Chapter 5 - Stories Within the Story

The warmer-than-usual Moon beams cast a silvery thread of light across a soft, carpeted floor. The light continued up to a bed were a sleeping mare rested, her chest rising softly as she slept. She would probably have slept for another hour if not for the arrival of a snow white mare.

The door to the room opened softly as the white mare entered. She smiled sympathetically when she saw the other mare still asleep and ignited her horn. Her horn set the fireplace ablaze, immediately brightening the room. It was carpeted with a cream beige carpet and the walls had soft wallpaper with floral patterns running up it. The fire's glow almost seemed to make the flowers dance and flicker.

The white mare shook the sleeping pony gently, a soft moan escaping the sleeping pony as she tried to bat away the intrusive hoof shaking her awake. Giggling at the sleeping mare, the white mare levitated the covers off, or tried to. The sleeping mare had a tight grip on the covers and levitated up with them before she slipped off and landed on the bed again.

The now awake mare rolled over and faced her white friend. "Snowball! I'm still sore from last night." The mare in the bed moaned. "Give me back the covers, they're still warm."

"Now now, Dagger. I can't let you sleep all day... or should that be night? It's half past eight darling, breakfast is being put out now."

The exhausted mare sighed in defeat as she reluctantly exited the bed. Snowball lowered the covers and tucked them in at the sides, and then ignited her horn once more as Dagger tried to leap back in to bed. Wrapped in a magical light, Dagger was levitated out the room by the cheerful Snowball.

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Tick Tock watched an amused expression spread across his face as Dagger was carried by Snowball down to the dining room. He was happy to see them both getting on so well. Admittedly, Shade tended to avoid them, but he was always shy around mare's. Unless they were a part of one of his 'special games'. Shaking off that train of thought he returned to his private study.

The Study was a mix of library, sitting room, games room and miniature chemistry set. The left wall was lined solely with bookshelves, sorted by category and then alphabetically. The right wall had three comfy armchairs sitting in front of a cosy fire, and a writing desk set further against the wall, away from the fireplace.

The room was windowless and lit by a bright chandelier set in the middle of the roof and the crackling fireplace. Above it ran a trap door mechanism that could be opened and closed via a winch built into the right wall. The roof would open up to reveal a skylight which Tick Tock would sometimes star gaze out of on quiet nights, when he didn't have something more pressing or desirable to do.

They had finished their clean up operation after working diligently all night and the day after. He himself had to cart several cart loads of corpses along with Dagger. They had to leave the dragon's corpse, it's size and weight made it difficult to move and it's presence at the battlefield would have raised some questions since an extra dragon corpse simply doesn't show up overnight.

Tick Tock walked over to his chemical lab. He didn't handle anything fatal in this small lab, but rather devoted it to make his less lethal concoctions. Like sleeping and Poison Joke capsules. He also made liquid rainbow, the substance used by pegasi to create the fantastic arcs of light. He reflected sadly that the pegasi hadn't managed to create a brighter rainbow to shine against the darker skies.

He lit the bunsen-burner on his chemistry set and allowed it to boil some purified water. While he waited, he extracted a small vial of liquid rainbow and poured it into a mug. The liquid sat there while he spooned two teaspoons of white granulated sugar into it. The substance bubbled as it dissolved the sugar, a small cloud of steam rising. Tick Tock then placed a small sieve above the mug and added some coffee beans to the now boiling water tumbler and lifted it with a pair of tongs. The water boiled and churned the beans turning it into a near pitch black substance and poured it through the sieve filling the cup.

The Cup boiled and frothed at the foreign substance as coffee and rainbow blended together. Tick Tock stirred the cup and reached into a small cooler under the table and added an ice cube to the mixture, allowing it to slowly melt away before drinking.

"You left your newspaper at the breakfast table."

Tick Tock turned as Crow entered levitating a newspaper and a tray with two cups and a small teapot on it and a plate of muffins. Tick Tock took in the familiar scent of the muffins smiling.

"Ah! Muffins, Miss Doo's finest. You know me so well, Crow." Tick Tock practically glided over to the unicorn and took a muffin from the small plate he was levitating. Crow sighed and walked over to the cushy chairs placing the muffins on a table between the chairs and sat down, sinking into one of their comfortable embraces.

Tick Tock joined him carrying his special blend of coffee. He placed it on the table as Crow levitated the newspaper over to him.

"It seems a certain Earth Pony is pursuing information on our Queen and her... companion." Crow said the last word looking to see Tick Tock nod, allowing him to continue. "I think we should follow him. I'm certain he'd be good practice for Dagger." Tick Tock nodded again and continued to read the paper intently.

They both sat in silence and enjoyed their refreshments. The clock above the fireplace announced it was now two hours before noon and Crow decided he had to prepare for tonight's festivities.

"I thought I should let you know..." Tick Tock began, Crow turned to face him worry on his face. "...that Lady Centennial will be attending the Queen's court alongside Lord Rust."

"She... she won't put us through another nine months of hell, will she?" Said Crow, his voice a desperate plea.

"Oh, I can assure you she'll do no such thing. In fact, I arranged for her to accompany Snowball and Dagger today."

Crow nearly fainted as Tick Tock rushed over and caught his shaky friend. "Don't worry. You get to stay here and prepare Lord Rust. He'll need to be there by the morrow."

Crow nodded walking off with unsteady legs. Tick Tock grinned and made his way over to the chemistry table.

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Dagger felt herself be gently let down by Snowball as they entered the dining room. It was a decent sized room, with a table large enough to sit eight ponies and a divide in the middle where another section could be slotted to seat another four. The table had a freshly made stack of warm pancakes, sitting alongside a bowl of scrambled egg and a jug of orange juice. A small stack of toast was also there and spare plates were on the table so they could help themselves to what they wanted.

Crow was sitting at the table, his hood off revealing his scarlet red mane and a silver stud in his left ear. He was busy reading a newspaper, and waved at them absentmindedly. Snowball sat away from Crow leaving him in peace to read, Dagger hopped up in the chair besides her, their different heights almost made them look like an older and younger sister. Snowball levitated the orange juice over and poured two glasses, whilst Dagger used a fork to spear and dish out some pancakes.

Snowball levitated the syrup over to them and applied a small amount on her own pancakes, Dagger applied a much more generous dollop and dug into her food. They ate in silence for a bit until Dagger went for a second and then a third helping of pancakes.

"Dagger dear, you really shouldn't eat all that sugar. You'll get fat and in our line of work, that's bad." Dagger gave Snowball a curious look and simply shrugged, unsure of what she should say. She ate some more and then reached for the scrambled eggs. "Dagger, you'll be working in the gym all day to work off all that fat." Dagger actually laughed imagining herself running until she was as thin and agile as Snowball, she'd look more like a filly than a mare if she followed Snowball's diet.

"Snowball, if I was on your diet, I would lose this fantastic flank of mine." Snowball blushed eliciting a small chuckle from Crow. "Besides, I have a high metabolism, always have. Our regular workout routine will burn off all that fat."

A small ringing sound broke the silence before Snowball could and they watched Crow rush off. A minute later he returned with a basket of muffins slightly steamed under a plastic cover. Crow peeled it off magically and loaded several muffins onto a spare plate and wrapped up the newspaper in his magical aura. Excusing himself to bring Tick Tock this morning's newspaper.

"So, how bout that workout?" Dagger asked smiling.

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The Gym was not any sort of gym you would see in a regular home. An indoor archery range existed so anypony could practice with ranged weaponry like throwing knives or bows. Exercise equipment for flexing and training various muscles including pegasi wings were lined up against the walls.

An obstacle course took up half the room, designed to test how well they managed to keep their balance and poise, their were fans that would simulate strong winds or even gale force wind. And there was also a climbing wall and a zip line. Then there was the short pool you had to swim across and the barrels you had to weave in between.

Dagger and Snowball were currently on their seventh lap of the obstacle course, neither one willing to call it quits. It had become a friendly competition after Snowball upstaged Dagger with her superior marksmanship to one up her after Dagger had easily lifted a set of weights with her tail that snowball struggled to lift with her whole body.

Panting heavily, Snowball looked over at Dagger as they ran along the thin walkways with the fans streaming air at them, trying to edge them into the nets below. "Getting tired yet?" Dagger asked a grin spreading along her face, obviously noticing how tired Snowball was.

"I must admit... Dagger..., you have a *pant* lot of stamina for being... so small" She stopped after they finished their eighth lap and accepted a glass of water offered to her and sat down on a soft beanbag chair, Dagger sitting on the one next to it.

"You know it's just occurred to me-" Snowball sipped her drink as she listened. "-that we don't have any transport." Snowball gave her a confused look. "I mean I know we could walk, but we're miles outside any city. And Crow's busy today, he said something about Rust last night when we were unloading the last of the bodies." Dagger finished and took a big drink of her own glass of water.

"Well..., Tick Tock is no mage, and I'm not very good at teleporting, especially long distance. So that just leaves one pony...." She looked at Dagger, a small smile playing across her face.

"Shade." They said in unison.

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Shade floated over his creation, admiring his work. He'd been adding to it for a day now and he had to admit it was shaping up rather nicely. Shade floated outside a firm wooden structure shaped like a simple box. It wasn't finished by a long shot, he still had to add the interior, and floors. But when he did, oh how he'd have such fun with old Lord Rust. Shade was making a checklist of missing supplies when he heard the two mares approaching.

"Shaaade." They said in unison, causing him to blush and hide his face behind his checklist.

"G-good morning." He said. "What can I-I do f-for you?"  He saw Dagger whisper something to Snowball before she answered.

"Shade dear, you know I've been dying to go and see New Mareland's shops and facilities yes?" Shade recalled hearing some mention of it, but he'd been fixated on his latest game of Casualty with Crow to pay too much attention. He shrugged and nodded unsure of what to say.

"Well, it turns out New Mareland isn't exactly up to standards at the moment, all that repair work that needs done. We were wondering if you could pull the sky carriage and take us to Ponyville instead." Dagger and Snowball gave him a pair of pleading puppy dog eyes, the combined assault of cute was overloading. He nodded eliciting a cheer from the mares as they cantered off he paused to remember his last time there.

He'd had such fun, and hadn't there been a hardware store somewhere? He was sure he could acquire what he needed to finish his project. He flew back to the house with renewed vigor. He had to ask Tick Tock for some spending money.

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Snowball was brimming with pride. Dagger had shown she could pull off the puppy dog eyes, and she'd done it well. She even got the lip pout just right. Though she missed the small lip wobble, that added the illusion of heart break, but only a master of begging and whining like herself would notice.

The two mares re-entered the house to find a mare that just oozed beauty waiting there. Her coat was a rich gold, that seemed to be somewhat dulled, her mane was a soft silver and her hooves were painted a glittery white. She beamed at the arriving mares and trotted forward, Snowball drew her blade and Dagger brought out her hidden blade. The mare, unfazed by the weapons, smiled softly.

"Ahhh, you dears must be Snowball and Dagger. A pleasure to meet you both. I'm Centennial Clock but I'm called Lady Centennial by everyone. She extended a hoof, Dagger noted it had a bracer like her own on it. "Dear me, didn't Tick Tock tell you I was coming? He personally asked me to go with you, he had an errand to run. But said he told Crow to let you know."

Snowball and Dagger relaxed but kept their weapons ready. "Ah, yes. Tick Tock wanted you to have these...." Lady Centennial reached into the saddlebag she wore and brought out two bags of coins. "One for you" She handed Snowball a bag. "And one for you too." Dagger took the second bag.

"I'll wait here with Dagger then shall I? Whilst you go off and check my story with Crow." The Golden Mare trotted away and sat down on a soft seat waiting. Dagger and Snowball had a brief whispered discussion and split. Dagger stayed with Lady Centennial, whilst Snowball ran up to Crow's library.

The Library was chock full of books. Crow a firm believer in preserving the written word, had made copies of rarer books he found and did his best to preserve them. Thus, if Crow borrowed a book from a library he would make a detailed, and sometimes revised, copy of the book. The library was also where he enjoyed playing Casualty or Chess with Tick Tock or Shade. All the walls were lined with books, Crow even had a smaller library under a trap door where he stored more dangerous tomes and books.

"Crow! You buzzard, where are you?" Snowball called out whilst scanning the shelf's for him. A sigh emanated and she turned to see Crow on a bookshelf built over the door.

"Yes, Snowball? How can this humble magician help you today?" He slid down a ladder beside the door and trotted over to her.

"Crow dear, sorry to bother you. I realize you're busy and all." Crow nodded and waited patiently for her to continue. "Do you know that golden mare in the hall? She said her name was Lady Centennial." Crow sighed exasperated.

"Yes, Snowball. I know that lady. She's... a friend of Tick Tock's. I'm meeting her later tonight for a mission actually." Snowball nodded a relieved smile broke across her face.

"Thank you dear, I won't keep you from your work any longer." Snowball left humming to herself. As she left Crow walked over to a small cabinet and took out a small bottle of amber whiskey, courtesy of Lord Rust and downed a quick shot. He shuddered a moment and then locked the library door.

Sure that everyone was leaving, Crow began the first stages of his spell, it was complicated work. The spell had a timer and he had to work to extend it and be able to dispel it himself, and quickly. Gritting his teeth, his horn glowed bathing the room in his red magical aura.

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Shade gleefully pulled the sky carriage up to the front door. He was excited to begin shopping for supplies and waited impatiently, his hoofs practically dancing as he stood in place. He heard the front door open and turned to see three mares exiting, talking idly. He groaned mentally, the extra mare would mean he would be unable to carry back more supplies.

He felt the three mares enter the carriage and he began to pull, and felt the door to the carriage click shut. He made sure he was strapped in properly and began building up some speed. They went by ground for five minutes until Shade felt confident enough that the momentum built up would help him lift the carriage and proceeded to ascend. The carriage rose up a little unsteady, as one might expect, having one pegasi colt pulling a carriage carrying three young adult mares.

Shade evened out the carriage and started heading towards Ponyville. His mind focused on his checklist. He went over the details, and then started to factor in travel time between Ponyville and Tick Tock's safe house manor. It would probably be around an hour of travel to get to Ponyville and an hour back. If he wished to make good time and be able to pick up the mares again without Tick Tock scolding him, then he'd have to be as his Master would say 'Tick-tock quick and accurate.'

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The sky carriage set down just along the side of the gingerbread themed Sugar Cube Corner. Shade pulled the carriage behind one of the nearby, thatched roof houses and waited for the three Mares to exit the carriage. Once they exited the carriage, Snowball lit up her horn and pulled the Carriage's cover out from the small storage compartment on the floor. Concealing it.

"Snowball dear, I've heard Tick Tock rave about your magical prowess." Snowball waved her hoof at the compliment. "And I heard you cast a particularly effective 'Who's that?' Spell." Lady Centennial finished

"Well of course I'm good with that spell, I need to be."

"Excellent, well it seems to me that you have to cast that spell on yourselves. Can't have anyone in Ponyville remember your beautiful face, or they might start wondering what you're doing here." Lady Centennial winked and began to trot away.

"Why don't you need the spell?" Dagger asked, a slightly accusative tone in her voice.

Lady Centennial laughed softly before looking back. "Because dear, I'm expected to pass through Ponyville. It'll be odd if no one remembers me passing through."

The golden mare strutted over to the edge of the houses keeping a lookout whilst Snowball's white magical aura flared up and engulfed herself, Dagger and Shade.

The golden mare walked back over with a small bag of coins in her mouth and tossed them at Shade. "For you Shade. Tick Tock apologizes for not giving you your allowance earlier."

Shade gripped the bag and slid it into a small side pouch he wore under his left wing and proceeded to take his cloak out of the same pouch and wrap it around him, hiding his sword and wings.  

Shade mumbled something that resembled a 'thank you', before he flew off as the golden mare smiled warmly after him.

"He's a nice little gentlecolt, no?" Snowball and Dagger nodded watching the pegasi fly off over the town.

"Right. Ladies, I believe we have an appointment. A spa appointment." Snowball hopped a little excitedly at her own announcement, whilst Dagger dragged her hooves uncomfortably. Lady Centennial chuckled as they trotted off to their spa date.

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An elderly stallion lay in a dimly lit room. The room was unusual in that the floor felt soft and lumpy. The elderly Stallion examined the room and found the walls too were padded, knitted into tight square formations that covered the walls and ceiling. A dim light came from the door which was padded on the inside, with a small window allowing light to leak in and illuminate the room.

The elderly stallion was starved and his mouth was a mess. He could feel various missing teeth, where their had been perfectly healthy ones only a few days ago. His front left leg also hurt, and continued to trouble him as he made his way over to the door and climbed up on his hind legs to look out.

The corridor outside the room was very regal, with paintings of watercolor landscapes lining the wall and a intricately detailed carpet stretching off past his point of view. The stallion pounded against the door and began trying to buck it down. The door's padding absorbed the force of his blows and since he was no unicorn, ripping it off the hinges was a no-go.  Sighing in defeat he tried calling out for aid, he heard hoof steps coming down the hall, he looked out hopefully only to see one of his tormenters. A grey black stallion with a scarlet mane and a ragged cloak draped over him.

The pony wrapped him in his magic and pushed him away from the door as it swung open. "Ah, Lord Rust. I have business with you." Crow said with a calm expression on his face as he closed the door behind him.

"You may have me now, stallion, but someone will come looking for me. And when they do I can assure you, your little group of psychopaths and misfits aren't going to-" He was cut off by Crow's magic choking and lifting him off the floor. Crow had a bored expression on his face, like he was looking at a bowl of porridge.

"You talk too much." Crow stated, walking towards Rust as he levitated a strange contraption out of his saddlebags. "And I don't need your empty words, land or title." The device he levitated out of his saddlebags had a small needle which Crow brought down into a vein in Rust's left hoof. "Because your giving all that to Queen Moon." The Old Stallion tried to resist as Crow calmly began drawing blood. "Now how much blood can I draw before you pass out?"

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Shade exited the hardware store, flipping the sign closed as he left. He'd been able to acquire everything he'd wanted from here. He thought back on his frustrating effort to buy his supplies. Buy nails? No problem. Buy planks of wood? No problem. Buy plaster and window panes oh no problem at all little colt, building a clubhouse are we? Eh? What's that? you want seven hundred and fifty stanley blade replacements? oh no can do son, those are dangerous.

Shade covered his purchase under a tarp he acquired in store and left the money for the supplies. It was a bit extravagant but Lord Rust was a special playmate and he had a personal grudge with the stallion. He pondered whether or not he could make it back to his masters home and drop off his supplies when four fillies began trotting over to him. One was a yellow earth pony, another an orange pegasi, the third was a white unicorn and the fourth a grey one.

"Hi there, you need any help? That looks awful heavy?" The white unicorn filly asked.

"Um... N-no that's fine. I got it." Shade began to pull the small cart with more vigor only to pull himself loose. It seemed he would need assistance. "Uh... Actually, can you help me with this?" Shade asked the orange filly. "I just need someone to help me fly it over to my place."

"Oooh sorry. I can't fly yet." Shade paused a moment. Surely a filly her age could fly by now?

He turned and walked over to her, and began examining her wings much to the orange filly's annoyance she pulled away as Shade started stretching them out.

"HEY! Leave Scootaloo's wing alone. Yer being awful invasive." The yellow filly scolded.

Shade raised his eyebrow inquisitively trying to figure out what Tick Tock would do.

Tick-tock, tick-tock. Shade, ask her if she'd like to learn to fly. The conversation's getting awkward.

Mustering his courage, Shade managed to speak. "I-I'm sorry about that. Your wings looked strong enough, I thought you might have been lying."

Scootaloo looked aghast at his accusation. Shade sighed, it always ended up like this when he spoke his mind. He turned and started walking back to the cart.

"H-hey, you don't have a cutie-mark, do you?" The orange Filly asked trotting over and lifting his cloak. "Yep! Blank-flank." Shade scowled until the filly patted him on the back. "Same as us." Shade's angry thoughts stilled, The same as them? In a weird way he was, if only because of something minor like missing a cutie-mark.

"You wanna come Crusadin with us later?" The yellow filly asked.

"What is... crusading?" Shade had heard of crusades and could hardly imagine these three fillies doing something as violent as wage war against ponies and others.

"Oh, crusading's the best thing ever. We're all trying to find our cutie-marks for we are..." The orange filly paused before shouting out in unison with her three friends. "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS"

Shade covered his ears at the sudden outburst. He could use these fillies to help him get his supplies back home and be back before the three mares he brought here were done. By the time he was back, they might be finished and he could escape the three fillies and make it back home.

"Have you four thought about being delivery drivers?" Shade asked, putting as much curious naivety into his voice as possible.

"Well, we did try to do mom's job once." Said the up to now silent grey unicorn. "But we promised my Mom we wouldn't do that again unless she went with us."

"Well, this delivery is very straight forward. All we need to do is pull my carriage back to my house. And then best of all I can fly us all back once it's unloaded." Shade waited for the fillies response and was happy to see them hooking themselves up to the harness. He hooked himself in and they began pulling the sky carriage away.  

The four fillies eagerly called out their continually changing catch-phrase. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DELIVERY SERVICE!" As they all galloped out of town.

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If somepony had told Dagger that a mare stepping on her back would help her relax and work out the kinks in her muscles, she'd have told them they were crazy. She lay there on a massage table alongside Lady Centennial, who preferred Lady C. for short, and Snowball. All three were wearing facial masks, the green material clinging to their skin and fur removing impurities.

Dagger sighed happily as her masseur Aloe, now off her back was working on the kinks on her shoulders. "So, Snowy. How often do you pay the spas a visit?"  Lady C. asked politely. "Oh, all the time Darling, I've been to one's in Manehatten, Trottingham, Las Neighas..."

Snowball prattled on whilst Dagger tried to sneak a quick nap in, she was a little drowsy from the massage and felt a quick doze wouldn't go amiss. She relaxed her eyes and felt them drift close, greeting the darkness behind her eyes. "Eeeep" Dagger squeaked and leapt off the table after the spa pony had pressed in on a muscle on her flank.

"Oh my, are you all right darling? Did that masseur do something wrong." Snowball's horn light up a little in warning as she glanced at the blushing spa pony, standing at Dagger's table embarrassed. Dagger sat on the floor refusing to move until Snowball and Lady C. were finished. A different masseur removed Daggers skin mask, and applied a moisturizing agent.

The three mare's left the spa an hour later, the owner continuing to utter apologies as they trotted out.

"I must say I do feel better after that" Exclaimed Lady C. "All I need to do now is get fitted for a dress. Would you both like to come with me?" Dagger touched a hoof to her chin in thought but decided to wait and see what Snowball would do. To her relief Snowball smiled but shook her head.

"Thanks for the offer Lady C. but I think I'll take Dagger and go get something for lunch." Lady C. actually grinned as she sauntered off calling back to them as she left.

"Tick-tock. Ladies, I understand. I have a few appointments to keep, don't let me hold you back." Dagger froze for a moment a terrible possibility forming in her head as she replayed those last words in her head. Oh Please don't let it be what I think it is... Dagger's thoughts trailed off as Snowball led her away, heading towards a small cafe."

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Crow made one more sweep of the house, ensuring everything was locked up tight before he departed. It would take several minor teleportation jumps to reach the edge of New Mareland and from there he would cautiously approach the city in time for the Royal Court with Lady Centennial.  

He carried nothing but essentials: a sack of bits, the documents Tick Tock asked him to bring, and the cloak on his back. He entered the kitchen and inspected the broth he was cooking. He had been cooking it in the pressure cooker and levitated the lid back on, and turned down the heat. The broth would require precise heating and cooking time to cook properly and release it's full flavor. As his old cooking instructor would say, 'To harness the taste of food, you must understand the ingredient's mind.' His teacher's lesson had always been both practical and philosophical, which is probably why he cooked so well.

Crow left a note on the kitchen door, and one on the fridge giving exact instructions of when and how to take the broth off the cooker. Any deviation could cause the recipe to burn or turn sour. The last of the doors now secure, Crow made his way down the path intending to teleport, when he spotted the sky carriage Tick Tock had gotten a while back loaded with supplies. He was expecting Dagger and Snowball but instead found Shade... with foals his own age.

It was such a strange sight, Shade was actually smiling, in an innocent colt way and not the eager to learn or competitive smiles he had during lessons or games of chess and casualty. It was a nice break from the smiles of murderous intent he had whenever he was out by himself. Crow flared up his horn and began his first teleportation spell, Tick Tock would be happy to hear about Shade socializing with Fillies his own age.

If he didn't know already.

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Author's Notes: I wanted to do more with the Spa but I couldn't think of anything. So I left it short, but I might play it up for some cheap laughs later in that flashback chapter I plan on doing. This chapter is really long, longer than I originally intended. It's gotten so long and chock full of little stories that I need to take a bit of a breather. I'll be staring work on Chapter 6 later tonight and pull all these stories together again.

Editor's Notes: Yay!