The group of Anons around the table were staring with terror at the cloaked figure lurking behind them. The figure glared at them from under his hood. The Anons were sweating, knowing what was going to happen. One of them gulped.
Suddenly the figure turned and pointed a hand at the anon, who emitted a choked gasp and grasped his own throat. The other Anons crawled back, as the Anon gasped and fell on the table, motionless. The hood of the figure fell back, revealing a monkey. In a ninja mask.
"I found your lack of reviewing… disturbing." He muttered in a raspy tone, as a couple of anons dragged away the dead body.
Oo-oOI'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. But since I read that review, I had this image in my head. I had to put it down. Ok, back to our schedule, whatever it is.
Oo-oO"Ouchie!" lamented Pinkie, as the vampire passed a needle through her flesh, starting to sew one of the numerous cuts on the mars legs closed. "It hurts."
"Of course it hurst. Just stay still, it'll be over soon." Sasha tried to reassure, while sewing the wound shut. Jaco and a couple of minions had brought back the earth pony and the pegasus more or less half an hour ago, and since they arrived, Sasha washed the cuts on the pink mare, cleaning out the salt residue, before starting to sew them up.
The other mares were all staring and comforting Pinkie, while Rainbow was sitting in a corner of the room, staring at the ground in silence.
"Wow Sasha, I didn't knew you were a doctor too!" exclaimed Jaco, apparently the only one not worried about the pink pony's injuries, while jumping on Nox's bed. "You are like a Barbie: with a whole lot of occupations!"
"Well, contrary to the idiotic part of my family, I actually managed to learn a whole lot of skills during all my years." Stated the vampire, without distracting herself from her work. She tugged gently on the needle and ripped the thread, moving to another wound.
"Don't you have a more painless way to help her?" asked Rarity, while looking at the needle, one of the tools she usually used to make wonderful and gorgeous dresses, watching as it stabbed again into the flesh of Pinkie causing another squeak of pain.
"Sorry, but no." Commented the vampire. Pinkie kicked with one of her hindlegs, holding back a little squeal. "This is the quickest and safest method. Don't worry, I know what am I doing." Said the vampire, smiling. In reality, she was quite scared, from a series of different factors: first of all, Noxfero. He was going to be furious that she didn't notice the escape of the two mares. She was going to be punished.
Secondly, all those bleeding wounds were tempting. Even if she wasn't really thirsty. Just the sight. She was nearly at the point of licking the mare's wounds, but just holding back in time. She was going to be in trouble, and it was better to not worsen her situation.
"Why in tarnation did you two have to leave here?!" asked angrily the orange mare, stomping her hoof on the ground. "Noxfero said it was going to be dangerous! Why the hay did you two have to ignore him!" she said loudly, glaring at the two mares. Pinkie was actually too distracted by her injuries to pay much attention to Applejack's scolding, but Rainbow just grasped her own legs and said nothing. "Ya could've been hurt even worse!"
"Applejack dear, they don't need this now." Said Rarity, trying to calm down her friend. "That could have happened, but it didn't. Let's just be glad they are here." She said, rubbing a hoof on Applejack's back. The earth pony grumbled, but sat again on the floor, and changed back to a worried expression, looking at Pinkie. Twilight was patting her friend's forehead, while Fluttershy, with a strangely strong expression, was passing to Sasha some clean bandages that the vampire used to wrap the pink mare's legs and flank.
"Ok, this is good. Of course you shall not walk for a few days, but at least those slashes weren't so deep." Commented the vampire, standing up. "And the salt, even if painful, will eliminate any chance of infection."
"Wall, isn't that nice and dandy?" growled a cold voice. Noxfero was at the door, glaring furiously inside. Jaco looked at him and jumped at his side, smiling.
"Hey, you're here early!" he chirped, jumping around the bigger devil. He evidently wasn't in the mood for it, since he simply kicked him out of the way, stomping towards the bed.
"I had to convince the overseer that those two were actually Pumpkinhead's creations. Then I suspended everything and returned here." He hissed, looking at Pinkie. "How is she?"
"Well…" began the vampire, gulping, trying to maintain a straight face. "The slashes weren't so deep, and were already disinfected by the salt, I just had to clean the cuts and fix them. She won't walk for a few days, though."
"Well then. I hope you two are happy." Hissed the devil, moving his eyes between Rainbow and Pinkie. "Now pray tell me. What. The. Actual. Fuck. Were you two thinking when you got the amazing idea of leaving the castle, going against what I told you?!" said in a low tone the devil, without moving his eyes.
"It was… my fault…" muttered Rainbow, raising her face. "I was bored staying closed in the library… without anything to do and all…"
"So you thought it was a good idea going around in a place that I clearly marked as dangerous, just for fun?!" hissed the devil, his tail slapping furiously the floor. Rainbow lowered again her eyes, evidently trying to hold back some tears.
"Now Noxy, come on, she doesn't need to hear that, she already feels bad enough." Said Jaco, while stretching in place his face.
"Well, I think that is the least, if she's feeling bad!" growled the devil, taking a step forwards. "After all, it's your fault that Pinkie is like that!"
"You leave her alone!"
Noxfero blinked, before turning his eyes on the mare laying on his bed: Pinkie Pie was glaring at him. The other four mares quickly passed their eyes between her angry expression and the astonished and hurt face of the devil.
"Excuse me… what?!" he finally managed to say, looking at the pink pony. She continued to glare at him, pouting her lower lip a little.
"I said you leave her alone! You… you meanie!"
"Uuuuuuuh!" hollered Jaco from behind them, only to receive a quick kick in the face.
"I…uh… what?!" asked in disbelief the demon, flapping his ears.
"You heard me! Stay away from her! Do you want to hurt her?!"
"Why should I want to hurt her?" asked in disbelief the devil.
"Pinkie, what are you talking about?" asked Twilight, slightly concerned.
"Nox! He took a poor guy that we were trying to save and handed him to the bad guys! He was trying to escape from a horrible prison, you know?! BUT YOU JUST GAVE HIM AWAY!"
"Now listen here missy!" hissed the devil, taking a menacing step forwards, his wings snapping open. "You don't tell ME how I'm supposed to do MY job! If I have to punish the fugitives, I do that!"
"Fugitives?! Then you were the one HOLDING him?!"
"News of the hour Pinkie: that's what I fucking DO! Evidently you missed this part when you had me mesh the fucking flour back in Ponyville! Now I try to fucking keep all of you safe and in exchange I have to listen to THIS?! Well, fuck you!" snapped the devil, his tail stabbing a tile, sending pebbles all around, mostly into Jaco's left eye. He turned and stomped towards the door, fuming, his little minion with the bloody eye right behind him.
"You and Rainbow fucking don't move from this room until I'm back. And that's an order. If you'll try to go anywhere, I swear on my wings your next room is going to be a cell!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!" Roared the devil, slamming the door. Actually, it slammed it so hard that it fell off from its frame. The devil looked at the ebony door in his hand, before tossing it to the ground and walking away, growling and bearing his fangs, while kicking Jaco at every step.
Pinkie continued to pout, but as soon as the sound of Jaco's body colliding with Nox's feet disappeared from the corridor outside, her face turned into a sad one, while her mane straightened and fell down with a light poof.
An awkward silence filled the room, as the other mares and the vampire looked around, trying to find anything to say.
"Well…err… since your legs are still healing… well… don't try to move get out of bed…" managed to say the vampire. "Dash, keep an eye on her please. The rest of you… well, let's head back to the library."
Sasha began to gently push the other four mares out of the room, when an enormous tentacle of darkness emerged from the corridor, grabbed her leg and began to drag her away.
"On second thought, maybe you should all just stay in the room. I'll be back soon." She called, as the mares looked scared the shadows surrounding her.
-oOo-
"Well that was something… unexpected." Muttered Rarity to herself, while waiting in the corridor. "I actually never thought I would ever see Noxfero raise his voice. He never did that when he was in Ponyville." She muttered, without noticing Junior passing before her, and he stopped to listen to her muttering.
"Is it some strange pony custome to stay still in the middle of the corridor, talking to the air?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Rarity didn't answer immediately, her attention drawn by the bucket full of pulsing hearts in the little devil's hands. She gulped before focusing her eyes on Junior's.
"I'm waiting for Fluttershy. She had to use the little fillies room." She said, pointing at the bathroom door beside her. Junior shrugged, before walking away.
"Whatever. Just tell your friend to be careful of the sea serpents and the pirhanas of the sewers. Sometimes they swim up the pipes." He called, before turning a corner, causing an 'Eeep' of panic to come out from behind the door. Rarity rolled her eyes, and backed away when the door opened and Fluttershy almost tripped on her own mane, as she hastily tried to get out of the room as fast as possible.
"Ok, I'm done!… I think we can return back…" she muttered, closing the door. "Thank you for escorting me… I wouldn't feel safe all alone… wandering the castle… sorry…"
"You don't have to be sorry Fluttershy, I can imagine this place isn't your favorite kind of environment, yes?" the unicorn mare said softly, while starting to walk back at Fluttershy's side, as the pegasus flapped her wings a little, uneasy. "Even if I'm very proud of you Fluttershy." Stated suddenly Rarity, smiling. "You were the only one of us knowing what to do, with Pinkie."
"Thank you…" murmured the pegasus, giving a little smile. Then she stopped, looking suddenly amazed by something outside one of the windows on one side of the corridor. Rarity stopped herself and joined her friend, looking outside, and her mouth fell slightly open: these windows didn't look on the outside of the castle like the window in Noxfero's room. This one actually looked out on a big garden. An enormous garden, as a matter of factr.
-oOo-
"Oh my… I would have never guessed…" said Fluttershy excitedly, looking around in awe (Well, excited for Fluttershy's standards anyway). They managed to find a stairway down, and finally found a door that led to the outside. They were now on a black path between patches of light purple grass. They couldn't actually see the end of it.
"This is… quite beautiful." Agreed Rarity, as a group of crystalline flowers emitted an adorable squeal when she sniffed at them. Then, without any warning, one of them spread its petals, and with a loud burp, it spat a puke-covered onto the ground. The flower gulped and burped again, spitting a broom onto the little demon's head.
"Ya goddamned plant! I'll have my revenge one day!" spat the little demon, waving a little fist at the flowers, which just purred in response. Rarity blinked, looking surprised as the little demon raised on his feet again, and noticed her and Fluttershy. "Hey there girls. What are you doing out here?" he asked, while cleaning the flower's puke from his face.
"Well… I, I mean, we, just saw this garden, and… Jaco, your face is on fire!" managed to blabbe Rarity, as the plant puke bubbled and exploded in little stains of green flames on the little demon's face, accompanied by a scream of pain.
-oOo-
"Well… this garden is not the most safe place around, but since you are with me…" muttered the little devil, his face wrapped in bandages, as his mount (Fluttershy) and Rarity walked slowly down the path.
"You can keep us out of danger?" asked the yellow pegasus, daring a little smile.
"Heck no! But at least the plants will target me and not you. Noxfero taught them to eat me on sight." Exclaimed the little devil, while from one side of the path a group of black roses hissed and leaned towards him, the petals wiggling in the air.
"Oh, poor thing. That's a shame, though... these plants are so beautiful." stated Fluttershy, raising a hoof and cautiously patting one of the roses. Immediately the flower began to purr, brushing itself against the mare's hoof, causing a little fit of giggles. "It tikles!"
"Wow Shy, good with animals AND also plants? You are freaking amazi-" began Jaco, while leaning towards the flowers as well, just a second before one of them darted in and chomped off the upper part of Jaco's head. "You see, for me it's not so easy to stay here in the garden…" muttered Jaco's mouth, as he bagan to wiggle his arms around.
"Could you please give his head back? Pretty please? He needs them to show us around." cooed softly the yellow pegasus, rubbing softly one of the flowers. The plant trembled, growled softly, and then spat back the half of the head.
"Yup, we should hire you as a gardener." babbled the little devil, while trying to fix his own head.
"Ouh, I would love that! These flowers are so beautiful and cute." Giggled the pegasus, scratching a last time the flowers before starting again to walk.
"I have to admit they are gorgeous. I never expected Noxfero to have such good taste in decorations." Added Rarity, trying to pat a crystalline flower, wich purred a little, amused by the touch.
"Well, he's not, all the plants here were Envy flowers, so when we brought in some plants from our boss' garden, they morphed, out of envy, trying to emulate them." Explained the little devil, trying to fix his head with a little bit of duct tape. "Actually, Envy flower are usually quite gross. We keep them closed in a greenhouse 'til they are full grown."
"In that structure?" asked Rarity, pointing at a big glassy structure a little away from their location, which had a few glass panels opened to allow air to flow in and out.
"No. That one." Stated Jaco, pointing to a little wooden shed far away from them, the crippled wood covered in uninviting vines. "I actually don't know what the use of the cute one is."
-oOo-
The two mares continued their walk, looking in wonder at the different kinds of flowers that inhabited the enormous garden, from the crystalline lilies to the golden apple trees. Jaco, between a bite and a slap from the plants, guided the two deeper and deeper into the garden, towards a tall, rocky fence under a group of even taller trees.
"Oh dear, what is behind this fence?" asked Rarity, looking puzzled as she eyed a black gate barring the only way inside. Fluttershy's ears perked up as soon as a series of animal' noises responded the white unicorn's question.
"Well, this is our menagerie. Well, actually it's just our pets' home, we actually don't have a true breeding facility of anything." Commented the little devil, failing to notice the long and thin scarlet tentacle descending from one of the trees.
"Oh, little critters! How cute, you give them a home, a bed and food and cuddles and love!" exclaimed Fluttershy, clapping excitedly her hooves and squealing in glee. Rarity let out a smile while the pegasus grabbed the little devil and began to squeeze his face. "Can we see them? Can we? Can we?"
"Ah sshume yeah." Blurted the little devil, while his face was squeezed by a couple of buttery hooves. The pegasus emitted another squeal, as the little devil freed himself and proceeded to open the black gate. The pegasus immediately darted inside, followed by a smiling Rarity.
"Thank you Jaco. This will surely help Shy to relax a little. After all that shouting…"
"Nah, don't mention it." Smiled the little devil, taking a few steps, just before the tentacle grabbed him, and in a couple of dragged him up to the top of the tree, which gulped down his little body in an instant.
"…Okay…" muttered the unicorn, slowly following Fluttershy while giving a few glances at the tree, wich was now purring, satisfied. Inside the fenced area, Fluttershy was looking happily at a bunch of little rats with a shining black fur and little scarlet eyes.
"Ouh, look at all these cute little mousies!" chirped the pegasus, patting one of the rats, wich emitted a happy squeack. All the other rats squeacked in protest and charged the mare, pushing her on the ground and beginning to snuggle into her buttery coat. The pegasus let out a giggle, wiggling her legs due to the tickling sensation. Rarity smiled, but didn't walk too close to the rats.
She looked around the large area, noting a large cage with spiked bars. Inside, on a contorted, black tree, a couple of fat ravens were spying outside. They were almost big as she was! The unicorn looked at the cage, noticing the bones on the ground. She gulped and passed by. She passed another couple of minutes looking around, before noticing that suddenly the rats had started to run away from Fluttershy, running under the crow's cages.
"Oh…oh my! Come here, I'm sorry if I scared you." Called suddenly worried Fluttershy, trying to stop the little critters, which dodged her hooves and disappeared. "Oh…I'm sorry, little fureballs… please don't be mad with me…" she squeaked, trying to convince the rats to come out. "Rarity, can you help me calm these little guys?" she asked, tuning her head.
Rarity was staring at a cave in the stone fence. A low growl was rising, as its occupant began to step out, snarling and growling. The unicorn began to walk backwards, as a big and snarling cerberus emerged from the cave: he was far smaller that the one guarding the Tartarus, back in Equestria, but was bigger than the ponies were anyway. Bigger than Noxfero too. Two of its Doberman heads were snarling in a menacing manner at the couple of ponies, while the third one was chewing on a bone.
"Oh, look at this! What a cute little doggy!" exclaimed excitedly Fluttershy, beginning to trot towards the cerberus, which gave a low, menacing growl, baring its fangs. Rarity opened her mouth, trying to stop the yellow mare from charging straight into the beast's maws.
"Hey! You, get away from him!" roared an unkonown voice. Rarity moved her eyes from Fluttershy to the direction the scream had come: from a little shed that was almost hidden behind a group of empty cages, a big panther was galloping towards them.
"Now I have seen everything." the unicorn briefly thought, before remembering that panthers eat meat.
"Get away! Or do you want to become… his…snack…." Began the panther, suddenly slowing and looking with astonishment at the pegasus: she was happily rubbing the cerberus' tummy, as the three-headed dog laid on its back, its heads grinning in satisfaction, one of its hindlegs kicking the air. "Well… this is new…" muttered the panther, tilting its head.
"Well… Fluttershy is good with every kind of animal." stated Rarity with a smile, watching as the pegasus began to motorboat the cerberus' belly. The unicorn then turned towards the feline. "Please don't eat us." She asked tensely to the panther which let out a laugh, startling Fluttershy and the cerberus.
"Don't you worry. I'm not here to eat the animals, you know? I just tend to them." Chuckled the panther. "Now, you two are creations of Pumpkinhead? Do I have to prepare a cage for you or do you stay free?" she asked, taking a few steps towards the couple of mares. Rarity waved a hoof.
"No no, we are friends of Noxfero! We are not experiments or anything!" she exclaimed. The panther tilted its head again, its black fur shining under the few rays of light that managed to pass through the leaves of the tall trees surrounding the fenced area.
"Something must have happened while I wasn't here, then." The feline finally muttered, before beginning to emit puffs of smoke from its skin. The dark curtin surrounded the panther, hiding it from sight. When the smoke disappeared, Rarity blinked in surprise. A woman was now standing where the panther had been sitting a few seconds before.
Rarity was firstly quite surprised at the creature's appearance: Esper was light skinned, Noxfero was pale, Sasha was even paler. This human's skin was, on the other hoof, extremely dark. A dark shade of brown, which accented the numerous green and azure markings that she had on her body. She was also, to the contrary of all the other creatures that the unicorn had seen in that place, almost without clothing, her only dress a little piece of cloth around her waist. The woman scanned the unicorn, while passing a long-nailed finger through her short curly black hair, while her golden, feline eyes studied Rarity.
"The others have to fill me in about what's happened. I've just returned from a witch reunion. It must be something big, if there is a cute pegasus and a beautiful unicorn here." She finally stated, opening in a smile. Rarity smiled as well, trying not to look too concerned about the long and sharp teeth in the woman's mouth.
"Oh, you are the one tending to all these little cuties?" asked Fluttershy, while riding the cerberus as it trotted happily towards the woman and the unicorn, his tail wiggling happily in the air. The woman nodded, scratching one of the chins of the dog.
"Yes. I'm in charge of the gardens and the animals. After a few days, it's a easy job."
"If you are not eaten in those few days." Commented Jaco, stumbling inside the fenced area and closing the gate behind him. "Welcome back Zira. I'll tell Noxy you are back!" he chirped. The woman gave a quick nod, gesturing to the ponies.
"These two are guests?"
"Who? I'm currently blinded by the tree's digestive juices. I can't see shit."
"That would explain why you aren't staring at my chest, droolling."
"There are actually four more of us." Muttered Fluttershy, while patting two of the cerberus' heads.
"Well, I guess that I should meet them. I also have to ask for a book from the vampire, soo…"
"That's great! We should go in, then!" exclaimed Jaco happily. A moment later, the pack of rats emerged from under the cage, charged him, knocked him over, and dragged his screaming self into their hiding spot.
"Poor dearies, they must be hungry…" chuckled the woman with an evil grin, purring.