Canterlot Academy Trials

Nebula pranced on down to the dungeons where Gaea was being held alongside the other gangsters.

“...you,” she grumbled upon seeing the stallion, “The fuck do you want? Here to gloat about your victory? Rub your sweaty horse dick in my face?”

He chuckled at her response and shot back, “Nah. You and I both know you couldn’t handle it. It’d be like shoving a turkey baster in a tiny hen,” he added with a gentle smile as he stuck out his tongue with a wink, which only enraged the griffon further.

“Grrrgh! Fuck off you….”

“I will, just as soon as you tell me what I wanna know,” he went on, “Why were you working for Gloomtail? What was your purpose? Do you know anything about his brother Bonetail?”

Gaea hissed under her breath as she leaned against the wall of her cell. “Fuckin’...we were working with him because we’d figure we’d get some easy money with the occasional slave. And we’d figure we could make some of them go psycho with some drugs we picked up.”

“Hrm…sounds very similar to some reports I’ve been hearing about on the other side of the continent…” Nebula muttered with a flick of his tail, “Did you happen to run across an Abyssinian tiger that was doing something similar?”

“...how did you know about that?” she muttered out of amazement, then caught herself as she grit her teeth. “...dammit-”

“Having a network of contact information has its benefits,” Nebula continued, “I appreciate your cooperation. Hope you enjoy your stay here. Just be thankful that Smolder didn’t have you roasted on a spit for what you’ve done.”

As Nebula pranced off, sticking out his tongue once more, Gaea would seethe as she flopped down on her prison bed. “...stupid…stupid fruity-ass horse…”

With some more knowledge than he had before, Nebula was on track to understand more about what had been going on. But he still needed some more information. That’s where Gloomtail would come into play next.

At the moment, Gloomtail was placed under a probation watch, being held in the infirmary of Smolder’s castle surrounded by guards where the doctors could take his vitals and examine him so they’d properly understand his reasoning behind selling his blood. A fairly realistic outcome, given that he had lost a lot of blood irresponsibly over time.

Eventually, Nebula was allowed to enter and would ask the purple dragon a question, “Alright, let’s make this simple: What’s the deal with Bonetail?”

“...oh yeah, my older brother,” Gloomtail muttered from a hospital bed that he lied upon, “...yeah, he kinda eats people. But like, not just eat them, he eats their souls just to stay alive.”

“Wait what?!” Nebula gasped, “...wasn’t he a normal dragon like you guys?!”

“...used to be. Until he started messing around with some weird stuff. Black magic I think. Yeah…there’s a reason why I don’t talk to him much anymore. Dude’s a bit…loopy.”

“...Loopy how?”

“Well he turned himself into a wraith of some kind?” Gloomtail scratched underneath his chin as he thought about it, “Yeah it’s…a bit weird. Apparently, he’s lost all of his skin and organs so he could live forever. It’s…mega creepy.”

Nebula blinked for a moment. As cool as that sounded, he knew it was also dangerous. But maybe it was a good thing that Grimrose’s parents would be in close proximity to the situation? After all, who better to deal with someone who merely adopted the darkness? Someone who was born into it. Molded by it.

“...I think we’ll be fine then,” Nebula replied with a nod, “Thank you for your cooperation. You gonna be good here?”

“Yeah I think so,” Gloomtail yawned, “Smolder said she wants me to do something as soon as I’ve recovered. So I’ll be here for a while. Probably some community service stuff.”

“Understandable. Just don’t go selling your blood anymore, alright?” Nebula warned before turning to leave the infirmary, “Stay out of trouble, alright?”

“Yeah yeah…”

Soon enough, after Nebula left, Gloomtail would be cleared for his vitals. However, Smolder would enter the infirmary not long after with a proposition, and a contract on a scroll in her claws.

“Sign here, G,” she offered the parchment and a pen to him.

“Guess I have no choice,” Gloomtail quickly skimmed it over before signing his name. It was a basic community service contract to serve time for his illegal selling of dragon blood. “What am I to do first?”

“Follow me.”

Smolder would lead Gloomtail to one of the dungeons beneath the castle. There, they’d find the mouse woman and former captain locked behind one of the cells with a steel ball and chain around her left leg.

“Her,” Smolder quipped, “She’s your assignment.”

“...wait, seriously?”

“Yup,” the orange dragon lord smirked at Gloomtail with a devious grin on her face, “Show her what happens when you betray the trust of a dragon.”

"You want me to--?"

"Yes."

"With my--"

"Uh-huh."

Gloomtail sighed, then rolled his eyes. “If I must. Since it’s the only way to work off my sentence, anyway.”

“I can hear ye fuckwits chattin’ shite,” Pollux squealed angrily from her cell, “Are ye done, or do ye wanna waste yer time somewhere else?”

“...yeah, nevermind, I’m down,” Gloomtail’s tune changed in an instant.

Pollux would glance up as her cell was opened, “...eh?”