As we were leaving the next day, Celestia gave Twilight and I tickets to some ball that was happening in a few months. She even made sure Twilight had enough for all her friends to come with her, including Spike. I wasn’t sure what was so amazing about the Grand Galloping Gala but Twilight didn’t stop bouncing in glee until we were on the train.

Once back in Ponyville we learned that Big Mac, who I did confirm to be Applejack’s brother, had pulled a few muscles trying to lug a cart with too much in it. As such he couldn’t help with the harvest that was only days away. Twilight and the others wanted to help but Applejack was rather stubborn about it. Didn’t stop them from trying to convince me to talk to her about it though. Whenever they did my only response was “Applejack’s family owns the farm. I’m not going to question her judgement.”

Thankfully we ended up not needing their help. We got through applebuck season in record time in fact and that might have been due to me using magic to make lifting things easier.

Once that was done things went back to their normal routine of work in the morning, searching for anything about a crystal tree in the evening, and then training at night. Once in awhile I was forced to hang out with the ponies. Usually consisted of me just going through the motions and avoiding Pinkie Pie. The only person I actually enjoyed being around was Spike.

I don’t know how but Spike and I became bros pretty quickly. Maybe it was just because the male to female ratio in this town seriously favored the latter. Whenever the both of us had enough of the girls we would go have some man time, just the two of us. This more often than not consisted of us doing the things Twilight normally wouldn’t allow us to do, which I think made it all the sweeter. To be honest, if he didn’t obviously care for Twilight so much I would have offered him a position in my evil empire.

Anyway, things followed this pattern for about a week and a half before something different happened. It started as a fairly normal day. I had just finished work and was heading back to the library when I heard thunder. First I looked up but didn’t see any storm. With that not being a possibility I looked around until I found Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash talking with Spike by the town hall. From what I could tell they had scared him using a cloud.

Oh ya, by the way, pegasi can manipulate the weather. No questions, just roll with it.

Soon the two ponies had left to go scare some other poor sap I assumed. I decided to go over and help Spike pick up the scrolls he hadn’t burned away with his fiery hiccups.

“Hey Spike, need a hand?”

“Oh” *hic* “hey Don” *hic* “sure” I grabbed the remaining scrolls as Spike attempted to control himself but to no avail. I then got a nasty idea and quickly feigned terror.

“S-spike. W-what is th-th-that?” I pointed somewhere behind him as the ignorant dragon turned around.

“What is it?” *hic” “It isn’t a” *hic* “m-monster is it?” With him facing away I didn’t need to hide my evil grin as I crept up behind him.

“Boo!” That made him jump about twice his height into the air. Once he had landed he turned himself around.

“Hey! What did you do that for?”

“To get rid of your hiccups. They’re gone now, see?” That and I just wanted to scare you. It took him a few seconds to realize this but once he did he wasn’t mad anymore.

“Oh ya! Thanks Don.” I handed him the scrolls and we both started heading to the library. As we stepped inside Twilight was hard at work mixing chemicals or something like that.

“Hey Twilight, whatcha working on?” Her only response was to shush me as she wrote something down on her easel. As she turned to mix the chemicals I noticed the ink disappear from the paper.

“Um Twilight, I think-”

“Not now Don!” She watched as the mixture turned purple, but when she turned to look at her notes she noticed the same thing I had. She began to freak out as she looked between the paper and the bubbling mixture before it finally exploded in a puff of smoke.

Right after we began to hear giggling from outside the window. We all looked to see Pinkie and Rainbow laughing up a storm. Twilight simply smiled and went to get another ink bottle to replace the one they had sabotaged while I watched the two of them run off.

Pranking huh? Better stay inside where it’s safe. Something tells me Pinkie would use this as a chance to ‘accidentally’ put me in the hospital.

“Oh no, looks like I’m out of ink. Don, would you mind going out and getting some more?”

Damn you Faust! You did that on purpose. “I dunno Twilight. With those two on patrol I’m not feeling up for walking around.”

“Oh don’t be silly. They’re just harmless pranks. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Of course she says that. Doesn’t she know the probability of something bad happening skyrockets when you say that? “Fine.”

I made my way toward the market as quickly as I could without looking like a murderer was after me, which there might as well have been. It wasn’t until on the way back that something happened. I was walking along a road that went by a steep hill when I heard a pink poofy demon shout “FIRE!”

I turned around fast to find myself looking down the barrel of a cannon! Where the hell did she get that!? Before I could even react a clump of confetti, streamers, and other party goods hit me dead center and sent me airborne. Didn’t take long for me to hit the ground only I wasn’t on the road anymore, I was sliding down the hill.

Having been blinded by colorful paper I quickly began pulling at my face. Once I could see I found I was only about three seconds from going face first into a nasty looking bramble. Thankfully my training took over from there. I lifted my hands and used them as a physical medium to focus my magic. I then pushed off the ground with all my might both magical and physical and soon I was airborne once again. This time however when I landed I started to tumble until finally...

*SPLASH*

I landed in a shallow river on my ass. All the paper party favors clung to me as they became as soaked as I was. Overall I was not happy, and I imagine Fluttershy could tell that as she approached me rather sheepishly.

“Um, Don? Are you okay?” I didn’t answer as I knew if I said or did anything right now I was very likely to kill something. I resigned to just sitting there and taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down before-

“Hiya Don! That looked like fun. You wanna go again?” Pinkie Pie was bouncing around as happy as can be as she secretly antagonized me which did nothing good for my mood. I thankfully found enough self control to stand up and walk over to the side of the river Fluttershy was standing on before saying anything.

“I really need to get back to the library. Twilight needs her ink.” For the most part my voice sounded rather strained. Thankfully Fluttershy was more worried about my condition then how I was acting. Wasn’t long before a giggling Rainbow Dash came down the hill with a cloud holding the cannon.

“That was awesome! We got you good Don.” By now my anger was all directed at Pinkie so I managed a smile.

“Ya, you got me. You two are definitely the pranking champs around here. Now I really need to head back. I don’t want Twilight to freak out or anything.”

Pinkie Pie jumped across the river and held out a set of saddlebags I quickly identified to be mine. “Here Don. You dropped this.”

For a moment I was hesitant to touch them as I expected them to explode as soon as I did. Before any of the others could get suspicious though I grabbed them and started walking down the river toward the bridge that would lead back into town.

Once I was well away from anyone I found myself a small clearing to hide in while I worked. First I took on the task of removing all the party junk from me. A bit of magic telekinesis helped speed this up but it was still tedious as hell. I also couldn’t do anything about being wet unfortunately.

With the pile of paper next to me I took on my next task of making sure whatever trap Pinkie had set in my bags would not get the better of me. I levitated them out about ten feet before gently opening one of the bags. Nothing happened with the first, however the second one shot out another salvo of confetti and streamers. These seemed to have the added bonus of glue as I watched it all stick to the side of a tree.

Nice try! I couldn’t help but smile at my small victory. I made double sure that nothing else had been booby trapped before returning the bag to my hand and throwing it over my shoulder. By the time I got back to the library I had dried off so it seemed like nothing had happened.

Twilight on the other hand was rather annoyed by my tardiness. “What took you so long?”

I pulled a bottle of ink out of the bag and held it out for her magic to grasp. “Pinkie and Rainbow happened. I ended up having to pick wet confetti off of me for about half an hour.”

“I suppose that sounds rather annoying but still harmless. I told you you were acting silly.” She took the cap off the ink once it was at her side and started writing. She wrote out her notes as before, and just as before it disappeared.

As Twilight stared at the paper in shock I could feel my eye twitching. My anger finally boiled over as I raised my fists to the air and yelled at the top of my lungs.

“PINKIE PIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!”

* * *

I spent the rest of the day inside to keep myself from killing anyone. In the state I was in I was a bomb waiting to go off. Fortunately a night of evil training and plotting was all I needed to feel right as rain. Not so fortunately my work for the following day consisted mostly of cleaning paint off of apples. Guess who was responsible for that?

Work aside, my day did turn out a bit better when Pinkie suddenly fell from the sky with some popped balloons. It was rather hilarious to see her land on her head like that. She didn’t even notice me as she quickly recovered and ran off. A few seconds later I saw her flying above in this thing that looked like the cross between a bicycle and a helicopter.

How in the world does she make this stuff? I shrugged and continued walking but it wasn’t long before she came back down, her contraption shattering as it spun out of control. This time I couldn’t help but laugh as loud as I could.

This got her attention real quick. “Shut up you! This is no time for laughing.”

I wiped away a tear as I tried to compose myself enough to speak. “F-from where I’m standing this is a perfect time to laugh.”

She huffed and started heading toward town. “I don’t have to deal with you right now. There’s some mean ol’ griffon here that claims to be Dashie’s friend but she’s nothing but a bully. She broke my Ppafbr!”

A griffon that Pinkie doesn’t like AND broke one her silly contraptions? Sounds my kind of gryphon. “Alright have fun.” I started heading toward town trailing behind Pinkie.

It wasn’t long before she just had to talk again. “Stop following me!”

“I’m not following you. We’re going to the same place.”

“Ya right. Next you’re gonna say you are going to Twilight’s too.”

“Actually I am. I do live there after all.”

“A likely story. What evidence do you have to support these claims?”

I can’t believe this. “How about the fact that I sleep there, I eat a good amount of my meals there, and, this might be a stretch, but how about you just ask any of your friends where I live?”

“I’ll be sure to.” Okay, at this point she’s just trying to annoy me.

Soon we were both at the library. Pinkie actually did ask Twilight if I lived here which, after some confusion, she did testify to the fact. I didn’t stay to hear whatever it was she wanted to talk to Twilight about as I had something else to do rather than my normal studying.

I think it’s about time I made a real friend, and it sounds like this griffon and I have a lot in common.

* * *

I spent the afternoon searching for Rainbow Dash and the griffon in hopes that I could meet her but had no such luck. Since Pinkie had gone to such degrees earlier to reach them in the sky I assumed they were still up there. With nothing better to do I decided to walk around town until they returned to earth.

As I was walking about I spied Pinkie Pie only she wasn’t happy and this time it wasn’t because she saw me. She sat outside Sugarcube Corner drinking a milkshake looking glum. Suddenly she stopped and dropped down, nearly knocking her milkshake off the table. I followed her eyes to see Rainbow Dash and who I assumed to be the griffon coming in for a landing.

Perfect. I walked over and leaned against a building while I cast my hearing spell on the griffon. Soon my hearing had been replaced with the sound of a conversation being had over wind currents. Rainbow Dash’s voice was the first one I heard.

“I gotta take care of a few weather jobs around here. Shouldn’t take long. Just hang out in town and I’ll come find ya.”

The two of them landed as the griffon spoke. “That’s cool I guess. I’m gonna go chow down!” Rainbow Dash flew off as I watched the griffon look around with a cocky smirk on her face before spying Granny Smith, one of the apple family, making her way toward a vegetable stand.

As Granny went to sniff the produce to see if they were fresh, the griffon used her tail to scare Granny into thinking there was a snake. Soon she was freaking out and running just a tad faster than her usual snail pace.

Enjoys picking on those weaker than her. So far so good.

As she left the stand she gave the pony running it a comment about how fresh her tomatoes were. Afterward she walked by a fruit stand, and as the ponies were all distracted she used her tail to swipe an apple and eat it in one bite.

Feels no remorse toward stealing. Not bad, not bad.

Taking a quick glance at Pinkie I noticed she had failed to see me yet but she seemed to have noticed everything I had about the griffon. As I looked back I saw what was about to happen and couldn’t help but grin. Alright, let’s see what you can do.

Fluttershy was leading a group of ducklings down the road and didn’t notice as she backed into the griffon. Even with my spell cast I could barely hear Fluttershy.

“Please excuse me.”

The griffon on the other hand was not so polite. “Hey! I’m walking here.”

Fluttershy began to slowly back away from the griffon. “Oh, oh, I’m sorry, I just, um-”

“Oh I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” The griffon said in a mocking impression of Fluttershy’s voice before returning to her own. “Why don’t you just watch where you’re going doofus?” She didn't let Fluttershy get away as she walked forward, sending the family of ducks scattering.

“But, bu- bu-, I…”

Then the best thing I could have hoped for happened. The griffon took in a deep breath and then let out a lion’s roar right in Fluttershy’s face. It took her a total of two seconds to start running away, tears flowing from her face.

While the rest of the town was watching in shock I was just trying to hide my smile. I couldn’t have imagined a better way for that to have gone! I want- no, I need this gryphon as one of my servants!

As the gryphon looked around she blatantly told the town “All these lame ponies are driving me buggy. I gotta bail.” And with that she flew off. I took this moment to end the spell and look at Pinkie Pie who seemed to be having some kind of internal struggle. I wonder… I walked up to her and as I did I could hear her speaking.

“Nobody makes Fluttershy cry. This calls for extreme measures, Pinkie Pie style!”

I figured as much, but this might be the opportunity I need. “Hey Pinkie. Want some help with taking care of her?”

Pinkie turned and glared at me. “Why would I want your help?”

“Because I want that griffon out of this town just a badly as you do. Come on Pinkie. Can’t we have a truce just for one day?” I held out my hand as Pinkie continued to glare. She held a hoof up as if to think about it but then firmly placed it in my hand and we shook.

“Alright, for now. But you do as I say. Understand?”

“Crystal clear.” This at least stopped Pinkie from glaring at me. “So what’s the plan?”

“First we need to find Rainbow Dash.”

* * *

The plan was pretty simple, though for Pinkie Pie levels of intelligence it was pretty good. Basically we convinced Rainbow Dash to prepare a bunch of pranks for the gryphon, named Gilda, at a party Pinkie set up. What we hoped to happen was that eventually she would get so mad she would blow her cover in front of Rainbow. Basically it’s what she’s been trying to do to me ever since I got here.

Once the party was set up I told Pinkie good luck and waited outside. There I ran into Gilda and Rainbow just before they entered.

“Hey Rainbow. I assume this is the guest of honor?”

“Yep. Don, this is Gilda. She’s an old friend from flight school. Gilda, this is Don. He’s a…”

“Human.”

“Right. He’s a human Twilight found in the Everfree Forest.”

This fact seemed to peak her interest. “The Everfree Forest? What were doing out there?”

I shrugged. “Not sure, I’ve got little memory of anything beforehand. Twilight and I think I’m from some other world or something.”

“Well you certainly look like an alien. I’ll see you inside Dash.” Gilda walked in while Rainbow and I continued are chat.

“It’s great to see that you and Pinkie Pie are starting to become friends.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. It is good to know we can put our differences aside for a day to help a friend.”

“Well either way I appreciate it. I’m gonna head inside now. You coming?”

“Nah. Parties aren’t really my thing. Plus I’m pretty tired from setting up. We can’t all run on sugar like Pinkie Pie.”

That got a chuckle out of Rainbow. “Ya, that’s true. See ya later.” Once she was inside I let my kind smile shift to a devilish grin as I took a seat at one of the tables outside Sugarcube Corner.

Now all I need to do is wait.

And it took a lot less time than I had predicted. After about an hour I heard a familiar lion roar come from the bake shop. The sun was close to setting by this point and I had taken to watching it up to now. I only had to wait another minute before Gilda came storming out, slamming the door behind her.

“I can’t believe Rainbow Dash! How dare she choose those lame-os over me! And Pinkie Pie! Oh, if I had the chance I would-”

Looks like that’s my cue. “I do love watching a bit of rage. You never know what someone might do!” Gilda turned looking about ready to kill me but I didn’t move from my seat.

“What’s it to you pal!? You think this is some sort of a show?” She pounced onto the table in front of me snapping it in half. Still I did not move.

“A show? No, not really. I see this more as a business opportunity. One that both of us could benefit from.”

“And why would I want to listen to anything you have to say?”

I let my grin fall as I took on a more sinister tone of voice. “Because just like you I despise these ponies. Everyday their annoying antics drive me to the brink of madness, and unlike you I can’t just leave town.”

My show of anger seemed to calm her down. “I don’t get it. What’s keeping you from leaving?”

“Let’s just say there are very powerful individuals that would find my disappearance… unsettling.” I brought back my smile. “But I wasn’t sitting here waiting just because I want to talk about myself. No, I want to talk about you.”

“Ya? You said something about an opportunity. Well what could you give me that I don’t have?”

“How about the chance for revenge? Wouldn’t you love to just grind Pinkie Pie’s nose into the dirt? Or how about Rainbow Dash? Or the rest of the ponies who laughed at you and mocked you?”

She was surprised for a moment by what I was saying but seemed to understand it. “Who are you? You don’t seem like the friendly guy I met earlier.”

“The person you met before is a ruse, a mask that I wear. My name is Dominus, Don for short. As for anything beyond that…” I stood and started walking. “You’re going to have to follow me if you want to find out. I should warn you though, what I am about to offer isn’t for the weak.”

This brought back Gilda’s brash attitude. “Weak? Please, I ain’t no pony.”

And that was the day Gilda the griffon disappeared off the face of Equestria.

Author's Notes:

Figured it was about time Don started doing some evil things. >:D

Also, I've got a schedule now! Every Monday and Thursday a new chapter should come out unless something happens that's beyond my control.