The Great Search for Pink Milk

The room had fallen silent as I left the Golden Oaks Library's upstairs bedroom. Both the occupants, Twilight, and Fluttershy, were looking at me in shock.

"What happened? What did you do?" Twilight asked me in an accusatory way, likely inferring to the magic I used.

Quickly, I came up with a lie to cover my identity.
"I used a spell I learned from a hippogriff healer a while back. Spike will be fine after he gets some rest."

Sighs of relief came from the two mares as they thanked me for helping their friend.

I wish that were where it had ended. To return to my abode, or perhaps find my way to the bakery that had brought me outside in the first place. They would not let me leave, however. Instead, they insisted on speaking with me, almost as a scientist dissects an unfamiliar creature.
The fur on my back stood as the goosebumps began to take hold.

"Everyone was saying you looked.. weird during the summer sun celebration," Twilight said with this horrid look on her face. She looked as though an onion was being chopped across the room, and she could smell it from here. "Nobody saw you at the town hall when Nightmare Moon returned."

These magical horses need to learn to mind their own business. "Yes, I began to feel ill during the party and left to make sure that I didn't lose my lunch. No idea where it came from, truthfully."

"You looked like you were mad about something. We tried to get your attention, but you just kept glaring at the floor." Fluttershy replied, proving me wrong.

"That was me concentrating; I didn't want to make a mess in Twilight's new home," I kept a smile on my face, attempting to maintain a casual demeanor, but my heart beat faster as the conversation continued.

Twilight had a deadpan look on her face. "Your eyes turn green, and black magical smoke comes out of them when you concentrate?"

This foul cur has bested me; a prince never admits defeat, however!

"Yes."

They looked at me as if I had grown seventeen more heads.
"Oookay. Well, thanks again for helping Spike. I'll see you around town."

With that, I finally left the library and made my way to the bakery. I couldn't find the place from outside the town, but I knew the way from the Library thanks to watching the show. It looked to be around three in the afternoon, but it was nice outside. The only thing I could actually complain about were all the eyes watching me. I know I didn't go all out with my cleaning routine this morning, but surely I'm not that bad looking.

The bakery was decorated like a large dessert, I didn't intend to sample it, though. I doubt the place is made of sugar, as I couldn't find any bugs around the area.

Hearing "Hello, What can I do for you." knocked me out of my thoughts as a yellow, scrawny stallion looked at me with a smile; I recognized him as Mr. Cake.

I put a smile on my face and replied, "Hey, Is Pinkie Pie here?"

"She's in the back right now, filling some orders. Hold on; I'll get her." Mr. Cake left the counter and put his head into the bakery's kitchen.

A few minutes later, Pinkie Pie came out of the kitchen and gasped loudly when she saw me. Just as quickly as she entered the room, she left. Mr. Cake was taken aback, he's likely never seen Pinkie act that way to somepony. He immediately ran over to her and asked what was going on.

I didn't quite hear what was said but I'm sure it wasn't good. I could only hear a few words, such as "Hurt," "I Don't," and a lot of crying. There were likely more but that was all that stood out. I'm not fond of crying ponies, so I decided to enter the kitchen. It was much bigger than the one in Fairytale back home, but I still found Pinkie Pie and Mr. Cake talking a little further away, they hadn't noticed me yet.

"It shouldn't be me that has to do this, but it needs to be done." I thought before walking over to the two ponies.
Mr. Cake's eyes were red and puffy, Pinkie Pie was just sniffling. I didn't want to upset her any more than she already was so I made sure to remain calm.

Why Mr. Cake was crying I didn't understand, but hey who am I to judge. I spoke in a warm and soothing voice as to not rile anyone up. "Pinkie, I just came here to apologize for my behavior during the Summer Sun Celebration. Could you ever forgive me?"

She wiped her tears and looked right at me. Her eyes were red, but she wasn't crying anymore. "Yeah, of course."
I smiled and the two of us shared a hug. With that, thankfully, my work for the day in Ponyville was done. Now I could return to the peace and quiet of my home and not have to put up with these ponies and their nonsense.
I left the bakery and waved goodbye to Mr. Cake and Pinkie Pie. Beyond the pleasantries of the Ponyville Citizenry, my thoughts were consumed by my plans of revenge.

The Solar Tree and the Grandparents of Creation still hold the power to bend the universe to their whim. They can easily break out of my grip. I still hold much power, but to challenge such might would be suicidal at best. Don't get me wrong, I'm a great wizard of earth magic, you wouldn't be hard-pressed if you even called me the best earth wizard in the universe, but even with my practice and study in storm magic and shadow magic, fighting them now would be a death sentence.

Just then, a fabulously horrible idea came to me as I walked back to my home on the edge of the Everfree Forest.
On my own I am great, but to truly get something done, you need an army. Even the small army of the Shimmering Isles was capable of great things, I should know, I led them to those great things. But they were lightyears away, and I had no way to contact them. I could buy the loyalty of some creatures, flex my magical muscles and make some creatures obey me out of fear, sure. But I had a far better idea.

The Mirror Pool.

The magical pool of water duplicated anything that is put into it. With that magic at my command, an army is just a few submerged creatures away. I didn't know exactly where it was, but I remembered the rhyme Pinkie's grandmother told her.

"Where the brambles are thickest, there you will find
A pond beyond the most twisted of vines."

It was as good a start as any, I'd just have to search the Everfree Forest until I could get something out of this clue.
A daunting task, but I had the time. Looking to the sky revealed it to only be noon, but just to be safe I went back home and packed a lantern and cloak with me. I'm not sure how long I'll be out there looking and I don't want to get rained on, just in case.

The eastern part of the Everfree Forest is where I'd start looking. It would be a hole in the forest floor that'd lead me down to the mirror pool. The brambles were indeed as thick as Pinkie's grandmother said they would be. It was taking me a while to get through this part of the forest and the mud was getting into my cloak, but I continued, universal domination didn't come easily. Yes, I was essentially lost in the Everfree forest and didn't care. There was something much more important that needed my attention. My mind wandered to plans for the pool. When I eventually find it, of course.

I looked at the trees for some kind of marker as to where the pool was. There wasn't one. I cursed my luck and kept my eyes peeled on the forest floor. By now, My fur was coated in mud and dirt. There was no turning back now though, I'd have to see this through. It had been hours since I had begun my search. Sunset approached rapidly, but I would not be hindered. The lantern that I brought with me illuminated the muddy path ahead of me.

I shook as I heard what sounded like hooves on wet soil. So I turned off the lantern and hid in the shadows. A yellow earth pony with a blue mane and tail shakily passed by. He looked frantic and terrified of everything around him.
Using my magic I entangled the yellow stallion in vines and kept him trapped, I never left my position in the shadows, even as he continued to struggle and yell. "Let me go! Who are you! Help! Help!"

I forced a vine into his throat to keep him quiet and only the muffled screams of panic and terror remained. He trembled in fear as I kept him stuck. Before I left the shadows, I wrapped a vine around his head so he couldn't see me. You can never be too cautious. I walked around the stallion's body and examined him closely. He was young, probably a few years younger than me. Decently muscular, with a bow and arrow cutie mark. I ran my hooves along his muscles and found them decent for now. He'd require some work, but I could make this man a proper .. soldier? worker? slave? Either way, he'd be mine. While his mouth and eyes were still unusable, I held my horn to his head and overwhelmed his mind with brainwashing thoughts of mind control, loyalty, obedience, and servitude.

His brain would need to marinate in these thoughts for a while, but I had time for now. Besides, I still had to find that mirror pool.

So, Ripping off the vines from the grass floor, I continued on my way with him held in my magic.
Occasionally, groans and moans would sound from the vine in his mouth as I walked, but I paid it no mind. I had work to do.

The sun had long since set and the moon was at its peak when I found it. A hole in the forest floor leading to a winding pathway down to the mirror pool. It shined brightly with the glowing plants near it. With The yellow stallion still in my magic, I slowly descended down the hole to the pool.

If the show was to be believed, the cave to the right of the pool led to a beautiful little spot where Maud Pie would eventually live. My magic easily tore an opening into the rocky cave and after a few seconds of breaking rocks, I found it. The waterfall rushed in the back of it and beautiful glowing gemstones lit the place up beautifully. I needed to get my work done, so I laid the still tangled-up stallion on the grassy floor and forced the vines to take root into the ground so he couldn't escape. Before leaving back to the mirror pool, I reinforced his brain with thoughts of slavery.
His spiraling eyes just looked at me gratefully. The hypnosis must be working.

This was delicate work, I knew that much already. The Mirror Pool would need to be moved from here to my house outside Ponyville without breaking the magical spell on it. I had a whole night and likely all of tomorrow to complete this task.

I forced vines down into the earth with my magic and wrapped them around the rocky edge of the mirror pool. They slowly pulled it up with the strength of several earth ponies. It made a ripping sound as it came away from the earth, but I wrapped another vine around the pool to keep the pieces from falling apart. It was a miracle, not a drop had spilled, or worse, the bottom falls out of the pool and spills the water all over the ground. I tossed the vines aside and levitated the pool behind me as I finished my trek out of the cave.

It was still several miles to my home, but that didn't matter. The walk back was a bumpy ride the entire time, trees, mud, bushes, and vines all attempted to stop my heist. They all failed, however. The Mirror Pool was mine and nopony would take it away from me. Eventually, I made it back home. It was so late in the night that it was practically early in the day.

There was no way I'd fit it in my house, or even through the door. So I decided to burrow into the ground and build it a new home underground. It was quite ingenious if I do say so. I burrowed about 20 feet and cleared a large space for the mirror pool and also carved out a tunnel leading from my workroom to the pool to allow for easy movement.

I levitated the pool down through the floor into its new home and dropped it off. It was quite a sight, with the shining water in the reflection of the moon. It was almost like it was always there. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave it like that, giant holes rarely go unnoticed. Using my magic, I mangled up a fine layer of dirt over the floor to cover it and used my earth magic to grow enough grass to make it like normal forest flooring.

At this point, I was dead tired. But my work compelled me even as my eyes grew bags. I had to make sure this monstrosity wouldn't be found until it was too late. I decided to use my magic to grow trees and bushes to cover over the layer of dirt and rock as well as using vines and leaves to camouflage it into the trees. From a distance, it looked like it was never there in the first place. It was as if trees had spontaneously grown overnight.

My work was not finished yet, I had plenty more to do even as sleep threatened me. I ran as fast as my sleep-deprived body could go back into the Everfree, where the mirror pool once was. While I was running, I slammed my head straight into a tree so hard I sent some bark flying. I thought I saw some blood mixed in with it. At least that woke me up a bit so I could finish working. The hole in the forest floor wasn't too far from where I was when I slammed against the tree.

I raced my way down the pathway and into the cave, where I had left the yellow earth pony stallion. He was still there, happily smiling around the vine in his mouth as his wide-open, spiral-filled eyes stared up at nothing. I levitated him out and through the forest, and left the Everfree for hopefully the last time before a good long rest.

Back at my home, I dropped the earth pony stallion on the wooden floor of my home and once again reinforced the hypnosis to ensure that it sticks and he's entirely obedient and loyal to me. He was still happily smiling, so In my sleep-deprived state, I decided to test the stallion and removed the vines that held him stationary, as well as uncovering his mouth and eyes.

I was pleased to see his response from being freed from my vines. He immediately dropped low into a bow before me.
"Master, thank you for opening my eyes to the truth, I must obey you." He spoke happily.

I instructed the stallion, "You are not to leave my house under any circumstances. You will remain quiet and won't disturb me while I sleep, you won't touch anything either."

"Of course, master." The Stallion stood there and did not move. That same stupid smile remained on his face throughout.
Whether he obeys or not is another story, but for now, bed.

I went upstairs and crawled into bed, not caring to wash off the mud or dirt from my exploits today.
I was far too tired to care, and if my new slave was still there by morning, I'd just have him wash my sheets. As sleep descended upon my mind, I remembered what I fought for, I will have my revenge.