[Froggy Bottom Bog] Nightmare Fuel

[Cat Napper]

After returning home from her fun at the Gala, Cat Napper was beat, of course. Upon returning home from Canterlot and getting out of her dress finally, the little pegasus wasted no time in grabbing the nearest cloud for a long rest. What she HADN'T planned on was the strong winded weather. She'd been blown away from her home and into the nastiest bog in Equestria as she obliviously snored the day away in her cloud. When at last she noticed, as her cloud came to a sudden halt being tangled in a leafless tree, she was clueless as to her own whereabouts. "Ponyfeathers!" She yelled out in frustration, giving a little unhappy hop that just enough to evaporate her already damaged cloud. "GAH!" She tried to grab for a foothold on the empty air beneath her, hooves lashing at nothing, and fell a few feet down before catching herself with a quick buzzing of her wings.

Hovering, Cat quickly realized what had happened and began to look around for hints as to where she was. There were little trees surrounding her in the bog, the air reeked of scummy water thanks to a festering pond only a few steps away from her. There was a sheer drop that lead into the oozy water, and at the highest point right before it broke away into a rugged cliff face stood the long dead tree that had caught her cloud.

"Where the hay am I..?" She wondered out loud. It wasn't a creepy place, it had a nice eerie, atmospheric feel to it that Cat had seen in a horror flick or two. Not that it scared her! The filly thought it was kinda cool actually, and she dropped onto her hooves feeling a strong curiosity pull her to explore her location.

The ground beneath her squished with each step, something that felt pretty icky on her black hooves. Cat wanted to conserve her flight energy, something that would be crucial if she were to run into some kind of pony-eating beast here, so she just had to deal with the smelly mud splattering her dark leg fur. She wasn't paying much attention to this though, she was more interested in her surroundings. What kind of alien world WAS this? Most everything seemed to be either a sickening shade of green or brown, as the little lost filly made her way along the bog she began to feel the least bit uneasy.

It was all just a new experience for Cat, she enjoyed herself fairly until it crept into her field of vision. Was that... oh dear Celestia it was! A big spider skittered along and made the mistake of crossing the little pony's path.

"ACK!!" Cat reared onto her back legs and turned back around the way she had come from. "GETITAWAYGETITAWAYKILLITKILLITKILLIT!!!" The poor peg was back at her tree in a split second, clinging to it's uppermost branches and shaking like a little foal. Whimpering, she looked around over the landscape for any signs of civilization. Nothing but the green weedy marshlands spread out as far as she could see, she swallowed nervously and whined again.

"Celestia save me from this evil place..!"

[Dubstep]

The sun was drifting lazily in the morning sky as Dark was rousted from his slumber; the villain was still dressed in his Gala attire from the night before, due to having gotten home so late. With a yawn and a thud he tumbled of his sofa and threw his Tux onto it to head out back for a brisk morning shower of icy cold water; not that he enjoyed it by any means, but one does what they must with no way to heat it.

The dye ran out of his pelt as he showered, oozing to the ground to make a murky puddle of protection, since the sensitive noses of the beasts of the Everfree couldn't stand the scent of the horribly cheap dye, Dark couldn't afford to just wash it away. As he started drying off, however, he was interrupted by the sounds of screams coming from further away from the lair "Blast what now?!" he said to himself as he threw on his trademark cape and ran towards the sound.

Upon arrival Dark saw a pony up a tree quaking in fear and a large spider skittering around; with a disgruntled sigh, Dark summoned a shield around the arachnid and promptly condensed the shield, crushing the spider to nothing more than a gooey mass which he flung into the forest, sputtering out rather grumpily; due to his morning being disturbed; Dark walked closer to the tree and looked up it, "Rassin frassin rrrrr...Alright you can come down now you....Oh geeze it's YOU!" the villain was awestruck to see the artist from the Gala cowering in a tree like a wee babe.

[Cat Napper]

All seemed lost, and it looked as if Cat would have to stay up in the tree until that vile black beast lost interest! She dug her little hooves into the bark and cowered behind her wings, and then out of nowhere, HE showed up. Even without the fancy Gala attire and gloomy colors, Cat could recognize that grumpy voice anywhere. And those eyes.. a villain had become her hero! Now this was amusing.

Cat chuckled and smiled down in gratitude to her acquaintance from the night before. "Well well, we meet again Dark Core, master of evil!" She shook out her pelt, still trying to get that terrible prickling feeling out of her spine that had gripped her as soon as the spider showed up, and hopped down from the branches.

Cat herself was looking a bit different than she had the night before, now without her leopard print dress and with her mane and tail back to their usual scruffy mess. But it was nothing compared to Dark here! "You're.. blonde?" She said, trying her absolute hardest not to laugh knowing how upset it had made him last time.

"What in Celestia's name are you doing in.. here?" The filly asked, tilting her head in her curious and adorable fashion. She still wasn't sure where she was, but at least she'd found somepony here. Even if it was the obnoxious pest from the night before, it was still somepony who could help her out of this mess.

[Dubstep]

Dark facehoofed at the fact he forgot he was undyed; his horribly unvillainous coloured pelt and mane shining in the morning sunlight; it drove him crazy, "Grah, bluh, yes I'm blond..." he said with a twitch; now not only had he saved the little runt, she knew what he really looked like, this day was starting off SO good..."I LIVE out here! I should be asking what you're doing out here, besides whimpering at the sight of a tiny spider, that is, heheheh." the villain said with a chuckle; if that little spider gave her the willies that bad, what would the site of a Hydra or Manticore do to her? As much of a laugh as that would be to see, Dark couldn't help wonder what kind of silly excuse she would make for being out in the middle of the bog.

[Cat Napper]

"Sh-shut it." Cat blushed angrily and looked down at her hooves. "That was a big spider.." The little pegasus was absolutely fearless with larger critters, but if it was crawly and a bug and liked to bite.. she shuddered at the thought.

"Yeah, anyways, looks like I underestimated the wind last night. Fell asleep on a cloud and ended up here." Cat shrugged and lifted a forehoof to scrape the back scum out from under it. "Blehh.. Wait, you live here? You're crazy!" She looked a bit concerned and turned her gaze back to Dark. "All on your own? Heheh, I'd say you're a bit on the young side to be a hermit."

Cat fluttered her wings uneasily seeing a few dark shadows flitting back and forth in the foliage, the slightest possibility of more spiders made her skin crawl. She flattened her ears and ducked behind Dark with a tiny high pitched squeak of displeasure. "Can we get outta here please..? Somewhere with.. less spiders? Please?" The little filly shuddered and held her wings over her face again, peeking out with adorably huge, scared eyes and hoping that Darky here wasn't mean enough to leave her out here alone and unprotected.

[Dubstep]

Dark lets out a bit of a chuckle as the filly blushes, "Heheh, you blushin...." he couldn't help but laugh as all that cockiness the female had at the Gala last night was washed away, "A cloud huh?...Yes I live here, I have for over five months now, though I wouldn't say I'm a hermit really....I get to town now and then...and...get apples or rocks thrown at me...Bah..." Dark said shaking his head; why wasn't he yelling at her? After the taunting he received last night, he should be screaming for her to get out of there.

As the little filly dove behind him, Dark laughed at the squeak she made and glanced back to her as she spoke, "You're kidd....hnggh... he was about to tell her to get lost, but blast it, the eyes, who could say no to eyes like that, big and adorable pleading eyes, Dark never stood a chance, "Guh....Fine...Follow me, you can hang out at my lair....just no complaining about the looks or anything alright?...Built the place myself..." he said nodding towards the direction of his house and waiting for her to follow.

[Cat Napper]

Cat blushed even more when Dark commented on her blushing. "No I'm not!" She stubbornly looked away at the ground again and snorted angrily.

And then surprisingly, the young villain invited her back to his home. Cat blinked, and then nodded, smiling as she knew that her assumptions last night were correct. He wasn't an evil pony, just stupid and stubborn. And he needed a friend, whether or not he'd admit it.

"Well that's.." Can't say nice, masters of evil aren't nice. Cat wanted to be on Dark's good side, so she'd just play along with the silly colt. ".. rather considerate of you. Thanks, I guess." She shrugged and followed the unicorn across the bog.

"I suppose you're not gonna ask for my name, then?" The filly chuckled, too stubborn and too set on being 'evil' for simple manners she figured. "Name's Cat Napper, all around artist of Ponyville." With a charming, heart melting smile she added. "But you can just call me Cat. All my friends do!" She silently wondered how Dark would react to her referring to him as a friend. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad, although now she was thinking she should've called him something like a frienemy.

Cat didn't care in the least for the awful first impression he'd made last night, she'd been trying to forget about his screaming insults and move on. Though, she still had to glance down at her pelt every so often and look for fleas.

[Dubstep]

"Mrf....Right....whatever..." Dark muttered as he led along to his lair; what was compelling DC to be nice to this gal? Wasn't fair her using his weakness against him, cute eyes and pleading made Dark an easy target at times. As they continued on, the filly introduced herself as Cat Napper, an artist from Ponyville; why give him her name? Names always complicate things, for one he'd be expected to remember it and for two that would mean he'd have to acknowledge the fact they know each other, which oddly didn't seem to bother Dark as much as he thought, "Er..R-right, Cat...Gotcha..." he said, unable to not let out a smile at being called a friend, but he tried to quickly push the silly notion of friendship out of his head; he was a villain, he didn't need friends....but her smile truly was sincere and charming...she may not be a friend, he thought, but she's no enemy at this rate, "Erm...bluh..we're...we're here." Dark said pointing to his lair up ahead.

[Cat Napper]

Well.. Cat certainly hoped he didn't spend all his time here! Kinda drab, but by force of her polite nature the pegasus refused to comment about it. Instead she simply nodded a thanks to Dark for his hospitality and walked inside.

"Sorry I interrupted your morning." She said, still looking around inside the small place. "I ah, I wasn't really planning on dropping by.. or bugging you again as a matter of fact." She shrugged, still smiling softly and feeling a bit proud of herself knowing she was right about Dark.

"I suppose the fates weren't satisfied with our first meeting..!" Chuckling again, Cat seated herself on Dark's worn out little sofa and rolled onto her back, cleaning off the lenses of her goggles with her spit and rubbing them dry with a forehoof.

"If y'don't mind helping me out," She began without looking up from her goggles. "I kinda dunno where I am. Tell me, how far are we from Ponyville, Dark?" She slipped her goggles on over her eyes and looked at him with another silly grin, now with her vision enhanced she could see his features a bit more clearly. D'aw, now this colt was far too adorable to be a villain! She giggled softly and removed her goggles again. He'd realize that someday, Cat would be sure of that.

[Dubstep]

Following Cat inside his lair, Dark walked over to his work table and plopped down on the crate he used as a makeshift seat, "It's, err...it's fine...not like I do much of anything really." he said as he started levitating some Poison Joke to the table and began crushing it with a pestle and mortar before sifting the powder into a vial of water above a flame; herbology always was his favourite class in school.

"Fates...right...I never have been on good terms with fate or luck or happenstance or whatever you want to call it...The Fates always seem to spit in my face, so forget them...." he said as he swirled around the Poison Joke potion before capping it and setting it in a little brown box on the floor next to him; turning around as Cat addressed him, Dark once again couldn't hide a smile at the filly's goofy look, who was this girl, seriously; shaking his head lightly Dark chuckled, "Heh, well, it's a few miles I'd say at least. You're out in Froggy Bottom Bog! Home of the Hydra...man that thing can snore...five or so months of that stuff, bluh....But being out here alone, you get used to it."

[Inkwell]

After Inkwell came home from the gala and put his formal outfit into storage, he spent the rest of the night in a restless state, pondering the possibilities that unfolded after the sun went down. His thoughts turned to his friend, Cat, who had awkwardly confessed deeper feelings for him after his sister had guided them together again (and none too subtly at that). After the question was broached, he told her he'd think about how he felt about her, and he still didn't know. Before the Gala, she was a good friend, and the question of romance never went through his mind. After, though, he suddenly started thinking differently about her, especially after he heard her sing for the first time. Before he knew what he was doing, he came onto her, then backed off again.

He woke up the next morning, memories of Cat-centric dreams fading away, and decided that he'd see Cat again. But unfortunately, he couldn't find her. She wasn't at her apartment, she wasn't flying in the sky, she wasn't sleeping on a cloud, and she wasn't painting! Suddenly Inkwell couldn't think straight, instead immediately assuming the worst of the situation. He spent the morning in a panicked flail, tripping over his words and asking his other Ponyville friends if they'd seen Cat in about twice the time it would have taken him otherwise. After hilarious shenanigans that would no doubt be entertaining to read about, he found out that she'd drifted north on a cloud, and followed her over to Froggy Bottom Bog.

The thought of Cat getting endangered by the wild beasts he'd heard lived there drove him to gallop harder than he ever remembered galloping. Even though he'd never been to the bog before, and he'd see many new sights which he could draw, he forgot his saddlebags and didn't spare a thought to getting them before making the trip. He arrived at the bog exhausted, his legs sore and his coat dripping with sweat. But even worse was the fear he felt about Cat's safety, so strong that he felt tears stream down his face. Another hour passed before he saw hoofprints, small hoofprints that began out of nowhere, as if their source had just touched down from the ground. Cat's prints! But there was another set right next to hers, trailing off into the bog.

Inkwell got his second wind and rocketed off to the end of the tracks, at a dingy shack in the middle of nowhere. "Cat?" he called out, his voice cracking. "Cat, are you there? It's me!" He didn't even wait for her to answer before knocking on her door.

[Cat Napper]

The pegasus looked up from the attention she was giving her goggles and felt her heart flutter a little when she heard that familiar voice. "Ink..?" She took the liberty to answer Dark's door for him and tilted her head in surprise to see her best friend looking a mess! "Oh Inky, what are you doing out here?" She asked with worry in her voice, giving Inkwell a warm hug. The poor colt seemed like he'd been running for miles, he certainly wasn't in a very good emotional state either. That's Inkwell for ya, Cat thought with a chuckle. The sensitive pretty-boy artist.

"The weather turned on me last night, one minute I'm sleepin' in a big puffy cumulus and the next, wham! I'm stuck in a tree here in.." She took a moment to remember what Dark had called the place. "Froggy Bottom Bog? Anyways, I blew into my friend here who I met at the Gala last night." The filly leaned over and whispered to Inkwell quiet enough only for the two of them to hear. ".. go easy on him, he's had it rough." A little warning just incase Dark decided to greet Inkwell in the charming way he had greeted the little pegasus just the night before.

Suddenly, it hit her. Had.. had Inky come out here just to find her? Cat blushed a little, that was so touching! She'd never known she meant so much to him. Cat stood up high on her hooves and gave Inkwell a comforting nuzzle, feeling all warm and fuzzy the way she had with him last night.

[Dubstep]

Dark Core flicked his ears when he heard a knock come to his lair door, 'Who would DARE come to my abode?!This day just keeps getting lousier...' he thought to himself as Cat got up, apparently she had recognized the voice calling her name, 'Oh, great, now she's answering MY door? Bah...Who's this sap anyway? His emotions all strung up like that I wouldn't be surprised if he woke up some of the beasts in the forest!' the villain thought as he glanced at the new guest, "Bah...Welcome I guess, get inside before any creatures come eh? Some of em can smell emotions and won't think twice about chewin up and spittin out a scrawny little morsel like you." Dark stated to 'Inky', as Cat had called him. Upon seeing the filly nuzzle the new arrival, something in the back of Dark's head gave him a bitter feeling, with a twitch and a snort Dark turned back to his table and started working again on whatever project he was doing with the Poison Joke. 'Bah, I should just shoo them out, send them on their way, more trouble than their worth....then again they could get eaten and that'd be on my hooves...wait why do I care?...Bah...can't let that happen...Even villains have standards.'

"Hrrrngh, yall can stay for a while; the beasts of the forest start getting active early of the morning, and the Hydra starts its hunting soon." Dark stated not looking up from his work; the bitter feeling still nagging in the back of his head; like pins and needles jabbing at his psyche, "That is unless you WANT to get eaten by a manticore or hydra or giant spider, then by all means, be my guests and abscond."

[Inkwell]

Cat was alright! Cat was alright! Inkwell buried his face in Cat's body, embracing her and no doubt getting her messy with sweat and grime. He listened to her words and smiled, using his fetlocks to wipe away his tears. "I know, I heard about it from the other pegasi," he said, trying to get his voice under control. "I was... I'm sorry, I was just so worried that you'd leave after what we said last night. It was stupid, I know, I wasn't thinking straight."

He turned to look at the other colt in the room, the one Cat introduced as being another friend from the gala. He looked, well, kind of like a petulant child, honestly. This other friend was rather rude to him, behavior that Cat tried to excuse. Inkwell didn't mind, though. As long as Cat thought he was okay, he was okay. "Okay, thanks for... for helping out," Inkwell told him. "She means the world to me." After taking a few steps he felt fatigued, practically collapsing onto the floor as he went to lie down. "Sorry, I kind of ran here from Ponyville. Give me a minute, please."

[Cat Napper]

"Oh you poor, poor thing!" Cat curled up next to her exhausted friend and held him in a gentle hug, not even flinching as his sweat soaked into her own fur. "No no no, I would never do such a thing to you! Where'd you get an idea like that, silly?"

She chuckled softly and folded a wing over Inkwell. "It's alright, I'm alright, you're alright. Thanks to Dark here my life was quite possibly saved." The little filly wrapped her forehooves around Inky's head and nuzzled him gently. "You coulda been killed out there too.. I'm really glad that you're safe!"

The pegasus gently swished her tail back and forth and laid next to her best friend, offering him as much comfort as she could. She turned her gaze back to DC for a moment and gave him a soft, friendly smile. "Oh, yes. Dark, this is Inkwell. One of my very best friends. Inky, that's Dark Core. Master of evil!" She grinned and added on. "He was such a gentlecolt when I met him at the Gala, isn't that right Darky?" The filly rolled her eyes, hoping to make it very clear how sarcastic she was being.

"Come now Dark, you wouldn't kill your new friends now would you? And, as for what you said before.. I would say the fates were in our favor when they brought me here. If I'd drifted anywhere else in Everfree, you wouldn't have been there to save me! And if I'd drifted anywhere else, you wouldn't be having such a lovely second meeting with me, eh?"

[Dubstep]

Dark sat there working on his Poison Joke; the twinge in the back of his mind continually nagging at him, but he wasn't able to pinpoint what it was; perhaps it was just because his morning routine was interrupted for the first time since he had lived at the bog or that he had two 'friends' in his lair, his fortress of solitude...more like fortress of lonesomeness, not that Dark would ever admit it, no he was far too stubborn for that, especially to two ponies that seemed that close....Why did that bother him? Doing his best to shrug it off, Dark swallowed his pride and put on the best face he could to hide his annoyed feelings and turned around with a small smile, "Nice to meet you I suppose, Inkwell....I'm Dark Core as Cat said" he said with a nod, trying his best not to just flip and make a bad impression, again.

Blushing slightly at being called Darky, the villain nodded, "Right...Of course.....And indeed, t'would be a shame if anything were to befall you...or your friend; and I suppose you're right, though I did no do much worth of any praise at all; squishing a small spider is hardly anything to fret about...I do suppose it is...actually nice to see you again." he said before falling silent for a few moments; thinking Dark finally thought of something to add, "If you're...er...either of you are hungry, there's some ah, apples in the crates by the sofa....have some...I can't hardly stand them anymore...Months of apples and nothing but apples wears on you after a while so help yourself....selves." he said pointing over to the crates, five or six or so of them filled with apples, some had dents and bruises for some reason; turning back to his table Dark took another deep breath and just sat there.

[Inkwell]

After blushing from the hug and the nuzzle Cat gave him, Inkwell turned over, onto his back, and did his best to relax. The hard, bumpy floor of Dark's ramshackle dwelling didn't make it easy for him to relax, and he knew he would get really dirty lying there, but he didn't care. His muscles burned with a dull ache and he still found himself short of breath. It was a wonder he didn't just collapse into a deep sleep right there! With Cat's wing as a blanket, he certainly wouldn't mind that. But instead, he stayed awake and listened to Cat's explanation of how she and Dark had met.

"Wow, thanks for saving her from the... spider," Inky said, snickering a bit. "For a master of evil, you're a pretty nice colt, you know that?" What was up with Dark? He let Inky and Cat stay at his place despite apparently not liking them all that much, and he certainly didn't mind feeding them all of those apples that he had for some reason.

Ech... those apples didn't look anywhere near as appetizing as the ones from Sweet Apple Acres. He could see that a lot of them had bruises and even cuts on them, which let the insides get stale. Still, he did see a few ones that looked mostly okay to eat, and that sprint to the bog had given him one heck of an appetite.

"Hey Cat... could you get me a few of those?" he asked, looking up at Cat's adorable, angelic face. "I'd do it myself, but... ugh, so tired." He made a weak attempt to get up but just ended up rolling into her.

[Cat Napper]

Shifting a little bit to cover Inkwell with her wings better, Cat frowned and blushed a little at the mention of that spider again. "It wasn't just the spider y'now! If Dark hadn't come along, I bet some terrible beastie would have eaten me in a split second." She chuckled a little, imagining how the thing would handle a stubborn pony like herself. She'd kick up a storm in it's belly, if not saving herself she'd give it some serious indigestion.

She began to feel a little bit suspicious as to why Dark, this so called master of evil, was treating her so kindly seemingly out of nowhere. Cat grinned at this thought, had this kid taken a liking to his new lady friend? She giggled and blushed, but her thoughts were cut off as Inkwell rolled into her attempting to get to his four again.

"Oh, Inky you're gonna hurt yourself. Look at you! You wore yourself out, poor thing. 'Course I'll get you a snack, you pro'ly burned every calorie in your body runnin' like that hehehe!" The skinny little colt could definitely use a bit of bulking up, Cat though was just too polite to tell him this. She giggled and nuzzled her best friend again before getting up to dig through the crate of apples.

"Well thanks much Dark, that's sweet of you t'share with us." Surprisingly, Cat was having a hard time finding any apples that were fit for consumption. "Blehh, I hope the Apple Family gave you this crate on a discount. If not for free, pretty nasty condition here. They almost look like they've been chucked around a bit!" The filly shrugged, guessing that it was nothing more than the fact that the young villain couldn't afford anything better on his own. Poor Dark! Cat began to consider coming by and bringing him some real food before he starved to death on these windfalls. He was a sweetheart, whether or not he'd admit it, and it would break Cat's little heart to not be able to do anything to help him out.

Finally, Cat picked out a few apples that looked decent enough to be eaten and brought them back to her exhausted friend.

"Here y'go Ink, once we get back to Ponyville I'll get you somethin' a bit more filling, sound good?" She rested her head on Inkwell's worn out body again, forgetting completely for a moment that Dark here might not appreciate the PDA.

[Dubstep]

'NICE?! NICE?!! This....FOAL would DARE call ME nice?! Who does he think I am? Some kid messing around?! Grrrr...I've half a mind to...rrrr...' Dark thought to himself at the sound of being called NICE of all things, doing his best to stay calm, he spoke through half gritted teeth, "Hmm, I kindly request that you refrain from referring to me as nice, please, it's not befitting of a villain, you see." without turning around, Dark nodded, "Not a problem Cat, s'the least I could do for ya...and your, friend, looks like he could stand to get some food in him before he wastes away." he said as he continued to tinker with the Joke he was working with, before Cat commented on the wear and tear of the fruit, "Chucked around....heh.....yeah you could say that...and you'd be correct; hay, I'd have boxes of rocks too but I can't eat those so had no reason to gather those up...least the apples don't hurt as bad." Dark said with a chuckle, acting like it was no big thing that he had rocks and apples tossed at him, "Guess it's what I get for my line of work, bah, free food is....is how I look at it..." looking back over his shoulder for a moment, Dark caught the affectionate display, turning back around quickly, Dark bit his tongue to keep himself from commenting, 'No no no! It's not your place to say anything, besides what do YOU care for, he....they need to just rest up and leave...hrrrngh....' he thought to himself, his ear flicking in annoyance.

[Malkav]

From his hiding spot in the brush just outside Dark's Fortress of Evil, Czar watched the whole scene unfurl. Him squishing his Spy-der, leading the fair female into his lair, Presumably to conduct experiments on her, he thought. Finally, after that third pony showed up, he was ready to begin his assault on Dark Core's Fortress, ready to defeat the last great evil in Equestria. He had be shadowing him for weeks now, and this was the time to strike.

Readying his sword, Hoovesbane, he made a mad gallop, jumped, and flew......

Right into the side of Dark's house, about six inches from the window.

The last thing he saw before passing out was the dent he made in the side.

[Inkwell]

Inkwell chuckled to himself as Dark Core practically shot steam out of his ears at being called "nice." He was starting to recover from his protracted running session into the bog. His heart didn't ache so much and his breathing wasn't quite as labored. "Oh, alright," he told Dark. "You're... you're a dirty ******* with a wormy black heart and no redeeming qualities whatsoever. How's that?" He snickered at the thought that Dark would be less offended by that comment than by being called "nice."

Cat brought him a few apples to eat just as he felt his stomach rumbling again. He managed a feeble smile in return for her generosity. "Aw, thanks," he told her. "You're such a sweetheart." He was in the middle of his first bite when Cat rested her head on him again, causing him to blush and widen his eyes. But soon he got over it, eating his first apple, core and all.

"You say you got these from where?" he asked Dark. His eyes moved back to the bushels he'd collected, trying to piece together whan Dark said. "...the townsfolk threw them at you? That many?" He sighed and shook his head. "Dang. I don't... I don't know. I don't get you at all." He craned his head over to the second apple when he head a loud thud, and turned his head to see the wall where it came from.

"What was that?"

[Cat Napper]

"What?!" Cat had to rub a hoof over her ear to be sure she'd caught that right. "You're sayin' that all y'got to eat here is a bunch of apples ponies threw at you?" Why the hay was that? So called 'master of evil' here wasn't much of a bother if you managed to get past his incredible levels of immaturity, she was almost 100% certain that a pony like him could never manage to cause any REAL harm, let alone anything deserving of having apples and rocks thrown at him. Maybe the Ponyville folk were less tolerant than she'd thought?

Cat shook her head and stood up. "Nuh uh, look I know I barely know you, but I'm not gonna let you keep livin' like-" Of course, right in the middle of her declaration that she wouldn't allow somepony this young to live alone practically starving with nothing other than half-destroyed apples to feed himself, when a loud thud from outside broke her train of thought.

"Ponyfeathers.. what now?"

She trotted away from her spot next to Inkwell and poked her head outside to see.. an older stallion? Lying unconscious on the ground as if he'd flown straight into the wall. The little pegasus blinked, and simply stared at him for a moment in confusion. "Ah.. say Dark. D'you often get ponies flying into your evil lair like blind pidgeons?" She asked, attempting and failing to hold back a snicker. "Think he's alright..?" She wondered out loud.

What was a stallion like this doing way out here? And.. why was he flying into walls? Cat sighed, poor guy must be confused or something, and she shook her head trying so hard not to facehoof or burst out laughing. "Should we see if he's okay?"

[Dubstep]

"...Not....quite what I meant...but good enough." Dark said rolling his eyes, just because he didn't like being called nice, didn't mean it felt good to be called stuff like that, 'Oh well' he thought to himself, 'soon as he leaves I won't have to put up with it any longer, the quiet will be nice...'

"Bingo....Yes they were all tossed at me. Food is food though, and besides, I don't eat much as is, the food I had at the Gala should hold me over for another three or four days.....Yeah, I get that a lot, not surprised Inkwell." he said; not many ponies DID get him, though mostly that was his fault for pushing them away of just being a downright jerk.

When the thud came to the wall, it was all Dark could do to keep from spilling the Poison Joke powder he was working with everywhere; sitting the Joke down, Dark walked over to Cat's side and looked out, "Oh for the love of, who's this clown?..." he thought out loud, 'What?! See if he's okay?! Leave him out there to rot, it's not any of our concern...' Dark thought at himself, "Rrrrrr.....yeah, fine, lemme go get him..." he said walking out of the lair.

Walking over to the unconscious Pegasus, Dark shook his head and snorted before hefting him onto his back, "Guh...heavy sucker...." he said to himself as he carried him in; plopping the featherbrained pony onto his sofa, Dark sat down on the floor, "Sheesh, dude could use to lose some pounds..."

[Malkav]

Coming to, the first thing Czar saw was a peculiar white pony, with yellow mane. All he could hear, at first, were mumbles and fuzzyness.

And then he realized he was on a couch.

In Dark Core's house.

Jumping up suddenly, and brandishing his sword, which was still attached to his leg, he said, "Dark Core! I challenge you to combat! Your evil will be....."

Then he realized that the white pony with the yellow mane WAS Dark Core.

The laughter ensued.

[Inkwell]

The thump on the side of the shack made Inkwell turn his head. He had a few laughs at Cat's comments about pigeons, DarkCore's comments about this new pony's weight, and when the new pony started laughing at Dark, Inky found himself laughing too.

Wait, what did Dark say? Inkwell was just finishing the second apple when he blinked and swallowed, sputtering as some of it went down the wrong pipe. "Hhhack ghaaack! Three days?" he asked, incredulous. "Luna's wings, guy, you know that's not healthy, right? Ponies can't survive on just apples, and they can't make a habit of fasting for days!"

He tried to stand up, but found that his legs weren't quite ready to support him yet. His body dropped back a few inches onto the ground. "You know, if you can't get food from civilized society, you can at least let me teach you how to forage," he said. "It's really not that hard once you get down to it. Ever have cattails before? They're actually pretty good!"