wonderbolts caption Spitfire…well…I'd have a real hard believing that."
Aiya walked on by without being noticed by the pair. It was then Aiya came across another figure. This one was another young woman with bright baby blue eyes, large pink puffy hair, and a voluptuous figure much like Aiya's. Aiya watched as she bounced around the kitchen, preparing breakfast for the ship’s crew before turning to Aiya.
“Hiya Ai, morning.” She said.
“Morning Pinkie Pie.” Aiya smiled, “Is He in?” she asked with a sinister smiled.
“Hehe, just got in.” Pinkie replied with a wicked smile of her own.
Aiya smile grew wider with glee as she hurried down the hall.
"among those, I've come to come, friends, Pinkie Pie, our captain's distant cousin, is the one I hold most dear. Upon first meeting her, I didn't know exactly what to think. But after a few ‘bonding' sessions, she and I have grown close since then. That girl can get a bit too wild but she's still a valued friend, especially since we have a common goal~…"
Aiya soon reached the bathroom, only to find that someone was already in the shower, with water running and music blasting, the young man didn't even notice Aiya enter. Stealthy, Aiya slowly removed all her clothes and slowly approached the shower and enters it.
“Now, I’ve heard the rumors and whispers about him. About, who he is, where he comes from and what he’s done. I think you know whom I’m referring to. At first, I admit, it was more out of curiosity, I wanted to know more about him and see what all the fuss was about. But after a while…”
Aiya reminded behind the young man for a few more seconds, still blissfully unaware of Aiya's present. It wasn't until Aiya lean in close to him and blew a small puff of air into his ear.
“GAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” the young man yelped and fell out of the shower, all the while, Aiya laughs.
“I started to have fun~”
The young man was slim muscular build, white pale white skin, thick bushy-curly hair with one side being black and the other being a dark maroon, with lastly bright amber eyes, the same eyes that were burning with rage and aimed straight at Aiya.
“WHAT THE HELL?!!!” the young man shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Good morning to you too, love~," Aiya said in a sweet-sounding voice.
"I know, messing with a person like Damien Runner is like playing with fire, as Captain Shining Armor would say and Yes, he does live up to the stories of him having a temper. But after a while of knowing him, these outbursts made him more like a little puppy throwing a tantrum. It’s actually pretty cute.”
“I thought I locked that fucking door!” Damien shouted as he stood up while also covering himself up.
“You did, but I unlocked it.” Pinkie Pie, who suddenly appeared in the shower already naked and wet, replied, catching Damien off guard.
“W-What the?! Pink?! How did you get in here? I thought you were making breakfast!” a dumbfounded Damien asked.
“Oh, don’t play dumb, you know I love to…multitasking~” Pinkie pie replied while licking her lips with her eye centered at Damien’s crotch area.
Damien blushed and quickly tried to cover the newly formed tent in his towel as the girls laughed.
“One thing I have noticed about him is how easily fluttered he can be…which is both cute and rewarding~”
"Aww Come on love, like you don't like to bath with two beautiful girls of your dreams," Aiya said as she and Pinkie Pie held each other, as they did, their breasts squished up against one another.
Damien, watching this, blushed a bright red before racing out of the bathroom, all the while Aiya and Pinkie Pie giggled.
“He’s a goof,” Pinkie commented.
"yes, but he's our goof," Aiya noted while smiling.
-*****-
Meanwhile, outside the bathroom, Damien sighed deeply as he felt his heart beating like crazy. "Damn it…those girls are nuts!" he thought to himself.
“D!” a voice called out. Damien turned to see another young woman standing before him. This girl had tanned skin, bright golden hair, bright emerald eyes, and was also looking very displeased. “D, What the Sam-hell are you doin’?! Runnin’ around in your birthday suit like that?” she asked in a deep southern accent. “Don’t you know we got princesses on board?!”
“and then there’s our great Captain Applejack. Don’t get me wrong, Ms. Applejack is a great captain and a good friend, however, her attitude towards my ‘fun' kinda makes her a stick in the mud, I know she means well but she can stand to lighten up a bit. However…”
“One of your princesses just ambushed me in the shower!” Damien argued back.
Applejack sighed while facepalming herself. “I swear that girl again…Fine, just get dressed and get to breakfast.” Applejack demanded before walking off.
“ugh…fine…” Damien hissed before going off as well.
“Hmph, somehow I expected to see you in such a matter…" another voice called out, this time, making Damien's blood boil.
“It’s not just her…”
“Oh, for fuck's sake…" Damien grumbled as he turned to see another young woman with dark violet eyes, dark sapphire blue and purple with a raspberry streak as well as a single horn on her forehead and two large mulberry wings, with Spike standing next to her. “Piss off Sparkle…” Damien snarled.
Twilight sighed in disappointment, “always you and your vulgar language. Can’t you at least have some class?”
Damien flipped Twilight a middle finger before walking off, all while Twilight rounded her eyes and walked off.
“As I mentioned earlier, Twilight wasn’t actually open to her new setting. If Captain Shinning, Candance and I hadn’t forced her out of tha library, I would be alone on this trip…her attitude isn’t exactly helping either…especially around Damien for some reason…I think some of Captain Shinning's opinions about him have somehow rubbed off her…But Don’t worry, I’ve been keeping a close eye on her, she’s been far too concern with her studies so far...”
As Twilight walked off, she caught sight of Applejack and slightly blushed.
“Hehe, Twilight’s got a crush~” Spike teased
“Sp-Spike!!!” Twilight shouted out embarrassment.
“Along with other things~”
-*****-
A few hours later after breakfast, everyone gathered in the den.
"Alright everyone, time to explain today's agenda," Applejack announced.
“So, what’s on for today Aj?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“We’ve been summoned back to Ponyville by Count Jo.” Applejack explained.
“wait, THE Count Jo?” Twilight asked in bewilderment.
“Incredible, I’ve heard stories about Count Takumi Jo and his herd.” Aiya said in amazement, “But how do all of you know him?”
"He's the one whose provided this ship and our gear," Hyde explained.
"OK…but why?" Twilight asked.
“Duh! He’s Damien’s godfather.” Pinkie replied.
Upon hearing Pinkie’s response, Aiya and Twilight went silent, until…
“WWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT??!!!” both princesses shouted out of shock, stunning everyone else.
“what? It’s not that big of a deal…” an annoyed Damien said as his ears were still ringing. “my grand-dad helped him a few years back and since then the count is pretty much part of the family now.”
"Interesting," Aiya said with wonder.
“Well if you ask me, he gives me the creeps.” Rainbow Dash commented.
“At least you’re not in his crosshairs 24/7” Blaster grimaced
“How come?” Spike asked.
“Let’s just say Blaster and the Count have…history…” Hyde responded.
“History that involves Blaster pissing off the count way too much.” Pinkie chuckled, making Blaster sigh.
“alright Ya’ll, enough foolin’ around.” Applejack said to the group, “We’ll be in Ponyville within the hour.”
“Oh, you girls are going to love Ponyville! I’ll finally get to take you to sugar cube corner!” Pinkie happily proclaimed to Aiya and Twilight. “and Aiya! You can finally meet Fluttershy!”
“yes…Fluttershy…I can’t wait…” Aiya said as she looked over at Damien with a half sultry, half glaring look, dumbfounding Damien in the process before he awkwardly walks away.
“Well now, I got a feeling our trip to Ponyville is going to be fun…” Rainbow said in a sarcastic tone, while Ed shook his head.
-*****-
Damien soon arrived at the ship’s bridge where Applejack was, while Hyde and Blaster were in the pilot and co-pilot seats.
"So, what do you think he wants? He never calls unless it's an emergency.” Damien said to Applejack.
“Ah’m not sure…but I got a bad feelin’ about it.” Applejack replied.
“Ever the optimist, huh Jackie?” Hyde commented. “We don’t know if it’s bad…maybe Jo just wants to shoot at Blaster again.”
“HEY!” Blaster shouted as he took offense.
“Quiet you two. Just get us to Ponyville pronto!” Applejack command.
“On it boss.” Blaster said as he set the course back to Ponyville
-*****-
Aiya eventually returned to her room and flopped on to the bed, letting out a loud sigh. She looks to the side and sees a framed photograph of her and the others when they first started their journey. She smiles as she looks at all the new friends she’s made.
“In short Princess Celestia, all is well for us, our travels have been very eventful and fruitful in knowledge. Though, something tells me that wasn’t the main reason why you sent up on this trip. Regardless. I’m grateful for all those I’ve meant, I just hope twilight can be the same way. Oh well, maybe by the time we’ve returned to Canterlot, she’ll lighten up a bit. Until then, thank you, Princess Celestia, and give my Aunt Novo my best wishes.”
“-Sincerely, Princess Aiya of Mount Aris.”
-END CHAPTER-
Author's Note
Think of this chapter and the next few after this as the story's prologue.
