Crystals of the Night (public)

"Very well then..." the full-blooded changeling responded, quickly surrounding himself in green fire, leaving behind his original pony form, and still swathed in that kimono of his. "I accept your fine offer to rest, though I implore you that I'm fed enough now."
Nevertheless, the gent was prepared to follow her wherever she led.

Scythe thought for a moment, slowly processing what Vision just said. "Wait, you were... partially kidnapped on your way here, knocked out and all? Sounds bad." he says, releasing a small sigh. "Yeah, never happened to me, and no worries, I won't do that." Scythe said before adding in a hallowed voice: "I always go for the kill anyway..." before bursting into laughter and leaning on Vision. "Such is life of a ...mercenary? I think that's what they call us." Scythe thought out loud. "Anyway... I don't really have any aim other than giving out some scares, and a normal walk could do me well."

Diamond levitated her mask and hat back on, then led Kami to a nearby hotel. She walked up to the clerk and took off her hat and mask. The clerk's eyes widened, and Diamond simply looked at him. "Charge it to my father's account." She immediately received a key and led Kami to a large sized room with a double-princess sized bed. She took off her costume and hung it up, then reverted to her true form and lay down on the bed. She looked at Kami. "Care to join me?"

Kami smiled gently at her as he began removing his own costume, taking a bit longer than she had to carefully fold his attire before putting it down. Hearing her invitation, however, quickly led him to her side, and had him crawling up to lay beside her. A hoof, still white and fluffy, rose up to pet along her side as a smile drew across his face. "Now then, feel a little better?"

Red was just in shock. She jumped back, looking like she almost taught a heart attack. She doesn't like being sunk up on period. Even if it was a colorful display. Her horn glowed brightly it's scarlet aura like flames erupting from it's short point. Placing a look of disapproval on her face. All though, she soon calmed down in realizing he was introducing herself.

What. A. Way. To. Socialize. Red.

She placed a clam demeanor, slapping her face in a classic faceplam. "Oh." She simply told them in a slightly annoyed voice, not at them but at herself. They knew it was her birthday, Red! She simply laughed slightly, trying to let the aggression pass. All though when she saw the costumes the fillies were wearing, she generally worried for her safety. Little Red looked over to them, unsure. She just met them...and they want her to join them? Of course Red would make a fabulous asset to this trio, after all, she is the best...and probably only, witch around. "Did you guys know it was my birthday?! Oh thank you!" A perfect picture of narcissism right here; Little Red. "So where's my cake?" She asked, completely ignoring the question.

Ruby Nigredo loved the way the fillies made their introduction to Red along with him, though a hunch of his would be confirmed in the form of Red flaring up her aura after being startled despite his own efforts to avoid that specifically. As far as his official career went behind the mask, he knew full well the difference between someone faking an angered look, and someone who looked ready to tussle.

Fortunately, Red kept her cool, so he'd mentally file it away as her being likely easy to startle... for now. He was then left genuinely puzzled as to what she meant by her birthday and cake. He began to wonder if she was just that good at acting off kilter, or she just plain really was off kilter, which gave him reason to mildly worry over the fillies as he thought how to respond in a softer but still distorted voice. "Um... Uh... No, we did not! But we know someone around here makes cakes!" At least, he could have sworn he saw a cake vendor making novelty pastries for the season somewhere, but then again he too could make treats well enough as a long kept hobby of his. "But really, we're just looking for more minions... And only the best minions!! If you want to join us though... you must show if you're worthy...! Or go on your own and spread chaos! We encourage it too!!" Granted, if by any chance the fillies themselves were not comfortable with Red for any reason or other, then he'd act accordingly.

Diamond shivered and let out a sigh as Kami stroked her side. "I'm feeling much better. Especially now that there are no secrets between us." She looked into the stallion's eyes, feeling comfort and...love? No, it would be hard to feel love from a changeling. But there was something there. "Kami......I....." She didn't know what to say, so instead she pulled Kami towards herself and into a gentle, love filled kiss. She opened herself up for Kami to feed, just in case he wanted to.

As Red started to react with offensive looking magic, the two fillies responded in kind though Scarlet looked nervous and Mythic's face set solidly. Shadows condensed beneath the entire group, slinking about like a small pool of dark liquid beneath the groups hooves while Mythic's illusion hid tentacles moved protectively in front of her sister. Then the situation defused and as it did, the condensed shadows dispersed back to their original appearance and Mythic's 'mane' pulled back to where she was just using it to suspend herself above the ground once again.

"It's your birthday?!" Scarlet asked with nervously restrained excitment, obviously wanting to enjoy such a celebration, but the fact that it was around a strange pony that had nearly used magic against them held her expression.

Mythic didn't respond for the moment, and instead continued to watch Red. Not menacingly, but cautiously since their dad had put her in charge and to make sure that Scarlet, or herself, didn't end up hurt.

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"Hehehe, ya I know that feeling," Zen remarked with a chuckle at the barrage of a statement. "And how about over there," he added with a point to a fairly thoroughly decorated house that a small group of children were departing from.

"Well I wouldn't say—mmmgggnnnn" Kami began speaking before being pleasantly interrupted by Diamond's lips, leaving him groaning out a sound of enjoyment at this particular contact. Silently, he let himself take in a bit of her proffered love, his forelegs wrapping around her in a gentle hug as he pulled his lips free, "Well...that was unexpected."

Diamond nuzzled Kami, then kissed him lightly. The hug felt good. She felt Kami feeding, which sent a rush of pleasure throughout her body, and she let out a sigh as she settled down, holding Kami. He was warm to the touch. "There's plenty more where that came from." She shut off the lights and pulled the covers up using telekinesis. Tonight had gone wonderfully.

"A normal walk, you say?" Vision questioned. He nodded. "I suppose such a thing is in order. More night air is needed to clear my head, at this point. After all this." He started walking off in a random direction, his horn glowing faintly as he took in the surroundings and began fiddling with a three-dimensional illusion - much shrunk of course - of the surrounding area in front of him. "So, how's your night been up till now?"

---

"Great idea!" Euforia exclaimed, rushing over to the house that Zen had pointed out. But rather than rushing to the house, she instead appeared in front of the children. "Boo!" she exclaimed, in a voice that was rather lacking in scare factor but rather ended up being rather comical.

Scythe grinned at Vision's answer and started walking alongside him. "Egh, some failed scares, nothing much." he said before adding "I suppose I just don't look as scary as I thought..." before pulling his hood off, revealing his calm and peaceful-looking head with spiky white mane with dark ends and dark-blue coat. "So... up for a drink or something?"

While Ruby Nigredo waited on the odd pink wearing mare to answer him and his posse of Evil Minion Fillies, a sudden realization struck him like a ton of bricks. He fiddled in place for a moment as it dawned on him that he had been overlooking something rather important about the fillies. "I might have hinted that we go try and prank any family they might have nearby, but I still should have actually done that anyway! Someone could be looking for them!!"

He raised his leg towards the mare as he tried to play out his departure. "Actually, I just remembered something else we simply CANNOT wait for! We must depart post haste, BUT we encourage you to do evil anyway! Don't call us, we'll call you!" And with that, he lowered his head between the fillies, and whispered 'I'll explain on the way, stay still for a bit' to them as he flared up his magic again and enveloped the both of them in the dark aura, and then took off into the air with them while leaving a trail of sparkling lights and more candy.

Once up high enough in the air where most of the castle town could be seen, he essentyally formed the dark aura into a walkable cloud of sorts, and he lay down on it in front of the fillies as he made them gently face him. He once again spoke in his normal voice after a light sigh. "Sorry about the rush, but I need you girls to tell me something... Who are you actually supposed to be with this evening? I'd rather you not get in trouble."

The two fillies were a little shocked at Ruby's sudden reaction and when he addressed them, they listened closely. When the 3 of them took off, both fillies watched the receding ground below with wonder at the cascade of lights and candy. Even the wingless Mythic showed no worries about being this high in the sky and supported on a walkable cloud. Then when Ruby addressed them again the two looked at each other for a moment.

"Well, dad said I had to stay with my sister," Scarlet spoke up first while looking uncertainly back and forth between Mythic and Ruby, a feat made a little more comical given that the current illusion she was disguised as had her on eye level with Ruby and towering above her older sister Mythic.

"And he said we need to meet him back at the concession store in... Wait, what time is it?!" Mythic suddenly exclaimed looking back over the edge of the cloud for a clock tower or something to tell the time by. Finally finding one, she hurriedly turned back to her sister and said, "Scarlet, we've got to be back at the hot chocolate shop in 10 minutes!" At that statement, both fillies began frantically looking over the edge of the cloud for the shop in question.

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A ways off, Zen was continuing to enjoy Euforia's company as she tried to scare some of the children. However it was cut short as an errant thought came to mind. "Oh, Euforia, I need to head back to the hot chocolate shop to pick up my girls. I told them to meet me there and it's almost time," he said while turning back towards the shop in question. "Care to come with? You could get some hot chocolate while your there," he added with another sip of his now barely steaming cup.

Ruby Nigredo would listen to where the fillies needed to go, and would then look about as he saw from their position where it was that they needed to go. "10 minutes... We got time to reach just about anywhere from here on time, but I'm not entirely sure where that shop was. You gals just let me know where it is, and I'll take you there... Who knows? We might see your dad along the way even before we get there, so that works too. So, which way was the store again...?" As soon as the fillies would point him in a proper direction, he'd move the cloud once again as well as hover lower along with the filles in a more casual manner. The not-so-quick speed might mean finding Zen along the way after all...

"A drink?" Vision asked, turning to look at Scythe. The little illusion he was toying with disappeared into thin air. "Well, alright. Though I do have to warn you, I don't exactly have the largest variety when it comes to drinks. I do have a rather... selective palette." He looked around. "So, any ideas on where to go? I'm quite new to this city, as it happens."

---

"Ooh, girls? You have children? How exciting~!" Euforia bounded over to Zen's side. "Sure, let's go! I wanna see them! What are they like? I wanna know!"

Sigh... refrain from being too pushy.

Zen let loose a loud chuckle as Euforia expressed such a high level of interest in his daughters. "Sure you can meet them, but how to explain them..." he continued while leaving the end of the statement hang for a moment. "Well, they're definitely both my little girls, even if one's adopted. Mythic's a bit older and she's getting pretty amazing with her drawing, already puts my own works to shame, hehehe," Zen finally went on with another chuckle. "Then there's little Scarlet, and despite her youth she already tells a better bedtime story than I, hehehe. Last number of times I've gone to see them before bedtime, they're the ones reading me the story before they go to bed." Zen reminisced with scattered chuckles as he walked alongside Euforia.

"Still, they can be a hoofful sometimes. Mythic's usually pretty quiet, but she can hold a grudge and temper like no other, and Scarlet sometimes seem like and endless ball of energy, hehehe," Zen went on with more chuckles as they walk, oblivious to what lurked overhead.

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Well above, Scarlet and Mythic continued to scour the area for the Hot Chocolate shop. Eventually, Scarlet's excited squeak and excited hoof pointing marked where the shop was, quite the comical site given the disguise she was still wearing. As the cloud started moving towards the destination though, a second squeak signaled the sighting of a certain stallion. "There's dad! I see him," Scarlet chirped happily as she bounced lightly up and down on the cloud.

"Whaaaat," Mythic replied in some disbelief, at least until she got to the edge of the cloud and glanced down herself. "Wow, good spying Scarlet."

"Mhmm," Scarlet replied happily before her expression switched out with something a little more malicious. Excitedly, she turned towards Ruby, "do you think we could try and scare him, please?" Scarlet pleaded. She wasn't alone for long in this venture as Mythic soon caught on, gained her own version of the look, and joined in the pleading. "Yeah, can we please scare him?!"

Ruby looked at the walking couple, and took in the details about Zen himself from a distance. "So that's the father, eh...? Doesn't look like he'll be too easy to scare... I wonder..." He smiled and then looked to the fillies. "Okay, so you really wanna try scaring your father? It might not be easy you know... Then again, we could always try hovering over him and dropping the two of you on top of him. How's that sound?" He had more of an idea to go along with it, but he would first wait on the fillies to come up with an idea of their own if they had one.

Scythe slightly chuckled at Vision's answer. "See, funny thing is, I've never been here either. Let's just walk around, see if we can find anything." he said before adding " As for when it comes to selection of drinks, I'm fine with everything as long as it has alcohol." and bursting into a short laugh, dark aura seeming to come off him when doing so, and disappearing when he was done laughing.

"Well, you see, about that..." Vision turned away from Scythe and mumbled under his breath, "I don't really drink much else other than water, as it happens..."

---

"They sound fun!" Euforia chirped as she bounded alongside Zen, similarly unaware of what awaited her. "I wanna meet them sometime, if I can! I wonder what they're doing now..."

"Oh if I know those two, they're busy trying to get enough candy to last the whole year round, hehehe," Zen replied with a chuckle as he continued to walk down the street with Euforia. "What about you?" Zen asked as the approaching doom continued to get closer.

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"That... might work," Mythic said hesitantly while trying to think back to the other times she'd seen Zen actually scared.

"Let's do it!" Scarlet chirped happily, "can you get us a little closer Ruby?" She asked as a follow up question while getting situated near the edge of the cloud.

Since the fillies were willing to go with his plan, Ruby decided to wing it and focus on expanding the dark aura so as to make him, and the fillies, look as though they were a wide dark cloud and would hover towards Zen and Euforia. Along the way, he'd also keep raining down the candy in the same fashion as he had been doing already so as to make it harder for anyone to expect that a couple of fillies would be dropped along with them. Plus, the light they shone made it easier to recognize what was outside the cloud from within.

As he hovered virtually overhead of Zen and Euforia, he'd outline a circle so as to let them know where they could jump out from as he whispered to them. "Okay, see that circle? If you're good and ready to jump him, then let me know, and I'll hold his drinking cup. Don't wanna mess with him too much..." And ready he was as he aimed for the cup. It was now up to the fillies to decide how they were gonna drop off along with the candy.

"Oh, I just came here for candy to last me a while. It's an off day for me, mostly because nobody asked me to make anyth... CANDY!" Euforia squealed as the candy began to rain down from above. She stuck out her tongue in an attempt to catch a few, eventually ending up with a mouth full of candy and wrapping. "Where ish thish coming from?"

She looked up. "Ooh, a dark cloud thing!" She bouned up and down, opening her mouth wide. "More!"

... Really?

Don't worry about it. What could possibly go wrong?

Sigh...

Zen was awe struck by the rain of candy as it fell, and more so by Euforia's squeal. As he watched her scramble about to gather up the tasty morsels, Zen was completely unaware of the wary eyes that were upon him. Soon enough he too was spreading his wings to try and catch a number of the candies, a few for himself while most being intended for his little girls, and possibly Euforia.

Well above the oblivious stallion, the two disguised fillies watched with wide eyes as the perfect moment neared. Before they jumped however, both turned back towards Ruby and bowed their heads hurriedly. "Thank you for letting us come with you," Mythic said quietly.

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun," Scarlet chimed in excitedly before they both turned back around, gave each other a quick nod, and then jumped. The two angled themselves to they were dive bombing straight at Zen, though Mythic wrapped her disguised tentacles around Scarlet who used her wings to slow their fall enough that they wouldn't get hurt or hurt their dad....too badly.

Back down below, Zen had managed to get a decent haul loaded onto his wings, and even a couple on his hat. "Hehehe, here you ca-" *crash, "Ahhh!" *, Zen had started to speak when the two fillies tackled into him, causing the trio to tumble off to the side after Zen let out a scream. Zen was still clutching his eyes shut when the sounds of giggling reached his ears and he slowly cracked them open. "What the, you little!"

"Hah, we scared you daddy," Scarlet said happily with a little jump on Zen, causing him to 'oof' when the little filly's hooves came down on his stomach.

"Yeah dad, you can't say we didn't get you this time," Mythic added as she started to try and de-tangle herself from the pile.

For the first moment, Zen was trying to come up with a retort, but unable to to deny it, Zen just settled back into a grin and chuckled loudly. "Hehehahaha, yeah alright, ya got me this time," Zen said before scooping both fillies up and tickling them, earning squeals and cries of protest from both as the illusions Scarlet had on both fillies faded away. Scarlet's crimson scaled wings spasmed, while her abnormally wide mouth letting out loud laughs. Mythic's tentacles squirmed on the ground as well, before the tickling let up.

Ruby Nigredo smiled and waved at the two fillies as they bid him farewell. Their time together was short, but it was nonetheless enjoyable for what it was in the end. He held up his end of the bargain as promised by holding Zen's cup with magic as intended once they launched their attack on him, and then gently lay the cup near the family on the ground as if nothing had happened. He also watched the scene before him, of course, as they all had fun in this holiday.

Little by little, the dark cloud receded, and became small again as he stood upon it as he had done before, revealing himself to those below and speaking to them in a distorted voice; Particularly at the fillies. "Well done, my minions! You have made our dark forces proud! You're now free to lead your own forces, but I would be most honored to have you by my side once more in the future.Farewell, young ones, and remember: For EVIL! UWEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE~" And so, the odd grown stallion with active magic and the like floated off into the distance once more as he made his exit from the scene, giving away the remaining candy and tormenting others whenever he could as he stuck around for a while longer in the act.