“Let it go, let it go. I'm one with the evil flo~hoow!”

I strode out of my bathroom, fresh from the shower, the only thing covering me a towel wrapped around my midsection and singing my own version of yet another trademarked Disney song on top of my lungs. Damn, I could have been a good voice actress. I don’t know what that stupid Gnarl and those stupid Minions were complaining about, pulling at their ears, howling in misery and going into convulsive fits as I graced the whole tower with my dulcet tones. I was killing it, baby!

It was just yesterday that Gnarl dropped the “Destiny Bomb” on me and as depressing as it may have been, I could not help but sing. Partly because I knew that, no matter what path I would choose, I would have the support of my loving girlfriend but mostly because I picked up the habit of singing in the shower from my Dad. I don’t care what Mom, my Brother and the Neighbors (and the Neighbors’ dogs down the whole block) said, we brought down the house.

Also, I speculated that there was something in the air/water/everything here in colorful horsey land that made you prone to burst into spontaneous musical numbers after prolonged exposure.

Spreading my arms wide, I strode onto my balcony, still trailing enough water to make the floor under my feet slippery and relished the feeling of the warm rays the morning sun saw fit to send my way.

“Here I stand and here I stay. Fate bring it ooo~hoon! The Darkness never bothered me anyways.”

>>Okay girl, now a sultry smile and a half-lidded gaze that would turn straight woman gay… or at least bi in an instant. Hold the posture for a moment. Now turn, throw your still half wet hair aaa~aand exit stage left!<<

With a big, stupid smile plastered on my face and a merry tune in my lips, I went back into my bedchambers, with the plan to dry myself and get clothed. Things were looking up at the moment, and I was doing quite well. My Minion forces grew in strength and number by the day, Patches ran a tight ship on the Diamond Dog mine, extracting many a shiny goodies that steadily filled up my treasure chamber and in spite of my misgivings about becoming the next great Overlord(and first Overlady) I couldn’t help but feel… content, at ease. However, it was at this exact same moment that that asshole Murphy and his cunt Fate simultaneously decided to join forces to answer my blatant challenge just moments earlier, as they not only pissed into my cornflakes but also saw it fit to dump a whole septic truck into them.

Not a moment passed after I dropped the towel that covered the whole of me, ready to reach for some undies, that a high pitched, gleeful squeak, definitely not mine, brought the inner workings of my mind to a resounding crash.

In a series of jerky, twitchy motions, my head turned towards the source of the sound and there, in the center of my private, I repeat private chambers, sitting down like a doggy as if she owned the place, was none other than a certain mint-colored and slightly vibrating unicorn with the widest, most face splitting grin I have ever had the questionable pleasure to witness.

“Eeeeeeeeh! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, a real live Human. A. Real. Live. Human! This is the single most glorious day of my entire existence!” the pony gushed, her eyes opened in such a way that I was afraid her eyeballs might pop out any second now, and her front hooves clapping together in a excited and admittedly very cute way.

All I could do was staring in silent disbelief as Lyra Fucking Heartstrings got to her hooves and did a little victory dance, for the lack of better words, right in front of me.

“I knew you existed, I just knew it!” the mare proclaimed, beaming, cantering over to me and giving me a thorough once over from head to toe. “Everypony told me it was a waste of time, that I was hunting nothing but faded shadows and that my interest in cryptozoology and anthropology would never bear any fruit, but the moment I heard that mare’s tales about a bipedal and unknown creature with hands deep inside the Badlands I knew that I had finally found you!”

>>Wait, what?<<

Her horn lit up with a yellow aura, enveloping both my hands, which got tugged on until they were just a few centimeters away from Lyra´s snout. No kidding, I could feel her hot, slightly erratic stalker breath on them!

“Five digits, five! Not unlike a Minotaur´s but the tips are rounded instead of pointy. The opposable thumb is the same from the looks of it,” Lyra stated like a scientist examining a new specimen, turning my hands around, making my fingers flex and curl, even poking my palm with her hoof. “Each finger has what looked like a regressed claw of sorts on top of it. Maybe a remnant from evolutionary steps as some kind of active predator to the current form? Uuuuhh, this is so exciting!” Her voice rose until it was very much just a squeak at the end. “And what is this?” Then, to my horror, the small pony rose on two legs and promptly began to fondle my girls with curious hooves. Did surprisingly felt not even half bad. Lyra´s frogs where really soft. “Are these… mammaries? And so high up on the body! I suppose it makes sense since Humans are a bipedal species. Oh! Then that must mean you don’t lay down to suckle your young. You can just hold them in your arms. Hmm, yes, that must be it. Your limbs seem to be able to bend to a degree where babies would be able to slurp your teats with minimal fuss and…”

Yep, that did it. Finally breaking out of my dumbfounded state, a shrill, high-pitched shriek left my mouth as I bent down, swiping the now cold towel and clumsily jumped back and away from the weird little, now officially human obsessed pony, who still looked at me with a goofy, triumphant smile. After hastily covering the goods from sight I did the only sensible thing someone in my situation could do. I yelled on top of my lungs.

“GNAA~ARL!!!”

The echo of my cry had not yet faded as the telltale pitter-patter of several pairs of Minions’ feet grew in volume until Gnarl and a group of at least a dozen armed Browns, the larger ones that were standing guard everywhere and never seemed to leave my Tower, barged into my chambers.

“Milady, what happened?” My winded looking Minion Master inquired, leaning heavily on his cane. “What in the name of everything dark possessed you to scream like that?”

“What possessed me is THAT!” I hissed, my face still on fire from embarrassment and jabbed a finger at the quite literal pony in the room, still smiling like nothing was going on. “Care to explain how a brightly colored equine managed to not only sneak into my Tower, past every single Minion on her way up here without being detected, but right into my private chambers?!?”

At least the Minions had the good sense to look at their feet sheepishly while Gnarl bore an expression that spoke more of hurt pride, but before he could answer, the equine intruder made herself known again.

“Uuuuh, what are those? Are they some kind of magical familiars? Is this a thing all Humans have?” Lyra inquired eagerly, trotting over to my useless kobolds, causing a discussion to erupt between them whether or not the weird creature was a new sort of sheepy. One Minion even pointed out that she looked like a baby Unicorn, just green. That guy must have been a Blue in a past life.

“Ugh, Gnarl, take her to the throne room and make sure she stays there. I´ll get dressed and deal with her myself,” I groaned, dragging my palm down my face.

“Very well,” my advisor gave a minimalistic bow. “You there, Minions. Bind that crook and take it to Her Ladyship’s throne room.”
The Guard Minions complied with astounding speed and competence, tying Lyra´s legs together with a rope they got from seemingly thin air and used one of their long halberds to carry the incapacitated Unicorn away like some hunting prey in an old documentary.

>>Hehe, all that´s missing now are some jungle beats in the background and bones in the noses of my Minions.<<

Said mare, of course, voiced her own thoughts over this treatment. “Hey, wait… what are you…? You can't do that! Unhoof me this instant! Or is it ‘unhand’ in this case, seeing as none of you have hooves? Anyways…”

“Oh for the Love of Darkness, shut up!” Gnarl barked, ordering the Minions to quicken their pace so they could get rid of the loudmouthed pony.

“Wonderful, there goes my day and the morning is not even over yet.” I sighed and turned to get dressed.
I had a pony to deal with.

[…]

Decked out in my full armor and with the Beast secured at my belt, I stared at the doors to my throne room. Gnarl had met me halfway to tell me that the Unicorn had been secured and was awaiting her fate.

“Okay girl, you can do that. It´s just a little, colorful Unicorn, no big deal. Just go in there, scare the hopefully not-literal horseapples out of her and then send her on her way with the promise of unending torment should she ever breathe a single word to everyone about this.” I tried to pump myself up, but failed horribly. Somehow, I just knew this would not be nearly as easy as I wished it would be. Hell, I could almost feel Murphy lurking behind the next corner, smiling wider than Professor Genki with a rusty chainsaw in a room full of blind Orphans!

“Fuck, let’s just do this!”

With that I pushed the doors to my throne room open and entered. I found Lyra sitting right in the middle of the room, just like Gnarl told me. But unlike Gnarl told me, the Unicorn was free of her bindings. Just as the doors closed behind me with a heavy boom, the last of Lyra's magical aura around her horn died down and the ropes that held her fell to the ground.

>>Duh! Unicorn equals magic! Of course some simple ropes would not hold her. Not to self, for the future, get some sort of magical restraint thingies.<<

With a silent groan, I marched over to my throne and sat down, my elbows resting on my knees and my hands forming a pyramid in front of my face as I leaned forward and stared at the little equine intruder. I swear to everything, her eyes were sparkling with more highlights than Giffany´s when Soos complimented her.

“Given your situation, you seem awfully giddy. Being alone, kilometers away from the next of your kind, outnumbered and completely at my mercy,” I stated, my voice as even as possible as I peered at Lyra from the depths of my helmet. She began to vibrate, literally.
“Oh, of course I am giddy! This is just… you! You just proved that I was right all along. Humans do exist! All those neighsayers back in Canterlot and in Ponyville…” Lyra began to ramble. Better to nip that in the bud.

“I´m afraid I am not a Human, Miss Heartstrings,” I stated with a disquietingly calm voice, causing her ears to go flat for a second before perking up again.

“Eheheee, that was a good one. Humans sure have a strange sense of humor.” The mare in front of me forced out a strained laugh. That I just said her name did not even register, it seemed.

“Oh, I´m not joking.” Now that got her. Her smile faltered as she strained to keep it up, almost as if she was unwilling to believe otherwise, or that I was merely jesting. I made no move to correct that, and allowed the ensuing silence to speak for itself. Lyra´s pupils shrunk and her smile now took on a slightly alarming quality. It looked almost painful to keep up.

“O~kay… heheheee… that joke has gone far enough now…” Lyra said uncertainly, her voice gaining a desperate and at the same time demented quality. “You are clearly a Human!” she suddenly shouted as her mood did a one eighty from giddy to hysteric, getting on her hooves, her eyes going hard, teeth bared and pointing an accusatory appendage at me.

Her whole body stiffened, her ears began to twitch erratically before they folded back in what clearly was a sign of aggression, and her pupils shrunk to pin-pricks. She looked predatory, to tell the truth. Hell, I might have been scared had she been anything but a cuddly, soft looking pony.

“You walk on two legs! You have hands! There is no fur on your whole body except on your head… and, well, your marehood, I guess.” Lyra listed off, taking a step towards me with every point she crossed off her list. “You. Are. A. Human!” she burst out with a manic scream at the end, huffing and staring at me as if daring me to contradict her claims.

That moment, I just had it. Not only did this puny, little horse have the gall to walk into the very heart of my dark dominion and my private rooms like she owned the place, no, she also had the nerve to yell at me like I was some kind of low-life peon?
I rose up, my hand engulfed in magical flames as I called my Mana reserves into existence, and before the full weight of her mistake could settle in to the impudent Unicorn’s inferior mind, a football sized Fireball soared past her head, missing by a few centimeters and singed her two colored mane before bursting into impact on a far wall.

“Humans don't have magic,” I stated coldly, my voice growing in force and volume with each word. “Humans don´t use the souls of their slain victims to summon obedient familiars to tear the world asunder, and Humans surely do not exist with the sole purpose of bringing a new Age of Darkness over the world!” I yelled back at the now backpedaling and very fearful looking Lyra while approaching her with heavy, thunderous steps. “Humans don't survive being dropped into a planet’s atmosphere and crashing onto the surface at terminal velocity, getting their heads split in two with a war axe or being ripped to shreds by a Chimera! Nor... can they hop... between... realities!” I loomed over the shivering and cowering Unicorn, who at this point seemed to realize how colossally she screwed up, head ducked, not meeting my smoldering gaze and trembling hooves covering her face. I leaned down and grabbed Lyra’s chin with my armored hand, roughly lifting her tear-streaked face to allow her a good view into the depths of my helmet and my glowing eyes. “I, on the other hand can do all that, little Unicorn. I may have a humanoid body but that is as far as any resemblance goes. I am a purebred Demon. I am the Dark Ruler of the Netherworld and Mistress of Minions. The Bane of Heroes! I am but the incarnation of all things dark and evil! I... am... the Overlady!” By the end of my tirade, Lyra’s body was wracked by violent fits of terror, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice on her. Her pupils dilated, her ears had disappeared in her mane and her tail was tugged firmly between her legs, her very body screaming of fear and submissiveness.

Straightening myself, I strolled back to my throne and made myself comfortable, watching the mint colored pony before me. >>That´s right, fear me you little shit!<< I thought with savage glee as the small pony cowered, hooves over her eyes and doing a piss poor job of hiding her piddly little sobs..

…

Hitting the mental brakes with both feet simultaneously, I inhaled deeply, shoving the thoughts of violence and domination raging through my mind back into the dark crevices they crawled from. Exhaling slowly, I leaned forward again and spoke in a less menacing but still very firm voice.

“However, I am far from being a heartless monster, little pony.” Though her sobs did not stop, she had enough sense to peek at me with one eye. “Because I feel really generous today, I will allow you to leave my Tower with not only your body but also your mind and soul intact. All under the condition, of course, that you will swear on your immortal soul never to even breathe the slightest hint of anything you have seen here today to another living being.“

A smile grew on my lips as I watched Lyra absorb my words like a dry sponge to water. Good, good, I had her attention, now to drive this home.

“Tell you what, little Unicorn, I am even willing to give you a nice sum of bits from my treasury. Enough for you to live comfortable on yourself or maybe even with a significant other for a loo~oong time. No stress, no work, just live la vida loca. All you need to do is keep that little snout of yours shut. Doesn't that sound like a sweet deal, hn? Come on, take it,” I finished in my best Temptress voice.
With immense satisfaction, I observed Lyra´s whole body transmitting her train of thought. Her shivering died down, her ears rose up again and she even managed to stand up, looking at me with an even expression.

She was sooo taking my offer. Course she was, no one with his or her right mind would not take the opportunity to not only save one’s own hide but to take a hefty sum of cash back home, all for just keeping your trap shut.

“No!”

I nodded, pleased it all went to plan. “Wonderful, I’ll let my Minions… wait, no?!?” I nearly fell comically from my throne (a rather impressive feat, considering I was sitting down securely) as Lyra´s answer settled in.

I hastened to reclaim as much dignity as I could and smoothly righted myself. I searched Lyra’s face for any hint of jesting or deceit, anything that would help alleviate the incoming migraine making itself more and more known as the seconds ticked by. “Hehe, okay, I get it. You just wanted to demonstrate that you have a sense of humor too. Very good, you almost had me.” I said, my voice wavering and tremulous as I set my helmet back on correctly, since it had slipped during my near fall.

>>She’s joking…. She has to be!<<

But the stubborn little meatbag saw it fit to defy my expectations once more, for her posture straightened and that determined glint I thought I’d snuffed out of her came back full force. “I'm serious!”

>>Well, shit. At least she is not Severus.<<

“I will not go alone and I will certainly not keep my mouth shut about your existence!” Lyra was almost back to yelling in an instant. “Keep your gold and your promises to yourself, I will not stay silent!” she exclaimed and stomped her hoof for extra emphasis.

Great, now I definitely felt a migraine coming.

I closed my eyes, took a deep, calming breath, and opened them again. My blood still simmered. Taking another calming breath, I tried it again. Yeah, that’s better. “Now, now, let's not be hasty yes?” I dropped my menacing facade at this point, hoping friendliness was the key. “Okay, you are not interested in bits but, surely I can interest you in something, anything? Come on, tell me. What is your heart’s desire? Whatever it is, I’m sure we can work something out.” A thought suddenly popped into my head and I snapped my fingers. Well, tried to, anyway. They were still armored... “Ha! How about a spot of revenge against all those mean ponies who laughed at you? Just say the word and they won't know what hit them. Or maybe it is knowledge you crave? While I'm not a Human myself, I have had my fair share of experience with them and would part with some of it in exchange for your compliance.”

Using her own obsession to make her comply. Damn, I’m good! That, she had to take!

Again, Lyra stomped her hoof, this time accompanied by a, I must admit, rather aggressive snort. “I said no and I mean it!” the Unicorn barked, going so far as to snarl at me, her earlier fear forgotten. “You will come with me, one way or another and then I will prove to the whole world and those who laughed at me that I was right all along. Not. Insane! Buck, if I have to, I'll even drag your sorry plot all the way from here to Canterlot and present you to Celestia and Luna themselves!” With her tirade done and with a renewed sense of determination, her horn lit up with that telltale yellow glow and she levitated the discarded rope in the air in what she must have though without a doubt to be an intimidating manner.

Respect where it was due, lil´ol´ Harpbutt had a bigger pair than most guys I knew. Not that it helped her that much. In fact, all her little power display served was to fan the increasingly growing flames of my own anger, although bush fire would have been a more fitting term right now. How could a single Pony be so thick-headed?
“Darkness, why must you be such a stubborn Mule?” I hissed, leaving my throne and closing the distance between Lyra and I with just a few steps, glaring down at her again.

[Ponyville]

Just in this moment, in the middle of the lively town, a mule by the name of Maurice sat outside of the popular Café Clover, enjoying a light snack as he felt his ears twitch. Looking around, he failed to notice anything out of the ordinary, just ponies going about their daily lives.
Shrugging it off as his imagination, Maurice returned to his delicious daisy and alfalfa sandwich, but for the rest of the day, he was unable to shake of the feeling that he should feel offended for some reason.

“Do you honestly expect to just walk away from this? The whole Tower is chock full with violence prone Minions that are just itching to tear into your soft, little pony body at the flimsiest of excuses. Can't you see that I’m trying to save your stubborn, ungrateful horse plot here?” My voice was low and sharp enough to be used as a razor.

This, however, resulted not in the reaction I had expected. Fear or maybe anger, sure, but I had not for the life of me, expected Lyra to stare at me defiantly while tears began to stream down her cheeks.

“I don’t bucking care!” she yelled and in a move that stunned me into temporary stasis, the defiant pony reared up on her hind legs, propping her front hooves against my hips. I stared down at her dumbfounded, while she reciprocated with a glare. “I'm not going back without proof of your existence, not without something to prove that I am right… that I was right all along! Not until I leave with something that will clean up my name!” The sheer force of her voice was unexpected for such a cuddly little creature, and still I could not help but watch as she poured her little, blessed heart out. “Ever since my days in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, since my days in the Canterlot Orchestra I got ridiculed, made fun of and stepped on. Just for my belief that Humans do exist.” Her lip trembled, her eyes became even morewatery and she bent her head, not meeting my eyes and rested her noggin atop my armored navel. “Do you have even the slightest idea how miserable my life has been for the last several years?”

Sweet Mary and Joseph, I could not help but feel sorry for the poor thing. Her body trembled, as did her voice and it was obvious she was fighting back tears. A battle that she was losing miserably.

“I lost my job in the Canterlot Orchestra and nopony in the whole Luna damned city wanted to hire ‘crazy Lyra’, not even Hay Burger! I… I had no choice but to move to Ponyville because I was not able to pay the rent for my apartment anymore and, and, oh, Celestia... my marefriend Bon Bon was forced to shut down her candy shop in Canterlot too, because all those flankholes would boycott her! She never did anything wrong in her life. She’s such a wonderful pony and those jerks drove her out of her home for no other reason that she and I were a couple!”

That took me aback, honestly. Sure, I more or less suspected that even in the saccharine land of smiles and sunshine that was Equestria there would be some dark shadows that would not be amiss in Human society. Still, to imagine it went that far…. That seemed pretty grim. Crystal Flask not included.

Tears and snot were now flowing freely, staining the coat of the little trembling Unicorn that nonetheless stared up to me in desperation, like a drowning person would look at a nearby lifesaver. My eye twitched as I saw a glint of moisture trailing along my navel, but I managed to suppress a shudder.

Regardless, it seemed Lyra was not yet done pouring it all out, figuratively and literally speaking. “Oh, of course Bonnie told me that it was nothing to worry about, that she would simply open up a new shop in Ponyville but it didn’t matter what she said... I am not stupid! I noticed that something was off.” She sniffed. “She was supportive of me at first, you know,” she said quietly. “Bon Bon, I mean. We were in love, and she was so understanding… so nice. She didn’t judge me like everypony else. But then I went and mucked it all up,” she added bitterly. “Over time, she grew more and more… cold… distant… like she had lost her hope in me…” Lyra paused as a hiccup shook her, and where not moments before she stood defiant and unyielding like a mountain, her form was now akin to the most fragile and delicate china. “Of course I noticed and tried to tone down my obsession, oh Celestia, how I tried, but I could not help it. As soon as this mare in Dodge City told us about how she encountered you out here… it all came back stronger than ever, it was like I was possessed. I packed my stuff and went out here, I think I did not even say a proper goodbye to Bon Bon. I bet she even thinks that I finally went over the edge, lost my mind and has moved out already… Celestia, she is probably even preparing for a divorce…” Lyra was bawling at this point and leaned her head against my hip.

And me? Well, I just wanted to take her in my arms, stroke her mane and tell her that everything would be fine. Of course someone had to ruin that, and this someone was Lyra.

“My life is ruined… my social life… my love life… unless I bring proof,” she babbled before raising her head again, staring at me with puffy, reddened eyes “Concrete proof that Humans really do exist. And if I cannot even do that, than I would rather die right here, at the hands of a Human.”

“Y-you don’t mean that!” I said more than a little aghast.

“It’s a better fate than to keep suffering the miserable pile of manure that is my life for even one more second.” she stated with an eerie calm, as if she had already made peace with her life and was really willing to die for such a stupid reason.

I was shocked, to put it mildly. This was not in the least how I imagined my first contact with Ponykind. A run in with the Mane Six, or just one of them, or maybe Luna would find my dreams again (which would propably never happen as long as I slept in the Tower since the Tower Heart somehow managed to disrupt almost any attempts of Scrying Spells and/or Dreamwalking, as Gnarl had told me a while ago), hell, maybe even the Crusaders! But totally not this.

“Woah now, girl! Let's calm down a tad ok? Talking about ending your life over a matter like that, that’s not a thing you should speak about lightly.” I rushed out in a slight panic.

Hope glimmered in Lyra's big, amber colored eyes. “T-then does that mean you will come with me?”

“Wha?~ No!”

And like that, the hope was gone again. “Then I am not going anywhere!” Lyra half yelled, half hiccupped.

“Gah, you stubborn idiot! Why do you want to throw away your life so badly?” My frustration was beginning to tear down my inhibitions and with each passing moment, the urge to simply comply to that suicidal Unicorn’s wishes began to look really, really tempting. “Just go back home, apologize to Bon Bon and be done with it. Do something productive with your life, write a book about your theories for all I care!”

“No!” Lyra yelled at me, stomping her hooves and all defiant like, not unlike a child throwing a tantrum.

I’d just had about enough of this, and what sympathy and pity I held for the increasingly unhinged pony was quickly being replaced by an all too familiar sensation. A sensation that even this suicidal mare would think twice about provoking.

“Argh, why you little! Do you really wanna die so badly? Is that what you want? Is that really fine with you?” I snarled back, my mind already well in the process of losing itself to that irresistible haze. Mana flowed into my left palm, condensing into electricity, and even then, I had the mind to make a particularly flashy and loud show in the hopes of discouraging the weird little midget horse.
Not that it worked, of course.

“YES!” Tears streamed down Lyra´s cheeks, marking trails along her fur.

“FINE!” I took a step forward, magical lightning crackling around my armored hand. >>Come on, back out already! Run, for fucks sake!<<

“FINE!” Lyra's voice was on the verge of cracking as she lowered her body a bit in what I only could assume to be some kind of battle stance with her horn somewhat trained at me. My brow rose just a bit. Obviously Lyra´s instincts where at least in some minuscule ways overriding her conscious decisions.

I took two defensive steps backwards and took a stance myself.

The green Unicorn’s horn lit up with a flickering aura.

That was all the reason I needed, for even though I highly doubted that Lyra could produce anything that would be able to seriously hurt me, my self-preservation instincts kicked in and I let loose with my own spell.

The Corruption Spell collided with Lyra like a ton of bricks, lifting the little equine off her hooves and sent her flying backwards a good few meters. The piercing cry of agony that followed was more or less expected at this point.

And man, could she scream. The electric barrage pounded Lyra's body relentlessly and ear-splitting screams tore from her throat as I felt her resistance being whipped away like a paper screen by a point blank nuke blast. It was almost like she was not putting up any resistance at all.

Corruption, a spell that more than lives up to its name. Up till now, I’ve mostly used it in a purely offensive way, harnessing its power to completely obliterate those who would oppose me into nothingness. But just as its name implies, Corruption’s true potential lied in overriding the mind of an enemy, crushing it, eroding it, and leaving the resulting shell a suitable template to impose my will as I saw fit.
As I stood there, watching the diminutive Unicorn writhe on the ground before me, wracked by unspeakable pain, I felt my will seep into Lyra's mind like water into a dry sponge, overriding her free will with nothing but awe and total devotion to me. I knew instinctively that were I to keep my spell up just a bit longer, Lyra’s mind would soon crumble, leaving her reduced to little more than a barren shell of herself, a mindless drone to do, use and break as I pleased.

This thought was… it was enticing. Deliciously so.

Scarily so...

No! A desperate voice screamed in the back of my head, overriding the sense of domination that was so entrenched in place. It happened just in time to make me realize that if I held my spell for even just a second longer, the Corruption’s effects would begin to eradicate Lyra´s memories, her personality and her entire being.

How I came to realize exact this, I did not know but it was like a bitchslap from a heavyweight boxer, filling my stomach with cold dread and sharpening my senses to an uncanny degree.

I tried, so tried to stop. I tried to lower my hand, to stem the flow of the Corruption, yet my limb seemed possessed by a will of its own. With one last act of desperation, I gripped my wrist with my free hand and yanked as hard as I could, effectively disrupting the Mana flow, forcing my spell to angrily splutter into nothingness and for a split-second the hairs on the back of my neck stood, for I could have sworn that a heavy, oppressing presence stood just behind me, but that feeling evaporated together with my spell.

What this meant, I did not know, but I knew it couldn’t possibly be good. Still, I was all too aware what I’d just done, so I pushed these thoughts aside for the moment and rushed over to the prone and profusely smoking form of Lyra Heartstrings. For a few agonizing moments that seemed to stretch, out I feared her heart might have just quit on her, that I… that I had just murdered her. Remorse and guilt hit me like a tidal wave, the ache inside me even more powerful than Gerhard’s and Adebar´s demise by a magnitude. She was so still, so unmoving that I could not help but cover my mouth and tried to suppress a choked sob.

“Not again…. Fuck! Not again, please…” I whimpered and fell to my knees.

It’s moments like these that I wonder whether or not I am becoming a monster, and whether or not I have a say in it. Had I been without the Overlord’s influence, would I still be overcome by bouts of sadism, violence and uncontrollable anger? Or would I still be my little ol’ lovable, goofy, romantic self? And would I still be alive right now? What would my friends say? My Mom, my Dad, my little Brother…. If they saw this, all the bad things I’ve done, would they still be able to recognize me?

That thought was almost too unthinkable to ponder.

A little sound, a cough, barely perceptible but still there, resonated in the otherwise empty space of the throne room. I froze, my gaze turned upwards and there, as by some miracle, Lyra’s little body moved in tandem with her breaths. I let loose an involuntary gasp of joy and anguish as little by little, Lyra’s breaths grew in strength and was subsequently overcome by a fit of coughs, no doubt due to the strain her chords were put to as she screamed in unthinkable agony.

The thought made my heart ache all the more.

“Lyra?” I whispered.

I got no immediate response save for the Unicorn's steady breathing and I could not help but cradle her small form to me. She was warm… and cuddly even through my thick armor.

“Lyra? Can you hear me? Say something.” I asked nervously, my voice already dangerously bordering on pleading.
Her eyelids slowly flickered open and dull, amber colored eyes found mine, looking at me with an unreadable expression, and with a likewise dull, soft voice, she said, “Something.”

Simultaneously, tears blurred my vision as my heart prepared to rip itself out of my chest and my breathing began to dissolve in hitched sobs, because I just transformed an innocent Unicorn whose only crime was to try to redeem herself in the eyes of a society that ridiculed her and made her life hell on earth, into a soulless puppet.

Then something happened that took me by absolute surprise. I felt my armor shift slightly as I received my very first ponyhug ever.
I looked down and meet the gaze of a sheepishly smiling Lyra.

“Master… please, don't cry. I don't meant to make you feel bad. I… I thought it might be funny…” she said pleadingly, her voice quiet, genuine regret coloring her words and the way her ears folded back into her mane told me that she still had full access to her emotional palette.

I stared wordlessly at the Unicorn clinging to me. I felt conflicting emotions waging a bloody and merciless war inside my mind. Part of me wanted to strangle Lyra for this shitty joke that gave me the scare of the century, another part wanted to just use the opportunity to hug the stuffing out of her until she could only squeak like a dog toy, and yet another part just wanted to laugh as loud as I could in pure relief. So I did. I laughed and laughed, allowing the gamut of broiling emotions inside me to be let out, sitting in the middle of my throne room with Lyra tightly in my embrace. How long I just sat there, I don´t know but at some point, Lyra made herself known timidly.

“Uhm… Master… not that I did not enjoy getting hugged by you but… er, well… this is getting kinda awkward.” She mumbled in a low voice.

That brought me back and immediately I let go of minty mini horse. Said minty mini horse trained her unholy huge, now slightly less red eyes, on me. Both the little equine and I rose to our feet/hooves and for the span of a few moments we fidgeted in place, not knowing how to proceed.

“So… uhm… what now?”

That was indeed a good question Harpbutt just presented me with. As tempting as keeping Lyra around in my Tower was, it would produce more problems for me in the long run. For all I knew, it was only a matter of time before search parties would be deployed to search for the human-crazed pony, leaving no stone unturned and knowing my luck and the perverse pleasure by which Murphy and Fate seemed determined to stalk me, I wouldn't put it past any well intentioned ponies to stumble across my Tower. No, I had to do something else, something that would yield positive results for me and Lyra at the same time.

“Aha!” I exclaimed “Got it.”

Lyra looked at me with expecting eyes.

“You will go back to Ponyville…”

“What? No! Master, I want to stay with you!” Lyra interrupted before I shut her up with my finger firmly pressed against her lips.

“Let me finish servant.” I hissed “You will go back to Ponyville, where you will act as my spy. You will keep a watchful eye on Celestia´s little pupil Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her little friends, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. You will keep me up to date on whatever happens in your little town, seeing as Twilight still has a very close connection to your Princess of the Sun. That way, I can keep my own operations running while you notify me should someone ever get suspicious. Do you understand? Your position will be crucial to me, vassal, enabling me to stay hidden long enough to gather enough strength until keeping my presence in Equestria a secret will not be necessary anymore,” I stated, nodding satisfied with my impromptu plan.

As for Lyra, her face morphed from fear to disbelief and finally to glee, looking ready to tackle-hug me but she stopped herself on the last instant and instead opted to tear up with her hooves held in front of her mouth in this typical teeny ‘Oh my gosh!’ fashion. Thankfully she did not said it. Even if she was just the multiversal manifestation of a background character straight out of an American cartoon for little girls, I would probably have bitch slapped her thirteen ways into next week until she would have stopped using this fucking censor-talk.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Lyra rambled positively vibrated on the spot “I promise you will not regret this Master! I will be the best spy ever!” she assured me, her face again nearly split apart by a slightly manic grin.

One of the tiny voices inside my head chose that moment to tell me exactly how much I would come to regret this (admittedly rash) choice in the near future.

Turning around, I beckoned Lyra to follow me, leading her up towards the residential level of my home.

“Where are we going to Master?” my newly christened servant asked from behind me.

“We need to get you back to Ponyville for my plan to work and for that, we'll be taking a little train ride from Dodge City to your hometown. And for that my dear Lyra, we will take a little flight,” I explained to my newest lackey.

Lyra in turn made those little sounds to signify that she had listened carefully only to speak up as we entered the Treasure Chamber. “Wait, flight? How can we fly, Master? Do you have a sky chariot or an airship? Wouldn´t it be easier to fly directly to Ponyville then?”

“Would it be easier? Sure. Would it blow my cover? You can bet your marked flank on that!” I countered, looking around. “And no, I don´t have those. I have something waaay better. Hey Onyx! Get here for a sec, I need your capable claws.”

We did not have to wait long after I called her name, for my dear scaly friend quite literally rose out of a nearby pile of gems, bits and small silver ingots not unlike Smaug when he was first visited by Bilbo. I for my part grinned at the uncanny resemblance while Lyra let out an understandably surprised squeak, starring slack jawed at the still somewhat sleepy Dragoness. No wonder really, seeing as Onyx towered even over me, so she must´ve been a real giant for Lyra.

“Y-you have… a Dragon?” Minty horse squeaked, backing up behind my legs in an undeniably cute fashion.

Said fire breathing, gem-devouring menace to my riches rubbed her eyes and gave an irritated huff. “'Sup Umbra? Why do you always need something from me when I try to take a nap hm? And who´s that pony that's trying to hide behind you?”

“Onyx, meet Lyra. Lyra, meet Onyx,” I introduced with a smirk. “Lyra just happened to waltz into my Tower today and things escalated from there on. Long story short, she is my newest servant now.”

Onyx gave a nod, shoveling a handful of nut sized gems into her waiting maw, grinding the valuable stones into splinters with a few movements of her strong jaws. “And you just woke me up, why?” Onyx asked in a slightly annoyed tone, typical for someone who just wanted to go back to bed. With that at least, I could sympathize.

Putting on my best used-car-salesman smile, I explained the situation to the cranky reptile. “Well, that is a very good story and it deserves a very good answer. You see, we need to get Lyra here back home so her fellow ponies will not start searching for her far and wide which would eventually lead them to discover our location and subsequently my Tower and us.”

“That would be bad why?” Onyx asked visibly bored and/or miffed, kinda hard to tell.

“You are a Dragon, which is a general problem for any little quadrupedal veggie-eaters whose ancestors were prey species, and I look scary as fuck anyways. Plus, I control carnage-loving little kobolds which I create by draining the pure essence of life itself which could be seen as quote, unquote fundamentally evil end by a certain species of peace preaching quadrupeds who also happen to have access to a magical orbital Rainbow canon of Doom, which they love to use on things they see as fundamentally evil.”

That seemed to convince Onyx enough to give me a ‘Go on’ gesture.

“Thank you. As I was saying, to get Lyra here home, we need to board a train in Dodge City so I can get minty horse here back and divert any unwanted attention to our little neck of the mountains.”

“Then what are you standing 'round here? Go get her to that train and be done with it,” Onyx said dismissively, shooting Lyra a look like one would give a particularly bothersome fly.

“Weeell, I would if, you know, Dodge City would be around the next corner. Which it is not. So I thought you could fly us into walking distance.” I offered my best and most winning smile to Onyx.

“No,” the black Dragoness told me flat out.

“Why not?”

Onyx bristled visibly, flaring her wings a bit. “Do I look like a damn coach to you? You have healthy legs, use `em!”

“Hey, it´s okay if you can’t carry the two of us Onyx. I mean, I would never expect you to be stronger than Zinnia, I just thought you could be somewhere at the same level at last. Seeing as Zi managed to take flight with me and another person of my weight holding onto her, despite being, you know, pregnant,” I said, offering an apologetic shrug and turning to leave. “Looks like we have to walk Lyra.”

“Who´s Zinnia Master?” Lyra asked, curiosity coloring her voice. “Another Dragon?”

“No... yes. Well, not fully. She is at least one half Dragon, the other part being humanoid. Zinnia is from a neighboring dimension and my—I think your term would be ‘marefriend’," I explained to the curious equine, mentally counting down from five.

>>Four.<<

>>Three.<<

>>Two.<<

“What? What do you mean with ‘I can´t carry you’, hn, Umbra?” Onyx all but shouted, jumping from her bed of treasures to my side, blocking my path with one wing and glaring down at me.

Keeping my cool, I stared back into the intense golden orbs of my draconic friend. “Exactly what I said.” My voice took a patronizing quality as I continued “Hey, it´s no shame in being outclassed by a pregnant woman in terms of strength, even if she is only a half-blood and not a pure Dragon. If carrying me and a single Unicorn is too much for you Onyx, I accept that.”

In hindsight, a total jackass move as well as a risky gamble what I pulled on Onyx there, but how does the saying goes? Afterwards you always know more or something along these lines. At least it paid off that moment and that was what counted for me.

Flaring her wings wide and pushing her chest out, Onyx bared her teeth and small puffs of smoke escaped her nostrils. “Outclassed? I show you outclassed, Demoness! Dodge City you said? Well, let´s get going!” And before Lyra or I could say anything else, the Unicorn found herself thrown onto Onyx back, not unlike a plushie-backpack while strong hands hooked themselves under my arms and my feet lost ground contact as Onyx shot of with powerful wingbeats, through the lounge and out of my balcony.

Over me, I could Lyra scream bloody murder and prayers for her immortal soul at the same time. Me, I was busy laughing and whooping like a child in a rollercoaster.

[One dragon flight later]

“Come on Lyra, move up a gear. We need to catch that train,” I quipped cheerfully as I trotted, once again wearing my Pony-Illusion, through the outskirts of Dodge City towards the train station. Smiling, I turned to look at my companion, whose whole face was, even now with solid ground beneath her hooves, a few tinges greener than before, bringing her color scheme closer to spinach than her usual mint.

“I… urph… I hate you so much right now!” the Unicorn tried to growl but was interrupted by her stomach acting up. Again.

That day, I learned that horses indeed could puke. Well, at least ponies could. In Equestria.

“Ah ah ah, none of that sass now please.” My voice was sugary sweet as I fell back to trot besides Lyra. “It´s not my fault you can´t stomach a wee lil´ flight.”

Lifting her face out of a brown paper bag held aloft in her magic, Lyra tried to give me an evil eye but failed miserably. “Wee lil´ flight my… urph… my flank… Master…” she groused as she buried her muzzle in the confines of her barf-bag again.

For my part, I simply whistled a random tune, enjoying the nice weather.

I bought us two tickets to Ponyville and soon after we boarded the train, together with a whole lot of other ponies of all species. Interestingly enough, this train did look like something out of the late fifties or sixties, not the horridly named Friendship Express we always got to see in the show that looked like Sugarcube Corners distant cousin on wheels.

Thanks to the Multiverse for these small graces.

After choosing a nice private cabin for us, I plopped down on the plush seat and stretched my legs but kept my spell running. Since my first time using it, I had refined it and used it whenever I could to get used to the strain it put on me and my Mana reserves and was able to keep it up much, much longer before running out of Mana. I still was a good head taller than most stallions, my colors where still the same but my eyes were now ordinary yellow eyes instead of my glowing pools of light. My cutie mark was still the same too, more or less. With quite some trouble, I had managed to make it a tad more cartoonish than it originally had been to better blend in with the equine masses.

“Alright then Lyra, the ride should take an hour or so. Time we will put to use in coming up with a cover story for you and me,” I addressed the Unicorn, who was fidgeting nervously in her seat. “First off, once we get you back to Ponyville, we, that is you Lyra, need to repair your relationship with Bon Bon in order for you to have a secure and solid base of operations.”

"Base of Operations?"

I nodded sagely. "That's right, my vassal. Did you forget my assignment to you? If you are to stay here and act as my eyes and ears in Ponyville, I need you to be able to work in a stable and secure environment. That means taking care of any problems you and Bon Bon might have."

That earned me a wide eyed, ears splayed back look from Lyra. “Repair my relationship? Sure, if Bonnie is still there or even is willing to talk to me again,” She mumbled, her head and her shoulders slumping. Better to nip that in the bud.

“Hey now, nothing of that. How long have the two of you been together?"

"Almost six years."

"Well, there you go," I said simply. Don't think Lyra knew what was going through my mind. "I want you to look back real closely at your time with her. Sure, you guys have had your rough patches, but I don't think the two of you would have made it so long if you did not love or care deeply about each other, right?” I did my best to prevent this conversation from derailing any further. Last thing I needed right now was a depressive Unicorn that would botch up my nefarious master plan.

Sniffling, Lyra chanced a glance at me from under her mane that obscured most of her face. “I… well, I guess… But what should I do? After all I did, how could I ever hope to repair my relationship with Bonnie?” Lyra asked me, these big soulful eyes of her wavering with a hint of tears.

It was absolutely heart wrenching!

>>Gah, what to say?<< I mentally slapped myself for my overconfidence and my big mouth. I was barely able to get my own relationships along smoothly and now there was an emotionally devastated mare sitting right in front of me for whom I was probably the last chance to get her love life back on track. Fun-fucking-tastic!

“Weee~eell, what to do, what to do? Ah ha!” I held my hoof out with a ghost of a triumphant smile. “Okay, listen Lyra, here´s the plan: once we got you back in Ponyville, you´ll focus on Bon Bon for a good while. Do things together that she enjoys like, I dunno, walking in the park, prepare romantic dinners for her or make her small but meaningful gifts and make sure to properly show her your affection. Additionally, I want you to turn down your ‘obsession’ quite a notch.” Okay, that I could have worded a whole lot better because Lyra looked just like I had told a child Santa was not real. Holding up my hooves in a calming manner I continued before Murphy could even think about showing up “That is to say, I don´t want you to completely abandon it, quite the contrary. If you suddenly were to drop such a prominent and defining interest of yours out of the blue, it would draw more suspicion to you that it would do you good in the long run. No, you should show bits and bobs of it from time to time, be it that you bring up your newest theory regarding Humans in a discussion with Bon Bon or that you try to walk around town on your hind legs while wearing pants for all I care.” Pfhew, saved by a hairs width.

Lyra seemed to brighten up again, so it must have worked at least a bit. “I guess… yes, I guess I can do that. Uhh, I even have some ideas already. Thank you Master,” My little Unicorn beamed at me and on a later date in the undefined future, historians from all over the world would say that the Overlady's black, little heart grew three sizes that moment.

“And that leads us to the next point of the agenda. Stop calling me Master in public. That makes us look like we have some weird kind of Pet-Play going on or something, which is totes not helpful when we are trying to save your relationship with your marefriend. As long as I am in this form, you will call me Umbra Illusion, got that Lyra?”

Cocking her head like a confused puppy, Lyra asked “O~kay… if you say so Ma… ehrm Umbra I mean. But may I ask why this name? Isn´t it kind of, well, obvious?”

Now I smiled in earnest. “Yes and that is exactly the beauty of my plan. You see, there is an old saying that I grew fond of. If you want to hide something, make sure everyone can see it. So, by going by my actual name in combination with the statement that what everyone can see is just a magical phantasm, it will be so absolutely obvious that each and everyone will dismiss even the slightest notion that is anything but the truth, which it is. See? It´s fool-proof, even the Element of Honesty, should we ever meet, should not be able to find a shred of a lie when I introduce myself with this name.” I explained, nodding in approval at my own brilliance.

“Okay, if say so Umbra,” Lyra admitted.

Making myself more comfortable by lying down on my belly, I mustered Lyra from the corner of my eye. “Alright~y, now since we have your portion of the plan covered, time to work on mine. First off, a few questions.” Time to prove or disprove some Fan-Canon!

[Ponyville station]

The first thing that I noticed as I left the train was the smell. The unmistakable smell of a rural, little township consisting of the odor of tiny horses, more or less fresh hay and interestingly enough, apples.

I took a deep breath, the country bumpkin in me reveling in the homely aroma permeating the air.

A little pang of homesickness made itself know for but a moment. Luckily it was that very same moment my newest servant made herself useful by nudging me and directing my attention to some kind of poster on the wall of the station building. Curious, I approached it but just as fast came to a full stop. There was something sinisterly glowering at me down from that poster and this something was… me?

It took every shard of self-restraint in my body not to break my spell, rip the freaking wanted poster from the wall and rip it to teensy tiny shreds before setting the shreds aflame!

Now, it was not the fact that my beautiful face on the picture was more or less mixed up with my helmet, giving me a really monstrous appearance or the smaller picture on the side, showing a full body height comparison with me and a Earth Pony (with my body looking more like a deformed Diamond Dog!) that made my blood boil, it was the text underneath.

Wanted for foul crimes against the kingdom of Equestria and all Equinity. Said crimes include amongst other things the cold blooded murder of the esteemed Professor Crystal Flask of the Royal University of Canterlot, torture both psychologically and physically and more that should not be named for the sake of the elderly and children who might read this.

The creature is of unknown origin, the possibility of originally being a dweller of Tartarus is yet to be disproved. The creature is bipedal and in height similar to a Minotaur, wearing a set of heavy armor in black and red. If you spot the creature, do not approach. The creature is most likely to react to any kind of provocation with brutal violence and cannot be reasoned with. Instead, seek your nearest member of the Solar or Lunar Guard and share your findings with them.

Any relevant cues that will lead to the apprehension and subsequent imprisonment of the creature will be rewarded with the sum of one thousand (1,000) bits from the Royal Treasury.

How dared they? How fucking dared they??? My pulse was almost skyrocketing and I felt my teeth grind together. These hypocritical little shit-stains dared to put a bounty on my head, declaring me a vile beast that could not be reasoned with? If that was what I got for just defending myself and letting an innocent pony go back home, then that would have been the last time, I defended their sorry little plots!

As I stared at the wanted poster, I felt the world around me growing quiet and deep inside the darkest corners of my mind, there was the voice again. The beautiful, haunting, subtle, terrible, blunt like a sledgehammer to the face voice. ‘And so you see the truth. Despite your attempts to help them and to do good, these ponies you are so fond of see you as nothing but a monster and they will never see you as anything but. They reject and vandalize you even with your best intentions. So, why don´t we give them what they want, then? Why don´t we burn down this little hovel, plant the heads of its miserable denizens on pikes in the Towns Square and leave their bloated carcasses for the crows to pick clean?’ the silken words formed in my mind and for a seemingly endless moment, I just considered following them.

Blood was drenching the earth, turning the soil into foul smelling mud, the agonized cries of the dying and the heart splitting cries of the children as they tried to get their parents, siblings and friends to ‘wake up’ again filling the air. The wingbeats of flocks of carrion birds, big enough to bloat out the sun, drowning the slaughterhouse that once was Ponyville in darkness. Blood flowing in rivers down my armor, the mangled remains of the Element Bearers at my feet, I yelled my triumph to the Heavens between bursts of insane laughter.

It was glorious.

A sharp pain shot through my cheek and brought me back to the here and now. Baffled, I stared at Lyra whose hoof was still in motion from slapping me out of my crazed vision.

So dumbfounded about the fact that it had been Lyra to slap some sense back into me was I, that I did not managed to catch all the words that left Lyra´s mouth as she ushered me away from the train station and into Ponyville proper. It was something about me, creating a scene or something. I was more or less running on auto-pilot as I progressed what just had happened.

“… am so sorry for hitting you like that but you looked like you were about to burst in flames or something like this.”

Turning my head, my eyes met Lyra´s who wore a mixture of a sheepish and mortified grin on her fuzzy mug.

“Nah, I´m not Twilight. Bursting into flames is her shtick.” I let the words leave my mouth as I regained the full power over my mental facilities. Putting one hoof on Lyra´s withers, I added in a low but sharp voice “Thank you for preventing a potential disaster back then but Heartstrings, hit me just one more time and I swear, I will personally shave you, roll you in salt and tie you down on the roof of my Tower and will only take you down after you turned into a delicious piece of dried meat.” The hasty nodding I got in return was all I needed to know that my message had been clear and received.

After that, I came to realize that we had come to a halt in front of a simple yet homely two-story cottage with a small patch of a flower garden in front of it, one of these small, white fences and a mailbox that bore three pieces of candy in yellow and blue striped wrappers and a golden harp on the side. Bon Bon´s and Lyra´s cutie marks instead of their names. Interesting concept.

“So, that´s your house, hn?” I asked casually, and I couldn't help but notice the absence of furniture and other belongings moved out of the house and put on the side of the road. “Doesn´t look like Bon Bon has thrown your stuff out, so that is a plus. Are you sure your little magic ‘Honey, I´m coming home’ trick worked?”

“Yes, I´m pretty sure. Once I send the spell from my side, the receiving rune I made myself should have notified Bon Bon that I am on my way back home,” Lyra said, sounding quite a bit anxious.

It was truly amazing what these Ponies could do. Sure, they had no mobiles or anything but instead they had runes. Such a rune would allow the Unicorn who casted it to use it in a similar way to a pager, informing the pony in possession of the rune or the item the rune was cast on of the casters intention. In Lyra´s case, she had woven the rune in the frame of a picture that showed her and Bon Bon on the day of their wedding. Green glow meant Lyra was fine and on her way home, yellow that she was fine but would stay away just a bit longer and red meant something major had transpired, preventing Lyra to come home for an unknown timespan. Heh, traffic light system in a society that did not even had real traffic, who woulda thought?

“Now then, let´s not waste any more time. Let´s go in,” I stated and pushed Lyra towards the door, the Unicorn putting up just a feeble bit of resistance.

Moments later we stood in the living room, Lyra looked at me with uncertainty in her eyes. Rolling my own, I made a motion with my head, signaling Miss Minty Horse to announce her presence so that we could the bloody fuck get on with it.

“B-Bonnie? A-are you there? It´s me… Lyra. I´m… I´m home,” Lyra´s hesitant call floated through the house and her ears dropped as a few moments passed without an answer, without the noises of hooves on hardwood rushing towards her. But just then, a voice came from upstairs.

“I´m up here, Lyra.” Hmm, it was Bon Bon´s voice all right, she sounded like that one time when she had that line in the episode when Rarity made Fluttershy more or less model against her will.

The clattering of hooves making their way to the door alarmed me of a fleeing Unicorn. A quick movement and Lyra´s tail was pinned under my hoof, cutting her escape short.

“What in the name of Faust was that, Heartstrings?” I asked, glaring at the shaking pile of Lyra.

Lyra responded by averting her eyes “I… I can´t do it… I´m too nervous…. W-what if I botch it up and…” she stammered, doing her best to sink into the floor. Great, she was getting cold hooves!

With a sigh, I released the two toned strands of Lyra´s tail and gently nudged her with my own muzzle. Boy, that never ceased to feel strange. “Would you feel better if I am the one to get her down while you gather the remains of your courage, hm Heartstrings?” I offered with a warm smile. Now was definitively the time for sugar bread and not the whip.

That was the moment I received my second ponyhug ever. After breaking away, Lyra cleared her throat awkwardly and announced that she would wait in the living room while I would fetch her significant other.

With a slight chuckle, I watched Lyra plop down on a worn looking couch before I climbed the stairs to the first story.

After finding the bathroom and what looked like a broom closet of sorts, my hoof rested on the handle of the last door, ever so slightly pressing down on it and causing the mechanism to creak treacherously.

“Please do come in~” I heard Bon Bon´s voice beckon me inside, no doubt mistaking me for Lyra. There was something in her voice, something familiar in those silken tones.

Still, I opened the door, an apology that I am not Lyra and an invitation to meet her downstairs already on my lips but that was just as far as those poor words ever would come, as they died a merciful fast death as I fully comprehended the sight that was presented to me.

I stood in a bedroom, all the windows had their curtains drawn but dozens of candles illuminated the room instead and on a big, comfy looking bed laid Bon Bon, face towards the headboard.

With her hind legs opened wide.

And her tail bound up like you´d see it on those prissy competition horses.

Giving me the best seat in the house to marvel at her delicate flower in all its slightly puffy and moist glory.

>>Ah ha, so that´s what My little Pony pussy looks like. Good to know.<< I felt my mouth go dry and my whole body enter a shock state.

“Lyra, honey, I am so happy that you finally came home. I was so worried when you took of that morning without as much as leaving a simple letter.” Bon Bon breathed, still not looking at me, touching a slightly green glowing picture besides her with a sock glad hoof. Hmm, green and white stripped socks, Lyra´s colors. Kinda cute.

“But now you are back. I know I have not been that a supportive wife I should have been and I am sorry for that. I let all those jerks back in Canterlot and even those here in Ponyville pull me down and away from you, but that will never happen again. I am sure we can work something out, something to deal with your… special interest.” She put the picture on a night stand. “Now love, why are you still standing in the door? Won´t you join me? I dressed up just the way you like it and even prepared your favorite candy.” At the last word, the trice damned, seductive Earth Pony gave her rump a slight shake, making it wiggle enticingly.

Oh Darkness give me strength!

“Lyraaa~” cooed Bon Bon in a voice oozing with seductiveness, slowly turning her head to face me. “Please love, don´t let me wait any longAAAAAAHHHHH! OH MY CELESTIA, YOU ARE NOT LYRA!”

Yepp, and like that Candybutts mood was killed deader than Ötzi the glacier mummy.

Bon Bon let out a shriek that would have done a Banshee proud as she whirled around, covering herself with the blanket she had been lying on while I had enough decency left to make a step back, blushing with my ears splayed back and staring at the floor.

I waited patiently until Bon Bon´s scream had woken up the last dead from here to Canterlot and she instead opted for heavy panting.

Nervously licking my lips, I glanced up only for a pillow to impale itself on my horn. “Okay, I deserved that.” I admitted through flying feathers.

“Who… who are you? And where is my Lyra?” Bon Bon´s voice cut through the air and despite the audible shame raging through her, there was a undertone that was much subtler yet sharper.

“Ähm, my name is Umbra Illusion and Lyra was too nervous to come upstairs.” I detached the ruined pillow from my head and offered Bon Bon a sheepish smile. “She is waiting downstairs for you, in the living room.”

Her cheeks still burning, Bon Bon´s ears reappeared from the depths of her mane. “Is that so? Well then… Umbra you said? You can go downstairs, I´ll be with you in a minute,” She declared in a tone that booked no room for arguments so I did as I was told and went back downstairs.

I found Lyra exactly where I had left her, sitting on the couch and nursing a drink of sorts. The matching bottle sat on the table in front of her, a good quarter of the soft golden liquid missing already.

“Careful with the liquid courage Lyra.” I sat down opposite of her and snatched the bottle away just as she was about to pour herself another glass.

Pouting Lyra sat her glass back down, only for her expression change to worried again. “W-where is Bonnie? Did you meet her? What… what did she say? Is she…”

As I was about to answer as the sound of hooves emanated from the stairs. “I´m here Lyra.” Bon Bon announced her presence as she came into view, now wearing a simple blue bath robe and interestingly enough, I could see that she was still wearing her socks. I gave her a curt nod but not without adding a still sheepish smile.

Lyra on the other hand nearly leapt out of her skin, almost making me rush to calm her down but thankfully that was totally unnecessary seeing that Bon Bon beat me to it. It was tooth dissolving levels of cute to watch as the cream colored mare embraced her mint colored counterpart and simply held her close, their heads resting on each other’s shoulders with their eyes closed in an incredible display of intimacy. That was the clearest sign to make a tactical retreat if I ever got one.

I had made it halfway to the door in order to let the two of them have their privacy as Bon Bon ended the hug but not before lovingly nuzzling Lyra, causing her cheeks to explode crimson.

“Umbra, wait.” She called.

I turned my head and was met with a truly beautiful smile that conveyed all the happiness in Bon Bon´s heart as she sat there, close to Lyra as it could be without merging with her.

“Thank you. For bringing my Lyra back to me.”

“Anything for a friend, especially if she has such a cute and loving wife waiting for her,” Was my reply as I reached for the doors handle, only to turn towards the two mares again, this time with a big smirk gracing my features. “I think I will go and do a little sightseeing. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do myself okay?” Then, my smirk faded just a bit as my voice took a more serious quality. “Lyra, remember what we talked about, yes?” After seeing Lyra nod, I opened the door and strode out into Ponyville with a giddy spring in my step, the door falling shut behind me.

Hoo boy, was I going to enjoy this! Watch out Ponyville, here I come!

[Third POV]

Watching the door fall into the lock, Bon Bon turned to face Lyra. “Well, she is certainly an interesting mare, this Umbra. How did you two met?” she asked, leaning in to bury her face in Lyra´s mane.

“Uhm… well, you see Bonnie… we, yes, we met in Dodge City. In this one bar, you see…” Lyra managed to stammer out nervously.

“In a bar?” Bon Bon asked, not removing herself from her Unicorns mane.

“Yes. It was… after I went on searching all around the place for this creature that Dawn mare told us about, I could not find it. So I was pretty down the dumbs and went back to the city. There I saw this shady little bar and I was like, 'Tartarus, I´m going to drown my sorrows over my botched up life in the cheapest and strongest alcohol I could find'.”

Humming lowly, Bon Bon began to encouragingly nuzzle Lyra.

Shuddering at the pleasant feeling, Lyra continued “Well, I was still on my first drink when Umbra showed up. She told me that I had been staring at my drink for a good hour now and if I would have anything against some company. You know Bonnie, at first I thought that she might be an, you know, an… escort, looking for an easy job.”

Lyra was interrupted by the melodic giggling of the mare of her life. “Oh Ly-Ly, is it wrong that I still think it so incredibly cute that you can´t bring yourself to say whorse?”

In turn, Lyra blushed fiercely at the crude term Bon Bon so casually used. “I-I have you know that my parent´s raised me with quite some standard Bonnie. They insisted that a proper lady would never use such a word!”

“Yes, the same parents who disowned you for marrying an Earth Pony.” Bon Bon could not help it but to inject as much venom into that statement as possible. “Not for marrying another mare, but an Earth… no, a Mud Pony! That was what they called me in front of everypony on the day of our wedding.”

Sensing Bon Bon tense up, Lyra leaned into her and gave her a nuzzle of her own. “Shh, they don´t matter now Bonnie. All that matters are we. Where was I? Ah yes, so Umbra asked me if I wanted some company and since I did not particularly cared that moment, I was all ‘Sure why not?’, so she sat down with me. After a while we began to talk, about everything. A bit of Politics, a bit of Economics, something about the last Hoofball game and after a while, she asked about my hobbies. A bit reluctantly I told her about my… fascination with Humans.”

Lyra paused there, just like she had studied it with Umbra during the train ride.

“And?” Bon Bon asked curiously. That was what Lyra had hoped for.

“You see, I was afraid that she would laugh at me like all the others but imagine my surprise when she told me that was fascinated with Humans and Anthropology too!” Lyra beamed, a genuine smile on her muzzle while Bon Bon let out a minuscule groan. “So we began talking for hours, comparing our theories, findings and our beliefs in general. Do you know that Umbra thinks that Humans started out as some kind of little rodents in a time when Dragons were still ruling the planet unopposed and us Ponies where still little forest dwelling critters, long before the Three Tribes were formed?”

“That´s a… interesting take on it,” Bon Bon admitted. “Certainly as interesting as your own theory that Humans live underground like Diamond Dogs after losing a territorial dispute with the early Minotaur tribes.”

“Isn´t it? Anyways, after that, she asked me where I came from. Turned out that Umbra is originally from Germaneigh, you know, this little nation on top of Prance?”

“Lyra, this ‘little nation’ is nearly a quarter the size of Equestria.” Bon Bon playfully chided.

“Yeah but then how comes that they ain´t got no amazing Princesses like we do? All they have is this weird Chancellor that they need to elect new all couple of years or so?” Lyra said, her snout held high in fake elitism.

“Which is a long and respected Earth Pony tradition, since the land was founded by Earth Ponies who split of the main group after the ‘long Winter Exodus’ Ly-Ly.”

“Hmm, fair point Bonnie. As I were, turned out that Umbra was traveling for a while now, following the wind as she put it, to see as much of the world as she could before she would eventually return home. Or settle down somewhere. Her words, not mine. Anyway, eventually she asked me where I was from and well… it was probably the drink talking together with my frustration but I more or less started bawling and telling her everything. About us, about Canterlot and about how I simply up and left you for another fruitless hunt for any trace of Humans. Umbra then spend quite some time consoling me, holding me like you always do Bonnie while stroking my mane and my back… after she managed to get me to stop, we had a long and serious talk. I think the last time I had a talk so serious was during my last years in Celestia´s School for gifted Unicorns. Umbra pretty much put my head back on straight about many things. She told me that I could not let negativness and regret rule my life, that I was the one in control and no one else, whatever I might believe. But most importantly, she…” Lyra stopped again, this time because two big turquoise eyes bore into her own amber colored ones. After an unspoken signal, she continued “But most importantly, she helped me realize that no matter what bad things might happen in my life, there is one pony that I never want to lose, from now on till the end of time. And that pony, is you Bon Bon.”

Cream colored lips met mint colored ones in a tender, loving kiss and for a few precious moments, complete harmony filled the moderate living room.

“B-bonnie… “ Lyra gasped as they separated, her cheeks glowing brightly “Does that mean you forgive me?”

In turn, Bon Bon caressed her mares cheek, not breaking eye contact with Lyra. “Forgive you? Oh Ly-Ly, if anything, I should ask you to forgive me. If I had been just a bit more attentive, all this might have never happened.”

“Bonnie…” Lyra started but was cut short by a hoof gently coming to rest on her lips.

“No Ly-Ly, I won´t hear anything of that right now. Fate just brought you back to me whole and unharmed, I don´t want any arguments spoiling this moment. Tomorrow, we can start arguing and work something out but right now, I just want to show you how happy a mare you make me. Afterall,” Bon Bon left the couch and slowly made her way to the stairs. She then turned her head ever so slightly to give Lyra a smoldering gaze. “I just prepared your favorite candy and it would be such a shame to let it go to waste, wouldn´t it?”

The bath robe opened and slid of Bon Bon´s body, revealing what was underneath.

A few rouge sparks of magic shot out of Lyra´s horn as her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.

Setting her hoof on the first step of the stairs, Bon Bon lidded her eyes and breathed in a husky voice “Don´t let me wait Ly-Ly.” before she ascended towards her shared bedroom.

Lyra followed close behind, smiling brighter than a foal on Hearts Warming.

>>Oh. My. Frikken. God! I am really walking through Ponyville, a real life Ponyville! With real life Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies!<<

I barely avoided squeeing as I positively bounced down the beaten dirt road through the colorful, little township, my eyes never resting for more than a few moments on the same spot, flying from Pegasi zipping through the air, pushing clouds into position or busting them with a quick kick to Earth Ponies working in small gardens in front of their houses to the occasional Unicorn, who to my secret delight went about their daily lives, things like shopping baskets, books and what not held aloft in colorful clouds of telekinetic energy.

There was so much to see, so much to take in and just so precious little time until my Mana would finally run out and my disguise would fall, revealing that the truth underneath.

The beast, the monster that was both feared and wanted by these very ponies. I felt such unbridled, childish glee over just watching them do their daily routines.

With the mental equivalent of a bulldozer, I shoved that particular thought as far back into my mind as I could, hell-bent on making the most out of every minute here.

Sure, technically this was my second romp through Ponyville if I were to count that one visit in Wade's 'Verse but that was only a blitz visit at best.

Speaking of Wade, a certain discovery came back to mind, a rather peculiar shop that I wanted to visit in my own 'Verse if possible.

Looking up, I searched for the next road sign and sure enough, I found one informing me that I currently stood on the ‘Mane Street’, corner ‘Hay Ave.’. I had already made sure to check the state of one of Ponyville's most prominent buildings and lo and behold, the famous Treebrary lay rooted where it should be.

That told me two things. Either my Verse's Twilight was still a Unicorn or she was an Alicorn already, which in turn meant that soon a certain magic-sucking Centaur would pay this lovely place a visit to do some major re-decorating. Something I was totally undecided about, whether I should find a good spot to watch Sparklebutt and Tall, Red and Leeching duke it out or to book it until the storm had blown over.

Taking a turn to the left, I peered into another side road after four failed attempts and sure enough, there, neatly nestled between two surprisingly bland looking houses sat the object of my desires.

Lingerie & Refrigerators.

With a small chuckle, I approached the ridiculously themed and named shop, pushing the door open.

Upon entering, I felt pretty underwhelmed. The sales room was neatly separated, with all kinds of funky looking fridges on one side and aisles in combination with quite a few pony shaped mannequins displaying panties and socks galore and of course a few curtained dressing booths on the other.

Besides me, there was only what looked like a couple of elderly ponies looking at a bulky beast of a refrigerator in a garish orange that would have not looked out of place in Fallout and what I assume to be the owner of the shop or at least a clerk of sorts, manning… ponying… standing behind a counter.

I mean seriously, what had I been expecting? Some kind of racy Victoria´s Secret equivalent?

Walking amongst the displayed goodies, I enjoyed the faux atmosphere of normalcy that came from such a simple activity as going shopping, only to start missing Vivi or my other female friends with a vengeance, who I would trade idle chit-chat with or the occasional dirty joke ending in pearling giggles when we went lingerie shopping together.

With a sigh, I shook my head, turning my attention to more pleasant things. Namely, panties in every color and I must admit quite some impressively naughty cuts. For colorful, little horsies at least.

Mentally cracking my knuckles because right now there was nothing to crack, I began the tedious task of selecting new undies from the aisle.

>>Hmm, to small.<<

>>Don’t like that color.<<

>>Sweet Mother Mary giving Buddha a lapdance, there is barely any fabric on this one!<<

>>Too small. Again!<<

Soon, I had dug through the whole aisle and had not managed to find one frakking pair of panties for me!

Letting out a snort my gaze fell on the pony behind the counter, a gangly male specimen of the Pegasus variety as far as I could see it.

With an ominous smile on my face, I stalked towards the salespony. For some reason, I always took great delight in roping male employees into my lingerie shopping sprees when I had the chance too.

Easily looming over the poor sap, I showcased my pearly whites and purred “I am ever so sorry my good sir, but I seem to have a few problems finding panties that fit my physique. Would you be a gentlestallion and help a mare out? I would be ever so grateful.”

I must have at least done something right because the stallion’s ears folded back while his wings began to ruffle noticeable and he swallowed audibly.

[…]

With a big bag full of new, princess sized underwear in tow I exited the store, leaving a pile of bits and an exhausted and slightly anemic Pegasus in my dust.

Starting to hum happily, I trotted down the road, towards my next destination.

It took not long and the single most famous bakery in the whole fandom came into view. Sugarcube Corner in all its pseudo-saccharine glory rose up before me, delicious smells of at least one dozen ways to clog your arteries and make your teeth a playground for cavities wafted from the open door and caressed my nose like a lovers touch.

My stomach growled loudly in tandem with the part of my brain that controlled my sweet tooth, nearly flipping all the lids at the prospect of finally being able to indulge in proper sweets again.

Being so clearly outvoted, my insecurity of eventually meeting a member of the Mane Six was just flipped the mental bird and sat back, cracking a beer open.

Inside, Sugarcube Corner was… well, it was certainly homey. The counter with the glass where all the baked goodies were on display were just like in the show, complete with one of these old fashioned cash registers. Along the walls sat neat, little booth like niches consisting of a central table with a couch seat thingy on two sides, reminding me of these cliché Dinners one always saw in old American movies.

After appraising the interior, my eyes wandered towards the real price and by Darkness, I felt drool dripple down my chin then and there.

Eclairs, Bear Claws, a wide assortment of Muffins, something that looked suspiciously like still warm and steaming Pie (Apple if I had to venture a guess), Cakes of almost every variety, Donuts, Cookies in all forms and shapes, Danish pastries…

“Can I get you something dearie?” a voice ripped me from my ogling.

“Hwuah?” I stated in a perfect display of my high class linguistic skills, looking at the pudgy mare behind the counter who wore a knowing smile.

“Your first time here, right? You are probably a tourist, yes?” the genuine Missus Cake asked me. “Decided that you should take a short stop at Sugarcube Corner, to try some of Equestrias finest baked goods and maybe meet the Bearer of the Element of Laughter or something along these lines, hm?”

That had me pretty dumbfounded and I guess it showed on my face because Mrs. Cake gave herself a satisfied nod before addressing me again. “Let me guess, you read one of those tourist information flyers they hoove out at the train station?”

“Ehrm, no. Actually, I´m a friend of Lyra Heartstrings, she told me about this place.”

That seemed to surprise the older mare a bit but her surprise soon turned into one of these matronal smiles. “Really now? That´s wonderful to hear dearie. We all were a bit worried about Lyra, that mare can be more eccentric at times that our very own Twilight Sparkle. Seeing that she is still able to make new friends is a huge relief.”

That piqued my curiosity “Do you know Lyra well?”

“Hmm, my husband and I run Ponyvilles only bakery dearie. You would be surprised how fast you develop a connection to the ponies who swing by every day or so for a piece of cake or to chat with their friends over a cup of coffee. Off course I do know Lyra and also Bon Bon. They used to come by every second weekend but I have not seen Lyra in a while now. Heard through the grapevine that she was out and about on one of her hyoo-mun hunts again.”

“Humans. It´s Humans.” I corrected, causing the baker mare to lift an eyebrow slightly.

“Oh right, that was it. But how do you know?”

“You could say I kinda picked Lyra up in a shady bar in Dodge City and set her head back on straight after we talked a while. Could not let that mare ruin her life like that, especially when with all those nice theories she had about Humans. Certainly something I could incorporate into my own.” I told Mrs. Cake.

She hummed nodding before giving me a much more scrutinizing gaze. Apparently she found what she wanted as she nodded again. “Well, it is nice to meet a pony that believes in this kind of things and is still able to see the tip of her snout clearly. Celestia be my witness, Lyra can really use such a friend. Make sure to keep her in check for a bit, will you, dearie? Anyways, what can I get you?”

Nodding in turn, I gestured to a prime specimen of a marble cake with a thick layer of white frosting covering it. “That, please.”

“Alright, one piece of iced marble cake,” Mrs. Cake said as she reached to take one of the pre-sliced pieces out for me only for me to speak up.

“No, no. The whole cake, to go please,” I said, making a small circular motion with my hoof for emphasis.

“If… you say so dearie,” Mrs. Cake replied, looking a bit dumbfounded but soon regaining her bearing as she put the cake carefully into a white cardboard box with the words Sugarcube Corner in flowing script on the sides and put it on the counter. “That will be ten bits, then.”

Handing over the money, I took my cake and if I hadn't looked like a Unicorn right now, my hand would have trembled like a junkie's going cold turkey as I fished a slice of baked gloriousness from its cardboardy confines and took an eager bite, easily chomping down half of the generous slice.

I ate a lot of sweets in my life, English sweets, Turkish sweets, Japanese sweets and of course sweets from all over Germany and its neighbors but all of that paled in comparison to the piece of Heaven gracing my taste buds that very moment.

The sweetness of the rich icing was completely in synch with the vanilla and the chocolate flavor of the cake, the icing was the exact middle ground between sticky and smooth while the cake was just moist enough to make chewing pleasantly and not form a hard to swallow clump in one’s mouth.

Without swallowing the first part, I chomped down the last remainder of the slice, chewed and with a, thankfully muffled, moan swallowed to clear my mouth for the only words that could describe the feeling that was boiling up inside me right now like a force of nature and which would probably had ripped me apart to made itself known to the world if I hadn´t.

“Oh fuck. The. Hell. Yes!”

Several cries of indignation rang out as patrons chided me for my crude language and even Mrs. Cake looked quite taken aback behind her counter, her mouth slightly open.

“Eh he he, sorry everypony.” I grinned sheepishly and made for the door, cake and shopping bag floating around me.

With two of three points checked of my agenda, I decided to make a beeline to my last target, Golden Oaks library.

Two more slices of heaven in cake form met their demise on the way.

After wiping my mouth with my leg, I knocked on the door and entered. I was not halfway in as a notable annoyed voice rang out.

“Oh for Celestia´s sake, this is a public library! When will these ponies learn that just because I happen to live in the upper levels, they do not need to… knock… every time…” Twilight-still-a-Unicorn-Sparkle vented her frustration as she came into view, curiously enough with a pair of thin, wire frame reading glasses on her nose. As she saw me, she froze which in turn caused me to do a rather frantic check of my Mana reserves to check if my spell was still active or if it had petered out on me the moment I entered the House of Knowledge.

Thankfully, I found my magical reserves quite reduced but they were still there and so was my spell.

Clearing her throat, a slight blush painted Twilights cheeks as she magicked the glasses away. “Sorry, for a moment I mistook you for somepony else. You have quite a similar build to somepony I knew. Well, except he is an Earth Pony and you are an Unicorn obviously. Also, his coat is not black, hehe. Sorry again.” Purple Smart rubbed the back of her head.

“Think nothing of it. You would not believe how often that happens to me.” I told her, smiling amiably. “Guess that comes with the territory.”

“I think I can imagine,” Twilight told me before a look of realization took over her features. “You are new, aren´t you? Because I cannot remember seeing your file in the Town Halls archives—they asked for my help with cataloguing them, see. In this case, welcome to Golden Oaks Library, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I am the librarian here. How can I help you?” Twilight introduced herself, beaming brightly at me.

“Nice to meet you Miss Sparkle. My name is Umbra Illusion, a pleasure to meet you. I am indeed new in town; I am a friend of Lyra on a short visit,” I replied.

“Just Twilight, please.”

“Alright… Twilight,” I chuckled and strolled around the room, taking in the ambiance and comparing it to the show. Scanning the shelves, I addressed the Not-Princess. “Say, do you have anything regarding cross dimensional theories, travel between different realms of reality or something like that?”

“Oh. That is an interesting choice I must say. Not many ponies look into such things and most of those who do want something out of the fiction segment,” Twilight stated, her horn already aglow, causing several books all over the room to light up in the same aura. “Do you want fiction or non-fiction?”

“Non-fiction, please.”

Accompanied by the soft hum of magic, three moderately thick books floated through the air and landed gently on the big table in the center of the room.

“There you go. The Multiverse and You – A Guide in laypony's terms written by Void Jumper, Endless Universes, Endless Possibilities by Professor Hawk King and No need to Panic, just bring your towel by Ford Mustang of course. Each of those are brilliantly written, even though I highly suspect that the one from Ford Mustang was originally intended as some kind of entertainment novel but the ideas and theories in it have merit nonetheless.” Twilight told me, neatly arranging the books in a single row in front of me. “Do you need something else?”

Looking over the books, I shook my head slightly. “No thank you, I´m good. When I am done reading, what should I do with the books?”

“Just let them on the table or put them on the little cart over there,” the purple librarian gestured to said cart that was halfway stacked with books “Then Spike or I will put them back to their proper places later.”

Plopping down on a conveniently placed pillow, I opened the book from this Void Jumper guy first. The name more or less sold it to me.

I was about halfway through the first page as a shudder ran down my spine and caused me to tremble rather voilently. Someone was standing right behind me, the shudder was a surefire way to tell. It was something I got from Mom´s side of the family, they all had this weird shtick.

“If you don´t mind me asking, why exactly these kind of books?” Twilights voice came from behind me, accompanied by the sound of her magic and the creaking of small wheels. I turned slightly to see that she was indeed sorting the books from the cart back into the shelves.

Continuing to read, I answered, “Oh that. It´s for a hobby of mine, you see?”

“Oh really? What kind of hobby would require knowledge of trans dimensional travel?” Twilight inquired, never ceasing her own work.

“Anthropology.”

I swear, I heard all of Twilights gears screech to an abrupt halt and like a flash, she was at my side.

“What? You can´t be serious! There are zero evidences that would solidify the existence of Humans on the whole world of Equus! It is common knowledge that by now, all leading scientists and historians all over the world are in mutual agreement that every invention ever intended for, ugh, hands had been made by either the Griffins or the Minotaurs and in some extremely rare cases, the Dragons and Diamond Dogs. Even Princess Celestia and Luna themselves declared that they never in their long lives encountered a creature that called itself a Human!” Twilight managed to sound pissed and a bit crazed at the same time “I can´t believe that there are still ponies who, despite all these facts believe that these Humans exist somewhere. Ugh, they are clearly urban myths like Big Hoof or The White Mare!”

“I know. Because of this, my own theory is that Humans actually live in a neighboring dimension and have or at least had the means to travel between them, with one of those travels leading them to Equestria,” I stated calmly, opening the next book.

“Well, as much as I would like to disprove your theory with sound, proved and acknowledged facts, I still have a library to run,” Sparklebutt huffed and of she went, to do whatever her little horsey brain told her to do, leaving me to my own devices.

I spent the next few hours reading, occasionally checking my remaining Mana. I must admit, I did not really understood most of the stuff in these books but what I could puzzle together told me that I must have been on the right track. For the rest, I would probably need a Unicorn to make sense of the magic babble. Lucky me that I had such a conveniently placed lackey of my very own at my beck and call.

As my latest check on my magical juices in combination with the growing mental strain told me that I only had thirty minutes tops before my spell would fail, I closed the book, took my stuff and left the library, half yelling a ‘Goodbye’ over my shoulders.

>>Okay, time for the last part of the agenda.<<

>>Hey Gnarl, can you hear me?<< I asked into the ether, feeling even this simple activity fill my mind with the mental counterpart to pinpricks. Really, really unpleasant.

>>Of course I can hear you Milady,<< promptly came the croaked answer >>By the way, where are you? We have not seen hide or hair of Your Ladyship for almost the whole day.<<

>>I´m infiltrating Ponyville and marking stuff for later pillaging by Minion SPEC Ops but that is not why I called you, Gnarl. I need you to locate me a position for a stable portal. Pronto, my Mana won´t last me much longer and right now, I´d rather not be me,<< I responded, unable to hide my growing crankiness due to low Mana reserves.

There was silence on Gnarl's side of the line for a few moments and I was about to rather aggressively call out but the walnut beat me to it as his voice again filled my ears. >>Alright Milady, as I see it, there should be a fitting spot nearby. From what I can gather, it´s in some sort of forest. Does this say anything to you, Milady?<<

>>In fact it does, Gnarl. Good job, see you later in the Tower. You might go and prep some of our sneakiest Minions for a little plunder and ransack mission later tonight, would ya?<<

>>It will be my utmost pleasure, Milady,<< Gnarl answered and I could almost hear him rub his wrinkly claws in gleeful anticipation before the line went quiet.

With that taken care of, I quickened my pace. If my guess was correct, my new portal would be sitting somewhere in the Everfree. Not a bad location per se. The nasty critters there would act as excellent guardians in combination with the ponies' unwillingness to enter the forest and I could probably harvest a nice amount of souls from them if I should run low.

Only thing left to do was give Lyra a quick head's up and then I would be off.

Luckily, Fate seemed to mean me well for a change because that or it found a new victim to torment, for I found my newest servant sitting on a bench not far from her house, with a disheveled mane and a dopey look etched onto her muzzle, playing a nice little tune on her namesake with her magic.

“Yo, Lyra!”

“Hm? Oh, hello Umbra,” Lyra greeted me, setting her instrument down beside her.

The moment I came into smelling distance, a fragrance hit me that I was very familiar with. Immediately, a grin split my lips, despite my slightly aching head. “Well, well Heartstrings, someone got lucky hn? Good for you.”

“Thanks to you, Umbra,” Lyra admitted, sheepishly sniffing at herself only to crinkle her nose as she noticed her odor.

“Well, I can be benevolent on occasions,” I quipped “But I did not just come by for that, I´m going to leave for now. I have what I want or will soon have it. Before I go, I will establish a waypoint close by. Your orders, Heartstrings, are to keep on working on your relationship with Bon Bon. Do that for at least the whole next week, then I want you to start with your observations. Keep your profile low and… hmm… is there a safe place for you to deposit your reports for me until I can have one of my Minions collect them?”

Lyra thought about that for a moment, rubbing her chin with her hoof. “Well, there is this one old well a bit down the road. It had been dried up long ago and was later on filled with earth and rocks from Sweet Apple Acres when they built a new cellar. By now it's only deep enough for a foal to hide in.”

“Is it one of these wells with a little roof and a bucket on a rope?”

“Yes, why do you ask? Oh, should I deposit my reports in the bucket?”

I gave it a short thought before shaking my head. “No, too obvious. Instead, I want you to secure your reports to me on the underside of the roof. Also, don’t use my name or your own in them, just in case someone should find one of the reports by accident.”

“Understood,” Lyra nodded.

“Good, then I´ll be off. Oh and here, for you and Bon Bon. Enjoy,” I handed Lyra two slices of cake before I took off, down the road and towards the Everfree.

Switching to my Ley Sight, it was not hard to find the spot Gnarl mentioned. It was glowing like a lighthouse and easily visible, despite being well inside the forest's borders.

After I had made sure that no pony was around, I quickly dove into the thick underbrush, following the bright flare in front of me. Halfway I let my disguise fade away, mostly because it was easier that way to move through the branches, bushes and the other kinds of shrubbery.

Heh, it was almost funny, even the forest seemed more or less designed with ponies in mind seeing as all the thick underbrush barley came up to my thighs.

And all the monsters roaming around? Thankfully I had no run-in with them, for I was pretty beat from keeping my pony spell up that long. My pounding head told me that I was still far away from being as good as I would like to think that I was.

Parting the last piece of greenery before me and ducking under one last low hanging branch, I entered a small clearing. To the unsuspecting eye, it was just that but for me, well.

Scraping the last ounces of Mana and willpower up, I reached out for the Ley Line and mercifully fast, the teleporter platform, surrounded again by a half circle of pillars rose from the ground. Fittingly for the surroundings, moss and vines covered the dark stone.

A tired sigh escaped my lips as I stepped on the center of the stone plate, the runes all around me glowing blue as the magic came to life that would bring me back to my tower.

Holding my box of cake and my bag of underwear close, I felt almost all the tension that had built up in me during my little adventure flake off me.

All that was left for me was the wish to take a long, hot bath, drink a glass wine and take a long nap.

Blue light swallowed me and I was gone.

Author's Notes:

Hey folks.^^ Here, have a bunch of last minute updates for your entertainment till Nes Year.

The second half of this chapter is currently undergoing proof reading but I felt like giving you the first anyways, I hope you don´t mind.^^

Ta-daa, I present you the complete chapter. Boy, I´m never uploading unfinished chapters again, way to much work.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed Umbras little romp through her version of Ponyville and her first real interactions with the Pon-Pons.

As usual, this chapter was brought to you in jolly co-operation with the lovley and ever so patient ArreClonClipo.

New servant aquired: Lyra Heartstrings
This slightly unhinged if not enthusiastic little Unicorn is now at Umbra´s back and call.
This will totaly not come back to bite her in the ass in any kind of way...

Minion Horde Capacity: 35

Domination: ++

Destruction: