Flying through the air in a red-and-white letterman's jacket, a pair of bat-like wings sprouting from her back, Marceline hummed to herself as she went to visit Bonnibel. As she flew over her kingdom, she ignored the various wax-orange blims and banners scattered around proclaiming the rule of the King of Ooo.
She streaked through the air towards the palace and landed in the window, knocking on its interior. "Yo Peebs," she cheerily whispered. "You wanna make a midnight Squeez-E-Mart run? I'm gonna suck the red outta the customers' bloodshot eyes!" She paused to laugh. "Psyche; I'll probably just get a slushy." She cocked an eyebrow as the pink-haired figure in the bed failed to react to her incursion in the slightest. Bonnie normally woke up easily when she visited. "Bubblegum?"
Marceline took a few steps towards the bed, then placed her hand on the figure's shoulder. "Bonnibel!"
The figure in the bed rolled over, revealing a waxy orange face with a golden moustache-goatee combo, and the pink hair shifted on his head, making the Vampire Queen realize it was a wig. She immediately realized who was in her friend's bed: the fraudulent King of Ooo.
Both began shouting in shock, but disgust replaced it in Marceline's voice as she realized, not only was he in her friend's bed and wearing a wig modeled after her hair, but he was also wearing her nightgown. Meanwhile, his shout turned to a sing-songy vocalization.
"What are you doing here?!" Marceline demanded, thrusting her finger at the wax man.
"Be not afraid, child," the wax idol responded, rising to his feet atop the mattress. He spread his arms and continued his speech. "It is I: the one true Princess of Ooo!"
The Vampire Queen growled as her left hand transformed into a large, furred claw and she attempted to slash at the false ruler. "Where's Bubblegum!" The self-proclaimed King of Ooo leapt over her attack, leaving a pillow to suffer the brunt of it, feathers flying out and scattering across the bed.
"Woah! Relax!" he chortled as he landed. He began bouncing on the bed, Marceline's head bobbing as she tracked him. "Bubblegum is fine, just fine." The King of Ooo smirked. "And deposed! And powerless! So crushed by defeat was she that the tyrant exiled herself to a sad cabin one the shores of Lake Butterscotch—technically still Candy Kingdom territory. But!" He takes a moment to extravagantly bow. "In my mercy, I've allowed her to remain."
Marceline snarls "You're the princess? Since when?!"
"Hmm…" the KOO pretends to think, tapping his scepter against his chin. "By the reckoning of my new Torontian calendar—Ooo's official calendar—uh… two glorious months."
"Two months," Marceline repeated, shocked. "But… then why didn't she t—" She growled in annoyance, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Bubblegum." She leapt through the window and transformed into her demon-bat-form, flying towards the lake.
Behind her, King of Ooo shouted after the Vampire Queen—actual royalty, in spite of her lack of subjects—with a conceited tone in his voice. "Tell Bubblegum I sleep in her nightgown! Tell eeeeveryoooone!"
She streaked through the night sky, over the kingdom, making a beeline towards Lake Butterscotch. There, she found the cabin to be newly renovated and a patch of sizeable pumpkins to be growing off to one side. Changing into a more demonic form of her normal self, she dropped from the air with enough speed to cause a piercing whistle around herself.
A moment later, she slammed into the ground, making a small crater and a large dust cloud. "Bonnie…" she growled in a distorted voice. She saw the former-princess on the porch, wearing jeans with leather boots, a polo shirt, and a green-and-white hat. A shotgun was across her lap.
"Marceline," Bubblegum responded casually, raising up a hand. "What up?"
"Why didn't you tell me you got throne-jacked?!" the black-haired woman demanded. "I got to hear it from that wax fraud!"
She paused her rant she heard a metallic click from behind herself. "Be cool Marceline," Peppermint Butler glowered, pointing a shotgun at her back. "Let's all be real cool."
"Give us a minute, Peppermint Butler," Bonnibel ordered. With a nod, he ran off, grunting with every step in a military-like fashion.
Marceline put her hands on her hips and stared annoyedly at her friend. "Well?"
"I didn't get jacked… I quit," the former-princess answered, looking slightly diminished. "But yeah… alright. I should've told you. I was just…" she sinks into her chair, "embarrassed. And it all happened so fast." With a sigh, she adds, "I'm still trying to sort things out." Marceline's face softens as she is overcome with empathy. "See things rationally."
"Huh," the Vampire Queen grunted, kicking at the dirt before floating beside her friend on the porch. "Well, you could've talked to me about it."
Bonnibel laughed. "Hah, 'cause you're so dang rational! Ha-ha!" Her smile quickly dropped from her face. "I'm sorry. That was mean. I'm trying to be less mean." She looked out over her pumpkin patch. "That's why I'm startin' fresh with a new kingdom out here. Just me, PepBut, some pretty stars…" An angry expression rose on her face. "Oh, and of course: some varmints!"
"Varm—"
"Varmints!" PB interrupted, standing up and hoisting her shotgun. "Raiding my pumpkin patch." She kicked a pumpkin on the side of the porch. Several large bite marks were taken out of it, and the flesh was mostly gone. "Every dang night! After all my sweet bioengineering?" She shook her head and muttered, "The nerve of these varmints," before pulling back on the fore-end and sternly concluding her speech. "Not tonight."
She sat back down on her chair, squinting her eyes as she peered into the darkness. Marceline whistled. "So… how long're you gonna sit out here for?"
"Long as it takes," Bonnibel replied stoically, pumping her shotgun again."
"Uh… alright. Yeah!" Marceline exclaimed, bringing two fists up in an attempt to pump herself up for what she imagined to be a night of sitting and waiting. She leaned back with a smile on her face, ready to spend the night with her friend.
Bonnibel looked at her, surprised to see Marceline of all people willing to spend the all night watching pumpkins with her. "Umm… yeah!"
After an hour without any sign of trouble, the Vampire Queen begin softly slapping at her puffed cheeks, making raspberry-like noises to a basic tune, punctuated with clicks of her tongue. "These must be pretty good pumpkins, huh?" she asked, trying to make conversation.
Bonnibel didn't take her eyes off of her pumpkins. "They're citizens of my garden kingdom. A hundred-percent loyal garden citizens."
Remembering something amusing, Marceline chuckles. "That reminds me, I was in the Grocery Kingdom last Sunday—cuz, uh, free samples. Ya know? They had these, like, shrimp cocktail dealies? So good! I was sucking the sauce out them them and hucking shrimp at the ceiling… I kept going back for more and more samples. I could not stop myself." She begins gesturing with one hand. "I don't know, man. Shrimp must've gone bad or somethin', cuz all that red came right back up."
A quick glance revealed Bubblegum chewing the inside of her cheek, clearly wondering where the story was going.
"Still invisible and yacking all down the produce aisle!" A gleeful expression finds it place on her face. "It was awesome!"
Bonnibel laughed "Hey, you remember that one time—"
Before she can say any more, some bushes on the far side of the property begin rustling, grabbing their attention. Rising from her chair and pumping her shotgun, the former-princess shouted, "Hey!"
From the pumpkin patch, three creatures rose up. Their bodies were segmented like ants, but limbs were very similar to human arms with hands in the place of feet, and their mouths were equipped with a full set of teeth, again very human-like. No eyes appeared to be present, and a dark brown carapace covered their upper bodies, overtop of leathery brown skin.
They muttered and grunted amongst themselves, before one rose up on its hind legs and snarled, revealing a large, bumped yellow tongue.
"Varmints!" Bonnibel shouted, firing a shot off at them. The energy beam blasted out, lighting up everything around its path, but all three managed to evade it. Before she could take aim again, they fled. "After them!"
Both women gave chase, tailing the varmints down the hill the cabin was perched atop and into the forest below. They weaved through trees and other obstacles, managing to close the distance somewhat. Ahead of them, Bubblegum saw a large hole that the creatures were rushing towards. "Varmint hole!" she shouted, turning a dial on her gun. The display on the side changed from 'blast' to 'battery.'
"Ah, nuh, nuh," she grunted as she pulled the trigger. This time, the beam found its target. As it slammed into the rear varmint, it shrieked before disappearing in a flash of light, being replaced with a battery. Marceline picked it up, wondering how her friend had figured out how to do that. "A ding-dang varmint hole!" PB groaned beside her, pulling out a flashlight. "I can't believe my sweeps didn't find it!"
"Well, you found it now!" Marceline responded, trying to remain positive. She handed the battery over, the former-princess putting it into her light. "So, what's next?"
Bonnibel put the flashlight in her mouth so she would have both hands free for her shotgun. "Next, we dig." She turned the dial again, putting it onto 'tunnel' mode. As she pulled the trigger, a thick energy beam blasted out and dug a hole in the ground. Both women traveled down it, Bubblegum keeping it stable while also keeping an eye on the energy levels.
It soon blasted through a brick wall, two two exiting into an abandoned tunnel. Large rock candy crystals jutted out of the stone, and rusted minecart tracks ran along the track. "Hmm, looks like a delivery tunnel from the old rock candy mines," Bubblegum observed.
Marceline flew around excitedly. "I haven't been down here in hundreds of years! Remember when I'd get you out of those stinky cheese kingdom trade meetings?" She dusted off a wall, revealing a worn graffiti-drawing of her bat form. "And we'd sneak down here and spraypaint the walls?"
"Umm, I'm pretty sure it was me who found you vandalising my property," Bonnibel corrected, but grinned nonetheless.
With a laugh, the Vampire Queen flew behind her friend and put her hands on her shoulders. "Yeah, but I got you to tag something, didn't I?" Her friend blushed as she began floating down the tracks. "I bet I could find it… Here, come on! We used to follow the minecart tracks. Cracking jokes, telling stories…" They found the end of the tracks as they come across a large chasm, although the rails continue on the other side, clearly broken apart by the fissure.
"Woah! The broken bridge!" Marceline exclaimed, floating across to the other side. "Remember? You jumped across this!" She chuckled. "You were so scared."
"Hmm… I think I was just trying to prove something," Bonnibel quietly countered. She pressed a button on her watch and the undersides of her boots began to glow. The former-princess was lifted a few inches from the ground and casually glided across the chasm, a cocky expression on her face.
"Bonnibel Bubblegum: always sooo prepared," Marceline teased.
"Yeah! I always have to be 'always so prepared'! We can't all just 'wing it'!" Bonnibel responded angrily, making air quotes. She saw Marceline look visible hurt, and her enmity faded almost instantly. Blushing, she rubbed her arm. "I didn't have to worry about so many things, you know? The Candy Kingdom used to be so small… so manageable," she explained, gesturing with her hands. "Then it kept growing and growing, and there was always some new disaster to prepare against!"
"Is… that why you stopped talking to me?" Marceline asked sadly, rubbing the back of her neck.
"No! I—" Bubblegum started, before a loud boring sound stole both of their focus. They glanced at each other fearfully, before a determined expression rose on Bonnibel's face as she donned her shotgun. She turned the dial to its final setting: '2-gun' mode. She pulled the trigger and a second gun, identical to the first, formed at the other end of the barrel. She snapped it in half, dual-wielding guns now, with their lengths reduced to pistol-size.
Marceline, meanwhile, transformed into a large badger-like form, her long black hair remaining and falling over her face as she hissed loudly.
"Bring it on you darn pumpkin munchers!" Bonnibel shouted, taking a knee and leveling her guns as Mareline took position behind her.
From the chasm, a massive varmint with ten long, anthropoid limbs coming from its body, which lacks the individual segments of the smaller ones. Two sets of teeth are present within its mouth.
"It's a frickin' mother varmint!" Marceline gasped, both women looking on in surprise. The mother varmint licked both sets of teeth, then swung its tail over its head like a scorpion and fired off several goo-covered eggs, which imbedded themselves into the rock around the women's feet. A brief moment later, they hatched into several new varmints, which came to the defense of their mother..
"Marcy! Cover me!" Bonnibel shouted, but the Vampire Queen was already on it, crushing varmints between her clawed hands.
"No problem!" She began crushing any varmints that got within her reach, making sure not to let any get to her friend.
The former-princess, meanwhile, opened fire on the mother varmint, screaming as she released a barrage of energy blasts. They slammed into its hide, but had little effect. Soon enough, they began hollowly clicking rather than firing as the energy depleted. She tossed them over her shoulders with a dismissive "Pshh!" as she drew a knife and smaller energy pistol, also known as the classic action-hero combo.
With a defiant scream, she rushed the scourge and leapt into its mouth. Marceline paused her attack momentarily, staring on with wide eyes. A moment later, the side of the semi-insectoid beast exploded in a shower of green gore as Bonnibel leapt out, and the Vampire Queen breathed a sigh of relief. As she ran away, the ex-princess through her knife behind her, imbedding it in the head of a smaller varmint.
Recovering from her shock, Marceline swatted one pest out of the air and stomped on another. Near the chasm's edge, the mother varmint growled and moaned as is flesh knit back together, and a new set of limbs sprouted out of its side, prompting a disgusted groan from PB. It noticed the badger-like creature killing its young and leapt into the air, trying to pin her down.
"Marceline! Look out!" Bonnibel shouted.
"Huh?" the Vampire Queen grunted. She saw the scourge coming down from above her and immediately reacted, slamming her head into its soft underbelly and bashing it into the ceiling, shattering its teeth. It fell on top of her, making her crack her head on the stones and revert to her normal form, dazed.
"Marcy!" Bubblegum cried, rushing to her side and pulling her from beneath the mother varmint. She began dragging her down the tracks as the Vampire Queen slowly regained her bearings. Down the tunnel, the mother varmint regrew its teeth and snarled as it began thrashing around, smashing the interior of the tunnel. Marceline groaned and brought one hand to her head, regaining consciousness as Bonnibel shouted, "She's going to bring the whole tunnel down!"
More eggs rained down around them as they broke into a sprint. Bonnibel turned and shot some varmints over her shoulder, only for them to be replaced by their brethren. "Yeesh!" she grunted.
Suddenly, one lunged for her, trying to take her head off. She ducked and managed to keep her head on her shoulders, but couldn't stop it from tearing her hat off.
"My snap-back!" she shouted, reaching for it as the varmint violently tore into it, only to have Marceline grab her arm and pull her towards a small alcove in the wall. It was too small for the mother varmint to get through, but it didn't stop the smaller ones.
"In here!" the Vampire Queen shouted, flying into it with her friend right behind her. As they cleared the wall, the mother varmint slammed into the wall behind them, roaring furiously as its children crawled in. Bonnibel threw a small contraption at the opening, sticking it to the stone as it generated a green, semi-opaque hard light wall. Two varmints managed to get past before it blocked off the entrance.
Bonnibel shot the first one, splattering it against the wall, but as she tried to fire on the second one, her pistol clicked hollowly instead of firing. Just as it leapt for her, Marceline caught it with a clawed hand, then reverted it to normal and shook off the blood. Outside the forcefield, the mother varmint and her spawn continued smashing at the wall, viciously trying to get in and devour them.
"You got any more gadgets?" Marceline asked.
"Um…" Bonnibel began digging through her shirt pocket, tossing out various bits of junk. "Some bandages, a pen, unpaid internet bill, and, uh… strawberry lip balm." Her friend grabbed the last item from her hand and popped the cap off, consuming the red before handing it back to her friend, who discarded it with the rest of her stuff. Bubblegum glanced around the room. "Maybe we can find something useful around—" She suddenly shouted as she saw the far wall.
Marceline followed her gaze and saw the cause of her shock: a very nearly-written tag on the far wall. "Your tag!" she exclaimed, floating over to it. "We actually found it." She laughed as she traced one of the letters with her finger. "Man, your handwriting hasn't changed at all! Still as prissy and prim as— What?"
She stopped as she glanced back at her friend, seeing tears streaming down her face. She quickly flew to her side, apologizing. "Hey, h-hey! Woah, wait! I didn't mean… I-I like your handwriting! I think it's really… pretty." She blushed as she said this, her cheeks flushing in a stark contrast against her blue-grey skin.
"It's… it's not that," Bonnibel cried, before burying her face in her hands. "I lost my hat."
"We can… get you another hat," Bonnibel proposed, knowing full-well how lame and empty it sounded.
"I lost my hat…" PB continued. "I lost my home… lost my people. I can't even keep darn varmints out of my pumpkin patch!"
"Oh, Bonnie!" Marceline desperately wanted to cheer her friend up, but didn't know what to say. "You're—"
"I tried. I really, really tried. I just… I thought that if I just shut everything out and just… focused on the work, it'd all be okay." The mother varmint smashes into the wall again, tiny bits of stone raining down on them. "But look where that landed me. All I managed to do was push everyone away." She looks to her friend, looking extremely upset. "I pushed you away. I'm sorry, Marceline. I've been a real dinger to you."
The Vampire Queen put a hand on the ex-princess' shoulder. "Come on, what are you even apologizing for?" A small smile appeared on Bonnibel's face. As she opened her mouth to respond, a chunk of rock fell from the ceiling, although both women managed to dodge it. "Uh, how about we not get buried under a metric ton of rock candy rubble?"
Another rock fell, this one smashing into the device keeping the wall up. Almost immediately, it began to dissipate. "The field generator!" Bubblegum cried. A swarm of varmints began pushing against the wall, threatening to break through as the pink-haired woman nervously tried to come up with some means of escape. "Ah jeez. Okay, maybe I can rig up a graffiti bomb, or a rudimentary rock candy cannon, o-or a—"
Marceline floated beside her and placed an arm around her shoulders. "This time," she began as she swept her hair back, "I'm prepared." Another varmint leapt at them, only to meet the Vampire Queen's boot. "I've been watching these dudes pretty close. I think I can varmint-style dig us through the wall." She floated up slightly, looking at the graffiti wall. "It's just a shame about your tag. I don't wanna mess it up.
Bonnibel smiled at her friend's consideration. "Nah it's good I think." She narrowed her eyes and put on a gruffer voice. "Mess it up!"
Pulling her arm back, Marceline shifted her arm into a massive varmint, then swung it forwards and began tearing it through the wall. "Dig-dig-dig-dig-dig!" she screamed as the main bulk of the varmints bursted through the remains of the barrier behind them.
"Yo varmints!" Bonnibel shouted. "You hungry? I'll eat you! I'll eat your mom! I'll eat your eggs! I'll—"
"Whoop!" Marceline interrupted, grabbing her around the waist and flying through the newly-made hole. Behind them, the cave wall collapsed, trapping the varmints as they swarmed the room. The mother varmint had its head through the entryway, roaring in fury while the remainder of its bulk remains on the other side.
Several minutes later, Bonnibel exited the cabin and handed her friend a red rubber ball. "Thanks," Marceline said, before sucking the color out of it and tossing it away. "Boing!"
The princess sat down next to her, her face pale and placid. "I'm crazy tired, Marceline. I think I have been for a long time." She sighed, her voice quiet and slightly hoarse. "But those varmints are still out there, waiting."
"Eh, worry about it tomorrow," Marceline advised. "I'll keep a look-out tonight. I will watch the heck out of this pumpkin patch! Come on!"
Bonnibel yawned. "Okay, maybe for a bit." She leaned against her friend's arm, surprising her. "Don't let me sleep too long. Promise to wake me up in fifteen minutes…"
The Vampire Queen smiled. "I promise," she said quietly, but her friend had already fallen asleep.
In the distance, Peppermint Butler called to them, "Uh, can I come back now?" as the two sat on the porch in near-silence, save for the sounds of the night: crickets chirping without a tune, the grass being rustled by a soft breeze, and a cacophony of other soft, soothing noises.
Marceline chose not to respond, instead vigilantly watching over the pumpkin patch. She fulfilled her promise as well, waking her friend after fifteen minutes. The ex-princess tiredly conceded to the urging of the Vampire Queen, deciding to sleep through the night.
"Don't worry," Marceline assured her. "I'll still be here in the morning, even if it means getting a little burned."
"Thanks, Marcy." Bonnibel soon nodded back off to sleep, and her friend picked her up and carried her to her bed inside the cabin. Once she was situated, Marceline returned outside and kept her watch.
That morning, as the sun was beginning to rise, she went inside for some protection from the light. She quietly shut the door, trying to do so quietly, and heard the sounds of her friend rising from her bed. As the former-princess walked down the stairs, she asked, "Marcy? You still here?"
"Yep," Marceline responded, watching through the window from an angle where the sunlight can't reach her.
She heard PB laugh. "I'm surprised you actually stayed the whole night."
Bonnibel watched her friend shrug. "I didn't have anything better to do," the Vampire Queen said casually.
As the former-princess made her way towards the half-vampire, she giggled again. "I doubt that." She came up behind her friend and embraced her. "But I'm glad you're here."
Marceline smiled at this. "Hey, it's no problem." As the sun rose outside the cabin, she yawned deeply, tired after being up all night.
"I think it's your turn to sleep," Bonnibel giggled, breaking the embrace. "You can have my bed tonight. I don't want you out there when its…" She gestured out the window.
"Thanks," Marceline said gratefully, making her way up the stairs. "I'll be out of your hair once it's dark again."
"You say that like I don't want you here."
"Yeah, I know." She walked up the stairs, flashing one final grin at her friend before she passed out of view.