Mischief Managed (Patreon)

(Not pictured: the bucket of maple syrup about to fall on your head)

Got my new tablet! This is a test doodle. New tablet is ahhhh.....not great. I bought a slightly newer model of my old tablet, completely forgetting the company is known for buggy hardware and zero customer support, whoops. Pen pressure is glitchy and the line stabilizer absolutely refuses to work, so I apologize for the wobbly lines here. Currently awaiting a replacement piece for my old tablet so I can return this new hunk o' junk- but until then, at least I've got a means of producing new (if wobbly!) pony art. Thanks for your patience, everyone! :)

So! Irie and Smoky, whatta pair. I waffled for a long time how to reshape Smoky's uncomfortable crush on Iridescence, right up til I remembered I can just retcon old dysfunctional ideas. Yay! Nephew crushing on his bug auntie is out, Smoky and Irie being buddies is in. >:3

Special Agent Smokescreen is a pretty solitary guy. Outside a teeny amount of close friends, he prefers to fly solo, brooding in the shadows, contemplating justice and duty and whatever dumb self-righteous bullshit he tells himself. But really, it's cuz he has a hard time making friends. Ponies tend to be put off by a massive looming insect-dragon, and this isn't helped by the fact that he can't speak and ease their worries. Smoky's communication is often limited to ponies who understand Clawtalk (Dragon Sign Language), and said ponies are uncommon. This also also isn't helped by his unsettling tendency to stare, rather dark sense of humor, and fondness for messing with people. Fortunately, there's someone who's pretty chill about weird edgy unblinking lizard boyos, and that'd be Princess Iridescence.

Irie is pretty weird herself. She can play the role of a dutiful daughter of Celestia, sure, but she also likes climbing up walls, playing pranks on the nobles, molting out of her skin and using the hollow dead-eyed shell to sit in for her at boring meetings, and twisting her head around 180 degrees as a party trick. Her nephew Smoky gives her a place to be unapologetically weird, be it hawking acid loogies at Artemis together, sneaking out of the castle to chill disguised among the commoners, or just having a nice clicking changeling conversation together over tea. Irie often drags Smoky out of his reclusive brooding to party (she's the one who taught Smoky how to dance and flirt), while Smoky often helps Irie conceal her hangover and get her royal duties done before Mama Chrysalis throws a shit-fit. Both Irie and Smoky rank rather high on each others list of favorite people, and their bond is more akin to mischievous, gossipy siblings than aunt/nephew.