My Little Tactics

Chapter Fifteen: Lingering Aftertaste.

“Ring around the rosey, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down.” That single verse kept repeating itself as the stallion that sang it kept running in circles cheerily with the clip clop of his hooves echoing off the dull and worn stone of the sewer ways.

Or at least that is what Dustan would assume as he was still blinded at the moment and in the midst’s of a panic attack himself. His voice was gone just like his vision and his lungs felt as if someone had poured hot soup into them. Just hot enough where it gave that slow burn but that also made it so hard to breath as well. What was more, he wasn’t sure what else was affecting him but whatever it was it made his body feel so heavy, making his armor keep him to the ground for the most part.

“Ring around the rosey-” the stallion went on again and Dustan wanted to smack him, least then the status might wear off but he couldn’t even move at the moment, all he could do was mentally curse not only his situation but for not seeing all the clues and putting them together properly. “-pocket full of posies-”

‘Fucking shut up. How do you even know that song, did the ponies have a plague here as well, wouldn’t surprise me.’ Dustan thought bitterly as he couldn’t think of any way to help himself or others. ‘I mean knowing magic it was likely a plague that was cured by posies being kept in pockets, likely why clothing was popular by nobles and such.’ He could feel his body sinking down more and more as the poison running through his body was wearing him down. ‘Hell if I had a pocket full of something to cure me right now I would-’

Unseeing eyes widened at that moment. This wasn’t over, there was a chance. Mentally mumbling to himself as he forced his body to move, mostly his arms, down to his waist. He fumbled around with the pouches on his belt for the longest time; the first one that popped open was the wrong pouch feeling chalk touch his fingers before clicking to the ground signaling that it fell out. The next pouch was where he kept small round orbs though he had asked Zecora to make them, the touch of them made him nauseous meaning his idea for using them couldn’t be put into action cause he didn’t know the skill. Well better to have them and not need them then to need them and not have them.

It was the next pouch that was the jackpot. Feeling the vegetation at his fingertips he pulled it up to his other hand using both to unfold the large leaf that he had squared up. His fingertips felt the substance smeared on it and he smiled in satisfaction. Time to hope this worked like he wanted. Slapping the leaf to a bare part of his arm he felt a wave of relief come straight from his Salve as it washed away some of the status effect plaguing him. Specifically: Poison, Blind, and Silence.

Gasping as his body felt a lot better but not completely fine he looked around him to see various ponies all being in similar positions as himself. With the burning in his lungs gone and him able to get proper air, he managed to raise himself up off the ground and looked at his hand to see his status.

“Power Break, that is…not normal for them to bring about, I am not sure if any have ever done that before.” First things first though, the sound of a fist smacking cheek came about and the singing stallion was brought to his senses. “Take these and apply them to anyone having trouble breathing, who can’t speak, or are blind. Tell them to gather up everyone and retreat, as well as gather the statue and any frogs in the area.”

Looking around he could see the Malboro had escaped, it had just fed, was satisfied and wasn’t looking to fight it seemed, a blessing in disguise for sure. The stallion nodded and took a couple of the leaf bundles from the knight as he went about helping as well. While he couldn’t help everyone, not having the supplies to make sure everyone was cured, he did make sure those with poison were cured first.

“What was that thing, and where is the Detective?” He heard one of them call out. “We have never seen anything like that creature before, what was it.”

“A Malboro.” Dustan called out trying his best to get out of his armor as it was causing him pain now to wear it with it being so heavy, or rather with him being so weak. “An apex predator that is VERY good at what it does. It ambushes others for a meal after debilitating them with its breath that can cause a variety of status effects like poison, blind, silence, petrifaction, toad, and more.” The loud clang of his bronze armor rang in the tunnel as he finally got it off with a grunt. “We are beyond lucky. If it had not fed before we followed it down here, chances are some of us would be in its gut at the very least.”

“So what do we do?” It wasn’t the stallion who asked the question this time, but a mare, the second in command as he recalled of the little operation. She was looking for leadership now that much was plain in her eyes as they were frightened. It wasn’t only her either he realized but all the ponies were looking at him.

“We retreat and tend to our wounds. We know where it lives now, our job is now to make sure everyone gets back home safely. As I told him over there.” pointing to the stallion he freed from confusion. “Gather up any toads and statues, those are our teammates being affected by the worst of that status effects. Also if someone isn’t troubled, get my armor, one of the status effects on me right now is it weakens my strength and I can barely move with it on.”

Seems the troops were more than happy to comply as some even went to help him up the latter to the surface when they got there. One of the unicorns used a spell to call in for help. While they waited the second in command came and asked him. “How long will some of us be affected by this?”

He shrugged as he honestly didn’t know. “No clue, could be hours, days, weeks or months. I have never personally run into one of those things myself, I only know of others who have run into them. The petrification and toad status…those are permanent though till I can get some supplies and remember how to return them to normal.” ‘Aka figure out how to get toad back to normal, Petrification, should be easy, in fact.’ He looked up to the guard and asked. “Can you get me some golden needles? I should be able to work a bit of magic to restore anyone who has become petrified.”

Right away the pony sent someone off to do so and Dustan chuckled a bit. Because of his constant help with Zecora and his own making of Salves and other things, he had gotten a good bit of job points for both Squire and Chemist, but especially the latter. In fact it was his highest job class with Squire being right behind it followed by Knight, White Mage, and Black mage tied for the last three. Though he personally felt Knight and White mage were on the cusp of the next level for them.

Speaking of White Mage, he currently hated himself for not spending the points in that to grab anything, but at the same time if he could get to the Classroom tonight he knew just what to spend his saved up points for. Just a matter of time he supposed then he could help out anyone afflicted by the Bad Breath.

“Sir!” The pony came back and in the aura of her telekinesis were a few golden needles, just like he had asked for. “Will these do?”

Standing up Dustan carefully picked them out of the magic holding them one at a time. With that done he put them into the now empty pouch that formerly held his Salves.

“We will see.” He told her as he kept one in his hands and moved over to the pony that was petrified.

They had a look of horror on their face, or at least that is what he seen when he pulled the sheet off. Either someone thought he was done for, or they just didn’t want to see that look, both of which were understandable. The weakened knight hoped this would work, but if not, there was anti-petrification methods available as was shown when Twilight herself was turned to stone.

‘Whelp here goes everything.’ His thoughts were hopefully but at the same time he wasn’t sure if this would work since it wasn’t a Final Fantasy item he was holding. Pressing the needle to the stone he saw a reaction right away as the needle shattered and where it had pricked the stone said stone broke off and floated away before completely disintegrating into the air.

The pony underneath gasped before collapsing. Medics came over and assured those watching that the guard had just passed out which put everyone’s mind at ease for sure. Now all that was left was the frog, which there was only one of, to take care of but no one there could do anything. Instead they were going to send him to the hospital and have trained Magisters and doctors both take a look at him.

The able bodied of the guard helped him get back to Cadance’s penthouse since that was where he was staying at the moment while guarding her. To say he felt like shit was an understatement, the horror and panic, the adrenaline, the poison, and finally the break status he had on him was too much, he was ready to pass out, but first he needed a shower. His comrades in arms helped him to the elevator of the hotel and the guards outside the room let them in without much of a glance though he could feel their eyes on them after they passed.

Cadance just happened to be coming out of the sitting room when she spied them. “Ahh Dustan welcome-oh my Celestia are you alright?!”

One of the ponies helping him laid his armor down in the corner before asking him if he would be ok on his own now. “Yeah thanks.” The two would leave before he looked to the Princess of Love. “Yeah, we just ran into something beyond nasty, though we know the source of the murders now. For now though I am going to need a shower. Mind if I use the one in here?”

The worried look on her face never left as she gave him a nod. “Of course, it’s down the hall to the left; it is rather spacious so you don’t have to worry about ducking or anything.”

“Thanks, can’t tell you how much this is appreciated.” The tired knight said walking to the desired area. “I am going to leave my clothing outside the bathroom. I will send it to the wash after I am done.”

“Alright. Let me know if you need anything.” The Princess called out as he left the room. The shower was as spacious as she had claimed it to be and more. For ponies this would be beyond a luxury, for Minotaur’s it would normal size to a bit larger than they are used to. For Dustan, he didn’t care, it was large enough and he could wash away the tension of his muscles.

With a quick turn of the knobs and a quick yelp as a result of cold water hitting him suddenly he quickly found a good balance to sigh in relief in.

‘He looked so haggard. Dustan and the others must have gone through so much in such a small amount of time.’ Cadance mused to herself worriedly as she paced outside. ‘I hope no pony was hurt. I mean he himself was practically dragged in, what is more he didn’t say they had captured or stopped the killer at all. Did they get away? Were the guard forces stopped? Did any of them die as a result?’

Honestly Cadance was starting to worry herself ragged with the line of thoughts and was about to go and ask Dustan about the details even if it would interrupt his shower. However as her legs carried her to the appropriate room she found a basket outside with his clothing. While she did reports from her aunts about the human, the fact he wore clothing at all only came up briefly and mostly as a foot note, as such she couldn’t help but wonder why he wore them.

‘THAT’S IT!’ The idea had struck her so quickly that she was surprised she had not thought of it before. ‘We have a machine here for washing clothing and drying them, true I could room service to help out but this is something I can do.’ Using her magic she levitated the basket and started to trot happily towards the room with the magical machines. Musing to herself that this would be good training for bridal duties even if they might have servants eventually taking care of things, she might sometimes want to do them herself.

With that though she wondered how much detergent she should use or how little, after all humans might smell differently, lighter or stronger right? Bringing the basket to her nose she took a whiff, meaning only for it to be a quick one but the stench on them quickly caused her to gasp out and then breath in quickly trying to get air.

‘Gah that reeks, what sort of creature can make that type of smell from…their…body.’ Cadance’s mind started grinding to a halt as a sort of pinkish red haze filtered over her eyes but all she could tell was something was missing. Something seemed to have taken a hold of her keeping her locked in place as the thought of something missing kept seeming to repeat in her head.

So lost in that repeating thought she never heard the shower stop nor the human coming out. “Cadance have you seen my clothes? They aren’t in front of the door where I left them.”

Her gaze right away snapped over towards the human and suddenly she knew, THAT was what she was missing, what she needed. “Oh I have them right here honey, I was planning on taking care of them while you were in the shower, but you had a quick one didn’t you?”

Confusion seemed to be the primary look on his face, of which Cadance suddenly found very cute. “Not really. I spent I think a good half hour or forty five minutes in there I think. Not very quick if you ask me, also did you call me honey?”

The hazy eyed princess just sauntered over to him with more than an exaggerated shake of her hind quarters. “Mhm, what else am I supposed to call my beloved?”

Cutting the shower off Dustan stepped out and stretched. ‘Let’s see here.’

Looking into a nearby mirror he quickly looked up his status and seen that he was still under the Power break status a status not in Final Fantasy Tactics at all but he recognized the emblem from another game, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. It was a symbol of a sword with a bright red arrow pointing down next to it.

‘Damn, still broken. Hopefully debuffs aren’t permanent around here. If so life will absolutely suck from now on till I get to the classroom again.’ Looking around he found a few nearby towels to start drying himself off with. He had to only use one on account pony towels were smaller then he was used to though much more absorbent thanks to them having to draw moisture out of fur.

Taking two of the other towels and tiring them together he managed to put a makeshift towel skirt on himself to hide his sensitive information from the world. “Alright time to take care of the fun part, cleaning and sanitizing not only my clothes but my armor too. That shit smells…well like shit.”

Stepping outside he found the basket that he had laid his clothes in missing and that slightly made him worry. Dustan had extra in his pack just in case but still. Looking around and back inside to double check but nothing was to be found. He started on down the hall looking to see if maybe he kicked it down the hall some but nothing. Scratching his head and feeling a slight bit paranoid he turned the corner only to see the rear of the princess herself.

“Cadance have you seen my clothes? They aren’t in front of the door where I left them.” He asked with the hope she had somehow seen them.

The knight found himself surprised with how quickly the crystal heart marked pony could turn around to face him. “Oh I have them right here honey, I was planning on taking care of them while you were in the shower, but you had a quick one didn’t you?”

‘Ok that look is a bit unsettling.’ She was wearing a very wide smile as if seeing him was a pleasure all its own, combined with her slightly lidded eyes that seemed to roam along his form was bringing out alarm bells galore. “Not really. I spent I think a good half hour or forty five minutes in there I think. Not very quick if you ask me, also did you call me honey?” Dustan was really hoping he had misheard, it wouldn’t be a problem as he knew how messed up he got today and how exhausted he was to hear something that normally wouldn’t be said.

“Mhm, what else am I supposed to call my beloved?” Cadance told him causing his eyes to widen.

‘Nope, abort!’ “Go home Cadance, you’re drunk.” Sadly he didn’t get the reaction he was hoping for from her.

Her horn lit up as she smiled, with him giving an ‘oomph’ as she found himself on his back on the ground with the princess crawling over him. “Oh I am drunk alright, drunk on you.”

“Cadance not only was that corny but you have a fiancé.” Dustan tried to pick himself up only to be pressed down and felt the towels he used to cover himself up removed.

“Oh my, I do so love unwrapping presents, and yours is such a nice one.” The situation, as inappropriate as it was, still made him blush with the words being said as he wasn’t one to get to hear things like that often back in his own world. Neither was the buzzing of magic that was now stroking him in a place that a soon to be married mare should NOT be touching. “Why don’t you lay there still and let me get to work.”

‘Something is wrong, this isn’t Cadance, it must be Chrysalis! This must be when the switched out! I can detect that shit in a heartbeat.’ Using his Tactical Eye he pulled up the status of the princess only to be startled at what he found. ‘The fuck? How is she inflicted with charm status?’

However a groan escaped his mouth as the princess dragged her tongue all along forcefully aroused member. “It tastes as wonderful as I hoped.”

“Cadance st-awawawp.” His voice could only warble as his member vanished from sight down a muzzle that was currently humming a pleased sound that he could feel travel up through the connected piece of flesh that Cadance currently was sucking on.

Held down by Princess level magic, weakened by the Power break, exhausted and tired from the search and rescue, there was nothing that Dustan could do to stop her. Hell before this if someone had asked him in his own world what he would give to have a member of royalty suck him off, he would have laughed it off and said that no one would want to drop so low as to do that to him. Then again his ex had pretty much stopped his self esteem into the ground at that point in his life, especially about his body and the prospect of him getting a job.

If questioned he would have loved to say he resisted the efforts of the Alicorn of Love, to say that she couldn’t get him to pop that he had been able to keep her from completing the act she was currently doing. Sadly if he had said that it would have been a lie. Panting and exhausted he watched the royal throat gulp down its hard earned reward before she smiled and gave a satisfied ahh sound.

“Thank you my beloved, but now it is time we sealed the deal.” As she mentioned that she was slowly move over him making his eyes widen. “Oh I feel it.” she seemed to whisper to herself as she shuddered having found his still stiff saliva coated spire now able to touch her folds with a bit of adjusting on behalf of her hips to match him. “It feels so wonderful.”

So lost in her teasing that she didn’t notice the magic of her horn vanishing, but Dustan had. Mustering up as much strength as he could, he did the only thing he could think of to stop this. Not many can say they punched a member of Royalty, but the human could now say he could as Cadance gave a yelp and flew off of him being caught by surprise.

Sadly that was about all of his strength period, he was hoping that the hit would have knocked her out, but her groaning and moving around dashed his hopes. “What was that for?” Ok so it wasn’t all of his strength as at the mention of that he mustered up the strength to glare at her. “Wait, why are you…oh…OH I r-remember. Why…I don’t understand, why did I- I mean I.”

The knight wanted to be furious at her, to be angry, to hate and despise her for basically forcing herself on him, but he couldn’t. “It wasn’t your fault Cadance.” His voice sounded exhausting even to his own ears. He knew that she wasn’t in control of her own actions and he NEEDED to solve that problem before anything more happened. “What was the last thing you remember? You know, before…this.”

The tears in her eyes showed the princess truly didn’t mean what had happened between them, luckily for her that only ruined make-up was showing on her face as the punch Dustan gave her was too weak to actually do much else. “I was, I was going to do your laundry as a way to thank you for your help and so I can practice for Shiny.”

‘Oh, right…show off.’ “Cadance, this wasn’t your fault.” ‘But whose was it?’ He thought to himself for a spare moment. “You said you were doing my laundry then what else?”

She shook her head pointing to the basket nearby behind a couch where its contents had been spilled. “I didn’t know how much detergent I was supposed to use for you because you are a different species, so I took a sniff to gauge things but the smell caught me off guard and next thing I knew I am seeing you like I see Shiny.”

‘Why would sniffing my clothing cause her to-’ “Fuck!” The realization smacked him in the head, though it was one he never considered ever but would make sense when all was said and done. “Cadance this is my fault. My clothing was covered in a smell that gives status effects. I honestly didn’t even know the effect could transfer like that.”

“But-but why wasn’t the ponies who brought you in affected?” Her tears were still there but thankfully no longer flowing as hard.

“Near as I can guess they were already affected by it cause they were from the unit that I was with that got gassed. Maybe it can only affect someone so many times in a period of time? I honestly don’t know but it’s my only guess.” His strength was fading fast now as he could feel his eyelids grow heavy. The second dose of adrenaline to fight off Cadance was the last straw. “Cadance, I am about to pass out, I normally wouldn’t ask this, but mind helping me to get comfortable somewhere or covering me up. I honestly don’t care which.”

Before he could even see her reaction or hear her answer he passed out then and there.

Thankfully balance was in order today as with the events that played out before being marked under unwanted, awkward, and outright not wanted, the universe decided to tip the scales back in balance as he found himself in the classroom, no feeling the wariness that his body was suffering from in here. Strangely though the classroom felt slightly different, nothing tangible but off. It as if the armor stands were watching him today, or at least one of them.

Moving towards the stand that he wanted, the one that had a large white robe with red lining along the sleeves and neckline he touched it and pulled up the menu. Clicking the skill he wanted it took up most of his points to obtain but it was worth it. Come tomorrow he could save those still affected by the status effects that lingered.

Feeling happy about that and off his guard, he jumped slightly when he heard a clanking of armor off to the side in the darkness. “Ok that is weird.” Sighing to himself he looked back at the stands. “That Malboro really must have done a number on my nerves.” Laying down on the ground he sighed loudly as he started to try to think up ways to off it.

What was more there was a single detail that was bugging him. The Malboro was purple normally they are green. What did that mean? He knew there was so much to Final Fantasy that he felt overwhelmed at times, especially when that knowledge seemed to be spilling out from fantasy to reality in this world.

‘There was a reason it was purple, I am sure it is some kind of breed of one but I honestly can’t remember. They never did any type break status before, Hobgoblins, skills that are hidden or those that can’t be accessed. There is so much going on with this that I feel like I am drowning sometimes.’ Problem was as much as he was stressed his mind replayed the events of what happened not to long before he passed out, blushing at the replay his mind gave him as well as the words that were said to him. Remembering those words had him blushing only for a moment before it faded and a look of sadness replaced it. ‘She was under the charm status, not like she meant it towards me. I am a pathetic nerd and would still be if I wasn’t forced to do other things here.’

Even though he was lying on the hard floor of the classroom he never seemed to feel its hardness when he was lying down, so soon he was drifting off towards true sleep. Though his dreams would remain empty this night he did have a haunting picture of his ex-girlfriend ridiculing face come to mind.

The next morning found him in his bed covered in a blanket. Getting up he quickly got a spare set of clothing out and headed right outside to gather his rotten smelling clothing. It was left right where it had been dropped before letting him gather it up quickly while holding his breath and keeping it all at arm’s length. He suspected that he might be in the time range to be affected again and he wasn’t taking chances on if the smell had diffused enough to be safe. After that was done he stripped down and took another shower mostly because while the smell didn’t cover him from his other clothing, he still stunk of a certain type of act and he wanted that gone.

With that done and his clothes back on he came out to find Cadance at the breakfast table. “We need to talk about yesterday.”

Shaking his head he cut her off. “Cadance, there is nothing to talk about honestly. My clothes had the monsters residual smell on it which does a variety of things to those that breath it in. It blinded, muted, and poisoned me when it did it, for you it just charmed you. Though if I had to guess since you didn’t see the original monster you had no clue what charmed you so latched on to the first thing you saw, which was me.” She opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off. “It’s ok, I know you aren’t attracted to me and I won’t say a word of anything that happened cause of this. In a way it was mind control and people under those effects can’t be held responsible for what they do.” Chuckling he sat down at the wide expanse of breakfast that she had set up for the two, or maybe called up in room service. “Besides not like I am the best to look at. I am pretty sure most ponies or even other races look at me as nothing more than an oddity.”

“That isn’t true.” She mumbled it but spoke it again louder to get his attention. “You need to look around you. Yes a lot of ponies think you are strange, maybe because you are so strange that you don’t notice what we do, or we don’t communicate it well to you, but you are attractive to more mares then you think.” He was dumbfounded by that. “I am physically attracted to you as well, though I also think of you as a good friend. You remind me a lot of Shiny to be honest.” Dustan wasn’t sure he liked that comparison. “I may have done things I wouldn’t have but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a thought. I remember what I seen yesterday when you weren’t dressed and well, I will admit that your body is something to be cherished. I can also tell you that it’s not just me that thinks so. During the investigation when you were talking to the ponies to help them with your ideas. There were a few mares there that were giving you signals but you seemed to not notice them at all.”

“Really?” His voice was soft as he said it, not sure if he questioned it that it would be pulled out from under the rug on him.

“Yes really.” The Alicorn chuckled. “You strike an imposing figure that exudes strength, you showed you are intelligent and observant in your deductions, you gave out orders even if you don’t think they are orders making you a leader. That strikes the instincts of a lot of mares you know that right?” Shaking his head she smiled at him. “It comes from our older instincts to look for stronger males that can be leaders, who are protective, and observant as well as intelligent so the next generation can be more so. While stallions are a little more subservient now in attitude thanks to mare culture being so dominant and seeping into the subconscious it doesn’t mean mares don’t still look for those signs. Plus I touched your heart so I know what a caring individual you are which is one of the most important things to find and one that attracts many mares to a stallion once they get to know them better.”

“Oh…” He honestly wasn’t sure what else to say. If what she was saying was true how many mares were looking at him that way, was it just those here or were there ones in Ponyville as well? Though he was certain none were in Canterlot that was for sure.

The clinking of his fork and knife against his plate caught his attention as it came with a giggle. “Seems you were hungry.”

She was right, the food was gone and he was feeling quite full. “Oh, guess so.”

“Yep you cleaned it out.” A light dinged in his head.

“You just gave me an idea Cadance.” Moving over to the set of armor in the corner he smiled, he wasn’t weak today so the break status was gone; however he knew his armor still smelled. “Time to test an idea.” Gathering up his magic took a bit longer than normal as the spell was more MP intensive then his normal set of spells that he often casted. His body was unused to pulling this much of it at once and he broke into a bit of a sweat as he did so. “Heavenly wind, carry us to a fountain of power! Esuna!”

A ball of blue light appeared and circled over the armor before vanishing then a corresponding light rose up from the floor like a curtain and traced a path following where the light had circled before vanishing as well. Moving over to the armor now he braced himself and leaned in to take a deep breath.

It seems Cadance caught on and reached out a hoof to stop him. “What are you doing?!”

“Weird.” He simply said. “Smells like mint now.”

“W-wait what?” Seems his statement caused Cadance.exe to stop working. He chuckled at that as he started to put on his armor and groaned under the familiar weight.

Looking at her he spoke simply hoping that would reboot her brain. “I have work to do. Can you call up the guard forces and arrange a meeting, as well as see if they can bring in the one pony still being examined? I have a plan to lure out the Malboro.”

She gave a nod as he headed out and asked for one of the guards to see if room service would bring him a plethora of specific items, specifically chalk and a chalkboard. He had lost his stash of chalk in the sewers and need that replaced but he also needed something to draw on.

Slowly one by one about an hour later many guards came in, some in armor, some not, but last of all came two medical ponies, a doctor and nurse with a tank that held a frog in it. Specifically it was a toad.

“Welcome everyone.” Dustan called out from the living area where he was making the last adjustments to one of the three chalkboards that were brought in. “I have a plan on how to get rid of the menace that we found yesterday.”

“You mentioned its traits yesterday, are you sure that is something we can handle? Wouldn’t calling in the royal guard be more effective?” one of the ponies told him but he shook his head.

“What about us, why did you ask us to come?” It was the doctor. “I have been working on this case for a while now and I was pulled away from discussing a possible cure with the magister assigned to us. We so far are positive that we have a thirty three percent chance of curing him now. It’s only a matter of time to refine that percentage up higher and higher.”

“Right about that-” Reaching into the tank he held out his hand for the toad to hop in, and he did so. “It won’t be needed.”

“Preposterous. So far the magister is convinced the only sure fire way to cure him, and cure is a stretch of the word, is to polymorph him to resemble the pony he once was.” The doctor was somepony who had obviously went to school for many years and had grown assured he knew what was proper and what was known.

Except in this case he had no clue. “Hop down please.” The toad did so getting to the center of the crowd that he had not realized had gathered around the spectacle. “Stay there one moment please.”

As Dustan started to pull his magic out to bare he was interrupted by the doctor who got up in his face, no doubt hating to be ignored. “Now see here. This patient was admitted by the guard and while I admit I have no clue what it is you are doing here or why you have called us all, I won’t allow you to-”

“Would someone mind getting him out of my face so I can concentrate?” Surprisingly, to both Dustan and the doctor, a few guards came over to pull him away from the human.

“Now see here I won’t allow it, I am a licensed medical professional and I will not stand for some half baked idea or prayer to-” however, Dustan was already tuning him out so he could concentrate.

Like the other times he had pulled magic up it always seemed like the second and third times it was used always got significantly easier, while it was true that this spell got easier as well, it didn’t do so by the same margin as the others. Still, it came quicker as his body got used to pulling that kind of power out of him and this time making it so he didn’t burst out in a sweat once again.

“Heavenly wind, carry us to a fountain of power! Esuna!” Everyone in the room, sans Cadance, gasped at the sight of the ball of light followed by the curtain of blue light. Whereas before when he and Cadance saw no change in the armor physically this time was a huge difference as it seemed like the curtain of light conveniently was glowing brighter this time causing no one to be able to see the results till it was done.

When it was completed, there stood, both to everyone’s amazement and the pony’s own who it worked on, the missing lead detective. “I can’t believe it!”

“I can’t either.” The doctor said in amazement. “Why didn’t you say you knew such a powerful polymorphic spell?”

“It’s not a polymorphing spell at all.” Dustan told them after finishing off a bottle of water that he had placed nearby. “It’s a spell that reverses unnatural status effects, like blindness, poison, petrification, and yes even polymorphing.”

“Why didn’t you use it on him yesterday then?” One of the guard ponies in the crowd asked only to be echoed by some of the others.

“Did you see how exhausted I was yesterday? Do any of you think I was in any shape to cast a spell like that?” That linguistic dodge roll worked as it seemed to satisfy and seemingly answer the ponies question before they all looked to him.

Even the detective was now looking at him with something of a reverence. “So about this plan you had?”

Nodding he went over to the chalkboards and flipped the first one. “As you see here, I have pinned to it a map of Manehattan well not all of Manehattan but specifically this area. On it I have marked using a marker all the sewer drainage lines in red and exits in blue.” He then flipped it over again and showed them something else. “Thanks to the princess I was able to procure a map of the sewer tunnels as well so we will be flipping back and forth mainly between them.”

So far everypony followed him except the pony who had asked him the question of the cure. “Ok so how does that help us?”

“Simple.” He slapped the board and smiled. “Battle ground and tactical knowledge. We know the routes the Malboro could be in, and thus we know the lay of the land.”

The detective seemed to catch on quickly like he had before. “I get it. So with this we know where to go and can plan to fight on our own terms.”

Nodding Dustan clapped once then pointed to him. “Bingo!” moving over to the next chalkboard he flipped it over showing off a list. “I asked Cadance to ask about inventory of guard equipment, turns out you all have full body armor and gas masks, both will be of use. She also got to inform me that you have defensive specialist who can produce barriers at your disposal.”

The detective was grinning now. “Alright I see now. You want us to split up into groups geared up and to wall off any point of retreat from, the creature.”

“Give him a gold star.” Spinning the board around it was again a map of the sewers but with a jagged edge on some of the tunnels. “We go about sealing off its escapes and then harass it to get it to move. If it chooses to fight, leave the barrier till it can’t take anymore while you retreat then move to set up another and lure it, if not herd it, either way get it to go down this tunnel to get it here.” Slapping the chalk map he pointed to a large room. “This is an unused drainage pool and again thanks to Cadance handling the calls, I found its empty as it is undergoing repairs, a perfect staging for a monster culling.”

Murmers were going around now as ponies eyes lit up one by one realized that this plan accounted for the safety of all members involved. “Good good, but what about the ladders?”

“We will seal the ponyhole covers from above with any who cannot participate, either due to lack of armor and supplies, or due to other issues.” He went to the last chalkboard. “I assume most if not all of you will be participating in this, but if not feel free to leave or contact those that need to see what is next. Cause now I am going to go over possible weaknesses of the Malboro so we can beat this fucker’s ass.”

No pony left the room though more were called in. It did however, get rather crowded really quickly.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was mostly a result of a question I asked myself many years ago. Could a Malboro's Bad Breath linger on someone's clothes and create an extended effect. If so would it be the Malboro who still casted it, or the one who is propagating it. I think this showed a nice middle ground. If the status was something normal like blind or silence it would be fine, but I decided a charm would be critical here. Showing with no source caster apparent it would be similar to paralysis until something came for the one with charm to be affected. Well I hope you liked my little answer to the question. Made for an interesting chapter for sure with likely effects that will ripple out in the future.