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Sugarcoat Interferes In Pony History | It's About Time | "Twilight, you've got to listen to me!"
Calling her own name so desperately felt very strange to Twilight Sparkle. After everything she had been through in the past week, though-up to and including the previously unheard of notion of traveling through time-calling her own name out and expecting an answer was rather low on her personal list of wacky occurrences. Hearing herself respond, though, was likely to land just a bit higher.
"Nope."
Nope? That certainly wasn't the kind of answer Twilight was expecting from herself. Sure, there was likely to be a modicum of disbelief, but such a dismissive answer to this kind of phenomenon was not like her. The eye that wasn't currently covered by an eyepatch, still a bit blurry from the wild whirling effects of the time travel spell, widened in surprise at this egregious response.
"What do you mean, nope?" Twilight demanded of herself.
"I mean I'm not Twilight," the voice responded. "You are. I'd rank this as one of the more ridiculous things I've ever heard you say. Also, you could really stand to take better care of your mane and your clothes."
Twilight repressed the urge to groan as she recognized Sugarcoat's voice. Not that she minded seeing Sugarcoat; by this point it was quite the opposite. With how urgent this mission was and how limited her time was, though, it wasn't an optimal situation.
"Sugarcoat!" Twilight shouted as her vision adjusted itself. "I don't have time for this. I'm from the future and I only have a limited time to give you this very important message!"
Sugarcoat gave Twilight a stare over her glasses. The idea that she had come from the future was preposterous...but considering how Sugarcoat had gotten here, perhaps stranger things had happened.
"What is it?" Sugarcoat asked. "And make it quick. My interest in what you have to say probably isn't going to last very long."
"It's very important!" Twilight exclaimed. "I need you to tell me to..."
"Stop right there," Sugarcoat interrupted.
"I can't stop!" Twilight said desperately. "I need to..."
"I've lived here with you long enough to know when your freakouts are real and when they're over dumb things that aren't actually important at all," Sugarcoat explained. "This is one of the dumb ones. So just go back to whenever you came from and stop worrying about whatever it is you're worried about. And seriously, fix your mane. It looks like you stuck your head in a furnace."
Twilight stared in shock at Sugarcoat. As the spell began to wear off and time flashed around her once more, she felt her heart skip a beat. Sugarcoat knew her so well.
"What in the world was all that shouting and noise?" Twilight asked.
"Just you from the future with some unimportant message for you," Sugarcoat stated plainly as she walked towards door.
"Me from the future?" Twilight repeated. "I learned to travel through time? That's amazing! I can't wait to time travel!"
"Yeah sure," Sugarcoat said as she departed. Twilight was filled with wonder and amazement. To think, she'd actually learned to travel through time! This was sure to be a valuable tool in her studies...
"Wait..." Twilight said to nopony in particular. "I came from the future with a message for myself? I wouldn't just frivolously time travel with no important reason. Which must mean..."
Twilight let out a sudden gasp.
"Something horrible must have happened in the future!" the panicked unicorn exclaimed. "Future me must want me to prevent whatever horrible thing happens in the future!" Another gasp was left hanging in the air as the worried Twilight instantly rushed to her lab. |
Sugarcoat Interferes In Pony History | Dragon Quest | "I don't act like other dragons?"
The words hit Spike harder than he could have anticipated. Sure, Rarity and Twilight had just finished defending him from Rainbow Dash playfully calling him lame and said that he was perfect the way he was, but that one comment still managed to get under his scales worse than the lame comment.
"Oh, not even close!" Pinkie said, the statement's cheerfulness at about the same level as its unhelpfulness. Sure, he wasn't rude and destructive like the few other dragons he'd met before, but Spike still was a dragon, and being told that he didn't act like one stung.
"But why would you want to, Spike?" Applejack asked. Even that question, asked earnestly by what was arguably the most level-headed of the bunch, didn't feel good. Applejack meant it in the best way possible, he knew that to be true. That didn't make listening to his kind being used as a negative comparison subject any more fun.
"Yes," Rarity agreed. "You've got something those dreadfully fierce dragons can only dream of!"
"What's that?" Spike asked. His spirits started to rise. Surely Rarity-beautiful, sweet, empathetic Rarity-was in touch with how he was feeling and had the perfect words in mind to cheer him up.
"The cutest widdle chubby cheeks!" Rarity cooed, pinching those very cheeks. "Ooooo!"
Betrayal.
"Cute?!" Spike said, shocked. "Dragons aren't supposed to be cute! Right?" His own hesitation almost frustrated him more than his friends' statements. Did he really know that little about his own kind?
"Oh sweetie, you are turning the most delightful shade of red," Rarity said with a smile. "It is very becoming."
Spike had taken all he could stand. With an annoyed grunt, he got up to leave. Before he could do so, though, he found himself up close and personal with a powder-blue hoof.
"Hold it," Sugarcoat said.
"Sugarcoat?" Spike asked. "Where did you even come from?"
"I've been here the whole time," Sugarcoat said. She made note of her camouflage attire, stepping back against the wall and seeming to vanish entirely before revealing herself once more.
"Whoa," Pinkie said. "She's good."
"I am," Sugarcoat said matter-of-factly. "And you know what isn't good?"
"Garbanzo bean ice cream?" Pinkie asked. "Although I've never had it. I'm just guessing, really. I mean I like garbanzo beans and I like ice cream, but I don't think I'd like them together. Although now that I think about it, if you mash them up and make a paste out of them, they're pretty good. And probably still would be if they were cold! Can I take my answer back?"
Every head in the trench turned to Pinkie. Spike opened his mouth, but closed it just as quickly. There really was nothing he could say to that.
"Does anypony else know what isn't good?" Sugarcoat asked. This time, she didn't bother waiting for a response. "What isn't good is when you have someone who's supposed to be your friend sitting here clearly upset about something, and instead of comforting him, you make fun of him for the very thing he's upset about. Even saying nothing would have been better than what you did."
"But we weren't..." Rarity started.
"Don't," Sugarcoat interrupted. "Just his body language alone should have been enough to show you he was having an identity crisis, but I guess all you were looking at was his widdle chubby cheeks."
Rarity hung her head in shame. The others remained silent, feeling about as low as Rarity did.
"I'm sorry, Spike," Twilight said. "We all are." The others nodded in silent agreement. "Would you like to do some research when we get home on dragons and their history?"
"Sure," Spike replied, beginning to smile again.
"So you've lived in a library for pretty much your whole tenure as Princess Celestia's student and you haven't even tried to look anything on dragons up for him?" Sugarcoat asked. Twilight replied with a glare and nothing more. Spike, on the other hand, walked up to Sugarcoat and gave her a hug.
"Thanks for sticking up for me," Spike said.
"Yeah yeah, don't get too sappy," Sugarcoat responded, giving him a pat on the back. "Somepony's gotta do it." |
Sugarcoat Interferes In Pony History | Hurricane Fluttershy | "Whoa, girl, take it easy!"
Fluttershy suddenly found herself face-first in a cloud. Of all the things to end up face-first in, she supposed a cloud was one of the better options. She'd seen Rainbow Dash end up face-first in things far less optimal than a comfy cumulus, and frankly she wanted no part of that.
"Whuh, what?" Fluttershy asked. "Did we do it?" Absence of pain notwithstanding, the sudden stop still took her by surprise. The last she'd known, she was hurtling through the sky at speeds she didn't know she was capable of, working in tandem with Rainbow and the other Ponyville pegasi to create a funnel strong enough to propel a supply of lake water to Cloudsdale. Things had looked bleak for the group when Thunder Lane, Blossomforth, and a number of other pegasi came down with a sudden bout of the feather flu, prompting Fluttershy to finally join in despite her earlier reluctance.
"Yeah, we did it!" Rainbow said, a proud smile on her face. "You did it!" It was rare for Rainbow to pass the praise for something she was involved in to another pony, but it was warranted here. It was Fluttershy's extra wingpower that had finally pushed them over the top; without her, the entire effort would have been for naught. It was no record like Rainbow was aiming for, but they had succeeded, and that was all that mattered. A timid high wing shared between friends finished the deal before the two touched down.
"Great job, Fluttershy!" Flitter exclaimed as Fluttershy and Rainbow landed beside them. "That was awesome!"
"Yeah, we couldn't have done it without you," Cloudchaser agreed. To hear this praise from two mares who had earlier been giggling at her efforts was cathartic for Fluttershy, and while she wasn't usually one for basking in attention, a little piece of her was admittedly starting to enjoy it.
"Nice job, Rainbow Dash," Spitfire said as she flew up behind them. "You may not have set a new record, but you showed a lot of guts." Spitfire had come to town to observe the goings-on, and Rainbow was more than happy to see one of her idols. Rainbow opened her mouth to respond, but a voice made whatever she was going to say get caught in her throat.
"You're in no position to talk."
All the color drained from Rainbow's face as Sugarcoat's voice cut through the air. She quickly looked to Spitfire, terrified over what her reaction would be. For her part, Spitfire held her calm, relaxed demeanor, raising a brow at the unicorn.
"What was that?" Spitfire asked. Rainbow found herself unable to speak, and was left trying to silence Sugarcoat through sheer mental force of will. Shockingly, it didn't help.
"I said, you're in no position to talk," Sugarcoat repeated. "Remind me again why you were just standing there instead of helping them out?"
Rainbow tried once again to say something, but her throat had gone completely dry.
"I'm here to record the team's top speed," Spitfire replied simply.
"And yet when the team didn't look like it could make the minimum wingpower needed to funnel the water, you just stood there," Sugarcoat said. "You'd think the captain of the Wonderbolts would get off of her rump and help if it meant actually getting the water that Cloudsdale needed. Your wingpower could have easily covered the gap, instead of making Fluttershy push herself. Maybe Fluttershy should be the captain of the Wonderbolts instead of you."
Rainbow silently began preparing for life without being a Wonderbolt. If Spitfire knew that she was friends with Sugarcoat, then her chances at joining the team were dead in the water. The silence was deafening as Spitfire and Sugarcoat glared at each other. It was a good ten seconds before the tension was lifted by a tiny upturn of one corner of Spitfire's mouth.
"You know, you're right," Spitfire said. "Probably should have helped. Good that Fluttershy was able to show her stuff and help out, but I shouldn't have put her in that position when I could have easily done my part." She gave a salute to Sugarcoat. "Thanks for that, and sorry, everypony. Good to know even an experienced pony like me can still learn something here and there." With that, she spread her wings and took off.
"She seems cool," Sugarcoat said casually as she walked past Rainbow, who was still trying to pick her jaw up off of the ground. |
Sugarcoat Interferes In Pony History | Ponyville Confidential | "Were you guys feeling guilty about all the gossip too? Like...maybe we could be hurting other ponies' feelings?"
Sweetie Belle could tell from the looks on the faces of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo that such a question didn't even need to be asked. Guilt was written all across the fillies' faces, clear as day. Publishing a gossip column under the pseudonym "Gabby Gums" had seemed like such a good idea at the time, back when it was simply talking about a silly mishap involving two of their classmates. The wild success and the pressure from Diamond Tiara to keep it going, though, had led to it spiraling out of control.
"Yeah, I didn't wanna say anything because everypony loves Gabby Gums so much," Bloom said, ears folded sadly against her head. "But...I was sorta hoping we could start writing more stories like this one."
"Me too," Scootaloo sighed. The article they'd written on Spike had been a nice, informative piece, devoid of the sensationalism found in their earlier articles. For that very reason, it had been summarily rejected by Diamond.
"If we're gonna get our cutie marks," Sweetie said, "we've got to give the ponies what they want." She wasn't sure if she could remember a time where she was so disappointed about doing something that could potentially earn her her mark, but here she was. From the disappointed "aww" that she shared with her friends, she could tell that she at least wasn't alone in feeling like this.
"Just write the piece you want to write."
The Crusaders looked up to see the familiar face of Sugarcoat standing by the door.
"Sugarcoat?" Bloom asked. "I thought you weren't helping us with our cutie mark stuff."
"Yeah, cause you didn't want to talk about our butts," Sweetie said.
"Eh, I'm over that," Sugarcoat stated. "This world's a lot different than mine and apparently the adults here help kids with their cutie mark problems and don't get arrested, so whatever."
"Well that's great!" Scootaloo said. "Because we're trying to figure out what to do about-"
"Like I said," Sugarcoat said simply. "Write the piece you want to write."
"But Diamond Tiara said..." Sweetie began, but she was quickly cut off.
"Yeah, about that," Sugarcoat said. "I went to your teacher and told her that Miss Pretty Crown was busy making unfair demands and taking advantage of her position. She made that Featherweight kid into the new editor. That's the kind of thing that happens when you actually tell a teacher that another student's being unreasonable. You should really consider that in the future."
The three fillies' jaws dropped. As was becoming the norm with those who interacted with Sugarcoat, they found themselves at a loss for words.
"You probably won't though," Sugarcoat said as she turned tail, leaving the stunned fillies to their work. |
Sugarcoat Interferes In Pony History | MMMystery on the Friendship Express | "Fine, I'm guilty! I wear false eyelashes!"
Rarity's shame was plainly evident as she whined, but she had to hesitate as she looked at the faces of the ponies around her. "Oh, and I took a bite of the cake." Perhaps that was the answer the others were looking for, seeing as Pinkie and Twilight had been conducting an extensive investigation into finding out who had eaten part of the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness that was meant to be entered into a contest tomorrow, but Rarity still believed the first thing was the bigger transgression.
"So did I," Fluttershy admitted, looking quite ashamed of herself.
"Aw nuts, so did I," Rainbow Dash added.
"You just made it sound so delectable!" Rarity offered, her mouth practically watering just from recalling the taste.
"So tasty," Fluttershy agreed, visions of the delicious cake dancing in her head.
"And boy, was it!" Rainbow exclaimed, tongue licking at her teeth in hopes that a bit of the flavor still remained somewhere on them.
"I only meant to take a little, lady-like bite," Rarity said, her awkward smile trying and failing to mask her guilt.
"And it was so good," Fluttershy said, staring at the rest of the cake with an intense sense of longing.
"Yeah, I just dove right in!" Rainbow chimed in.
"But I'm really really sorry," Fluttershy said, ears drooping in embarrassment.
"Terribly sorry," Rarity agreed.
"Sorry, Pinkie," Rainbow said. It was often difficult to get a sorry out of Rainbow Dash, but there it was.
Pinkie's eyes darted between each of her friends as they offered their rapid-fire justifications for what they had done. The entire situation was endlessly frustrating, but in the end, these ponies were her friends. As much of a problem as their behavior had caused, it wasn't nearly enough for her to stay mad at them.
"That's okay," Pinkie said. "At least this mystery is finally solved."
"Yeah, it's really not."
Pinkie's head whipped in the direction of the nearby door, where a familiar pigtailed pony stood.
"Sugarcoat?" Pinkie asked. "When did you get here?"
"Why does everypony always ask me that?" Sugarcoat asked. "I'm a person, not a clock."
"That's true," Pinkie said. "You don't even have any hands!"
"I used to," Sugarcoat said coldly.
"Huh?" Pinkie asked. Then she shook her head. "Never mind that for now! You were probably right. This mystery isn't solved yet! We still have to-"
"That's not what I meant," Sugarcoat replied. "I meant that what the others did isn't okay."
"What?" Twilight asked. "I mean, they did something wrong, but they apologized. Are you saying Pinkie shouldn't forgive them?"
"Of course not," Sugarcoat said, pointing away from Pinkie and Twilight and to the others. "But are you really going to let them get away with a simple apology? The Cakes trusted you to bring this cake thing to this competition and are hoping it wins a prize, and those four can't hold onto their hunger for long enough to not ruin everything?"
"Hey!" Applejack exclaimed. "I didn't eat any of it!"
"Hm," Sugarcoat said. "Okay, fair enough. I'm sorry."
Applejack stared in shock. Seeing Sugarcoat admit to being wrong about something was surprising in itself. Getting an apology was even more so.
"Don't act so shocked," Sugarcoat said with a frown. "Unlike your friends here, it doesn't take a giant investigation for me to admit when I was in the wrong."
"But we apologized!" Rainbow said, starting to get frustrated.
"Don't you listen?" Sugarcoat groaned. "Do you even realize how important this cake is? The Cakes are trying to win a contest with it, but that's not even all. This is about trust. The Cakes trusted Pinkie to get it there safely and she trusted her best friends in the world to not ruin that for her. You broke that trust, and you're risking making Pinkie's employers think she can't be trusted with important jobs. All because you were hungry and the cake sounded tasty."
Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash looked utterly deflated as the magnitude of what they had done was thrust upon them. Fluttershy looked about ready to burst into tears, and Rarity wasn't far behind.
"Oookay..." Pinkie said, walking over to the three and looking at Sugarcoat. "Ummm...I'm really glad you're defending me and stuff, but maybe that was a little harsh?" She put a foreleg around Fluttershy to comfort her.
"The truth can be harsh sometimes," Sugarcoat said with a shrug. She watched as a tear fell from Fluttershy's eye, then sighed. She walked over to the group and patted Fluttershy on the back. "It's not the end of the world."
"Yeah!" Pinkie said, smiling. "I wouldn't want to live in a world that ended because somepony ate cake! I'd be ending the world every afternoon!" She gave Fluttershy a nudge and a smile, and Fluttershy managed to smile back.
"Have you ever heard of diabetes?" Sugarcoat asked.
"Sure!" Pinkie replied. "Ponies use that word whenever I do something really cute!"
Sugarcoat just sighed and departed the train car. |
Friends Beyond Time | pre | "What?!" asked Twilight. Rainbow and Sunset then explained the situation to the Princess.
"This girl," said Rainbow. "Seems like she's made it her mission to kill Pegasus."
"Why?" asked Twilight.
"We don't know yet," answered Sunset. "But if we don't stop her, then everything Pegasus created will be lost too."
"And everything that sprang from Duel Monsters," continued Rainbow. "Like schools, cities, people, you name it."
"No," breathed Twilight.
"That's why we're here," said Sunset.
"If we work together, we might be able to stop this nutcase," said Rainbow. "Will ya help us?"
"Of course!" said Twilight. "Anything to help my friends save the future!"
"Awesome!" said Rainbow.
"Alright," said Sunset. "First, we better get these people out of here... and I think I know how."
The girls then ponied up and shot blasts of magic at one of the buildings. The crowd then panicked and ran off.
"Hopefully, that scared off Pegasus," said Twilight. "That way he won't be killed."
"And our futures will be saved," said Rainbow.
"I think not!!" said a voice. The mystery girl showed up on her duel runner.
"Look! We already know what you're planning!" said Twilight. "And we won't let it happen!!"
"So why don't you just make it easy, and go back to wherever you came from!" said Sunset.
"Where I came from is why I'm here," said the girl as she removed her helmet. "I'm Starlight Glimmer."
"Starlight?" asked Rainbow.
"I'm quite certain none of you have ever heard of me," said Starlight. "Because I don't come from any of your eras in time. I come from the future!"
"Big deal!" said Rainbow.
"We don't care about your back story!" said Sunset.
"We just care about keeping our world safe!" said Twilight.
Starlight chuckled. "No one ever cared about keeping me or my friends safe. And now I can finally get my revenge. I've come to rid the world of this repulsive game you all love so much! The monsters and spells, it's caused nothing but trouble! True, you may have saved the world a few times with these cards, but it was against adversaries who were using the same cards to destroy it!"
"Keep dreaming," said Rainbow.
"You idiots!!" yelled Starlight. "You should be helping me, not trying to stop me! I told you, where I come from is a doomed future!"
"No," said Rainbow. "Y-you're lying."
"Trust me," said Starlight. "I'm not. Back where I come from, everything has been destroyed. The city, my home, my family, my friends, they've all been destroyed! It was so dark and desolate, I couldn't bear to look at it any longer. But then I realized why things had ended that way, and the answer was duel monsters! And thanks to the technology of my time, I was able to travel back to stop this virus from ever spreading!"
"But don't you realize?" asked Sunset. "By destroying the cards, you'd be wiping out people too! You'll be destroying everything and everyone ever touched by the game!"
"Of course," said Starlight with a grin. "That's what I'm looking forward to the most."
"You're sick!" said Rainbow.
"The game may not be perfect!" said Twilight. "But it can't cause our future's destruction! It's just a card game!"
"Besides, the future isn't written yet!" said Sunset. "There's still time for things to change!"
Starlight scowled. "When then, I guess nothing I say will convince you three. So why don't we settle this another way?"
"If you wanna duel, then bring it on!" said Rainbow.
"Fine," said Starlight. "I can't imagine a more fitting way then to destroy you girls with the very cards you all love so much." Starlight's duel runner then transformed into a hovercraft and she rose into the air.
"Let's do this!" said Rainbow. Her then necklace glowed and blue energy surged around her.
"You'll never prevail!" said Sunset. Transparent phoenix-like wings formed on her back.
"It's time to duel!" said Twilight as her pony wings appeared.
The three girls shuffled their decks and activated their duel disks. |
Friends Beyond Time | It's TIME to duel! | Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 4000
Starlight Glimmer LP: 4000
Turn 1: Starlight
"I'll go first," said Starlight. "I play Pot of Greed so I can draw two cards. Next I'll activate the Field spell Malefic World." Black electricity shot out of Starlight's duel disk and transformed the area into a star filled futuristic field.
"Nice card," said Rainbow.
"Thanks," said Starlight. "Now instead of drawing a card during my draw phase, I can select three Malefic monsters from my deck, then you three will select one. That monster will go to my hand, while the others go back into my deck. Next, I'll remove the Cyber End Dragon in my Extra Deck from the game in order to Special Summon Malefic Cyber End Dragon in attack mode!"
"Hey," asked Twilight. "Does anyone have any info about these Malefic things?"
"It's not some thing," said Starlight. "It's a special type of deck from the future. One of the many advantages of time travel."
"Just by banishing that monster's original form, she was able to summon this monstrosity," said Sunset.
"Destroying a monster's good side just to give life to its evil incarnation?" asked Twilight. "I guess Starlight truly does only see the dark side of Duel Monsters."
"Exactly," said Starlight. "Because that's all the game has ever brought! But not for much longer. Once you three are out of the way, this can all end. But for now, I place two cards face down and end my turn."
Turn 2: Rainbow
"It's a good thing we all know about each other's decks," said Rainbow. "You girls ready?"
"You bet," said Sunset.
"And I think you should start us off," said Twilight.
"You got it!" said Rainbow. "I summon Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise in defense mode! Then I'll place three cards face down and end my turn!"
Turn 3: Starlight
"How pathetic," said Starlight. "If that's the best you can do then I've got this duel in the bag. And since it's my turn, I can activate the effect of Malefic World! Now I can choose three Malefic monsters, and you three get to choose which one will go to my hand!"
"Okay girls," said Twilight. "We must choose wisely."
"I know," said Rainbow. "You choose, Sunset."
"Okay," said Sunset.
"Fools," thought Starlight. "Little do they know, I have three copies of each monster in my deck."
"Well here goes," said Sunset. "I pick... the one of the left."
"Thank you," said Starlight. "You chose Malefic Rainbow Dragon!"
"Crap!" said Sunset.
"But before I can summon it," said Starlight. "I have to activate the continuous spell card, Malefic Wall! You see, normally I can only control one Malefic monster at a time. But with this out, I can summon as many as I want!"
"Fantastic," said Twilight.
"Next I'll banish one of Rainbow's dragons," said Starlight. "In order to summon my Malefic Rainbow Dragon!"
Rainbow growled. "That's my card!"
"Not anymore," said Starlight. "I need it to destroy Pegasus. But for now, I'll use it to destroy you three! Malefic Cyber End Dragon, attack her little turtle!"
"Not a chance!" said Rainbow. "I activate Security Orb, which switches your monster to defense mode!"
"So what?" asked Starlight. "I activate the trap, Dragon's Rage! Now whenever one of my dragon monsters attacks, if it's ATK is greater than your monster's DEF power, then you'll receive piercing damage! Malefic Rainbow Dragon attack, spectral surge!"
"Aggghhhh!!" cried Rainbow as he was blown back.
"Rainbow!" cried Sunset.
"You okay?!" asked Twilight.
Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 2000
Starlight Glimmer LP: 4000
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Rainbow.
"Well, you won't be when you lose," said Starlight. "You see, in a Malefic duel, when you lose, you die!"
"Say what?!!!" cried Sunset and Twilight.
Rainbow stood up. "I activate another trap, Powerful Rebirth! This lets me special my Emerald Tortoise back to the field, after that, he gains 100 ATK and DEF points, and his level increases by 1! (Emerald Tortoise: 600 - 700; Level 3 - 4) Sorry about losing all those points."
"Don't be," said Sunset.
"You kept us in the duel," said Twilight. "We would have been dead without you."
Rainbow smiled. "Thanks, and I promise I'll keep playing my hardest."
"Against a deck filled with the best cards throughout all of time, that's all we can do," said Twilight.
"Yeah, keep telling yourselves that," said Starlight. "I place two cards face down and end my turn."
Turn 4: Sunset
"Alright, it's my turn!" said Sunset. "Hey Rainbow? Is it okay if I use your Tortoise?"
"Sure," answered Rainbow. "Why do ya think I brought him back?"
"Thanks," said Sunset. "I summon Rose the Warrior of Revenge in attack mode! Then I'll tune her together with Rainbow's Tortoise in order to Synchro summon, Stardust Dragon!"
"I don't think so," said Starlight. "I activate my counter trap, Black Horn of Heaven!"
"What?!" asked Sunset.
"Whenever you special summon a monster, this card negates it's summon and destroys it!" explained Starlight.
"Shit!" said Sunset. "You'll pay for that! I play Graceful Charity, which lets me draw three cards, as long as I discard two! Perfect. I'll discard The Calculator and Broww Huntsman of the Dark World. Which means my Huntsman's effect now activates, letting me draw one more card!"
"You'll need it," said Starlight.
"Now I'll remove my Calculator and my Huntsman from play!" said Sunset. "So I can special summon Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning!"
"Not bad, but not good enough," said Starlight. "I mean what could that puny soldier do against my Malefic Rainbow Dragon?"
"This!" said Sunset. "I play Block Attack, to switch your dragon into defense mode!"
"What?" asked Starlight.
"There's one more thing so should know," said Sunset. "If my soldier destroys a monster in battle, he can attack a second time!"
"Oh no!!" said Starlight.
"Black Luster Soldier, destroy her two dragons!" ordered Sunset. Both dragons were destroyed.
"Oh yeah?" asked Starlight. "I activate Malefic Tune! Since a Malefic monster was destroyed, I can draw two cards from my deck."
"Fine," said Sunset. "I'll place three cards face down and end my turn."
Turn 5: Starlight
"It's my turn," said Starlight. "Time for you three to choose again." (Starlight selects three Malefic Truth Dragons)
"Why don't you choose this time, Twilight?" asked Rainbow.
"Okay," said Twilight.
"I choose... the middle one!" said Twilight.
"Excellent!" said Starlight. "These cards will win me the duel."
"Damn," said Twilight quickly.
"Soon the world will be free from this Duel Monster's plague!" said Starlight. "But first, I'll activate Malefic Selector. You see, by removing the two Malefic monsters in my Graveyard from play, (Malefic Rainbow Dragon and Malefic Cyber End Dragon) I can add two more Malefic monsters from my deck to my hand!"
"Great," said Rainbow.
"Yes it is, well for me anyway," said Starlight. "Now I summon the tuner monster, Malefic Parallel Gear!"
"Tuner?" asked Sunset.
"That's right, Sunset," said Starlight. "You're not the only one who can Synchro summon. My gear's special ability allows him to tune with a Malefic monster that's in my hand!"
"You gotta be kidding me!" said Rainbow.
"Afraid not," said Starlight. "Now I tune my Parallel Gear with the Malefic Stardust Dragon I've got in my hand to Synchro summon Malefic Paradox Dragon!"
"Oh boy," Twilight.
"Next I'll activate my dragon's effect!" said Starlight. "Since Malefic Paradox Dragon was Synchro summoned, I can special summon a Synchro monster from either player's graveyard! So I think I'll special summon your Stardust Dragon, Sunset!" The dragon was summoned into Starlight's field.
"Two dragons again?" asked Sunset.
"Correct," said Starlight. "Luckily for you three, all non-Malefic monsters can't attack. But I can still use your dragon's effect to protect my cards."
"Damn her," said Sunset.
"I would say good game, but let's not kid ourselves," said Starlight. "Malefic Paradox Dragon, destroy that Luster Soldier!"
"I don't think so!" said Sunset. "I activate Waboku, which reduces all the damage to zero!"
"Alright!" said Twilight.
"Way to play!" said Rainbow.
"Whatever," said Starlight. "Nothing you three do can stop me. I place two cards face down and end my turn."
Turn 6: Twilight
"Then it's my turn!" said Twilight.
"And because it is, I can activate a trap!" interrupted Starlight. "Malefic Claw Stream! Since I control a Malefic monster, I can destroy a monster on the field. I choose your Black Luster Soldier!" Black Luster Soldier was destroyed.
"You'll have to do better than that!" said Sunset. "Because I activate Call of the Haunted, to be my soldier back to the field!"
Starlight scowled. "Whatever, just get your turn over with."
"You got it!" said Twilight. "I summon Temperance of Prophecy in attack mode! Then I'll play Spellbook of Wisdom! So for the rest of the turn, my Temperance won't be affected by any of your traps! But the best part is, now I can send my Temperance to the graveyard and special summon any Spellcaster from my deck. Come forth, World of Prophecy!"
"Like I didn't see that coming," said Starlight.
"Now I activate Snatch Steal!" continued Twilight. "This lets me take control of one of your monsters!"
"I activate Malefic Force!" called Starlight. "And by equipping this card to my Paradox Dragon, it can't be affected by any of your spells! Nice try."
"Who said I wanted your Paradox Dragon?" asked Twilight.
"What?" asked Starlight.
"I'm taking back Sunset's Stardust Dragon!" said Twilight.
"Thanks a lot, Twilight!" said Sunset. The Princess nodded.
"So what?" asked Starlight. "All of your monsters still plain in comparison to my monster!"
"Not once I play this," said Twilight. "I activate Riryoku, to cut the ATK points of Sunset's Black Luster Soldier in half. Then I can add the remaining amount to my World of Prophecy! (Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning: 3000 - 1500) (World of Prophecy: 2900 - 4400)
"Oh no!" said Starlight.
"Now your monster's the one who's outmatched!" said Starlight. "World of Prophecy, attack her Malefic Paradox Dragon!"
Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 2000
Starlight Glimmer LP: 3600
"I thank you for that," said Starlight.
"Huh?" asked Twilight.
"Since a Malefic monster has been destroyed, all I have to do is pay half my life points and I can special summon this monster!" said Starlight as she held up a card. "Behold! My most devastating creature! Malefic Truth Dragon!!"
Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 2000
Starlight Glimmer LP: 1800
Starlight laughed as a giant golden dragon appeared on her field. She then jumped on its head.
"Dang!" said Rainbow. "That's the biggest monster I've ever seen!"
"Now what?" asked Sunset.
"Hope you're proud of yourself, Twilight!" said Starlight. "I couldn't have summoned this creature without you."
Twilight growled. "I place two cards face down, and that's all." (Black Luster Soldier Envoy of the Beginning: 1500 - 3000) (World of Prophecy: 4400 - 2900) Twilight then looked at the clock. "Pegasus will be soon. We have to hurry."
In the distance, Pegasus's helicopter was approaching the city.
"Mr. Pegasus, sir!" said the pilot. "You may want to hold on, looks like a storm ahead."
Back in the future, the whole city was still crumbling away. Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Sci-Twi, Applejack and the rest of the people just sat there watching the city fall apart.
"The city's almost gone," said Fluttershy.
"No!" cried Rarity.
"You okay?!" asked Pinkie.
"No I'm not!" said Rarity. "The spa! The salon! The shoe store! They'll all destroyed! Whhhhhhhhy?!"
Applejack slapped her head. "Please hurry, Rainbow."
"We know you can do it, Rainbow," said Sci-Twi.
Turn 7: Starlight
"It's my turn!" said Starlight. "Oh! In case you've forgotten, I gain 1000 life points thanks to your Snatch Steal, Princess."
Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 2000
Starlight Glimmer LP: 2800
"Damn," said Twilight.
"This time I won't use Malefic World's effect!' said Starlight.
"Is that good or bad?" asked Rainbow.
"I don't know," admitted Sunset.
"I play Card of Demise, so I can draw three cards!" said Starlight. "Now I'll remove two monsters from my deck (Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Red-Eyes B. Dragon) and summon forth their dark counterparts! Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon! And, just so you know, if my Malefic Truth Dragon destroys one of your monsters in battle, then all of your other monsters are immediately destroyed!"
"Oh no!" said Sunset.
"And don't think I've forgotten about Stardust Dragon," said Starlight. "His effect won't save you this time, Malefic Truth Dragon, attack Stardust Dragon and end this duel!"
"I activate my trap, Inspiration!" said Twilight. "This card increases the ATK points of Stardust Dragon by 700!" (Stardust Dragon: 2500 - 3200)
"It's still not strong enough!" said Starlight. "And once it goes, so do the rest of your monsters!" After Stardust was destroyed, World of Prophecy and Black Luster Soldier went to the graveyard as well. The girls were blown backwards as their life points went down.
Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 200
Starlight Glimmer LP: 2800
"That's right! Lie down and accept your fate!!" yelled Starlight. "Now time to put you all out of your misery, Malefic Blue-Eyes, destroy them!"
"I don't think so!" said Rainbow. "I activate Counter Gate! Whenever you attack us directly, I can block the attack and then draw a card! If it's a monster, I can summon it!" Rainbow got Gem Flash Energy. "Darn."
"Did you forget about my other dragon?!" asked Starlight. "Here, let me refresh your memory, Malefic Red-Eyes, attack!!"
"Two traps are better than one," said Twilight. "I activate another Counter Gate!"
"What?!" asked Starlight.
"Alright, we're saved!" said Sunset.
"Now I get to draw a card!" said Twilight. "And if it happens to be a monster I can summon it. Spiral Magician of Prophecy. He might come in handy later. I choose... not to summon my monster!"
"Bad choice," said Starlight. "You should have summoned it."
"Why?" asked Twilight.
"Because I still have one more card," answered Starlight. "The spell card Malefic Divide! This lets me special summon one Malefic monster from my Graveyard until the end of the turn! I choose Malefic Stardust Dragon!"
"Oh no!!" said Twilight.
"I told you three not to interfere!" said Starlight. "And now you'll pay the ultimate price! Malefic Stardust Dragon, unleash your fury!! Finally, Duel Monsters shall perish! And buried deep beneath the ashes will be you girls and all the stupid cards you hold so dear!!"
"No," said Rainbow in disbelief. "I-I failed my friends, and our future." Rainbow then began to tear up. "It's all over."
"Not yet, it isn't!" said Sunset. "By discarding Kuriboh from my hand, I can reduce all your damage to zero!"
"Noooooooo!!!" yelled Starlight. "I was so close! You'll pay dearly for that little stunt, Sunset!!"
"I don't think so," said Sunset. "Since your turn is over, Malefic Stardust is now removed from play."
"Big deal!" said Starlight. "No matter what happens, you three will lose next turn!"
"Rainbow," said Sunset.
"Yeah?" asked Rainbow.
"It's up to you now," said Sunset. "But no matter what happens, we've got your back."
"Absolutely," added Twilight. "Just like how you were always there for us in the past."
Rainbow smiled. "Thanks guys, you're the best friends a girl could ever have. Now let's do this! For all our friends, families, and our future."
Twilight and Sunset nodded.
Turn 8: Rainbow
"It's my turn!" said Rainbow. "First, I'll set two cards face down. Then I activate Emergency Provisions! By sending these two cards to the graveyard, we gain 2000 life points!"
Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 2200
Starlight Glimmer LP: 2800
"Do whatever you want," said Starlight. "Your defeat is unavoidable!"
"That's what you think," said Rainbow. "I activate Lullaby of Obedience! This card lets me pay 2000 life points, and then call the name of one monster. If that monster is in your deck, I can special summon it to my side of the field, ignoring all of its summoning conditions.
Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 200
Starlight Glimmer LP: 2800
I think I'll go ahead and finally take back one of my Rainbow Dragons!" The dragon was special summoned onto Rainbow's field. "Welcome back old pal." The dragon growled in response.
Starlight started laughing.
"I missed the joke," said Rainbow.
"I think you've made a slight miscalculation," said Starlight. "True you dragon is stronger than my Blue-Eyes and Red-Eyes, but it's nowhere near stronger enough to reduce me to zero!"
"Say that to my trap!" countered Sunset. "I activate Spiral Spirit Force! Now by sending one Dark monster with 3000 or more ATK points from my deck to the graveyard, I can double the ATK power of a monster on the field! So I'll my Supremacy Sun to the grave, and double the ATK points of Rainbow's dragon!" (Rainbow Dragon: 4000 - 8000)
"I also activate an effect!" said Twilight. "The card I drew with Counter Gate was Spiral Magician of Prophecy! Now by discarding her from my hand, I can select a monster on the field and double its ATK power once again! (Rainbow Dragon: 8000 - 12000)
"12000 ATK points?!!" cried Starlight. "Impossible!!"
"Oh it's quite possible, Starlight," said Sunset. "This is what happens when you mess with the most power magic of all!"
"That's right," said Twilight. "The shining force of friendship will always over the darkness!"
"Got that right!" said Rainbow. "Now Rainbow Dragon, take her down!! No matter how dark the night is, the sun will always rise again!"
Every color of the spectrum glowed and glittered through Rainbow's dragon as it fired its attack.
"Go, ultimate rainbow wave!!" said the girls in unison.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!" cried Starlight as her Truth Dragon was destroyed.
Rainbow, Sunset, Twilight LP: 200
Starlight Glimmer LP: 0
As the holograms disappeared, Starlight Glimmer vanished from history. Rainbow then walked over and grabbed her other dragon card.
As Pegasus's helicopter landed, Twilight, Rainbow and Sunset gathered on the rooftop of a building overlooking the tournament.
"Well, guess our work here is done," said Rainbow.
"Looks that way," said Twilight. "By the way, Rainbow, where did you hear that line?"
"Which one?" asked Rainbow.
"No matter how dark the night is, the sun will always rise again," answered Twilight.
"Yeah, It was very poetic," said Sunset.
"I heard it in English class," said Rainbow.
"Well," said Twilight. "Seems you do pay attention in class."
"Sometimes," said Sunset.
Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye," said Sunset. "See you girls in the future... If you know what I mean."
"We got it," said Rainbow.
After a quick hug, Twilight traveled to the Canterlot statue and went back to Equestria. Sunset and Rainbow used their magic to teleport back to their own timelines.
As Rainbow rode out the time portal, she stopped and looked at the city. "Phew, I'm glad that's over. It's a good thing we found these crystals at camp, I probably never would have been able to stop that Starlight girl without this new power. I don't know if she was right or wrong about the future, but I know that it isn't set in stone just yet." Rainbow then saw her friends running toward her. "As long as I've got my pals, I know we'll make the future a bright one."
After telling her friends all about her adventure, the girls spent the rest of the day celebrating and dueling. Later that night, Rainbow rode home. I am so lucky to have such great friends. I remember the day we all met at the Freshman Fair. We all got together because we all liked dueling.
Then came Twilight and Sunset. I am so glad I got into this game." |
A Heart Warming Eve Carol | pre | "No spirit, please don't leave me here. I swear I will change please give me a chance, please let me prove to you that I can be better"
He pleads on deft ears as the spirit leaves with the wind, as he could not do anything else but kneel and weep under the punishment of his past misdeeds.
"...blood "
"Huh?"
"Blue...blood" Looking up the Prince saw a dim golden light covered by all the wind calling for him as he stood up and start rushing to it as best as he could under the weight of his chains who he had no choice but drag with him
Moments Earlier
"Come on Twilight, isn't there anything here we can use?" Pinkie tells her with urgency, showing her the book with the story, on the pages of the final ghost.
"I'm sorry Pinkie but this is no longer the story we know. None of the ghosts have been acting as the original book says, and they seem far scarier. For all, we know there might not even be Windigos to where the final ghost is taking Blueblood"
"Plus wasn't in the end kind of implying everything was a dream or the ghost made it look like one?" Applejack points out "Something that is no longer the case consider well...we kind of hitch a ride into this too"
"But there must be something we can do, they...they could take him away for realsies this time" Pinkie continue
"They wouldn't go to that extreme...right?" Fluttershy asks for confirmation from Twilight but she was so deep in thought to notices
"Come on everypony if anything else we can always use the elements right? Yeah I mean the door is still there, let's just summon them, blast a hole and yank back Blueblood back" Rainbow suggested.
"That could be it" Twilight nodded and was preparing her horn when a thud startled the group and looked ahead they saw the ghost of the past smiling at them "You wish to aid that lost soul?"
"Yes, please mister ghost help us" Fluttershy plead as he nods
"There might be something you can do, but the decision must be unanimous" Everyone turn to look at Rarity as she looks at them
"What?" She keeps exchanging glances between the group
"Rarity, you want to help him too...right?" Pinkie grinned at her with pleading eyes, as she sighs.
"While I'm still angry at him for that dreadful evening!" She stops her hoof before stepping up "I'm not without part of the fault there, in part he was right, I was just chasing a simply fillies dream of dating a prince and no pony should endure witnessing their demise like that" She nods and smile at the ghost "It unanimous Mr. Ghost of the Past, we wish to help"
"An act of kindness toward one who has strayed from the path. Such warmness is enough to melt what once was cold" He pass them the book "Used that, and this beacon spell to form a light so your friend might find his way back home" He disappear in time for Twilight to finish memorizing the spell and they form a circle
"You heard him girls just focus on wishing to bring him back and call for him. I will guide the spell"
They all nod and close their eyes as they hold hooves while Twilight charges her horn. A golden aura soon envelops their body and shoot a bean of gold light that blast throws the door and into a raging blizzard
"Blueblood!"
"Bluey"
"Hey partner, are you there?!"
"Blueblood we are here if you hear us say something!"
All of them start to yell in search of the elusive Prince until they start to hear the faint sounds of chains in the distance.
"Here..., please...help" He weakly calls as he drags himself toward them with the chains growing in size and length turning his escape into a struggle to move.
Happy they try to rush toward him but the wind starts to pick up speed and push them back, preventing them from moving too much.
"Everypony straight line!" Applejack commands and they place themselves behind Twilight fighting the wind as she extends her hoof toward him "Blueblood quick! Grab my hoof"
"Twilight I'm so sorry I should have known better, it was not your fault, it wasn't anyone fault I shouldn't have called you a thief" He apologies as the ice started to form all over his body
"There will be time for that later now grab my hoof!"
He reaches out trying to grab hold of her but the spirit once more appears behind the prince as magic is used to pull him back the chain retracting toward a spectral chariot where more condemned souls were waiting.
"No! It...it still not my time, please spare my spirit, let me prove to you. I can change" The chains keep yanking at him trying to rip his skin yet he continues his endeavor as the Spirit grows to the side of a giant and his looming eye approaches the prince as he finally opens his mouth, his skin melting and leaving only his eyes and ah scary skeleton.
"Are you truly determined?"
"Yes! Yes I will be better, I will work hard to be like my mom, kind and understandable patience and caring just please don't take me away, spirit please give me a chance, please!"
The moment he finally reaches Twilight hoof and grabs firmly on it there is an intense flash to white the blind everypony present and mute the wind as everything is swallowed by darkness.
Gasping from the air, everyone stood up with a startle and blinked in surprise as the group realized how they were back at the library with thousands of books scattered all around them.
"What...just happened?" Rarity is the first to ask
"Was everything...a dream?" Fluttershy is next to speak.
"We all fall asleep without realizing at the same time? Wake up simultaneously from a nightmare and most likely have the same dream?" AJ question in perplexion as Twilight raised the book that started it all.
"It's just like at the end of the story but...that was supposed to keep things ambiguous if this thing actually happens, then how? When?" The princess continues to process the whole ordeal.
"Wait, did we go back in time?" Dash point at a grandpa clock "I didn't check before but I'm pretty sure barely any time has passed since we began"
They keep questioning until a laugh catches their attention and looking back they see the prince holding his head as he laughs earnestly "Who cares what happened?! We are alive" he grinned at them "And more importantly we are just in time to celebrate Heartwarming Eve!" He rises to his hoof and rushes to Twilight.
"Princess words aren't enough to tell you how sorry I'm for all these years. I should have had more faith in my aunt decision and now I see how right was her decision" He kneel in front of her "No one is worthier of holding the crown than you, your majesty"
"O-Ok no need for dramatics either" Twilight chuckled nervously with some blush of embarrassment as she patted his head. "But thank you for that Blueblood if you still wish I would love for us to start again"
"Nothing would make you happier your..."
"Ah!..." Twilight raised a hoof "...we can start by dropping the honorifics, it makes me kind of uncomfortable when my friend used them on me"
He blinked a couple of times "We can be friends?"
"Yeah! Why not!" Pinkie surprises him by bringing him into a hug using one of her hoofs "You can never have too many friends! Oh, we are making so many cookies now!"
"Pinkie I...would love that yeah, but before there is another thing I most do more of before the party starts"
The rest laugh and nod having an idea of what he means. |
A Heart Warming Eve Carol | Epilogue (Grammarly Check) | With the party in full swing, the Prince comes up to the kitchen with some trays of his famous soup to spread the treat with the help of Pinkie as he keeps wishing everyone a happy Heart Warming Eve.
"Here you go auntie" He smile as he give Celestia and Luna their soups "Oh Blueblood I'm so happy you decided to assist this year" Celestia was practically in tear as she enjoy her dish while Luna look at it suspiciously before taking a sip.
"Yeah what an unusual sudden change of heart, where did you say you learn to make this again?"
"Luna" Celestia reprint her sister for her suspicious
"It ok auntie, she has all the right to doubt me, that is why I suggest to run any spell and scan on me to make sure I wasn't an impostor or under some kind of mind control or have any malicious intent"
"Luna!"
"Well, somepony needed to do it!" She kept looking at him "And I still am not sure I understand. how do you have such a vivid nightmare without me noticing...and share it with the main six to boot?"
"Maybe it wasn't a dream after all" He smirks at her only adding question until he laughs "But it's ok and to answer your first question it is an old family recipe, that I'm particularly proud of, it might not be as good as mom's but I always try to get as closer to it as possible"
"What are you saying? Blueblood this tastes wonderful!" Celestia compliments with a big grin as he chuckles a little and lean closer "The secret is that I add an extra spoon of sugar"
The comment makes them both laugh until he looks at Luna "Auntie, I know we haven't started on the right hoof, and you have all the rights to be so wary of me, but this whole experience has taught me so much, and give me a huge perspective on a lot of things, of a lot of wrongs that I need to fix. Starting to get to know the auntie I used to chat with while I was but a toddler"
"What are you talking about?" Luna looks confused at him as he blinks and turns to Celestia
"You never told her about the nights we spent talking to the moon and writing letters to it?"
The comments gain the attention of Luna as she sends a small glare at her sister "No, she didn't"
"Jeje ops must have slipped my mind" Celestia laugh nervously having been caught, red hoof
"It's ok we can talk with that about it too, in fact, I would love to get to know more about you aunt Luna I bet you have some incredible stories of the past that I have been dying to hear and I would love to help you with modern times if you would let me"
For her part, Luna looks at him with neutrality until she smiles "I pretty much would love that nephew thanks for your assistance"
"No auntie" He surprises her with a hug, "Thank you for giving me a second chance"
Smiling more warmly she returned the gesture "Well, I'm kind of an expert when it comes to second chance and atonement.
"This is so great" Celestia turned this into a group hug "We can finally be a family all together!"
He laughs and breaks the hug "Just like we used to it, and don't worry aunt Celestia I already know how to gain autonomy, but for now, if you excuse me, I have to talk real quick with Twilight Sparkle, see you later for the ugly sweater picture"
"Of course! We will wait for you" Celestia nods as they see him depart as he keeps a big grin on his face stopping when in the corner of his eye he sees a pony about to steal the silver way. "That would be 500 bits for the silver way or a week on the dungeon buster, your call" He calmly says pretending to grab a piece of breath "Mind putting the spoon back where you find it, hmm?"
He keeps smiling calmly at the pony as the royal guard start to approach making the thief sweat bullets and put it back "that is what I thought"
"Huh, well I must say, our nephew knows when to tight the hoof when the times calls upon it" Luna look the whole thing develop with intrigue as she smiles and nods "I like him"
Celestia laughs and rolls her eyes "Oh goodie what monster did I just unleash into Equestria?"
"Oh hardy har har sister, you are hilarious" Luna reply sarcastically
Looking for Twilight Blueblood finally found her on a table with the rest of her friends "Twilight!"
"Blueblood, you have to tell us how you made this soup. This is delicious!" Rainbow exclaim practically licking the bowl clean, as he laughs and shakes his head "Sorry Rainbow Dash, it's an old family recipe, the only way I would tell you if you become part of the family"
She starts to pounder and looks at the empty plate "Can I be an honorable member?"
"Sorry, it is reserved to only my wife and kids"
She stays quiet and starts to hum in thought
"By the stars are you actually considering it?!" Applejack look at Rainbow in shock
"N-No! I'm just saying...it is a very good soup" They all share a laugh as Dash looks away with an intense blush on her face.
"But in all seriousness, there is something I need to discuss with you Twilight, with all of you for that matter"
"What is Blueblood?" Twilight raised an eyebrow in intrigue.
"While I have no doubt you would make a great ruler with your friends acting as...sorry I still not sure what could be the perfect term, will you be like elite knights or...?"
"We haven't ironed out all the details yet darling, so what were you saying?" Rarity answers before moving her hoof so he can continue
"Right well, while I'm sure you would do a good job, the visit of the 3 ghosts made me realize that unfortunately none of you are exactly prepared to deal with the nobility, not like I have at the very least"
"You mean what happened to you with Epona and her friend's partner?"
"Precisely I know you mean good and a lot of those ponies have genuinely good intention but unfortunately even when honest they can still approach you with malice some way or another"
"Je yeah right, we have deal with worse after confronting Cozy Glow" Dash dismisses his concern
"And that was a great feat to be sure but I am afraid I have to point out that: A) you didn't defeat her exactly, your students did and that was mainly because she didn't account for them. B) you took her trap, hook line, and sinker and C) and I can't stress this enough Cozy Glow is an amateur compared to the truly despicable and clever masterminds I deal and eat for breakfast daily, especially among nobility" He tells them without any hint of sarcasm.
"I'm worried for you Twilight, for all of you, my auntie prepared you for lots of things but politics and schemers were the one thing she omitted and it is kind of important to know how to deal with them. But I can teach you, or even better I can offer you my help facing them too. Please let me stay by your side like an advisor of some sort, it will be my honor to assist you in anything you might need when facing the high society and the dangers they can bring"
The girl exchanged worried glances before talking with him again "While we appreciate the gesture, I think you are overreacting just a tinsy bit Blueblood, true we haven't dealt with this kind of situation besides Cozy Glow but I have full confidence in my abilities dealing with the public even nobility"
He sigh in disappointment and shake his head "I didn't want to resort to this but it looks you might need an example"
"An...example?" AJ raised an eyebrow
"Je sure let's do a test so you can see how prepared we are all" Dash boosts in confidence as he looks at them with neutrality
"Fair enough then as a warning I will show you, how a well-spoken noble can make you all put on a prench maiden dress and clean the attic, without you realizing what happen"
"What?!" Dash looked at him in anger in shock
"Oh! Are we playing dress-up then? Can we wear mustaches too?" Pinkie tells in excitement as Fluttershy can only blush and look away at the mental image.
"Are you afraid of me proving my point?" Blueblood raised an eyebrow and smirked at Dash, increasing her anger.
"Oh ok you ask for it, bring it on Blueblood do your worst" She flies to him until their snout touches and pokes his chest. "You prove to us that high society is as dangerous as you think it is and I'll be the first one to sigh on your lessons on how to drink tea 'properly' and look fancy all the time"
"Dash!" They all complain about her boosting
"That is not what I'm offering, I'm extending my help on ways for you to spot schemers, persuasion nobles, and well-spoken liars"
"Eh pretty much the same, but when we prove that there is nothing to be afraid you will drop it and we can think of something else you can help us out" She shrugged "We are not gonna over our friend out of his house either once Twilight take over, so don't sweat it dude"
He smiles and nods "If that is what it takes then so be it" he sighs in disappointment as she flies back and he breathes in and out of throw his nose gently before stretching his neck briefly and wetting his lips for a moment all the while closing his eyes as to prepare himself mentally, until he was ready and look up at them with a smile as he takes a deep breath and finally spoke.
"How did he do it?" Dash asks in astonishment as the next thing she knows she was carrying a cardboard box and with the rest of her friends they were all cleaning the castle attic while wearing prench maid uniforms just as Blueblood claimed. Her friends have been equally confused and shock at the develop minus Pinkie who was happily cleaning while wearing a pink small mustache.
"Right now my major concern is finding out I'm kind of like this dashing outfit," Rarity tells with an intense blush.
"Should I will be worried I find it kind of comfy?" Fluttershy admits with a small voice taking an occasional glance at the prince before looking ahead once he sees at her
"Nope I'm having the same thought over here Fluttershy" Applejack agrees with her
"It normal, this is the uniform used by mares that need to work and move around a huge castle at the very least 5 hours per day, of course, it needs to be comfortable and easy to move around with" Blueblood explains
"But anyway now you see what I'm saying? A well-trained noble in the arts of persuasion could get you to do whatever they please and you wouldn't even notice, not unless you know the clues into what to look" He raised an eyebrow and tried not to sound so smug at his clear victory.
The very next day Blueblood was granted the official post of royal advisor to Princess Twilight Sparkle and as promised he aided both the current and next ruler of Equestria guiding them on a bright new tomorrow, showing them the robes and getting closer to them.
And in turn Twilight and her friends were more than happy in helping him solve his issues and put to rest unfinished work.
Taking a deep breath he stared at the front of him before looking to his right to a grinning Pinkie "Is this really necessary Pinkie?"
"Come on Bluey! You remember what Ghost of Present says, we all have the right of a second chance, even them" She points at the door. "They want to reach out to you. And you are way smarter now to be tricked again. Besides, I will be right next to you"
"And so would I" Starlight nods with a smile from his other side "Believe me I have been on your horseshoes before, so I know how much it helps to have some backup for this type of confrontation"
Sighing again he nods once and looks ahead of him once more "Ok here we go" He bravely knocks on the door.
Days later, the Prince was introduced to more ponies like him that went to a rough patch thinking they could connect one way or another. Including Sunset Shimmer, Tempest, and even Discord, all who just as she suspected manage to hit it off with relative ease as Discord keeps thinking of ideas for adventures for all of them to get into.
"Ok I know you are joking now"
"No I'm serious here, I think you could have what it takes to turn old Chrissy around"
"Discord, she turned down Starlight, what makes you think I would fare any better?" Blueblood question with a deadpan as they all were currently playing cards.
"She fails because she was offering friendship, I say you could success because you could offer something different" He smirks at the "Plus I wasn't referring exclusively to you alone" He, Sunset, and Tempest blink a couple of times before looking at one another "Come on guys let's be real here. We all know that as nice as Twilight is, she can be pretty naive direct and has a bit of a tunnel vision"
They ponder and slowly nod at the claim "But you on the other hand, well I would say you are all pretty good in your respective arts. And if not say it directly friendship she might listen, hmm?"
They stay quiet for a moment until Blueblood breaks the silence and asks what they all were thinking "What exactly do you have in mind?"
As for Celestia, moved by his story and realizing the errors of her actions decided to get a more active role with her family and invite him over to more activities with her sister as they continue to grow closer and even on occasion took joy in teasing each other wondering when would they seek that special pony for them, keeping the spirit of Heart Warming Eve in their hearts and never letting it die down again.
20 years later
"Dad! Dad hurried up!" A filly pegasus with white fur, some freckles on her face, a slightly raspy voice, and a golden long and slightly curly mane and tail similar to Rarity style, marched inside the kitchen as a more adult and tall Blueblood with an imposing beard was finished preparing his famous soup. "We are gonna a be late"
He chuckled and put the lid up as to address his kid "Calm down Nimbus I'm coming" They both exit the kitchen as the filly lands on his back "Does everyone already arrive?"
She nods rapidly to Aunt Twilight, brought mom and the rest of the aunties from Ponyville just so they wouldn't be late and they told me that they will spend the night here in the castle, they are all waiting for you in the dining room"
"Ja it will not be a party without the mane six, I suppose" He laugh and shake his head as they advance
"Say, dad, why do you always only make that yummy soup on Heart Warming Eve?" She asked innocently clinging to his neck
"Oh, that is quite the story, tell me Nimbus have you ever wondered what exactly makes my soup taste so good?"
"Is it the spoons of sugar? She asks innocently making him laugh
Well, that certainly helps, I will tell you after dinner ok?" |
A Crown's Atonement For Their Misdeeds | pre | "Excuse me, Mrs. Cake? Is Pinkie Pie here?" Fluttershy asked.
"Not at the moment. She's currently delivering a few things for us, and we aren't able to leave Sugarcube Corner as we also need to finish making a few things." Mrs. Cake answered.
"Oh, ok. Could you possibly give this to Pinkie once she get back?" Fluttershy said as she pulled a white paper bag out of her saddle bag. "It has Gummy's medicine in it. Pinkie talked about how Gummy had a sore throat, and I was able to get this together for him. It should help ease the pain and cure his sore throat in a couple of days"
"Of course. I'll give it to her as soon as she gets back." Mrs. Cake said as she took the bag.
"Thank you Mrs. Cake." Fluttershy said as all three of us headed for the door.
Before we left, however, I quickly turned around from my spot on Fluttershy back and said "Thank you for the cookie Mrs. Cake! It was the greatest thing I've had in a long time!" Before the door closed, I caught a glimpse of Mrs. Cake with a smile on her face as she gave me a small wave.
As we were now outside, we once again began heading towards a certain direction. I took this moment to ask "So, where are we heading next?"
"I believe our next stop is where Rarity is, at the Carousel Boutique." Fluttershy said.
As we headed towards the Carousel Boutique, I once again took the time to ask a few more questions that I had on my mind. These questions somewhat involving the gold coins Fluttershy had used to pay for the food we had gotten earlier.
"Fluttershy, what were those gold coins you used to pay for everything we got earlier?" I asked.
"Well, those were bits. They're Equestria national currency, meaning that they can be used to buy anything in Equestria. Well, almost anything. I have heard of places that don't really use bits as a form of currency, rather that they will use things such as gemstones and even crops." Fluttershy answered.
"If you want a closer look at one Null, you can look at this one." Spike said as he pulled out a bit from the bag Twilight had given him and held it up to me.
For the most part, the bit was that of a simple gold coin, quite small and was shining a bit in the sunlight. However, the imprint on the side of the bit that was facing me appeared to be that of a sun while the imprint on the other side of the bit was that of a crescent moon. I recalled that Twilight had talked about how both of the princesses of Equetria were able to raise and lower both the sun and moon, so maybe the imprints I was seeing on the bit were representing the princesses and their powers over the passage of day and night? After I was done looking at the bit, Spike put it back in the bag, allowing me to ask another question.
"So what kind of pet does Pinkie have? I guess it must be something soft if it has the name Gummy." I said.
"Oh no, Gummy is actually an alligator." Fluttershy said.
"What?" I said. I couldn't have heard that correctly, right? Pinkie owned an alligator as a pet. Wasn't that extremely dangerous? Having an apex predator of rivers that could easily tear through one's flesh as a pet sounded way to dangerous and didn't really sound like something a pony as pink and cheerful as Pinkie Pie would have as a pet. Maybe something like a small and energetic dog or a parrot, but not an alligator. "Are you telling me that Pinkie Pie's pet is that of an alligator that could easily eat or injury someone if they made it mad? And its name is Gummy?"
"Not at all! Gummy isn't harmful in the slightest. The reason Pinkie named it Gummy is that it's still a baby, and it doesn't have any teeth at all." Fluttershy said.
That only made me question things a little bit more, but I was a little bit relieved to hear that Pinkie, while owning a dangerous predator, didn't have something as pet that could easily eat someone.
"Hey, we made it!" Spike said, prompting me pull away from my thoughts and look ahead at the building in front of us. "Null, this here is the Carousel Boutique. This is were ponies can come to and pay get outfits made by Rarity herself for any occasion, whether it be a formal gettogether, a wedding, or even something for everyday wear, Rarity makes sure that the outfits she make will fit the occasion and will allow the wearer to look good as well."
The building in front of us had a sort of dollhouse like appearance to it. The structure of the building itself was somewhat tower-like, similar to the town hall Fluttershy had pointed out earlier today. The ground level of the building itself had windows right next to the front door, showing off various outfits worn by what appeared to be the pony equivalent of a mannequin. The structured continued until there was a part that I assumed was how the boutique had gotten its name, with multiple poles surrounding one of the upper floors that had pony-shaped statues within the poles, giving off the appearance that a carousel had been placed right on top of the boutique.
We began making our way to the front door and entered the building itself. The ground floor appeared to be that of the actual boutique itself. The first thing I noticed were the multiple pony mannequins that were spread out in the room, all of them wearing a variety of different outfits. Over towards one of the walls was that of a small stage surrounded by mirrors, with a small door nearby leading to what I assumed to be a dressing room. Also nearby the stage was that of a row of three wooden tubs that were each situated in front of a mirror. The last two things I saw were a set of stairs leading up to what I assumed were the upper floors of the boutique and a small entryway were I could hear what appeared to be the sounds of someone using a sewing machine.
"Null, could you go tell Rarity that I've dropped off Opal's medicine upstairs? It sounds like Rarity is in her sewing room over there." Fluttershy said, pointing her hoof towards the entryway I saw earlier.
"Sure." I said as I hopped off her back and began hopping towards the sounds of sewing. I made my way through the entryway and found what I assumed to be a sort of workshop. Here and there were more pony mannequins that were wearing outfits, though some of them gave off the feeling that the outfits displayed on them were incomplete. There were also some shelves lined across one of the walls that held various rolls of fabrics and balls of different colored yarn. Towards one end of the room was a somewhat large workbench that had a variety of measuring tools and papers on them. Finally, right next to the workbench, was Rarity currently using the sewing machine on what appeared to be some sort of dress.
"And, done! Cheerilee will surely be happy to have this dress for her family get together." Rarity said as I saw a her horn was covered in a light blue aura. The dress she was working on was soon covered in the same aura and began levitating towards one of the mannequins, before the outfit itself was soon fitted onto the mannequin. She soon turned around and jumped a little as she saw me in the entryway. "Ah, I wasn't expecting to see you Null. Would you mind telling me why you're here?"
"Fluttershy and Spike are essentially showing me around Ponyville while both of them run their errands. Speaking of, Fluttershy wanted me to tell you that she put Opal's medicine upstairs." I said.
"That's good to hear. Poor Opal hasn't been feeling to good as of late, so hopefully the medicine Fluttershy brought should help her feel better." Rarity said.
I hopped over to her while looking at all of the mannequins wearing outfits around me. "A lot of these outfits look really good. Did you really make all of these yourself?" I asked.
"Why, thank you dear. Yes. I made all of these outfits from scratch myself. I find that making outfits for others was something I enjoyed doing greatly. As such, I opened the Carousel Boutique a few years ago. One day, I hope of achieving my dream of opening my own boutique in Canterlot. As such, I'm using every outfit I make as inspiration to make everything I make even better." Rarity said.
So she wanted to open her own boutique in Canterlot? Judging from the name, it may have been a bigger town or city than that of Ponyville. Maybe it was the capital of Equestria? Regardless, as she was talking about her making outfits, an idea formed in my head. If I was going to end up looking like Magolor, why not play into it a little bit.
"Hey Rarity? Can I ask you something?" I asked.
"Hm? What would you like to ask me darling?" Rarity said.
"Could you possibly help me make an outfit for myself?" I asked.
"Well this is sudden. Why would you want an outfit?" Rarity said.
"Well, seeing how good you are at making all of these outfits, I guessed it wouldn't hurt if you helped me design and make one. If anything, you may be able to get some inspiration from the design as well." I said.
Rarity put a hoof to her chin and appeared deep in thought. "Hmm. You could be onto something. I have made outfits for both ponies and small pets before, but maybe designing and making an outfit for something like you could give me some new ideas for anything I could make in the future. Ok, I'll be happy to help make an outfit for you Null."
"Alright, thanks Rarity. Now then, where should we start?" I asked.
The next good while was spent with the both of us discussing how the outfit would look. Thankfully, I knew what I wanted it to look like, and Rarity was able to get the design down perfectly. After that, another good while was spent with Rarity taking measurements of various parts of my body so she could get the measurements of certain things right. Fluttershy and Spike both came in to see if the both of us were ok, though I told them that it may take a little while until we were done. Spike said he was simply going to get some of the things Twilight needed for him and left the boutique. Fluttershy stayed behind, with me assuming that she was waiting for me to be done. Eventually, everything had been completed. All that was left was for Rarity to make the outfit.
"I must say Null. This really is something unique. It was quite fun as well making something for you. Though I must ask, do you really want these things as well. No offense, but it doesn't look like you would be able to use them." Rarity said as she pointed to a specific thing about the outfit.
"Yep, I'm positive about it. Thanks again for helping me with this Rarity." I said.
"Of course dear. It shouldn't really take me long to actually make this. I'll have it done by tonight and give it you at Twilight's." Rarity said.
"Alright, see you then." I said as I bounced back towards the entrance to the boutique, where Fluttershy and Spike were waiting for me.
"I know you said it was going to take a while for you to get done, but I wasn't expecting you all to take over 3 hours! What were you helping Rarity make?" Spike said.
"I'll explain later." I said as I hopped onto Fluttershy's back. "Anyways, where to next?" I asked.
Our next destination was supposedly our last, with all of us heading towards the edge of town. It honestly took a good bit, but eventually we managed to get there. Eventually, we made it to what appeared to be the edge of a farm, as there was a white picket fence surrounding a large acre. However I was not expecting the sight beyond the fence. There were apples trees as far as the eye could see. All of them bearing bright red apples that seemed to shine in the sunlight. While I was in awe at the sheer number of apple tree, the apples themselves brought back the memories of me making the creatures of the in-between gather up those slices of that crystalline apple and me eventually being defeated by Magolor. I guess this caused me to look at the apple trees for a long time, as Fluttershy took notice of me gazing out at all the tress.
"Null, are you ok?" Fluttershy asked. "You've been looking at those trees for a while now."
"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine. I've just never seen this many apple trees at once before." I said.
"Well, that's Sweet Apple Acres for you. This is where Applejack and her family live. They take all of the apples on those trees and sell them in a variety of ways. From apple baked goods, apple flavored drinks, to even just selling the apples themselves, the Apple family has made a lot of money over the years." Spike said.
We continued with following along the fence before reaching the entrance of the farm itself, with me being able to see a barn in the distance along with a farmhouse not to far away as well. All of us were heading towards the farmhouse where Applejack could be seen coming out from the acres of trees.
"Fluttershy, Spike, Null! It's good to see ya. I guess you're here to deliver Winona's medicine, then?" Applejack called out to us.
"Hmhm, it's right here." Fluttershy said as she took out the last paper bag and handed it to Applejack.
"Apprectiate it, sugarcube. Winona injured her leg a little while ago, so she hasn't been able to help chase off any critters. Speakin' of, recently we've noticed a few apples missin' from some of the baskets we lay out. It's a good chance that an animal's stealin' them, but I have reasons to believe that somepony, or someponies, have been stealin' them." Applejack said
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"Mostly that there were hoofprints around some of the baskets. I can only guess it may be just a few kids judging from the sizes, but still, when I get my hands on them..." Applejack said as she began shaking her hoof.
Meanwhile, while she was talking, I noticed a pair of small ponies trying to sneak behind her towards the fence, each carrying a basket of apples on their back. One was that of a chubby unicorn colt who had a aquamarine coat and a somewhat spike orange mane and tail and whose cutie mark appeared to be a pair of scissors. The other one was the exact opposite, a tall lanky unicorn colt who had golden colored coat and an aquamarine mane and tail that weren't as wild as the first one and whose cutie mark was that of a snail.
"Uh, Applejack? I think you might want to look behind you." I said.
Applejack immediately turned around and spotted the two ponies trying to sneak away. "What the?! Snips? Snails? You two get over here right now!" Applejack said as she began running towards the two colts.
The two colts, upon seeing Applejack running towards them, dropped the apples they were carrying and began running deeper into the acres of apple trees, with Applejack following them. Without really thinking, I hopped off of Fluttershy's back and began hopping towards them as well.
"Null? What are you doing?" Fluttershy said.
"I'll be back! I'm gonna help Applejack catch those two!" I said as began hopping into the acres of apple trees.
Even though I was hopping as fast as I could, I was still having trouble keeping up with Applejack and the two colts. Multiple times they took a sharp turn around an apple tree in the hopes of trying to lose us, only for the both of us to turn the same tree and keep chasing them. However, this wouldn't last much longer as they turned around another apple tree, only for us to not see them anywhere once we turned around at it as well.
"Dangit! We lost them!" Applejack said as she stomped her hoof towards the ground.
"They looked like they were only kids, so they couldn't have gotten far." I said.
"Ah know. They must have taken another turn before we got here. If only we had some way to track em'." Applejack said in frustration.
Track them? Maybe Applejack was onto something there. Considering how scared those two looked while we were chasing them, I could safely assume that both of them were both very scared at the moment. Scared that we would either find them or catch them. In other words, they were fearful of getting caught, and I could use that fear to find them. I began to focus, trying to feel the fear they were giving off and using it to pinpoint where they were. It took a bit, but I eventually managed to feel the fear they were emitting.
"Applejack, they're over that way." I said, using my ears to try and point the direction I had felt their fear coming from.
"Really? Are ya sure?" Applejack asked.
"I'm positive." I said.
"Alright then, lead the way Null." Applejack said as I hopped onto her back, before both of us took off in the direction I had pointed to.
"Keep going straight, and turn to the right, here!" I said as I felt the direction of the negative emotion shifting a bit. Applejack obliged, with her turning right as well. This kept going for a little bit longer, with me telling Applejack what direction we needed to go in when I felt the direction of the fear shift and her following my directions. Eventually, I could feel us getting closer and closer as I felt the amount of fear being emitted grow, filling me with energy as we followed a trail only I could sense. Eventually, we lucked out as we saw the two colts running ahead of us towards the white fence that surrounded the farm. As they looked back, I felt their fear skyrocket as they saw that we were slowly gaining on them and then proceeded to pick up the pace. I knew that if the reached the fence, there was a good chance that we wouldn't catch them. However, there was maybe one thing we could do that would allow us to catch them.
"Applejack, throw me!" I said.
"What are ya talking about?" Applejack said.
"Throw me towards them. We won't be able to catch up to them before they reach the fence, but I can get them if you throw me." I said.
Applejack seemed to think this over, before eventually nodding and saying "Alright! Let's do this!"
Applejack stopped running and held me in one of her hooves. While I was expecting her to throw me in the direction of the colts, I was not expecting for her to toss me into the air. As I started descending, I saw Applejack, turn around and lean forward on her front legs and rearing her back ones. As I got level with her, her back legs shot out as she bucked me towards the colts, sending me flying towards them at great speeds. I was somewhat disoriented as that buck had hurt a lot, but I was able to quickly regain my senses as I rocketed towards the colts. I noticed that I began drifting towards one of the tress, but this was what I had been hoping for.
Essentially, I had thought back to when I was running away from Discord the day before, and remembered how I was able to bounce off of surfaces at high speeds to evade him. I intended to use that here. I positioned myself, and as I hit the tree, I bounced off of it and towards the next one. This resulted in me going even faster than before. I continued to bounce from tree to tree, with each bounce seeing a great increase to my speed. Eventually, I had caught up to the colts and, with one last bounce, crashed into them and sent them flying into a nearby tree. Soon after, Applejack caught up to me and took in the sight of the two colts lying against the tree.
"Ah'll admit, when you told me to throw ya, I was not expectin' ya to bounce off those trees like that. Ya were possibly going as fast as Rainbow Dash." Applejack said.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to buck me either. Though I think that was maybe the best move, I don't think I would have caught them that fast otherwise." I said.
We both turned to look at the two colts, and judging from the fact that they were groaning and weren't making an attempt to get up, I think I had knocked them out by accident.
"Maybe I overdid it a bit." I said.
"They'll be fine. I should have known it was these two from the start, though. Ah'll make sure both of their parents hear about this." Applejack said.
"Who are these two, anyway?" I asked.
"Snips and Snails. They're partners in crime that have recently been gettin' into all sorts of trouble and mischief around Ponyville. Ah think it all started when they accidentally brought an ursa minor into Ponyville when they heard the stories of a certain showmare and wanted to see if she could beat it in a fight." Applejack said.
I was about to ask what an ursa minor was, before I saw Fluttershy and Spike running up to us on the other side of the fence.
"Finally we found you! Are you guys ok? You both took off after those two and we tried to follow you but ended up getting lost in all the trees." Spike said.
"Both of us are fine. Those two on the other hand..." I said as I looked back to the colts who I now knew as Snips and Snails. "They might be out for a while."
"Null was the one who caught em. If it wasn't for him thinking on tha spot, they would've gotten away and probably be back in Ponyville by now." Applejack said.
"Really? Oh Null, you aren't hurt or anything, are you?" Fluttershy asked.
"Nothing to serious. Though that buck did sting a bit, but I don't really feel it anymore." I said.
Fluttershy had a look of worry and began to feel fearful as she looked over to Applejack.
"Well, he told me to throw him saying that he would be able to catch em' if I did, so I sorta acted on instinct and bucked him. Ya should have seen him, though. He was bouncin' from tree to tree as if he was made of rubber." Applejack said.
"Fluttershy, really, I'm fine." I said.
Fluttershy looked back at me, and slowly I could feel the fear that she had for me disappear as her worried look was replaced with that of a soft smile.
"Any who, Ah should probably get these two to their parents. I'm certain they're gonna get quite the earful when they hear what these two have been up to." Applejack said.
"Oh, ok. I suppose we'll see you later at Twilight's then?" Fluttershy said.
"Of course. Ah'll see ya three then." Applejack said.
After that, I hopped back onto Fluttershy's back as we made our way back to town. Eventually, Spike said that he was heading back to Twilight's and told us that he would see us later before he headed back into town. Meanwhile Fluttershy, having gotten everything she needed to do in town done, led both of us back to her house where we would spend the rest of the day. During that time, I was able to see a little bit more of what was around Fluttershy's house. Behind her house was that of a small flower garden like the one I saw when I first got here, there was a chicken coop where there were a few chickens strolling about, and there were even a few birdhouses and birdbaths here and there as well. Eventually, the sun slowly began to descend on the horizon as the moon began ascending as well, signifying that it was now time for us to head over to Twilight's, and find out what the girls would decide to do with me.
We eventually made it to Twilight's house, were we found Twilight and Spike sitting on the couch with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie sitting in the nearby chairs. Fluttershy and I made our way over as she grabbed a cushion from the nearby stack and sat it down for her to sit on while I hopped onto the table. As I did, Applejack entered the library as well and joined all of us as well.
"Sorry Ah'm a little late. We had a lot more apples today than normal, so we had to store a bunch of em' in the barn." Applejack said.
"It's fine, Applejack, we're mostly just waiting on Rarity at this point. Though, she is running a little late" Twilight said.
"Yeah! She's usually one of the earliest of us when it comes to meetings like this. She's probably doing her makeup or something." Pinkie Pie said.
"Either way, we still need to discuss what we need to do about Null." Twilight said. "My idea is that maybe we should message Princess Celestia about him and see if she knows what he might be."
"I say we should keep a close eye on him. We still don't know if he works for Discord or something and wants to try and free him." Rainbow Dash added.
"I know! Maybe we could keep him around and go on dangerous and magical adventures together, like climbing a giant plant that connects multiple floating islands together and fight an evil queen who is keeping the people living on these islands captive." Pinkie Pie said.
Everyone turned to look at Pinkie Pie as she said that, only for her to shrug and say "What? It would definitely be fun."
Everyone continued contributing their ideas, from Twilight suggesting that I should be sent to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash saying that one of the girls should have have me stay with them so they can keep a close eye on me, to Pinkie still suggesting that we all go on adventures together. Eventually, the discussion came to a halt as the library door opened and Rarity stepped inside with a bag being held within her aura floating beside her.
"I do apologize for being late girls. I was just finishing up the, Null! There you are." Rarity said as she quickly came over to me. "I finished the outfit just earlier. It was quite enjoyable making what we created, and I have some new ideas that I can use in the future. Hold still, let me put it on you."
The bag she was holding was set down on the table before as pieces of the outfit Rarity and I made came flying out of the bag. I felt myself also being lifted up into the air as Rarity's aura surrounded me and the pieces of clothing floated around me. The next few moments were that of a blur as Rarity quickly put the clothes onto my body, with each piece of clothing sliding onto each part of my small body perfectly. Eventually, Rarity set me back down onto the table and took out a mirror.
"Oh, it came out perfectly. Here, take a look yourself." Rarity said as she floated the mirror in front of me.
The outfit I was wearing was exactly as Rarity and I designed it to be. The upper part of body was that of a sort of white hood that covered that had a small window in the front that allowed me to see, with the ears also being covered as well by places in the hood that allowed my ears to slide in perfectly. The hood itself was also attached to a sort of white cape that extended to the bottom of my body, with the bottom of the outside having a black solid line extend from one side of the cape to the other. The tips of the ear parts were red in color, and were separated from the rest of the hood by a silver ring. The bottom half of my body, and by extension my hidden third eye, were covered by a sort of red cloth that softly stuck to my body. Lastly was that of a scarf that wrapped around my body and sort of separated the hood and bottom part of the outfit. The scarf had a checkered patter to it, with the design being that of red and black squares that ran along the entirety of the scarf. The end of the scarf, which also extended to the bottom of the cape part of the hood, had tassels on the end that alternated between red and black. However, there was one thing that was missing that would complete the look, which Rarity took out of the bag.
"I still have to ask, do you really think these gloves are necessary? I made them exactly as how they were designed, but I still don't understand why you would want them." Rarity said as she set the gloves in front of me. The gloves themselves were somewhat like mittens, with there being a place for a thumb and a large part of the mitten allowing one to slip their fingers into it. The gloves themselves were somewhat gray in color, similar to the rings separating the red and white on my hood.
Now, here is where I wanted to see if my idea would work.
Over the day I had been somewhat feeding off of the nervousness Fluttershy had been giving off when we were traveling around Ponyville. As I did, I slowly felt myself becoming a stronger bit by bit, until I began to feel something building up within me that I knew all to well. I couldn't use it just yet because there wasn't enough of it, but all I had to do was wait for it to build up enough to the point where I could safely use it. And that moment came when Applejack and I were chasing those two colts. The fear they were giving off was just enough for the energy building up within me to finally reach a point to where I could safely use it. It was time for me to use that energy. To use the magic that I had building up throughout the day.
Tapping into the magic within me, I began to focus my will on the two gloves that were in front of me. I soon felt a connection as, slowly, I could feel as though imaginary hands were putting on the gloves as I began to feel the smooth wood of the table as I began to feel what the gloves were touching, as though they were my own disembodied hands. Slowly, the gloves began to rise from where they had been sat down and floated over to my sides. I brought them in front of me so that I could properly see them and began to flex them, happy to see that they were functioning properly. I looked up from my new hands and saw that everyone within the library had their mouths open in shock. Twilight on the other hand, was looking at me as though I had broken the laws of physics.
"Wha, but, how, huh, WHAT?!" Twilight yelled out.
"Null, I certainly must say, when you requested that you wanted these gloves made along with the outfit, I most certainly was not expecting this." Rarity said.
"How are you doing that Null?" Fluttershy asked.
"I would definitely like to know! First there was that weird sludge covering you that I couldn't find anything out about, then you show us that you can talk, and now those gloves are moving as though they are a part of your body! What are you going to do next? Start levitating yourself?" Twilight asked as she began pacing around while trying to process everything.
I was willing to answer that question. I found that levitating and controlling these gloves hardly required any of the magic that I had stored within me. So, maybe levitating myself would be something that I could also do. If anything, I could move around places without having to bounce or hop. Slowly, I once again began drawing from the magic within myself and began concentrating on my own body. I found that after I began to levitate those gloves and use them as my own hands, what I was doing currently was much easier. Slowly, I felt myself begin to rise a couple of inches off the table and was now floating in midair. I began to float towards Twilight and began tapping on her to get her attention.
"Null is currently floating right now, isn't he?" Twilight asked, not turning around.
"Yep." Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight looked back at me and saw me floating right beside her before saying "You know what? I'm gonna stop questioning what you can do until we figure out what to do. Spike! Take a letter."
Spike pulled out a quill pen and a piece of paper as Twilight began speaking.
Dear Princess Celestia,
This letter is to inform you about the being that we discovered after defeating Discord.
At the moment, we have not been able to discover much about it, although we have learned that it is able to speak, allowing us to converse with it.
Because of this, we have been able to decide on a name for it, with it wanting to be called Null as well as wanting to be referred to as a male.
Other than that, Null has shown himself to be capable of levitating a pair of gloves and himself, allowing him to float around in the air.
We hope to know what we should in terms of what we should do with Null.
From your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
After Twilight finished with the letter Spike rolled up the piece of paper before holding it up to his face. Before I could wonder what he was doing, he blew out green flames from his mouth that seemed to burn away the paper and transform it into a sort of green light that flowed out of one of the windows of the library.
"That, sort of seems like a waste of paper. Why did you burn it instead of having it delivered?" I asked.
"The details on how it works are a little bit complicated for me, but essentially I'm able to send letters to the pony being addressed on the letter by breathing my flames onto it. The flames transform it into light that is sent towards the recipient, and the letter reforms itself from the light, allowing the person its addressed to to read it." Spike said, before he burped as flames came out of his mouth and formed into another rolled up piece of paper. "And that happens when a letter addressed to Twilight is sent. She sure wrote back quickly."
"What does it say Twilight?" Fluttershy said.
"Let's see, it says..." Twilight began as she read the letter out loud.
Dear Twilight,
I am as curious as you are about the being that you have found.
Sadly, neither Luna or I know what this creature may be from the information you have provided us.
As much as I would like you all to bring the being here to Canterlot so that we may see it with our own eyes, I am afraid that I am horribly busy at the moment.
As such, I request that you and the other Elements of Harmony watch over this creature and report to me anything new you may find.
Signed,
Princess Celestia
So, I guessed this meant that I was staying here with the others. I was somewhat relieved, in a sense. I was worried that they would have possibly decided to use that wave of rainbow magic on me like they used on Discord, either turning me to stone or doing something worse. Regardless, now that I knew I was staying here, I guess I could see what sort of things this world had to offer. So far, I had already experienced things that I didn't think I ever would during my time trapped within the Master Crown. However, there was no doubt about it that the shards of the crown were scattered around this world. For me personally, I kind of hopped I would never see the shards of my prison ever again. For the first time in thousands of years, I wasn't imprisoned within the Master Crown and had a body that didn't belong to the person that was wearing me that I didn't take over. From what had happened so far as well, I was able to use magic as well. Maybe, overtime, I could also be able to use powerful magic later on? Either way, I think I was going to enjoy the time I spent in this world. |
A Crown's Atonement For Their Misdeeds | Chapter 4: Lesson Zero | In the end, it was ultimately decided that I would stay with Fluttershy at her house, given that I had stayed the night there previously and that Twilight had said that she would be able keep an eye on me and tell her and the others about any new developments that occurred with me. As such, we left Twilight's house a little while later and got back to Fluttershy's house, had a small dinner where I once again had a salad that Fluttershy prepared for me, and then both of us headed to bed, with Fluttershy allowing me to sleep on the couch again. This time, she got me a pillow and a blanket that I could use to sleep with. I managed to fall asleep quite easily, however, that strange dream that I had the previous night didn't occur again, or any other dreams that were similar to it. I was still somewhat curious about that dream, because it was somewhat different than the dreams I was used to. When I was still trapped within the Master Crown, I often slept in order to pass the time if nothing interesting was really happening to the person that was wearing me or because I wasn't being worn by anyone at all. I still did have dreams while I slept, but none were quite like the one I had yesterday.
Anyways, for the next few days, I pretty much got used to my new life living in Ponyville. I would often assist Fluttershy with any errands she would have, or just wander around Ponyville myself to get to know a little bit more about the town. I did manage to find a few more things that I didn't see in the tour Fluttershy and Spike gave me, such as a small schoolhouse where I saw a bunch of foals go to attend whatever they taught there, a day spa that I often saw Rarity go to, I also made sure to once again thank her for making my new outfit, a train station that was somewhat close to Twilight's home, and a variety of different stores that sold a variety of different wares. I had to admit, the residents of this town got used to things pretty quickly, as ponies would begin to stop staring at me as I wandered around town and would even begin to wave at me from time to time, well the ones I had interacted with in those next few days.
However, a large amount of the time I spent was within the library. Mostly for two reasons. The first being that Twilight wanted me to run a few tests and experiments for her so she would be able to find out more about me. These really were just basic examinations such as how I was able to levitate off the ground, how I controlled the gloves that acted as my newfound hands, and a few other small things. She wasn't able to learn much, but at least she was able to entertain the second reason I spent my time at the library. The second reason being that of just researching and learning about this world. Like I said, Twilight entertained this by answering a few questions of my own, and I was also able to learn a lot by going through the many books that lined the shelves of her home.
The first thing I learned about was something I had been hearing since the first day I arrived here: the Elements of Harmony. Through reading some of the various books and scrolls and with Twilight helping to explain some things I didn't really understand, here is what I learned about them:
1. The Elements of Harmony were the gemstones embedded within the golden jewelry I had seen Twilight and her friends wear when they took on Discord. Twilight was willing to show me a photo of the group wearing their elements after an event called the "Summer Sun Celebration".
2. The Elements themselves have been around for thousands of years, as Twilight stated that they have been used by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna many times.
3. The Elements of Harmony were known as possibly the most powerful magical artifacts known in the history of this world. They were essentially a source of immense positive energy and magic that were used to restore balance in the world when something, or someone, was threatening to disrupt the peace and balance of the world itself. Each element represented supposedly a certain "element of friendship", and would only activate if the user of an element possessed the corresponding trait that matched that of the element. The effects the Elements had when used were often unpredictable, though the result of using them on an individual was often nonlethal or was a form of banishment or imprisonment, such as Discord being turned to stone.
Learning these things also shed some light as to what happened to me when I was hit by the magic of the Elements of Harmony. I remember Discord saying that I had a high amount of concentrated dark energy within me, so it was possible that when I was hit by the magic from the Elements of Harmony, which were a source of positive energy and magic, the dark energy within me reacted negatively to the magic of the Elements, resulting in me being in immense pain. It could have been something else, but Twilight did say that the effects of the Elements were unpredictable.
I was also able to learn more about the three different races of ponies as well. First off where the unicorns, who were the only race of ponies that were able to use magic. The way they used magic was essentially by using their horn to channel the high amounts of magical energy within their body, and using their knowledge of various spells that they could learn and use, were then able to cast spells. Telekinesis, which was where I had saw various objects floating around being covered by various auras that also surrounded the horn of a unicorn, was a pretty basic spell that unicorns were able to use. Next up were the pegasi, who were able to manipulate the weather and were also the only race of ponies that could naturally walk on clouds. I found it kind of bizarre that the weather in this world was being controlled and handled by ponies, and that the it wasn't an unpredictable force of nature that you essentially had to be ready for anything it threw at you. Lastly were the earth ponies. While they didn't have any unique bells and whistles compared to the other three races, they made up for it with two things: their immense natural strength, and how they were able to feel and connect with the earth they walked on. One race of ponies that wasn't really talked about in the books I read that Twilight told me about were the alicorns. Supposedly, alicorns were the strongest of all of the races, as they had access to every single thing that made the other races so unique such and were able to do them better, the ability to use magic, wings that allowed them to fly, and even immense strength. Twilight also told me that the only alicorns she knew about were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, which also explained as to how they were able to move the sun and the moon.
Regardless, the days went by as I continued to stay in Ponyville and learned more new things about this world.
Today was just pretty much the same as any other normal day, with me in the library once again. I decided that I wanted to start to learn more about the history and legends of Equestria as to take a sort of break from what I was researching lately. However, the book that I wanted to read in question, the one that was simply titled "History of Equestria", was nowhere to be found on the lower floors. Heading up the stairs of the library and into Twilight and Spike's bedroom/personal quarters, as Twilight allowed me to come up here to browse some of the books she kept up here, I eventually reached the room and saw Twilight and Spike with possibly one of the longest lists I have ever seen in my entire existence.
"Hey, Twilight? Do you know where the book "History of Equestria" is?" I asked.
"Oh, hey Null! Yes, it's just over there." Twilight said as she pointed to one of the shelves in her room. "I had to take it from downstairs earlier as I needed to reference something. You can go ahead and take it."
"Thanks." I said as I went over to the shelf and pulled out the book I was looking for.
"Anyways, that's almost everything Spike." Twilight said.
I looked back to see Spike as he began to read off something from the bottom of the list. "'Triple-check checklist to make sure we didn't miss anything when we double checked the checklist.' Uh... check. Ugh..." Spike groaned as he held one of his claws in the other.
"I've been holding that quill so long, I've got a claw cramp! At least we don't have anything to report to Princess Celestia this week... I don't think I could write another word!" Spike said as he began to massage his wrist.
I saw Twilight stop dead in her tracks as I began to sense some anxiety start to rise from her as she began to look worried. "We haven't sent a letter to Princess Celestia this week?!" She asked.
"No. Why, is that a bad thing?" Spike asked.
"Bad? BAD? Of course it's bad!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'm supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week, telling her about a lesson I've learned about friendship! Not every other week, not every ten days, every... single... week! Ohh... Where's the calendar? Where is it?!"
"Where it always is?" Spike said as he went over to a nearby table and picked up the calendar he and Twilight were talking about.
"When did we send the last letter?" Twilight asked.
"I think it was last Tuesday." Spike said.
"And today is?" Twilight asked.
"Tuesday." Spike answered.
I felt Twilight's anxiety skyrocket as she began to pace around the room. "Oh this is bad! If I don't send Princess Celestia a letter by sundown, I'll be tardy!"
What?
Spike also seemed to share my confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Tardy, Spike! I'll have been late to turn in a letter to her! How could I let this happen, I usually don't let things like this happen!" Twilight said as she resumed pacing around the room. "Oh, I've never been late with an assignment! What will she think of me if I fail to send her a letter on time?"
"Twilight, I've personally never met Princess Celestia myself and have only heard about her through you and the others, but from what you all have told me, I don't think she would mind if you didn't get to send her a letter on time." I said.
"Null, this is the ruler of Equestria we are talking about! The pony who allowed me to study directly under her and expects the best of me! What if she thinks I'm not taking my studies on friendship seriously?" Twilight responded.
"Twilight, I highly doubt that-" I started.
"What if she makes me come back to Canterlot to make me prove that I've been taking them seriously by giving me a test." Twilight says before she gasps. "What if I don't pass?!"
"Well, why wouldn't you pass-" Spike began to say in what I assumed was an attempt to calm Twilight down.
"She's my teacher. Do you know what teachers do to students who don't pass? They send them back a grade! But she won't just send me back a grade, she'll send me back to... magic kindergarten." Twilight said. She then began to look off towards one of the walls with what I could only describe as a thousand yard stare as I assumed she was imagining something that involved whatever this "magic kindergarten" was.
Spike went up to Twilight and began to snap in front of her face to snap her out of her imagination. "Twilight? Twilight!"
Twilight shook her head a bit and started blinking a few times as she was brought back to reality. "Wha, huh?"
"Twilight, in my personal opinion, that doesn't sound like anything that Celestia would do to you. You just said that you were Celestia's personal student, and you've proven that to be true with how much you've taught me about the things I wanted to know about. And from what the others have told me as well, you are probably the greatest magic user they have ever known. I highly doubt Celestia would send you back to this "magic kindergarten" just because of one missed letter. You need to calm down and stop worrying." I said in my own attempt to reassure her.
She began to calm down as I felt her anxiety begin to go away. "You know what? Both of you are right." Twilight said as she had a confident look on her face. "I have no reason to worry, because I'm going to solve a friend's problem and send a letter to Princess Celestia before sundown!"
Well, at least we managed to calm her down from her recent mental breakdown. I had also hoped that we would have succeeded in taking Twilight's mind off of sending that letter, but it looks like we failed.
Twilight turned to the both of us. "So... do any of you two have any problems, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues that I, as a good friend, could help you solve?"
Both Spike and I looked at each other for a couple of seconds before both of us responded with a simple "No."
Twilight sighed as she began to walk towards the stairs. "Well then, it looks like I'm going to have to find somepony who does."
After she left, the two of us looked at each other before letting out some sighs of our own.
"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Spike asked.
"Probably not. Do you mind if I take this book back to Fluttershy's with me? I think I'm gonna read it some more later." I asked.
"Sure, go ahead! I'll see you at the picnic later then?" Spike asked.
"Oh yeah, I forgot that was today. I'll definitely be there." I said as I headed down the stairs myself and began heading back to Fluttershy's cottage.
It took a bit longer to get to the outskirts of town, mostly because there were an alarming amount of carts that had been toppled over that blocked my usual route to Fluttershy's house, but the route I took lead me floating alongside the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually, I began to hear the sounds of things breaking and looked over to see Rainbow Dash flying through and tearing down what appeared to be an old and run down barn. Nearby, Applejack was wearing a helmet as she she watched Rainbow Dash from a distance within a nearby ditch. Deciding to see what was going on, I floated over the fence and made my way towards Applejack.
"Hey Applejack. What's going on with Rainbow Dash destroying that barn?" I asked.
"Hey Null. That barn's been in shambles for as long as Ah can remember. It's been taking up a good amount of space, so Ah got Rainbow to help tear it down so we can maybe put something there. Possibly a new one, as Granny's been wantin' a new one for a while. Speakin' of which, you might want to put these on and take cover." Applejack said as she handed me a pair of clear work glasses.
I put them on and joined Applejack in watching Rainbow Dash tear down the barn. I had to say, it was kind of fun and interesting to watch, with Rainbow Dash crashing into the roof or the walls at high speeds and making holes as she tore through the barn. She also kicked and punched through some of the various support beams within the barn as well. I also soon began to understand why we were both wearing our protective equipment and hiding in the ditch, as occasionally, various pieces of wood or metal came flying out from the barn, with a few even landing in the ditch even though we were a fair distance away. This continued on for a little while longer until I heard a familiar voice call out.
"Rainbow Dash! Stop!"
The next moment Rainbow Dash's tail was held in a purple aura as Twilight appeared in a flash of pink light and began to talk to Rainbow Dash. "Listen, Rainbow. I know you're upset with Applejack, but don't worry, whatever it is that has come between you two, I'm sure that I, as a good friend, can help you resolve your problems."
"What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash, you don't have to hide your feelings from me! I can tell you two must've had a terrible fight." Twilight said as she levitated Rainbow Dash to a nearby bench and sat her down on it as a pair of glasses appeared on her face and a notebook held within her aura floated right next to her. "Now then, why don't you tell me all about your issues with Applejack."
Rainbow Dash looked up at Twilight and answered "I don't have any issues with Applejack."
"You don't? But then why were you destroying that barn?" Twilight asked.
"Because she asked me to. Right Applejack? Oh hey Null, I'm guessing you came here to see me in action?" Rainbow Dash said as she looked over into the ditch Applejack and I were currently in.
"Not really. I just came to see what was going on here. Anyways, yeah, Applejack told me that she hired Rainbow Dash to help tear down that barn." I said.
"That's right. Now get back to it R.D." Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash gave a salute before she took off from the bench and began to fly high into the sky. "You might want to take this and take cover." Applejack said as she held out another pair of the work glasses she gave me. Twilight hopped into the ditch with us and put on the glasses as we all looked up to see Rainbow Dash continue her ascent before stopping high above the barn. She then began to rapidly descend at high speeds as she began to yell. Right before she hit the barn however, was something that I was not expecting at all.
A bright flash of rainbow light was released from Rainbow's body. What followed as she hit the barn was a giant rainbow colored shockwave that expanded out from its origin. As Rainbow Dash also hit the barn, a large rainbow colored dust cloud rose from the ground as a large amount of debris flew away from where the barn had previously been. Unfortunately, some of the debris landed in the ditch that me and the others had taken cover in and piled on top of us. Thankfully, it wasn't to heavy as all of us managed to emerge from it with no problem with Applejack having a large grin on her face, a few strands of Twilight's mane were sticking out here and there, and me being wide-eyed at what I had just witnessed.
I saw Twilight sigh as she began to pick herself up out of the rubble and took off the glasses she was wearing and began to leave. Shortly after, Rainbow Dash came flying into the ditch and gave a high-five to Applejack. Shaking myself out of the shock of what I had just witnessed, I turned to face the other two.
"What the heck was that just now?" I questioned.
"What? Me just taking down that barn like it was nothing?" Rainbow Dash said.
"No. I mean that whole thing where that rainbow shockwave spread out right before you hit the barn." I asked.
"Oh, that? That was just me pulling off one of the easiest sonic rainbooms yet." Rainbow Dash answered.
"A sonic rainboom?" I asked, wanting to learn more.
"Yep. Rainbow here essentially flies so fast that she breaks both the sound and light barrier at the same time." Applejack explained.
"You're fast enough to break the light barrier?!" I exclaimed.
"Yep. The first time I pulled it off was when I was still pretty young. Up until then, ponies thought that it was just an old mare's tale. But I managed to pull it off, and I've been able to pull it off much easier now than when I was able to back then. It's also how I earned my cutie mark." Rainbow Dash explained as she pointed to her cutie mark. Her cutie mark was that of a white cloud with a bolt of lightning coming out from below it. However, the color of the lightning bolt itself was that of a rainbow.
"Huh, that's actually kind of a cool story. Anyways, I should probably start heading back to Fluttershy's to clean off all of this dust." I said as I began to wipe some of the dust off of my clothes.
"Alright then. See ya at the picnic then." Applejack said as she began to pull herself out of the rubble.
"See ya." I waved back as I began to head back towards the fence and floated over it as I once again began the trek back to Fluttershy's house. Thankfully, it didn't take long for me to reach the dirt road that led to her cottage as I followed it to her house. However, once I got there, I heard a loud roar come from the back of the house. Curious as to what was going on, I made my way to the back of the cottage and saw Fluttershy standing right in front of a bear that was towering over her.
What happened next shook me to the very core of my being. Fluttershy slid under the bear before flying up behind it and kicking it in the back, sending it toppling forward on its stomach. Then, she pulled up hard on one of the bear's back legas as the bear itself began to slam one if its arms on the ground while letting out what I could guess was a roar of pain. After hearing a small snap coming from the leg, Fluttershy did the same thing to the other leg. Once she had finished with the seco0nd one, she jumped onto the bear's back and began to rapidly stomp onto its back, with the bear issuing more cries of pain. Finally, and this was the thing that shocked me the most, Fluttershy grabbed a hold of the bear's neck and snapped it hard to the side, issuing a loud crack as she let go of the bear and it fell back down to the ground as she slowly landed on its back once again.
I can't believe what I had just witnessed. Fluttershy, the pony who was allowing me to stay with her, a pony who said that her cutie mark represented her kindness to animals, just took down a bear and may have even killed it. I began to panic as I held my hands to the side of my head and began to process what had just happened and tried to prevent myself from freaking out before I heard more growling coming from the bear. However, these didn't sound like growls of pain, they sounded like growls of comfort. I looked back over to see Fluttershy seemingly massaging her hooves on the back of the bear's shoulders as it had a content smile on its face.
"You should have some to me earlier. You were carrying so much stress and tension in your shoulders." Fluttershy said as the bear once again let out a growl of comfort. She then looked over to me floating by the side of the cottage. "Oh, good to see you Null. How did, um, actually, is something wrong? You look worried."
"What? Um, yeah. I'm fine, I just got back." I said.
"That's good. Can you come in and help me finish getting everything we will need for the picnic?" Fluttershy said as she flew off of the bear and began heading towards the back door.
"Uh, sure." I said as I began following her.
Note to self: don't make Fluttershy angry.
After that whole crazy thing with me witnessing Fluttershy wrestle a bear and win to just simply give it a massage, we spent the next bit of time getting together a small picnic basket filled with sandwiches that we made for the others. Once that was done, we left the cottage and made our way back towards Ponyville, albeit a little ways away from the town itself. The reason being was that the picnic was being set up in a small park right outside of Ponyville. We eventually made it there were everyone else was waiting on a red and white checkerboard picnic blanket. We, almost everyone, as Twilight and Spike were nowhere to be found. Deciding to go ahead and get everything set up, all of us began to get out what we had brought onto the blanket.
"Oh no, please don't tell me I forgot to bring the plates." I looked over and saw Rarity was digging through the picnic basket she brought. "I did. I totally forgot them. Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE, WORST, POSSIBLE, THING!" Rarity said. After which, a couch covered in Rarity's aura suddenly slid towards her from who knows where as she fell onto it and began to cry. "Why? Oh why?"
She eventually stopped crying as she looked over at all of us staring at her.
"Rarity, was that really necessary?" I asked.
"Well, you don't expect me to just lay on the grass, do you?" Rarity said.
I did my best to simply shrug as I turned back to the picnic basket Fluttershy and I had brought. However, as I turned back to it, I was met with Twilight's face just inches from my own.
"Agh!" I yelled as I fell back onto the blanket.
Twilight, for lack of a better word, was not looking too good at the moment. Her mane was sticking out at various places, her eyes were wide and her pupils had shrunken to the size of pinpricks, and, the creepiest thing about the whole thing, was that she one of the widest and creepiest smiles I had ever seen. Actually, scratch that, second creepiest smile. The whole thing I did where I smiled and had my red eye gazing through that smile to make it look like it was glaring while I had taken control of Magolor was something I feel like would give those that looked at it nightmares. Regardless, all of us just stared back and forth at Twilight before Applejack decided to break the tension.
"You alright, hun?"
"No! I am not alright, if I don't turn in a letter to Princess Celestia on time, I'll be tardy!" Twilight exclaimed.
Everyone looked at each other with looks of confusion as I mentally groaned. "Twilight's afraid that if she doesn't send in a friendship report to Princess Celestia every week, then Princess Celestia will send her to 'magic kindergarten' or something like that." I explained to the others. "But seriously, Twilight. I thought we talked about this back at the library, I'm positive that Princess Celestia won't be upset just because you weren't able to send one simple letter to her on time." I said as I turned back to Twilight.
"And like I explained to you Null, with me being Princess Celestia's personal student, I need to make sure that I do the best that I can to make sure that I meet her expectations. Now, can you all please help me find somepony with a problem I can fix before sundown?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I'm gonna have to agree with Null on this sugarcube. Ah think you're just worrying over nothing and gettin' yourself all worked up. Come sit down with us and stop sweatin' the small stuff so we can enjoy this picnic together." Applejack said.
One of Twilight's eyes began to twitch before she let out a loud groan before storming off away from us. All of us looked at each other with looks of concern and worry.
"I've never seen Twilight so upset before, do you think she'll be ok?"
"I'll say, what a drama queen." Rarity said as I looked at her with a deadpanned look. "Well, relatively speaking."
I sighed as I got up from the blanket. "You guys stay here, I'll make sure Twilight doesn't do anything crazy." I said as I began floating towards the direction Twilight headed in.
"Twilight? Twilight? Oh come on where did you go?"
It had been a few minutes since I left the others to look for Twilight, and I was having no luck. I asked some of the nearby ponies if the have seen her, which while some of them did and pointed me in the direction they last saw her, I wasn't able to find any sort of evidence that showed that she had been there. I was starting to get antsy as well, Pinkie had supposedly brought some icing cookies from Sugarcube Corner, and I was dying to get one. I was staring to think that I should head back to the others, before I heard Twilight's voice coming from nearby. Picking up the pace, I eventually found Twilight standing in front of a group of fillies. One was that of an earth pony who had a somewhat yellow coat, had red hair that was styled somewhat similarly to that of Applejack, and was wearing a giant bow. One of the others was a unicorn with a white coat and had a somewhat curly main that was a mix of pastel pink and purple. Finally, the last one was a pegasus with an orange coat and somewhat messy mane that was purple in color.
The one with the bow as the first to speak up. "Oh, hi, Twilight. How's it goi-" She began before she was cut off by Twilight.
"Great. Just great. You three look like you're doing great too! Looks like three good friends who obviously don't need the help of another good friend." She said before a pony shaped doll appeared in a flash of pink that was held in Twilight's aura. The doll itself was somewhat ragged, with it having patches here and there and one of its button eyes was close to coming off. "This is Smarty Pants. She was mine when I was your age, and now I want to give her to you!"
The pegasus was the one who spoke up next. "She's... uh... great."
"Yeah, great." The one with the bow said.
"I really like her... mane?" Said the unicorn.
I could sense the sarcasm all the way from here.
"She even comes with her own notebook and quill, for when you want to pretend that she's doing her homework!" Twilight said as she also held a small notepad and quill in her aura.
I began to feel the fear of the three fillies slowly began to rise as they backed away from Twilight a little.
"Yeah, that's, great." The pegasus said.
"Hmhm, I totally agree." The one with the bow said.
"Yeah, I definitely like her... mane?" The unicorn repeated, clearly not knowing what to say.
"I just hope the fact that there are three of you and only one of her doesn't become a problem! I'd hate to cause a rift between such good friends. So..." Twilight said as she levitated the doll towards the fillies. "Who wants to play with her first?"
The three fillies looked at each other before the one with the bow spoke up. "Uh... You should play with her first, Sweetie Belle. Y'know, 'cause you like her mane so much." The one with the bow said as she began to back away.
The unicorn, who I now knew as Sweetie Belle, backed away as well. "Nonononononono. I think Scootaloo should get to play with her first."
The pegasus, who I assumed was Scootaloo, said "I'd love to, but, um, you take her, Apple Bloom." as she went behind who I assumed was Apple Bloom and began to push her forward.
What followed next was the three fillies pushing one another towards the doll Twilight was holding in an attempt to get away from it. Meanwhile, I began to feel Twilight's fear and anxiety begin to rise as she began to look panicked, before she clapped her hooves together as her already wide smile appeared to grow even wider. I took this as my cue to stop things before they got worse. As fast as I could, I floated towards the group and, in one swift motion, grabbed the doll out of Twilight's aura and floated away from the four of them before turning back to face Twilight.
"Ok, Twilight, I think you're starting to go overboard with wanting to send that letter." I said.
"Null, I have told you and the others multiple times, I need to send that letter or Princess Celestia will think I'm not worthy of being her student!" Twilight yelled out.
"And we have told you that Princess Celestia probably won't do that, you're just overreacting." I said.
"And how do you know that? Before you said it yourself that you never knew who the princesses were, but I do. Now give me the doll so I can fix a friendship problem!" Twilight said.
I looked at the doll in my hands and then back to Twilight. She was obviously going extremely overboard with wanting to send that letter, going so far as to what I assumed was having three friends trying to fight over a doll that they obviously didn't want. I could also sense the desperation and anger coming from Twilight as well, and while those emotions were giving me energy, it was worrying me to see her like this. Holding the doll closer to me, I gave Twilight the best glare I could give.
"Sorry Twilight. I'm not letting you have this doll."
"Null. Give. Me. The. Doll." Twilight said as I began to feel her anger begin to rise even further. I held the doll closer in response.
"I said give it!"
What happened next was that Twilight's horn was covered in a pink aura as a beam surrounded by pink hearts was fired from her horn and was shot towards the doll. Reacting as fast as I could, I did the only thing I thought about doing, which was raising the doll above my body. However, this would prove to be a horrendous mistake, as the beam hit me instead. The force of the beam sent me flying back as I dropped the doll, causing me to fall to the ground.
"Oh no. What have I done?" Twilight said as I felt her anger was quickly replaced with fear.
I slowly hovered back off the ground to see hearts similar to the ones surrounding the beam flow into me. I was expecting something to happen, but I didn't feel anything other than a dull pain from where the beam had hit me. "Um... was something supposed to happen?" I asked.
"Oh, I want him." I looked over to see the pegasus looking at me. Slowly, her eyes were filled with hearts as she began to slowly walk over to me.
"He looks so cute." I looked over to the one with the bow as her eyes were also beginning to fill with hearts.
"His outfit is adorable!" I looked over to see that the unicorn was also undergoing the effects that the other two were experiencing.
As I looked between all three of them, I slowly felt one emotion emanating from them that started to make me worry: desire. All at once the three fillies tried to pounce on me all at once, only for me to float a few feet in the air as they began to try and jump at me.
"Twilight, what did you just do to me?!" I asked.
"I was trying to cast a spell on Smarty Pants, but you moved her out of the way and so the spell was cast on you instead." Twilight quickly explained.
"And what spell did you cast on me?" I asked.
"It's a 'want it need it' spell. Whoever looks at the thing that has had the spell cast on it will become obsessed with it. Only the caster will be the only one immune to its effects." Twilight explained.
"Well can you dispel it?" I asked.
"I should be able to. Just give me a second." Twilight said as her horn was covered in her aura.
However, as she began to try and dispel it, I saw a pegasus walking nearby that looked over at us to see what was going on. Because of this, they immediately fell under the effects of the want it need it spell as hearts began to fill her eyes as well. She began to fly into the air and tried to grab me, forcing me to float back to the ground. I looked between he three ponies that were eyeing me as I began to dread what would happen if they caught me.
"Twilight?!" I yelled out.
"Almost done." Twilight responded.
It was there and then that the three ponies began to charge at me, all wanting to get their hooves on me. I did the only thing that I could think of in that moment: I ran. I began floating as fast as I could to outrun my pursuers as I weaved around trees and floated over bushes. While I was running, more ponies that were attending the park saw me and would the fall under the effects of the spell. This would result in the group that was chasing me to grow from four pursuers into about 12 in a matter of minutes. Not paying attention, I eventually stumbled upon a group of about 20 ponies who all turned to look at me, resulting in my pursuers growing to a group over 30 ponies. I kept trying to do my best to outrun them, with me finding myself back at the picnic were the other girls are. As I tried to run away from them, I accidentally ran straight into one of my pursuers.
"I got him!" The pony who had me said before another one yanked me out of their grip. "No, he's mine!" What followed next was everyone that was chasing me to keep pulling me out of another's grasp, only for another pony to pull me out of their grasp. This continued for a bit until I found myself under a giant dog pile of ponies who were out to take me. It was painful, as I was constantly yanked and pulled quite painfully from another grasp, with a lot of the times with my ears being the thing that was grabbed and pulled.
Was this how I was going to end. Was this what fate had in store for me for how I was to perish. I thought I died when Kirby and his friends defeated me and the Master Crown shattered into pieces, I thought I had definitely died when Magolor sliced me in two with the giant sword he was wielding. I definitely was not expecting to go out because of over 30 ponies who were bloodthirsty at getting me. After what finally felt like several hours of me being pulled, yanked, and even bit because some ponies tried to grab me with their mouth. A bright light separated the dog pile I was caught under as every single pony was sent flying onto the ground. It also seemed as though that lied somehow dispelled the want it need it spell as no one had hearts in their eyes anymore. Shortly after, all of the ponies began to leave, some of them having looks of confusion as to why they were here.
"Twilight Sparkle!" A loud voice from overhead called out, prompting me to look up. What I saw astounded me. Flying above me and all of the other ponies, surrounded by a glowing white aura, was possibly the tallest pony I have ever seen. Her coat was that of a pure white, with her mane and tail being that of pink, blue, and green, that both also seemed to flow even though there was no wind. Her cutie mark was that of a yellow and orange sun, and she was wearing a tiara and some sort of necklace around her neck. However, what caught my eye the most was that she had both a set of wings and a long horn protruding from her head. This could only mean that the pony flying above me was that of an alicorn. She eventually turned to face Twilight directly.
"Meet me in the library." She said as she began flying towards the direction of the library.
I slowly floated over to the others a Twilight let out a sad sigh. "Well, goodbye everyone. If you want to visit, I'll be in magic kindergarten, back in Canterlot." She said as she began walking towards the library with her head down.
"This definitely doesn't sound good." Fluttershy said.
"Yeah, if she gets sent back to Canterlot, then..." Rainbow Dash started.
"Then we're never going to see Twilight again!" Pinkie Pie yelled.
"C'mon girls, we need to go talk to the two of them. Now!" Applejack said as they all began to start running.
"Wait, can someone carry me? I am in a lot of pain at the moment." I said weakly as I struggled not to fall to the ground. All of those ponies pulling and yanking me caused me a surprising amount of pain.
I was soon covered in Rarity's aura as she carefully levitated me onto her back. "Thanks Rarity."
"You're welcome darling." She said. After that I held on as she caught up with the others as everyone made a mad dash towards Twilight's house.
It didn't take us long at all to get to Twilight's house with how fast everyone was going. Eventually, we made it there and Rainbow Dash kicked the door open and rolled in as everyone else went in as well, seeing Twilight and the alicorn supposedly talking to each other before we barged in.
"Wait!" Rainbow Dash called out.
"You can't punish her!" Pinkie Pie said.
"It wasn't her fault!" Applejack said.
"I'm listening." said the alicorn.
"Please, your Highness. We all saw that Twilight was upset." Fluttershy said. Wait, did she say "your Highness"?
"But we thought that the thing she was worrying about wasn't worth worrying about." Rainbow Dash continued.
"That's why when she ran off and was all worked up, only one of us went to see if she was ok." Applejack said. The alicorn raised one of her eyebrows at this.
"Please don't take her away from us just because we were too insensitive to help her." Fluttershy said.
The alicorn looked over everyone for a brief moment before she began to talk. "It seems as though all of you have learned a valuable lesson today." Everyone nodded their heads at this.
She seemed to take another moment before saying "Very well. I'll forget Twilight's punishment on one condition."
"And that is..." Rainbow ash began to say.
"From this day forth, I would like all of you to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship when, and only when, you happen to discover them." the alicorn said.
Everyone began to cheer at this revelation, as it looked as though Twilight wasn't going back to Canterlot. As everyone began to calm down, Twilight perked up and turned to the alicorn.
"Princess Celestia, now that you're here, would you mind giving me your opinion on Null here?" Twilight said. I found myself being covered by Twilight's aura as I was levitated in front of the alicorn. Now that I was up close to her, she was definitely one of the tallest being I have ever met, possibly as tall as Landia when she was still one. I wonder how she's doing now that she doesn't have the Master Crown, and by extension, me, to guard over anymore?
The alicorn looked me over for a bit before she smiled. "So, you must be the one that Twilight has been talking to me about for the last few days. It's a pleasure to meet you, Null. My name is Celestia." She said as she held out a hoof.
Wait, the alicorn standing before me was one of the rulers of Equestria, as in, Princess Celestia? I thought back to when Twilight was talking about who the Princesses were and what they were capable of, and how she later explained that they are both a part of the most powerful race of ponies to ever exist. Judging by what I saw them do earlier, I can safely say that Twilight was currently backing up what she was saying. I held out one of my hands and shook her hoof. "Uh, likewise."
"So, Twilight has told me what you are capable of, such as levitation, telekinesis, eating without a mouth as well as a few other things. She also has told me that you came from the Everfree Forest, correct?" Celestia asked.
I was still going to stick with the plan of not telling anyone in this the whole truth, definitely so with one of the rulers of this kingdom. If what I saw earlier was only a small fragment of what she could do, then I definitely wasn't going to tell her that I was sealed within a crown for thousands of years and took over the minds and bodies of those that wore me. "That's right." I said.
Celestia stared at me for a bit longer. "Do you mind if I do something real quick? It won't take very long." Celestia asked.
"Oh, um, sure. Go right ahead."
Celestia nodded at my confirmation as the tip of her horn was enveloped with a golden light. She then moved her head so that her horn was right above the top of my body before she eventually touched her horn on my body directly. This caused a shiver to run across my body as I felt some sort of energy run through me, even though this energy somehow had a warm feeling to it. A short time later, Celestia lifted her head back up as the glow faded, her face filled with confusion and interest.
"Hmm, this is quite interesting. Null, you have a large quantity of magic held within you, and I can sense that you are using said magic to allow you to levitate and control those gloves." Celestia said as she motioned towards me. "However, I also sense a great amount of dark energy coming from you. While it isn't much, it is still enough to warrant my interest."
"That could explain something we saw when we defeated Discord." Twilight said as everyone looked at her. "When we used the Elements of Harmony on Discord, the magic of the Elements also struck Null as well. They didn't seem to do much other than cause him to pass out shortly after. He did look like he was in a lot of pain though..."
It was true. I felt as though my entire being was being burned in its entirety. "Discord did mention that he could sense a lot of dark energy coming from me. I didn't really know what he meant at the time." I said. Another half truth, as I did know why I was emitting dark energy. I'm pretty sure it was due to my abilities to absorb negative emotions and convert them into energy that I could then use as magic as well. I also used my abilities to also corrupt and take over the minds and bodies of those that wore me as well, meaning that those abilities themselves were probably somewhat dark in nature.
"Null, can you promise me something?" Celestia said. "Even though I can sense the darkness within you, the bearers of the Elements have told me that you have not done anything to harm either them or any of the other ponies under my rule. Can you swear to me that you won't bring harm to any of my subjects."
I took a bit of time to think about this, as in my current state, I wasn't really in any position to argue with someone who could literally move the sun. That, and I didn't really have the power to even harm anyone, other than those two kids I helped Applejack catch. Regardless, I decided to agree. "Princess Celestia, you have my word that I won't bring harm to any of the ponies under your rule unless it is deemed necessary." I said as I gave a salute.
Celestia smiled at this gesture. "Thank you Null. It was nice getting to meet you, even after everything I assumed you went through earlier. Now then, I must be off. All of you keep in contact with me, and I will let you know if I request your assistance." Celestia said, as her horn was covered in a golden aura once more and she disappeared in a flash of bright light.
The rest of the night was spent with the girls sending a letter to Celestia explaining what they have learned today, mostly about how they need to help each other out with their worries and take them more seriously. After that was said and done, all of us began to head back to our separate homes as night was beginning to fall. One quick bath and meal after Fluttershy and I got back to her cottage, and I was tucked into the couch, ready to sleep. However, I still had a few things floating around in my mind. The first was that I genuinely felt like I would have been killed if Celestia hadn't stepped in to stop everything and dispel the want it need it spell Twilight cast on me. I had never felt so weak within my existence, well, other than when I was in that gaseous form trying to make myself a new body. I was able to float and control my makeshift hands that Rarity made me, but that was it. I wasn't able to cast spells or anything that would allow me to protect myself, meaning that I was forced to run if I was faced with any sort of threat. I could only hope that I would be able to accumulate enough energy to start casting offensive or defensive spells. The other thing I though about was, now that I had met Princess Celestia, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I met this Princess Luna. Regardless, I felt my eyes begin to feel heavy, as I slowly fell asleep, wondering what other crazy things would happen to me here. |
A Crown's Atonement For Their Misdeeds | Chapter 5: Luna Eclipsed | After the incident with Twilight accidentally using "Want it Need it" on me, nothing really happened for the next long while. Twilight stopped freaking out about sending Celestia letters every week, and we resumed with her having me undergo various types of testing. Now that she knew about me using magic to allow myself and my gloves to levitate, she began running various types of magical tests to see if I was able to cast any spells. Unfortunately for both of us, said tests always ended in failure. First, she wanted to see if I was able to levitate anything besides my body and hands by placing various objects in front of me to see if I could make them float. I was unable to make anything she sat in front of me float, from the simplest book to the lightest quill. She then tried to see if I could possibly teleport, explaining that it was a simple spell that unicorns learned early on in their lives. I myself knew the basics of teleportation, as I often teleported when I was in control of the thing or person I possessed when I was still sealed within the Master Crown. Unfortunately, it seems as though that in my current state, I wasn't able to perform basic teleportation. All of my attempts resulted in me still being in the same spot, regardless of how much I focused. Lastly, she tried to see if I could create magical shields, she explained that this was a spell unicorns were often taught later in life. This test ended the same way as the others, with me not being able to create a simple shield. Similar to teleportation, I also knew how shield spells worked thanks to Magolor as he was able to conjure up shields that only extremely powerful attacks could break. Both of us were somewhat upset that I wasn't able to cast any spells, with me trying to cheer Twilight up by saying that my magic probably wasn't strong enough to use these types of spells. It appeared to wok a little, as our tests went back to being somewhat normal. Though, it was at time like these that made me miss having limitless power when I was sealed within the Master Crown, with me only being able to use said power after I took over the beings that wore me.
Nonetheless, as the days came and went, so too did the current season as we were now in what I presumed was the middle of autumn. The leaves on the trees slowly began changing from various shades of green to various shades of orange, yellow, and red. The temperature also began to grow a little bit colder as well, making me thankful for my scarf as the slightly chilly weather didn't bother me much. It was also during this time that I noticed the residents of Ponyville seemed a lot more cheerful and excited as they began to slowly decorate Ponyville with various kinds of decorations such as carved pumpkins, rubber bats and fake spider webs, and even various stalls and tents were starting to be set up. Curious as to what was going on, I decided to ask Spike about these developments during a trip to the library.
"Hey Spike? Do you know why ponies are setting up decorations and stalls? Is there a big even happening soon or something?" I asked.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't really know about this. Everyone's getting everything together for Nightmare Night!" the young dragon exclaimed.
"Nightmare Night?" I asked.
"Yeah! Nightmare Night is where everyone is able to dress up with costumes and have fun doing various activities one night every year. It's also a time of being scared and having fun being scared. The best part though, is that you can get a ton of candy by going to other ponies' homes!" Spike says with excitement.
"I guess that at least explains why everyone's putting up all of the decorations. And you said that it's a time for ponies to be scared and have fun being scared?" I asked.
"Yep. Like I said, Nightmare Night's one of the scariest times of the year. I plan on getting as much candy as I can!" Spike said.
A time where ponies are able to have fun and be scared and enjoy it? If ponies are getting scared then some of them may give off some fear that I can absorb to get stronger. I guess it wouldn't hurt to participate, I would be having fun while converting the fear the ponies around me are feeling into magic that I can use to become stronger. It was pretty much a win-win situation.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to join in." I said. "I guess I'll need a costume if I plan on enjoying everything Nightmare Night has to offer."
As such, after I left the library after a few small tests that Twilight had me do, I made my way to the Carousel Boutique to find Rarity. When I arrived, I found Rarity working on a costume in her workshop.
"Hey Rarity." I said to let her know I was here.
"Hello Null, it's good to see you. I'm sorry, but I can't really talk right now. Nightmare Night is one of the busiest times of the year for me as a lot of ponies tend to give me orders to make costumes. Thankfully, it doesn't seem that there are as many as last year, I ran out of a lot of materials before I was almost done." Rarity said while she was busy sewing.
"Oh, that's ok. I can come by later." I said.
"No, it's fine. What would you like to talk about dear?" Rarity asked.
"I was hoping you could maybe help me make myself a costume. I just heard about Nightmare Night, and I kind of want to join in." I said.
I saw Rarity begin to think over what I had just said, before turning to me and saying "Hmm, I suppose I could help you with making a costume. It was quite fun making your outfit, so I wouldn't mind making something else. Let me finish this real quick, and then we can talk about how you want your costume to look, ok?"
I agreed and waited for her to finish with the costume she was currently working on. It didn't take too long to finish either, so, once again, I found myself right beside Rarity as we began to design my costume. It took some trial and error because both of us had some trouble trying to figure out what sort of costume I wanted. Rarity wanted the costume to be somewhat cutesy in design, but I didn't really want that. I wanted the costume to have a sort of interesting theme about it, one that would make it stand out. Eventually, we both managed to agree on a design that worked perfectly, and Rarity said she would have the costume finished and delivered by the morning of Nightmare Night. And with that, I headed back to Fluttershy's house as I was now looking forward to Nightmare Night.
And so, the day of Nightmare Night arrived. I was pretty excited as I couldn't wait to go out and enjoy tonight, especially if the costume Rarity and I made had turned out perfectly. The box containing my costume arrived earlier today, and I opened it to make sure everything for the costume was in the box, which it was. Eventually, the sun began to dip below the horizon as the moon slowly moved up into the sky as day slowly turned to night, with me taking this as my cue to go put on my costume. Thankfully, Fluttershy allowed me to use her bathroom as long as I wanted so that I could properly put on my costume. Taking the box in with me and shutting the door, I took everything out of the box and once again made sure that everything that Rarity and I had made for this outfit was inside, before I began putting on my costume. It took a few minutes, but I was able to get everything on easily as I stared into my reflection in the mirror after I had finished putting everything on.
First off, the costume already had a similar design to my normal outfit, with the hood and cape and everything. However, that was were a lot of the similarities ended. First off was the hood, with the the main part being completely red instead of white that stopped at the silver rings around my ears, with the tips of the ear part of the hood being black. Instead of a scarf, a black cloth with a brown belt that had a silver buckle wrapped around my body. Attached to this belt was a small clip where a small bottle with a cork was held within a sort of holster, the bottle being filled with water. The cape itself was also completely black, with there being two silver buttons at the front so that it gave my cape the appearance of a sort of coat. A silver line ran across the bottom of the cape, with small silver lines running towards the top of the cape and disappearing under the cloth. The cape also had small pockets that were held shut by silver clips, with there also being holsters at these sides that also held bottles, though these had a somewhat rectangular shape, were empty, and were corked by a star shaped cork. Finally were two things, the first being the cloth on the bottom half of my body was red, but the front had a silver gear design on it. The opening of the hood also had a similar gear design lining the edge of the hood. The last thing was that a small silver chain hung from the end of the right ear part of the hood, with there being a small silver gear attached to the end of it.
After giving myself one last look over in the mirror, I was happy to find that the costume came out perfectly. Everything Rarity and I had designed, from the bottles and corks that I was sure she had trouble getting, to even the little chain hanging from the right ear of my hood, was exactly as how we made them to look. I would have to make sure to greatly thank her when I got to Ponyville.
Seeing as how I was finished putting on my costume, I left the bathroom and made my way back down the stairs where Fluttershy was waiting for me.
"Oh my, I love your costume Null. If you could remind me, what was it that you wanted to be again?" Fluttershy asked.
"I guess I kind of wanted the costume to resemble a sort of alchemist, though I decided to go with the gear design to make it a little more unique. Anyways, are you ready to head into town?" I asked.
Fluttershy's smile disappeared and was instead replaced with a small frown as she looked away from me. I could also begin to feel a small amount of sadness rise within her as well.
"I'm sorry Null. But, um, the thing is..." Fluttershy began saying, however she began to trail off as she got quite. After giving her a few seconds, I decided to ask what she meant.
"Is what?" I asked.
"The thing is, I don't really like Nightmare Night." Fluttershy admitted.
Now that right there sort of shocked me. Fluttershy, the mare I saw wrestle with a bear and win, was scared of other ponies wearing costumes and fake decorations being put up? Though, actually, living with Fluttershy these past few weeks has taught me that, even though she was quite caring and even brave when taking care of animals, she was somewhat skittish. Once, when I came back from the library one day, I found Fluttershy hiding under a blanket from a small spider that had managed to get inside.
"I don't like all of the scary costumes that some ponies wear, and I also don't like the decorations that are put up. Because of this, I usually stay here and wait until Nightmare Night is over. I'm sorry that I can't join you Null. I do hope you enjoy your first Nightmare Night, though." Fluttershy said.
"It's ok. I'll come back once I'm done having fun in town, you just stay here and do what you usually do on Nightmare Night." I said as I began to head out the door where a small pillowcase that Fluttershy was lending me sat next to the door. "I'll try to bring you back some candy as well."
"Thank you. I would appreciate that." Fluttershy said.
After grabbing the pillowcase and headed out the door, I made my way down the road under the light of the full moon. A few minutes later, and I eventually made it to Ponyville where it looked like the activities and fun were underway. I saw a few booths here and there selling various sweets, small attractions such as bobbing for apples and a game were you launched a pumpkin with a catapult at a target (I would have to try that one later), and everyone was dressed up in various costumes as I also saw small foals going around and getting candy.
Eventually, I made my way to the library as I hoped to join Spike and Twilight if they decided to go around town. I knocked on the door before Spike opened it and greeted me, already in his costume. His costume was that of a dragon costume, which I thought was a little redundant considering he was a dragon, but it looks like it was well made so I decided not to bring it up. The main part of the costume was a dark purple, with the underbelly being a bright green. There were spikes on the back and tail that were dark green, and it also had two horns at the top with there also being yellow eyes that had slited pupils.
"Hey Null! Glad you could make it! Nice, uh, potion brewer costume?" Spike said.
"You're pretty close, and thank you, I'm happy that it turned out so well." I said. "I assume we're waiting for Twilight?"
"Yeah. She's been up there for a while now. She needs to hurry up, I want to go and get some candy." Spike said, after which we both began to hear what sounded like the jingling of bells. Both of us turned to look at the stairs as Twilight slowly made her way down and reached us as she began to walk around, showing off her costume
Twilight's costume was pretty elaborate, as she was wearing a long cloak and somewhat pointy hat. The cloak itself had a somewhat constellation theme to it, as there were yellow stars and crescent moons on it, with the edges of the cloak having small golden bells. The hat also had a similar theme and design as the cloak, with there being a bell hanging from the tip of the hat. Finally, Twilight was wearing a fake beard that hung a couple of inches below her chin.
"Um, are you that one grandpa from the Ponyville Retirement Village?" Spike asked.
Twilight stopped walking around a turned towards the both of us. "What? No, I'm Star Swirl the Bearded." She said.
Spike gave a blank stare as I gave Twilight a look of confusion as the name did sound somewhat familiar, though I could not place why.
"One of the greatest spellcasters of pony history?" Twilight asked.
Both of us continued our looks, though I feel like I was on the verge of remembering where I heard that name.
"Spike, did you even read that book I gave you about obscure unicorn history?" Twilight asked, as it finally clicked for me. I remember were I heard the name Star Swirl the Bearded before, as I read it in one of the history books here in the library. More specifically, one Twilight brought out during our tests involving my magic. Essentially, from what I could gather, Star Swirl was a brilliant spellcaster who created a lot of powerful and useful spells that are often used today. He was quite well known during his time, but the book said that Star Swirl mysteriously disappeared one day without a trace. Some speculated he died of old age as he was somewhat old, others suspected that he went off on some sort of quest in the hopes of discovering new types of magic and spells, and there were a bunch of other theories as well. Regardless, he was considered a well respected figure in history.
"Well, um..." Spike began before knocking could be heard coming from the door. "I should probably go get that."
Spike took off for the door as Twilight let out a small sigh as she turned to me.
"Anyways, it's good to see you too, Null. I like your alchemist costume. I do like the gear theme you have for it." Twilight said.
"Thanks, I'm glad everyone like it." I said.
Spike eventually walked back to us. "Twilight, we have some trick-or-treaters at the door."
"Alright. Let's get them some candy and then we can head out, ok?" Twilight said. A bowl filled with a variety of different candy was held in Twilight's aura as we made our way to the door, where three fillies were dressed in various costumes as an old mare stood behind them. The mare in question had a light green coat, a white mane and tail that were both styled in a bun, a cutie mark that appeared to be some sort of pie, and an orange handkerchief around her neck that had apples on it. I recognized her as Granny Smith, who was Applejack's grandmother and, from what I remembered from Fluttershy, apparently was involved with Ponyville's founding. I've only seen her around Sweet Apple Acres every now and then when I visited, but I never had the chance to interact with her personally.
"Happy Nightmare Night everypony, I like all of your costumes. Happy Nightmare Night to you as well, Granny Smith." Twilight said.
"I should have been asleep five hours ago." Granny Smith replied.
As Twilight levitated the bowl in front of her, a small earth pony colt wriggled his way between two of the fillies and made made his way through before slightly tripping and getting back up. He had a white coat that had various light brown spots scattered about, and had a brown mane with a short tail. He was also wearing a pirate outfit, as he was wearing a red bandanna, some sort of black shirt, and an eyepatch with a skull on it covering his right eye. He also had a small toy sword in his mouth.
"Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service." The colt said as he introduced himself. "It's my very first Nightmare Night."
"Since you moved here from Trottingham?" Twilight asked.
"Nope, my very first Nightmare Night ever!" Pipsqueak responded.
Before Twilight could hand out the candy, Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared out of nowhere wearing a chicken costume, clucking a bit before she began talking.
"Enough chitchat! Time is candy!"
"Uh, Pinkie? Not to be rude or anything, but aren't you a little too old to be doing something like this." I asked.
"Too old for free candy?" Pinkie said before she began clucking a little more. "Never."
Sensing a little bit of annoyance from Twilight as she rolled her eye, she handed everyone, including me as well as she levitated a small piece of chocolate into my bag, a piece of candy and put it in their bags. Twilight moved her cloak around a bit so the bells would jingle, catching Pinkie's attention.
"Do you like it?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah! Great costume, Twilight, you make a fantastic weirdo clown!" Pinkie said before she began to walk off, only to come back and rapidly peck at the candy in the bowl before taking off. I had to hold back a laugh as I found the comment to be a little funny.
"A clown? Look at the borders on these robes. These were hoof-stitched!" Twilight said as she held up the end of her cloak.
"Don't think about it too much Twilight. Let's just go and have some fun!" I said as I began heading towards the main area with Spike close behind me. I saw Twilight roll her eyes again, albeit with a small smile, as she walked to catch up with us as we began heading out into town.
Before we decided to head towards the festivities and attractions that were set up, we decided that we would go around and get some candy. This was done via trick-or-treating, as we would knock on ponies' doors and they would give us a piece of candy. The candy we got was quite varied, from small pieces of candy corn, lollipops, to even chocolate bars. Eventually, once we had finished, we headed towards the festivities that were set up around the middle of town. Spike was struggling a bit to hold the basket he brought as it was overflowing with candy, while my pillowcase still had a bit to go before it became to heavy. All around us were ponies dressed up in different outfits, from different animals, characters from history and folklore that I learned about while going through Equestria's history, to even demons and angels. Though, all around me, I could sense small amounts of fear from the ponies as they jumped whenever one of their friends jumped out to scare them or they were scared from the fake decorations. Anyways, I could feel myself slowly becoming energized by just being here, and I was also excited to see what sort of attractions were set up around here. As we walked around, Twilight began to talk about how she was surprised no one knew who Star Swirl was, as the ponies who gave us candy also incorrectly guessed who her costume was based off of.
"Star Swirl the Bearded is only the most important and powerful sorcerer of the pre-classical era. He created more than two hundred spells, and he even has a shelf in the Canterlot library named after him. Maybe I should start up a pony group to teach ponies about history, I bet everypony would love it! Wouldn't you both?"
"I guess I would be interested. I am enjoying learning about the various myths and legends about Equestria, so I suppose it would be fun learning more about its history." I said.
"Thank you Null." Twilight said before she stopped, causing Spike to bump into her and drop his basket, causing a lot of the candy held within it to fall out. "Hey look, we're here already! Should we get something to eat?"
Twilight turned to both of us as Spike burped due to the candy he was eating. Twilight, for possibly the third time tonight, gave an eye roll as I sensed her being annoyed once again. Pretty soon, Pinkie Pie showed up once again as she held a bag filled to the brim with candy.
"Twilight, Null! Look at all this candy we got! Ah! Can you believe it?" Pinkie said before she began to once again rapidly peck at the candy in the bag before continuing. "Anyways, we just went to Cheerilee's house, and got a bunch of goodies from there. Didn't we, Pip?"
"Sure did!" Pipsqueak replied.
Pinkie Pie then began to talk more about the various houses her and the others visited and what kinds of candy they got from there. While she was talking, I began to notice a black cloud with what appeared to be a rainbow tail sticking out from behind it slowly move towards us and right above Pinkie. I saw Rainbow Dash in some sort of costume as she raised her hooves up, before bringing them back down onto the cloud. The result was a loud bolt of lightning striking the ground nearby as Pinkie let out a loud squawk as she and all of the foals took off in various directions. I began to hear laughing as I looked back up to see Rainbow Dash cackling like crazy. Her outfit appeared to be some sort of black and purple jumpsuit with yellow lightning bolts on it. She wore goggles over her eyes as well, with the rims being purple and the lens being the same yellow as the lightning bolts on her outfit.
"Rainbow Dash, that wasn't very nice." Twilight said to the still cackling pegasus. It took a bit, but eventually, Rainbow Dash was able to calm down enough to where she was able to talk.
"Lighten up, old-timer. This is the best night of the year for pranks! And besides, everypony likes being scared." Rainbow Dash said.
"Look what you did to Spike!" Twilight said as she pointed to Spike, who was currently choking on some of the candy he was eating.
"It's all in good fun." Rainbow Dash said before she turned and seemed to spot something nearby. "Oh! There's another group over there!" She then flew to the side of the cloud, and then began to push it towards who I assumed were her next victims.
We both looked back at Spike as he seemed to not be choking anymore, though it looked like he was incredibly drained. Seeing this, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back as we continued on. Not without hearing another thunderbolt go off nearby that was followed by more screams.
We eventually made it to what appeared to be an attraction for bobbing apples, as there was a large wooden tub filled with a light green liquid with apples floating within it. Applejack seemed to be the one who was running this attraction as she stood right next to it. Her costume appeared to be that of some sort of scarecrow, as she was wearing a sort of straw and patchwork outfit that had straw coming out of it in places, and instead of her normal hat, was wearing a straw one with a sunflower on the side.
"Happy Nightmare Night Applejack!" Twilight called out.
"Howdy you three! Nice costumes. With that beard, Twilight, Ah reckon you're some sorta country music singer. And Null, you like you're about to brew some kind a potion or somethin'." Applejack responded.
Twilight let out an annoyed grunt as I couldn't stop myself from chuckling as Spike also laughed as well. She turned to both of us and gave us an annoyed glare before turning back to Applejack as she began talking.
"While y'all are here, ya' feel like bobbin' for some apples?"
"I would, but unfortunately I can't." I said.
"Oh, right. Forgot about that whole thing where ya' don't have a mouth and can eat through you're skin. Honestly, that there is a little weird and creepy on its own." Applejack said.
While I did agree with her, I still had my other eye I hadn't shown anyone since I got here. That alone would probably freak out some of the residents and may even give them nightmares as well. It sure did freak me out when I first saw it and stared into it. Before I could dwell any further on it, I began to hear cheering and applauding coming from nearby. Looking over, I saw a crowd had gathered in front of a small stage where Ponyville's mayor, who I learned whose name was literally Mayor Mare, was dressed up in some sort of clown costume as she looked like she was about to address everyone. Curious as to what was happening, all of us joined in with the crowd.
"Thank you, everypony. And welcome to the Nightmare Night festival!" Mayor Mare exclaimed. This was met by more cheering coming from the ponies around us.
"Now, all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of... Nightmare Mooooon!" Mayor Mare continued before she began to laugh maniacally.
"Spooky voice might work better if she wasn't dressed like that." Spike said.
"Couldn't agree with you anymore on that." I said.
Turning our attention back to the stage, Mayor Mare raised her hoof and pointed towards one edge of the stage, where a greenish mist began to accumulate. Eventually, a figure walked out of the mist, revealing herself to be a zebra whose hair was let down and was covered in spiders, had golden rings around her neck as well as dangling on her ears, and wore a black cloak as well. I also heard about Zecora from Twilight when I asked her if anyone lived in the Everfree forest out of curiosity, with her telling me about Zecora. Supposedly, she lived in a sort of tree similar to Twilight, albeit on a much smaller scale, and brewed various concoctions that were often used as medicine to cure the effects caused by the various flora and fauna of the Everfree Forest. I was kind of surprised I never ran into her when I first arrived here, as Twilight also said the road to her house connected to the main road that ran through the Everfree. Though, if there was one thing that Twilight said about Zecora that was unique, was that she tended to rhyme a lot.
"Follow me, and very soon, you will all hear the tale, of Nightmare Moon." Zecora said as she began walking towards the Everfree Forest with the rest of us, mostly the various foals that were here, along with Pinkie Pie, following behind her. I myself was kind of curious about Nightmare Moon, as I had only just gotten to her chapter in the book Twilight let me borrow from the library about the various myths and legends of Equestria.
After a few minutes of walking, we eventually made it to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. For me, this would be the first time since I arrived here where I would be willingly going back into the forest. I wasn't really too keen on exploring it, as I was still a little bit creeped out by it even after I have gotten out of it. It didn't really help that I also both read and heard about the dangerous creatures that lived here, from powerful manticores that were possibly one of the apex predators of the forest, cockatrices that were able to turn creatures into stone, to even creatures such as timberwolves. The last of those three I found the most intriguing, as the book I read about them stated that timberwolves were the souls of canine animals that would wander around the forests they died in and would possess a tree that was close to where they died. This allowed them to keep on living, and also allowed them to reconstruct their bodies easily if they were taken down.
Anyways, we didn't really travel too deep into the Everfree Forest, as about maybe 5 or so minutes of traveling, we followed a road that split off of the main one that led to a big clearing. In the middle of said clearing, however, was a giant statue of a pony rearing up on its hind legs. As we got closer to the statue, I was able to make out a few features. These were that the statue seemed to be that of an alicorn as it had both wings and a large horn similar to that of Celestia's, the alicorn seemed to be wearing some sort of armor, and that the mane and tail of the alicorn seemed to have a similar flowing effect to Celestia's own mane and tail, albeit it wasn't moving due to it being made of stone. As we reached the statue, Zecora began to talk.
"Listen close, my little dears, I'll tell you where you got your fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary." She began as she held a pile of green dust and blew on it, scattering it and creating a greenish mist similar to the one she stepped out of back at the stage. "Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary."
The mist then rose up into the sky, creating a lifelike copy of the alicorn the statue was based off of. Looking down at us, it dove towards us and, upon hitting the ground, caused more of the green mist to surround us.
"Every year, we put on a disguise. To save ourselves, from her searching eyes." Zecora said, as I looked as an apparition of piercing white eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth appeared behind a few foals. Noticing this, the foals began screaming as they ran away.
"But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!" Zecora continued, shortly followed by two more screams. Looking over, it appears that Pinkie Pie and Pipsqueak accidentally backed into each other and also startled each other.
Zecora then tossed more of the green dust into the air, allowing it to form a dense cloud of green mist. "Hungrily, she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year!" While Zecora was saying this, the apparition of Nightmare Moon popped out of the mist and appeared to be searching for something. After looking around a little bit longer, the apparition flew up before its form dispersed back into the mist that also began to fade away.
"Uh, Miss Zecora..." I heard Pipsqueak say as he was right in front of Zecora. "If we wear costumes to hide from Nightmare Moon so she won't gobble us up, how come we still need to give her some of our candy?"
"A perfect question, my little friend." Zecora began as she pulled out more of the dust. "For Nightmare Moon you must not offend." As she finished, she once again blew the dust into the air, causing the apparition of Nightmare Moon to appear once more.
"Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!" Zecora said. This was followed by the apparition to lunge forward at the group with its mouth open, revealing its sharp teeth once more. It then bit down on us as it dispersed, causing the foals and Pinkie Pie to scream in terror.
"Quick! Everypony, dump some candy and get out of here!" Pinkie shouted as she began to dump some of her candy in front of the statue and was shortly followed by the foals doing the same thing.
I was somewhat enjoying what was happening, as the fear everyone was giving off was giving me a lot of energy. I was also somewhat intrigued by the mist Zecora was using to create those apparitions and was somehow even controlling them. Even though she wasn't a unicorn, was it possible that she was able to use magic? If not, then Twilight wasn't kidding about her being skilled in brewing potions and other things. However, this train of though wouldn't last much longer, as lightning suddenly began to strike. At first, I though Rainbow Dash had followed us in hopes of scaring everyone after the whole show explaining the story of Nightmare Moon, but a quick look up into the sky immediately proved that to be false. The wind began to rapidly pink up as I saw clouds begin to condense together and block out the night sky, only allowing the moon to remain visible. Then, a bright flash of light came from the moon itself as a silhouette of something in the sky began to rapidly descend. As it got closer, I was able to make out what appeared to be what I first assumed to be pegasi pulling some sort of carriage, only for me to be proven wrong as the ponies had bat wings instead of normal feathered wings that pegasi had. They were also wearing a mix of silver and black armor as well. There was also a hooded figure riding the carriage as well, though I wasn't able to get a good look as the carriage took off in the direction of Ponyville.
"It's Nightmare Moon! Everpony run!" Pinkie said as her and everyone, except Twilight, Spike, and I, took off running back towards Ponyville.
I turned towards Twilight, who had a look of concern on her face. "That doesn't look good. It looks like that carriage was heading for Ponyville." I said.
"Yeah. Come on, if we hurry we can catch up to it." Twilight said as she began running back towards the dirt trail as she levitated Spike onto her back. I began following her shortly after, as we ran, or floated in my case, as fast as we could back to Ponyville. It didn't take us long to catch up with the others as we made it back to Ponyville, with them screaming and panicking, causing the nearby residents to turn and look at them in confusion. However, their attention would then shift to the carriage overhead as it flew over Ponyville. Eventually, it reached where the area where the stage was from earlier, before coming to a halt and floated in the sky. As the three of us made it to where the carriage had stopped, we watched as the hooded figure riding the carriage hopped off and landed on the ground, causing a few nearby ponies to back away in fear. Once on the ground, the figure slowly removed the hood hiding their face, revealing them to be what I assumed was a unicorn, though one with a somewhat long horn. As they did this, I watched as all of the ponies around us slowly crouched down in what I assumed was them kneeling out of fear. I heard a gasp from next to me, and saw Twilight looking at the unicorn in awe.
"Princess Luna?!" Twilight said.
Wait, this was Princess Luna?! Celestia's sister who ruled along side her and was the one responsible for raising and lowering the moon?! Needless to say, I quickly turned back to the unicorn with my interest now being caught by her. I watched as Luna slowly began walking forward, and as she did, I saw the robe she was wearing transform into a swarm of bats that flew away as she spread out her wings as I was able to get a good look at her. Her fur and wings were dark blue in color, and her mane and tail were blue in color and also seemed to flow even though there was no wind. It was also similar to that of Celestia's as it had an ethereal look to it. Her cutie mark was that of what appeared to be a black cloud that I assumed to represent the night sky as there was a crescent moon in the middle of this cloud. She wore a black tiara and black regalia similar to that of Celestia, albeit in the middle of Luna's regalia was a crescent moon that was similar to her cutie mark. I watched as Luna approached one of the kneeling ponies who, upon seeing that she was in front of them, quickly covered their head in their front legs as I felt the ponies fear greatly rise. Seeing this, I saw Luna smile before she raised one of her front legs and began to talk. If there was one thing I could say about Luna's voice, it was this: loud and powerful. To the point where I had to cover my ears due to the sheer volume of the voice and struggled a bit not to be sent flying by the force of her voice.
"Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your village with our presence, so that you might behold the real Princess of the Night! A creature of nightmares no longer, but instead, a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together, we shall change this dreadful celebration, into a bright and glorious feast!" Luna said, before thunder struck behind her, making her even more intimidating. I once again looked around as I expected to see Rainbow Dash nearby on her cloud and had just caused that bolt of lightning to strike. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong once more as I didn't see her.
I saw Pinkie Pie stand up nearby as she began to talk. "Did you hear that everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all! Everypony run!" Pinkie said as she and the foals near her began screaming and running off. This seemed to cause a chain reaction, as suddenly, literally everyone here got up and began running off in different directions as I felt everyone's fear skyrocket.
"What?" I heard Luna say as her voice was no longer as loud and forceful as it was earlier. "No, children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight is what your princess desires, not screams of terror!" She said before turning to Mayor Mare and pointing a hoof at her. "Madame Mayor, thy Princess of the Night hath arrived."
Mayor Mare responded by gasping and then covering her face with her hooves in fear. Luna then proceeded to do the same thing with another pony next to Mayor Mare, only to get the exact same result. "What is the matter with you? Don't you see that we are nothing to fear?" Luna said. She once again began pointing to nearby ponies, and the result was the exact same: every time she pointed to a pony, they would gasp in fear and then cover their faces. I began to sense some annoyance coming from Luna as she huffed and continued speaking. "Very well then. Be that way. We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell."
After saying this, I watched as Luna slowly began to walk away back towards the Everfree Forest. Once everyone made sure she was gone, the ponies around us slowly began to rise back up off of the ground and began to nervously talk about what had just occurred.
"I'm gonna go talk to her." Twilight said as she began to back towards where we had just come from, only for Spike to grab her cloak.
"You can't talk to her! She's Nightmare Moon!" Spike said as I felt the fear within him slowly grow.
"No, she's not." Twilight said as she pulled her cloak out of Spike's grip with her aura and resumed walking. "I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good. But it looks like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years."
"Mind if I join you? Because I need some context as to what's going on." I asked.
"Of course. Come on Null, I think I know where she went. Stay here Spike, we'll be right back" Twilight said as she levitated me onto her back and we made our way back into the Everfree Forest.
Along the way, Twilight essentially gave me an abridged version of the legend of Nightmare Moon and how it related to Princess Luna. Turns out, after ruling over Equestria for such a long time with her sister, Luna slowly became jealous as no one seemed to appreciate or enjoy the hard work she put into making the night sky. As such, one day, Luna refused to lower the moon to allow Celestia to raise the sun as she wanted Equestria to experience a never-ending night, however, this jealousy transformed Luna into Nightmare Moon, the alicorn that was featured on the statue that I had seen earlier. This led to Celestia and Nightmare Moon fighting against each other, before Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon. Fast-forward a thousand years later, and Nightmare Moon was able to escape her banishment and kidnapped Celestia, once again plunging the world into an endless night. Twilight and the others then set out to find the Elements of Harmony and stop her, which they did. This resulted in Nightmare Moon turning back into Princess Luna who regretted everything she did, and was forgiven. After that, no one had heard or seen Luna for a long time. That is, until today.
As Twilight finished explaining everything to me, we arrived back at the clearing of the statue of Nightmare Moon and found Luna laying down in front of it while looking at the statue. I hopped down from Twilight's back as we approached her, with me sensing a little bit of sadness coming from Luna as I assumed she didn't like to be reminded of her past. I saw her head raise up in alarm as Twilight accidentally stepped on a stick, alerting Luna to our presence as she stood up and turned around to face us.
"Princess Luna? Hi, my name is-" Twilight began before she was interrupted by Luna.
"Star Swirl the Bearded. Commendable costume, thou even got the bells right." Luna said as she slowly approached us before looking at me. "And I assume thou is some sort of alchemist, judging by the many bottles thou has on thyself."
"Um, thanks. I had some help making this, and I'm quite proud of it." I said.
Twilight began to talk once again as she seemed deligthed. "Finally, somepony who gets my costume! Anyways, we just came to welcome you to our celebration! My actual name is-"
"Twilight Sparkle, and the being who my sister claims to be called Null." Luna began, before swapping to the loud voice she had used earlier as she began to slowly fly off the ground as clouds once again covered the sky as rough winds appeared once more. "Twilight Sparkle, it was thou who unleashed the powers of harmony upon us and took away our dark powers!"
"And that was a good thing, right?" Twilight questioned nervously.
"But of course." Luna began as she once again swapped back to a normal volume and everything also went back to normal. "We could not be happier. Was that not clear?" She asked.
"Kind of sounds like you were just yelling at her." I said.
Once again, Luna's volume went back to being loud. I questioned for a moment how her voice was not hoarse after doing all of this yelling. "But this is the traditional royal Canterlot voice! It is tradition to speak using the royal 'we', and to use this much volume when addressing our subjects!"
"That might sort of explain why everyone was scared of you when you showed up. If anyone as intimidating as you showed up somewhere and started yelling as loud as that, then yeah, the residents are probably going to fear you." I said.
"Then, how do we fix this?" Luna asked.
"How about just simply lowering your volume while talking?" Twilight suggested.
"We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are... not sure we can." Luna admitted sheepishly, as her volume returned to normal.
"We may know somepony who can help. Follow us." Twilight said as she began to walk back out of the clearing. Luna looked at me with a questioning look, though I simply did my best to shrug, kind of hard with not having shoulders, and the both of us followed Twilight out of the Everfree Forest and along the dirt path leading to Fluttershy's house. Eventually, the three of us made it to the lttle dirt bridge right in front of her cottage.
"Don't worry Princess Luna, Fluttershy can give you some great pointers. She's delicate and demure with the sweetest little voice." Twilight said as we approached the door.
"Um, actually Twilight. This may not be a good idea." I said.
"Why's that Null?" Twilight asked as she knocked on the door.
Coming from behind the door, Fluttershy's voice rang out and was the loudest I have ever heard Fluttershy speak. "Go away! No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!"
After Fluttershy's yelling stopped, Twilight looked at me to explain what had just happened. "I tried to have Fluttershy join me for Nightmare Night earlier, but she said she's never really enjoyed it. As such, she told me that she was going to stay inside until Nightmare Night ends." I said.
"If that's the case, could you get Fluttershy to come out here? Even if for a few seconds?" Twilight asked me.
"I'll try, I guess." I said as I approached the door and knocked on it. "Fluttershy! It's me, Null and Twilight. We sort of need your help for something real quick!"
I heard a faint click as the door was now unlocked and opened a tiny bit. I saw Fluttershy peek out of the opening of the door filled with fear, though I felt her fear slowly disappear as she saw me and Twilight. "Oh, Null, Twilight. It's nice to see you two." Fluttershy said as she opened the door all the way and was now able to see Luna. "Nightmare Moon?!" Fluttershy yelled out as she slammed the door as I felt her fear return once more.
Twilight let out a nervous laugh as she turned to Luna. "Wait right here." I watched as Twilight opened the door and went inside before the sounds of various things being knocked into were heard before Twilight came back out, pushing Fluttershy in front of her.
"Fluttershy, you remember Princess Luna, don't you?" Twilight asked.
"Um, yes." Fluttershy said as I felt her fear was skyrocketing quickly.
Luna then began to speak loudly once again. "Twilight Sparkle hath spoken of the sweetness of thy voice. We ask thou teachest to us to speak as thou speakest."
Fluttershy let out a quiet "Ok." as she began to shrink away as her fear continued to rise. If I didn't do something, Fluttershy was probably going to lock herself in her house again.
"Fluttershy, everything's going to be fine." I reassured her as I went up to her. "I'll be right by you, ok?"
Fluttershy gave a small nod as my attempt to calm her down seemed to have worked a little as I felt her fear diminish a small amount. The next small bit was spent with Luna trying multiple times to find an appropriate volume for her voice, with the her volume slowly decreasing after every attempt. Eventually, Luna's voice was now at a normal volume as I felt Fluttershy's fear gradually fade away, not completely, but enough to where she wasn't going to bolt away in the next second.
"And... how about now?" Luna said as her voice was now a lot quieter than before and was at a somewhat normal volume.
"Sounds a lot better than before. What do you two think?" I asked Fluttershy and Twilight.
"It's, a lot better than before." Fluttershy responded sheepishly.
"I think it's perfect. Well done Princess Luna." Twilight said.
"I thank thee dear Fluttershy!" Luna said as her voice once again risked blowing out my eardrums. She then grabbed Fluttershy in her own aura, which was dark blue in coloration, and hugged her a little too hard as I saw Fluttershy have the wind knocked out of her. "Our normal speaking voice shall surely win us the hearts of thy fellow villagers!"
"You're, welcome." Fluttershy responded weakly.
It was at this moment that I heard a squawk from further down the path to Fluttershy's house, and saw Pinkie and the foals from earlier with her, looking towards Luna and Fluttershy with fear. "Ah! Nightmare Moon's stolen Fluttershy's voice so she can't scream when she gobbles her up! Everpony run!" Pinkie said as she and the foals ran back down the path.
"Nay children, wait!" Luna said before realizing she was still speaking loudly, before lowering her volume and trying again. "I mean, nay, children, wait."
"Dangit Pinkie." I said, somewhat annoyed. "Look's like we're going to need to find another way for ponies to not be intimidated by you."
"Don't worry you two. It's time for Plan B." Twilight said as she began walking back towards Ponyville. Before we followed her, however, Luna and I brought Fluttershy back inside the house and set her on the couch as she had passed out from earlier. Seeing how I didn't really need my pillowcase full of candy at the moment, I set it down beside the couch as well before the two of us ran back outside to catch up with Twilight.
We eventually made it back to Ponyville. More specifically, the area where all of the attractions of Nightmare Night were. As we passed everyone, they once again knelt down out of fear or tried to quickly move away from us as we approacjed. Upon noticing this, Luna let out a sad sigh.
"It is of no use you two. They have never liked us and they never shall."
"My friend Applejack is one of the most likable ponies around. I'm sure she'll have some ideas on how to help you fit in." Twilight said as we approached Applejack's attraction and watched as she saved Pipsqueak from falling into he tub before setting him on the ground. She then turned towards us as she heard us coming, and upon noticing Luna, quickly knelt in fear as we approached.
"Hey Applejack. We were hoping that you could maybe give Princess Luna here some advice on how to fit in. You know, to show that no one needs to be scared around her?" I asked.
"Really, 'fit in'?" Applejack asked, to which I gave a nod to. "Ah suppose ah can try and help y'all." Applejack said as she stood back up. "Well, fittin' in is pretty easy. All you gotta do is have the right attitude. Loosen up a bit, be positive, play a few games, have some fun." Applejack said as she led us towards what appeared to be a giant web set up between two pole with a basket of fake spiders nearby.
"Fun? What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?" Luna asked as she picked up one of the fake spiders. "Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?"
The pony who I assumed was running the attraction spoke up while kneeling down on the floor. "Try to land the sp-sp-spiders on the web."
We turned back to the net and watched Luna as she began to prepare to throw the spider she was holding. She then tossed the spider towards the net, only for it to land on the ground a few inches in front of it. Looking back towards us we all gave her our support as Twilight and Applejack cheered her on while I gave a thumbs up, which Luna probably didn't understand. She then turned back towards the net with another spider in her hoof and tossed it, the spider this time successfully landing in the middle of the web.
"Ha! Your princess enjoys this 'fun'! In what other ways may we experience it?" Luna asked.
Seeing this as an opportunity to try out the attraction I saw earlier, I led the three of us to the catapults that were launching pumpkins at targets. The pony running the attraction, who also knelt down in fear upon seeing Luna, explained that the way it worked was that you loaded up the pumpkins into the catapult and you needed to try and fire the pumpkins at the targets. Excited, I quickly loaded up a pumpkin into a nearby catapult before adjusting it to make sure that it would hit the target. Once I made sure I was confident on where it was aiming, I pulled the lever on the side of the catapult and watched as it sailed through the air and hit the target directly on the bulls eye. After that, it was Luna's turn as she levitated a pumpkin into her catapult and began adjusting it. Once she was confident that her catapult was lined up the way she wanted it, she pulled the lever and we all watched as the pumpkin sailed through the air and also hit the target on the bulls eye.
"Ha ha! The fun has been doubled!" Luna said in triumph. After which, the small crowd that had been gathering around us cheered as I saw they were finally warming up to her.
"Why don't you try bobbin' for apples? We got the best apples in Equestria here princess." Applejack asked.
"We would like that. And, I ask that thou call us... me... Luna, fair Applejack." Luna said before she turned towards the crowd around us. "Hear me, villagers! All of you may call me Luna!"
It looks like Luna had successfully managed to get everyone here in Ponyville to warm up to her. I could hardly feel any fear coming from the ponies around me as they all began to talk happily about Luna. However, all except one. Curious, I looked over and saw Luna was the one who I felt the fear coming from as she was looking towards something. Curious as to what it was, I followed her gaze and saw Pipsqueak, who had once again tried to bob for some apples, fall into the tub. Acting quickly, Luna immediately teleported to Pipsqueak and lifted him out of the tub by grabbing the back of his shirt with her teeth. That's when everything started to go wrong as I heard Pinkie and looked over to her as she was talking.
"Hey, has anypony seen Pip? We lost him the last time we had to run from-" Pinkie then let out another terrified squawk as she saw Luna holding Pipsqueak with her mouth.
"Pinkie, wait! It's not what it looks like-" I started to say before Pinkie screamed and interrupted me.
"Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! Everypony run!" Pinkie said as the foals that were with her also began to scream before they all began running in different directions. Noticing this, Luna set down Pipsqueak who ran off as she was now concerned.
"Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!" Luna said, once again, with lightning striking behind her. At this point I wasn't even going to try and see if Rainbow Dash was here as she probably wasn't. However, this unfortunately caused Luna to go back to being a little intimidating, as the crowd began to step away from her. Seeing this, I felt Luna begin to panic as she began to try and compose herself before turning back to the crowd.
"Fair villagers, please do not back away. Let us join together in... fun!" Luna then picked up a nearby spider that had come from the spider toss game and tossed it over to the crowd, who looked at it a bit awkwardly. "Not enough fun for you? What say you to this?!"
What followed next was Luna charging up magic in her horn before firing a beam at the plush spider. After the beam struck it and the light faded away, it was revealed that somehow, the spider had turned into that of a real one that quickly began scuttling about. This caused everyone nearby to begin to panic and scream as they backed away from the spider. Unfortunately, this wouldn't prove effective as Luna shot another beam towards a basket filled with more of the fake spiders and turned them real. Everything descended into chaos after this as everyone began panicking and running around to avoid the spiders. Some were not lucky as the spiders crawled onto some of the ponies, causing them to freak out even more. All throughout the area, ponies were running into each other, trampling some of the decorations, and even knocking into some of the attractions. All the while, Luna was panicking as well, trying to calm down everyone around us.
"Please, do not run away!" A pony crashed into a barrel of apples, spilling them all over the ground.
"As your princess, we command you!" Two ponies crashed into each other as another ran into a stand. Poles that were set up around the place were falling down as ponies climbed them to avoid the spiders. I began to feel Luna's anger begin to rise as the chaos around us continued.
Luna raised her hoof to the sky and, as lightning struck behind her, went back to her loud and booming voice. "Be still!"
Everyone around us stopped and turned towards Luna as I felt the fear within them begin to rise. Slowly, all of them began to kneel down out of fear once again.
"Luna, calm down! We worked together to fix the screaming, remember?" I said before Luna turned to look at me and I jumped back a little. Her eyes were now shining with an ethereal white light as her mane rose up behind her and the amount of power she was giving off was causing me to shudder.
"We shall not, Null! We must use the traditional royal Canterlot voice for what we are about to say." Luna said as she began to rise into the air as the wind picked up as clouds began to swirl in the sky like before, only leaving the moon visible. "Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her, and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!" This was followed by more thunder striking as the ponies around us began to rapidly talk about what Luna had just announced. Then Luna flew off towards the Everfree Forest, leaving everyone around to process what had just happened.
Applejack let out a sad sigh as she began to speak. "Shoot. We had everything goin' our way. Luna was happy, everypony in town was happy. Now, look at 'em."
I didn't need to feel negative emotions to know that everyone was upset at what had happened. Several ponies were consoling others as possibly their favorite night of the year had been ruined for them. The foals were especially upset, as several of them were crying and saying that they were looking forward next year. I myself was kind of disappointed, I had been looking forward to this day for a while now, and it was ending with the possibility of it never being allowed to be held ever again. I needed to fix this.
"Twilight, Applejack." I said as the two ponies in question turned to me. "I'm gonna go talk to Luna and see if I can convince her to allow Nightmare Night to keep happening. If that fails, start helping ponies fix the decorations that were knocked over, as if this is the last Nightmare Night, make sure that it ends on a good note. If I do succeed, make sure Pinkie doesn't cause everyone to freak out again if I bring Luna back."
They both nodded to me as we went our separate ways. Twilight and Applejack going around while helping to restore the decorations and attractions that were messed up in the chaos, while I made my way to where I saw Luna fly towards. I had a pretty good idea as to where she went to.
Looks like I was right.
It didn't take me long to make it back to the Nightmare Moon statue, considering I had now walked the path that led to it twice now. When I arrived, I found Luna sitting down on a nearby boulder that was at the edge of the clearing, a little bit away from the entrance to the clearing. She was directly facing the statue, so she didn't notice me coming to her until I spoke up.
"You ok Luna?" I asked.
Luna jumped a bit as she turned and found me right by her. Sighing, I could feel the sadness she was feeling as she began speaking. "While I thank thee for thy concern, though I am afraid that I am not doing well."
I hovered over to her and sat myself down on an empty space next to where Luna was sitting. Well, it was more like me floating my body down onto the the surface of the rock. "You wanna talk about it?"
She looked over to me and sighed once more. "I suppose. You see, I have been staying within the castle for a few months now. Ever since dear Twilight and her friends freed me from the form that I took all those years ago..." Luna said as she pointed towards the statue. "I have been hoping to stay away from my subjects for the time being. I wasn't too sure as to what they thought of me, even after all this time. My sister kept insisting that I go out and interact with my subjects, but I insisted that I stay within the castle. That is, until today. Celestia told me that I needed to go out tonight and have fun with my subjects, insisting that I would enjoy the festivities here in Ponyville. However, it seems as though everypony is still afraid of me. It certainly doesn't help that they constantly remind me of the part of my past that I wish to forget."
I could sort of see that. Back in the day, before I was placed on Landia's head so that she could guard me, everyone both feared and wanted the power of the Master Crown. Countless times someone would place me on their heads and use me for purposes both good and evil, only for me to take over in the end and wreak havoc on my surroundings. I guess it sort of came with the territory of being a part of a powerful and cursed artifact of infinite power.
"I guess I can sort of understand that." I said as Luna turned to me. "You were hoping to see that, after all of this time, that everyone would accept you as who you were, and not just as some being that terrified everyone in the past. Um... No offense." I quickly said as Luna began to glare at me on that last part.
"None taken." She said as I continued.
"Regardless, you see everyone there in Ponyville celebrating your past as a sort of celebration and not just them celebrating who you are now. I guess it doesn't help that this today is supposed to be a day where everyone can have fun being scared... Wait a second."
The realization hit me so hard and fast it was as though a brick had been thrown at me. The same realization was also part of the reason I was so excited to celebrate Nightmare Night as well. I thought back to what Rainbow Dash had said earlier when she was scaring everyone with that cloud.
"Lighten up, old-timer. This is the best night of the year for pranks! And besides, everypony likes being scared."
Everyone likes being scared.
"That's it!" I said as I hopped down from where I was sitting with Luna looking at me curiously.
"What is?" Luna said as I turned back around at look at her.
"Nightmare Night is a day where evereryone comes together to celebrate sure. But it's also a night where everyone has fun scaring others and being scared. They weren't truly terrified of you, they were having fun being scared by you!" I said.
"That, does not make any sense. How is me scaring my subjects considered 'fun'?" Luna said as she looked to be even more confused.
"I'll explain more while were heading to Ponyville. I have a plan, but it's going to involve both of us, and you bringing back your past a little bit." I said, waving Luna to come with me. Deciding that she had no other choice, she hopped down from the rock she was sitting on as we headed back to Ponyville.
It was about time that I saw what my third eye was capable of. And if it was anything like when I first looked into it, then this should go perfectly.
Once we got back to Ponyville and met up with Twilight, she told that she had the same revelation I had when she found Pinkie and tried to stop her from freaking out. She apparently did this by making a literal candy trail into an alley where she cornered Pinkie and talked to her. Nevertheless, I told Twilight and Luna about my plan and Twilight thought it was a pretty good idea. However, Luna still remained somewhat skeptical about the whole thing. After going over the plan, it was agreed that Luna and I would head back to the Nightmare Moon statue while Twilight and Applejack would lead the foals to us so that we could carry out our part of the plan. About roughly thirty minutes later, and Luna and I were in position.
It had taken a bit of force, most of the work being done by Luna, but we had managed to move the alicorn part of the statue into the nearby foliage, leaving only the base of the statue. Luna then stood up onto the platform and managed to cast an illusion that would make it seem as though the statue was still there, while Luna was within the illusion, ready to play her part of the plan. I myself was hiding to the side of the statue a little bit into the forest. By taking off my costume, I was able to effectively blend in with the darkness the trees provided. Now, all we had to do was wait.
Thankfully we didn't have to wait long, as Twilight, Applejack, and a lot of foals that had been here earlier were walking into the clearing. Eventually, they made it in front of the statue and began placing candy down in front of it, possibly as their way of saying goodbye to this holiday. Pipsqueak was the last of the group to place down some candy as he walked forward and placed possible have of his bag onto the growing pile of candy.
"Goodbye, Nightmare Night. Forever." Pipsqueak said sadly as he began to turn away. However, he immediately stopped as the wind in the clearing picked up immensely as Luna's loud voice echoed around everyone.
"Citizens of Ponyville! You were wise to bring this candy to me. I am pleased with your offering. So pleased that I may just eat it... instead of eating you!" The illusion of the statue faded away as, in its place, was Luna disguising herself to be that of the actual Nightmare Moon. Looking exactly like the statue, the illusion's fur was black in coloration, with its mane and tail being the same as Luna's. It was wearing some sort of light blue armor that covered its body, and the illusion had sharp fangs as its eyes were glowing white. With Luna making herself known, I felt the fear of everyone in the group, except Twilight and Luna, begin to rapidly rise as Luna continued with the next part.
"However, I feel as though you shouldn't be let off that easy, as you celebrate and make a mockery of me on this fearful of nights. As such, I feel as though I should leave you all to the mercy of my most feared and vicious creation." Luna said.
Now, it was my turn. Quickly rustling some of the bushes and leaves nearby me by rolling through them, I managed to drag everyone's attention away from Luna as they looked over in my direction as I could feel their fear continue to build. Once I made sure to close my eyes to make sure as to not give away as to who I was, I slowly began floating up a few feet off of the ground until I was level with some of the lowest branches of the trees, thanking that my body was perfectly camouflaged with the darkness around me.
Then, I opened my third eye.
The reaction was immediate. I felt the fear and anxiety of almost everyone within the clearing rise to the point that I almost thought they were going to have a heart attack. I simply assumed that, from their point of view, there was only a massive red eye peering at them from the forest that they could only assume belonged to some sort of unspeakable horror that lurked within the darkness. After what was possibly roughly ten seconds of nothing but deafening silence, the wind howled through the air. This seemed to snap everyone out of their fear induced paralysis as they all started screaming like crazy and ran out of the clearing, leaving only Luna, Twilight, and myself. Once everyone was out of sight, the illusion faded as Luna was now standing in its place, spitting out a pair of fake fangs she had to wear as Twilight walked up to her. As fast as I could, I quickly put back on my costume as soon as the last ponies were out of sight, and joined them as well.
"Twilight Sparkle, Null, I do not think that what we had just done was the right thing to do." Luna said as she still was questionable about the plan.
"I'm sure it did, just give it a few seconds. Regardless, how did you do that Null? It was only an eye staring at us from the darkness, but I felt like my heart was going to stop." Twilight said as she looked at me.
Thinking fast as I didn't want to reveal my third eye, at least not yet, I said the first logical thing that came to my mind. "Um, you see, all it was was just me making a cardboard eye and using glow in the dark paint to allow it to be easily seen. The rest was done by everyone's imagination as their mind raced as to what sort of creature they could come up with that would have an eye like that. And with me rustling all of that foliage, they could only assume it was something big."
"Well, regardless, I still don't think your plan worked." Luna said.
"Just give it a couple of more seconds." I said.
"A couple of... Hm?" Luna said as she looked down and saw Pipsqueak lightly tugging on her mane.
"Um... Princess Luna. I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Nights, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?" Pipsqueak asked Luna.
" Art thou saying that thou... likest me to scare you?" Luna asked.
"Hmhm. It's fun. Scary, but definitely fun!" Pipsqueak said while nodding.
"It... is?" Luna said.
"Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year!" Pipsqueak said.
"Well then, I suppose we will just have to..." Luna began as she swapped back to being loud. "Bring Nightmare Night back!"
Pipsqueak was pushed away a few feet due to the force of Luna's voice, though he had stars in his eyes nonetheless. "Whoa! You're my favorite princess ever! Hey everyone! She said yes!" Pipsqueak said as he ran back to the group of foals who had also came back.
"See? In the end, it was all about having fun while being scared. Even if you made a somewhat awkward first impression, I can confidently say that you have at least one fan who supports you." I said while looking at Luna.
Luna looked towards the foals all talking happily among themselves and what they might want to be the next Nightmare Night. As they did, I saw a smile form as Luna looked happily at her subjects.
The rest of the night was filled with fun and festivities as Twilight and Applejack had managed to help set up and fix everything that was knocked over and ruined during the chaos from earlier. Everyone was having fun enjoying the night while it was still going as everyone, including Luna, were enjoying everything that tonight offered. Luna also took some time to scare a couple of ponies here and there, whether it be placing a fake spider on someone's head or jumping out of the tub used for bobbing apples to scare anyone who put attempted to get an apple. She was also given the pile of sweets that the foals had put in front of the Nightmare Night statue that we put back up after our plan had been carried out. She was definitely happy about all of the candy she now had.
I myself, managed to get some revenge on my own. I once again took off my costume once I saw Rainbow Dash scaring people with her thundercloud and then quickly floated into the cloud with Rainbow Dash being unaware of my presence. Right as she was about to hit the cloud and scare Twilight, Spike, and Luna who were just under us, I quickly poked my face out of the cloud and opened my third eye. Immediately upon seeing it, Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks as we stared at each other for a few seconds, before she screamed for her life and flew back to town. Popping back out of the cloud, I turned back towards the group on the ground as we all began laughing at what I had just pulled.
Eventually, once it started to get late, everyone began heading back home to either tuck in the foals for bed or to simply relax for the rest of the night. Making it back to Fluttershy's house, I found that she had woken up sometime after I had left, with her leaving a note on the couch saying that she simply went to bed a little bit early. Feeling tired myself, I took off my costume and exchanged it for my normal outfit as I settled in myself as I went over everything that happened tonight. Thanks to the fear everyone had given off tonight, I felt the magic within me greatly increase. While not enough to use anything other than levitation, I could tell that I was definitely close to being able to use something new. I had met Princess Luna who was just someone who felt out of touch with the current time. It was nice to get to know her a little, and I felt like we definitely established some trust between each other.
Finally, there was my third eye. The theories I had as to what my third eye was capable had been proven earlier tonight. To put it simply, any living thing that looked into it would succumb to immense feelings of fear and anxiety, stopping whatever they were doing once they began looking into it. This meant a few things, mainly that if I ever needed to get energy quickly, all I would have to do was simply open my eye and the fear that was given off by those who looked into it would allow me to absorb it and convert it into energy. Unfortunately, I couldn't really just go around and have everyone around me look into it. I did promise Celestia that I wouldn't harm anyone, and I guess forcing ponies to look into my eye could potentially cause me to harm them mentally.
Anyways, I guess I now had a way to sort of defend myself if I ever found myself being threatened by anything or anyone. And all it would take was me just simply opening my third eye. |
A Crown's Atonement For Their Misdeeds | Chapter 6: Field Trip to Canterlot | Over the course of the next while, a few interesting things happened here and there, but nothing too major that would warrant anything dangerous. The first thing was some sort of event known as the "Sisterhooves Social", where teams of sisters from around Ponyville would team up together to win a competition. During this, apparently Rarity and her little sister Sweetie Belle, who I remembered as one of the fillies back during the "Want It Need It" incident, apparently got into some sort of fight which caused Sweetie Belle to try and participate in the Sisterhooves Social with Applejack. To make amends with her, Rarity apparently disguised herself as Applejack and swapped places with her halfway during the event so that the two would compete together. In the end, while they didn't win, the both of them did manage to make up with each other at the end.
After that was another event involving another of the three fillies, Applejack's sister Apple Bloom. From what I heard, Apple Bloom, along with her friends, were obsessed with getting their cutie marks and, in desperation, went to Zecora to see if she could help. The help Zecora gave, sort of worked. It involved some sort of plant called the "Heart's Desire" which allowed those that drank an elixir made from it to have their innermost desires come true. Apple Bloom drank it, and the next day, had a cutie mark. But, this would quickly escalate from being something good into something chaotic, as Apple Bloom's body began to be slowly covered by cutie marks as she began doing the various things that each cutie mark represented. I think I even saw her once lifting a 1,000 pound weight in the middle of town, which did unnerve me a bit. Thankfully it was quickly solved and Applebloom apparently learned a lesson about being patient.
The most recent thing was something I did not expect to end up becoming as crazy as it did: Rainbow Dash getting a pet. Rainbow Dash saw as everyone except her had a pet and decided that she wanted one. Now, this could have been probably as simple as Rainbow going to a pet store or going to Fluttershy to help with finding one, right? Well, kind of. Rainbow Dash did go to Fluttershy for help, but it ended up with Rainbow having a lot of different animals race with her through a dangerous gorge that obviously wasn't safe for either her or the animals. And while Rainbow Dash did get injured, she was saved by a turtle that carried her to the finish line, with said turtle being the pet Rainbow Dash chose to be her own. She named him Tank, and even got some help from Twilight so that Tank could fly around with her via a propeller attached to his shell.
Anyways, today was nothing really special as everything was somewhat peaceful. I was currently just going around town to see if anything interesting was going on as I had gotten a little bit bored earlier and wanted to take a break from being in the library for the past long while. I was currently in the middle of the market and had floated on top of a nearby roof, sitting down and watching all of the residents of Ponyville do their shopping. It was kind of relaxing, in a way. The weather was also somewhat peaceful as well considering it was currently the latter end of autumn. The temperature was pretty warm as a slight breeze blew through Ponyville that combined together caused me to become a little bit sleepy. As I was just about to close my eyes and take a nap, I noticed a specific pony walking through the market as I felt a lot of anxiety coming from her.
I recognized the mare, as I had seen her and even talked to her on a few occasions. Her name was Cheerilee, an earth pon with a raspberry coat and a pink and white mane and tail, with her cutie mark being that of three flowers. She worked at the schoolhouse here in Ponyville and taught the younger foals. She was known, as her name suggested, to be quite cheerful and kind. So I was somewhat confused as to why she was so anxious about something. Curious, I floated down from my perch and approached her.
"Good afternoon Cheerilee." I said as I approached her.
"Oh, why good afternoon to you too Null. It's nice to see you." She responded back.
"Nice to see you too. Is everything alright, I've never really seen you be this upset before?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm afraid that I'm currently in a sort of dilemma at the moment. You see, I'm suppose to take my class on a small trip to Canterlot tomorrow as a sort of reward for how well everpony has been doing recently. But, I'm afraid I might have to cancel it." Cheerilee said.
"And why's that?" I asked.
"Well, a chaperone that had volunteered was supposed to come along on the field trip with us. But, I just heard that they wouldn't be able to make it as they had caught a fever that might last for the next few days. And considering how big Canterlot is, I'm not really comfortable with me being the only adult to supervise the students and have one of them wander off without me knowing. I don't know what to do, everypony has been looking forward to this trip for a while now, and I don't really have the heart to tell them that it's been canceled last minute." Cheerilee said as she let out a sad sigh.
This caught my interest. So far, ever since I arrived in this world, I've only really ever been around Ponyville and have only slightly gone into the Everfree Forest. I've read up on Canterlot as well, and from what I've read about it, it was apparently Equestria's capital as a lot of nobles and high ranking members of society lived there. Not to mention that both Celestia and Luna both ruled from Canterlot as well. To put it simply, I was kind of interested to go there, and I could kill two birds with one stone at the same time with the idea that was currently forming in my head.
"Hey Cheerilee. Is it possible for me to stand in as a chaperone?" I asked.
"What? You mean, you want to help watch over the students with me while we're in Canterlot?" Cheerilee asked.
"Pretty much. The thing is, I've sort of been interested in visiting for a while now. And it's not like I've got anything important going on for the next while, so I'm fine with helping out." I said.
I felt myself being yanked as Cheerilee hugged me as the anxiety I had felt from her had disappeared. "Oh, thank you Null! You don't know how much you made my day, and possibly the students' as well."
"No problem." I said as the hug began to get painful. "Could you, maybe put me down now?"
"Oops. Sorry about that." Cheerilee said as she let go of me. "Since you will be helping with chaperoning, all you need to know is that you have to be at the train station by about 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, as it takes roughly an hour for the train to arrive at Canterlot from here. After that, we will mostly just go around Canterlot and do a few things that the city has to offer."
"Really? You don't need me to come to the schoolhouse or anything?" I asked.
"Not really. The plan with the original chaperone was to meet them at the train station anyway. Now then, I must get going. I have a field trip to finalize after all." Cheerilee said.
We both said goodbye to each other as she went in the direction of what I assumed where the schoolhouse was. With nothing better to do I resumed going around town, though a few things did happen involving Rainbow Dash. Mostly her rescuing a filly from a well, saving a baby in a runaway stroller, and just saving a few ponies in general. Though I think this was feeding her ego a little bit too much, as she began boasting about how great she was. Later, a sort of event was held as she continued boasting about how great she was as she gave out autographs and took pictures with a lot of foals that had become her fans. Regardless, after it was all said and done, I headed back to Fluttershy's house and told her what I would be doing tomorrow. She was surprisingly ok with this, as she said that her and the others were going to be busy tomorrow as well. I decided to not ask too many questions as I tucked in for the night and got everything ready for the trip tomorrow.
"Are you sure you have everything you need?" Fluttershy asked.
It was about 7:30 in the morning as Fluttershy and I were currently in the living room. I had gotten together a small knapsack that I had put together the previous night that was filled with a few things for the trip. Said things mostly included a few bottles of water, the book about the legends of Equestria that Twilight was still letting me borrow as I was almost finished with it, and a map of Canterlot that Twilight had given me when I told her about what I was doing today. The knapsack itself was tied around my body and hung down from my back as my scarf laid over it.
"Yep. I got everything right here." I said.
"Ok, but take this just in case you need to get something in Canterlot." Fluttershy said as she handed me a small bag that made a slight jingling sound as she handed it to me.
"Fluttershy, you don't really need to give me these." I said.
"Take it just in case." Fluttershy insisted.
"Ok then." I said as I put the bag into my hood. I found that for small things like this bag fit inside the hood of my outfit, allowing me to store them quite easily. Anyways, I suppose it was better to have something and not need to use it than needing to use something but not have it.
"Now then, you be careful while in Canterlot. And make sure to stay with Cheerilee just in case you get lost." Fluttershy said.
"Don't worry, I will." I said as I began to head out the door. "I'll see you when I get back."
Fluttershy gave me a soft smile as I exited her house and began making my way to the train station. Considering how it was on the opposite side of town, I needed to make sure I had plenty of time to get there, otherwise I would miss the train. Thankfully, it was an easy trek through Ponyville as I begin to see the residents walking about as they started their everyday lives. Some time later, and I had finally managed to make it to the train station with a few minutes to spare before Cheerilee and her students got here. The train station itself was not really all that big, as it was only really just a platform that allowed those riding the train to easily get on or off. The actual ticket counter was connected to a small building that was located right next to the platform as well, though there currently wasn't anyone there at the moment. I decided to sit on a nearby bench and wait for the others to show up. Thankfully, this didn't take long as a few short minutes later, I spotted Cheerilee and roughly a dozen students following her, a few of which I immediately recognized. These being that of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Pipsqueak who were apparently talking to one another about something. Though, two faces that I was definitely not expecting to see were that of Snips and Snails, the two unicorns hanging towards the back of the group. Other than those six, the rest of the students were walking with Cheerilee included that of a pink earth pony filly that appeared to wear a tiara on her head with her cutie mark also being that of a tiara, a gray earth pony filly wearing light blue glasses whose cutie mark appeared to be some sort of spoon, a brown earth pony colt wearing a propeller hat, a small pegasus colt with a cream colored coat, an earth pony filly with a red curly mane and tail who was wearing purple glasses and whose cutie mark appeared to be that of two candy canes making a heart, and a lilac unicorn filly with a blonde mane and tail. As they got closer, I got up from the bench I was on and made my way towards them. As I approached, a lot of the foals looked up and watched as I approached them, though Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Pipsqueak seemed to recognize me as the others just simply stared at me in curiosity. It also seems as though Snips and Snails didn't recognize me either.
"Ah, Null! It's good to see you. Once again, I am so happy that you were able to volunteer to help chaperone for this trip." Cheerilee said as she greeted me.
"Chaperone? Ms. Cheerilee, I thought you said that Dinky Doo's mom was going to be our chaperone?" The brown earth pony colt said.
"Mommy wasn't able to. She got sick a couple of days ago and that she wasn't going to get better in time for the trip. It's also why mommy hasn't been able to deliver any mail recently as well. I also thought that we weren't going to be able to go because of this." The lilac unicorn filly, who I guessed was Dinky Doo, said.
"You are both right, Button Mash, Dinky Doo. While Ditzy Doo wasn't well enough to help chaperone, Null here volunteered to chaperone in her stead." Cheerilee said.
"Really? How's an egg like that going to help keep an eye on all of us?" The earth pony wearing the tiara said.
Egg? I guess all of the white of my outfit made me look like one, but if it was supposed to be an insult or something it didn't really work.
"You leave him alone Diamond Tiara. If it wasn't for Null, then we wouldn't have Nightmare Night." Sweetie Belle said, which was followed by Scootaloo and Apple Bloom saying "Yeah!". Looks like the word about me helping and saving Nightmare Night had gotten around fast.
"And why should we listen to a couple of blank flanks like you all?" Diamond Tiara said.
This immediately seemed to strike a nerve with the four of them except for Pipsqueak, as I sensed a little bit of sadness come from them as they looked towards their flanks. Knowing how those three were obsessed with getting their cutie marks, I could tell this upset them quite a bit.
"Now everypony, let's not start fighting, ok? Besides, the train is just now arriving." Cheerilee said as she got between the the foals.
True to what Cheerilee had said, I heard a train whistle blow as I turned and looked to see the train coming down the tracks. The main engine of the train itself was pink in color and seemed to have a sort of heart theme to it. Behind it were a few cars that stretched behind it. Once it reached the platform, the doors that were in between the spaces of the cars opened as their passengers slowly got out and got onto the platform.
"Alright, everypony on the train. We don't want to be left behind now, do we?" Cheerilee said as all of us made our way towards the train. Cheerilee explained how the school board agreed to pay for this trip, mostly including that of a few things that we were supposed to do in Canterlot as well as paying for everyone's tickets. We then entered a car that was somewhat close to the front, and I had to say, it definitely looked comfortable. Multiple cushioned seats lined the sides of the car, with each pair of seats facing each other having a window right beside them, allowing the car's passengers to view the passing landscape. It appeared that we had the whole car to ourselves, as everyone made their way to different seats and began to get cozy for when the train began to head to Canterlot. I was about to sit in an empty seat before I saw Scootaloo waving to me as she was sitting with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Deciding to sit down next to the three fillies, I made my way over to them and sat right beside the window as they sat across from me.
"So, do you girls need something?" I asked.
"Well, we want to know about the thing that saved Nightmare Night!" Scootaloo said.
"Yeah, and we were curious about ya as well ever since we first saw ya take that doll from Twilight." Apple Bloom said.
"Hmhm. My sister says that you showed up when Discord was causing trouble for everyone, and that you came from the Everfree Forest. Is this really true?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well, I guess I did come from there." I said. It definitely seemed as though these three fillies had a lot of questions for me, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to answer them.
"What's it like? Ah've only been as far as Zecora's house, but even then it was quite scary." Apple Bloom said.
"Don't forget about that time we ran into that cockatrice." Scootaloo said.
"Don't remind me. If Fluttershy hadn't found us and stared it down, we would have been turned to stone." Sweetie Belle said.
I remember reading about a cockatrice. It was apparently a creature with the head of a chicken that had a somewhat reptilian body whose gaze could turn those that looked into it to stone. Once again, I had even more reasons as to not make Fluttershy mad. As we kept talking about various things, I felt the cabin we were in lurch forward as the train began to move. Looking out the window, I saw the landscape outside slowly begin to pass us as we made our way towards Canterlot. At least with me talking with these three, the trip might pass by quickly.
"Wait, so you haven't been around the Everfree Forest that much?" Sweetie Belle said.
"Not really. All I remember was waking up in a small clearing within the woods and just wandering around before I made it to Ponyville." I said.
It had roughly been about an hour since we left the train station, and the four of us have been talking the whole time. Well, mostly the three fillies in front of me. They explained how they established a small group known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders that appeared to be only made up of the three of them and that they essentially talked about how they were doing various things to try and get their cutie marks, and they listed off a bunch of stuff they have already tried. From simple things such as baking and and drawing to even putting on a play that they said turned out somewhat decently. I myself kept to my usual thing of not telling the whole truth when explaining how I ended up in the Everfree Forest. It was just as simple as me saying that I just woke up there, and they believed me. They did try to ask if I was anywhere before ending up in the Everfree, to which I simply said that it wasn't really a place all that interesting. A total lie, of course, as I assumed they would have been amazed by everything outside of this world. For me however, while I was interested in some of the things floating in the in-between of dimensions after finding that altar, a lot of my time was spent on Halcandra surrounded by nothing but fiery wastelands and volcanoes that Landia would visit every now and then. Though, there were the rare times that Landia would visit a locale on Halcandra known as Egg Engines, which was pretty much a rundown and abandoned city filled to the brim with technological marvels.
"Hey look! Canterlot's comin' into view!" Apple Bloom said as she pointed towards the window.
Hearing this, I decided to look out the window for the first time ever since we left the train station back in Ponyville. And to put it simply, Canterlot was a sight to behold.
Canterlot itself was able to be easily seen towards the outskirts of Ponyville that was around the train station. From there, it simply looked to be a city that had been built on the side of one of the mountains that were near Ponyville. Up close, however, was a different story. Multiple towers lined the edges of the city and were built into the side of the mountain. In addition, I could see a small wall that surrounded Canterlot as well that I could only assume was to protect the city in times of need or invasion considering it was also the capital of Equestria. Towards the far side of Canterlot was what I could only assume was the castle were Celestia and Luna ruled from, considering the sheer size of the structure and how more ornately decorated it appeared to be.
Eventually, the train passed through an opening within the wall as we arrived at the train station for Canterlot. The train began to slow down and soon came to a stop right by the platform. As it did, Cheerilee got up and told everyone to get up as well as we followed her out of the car and onto the platform, where the streets of Canterlot greeted us.
"Alright everypony, we have a few places we are going to be visiting for today. Also, please don't wander off, like I've said, Canterlot is a huge place, and none of us want to get lost here by ourselves, right?" Cheerilee said. This was met by a few "Yes ma'am." coming from some of the group. "Alright, then. Our first stop is the Canterlot Museum of History, which is..." Cheerilee as I assumed she was trying to remember where it was. Thankfully, I had the map I brought with me. I quickly pulled the knapsack off of me and opened it slightly as I dug around in it before pulling out the map, after which I gave it a quick look and found where we needed to go.
"Looks like it's that way." I said as I pointed down a nearby street.
"Ah, thank you Null. Now then, everypony stay close." Cheerilee said as I put my knapsack back on.
And with that, we began making our way towards the museum, with me helping to lead the way every now and then as I had the map. I had to say, Canterlot was definitely giving off a feeling of nobility by just simply looking at the various buildings and ponied walking around. The buildings had a somewhat fancier design compared to the ones back in Ponyville, and almost everyone that appeared to be a resident here was wearing some sort of expensive looking outfit or piece of jewelry. Though, one thing I definitely noticed was how almost everyone we passed was walking with their heads held extremely high in the air with some of them even having their eyes closed. It was a wonder how none of them bumped into anyone or anything as they walked about. At least this was somewhat of a positive thing, as not once did any of the ponies we passed by give me a second look to stare at me.
We eventually made it to the museum, a large marble building with marble columns by the entrance, giving it a sort of "old" feeling to it. Inside, there were various exhibits within the museum itself, ranging from paintings made by famous painters, pottery and relics from places in Equestria's past, to things that were from only about a century or two ago. After we went around the museum for a bit, I saw a specific exhibit that caught my eye that was apparently called the "Magical Relics Wing". Curious, I separated from the group and went down the hall and looked at the various things things that were being displayed. Though, most of the things were portraits or paintings of magical artifacts. Some of the things featured in said portraits or paintings were a bow that could apparently cause it's user to never miss a shot, a hammer that could shake the earth around it and was wielded by a feared earth pony warmonger, and a necklace that allowed those that wore it to turn invisible. The actual relics that were displayed were just a variety of helms, armors, and weapons used by the warriors of magic wielding kingdoms and tribes of ancient Equestria. I was about to leave, only for me to feel an immense amount of power coming from a nearby display case. Going over to it, I saw what appeared to be a black amulet of sorts, with the front having a red diamond shaped gemstone set within a grey upside down triangle, with the top of it depicting what appeared to be a gray alicorn as the head had red eyes and a horn as there were a set of wings on the side.
I got closer to it and saw a plaque right in front of the display case. Curious as to what this thing was, I began to read what was written on the plaque.
"Let's see here, apparently this thing is called the 'Alicorn Amulet'. 'The Alicorn Amulet is often regarded as an artifact of both immense power and great evil. When worn, the amulet itself grants its wearer enough magical strength to rival that of the alicorn princesses themselves. Found in an abandoned cave in the frozen north, the unicorn who discovered this relic immediately put it on and wrought chaos and destruction upon the unicorn's own hometown. The pony in question appeared to be targeting certain individuals as they repeatedly went after these individuals and inflicted them with a myriad of negative spells that greatly harmed the individuals. Over time, the unicorn became more and more sadistic as they continued causing destruction, before both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stepped in and defeated the unicorn and removed the amulet from their possession and took it back here to Canterlot and watched over it personally. About 20 years ago, Princess Celestia herself decided to donate the Alicorn Amulet here as to serve as one of the many exhibits here in the Canterlot Museum.'"
Wow, talk about a severe case of deja vu. A powerful artifact that would grant its wearer immense magical strength while slowly corrupting their mind? Yeah, that sounded way to similar to the Master Crown, even if I was the thing that was corrupting the wearer's mind to try and posses them. I'll admit, I was extremely tempted to take the amulet and see what would happen if I wore it, but I thought better of it. There were probably a lot of security measures in place that would prevent the amulet from being easily stolen, and considering how I had only one way to defend myself, I wasn't going to risk stealing it. As I began to head back out of the exhibit to meet back up with the group, I turned to look back at the amulet. I couldn't help but feel nostalgic about all of the power I used to have back when I had managed to possess those that wore me back in the day, compared to how little magic I had now. Turning back around, I eventually made my way back to the group, who were waiting at the entrance for me.
"Ms. Cheerilee, Null's right there!" Pipsqueak said to notify Cheerilee that I was back.
"Thank you Pipsqueak. Where were you anyway Null? I looked back and got a little bit worried seeing as you weren't with us." Cheerilee said.
"Sorry, something caught my eye and I couldn't help but investigate." I said.
"That's alright, just make sure to notify somepony if you do go off somewhere. Anyways, our next stop is simply the gardens right by the castle. And don't worry about needing to get the map out, Null. I remember the way to get there quite well." Cheerilee said.
And with that, we left the museum as we began making our way towards the castle.
While it did take us a little bit longer to get to the castle compared to when were heading to the museum, Cheerilee was right in saying that she did know the way to the gardens. As we got closer to the castle, I began seeing what I assumed were the guards of the castle, as they wore mostly golden armor and helmets and were also holding a spear as they patrolled or kept watch over the castle and the surrounding area. As we passed them, a few of them watched us as we continued on our way to the gardens, though without me noticing how their gaze seemed to linger on me before they returned to their duties. They didn't show it, but I could definitely tell they were more interested in me than they were with the others. Pretty soon, we made it to what appeared to be a massive wall of bushes behind a tall fence before we reached an entrance that led through the fence and bushes. As we went through it, I could only assumed that we had arrived at our destination.
All around us were various flower beds spread out here and there, with also the occasional hedge sculpture depicting various animals or even what I assumed were meant to be the guards, as they also had flowers on them that helped to give color to the armor. Besides that, there were also a lot of marble statues depicting various ponies and creatures that lined a path that led through the gardens. Towards the far end of the garden was what I could assume was a giant hedge maze, the entrance to said maze being decorated with more flowers and small flags that stuck out from the top of the shrubbery that made up the walls.
"Alright everypony, feel free to go around and enjoy the garden. I know we weren't able to be here very long last time, but today you all will have more time to truly enjoy what these gardens have to offer. Now remember, everpony must be back here within roughly two hours so that we can go and get something to eat. Oh, and if you go into the maze, make sure to have a buddy with you!" Cheerilee said.
And with that, all of the foals began to head off in different groups towards different parts of the garden with some of them just wandering around while a few of them immediately going into the maze, mainly that of the members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders along with Pipsqueak. Deciding that I also wanted to try the maze and that I could get out easily if I ever got lost by floating over the walls, I made my way to its entrance. I always had a sort of rule of thumb when it came to getting to the end of mazes, and that was simply picking a wall and sticking to it. Though, I decided to see what the layout of the maze was like, so I floated a little bit above the wall and looked at the maze in its entirety. It was circular in shape, with there appearing to be six circular areas lining the edges of the maze, while there was one big circular area in the middle. Seeing as the entrance was probably also the exit, I could only assume the end of the maze was the area in the middle. Floating back down, I decided to start by going right and stuck to the wall on my left as I began traversing the maze. Every time there was a fork in the path I kept to the wall, even if the wall turned down another path. Eventually, I made it to the first of the circular clearings.
Within the clearing were small little ponds that had statues coming out of them on the left and right sides of where I had entered. In the middle was a bed red flowers with a statue of a dragon in the middle of the bed as well. Continuing on through another entrance on the other side of the clearing, I continued through the maze before arriving at another clearing.
This one was similar to the first, except this one had orange flowers instead and the statue in the middle depicted what I assumed was a yak, which were bovine like in appearance but had shaggy fur that helped to keep them warm in the cold climates they tended to live in.
Moving on, I got to the third clearing which had yellow flowers this time, with the statue depicting a griffon, a creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. From what I've read, the griffins were somewhat prideful in nature and often coveted treasures, though I had remembering reading about how something happened to the griffins that caused their society to slowly become worse and worse over time.
Continuing further brought me to the fourth clearing which had flowers with green petals this time. The statue in the middle depicted what appeared to be a deer. Though this deer seemed to be wearing some sort of regalia that was similar to Celestia's and Luna's, possibly signifying this deer was some sort of ruler. This was also the first time that I have heard of deer potentially being a species similar to that of ponies or other sentient creatures that had established a sort of society.
Moving on further into the maze, I came across the fifth clearing. This one had blue flowers this time, though the statue depicted something I had never seen before. Or, should I say statues. Scattered across the podium on small poles that connected them to the podium itself were small statues that seemed to depict something similar to ponies, except with much thinner bodies and also what appeared to be wings akin to that of an insects. The wings themselves seemed to be made of clear plastic with intricate designs in them.
Deciding to move on, I eventually came across the last of the clearings as I assumed I was close to the entrance were I had started. This one featured purple flowers in the bed in the middle, with the statue depicting something I thankfully knew about. Appearing like a large bipedal dog with large hands an wearing a collar of some kind, I recognized this as a diamond dog. Supposedly, they were a species of canines that preferred to live underground and liked collecting gemstones. They were also apparently very hardy and had great night vision, considering they spent almost their entire life underground.
Seeing how I made it to all of the clearings that surrounded the edge of the maze, I floated up above the walls once again to see where I was in the maze. As it turns out, I appeared to have just gone in a counterclockwise circle around the maze from the entrance, as I could see the entrance nearby. Looking back towards the middle, I looked closer at the clearing and saw there were three entrances with archways at he tops leading into it from the maze. I looked around for a bit and eventually saw a path that would lead me straight to it. So, when I floated back down, I made my way through the exit of the clearing I was currently in and followed the path that I had mapped out in my mind. Thankfully, it was only just a few simple turns here and there as I made my way through. Eventually, I stumbled upon a path that had white flowers lining the bottom of the walls. Thankfully, this was the exact part of the route I had planned out and began to go down it. As I continued on, the flowers seemed to slowly get more and more abundant as they began to cover more and more of the walls. What I could only assume what had been a few minutes, I came across one of the archways that led into the center of the maze as I entered the clearing.
Compared to the others in the maze, this one was obviously much larger and a lot more decorated. Lining the edges of the clearing and between each of the entrances were two different colors of flowers that started at one end of the entrance before stopping halfway as it joined with another color of flower. They also appeared to represent a rainbow, as the red and orange flowers were in between two entrances, the yellow and green ones between the one that touched the orange flowers and another one, and the blue and purple ones between the entrances that were beside both the red and green flowers. The dirt paths also joined in the middle and surrounded one last statue as the path circled around the podium said statue was on. I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity as I looked at the statue from the side, so I moved closer to it and went to the front of it.
I couldn't help but stop and stare in both slight fear and shock.
The statue was that of Discord himself, more specifically, Discord when he was recently turned to stone all that time ago as he had the same terrified expression I saw him wear as he was turned to stone before I blacked out from being hit with the magic of the Elements of Harmony. Ever since that day, I did sort of wonder what happened to Discord after he turned into the a stone statue. Was the statue thrown into some sort of high security vault? Was it smashed to tiny pieces by someone so that he wouldn't be able to come back? Turns out, he was here the whole time, placed in the middle of this hedge maze right beside the castle where I assumed the princesses often came and checked on him. Thinking back on this, I couldn't help but begin talking out loud as I reminisced about my first day arriving here in this world.
"So, this is where you ended up, huh?" I said, not really expecting Discord to respond or anything. "It feels weird, thinking that only a little while ago, I had arrived here in this world. In a form that I was not familiar with but had some similarities to a few things I've seen back in the in-between. I had ended up in a forest that everyone I've met was somewhat scared of and just hopped right out of it. Me discovering that weird cloud and following it to find you causing all of that chaos in Ponyville. Also questioning just where I had ended up. And then, I stumbled upon you with Twilight and her friends that had been corrupted, and I couldn't help but feel bad for them. Normally, I wouldn't care about stuff like that when I was still stuck in the Master Crown, but I suppose that, when I had finally gotten out of it, I couldn't help but focus on other things. And then you found me following you and Twilight and then proceeded to use me as a basketball. Heh, I still remember the look on your face when I bounced right into you.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, you are actually one of the few beings in a long time to make me genuinely feel powerless. Sure, there were those that stood up to me once I possessed those that wore me, but you were the first thing I encountered after losing all of my power and you treated me as though I was just a simple plaything. Sure, I was somewhat happy that you had gotten your comeuppance and was once again turned back into this statue, but that's kind of your own fault for being cocky and thinking you had still one. Though, I suppose you gave me a reality check that I needed to really solidify into my mind that I'm not as powerful as I once was. Sure, I'm slowly getting back my powers and am really close to being able to do, well something. I don't know what that something is just yet. But that's the thing, I am getting stronger. Maybe if you break out again anytime soon, I'll be strong enough to actual defend myself against you. Maybe I'll even win, who knows?"
I looked up into the sky and saw that the sun had gone down a lot compared to when I entered the maze.
"Well, I should probably head back. I don't know why, but I feel like I just needed to reflect on everything. Well, see ya." I said as I began floating above the walls. Before I headed back to the entrance, I looked back at the Discord and did a double take before rubbing my eyes to make sure what I was seeing things. There he was, still turned to stone with the same terrified expression. I began to float above the maze as I couldn't help but think that it may have been just a trick of the light or something.
Because I swear I saw Discord smirking at me.
Once I got back, the rest of the field trip went quite smoothly. We left the statue garden and went to get some food at apparently at a well known donut shop known as "Joe's Donuts" which was run by a unicorn that whose name was also Joe. They weren't kidding when they said the donuts were good, as I had a simple chocolate donut and it was almost as good as Sugarcube Corner's icing cookies. Fluttershy was also right in giving me the bag of bits as well, as everyone in the group had to pay for their own. After that, we visited a few other things such as the opera house, which almost everyone in the group except for Cheerilee, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, the gray earth pony that was with her who I learned was named Silver Spoon, and myself feel asleep. Though I was pretty close. After that all we did was just go around some of the stores as everyone bought things such as snow globes and even small chunks of crystals that apparently came from the tunnels within the mountain itself, I bought myself a multicolored one as a souvenir and put it in my knapsack. Finally, we began to head back to the train station as the sun was beginning to set and boarded the train as we waited for it to start heading back to Ponyville. All around the cabin, everyone was talking about how they enjoyed today and how they couldn't wait to show their families back home what they got. Cheerilee on the other hand, looked to be exhausted and immediately fell asleep as soon as she sat down.
"Man, today was awesome! I'm still happy that we managed to get back to the center of that maze in record time. Still, did anyone else feel creeped out by that statue's new appearance after Discord was turned back into stone?" Scootaloo said.
"Hmhm. Sure gave me the creeps." Apple Bloom responded.
"I did enjoy that opera though. It was really entertaining." Sweetie Belle said.
"Entertainin'? I fell asleep five minutes into the thing!" Apple Bloom responded.
"Well, I still think these goggles I got look cool. Maybe Rainbow Dash will think so as well!" Scootaloo said.
"I guess. Hey Null? What did you think of Canterlot?" Sweetie Belle asked me.
"Well, I guess no one was kidding when they said the place was that big. It also definitely gave off the feeling that it was a place of nobles seeing the way everyone was dressed up and how we were close to the castle." I said.
"Yeah, the statue garden sure was pretty." Apple Bloom said. "Speakin' of, how are you able to float like that? We saw ya floatin' above the walls of the maze every now and then."
"Oh, that? It's just me using magic." I said, considering it wouldn't hurt telling them.
"You can use magic?!" All three of them shouted.
"Calm down! Yes, I can. It's not much, but I am able to levitate myself and these gloves."
"What's this about using magic?"
I looked over and saw Dinky Doo and Button Mash looking at us by leaning above the back of the girl's seats.
"Yeah! Null here can use magic." Apple Bloom said.
"But, aren't unicorns the only ones able to use magic?" Button Mash asked.
"Well, I suppose the magic I use is different than the kind unicorns use." I said.
"How is it different than the kind ponies use?"
Turns out I was starting to accumulate a crowd, as to the right of us were the earth pony filly with red curly hair and glasses who I learned was named Twist, Pipsqueak, and Snips and Snails.
"Well, you see..." I began before being cut off.
"Please. You can't possibly be able to use magic. Like those blank flanks said, only unicorns are able to use magic." Snips and Snails moved over to let Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon join in on the conversation. "You're probably just lying to make yourself seem more cool than what an egg like you can already be like."
The three sitting in front of me were about to retort before I put my hand out to stop them. "Well, you all are free to listen to what I have to say. You can just simply walk away if you don't want to hear it."
It was though I had slapped Diamond Tiara in the face as she began to stutter a bit. Eventually, she decided to sit down on the floor as Silver Spoon joined her, seemingly wanting to hear what I had to say.
"Alright then. Everyone may want to get comfy, this will take a while." I said. This was followed by those standing beside the seats either sit on the floor, in Snips' and Snail's cases, as Twist joined Button Mash and Dinky by leaning over the back of the seat while Pipsqueak sat beside Scootaloo. Seeing as everyone was ready and that it possibly wouldn't hurt to tell them how magic worked outside of this world, also considering how the way I used magic was also not of this world even though I was able to use magic, I began my explanation.
"Now, allow me to explain. To put it simply: everything, from the smallest butterfly to the mightiest dragon, is able to interact with magic in many ways, shapes, and forms. This is primarily because that every living thing, both plants and animals, has access to magic. This is because that, deep within the soul every living thing, lies what is known as a mana pool. This mana pool is what allows magic users to both have access to and use magic. The size of one's mana pool mainly involves a few things, such as whether their species is proficient in magic or because of the strength of one's own will. There are a lot of factors essentially when it comes to the size of a mana pool. However, not everyone has complete access to their mana pool immediately. This mostly boils down to, once again, what species a being is. Species that are proficient in magic have a lot of or complete access to their mana pool, while those that may not use magic at all are completely sealed off from their mana pools. Though, there are a few ways to allow a being whose species doesn't have access to magic to gain access to magic. This is mostly done through direct contact with magic or using a magical artifact for a long while." I said.
"Question." Apple Bloom said.
"Go ahead."
"If you say that everpony has access to magic, then why aren't earth ponies and pegasi able to use it."
"That is quite easy to explain. This is because not everyone has complete access to their mana pool immediately. This mostly boils down to, once again, what species a being is. Species that are proficient in magic have a lot of or complete access to their mana pool, while those that may not use magic at all are completely sealed off from their mana pools. Though, there are a few ways to allow a being whose species doesn't have access to magic to gain access to magic. This is mostly done through direct contact with magic or using a magical artifact for a long while. In cases such as earth ponies and pegasi, you all don't have complete access to your mana pools, but it seems as though you are using magic at such a small amount that you aren't able to tell."
"How so?" Scootaloo said.
"Well, let's start with earth ponies. Apparently, you all are able to essentially sense the ground beneath you and are physically stronger than the other races. I believe that this is because you are using magic passively, and like I said, at an immensely small amount. Using magic, you are able to feel what the earth below you needs, and are able to become, like I said, physically stronger than the other races. Pegasi, while similar in certain regards, are different. More so, you all use magic to sense changes in the air around you, such as slight changes in temperature or the air currents flowing around you. Think of those things as essentially a sixth sense."
"Well, you said that you are able to use magic yourself along with those that aren't able to, so how do those that can't use magic efficiently use magic?" Diamond Tiara said.
"Simple. By using the Four Matters." I said.
"The Four What?" Dinky Doo asked.
"The Four Matters are essentially both a part of one's own being, what helps make up the universe and keep it stable, and how one uses magic."
"I'm afraid you lost me there." Pipsqueak said.
"Well, I suppose it would be easier going over how each matter allows one to cast magic.
"The first is Heart Matter. Heart Matter is mainly comprised of positive emotions, and is what assists in the use of controlling magic and casting spells. Positive emotions help control the magic you're casting, and even is mainly used when casting certain elemental spells.
"Next is Dream Matter. Dream Matter is the idea of what kind of spell you want to cast and is also what helps you channel magic as well. Besides, you can't really use any magic if you don't know what kind of magic you want to cast.
"The third of the Four Matters is Soul Matter. Soul Matter for the most part refers to one's own soul as well as one's own willpower as well. It is also directly linked to your mana pool as well. As such, Soul Matter is essentially the power to cast magic. The stronger one's soul is and the bigger one's mana pool is as well, the more powerful the magic used by a being is.
"Lastly, is Dark Matter. Dark Matter is the opposite of Heart Matter, yet it works in a similar way to it as well. While Heart Matter refers to positive emotions, Dark Matter refers to negative emotions. This doesn't necessarily mean that magic using Dark Matter is evil, mind you, just that it is a little more wild compared to magic that doesn't use Dark Matter. Dark Matter is once again similar to that of Heart Matter as it assists in using certain elements of magic."
I stopped to allow everyone to take in what I had just explain. It was quite for maybe a couple of minutes before Sweetie Belle spoke up.
"So, these Four Matters are what allows those who aren't able to use magic all that well to use it?"
"Yep, though using the Four Matters isn't necessarily limited to only those that can't use magic all that well. I'm pretty sure unicorns can use it as well."
"Neat. Also, you mentioned something about different elements of magic while talking about both Heart Matter and Dark Matter. What do you mean by that?"
"Well, the elements of magic refer to what kind of magic is being used. There are many different elements of magic, and every single one of them interacts with each other in unique ways. Some elements are also able to be channeled into a weapon. Channeling itself is a somewhat complex topic, so just think of it as infusing a weapon with an element to allow it to deal more damage against those weak to a certain element. The most common elements of magic are..." I said as I began to list off the nine most common elements of magic.
"Fire. The element of fire is pretty self-explanatory, as it involves anything that has to due with using fire or burning something. These include launching fireballs, creating small flames, or even causing something to catch on fire. When a weapon is infused with the element of fire, it is considered a "Sizzle" weapon.
"Water. Similar to fire, this one is also quite self-explanatory. The element of water involves a variety of things that has to do with water itself. These include creating balls of pressurized water, creating waves of water that crash into enemies, and even breathing underwater. When water is channeled into a weapon, it is considered a "Splash" weapon.
"Ice. A lot of beings tend to either confuse water and ice magic with each other, or consider them the same thing. The latter of these two being incorrect, as the element of ice works quite differently than that of water. Ice magic involves things such as creating objects out of ice to even surrounding oneself with a freezing aura that causes those who touch it to be immediately covered in a thick layer of ice. Weapons that are channeling the element of ice are considered "Blizzard" weapons.
"Electricity. The electric element, or sometimes referred to as the thunder element, is a lot more wild and unpredictable compared to a lot of the other elements. This is because this element involves anything having to do with electricity as a whole. From creating balls of electricity, generating a electric charge by yourself, to even summoning bolts of lightning. Weapons infused with electricity are known as "Zap" weapons.
"Wind. Somewhat similar to the electric element in terms of how wild it can be, though the element itself is a lot calmer compared to it, the element of wind involves anything having to do with manipulating the air around you in various ways. Some examples include creating strong gusts of wind and even using wind itself to levitate and move objects. A weapon infused with the element of wind is considered a "Bluster" weapon.
"Earth. The element of earth involves using the ground around you and manipulating it to your own will, allowing you to use it in a variety of ways. However, this is mostly limited to throwing chunks of rock at things, creating objects out of the ground around you like the element of ice, or just causing minor earthquakes that causes the ground around you to violently shake, allowing you to throw foes off balance. Unfortunately, the element itself isn't able to be channeled into a weapon. Sure, you can make it so rocks and things coat a weapon, but the way it works is a lot different than channeling. It would be best to say that earth is more of a reactant element, as it interacts with a lot of other elements in unique ways.
"Light. Remember how I said Heart Matter assists in the use of certain elements? The element of light is one of those elements. Unfortunately, the element itself is somewhat double-edged in nature, as it has really high highs, but also really low lows. Said lows include creating balls of light to provide a source of light or just simply brightening a dark room. The highs however, are really good. Let's just say that being able to summon pillars of pure light isn't something to be taken, well, lightly. Light is also unique as it interacts with all of the other elements in a weird way, as when combined with another element, that element becomes a sort of "light" version of that element, being both that element and the element of light at the same time. Weapons channeling the element of light are considered "Shining" weapons.
"Darkness. Remember how I also said that Dark Matter is essentially the opposite of Heart Matter? Well the element of darkness is essentially the Dark Matter equivalent of light magic, down to it also having low lows and high highs. Said lows are simply just creating clouds of darkness to just simply temporarily blinding someone by making them see nothing but darkness. The highs on the other hand include launching balls of solidified darkness, moving through shadows and making your own body into a shadow that lets you avoid enemy attacks among other things. Dark magic is also similar to light magic as it can also be combined with other elements to make "dark" versions of elements. Weapons channeling the element of darkness are simply known as "Dark" weapons.
"Neutral. Neutral is, an odd element, to put it simply. It isn't able to be channeled into weapons, for a start, and that it does not interact with any other element in any way, shape, or form. Also, its greatest weakness is also its greatest strength. Nothing is able to be resistant or weak against the neutral element. I like to think of it as a somewhat comfortable element, as you can rely on it no matter what you are going against. Also, a lot of powerful spells are neutral element as well, which is why they are considered to be quite powerful.
"And that is all of the most common elements. Now, does anyone have any questions?" I asked.
"Well... I do." Silver Spoon said as she raised her hoof.
"Yes?"
"You said that one of the elements is that of darkness, and that it uses Dark Matter in order to be used. Doesn't that make it evil?" Silver Spoon asked.
"Yeah! Are you implying that what is essentially evil magic is good to use?" Diamond Tiara said.
"Well, to answer both of your questions, no. Yes, dark element spells and magic do require Dark Matter in order to be used, but that doesn't necessarily make it evil. Magic is only considered "evil" by how it is used. Though, I will admit that the element of darkness is often associated with acts of evil. But, this can be the case for any element of magic. If someone uses the element of darkness for good, is it still considered evil? What about the element of light, which is often associated with being good. If someone uses light magic for evil intentions, is it still considered good?" I said.
This prompted everyone around me to immediately become quite and think over what I had just said. During my time trapped within the Master Crown, there were many different magic users who used me for different purposes. A user of the element of darkness simply wanted the power to help their family who were being mistreated, I liked that one a lot so I decided not to try and take over. Though I was taken from him by a user of light magic who was doing horrible things and claimed that he was doing it because some imaginary deity told him to. I made sure to immediately do everything I could to posses him as fast as I could. Though, as I looked out the window and saw e were coming up on Ponyville soon, I decided to go over one last topic.
"One last thing I want to go over are elemental affinities." I said.
"Elemental affinities? What are those?" Dink Doo asked.
"Well, they are essentially what element of magic a being is able to use quite well. This is most often influenced by a magic user's species, though it can also be effected by how a being grows up. For instance, a dragon would have a natural elemental affinity for fire and an earth pony I would naturally assume would have an affinity for earth. But, let's say that a dragon grew up in the cold north and learned how to harness the cold temperatures, then they would have an affinity for ice magic. Or an earth pony that grows up someplace high up and windy to the point where they are as familiar with the wind as a pegasus is, then that earth pony would develop an affinity for wind magic." I said.
"Cool!" Scootaloo said "Hey, since you know all of this stuff, can you teach us how to use that magic?"
This prompted everyone to also agree with her, asking if I could teach them magic.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have to decline." I said.
"What?! Why?" Apple Bloom asked.
"While I do know a lot about this magic, yes, I'm just not as strong as I once was. Don't get me wrong, I would love to teach you all how to properly utilize the Four Matters and see what elements you all excel in, it's just that I don't think I would be able to properly teach you if I don't even have the strength that I used to have."
"How come?" Button Mash asked.
"Let's just say that I lost a lot of my power, and that I'm slowly trying to regain it." I said as the train finally reached the station.
Once the train lurched to a stop, Cheerilee woke up and walked over to us.
"Well now, you all seem to be discussing something. Mind if I ask what it is?" Cheerilee asked.
"We're discussing how Null can use magic and what he knows about magic!" Pipsqueak said.
"That's nice. Now, everpony make their way off of the train, and I hope you all enjoyed the trip."
We did as we were told, as we all headed out of the car and got onto the train platform. After that, everyone began heading back to where they lived and head to bed, as the moon was now making its way into the night sky. Cheerilee pulled me aside to once again thank me for helping with this trip and keeping the foals entertained on the ride home, to which I told her it was no problem. We eventually parted ways as I headed back to Fluttershy's house. When I got there, Fluttershy herself was still up, though it looked like she was just about to head to bed.
"Hey, I'm back." I said.
"Oh, thank goodness. I was worried you wouldn't be back until much later. How was the trip?" Fluttershy asked.
"It was good I guess. A can definitely say I enjoyed it." I said as I removed my knapsack before pulling out the bag of bits Fluttershy gave me and held it out to her. "I guess you were right about me needing these. I only spent a couple, so you can have it back."
Fluttershy shook her head and pushed the bag back to me. "No, you can keep it. Think of it as me saying thank you for helping me out recently. I truly appreciate it."
I had recently been helping out Fluttershy with taking care of the animals around here as well as delivering medicine for the pets owned by the residents of Ponyville. "Are you sure?" I asked.
Fluttershy gave a nod as she began to head upstairs. "I do. Have a good night, Null."
"Night, and thanks for the money." I said as she went out of view. Deciding to get myself ready for bed, I empted the knapsack of the remains of what I had brought and put some of them on the table next to the couch, with the crystal I had gotten shimmering in the moonlight. Wrapping myself up in a blanket, I thought back to what I told the foals on the train. I definitely would have loved to teach them everything I knew, but I just couldn't at the moment. It was rare moments like these that I sort of missed being trapped within the Master Crown. As when I possessed someone, I at least had an immense amount of power that I could use, even if it was often only for a little while. Now, even though I was close to being able to do something, all I can do is simply levitate myself and the gloves Rarity made me. I thought more about this as I slowly drifted off to sleep. |
A Crown's Atonement For Their Misdeeds | Chapter 7: Secret of My Excess | So, turns out something crazy happened in Ponyville while I was in Canterlot. Apparently, in order to help knock Rainbow Dash's ego down some, the girls decided to become their own superhero that would outshine Rainbow. This resulted with the girls taking turns acting as the "Mysterious Mare Do Well". How they did this is by taking turns saving ponies around town while disguised as Mare Do Well in various different ways. Applejack helped stop a runaway cart, Pinkie Pie saved some construction workers at a crumbling construction site by using what she referred to as her "Pinkie Sense". When I asked what she meant by this she simply said her body reacts to what might happen in the future in weird in unique ways. When I decided to ask Twilight about it for more clarification, she simply said to not worry about it and also to not think about it too hard or I would end up with a headache. The end result was me just thinking of it as some sort of sixth sense Pinkie had that also went along with her weirdness, as I have seen her do some weird things ever since I began staying here. Anyways, after the construction site Twilight fixed a dam that had breached using her magic, and Fluttershy simply flew by Rainbow Dash after Twilight fixed the damn to make it seem like Mare Do Well had it all. Oh, and Rarity helped out by making the outfit. In the end, Rainbow Dash learned a pretty decent lesson in humility and not letting others who do better than her get to her head.
The next few days came and went with nothing really happening in that time as everything pretty much slowed back down as a sort of calm settled over Ponyville. It was also during this time that the temperature began to drop even further as it began to change from being late fall to early winter. As such, the leaves on the trees began to further fall off until the branches were the only things left and a lot of animals around Fluttershy's house began to go into hibernation, with Fluttershy having me assist in making sure the animals were comfortable and had everything they needed to sleep through the winter.
One thing I did try to do as the seasons began to change was trying to see if I could possibly absorb any more negative emotions as to try and have enough power to use what I felt like I was on the verge of being able to do. Unfortunately, any attempts at this were meant with failure as there wasn't really anyone around that were giving off any immense negative emotions. I guess this was kind of a good thing, I suppose, as it meant the citizens of Ponyville were quite happy at the moment. Still, I really hope I'll be able to gain enough power to use what I'm on the verge of being able to do soon.
"I still kind of find it a little bit funny." I said.
"What do you find funny?" Fluttershy asked
"That Spike, who is a dragon and breathes fire, has his birthday during one of the coldest times of the year." I said.
Fluttershy and I were currently making our way towards Twilight's house as we Twilight herself told us and the others that Spike's birthday, or hatch day as her and Spike sometimes referred to it as, was happening today. Thankfully, she told us this about three days ago so we would have the time to find and get Spike a gift. Fluttershy was walking beside me with a purple box with a pink ribbon on her back containing her present while I held mine in my hands right in front of me that had been put in a red box with a black ribbon.
"Either way, I do hope Spike likes my gift." Fluttershy said. Fluttershy and I had gone shopping roughly two days ago to get Spike his present, which mostly involved with me going around the different stores in Ponyville trying to think of what kind of gift I should get him. In the end, I managed to find a scarf for him that was being sold by a seasonal store in town that I thought he would probably need in the upcoming weeks as it would continue to get colder, using the bits that Fluttershy let me keep to pay for it. The scarf itself was simply light blue in color and had white snowflakes on it that made it seem that they were flowing through the sky. Fluttershy on the other hand managed to find a claw filing kit that she thought Spike would appreciate which included a nail file and some lotion that was said to help strengthen scales when applied.
We eventually made it to the library and went inside to find the Spike and Twilight along with the rest of the girls who were holding their gifts. Pinkie, however, was currently throwing around confetti and cheering as the I assumed she was excited to celebrate Spike's birthday. Spike, upon seeing all of the gifts we had brought for him, looked to be a little bit surprised.
"Are all of those, for me?" Spike asked.
"You bet they are, birthday boy." Applejack said as she gave her gift to Spike and held onto it.
Fluttershy went up to him and said "Happy Birthday Spike." before setting her gift on top of Applejack's.
"Here you go Spike, and Happy Birthday." Rarity said as she increased the height of the present stack by putting her gift on top of Fluttershy's.
"Happy Birthday dude." Rainbow Dash said, as she flew over Spike and set her present, which was simply a dumbbell with a yellow ribbon on it, on top. This would unfortunately result in Spike losing his balance and falling to the floor as all of the presents in the stack fell down as well. Thankfully, none of the presents seemed to have been damaged from the fall.
Slightly chuckling to myself, I went over and set my present in front of him. "Happy Birthday Spike. I hope you like what we got you."
"Thanks Null. I just wasn't expecting this many gifts." Spike said with a somewhat curious look.
"Well, don't you know you get presents for your birthday?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"I mean, yeah. Its just that this is my first birthday in Ponyville. I usually just get a present from Twilight... which is usually just a book." Spike said.
I looked over at the mare in question and saw her holding a blue book wrapped in a gold ribbon in her aura as she was walking down the stairs. Hearing this, she looked back at the book and then hid it behind her as she had a look of embarrassment.
"Speaking of presents..." Rarity began saying as she levitated what appeared to be a cape with a purple collar with the actual cape part being pink. "This is from my new line of taffeta capes, and I plan on making one for each of you!"
Holding up the cape issued everyone to get a closer look at it and compliment how good it looked with some of the others also saying how they liked its design.
"I've been inspired by the generosity of my little Spikey-wikey, who gave me this beautiful fire ruby..." Rarity said as she touched her hoof to what appeared to be a red heart shaped gemstone that had been fixed into what appeared to be a gold band that wrapped around Rarity's neck. Though, I couldn't help but feel an odd warmth coming from the gemstone even though I was maybe a couple of feet away from Rarity. "It was one of the kindest acts I have ever experienced. And I am ever grateful to him for gifting me this gem."
This was followed by Spike slightly blushing at scratching the back of his head at the compliment. After that, the party began really pick up as everyone began to do various activities that had been set up or just enjoying some of the cupcakes that Pinkie had brought. Though, it wasn't long before Spike began to unwrap the presents everyone got him. Rarity had made him some mittens that would help him fight off the cold, the book Twilight had gotten him was apparently one filled with ancient legends involving dragons, Spike wasn't able to hold up the dumbbell Rainbow had gotten him for very long, but appreciated it nonetheless, and Applejack had gotten him a blanket that he seemed to be extremely happy about. When he got to Fluttershy's gift, he looked ecstatic as he talked about how his scales were feeling a little bit rough lately, and he also liked the scarf I got him as well.
"Applejack, I can't thank you enough for this great blanket. I really needed a new one." Spike said as he thanked Applejack once again for the blanket while hugging her.
"C'mon, Spike, you already thanked me fifteen times. I'm startin' to get a little embarrassed." Applejack said as she began to pry Spike off of her as he was probably begging to hug a little too tight.
"I know I keep thanking you guys, but I'm just so grateful." Spike said as he smiled. "I wish this party could last forever." This was followed by the sound of a balloon popping causing everyone to look towards the source of the sound. The source being that of Pinkie who had been hopping on a balloon earlier, though it appeared said balloon had popped as she now sat on the floor.
"Well duh!" Pinkie said as she came over to Spike. "The party can't last forever because you have to go to Sugarcube Corner because the Cakes said the have a special surprise for you because it's your birthday!"
"Really?! No way!" Spike said as he began to rush towards the door.
"I said the party couldn't last forever, but it doesn't need to end right now!" Pinkie exclaimed. This would go to be left unanswered as Spike had already left by the time she finished.
"Don't worry, I'll meet him at Sugarcube Corner and make sure he gets back safe. I'll be back soon." I said as I went to the door and left to go after him.
It took a little bit of time to get to Sugarcube Corner, but I eventually got there pretty quickly. Unfortunately, when I got there, Spike was nowhere to be seen. I asked Mrs. Cake if Spike had already arrived or had yet to get here, with her saying he just left a couple of minutes ago with the cupcake her and Mr. Cake had prepared for him. Thanking her for telling me, I went back out and continued my search. It didn't take long at all, as after looking around for about a minute, I managed to find Spike sitting on the ground holding what appeared to be a cupcake with blue frosting, except that there were also small blue gemstones poking out of the frosting as well. Thankfully when reading about the various creatures that existed in this world, I knew that dragons often ate gemstones as a sort of treat, meaning that the sight of the cupcake didn't really make me question why Spike got that sort of cupcake to eat. Anyways, nearby was Cheerilee who was also sitting on the ground with a dazed expression as a variety of different fruits laid on the ground around the two of them. Seeing how there was also a brown paper bag next to Cheerilee, I immediately figured out what happened. As such, I began heading over to the two of them to see if they were fine.
"You two ok?" I asked.
"I'm fine." Spike said as he turned to Cheerilee. "Sorry about that Cheerilee, I wasn't really paying attention."
"That's ok Spike. Though I have to ask, what's got you so excited?" Cheerilee said.
Spike looked around at the various fruits and then back at the cupcake he was holding. After a couple of seconds, he simply shrugged and ate the entire cupcake in one bite. before he began picking up some of the fruit and putting them in the bag with me joining him shortly after.
"Pinkie told me I should come see the Cakes as they had made me a cupcake for my birthday. I guess I got a little bit excited about it so I didn't notice you in front of me." Spike said.
"Well, happy birthday, Spike! I wish I had something to give you." Cheerilee said as I assumed she began thinking of giving him a gift before saying "Oh! You can have this" and pulled out a white fedora with a red feather out of her bag and placed it on Spike's head.
"Really? Are you sure I can have this?" Spike asked.
"Of course! Everypony should get gifts on their birthday! Have a great birthday Spike!" Cheerilee said as she picked up the paper bag and began walking off. After which, the two of us began to walk back to the library with Spike having a big smile.
"It sure was nice for Cheerilee to give you that hat. Though, from how much you're smiling, I guess it's safe to say you're having a good birthday." I said.
"Yep! I'm getting all these nice gifts from everypony. You and everypony else got me some great gifts, the Cakes gave me that cupcake, and Cheerilee gave me this hat!" Spike said as he flicked up the fedora as it was beginning to cover his face a little bit. "Hmm, I wonder..."
"What do you wonder Spike?" I asked as I turned to look at him, only to find that he was gone. "Wait, Spike? Where did you go?"
I looked around before spotting Spike talking to earth pony colt who was holding a yellow and blue ball. After talking for a bit, the colt gave the ball to Spike before Spike began heading back to me.
"Spike, what did you do?" I asked.
"Oh, I just told him it was my birthday and if I could have his ball and he gave it to me!" Spike said as he held up the ball.
"Spike, that's not really how birthdays work." I said.
"What do you mean by that?" Spike asked.
"Well, you don't go up to someone and say it's your birthday and ask them to give you something." I said as we resumed walking.
"But, Cheerilee and that colt gave me stuff." Spike said.
"Well, I think Cheerilee didn't really have a gift prepared for you so she just gifted you something she had on her. The colt, however, you just simply asked for him to give you that ball. Do you understand?" I asked as I turned back to look at Spike only to find that he had once again disappeared. Looking around, I found Spike talking to a yellow earth pony mare who was carrying baskets of flowers. I saw Spike make a sort of grabbing gesture and slapped my face for not keeping an eye on him.
"For the love of... Spike get back over here!" I said as I went over to him. He kept making a grabbing motion towards her flowers before I got behind him and grabbed him before lifting him over my head.
"Sorry about that. I don't know what's gotten into him." I said to the mare.
"Uh, no problem. Happy Birthday Spike!" the mare said as she walked off.
I put Spike back down and went in front of him so I could easily keep my eye on him. "Spike, what was I just saying?! Seriously, you need to snap out of it, you're not like this normally." I said.
Spike shook his head a few times before pulling off the fedora and looking at it before looking back at me. "Sorry Null. I don't know what's gotten into me. I'm gonna go give this ball back as well as give Cheerilee her hat back, can you go tell the others back at the library?"
I sighed as I began questioning whether or not I should accompany him. On the one hand, I've had plenty of experiences with dragons and knew that when it came to anything shiny or pretty, they tend to get quite greedy. On the other hand, I wasn't sensing any greed coming from Spike, so I just had to assume that he had snapped out of whatever he was doing earlier. In the end, I decided to give in.
"Sure, just make sure you come straight back to the library, ok? Otherwise Twilight might panic about where you went." I said.
"Ok, see you later then." Spike said as we parted ways, with me making sure he was heading off to find Cheerilee. Once he got out of sight, I went back to the library and told Twilight about what happened.
"Wait, Spike was demanding gifts from other ponies?" Twilight asked.
"Well, it only really began happening after Cheerilee. He essentially told them that it was his birthday and asked them for a gift. At the moment, he should be giving the things he got back, so he should be back shortly." I said.
"I'll have to talk to Spike about this later." Twilight said.
"Also, do you mind if I stay here for the night? I'm trying to find out more about something, so I was hoping to see if there were any books about what I'm trying to learn about."
"Sure. You can sleep on the couch down here. I'll make sure to get you a blanket and a pillow as well." Twilight said.
"Thanks Twilight." I said. Shortly after Spike returned and said that he had returned everything he had gotten. Satisfied with his answer, the party resumed for a couple of more hours before it began to get late as the other girls began going back home. Before she left, I told Fluttershy that I would be spending the night here with her saying that she was ok with that. Once she left, Twilight came back down from upstairs carrying a blanket and a pillow in her aura and set them on one of the couches.
"Alright, these should be fine for you while you stay over tonight. Spike's already in bed, and if you need me, I'll be in my room as well. Might I ask, what are you trying to find out more about?" Twilight asked.
"I guess just what kind of magical artifacts are in Equestria." I said.
"And why's that?" Twilight asked.
"Remember how I went to Canterlot with Cheerilee and her class?" I asked with Twilight nodding in response. "Well, when we went to the museum, I stumbled upon something called the 'Alicorn Amulet' which was being displayed in one of the wings. Ever since then I guess I've been sort of curious as to what kinds of magical artifacts are in Equestria if something that can make one's own magic equivalent to that of one of the princesses' exists." I said.
"Yeah, I heard about that as well. Apparently it was a recent donation as well. When I asked Celestia about it after she donated it, she said that she felt it would be better to have it in a museum where people can learn about the damage it has caused and not do the same thing than have it simply collecting dust under her care." Twilight said.
I guess I could see her reasoning behind that. No one really cared about the destruction the Master Crown could cause as they only cared about using its power to carry out their own personal wants and needs. And while there were the few wearers here and there that used its power for good, almost everyone that wore me used said power for their own selfish desires, whether it be revenge, wanting to rule over everyone, or just destroying everything in sight. Regardless, in the end, either I would end up taking control and wreaking havoc, or I would end up being taken by someone else who also wanted the crown.
"Null, is something wrong?" Twilight asked.
I quickly blinked a few times as I processed what Twilight had asked. "What?"
"You look like you were really focusing on something. Is something on your mind?" Twilight asked.
I guess I must have been focusing a little bit too much on my past, which resulted in what I assumed was me intently looking at nothing particular. "It's nothing to worry about." I said.
"If your sure." Twilight said as she looked up at the clock. Looking up at it as well, I noticed it was starting to get really late. "Well then, I suppose I should be getting to bed. Have a nice night Null."
"You too Twilight." I said as Twilight went up the staircase and into her and Spike's room to retire for the night. "Now then..." I said as I looked at the various shelves filled with books and scrolls. "Let's see what I can find."
The next couple of hours were spent with me scouring some of the various books in the library that mentioned or focused on magical artifacts. Ever since I learned that something as powerful as the Alicorn Amulet existed, my curiosity about what sort of other artifacts existed in this world had reached a point to where I could no longer ignore it. I skimmed through multiple books trying to find out about anything that talked about or proved the existence of a magical artifacts. However, I ended up hitting a couple of roadblocks here and there. The first being that a lot of the artifacts I read about had either been lost to time or had been destroyed long ago, or some texts talking about how the claims of the existence of some artifacts had proven to be false. Though, this didn't mean that I found nothing. I found multiple books saying that the existence of magical mirrors that could transport those that walked into it to other worlds existed. A book or two mentioned how there existed some books that contained worlds of their own within their pages, allowing those who read said books to enter the world the book contained. And some book referenced a set of rings that possessed some sort of curse that, while separated, didn't really do much. But when brought together, they were capable of bringing about events that would devastate the ecosystem around the rings.
As the hours ticked by I slowly began to feel myself become progressively more tired as I continued to find out more about the artifacts this world held. Eventually, feeling that I could no longer stay awake anymore to continue, I began to put back the books and scrolls that I had gotten out during my research and slowly drifted to the couch. Wrapping myself in the blanket that Twilight provided me, I began to drift off to sleep.
I watched as Landia, who had split herself into four separate dragons using the power of the Master Crown, carried the now damaged body of the overseer of Egg Engines. Normally, the body of the Metal General was somewhat streamlined in appearance. Its body had an aerodynamic shape to it, allowing it to easily move quickly, the top of its body was covered in blue plating with the bottom having white plating instead. When it was active, its eyes shone a piercing yellow, as though it was actively analyzing anything that stood before it. In most cases, that was true. Its left arm ended in a white metal hand while its right arm was instead of a blue projectile launcher that could fire energy shots, mines, to even rockets a few times its size. Finally, towards the back, were a few thrusters that allowed it to fly swiftly through the air as though it wasn't made up of heavy metal and even rush forward at high speeds while on the ground.
However, as it was now, it was a miracle that its body was still intact. Several tears in the metal were visible on both the plating on its body and both of its arms. One of its eyes were cracked and neither were glowing as it was currently not on. A large chunk of its right arm was missing, the main launcher part of the arm being severely damaged. And almost all of the thrusters on its back had been bent or torn off.
Needless to say, Metal General was possibly no longer going to be turned back on for a very long time.
We eventually reached the far reaches of Halcandra, an area simply known as Dangerous Dinner. Dangerous Dinner was that of a fiery wasteland as river of lava flowed endlessly on the surface and the volcanoes scattered about constantly released dark smoke into the sky. However, none of these places was where we were heading. Instead, we were heading straight for the side of the biggest volcano in Dangerous Dinner. We skimmed the side of the volcano until we reached the entrance to a small tunnel that was hidden from the ground by a few rocky spires that were in front of the entrances. Landia quickly flew through the tunnel the entrance led to, and after a small amount of time, we reached a large domelike room that was illuminated by different colored crystals that lined the walls. And in the middle of said room, was a massive pile of various trinkets and shiny gems that Landia had found over the many years that I had been stuck on her head.
Slowly, she drifted down to one side of the pile and placed the Metal General beside the pile before her four separate parts fused back together into the four headed dragon. I could feel the sadness coming from Landia as she nuzzled all four of her heads against the now broken body of the Metal General. Over the many long years I have been stuck on Landia's head, I had been with Landia when she first discovered the Metal General, who had wandered to this very volcano that Landia considered to be her territory. The two clashed for a while before the two of them eventually stopped due to Landia becoming exhausted and Metal General running low on energy. Metal General fled, and the next day, Landia managed to find it back in its own territory in Egg Engines. Though this time, instead of fighting each other, they had developed a sort of bond of respect towards one another. As such, the two of them would often visit one another to keep each other company.
It was kind of a special bond they had going, but most bonds can't last forever. When Landia and I saw the ship that had appeared the last time once again carrying the mage that had attempted to take me, Landia thought it wouldn't be too much of a problem to shoot it down. Neither of us were expecting the mage to bring reinforcements.
The four groups of friends made their way through Egg Engines and had wandered directly in front of Metal General, who seeing them as intruders, attacked them. They easily fought against him and won the fight even when he brought out a giant robot that he had been working on for some time now. Upon hearing that Metal General had been defeated, Landia rushed to Egg Engines and, seeing the nearly destroyed state that he was in, knew that it would not be coming back for a long time. And so, she decided to take it to her personal horde as one of her most prized treasures.
After many minutes of nuzzling the decommissioned robot, the both of us knew that it was only a matter of time before the four friends found Landia and challenged her to take me from her. Knowing this she flew back out of the cave and towards the top of the volcano where a stone landscape sat within a lake of fire and waited for the friends to appear. Some hours later, and they eventually did. Seeing this, Landia flew up from where she had perched herself and flew towards the four friends. And with her releasing a roar filled with sadness and rage, she started the fight. Little did either of us know, that this fight would change the lives of everyone here: the four friends, the four headed dragon, the mage who was hiding behind the lip of the volcano and was watching the fight, and myself.
I slowly opened my eyes as I began to wake up as it also took me a few seconds to remember that I had stayed over at Twilight's last night as I almost panicked upon seeing that I wasn't in Fluttershy's house. I began to think back to the dream I had last night, as I haven't had a dream since the first night I had arrived in this world. Even now, that dream didn't really make much sense to me. This time, however, the dream was about the moments leading up to Landia losing possession of me due to her being defeated by Kirby and his friends, only for Magolor to immediately wear me moments later. I guess the moments with Spike trying to take things from ponies yesterday somehow triggered that memory.
Though, I couldn't help but wonder, how were they doing? I suppose Kirby and his friends went back to Popstar after defeating me while I was controlling Magolor and I could also guess that maybe Landia, who I also assumed was now still separated into four smaller dragons, had managed to get back to Halcandra somehow. Magolor, on the other hand, I wasn't entirely sure of. Did he somehow find a way out of the dimensional abyss the both of us found ourselves in and went to Popstar after defeating me? Or did he travel to another dimension entirely? Those questions lingered in my mind as I got up from the couch and folded up the blanket Twilight had allowed me to use and grabbed both it and the pillow. However, right as I was about to go up the stairs to return them, I stopped as I heard a small commotion happening upstairs. Not only that, I began to feel a large amount of a certain emotion that I was entirely too familiar with. Said emotion was the same of almost every single being who wanted the Master Crown for their own use:
Greed.
I began to quickly make my way up the stairs as fast as I could and reached the door to Twilight and Spike's room. Opening it, I made my way inside and stopped to process the scene that was playing out in front of me. First was Twilight, who was looking worriedly at Spike while flipping through a book held in her aura. Spike, however, was the reason I was trying to process what was going on. Spike was no longer the baby dragon I was used to seeing, instead, he was as tall as Twilight and had a somewhat lanky body as he was currently trying to pull off a familiar fedora that was stuck to his head. Not only that, I could tell that he was the source of the greed I had felt downstairs as it almost emanated from him in a steady pulse. I set the pillow and blanket down by the door and approached the two of them.
"Ok, can someone tell me what is going on?" I asked.
Twilight looked to me with a panicked expression on her face. "I don't know! I just woke up earlier and found Spike sleeping underneath a pile of junk, only to see that he now looks like this!" Twilight said as she gestured to Spike.
"What pile of junk?" I asked, to which Twilight pointed towards the area above us where her and Spike's beds were. Floating up, I immediately saw what Twilight was talking about. Set right beside a small pet bed was a pile of various things including a few books, a wooden basket, some flowers, some of the gifts Spike had gotten yesterday, and a familiar ball. Seeing this, I floated back down and faced Spike.
"Spike?" I asked.
"Um, yes?" Spike said.
"Why is it that some of the things you tried to or did take from ponies yesterday are in that pile?" I asked.
"Wait, what?! Spike, what did you do last night? I didn't see any of this yesterday when we went to bed." Twilight asked.
"I went to... went to..." Spike trailed off as he began to look at Twilight as the greed I was feeling from him began to slowly rise.
"Spike!" Twilight yelled, snapping Spike out of his daze. "Where did you go last night?"
"Oh, um... I don't remember." Spike said before he spotted a nearby globe as I felt his greed begin to rise again. "Hey, can I have that globe? You're not using it, right?"
"Huh?" Twilights asked as Spike grabbed the globe and ran up to the pile by his bed and placed it on top of it before grabbing a book off of Twilight's bed.
"What about this book?" Spike asked before Twilight teleported on top of the globe and grabbed it in her aura and tried to pull it away, only for Spike to try and pull it back. This continued for a couple of seconds before Twilight successfully pulled the book away from him.
"Spike, I'm worried about you. Usually you're not this grabby." Twilight said.
"Yeah, something's definitely not right. You acted similarly yesterday, but now it looks like whatever's going on has gotten worse." I said as I floated up to them.
"Well my arms aren't usually this long either." Spike said, though halfway through the sentence his voice dropped, causing him to slap his claws over his mouth. "What's happening to me?"
I looked at Twilight as she looked back to me before both of us nodded in a silent understanding. "Maybe we should get you to the hospital and see if they can figure out what's going on." I said.
"Are you sure?" Spike asked.
"We're positive." Twilight said.
And with that, the three of us made our way out of the library and quickly made out way towards Ponyville's hospital, hoping for at least some small clue as to what was happening. The hospital had a somewhat welcoming appearance. It was three stories tall with the outside walls being somewhat beige in coloration as pink windows on every floor lined the walls as well. The roof itself was brown and slated, with two chimneys poking out of the top as well.
As we sat in one of the rooms waiting for a doctor to arrive, I noticed Spike began to try and grab one of the depressors that were in a cup. Seeing this, I went up and smacked his hand so that he would stop. Almost immediately after I did, the doctor, a brown earth pony with a poofy orange mane and tail, walked in.
"Well now, what seems to be the problem?" The doctor asked.
"This is Spike." Twilight said as I slapped his hand again as I noticed he attempted to take a tongue depressor again. "And something's wrong with him." I slapped his hand again. "He used to be half this size! And he keeps trying to take things that aren't," I slapped his hand one more time before taking the cup and moving it away from him. "his!"
"All right then, let's just have a look see, shall we?" The doctor said as he approached Spike. "Widdle guy not feewing too good? Who's a brave widdle boy, huh? Who's a brave one?" The doctor began seeing in an almost childlike voice as he began examining Spike. As he knocked on one of Spike's knees to test his reflexes, Spike breathed out a steady stream of green fire from his mouth that blew right into the doctor's face. As it settled down, the doctor face was burnt and his mane was slightly charred.
"So? What do you think, doctor?" Twilight asked.
"Well, I think I know what the problem is." The doctor said as the three of us looked at him expectantly. "He's a dragon!"
The our hopeful looks gave way to ones of unamusement as he stated the obvious.
"Well, I don't think that's the problem. Spike's always been a dragon, Twilight here told me she was there when he hatched." I said.
"Oh. Well, that would explain it. Listen, I don't know anything about dragons, I only know about baby ponies. Maybe you should try a vet."
"Really, that's the best you can give us?" I asked.
"Don't know what to tell you. Hopefully they are able to figure out what's wrong with whatever's going on with your dragon here." The doctor said.
Twilight sighed as she sat up from the chair she was sitting in. "Okay, thank you doctor." We then left the hospital and slowly made our way towards the central part of Ponyville, where the pet clinic was supposedly set up.
The pet clinic was set up in the central part of Ponyville, close to that of the town hall. The building itself was a simple one story building with the outside walls being light blue with multiple windows lining the front. It also turned out that this place also doubled as a pet spa, as multiple ponies within the waiting room had brought there pets either to be examined or be cleaned and taken care for. After setting up a quick appointment, it took about 10 or so minutes before we were taken to an examination room where an earth pony mare with yellow fur and a blue and white mane wearing a white collard shirt waited for us and had us set Spike up on the examination table. After which, she began to closely look at Spike to see if anything was wrong.
"Hm, well, I'm flummoxed. You bring me a dog, I've got it diagnosed in seconds. Snake even faster, but... to be honest," The vet said before turning to the both of us. " I've never seen a real live dragon before."
"Seriously? Are you sure you aren't able to figure out what's causing Spike to be like this?" I asked.
"Nope. With how little documented information there is about dragons, let alone information about keeping dragons as pets, I'm afraid I can't help ya." The vet said.
Spike snorted in annoyance as I could feel all of us were annoyed at not getting any answers as to what was causing this. However, I watched as Spike's attention shifted to a dog treat the vet held in her hoof with a jar of dog treats being held in her other hoof.
"Now, who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" The vet said as he waved the dog treat, causing Spike to begin panting like a dog. "Now, sit."
Spike sat on the table as the vet tossed a treat towards him, to which he ate in one bite. However, his attention soon turned to that of a bowl filled with various sweets and in one swift motion, grabbed the bowl. I slapped myself in the face for not noticing the bowl earlier.
"Thanks anyway. Come on Spike." Twilight said with a sigh as Spike got off of the table and followed us as we left the vet. We walked for a bit until we reached the plaza around the town hall, all of us somewhat annoyed as we weren't able to find out anything. Spike, on the other hand, seemed to be somewhat happy with himself as he began eating some of the sweets out of the bowl.
"I don't know where else to got to. I was at least hoping that the vet would be able to figure out what is going on with Spike." Twilight said as she looked at Spike.
In all honestly, so was I. We had gone to places that would seem to be obvious in providing us with solutions, only for them to come up with nothing. It also didn't help that I've been having this weird feeling that I was forgetting something ever since we left the hospital after seeing Spike trying to take those tongue depressors. While Twilight didn't really have any ideas on to where to go to, I had already thought of two ponies we could possibly go to that might help us in this situation.
"Hey, Twilight?" I said, getting Twilight's attention as she turned to me. "There's still two ponies we have yet to go to that might be able to help us."
"Yeah?" Twilight said expectantly.
"Why don't we go to Fluttershy and Zecora and see if they have any answers. Fluttershy's pretty much knows everything about animals, and I bet Zecora's an expert on stuff like things such as this." I said.
It took a few seconds for Twilight to process this before it was her turn to smack herself in the face. "Of course! How could I not think of them? Alright, here's what we're going to do..." Twilight said as she turned to me. "I'll take Spike to Zecora and see if she's able to figure anything out. I want you to got to Fluttershy and see if she has any answers, things she knows off the top of her head, a book, anything! Once we're done, we meet up back at the library and see if we found anything."
"Sounds like a plan." I said.
"Alright then. Spike!" Twilight said, getting Spike's attention.
"Yeah?"
"Come with me. We're going to Zecora's." Twilight said as she levitated Spike in her aura as the both of us began heading to the Everfree Forest before splitting up where the path split, Twilight and Spike going directly into the forest while I quickly made my way to Fluttershy's cottage. Upon getting there, I quickly entered and began calling out for Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy? Are you here, I need your help?" I said. This was shortly followed by Fluttershy coming out of the kitchen with Angel following right behind her with an annoyed look on his face.
"Null? What's going on? Has something bad happened?" Fluttershy asked.
"Kinda. Something weird is happening with Spike, and we haven't been able to figure out what is going on." I said.
"What's happening with Spike?" Fluttershy asked.
I explained the weird things that have been going on with Spike, from the way he acted yesterday trying to take things from the residents of Ponyville, how Twilight and I found him this morning and had seemingly undergone some sort of growth spurt in the night, and how he has been trying to take anything he could get his claws on.
"My, that is strange. But, I also feel like I've read about that somewhere." Fluttershy said as she put a hoof to her chin. "Oh! I remember, wait here one second." Fluttershy then dashed up the stairs with Angel and I turning to look at each other with Angel simply giving an eyeroll before going back to the kitchen. I could only assume that I had barged in right when Fluttershy was about to feed him his lunch. A minute or so later, and Fluttershy came back down carrying a book with one of her wings.
"All of the things you said sound almost exactly as what the author of this book wrote." Fluttershy said as she handed the book to me. It was a somewhat large book with a maroon cover with the title of said book being "Drago Wing's Guide and Journal to Raising Dragons". A picture on the front of the cover showed who I assumed was the author: a tall unicorn stallion with rust colored fur and a messy green mane and tail whose cutie mark appeared to be that of a book clenched in a dragon's claw. Right next to the author was what I could assume could be a teenage dragon, considering the fact that Spike was a baby dragon, who barely reached the unicorn's head and had light blue scales covering its body, a white underbelly, orange spines, and had wings on its back.
"This book was the published journal of Drago Wing, an alchemist who wrote down his experiences with raising a dragon and also included information on how to properly raise and take care of a dragon of your own. I like to read it sometimes before I go to sleep." Fluttershy said. "I think it's possible that Drago Wing wrote down something that might help."
"Thanks Fluttershy. This is better than nothing." I said.
"No problem. If you need me, I'll just be in the kitchen getting Angel his lunch." Fluttershy said as she went into the kitchen.
I opened the book and began to skim through the contents. Most of what was contained in the book included things such as making sure to properly file a dragon's nails or making sure to pluck any overgrown scales or they will cause skin irritation. Some other things included some basic information about dragons, which was helpful considering the information I found on dragons while going through the many books in the Golden Oak Library was quite limited. These included how there were many different kinds of dragons, how they had different elemental breaths that all had magical properties, how they were quite resistant to certain elements such as fire, and much more. Just as I was about to give up, I stumbled upon a chapter that caught my eye. Carefully, I began reading through the chapter as to not miss any details.
Dragons and Hoarding
At a certain point in a dragon's youth, a dragon will begin to develop urges to begin hoarding anything they see that they consider interesting, shiny, or important to them in emotional value. This is quite common, as it is in a dragon's nature to hoard treasures, whether it be gold and jewels to magical artifacts. Make sure to keep these urges in check, as ignoring them and not handling them properly can lead to a dragon to develop more of these urges and can also lead to some side effects. Said side effects range from developing a possessive personality, growth spurts, and on rare occasions, intense growth spurts. Back when my dragon Sael began developing a hoarding problem, I was unfortunately slow to catch on to what was happening and before I knew it, he had grown roughly twice my size! Thankfully, by calming him down and talking to him, Sael reverted back to normal and no longer developed any hoarding problems.
I stared at the chapter intensely. More specifically, at the phrase "it is in a dragon's nature to hoard treasures". It was in a dragon's nature to hoard. For the second time today, I slapped myself in the face.
"How could I have forgotten something as obvious as that?!" I yelled, hearing Fluttershy squeak from the other room as I had startled her. How could I have forgotten the fact that it was literally in a dragon's nature to hoard?! I was stuck on the head of a four headed dragon for roughly more than 1,000 years who also had a giant hoard in a cave within the volcano she considered to be her home for crying out loud! Slowly calming down, I began to think back to the dream I had last night, about the moments leading up to the fight between Landia and Kirby and his friends, how she had taken the broken down Metal General to her hoard. Was that dream some sort of sign? Regardless, I realized that I needed to find Twilight and Spike and tell them what I found.
"Umm, Null..." Fluttershy said as she peaked out from the entryway to the kitchen. "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said.
"Are you sure? You sounded mad about something." Fluttershy asked.
I slightly winced at that, not meaning to actually yell out my frustration. "It's nothing to worry about. But, I did manage to find out what's happening to Spike. I need to go find Twilight, I'll be back later!" I said as I bolted for the door, not before giving Fluttershy back the book.
"Let me know if you manage to fix what's happening to Spike!" Fluttershy called out as I left the cottage and made my way down the dirt path. Eventually I made it back to the main path where I saw Twilight running out of the woods with a worried expression on her face as I could feel her anxiety going through the roof. Seeing me, her horn was covered in her aura as I felt myself being lifted off of the ground and onto Twilight's back as we began to head to Ponyville.
"Twilight, I managed to figure on what's going on with Spike! Fluttershy had this book that was written by a unicorn who raised a dragon and said that Spike's maturing to the point to where he is starting to experience urges to hoard literally everything he sees!" I yelled out.
"Zecora said the same thing. And that if we don't stop Spike from hoarding, he'll keep growing and eventually become a monster!" Twilight said.
A realization slowly struck me as I looked around, not seeing Spike anywhere nearby. "Wait, Twilight? Where's Spike?" I asked.
"He took everything in Zecora's hut and I can only assume that he came back here!" Twilight said as we were entering the main part of Ponyville. We eventually stopped and I had to hold on as to not get thrown off as we heard screaming coming from nearby. Making our way to its source, we found Spike trying to take Scootaloo's scooter, with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trying to help prevent Spike from taking it.
"Spike want!" Spike yelled as he pulled on the scooter.
"You're not getting my scooter!" Scootaloo yelled out as she pulled on the scooter.
"Spike said he wants!" Spike yelled as he pulled on the scooter again.
"If we don't do something, Spike's going to take the scooter and probably run off." Twilight said as he panic began to rise.
I began looking around to see if there was anything we could use to distract Spike, before laying my eyes on a nearby broom. "Twilight, the broom!" I yelled out as I directed Twilight's attention to the broom. She then smirked before the broom was surrounded in her aura and flew over towards Spike and began to wave it, getting Spike's attention.
"Hey, Spike! Check out this amazing broom!" Twilight said.
"Spike want!" Spike said as he hissed.
"C'mon, big boy! Come get this incredible broom!" Twilight said as she began running, causing the broom to float after us.
"Spike want!" Spike yelled as I felt him begin to get angry.
We looked over and, to both Twilight's and my horror, saw Spike grow bigger in size before chasing after us. This caused Twilight to pick up the pace as we began to rapidly make our way to the library. We easily ran through the door, however, Spike tried to follow us in only to get stuck. But, when he saw Twilight waving the broom again, he lurched forward and got unstuck as he began to charge at us. I hopped off and got out of the way as Twilight stood in front of a door leading to a room filled with shelves lined with books. And as Spike began to rapidly approach her, she dove out of the way at the last second with the broom as Spike barreled into the room. Acting fast, I quickly shut the door as Twilight pressed against it.
"Nice job with the broom." I said.
"Thanks. Now we just need to-" Twilight was interrupted as Spike began to pound on the door, prompting the both of us to hold it back to make sure he wouldn't break out. After a few seconds, Spike stopped pounding on the door as everything began to get quiet. And unfortunately, I began to come upon a horrible realization.
"Twilight?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"Did we just lock Spike in a room filled to the brim with books that he can easily get his claws on and hoard?"
Twilight immediately registered what I had said and opened the door, where we found Spike laying over a giant pile of books that he had taken off of the shelves.
"Seriously Spike? I just reshelved this room." Twilight said with an unamused look as she levitated Spike off of the pile and then levitated said pile to us before closing the door again with a swift kick. I then immediately felt Spike's anger flare up before a crash could be heard coming from his room before I could no longer feel his anger.
"That, can't be good." I said.
We slowly opened the door and found that Spike was no longer in the room. Instead, a Spike shape hole was in the wall on the opposite side of the door. As we rushed towards it, we saw Spike running off towards in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. We both looked at each other with looks of worry before we booked it out of the library and made our way towards Sweet Apple Acres ourselves.
As we got closer and closer to Sweet Apple Acres, we began to see that a lot of the tress we were passing while running along the fence were missing any apples that they may have had growing on them, and more importantly, had no leaves on them whatsoever. We eventually spotted Applejack looking at the trees in confusion, so we jumped the fence and made our way over to her.
"Applejack!" I yelled out, prompting Applejack to look over at us as we got to her.
"Twilight? Null? What are you two doin' here?" Applejack asked.
"Applejack, we need your help. Spike's running wild and we need to lasso him!" Twilight said.
A couple of seconds passed as Applejack said nothing, before she began to lightly chuckle before eventually laughing. It took her a few seconds, but she eventually calmed down and placed a hoof on Twilight.
"Twilight, oh that's a good one. Sweet little Spike, running wild? That's the funniest thing Ah've heard all day." Applejack said.
"Applejack, we're being serious." I said. Soon after, we began to hear loud stomping before Spike ran past us, holding a giant pile of both leaves and apples that he had taken from the trees around the farm. Once he was gone, I turned back to see Applejack with wide eyes at what she had just witnessed. A serious expression then appeared on her face as she looked towards Twilight.
"Twilight, get my rope." Applejack said.
Twilight disappeared in a flash of light before reappearing moments later holding one end of a long piece of rope in her mouth. Applejack the grabbed the other end of the rope with her mouth and then the three of us took off after Spike. We began to get closer and closer to Spike as he could be seen taking his time picking up any stray apples on the ground and placing them on the pile he was holding before continuing. As we caught up to him, Twilight and Applejack jumped forward, hoping to tie up Spike. Unfortunately, it was at this moment that Spike chose to pick up an apple that was on the ground, resulting in both Twilight and Applejack jumping over him and getting the rope snagged on the trunk of a tree. The force of their jump resulted in them wrapping around each other before the ended up being tied to the tree. Spike simply looked at the two of them after grabbing the apple, roared at them, and took off once again. Getting to them, I began chuckling a bit as they gave me looks of annoyance before I began to try and untie them. As I was, I heard someone flying right behind me and stopped to see that Rainbow Dash had gotten here and appeared to be trying to hold in a laugh, before ultimately failing as she fell on the ground laughing.
"No way! Don't tell me, you two tied yourselves up?" Rainbow Dash said in-between laughs.
"Help us get out of here!" Applejack said, before a loud scream could be heard.
"What was that?" Twilight asked as the scream could be heard again, though this time I recognized its owner.
"That's Fluttershy! Spike must have gone to her house!" I said.
With Rainbow Dash's help, we were quickly able to untie Applejack and Twilight and then quickly made our way towards Fluttershy's house. As we got there, we saw that Spike had definitely come here as giant footprints could be seen leading up to her house as I felt fear coming from behind the cottage. Making our way around, I managed to find Fluttershy hiding up in one of the taller trees that were around her house, surrounded by a bunch of squirrels.
"Fluttershy! Are you ok?" I asked.
"No, not really." Fluttershy nervously said.
"What happened here?" Twilight said.
"After Null had left earlier and I gave Angel his lunch, I was helping my squirrel friends with a dance step and all of a sudden, a giant, rampaging dragon stormed through and then pulled my chicken coop out of the ground, filled it with apples and leaves, and then went towards Ponyville. Wait, was that rampaging dragon Spike?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah. After I left he underwent a growth spurt just like the book said." I said. This was then followed by another scream coming from the direction of Ponyville.
"That sounded like Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Then what are we waitin for? We need to go!" Applejack said as she began running off towards Ponyville. All of us, including Fluttershy as she flew down from the tree, followed Applejack as we made our way towards Ponyville and reached Sugarcube Corner and went in. Inside, we found Spike on one side of the main room holding onto the chicken coop he stole from Fluttershy's house and was trying his best to avoid cakes that were being thrown at him by Pinkie Pie, who was standing on top of a nearby shelf.
"Pinkie Pie! Stop giving him cake!" Twilight yelled out.
Pinkie turned and looked down at us from her perch. "I'm not giving him cake, I'm assaulting him with cake!" Pinkie said as she threw more cake at Spike. However, Spike was able to catch one of the cakes Pinkie threw at him and put it inside the chicken coop. "How dare you take the cake!" Pinkie yelled out.
It was then I began to feel Spike's anger rise once more as he let out a loud roar, causing the whole building to shake as well as causing Pinkie Pie to fall from her perch. We all fearfully watched as Spike began to rapidly grow, before his head crashed through the roof of Sugarcube Corner as he had now grown to be what I assumed was the size of an adult dragon. Roaring once more, he climbed out of Sugarcube Corner and began wreaking havoc.
"This, definitely isn't good." I said, stating the obvious.
"Yeah, he's completely out of control. We need to follow him before we lose track of him!" Twilight said as she ran out of the now demolished bakery, with us following closely behind. As we tried following Spike, we saw how he had reduced a lot of buildings to rubble during his rampage. We unfortunately lost sight of him multiple times, but Rainbow Dash was able to point out where he was by flying above and leading us to him. At some point, Spike had ripped off the water tank off of a nearby water tower, and was now using it to carry anything he could grab. But, things turned from bad to worse as we had lost him yet again and had to spend some time looking for him before Rainbow Dash pointed out he was close to the town hall. As we arrived, we saw Spike who was now holding Rarity using his tail coiled around her, and appeared to be wearing the cape she showed everyone yesterday.
"Rarity!" Fluttershy yelled.
"Don't worry, we'll save you! Come on Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she took off towards Spike with Fluttershy in tow.
We watched as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy each got on one side of Spike's head, each one of them right next to one of his ears. Rainbow Dash was trying to demand Spike to put Rarity down, while Fluttershy was doing the same, albeit more politely. Sensing his annoyance, Spike began to use his tail to try and hit the two pegasi, resulting in rarity screaming for her life. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy tried their best to avoid Spike's tail, but it was Rarity's cape that got them, as the cape draped over the two of them and ripped off, causing the both of them to fall into a nearby river that ran through part of the plaza. We went over to see if they were ok.
"Are you two ok?" Applejack asked.
"We're fine." Rainbow Dash said before something grabbed her attention and she pointed behind us. "Look! It's the Wonderbolts!"
We turned and saw the stunt team that Rainbow Dash worshipped flying over us and towards Spike. It appeared that only a few members had come to help, as there were only three pegasi flying in formation. Beside all of them wearing blue jumpsuits with a lightning design to them and goggles, the only difference between them was that one of them had a slicked back orange mane and tail as well as yellow fur and wings , one had a similar mane and tail style as the first but it was yellow and had white fur and wings, while the last one also had white fur and wings but had a blue mane and tail that were puffy. They began to fly around Spike who quickly took notice of them. One of them came in and it him square in the chest while another stomped down on his head before the all regrouped and charged at him at once. However, they wouldn't have the chance to hit him, as Spike began to breathe in before letting loose a massive green fire breath that hit the three Wonderbolts, resulting in them crash landing nearby as they were covered in scorch marks. Worried, all of the girls rushed towards them to see if they were ok with me lagging behind. I then watched as Spike picked up some nearby rubble in one of his claws and then threw it directly at us.
"Scatter!" I yelled out. Hearing me, the girls turned and watched as the rubble was flying towards us, and all of us dove out of the way, resulting in the rubble thankfully hitting no one. However, I found myself alone as the girls had all dived towards the direction of the Wonderbolts while I had dove in the opposite direction. Spike, seeing me separated from the others, picked up more rubble as he looked at me with a predatory glare.
"Spike, please. It's me, Null. Whatever you're thinking, please don't-" I was cut off as Spike threw the rubble towards me.
No matter how hard I could try, I wasn't able to move my body. It was if everything had slowed down, as I watched as the rubble slowly made its way towards me. I could faintly hear the others calling out to me, yelling at me to move out of the way, but it was though they were just barely audible whispers. As I watched the rubble threatening to bury me, I could only watch fearfully as my life flashed before my eyes. My time here in this world, from me entering that vortex to just yesterday, me fighting against Magolor, me fighting Kirby and his friends while I was controlling Magolor, my time spent being stuck on Landia's head, and all of those that wanted to use me for my power. Was this how I was going to go out? When I had finally escaped the Master Crown and had somewhat found a place where I had friends for the first time that I could remember, only for me to perish by the hand of a friend that had been corrupted by greed.
Was this how I wanted to go? No.
I refused to go out like this.
I refused to simply float here and watch as my demise slowly crept closer and closer to me.
I, the influence of the Master Crown that had corrupted and possessed those that sought to use my power for their own selfish goals and then wrought destruction until I had been removed from my wearer, refused to go out like this!
As if by pure instinct, I felt my body go into autopilot and I watched as I slowly put both of the gloves that acted as my makeshift hands were placed right in front of me, palms open and faced towards the incoming rubble. I felt as I began to tap into my mana pool that had grown during the past few hours as magic began to flow directly into my hands and gather right in front of them. As it did, a glowing pink hexagon with various symbols lining it appeared right in front of my hands as the magic began to concentrate. Slowly, a small red orb appeared right in front of the hexagon and began to gradually get bigger. As it reached the size of a basketball, the orb was red on the edges and gradually turned transparent as it reached the middle. However, a small spark of electricity could be seen in the middle of the orb, with various streaks of electricity branching out towards the edges as red sparks danced along the outside of the orb. Feeling the orb could no longer get any bigger, I fired it.
As time seemed to no longer be slowed down, the orb rocketed towards the rubble at high speeds before striking it, causing the rubble to scatter into harmless debris. Looking towards Spike, I saw as he now had a look of shock as I had shot the rubble he threw at me right out of the air with Rarity also sharing a shocked look as her mouth was hanging open. Actually, everyone was wearing shocked looks as when I turned to look at the others, they were all staring at me with their jaws dropped.
"Null, what did you just, how did you just..." Twilight stammered.
I looked at both of my hands as what I had just done finally seemed to catch up with me. Once again going by pure instinct, I tapped into my mana pool once more and began drawing from it. However this time, instead of a pink hexagon appearing, the orbs appeared in my hands and steadily grew until they were about the half size of the one I had shot earlier as I wasn't intending to fire these ones. I watched as the electricity within the orbs danced along the inside and touched the edges as I began to come to the realization that I had just cast my first offensive spell, one that I had used almost constantly during my fight with Kirby and his friends. Even though I could feel that these orbs weren't necessarily strong, I was ecstatic as I was now able to use Magic Spheres.
Before I could answer Twilight, Spike let a loud roar as he got over what I had just done, snapping us all out of our surprise as we had bigger things to worry about with me also losing focus and causing the Magic Spheres in my hands to disspate. Seeing how talking to him hadn't worked, there was only one thing we were able to do.
"Twilight!" I yelled out with her turning towards me as I called out her name. "You and the others need to get everyone out of here or Spike will just keep attacking everyone he sees."
"But what about Spike and Rarity?!" Twilight yelled back.
"I'll try and get Rarity away from Spike. As for Spike himself..." I said as I turned back towards Spike. "I think I'm going to have to fight him."
"What?!" Everyone yelled out.
"Dude, you can't fight him! Look what he did to them!" Rainbow Dash said as she pointed to the three Wonderbolts that had been hit by Spike's fire breath.
"Yeah! And he might try and flatten you like a pancake if you get too close!" Pinkie exclaimed.
The girls continued to voice their concerns before Applejack said something that caused all of them to be quite.
"Well, Ah think he should be fine."
"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.
"Well, Null did help me catch Snips and Snails when they were taking my apples." Applejack said.
"That's right. I was there when he helped her as well." Fluttershy said.
"Hmhm. And we did a mighty fine job at that. Ah don't think we would have caught em' if Null didn't tell me to buck him towards em'." Applejack stated. "Ah think we should trust him on this. Ah definitely do."
"Thanks Applejack." I said. "If I can just wear out Spike, I think there's a chance I can calm him down."
The others began to talk with each other for a bit, before deciding to come to an agreement.
"Alright, just be careful, ok?" Twilight asked.
"And please don't hurt him too much." Fluttershy said.
"Yeah! Go kick Spikezilla's butt!" Pinkie Pie said, prompting us to look at her with confused looks. "What? It's like you're facing some big bad boss. It feels right to call him something menacing like Spikezilla."
"Regardless, you all won't worry. I'll be fine." I said, reassuring the girls.
And with that, the girls split up. Telling everyone that was still in the plaza to get away, or in the case of Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, carrying the three burnt Wonderbolts away so that they could be treated for their burns and any other injuries they sustained when they crashed. Once there was no one left in the plaza, I turned towards Spike and Rarity.
"Alright Spike." I said as I held my hands to my sides and began to tap into my mana pool. Spike on the other hand began to glare at me as he sensed I was about to fight him, with Rarity watching us nervously while still being held tight with Spike's tail.
"It's on!"
Baby Dragon Corrupted by Greed
Spikezilla
Our fight began as I began to rapidly float towards Spike as Magic Spheres began to form in my hands. Seeing this, Spike began picking up large chunks of rubble in his claws before throwing them at me. However, they were quickly shot down out of the air as I fired the Magic Spheres at them. One thing I definitely noticed was that when I launched the Magic Spheres, the same pink hexagon from earlier appeared between my hand and the orb of concentrated magic, leading me to believe that they only appeared when I was attacking using spells as they didn't appear earlier when I summoned the two Magic Spheres to examine.
Despite seeing how the first few chunks of rubble failed to hit me, Spike kept up the pressure by grabbing larger chunks of rubble at throwing them. While launching Magic Spheres at these chunks didn't destroy them, they did however knock them off course, causing them to hit the ground beside me as I kept going.
As I got close to Spike, he decided to just stop throwing rubble at me and instead got on all fours and raised his tail up high.
"Null! Watch out!" Rarity yelled as Spike swung his tail horizontally, causing her to scream. Seeing this, I quickly did my best to float over the tail sweep with it just barely missing me as I got out of the way in time.
As Spike began to turn back around to face me as he noticed his tail sweep didn't work, I launched a Magic Sphere while his back was turned resulting in the Magic Sphere striking his back. While it didn't seem to do much, I did notice Spike wince a little bit, meaning that I was doing some damage to him.
Finally becoming more offensive, I watched as Spike got back onto his hind legs and tried to slash at me using his claws. Thankfully, the slashes were somewhat slow, so I was able to get out of the way before launching two more Magic Sphere, one for each arm. After striking both arms, Spike winced some more as he shook his claws in what I assumed was an attempt to shake off the pain. Taking this brief opportunity, I floated closer towards his face and fired a Magic Sphere directly into his face. It seems that Spike wasn't expecting this, as he covered his claws over his face while backing away.
As he uncovered his face as he moved a decent way away from me, I watched as he began to glare at me before green flames began to dance around his closed mouth. Realizing what he was about to do, I quickly floated down to the ground as Spike let out a massive stream of fire right where I had been moments ago. Seeing how I dodged it, he immediately began to try and backhand me with one of his claws. Unfortunately, I had been too focused on avoiding the flames to notice the giant claw before it was too late, resulting in me being launched a decent ways back before hitting the ground.
Groaning a bit as I had to endure the pain, I immediately rolled out of the way as Spike let out another stream of fire from his mouth and kept moving as he moved his head with me, allowing the fire breath to follow right behind me. Thinking quickly, I floated back up again and fired multiple Magic Spheres at Spike's side. This seemed to do the trick, as Spike stopped breathing fire as he couldn't ignore the pain the Magic Spheres had caused.
I once again took this opportunity and floated right in front of Spike and launched two Magic Spheres once more at his face, with him once again covering his face and moving back to get away from me, however I didn't need to feel his anger to know that he was extremely mad as his glare was downright murderous.
That's when he began mixing things up as I assumed he was starting to get desperate.
He once again got on all four as fire began to dance along his mouth. But before I could even think of dodging what I assumed was him trying to breathe fire at me, he began to once again perform a tail spin that I hovered over easily, only this time he kept going as he also began to breathe fire as well. This resulted in him becoming a spinning wheel of fire that I had to constantly hover over to avoid his attacks. Though he would begin to aim both his tail and fire breath upwards, resulting in me needing to avoid both while in midair. He then pushed himself off the ground while still spinning and landed on his hind legs, stretching his arms and claws out. Continuing to spin, he then raised his head up and released a large green fireball that slowly began to rise before exploding. From the explosion, multiple green fireballs began to rain down all around us. I did my best to avoid them, but I got hit a couple of times, resulting in me getting burnt as my outfit also started to have scorch marks appear on them as well.
However, it seems that Spike's desperate move caused him to exhaust himself, as after he finished spinning and all the fireballs were gone, he proceeded to sit down while he had a dazed look in his eyes. Aiming to end this fight, I quickly floated in front of Spike and began to charge a Magic Sphere, pushing all I could as I felt my mana pool being rapidly drained. The result was a Magic Sphere that, while still the same size, was no longer transparent in the middle. Instead, it was dark to the point where you wouldn't be able to see through it at all, with the red color of the Magic Sphere being more vibrant as more electricity danced along the inside of the Magic Sphere as well. And then, in one quick motion, I fired the Magic Sphere right at Spike's stomach.
The result was Spike letting out a massive roar that continued on for multiple seconds, before his upper body slumped forward and his head hit the ground. His tail followed soon after, also crashing to the ground and releasing its grip on Rarity, who tumbled a bit after being let go. Recovering from her tumble, she saw me and made her way over.
"Null, are you ok?" Rarity asked.
"I'm fine, just a little-" I began to say before before I was interrupted by Rarity gasping.
"Oh my gosh! What has he done to your outfit?!" Rarity said as she looked at the various scorch marks as some parts of my outfit were still smoldering from where I was unable to avoid all of the fireballs. The end of my scarf had also burned away as well.
"This will not do. Null, I'm going to need your outfit so I can fix it later. But first..." Rarity said as she began to make her way over to Spike head. Following her, I watched as she stood right in front of Spike who I began to notice was still conscious, though he was barely on the verge of passing out. He let out a weak roar as he glared at the both of us.
"Oh, be quiet. You've got nothing to be proud of. You steal everypony's things, terrorize the town, and use me as a weapon against my own friends! Which, as horrible as it is, I can almost understand because you're a dragon and all. But this!" Rarity exclaimed as she ripped off her torn cloak, holding it in her aura. "This is a crime against fashion!"
"Umm, Rarity? I don't mean to interrupt you, but this dragon is actually-" I began, only to be cut off once again.
"Hold on one moment darling. I'm almost done. Anyways..." Rarity said, only to stop as she noticed Spike staring at her. Or, more specifically, what she was still wearing, as Rarity was still wearing the fire ruby around her neck. Realizing this, Rarity placed a hoof over the ruby while glaring at Spike.
"Oh no. You are not getting this gemstone! This was given to me by my dear friend Spikey-wikey, the kindest, sweetest, most generous dragon ever. And it is too precious to me to give to a greedy old beast like you!" Rarity said, however, it looked as though Spike wasn't listening as he appeared to be lost in thought. After a few seconds of nothing, we all watched as Spike slowly began moving one of his arms and placed a claw on his left cheek. Then, all of a sudden, the fire ruby began to emit a soft red glow as I began to feel an intense warmth from it. It then flew out of the gold band and floated right in front of us.
"Uh, Rarity, what's going on?" I asked.
However, Rarity wouldn't be able to answer as the fire ruby let loose a stream of red fire from it onto Spike. We watched as the flames crawled over Spike before covering his body completely before the flames changed from red to green. Finally, the flames seemed to shrink down as Spike's body got smaller and smaller, before reaching the same size of what he was normally. Then, the flames dissipated, revealing Spike laying on the ground who had turned back to normal. With the last of the flames gone as well, the fire ruby began to stop glowing before falling to the ground.
"Spike?!" Rarity yelled out in surprise.
"As I was trying to say earlier, Spike was the dragon that was rampaging around town earlier. But I'm wondering just what did the fire ruby do and how did it turn Spike back to normal?" I asked.
Rarity seemed to think his over before her face lit up in realization. "I think I know what just happened. I've heard tales of fire rubies possessing fire like properties, hence the name "fire ruby", but that they also have some sort of healing effect that is able to get rid of most afflictions. But, the only way that this healing effect can happen is if..." Rarity said trailing off.
"Is if what?" I asked.
"Is if the afflicted has strong emotions for the one possessing the fire ruby." Rarity finished.
Our conversation was stopped short as we began to hear groaning. Turning to the source, we saw Spike slowly rising up to his feet while holding his head in one of his claws. Rushing over, I caught Spike tight as he was about to fall over.
"Null? Rarity? Ugh, what happened? And why does it feel like a ball was thrown at my face multiple times?" Spike asked.
"I'll explain later. Just know that you sort of went a little crazy with hoarding things." I said.
Spike slowly looked around, seeing the destruction he had caused both before and during our fight before turning to Rarity. He seemed to struggle a bit as I felt him becoming nervous before he took a deep breath and seemed to calm down.
"Rarity, I sort of need to tell you something." Spike began. "The thing is, I've sort of always had a crush on-" Spike was interrupted by Rarity placing her hoof in front of his mouth.
"It's fine, I sort of just found out. May I at least ask how long?" Rarity asked.
"Ever since Twilight and I first arrived here in Ponyville." Spike sheepishly said.
Before we could continue, we all saw the other running up to us with looks of relief. Twilight ran over to Spike and the two hugged each other while Fluttershy came over to me and kept asking me if I was ok as she saw the scorch marks with me telling her I was ok. They explained how they had managed to evacuate everyone within the area and had managed to treat the three Wonderbolts of their injuries before taking them to the hospital. After which, they explained how they rushed over here as they no longer heard the sounds of fighting. After the two of them finished hugging, Twilight approached me.
"Now that Spike is back to normal, I believe all of us still have one thing on our minds." Twilight said, getting everyone's attention. "Null, just what was that orb you fired at that debris?!"
"Yeah. All of us thought you were a goner." Rainbow Dash said.
"Well..." I said. "All I was thinking about was how much I didn't want to get hit by that rubble, and then my body acted all on its own. And then I just fired a Magic Sphere."
"Magic Sphere? That's what those orbs you kept firing at Spike were?" Rarity asked.
"Wait, is that why my face hurts?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I was sort of forced to fight you so that I could calm you down." I said.
"Regardless, I'm thinking back to what Princess Celestia said about you and how you had a large amount of magic within you. I've seen orbs of pure magic before, but none like these before. And definitely not ones that were able to destroy chunks rubble like that." Twilight said.
"Anywho, I think all of us need some rest, especially these three here." Applejack said gesturing to me, Spike, and Rarity. "These two were fightin' each other and don't look like they're doin' too good, and Rarity's been swung around a lot."
"I agree. I've had a little too much excitement for today. Before I go, may I have your clothes Null? I at least want to fix them as thanks for saving me." Rarity said.
"Sure. Go ahead." I said as I took off my outfit as she held it in her aura. I also gave her my gloves as well as they also had burn marks as well. After that, I made my way over to Fluttershy and floated down onto her back. Everyone decided that we would meet back up later after everyone had gotten some rest while Twilight levitated the tank of the water tower that Spike had set down earlier before we fought and set off to give back everything Spike took during his rampage before the rest of us headed our separate ways. The moment we got back to the cottage and I covered myself up on the couch, after Fluttershy gave me a bath as I smelled like ash and smoke, I gave away to my exhaustion and swiftly fell asleep.
Odd, this was new.
This was the third dream I have had since coming here, but I wasn't expecting for it to happen so soon. I vaguely remember myself closing my eyes and falling asleep on the couch at Fluttershy house, only for the next moment to open my eyes and find myself in an endless expanse of darkness. Another thing I quickly noticed was that I was wearing my outfit, with said outfit appearing as though my fight with Spike had never happened. While I was trying to figure out what was going on, the darkness around me slowly began to brighten before quickly becoming that of a blinding white, forcing me to cover my eyes at the sudden change in brightness. As it died down, I slowly removed my hand from my eyes as I found that my surroundings had completely changed.
I appeared to be in some sort of viewing/observation area, as there were multiple computer terminals lining the walls to my left and right that were displaying random bits of information that I wasn't able to make out. The wall behind me was bare, except for two glass windows that were separated by what appeared to be a metal door of some kind. Lastly, the wall opposite of the door was that of a large window that appeared to look down into some room as there were also multiple rows of chairs that people could sit in that were facing the window as well. Before I could investigate the change of scenery, shadowy concentrations of smoke began to appear throughout the room before they slowly began shifting into humanoid shapes that appeared to be doing various things. Some were observing the computer terminals, others appeared to be conversing with one another, and some appeared to be sitting down in one of the chairs. However, there was one shadowy figure that caught my attention as this one appeared to be more detailed than the others, even if said details were as black and smoky as the figure was. This one appeared be somewhat portly in shape and looked to be wearing some sort of suit and was holding a cane in his right hand. The figure was standing in front of the large window while tapping one of his feet.
I swear, if he isn't here in the next two minutes I'll be docking his pay.
I was startled by the voice that had just appeared. It sounded both deep and raspy as it reverberated throughout the entire room with no visible source. Moments later, I heard the door to the room slide open and watched as a shadowy figure rushed into the room and towards the one in front of the window. This one also had more detail, even more so than the one in front of the window. It was wearing a lab coat that extended a bit past its knees, was wearing boots of some kind, had somewhat scruffy hair on the top of its head, and some sort of lanyard around its neck holding onto some sort of card. Lastly, where its eyes were glowing white as though they were small lights.
Sorry sir, I'm here. I would have been earlier, but you did sort of call me at literally 2 in the morning.
Wait, I recognized that voice. That voice was the same one that I heard in the first dream that was talking to someone about leaving. The voice sounded male and somewhat mature, but had a slight mischievous edge to it. I could only put two and two together as I assumed that the figure that rushed in was the owner of the voice I heard both just now and in the first dream. After talking, the figure holding the can turned around to face the one in the lab coat, who I also saw had the same glowing white eyes as the figure with the coat.
Well, I assumed the head researcher of this whole thing would have at least been able to get here as quick as he possibly could so that he could know what's going on. Do I need to remind you who is funding this whole thing?
The figure in the lab coat seemed to slump a little bit before scratching the back of their head.
No, you don't Mr. Corpalki.
The figure with the cane, who I assumed was whoever this Mr. Corpalki was, appeared to have a smug grin.
That's right. Now then, all that these tech heads could tell me was that the device was undergoing a, what was it, a "magic overflow"?
Mr. Corpalki gestured towards the glass wall with the figure in the lab coat walking up to it and looked down through the glass.
It's nothing too serious to warrant any worry. I actually knew that something like this was going to happen. It just needs some time to adjust to the large amounts of magic being pumped into it, overtime this issue will fix itself.
Seriously? That's it? All these tech heads said that it was a major deal! And what about those weird colorful lights floating around it?
To be fair, a lot of the others don't really have a lot of experience in how magic works. I'll probably need to remind them what they should consider "bad" or "dangerous" when it comes to this project. As for those lights, that just simply raw magic from the overflow. It's not really all that dangerous by itself, but we should probably put some magic absorption crystals in there to clean it up.
During their conversation, I slowly made my way closer and closer to Mr. Corpalki and the figure in the coat to the point where I was just behind them. With some curiosity, I stuck my hand out to touch the figure in the coat, only for my hand to pass through it as though the figure was made of smoke.
And you're positive this project of your will work? Remember what will happen if I find out you've just been wasting my money.
I'm positive that Project Crown will work. It has to. And when it does...
The figure in the coat clenched one of its hands.
It will ensure that we will never have to worry about any more disasters that befalls us. Not wars. Not alien creatures from another world. And especially not the planet dying.
As the figure finished, I slowly floated towards the glass window to see just what they were talking about. And when I looked down through the glass, I felt my eyes widen at what I was seeing. The glass allowed those looking through it to view a large circular chamber with a metal door leading into it. However, what caught my attention was within the middle of the chamber.
Sat upon a large metal pedestal with multiple monitors sticking out of said pedestal, was the Master Crown. However, it looked a lot different than the Master Crown I knew. While it was still the same in terms of shape, circular with triangular points on the top with four spikes sticking out of the front with a gemstone embedded above the spikes, that was where the similarities ended. Instead of being gold in color, it was metallic gray in color. And the gemstone was pink instead of blue. Lastly, multiple wires could be seen sticking out of the crown with some sort of colorful light flowing through the wires. All around the chamber were small orbs or various colors, almost exactly the same colors as what was flowing through the wires. Before I could figure out just what was going on, a bright flash was released from the Master Crown as everything around me faded away into the light.
"Ahh!" I yelled out as I found myself falling from the couch and landed on the floor. Thankfully, the impact didn't hurt due to the low height of the couch. Still, as my mind began to catch up to what was happening, I couldn't help but think back to what I had seen in my dream. The weird lab I was in, those two figures, one of which I concluded was in my first dream, and most importantly, what was going on with the Master Crown. It didn't really make much sense, as I think I would have remembered me being hooked up to some glowing wires in some sort of lab. And I especially don't remember the Master Crown looking like that. All of this wasn't really making much sense, but it also felt too real for it to have been a dream.
Looking out the window, I watched as the sun was a decent way into the sky, signaling that it was till early morning. However, I couldn't really appreciate the sight as I thought back to what happened before I arrived in Equestria, how the shards of the Master Crown flew into that colorful vortex before I myself was sucked into it as well. As I did, the urge to solve this mystery as to what that dream was all about and the questions kept getting stronger and stronger. And then I realized something.
If I wanted to find out what was going on and how the Master Crown related to this...
I was going to have to find the shards of the Master Crown. |
A Crown's Atonement For Their Misdeeds | Chapter 8: Hearth’s Warming Eve | The next few days went by pretty quickly as Ponyville began to settle down from Spike's rampage. During that time, everything that Spike had taken was returned back to their rightful owners, many of the buildings and other structures that had been damaged both during the rampage and the fight between me and Spike were repaired and looked good as new, and Spike also apologized profusely for everything he had done. During the course of those days, I was almost always thinking back to that dream, going over everything that I had seen in it and trying to make some sense from it. In addition, I couldn't help but wonder just where the shards of the Master Crown had ended up. The shards had been sucked up into the vortex along with me, so surely that meant they were here in this world as well. As for the thought of finding the shards, I was having somewhat mixed emotions. On the one hand, I felt that I would be able to solve the questions the dream had left me with if I had found the shards. On the other hand, I wasn't too thrilled on finding the pieces of the artifact that I had been sealed within for thousands of years. Regardless, I continued to struggle with these thoughts as I was hoping a clue or hint as to where even a single shard had ended up would show up.
The day after Spike's rampage, Rarity had asked for all of us to come by the Carousel Boutique as she apparently had something for all of us. Said thing being the cloaks that Rarity had finished making for the girls as it also appeared she had easily managed to fix her the previous day. Twilight's was blue in color, had what I assumed was fake white fur around the collar and also lined the end of the cloak, and also had yellow tassels dangling from the collar. Pinkie's was a lighter shade of blue and also had white fur around the collar and end of the cloak, though her's had a pink heart that appeared to act as a clip to keep the cloak together. Fluttershy's was a slightly lighter shade of blue than Pinkie's, had what appeared to be white silk lining the bottom, a white ribbon wrapped arund the collar, and had a hood with a daisy attached to it. Rainbow Dash's was blue and had a pale yellow flame design at the bottom with a similar red lame design around the neck and had a gold star on the front. Lastly was Applejack's, which had a brown leather design to it with a lighter patch of brown around the neck, a green collar with a golden trim, and lastly a gold pendant with red metal in the center with black cords hanging from it that also seemed to act as a clip similar to the heart on Pinkie's.
While Rarity said she was still working on me and Spike's cloaks and that it would possibly take her a long time to finish them, she was happy to present me with my outfit which had been completely fixed overnight with there being no indications that it had been torn and burned during the fight with Spikezilla. To say the least, I was quite happy for having my normal outfit back as I was considering wearing my Nightmare Night costume until it was fixed.
As the days passed the temperature kept getting colder and colder as it was obvious that winter was now upon us. The sight of snow as it fell down upon Ponyville every now and again was a welcome sight considering just how long I had spent on Landia's head, with Halcandra being a place that was too hot for there to even be rain. One thing I did begin to notice however, was that similarly to Nightmare Night, ponies around Ponyville began decorating the town with various decoration which ranged from fake candy canes, plastic snowflakes that hung from windows, and even trees that had been decorated with a variety of ornaments which could be seen from windows. Though, there was a lot of decorations that seemed to revolve around what appeared to be some sort of fiery pink heart. I could only assume that another holiday the ponies of Equestria celebrated was on the horizon. It was also during those days that Twilight had me undergo even more tests as I was now able to create Magic Spheres.
Thankfully, both of us were able to learn some things about how exactly they worked, Twilight more than me as I had some experience using them. We found that the Magic Spheres, while still considered somewhat weak, still packed a powerful punch considering how only a couple of them were able to take down Spike. They were also somewhat conductive, by this I mean that the Magic Spheres were able to be infused with many different elements such as fire, water, and even electricity, gaining various properties depending on what element the spheres absorbed. I myself decided to see if I could find out anything else about the Magic Spheres in my own free time, and I did manage to find out a few things myself. Mainly, that the Magic Spheres I were using were a dark element spell, which made since considering that I had been getting stronger by absorbing negative emotions so it also made since that dark matter was involved in its use. It also explained why the Magic Spheres were able to absorb different elements, as dark variations of other elemental spells existed. Other than that, I found that by allowing the Magic Sphere to build up magic it was able to become stronger as I decided to fire off a charged Magic Sphere at a small boulder I found when I decided to go back into the Everfree Forest to see if I could find a place were I could practice in secret. Needless to say, the boulder shattered into small pieces of stone when the Magic Sphere struck it. In the end, I somehow wound up back at the clearing I found myself in when I first woke up here in Equestria, and since it was a decent ways away from both Ponyville and the path that winds through the Everfree, I ultimately decided I would use this clearing as my own personal training ground where I could further look into and practice my magic.
Roughly about two weeks or so after Spike's rampage, Twilight had gotten a letter from Celestia saying that all of us have been chosen to participate in a pageant involving something called "Hearth's Warming", and that the play would be held tomorrow night in Canterlot. Upon hearing this, Twilight and the others became absolutely ecstatic about the news and before I could even ask what this play was even about and what Hearth's Warming Eve even was, everyone had rushed home to get ready for the next the next day. I ultimately decided that with how excited the girls seemed, I probably wasn't going to get an answer out of them and decided to get together a few things myself. This involved me using the same knapsack I used back when I went to Canterlot the first time on the field trip and filling it with almost the exact same things, except the book I had this time was "Drago Wing's Guide and Journal to Raising Dragons" which Fluttershy had let me read just in case I would end up having to deal with any dragons anytime in the future. Also, I managed to find a lot more interesting things now that I had the time to properly read it. Early the next day, all of us, including Spike who had also been chosen to help with the play, arrived at the train station where there was a train for Canterlot already waiting. Quickly getting our tickets and hoping on the train, the train lurched forward only a minute or two after we had all settled down in our seats as we began to head for Canterlot. Seeing how cold it was and that it was also beginning to lightly snow, the girls had decided to wear the cloaks they had gotten from Rarity to help keep them warm. Seeing how everyone was now calm and that we had a while until we got to Canterlot, I decided it was now a good time to ask a question I've had since yesterday.
"So, what is Hearth's Warming?" I asked.
"Hearth's Warming is one of the best times of the year!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
"Yep, it's a time about family comin' together..." Applejack started.
"Enjoying all of the wonderful decorations..." Rarity continued.
"All of the presents you get..." Rainbow Dash followed up.
"Enjoying the time spent with others..." Fluttershy said.
"And about all of the delicious and yummy treats!" Pinkie Pie finished.
"But, most importantly, it's about celebrating the founding of Equestria!" Twilight said.
"The founding of Equestria? How was Equestria founded?" I asked. During my time going through all of the books in the Golden Oak Library, the exact details about how Equestria was founded were never really explained thoroughly. Though, more often then not, almost everything talked about how Equestria officially was established as a kingdom when Celestia and Luna became its princesses.
"I actually think it might be best if you pay attention to the play, as it does go over the events of Equestria's founding." Twilight said.
"Really?" I asked.
"I agree with you there, Twi." Rainbow Dash said. "You'd probably spend hours going into what happened in exact detail."
"Hey." Twilight said with an annoyed look. I couldn't help but chuckle as now that I've spent a while with the group, it wasn't hard to see Twilight doing that exactly. And while I do like having the exact details for something so I could understand it better, it was probably for the best. My train of thought was interrupted as Pinkie pointed out the window.
"Hey everypony, look!" Pinkie said. We all turned our attention out the windows of the cabin and saw Canterlot slowly coming into view as the train got closer to its destination. The girls obviously seemed excited, as they began opening the windows of the cabin and slightly leaned out of them to get a better look.
"We're getting closer!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Yeah, I can hardly wait." Rainbow Dash replied.
"I'm so excited, I feel like shouting! Woohoo!" Fluttershy said, with her shouting somewhat softly at the end.
"Oh, I do hope I look festive enough! If not, well I at least brought this with me." Rarity said as she levitated a bag she had brought with her and opened it before levitating what appeared a hat that looked a lot like the decorated trees I kept seeing in Ponyville.
"When did you make that?" I asked.
"Since last month. Pinkie was the one who gave me the idea for it, actually." Rarity said while gesturing to Pinkie.
"Yeah! Thankfully, I was able to make another tree cake after the first one landed on my head." Pinkie said.
"How did a tree cake even land on your head in the first place?" I asked.
"Let's just say don't leave cakes on a board that's hanging over a counter and that your pet alligator can easily step on on and cause whatever's on said board to go flying." Pinkie replied.
I took a few seconds to process what Pinkie had said as it sounded something straight out of a comedy routine. "Ok then." I said as the train arrived at Canterlot and began to slow to a stop. After which, all of us began gathering everything we had brought and exited the train, finding that the streets of Canterlot were even more decorated than the streets of Ponyville. Almost every shop we passed by had a poster in the window claiming that they were having a "Hearth's Warming Sale" and that everything was a certain percent off. The streets were lined with decorated trees with ornaments of different shapes and colors hanging from their branches, and giant fake candy canes could be found at every street corner.
"Oh, isn't Canterlot wonderful this time of year?" Twilight said as we made our way through the streets.
"Yeah, I wish it was Hearth's Warming Eve every day." Rainbow Dash replied, though what she had said piqued my interest.
"Hearth's Warming Eve? I thought you said it was Hearth's Warming?" I asked.
"Well, yes. But Hearth's Warming is tomorrow, so the day before is known as Hearth's Warming Eve." Applejack answered.
I was about to reply, only to spot a familiar group of fillies standing around a fake candy cane, with a familiar orange pegasus filly struggling to pull away her tongue which was stuck to the fake treat.
"Uh, you guys go on ahead. I'll catch up." I said.
"Are you sure? You won't get lost trying to find the theater?" Fluttershy asked.
"I'll be fine. I brought the map of Canterlot with me." I said.
"Alrighty then, see ya at the theater Null." Applejack said as her and the others began heading off towards the theater while I made my way towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were doing their best to help Scootaloo pull her tongue off of the candy cane, but it was obvious that they were failing.
"Hey girls. Is everything ok?" I asked.
The three fillies looked towards me as I approached them, all of them looking at me with hopeful expressions.
"Not really. Scootaloo bet Apple Bloom 5 bits that she could lick the candy cane and not get her tongue stuck." Sweetie Belle said.
"And then I said that it was too cold and that she would get stuck. Then she did it anyway saying that it would work." Apple Bloom said.
"I though ih would work." Scootaloo said, though she was currently having trouble speaking due to her tongue being stuck.
"Calm down, I know how to fix this." I said.
"You do?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yep. Just watch." I said as I pulled out a bottle of water from my knapsack. I then hovered over to where Scootaloo tongue was stuck to the candy cane, unscrewed the lid and poured water on her tongue. "Alright Scootaloo, now try pulling again." Scootaloo did as I said and began pulling away from the candy cane, with her tongue successfully getting unstuck after she pulled a couple of times.
"Woah, that was amazing! Thanks Null!" Scootaloo said.
"Yeah, how did ya do that?" Apple Bloom asked.
"All the water does is just remove the frost that's keeping the tongue stuck. Anyways, what are you three doing here in Canterlot?" I asked.
"Mah family comes to Canterlot every year to see the Hearth's Warming pageant, and Granny Smith let me bring Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as well so we could watch it together!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.
"Yeah! When I heard Rainbow Dash was acting in it, I knew I couldn't miss it!" Scootaloo said.
"Hmhm. Though we sort of got separated when Scotaloo got her tongue stuck." Sweetie Belle said.
"I still think it would have worked. Maybe I wasn't being fast enough?" Scootallo said.
"Lucky for you girls..." I said as I pulled out the map of Canterlot "I have this."
"You still have that map? The field trip was a while ago." Sweetie Belle said.
"Yep. It's just until I learn my way around Canterlot, which may take a while since I'm in Ponyville almost all of the time." I said.
"Well then, what are we waitin' for? Lead the way Null!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.
"Alright, let's see..." I said while taking a quick look at the map. After a little bit of looking around and seeing shops around us that were listed on the map, it turns out we were just a couple streets away from the theater. Taking one last look at the map, I was able to mentally trace a path that would take us quickly to the theater. "Good news. We're actually really close. Its just this way."
Folding up the map but not putting it away just in case I would need to look at it again, I began heading down a nearby street with the CMC following right behind me. As the map showed it only took us roughly 10 or so minutes before we arrived at the theater. The building itself was quite grand, with it being maybe two stories tall. The walls of the theater started out at brick towards the bottom, but changed to purple after the brick was roughly as tall as the fillies following me. Multiple posters in glass cases could be seen lining the front of the theater showcasing various plays that were being performed. Finally, a giant white sign above the doors leading inside read "Tonight: Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant" in large black letters. Going inside we found ourselves in a small lobby with a vendor selling various sweets and popcorn on our left while there were doors towards the back that appeared to lead to the different stages where the plays would be held. Thankfully, there were signs above each one that showed what play was being held in each room, and upon finding the one for the Hearth's Warming play, we entered and found ourselves in a decently sized auditorium that was quite empty except for Granny Smith and tall red stallion beside her with a scruffy orange mane and tail whose cutie mark was that of a green apple cut in half who I knew as both Apple Bloom and Applejack's brother: Big Macintosh, or as he is often known as: Big Mac. He was apparently as strong as Applejack was but was also a stallion of few words, as when Applejack first introduced me to him a while back he would usually say a single word or two as a response. Seeing them, the three fillies accompanying me gave me a quick goodbye before heading towards the two members of the Apple family. Judging by the small amount of worry I had been feeling coming from the both of them, I assumed that they were relieved to see the three of them safe and sound.
I then immediately caught something out of the corner of my eye, and look towards the stage to see Pinkie waving at me from behind the curtain. Seeing how I noticed her, she then motioned for me to come to her as she disappeared behind the curtain. Not wanting to keep her waiting for to long, I floated up onto the stage and went behind the curtain to find a lot of different ponies going about reading from what I assumed was the script of the play as some ponies appeared to be practicing their lines. Looking around, I managed to find the others standing around what appeared to be makeup booths and floated towards them. Fluttershy was the first to notice me besides Pinkie as she seemed to sigh in relief.
"Thank goodness, I was afraid you had gotten lost." Fluttershy said.
"Good to see you didn't get lost." Spike said.
"Yeah, just what caused you to head off exactly?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"The Crusaders were having a little bit of trouble. Apparently Scootaloo bet her tongue wouldn't get stuck if she tried to lick one of those giant candy canes." I said.
"And did she win?" Rainbow Dash asked expectantly.
"No. I had to help get her tongue unstuck and then helped them get here." I said.
"Whatever, I bet she looked cool even if her tongue was stuck." Rainbow Dash said.
"Null? I'm looking for somepony named Null?"
Hearing someone call out my name, I looked back towards the curtain and saw a beige unicorn stallion with a scruffy black mane and tail whose cutie mark was that of what appeared to be a script with what appeared to be movie film wrapping around it. He was also holding multiple scripts in a gray aura.
"Um, that would be me!" I said, calling out to the stallion while raising a hand in the air. Looking over, the stallion saw me and came over to us.
"Wow, when Princess Celestia said to look out for a ball wearing a scarf with floating hands I thought she was kidding. I guess not." The stallion said. "Anyways, my name's Play Write, and I'm here to give you your script."
Play Write then levitated one of the many scripts in his aura towards me which I grabbed. The front page read "Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant" with my name right below the title.
"Ok, so what is it that I'll be doing?" I asked.
"You'll be helping out with the lighting and set pieces for the play. Mostly those up there." Play Write said as he pointed up towards a series of catwalks. There also appeared to be various set pieces made out of wood that hung in the air while attached to lengths of rope. "There's a little mechanism up there that allows you to raise and lower those pieces. Princess Celestia mentioned how you are able to levitate, so I assumed it would be best for somepony like you to handle everything up there without the risk of injury due to you falling off."
"Oh, ok." I said. I was kind of disappointed that I didn't have an actual part in the play, but I couldn't really argue with Play Write's logic.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Operating the technical stuff of a play is just as important as the actors. You help out by making sure everything needed for a scene is there and that the mood is correct for a scene by making sure the lighting is correct. Also, that script there is a little special compared to the others." Play Write said.
"It is?" Twilight asked.
"Yep. That script contains exactly what set pieces and what lighting is needed for every scene. Along with a few other useful notes." Play Write said.
Curious, I flipped through a couple of pages and saw that he was right. Right next to what scene was happening was a list detailing what set pieces and what kind of light was needed for that scene. There were also a few notes such as bringing down or bringing up pieces after someone said this or changing the light when something happens.
"Also, you don't need to worry about the mechanism up there being to complex to understand. Right next to all of those buttons and levers are labels saying what they control, whether it be moving a set piece down or just changing the lights. We had it implemented a couple months back and it's been a lot easier to manage the plays. Speaking of..." Play Write began before turning back to the crowd. "Alright everypony, places! We only have a few hours to rehearse, so let's make sure we get this right."
With that, everyone began rushing about to make sure they had what they needed, whether it be scripts, props, or just the costume they would be wearing. Play Write also headed off to assist with making sure everyone had what they needed.
"Well, he was a nice fellow." Applejack said.
"I'll say. I am sorry that you won't be able to perform with us Null, but I trust that you will be able to handle all of that technical stuff." Rarity said.
"Thanks Rarity. I should probably get up there and see what I have to work with." I said.
"No problem, if you ever need us, we'll be right below you." Rarity said.
As Rarity and the others began to get some of the things they needed for the rehearsal, I floated up towards the catwalk and managed to find the mechanism Play Write was talking about. Located on a decently sized platform that overlooked the stage, it was pretty much a console with multiple different levers and buttons that each had a label right beside them. Now that I was up here, I was able to see more of the set pieces that I would be working with ranging from a sun, clouds, and most importantly, a fiery pink heart which I had been seeing for the past few days. Other than that, there was a row of lights set up right beside the platform I was on as well as two rows that lined the left and right side of the stage. Looking at the console, there was a switch that would allow me to control either individual rows of lights or all of them at once, with there being buttons that I assumed would change the color of the lights. Finally, there were levers that were labeled with what set piece they controlled. Curious, I slightly pulled down a lever that was labeled "sun". As I did, the fake sun began to slowly lower down towards the stage before I pulled the lever back up, causing it to rise back into its original position. Now that I have gotten acquainted with what I'll be controlling throughout the play, I placed my script on a flat part of the console so that I would be able to easily read through it. As I did, I heard Play Write speaking from the front of the stage, ready to get the rehearsal underway.
"Alright, is everpony ready? Narrator?"
Spike came out from behind the curtain dressed in a somewhat fancy purple outfit with a white frilled collar and was wearing a purple hat that had a large orange feather attached to it. He gave a thumbs up with one claw while the other held his version of the script.
"Ready!" Spike said with enthusiasm.
"Good. Pegasi?" Play Write called out.
A collection of three pegasi walked out from behind the curtain wearing togas while wearing wreaths on their head. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy came out as well, with Rainbow wearing a costume that consisted of black armor with a yellow lightning bolt at the front and a gold and black helmet that had a black mohawk while Fluttershy's costume was similar to Rainbow's, however it was black and silver while the helmet was more hat like and had a pink mohawk at the top.
"Ready to go!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Um, I'm ready." Fluttershy said nervously.
"Ok. Unicorns?" Play Write called out once more.
A collection of three unicorns walked out from behind the curtain and wore costumes that were more medieval in design. Twilight and Rarity walked out wearing vastly different costumes. Rarity was wearing a purple and white cape that had what I assumed were fake purple gemstones embedded in the collar while wearing a silver crown that also had fake purple gemstones in it. Twilight on the other hand wore a worn out brown cloak and hood with a pale yellow rope tied around her neck.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Rarity said.
"Same here." Twilight said.
"Excellent. Earth ponies?" Play Write called out again.
Coming from behind the stage were three earth ponies wearing what could be best described as worn out clothes stitched together with rags and also wore hoods similar to Twilight's. Lastly, both Pinkie Pie and Applejack emerged from behind the curtain wearing outfits that were a little similar to Spike's. Applejack wore a brown outfit that had yellow puffy shoulders that also had a white collar while wearing a slightly pointy brown hat with a white feather being held on it with a yellow band that wrapped around it. Pinkie's had a similar color scheme except her's was more yellow and had a pink bow tied where her tail would be, had a frilly collar like Spike that was a light cream color, and wore a hat with a yellow rim and what oddly appeared to be a bowl of chocolate pudding at the center.
"Ready here!" Pinkie Pie said.
"Ah'm ready as well." Applejack said.
"Wonderful! Lastly, are you ready up there Null?" Play Write called out. In response, I gave him a thumbs up of my own.
"All set!" I exclaimed.
"Alright then! Now then everpony, let's make sure this goes off without a hitch. Without further ado, let's start the rehearsal!"
The next several hours were spent with us rehearsing the play roughly three times with small breaks in-between. Even if there were a few small hiccups here and there either in the form of someone forgetting their lines or during one instance were I accidentally lowered down some fake clouds and hit Rainbow Dash because I thought a scene transition was happening, everything went extremely well. Really, a lot of the mistakes made were in the first rehearsal and by the third rehearsal we were able to get through the entire play without a single mistake occurring. Everyone got used to their roles very quickly, and I was able to handle the controls for the set pieces with ease. Twilight was also right as the play went into a good amount of detail about the founding of Equestria, as I would watch and listen to the rehearsals while waiting for my cues to help set the next scene. As the hours ticked by, so too did the sun as it moved across the sky and eventually settled over the horizon as it was now only a couple of hours or so until Luna raised the moon.
After our final rehearsal, everyone was allowed to go out into Canterlot to relax or have an early dinner before the play started. After gathering around, Twilight and the rest of us decided to just get something small as we could eat after the play. And that small thing happened to be Joe's Donuts, who was happy to see all of us back. As all of us got a donut and enjoyed our time before the play began, I was somewhat surprised to learn that Twilight and Spike were regulars here back when they lived here in Canterlot and had been coming here since the first year the shop had been open. Right before we left to head back to the theater, Joe, seeing how I was friends with the others, told me to ask them about what happened the night of an even called the "Grand Galloping Gala" as he assured me I would probably get a laugh out of the story. I decided I would ask them about it on the train ride back to Ponyville as a way to pass time.
When we got back to the theater we found it was absolutely packed with ponies ready to see the play. Granny Smith, Big Mac, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had left during the rehearsals as I assumed they left to have some fun in Canterlot before the play, could now be seen in the front row with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo in the front while Granny Smith and Big Mac were behind them as they had a perfect view of what would be happening on stage. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and myself made sure to say hi to them before all of us went backstage to prepare. We all joined back together at the makeup booths as everyone around us was doing some final preparations for the play, either by making sure they had their costumes in perfect condition or just going over their lines. I myself was looking through my own script as Play Write had told me I would be allowed to have mine with me while I was up in the catwalks. I couldn't help but look up from my script as the others began to talk.
"I can't believe that Princess Celestia chose us to put on the most important play of the season! Do you guys know what an honor this is? For all of us?" Twilight exclaimed as Rarity, who was dressed up in her costume, was applying some blush onto Twilight's cheeks.
"Oh, I wish she hadn't honored me quite so much..." Fluttershy said as I began to feel her anxiety slowly building. "I can't go onstage! I don't want everypony looking at me!" Fluttershy then dove head first into a box filled with various fabrics and tinsel as her stage fright was starting to rise. Seeing this, Fluttershy was wrapped in Rarity's aura as she was levitated towards a chair in front of a makeup booth.
"Fluttershy, darling, there's nothing to feel nervous about." Rarity said as she tried to calm Fluttershy down while applying a little bit of makeup to her.
"Rarity's right. We rehearsed the play a few times today, and every time we did everyone did better and better to the point where I'm positive you'll do great out there." I said trying to reassure Flutershy myself.
"Really?" Fluttershy asked.
"Of course. Besides, all across Equestria ponies are preparing their own pageants for Hearth's Warming Eve in their own towns. It's tradition." Rarity said.
"So you're saying they'll be too busy to come to our play?" Fluttershy asked as her anxiety began to fade away.
"Well, no. We're in the Canterlot pageant, the biggest, most important production in all of Equestria. A lot of ponies will come to watch us." Rarity said.
"A lot?" Fluttershy asked as I began to feel her anxiety rise again.
"Hundreds." Rarity said.
"Hundreds?" Fluttershy asked as she began to become even more anxious.
"Um, Rarity? You might not want to-" I began before I was cut off by Rarity as she gasped in excitement.
"Maybe even thousands!"
Unfortunately, that assumption caused Fluttershy's anxiety to skyrocket as she dove back into the box from earlier. I gave a slightly deadpanned stare at Rarity had made Fluttershy even more nervous.
"Oops. Sorry about that." Rarity said as she rubbed the back of her leg. She would be interrupted as cold gust of air blew right by us and messed up Rarity's hair.
"Oh, my hair!" Rarity exclaimed while she tried to fix it. "Applejack? Be a dear and shut those windows, will you?"
Looking over, Applejack began to walk over to the window to close it, before she was interrupted as Rainbow Dash was looking in a nearby mirror and seemed to be cheering for herself.
"Aaah! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Aaaah! Thank you, thank you!" Rainbow Dash said as she seemed to be waving to an invisible crowd.
"It's a reenactment of the founding of Equestria. It's not the 'Rainbow Dash Show'." Applejack said while giving Rainbow Dash an annoyed eyeroll.
Rainbow Dash turned to look at Applejack as I felt her becoming somewhat irritated. "Well it should be the 'Rainbow Dash Show'! I'm the star!"
Started to get somewhat annoyed at the situation, I set down my script and began to make my way to the window before Twilight walked in front of me and started to try and pull Fluttershy out of the box she was in.
"Fluttershy, you've got to come out of there!" Twilight yelled as she was struggling to pull her out. It was at this moment that Spike arrived.
"Curtain in two minutes!" Spike said, though it appeared that everyone was ignoring him.
It was at this moment that the situation began to get somewhat hectic as Pinkie Pie began to try and help Twilight by pulling on her head only for her help to cause Twilight to begin to lose focus. Meanwhile another gust blew through the window and messed up Rarity's hair again, causing her to fix it once more. All the while Rainbow Dash and Applejack were still arguing about the play. Starting to get even more annoyed, I decided to calm down the situation the only way I knew how at the moment. After charging up a small Magic Sphere in my hand, I slammed it onto the ground which resulted in a loud bang that distracted everyone, which unfortunately caused Twilight to be pulled into the box with Fluttershy.
"Alright everyone, Spike just said the play starts in two minutes. So stop fighting and finish getting ready. Or else." I said menacingly as I charged another Magic Sphere in my hand to imply what the "else" was. Thankfully, the message got across as everyone began to rush to finish putting on their costumes and apply their makeup as I dismissed the Magic Sphere and went over to the window and closed it before floating back over to Spike.
"Was that really necessary?" Spike asked.
"Unfortunately yes. I don't think they would have been ready for the play otherwise. Now, let's go put on a play." I said with confidence before I floated up to the catwalk and towards the console. Setting my script onto the console and began to dim the lights to signal that the play was starting.
As the lights dimmed everyone in the audience began to quiet down so that they could focus on the play. As they did, I immediately began setting the scene, which really only involved lowering a set piece of a fire place down onto the stage that had a small fire lit within. Looking down, I saw Spike with his back turned against the closed curtain and looked up at me and gave me a simple thumbs up, showing that he was ready. Giving my own thumbs up back, I hit the button that was responsible for opening and closing the curtains and turned one of the spotlights towards the fireplace, illuminating both Spike and the fireplace. As the curtains were now fully out of the way, the play began as Spike turned towards the audience and began to speak in an accent.
"Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia, and before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria, ponies did not know harmony. It was a strange and dark time. A time when ponies were torn apart... by hatred!" Spike said, with the audience gasping at the end.
"I know. Can you believe it?" Spike said, though he leaned towards the audience while speaking normally before he straightened back up and resumed talking with the accent.
"During this frightful age, each of the three tribes, the pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies-" as he listed each race three members of said races entered the spotlight with me bringing down a set piece to accompany them whle I pued the fireplace back up: a few clouds behind the pegasi who were flying, a small hill on which the earth ponies stood on, and a cliff which the unicorns stood on top of. "cared not for what befell the other tribes, but only for their own welfare. In those troubled times, as now, the pegasi were the stewards of the weather. But they demanded something in return: food that could only be grown by the Earth ponies."
The pegasi floated down towards the earth ponies and held out their hooves, to which the earth ponies pulled out a bundle of fake fruits and vegetables and handed them to the pegasi. After which the pegsi flew up and began to push up the fake clouds, with me also pulling them up to make it seem like they were removing them.
"The unicorns demanded the same, in return for magically bringing forth day and night." At this the earth ponies brought out more fake crops to which the unicorns levitated towards them before they pointed their horns upwards with me bringing down the fake sun to signify them bringing about the day. After which, the ponies got onto the stage and off of the set pieces, which I quickly brought up, and stood together in the own groups while Spike continued to talk.
"And so, mistrust between the tribes festered until, one fateful day, it came to a boil. And what prompted the ponies to clash? 'Twas a mysterious blizzard that overtook the land, and toppled the tribes' precarious peace." At this, I hit a button simply labeled "Blizzard" and watched as white confetti drifted down from the rafters as stagehands (stageponies?) who were out of sight brought out fans that allowed the confetti to be blown about.
"The normally industrious Earth ponies were unable to farm their land and began to freeze." The earth ponies brought out what appeared to be dead crops and grass while looking at them with sorrow.
"The home of the pegasi fared no better as they began to grow hungry." The pegasi just simply held their stomachs while giving pained looks.
"And the unicorns were freezing and hungry, as even the unicorns' magic was powerless against the storm." The unicorns simply began shivering while holding their robes closer to them.
"Each tribe blamed the others for their suffering, and the angrier everypony grew, the worse the blizzard became. And so it was decided that a grand summit would be held to figure out a way to cope with the blizzard as each tribe sent their leaders." As the ponies walked off the stage I pulled down a lever labeled "Banners" while hitting the "Blizzard" button again to stop the blizzard and watched as three banners representing each tribe were lowered. The banner representing the pegasi was blue and featured a light blue pegasus whose wings were flared upwards with the flag also having light blue stars on it, the banner representing the earth ponies was split into four different sections and showcased a field of crops on a sunny day, while the banner representing the unicorns was similar to that of the pegasi's except it showed a white unicorn with a purple mane, was purple instead of blue, and had yellow diamonds instead of stars. As the banners were lowered, more stageponies brought out a table and set it down in the middle of the stage before they also walked off.
"Daughter of the unicorn king, Princess Platinum." A small fanfare was played as Rarity walked onstage.
"Ruler of the pegasi, Commander Hurricane." Another fanfare played as Rainbow Dash walked onstage.
"And lastly, leader of the earth ponies, Chancellor Puddinghead." A fanfare played by kazoos sounded off as Pinkie walked onstage.
"Perhaps the three tribes could finally settle their differences, and agree on a way to get through this disaster." Spike said as the three of them walked to the table and stood underneath their respective banners. They then took off their headwear and set it on the table before staring at each other for a few seconds before they began to argue, all of them talking over one another before they began to quiet down as Rainbow Dash began to talk.
"All I wanna know is why the Earth ponies are hogging all the food!" Rainbow Dash yelled out.
"Us?! We're not hogging all the food, you are!" Pinkie Pie said before her serious expression turned to a happy smile. "Oh, wait, you're right. It's us. Well, it's only 'cause you mean old pegasusususes are making it snow like crazy!"
"For the hundredth time, it's not us! We're not making it snow! It must be the unicorns! They're doing it with their freaky magic!" Rainbow Dash said as she pointed at Rarity who gasped at the accusation.
"How dare you! Unlike you pegasi ruffians, we unicorns would never stoop to such a thing! Hmph!" Rarity said.
"Well, if you non-earths aren't gonna stop using your weirdo powers to freeze us all, then I'm just plum out of ideas." Pinkie said as she crossed her hooves.
"What a shocker. An earth pony with no ideas." Rainbow Dash said.
"Commander Hurricane, please cease with the insults!" Rarity said.
"You're not the boss of me, your royal snootiness!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"I beg your pardon?! I am a princess! I won't be spoken to that way!" Rarity said as she put her crown back onto her head and began to walk off.
"Well, I'm leaving first!" Rainbow Dash said.
"No, I'm first!" Pinkie said. This went on for a few more seconds before they all left the stage at the same time.
"And the blizzard raged on. In the end, the summit of the tribes did not turn out as well as hoped, and the three leaders returned home to lick their wounds... and basically complain." Spike said as I brought the clouds back down along with various kinds of marble architecture. As I did Rainbow Dash got back onto the stage as Fluttershy walked onstage as well.
"Attention!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, causing Fluttershy to jump a little bit before holding her hoof to her head to salute. After a few seconds, Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed huff.
"Aren't you curious about how it went?"
"Oh, uh, Commander Hurricane, sir! How did it go, sir?" Fluttershy said as she put her hoof back down.
"Horribly! Those other tribe leaders are so disrespectful! Don't they realize that we are a mighty tribe of warriors, and should not be crossed? We have got to break ranks with those weak foals!" Rainbow Dash said.
"And how will we do that, sir?" Fluttershy asked.
Rainbow Dash put a hoof up to her chin before giving a confident nod. "Well, us pegasi don't need earth ponies and unicorns, we should find our own land and claim it in the name of all pegasi!" After which, Rainbow Dash walked offstage shortly followed by Fluttershy. After they left, I swapped out the scenery so there was a backdrop of what appeared to be the throne room of a castle. After which, Twilight walked onstage and stood at the center before Rarity walked onstage as well.
"Clover the Clever! I need you!" Rarity called out.
"Yes, your Majesty. Did the other pony tribes see reason as I predicted?" Twilight asked as she approached Rarity.
"Those other tribes are impossible! I, for one, can no longer bear to be anywhere near those lowly creatures. The unicorns are noble and majestic, and we will no longer consort with the likes of them!" Rarity said.
"How so your Majesty?" Twilight asked.
"Simple, by claiming our own land so we can live away from those pesky pegasi and dirty earth ponies. Surely we can figure out how to manage what the other tribes can do." Rarity said. After which, the two of them exited the stage as I once again changed the backdrop to that of a cabin while also lowering down the fireplace prop. After which, Applejack walked onstage and looked towards backstage, only for Pinkie to come down the chimney before walking up to Applejack. Thankfully this was a part of the script or I would have slightly panicked. I also asked Play Write earlier why this was in the play, with him answering that it was to help get across Chancellor Puddinghead's personality and way of thinking.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to use the door, Chancellor?" Applejack asked.
"Maybe for you, Smart Cookie. But I am a chancellor. I was elected because I know how to think outside the box. Which means..." Pinkie said as she stuck her head back in the chimney. "I can also think inside the chimney. Can you think inside a chimney?"
"Uh..."
"I didn't think so." Pinkie said as she got her head out of the chimney, causing Applejack to groan.
"Oh my gosh, hold on to your hooves! I am just about to be brilliant!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"That'd be a first." Applejack said under her breath, though still loud enough for the audience to hear.
"I have decided that the Earth ponies are gonna go it alone!" Pinkie said confidently.
"Aw, so you mean the other tribes didn't come around? Shoot... Ah' really thought we could get through to 'em if we-" Applejack said before being cut off by Pinkie.
"Don't worry about them. We're the ones with all the food, right?" Pinkie said.
"Actually, we're all out." Applejack responded.
"Fine, then we'll have to go somewhere new where we can grow some new food. And with me as our fearless leader, what could go wrong?" Pinkie said as her and Applejack walked offstage. After which, Spike began to speak once more.
"And so, with the desire to find a new land to call their own, the three leaders of each tribe and their closest associates set out in hopes of discovering and creating their own kingdoms. Along the way, each leader encountered various obstacles in their search, but eventually, they all arrived in a new and wondrous land. Nopony had ever seen paradise before." Spike said, prompting me to pull down one of the more major set pieces. After bringing down a backdrop of a sky filled with clouds, I also brought down a mountain set piece that also had fields in front of it. To the right of the stage I brought down a cliff similar to that of the on earlier in the play, except it had various fake gemstones on it. Lastly, a few stageponies brought out a small hill before rushing off. After which, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew in and stood on a platform that one of the fake clouds had.
"This is the new land we've been searching for!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"What a view... I can see my future house from here." Fluttershy said.
"I proclaim this new land to be..." Rainbow Dash said as she planted down a flag onto the platform that had the pegasi banner on it. "Pegasopolis!"
Soon after, Rarity and Twilight entered the scene as they were on the cliff.
"I've never seen such jewels! This ruby is dazzling. This whole land is dazzling. I'm double dazzled!" Rarity said as she let out a squeal. " In the name of the unicorns, I hereby dub this land..." Rarity said as she placed a flag with the unicorn's banner on it onto the cliff. "Unicornia!"
Finally, Pinkie Pie and Applejack entered the scene and stood on the small hill at the center of the stage.
"The air! The trees! The dirt! This dirt is the dirtiest dirt in the whole dirt world!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"And fertile, too. Perfect for growing food." Applejack said.
"In the name of the Earth ponies, I think I'm gonna call this new place, uh, Dirtville!" Pinkie said as she took off her hat and placed it upside down onto the hill.
"How about 'Earth'?" Applejack suggested.
"Earth! Congratulations to me for thinking of it." Pinkie said as a flag with the earth pony banner rose up out of the hat she placed down.
"We found our new home!" Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie exclaimed before they all realized the others were there and looked at each other with expressions of surprise, which gave way to expressions of rage.
"I planted my flag first!" Rainbow Dash yelled out.
"Did not!" Rarity said.
"Did too!" Rainbow Dash argued.
"I planted mine earlier than first." Pinkie said.
"All of you riffraff are trespassing in Unicornia!" Rarity said after letting out a small huff.
"The name is Pegasopolis!" Rainbow Dash argued.
"Earth!" Pinkie yelled out. This continued for a bit longer, with each of them yelling out the name of what was suppossed to be their new kingdom before Rainbow Dash broke the loop.
"I say we fight for the land. May the best pony win!" It was at this moment that I once again had to hit the "Blizzard" button once more, causing fake snow to begin to fall.
"That's barbaric. Clover the Clever, throw that brute into the dungeon!" Rarity said as Twilight was covered in Rarity's aura and held in front of her.
"What dungeon? Look, perhaps if we all calmed down..." Twilight suggested.
"I agree. Let's all calm down." Applejack said.
" I vote for calm." Fluttershy said.
"I'll have you court martialed for insubordination Private! We settle this on the battlefield!" Rainbow Dash said before she was hit in the face with a snowball. This caused Rarity to laugh before she was also struck in the face with a snowball, resulting in Rainbow Dash laughing.
"Who dares throw a snowball at royalty?!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Wait a minute..." Pinkie said before she looked at the snow that was falling. "Where'd all this snow come from anyway?" This caused the others to look around in confusion before Rainbow Dash had a look of dread and realization.
"Oh no. Not again." Rainbow Dash said. At this, I closed the curtains so me and the stageponies could help set up the next scene. Meanwhile, Spike continued to narrate.
"And so the paradise that the ponies had found was soon lost, buried beneath a thick blanket of snow and hard feelings. Instead of beautiful, it was blizzardy. Instead of wonderful, it was wintry! Instead of spectacular, it was snowtacular! Instead of-"
"We get it, move on!" A member of the audience yelled out as Spike was starting to get a little off track. After giving off a nervous chuckle, Spike resumed.
"Everypony was forced to seek shelter. They searched high and low, but the only shelter for miles was a cold and desolate cave. And, of course, the three tribes had to share it, and nopony was too happy about that." At this, I opened the curtains to show that the backdrop now showed an entrance to the outside of an icy cave as various fake rocks and stalagmites littered the ground. Currently huddled in the middle were the the others, the leaders having annoyed expressions while the others had somewhat awkward and nervous expressions.
"Please, Commander Hothead." Rarity said.
"It's Commander Hurricane." Rainbow Dash responded with an annoyed tone.
"Please, Commander, could you just stand back and give me my royal space?" Rarity asked.
"You mean like this, your highness?" Rainbow Dash said as she stepped closer to Rarity.
"Indeed not! You see this invisible line?" Rarity said as she tried to point out a line which resulted in Rainbow Dash rolling her eyes.
"Private, outline our territory for everypony to see." Rainbow Dash said, with Fluttershy drawing a line using a marker that could easily be cleaned. "See this real, non-invisible line? No unicorns or Earth ponies are allowed to cross it! This is the sovereign territory of Pegasopolis!"
"Clover the Clever?" Rarity said.
"Uh, Smart Cookie?" Pinkie asked.
"I know, I know." Applejack responded as her, Twilight, and Fluttershy all used markers to outline their races territory. However, as Fluttershy drew her line around a rock, Rainbow Dash rushed over to her.
"What are you doing? Don't go around the rock, go over it! I'm not giving up an inch of territory to the enemy!" Rainbow Dash said, only for the rock to be dragged over to Rarity as it was held in her aura.
"This rock is clearly on the Unicornia side of the cave, and it belongs to us!" Rarity said before whispering to Twilight under her breath. "Who knows? There could be jewels inside."
"I claim this rock for Pegasopolis!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew over and grabbed the rock.
"Unhand that rock this instant, you scoundrel!" Rarity said as she smacked the rock out of Rainbow Dash's hooves.
"Oh, look, you found my rock. I've been looking for it everywhere." Pinkie said before she grabbed the rock and went over to Applejack.
"Hey! You invaded our territory!" Rainbow Dash yelled out.
"Finders keepers, losers weepers!" Pinkie said in a mocking tone. That seemed to be the last straw as Rainbow Dash and Rarity began to chase each other around as they tried to get the rock, all the while they continued to argue. It was also at this moment that I once again hit the "Blizzard" button, causing it to begin snowing once more. Only this time, I also began setting things up for the finale as I switched one of the spotlights to a light blue color and began to aim it at the entrance to the cave on the backdrop.
"Look, everypony! The entrance, it's freezing over!" Twilight pointed out as the light covered the entrance.
"Great. Now there's no way out! We're trapped!" Rainbow Dash said.
"You two deserve this horrible fate. You've done nothing but argue and fight with each other!" Rarity said.
"You've been fighting too, your Highness." Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah! Worse! I haven't been fighting nearly as much as you!" Pinkie argued. It was also at this moment that I switched the colors of more of the spotlights and began to shine them at the three arguing leaders.
"How ridiculous! A unicorn never stoops to fighting!" Rarity said.
"That's just 'cause you wimpy unicorns know you'd never win!" Rainbow Dash said as the light began to shine on her. "Earth ponies are numbskulls!"
"Pegasi are brutes!" Rarity said as a light approached her.
"Unicorns are snobs!" Pinkie said as one last light approached her.
As all three light shone onto the three of them, the others let out gasps and sad sighs as their leaders were (in a sense) frozen. They then looked up and saw as pegasus actors who had been covered in light blue body paint and wore light blue cloth entered onstage and began to circle above them. As they did, they let out a scream and got closer to each other.
"W-W-What is that, thing?" Fluttershy fearfully asked.
"They must be, windigos!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Windigos?" Both Applejack and Fluttershy asked.
"My mentor Star Swirl the Bearded taught me about them. They're winter spirits that feed off fighting and hatred. The more hate the spirit feels, the colder things become!" Twilight explained.
"Then, this is our fault. We three tribes, we brought this blizzard to our home by fightin' and not trustin' each other. Now it's destroyin' this land, too." Applejack said dejectedly. It was also at this cue that I began changing the color of more lights and began to slowly move them towards the three of them.
"And now our bodies will become as cold as our hearts, all because we were foolish enough to hate." Twilight said.
"Well, I don't hate you." Fluttershy began to say. "I actually hate Commander Hurricane a lot more than I hate you guys." This resulted in both Twilight and Applejack slightly giggling at Fluttershy's remark.
"Actually, I don't really hate her, I just really, really, really dislike her." Fluttershy continued, causing Twilight and Applejack to transition from giggling to laughing. As they did, the lights began to shine on them, indicating that they were beginning to freeze.
"Well, I don't hate you guys either." Applejack said.
"Nor do I." Twilight said.
"No matter what our differences, we're all ponies." Applejack finished as the lights completely shone on them. After waiting a few seconds, I began to rapidly press buttons to begin the finale of the play, starting by shutting off the blizzard before lowering the the prop of the fiery heart. After which, I immediately turned off the lights shining on Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy with Twilight casting a spell on the heart to make it glow a bright pink. As she did, the pegasi flew offstage, signaling that the windigos had run off and also causing the three mares to look up at the heart.
"What was that?" Fluttershy asked.
"I didn't know unicorns could do that." Applejack said in amazement.
"I didn't either. Nothing like this has ever happened before. But I know it couldn't have been just me. It came from all three of us, joined together, in friendship." Twilight said as the three of them wrapped their front legs around each other. During which I immediately began to move the light shining on Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie away from them to show they were thawing as Spike began narrating for the final part of the play.
"All through the night, the three ponies kept the fire of friendship alive by telling stories to one another and by singing songs, which of course became the winter carols that we all still sing today. Eventually, the warmth of the fire and singing and laughing reached the leaders, and their bodies began to thaw. And it even began to melt their hearts." Spike said as I closed the curtains again as the stageponies and myself began to set up the scene from before the events of the cave. Once everything was in place, I opened the curtains one final time to reveal all of the girls standing on the hill.
"The three leaders agreed to share the beautiful land, and live in harmony ever afterwards. And together, they named their new land..." Spike said as Rainbow Dash placed down a flag pole on which a light blue banner with white stars that had Celestia and Luna flying around each other with the sun and moon in-between them.
"Equestria!" Shouted the girls, causing the audience to cheer as the performance ended.
For the next while, everyone began singing what I assumed was some one of the many carols that were sung during Hearth's Warming. I myself decided to watch from above as everyone seemed to be having fun singing, also because I didn't know a single word of any of the songs. Eventually, as the last carol ended, I floated down to the stage as everyone who assisted and performed in the play came onstage as well before we all gave a bow to the audience who cheered and threw things such as flowers onto the stage. After that, all of us headed backstage once again to get out of costume as the audience members began to leave, with the eight of us grouped back up at the makeup booths with all of us discussing how well the play went.
"We should be so honored that Princess Celestia chose us! She must really think we exemplify what good friends are!" Twilight said.
"I agree. All of us did pretty well if I do say so myself." Spike added.
"Hmhm. Ah' was more impressed with how Null was able to operate all of that stuff so easily. Ah' went up there earlier and all of those buttons and levers made my head spin." Applejack said.
"Honestly, once I figured out how all of those levers and buttons worked, it felt like second nature operating everything up there." I said. However, before I could continue, a cold breeze flew through the back as we all looked over to see that the window from earlier was open again.
"Null, didn't you close that window?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah, maybe someone opened it after we left. I'll just go close it again." I said as I made my way towards the window. However, right as I was about to close it, I froze as I heard what appeared to be an eerie roar that was carried along with the wind as well as a slight feeling of dread as it felt as though the room had gotten a lot colder. Looking out, all I could see were the streets of Canterlot as clouds began to form in the sky.
"Hey Null! Once you close that window we need to get back to Ponyville. A snowstorm is scheduled to happen pretty soon." Twilight said.
"Sure, just give me a second." I said as I looked back out the window for a bit before closing it. As I joined back up with the others, I couldn't help but think about that roar I heard, as well as I'm pretty sure I saw something flying through the clouds overhead.
> Chapter 9: A Frozen Hearth's Warming
After getting back together with the others we made our way to the lobby of the theater after making sure we hadn't forgotten to grab anything we had taken with us where the Crusaders, Bic Mac, and Granny Smith were waiting for us. When we joined up with them all of them, mostly the Crusaders, talked about how great the play was and how everyone did an amazing job playing their parts. At first the Crusaders were a little confused that I wasn't in the play because they never saw me onstage before I told them I had been up in the catwalk and was the one who was moving all of the background props and scenes. While they were amazed that I was the one moving the set pieces, we were soon reminded by Twilight that we needed to hurry back to the train station before the snow storm happened, prompting us to make our way out of the theater and out onto the streets of Canterlot.
In the short time since I had closed the window to us exiting the theater snow had begun falling from the dark clouds that filled the night sky above us. As we made our way through the streets, I noticed how there was hardly anyone outside as the amount of snow falling began to steadily increase as a light blanket of snow began to cover the ground. Even if there was hardly anyone outside, the lights shining through the windows of the shops and buildings we passed alongside some of the decorative lights that were put up made for quite an enchanting sight as the lights seemed to glow brighter as it began to get dark. This caused me as well as some of the others to slow down a bit to admire everything only for one of the others to redirect our focus to getting to the train station.
By the time we got to the train station several minutes later the snowfall was getting to the point where it was starting to get hard to see as the snow was falling at a rapid pace as the wind began to pick up. To say that we were relieved when we finally got to the train station was an understatement as it would have been easier to run with a blindfold on with how dense the snowfall was.
"Last train to Ponyville! I repeat, last train to Ponyville!" An earth pony stallion who I assumed was the conductor was yelling out.
"Wait! We're here, don't leave!" Twilight yelled out as we approached the conductor.
"Then all of you need to hop on quickly. All of you have your tickets, right?" The conductor asked, to which all of us pulled out a ticket for the trip back to Ponyville in response. The girls, Spike, and myself had made sure to get a ticket earlier today during our intermission so that we wouldn't have to worry about forgetting it when it was time for us to head back. I assumed the Crusaders, Big Mac, and Granny Smith had gotten theirs before earlier in the day, possibly when they themselves had gotten to Canterlot.
"I'll take that as a yes then. Now get on! I wasn't aware that the snow was going to be coming down this hard so we need to get moving before it gets any worse." The conductor said as he made his way towards the engine.
The rest of us entered an train car that was empty, meaning that we all had the car to ourselves. Soon, everyone had gotten seated close to each other in different groups with the members of the Apple family sitting together in one group with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo sitting together right across from them, Twilight, Spike, and myself sat together on the seat right behind Rarity and Sweetie Belle, and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat on the seat right behind Applejack and Apple Bloom. As soon as all of us had gotten settled into our spots, we felt the train car lurch forward as the train was began to leave Canterlot. As the train began to move, some of us looked out the window as the train left the station, though we could hardly see anything out the windows due to the snowfall.
Right after the train left everyone in the car began to talk to one another to pass the time. Applejack and the rest of her family talking about what they would probably have to do back at Sweet Apple Acres once the snowstorm passed, though Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were talking about some ideas they had to get their cutie marks that appeared to be inspired by the play, Rarity and Twilight were both reading a book they brought, and Rainbow Dash and Spike were staring out the window.
While I was tempted to get out Drago Wing's book to read through it some more, I instead decided to try and see if I could do anything else with my Magic Spheres. More or less to see if I was able to do anything new ever since I gained the ability to use them and also to see if I had grown stronger as well. As such, I created a small Magic sphere that was the size of a tennis ball and began messing with it. From making it grow bigger and smaller to trying see if I could move it around like my gloves. This went on for a while with me not really learning anything new besides the fact that I could now make Magic Spheres that I made grow bigger and smaller, even if it had the potential to be useful, I was kind of hoping for something new.
"Woah! What is that Null?"
I turned to see that Apple Bloom had come over to me and was looking at the Magic Sphere floating above my hand. She was soon joined by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who were curious as to what Apple Bloom was talking about.
"Yeah, what is that? Wait, is that something involving what you told us about how anypony can use magic?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"What are you talking about? Not everypony can use magic. While it has been confirmed that pegasi and earth ponies use magic passively, they aren't able perform magic at the same level as a unicorn or even an alicorn. Though I guess some species are able to conduct rituals that do involve magic, but even then those are extremely complex." Twilight said.
"Null told us that everpony is able to use magic by utilizing the... What was it? The "Four Matters"? Yeah, that!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
"Girls, that sounds like somethin' y'all came up with while trying to get your cutie marks." Applejack said as she appeared to become interested in the conversation.
"But it's true! Null told us about how the Four Matters work during our field trip to Canterlot, and how else do you explain what he's doing?" Scootaloo asked as she pointed at the Magic Sphere.
"What did he say about using magic?" Rarity asked as she peaked over her seat to look at us.
"Yeah! If he's saying that anypony can use magic, I would be able to make parties 10, no, 100 times more fun!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
At this point, almost everyone in the train car was looking at me for an explanation as to what I was talking about. I honestly wasn't expecting to talk about my magic knowledge with the others as I didn't think the CMC would talk about it in front of them. As such, I was nervous as I didn't want to reveal too much to them which could risk them finding out that I haven't been telling them everything.
"Seriously, this is a little bit silly. Whatever these "Four Matters" are, they don't exist. I've researched almost every single method there is to performing magic, and there is nothing like that involved with any of them. What do you think of this Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked Rainbow Dash who was still looking out the window. "Rainbow Dash?"
"Huh? Sorry, what where you talking about?" Rainbow Dash said as she turned her attention away from the window towards Twilight.
"I was asking you about what you think about Null saying that everypony can use magic using whatever the "Four Matters" are." Twilight said slightly annoyed.
"Really? So you mean I can cast magic like you? Cool." Rainbow Dash answered, though something wasn't right as I felt a little bit of worry coming from her.
"Rainbow Dash, is something up?" I asked as Twilight groaned at Rainbow's response.
"Yeah, you've just been staring out the window ever since we left Canterlot." Spike said as he stood up in his seat to look at Rainbow Dash.
"I guess? Ok, so here's the thing. I was assigned to the team that was to help put together tonight's snowstorm, right? All of us essentially went over everything we needed and then some to make sure that it would go exactly as planned. But, the thing that's bothering me as that we were preparing for a snowstorm way lighter than this. I don't know if somepony accidentally gathered a lot more snow clouds than what was needed and it was overlooked, but something just doesn't feel right about this."
"Yeah, now that you mention it, didn't the conductor say he wasn't expecting the snowstorm to be this bad?" Rarity asked.
Everyone stopped to think about this for a bit, though I was just happy to have been able to steer this conversation away from my magic. Though, I also couldn't help but think back to what had happened back at the theater, and that ominous roar that I thought I had heard. While It could have probably just have been the wind howling, I had this weird feeling that it was something else entirely. However, our discussion was cut short as the train began to slow down.
Looking out the window, it turns out that the snowfall wasn't as bad here as it was compared to the snowfall in Canterlot, even if it still was coming down a little bit fast. I saw that we were beginning to arrive in Ponyville as we began to pull into the train station.
"We can talk more about everything tomorrow. For now, I think maybe we should just get back before the snowing gets worse." Twilight said with everyone agreeing with her.
As soon as the train stopped and that we had made sure that everyone had gotten what they had brought with them, all of us got off the train one by one until all of us were on the train platform. After exchanging a few goodnights with one another, everyone began to head back to their homes with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo going with the Apple Bloom and the others back to Sweet Apple Acres so they could have a sleepover. Thankfully, Fluttershy and I didn't have too much trouble getting back to her cottage as we were still able to see the path out of town just fine. Though at times Fluttershy had to briefly fly over some patches of ice that had formed on the path in order to avoid slipping. As soon as we got back to the cottage, Fluttershy had me help her feed some of the animals who we hadn't fed before we left for Canterlot while also giving some of the animals blankets to help stay warm. While we did manage to get all of the animals fed, we were cutting it extremely close as the snowfall was starting to get worse as by the time we had gotten back inside the cottage for the last time tonight, it had started to become difficult to see through the snow.
"I honestly thought we wouldn't have been able to feed everyone before the snowfall got this bad." I said as Fluttershy and I got back inside her cottage.
"Hmhm. I do hope that they don't get too cold tonight." Fluttershy said.
"Yeah, but what Rainbow Dash said is still bothering me." I said as I thought back to what she had said on the train.
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked curiously.
"Well, she talked about how this snowstorm should not have been this intense. That, and I swear I saw something back in Canterlot before we left the theater." I said.
"What did you see?" Fluttershy asked.
"I honestly don't know. I thought I heard something howling, but it was probably just the wind. But the thing is, I think I saw something moving in the clouds, but I couldn't tell exactly what it was. All I saw were the clouds shifting in a certain area as though something was moving through them." I said.
"Really? That doesn't sound too good." Fluttershy said as I began to feel her getting nervous.
"Well, it might actually just be nothing. After all, it was starting to get dark so my eyes could have been playing tricks on me." I said in an attempt to calm her down, which thankfully it seemed to work.
"Hopefully. Oh, that reminds me, would you mind telling me more about what the Crusaders were talking about anypony being able to use magic?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well... um..." I stammered as I wasn't expecting her to bring this up. "Well.. you see. The thing is..."
"Oh. Is it something you don't want to talk about?" Fluttershy said as she seemed to pick up on me struggling to come up with an excuse to not talk about it.
"Well... yeah. I don't really want to talk about it. It was just something the Crusaders brought up on our way back to Ponyville when they were asking as to why I was able to levitate and it just sort of went on from there." I said.
"I understand. You can tell me and the others when you feel like you want to." Fluttershy said.
"Thank you." I said, glad that Fluttershy was the Element of Kindness. If it was anyone else, they probably would have tried to force me to talk about it with Applejack being the Element of Honesty and apparently being able to tell when someone was lying, Pinkie being the way she was probably would have guessed and gotten it correctly, and Twilight probably would have just drilled me with questions or have me undergo more tests. Though at least she suspected that the Four Matters were made up.
"Now then, we should head to bed for tonight, and hopefully this snowstorm will have passed when we wake up tomorrow. Good night, and happy Hearth's Warming to you Null." Fluttershy said as she began to head up to her room.
"Night, and happy Hearth's Warming to you as well." I said.
After she headed up the steps I went over to the couch only to pause for a second as I looked at the one blanket I used to bundle up while sleeping. Considering that it was probably going to be even more cold than usual, I looked around for a bit until I managed to find two more blankets to use to help me keep warm. Once I found them, I went over to the couch and bundled up with the three blankets as best as I could before turning my head towards the window and watched the snow falling outside. All the while I still kept thinking about what I thought I saw and heard back in Canterlot as I my eyes began to become heavy as I drifted off to sleep.
Why is it so cold.
Those were the words I thought to myself as I had woken up in the middle of the night. Even though I was wrapped up in three layers of blankets, I felt myself shivering at how cold it was. After laying on the couch for a few more minutes and decided that I probably wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, I unwrapped myself from the blanket cocoon I had made to see if a window was somehow left opened as that could have been the only reason as to why it was freezing. I first checked the window right beside the couch only to find that it was still closed. Though it looks like the snowstorm had gotten worse while I was asleep, as the only thing that could be seen outside of the window was a white haze. Continuing on I checked the other windows in the living room and the ones in the dining room and kitchen only to find that they were also closed.
Finally, I decided to head up to the second floor which consisted of a hallway with a few doors and windows lining the walls and a few picture frames that were hung on the walls. Checking the bathroom located in the hallway, I found that the window there was empty as well as the ones in the hallway before moving on. I didn't really need to check the next two doors as they were mostly just storage closets that held either cleaning supplies or items used to help treat animals. Reaching the end of the hallway, I opened the door to Fluttershy's room and peaked inside. Her room gave off a somewhat cozy feeling with there being a single bed situated in the middle of the wall right across from me with a nightstand to the left of it and a small chest right in front of it. To the right of it was a stone fireplace, though judging from the smoldering wood the fire had been out for a while and there was a door on the opposite wall that led to her personal bathroom. Finally, other than a few birdhouses hanging from the ceiling, there were three windows: one to the right of Fluttershy's bed and two on either side of the fireplace.
Looking inside, I saw that none of the windows were open, though I did notice that Fluttershy appeared to be shivering in her bed while she was sleeping. Closing the door quietly to avoid waking her up, I went back down to the living room somewhat confused. Even if all of the windows were shut, it was still freezing inside the cottage, either meaning that there must be a hole somewhere that was allowing a draft to blow through, or it was just that cold outside. Deciding I should just try and go back to sleep, I went back over to the couch to wrap back up, only to notice that the pile of blankets that I left appeared to be shivering.
"What the?" I said as I floated over to the blankets. Slowly, I began to lift up one of the blankets, only to find a small white ball of fur shivering underneath all of the blankets.
"Oh, it's just you Angel." I said.
The bunny in question turned back to look at me with a small glare before grabbing the blanket I was holding with one of his paws and yanking it back down over him.
"Angel, seriously? I know it's cold, but I need to wrap up as well." I said in response to the blanket hogging bunny.
Angel just poked his head out from the blankets and continued to glare at me as though he didn't care. I was about to start talking again, only for me and Angel to hear something that stopped me from saying anything and startled Angel to the point his glare was replaced with a terrified expression.
An all to familiar roar that seemed to echo inside the house, just like the one I heard back in Canterlot.
"You heard that too, right?" I asked Angel with the bunny nodding in confirmation.
Heading over to one of the windows that faced the path from the cottage to the split to the Everfree Forest and Ponyville, I tried my best to see if I could spot anything. At first, I couldn't see anything, but I began to see something strange as I began to squint. It appeared that the wind and snow seemed to be swirling around far down the path as though a small tornado had formed. I heard the roar again, and it sounded like it came directly from where the wind and snow was swirling.
I decided that I needed to investigate just what exactly was going on, even if it meant going out in probably 0 degree weather.
"Angel, I need you to do something for me." I said as I turned towards Angel. "I need you to go to Fluttershy's room and try and keep both her and yourself as warm as possible. I'm going out there to try and see just what is causing the snowstorm to be this bad."
Angel looked at me as though I was crazy before he shrugged and grabbed all of the blankets on the couch with his paws and proceeded to drag them up the stairs with him. Turning to the door, I mentally prepared myself for the cold as I grabbed the door knob and opened the door which was immediately flung open due to the wind. Grabbing the door handle on the opposite side, I struggled a bit before I finally managed to fight back against the wind and closed the door shut.
Turns out, compared to how cold it was inside the cottage, it was somehow even colder out here to the point I felt like I would turn into a block of ice in seconds. Putting a hand in front of my eyes to help block the wind and snow, I squinted to try and find the swirling winds that I saw earlier. Eventually, I managed to find it far down the path, possibly at the crossroads between here, the Everfree Forest, and Ponyville. Slowly floating towards it and fighting against the wind, I found myself almost being blown away by sudden surges of wind as I concentrated on making it to the crossroads. It also didn't help that the my scarf kept hitting me in the face multiple times.
What felt like hours to me but was probably just a couple minutes later, I finally managed to arrive at the small tornado of snow. Thankfully as I was getting closer, it became easier to see it through the haze, making it harder for me to lose sight of it. The tornado itself seemed to surround the crossroad itself as it was big enough to be several meters wide. Looking at it, I once again heard that eerie roar once more, and it definitely sounded like it was coming from inside the tornado, though it also sounded like it was coming from above as well. Meaning that if I wanted to find out what was causing this, I either needed to fly up and into the tornado, or find a way to go through the wind. While the first option seemed like a safe bet, I would probably just be tossed away by the wind before I could even make it to the top. Which meant the second option.
Looking at the tornado, I tried to see if there was anyway that I could somehow break through the wind. Curious, I decided to try and reach my hand out to see if I could easily pass through it. It worked, if only for a second before I felt as though I was pressing against a wall that was hidden by the wind, prompting me to pull my hand back out. I then tried my second option: ramming it. I floated back a couple of feet before I charged straight for the wind as fast as I could which yielded a somewhat better result as I felt myself pushing against the wall of wind before I felt myself being launched back and into the snow. Somewhat annoyed, I dusted the snow off before going with the third option: just firing a Magic Sphere. Charging up a small one in my hand, I fired it at the tornado expecting it to just be swept up by the wind, only for something interesting to happen.
The Magic Sphere appeared to part the wind and the wall made by it, making it seem like I had just punched a small hole within the tornado before it sealed back up again. Trying again, I fired a slightly bigger one this time and was meant with the same results, though with a bigger hole this time. Confident that this was the answer, I knew what I had to do. I began to charge up a Magic Sphere for a little bit and, through a little bit of concentration, managed to create a Magic Sphere just like the one that ended the fight against Spike. Aiming it carefully, I fired it at the tornado before immediately rushing after it as the Magic Sphere created a hole big enough for me to fit through that I practically dove through before it managed to close up as I entered the tornado.
After landing quiet roughly onto the snowy ground I got back up and dusted some of the snow off of myself before I looked around as I found myself in the eye of the tornado. The eye was bigger than what I had thought it would be as it was probably 40 or so meters in diameter with the split of the path being right in the middle, the wind inside of the eye was a lot calmer than outside of the tornado and was more akin to a strong breeze, and there wasn't any snow at all as in there was no snow on the ground leaving the grass and path exposed and there wasn't any snow falling from the sky. While looking around, I heard the roar once again directly above me which prompted me to look up. Flying in circles high above me was something that was shrouded in dark gray clouds that were constantly emitting snow that was sucked up into the tornado as the creature flew. Judging from this and that the roaring was coming from this, it was clear that whatever this thing was what was making the snowstorm this bad, and I had to stop it.
"Hey!" I yelled out towards the thing to get its attention, though it didn't seem to notice as it kept flying.
"Hello?!" I yelled again, once again not getting any sign that the thing had noticed me yelling, which meant only one thing to do to get its attention.
Charging up a Magic Sphere in my hand, I paid attention to how fast the thing was flying as I waited for my chance to present itself. After a couple of more seconds, that chance appeared.
"I SAID HEY!" I yelled as I launched the Magic Sphere skywards.
The Magic Sphere rushed quickly towards the thing covered in clouds, though my goal wasn't to hit it, just to gain its attention. Which I managed to do as the Magic Sphere flew past the mass of clouds prompting it to halt its flying as it appeared to have been startled. I saw that it began to look around for a bit before it looked down as it saw me in the middle of the crossroads and upon seeing me dove down towards the ground before the mass of clouds hit the ground causing a rush of air to assault me as I did my best not to be flung back out of the tornado. As the wind died down, I watched as the clouds began to peel off and floated towards the tornado and were sucked up into its winds as what was being covered by the clouds was slowly revealed.
The thing was that of a spectral looking horse that was entirely pale blue in color, though it did give off a faint white glow. While it did have two long front legs that had small wisps of clouds surrounding its hooves, it didn't have any back legs to speak of as the back half of its body trailed off as it flowed behind it in an invisible breeze like Celestia and Luna's manes. It's mane was also like this as well with it flowing in a similar manner as literal clouds of cold air seemed to be emitted from it. Then there were its eyes, which were glowing white and had no pupils or irises to speak of. Lastly, it was HUGE. Easily bigger than Celestia as it glared at me while it was towering over me.
Looking at it as it continued glaring back at me, I couldn't help but feel as though I should know what this thing was. It definitely looked familiar, but I was struggling to remember where I had seen something like this. Eventually, I suppose it was because of the constant cold air coming from it and the fact that it seemed somewhat spiritual, I remembered what this thing was and where I had seen it before.
The thing in front of me was a windigo, and there were two reasons as to why I recognized it. The first reason was because of the Hearth's Warming play back in Canterlot. The second reason was that I had read about them. During the first couple of weeks since I arrived here I mostly read books that talked about Equestria in order to learn more about this world. One of those books went over some of the more rare and mythical creatures that called Equestria home, one of these creatures being the windigos. I remember reading that windigos apparently fed off of negative emotions in a similar way that I converted negative emotions into energy and that their control over wind and snow were was immense. It stated how they were mindless creatures driven only by their hunger for conflict and an intense desire to freeze everything solid.
That's why I was shocked when it started talking.
"What peasant dares to interrupt me while I am creating the perfect storm?" The windigo said. Its voice was somewhat loud and had some force to it, though it also sounded male and had a posh accent to it.
"I'm sorry, what?" I said as I wasn't expecting the windigo to talk.
"Hmph. Does thou not even have the knowledge to grasp the meaning of my words? A true peasant indeed." The windigo continued.
"What, no. I do. I just wasn't expecting you to talk is all." I said.
"I should feel insulted at thy assumptions. Even more so that you are not quaking in fear in my presence! Why are thou not quaking?!" The windigo exclaimed.
"Well... you're not really the scariest thing I've seen." I said as I thought back to my experiences with Discord and Kirby. "Anyways, backing up, what do you mean you're creating the 'perfect storm'?"
"Thou art curious? Why it is simple: I have experienced a great tragedy and the world must know my pain!" The windigo exclaimed.
"What tragedy?" I asked.
"That is for me to know and thou to never find out. Now I have a question for thou. What are thou doing here in the middle of my storm and interrupting my work on my masterpiece?" The windigo asked.
"Well, since I know that the thing causing this storm is actually intelligent and not a mindless creature, you need to stop." I said.
The windigo then burst into a small bit of laughter as it took in what I had said. "Hahaha. And why should I? Like I hath already explained, the world deserves to suffer like I have!"
"Seriously, if you keep this up, you could end up causing a lot of people and animals to get severely sick, or even die from hypothermia if you keep causing this storm!" I yelled.
"And why should I care? I don't know or care about a single one of these ponies or animals here, so thou hast no reason as to why I should stop." The windigo explained.
I couldn't help but think about just how much this windigo was making my nonexistent blood boil. I have had a lot of people wear me in the past that were almost just like him, those that only wanted power for themselves and hardly cared about those beneath them. I had made absolutely sure that they received a horrible end after I possessed them and ensured that they would never be able to get back to where they were before. As for the windigo, I know had one good reason as to why it should stop.
"I do have on reason." I said.
"Oh? And what wouldst thoust reason be?" The windigo said.
"You either stop making this storm, or I will personally make you." I said as I glared at the windigo.
"Really? Thou thinks that thou can make me stop. Why, thou is an even bigger idiot then I-" The windigo started to say, only for me to launch a Magic Sphere right at its face. It obviously did a little bit of damage as the windigo wasn't expecting me to attack it so suddenly.
The windigo staggered back a bit due to the unexpected attack before looking at me with shock. "Thou... thou wouldst dare strike me?!" The windigo yelled as I felt its anger rise.
"There's going to be more of that if you don't stop." I said as I charged up another Magic Sphere in my hand.
"Thou isn't a peasant... thou is a scoundrel that deserves to be put to death! I shall freeze thou and keep thou as an ice sculpture after my art is complete!" The windigo said as the wind began to pick up around it.
"Not unless I take you down first." I said.
The windigo let out a roar before it flew past me and to the middle of the storm's eye where it glared at me with intense hatred. I answered back with a glare of my own as I charged up another Magic Sphere in my other hand. For a few seconds, there was nothing but the sound of the wind blowing around is as both of us dared the other to make the first move. Deciding that I should be the one top start the fight, I rushed forward, ready to take the windigo down.
Spirit of Ice and Snow
Windigo
I began by firing both Magic Spheres while rushing forward though the windigo sidestepped both of the spheres easily before rearing its head to its side before flinging it forward, causing a concentrated blast of cold wind to shoot towards me. I quickly jumped over it before firing off another Magic Sphere and managed to land a direct hit on the windigo's side as it attempted to sidestep again only to be a little too late. It once again fired off another blast of cold wind that I jumped over again, though this time it immediately reared its front hooves up after firing the blast before slamming them back down onto the ground creating a shockwave of wind that I wasn't expecting resulting in me getting hit by it and being launched back quite far before I hit the ground. Getting back up, I couldn't help but shiver due to how cold the wind was.
"Is that really all thou has? Thou are a fool to think thou can win against me." The windigo taunted as I got back up.
I didn't answer as I went back to rushing towards it with the windigo scoffing in response before firing another blast of wind followed by another shockwave. Thankfully, I was prepared this time and dodged to the side of the blast of wind before jumping over the shockwave while charging another Magic Sphere before firing it. I managed to hit the windigo as it was trying to launch another blast of wind so it didn't see the projectile coming as it was hit and staggered back. I took this opportunity and fired off another few Magic Spheres with a couple managing to hit the windigo before it dodged out of the way of the others. This repeated at least twice more before the windigo did something unexpected. After being staggered once again and dodging out of the way of the Magic Spheres, I watched as icy wind began to surround the windigo before it let out a roar as the wind peeled off of its body and formed a small tornado of ice and snow that began to slowly approach me. While that didn't seem like an issue at first, I soon discovered that the tornado was actually tracking me as when I tried to move away from it the tornado changed directions so that it would keep moving towards me.
"This is really starting to get tiresome. Regardless, this should surely aid in finishing thou off." The windigo said before it sent another blast of wind at me. I managed to avoid it by dodging to side but I immediately had to dodge again as I almost ended up going into the small tornado chasing me.
From then on the fight started to get a little harder as even though the windigo was mostly repeating the same attacks from earlier, I had to be careful or else I would wind up running into the tornado. This unfortunately caused me to get hit a few more times as I was too focused on dodging the tornado before noticing too late a blast of air or a shockwave coming right for me. Eventually, finally getting tired of the tornado, I remembered what my Magic Spheres did to the wall of the tornado before I charged up a large Magic Sphere and the fired it at the tornado chasing me and managed to successfully destroy it.
"Impossible! The winds of mine own work are flawless! Flawless I say!" The windigo shouted in response to me destroying its mini tornado.
"I guess they're not as flawless as you think if I managed to get in here." I said.
"Thou, thou has cheated! There is no way that a mere peasant is capable of destroying my art! Cheated! Cheated! Cheated!!!" The windigo yelled as it began stomping its front hooves down onto the ground repeatedly as it kept accusing me of cheating while throwing what I assumed was a tantrum.
Taking my chance while the windigo was distracted, I began charging up a Magic Sphere between my hands, letting it grow as big as it could. When I felt that it couldn't grow any bigger, I launched it towards the windigo, landing a direct hit on its face which resulted in it slumping down, obviously not expecting me to attack during its tantrum. Following up on this, I continued launching Magic Sphere after Magic Sphere at it to capitalize on the opportunity. Finally, I charged up another big Magic Sphere in my hand before rushing towards the windigo and swung my hand upward, slamming the Magic Sphere right into its jaw. This had the effect of launching the windigo upward a little bit before it fell back down onto its back.
"Thou, thou has chea- ack!" The windigo said before it looked up as I was floating right in front of its face with another charged up Magic Sphere ready to blast it again.
"I'm not going to ask this again. Stop making this tornado and this storm, or else." I said.
"Thou, thou wants me to stop this tornado?" The windigo asked.
"Yes." I responded.
The windigo seemed to think this over for a few moments before letting out an annoyed huff. "Fine, I will."
I slowly floated away from the windigo's head as it slowly got back up on its hooves while giving me annoyed glare. I didn't need to feel its emotions to know that it was pissed at me managing to get the upper hand and winning the fight, but I couldn't help but feel something besides anger at the moment. The windigo reared up its head before letting out a loud roar. After a couple of seconds, I witnessed the winds making up the tornado slowly begin to slow before dissipating entirely, letting me see everything outside the tornado was covered in a blanket of snow that was roughly a foot or so thick. In addition, the harsh winds I had to brave in order to reach the tornado had also greatly died down with snow flakes slowly falling out of the sky.
"Alright, now just get rid of the rest of the storm." I said while I looked around, only to feel myself launched several feet away and into the snow as a freezing blast of air hit me while my back was turned.
"HA! Thou honestly believed I would take orders from a peasant?! I think not! I shall continue to let the world know my suffering, though this time I think I will move everything to that small town over there. That will do quite nicely."
I barely had enough time to look up from the snow before seeing the windigo surround itself once more in clouds before taking off into the sky and towards Ponyville. While I slowly brought myself out of the snow and dusted off my outfit once again, I heard the windigo roar once more and saw as another small tornado appeared in the middle of Ponyville. While the winds here at the crossroads hadn't kicked back up again, I could tell that even from a distance the winds in Ponyville had grown turbulent. Looking back towards Fluttershy's cottage and seeing in the distance that it seemed to be ok, albeit covered in a thick layer of snow, I steeled myself and began floating my way towards Ponyville as fast as I could.
To say I was mad was an understatement, as I felt that if my anger was made manifest it would begin melting away the snow I was floating over. I was mentally slapping myself in the face for not realizing that the other thing I was feeling in the windigo was just a small amount of deception. I guess it had been so long since I have been around anyone that had been actively trying to deceive those around them that I forgot what feeling deception was like. I suppose compared to Applejack who was capable of telling when someone was lying, I could only tell when someone was lying if they were actively trying to maliciously deceive their target. Hanging around ponies who weren't actively trying to maliciously deceive someone for half a year tend to really throw off one's lie detector. That and being stuck on a dragon's head for a few centuries who also didn't lie tend to do that.
I couldn't help but stop and float in place for a bit as I began thinking a little deeply. I've been in Equestria for half a year now with what I was considering true freedom as I am not sealed within the Master Crown or possessing someone with there eventually being a chance that I would lose possession and be stuck within the crown again. In a body of my own no less, even if it was a copy of Magolor's. Speaking of which, I can't help but still wonder what happened to him. Who knows where he is and what he's doing? ...
I shook my body to clear my mind as those thoughts could be saved for later. At the moment, I had a windigo I needed to stop from turning Ponyville into a glacier. I went back to rushing towards Ponyville as I slowly began to feel the wind picking up speed. When I eventually reached Ponyville's outskirts, the wind was back to how it was when I had exited Fluttershy's cottage, thankfully I had braced myself already for the winds so I wouldn't go flying.
Oh and holding on to the end of my scarf with my hand would definitely stop it from slapping me in the face continuously.
I slowly began making my way through town while keeping my eyes on the tornado so I wouldn't lose track of it in the storm. It was a little difficult making it through the various streets as random surges of wind blasted down the streets, threatening to blow me out of town. Thankfully, I could tell when the surges were about to happen as the wind began to get a lot louder right before a surge happened. This gave me enough time to either duck behind a stray wagon or barrel that had miraculously not been blown away by the wind. If there wasn't any of those around ducking into a nearby alley or between some of the houses also helped as well.
It took some time, but I eventually made myself to the new tornado that the windigo had started up which it had decided to create right in front of the Golden Oaks Library. I watched as the tree's leaves were dangerously rustling, though were surprisingly not being torn off by the tornado right in front of it. I could also see that a small glow coming from one of the upper windows of the library, probably coming from a candle or something that Twilight forgot to put out before heading to bed.
Slowly and steadily making my way towards the tornado, I had to duck behind more barrels and wagons as the surges of wind started to become more frequent. I actually got caught up in a couple of them as I didn't get to cover in time before a surge shot out of the tornado and launched me a fair distance away. Eventually, I managed to reach a wagon right next to the tornado that had somehow not been blown away by being right next to it. Figuring that I would have to repeat what I had to do last time to enter the tornado's eye, I began charging up a large Magic Sphere while waiting for a chance in between wind surges to fire and dash into the hole it would make. Once I was confident a surge wouldn't randomly happen, I quickly shot the Magic Sphere while making a mad dash towards the tornado. The Magic Sphere struck the tornado and created I hole that I dove towards, only for it to immediately close up and a wind surge to launch me several feet away and behind a wagon. The snow barely cushioned the impact from the force of the surge.
"Ow. I guess it really doesn't want me getting in again. I barely had enough time to get through the hole I punched." I said as I waited behind the barrel. I once again slowly made my way back towards the wagon right beside the tornado and began to do some testing by launching one large Magic Sphere at a time. The results were the same as the hole almost immediately closed after it was formed.
I was starting to get frustrated, but then I thought of something that could work. It would be pretty draining, but it was worth a shot. Charging up a large Magic Sphere in my hand, I waited until it could no longer get any bigger before charging up another one in my hand and letting it charge as well as I was now holding two large Magic Spheres in my hand. I felt my own mana reserves within my mana pool greatly drain from the effort, but thankfully it wouldn't take long for the mana to regenerate itself.
"Well, here goes nothing." I said.
When I was positive there wasn't going to be another surge, I rushed forward and immediately tossed a Magic Sphere at the wall, watching as it opened up a hole. Immediately after, I dove towards the hole while launching the second sphere as it rushed towards the hole and into the hole as it prevented it from closing. I made it through the hole right as it closed and found myself in the eye of the storm. Looking around, I saw that there were wagons and barrels scattered about the ground that probably got caught in the middle when the windigo when it created the tornado. Speaking of which, I looked up and saw the windigo flying above me as it kept the tornado going.
I didn't waste any pleasantries as I immediately launched a Magic Sphere at the windigo, watching as it crashed into the windigo causing it to fall out of the air and crash into the ground as the clouds surrounding it dissipated revealing that it had fallen on its side. It slowly began to get back up as it eyes seemed to glow more fiercely.
"Who dares- HOW?! How did thou get through my wind?!" The windigo practically screamed at me.
"I gave you a chance earlier to stop this storm, and considering you shot me while my back was turned and proceeded to create another storm in the middle of town, it only make sense I come to make due on what I promised earlier." I said while giving the windigo the sharpest glare I could. Unfortunately, I probably wasn't that intimidating.
"I obviously wasn't going to listen to a lowly peasant such as thou. Thou has no power over me." The windigo said smugly.
"Considering I easily knocked you down earlier, I would beg to differ you spoiled brat." I responded.
"Brat?! BRAT?!" The windigo yelled. I immediately felt its anger shot up as it appeared to have pushed a particularly sensitive button.
"Considering that really childish tantrum you threw earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't one. How old are you? 4?" I said as I decided to keep pushing that button to see if I could get what it was wired to explode.
"You... you... YOU WORTHLESS SCUM!!!"
And there was the explosion.
"I will freeze your body, turn you into a sculpture, and then shatter it so that I will never have to see your horrendous face again!!!" The windigo yelled as its anger practically exploded as wind began to surround its body.
The fight started once again as the windigo flung its head towards me and launched a blast of wind before immediately slamming its front hooves on the ground and creating a shockwave. I was able to move aside from the blast quickly before floating over the shockwave before launching a Magic Sphere at the windigo. Unfortunately, it seemed to have predicted this as the windigo sidestepped out of the way before launching two more blasts of air at me. I dodged the first one but barely managed to avoid the second one as I felt the blast rush right above my head, barely missing me.
This continued on for a bit before the windigo decided to make things more annoying as the wind around its body peeled off of it, creating not one but two mini tornados that slowly began to approach me. Not wasting any time I charged up a large Magic Sphere and launched it towards one of the mini tornados and watched as it was destroyed. Unfortunately, this allowed the windigo to get a hit in as a shockwave launched me into the air before I fell right back onto the ground. I couldn't waste any time as I got back up again and charged up another large Magic Sphere and launched it at the remaining mini tornado that had been only a couple of feet away, destroying it.
"I will launch the broken remans of thou's statue into the farthest corners of this world!" The windigo yelled as the wind around its body began to swirl around it violently.
It took me a second to realize what it was doing as I heard the wind began to get louder. Taking action as quick as I could, I dove behind one of the wagons right before a massive surge of wind shot out of the windigo in all directions. If I hadn't been behind cover, I would of surely been blasted into or out of the tornado. Peeking around the wagon, I saw that the surge appeared to have slightly drained the windigo was slumped forward and was panting. Its eyes kept darting around in what I was assume was it seeing if I had been launched outside of the tornado. After waiting a bit, the windigo eventually seemed to assume that I had been flung out of the tornado by the surge as it began to catch its breath.
"HA! It was only a matter of time before thou fell to my might! After I finish up this storm I will search for thou's frozen body and smash it to pieces." The windigo exclaimed as clouds began to slowly surround its body. Before it had a chance to take off back into the air, I charged up two large Magic Spheres and launched them at the windigo right as it was about to fly back up. The spheres crashed right into it, breaking its focus and greatly dazing it as the clouds around it scattered and were sucked up into the tornado.
"Oh you wish!" I yelled as I rushed out of my hiding spot, firing more Magic Spheres at the windigo with all of them finding their mark.
I once again reached the windigo and performed the same little trick as last time with me charging up a Large Magic Sphere before slamming it right into the windigo's jaw. Though it appeared it was slightly more prepared this time as while its head jerked upwards from the hit, the rest of its body didn't flip like last time. I only had a second to look up at its eyes as it felt the windigo's anger spike before seeing it flick its head downward as a blast of wind slammed me into the ground. As I bounced back up from the force, I watched the windigo rear its head to the side before launching another blast of wind directly at me, launching me back as I hit a barrel. Due to the force of the blast I actually shattered it and continued straight through it before I hit a wagon and dropped down onto the ground.
I was definitely hurting from that as I felt the backside of my body hurting. Compared to being burnt by Spikezilla, it wasn't too painful, but enough to know that I was probably going to be sore for a while. I slowly brought myself back up as my levitation was a little bit shaky as I tried to regain my sense of balance. Looking over to the windigo, it was in pretty rough shape as well as it was panting heavily again.
"Thou is a cockroach that keeps showing up at the most annoying of times! And I possess the pesticide to get rid of you!" The windigo yelled as once again it began charging up another massive surge of wind. I quickly dove behind the wagon I hit and began charging up two more big Magic Spheres right as the windigo released the surge.
As soon as the surge ended I popped right back out of cover and flung the spheres towards the windigo. It tried to dodge them, but it was obviously extremely winded as one still hit it right in its face while the other hit its side. Its front legs buckled as it began breathing quite heavily. I began rushing towards it again, a large Magic Sphere in my hand before it did something I wasn't expecting. It let out a loud roar as it raised its front hooves which were quickly covered in a thick layer of frost before slamming both of its hooves down onto the ground. Expecting a shockwave, I immediately floated as high as I could to avoid it, only for my eyes to widen in shock as there wasn't a shockwave. Instead, glowing spots of icy blue light with wind swirling around them appeared in front of the windigo and all around the inside of the tornado. Thinking quickly, I launched my Magic Sphere at the windigo, only for large icicles to shoot out of the glowing spots with the one in front of the windigo blocking my Magic Sphere. I was surprised to see that instead of being shattered, the icicle only had a few small cracks from where the Magic Sphere hit it.
"I... I have had quite enough of thou ruining my masterpiece. If thou won't stop following me, then I will simply flee to somewhere that thou would be an even bigger fool to follow me. A place where I can finish my work with no interuptions!" The windigo exclaimed as it heavily panted. It then slowly stood back up while still panting before it reared its head up to the sky and released a roar, once again causing the tornado around us to die down and eventually disappear, revealing that the winds had calmed down and everything was covered in a blanket of snow a foot tall.
After the tornado completely died down, I could only watch as clouds once again surrounded the windigo as it took off into the sky from behind the icicle and began to circle around for a bit. After a couple of seconds of circling, it eventually took off with it eventually disappearing from sight. I slowly began to catch my breath as I looked over at the icicle that blocked the powered up Magic Sphere. I was trying to wrap my head around how it could have blocked the blow before I heard a familiar voice call out to me.
"Null? Is that you? What just happened, where's that giant tornado from earlier, and why are you surrounded by a bunch of icicles?"
Looking over towards the library, I watched as Spike who was wearing the scarf and gloves he had gotten for his birthday slowly yet surely make his way through the snow towards me. Deciding to make it a little easier on him, I floated towards him before we were right in front of each other.
"Spike? What are you doing up this late?" I asked.
"I was too excited to sleep for Hearth's Warming so I've just been staying up reading comics. Then that tornado appeared out of nowhere and everything got colder somehow. I went to check on Twilight and saw she was freezing so I covered her with as many blankets as I could." Spike said before I interrupted.
"Why didn't you wake her up?" I asked.
"I woke her up early one time by accident and she was extremely cranky. Trust me, a cranky Twilight is almost as bad as "Want It Need It" Twilight. Anyways, I kept watch on the tornado before I saw it dispersing and rushed to get out here, though it did take a bit to open the door with all of the snow though. Anyways, like I was asking, why are you out here?"
It took me a bit, but I explained to Spike what exactly I've been doing since I woke up in the middle of the night. From me waking up shivering, going inside the first tornado and meeting the windigo, the windigo and I fighting, it taking off and creating another tornado in Ponyville, and finally me fighting the windigo again and it taking off. I also explained how the icicles were created by the windigo and how they easily withstood being hit by a large Magic Sphere.
"Wait, hold on. You went into a tornado?"
"Yes."
"Found out a windigo was behind this storm and fought it?
"Yep."
"Managed to win against it the first time but it was a sore loser and created the tornado earlier. In which you then went into and fought it until it fled?"
"Sounds about right."
Spike took a few seconds to think over everything before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. "Null, I may not be Applejack, but even I can tell that is probably the most ridiculous lie I have ever heard. Windigos haven't been seen in thousands of years, why would one randomly show up and cause a storm?"
"First off, yes, it does sound farfetched but it is true. Secondly, all it said was that it had suffered some sort of "tragedy" and that it wanted to share its suffering." I responded.
"Seriously Null, there wasn't a windigo and it certainly didn't cause that torna-" Spike said before he was interrupted by a familiar roar coming from the direction of the Everfree.
Quickly looking at each other, we sped off towards the edge of town, though I had to pick up Spike as he was struggling to get through the snow. I simply held onto his claws with my hands as he dangled below me roughly a half foot above the snow as I floated as fast I could. Thankfully, he wasn't as heavy as I thought he would be. We eventually reached the edge of town with me setting down Spike and saw that another tornado had appeared this time, though it appeared to be deep within the Everfree Forest.
"Well, I when it said that it was going to find someplace I wouldn't follow it into, I was not expecting it to be the Everfree. Seriously, I barely encounter any trouble going in there from time to time." I said.
"Ok, that roar sounding right before a tornado appeared is purely coincidental and it was not made by a windigo." Spike argued.
"Didn't that same roar sound off right before the one in front of the library appear?" I countered.
"We can discuss this later!" Spike said as I could feel a little bit of frustration growing within him. "But that tornado being in the Everfree is bad!"
"Why? It's just the Everfree, and who knows, maybe the windigo might end up freezing some of the more dangerous flora and fauna in there." I said.
"Null, don't you remember? Zecora lives in the Everfree!" Spike exclaimed.
It took me a moment to process what Spike had said before I slapped myself in the face. Of course even when the windigo tries to create a storm someplace I wouldn't follow it, it still somehow creates one near the only zebra not bothered by living in the Everfree. If I showed up again, it was probably going to come down to another hard fight, and considering it took me a bit more effort to break into the tornado last time, it was going to be a lot harder to break in this time to get to the windigo. Not wasting any time, I grabbed Spike's claws and began floating the two of us as fast as I could into the Everfree.
"Null, what are you doing?!" Spike exclaimed.
"Going to see if the windigo is willing to not make another storm tonight. If not, well I might have to fight it again." I said.
"There is no windigo!!!" Spike exclaimed.
As we entered the Everfree, I was pleasantly surprised to see that while the winds were still decently strong, it wasn't bad to the point where I was fighting against them. In addition, the forest canopy of the Everfree prevented a lot of the snow from floating down onto the ground and creating a thick blanket of snow, allowing me to set down Spike so that he could walk. Despite it being well into the dead of night, possibly even really early morning, everything was quite as there was no other sound other than the wind and Spike walking along the path. I could definitely tell it was going to be a bit before we got to the tornado, so I thought it would do well for us to talk about some thing to past the time. Plus, I was curious about a couple things and Spike could definitely do with something to keep his mind distracted. I could feel a small amount of fear coming from him as even though he was denying a windigo was causing this storm, he could definitely tell something was off considering how he seemed to keep listening for anything that could jump out of the foliage yet everything was still pretty quite.
"So..." I said to break the silence. "How has that whole crush on Rarity been going?"
"What? Oh... that. The thing is, after the whole "Spikezilla" incident, Rarity and I talked about me having a crush on her. She talked about how it was really sweet, but she also sort of explained that it wouldn't really work." Spike said as I could feel a little bit of sadness from him.
"Really?" I said.
"Yeah. It was mostly along the lines of how she was a lot older than me and how I would probably end up living a lot longer than her as I'm a dragon. I've already had the whole talk about that when I was younger, but I guess I really didn't think about it." Spike continued.
I actually remember reading about a dragon's lifespan in Drago Wing's book. Supposedly dragons can live hundreds to thousands of years depending on what sort of life they have. According to the book the current Dragon Lord, which was apparently a sort of ruler over the dragons, has lived pretty much lived well over a millennium, becoming the Dragon Lord right after Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. I couldn't help but feel bad for Spike, as much as I wanted to talk to him that living for centuries isn't as bad as it sounds, barring the time I spent on Landia's head, I couldn't really get into it and risk revealing something.
"But, even then, I guess she helped me sort of get over it. She said that there was probably a good chance I could probably still find somepony or somecreature to love. And we're still friends afterwards, unlike some of those really awful breakups and rejections I sometimes saw back in Canterlot."
"Really? How bad?" I asked.
"Worst I've probably seen was when a stallion walked into day court and proclaimed his undying love to Celestia. She refused, but he kept coming back almost every day court afterwards spouting nonsense about them being soulmates and what not. Missed a day court where he came in and didn't see him again. Want to know why?" Spike said as I saw a smirk form on his face.
"Why?" I asked, indulging his request.
"Turns out that he came in that day and proclaimed that unless he and Celestia were wed, he threatened he would shut down Celestia's School for Gifted Foals using his own "connections". Considering how important that school is to Celestia, you can understand that she got really mad. From what I heard, he was thrown out of the castle and Celestia ordained that if he ever set foot in day court again or threatened to take down her school, then he would be stripped of everything that made him a noble. Afterwards apparently he claimed that he would go up north to try and find something that would surely woo the princess into marrying him. Last I've heard of him was that he apparently did leave Canterlot, but he hasn't been heard of again. I'd tell you his name, but unfortunately it's been a couple of years since that whole ordeal and I can't really remember it." Spike said.
I was honestly stunned. From the brief encounter I had with Celestia after the "Want It Need It" incident, she genuinely seemed somewhat like the calm and collected type, and sort of like a mother figure to Twilight. To hear that she actually threatened to strip a noble of his status after making a threat he probably couldn't follow up sort of shone a new light on her. However, I did have one question on my mind.
"School for Gifted Foals? I thought Twilight said it was the School for Gifted Unicorns?" I asked. Shortly after the field trip to Canterlot and getting to know the Crusaders a little more, I was curious as to how the girls got their cutie marks. So I asked them and was surprised that Rainbow Dash performing her first sonic rainboom as a filly lead to all of the girls getting their cutie marks. Twilight explained that shortly after she got hers is when Celestia took her up as her personal student and she was allowed to attend the School for Gifted Unicorns.
"Oh right, you wouldn't know about this. Celestia sent a letter to Twilight the other day how she finally got managed to convince the school board to allow all foals to attend the school so that they can further develop their talents. She explained that was why she planned on changing the school's name. That reminds me, you never did explain about that "Four Matters" thing back on the train." Spike said.
That caught me off guard as I was hoping Spike would have forgotten about that whole thing. And unfortunately, we weren't close to the tornado yet nor was there anything really interesting around us so I couldn't easily direct the conversation away from my magic. I was trapped between either not wanting to talk about my magic which could raise Spike's suspicion about me not wanting to talk about it, or I tell Spike and risk him finding out a lot more than I'm letting on. Either outcome was definitely not in my favor.
"Um... well... you see the thing is..." I said as I rambled on.
"Null, come on. It's not like your hiding anything serious from me and the others right?" Spike said jokingly.
"Oh, yeah. Definitely not." I said while giving a nervous chuckle.
"Ok, I was joking about that. Are you really hiding something crazy from us?" Spike said as he began getting a little serious.
I was backed into a corner, and unfortunately Spike had eliminated the option of me just saying that I didn't want to talk about it. Which left the other option. Hopefully if I told Spike he wouldn't get too curious and keep prying. Well, here goes.
"Ok, I will admit, there is something that I don't want to talk about with you all. It's, something I really don't want to talk about with you all as it's very personal. Yes, I know how my magic works, I told the Crusaders and everyone else on the fieldtrip because I assumed that if they told their parents or whatnot that they would just chalk it up to them having an overactive imagination and would ignore it. The reason I've been allowing Twilight to test out my magic even though I know how it works is that, well, my situation is weird. I honestly didn't know how much my magic is affected by my situation and the tests allow me to figure out more about how my magic currently works." I said as I began explaining some things while still doing my best to hide my past. From there, I also gave Spike the same speech about how magic utilizing the Four Matters work as the one I told the foals on the field trip. During everything, Spike just listened to every word while we continued down the path.
"So, your saying that everyone can use magic by utilizing those Matters? And the only reason you haven't told Twilight is because your still figuring out how your magic is currently working due to your situation which you don't want to talk about?" Spike asked after I finished.
"Yes. That, and from what I've seen, my kind of magic is a lot more powerful than the kind normally used by ponies. I've seen my kind of magic used by those who desired to become mad tyrants and rule over others with an iron fist, only to be brought down by their own hubris and lust for power. There were some who used it for good, a lot who used it for good, but it was only a matter of time before someone showed up wanting to rule over everything. Spike, I'm begging you, please don't tell Twilight and the others about this." I said as I pleaded to Spike.
Spike seemed to mull it over a bit before eventually answering. "Fine, I won't. On two conditions."
"What conditions?" I asked.
"First, you have to Pinkie Promise that you will tell the girls about this eventually. Or else I will immediately tell them everything you just told me. Deal?" Spike asked.
"Ugh... Deal. And the second condition?" I asked as I begrudgingly accepted the deal. As Spike said, if I didn't, he would just turn around and immediately tell the girls which would ultimately lead to me having to reveal everything.
"When you get comfortable enough with your magic, I want to be included when you teach the Crusaders." Spike said.
"Wait what? Why?" I asked in surprise.
"You explained during that whole spiel about how the Crusaders wanted to learn magic from you. I want to be taught as well when you teach them. That, and I sort of have been feeling left out when the girls are taking on some of the big threats. They took on Nightmare Moon, Discord, and a bunch of smaller threats together. I want to be able to help them and not be left behind like I can't take care of myself." Spike explained.
I mulled it over a bit. The main reason I turned down the Crusaders' request was because my magic was still incredibly weak. Now that I had it back, I was still learning how it worked in detail, that and I still needed to try and find the shards of the crown to get some answers about those dreams. I eventually decided.
"Ok, it's a deal. But I can't guarantee it." I said.
"Now make a Pinkie Promise." Spike said.
"And how do I do that?" I questioned.
"Just say "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." while doing this." Spike said as he took a claw and drew out an x on his heart before holding his palm open and making a motion of sticking something in his eye. "And if you break a Pinkie Promise, you will regret it."
"Forever!"
My eyes widened as I quickly looked around as I swore I heard Pinkie Pie just now. "Did you just hear-" I began to say before I was cut off.
"I thought you would have learned living in Ponyville for half a year to not question Pinkie Pie. Twilight went crazy once trying to. Now, make the promise." Spike said.
"Alright, alright. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I said as I recited what Spike had said and performed the same motions he did. I guess this meant that I was pretty much bound to this deal, meaning I had to tell the girls some things eventually. Not everything, as I still didn't want to tell them about my time in the Master Crown. "Let's get a move on. We're close to the tornado."
We were actually. A couple of minutes after our conversation, we eventually found the tress around us slowly becoming less and less dense before we came to a giant opening in the trees. Going through it, we found ourselves in a large clear area where the tornado was going strongly as well as the wind since there weren't any trees blocking it. Looking towards the sides of the tornado, I could make out what appeared to be some sort of ravine running behind the tornado. On the other side, I was surprised to see brick walls and towers laid into and on the side of the walls. Unfortunately, that was all I could see as the tornado prevented me from seeing everything else that it was blocking.
"Alright, now for the difficult part. Blasting a hole into the side and confronting the windigo. Hopefully one last time." I said as I began approaching the tornado.
"Null, seriously, a windigo is not causing this." Spike said. "And what do you mean blast a hole into the side?"
"Well, the previous two times, I launched a large Magic Sphere into the tornado to punch a hole into it which I then dove through to get to the eye. It took firing two in succession for the second time, and it's possible this one's going to be even harder." I said. Testing to see if I was right, I charged up two large Magic Sphere and launched them at the tornado, only for them to simply slam into the side and dissipate as the icy wind resisted the attack. "Yeah. I guess it incorporated whatever it did with those icicles into the tornado so I can't break through."
I couldn't help but start thinking deeply about the whole icicle thing. Those icicles had to have been made with extremely strong ice magic considering my Magic Sphere only cracked it when it hit it. It was obvious by now that windigos had mastery over ice and wind, probably a natural affinity those elements. How else could this one create tornadoes likes this one so effortlessly and toss wind and ice magic like they were nothing. The only real way to break through barriers of ice magic was with a powerful blast of magic or by using a spell strong against ice or wind magic. In this case a fire spell would probably be the best way, but I'm not able to use fire magic. Spike could but that was mostly his fire breath which was probably too weak to even damage the...
My eyes widened as I thought of something. Something so simple and effective that it would work perfectly.
"Spike, come here!" I shouted. "I know how to break through the tornado."
"How?" Spike asked as he came over to me.
"Spike, when I start charging up a Magic Sphere, I want you to breathe fire onto it." I said.
"Why would you want me to... Oh. OH!" Spike exclaimed as he realized what I was thinking about. "Do you think it will work?"
"Hopefully. Now, start fire breathing!" I exclaimed.
As I began charging up a large Magic Sphere, Spike began breathing fire onto the orb of dark element magic. The result was the green flames of his breath mixing with the crackling red energy of the Magic Sphere as it slowly began growing bigger and bigger. When it got as big as it could and Spike stopped his fire breath, the middle of the sphere was filled by blazing green light as red sparks could be seen mixing inside of the sphere with the flames. Meanwhile, green flames danced along the red edges of the sphere, making it look like a miniature red and green sun.
"Woah." Spike said in awe.
"Alright Spike," I said as I held the burning Magic Sphere in one hand and hefted him onto my back with the other. Surprised by this, he quickly grabbed onto my ears while doing his best to wrap his legs around me. "You better hold on tight. Once a launch this I'm diving through, and whatever happens I need you to hold on to me, ok?"
I could feel a little bit of nervousness and fear as Spike looked from me to the tornado in front of us and then back at me. He took a deep breath as I felt he was steeling himself for what was about to happen. "Ok."
"Alright. Then hold on tight!" I yelled as I charged towards the tornado as Spike held on for dear life as I felt his claws dig into me. Even though the claws were over my outfit, they still stung a little bit as Spike held on.
Right as I reached the edge of the tornado I threw the Magic Sphere at the tornado and watched as it punched straight through it, leaving a massive hole in the tornado. Not wasting any time, I dove through the hole with Spike yelling as he held on. We safely made it into the eye of the storm with seconds to spare as the hole began closing right after we made it through. Interestingly enough, the Magic Sphere also punched a hole through the other side of the tornado as well as another hole was closing up. Looking around I saw that only a couple of boulders were strewn about the inside of the tornado which could be useful if the windigo decided to do that massive wind surge again. I felt a light tapping at the top of my body as Spike was trying to get my attention.
"Null, what is that?" Spike said as he pointed up.
Looking up, I saw he was looking at the windigo who was surrounded by clouds as it circled high above us. However, I saw as it looked down and saw its eyes widen even from down here.
"HOW?!!" The windigo yelled out as it began descending.
"That Spike," I said as the windigo made it down to the ground as the clouds around it dispersed, leaving the very exasperated, yet from what I could also tell very angry, windigo leering at us. "Would be the windigo I kept telling you about."
I looked up and saw Spike's mouth hanging open as he was without a doubt shocked at what he was seeing. "Ok, I take it back. You were telling the truth about the windigo." Spike said.
"How has thou broken through some of my best work yet?! It should be impossible! Outlandish even! And thou has even brought another peasant to disgrace my presence?!" The windigo exclaimed as he noticed Spike hanging onto me.
"Peasant?" Spike asked.
"I don't know about that one. I suppose he only sees others as lesser than him which is why he calls others peasants." I said.
"Peasant doesn't really apply to me and Twilight considering we grew up in Canterlot. Mom is an editor for some writer who she won't tell us about and dad's a very successful historian. Both of them individually make a lot of bits, and throw in the fact Twilight was taught under Celestia herself, and we're pretty high up there in Canterlot's society. Not enough to be nobles, mind you, but our family is pretty well off." Spike explained.
"Wow, yeah I can definitely see that." I said.
"Are, are thou both ignoring me? And why isn't the other peasant shivering in fear? Shiver I say!" The windigo exclaimed.
"Spike, you nervous?" I asked.
"Eh, I was originally when I first saw the windigo come down, but considering how it's acting like an everyday spoiled noble, I'm not really that intimidated." Spike said.
"WHY YOU LITTLE!" The windigo shouted out as it flung a blast of wind towards us.
I reacted as fast as I could as I dodged out of the way of the blast as Spike yelled a bit at the sudden attack. The windigo was practically seething as I felt its anger reach a boiling point as it began to glare at us like it was trying to burn a hole through us while it aggressively pawed at the ground with its hoof. It wasn't messing around anymore, so neither should we.
"Alright Spike, like I said, just hang on to me no matter what. I'll focus on dodging its attacks while you just focus on breathing fire on Magic Spheres that I'm charging up, ok?" I asked.
"I... I can't believe we're about to fight a windigo." Spike said as I could feel him getting nervous. "You swear that you won't let me get hit?"
"I promise." I said.
"Ok, let's do this then." Spike said as he gripped onto me a little tighter.
I nodded in agreement as I formed Magic Spheres in both of my hands before charging at the windigo. I launched both of them right as the windigo launched a blast of wind at me with one Magic Sphere colliding with the blast causing both of them to disperse before the other one rushed towards the windigo. It sidestepped the second one before it launched a shockwave of wind at us that I floated over before having to dodge two more blasts of wind. I fired a couple more Magic Spheres, this time deciding to feint it a little bit as I shot a Magic Sphere to the right causing the windigo to dodge to the left, right into another Magic Sphere I launched immediately after the first one. We watched as wind began to surround the windigo before it let out a roar as three mini tornadoes were created and slowly began approaching us.
"Yeah, no. I'm not dealing with that. Spike!" I said as I held my hand up while charging up a Magic Sphere.
Spike immediately complied by breathing flames onto the Magic Sphere while I was charging it. After I was done charging, I began moving around so the tornadoes would follow me until they were all lined up perfectly. All the while, I had a few more close calls with being hit by wind blasts and shockwaves. When they were all lined up with the windigo behind the last one, I fired the Magic Sphere and watched as it tore through the first one, then the second, and finally the third one before hitting the windigo and creating a small explosion of dark magic and green fire. When the smoke dispersed, the windigo could be seen slumped forwards as it had been stunned by the attack. Taking the initiative, I began firing Magic Spheres as quickly as I could with Spike also deciding to join in by burning the windigo with his fire breath. After a couple of seconds, the windigo released a loud roar as it regained its focus as wind began swirling around it with it getting louder by the second.
"Null, what is it doing?" Spike asked.
"Duck and cover!" I yelled out as I dove behind a nearby boulder as quickly as I could. Spike simply did his best by pressing himself against me to make himself a smaller target.
The windigo let out a loud roar as a massive surge of wind swept across the field. I watched as a couple of smaller boulders were blasted out of the tornado due to the sheer force of the wind that hit them. Thankfully, the one I ducked behind was big enough to withstand the surge.
"Holy Celestia, we would have been blasted out if that hit us." Spike said.
"Yeah, but now, we can- ack!" I had started to say as I floated out from behind the boulder only to be hit straight in the face by a blast of wind with the blast also slightly hitting Spike.. The windigo had been prepared and launched a blast right as we came out from behind cover. Since Spike obviously wasn't prepared, I felt Spike lose his grip on me as I was flung a few feet away while Spike simply fell down back behind the boulder we used for cover.
"Null!" Spike yelled out.
"I'm coming, hold on!" I yelled back. I began to float towards before I saw clouds gather around the windigo.
"I shall force thou out of my masterpiece, BY ANY MEANS NECCESSARY!" The windigo yelled as it was completely covered in clouds and began rushing towards me. I quickly dove out of the way as the windigo rushed past me and into the tornado were it followed the winds upward before leaping out above me. I quickly dove out of the way again as the windigo slammed down where I was, creating a large shockwave of wind that slammed into me and Spike, pushing me further away and slamming Spike into the side of the boulder. "But first, I shall teach thou a lesson for ignoring my presence!"
I watched as the windigo began charging up a blast of wind and was aiming straight for Spike. "Spike, move!"
Spike looked up and saw the windigo charging up the blast before taking off right after the windigo fired the blast as it hit right were Spike was before. It continued firing blast after blast while Spike was doing his best to avoid the blasts before diving right behind one of the boulders that hadn't been blow away. As the windigo began to make its way closer to Spike I made the quick decision of charging two big Magic Spheres before floating above the windigo and slamming both of them onto its back, forcing the windigo onto the ground. I quickly made my way to where Spike was and saw him curled up behind the boulder.
"Spike!" I yelled as I grabbed onto him and set him on my back where he held on once again.
"Null, that was way too close! You said you wouldn't let me get hit!" Spike exclaimed.
"I wasn't expecting it to be ready right when we popped out. Speaking of which, I need your fire again." I said as I began charging another Magic Sphere with Spike breathing his flames on it. When it was done charging, I rushed out from behind the boulder and immediately fired it towards the windigo as it launched a blast of wind at us. The Magic Sphere broke through the blast and hit the windigo right in the middle of its face and creating another small explosion. When the smoke cleared, the windigo was staggered it once again.
I rushed towards it before my eyes widen with surprise as the windigo almost immediately recovered from being staggered as it let out another roar as glowing icy spots of wind appeared around the eye of the storm. In addition, it began covering itself in clouds once more.
"Get, out, of, my, SIGHT!" The windigo yelled as it charged toward us.
I quickly dodged out of the way while doing my best to avoid the glowing spots on the ground as the windigo rode the winds up again and leapt into the air above me. I quickly made my way out from under it while floating as high as I could as the windigo came down and slammed its hooves into the ground launching the shockwave of clouds as icicles shot out of the glowing spots. The windigo had landed right where there were a bunch of the icicles around it, almost blocking it on all sides as it was slumped over and was panting extremely hard.
"Spike, it's now or never!" I said as I began charging up two large Magic Spheres. Spike immediately began fire breathing on both of them and it took no time at all before both spheres were completely charged and lit with green flames. "Don't mess with Ponyville you brat!"
I launched both spheres at once and watched as both of them shattered through every icicle they went through before breaking through a couple surrounding the windigo and slamming right into it, creating twin explosions of red and black sparkles and green flame. I floated back to the ground as we both waited for the smoke to clear and reveal the outcome of the attack. When it did, the windigo, was laying down on the ground, its body covered in scorch marks as it was heavily breathing.
"Did, did we win?" Spike asked.
"I..." We both looked on as the windigo was struggling to pick itself back up with both of its front legs heavily shaking. "I... will not accept being defeated by peasants. Peasants who are destroying my work."
The windigo slowly rose up once again, though it was hunched over and breathing heavily as its front legs wobbled, struggling to hold the it up. "I swear, I will freeze both of thou solid, shatter thou into tiny pieces, and throw you into the the depths of-"
"ZEALOUS SUNCHASER, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA'S FAT FLANK!"
All of us froze as a loud voice sounded out from above us. Looking up, my eyes widened as something shrouded in clouds slowly descended from the sky and eventually reached the ground. The clouds floated away, revealing another windigo. The new one looked almost exactly the same as the one we were already dealing with, except this one was pale green in color instead of the pale blue the first one was. There were also small streaks of pink and blue in its mane as it flowed behind the windigo's head. Its voice, if the same one from earlier belonged to this one, was feminine and had a somewhat authoritative tone to it.
"I swear we turn our backs for one moment and you just up and leave without saying a word and I find you creating a storm close to a settlement? What you were thinking?!" The new windigo yelled.
"But, but I have been dealt a great injustice and the world needed to know my misery." The first windigo said.
The new windigo simply put one of its front hooves in on its face as a loud groan escaped from it. "Zealous Sunchaser, I swear if this is because I turned down you asking me out to a date after you kept asking me over and over again..."
"Zealous Sunchaser... Why does that name sound familiar?" Spike said.
Spike saying his thoughts out loud caused the new windigo to look over at us with its eyes wide.
"Um, hi." I said as I did a small wave.
"How's it going?" Spike said as he also waved.
The new windigo looked back towards the first as I felt its frustration skyrocket. "Zealous, why is there a dragon and whatever that floating thing is that is obviously sentient inside of this tornado? Also why are you burnt?"
"They, they attacked me for simply making my art. And I felt that I needed to protect myself and-" The first windigo said before the new one put a hoof out to silence it.
"Zealous, change out of your Storm Maker form this instant." The new windigo said.
"But-"
"NOW!"
The first windigo simply hung its head as pure white clouds appeared out of thin air and began swirling around it for a bit as I watched the windigo become smaller and smaller. When the clouds dispersed, in the windigo's place was a unicorn stallion with a sky blue coat, icy blue eyes, a pure white mane and tail that were both done up in a similar style as the ones I saw some Canterlot nobles having, and a cloud under the sun with the cloud being covered in gold coins as his cutie mark. However, the stallion had a faint white glow around him and seemed slightly faded as I could sort of see straight though him if I looked hard enough. Finally, small white clouds flowed off both of his hooves, the back end of his mane, and the end of his tail.
"No way! Null, it's him! The stallion I told you about who tried to constantly woo Celestia and threatened to close down her school! That other windigo reminded me of his name! But, how is he a windigo?" Spike said as he pointed at the windigo who was revealed to be Zealous Sunchaser.
"Is that so?" The new windigo asked as it overheard Spike. Meanwhile, Zealous was shaking a bit as the new windigo just learned of this information. "Zealous, I want you to head back to Snowrise as I will deal with you when I get back. Is that understood?"
"B-but-"
"Is that understood? Or so help me when I get back and you aren't there I will personally drag you to the elders and have them personally deal with you." The new windigo repeated, though this time she sounded slightly more threatening.
"Y-yes." Zealous stated as he kept shaking as I felt his fear skyrocket at the mention of whoever these "elders" were.
"Then go." The new windigo ordered.
Zealous looked one more time over at us before back to the new windigo and nervously gulping. Gray clouds surrounded Zealous before he took off into the air and out of the tornado through the top to wherever Snowrise was. After he was gone, the new windigo let out a loud roar as the tornado around us died down before completely dispersing. In addition, the skies above us began to slightly clear as a lot of the storm clouds began to disperse, revealing the night sky above us with the moon shining its light down on everything. Since the tornado was now gone, I could see that only a think blanket of snow covered the ground as well as some of the boulders that were thrown out of the eye were strewn about the open area we were in. In addition, I could now see what the tornado had been blocking when we entered the clearing, which was a wooden rope bridge connected from one end of the chasm to the other, and on the other side was what appeared to be the rest of what was part of the walls and towers as it appeared to be massive ruins of some kind.
"Now then. I suppose I will have to apologize for Zealous' actions. While Zealous is among the weaker end of us windigos, he can still be a hooful to deal with." The new windigo said as my attention was drawn back to it as clouds appeared and swirled around it as the windigo became smaller and smaller. When the clouds dispersed in the new windigo's place was a pegasus mare with a seafoam green coat, bright yellow eyes, a somewhat messy mane and tail that started off as neon pink but changed to neon blue towards the end, and an aurora wrapped around a silver trident as her cutie mark. Like Zealous, she had a soft white glow to her as her body was barely see through as small white clouds flowed off her hooves, the ends of her mane and tail, and the tips of the feathers on her wings.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Aurora Borealis, former captain of the Solar Guard." The new windigo said as she introduced herself, though her voice was now a lot calmer as I felt a lot of her frustration fade away.
"No way. I know you. Shining would not stop talking about you when he wanted to join the royal guard. He would talk nonstop about how you easily you were able to take down powerful monsters left and right. He claimed that you slew a hydra with only one stroke of your trident, and how you took down a rampaging ursa major with one strike to the head." Spike said in awe as he let go of me and stood on the ground. "But, how are you here? You went missing, what? 10 or so years ago? No one ever heard of you again after you went missing taking on some sort of ice beast up north."
"Yeah, I remember that. The thing is, I did manage to kill the thing, but it landed a pretty bad blow on me and broke my wing. I was out in the middle of nowhere and after wandering around the vast snowscape in a horrible snowstrom for a couple of hours, I... died of hypothermia." Aurora said.
"Died? Then how are you here?" I asked.
"Yeah! And how are both you and that Zealous stallion both windigos?" Spike asked.
"Let me ask, what do you both know about windigos?" Aurora asked.
"That they feed on hatred and create deadly snowstorms wherever they go." Spike said.
"That they inadvertently led to the founding of Equestria." I said.
"Well, sort of right. More so for the floating thing than you. The thing is, windigos are spirits. More specifically, they are the spirits of ponies who have died in snowstorms and other wind related accidents who don't want to move on to the afterlife. The same rings true for the windigos behind the whole Heart's Warming tale. They were just ponies who died out in snowstorms who bonded together over many things, including how much they didn't like the leaders of their respective tribes. So they decided to get back at them by constantly creating a horrible blizzard until they settled their differences. Which thankfully they did. After they set aside their differences and founded Equestria, the windigos eventually decided to just live out their afterlife away from ponykind while still keeping an eye on them from afar. Nowadays, they still do just that while offering up a place for new windigos to stay in Snowrise and some of the the other windigo civilizations around Equestria." Aurora explained.
"So windigos are the spirits of ponies that died in wind based natural disasters and accidents? Then how did Zealous Sunchaser become one?" Spike asked.
"I was there when he croaked actually. He had an entourage of ponies he hired to find and dig something up to give Celestia and they all quit because they got tired of dealing with how much of a brat he was. He then proceeded to try and find something himself, only for him to immediately get lost in a snowstorm and be buried under a literal pile of snow as he froze to death. I was the one who brought him to Snowrise, though I often find myself thinking it would have saved us a lot of trouble if I hadn't." Aurora explained. "Though that whole thing of him trying to shut down Celestia's school is something he never told us. I'll be personally seeing about that when I get back."
"You seem to have some sort of connection with Celestia, considering what you said about her flank when you first arrived. Mind telling us about that?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. Me and Celestia were actually good friends back in the day. She's surprisingly a lightweight when it comes to alcohol, though she can down cake like it's nothing. Let me guess, she still uses a lot of her personal funds to buy mountains of cakes?" Aurora asked.
"Yep." Spike replied.
"Nice. Anyways, we also tended to talk a lot about some of the goings on in our lives while I trained. It's good to see that she has her sister back so she can talk to somepony about things since I've kicked the bucket." Aurora said as I could feel a little bit of sadness coming from her as she seemed to long for the past before it disappeared. "Anyways, mind if I ask you two exactly what sort of damage Zealous has caused. I need to know what exactly I'm punishing him for."
Spike and I explained everything that had been happening, from the first time I witnessed who I assume was Zealous back up in Canterlot after the play to me fighting him multiple times. Spike also joined in to fill in on some of the details as well.
"Wow. In all honesty, I'm impressed. Like I said, even though Zealous is more on the weaker side when it comes to how powerful he is as a windigo, us windigos are still a force to be reckoned with. The fact that in my opinion you gave him a run for his money and then some shows just how skilled you two are." Aurora said.
"Thanks. Though Null did more of the fighting than me." Spike said.
"Hey, you helped out a ton. I probably wouldn't have been able to even get in the last time without your help." I said.
"Either way, I'm impressed. As a sign of good faith and a sort of apology and thank you for dealing with Zealous, I would like both of you to have this." Aurora said as she held out her hoof as clouds began to condense in her hoof before forming what appeared to be two small charms. These charms were both looked like keychains as they dangled from a little loop on small chains with the charm at the end being some sort of horn that was made out of light blue wood and had a silver tip at the part where you blow into it and a silver rim at where the sound echoed out from.
"What are these?" Spike asked.
"Special charms to show that you have gained the approval of a windigo. Just focus your will on these and the horns will grow and shrink at will. If you ever want to visit a windigo settlement, just grow these horns and blow into them and they will allow you to access the nearest settlement. If you're ever up north, blow one of these and I would be happy to come down and give you a tour of Snowrise. Now then, I hope you two have a nice Heart's Warming, and thank you for the full run own of everything Zealous did. I need to go back and handle him properly. Hope to see you again." Aurora said as she was surrounded by clouds and took off into the sky, heading back to wherever Snowrise was to the north.
"That was not something I thought I would ever experience. Either way, this is probably the best Hearth's Warming I've ever had! Not only are windigos still around, but we fought one and won. And not only that, we gained the approval of a former captain of the Solar Guard and can visit windigos whenever we want! What do you think Null?" Spike asked.
I was about to respond, only for my gaze to turn back to the ruins across the chasm. From what I could gather from looks alone, they had definitely been there for a long time. A lot of cracks and damage could be seen on the walls from old age, and who knew what else was inside. Then, I felt it. Something was calling out to me, not verbally or anything, but something I felt that only I could sense. Something familiar. Something like-
"Hey, Equis to Null? Do you hear me?" Spike said as he waved a claw in front of my face, snapping me out of my trance.
"Huh? Sorry Spike, um, what exactly are those ruins over there?" I asked as I pointed towards the ruins across the chasm.
"That? That's the old Castle of the Two Sisters. It's where Celestia and Luna ruled Equestria back in the day before Luna became Nightmare Moon. I can ask Twilight to show you around if you want since she goes there from time to time to look around and whatnot. But... *yawn*... I feel like we should head back. I'm definitely starting to feel tired." Spike said.
"Yeah, we should. Also, we probably shouldn't tell the girls about this or they might freak out. Maybe eventually, but probably not after they wake up." I said.
"Good point. Alright, let's head back." Spike said as he began following the path back to Ponyville.
I began to follow Spike, but not before looking back at the Castle of the Two Sisters and into the entrance of the ruins as I felt it calling out to me again. As much as I was tempted to immediately rush in and look around, I wasn't in the best of shape. I've been hit hard by Zealous while fighting and I could definitely tell I was going to be sore for a couple of days. As I turned back around to follow Spike, I figured I could just come back by myself once I'm better since I now knew the way here. After all...
It wasn't like that piece of the Master Crown was going anywhere anytime soon. |
Deaths New Life | pre | "Because that field is an... ancient burial ground with a curse" he said.
"Everyone in Canterlot knows this curse," Granny continued. "Whosoever disturbes the ancient ground, shall face the consequences of horses green, red, black and pale" she finished.
Sunset POV:
It was dark, and all I could hear was the rhythmic beating of what sounded like a drum. It had been dark for a while, the last thing I remember was going to meet Fluttershy at Applejack's for our sleepover and then, "why can't I remember" I say to the void around me.
"That's because you were in an accident and you're fighting to live, but don't worry, you have litteral death on your side" I heard from behind me.
I turned around and before me was a world of color like I could never even dream. There were doors as far as the eye could see and in front of me was a man that looked to be in his thirties. Sitting on a beautifully crafted throne. "Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm pretty sure Thanatos has talked of me" the strange man said. Then he snapped his fingers and we were standing in a hospital room.
"Why are we here, and how'd you do that?" I asked him his only answer was to point at the bed. And when I turned, I couldn't believe what I saw, there I was hooked up to a heart monitor, with bandages around my ribs, leg, head, and bruises, on my face. "So I was in an accident, but that still doe" and then it hit me "God?" I say looking at him.
"Very good and no, I'm not taking you anywhere, mostly because death put his mark on your soul so if you're taken to an afterlife he's immediately notified. No, what I want is to talk, you are very important to this world as you will find out, Thanatos and his brothers will deal with their own brand of balance and you will continue to grow" he said.
"But what does that mean exactly?" I asked him to find no one around me.
"You'll learn what it means in time Sunset Shimmer, you can wake up whenever you want by entering your body" God's disembodied voice said. I looked at my body and I looked around the room and thought to myself 'I'll wake up when dad and Fluttershy are here' and I smiled as I sat next to my own body and waited. |
Deaths New Life | Healing begins | Twilight Sparkle POV:
I had faced the evils of my own world with my friends. We faced down Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Sombra, I had come to this world and defeated Sunset Shimmer. And I had never been as terrified as I was riding in Fluttershys car back to the hospital, I had just eaten with literal Death and War. I had sat next to Nightmare Moon and found out she changed when she came to this world and she wanted to help instead of hurt, I had been in the same room as four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
As we drove down the road I kept glancing to look at Fluttershy, she was just as beautiful here as she was in my world. She was more confident and open about her love and who she was with.
"You like me from your world, don't you Twilight?" She asked me taking me off guard.
"How'd you?" I started.
"Because you haven't stopped sneaking looks at me since we left the restaurant. And don't worry, Thanatos and his brothers won't do anything to you." she said, making me more nervous.
"How can you deal with the knowledge that you're dating someone who is in the care of literal Death?" I asked her because I needed to know how she dealt with it.
"Easy, they both treat me like an adult and not some shy push over, Thanatos is the one who got me to be courageous and he taught me to find my courage." She said smiling as she bobbed her head to the song.
I just let myself think as we drove down the road, Nalanhata, and Zaraza were in front of us at a red light before the hospital. Thanatos and Krieg were behind us, 'Come on Twilight Sparkle' I thought to myself. 'Just ask this world's Fluttershy, how to ask out your world's Fluttershy' I took an uneasy breath and let it out. "Fluttershy?" I asked.
"Yes Twilight?" She said.
"How would I go about asking you from my Equestria on a date?" I asked, with my eyes down cast.
"Just be yourself, be kind, and most of all" she said smiling, "have courage."
Thanatos POV:
As I followed, Nalanhata, Zaraza, Krieg and Fluttershy into the parking lot of the hospital my mind was racing. I was hoping for the best case scenario, because in the short time I had cared for Sunset I had grown attached to her, and I loved her like she truly was my daughter. As we all parked our cars Fluttershy and Twilight were the first to get out, followed by me, Krieg, Zaraza and finally Nalanhata but no one could blame him because of his wheelchair. I was the first to start walking towards the hospital and Fluttershy was close on my heel, as we entered the hospital Nightmare was waiting for us.
"Good you guys are back" she said, seeming happy, as we got into the elevator. "The doctor said taking the breathing tube out was the easy part, the rest is up to Sunset" she down cast her eyes at that. "They say she could wake up at any point in time, but they've also said she might never wake up" she finished sniffling.
As we stepped out of the elevator, I put my arm around Nightmare to comfort her a little making sure my power didn't affect her. She just met Sunset and she already care's more than the girls she called friends. I rubbed her back as we walked towards Sunsets room, I was still trying to keep a positive mindset, but I also didn't want to tell Nightmare who me and my brothers were. We didn't need the world knowing Pestilence, Famine, War and Death were walking around and that 'the end is nigh' I thought to myself.
As we walked through the door, I could feel that a presence stronger than mine had been here. I didn't feel my fail safe activate, which means God only talked to Sunset, but about what I hadn't the foggiest clue.
Sunset POV:
I watched as Thanatos, the man I called my father entered my room, but he was more people than just Fluttershy. Walking in with him was a blue haired woman wearing a black dress, behind him was Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. But after them came three men I didn't know, all three were wearing suits, one was in a wheelchair, one wore a green tie and the third didn't wear a tie, but had a few of his buttons opened. I watched as the three strange men gathered around Thanatos and started talking with one another, Twilight sat with the strange woman by the window, and Fluttershy sat next to my bed and just looked at me with sad eyes, as she picked up my hand and kissed it.
I moved to where Twilight and the strange woman were so I could figure out who she was. I didn't want to eavesdrop, but I figured while I was still incorporeal it would be the best time to do it.
"I know you don't trust me Twilight and I don't blame you" the strange woman said to Twilight.
"It's not that Nightmare, it's just" Twilight took a breath. "I want you to come back with me, to try and smooth things over and make friends instead of" she started before Nightmare cut her off.
"Instead of what? You only want me to go back so you can keep an eye on me, if I'm here you can't do that. And even if I truly wanted to...I don't think I want to" she said looking at my father nervously. Twilight followed her line of sight and looked at him as well and looked back at Nightmare.
"You do know who is? Don't you?" Twilight asked the perplexed woman.
"All I know is his name is Thanatos Darkstar, he's a lawyer and he's the father of a misunderstood young woman" Nightmare said.
I decided I had heard enough of their conversation and went over to see what my father and the strange men were talking about. As I got closer to them, I noticed the three strange men had rings almost like my father's but instead of a pale stone, the one in the wheelchair had a black stone, the one with the opened button shirt had a red stone, and the one with the green tie had a green stone.
"Brother" the one in the wheelchair started. "The Apple's...will learn their lesson on humility and being truthful by harvest" he finished. My eyes grew big because he had just called the man I call my father, his brother. It hit me then who the strange men were, the one in the wheelchair was Famine, the one with the green was Pestilence and the one with the messy suit was War. But what did Famine mean by teaching my friends family about humility and truth? I asked myself.
"That's good Nalanhata, it won't cause too much trouble will it?" Thanatos asked Famine.
"Of course not" Famine said raggedly.
"Alright, Zaraza what about you?" He asked, looking at Pestilence.
"I stopped at the boutique you told us about on the way out and decided to stop in," he started. "I left quite the surprise for any that wants a suit or dress" he said smiling "I also left quite the threat for the diva Ms. Belle, I told her, her piss ant store would never see high end business again with one bad word from a Darkstar" he finished, almost laughing.
"Very good," my father said, smiling as well. "Hopefully it's not that bad of a disease that'll spread."
"No, mostly just a horrible case of hives," Pestilence said.
I didn't even want to fathom what war had done, or was doing. As I walked to my body I heard Fluttershy talking to me so decided to listen to her before I came back to the waking world.
"Don't worry Sunset" Fluttershy started. "If anyone attempts to drag your name through the dirt while your still recovering and I hear about it" Fluttershy took on an angry look "they'll answer to me, your Uncle Krieg, you could say is going to teach me how to defend myself and you, using more than just words if I have to" she said smiling. "I love you Sunset, and nothing will change that I will protect you and help you, just as you've helped me" she finished with tears in her eyes and I decided it was time. I climbed into the bed and as I lay into my body I couldn't help but be a little worried about everything I had heard.
Fluttershy POV:
As I sat in my normal place in Sunsets hospital room, I continued to talk to her as I brushed her hair out of her face. I watched as she smiled at my touch and my eyes grew wide as tears started forming "that's it Sunset please come back to me" I whispered to her as I brought her hand up, I squeezed just a little bit as I kissed the back of it. In that moment I felt the slightest bit of pressure back, as I watched her eyes slowly flutter, but stay closed I turned to Thanatos.
As I did he looked at me and he ran straight to the other side of her bed. When he ran Twilight and nightmare jumped up and he's brothers turned to watch Sunset as well. "Come on Sunset, you can wake up whenever you're ready" Thanatos started, "we all miss you" he finished as we all watched as Sunset opened her eyes. |
Deaths New Life | Rocky Road To Friendship | Applejack POV:
I was sitting in my room just letting myself slowly sink and think. How could I have been so blind as to not see that my sister was jealous of my friendship with Sunset, especially after all she had done. But what I couldn't wrap my head around was why Mac had run her off the road. As I sat on my bed letting my thoughts run wild I got a text from Fluttershy.
'Hey'
'Hey, how's sunset'
'She finally woke up, listen meet me and the other girls at Sugar Cube Corner, we need to talk'
'Alright, I'll meet you girls there'
As I sent the text, I got off from my bed and grabbed my hat as I left my room. I walked down the stairs with thoughts just flowing through my head of how it would go down. I stepped out of my house and walked to my 1966 Chevy c10, I hopped into the cab and just sat for a while still thinking. I finally turned the key in the ignition as my truck rumbled to life I let the radio play as I drove to Sugar Cube Corner.
I drove just letting the song take me away, and thinking of how badly I had screwed up. I had let the rumors, lies, and the way Sunset used to cloud my judgement. Instead of seeing who she'd become in the past three months and how badly I'd hurt my friendship with her and the other girls. I asked myself if I hadn't been so blind, would I have believed my sister and brother could do such horrible things? I realized I couldn't not even know after the evidence had been shown to me I couldn't.
As I pulled into Sugar Cube Corner, I parked next to Rarity's Mazda Miata. I let the song finish it's haunting melody as I shut off my truck. I slowly got out and headed inside to find the girls sitting at a window seat. Rarity was by the window, but she had no sense of prim and proper, Pinkie Pie was sitting across from her, her hair was dark and straight. It almost seemed like she wasn't even the same girl I had known for years, Rainbow Dash was sitting across from Rarity with a scowl on her face almost seeming like we had all turned on her, I decided to sit next to her. Mostly to make sure she couldn't run if she got the notion to do so, we just sat in silence and waited for Fluttershy to show up to talk to us about what she wanted to talk to us about, we didn't have to wait long.
The sounds of the car's muffler cackling like a wild cat on crack sounded outside.
"She's here," Rarity said depressingly.
"Let's just hope...her and Sunset can forgive us" Pinkie said dejectedly at the same time Rainbow snorted and I just looked at her. The sound ceased once more as we waited for Fluttershy to enter, as she did she looked right at us with a scowl on her face and a fire in her eyes.
"I'm glad you girls could make it" she said as she sat down in a chair at the head of the table. The shy girl we knew was gone and in her place, was someone who wanted nothing more than to rip us a new one.
"How's Sunset?" I did not want to look at Fluttershy.
"What do you care about?" Rainbow said, getting all of our attention. "Sunsets the one who framed your sister and her friends, and it's only a matter of time before"
"Oh why don't you take your ego and shove it Rainbow" a voice interrupted her from the door. All of us looked up and there was Princess Twilight walking towards us "you have some gall to take someone's name and drag it through the mud, especially when that person has worked her plot off to make sure everyone knows she's changed. But you can't see that, as soon as something goes wrong and something comes up that seems like it's bad you" she almost shouted pointing directly at Rainbow. "Choose to ignore her atonement and jump on a wagon of moronic idiots who believe lies and slander over truth and character" she finished as she sat down next to Fluttershy.
"Thank you Twilight" Fluttershy said, turning to the rest of us her eyes grew cold as she continued. "You all screwed up and it's not going to be an easy fix, you threw away not only Sunsets trust, but mine as well. You're going to have to earn it back and it's not going to be easy." She finished as me, Pinkie and Rarity looked down.
"Oh boo hoo" Rainbow said, getting angry. "Why should we care '' after Rainbow said that thunder cracked outside jumping all of us.
"Because, I managed to talk down her father and uncles from doing anything that could destroy this world" she said as lightning struck just outside the window. All of us looked outside to see four cars outside, the one we all recognized was Sunsets father's Cadillac.
"Oh yeah and what are they...gonna..do" Rainbow got out between coughs. As she pulled her hand away we all saw blood on her hand. "W..why did I cough up blood?" she said frantically.
"That would be Zaraza's doing," Twilight said, smirking. "See you girls may be the elements of harmony on this side, meaning you can help against magical mayhem, but if you can't fix this friendship problem" she said as thunder rumbled. "This world has something that mine doesnt."
"What's that?" Rarity asked, more than a little nervous.
"Wait" Pinkie said as she looked at Fluttershy. "Did you say one of her uncle's was named Zaraza?"
"I met him" I cut in. "He's a famous doctor" after I said that Pinkie went wide eyes.
"But...Zaraza means pestilence in Polish" after she said that my eyes went wide.
"My Granny Smith met with an old friend who's a famous botanist named Nalanhata" I said looking at Pinkie as she started going pale.
"Nalanhata is Finnish for Famine, does she have another uncle by chance?" Pinkie asked, looking scared out of her wits.
Fluttershy smiled evilly as she answered. "Yes she does, his name is Krieg" as she said that Pinkie started hyperventilating.
"Geez Pinkie" Rainbow said in anger leaving her voice for a moment. "So what if one uncle's name means Famine and the other means pestilence, what's so wrong wi.."
"Because Krieg means war and I just realized Thanatos in ancient Greece is the Greek God of Death, meaning" Pinkie interrupted Dash. As she started trying to get her breathing user control, Rarity's eyes got as big as plates as the information went into her head, she fainted. As I thought over the information given to us I realized what Pinkie was getting at.
"No" was all that I could get out as my jaw went slack and my eyes went big.
"Somebody wants to explain what's so important about those names, jeez I need to go see Mac" Rainbow said trying to get up.
"Don't you get it Rainbow" Pinkie asked. "Pestilence, Famine, War, Death." She said pleading for Rainbow to realize what we all had at that moment.
"And"Rainbow said, rolling her eyes and hands gesturing for Pinkie to make her point.
"T..t..the f..four horsemen..of t..the a.. apocalypse" she stuttered out as lightning flashed outside the window again.
"Very astute..Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie...very astute indeed" a raspy voice said behind us. We all turned to look at the voice and standing there in the door blocking any means of escape was Sunsets father and three men I could only assume were his brothers.
Rainbow Dash POV:
I had never been more scared in my life, after the revelation Pinkie just dropped. Standing at the door were four men I knew we could do nothing about. "W..what are you guys going to do to us?" I asked, letting the terror fill me.
"We've already done it, miss dash," the one wearing green said.
"Zaraza...is correct" the one in the wheelchair said, if I had to guess he was Famine and Zaraza, the one in green was Pestilence, leaving war and death the last two.
"You have a long way to go to atone for your sins" the third one said, ``I guess he's war'' I thought to myself as he continued. The road will not be easy, but you all must understand you are what is stopping the new disharmony from spreading, if me and my brothers get involved" he said smiling letting it sink in what they would do.
"So what do we do?" Rarity asked, looking nervous and dejected. "We can't just go asking for forgiveness after what ourselves and our sister's did."
"Exactly" Pinkie said, looking more dejected than Rarity. "I don't even think I could face her.
"You'll know what to do when the time is right" Thanatos started. "But for now think of your actions and the consequences they've had, and as for you Rainbow Dash '' he said smiling evilly as his and his brothers eyes glowed with color. "We'll be watching you the closest, oh and before I forget, Sunset said her hospital door is open for all of you just don't expect a warm welcome." And with that Thanatos and his brothers exited Sugar Cube Corner along with Fluttershy and Twilight leaving me and the other girls to our own thoughts and what they meant. |
Deaths New Life | Guilty Conscience | Pinkie Pie POV:
I sat in my apartment by myself, me and my friends or what was left of them anyways had left Sugar Cube Corner and gone our separate ways. I was just sitting on my bed thinking, why would RD think that Sunset was still bad? Especially after all she had done to prove she changed? Why did none of us seek the truth, especially me?
I got off my bed and walked over to my mirror and just stared at my reflection. My hair was dark and straight, I didn't feel pepy or proud of myself. "Oh gummy" I said to my pet alligator "what am I gonna do?" I finished as I let the tears I had been holding back fall. Gummy just blinked at me a couple times as his eyes adjusted and then went wall eyes again, "your right gummy, I need to make this right" I said picking him up. "I need to go apologize to Sunset and Fluttershy and hope that our friendship can be mended.
I set gummy down and headed out of my apartment into the cold air of January, my boots crunched on the fresh snow that had fallen after I'd gotten home. I walked down the path from my apartment, to the side walk where my car was parked. It was a 1981 DMC Delorian that I had rebuilt and refurbished and painted hot pink. I walked around the front of my car and unlocked the driver's door and lifted the door open. I sat in the driver's seat and pulled the door closed, I fastened my seatbelt and started my car.
I pulled away from the sidewalk of my apartment and headed for the hospital. As I drove down the street towards the hospital I just let myself get lost in my thoughts while I focused on the road, I tried my best not to let my tears cloud my vision but it was getting harder the closer to the hospital I got. As I turned into the hospital parking lot I saw Fluttershy's beetle, Thanatos's Cadillac, and his brother's cars all parked next to each other. I parked my car behind the red mustang next to Thanatos's caddie and shut off my car, I opened the door and got out and as I closed the door, and headed for the hospital I could only hope the meeting between me, Sunset and Fluttershy went well.
Nightmare Moon POV:
"Hey Thanatos, do you think I could talk to you for a minute?" I asked him as I got out of my seat next to Twilight and walked up to him. Sunset had fallen back asleep a couple hours ago and his brothers had gone to get some fresh air.
"Sure Nightmare" he said to me. He then looked at Fluttershy, "will you and Twilight be good with Sunset for a while?" He asked her.
"Of course Thanatos, go speak with Nightmare, we'll be fine, I promise" Fluttershy said. Thanatos nodded his head and turned back to me as he got out of his chair next to Sunset's bed. "Ok Nightmare, where do you want to talk?" He asked me.
"I was thinking we could go to the cafeteria and get something to eat and talk there," I said, trying to keep my nerves down.
"Alright let's go" he said smiling at me as we walked out of Sunset's room. We walked down the hall towards the elevators in silence, letting the happiness of today wash over us.
"Sunset is very lucky to have such a caring father like you in her life" I said trying to strike up a conversation with Thanatos.
"I try," he said, looking down. He then looked back up to me as we reached the elevator and pressed the down button "so why have you stuck around?" He asked me while we waited for the elevator to arrive. "Sunset woke up, you don't have to stay anymore, besides don't you have to get back to work?" He asked me as the elevator arrived.
"Well not really, I was only an intern at the police station" I said as we stepped into the elevator, and I pressed the button for the cafeteria floor. "That and I have a feeling Sunsets old friends are going to try and make amends, and she needs all the people she can get in her corner to make sure her old friends don't bully her back into that friendship" I said as the elevator descended.
"That's true," he said. "But Twilight now's you, more than likely from her world" as he said that I flinched a little. "So you want to explain?" He asked with care in his voice.
The elevator opened and as we walked towards the cafeteria, I explained what happened in the other Equestria. How I was the evil alter ego of one of the princesses and how I was cleansed from her, how I woke up in this world, and how it took me a couple months to get situated. I then explained how I made a few friends and started learning about the technology of this world and how I was insanely good at it. I explained how I got a grant to go to college and how I found I was good at helping people and that I was studying and could be used to help anyone I met.
As we grabbed our food and sat down at a random table I told him how he made a few friends in the police department including Captain Shining Armor. How I was able to help solve quite a few cold cases and how I was offered an internship with the police department in their cyber division and their lab, and how I'd been there almost a year.
"So you went from wanting to plunge your world into eternal night, to fighting crime on a cyber level and helped solve at least ten cold cases?" He asked me to sum up what I had told him.
"Yes," I answered looking down. I knew how this was going to play out. The Thanatos started laughing and my head shot up. At least I thought I knew how this was going to play out.
"Oh man that is amazing" he said catching his breath. "I've been in the presence of a princess and an ex-evil queen," he said, still snickering.
"Hey, it's not that funny" I said with a small pout.
"It is when you take into account who I am and who my brothers are" he said wiping a year from his eye.
"Yeah" I started. "Your a famous lawyer, your brother Krieg is a famous general, your brother Nalanhata is a famous botanist and your brother Zaraza is a famous doctor" I said looking him in his eyes. Then I watched as his eyes flashed from the blue color they were to a pure pale and then back.
"Actually I'm surprised Twilight didn't tell you, but now that I know for fact you're from the other Equestria" he started, and then looked around and leaned in. "Me and my brothers aren't technical from this world either" he said.
I just looked at him with wide eyes, "who or what are you?" I asked with a slight tremble in my voice.
"I'm surprised a being as smart as you hasn't figured it out yet" he said shaking his head letting his eyes glow pale. "I'm death" he said with a very serious look on his face.
Fluttershy POV:
Me and Twilight were sitting and talking in the chairs on the other side of Sunsets room so we could let her sleep. We had been talking since Thanatos and Nightmare Moon had left when we heard a knock on the room's door. Standing in the doorway was a very dejected looking Pinkie Pie "what are you doing here Pinkie" I asked.
"I came to talk to you girls, but I can leave if you don't want me here" she said looking down and sounding dejected.
"Of course you can come in Pinkie, so long as you're alone and we all talk like adults" I heard Sunset say in a very soft voice. "Could you close the door behind you?" She asked.
Pinkie obliged Sunset and walked into the room closing the door behind her. "Hey Sunset" Pinkie started, sniffling a little "I'm glad to see you're doing okay" she finished letting a few years fall from her eyes.
"Well I don't care what Sunset said, leave us alone and choke" I said letting Pinkie feel all the venom in my voice.
"Fluttershy" Twilight started putting her hand on my arm. "Let her say her piece and then we can decide what to do" she finished.
"Fine," I said, crossing my arms. "But I won't be happy about it."
"Come here Pinkie, sit down and talk to me" Sunset said motioning for Pinkie to sit next to her. Again Pinkie did as Sunset said and sat down, not even bothering to look up at Sunset.
"I shouldn't have joined the band wagon" Pinkie said in the smallest voice any of us had ever heard. "I should have looked for the truth instead of seeing the past" she started "I should have looked at who you were becoming because of our friendship, instead of who you were, and the other girls have realized that too." She choked out and sobbed before continuing. "Rarity and Applejack are to distraught after all the evidence was laid out and their sister's were sentenced to ten years in juvenile hall, with the possibility of parole to even make coherent choices, Applejack took it hardest especially since big Mac refused to give the identity of the person with him the night you were run off the road." She said sniffling again "he was sentenced to twenty five years with no possibility of parole, and Rainbow Dash doesn't even care about us or our feelings. Scootaloo, it turns out, was an orphan and when Rainbow heard that she lost it and started calling everyone a liar, mostly because she was too loyal to herself. Now she's saying me and the other girls are abandoning her because we have chosen to see the facts, along with the rest of the school that you were innocent, and still Rainbow believes it was you."
At that point Pinkie just broke down, her tears didn't stop and her sniffling got worse as she tried to continue. "I know that things can't go back to the way they were, all I want is for my friends to be friends again, and for our group to stay friends." She said looking up at Sunset "I know we can never be forgiven for our blindness and stupidity and I'm not asking to be forgiven, I'm asking for what you asked us for, a second chance" she finished letting her head fall into her hands as she cried.
"Pinkie" Sunset started "It is going to take time for you and the other girls to earn the trust that you lost back, you may never earn it back. But that doesn't mean I'm going to be queen bi**h and ignore you guys" she said looking back to me and Twilight. "You girls were there when I needed you most and now you all need someone to be there for you, so I'm going to ask you Pinkie Pie, would you like to start with a clean slate, all of us" Sunset finished motioning to me and Twilight.
"I'd like that," Twilight said.
"Pinkie" I started getting out of my chair. "I agree with sunset, my trust was broken just as much as hers was, but I'm willing to start again" I said kneeling down next to her and rapping her in a hug. I felt Pinkie's arms wrap around me as her head rested on my shoulder as she whispered in an even smaller voice "thank you." |
Deaths New Life | Siren Song | Rarity POV:
In the past two days I've had people complain about the dresses and suits I've made. They keep saying that what they've bought has given them hives and I've been forced to completely close my sales and destroy the beautiful creations I've made. Mostly because they've also given me hives, I've also done a lot of thinking and talking with Applejack during the destruction process. We've both agreed we need to apologise to Sunset and Fluttershy and right now I was on my way to Applejack's farm so we could go to the hospital together.
As I pulled into her dirt driveway and up to her house my mind was on why my clothing gave everyone hives and how Sunset was doing now that she was awake. I parked my car next to Applejack's truck and shut off the ignition and got out, as I headed to her door I was asking myself how we'd go about apologizing to our friends, especially after what our sister's did, after I knocked her mother came to the door.
"Oh Rarity, how nice to see you" Pear Butter said.
"Hello Mrs. Butter, I was wondering where I might find Applejack?" I asked 'hopefully I won't be bothering her during her chores' I think to myself.
"She's in her room, you can go up if you'd like" she said. "And please Rarity, you girls know you can call me Pear" she finishes as she opens the door for me.
"Of course Pear, thank you" I tell her as I walk through the front door. I walk through the living room to the stairs, as I ascend I keep asking myself how we'll go about restarting our friendship, if we can even get it back. I turn left at the top of the stairs and head down the left hallway to where I know Applejack's room is, and as I stand in front of her door, I feel conflicted. She's lost a lot more of her family because of this whole Anon-a-miss tragedy and we almost lost a caring friend and I realize that this must be done. I take a deep shaking breath as I knock on her door.
"Go away, I told y'all I didn't want to see nobody" I hear Applejack say from behind her door.
"Applejack, darling, it's Rarity please open up" I ask her hoping she'll let me in.
"Go away Rare I just wanna be left alone" she says, I can hear the hurt and depression in her voice.
"Please darling, I know you're hurting but you can't shut me out, I really need to talk, please?" I beg her to let my own depression and sadness into my voice. I hear a chair being pushed back and slow foot falls on the hardwood floor, and at last her door unlocking. As she opens her door I decide to be uncouth and push my way into her room, mostly to make sure she won't push me away. As I turn around I see her close her door again and just look down to the floor.
"I don't know why you're here. Rare's their ain't nothin to talk about, we messed up" she says, sounding even more dejected.
"I know Applejack" I say walking closer to my friend. "But that is the past, we have to push forward and forgive them, and ask forgiveness ourselves" I say, sounding even more dejected than her.
"But how, we messed up, me more than you, mostly because I refused to see the truth in front of my own eyes." She starts, "I can't face either of them, not Twilight, not Fluttershy and most certainly not Sunset. I don't think my shame or grief will let me" she says, finally breaking down.
I wrap her in a hug and just hold her, letting her cry on my shoulder. "I know dear, it's going to be hard but the only thing we can do is go see them and not ask complete forgiveness." As I say this Applejack just looks at me, I raise my hand to her cheek as I continue, "I'm not saying we ask complete forgiveness, we will never get it darling, all I'm saying is that we ask to start over to re-earn their trust and this time, actually listen, I know it will be hard but it must be done." I finished wiping away her tears.
"Ok" she says in the quietest voice I've ever heard. "Can you dive us, I don't think I'm up for it."
"Of course darling let's go see them" I say as I lead her out of her room and to my car.
Krieg POV:
I walked through the halls of the hospital with purpose, I had felt an unnatural amount of distrust and anger. The reason I walked with the purpose of these two feelings was because they are attributes of war, as I walked into Sunsets room I saw my brothers, Fluttershy, Twilight, Nightmare and one of Sunsets ex friends, Pinkie I think her name was. But none of that mattered especially since what I felt was so strong.
"Everyone, I have some disturbing news," I say. Walking right up to my brothers and managing to get everyone's attention without waking Sunset.
"What is it, Krieg?" Twilight asks.
"Yes brother, what has you so riled up?" Zaraza asks as everyone just stares at me.
"I'm afraid that someone, or something has tapped into the power of war" I say, making everyone but my brother's eyes go wide.
"What...do you mean Krieg?" Nalanhata asks seeming sceptical.
"I mean I followed Rainbow Dash, watching to see if there was an outside force at work" I say.
"Outside force?" Twilight asks. "You mean like mind control?"
"No," I say, looking at everyone. "I mean emotional control, distrust, anger, greed, someone or something is playing off from the element of loyalty" I finish as Twilight's eyes go big.
"But nothing short of Discord could change an element and even then, he couldn't use magic here" she says as she closes her eyes.
"I didn't say they changed the element, I said that their playing off of what the element represents makes her loyal but only to those that she's known the longest, whoever has done this" I say looking at everyone. "Has the ability to play feelings" I finish as Twilight jumps out of her chair, eyes bigger than they were before.
"The only creatures capable of messing with feelings, especially dark feelings, are an ancient race from Equestria known as sirens," she says as she starts pacing. "But all known knowledge of the sirens says that they were banished by Star Swirl the Bearded" she finishes looking at us.
"It seems...Twilight" Nalanhata starts as he coughs. "That this Star Swirl...banished these sirens to this world...and the reason Krieg here...can feel them is because he is war and this sirens."
"Are using emotions more than leading to war" Twilight finishes, but how do we combat the sirens without the elements of harmony?" She asks as me and my brothers look at each other and smile.
"You're forgetting something Twilight" Fluttershy says.
"Oh my word I forgot something, what?" Twilight asks, seeming paranoid, like she failed a test.
"Who exactly is in this room?" Fluttershy coyly.
"Well let's see" Twilight starts. "Theirs me, you, Sunset, Nightmare, Thanatos, Krieg, Zaraza and Nalanhata but I...don't..." she starts as the gears start to turn in her head as she stares at Fluttershy and then to me and my brothers as we smirk.
"That's right Twilight" Thanatos starts. "You have the horsemen of the apocalypse at your disposal and those 'sirens' are the true reason my daughter is in that bed. You won't need the elements" he says as we hear a gasp from the door. We all turn to see that we forgot someone who wasn't in the loop was still in the room, plus two new arrivals.
"Y-you mean t-to tell me t-t-that your" Applejack starts.
""F-four Horsemen of the apocalypse" Rarity continues.
"I t-thought that was just a horrible nightmare," Pinkie finishes.
Me and my brothers smile widely as lightning cracks the sky and we let our eyes burn with power. "Afraid not girls" I start.
""Krieg is...right young ones" Nalanhata continues.
"And we will bend the earth," Zaraza says.
"And we will make these Sirens beg for the mercy of me" Thanatos finishes as a loud boom of thunder sounds.
3rd person POV:
Three girls are sitting around a lunch table at Canterlot High school waiting for a fourth to show up. Everyone around them is arguing and bickering, but instead of school or sports it's about one single person's Sunset Shimmer. Threats are hurled through the lunch room as the students attempt to test at each other's throats, as a girl with rainbow hair sits down at the table.
"Your friends are turning on you," the first girl says. She has blue shin with blue hair and dark blue stripes.
"They aren't loyal to you anymore, they've left you behind. Even your oldest friend has forsaken you, they don't deserve loyalty." The second girl says she has yellow skin and orange hair with yellow stripes running through it.
"They need to be destroyed, starting with the one who has taken everything from you." The final girl says she has pulled skin with purple hair and an aqua stripe running through it.
"I know" the rainbow haired girl says, her eyes shining red. "Sunset will pay and when she finally rests in death will my friends come back and their sister's will be free from her torture."
"Good" the three girls say in unison as the fighting between the students starts to calm all of a sudden. The four girls at the table look around confused at the stopped chaos, as it grows quite enough to hear a pin drop. The three girls let power from the red gems near their hearts shine as red power flows into their eyes, as they try to feed off the anger and distrust in the room, finding to their horror there's none left and it almost seems to have completely vanished within seconds. As the silence persists the other students in the cafeteria start backing away from the table with the four girls, squeezing themselves as close to the far wall as they can possibly get.
The sounds of three sets of feet falling into the hallway outside with the sounds of chains and wheels filled the quiet cafeteria. The four girls looked around as the sounds of ominous music began to play from nowhere and everywhere at once. As the sounds of the foot falls and wheels got closer, the eyes of every student at the back of the cafeteria got bigger as they started to tremble. The four girls weren't affected by whatever was going on with the others and that set off the little warning bells inside of their heads, but when these alarms sounded it was too late.
Thunder boomed from overhead as lightning struck close to the windows of the cafeteria, almost like it was demanding entrance. The doors to the cafeteria flung open with an invisible gust of wind as the eerie music played it's haunting tune. The rainbow haired girl felt the effects first, she started coughing, and retching on her own bike, as it felt like a thousand hammers were pounding into her head. The purple skinned girl started looking around frantically and once her eyes found her prize she kept for it, her prize being the random bag of candy left behind by one of the students and it would never state her hunger.
The blue skinned girl, she felt all the hormones of a thousand teenage girls all pent up and looked for anyone to quell the itch in her loin. When no one in the room grabbed her fancy, she improvised, making any none horrified teenage boy hot and jealous. The yellow skinned girl got it the worst, at first hives started to break out on her skin, that she itched at with fever until they bled, then her stomach started to gurgle as she protested against her colon and bladder. Finally she lost the losing battle and she felt a horrible pain in her lungs, like a thousand needles poking and prodding, forcing her to cough until blood came up and her throat felt raw.
Finally the sounds of footsteps and wheels stopped at the door to the cafeteria and the four girls forced themselves away from what they were doing to see four men in suits, three were standing and the fourth was in a wheelchair.
"Good job getting the students to stop their miniature war" the man with a pale ring said.
"The man on the outer left answered "it was no problem Thanatos, these girls couldn't hope to have more power over war than war himself. And good job forcing two of these sirens to feed their hunger Nalanhata."
It was...no problem, the only issue was...not infecting everyone" the man in the wheelchair wheezed out. "Zaraza...did you have any issues?" He asked the lady man next to him on the right most side.
"It was difficult, Nalanhata, but I found a way to make different diseases infect just these two here" he said pointing at the rainbow haired girl and the yellow skinned girl. "The only question I have is, how to break their hold on the element of loyalty?" He asked the three men as they all seemed to contemplate his question.
"You...will never free them" the yellow skinned girl said retching. "We will defeat you" as she said this her gem started to shine, only for the red power from her gem and the other twos gems to fire into the one introduced as Krieg. "How?" The girl questioned coughing and retching more.
"Easy child" Krieg said, stepping forward letting his eyes turn crimson with power. "I am war."
"And now" the one announced as Thanatos said as his eyes glowed pale and he twisted his ring. "You sirens will never bring harm to anyone again, or attempt to abuse the powers of war again. Besides it's our job to end the world" he said as the red from the three girls' eyes died out and they slumped to the ground. Breaking the magical hold they had on the students and teachers, the four brothers turned and left the school lifting their powers as they left.
Leaving very shaken and dazed children to huddle on the back wall of the cafeteria and to let a rainbow haired girl catch her breath. And as her breathing normalized she realized that her dream became reality and everything she had done under the sirens came back to her. Running Sunset off the road, telling her friends they were traitors and that she hated all of them. Telling Fluttershy she was worthless and as she laid there on the floor of the cafeteria soaking in her own blood and bike she could only ask herself one question. "Why would they spare me? After everything I've done why would they let me live?" |
Deaths New Life | New Friends, Dead Enemies (fixed the abrupt ending) | Rainbow Dash 3rd person POV:
It has been three days since the Sirens died, and school life has gone almost back to normal. I say almost because no one wants to talk about being mind controlled, Principal Celestia and Vice principal Luna have set up counselling for those that were affected the most. I decided to stop by because I was with the Sirens when they died, and because of what I did to my own friends.
"Friends" I whisper to myself, what a hollow word. I turned on mine, Princess Twilight came to see me before she left for her world, and she told me in no uncertain terms that I fucked up. I know I did but it still hurts, none of the girls will even look at me and every time I try to talk to Sunset to apologise or to even talk one of the other girls are around. I haven't even attempted to talk to Fluttershy, mostly because every time she sees me she gives me a cold glare, or just doesn't even notice me.
I've started wearing long sleeve shirts and jeans, because I'm taking out my depression on myself. I've quit sports and started focusing on trying to make things right, Pinkie and Rarity have started the process with me and Applejack is slowly starting to let me back into the group. I sigh to myself as I sit in my room and just think, I look at my wrist and see all of the scars I put there, sometimes I wake up after a horrible night terror and the only way to forget about them is to add another scar, I'll write again soon.
It's been a month since the Sirens died and I've made more progress with Applejack, Fluttershy still won't talk to me but she's not as hostile. I still can't bring myself to talk to Sunset, the friendship games are coming up and I refuse to participate in any of the events, but I still plan on showing up. Maybe I can talk to her there. There was a new student in school today and her name is Twilight Sparkle as well, from what I've learned she's this world's version of Twilight from the portal and I've slowly made friends with her and introduced her to the other girls, except Sunset. That's all I'll write about today, maybe next time I'll be able to say I have my friends back.
I finally was able to approach Sunset today...it went as well as I thought. I apologized profusely and she said she was hurt and that she was disappointed...but she said she wanted to have a fresh start with me, like with the others I cried as I said yes. I told her I'd do anything to have my friends back, Fluttershy saw me crying and I finally talked to her as well, it didn't go as well mostly because she saw the scars I've been hiding, especially from my counselor.
She made me go to Sweet Apple Acres with her and she told all of the other girls what I had done. I couldn't help but feel more dejected, I let my tears fall silently as they found out I had been contemplating my death, Sunset hugged me and said she understood, I cried even harder when she showed us her old scars. I apologized so profusely I lost my voice, that night everything started to get better. We talked, cried and laughed all night. It's been about a month since then and we're all doing better, from what Sunset has told us about Nightmare Moon, the alter ego of Princess Luna from Equestria asked out her father. "Haha" I chuckle to myself as I tap my pencil against my chin as I continue to write, who'd have thought someone who attempted to bring eternal night would date literal death, Princess Twilight has been writing that she's proud of all of us and the progress we've made to repair our friendship. I heard the crusaders might get early parole but everyone isn't holding their breath, not even me they messed up we all did and we're repairing it the best we can.
Sunset says she wants to go back to Equestria for a bit, especially since Princess Twilight says she can open the portal whenever she wants. So Sunset will be leaving and her father and Uncle's are going with her along with Nightmare they've both said that they feel the need to apologise to Princess Celestia and to the rest of Equestria, Fluttershy said she's going and doesn't care about her doppelganger on the other side of the portal especially since Thanatos said that he and his brothers would make sure the world didn't implode. Fluttershy said she was going to give both Sunset and Nightmare Moon courage and someone to stand up for them. They'll be leaving Tom and all I can do is sit here staring at my healing scars and wonder if I've done enough to apologise and show that I've changed. And that I've made sure they can return whenever they want, I'll miss them that's for sure, that's all for this entry, maybe I'll write sooner than a month from now.
Chuck POV:
Everything is going to plan, the friendship problems have been solved and soon Sunset's true destiny will be revealed. I just hope Death, War, Pestilence and Famine are up to the task of balancing a world that has too much harmony. I think to myself as I look at Equestria and wonder why my granddaughters have chosen to do something that even I wouldn't, "I am truly sorry Tia and Lulu but the time of harmony is at its end, as it should have been long ago, the elements will no longer help you and you must learn from the error of stagnation." I say as I look to the portal and help Princess Twilight power it one last time, "I am truly sorry for this Twilight but Equestrias time is at hand and you will unknowingly be the reason for its downfall" I say knowing I could destroy both worlds but I can't bring myself to do it therefore I'll let the keepers of balance do it. Is it wrong probably but it is the only way, I think to myself as I once more watch Sunset, Nightmare, Famine, Pestilence, War and Death as they ready themselves for the next part of their journey, "I am truly sorry my old friend" I whisper as they enter the portal. |
Contact | pre | Another moment of static.
"Farpoint Command, Lance Held high. Situation is nominal; we are one-two-zero seconds from intercept, travelling decimal-two-five cee. Adar counts zero-five contacts, silhouettes do not match known craft; estiel sensors show radiation emissions consistent with manned spacecraft.
"Peterson, brings us down to ten, then drop us out within twenty thousand."
Static returned. Another voice appeared on the channel.
"Disengaging ay-drive in five.
"Three.
"One.
"Range to targets now eighteen thousand, five hundred kilometers, approximate"
"Capello, hail them; all frequencies."
"We're. . . go, Commander"
"Unidentified craft, unidentified craft, this is Commander Hastings, See-Dee-Vee Lance Held High, Sol Confederacy Navy; heed and stand to.
"All craft receiving this transmission have entered restricted space and are hereby ordered to transmit identification immediately. Failure to do so within one-two-zero seconds will be interpreted as hostile action.
"I say again; squawk ident or we will kill you. Over."
At a twentieth the distance between the Earth and its moon, the unknown ships were clearly visible to the Lance's telescopes, and their images were displayed on various screens in the room. They were. . . graceful, each one built of curves that flowed from end to end.
He would have thought that they might have been Pavonan, their shipwrights preferred 'artsy' hulls like the ones on screen; this wasn't like them, though. If these ships had belonged to the Order, Farpoint would have known about them a week before; even the Eridanus gave you the courtesy of a knock on the door.
Everyone waited, wondering what the strange ships would do.
"Sixty seconds."
"Ready weapons."
"Forty-five."
"Unidentified craft, Lance Held High, you now have thirty, three-zero, seconds to comply. This is your final warning."
Jarret wasn't sure if anyone around was breathing. The tension in the room grew as the seconds ticked down.
And then a loud thump rumbled out of the speakers.
"Impact, impact, impact! Aft armor, dorsal quarter!"
The room exploded with action, and Jarret found himself being herded out.
"Weapons free; return fire! Peterson, yaw us ninety, and then bring us the hell back up to point-one!"
"Stations, people! Stations! Unless you have a reason to be in here, get out!
"Someone get on comms and tell Centcom we're under attack."
" - knocked out, thrusters only."
"Laser discharge in three - "
The door shut.
Lance Held High was dead. Farpoint's defenses now consisted of exactly four aerospace fighters that couldn't threaten a freighter and a small garrison of Marines.
With the unknown ships in orbit, the evacuation was in full force.
Jarret stared at the dots drifting above him with disgust, and more than a little fear, etched on his face; with the planet far from developed enough to justify orbital infrastructure, there was no doubt as to the identity of the "wandering stars" in the sky.
How many would be able to make it up to the Venus' Light before the invaders forced the freighter to jump out? Would he be one of the lucky ones?
He sighed and flipped a finger up at the sky, an ancient gesture that was still quite insulting even in the modern day.
Fuck them, whoever they were up there.
"Evacuation group eight, report to the catapult. Group eight to the catapult, now."
Time to head back coreward. Jarret could hear the distant bang of rifle fire.
He made sure to hustle.
"And they just let you go?"
"Let, nothing. They got that last shuttle docked up right before the Light had to hightail it the hell out." Jarret chuckled. "That freighter danced for a good hour. We jumped out after that."
"They still didn't chase you out-system."
"Beats me," Jarret shrugged.
The intelligence agent sighed. "Well, mister Connor, if that's all, then we're done here. I'll have to ask you to remain in-system for the time being but -"
"Wait."
Ripley stopped at the threshold and turned back.
"I've heard rumors. . ."
"Which I can neither confirm, nor deny at this time, mister Connor.
"Good day, mister Connor."
LOCATION CLASSIFIED
DATE CLASSIFIED
"You know, my kids would kill to see this thing."
"Do I have to remind you-"
"Just a thought, calm down."
An eyeroll. "Has it done anything?"
"It eats, no meat. It sleeps. It mopes-"
"You're assigning human emotion to that thing?"
"I call it like I see it. It's acting like my cat when he gets in one of his moods."
"You actually still have it."
"The kids love him. You give me that look, but one day. One day.
"As I was saying, it eats, sleeps, mopes, and it sometimes sings to itself."
A look. "You're kidding."
"I have the recordings. I can show you right now."
"I have got to see this."
A handwave. "This way."
The two drifted down the hall, leaving the observation room behind.
Inside the impromptu cell, a horse-like creature floated near a corner. |
Contact | Problems: Contact Part 1 | Holding Cell, LOCATION UNKNOWN
DATE UNKNOWN
Rose Blossom languished.
The pegasus had lost track of exactly how long she'd been stuck in the gray, lifeless cube of a room. She hung in air near one of the edges of this cube with a hoof hooked around one of the strange industrial-yellow bars that subdivided the walls of the room. It could have been a week. It could have been a month. Her sense of time had been obliterated.
All she knew was that she was alone and at the mercy of alien creatures that she knew nothing about.
She had been stripped of everything; her armor, for all the good it had done, her uniform, her equipment, even her Harmony pendant. She'd gotten the necklace back and the clothing had been replaced, but only after a barrage of forceful and humiliating examinations, tests, and procedures that had left the mare feeling sullied afterward. It had been terrifying, being marehandled by faceless, inequine goons. The only comfort was that they hadn't seemed to have gone out of their way to mistreat her.
She grit her teeth as her ruined hip ached again. Rose rubbed at it, hoping to massage the pain away. The aliens had been kind enough to put it back together, after a fashion, but they had also been the ones to destroy it. She wouldn't complain, though. Considering the circumstances of her capture, she felt lucky to be alive at all.
She moved through corridors of the alien building. The distinctive clip-clop of hoof-on-stone met her ears, with with an occasional metallic clang whenever she stepped on one of the grates that were spaced intermittently along the concrete floor.
The maze-like layout of the structure had separated the marine from her squad and she felt every bit of the isolation. It didn't help that interior of the structure was cavernous, dark, or sparsely lit from a variety of screens and harsh, blood-red lights. The sounds of combat, yelling, screams, spells, and weapon fire, echoed through the empty spaces, nearly driving Rose up the pipe-and-conduit-adorned walls with paranoia.
She was sure that something was following her, stalking her. The numerous rooms and side passages provided ample opportunity for ambush. Clearing them only wasted the mare's time and degraded her sanity. As much as she loathed them, fighting the changelings was almost straightforward in comparison.
But her goal, Sergeant Rye's locator beacon, goaded her into continuing. She was close, and it was a straight shot down the corridor.
She emerged from the maze into an even larger room, lined with monitors and filled with desks and computer consoles, many overturned or otherwise moved; most of those showed evidence of a firefight. The beacon was close, in the same room. Rose wound her way carefully through the mess, unsure of what she would find.
"Hello?" She queried, almost at a whisper. Nothing about the situation felt right in any way. She was within bodylengths of the beacon now. "It's Corporal Bloom. Anypony there?" Silence was her only answer. She found out why when she reached the beacon.
There wasn't enough left of anypony to answer her.
She ducked back before the sight of the mangled bodies made her sick. She had to get out. Back to other ponies. She -
BANG!
The impact threw Rose against the console with enough force to daze the pegasus. She slumped to the ground with a moan.
One fact made itself abundantly clear through the haze of pain. They were coming for her. If she didn't get up now, she was going to die.
Rose struggled to her hooves. Or tried to. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she tried again. Left front, right front. Left rear. . .
Why won't my leg work!?
Alien footsteps thundered in her direction. Fighting back panic, the mare reached back with a trembling hoof, only to draw it back, covered in blood. She twisted to look, straining against the bulk of the armor to look at her hip.
It was drenched in blood. The joint was a pulpy mess and the limb itself hung at an unnatural angle.
The footsteps drew closer. Rose stood shakily, overcome with fear and pain, and tried her best to hobble into cover. She heard the footsteps enter the room and instinctively turned to face the threat.
The massive armored frame vaulted over the obstacles in its path with an unnatural speed and grace, charging the pegasus at a breakneck pace. It was in the moment before contact that Rose finally got her first good look at the alien. It was bipedal, towering over her taller than even one of the Princesses, garbed in a bright-white suit of armor. There was no helmet, only a spherical metallic-orange faceplate where the head would be. One hand was empty, while the other reached for the handle of what could only be a knife.
Acting on instinct, the marine raised her rifle. The weapon chattered, bullets bouncing uselessly off of the creature's armor. And then it was on her.
A scream of agony tore from her mouth as its weight slammed into her. It ripped her rifle away, taking part of the armor with it. Its hand was at her throat before she could breathe.
The knife at her eye cinched it. She was going to die. The life of Rose Blossom, daughter of Cherry Blossom, was about to end and there was nothing the pegasus mare could do about it. She gave up and let herself go limp, waiting for the end.
It never came. The knife never descended. The vice-grip on her throat never tightened. Instead, muffled barely-audible sounds came from the faceplate.
Rose simply laid where she was, too tired to really care anymore. She soon heard more footsteps, lighter and slower than the ones that had come from the behemoth that now had her pinned.
"Youto sad`chte vi zhouyo midik." If she had the energy, Rose might have giggled at the absurdity. It sounded just like a pony stallion. The armored one responded, its words again muffled and quiet. "Dtha. . . whe nouzhyo nihsh nif." The impossibly equine-sounding creature moved closer, and she saw it, out of the corner of her eye, kneel over her. And then it touched her. Instincts, this time much more primal, took over and she tried to buck, spasming painfully when the motion aggravated what was left of her hip.
"Jivehs yehsou!" The force of the command broke through pain and fear and shocked the marine into stillness; when it touched her again, she didn't move except to shiver. " Louzha." The voice was gentler this time, and she felt a hand pat her barrel. "Poust`ta houshi" The hand on Rose's throat let go, leaving her free to breathe once again, and moved to her shoulder. She coughed weakly.
With her energy gone, all she could do was lie still and wait to die.
The sound of tearing fabric met her ears and she could feel, barely, the back of the alien blade as the knife, which she now noticed was no longer pointed at her eye, sliced through the fabric of her uniform with ease. What was it-
She gasped as something metallic dug into her hip. The pain was intolerable, and she would have screamed if she had strength to do so. As it was, she could only whimper as the probe dug cruelly through the ruined flesh. The pain didn't last long. Nearly as soon as it had entered, the tip of the probe exploded, releasing a wet-feeling substance that. . . that. . . numbed everything wonderfully. The pegasus sighed. Tension she had been long past feeling faded from her. All that was left was a bone-deep exhaustion. Maybe if she-
"He, he! Jivehs ton who!" Something snapped rapidly near her face, and the weary pegasus forced her eyes open and looked into the face of the other alien. Camera lenses stared back. The strange sight barely stirred her. "Jivehs proshni! Proshni! Whome nouzhyo veh`geht ta`veh`dtheh shatl!"
Immense hands lifted her up, surprisingly gentle in their touch. The armored one placed her on its shoulder as though she weighed nothing, and the world faded to black.
Aliens don't take prisoners.
This was irrefutable fact. A lesson that Equestria had learned the hard way. Aliens are the enemy. Aliens will destroy you as soon as look at you. Aliens have no regard for other life. Everything she knew told Rose that she should be dead.
Every second that she continued to breathe, every movement of her repaired leg, said otherwise.
These aliens fed her, clothed her, had tended her wounds. She couldn't understand it. The changelings would have turned her into so much meat long ago, if they even waited that long, and yet these aliens had not only kept her alive, but had saved her leg.
Why? She hadn't been captured on a whim, she knew that. Looking back, it was obvious that her capture had been deliberate. But why?
What did they want with her?
Sol system, Luna, Federal Intelligence Bureau Headquarters
January 14th, 417 a.g.w.
On dozens of screens within the darkened room, the final moments of the Lance Held High played out.
Lieutenant Coleman's distress call had been troubling, but not unexpected. Pirates, after all, were not an uncommon occurrence on the Fringe, and were the reason that the lieutenant and his men had been stationed on Farpoint in the first place.
But when the contents of the frigate's black box, which the agents of the Farpoint Task Force now viewed, had uploaded into the Navy's servers over ansible, mere minutes later, the attention of the powers that be shifted to the frontier system post haste.
The loss of a capital ship, especially in a system facing away from any powers capable of mounting such an offensive, was no trivial matter.
When the Venus' Light had showed up in the L372-58 system with nearly the entire population of Farpoint, and a very unexpected guest, it provided an explanation that no one had expected, and that many found disquieting in the extreme.
Mankind was not alone. Other life roamed the stars of the Milky Way galaxy. Humanity had neighbors.
And they weren't friendly.
This revelation, arguably the most profound in human history, had led to the creation of the Task Force, and subsequently to Lazar Jenkins sitting in a room with dozens of other intelligence agents and experts, within and from outside of the Bureau, watching the deaths of fifty Confederate spacers.
Again.
Manipulating his console, the agent switched perspectives, from within the frigate's service module to an external view of the same. The shadowed hull was lit only by the starship's running lights and appeared as a dark blob at the bottom of the image. This blob was briefly illuminated by the light of the blood-red beam that suddenly bisected the screen before dissolving into static an instant later when the camera melted under the onslaught.
Whatever those weapons were, they had gone through the ship's armor like it wasn't even there. The video made it very clear exactly what eight-hundred years of human spaceflight research and development counted for.
"Eighty centimeters of unobtanium-composite armor. Might as well have been tin foil." Jenkins looked up to see a similar clip playing on the main screen.
Absolutely nothing.
"You think that's bad? Look at this." Another agent flicked her hand as though tossing something and yet a third video clip appeared on the main screen a moment later. This one showed one of the alien ships, a destroyer-sized craft which had been designated a "frigate" due to its apparent role and relative size to its companions, as it appeared to the Lance's telescopes. The elegant delta-shaped craft was maneuvering, presumably to bring a spine-mounted weapon to bear.
A barrage of the frigate's anti-ship missiles streaked through the frame. Against a human-built craft of the aliens craft's size, even a handful would equal a mission kill, if not the outright destruction of the target.
The alien "frigate" simply shrugged off the missiles that made it through its defense screen. But it wasn't armor that they impacted.
A shimmering sphere snapped into place around the alien ship an instant before the projectiles hit.
Lazar could think of only one way to describe the sight of physics as humanity knew it being snapped in half.
"That's not good."
"Understatement is my schtick, Jenkins." Lazar looked over to his right as his fellow agent spoke up. "It's not entirely bad, though. Take a look at. . . this." The agent popped up his own video clip. This one showed one of the alien "destroyers". It also had one of the inexplicable spheres around it. The timestamp indicated the clip took place within seconds of the Lance's destruction.
The alien craft vanished in a flash of light and shrapnel.
A Hyper-Velocity Impactor. The single-most powerful weapon in any nation's arsenal. One, of sufficient caliber, was enough to level a continent. Enough of them could resurface a planet. They were, before now, the only weapons capable of cracking the armored shells that protected humanity's capital ships.
They were the Alderson Drive taken to its logical extreme. The ultimate evolution of ballistic weapons. A guided projectile capable of "accelerations" upwards of ninety-percent of the speed of light, the HVI was the modern nuke.
It was with one of these weapons that the Lance Held High took of her foes with her into death.
"Enough chit-chat folks. This is all well and good, but save the analysis for the boffins," Agent Crowe, the head of the Task Force, indicated half of the assembled group with a nod of her head. "The purpose of this little show was to impress upon you why, exactly, we're here today.
"Make no mistake people. We're looking at another first contact situation. Only this time, it's not a couple squabbling colonies, and no one is going to step in and mediate like we did last century.
"This could be a horrible mistake.
"This could be how these things say hi.
"This could be a declaration of war.
"Our job is to learn everything we can from this farce so we can figure out which it is and advise the bigwigs in Parliament once the Navy gets done kicking Ee-Tee's ass up and down the Farpoint system." Crowe tapped a few points in thin air, causing files to appear in everyone's inboxes.
"You have your assignments. Let's get to work."
Lazar opened his own inbox. I seem to get the interesting assignments.
He was going to help question their "guest".
LV-218 system, Planet Five, Alien Compound
June 7th, 1173 a.n.m.
"We think they're terraformers."
Mint Glimmer blinked. "What?" She and her first officer stood in a large room, mostly cleared of the debris of combat. What furniture was left had been repurposed, every available surface filled with charts, tablet computers, and various pieces of equipment. Mint took in these details, trying to parse what she had just been told. "What?"
"Captain, these machines," her first officer highlighted the dozens of dots on the map representing the alien compounds, "are dumping oxygen into the atmosphere in absolutely massive quantities. As far as we can tell, this planet's entire magnetic field seems to be artificial; one of the poles is about twenty miles west.
"There are other machines, here, here, and here," the mare highlighted various sets of dots, " that seem to be affecting the environment in other ways. Somehow; we haven't been able to figure out what kind of spells they're using or for what. The few computers we've been able to access, without being able to understand their language, are filled with what look like weather simulations and equipment manifests.
"We've found no cities, no shipyards, no armories. There are no tanks, no personnel carriers, we haven't even found any guns bigger than the we-think-they're-rifles we found on their soldiers.
"Captain, I think we've made a big mistake."
The unicorn's mind shut down. A mistake. They had made a mistake. She had attacked these people and Rose Quartz called it a mistake. Was her eye twitching?
No. No. She hadn't attacked them. They started it and it got out of hoof. None of this would have happened if they hadn't been so hostile and aggressive. This was their fault; they were to blame. She just did her job. And she was going to keep doing it.
"Finish your investigations and then get everypony back on the ships as soon as possible." Equestria needed to know about these new aliens. This new threat. "We're leaving." |
Seven of Diamonds | pre | She smiled brightly
"I never dreamed I'd retire at the age of twenty-eight."
Anon check his watch
"Shoot we need to get ready." he said "The orphanage opens in an hour. And the sooner we get packed up and leave, the better."
"But I haven't even packed yet."
"We'll figure it out."
They rushed through their morning routines and even then Trixie looked as beautiful as ever. She wore a long, flowing white skirt with one of her new tops. She had her hair tied in a ponytail with pink lipstick and silvery moon earrings. Trixie always had such a sense of style. They both rushed out the the station and got to the orphanage just in time for opening. Even the dark, dusty home looked beautiful today. Because today that little ball of sunshine would finally be theirs. Trixie, however, seemed a bit flustered.
"Trixie?"
"Do I look ok?"
"Better than ever."
"I'm not too sweaty am I? Oh please tell me my breath doesn't smell"
Anon clutches her shoulder
"Trixie. Relax. You look perfectly fine."
Trixie began to get in a tizzy
"Do you really think I'm up for it?" she says at a million miles an hour "You really think I'll be a good mom? We're not making a mistake are-"
She was interrupted by Anon's lips against her own.
"You'll be fine. Don't worry so much."
The kiss finally allowed Trixie to take a deep breath and steady herself
"You're right. Sorry. It's just... I don't want her to live the life I had."
"She won't Trixie. I'll see too it that she doesn't."
"And you won't die?"
"I won't. I'll be right by your side the entire time."
Trixie is finally put at peace
"Ok. I can do this." she said confidently
"Good job. You're doing great Trixie."
The two grasp one another's hand and walk through the doors.
"Hi. Anon and Trixie Lulamoon." he said to the receptionist "We're here to pickup Sunset Shimmer."
It was a different lady at the counter this time, but she was leagues nicer. She gave a warm, gentle smile and said
"Oh you're here for Sunset? She will be sorely missed. She's such a sweet little thing. I'm so glad she's getting a home though. This place will do nothing but bring her down. Thank you both for giving her the home she deserves."
Both Anon and Trixie looked at each other with a big smile
"It's our pleasure." Trixie said
The woman picked up the phone and talked to someone on the other line, no doubt calling for someone to send down Sunset. Trixie's nervousness had evidently been reignited by the fact that she was squeezing her husband's hand so hard his bones were about to crack. In just five minutes Sunset walked down the hall, wearing a cute little red and white dress with a matching bow. She had only a small suitcase with her.
"Mommy!" Sunset yelled, running to hug Trixie
Trixie returns the embrace, a large smile on her face and tears in her eyes
"Hi sweetie. You ready to start your new life?"
She nods and looks at Anon with a smile which he lovingly returned. After a few final pages of paperwork, Sunset was officially their adopted child. Sunset held both her new parents hands as they walked outside, Anon making sure to take the small suitcase.
"Now all we have to do is go get to the car and we'll be on our marry way." Anon said
"Where are we going dada?" she asked
"To your new home. Trust me, you'll really like it."
Sunset put her thumb in her mouth and they kept walking. She was surprisingly regressed for her age. She was less like a seven year old and more like a three year old. Hopefully it was just a phase and not some mental issue. Sunset stops moving, looking back at the orphanage.
"What's a matter, love?" Trixie asked
"I'm just going to miss my friend."
If he was honest with himself, Anon wished he could just adopt them all. But even with a billion dollars there was no way he could do that.
"I know sweetheart." she reassured her "Maybe one day we'll see her again. And you can teach her all the magic you'll learn."
Sunset stared a little long before finally turning her head forward, walking into her new future. Once at the station, Trixie went back to the mobile home with Sunset to pack her things while Anon got a rental car. Lucky for them they had a way to drop it off in Colorado. It was a little extra, but now money was no object. Anon got a red Sudan with plenty of space for all of their stuff and drove right back to the mobile home. It hadn't been since he was a teenager that he was able to drive. The feeling was amazing, liking returning to something he loved. By the time he got there the packing was just about completed.
Once everything was securely in the trunk, he and Trixie just stared at the mobile home. It was finally time to say goodbye. They had so many memories here. So many tears were shed, so many celebrations, so much love. They may have been moving into a happier life, but the love and closeness was not to be discounted.
"Are you ready to go sweetheart?" he asked
Trixie just stood there for a bit, looking at the trailer with a glint in her eyes.
"Yeah. From this moment forward, we start out new life."
"Here, here."
And with that, they both got in the car, Sunset tucked in the back seat, and drove into the slowly rising sun. |
Seven of Diamonds | Scars | The new family hit the road immediately, not wanting to waste a single moment for the long road ahead. It didn't take long for Sunset to fall asleep, five minutes in fact. She laid there, with her head against the window peacefully snoring away. Trixie looked back, cracking a little smile and snapped a picture of the sleeping little one.
"You think that'll make a good addition to the scrapbook?" Trixie whispered
"Of course. It's the first photo we have of our new daughter. And a perfect one at that."
"I'll make sure to put it in."
"If we find one at one of the rest stops, I'm getting you a new camera."
"Speaking of rest stops, how long will it take to get there anyway?"
"The next rest stop in about an hour, out first attraction in about five, and the hotel in close to nine."
"And what about our final destination?"
"Two days."
"Two days? Well we're going to have plenty of time for memories then huh?"
"You bet. We're going to stop at a hotel halfway through the journey. If we went straight through we could make it in twenty eight hours, but no thanks."
"I don't blame one bit."
The drive was in complete blissful silence for over three hours until Sunset woke up with a yell, causing both of them to turn jolt around. Anon nearly instinctively slammed on the breaks doing so. Sunset was pale as a ghost and covered in sweat with tears in her eyes. She was breathing like she had just done the fifty meter dash.
"Sweet girl." Trixie cooed "What happened?"
Sunset merely shook her head, hiding her eyes behind her hands. Trixie gave him a concerned look.
"Pull over for a minute." she said
He does so and Trixie climbs out of the car and into the back seat.
"Sunset sweet heart. What's the matter?"
Sunset simply covers her face in her hands and shakes her head. Trixie put her arms around the now shaking little girl but she just couldn't be consoled. Whatever she was dreaming about, it really startled her. Something troubling crossed Anon's mind.
"Trixie?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have Sunset's medical sheet?"
Trixie went silent for a moment, a look of worry crossing her face
"Yeah it's in my purse" she paused "why?"
He took Trixie's purse form the center console, a worn, rugged blue and white bag that had certainly seen better days. He riffled through it until finding a medium size yellow envelope. He began to read the papers inside.
"So she's allergic to peanuts and peanut butter, that's a shame."
Trixie giggled
"Allergic to her own mom's favorite food? Well that's just a crime."
Rain began to pitter patter against the window from the black clouds above and a large clap of thunder rang throughout the car, causing Sunset to go into a new level of panic. As the thunder boomed she let out a loud yell and began to violently shake in her seat. Trixie held her tight, doing her best to reassure her but the poor thing we completely consumed in fear.
"As far as physical ailments go, other than the peanut allergy she's squeaky clean." he said
He flips to the next page and reads the next few lines, covering his mouth.
"Anon." Trixie whispered "What is it?"
"You were right Trixie. She does have something."
"What is it?"
"Complex PTSD and well as several scars on her stomach. It says here a good Samaritan found her after she was found on the street nearly starving to death."
Trixie gritted her teeth. It was a pain she knew better than anyone, having been raised on the streets of a period of time herself. Had she not met Anon things may have very well stayed that way.
"Sunset sweetie." she said calmly "Look at me."
Sunset did so, still in a state of high panic. Trixie looked at her with a smile.
"It's ok. You're safe now."
Sunset's face changed. It was as if, for the first time in her life, she had finally be allowed to just be ok. To rest. Tears ran down her face and she grasped her mother's waist tight.
"Shhhh." Trixie said, running her hand through Sunny's long, golden-red locks "there, there my child. Mommy's here."
The rain pelted the car hard while she sat there, the crying little girl in her arms. It took nearly an hour for Sunset to finally calm down again.
"You all better now sweet heart?"
Sunset just buried her head between Trixie's breasts, not saying a word.
"I'll tell you what honey." Trixie said "If you can be brave for me and sit in the car, we'll get you some nail paint and a toy. How does that sound?"
Sunset's ears perked up and she looked straight at her mommy.
"You mean it?"
"I mean it. Any toy you want, you name it. But you have to be brave and strong until we get there ok?"
Sunset stiffened her upper lip and sat back in her seat
"Ok." she said, rather smugly "But you also have to teach me a magic trick too."
Both she and Anon couldn't help but giggle
"Quite the barterer I see. Deal."
Sunset had the biggest, smuggest smile on her face, as if she was a car salesman who had just completely conned a poor man out of his money. Trixie climbed through the car and back into the front seat and the two of them smiled at one another.
"She's one tough cookie." Trixie said
"She is. She really is."
Anon started the car again and a away they went, stopping at a gas station a mere fifteen minutes away. They arrived in a small town with barely more than twenty buildings within it. Trixie and Sunset went inside while Anon watched the pump. Lucky the was a roof above the gas pumps or he'd be being pelted with rain. Sunset held Trixie's hand firmly as they walked down the nail polish isle.
"What color do you want sweet heart?"
Sunset scans the row of small bottles filled with all the colors of the rainbow, even glittery colors with her thumb in her mouth. She, of course, chose pink. They went down through the small toy isle next. It was pretty slim pickings. A gas station is nowheresville, Indiana certainly wasn't the ideal place for toy shopping. But Sunset's child-like wonderment didn't care. She saw this as the most amazing thing in the world. And for someone who spent most of their life on the street, it probably was.
Trixie picked out, rather surprisingly, not a stuffed animal or a toy car or a doll, but a bright blue clip on bow for her hair. Trixie picked out a few snacks and beverages before making her way back out to the car. Sunset had already put the ribbon in her hair. It was amazing how she went from completely distraught to 100% smiles in a matter of fifteen minutes. As they two come into Anon's view, he smiles wide.
"Well look at miss America over here." he said
Sunset giggles the most cute giggle then bows, doing a little curtsy.
"You look absolutely gorgeous,my love." Trixie said, helping her back into the seat
The rain had started to dissipate now and the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. It really was he most perfect metaphor. It seemed that none of them had be dealt a good hand in life; Anon, the good for nothing drop out, Trixie, the gang member, and Sunset, the orphan. But the storm was over and the clouds were clearing. The rain may come again, but together they were stronger than any storm that could ever come.
"And don't forget about the magic trick!" Sunset exclaimed |
Seven of Diamonds | Final Destination | "Alright. Watch this closely." Trixie said, pulling out her hat and wand "Watch and be amazed as the Great and Powerful Trixie pulls your bow out of the hat!"
She takes the wand and traces it around the hat a few times, quickly using a slight of hand to snatch the bow from the back of Sunset's head without her feeling it. Sunset looked as if her head might explode.
"How did you do that mommy!?"
Trixie giggles
"That's a more advanced trick. You'll need to learn the basics first."
The sun was beginning to set outside the moving car. It was finally time to turn in. Unfortunately they were moving at a slower pace than anticipated and weren't able to get to the first attraction. Even Sunny was starting to get a bit sleepy. There wasn't much int the way of top line hotels so they just settled on a low brow motel. It was pretty comfy all things considered. It gave something of a farmhouse vibe with wooden walls, a moose's skull mounted to the wall and a rather ratty carpet. Trixie carried a sleeping Sunset in her arms to the room, placing her underneath the covers and tucking her in a bed beside the one they'd be sleeping in.
"I hope she doesn't have another nightmare." Trixie said
"If she does we'll be prepared for it."
Trixie pulled the covers back a bit and lifted up Sunset's shirt. Sure enough she had three long scars on her belly that looked as if they had been made by a whip. Trixie's face drops a bit.
"That poor thing." she said "Whatever did that to her wasn't gentle."
"She's in a safe place now Trixie. We can't change what she went through. But we can give her a happy and prosperous future."
"Right." Trixie let out a soft sigh "Well I think I'm going to follow Sunset's lead."
"You go ahead. I'm going to stay up for a while longer."
Trixie wraps her arms around his waist
"You're always so bad at going to bed on time. You'll be tired in the morning if you don't go to bed soon."
"I know. But I like this stillness. It's nice just to have some peace and quiet for a change."
Trixie giggles, resting her head on his shoulder
"You'll need to get used to this. Having a little seven year old is anything but quiet living."
"That's why you have to take these moments while you can right?"
"Alright. But when you wake up all tired and grumpy tomorrow, don't blame me."
"I won't babe."
They both kiss and Trixie goes under the covers, falling asleep before her head hit the pillow. Anon walked to the side of the window and opened the blinds, peering out onto the street. It was almost mesmerizing how still everything was, even the wind seemed to be taking a break. All that was outside was the sound of crickets and the long, winding road out of the town. Every now and again a car would pass by. Anon pitied the poor soul who was driving at midnight.
Anon felt someone shaking him slightly and his shot up. It was day now and the light burned his retinas. He turned around to see Trixie's smiling face. He must have fallen asleep without even realizing it.
"You ready to get going?"
He felt a tug at his sleeve. It was Sunset.
"Come on daddy! Let's go!"
Anon rubs the sleep from his eyes and gets out of the chair
"Finally awake?" Trixie giggled
"I will be once I get some coffee in me."
Trixie kisses his cheek
"Well hurry up and get ready. Don't want to miss the continental breakfast do we?"
"You're damn right."
"Anon!"
"What?"
"Don't curse around Sunset. We need to lead by example."
"My apologies."
That was going to be difficult. Anon was a fan of swearing.
"Well looks like mom is here to keep both of us inline huh Sunset?" Anon chuckled
Sunny giggles
"No, just you daddy!"
After a quick shower, he threw on some simple clothes and went down to enjoy the free breakfast. Trixie looked down at Sunset.
"What do you want sweet heart?"
Sunset sticks her thumb in her mouth and points to some fruit. At least they didn't have to force her to eat healthy. Trixie grabbed an apple before receiving a hard poke to the leg.
"Sweetie you have to tell me what you want." she said "Use your words."
Sunset got a little huffy
"Banana." she pouted
Nothing like a hungry seven year old to brighten everyone's day.
"What do we say when we want something?"
Sunset crossed her arms and stamped her foot a bit
"Sunset." Trixie said, a little more sternly "It starts with a P."
"Please." Sunset muttered
"Good job." she said, handing her the fruit
Anon crosses his arms and smiles
"And you thought you were going to be a bad mom." he said "Looks to me like you're a natural."
Trixie blushes a bit
"Well they don't call me Great and Powerful for nothing."
They sat down at the table and found Sunset was quite the messy eater. It was as if only 60% of the food actually ended up in her mouth.
"So I've got an idea." Anon said
Trixie was looking into her pocket mirror, applying some lipstick.
"What's that my love?"
"Since we only have a day left to get to Colorado, I thought we could stop at a place before the house. Unfortunately we'll have to do the road trip another time."
Trixie raised her eyebrow and looked at him skeptically
"What's the big rush?"
Anon gets a big smile
"It's a surprise. Trust me when I say you'll love it though."
She closes her pocket mirror with a satisfying click.
"I'll take your word for it." she said "What place do you have in mind?"
"I was thinking Rocky Mountain National Park."
"You are such a hippie. You think our little one here will be able to appreciate it?"
"Of course she will."
"If you want too"
"You don't sound all the excited."
She smiles, planting a kiss on his cheek
"Because I'm not a big nerd like you."
"Tell you what." he said "You let me do this and you can have complete creative freedom to decorate and remodel the house."
Trixie got a wide smile
"Not that I don't want complete decorative freedom," she said "but we can do the national park anytime. Why not just go to our new home? We can always do the road trip another time."
"I guess you're right. Sounds like you're pretty anxious to get there as well."
Anon turned to see Sunset playing with her hands like an airplane. He missed being a kid. That great age when your imagination turned your hand into a fighter jet and the table into an enemy base. Growing up was so overrated.
"Well if we're heading straight to our new house we better get going."
They wall get up and go back in the car, hitting the road for yet another long hall. Anon stared at Trixie's tattered old purse.
"We should probably get you a new purse huh?"
"Yeah. But I'd never think of throwing this one away" she hugs her purse "I think I'll put this somewhere. Hang it maybe. As a reminder of where we've been. Of how much we struggled and how we were given this lucky break. I'll never allow this money to corrupt us, or Sunset. We'll always remain humble."
"You don't actually think it will, will you?"
Trixie looks down
"Listen, lovely." he says "We'll never let this corrupt us. I promise."
"I know. But you know me. I'm a worry wort."
"Well I'll do everything in my power to put those fears to rest."
Most of the rest of the car ride was spent in silence, Trixie reading Rising Threat Volume 3 and Sunset sat quietly in the back. Anon watched the scenery pass as they went. Most of it was rather boring being mainly farmland. After many hours they passed through to Colorado, the Sun slowly dipping below the horizon. They stopped at a gas station a few towns away from their final destination. As Sunset sat in the locked car outside, the two of them went inside and wondered down the isles.
"Are you ready babe?" he said "We've got only an hours worth of driving left."
"I'm pretty nervous. This is just... so crazy. I don't know how I'm going to deal with so much space."
"We'll adjust."
"I know but..."
"But what?"
Trixie shakes her head
"Nothing. Let's do this." she said "I'm ready."
"That's the spirit."
They both walk back into the car and drive the remaining hour to their new house in the beautiful town of Telluride. And they were far from disappointed. The first thing that met their gaze was a large brass gate so heavy it needed to be opened electronically. Anon go out of the car to the small guard post at the front of the property and punched in the code. The gates slowly began to part, opening up the large cobblestone path up to the house atop a hill. Behind the house was a large forest. The whole thing looked like something out of a postcard.
The house was even more amazing. It was less of a house and more of manor. It stood four stories tall and was made of grey brick. The rooftops were blue shingles with ornate gargoyles on top of them. Each story of the house had four windows each. At the front of the house was a small roundabout paved with red brick and above it, held by white arches, was a small stone ceiling. On top of that was a small patio, complete with a brass table and matching chairs. The front doors were larger than he was tall and made of cold black iron.
To the left of the house was a garden surrounded by a greenhouse. Vines had slowly begun to crawl over the outside and the windows were so misty it was impossible to see inside. Anon drove the car to the large garage to the right of the house. It looked as if it could easily hold twenty to thirty cars. Both he and Trixie's mouths were agape.
"The house was impressive in the pictures," Trixie said "But this is ridiculous."
"No kidding. The garage alone is bigger than any place I've ever lived."
The two snapped out of the initial shock and got out of the car, Trixie going to retrieve Sunset. She unbuckled the sleeping little girl and held her in her arms. They walked through the side door into the main lobby where the surprises continued. The floor was a smooth, shining white marble and the walls were redwood. The walls had three paintings each depicting grand scenes of battle or breathtaking scenery. Above the front door was the head of a deer mounted on a plaque. On the opposite side of the front door were two staircases the angled toward one another to the next floor.
"Alright. So what should we do first? Set up shop or explore a bit?" Trixie suggested
"I think we should explore a bit. That way we can know where to put our stuff. Pick our room. But before that let's find a place for Sunset to sleep."
"Good idea."
Even with all this movement Sunset barely budged an inch. She was out cold. They walked up the steps to the second floor and looked down each hallway. Doors. So many doors. Each was made of the same redwood as the walls in the main lobby but the floors were now a red silk carpet.
"How in the world are we supposed to know which one is the bedroom?" Trixie whispered "There must be at least ten doors on each side!"
"Don't worry. I've got this one."
Anon pulled out his phone and launched an app with a complete map of the house.
"Alright here we go. The bedrooms, specifically a children's room, is located on the third floor at the end of the hall to the right."
"That's impressive."
"Yeah. We're certainly getting our money's worth that's for sure."
They walked up another set of stairs at the opposite end of the hall and got to the children's room. The style was absolutely perfect. The floors were made of redwood and the bed was large with pink, semi-transparent drapes surrounding it. To the right side was a large wooden chest, no doubt for toy storage. To the left was a closet the extended the length of the wall. On each side of the bed were two large windows that overlooked the side of the house. Trixie tip toed to the bed, parting the drapes and placing Sunset snugly into the bed. She kissed her forehead.
"Sleep well, sweetheart."
Anon gave his daughter a kiss as well, then tip toed back out into the hallway to explore the rest of the house. |
Seven of Diamonds | Passion beneath the full moon | A loud rumble is heard from Trixie's tummy, causing Anon to giggle.
"A little hungry there, babe?"
Trixie's face turns a bright shade of crimson
"M-maybe."
"Well I guess we know the first place we're going to explore don't we?"
Anon opens the guide on his phone again, finding a pleasant surprise.
"Well would you look at that: the previous owner left some food for us."
"That was awfully nice of him." she said "Who was the last owner?"
"Some business man. I'd never heard of him till now. He's some low level executive for a multi-national cooperation. Apparently even being low level will treat you pretty good."
"No kidding. It must be quite the successful business if someone low level can have a house like this."
They began to walk in the direction of the kitchen back at the first floor
"Yeah. It's called Applefamily Cider."
Trixie gasps
"You've never had Applefamily cider!? I used to drink that all the time as kid. Remind me and we'll get you some. It should be a crime not to taste it at least once."
"It's that good, is it?"
"Even better than that."
They open the large wooden doors to the kitchen. It was less of a kitchen and more of a dining hall. A long wood table the seated twenty sat in the center. At the end of the table were two massive windows with long red silk curtains. Off the the left was the chef's room. It was the size of the trailer with ten stoves, two massive steel fridges. In the fridge was a large bouquet of fruit. Trixie's eye's hungered.
"Let's dig in shall we?"
Trixie happily agreed, not saying a word before grabbing the fruit and digging right in. Anon happily joined her. They gouged themselves till their stomachs felt as if they may burst.
"Nothing like stuffing yourself at midnight." he said
"No kidding." Trixie laughed "I can't remember the last time I ate this good."
Trixie got a look in her eyes and hugged Anon tight. He knew that look in her eyes. The look of pure lust.
"Want to help me lose some of this weight?"
Anon chuckled and gave her a big kiss.
"It'd be my pleasure."
The two began to make out, melting on top of the table. Anon grabbed her breast tightly like a kid reaching for candy. Trixie pushed back with force, wanting to be the dominating force in this engagement. For them sex was like a battle, a competition. Both of them fighting to be the dominate, while who ever was on their knees by the end of it lost.
Anon pulled Trixie's shirt off, exposing her cute red bra with a bow in the middle and press his face in between the gap. Trixie hugged his head and looked at him with kindness, like a mother breastfeeding her child. With his newfound leverage, Anon pressed her body down on the table. As he stood above him, panting like a worn dog, Trixie quickly undid his pants and pulled them off with her foot. His engorged manhood poking through his underwear. Trixie's sly look returned as she saw it, knowing it was completely under her body's command. He returned the favor, pulling her shorts off and exposing her cute matching silk panties, a dark wet patch already forming. Anon sensually ran his fingers just above the hem line then straight down, the only thing separating his hand from her flower being the thin fabric of her red underwear.
Trixie let out a sweet little moan as he traced the slight gap poking out through the fabric. Her body was at maximum sensitivity and just begging for her husband to dive right in. She may have lost the battle, but she was far from enjoying it. Anon sat up, pulling Trixie up with him. He sat crisscross with her on his lap, his meat pulsating against the small of her back. Anon put one had down her underwear while the other squeezed her soft breast and began to trace circles around her now soaked womanhood, teasing her like crazy. Her body was pleading with his fingers to take everything he wanted. She shoved her face into his with a deep kiss, needing an outlet for the pleasure. Finally done messing around, Anon stuck his index finger into the gooey center and massaged her bean. Trixie's chest rose and fall as her ecstasy slowly increase.
It didn't take much for it to reach a fever pitch, with just a few expert rolls of his finger, Trixie began to gush all over her underwear and the table, her entire body shuttering with pure pleasure and love. But she was far from satisfied. It was Anon's turn to be at her complete mercy. With a quick turn, she pressed him down onto the table and practically ripped his underwear off, pulling her's off in turn. She wanted to be full, she wanted him to be part of her body. Se spread her lips wide and consumed his head inside her, her body perfectly accommodating his girth. It felt incredible inside Trixie's pocket. The heat was intense, as if he was putting himself inside an oven. But it was just warm enough not to be uncomfortable.
Trixie greedily began to thrust her hips up and down, a resounding wet slap occurring with each bounce. The table was barely able to bear her lustful grinding. Trixie placed both hands on his hips and stared up and the ceiling, consuming herself in the pleasure with a slight pain as her walls struggled to contain the large meat stick she was excitedly hammering away at. Anon tried with all his might to hold it in but within five short minutes he was on a one way trip to orgasm city, shooting load after load of baby batter right into her cervix. Trixie, feeling the sticky substance flow into her body began to cum once again. They both feel to each side o the table, Anon's love slowly dribbling out of Trixie's vagina. They held hands at they sat there, panting and sweating.
"That was," Trixie said in between pants "incredible."
"You were just as good." Anon gasped "You had sex like you haven't fucked in years."
"It feels that way."
Anon chuckled
"We had sex like four days ago."
"I know."
Trixie's hand drifted down to the scar on her lower stomach, the place where her ovaries should have been before the disease took them. Trixie's eyes went from bliss to sadness within seconds. Anon began to spoon her.
"Sweet heart." he said
Trixie sighed
"Why did I they have to be taken away?"
Anon hugged her tight
"Because life is unfair." he said "but I love you just as much. You're no less than you were before the surgery."
"You think so?"
"I know so."
They sat in silence for a bit, spooning on the table while moonlight flooded the room.
"What are you thinking honey?"
"I wish I could get over this." she said "I wish I could just accept that I'll never have a child of my own."
"Why would you accept that when that's not true?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Did you forget about the little angel sleeping on the third story?"
"I didn't... and I love her more than the moon and stars above... but she'll never truly by mind. She'll never be a creation from our love."
Anon twirled her hair in his finger
"She is though. She is the very example of a creation of our love."
"I know" she said "I just really want a child to come from my body."
"I know lovely. I know." he said "All we can do is treat Sunset as if she were the product of the two of us."
"I'm sorry I'm getting so worked up over this."
"Don't apologize. It's a hard thing to lose. But know that ovaries or no, you're still the woman I love more than anything in the world."
Trixie smiled
"You're right. So what if she isn't technically ours. She is still our child."
"That's right."
The two of them closed their eyes, falling asleep right on the large wooden table. Trixie finally letting her pain go, knowing she didn't need an organ to give Sunset all the love in the entire world. |
A Man Of Science | pre | "C'mon everypony! Follow me!" She grinned as she jumped into the hole in the tree. The group looked a bit skeptical, but they quickly followed suit. While he and Twilight walked towards their positions, he looked over and broke the ice with some bit of conversation.
"So, Twilight... What did Rarity say to you earlier? I'm curious as to what would make you act so defensive." He questioned her. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, stopping only for a moment before giving him a vague answer.
"She was just teasing me. Nothing more than some joke." She shook her head in embarrassment. Rigdon raised a brow at her answer, but decided not to push her further. Before they both knew it, they were on the outskirts of Ponyville. Soldiers were walking in between the houses, carrying out orders and having fun with their free time. Twilight looked over to him, a determined look in her eyes as she waited for the signal. Rigdon looked at her, his eyes locking onto hers. He gave a small nod, cocking the charging handle of the gun.
"It's go time.." |
A Man Of Science | Wrath Of A Thousand Suns | Raising the rifle at a stationary target, he slowly squeezed his finger back. The amalgamation of wood and steel screamed to life as it fired off its rounds. Blood burst out forth from a soldier as the projectiles ripped through his right shoulder, then his lower thigh. With the sudden attack, many fell over one another as they ducked for cover. One Russian grabbed his wounded comrade and pulled him along the ground, a blood trail leaving in his wake. Yelling rang out from the town as the forces slowly scraped themselves together for defensive positions. Rigdon quickly bent back and hid behind some cover.
Twilight's horn lit up slightly as she channeled some energy. A couple of sparks flew off as she concentrated the spell. When she finally finished, a beam of magic flew overhead, before landing a good ten feet away from the enemy positions. The beam exploded, kicking up dirt as it did. Twilight wasn't really trying to hurt anyone though. This was her attempt at trying to disorient the opposing side. Rigdon lifted up a bit, setting the gun against the cover. Some poor unfortunate soul was so traumatized by the artillery, he began to run around aimlessly. His comrades called out to him, telling him to get back before he got shot. Of course, Rigdon beat him to the punch. The man fell to the ground, clutching his hip and crying in agony as the bullet tore through his side. The voice of the male continued to mask the sounds of bullets as they whistled by.
Unlike their earlier friend, everyone was too terrified to go out to get him. He continued to call for help, his eyes fixated on his comrade. Rigdon took aim, the sights of his gun pointing in the general area of his heart. He then fired off two shots, the man falling silent as his life was snuffed out. Yet another tick was added to Rigdon's list. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Pinkie leading a group of ponies away. That's good--the plan was working. He quickly yanked his figure back down, the cracking sound continuing to call out as a flurry of bullets slammed into the brick wall and passed overhead,
Rigdon quickly peeked his body up over the wall, his hands bringing the gun to aim. But, this time around, they were ready for him. A soldier that had realized the pattern, had decided to stay locked onto the area of cover. Rigdon's eyes widened as he watched the gun train on him. "Shield!" He would yelp out. He could feel everything slow down as the bullet exploded out from the muzzle brake. The projectile spun through the air, slicing the wind as it began to travel his way. A light purple shield appeared in front of him, the bullet banging against it as it was stopped. A small indent was left against the shield where it had smacked up against. More shots rang out before they found themselves with Twilight's shield. Small cracks began to form where the bullets were impacting.
Twilight let out a small grunt as she did her best to not let her shield shatter into a million pieces. Rigdon quickly ducked down, his heart slowly beating faster. He looked over to her and gave a thumbs up. Twilight let her magic dissipate, the shield disappearing a second later. She fell to the ground, soft wheezing escaping from her lips as she did her best to recover. Rigdon raised his gun over the wall, squeezing the trigger and taking a bunch of blind pop shots. Soon, a small click was heard.
"I-I don't know if I can take that much again..." Twilight cooed softly, sweat slowly trickling down her face.
He brought his gun down, his thumb pressing the mag release. The casing fell to the ground with a small clank. He reached into his pocket, pulling out another magazine and attaching it onto the gun. He then racked the bolt back, a bullet loading into the chamber. He looked over to Twilight, a worried expression on his face. He looked down, his thoughts running rampant. "Twilight, we need to leave. That tree behind us leads to Pinkie's tunnels. When I say go, we run to it, alright? I'm going to be right behind you," He would give her the game plan. She gave a compliant nod. "Three... two... one... Go!" He called out! Twilight stood up and galloped over to the tree, quickly jumping into the hole.
But Rigdon stayed behind. He wasn't going... He had only said those things in order to make sure that she went. He was going to bide everyone's time. It was the least he could do for them. A small smile grew on his face before he turned towards the forces in front of him. Flipping the fire select to fully automatic, he looked over the cover and held the trigger down.
Twilight galloped down the steps, her breath hot and heavy. She could feel the adrenaline slowly leave her body as she made it down. Waiting for her at the bottom was Applejack and Pinkie. Twilight eased up on her running, her speed now reaching a slow trot. Applejack walked up to her, her head quickly whipping around her figure, making sure that there were no injuries.
"Glad you made it in one piece... Ah' thought you were going to come back with a couple holes in you," She called out with a smile. Pinkie looked around, a worried expression slowly creeping onto her face. Twilight's eyes were slowly drawn over to her. To see Pinkie this sad looking only meant that bad things were going to happen.
"What's wrong, Pinkie?" Twilight questioned, a hint of concern now plaguing her voice, too. Pinkie looked back to Twilight, two words slowly leaving her mouth--Words that Twilight would never want to hear.
"Where's Rigdon?..."
Twilight's eyes slowly widened, her pupils turning to pin-pricks. She whipped her head back around, only to find the empty staircase behind her. She could feel her heart sink into her stomach as she realized what he had done. "N-No..." She whispered out slowly, her voice slowly growing louder with each passing moment. "N-No! He said that we were leaving! No! He can't do this! I can't lose a close friend!" She yelped out in distress. She quickly galloped forward, but her movement was quickly stopped.
She panned her head back, finding Applejack holding her back by her tail. "Let me go! I have to help him!" Twilight yelled out. Applejack didn't budge from her words. Instead, she sought to try and console her friend.
"It's going to be fine, Twilight! Trust me, he's going to be alright. He's a tough cookie, ah'll give him that. We just need to go and give him his time to come to us." She called out. The tears began to flow down Twilight's cheeks, a blush now growing as the tears continued to stream down her face.
"And what if he doesn't? What if he doesn't come back? Then what?!" She yelled back in anger. Applejack let go of her tail and took a deep breath, continuing her efforts to console her. She walked forward before lifting her hoof and resting it on Twilight.
"Rigdon did this for a reason, Twilight. He wanted to make sure that you're safe. Ah' can tell he cares about you greatly, and you him. You just need to trust that he's going to come back. He's a stubborn fella, and I doubt he's going to let himself get killed, because he knows how much it would destroy you. You're lucky to have a friend like him who's willing to put his life at risk for your safety. Hell, Ah'll even go so far as to say that he rivals Rainbow in loyalty," She would say to Twilight.
"You just need to trust him, because I know that he'll be running down these tunnels soon enough. We just need to follow his wishes and get back to the others." She finished her little speech. Twilight looked down, her tears raining onto the floor. She lifted her hoof up, her fur on her hoof becoming slightly matted as she wiped her tears away. She gave a small nod, her figure slowly moving forward.
Pinkie, for once in her life, didn't know what to do about cheering Twilight up. Either way, she's proud of how AJ was able to console her friend. Pinkie quickly followed after Twilight. Applejack stopped dead in her tracks and looked back towards the staircase. "You better get outta there alive, Sugarcube... I'd hate to see Twilight upset again." She whispered under her breath. He hoof reached up, straightening her hat before she broke out into a small trot, catching up with her friends.
The gun recoiled back into his shoulder in repeated succession. He continued to fire off bullet after bullet towards the Russian defenses. The gun began to click, signaling to him that he was out of ammo. That was his last mag. He threw the gun down, huffing softly. He quickly bent down behind cover, hearing their wall of bullets blast into the wall. The brick wall was now starting to fold under the pressure. It was time to go. He quickly stood up, turning heel and began to run. As he took a couple of steps, he fell to the ground with a yelp. He looked down, his hands shooting down to hold his leg. He slowly removed his hand, now finding that the inner part of his calf had a glancing blow with a bullet.
He slowly fumbled to his feet, attempting to escape to the tunnel, but it was no use. He could hear a voice yell out to him. A lone soldier, presumably the one that had shot him, had now had him at gunpoint. Rigdon lifted his arms to the sky as the Russian said a couple of choice words, his voice touched with anger. The soldier lifted his finger and placed it onto the trigger Rigdon's hands gripped the ground, his feet kicking him backwards a little bit, before he felt his back up against the tree.
What happened next was absolute chaos. A golden beam shot through the man's side. He stood there for a couple of moments, before a bunch of blood spurted out. Everything from the top half of his torso fell off, exposing his innards for all the world to see. Rigdon's eyes widened to saucers at the sight. A white blur soon landed in front of him. He covered his eyes, letting the dirt settle before he looked back. What stood before him was a familiar princess. Celestia stood at the brick wall, objectively with an expression that could burn anyone to a crisp. A couple of pegasi landed next to her, all in full gear.
A pegasus landed next to him. She had a blue mane. A bag was at her side while a bandana was wrapped around her neck, which of course sported a familiar red cross. "You hurt?" She questioned as she looked all around him. Rigdon slowly moved his left leg outwards, exposing the grazing shot to her.
"Yeah... Though, I don't think it's really that bad... Just need a bandage or something," He spoke up. The medic nodded, her wing opening her bag and pulling out a small bottle of alcohol, and a roll of bandages. Rigdon reached out, gripping the supplies tightly. He opened the cap to the alcohol, taking a deep breath through his teeth as he poured the liquid onto it. He put the cap on and handed it back. He quickly wrapped the wound in a bandage before handing it back to her.
With the job done, she stuffed the things back into her bag. "Hope you get better." She then galloped over to the front lines. Rigdon continued to sit there in silence, giving his wound some time to stop bleeding. The standoff was broken by the voice of Celestia yelling out.
"You all have committed crimes against my little ponies! Surrender now, and I may still propose mercy for all of you," She called out to the enemies. A couple of soldiers quickly stood up, hands shot up in the air. They quickly ran over, of which they were promptly subdued and tied up. The silence cut the air once more. The commander of the soldiers yelled out some words, causing everyone that had stayed behind to fight fire upon Celestia. A bright golden shield appeared, shielding Celestia and her guards against the flurry of bullets. Unlike Twilight's shield, Celestia's didn't waver under the pressure.
Her horn became brighter as the shield fell. A beam shot forth, landing against the defenses of the Russians. A loud explosion rang out, a cloud of smoke rising up from the target that was hit. Celestia put her hoof forward and raised her voice once more, now saying only one word. "ATTACK!"
The guards ran forth, yelling as they assaulted the positions. Some fell to the ground as they were ripped apart by the bullets of the soldiers who survived the blast. Grenades were thrown everywhere, causing explosions to happen suddenly and randomly. Celestia spread her wings and threw herself into the air, her rhythmic flapping keeping her suspended. Her horn brightened once more as she shot quick beams at those unfortunate enough to be caught within her sights.
Screams of pain were heard from both sides as Ponyville erupted into a door to door conflict. Blood ran through the streets from both ponies, and humans. With everything coming to a head, more soldiers surrendered in order to escape with their lives. They too were subdued and tied up. Rigdon slowly stood onto his feet, watching Celestia lead her guard further into the town. He forced himself to turn around and stand up. There, he slowly got into the entrance of one of Pinkie's tunnels. He forced himself to run down the stairs, his arms pumping from side to side. He eventually found himself back at the forest, now with the refugees, and the group of mares he calls friends. Twilight was the first to notice him--though she hadn't really taken her eyes off the exit since she got back.
"Rigdon!" She blurted out as she galloped forward. She stood up, quickly wrapping her front legs around him. The tears began to flow from her once more. Rigdon gave an enthusiastic smile as he comforted her. "I-I... I thought you weren't going to come back." She murmured out softly. She then stood back, her hoof reaching up and slapping his leg. He let out another yelp as he hopped around.
"Hey! The hell was that for?" He looked down at Twilight. He found her staring daggers back at him. The glare that she gave could possibly even rival Fluttershy's stare!
"That's for lying to me," She pouted. She reached up, wiping her tears away once more. Twilight walked back to the others, of which Applejack had a relieved look and smile on her face. Rainbow was the first to speak up. She flew over to Rigdon, soon landing back on the ground.
"I heard what you did, dude... I respect that you would do that to keep her safe. You're pretty cool. Not as cool as me, though! You got guts, Rigdon." She smiled as she lifted her hoof up to him. Rigdon made a fist and reached out, giving a quick bump to Rainbow Dash.
"So... what's happening over there? We don't think that you could've caused all that destruction," Applejack quickly spoke up. Rigdon gave a firm shake of his head. He looked back, watching the smoke continue to fly up.
"That's Celestia... She came with a good amount of guards. Honestly, I owe her my life. I would've been deader than a dodo if she didn't show up." Rigdon looked back to the group. "But, I think you're going to be able to go back to Ponyville real soon."
Pinkie quickly chimed in, her voice as cheery as always. "Ooh, ooh! This calls for a celebration! We can have a party for Rigdon returning safely, and for Celestia saving Ponyville!" She squealed out as she grabbed a canon. She fired it off, confetti going everywhere. Rigdon thought for a moment, before shrugging. Honestly, at this point, a party seemed actually necessary.
"Alright, count me in, Pinkie." Rigdon called out with a big smile. |
A Man Of Science | An Evening To Remember | Pinkie pie was setting up a small table, a couple of other ponies helping her with it. Applejack and Rainbow had been put in charge of the drinks and food. Though, with all the apples around, it wasn't exactly that hard to whip up a few batches of cider. Fluttershy and Rarity had both been put in charge of decorations. Rarity was creating such decorations, and Fluttershy--with the help of some animals, were placing them all around the trees and wherever they could. Luckily for Rigdon and Twilight, they were both put on organization duties.
They both had their checklists in hand. Or, rather Rigdon did while Twilight had hers suspended in magic. That did get him to ponder for a moment. For other ponies, did they write with their mouths? How would they even get it to look legible? His brain continued to process this question, repeatedly trying to give him an answer that would make some sort of sense. Before he could come up with a real answer, he was interrupted by the clearing of a throat. He looked to his right, finding Twilight giving him a look that one can only describe as a disappointed teacher. "Rigdon, focus! We've got a lot of stuff to do," She said with a slightly excited tone.
He rolled his eyes slightly at her words. Sure, he does love organization, but there's a fine line between being prepared--and being paranoid. "Twilight, could you take it slow for a little bit? Maybe take the time to enjoy everything?" He threw a question at her. Twilight let the words hit her mind for a moment, letting it process for a moment. She then looked back up and gave a small shake of her head. This caused him to roll his eyes once more. Twilight, catching onto the sass, quickly slapped her clipboard against his leg. "Hey! Watch it!" He called out. He brought his clipboard down onto her, a small whack being heard as he hit her side.
Twilight let out a small 'Eep!' as he playfully assaulted her with his paper holder. Rigdon tried to hold in his laughter, but he couldn't do it forever. He let out a small bellow of laughter, causing Twilight to look up, embarrassment flashing across her face. Her expression soon turned to one of annoyance. Her magic slowly lifted up her board as she took a firm step towards Rigdon. He opened his eyes, only to find Twilight lowered in a stance. She pawed at the ground, reading herself for a gallop. "I'm gonna get you back for that," She growled out. Rigdon's eyes went wide as he sensed the danger. He quickly dropped his things and ran off.
"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE, COPPERS!" He yelped out as he continued to run, gandering the attention of everypony else in the process. Twilight broke out into a full blown gallop, a burst of speed allowing her to get right on his heels. Rigdon turned his head back as he ran. Twilight had a gigantic smile on her face. Seems like she actually liked this playfulness as much as he did. Twilight continued to gain on him, her magic slowly bringing up the clipboard to whack at him. Rigdon brought his weight back, causing him to stop on a dime. He then peeled left, a soft whoosh calling out as the only thing that Twilight slapped was the air that was now in front of her.
Time seemed to slow down as she looked over to him, a look of bewilderment plastered onto her face. Rigdon returned that look with a smug expression, gently curling all of his fingers up and down in a wave. Twilight turned her head forward, her eyes widening as she found herself face to face with oak. Her face kissed the tree, causing her to quickly stumble back before falling down. The crowd let out a couple gasps as this happened. "Ow..." She mumbled out, blood beginning to drip down her nose. Rigdon practically freaked out at her getting hurt. To say that he was acting overprotective is an understatement.
He darted over towards one of the tables, quickly yanking off a paper towel from it. He then rapidly made his way back towards Twilight, beginning to apologize profusely to her. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Twilight! I didn't think you were going to hit that tree!" He murmured out. Twilight closed her eyes as she lifted her hoof up, gently massaging the side of her head.
"It's okay! I'm the one that was chasing you," She slowly opened her eyes. You can say that it was some sort of... karma..." Her voice slowly trailed off as Rigdon turned her head so she was facing him. Her eyes slowly locked onto him, her nose quickly scrunching up as Rigdon began to drag the paper towel against her muzzle. He hummed a small tune, continuing to wipe the blood from her face. He continued to wipe her down, only stopping to examine her work. A small blush appeared on her face as Rigdon pulled off.
"There we go! No more blood. It's the least I could do," He would say. Twilight sat there silently, still gawking at Rigdon. His eyebrows furrowed slightly at her silent staring. He slowly raised his hand, giving a couple of snaps from his fingers. "Hey, Twilight, are you alright? You're sort of staring at nothing." He pulled his hand back down. Twilight's eyes gave a couple of rapid blinks and glances as she was pulled out from her thoughts. She quickly stood up, lowering her head in the process.
"Eyup! Just fine! I should really go check on how Fluttershy and Rarity are doing with those decorations!" Twilight exclaimed, not even caring to take a breath in between her words. Rigdon watched with confusion as she quickly trotted over to the two, who of course seemed to be giggling. Be it on Earth or whatever this planet was, it was all the same. He could never really understand how women worked. He turned around, his hand reaching up and scratching his head. He then walked over towards the drinks, grabbing one of the uniform mugs.
He lifted the cup up to his lips, letting copious amounts of cider run down his throat as he guzzled the beverage. Once about half way through, he stopped and took a big gasp. Besides the fact that there's a surprisingly good amount of cider in the mug, this was one of the best cider's he's ever tasted! It was sweet, yet it wasn't overpowering the slight tartness and appley flavor of the fruit it was derived from. "Man, that's really good," He complimented. He looked over to see Rainbow dash staring at him, her eyes portraying a sly attitude.
"Dude, you should've seen the look on her face! She's totally into you!" Rainbow butted in her opinion on the situation. This earned her a whack from Applejack. "Ow! What the heck was that for, AJ?" She whined as she rubbed her foreleg. Applejack popped her hat up a bit.
"Rainbow, it ain't our business to be putting our noses in matters like these. B'sides, ah don't want you spreading something that might end up doin' more harm than good," She scolded her. Rainbow gave a small scoff, giving her eyes a quick roll. She walked over to the mugs, quickly picking one up and began to chug. "Rainbow, can you stop drinking all the cider? There ain't gonna be any left for anypony else."
Rainbow gave a small snort as she finished the drink. She then placed the mug back down onto the table. Applejack walked over and began to refill the mug. Rigdon processed what Rainbow had said. Was she just joking? He couldn't tell at this point. He walked over to the table, finishing off his mug of cider before placing the cup down. He looked over to Applejack, a slightly nervous and worried expression on his face. "Hey, Applejack? Is Rainbow... right about all that?" He questioned her. Applejack let the cider foam up a bit before placing it down, letting a small sigh escape her as she did.
"It ain't my place to say what is the truth, and what isn't. Honestly, I ain't a pony who knows a whole awful lot about that kind of thing. Though, what I can say is that Twilight cares for you a lot, and I can tell you do too," She grabbed the mug he had set down, now filling that one up with cider as well. "She was mighty worried when you didn't follow her into that tunnel earlier today. I honestly thought she was gonna flood the tunnels with how much of the waterworks she was letting lose." She let out a small chuckle. "What I'm saying is to just keep an open mind. Y'all are both really good friends. I'd hate to see you both act weird towards each other because of some possibility."
Rigdon let her words sink into his mind. Applejack reminded him of his mom teaching him some valuable lessons when he was younger. He gave a small nod, taking her words to heart. "Yeah... Thanks for the advice, AJ." He thanked her. She gave a small nod and a tip of her hat before returning towards the concessions. .........
"W-What?! Are you crazy, Rarity? I can't ask that! We're just friends," Twilight called out. She was taken aback by the suggestion of asking Rigdon out to get lunch together. Rarity gave a small snicker at her embarrassment.
"Oh, I'm sure it will be alright, darling! I bet he would love to have an evening out with you. After All, I never did say that you had to ask him out on a date. You just have to ask him to have lunch together: An evening between friends," She explained to her. Twilight, of course, still disapproved of her whole idea of asking him out. Twilight paced around slightly, before stopping and doing it in place. Fluttershy gave a reassuring smile as she attempted to curve Twilight's anxiety.
"U-Uhm... Twilight, I'm sure it's going to be fine. I think that you shouldn't ask him out or anything just yet--just spend some time with him! You have this entire evening with him, so just... uhm... party with him! I-If you want to, that is." She offered Twilight. Rarity gave a small nod, agreeing with Fluttershy's notion.
"B-But what if I mess up? What If I say something wrong and he ends up hating me?" Twilight asked the both of them, her ears folding back a little. Rarity scoffed at such words. She took a couple of steps forward, quickly raising her hoof and placing it on her side.
"That's nonsense, Twilight! I'm sure that he's going to have a blast doing stuff with you! You just need to be yourself. I'm certain everything else will come naturally." She slowly removed her hoof from her side, now planting it back onto the ground. Twilight took a couple deep breaths in and out, her anxiety slowly becoming more manageable.
"Alright! Alright...I'll do it! I'll ask to hang out with him sometime later today." She lifted her hoof to her muzzle, thinking about talking points. A small bulb would click in her head. "Gosh, I forgot! I can talk to him about space! He did tell me he was an engineer," She then wiggled side to side, a soft 'Eeeee!' leaving her lips as she did so. She then stopped, her eyes falling onto her friends. Everypony was silent for a moment, before the three of them would burst out with laughter.
"Hahaha! I'll just help you gals finish up these decorations first; Then I'll tell Pinkie that everything's ready." A wide smile was fixated on her face as her magic engulfed one of the ribbons. She began to tie it, albeit a bit sloppily, before putting it up. Rarity had no problem tidying it up and putting the last touches on them. Twilight then moved onto the next ribbon, Rarity quickly following suit to make sure it all looked nice and uniform. .........
The party had been going on for about half an hour and was now in full swing. Pinkie, of course, had declared everything on with a blast of her cannon. Rigdon had quickly picked off one of the many ciders. Everypony seemed to be having a great time. Dancing, socializing, playing; Everything was going off without a hitch. He found himself gravitating towards the 'Bobbing for apples' section in games. Rainbow and Applejack seemed to have acquired a crowd during their little challenge to see who was the fastest apple bobber in all of Ponyville.
"How's your leg doing, Rigdon?" A voice would call out to him. He looked over to his right, now finding Twilight at his side. He gave a small nod, thinking about the words to describe the state of it. He took a quick swig from his mug.
"Well, I guess I'd say it's as annoying as getting a small cut from a branch," He answered her question. Twilight gave a solemn nod, the both of them now standing there in relative silence. Well, it was only for a moment since Twilight once again asked him another question.
"How's the party so far?" She lifted her own mug, quickly taking a couple of shallow sips. Rigdon looked back over to her.
"Well, I've been socializing with a lot of people... erm.. Ponies. God, I don't think I'm ever going to get used to saying that," He stopped for a moment. "But that's besides the point. I got into a four-way drinking contest between Pinkie, AJ, Rainbow, and myself. I honestly don't know why I thought I could keep up with them," He let out a chuckle. "Anyways, how's everything been treating you?"
"Whuh?" Twilight croaked out, a dumbfounded expression appearing on her face. She wasn't really expecting him to put her in the spotlight like this. A blush ran across her face. "O-Oh! Nothing much has really happened. I've mostly been talking with Rarity and Fluttershy about some problems," She left her answer a bit vague, letting Rigdon have his mind interpret what that even meant. Rigdon raised a brow as he wondered what type of problem would even stump her to the point where she needed advice from her friends.
"What problems? I'd love to be a help with whatever you need.." He swished his mug back and forth, the liquid crashing against the sides violently--like waves in a storm. Twilight quickly interjected, her voice raising a bit at his offer to help.
"NO!" She yelped out. She quickly lifted her hoof to cover her lips. Luckily, everypony was too busy cheering on the competition and didn't exactly pay much attention to what happened. Twilight slowly placed her hoof down, a worried expression paused on her face. Rigdon was now extremely curious about all of this. "It's just something between mares... I don't think you'd really understand." She spoke much softer now. Rigdon scoffed softly, taking another sip from his drink.
"Well, you at least got that right..." He would call out to her. Twilight stood there in silence, her mind quickly racing with thoughts.
'C'mon, Twilight! Get it together! It's not some date! Stop acting like a school filly. You're just here to hang out with him! Now work up the courage and just ask!'
Twilight looked over to Rigdon, her lip quivering slightly as she thought up the words to say to him. "Hey, Rigdon? I wanted to know if you'd like to hang out? Y'know, talk about your profession?" She questioned, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead.
"Oh yeah, that sounds great! I was honestly getting a little bored of everything here. I mean, I wasn't really ever a party kind of guy anyways," He accepted her offer. Twilight's eyes began to practically sparkle as she began to freak out in her mind.
'Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!'
She kept her composure on the outside, except for the big smile that was now shown across her face. "Here, follow me! I know a great spot for observing," She called out as she broke off from Rigdon with a fast trot. "Last one there is a rotten egg!" Rigdon gave a small gasp, his legs slowly growing to the speed of a piston. He quickly ran after his best friend.
"Hey, that's cheating! You didn't even say that this was a race!" He yelled out to her. Twilight craned her head to the side, her eyes meeting with his as they ran. She stuck her tongue out, quickly blowing a playful raspberry. "Oh now you're gonna get it." He pumped his arms faster, his pace slowly growing as he gained on her. Twilight soon pulled up onto a hill, quickly parking herself under a tree. Rigdon let out hot breaths, his legs slowly carrying him up the hill. Once he got up to the top, he stopped and bent over, his hands resting against his knees.
"A-Alright, now you're really go-" He was cut off by the shushing of Twilight. He furrowed his brows angrily. He took a couple of steps forward, quickly opening his mouth to say something, but of course was cut off but her once again, this time it being her own voice spouting out one word.
"Look," She pointed her hoof off towards the horizon, his eyes widening as he was hammered by the beauty of nature.
The orange light from the sun blended against the cool, deep red-orange horizon, creating a brilliant gradient of colors. The orange hued sun comforted the landscape with its orange rays, leaving its impression on Twilight, as well as him. He slowly walked forward, his mouth agape at the sight. The sun has never failed to impress him with its brilliant evening watercolor paintings. He slowly dragged himself closer to the lone apple tree that overlooked the orchard, now finding his seat next to her. "My god... this is so beautiful," He called out softly.
"You're beautiful..." Twilight mumbled out softly. This caused Rigdon to sharply turn his head over towards the mare, his voice now resembling a confused goose.
"Heh?" He squinted. Twilight stared up at him, giving a confused look as well. Or, at least one that didn't show her guilt.
"What?" She questioned, causing Rigdon to return to his normal voice and methods of communication.
"Uh... can you go back and say what you just said a couple seconds ago?" He questioned Twilight. Of course, she wasn't going to give him an inch on this subject. She decided to play the oldest trick in the book--dumb.
"Say what a couple seconds ago?" She gave him a puzzled expression.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you just said something under your breath. Can you just run that by me again?" Rigdon pointed at her accusingly. But, his actions didn't deter her.
"How can I say it again if I never even said it in the first place?" She scoffed out, a hint of slyness in her voice.
"Damn it Twilight, I heard you-" Rigdon quickly caught himself, sighing as he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ugh, whatever... Just forget about it." He turned back to the sunset. Twilight gave a triumphant smile as she sat there. Silence quickly fell over them. What carpooled along with the silence, was a small hint of awkwardness. Birds continued to sing their songs out to the vast expanses of trees that laid before them. Taking a deep breath, Rigdon began to speak his mind. "Hey, Twi?..." He trailed off, giving a quick nickname for her.
Twilight could feel her stomach in her chest. Her heart continued to beat in a cosmic rhythm, vibrating its song throughout her entire body. She felt herself slowly grow nervous by the second, before side-eyeing him. "Uh-huh?" She gave her response to him.
"I just... god..." He would look down, his hand reaching up and gripping his hair. He let out a relaxed breath, now gaining the confidence to say what he needed. "Look, Twilight, I just wanted to say that... I'm sorry for tricking you into leaving me back in Ponyville."
Twilight looked at him, a confused look on her face. Was he really eating himself up over this? She reached her hoof over to him, firmly placing it onto his shoulder. Like with any other contact with hooves, Rigdon swore he could feel a soft grip against his shoulder. "It's alright, Rigdon! I know that you were only doing that to keep me safe; And I'm glad you were that worried about my well being. What're friends for?" She gave a reassuring grin. Though, this did little to curve Rigdon away from the grasp of guilt.
"I know, but... Applejack told me what went on in the tunnels. If I had known what your reaction would've been I... I would've gone with you. Instead, I needlessly made you go on without me, which only hurt you more. I should've been with you." He would say in a flat voice, his voice only wavering with small hints of sadness from the guilt weighing on his shoulders. Twilight couldn't say anything. She was shocked by the thoughts that he had shared with her. She quickly lunged forward at him, now wrapping her hooves around him. They were now both locked in a hug.
"It's okay... I forgive you... I forgive you for everything. I know that it was hard for you to do that, but... I think it was the right thing. If I had stayed when you got hurt, I don't know what I would've done. For all we know, I would've just been focused on your wound so much, It would've put both of our lives in jeopardy," She mumbled out softly. He hoof gently ran up and down his back. "I don't know what I would've done if I lost you..."
Rigdon slowly reached his arms around, firmly grasping Twilight in place. She felt so warm and soft... It was just so comforting. He slowly rested his face against her mane, his grip on her back slowly tightening. He didn't want to let go. Though, that didn't really stop him from cracking a joke or two. "Well, you'll have to look for a new study buddy if I did die," He let out a small snort. This earned a quick giggle from Twilight.
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that." She pulled herself off of him. He slowly sat herself at his side once more. Her eyes were fixated on the scenery, the sun slowly drifting downwards to its resting place beyond the horizon. "Rigdon?" She said blankly, not even turning to face him. Rigdon looked over to her.
"Yeah?..." He replied to her. Twilight paused for a moment, her head hanging down. She then slowly lifted her head back up, her eyes once again staring deep into the sky.
"Do you think you'll ever settle down with someone here?" She questioned him. Her question had caught him off guard!
"What, like finding my other half?" He questioned, which drew out a quick nod from Twilight. He sat there for a moment, dragging his thumb across his chin as he became lost in thought. "Honestly, I don't... exactly know. I do want to go home, but I don't think that's going to happen. I know that ponies here are sapient, but... I just don't know if I could ever open up to the feeling of dating something that looks like, back at home, an animal," He gave Twilight an answer. Twilight's early seemingly drooped. She could feel hear heart sink from her heart, all the way to the deepest parts of her stomach.
"O-Oh... That makes sense," She mumbled off slightly as Rigdon gave his speech. Rigdon slowly looked back on everything that's happened so far. Soon enough, Applejack's words began to echo in his mind.
'What I'm saying is to just keep an open mind.'
"But... I guess it would be unfair if I didn't try to make an effort... If I do find someone that is just... that amazing--I guess I could try to pursue something romantic. I don't know how it'll work out but..." He reached up, gently placing his hand against his heart. Twilight perked up at his words. Her heart fluttered back to life as it was given new hope. Her gaze became softer as she stared at him. Her voice had also picked up on that soft tone.
"Well, I hope you end up finding that mare. I know that you'd make them extremely happy... If you don't bore them with your data first." She joked around, gently hitting her hoof against his arm. Rigdon let out a small chuckle at her words.
"Yeah yeah, let's just get to the stories of my past. The night's young, after all." His words caused Twilight to quickly lay in front of him, her hooves propping her head up so she could look at him. She was at full attention. He then cleared his throat before beginning to recall a story. "Alright, so I had a week to complete this task, right?" |
A Man Of Science | Just A Couple Drinks! | A hammer was held firm in his hand. He brought it up over his head, before bringing it down onto the nail in front of him. His hand held the nail in place for the first couple of hits before he was finally able to let go and hammer it the rest of the way in. It had been close to about a month since everything had gone down. Ponyville had surprisingly bounced back pretty quickly after everything. He had taken to help with the building and or engineering aspects of this whole thing. For now, he's with the assembly of walls for the houses. Though, he does pick up a few more jobs here and there to pick up the slack for those who are sick. He reached his hand up to his forehead, his palm gently wiping the sweat from his brow.
Reaching over, he handed the assembled siding to a cream colored mare. She took it on her magic once he slid it over to her. "Here, this should be going to Cheerilee," He gave directions to the mare. She gave a small nod and headed off to her destination. Rigdon turned back towards the table in front of him, quickly glancing over at a few blueprints. He then grabbed a couple of planks along with a saw. Measuring everything out, he double checked his work before beginning to drag the saw back and forth. The wood fell to the ground with a small thump. Tossing the saw aside, he turned back to his trusty hammer and nails. He placed a nail firmly against the wood before bringing his hammer down again, and again. He had been working hard to keep up on schedule with everything. Maybe even a bit too hard.
Soft clops could be heard as somepony approached him. He paid no mind to the noise, though. His hammer cleared his thoughts as he worked. Then again, it's hard to ignore the sound of glass slamming down against wood. He turned to the side, finding Twilight standing there attentively. A glass of water was now at his side. He stopped his hammering, letting the tool slide out from his fingers and onto the wood. He reached forward, grabbing the glass and lifting it to his lips. The cold liquid rapidly slid down his throat. He let his hand fall back down, the cup hitting against the wood. He let out a loud gasp of satisfaction. "Ah god, that hit the spot..." He mumbled to himself.
"Well, while I was getting myself something, I figured that you would've liked some water," She spoke out. Rigdon gave a small nod before turning back forward. He grabbed his hammer once again and began to bang away against the nails. A worried expression fell on Twilight's face. She had taken notice to his 'commitment' and it was making her worry. "Don't you think you should take a break? Maybe even take a walk for a little bit?"
Her words caused his head to turn back around, his eyes meeting with hers. Twilight gave a small smile as she stood there. Instead of saying something, he just stood there. The silence cut through the air, leaving a hint of uncomfortable tension in its wake. About twenty seconds of silence would pass before he would finally speak up. "Alright, twenty seconds. That's my break." He would turn back around and pick up his hammer, quickly going back to work. Twilight's brows furrowed as her lips pursed into a small pout.
"You know that's not what I meant," She would mumble out softly, her left hoof gently pawing at the ground. She stood there, trying her best to think of what to do to get him to stop working for at least an hour, or ideally more. Then, she got an idea; An awful idea. Twilight had a wonderful, awful idea. As Rigdon began to bring the hammer down once more, it disappeared right before it hit the nail. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the wood down in front of him. He slowly craned his head over to look back at Twilight. She now seemed to have a large, wooden frame firmly in her magical grasp. His eyes widened a bit, his head whipping back to his table. Of course, the frame he was working on was now gone.
He once again whipped his body back around, only to catch a glimpse of Twilight as she galloped away. "Hey! What the fuck, Twilight! God damn it, give that back!" He would yell out as he started to pursue her. Twilight ducked and weaved between the crowd of ponies. Rigdon, of course, had a much harder time because of him being taller than everyone else. Though, it wasn't really that hard to lose track of Twilight since she was holding the frame high above her head, basically giving him a clear beacon as to where she was. They ran past the school that was currently being rebuilt. Twilight quickly dumped the beam off into the nearby pile. She slowly eased up on her running before coming to a complete stop. Rigdon huffed and puffed as he slowly pulled up to her. "Y-You... jackass! The hell was that for?"
"What? I was just delivering your work," She would defend herself, even if it was a poor excuse. "But, now that you're out here, you can really start that break of yours." A wide, smug grin would appear on her face. Well, he had to admit that she can really set up some good traps. Rigdon rolled his eyes, his arms soon hugging tightly against his own chest.
"Twilight, were you just doing this to get me to stop working?" He questioned, his eyes squinted. Twilight let out an offended gasp, lifting her hoof up to her chest. How could he accuse his best friend? She was going to take this as far as she could. Twilight placed her hoof down.
"Well, for your information, I was just helping my friend from not working himself into the ground! A smart, special somepony once told me that you shouldn't work too much," She spoke softly, offering him his gaze. Rigdon's nose scrunched up as he reflexively gagged at what was said by her. This earned a small giggle from her.
"God, don't steal my motivational words and use them against me! I only said that to you because you were drinking up all the coffee, smartass," He let out a soft laugh, his angry mannerisms slightly more subdued. His arms slowly fell from his chest as his body slowly became more relaxed.
"Hey, I'd prefer to say that I only cited a smart pony. . . Erm, person in your case," She mumbled out. She began to lead, inviting Rigdon to go on a walk. Rigdon quickly tailed her, picking up some speed so he ended up by her side.
"Y'know, I never thought you'd be the one to hit on my, Twi," He gave a cheeky grin as he teased her. Twilight shot him a wide eyed glare, her cheeks quickly going hot with a blush.
"W-What? No I wasn't! I-I was just telling you what you told me a little while back!" She would defend herself, which only caused Rigdon to bellow with laughter. He quickly reached up, his hand wiping away the tears that were now forming at the sides of his eyes. Twilight gave him another glare, this one more confused than the last. "What're you laughing for?"
"Haha, oh it's nothing!" He would start off, his arm quickly returning to its original position. "It's just that it's so easy to tease you. You always give the funniest reactions. 'Specially with that pouty face of yours," He pointed out to her. Twilight's confused look slowly melted into a more neutral look, a cat gripping at her tongue as his words sat on her mind. She still wore a bright blush on her face.
"So, where are we going? I take it you got somewhere in mind?" He questioned her as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Twilight gave a firm nod as she turned the corner, Rigdon quickly following her movements. His eyes looked around the block. The place certainly looked much better than the state it was left in a little while ago. Fillies ran around, playing on the slides of the newly rebuilt park. He personally didn't take part in helping with this project, but he knows for certain that those who were involved must take serious pride knowing that they're directly helping the next generation.
"Well, there was this local bar I've been wanting to go to for a while. Didn't really want to go by myself," She looked back at him. Rigdon seemed to be appalled at her words. He really wasn't expecting her to ask him to go drinking with her. He stopped for a moment, quickly pointing his finger at her.
"You? Drinking? And here I thought I knew all the in's and out's of you," He pulled his hand back down. It might be unexpected, but it was still a welcome revelation. Twilight rolled her eyes a bit before shaking her head softly.
"Hey, I never said I was going to drink! I just wanted to come here because I've heard that their food is amazing," She would defend herself. "If you wanna drink, then be my guest! It's your break after all. Just don't drink too much... I don't think I could carry you back.." She turned her head forward as they approached the bar. Honestly, that was most likely a lie. He's seen what she's capable of.
Twilight opened the door with her magic, a burst of cold air washing over them. The bar was filled with ponies of all different social classes mingling together. Honestly, these were one of the reasons he liked these types of places. It always was just one big melting pot of those who wanted to have a relaxed evening. They both walked over to a table that was situated near the head of the bar. The cold breeze really added a nice touch. His eyes looked over the wall of beverages before they closed in on the shape of an unmistakable drink; a bottle of Brandy. His eyes turned to pinpricks. No way! They had his go-to drink! A waitress walked up to the both of them, quickly offering napkins and utensils.
"Y'all need a bit to make up your mind, or are you ready?" She questioned, a hint of a southern accent dripping at the back of her voice. Twilight furrowed her brows softly, her mind too focused on the menu in front of her. Rigdon, of course, already had his mind set on two things.
"Yeah, I'll take a Brandy sour and a summer strawberry salad," He slowly pushed the menu to the side of the table. The mare serving them gave a small nod and quickly wrote down his order. Both of their gazes slowly turned to Twilight, now waiting for her to make up her mind. Though, with the face she was giving, she was drawing a few blanks. He looked back to the waitress. "Just make it a double on both that Brandy sour and salad."
The menu slowly fell from Twilight's grasp. She slowly slid it over with her hoof to where his menu was. The mare doodled a little before picking up the menus in her mouth. She then walked away. Once she was out of earshot, Twilight spoke up. "I could've ordered for myself, y'know that right?" She pouted softly, her nose scrunching up a bit.
"Well of course I know that. It's just I still want to be alive when we get out food and drinks," He would say playfully. This earned him a snort from her. A small smile appeared on his face following this. Her smile was just so special to him.
"Sweet Celestia, don't say that! I don't take that long to order," She shook her head softly. Rigdon raised a brow at her words. Well, he was about to dose her with reality. He folded his arms as he leaned back into his chair.
"Oh yeah? We went to that cafe about a week ago and you spent a good ten minutes just to figure out what toppings you wanted on your sandwich,"he would tell her. Twilight sank in her chair a little bit, her hoofs reaching up and hiding the embarrassment that was now painted on her face. He let out a small laugh as he saw her do this.
"Well what if I take a little bit to order? There's just so many amazing options," She spoke out, her voice a bit softer than usual. She slowly sat back up, regaining her composure in the process. The waitress finally returned with the drinks, placing them respectively near each of their owners. Twilight grasped her drink in her magic. The cup was slowly lifted from the table and near her. Rigdon slid his drink towards himself, his fingers wrapped tightly around the glass.
The waitress hurriedly ran off to the front of the bar, loading up with more drinks as she went to tend with everypony else. Rigdon lifted his drink and took a sip. He let the liquid rest on his tongue. His senses would rake through the flavor of the drink, picking out everything that made it what it was. After a little while, he swallowed it. A hint of lemon-lime was left on the tip of his tongue. He let out a satisfied sigh as he looked at the glass. "Man, I never thought I'd get to drink this again." He placed the glass back onto the table.
Twilight raised a brow as she stared at the drink. It was clear that she had never tried something like this before. She slowly brought the glass to her mouth and took a sip. After swallowing, she let it process through his mind. She put the glass down. "It's a bit stronger than what I usually drink, but it's really good! The citrus really compliments the natural flavor of the Brandy," She spoke up. Rigdon practically exploded at her agreement.
"Jesus christ, finally someone agrees with me! All my buddies back home hated this. I swear, I would've flipped if you hated it too." He raised his fit and jokingly shook it a little. He then followed up with a small chuckle. Twilight rolled her eyes a bit in annoyance, but she couldn't help but smile. "So, how's the rebuilding going on your end?" He questioned her as he took another sip of his drink.
"Well, it's actually going really well! The main square is all but fully rebuilt! The outer areas suffered less damage, but we're only now just getting to it. I'd say it might take a few more weeks 'til everything is as it was beforehand," She answered as she took another sip of her drink, her nose scrunching up slightly at the citrus kick. "How's everything with you?"
Rigdon gave a small nod at her words before starting to give her a sitrep with his work. "It's actually going really well! I didn't think we'd move this fast. Then again, with magic, I suppose it's much easier to do everything. But, even without magic, I've held up pretty well." He gave a solemn nod, quickly taking another sip of his drink.
The waitress popped up once more, now with their food in hoof. She placed them both down, quickly sliding them over to the both of them. She gave a small smile and began to walk away. Though, she decided to leave a couple choice words for the both of them. "Hope y'all enjoy your date!" She smiled as she left.
Twilight had been taking a sip of her drink as she said that. The liquid practically spewed from her nose as she heard those words. She let out a loud cough, choking a bit as she was completely caught off guard. Rigdon was now just plagued with laughter. The tears began to run from his face as he clutched his side, of which was hurting from how much he was laughing.
"Wahaha! Oh god! That's... haha!" He would cry out, his laughter beginning to die down as he slowly regained his bodily functions. Twilight had an offended look on her face, a huge blush running across her cheeks as well.
"How could she say that? We're just friends! Does this look like a date?" She questioned, trying to figure out what made her think that they were both going out. She let out a small grumble as she lifted her drink to her lips once more, now taking a much bigger sip than usual.
"Well... now that you mention it," He grinned as he decided to play around with her. Twilight gave him a glare, which caused him to laugh once more. "Alright, alright! Sorry for asking!" He reached his hand up, his fingers gently drying away his tears. Twilight hovered her fork with her magic, quickly plunging it into the salad in front of her. She then lifted the food to her mouth and bit the pieces of lettuce off the fork, giving a quick munch before swallowing. She still had a sour expression on her face.
Rigdon stabbed his fork into a piece of lettuce and strawberry. He lifted his fork to his mouth and bit the food off. He gave a couple of chews before swallowing it. His eyes drifted back to her. "Well, since we're on the topic of dates, have you ever gone on one before?" He asked her. Twilight stopped, her eyes drifting off to another place of the bar. Her drink was suspended in the air as the sounds of others talking were the only thing they both heard. The awkwardness was deafening.
Twilight's gaze slowly softened as she decided to open up and answer the question. "Well... this is embarrassing to say but... no, I haven't," She quickly brought the drink to her face. Her eyes moved back so that she was looking at him once more. "What about you? Have you ever been on a date?"
Rigdon raised his hand, gently scratching his chin as he thought. "Well, I'd say the only real date I've been on would be that one time I went to prom. Though, I don't really count it since she basically ditched me to be with her friends," He murmured out softly as he recalled his past events. Twilight gave a solemn nod, her body relaxing. She felt a bit more comfortable to know that he was in the same boat as her.
"Well, since we're on the topic of dates and stuff... You ever had a crush on someone?" He stared at her. Twilight took a moment to think. She was going to be walking on thin ice with this one. She slowly gave a small nod.
"Well... I still do," She admitted with a small huff, quickly taking another sip of her drink. Her mind was basically yelling at her and calling her crazy for giving this much information to him. Rigdon gave a knowing nod.
"So, who's the lucky guy? Got any details on him?" He asked with a grin. Twilight sat there in silence, contemplating what to do next. She took a deep breath, her heart banging against her chest in its rhythmic pattern. She might've opened her lips a bit too much.
"Well, he's cute. He's really smart, and I admire that about him. He has a weird sense of humor, but it can be really funny at times. I think he has a degree? He's an engineer... He's pretty tall, too." She gave him some details, but kept it pretty vague.
"Well, this guy sounds amazing! I'd love to meet him. Sounds like a guy I can get along with," He called out to her. She gave a solemn nod, her courage slowly building in her chest. She had to remember what Rarity and Rainbow had told her.
"Well, he's actually in this bar at the moment!" She quickly admitted as she finished off her salad. Rigdon raised a brow, now intrigued about this.
"He is? Can you point me to him?" He questioned as he looked around the bar, trying to find some stallion that had fit the exceedingly vague description that she had gave him. Twilight took a deep breath, quickly letting out a sigh before decking to go for it.
"Yeah, he's right there..." She called out to him. Rigdon continued to stare off at the other patrons that were sitting at their tables. His brows furrowed a bit as he continued to scan his eyes across the bar
"Where? I don't s-" He turned back towards twilight, only to hold his tongue at what he saw. Twilight was pointing her hoof at him. The world seemed to stop as he sat there. He didn't even begin to know what to make of this! Twilight slowly pulled her hoof back down, her face riddled with a look of embarrassment.
"How... How-" He was cut off by Twilight's voice answering his question.
"It's been a week since I've felt like this. I just... We've been spending so much time together. I've gotten to know every little part of you, and I just... can't stop myself from falling for you. Every time I learn something new about you, I feel my heart skip a beat. When I'm around you, I feel like I'm at one of Pinkie's parties," She started off, her eyes staring directly into his. "I just... I want to always be around you. You just make me so happy. You're like the proton to my electron." She would mumble out. They both stayed silent for a moment, before they both began to laugh.
"Oh god, that was terrible! I've been a terrible influence on you! Haha!" Rigdon snorted at her science pun. Twilight brought a napkin up and dabbed the tears from her eyes. She decided to carry on with this playful tone.
"What? You said worse before! That was a tasteful pun!" She would add on. Their laughter slowly died down as reality slowly creeped back into their minds. Rigdon let out a small sigh as he sat there.
"Y'know, I've always thought that romantic relationships were dumb. It's never really been a big priority of mine," He started off. Twilight's ears pulled back as her heart sank. She prepared for the worst. Though, Rigdon was about to upend her entire expectations. "But, being with you... It makes me want to try it out. You are a joy to be around and I care about you deeply. So, to add on to your statement... I'd love to be the proton to your electron." He blurted out softly.
Twilight's eyes widened and turned to pinpricks at his words. Her heart practically exploded in her chest. To say that a nuclear reaction had gone off in her heart would be an understatement. Her ears lifted a bit as she sat there. She gave a big smile and began to squeal a bit. "Yes, Yes, Yes!" She cried out in glee. She looked at him, her lips pursing softly. She held her tongue, the embarrassment quickly setting in. Rigdon gave a small laugh.
"God you're adorable. I swear, your smile is going to end up giving me diabetes from how sweet it is," He said playfully. Twilight scoffed softly before reaching over, gently slapping his arm with her hoof. He could feel his heart beat faster as she did this.
Well, looks like he's going to have to borrow a couple of dating books from Twilight's library sometime this week. |
A Man Of Science | A Dinner Date With A Human | It had been a couple of days since Twilight's confession. She still was up on cloud nine with how happy she was! They had even made an effort to always make time for walks during Rigdon's breaks! Though, most of the time she wasn't really paying attention to him. She was too busy spending her time making goo-goo eyes at him! Oh, and don't forget those 'amazing' science puns! Would they count as flirts now? Augh, there was just so much on her mind! Her brain was going to melt from all of this running between thinking and falling head over heels.
Rigdon's voice would slowly creep into her ears as she was pulled off from that high cloud. "Hey, Twilight," He gave a couple snaps of his fingers. She quickly looked up to him, a questioning look on her face. "I'm going to head back to work, alright? I'll see you this afternoon when I get back home, alright?" He would push a stray strand of hair away from her eyes.
Twilight went cross-eyed as she focused on his finger. She looked up to him, her eyes sparkling slightly. Her mouth pursed slightly, her cheeks continuing to stay its red color. A small smile began to appear on her face. "Alright! See you later," She waved goodbye as she watched him walk off. She could feel her heart bang harder as he left. She let out a small squeal as she stood there. She still couldn't believe that this was real.
Her excitement began to run her thoughts. She wanted to impress him when he came back home! But what was she to do? She's the last person to know stuff about romance! She took a deep breath, slowly regaining her composure. She could ask Rarity for romance tips. Ooh, she could also head to Pinkie to ask if she knows what his favorite sweets are! Nothing says romance like getting your special somepony their favorite dessert.
With Sugar Cube Corner slightly closer than Rarity's Boutique, she chose to head to Pinkie's since it was more optimal. In hindsight, it would've been much easier to have teleported instead of running. Though, like ponies always say, love can make you do crazy things. Dear Celestia, now she sounds like her mom. Her magic gripped the door handle only for a moment, the door slamming open as a result.
Rainbow Dash was startled by her sudden entry, causing her to bite down harder than necessary on the icing bag, causing the frosting to spray all over the cake in front of her. She let out a loud groan at this development. Pinkie, of course, saw the bright side of this 'accident'. "It's okay, Dashie! More frosting is always better!" She called out, following up with a reassuring smile. Rainbow turned towards twilight, a brow raising as she watched her practically hop up and down.
"What're you so excited about? Is the book store having a sale again?" She questioned as she fluttered over, Pinkie following behind. Twilight gave a small shake of her head.
"Well, no. I already checked this morning and their sale isn't back yet," She retorted, only proving her egg headedness. "But that's besides the point! I just need to ask Pinkie a question." She walked forward towards Pinkie. She leaned into her ear and began to whisper a couple of things.
"Uh-huh... Yep! I know what he likes," Pinkie gave a couple nods in response to her words, before finally she let out a loud gasp. "YOU CONFESSED TO RIGDON?!" She would yell out, her voice practically one octave higher than usual. There were no words to explain how ecstatic she was. "Oh my gosh, this calls for a party!" She let out a squee of happiness before disappearing in a flash. A pink blur came back. What was now hung up from wall to wall was a big banner that read, 'CONGRATS ON THE NEW RELATIONSHIP, TWILIGHT!'. Pinkie set off her canon, a bunch of the confetti ending up on Twilight.
She didn't know if she should be more concerned about the fact that Pinkie was able to set this up in the blink of an eye, or that she has banners made for their specific relationship. She decided to be slightly impressed and a little bit concerned. Rainbow walked up, a gigantic smile on her face.
"Really? That's so awesome! I can't believe you're actually out here chasing tail. I honestly thought he would've made the first move," She gave a sly grin as she nudged Twilight. Twilight gave a roll of her eyes at her comments.
"Well, I didn't think I'd even do it myself! It just... happened!" She would give Dash a bit of credit. "I don't know the first thing about dating! I want to impress him, but I don't know what he'd like! Besides, his dating culture might be a bit different than ours!" Her hooves gently tapped against the ground.
"Twilight," Rainbow started off, gently placing her wing over her. "First off, I gotta say that you crushing on him was painfully obvious. Everypony knew. We also know how much chemistry you two have together. Just be cool about everything, like me! I'm sure it'll go fine, no problemo." She bumped her hoof against her leg before backing off.
Twilight took a small breath, stifling her emotions. She had to admit--Dash was quite the pep talker, even if she was a tease. She slowly turned back to Pinkie, "So, do you have any of what he likes in stock?" She cooed softly, a slightly worried expression on her face.
Pinkie quickly hopped behind the counter and looked through everything. She let out a small 'Aha!' when she found what she needed. She grabbed a bod and began to fill it up with a couple of desserts, finally closing it and putting a sticker on when it was filled to the prim. "Here! This should be more than enough!" She said gleefully.
The box was quickly engulfed in Twilight's magic. She could feel her heart beat faster as the box came closer. She was going to protect this with her very life! She took out a couple of bits from her travel pack and floated it over to the counter. She then stuffed the box into her bag before waving bye to the both of them. "Thanks Pinkie! I owe you one," She called out, a bright smile plastered on her face. The moment Twilight left, Rainbow and Pinkie looked at one another.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll cough it up," Rainbow grumbled a bit, quickly handing Pinkie a couple of bits. Pinkie nodded, happy that she had won the bet.
Twilight continued to trot steadily, making sure not to tire herself out as she made her way around Ponyville. She also took great caution with choosing what paths to go on since some convene on one point, which of course houses Rigdon and his work. Well, she didn't really mind taking the backroads. That just meant that she got a better view of the sky. She stopped for a moment, her head turning towards the blue canvas in front of her.
She could feel a tingly warmness welling up inside of her chest. She just couldn't hide her excitement for what was to come. She shook her head slightly. "Keep it together, Twilight!' She began to talk to herself, "You're going to do a great job." She turned her body around and began to walk once more. It took her a little while longer to arrive at the boutique. She lifted her hoof up and gave three firm knocks against the door.
"Just a minute! I'll be right out," Rarity called out. Twilight stood there in silence, the sounds of rustling from inside of the building getting louder and louder until the door finally opened, revealing her friend on the other side. "Oh, Twilight! It's nice to see you darling! Come on in!" Rarity took a couple of steps back, allowing Twilight to walk in.
Rarity hummed a small tune as she walked over to her work, quickly placing a dress onto a nearby mannequin. Twilight took a deep breath, her heart beating faster as she gathered the courage to ask her for advice. "Rarity, can I ask you for some advice?" She spoke softly, a gentle expression falling on her face. This earned a brow raise by Rarity. She turned back to her friend.
"Of course! I'm always here to give you advice on anything you need," She replied. Twilight took a deep breath before finally telling her.
"I just... I need some romantic relationship advice. I told Rigdon how I felt and-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence since what took over was Rarity fangirling over her getting with Rigdon. An annoyed look was plastered on her face as she watched Rarity do her whole spiel. Once everything quieted down, she spoke up once more. "I have this secret dinner date I'm planning, and I just need some tips as to how I should act."
Rarity gave a small nod as she heard her words. "Well, you've come to the right place, darling! Please, sit down! I'll get some tea for us while we talk." She offered as she walked towards the kitchen area of the building. Twilight used her magic to lift her bag up from her body and down to her side. She walked over to a nearby seat and plopped herself down onto it. She now had some time to gather her thoughts.
'The library's balcony seems like a good place to set everything up. Not only is it large, but it has an amazing roof! Plus, I could take some books with me so we could read together; it's foolproof!' She would grin at her own genius. It seems that she might have gone a little overboard with thinking, since Rarity had already returned with the tea in her magical grasp. She sat down, gracefully pouring the liquid into Twilight's cup, along with hers.
She lifted her own cup, taking a shallow sip before placing it back onto the glass plate that awaited below. He let the liquid coat her tongue before swallowing it. "Well, it's about time you confessed to him. We were all just holding our tongues at this point." She admitted with a soft scoff. "Either way, I'd like to congratulate you both on your new relationship! You two are quite the pair." She gave off a soft giggle.
Twilight shot her friend a glare, which made her quickly purse her lips as she shut up. Twilight let out a soft mumble before taking a deep gulp from her tea. "Was I really that obvious?"
"Well... erm..." Rarity paused and pondered for a moment. "It certainly wasn't very well hidden. Though, I wouldn't go so far to say that It was painfully obvious. It was more of the fact it seemed bound like it was going to happen at some point. But, that's just my opinion." She closed her eyes and gave a small shrug before taking another sip.
Twilight sunk downwards in her chair. She felt like she wanted to shrink and never be heard again. This was just so embarrassing! How could she act so transparent with her feelings? "I-It wasn't a bad thing though, Twilight! We all thought it was adorable!" She would attempt to add some confidence to her. After all, she didn't want to cause their evening to be ruined by her nervousness. Though, with it being Twilight's first real relationship, she knew that a heaping amount of butterflies were to be present.
"Anyways, you came here looking for advice, and I haven't really been helping you in that aspect," She spoke softly. "If you really want to impress him, then you need to put yourself out there for him! If you want to leave him bedazzled, I can help you with that! Let loose a little! Give him a real show," She gave a huge smile. Twilight seemed a bit weary about this course of action. Besides, she didn't really know how to put a 'pep in her step'
"I don't know, Rarity," Twilight voiced her skepticism. "This seems like a bit much." She furrowed her brows slightly as she looked at herself in the nearby mirror. Her mane and tail had been styled, giving her more of a 'pop'. She had also been given some glasses for her look. The changes were subtle, but they were noticeable.
"Nonsense, Twilight! You look amazing! You're actually lucky. If you weren't on a time constraint, I would've gone on for hours!" Rarity joked around. "Either way, this is sure to get his attention," She reassured her. She continued to work on Twilight, her magic making a couple of last minute touches to her look.
Twilight took a deep breath as she continued to stare at herself in the mirror. She could only hope to Celestia that Rigdon will like the new look. Rarity gave a small nod as her magic dissipated from Twilight. "Alright, now tell me my tips I told you," She asked Twilight.
She gave Rarity a determined look as she blurted everything out. "Confidence is key, let loose, impress him, and be myself!" She called out with pride. Rarity gave a proud look, quickly wiping a couple of forming tears away with her hoofkerchief. Twilight lifted her travel pack up and situated it onto her back. She looked back, only to find a bunch of roses in front of her. "Here! Stallions love roses." She gave a playful wink.
She took the roses in her grasp, her eyes looking them over. Even if he can't eat them, she hopes that at least he can understand the gesture. She opened the door before giving her goodbyes to Rarity. She quickly walked up to the door and called out once more, "Do tell me how it goes!"
Twilight smiled as she rolled her eyes. She looked up at the sky, the sun telling everyone the time by how far it was in the sky. She looked straight ahead, a deep breath entering through her lips. Now all she had to do was set everything up and wait for him to return.
Rigdon finished measuring and cutting out a support beam. He let out a proud sigh as he ran the back of his hand across his forehead. Everyone else had gone home about thirty minutes earlier, but he decided to stay just a bit longer to finish what he started. Now that it was done, he decided to hang in the towel for the day. He clapped his hands together, knocking off any of the dust from the wood from his palms.
The soft whistling of birds was now fading as the sun retreated to its home beyond the horizon. The moon began to rise slowly into the sky, bathing the world in a comforting light. Its glow illuminated his way in front of him as the noises of crickets supported his approach. His legs carried him back to Golden Oaks, only stopping when his ears caught the faint voice of a familiar nerd. He tilted his head up, only to find Twilight at the balcony of the library, her forehooves over the railing.
"Hey, Rigdon! Up here," She called out as she gave a quick wave. "Can you come up here when you're ready? I got a bit of a surprise! Plus, it's a great night to have some dinner outside!"
Rigdon stared up at her, his gaze a soft one. Now what was she up to? "Alright! I'll be up in a minute!" He yelled back to her before opening the front door. He walked in, taking a deep breath as his muscles began to relax after another day of hard work. He looked to his right, finding Spike already sleeping soundly in his bed. He carelessly threw his things on a nearby table before beginning to drag himself up the stairs.
He walked past a couple of doors and rooms as he made his way to the main staircase that led to the upper balcony near the top of the tree. When he finally made it to the top, the sight that awaited him made his heart skip a beat! Laid in front of him was a picnic cloth, along with various assortments of food. On the nearby table was a candle lit with a light purple flame. He slowly took his seat on the floor of the balcony, his eyes slowly moving back and fixating on her new appearance.
He sat there in silence, his breath held back by his throat. There were no words to describe how wonderful she looked. He could feel his heart jump up to his throat as he continued to stare at her, the soft candlelight highlighting her features. 'You certainly sparkle in my eyes, Twilight.' He would think to himself. Honestly, now he sees where she's picked up the terrible puns from. Well, that and the book of science puns that rested at her side.
His sight of Twilight was soon blocked as a bunch of roses were now in front of him. He slowly reached out, grabbing the bouquet of scented flowers. Twilight looked like she was about to die from nervousness. Though, she still was holding up a bit to Rarity's advice of confidence! He leaned in, giving a deep sniff of the flowers. They always did somehow seem sweeter than the ones back home.
"Y'know, now I feel like Eric's wife. He was always handing her flowers. Though, I can get where he was coming from; these smell amazing. You look amazing, by the way. That look really fits you," He complimented her changes.
The compliment he gave caused her to celebrate internally. Everything was going off without a hitch! Twilight drew a blank, trying to figure out what to say next. She had it! She decided to respond with a complement of her own--in science joke form of course. "Well, look at yourself! You must be made up of hydrogen because you're my number one!"
This earned a squint from Rigdon. "Oh? You're challenging me? Instead of making a normal complement, you're trying to upend the king of science puns?" He said pridefully, earning a quick snort from Twilight.
"I can't dethrone the master without saying anything," Twilight gave a snarky remark.
"Oh ho! Then say as many puns as you like! Show me what you got!" Rigdon held his arms out as he waited for her to pick her next card. Twilight gave a devilish grin as she pulled out her trump card--the book of science flirts and puns!
She flipped through the pages before stopping as something caught her eye. "You must have a magnet on you because I'm so attracted to you!"
Rigdon rolled his eyes and folded his arms. This was going to be easy. "You must be traveling at light speed since time seems to stop when I look at you," He replied.
"Even if Equis didn't have gravity, I'd still fall for you," Twilight shot back.
Alright, he had to give the book credit where it was due. That was a good one. He thought for a moment before speaking up. "According to Newton's third law of gravitation, if I'm attracted to you, then you're attracted to me,"
This earned a puzzled look from Twilight. "Who's Newton?" She questioned. Oh yeah, he forgot that they probably don't know about Newton. Wait, does that mean they don't know about the fundamental laws of the universe? He's going to have to elaborate on this later.
"Uh, he was a Physicist who figured out some amazing developments about the universe." He rubbed the back of his neck before going back to the puns. "Anyways, you must be a ninety degree angle because you look just right to me!"
Twilight stopped to give off a couple of chuckles. "Oh gosh, that one was terrible." She lifted her hoof up to cover her mouth. She then flipped to a new page before shooting another reply. "You must be made of copper and tellurium because you're so dang CU-TE."
That's it, Rigdon was going to end this right here and now! He was going to say something that was a bit more... adult in context. He leaned forward, causing Twilight to lean back a bit. He softened his voice to give a more dramatic effect to his flirtatious comment. "Oh yeah? Well why don't we both turn our potential energy to kinetic energy," He followed up with a wink.
To say that Twilight's mouth was agape would be an understatement. Her jaw was practically half way down the mantle of the planet! Her entire face had now taken on a red hue. She quickly conceded her efforts to try and topple him from power. "Alright, alright! I give up! You win." She bleated as she grabbed a couple of plates. She set them down in front of her and Rigdon.
He gave a solemn nod, a prideful look once again covering his features. "Yeah! Don't challenge the master!" He let a breath of air escape his lips. His eyes slowly looked down, only to find a plate in front of him, a mini pie resting on it. His eyes practically lit up as he reached down, "You even went to Sugar cube corner to get these just for me?" He questioned as he picked up the pie and took a bite out of it.
"Yeah. Well, I didn't really know what you liked so I figured Pinkie would've known! Plus, if she did, I could get it there too." Her voice had grown softer, along with her expression. She lifted a spoon up to her lips, drinking the tomato soup from it.
"Well, the good thing about these pies is that you can have a full one while still technically only having one slice." He placed the pie back down onto the plate in front of him. Twilight rolled her eyes at his words.
"So... how long did it take for you to get all of this ready?" He questioned as he jammed his fork into the food in front of him. Twilight paused for a moment, beginning to think back to everything she did.
"Well, I'd say that everything took a couple of hours. Well, most of it was spent with Rarity and helping me with this look. She wanted to do more, but I said no. Didn't think I should over dress for something like this." She murmured as she dabbed her muzzle with a napkin. She paused for a moment before taking out another book. "Well, if you want, we could both see how much we understand about science." She offered with a grin as she shook the book a bit.
"Y'know what, I'd like that. There's actually a couple fundamentals I want to see if you ponies understand." He nodded as he stood up and walked over towards her. He slowly sat himself at her side. Twilight opened the book and began to flip through the pages.
"And that's why Isaac Newton is credited for jump-starting the scientific revolution with his findings of the fundamental laws of gravity and laying the groundwork for Calculus. Though, I know a handful of people that hate him for that. Then again, they hate calculus." He smiled as he wrapped up his brief synopsis of his world's beginning of modern science."
Twilight was scribbling everything down furiously. This was so much information! She should really assume that there's still a bunch of information he's keeping secret about his world by this point.
Rigdon fell silent, his eyes looking at the mare sitting beside him. He could feel time slow as she concentrated on her documentation. His heart was practically screaming as he sat there. Even if she did make the first move the other day, now it was his turn to show her up. "Y'know, I never really noticed how great those glasses fit you."
This caused her to stop writing, her cheeks flaring up in the process. She placed her things down before turning towards him. "You... really mean that? You aren't joking or something, right?" She furrowed her brows a bit as she interrogated him.
"Of course I ain't joking! I think Rarity made a great call with this look. Really captures everything I like about you... Especially with you being an egghead and all," He teased as he gently pinched her cheek.
Twilight playfully batted his hand away. "Uh-huh, says the king of corny science puns." She retorted. Well, she did have him there. They both fell silent soon afterwards.
Twilight began to give herself a pep talk, hyping herself up to do something. 'Remember what Rarity said! Confidence is key... It's alright Twilight, you can do this. You can make the first move.'
"Hey, Rigdon?" She said softly as she turned to face him. Rigdon raised a brow as he caught her shifting out of the corner of his eye. He slowly turned to his left so that he could face her.
"Yeah? What is i-" He was cut off by the sound of hooves hitting against the wooden floor. His eyes widened as he was filled with the sight of purple. He felt one hoof rest against his chest before...
He didn't know how to process what just happened! It was just so fast... But, after a couple of seconds, it began to hit him like a freight train... Twilight was kissing him.
Twilight's brows furrowed as she continued to hold the kiss. The wind made its call with a soft whistle as it blew through her hair. Her mind was practically screaming with giddy excitement as she did this.
Rigdon was also freaking out on the inside! His hands hovered over her legs, shaking slightly. Before he could voice his actions on what just happened, Twilight was pulling off. She stood there for a moment, staring at Rigdon's dumbfounded expression. A worried look began to fall on her face as her mind began to reprimand her actions. 'Oh my gosh, was that too much? Did he not like it? Sweet Celestia, I knew I shouldn't have done that!'
He stared at the worried pony in front of him. He slowly reached forward, his hand gently cupping her cheek. "Twilight, look at me." He commanded. Twilight let out a small 'eep!' as he made contact with her. She still had a worried expression on her face. Rigdon slowly leaned back into her, embracing her with his body. Rigdon reached forward, his hands gripping the glasses that were on her face. He slowly took them off and placed them aside before returning his hand to her hoof.
His lips were firmly pressed up against hers. Twilight's eyes quickly shot open with surprise. Well, now he's even with her. Time felt like it had fully stopped--that the world had stopped moving all together. She only cared about him at this moment... Not anything else. She was going to enjoy this. She slowly moved forward, meeting him in the middle with the same passion he offered her. She didn't know how long this was to last but... she hoped it wasn't going to end anytime soon. |
A Man Of Science | The Trial Of A Weary Soldier | Dimitri held his rifle tightly as he stood by one of the many houses in this strange new world he found himself in. He had been drafted but a few weeks ago, and had been sent to the Texas offensive. In his opinion, he didn't understand why there had to be so much bloodshed and violence. Though, he can't complain. After all, those who complained were arrested and never heard from again. He just wished that he could be back on his farm with his parents.
He slowly marched back and forth, his helmet tightly fastened against his head. The sound of the wind reigned supreme. This unknown town had been suppressed by the 'mighty' hand of the Soviet Union. He had been tasked to guard the small cages that housed what seemed to be horses. He didn't understand why, but they looked awfully different from the ones he had trained back on his parents' farm. These ponies had more colorful coats and manes, even having what he could only describe as some weird artistic brandings on their hind-quarters. He could've sworn that some of them had wings and or horns.
He continued to walk back and forth, his body moving on an invisible track, bound by the orders of his officer. Though, his curiosity kept on nipping at the back of his throat. He wanted to see what this... animal was up close. He slowly stopped, his head slowly turning to look over his shoulder. What he saw was one of those horses. Erm, ponies would fit them more. They seemed much smaller to qualify as a horse. He brought his gun up and over his head, quickly resting his now free weapon against the steps.
His body slowly turned towards the cage, his gaze slowly falling upon the mare that was held inside of it. Her head was slumped over, her ears pulled back. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that she wasn't happy that she was in the cage. His gaze softened slightly as he stared at her. Soon, he was caught by surprise. She now had her eyes on him.
The baby blues that were now trained onto him made him unnerved and left a bad taste in his mouth. Just the expression she gave him felt so human. Those big, expressive eyes stared deep into his soul. He felt as if he was being judged for his participation in keeping her locked up in that tiny cage. He could feel a knot slowly form at the back of his throat as he continued to stare at her. Then, to defy all logic he knew, she began to speak. Not only that, she was speaking English of all things. Or, that's what he thought it was from all of those videos the training had shown him.
He didn't know what she was saying, but the tone of someone's voice is universal. She was clearly discontent with this entire situation. That bit of conscience in the back of his head was begging for him to let her go--that this wasn't right. That sentiment would only grow as time went on. He sucked in a breath of air through his teeth, letting that breath out after a few seconds of holding it in. That small voice in his head had won out. He couldn't just sit idly and leave her trapped there. He knew that only bad things were to come from his actions, but to hell with that.
He knelt down on one knee, his eyes now level with hers. He reached his hand forward, his fingers grazing across the locking mechanism of the cage. He slowly began to roll the numbers in place. A small click was heard as the lock was removed. The mare's eyes widened as she watched him open the door. She didn't think that he would actually open the door for her! She slowly backed up, her hoof raising slightly. She was still very cautious about what his intentions were. He got back up to his full height, taking a few steps back so he gave her some room.
She slowly emerged from the cage, her eyes welling up in tears. She looked up to him and muttered a couple of words which he could only assume were 'Thank you'. He watched her gallop off, a weight slowly lifting off his chest. He couldn't help but have a smile on his face as he watched her make her escape. He could only hope that what came next wasn't that harsh. He made his way back to his rifle, his right hand firmly grasping the pistol grip while his left hand reached forward and held the barrel of the gun. He slowly pulled the gun up and held it near his chest.
Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out. He looked to his left, smoke rising up from a far away building. He quickly gathered the strength to run towards the source of the commotion. He let out a desperate gasp as he finally closed in on the source. There, he found something that would chill him to the bone. A mare with a pristine white coat and rainbow-esque mane hovered a few feet off the ground. What accompanied her were other ponies, this time dressed in what looked like armor. She would yell up at the top of her lungs, causing him to wince in pain. After her voice died down, he would watch in disbelief as the English interpreters from his company threw down their weapons and walked over to the enemy with their hands held high in the air.
A silence filled the air, the surrounding area slowly growing more palpable by the second. He didn't know who fired first, but soon the town was embroiled in street to street fighting. A loud ringing filled his ears as the screams were drowned out. This was the first real action he's seen in his life, and it scared him. It scared him so, so much. Instead of fighting, he ran. He just dropped his gun and ran. He pumped his arms back and forth as the noises slowly grew louder. Eventually, he ducked into an open house, his breath hot and soft.
A small creak echoed through the house, causing Dimitri to sharply turn his head to the left. What he saw was a filly staring at him like a deer in headlights. He slowly got up, his mouth beginning to open before he was hit in the back of the head by something hard. His body slumped to the ground with a small thump.
Rigdon gently straightened his shirt, his nervousness expressing itself at his fingertips. He straightened out every crease that his eyes caught. Twilight stared at him, confused at his sudden compulsion of neatness. Usually he would be the one to scold her about her neat-freak habits. Then again, they all had been summoned to the castle for the trial of those captured earlier this month, so she understood his sudden need for presentability. After all, she did take an embarrassingly long amount of time getting ready as well.
"Here, let me fix that for you," Twilight cooed softly. Her horn lit up, encasing Rigdon's torso in her purple light. His shirt would move around slightly as she thoroughly unwrinkled his shirt. "There! Now you shouldn't have any wrinkles on your shirt." She gave a warm smile as her magic dissipated from his body. Rigdon reached his hand to his chest, dragging his soft digits against his shirt, finding no wrinkles anywhere. Well, that was one problem relieved from his conscience.
"Y'know you don't have to be this dressed up. It's just some jury duty thing," Rainbow Dash piped in as she rested her hooves over the seat of the train as her eyes trained onto the both of them. This caused both Twilight and Rigdon to stare at her with a vengeance, causing her to back off to her seat. This gained a chuckle out of Applejack, of course.
"Well, Rainbow, it doesn't hurt to arrive in style! It's great to have at least some standards!" Rarity would pipe in with her nonsense fashion talk that no-one understood, but nodded in agreement anyways. Pinkie and Fluttershy were both asleep. Rigdon expected Fluttershy to be the one to sleep on a train ride, but Pinkie certainly didn't strike him as the type to sleep on rides.
The train whirred to life, letting out a loud scream as its wheels gripped onto the metal framing of the rails, slowly halting its mindless march onwards. The sudden change from motion to brakes jerked everyone from their seats. Fluttershy stirred in her sleep, her eyes slowly opening and adjusting to the light. Pinkie on the other hand had already sprung to life, her energy quickly returning to her. He will never understand how a mare like her can have so much energy. The train continued to loudly screech before finally, it came to a complete halt.
Everyone stood up and headed towards the now open doors. Rarity took a while since she had insisted on bringing a "couple" of bags with her. That was a very subjective word to describe how much she had packed. Though, despite all the things with her, it didn't slow her down one bit.
"Now ah' don't think I'm ever gonna get used to this place. It always continues to amazes me," Applejack complimented the architecture of Canterlot, her eyes gawking at the beauty around her. Twilight gave a prideful smile, taking great content out of Applejack's praise of the city. She then let out a soft cough, quickly yanking her mind back into professional mode.
"Remember everypony, we're here just for the trial. We aren't here to check everything out... Despite how enticing the library might be." She looked back to everyone. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at her words.
"Yeah yeah, we got it. We're just here for that trial thingy..." She would scoff lightly at Twilight's scolding.
A small cough would grab the attention of the group. They all quickly looked forward, only to find two guards standing in front of them. "Ah!" Twilight quickly chirped out. "These must be our escorts," She announced.
Escorts? Twilight never told him that they were to be escorted to the castle. This seemed a bit too much for his taste. Was this their way for witness protection? He isn't going to argue, though. He's seen how tough these ponies can be firsthand. Rarity unloaded all of her stuff onto the unlucky guard that was closest to her. He gave a worried expression as he grabbed the puller with his wing. Looks like someone was going to get a workout.
Pinkie was the first one to enter the castle, amazement filling her face as she took in all of the sights. "Oh my gosh, this place is so beautiful! I'm so excited to go into the main throne room!" She voiced her excitement before turning to Rigdon, who was the second person to enter. "Aren't you excited, Rigdon?"
He gave a small shake of his head. "I guess it is a bit nerve wracking to see Celestia again." He nodded off to her. Rarity gave a puzzled look as she stood next to him.
"Again? You've already met her before?" She interrogated him. Rigdon gave a firm nod in response. "When was it? I don't remember you telling us that you have done so before." She quickly added on.
"It was around the time I first came here. She requested to see me a couple of days after I met Twilight. Anyways, we only talked for a little bit--nothing too crazy," He added. Fluttershy slowly caught up with Rigdon, quickly giving her opinion on the matter.
"It was nice of her to invite you over to talk when you first came here... I bet you were quite nervous at first," She gave a soft smile. "Did you get to drink some tea with her? Twilight told me that she has a good tongue when it comes to it."
Rigdon swung his head back to look at Twilight, who was now hiding her face from his judging gaze. He slowly swung his head back so that his eyes were set on what was in front of him. "No, we didn't drink anything. Though, if we do get to speak once more, I might keep that in mind." He reached up, gently scratching his chin as he did so.
The pair of gigantic double doors screeched to life as it was opened up, exposing the insides of the room it kept safe. A handful of ponies were gathered on both the left and right side of the room. Princess Celestia was at the head of the room. Though, this time around, she was not alone. A mare with a coat as dark as the night sat next to her. Her dark blue, ethereal mane was speckled with tiny stars. From the history Twilight has taught him, he can only assume that this was Luna.
The guards would show them to their seats. Rigdon, still wanting to maintain his clean look, took a bit longer to sit down since he wouldn't get any wrinkles that way. The moment they were all seated and comfortable, Celestia spoke up. "The royal court is now in session. Please, escort the first one in." She nodded to one of her guards. The guard gave a firm salute before heading off into a nearby room. A couple of moments later, he returned. This time, he came with a Russian in handcuffs. It was the Captain--the one who gave the kill orders in the first place.
Rigdon could never forget a face like that. He was brought to the middle of the room, directly in the line of sight of the two sisters. Luna was glaring daggers at this man that was in front of her. Celestria, despite her ever growing anger, kept a calm and collected expression on her face.
The man was a hardened soldier and it clearly bled into his actions. He held a stern, serious expression as he stood there. Celestia gave a small cough, quickly clearing her throat before beginning to speak. "There are no words I can use to describe the heinous crimes that you have committed against my little ponies. I never believed that there could be a person that could be so cold towards another one's life, and yet I've been proven wrong," Se spoke with a stern voice. "The details that have been given to me from countless ponies are revolting. I hope to never bear witness to such carnage again in my life."
The man would begin to say a couple of words. Luna's face would contort into one of offense and shock. The nearby translator would let out a gasp. The man would then spit onto the pristine floor in an act of defiance. Rigdon was certain that Luna was about to go apeshit on him! Though, Celestia would calm her before it came to that. The two sisters now conversed, Luna still visibly pissed off as they spoke in a whisper. After a little while of talking, Luna would finally calm down, taking a deep breath afterwards for good measure.
"Not only have you harmed others, but you have taken to insulting Luna and myself. There are no words to describe how evil you are," She called out, her voice a bit louder than earlier. "That's why after some discussion, we have come to an agreement on your punishment. Not only is it just, but there is nothing below it that could ever be seen as the right punishment for you," She paused for a moment. "You will be sent to Tartarus, where you will spend the rest of your natural life."
If Rigdon had some type of drink in his mouth, he would've spat it out! Tartarus?! He was getting sent to literal hell? Well, besides the fact that he was going to get banished, this world actually had a hell? He couldn't even imagine what this man was going to go through.
Luna closed her eyes, her horn lighting up a bright white. A blue portal would appear in front of the man. She then hopped up from her throne and down towards the rift to Tartarus. She nodded to the guards that were near him. He was brought up before being shoved in, the guards and Luna quickly following suit. After about a minute, Luna would return with the guards. She had a noticeable sly grin on her face. She trotted back to her throne, gracefully sitting herself back down. The portal would finally close once she did.
Rigdon leaned over towards Twilight, his voice coming out in a hushed tone. "You never told me that there was some kind of underworld for this place," He would mutter out softly. Twilight slowly moved back towards him, a confused look on her face. Rigdon had told her about his culture and their view on the afterlife, but this was different.
"What, Tartarus? It's a bit different than what you humans think about... what did you call it? Hell? Anyways, it's just a jail for those who've committed serious crimes against ponies and others alike. I didn't think I'd have to bring it up because I didn't plan on this happening! Plus, no pony has been sent there in centuries," She quickly replied back to him. Rigdon gave a soft nod as they exchanged information.
Celestia cleared her thought once more before speaking up, "Bring the next one in." She commanded. One of the mare guards, who was now closest to the door, gave a quick nod before opening the door and walking away. Rigdon let out a soft breath as he sat there. This was going to take a while, wasn't it? He can only hope that time wasn't so cruel to him.
Rigdon had his head rested against the wooden table in front of him. He used the surface as a pillow. Sleep had claimed him not long after the first couple of sentencing for the Russians. Soon, a hoof would begin to tap against his shoulder. His eyes slowly began to blink open. Fatigue and tiredness both still had a firm grip on his body. His senses slowly returned to him as his mind grew increasingly aware and active.
What he found was the stern face of a purple unicorn mare staring back at him. Twilight continued to push her hoof against his shoulder.. "Rigdon--Rigdon get up. We only got one more sentence to go through." She announced to him in a hushed tone. He let out a soft grumble as he slowly pushed himself in an upright position. His eyes slowly but surely focused onto the scene in front of him. He could feel his worry grow as he witnessed a stallion push a handcuffed Russian in. Unlike the others, he was much younger. He looked like he could be no older than seventeen. He could even say he might've been at least late sixteen!
This made him think to himself... Why would the Soviets have a soldier this young in their ranks? Even if he was a conscript, they haven't been letting in teenagers his age since World War Two! What the hell was going back at home that was so bad that even the Soviets had to conscript younger able bodied men? These thoughts would only further plant the seed of worry in the back of his mind.
Dimitri stood in silence, his hands shackled tightly to each other as he was put in front of the two princesses. He mumbled off a few words to the translator to his left, which of course caused the translator to go wide-eyed in shock. "He says that whatever his actions were, he'll take full responsibility for them," The stallion would squawk back to Celestia and Luna.
Luna, of course, liked this human. Unlike everyone else who begged for mercy despite not giving any, Dimitri didn't think he was above consequences. Celestia gave a quick glance over at her sister. Luna gave a small nod before beginning to speak up. "We believe that some time in the dungeon should suffice. It shall only be but a few full moons, for you have not been found in violation of anything great," She spoke softly. The translator would repeat Dimitri's sentence to him. He took a deep breath before giving a small nod.
Just then, a voice would cut through the silence from the crowd of ponies. Everyone practically jumped at the yelling voice. Soon, they were all trained on the source of the voice. What everyone found was a mare, whose coat was a soft beige, and her eyes a vibrant blue. Dimitri stared at this mare, his eyes widening. This was the pony he had let go.
"Wait! Please don't put him in the dungeon!" She called out once again, this time stomping her hoof against the ground to really project her words more. "You should just let him go!" Her words caused many in the room to gasp. Why would she still want to let him go even after all the crimes that he has committed?
Luna raised a brow at her words, wondering why she would ever want to let him off scott free. "Is there a reason as to why you would be so forgiving of this man?" She questioned her. The mare let out a small 'eep'. At that moment, people could say that her confidence shrank three sizes.
"Well, he saved me! He could've left me in that cage, but he let me out," She managed to bleat out. She let her head hang low as she spoke once again, her voice much softer, "I don't know what would've happened if he hadn't done anything."
The two Royal sisters looked over at each other, exchanging a couple of choice words in the process. They quickly turned back to the mare, Celestia finally giving her opinion on the matter. "If what you say is true, then I suppose that it would be fair to give him a different punishment, would it not, Luna?" She questioned before turning her gaze to Luna.
Luna nodded in agreement. "Yes it would. It would be unfair to ignore this new development."
"Instead of the dungeon, this man will instead get a stern lesson in our ways of treating others. He will receive a new education here, and will have to write a mandatory report every two weeks or sooner if applicable. He will stay here for the first few weeks so that we can keep a tab on him to make sure nothing goes wrong," Celestia spoke out, "But, if he were to harm another one of my little ponies, then I will not be so kind with him next time." Her voice became flat as she gave a warning.
The translator would relay all of this to Dimitri. He stood there, his jaw on the floor. She was treating him with kindness? He was a part of the problem, and she was letting him go, just like that--complete with a new education? He was stunned, along with a multitude of other emotions that he couldn't form into words.
Celestia slowly turned to face her personal, star pupil. "Twilight, would you like to be the lead teacher in his rehabilitation?" She questioned her. Twilight seemed to burst out from excitement. Though, as quickly as it came, another thought came onto her mind; what about her friends? She slowly looked over to the gang. They all voiced their support for her doing this--especially Pinkie. Rainbow, however, didn't give an input because she was sleeping.
She slowly turned back to her teacher, finally giving an answer back. "I'd love to do it!" She gave a huge grin. "Wait, can Rigdon stay with me too?" She asked in a pleading tone, her eyes conveying one of begging.
Celestia stared at Twilight with confusion. Then, the reason as to her begging hit her like a ton of bricks. She gave a sly grin, her eyebrows wiggling slightly in the process. This caused Twilight's mouth to hang open, her cheeks quickly flaring up. Lifting her hoof up, Celestia quickly suppressed a giggle. She then lowered her head. "Very well. If he would like to come along, then it would be no problem setting up accommodations for him as well." She then raised her voice a bit as she announced, "Royal court is now adjourned! Twilight, would you and Rigdon stay behind so we can discuss bedroom arrangements?" She questioned.
Both Rigdon and Twilight stared at each other, before looking back to Celestia. They both gave a visible shrug, along with a nod. It took a while, but everyone had soon spilled out of the Throne room. Luna had left as well since she needed to tend to the dreams of everyone. Celestia quickly approached the pair. "So, how is this going to work? Do you two want your own separate rooms?" She started off. Suddenly, her entire demeanor changed. She seemed like a different mare all together. "Or would you both enjoy time in each other's company?~" She carried her voice through the room. That grin on her face was just... so suggestive; like her previous words weren't already.
Twilight couldn't believe her ears. Her own teacher--who she regarded as divinity itself, had made a suggestive comment with herself and Rigdon. Well, she can't exactly say that her words weren't untrue, since they totally were. Now that there weren't any nobles around, Celestia was free to release a bit. She let out a laugh at her pupil's reaction. "Oh it's fine, Twilight! I'm just pulling your hoof!" Rigdon was just friendly fire in this entire escapade.
Twilight let out a grumble, letting her head hang down so her hair covered her face. "Yeah, we'd like one room," She mumbled softly. Celestia opened her eyes, her ears barely catching Twilight's voice as she said those words.
"Hm? Did you say you would like just one room?" She repeated, making sure that she heard her right. Twilight gave a slow nod, causing Celestia to perk up. She slowly turned her head to one of the remaining guards. "Would you mind showing these two to one of the guest rooms? Do make sure it's in a close vicinity to Dimitri's room," She added. The guard gave a salute before beginning to lead the pair away.
Of course, like with his expectations, the castle was as windy as he thought it would be. Twilight, on the other hand, seemed like she knew these halls pretty well. What closed them off to their room was a large, heavy set of double doors. "Thank you kind sir." Twilight bowed her head at the guard. He took pride in her compliment before walking off. A purple magic would envelop the doors before they creaked open. Twilight looked back, Rigdon slowly following in after her. Once he was finally in, she shut the doors, a gust of wind escaping as they were sealed in.
Rigdon quickly found his way towards the squishy bed, his body making one half of the bed his. Twilight took a couple of steps forward, her body language clearly conveying an overall layer of nervousness. "I've... never been in a bed with another pony before." She murmured softly as she took another step forward. Rigdon gave a small smile as he patted the spot open next to him.
Twilight, feeling a bit more encouraged, quickly found herself inching closer towards the bed. Once she ran out of room, she began to climb in. She was now laying on her side, her mind racing with thoughts on everything. "How am I going to do all this? I'm not a teacher? What if I disappoint Celestia?" She began to worry. Rigdon rolled his eyes before moving closer to the egghead in front of him. Twilight found herself in the arms of Rigdon. His grasp was firm, yet delicate. His warmth was unmatched from anything she had felt before. She slowly nuzzled into him, her muzzle finding itself against the middle of his chest.
Rigdon closed his eyes, his hand slowly combing through her hair. "It's going to be alright, Twilight. I know you're gonna do great... Plus, if you need any help, I got your back," He reassured her. Slowly, he leaned down and planted a quick, soft peck against her forehead. Twilight gave a small breath as she laid there.
"I guess you're right... It's not going to be easy, but... It just takes some practice." She slowly wrapped her hooves around him, her own grasp on him slowly growing tighter. Sleep came quickly and easy in but a few moments. |
A Man Of Science | The Student Becomes The Teacher | Twilight let out a soft grumble as her body began to stir. She made shallow, rigid movements--her senses blinking back and forth between being on and off. Her brain kept on metaphorically kicking her right in her flank, her own voice yelling at herself to get up. After all, she had a long day ahead of her! She slowly stood forward, Rigdon mumbling softly as she broke away from his grasp.
She tilted her head down so she was facing him. She couldn't help but grin like an idiot as she watched him sleep. Slowly, she bent forward. A tender kiss was left on the sleeping human's cheek. Twilight quickly hopped off the bed, a soft squeak echoing out as the mattress let out its sigh of relief when her weight was lifted from it.
Twilight soon found herself in the washroom of the guestroom. Sweet Celestia, the bathroom was huge! Why would anyone need such space? She wasn't going to complain anymore, though. She was going to indulge in the delight of a hot shower. She needed to loosen her muscles anyway! Her magic quickly engulfed the two handles to the faucet. She made sure to balance it so that the water was warm: not too hot, nor too cold. She lifted her hoof up, quickly bringing it forward 'til she was about a couple inches from touching the water.
She quickly stuck her leg into the water, the warm liquid quickly wetting down her fur; the water was perfect. Hoof after hoof, she slowly pulled her entire body into the water, a soft gasp escaping from her lips as the water embraced her body. This should really clear her mind for the long day ahead of her. Twilight continued to lower herself in the water, her entire body quickly diving beneath the surface of the water, her head still making sure to stay above. She threw a couple of bath bombs in the water, along with a long squirt from the soap bottle provided.
Her body was now engulfed in a cloud of warm soap suds and bubbles. The soap worked its magic, quickly spreading over and lathering her entire body. She felt like she could spend her entire day here... It was as if she was laying on a fluffy bed of clouds. Huh, no wonder Rainbow always finds those things extremely comfortable. She sat there for about ten more minutes, letting all of her worries melt away. Though, nothing can completely take away the worry of teaching! She was so nervouscited.
Was there going to be a translator? There had to be one!... right? After all, she didn't speak another language. After some more abuse by her inner thoughts, she quickly stood up, the water turning on once again. This time, it was the showerhead that sprung to life. Twilight quickly began to wash off the soap from her coat and hair. Once done, she quickly pulled the plug that kept the water in. As the water began to disappear to an unknown fate down the drain, she got out of the shower. She picked up a towel and began to run it across her figure.
What seemed to be a pedal protruded out from the wall; this piqued her curiosity. She reached forward, quickly pressing her hoof onto it. A whirring sound began to call out as she was doused in hot air. After a few moments, the air had completely dried her off. She stood there, flabbergasted at what just happened. Looking at herself in the mirror, she found that her hair had been left as a poofy mess. Well, it's nothing a hairbrush couldn't solve. She brought the brush up to her hair, deciding to fix that mess first.
She dragged it through her hair over, and over, and over again, the knots in her hair slowly coming undone. A little while would pass--her mane and tail now fixed in its usual style. When it came to her actual coat, she made sure to brush everything out very thoroughly, except with her chest fluff, which she decided to leave a bit more prominent than usual.
The bathroom door flung open, quickly catching itself before it slammed into the wall it was heading to. Twilight let out a sigh of relief, her magical grip dissipating. She was glad that she caught the door. She didn't exactly want to wake Rigdon up. The giant double doors that kept their room closed off were suddenly brought to life. It slowly but surely opened itself up to the outside world, Twilight slowly spilling out into the hall of the castle.
A guard was standing at attention near the door. She slowly walked up to Twilight and gave an announcement. "The princess would like for you to join her at breakfast," She said with a monotonous tone. She then quickly got back into her position. Well, this certainly was a surprising treat! She hasn't had some one on one time with Celestia in a long while! She gave a solemn nod to their words before heading off.
As she traversed the halls, her mind raced with scenarios of what was to happen later today. Her mind, deciding to pull a goof, played out scenarios where she would mess up, or make a fool out of herself. Her heart began to race as she worried more about her newly formed teaching career.
A couple wrong turns and asking around later, she found herself at the entrance to the dining area. It really is hard to traverse this place, even if she was a bit rusty with the room placements. Though, she was certain that there were some renovations to account for the return of Luna. "Alright, Twilight... It's just breakfast," She let out a small laugh as she cupped her own cheek. She quickly planted her hoof back onto the ground, "Everything's going to be fine!"
The moment she walked in, she was blasted with the wonderful, intoxicating smell of fresh fruits, veggies, flowers, and pancakes! She shut her mouth tightly, her muzzle scrunching up as she stopped herself from drooling right then and there.
"Ah, Twilight! It's good to see you. I take it you slept well?" Celestia would question as she welcomed her student with a warm smile. She had a small teacup suspended in her magic, of which was as golden as the sun itself. The cup floated over to her lips. She closed her eyes as the cup tipped itself over gently, gracefully pouring its wonderful liquid contents into her mouth. Twilight slowly approached the table, quickly taking a seat across from her mentor.
"Yeah!" She started off with a cheery tone. She floated a plate over to herself, along with a couple of berries to start her breakfast off. "We slept great. Rigdon's still in bed, which is actually surprising. He's usually the one to get me up for sleeping in." She let out a small chuckle at the thought, a raspberry floating up to her mouth, of which she took a bite out of.
"Well that's great to hear!" She lowered the teacup onto the saucer below. She then placed everything down onto the table, "I did give you a recently tidied room on purpose after all."
Twilight gave a gaze towards Celestia. Was she only doing this to be nice, or did she do it because of some... other thing she thought would happen. Her suspicions were confirmed when she quickly averted her gaze down, now finding the floor interesting. God, she was such a prankster when she wanted to be! One moment she can be posh--the next she's teasing you about the littlest of things!
She rolled her eyes at Celestia's aloofness. A teacup was raised up towards her. She took a couple of thorough gulps from it before setting it back down. Of course, smelling the awkwardness in the air, Celestia struck once again! She slowly leaned in, a sly grin planted on her face "So, how did you two first get together? Was he the one to make the first move? Or... were you the one to tell him?" Celestia interrogated.
Twilight let out a loud groan at her words. She was worse than her mom when she saw her around stallions. She stuffed her face with more fruit, giving a couple of courtesy chews before swallowing. Celestia couldn't help but give off a small snort at her pupil's antics. "Alright, alright. I will not pry anymore if you do not want me to." She calmed her voice, a hint of laughter still at the back of her words. She pushed her fork into a few cut pieces of pancake.
Twilight gave a nod, appreciating that she knew when not to go too far. She lifted her cup of tea, sighing as he took a gulp of the heart-warming liquid. Oh yeah, now that was some quality tea. She stayed silent, the awkwardness reigning supreme in just a few moments. Celestia didn't keep quiet, though. "You may not know it, Twilight, but you're an excellent teacher," She said supportively. "Your friendship lessons have taught both me and Luna a lot. I know that your friends would say the same. That's why I picked you to teach Dimitri! I know that you'll do an amazing job."
Twilight was astonished at the words that left Celestia's mouth. Teaching? Her and Luna? How can such words be put in the same sentence?! Twilight mumbled incoherently, her head beginning to spin. One, two, three! And just like that, she was out cold on the floor! Looks like breakfast was going to end a little earlier than usual.
A folder would slide across the table in the middle of the room, quickly finding its place next to the pencils and thick textbooks. Its crooked stance was quickly corrected with the help of purple magic. She then moved onto a couple of more miniscule objects and made sure to straighten them out as well. Once everything looked good, she sighed and sat down onto the seat at the head of the desk. Now, all she had to do was wait. She was a bit early, but Dimitri should be arriving any moment now.
As if everypony else was listening to her thoughts, the door opened with a loud, old creak; right on que. The guard was leading both Autumn, the translator, and Dimitri into the room. They both took a seat relatively close to the front. Dimitri seemed particularly entranced by everything around him. The guard gave a small nod before heading out of the room.
Twilight let out a small sigh before loudly clearing her throat, getting the fullest attention of both Autumn and Dimitri. "Welcome to the class about all things friendship and Equestria!" She spoke out, a hint of excitement traveling with her words. "My name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle! This is my first time teaching, so I'm as excited as you are." Her words came out quickly and without breath.
The pony sitting next to Dimitri shared a couple of words with him. He gave a small nod as he stared at the newfound teacher in front of him. He still had a slightly sour look on his face though. He still wasn't used to this unusually friendly nature of others. After all, in his eyes, someone wouldn't be this nice unless they wanted something in return.
"So, the first thing I'm going to teach is Ponish! That can leave room for Olde Ponish if you really want to." She leaned in slightly as she pretended to whisper those words. "Anyways, I was told that it's actually quite similar to a language in your world called English. The only real discernible difference is the written alphabet between us and you." She continued to douse the both of them with information.
A small pointing stick would become engulfed in her magic. The thin piece of wood would fly over to the chalkboard, now pointing at the letters that had been written on it. "This right there is the Ponish alphabet," She called back to the two. Dimitri had his eyes completely focused on her, "It's not that hard once you get the hang of it!" She smiled at him. She brought her hoof to her mouth, giving a thorough cough as she prepared her singing voice. Once ready, she began to sing. "A, B, C, D, E, F, G~" She would draw out her voice on G. She continued on, stopping every so often with that same drawn out action.
Dimitri squinted softly, paying close attention to not only how the letters were sounded out, but the rhythm and tone that her singing carried. Sure, it would've been easier to only focus on one thing, but he isn't going to slack off! He gave a couple of soft nods, his hands folding together as he continued to listen. The moment Twilight was done with the song, he would unfold his hands to give her a couple of firm claps. It was the right thing to do!
Twilight became flushed; She certainly wasn't expecting such an ovation! She gave a small 'Thank you' before returning to her lesson. "Alright! Now you try singing the song! It's alright if it takes you a little bit; any progress is still progress after all." She would encourage him.
Dimitri sat there, his brain processing the song. He quickly went over it again and again in his head, making sure that it was going to come out perfectly. When he did speak out in the form of a song, it wasn't that graceful. His voice was slightly deep, his accent heavy, and his pronunciation terrible. Though, he still was speaking Ponish. "A, B... C... D, E, F...G."
He certainly wasn't a singer or some choir boy. He fumbled over some letters, but that's to be expected. Despite pausing a little in between singing, he wasn't doing that bad of a job! It certainly was better than hearing Rarity's Prench. Twilight gave an approving nod as she listened to him sing off all of the letters. A couple minutes later and he's finished with the alphabet.
Twilight gave an enthusiastic smile, clearly excited with how fast he was able to pick up on the alphabet and the song that went with it! She lifted the piece of chalk once more. "Now, we'll be learning about basic words--like hello, or how are you." She spoke out as she quickly wrote the words down. "Ms. Hazel, would you mind coming up here and writing down the translations for him?"
Autumn wasn't expecting to be put on the spot like that by Twilight! She stuttered momentarily. "O-Oh! I uhm... sure!" She gave a firm nod before getting out of her seat. She walked up to the board, her wing unfolding and quickly grabbing a hold of one of the many pieces of chalk. She began to write away on the chalkboard, placing each translated word next to their respective ones in Ponish. Dimitri gave a soft 'Ohh' as he read the translation.
Twilight quickly broke up the word 'Hello' into its two syllables. She did the same thing to the other words. "Okay! Every word has syllables. These can be used to pronounce words easier. Take hello for example; its syllables are Hell, and Low. Hell, and low." She continued to go back and forth, saying the syllables over and over again, her hoof quickly moving between them as well.
Dimitri looked back and forth between both the word and the syllables, his mind processing how to say it. He paused for a moment, his hand reaching up and gently scratching his chin. He finally decided that he felt confident enough to try and say the word. He opened his mouth and said, "Hello."
Once again, his voice was craggy and dominated by his eastern slavic accent. But, that doesn't really matter! He still was able to say hello in english! Well, according to Twilight it was Ponish, but it's practically the same thing.
Twilight's eyes lit up as she heard him speak for the first time. Well, in a way that she could understand. "Good! Could you repeat that again? Repetition is key!" She spoke out. Autumn would quickly translate what she said for him. Dimitri gave a complaint nod before taking a deep breath.
He spoke out once again, his voice sounding a bit more smoother. "Hello," Every time that he said Hello, his voice became more confident and his pronunciation smoother. Soon enough, he was saying hello over and over without fail! "Hello."
Autumn had a huge smile plastered on her face. She felt like she had personally helped him begin his first steps in learning a different language. Twilight gave a solemn nod as he continued to speak his first word in Ponish. She then grabbed both a Ink pen, along with a piece of paper. She walked over to him, gently setting it down onto his desk. He looked up at her, confusion in his eyes. "Here, write it down! Not only does it encite repetition, but it also helps your penmareship!" She called out. Autumn was quick to translate what she said to him. Dimitri, now armed with what to do, gave a complaint nod as he stared at the word on the chalkboard.
He slowly began to scribble the word down onto the paper. He then made a note next to the word that stated what it translated to in Russian. He looked at the other words on the board and did the same thing to them. He then wrote the words down over and over, his brain ironing everything over as he did so. Once done, he placed the pen down. Twilight, not wanting to waste any time, had already gathered a couple of language books that housed everyday phrases and words. Autumn, ready to help all that she could, had already taken her place next to Dimitri.
"Alright, this seems like a good place to stop. You've done a great job so far, Dimitri! Just make sure to keep practicing," Twilight spoke softly as her magic shut the book in front of her. The book was quickly floated away and filled itself back in its respective area. Despite the class having ended, Autumn and Dimitri were still conversing, albeit in his native tongue. She smiled at the sight, the both of them laughing and getting along like a house on fire. Even though he still knows little about this world, she has a gut feeling that he's already made a friend. Gosh, she couldn't wait to tell Celestia about his progress!
Twilight hummed as she headed to the front door. She opened it, her figure soon stepping out into the hallway. The guard that had been there for the morning shift had been rotated out. She gave a slight bow of her head before heading off. Twilight made her way through the endless halls, her intended target being the Castle's extensive library. As she walked past the hallways, something caught her attention. Out in the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar human in the science section of the castle. She turned her body filly to the side to now face the person in front of her.
Rigdon was looking around the room, his eyes filled with amazement as he glared at all of the wonderful gadgets that modern science had brought to this world. She slowly approached him, her own eyes drifting off to what he was looking at. Rigdon had his eyes fixated on one of the most advanced objects Equestria had to offer--the microscope!
"Looks like somepony is wandering without permission." Twilight cooed teasingly as she stood next to him. Rigdon turned his head to the side and down, the purple unicorn now in his view. He rolled his eyes before turning back to the instrument of science.
" Did you really think I was just going to be satisfied staying cooped up in that room? I swear, sometimes I think you're being clueless on purpose!" He replied to her. Twilight gave a small shrug. He did have her there.
"Pretty cool, huh? It's called a microscope. It's pretty new, and there's still a lot we don't know! Did you know that there's trillions of bacteria around us at this very moment?" She hit him with a science fact, her voice filled with pride at the accomplishments. Twilight became flabbergasted as Rigdon stared at her with a 'No duh' expression: like what she just said was common knowledge. "Don't tell me your world has this too..." She murmured softly, her ears flattening against her head.
"Well, the short answer is yes. The long answer is that we've got a WAY better understanding, especially if you're confined to this archaic piece of equipment. But, then again, I can't blame you. Humans tend to lean into the more science aspect since we don't have magic. It does make sense your tools are outdated by our standards since you have magic to do most of the heavy lifting," He would provide his argument.
Twilight let out a disappointed sigh as she stood there. "How far are we behind with this technology?" She questioned without looking his way.
"About three hundred and sixty-nine years give or take," He replied bluntly. Twilight wasn't even surprised at this point. "So, how did the teaching lessons go?" He changed the subject to her day. Twilight's demeanor quickly switched its enthusiasm back on.
"Oh, well it was great! I mean, it was a bit worrisome going in at first, but everything worked out pretty well! Dimitri is actually progressing along quite fast! Though, with your language being the most spoken in your world, it wouldn't be out of the question that he's already picked up some English words."
"So... I saw a local cafe a few blocks down yesterday. You wanna join me for lunch?" Rigdon would point his thumb back towards the door.
Twilight gave a big smile as she quickly turned back towards the door. "I thought you'd never ask." She quickly retorted. "It's on me, though!" She called out as she began to walk away.
Rigdon quickly followed her, his voice quickly calling back at the fleeing unicorn. "Like hell your ass is! I'm paying this time, sparkle butt!" |
Vol2:Tomorrow Never Knows - Don't Pass Me By | pre | "Who me? I guess I am pretty sure of myself. Like you."
"No Ms Dash, you have the wrong pony there. I hide my insecurities behind myyyyyyyy shoooooowwww vooooooiiice. I think it's why I use that ridiculous voice. If I ever stop working I'm afraid I'll find out how sad I really am."
"You should so come out to Ponyville! We all thought you were great."
"Yes, especially your friend - Fluttershy was it? I happened to catch her little impersonation of me. I was going by your suite during the games..."
"Oh, heh, yeah,"
"Don't worry, I thought it was adorable. And pretty accurate as well..."
"Oh, good. We really do like you. Especially the CMC's"
"Ah yes, the little fillies who carried your flag? They were amazing."
"Yeah, they are. They'd never seen a real businesspony before. They were very impressed. I gotta say, you really are amazing. Organizing all that stuff. Especially the last minute - like setting it up so Spike could sing that song...hahha"
*Laughs* "Yes, Talk about uncomfortable. I wanted to crawl under something."
"I know how you felt sister - it went on and on and on..."
"...and on and on... you know Rainbow - I don't know who I felt worse for. The team from Cloudsdale, him, or me."
"I know, I felt pretty bad for everypony. You must have been glad when it was all over."
"Well I left the games just in time to get home for my divorce."
"Oh, yeah. I hope you screwed him good."
"Not well enough, apparently."
*Laughter*
"It's nice to know I can still laugh with friends. I hope I can call you a friend."
"Hay-yeah!. Like I said, if you come by Ponyville, we'll do it up. Me and the girls will show you the town, not that there's much to it. I mean it ain't no Cloudsdale, Manehattan or Canterlot, but it's home."
"Maybe I will one day..."
"Hey, why the sad face? What's the matter?"
"I don't know. Just the blues, I guess. I think I knew I had a problem in my marriage but I just kept plowing into my work. I was too cowardly to face it. It would force me to face my life, which is just, well sad. I guess that's why. In fact I was on my way home to surprise him with two tickets to for a couple of weeks in Scotland. Just the two of us...when I discovered the two of them. Needless to say, he had a bigger surprise for me."
"Oh, that really sucks. I'm sorry, I mean-"
"No you're right. It really sucked."
"So what now? Are you going to Scoltland?"
"Well the tickets are open. It's aboard a beautiful cruise ship - the Princess Luna. I can go anytime I guess, but I'd kind of planned on seeing it with him, you know?"
"Awww, hey, come on, it's alright, don't get all upset. - you deserve way better than him. Hey if your really desperate I'll go with you."
"That's very sweet of you to say. I feel kind of like one of your friends."
"Hey you are. Maybe we could be the Mane 7?"
"And what would I be? The spirit of micro-managing?"
*laughter*
"Now, that is funny. It's also kind of Twilight's job. Hey we got you laughing again. See, it ain't all that bad."
"No I guess not."
"Wow, what time is it? Like everyone is gone. Woah, it's like 11:30!"
"Yes, so it is. I suppose I ought to pay the check and let the staff go home."
"You know Rainbow, it was one of the more pleasurable meals I recall having in quite some time. Where are you staying - maybe we can share a cab?"
"Uhhh, let me rem- oh yeah, at The Carriage House. It's up near the park."
"You're kidding! The Games committee has several rooms there. It's where I stay when I'm in town. Quite a few companies lease space there."
"How cool is that? Maybe we can meet for breakfast. I'm not sure if I'm going to hang out tomorrow or go home. Are you going to be around tomorrow?"
"I don't really know. I doubt it."
"Ah here we are Rainbow. What floor is your room on?"
"The twenty second. Where are you?"
"Our rooms are on 12."
"Cool, well thanks for dinner and I can't wait to see you in Ponyville."
"Oh, yes, perhaps I will visit one day."
"Can't wait. Goodnight."
"Rainbow?"
"Yeah?"
"Do me a favor, will you?"
"Sure thing, what is it?"
"No matter what happens, don't ever change, stay bold and brave and sweet and remember that you cheered me up when I really needed it."
"Will do. 'Night"
"Good night Ms Dash." |
Vol2:Tomorrow Never Knows - Don't Pass Me By | What You're Doing | Chapter 3
What You're Doing
The view from Rainbow's room was amazing. The window took up an entire wall and looked out over the city where a million tiny stars dusted the buildings.
"Wow..."
A somewhat tipsy rainbow maned Pegasi removed her dress and dropped it on the floor before flopping down face first on one of the big pillows at the head of the circular queen sized bed. She lay there letting the coolness of the pillowcase against her face relax her, the scent coming from it was nice. It was a little musky but a little spicy too, even a little familiar, As she lay there she began to feel oddly restless - especially between her legs. Leaning to her side, she slid her right hoof under her, tucking it between her legs, then rolled back on her stomach. She began to move her hoof, twisting it and relishing the building want down there. The strength of her desire surprised her and she spread her legs a little wider and being more direct on certain areas. In moments she knew she was comitted to it and leaned to the right, slipping her left hoof under and between her legs in order to hold herself open.
The type urges she was feeling were familiar and she knew that this would be one of those times.
Do I really want to do this now? I mean it feels SO totally awesome and I haven't had one of these in awhile but it gets kinda crazy and leaves my legs all rubbery and really wipes me out, plus it usually makes a mess...
Dash could already feel the thick wetness with her hooves.
I'm gonna have to get up and get a couple of towels if I keep this up...
The pillow was making it difficult to breathe so she rolled over on her back and lay there, her legs spread wide, and toying with herself and caressing. Soon, though, the urge seemed to drop away a little and she found herself feeling tired. Her wetness started to feel tacky which meant she was losing the desire. Part of her was grateful, but part was disappointed, she never knew when one of these would happen again. As she thought about it she began to get angry. Not doing anything once she was aroused enough to get wet could leave her aching between her legs. Her friends (well some of them) called it "blue lips." The only way to avoid it was to finish what she'd started but now she was totally out of the mood and forcing it just totally sucked.
Must be the Trotqulia...
As she lay flat on her back she tilted her head back and looked over at the night side table. She saw the letters there. If things went well with Soarin' she'd hoped to show him she'd kept each one. Blindly, she reached back, grabbed them and crumpled them, but in doing so she knocked over the vase of fresh flowers that sat there.
Shit! Fucking asshole Soarin'! I don't blame Spitfire for treating him like a jerk! He IS one... Where did those flowers come from? I don't remember them being here when I checked in. I must have been too blown away by the rest of the room. Hmmm - no card...
Dash got up off the bed and walked around to where the vase had fallen. Fortunately, due to its shape, almost no water had spilled out. Dash noticed something strange taped to the bottom of the vase.
A key.
She pulled the tape off and took the key. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Dash went to the door and peered out through the peephole. A bellpony stood there smiling politely.
What the fuck? Suddenly she was aware of the scent of her sex. "Hang on... be right therrre..."
She ran into the bathroom, grabbed a washcloth, ran it under the tap and grimaced as she pressed the cold terrycloth between her legs and wiped. She patted herself dry with a soft towel and went back and opened the door.
"Yeah? Can I help you?"
"I'm terribly sorry to disturb you ma'am, especially at this late hour but a mistake was made. We received a call that the wrong flowers were delivered to your room. We would have waited until the morning, but the caller was very insistent. I'm so sorry but I'm afraid I need to take those. Here are the right ones."
"What? Okaaaay, I guess. - but don't expect a tip!"
"Of course not ma'am, and for this disturbance and the dreadful mistake, the hotel management would like to offer you another night here at no charge and free room service for the remainder of your stay. Anything you'd like, with the exception of liquor, though you are permitted a single bottle of Champagne."
"Really? How freakin cool is that?! Swap away garcon!"
After the bellpony had left, Dash sat on the bed and turned the key over in her hoof. She noticed that on the key's edge, a very tiny number was stamped. "1235" She went and got her key. It was stamped 2269. Her room number.
That's weird. 1235...
Harshwhinny got off on the 12th floor.
Dash looked at the wastepaper basket. The crumpled letters there...
...confident and self-assured...
...an amazing a flyer...
...a great spirit...
...when Spike sang the Cloudsdale anthem...wanted to crawl under the winner's platform.
...preparing for the Equestria Games...
...bold and brave and sweet...
...are you going to be around tomorrow?
...I don't really know-
I doubt it...
She looked at the key.
Her heart began to beat like a trip-hammer and her stomach tightened to a fist. She bolted for the door, ran down the hall to the elevator, and didn't stop pushing the down button until the door opened.
Come on, come ON!
Finally the doors slid open and she got on.
She pressed the button for the twelfth floor several times and tapped her hoof impatiently. The doors slid open. Dash took off down the hall and stopped at 1235. She knocked lightly.
"Harmony?" she spoke quietly.
No answer.
She slipped the key into the lock and turned. The lock disengaged and she turned the knob and opened the door.
The room was nice, moderate, nowhere near as palatial as Dash's though.
Lying asleep on the bed was Harmony Harshwhinny. Dash cleared her throat. No response. She went over to the left side of the bed and sat down.
Dash put her hoof on Harshwhinny's shoulder and shook it lightly. .
"Harmony? Harmony? Helloooooo?"
No response. The wastepaper basket was filled to overflowing with crumpled tissues. There among them a bright red ribbon tied into a bow caught her eye. She pulled it up and let it rest on top of the tissue pile. It was around a small gold wrapped gift box that had been torn open apparently in anger. The card taped to the outside read "For my Rainbow, with love, Harmony." She could see what looked like a pair of black silk stockings in the box. She went to retrieve it she saw something else on the floor behind the wastepaper basket. An empty pill bottle. Her heart picked up speed as she reached to pick it up. She had a hard time reading the label, her hoof was shaking so badly.
It was for sleeping pills and it had been filled yesterday.
"FUCK!"
She immediately put her head to Harshwhinny's chest. A faint heartbeat.
Patting her cheek got no response. She patted harder until she was slapping her. Harshwhinny's eyes opened to slits.
"No, don't do this, no!" Dash started to cry as she dragged Harshwhinny into the bathroom. Sitting her on the floor, she propped the blonde pony's back up against the toilet. She turned on the tap, half filled a glass with water and poured a little shampoo in. Then she started slapping Harshwinny's face again until she started mumbling. She held the glass to her lips.
"Drink this!! Please Harmony, drink this. PLEASE!!" She leaned and spoke into the blonde pony's ear, half crying. "please, oh please babe, you've got to drink this, I- I saw the stockings, they're beautiful, why didn't you tell me?" Harshwhinny's head flopped forward and Rainbow caught it and tried to pour some of the drink into her mouth. "If - if you'll drink this, I'll wear those stockings for you... I'll put on a show for you.. You have to see me - *sniff* I-I'm the b-best... We'll have awesome sex, You'll cum just watching me play with myself while wearing those stockings- I got the sweetest little cunt and it's all yours - just come on! Puh-pl-pleeeese!"
Harshwhinny eyes opened slightly more then closed.,
"No, come on, my sweet little pussy is all yours, me in those stockings, pulling them on slowly, stay with me here, come on, I need you to wake up enough to drink this, then I'm all yours babe, all yours..."
Harshwhinny's head lolled forward a little.
Dash was crying but kept talking. "No, don't give up, w-we-we're talking about my cunt! My pussy! Do you know how many ponies would give their left hoof to get at it? To just see it? But if you'll just drink this, it's all yours, I'll have your fucking name tattooed over it "Property of Harmony Harshwhinny." just please drink this. We don't have much time!! You gotta do it now!" Dash started sobbing, "Please!!, Just please!"
Harshwhinny raised her head slightly for a moment and opened her mouth. Drool came out of the corner of it.
Dash's eyes opened wider and she smiled as she poured some if the drink into her mouth. The throat constricted confirming that the pony had swallowed it.
"Yeah , that's it babe, that's it, and don't feel bad about drooling, Everypony does it when they think about my pussy." She laughed a little, causing more tears to spill from her eyes.
Harshwhinny went into a weak cough and Dash laid her down on her side. Suddenly she started to convulse and a moment later the contents of the blonde pony's stomach were all over the bathroom's tiled floor. Dash exhaled and broke down into sobs as she saw numerous whole caplets among the soapy remnants of dinner. She made sure Harshwhinny was steady on her side, ran out to grab the pill bottle and ran back to Harshwhinny. She counted the pills on the floor - 11 and a half dissolved one.
The prescription was for 30. Dash felt the hopelessness rise and incredible emotion and burst out crying. As she looked for the doctors name she saw the tiny hoofwritten note on the label:
"Owe patient 15" There had only been 15 in the bottle! Dash couldn't stop crying but she held Harshwhinny's prostrate body and kissed her continuously on the forehead. "Oh thank you pharmacy, whoever you are. oh thank Celestia!" Dash sat there with Harshwinny's head in her lap and gently caressed her mane.
"It's okay, sweetie, it's okay, your Rainbow is here and she's not going anywhere." |
Vol2:Tomorrow Never Knows - Don't Pass Me By | I'm So Tired | Chapter 4
I'm So Tired
Dash sat at the edge of the enormous round bed in her room. The sun lit the glass curtains that she'd pulled in front of her huge window wall and gave the whole room a wonderful warm sunny glow. She gently caressed the muzzle of Harmony who had begun to stir. Slowly the blonde pony opened her eyes. As soon as she saw Dash's face, she turned her head away.
"Hey, is that any way to treat the pony that loves you?"
Nothing
"Come on Harmony, look at me...babe?"
But Harmony kept her head turned away.
Dash saw Harmony's move as she let out a single sob. A tiny cry came from her and then she drew in a shaky breath followed by such painful muffled cries that Dash couldn't keep her own emotions in check. She felt her throat tighten and tears well up in her eyes. "It-its okay now. you're here with me in my room..
Harmony turned her head and looked at Dash, her eyes filled with fear.
"Don't worry, the staff here loves you," Dash reached over and stroked the blonde mane., "I didn't know you stayed here all the time. I'm glad you let them past Ms. Harshwhinny and let them see Harmony. She is one incredible pony. They told me some major favors were called in to score me this room. No one is saying anything; the only ponies allowed in here were Tote, Willow, Carri, the doctor and Mr. Oak. They treated you as well as I've ever seen any pony treated, they even took care of me" Tears spilled from Dash's eyes but she gave Harmony a weak smile. "I got a free back massage, they did my mane, my hooves, which I never let anypony touch, except for Willow and now..." she leaned forward to kiss Harmony on the forehead but before she could, Harmony turned her head away
"...you." Dash sat back a little and looked away..
"How did you find me?" Harmony asked - her voice strained with emotion.
"Well, I, uh was upstairs in my room and I accidentally knocked over the flowers you sent me."
"And you found the key. I tried to get those flowers swapped out before you had a chance to find it."
"Yeah, well it's lucky for you they didn't"
Harmony started to cry. "You sure got that wrong."
"Aw, don't say that babe-"
"PLEASE stop calling me that! I'm not your babe!"
"Well you sure could of fooled me!" Dash snapped at her. "Do you usually write love letters to your casual friends telling you how much you love them?" She instantly regretted it., "I'm sorry, But why didn't you tell me?"
""Because you'd laugh. You couldn't possibly be interested in me. You have your young cute friends. What would you want with an old mare who just discovered she's a dyke?"
Dash approached her and spoke softly. "Who said your old? I'll bet you're not over 30."
"You'd lose that bet by about a month" Harshwhinny sounded angry and disgusted with herself.
"So happy birthday!" Dash's voice did not skimp on the sarcasm. "Why didn't you give me a chance?"
Harshwhinny looked away and spoke without hesitation as though reciting facts that were evident to all. "Because I'm a coward. If I never asked you, I'd never have to hear you laugh and ask if I was serious." she paused. Fresh tears filled her eyes, "I could keep hoping that maybe one day..."
"One day what?"
Rainbow Dash leaned over to her and nuzzled the side of her face with her own. She pushed the blonde mane aside and nibbled gently on her ear. Harshwhinny kept her face turned away and remained silent.
"...that I might do this?"
Harmony turned toward Rainbow who smiled despite the incredible pain she saw on her face. She fought the pain in her throat and her eyes sting again with tears. Never breaking her gaze into the blue eyes that suddenly meant more to her than she'd thought, she leaned forward and gently kissed Harmony.
"...or that?"
Ms. Harshwhinny, her ears folded down nodded and looked back into Dash's lavender eyes.
"I don't know why you tried to kill yourself Harmony and I don't care, but I sure as hay care if you try it again. If you do, know this - I will hate you forever. Got that? And I don't hate anypony so it'll make you the only member of a very exclusive club!"
Harmony nodded. "So who do they think you are - Mr. Oak and the rest."
Dash's smile was flippant. "Your marefriend" she said, shrugging a shoulder.
"You mean my friend who is a mare."
"No, I mean your maaarefriend.
The blonde pony just stared, dumbfounded.
"How about yourrrrr, muzzle-nuzzling-lip kissing-pussy-licking marefriend?."
Dash waited for Harshwhinny to blink.
Nothing, but the blonde pony fought like mad to keep from laughing. So Dash went on...
"Now listen here BABE - I've been carrying a certain something around with me... I have been since the minute the hotel doctor said you were going to be fine and they haven't been out of my sight since, marefriend"
"So," Harshwhinny asked, "just what makes you think I want you as my marefriend?"
"Woah, whoah, whoah, what makes me think you want me as your marefriend? Half of fucking Equestira wants me as their marefriend! But what in particular? Dash stood up, reached over to the little box on top of the night side table and opened it. She carefully lifted out a pair of sheer black silk stockings. Harmony's eyes followed her every move. Dash separated them and put one back on top of the box. Then she sat back on the chair and as though she were completely alone, gathered the first one up, slipped the toe over her pointed right hoof and began to pull it slowly up her leg. She took her time, leaning her head to one side and then the other, and looked, clearly enjoying how the shiny silk enhanced the sensual curves of her calves and then her thighs. After it was up she reached down and with her fore-hooves on either side of her leg slowly pulled back, sliding her hooves all the way up to the top. Her left hoof came up between her legs Once it reached the top she pressed it against her pubic mound and closed her eyes. She tilted her head back slightly and through slightly parted lips small moan escaped.her mouth.
Harmony, swallowed hard but didn't breathe, afraid she might remind this winged goddess that she wasn't alone. Dash casually leaned forward to take the other stocking and in doing so moved her leg. She wasn't quite able to reach it and so had to lean and stretch out,, giving the blonde pony an unobstructed view of her open vulva for at least 5 seconds. Much to the dismay of Harmony's greedy eyes, the cyan pony lifted the stocking and turned back to her task and the sight was gone. Harmony closed her eyes an effort to capture the sight in her mind.
Once again the cyan pony performed the ritual, carefully pulling the left one on as slowly and sensuously as she could. Then she stood on all fours and turned away giving Harmony a perfect view of her silk covered legs and haunches, her cutie mark visible through the sheer fabric. Finally Dash spoke, answering the question that Harmony had completely forgot ever having asked.
"These."
The blonde pony couldn't keep her mouth from opening slightly. She swallowed.
"W-well you can just keep them as a memento. Now will you please take them off?
Dash turned back toward her
"You want me to take them off?"
"Yes."
"Sorry, can't"
"And why not?"
"Because I gotta keep 'em on."
"Why?"
"Let me explain - I owe a debt. I promised a certain pony that if they would drink this disgusting soapy water that I would do something for them."
Dash's wings were fully erect and almost throbbing
"And what is that, fly around the room in them?"
"Oh, you mean my wings?"
"Yes. Is there any other reason you're spreading them?"
"Look- what I promised was to wear these stockings and put on a little show."
"And what is that? Singing, dancing and flying?" The blonde pony rolled her eyes.
Dash sat in a chair next to the bed and faced her. She opened her legs just enough to reveal the wet pink of her lips.
"Nope, masturbate. No - don't start, don't speak."
Dash pulled the left side of her cleft open, revealing a very wet pussy. Thick cum coated the whole area.
She continued...
"See this? Yeah, get a good look. I have been in like major agony - aching - to rub it, fuck it, etc. but I didn't. I waited for you. Now you get one shot at this, because I made the one promise. In my house, masturbation was pretty much the dirtiest word there was. You didn't say it, you didn't think it, and you sure as hay didn't do it. So this is really embarrassing for me. But I said I would do it so-"
"Don't."
"What?!" Dash could not believe what she was hearing
"Don't, Go into the bathroom, jerk off and help me get back to my room."
Then Dash smiled.
"Fuck you! I'm going to cum in front of you - pretty much humiliate myself for you! Now sit back and enjoy the show.. and feel free to join in!" Dash yelled back at her. "This is yours - this is for you!"
The two ponies locked eyes and in that moment they shared a look of such profound affection for each other that there was nothing to do but smile.
"For me? Well I don't want it!! Take it away"
"Do you have any idea how many ponies would immediately cum if they even imagined this?"
"Then go rub that..hot...sweet...little...cunt..."
Dash's eyes went wide at those words and began to play with the wetness around her lips. She moaned.
While Dash had been pulling on the stockings, in the back of her mind, Harmony had begun to vaguely recall the events of the previous night as she lay on the bathroom floor. She waited for the right moment to share her recollections. So now a very dangerous smile crossed her's lips.
"Ohhhhhh, waaaait" she said looking between Dash's legs, "That's mine! Now I remember! You said if I drank that shit that your pussy was mine!! Oh, wait right -"
"You're crazy bitch - I never said anything like that. You've got some kind of hallucination thing going on - and watch your language!. Professionalism,Ms Harshwhinny, professionalism..."
"Oh no - you said you'd have my name tattooed!!"
"Sh-yeah, right, as if."
Harshwhinny started laughing. Rainbow feigned a look of worry.
"Bring my pussy over here, scoot the chair closer..."
Dash muttered "Thank Celestia, I thought you'd never fucking ask" It was very quiet and very mumbled and both ponies ignored it but it took quite a bit of control to keep from bursting out in laughter.
Rainbow dutifully complied. "I hope you know that just because I'm doing this does NOT make this your pussy, got it?!"
"Yeah sure - Now let me see it!"
Dash looked down between her legs and pulled her pussy lips apart. They both sat there looking at the wet pink lips. Harmony reached over and carefully touched the hood. She pressed it lightly. Dash gasped. She began to move the hood over and around the slick hard clit. Dash shifted her hips forward slightly.
"Oh fuck, that is amazing" Dash sighed, her eyes rolling back. But only for a moment. Then they glued themselves to that wonderful spot between her legs.
They both continued to watch as Rainbow's clit became erect and extended beyond the hood. Dash looked up and her eyes went over to the bedspread, to the spot on the bedspread under which was Dash's desire..
"Let me see yours."
"Sorry Rainbow, not part of the deal."
"Show it to me Harmony, I'm 90% in love with you but your cunt could be a deal breaker."
Harmony burst out laughing, her hoof moved away from Dash's clit.
"DON'T STOP!!"
Harmony went right back to work. Dash looked into her blue eyes.
"You do have a beautiful cunt, my little Rainbow. Oh my, do you like it when I say 'cunt'? Wow, I guess you do, that is quite a bit of cum you just squeezed out from between your beautiful pink cunt lips. How about pussy? You want to see my pussy? Okay, but after I masturbate that hot little cunt of yours."
"That feels so fucking good! My pussy is yours, absolutely. I'll have the papers drawn up in the morning. Oh sweet fucking Celestia, uh, uh. oh fuck, I think I'm going to cum! Nnnnggg ohyeah, I'm going to cum!! Hey! Why did you fucking stop! But, ohhh, how did you do that, back me down from the edge like that?"
"Oh I'm just full of surprises, you just wait."
"That was amazing, It feels incredible. Where did you learn to do that? How will I ever fucking compete with you in bed? You're doing this with one hoof! How will I ever please you if you can do this to yourself?"
Harmony smiled and slowly drew back the bedspread. There was a huge wet stain on the mattress around her hips and the base of her tail as well as blonde coat all around her pussy was soaked.. As she slowly opened her legs Dash gasped at the firm pink clit that not only jutted out from under the hood, but practically pulsated. Harmony's pussy was contracting and a line of cum was dripping from between her firm pulsing lips. Harmony looked down between her legs and her jaw dropped. She looked up at Dash with an adorable smile.
"It was you and those fucking stockings. Rainbow. I thought I was going to leap out of this bed and rape you with my tongue. Fuck Rainbow, that was torture. I mean I knew that you'd look amazing in them but watching you put them on - I will never forget that as long as I live.."
"Uh-huh..." Dash said vaguely. She hadn't taken her eyes off Harmony's wet lips. She stood up as if in a trance. She climbed onto the bed and brought her head down between Harmony's legs. She ran her tongue up one side , licking the cum off the lip and then up the other side, licking the cum there. Then she started lapping the cum between the lips, out of her slit. Harmony pulled back on her coat right above her pubic mound. Her hood retracted and her clit emerged. Dash's eyes opened wider and she lowered her pursed lips over it sucking softly. Slowly she moved her head up and down as Harmony watched her clit disappear between Dash's lips and then re-appear, In a moment her hips were bucking as she madly clenched her haunches, meeting Dash's lips.
"I don't believe what I'm seeing. I can't believe this is really happening." Harmony whispered breathlessly. "This is too much. Oh Rainbow, oh fuck yes, this is amazing. Mfffuuck. Oh yeah, I'm going to cum, don't stop, just keep sucking my clit, don't, yeah, oh,..." Harmony Harshwhinny's back arched and she quickly reached around and pressed her hoof against her pussy, under Dash's chin. Dash licked back and forth across the hard clit. Suddenly cum sprayed out. Dash's eyes opened wide and she went to pull back. Harmony squealed and cried out "Don't stop, it-it's okay, it's just cuuUUUUUMMM. She came again, thrusting her hips. This time Dash pressed herhoof against the blonde pussy. Harmony cried out, then collapsed, panting. She smiled at the cum covered face of her love.
"What was that?! Dash asked. Her face had a funny expression. There was surprise but something else...
"It was just my cum. I squeeze very hard when I cum and it sometimes jets out like that. I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's okay. Wow, it's really thick." Dash said, wiping her muzzle with the back of her hoof. Then she licked her lips and smacked them.
"So Rainbow, is my cunt a deal breaker?" she panted.
Dash smiled, licking around her mouth again. "No, not so far..."
Now it was Harshwhinny's turn to look worried. Dash turned and straddled Harshwhinny's hips, lifting her leg over her lovers leg. She then lowered her own dripping pussy on top of the blonde pony's. She shifted so that their clits were touching.
"What are you doing Rainbow?" Harmony couldn't see.
"Something I've always wanted to try. I've fantasized about doing this with just about every member of the Mane 6. There is a hand mirror right over there on the table. Grab it and have a look."
Harmony leaned over and took the mirror. She propped herself up on her elbow, and adjusted the mirror so she could see her somewhat flaccid clit being pushed around by Dash's hard and rather impressive clit.
"Wow. I cannot compete with that Rainbow. Next to you putting on those stockings, that is the single most erotic thing I have ever seen... Well you have your fun. My pussy is spent, I'm done. "
Much to her shock, Harmony watched as her clit began to stiffen again "Holy fuck..." she uttered. The two ponies were locked in solid concentration, whimpering and panting as their clits and pussy;s rubbed together.
"Oh Celestia, will you look at all that fucking cum! I can't believe it!" Dash' managed to say between pants
"It's those fucking stockings babe. Your legs are incredible in them, Not to mention your, I mean my pussy, I love the size of my..."
"Wait, do you mean myclit? Dash panted.
"Yeah, (pant) and no, the clit is part of the pussy and your pussy is mine!!" They both started to grind faster.
Dash looked over at Harmony
"You know what I love best about you?"
Harshwinny rolled her eyes.
"No (pant) seriously (pant) it's those eyes, you're sweet beautiful blue eyes..."
Dash gazed into them and started to cum.
"See Harshwhinny, see? Those eyes, they are beautiful and, and oh fuck, oh fuck yeah, oh cunt, you cunt. Fuck yeah.."
Dash squealed and shook her hips back and forth in a blur. Harmony's eyes opened wide and she grabbed a pillow, shoved it in her mouth and bit down on it screaming.
"Okay, okay, Dash, stop, my clit is getting too sensitive...." Harmony between panting hard giggled.
Sweat dripped off of Dash's brow as she tilted her hips, lifting her dripping pussy up and off her lover's. "Yeah, mine too." The two ponies looked at each other, panting madly and smiling. Finally they both collapsed back and let their breathing slow.
After a little while they disentangled and Harshwinny turned around and went down for a closer look between Rainbow's legs.
"Hmm, let me see my newest possession."
Dash smiled and rolled her eyes. Then she spread her legs wider to give her love a better look. Harshwinny lay on her side, her head resting on the inside of her lovers thigh against the soft stocking. She bought her face right up to Dash's slit and extended her tongue.
"Oh no babe, no more for now, I am so done! "
"Don't worry, just relax, besides it's my pussy now." Harshwhinny pushed her tongue between Dash's quivering lips and licked around the inside, pushing her tongue slowly and gently in and out, feeling the inside of Rainbow's pussy.
"Oh fuck, that is so nice. It's like so relaxing and feels so sweet..."
The blonde pony stopped for a moment
"Ms Dash?"
"Yes Ms. Harshwhinny?"
"You cannot imagine how many orgasms I have had, fantasying about doing just this,"
"Really?"
"I'd think about doing all this crazy stuff with you but this is what always got me over the top. Carefully, gently, feeling around and slowly licking your cunt after you came. It is better than my fantasies."
"It feel incredible, I can't believe it."
"There was one day during the Equestrian Games where you were practicing for the relay, You flew past my booth and you were upside down, I don't think you knew I was there, the place was more or less empty except for the field crew dressing the field. I was alone in the booth with the lights off. I swear I saw your pussy. Can that be possible?"
"Oh shit! Really? Yeah, it could be. When I fly at high speed I have to hold my legs together as tightly as possible to reduce drag. When I'm done I'm really hot and wet. I usually turn on my back to hide it, and then open my legs wide enough to spread everything open and let the air flow over it" Dash suddenly looked panic stricken. Did anyone else see?"
"No-don't worry sweetheart, just me."
"All the female Pegusi do it, except maybe Fluttershy. We just kinda don't talk about it. It's one of those things. Soooo what were you doing there?"
"Oh, just watching you and masturbating." Harmony said nonchalantly
"Part of your Equestria games duties, I suppose?"
"Of course. Do you know I masturbated 5 times that day in there. I'd been watching you and I had to relive the stress. I planned to just do it once and I did, but then you flew by and flashed me. My mind caught it and I held it there. After my second orgasm I saw I was late for a meeting, so you'd think I would have stopped, but I was - am - just too hot for you and had to have more. Do you have any idea how hard it is to masturbate and hold a pair of binoculars up to your eyes?"
"I hope it was worth it." Rainbow said laughing.
"Let's just say it was a very interesting meeting.
"I'll bet"
"Harmony?
"Yes Rainbow?"
"When did you first time you had, you know, feelings for me?"
"Well the first time I saw you in the Crystal Empire, I thought you were pretty hot, but it was your passion for the games and for life that touched my heart. But the moment I lost my heart? You had just flown into the classroom in Ponyville.I remember looking at you with such longing and sadness. My marriage was in shambles and you were so joyful and full of life. I hoped none of the fillies or colts saw me, but I thought my heart would break at that moment.
"...then Iris kicked in and kicked ass." Harmony chuckled..
"But with professionalism!" the both echoed and laughed
From between Dash's legs, Harmony looked up and the two pones smiled at each other for a few moments. Dash glanced down at her pussy, a cute frown on her face and then up and into Harmony's blue eyes..
Harmony smiled "Don't worry sweetheart, I'm on it..."
Harshwhinny went back to caressing Rainbow's pussy with her tongue.
"Ms. Harshwhinny"
"Hmmmm? Yes Ms Dash?" Hamony sat up and wiped the cum off her muzzle.
Rainbow's face got somewhat serious.
"I-I think I'm falling in love with you."
"Just because of how I like to lick your cunt after you cum?"
"No. I'm serious. I - I mean I've had sex before - you have to swear you'll never tell anypony."
"Of course sweetie"
"...yeah, well I kinda thought I loved her, but she just wanted, you know have sex. It was like after she went down on me out, and I - I went - you swear?
"Come on, of course"
"Well after I did her, it was like she checked it off some imaginary list. I didn't really pay attention... I - I..."
"Rainbow Dash. You saved my life, you fulfilled my greatest fantasies EVER and now you tell me you think you're in love with me. I would die before I would betray you."
"I know, it's just - Well she wanted to do all this kinky stuff, so I went along. Will you stop looking at me that way? Maybe we can try it. Some of it... One of the things was, well, they had these bottles at the academy- shit" Dash looked up and closed her eyes in embarrassment.
"Dash - either you trust me or you don't"
"I do, it's just kind of hard to talk about. It was one of the other cadets. Lightning Dust. We got close and, you know, started to fool around together. We had beaten all the other cadets with the training, so we headed to the showers. She started talking about all her sexual experiences. I gotta admit, it got me kinda hot. So before I knew it, she's like telling me how real mares can cum from fucking, not from just rubbing their clits. I was all "oh yeah, I know, do it all the time." So she says, "what do you use?" I freaked, but before I knew it, she pulls these bottles out from under her towel in her locker. She wanted to watch me masturbate, to see how I did it. I said I would but she had to first. We sat on a bench in the shower. She did, but I think she had done it before, because she came pretty fast, and I know she came because she squirted a ton of cum. When I did it I was really excited. she held her cunt open and played with herself so I could watch, but I guess my pussy's just not built that way because no matter how fast I fucked myself with that bottle, I couldn't cum. I hurt for days afterward and she whined that I couldn't hack it. Next think I know I found her with another mare. They were in one of the sheds making out. Then this whole other thing happened, with my friends, but I was cool. I acted as if nothing, you know, had happened between us, but, that everything was cool between us, but I was dying inside. I guess I'm just scared."
"Rainbow, I think we need to talk. The first thing I wanted to do when I woke up before, was to die. I wanted you gone and I wanted me gone. I don't know how you did it, but you got me straightened out. I feel great. I can face the world again, and I will never be able to thank you enough."
"Yeah, well," Dash looked confused. "Uhhh...huh?"
"I'm okay now. We can go back to our lives. You let me live my wildest fantasies - having sex with you, and you shared intimate things with me and you think you might have fallen in love with me. Don't worry, that will pass."
"What?" Tears welled in the lavender eyes. "But I thought... I mean..."
"You thought... oh, don't look so sad. I needed a jolt of youth; you got a few nights on the town and a lot of drama. Why are you crying? It's really no big. Hey, hey, you're really upset. Did you think I was really in love with you? I thought you knew we were just playing.. Oh no really? I am so sorry. Look, you're young and you still need to learn a lot."
"Rainbow Dash, if I really loved you I would go into the bathroom over here, no wait there in the bed and try to stop crying. As I said I would come in here and run the tap till the water was nice and warm. Then I would wet two washcloths, one with soap, one without thenI would grab a towel. I'd come back you, please stop sweetie. Now I would sit down here on the floor next to the bed and I would gently lift this leg and move it to the side, no relax, I would move it to the side and gently wipe your pussy with the warm soapy water, there, does that feel nice? You're so cute when you nod, You look like a sweet little filly. Anyway if I were seriously in love with you, then I would take this clean wet warm washcloth and carefully clean out all the soap, like this. See? Then I would take this big fluffy towel and pat you dry, like this. If I had never met anypony that I loved more than you, I would reach up like this and gently roll down your stocking, see? Like this. Then, if I felt as though my heart were about to burst from the joy I get from just being with you, I would roll the other stocking down like this. Slowly and gently. Oh there is quite a bit of cum on these - I'll have them washed. If I felt my love for you was the single most profound thing I'd ever known I would lean forward and kiss your pussy and sweet clit like this - oh, sorry , still a little sensitive I see. Oh babe, look at that smile and those tears. Rainbow Dash, if you were my heart and nothing could ever hurt me so long as I knew you loved me, then I would take your hoof in mine and help you out of bed, here careful of the chair, and lead you around to the other side, where the wet cum stains were not and oh - a little laugh. And I would pull the bedspread back and help my love into bed like this, and I would kiss her and probably get -whew- a shiver - kinda like that. That's if I loved you. Then finally, if I would gladly die for you, my love, I would come around the other side, over here, lay the big towel over the wet spot, climb into bed with you, oh sweetie, you're crying again, and I would take you in my arms like this. Then I would kiss away as many of the tears as I could, like this. And - stop giggling, I'm trying to teach you something! Finally I would kiss your lips like this... Then snuggle up to you like this and ready for sleep, looking forward to some late light room service at about midnight with some hot sex afterward, and wow that's a fast nod, I never knew anypony that could move their body as fast as you, I would take your head and rest it on my chest and let out the most contented sigh any pony has ever had... just - like - thisssss-.
See you at midnight my love..." |
Vol2:Tomorrow Never Knows - Don't Pass Me By | Crying, Waiting, Hoping | Chapter 5
Crying, Waiting, Hoping
Rainbow Dash lay curled up on her right side in the large circular bed, her face expressionless. Her view of the city, across the huge penthouse suite, was through a window that took up an entire wall. On this moonless midnight, it provided a panoramic view of the island of Manehattan, an island of buildings and windows. Those windows, like little stars, filled the city and lit up the skyline like a spray of a million diamonds.
The walls and the floor of the enormous oval room were highly polished white marble. The room was dark, lit only by a single neon tube that was cut into the bottom of the wall around its perimeter. It had been designed so as to eliminate reflections in the window at night and provide a spectacular showcase of the city below.
The room contained very few pieces of furniture- the large round bed which sat at the narrow end of the oval, a large white sectional sofa, and a vanity with a chair. Next to the vanity stood a full-length mirror. Thick white rugs were placed around the room.
To the left of the bed, the wall curved gently around. In that wall were two entrances - one to the lobby and the other to an enormous bathroom, also white marble.
Opposite the bed was an ornately carved mantle that surrounded a gas fed fireplace. The mantle was carved out of the same marble as the walls and floor, but its detail and opulence stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the room.
To the right side of the bed was the massive window. The window itself was made up of glass panes 6 feet wide that went floor to ceiling. Each pane was angled slightly to the ones on either side of it thus completing the oval.
Though she faced that amazing window with Manehattan spread out below, the young pegasus saw none of it.
"I can't believe I did all that stuff..." Her voice was quiet. "I - I mean if any of my friends knew out about me wearing those stockings..." she thought about it for a moment and a flash of fear made her eyes widen for a second, She rolled over on her back. "I don't even want to think about it." She turned her head to the left where she could see the vanity. "It's not exactly my thing, you know?" She looked into the worried eyes of blue pegasi she saw in the full-length mirror.
"...at least it wasn't," she said quietly.
Then she looked away, suddenly remembering the images that she'd seen in that mirror hours earlier, of two lovers practically devouring each other in the throes of passion.
Harmony turned the corner from the bathroom entrance and looked at Rainbow, then let her gaze drop. She pawed the floor lightly. "I thought we were celebrating you saving my life, and falling in love." She spoke quietly, trying to hide the pain. Suddenly she looked up.
"But maybe you do that sort of thing all the time, after all you are the amazingly awesome Rainbow Dash!" The words came out a little angrier than she'd intended.
Rainbow Dash said nothing, she just turned her head back toward the window.
"I'm sorry Rainbow, I didn't mean that. I-I know it got a little crazy, believe me that was not a typical love making session for me either. I've never had sex with a mare- well back in finishing school, but as an adult, about as wild as I got was once when I gave my husband a hoof job on the midnight train out of Canterlot after one too many Margaritas. We thought that was wild crazy sex.
Dash remained silent, she just rolled onto her right side, away from Harmony.
The blonde pony walked around to the right side of the bed as if to get a better look of the city. She turned to speak but suddenly saw the tears in her young love's eyes. In a moment she was at her side, standing at the edge of the bed.
"What's wrong Rainbow?" She reached over and took the young pegasi's hoof in hers. "Did I do something wrong? If this is moving a little too fast for you, we can slow it down. I-I, the, last thing I want is for you to be upset. All those things I said earlier - before the nap, I meant every word, but maybe you need more time to see how you feel about me"
Dash's ears folded back farther and she looked down, avoiding looking into Harmony's eyes. Struggling to keep from crying, the young pegasui finally spoke, her voice strained from the effort of not letting her emotions overwhelm her. She blinked and a tear rolled from her eye onto the pillow.
"I, I don't know. I was so excited and horny and I - I just wanted you so badly..."
Harmony reached under Dash's chin to lift it but the cyan pony would not look her in the eye. and turned her head to the side, burying it deeper into the pillow. She saw how hard Rainbow was fighting to keep from letting go, could see her chin trembling. Harmony looked around the room, unsure of what to do or say. She went around to the other side of the bed, climbed in and snuggled behind her lover. Dashie didn't object, allowing Harmony to spoon with her but wouldn't turn look at her. Harshwhinny leaned forward, brushing her lover's ear and giving it a playful nibble, but got no reaction. She pulled the young pony closer to her and smelled her scent. She nuzzled her gently.
"I can't tell you how incredibly happy you've made me, but it means nothing unless you're happy too. That is more important to me than anything."
Still nothing
"Do you love me?"
Dash nodded without hesitation."Definitely,"
Harmony let out a sigh of relief. "Dashie? You mentioned something about how masturbation was forbidden at your house, why was that?" Harshwhinny had no idea why she'd asked that but something in her sensed it was important. It held a key.
*Sniff* "It just was, that's all."
"So was there a big sign up in the front hall? Something subtle like "You're welcome to come and visit, but if you're alone, please don't visit and cum - no masturbation in this house.'? Or did your parents inform visitors 'Hi glad you could come. Speaking of cumming, please don't masturbate here. Thanks...'? And what constituted masturbation? Did you actually have to cum for it to be considered masturbation? I believe there are rules regardi-"
"I'm glad you find it so funny."
"Come on Rainbow - I felt you shaking with laugh-"
Dash pulled away and turned and rolled onto her left side, facing Harmony. Her eyes were red and puffy and tears were streaming down her face.
"I wasn't laughing."
"Oh Rainbow, oh love, I am so sorry." She took the cyan pony in her arms and Dashie finally let go, her cry starting as a high pitched squeal and then breaking down into wracking sobs as she buried her face in Harmony's blonde mane. Harmony just held her, stroking her back and whispering "It's alright honey, it's alright."
After awhile Dash calmed down
"Rainbow, do you trust me?"
Rainbow, her face still pressed into Harmony's coat, nodded.
"We need to talk about this - about what happened when you were younger. I think I might have an idea, but you have to trust me and you have to be honest with me."
Rainbow pulled away from Harmony and looked up into the blue eyes with a mixture of such love and pain that Harmony, found it difficult to speak. She pulled Dash to her and the two stayed like that.
"Did your parents catch you?" Harmony asked..
Dash shook her head.
Hang on a minute, okay?" Harmony went to the bathroom and came back with a cold washcloth which she folded and placed across Dash's eyes as she lay back on the soft pillows.
"Rainbow - so much of what you talked about and we shared before involved masturbation, and you 'giving me your pussy'. I think there is something you want to tell me but you're too afraid to. I have an idea what it is, or might be. First I need to ask you - did anypony ever molest you?"
"I would have killed them."
"Well was there one particular episode that occurred?"
Dash's ears folded flat and she looked down.
"Yeah." she finally said.
"Can you tell me about it?"
"No."
"I thought you trusted me."
"It was a memory I buried. I thought it was dead. Not anymore. No sireee."
"Dash, I think I can help you. At least I hope I can."
"Yeah, and if you can't, it'll give you something to think about next time you masturbate - so it's not all that bad, right?"
"Dash, I'm going to forget you said that, because I can see how much pain you're in, and because I love you. and I am trying to help. Now tell me what happened. You and I can't go any farther into our relationship until we get past this."
"Fine. But when I'm done telling you, just remember I warned you. Think about it as you're walking out the door to go back to your room, which you will do by the time I'm done..." Dash's voice started to break again "...and I wouldn't blame you. I - I'm a sicko..." She barely squeaked out the last words before turning on her side and crunching up as she shook with sobs. Her voice was high and strained, her cries came out as heartfelt and pained as anything Harmony Harshwhinny had ever heard. She fought not to cry herself.
"Oh sweetie" Harmony reached out and pulled her young lover close, wrapping her arms around the little Pegasi.
Is it the right time? Should I bring it up now? We're going to have to have this talk sooner or later...
"Rainbow, you think that you did something really sick and perverted don't you? Something that a normal filly just wouldn't do because it's so disgusting and weird, right?"
Dash, her eyes red and puffy, her nose running, looked over at the blonde pony in utter disbelief. She nodded slowly.
Harmony smiled. "Good."
Rainbow's jaw dropped and a flash of anger crossed her face.
"No, no, it's nothing like that. I just may have something wonderful to tell you, but I need you to be completely honest with me, okay?"
Dash nodded again.
"You are just the most damned adorable thing that was ever created when you nod like that."
The young pony blushed and smiled.
"Here, now blow your nose, then lie back and put this cold washcloth over your eyes and tell me everything that happened."
"O-okay..." *sniff* "...Well it kinda began when my Uncle Comet Flash was visiting-"
"Woah, WHAT?!! THE Comet Flash?!! Former Captain of The Wonderbolts?! He's your uncle?!!"
"Not exactly. He's a college bud of my Dad's."
"Yeah, he's also a major hunk. Before you Dash, he was my fantasy prince of orgasms."
"Yeah, well in person he's about ten times as hot. And sweet, And charming."
"Oh please don't tell me he did anything to you..."
"No, he was a perfect gentlecolt."
Sweet fucking Celestia!! Could it be? I...it's just... oh my freaking...
"Dash, I'm going to need to ask you some questions that may seem kinda weird, but they are more important than you can imagine and you MUST be completely honest with me. OK?"
"Yeah, sure. Okay."
"How old were you?"
"I dunno, I think I was around 13."
"I assume you'd already had your first estrous cycle?"
"Yeah, I'd been having my period for about a year and a half."
"Do you remember where you were in your cycle?"
"Oh yeah - I was dead center. Right in the middle of it."
"Okay, go on. Do you want a fresh cold washcloth for your eyes?"
"Oh yeah..." Dash removed the old washcloth and went to hand it to Harmony, but as the blonde pony went to take it from her, Dash didn't let go. She looked up into Harmony's blue eyes. Her own eyes were still somewhat red but a lot of the puffiness was gone. "I really do love you."
The look on the face of her lover touched Harmony deeply. She smiled and felt the tears stinging her eyes. "I love you too my little Rainbow."
Laying back, a fresh cool cloth across her eyes, Dash continued. "Anyway, we were all out flying - me, my Mom and Dad and Uncle Comet. It was a friggin hot day, I remember, and when we got back to our house, we all sat around cooling off. I noticed Uncle Comet staring at me when he thought nopony was looking. It wasn't exactly a friendly look, and it kinda creeped me out, but it also made me feel a little funny and maybe even bit a little bit horny,"
"I can just imagine. So then what happened?"
"Well we all went inside. He went into the guest room and I went to my room. Our rooms were joined by a bathroom in between them. I heard him go in and the shower start up. He was in there for awhile. I remember because I had to pee badly. I heard the shower stop and then I heard the bathroom door to his room close so I knew he was out of there. I opened my door and the steam hit me. There was a strong scent in there - it was kinda familiar and it made me feel really weird, but in a good way. So anyway I sat there and did my thing, you know. But when I was done, I didn't get up. I sat there a little while, it felt good, just smelling that scent. When I went to wipe, it felt amazing. Up to that point I'd fumbled around down there a few times. Once I was at a friends house and her older brother had these dirty pictures. We looked at them and laughed but I think we were both getting turned on. My wings started to get a little stiff and I flew home. When I got there I started to rub myself, you know? I got all excited but I didn't know what I was doing so that was it. This time I knew alot more and I knew that feeling. I looked down and saw I was wet."
Harshwinny's face was intent, focused. She swallowed hard. "Go on."
Dash took the wash cloth from her eyes and looked at Harmony. She scowled when she saw the excitement on her face. "Are you getting off on this?" she asked, obviously annoyed.
"I sure am, but not in the way you think. I'll explain in a minute. Go on."
"Yeahhhh,,,, okay, well... I uh...are you sure? This is really hard for me."
"Please Rainbow, you have to trust me. What happened next.?"
Dash put the washcloth back over her eyes. She didn't say anything for awhile and Harmony just let her be. She knew the young pegasi working up the courage to tell her. Finally Dash drew in a shaky breath, rolled over on her side and curled up again. It broke Harmony's heart to see how her love was struggling to keep from crying.
"S-so anyway, I uh- I lay down on the bed. I guess I was like super horny. I couldn't stop picturing his face and his body and I started thinking about his- his cock. I'd seen it when we were flying. I guess maybe I'd been kind of looking for it. Before I knew it I was rubbing myself, you know, between my legs..." Dash began to cry now. "I just couldn't stop..."
"It's okay it's okay, take your time. I know this is hard."
As she spoke Dash's voice became high and pinched, she fought once again to stem her emotions.
"I guess I was crazy because I took my favorite stuffed toy, it was a Wonderbolt, and I - I..." but the pain of unearthing this secret that she'd held for so long was too great to bare and the little pegasui started sobbing.
"You rubbed yourself with it. You pressed the toy Wonderbolt between your legs and masturbated with it - is that right?"
Dash was sobbing again and could only nod.
"Oh Dashie, my little Dashie, that is wonderful, that is great. You masturbated by humping your little stuffed Wonderbolt"
Dash cried harder and looked at Harshwinny with fear, pulling away from her.
"I'm sorry, it's not what you think, just trust me. In fact, I'm going to tell you what happened next, ok?"
If Dash tried, she could not have looked more upset or confused.
"You came, right? You had a strong orgasm but inside it hurt, in your vagina - there was cramping, is that right?"
Dash blinked at her, dumbfounded. She nodded
"You're toy was soaked, you produced quite a bit of cum - it was very thick - and you had tried to press your toy pretty far in, is that right?"
Dash nodded, as if in a trance, unable to believe what she was hearing.
"But you needed more - you were desperate. What did you find? Wait - you tried to push your hoof in but you couldn't, no, don't answer, that look on your face says everything, So what did you find? Some kind of phallus. Hmmmm... A hairbrush? A hairbrush handle?"
Dash couldn't look at her.
"Dashieeee - you fucked a haribrush handle?! Do you know I have a hairbrush that has spent more time in my twat than it has in my hair? If you're a good little pony I'll let you try it out later."
At hearing the word twat, Dash's body convulsed slightly as she laughed, but the look on her face was one of utter amazement. She could barely nod, but she managed to. Then she swallowed. Hard.
"After you inserted it you didn't feel right lying on your back, so you stood, thrusting your haunches in the air, as though you were ready to be mounted..."
Dash could no longer move, only stare, slack-jawed, her eyes red and her nose running.
"And you fucked that handle - It was big, it had to be - but you didn't thrust it into you, you held it pressed to a pillow to keep it steady and you humped it, your hips thrust on top of it, and it felt amazing..."
Dash had stopped crying and sniffed. She wiped her nose with the washcloth and smiled broadly. "How did you know?? Yeah, it was friggin' amazing. But..."
"And as you fucked it..."
"Yeah??, yeah??!!!" Dash was smiling, impatient to hear more, so happy to not only be getting some hints that she wasn't the perverted monster she feared but that maybe she could start admitting to herself how much she had loved it.
"How hard did you have to grip it to keep your pussy from pulling it our of your hoof? Damn hard I'll bet."
Dash nodded excitedly.
"You had to push it up deep inside you though, right? You knew that you needed something way in there. I'll bet the entire time you wanted to fuck that stallion in the next room. You got feverish as your hips practically took over, snapping in spasms, and then you finally came?"
"Ohh did I ever!" She blew her nose. "But h-how did you know?" She laughed, and tears of joy and relief streamed down the cyan cheeks, soaking her muzzle. "I-I came and my cunt just grabbed that bad boy and kept pulling on it, I thought it was going to pull it all the way in! But I didn't care, it felt so good and I kept cumming. Thinking about, you know.. And then finally it built to this massive climax and it was like I lost my mind. I couldn't see anything, or hear anything. It was all just the most amazing thing ever. I was all pussy, all clit, that was all I could feel, it's all I was. And my pussy must have shot out all my cum, because my bedspread was soaked.with it."
"Your body was working to expunge your vagina of unwanted semen after a failed coupling"
"Sponge a what now?"
"I'll explain later. I'll bet you were sore though, right?"
:"Y-yes, I hurt, but I was so exhausted, my legs wouldn't stop trembling. After the whole thing I collapsed. I mean at first I just went into a sitting position. I sat there sweating, panting and staring down at myself. My hips kept spasming, it just wouldn't stop, it just kept squeezing out more and more cum.and I jerked in these spasms right along with it They felt really good, like little orgasms. So I'm normal?! I'm not a perverted sicko? A bad sick disgusting pony like my aunt said?"
"WHAT?!! Some fucking old hag said that to you? Oh my Dashie, I want to hear about that later, but for now, let me set you straight. You are anything but normal. And in the best way. But first let me open this new bottle of champagne and we'll toast to you, my little E.P.!"
"E.P.?"
"First we toast, then I talk."
After they toasted and Dash had cleaned herself up with Harmony's help, Harmony sat up with pillows piled high behind her and spread her legs. Dash snuggled in front of her and sat between them, leaning back against the blonde chest. Harmony nibbled her cyan ear.
"Mmmm, I totally love you too."
"You'd better! Are you ready?"
Dash nodded vigorously.
"So...Have you ever wondered how I got involved in athletic events? No of course you haven't..." She laughed, sipping a little more champagne. "When I left finishing school, I went to work for my friend's father. He ran a lab that had been, and still is, doing experiments in genetic research. It was my primary area of study, and what I hoped to do so you can imagine how excited I was. Their research was funded by a private grant and had been going on for over 100 years. It was specifically about Pegas i."
"About those EP's you're talking about. So what does it mean that I'm one of them?"
"You are part of a rare and very special bloodline..."
"An E.P.?"
"An Elite Pegasui"
"A what?"
"An Elite Pegasui. Your bloodline counts among some of the noblest, quickest, most powerful, bravest.. You also confirmed what we'd had a 98% certainty of - Comet Flash is one too. And before you jump to any conclusions, he is not your secret father. Your hormones would prevent you from being attracted to each other."
"Ahhh, well that's good to know. What about cooler - are we 20% cooler?" Dash laughed and hiccuped.
"More like 200%, but for you- 220%" They both laughed.
"I-I still don't get it. What does it mean?"
"The work, as I mentioned, the research, has been going on for over 100 years. What we've discovered is that the EP's, have a number of traits that are not only... ok, well lets start with muscles. Your muscles, for their weight, can lift between 38 and 40% more weight than other Pegasui. Your fast-twitch muscles are not only lightning fast, but they recover from depletion in half the time we typically see. Tendon strength is off the chart - it enables you to get those amazing bursts of speed, and allows you to do things like Sonic Rainbooms. Your bones are not only 23-28% lighter than normal Pegasui, but at least 38-40% stronger without loosing their flexibility..."
Dash's eyes and mouth remained in a continual state of gape.
"In terms of character, you are incredibly brave. I heard about you at Rainbow Falls, rescuing Soarin. I saw your Sonic Rainboom during the young fliers competition when you saved the life of your friend Rarity. I read the report on your actions at the Wonderbolts Academy when that little bitch Lightning Dust thought she was smart and almost killed your friends, and would have had you not stepped in to save them. If anypony needs saving, they could do a lot worse than having you around. I'm surprised you aren't a raging egomaniac."
"Well I would be if it weren't for the best friends any pony could ever ask for. I'll have to tell you about Mare-Do-Well sometime."
"Okay. Is she hot?"
"She is the hottest fucking pony ever born, and the finest and I love her more than I love my life."
"Ahhh, that Mare-Do-Well. Anyway, in addition, your eyes are sharper, your hearing is clearer, you senses are all heightened. And, I hate to tell you this, after what you said at dinner, but you are an egghead."
Horror filled the young mare's eyes. "Noooooooo!"
"Don't worry, you hide it VERY well."
Dash cut her scream. "Aren't you the funny one... Bitch." she laughed.
"Ohhh - Next time - hit me when you say that..." They both laughed. "Anyway, there are a number of other points that distinguish you from your standard Pegasui, but these are the main ones."
"So I'm just like the Wonderbolts." Dash smiled with pride.
"No."
Dash deflated.
"Not just like, better."
"BETTER??!! How?"
"None of them are EP's."
"How do you know?" Rainbow had turned around. looking over her left shoulder into the eyes of her love. Her expression was of genuine interest and concern.
Harmony leaned forward and very tenderly kissed Rainbow's lips, holding the kiss for quite awhile. In the silence of the room the sound of the Pegasi's moan could be heard clearly. Harmony pulled back from the kiss but only an inch or so. She looked deep into the violet eyes.
"Many reasons I'll tell you about but for now my little Rainbow, based on all our research, you should know there have only been approximately 668 of them in the last 100 years. That number is now 669... and none of them fit the profile."
Rainbow leaned quickly forward and kissed Harmony deeply and passionately. When they separated Dash's eyes were bright and excited. Harmony smiled at her.
"You are the gold standard.
"REALLY??!!!"
Harmony nuzzled Dash's neck. "Yes my love, really. Here's how it works- Now this is all theory by the way, but it is backed up by hundreds of volumes of research that has been compiled from all over the world for the last 100 years.. My team was working on this when our funding was pulled - it went to a defense budget - something about rumors of a possible invasion of Canterlot. They ultimately turned out to be true, as you well know, but not for another few years after they took our grant."
"Back to the good stuff - Genetically it is advantageous for your breed, and most breeds, for that matter, to be faster, stronger and more agile in order to escape predators. However the unique nature of the pegasi hormonal system - the fight or flight response, developed quickly and in an odd way. The faster that you were able to evolve, the more successful you were at procreating."
"Pro key who now?"
"Having babies, little ones, foals."
"Ohhhh."
"Our work showed that there were certain vanguard ponies - pegasui- who, in response to the necessity of quick evolution, developed certain, what we called pro-creative traits. The area of study is called Equigenetics. It has to do with genetic modifications that take place within a single lifetime. You look confused.
Yeahhhhh, but go on anyway.
"These traits had not to do with adapting ways to escape threats or defend the pony, the inner workings of the body had already determined that. - the hormonal system of pegsai are just incredible, it had to do with what, for lack of a better term, was an inherent ability at knowing when a new trait was successful... Dash? Do you understand this?"
Dash smiled and nodded. "Nope Absolutely not, Not a word of it."
"All it really means is that Elite Pegusi had bodies that were, well, smart. They knew when a physical change was helpful and adopted it right away. Future generations would carry on that trait. Like amazing speed and very light but incredibly strong bones. Like those incredible fast twitch muscles and insanely strong tendons and ligaments" Harmony leaned forward and looked at Rainbow, she spoke softly "like the most incredibly beautiful violet eyes that I have ever beheld..."
Dash smiled and kissed her."But what about all that stuff - my crazy sex thing?"
"Oh good, the sex thing. Well as far as you're concerned it's just a case of your being a fucked up perverted sicko dirty little demented nasty filthy pathetic slut bitch cunt whore."
"That just happens to be an Elite Pegasi." Dashie said, lifting a hoof to examine it - rotating it blithely.
Harmony laughed. "You got the idea. Let's say you have a male and female Elite Peguasi. Nature really wants them to produce offspring together, but there are a few critical conditions that need to be met, as I'll explain. So how does nature ensure they get together? Well it begins when the female has started her cycles. During her cycle her sweat pores produce a powerful hormone that is geared specifically toward male Elite Pegusai. The scent of it, well, let's say the Elite Male Pegasui will find it impossible to resist. I cannot describe to you how powerful that scent is, Our research shows cases of blind pursuit by the male EMP's to get to an FEP and mate. It's frightening."
"Wait, oh wow, so you mean..."
"Yes, Your Uncle Comet picked up your scent after you flew. That's why he kept looking at you. Undoubtedly he was in that shower, insanely relieving the desire and ache he felt for you. He wanted you more than you can imagine and rather than give in, he did the gentlecoltly thing and masturbated, but I'll guarantee you, he was whimpering your name in that shower."
Dash's eyes lit up and her face went into a big horny grin. "Wowwwww"
"Dash?"
Dash had started to giggle at the implications. "Uh, yeah?" Dash smiled at her with a vastly superior smirk then laughed..
Harshwhinny gaped at her in humor and swatted the pegasi's firm thigh then started laughing."FUCK YOU YOU LITTLE FUCKING CUNT!! Stop laughing!"
But Dashie couldn't. The news and relief were almost too much. She rolled on her back with her hooves in the air and laughed.
"Do you have any idea how many mares have cum to that gorgeous face of his? That body? Those eyes? How many dreamed of just a kiss? Just a letter? Or a lock of fur from his mane? He has spawned hundred's of thousands of mares orgasms and probably a few colts as well, and he spends a whole night jerking off... TO YOU!!!"
"Sounds like the two of you might have something in common."
Harmony burst out laughing. "You're right about the last thing, but I don't think anypony has ever had an orgasm while thinking about Lovingcup Harshwhinny."
"They will when they find out you're sleeping with me." Dash was apoplectic with laughter. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, and Harshwhinny pounced on her pinning her to the bed.
"I know I did." Harmony said as she leaned down and kissed her. Dash grabbed her, returning the kiss with passion. The two came up for air and smiled at each other.
"Harmony?"
"Yeah?" The blonde pony feigned annoyance.
"You know when I masturbated for you, I went from staring at those blue eyes of yours to staring at the bedspread imagining what was beneath it. Who does that put at the top of the hottie list? I believe it's a certain blonde maned blue eyed earth pony."
Harmony leaned down and gnawed lightly on her ear. "Grrr -I so love you."
Dash giggled. "But why the shower? Why not in his room?"
"The truth? It was a biological imperative that he fertilize you. In order to do that his body wanted to maximize the amount of..."
"He was shooting gobs and gobs of semen all over the place in there, is that it?"
Lovingcup Harshwhinny confirmed "That is correct Ms Dash. You have no idea how much. He would have made an incredible mess of his bed. You see his body was determined to impregnate you. You're young and healthy and that would have proved practically insatiable to his desires. His testes would have continue to produce sperm at a fantastic rate until the appropriate hormonal signal was sent by you that the work had been successfully accomplished - that you had been impregnated. I'll get to that in a minute. I just thought you'd like to know that Comet Rush fantasized about you."
"Wow. Thank you Ms Harshwhinny. Oh wow."
"Pretty wild right?"
"Yeah - he oh wow - he stayed overnight and I kept hearing the shower going, That poor guy.:
"I can't imagine his anguish. He thought he'd fallen passionately in love with his best friends daughter. Have you seen him since?"
Dash hung her head. "Never again. He's gone on vacations with my parents, but has never come to the house. He was my favorite Uncle too. I secretly wondered if he somehow found out. I'm starting to think about how much I miss him. He and I were really close. We'd go flying all the time together. He taught me a lot about how to do stunts without killing myself. He used to show up out of the blue and just grab me and take off..." Dash looked at Harmony and felt tears filling her eyes. "One time he just took me fishing. It was so odd but it was so excellent. He just came by with poles and stuff and told me that that's what Uncles and nieces do. They go fishing." Tears began to roll down her face. "I forgot all about that until now. It was a perfect day- no clouds, hot, but not too hot. He bought lunch with him - my favorite - Apple jelly with peanut butter. We flew really slow and just talked, I had been in trouble with my Dad for getting in a fight at school with this kid from Phillydelphia."
"Equestria games hosting location?"
Dash nodded. "My parents had grounded me but Uncle Comet could get me out of any punishment like a steed in shining armor..." Dash looked at Harmony and started to cry. "I didn't realize how much I missed him until now. We were really close. That day we sat on the riverbank and fished and ate and talked and swam. He asked me about school, which I hated and he didn't try to tell me how important it was, like every other adult."
"He sounds like he deserves all the love that his fans have for him. He's very private though."
"He used to let me curse. Not the really bad words but like 'oh hay' and 'horseapples' - stuff like that. I suddenly miss him so much. But now I guess I won't ever be able to..."
"Dash - you know what we're going to do tomorrow?"
*Sniff* Dash smiled "Well I've got a pretty good idea..."
"Maybe even before that-. We're going to my lab - it's uptown. I haven't been there in a long time - it's been closed for years. I have multiple copies of the final data we had prepared to submit for peer review. I think we need to send a copy to your uncle. I have no idea how to contact him, but I know who his sports agent is. After he's had a chance to digest it and what it means about himself and you, and realize that he's not in love with you but that he loves you, maybe you could see if you could write him a letter. Maybe you two could begin a correspondence and one day get together."
"Ya think so?" Dash's face filled with joy and she wiped her eyes. "Oh Celestia, I would so love to hook up with him - not hook up you know - just hang out."
"I got you- I just can't get over him. You are so adorable and he is so studly - it must have taken an incredible amount of will power for him to not just from break down your door and fuck you like a mad stallion. You had masturbated and your scent was all over the house. He must have been in agony the next day, both in his heart and between his legs. In our research, you cannot believe how much semen these elite pegasai stallions ejaculate when having sex with an elite pegusai female. It's just amazing. It's with every stroke they just keep shooting it out. They told us that they ached for days afterward, Their cocks were sore and they could barely touch them." She saw Dash looking away, deep in thought.. "Dash? You have a question"
"What?"
"Go on Dash - ask."
Rainbow Dash looked down at the bedspread. "So in the end, I guess I just got really horny and went crazy with the stuff in my room. I guess I feel a little better." She mumbled.
"Ho no no no."
Dash turned around with a hopeful smile.
"There's more?" Her eyes reminded Harshwhinny of a puppy at the pound that looked at you with such worry and hope that you would take it home. She smiled as she felt the tears start to sting her eyes.
"Dash, you knew he was a Wonderbolt, that is how you knew him - in your mind he was your Uncle but he was also a Wonderbolt."
"Yeah, he gave me an autographed picture of himself when I was about 9, and a scarf he'd worn."
"And...?"
"And Comet! My stuffed Wonderbolt!"
"When you smelled his scent in the bathroom, there was a mix of his normal body musk mixed in - some of it you recognized from his scarf. You -what we call it is 'imprinted' -his image with the scent. That was why you grabbed the toy Wonderbolt. Your subconscious mind associated his scent with that toy and you were trying to get it inside you or part of it anyway, so that it would make you pregnant. That is how powerful this is. Can you begin to understand what he was going through?"
"Are you KIDDING?"
"How do you think I knew that you'd rubbed it against yourself, that you'd tried to have sex with it? It fit the profile perfectly!"
Dash rolled on her back, kicking her rear legs in the air and screaming "YES YES YES!! I'm not a sicko pervert! I'm an ELITE PEGASUI!!!" She jumped and hovered over the bed and zoomed around the room with perfect precision. Harmony watched in amazement. She couldn't remember ever being so happy.
Dash landed in front of her. "Okay, so tell me about that wonderful frigging hairbrush. It fits the profile right??"
Harmony bit her lip, looked away and then down at the floor.
"RIGHT??!!!! I mean you knew all that stuff about it, like how I fucked that bad boy like a crazy cunnn..." Dash's voice trailed off. Her face fell. "Harmony?" Her voice was practically a whisper.
Harmony slowly raised her head and looked back into the violet eyes.
Then she smiled.
"It is the profile Rainbow Dash. It is the exact profile. You are an Elite Pegasui. One of the finest I've ever seen."
All the years of shame, all the years of self hatred and disgust that had been buried deep in the heart of the little blue pony came bursting out. Dash began to cry. Before she knew it she was hysterical, unable to stop and Harmony sat there and held the poor little thing for as long as she needed her. But Dash didn't say another word, she wore herself out sobbing and finally fell asleep. |
Vol2:Tomorrow Never Knows - Don't Pass Me By | Twist and Shout | Well, shake it up, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Twist and shout (Twist and shout)
C'mon C'mon, C'mon, C'mon, baby, now (Come on baby)
Come on and work it on out (Work it on out)
Well, work it on ow - hout (Work it on out)
You know you look so good (Look so good)
You know you got me goin', now (Got me goin')
Just like I knew you would (Like I knew you would)
Chapter 6
Twist and Shout
The sky was busy over Manehattan. Clouds of gray and black scudded overhead. The view from the penthouse was amazing. Although it was morning, it was storm dark outside. A fork of lighting shot down from the clouds and struck somewhere across the Horsedon River. It was followed by a huge crack of noise and a deep rumble.
Rainbow and Harmony snuggled in the huge bed, watching the storm from an incredible vantage point. The huge circular bed had a feature that Dash loved. The bed was on a tiny steam powered track with the bottom each leg recessed into the floor. It allowed the occupants to move it to one of three areas. Normally it was located at the head of the room, but by rotating a knob on one of the posters, the occupants could direct the system to slowly move the bed to a position in front of the fireplace or they could direct the system to move the bed to a position in front of the window, giving the occupants a view of Manehattan.
Dash was amazed at this. She loved the hiss of the steam as the bed moved across the floor. As soon as it came to rest in the middle of the huge window that curved around to either side she rolled over toward Harmony and propped her head up on her bent elbow.
"Let's do it!"
"Do what?"
"Let's make love in front of the whole city. I feel so awesome this morning, like, - like a new pony. I mean I was always happy and all but deep down inside I - guess I was scared that I wasn't normal. Now it all makes sense but I still can't get used to it." She smiled, leaned forward and kissed Harmony on the nose. "I wanna do it. Right now, right here, where the whole city can see us."
"Are you kidding?" Harmony was completely charmed. She smiled and chuckled "I hope you know there are actually some buildings that might be able to see us. Are you sure about it? Especially with that rainbow mane of yours."
"I don't care. I want to make up for all the guilt and worry I felt each time I played with myself. Besides, you have that bag over there. Are you ever going to show me what's in it?
"I'll save it as a surprise."
"Uh-huh. Well then maybe I'll just go show Manehattan how an Elite Pegasus masturbates!" Dash climbed out of bed and went to a panel built into the floor. There were several tabs there. She stepped on one. A hiss came from the ceiling and floor and one of the huge panels rotated lengthwise and opened. The wind rushed in, blasting the room and blowing back the manes of the two ponies. Dash stepped up to the opening and out to the ledge carefully leaning over, looking down.
"DASH!! ARE YOU CRAZY?. YOU'LL FALL!! GET BACK HERE" Harshwhinny screamed over the wind. The gray clouds behind the cyan pony flashed with lightning and a low volley of thunder resounded throughout the city.
"TOO LATE MY LOVE" Dash said, holding a hoof wrist dramatically to her forehead. "I've ALREADY FALLEN..." And with that she dropped backward off the ledge, plummeting to the street below. Harmony screamed. Then Dash shot up, hovering outside the window and laughing. her main whipping madly in the wind..
"YOU LITTLE BITCH! YOU SCARED THE LIFE OUT OT ME!" Harmony screamed over the wind. A devilish look passed over her face and she opened a brass panel on the side of the headboard and pressed a lever. On the other side of the floor, unseen to the two ponies, a window opened, allowing the built up pressure to escape and creating a crosswind of air. Suddenly Dash found herself sucked back in through the window and toward the bed. Harmony grabbed her as she landed, rolled her over and pinned her to the mattress, straddling her hips.
"Oh-ho you little bitch! I forgot you could fly, you scared the hay out of me!" Harmony was shaking with both relief and rage. She looked at Dash who pretended to struggle, her rainbow mane crazy and wind tossed, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. Dash lay there her mouth open, still panting hard from hovering in the wind. "I can't believe you would scare me like that! Stop struggling you little cunt! Listen to me!"
Harshwhinny sat back, putting pressure on Rainbow's hips and thighs, pinning her to the bed. But Dash shifted and bucked her hips trying to get free, still saying nothing, just grunting. Harshwhinny could feel her temper rising against her lovers defiance. "DAMMIT! You may be an Elite Pegasus, but I have the leverage you little fuck!" Harshwhinny snarled. "Now settle DOWN!"
Dash's anger was turning to fury - she grit her teeth and her eyes narrowed. Harmony leaned forward, pinning Rainbow's forelegs down with her hooves.
Damn, this little pony is strong!
Harmony leaned harder, - half speaking, half grunting. "Did you -ugh!- hear me you little blue bitch?!" Dash twisted sharply to one side "Ow!! You fucking little CUNT!! Watch it!! Damn you- little-fucking-bitch!!" Harmony grimaced.
Dash still refused to speak but her eyes were full of rage and she fought like a tiger, thrashing madly. Harmony kept her legs straddled across the young pony's hips, preventing her from gaining the upper hoof. Harmony gritted her teeth now and growled "Not-so-fucking-tough-now-" she panted hard "You pant fucking pant little pant cunt pant bitch!!"
The fury in Dash's eyes would have scared Harshwhinny had she not been so beside herself with rage.
Dash gave a thrust and there was a slight smacking sound as their two soaking wet vulva's came together. The both stopped. Neither had noticed that Rainbow's wings were fully erect and that they were surrounded by the scent of their sex. Harshwhinny still had Rainbow pinned down and they just looked into each others eyes, both filled with anger and fire.
In that moment Dash bucked hard, throwing Harshwinny off her. The blonde pony landed beside her on the bed, her legs apart and her blonde pubic mound soaked. She was breathing hard and staring at Rainbow. Suddenly there was a flash of light outside the window and an explosion of thunder. Dash reached up and grabbed Harshwhinny by the mane, yanking hard and bending the blonde pony's head back. Harshwinny started to scream but the sound was stopped as Dash pounced on her. Their lips mashed together with force then she felt Dash's tongue push hard into her mouth. searching, roughly for Harmony's tongue. The rain lashed in through the windows, the wind whipping it with force.
Dash pulled down fiercely on her lover's mane, their lips pressing harder together. Eagerly Harmony sucked Dash's tongue into her mouth. Harmony pushed Dash over on her side quickly and straddled her leg. Her passion exploded as she felt the powerful thigh press up against her wetness and she moaned as they kissed. She humped hard and pressed herself against Dash's thigh, grunting with pleasure at each thrust. She was vaguely aware of Dash having pressed her soaking wet pussy up against her. The young pony grunted and flexed her hips in a powerful buck, slow and hard, rubbing against Harmony and coating her thigh in wetness.
Dash had not let go of Harmony's mane, and now she pulled Harmony close to her, their mouths pressing hard, their tongues wrestling as their bodies twisted and writhed. Dash eased up for a moment, Harmony suddenly pulled away and knelt back, flushed and panting but still straddling dash's leg. She looked down at the violet eyes - feral and angry, her face was in a sneer. Harmony swung her hoof and slapped the young pony across the face. Dash's head snapped to the side then she looked back at Harmony with a frighting smile. But the blonde mare wasn't the least bit scared. She reached down and grabbing hold of the rainbow mane, yanked. Just as she did, Dash bucked hard and flipped her, landing on top. Dash straightened up, Harmony lay back, still clutching Dash's mane in her hoof.. They stared at each other, both in an apparent rage, both breathing hard and fast.
Another blast of thunder exploded. Harmony yanked the mane hard and Dash screamed out as she fell forward. Their lips met hard, Harmony felt her tooth cut into her lip but barely noticed it as their tongues fought amid grunts and whimpers and wordless pleas. They both tasted blood in their mouths as they kissed hard, twisting, looking for a position to feel the other one between their legs, something, anything hard against which they could press their vulva's.
Dash sat up, her lips with blood on them. They looked at each other, their ragged breaths raspy and raw. As if on cure, both of them shifted their hips. Their pussy's smacked together and immediately they began a violent dance. Staring at each other, humping fast and hard. Dash was leaning back, kneeling. her legs spread wide, partially, sitting on Harmony's thigh, but pressed hard up against her pussy. Harmony lay on her side, feeling the weight of Rainbow Dash up against her and arching her back, pressing her slick pussy against Dash's. The two of them locked eyes, both shifted their hips faster, in a frenzy, each of their clits pressed hard against the other's. Both had blood on their mouths, each breath a rough primal grunt, building in strong spasmed pulses, "uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh..." faster and faster, their voices growing in sound, in pitch, higher and higher.
Dash's hips suddenly began to spasm, almost a blur, her face turning from anger to almost fear at what would happen, the intensity of the orgasm that was building, that she was unwilling to bring herself to stop, Wanting it more than anything, she looked at Harmony for - what - help? Re-assurance? She felt the orgasm build from way deep and looked at Harmony with intensity and fear as she moved her hips faster out of a need that she wouldn't satisfy without this intense pursuit.
"Yeah, yeah, it's okay, it's good, it's part of it, it's part of being an Elite, go with it, enjo- that's my love, yes, go, faster if you need to. Oh fuck, oh I'm cumming uh-huh-uh-huh-oh fuck ohoooooo..." Harmony's voice built into a cry of pleasure and anguish, unable to do anything, pinned there by Rainbow Dash who was grimacing, her eyes squinted shut. Then the young pony looked down at Harmony with almost terror as she felt the orgasm rise, starting from under her tail, clenching tight and building through her cunt, her legs trembling involuntarily, her body shaking, her breathing was rapid and shallow, as beads of sweat poured down her face, soaking he muzzle.
"Yes, that's it, just let it take you..." Harmony spoke as if in a dream, she had been in the throes of orgasm after orgasm and was lost. She could feel Dash's lips and pussy clenching hard and fast repeatedly. Dash suddenly grimaced, clearly in pain.
"Oh-- Fuck---it feels like my pussy is cramping up!! Fuuuck -it hurts!!"
Harmony reached over into the black silk bag by the side of the bed and after a moment retrieved a phallus. Dash saw that the head was larger than average and there was a small hose that came out of the back and went to something in Harmony's hoof.
Dash took it from her, then leaned back, revealing both their vulva's. Thick strands of cum draped between them. Harmony's genitals were starting to relax now that she'd had several orgasms, but Dash's were rigid and fully engorged. The two ponies watched as Rainbow put the large purple head up to her slit and inserted it slowly, gasping as her lips closed on it. She pushed it in farther. and her vagina clenched on it and watched as cum spilled from around it. She thrust it in and moaned loudly in both pleasure and relief from the cramping pain. Now she pulled it out slowly and pushed it in again, oblivious to Harmony or anything else. "Ahhhhh, yeahhhhhh... Fuuuuuck, oh yeah... She started to push and pull on it, but the pleasure clearly wasn't there. She looked up at Harmony, her face red with shame. Harmony leaned up and kissed her.
"It's okay. Get into the position, you know what you want. Here, give that to me."
Dash turned around and got on all fours. Then she went down, resting on her elbows and raising her haunches into the air. Harmony went behind her and at the sight, was unable to help herself. She leaned forward and slipped her tongue as deep as she could into Dash's dripping slit, tasting the sweet salty cum and feeling a powerfully strong clench.
"No, no, please, just put it in." Dash begged.
"I'm sorry - here." Harmony slowly inserted the phallus into Dash. As soon as she felt the penetration, Dash pushed back, meeting it. Harmony went behind her and held it at hip level, simulating a male. She began to slowly thrust, meeting Dash's rhythm. She found that if she held the back of it against her clitoris, she might be able to cum again, but right now, her focus was on her lover. Focus was critical.
Holding onto the shaft proved more difficult than she'd expected as Dash's vaginal muscles grasped it powerfully.
"Okay? Here is what is happening- the muscles inside your pussy are trying to confirm whether or not you're having sex with an Elite male. The reason the head is big is because that is the physiology of the elite male. The very back of the head, where is flares out from the shaft, is called the corona. It's the most sensitive and pleasurable spot on the penis for the male. The elite male has more surface area there. I'll explain why in a moment."
Dash was thrusting and listening to her talk about shafts, heads, and penis's. She began to move her hips faster. Her breathing got shallower and faster and her grunts turned to whimpers with each thrust. Harmony met the thrusts as she could, but the strength of Rainbow's muscles was amazing. After several more thrusts, Dash began to pick up speed and Harmony forgot all about herself and grabbed the back of the shaft with both hooves. She pushed hard, meeting Dash's thrusts as a large, powerful elite pegasus stallion would. It was difficult to concentrate - the smell of Dash's musk was everywhere and it was driving her out of her mind, Dash was whimpering with each thrust and the sound of her desperate pleas were impossible to ignore. More than anything Harmony wanted to join her in the pleasure and intimacy, but to do so would leave Dash in physical pain, when it should be incredible pleasure.
Dash was thrusting hard and fast now and Harmony was sweating hard but was meeting those thrusts and pushing hard, waiting for the sign. Then it happened, Dash thrust way back, inviting her mate to enter her fully. Harmony pushed the phallus deep into her, imagining the head pressing up against the nerve endings deep inside her vagina.
Dash suddenly stopped moving, threw her head back and screamed, her voice rough and raw. It built to a high pitched whine to a squeal then stopped. The muscles in her neck strained as the power of the orgasm hit her. Her face was a mix of ecstasy and agony. Harmony felt Dash's vagina clench hard around the base of the shaft and felt the most amazing sensation. She quickly moved around into the mounting position and pressed her own clitoris against the back of the shaft as she picked up the bulb.
Dash, her head still back, let out a series of long high pitched squeals. Harmony could feel the vibrations of Dash's vaginal muscles come through the shaft. The blonde pony bent forward and spoke softly into the ear of her lover.
"The outer lips of your pussy have grabbed the base of the shaft to keep the male from withdrawing. The front muscles are massaging and stroking the shaft and the corona, and the male is holding back as long as he can. The reason for all this is that they both want him to ejaculate as much of his semen into her as he can so that her egg can choose the best sperm for fertilization." The motion of the back of the shaft against her clit was leading Harmony to an orgasm that she was more than ready for.
Dash nodded slightly, her squeals had changed to whimpers. Her thighs were trembling, threatening to collapse. "You should start to feel another orgasm building in a moment, when you do, grab that pillow in front of you and bite down on it. This cock is going to squirt a load of hot cum into you and when your body feels it, you are going to have, well, the best description is that your orgasm is going to have an orgasm-"
At that moment, Dash's whimpers picked up speed and Harmony felt herself about to cum. She hoped that she was timing it right and that it was going to work. Dash was clearly ready but Harmony wasn't.
Then it hit. Harmony's orgasm was extreme and she squeezed the bulb sending an enormous spend of warm thick cum into Dash's pussy. It carried no sperm, but was necessary in order for Dash's body to reach its climax.
Rainbow Dash felt the strong handsome pegasi in her. Felt the head of his cock suddenly swell and as she bit down on the blanket he ejaculated in her. It was powerful and warm and hard and suddenly the world went white. Every muscle in her body tensed simultaneously and she felt the muscles in her vagina stroking, milking his cock. It was her uncle, NO, no it was - s Soarin! Yes, it was adorable Soarin, She pictured him - strong and kind, and he was behind her, loving her, lost in pleasure, filling her with a million possible foals and she would choose the best and nothing would be better than this. Then another strong ejaculation and she almost lost consciousness. The pleasure was indescribable - tiny electrical charges all over her body. She could barely hear Harmony somewhere, crying out in pleasure. She must be cumming, wherever she is thought Dash.
There was no more "semen" in the bulb, but Dash's body kept working, ensuring that every last drop was drained. Harmony had collapsed behind Dash. The hormones that Dash had released during her climax had intensified Harmony's orgasm profoundly and after a single powerful one, she had collapsed on the bed, trying to catch her breath.
Dash's thighs finally gave out and she leaned over and slid down, lying on her side. All the muscles in her hips relaxed and the phallus slipped out. Spilling out behind it was the thick white liquid that Harmony had put into the bulb earlier. Dash lay there panting and Harmony opened her eyes and looked at her lover with pity.
"Hey, sweetie - are you okay?"
Dash looked over at her. "Yeah, I think so. I feel kind of weird. I guess it's like the leftover hornienss or whatever."
Harmony closed her eyes. "You want to cum some more. don't you?"
Dash nodded. "I-I can't believe it. Will it ever stop?" She lifted her leg to the side, put her hoof between her legs and began to rub. "Oh fuck, I have to cum. I want to cum more than anything. What the fuck Harmony? What is happening? Oh it feels amazing! OH FUCK!!" Dash's hips began to jerk spasmodically. She masturbated with a ferocity, gritting her teeth, her eyes looking angry.
"Hang on, I've got an idea"
Harmony moved over and lay on her side. She lifted her leg, exposing her pussy. Dash took one look at it and scooted over, climbing over Harmony's leg, then getting into a kneeling position. She shifted forward and pressed her wet lips and clit against Harmony's. She slowly rotated her hips, rubbing her pussy against her lovers. She started cumming quickly and with each orgasm the thick semen squirted out of her and onto Harmony's thigh and vulva.
Dash's head dropped forward and her chin tucked to her chest as she continued to hump Harmony's pussy, grunting with each thrust. 'Uh-uh-uh" she moaned over and over, shivering as each successive orgasm, less intense than the last one, passed through her.
Her lower jaw jutted out slightly and with her legs trembling, she lifted herself slightly and slowly rocked back and forth, barely touching her, letting her lips and clit slowly and gently kiss Harmony's pussy as it brushed past. With each touch, Harmony jumped a little, but eventually Dash had had enough. She stopped and sat, resting on Harmony's thigh and panted. She slid back a little bit and looked down at her own vulva watched as white cum dripped slowly out of her. She reached down, again and again, and touched her clit, causing another spasm. She gasped with each one, making animal sounds of pleasure. Then she looked up at Harmony who was laying back on the pillow, looking up at her with a smile.
"Rainbow, it's okay, keep going if you need to."
Dash shifted her hips forward again, sighing as she mounted Harmony. Dash slowly rode her lover, swiveling her hips in a slow circular motion and then tilting them as though in a slow buck. Dash whimpered as their lips and clits ran across each other, and as before, with each spasm, Das contracted and issued a fresh spend of thick cum.
"I think I'm going to overflow soon." Harmony laughed.
""Uh-huh..." Dash said mindlessly, still riding, still having little orgasms and letting out little spurts of thick cum onto Harmony's pussy. "Huh? Wha? Did you say something?" Dash asked. "I'm sorry,but I can't stop. oh fucking Celestia, what's happening?"
"Your vagina is trying to flush out as much semen from an unsuccessful coupling as it can. Your body knows that you've had an intense sexual experience that did not result in fertilization and therefore the pony you mated with did not meet the criteria or standards necessary to father your foals. Your body want's nothing to do with him or his seed and so it has gone into overload, secreting enormous amounts of your cum. Here, move back, let me see. Keep making yourself cum."
"Yeah, like I was going to stop. Not likely." Dash began to rub herself more fiercely, bringing on more orgasms as the thick wetness pumped out of her.
"Yeah, that's all you. It's clear. Everything that I squirted into you is gone. You truly are the real deal, my little Elite Pony."
Harmony shifted down and lay on her back. She motioned for Dash to move herself up over her mouth.
Dash moved forward shakily on her knees until her dripping vulva was over Harmony' mouth. She slowly lowered herself down.
Harmony could not believe how hard Dash was. Her clitoris stood out fully distended, firm and erect and her lips were hard and full as though they were going to burst. Harmony pushed against Dash's clit but it was like rubber. She opened her mouth wide and with her tongue pressing hard to massage her. The young pegasus moaned loudly then squealed high, her legs shaking madly. Harmony felt the incredible contraction. It was thick and warm in her mouth. She kept working with her tongue but could see that it wasn't enough anymore. Dash pressed down harder, looking for more. Harmony pulled hard, sucking Dash's clit up to the roof of her mouth. It still wasn''t enough. Dashie cried out, her jaw clenched tight, then "Teeth - use your teeth!" Harmony Took Dash's hard clit between her front teeth and bit down tenderly, working her jaw back and forth, rolling it. Dash screamed out, her voice raspy and dry, sounding as though she were in agony. Harmony immediately stopped. "NO NO!! Bite it again.. Oh, yeah, I'm getting close again more, yeah, uh-huh- uh, uh ihhhhhhhh- UHnnggg!: Dash gave a final quick push as she came and with it Harmony felt several rather strong spurts of her young lovers cum pump into her mouth. Harmony had closed her throat and felt as the thick cum spilled out over her muzzle. Dash leaned forward, resting on her fore-hooves. She whimpered loudly over and over with each exhalation, drool dripped from her mouth. Finally she burst into tears, as Harmony pulled her down, rolled her to the side and held the young pony's head to her chest..
"It's okay, just calm down. Take a deep breath, that's it, I know it's a lot - you've been through quite a bit. There are a million hormones flowing through you right now and as wonderful as you felt when Soarin was making love to you, now your body is in depression at the lack of a successful coupling. You'll feel much better after you sleep, I promise. And don't worry about calling out his name at that moment. From what I know about him. he is worth it. Now try to calm yourself and rest. I promise I'll be right here when you wake up."
Dash's sobbing eased and Harmony held her close until she fell asleep. |
Vol2:Tomorrow Never Knows - Don't Pass Me By | Mistress Moonlight | "Mistress Moonlight,
Come again please
Here I am on my knees
Beggin if you please
And the night you don't come my way
I pray and pray more each day
Because I love you
Mistress Moonlight"
Mr. Moonlight- The Beatles (with poetic license)
Dash found herself strapped down on a steel examination table. She lay on her back, her legs apart. The table was tilted forward, slightly past a 45 degree angle. Struggling was useless. Harshwhinny was in a white lab coat, standing behind a metal console, adjusting knobs and clicking switches. There were a number of brass levers on the side. Occasionally she reached over and moved one. The lights from the dials in the console lit her face from beneath. The exam table faced a semi-circle of chairs. Two dozen or so ponies wearing lab coats and carrying notepads and instruments looked at her without expression.
"You will observe this young female Elite pegasus. She is just under 20, you'll see all her details in your folders. You are here to witness the process that occurs when a female Elite Pegasi is exposed to the hormones of a male that has responded to her in the initial stages of estrus. He has become aware of her estrus primarily via her scent and his body is preparing to enter the courtship ritual."
An assistant unsealed the lid of a large glass jar. With a long pair of forceps, Ms. Harshwhinny reached in and pinched a piece of gauze then lifted it out. Dash turned her head to the side and held her breath. Harshwhinny held the gauze under Dash's muzzle and waited. Unable to hold it any longer, Dash finally exhaled and took a deep breath, swearing she could fight it. She waited. Nothing happened. It hadn't worked. She looked at Harshwhinny with pure hatred. Harshwinny looked at the clock. Then Dash started to feel it. It was happening again, only now she knew what she wanted. No matter what she thought about, her mind turned it into erotic images. She concentrated on numbers - counting - and she focused on them, but it was too late. Her body had betrayed her. She felt the desire rising, her body responding. She fought to ignore it but she felt herself aching for touch, for release.
"Ah, here we go - her reaction is quite plain - the sexual organs have become engorged... Why don't you all come up and examine for yourself. Come now, don't be shy, we're all scientists here." "
Most of them stood up and approached Dash. "Typically at this stage in most mares, physical arousal will cause the coat over her vagina to part revealing her sexual organs, however, they are clearly more pronounced with the Elite Pegasi. Feel free to examine them yourself, but please be gentle. You'll find the rubber gloves over on that second tray. Her clitoris, which is larger than average by about 15 percent, has now enlarged to about 25%."
Her head was not restrained but she chose to keep it back against the table, pressed hard, eyes squeezed tightly shut. She felt their hooves on her, examining her. Occasionally it became too much and despite biting down hard on her lower lip, a whimper of shame and desire escaped her. She found herself unwilling to verbally defend herself, too ashamed to speak and afraid of what she might say. Her pride and self-respect fought fiercely against overpowering desire. Dash became dizzy, unable to focus on anything except her sexual hunger.
"It is evident to all how this mare feels about me, is it not? She uttelry despises me. Despite that she will accept what I have to offer." Harshwhinny began to massage Rainbow Dash between the legs. Dash's face instantly reflected the gratification. Harshwhinny continued, eliciting moans of pleasure. Then she stopped. Dash's eyes opened and she looked at Harshwinny, wordlessly pleadying for mercy. "I'm sorry, but we need to save her orgasm for later. This however further demonstrates the intensity of the desire. She is clearly quite upset, yet if you will look, you'll see that there is no lessening of her arousal. I don't know how many of you have ever tried to achieve an orgasm while crying, especially as distraught as she clearly is, but I assure you that despite this, had I continued she would have achieved climax within 1-2 minutes. This is covered in section 6 where I discuss the mind-body dichotomy."
"Essentially her body only wants to ensure the elite bloodline continues and it knows that a coupling will achieve that. Therefore her body has released hormones far more powerful than any of us can imagine in order to bring about the extreme desire for sexual gratification. This is necessary as a primary motivating factor as the means to that end. She is quite literally at the mercy of her libido. Were I to release the restraints, her hooves would immediately go directly to her vulva and she would be to bring herself to an orgasm right here in front of all of us, rather than try to find somewhere private first."
"Even without touch, her body responds. You can see her powerful haunches contracting. The force inside her, the muscles of her vaginal walls are quite powerful. Her sexual responses are no longer part of her emotional experience, though were she to just relax and enjoy it" Harshwhinny growled at Dash, "She might find it less unpleasant!" She turned to the assembled scientists "Now I will demonstrate how her body reacts when the male elite pegasi mounts her and penetrates her. Please take a step back."
A brass arm extended down from above the table. Attached to the end of it was a metal cylinder of brass. It was shaped like a penis and looked cold and frightening. Dash's face went white with fear as Harshwhinny, using the brass levers near the console, maneuvered it into position, its tip poised at the opening of her vagina. Harswhinny squeezed a handle and Dash cried out as it entered her...
Rainbow Dash sat hugging herself in a tight ball, rocking back and forth, her forehead resting on her knees. She was in a grassy glade by the side of a small brook. All traces of physical desire had left her, all that was left was the awful humiliation and shame. Other than the stream and the distant birds, the only sounds were strained whimpers of intense pain coming from her. Tears streamed from her eyes, dampening her knees and she wrapped her wings around her as much as she could.
A soft slow beat of wings sounded near her and she heard somepony land to her right. She tucked into the ball tighter.
"Rainbow?"
It sounded to Dash a little like Harshwhinny...
A bolt of fear shot through the young pony. She sniffed hard and with the back of her hoof first wiped her eyes, then the mucus that dripped from her nose. She took a deep, shaky breath, and prepared to face her princess as though everything was just fine, that she was suffering from allergies. She raised her head and turned with a trembling smile.
The face of Princess Luna held such incredible concern, sympathy and love that Dash's attempt at a cool casual greeting crumbled like a wall of sand. Luna walked to her, sat down and put her arms around her, then wrapped her large midnight blue wings around the little cyan pony, completely encompassing her.
In all her life, Rainbow Dash had never felt so completely safe or secure. She let all her pain burst through her walls and she cried out in agony. The pain had become unbearable. Dash let go of her legs and turned toward her princess and returned the hug, holding her and crying.
The huge wings remained around her, enveloping her as Luna held her close. Were that gesture not enough, the princess placed her cheek atop Rainbow's mane and rested her head protectively there. There had never been any place at any time in her life where Rainbow would have preferred to be but here, now. She sensed the immense power around her, never realizing the awesome strength and magic that the younger sister possessed. Controlling both night and day would have been a flight through the park for this alicorn, and yet one would never have guessed it.
The events of her nightmare were suddenly insignificant and silly and couldn't touch her. Her heart slowed, her breathing calmed and suddenly her face was dry and her nose was clear. She sighed and felt the wings open and warm air rush in. The princess looked down into Dash's eyes.
"Do you feel better now Rainbow Dash?"
Dash looked back up over her shoulder into Luna's eyes. "Yes your highness, thanks. Uh... I mean thank you."
"Please, remain casual in your speech, I understand."
"Where are we? Is this like, a dream?"
"Indeed. 'Tis your dream my little pegasus."
Dash looked around. "Yeah. Well, uh, that's cool. I feel better now, so thanks. I guess I can wake up, so uh... Can you lend a hoof princess? You know - maybe a kick to the head or something?"
"You do not need my help for that. You shall awaken at the time you are ready."
"So I guess that means I'm not read... oh no." Dash sat there, frozen in stone.
"You have surmised that your princess of the night is actually here, within your dream, have you not?"
Dash just nodded. "Uhhhh, you're highness, I didn't mean to disrespect you - I didn't know it was really you."
"Do not worry, I understand."
"Whew, I mean I was getting a little casual right there, you know, telling you to kick me in the head and all." Dash smiled sheepishly. "So, what brings you to my dream? I mean not that you're not welcome, just curious."
Luna looked puzzled. "Do you not know? I am usually there when one of my subjects is in pain. Are you not upset? Your tears upset me greatly young Rainbow Dash. For whom were they shed?"
"Oh, yeah, that. Well, I kinda strained a wing and it hurt. Yeah, that's pretty much it - the old sore wing accident."
"Is this the truth that you speak?"
"Who, me? Truth? Of course. I wouldn't lie to you. Not this pony, no M'am!"
"Thou dost protest too much me thinks"
"Thou dost pro who now?"
"I feel that you are withholding things that you wish to tell me. Are they too personal? I would depart, though I can feel that you still want me here, else I would leave."
"Are you sure about those feelings? I mean I don't think I need help." Dash looked down. "Anyway, if I did, I kinda doubt you'd understand."
"So it is personal. You are embarrassed to tell me. Of what are you afraid? Do you think I shall judge you or find you to be abhorrent. Oh, it is a word that means despicable, revolting, awful."
Dash looked away from her; an expression of pain crossed her face. She looked down and kicked a clump of grass with a forehoof. Her voice was soft. "Yeah," she said, "Abhorrent sounds like it about covers it. Nothing against you Princess Luna, but it's really personal and really embarrassing. It's something you probably don't even know about and if you did you would think it was pretty sick and despicable and revolting like you said. I don't think I could ever tell you, you're too refined, with royal birth and all."
"I see."
Dash grew even more despondent. She felt horrid enough alone, now in the presence of royalty she felt like a perverted lech who ought to be thrown into prison. If Luna had any idea of what Dash had done, she'd most likely vomit first, followed by condemning her to death or, were she too weak from vomiting, banish her. She'd have to think of something else to tell her. She was beyond help.
Luna's countenance grew dark, her voice took a tone of solemn severity. "So, thou hast clearly done something abhorrent. We can sense it, something vile that it would make us retch. Thou has behaved in a depraved manner, debasing thyself to the point of irredeemable disgrace. Though uncertain of the act of which you speak, thy is surely guilty of it! No matter - thy princess is disgusted with thee nonetheless. We know that we can devise a punishment befitting this heinous crime."
Dash, eyes cast downward sighed. "Yeah, I doubt it."
"We must think on this. Ti's not every day we must come up with a punishment to fit the crime. Tell us the nature of the crime."
"I'd really rather not." Dash looked at the dirt clod she had kicked up, wishing she were under it.
"Ahhhh, this sounds like something very private. We think we might know of what you speak. What punishment, though? It must be fitting to the crime. I must get into the correct frame of mind. Prisoner!"
Dash blinked "Uh, yeah?"
"Do you mind if we masturbate? We find we think better after an orgasm or two."
Rainbow Dash was frozen at the spot, her jaw agape.
"Art thou surprised? Do you not think your princess enjoys the carnal pleasures of the body? You princess is quite fond of orgasms! You may recall she was locked in the moon for over a thousand years!" For a moment Luna grew somber, "She has many orgasms to catch up on," then she brightened. "Sometimes, during a single session, I'll have several!" Luna paused for a moment then scowled, "though not all the time..."
Little noises came out of the back of Dash's open mouth.
Luna grew enthusiastic and leaned toward Dash. "Wouldst thou like to hear my fantasies? Some are quite inventive, extensive and involved. I have quite a number of devices I've collected since returning to Equestria, which I employ. I do have one in particular that I prefer..."
"STOP!!" Dash was finally able to yell, "No! No no no no!! You are my princess! How can you - you know- do that?"
"It depends. Sometimes I use several of my devices in long drawn out. sessions. Other times, it is just our hoof. That is usually the case when I find a pony is having an erotic dream in which I am a participant. I sometimes go and observe. I cannot take part and my presence is unknown, but I draw immense amounts of inspiration from it.
"Wait, you, uh..."
"Go into dreams and find they are of a sexual nature? Certainly, but only if I am one of the ponies of whom they dream."
"WHAT??!!"
Luna gave her a nudge then leaned forward with a raised eyebrow and whispered "I have seen who you dream about along with me."
Dash's face went white and her pupils became tiny points.
"Yes my little pony. As I consider the look upon your face, I presume you are thinking on a particular dream..."
"I am SO SORRY!! Please don't kill me!!"
Luna laughed until she had tears in her eyes. "Do not be silly Rainbow Dash. I thought it quite amusing, not to mention inspiring!"
"Yeah, but what did Princess Celestia think?!" Dash said with fright.
"She does not know - and I cannot nor would I ever speak to her of it. I should explain further. If I am part of your dream and I observe it, I am unable to speak of it to anypony. That is to say even should I want, I could not relate to anypony what transpired unless you bade me do it. So what happens is between you and I, and Rainbow - I do not judge you, for there is nothing to judge. It is only a dream. Oh - I thought the outfit in which you dressed me was quite becoming. In fact I had one made. I enjoyed watching us try on different clothes. Thou has excellent taste."
"But I had you, you know - do that thing..."
"To Tia? Silly pony - 'Twas just a dream! That was not Tia, it was your imagination of Tia. Dost thou forget what thy did for me? And then to me? And then for me again? " Luna asked, raising her eyebrow. "Twas most... inspirational to watch! We did a great deal of catching up on our lost orgasms that night, I assure you. Though the following night I think the moon was rather late in being raised..."
Dash's face now went bright red and she squeezed her eyes shut. She turned away from the princess.
"NO! I mean yes, I mean I forget! And whatever you remember, it wasn't with me!"
"Liar!!" Luna yelled and laughed. "Thou art such a liar!" I posses the most knowledge about dreams, it is seldom we can control what happens within them. But fear not - they were phantoms, thoughts and smoke. As I have said, they are not the ponies, they are your imagination of your friends. Nothing really happened - 'twas was only in your mind. And Rainbow Dash, you are very giving in your love. You always ensure that all partners in your dreams are well sated before you are. You are a wonderful pony. Having said that, should you know of the things of which pony's dream, thou would be shocked, some would make you sad beyond description and others, well, they are inspiring.
"What about, you know, when we, you know, well, like..."
"Awaken and satisfied thy urges? I am gone. I cannot enter fantasies or thoughts, only dreams."
"Oh, well, I guess..." Dash's face was pink and she found she was able to look at Luna without feeling too self conscious.
"Yes?" Luna asked, her eyebrow raised again.
"Uh, oh, um, nothing."
"Thou art so competitive! You wish to know how your dreams compare to others, dost thou not? If they are more arousing?"
"Well, yeah, I guess... Kinda."Dash said sheepishly.
"Well yours are some of my favorites." Luna said with a smile and raised eyebrow. Dash pulled her head back and her eyes opened wide for a second in shock. Then she leaned forward with a smile.
"Really? You think I'm hot?"
"Your dreams are quite... imaginative let us say. You do not have so many, however, the ones you do have are very - " Luna thought for a moment, "hot as thou sayest. There is one in particular. It is with you and I and Big Macintosh, Applejack's brother. Did thou know he is gifted?"
"Is he ever!" said Dash dreamily.
"I speak of his intellect."
"Yeah, sure you do! If by intellect you mean that package of his!"
"AH! I believe I know to what you are referring! He is, in fact, prodigious."
"I hear that sister..." Dash smiled dreamily. Then suddenly her head snapped up in embarrassment. "No! I mean I don't, you know, uh..." Then she looked at Princess Luna, sitting there smiling at her.
"Why are you doing this Luna?"
Luna took Dash's chin in her hoof and gently lifted it. She looked into her eyes. "Because Dashie, I love you and I do not want you to feel bad about what is perfectly natural. I can not help you as long as you do not trust my desire to help you."
"Yeah, I've heard that before."
"I know you have."
"You do?"
"You have dreamed of your conversations with her.."
"Wait, so you saw my dream earlier, when I was strapped down to that table and the fucking bitch sleeping next to me put on display like some scientific experiment? You saw THAT?!!"
Luna smiled warmly. "Yes, I did Rainbow, and that is why I am here. On some level you called out to me. I would have come to you sooner but upon seeing your anguish I found I had to collect my own emotions before joining you so as not to upset you. It caused me much pain to see you hurt so. In the meantime, however, I found I was able to break a rather serious rule and so sent you to sit beside this quiet brook."
Dash looked at Luna and felt tremendous love and gratitude. "I mean I was up there, strapped to that table, being poked and prodded and stroked, and all I could think of was how badly I wanted some pony in me!"
Luna calmly nodded
"Princess! You don't get it! I was utterly humiliated, I wanted to die. Then that awful brass thing came down on that arm. It stopped right between my legs!" Dash was getting extremely upset and tears began to spill onto her cheeks. She looked at Luna, rage in her eyes and her teeth gritted. "But I wanted that thing! More than anything I've ever wanted!" Dash yelled, sobbing. Luna walked over to her, pulled her close and once again wrapped the midnight wings around her.
"It's okay Rainbow, it's okay, I'm here, shhhh,,,"
Rainbow Dash calmed down and became quiet. Luna opened her wings and stepped back.
"You seem better now, are you okay?"
Dash nodded.
"You now know you are an Elite Pegasus."
"PLEASE don't call me that! I HATE it! I never asked for it and I don't WANT IT!!"
"You are not the first to utter such things."
"I would have called you crazy an hour ago, I mean I thought being one was the coolest thing ever, but not now." Dash shook her head. Then she looked at Luna with curiosity. "So,um, you know, would you have, you know done it? Like in front of me?"
"And I still will. Thou needest but to ask."
"But you know that I won't. You've seen into me and you know that I'd never ask you to lower yourself to do that."
"You still think it is lowering?"
"Well, if you do it and love it as much as you say you do, then maybe I've been wrong."
"Well then, I await your decision."
"I believe you Luna but I would never ask you to do it. I kinda know what it's like and it got me into a bad situation."
"You are very perceptive Rainbow Dash. I would have been very embarrassed to have done it, for it is quite a personal thing and to be truthful I am glad you did not ask me, but I would if it would make you feel better about doing it yourself. I have never done it in front of anypony. In fact, 'tis something I have never discussed with anypony ever. I am glad thou does not take this offer lightly." There was some gravity behind Luna's voice.
"So why me? You were ready to do one of the most un-princessly things I can imagine, for me.
"Thou art in extreme pain in thy heart and soul. Was thou not having thoughts of great darkness?"
Dash looked down and spoke very softly. "Yeah, I guess I was."
Luna placed her hoof under Dash's chin and lifted it. She looked into the teary violet eyes. She spoke tenderly. "There is little this princess would not do to save thy life. I knowest what thy did to save the life of thy sleeping friend here when she acted upon her desire for great darkness. Thou offered to debase thyself. 'Tis easy enough to say such things, but, thou followed through when you could have walked away. When she awoke, she did not remember what you had said, and you knew that. Thou art a pony of great honor Rainbow Dash. T'would be a great loss were my kingdom to lose such a noble soul. We can easily do without and Elite Pegasus, but we could never be truly happy without you. To lose you would break the hearts of all four of thy princesses." Luna paused and looked at Dash with a smile. "Especially this one's." Tears now filled Luna's eyes and she pulled the little cyan pony close. They remained that way for awhile. "Rainbow Dash, I believe it would be most helpful if you would explain to me what you think your dream means."
"I- I don't know. It was so strange, didn't you think? I can't imagine where all that craziness came from! All those scientists and Harshwhinny with her lab coat..."
Luna looked at her without blinking.
"Well Harshwhinny and I were, you know... uhhh...doing it and, uh, it was awesome and hot. and I was pretty cool with it. At, you know, first...." Dash's eyes were wet. "We were, you know, and then it was like I couldn't stop"
"Is there more? Do not tell me if you do not wish to."
"I'm sorry princess. We were having this fight. She pinned me to the bed and it really pissed me off. Before we knew it things were getting pretty rough. Really rough if you want to know the truth. We were kissing so hard that we both cut our lips against our teeth- I mean it got crazy. I think she even hit me."
Luna stood up and a look of pure rage came over her face. It frightened Dash to her core. "No no no, Princess, I kinda deserved it. I was being a real little snot. I refused to listen to her. I can get pretty obnoxious at times."
Luna relaxed and then smiled. "Yes, I recall your behavior at the Nightmare night celebration. I believe it was there that I first came to know the term suggesting that what thou gives out, thou shalt recieve."
"Riiight - Payback's a bitch."
"That is what Princess Twilight said after I sent that bolt of lighting toward thy posterior. I trust it did not hurt too much."
"No, my flank didn't hurt a bit."
"That is a relief - but I heard it hit - oh no! Please tell me I did not hit you..."
"Oh yeah, right there. It was my own fault. I should have kept my legs closed. It wasn't that bad, actually. It was tingly and every time I, you know...have an orgasmt- tiny lightning bolts appeared around my clit and you can hear thunder in my vagina."
Luna's laugh was wonderful. It was strong and full of joy and Dash couldn't help but smile. Every time she would calm down, the princess would recall the words and she'd erupt into laughter all over again.
"I have not laughed so well in many a moon, You are most wonderful Rainbow Dash."
"Ah - I'm just kidding, you nailed me square in the flank. I thought I could make you laugh. It's an awesome sound."
"Thank you Rainbow, 'twas very funny. Please tell me about what happened with you and Harmony, I want so much to help thee."
"Well there is this position-"
"The position to which you refer has many names. It is ancient and quite popular between mares."
"Well we were doing it. Harmony was lying down..." Dash closed her eyes, unable to look at her princess. "I was straddling her, you know pzzy," she mumbled, "with mine, you know, riding it. I felt myself starting to uh...well . you know..."
"Have an orgasm? Reach a climax? Hmmm? CUMM???!!!
"eeyeah..." Dash confirmed, then blushed. "Suddenly my hips started to, like move faster than I thought I could."
"And this troubled you?"
"No Luna, it was that nothing was going to make me stop. Not unless you dragged me off of her."
"It felt that good?"
"No... well yeah. It felt so good that I didn't have any control. My body took over and I loved it. I don't know if I could have stopped it, I really didn't want to. Like -have you ever been enjoying something so much that no matter what happened you wouldn't stop?"
"If you are speaking of sex, then there was a time when Tia - Princess Celestia - caught me pleasuring myself. I was in the middle of an orgasm and she just walked in."
"She would come into your bedroom without even knocking?!"
"Oh, yes, well, perhaps I was not in my bedroom. I may have been in the castle's library looking through some books I had not known were there, though they appeared to be heavily used.."
"Were there pictures?"
"A great many of them. Some very cute mares and their stallions in all manner of positions. There was one set of two very cute mares who were engaged in the very act you describe. They both looked extremely happy."
"Yeah, well take it from me - they were. So what did you do?!!"
"I masturbated!"
"No I mean when Princess Celestia walked in on you!"
"Oh, yes, well I was quite embarrassed. I pulled my legs together but I could not pull my hoof away," Her attitude suddenly changed. She spoke as if she were back in the library addressing her sister. Her voice carried no small amount of petulance. "We could not stop, we were right in the middle of an orgasm!. It felt too good!!" She turned back to Dash. "When she saw what I was reading a look of horror came upon her countenance. Her face became quite red and she looked straight to the shelf from which we had taken them, though 'twas on the other side of the room - I often wondered how she knew..." Luna looked at Dash with a very sly smile. Dash returned the smile and winked.
"She stormed from the room and later she berated me for having no sense of decency. Then she asked me the location of the books. I told her I had burned them. Her face turned whiter than thou hast ever seen it, take our word! I laughed and told her I put them back on the shelf from whence I had taken them. She was not amused. Though we certainly were! She never questioned where I had placed them. From that time forward, should I venture to the library, she would smirk and roll her eyes. It quite annoyed me. That was until I caught her." Luna's smile was one of self satisfaction.
"PRINCESS CELESTIA??!! You caught the princess playing with herself?? What was she doing, how was she doing it - Wait, no, don't tell me. It's kind of like hearing about one of your parents doing it. I really don't want to know."
"That is a wise choice Rainbow Dash. In any case I would not have told you. Please let us get back to you."
"Well like I said, I felt like I was going out of my mind. Oh, right, I was asking you about stopping in the middle of it."
"Were I in the midst of a wonderful powerful orgasm? I doubt I would have."
"What if somepony had walked in holding Princess Celestia's severed head?"
"I would laugh. T'would be a stuffed head made to look like Tia's. There is no creature on earth that could sever her head. "
Dash rolled her eyes. "Just go with me on this, would you? Suppose it was sompony you really loved, oh..."
"You?" Luna asked.
Dash was taken aback by the implications. "Why me? Is that how much you love me?"
"Yes, I love you, but no more than I love your 5 friends, or any of my subjects, though my heart has a very special place for you 6. I have not answered your question. If I were in the middle of an orgasm and the severed head of anypony were bought to me, of course I would stop. What kind of creature would not... oh."
Dash looked up at her. Her eyes were full of pain and wet with tears.
"Twas that bad?"
Tears ran down Rainbow's cheeks as she nodded. "If they held up the mutilated body of Scootaloo, I wouldn't have broken stride. I would have cried hysterically, but my body was after another orgasm and nothing was going to stop it."
Luna looked at her, not saying a word.
Dash became more upset. "And I wouldn't have wanted to stop it! I would have looked at the bloody body of one of the sweetest little pony's I know, I mean she's closer than a little sister could be. She idolizes me and loves me, and I would have still wanted to keep cumming."
"I know well the pony of which you speak. She is a dear one and a very brave one. I too hold her in a special place in my heart. I know you wold have stopped."
"No I WOULDN'T!! I thought of her! I closed my eyes and imagined that wonderful little filly torn to shreds by a Timberwolf and it didn't even slow me down. That's what scared me the most."
"I am sorry Rainbow. But I do know of the Elite Pegasi and what happens when two of them mate for the first time.. Theirs is a forbidden history and goes back several hundred years before I was banished. I can tell you of it because you will find it impossible to speak of it to any other pony. Should you try, you will find it impossible, lest we are speaking together. At that time we could tell others of what we shared. Else, the words will never leave thy lips, just as mine will never let me tell anypony about thee. "
"Really? Is that true?"
"I swear upon my life. What you share with me in a dream will only be shared between us. In the corporeal world, what you would call awake, we shall be as we always have. Only if we are together and agree, can your dreams be shared."
"Oh yeah - Rarity was telling me about how you helped Sweetie Belle."
"Yes, and that is because Sweetie Belle wished to share it and I agreed. We must both be willing to share with others what we have shared between us. But I digress. Many years ago, after the founding of Equestria, despite what you have heard, the 3 tribes did not get along, and there was a constant threat of war."
"But Hearth's Warming Eve? Everypony was cool after they straightened things out. That's what went down, right?"
"I fear there is much myth in that tale, Dashie. It is often the case- Why do you smile so? Dost thou like it when I call thee Dashie?"
"I love it, love it, love it Princess. It's like the best thing ever."
"Then I shall continue it Dashie."
Rainbow Dash went to Luna and sat in front of her. She leaned her head up against the beautiful midnight blue coat, and listened to her heart.
"Whatever it is that comes after awesome - you're like the thing after that." Dash kissed the spot over Luna's heart then rested her head again.
"This makes me very happy Dashie, more than I can say," there was a tremor in Luna's voice. "I have a sense that Scootaloo is not the only pony in need of an older sister."
Dash leaned her forehead against the soft coat and nodded.
"Then tell me of your fears my little sister."
"On one condition."
"Thou hast not been thy sibling but these few moments and thou is already laying down the rules?" Luna laughed. "What be this condition oh sister of many colors?"
Dash looked up at her, and smiled broadly. "That you visit me in my dreams more often."
"I will try, but I have obligations to help others."
"Then come to me when I am awake. I feel so nice and safe when you're with me. And I'm usually the one that makes sure others are safe."
"I will be with you whenever I can Dashie, but what worries you now?"
"I - I don't think Harmony really loves me."
"Why?"
"Well it was like we were having sex before, there wasn't any love there, and she was like telling me about the whole science thing during it. Like I was her big experiment and I was proving that her theories were all true. I bet she was getting off on that."
"Dost thou think thou are so difficult to love? Thou are immensely loveable! Show me the pony of another mind and I shall show thee a liar! And should one have to look anywhere but to thy beautiful face or body to bring desire, I would show thee a pony in great need of glasses!"
"Yeah, 'tis true... I am pretty hot."
"AH! That is the Dashie I know! And did you not save the life of yon Harmony?"
"I'm beginning to wonder about that, too. Were those pills even real?"
"Ye think that she used pills with no potency? Have you the pills?"
"I don't think so - wait! I do! I remember I cleaned up the floor so the hotel staff wouldn't find them. They're in my saddle bag. They're probably all melted."
"The potion within them is true or it is not. We will know. Why did you not flush them down the toilet?"
"I dunno. I just kept them."
"Kept them. That is an interesting choice of words, Dashie." Luna thought for a moment, then looked back at Dash. "Why did you keep them?"
"I don't know."
"Did you have doubts? Even then?"
"Yeah, maybe. I mean the whole thing was so weird. I went to her room, and she was totally out of it, but I kept remembering that she said she probably wouldn't be around the next day. I thought I knew what that meant. Turned out I was right. Then she had those pills."
Dash looked at Luna, her face one of desperation.
"Luna?"
"Yes Dashie?"
"Does she love me? Does she really love me?"
"What dost thou think? What dost thy heart tell thee?"
"No. I think that fucking cunt just want's to write a book about me!" Dash snapped. Her eyes suddenly went wide before she closed them and smacked her head down onto her hoof. "Oh great, then Twilight will read it and ask me all about my twat!" She rolled her eyes skyward "Just great!" She crossed her forelegs on her chest and turned away to sulk.
"Rainbow Dash?"
"What is it?" Dash was clearly annoyed.
"What is this twat thou speakest of? Do I also have a twat Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow looked at her and burst into laughter. She rolled around the grass in hysterics, holding her stomach and kicking her legs until tears came to her eyes. Finally she calmed down.
"I guess it must be most funny. I would like to see one."
Dash calmed down and started to catch her breath. Then she smiled. She was laying on her back so so she opened her legs, and relaxed her pelvic muscles, exposing her pink vulva.
"Ah! 'Tis thy vagina!" Luna leaned toward Dash and raised an eyebrow "Tis fairer than even I had imagined."
Dash bought her knees together and shook her head. "You sure know how to make a little sister feel better about herself. I gotta... wait. Did I just flash Princess Luna?? Did I just show you my..."
"Twat? Yes, you did, but thou are no longer pouting about Princess Twilight Sparkle questioning thee about thy twat. And we are no longer just princess and subject. We are close friends - sisters- who can tell each other anything. Like the difference between a pussy and a cunt. They are used in so many ways - it has caused me much confusion."
"Well this is my twat." She said, pointing to her crotch with her hoof. "But it's also my pussy and my cunt. But a twat can also be a clueless mare, a pussy can be a colt or stallion who is a lightweight. Well not like he's light, but he's got no courage, he won't face up to his responsibilities. Cunts...hmm. well, a cunt can be a bitch."
"So a female canine can be a cunt? Is Applejack's dog Winona such a cunt?"
"No," Dash laughed again. "It's more like a really mean filly, or mare. Do you know Diamond Tiara?"
"Yes, she attends school with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and Twist and Pip..."
"Right, right. Well she's got cunt potential. If they had a "Future Cunts of Equestria" club - she'd pretty much be their president with that Silver Spoons probably as VP. But sometimes I think Spoony may not be all that bad. She's just a follower. Cunt's are usually kinda hot and they use their sex to get what they want."
"Ahhhh, I am familiar with this type. 'Tis most distasteful."
"Oh my gosh! You've been in their dreams!! Oh right, you can't talk about it. Well next time you're there, you can tell DT to lay off Scoots, and the rest of the CMC's."
"'Tis not my intent to tell ponies what to do. I only wish to help them find what they know in their hearts to be true, despite what their heads may tell them."
"Well then I guess my heart is pretty stupid because it can't figure this out."
"What dost thou wish to know?"
"Am I in love with a cunt? Does she love me?"
"How many questions is't thou asking Dash?"
"Uhhh two?"
"Thinkest again"
"What are you talking about?!! Question one - Am I in love with a cunt?! Question two - does she love me? Pretty straight forward there Luna!"
"Is it? Perhaps thou should'st break the question down one word at a time for thy older sister. Hhmmm?"
"For a princess, you can be pretty thick."
"Humor us."
"Whatever."
"Thou certainly art taking thy time in performing a simple task."
"Fine! Break it down? OKAY!" Dash rolled her eyes
"Ammmmmm..." she paused as if addressing a foal "...eye... pause ...in... pause ...luuuuuuuve...
Luna cocked her head a fraction of an inch. Dash continued ...wihhhhhh... The sound faded as Rainbow Dash was struck dumb. Her jaw hung slack and she stared at Luna for help. Then her face clouded over.
"That's ridiculous! You're questioning whether or not I love that cunt?!"
Luna said nothing.
"I saved her life! Of course I love her! I did what I promised, I wore the stockings. which I totally rocked by the way. I did it, and we made love. I lick - uh - did things I thought she would like, and she did. It was incredible. we made amazing love. It was funny and caring and sweet. And at the end of it she did all these things, even after I came... like, clean me up..." Dash slowed down. "...and make sure I was on the dry spot of the bed and that I was comfortable." She looked at Luna, her voice became more caring. "And the next day when I woke up I was a friggin mess. I had never had sex with an older mare, I had never gotten that crazy with anypony. I said some pretty nasty things to her, but she was really nice..." Dash lowered her head, and her voice took on a tone of shame. "...and didn't say anything except that she wanted to help me. Then told me about being an Elite Pegasus. I told her about my Uncle and how when he was visiting I got all crazy with masturbating. She told me what I did before I told her."
"Did it make thou feel better?"
"Well, yeah, it made me feel great. She told me how it was totally normal. She knew it all. A part of me that I never told anypony about was suddenly cool. I can't even tell you how happy it made me."
"Allow me to ask a question of thee."
"Sure."
"If Harmony told you what you did, for what experiment does she need you?"
"I don't know! To show the world that she was right about how Elite Pegasi have sex."
"But did she not tell thou how to have sex before thou had sex with her? Would not thou simply have followed her instructions?"
"Yeah, I guess. I pretty much did."
"And were she to strap you to that table in front of those scientists, what would she say? That thou did things that an Elite Pegasi would do during sex, especially if thou were told what to do? It does not sounds to us like anything about which one would write a book. No new news or discoveries, other than that an Elite Female Pegasus can follow verbal directions."
"Yeah, I guess... Hey you're right!! She totally blew any chance of proving what she had been studying by telling me all that stuff!! She does love me!!!" Dash took off and flew several somersaults, woo-hooing with each before landing in front of Luna. "Please oh please oh please don't tell her I called her a cunt! Oh wait, you wouldn't, that was stupid of me. Sorry sis. What? What's with the look?"
"Thou has answered two of the three questions. Harmony is not a cunt, and Harmony does love thee."
"Oh, yeah, right..."
Luna leaned over and kissed Dash on the bridge of her muzzle. She held her lips there for awhile, sensing the pure joy that radiated off the cyan pony.
"Guess it's time to wake up, eh sis?"
"So soon?" Luna asked with a little sad smile, but those two words filled Dash's heart with light. She looked into Luna's eyes.
"I love you, soooo much."
"I love you too Rainbow Dash. Give thyself time to think. Feelings are complicated and love far more so, though it is the simplest thing ever."
"Will I see you again soon?"
"Of course, now get some wake!"
Dash smiled, and stretched and yawned. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | pre | It was useless. I'd just meet her at the castle of Far, Far away. I turned back to see a few more zombie ponies, including the stallion she blasted, trotting toward me. I simply could not BELIEVE how many ponies were affected already, though it made total sense. The only way to fend ourselves in this world was knives, horse dildos, and magic, and for some reason, the magic had clocked out on us. The zombie ponies behind me were difficult to outrun, but a clear path to the castle of Far, Far away laid ahead. I tried to remain straight as I made my way there, the horse dildo flopping in my hand.
I managed to lose the zombie ponies chasing me by zipping around some houses, even though I literally just mentioned that I bumped into Twi on the outskirts of town. Oh well. As I got close to the castle of Far, Far away, I could sense a bunch of ponies gathered around, because I got bit by a spider yesterday. This had gotten too horrible much too quickly. The zombies ... not the spider.
As I approached the castle of Far, Fa-
Shut up. They get it.
There were a bunch of ponies with saddlebags looking around, and a few consoling each other. I could see fear painted on every face I saw. Twi must have been inside with the others, so I shoved the other ponies out of my way and entered the castle. Inside, Twi was talking with the others and ... a few royal guards? Okay. Miss Applejack, Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike ... all here. I frowned, thinking of party addict.
Dash was the first to notice me. When she saw me, she couldn't help but flip me off again. The strange, blue finger was starting to bother me, so I flipped her off too. The others glanced at me, eying the horse dildo hanging out of my other hand.
"Nice cock, sugarcube."
"Where's the important princesses?" I asked.
Twi glared at me while Dash responded, "What do you think, D? They're boarded up in Canterlot. They'll be fine. They've got guards and stuff."
"Anyway," Twi said, "We gotta find out what's draining our magic, and we've got to find that damn book with the spell."
"Wait," I said, "there's a book of the ... spell? What?"
"I could remember it in the library," Twi ignored me, "but I still haven't gotten the castle's library figured out yet."
Spike huffed. "It's a fucking library, Twilight. The books are literally arranged by type and author. Fucking idiot."
"Well, what's first?" Rarity asked.
"Maybe we should look for the book?" I suggested.
"We have to find what's causing all this magic to go," Twi ignored me, "and I know just who to get in touch with."
Fluttershy replied, "But Discord only knows when there is a magical imbalance ... he can't take it away."
"We have to find him either way. He'd be a big help to the group if he isn't involved," Twi assured.
Before anybody spoke further, Discord made a snap entrance behind me. "I'm here. What's the plan?"
Twi repeated the plan out for him, but he didn't look content with it. She talked it over with him about the magic imbalance, and he immediately got very defensive. He went on a couple minute long rant about the trust issues the group had with him, appearing visibly upset that we suspected him so quickly. Eventually, we quit arguing with him and apologized.
"Why don't you imbeciles just defeat it with the magic of friendship?" he asked.
"That's not how it works, moron," Dash hissed, "Besides, Pinkie didn't make it."
"What? What happened to her?" he inquired.
"Ask ... D'mitry," Twi stated, dramatically looking to the side as she pointed a hoof at me. Discord glanced at me questionably.
"I bit her. She tasted like cupcakes."
"Hot," Dash said.
"You humans are fucking weird," Discord commented.
Suddenly, Spike burped out a letter from Princess Celestia. He clawed it to Twilight, who read the heading.
"What the fuck?!" she exclaimed.
"What's the matter, sugarcube?"
"It's to fucking D'mitry..."
Discord, Spike, and a nearby royal guard burst into laughter at the thought that Princess Celestia had sent a letter to a slave like me, as opposed to the literal Princess of Friendship. She squinted her eyes angrily as she swept her gaze to me. Of course, me being me, I dropped my horse cock on the ground beside me before strutting through the circle. As I did, I swept my curly hair back and pointed my fingers out at the others, who stared back with blank faces. Twi sighed annoyingly as she hoofed it to me. It read:
Dear D'mitry,
Sup fucker?? So, you remember my magic right? You better. Anywho, me and Luna used a bit of our last magic to give you something. It should be arriving in a box after you read this sentence.
There was more to read, but my ADHD didn't care. Surely enough, a box popped up, right over my head. The heavy box thunked the top of me noggin, dropping both of us to the floor. As cartoon swirls floated over my head, I sat back up by myself. Everypony ignored the chance to help me as they watched me open the box.
Peeking inside, I nearly knocked the box over again. I could not BELIEVE what Princess Celestia was thinking. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Locked n' Loaded | Inside the box was a Beretta m9 pistol, a bag of magazines, a combat knife, and a backpack filled with survival gear. Princess Celestia, Luna, and possibly Cadence had used their magic to bring me a loaded gun and a combat knife, straight from Earth.
"What is it?" Twi asked.
"Oh ... uh, it's nothing. I'm just gonna take this box outside. You guys can keep talking the plan through." I picked up the box and started for the door. Dash stopped me before I could leave. "Come on Devan, this is a desperate situation. We all gotta know what's going on, and what's that box," she implied.
"It's just some stuff from my world, there's no-" before I finished, Dash grabbed the box forcefully and we fought for it shortly before it fell out of my hands and the stuff fell out. Some of the gear fell at the legs of Twi and Rarity and the pistol fell in front of Dash. I quickly grabbed the knife.
"So a knife, some other supplies, and whatever that is?" Twi stepped up.
"What is this?" Dash was looking down the barrel.
"Don't!" I snagged the gun quickly; cautiously.
"Devan, what's your problem?" Dash looked me over intently.
"This thing is very dangerous! I'm just being protective."
"What does it do?"
I took a quick breath. "I can't show you now. Maybe later. Just know that it can kill you if you're not careful."
The others looked around at each other nervously.
"Celestia wants you to use force?" AJ asked.
"I don't know." I picked up the letter and kept reading.
I know you may think we're crazy, but trust me, there will be an end to this. You have to use force to protect Twi and the others. Get them over here when everybody thinks it's safe. We know that there is a spell to turn the zombie ponies back to normal. We can handle them when the time comes. The equipment is for protection. Use it at your own will.
After finishing the letter, I let it float to the ground. "Why can't we just send unicorns and earth ponies to Cloudsdale while we try to find the cure?" I asked.
Everypony looked at each other.
"Devan ... just as odd as it is that the unicorns have lost their magic, pegasi have been losing their flight. Our wings are really numb right now, and we don't know why," Dash stammered.
The thoughts I had about Cloudsdale were knocked straight out of my head, and splattered on the floor.
"Well then ..." I tried to digest it all, "Celestia wants us to head to the castle when we can."
"Alright. Before we go, I want to gather up as many ponies as possible and board up the castle, so ..." she let out the game plan, and we all followed, "Rarity, you and me can search my library for the cure. Dash and Flutters, you two go out and find Zecora. Bring her here. If she's not at the hut, come straight back. Discord, can you get over to the princesses and see if they're alright? If they are, come back here and help us secure the castle. AJ and Devan ..." She looked at me for a second. "You two scavenge around, and gather as many ponies as you can. We have to move fast. This will be over soon."
I couldn't help but wonder about the princesses' thoughts. What were they thinking? If there was a cure to turn ponies back ... then why would I use force and actually kill one of them? It wouldn't matter if they turned anyway, would it?
That got me thinking about my bite. I had almost forgotten about it. I didn't think telling the others would do any good. I hadn't felt any signs of turning or any nausea. I thought that maybe I could wait until I started turning to tell them, but I also took note that I couldn't wait too long.
"Uh, may Devan come with me instead? And Flutters can go with AJ?" Dash asked.
"Fine, just get to Zecora quickly," Twi cautioned us.
Everypony headed out the door, and Twi let all the ponies outside in. Discord had made a snap exit to get to the princesses. AJ and Flutters ran with us until we reached the first house. They entered the house while Dash and I kept running to the forest.
"Look, can we talk when we get to the forest? Like, slow down a bit?" Dash requested.
"Okay," I nodded.
We slowed down when we were a little ways through the forest. I found it odd we hadn't run into any zombie ponies on the way, but it surely wasn't a bad thing.
"What do you wanna know?" I asked sadly.
"Did you see her turn?"
"Yeah. I was ..."
"You were what?"
"I was hugging her when she did."
"Oh."
We continued to slowly jog through the forest.
"Did you know about her being bit?" she glanced at me.
"I didn't know until we got here." I looked around, knowing that we were getting close to where Pinkie had turned. Just like that, I saw a shadow through the fog. Dash and I came to a stop.
"Think that's her?" she asked.
"That's her," I mumbled.
"What should we do?"
I thought for a minute. When Pinkie was lobbing at me before, she had gone quite faster than I had thought she actually would. There was a chance we could just sprint around her, but there might be consequences. I looked around at the trees. No sign of openings or pathways. Pinkie had probably already noticed us anyways. It looked extremely creepy, and every once in a while I saw stirring through the leaves.
"I don't think we can just run through, and there's no shortcuts around. At least, no shortcuts that I know of. I really don't know," I continued to think.
There was a slight grumble behind us, followed by definite footsteps. Both of us turned around to see a pony with holes in his legs, half of his gums showing on one side, and a chipped ear. He was splattered with blood, and his eyes were whitish as Pinkie's had been.
"We gotta get to Zecora's," she insisted.
"Let's go!" I started running towards her silhouette . We couldn't see her clearly, but I had a feeling it had to be-
We stopped in our tracks. There were now two of them in front of us. One of them we hadn't expected. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Don't Shoot Your Brains Out | Inside the cardboard box was a 14", hard, white horse dildo, as well as a combat knife, a backpack filled with survival gear, oh ... and ... an m9 Beretta? I looked closer to make sure I saw right. It was an m9 Beretta, and next to it was a bag of magazines. A 9mm Beretta! A GUN! I GOT A GUN! YESSSSSS! Celestia and Luna had used their magic to bring me a loaded gun from Earth! I tried to ignore the horse cock.
"Well, what's in the box?" Twi asked.
"Oh, uh ... uhm ... it's nothing. I'm just gonna nonchalantly take this box outside and hope y'all grow disinterested immediately. Ciao," I said, picking up the box and walking toward the door.
"Yeah right," Twi replied, getting in my way. "What's in the box, fuckface?"
"It's just some stuff from my world, there's no-" I started.
Dash stepped up and threw her front hoof up, knocking the box out of my hand. Its contents spilled out on the floor. Some of the gear fell in front of Twi and AJ, and the horse cock rolled in front of Rarity, whose cheeks immediately burned bright red. The pistol bounced in front of Dash. I quickly grabbed the knife.
"Nice cock," Discord commented.
"Yeah," Spike joined, "It's even bigger than yours, D'mitry."
I angrily kicked my horse dildo aside.
"So, you're being dramatic for what now?" Twi asked, observing the things that spilled out.
"What's this?" Dash asked, looking down the barrel of the gun.
"Oh, that's nothing. Can't hurt you at all."
As she fumbled with the gun, it somehow went off, sending a bullet ripping through her forehead. Her colorful body dropped to the floor, blood splattering out behind her.
"Oh my GOD!" AJ exclaimed.
We all looked on in horror at Dash's dead body as blood seeped out, creating a nasty blood puddle on the floor that flowed around the gun.
"What the fuck, D'mitry?!" Twi exclaimed, "You could've fucking warned her!"
Damn it, D'mitry. You just messed up the timeline. Everybody hold still.
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"What's this?" Dash asked, looking down the barrel of the gun.
I held my head, confused about what just took place.
"Geez, what just happened?"
I looked over at Dash. "Wait, what?"
As she fumbled with the gun, it somehow went off, sending a bullet ripping through her forehead. Her colorful body dropped to the floor, blood splattering out behind her.
You fucking idiot.
**!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@R!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$!&$@!$(*&^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@()@@**@@@(((@**
"What's this?" Dash asked, looking down the barrel of the gun.
"Lol. It's nothi-"
Lightning pierced through the castle's roof and struck me.
"Ow!"
As she fumbled with the gun, it somehow went off, sending a bullet ripping through her forehead. Her colorful body dropped to the floor, blood splattering out behind her.
God damn it, D'mitry! FOLLOW THE DAMN SCRIPT! I can't do this forever.
**!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@R!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$!&$@!$(*&^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@()@@**@@@(((@**
"What's this?" Dash asked, looking down the barrel of the gun.
"Don't!" I exclaimed, snagging the gun quickly. As I did, my finger unintentionally brushed the trigger, causing the gun to go off and sending a bullet ripping through her forehead. Her colorful body dropped to the floor, blood splattering out behind her.
Oh my god.
The gun was pulled from my hands by what felt like magic, and I watched as it turned around. It somehow went off, sending a bullet ripping through my forehead. My body dropped to the floor, blood splattering out behind me.
The point-of-view shifted to Twilight briefly.
I am Celestia's favorite student. I always will be. There's no way anypony is taking this away from- Wait a minute. Who's reading my thoughts?
Uhh...
"Reverse time already, shitface!" she exclaimed.
**!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$)(*@&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$!&$@&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(**@!&$(*&@R!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(**@!&$(*&@!$(*&$(*&*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(**@!&$(*&@!$(*(*$&(@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!&$@!$(*@@@(((@**
"Don't!" I exclaimed, snagging the gun quickly, and cautiously.
"It's about time, you fucking moron," Dash commented.
"What? You knew about it? That makes you the moron, moron," I retaliated.
"Well, I knew about it after the Author had to reverse time FOUR fucking times. Jesus. Anyway, what's your problem, D'mitry? What does that thing do?"
"Are you serious?"
"Whatever, nevermind, let's move on."
"So, Celestia wants you to use force?" AJ asked.
"I don't know."
I picked up the letter and kept reading.
I know you may think we're crazy. Trust me, we are. But there will be an end to this. Use the force, D'mitry. Tell Twilight to get her cute little tush over here when it is safe. You all can come along too. We know there's a spell to turn 'em back to normal, but oh wow, even my wise ass can't seem to figure it out. I can't begin to tell you how frustrated I am about that. Stupid fucking shit. Anywho, we'll handle the zombies when the time comes. Use the stuff at your own will. Just don't be an idiot.
P.S. The horse dildo can be used for whatever. Just don't bang it up too bad. It's one of my favorites.
Xoxo
-Mol -Celestia
After finishing the letter, I let it float to the ground.
Twi huffed. "D'mitry, quit dropping shit on my floor."
I sighed. "Why can't we just send unicorns and earth ponies to Cloudsdale while we try to find a cure?"
"What are we, slaves?" Dash scoffed.
"No, just D'mitry," AJ insisted.
Dash continued. "We can't do that anyway. Just as odd as it is that the unicorns have lost their magic, we pegasi have been losing our flight. At first, it was alright, as we could somewhat get to places with the uncontrollable barrel-rolls screaming Yeehaw, but now they are too heavy to even move."
I sighed. "Yeenaw ..."
Lightning ripped through the ceiling and struck me, causing me great shock.
"Thank you, author," AJ said.
No problem.
So, the thoughts about Cloudsdale were knocked out of my head, splattering all over the floor. The others gazed down at the strange letters scattered about, but they vanished before anybody could mention them.
"Well then ..." I tried to digest stuff, "Celestia wants us to head to the castle when we can."
"Alright then," Twi replied, "Before we go, I would like to waste as much time as possible here in Ponyville. Let's gather as many ponies as possible and board up the two fucking windows in this tree fortress. So..."
She gazed around at everybody.
"... Rarity, you and I can search the library for the cure. Dash and Flutters, you two fuck off to the Everfree Forest and look for Zecora. Bring her here if you find her. Discord, can you teleport to the princesses to see if they're okay? We'll ignore your magic ability for now because you teleporting us to Canterlot would be a really boring plotline. If they're okay, just come on back. Applejack..."
She looked at me for a second.
"... take your slave and scavenge around. Loot as many houses as you can and whip the homeowners if they don't agree to come back to the castle with you. We have to move fast. This will be over soon."
"Twilight, are you mental?" Spike asked.
"Apparently so."
"Figures."
I couldn't help but wonder what the important princesses were thinking. If there was a cure to turn ponies back, why would I use force to kill one of them? It wouldn't matter if they turned anyway, would it? I ignored these thoughts, because shooting ponies in the face might be stress-relieving for me.
That got me thinking about my bite. I had almost forgotten about it. I didn't want to tell the others, because I didn't care. If I died, then maybe I could take one of them with me. That'd be funny. Still, I didn't feel any signs of turning, whatever that might be, so I didn't think much of it.
"I don't want to go with him," AJ said, "Make Dash take him."
"Okay."
"TWILIGHT, what the fuck?" Dash complained.
"Sorry. Just get to Zecora quickly."
The meeting adjourned and we all headed out the door. Twi let the ponies outside in. Our meeting was so important that we couldn't be bothered to allow simpleton Ponyville residents to the safety of the castle while it happened. It's not like any of them might've had any useful information for us to go off of. AJ and Fluttershy ran with us until we reached the first house. They busted the door down while Dash and I kept running to the forest.
"Can we talk when we get to the forest?" Dash asked.
"Ok. Nothin' else to do."
We slowed down when we were in the Everfree. I found it odd we hadn't run into any zombie ponies on the way. I disappointingly dragged my new horse cock, wishing I could smack a pony in the face with it. I also hoped I'd get the chance to blast one in the face with my new gun.
"What do you wanna know?" I asked.
"Did Pinkie have any drugs on her?"
"No."
"Damnit."
"Is that really all you wanted to know?"
"Uh, yeah. I could really use some drugs right now."
"Me too. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I asked her quite a few times, but she didn't have anything."
Dash thought for a moment.
"Well, maybe Zecora has some herbs for us. We can smoke at her place maybe."
"Sounds good."
We continued to slowly jog through the forest. I looked around, knowing that we were getting close to where Pinkie had turned. Just like that, the author spawned a shadow through the fog. He also spawned a lightning bolt, which struck me.
Tell the story normally, moron.
Isn't that, like, your job?
Partially. I'm more of a scene builder. You're the story-teller. This is a team effort, damn it!
Dash and I came to a stop.
"Think that's her?" she asked.
"Who the fuck else would it be?"
"Fuck you. What do we do about her?"
I thought for a second. When Pinkie was lobbing at me before, she had gone faster than I thought she would. There was a chance we could just sprint around her, but there might be consequences. I looked around at the trees. No sign of openings or pathways. Pinkie probably already noticed us anyway. It looked extremely creepy, you know, the forest, and every once in a while I saw stirring through the leaves.
"Maybe we just plow through her. I'll slap her with my horse cock."
"Hot," she commented.
There was a slight grumble behind us, followed by footsteps. Both of us turned around to see a pony with holes in his legs, half of his gums showing on one side, and a chipped ear. He was splattered with blood, and his eyes were whitish as Pinkie's had been.
"Well, let's get the fuck on then," she insisted.
"Letsa go!"
I started running towards her silhouette . We couldn't see her clearly, but I had a feeling it had to be-
GAASSSSSSSSSSSSSP
Oooouohuuhhhhohhuhuohhhhuouuuohhhohhh
noouoooouuooooooouooouooouuooo
We stopped in our tracks. There were now two of them in front of us. One of them ...
... we hadn't expected ... |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Zecora's Hut | There was no reason to run through now. In front of us was zombified Pinkie and Zecora. Zecora hadn't made it, and I couldn't be too surprised. I felt guilty, knowing I might have been the one who got her bit, leading Pinkie right toward her and running off as I did.
"Should we just keep going?" Dash suggested, "We could find out a potion or something in her hut."
"It's not worth it. We don't know anything about potions. Besides, it's 2 v 1 ... I choose one." I looked back to find not one, but three zombie ponies behind us now. "Damn."
With no more time to speak without getting eaten, we both gunned it toward Pinkie and Zecora. I got out my knife in case things got ugly. The gun was too loud, and would echo through the dark woods. When we got closer, I started to nudge Dash to the side, away from them. I knew that it didn't matter if I got bit again. I had to look out for Dash and make sure she didn't.
Seeming to hold our breaths, we bolted past them. Or ... almost did. I messed up badly and got Dash tripped. We both fell to the ground and I was stalled trying to get her up with Pinkie and Zecora lunging at us. It didn't take long for her to get up though.
I kicked Zecora back before she got the chance to bite and was forced to slice Pinkie's cheek with the knife before she got hers. We sprinted away from them quickly, but heard their hooves beating the ground behind us. We didn't stop running until we were at Zecora's hut.
The door to it had already been burst in, and there were bloodstains around the hut. It was horrible to the point where we could see which spots she was attacked at. Broken glass was scattered around the floor, and some shelves were laying on the ground. Dash and I both slammed the door shut and I instructed her to drag Zecora's heavy pot in front. She managed to get it over and we pushed it against the shaking door.
"I don't know how well I'm gonna be able to handle this." Dash drooped, looking around at Zecora's hut.
"I don't know how well I can do either, but we have to make it through. I'm here if you ever need somebody to talk to."
"Thanks. Now let's just get through these books."
---- ---- ----
"Anything in that one?" she asked.
I threw the book aside. "No. Any luck with you?"
"Nope."
We kept looking book through book, spell by spell. There had to be something about zombies, right? Even if it was a myth book, we could still get some kind of insight. But as the books thinned out, our hope to find something diminished. A few minutes later, a harsh bang shook the pot, startling us from the spells.
"That won't hold for long," I said.
"What do you mean? It's not like they're gonna get through it, are they? If they were, they would have done it by now," she insisted.
"We can't be certain. There's only two small books left. Search through them quickly while I get the window open enough to get through."
I hustled to the bedroom, jumped up on the bed and started to work the window. Using the strength I could muster, I managed to bend the thick branch enough to where Dash could fit through. When I ran back, the door was torn up and the pot was trembling.
"Any luck?" I asked.
"No, let's just get outta here."
She ran for the bedroom and jumped on the bed, starting to ease her way through the window. Somehow, I hadn't made a wide enough space for her to get through, and her wings got caught on the sides.
"Devan, help! Push me or som-!"
"Shh!" I glanced back at the door.
Oh no.
The door wasn't trembling anymore, and they'd heard Dash's cries for help.
"Damn it! Dash, wiggle towards the inside, hurry!" I raced back to the door and used all the strength I could muster to shove the heavy pot out of my way. Quickly, I threw the door open and started running around the outside of the hut. I hesitantly pulled out my knife and sliced through Zecora's neck, holding her back when it jammed halfway through.
Pinkie had heard the ruckus between Zecora and I, but she kept going for Dash, who was now using her hooves to fend herself and keep away from the bite. My emotions had to be pulled out of me for one second to aim the m9 at Pinkie and pull the trigger. She had almost made ripped into Dash's hooves, but the bullet stopped her immediately. She fell to the ground, bullet pierced through the back of her head as I fired off another round into Zecora, splattering her blood over my face. Dash looked back at me with wide eyes.
"Oh my god ... No wonder you grabbed that out of my hoof when you did."
She continued to wiggle until she was eventually free as I pulled the knife out of Zecora's throat, watching in sorrow as she collapsed next to Pinkie.
Blood was spilled under our feet. They looked awful now. Even worse than when they were zombies. I glimpsed at Pinkie, and all my hope shattered into a million pieces on the bloody grass.
"This is all my fault."
"No it's not. Devan, don't say that. We have bigger problems to face right now."
I frowned, looking up at the dark clouds above us. I had known Pinkie for nearly my whole stay in Equestria. Memories of her and I together flashed through my head. The picnics with her sister, the sleepovers, the rock climbing ... it all came back as I angrily tried to wipe them away.
"What do we do with them?" Dash asked.
" I ... I don't know. Let's just ..." I thought, "drag them inside."
After grossly pulling them inside the hut, we looked through the cracked door one last time before making our way back to the others. The other three zombie ponies that'd followed us were nowhere to be found, but we kept a look out just in case. We both were depressed, but at the same time ready to fight off anything that got in our way. I checked the Beretta and the magazine to make sure it was loaded.
"So," Dash broke the silence, "What do you call that thing?"
"This, specifically, is an m9 Beretta, but in general, it's a gun. It's a type of pistol," I explained.
"So ... an m9 Beretta pistol gun?"
"Ha, I guess you could call it that. I'll just call it an m9."
"Okay." We kept walking a little ways. "Can I hold it?" she grinned.
Not knowing how to answer that, I just handed her the gun. Her hoof wouldn't be able to pull the trigger anywa-
"Bang!" she actually managed to let off a shot that shook up the dirt next to our legs, making her drop the gun.
"Oh crap, sorry. I didn't know it was so sensitive," she picked up the gun and hoofed it back to me.
"How did you even pull the trigger?" I asked.
"I don't know," she shrugged.
"Well, at least you got to feel what it's like to fire a gun, but now we need to get outta here, before them zombie ponies from before find us. No doubt they heard that."
"Right."
---- ---- ----
It was getting dark by the time we reached the houses and when we did, it wasn't as pretty a sight as it was before we had left. It seemed even more abandoned, and some of the boards on the doors were broken into. There were two zombie ponies wandering the path in front of us.
"What do we do?" Dash asked.
"Um ..." I stared down at my m9.
No, that would be stupid. It would attract attention, and whatever happened in the short time that we were gone looked like it hit horribly fast. I scanned the edge of the town until I found a pinkish pony with light green hair lying against a banged up house. I'm not good on names, but I believe hers was Daisy.
"Let's see if she's okay, then we can make our way through the town." I began sneaking towards her, Dash behind me, keeping our eyes on the zombies.
Before I got too close, I noticed something that made me come to a fast halt. My heart skipped a beat.
Daisy was shot in the face, blood spattered out on the other side of her. There was no way she could have survived that. It also brought my already swirling thoughts into a thundercloud of confusion. I had the only gun in Equestria ... didn't I? I tried hard to hold back the vomit building up in my system.
"What's the matter?" Dash leaned over to look at Daisy, but I stopped her and got in the way of her view.
"Dash, remember when I had to shoot Pinkie?"
"Yeah ... it was only minutes ago. Why?"
"Daisy's shot in the head too, but she wasn't a zombie."
Her eyes widened just as mine did when I saw her.
"There's too much blood, and I don't want you getting nauseous on me now," I explained.
"B- but, who shot her? I thought you were the only one with a gun!"
"That's what I thought too."
My brain couldn't take much more. I had already seen three dead ponies ... and I had a feeling there was going to be many more coming, but I tried to wash that thought away.
"Look, we need to get to that castle pronto. Let's gun it past those zombies." I observed them again.
"Sure," she quickly agreed.
We creeped out slowly before jolting on the path. The two zombies noticed us immediately, but we were quick enough to juke and confuse them by running through an open house. We continued our path to the castle, finding that the condition of the town got worse the closer to the castle we got.
What really got me was the house we passed that was actually in flames. It almost made me stop, but I realized that we weren't too far off from some more zombie ponies. Once again, their speed worried me. It was also probably preferable to get to that castle immediately.
We eventually passed another house on fire, and before we got sight of the castle, we saw a big cloud of smoke coloring the sky. I recognized in horror where the looming cloud of smoke was coming from. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Smoke it up | Wow. I am teetering at the edge of my seat at this cliffhanger. Who could it be?! Who could they have found in the middle of the damn Everfree? Let's read on!
There was no reason to run through now. In front of us was a zombie Pinkie Pie and Zecora. Zecora hadn't made it, and I wasn't surprised. Really, I didn't care. Maybe we could loot some stuff from her hut now. She was known for "herbs", so I hoped we could get high off of something.
"Should we just keep going?" Dash asked.
"Well, duh. Don't you wanna get high? Or do you wanna go back to Twi?"
"Hell nah. Let's get high!"
With no more time to speak without getting eaten, we both gunned it for Pinkie and Zecora. I readied my horse cock, in case things got ugly. The gun was too loud, even though we were in the middle of the Everfree. When we got closer, I started nudging Dash to the side, away from them.
"D! Knock it off!"
I knew it didn't matter if I got bitten again. I had to make sure Dash didn't. I nudged harder.
"D'MITRY!"
We seemingly held our breaths as we bolted past them. Or...
Almost did. Shockingly, nudging Dash caused her to trip. Somehow, my dumbass fell to the ground as well. I was stalled trying to get her up as Pinkie and Zecora lunged at us. Our adrenaline was high though, so we both shot back up.
I smacked Zecora in the face with my horse cock before she got the chance to bite me. I also whacked Pinkie's cheek with the cock before she got hers. We sprinted away from them quickly, the firm horse cock subtly bouncing in my hand. I could hear their hooves beating the ground behind us, so we didn't stop running until we were at the hut.
The door had already been burst in, so we flew inside. Bloodstains painted the hut, and broken glass was shattered around the floor. Dash and I slammed the door shut and hauled Zecora's heavy brewing pot in front of it. Dash huffed as she turned to me.
"You fucking moron. You almost got my ass killed again! You got a problem with me or something? Is it your 'racism'?" she said, waving 'hoof quotes' to mock my racism.
"No..."
"Ok, you're just a moron then."
"Well, the author did make me pretty brain-dead I think."
"Okay, whatever. Hopefully I can get brain-dead here in a minute as well. Help me find her stash."
For the next few minutes, we gathered up some of the marijuana Zecora had around the house. It didn't take long to get a sizable amount. Both of us were honestly pretty taken aback by just how much this zebra had on her. Damn. She probably had enough lying around to be arrested in Colorado at this point. Dash picked out the best-looking strains and got to grinding them up. After sprinkling on the left-over kief, she hooved me a couple grams so I could roll it. As I was rolling, her annoyed expression changed, and she smiled as she watched me.
"I gotta admit, D, you and your hands are an absolute god-send."
I paused rolling and glanced back at her.
"Huh? What about your weird blue finger?"
"Weird blue finger? What do you mean?" she asked.
"Your ... your finger? The finger from earlier?"
Geez, D'mitry. You haven't even smoked anything yet. Fuck are you talking about?
"The ... the finger!"
Suddenly, I heard the author whisper to me.
Pretend you never saw the finger. I've removed it from everyone else's memory. The scenes are already built, so you gotta pretend like it never happened. It was a two-time comedic event.
"Ah, nevermind. I must have been dreaming, or hallucinating, or something. I dunno."
"Geez, D. You sure you still wanna smoke?"
"Yes, yes even more now."
"Alright."
She continued watching me roll, smiling again as I finished it up and set it down.
"Seriously though, D. Your fingers are awesome. You know how frustrating it was to roll this shit with tweezers? Sweet Celestia. I'm glad you're here."
I smiled. "Thanks, Dash."
I felt very appreciated as I finished rolling up the second, fatass joint. She brought over one of Zecora's lighters and took her joint from me, sparking up. After a strong first hit, she immediately coughed up a lung.
"WOOOOOO Damn! That is some loud stuff," she commented, coughing as she hoofed me the lighter.
"Hell yeah!" I replied, sparking my own.
Both of us finished smoking our joints, just to roll two more. After we were done, the room was swirling and buzzing. My brain danced as my body warmed to a comfortable high. We started laughing together. At what? I don't know. Who actually remembers any part of their high, you know? I think we were joking about my horse cock at one point.
Probably.
We enjoyed the high for the next unrecordable amount of time.
I woke up in the hut, laid out on Zecora's bed. The ceiling above me looked foggy, but I figured I might still be a bit high. I blinked my eyes open, turning to see Dash's back curled up against my side. My clothes felt a bit sweaty, and my belt was lazily and improperly buckled.
Oh, wow. That took a turn.
Taste the rainbow. Haha.
That I did, apparently.
There was a subtle banging at the door now. I sat up, fixing my pants and shaking off my residual high. I leaned back and shook Dash awake.
"Mfhhhhfhfhgfg ..." she protested, turning over to face me. "What?"
"Come on, Dash. Funs over. We gotta live in the apocalypse again."
"UGHHHH. Can't we stay a little longer? Twilight said she wants to waste time in Ponyville anyway."
"No. We best get a move on. There's no telling if that pot will hold."
"D, that pot is heavy as fuck. You really think it won't hold?"
Suddenly, the pot shifted, scraping along the floor. The banging continued.
"I swear ..." Dash said as she sat up, "This fucking author."
Well this ain't a damn clopfic. Get a move on, freaks.
"Gah- Fine!"
"Wait..." I said, "Didn't we come here to look through books or something?"
"Twilight only mentioned seeing if Zecora was here. I honestly don't care about the few fucking books in here. They're mostly for brewing random stews and making drugs."
"Ah, I guess you're right. Let's get outta here."
I passed behind Dash, positioning myself in front of the window next to Zecora's bed. Using the strength I could muster, I managed to bend the thick branch enough to where Dash could fit. I shimmied out of her way and gestured her through. She began easing her way through it, but somehow, I hadn't made the space wide enough. Her wings got caught on the sides.
"D! You moron! It's not wide enough!"
"Shh!" I exclaimed, listening for Pinkie and Zecora. They continued banging the front door. Phew.
"D, I'm stuck! Help me!" she cried, wiggling her flank in an attempt to get through.
I couldn't help but chuckle.
"D!!!"
"SHHHHHHHHHHUSH!"
I glanced back at the door.
Oh no.
It stopped trembling, and both Pinkie and Zecora had likely heard her cries.
"DASH, WIGGLE INSIDE!" I yelled, racing back to the door. I used all the strength I could muster to shove the heavy ass pot out of my way. Once I had enough space, I threw the door open against the pot and squeezed my way out. I hesitantly pulled out my gun, as my horse cock was still inside somewhere.
When I rounded the corner, Zecora turned around for me. Pinkie glanced back, but kept rounding the corner to Dash. I knew there wasn't any time left, so I aimed the gun over Zecora and shot Pinkie in the back of the head. The shot rang in my ears, and I could almost smell the gunpowder in my nostrils. She had almost made it to Dash, but dropped face-first in the dirt. As hard as it was to shoot Pinkie, I really enjoyed firing the gun. I wanted to do it again.
Zombie Zecora took a moment to glance back at Pinkie, then at me again. Her tinted white eyes widened as I lowered the pistol to her forehead. I hesitated as her expression softened.
"Do it if you must, do it if you need, for you and Rainbow Dash have smoked all my weed."
"Bruh, we only smoked like 4gs. You have pounds in there."
"Numbers don't matter, and I don't care. Just pull that trigger, if you dare."
"Yo, author ... what's up with these zombie ponies talking?? This shit makes no sense."
Nothing makes sense, D'mitry.
"Well ... I just ... okay ..."
Okay. I'll stop with the talking zombie ponies.
"Alright, thanks."
"As you were, and as you are, take that gun, and rip me apart."
"You damn liar!"
Haha I just wanted one more. She's done now.
"Is she?"
Zecora growled at me. She pounced, forcing me to pull the trigger. Blood splattered from behind her head as she dropped to the ground too.
Dash continued to wiggle out of the window until she was eventually free. I observed Zecora and Pinkie's lifeless bodies. Blood was spilled under my feet. They looked awful now. Even worse. Hideous. I glimpsed at Pinkie, and all my hope shattered on the bloody grass.
"This is all my fault," I pouted.
"How is it your fault? You're so fucking dramatic sometimes, I swear," Dash replied.
I frowned and looked up at the dark clouds above us. I started thinking about past memories of Pinkie Pie, but I got distracted and started thinking about chainsaws. Kinda wish I had a chainsaw right now. I looked at Zecora's hut, wondering how long it would take a chainsaw to cut through the tree. Would Celestia allow me to have gas for a chainsaw, or would I have to stick with electric? That being said, I would need something to power it. Would the steam engines in Ponyville be enough? I was a bit rusty on how power actually worked in this universe, so I started debating how viable a chainsaw would actually be.
"Yo, Equestria to D, ya there?" Dash asked, waving a hoof in front of me and ripping me from my trance. I looked down at her.
"What? What do you want?"
"What do you think we should do with em?"
"I don't know. I mean, they're dead. Just leave em. Who cares?"
"Well shit, least we could do is pull em inside."
"Ah- Fine."
After dragging their bodies in the hut and shutting the door, we made our way toward Ponyville, ready to get out of this stupid ass forest. I checked my Beretta and magazine to make sure it was loaded.
"So," Dash broke the silence, "What do you even call that thing?"
"This, erm, spechifically, ish an m9 Beretta. But in general, it's a gun. It's a type of pistol."
"So ... an m9 Beretta pistol gun?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we'll go with that. I'm gonna call it 'my baby'."
"Huh?"
"I don't know. I have some screws loose."
"Obviously."
Obviously.
"So..." Dash continued, "... can I hold it? I promise I won't shoot my brains out this time."
"Eh, yeah, whatever. Here," I replied, handing her the gun.
As she fumbled with the gun, it...
**!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)($(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*@!)(#@@!*&$^!@*&$)(*@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!&$@!$(*&@!@$*@!&$@R!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@(*$&(*@!&$(*!&@$*@!*&$^!@*&$)(@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@!$(@!&$@!$(*&@!$(*@!&$(*&@!$(*&(*@!)(#@@()@@**@@@(((@**
"So ... can I hold ..." she started, "... damn it, author! I wasn't gonna set it off!"
Yes you were. It likely would have shot into the ground, but I'm not doing this shit again.
"Sure, here-" I started, getting ready to hand her the gun again.
Lightning bolt.
I stopped.
"Wow author," I said, "You're getting really lazy with the lightning descrip-"
Lightning bolt.
Lightning bolt.
Lightning bolt.
Lightning bolt.
"OW!!! Stop!!"
Bitch.
"Anyway," I continued, "we need to get outta here. Some zombie ponies might have heard those lightning strikes."
"What?" Dash asked.
"Idk. Let's go."
It was already getting dark by the time we reached Ponyville again. It wasn't as pretty a sight as it was before we left. Why? I don't know. The vibes just felt off, ya know? I just felt, like, bad energy and stuff.
Jesus, you need to stop getting high.
Two zombie ponies wandered on the path in front of us.
"What do we do?" Dash asked.
"Uhh..." I replied, staring down at my gun.
No, that would be stupid. As much as I wanted to fire my baby again and start blasting zombie ponies, it would attract too much attention. I liked being an attention seeker, but probably not now. I scanned the edge of town until I found a pinkish pony with light green hair lying up against a banged up house. It was probably Daisy. I pointed at her.
"Let's see if she's okay, then we can make our way through the town."
"That doesn't solve the problem at all, but okay," Dash replied.
We snuck over to Daisy, keeping our eyes on the zombies as Dash followed me. Before I got too close, I noticed something that made me stop incredibly quickly. My heart skipped a few beats.
Daisy was shot in the face, blood splattered out on the other side of her. There was no way she could have survived that.
You don't say?
My thoughts swirled into a thundercloud of confusion, which gave me PTSD from getting struck by lightning over and over again. I had the only gun in Equestria, didn't I? Did Celestia give Twilight one? No fucking fair. I wanted the only gun. I wanted all the guns.
"What's the matter?" Dash asked, leaning over to look at Daisy. I stopped her and got in her way.
"Dash, you remember when I had to shoot Pinkie?"
"No, that was minutes ago. I already forgot. Yes, dumbass. Why?"
"Daisy got shot in the head too, but she wasn't a zombie."
"How the fuck do you know?" she asked, peeking around the side of me. I shuffled in her way.
"D, you moron. I shot myself in the goddamn face. Let me see."
"K."
She peered on at Daisy before wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"Did I look like that when I shot myself?"
"Pretty much."
"Gross," she replied, glancing at my gun. "I thought you had the only gun? You didn't shoot her earlier, did you?"
"I didn't. I think the important princesses must have sent Twi or somepony else a gun."
"I guess..."
"So we need to get to the castle pronto. I don't like the thought of them having guns. I want all the guns."
"You're definitely American."
"Hell yeah!!!"
We then gunned it past the two zombie ponies on the path. I used my horse cock to smack one away, and the other stallion was so surprised by my weapon of choice that he backed off himself. We continued.
The town looked worse as we continued. There was even a house on fire. How the hell did that happen? Did some idiot leave their wood stove on?
We eventually passed another house mysteriously on fire, and before we got sight of the castle, we saw a big plume of smoke coloring the sky. I recognized in horror where the looming cloud of smoke was coming from. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Nothin' but Trouble | We turned a corner to see the top of the castle completely engulfed in spewing smoke and the bottom obliterated, raging with flames. There was a crowd of ponies in front of the castle, one of which was lying on the ground, surrounded in blood.
What got my attention, and surprised me profusely was three more white teenage boys. The tallest one was yapping aggressively to the remaining ponies while one of the sidekicks had a shotgun to them. The last one was holding a pistol at his side. All the ponies were trembling, some laying on the ground. That's when I knew these boys had to be taken care of ... even if it caused a mess, which I didn't want to think about.
Dash and I immediately snuck to a nearby bush, using it as camouflage. I looked over my m9 quickly, but still thought about how bad it would perform in this situation. This was a pistol, and it was the first gun I'd held in over ten months.
The crowd was a ways away, and I couldn't guarantee the accuracy of the shot would be any good. It's not like it would hit any of the ponies, but there were three targets. With the inaccuracy of the pistol plus my lack of skill, I wouldn't be able to knock them all out without more bodies dying than there needed to be.
I could spot Twi, Rarity, and Spike in the front of the crowd, shaking nervously like the rest of them.
"Devan, do something!" Dash whispered.
"I can't take the risk of firing the gun," I said, continuing to observe the three boys. They all had backpacks on, and the tall one was wearing a bandana around his neck. They all had on caps, and they didn't look to be too much older than me.
The main one aggressively snatched Rarity by the neck, and put a pistol to her head. Spike ran up, but was knocked flat on his face by the other pistol-guzzling sidekick.
"Devan! Do something already!"
"Oh, but he won't be doing anything," I heard a mare's voice behind me before getting the back of my head kicked ferociously, falling face first into the ground. The gun fell out of my hands and slid in front of me. Feeling dizzy, I heard shuffling, along with Dash's voice. I looked at the gun and reached out for it. It felt like a dream. A weary, dizzy, painful dream.
Before I could grab it, another hand picked up the gun, surprising me. I looked up to see an actual teenage girl. She gripped the gun and kicked me hard in the ribs, making me cough.
"Why are you doing this?" I pulled myself up to my knees.
"Shut it. I'm taking you over to Pete. He'll have a word with you." She yanked me up by the shirt. "You too, rainbow pony."
She kicked me in front, and I felt the coolness of the pistol against the back of my head. "Just walk normally." She held the pistol tightly. Still a bit dizzy, I followed her orders. Soon after we started walking over, we got the attention of the three boys, followed by the rest of the crowd.
"Aye, you got him. Good work, Jen," the tallest boy threw Rarity back to the ground, and came face to face with me. "So, you're the pony lover?" he glanced at Dash. "Sounds pretty stupid." He kicked Dash hard, knocking her to the ground.
"Dash!" I went to grab her hoof, but he blocked me with his available arm. I stopped before seeing an opportunity. Not knowing whether or not the girl still had my m9 pointed towards me, I tried to snag the pistol in his other hand. His gun was pointed sideways, and fired one shell into the ground. I managed to shove him to the ground while he struggled. Despite fighting for the gun, I got my other hand locked on his neck and squeezed ferociously. Rage from seeing Dash get hit drove my adrenaline. Soon after, one of his sidekicks bulldozed me out of the grip I had, sending me to the ground as well. The female grabbed me from the back and held me back by my armpits.
"You idiot!" The tall male was helped up as he grabbed a knife out of his back pocket.
"No ... please!" Dash yelled.
He took the knife and slowly slid it across my neck, forcing me to feel the coolness. I looked eye to eye as he took it and unexpectedly sliced it fast down my right eye. My vision through it blacked out immediately, and I felt blood rushing down my cheek. The cut sent throbbing pain directly to my brain, giving me an almost instant headache as my heart beat in my cheek. The crowd of ponies caused a ruckus.
"Ah!" I hollered, and squirmed in the girl's grip.
The girl had let go, and he pounced on top of me. The knife reflected light from the fire as my remaining vision blurred. Blood was oozing out of my eye quickly, and the ruckus in the crowd echoed in my ears.
I was barely conscious when he gripped the knife in both hands, and pulled back. Was this it? Before he could jab the knife through my skull, he was shoved off of me abruptly. I couldn't hear well at all now, but the last thing I heard before zoning out was Discord's voice over the commotion. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but I was glad he was back to help. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) You're fucking nuts! | We turned a corner to see the top of the castle completely engulfed in spewing smoke and the bottom obliterated, raging with flames.
"How the fuck?" I cussed, "Her castle's made of fucking rock, ain't it?"
"Something like that," Dash replied.
"Shit makes no sense."
In front of the castle was a crowd of ponies, one squirming on the ground with blood underneath her. What caught my attention, and surprised me profusely was three more white, teenage boys. The tallest one was yapping aggressively to the crowd while one of the others had a shotgun to them. The last one was holding a pistol at his side.
All the ponies were trembling, some laying on the ground. That's when I grew very angry. I wasn't sure how the fuck these shitheads got here, but their existence made my blood BOIL.
I was supposed to be the only human in Equestria. ME. What the FUCK was this?
Dash and I immediately snuck to a nearby bush, using it as camouflage. I looked over my gun quickly, wondering if I could cap their bitch asses fast enough from this distance. I hadn't held a gun in over 10 months either, as the important princesses obviously denied my request to bring one here over and over again. I even got on their nerves so bad one day that they threw me in the dungeon for 24 hours.
I could spot Twi, Rarity, and Spike in the front of the crowd, shaking nervously like the rest of them.
"D, do something!" Dash whispered.
"I can't risk firing from this distance! I don't know what to do."
"How about you give me the gun and we can pretend that I'm kidnapping you? Then, you get on their good side at the right time, take the gun from me, and blast their heads off?"
"No, no. That is far too intelligent of a plan for us to carry through."
"Oh my fucking Celestia."
I continued observing the boys. They all had backpacks on, and the tall one was wearing a bandana around his neck. What a badass, right? Pussy bitch. They all had on baseball caps, and they didn't look much older than me.
Speaking of which... D'mitry is 18 years old. I don't know if my past self even mentioned that. Jesus. He's an 18 year old white boy from the state of Georgia. You know, the zombie state? Yeah. Fitting enough.
The main one snatched Rarity aggressively by the neck, and put his pistol to her head. Spike ran up, but was knocked flat on his face by the other sidekick.
I chuckled, at Spike, but was pissed off about Rarity. Out of the mane 6, Rarity was one of the least abusive towards me, so part of my heart went to her. I was going to fucking murder these fuckboys. I stood up from the bush and stepped out of it in a fit of rage.
"Oh, but he won't-" a female voice behind me called, "wait ... what?"
I turned around to see a human, teenage girl standing behind the bush. She was pretty short, and had blonde hair down to her neck. She also had pretty nice tits. Anyway, she looked back at me with confused, ocean-colored eyes. She also held a pink Glock by her side.
"Hey! Get on the ground!" she yelled, pointing the gun at me when she noticed mine. "Drop it!"
I took a moment to make logic of whatever the fuck this was. It was really starting to piss me off.
"Shut up, bitch," I hissed, turning back around and stomping my way up to the crowd.
"Hey! Stop!" she called from behind.
"D!" Dash yelled.
I started making my way through the crowd with her and Dash in pursuit when the boys in front of the castle's stairs noticed me.
"Damn it, Jen! You were supposed to nab him when he got back!" the main boy yelled.
"I tried! This guy is fucking nuts!" she yelled.
I continued to the front of the crowd, my Beretta hanging at my side. I looked between the 3 boys as the two sidekicks raised their guns and pointed them at me. I raised my free hand, causing them to flinch, before I started aggressively pointing between them, like an angry black mother scolding her kids.
"I don't know who the fuck y'all are, how y'all got here, or what y'all think you're doing, but y'all need to get the fuck out of my world. You shitheads don't belong here, so y'all need to take your asses back to Canterlot and get Princess Celestia to send you the FUCK back. Give me your guns, too," I demanded, stepping forward with an open palm.
"WHOA buddy!" the main guy said, dropping Rarity and pointing his own gun at me. "Jesus, you are fucking nuts! Calm down, pony lover."
"Don't tell me to calm down! Don't evvvva tell me to calm down! I'll shoot you three assholes in the head and take your damn farm!"
"Huh?"
I started stepping forward, but my head was knocked forward. I dropped my baby as I fell to the ground, and felt the girl shove her glock against the back of my head. Instead of surrendering like a sane person, I threw my head back, knocking the glock back before twisting around. The girl didn't fire, I guess because she's a moron, so I pushed the pistol aside with one hand and socked her hard in the face with my other fist. The blow was so powerful that she dropped instantly.
The other guys didn't appreciate this, and within the next second, one of them tackled me. In our tussle, he got me in a chokehold.
"You fucking idiot!" the main boy yelled, stepping up to us.
"NO!" Dash yelled.
The main boy took out a knife. I angrily fought back against the other boy, but he was holding my arms back. The main boy then took his knife and sliced it fast down my left eye. My vision through it blacked out instantly, and I felt blood squirt down my cheek. The cut sent throbbing pain to my brain as I cried out. The crowd of ponies started a ruckus around us.
"AH!" I hollered, continuing to squirm. "Fucking shitheads!"
The sidekick dropped me, but I was in too much pain to do anything now. I laid on the grass as the main boy jumped on top of me, his knife reflecting the fire's light above us. Blood oozed out of my eye quickly, and the crowd echoed in my ears. I weakly raised my hands in a measly attempt to hold him off, but it wasn't doing much. I was barely conscious when he raised the knife above his head with both hands.
Was this it?
I closed my eyes, and before zoning out, I heard Discord's voice over the commotion.
"You fucking imbeciles. God I hate you fucking humans."
There was a lot of screaming, tussling, and even a couple claps of thunder as I passed out. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Recovery | I couldn't believe how close I'd gotten to death. But more so, I was trying to imagine why Celestia and Luna would bring in more humans. Was it because of the apocalypse? Did they bring them in to help out and accidentally bring in the wrong kinds of people? Thinking of the alicorns, I shuddered at the thought of them possibly being dead. If they brought in this group of boys, they brought in horrible trouble.
It was even worse in a time like this. Now we needed to worry about two groups, and I didn't know which one scared me more. I thought about Daisy; I thought about Zecora; I thought about the zombie ponies we'd come across. Most of all, I thought about Pinkie.
I couldn't stop thinking about all the horrible things that were going terribly wrong. When I entered Equestria, I had never expected anything like this.
But then, I thought about Discord's mumbled words I heard before going completely unconscious. Even though my ears were echoing badly as they were, there was no doubt in my mind that the voice I heard was Discord.
But ... if the alicorns had brought in more humans, wasn't Discord there with them at the time? I thought Twi had sent him off to see if the alicorns were okay. He must have still been with them, because I hadn't seen any sign of him when we were at the castle. Even through my unconsciousness, these questions continued rolling around my mind.
---- ---- ----
Slowly regaining consciousness, I started to hear muffled words that I couldn't distinguish. I was laying on a bed ... or something cozy. The pain I had felt earlier arose again, but I couldn't even move. I was forced to suffer through the pain, though I could feel some movement coming back soon after.
The words were becoming a little more clear, but I still couldn't tell who they were from. A slightly high pitched ring whistled in my ears for a few seconds before fading off. The voices were muffled again for a few more seconds afterwards, but quickly came back.
"How long will he be out?" I could finally make out what somepony was saying. It was Dash who had spoke.
"It might be a while. The damage was severe, but you can never tell what might happen under his condition," the second voice sounded unfamiliar to me. It was a mare, but that's all I could tell. There was a harsh pain in my throbbing right eye. I could feel something wrapped around it, like cloth or something of the sort. I began wiggling my fingers a little. It was the only thing I could do at the time.
"He's moving!" I could hear Dash trot up next to the bed. "Devan ... can you speak?"
I tried hard to speak, but I still hadn't gotten all the feeling yet. I wiggled my fingers around some more.
"Please, give him some peace. He'll wake up when he's good and ready," the other voice directed.
"Can I stay with him?" Dash asked.
"Yes, but try to be silent. I'll spread the news to the others," the mare began trotting away. I heard the door squeak shut. My body and I worked hard to get all the feeling back. Enough so I could see, though enough that I could speak would be fine with me. I could feel movement coming back slowly, but I guess I'd have to wait for a while.
"Psst ... Devan. Can you hear me?" Dash whispered in my left ear. Once again, I tried to speak, but the feeling still wasn't there. I admired Dash for trying to get me up quickly.
"If you can, move your fingers again," she gave me more precise directions that I could follow. Doing what she said, I wiggled my fingers up and down.
"Okay, that's good-" she started, until the door opened again.
"Oh hey AJ," Dash said.
"How's he doing?" she asked.
"He's doing good. He can hear us now, but still can't speak," Dash answered. I heard AJ trotting up to Dash's side. "Do you think his eye will be alright? Is it gonna affect the other one?" AJ asked.
"I'm not sure. The nurse didn't go into detail."
Once again, somepony was talking about my eye. I felt cloth on it, but it wasn't too severe, was it? I guess I'd have to wake up fully to find out. I felt like that was coming on shortly.
---- ---- ----
After quite some time, I was able to respond to one of their requests. I opened my left eye, which didn't have a bandage on it, but the left one was numb and cold.
"There you are!" I could sense Dash wanting to pounce on me, but she was smart enough to stay back for now. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I ... could be better. What's wrong with my eye? It's numb now. How bad is it?" I slowly rubbed my fingers across the bandage on it.
"Don't you remember getting knifed?" AJ asked.
"Yes. But how bad it is? Will it heal?"
"The nurse," Dash said, "Nurse Redheart ... she put you on some drugs, and rubbed some liquid over it to calm it and stop the bleeding. Rarity came in with her and used the last of her magic to repair the lens. Nurse Redheart said the spell will take a while to come into effect. After that, she can remove the bandage. You'll have to take some eye drops the next few days. But if it works out, Rarity may have just saved your eye."
"Awesome. Tell her thanks for me, will you? I'll tell her myself if I get moving soon."
"Will do," AJ replied.
I looked around at how empty the room was. The plain wooden door stood on the left of the bedside, not completely closed. There was a bed, a dresser across from the end of the bed, plain white walls, a window on the wall to my right, and an end table to my right with a dimly lit candle.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Ponyville's hospital. Discord used his last magic to send those brats back to their world, and helped us escort you here," AJ informed.
"Where is he now?"
"He's with the others downstairs."
"Thank you all." I smiled. It was good to know they cared about me enough to drag me here, but I had recalled the trip from Twi's castle to here being a very long way. I assumed that Discord was the one that carried me.
"Of course." AJ smiled back.
"So can I go see the others? They're downstairs, right?" I requested.
"You just woke up ... I'd give your body a while to rest." AJ started.
I sighed. "Fair enough." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Paralyzed | I simply could not believe how close I had gotten to death. Or was I dead? I don't know. Could I even think in this unconscious state? Probably not. Despite this, I decided to keep on thinking.
Why would the important princesses bring in more humans? Was it because of the apocalypse? What happened to them? I was going to bombard them with questions the moment I got to the castle.
Then I started wondering. What if I aimed a gun at them? Could I take them hostage? Wait a minute... if I had a gun now, could I free myself? I was a slave... but... I don't know... I really liked it here. I liked all of my pony friends, despite how harsh I was on them. Even my owner, Applejack.
I think that's why they made the foolish decision to give my psychotic ass a gun in the first place. They knew I wasn't bout that life. Besides, what would I do after taking them hostage? That would just put me into quite the predicament. I don't think I could mentally follow through with it anyway.
Whatever.
If the important princesses were the ones who brought in that group of punk bitches, then they made our situation a whole lot worse. I hope, from what I heard, that Discord killed those dumb motherfuckers. He seemed to still have his powers, so that was good. I dunno why he wasn't saving us from the apocalypse, but whatever. As long as he could fuck up them boys for me, I was good for now.
I slowly regained consciousness, but I could only hear muffled words. I was laying on a bed, I think. The pain I felt before I passed out arose again, but I couldn't even move. Well, I was paralyzed, but I seemed to be struck by fools. I want to move right through, and get back with my crew!
Beautiful.
If my body matches what my eyes can't do, I'll probably move-
Lightning bolt.
Unfair! How can you strike me while I'm unconscious?
I am God.
Wow.
I felt some movement come back. The words were becoming a little clearer, but I had the song stuck in my head now. After a high-pitched ringing raped my eardrums, I finally made out what they were saying.
"You sure you can't at least check?" Dash's voice asked from my left side.
"I ... look, quit asking. I don't feel like being in the middle of this ethical dilemma right now."
The other mare sounded familiar, but I couldn't make her voice out. She was on my right side.
"I'm sorry," Dash replied, "I'm just looking after my own well-being here, okay? I wasn't in my right mind. I was high."
"Even if he has an STD, you would likely notice it right away. That stuff spreads like wildfire through cross-species."
Now I knew it was one of the nurses. Redheart, I think.
"Ick."
"Yeah... that's why you don't go jumping on alien cock right away. Damn."
"I SAID I WAS HIGH!"
"Okay okay, relax."
There was a bit of shuffling by my bedside. Redheart lowered her voice.
"So... how was it?"
"I don't know! I was high. I don't remember much of it."
"Surely you remember something?"
"Ah... well... from what I remember, it felt reeeeeally fucking good. Could just be the weed talking though."
"Nice."
"So how long will he be out?" Dash asked her.
"Could be a while. Like I said, the damage was pretty severe, but you never can tell. He's a human, so we're all a bit uncertain about everything."
My right eye was throbbing. I could feel something wrapped around it, but I still couldn't move. I tried really hard, and eventually, I could wiggle my fingers.
"He's moving!" Dash exclaimed, "Awe shit, I hope he didn't hear any of that. Do you think he might have heard any of that?"
"Well he can probably hear you now!"
"Crap. Don't worry about it, D. We were just talking about how I stole candy from your jacket. Sorry, D."
"We should give him some peace," Redheart mentioned, "oh, wait a minute..."
"What?" Dash asked.
There was rustling on the side of the bed Redheart was on. There were also some beeps.
"Shoot. It looks like I am going to need a urine sample from him. I'll be right back."
I heard Redheart walk out the door. Dash huffed before getting close to my ear.
"D, if you can hear me... she's gonna try and fuck you, I just know it. Don't fall for it. We can talk later, but I'll let you have seconds and thirds and whatever if you refrain for now."
I felt her hoof brush my hair.
"Thanks, D."
I heard more steps through the door.
"Oh, hey AJ," Dash said.
"How is he?" AJ asked.
"Well, he can't talk yet, but he's wigglin' his fingers. Nurse said he could wake up whenever really."
I heard AJ walk up to where Redheart was.
"Do you think his eye'll be alright?" she asked, "I need him to be productive on the farm when we beat this stupid shit. I'll probably put him on a lot of double shifts to catch up."
"I'm not sure. The nurse didn't go into detail," Dash explained.
So my eye was fucked up. I mean, I remember it getting fucking shredded under that boy's knife, but what happened to it? My impatient ass was ready to wake up and see. I felt it coming on, slowly but surely.
After a little while, I woke up fully. Dash and AJ weren't by the bedside anymore, but Redheart was, fiddling with the IV monitor next to me. I looked over, but there were no IVs attached to me. This motion caught her eye.
"Oh hiya, D'mitry! How are you?" she asked, setting her front hooves on the side of my bed to lean over me. The bed was really low for some reason.
"I'm okay."
"Okay, good. Do you remember what happened to you?"
"I... uh... got my eye sliced?"
"That's right. So, I put you on some drugs and used a special cream we have to calm your eye's irritation. Your friend Rarity came in and used the last of her magic to help me repair the lens of it."
"What? How the fuck does she know how to do that?"
"Don't ask too many questions, sweetie. Rarity is a very smart unicorn."
"Uh... ok?"
"Anyway, the spell Rarity used will take a while to come into effect. After that, your eye may become functional again, if it works."
"Geez, it's not even functional?"
"From what I could see, no. The cut was deep enough to render it useless. But hopefully Rarity's spell will work. She may have just saved your eye."
"Awesome. Can you tell her thanks for me? I'll tell her myself once I'm moving again."
"Sure thing, hun. But first, do you need anything?"
I met eyes with her, watching her flutter her eyelashes.
"No... I-"
"You sure I can't help you with anything?" ...
"You wanna fuck me, don't you?"
Her cheeks blushed. It was funny seeing white mares' cheeks blush, because those motherfuckers burned. It was harder to tell on darker ponies, but it was blatantly obvious on white ponies.
"Well... I mean... if you want to, we can..."
Ahem.
"WHOA!" she exclaimed, backing off the bed and looking all around the room.
"Yeah, we aren't alone. That's the Author," I explained.
"Author?"
I am God. Or Author. Whichever.
"W- where did he come from?" she asked.
"I don't know. He just popped up."
"Uh... well, Mr. Author, could you please leave me alone with my patient?" she asked, gazing up at the ceiling.
I'm not in the ceiling, Redheart. And that is impossible. I am omnipotent.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, "Then what is Celestia doing at this very second?"
You're not gonna believe this ... but she is literally pissing. Like, just started three seconds ago.
"Uhhhhh..."
Yeah.
"Well, could you just leave us alone or something?" Redheart pressed.
Can't y'all do anything else? There's a damn zombie apocalypse going on, in case you forgot. I think y'all got bigger issues to tend to here. Move on already.
"NO!" Redheart exclaimed, a fire growing in her voice. "I've been overworked for the past two fucking weeks, I don't know where my family is, I've been swamped with this new illness, and I am FUCKING STRESSED! CAN YOU JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE WITH HIM?! PLEASE?!"
Holy shit.
"I'm sorry. But please?"
Alright, listen. I'm going to use my powers to do something. The only way I can mitigate my presence is if I fast-forward time in a specific way. That way, whatever happens, happens. I'm not involved. Just you two. Might wanna think about this one, D'mitry.
"Wait wait wait! Don't put me in this predicament!"
You'll be fine. See ya in a bit ;)
**@(((𐐒**@@)(@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^&*($!@$&!$!@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!@@#()!@*(@($!@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!@@#()!F@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!@@#()!@*(@($!@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!@@#()!@*(&*($!@&*($&!@*($!@&*($!@$&!@*()$&*@!^$&*!@*$@&!*($&!@*(&$*(@($!**
I laid in the hospital bed, Redheart laying beside me.
"Thank you hun," she said, rubbing her hoof up and down my chest.
Aw shit.
"Shut the fuck up," Redheart complained, easing herself off the bed. She brushed her forelegs and fixed her nurse's cap. "Really, I appreciate it. Let me know if you need anything else."
"Thanks, Redheart."
She walked out of the room.
Dude, Dash is gonna kill you.
I know, I know ... but ... maybe she won't find out.
Oh yeah?
Don't tell her!
Quit fucking everypony and I won't, ya sinning fuck! CONDEMNED!
What?
REPENT! REPENT!
Jesus.
Yeah, you need him alright.
Dash suddenly walked into the doorway. She had a confusing look on her face, as if she was happy to see me awake, but skeptical. She stepped up to my bedside.
"You're awake. You feeling alright?" she asked.
"Y- yes."
Her face dropped with disappointment.
"You fucked her, didn't you?"
He definitely did.
"Fuck you, Author!" I exclaimed.
"C'mon, D. I thought we had something for a second. I know we were high, but damn. You had me feeling some kinda way. Then you get with that bitch?"
"I'm sorry Dash. She was just... stressed... I mean, I know we all are, but she really seemed like she needed it, okay? She was so passionate, she even got the Author to do some magic time shit. I'm sorry."
"Eh... whatever. It is what it is. Did she at least give you any information about what happened?"
"Uh... well, I learned a bit about my eye. But not much besides that," I answered, glancing around at the room. "This is the Ponyville hospital, ain't it?"
"It is," she answered.
"What happened with those little human shitheads? Did Discord kill them?"
"Not exactly. He used his last magic to send them back before helping us escort you here."
"Oh, so he's out of magic now?"
"Apparently so."
"Well that's great. Not like we coulda used that or anything. Wonderful."
"Tell me about it."
I rubbed my face frustratingly. This news wasn't great, but at least the humans were gone.
"So... how did those shitheads get here in the first place?" I asked.
"I don't know," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
"Author?"
What?
"Where did the kids come from?"
I can't tell you that! You bonehead. What do you think this is?
"But you're omnipotent."
Gah. Shoulda never told your dumbass that. You can't just request that kinda information. Celestia was a one-time thing. You're gonna break the universe if you keep it up.
"Fine fine," I replied, turning back to Dash. "Are the others downstairs? I wanna see 'em."
"You need to rest."
"Ugh. Fine." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Unwelcome Surprise | After an hour of rest and talking with Dash, I threw off the covers and slowly moved my legs over the side. Somehow I was able to stand up on my two feet, but still needed Dash's assistance to avoid falling on my face. AJ had gone downstairs in the meantime, but Dash couldn't leave my side. We'd formed a good friendship in my stay, and we'd be there for each other now. I'd be there for her.
"You good?" she asked.
"I'm fine. Just gotta stretch a lil' bit."
"Are you sure you want to walk already?"
"If you can help me, I'll be fine."
After a while of standing, we started out of the room. Dash was on my right, helping me balance. It was a rough start, but eventually I started walking normally ... sort of. Starting out the door, I felt a whiff of cold air. It was a fairly small whiff, but it threw off my thinking cells apparently. My left eye watered and I could barely see anything for a few seconds. There was also a quick ring in my ears that went away in a few short seconds. I tried to walk it off as if nothing happened, but Dash had noticed. I didn't want to frighten her, because we had all clearly been frightened enough already.
"Devan?" Dash looked concerned.
"I'm fine. Just trying to recover."
After a few moments of rest, we continued walking through the hallway. My strength was back up now, and I walked normal for the most part. Pinkie's death managed to plug itself back into my mind. It played a great role in strengthening me so that I could protect the others. I didn't want them to suffer the way Pinkie had. I felt like that would be Pinkie's request as well.
"May I use the restroom before we go?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's back there to the left." She pointed at a blue door towards the end of the hall.
"Thanks."
I left Dash by my door and wobbled towards it. Most ponies heights averaged around my neck, excluding Celestia and Luna, so I had to duck a little bit when entering. I was quite tall though, standing at six foot one. The light in the restroom wouldn't go on, but there were candles lit on the sink and against the wall opposite of it and the toilet. I was careful to avoid them while taking a quick piss, but what I really wanted was to see myself in the mirror. After flushing, I leaned in to see my messed up eye.
The bandage over my eye went around my head like a pirate. It was was clean, but stitches ran outside of it on both ends. Pete had cut from just above my right eyebrow to halfway through my cheek. The other side of my face looked rough, so I ran cold water over it, careful not to get in on the bandage.
After I got out, we started down the stairs. The hospital seemed bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. Even the single bedrooms were pretty large.
"Devan."
"Yes?"
She let out a hefty sigh. "We really thought ... that you ..."
"Oh." I already knew what she was talking about. "I don't blame you. It was a pretty close call." The reality of the attack came to my mind again. I'd lost consciousness from blood loss and shock so quickly. But I needed to start thinking about the present now.
"Well, I'm fine."
"That's good."
We neared the bottom of the closed stairwell when I heard voices outside. I remembered seeing lots of ponies at Twi's castle when I was nearly killed.
"How many ponies are out there?"
"Around twenty I guess. Twi's about to do a role call to get people situated."
We reached the ground floor and opened the door. Another small whiff of air knocked my senses again. I really need to stop doing that, I thought. For a second, I had forgotten about the ponies I saw before I went temporarily blind. Now most of them were staring at me. The air seemed tense, and everypony was gathering around and waiting for further instruction while a few rested. I could feel stress permeate the air. Some of the ponies came forward to shake hands - or, hands and hooves with me. One of them went for a shake, but we ended up hugging. We came across Twi behind a lobby reception desk.
"Hey Twi. Look who's up."
"Hey Devan. You doing alright?" Twi examined my eye.
"I'm fine. What's going on?"
"We're forming a small group to head to Canterlot to get in touch with Celestia and Luna," Twi informed.
"I'm in, right?" I asked. There was a quick silence between the group.
"We aren't leaving this instant, but we thought you could use some rest, so we thought you'd stay here," Twi said.
"No, I'm fine. I'd like to come," that reminded me, "Where's my gun?"
"I've got it." Twi pulled it out of her saddlebag. "You sure you up for this? We thought you'd be out for a while."
"I'm fine, promise."
She glanced me up and down suspiciously before hoofing me the gun. "We'll see how you are tomorrow."
"Thanks Twi." I checked the load, which was still full.
She hoofed me the backpack from the box Celestia had sent. "It's got the extra ammo and supplies in it."
"About that," AJ started, "Celestia sent us other tools of our own when you were out."
"Oh?" I asked.
AJ pulled out some more guns and weapons from Twi's saddlebag. There were sharp combat blades with rubber ends for the ponies to carry. Rarity was also wearing a saddlebag that I assumed was carrying the remaining gear and supplies.
"Are we leaving some weapons here for protecting these ponies while we're gone?" I asked.
"Yes, we're splitting with them," AJ answered.
I went over to ask Rarity if I could look through her saddlebag when I heard a door bang open. It was quiet for a millisecond, followed by the air being filled with screams and confusion. I looked over to see some zombie ponies banging their way through to some in the crowd. I pulled my gun up towards them when I heard Flutters scream over the ruckus. Firing one shot, I only managed to nick the first zombie's ear.
Quickly looking over to Flutters, I saw a zombie pony all over her. She managed to hold off its bite until I cautiously shredded its head open with a bullet. While I was firing, Dash and the others were pulling frantically for a gun.
I looked back to the main doors to see a zombie biting at Cheerilee's throat and another lunging for one of the pegasus sisters. I couldn't remember which one she was at first, but remembered the one with a bow was Flitter, so this was Cloudchaser. I put a swift shot in Cheerilee's attacker, this time not just skimming his ear. Instead, this one hit it's mark, right in the head just as Flutter's attacker. I took a second to transfer to Cloudchaser's attacker when another shot from my left missed its target and ripped through her shoulder. She fell on impact. There was some more screams over the chaos.
Ignoring that misfire, I lunged one into the last zombie pony's chest. I fired another at his head to be safe. He fell, and some of the spectating ponies began backing off. The chaos quieted a bit, but some of the crowd tried to squirm back while others pushed toward the injured ponies. Such a small occurrence had turned into chaos over not being ready.
I started running through the crowd towards Cloudchaser, but Twi and the others had already started for her. Discord and Nurse Redheart had run down just after I fired the last shot. The nurse started for them as well. When I got through, the sight was not pretty at all. Cheerilee wasn't moving, and blood was slowly streaming from her neck. Cloudchaser was down, but twitching. Blood came out of her side, close to her shoulder.
Dash ran up quickly to Cloudchaser's side, crying and apologizing. "I'm so sorry Cloudchaser! I shouldn't have fired in the first place!" she sobbed. Nurse Redheart rushed up to Cheerilee, who still wasn't moving. It didn't look like she was breathing either. The zombie pony who bit her was on her pretty quick back there. I aimed for him first in hopes to save Cheerilee, but I think I'd reacted too slowly.
"Okay! We want everypony upstairs, now!" Twi directed, "Rarity and Spike will assign you rooms to stay in until we clean this up."
Most of the crowd started for the stairwell. Following her orders, Rarity and Spike ran up to figure out who went where. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had also run over to Cheerilee, but AJ was trying to snag them upstairs so they couldn't see her.
Nurse Redheart worked quickly on Cheerilee, sending Discord for more medical supplies. Dash and Cloudchaser were talking to each other. It was good to know she was still alive for the most part, but I wished I could say the same for Cheerilee. I caught Flutters before she got to the stairwell. She was acting kind of strangely.
"You okay, Flutters?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah ... I'm fine," she answered nervously, "Thanks ..."
She walked off. She didn't seem fine, but I had to consider her almost getting chewed up by a zombie pony. I wouldn't be too excited either.
I ran back to Cloudchaser. She was laying on her stomach now. Dash grabbed a towel from Rarity's saddlebag, and covered the injury softly. I ran over and started dragging the zombie pony away. There was blood all over him, and he smelled like crap. The bullets had definitely stopped him, but they also got blood on my clothes. After dragging the zombie over to a corner and away from Cloudchaser, I joined back with her.
"It doesn't look too severe," Twi said, shuffling through her saddlebag.
I kneeled on the right side of Cloudchaser.
"I'm sorry, Cloudchaser. This is my fault. I should have fired sooner," I apologized.
"No, it's mine," Dash insisted, "I shouldn't have fired. I should've just waited for you."
"Don't knock yourselves out. Just help keep me safe until the nurse looks at me," Cloudchaser requested.
"Right, sorry." Dash moved the towel. There was blood on one side of it already. That really worried me, but I stuck to Cloudchaser's side and kept her calm. It was actually harder to calm myself. I was surprised at how well she was handling this. I hadn't known Cloudchaser too well, but we'd spoken from time to time. Ponyville was a small enough town where you could do that.
"I'm sure this is nothing compared to what you faced," Cloudchaser said.
"Nah. It looks like that wound really hurts," I replied, looking over at the shot.
"I'm just trying to hold in my pain."
"Don't worry. You'll be fine."
I checked to see if the nurse was still working on Cheerilee. She had her on her back and was frantically pushing on her chest. Looking around, I saw that AJ finally managed to sweep the fillies upstairs with everybody else. They had seen enough of Cheerilee already. When I looked back, Cloudchaser was glancing towards her as well. She glanced at me. We both knew what each other was thinking.
This was much different than what I'd seen with Pinkie. Cheerilee was actually bitten alive, and probably suffered a much greater death. I couldn't lift my spirits enough to go over and see her. The nurse would handle her. Hopefully. I couldn't help but feel that Cheerilee's death was my fault. Probably because it was. The first shot I took had only nicked him, and I felt the need to turn my attention to Flutter's attacker. Those five extra seconds I took must have seemed like an eternity to Cheerilee.
Observing her over again, Nurse Redheart was knocking herself out. Cheerilee was gone. She managed to withhold her anger enough to bring her supplies over to work on Cloudchaser.
"She's gone. I tried, but she lost too much blood." She looked at me and frowned.
"Thank you ... for trying," I said.
I got the strength to get up and walk over to her. Her shoulder and neck were bit through. Her neck was drenched in blood. Her breaths didn't come. Her skin was pale. I stroked her clean shoulder.
"Oh Cheerilee. I'm so sorry."
She'd come back after this was over, right?
"I'm sorry, Cheerilee." I held back my emotions, and grabbed onto her limp hoof. "We'll find some way to fix this. We'll find a way to bring you back. Don't worry." There was a pause as I looked over her motionless corpse. The bite in her neck swelled, and blood stopped dripping out. Her skin was getting paler. I remembered how quick Pinkie turned and worried.
"Twilight!" I called. She looked over before coming to meet me.
"What is it?"
"We have to put her down or something. She's go-"
"Put her down ... or something? Are you heartless? We'll restrain her ... or something. Until we find the cure."
"We can bring her back later, can't we? We don't have the time, she's turning ..."
"Devan! Look at her, she's not moving! It's fine. Remember how long Pinkie lasted?"
"A minute!"
"No! I mean after she was bit. At least a few hours, wasn't it?"
"She didn't die on sight though, she was just bit!"
"We're not killing her! I'll get other ponies to lift her in one of the rooms down here."
"We don't have the time!" I looked back at Cheerilee, was was pale green now. I saw her chest lift, as if she started breathing again.
"She's waking up, Twi! I have to do this!" I pulled out the m9 from my holster.
"Stop!" Twi pushed me back. "We can't kill our own!"
The others had heard us arguing, and some of them were looking on worryingly. Cheerilee's body was moving again, but she hadn't sprung up as Pinkie did yet. "Twi! She's moving! We can't save her!"
"We can lure her out! Don't do this!"
Cheerilee lifted her head. Her eyes were white as Pinkie's had been. She had turned, and I couldn't bear seeing her the way she was.
"I'm sorry Twi!" Tears ran down my eyes as I aimed the m9 at Cheerilee's head ... and fired. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Teacher gets fired | Dash let me rest an hour, but was still there when I woke back up. We talked for a bit until I felt good enough to move. Without warning her, I threw off the covers and slowly moved my legs over the side.
"The fuck you doing?" she asked.
"I'm impatient. I wanna see the others."
"You damn near died, sure you don't wanna rest a bit?"
"Nah. I don't care."
I stood up, somehow able to stand up on my two feet.
Uh, yeah? It was just your fucking eye.
I still needed Dash's assistance to avoid falling on my face. -_-
Dash and I had formed a good friendship in my stay, and now, we even fucked, so we were there for each other now. I'd be there for her. I set my racism aside just for her. She helped me limp to the door.
"D, just walk like a normal person, you stupid fuck. How are your legs wobbly?"
"I... I-"
"If you say its cause of Redheart, I'll knock your wobbly ass to the ground."
My legs straightened, and I walked normal.
"Good."
When I walked out into the hospital hallway, I felt a whiff of cold air. It was a small whiff, but it THREW off my thinking cells.
Oh yeah, your thinking cells... hahaha
Shut up!
My good, right eye watered bad, and I couldn't see shit for a few seconds. My ears were also raped by ringing again, but it all went away in a few short seconds. I tried to walk it off as if nothing happened, but I fell face-first into the floor.
"You damn clutz," Dash commented, standing me back up.
"I'm fine. Just trying to recover."
"Jesus. How'd you even get on two legs?"
"Fishy."
As we walked down the hall, I thought about Pinkie Pie's death again. It played a great role in strengthening my character development so I could protect the others with my life. I didn't want them to suffer the way Pinkie had. I wonder if gas would be too expensive for the important princesses to transport here for a gas-powered chainsaw. I might just have to settle for an electric chainsaw. I hoped it would still be just as badass, but I don't know. I thought about how cool I would look cranking a chainsaw and watching smoke billow out for a moment. Ah. Serial killer vibes.
"Hey," I said, turning to Dash, "I need to piss."
"Okay, restroom is that way," she replied, pointing me in the right direction.
I wobbled to the restroom on my own, Dash leaving me to fend for myself. I didn't have to duck when entering the doorway, because everything was conveniently oversized to accommodate tall freaks like me and Discord.
It's been a while, and the reader's interpretation is probably cemented, but now, 6 or 7 chapters in, now I'll let you know that ponies come up to my stomach. So, ~3-4ft or somethin' in height compared to me being 6ft. You thought they were taller? Haha, have fun adjusting your imagination, bitches.
Lightning ripped through the ceiling and struck me as I entered the restroom.
At least try to be nice, shithead. Damn. You're making it really hard for the readers to like you.
I don't care if they like me or not.
You do you, but I don't blame them if they start rooting for your death.
Fuck 'em. I'm rooting for theirs.
WOW!
A very powerful lightning bolt ripped through the ceiling and annihilated my ass. The bolt continued striking me for seven grueling seconds as thunder smacked my eardrums.
YEOOUCHHHHHHHH! OKAY, OKAY! I'm kidding! Sorry, readers!
You better be.
Damn
I unbuckled my belt and started pissing, continuing to think about chainsaws. A few seconds in, I heard snickering. It wasn't in the room... it sounded like it was coming from the Author.
What's so funny, Author?
Lol, okay... so you remember how I told you about Celestia pissing?
Unfortunately.
Okay. So, I returned the favor and told Celestia that "D'mitry is pissing right now." and her reaction was fucking hilarious. That was the first time I made my presence known to her, and her face was priceless!!
Wow.
After I finished pissing, I leaned up against the mirror to see my messed up eye. Shockingly, I could only see the bandage, which went over my eye and wrapped around my head like a pirate. I smiled, resisting the urge to sing sea shanties. The other side of my face looked nasty, so I splashed water on it.
When I rejoined with Dash, we started down the stairs. The hospital seemed bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. Even the single bedrooms were large. You know... the single bedrooms? Like, the entire hospital? Yeah. Weird way to put it. I wondered how much the government spent on the infrastructure of this establishment, and if their investments were keeping up with the rampant inflation of the apocalypse. I started worrying about the economy, because that was definitely the biggest loss here.
"D..."
"Yes?"
She let out a hefty sigh. "We really thought that you died there."
"Huh? It was just my damn eye. You said it yourself. Was I really that bad?"
Yes. She isn't kidding. You looked pretty messed up after that, D'mitry. That's why you heard those thunderclaps. I'm not supposed to intervene like that, but I got a bit nervous myself.
"Oh... huh..." I replied, shifting uncomfortably as I looked back at her. "Well... I'm sorry. I'm alright now."
"Good."
We neared the bottom of the stairwell when I heard voices outside. I remembered the crowd of ponies at Twi's castle, wondering if they had all come here after that incident.
"How many ponies are out there?" I asked.
"A lot."
"Gee thanks."
"No problem."
I opened the door to see a gathering of ponies in the reception area. Another small whiff of air knocked my senses out again. I fell face-first on the marble floor, damn near cracking my skull open.
"Oh my god," Dash commented.
I pushed myself up on my knees, a headache thumping inside my head. Now everypony was looking at me. Some of them were laughing. I was getting angry and wanted to retaliate, but I first surveyed the room to make sure Applejack was not there.
However, I got distracted when some of the ponies came up to shake my hand. One of them went for a shake, but we ended up hugging. It ended awkwardly with her smacking me after I tried to cop a feel. We eventually made our way to Twi, who sat behind a lobby reception desk. She almost looked like she was... sweating?... a little bit. Interesting.
"Hey, Twilight," Dash said, "Look who's up."
"Damn. Hello, D'mitry," she replied unenthusiastically.
"Hey babes. What's shakin?"
She huffed. "So... we're forming a small group to head to Canterlot to get in touch with Celestia and Luna."
"I'm in, right?"
"Uh... no?"
"Why not?"
"You damn near died, you idiot. Look at you! Weak. Pathetic. Cockless."
I squinted my eyes angrily before frantically looking through my pockets and all around me.
"Where's my cock?!" I exclaimed.
Twi snickered briefly, but it quickly turned into a nervous giggle as she leaned her head back to look underneath the reception desk.
"Hold on, let me find it real quick!" she said, speaking a bit louder than usual. I coulda sworn I heard a weird, squishy pop sound, but it was too faint to tell. She shuffled around a bit as she reached below the desk. "Oh shoot. I think my water bottle spilled on it. Hold on, D'mitry. Let me wipe it down for you."
"Bruh."
"What? I'm sorry."
"You definitely used it."
She quickly raised her head back above the desk, an angry expression filling her face instantly. Unfortunately for her, blush filled it as well. "No I didn't! It was my water bottle."
"Haha yeah right."
"Shut uppppp! Get your mind out of the gutter, asshole."
"Whatever, just give me my cock back."
She shook her head as she grabbed some paper towels and wiped down the white dildo Celestia sent me. Blush still filling her purple cheeks, she annoyingly hoofed it to me.
"Well... hope ya had fun with it," I replied, stuffing the horse cock in my comically long front jeans pocket.
"IT WAS THE WATER BOTTLE!"
I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Anyway," she continued, "We aren't leaving here just yet. Still want us to waste a bit of time here in Ponyville. We just thought you would want to rest. Actually... why are you so adamant about going anyway? Are you trying to pull something?"
"Uh... no? I just want to help the group out."
"Whoa... you for real?"
"Nah. I wanna ask Celestia what her problem is."
She rolled her eyes before leaning down below the desk again and grabbing my gun. She took a moment, gazing into my good eye before hoofing it to me. "Are you sure you're up for this? We thought you'd be out for a while. You looked pretty bad out there."
"I know. I'm fine though, promise."
She glanced me up and down before hoofing me the backpack from the box Celestia had sent. "We'll see how you are tomorrow. There's extra ammo and supplies in there."
"Thanks Twi," I answered, slinging the backpack over my shoulder.
"About that," AJ's voice called from my side, scaring the daylights out of me.
"Hoooly crap!" I exclaimed, turning dramatically and pointing my finger at her. "You... are creepy as shit, sneakin' up on me, wearin' that cowboy hat with them freaky ass freckles."
Before I even finished my sentence, she'd started turning around. Once she was facing away, she threw her hind legs out and bucked me to the ground.
"Fuckin' lunatic," she spat, "Anyway, Celestia sent us other tools of our own when you were out."
"Oh?" I replied as I stood back up again.
AJ pulled out some more... guns? and knives with rubber handles so ponies could hold them in their mouth. I looked down as AJ held up her pistol, which was a revolver of course.
"How the fuck are you supposed to use that?" I asked.
"Yer kiddin', right? Ya don't remember Dash? It's awkward as ever, but our hooves can kinda bend into the trigger, so we can fire 'em just fine."
"Sure. Yeah. Okay then."
"So yeah. We'll be splitting the supplies Celestia gave us with the other ponies while we're gone."
"No. Actually, y'all should just give me your guns. I will take care of them."
"Yeaaaah, not happening, sugarcube."
"I want all the guns."
"D, cut it out. Gun freak."
"Fine, fine. As long as I have my baby," I replied, rubbing the barrel of my Beretta.
Suddenly, the front door banged open. You know... the unguarded, unprotected glass front door of the hospital? That one. Ponies in the lobby began screaming. All these ponies, and even Twi's wise ass couldn't think to guard the door? Wow, and I thought I was stupid.
Yeah... I'm with you on this one, D'mitry.
I heard and saw zombie ponies rushing into the lobby, making their way toward the scattering crowd. I heroically pulled my gun up when I heard Fluttershy's scream over the ruckus. Firing one shot, I only managed to nick the first zombie's ear. I turned to Flutters, who somehow had a zombie stallion on top of her already.
With my quick thinking, I fired a bullet at him. It musta collided with the zombie stallion's head, cause an explosion of blood rocked out from the other side of him, splattering the nearby wall. His pale self fell instantly, down for the count. While I was firing at the pale zombie ponies, Dash and the others were frantically pulling out their own guns. I looked back at the front doors to see a zombie stallion biting Cheerilee's throat, and another lunging for one of the pegasus sisters.
Pegasus sisters?
Yeah, I don't know either. I meant Cloudchaser and Flitter. They aren't even sisters, 'canonically', but whatever.
That's stupid. Oh well. This one was Cloudchaser. Since Cheerilee was already getting bitten and was essentially dead, I decided to fire at her attacker first. The shot ripped through the stallion's head and dropped him. Pretty sick shot from my end, if I do say so myself.
I then focused on Cloudchaser, but before I fired, another shot rang out and tore through her shoulder. She fell on impact as I shot the zombie after her. I fired again at his head, and then fired again, and again, because I was really feeling like shooting right now. I even shot a living pegasus in the corner because he had already been bitten. He fell, and some of the spectators began backing off, even though they were all running for their lives anyway.
The chaos subsided a bit, but the crowd couldn't figure out how to fucking move. Ponies continuously banged into each other as they looked for a direction to go. Such a small occurrence had turned into chaos over the others being absolute idiots. I started knocking ponies over as I ran toward Cloudchaser, following Twi and the others. Discord's tall ass and Redheart had run down the stairs just after I fired the last shot. The nurse started plowing through ponies as well.
When I finally made it past the circling ponies making a mess of the reception area, the sight was not pretty at all. Cheerilee wasn't moving as blood streamed from her neck. Cloudchaser was down as well, but she was twitching for some reason. Blood came out of her shoulder. Dash ran up quickly to her side.
"Shit fire! Stupid fucking tiny ass trigger. I'm so sorry, Cloud!"
"It's okay..." Cloud replied.
This is when Dash started getting unusually emotional.
"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have fired!!"
"It's... fine..." Cloud insisted.
"God damn it, Author," Dash scoffed, "You let me bullseye my own face 4 times in a fucking row, but make that shot miss?"
To be fair, you were point-blank at the time. She was across the damn room.
Dash huffed before sobbing above Cloud as she leaned over her. Redheart rushed up to Cheerilee, who still wasn't moving. It didn't look like she was breathing either. She had been close to the doors when we were ambushed, so the zombie stallion was on her quick. I had aimed for him first in the hopes of saving her, even though she was literally already being eaten alive. Twi's voice rang out in the lobby.
"Okay! Everybody fuck off! Upstairs, now!" she demanded, "Rarity and Spike will assign you rooms to stay in until we clean this up."
"Bruh..." Spike commented.
"Shut the fuck up, Spike. Go with Rarity."
Most of the crowd stopped running into one another and went upstairs with Rarity and Spike. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had also run over to Cheerilee, but AJ was smacking them upside the head so they didn't have to look at the grizzly scene. Redheart sent Discord for more medical supplies as she worked on Cheerilee. Dash was still balling like a baby as she apologized to Cloud. However, Cloud was responding back, trying to get the annoying pegasus away from her. I caught Fluttershy before she got to the stairwell. She was acting quite strange.
Now, would this be foreshadowing, or just downright giving it away?
Giving what away?
Nevermind, moron.
"You okay, Flutters?"
"Of course I'm okay," she answered directly, raising her head egoistically. She walked off, flipping her hair as she did. Despite being racist towards pegasi, I was caught in a gaze as she strutted off. She didn't seem fine, but were any of us?
Not really. Haha.
I ran back to Cloudchaser. She was laying on her stomach now. Dash was still sobbing, causing her to grab a towel so she could wipe her tears off of Cloud. While she did, I dragged the zombie pony away from them. There was blood all over him, and he smelled like horseshit. The bullets had definitely stopped him, but they also got blood on my clothes.
What? Idk
I dragged the zombie to the corner where I shot the living pegasus, checking to make sure I had killed him too. I had.
Dude, that was fucked up. You're lucky nobody really noticed that.
Eh, he was dead anyway.
Geeeeez
I joined back with Cloud, who had both Twi and Dash over her now. Dash finally quit crying and returned to her poker face.
"It doesn't look that bad," Twi said, shuffling through her saddlebag.
I kneeled on the other side of Cloud from them.
"I'm sorry, Cloud," I said, "This is my fault. I should have fired sooner."
"D, it is not-" Dash started, "-actually... you know what? It is. Fuck you, D. You dramatic shithead. Take the full blame then."
"Yeah, I like that," Cloud added, glaring back at me. "Fucking racist. Learn how to aim, you stupid fuck."
Dash moved the towel on her wound, ignoring her tears probably flooding it with bacteria. There was blood on one side of it already. Good. Hopefully she died. Fucking pegabitch. Unfortunately, she remained calm. I hadn't known Cloud all that well, as I avoid talking with pegasi every chance I get, but we'd still spoken from time to time. Ponyville was a small enough town that it was hard to be racist all the time.
I checked to see if the nurse was still working on Cheerilee. She had her back to me, pushing down on her chest. As I swiveled my head, I saw AJ had finally pissed off with the fillies. I took this moment to pull out my horse cock and smacked Cloud in the face with it. I quickly fucked off to the other side of the reception room as they cursed at me.
I glanced over Redheart's shoulder, watching her perform CPR on Cheerilee. However, it looked like a losing battle. Redheart was sweating, knocking herself out to save her. I took a moment to pull a cloth out of my bag and kneeled beside her, wiping her forehead from the sweat. She smiled weakly as she continued trying to save her. After a few more compressions, she gave up and sat back.
"Well, I tried. She lost too much blood."
"At least you tried," I said, reaching out my hand and rubbing her shoulder. We gazed in each other's eyes for a moment before hearing Dash.
"AHEM, WE GOT ANOTHER DOWNED OVER HERE."
Redheart rolled her eyes and joined them to help Cloud. Across the room, Dash squinted her eyes at me. I turned back to Cheerilee.
"Oh, Cheerilee. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," I pouted, grabbing her limp hoof.
Lightning ripped through the ceiling and struck me.
I awaited the Author's insult, but there was none. I continued holding her limp hoof. The bite in her neck swelled, and blood wasn't even dripping out anymore.
"We'll find some way to fix this. We'll find a way to bring you back. Don't worry."
Then, suddenly, my brain cells began working again. Cheerilee was turning pale quickly. I was reminded of Pinkie, remembering how fast she had turned. I wonder what size chainsaw I should ask for. I don't know what kind of sizes they are made in, but surely there are common sizes, right? I kinda wish I had Google right now. I started sizing with my hands, trying to figure out if they were sized in inches or feet. Probably feet? I think a 3-foot chainsaw would be pretty hefty and cool looking. As I was sizing an invisible chainsaw with my hands, Twi called over my shoulder.
"What the hell are you doing?"
I turned to see her walking up. I shrugged my shoulders. She shook her head and continued.
"We gotta restrain her or something. We haven't really come up with a plan, but maybe we can tie her up."
"I don't know," I replied, "Sounds like a lot of work. Should we just off her?"
"What is wrong with you? Weren't you just playing with her limp hoof?"
He was. He literally just 'talked' to her, saying y'all would find a way to bring her back.
"You are so fucking unpredictable, I swear," she huffed.
"I don't know. My mind doesn't hold thoughts for very long. I can do it, if you want," I said, pulling out my pistol.
"NO! Put it away! She's not even moving. It's fine. Don't you remember how long Pinkie lasted?"
"Uh, yeah! A fucking minute!" I argued.
"No! I mean after she was bitten. She was walking and talking for a while. At least a few hours, wasn't it?"
"I don't know how long. She didn't die on sight though, she was just bit!"
"WE AREN'T KILLING HER! I'll get some other ponies to lift her in one of the rooms down here."
"We don't have the time!" I asserted.
Uh... wow, I think I'm siding with D'mitry on this one, Twilight.
"Don't side with that idiot! We can still save Cheerilee."
You can. If you morons would quit yapping and do something.
Suddenly, Cheerilee's chest lifted again. She had turned very pale during our argument.
"She's waking up, Twi! I have to!" I yelled, standing up and holding the pistol with both hands.
"STOP!" Twi shouted, pushing me back. "We can't kill our own!"
The others in the lobby heard us arguing, but nobody did anything. Everybody just watched. Not like we were on a time limit or anything. As Twi pushed me, I noticed Cheerilee moving behind her.
"She's gone, Twi."
Twi looked behind her, noticing her movement, and huffed defeatedly. "Fucking shit."
"Eh, it's alright. She was a teacher. Probably didn't wanna live anyway."
"Wow," Twi commented.
I raised my gun and shot Cheerilee in the head.
BANG!
"Schools out, fuckers," I said, blowing nonexistent smoke from the barrel of my gun.
"What the fu-" |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Brother's Note | "Cheerilee, no!" Twi cried. She looked at me with tears and resentment before pacing. I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead in frustration and sadness before squatting next to Cheerilee and wiping away my tears. From behind, Dash nudged me. She hoofed me a towel and hugged me after covering Cheerilee with it.
"We'll make it through this Dash. Trust me. There is not a single thing I won't do to keep you and the others safe."
"I know," she sniffed.
"Why?" Twi came over, "Why'd you kill her?"
She was still really mad about what happened, and I didn't blame her.
"She would've sprung on you before you could blink ..."
"I could have led her outside!"
"Twi ..." Dash interrupted, "Can I talk with you upstairs?"
"Fine." She gave me one more angry glance before following Dash up.
I looked back at Cloudchaser, who seemed okay for the meantime. She looked back and frowned before resting her head on the floor. AJ came down the flight of stairs and came over to speak to me.
"Golly ... what the hell happened between you two? I could hear your voices upstairs. Y'all were scarin' the fillies."
"I'm sorry AJ."
She looked at Cheerilee's covered body. "I heard the gunshot too. Did she turn?"
"She ... she did. But Twi thought she could lure her outside, or board her in a room."
AJ looked back up at me. "Are you for real? She would a' been bit in a second ..."
"I don't know. Maybe she had a point ..."
She gazed at me. "No, don't beat yourself up about it. If you wanna know the truth, I had my encounters with 'em after we disconnected from the apple farm. Them suckers was faster than I could believe. Nearly got myself bit by one trying to hide out in the barn. Twi hasn't experienced being chased by 'em so give 'er some space. It wasn't your fault."
I looked back and she smiled. "Thanks, AJ."
We took one more look at Cheerilee.
"Can you help me take her outside?"
"Alright by me."
We wrapped the blanket fully around her. I took the front and she took the back. Avoiding the laid out zombie and her blood puddle, we backed out the unhinged door. Some ponies would have to come out to fix the shattered front door and windows eventually.
The sun was high in the sky. I felt bad for sleeping all of the night and most of the morning. Clouds scattered the horizon. They'd have to adjust themselves, now that the pegasi couldn't fly up and move them around. The hospital cast small shadows on rose bushes that were scattered about its walls. Even with them there, we could still manage to see outside from the front windows they peered into.
We moved along the path until we found a plump cherry bush patch and unwrapped Cheerilee carefully. Blood was patched here and there on the blanket. We were lucky enough to have unwrapped her untouched left side. I held Cheerilee in place while Dash pulled the blanket from under her.
I laid her halfway in the bush and halfway out in a tiny kind of ditch between the field and the bush patch. It was secluded enough so that small rodents wouldn't feast on her, but open enough so that she could get up easily if we found a cure and were able to revive her, somehow.
I had no idea how the cure would be spread. I hadn't even learned where ponies go when they die, to be honest. Hopefully this didn't affect what time we set out for Canterlot. But as I thought about it, there were many guards in the kingdom. We probably had plenty of time to get to Princess Celestia before anything wild could happen.
I thought the ponies probably needed rest too. I didn't know if any of them had slept while I was knocked out. I really hoped they did.
"Well ... not really," Dash answered, after I asked when I arrived. She went into more detail about how their sleeping times were messed up.
"Damn."
With AJ and Flutters napping, and the others having to sleep when the night came around, we'd have to wait another day before leaving. I thought about proposing the idea that they could sleep now and we could leave at night. That would be too dangerous though; We wouldn't be able to see clearly at night, and the zombie ponies would get us easily. It was much too risky.
"Well then," I observed the mess, "Guess I could help clean up in the meantime."
The room was filled with blood. A zombie pony lay out with her legs pointed at Cheerilee's blood puddle. Her head dragged out a blood puddle of its own. Cloudchaser's attacker laid a blood trail from the corner I pulled it to. There was just blood everywhere.
"Do we have working water?" I asked Dash.
"Yeah, it's still running."
"Discord and I can take care of the floors," Nurse Redheart mentioned.
"Good, I'll help move the zombie ponies out."
"I'll join you," Dash replied.
One by one we dragged the disgusting ponies, or what used to be ponies, out. We went the opposite direction as Cheerilee, and placed them in a bush patch next to a nearby forest. Whenever they came back, which I still didn't know how and when, they could navigate their way out of it and to the hospital. For now, they'd lay there.
---- ---- ----
The hospital seemed gloomy now. The atmosphere definitely changed. The main lobby was almost clean, as ponies were now allowed to trot through it. Others were starting to work on the door when I noticed AJ. She trotted in the lobby and found the nearest seat to take and sob. I decided to join her.
"You alright, AJ?" I went over to sit next to her. She sniffed before saying, "I'm okay."
"You don't look like it. I know losing Cheerilee was pretty upsetting. Is Apple Bloom doing alright?"
"I think so. I haven't told her about Big Mac yet."
"Big Mac? Is he alright?"
"He's not dead, but he's missing."
"You sure he didn't go out to gather supplies or something?"
"I'm sure." She hoofed me a note saying:
AJ, I hop you dont mind me leeving. Im off to find the rest of the apple familie. I cant sleep without them beeing saf. Tell Apple Bloom too not wory about me, and keap her saf. Love ya, and hop too see ya soon!
"Oh AJ ... I'm so sorry." I hugged her tight. She sobbed on my shoulder as I held on.
"If you need help telling Apple Bloom, I can tell her with you."
She choked down some more tears. "Thanks, Devan." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Illiterate Fuck | "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Twi hissed.
"I don't know," I replied, putting my gun away.
She eyed me up and down as I rubbed my temple frustratingly. I had been growing a headache since the first shot of the ambush. This headache was simply the worst. It was ruining my day now. From behind, Dash nudged me. She hoofed me the towel she had been using on Cloud, which was drenched in sweat, tears, and blood.
"Gross, what the fuck am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, holding the towel with two fingers.
"Cover her up, dumbass."
I lazily threw the towel on top of Cheerilee. Dash kicked my leg as she stepped forward and carefully covered the earth pony. She turned away from Cheerilee, and surprisingly, she looked to be getting emotional again. She wiped a tear from under her eye as I kneeled down beside her.
"We'll make it through this, Dash. Trust me. This was all just a big learning experiment."
She turned to face me, confusingly looking me up and down. "Learning experiment?"
"Uh, yeah. We need to stop making stupid fucking decisions and realize we're in a zombie apocalypse now."
"Mmm... okay..."
Twi still hadn't pissed off yet. She walked up to us both, angrily staring me down.
"Why?" she asked, "Why do you do what you do?"
"Bruh, I don't know, ask the Author."
"He will not answer me. He will have some smart-ass reply instead," she said, pushing a hoof against my chest. "I need your answer. You have some fucking explaining to do for the way you act."
I patiently waited for a lightning bolt to strike Twi, but it never came. What's up with that? Like, Author? Hello? You still there?
I awaited a reply, but there was none. I grew nervous. Author?
Sorry... sorry. I was eating some cookies. But yeah, I'mma just let that one slide.
Wow.
Twi glared angrily into my good eye. Honestly, I know I was supposed to react differently, or be intimidated or whatever, but quite frankly, I was starting to get turned on.
Oh my god.
Sorry.
"Oh c'mon, Twi. You can't expect me to be normal. How am I supposed to be normal? Imagine minding your own business, living your crappy ass teenage life, when suddenly... POOF... magical ponies that you already knew about snatch you up and teleport you to a brand new universe. I think I am the normal. Anybody that just... adjusts... to that must be some kinda fucking psychopath for real."
She set her hoof down, her glare weakening. "Sheesh. I didn't mean your whole personality. Just how you've been acting lately. You say and do some dumb things sometimes."
"Yeah yeah yeah. I know. I had to kill Cheerilee though. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the stupid one-liners too."
"I could have led her outside, you know. You didn't have to jump straight to shooting her in the head."
"Twilight..." Dash interrupted, "Can we talk upstairs?"
"Sure, sure. Get me away from this idiot."
She gave me one last angry glance before following Dash away. Finally. I stood up and looked back at Cloud, who seemed okay for the meantime. Damn. I was really hoping she'd die. She looked back at me and rolled her eyes before resting her head on the floor.
Applejack came down the flight of stairs and started coming toward me.
Damn it.
"D'mitry, get on your knees," she demanded.
"Yes, ma'am."
I obeyed. She usually told me to get on my knees so she could speak eye-to-eye with me. It was mostly a psychological thing, as I was her slave.
"Golly, what the hell happened between you two? I know the both of y'all fight a lot, but I could hear the commotion upstairs before the gunshot. Y'all were scarin' the fillies."
"I'm sorry, AJ."
She looked at Cheerilee's covered body. "So, she turned then?"
"She did. Twi thought she could lure her out or haul her in one of the rooms down here."
"You kiddin'? Gee..." AJ replied, "She's been actin' kinda dumb lately. It's like the two of ya switched roles."
For a second, she looked me up and down too.
"Nevermind. But still, she's not being her typical smartie-pants self. It's strange. Is there any other reason she wanted to lure her out? Or does she just not know how fast they turn?"
"She brought up how Pinkie was bit..." I said, my mind starting to drift.
D'mitry, focus.
"How ... how Pinkie ... was bitten for..."
Honestly, a flame-painted chainsaw would look fucking sick. I imagined this flame-painted chainsaw in my hands as I ran with the others, sawing through zombie ponies. Maybe they would even let me have a mask too! Dude, this vision was starting to look awesome. I needed a chainsaw now more than ever. I still wond-
"D'mitry!" AJ exclaimed, smacking my face forcefully with her hoof.
"Ah... ah... sorry, AJ. I don't think she knows how fast they turn. Still... I don't know. Maybe we could have dragged her to a room or something. I was busy wasting time and staring at her body instead, like everypony else."
"Eh, don't think too much about it. I had my encounters with 'em too, at the barn, after I sent you off to talk to Pinkie."
"Uh ... how? What zombie ponies would wander off all the way to your farm?"
"I don't know. I was pretty shaken too. Maybe the rows of apple trees lured 'em in with their scent or somethin'. I don't really understand how the hell they got there, but regardless, them suckers were faster than I thought. Nearly got bit my damn self. From what I've heard, Twilight hasn't experienced bein' chased by 'em yet. Prolly why she's actin' so dang stupid right now."
"Or maybe she just is stupid."
"You're making it real hard for me not to whip ya right now, you know that?"
"Yes, AJ. I apologize."
"K."
We both glanced back at Cheerilee. AJ turned back to me.
"Take her outside."
"Yes ma'am."
I stood up and grabbed Cheerilee's forelegs. Avoiding the laid-out zombie beside her, and the nasty blood puddles, I started dragging her through the busted front doors. AJ followed me.
Celestia's sun was high in the sky.
Wait. What day was it? How fucking long was I out? I remember encountering the boys and passing out when her sun was setting on the first day of this thing. I thought back to my conversations with Dash and Redheart, but I don't think either of them told me how long was I out. Did they? Author, can you check?
Haha, not happening. I'm far too lazy for that.
Really? Come on, Author. Shouldn't you already know anyway? I thought you were omnipotent.
Uh... to an extent. I don't know. For a god, I have a really bad memory. Sorry.
Can you please check for me? I don't feel like asking anybody else. They'll probably just insult my intelligence again.
Ugh. Fine. Hold on a sec.
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Nah, no mentions. Time doesn't seem to matter to any of you. Lmao.
What the hell? Can you tell me how long I was in the hospital or something?
It's Day 2. That's all I'm giving you.
Okay, thanks Author.
I looked up at the high sun, disappointed that I slept so long. The sun burnt my retina. This caused me to drop Cheerilee's forelegs as I rubbed my good eye in an attempt to see again.
"Way to go, dumbass."
After my vision returned, I looked up at the clouds instead. I guess they would have to move by themselves now, wouldn't they? What would happen if pegasi didn't manage the weather? Was there about to be a slew of abnormal weather patterns wreaking havoc in Equestria alongside the zombie apocalypse?
No, that would be far too interesting to add.
Damn. I really liked thunderstorms, even after getting struck by lightning over and over recently, so this was upsetting. Oh well.
"D'mitry, get a move on!"
"Sorry, Miss Applejack!"
I grabbed Cheerilee's hooves again and dragged her to a nearby ditch by some bushes across the road from the hospital. The spot was secluded enough so that small rodents wouldn't feast on her, but open enough so that she could get up easily if we found a cure and were able to revive her, somehow.
Really? You're going to revive her? How do you figure you'll manage that?
I don't know. That's why I said somehow.
Yeah, good luck with that. Lmao.
I had no idea how the cure would be spread. I hadn't even learned where ponies go when they die, to be honest. There were no churches or religious places that I knew about here. Ponies mentioned Hell all the time, but when I asked them more about it, they all just told me to go to it.
Hopefully this ambush didn't affect how much time Twi had us waste in Ponyville. I wanted to get a move on so I could talk to the important princesses in Canterlot. They were probably safe there with plenty of guards, but I wanted to ask them questions. I also wanted a chainsaw.
Don't you remember Celestia's letter? They're losing their magic too, moron.
OH NO! I hadn't thought about that. I started worrying that I wouldn't get a chance to request a chainsaw. Hopefully the important princesses hadn't lost all their magic yet.
After AJ and I went back inside, she went up to take a nap. I spent some time fucking around in the lobby before Dash met up with me again. I asked her if the others had slept.
"Well... not really," she answered.
"Why not?"
"We were really busy."
"With what? Y'all had the front of the hospital completely fucking exposed, and nothing in here looks very different than what the hospital looked like before. The Author told me it's day 2, so I passed out yesterday evening. We must have gotten here around the time Celestia's sun was setting, right?"
"That's right. We managed to get everypony inside right before her sun went down."
"Then everypony could have gone to sleep? Like, that's perfect fucking timing? Fuck were y'all thinking?"
"We had a party last night."
"Uh..."
"Yeah, we were all stressed out. So instead of doing anything, we hosted a party and got shitfaced."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
With AJ napping, and the others having to sleep when night came around, we'd have to wait another day before leaving. I huffed, wishing I could find my own damn chainsaw. I thought about proposing the idea of them sleeping now so we could leave at night. That was far too dangerous though. We wouldn't be able to see as much at night, and we weren't sure if the zombie ponies could see better at night or not.
D'mitry, your sudden intelligence is starting to bother me. I'm proud of you, but damn. You aren't acting yourself.
Sorry Author.
"Well then," I said, "guess I'll grab a mob and clean up the blood down here."
I grabbed a mop and observed the blood all over. I promptly slipped on one of the blood puddles.
Ah. Thanks.
"Do we still have working water?" I asked Dash as I stood back up.
"We do."
Redheart walked up to us, exchanging a dissatisfied glance with Dash as she reached out her hoof. Discord walked up behind her.
"Let me, ya clutz," she offered, "Discord and I can take care of the floors."
"Cool, thanks," I replied, handing her the mop. "I can drag the other zombie ponies out then."
"Sounds good. Not sure why you didn't do that earlier."
"I really like standing around doing nothing. Just me and my thoughts."
"Ah," Discord commented, "That must be why you're so deranged."
"Probably."
Dash joined, "I'll help you get the bodies out, D."
One by one, we dragged the disgusting, revolting, and absolutely nausea-inducing ponies, or... what used to be ponies, out.
Dude, rude. They're just pale with gunshot wounds and other scars on 'em. What's your problem?
Idk.
We dragged Cheerilee's attacker out first and placed them in a bush patch next to the nearby forest. Whenever they came back, which I still didn't know how and when, they could navigate their way out of it and-
Dude, they are fucking dead. You are so delusional.
Hey, it is a magic world, you know? Anything is possible.
They're dead.
Whatever. I'm gonna ignore you and keep my delusions. Regardless, for now, they'd lay here.
The hospital seemed gloomy. The atmosphere changed. They needed to hurry up on fixing the damn doors. I was getting sick of the draft sweeping through. Thankfully, we had already cleaned the lobby of the nasty blood puddles and corpses. I watched some of the stallions working to fix the door when I noticed AJ trotting in the lobby. She found the nearest seat against the wall and covered her face as she started sobbing.
Since she was my owner, I decided to go over and check on her.
"Are you alright, AJ?"
She sniffed. "I'm fine. Leave me alone."
"No ma'am, you don't look fine. What's wrong?"
She raised her cowboy hat a tad and eyed me through a slit between it and her hooves.
"It's Big Mac."
"What about him? Is he alright?"
"He's not dead ... but ... he's ... missing."
"You sure he didn't just go out to gather supplies or something?"
"I'm sure," she sighed, hoofing me a note she'd been holding before covering her eyes again.
I read the note.
AJ, I hop you dont mind me leeving. Im off to find the rest of the apple familie. I cant sleep without them beeing saf. Tell Apple Bloom too not worry about me, and keap her saf. Love ya, and hop too see ya soon!
"Geez. Illiterate fuck."
She quickly dropped her hooves, revealing a furious glare. Before I even got the chance to apologize, she hopped off her seat and shoved me backward a few steps with her forelegs. Then, in rapid succession, she swung around and blasted me with her hind legs, sending my ass to the ground and sliding across the floor. I squirmed for a second before she leapt on top of me, causing me to freeze as she glared down at me.
"Do NOT talk about my brother like that ever again, do you understand me?"
"Y- yes ... sorry, AJ."
She pushed her snout against my nose as her eyes burned into my good one. She rose a front hoof against my neck, using enough force to partially block my airway.
"If you so much as mention my brother again, I will beat you silly. Understood? I will make it slow, and painful."
"I'm sorry, AJ! Please! I won't!"
Author, help me!
Haha yeah right. You straight up pissed on the hornet's nest, dumbass. Reap what you sow.
"You better not."
She released her hoof from my neck and used it to forcefully stomp on my chest. Air was sent flying out of my lungs as she backed up, still glaring at me. I sat up slow and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Applejack. My words were inappropriate, and I was not considerate. I didn't mean to offend you, and I'm sorry about Big- ... uh... uhm... I'm sorry for what you're going through. If you need anything, I am available."
She averted her eyes, her expression changing as she tried to hide her sadness.
"Thank you." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Room 17 | The room was dark. I had shut the door most of the way so I didn't have to hear the other ponies working on the front door. I wanted to make sure no more zombie ponies would attack them though. It was still night, but through my window I could see tiny beams of sunlight starting to poke over the horizon. Throwing myself off the hospital bed, I stretched. Today was the day we headed for Canterlot. I had packed the previous day so I would be ready to set off. Twi had arranged for us to head to the train station. There was a small chance that the train was still operating and that the train station was successfully boarded up and secure. I highly doubted it, but there was always the possibility. I threw my hoodie on over the clothes I had put on the previous night. My backpack was against the wall, underneath the window. Pulling a box of cereal from it, I poured a bowl and ate it up quickly. Couldn't go hungry now. I threw my trash away and finished stretching. Throwing the backpack over my shoulders, I took one last look out the window at the oncoming sun and slipped out the door.
Shutting it softly, I went downstairs towards the chattering of the working ponies. The floor had been well cleaned and not a single blood stain remained. The showers had been running all day yesterday as the ponies cleaned up. I was one of the first in line as my laundry was running. It felt great to finally do so. Blood from the zombies had managed to find their way on my legs and arms.
While I was in the shower, I had a startling shock when washing the blood off my arm. I had completely forgotten that my arm had been bit by Pinkie the day before last. How long did I have now? I had managed to carefully clean the bite up, and it only looked like a few scratch marks. It wasn't as deep as I remembered. Was it healing? It couldn't be.
I kept it covered for now. If I started feeling nauseous or loopy, I'd tell the others then. There was no point in scaring them right now. The ponies working downstairs had put the door back in it's place, and hammered in some boards where the shattered windows used to be.
"Morning, darling." I turned to see Rarity carrying her saddlebag.
"Morning."
Surprisingly, Spike wasn't by her side.
"He's sleeping. Poor guy was working all day yesterday," she replied, seeming to read my thoughts. "By the way, Twi wants to see you."
"Oh ... Where is she?"
"Room 17. Down that hall." she gestured towards the hall, left of the main desk.
"Thanks." I hurried down. My eye scattered about, looking for room numbers. The other one felt like it was healing, but I'd have to talk to Nurse Redheart about it. It was awkward moving just one of them around, but I was starting to get the hang of it. I'd have to see Derpy for tips.
Room 11, 13, 15. I hoped her and I could keep quiet, to not wake up the others. I tried giving her time to digest what happened, but I could understand her anger towards me. I hoped for the best as I pushed the door open softly. Purple eyes gazed at me from staring out the window. My vision slowly adjusted as I slipped in.
"Close it and sit down, please," Twi requested softly. I closed the door softly and sat on the bed. She came and sat down next to me.
"Devan ... I'm sorry."
"For?"
"For everything. For running off, for blaming you, for snapping at you. Just ... sorry." She took a breath and spoke before I could reply. "I talked with Dash about Cheerilee. It was the heat of the moment. She told me about how fast they run ... and I knew about it, sort of, but I was determined to outrun her if she turned. Regardless, she put some sense into me. I don't know whether or not I wish you'd done it, but I shouldn't have gone off on you like I did."
"Oh Twi ... there's no need for that. We're in dark times right now. I don't blame you for getting mad."
"Thank you ..." she said, and leaned against me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder.
"Don't worry," I said, "We'll make it through this." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Hammertime! | My room was dark. I had shut the door fully, but I could still hear the other ponies working on the front door. How fucking long am I gonna have to listen to this stupid ass hammering? They'd been working on the door for hours. Fucking retards. I debated going down there and threatening to shoot them.
It was night now, but through my window, I could see tiny beams of sunlight poking over the horizon.
Wait, they hadn't been working on the door for hours ... they'd been working on it ALL FUCKING NIGHT. I remembered tossing and turning in my sleep as I tried to rest with them doing so. I threw off my covers and angrily stood up out of my hospital bed. Through my fit of rage, I still managed to think about throwing on my backpack before stomping out of my room.
I passed by a startled earth mare who pushed up against the other side of the hallway so I could get through. I avoided falling on my face as I rushed down the stairs and busted the first-floor door open. The lobby was relatively empty, dimly lit by the hospital's emergency lights. Rarity was sitting nearby the receptionist's desk, also startled by my entrance. I glanced at her briefly before stomping up to the front of the lobby.
Two stallions both stopped hammering and turned to face me when they heard my loud footsteps. They were already done fixing the door. Instead, they were boarding up the floor-to-ceiling high windows on either side of them. Regardless, I didn't care. I stopped in front of them and crossed my arms.
"Are you two retarded?" I asked.
They exchanged a confusing glance with one another before the one on the left spoke.
"Uh ... no? We're just boarding up the window."
"Yeah? Boarding up the window ALL FUCKING NIGHT LONG?"
"Dude, we just started this side. We took a four-hour break upon Twilight's request so others could sleep."
"BULLSHIT."
"I ... I don't know what to tell you, man. We stopped around 2:30. You shouldn't have heard us then."
"OH I FUCKING HEARD YOU!" I exclaimed, ripping my arms out of their crossed state and throwing them out to grab the stallion's hammer. I was too quick and too angry for him to stop me, so I ripped it out of his hoof and stepped back.
"Dude! Relax!! We won't be that long," the other said.
The stallion I took the hammer from huffed. "Give me my damn hammer back!"
"No! It is not hammertime. No more hammertime!"
I hadn't heard Rarity trotting up behind me. "D'mitry, stop!"
I swung around to face her and threw my hands to the side before replying, "Hammertime!"
The three of them looked on confusingly as I broke out into a dance, which wasn't very good. My anger subsided instantly. I beat my hands out as I shifted my feet, making a lot of awkward squeaking as my shoes slid across the marble floor. The stallion I had stolen the hammer from moved forward as I danced and attempted swiping his hammer back, but I pulled it back.
"Can't touch this!"
"Don't make me get Applejack!" Rarity hollered.
I stopped immediately, huffing as I defeatedly handed the stallion his hammer back. The two of them went back to their stupid fucking hammering as Rarity led me back to the receptionist area and sat me down.
"You deranged being," she commented, sitting back in her chair.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Good morning, Rarity."
"Good morning, darling."
I glanced over at the reception desk beside us, looking for Spike. Somehow, she was smart enough to know that I was looking for him.
"Yeah, he's sleeping. Poor guy was working all day yesterday," she said.
"What? I thought he was just assigning rooms to ponies with you?"
"He was."
"And that wore him out? Wow, what a lazy fuck."
She glared at me.
"Don't talk about my little Spikey-boo like that, dear. He earned his right to be tired."
"Yeah whatever. Lazy ass bitch."
"D'mitry!" she hissed, "If you don't start being nice to him, I'll get Applejack to whip you until your back bleeds."
"How generous of you."
She was taken aback by my lack of anger, and her expression softened. "Umm... sorry, darling. Anyway, Twilight would like to speak with you."
"I don't care."
"D'mitry..." she scoffed.
"Ugh, fine. She better have something important to tell me, like us leaving in an hour or something. Let me eat first."
I pulled off my backpack and set it between my legs. Reaching down, I pulled out a convenient cereal box, a bowl, and a spoon. I poured the flakes into the bowl and started eating it up quickly. Couldn't go hungry now. Rarity watched in disgust as I scoffed down the dry flakes. Honestly, this shit was fucking nasty without milk. What the fuck, Author? The hospital has a damn cafeteria. Why am I scoffing down dry ass cereal that I stuffed in my fucking backpack? Am I being punished?
Actually, you are.
For what? What could I possibly have done to make anybody upset?
You called Big Mac an illiterate fuck.
That was my bad! I told AJ I'm sorry already. But damn, did you see that fucking note?
I did, asshole. Big Mac is an innocent big brother. Imagine him struggling to write that as he makes the selfless decision to look for the Apple Family. I agree, it's pretty stupid that he went out to ... look? ... for them ... but still, he's all sweet and innocent, and you go off and say that? Was kinda hoping AJ would kick your ass, not gonna lie.
Wow.
I finished scoffing down my cereal.
"What's wrong with you?" Rarity asked, wrinkling her snout as I put the empty bowl back.
"Author made me eat that. I'm pretty grossed out too. Might vomit."
"Ah, alright. Well, Twilight is in Room 17 if you want to see her now. Down that hall," she said, pointing me in the right direction.
"Okay, thanks babes."
"Please never call me that again," she remarked as I threw on my backpack and left her.
As I walked along the hall, I thought about what happened after all that crap yesterday. The showers had been running all day yesterday as the ponies cleaned up. The hospital only had two running showers downstairs, as opposed to the typical 'every room gets a bathroom with a bath' or whatever.
Fucking hell. I grew mad, thinking back at the alicorns not agreeing with me to bring logic from my world here, thereby creating a technological boom. I missed social media dearly. But whenever I asked for something similar, they'd always tell me to piss off and go touch grass.
Regardless, I was the last one in line for the showers, since Twi was in charge. I stewed in my bloody clothes until then. I grew impatient, so right after the mare before me went in, I picked the lock to the shower room. She started screaming at me to get out and quit staring at her, even though they never wore clothes anyway. I begged to join her in the shower, but she eventually screamed so loud that Twi was alerted. She had AJ whip me as I waited for my turn.
When I was in the shower, I had a startling shock when washing the blood off my arm. I had forgotten about Pinkie biting me. I still didn't really care. I wondered how long I had left. I'd managed to clean the bite up, and now it only looked like a few scratch marks. Not nearly as deep as I remembered.
Was it healing? I don't know. Whatever.
I kept it covered for now. If I started feeling nauseous or loopy, I would take an Advil or something. I still thought it might be funny to randomly turn when nopony was expecting it. Down with the ship, I say.
Down with the... what? That is the worst misinterpretation of that quote I have ever heard.
Whatever.
My eye scattered about, looking for room numbers in the dimly lit hallway. My other eye felt like it was healing, but I would have to talk to Nurse Redheart about it. I kinda wanted to fuck her again. She felt really damn good, even sober.
I could hear the Author sigh dramatically.
This is all your fault anyway, Author.
What?!
You wrote all of this.
No I didn't! You wrote that, dumbass. I know it's confusing, but I gave you free will. I really don't think you understand the levels to this.
Levels?
Yes. You ever heard the idea of God having a god? And etc? I am your god, but I am far from the only god. My god gave me free will to do what I please, given I follow the timeline of the universe, and his god probably did the same for him. I gave you free will too, which means you are narrating the story, with my help.
My brain suddenly started hurting bad.
Yeah. It goes pretty deep. That's life for you. Don't think too hard about it. Just keep it moving, you horny bastard.
Room 11, 13, 15...
There. Room 17. I casually opened the door and closed it behind me before even observing what was in the room. Maybe not a great idea at a time like this, but whatever. When I looked up, I saw Twi's purple irises gazing at me beside the window. My vision slowly adjusted to the dark room.
"Come here, D'mitry," Twi requested softly.
Interesting. I made my way inside and sat down on the bedside near her. She left the window and came over to sit next to me. I sat quietly for once, waiting for her to speak, but even after a minute, she was silent.
"You wanted to talk, didn't you?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Well, you're doing a pretty bad job so far."
I could see her roll her eyes before shutting them briefly. She then shook her head and looked over at me, cracking a timid smile.
"I'm sorry for getting mad at you," she apologized.
"Yeah, okay bitch."
Her smile was wiped from her face before her hoof caught me off-guard, clocking me in the side of the head. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, so I shook it off.
"Rude."
She sighed. "I'm being serious here. I mean, you have been nothing but an asshole lately, but so have I. I just want to apologize for that. I'm sorry for flying off at the start of this thing, for blaming you about Pinkie, for snapping at you, not listening to you... just everything."
"There's no way you're bein' serious right now."
"I am," she pressed, "Please believe me right now. I don't want us to be at each other's throats."
"Well, I mean... we aren't that bad-"
"Please. I just want us to be friendly with one another again. I mean, as much as we can be. Even if it's just for now."
I took a moment to observe her. She seemed a bit uneasy.
"Are you alright, Twi?"
She sighed again. "I'm just stressed, okay? This apocalypse has taken a toll on me so far, and I'm just trying to do some damage control. Can you help me with that? What I mean is... I just... I want to start anew, you know?"
Her serious tone caused me to hold off my playful demeanor. "I mean... we can, Twi. We can start fresh."
She smiled, leaning her head against my shoulder. "Thanks, D."
Something clicked in my head. I pushed her away.
"D..." she stammered, "...what the heck?"
"Ain't no way. You would never call me D. You talked with Dash about me, didn't you?"
Even in the dark, I could see her cheeks blush. "N- No!"
"You did! You definitely did! You're totally trying to fuck me right now!"
"I AM NOT!" she hissed, her cheeks lighting up even brighter. "Keep your fucking voice down!"
"Wow. Haha. Never thought I'd see this day."
After nervously glancing at the door to make sure nobody heard, she dug her face into her hooves to hide away. I could hear her sigh before dropping her hooves and looking forwards.
"You... keep thinking that..." she replied, keeping her eyes glued to the window.
I reached out my hand unexpectedly and set it on one of her hind legs sitting underneath her. This startled her, causing her to meet eyes with me again. I smiled.
"I mean, I didn't say no..."
Her eyes widened a bit, but she still wasn't fighting back. She glanced toward the shut door before gazing back at me, observing my mutual expression.
"Are... are you serious?" she asked.
"I am."
"Umm-" she started, "...well then... do you wanna...?"
"I do."
Too bad. Moving on.
"NO, wait!" Twi cried.
I felt an odd shift, as if the chapter was about to end, but stopped. It didn't make much sense to me.
Twilight, I swear...
"Look, I know, I know, you're probably sick of him fucking when we're supposed to be focusing on the zombie apocalypse or whatever, but I am stressed too, okay? You even let him have a shot at Redheart, like, come on! Is Redheart really more important than me?"
Well, he doesn't address you as one of the 'important princesses'. Lmao.
"Whatever. He's just being silly. We both want this right now, so can you please do your time shift thing?" No.
"Please!"
Haha no.
"AUTHO |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | The Train Station | "We all set?" Twi hurled her saddlebag on.
Everypony and Discord nodded. Flutters had been talking to me ever since I left Twi's room. She didn't seem very keen about leaving. "Can you and I ... maybe ... stay here while the others leave?"
The zombie attack must have scared her. It hurt hearing her nervousness.
"I'm sorry, Flutters. I have to go. You can stay here if you'd like. We'll be back as soon as we get this all figured out. Right?" I gestured to Twi for help.
"Yeah. Don't worry, Flutters," Twi came over, "Everything will be fine."
"Well, since you guys are leaving, I'll come with you."
Now, I don't know if you could tell, but I've grown very fond of this bunch over time. I had been with them for a seemingly endless ten months. They had been like family to me. And that's why it hurt me to see them suffer. I gave Flutters a meaningful glance. She smiled back wryly.
"Let's go."
Twi led the others out the door. A long walk awaited us. There was a reason they put a train there. First, we headed out for the train station. We still didn't know what condition it was in and I still highly doubted it was functional, or even there at all.
We followed the now risen sun. Flutters stayed close to my side, still very anxious. Nurse Redheart tagged along with numerous supplies just in case we got hurt on the way there. It was okay, because right after I left Twi's room, two of the four nurse ponies returned. They had been on patrol, healing survivors, I assumed.
There was small talk between the group about the plan and what we were going to do; also, some random topics to occupy the time and get our minds off this current running disaster.
As expected, Flutters and I were talking to each other. I was getting increasingly worried about the way she was acting. Normally, Flutters would be quiet and shy, and just ... cute. But right now, she was talkative, attentive, and anxious. I was carefully observing her as we walked. She looked fine for the most part. She must have been shaken up from the attack, but I was starting to doubt that. The specks of heat for the day were slowly inching their way towards the cool grass as we approached the train station silhouette through the morning fog.
After my long ten months, I'd only ridden in the trains about four or five times. I didn't know much about the train station and its layout. Would it really matter though? I didn't think so.
Just as I had expected, no trains could be seen. Throughout all the track, there wasn't any sign of a train car. The station looked regular for the most part, but we weren't close enough to pick up all the details just yet.
"Devan ..." Flutters whispered nervously.
"What is it?"
"Can you tell the others to hurry? Please?"
Now that I thought about it, we were headed at a pretty slow pace. Without question, I asked.
"Hey guys, can we speed up a little bit?"
"Sorry. I was just scanning the area," Twi picked up her pace, and the others followed.
Closer and closer we approached. The crossing was ahead, but I figured it didn't matter to us. Not like any trains were going to show up, right? Sometimes I may be a bit too optimistic.
The side door to the station, which I assumed to be the employee door, was wide open. The closer we got, the more rotten it smelled. There were bits of blood on the doorstep that we could see when we approached the tracks. Now my sense of "optimism" seemed to transfer to the others.
"Well. Crap," Twi stopped. I pulled out my m9 from my holster in case things got out of hand. We made our way around the door slowly. Unexpectedly, a zombie had detected our scent and jumped out of the doorway. "Bang!"
The others had flinched and jumped back, but Twi and I already saw it coming. It was an easy shot; nothing to worry about. Twi helped me pull the body out of the way.
"Clear," Twi directed, after looking around the door and peering into the room.
"Not even dead bodies?" I asked. She shook her head no.
"Rarity, Devan, and I will go in and look around. The rest of you, stay on guard," Twi instructed.
We swooped in, welcomed with blood stains blotted around the floor. The room was fairly small, but potentially held a good amount of essentials. We quickly began scavenging.
We managed to gather up very useful items, such as: expired train tickets, empty boxes, and old papers. Seriously. The only valuable thing was in the mini-fridge in the back ... a half eaten apple fritter and carrots. I guess we shouldn't have expected much from looting a train station. Looting wasn't what we were here for anyways. We were just looking around.
What were we still doing here though? It was a simple detour. But, Flutters was anxious enough just walking slowly. This must have made her insides burst. We had to get moving.
"Are we done scuffling through this dump?" I asked.
"I guess so," Twi gathered Rarity and we started walking toward the door. Just before we reached it, a sound was heard in the distance. There was no time to react. The window from the train station shattered, and glass fell on the ground we stood upon.
Gunshots. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Gotta stay fly | My breaths still heavy, I laid under the blanket, trying to settle back into reality.
Huh?
Laying next to me in bed, Twi panted as she similarly caught her breath.
WHAT?!
I looked over at Twi, who laid on her side with her hooves curled up between us. She chuckled as she stared back at me.
"That's right," she said confidently, turning her gaze to the ceiling. "I outsmarted you, Author."
I'm not in the fucking ceiling!! What the hell happened? What did you do, Twilight?!
"I fucked D'mitry."
How?!
"I found out how your logic works, dummy. You aren't present when you do that stupid time-warp crap, but you know when else you aren't present?"
She paused, waiting for the Author to guess, but all we heard was a huffing sound from him.
"Yep. In between chapters."
Fucks sake. Alright, I'll give you that one, Twilight. That was pretty smart. Not even I thought of that.
Twi smiled gleefully as she stared back at me. Her purple irises stabbed me. This was great. This was-
Get a damn move on, you manwhore.
Ugh fine.
I got dressed again as Twi promptly fell back to sleep. Our session had been pretty intense, even with her lack of magic, so I wanted to nap too. But as I left her room, I noticed Fluttershy down the hall. I also noticed her gaze move down my body, so I looked down to see what she was looking at. Turns out I hadn't fastened my belt correctly, and the end of it hung out awkwardly, making it easily noticeable.
You really need to learn how to buckle your belt, ya damn moron.
I huffed at the Author's remark, fixing my belt and quickly walking the other way. However, Fluttershy had quickened her pace to come talk to me. I ignored one of her calls, shifting into a speedwalk past the lobby. Eventually, I made it upstairs and into my room, closing the door behind me.
Of course, there were no damn locks on these doors, so I made my way to my hospital bed and flung myself on it, pretending to be asleep. Just a few seconds later, the door opened again, and I heard Fluttershy close it before walking up to my bedside.
"D'mitry."
"ZZZZZzzzzZZZZZzzZzzzZZZZZ"
I felt a hoof smack the back of my head.
"I know you're awake, bozo. Talk to me."
I lifted just my head, displaying a pompous expression.
"Uh-uh. I do not engage in conversation with such degenerates. Go away, pegabitch," I scoffed, dropping my head back down. Only a second passed until I felt her hoof smack the back of my head again.
"Knock it off, D'mitry. Now isn't the time for that. I know you aren't really racist."
I lifted my head again, this time filled with surprise.
"I am! I don't like you because of your wings! So piss off!"
"Yeah okay... so you aren't into wings, yet you fuck two of our friends that have them? Sure. Really putting on some tinted glasses with that one."
I sat up at the edge of my bed, surprised to hear that she knew I fucked Dash as well. She stared back with annoyed blue eyes as she stood by the bedside.
I huffed. "Why don't you pegabitches ever just leave me alone? There's a reason I don't like y'all."
"And why is that?"
"I... uh... uhm... y'all just... annoy me. Yeah. That's it. Now piss off."
"You're more unconvincing than a damn filly. What is the reason? Just be honest with me. Do you want me to get Applejack?"
"NO! PLEASE! ALRIGHT!"
"Oh wow. That was easy. Good... spit it out."
I huffed. "I ... I just wanted to fly..."
She cocked her head confusingly. "Fucks that supposed to mean?"
I frowned, remembering the day my hatred for pegasi began.
The sky had a whole lotta blue in it. Clouds too. I gazed up at them, one hand holding my other elbow as I tapped a finger against my lips in curiosity. I watched a pegasus mare graciously fly over me. Her tail flapped in the wind as she glided along, free as a bird.
Damn, I wanted to fly. I'd only been in this world for a few weeks now, and only been released from the confines of Sweet Apple Acres for a couple of days. They even let me walk down the street by myself! Strange sense of trust AJ and her family had with me, but I guess it'd be easy to track my tall, hairless ass down if I tried running away.
I averted my gaze from the sky for a moment, noticing a teal pegasus mare walking down the street toward me. I was growing impatient, so I ran forwards to meet her. She promptly stopped, almost running the other direction until I stopped too.
"Hey, excuse me! Could you help me?" I asked.
She stared me up and down skeptically. "With ... what?"
"I gotta stay Fly-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah," I replied, unable to hold back a little dance.
"Uh... what?"
"I'd just like to see what it's like to fly."
"What? What are you asking me?"
"Can you fly me, pretty please?"
A distasteful look filled her face as she looking me up and down. "You want me to fly you? How would I carry your big ass in the sky?"
"I ... I don't know. If I get another pegasus, do you think two of you could lift me?"
"I ain't doing that," she responded, starting to walk past me. I shifted in her way again.
"Get out of my way, human!"
"No, please. I'm not asking for much."
"I'm not carrying you in the sky. Especially not for free. Leave me alone," she scoffed, brushing past me and marching away.
I sighed, continuing my walk until I reached another pegasus down the street. This one was a stallion. Upon asking the same question, he had the same response.
"Please, bro!"
"No! Fuck off, slave!"
As he stomped off, I started growing angry. It took me another minute to find another blue pegasus mare walking down the street.
Huh. Lots of pegasi walking around today. I guess it was a bit windy...
I stepped in front of her, causing her to glance up at me and tilt her head confusingly.
"Can I help you, human?"
"Yes! Please. Can you help me fly?"
"Uh ... what?"
"Please. All I'm asking is for you to carry me up a little ways and fly me. I just wanna see what it's like. Just a few minutes max. Please?"
"Ha. Yeah, that ain't happenin'. Sorry, human."
"PLEASE."
"No," she replied, starting to walk past. I shifted in her way.
"Human, pleas-"
I grabbed her neck before she could back away. My anger finally got to me. Her eyes widened with fear as I leaned my head down.
"Just CONSIDER, would you?"
"AHHH!! SOMEBODY HELP! THE HUMAN IS ATTACKING ME!"
I quickly let go of her neck, swiveling my head to see if anyone heard her. When I glanced back at the mare, she already had her back to me and was galloping away. Damn. A few seconds later, I noticed that she turned on the dirt road that led to Sweet Apple Acres.
"NO WAIT!! I'M SORRY!!" I shouted, starting chase.
Unfortunately, I never caught up to her. I ran down the path to AJ's barn, eventually slowing to a walk as I accepted my defeat. When I saw her in the distance, galloping back with AJ by her side, I dropped to my knees. My heart raced as I tried to mentally prepare myself for my upcoming punishment.
"Really, D'mitry?"
"Yes."
"Wow. This whole time ... all these months ... because of that? I didn't think that whole drama affected you that much."
"Yes! It hasn't gotten any better either. Y'all are a bunch of stuck-up, judgemental, human-hating assholes."
"I don't hate you."
"Well, you should! I... I hate- I... ah whatever. Screw you."
"C'mon, D'mitry. You know, you could have just asked Dash and me. We probably wouldn't have accepted on the spot, but we would eventually."
"I don't believe you."
"Don't care. You aren't racist. You just think you are. Will you drop the act now?"
"I JUST... ugh... you know what? Fine. I'll try to change. Guess now would be the time anyway."
"Sweet. Alright, stay right here. I'll be right back."
"Okay?"
I sat on the bed, patiently waiting for her return. After about 8 seconds, I gave up and laid back down. I started falling asleep when the door opened again. I raised my head, watching her come through the door with Cloudchaser. They both walked up to the bedside, stopping to stand side-by-side as I sat up on my side.
"Apologize," Fluttershy ordered.
"Bruh."
"Just fucking apologize."
"For what?"
Cloud huffed. "Uh- maybe for smacking my fucking face with a dildo?"
I couldn't help but burst into laughter as I was reminded of that.
"You shithead," she continued, "Fucks the matter with you? Really?"
I settled my laughter. "I really can't tell ya. I don't know myself. But I'm ... sorry ... okay? I just thought it'd be funny."
"Wow," she replied, turning to Fluttershy. "I guess that's good enough. Best we can get out of this idiot."
Fluttershy shook her head at me as Cloud turned around and walked out of the room. Once she was out, Fluttershy glanced at the door to make sure before stepping up to me.
"Can I talk to you about something else that's bothering me?"
"Uh... okay?"
"I'm a bit worried about leaving for Canterlot today."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling, you know?"
"Why the hell are you talking to me about it? Wouldn't you want to console with Twi or something?"
"Well, I was going to, until your horny ass came lumbering out of her room. How did you get her to fuck you anyway? Are you bribing ponies or something?"
I confidently dusted off my shoulder. "Mmm, no. I'm just that charming."
She blew air from her nose as she held back a laugh.
"Yeah right. It must be something else. First Rainbow Dash, then ... Redheart, right? Then Twilight herself?"
"How do you even know about Dash and Redheart?" I inquired.
"You fucked Dash. C'mon now. You know how Dash is. We hadn't even made it here from Twilight's castle before she told me about it."
"Oh... okay. What about Redheart?"
"Dash again."
"Damn."
"So? What's up with that? You humans possess some kinda magic dick that splits into two?"
"Uh, no. But they like it enough I guess."
"How big is it? Let me see."
"WHOA Damn! Easy there, Ms. Eagerhooves."
"I don't wanna fuck you, dumbass. I'm in relations with Discord."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. I'm not showing you my penis then. I will say, it's above average for my species."
"Don't care. How big?"
"Jesus. About eight inches."
"Okay."
"What do you mean Okay?"
"I mean, that's an okay size. Discord's is bigger though."
"I DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT!" I exclaimed, wrinkling my nose in disgust. "And Discord is 12 FUCKING FEET TALL! I would hope his is bigger! Damn!"
"Cope. Anywho, let's get back on topic."
Please do. Neither I nor the readers needed to know what your damn cock sizes were.
"Too bad," I said, "Shoulda struck us with li-"
Double lightning bolt. Ow!
"Ow!" Fluttershy cried, huffing before continuing, "Look... I don't know if I really want to go to Canterlot. Could you and I maybe ... I don't know ... stay here while the others leave?"
"Why do you want to stay with me? Go get your loverboy Discord to."
"Well, someone's jealous. In all honesty, I want you to stay back so you don't get our friends killed with your stupidity."
"I mean, fair enough, but why do you wanna stay back?" I asked.
"I already told you. I just got a bad feeling. Maybe me not going would prevent something bad from happening."
"Let's be honest, Fluttershy. Twi ain't letting your ass stay back."
"Ah ... I guess you're right. Whatever. I'll go with then. Not like it matters anyway."
"What?"
"Nothing. Shut up."
"Uh... k."
"We all set?" Twi asked, hurling her saddlebag on.
Everybody nodded, and Twi led us all out the door. We followed Celestia's now-risen sun as we departed for the train station. As we continued, Fluttershy stayed close to my side, appearing a bit nervous. I still wasn't sure why she was acting this way, but maybe I'd find out on our trek. Redheart also tagged along with numerous supplies in case we got hurt on the way there. That'd never happen though, our walk would be nice and calm, and no injuries were remotely possible.
As we walked, Redheart slowed to walk by my side. We didn't have to speak, as we both just wanted to accompany one another. I caught Dash giving us the side eye before moving up to walk next to Twi. Whatever. I continued with Redheart and Fluttershy on my sides. Before we left, two more nurse ponies had returned to the hospital. They had been on patrol, healing survivors I guess.
Yeah sure, we'll just go with that.
We continued walking when Fluttershy looked across from me at Redheart. We were far enough away from the others to keep our conversation to ourselves.
"So," she said, "why'd you fuck him?"
I looked down to see Redheart's cheeks burn up again as she turned to Fluttershy. I so badly wanted to squeeze and play with them.
"How ... how'd you find out about that?" she asked, looking up at me. "Did you tell her?!"
"I didn't."
"I've got connections," Fluttershy mentioned.
"It was fucking Rainbow Dash, wasn't it?" Redheart scoffed, "Fucking bitch."
"Hey!" I interjected, "She's the one who hinted to you about it. Without her, you wouldn't have even gone for me."
The nurse's cheeks blushed even more as she found out I had heard their conversation. Fluttershy tilted her head as the mare looked away from us.
"Well? Nothing to say?"
"I was stressed, okay?" the nurse replied, "Why do you care anyway?"
"I'm just curious. He's been here a while, and now all of a sudden, mares start leaping for his alien cock? I don't understand it."
"Rumors spread legs," I said, "Besides, Dash wasn't my first."
Both of the mares looked up at me in shock.
"Who was?!" Fluttershy asked.
"It's a secret."
"Wow. Fuck you," she scoffed.
We continued walking, Fluttershy occasionally pestering me to give up the mystery mare. The specks of heat from Celestia's sun slowly inched their way toward the cool grass below as we approached the train station's silhouette through the morning fog. After my long ten-month stay, I'd ridden the train a couple dozen times. As much as I wanted to stay away from Canterlot, the important princesses would request me whenever they heard I was causing trouble. I'd usually get a few hours' worth of dungeon time, and occasionally a Celestia spanking.
A what? XD
Yeah, Princess Celestia likes spanking. Not being spanked--she's the spanker. She kinda weirds me out sometimes. I try my best to stay away from her. She spanks hard.
As we got view of the station, there were no trains to be seen. No train cars were visible on any part of the track.
God damn it.
I was hoping we wouldn't have to fucking walk to Canterlot. I started wondering if I should accept Fluttershy on that offer and stay back. I didn't feel like walking. I feel like that enormous distance would kill me, and I'd become like ... the walking dead or something.
Just had to slip that in there, didn't ya?
Huh? I don't know what you mean.
Anyway, we approached the station. The side door of it sat wide open, and the closer we got, the more rotten it smelled. There were drops of blood on the doorstep that I could make out when we approached the tracks.
"Gross," Dash commented.
I moved forward to stand behind Twi and Dash, who eased their way around the corner of the door. During our walk, I had pulled out my baby, which sat in my right hand.
Suddenly, a zombie mare jumped out of the doorway. I raised my baby quick.
BANG!
A bullet popped the mare in her head. She dropped in front of the stairs as the others backed up.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BA-
My baby was knocked out of my hands by AJ.
"Cut it out, ya fuckin' moron. She's already dead."
I leaned down and picked up my baby again. "Sorry, sorry. Trigger happy."
"Yeah, no shit," Twi stated.
Twi and Dash pulled the body out of the way before making their way to the doorway and peering into the room. After a moment, Dash called out.
"Clear."
Twi pushed the side door open fully so we could all see each other.
"Okay. Rarity and D'mitry, come inside with me."
Dash, who was starting to ease her way inside, got dramatically pulled back by Twi, nearly tumbling down the stairs as Twi shoved her out.
"Twilight! What the fuck?" she hissed.
"I want Rarity and D'mitry. You can keep an eye out."
The two exchanged an unusual glare with one another as I followed Rarity and Twi inside. Odd.
The train station's room was pretty small, but Twi ordered us to begin scavenging. Why the fuck were we wasting our time here? I wanted to berate her for her stupid suggestion, but I was still kinda buzzing from our little, unexpected adventure this morning. So, I kept my big mouth shut for once and looked around for anything useful. The only valuable thing was in the mini-fridge in the back--a half-eaten apple fritter and a Bud Light.
I leaned down and quickly snagged the Bud Light, popping off its cap and downing the bitch. As the liquid swirled down to my eager mouth, a white hoof blasted the bottle out of my hand, causing it to burst into glass shards beside me.
"RARITY! What the fuck?!" I exclaimed, standing back up and stomping the floor angrily. I had only gotten about half of the bottle down before she rudely destroyed it.
"The last thing we need right now is for your crazy ass to get drunk. Have some decency, dear. Please."
"Ah- fine. Whatever. Are we done scuffing through this dump?"
"I guess so," Twi replied.
We started walking toward the door when we heard a blast in the distance. As the sound hit our ears, I saw a hole form in one of the glass windows of the station.
A bullet hole. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Surrender Now | "Get in, hurry!" Twi hollered.
The gunfire continued. Bullets shredded against the brick wall outside, and a few more shots ripped through the already shattered glass window, almost making it just a hole in the wall. Blood was scattered about even though none of us were hit. The glass had cut us on its way down and the others were forced to step on the glass bits.
We all had immediately dropped down after the window exploded. The others managed to get in unscathed quickly. Now we were hiding for our lives. I checked over my m9 and started a defense. Throwing only my arm up, I took a couple blind shots through the window toward the sounds of the guns. I wanted them to experience shots going their way. But instead of gesturing them away, it seemed to draw them closer. A few more shots flew through the window right where my arm had been, and whipped above our heads. The cracks of them grew increasingly nerve-racking.
I decided to take another blind shot. Instead of them returning fire, there was a quick silence. Had that actually hit-
"Step out of the building! Surrender and no harm will be done!" I heard a stallion scream.
Who on earth was shooting at us anyway? And how did they get guns? It was so unexpected, but the offer was tempting. I glanced cautiously over the edge of the window, and was startled to see a boy poking around the corner of a nearby overthrown box. I ducked quickly when he aimed his pistol at me, and he let off a couple shots that whizzed over my head.
Fuckers ...
"More humans ..." I said.
"What?" Twi asked, turning to Discord, "I thought you got rid of those bastards!"
"I did!" he insisted.
"Should we fire back?" Rarity asked.
Twi thought a few seconds before nodding. Dash and I took the first shots, peering over the ledge and firing a few rounds near whatever we could see. Just as we dove back down, shots rang out above our heads. One of them actually bounced off the opposing wall. Still travelling at full speed, it ripped halfway through the brick wall, inches away from me. It wasn't safe for us here.
"Twi! You and the others stay here. I'm gonna run out to the other building and distract them. Be careful poking out!" I instructed.
"I'm coming with you," Dash seemed to command herself by my side. I didn't mind one bit.
We readied at the door. Still flung open, we counted to three and leapt out, using it for cover as we hustled to the back side of the station. We bolted around the corner and ... oh hell. We flung ourselves back around the corner after seeing a boy firing at the side of the station. He turned his attention to us immediately. These damn humans. Why were there so many here? Though I didn't stop for details, I noticed straight black hair with a bandana around his neck.
Plopped in the back of the neighboring house we were initially going for, he sat there with some kind of pistol. We dodged a few of his late-fired shots, but now we were stuck. The only protection from the front shooters we had was the door and the angling of the station walls.
"Should we run back inside?" Dash yelled over the gunfire.
"No. We have to get to that building," I insisted.
I slightly pulled out of cover, poked around the corner and got off three fast shots in the boy's direction. The move startled him. Five shots flew past. I felt them whiz by my side, merely inches away. One of them shook the dirt up by my right leg. I heard the boy yell. Finally one thing had gone right. There were more shots in between his cries of pain. I threw my arm around and fired one more blind shot his way. He screamed again.
I don't believe that shot hit him, but the first one definitely did. Twi ran out, followed by Rarity. They stopped, using the door as cover. They exchanged a glance with us before bolting for the nearby tree. Oh. I hadn't seen that there.
We watched as they ran, and right before they reached it, Rarity was clipped in the side and fell. Dash gasped. Even more shots rang out. I threw my arm out, making sure the door didn't block my shot, and fired a few blind rounds at them. Twi quickly dragged Rarity's laid out legs into the cover of the tree. She hollered once, and I had to hold back Dash from running over.
"Don't! You'll be shot as well!" I exclaimed.
"Okay, okay ... is the kid dead?"
I glanced around the corner. The boy had dropped his gun and was curled up, clutching his chest tightly. The door we used as cover was then ripped with bullets and flung shut. Without a second to lose, it forced us to jump out behind the station. But I had different plans for the boy. This was going to end. Now.
I still had my m9 pointed at him, but he was done trying to fight.I stopped at the edge and took a deep breath.
"Stay here," I told Dash, "I'll be back."
She looked confused, but got the best of her stubbornness and agreed. One more breath, and I sprinted to the boy. While I was running, I managed to get my left leg clipped. Kind of like Rarity, I dropped with both legs laying out in the open. The difference, however, was that the boy I shot wasn't exactly keen about pulling me in as Twi had done with Rarity. I squirmed further in until I was in the clear.
"Devan!" Dash yelled.
"I'm fine! Stay there!"
The boy clutched his chest the whole time. He wasn't a threat anymore. That's exactly what I needed for my plan. Observing my legs, there were only two bullet skims on my left one, one on my calf and another near my ankle. No bullets went through the inside. Sucking in the pain, I called myself a pussy under my breath.
Alright. Time for the plan. Forgetting the throbbing and the blood inching down my leg, I got up. Beretta still in hand, I nudged the boy.
"Get up ... or I'll shoot." I grabbed his arm.
"Please don't," he begged.
He cooperatively obeyed and stood up, still clutching his chest intently. To be sure he didn't mess anything up, I pulled off his bandana and blindfolded him with it. He had blood spilled over the grass. I hoped he could stay conscious until this was over, but he was okay right now. I only needed him for a few minutes.
"What are you doing?"
"Quiet." I hooked him by the neck, and put the m9 to his head.
I dragged him out of cover. With the gun to his head, he didn't squirm a bit. I continued limping slowly along the side of the house. The gunfire came to another silence. "Drop your weapons! Get out of cover or the boy dies!" I exclaimed. "No, please ..." The boy quivered in my grip. I stopped around the corner of the house and waited for a response.
I was getting nervous and impatient. It was a while until all three of them finally came out of cover. There was a catch though. The main one walked out, but with a pistol to Cloudchaser's head. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Imbeciles | We all hit the floor as gunfire erupted in the distance, sending bullets shredding through the station window. The station quickly crowded with bodies as the others darted inside. Fluttershy, unintentionally I believe, mowed over me, sending a hind leg crushing my ribcage as she passed.
"OW!! Damn!" I hollered.
Glass bits from the window above showered us. I glanced left and right, noticing that everybody had made it inside unscathed. Even Discord's tall ass, who curled up on the ground next to the back wall. For a few seconds, more shots ripped through the window and cracked as they flew above us. I pulled my baby out of my holster again, gripping it with both hands as I laid up on my side. Next to me, Twi pulled out her own gun and looked at me.
"Who in the fuck is shooting at us?!" she cried.
"I don't know!"
The shots had stopped briefly, allowing me to sit up partially on my knees. I raised my head just enough to glance out the window, but a bullet flew through the glass beside me. I quickly ducked again, as I wasn't a big fan of getting my head blown off.
"Fucking faggots!" I hollered.
Rarity, on my other side, asked, "Why are they faggots?"
I had to hold back a chuckle at hearing Rarity utter the word faggot before responding.
"They probably aren't. But I'm running out of derogatory phrases to use! Doesn't help that y'all call me a moron every 3 seconds."
Fluttershy, who had scooted over to lay by Discord, replied, "Well stop being a fucking moron then. Damn."
"Fuck you. I'll come up with something. Maybe like Discord said about them boys from earlier, fucking ᴉ̸̙̣̙͔̮̭̆̅̔̈́̈ɯ̸̯̗͍̃̒̆̀͆̚q̴͓͆̈́̾͝͝ǝ̷̻͙̼̯̀̊ͅɔ̴̧̱͍̃̽̂̃̃̚ᴉ̸̰̱̩̞̙̖͎́̊́l̵̰͙̞͕͈̱̬̑̓͒ǝ̵̠͂̀̚͝s̴̭͆̈́̂̓͛̽̆."
"What?" Twi asked.
I squinted my eyes confusingly, wondering why the word came out like that.
"Fucking ... Ḯ̸̲̝͒̐̑ɯ̵̭̲̺̙͋̈́̄͂̂ǝ̶̯̠̕q̸̢̥͉̣̲̘̾̆̆̔̇͂̅ɔ̵̨̖̻͙̟͚̼̆ᴉ̷͓̺͈̩̲̰̽̓͘̕͠͠ǝ̷̧͔̗̤̝̻̓̋̀͐̀̉̿l̶̛̇̾̑͝ͅs̴̢̨͓̘̦͛͛̈̿̑̃̆..." I tried again, "What the hell? Why can't I say ɯ̷̨̩̗̮͕̗̗̳̐̊̉̀͌I̴̢̛̠͇͕͊̃͘͠q̷̙̗͛̉̓͘͝ǝ̴̨̣̦̠̤̮̗̲͆̂̈́͘ɔ̵̣̪̉l̸̨̩̗̟̪̝̬̓̄̅̍ǝ̶͚̺͙̒̀͝ᴉ̴̤̹̉͆͛͘͠s̶͔͎̠͆͒̅̿̒́?"
"Copyrighted," Discord replied.
We all turned to face him as another impatient bullet flew through the window.
"What?" I asked.
"Yeah, I copyrighted the word imbecile. You can't use it."
"How the fuck?"
"I like the word, so I used my powers to copyright it. I have a few more, but you'll have to figure those out yourself."
"You fucking ̨̭͚̲̟̥̈́̇ǝ̴̭̳̘̖͖̭̈́l̴͕͌̿̋̈̍͝ᴉ̶͉̻̪̈́͗ɔ̴̯̠̖̭̣̇͐̎͝ǝ̴̡̖̥̞̻̈́̏͜ǝ̵̤̬̳̭͕̈́͋͗q̸̟̜̖͉̲̮͂͂ɯ̴̢̗̻͂͌͘͝͠ᴉ!!"
"Haha idiot human. Find another term."
"Gah!"
Another two bullets whizzed over our heads, and their annoying cracks were starting to piss me off. I raised my baby above the window and popped off a few blind shots before lowering it again. A few angry bullets whizzed right overhead, where my hand had been. Afterwards, there was another few moments of silence before the screeching of a megaphone sounded in the distance. After it crackled, a male voice spoke.
"Step out of the building! Surrender and no harm will be done!"
"Bruh."
Who the fuck was shooting at us anyway? And how did they get guns? 'No harm will be done' after damn near blowing my hand off lookin' ass. Pretty contradictory statements. Despite this, I still raised my head again to peek outside as Twi reached over and tried to tug me back down.
In the distance, I noticed a human boy poking around a tree. The boy raised his pistol at me, causing me to duck down again as a couple shots flew over my head.
"MOTHERFUCKER!" I shouted, curling against the wall next to Twi.
"Be fucking careful!" she cried, clenching my arm. "Did you see anything?"
"It's those FUCKING BOYS again!"
"What?!" Twi asked, turning to Discord. "I thought you got rid of those shitheads!"
"I DID!" he insisted, "YOU SAW ME WITH YOUR OWN EYES, TWILIGHT!! Why do you assholes think I'm behind all this shit?!"
"Mmmm..." Dash said, "You're Discord."
"Fucks sake," he replied, "Why did I bother becoming friends with you assholes?"
He eyed Fluttershy for a moment. "Oh... right."
"Can you get rid of 'em again?" I asked.
"I can't. I ran out of my magic too."
"Son of a BITCH!" I hollered, "Fine! I'll pop these motherfuckers out of existence myself!"
No gunshots had flown in since they tried offing my hand, so I quickly raised my head and hands, pointing my baby out the window.
BANGBANGBANGBANG!
I quickly fired off rounds. I ducked down again as retaliation bullets shot back. Dash had made her way beside Twi, and she too sat up and fired off three more rounds. Now, we were battling. I threw my arm up and fired a couple more blind shots as the window continued showering us with shards. I heard one of the rounds ricochet off the opposing wall Discord and Fluttershy were under, causing them to cover their heads.
"Fuckin' hell, we gotta move," I stated, "Twi, you and the others stay here! I'm gonna run out to the other building and distract them. Be careful poking out!"
"I'm coming with you!" Dash replied, creeping away from the wall and moving to join me. Twi promptly tripped her as she shimmied past.
"Twilight! Fucking stop! We can argue about him later!"
Twi huffed, letting the mare follow me as she sat up and fired off a few rounds of her own. Dash and I readied at the door, which was still flung open. We counted to three for drama sake before leaping out, using the door for cover as we hustled around the back corner of the station. As we rounded the corner to move along the back wall, I noticed a boy leaned up against the wall of the other building. He noticed us too, and raised his pistol at us.
Dash and I dodged a few late fired shots as we dove back against the side of the station, using the stairs and open door for cover. Now we were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
What?
I don't know, it just felt cool saying that.
Lord.
"Should we go back inside?" Dash yelled over the gunfire.
"No. We have to get to that building. Don't worry about it, the fuckers exposed. Imma bust a cap in his bitch ass, watch."
I started to pull out of cover, just to fall back as shots blasted the corner.
"Yeah? Fucking idiot. Be careful!" Dash spat.
"Fuck this motherfucker!"
I was getting angry now, so I threw my shoulder around the corner again, quickly lining the boy up in my baby's sights. It took me a second to pop off two rounds before darting back into cover. A few shots blasted the wall again, but I heard the boy cry out. Finally something had gone right.
I threw my arm out once the bullets cleared and shot one more blind shot his way. He screamed again.
I don't think that shot connected. He was probably just being a pussy bitch.
The gun's slide stayed back, indicating I'd run out of ammo. As I pulled the magazine out and exchanged it for a full one, Twi and Rarity stepped through the doorway. They exchanged a glance with us, completely ignoring their ability to communicate before rushing down the stairs and bolting out of cover.
"What the fuck are y'all-" I started, watching as they ran out in the open. I noticed they were rushing toward a nearby tree. Why the fuck were they risking it for a fucking tree beside the station?! I get that they probably wanted more angles as well, but a fucking tree?! It looked barely wide enough to hide them both anyway. God damn it. As they closed in on it, Rarity was clipped in her side by gunfire. She stumbled to the ground, crying out in pain.
"You fucking idiots!!" I cried, reaching around the open door and popping off five rounds at the initial attackers. Rounds blasted the door protecting us, swinging it shut. Both Dash and I squeezed against the wall harder, as now we just had the staircase protecting us. I looked over to see that Twi had dragged Rarity into cover behind the tree, which was getting its bark blown off by shots. Dash curled up beside me and eyed me nervously.
"Fucking shit. Is the boy dead?" she asked.
I shimmied closer to the corner and glanced around it. The boy had dropped his gun beside him, and was curled up, clutching his chest. I balled my hand into a fist and pulled it down victoriously.
Nerd.
I turned back to Dash. "He isn't dead, but he's not a threat. Follow me."
Dash followed me as we crawled around the corner, standing up once we had the back of the station protecting us again. The boy continued clutching his chest, seemingly unaware of us being in his line of sight now. Dash leaned up against the wall, eying Rarity and Twi. They were still getting shot at occasionally, but they had both made it safely behind the cover of the tree.
"What now?" she asked.
"I've got an idea. Stay here," I said.
"What's your idea?"
I promptly ignored her as I made my way to the other corner behind the station. The two buildings had a sizable gap between them, but if I sprinted at full speed, I could probably cover it in three seconds. I took a deep breath before digging my back foot into the ground and breaking into a sprint.
"I'M FAST AS FUCK BOI!!!" I hollered as I sprinted across.
I'd almost made it too, until I heard gunfire in the distance and a pain shoot through my left leg. The pain was enough to cause me to fall forwards, thankfully into cover.
"My leg!!" I cried, pulling them into cover with me. The boy raised his head as he clutched his chest, finally noticing that I had joined him behind the building. He started reaching a shaky hand out to grab his dropped pistol, but I pointed my baby at him, causing him to freeze.
"You grab that and I'll BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF. GET YOUR HAND BACK, YOU FUCKING CUNT!"
He quickly pulled his hand back, instead clutching his chest. With pain still throbbing in my left leg, I slowly stood up and observed it. While some of the skin on my calf was white and torn, it looked as though no bullets had gotten inside. One of them just shredded the skin off the backside as it had skimmed me. I sucked in the pain, ignoring the small trail of blood slowly oozing from it.
With my baby still in hand, I used my good leg to kick the boy's gun away. He looked up at me with fear painted in his eyes as he clutched his chest.
"Move your hands on your head," I said, pointing my baby at his face. Despite him looking like he was in a lot of pain, he slowly moved his hands from his chest and set them awkwardly against the back and side of his head. I smiled before forcefully kicking his now exposed stomach. He hissed out in pain as he returned his hands to clutch it once more.
"Fucking Bitch. Now stand up before I blow your head off."
"Please don't!!" he begged.
The little pussy squirmed, and I eventually had to help his weak ass to his knees. I noticed two of my bullets had entered his chest--one in his abdomen, and one closer to his shoulder. He was bleeding out pretty bad, and had blood spilled over the grass, but he was still breathing. That's okay. I only needed him for a few minutes. Hopefully his pathetic ass would survive that long. I helped him to a stand.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Shut the fuck up."
I hooked him by the neck, setting my baby's barrel against the side of his head.
"No!!!"
"Walk."
With the barrel to his head, he obeyed. We walked out of cover, in between the two buildings. I continued half-limping in between the buildings as we walked. The gunfire came to a quick stop. I stopped in front of the train tracks spanning in front of the station and building.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND COME OUT!!" I shouted, "NOW!! OTHERWISE, THIS FUCKER DIES!"
"No... please!!" the boy whined in my arms.
I took a quick second to whack him with the handle of my baby before setting the barrel to his cranium again. There were a few loooooooooooong moments of silence as I waited for the boys' response. I grew impatient, and I really just wanted to blast this little fucker right here and now.
After a few more moments, another white fuckboy finally came strutting out from the bushes, his rifle resting up against his shoulder. A stupid smirk filled his stupid face as he walked out, coming to a stop in the open.
"What. A dang. Coincidence," he mocked.
Just moments later, two more boys came out of the bushes as well. One of them walked out with a pony walking beside him.
Cloudchaser...
With a pistol to her head. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Count of Three | The other two were equipped as well. Cloudchaser shook with fear, and she kept clutching her taped-up shoulder. Sweat formed in my temple.
"Cloudchaser!" I yelled.
What to do? What to do?
My mind knotted up. They stopped halfway between their previous cover and us. I looked over my shoulders to make sure nobody was surrounding us. Dash was next to the house the boy was hiding behind.
"It's simple. Release him, and we'll release her," the main boy commanded.
I walked further forwards so Twi and the others had a view of me. Sweat covered my skin. I couldn't let them kill Cloudchaser. I'd never forgive myself if that happened. But I didn't believe them.
"Give me one reason why we should trust you," I demanded, keeping a tight grip on the boy.
"Awe, c'mon man. You don't trust us?" he snickered.
There was silence before he talked again. "We can see the blood from over here. The least you could do is trade. C'mon. We don't have much time."
The boy was bleeding pretty badly, but he was putting pressure on it. It was by his left hip, and the bullet had gone through, so no fragments were inside, I assumed. "I ... I still don't trust you." The boy went from peppy to angry in a second.
"Fine then." He pulled Cloudchaser up and shot her in the side.
"No!" Flutters yelled from the station.
He kept grip on her, and she store back in agony.
"Hurry up and decide!" the boy demanded.
"I am! Give me a second!" I kept talking, but got an idea to start inching to the side of them. If I could just get them cornered between Twi, the others, and me ... I could try giving them a clean shot. I hoped the others were picking up on the move.
"There's not much time left now."
Deep inside, I still didn't trust them. Who would? Now I was halfway to my targeted location. I inched on through and tried not making it apparent. Lucky for us, the boys appeared to be dumb. They all kept their eyes and bodies locked to us. They were intimidating, but not too smart.
"Issac!" the boy snapped.
One of the other boys quit looking at me and turned his attention to Twi and Rarity, and the other one drew his gun to the station.
I guess they aren't that stupid ...
"Quit playing stupid games, or you'll win stupid prizes. Now ... on the count of three, we'll release the pony, and if you don't release our brother, we'll blow all your heads off."
Dash cringed by my side. The look in their eyes was deceitful. Untrustworthy.
"One."
The air was tense. Sweat beaded down my forehead. Would they actually trade? I glanced at the others in the station again. They'd had their guns drawn the whole time, so if they were to exchange shots, I prayed they wouldn't die.
"Two."
I kept my eyes locked on the boys. Cloudchaser was ready to leap out. The boy was ready to bolt. My insides burst. Dash shook by my side. C'mon ...
"Three." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Your offer sucks | Son of a BITCH
Cloudchaser shook with fear, clutching her taped-up shoulder from the surprise zombie attack yesterday. The white fuckboy holding the pistol to her head was also holding onto her mane to keep her from running off. I took a second to observe the three boys, but none of them were the same ones I remember seeing at Twi's castle. I don't know though, my memory ain't so hot. Whatever. The three of them looked similar to the castle group, and all of their stupid faces continued bothering me.
Cloud gazed up, recognizing my face hidden partially by the boy I was holding hostage. Her face dropped, and her eyes squinted with annoyance as she huffed. The main fuckboy noticed this, and turned his attention to her.
"What's the matter, sweetheart? See something you don't like?" he asked.
"Fucks sake," she replied, "You might as well just off me now. He doesn't care if I die or not."
"Oh WOW, you for real?" he responded, glancing between me and her. "But he's Pony Lover! And you're--forgive me if I'm wrong here--a pony!"
"Yeah, he's racist. He wouldn't care."
"Cloud!" I exclaimed, "I don't want you to die!"
She looked back at me confusingly, gauging whether or not I was being for real. As she did, the main boy burst into laughter.
"I'm sorry ... but he's racist? That's wild! Pete never woulda thought that."
"Who the fuck is Pete?" I asked.
"Matey, he's the one that turned ye' into a pirate."
"Oh, that fucker? Well, good he's dead then. Y'all are next."
"You're a bold one, I'll give you that. It's a shame you're retarded too."
I growled under my breath. "What the fuck are you bozos doing here anyway? We've got bigger issues happening right now. Y'all need to fuck off and quit being another fucking problem."
"That's for a later time, broski. For now, you'll just have to deal with us."
"I've got plenty of bullets to deal with each one of you personally."
"HEY! Dumbass! Have you not taken a gander on the little sitiation we got here? There's only two ways for us to proceed."
"Two?"
"Yep. Either you retaliate like the dumbass you are, and we blow your little segregated friend here's head off, or, you accept our offer."
I huffed. This fuckboy was really testing my limits right now. I felt anger pulsing in my veins as I took a deep breath to relax.
"What's the offer?"
"It's simple, really. We both got a hostage now, and as much as I'd like to blow your brains out, I'd much rather have my boy back. So, if you release little Timmy there, we'll release your little pony friend as well."
"Then what?" I asked.
"Then, we go our separate ways for now."
"Hey! I got a better offer. Wanna hear it?"
"No."
"Okay. My offer is that you release 'my little pony' friend there, and I'll release 'your little bitch' friend here. Thennnnn, you drop your weapons, come with us to Canterlot, and we take you to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna so all of you can be SENT THE FUCK BACK WHERE YOU FUCKING BELONG!"
"Ah, yeah... that's not happening. Fucking psycho. For now, my offers are the only two on the table. Pick one, and hurry. I can see the blood from Timmy's stomach from here. We don't have much time."
"Sounds like you don't have much time, shitface. You need to consider MY offer before your little bitch friend here dies."
The fuckboy was growing angrier with every passing second. He gritted his teeth as he glared at me, and after a few seconds of silence, he reached his free hand around his back. I held the boy tightly as he quickly pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Cloud. Before I could react, he shot her in the side, causing her to keel over as she cried out in pain.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!"
"AH AH AH!" he called, lowering his pistol again. "Don't do anything stupid. She ain't dead. But now ... now we're on an even playing field again. So make up your damn mind."
I angrily clenched the boy, resisting the urge to put a bullet through his stupid skull before using him as a meat shield against these other fuckboys. I didn't want Cloud to die though. Even before Fluttershy's talk with me, I probably still wouldn't have wanted her to die. Not like this, anyway.
"Hurry up and decide!" he exclaimed.
"Shut the fuck up! Give me a second!"
"You only got a few of those left."
I huffed angrily. My blood was boiling. But I had to make a decision.
"FINE! I'll release him, after you release her."
"No. We'll do a countdown."
"Fine. Count of three?"
"Yes," he replied, "One."
The air was tense. Sweat beaded down my forehead, partially from the intensity of the situation, and partially from the ravenous anger boiling inside of me. I wanted to kill these fuckboys more than I've ever wanted to do anything in life. I thought about whether that was viable, but there was no telling if these were the only 4 here with us.
"Two."
I kept my eyes locked on the fuckboys. The one with Cloud was helping her back to a stand, and she grimaced in pain as she leaned up against his side. I could feel the boy in my hands ready to dart out. I took a quick peek to the side, catching sight of Twi's face poking out behind the tree. She glanced back at me worriedly. Behind me, Dash had also made her way into the open. She trotted up to my side, causing the boy to pause count for a moment. However, he didn't mention her as he continued.
"Three." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Not Done Yet | At three, I took off the bandana and we both actually released them. Cloudchaser limped over and passed the boy, who practically crawled for the brothers. Despite all the distrust I had for them, they were somehow telling the truth. Maybe keeping the boy hostage was the right choice.
Cloudchaser limped over before falling halfway. Dash and I sprinted over to help. Her side had only been mildly torn by the bullet, as it had gone from the top of it through the left side of her chest and to the ground. "Oh, Devan it hurts ..."
"I know, I know ... I'm so sorry."
Nurse Redheart came rushing over to help with her medical supplies, and she nervously ran past the boys, who had come to the wounded boy's attention. I still couldn't believe they traded. What was going on in their minds?
"Devan, there's more of my equipment in Rarity's saddlebag. Please get it, and hurry," the nurse said.
As I got up, the main boy came face to face with me. He had black wavy hair, and red eyes, presumably from contact lenses. "Hey man, thanks for not holding out on us," he said. Still a bit shocked, I simply nodded and started to walk past until he grabbed me by the neck and pulled me back. "Devan!" Dash yelled. I felt his gun push up against my head. "You like this, huh?! Since this was your whole idea after all!"
"Stop this!" Twi came up, shouting. One of the boy's sidekicks drew a gun to her head, causing her to stop.
"You didn't really think you could get away with that, did you?" He pushed the gun against my head forcefully.
"I had to stop you guys!"
"You didn't have to stop shi-"
"Bang!"
Silence followed the gunshot as it struck him. It was so rapid that it took the other boys by surprise. The one that had a pistol to Twi's skull frowned angrily and turned back to her.
"No!"
"Bang!"
I had reached for my holster last second until another shot rang out. But when I looked back, Twi wasn't there. She had vanished last second. The confused boy looked back at the barrel of my gun pointed at him. "Please don-"
"Bang!"
One more gunshot from Discord took out the boy caring for the wounded brother. He'd also gotten up and reached for his gun. Now they all laid on the bloody grass. Blood had splattered from the main boy's head to my clothes, but that was the least of my worries right now. The wounded boy was barely breathing and Twi was nowhere to be found. Maybe in Canterlot? Whoever saved her, I was grateful, but how would they have known what was going on? And where was she?
"Devan."
I looked back to see her behind me. "Oh thank god! Did you do that?"
"No." She nodded behind her, where I saw Lyra coming out of the bushes with a pistol strapped over her shoulder.
"Thank you so much!" I ran past Twi and hugged her.
"Yeah, I overheard the commotion. I followed the boys here from the hospital, where they kidnapped Cloud. I've been in this bush since that dude started counting. Knew something was up, even when he released Cloud like that."
"You're the one that shot him?" I glanced at the boy.
"Yes."
"I can't thank you enough for what you've done. You're a lifesaver!"
"Huh ... funny knowing the last time I heard that was finding Bon Bon's sock behind the washer. You're welcome though."
Twi and her hugged as well when Discord came up behind me. "Devan, Fluttershy was skimmed," he informed.
Flutters too? Hadn't she been through enough? So we had Cloud, Rarity, Flutters, and me who needed treatment. "Oh, alright. We'll get her looked at after Cloud."
"Thank you." He walked back to the station.
We had actually managed to get away with just one injury. Things were starting to look up. I walked over to the nurse's side.
"Thank goodness you all are okay," she said, "That was a bit of a shock."
"I know, tell me about it."
"Now ... about that equipment."
"I got it right here," Rarity limped to us.
"Oh, thank you. Just rest right here, and I'll try to get you patched up too." The nurse grabbed it and scuffled through it while Rarity hesitantly leaned to sit down. Cloud had the wound covered and wrapped around to apply pressure. She looked me up and down. "Is your leg gonna be okay?" Cloudchaser asked. I looked down to see blood trails from the skims. How did two little bullet skims manage to cause this?
"I'll be alright. You two hang in there."
I got up and limped over to the station. Just now was I feeling how horrid a condition my leg was in. This was a desperate situation though. Rarity looked rather fine. Spike was calming her while they waited for the nurse. I didn't waste too much time overlooking them. Now I had to see what kind of condition Flutters was in. On the way, Dash stopped me. "Hey, are you gonna get that looked at or what?"
"I'm fine, let me see Flutters."
She gritted her teeth. "Devan, we got her for now. We'll let you look later. Why don't I look after your wound?"
"It's fine. The nurse will look at it later," I insisted. But I was starting to feel queasy. I was losing more blood than I cared to admit.
"No. Discord is helping Flutters. AJ is there too. I have to help you."
I reluctantly agreed, and she began working on my leg.
---- ---- ----
"Are we done yet?" I asked.
Dash finished taping on the last strip of gauze over my leg.
"You're fine. Just lay still."
"How's Flutters? Can you check on her for me?"
"Look, Devan ..."
"What? What are you talking about? Dash, why are you acting weird?"
She frowned. "Devan ... she was bit." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Quit fucking staring | I released my grip from the little bitch in my arms. The idiot damn near fell on his stupid face as he staggered to a stand, still clutching his chest. The fuckboys ahead actually released Cloudchaser as well. The trade was happening. I held back my wicked desire to blast them all in the face as Dash and I watched Cloud start to limp over.
The boy, despite his injuries, limped faster than her, passing her and falling to his knees when he reached the fuckboys. I saw the two sidekicks drop down next to him, helping him lay out to assess his wound. The main fuckboy stood still, peering across at me with his rifle hanging by his side. Whatever. Bitchass.
Cloud continued limping toward us before her legs buckled, causing her to fall to the ground halfway between us and the boys. Dash and I immediately sprinted up to her side to help.
"Fucking hell, are you alright?" I asked.
She was laying on her side, allowing us the chance to see the bullet hole that had ripped through the other one. It was higher up, closer to her back, but I hadn't fully figured out pony anatomy, so I had no clue what it could've hit. Hopefully not her spine. Cloud looked back up at me, a mixture of fear and curiosity in her eyes.
"Well, bitch? Are you okay?" I repeated.
"There you are. Damn. Had me worried, asshole," she replied, a tiny smile growing on her lips.
"Yeah, whatever," I said, taking a closer look at her wound. Dash stood over her other side, offering her a better view of her back. "Dash, do you see an exit wound?"
She helped Cloud shift slightly to see her other side. "Yes!"
"Okay, good. You'll be fine then."
Cloud continued gazing up at me, her eyes locked on my face. I ignored her as I swung my head around, noticing Redheart rushing out of the station. She ran up to us and quickly unhooked her saddlebags to get to her medical supplies. As she pulled out a washcloth, she briefly glanced over at me.
"Are you alright, D'mitry?"
"I'm fine."
"Okay. Let me work on her. There's some more of my equipment in Rarity's saddlebag. Could you be a doll and grab it for me? Bring Rarity back here as well, if she's able."
"Gotcha."
I left Cloud's starin' ass with Dash and Redheart as I stood up and made my way to the tree those two idiots decided to go for. That's when I remembered my injury, still pulsing through my leg. I angrily tried to limp it off, but it stung continuously. As I made my way over, I was intercepted by the main fuckboy.
"Hey man, thanks for not holding out on us," he said, extending his hand out for me to shake it.
"Are you fucking serious?" I asked, looking down at his hand. After a second of observation, I shifted some of my saliva and fired a burst. My observation was rewarded with a perfect trajectory, smacking the fingers of his stupid hand with a wad of spit. I gazed back up with my one eye, a smile protruding my lips. He glared back furiously as he wiped his hand on his jacket.
The air remained tense as we stared into each other's eyes. Well, eyes and eye. I dunno. After a moment, he moved forward, invading my space. I didn't budge as he got close enough to damn near touch noses. I continued observing his stupid eyeballs, wishing I had better peripheral vision The fuckboy continued using his stupid mouth.
"You best start treating us with some respect, pony lover. This could've been your last day."
I sucked my teeth with anger before responding.
"Well, it wasn't. But I got good news. Wanna hear it?"
He quietly glared at me, not keen on responding, so I leaned in slightly and whispered, "It is yours."
Almost at the same millisecond, both of us tensed up as we raised our arms. I was able to connect a fist to his cheek, but he also connected one with my jaw. I used my energy to stay upright as I staggered back, but a shooting pain through my shot leg caused me to lose focus. The boy swung again. I was unable to dodge or block, so it knocked me to the ground. He jumped on me, and after tussling for a brief second, he managed to get me in a headlock.
I fought back, making it to my knees as he held the lock. However, during my retaliation, he was able to quickly draw his pistol and point it at the side of my head. Dash had come rushing up to help as he did.
"GET BACK!" he exclaimed, causing her to freeze in place.
"Get the FUCK off of me!" I squirmed.
"Shut up."
Similarly to how I whacked the hostage boy, he whacked me with the handle of the pistol.
"You didn't really think you could get away with all that, did you, Pony Lover?" he asked, shoving the barrel against the side of my head again. "Fucking dumbass."
"STOP THIS!" Twi's voice called from my left side.
I turned my head to see her trotting over, but one of the sidekicks from before intercepted her, pointing his rifle at her from a few feet away. She stopped and huffed.
"He shoots her..." I growled, slightly turning my head to emphasize the fuckboy behind me. "...and I'll gut you alive. From head to toe."
"Shut up, moron," the main boy hissed, whacking me with the pistol again.
This time though, as he whacked me, I heard an explosion in the distance. A split second later, his grip released from me as he cried out. He dropped the pistol he was using to whack me, and it slid down the side of my body. When I finally realized he'd been shot, I swiftly reached down for his gun and picked it up. I heard another shot as I swung around, still on my knees. The boy had keeled over and was clutching his shoulder now. He glanced up at me as I raised the gun to his head.
"NOOO!"
BANG!
Blood splattered from the back of his head as a bullet ripped through it. It dropped to the grass, his body immediately slumping. I heard another gunshot from the station above me, causing me to flinch. As I twisted back around, falling on my bottom, I raised my gun to where Twi's attacker had been. He was still there, but Twi was not. As we met eyes, he swung the barrel of his rifle my way. Just before I fired, another explosion erupted in the distance, and a wicked spurt of blood spat from the side of his head. I watched as he dropped to the ground dead.
The other sidekick was laid out beside the injured boy, unmoving as well. I quickly shot to a stand, swiveling my head all around to figure out what the fuck was happening. Where the fuck was Twi?
"D'mitry!" her voice called from behind.
"HOLY BISCUITS!" I exclaimed, jumping out of my skin as I swung around. Twi stood on the tracks behind me, seemingly unscathed. "How the fuck did you do that?!"
"It wasn't me."
"Discord?"
She shrugged her shoulders. I thought Discord had run out of his magic? I swear, if this fucker was messing with us, I'd blow his damn head off myself.
I realized I was getting a bit heated now, so I took a few breaths to relax, gazing back at Cloud, Redheart, and Dash. None of them had been struck by bullets, thankfully. As Dash was running up to my side, I noticed a flash of green in the bushes behind them. I quickly raised my gun, adrenaline pumping through my veins, but I was surprised to see Lyra Heartstrings walking out of it with a pistol strapped to her foreleg.
"Hey, hey!" she exclaimed, "It's me, human!"
I lowered my new pistol.
"D, are you alright?" Dash asked, looking me up and down.
"I'm alright. Y'all weren't hit, were you?"
"Nah. All good!" Dash replied, clearly growing less stressed as she realized we were safe now. She smiled before walking back with Redheart and the others. As she did, Lyra trotted up to meet us.
"Was that you?" I asked her.
"Yessir!" she saluted. "Front and center. Blasted that fucker out of existence."
"Thank you!" I exclaimed, leaping forward and hugging her, nearly knocking her ass to the ground. When we disconnected, she briefly held one of my hands, taking a moment to observe my fingers. This was typical of Lyra, of course. After a few seconds, she released them.
"Anywho," she said, "I followed those boys here from the hospital, where they kidnapped Cloud."
"So, they were at the hospital then?" Twi asked.
"Yes."
I held my head, growing annoyed at the lack of knowing what the fuck was even going on anymore. This sudden zombie apocalypse was bad enough, but then these bitchasses appear out of the woodwork and make our lives 20x more difficult? Honestly.
"GOD, this is so fucking frustrating," I commented.
"Yes, yes it is..." Twi agreed, patting my lower back. "It's alright though. We'll get to the bottom of this, eventually."
"So yeah," Lyra continued, "I followed them here and watched your whole trade from the sidelines. Saw the boy whack you the first time and found it as an opportunity."
"Thank you, Lyra. Really. You saved us."
"Ah, human, don't mention it. I'm just glad I decided to follow them."
"Are there any boys still at the hospital?" Twi asked.
"No, there were four of 'em in total. Now they're all laid out on the grass here."
I huffed. "Where the fuck did they come from? We walked straight from the hospital here. If Celestia is spawning these fucking degenerates in, wouldn't they need to come from Canterlot?"
"Well, yeah," Twi said, "They probably came from Canterlot. They might have already been in Ponyville before intercepting us here."
"Wait a minute. Probably? So you don't know if they are or not? What even happened at the castle, Twi?"
"They just showed up. I don't know what to tell you ... I don't understand it either. That group showed up when you were out... with... Dash."
"What did they do to y'all?"
"Well, you saw most of what they did. They just abused us for a little while and set the castle on fire. Since they pretty much took us all hostage, we didn't get a sliver of information out of them. They just started rounding us up outside. They did mention they were gonna take us all to Canterlot. But then you showed up."
"Ooooooo this is getting on my FUCKING nerves."
"Relax, D'mitry. That group is gone ... Discord sent them away. And now, this group is dead too. Hopefully that was the last of them. If there's more, we'll deal with them too. All I know is that we need to hurry to the castle when we get the chance."
"Amen to that."
Discord walked up behind me. I noticed that AJ and Spike were helping Rarity away from the tree she and Twi had been behind. They slowly walked her over to join Redheart and Cloud before AJ left them to return to the station. I tilted my head back to look up at Discord.
"Hey, was that you?" I asked him.
"Was what me? Teleporting Twilight?"
"Yeah."
"Yes, that was me."
"You said you were out of magic! You lying fuck!"
"Zzzzzzip it, imbecile! I had a teensy weensy bit left. Glad I saved it too, so I could save her."
"Thank you, Discord," Twi said.
"You're welcome."
The tall creature took a second to observe the scene. A frown filled his face.
"Yo, you good?" I asked.
"No, D'mitry. Fluttershy was skimmed too."
"Fuck."
"It doesn't look too bad, but she still needs to be looked at."
"Okay," Twi said, "We can get Redheart to check her out when she's done with the others."
"Thank you, Twilight," he said, returning to the station to be with Fluttershy.
I was trying to come down from my anger, but I was still mad. Now Fluttershy too? This all was pissing me off. I wish there was another boy alive that I could kill...
I glanced over at the one I took hostage.
Fuck.
Fucker already bled out. I had started envisioning gutting him to let out my frustrations, but oh well. Twi and I walked back to the group forming around Cloud and Redheart. Dash made her way past us to check on Fluttershy and Discord. Redheart was grabbing stuff from Rarity's saddlebags now, and both Lyra and Spike were helping her care for Cloud. Once again, Cloud stared up at me.
"The fuck you want, bitch? Quit fucking staring."
"Geez, dude," she replied, "I'm just a bit surprised by how you're acting."
"Look, Cloud. That talk I had with Fluttershy worked, okay? I'm trying not to be racist anymore."
A bunch of eyes met me briefly, including Twi's.
"Really? So she finally got to you?"
"Yes."
"Oh whatever," Lyra commented, "It's not like he was actually racist anyway."
"Yeah," Spike joined, "It was more of a facade. It's usually the other way around though, D'mitry. Just for reference."
"Shut the hell up."
Rarity huffed. "D'mitry! Quit talking to him like that!"
"Tell him to quit being an annoying little shit then."
"Piss off, twig," he retorted, "I hope your ballsack itches all day."
"That's it. I'm racist towards dragons now."
"Wow."
Redheart continued working on Cloud before shifting her attention to Rarity. Twi mentioned that Flutters was hurt as well, so she promised she'd work quickly. As I watched on, observing our surroundings for any more surprise attacks, Cloud glanced up at me again.
"D'mitry, is your leg gonna be alright?"
"Huh? I mean, yea-" I started, before looking down at it. It was still stinging, and now I knew why. A river of blood flowed down my calf, even creating a small blood puddle by my foot now. I shook it briefly in shock, wiping my hand across it. How did a fucking bullet skim manage to cause all this?
"I'll be fine," I claimed.
She eyed me suspiciously as I turned around and limped to the station. Now I was really feeling how horrid a condition my leg was in. My knee was REALLY protesting any kind of bending motion, so I had to keep my leg straight as I could. I grunted at the pain as I made my way over the tracks. On the way, Dash intercepted me, noticing my reddening leg.
"Hey, you gonna get that looked at or what?"
"I'm fine. Let me see Fluttershy."
She gritted her teeth suspiciously. "D, we got her for now. You can see her later. Why don't I look after your wound?"
"It's fine. Redheart will look at it later," I insisted.
However, my weak ass was starting to feel queasy. I seemed to be losing more blood than I cared to admit.
"No, D. Discord is helping Fluttershy. AJ is with her too. I gotta help you."
"Ugh. Fine."
I sat down next to the train station platform as she set aside some supplies and started working on my leg.
"Are we done yet?" I asked.
"D, I haven't even fucking started. Damn. Give me a second."
She tilted my leg slightly, rolling up my pant leg farther so she could see.
"Oh shit..."
"W- what? Don't oh shit me! What is it?" I asked, twisting my torso to see the part of my leg she was looking at. She was staring at my thigh, not far above the back of my knee. I then noticed that most of the blood waterfall was coming from another wound. I'd been hit twice. This wound looked far more brutal than the other.
"God damn it," I said, "Ok ... ok ... it's fine. Just wrap it up for now. It doesn't hurt that bad."
"Alright. Just hold still."
I tried to stay still as she worked on it for the next couple of minutes. However, I was growing impatient. This apparently led to me fidgeting a lot. At first, Dash kept telling me to stop. After a few times though, she started bonking me on the head. Each bonk caused me enough pain to refrain from my bad habits. Ah. Reinforcement learning. Still, I was growing impatient as fuck.
"Are we done yet?" I whined.
Dash finished taping on the last strip of gauze over my leg.
"Jesus, D. No. Just stay still."
"How is Fluttershy? Can you check on her for me?"
"Look, D..."
"What? What is it? Why are you acting sus?"
She frowned.
"D ... she was bitten." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | One thing after another | I managed to haul myself to the station to find Flutters sobbing up, Discord trying to calm her ... and himself. AJ was pacing along the side. Discord broke down when we met eyes. That was a shocker. It took a hell of a lot to make Discord cry. I saw Flutters with her right wing up. There was a bullet skim on the edge of it. Beneath her wing was a nasty bruise and, upon further viewing, teeth marks. I hadn't actually saved her back at the hospital.
I turned away to hide the pain on my face. My brain raced. We couldn't shoot her ... I'd hate myself forever if that happened. She was still alive, unlike Cheerilee, so we had a couple hours to spare maybe. What if we hurried? What would happen when we got there? Even the alicorns were losing their magic.
Nurse Redheart came over with her supplies, followed by Rarity, who limped. Dash helped walk Twi over as well. We reunited on the train station platform. Nurse Redheart walked Flutters out of the doorway and onto it. She quickly examined her and started working on getting the bite cleaned off.
"It's alright, Discord." AJ rubbed his shoulders. Twi sat down next to Flutters on the opposite side of where Nurse Redheart worked.
"I'll just ... go see what supplies the boys had ..." I started limping towards them. Ugh.
Attempting yet failing to think about something besides Flutters, I examined the boys and gathered their guns from their mucky red pools. In the end, I managed to collect all three backpacks (one of which was filled with magazines and ammo), some kind of rifle with a sling, a glock of some kind, supplies, and food. These brothers had been loaded. It was a miracle we all got out alive, sort of ...
Why did Flutters hide this from us? I guess that would make sense, since it was Flutters, but I just couldn't handle this right now. It was like losing Pinkie and Cheerilee all over again. Before grabbing the guns and supplies, I rolled up my sleeve to check my own bite.
Oh ... my.
There was the bruise, but where were the teeth marks? I checked all over my left arm. Nothin'. How did it disappear? It didn't matter much now, but I was lost in awestruck.
Okay, the others need help. Just forget it.
Attempting to do so, I threw on one of the backpacks and picked up the guns and supplies.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" I heard Discord yell. This was going to be worse than I thought. It was going to be difficult on Discord. I thought about what to do, but my brain clogged. I didn't want to blurt out decisions, because I didn't feel capable enough right now. Twi could decide, and if she couldn't, we'd all come up with a plan.
Running back, I found a situation more calm than I anticipated. AJ was talking to Discord and it looked like she was trying to calm him down.
"When did you get bit?" Twi asked Flutters.
"Uhm ... well, you know ..." she mumbled the answer quietly.
"What?"
"When we were attacked at the hospital," she choked. I saw her trying to suck in her fear and worry. It hurt me. This was hard on me. I turned around and sunk my head. This was like ... well ... this was losing my family. Yes, I considered the mane six my family. Twi most out of all of them, though.
When I had come into Equestria, Celestia kept me at her castle. Twi picked me up a few days later, then showed me around Equestria. She had shown me everything, introduced me to the others, and even let me sleep at her place for most of my whole ten month stay. The others would help me when I needed it, and I'd help them when they needed it. It was the closest thing to a family I ever had. And now, they were being taken from me one by one. If Twi or Dash were to die tomorrow, I don't know what I'd do, but I tried not to think about that.
Flutters was just as important as Twi. I tried to calm myself so I could help her. But I couldn't help thinking this was my fault. Cheerilee was dead. Flutters got bit. Cloud and Rarity were shot at. Guh.
"It's okay," Dash strode by my side. "Twi's working out a plan."
"Cloudchaser, did they kill anybody at the hospital?" asked Twi.
"No ... they just asked us where you were ... and ... I'm ..." she was on the verge of sobbing.
"Everything's okay, Cloudchaser," Twi comforted her. "Whatever happened is done. Were there only the four boys when they attacked?"
"Yeah," she wiped away a tear.
Of the ones that were injured in the showdown, we all accepted the fact that she did what she thought was right. I'm sure she was afraid that the boys would shoot up everypony in the hospital if she hadn't stood up. If she was anything, she was a hero.
"So, what are you planning on doing with Flutters?" I asked Twi. She sighed.
"I don't know."
"I guess we should all head to the hospital then?" I asked.
"Yeah. Just give me a heads up when everypony is ready," Twi went around the corner to see the boys. Dash replaced her and sat next to Flutters.
When she came back, she did a status check. Flutters said she was fine, but she seemed sleepy (not a good sign), Rarity needed time to lay down and possibly crash, and Cloud seemed shaken from everything. Overall, Nurse Redheart did a fantastic job patching their wounds, and luckily nobody died. Not yet at least ... |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Suicidal bastard | "You gotta be fuckin' kidding me."
"No, D. I'm not ... unfortunately."
I rubbed my head frustratingly before Dash helped me to a stand. She helped keep me balanced as I limped over to the station. I eased up the stairs and made my way inside to find Fluttershy sobbing next to Discord, who was trying to calm her. AJ was pacing along the back wall of the station, gritting her teeth.
I walked closer to see Fluttershy with her wing up. Discord was helping her hold it, as they had mentioned their wings were very heavy now. There was a bullet skim near her belly ... but on her side above it was a nasty bruise, and upon closer viewing, teeth marks. I hadn't actually saved her back at the hospital. She looked up at me with teary blue eyes, causing me to turn back around.
"D?"
I passed Dash and walked back down the steps. I took a moment to stand at the bottom of them and stare off in the distance, where the tracks disappeared behind a crest in the hill.
Author.
Yes?
Can I have a word with you?
Uh... yeah? You're having that right now. What is it?
Can I ask you a question?
You better not be asking me what's going on elsewhere.
I'm not.
Then what is it?
What's your fucking problem?!
Excuse you. That's no way to talk to a god, D'mitry. What's your problem?
I'm getting sick of your bullshit. Why did you spawn these shitheads in anyway? Have we not suffered enough without you FUCKING us over every GODDAMN second of the day?
D'mitry--chill the fuck out. That's not how this works, bonehead. I'm not 'spawning' in the boys. They exist in this universe and follow the path they are destined.
But you created them, right?
Yes.
Dumbass god. Shoulda created a boot in your own ass too.
Lightning bolt.
I tensed up angrily before shaking off this typical shock.
I know you're upset, D'mitry, but you have to understand... I can't just solve all your problems and make your life peachy easy. You have to move on, and traverse the life laid out for you.
I don't want to anymore.
Well that's too damn bad!
Seriously. This life is growing meaningless. If shit keeps going the way it's going, it looks like you've destined us all to just die, one by one, until this world is seeped and ripped clean of its beautiful, magical existence.
No... no, I don't feel like playing your little game anymore.
You're thinking way too deep right now.
I don't care. I'm not going to follow the 'script' anymore.
What fucking script? Just do what you think is best, which is obviously not arguing with God. Go back inside and see Fluttershy. No.
D'mitry...
I unholstered my pistol.
What are you doing?
I pulled out my baby, and set the barrel to my head.
D'mitry!!!
"D!!! DON'T!" Dash called from behind.
Let's see what happens now, Author!! What? Are you going to strike me?! My fingers against the trigger, motherfucker! You know what that means, right?! You strike me, and then what?? That's right!! I TENSE UP AND PULL THE TRIGGER! So HUMOR ME!!!
D'mitry, just listen, alright? There's a lot of stuff coming up in your life, some bad, and some good, but you have to understand that that's life. It's your life. Why would you want to take that away?
I started breathing heavily. The cold barrel rested against the side of my head, waiting to send a bullet shredding through it. My finger sweat inside the trigger. Dash made her way to stand in front of me, a look of shock on her face.
"D, please, please don't. I'm begging you, please. It'll be alright, I promise."
I took another deep breath, bothered by Dash's sorrow. I heard the Author lower his tone somehow.
I'm talking to just you right now. Dash and the others can't hear me. That being said, D'mitry... I created you. I created this life for you. Do you know how much this hurts me too? I don't want you to die. I don't want anybody to die, but the timeline must be followed. If we stray too far from it, the universe might collapse on itself. Then EVERYBODY's life ends. You don't want that to happen, do you?
I glanced down at Dash, her frightened expression bringing a tear to my eye.
They need you, D'mitry. You've grown far too close to them to just give up now.
The tear rolled down my cheek. My heart ached. The Author was right.
"Ok, whatever," I replied, setting the gun down and rubbing my belly. "I'm kinda hungry. You got any snacks in your bag, Dash?"
Dash looked up at me confusingly.
"What the fucks wrong with you, D?"
"I'm hungry."
"Fucks sake. Don't scare me like that again! Asshole. I do have a Snickers, though."
"I love Snickers!"
"Here," she said, digging the Snickers out of her bag and passing it to me. "You aren't being yourself anyway. Eat it, you suicidal bastard."
"Thanks, cuzzo."
"Oh lord, please don't give me that nickname."
"Too late, cuzzo!"
She shook her head and sighed as I munched into the candy bar. While I did, she went to tell the others about Fluttershy. I walked past Twi as she led her inside the station, and I made my way to the dead boys. I gathered all of their guns from their murky red pools, grinning wickedly as I ran out of places to hold them and their magazines of ammo on my body.
When I was done, I was carrying three backpacks awkwardly, with magazines slung around my neck and waist. There was one last revolver on the ground next to one of the downed sidekicks. I carefully reached down for it and...
CRASH
God damn it. I dropped all my new fucking gear. I heard hoofsteps as I tried to upright myself with two backpacks holding me down.
"Jesus," Lyra commented, "You tryna start a militia, human?"
"Gah, no," I replied, releasing myself from the backpacks and sitting up on my knees. Lyra caught sight of my hand again, so she aggressively reached down and pulled it up, observing my fingers intently. I tried pulling back on them, but she pulled them back harder, adamant about looking at them. I managed to curl my other fingers up, effectively flipping her off before finally pulling my hand back.
"Sorry, force of habit," she stated.
"Jesus. Did ya get a good look at 'em?"
"Eh... sorta. Why? Want me to see them again?"
"No, but you see..." I said, raising my hands between us and wiggling my fingers. "...these are what pull the trigger of the guns y'all got."
"Okay? So?"
"So... how the HELL did you do that?!"
"Do what?" she asked, her eyes still glued to my fingers.
"That!" I exclaimed, pointing at one of the boys she shot. I had to dramatically wave my finger around for her to shake off her daze and look where I was pointing.
"Oh," she replied, "I wanna say it's due to my hoof flexibility."
I squinted my eyes confusingly. "Hoof flexibility?"
"Yeah, check it out," she said, raising her right hoof.
She then squeezed the bottom of it, causing an edge of her hoof to curl slightly. Now... this was bizarre. I'd seen the magic hooves of this world, noting ponies' ability to grab and hold things, but this? This was something strange. I looked on for another few seconds before she uncurled it and set it down.
"Jesus," I commented.
"Oh yeah. I've been working on it for a while now. Got a mean little hook grip goin' on."
"Damn..."
She smirked and leaned forward, setting her snout beside my ear and whispering, "It's pretty good at... gripping..."
She backed up, snickering like a little devil.
"Bruh, what? I thought you were a lesbian."
"Shush!" she exclaimed, checking behind her. The others weren't nearby though. She shook her head and looked back at me. "I am, idiot. Me and Bon-bon just experiment a bit. Anyway, that brings up a point. Bon-bon has showed me how to use her new, improved grappling hook, which has the same kinda trigger, albeit larger. By the way, as I've told you before, you reveal this secret to anyone, and Bon-bon will have to assassinate you. Just a reminder. As for my aim though, lots of practice using her grappling hook must have transferred to these new guns of ours. It almost feels natural."
I thought for a moment before replying, "Experimenting?"
"Oh my god," she groaned, facehoofing. "Nevermind."
"Okay. Well, nice shooting, Tex."
"Uh... thanks?"
She smiled warily before walking back to the others. I stood back up. I was still a bit queasy, so I decided to leave the slew of gear in the messy pile I'd formed. I started pacing a little bit, still upset by the thought of Fluttershy dying soon. Thinking about her bite reminded me of mine, so I rolled up my sleeve to check it out.
What the fuck?
There was the bruise, but where were the teeth marks? I checked all over, but there was nothing. It had vanished. Did this mean I was immune or something? I hadn't turned into a zombie ... as far as I could tell ... and I didn't feel sick at all, besides this damn leg. Hmm. I guess it didn't matter now. I made my way back to the station, hearing Discord inside.
"Don't tell me to calm down!! Imbecile."
Inside, AJ was talking with Discord in an attempt to calm him down. It wasn't working, obviously. Nurse Redheart had finished up with Cloud and Rarity already, so she worked on cleaning up Fluttershy's bite as Twi sat next to them assisting. Fluttershy eyed me with sad eyes when I limped in. I sat against the wall next to her and sighed.
"Was it at the hospital?" I asked.
"Well, duh," she answered, "What, you think I got bit in here?"
"I don't know. I don't know what the hell's even going on anymore."
"Jesus, D'mitry," Twi said, "It's not that confusing. She got bit at the hospital, unfortunately, and we keep getting attacked by other humans. It's probably Celestia and Luna bringing them in, if I had to guess."
"I just can't figure anything out!" I exclaimed, dramatically throwing my hands up in the air.
"Celestia have mercy."
"Humm," I stated, rubbing my temple. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy."
"It's alright. Twilight's working on a plan now, so we're prepared for... you know..."
"Okay," I replied, turning to Twi. "So, what now?"
"We're gonna head back to the hospital so everybody can get fully checked out. After that, we'll see how everyone is and go from there."
"Awe damn, I was really looking forward to walking all the way to fucking Canterlot."
"Yeah yeah yeah."
Once Redheart was done working on Fluttershy, Twi did a status check. Everybody was relatively okay to move now, so we started heading back to the hospital. Overall, Redheart did a fantastic job patching everypony's wounds, and luckily nobody died.
Not yet at least... |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | We'll get you patched up | We inched down the trail we had gone. It had taken a few minutes of rest to finally get away from the dreaded train station and on the path to the hospital. Discord was still squeezed in a tight, depressing coil. Flutters and AJ walked with him, trying to loosen it. There had been a long talk between Discord and Flutters that cleared his mind.
Nurse Redheart trotted over to me. She had been consulting with Rarity to see if her injuries were stable enough to continue travelling.
"You got pretty roughed up back there. Are you doing alright?" she asked.
"Never felt better," I muttered. I had really started feeling it after the others were looked at. The skims had caused a lot of blood loss, so I was feeling pretty light-headed. I struggled walking, or ... limping really. I was lucky to not get shot elsewhere. Then I wouldn't be limping right now. I'd need to be carried, and I doubt Discord was in the mood for that.
"Do you think you can last?"
"Hopefully."
The hospital wasn't far. My legs could survive cracking in half until we got there. Rarity's wounds seemed worse, but my legs were killing me. The sun was barely high in the sky, and we had been through more today than the past two. Overall, the past three were crazy in general. Dash and the others were keeping their eyes peeled on everything around us. There was no way we were gonna get attacked again without being ready.
"Is everypony at the hospital still there?" Twi asked Cloud.
"They were all shaken but alive. I just stood up for the others and let them take me. All the boys I could see came and left the hospital behind them," she explained.
"Thank you for sacrificing yourself for them, Cloud. I'm sure they'll be real happy to see you're still alive."
My bite ...
For some reason, that brought me back on the fact that my bites were completely healed somehow. I tried my best not to stop, but curiosity leaped into my skin. I rolled up my sleeve and glanced up and down to see if the bites were possibly just hiding themselves.
"Devan?"
It took my brain a second to realize how much time had gone by.
"Huh?"
"What are you waiting for?"
I sighed.
"It's ... gone."
"What's gone?" Twi moved closer.
"My bite."
Now all eyes glued on me.
"You were bitten?!"
Oh boy.
"I couldn't get away from Pinkie when she turned," I explained.
She stepped forwards and took my arm. It was enough to reveal that there used to be teeth marks. "Wow ... okay," she coughed mildly, "we'll talk more when we get to the hospital, but for now, let's keep walking."
Everybody continued warily. Twi slowed to trot next to me. She probably needed more info. After a few seconds of awkward silence, the others got back to the level they were at moments ago.
"Were you with Dash when she bit you?" she eyed her.
"No, it was when I was taking her to Zecora's."
She sighed. "I can't imagine losing Flutters," she said suddenly.
"Twi. Please don't think about that. Not yet, at least."
She threw me a stare. "She's gonna turn Devan ... I have to think about it."
"I know ... but we have more time than with Cheerilee."
"Yes ... I'm just concerned."
"We all are."
---- ---- ----
We were finally back at the hospital. We slugged forwards until we were welcomed by worried ponies and both the returned nurses. They saw the blood and severity of our injuries and immediately called for newly sent guards from Cloudsdale to get everypony to their room. There were four of us in total who were injured in some way. They had to focus.
"You made it. Good to see ya'," somepony hugged Cloud before she was sent to her room. She looked on the verge of sobbing with relief.
One of the nurses looked at my leg and directed me to a seat. I sighed with relief. She took a moment to undo the bandages and examine the wounds. We were located in the main lobby, where everything seems to go down. The nurses were on their hooves and the guards were giving orders here and there. It was semi-organized. The doors to the main lobby were slanted and hanging from their hinges where the boys must have attacked.
"I'll try to get Doc Hooves to look to ya'," Nurse Snowheart insisted.
"Thanks Snow."
The business of the lobby immersed the moment we stepped through the door. The atmosphere was still stressful and worrisome. The new attacks left more marks on the place. Doctor Hooves walked over from working on Rarity to assist me.
"Hello Devan," he scanned me up and down, "looks bad, but we can fix it up."
"Thanks Doc."
Snow turned from her work and gave him the report.
"Okay. So he's got one skim on the left leg and a small opening near his left thigh. There's no exit wound and I see at least two fragments in there. We're gonna keep his the skim wrapped, but we need to get in there and remove the fragments. The walk stressed his leg and caused swelling, and a bit more bleeding. I don't believe there's any internal bleeding, but we could put him on a quarter pint of Ambevexion and get him those stitches."
The doc quickly wrote stuff down while she spoke.
"Can you check our supply of Ambevexion while I evaluate him?" the doc asked gently.
Snow hurried off as he examined my leg intently. Snow had wiped off some of the blood and exerted pressure in an attempt to reduce any more bleeding momentarily.
"Guards! I need two of you to get Devan's room set, please."
The guards nodded and picked two of their group to head upstairs. Knowing that there were guards to help protect us now eased our stress. The hospital was regaining its structure and other barriers in the sides and rear were being constructed. After a while, I was finally taken upstairs by the guards. Time passed as I laid in my hospital bed. The window revealed the time of day to be a bit past noon while the still clock on the wall showed 8:57.
Soon after, the door opened. Snow came in with a cup full of red liquid that I assumed to be the Ambevexion and a glass of water. The formalities and questions had been addressed at an earlier stage of the arrival. Slowly at first, I sipped the red liquid until my taste buds figured out that it wasn't all that bad. And I don't remember too much after that ... |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Quit being a little bitch | We inched down the path back to the hospital. Rarity, Cloud, and I were at a slower pace than usual, since we got our asses busted up. My leg hurt like fuck now.
Off to the side, Discord was squeezed in a tight, depressing coil. The circular shape he was making with his flexible body was very odd to see, but he continued slowly rolling along like some car tire set free. At first, AJ was poking and prodding at him to get him to stop, but he and Fluttershy explained that it was actually a very comfortable way for him to move around. Strange.
Nurse Redheart trotted to my side after walking with Rarity. She smiled before looking down at my leg.
"You're walking pretty bad, hun. Does your leg feel alright?"
"Never felt better," I muttered.
Just a few minutes into our walk, I had really started feeling it. The once-hidden wound that Dash found was causing me problems, and hurt like a bitch.
"Do you want me to check it out for you?"
"Maybe at the hospital. I'll be okay for now."
"Okay. I'll make sure you get the right treatment once we get there," she said, winking up at me.
Great. Now I had a boner again.
Dios mío
"Thank you, Redheart."
I continued limping forward as she backtracked to check on Cloud. The hospital wasn't too far away. Hopefully my legs could survive cracking in half until we got there.
Celestia's sun wasn't very high in the sky yet, and I was surprised it didn't have a big sign on it reading: "Hurry up you fucking inbreds". We'd been in Ponyville too damn long. I wondered if Twi was planning on hurling us cripples in the hospital and leaving us in order to get a move on.
I hoped she'd make an exception for me. I really wanted to ask Celestia what her problem was. Hopefully I wouldn't get spanked too hard.
Twi had backtracked a bit to walk on Cloud's other side while Redheart made sure she was good to continue. I overheard them talking a bit about the boys again, and what happened at the hospital. Apparently, the group of boys that we'd just killed had come out of the blue (shocker) and taken a few ponies in the lobby hostage. Cloud had stood up for the others by sacrificing herself, letting them take her as they left to find us.
I heard Twi tell her, "Thank you for sacrificing yourself for them, Cloud. I'm sure they will be happy to see you're still alive."
For some reason, I thought about my bite again. Why the fuck did that thought enter my head? The fuck? I was curious about my bite, but I squinted my eyes, trying to wonder why the fuck I randomly started thinking about it again. How did this come to be? This was very confusing. How-
Fucks sake, D'mitry. It's not the smoothest transition, but it's there. Would you like me to lay it out for you?
Yes please. I don't understand.
Twi's words echoed in my head again.
~~~ "I'm sure they will be happy to see ... you're still alive. still alive ... alive ... alive ..." ~~~
Really?
Yeah, yeah, I know. That logic looked dumb as hell to me too. But it works anyway ... you are an overthinker.
Okay...
I rolled up my sleeve to check my arm. However, I was met with just the bruise again. No teeth marks were visible. I glanced up and down, twisting and turning my arm to see if they were just hiding themselves.
Hiding themselves? Lmao
Hey, you never know.
I kept looking over every part of the skin on my arm, but there was nothing but the bruise. I took a big sniff of the bruised area, carefully inspecting the aroma.
"D?"
It took my brain a second to realize that I had stopped walking while I was inspecting. I had fallen toward the back of the group, and everybody's eyes stared back at me from up ahead. Twi, still by Cloud's side, eyed me confusingly.
"What the fuck are you doing?" she asked.
My arm still hovering beneath my nose, I quickly dropped it to my side.
"Mmmm... nothing?"
Redheart left Cloud's other side and started walking back to meet me. I saw her eyes attached to my arm, so I quickly rolled my jacket's sleeve back down.
"D'mitry..." she said, stopping in front of me. "What was that bruise? How long have you had that for?"
"Uh ... I don't know."
She squinted her eyes suspiciously before exchanging a glance with Twi, who stepped up to me as well.
"D'mitry," Twi said, "where did the bruise come from?"
"I fell down when I was collecting the boy's gear. Lyra saw it, she can tell you."
Redheart continued, "I don't know what you're trying to hide, hun, but that bruise did not just happen."
"It did!" I exclaimed.
"No, it didn't. That bruise is purple. For humans, it's the same story as ponies. Bruises are red initially, and take 1-2 days to turn purple. Don't fight me on this one, hun. I've studied the human anatomy books the princesses brought us."
Twi glared up at me, throwing her hoof up and grabbing my hand before I could back away. "What are you hiding, D'mitry? Where did the bruise come from?"
I sighed defeatedly and closed my eyes.
"I was bitten."
A moment of silence filled the air as I kept my eyes closed, half expecting to be knocked over or suddenly whipped. But it didn't happen. I felt Twi slowly release my hand, hearing her hoof tap the ground as she set it back down. I opened my eyes, noticing everybody's surprised expressions.
"You..." Twi started, "You were bit?"
"I was."
Dash trotted forward, her expression morphing to anger.
"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?! What the fuck, D?"
"Hey, hey! I have my reasons!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in surrender.
"What are the reasons?" Twi asked.
"Uh ... um ... okay, there aren't any. I just ... I don't know. I thought it didn't matter."
"When did this happen?"
"Day 1. I couldn't get away from Pinkie when she turned."
Twi took a deep breath, rubbing her forehead in frustration.
"Gah ... okay. Look. We'll talk more about this when we get to the hospital. For now, let's keep walking."
We all warily continued down the path. Twi slowed to walk by my side. After a minute of walking, she looked up at me again and spoke through gritted teeth.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Bruh, you literally just said we'd talk more at the hospital."
"I just ... I guess I'm a bit surprised, to say the least. Yesterday, the day before ... hell, today. You held it from us for a loooong time." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Wait! It makes sense now! That's why you wanted to keep the jacket on when we fucked! Sweet Celestia, are you serious?"
"Jesus, Twi. I know. I just ... I didn't want to tell y'all, okay?"
"What, did you think we were going to throw you out or something?"
"I have no idea what y'all would have done. It didn't really matter to me anyway."
"Damn it, D'mitry." She sighed. "It's fine. It looks like you're immune, thankfully. Regardless, I'd like to look at it when we get to the hospital... if you don't mind."
"Sure, sure."
It took us a little while, but we finally made it to the hospital. We were welcomed in by worried ponies and both of the returned nurses. I noticed, as I entered, that the front doors were broken once again--slanted and hanging from their hinges from where the boys must have broken in. I sighed, knowing that I'd probably have to listen to those morons hammer it back in place again.
As the other nurse led Cloud to her room, Nurse Snowheart directed me to a seat in the lobby. As usual, her speech was slightly slurred.
"Hey, hun, you alright?"
"Hey, Stoner Snow! Long time no see. I'm doing okay. My leg hurts pretty bad though."
She huffed. "I told ya not to call me that. Bastard. Anyway, I'll try to get Doc Hooves to look at ya'."
"Thanks, Sno- ... wait, what? Doc Hooves?"
"Yeah, him."
"He's not a damn doctor! Where'd the actual doctor go?"
"Mmmm, hell if I know," she replied, shrugging her shoulders as she started walking off. She stopped herself and eyed the others occupying the lobby before walking up to me again. She set her front hooves up on the seat beside me and leaned her snout next to my ear. "Hey, I got some herbs if ya need. Just let me know, k?"
"Hmm ... okay. I'll keep that in mind next time I see her."
She looked at me confusingly until I winked. She then rolled her eyes and made her way to the others needing help in the lobby. After some time, Doc Hooves appeared in the lobby with a doctor's coat on. He spent a few minutes talking with Redheart before making his way to me.
"You look ridiculous," I stated.
"Shut up, human. I am the new doctor here."
"Why? I thought you were a damn scientist. What the fuck is this?"
"I am perfectly qualified to be a medical doctor, for your information," he scoffed.
"Why is that?"
"I have Doctor in my name."
"Wow."
"Anyway... it looks pretty bad, but I'm sure we can get you patched up and ready to go."
"You haven't even looked at my leg..."
"Oh, it was your leg? Well, that looks fine too," he said, turning his head to look around the lobby. "Snowheart! Some assistance, please."
Snow came back to stand beside him as he pulled out a pen and clipboard from his coat.
"Status report, please," he requested, somehow clicking the pen to write with his teeth.
"Huh?"
"Fucks wrong with him?"
"Ah ... soooooo ... he's got two bullet skims on his left leg ... aaaaaand ... that's all. They're wrapped up already."
"The fuck? Why do you need a doctor for that? Sounds like it's already settled."
"They're bleeding a lot," I mentioned, "and my leg is in a lot of pain."
"Ugh. Sounds like you're just a pussy."
"Fuck you, Doc!"
"Yeah, whatever..." he said, continuing to write on the clipboard.
"What are you even writing down?"
He smiled, flipping the clipboard around to show a sketch of what looked like an explosion.
"Big Bang."
"Uh... okay..."
He flipped it around again and took a few more seconds to admire his sketch before putting it back in his pocket.
"Snowheart, could you check our supply of Ambevexion please?"
Snow hurried off as Doc Hooves observed the lobby again.
"The fuck is Ambidextrious?" I asked.
"Sweet Celestia. Ambevexion. It's a drug we use to put patients to sleep."
"You're putting me to sleep?!"
"Not you, bonehead. We're going to need it for Cloudchaser. As for you..." he said, eying me up and down. "I don't know. Go get some water and quit being a little bitch."
"Motherfucker!" I exclaimed as he walked off.
I stood up a bit too quickly to follow him, causing my leg to buckle under my weight and sending me to the floor. I groaned as I froze on the floor, my leg in too much pain to move. I heard the clicks of hoofsteps and slowly rolled to my back to see who it was. Redheart stood above me.
"Are you alright, hun?"
"No. Doc's an asshole."
"Yeah, we kinda gathered that. Did he look at your leg?"
"No. He just told me to get a water and quit being a little bitch."
She frowned disapprovingly, gazing around the lobby before looking back down at me and smiling.
"Ah, fuck him. We don't need him anyway. Let me help you to your room, hun."
Redheart hurriedly helped me to a stand, almost causing me to splat back down again.
"Jesus, Redheart."
"C'mon," she whispered, hooking my hand and leading me to the staircase.
I realized what she was doing and looked back at the others. Somehow, all of them had been too distracted with the chaos of the lobby to see Redheart hauling me back upstairs. My heart started racing as we made our way to my room. When we made it inside, she disconnected from me to grab a chair from the bedside. I watched as she dragged it across and jammed it underneath the door handle.
"Redheart..."
"What?"
"What are you doing?"
"What's it look like? Get in bed."
I started making my way to the bed. Apparently, I wasn't going fast enough, so she set her head against my lower back and pushed me. Once I was at my bedside, she helped lay me down. She then threw herself on top of me and smiled.
Author, are you really gonna let this happen?
I don't fucking care anymore. After Twi, I realized your horny ass ain't gonna stop. Just remember to beg me for forgiveness later.
"Yeah yeah," Redheart said, "We'll make sure to do that. But for now..."
She smiled, pushing her snout against my lips. For the next few seconds, we made out. However, as we squirmed, she suddenly stopped and disconnected. She raised her head and turned to look back at the foot of the bed.
"What is it?" I asked.
She raised her hind leg. I noticed a spot of red had formed on it. As we looked at it, a pain shot through my leg, causing me to cry out.
"Shit! Are you alright?" Redheart asked, shifting her weight off of me and sliding off the bed. I was in too much pain to respond, so she carefully rolled up my pant leg to reveal even more blood than before. "Sweet Celestia! How the fuck..."
The nurse carefully observed my leg for another minute.
"I'm gonna pull off your bandage, hun. It's already soaked through. I gotta see why it's bleeding so much."
"Hmmmfmffgfggg OK!"
I grunted as she undid the gauze bandage. I awaited 'patiently' for a response, but it wasn't the one I wanted to hear.
"Shit."
"What?! What is it?"
She raised her head to look at me.
"D'mitry, this one wasn't a skim. I see at least one fragment still dug inside. I don't think there's an... exit wound..."
"Awe shit. W- what do we do?"
"I'm sorry, hun. We'll have to save this for another time. Let me grab Doc Hooves."
She made her way to the door and removed the chair blocking it before leaving.
Fucking blue balls!!!
Hahahahahahahhaha |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Serve and Protect | Celestia's sun loomed overhead as we walked silently along the trail. Overnight, all our procedures were performed and now we were in the healing stage. But Twi insisted we suffer through for the sake of Equestria. With each step we took, we were closer to somepony else's death. I could feel it in my skin. But if I could help avoid it, I would.
Much of the stay, Twi was by my side. She listened to my full story of Pinkie's bite when I wasn't loony, and he tried to figure out why it just disappeared. Only reasons she thought of was me being from a different world, or being human and not pony. Observant eye, I caught sight of a rock along the dirt. That might be useful. I picked it up and threw it in my pack.
"So ... you're trained for stuff like this?" I asked the guard next to me. Two of them decided to come along to protect us as well as Nurse Redheart, hauling a small cart full of supplies behind us.
"Yes sir. Certified to serve and protect the community."
"Nice."
The bandages on my leg were tight to withhold the trip, but pain seared through it every time I took a step. As the day dragged on, there wasn't much zombie commotion. We noticed a few, but they didn't notice us as they scattered away. Afternoon came and left after we stopped to eat lunch. It was still a rough day, but it was the best we had since the apocalypse started. There was still the confusion and trouble building in our minds. Celestia's sun was falling. Evening was here. Night was on its way.
"Why is Celestia lowering the sun now?" I asked.
Twi answered, "Celestia needs to lower it in order to preserve her normal energy. If she keeps it up for longer than twenty-four hours, she'll be tired from regular energy loss, but also weak from the weight of the sun on both magic and regular energy ... and overtime, it becomes an exponential loss. But she might have lost her magic already. The moon and sun could be locked in regular kinetic energy now."
"That sucks."
"I know."
I was thinking about where we'd stop to camp. We definitely wouldn't be able to walk to Canterlot in one day. The train would've been able to take us in less than two hours. And our injuries didn't speed up the process.
"Do you think Flutters turned by now?" Twi whispered for only me to hear. I sighed deeply.
"I don't know. Hopefully the staff will be ready when she does." I allowed a tear past my right eye, and it fell slowly down my cheek. I didn't want to think how Discord would react. I didn't want to think about Flutters.
I should have stayed.
---- ---- ----
Night fell way too quickly. We all became weary and paranoid. Our visions were blurred by soft fog that seemed to come out of nowhere. Perhaps the clouds were already protesting about having to move themselves.
"Where are we going to sleep?" Rarity asked.
"I was thinking once we reach the train tunnel, we can sleep there," Twi said.
"On the track?" asked Spike.
"We'll see when we get there. The ground is kind of wet."
Then I saw something on the track. It was small and rectangular, but somehow glimmering. It definitely seemed out of place. I picked it up and flipped it over. A phone! Blasting to life, a hidden speaker next to us started playing really loud siren noises. A bright yellow light emitted from the track ahead of us, the fog spreading it around.
"Run!" I took the phone and speaker and threw them as far behind us as I could. But before we could even see it coming, we heard moans before seeing silhouettes in the fog in front of us. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Utterly fucking useless | Celestia's sun beamed overhead as we edged along the trail.
It turned out that Redheart was right. After Doc Hooves and the nurses were finished with Cloud yesterday, they had to give me some Ambidextrious to-
Ambe-vexion, moron.
Yeah whatever. Who cares? Fantasy ass medicine.
Fantasy, huh?
Well, I mean... not fantasy. It was real. They put me on some of this Ambidevextrious, which turned out to be some weird-looking red liquid.
I don't remember much after drinking it, which allowed them to 'surgically' remove the bullet fragments from my leg and patch up the wound. After the quick surgery, Twi spent some time by my bedside--partly to keep me company, and partly to hear more about Pinkie biting me. However, I was high on the Ambevextrious most of the day and throughout the night, so she gave up pretty quick.
This morning, she had come into my room to discuss leaving me there.
But I fought. I fought hard.
Not physically or whatever... I just argued with everybody. Twi and AJ even smacked me upside the head a few times, but I persisted. Rarity also fought to come with. Cloud said fuck y'all and stayed back. She wasn't really scheduled to go to Canterlot anyway.
Besides her, Discord and Fluttershy also stayed back at the hospital. She was showing symptoms of turning, so we left her to rot- I mean, left her to be with Discord and the hospital staff. There was no mention of what to do with her, because why would we discuss something important like that? Pssssht. Whatever. Twi was getting tired of this shit, so she told the hospital staff to figure it out for themselves.
Rarity and I limped along, suffering the trip for the sake of all of Equestria and beyond. With each step we took, my leg hurt like a bitch. It was okay though--it was starting to feel better than yesterday. I could feel it in my skin.
As we walked, I caught sight of a rock along the dirt. I kinda wanted a rock, so I took a second to sling off my backpack and collect it. While I did, one of the guards paused beside me. He and another royal guard from the hospital decided to join us on our walk this time, seeing as though we couldn't walk 1 mile without somebody getting horribly injured. Redheart also came along again, this time hauling a small cart full of supplies behind us.
"What do you need that for?" the guard asked me.
"I wanna rock."
He raised one eyebrow, trying to figure me out. Yeah, good luck with that. Hahaha.
"So," I continued, standing up. "You guys are trained for stuff like this?"
The guard and I continued walking.
"Trained for what?" he asked.
"Stuff like this."
"What is 'stuff like this'? What are you talking about?"
"Stuff. Like. This."
"Fucks sake. Yes. We are trained to serve and protect. So if that's what you mean, then yes, I guess..."
"Y'all are doing a shit job."
"Thank you. Really appreciate it."
"Seriously. Y'all are utterly fucking useless. The fuck are you even here for?"
"Human, please--we've been trying. During the surprise zombie attack, we weren't even in the lobby. We were helping solve a dispute upstairs. Why, I couldn't tell you, but that was wrong place, wrong time. Back at Princess Twilight's castle, we only had spears to defend ourselves. King even hucked his at one of the bastards, but the human dodged it and damn near blew his head off for it. And as for when they stormed the hospital yesterday, they took ponies in the lobby hostage instantly, so we were forced to surrender."
"Hmm."
"Yeah, I can't tell you how frustrated I am about this crap too. I want to be useful more than anything. That's why we're coming this time."
We'd left a couple royal guards left to defend the hospital, so hopefully we would not get a repeat of yesterday. Maybe if we did not-ahem-waste time looting a useless fucking train station-ahem-we might be alright.
Hey, there was a beer in there.
That Rarity RUDELY destroyed!
My bandages were wrapped tight to withstand the trip, but pain continued searing through my leg every time I took a step. I began to wonder why the fuck I even fought to come. This upcoming walk could very well kill my dumbass. Oh well. I really wanted to see Celestia.
For what? You really wanna ask her what her problem is that bad?
Well... I also want a chainsaw.
Ah, of course.
As the day dragged on, there wasn't much zombie commotion. Like, none. Coulda just said we didn't encounter any. Oh, and I guess I should maybe include the fact that we passed the train station and were walking along the tracks now? Perhaps that would help the reader's visualization, right Author?
Yes, that would help. I'd strongly suggest that.
K. So, we passed the train station and the wretched bodies of the boys. We didn't bother to move them or anything, because fuck them. Shitheads. Anyway, afternoon came and left after we stopped to eat lunch. It was a rough day, but it was the best we had since the apocalypse started. However, confusion and trouble built in my fragile mind.
It didn't help that Redheart didn't seem very flirtatious anymore. I tried to crack a few jokes with her and get her worked up, but they kinda fell flat. I don't know why she suddenly didn't appear interested, but maybe she just wasn't feelin' it.
Celestia's sun was falling now. Evening was here, which meant that night was on its way. That's usually how it works.
"Why is Celestia lowering the sun now?" I asked Twi.
"So, there's this thing called radiation retention that involves, obviously, radiation. As it pertains to Celestia's sun and her supermagic ability to control our natural motion around it, this retention is likely to be affected by potential loss of her supermagic alongside her regular unicorn magic. As for alicorns, this is detrimental to our health and energy, regardless of our power and ability to retain it. This energy retention has exponential growth if she, say, holds it for 20 hours as opposed to the typical ~12 or so. If they've decided to put both sun and moon in a kinetic orbital lock, this is handl-"
I stuck my index finger over her mouth as she spoke, causing her to stop.
"D'mitry terms, please," I requested before releasing my finger.
"Ah... sorry... so, yeah, she has to lower it or she'll get tired and stuff."
"Okay cool."
"I'm not sure if she put it in a kinetic orbital lock or not. That just means she disconnects her control over it and let's the solar system handle it for now."
"Uh... okay... why wouldn't she just let the solar system handle it all the time?"
"We princesses really like having power."
"Ah."
I started wondering where we would stop to sleep. We definitely wouldn't be able to walk to Canterlot in a single day, especially given our circumstances. I walked by Twi's side, noticing her gaze up at me in my peripheral vision.
"Do you think Fluttershy turned by now?" she whispered.
I sighed. "I don't know. I hope not. Hopefully the hospital staff will be ready when she does ... you know, seeing as though you basically told them to go fuck themselves and figure it out on their own."
"I know I know. I feel guilty about not giving them a plan of action, but I am really up to my ears in stress right now, okay?"
"I understand."
"Perhaps you could help me out with that later."
I looked down to see her smile.
Geez. It was tiring being this much of a stud.
Sigh
Night fell way too quickly. Not only did it grow dark, causing us to become weary and paranoid, but a growing, soft fog was surrounding us. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Despite the author telling me regular weather patterns would resume, I wondered if the clouds were protesting about having to move themselves.
"Darling," Rarity called.
Twi and I both turned around.
"Twilight, darling..."
I turned back around.
"... where are we going to sleep?"
"Well, we don't have many options..." Twi answered.
"We don't," I joined, "Why the fuck did we wait until nightfall? That was probably the dumbest thing we've done so far, minus leaving the hospital exposed."
"Just shut up, D'mitry. Let me think," she replied, rubbing her forehead frustratingly. "I was thinking once we reach the train tunnel, we can sleep there."
"On the track?" Spike asked, "In the tunnel? What the fuck kinda spot is that? Do you even know how far the train tunnel is from here?"
"We should have BEEN THERE BY NOW!" Twi snapped, "THAT'S WHY! I was hoping to reach it before night fell, but oh boy, looky there! Luna's fucking moon. God FUCKING DAMN IT!"
"Whoa whoa whoa, sugarcube, relax..." AJ said, stepping up to Twi and rubbing her shoulder.
Damn, she wasn't kidding about being stressed.
"Look..." Twi continued, "let's go just a bit farther. The ground is kind of wet, so I'm trying to avoid sleeping on it. The tunnel would be the most comfortable spot to rest."
We continued walking down the tracks. Through the fog, I noticed something on the ground in front of us. It was dark, small, and rectangular, practically camouflaging itself on the track. If it hadn't glimmered at me, I might not have seen it. It definitely seemed out of place. I leaned down and picked it up, flipping it over to see that it was...
A cellphone?
What the fuck? How did a cellphone get here? Did Celestia and Luna bring one in?? It had been ten loooooooooooong months since I'd seen a cellphone, so I blankly stared at it for a moment as I tried to figure out what it was doing here. The screen noticed my face and brightened through the fog. A screensaver, which showed a backdrop of a few assault rifles, appeared behind text that read:
1:42PM
Dec 31, 1990
Well... that dates horribly wrong. Obviously it ain't 1:42pm. ...
Or the 90s. ...
Suddenly, it started ringing.
How the fuck was it ringing? The fuck? Last time I checked, there were no cell towers in Equestria. Nothing even close.
The screen saver was replaced by the answer call screen, and the contact read:
Answer me, Pony Lover |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | A Setup | We heard the phone shatter and shut off in the distance. "Get ready!" Twi ordered. The guards disconnected from the cart and sprung into position in front of us. I already had my m9 out, so I waited to make sure they were zombie ponies. Which, most definitely they were. What was the one silhouette turned into two. I heard moans to our right side. Two more silhouettes. The fog intensified. Now something was up. We must have been caught in a trap!
"Damn it!" AJ exclaimed after dropping her gun. I wasn't going to wait any longer. Making sure our flanks would be clear, I fired a clip at the two flankers. One shook and took a step back before regaining balance and continuing. There was a moan behind us. Suddenly, we were surrounded by zombie ponies and fog.
"I'll take the back! Fire at will!" Twi shouted.
The gunfire continued. The fog was horrible now. There was less and less that we could see. Silhouettes fell, but more came. There were so many of them. It was only thirty seconds before one got too close. I saw him come from the left corner of my eye. He sprung for AJ. Before I could swing my m9 around, he was on her.
She yelled as she held him back with her front hooves, with a knife in her mouth. He was too close to her for me to risk a bullet, so I sprinted over and jabbed the back of his neck with my knife. I yanked him backwards and cut through his neck. Blood splattered. When I knew he was done, I threw him aside and continued to clear our near endangered flank.
"We need to move!" Twi shouted, "Run forward when it's clear!"
I took frontal combat. The guards quickly joined me. Stepping over two dead zombie ponies, I ran forward with an m9 in one hand and a knife in the other. One after another, more silhouettes fell. The fog was so thick that I couldn't see over a foot in front of me. The mysterious light penetrated most of it, which helped a little. I heard the whir of multiple machines in front of us and to our sides. Fog machines! After I sliced through another zombie pony, the light blinked a few times and shut off. Now our vision was gone. Everything was grey and black.
"Run forwards! Don't stop until you're out!"
We all sprinted on the side of the tracks. There were many zombies to jump over, but with the thick fog, it was difficult to see them coming. There was also the remaining alive that we'd run into. Then there were gunshots as we sliced them up. One whizzed right next to my ear.
"Watch your fire!" I yelled over my shoulder.
It took another thirty seconds for us to get out of the mass fog. On the track was one of the damn machines that ruined our sight, and the spotlight that shone for part of it. I fiddled with it until flicking a switch that stopped the fog from ejecting. After I scanned for close zombie ponies, I turned to do a fast headcount.
Dash, Twi, Rarity, Sp-
"Bang!" Another gunshot ripped up the dirt next to Twi's foot. I had seen the tiny spark in the corner of my eye, over the top of distant hills. "We're being shot at! Run!" I pointed to the sparks. They were a far distance away, so using any of our guns was virtually pointless. It took a few milliseconds for each bullet to approach after the spark. Even through the dark, we could see the tunnel ahead. It wasn't far. I took the back to make sure everypony was accounted for. The guards positioned next to me so they'd be in the way of the bullets getting to the others.
Dash, Twi, Rarity, Spike, the guards, AJ ...
"Redheart!!" I skidded to a halt.
"Devan!" Twi yelled.
"Keep going!" I shouted over my shoulder.
I hurried back, occasional bullets whizzing by. There were even more zombie ponies coming out of the fog. But Redheart was in there. Knife in hand, I rushed past a few of them. One got a nick when I just entered the fog. The light still wasn't on, so I shouted for her again.
"Devan!" I heard her to my left. Apparently, these zombie ponies could see in the dark through the clearing fog. One latched on to my right arm before I started for snow.
"I'm coming!" I yelled after struggling with the zombie pony. His teeth sunk in, and I had to get him off immediately. I might have gotten away from Pinkie's, but I wasn't going to go around and risk it. Now there were two of them on me. Three. They managed to knock me down. Finally, I managed to get a grip, pull up my m9, and fire. His teeth were still attached as I gunned the other two down. Cautiously pulling them off my skin, I stood up.
"Redheart!" I hollered. Was I too late?
"Go!" one of the guards shouted over the moans and gunshots.
Having to deal with thinking they got to her, I ran back out of the fog. They did. But they were both carrying her as we dashed for the tunnel. This time, I took the position of getting in the way of the shots. I didn't have armor as they did, but that didn't matter to me. The zombie ponies were a ways behind us, none of them directly in front. Our main threat was the bullets digging up the dirt around us. Luckily, it seemed that the shooters were inexperienced. It was probably a few more kids like the brothers we'd encountered. I still couldn't figure out why there were any other people here at all.
We reached the tunnel. The others were fast walking ahead. They didn't want to stop at the open tunnel, and I didn't blame them. Were we still going to sleep in the tunnel? Were we going to sleep at all? I looked back to see the tunnel entrance slowly fading away. Another bad experience being gulped in a vein of darkness. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) On the what? | The phone rang in my hands, causing the others to stop walking as well.
Despite my mind being flooded with questions about the logic behind this, I looked at the menacing contact name for a few moments before pressing the red decline button. It only took a few seconds for it to ring again, and I pressed the red decline button again. I started chuckling to myself until it rang a third time. This time, I decided to press the green accept button and answer the call.
"Yeeello."
An unrecognizable male voice then spoke from the other end.
"I'd advise you not to hang up on us, Pony Lover."
I lowered the phone and pressed the end call button before bursting into laughter. When it rang again, I rolled my eyes and answered the call.
"Yeeello."
"You stupid fuck. I swear."
"♫ Stop calling! Stop calling! I don't wanna talk anymore! I left my heeeead and my heeart on the dance floor! ♫"
"Bruh."
I started moving my hips and dancing a little bit.
"♫ Tonight I'm not taking no calls, 'cause I'll be dancing! Stop calling! Stop calling! I don't wanna think anymore! I left my heeeead and-"
"Shut the FUCK up!"
I huffed. "Fine. What is it? What is this? What the hell do you want?"
I crossed my other arm across my chest, growing impatient that I had to talk on the phone. It was pretty odd, seeing as though I hadn't had a phone call in almost a year. The phone almost felt unnatural now, which was very strange. I glanced around at the others, who were looking up at me with the most confused faces I'd ever seen on them. It was hilarious. Twi cocked her head, trying to figure out what I was talking on.
"D'mitry, who are you talking to?" she asked.
"Not now," I said, "I'm on the phone."
"On the what?"
"Listen up, Pony Lover. Do you see that fog around you?"
"I do. It's kind of annoying."
Twi interrupted again. "D'mitry?"
"Shhh! I'm on the phone."
"On the what?" Dash asked.
"That fog is courtesy of us. I need you to listen very carefully to me, do you understand?"
"Gee thanks. I don't understand any of this shit, but go on."
"D'MITRY!" Twi shouted.
"I'm ON THE PHONE!"
"On the what now?" AJ asked.
"You need to surrender, Pony Lover. You and your little pony friends. We have you at the palm of our hand now."
"Mmmm... that makes no fucking sense. So I'm not going to."
"Moron. I'd advise yo-"
"♫ Wha- wha- what did you say, oh you're breaking up on me. Sorry, I cannot hear you, I'm kinda busy. K-kinda busy, k-kinda-"
"LISTEN, PONY LOVER! If you hang up on me again, we will set off our trap."
"Trap?"
"Yes, trap. We set one on the tracks for ya. That's what the fog is about, moron. So stay on the line."
"Oh, I'll stay on the line alright."
"Okay?"
"The TRAIN line! HAHAHAAA!"
I felt the urge to hang up again, but I couldn't sense any fear or nervousness from the other side. I was met with an awkward silence.
"You are one strange guy, I must say."
"I know."
Twi interrupted again. "D'mitry. If you don't tell us what's going on right now, AJ is going to whip you in the balls."
"Hang on," I said on the phone. I set the phone aside and covered it with my free hand to talk to Twi. "Not now, Twi. I'm on the-"
CRACK!
"AHHHHGHGH!" I hollered, dropping the phone and keeling over on the tracks. I fell beside it, clutching my ballsack. Despite a new pain flowing through my testicles, I reached out with one hand and grabbed the phone.
"You ... AH ... you were saying?"
"Uh... so... will you surrender?"
"No. You got me whipped in the nuts. Fuck you."
"What? Whipped in the nuts? Wha-"
I angrily hung up the phone and threw it aside.
"Hey, we might be in trouble now. The guy on the phone said he's gonna set off a trap," I said, still clutching my pearls.
"On the what?" Rarity asked.
Instead of the phone ringing again, it blasted to life. It's flashlight went into strobe mode, and a louder, more annoying alarm ringtone started playing. Along with it, a similarly annoying siren sound went off not far down the tracks from us, echoing through the trees hidden past the fog. A bright yellow spotlight appeared through the fog, originating from the supposed tree line.
"SHIT! EVERYBODY RUN!" Twi exclaimed, lending a hoof to help me up. My nutsack cried in pain, but I continued to a stand. I heard moans as I started wobbling to a jog to keep up with the group. The spotlight, which was hitting the fog around us, illuminated a few silhouettes off to the side.
I pulled my baby out, aiming at the silhouettes. When they got close enough for me to tell they were really zombie ponies, I shot at them both. One dropped, but the other shook, almost losing balance before reclaiming it and continuing. There was another moan on the other side of the tracks.
"I'll take the rear!" Twi shouted, "Fire at will!"
"No!" I yelled, "Not a good idea!"
"FIRE AT WILL!"
I heard somebody else fire a gun as we continued through this goddamn thick ass fog. The fog seemed to be getting worse. It was really pissing me off now. As we fought through it, I noticed a silhouette approach AJ, who was running in front of me. I raised my baby as it sprang on her, but was too late to fire safely. The pony was on her now, and I could vaguely see her holding him back with her front hoof. I approached the two while they squirmed and set the barrel against the side of the zombie stallion's head.
BANG!
Blood splattered from his head as he fell to the ground.
"Thanks sugarcube!"
We continued running through the fog. I took frontal combat, the guard from before quickly joining my side. Thankfully, the spotlight was actually helping us get through the fog. Otherwise, it would be a complete guessing game to figure out where the hell we were going. This was a nic- ...
Fucking shit.
The damn spotlight went out. Our vision was gone now. Everything was gray and black. As we continued running, I also heard the whir of multiple machines next to the tracks ahead.
Fucking fog machines. Shitheads.
"Run forward!" Twi commanded, "Don't stop until you're out!"
We sprinted along the tracks, jumping over the corpse of a zombie somebody had shot out front. The moans were quieting now, indicating we might be in the clear soon. I heard another gunshot crack as it whizzed by my right ear.
"Watch your damn fire!" I shouted over my shoulder.
"Fire at will!" Twi retorted.
I swear, if these motherfuckers shoot me in the back, I'm gonna be pissed.
After a few more seconds, we finally made it to the end of the fog. The guard and I continuing running forward a few paces to give the others a chance to escape the ghostly void as well. I turned around and did a quick headcount.
The guard, Dash, Spi-
BANG!
I saw a gunshot kick up the dirt next to Dash's hoof. The shot originated from farther away, and I had seen the muzzle flash light up the woods along the right side of the track.
"We're being sho-"
BANG!
BANG!
Shots began cracking by us as the muzzle flashes continued. I raised my baby, along with Dash and the guard. We fired back at the flashes, sending bullets raining down on the tree line.
"FUCKER!"
BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!
There'd been one more muzzle flash in the trees before it came to a stop. I shot off a few more rounds as the others bolted out of the fog beside us.
"LOOK!" Dash shouted, pointing her hoof down the track. "THE TUNNEL! GO GO GO!"
BANG!
A shot ripped across the air between us after another stupid fucking muzzle flash lit up the tree line on the other side of the tracks. As the others began galloping toward the tunnel, I emptied the rest of my magazine where I saw the flash before sprinting to catch up. I scanned for any threats nearby and took another headcount.
Twi, Spike, the guard, Dash, Rarity, AJ...
"Redheart!" I exclaimed, skidding to a halt.
"D'mitry!" Twi yelled.
"Keep going!" I shouted, turning around and rushing back into the annoying ass fog. A few more gunshots whizzed by from the other tree line, causing me to duck until I got back inside the safety of the fog. Ah. Now I was safe and sound. No gunshots could harm me in thi...
BANG!
Oh right.
A gunshot cracked as it flew past my ear. Nevermind. Conceal the pain, cover from the rain. I started-
What?? Conceal the what?
I don't know. It was a dumb phrase my middle school friend used to use. It meant, like, you can conceal the pain, but need to take cover from the rain or something like that.
Interesting...
Yeah, anyway, I'm kinda busy right now.
"REDHEART!" I exclaimed, "WHERE ARE YOU?!"
BANG!
Fucker!
I took a quick second to drop my empty magazine and load a new one. Once it was loaded, I popped off more rounds where I thought the tree line to be.
"WHOA WHOA WATCH YOUR FIRE!" the other guard shouted through the fog.
"D'MITRY?!" Redheart hollered from the same direction.
"REDHEART!"
"GO!" the guard shouted again, "I GOT HER!"
Having to accept that the guard got to her, I ran back out of the fog. However, I had no fucking clue where I was going anymore, so I came out right in front of the other tree line. Just as I regained sight, I noticed a shadowy figure moving to my left, mere feet away from me.
"WHOA!" I exclaimed, darting for the closest tree I could find.
BANG!
The loud gunshot whizzed right behind my head as the area was very briefly illuminated by the gun.
BANG!
I collided with the tree, narrowly missing another gunshot zipping by me. This gunman was close, meaning I did not feel safe, even behind this tree. With a burst of adrenaline, I threw my shoulder around the other side of the tree and raised my baby. I heard bark rip off beside me as I lined up what looked like the outline of a human boy.
BANG!
I fired my baby at him.
BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!
The figure dropped. A single cry of pain called out from it before my third gunshot went off. Then there was silence. I waited in this silence for just a few seconds as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. He looked like he was dead.
As much as I wanted to take a closer look to make sure, and maybe punch his dead corpse in the face, I didn't want to be away from the others any longer. So, I scanned my surroundings before darting back to the tracks and sprinting alongside them. My adrenaline was starting to wear off now, so I hobbled my way back to the tracks, my nuts angrily protesting my every move. They'd be alright.
I eventually reached the others right before we entered the tunnel. The guard had gotten to Redheart, and helped her walk with the others as she continued pulling the cart. Twi pulled out a flashlight, scanning the dark tunnel as we jogged inside.
Were we still going to sleep in the tunnel?
Were we going to sleep at all?
I was growing exhausted now, still dealing with pain. I looked back to see the tunnel entrance slowly fade away. Another bad experience being gulped in a vein of darkness. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Uh Oh | The guards and I finally caught up with the others. Twi, Dash, and I had flashlights pointed ahead. There were also a few battery-powered lights on the cart. Redheart was still intact, but looked like she had gotten a nasty wound on her leg.
"Were you bit?" I asked her.
Please say no.
"No. It was a bullet wound."
Phew.
The guards were carrying her in the cart now, placing her on top of a sleeping bag to comfort her. I paced next to it, making sure Redheart would be okay. "Can I see your leg?" I asked. She rolled her leg out and gave me a closer look at her bullet wound. This one was severe. It entered right above her foot, leaving a gaping skin wound that bled furiously.
"Twi! Can I see your bag?"
"No, Devan, I got one on me," Redheart revealed her own saddlebag hanging off the back end of the cart.
"Want me t-"
"No. I got it." She had already grabbed a rag and started applying pressure on the horrible wound.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
The gunfire had abruptly stopped after the guards and I ran into the tunnel. Now we were hurrying through the dark, seemingly abandoned tunnel. Even with our three glowing flashlights, it still seemed lonely and dark.
The train tracks took up a lot of the tunnel, so the sides were really narrow. There wasn't much walk space between the track and walls. The guards had to haul the cart on the tracks, which echoed the sound of the chattering wheels.
"Stop," Twi said, "Look."
On the tracks was a laid out zombie pony. Behind her was a blood trail that continued for a few meters. Twi and I exchanged glances.
"How do we get past her?" The guards gestured to the cart.
"I guess we can move her together," Twi answered.
It was as I grabbed onto her leg that we heard a loud, deafening whistle.
"Uh oh." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Bruh | The dark, eerie tunnel was illuminated by Twi's flashlight. She and I exchanged a glance as she hobbled with the flashlight in her hoof.
"It'll be ok," I said.
"Not that. Look at me."
I watched her as we jogged along the track, trying to figure out what she was on about. She awkwardly hobbled along with three legs as her fourth held the flashlight, her face growing angrier through each step.
"Would you take the damn flashlight?! Please?" she scoffed.
"Bruh, have you never held a flashlight before?"
She growled slightly.
"I have, bonehead. I'm just a bit uncomfortable right now. My other hoof hurts a little. Can you please hold it? You'd be better with it anyway."
"Oh, ok," I answered, taking the flashlight from her. I observed it for a moment to make sure it was on the right set-
WHOA!
THUNK!
I tripped over one of the goddamn rails and splatted face-first on the ground. To make matters worse, I dropped the flashlight, which somehow turned itself off. Now it was pitch black inside the tunnel.
"Damn it, D'mitry!" Twi exclaimed beside me.
"Ow! Hang on!"
I'd heard the flashlight land on the rails in front of me, but it was too dark to see anything. It took me a few seconds to feel for it before I picked it up and turned it on again.
Spike cackled a bit. "Sweet Celestia. How does your species even survive?"
"Shut up, drasshole."
I stood back up and started jogging with the others again.
"Not naturally, that's for sure," Twi scoffed.
"Hey! You said I'd be better with the flashlight. You were wrong."
"Just watch out for the rails, bonehead."
I continued jogging with them, catching up to run side-by-side with Twi at the front of the group. This time, I carefully watched the stupid rails so I wouldn't trip again. That got me thinking.
"Wait a minute. Why the hell are we even jogging anymore? Can't we just walk?"
Twi huffed. "I suppose we should. It's just a bit frightening getting SHOT AT, you know? These guns of your world are terrifying, to put it lightly."
We slowed to a walking speed, which was relieving.
"Ah. I suppose you're right. I guess y'all aren't really used to this."
"Come again?" AJ asked behind us. "You're used to being shot at?"
"Uh... well... actually, no. Not really. Nevermind. I've only been shot at once before."
"And why was that?"
"I was at school."
"Huh?"
"Yeah. That stuff just kinda happens where I'm from."
"Wow."
We continued walking along for a minute. I then glanced back at Redheart, who was limping at the back of the group. She had one of the guards helping her stay upright, but she still looked to be struggling. I grew worried about her and turned to Twi, extending the flashlight out to her.
"Hey, could you hold this a minute?"
"Oh my fucking god."
"Please?"
Twi angrily snatched the flashlight from me.
"I proposed you be my stress relief, not the CAUSE."
"Yeah yeah, we'll sort that out later."
I slowed my pace to jog beside Redheart. Since Twi was illuminating the path in front of us, it was a bit darker back here. I could still vaguely see that her leg was clearly bleeding, but it was hard to tell what from.
"What happened?! Were you bit? Please don't tell me you were bit," I begged.
"No, hun, I got hit by one of the... bullets. It hit my leg."
"Oh good. Kinda... will you be alright?"
"I think so. It hurts a lot though."
For some reason, she was still hauling the cart behind her. Without permission, I leaned down as we walked and unfastened the strap connecting her to it. She looked at me, puzzled, until I pointed a finger at the guard.
"You. Pull the cart. And you," I pointed at Redheart. "Get in."
The guard immediately grew angry. "Did you just try to order-"
"Just do it," Twi hissed, coming to a stop and swinging the flashlight around until it was pointed at us.
The guard huffed.
"Yes, princess," he replied, assisting Redheart inside the cart. It only took a few moments for him to hook up before we continued. As we walked, I leaned over the cart to see her wound. It was hard to see, but it looked like the bullet had entered just above her back hoof.
"Twi! Can I see your bag?" I called.
Twi turned her head and glared back at me, still having trouble keeping the flashlight steady as she limped along. "Sure! Want a fucking blowjob as well?!"
"I mean..."
She glared back at me, eager to huck the flashlight at my head.
"It's okay," Redheart said, "I have one on me."
She pointed to the saddlebag she had, which hung off the back end of the cart.
"Want me to-" I started.
"No, hun, I got it. I don't want you to trip again."
She'd already grabbed a rag, which she used to apply pressure on the wound.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, hun. I'm fine. Promise."
We continued walking down the tunnel. It was surprising just how long this motherfucker was. I couldn't even see a light at the end yet, probably not helped by the fact that it was night out. Redheart's cart rolled down the tracks, its wheels chattering as it danced over the rails. The tracks took up most of the tunnel, so the sides were too narrow to fit it.
We walked on for a few more minutes until Twi stopped.
"Hold on, everybody. Look..."
She pointed the flashlight at the tracks ahead of us. Illuminated by it was a zombie pony lying partially on the tracks. Her body was... cut in half, one part inside the tracks, and one part smooshed against the wall. Twi exchanged a nervous glance with me.
"Gross," I commented.
"Tell me about it."
"It's a pretty nauseating si-"
She looked up at me with an unamused face as the sound of the cart rolled behind me. We looked back to see the guard point at it.
"How do we get this past her?" he asked.
"We can probably move her," Twi assured, extending her hoof with the flashlight out to me. "D'mitry. Take the flashlight."
"Why?"
"D'm-" she started, interrupted by a quick breath of frustration. "D'mitry. If you do not take this flashlight right now, I am going to shove it so far up your ass that your organs will glow in the dark. TAKE IT!"
I hesitantly grabbed the flashlight from her hoof and shone it on the corpse so the others could move it aside. They took the half of the body in the middle of the tracks and dragged it behind the other half. It fit snugly between the rail and the wall, giving plenty of room for Redheart's cart to move through.
But as the guard started walking past it, we heard a loud whistle in the distance.
"Bruh." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Tunnel-visioned | There weren't any curves in the tunnel, so we could clearly see the fast approaching light of a train. "Wave and flash your flashlights or something!" Twi yelled. We flashed our three flashlights at the fast moving train. The guards began shoving the cart back as we backed away.
"Leave the cart!" Redheart grabbed her saddlebag and clumsily hopped off. There was nothing in the tunnel, just walls and one straight railroad track. There was a mere 2 feet space between the wall and tracks, so we'd have to squeeze tightly to not get hit by the train. "Get up against the wall!" one of the guards ordered. We all hunkered down, pressing ourselves against the wall in the hopes we'd be passed.
I looked back to see that the train seemed to pick up speed, as if it were actually out to pass or even kill us. The once dark and creepy tunnel would soon be filled with light and sound. I quickly examined the walk space and train size. There was still a possibility we'd be skimmed. "Inhale!" Dash shouted over the train whistle as it sped into the tunnel, casting its bright light over the tunnel's walls, floor, and ceiling.
We all squeezed against the walls and inhaled, willing to turn into pancakes to avoid getting cut and sliced by the train. I closed my eyes after securing my arms over Redheart, pushing her further against the wall than she already was herself. Wood from the cart cracked immediately, and bits of it flew past us. I heard AJ scream as wood pieces skimmed my legs. A burst of cold air punched my face as my arm was skimmed violently by the rough sides of the less than colorful train cars.
I pushed Snow further in as another train car sliced skin right off my arm. I gasped in the immense pain, but kept holding my breath. Even though it was moving quickly, it was taking forever to pass. But finally the caboose whooshed past, allowing us to breath safely again. AJ collapsed on the tracks after it did.
"AJ!" Dash yelled.
She was laid out on the track, breathing profusely, and I noticed a hunky piece of wood sliced into her leg. I cringed at the sight, and couldn't imagine the pain she was experiencing. Redheart and I ran to her immediately and she dug through her kit furiously.
"Do you need help?" Dash asked her.
"Yes! You and Twi can help. Twi! Devan, take the others outside please."
Despite my overwhelming desire to stay and help with AJ, I forced myself to gather the others and have the guards help me lead Rarity and Spike outside. It wasn't too far, but it was still night time. And with all the crap going on, I didn't know what to expect when we exited. Soon, we were away from the sounds of AJ's wheezing. We'd already lost Pinkie and Flutters. When would it end?
"Do you think she's okay?" Spike asked me.
"I don't know."
I saw his eyes tear up before he turned away. Poor guy. For his age, this must have been difficult on him. At least he still had Rarity by his side. Rarity hugged him while the guards and I waited. The breeze outside was warm compared to the coolness of the tunnel. The night was moving along slowly; the moon slugging through the gloomy sky.
After a while, the others in the tunnel lifted AJ, started hauling her to the outside. There was no light from the tunnel, and our flashlights weren't too powerful, so I'd assumed they needed light. When they pulled her out, she was breathing quickly and clenching her teeth in pain. The wood was still in there.
"Get that out of her already ..." I said.
"We're trying!" The nurse replied, "We don't want her to die from blood loss." They laid her along the side of the tracks. "Devan ..."
"Yes?"
"I need your help."
I was by AJ's side in a split second. "What can I do?"
"You have hands, which I need right now. I'm going to pull out the wood, but you need to secure the skin around the wound and apply pressure when I say. The more blood we lose, the less time she has. Can you do that?"
I observed the wound. The wood chunk was an inch wide, and I didn't know how far it had gone through. Clenching my teeth and sucking it in, I nodded. I placed my hands around the bottom of the wood, holding down the skin. Blood was seeping through my fingers already, which worried me. My right wrist was also bleeding, so I moved it back to not get my blood and hers mixed. Last thing we needed right now was infection by blood.
"Keep it steady. 1 ... 2 ... 3."
She started pulling it out, and I hadn't expected the skin to pull up that much. I pushed down on it as she ripped out the piece, and blood oozed out. She rapidly set down the wood and wrapped the wound in cloth before pulling out a tourniquet and wrapping it around her thigh, above the wound. AJ was squeezing with pain every second, and all I could do was tell her to hang in there.
Redheart sighed. "Damn it, we should have pulled the cart out front. What were we thinking?"
"It was the heat of the moment. Is AJ gonna be alright?"
"I don't know!" she snapped at me, but frowned just afterwards, "Sorry ..."
"It's fine."
"The tourniquet should work. I'm gonna get the wound patched and tightened to prevent more blood loss, but you might need to talk to Twi about camping out here. She's not going to be well enough to walk for a while, and we lost the cart. Can you speak with her for me?"
"Sure."
I got up with my hands covered in blood from AJ and my skims. "Devan?" Twi said, "Are you gonna have her look at your arms?" I stopped face to face with her. "Twi, we need to camp out here."
"Yeah, I was thinking we'd probably have to." She glanced around before pointing to some nearby shrubs. "We'll set up camp behind those, in case anything comes to get us. I don't know who was running that train but I know damn well I don't want to find out. And if that other guy on the hills comes through, we don't want to be seen."
"Good idea, I'll tell the nurse."
"Alright. I'll get everybody caught up and we'll meet you over there."
---- ---- ----
The moon was now plop in the center of the sky. Because summer wasn't quite over, the night felt nice, and near Ponyville, not too cold. But tonight, there was quite a breeze rolling through. The leaves on the trees moved with the wind, awaiting their fall in autumn. This side of the tunnel was considerably better than the drama happening on the other side. Redheart had wrapped my skim up after working on AJ, and I'd helped carry her to our camping spot.
Twi and the others had set up a few tents and sleeping bags for all of us near a tree. The guards denied sleeping in the tents or on the sleeping bags to save more room for us. They offered to switch watches every few hours between the two of them.
"Can I take a watch, too?" Dash asked.
Through lots of persistence, they finally gave in and let her take one of the early morning shifts. Hopefully we'd be on our way soon, but with AJ's wound ... I wasn't so sure. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Unintended Side Effects | I gazed down the track, noticing the fast approaching light of a train in the distance.
"D'mitry!" Twi exclaimed, "Wave the flashlight at them or something!"
"Bruh, how would that do-"
"DO IT MOTHERFUCKER!"
I raised my flashlight and started waving it at the train, but I waved it too hard and dropped it, temporarily causing the tunnel to darken. It took me a few seconds to pick it back up and get back to waving. As I did, the guards started shoving the cart backward down the track.
"Leave the cart!" Redheart shouted, clumsily hopping off of it.
We started rushing back the way we came for a moment, but it was clear we wouldn't outpace the train.
"Everybody up against the wall!!" Twi ordered.
There were none of those cubby holes they have in tunnels sometimes, so we were left with just walls and one straight railroad track. There was a measly 2-3 feet of space or so between the wall and rails, but it was all we had. We all pressed ourselves against the wall, hoping that the train would just pass us.
I pressed my back against the wall, turning to see the train's light growing. The others pressed their sides against the wall as well. We could feel the vibrations of the train now, which was menacing as fuck. The train whistle blew again, echoing loudly throughout the tunnel. Any closer and my damn ears would probably burst open. Quit blowing the FUCKING horn!!!
I glanced over at Redheart, who was pressed against the wall right beside me. She had her flank to me, and her tail unintentionally brushed my leg and waist. It's subtle touch, along with her tempting backside, caused my blood to travel down. I felt my man-stick start to awaken.
No no no nonnononoo NONONONONONNO!!! WAIT WAIT WAITWAITAWIAITAIIWAIAIWA!!!
"REDHEART! Face me! Please!"
She glanced back for a second before turning around, looking up at me confusingly. This wasn't much better, but it helped. Her tail wasn't brushing against me anymore. My man-stick slowly settled. I sighed deeply with relief.
"Thank you."
Her confused look turned to fear as she looked up at me. I reached out my arm and pushed against her side to press her farther against the wall.
"D'mitry, stop," she said, raising a hoof to remove my arm.
"I'm pressing you farther against the wall!"
"No, let go! You're just risking losing your damn arm!" she argued.
I fought with her as she tried to push away my arm, but I eventually won the fight. I used the strength I had left to shove my arm against her side, pushing her closer to the wall.
"D'mitry!"
"Everybody inhale!" Dash exclaimed.
I inhaled as the train whistle blew again, damn near blowing my ears off as the train's headlight cast light on the tunnel in front of us. We all squeezed against the wall, willing to turn into pancakes to avoid getting sliced by the train. I closed my eyes as the rumble of the engine quickly rose.
The deafening whistle blew again as the train started blowing past us. I felt a cold burst of wind buffet my side as the fast-moving train blew by, just feet in front of us.
To my left, I heart AJ scream out just a second before pieces of something skimmed across my shins. I pushed Redheart in, but felt one of the train cars slice the skin right off my arm. I gasped, trying to stay still through the immense pain. It turned out to be the caboose that ripped off my skin, so once it whooshed past, I fell to my knees, dropping the flashlight on the track.
"AJ!" I heard Dash exclaim. I grasped my wounded arm, holding it tight across my chest. It seared with an intense pain comparable to when I got my eye sliced at Twi's castle.
"Damn it, D'mitry!" Redheart yelled. I felt her hoof touch my shoulder as she leaned her head over me in an attempt to see what happened. "I told you to let go!"
"HNNGGNNNNG!" I groaned, "Just- just go see AJ. It sounds like she needs help."
"Are you sure you're alrig-"
"Go!"
Redheart stayed a few more seconds before grabbing the flashlight and leaving my side to go work on AJ. I watched her leave, only because I happened to, and saw AJ collapsed on the tracks to my left. Her chest was moving up and down dramatically, and I noticed a foot-long piece of wood impaled into her leg. I cringed at the sight, and couldn't imagine the pain she was experiencing.
Oh wait. I was experiencing some damn good pain too. I took a second to ungrasp my other hand and look at my skin. Redheart had the flashlight over by AJ, but I could still vaguely see the extent of my injury. A sizable, hand-sized chunk of the skin on my forearm hung loosely over the side, leaving a large red swath that bled everywhere.
Rarity came to my side, attempting to see what happened. I grasped my arm again from the pain.
"Darling, let me see. How bad is it?"
"No, it hurts too much. Can we just- ah ... I wanna get out of this fucking tunnel."
"Yes, Twilight agrees."
Twi had joined Dash and Redheart in assisting AJ. One of the guards stood by, with the other one standing beside me. Spike came walking up behind Rarity. Of course, his dumb little dragon lips started parting to pollute the air again.
"Geez bro. Your dumbass just can't stop getting hurt, huh?"
"I'm gonna HURT you in a minute."
SMACK!
The element of Generosity smacked me across the face.
"I told you to quit talking to him like that. I know that he can be rude, but it's only because you both won't knock it off."
"Ahhhh whatever. How is AJ?"
"I don't know, darling. Why don't we go over and see?"
She and the guard helped me to a stand so I could hobble over to them. I held my arm the whole time, feeling the warm blood seep out of it. I think it was even dripping now. When we got to AJ, Redheart was actively working on wrapping a tourniquet around her leg.
"Oh my god," I commented, "Are you gonna cut her fucking leg off?"
"I'm not. I'm just-" she started, struggling with the tourniquet. "-just stopping blood flow."
Twi glanced up at me from AJ's side.
"D'mitry. Can you take the others outside?"
"Others? Shouldn't we take AJ out too?"
"We will, we will. But we gotta get her ready to go."
"Well, we can wait then-"
"No, D'mitry. Dash, Snow, and I will take her out. I need you all out."
"Wh-"
"NOW!"
She glared at me, causing me to shut my mouth. If I didn't quit annoying her pretty soon, I was afraid she might beat me to death. We had a pretty odd relationship, honestly.
Wait, why'd she say Snow? Maybe she just mixed up the two. It was a bit weird that both of their names did end in heart, but that was pretty typical of this world. I dropped it and walked with Rarity, Spike, and one of the guards. The one I'd talked to earlier stayed back with them so he could help carry AJ out when they were ready.
It took a few minutes of walking, but we eventually made it to the other end of the tunnel. Fucking finally. It was still pretty dark out, and I noticed clouds scattered above us. I hoped it wouldn't rain while we slept, cause I don't think any of us really wanted to sleep in the damn tunnel anymore. In Luna's moonlight, I could see my arm better.
Rarity wanted to see as well, so I got on my knees. Ungrasping it showed a large red pool of blood, with the foot-long piece of skin hanging off.
"Sweet Celestia," Rarity commented, holding the bottom of my arm as she observed it. "How did this happen?"
"Train sliced it."
"How?" she asked.
"He was an idiot," the guard answered, "He tried shoving nurse Snow farther up against the wall, even though she had enough clearance."
"Really, D'mitry?"
"I was shoving her against the wall! And it's REDheart, thank you very much. Sheesh. I'd expect you morons to remember."
The three exchanged confused glances with one another before Rarity gazed back at me.
"It's Snowheart, darling. Nurse Snow."
"No it is not. Damn. Y'all are fucking delusional."
Spike chuckled. "Sounds like you're delusional, retard."
"Whatever. Can y'all help me with this?" I asked, gesturing to my arm.
Rarity took off her saddlebags and pulled out a washcloth. She patted my arm dry from the blood, but it was unclear what we'd do about the skin hanging off. It was honestly disgusting me now. After a few minutes of her tending to my wound, the others came out of the tunnel entrance. Dash and the guard were carrying AJ on her back with Twi and Nurse-
Wait, what?
Nurse... Snow... and...
The fuck? Author, is there a mistake? No.
Then wha-
Lightning Bolt.
OW! Am I not struggling enough?! Damn!
No questions right now. Keep it movin'.
I gritted my teeth through the pain searing through my arm as I observed Nurse Snow. Not Redheart. It was Snow. Where the hell did she come from? After the others dropped AJ on the grass beside the tracks next to us, Snow immediately got back to caring for AJ. She was still alive, but breathing profusely. I saw her clenching her teeth in pain. The piece of wood was still impaled in her leg.
"Get that out of her already! Damn."
"Shut up!" Twi hissed, "Snow is trying to prevent her dying from blood loss. Leave it to the professionals."
"D'mitry," Snow called suddenly.
"What?"
"I need your help," she answered, taking a second to glance at my arm. "Is your arm okay enough to help me for a moment?"
"No. I'm not a professional anyway," I scoffed, raising my head in major offense.
"D'mitry, please."
"What can I do?"
"You have hands, which I need right now. I'm going to pull the wood out of her, but someone needs to apply pressure where and when I say."
Twi huffed. "What's wrong with hooves? I can-"
"No, Twilight," she interrupted, "I'm sorry, but this is a serious wound. Hooves are okay, but hands would be better here. His fingers can wrap around her leg more precisely than we can. Please."
"Gah- fine."
Rarity let me keep the cloth on my arm as I scooted over to help Red- I mean- Snow. AJ's wound looked nasty, but thankfully, while the wood was a foot long, it was only a couple inches wide. I placed my hands where Snow wanted me too. My arm continued bleeding, so I tilted it back to not get my blood and hers mixed. Last thing we needed was infection by blood. I think the zombies had that under control.
"Keep it steady. 1 ... 2 ..."
"Wait, what are you counting to?"
She huffed. "What other number does anybody count to? Three, stupid. Hold still. 1 ... 2 ... 3!"
She pulled the wood out, and I hadn't expected AJ's skin to pull up as much as it did. I pushed down on it as she ripped the piece out. Blood immediately followed, oozing out menacingly. Snow rapidly threw the wood aside and wrapped the wound. AJ groaned as she did, gazing up at me with fear.
"Just hold on, AJ. It'll be alright."
Snow sighed as she worked. "Damn it. We should have pulled the cart behind us. What were we thinking?"
"We weren't. We don't do that a whole lot," I replied.
"True."
"So... is she gonna be alright?"
"Mmmm. I don't know. The tourniquet is working, but we'll need to remove it in about an hour. Hopefully her blood loss will settle by then."
"Okay, good."
The nurse glanced between AJ and me.
"I thought she was your owner? I know you aren't exactly evil, but... shouldn't you be a bit..." she started, averting her eyes to look for the word.
"A bit what?"
"Uh... less supportive?"
"I don't want Ms. Applejack to die. I don't care if I'm her slave."
"Interesting."
AJ groaned. "Thanks, sugarcube."
"You're welcome, ma'am."
"Anyway," Snow continued, "She won't be able to move very much, and we lost the cart. We're going to need to think about camping out here. Can you talk to Twilight and see what she thinks?"
"Sure," I said, turning my head to face Twi, who was still standing by AJ's other side. "Hey, Twi. I thin-"
"I know," she replied, shaking her head. "Okay. We'll set up camp in that forest." She pointed her hoof at the tree line not far behind us. "We'll move a bit farther in, in case anything comes to get us. I don't know who was running that train, but I know damn well I don't want us to find out. And if those fuckers that ambushed us come through, we don't want to be seen."
I nodded. "Hopefully they won't. I did shoot one of them dead, but I don't know about the other one."
Twi observed me for a few long seconds. "Okay. Let's set up camp. After that, you-" She pointed a hoof at me. "You have got a lot of fucking explaining to do. Understand?"
"Ugh. Whatever."
"Understand?" she spoke through gritted teeth.
"Yes, Twi. I do."
"K."
Luna's moon was now plop overhead. Summertime wasn't quite over yet, so the night felt nice. And with us being near Ponyville, it wasn't too cold. Tonight, a breeze continued rolling through, shaking the leaves above our heads.
The others set up camp while Snow finished up with AJ. After we moved her over and settled down, Twi pulled me aside with Snow to talk while she worked on my wound. I sat against a tree, sucking in the pain from her slow procedure. She numbed the area before ripping off the hanging skin, after which Twi started her interrogation.
"So what the hell was that you were talking at?" she asked.
"It was a cellphone. You can talk to other peo- other ... other people from a distance."
"O ... kay? So, it's an invention from Earth then?"
"Yes. It's whole purpose is communication. There was a guy on the other line talking to me."
"What did he say?"
"Well, he told us to surrender, and threatened setting off that little trap they set up."
"Fuck," she muttered, rubbing her head frustratingly. "So it was the boys, then?"
"Well, duh-"
"Do not 'well duh' me right now, D'mitry," she scoffed, "I am not in the mood right now for your smart-ass comments, do you understand me?"
"Jesus, Twi. Relax. It's okay," I replied. She was sat not far from me, so I reached my unaffected left arm out and rubbed her shoulder. She sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, "So, okay... it was the boys. Did they say anything else to you?"
"Nah. They just kept warning me about hanging up on them and shit."
"Hanging up?"
"Uh, yes. That's what we call it. The phone isn't communicating all the time. We have to 'call' each other on it. So when I picked it up, he 'called' it, and I answered. Hanging up is what happens when one of us turns off the communication."
"Why the hell is it called 'hanging up'?"
"Funny enough, it's because of how phones used to be on Earth. Earlier, when phones first came out, you had to actually 'hang' them up. Humans used to put them on the wall."
"Uh... okay. That is an interesting invention, I must say."
"It is. Would have been nice if you fuckers let me have one before all this. Damn."
"Wait a minute, is it related to that ... uhm ... social media? that you kept pestering Celestia about?"
"Yes. The phone has social media on it. How the hell it would work here, I don't know. That phone had the date all wrong anyway. I honestly don't know how the hell the guy on the other side even called me."
"Yeah, that is strange. This can be a strange world, though."
"Tell me about it."
I chuckled, glancing at Snow.
"Speaking of strange, where the fuck did you come from?"
Snow paused wrapping up my arm and looked back at me with those stoner eyes of her.
"Huh?"
"Where'd you come from? Where did Redheart go? I know I'm not fucking crazy-" I started. My eyes widened and I pushed back up against the tree, shooting a glance at Twi. "Wait! SHE'S A CHANGELING!"
"D'mitry, shush!" Twi scoffed, glancing back to see if I'd woken the others.
"I'm not a changeling," Snow replied, "What's wrong with you, D'mitry?"
"You were Redheart! You were Nurse Redheart before we exited the tunnel!"
"No I wasn't."
"Twi? Was she not Redheart? Are y'all fucking delusional or something?"
My heart started accelerating as my mind tried to grasp what was going on.
"No... she wasn't," Twi answered, "I don't know why you think she was."
"Wait," Snow said, "I think I know what happened."
Twi and I turned our attention to her as she continued.
"Doc put you on Ambevexion, right? That's what he told me at least, for your procedure."
"Yeah... yeah, he put me on Ambidextrious."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay. Well, a notable side-effect of Ambevexion is hallucination. It doesn't happen often, but it sounds like it happened to you. If you did really see me as Redheart, it was probably due to that. I thought you had just mistaken my name at first, but it's clear now that that's not the case."
"W- wha..." I started, rubbing my head. "Really?"
"Yes. I am not Redheart. I am Snowheart."
I shook my head. "Lord. Okay..."
She continued, "It'll be alright, hun. It's probably wearing off now, seeing as though you see me normally again."
"Okay, good. It's just... fuck, that was some strong hallucination. Like, shrooms level hallucination."
"Yeah, some of our drugs can have some wicked side-effects."
"Tell me about it. You were her. Like, not even blurry or anything. Your fur was white, your tail was pink. Hell, everything was her, from your face down to the curves of your fla-" I stopped myself, glancing at Twi's growing glare for a quick second before looking away. "Uh- so, yeah. You were her, at least back there."
"Well, I'm sorry about that, hun. I wished I'd known sooner, but I guess it doesn't matter."
"Where is Redheart? Is she okay?"
"She is. She's back at the hospital."
"Okay," I replied, looking up at Twi. "Are you done with your questions?"
She glanced back disapprovingly. "Yes, I suppose. Why?"
"Can I talk with Snow for a second?"
She eyed me confusingly for a few seconds before slowly turning and walking away. Snow glanced back at me, also confused.
"What is it, hun?"
"I need those herbs of yours. Bad." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Surprise | My senses buzzed after I felt something on my leg. There were moans. I shot up as AJ awoke, attempting to shake the pony off my leg. Twi had made me sleep in one of the tents with AJ, so we were trapped in, but I'd woken up in time to push her off before she bit me. Commotion stirred outside as I dove for the knife in my bag and sliced it up her forehead, killing her instantly.
Rarity screamed loudly outside. "AJ! Stay here!" She nodded intently, startled from the ruckus.
Grabbing my m9 and leaping outside, I looked over at Rarity, who had the zombie pony all over her. Having a clear, easy shot, I quickly aimed and fired, causing her to collapse on top of Rarity as I gripped the knife in my other hand. "Bang!" A shot from Dash whizzed past me and struck a zombie behind me. Twi waved her own gun at the remaining attackers. There was a herd of at least twenty starting to gather around. It was impossible to believe we were snuck up on.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The others fired promptly, dropping the rest of them. Spike was by Rarity's side, shaking her eagerly. I'd gotten off two more shots before it clicked. I was out of ammo, and had no magazines in my pocket. With an attacker just feet away from me, I gripped the knife and shoved it through her eye before pulling it out and backing up against the tent. Beyond this point, we were unphased to finding who we were killing, simply because we were trying hard to ignore it. It was either them or us, and Celestia said there'd be a way to bring them back. Hopefully ...
A half-faced, torn zombie leapt for Rarity, who Spike attempted to push away. Unfortunately, the young dragon was too young and nimble, and was immediately pushed to the ground. Another one came from around the tree and sprung on Rarity, and the others were too busy fending others off. The camp was almost completely invaded, and three of them surrounded me and the tent. Unable to juke them, and unwilling to leave AJ in possible danger, I made the hard decision to flee inside the tent and quickly zip up the front. They immediately sprung on top of it, but only the front flap collapsed on itself as I scooted to the back of the tent with AJ.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"I'm fine, just keep them away!"
I glanced over the m9 as I reached in my pack for an extra magazine. Gunfire blasted outside, and I hoped everypony would get out safely ... somehow. Popping another mag inside, I cocked it and fired through the front of the tent, hearing them drop outside.
"What do we do now?" AJ asked warily.
"Just stay in here, I'll push em off. I don't want you moving around, you need to heal."
I ripped through a bullet hole in the tent, and expanded it large enough to reach out, struggling to shove them off the front so I could unzip it. While the gunfire continued outside, I managed to push two of them off and unzip the front. The herd outside was less severe, and I put in a few shots to the remaining zombies. I looked over to the tree to see Rarity unconscious underneath one of them and Spike nowhere to be found. Nurse Redheart was against a tree behind Twi's tent, taking sharp shots at more approaching attackers and Twi was hanging out the tent's front, joining in with the shots. With nothing but bodies to step over, I stepped out and ran over to Rarity, who was very still, with blood dripped from her mouth.
"Rarity! Rarity! Stay with me!" I kneeled beside her. I checked for her pulse with no avail. "Rarity!" I yelled. I didn't know CPR very well, but I tried it anyways. Push ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... Push ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... Push ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...
I bent down to give her mouth to mouth, then repeated the pushing a few more times. "Come on Rarity. Just wake up. You can do this." Her wounds were bloody and deep. The zombie had bit into her sides before I'd been able to shoot him.
"Bang!" A final shot rang out, followed by silence. Where was Spike?
"Here, let me." Redheart came up beside me and shoved herself into my spot. I had to find Spike. Allowing the nurse to work on her, I backed up and looked around before scurrying over to Twi's tent. "Where is everyone?"
"Dash and one of the guards are in here. I don't know where Redheart or the other guard went, and last I saw of Spike, he ran off." She sprung out of her tent. "Is AJ okay?"
"Yes, and the nurse is with Rarity," I pointed to them.
"Spike ... calm down. Rarity will be okay. Snow is with her." I couldn't imagine that she'd be okay after what she looked like, but I tried to keep optimism on the situation.
"No! Let me see her!" He almost snapped out of Twi's grip before I held him down by his right side.
"Rarity!" he hollered, "Let go of me, you jerks!"
He struggled for a few more moments before falling and rolling into a ball. We let go and Twi comforted him.
Dash came around the tree with a few tears down her cheeks.
"She's gone," she whispered. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) My little pony | Redh- I mean, no... Snowheart let me... uh ... hum. Uh... wut ... okay, so Snowheart let me have, uh, uhmmm... the- ... the- the Ambedextrious? No wait, yeah, ambiwhatever, wait no not that, the... herb... for ... uh ... uhm ... Jesus I'm high as uh fuck bro. What the hell was in that stuff? Maybe, I don't know, like should start, uh, have started the chapter later? Author, please. What?
I set my head back against the tree, dazed and confused.
Lord have mercy.
I chuckled. Like, aren't ... ain't ... you ... you what, uhm, you the lord?
I heard the Author visibly, no ... aubidally, no ... audibly sigh, I think. I don't know. Everything's swirling. I could really use a swirly ice cream cone right about now.
Get on with it!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ok.
"You good, hun?" Snow asked.
She glanced back at me, observing my good eye. She was swirling too. Hahahaha. She looked pretty.
"I ... yeah, good. I'm yeah."
She shook her head.
"I knew I shouldn't have given you that much. What was I thinking? The Ambevexion hasn't even settled yet," she stated, rubbing her forehead. "Gah- whatever. Why don't you get some rest, hun? You'll feel better in the morning."
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ok."
Snow helped me to a stand, also helping pick me back up after I tripped and fell 2 times on the way to the tents. The others had set up a few tents and sleeping bags when Snow was working on my arm. Twi mentioned that I was to share a tent with Miss Applejack. Snow helped me stumble to the tent's opening, which AJ had closed.
"I ... I got it."
I slowly dropped to my knees, raising my quaky hands to unzip it.
"You sure, hun?"
"Yeah yeah, thanks."
Snow left my side to go to her own tent as I felt the zipper with my hand. I didn't want to wake up AJ, so I slowly started unzipping the front.
Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-
"D'mitry."
AJ sounded annoyed inside the tent.
"Just open the daggone flap and come inside."
Ziiip.
It was dark, but I could still vaguely see inside the tent. I crawled my way inside, but I collapsed before my other leg made it in. Its weight caused the tent to slightly shift as the opening slowly dipped down.
"D'mitry, get your butt inside before I whip it."
I shuffled uncomfortably for a few seconds before my leg fell in. I could feel part of my sleeping bag underneath me, but I was far too lazy to move up and lay on it properly. I squinted my eyes when AJ turned on a flashlight and pointed it at me.
"Sugarcube."
Uh oh. I turned my head to hide my likely-to-be red eye.
"Mmmmmm what?" I asked, my mouth pushed up against the sleeping bag.
"You did not get high just now, did you?"
"Mmmmmmmmm... no?"
"Then let me see your eye again."
"Mmmmmmmmm... no."
"Now," she growled.
Awe shit.
I slowly turned my head, squinting my eye at her bright flashlight. She gazed on for a few seconds before sighing.
"Dang it, D'mitry. What'd I tell ya about messin' with that crap?"
"I know, I know. I just wanted to get a little high, you know?"
"No. No, I don't. Some of us choose to stay sober in this crazy world."
"Hummmmmmmm."
"Who gave it to you?" she asked.
"Meeeeeeeeeeee, hahaha."
Despite the tent swirling, I could see her fiddle through the saddlebag laying next to her. She pulled out her trusty 'ol whip.
"No no no! Wait!"
"Who gave it to you?" she repeated.
I huffed, slowly sitting up on my knees. I took a second to glance at her bandaged up leg before smiling.
"Ha! You finally lose, Miss Applejack."
She squinted her eyes in confusion. "Pardon me?"
"I don't neeeeeed to take this CccrRAaaP! Sayonara, cripple!"
I quickly dove for the tent's flap in an attempt to jump out, but my head didn't quite make it far enough, and I somersaulted my body against the front of the tent. The tent shifted slightly under my weight. AJ wasted no more time and swung her whip.
CRACK!
The whip smacked my back, but I think my highness was working to my advantage. It felt almost tingly more than anything. It still hurt though, so I quickly uprighted myself and dove out of the tent, unintentionally rolling out in front of it. I clumsily came to a stand and wobbled my way into a jog. I could hear her fumbling out of the tent as well, which caused me to pick up my pace.
Dash was the one on guard duty, and I heard her and AJ briefly call to each other before I took off. My leg still hurt like a bitch, but I didn't want to admit that I was a cripple too. For the next few minutes, I limped through the woods. For some reason, Martin Luther King Jr's 'free at last' speech repeated itself in my head.
"WoOOOoooOoOOOOO!" I cried out, "I'm free! Choo choo! Underground railroad baby!"
You fucking moron.
The trees eventually came to an end, leading to a field of grass. The plains. Ahhhhh. They were beautiful. Especially with my buzzing high. Its beauty took me by surprise, and I stopped in the field, promptly forgetting why I was running in the first place. I took a deep breath in, enjoying this monumental new peace.
Happiness flowed through my body in waves. Or... maybe that was the marijuana. Yeah... probably the marijuana. It felt nice, especially in this weather. I felt so good that I started doing a little dance. It wasn't good. It was kinda like that one dance that every toddler seems to do, where they bounce up and down. I don't know what prompted me to dance like this, but I danced.
Only a minute later, my dance was interrupted when I heard something step on some leaves behind. This startled me a bit, so I stopped dancing and flung my head around to see AJ slowly limp out of the tree line behind me, her whip still grasped in her injured foreleg. Ah, right. That's why I was running.
She glared at me with them sparkly green eyes of hers.
"D'mitry. What in tarnation do you think yer doin'?"
"I. am. a dancing queen. Go away."
I resumed my dance until she threw out the whip. I raised my hands to shield myself.
CRACK!
The whip struck my good arm, thankfully, but now it wasn't so good. This made me mad.
"Miss Applejack. Just leave me alone! Let me enjoy my high, bitch."
"Excuse me? Who do you think yer talkin' to?!"
CRACK!
The whip struck my side this time, causing a burst of pain to travel through my abs. This made me madder.
"Fuck you, Applejack!" I cried, "I helped Snow save you! I deserve to enjoy this high!!"
"You don't deserve to forget yer manners!"
CRA-
This time, I shot out my hand, somehow catching the end of the whip in it. My hand exploded with pain, but once I realized I had it, I squeezed as tight as I could. She attempted pulling it back, but I held on.
"D'mitry!"
"Yeah, bitch! How you like them apples?!"
She tugged on it again. However, I was enraged, and she was still holding it in her injured foreleg. With one strong tug, I ripped it from her. This caused her to tumble forwards. I reeled the whip's handle toward me as she struggled to stand back up. Once I had control of it, my heartbeat accelerated. I'd never done anything this stupid before, and it was honestly thrilling as fuck. I smiled wickedly, gazing up to see her slowly come to a stand, a look of shock painted on her face.
"S- su- sugarcube, please..."
I stepped forward, the whip's handle dancing around my side as if I was holding a sparkler. AJ backed up slowly, trying not to fall due to her injured leg.
"Oh how the tables turn, Miss Applejack!"
"N- no!"
She backed herself against a tree, and I closed the gap. I stopped feet away, standing over her menacingly.
"What is it? Are you scared? Doesn't feel too good, huh?!" I mocked, continuing to make the whip dance below me.
"D'mitry, please. Stop. You're only makin' matters worse for yerself!"
"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, whip me??"
I flung my arm out and whipped a nearby tree hard, causing her to flinch. Damn... this whip is sick!
"Sugarcube, please! I'm sorry!"
"Yeah, you're sorry? For all the times you've whipped me, huh? I bet you are now! How would YOU like it, huh? How would YOU like it if I whipped you... over... and over again? How would YOU like it if I told you to get on your... um... knees? I guess... and whipped you over and over? Huh?"
AJ shook, glancing between the whip in my hands and me. I continued.
"How bout I paint a pretty picture for you, Miss Applejack? You remember the day you whipped me for grabbing that pegasi's neck way back? That wonderful day. I get that I needed to be punished, but holy cow. You whipped me so hard my back BLED! Remember??"
She eyed me nervously.
"Sugarcube, I'm sorry. I know... I went overboar-"
"Oh yeah you did! Not only did you go overboard, but you remember what y'all did right? Y'all didn't waste a SECOND in hauling my ass off to Canterlot on that stupid, last minute train ride. Y'all were EAGER to let Celestia punish me. You know what she did, right? I mean, it should be obvious."
"I... I know. But weren't you used to her spankings by then?"
I growled. "It wasn't a NORMAL spanking! She BEAT MY ASS! I couldn't even feel my ass for an HOUR! The royal guards had to drag my sorry ass to the dungeon themselves! And of course, they kept me there for three fucking days. I think I damn near killed myself inside that torture chamber. Y'all know my ADHD can't handle that kinda shit. I wanted to claw my fucking eyes out in there. And the whole time I had to SUFFER from back pain AND stinging asscheeks! That was fucking great! How would YOU like that, bitch?!"
I was growing angry remembering that terrible day. She gazed up at me in a fearful new silence. I continued.
"Well?! Nothin' to say, huh?! How would YOU like that?! How would YOU like it if I bent you over, spanked you, whipped you, and told you just how bad you are, all at once?! Huh?!"
Her back still pressed up against the tree, she gulped out of fear. That's when I noticed her cheeks were starting to blush. I was so thrown off by it that I stopped my rant and backed up a step.
"Wait wait wait wait... wait a minute... no..."
She glanced up at me, realizing what I saw and tipping her hat to hide her face.
"Bruh, there's no way. Are you for real?"
She sat in silence for a moment before muttering to herself, "goddamn element of honesty bullshit. son of a bitch."
"What?"
She raised her hat and eyed me, her cheeks burning even brighter. "Yes, D'mitry. I would like that, as a matter of fact. You discovered my daggone fantasy. You happy now, asshat?"
"Oh woooooooooooow," I replied, having to hold back a chuckle, "You freaky mare."
"Shut the hell up! You won't tell anypony about this, you hear me?"
"Oh, I won't."
"You better not, you fuckin' assho-"
Crack.
I whipped her softly in the side, startling her. Her eyes widened a bit as she sat in silence for a second. ...
"Sugarcube... let's... let's just head on back now, o-"
Crack!
I whipped her a bit harder. She grunted out, and I swear I heard a little bit of moan mixed in there. I froze up for a second, still struggling to understand this new discovery.
"No. Not yet."
"mm... okay..."
I stepped within a foot from her, reaching out and grabbing her neck to confirm the rumors. She didn't even fight back, like she usually did. Sheesh. I guess she wasn't kidding.
"You serious, AJ? This doesn't bother you at all??"
She nervously chuckled, her freckled cheeks burning damn near as red as the apples we used to pick together.
"N... no, sugarcube..."
I smiled. "Ironic. Guess you won't punish me for putting my hands on your neck then, huh?"
She lightly chuckled again. "I reckon not..."
I let go of her neck and used a finger to tilt her chin back to face me more directly.
"So... you really are into this?"
"Yes, sugarcube."
"Okay... just making sure. In that case, Miss Applejack. I guess... for right now..." I said, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "...you're my little pony."
Ooooooooookay I think we're done here.
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"Mmm yeah... that's it Miss Applejack," I said, leaning my head back as she sucked me off.
Whooooooooa, damn it!
&̵̰̓̎̀*̷̛̲̚!̸͉͋͌͝@̶̗̮̲͆*̴̛̩͇̈$̴̨̥̀̿̒@̶̯̈́̊͊&̴̬͛͋@̵̫̪͂*̶̪͙̅̍(̷̟̄͝)̸̢̗̦̋$̴̨̨̼̈&̶̥͑́͋*̶̟̣̥̈́@̵̰͊̏!̷̮̇̑^̷̭̗̘̒͐̎$̷̖̩̇́&̴̭̓*̴̧̼̀̀̌͜!̵͔̭̦̾@̸̪̣̬͌͠*̴̨͇͑̚$̵̧̪̿̈́̍@̷̜̳̈́̾&̷̼̙̽̃ͅ!̴̦̥̊̌̌ͅ*̴̨̻̊(̷̯̮͚͗͌͝$̵̠̅͠&̷͒͋͆ͅ!̵̩̼̒@̶͓̌*̵̯̈́̔(̷̤͎́&̵̙͑̓͒$̴̭̉*̷̢̛̚(̴͚́̏@̷̦̫͉͌(̶̞͋̈́͂$̴̘̼́!̵̻̈́@̷̬̈́@̷̡͗́͋#̴̲̰͊̏̐(̷̨͙͍̾͛͘)̸̞͎̗͘!̷̝̯̣́́@̶̨̻̟͊͑͠*̶̝̬̦̿(̴̺̙̇̓&̶̩̗̙̇*̵̩́̂̔(̷̗̤̙̎$̷̺̰̈́̈́!̸̨͔͒̑@̸̛̬̬̱&̴̤̲̌͋͠*̶̥̈̿̚(̶̲͌͆͝$̶̮̺̐̓&̴̞̋̀!̸̙́̀͝@̶͓̇̐̏*̸̢͎͖̉́(̵̯͔̳̉$̶̧̣̗́!̷̟̔̏@̸͊̅͜&̴̦̽*̵̪͛̃͝(̶̩͋̉$̶̻̼̘͑!̵̼̠̟̆͘@̶͓͖͍̋̌̓$̶̫̬͐&̷̨͍͛̅͐!̶̯̣͕͂́͝@̴̝̊͘͝*̷̥̯̑̍̽$̷̥̠͉͐̔@̴͔̃́͆&̶̪̖̲̆̕͠!̴͍͈̩̈*̶͚̦̍(̷̦̬͉̇̆$̷̞̰̪̄͝͠&̸̬̬̂!̷̘͈̝͛̎̓@̶̞̳̓̅͐ͅ*̶̘̓̾͜(̶̲̽͜͝&̷̲̟̬͛$̵̤̃*̷̺̓ͅ(̴̼̲͓̽@̸̯̦̾̓͝(̸̖̙͕͑$̷̻̈́!̸̯͎̾$̴̧̰̌!̴͚̠́@̶͍͝$̷̦͈̓̈́&̷̞̋!̷̙́@̶̗̇͘*̵̗̃(̶̮͐)̸̙̂͒$̸̡͋͊&̶̡͍̒*̶̉̕ͅ@̶̡͈͑!̸͖̐͆^̴̛̳͉̾$̷̨̅&̴́ͅ*̴̞͖̋̈́!̴̡̹̎͗@̷̜̑*̷̫͍̋̎$̸͖̾͘@̶͍̤̀&̸̡̛͖̈́!̸͓̔̈*̷͍̫́̓(̵͓̘̓͠$̴̛̮&̷̣̀!̶͓̓̅@̶͕̑̊*̴̭͊̊(̷͉͇̽̆&̴̞̅$̴̡͙̅*̷̯͍̑͑(̷̩̏@̸̗͐̈́(̶͎̰̓$̵̮̯̈́͑!̸̮͛̓@̸̨̒̀@̴̘͑̀#̵̜̉̾͜(̶̯͓̂)̴̺̾!̸̝̃̑@̶̫̭̌̚*̵̡̇͝(̸̮̫͘&̷̢̬̈́*̵̩̈́̀(̴̡̺̀$̵͍̓!̵̪̂͑@̴̮͊&̶̢̬̈́*̵͕͑̑(̶̰̪͆$̸̢̰͑&̵̫̘͒!̵̬̉̍@̵͍͋*̷̭̲͝(̶͎̀$̸̛͇̟̓!̷̳͍̋̒@̷͉͛͌&̷̡̰̾*̴̧̣͌̄(̷̣̑$̶̟͋͒!̴̠̗̑@̸̥̈́͝$̵͜͠&̴̭̔!̸̜̯̍@̷̧̂͋*̷̮̚ͅ(̴͔̄)̷͓͆͝$̷̣͗&̷̠͆*̵̰͉̊̐@̴̫̲́!̸̖͈͗@$&̴̽̍ͅ!̶̝̽@̷̧̤͐*̶̣́̃(̴̗̄̉ͅ)̴̬̲͒$̵̡̏&̸̖͠*̵̧̓@̷̏ͅ!̷̙͛͜^̴̼̆̒$̷̭͍̋͘&*!@*$@̴̳̲̀&̴̣̙͊͆(̸̫͚̂)̵͉̀̚$̶̡̅͗&̵͎̋*̶̝̈́̋@̷̖͠!̸̳͚̎^̶̜͙̅͝$̴̝̿&̴͍͊̃*̶̬̯̒!̶̯̑́@̷͇̅*̸͚͒͜$̵̭̣̔@̴͙̩͝&̵̬̤͌̀!̵̱͋̚*̴̡̏(̷̳̿̈́$̵̥͙͒&̴̲̺̈́̋!̶͍͚̽@̷̖͐͝*̶̜̱̇̃(̷͉͛&̴̹̀͛ͅ$̶̠͆̀*̶͎̖́(̶̨́@̴̫̿(̴̙̘́̂$̵̭̒!̷̨̗̿̓@̵̯̤̔̿@̴̭͑̃#̴͓͋(̴̲͈̍̂)̶̥͉͂͘!̴̗̉̉@̸̫̰͂*̵̞͉͂̇(̷̖͗̔@̸̙̪̍̀(̵̲̬̎́$̵̬̙̐!̴̢͋@̶̻̐@̶̜͗̂#()!@*(&*(--||..|--|||
Time shifted. Not by much this time... it was almost as if our brains shorted out for a quick second. AJ paused, my dick still lodged halfway down her throat. NO!
$̶͕̳̼͕̽̇̔̚!̵̬̜͑͋̅͝@̶̧̗̄͗͘$̶̬̙̄&̷̛̠͖̗̙̽!̷͔͑̐@̷̛͓*̵̙͗̀͝(̴̡̉̕)̷͙̫̟̑$̸̨̝̎̽̃̐&̶̨̨̘̱̀̉*̴̢͇͈̈́̃̏̕@̷̮̦͑̇!̶͕̋̍̕͠^̸̂́̓̽͜$̵͓͊&̴̛̟̕͝*̷͚̂̒̂̏!̵̪̲̱̘̈́̾̀@̶͚͌̈́͆͐ͅ*̴̥͚͈͛$̵̪͎͎̾̐@̷̰̗̍͛͜&̸̞̞̹̏͋̍̔!̶̢̗̼͊͆*̸͉̻̄̎(̶̡͈̠̔͛͋͠$̷̭̓͂͌&̶̛̠́̆͜!̴̢̲̐̆̀@̵̼̞̈́*̷̫͑̋̉(̵͙̾&̴̤̠̱̦́$̴̘̐͂͆̚*̸̢̢͚̖̎͑͐͝(̵͔̹̹̝͂́̊̿@̴̧̧̯̩͋̇́̂(̷̠̦̙̽͑̂̔$̴̯̙͉̪͒̚̚͝!̴̝̯̺͐́̽̔@̷̼̜̺̋ͅ@̶͕̪̦̏͑̿̈*̷̨̲̇͒̇͗͜(̸͙͉̈&̶̣͌̍*̸̦̈̀̈͠(̶͉̩͆$̸̙̇̌̈!̶͕͒@̴̠̂͊͊̕&̵̛̜͔̼̖͋̾̂*̸̬͗̎͘(̷̹̇̂$̸̬̹̭͕̐͘&̶̦͔͚̇!̴̥́͠@̸̬̽*̴͉̈́̾̕(̸̫̯̳̞͒͝$̷̭̩͋͌!̷̗̱̊̐@̸͙̰̝̏͒̾ͅ&̸̥̱͔͌*̶͉̆̏(̸̞̖̼̆̅$̵̣̘̉́̀͠!̵̧̬͍͍̀̀@̸͉̭̹͂̓̅̔$̷̙͂&̷̙̩̗̔̔́̕!̷̻͈̹̣̈́̔@̷͕̿̇͝͝*̵̘̲͆(̴͉̣̫̩̓͋̈)̸̨̱̭̺̀$̷̨̹́ͅ&̸̗̌*̴̥̈́̅̈́͂@̵̢͕͚͗̄͝!̷̹̯̠̄̏́́@̶̼͍͍̽$̸̜͇̌̕͠&̸̺̒͌̄!̸̪̔̒@̴̧͖̹̉̊*̸̻̲̠̾̓(̵̺̜͔̌ͅ)̵͈͑͗͠$̵̰͕̇̃͆&̴̲̳̫̝̅*̸̓ͅ@̷͖̼͙́͜!̵̱̩̺̿̍̓̇^̶͉͎́$̵̗͂́̕&̵̬̰̲̈́̓͐̑*̶̘̂̍̎̈́!̶̳̟̰͂̿@̶̨̧̛͙̇͐͆*̶̼͍̿$̶̳̖̋̒͌̔@̸͎͚̼̀͊̽̈́&̵̺̃(̸̡̙̀̓͝͠)̸̨̫͈̩̾͊̈́̏$̷̧̜̼̪̇͒́̌&̴͚͎̇̆͌̏*̶̜̰̥̮͑͑̈@̶̮̼̎!̴̧̦͔̅̕͝^̸͈̠͘$̶̙͆̽̊͘&̶̯̱̅̈́͆͑*̸̘̔̓̕!̶̡̮͉̦̀@̶̢͎́́͋*̸̣̓̈́̌͝$̸̙̽@̶̙̞́̚͝&̴̖̥͝!̷͍͒̔͑̕*̶̢͙̬̏̇̓(̴̲̈́̔̕$̸̙̲̦̆̍͛̚&̶̢͇̮̳̽!̷̡̡͚̟̀@̸̡̼͔͎̽͌̒*̷̩̼̦̋̾(̶̞̻̙͋͝ͅ&̸̡̡͓͓̃͆̃$̷̨̞̠̬̉*̸̛̻(̵̤͎̞̆̈́̄@̸̙̬̏̒(̵̡̉̃$̷̩̮͆̋̃!̷̘͙̑͐̔̄@̷̹̤̦̻̄̑̾̀@̴̖̞̮̣͗̊͝#̸̮̗̈́̊͐͌(̷̗̲̈̀̏̋ͅ)̷͇̊!̵͕̍@̷̡͇̗̍͒̾̚*̵͕̩̹̻̽̄̈(̵͖͇͔̌͑@̴̝̹̪̖̿̈́͘(̶̮̬̾$̸̪̣̍͝!̸̞͛̑͘@̴̙̗̩̀̀͆@̶̧̰͈̋̋͗̃#̸̖̠̙͍̔̚(̷̰͍̝̇͝)̵͉̘̤͋̔̋͆!̶̲̣̽͐̈̚@̵̹́͌*̷̞̖̝͊̆̐(̵͕̤̼̍&̵̨̟̼̩̄̈́̏̕*̵̡͐(̶͇̒-̸͔̹͕̿̓̾.̴͖͈͝-̸͍̯̻̑̇̈.̴̝̇͗ͅ-̵͓̭͂-̸͇̈́|̸̡͔̝͚͗̓̐|̵̱͐.̶͙͎̽́̍̅.̵̧̥͕͐̇͘--|||
Time shifted slightly again.
Author, what the fuck are you doing?
I checked my surroundings as AJ popped my dick out of her mouth and leaned her head back against the tree. She and I exchanged a confused glance with one another.
No, this can't be happening. Not now. Not now...
What can't be happ
$̵̡̣̜̬́̂!̶̣̖̅̊̃͝@̶̨̜͊́̈́$̷̙͍̲̿&̴̫̮͙͚̏̍́̚!̷̻̔@̵͖͍̱̀͜*̶̻͖̪̄͊͜(̸̦̽̕)̷͖̓͝$̷̰̼̐&̶̡̓͂̕*̶̖͗̓͜@̵̼̪̭̓!̶͍̺͂̓̀̈^̵̢̥̟̦̿́$̶̧͕̊̀̔&̴̫̦͝͠*̴͍̣̑́̾!̷̲̐ͅ@̴̨͈̼̐*̴̠̪̅͆̈́$̷̢͉̔̒͘@̵̭̀͐͝&̶̼̤̓ͅ!̴͓̱̤͕̈̕̚*̵̭̻̇̑(̶͔͆̕͠$̶̢̬̣̫̓̿̈́͆&̸͖̍͋͝!̸͍͐̏̌@̵̣̏́*̷̜͓͙̠͒̅̓(̴̗̗͕̇͠&̵̡̻͈̖͑̚$̸̹̬̻͋́͠@̷̛͖̉͂̑@̵̳̑̕#̵̪̊(̷̛͉́́͜)̶̨̻̰̈́!̴̧͖̮͉̆@̷͍͛͛̽*̸̟̲̏(̶͔͒̃̓&̸͈̭̥́̉͜*̴̙̰̩̊̿(̵̠̳̤͗̾͒͝$̸̦͆̈́̚̚ͅ!̸̤͎̼̉̄̉̃@̸͇̼͇̔̇̄̓ͅ&̴͖̰̔*̶̢̢̳̚͝(̶̧̼͔̥̊͝$̷͙̝̝̯̉̂̍&̷̪̌̀̈́͛!̴̡͕̗̟͛̅̏@̵̥͈͒͐̀*̵̫̲͋̆(̴̩̟̫̇̅̕$̵̹̞̗͂̋͗̈́!̷̧̇̋͊̆@̴̡̟̱͖̀͒&̸̢̰̥͓̾͒̉*̶̼̤͊̕̚(̵̦̪͍͂͋$̸̢͓̯̔!̸̞̓̾@̶̗̩̙̣̃̍$̴̲͔̋̿̉̾&̶̢̭̇̓̈̂ͅ!̶͍͉͉͉̓̎͗@̸̧̛̮͚̎̋*̷̳̣̜̞̈́̔̈͒(̸̟͂̑)̸͇̠̬͛̐̌͜$̴̬̎̕͠͝&̴̹̌*̸̪̭̬̇̀͂̈́@̵̡̺̯̿̓̈́!̶̥̻͗@̵̯̖͗̈́$̶̰̺̙̈́͗̔̇&̴̥̱̥͇̀̌!̸̢̮̘̐̿@̶̢̑́̇͝*̶̙̀͆̔(̵̹͎̗̂͜)̷̬̽̍̽$̷͖̖̉ͅ&̷̤̭̰͖̓͌̄*̴̜͙̍@̷͎̇͜͜!̸̣͌^̴̮̝̳̈́̐$̶̨̡̧̩́̌͆̈́&̶̨̖̺̞̀̆́*̴͌̾*̴͇̫́́$̵̰̰̊̔͊@̶̻̹͔̯̏̇̌̕&̶̘̊(̸͕͌̎̉́)̶̬̱̪͖̍͛͛̃$̴̧̱͙̿̓&̸̨̛̺͛*̵͚̽̂@̵̻͙̍̄̕!̵̩͉̍̓^̷̜͛̒͐̕$̴̓̾͊̀͜&̸̲́͘*̴͍̹̜̇́ͅ!̴̮̝͗̒͘@̷̠̺̮͚͑̽͊́*̵͙̳̏̎$̶̹̰̅͝@̵̠̳̳͒̊͐&̷͕̑͑͒!̸͉̮̼̌̓̚͜@̵̜̐̈͠*̶̝͕̕(̴͔̌&̷̖̘̰͝$̴̳̣͙̦͆́̒͠*̶̡͍̻̈́́͆(̸̲̳͈̈́̏̔͂@̵͓̺̝̍͒͆͝(̴̞̙̝͊$̷̧̐̓͝!̸̢̫̹̞͂̀͗@̴̹͓́@̶̃̚͜#̸̝̩̲́̔͒̀(̵̭̌)̶̯̰̖̌̏̀!̶̱͕̾̈́̄@̴͉́*̴̨͖͖̓̕(̸̲̆̔̋@̶̹͕̀̑͜(̵̦̳̥̿$̴̪̙͔͛̚ͅ!̴̲̠̐̓̎͛@̵̝̭̞̐̍@̸̙̐͌#̴͖͔͉̞̈̚(̴͙̄̔͝)̸̗̯̹̋!̷̡̛̯͊̋̅@̷̰͍̿͝*̸̲̟̀(̸̨̤̝̞͗͂&̵̩̙̀*̸̬̉͂͋͊(̷̹̄́̑-̵͖̮͕̱͒.̵̙͚̩͕͊͌͂̅-̴̦́.̶̭̯̼̄̿͐-̵̳̖̆-̶̛̹̾|̶̮̬̣͗̔͛|̴͚̇͗.̵̝̝͓̾̀͂͠.̸̮̙̞͑--|||
Author, knock it off! You're making me nauseous!
Shut up, D'mitry. Just hang on. One more try.
$̷͓̬͑͘̚͘͝!̴̡̺̪͈̄̌͋@̷̼͎̰̀$̶͖̭͚̻̔̇͆̊͗&̷̭̈̈́̕!̶̧̹̳̝̖͆̐@̶̡̭̬͊̈́͋́͘*̶̼͇̌̿(̷̟̗̠͑̆̈͊)̷̰̝̹̂͑͜͝$̷̻͉̭̀͌͊̆&̶̢̛̗̫͙̔͒̈́*̴͚̻̝̣͆̾͋@̸̫̩͙͚͗!̴̺̏̋͛̈́!̷̪̱̮̄̄̅͜͠@̸̡̤̙͍̆̚͝*̴̳͚̮̬̇͂̑́(̵̱̠́̓̐́̅&̵̟̝̥̀̋̾͝*̴̰̜̱̊(̸̡̬͔̪̣̋̃̚͝͝$̴̢̡̥̙̠̒̾͌̈́!̵̲̀̽@̸̳̳̜͑̏͛́&̴̗̩̙̱̏̔*̸͉̾̅́̏͋(̴̡͖̒͗͐̈́͜$̷̛̣̣͚̓̈͠&̵̛̮͙͔͠!̵̙̙͑̔͝@̴̬̭̰̳̂̂̈́͘*̶̲̂̑́̄̍ͅ(̶̯̱̤͕͊̎̀$̶͎̗̱̑̊̽̅̄!̶̻͇̲͎̀̀̈͂@̶͎͇͕̊&̶̛͖́́̈́*̸̦̩̰̪͚̓̍́(̶̨̢̻̱͒͒̈́ͅ$̵͉̣͇̹̯̓͂̓̿̚!̴̢͍̬͚͓̀̔̃͛@̶̗͠$̸̮̙̜̭̊&̸̳̩͕̭̌̾͆́̈́!̵̡̱̤̰̑͜@̸͕͖̓́̅̐*̶͓̯̐̎(̷̹̒̉͘)̷͖̻͍̬̂̃͋$̷̟̫̿̌̈̑̎&̶̧̱̤̹̗̋͝͝*̵̫̦̬̗̹̏̓̀̎@̴̛͇̱̤̈́̅͠!̷͙̙̂̈́@̵̧̠̲͎͖̇̂̎$̴͖̰͉̐̓͝&̷̳͓͉̜̿̕!̶̤̳̂͐̓̓̚ͅ@̸̬̉̏̋̀̉*̷̡͈̈̉̍(̵͎̖͎̖͖̍̉̓)̸̙̹̌̓$̵̧̭̫̾͛̎͋̚&̸̨̤͔̿͛*̴̢̉@̷̮̮̩̳̚͜!̵̙̱͖̉^̶̜̫̤̤͎́̌̆̾$̷̖̯͌͘͝&̵̳̼̦͕͐̇̚*̴̠̗̣̓́*̴̛̺̪̹͆̈́͒̕$̸̗͇͇̫͉͛̇̍@̷̨̗̄̐́̅͠&̸̣̯̄(̸̻̩͚͇̈́̉)̴̦̣͙̈́̌͊$̸̪͋&̴̛̝̞͍̺̮̀͗̂̆*̴̦̿͑ͅ@̷͓̅̂͠ͅ!̶̖͎͌̎^̶̡̜͍̠͓̿̀͋̕̚$̸͖̯͚̭͆͊&̵̨̲͍̑̎̉̌͜ͅ*̵͙͓̹́ͅ!̵̧͎͕̑̈́͆͘ͅ@̵̞͂*̸̛̭̩̦̝̣͗̇̽͒$̴͎̭̦̂͗̉̚@̸͙̬̝͔͎̊͛̉&̴͔͎͓͚́̿́!̷̞̝̻́̈́@̵̺̅̇̒*̷̖̱̻̝̓́͝(̷͈̫̺͍͎̒&̵̧̦̞̀͋ͅ$̵͕̿͛͛̌̈́*̷̰͎̝̣̱̔́̒́͂(̶̺̹̓̐̋̑ͅ@̴̧͔̝̝͌̒̏̕̕(̴͙̦̙͆$̵̘͋̔̉̋̇!̸̞̬̝̂̓@̵͕̲̥͉̉́̓̓@̶̫͌#̵̛͉̺̠͋͠(̶͇̤͖̈)̵̧́̽!̸̨̓̿͌@̷̣̓̍̓̃̾*̷̯͕̳̼̟̾̔̈́̈́(̴̬͚͗͘ͅͅ@̶̺͉́̋ͅ(̷͖́$̵̮̤̫̐̏̌̆!̶͉͙̓̈́͌@̶̮̈̏̚@̶̞͖̖́̉͜#̴̤͋̄͝(̶̬͊̀)̴̆̌ͅͅ!̵̣̖̞̊͒͘@̴͎͎̄̔̑*̸͎͒͑̑̚(̴̗͔̋&̷͇̊̀͒̊̊*̵̣͎̌(̸̰̻͚̃͊ͅ-̷̖̀.̷̝̎̅̾͗-̶̨̢͓̋̐͠.̵̱̘͍̆́̏͋-̸͎̏̋̓-̸̭̀̍͌̿̕|̴̨̘̭̍̾̅̿|̴̩̘̩̻̰͗̎͛̂.̷͈̎̅.̸͂̈́͜--|||
I held my stomach, feeling vomit start to creep up my esophagus.
Author! Fucking stop!
Son of a BITCH
AJ shook her head, still leaning against the tree.
"What in tarnation is the Author doin'?"
"Hell if I know. He better damn stop it, though. I'm bout to fucking vomit."
"Easy there, sugarcube. Just don't do it on me. I only want one liquid outta ya," she said, eying my dick. As she closed her eyes and moved her snout forward again, the author rudely interrupted.
Stop. Just hold on a second.
I huffed. "Author, please. I don't know what you're doing, but we're almost done."
Shit fuck. Just a damn MINUTE, ya horny bastards. I need to check something.
"Check what?"
My time warping powers. They're conking out on me!
My eyes widened. "Wait, are you for real?"
Yes! I had a feeling they would eventually, but not this damn soon! Something has to give.
"I thought your powers were infinite. Why wouldn't you make your powers infinite? Are you stupid or something?"
That's MY god who gave me these powers, IDIOT! I don't control everything. That's why I was getting so mad at you for letting Dash shoot herself in the face. Ya see, there's this little thing called CONSEQUENCES for your actions, bonehead!
"Ah, whatever."
AJ gazed up at me. "Screw 'im, sugarcube. Let's just continue."
AJ wrapped her mouth around my dick again and got back to sucking.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I started chuckling at the Author's response until I heard a distant moan. I thought it was AJ at first, but when it happened again, I realized it wasn't.
"H- hold on," I said, stopping her head with my hand.
We listened for a few seconds, hearing the moan again. Then, shortly after, we heard a distant gunshot. AJ pulled my dick from her mouth and looked around the tree as more gunshots went off.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, "the camp!"
Ohhhhhhhhhhh...
I quickly put my dick away. As I zipped up my pants and leaned down to grab the holster I'd set on the grass, AJ called out.
"Sugarcube, look out!"
I heard hoofsteps before turning to see a zombie pony coming out from the tree line beside us. I was too distracted with getting my holster back on that I didn't have time to react. The zombie mare lunged forward. With no time left, I dropped my holster and socked her in the face with my fist. This stopped her briefly, allowing AJ to wrap around the tree and lazily flank her.
After I punched her again, AJ took the opportunity to turn around and clumsily buck her. It wasn't as powerful as usual, given her foreleg was still banged up. However, it was enough to push her back, giving me enough time to grab my baby from my holster. I hastily set the mare's head in its sights and fired.
BANG!
The mare dropped. AJ and I observed our surroundings as I put the holster back on my side. Gunfire continued from the distant camp.
"Son of a bitch!" she hollered, "Come on, let's go!"
We took off back into the forest. I limped to a jog, eventually breaking into a sprint to get back. However, I noticed AJ quickly falling behind and slowed down for her.
"No, sugarcube, just go! I'll catch up!"
Gunfire continued. I hesitated for a second before resuming my sprint. It took me a few minutes to dart back to camp, and by then, the gunfire had already stopped. I awkwardly limped up to the tents, noticing a slew of pony bodies laid all around. I noticed what looked to be Snowheart, the guards, and Spike huddled around somebody next to one of our tents. I also noticed Twi and Dash nearby, frantically gesturing to one another as they spoke.
Dash was the first to notice me and pointed a hoof at me. Twi swiveled her head, and even from this distance, I could see an angry expression fill her face. She took off to come meet me, Dash chasing behind her. I started backing up as she galloped in front of me.
"WHERE WERE YOU?!" she exclaimed.
"Twi... please, Twi, I can explain."
"YOU BETTER START SOON!"
Before I could start, Dash came up to her side.
"What the fuck, D?! Why'd you run off like that?!" she exclaimed, leaning her head to look behind me. "Where's Applejack?!"
I turned to look behind me, but she wasn't here yet.
"She's coming. She told me she'd catch up," I explained.
The darkness of night was concealing us. One of the guards from the other group swung his flashlight in our direction briefly. This light gave Twi and Dash enough time to see AJ's whip in my hand. Both of them glanced at it, a look of shock filling their faces.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!?!" Twi shouted.
"NOTHING! I promise! I- I just..."
Awe shit. This does NOT look good on me.
Ya don't say?
"Look... is everypony alright?" I asked.
Twi growled. "NO! Everypony is NOT alright! Rarity was attacked, no thanks to YOU!"
"Twi, I'm so-"
"No. Shut the fuck up. Just wait," she said, rubbing her forehead frustratingly. "Dash, go help them with Rarity. Tell them D'mitry and I will be back."
"Where are you-"
"Now," Twi hissed.
Dash exchanged one last glance with me before leaving to help Rarity. I stood silently, watching Twi's furious gaze size me up.
"You take me to her, right now," she warned.
Twi and I jogged through the forest, searching for AJ for a solid ten minutes. We backtracked twice, covering as much ground as we could, but she was nowhere to be found. I was taken aback, trying to figure out how the hell we'd lost her. Guilt was seeping through my veins. When we reached the tree line AJ and I were at, I defeatedly dropped to my knees. Twi made her way to stand in front of me, glaring furiously at my one good eye. She spoke through gritted teeth.
"What. Did. You. Do to her?"
"Nothing, Twi! I know this looks bad!" I exclaimed, briefly holding up the whip. "But I promise, I didn't hurt her!"
"Oh yeah? So you just stole her fucking whip and sang kumbaya together? You expect me to believe that?!"
"Yes! I caught her whip when she was whipping me, but I didn't do anything after that! That's... yeah, that's when the gunshots happened!"
Twi was mad mad. It was a bit intimidating. She glared fiercely at me.
"You are the worst liar to step foot on this planet, you know that?"
I sighed and closed my eyes. How the fuck was I gonna explain my way out of this one?
Hmm. Perhaps tell her what really happened?
Are you crazy, Author? Even if she did believe that, she would probably murder me.
Kinda looks like she wants to do that anyway.
I sighed, wishing our relationship wasn't so strange.
"Twi. I... I don't know how to explain this to you."
"How to explain what?" she hissed.
I took a deep breath, preparing for my final moments.
"I fucked Applejack." ... ... ...
There was a loooooooooooooooooong silence from her. The air was filled with just crickets and other nighttime animals. It was peaceful, yet sinister. I said my final prayer to my Gods.
And that is?
Forgive me for being a sinning fuck.
Wow.
"Let me get this straight, D'mitry..." she continued, an even more furious look filling her face. "You led Applejack out here... away from camp... stole her whip... and raped her?"
"WHOA!!! I AM NOT A FUCKING RAPIST!" I shouted, quickly coming to a stand. My sudden fury took Twi by complete surprise, causing her to stagger back a few steps. "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK THAT?! WHAT KIND OF FUCKING ANIMAL DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?!"
"She wanted you to fuck her?!"
"Yes!"
I rubbed my temple, the whip still in my hands. This shit is stupid as fuck. I wish a bunch of zombies would come and surround us so I could let out my anger and fight instead of going through whatever bullshit character development this is.
"Look, Twi. I give up. Once we find her, she'll probably beat me to death for telling you anyway."
She rolled her eyes, still a bit angry. "You are so fucking dramatic."
"Whatever. But she... wanted me to take control, okay? When I stole the whip from her, I learned she was into that, so we got to it. We heard gunshots in the middle of it. End of story."
Twi shook her head, still taken aback by all this. "Sweet Celestia."
"Yes. Celestia is sweet."
"Not really, but okay."
"Wait, you aren't gonna murder me?" I asked.
"No, you moron. I just need to process this," she replied, rubbing her forehead angrily. "Gah- this whole night has been a fucking disaster."
"Tell me about it. Thanks a lot, Author. Fucking douchebag."
Lightning illuminated the night sky as it spawned out of nowhere and blasted me. I tensed up and angrily suffered through it before shaking it off. Twi sighed and lent out a hoof.
"Come, D'mitry. We'll search a few more minutes before heading back to camp. Hopefully she's there by now."
"K."
For the next few minutes, we did exactly as she said. However, once we got back to camp, AJ still wasn't there. There was still a group hovering over Rarity, but one of the guards was off to the side, holding Spike back. Twi and I met with Dash, who had visible tears down her face.
"Dash, what's the matter?" Twi asked.
"Rarity's gone." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Sunfall | We walked on after Twi had an intense talk with Spike. It took him a lot of courage to say goodbye to Rarity. But now we were back to walking.
It was only Twi, Dash, Spike, Snow, the guards, and me. Only two of the mane six were left, and I would fight hard to keep them safe.
"Who was supposed to be on watch?" asked Twi. It was silent until Dash spoke out. "I w-" she started.
"It was me. I was caught off-guard. I accidentally fell asleep," the less buff guard, whose name was Blaze, admitted to it.
"But I-" Dash started.
"Yes, I know. I was supposed to let you have the next watch, but I fell asleep before I could, okay?"
"I was-"
"It wasn't your fault!" he yelled. She stepped back.
"It's okay. We forgive you. Everything will be fine, right? Celestia can bring everypony back," Twi said.
"Yes. She'll be able to," I added. Hopefully.
---- ---- ----
The sun was high in the sky after we ate our lunch. It was very quiet as we ate. It wasn't exactly a feast, but it fed us.
We walked alongside the tracks silently despite the crunching of pebbles and grass. The terrain was changing and we could see Canterlot a ways away. It made us pick up our pace. I walked behind the others and kept our backs clear.
Suddenly, the sun seemed brighter. The track shimmered brightly and the temperature seemed to rise. I shielded my eyes as I looked up to the sky. The sun was flopping around its position, growing larger and then getting smaller randomly.
Before any of us could speak of it, it grew small and fell quickly over the horizon. Within seconds, the sun was gone and Equestria was dark. The temperature dropped significantly in just moments. There was an extremely loud burst of an explosion that threw all of us out of balance and shook trees violently for half a minute.
After the wind settled and the moon rose quickly in the sky with force, I turned to Twi.
"What the hell was that? Did the sun just crash into the world?" I asked.
"Impossible. The world wouldn't be here if that happened ..." Twi answered.
"Do you think Celestia's alright?" Snow asked Twi.
"I don't know. The sun falling isn't a good sign, obviously. But hopefully Luna can leave it to kinetic energy to keep the cycle going."
"Let's hurry anyways," Dash insisted.
"Right," Twi agreed. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Nuh Uh | Celestia's sun beamed overhead as we traveled down the tracks once more. Last night, we were forced to leave Rarity's dead body with the rest of the pony corpses beside our camp. And to make matters worse...
AJ never returned.
We waited and waited, spending the rest of the night sleeping at the same ambushed camp, but she never showed up. Dash even ran off to look for her, but she hadn't found her either. I know we'd gone a ways from the camp, but this was honestly surprising. She was probably, what, 2 minutes of jogging away from us at the camp last night? How the hell did she lose us? I started feeling a bit guilty about running off like I did.
Twi had somehow convinced the others that I had just argued with AJ, after stealing her whip, until we heard gunfire. No mention of our spontaneous sex session was uttered, and I was grateful. If AJ did return soon, maybe she wouldn't beat me to death anymore. That'd be nice.
Twi could keep a secret. We both knew Dash could not. So, it was between us. Our strange relationship got even stranger starting today. Oh well.
We continued down the tracks. When we lost Rarity, Twi had an intense talk with Spike.
What's an intense talk? you ask.
I don't know.
Very helpful
Yeah, anyway, they talked intensely for a while until the little bastard fell asleep. I know this was rough on him, but it was rough on all of us as well. Especially me. Not only did I lose my friends Rarity and AJ on the same night, but I got blue-balled too!
Woooooow
Yeah whatever. It was alright, really. When we all settled back down again, I zipped myself in the tent and jacked off.
And thank you for the information. Anything more you'd like to share with the class?
Sure. After I finished, I burst into tears.
Congrats
We continued on, Celestia's sun burning my skin. I wished there were some clouds covering it up or something. For a split second, I forgot about our entire situation and almost asked Dash if she could move a cloud for us. Damn, I missed their flight as much as they did.
So, now... it was only Twi, Dash, Spike, Snow, the guards, and me. Only two of the mane six were accounted for, so it was time to get serious about keeping them safe. As we walked, Twi called out.
"Who was supposed to be on watch?"
I squinted my eye. "Didn't you already have that discussion?"
"No, we didn't. I got distracted with all the crap that happened."
"But you and Dash were talking when I got to camp, weren't you?"
I noticed Dash eye me nervously.
"Yeah?" Twi continued, "We were all awake when we got attacked. If you mean her ratting you out, that's cause you woke her up with that stupid little escape attempt."
"I ... uh ... okay..."
It was silent for a moment until Dash sighed defeatedly. "It was-"
"Me," the guard I'd insulted yesterday cut her off.
"But I-"
"I know!" the guard interrupted again, "I was supposed to wake you up, but I fell asleep, okay?"
"But-"
"It wasn't your fault!" the guard cont-
You know, it'd be a lot easier if I knew this motherfucker's name.
Then ask him, peabrain.
The guard continued, "Listen, I-"
"Hey, what's your name?"
Everybody eyed me for a second. Barging into conversations was my specialty though, so they didn't think much of it.
"Drift."
"Drift?"
"Yeah."
"What kinda fucking name is that? Is that first or last?"
"Wow. It's first, you disrespectful asshole. Yours is pretty fucking dumb too."
"Whatever. It's odd that you have that name though. I mean, there aren't even cars in this world. How'd your parents come up with that?"
D'mitry, you fucking moron, there are other definitions for the word drift. Read a damn dictionary.
Twi glanced back at me. "What's a car?"
Damn.
"Nothing. Never mind."
She rolled her eyes as Drift continued.
"Anyway, so-"
"Hey, what about you?" I asked, pointing at the other guard.
"Blaze."
"D'mitry," Twi called from the front. She glared at me and nodded her head back to her saddlebag, reminding me that she had the whip now. "Quit interrupting."
"Sorry, Twi."
"Anyway, so ... yeah, it was me. I apologize, Princess."
Twi huffed. "Okay. I guess we can forgive you for now. However, Princess Celestia will be hearing about this. Your punishment is up to her, understood?"
Drift gulped and nervously glanced back at his rump. "U- understood, Princess."
Celestia's sun continued to beam down on us after we stopped to eat lunch. I was starting to sweat a bit.
Hey, I have a suggestion for you.
What is that?
Maybe take off your jacket?
Mmm. I don't feel like it.
Then burn alive.
Okay.
We continued along. The walk was quiet, with the only sound being the crunching of pebbles and grass beneath us. We could see Canterlot now, but it was still a little ways away. I sighed. My injured leg was getting really damn tired. This caused me to fall toward the back of the line. When Dash asked if I was alright, I lied and told her I just wanted to keep our backs clear.
Suddenly, the sun seemed brighter. The track laying ahead of us shimmered brightly. I shielded my eye as I looked up at the sky, trying not to burn my retina again. I could see the sun moving around awkwardly, almost dancing above us. The others stopped and looked up at it as well.
Before any of us could speak of it, the sun grew dimmer before quickly falling down past the horizon. Within seconds, the sun was gone, and the sky was dark. I opened my mouth to speak, but as I did, an extremely loud explosion rung out from the horizon. The wind from its shockwave blasted us front and center, throwing us all off balance as it swept through for half a minute. Trees shook violently, and my tall ass eventually couldn't stand the pressure any longer and fell to the ground.
After the wind finally settled, I saw Luna's moon quickly rise to the middle of the now-night sky. I shook my head as I sat back up and turned to Twi.
"What the fuck was that? Did the sun just crash into the damn world?"
"What kinda fucking hypothesis is that?" she replied, "You really think that's what would happen if the sun collided with the world?"
"Hey! Anything is possible in this crazy ass world."
"Well, that is not. Celestia's sun is tens of millions of miles away from here. It is also thousands of times bigger than Equis. You wouldn't even be able to see if her sun collided with the world. You'd evaporate instantly before it swallowed everything whole. So, no, D'mitry, the sun did not just 'crash into the world'."
Her and I stared at one another for a few seconds before I responded.
"Nerd."
She rolled her eyes as Snow joined the conversation.
"Do you think Princess Celestia's alright?"
Twi sighed. "I don't know. Her sun falling isn't a good sign. She may be in trouble. Hopefully Luna can lock sun and moon in kinetic orbit if she's unable to raise it again. The cycle has to continue."
"Hopefully," Dash said, "regardless, we should probably hurry."
"But it's nighttime now," I stated.
Everybody looked at me for a second. Dash eventually nodded approvingly.
"Actually, yeah... D is right. Let's go back to bed."
"What?" Twi asked, "It's only fucking noon!"
"No it ain't," I retorted.
"It basically is..." she replied.
"Nuh uh."
"Uh huh."
"Nuh uh."
"Just because Celestia's sun went down doesn't automatically mean it's nighttime. It's still technically afterno-"
"Nuh uh."
"Shut the fuck up! We're gonna wait an-"
"Nuh uh."
"-D SEE IF ANYT-"
"NUH UH."
"D'mitry! Sweet Celestia, you are fucking annoying sometimes!"
"Nuh uh."
Twi shook her head and facehoofed. Guard Drift then dramatically yawned.
"Boy am I exhausted..." he said.
"Same here," Blaze added, joining in with his own yawn.
"Are you guys fucking serious?" Twi scoffed.
Before she knew it, we were all dramatically yawning and stretching.
"I don't know, Twi," I said, "honestly, jokes aside, I'm guessing none of us slept all that well last night. I say this is a good thing, and we should just accept it as is. Let's set up camp and go back to bed."
"Not happening."
Everybody sighed, but I didn't give up. I hobbled up to Twi's side and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"I'll give you a massage if you let us sleep."
"Are you serious right now? You really think a massage is gonna change my-"
"Hooves too."
She stayed silent for a moment before responding.
"Okay... let's set up camp." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Sweet Dreams | I rustled in my sleeping bag. All of this loss made it difficult to get a wink of sleep. Dash noticed. It was her guard watch, and she promised she wouldn't let us be attacked unexpectedly.
"You awake, Devan?"
I shuffled around to face her. "Yeah."
"I know it's tough. The inability for me to sleep makes the job easier on me though."
"Ha."
"Devan ..."
"What?"
"Well ..." She sighed.
"Yes?"
"I was the one that fell asleep on watch."
"I know."
"You do?"
"Just because I lost an eye doesn't mean I'm blind. I know it was you, and we all forgive you. That's what friends are supposed to do."
"The others know it too?"
"Well ... I don't know about that. But I forgive you," I insisted.
"Thanks Devan." She smiled.
"No problem. Night, Dash."
"Night."
I fell into a deep sleep minutes after speaking with Dash. Her voice was a calming tool to help me. I started dreaming. I couldn't realize at first, but it started becoming as real as any lucid dream I've had. I was standing atop a high mountain, but it wasn't very cold. Fog surrounded me on all sides.
"Devan ..." I heard the wind whisper.
"Yes?" I looked around all sides.
Clouds cleared ahead to reveal Luna.
"Luna!"
"Hi Devan." She came close and we hugged.
"Devan ... Celestia is injured."
"Is that why the sun went down?"
"Yes Devan, but ... I think she might be okay. A human came and stabbed her in the chest. She's with some medics now."
"Oh no." I hugged her again, tears forming. Celestia had been the one to send me here. What would happen if she died? Would my world end? Would the whole world end?
"I brought you here to help you. Sadly, I can't give you wings. They'd be useless in this time anyway. But I can heal your eye fully for you."
"You have enough magic to do that?"
She nodded. "I can."
I thought for a moment. Celestia was hurt and Luna needed to protect her and herself. Was fixing my eye really worth that loss of magic? She moved closer and her horn began glowing in the darkness of the night.
"Wait!"
She stopped.
"Are you sure you wanna waste your remaining magic on my eye? I don't know how much this can help everypony."
"I'm sure. We have guards to protect us, and medics are working hard on Celestia."
"I guess you could do it then," I agreed, "Are you able to keep the moon up?"
"I've already locked both sun and moon in kinetic motion. It should be fine."
"That's good."
She came forwards again, and touched her horn against my eye. I felt the coolness of her magic press through it. A sharp pain raged through it, causing me to fall backwards. Luna used her front hooves to hold on to my hands. Pain similar to when Pete knocked me out soared through my no longer dead eye. My left watered immensely.
I felt cool air flow through the socket for a second before feeling a final pop that snapped my eye together. My bones felt weak for a few moments and Luna drained my sweat with more of her magic.
"Good luck, Devan!" She let me go and waved as she drifted away through the clouds. My eye was still bandaged, but I could feel my eye moving under it. The sensation of the dream had excited me out of the dream, and led me to awakening.
Both of my eyes opened to see that it was still dark. My left eye was still bandaged, but I could feel it again and I still had the feeling of the dream in my mind. I sat up to see that Dash was still on guard.
"Hi again, Devan. You've been squirming around a lot. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine ... just a dream. Have you been guarding this whole time?"
She laughed. "Devan ... it's only been about half an hour. Of course I'm still guarding. I have about another half hour to go."
"Huh ..."
"What kind of dream was it?"
I hesitated. Luna hadn't told me whether to tell them about Celestia's situation or not, but I supposed suspicion would come when others saw my eyes magically fixed. Quite literally.
"Luna was there."
"Oh ... did she give you news?"
"She gave me something else too."
"What?" She seemed much more interested. I started peeling off my bandage cautiously. "No way ..."
It took me a few moments to peel if off fully. My peripheral vision doubled and my eye fluttered for a second.
"Your eye!" she yelled.
"Shh ..." I whispered.
"Sorry. But your eye ... that's great!"
Twi squirmed and sat up.
"What are you two talking about?"
She noticed my eye right away.
"Your eye!"
"Shh ..." Dash and I whispered.
"Sorry! How did you fix your eye? I thought it was perma-scarred?"
"Luna healed it in a dream."
She frowned slightly.
"I thought even the alicorns were losing their magic."
"They are," I answered, "She used some of her last magic on me, I guess."
"That's weird. I'm happy for you though. But let's try to get sleep now. Night."
"Night, Twi. Night, Dash."
"Night Devan." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) It wasn't a wet dream! | I slowly disconnected my fingers from Twi's back hoof. I heard her sigh, but time was up. The deal was half an hour. That was a long ass time to massage a pony, at least for me and my ADHD. Especially since almost all of it was used massaging her hooves. We were alone in her tent at least, since she kicked Spike out. I sat back on my knees as she turned her head back to face me.
"D'mitry, please. Five more minutes?"
"Bruh. I do not understand where this damn hoof thing came from."
She huffed. "It's not a hoof thing. Stop calling it that. Just because I like my hooves massaged doesn't make me some kind of freak."
"Whatever, Twi. Deals over, though."
"Ugh! Fine. Get out," she said, rolling over to face away from me.
I left the tent and made my way back to my sleeping bag outside.
Yeah.
I got downgraded from the tent. I mean... I guess it made sense, but I was still irritated by it. All this wasn't my fault ... forrrrrrrrrr the most part at least. Whatever. I eased my legs inside my sleeping bag, trying to ignore Dash sitting up against the tree beside me, watching my every move. She stayed quiet as I laid on my side and attempted falling asleep.
Then, about fifteen minutes later... I did not fall asleep.
Gah. Fucking shit. I tossed and turned for the next five minutes, trying to settle down, but I could not even come close to being tired. Maybe Twi was right about the whole noon thing. I tried to ignore this thought. As I rustled in my sleeping bag, Dash took notice.
"You awake, D?"
I rolled over and glanced at her with my good eye before whispering angrily, "What does it look like?!"
"Just askin'."
"Yes, Dash, I'm awake."
"Ah. Sorry about that. I know it's tough. I'm the same way, but it makes my job easier. Ha."
"Okay?" I muttered before rolling back over.
"D..."
"Oh my god," I scoffed, rolling over to face her again. "What?"
"Geez. Sorry to twist up your panties, D. You're in a foul mood, so nevermind."
"I'm sorry, Dash. I'm just a bit ticked about everything going on. What is it?"
She sighed deeply. "I was the one that fell asleep on watch..."
"Uh, yeah? I already know that."
"You do?"
"I saw you before I ran off, stupid."
"Oh... right..."
"Yeah, just cause I lost an eye don't mean I'm blind. I know it was you. It's alright. We all forgive you. That's what friends are supposed to do," I replied, putting my hands together in front of me before separating them as if a rainbow was emerging from in between.
Dash raised an eyebrow as she watched my performance.
"What the hell is that?" she asked.
"A rainbow, dumbass. Just pretend there's a rainbow in my palms."
"I think that might be the gayest thing I've seen you do."
"You got no room to talk, Rainbow."
She shook her head. "You are so damn retarded, I swear..."
"I'd rather y'all be annoyed as shit than down in the dumps. Works like a charm every time," I stated, winking as I put my magical rainbow in my pocket. She failed to hide a tiny smile.
"Well... I appreciate ya. Do you know if the others know too?"
"About what?"
"Me falling asleep on watch."
"I dunno, honestly. Whatever. It'll be alright, Dash. I forgive you."
"Thanks, D..."
"No problem, cuzzo. Night."
"Night."
I finally fell asleep after speaking with Dash. I don't know how, but I thanked my lucky stars that I could finally rest in-
God damn it.
I appeared on a fucking mountaintop, and it was quickly becoming clear to me that I was in a dream. The mountaintop rose high, because that's what mountains do. The mountaintop was also surrounded by mysterious fog. Thankfully, it wasn't very cold, despite me standing on a literal ice cap. I could still only see out of one eye, however. Not even the dream world provided me with a replacement eye. What a crock of bullshit.
"D'mitry..." the wind whispered.
The wind whispered? Really?
Well, what else could it be? Damn. Smh
Some of the fog surrounding me conveniently cleared to reveal Princess Luna. Was she flying? Walking on a cloud? Moon-walking? We'll never know.
She was flying, buffoon.
Princess Luna flew toward me, a look of worry on her face. As she approached, I kneeled down to pay respect. However, as my knee hit the ice cap, I slipped. The ice cap was very small, and the drop was very steep, so I began tumbling off the side. Right after I fell off the edge, I felt a powerful force snatch me back up and pin me back to a stand on the ice cap. I shook my head as Princess Luna spoke.
"No need for that, D'mitry. I recognize your show of respect."
"Okay. Hi, Princess Luna. Not to be a bother, but can't you just let me sleep? I'm really damn tired."
"I'm sorry to interrupt your little afternoon nap. I understand the whole day/night situation may be troubling you all. But, this is very important, so please be quiet and listen to me."
She took a quick breath, making sure I didn't have a smart-ass comment built up to interrupt with. Once she realized I didn't, she continued.
"So... Princess Celestia is injured."
"Okay? Is that why the sun went down?"
"What do you think?"
"Uh, I don't know."
She sighed. "I need you to start putting two and two together, D'mitry. Yes, that is why the sun went down. She should be okay now, though. I can't say for sure."
"Should? The fuck are you on about?"
"It's complicated. I can't explain in too much detail, but we've had some human problems. One of them got to her. Your kind are a bunch of assholes. She's with some medics now, though."
"What the hell does that mean? A human? What happened to them?"
"It's complicated, D'mitry. Anyway, that's not the point."
"Well it is now! Where'd the human come from? Are you guys spawning them in? What happened to them?"
"They're gone! Okay? Enough questions. I can't answer them right now, and I did not come here for you to interrogate me. I've got a different matter to address with you, Captain Asshole."
"What the f-... oh, I kinda like that one. What's the matter though?"
"I brought you here to help you. Sadly, I cannot grant you wings..."
"Huh? Wings? Where the hell did that come from?"
She sighed. "Look, I don't know. It was just a thought that crossed my mind. Sometimes I don't control all the logic that happens there."
"That sounds like a medical problem."
"It's not. You don't control all the logic in your own head, either."
"Yes I do. I stuff tacos in my butt at night."
"See?"
"Oh wow."
Haha taco butt
Luna shook her head. "Anyway, wings would be useless right now-"
"Uh, no they wouldn't! Hold on a minute."
"No, D'mitry. I already told you I can't give you wings. Drop it."
"NO! Why not? Are you sure? Why not? What's the logic behind it? Are you 100% certain, or is there a possibility? Please. I know it's a random thought, but I would fucking love to fly."
"I know, I know. I remember your whole tirade before Celestia spanked the hell out of you. That whole racist phase you had or whatever. See, I could gift you wings, but they would be useless now."
"Why? Come on, try it! Let's see. I want wings."
"No, D'mitry."
"LUNA! PLEASE! JUST GIVE ME-"
I saw the flash surround me as a lightning bolt scattered across the sky before annihilating me. It took me a second to recover from the shock, and I felt the invisible force from before hold me steady. This time, I saw the force was from Luna, as her horn glowed dimly.
"Wait a minute... you still have magic?" I asked.
"Sweet. Celestia. Why do you think we're having this conversation? I'm not crafting wooden wings with my own hooves here. Yes, D'mitry. I have my magic. It's fading like everypony else, but I have some left. I have a question for you now."
"Okay?"
"Are you headed to Canterlot with the others? Don't be too specific."
"Uh, yeah?"
"Okay, good. Once you get here, I would like to pull you aside and mentally evaluate you."
"Bruh."
"It has to be done. Celestia and I have talked about it for a while. You are pretty damn stupid from time to time."
"I just! Ah, whatever. Do whatever you want when we get there. Just don't spank me."
"Oh, I won't. Not sure about my sister. Anyways, I didn't bring you here just to converse. I have an offer for you."
"An offer? If it's not wings, I don't really care anymore."
She huffed.
Yeah, Luna, you probably shouldn't have mentioned wings. That threw his little brain for a loop.
"I see. I think you'll like this offer though. Even though I can't give you functional wings, I can fully heal your eye for you."
I stopped and thought for a minute.
"But, wait a minute. Nurse Redheart said that it could come back. Rarity used some of her magic on it after I got beat the fuck up. She fixed the lens or something."
"Yes, I can see that, and I know. I visited Redheart's dream last night."
"Oh? What was she dreaming about?"
"Ummm... medical... uh... stuff."
I chuckled. "Yeah right. She's dreaming of me, isn't she?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, D'mitry. She's dreaming about you. However, I had to-"
"Haha sweet! What's the dream about?"
"D'mitry. If you interrupt me again, I will throw you off this damn mountain. It's a dream, yeah, but you'll still feel it tingle your nervous system uncomfortably. Quit interrupting me, understood?"
"Sorry, princess."
"Okay. So, I learned about the likelihood of your eye coming back, and they kinda held it back from you. Your odds of it coming back fully are slim to none."
"Bruh."
"Yeah. So that's why I'm offering to fix it with some of my remaining magic."
I thought for another minute. My mind started wandering elsewhere though, wondering what kind of dream Redheart was having about me. I tried to peel away from it, but my ADHD threw me way off course.
"Hey, can you change my dream for me?"
She huffed. "D'mitry, focus. I'm not going to give you dreams about Redheart. Actually... you know what? I'm not offering you anything anymore--I'm giving it to you outright. Hold still."
She started flying closer to me as her horn began glowing in the darkness of night.
"Wait!"
"No."
She moved forward until her horn touched the bandage wrapped around my eye. I tried to back away, but she was also locking me in place. Was this rape? Well, I mean, not rape, but like, what's the word?
What word? What are you talking about? This is assault at most.
Well, I'm being assaulted then! This is bullshit. I wanted wings! Or a dream with Redheart. I don't know.
My eye felt a cold tinge as a weird sensation pulsed through it. The light from her horn glowed brighter until I was forced to close my other eye from it. For the next few seconds, the sensation grew until a quick, sharp pain raged through it. It quickly dispersed, and with a final, odd feeling pop, it was over. I blinked as Luna disconnected her horn.
"God damn it," I stated, "I wanted wi-"
Luna forcefully shoved me backward, her magic not holding me up anymore. I quickly tumbled off the side of the mountain, feeling the uncomfortable pangs she mentioned before as my body thunked against the side of the steep slope. I didn't feel the actual pain pain, but it was enough for me to huff and grunt as I fell. Eventually, I was falling so fast that wind buffeted against me. I rolled as I fell, and I could see the ground quickly growing closer and close-
AHH!
I jolted awake in my sleeping bag. Fuck. I fucking hate that feeling. My heart thumped out of my chest as I slowly realized I was fine. I heard Dash speak beside me.
"Whoa, D. You alright?"
I sighed and sat up in my sleeping bag. She was still sitting up against the nearby tree on watch duty.
"Gah- I'm fine."
"You've been squirming around a lot. Sure you're okay? Wet dream?"
"I'm fi- what?"
"You okay?"
"Uh... yeah. I'm fine, thanks. Have you been guarding this whole time?"
"It's only been 15 minutes, D."
"Ah, damn," I replied, laying my head back down.
"Well, was it a wet dream?"
"It wasn't a damn wet dream!"
"You sure?"
"Uh, yeah!"
"Shhh..." she whispered, gesturing to the others.
"It wasn't!" I whispered, uh, loudly?
"Why were you moaning then?"
"What?!"
"You were moaning before you woke up."
"Bruh... oh my god. I don't know, maybe cause I was falling off a mountain?"
"Why would you moan during that?"
"Oh my god, Dash. It wasn't a wet dream!"
"What kinda dream was it then?"
"Well... Luna was there."
"Oh. Yeah, she tends to invade dreams a lot. You know, we took her to royal court over it a few years back, but Celestia told us to kiss her flank. Oh well. That's monarchy for ya."
"Uh... okay..."
"Anyway, what did she say? Did she give you any news?"
"She gave me something else too..."
"You didn't answer the fucking quest-"
She paused when I started unwrapping the bandage around my eye. I cautiously unwound the gauze as Dash shifted forward to see closer.
"No way..."
It took me a few moments to peel it off fully. My peripheral vision doubled and my left eye fluttered for a second.
"Your eye!! Holy shit!!"
"Shhh."
"Sorry! But your eye! That's great!"
I heard Twi's tent nearby unzipping open. She poked her head out, clearly annoyed at being disturbed.
"Would you two shut the fuck up? Sleeping was your damn ide-"
She paused when her gaze caught sight of my eye. She squinted, taking a second to realize what she was seeing. When she did, her eyes widened.
"Sweet Celestia! Your eye!"
"Shhh," Dash and I whispered.
"Sorry, sorry."
Twi climbed out of her tent to come speak with us. As she did, I noticed Spike squirm in his sleeping bag next to the tent. He sat up angrily.
"Would y'all shut the fuck up?"
It only took him a few seconds to notice my eye. He was much less interested than Dash and Twi.
"Fucks sake. Who fucking cares? Well done, D'mitry. I'm guessing Luna did that? Congratulations. Maybe you'll get lucky and she'll jack you off in your next dream."
The annoyed dragon huffed and curled back up in his sleeping bag. Little shit. Now you see why I don't care for the little bastard, right readers?
Come on now, he's going through a lot.
Oh, I'll put him through a lot when I beat the shit out of him.
Lordy. Just play nice for a little longer.
Whatever.
Twi walked up to me, leaning down to stare at my eye.
"So, it was Princess Luna, right?"
"Yeah."
"Does she have any magic left? Or did she use the remainder on your eye?"
"I think she mentioned having a little bit left, yeah."
"Okay. Well, I'm glad she could help you then. We can talk more about this in the morning," she replied. She eyed Dash for a second before leaning her snout right beside my ear. "New deal. I'll let you sleep in my tent with me if you do another half hour."
I thought for a second as Dash awkwardly glanced between me and her. She rolled her eyes before shifting to a different spot on the tree farther away from us. I looked back up at Twi, whose sparkly purple eyes beamed down on me hopefully.
"Fine, hoof freak." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Welcome to Canterlot | We were getting close to Canterlot now. We'd all eaten and talked about my eye being fixed. The sun was up now and we believed it might be back to the time it really was before.
There was no doubt that all of us were thinking about the losses we had experienced. What really got to us was how we seemed to be losing one another day by day. It was all becoming too much, but we had to sustain our ground. Our emotions were being toyed with greatly, and fear of the situation and realization that any one of us could be next simply scared us.
It was too bad that Pinkie had to be the first to 'die', because I felt like she'd ease our stress and suffering, even in a time like this. It was a shame any of us had to be put through this. None of us had thought anything as severe as this would happen. How did it happen anyway?
The questions rolling around my mind prevented me from hearing Twi speak to me at first.
"Devan? Hello?" She shook her hoof in front of my face.
"Huh, wha?"
"I wanted to talk to you about Rarity and Spike. He's been having a rough time about it, and I thought you could maybe, you know, cheer him up or something. Give him reassurance that it'll be alright. It'd be better for someone like you to do it."
She did have a point. He was riding on Dash's back right now, staring intensely at the sky. Maybe he thinks she's up there?
"I guess I could, yeah. I don't know how much reassurance I'll be able to get to him, but yeah ... I'll try."
"Thanks Devan."
I walked forwards, ahead of the guards and Snow. She nodded to me when I passed her. I skipped Spike at the moment, who didn't seem to notice me anyways, and met Dash.
"Hey Devan. What's up?"
I leaned forward and whispered, "I'm gonna speak to Spike about Rarity."
"Oh," she whispered, "You want me to get him off?"
"No, that's okay. Thanks."
I looked back at the guards, and they nodded. I backtracked a bit to stand side by side with Spike.
"Hey bro, what's up? Literally." I nudged him.
Okay ... so I'm not a good joker. Whatever.
He eyed me. Usually he'd be the only one to crack up at a joke as bad as that, but without Rarity, it probably wasn't worth the effort.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Nothing ... nothing ... I know the whole Rarity thing is difficult to get over, but just think for a second ... Celestia took me out of another universe, and put me in this one. If she can do that, she can easily bring Rarity back. This whole deal is probably just a test on all of us and friendship and stuff. Just, don't worry about it too much. Soon enough, we'll be in Canterlot schmoozing with Princess Celestia and Luna with all these troubles behind us."
My reward for that short speech was a lot of quietness and one unseeing dragon. He seemed totally disconnected from real life. I glanced back at Twi. She gestured for me to keep going.
"Spike? Did you hear me?"
He moved his eyes slowly to meet mine.
"I heard you." He turned on his side and curled up. I looked back at Twi and shrugged.
"At least you tried," Snow whispered.
---- ---- ----
Now Canterlot was within our reach. We could see it shine in the sun. It had taken days for us to get this close to it, and now we were finally starting to climb the final hills to Canterlot. Twi nudged me out of my thoughts.
"Devan, we're going to start running. Are you well enough to run?"
"Oh, yeah ... definitely."
So we began sprinting. It was the first time I'd ran freely since running from Zecora's hut. But let's be honest ... we weren't running simply because we wanted to. We were very close to Canterlot now. We had trekked upwards for half an hour or so, and we were running over the hills now. It was in our grasp, and we all knew it. We could see it plainly sooner than we had expected to. The towers stood tall ahead of us, and the gate, however raggedy and broken it looked, stood like a gateway to heaven.
"Keep in mind what Devan said. Luna said there was a human in Canterlot just recently," Twi reminded.
So much for 'gateway to heaven'.
"Don't be a let-down Twi. If Celestia can handle Nightmare Moon and Discord, she can handle a little human or two."
"I'm not so sure she's doing alright."
"A chest wound is pretty deadly, Dash," I added.
"Don't say dead. We've seen enough dead as it is."
"Just reality."
We came closer to the gate when we all stopped. Canterlot had looked good from afar, but now it didn't look quite right. The flags on the gate were clearly burnt yet somehow still waving. The bridge over the river was up, which would be reasonable to see if there wasn't graffiti sprayed all over the gate itself. Instead of the big painted flowers, they were drawn on to look like pitchforks. Chain Gang was written on the left side of the gate and Summer Shivers on the right. In one window on the left tower of the gate was a noticeable human head that looked up to see us. There was another guy in the right tower that noticed us before we even walked over the ridge in the hill. It was just moments until he pulled up a sniper rifle.
"Run back over the ridge!" Twi shouted.
A speaker boomed on as we jumped over the ridge in the road. No shots were fired at us as we sprung to cover.
"Oh come on!" Dash yelled.
"I know," Twi said while unpacking some clips of ammo.
"Come back over the ridge and no one will get hurt! We saw a human with you, and that must mean you're allowed to enter!" A voice boomed on the speakers.
"Like hell we are," I said.
All of us were loading and checking the guns we had taken from the brothers. It was nice knowing I could use something rather than my Beretta in a possible long range shoot-out.
"You want me to?" Blaze asked the other guard.
"Sure."
"We aren't coming out!" he shouted.
"That's alright," the voice boomed in the speakers, "We'll let Pete have a word with you."
Pete?
"Pete?" Twi asked confusingly. We exchanged glances. The creak of metal chains sounded. Twi and I took a slight look over the ridge to find the bridge collapsing slowly over the river.
When it was all the way down, we saw a boy strapped with ammo come out. When he got closer, I saw something crazy. I was staring at the Pete who broke my eye. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) WWE | We continued down the train tracks. This walk was getting super repetitive, but we could visibly see ourselves growing closer to Canterlot now. Today would be the day we started climbing that damned mountain and knocking on the Princess's front doors. I'm sure they'd be happy at our super on-time arrival.
Seriously. I lost track of the damn days. Are any of you keeping up? Author, what about you?
Nada. Think it's like day 5 or something?
Damn. All the days were morphing together with all the shit being thrown at us. It didn't help that one of the days was literally cut short. It also didn't help that we seemed to be losing ponies left and right. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and AJ, just like that? This was pissing me off now. I tried to keep my mind off of it. I started wondering if maybe this was all a dream, and that the Author would wake me up soon.
No, D'mitry. It's not a damn dream.
Fucking great! I hate this shit! What a fucking life. Maybe the tides would turn in our favor though. I don't know. I would really like a chapter where nothing bad happens. I mean, I guess that would be boring, but damn I could use one of those right about now.
When thinking about the others we'd lost, I thought about Pinkie again. It was a shame that she was the first to die, given she would be the best stress-reliever at a time like this. I could really use some of her jokes right about now. I missed her. Maybe I could get a pink chainsaw in her honor.
There. See? I didn't drift into thinking about chainsaws when I started thinking about Pinkie P... Pink... Pinkie... Pi...
Would blood look weird on a pink chainsaw? I wonder if the red blood would accent the thing, or if it would make it look stupid. I guess you'd need to understand color theory to answer that question? I'm not sure, but a pink chainsaw would be pretty funny looking to begin with. It'd be really funny cutting up ponies with a pretty pink chainsaw while frolicking about in a field. Lol. Maybe I should get a different co-
Lightning bolt. Ow!
Ugh. Still, I mean... we were getting closer to the possibility of me getting a chainsaw, which was cool. It helped that Princess Luna demonstrated her mag-
WAIT A MINUTE! FUCK!!!
I should have just asked her right there! What kinda moron am I? God damn it, what a wasted opportunity! Of course my brain would hyper focus on fucking wings. Damn it.
Ah... whatever. My angry thoughts were distracting me from hearing Twi speak.
"D'mitry? Hello?" she repeated, waving a hoof in front of my face.
"Huh?"
I realized I'd fallen behind the others again. My leg felt a bit better, but my mind did not. I glanced at the others walking ahead of us, all having little conversations of their own.
"So... I got a favor I'd like to ask of you..." Twi said.
"Favor? What? You want another hoof massage or something?"
"I mean... if you're offering, yeah, but not now. I was wondering if you could... ah..."
She was avoiding eye contact as she walked beside me.
"What, Twi? Just spit it out. You wanna fuck again or something?"
She looked up at me with a straight face, also failing to hide some blush growing on her cheeks. "Nooooo... it's about Spike."
"Well, I am definitely not fucking Spike."
Twi took a second to raise her front hoof mid-walk and smacked my leg.
"You moron. I'm not asking you to do any of that. I just..." she sighed, "I know you two don't get along, but he's not doing so hot right now. He's very upset about Rarity, understandably so..."
I looked up. Spike was up ahead, laying on Dash's back as she walked. How he was keeping his balance is a full-on mystery, but he stayed relatively still as he gazed up at the sky.
"Okay? That's his problem."
"D'mitry, please. I was wondering if you could talk with him."
"Me?? You want me to talk to him?"
"Yes... please. Help him out."
Her serious tone caused me to burst out into laughter. She smacked me again, but I couldn't feel it as I stumbled around laughing. My laughter got loud enough to the point that Dash and Snow glanced back curiously. Twi waved a hoof at them to ignore my dumbass. Eventually, my laughter settled.
"You gotta be joking, Twi."
"I'm not, D'mitry. You little twerp. I have my reasoning. I know you two talking might escalate, but maybe him getting a little bit riled up will get it out of his system. If all goes well, hopefully you two can actually get along somewhat. You're the only male figure he has to look up to right now."
"Only mal- oh... right."
"Yeah. He still doesn't care for guards. Honestly, I would think you two rebellious assholes would get along just fine, but here we are."
"He's too much of a rebellious asshole. Completely out of line," I scoffed, crossing my arms.
"Oh my god," she whined, shaking her head. "Could you just do this for me?"
"So... let me get this straight, Twi... you want us to beat the fuck out of each other?"
"No! Fucks sake! Come on... you two can get along, I know you can. We don't have time for your hostility towards one another. Not now. I can't guarantee we won't be met with more zombie ponies, or even more of those stupid boys once we get to Canterlot. The last thing I need is you two beating each other up when somepony else needs help."
I took a second to ponder her reasoning. She was making sense, which sucked. I'd much rather just continue hating the little shit, but ah... I don't know. I continued thinking about it for another minute.
"Well?" she asked.
"I don't want to."
"Please?"
"Mmmmm, no."
"Don't make me whip you."
I couldn't hold back a snort of laughter. "Ok, Applejack. You and I both know you won't follow through with that."
"Don't be so sure!" she exclaimed.
She slowly pulled the whip out from her saddlebag and awkwardly hobbled along with it in hoof. It looked totally out of place. Only a few seconds later, she shook her head and defeatedly put it back.
"Damn it, D'mitry. Can't you just talk with him? I'm not asking much here."
"It won't go over well."
"What do you want? Tell me. We can make another deal."
"I wanna not talk to Spike."
"No... just... ugh," she groaned, "How about I put in some brownie points for you toward Princess Celestia?"
I chuckled. "And how would you pull that off?"
"I can make up a story. You saved me on day one, remember? That zombie pony darted out and jumped on me, but you whacked him away so I could blast him with my last magic. She'd appreciate that, don't you think?"
"But the pony knocked me over, and you saved..." ...
Twi's eyebrows fell as she looked up at me in annoyance.
"... ah... gotcha. You sure she'll believe that obvious lie of a story though?"
"How is it obvious, moron?"
"You know what, Twi? I don't like your attitude. No deal," I scoffed dramatically, crossing my arms again.
"You are so FUCKING annoying!" she hissed under her breath.
"Whatever, Twi. I'm not doing it. You'd have to suck my dick if you wanted me to talk to him," I retorted, my head held egotistically high.
"Okay," she replied.
I dropped my high and mighty act and glanced down to meet eyes with her again. "Huh?"
"I'll suck your dick if you talk to him."
"Uh..."
I averted my eyes. This threw me off a bit, and my hands felt a bit awkward, so I dropped them to my sides and fell into a daze. After a few seconds, I looked back at Twi, who was smiling up at me flirtatiously. I shook my head disapprovingly.
"That's not very princess-like of you."
"Oh shut the hell up. Deals on. Go talk to him," she replied, pushing my ass forward with her foreleg.
I wanted to retaliate, but would I really turn this deal down?
Of course not. Lmao. She knew as well as I did that I'd be hard-pressed to turn that offer down. She just said I had to talk to the little shit anyway, so maybe he wouldn't annoy me too bad. I made my way toward the front of the group where Spike laid on top of Dash's back. I skipped Spike for the moment and walked beside Dash.
"Hey, D. What's up?"
I leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I'm gonna talk with Spike for a minute."
Her eyes widened a bit before she whispered back, "You sure?"
"Yes. We'll be okay."
"If you say so... you want me to get him off?"
"No. Just keep walking."
"K."
I backtracked a bit to stand side by side with Spike, who continued gazing up at the sky.
"Hey bro, what's up? Literally," I said, nudging him playfully.
"Don't touch me fucker."
"Shut up scaly bitch."
"What the fuck do you want?" he scoffed, averting his eyes from the sky to glare at me.
"Chill. I just wanted to tell you something."
"Tell me what?"
I leaned down and whispered in his ear, "I picked up a gem earlier. I was gonna keep it, but Twi is pestering me about us being at each other's throats. Here's the deal: if you hang back with me and promise to make peace for now, I'll slip you the gem. Sound good?"
He eyed me for a solid few seconds before I noticed the hostility in his face settle. He sat up and leaned forward to whisper back.
"Deal."
Before Dash could react, Spike hopped off and walked beside me for a second.
"Thanks Dash," he said, "I'm good to walk for now."
I glanced back at Twi, who inspected us carefully from the back of the group. Spike and I then randomly started talking about where we would set up a kingdom if we were ever deemed kings as we nonchalantly fell back to the back of the group. I shooed Twi out of our conversation as we fell behind her as well. Soon, we were trailing behind, far enough from prying ears.
"Well? Show me," he said.
I took a second to pull out the rock I had picked up earlier. It only took him a second of looking at it before he got angry.
"That's a fucking rock, you dumbass."
"Nah, it's a gem."
"No the fuck it isn't."
Oh well. Figured that was a long-shot.
"Same thing."
As he went to reply, I pulled my arm back. I threw the rock at a perfect trajectory, and clocked the little bastard in the side of his head. He damn near fell over as rage consumed his little dragon ass. Before I knew it, he rushed up to me and swiped his claws at my thigh. It was clear he was going for a ballsack shot, but I thankfully staggered out of the way. It took us just seconds before we started beating the living shit out of each other.
"WHOA WHOA WHOA!" I heard Twi yell.
Spike and I ignored her as we tussled. The little bastard was half of my size, sure, but this fucker had some SHARP ass claws. Of course his little ass wasn't going to throw fair punches when I towered over him. After a failed juke, his claws tore through my arm. It was then that I saw an opportunity to lift him up. I wrapped both of my arms underneath his armpits before hooking onto his back and using all my weight to pull him up. Then, when he was up to my face, I intentionally fell backward and slammed his ass to the ground WWE style.
Before I could celebrate annihilating his little ass, we were both pounced on by the royal guards. My adrenaline had me tussling with Blaze for a moment before I gave up, raising my hands above my head as I laid on the ground. He restrained me while Twi rushed up to my side.
"Are you fucking serious, D'mitry?!"
"I don't know what you expected, Twi. That's kinda what I envisioned happening in my head."
"You shithead," she scoffed, before turning to Blaze. "Let him up, please."
Blaze backed away from me, allowing me to slowly sit up.
"Spike," Twi called, "Come sit next to D'mitry. Right now."
"But Twili-"
"NOW!"
I turned to see Drift back away from Spike. Spike moseyed his way and angrily sat next to me. Twi made her way to stand in front of us, angrily glaring between us.
"I hope you both got it out of your systems, because if you two fight again, I will whip both of you. Not only that, but I will notify Princess Celestia, and she will probably spank both of you as well. Do not make me do that. Just try to get along. Act if you have to. But do not make me punish you. Understood?"
"Understood, Twi."
Spike huffed. "Twilight. He threw a fucking rock at my face!"
Twi was about to shout at him for not listening, but this info got to her. She turned her attention to me, an even more furious glare in her eyes. "You threw a rock at him?!"
"No..."
"YES HE DID!" Spike retaliated.
"No I didn't. I threw a gem at him."
"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"
Spike leapt up and swung one of his claws at me. I had the reaction time to dodge by intentionally falling back to lay on the ground. When he wound up his arm again for a second shot, I'd started rolling away. It didn't matter, because after I rolled, I noticed he'd been snatched by both of the guards.
As he squirmed around and I sat back up, Twi kept her eyes closed, processing her frustration. She eventually opened them and looked around for the rock I threw. When she found it, she pointed to it and looked at Blaze.
"Hoof me that rock."
Blaze disconnected from Spike, leaving Drift to hold his angry little dragon ass back. He then followed her orders and gently hoofed her the rock.
"Twi, what the hell are you-"
Whack!
"Ow!"
Twi unexpectedly swung around and clocked me in the cheek with the rock. The rock bounced off and thudded on the grass beside me. I shook my head and held my battle-scared cheek, which irritatingly stung now.
"Do not throw shit at him again. And you," she hissed, turning back to Spike. "I saw those little claw shots of yours, fyi. No more claw shots. You know how much damage those can do to him."
"Bu-"
"No. That's an order. Understood?"
He huffed defeatedly. "understood."
"Good. Now let's get a move on already. I'm not stalling for Canterlot any damn longer."
After Snowheart assessed our wounds and wrapped my cuts up, we'd continued to Canterlot. We were finally starting to climb the treacherous mountain now. I was still towards the back of the group, keeping my distance from Spike. Even though we hated each other, I honestly felt a lot better now. I don't know if he felt the same, but beating the crap out of him made me feel pretty good. I kinda wanted to beat his ass again. But I refrained.
As we started climbing the mountain, Twi left Spike's side and fell back to walk beside me. I spoke out before she did.
"So... Twi..."
She glanced up at me. "What?"
"I mean... I did talk to Spike, still. You know, eve-"
"No. You blew it. I'm not sucking your dick now, moron. I told you to make peace."
"No you didn't. You're making stuff up now, Twi. That might be what you wanted, but all that you asked is that I talk to him. I remember, seeing as the stakes were so high."
She rolled her eyes. "Not like it matters right now. We can argue about it later. Anyway, I was planning on us starting to run now. Are you well enough to run?"
"What? Why the fuck would we start running now?" I scoffed, glancing up at the increasingly steep path ahead of us. "You want to sprint up the side of the damn mountain?"
"Yes. I want to get there with plenty of sun to spare. We'll be fine. It'll be more of a jog."
I huffed. "Fine."
So we began running. This was honestly the dumbest, most pointless thing I think we'd done. My legs were hurting at each step, and we had to slow to a walk every fifteen seconds due to the severity of the climb. However, we continued up this way, eventually making it to the hills in front of Canterlot's gates. As we crested the ridge, the front towers stood tall ahead of us. The gate, even from this distance, stood like a gateway to heaven.
"Keep an eye out," Twi stated, "Remember... D'mitry said that Luna mentioned a human in Canterlot recently."
Buzzkill.
"Come on, Twi," I replied, "you don't think Celestia, Luna, and all the royal guards could handle a few humans?"
She eyed me carefully. "I don't know. It seems that your kind is a lot more dangerous than we once thought."
"I mean... yeah. I thought y'all knew that before this all started."
She sighed. "No. We didn't."
"Well, it's good that y'all have me then."
Her and I exchanged a wary smile before walking closer to the gate. Her smile at least. Mine was more maniacal. She stopped us before we got to the river/wannabe moat out front.
"Hold on... something's off."
"Bruh. It's been like 5 days or something. Can we not just reap the damn rew-"
"Stay right where you are!" a masculine voice boomed over what sounded like a speaker.
Uh, ok? We're already fucking still, but whatever. Actually, that didn't sound like the Author, but... Author, that wasn't you, was it?
No. I don't use quotes. Just a literary tool. Now shut up and continue.
Okay, sheesh. We stood still for a few more seconds, all of us carefully observing the front wall of Canterlot. As I was scanning, I noticed a slight movement in one of the windows high up beside the gate. When I turned my gaze to see, I was shoved forcefully to the side by either Twi or Dash.
BANG!
A gunshot cracked by my ear as I fell sideways. Within seconds, we all darted back behind the ridge behind us. It wasn't a big ridge, but it was enough to block us from sight of the wall. On my right side, Dash cursed and glanced over at me fearfully. "D'mitry! Were you hit?!"
I felt around my head, despite not feeling pain anywhere.
"Uh, no. Unless I'm dead."
"Okay good. Nice one, Twilight."
Still laying against the ridge, I turned my head to look at Twi on my other side. Though appearing terrified, she smiled warily at me again. She had shoved me out of the way.
"Thank you, Twi."
Blaze spoke up, "Princess. Why are they shooting at us?!"
"Humans?" Twi suggested.
"Humans," Dash repeated, "gotta be the humans."
"Fucking humans," I commented.
Twi sighed. "Tell me about it. Seriously, though, I think I saw a human head in that window."
"Fuckers," I hissed.
"Come back out! Our bad! We had a misfire."
Psssssht. Fucking assholes.
"FUCK YOU!" I shouted.
"D'mitry!" Twi exclaimed, "Shut the fuck up!"
"Why? They already know who we are."
"Well... they don't know what we're doing."
"Uh yeah, neither do we."
"Seriously. Come back out. We need to have a chat, Pony Lover."
"Fucking hell," I said, plopping my face down against the grass frustratingly. I felt Twi rub my back as we sat in silence for a minute. Then a new voice boomed over the speaker.
"Heeeey Pony Lover! Is it really you out there? Long time no see. Why don't you come on out so we can talk?"
Okay? That gave me no fucking information. The voice sounded familiar, but not really. Crackly ass speaker. We all bickered with each other for another minute as we tried to come up with a strategy to get out of this situation. There was no turning back either, cause we'd be leaving the cover of the ridge. The voice boomed again, this time carrying a deeper, more serious tone.
"Pony Lover. Come out. Now."
I threw my finger above the ridge. I don't think I need to explain which one.
Okay, I will. It was the index. I first pointed at where they should be before flipping them off with the middle. After awkwardly holding it up for a minute and slightly waving it so they wouldn't blow it off, we heard the gate start to creak open. When I went to raise my head to see, Twi smacked me and yanked me back by the collar. A new voice boomed over the speaker.
"Come on now. Pete's comin' to have a chat with you lot."
Pete? No fucking way.
This time, both Twi and I stubbornly raised our heads slightly above the ridge. We watched the drawbridge settle once it was down, and a human came strutting out. It only took me a second to realize it really was Pete.
The Pete who had made me Captain Asshole. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Drop it | Discord had betrayed us again? At a time like this? What was wrong with him? I suddenly had doubts whether or not Flutters was okay.
"Should we shoot him?" Dash asked.
"If he gets too close ..." Twi said, "I'll say fire when I want you guys to shoot him."
We watched as he approached slowly. Then he stopped about halfway from us to the gate. "We only want the human to show himself," he said.
I looked at Twi. She frowned. We were all loaded and ready to attack him in a hail of bullets on Twi's signal.
"Well? Can we bring the human out? I'll even lower my gun if that helps." He lowered it, but revealed a grenade in his hands.
"The guys in the towers won't!" I shouted.
"Wait a minute ... your voice sounds familiar ... are you ... pony lover?"
I exchanged another glance with Twi.
"Should I ..."
"No," Twi answered.
"Well, we gotta do something ..."
"We haven't got all day," Pete said.
"Twi ... can't we just shoot 'em?" Dash asked.
"That wouldn't be nice," a voice sounded from behind. I heard Twi yell before shuffling, and turned around to see Jen, the one girl from before with a gun to Twi's head.
"Put it down!" I yelled, and aimed my Beretta at her.
"Hey! I will shoot her! Put it down!" she yelled.
I lowered it in the hopes she'd let Twi go.
"And don't surround us, or I'll gun you all down," she ranted.
"Don't do this ... Jen ... give her to me."
Pete was over the ridge before we knew it, with his automatic smg ready to wipe us all out.
"Drop all your guns," he demanded. The others listened and dropped their guns. The guards were hesitant before dropping theirs, and now it was just me.
"Pony lover ... it is you. Wait ... didn't I bash your eye in? I swear I witnessed it die."
"Magic healed it." I gripped Beretta in my hand.
"Drop the gun or we'll shoot."
"I'll drop it when Jen releases Twi," I proclaimed.
They exchanged glances. Pete looked back at me.
"Just drop your damn gun."
Sticking to my word, I held it in neutral state. I wasn't letting it go until they let Twi go. But I wasn't going to die stupidly. I wasn't going to pull it up.
"Like I said before ... we don't have all day."
"I'm not dropping it."
"Bang!" a shot whistled past me. I jumped but didn't pull it up.
"We'll call that 'Your final warning'."
I don't know if it was instincts or rage that led me to finally pulling up Beretta. Two bullets ripped through my shirt, but didn't prevent me from firing seven or eight rounds at Pete, striking him in the shoulder and torso multiple times. We both screamed out in pain after dropping our weapons. I could feel blood seeping out the holes in my shirt already. Had I messed up? I scurried to lean over and pick up my gun as a distraction towards Jen.
"Pete!" she screamed, and dropped Twi. I got a glance of her running away before I fell backwards from weakness. Sound was becoming a blur. Everybody's voice was muffled. Instead of using energy to lift up Beretta, I laid back, clenching my stomach. The blue sky was darkening. The clouds were shaking. I felt my heartbeat in my skull.
I had messed up ...
I was falling unconscious while the others needed me ... again.
"Devan ..." I barely heard Twi. I saw her clearly for a second before blurring up again.
"I ... I'm sorry ... Twi."
"I'm sorry." She teared up and hugged me.
"It wasn't your fault."
I couldn't hear what I was saying very well, but that didn't matter. Snow ran up to me.
"Lift up his shirt," she told Twi. I would have myself, but my muscles were already extremely sore from the gunshots and blood loss. There was another shot and Jen's scream.
"I'm so stupid ... always blacking out when you need me ..."
"Devan, th-" a few more guns blared, "-thanks to you, we're safe from Jen and Pete. Don't worry about us."
"Thanks ... Twi ..." The blurriness and muffle returned before falling black. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Lizard Boyfriend | No fucking way. After all that damn ranting and whining Discord put us through, he ACTUALLY betrayed us? What the fuck is wrong with him? What bullshit was he causing now? He sounded genuine in the rant, sure, but he can be a pretty damn good actor too. I now had doubts about whether or not Flutters was okay.
I mean... you know... as much as she can be in her zombie-turning adventure.
Nevermind.
Still behind the ridgeline, we were all holding our guns now. We hesitantly kept them down, ready to raise them if we were ambushed or shot at. Dash eventually peaked over the ridge after Twi and I did.
"Should we shoot him?" she asked.
"If he gets close..." Twi whispered back, "Okay. Here's the plan. When I whistle, everybody pop up and shoot. You all aim for him, and I will try to get the guy in the window."
"Nah," I replied, "whistling is too, like, predictable."
She glared at me. "Then what do you suggest?"
"I don't know. Maybe moan? That'll throw 'em off like crazy."
"I'm not gonna fucking moan!"
"Oh, I'll make you moan, baby," I winked.
Twi looked back at me disapprovingly, her purple irise-
Smack!
My head booped the grass after she whacked it.
Pete then shouted from over the ridge. "Yellllo??!! Pony Lover. You either come out now, or we'll kill you!"
Before Twi could stop me, I threw up my middle finger again. He continued.
"You have a chance to survive this, moron! I'd suggest you play your cards right! Don't make me come over there and cut your other eye out too!"
I waited for another twenty seconds before growing impatient and turning to Twi.
"Well? Fucking whistle already."
"No, D'mitry. I'm trying to not get us killed here."
I huffed, and before Twi could stop me again, I shouted back, "I'll come out! Only if y'all drop your fucking weapons!"
Smack!
My head booped the grass again as Twi's angry voice whispered, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"
I brushed the back of my head, which was understandably annoyed at getting whacked over and over again. "C'mon, Twi. There's no other way out of this."
I could see Twi's anger fade a bit, but Pete spoke out from over the ridge before she could respond.
"Well! We won't drop them, but we'll lower them! How's that sound?!"
"Great! Shithead."
A few seconds.
"Okay! We lowered 'em."
"You sure?!"
"You're gonna have to see for yourself, idiot!"
I started poking my head out, but Twi pulled me down.
"Twi! Stop. Don't you want-"
"Yes! But let me check first. You aren't going out there yet."
"Why not?"
She ignored my question as she raised her head and checked.
"Well? Are they down?" I asked.
"They are," she answered, before looking at me nervously. "Just stand up, okay? Don't walk up to him."
"K."
Keeping my baby held at my side, I slowly came to a stand, granted full vision of the front wall and gate again, as well as the asshole himself. We were still a ways (maybe 30 feet?) from each other, but I could still see his ugly ass smirk from here.
I think I'm like, biased, since I hate him or whatever, but this motherfucker's ugly as hell.
Definitely biased.
Bruh.
Anyway... this ugly ass motherfucker stood about my height, wearing a stupid, blue, long-sleeve denim shirt. No offense if you are, reader... it probably looks better on you anyway. This fucker though? Fashion disaster.
He also wore black cargo pants and that same stupid ass black bandana around his neck. Wannabe gangster lookin' ass. Bet he grew up in a nice home with 2 loving parents aching for divorce which in turn made his childhood "unbearable" and caused him to grow up to be the empty-brained shithead he's being right now.
Sheesh. What, are you projecting now?
No! I'm just sayin'. This fucker has brat written all over his ugly ass face. I wanna beat his ass and drag him through some mud holding his swept back brown hair and watch the terror in his brown eyes as his ugly face is soaked in more brown like his pants will be after shitting himself relentlessly after I stab 27 holes in his intestines and gallbladder, makin' him bleed brown and red at the same time and draggin' his ugly face through the vile combination so he chokes on his own feces-coated blood stained on the grass, meanwhile cutting his left eye out the socket and stitchin' it to the head of his penis so he can watch me chop his balls off with a mache-
Jesus, D'mitry! Chill the fuck out, you psycho!
I huffed.
Fine.
So... he looked young, like me. I also noticed he was wearing black, ankle high boots. That was probably the only cool thing he was wearing. I kinda wanted his boots. I hope they fit me after I kill his ass. We met eyes, which caused his to widen.
"What the hell? How'd your eye recover from that? I swear I cut deep."
"I'm more powerful than you can ever imagine," I touted.
"Pssht. Yeah right. What, did your 2-story mutant lizard boyfriend heal it after sending us away?"
What? Discord didn't betray us? This confused me.
"Bruh. His name is Discord, and he's gonna rip your asshole in half after I tell him what you just said."
"Nah man. He may rip your asshole apart at night, but he's not gonna come close to me anymore."
Even more confusing.
"Fuck you! Shitface. Shouldn't you be back on Earth getting pestered by the FBI by now?"
"Well, I would be, if your lizard boyfriend actually knew how to use his magic."
"What the hell do you mean by that?"
Pete took a second to laugh by himself. Fucks sake. Even his laugh was ugly. After he was done huckling on himself, he continued.
"Yeah, long story short, he just sent us back here. Real genius. Anyway, this isn't about him. This is about you. Come here, Pony Lover."
"Nah, I'm fine here."
"No, you aren't."
"Yes, I a-" I started, glancing back down at Twi. I'd expected to see her hovering over the ridge beside me, keeping an eye out. However, she was sitting back, with a cold look of fear gazing back up at me.
She also had an arm wrapped around her neck, and a pink pistol pointed at the side of her head.
Behind her was that same bitch teenage girl from the castle, who tried sticking up Dash and me in the bush. She sat close behind Twi, shielded from the others on my right side. Ms. BigTits Mcgee glanced up at me with a tired, dissatisfied look on her face. She even had a tad of black still around the eye I'd socked her in.
"Hey again, asshole..."
I glanced back at the others, but they were in no position to do anything. I looked back at Pete, but by now, he'd started walking. He continued walking up to the other side of the ridge, within throwing distance from one another.
"It's been a pleasure, Pony Lover. But I need you to come with me now."
"And why is that?"
"You'll find that out when I say so. Drop your gun."
I held the gun at my side, occasionally glancing down at Twi.
"Now," he hissed, "We already got a sniper trained on your dumbass. Wanna test his aim?"
Through my anger, I still chuckled a bit. "From what we've seen, probably trash lol."
Pete shook his head, but refrained from commenting. After another stretched-out ten seconds, they realized I wasn't going to comply. The bitch holding Twi up spoke out.
"Just drop it, moron. You're making things a whole lot worse for yourse-"
Surprise!
I'm fucking deranged!
My gun was already out, so I threw it up and aimed at Pete. Unfortunately, he had some insane reflexes. My barrel was up first, I think, and I quickly fired off some rounds. Pete was close, but I think my heart was beating so hard that it was throwing off my already inexperienced aim.
No matter. In the few chaotic ass seconds, I think a few shots blasted him in the chest. I also felt a sharp pang in my chest, causing me to immediately stagger before falling back. He fell as well, so now the ridgeline was blocking our views. After falling, I'd expected to immediately turn my gun on the bitch holding Twi up, but getting shot in the chest REALLY FUCKING HURTS.
I writhed on the ground, fueled only by adrenaline, as I squirmed in an attempt to figure out what the fuck I was doing. As I clutched my chest, I eventually came back to reality and tried to raise my gun at the girl. She was still there, but she hadn't shot Twi. I clumsily swung the gun in their direction.
"Wait!" the girl cried.
I recklessly shot toward her. She immediately dove behind Twi and used her as a shield. I was forced to quit shooting. Pain radiated through my chest, causing me to fumble my baby to the side. I heard shots from the others ring out beside me. As I squirmed on the ground, I noticed the girl sprinting away, toward the forest by the cliff to our left. My vision started blurring though, and pain was growing as my adrenaline slowly wore off.
"D'mitry!" Twi shouted, rushing up to my side. Her face blurred in and out, and sound was starting to echo in my ears.
Shit. I'd messed up again, hadn't I? I spit up what I thought was saliva, but felt the warmness of blood. As I struggled to realize how badly I was hurt, more gunfire rang out. I heard shots cracking over the ridge, causing the others to push up against it. Snowheart rushed up to my other side.
"Cut open his shirt!" she shouted at Twi, yanking off her saddlebags.
Twi took a knife of some sort from Snowheart and immediately started cutting open my shirt. I coughed up some more blood.
Author, please. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Don't kill me like this. This is a lousy ass death.
Mmkay... you're gonna have to consult with physics on this one.
Physics???
Mmm... yeah, somethin' like that. Only so much I can do. Maybe don't keep getting yourself shot, moron.
Fuck you!
"Hang in there, D'mitry!" Snow cried.
"No... dammit..." I muttered, "My lucky shirt!"
Twi finished cutting it open and retorted, "Yeah well, you're not that lucky right now. Just relax."
"Ah... I'll... be... fi..."
My eyes closed for a moment. A worried Twi looked back down at me as she shook my shoulder.
"No, D'mitry. Please just keep them open."
"Mmm... nah, I'mma take a na-"
"D'mitry!"
"What?" I groaned, "I'm... sorry, Twi."
My eyes shut again, as I couldn't physically keep them open. Damn this shit makes you tired. It only took seconds for me to fall to the darkness. As I did, I hoped they'd be alright. I also hoped that Pete and that other bitch were dead and gone. As for me...
Was this it?
Was this the end?
Was this D'mitry's farewell to existence?
Was this the end of the story?
What a bullshit endin-
Shut the hell up |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Comatose | It was darkness. I couldn't remember what just happened, but only a few moments passed until I woke up. Expecting to be around Twi and the others, I was surprised to find myself in the hospital again. But something was off. It was too realistic to be Ponyville's hospital.
I heard slow beeps. All the pain I had experienced when being shot wasn't there. I noticed the realism more with every second. This couldn't be right.
There was an oxygen mask on my face and wires around my torso. I felt an IV strapped on my left arm. There was an open door to the bathroom on my right, as well as a chair and more medical equipment. I noticed a TV on the wall in front of me.
There were no TVs in Equestria that I knew about. I started panicking. Was I still in Equestria? The IV machine began beeping. I leaned forward as much as I could with the mask to see what it looked like. It was detailed as much as the ones back on Earth and had smaller buttons.
The door opened, drawing my attention. A man with a white doctor's coat came through.
"Gah!"
"Wah!"
We both jumped at the sight of each other. I hadn't expected a human to come in.
"Devan ... you're up!" he said. He rushed to my IV machine to press some buttons. A woman nurse, who must have overheard us, came through the door. She looked surprised before leaving.
"Where am I? What time is it? Where's Twi?"
"Calm down, Devan. You just woke up from a ten month coma."
My body froze. Realism struck me knick in the chest. It was the reverse of waking up from a nightmare. I had awoken to a nightmare.
"No!"
"Devan ... are you alright?"
He made the beeping stop and stood next to my bed. The nurse came back with another doctor.
"Look who's up. How was the ten month nap?" the other doctor joked.
"Where am I?" I asked again.
"You're at Emory. Near Atlanta."
Atlanta ...
My memory clicked. Atlanta was the city I had lived in before waking up in Equestria. It was the city my father was mugged. It was the city I had lived homeless for just about two years. It was the life I hadn't wanted. And now it was back.
"He's finally awake."
"How are you feeling?" the first doctor asked.
"Horrible ..."
"Any pain that's over the top? We can get you on pain meds ..."
I thought for a moment.
"Yes, please. I can barely feel my ... arms."
"Alright. You heard the man. Can you get a pack of pills while we evaluate his pain?" he asked a nurse. She set off.
I wasn't really feeling any pain, but I thought it would numb me back to Ponyville if I was lucky.
"So, Devan ...who's this Twi you're asking about? Is she a relative?"
Oh boy ...
"She's ... yeah, just a relative ..."
"Don't worry about her yet. We'll get everything sorted out in the next few days."
Pills ... please work.
"We're going to remove the mask in about half an hour. We gotta make sure everybody knows you're awake. I'll look in the book for your relative Twi."
"But ... sir ... um ..."
"Yes? Don't talk if you're too tired."
"No ... it's not that. It's just ... Twi isn't a relative. I don't know if she's real or not," I said.
Of course she is. Don't be stupid.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Maybe a dream."
You know it wasn't. Don't be stupid.
"A dream? Was it a long dream?"
"Yes ... definitely."
Most of the nurses and doctors were gone. I felt liquids from the IV cooling my veins. The other machine beeping had stopped. Most of the wires were taken away.
"We'll let you rest. We'll wake you up to take off the mask, then you can sleep however long you need."
Another ten months maybe?
My brain was still interpreting the fact that I was back in the world. What if Twi and the others didn't make it? Celestia and Luna didn't know I was gone yet. Was my whole body gone from Equestria or just my spirit?
The first doctor left, leaving the room empty and the door closed. I laid back and tried to relax. For now, I'd see if rest could let me escape this world. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) BWAHH | It only took a few moments until I woke up again. The pain I'd just felt from before was gone.
Awe shit. Am I dead? Am I about to meet the Author? ... ... ...
I waited to hear from the Author, but there was no response. I started to worry as I slowly opened my eyes to a room dimly lit by Celestia's sun. I felt a soft feeling beneath me, and I think I was laying on a pillow.
I also heard slow beeps to my side. Like an IV machine. It became clearer that I was at some kinda hospital. Ponyville hospital? Canterlot? As I slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together, I felt something strapped over my mouth. I glanced down, my vision still blurry, and noticed a tube sticking up from a mask. An oxygen mask. Okay...
I also felt an IV strapped to my left arm, underneath some blankets laid over me. When I went to raise it, I noticed a television on the wall in front of me.
Wait a minute. ... ... ...
There were no TVs in Equestria. My heart started beating faster as I shot up. Or... slowly pulled myself to a sit. My body was pretty numb, so everything was a bit difficult to move. The blankets on top of me were also pretty heavy. The monitor beside me started beeping faster. It sped up a little bit until a loud, annoying alarm started ringing from it.
Stupid fucking thing.
I started panicking. I raised my right hand and tried to pull my oxygen mask off, which only triggered an even louder alarm behind me. I slowly squirmed in the bed, but these blankets were making it difficult. I mean... it was comfortable, sure, but I was also freaking the fuck out.
Where am I? What the fuck is this?
I squirmed for another few seconds before the door flung open. An older looking white man with a white doctor's coat came through, immediately startled once we met eyes.
"Gah!"
"WAH!"
"WHOA!"
"BWAHH!"
"D'mitry!" he exclaimed, rushing up to the monitor. "Jesus Christ, hold on buddy."
As he fiddled with the monitor and turned off its alarm, a black lady in scrubs came rushing in the room as well.
"Oh lordy, he's awake!" she commented, fast-walking to the doctor's side, her enormous built-in airbags bouncing on their journey.
They both turned their attention to me once the monitor and the siren on the wall finally shut the hell up. The doctor turned to the lady and asked her to grab something before turning his attention to me.
"Son, just lay back down for now. I know you're probably itching to figure out what's happening, and I will tell you in a minute. Just lay down."
It was taking a hot minute for me to come down from my shock, so I slowly laid myself back down on the bed. The doctor took this opportunity to run the blood pressure cuff on my other arm as he checked more of the equipment surrounding us.
"Where the fuck am I?" I asked.
"You're at Emory, son. Near Atlanta."
Oh shit.
I was back! NOOO! This had to be some kind of nightmare. I was back on Earth now, near where I used to live before the alicorns beamed me out of existence. Or at least, that's what I thought! What the hell happened?
"What happened?"
"You've just woken up from a coma, D'mitry."
WHAT?! This made no sense! I thought the alicorns had pulled my whole body from Earth. There is no way that was a fucking dream, or some kinda stupid ass acid trip, right? Was it a dream? Author? ... ...
Author? ...
AUTHOR?
There was no response from the Author, which started freaking me out. Was my whole stay at Equestria A FUCKING DREAM? There is no way. It can't be true. I refuse to believe that. I could hear the monitor beeping faster beside me, and my heart was starting to thump out of my chest.
"D'mitry, please relax. I know this is scary news, but it's okay. Your vitals look good right now."
"How long?! How long was I in a coma?!"
"D'mitry... relax. Then I will tell you. It's not the worst case."
I tried to relax, but was having trouble.
"The nurse is getting you a sed-"
"NO! HOW LONG?! I'LL RELAX IF YOU TELL ME!" I exclaimed.
Another lady in scrubs came through the door, probably overhearing my voice. She eyed the doctor, but he told her everything was fine.
"D'mitry, look buddy. It's been ten months, alright?"
I froze. That was how long my stay in Equestria had been. Now, my brain was looping around itself. Even if it was a dream, which I could not come to realize, was it over? No... it could not end like this. I restrained myself from lashing out, barely, and quietly laid back on the bed.
"Son, don't worry. I know this news is not pleasant to hear. But everything is alright. You're finally awake."
"How did I get here?" I asked.
"We aren't entirely sure. You were picked up off the streets of Atlanta. Not to sound vague, but they found you unresponsive, with earbuds in your ear. From what I can recall, they believe you just passed out while walking down the street."
"Fuck... okay..."
This caused my brain to chill a little bit. I do remember being beamed into Equestria while I was walking downtown. So... not a dream? Either way, I was still concerned that it might be over. How would they bring me back?? I tried to settle my thoughts as the doctor continued.
"There is a lot to discuss, and we will discuss it when the time is right. For now, let's focus on getting you back to health."
The black nurse came back with a pill and a cup of water.
"What is that?"
"A sedative," she explained, "it will help you relax."
"I don't need to relax. I'm fine. I'm okay. Just leave me be for now. I have to think."
"D'mitry," the doctor said, "please, just take the sedative. It won't put you to sleep, it will just calm you. You can still think after taking it."
I angrily scoffed down the sedative.
"Okay, I'm calm," I said calmly, "Can y'all leave me alone? I need to think."
"Okay, sweetie," the white nurse said, raising the hospital remote and placing it by my side. "Just push this red button if you need one of us, okay?"
"Okay. Thank you."
The three of them made their way out, shutting the door softly behind them. Okay... what to do now. I waited a few minutes while I tried to think.
I then quickly ripped off my oxygen mask, but it set off the DAMN ALARM AGAIN! Fucks sake. Thankfully, the mask detached from me fully. Okay. Time to move. I grabbed ahold of the tape holding the IV in place, and braced hard before ripping it off. The needle pulled from my arm, causing a burst of pain to explode through it as blood was flung on my bedsheets. I tried to ignore this pain as I ripped off my blood pressure cuff and threw my legs over the side of the bed.
My body was still a bit numb, but adrenaline from the new shock had me bursting. I had to get out of here. I had to find Twi. How? I don't know. I wasn't thinking straight. But I was so upset about being taken from her that nothing mattered right now. If I had to find the street I passed out on before to somehow see her again, ah ... none of this is making any fucking sense. This was an irrational panic, but I was going to follow through with it somehow.
I have to see Twi and the others again. I need to. I sprinted to the window, just to find that I was very high up. What was that? 5, 6 fucking floors? Damn. Tall ass hospital. I instead sprinted to the door and threw it open. I stuck my head out briefly, noticing the black nurse from before rushing back down the hall... her melons continuing to bounce in her scrubs.
"D'mitry!" she screamed.
I quickly turned the other way, and began sprinting down the hall. I definitely looked like some crazed fucking lunatic in my hospital gown, bleeding out on the marble floor, but I had to get out of here. I had
OH SHIT!
I felt my numb-ish foot slip on the marble floor as I prepared a right turn, since the hallway was about to end. I was passing a receptionist desk when I slipped, falling face forward. I had a lot of speed in me when I slipped, causing me to slide as I fell. Before I knew it, my head slammed right into the wall.
Hard. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Tricks | She scurried forwards. Clouds were disturbing the sun's rays as she traveled alone. She hadn't managed to find Snips or Snails before setting off. Trixie had been alarmed when she saw the zombie ponies in the streets.
She had received news before setting off. Somehow, all magic and flying was disappearing. But she was still able to pull off spells she knew. She also knew there was a spell to return ponies in an injured or hypnotized-like state back to normal, but didn't know how to perform it.
That's why she was heading individually to Canterlot after packing some things and almost getting bit by an intruder. She hoped that Celestia could give her the spell to bring back the ponies who had been affected ... or maybe even bring back magic in general. She could be the hero of the apocalypse.
She would make it happen. Packed with snacks from AJ's shop, she would make it to Canterlot. She had just got in view of the train station. There was almost no way any trains were running, so she had expected having to run.
There were no ponies at the station, but she observed numerous red stains on the grass. She hadn't expected the train engine to be there. Neither had she expected to see bullet holes scattered on the train station's walls. The only glass remaining in the window was spikes and sharp bits on the edges.
She debated whether she should go in at all now. Time was ticking, so she made her decision quick. She ended up going around the station, ignoring the platform, and exploring the inside. There were little bits of glass scattered all over the station's floor. She also observed little blood stains on the glass and floor. Somepony had been cut by the falling glass or stepped over it to get something.
She was just about to leave when she heard voices from outside. They were not-so-deep stallion voices. Not wanting to startle anypony and cause an accident, she stayed inside. She worried that whoever it was would jump and mistake her for a zombie pony. She decided to call out to them and tell them she wasn't infected.
"Who's there?" one of them replied.
"It's Trixie," she answered.
She overheard one of them say, "I thought they only brought in Jen and Abby."
She gained interest, and leaned against the wall to eavesdrop.
"Pete was talking about letting a few of his girl friends in," the other voice whispered.
"But how is she here? We didn't get any new arrivals today."
"Fair point. Just ... draw your gun in case things get ugly."
Gun? She couldn't remember exactly what that was. She thought that she might've seen that word in The Human Explanation, a book written by Devan and Twi upon his arrival.
"We'll come around and meet you," he called.
She broke away. These didn't sound like any stallions she knew. They didn't sound friendly either. The only weapon she thought would work was a stun spell she'd known since losing the alicorn necklace, so she silently warmed it up and aimed for the door.
There was only the sound of their steps on the grass for a few seconds. It stopped. There was silence, then a bit of rustling.
Then they ran into view. They weren't stallions after all; they were boys like Devan. They carried foot long silver steel objects with a small barrel pointed right at her, reflecting the sun's light. She released the blue glow from her spell, slamming the taller boy in the chest and knocking him over. The shiny steel from his hands flew up and hit the smaller boy in the face, causing him to drop his own. He flinched before regaining control.
She warmed up another stun spell as the boy charged her unexpectedly. Only managing to throw a quarter power of her stun spell at him, he was barely phased. He tackled her, grabbing her horn with his hand. This only slowed the process of her magic. She warmed up a much less energy required shove spell as he slapped at her horn. The other boy would be lost in a daze for only a few more seconds now.
She readied the release of the shove spell as the other boy charged in. He grabbed a cone-like lock from his backpack and shoved it on her horn, shielding her magic while the other boy held her down. The cone locked over it, tightening itself over.
"Stop!" she yelled.
"Feisty one. But there's nothing to shoot us with now. Is there ... Trixie?" the taller boy laughed and stood up. They both tied leather lassos on her front hooves. She struggled against their pull.
"You should be lucky we aren't shooting you right now."
She wouldn't feel lucky until she could regather her magic enough to stab them with a dagger. Her horn throbbed with the tight lock securing her magic from getting anywhere. She tried flailing her head, but it was locked on tight. Her hooves were cuffed with lasso, preventing her from pulling it off.
Her magic wasn't strong enough to pry it off. It was a lost cause, but she fought as they pulled her on the train.
"We're going for a little ride, Trixie." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Black & White | She scurried forward. Above her, the skies were growing cloudy. It made sense. No pegasi to work in the clouds would likely mean abnormal, more severe weather than usual. Trixie figured as much.
Eh, we'll see.
"Huh?"
Trixie turned around, but there was nobody there. She swept her head left to right, attempting to locate the voice. She heard the voice chuckle, but realized its sound was coming from every direction. Her heart sped up.
Relax, Trixie. It's me, the Author.
"Author?"
Just think of me as your God.
Her eyes widened. What did this mean? Was she finally losing her mind?
"A god? No way."
Yes way. Sorry to drop in and scare you like that. I just figured it'd be best if you knew that I was here.
"O...okay?"
You don't have to speak out loud either. I can see your thoughts.
OH NO!
The Author chuckled some more as she tried to squander her most weirdest, sexual, and disturbing thoughts. They weren't even in her head at the time, but the voice triggered them out of the deepest parts of her memory.
Haha. Funny how that works. It's fine, Trixie. I don't judge... much.
"Um... okay?"
Carry on.
She slowly sped up to a walk again as she hesitantly glanced over her shoulders. Whatever this was was confusing her tremendously. The zombie apocalypse from out of nowhere was bad enough as is, but a random God showing up too? Bizarre. Maybe these really were end times.
She had grown to know the apocalypse in the past however many days, as she was forced to evade zombie ponies herself throughout town. She wished she had been doing her magic acts at Appleloosa or Dodge City instead of Ponyville when this crap struck, but time wasn't on her side. She was only a day away from setting off again and traveling there when things went south, so her magic chariot was thankfully packed with most of her stuff.
She originally thought about grabbing her magic chariot and getting the hell out of Ponyville. The sudden outbreak made it difficult though. She also didn't have her slav-... ...
...her wonderful helper colts Snips and Snails to help her lug it around. Lugging around a large chariot seemed like a bad idea right now anyway. These zombies were curious as ever. They were so curious, in fact, that they surrounded her a few days ago and trapped her inside a Ponyville home for days.
Bastards. She'd been trapped inside with the homeowner, who was also a unicorn. This is how she realized magic was vanishing.
At least... other ponies' magic. Hers was still intact for some reason. She didn't quite know why, but it didn't matter. She wanted to use it to her advantage now, and in the time she'd been trapped in the house, she came up with a plan.
She knew there was a book that possibly held the cure to this thing. You see, the idea of a zombie apocalypse happening wasn't unfounded. Ponies throughout Equestria had pondered the thought for decades, ever since the idea of a brain-altering illness was first spoken in folk-tale. This meant that a little bit of research had been done in the past to figure out whether or not this kind of illness was viable.
Surprise! It was--much to the dismay of Equestria.
Regardless, with knowledge of this potential cure being out there, she was destined to find it. She had searched the nearby Ponyville library, but had no luck. Her next plan of attack was visiting Twilight's castle, where she knew the brainiac probably had it. Seeing as though a cure wasn't being spread throughout Ponyville already, she hypothesized that even Princess Twilight herself had lost her ability to do magic.
Ha. Not to fret. The Great and Powerful Trixie would step in, grab this mysterious, long-forgotten book from Twilight herself, learn of its old and powerful spell, and save the world from the brink of destruction! She was a hero in the making! They would make statues of her throughout Equestria and everypony would worship her! This thought kept her going, as SHE was the one to solve this and NOTHING! would stand in her wa-
Somebody burnt the castle down. ...
"What?"
Castle got burnt down. ...
"Huh?"
Twilight's castle. Fire! Castle burn. Castle burn dooooown. ... ...
"Are you serious?"
Yeah. ...
"No fucking way."
She didn't believe the Author, so she continued on.
I'm telling you the truth, Trixie. I don't do that lightly. You should move on.
"Why would you even tell me that?"
To advance the story.
"What story? What the fuck are you talking about??"
Nevermind. Just move on. Castle is donezo.
"No."
I told you I can read your thoughts. You don't have to use quotes.
"Fuck you."
She noticed a quick white flash erupt above her head milliseconds before a bolt of lightning flashed from the skies and struck her. It didn't kill or even injure her... it just felt like a massive taser sending shocks throughout her body. Once it was done, she froze briefly before shaking off the shock from it.
"Was that you?!"
Nah. A random one in a million lightning bolt came down to strike you on a patchy day.
"You're a fucking asshole."
Pretty sure a regular lightning bolt would hurt a lot more than that too. Anyway, I'm just trying to subtly nudge you to make the right decisions.
"I subtly don't care. I'm going to the castle."
She wasn't far from the castle, so she trotted along the path. Eventually, she reached it, cresting over the ridge just to see the dark, partially collapsed, smoldering wreck of the castle.
Fuck.
Told ya. Stubborn bitch.
"Shut the fuck up!"
She was growing distaste for this new asshole of a God. In her disappointment, she reverted to her backup plan of heading to Canterlot. She wasn't fond of the journey that laid ahead, but it seemed necessary now. She still wanted to be a hero, of course.
After a solid bit of time sneaking past town in an attempt to not be seen by these freakish zombie ponies, she finally arrived at the train station. There were no trains, as she expected, so she'd have to walk. Her bag was filled with snacks and water in preparation for this anyway.
She approached the train station, not expecting to see blood stains on the grass out front and shattered glass on the train platform. The windows were almost fully blown out, too. It looked as though a mob of zombie ponies had rolled through. Although no dead bodies were laying around, she wondered how many pony lives were claimed in the vicious attack. Three blood-stained patches of grass in front of the tracks made her ponder.
She debated whether or not she should even check the inside of the train station. There was likely nothing in there, but from what she remembered, the clerk was an alcoholic. She could definitely use a Bud Light right about now. So, she made her way inside, only to find glass scattered below the front station windows. Among the bits of glass were blood stains. It looked as though somebody got cut by the glass themselves. She was careful not to make the same mistake.
She checked the mini-fridge by the back of the office, noticing more glass shattered in front of it. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was the remains of a Bud Light bottle, and the beer was now staining the floor.
Fuck.
She sighed, wishing she'd gotten to it first. As she closed the mini-fridge door, she started hearing voices outside. Startled, she moseyed her way to the side of the side door and listened in as the male-sounding voices grew.
"I'm just sayin'," one of them said, "this walk's stupid as shit. Dumbass idea."
"You're just lazy. Fat fuck."
"Nigga, shut the fuck up. You were whining five minutes ago."
"Yeah, about the train's lack of AC. Who came up with that shit? Makes no damn sense. Do these ponies just not fucking sweat or something?"
"I mean, why would they? They've got coats of fur, not skin. Dumbass."
"Shut up fatass."
These ponies?
What the hell were these voices talking about? What were these voices anyway? Dragons? She wasn't sure what kinda species would talk like this. Despite being worried about them, she could hear their steps growing closer to the door. Not wanting to startle them, she called out before they entered.
"Hey! Somebody is in here."
The steps stopped, and one of them called back.
"Who's there?"
"It's The Great and Powerful Trixie! I'm not one of them."
A moment of silence ensued before she overheard one of them speak softly to the other. Whoever it was clearly wasn't smart enough to realize she could hear them. In that case, these couldn't be pony voices.
"Trixie? I thought they only brought in Jen and Abby."
"Maybe they brought some more after us?"
"I thought they'd already ran out of magic though? How could they?"
"Fair point," one of them said, before raising his voice again, "Hey! We're not one of them either. Why don't you come on out? We won't hurt you."
She was hesitant, but there was no other way around this. She eased herself to the doorway, pushing the side door all the way open. She was stunned to see two humans, neither of which were D'mitry. One of them was even a different color than D'mitry was. She didn't know they came in different colors. One was tan, or white, like D'mitry, and the other was brown. Both of them had black objects in their hands with circle holes at the end that they were pointing right at her. Whitey lowered the object before glancing at the other.
"Well then. Just a pony."
Whitey stared at the other one for a few seconds, awaiting a response. Browny kept his object pointed directly at her. She wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it looked menacing enough to where she felt threatened. She started glowing her horn, warming up a stun spell.
"Whoa!" whitey shouted, raising his object again. This caused her to stop warming up the spell, her horn settling back to idle.
"See, nigga?! Keep her locked down!" browny scoffed.
"Well pardon my ass!" whitey retorted, "I thought they were all losing their magic. How the fuck's she still got it??"
Before browny could answer, Trixie angrily responded, "Excuse me? Did you idiots forget I'm still standing right here? Who the fuck are you two?! Did Princess Celestia bring you here?"
Whitey exchanged a glance with browny before lowering his object and answering, "She did actually. We didn't mean to scare you... our bad."
Browny, while keeping his object pointed at her, angrily looked over. "The fuck you doin'? She's gonna fuckin' kill us!"
"No she won't. Just hang on a minute. We can settle this."
"You white boys are so fucking belligerent. Y'all should be the first ones to die in horror movies. Idiots."
"Whatever fatass. Just relax. We can help her."
"Help me?" Trixie scoffed.
"Yeah," whitey replied, eying browny once more. He gestured for him to lower his object as well. "Bro... relax. We're good."
Browny hesitated, looking like he wanted to smack whitey upside the head. After a few more seconds of bickering, browny slowly lowered his object, keeping it in both hands.
Both of them stared at her for a second. She wasn't one to trust anybody, especially other humans. The only human she trusted was D'mitry, seeing as though he was the only one she knew. She kinda wished he was here right now to protect her. She trusted him a lot more, especially since they...
Fuck. She forgot the Author was reading her thoughts.
Okay? I'm also omnipotent.
Ugh.
She sighed. She was uncomfortable with the fact that this new God apparently knew her past. She still wanted to keep her business with D'mitry secret. They'd both promised to.
Both of the boys moved forward. She took a step back before stopping herself, trying not to look suspicious. They both stopped a few feet shy of the doorway.
"It's alright..." whitey said, "Trixie, right? We were sent by Celestia, like you said. We aren't bad guys, just a bit on edge."
"I don't care. I don't trust you," Trixie retorted, "What do you want?"
"We can help you... if that's alright with you."
"How can you help me?"
"So... you know about the whole apocalypse goin' on, right?"
Her eyelids fell sarcastically. "No, really? I thought I'd just missed out on a fun train station party. See, they even had fruit punch!" she exclaimed, throwing a hoof out to point toward the blood patches at the front of the station.
Whitey smiled. "You're funny. Fiesty. Anyway, we came here by train. We can take you back to... Canterlot?"
"Yeah," browny affirmed.
Whitey continued, "Cool beans. Canterlot. So... Canterlot is safe. Celestia brought us here to protect it. Why don't you come with us?"
He extended his free hand out to her. She didn't trust them, so she raised her hoof and slowly pushed away his hand in disgus-
Fucking shit!
While her hoof was pushing his hand away, he reached forward and firmly grasped it. With a bout of strength she hadn't expected, the fucker yanked her out of the doorway.
"Nigga! The fuck you doin'?!!"
"HELP!" Whitey exclaimed.
Trixie started warming up a shove spell, but she was delayed by whitey nearly shoving her ass to the ground. Browny joined in shortly after. With both of them working together, they managed to shove her body to the grass below.
Before she could release the hastily charged shove spell, she felt one of their hands squeeze down on her horn, slowly seeping the charge away. She fought against it, but the fucker squeezed even harder, preventing her from charging it up.
While she wrestled, wiggling her head in an attempt to free her horn, they yelled at one another to grab a conecuff. Before she knew it, the squeeze on her horn vanished. It was quickly replaced by the familiar, uncomfortable touch of a conecuff. It only took seconds before the conecuff covered her horn, quickly activating and squeezing her horn closed.
For reference, a conecuff is a magic-restricting cone that fits over a unicorn's horn. It'd been a while since she'd seen one of these things, which were usually used by the police. How these humans had one was beyond her, but it was definitely working for them. She tried to warm up a spell in retaliation, but it was no use.
"Let me go!! Shitheads!" she hollered.
Whitey laughed. "Nah, bitch. You're coming with us. Let's go for a little ride, Trixie." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Do your best | "Can't you try anything else?" Twi asked.
"I've tried everything I know. He's just in a coma. I've covered his wounds, but I'll keep checking his vitals frequently," the nurse replied.
Dash, Spike, and the guards were keeping watch with their automatic submachine guns. If anybody was going to sneak up on them, they'd be gunned down.
After Devan shot Pete, Dash had fired at Jen, but somehow she managed to run away through the trees. It was unknown whether she was hit or not, but Dash was keeping close watch on those trees.
Twi was heartbroken about losing Devan, even if it was temporary. He was breathing and his chest was moving up and down, but there was no response out of him.
"Twi, where should we go?" asked Spike.
"I don't know yet. Do you know how we can move Devan?"
"We could carry him," Blaze suggested.
"We need to keep him still for now," Snow said.
"I guess we wait," Twi accepted.
"Should we try to shoot them?" Dash asked.
"No ... we don't want to waste bullets ... and you saw their sniper rifles. Just keep a look out."
---- ---- ----
After five to ten minutes, nobody had snuck up on them. Twi used Spike to send a message to Celestia, with no reply.
"Maybe she's out of magic?" Spike asked.
"Could be."
She thought. It took them days to get here. It would take them days to get back to the hospital. Devan was doing just fine despite not responding. If Blaze could watch him, they could go on and take out the boys on the gate.
"Blaze? ..."
"Yes, your highness?"
"Will you be alright watching Devan while we gun down those boys?"
"Yes, your highness. How long will you be gone?"
"I'm guessing we can get through those boys on the gate, come back and get you, then move Devan in. Everypony will keep constant guard, right?"
"Right," everybody echoed.
"If only we had something that could help us get past those boys uninjured ..."
Just like that, a spark of light emitted behind them. It grew fast and shone for a few seconds before revealing a glass pane. It was a shield that was bigger than the average shield used by guards. On the back was a note. It read:
Do your best.
-Princess Celestia
"She must be very weak to send only three words," Spike suggested.
"You're probably right. We better hurry. Dash?"
"Yes?" she asked, but kept her attention on the bush.
"This shield is big enough to cover two ponies, I think. I need somepony strong to help lift it. Are you willing to do this for Celestia?"
"Don't need to ask me twice."
Dash grabbed on to the left side of the strap in the middle, and Twi grabbed the right. They flipped it sideways so it could cover them entirely.
"On the count of three ..."
"Alright."
"One ... two ..."
A slight pause.
"Three!"
Blaze watched as they leaped over the ridge and ran forward. He winced when he heard gunshots from the gate, but looked over again to see them still running. Spike stayed by Drift's side, carrying a light machine gun.
Twi and Dash hit the bridge running as it began lifting shut. There were no sound or gunshots for a few seconds after the drawbridge shut. Everypony drew their guns over the ridge, since they couldn't see the heads of the snipers anymore.
"Should we go?" asked Snow.
Blaze grabbed Devan's arm and threw him over his back, locking his arm around his neck. Drift grabbed his legs and tossed them over his back, locking his left around his own neck.
"Let's go," Drift said.
There were gunshots as they ran for the drawbridge. They heard a boy's scream over the speakers before quickly falling silent after a gunshot. Another boy yelled as gunshots blared.
Now they were waiting at the foot of the river. Twi probably knew how to lower the drawbridge, so they waited anxiously.
It lowered only seconds later. Twi and Dash were surprised to find them already there. "We thought you were gonna wait at the ridge," Dash said.
"That's not important," Twi replied, "Let's just hurry up. Celestia needs us."
Spike checked their backs and Snow rejoined Twi.
"We'll set Devan down in a room we found on the gate. Then we can clear the streets and report to Celestia. Got it?"
"Right," everypony replied simultaneously.
Moving quickly, they climbed steps to get to the room Twi was talking about. They had gone to a small tower connected just behind the right side of the gate. They entered to find a small room with just a window, desk, and chair. They carefully set him down in the chair and shut the door.
"You think he'll be okay?" Dash asked.
"I think so," Twi answered.
They trotted out of the tower and began running. Both guards took position behind them, seeing as their backs weren't covered. They would take bullets to their backs in order for the others to be safe. Keeping their speed up was important right now. There could be more humans and/or zombie ponies in Canterlot. They had to hurry through.
Running at a decent house per three seconds, they sped to the castle, fighting through any of their injuries. All of them expected somebody to show and attack them, because the speakers being set up at the gate spread the message that these boys might've claimed Canterlot a while ago.
And their hunch was correct. With all of them sprinting forwards, nopony was checking their backs. They didn't see the gunshots from behind them coming, and one nicked the leg of Blaze.
He fell forwards and slammed into the ground. The situation turned dire within seconds. Another bullet ripped fur off his hooves. Something exploded right in the middle of them, deafening Blaze, Drift, Dash, and Snow temporarily. Everypony dived on the ground. Their vision was blurred by smoke as bullets shot through it. Another bullet from their front bounced Drift's armor.
"There's nowhere to go!" Dash yelled at Twi. Bullets rang. They fired at where they thought the attackers could be. Another explosion. More smoke. There was too much of it and too many bullets for Snow to help anypony.
"Blaze!" Drift yelled, "We ne-" he started, before a shot penetrated his chest. He fell forwards.
"Drift!" Blaze staggered up. Something else hit him instead of a bullet. He quickly observed a grenade unlike the smoke grenades. It was a real grenade!
Thinking quick, he sacrificed himself by snatching up the grenade as fast as possible and stuffing it in his tough leather saddlebag right before it blew up. The blast got through the tough leather, but only hurt him, throwing him up and burning his chest and legs. He fell unconscious as he slammed into the ground again.
"Blaze!" Dash screamed, "Twi, we have to give up!"
She didn't have time to think about this now, so she made a quick decision.
"Ceasefire, guys!" she yelled, "We give up!"
The gunshots came to an unexpected stop. The smoke hurt their eyes for a few more seconds. Both the guards had taken their toll from shielding everypony's back. Both of them lay unconscious around forming blood pools. Now the smoke was clearing and coughs were the only sound.
The boys, six in total, came through it. Three from the back and three from the front. Not all of them had rifles or SMGs. In fact, four of them had pistols, automatic or not. They all wore bandanas and backpacks.
"Please," Twi begged, "help our two injured friends."
One of them chuckled and kicked Twi square in the face. She fell from the blow. "Yer lucky we're not killing ya' on the spot." He had an Irish/Scottish accent in his voice. All of them huddled together, surrounded by the boys.
"Phil, can you check to see if Zach and Marcus are okay?"
Phil nodded and left.
What if they find out? Twi wondered. When they find their dead bodies, they're going to slaughter us.
The boy who sent him off stood face to face with Twi.
"What have ya' done to our brothers?" he spit. The five boys kicked away their guns. Drift and Blaze were gone. Snow wasn't allowed past the boys to help them. She figured it was no use anyways; the wounds looked deadly and she knew exploding, even if slightly, wasn't good in any circumstance.
"We were defending ourselves," Twi replied. He spat on her again.
"Piss off!" Dash reacted, stepping up for Twi. He slapped her. Fighting her loyalty, she didn't react negatively.
"Where do ya' think yer from? Ya savages! Storming in an claiming ya' were defending yerself?"
The group didn't comment on his remarks. It was true they had every intention to kill them, but losing Drift and Blaze threw them over the breaking point.
"Don't worry." The boy smirked. "We'll have some fun before ya' die." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Oh my god, he just ran in | "Can't you try anything else?" Twilight asked.
Snowheart sighed. "I've tried everything I can, princess. He isn't bleeding much anymore; he's just in a coma. I'll keep checking his vitals to be sure, but he should be okay for now."
"Are you sure?"
Snowheart gazed at her with compassion. "Yes, hun. He'll be alright. I promise."
Twilight closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. She reopened them and looked down at an unconscious D'mitry.
Dumbass.
She shook her head, a looming, distant sadness canvassing her emotions. She wished he hadn't done something so blatantly stupid, but it wasn't that surprising. It was D'mitry, after all. While she worried about him, she still had to consider what was happening right now.
Dash, Spike, and the guards were keeping watch with their guns out, in case anybody else snuck up on them. Ever since D'mitry and Pete had their stupid little gun-fight-exchange, they'd all been pinned behind the ridge by a human in the window of the city walls shooting a gun at them. Damn degenerate. Luckily, he hadn't managed to snipe any of them.
The girl, whom Twilight remembered as Jen, had kept her hostage for a mere second or two before letting her go and peeling off toward the small, forested area on their left. She wondered where the girl planned to go, seeing as she'd run in the direction of the cliff and waterfall beside Canterlot's entrance. It was unknown whether or not any of the others had hit her with the bullets that went in the guns, so Dash was keeping a close watch of the tree line for now.
Twilight met eyes with Dash, who had a curious new gleam to hers.
"Can I just say something, real quick?" Dash asked.
"Not much else we can do anyway," Twilight replied.
Dash glanced at the forest line again.
"Human females look strange."
"I mean..."
"Agreed," Spike said. "Weird lookin' mothafuckas."
"Respectfully," guard Blaze joined, "they don't look that much different than D'mitry."
Dash snickered. "Yeah, besides the huge watermelons bouncing out of their chest."
Guard Drift joined as well. "And the huge butt bouncing behind them."
"You noticed that too?" Blaze replied.
"Hard not to."
The two guards looked at one another, both of them briefly glancing at Twilight as they subtly brohoofed one another.
"Wow," Twilight remarked.
The guards shrugged before quickly returning to their watch. No wonder none of them had hit her. The horny bastards were all too busy watching the girl's booty bouncing as she ran away. She shook her head.
For the next minute, Dash pestered Twilight a bit more about human females. Honestly, Twilight didn't know that much about them. She'd analyzed them a little bit with the other princesses, but they'd been more focused on bringing in a male to slave around AJ's farm. After Dash was done interrogating, Spike eased his way beside her.
"Twilight, where should we go?" he asked.
"I don't know yet. It's gonna be hard moving D'mitry right now."
"Well then leave his ass here. Asshole will be fine."
Smack!
Spike's head was sent forward from her hoof. He huffed, rubbing the back of it while she responded, "Enough. We're not leaving him here. For all we know, that girl might come back and finish him off."
"Ugh."
"Yeah, well, you should have fucking hit her then!" Twilight exclaimed.
"We tried!"
"Yeah, well try harder next time," she scoffed, garnering rolled eyes from Spike before he got back to focusing on the ridge.
"We could carry him, princess," Guard Blaze suggested.
"No," Snow butted in, "we should probably keep him still for now."
Twilight sighed. "I guess we'll wait..."
"Why don't we try and shoot them?" Dash asked.
"No, Dash. That's too risky. We don't have that many bullets, and you saw their sniper rifles."
"Their what?"
"Uh... big, long-range guns."
"Okay? Still... they seem to all suck at, uh, shooting..."
"They do, but let's not test it."
"Mmm... kay."
After a good fifteen minutes, no more bullets were exchanged via the guns. Blaze had poked his head up to see, and he reported not seeing any faces in the window. What was more surprising was that he hadn't seen Pete either, despite raising his head up to make sure he could see over the ridgeline. She assumed this meant that Pete had stumbled his way back to the gate. Perhaps the humans were too busy working on him to retaliate...
"Blaze," she called.
"Yes, your Highness?"
"Can you stay here and watch D'mitry while we go and take care of those humans?"
"Yes, your Highness. How long will you be gone?"
"We won't be long."
Spike responded, "'Take care' of the humans? What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Twilight? What's the plan?"
She glanced around to make sure everypony was listening before responding, "Alright. So... they don't have guns on us right now. I know there's a bit of distance from here to the gate, but we can cover it in less than fifteen seconds. Nurse, you stay here with D'mitry. Blaze, you can cover us from here while we run. Once we're at the gate, we'll poke around and shoot our guns at them. After we know they're clear, Drift, you'll come back here and help Blaze haul D'mitry to the gate with us. Sound good?"
"Uh, no?" Spike said.
"Why not?"
"Twilight, you're acting as though we're hardcore military machines. We couldn't even shoot that fucking bitch with the pink gun from damn near ten feet away. These things," he replied, lifting his gun, "are really fucking weird. Mines heavy as fuck too."
"No it is not," Twilight scoffed, snatching the gun from his claws. His was about the same weight as hers. "It's just a bit... big on you... is all..."
Spike rolled his eyes as he took his gun back. "Just call me weak. I don't care. Regardless, even with my claws, which seem to fit the trigger better, I can't aim for crap. Nevermind you hooved bitches."
"You've turned into a real asshole lately, you know that?"
"Fuck you, Twilight! Of course I'm an asshole at a time like this! All our friends are fucking DEAD! Don't you understand that?!"
"Spike, ple-"
"No, Twilight. You know what? I got a better idea. Fuck this world."
Before Twilight could retaliate, Spike leapt over the ridge by himself and started rushing for the gate.
"SPIKE!"
"SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE THEDRAGONNNNNNNNN!"
Everypony looked on in bewilderment as Spike's little dragon legs carried him first across the grass, then across the drawbridge. He wasn't going very fast. They were so surprised by his sudden move that they were frozen in place until he reached the open gate, which took a solid ten seconds.
When he got there, he stopped and turned around. In typical Spike fashion, he put his claws to his ears and stuck his tongue out to mock them before flipping them off. Right afterwards, he turned back around and ran through the open gate.
"Oh my god," Drift called, "He just ran in."
"COME ON! LET'S GO!!" Twilight shouted, shaking out of her frozen state and leaping over the ridge. She didn't wait to see if the others were following, as she was worried Spike might get shot in the face in this stupid little rush of his.
Ugh.
She was surrounded by idiots. She hoped the guards wouldn't follow D'mitry and Spike in their dumbass endeavors. She cursed herself for growing such close bonds to two of the most brainless, stubborn twats in Equestria. Despite this, she continued forward, the threat of death looming around the corner.
During their gallop, she noticed a human head pop up in the window. Gunshots popped behind her, cracking over her head before smacking the wall around it. The head quickly retreated, allowing them to rush over the downed drawbridge and make their way to the gate. She noticed Pete's blood trail following the same route.
In his random act of fury, Spike led them straight to the two human boys guarding the gate, who were hiding on the other side of the wall. Twilight drifted to a halt, but slid out into their view. The two boys looked just as terrified to see her, not even raising their long guns. She raised her gun as quick as she could, but the funky, human-sized piece of shit trigger wouldn't pull down until the barrel of the gun was already pointing over 20 degrees to the left of them.
BANG!
Fucking BITCH
She awkwardly twisted her hoof and fired off two more rounds that kinda got close to them. As she took these shots, Spike stood beside her, also flat-out exposed, and carefully aimed his guns. With his tongue sticking out, he popped off a round.
BANG!
Twilight noticed red explode out of one of the boys. By now, they had both turned around, and were actively running away. They didn't even try shooting back. They instead opted to run away, even though there were no places close-by they could run to. The nearest place they could hide was a nearby tower outpost, but they wouldn't get there in the next ten seconds.
What would happen in the next ten seconds is-
BANGBANGBANGBANBGNABNABANBGNABNBANG!
Yeah... the others had made it to the corner and joined her in gunning them down. It felt a bit evil, since they weren't shooting back for some reason. She realized how close they'd come to death, realizing the boys could have easily shot them both. Whatever the case, she was happy to see the fuckers fall to the ground as bullets ripped through their backs.
Kinda. She wasn't that morbid. She was just sick of these stupid boys making the apocalypse even worse. Regardless, these two wouldn't be a problem from now on.
However, Pete was still nowhere to be found. His blood trail mysteriously ended near the gate. She realized after they spent a few minutes clearing the area that he could be headed to the castle with even more humans.
They had to hurry. The Princesses needed them.
She sent Drift back to help escort D'mitry. While Snow insisted they shouldn't move him, they had little choice in the matter right now. The two guards didn't have much trouble carrying the tall asshole across their backs, a frenzied Snowheart by their side. All of them trotted up to Twilight.
"Your Highness," Blaze said, "Where do we put him?"
She sighed. "I... I don't know yet."
Spike, still coming down from his adrenaline-fueled, suicidal rush, replied, "Why not just set him aside in one of these buildings, Twilight?"
"Shut your mouth! Suicidal bastard!"
Whack!
Spike's head was launched forward again, causing him to ease off for now. As he did, Snow stepped up to her.
"Princess... his idea isn't all that bad."
Twilight sighed and bit her lip. She really didn't want to leave him, but he was dead weight right now. The Princesses needed them now. She took a minute to think before agreeing to place D'mitry in a building attached to the wall of Canterlot. It was one of the smaller towers overseeing the gate itself, and held a small room on its first floor. The room had just a window, desk, and a chair. The guards carefully set D'mitry down in the chair.
Twilight couldn't hold back a few tears as she brushed D'mitry's limp arms. She only found the strength to pull away from him so she could smack Spike upside the head when he wouldn't stop laughing about how stupid he looked slumped in the chair. The guards walked her out before gently shutting the door behind them.
Dash's worried eyes met hers. "Do you think he'll be alright?"
"I think so..." she answered, "Either way, we have to go."
With that, they trotted out of the tower and began galloping through the streets of Canterlot. Both guards took positions behind them to watch their backs as they sped through the city. Keeping their speed up was important right now. As long as the path was clear, they had to-
BANG!
A shot rang out, but it was unclear where from. All Twilight knew was that it was intended for them, as it shot up gravel on the path right beside them.
"KEEP GOING!"
More shots blasted in the distance, seemingly echoing throughout the whole city. Gravel from the path shot up left and right of them. She swears she saw a flash right ahead, but was distracted when gravel started kicking up in front of them. She came screeching to a halt to avoid it, causing the others to crash into the back of her. Full of adrenaline, the group quickly uprighted again.
"FOLLOW ME!" Twilight shouted, turning to bolt inside of a house they were originally running past. The others followed until shots bounced off the ground right in front of the house. She tried rushing to the next house, but the same slurry of gunshots followed, even blowing holes in the front door. She took a second to glance up at the rooftops, noticing a few human heads responsible for shooting them.
GRRRRRRR!
She raised her gun and awkwardly began firing back at the head she saw, but more shots rang out around her. Shots cracked by her ear as she hastily continued zigzagging down the path in an attempt to get somewhere. However, as she did, she noticed a big cylindrical object bounce past her. She looked over her shoulder to see what it was, only for it to erupt in a flash of light and very loud bang. Blinded and deafened, she stumbled to the ground as she tried to recover.
It took a solid few seconds for her vision to return, but a loud ringing was taking over her eardrums. She glanced back at the others, who were similarly affected by the bang. As she tried to recuperate, she noticed Guard Drift come to a stand near the back of the group. He raised his own gun, but as he did, a flash of light erupted in his chest. She heard a muffled gunshot attempt to enter her ears as he fell over.
Then, as her hearing slowly recovered, she heard a male voice yell from the rooftops.
"STAY DOWN!"
Twilight glanced over at the others, who were similarly laid out on the path around her. Dash met eyes with her again, full of fear.
It was over.
Twilight wasn't sure if these bastard humans were going to kill them now or not, but there wasn't anything she could do. She defeatedly looked back at Blaze, who'd staggered to a stand to check on Drift. She then gazed up at the rooftop where the voice came from, noticing the boy pointing a rifle right at them. She grunted before shouting up at him.
"We give up! Stop!"
Silence filled the air for a few seconds before she noticed two human boys running toward them from the path she was attempting to get the others down. As the humans made their presence known, Twilight snatched Spike's gun from him and reassured Dash that they'd be okay. Only Drift had been hit by gunfire, and from what Blaze and Snow were observing, he was in critical condition.
It wasn't long--just a minute or two--before the six human boys surrounded them. None of them were Pete. They all carried those advanced rifles that D'mitry had told her about, and they all wore stupid bandanas around their heads and necks. She made eye contact with one of the boys, who looked quite a bit paler than D'mitry.
"Please..." she begged, "help our injured friend..."
The boy sighed before looking across at one of the others. When he spoke, he carried a strange accent she couldn't quite understand.
Scottish.
Huh?
Don't worry about it, Twilight.
"Yu damn retard, Tommy! Yu weren't supposed ta' hit 'em! What were ya thinkin'?!"
"Sorry, Jack! It was a misfire. I was trying to hit next to him."
As the two bickered, the other four quickly rounded up the guns Twilight and the others laid out on the ground beside them. One of the boys, slender and a bit taller than D'mitry, told her to sit up before patting her down. He took his time, brushing damn near every hair of fur on her body, causing her a lot of discomfort. It was only when the accent guy yapped at him to knock it off that he quit. She glared up at him, growing distaste as he smirked back.
"Phil," Jack said, "Can ya check if these savages got ta David n' Caleb?"
The boy nodded and left. Twilight nervously thought to herself, Crap. What if they find out? What will they do when he finds their dead bodies??
The main boy, Jack, stepped up to her and smiled down at her. "Now, purple pony, where did ya put yer little' human friend?"
Twilight gulped. She was even more nervous now about them finding D'mitry. What would they do when they found him? Would they kill him?? It seemed like that's what they were after. Tears swelled in her eyes as she glanced up at Jack.
"Please! Don't kill him!"
The boy chuckled lightly to himself. "That's not my decision ta make, purple pony. Yu'd be betta off tellin' me where he is. If he gives himself up, we may not haf to kill 'im."
She shook with a fearful anger. "I won't! I won't tell you where he is!"
"Ahh, yu want ta play it the hard way, do ya? Well then..." Jack said, raising his foot. Before Twilight could react, he swung it hard and blasted her in the face with the toe of his boot. She fell to the ground as Dash and Spike growled, struggling not to retaliate. Twilight shook her head, eyeing Jack from the ground as he continued. "...we can play it the hard way." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Magical Coincidence | I woke up abruptly after hearing gunfire. I was in a dark room with no lights now. I wasn't lying down anymore. This can't be a hospital.
The pains were back. I felt bandages wrapped around my chest. There was no beeping. No wires. No IV. The window behind me let in a few rays of light. There was no bed in the room. I looked on the desk to the left of me to see something amazing. I saw Beretta shining in the dark, reflecting the sun's few rays.
Am I back in Equestria? I wondered.
I got up. My legs hurt as they had before I was shot. I managed to keep my balance picking up Beretta and checking it over. I was a little light headed as I walked to the door, and the pain didn't hide itself. I opened the door to reveal a narrow hallway, which was lit dimly.
There was a window at the right end letting in specks of light. I hurried down the stairs on the left. The walls weren't painted white; they were painted a shade of tan. I reached the bottom to find a door and another narrow hallway. This place wasn't very big, whatever it was.
Before I pushed the handle to get out, I overheard people outside. There were two boy voices talking to each other. I leaned against the door to hear what they were saying.
"We've finally arrived. But don't worry, Trixie. The joyride isn't over."
Trixie???
I stepped back. Somebody had Trixie. They had hostility wrapped in their voice. They were passing by the door. I gripped my Beretta. Twi and Dash had helped me unjam it after the zombie attack that killed Rarity. So much had happened in such a small timeframe. That seemed like an eternity ago.
The door looked heavy and possibly loud, so instead of being sneaky and risking squeaks, I burst through it and quickly picked out two bodies walking with Trixie. They weren't stallions either. They were boys like me, but a bit taller.
Before they got a chance to lash out at me, I pulled up Beretta and fired. There could be no blind shots in this situation. Trixie was there, and I wouldn't allow myself to mistakenly hit her.
She ducked as I saw blood explode out of one of the boys. The other one threw up his arm before falling back. I half-sprinted, half-limped my way to Trixie, who looked relieved to see me. There was something black strapped on her horn, which worried me.
"Trixie!"
"Devan!"
The boys weren't moving, so I united with her, unable to dodge a hug. The last time I had seen Trixie was weeks ago doing card tricks in a cafe out of town.
"What's that on your horn?" I asked after we disconnected.
"It's a lock. Those boys strapped on to prevent my magic."
"Magic?!"
"Yes."
"You have magic?"
"I did," she gestured to the lock.
This was great. Trixie had the magic to end the apocalypse. After so many days had gone by, I was afraid there was no magic left in anyone.
"Devan ..." she nudged her horn at me.
"Oh ... sorry."
I grabbed the lock and pulled. It was on tighter than I thought. I pulled harder this time. "Ow!"
"Sorry ... this thing is on tight."
I yanked, feeling it move slightly. "Pull away and it should come off," I suggested. We both pulled together now. It slipped halfway off, but the base of it tightened as we pulled. I witnessed her horn glow a light blue before the lock burst. It broke into many little pieces and threw me back on my unstable legs.
She really did have magic.
"Sorry. You were hurting me too much."
"No, that's fine. Sorry for that." I got up slowly, pain building in my stomach.
"Did you follow the train here?"
I looked up at her. "No ... I was unconscious and just woke up here."
The story sounded hard to believe, but she nodded after only a few seconds of speculation. "Did you come here with anyone?" she asked.
"Twi and the others."
"Where are they?"
Yeah ... where are they?
"I'm not sure. I was with them when I was shot."
She thought some more. The sun was falling steadily over the horizon. I looked up to see towers with spiraled tops, finally realizing that I was in Canterlot.
"Is this the gate?" I asked.
"Yeah ... I'm pretty sure. Should we go in and find the others?" she asked.
"Yeah. Guess there's no real choice."
"Well, technically we could take the train back to Ponyville ... but that would go against my plan to get Celestia to show me the spell."
"Yeah ... alright ... so are we gonna find Twi first?"
"Let's go." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Lil' miss magic bitch | A buzzing sensation filled my body for a moment. I was finding it hard to remember what the hell happened to me, but it was slowly coming back. My idiotic attempt to escape the hospital caused me to pass out, and now I was back...
... or was I?
I didn't feel any head pain, besides a headache. Other than that, I was fine. However, I did feel a new pain in my chest. It felt tight, and pain radiated through it. I started feeling something tightly wrapped around it as I opened my eyes.
The room was dim, with just a bit of light from what looked like a set of spiral stairs coming down into it. There was no bed in the room, and I was sitting in a chair now. Beside me was a desk, and a Beretta M9 sat on top of it.
My baby. My heart sped up as I realized I was back.
Hell yeah!
This was Equestria. The adrenaline slowly seeping into my veins caused my pain to exponentially grow, causing me to try and settle down. However, I felt good enough to slowly come to a stan-
CRASH
Of course.
Clutz.
Author?!
Welcome back.
What the hell?!
I slowly picked myself up off the ground and tried to stand again, despite the pain in my chest protesting it. I waited to fall over again, but I was steady now.
Author! Where the hell were you? Were you just flat out ignoring me at the hospital?
Yeah.
Wow! What the fuck, Author?! I was scared!
Sorry, D'mitry. It's complicated. I have to follow the rules of the universe.
Rules?
Yeah. Let's not get into it right now.
But... ...
Okay, that's fair. This headache is starting to kill me anyway. Still, it's good to hear your voice again.
Not what I'd expect you to say, but glad to hear it.
Fuck you.
Yeah, that's more like it.
Despite being stable on my feet, my legs still kinda hurt. I'm getting tired of this shit. I checked, but last time I remember, I was only shot in the damn chest. Why do my damn legs hurt all the time? What happened to them? Maybe I should get one of the nurses to check them out sometime. Could be an underlying medical prob-
Oh. The pain receded a bit. I guess I'm fine then.
Okay, anyway, where the hell am I? There was a door in front of me, just tall enough to fit me. That reaffirmed my suspicion of being back in Equestria. It was real now. No more stumbling around Emory Hospital trying to escape. As I stumbled around this strange, dark room, I heard muffled voices outside of the room.
It still wasn't clear where I was. Where was Twi? Dash? The others? Had they made it somewhere safe? I pulled the collar of my shirt away from me to see the bandage Snow had presumably wrapped around my chest. That had to mean they were fine, right?
So they just left me here? Wow, rude. Maybe it was them that I heard outside, though. I grabbed my baby from the table and made my way to the door ahead. I reached down for the handle but stopped when I started making out what the voices were actually saying.
"David?! Caleb?!" one of them called out.
Oh fuck sake. Human names. These were more of those stupid fucking boys, weren't they? I grew confused, wondering if they had taken everybody hostage and just put me in here...
No, that makes no fucking sense. Why would they leave me my gun? Twi left me in here. But where is she? Where am I?! UGHHH. I wanted to slam this door open and pop these fuckers in thei-
"David?! Cal-"
smack
"Bro."
"Shut up, nigga. We don't know if one of those ponies has them hostage or something. Do you not see the blood?"
"I do. We can fend for our damn selves."
"We can, but be smart about it, dumbass."
I rolled my eyes and squeezed on the door handle before pu-
"Hang on. They might be in the outer guard towers. Why don't we check there?"
"Aight. Check that one first. I'll stay here with lil' miss magic bitch."
Lil' miss magic bitch? Strange name. Who were they referring to? I swear, if they have Twi hostage, I'm gonna blow their nutsacks off. I kept my hand wrapped around the door handle as I heard footsteps growing closer.
Shit. They meant this building. Okay. Time to party.
I raised my baby and set the barrel against the door at eye level, holding the handle with my other hand. The footsteps grew close another few seconds before I felt the handle pull down. I kept my hand grasping it as the door was quickly pulled open. Keeping the gun steady, I watched as a body grew in the opening and-
BANG!
The white boy's head fucking EXPLODED in red just feet away from me. His blood shot out on my face, causing me to close my eyes for a split second. I quickly reopened them, a bit of blood splatter irritating my left eye. The white boy's dead body, with probably even more irritated eyes, fell backward to the ground.
Knowing I had little time to spare, I flung the door wide open, immediately noticing a black dude within throwing distance, standing next to a pony. Before I could make out finer details, I extended my arm out, set the center of his body in my baby's sights, and quickly fired four rounds his way.
The boy had started to raise his own gun, which was some kind of rifle. However, there wasn't enough time for him. My bullets cut holes through his chest, causing him to lose grip of the rifle. He dropped to the ground, spats of blood from out of his back racing him to it. As the air settled from the loud bangs my baby made, I finally made out who it was.
Trixie.
"Trix!"
Trixie was the lil' miss magic bitch they were talking about. She had a leash around her neck, a... conecuff?... over the top of her horn, and a gag in her mouth. Well, I mean... not like the ball, BDSM shit... I can't think of the word. It was just a cloth wrapped around her head, that... went deep into her jaw? This is the worst damn description. I'm sorry. It was a mouth gag though. She didn't have anything over her eyes, though, so I could clearly see her shocked expression.
I rushed over to meet her, but I noticed the black dude's bloody chest was moving slightly. I made my way to lean over him.
BANG!
Now it wasn't. His head had a big red hole in it now as well, like his dumb little friend back by the door. I looked back at Trix, who'd flinched like crazy when I offed the dude. Her eyes could not grow any wider. I stepped forward to help her, but she backed up. She had nothing wrapped around her legs, so as I tried to step up to her, she kept backing up.
"Trix, stop. What's wrong with you?"
Her eyes narrowed a bit, but she was still taken aback by what just happened. I guess she hadn't seen gunfire before. Makes sense. I stepped forward again and helped her undo the mouth gag. She immediately took in some fast breaths, as if she were hyperventilating.
"Sorry, Trix. I didn't mean to scare you. Everything's okay now."
She kept eying me and my baby up and down as she took some deep breaths to calm down.
"I- I'm sorry, it's just..." she sighed, closing her eyes.
"Yeah, I know. You're a little bitch."
She opened her eyes, immediately glaring back up at me. I thought she'd be more open to the joke, but like, I guess she was feeling some kinda way. I guess I should also say...
Trix and I were in a relationship a while back.
Yeah. They know.
They do?
Well... kinda. Perspective shifted to Trixie a few chapters back.
Oh wow. I didn't know we could do that. Cool. What do they know?
They know that you fucked her.
O...kay? That isn't what I was going for. We fucked a lot in our relationship months ago. It wasn't just some random booty call, though. We were in a relationship. It wasn't crazy serious, but it was definitely adventurous. We'd spent nearly three months together, somehow keeping our relationship secret from almost everybody else. It was quite challenging, but it added to the fun.
Many lies, cover-ups, sneaking outs, and more later, we finally decided to cut ties. It was rough on both of us, but our cover was so close to being blown. I was a slave still. If we'd been caught, not only would I get in trouble, but she'd probably get caught up in some shit too.
So, yeah. There's some history there.
I raised my hands in surrender. "My bad. Wrong timing."
She shook her head, her anger eventually subsiding. She then angrily pulled off the leash around her neck and threw it on the ground beside her. "Shit fire. Thank you, D'mitry."
"Haha, no problem, Trix."
We both drifted into a hug that lasted a solid minute. When we disconnected, she glanced up at the conecuff on her before looking back at me.
"Can you help me take this off?"
"Why do you even have that on?"
"I still have my magic."
My eyes widened. "YOU DO?!"
"Shush!" she exclaimed, nervously scanning our surroundings.
"I'm pretty sure we're a bit exposed as is. You know, the gunshots and all?"
"Ah... yea- the what?"
"I'll tell you later."
"Okay... well, let's hurry for now."
I quickly grabbed hold of the conecuff with my hands and-
"D'mitry. It needs a key, dumbass. Don't you remember?"
"Oh... right," I replied, taking my hands back. "Where are they?"
"The nigga has them," she said, pointing at the black guy on the ground.
My chest exploded with pain as I BURST into laughter at hearing her say that. I tried my best, but I stumbled to the ground, rolling around as I clutched my stomach, struggling to catch my breath.
"D'mitry! Fucks wrong with you?! What's so damn funny?" she scoffed.
I tried to respond but was laughing too hard still. It took me a good few seconds before I could even talk.
"H- hang on."
My laughter eventually settled. I laid back on the ground, smiling from cheek to cheek. Trix stood over me and cocked her head.
"Is it the word nigga?"
God damn it. I rolled over in another small fit of laughter, struggling to get rid of the image of her saying the N-word. This had to be the funniest damn thing I'd ever heard anypony say.
"Y- yes! Stop! My stomach's gonna burst!"
She huffed as my laughter settled again. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I stood back up, easing back into reality. She looked up at me with contempt, clearly annoyed at my laughter.
"Sorry, Trix. I just didn't expect that. For reference, that word is derogatory in my world."
"Derogatory? What? But he was saying it over and over again!" she said, pointing at him. "I even thought the white guy's name was nigga, until he said something like 'I'm that nigga, for real.'"
I vaguely saw her eyes drop in annoyance as I curled forward on myself, breaking out into another bout of laughter.
"Stop it!" she scoffed. "Idiot. It's not that damn funny! It sounds more like a bragging right, so why can't I say it? I think I should be a real nigga."
Thud.
I smacked the ground again, unable to breathe. For a moment, I thought I'd never be able to stop laughing again. Thankfully, though, the fit eventually ended. I sat up on my knees, wiping the tears from my eyes.
"You're funny, Trix. But I don't think you can be that."
"I just don't understand," she replied, shaking her head annoyingly.
"It's complicated. He says it cause he's black."
"Black? What do you mean? His hair?"
"No. His skin color. It's like I've said in the past, me being white."
"Oh... alright. That still makes no sense to me. You're tan as fuck."
"Yeah yeah, well, we refer to it as black and white."
"So... there's different colors with you humans. You never told me that."
"You sure? I had to have brought it up at one point."
She shook her head. "You didn't."
"Well... sorry. I guess it didn't matter much."
"Mmm... okay," she replied, eying me up and down as if I were hiding something from her. "So... anyway, let's focus. The black guy has a key. Should be in his pocket."
"K."
I leaned down and searched the guy's pockets until I found the key she was talking about. I took a second to look at his frozen face, his eyes plastered to the sky above. I watched blood slowly trickle out of the gunshot hole in his forehead, painting the ground below. His mouth was partially opened in a state of shock.
I felt a bout of joy flooding over me. It was always so refreshing killing these shitheads. My brain reverted to the white boy, replaying his forehead blowing out blood as the bullet struck it. Like paintball... hahaha. I really hoped I could kill more of these fuckers later on.
"D'mitry," Trix called.
I shook out of my daze and turned to see Trix curiously observing me.
"Sorry, ok..." I said, standing up and using the key to unlock the conecuff. She let out a loud sigh of relief, warming up her horn to try out some spell, I guess, to make sure she actually still had her mag-
Blast!
A blue orb ignited from her horn and slammed into me, knocking me down to the ground. A damn shove spell. Ridiculous.
"Bitch! What's your problem?!" I asked, shaking my head as I sat up again.
"Sorry. Had to check," she said, failing to hide a teasing smirk.
"Damn. Okay... so you really do have magic."
"Hell yeah I do. I'm gonna be using it to stop this crap and become the hero of this world."
"Ambitious..."
Her newfound bright face shifted as she raised an eyebrow toward me. "What? You think I can't do it, huh?"
"I didn't say tha-"
"You're gonna be the first one to worship me at my new throne."
"Wow."
"Yeah. So... how did you get here anyway? Why were you in there?"
"Oh... uh..." I said, glancing down at my chest. "Long story."
I proceeded to tell her about the long story. She nodded along. As I told her we were headed to the castle, she butted in.
"Okay," she said, "that might be a problem."
"Why?"
She sighed. "I don't know how truthful it is, but those humans I was with were talking as though all of Canterlot was under their control."
"Fuck..."
"Yeah, so we might want to hurry."
"Ok, ok, let's go."
"Hang on. Before we go to the castle, I would like to stop somewhere first."
"Why?"
"Just a suspicion." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | The Only Copy | She awoke to an alarm. Sounds of bullets were right outside her window. The darkness outside still devoured her room. It was night. She heard ponies yelling, and deep voices giving orders downstairs.
Cloudchaser shook out of bed. Despite wanting to go under the covers and wait it out, she knew they needed her.
Over the past few days, they had gotten the hospital ready for zombie pony attacks. They had set up a loud alarm in the lobby in case an attack required everypony's attention. She was told by the guards that when the alarm sounded, she was requested to close and lock the door to her room, take the stock M-16 with an extended trigger hole specially for ponies off the wall to her right, open her window, and spot the zombie ponies from it. So she did. But a guard's voice from outside her door informed, "More humans! Caution your fire! Be careful!"
Oh no, she thought.
But thankfully, because of his warning, she wouldn't lean her head out the window and become an easy target.
She set up the heavy rifle after kicking the window open and then reached for the backpack containing ammunition next to the dresser on her left.
She popped a few shots at where she saw flashes in the dark. She was rewarded with a few bullets bouncing off the window's shutters. She leaned forwards and let off a few more shots at wherever she saw flashes. Pulling down just in time, she dodged shots that made it through the window and whistled defiantly over her head.
There was an explosion downstairs. Then two more. The floor shook and she saw smoke rise in front of her window, some of it seeping in. Another explosion. She reached for the latch that shut her window in order to avoid any more smoke from entering.
She heard screams downstairs. Another explosion and a hail of gunshots sounded. She was afraid of what was happening downstairs. The smoke cleared soon after, and she saw boys with shiny red necklaces storming out of the bushes. Some of them fell as they ran, hit with the flying bullets. She kicked the window open again, and started releasing her own bullets. Another explosion erupted by the hospital's walls, emitting a huge layer of smoke and blowing part of her room's wall with the door down. Some scraps from the roof fell around the room. The smoke was coming in again, but she fired more and more rounds blindly. She shoved in another magazine and let it go.
Yet another explosion as she finished the clip. Feet squished the grass under her window as guns blared. She heard a guard shouting, "Run!" down the hall. There was an explosion inside now. She saw three fillies running through the hall.
"Crusaders! Come in here!" Cloudchaser yelled. They swirled at once and ran into the room. "Cloudchaser!" Sweetie Belle ran up and hugged her leg. She had to keep the fillies safe. Whatever was happening in the lobby was a sight she didn't want them to see, let alone herself.
She debated on hiding them somewhere when a guard ran in. "Follow me. Hurry!" He gestured. Throwing her saddlebag on, she pushed the Crusaders in front and followed them.
The guard led them to a fire escape stairwell that went right out the back of the hospital. He busted through the door first, making sure it was clear. Then he held the door for them.
"Thank you." She hugged him for a second.
"Head that way, but evade any shrubbery farther to the right. Be careful." He pointed to a forest diagonal of the back right corner of the hospital. "Ponyville will be along that way."
Before Cloudchaser could respond, he was gone, back into the hospital, never to be seen by them again. She thanked him quietly to herself and led the Crusaders to the forest, where they would be safe from the mayhem in the hospital.
The fillies stood by Cloudchaser's side, looking at Twi's half burnt castle. The rough, colorful stone the castle was built of made it physically impossible to burn down completely, but now it was dark from the flames. The flag was a crisp and there were no more balconies.
"Well ... there it is," Cloudchaser said, "We'll get in there and see if anything isn't burned."
The sun had risen not long ago. Their escape had nearly ended disastrously as they snuck past humans in the shrubs, but they managed to get away without more than a few scratches. They had taken the path the guard had instructed, which led to the left side of Twi's castle.
A breeze came through. Fall was approaching and the temperature was starting to drop. The breeze cooled them from the summer's last specks of heat.
Cloudchaser led them to the front door, which was burned to ashes. The inside looked even worse with stones black from flame. They entered the library, which had a floor covered with white and grey ashes. The fire had completely obliterated all the shelves.
"Can we stay in here?" Scootaloo asked, hopping over the ashes without permission.
Sweetie Belle replied, "You want to stay in the room with ashes?"
"Sure, why not? There may be stuff under these." She grabbed a pile of ashes and threw them in the air like confetti.
"I'll pass," Belle backed out the doorway.
"Suit yourself. Cloudchaser?"
"Alright. You two hang out in here." She reached back and searched through her saddlebag, pulling out a whistle. "Use this if anything seems out of the ordinary, okay? Me and Sweetie Belle will search the other rooms."
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded along.
"Good." She tossed them the whistle. Scootaloo caught the string around her neck and headed in with Apple Bloom.
"Follow me. We have to move quick. Do you want to ride on my back?"
"I'm fine ..."
"Okay."
They ran in and out of rooms. The floors were a colorless black and the rooms were empty despite ashes. It must have been a pretty intense fire to turn everything to ashes.
Eventually, they came back to the main room, which had furniture still standing. The seven thrones that were also made of the stone used to build the castle. It looked like everything besides them was standing. They were almost done looking around when, out of expectation, a whistle sounded from the library.
"Uh oh," Belle said.
"Stay behind me. Hurry."
They ran the short route back to the castle's library. They didn't hear any gunfire or zombie moans. The whistle continued a few more times before they were in the burnt down doorway.
"What is it? Who's hurt?"
"Nopony. We just wanted you to see this." Scootaloo pulled out a book in perfect shape from behind her back. It had a few gestures on the front and what looked like a green pony.
She grabbed it. "Where'd you find this?" She could definitely see the smiling zombie pony on the cover now. She was a normal pony with makeup on to look like a friendly zombie pony. She opened to the title page which read:
Zombie Ponies: The Guide and Cure
She stared wide-eyed at the fillies before flipping the page. The cover picture showed again on this page with words in red below.
The Only Copy |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Some Mo' Bullshit | Smack!
She awoke with a smack to her face. Disgruntled, Cloudchaser wrinkled her snout and opened her eyes. Above her, Lyra had her hoof set in front of her lips.
"Shhh."
Cloud quickly came out of her drowsy state and sat up. She saw Nurse Redheart peek in the room before tip-hoofing to join them at her hospital bed.
"What?" Cloud whispered, "What's the matter?"
"We're being watttttched," Lyra whispered back.
"Huh?"
"Shhhh!!!"
"What are you talking about?"
Nurse Redheart joined from the other side of the bed, "Humans, we think. They're stalking us from the outside."
"Shit, again??"
The nurse nodded defeatedly.
Fuck. She was hoping she'd never see a human ever again. Well... except for D'mitry. He was alright by her now... kinda. Dumb, wannabe racist asshole. These other life-threatening pieces of shit, though? No. She wanted nothing to do with them.
She pulled her covers off and tip-hoofed to the window. The others cautiously followed her. Outside was dimly lit by Princess Luna's moon, but patchy clouds throughout the night sky darkened it occasionally. With just her forehead and eyes peeking over the windowsill, she scanned the nearby woods. After just a few seconds, she could make out a shadowy figure moving from tree to tree. She nervously backed up.
"Shit," she uttered, "They really are out there. What do we do?"
Redheart sighed. "We gotta stay put. Get your weapons out, though. The guards are doing their best to keep the entrances clear."
"Couldn't they break into the windows downstairs though?"
"Yes," Redheart answered, "The guards thought of that already. They're rounding up everypony downstairs and bringing them up here for now."
"Okay, good."
Cloud took the next minute to grab her pistol. She was glad that Princess Twilight and her friends generously left them some... guns... of their own, but...
How the fuck are you supposed to use this thing? Like, really? The way Twilight talked made it sound like they trusted everypony in the hospital to know how to use these weird contraptions. They'd just fucking learned about their existence.
There was even an incident yesterday where Octavia shot herself in the hoof with her own gun. One of the guards also tripped and nearly shot another mare's head off. These things were DANGEROUS as fuck.
She hesitantly looked over her own gun, which she'd been told was a pistol. Okay? She knew that the trigger, or the strange cresent-shaped object in the tiny hole meant for human fingers, fired it, and there was a button to release the... mag?... so she could put more of the bullet casings in. No... just bullets... she thinks.
She glanced over at Lyra, who had her own pistol strapped to her foreleg. After looking her over, she extended her hoof out to Lyra, her pistol resting on top of it.
"You take it," Cloud whispered.
Lyra squinted her eyes in confusion before gesturing to her own foreleg. "I already got one."
"I know, but you're the only one who can actually hit shit. Your aim back at the station was incredible."
"Thanks. But I already got one."
"Just take it!" Cloud hissed, "Can't you just use two at the same time? You'd kill them faster."
"I don't know about that..."
Cloud rolled her eyes before turning to Redheart. She noticed the nurse did not have a gun of her own, so she started walki-
"No," Redheart said.
"Please. I'm not good with these things."
"None of us are, hun. You're probably better at it than I am."
Before they could debate anymore, hoofsteps sounded by the door before the Cutie Mark Crusaders came into view. They were visibly upset, which worried Cloud.
"Girls," she whispered, "come inside. Get behind the bed."
She pointed at the corner behind the bed that was away from the window. Once the fillies rushed into it, she exchanged a glance with Lyra before sighing and making her way back to the window. Before she got there, a few loud bangs erupted downstairs, quickly followed by muffled shouting.
Lyra quickly peeked out the window as Cloud and Redheart made their way to the door. Cloud noticed a guard trotting by holding a gun of his own. Before he could pass, she called out, "Hey!"
He came to a quick stop right outside the door. "What is it? Are you alright?"
The shouting downstairs continued, but no more gunshots rang out.
"We are. What's going on?"
"I don't know! I think they got inside. I gotta go," he stated, trotting away toward the staircase.
She nervously gazed back at the fillies before meeting eyes with Redheart.
"Um..." Redheart started.
"What?"
"Not to sound... ah... rude, but..."
"What is it? Spit it out."
"Maybe you could be taken hostage again?"
"Really, bitch?"
"I'm just sayin'..."
Lyra trotted up behind them and joined in their conversation.
"She has a point... I mean, it worked the first time."
"Wow. You two are assholes."
"Sorry, Cloud. It's just a thought."
Cloud glanced back at the fillies, who were nervously huddled in the corner with one another. She frowned before turning back to Lyra.
"Look. I would do that, but I don't think it's gonna work this time. Twilight and the others are probably in Canterlot by now. Why would they take ONE hostage, especially since their friends got murdered last time? It worked for us, yeah, but them? Not so much. What if these humans know that their friends got killed?"
"Fuck. Fair point."
She gritted her teeth. "What if they don't take... anyone... hostage?"
"Good then?"
"Not what I meant."
Lyra's eyes grew worried. "Oh."
Lyra was about to say something else until gunfire erupted downstairs. What had started as a few rapid-succession bangs turned into a full-blown gun battle.
"Shit!" Lyra cursed, rushing back to the window before scrambling for the door. "C'mon!"
Cloud watched Lyra rush out of the room, but she herself was frozen with fear. She nervously gazed at Redheart, who sighed before taking the gun from her hooves. "Keep an eye on the fillies, okay?"
Cloud nodded as the nurse rushed out to follow Lyra. After shutting the door, she peeked out of the window before going back to stand in front of the fillies. The gunfire continued, a bit less dramatic than when it started. Regardless, she kept a focused eye on the door. She didn't expect Scootaloo to speak up behind her.
"This some mo' bullshit."
Cloud turned to face her, confusion growing on her face. Sweetie Belle spoke as well.
"For real for real."
She glanced between the once-terrified fillies, who seemed more ... annoyed ... now. Applebloom glanced up at her, disappointed.
"What's up with that? Why'd ya freeze up, homie? Don'tcha wanna cap 'em bitch ass humans?"
"Cap?... them?"
"Yeah," Scootaloo said, "bust a cap in they bitch asses."
"What in Equestria are you girls saying?"
Sweetie Belle responded, "We're sayin' you shoulda gone with Lyra and shot 'em dumbass humans dead. Bop bop bop!"
Cloud glanced at Sweetie, who'd raised a hoof and threw it forward as she said that, looking like she was hitting an invisible door. She continued glancing between them all, confusingly. "Weren't you all scared just a second ago?"
They exchanged peculiar glances with each other before reverting to their annoyed stares. Applebloom answered, "Nah, homie. We chill."
"For real for real," Sweetie added.
Cloud slowly returned her attention to the door, just for it to burst open. She jumped, expecting a rogue human to come bolting through. However, it was a royal guard. She sighed with relief.
"Hey! Are you all okay?" he asked.
"We are..." she stated, glancing back at the annoyed fillies, "...I think."
She expected him to shut the door and leave. But instead, he rushed toward them.
"You gotta get them out of here!"
"What? Why?"
The menacing gunshots continued blasting downstairs as he replied, "The hospital is on fire! Part of the first floor is set ablaze! Let me guide you all to the safest exit."
Cloud nervously thought for a moment before grabbing her saddlebags, rounding up the fillies, and following the guard out of the room. She noticed smoke down the hallway as he led them to a different stairwell. Surprisingly, the stairwell was clear, allowing the guard to rush them out of the fire exit.
After the guard checked the outside to make sure it was clear, he held the door open for them as they trotted out. Cloud turned back to him once she knew it was clear as well. He smiled back timidly before raising his hoof and pointing toward the forest line.
"That way!" he shouted, "Get in the bushes and get the hell out of here! Ponyville should be in that direction!"
Cloud tried to holler back a thank you, but he rushed back inside before she got the chance. She took the fillies and gunned it for the nearby forest. As they trotted, Scootaloo asked, "Yo, we just bouncin' then?"
"What?"
"We up outta here?"
"I guess so..." Cloud replied.
"Uh... okay..."
Sweetie Belle added, "Are we gonna go back?"
"I don't know yet. Let's just keep going. I've got an idea of where to go."
Celestia's just-risen sun shone behind Twilight's half-burnt castle. The fillies stood by Cloudchaser's side, gazing up at it. It hadn't fully collapsed on itself, as it was built out of some kind of special rock. Still, how the fuck did it get set ablaze in the first place? Maybe the humans used some weird element from their own universe or something to burn it down. She shook her head, unable to figure it out.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo spoke from her left side, "Ayo, G, why'd we even come back here?"
"Well, G..." Cloud replied, "I wanted to see if Twilight's library was spared at all. We never really got the chance to see."
Applebloom responded, "Dawg, like, ion understand what you thinkin'. You tweakin', homie."
"For real for real," Sweetie joined.
Cloud groaned, growing pretty annoyed with these little gangster fillies. She hadn't realized they'd gotten worse since before the apocalypse. She honestly wondered where they learned this wretched language from.
"Come on girls... just help me search through here real quick, and we'll get out of here. I promise."
"Bruh," Applebloom scoffed.
"C'mon," she said, speaking through gritted teeth.
This, combined with her best evil mom stare, convinced the stubborn fillies to follow her inside. Thankfully, their escape from the hospital had been smooth. They managed to get away with just a few scratches from the shrubs they had to push through. Cloud hoped the hospital was not burned in a similar fashion to Twilight's castle, but she was not eager to go back and check just yet.
So, she led the fillies to the front door, which was just an archway now. The inside looked worse than the outside, with the once purple stone walls turned black from the flame. She led the fillies to the library, where the floor was covered with white and gray ashes. The fire had completely obliterated the shelves within.
Applebloom said, "Damn, bro, that's tuff. Anyway, let's bounce, ya heard?"
"No," Cloud scoffed, "Just a minute, alright? Let's explore a bit."
Applebloom huffed, but Scootaloo replied, "Ayo, mane, it's cool. Cloud's right. Let's chillax n' see wass poppin'."
Before Applebloom could respond, Scootaloo jumped into the ashes.
"Scootaloo!" Cloud hissed, "Get out of there!"
"Nah, fam, this a party now, G!"
The stubborn filly swept some ashes to her before throwing them in the air like confetti. Applebloom immediately broke out into a coughing fit.
"Aye, mane," Sweetie called, "Cut it out, S! You fuckin' with A's lungs, bruh."
"Aight, mah bad. You good, homie?" Scootaloo replied.
Applebloom's coughing fit came to a stop. "Aye, we gucci."
"For real for real."
"WOULD YOU GIRLS JUST SPEAK NORMALLY ?!?!?" Cloud finally broke.
The three fillies froze in fear, soaking in the serious tone she'd put behind her words. They all exchanged nervous glances with one another before Applebloom hesitantly responded, "Aweee... c'mon, Cloudchaser. We was just havin' some fun. I'm sorry we made ya mad."
Cloud sighed, but got interrupted by Scootaloo before she could speak.
"Yo, G, like that's NOT radical, dawg. You fuckin' with the clique, mane-"
Smack!
Scootaloo stood still, her face sent sideways from Sweetie Belle's smack. "Seriously, Scootaloo. Cut it out for now. Cloud looks angry."
"Geeeez... sooooooorrrrrrrrry," Scootaloo groaned.
"Thank you," Cloud sighed. She spent the next few moments observing the burned-up room. The sight wasn't pretty, and it didn't offer much hope in return, but she still wanted to look around. She looked back down at the now-attentive fillies.
"Why don't we split into two?" she suggested, "Two of us can search the library to make sure there's nothing hidden in the ashes, and the other two can quickly search the other rooms, which should be emptier than this."
"Sounds good," Scootaloo replied, wrapping her foreleg around Sweetie Belle's shoulder. "Me and Sweetie Belle can search the ashes, since they bother Applebloom's lungs."
"Alright," Cloud said, "Here."
She reached back and dug through her saddlebag, pulling out a whistle and hoofing it to Scootaloo.
"Use it if anything seems out of the ordinary, or if you're in danger, okay?"
"Right on," Scootaloo replied.
Cloud ran in and out of rooms with Applebloom. The floors were a colorless black, burned beyond recognition. Most of the other rooms were empty besides similar ash piles, albeit smaller than the library's. She figured it must have been a pretty intense fire to turn everything to ashes. As the two looked around one of the rooms, a whistle sounded from the library.
"Uh oh," Applebloom said.
"Stay behind me," Cloud instructed, rushing out of the room and toward the library. On the way, her heart sped up as she wondered what they could be warning about. If there were more humans, she would probably lose her mind here and now. The whistle continued until she reached the library doorway. Scootaloo stood beside Belle, the whistle sticking out of a smile in her mouth.
"What?!" Cloud exclaimed, "What is it? Who's hurt?!"
Scootaloo spit out the whistle. "Nopony. But we foooooound something!"
Her smile spread to Belle, who danced on her front hooves before sliding an unscathed book out from behind her. Cloud stepped forward to see the colorful front cover. The book's title read:
A complete guide on how to make dark chocolate candies: Vol 2
Cloud squinted her eyes before huffing. "Really, girls? How'd you even find an unscathed book?"
Scootaloo's smile faded as she glanced over at the book. "Dang it, Sweetie Belle. You grabbed the wrong one!"
Belle observed the book before her cheeks blushed from embarrassment. "Sorry!" she apologized, before shifting the book aside and trotting to a side room of the library, disappearing from their view.
"What's in there?" Cloud asked Scootaloo.
"A whole lotta untouched books. Looks like the door kept the fire out."
Cloud walked slowly through the ashes with Scootaloo by her side. She met with Belle at the door of the side room, which was a dark black color like the floor. It looked as though it was built out of rock, instead of the flammable wood the other doors fell victim to. Belle carried another book out of the room and plopped it on the ground in front of Cloud. The book's title read:
Zombie Ponies: A Maybe-Helpful-One-Day Guide
By Robert Kirkstallion
Cloud intently observed the book's cover, which had a picture of a pony walking down a path that led to Ponyville in the distance. On the other side of the path were a bunch of torn-apart carriages, wagons, and belongings strewn about, meant to depict a bunch of ponies who tried to evacuate... she assumed.
What a weird artwork.
She ignored this as she flipped to the first page, which credited a hoofful of scientist and research ponies.
This was the book.
This was the book that held the cure... probably. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | Dirty Hands | Twi sat up against the back wall, facing bars on the other side. Everypony had been forcibly split up from each other. She had been sent to a cell near the center of Canterlot, and she didn't know where the others had been taken. She was frightened by the whole situation and wished she could be with Devan. Seeing the guards die herself added to the horror.
The cell was small, containing just a single bed. There was no window, and the only light provided was one dim ceiling light right outside the cell. She hadn't seen any of the boys since a tall one with hair longer than Devan's dropped her in. She felt very lonely, left to mourn over the loss of Rarity and AJ. She was also attempting not to think of what was happening to Dash, Spike, and Snow. She wished all of this could just be over. Despite everything she had been through before, this all seemed unreal.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a shadow appeared. She heard footsteps on the linoleum floor. The tall boy came into view under the dim light. She backed up further against the wall.
"I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I'm about half an hour early."
"Half an hour early for what? What do you want?" she asked, trying to sound tougher than she really felt.
He pulled keys out of his pocket and jiggled them. He stuck one in the lock on the other side of the bars and turned it, pulling the prison door open.
"You're letting me out?" she asked, gaining interest.
"Don't be stupid. Get up."
She got up and faced him. He shut the door and carefully took the keys, locking it and putting them in his pocket, careful not to drop it outside the cell.
"What are you doing?"
Before she could react, he grabbed her front hooves, lifted them up, pushed them against the wall, and kissed her. She pushed him back an inch.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like?"
"Get off of me, you freak!" she squirmed.
"That's alright. You can struggle now. This is just the begin-"
"Get your dirty hands off her," a familiar voice directed from the door.
The boy turned, flushed in the cheeks already. She leaned over his shoulder to see the last anybody she'd expected to see. Devan stood at the locked cell door with his Beretta to the boy's head. The boy moved away from her.
"Devan!" she called.
He quickly smiled at her before turning his attention back on the boy. "Get out your keys and toss 'em here." He reached out with his free hand. "Hurry up before I blow your head off."
The boy reached in his pockets for the keys and didn't hesitate to throw them at Devan, who caught them with ease.
"Look man, I didn't mean any harm."
"Yeah right. Just shut up." Devan went through the keys to see which one fit. Twi noticed the boy lower his hands. She also caught a glance of a weapon concealed in his back pocket.
"Devan!" Twi yelled.
The boy yanked it out of his pocket, but was tackled unexpectedly by Twi. She had used just enough strength to drop him, but her hooves were left fighting him from aiming the gun at her.
"Hang on, Twi!"
She held the gun back for a few more seconds before hearing the cell door slam open. A few more moments later, the gun was ripped out of his hands and her hooves. Devan kneed the boy in the neck, nearly knocking him out entirely.
"Come on, Twi. Let's leave."
He helped her up and followed her out. Closing the cell door and locking it, he took the key and threw it in the trash. He slid the phone in his pocket for now.
"I'm so glad you're here," Twi said.
She was very surprised at his sudden reappearance. He was a strong and mysterious guy alright. He smiled at her again. "I'm glad I found you. We have to meet with Trixie outside."
What?
"Trixie?"
"Yes. I found her when I woke up."
This took Twi a few seconds to digest. They walked out the door to the sunny outside. Devan scanned their surroundings. Twi looked around to see Trixie with the others running toward them.
"She freed them all?!"
"Looks like it. It probably wasn't that hard."
Twi looked at him questionably as they arrived.
"Twi!" Dash hugged her.
"Good work Trixie," Devan complimented.
"It was nothing," she replied.
"Really? How?" Twi asked.
Trixie let her horn glow a bright blue. This stunned Twi. She tried warming up the simplest spell she knew, but there was nothing but a tiny spark.
"How are you doing that?" Twi asked.
She shrugged.
"Wait ... where are the guards?" Devan asked.
Everypony cringed. "Devan ..." Dash said, "They were killed ..."
"Oh ..."
There was a long silence. The scene came back to Twi's head.
"I'm sorry ..." he said.
Dash was the first to reply, "No ... that's okay. Let's just move on. Right, Twi?"
"Yeah ... let's just get to Celestia." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Hands Off | Twilight sat up against the wall, facing the bars across the cell from her. After the boys took their weapons from them, they'd brought them all here to the Canterlot jail. Well... everypony except for the guards. She overheard them say they were going to a "special" place. She was gripped by fear, knowing that they probably meant taking them elsewhere and murdering them. However, there was nothing she could do.
The jail they'd been brought to had been empty when they arrived. It was likely that Princess Celestia or Luna had ordered guards to release the former prisoner ponies, but the guards themselves might have had something to do with it. Either way, Twilight knew it probably wasn't the bitchass boys they'd been dealing with.
They'd all been split up when the boys brought them here, so Twilight sat alone in this small cell, far from the others. It was dimly lit from a small, barred window up high on the back wall. The only thing she could see was the empty cell across the small hallway from her.
This temporary solitude gave her time to think, which only worried her more. She assumed they hadn't found D'mitry, given the fact that Jack grew an angry expression when one of his boys returned from the gate and whispered in his ears. They must have found the boys she and the others murdered at the gate. She hoped they wouldn't find D'mitry later on.
She struggled with her thoughts, wondering if the others were alright, and what would be done to them all now. Jack was useless in telling them what their plans were, as Pete was supposedly still missing. She wished that D'mitry had killed him back at the gate, but it wasn't meant to be. These fuckers were resilient.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a shadow appeared on the hallway floor. She heard footsteps on the concrete jail floor until the tall boy who'd patted her down before came into view. She backed up further against the back wall as he grabbed one of the bars, peered in, and smiled.
"Relax, purple pony. I'm not here to hurt you. In fact, I'm about half an hour early."
"Half an hour early... for what?" she asked.
He pulled a set of keys out of his jacket pocket and jiggled them outside the cell. Before she could comment, he stuck one in the cell door's lock and slid it open.
"You're... letting me out?"
He chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous. Stand up."
She slowly stood up as he made his way inside the cell and slid the door shut behind him. He then wrapped his arm through one of the openings between the bars and locked himself in as well. After that, he cautiously pulled the keys back inside and set them back in his pocket before turning back to her.
"What are you doing?"
The boy smiled again, which intimidated her. He pulled the lower part of his jacket aside to reveal a concealed holster, which held some kind of pistol.
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. I suggest the easy way. The hard way will cause you loads more grief and unnecessary trouble."
She raised one eyebrow, wondering what he wanted... until he unzipped his pants.
"Are you fucking serious?"
"Damn straight. Now turn around."
She froze, realizing that this motherfucker was about to rape her. This is not something she had expected in the slightest, given how the other humans reacted to them. She glared up at the asshole, who stepped forward after pulling out his cock. She was further disgruntled when she realized it was a lot smaller than D'mitry's.
"I said turn around. Don't make this hard on yourself. Hell, you might enjoy this too, bitch."
Doubtful.
There was nothing she could do, though. Screaming for help probably wouldn't garner anything. Bucking him while he was busy trying to insert his tiny member in her might work... but then what? He would probably reach for his pistol, and with it tucked against his side, it would prove difficult for her to snag it off of him with her hooves vs. his hands.
She slowly and nervously turned around, glancing around the cell for anything that could possibly help her in this situation. Realizing there wasn't, she grew worried and shed a single tear. Maybe it'd be alright... maybe she wouldn't even feel it. She really hoped she wouldn't as she heard him move up behind her.
"That's right, ya little mare bitch. You're gonna take this human cock now. And after that, you're gonna blow this human cock of mine too. It's only fair... you're gonna serve me after I serve y-"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!
A ringing sound echoed throughout the cell, as if someone had struck the bars behind them with someth-
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!
She froze, too nervous to turn and see who was there. She heard a familiar voice chuckle before calling out.
One that brought her a sudden wave of relief.
"Ding dong," D'mitry called.
Twilight's heart sped up as she looked over her shoulder at the boy. He was still facing her, a new look of terror filling his face as he held his little member with one hand. D'mitry was behind the bars, pointing a gun through them at the back of the boy's head. He also had a hatchet hanging down in his other hand. He called out again.
"Lemme see those nasty fucking hands of yours, bitchboy. Don't think about testing my aim, either. Even if I miss, you're gonna wish your skull had been hit."
She smiled as the boy gazed down at her, releasing his cock and nervously tucking it back into his jeans. He then started slowly raising his hands... but... he only raised his right one to his waist, until he started reaching for-
"D'mitry!" she cried, quickly rushing forward and ramming her horn into the boy's abdomen.
After she'd dropped him to the ground, he immediately started digging into his holster. Twilight knew she could only temporarily prevent him from pulling his pistol out, so she opted to instead dig into his jacket pocket and pull out the set of keys while he was busy. The boy caught on, and as she raised her hoof to toss them to D'mitry, he shot one of his arms up to throw off her toss.
The keys slid across the floor, but they didn't quite make it past the bars. All she could do was hope D'mitry could reach them as she was forced to step a hoof on the boy's other hand, which was actively pulling out the pistol. She stomped so hard on it that he actually lost grip, causing the pistol to slide off his body, coming to a rest by his side.
This small victory didn't last long, as the boy fought to reach over and grab it. Twilight held both of her hooves firmly over his wrists in a frantic attempt to prevent him from moving them. Despite her weight, he began winning. She could hold him in this position for now, but she could not keep him from reaching out to grab it for long. As she fought, she heard the keys jingle.
D'mitry had gotten them.
Hearing that gave her some motivation to hold out just a bit longer. She pressed her hooves down as hard as she could until she heard the cell door aggressively slide open. Not even a few seconds later, D'mitry jumped on the boy as well. He quickly reached his hand over the boy to grab his dropped pistol.
Twilight figured he would grab it and take control, but that didn't seem to be in his plan. He instead grabbed the boy's pistol and violently flung it across the room. Right afterwards, a rage-induced D'mitry threw fists at the boy's face. Twilight backed up to avoid getting swiped, moving her hooves to hold down the boy's lower half.
After a couple fierce swings, D'mitry stopped. The boy wasn't fighting back anymore, instead attempting to shield his head from the sudden attack. After placing a knee on the boy's chest, D'mitry glared up at her.
"Back up," he hissed.
Startled, she started slowly backing off the boy. While she was a princess, with probably more power than she should have, the look in D'mitry's eyes scared her to the point where she didn't even want to speak out. She quietly backed away a few more steps.
Once she was off, he wasted no time in grabbing the dazed boy by the armpits and dragging him to the bars of the cell. Twilight watched him pull a pair of hoofcuffs out of the boy's back pockets. Hoofcuffs were generally a bit larger than the human handcuffs she'd helped bring in with the other princesses... you know... for D'mitry's bad ass. Therefore, D'mitry's first attempt to cuff the boy's hand to the bars failed.
"Wait!" the boy cried.
"SHUT IT," D'mitry hissed.
D'mitry then took the boy's left arm and folded his forearm back to touch his shoulder. The boy squealed from the awkward position it had been put in, just for D'mitry to use the thicker hoofcuffs to cuff his wrist to his shoulder. The tighter D'mitry cuffed it, the more the boy cried. Although Twilight didn't quite remember the flexibility of average humans off the top of her head, she could see that his arm was not supposed to bend like that.
With one end of the cuffs clamping the boy's arm in it's painful looking position, D'mitry took the other end and cuffed it tightly around two adjacent bars, which allowed the cuffs to stay up, behind the boy's neck. The boy squirmed, tears falling from his face, but he was locked in good now.
Meanwhile, D'mitry slowly came to a stand.
"L-...listen," the boy stuttered, "p-please, man, I didn't mean any har-"
D'mitry lifted a leg and forcefully kicked him in the stomach, causing him to squeal more.
"Shut the fuck up. You'll have plenty of time for soul-searching in a second."
Twilight looked on, waiting to see what he was about to do. She sat up in the middle of the cell, but was still too frightened to speak up.
D'mitry then pulled out the hatchet, which he'd set in his belt loop. With the blade shimmering in his hand, he kneeled beside the boy. The boy's eyes filled with terror as D'mitry raised the blade between them. Even though he had one hand free, he did not dare raise it.
D'mitry leaned in close to the boy, the hatchet's blade covering all but their eyes as he stared into the boy's soul. She then heard him whisper.
"I was gonna kill you. But... that would be doing you a favor. Sending you back to Earth, no strings attached? Nah. You need to serve some kinda punishment. I wouldn't want you thinkin' this typa behavior is acceptable, after all."
"W-w...what?? I-...P-please! I won't do it again, I promise! I've just been struggling lately!"
D'mitry chuckled. "We all have, shitface, thanks to your little friends out there. But do you see us raping anybody? Hmm... doesn't appear so. I mean, is this really how y'all are? First you come to our home and wreck havoc for no fucking reason, then you have the audacity to rape and pillage as well? Or... is it just... you?"
D'mitry backed up a tad and swiveled the hatchet, softly tapping the blade against the boy's forehead. The boy flinched, crossing his eyes to look at the hatchet, petrified.
"N-no! It... I... yea, no... yes. No. No, it's just... it-"
"Shhhhhhh. It's okay. We'll serve your trial now."
"W-w...what?"
"It's only fair."
D'mitry smiled maniacally as he reached down and grabbed the boy's free arm with his left hand. After grabbing hold of his forearm to prevent him from pulling it back, he pressed down to keep it locked in place. In return, the boy started flailing in place.
"NO! WAIT!!"
Twilight wanted to speak out, but she was still too afraid. D'mitry smiled wickedly as he eyed the boy and whispered, "If you can't keep your hands off of others..."
He leaned in even closer.
"...then I'll do it for you."
D'mitry backed off and raised the hatchet over his shoulder.
"NOOOOOOO!"
CHOP!
The hatchet swung down quickly, connecting with the boy's wrist. He screamed out, squirming frantically as he remained locked in place by his other cuffed arm. The hatchet hadn't cut all the way through the boy's skin, so he continued trying to pull his arm away. D'mitry held it in place as he ripped out the hatchet again. Blood flew out from the deep gash, covering his forearms and the nearby floor. He raised the hatchet.
CHOP!
Another swing cut through the boy's bone. However, his hand still appeared to be dangling, connected by mere strings of flesh as D'mitry ripped the hatchet out again. The boy continued squealing in pain, unable to get away. D'mitry raised the hatchet.
CHOP!
Twilight could see the hatchet cut clean through this time. D'mitry released his hand from the boy's forearm, causing the boy to quickly pull it back. Blood sprayed out from the end of it, covering his clothes and the floor, where the dismembered hand sat in place. The boy's cries fell silent as he gasped for air, inebriated with pain. As the boy clutched his bleeding forearm against his stomach, D'mitry stood up and sheathed his bloody hatchet.
Twilight thought he was done there. However, he pulled out his pistol and kneeled down again. The boy glanced up, his eyes wide with shock, as D'mitry raised the gun below his chin.
"N-no, please! Don't!"
"Ha," D'mitry mocked, "I'd think you would want that option, given it's pretty much a 'get out of jail free' card. Don't be ridiculous, though."
D'mitry lowered the gun until it was aiming down... at the boy's unzipped crotch. The boy's eyes widened.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Blow this, bitch."
BANG!
A shot flew out from the barrel of D'mitry's gun and travelled through the open zipper. What returned out of it was an explosion of blood, coating the boy's crotch like some wicked fountain.
For part of a second, the boy screeched. He then immediately fell silent. His mouth was held open in a wide gasp, but no sound emitted as the boy stared blankly at D'mitry. His face froze until he slowly slunk back against the bars, his eyes shutting just as slow.
He'd passed out.
Twilight sat still, slowly shifting her gaze from the now unconscious rapist to D'mitry. She wanted to say something, but she was lost for words. D'mitry holstered his pistol and stood still as well. For a good minute, he kneeled there, looking at his victim.
"D...'mitry?" she finally called.
He shook his head before looking over at her. The rage had vanished from his face, and as he stared back at her, his blank expression grew to happiness. Instead of speaking, he stood up, ran toward her, and dove on her, smothering her in the tightest hug she'd ever gotten from him. She squeezed back, despite his clumsy attack causing her to fall back, laid out on the floor.
He finally pushed himself up with his bloody arms. His smile beamed down.
"I am so fucking happy to see you, Twi. I was terrified that I'd never be able to again."
"I... y-"
She was immensely happy as well, but she was still surprised. She took a deep breath.
"You psycho!"
"Haha, sorry Twi. Actually... no... I'm not. He deserved that. Nobody's gonna treat my friends like that... especially not these fuckass humans. MotherFUCKERS!"
She could tell D'mitry was starting to boil with rage again as he spoke. He craned his head to look at the boy over his shoulders. Still underneath him, she raised a hoof to his cheek and pulled back until he was facing her again.
"It's okay, D'mitry. You got him. Thank you."
She couldn't resist the urge to lean her head forward to give him a quick kiss. This helped his rage settle pretty quick. He warily smiled down at her before backing off so she could sit up as well.
"I'm happy to see you, too," she continued, "but how? How did you know I was here?"
"I didn't. Trixie brought me here."
"Trixie?"
"Yeah. She was being escorted right outside that room y'all left me in. I shot the boys dead, saved her, and told her what happened before I passed out. She had a hunch we should come here."
"Oh... wow..."
"Damn straight. That is one smart mare. You got some competition, Twi."
"Oh shut up! There's always been competition between her and me--I know. Still, I'm glad she thought to come here. Where is she?"
"She's in the other cell block. That's where the others are, right? We stuck up the boy out front and made him tell us where y'all were at before merc'in him."
"Merc'in?"
"Killed him. I sliced his throat open."
"Sheesh."
"Oh yeah. Pretty groovy. Anyway, I think she's in block B? She told me to get you and meet her outside of block C though."
"Okay."
They hugged one more time before D'mitry grabbed the boy's gun he'd flung across the room. He took the keys and used them to lock the passed-out boy inside. He then tossed the keys in the locked cell across from hers, but honestly, it probably didn't matter much. She doubted that boy would live very long with a blown-off penis.
With that settled, she followed him through the jail until they made their way outside, where Celestia's sun beamed down on them. D'mitry scanned their surroundings, keeping his gun held out in front of him in case more boys showed themselves. However, the only creatures outside were Trixie and the others.
Trixie, Dash, Spike, and Nurse Snowheart.
Dash quickly rushed up to them, followed by a trailing Spike. She made her way to D'mitry, of course and-
No, wait...
She thought she was rushing up to hug D'mitry, but Dash collided with her in a violent hug.
"Oh thank Celestia! I'm so glad both of you are okay!!"
Surprised, Twi hugged her back before letting her go to give D'mitry one as well. Spike followed with his own, much less energetic hug. Regardless, she squeezed him back, hoping to shed some of her hope on the suicidal bastard. D'mitry then spent a good minute hugging Snow, thanking her over and over for healing him. After another minute of rekindling, they all eyed each other.
"Where the hell are the guards?" D'mitry asked.
Everypony cringed.
"D... we think... we think they murdered them."
"You think? What's that supposed to mean?"
Twilight took a minute to explain the situation to him, which caused his newly happy expression to morph into frustration. He rubbed his temple as he gazed between them all.
"Fuck. Alright. Well... what's the move?" he said, looking back at her.
Twilight took a deep breath. "Let's get to the castle..." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | A New World | We ran quickly to Celestia's castle. Both Trixie and me had remembered the way to the gate, but we weren't going to abandon Celestia and Luna. There were plenty of threats along the way, but they seemed to be the only way out.
We had gunned down a few more boys along the way, as well as a few zombie ponies we couldn't manage to avoid.
"There it is!" shouted Dash.
After we turned the corner, we had a view of the main castle soaring high. It was so close. We sped up. We hoped Celestia and Luna would be there.
There were a few more zombie ponies we were able to maneuver around. We had adapted to not harming them unless they were unavoidable. They were at least twenty feet back, so they weren't that much of an issue.
Hesitant but quick, we sprinted through the open gates to the castle. We ran through the empty main room and hustled up the stairs. It was surprising that we weren't interrupted with locked doors or more humans.
Now the large wooden doors stood tall in front of us. Celestia's throne would be the first thing we'd see down the hall. But we had become increasingly discouraged at the absence of gates, locks, and royal guards.
"I guess we just go in ..." Twi said.
I exchanged a glance with her before pushing the doors open. We hadn't expected to see this.
At the end of the hall, Celestia laid on the floor in front of her throne. Luna was seated next to her. Her neck was hooked by a human who held a pistol to her head. Around them was at least six other boys and girls. They stood straight with rifles pointed to them. It was too late to go back through the doors without getting shot.
"Luna!" I yelled. Celestia slowly pushed herself up to see us before dropping again. Both of their crowns were missing.
"Hello, Devan."
I turned around to see Jen. She had a pistol in her hands and a shiny red necklace around her neck. I looked at the others. "You guys didn't hit her?"
Dash looked to me and said, "I'm sorry ... my aim is horrible."
"It is," Jen remarked, "You guys know the drill. Just walk forwards to your princesses."
"We really need to stop meeting like this," I said.
"No jokes. Keep it moving."
We obeyed, but kept our weapons. They never told us to drop them. Once we were just meters away, we stopped.
"Get your hands off her!" I exclaimed.
"Shh ... shh. Let's resolve this in a much calmer way," said the boy holding her. He was an inch or so shorter than me with tan skin, blue eyes, and wavy blond hair. He looked like he came right off the surfboard.
"Yes. Calmly." Jen whacked the back of my head with her pistol.
"Don't antagonize them, Jen."
"Yeah. Whatever."
The boy sighed and rolled his eyes. "So. Can we settle for an exchange?"
We looked at each other.
"Exchange?" asked Twi.
"Yes." He gestured Twi out of the group, and motioned us to back up. "Sweetheart. We're offering you and these ponies the ability to live beside us humans as a new generation, if you let us imprison the rest of your friends for possible testing."
This struck us all off-guard. I pulled the safety pin off my Beretta.
"Oh, and also, it's not a question. We're making you do it. If you don't obey, we'll have you all imprisoned. Got it?"
We kept exchanging glances with each other.
"We're going to have ... a bit of a problem with this," Twi said.
"That's a shame." He pushed the pistol more against Luna's head, causing her to quiver.
"Wait. We're splitting them up? When was I going to be told this?" Jen asked, seemingly surprised.
"When you become a somebody in this society," he replied.
This turned the room to dead silence. We looked back to see shock on Jen's face. One of the girls beside Celestia lowered her rifle and turned to him. "Wait. What?"
"Excuse me?" asked Jen.
"Yeah. I said it. You've been no help to us."
"You got Pete killed!" she proclaimed.
The boy unexpectedly dropped Luna and stepped past us, meeting Jen face to face. "You think I'd get my only brother killed?"
Jen stepped back. "He was your brother?"
"My only brother. Do you really think I'd try to get him killed?"
"Really? Sending him out into imminent danger isn't getting him killed?!"
He reacted by pulling his pistol on her. She reacted just as quick, pulling hers up.
"Guys! Stop this!" one of the boys hollered.
"You're really going to shoot me?" he asked, ignoring the other boy.
Twi nudged me. I looked at her. She gestured to the door. I shook my head.
"Let her go!" the other girl shouted. She ran up, causing him to turn his gun to her. She stopped. The other boys walked closer. Twi and I pulled the others back towards Celestia.
Now there were guns aimed at everybody.
"If I have to die, I will. I can be with my brother."
"Stop it! You're letting Pete's death get to you guys."
The doors flung open. Another boy with armor came in. Everybody turned their attention to him. "Devin ... we have ..." He caught on to the gun situation. "What the hell are you guys doing?"
Devin looked at Jen before lowering his pistol and looking back at the boy. "Just a little conflict."
"Well, hold that stupidity for a few minutes. There's a huge mob of zombie ponies coming. There's gotta be hundreds."
"Is anybody guarding, or did these stupid ponies and their human kill all of them?" He pointed to us.
"Hey! We could end this if you weren't getting in our way." I stepped forwards.
"No you couldn't," Devin sneered.
"We could!"
"Shut up!" he yelled and aimed the pistol at me.
I pulled up Beretta, but didn't fire. Some of the other boys turned their rifles on me. Jen and the other girl didn't.
"It's not cool when you do it. Drop it or we'll turn you into cheddar cheese."
There were moans outside of the door. The boy in armor said, "Stop. We need to work as a team to get through these ponies. There's way too many of them for us to just kill each other."
I hesitantly lowered Beretta. Devin did the same. "Fine," he said.
It was a long hallway, so it'd take them a while to get here. Still, a zombie herd was a zombie herd. I looked through my pack while everybody turned their attention and weapons to the front doors. The rock was still there. This was perfect. I nudged Twi and showed her the rock. She caught on quickly.
It was as the zombie pony herd broke through the door when the fun started. I flung the rock at a window to the right side of the hall. It shattered as the boys began firing.
I motioned to the others to keep their guns down and got in their way as I started firing at not the zombie ponies, but the boys. I was able to shoot the one turned to me first. Most of them weren't smart enough to suspect it, and I mowed down the ones that were. Before we could count to five, I'd shot down all of them except Jen and the girl. They had ducked down, tried to surrender, then just play dead. But I wasn't aiming for them.
I turned to Twi. "Hurry. Get everybody out through that window. Take Jen and the other girl with you."
"No way! They're part of -"
"Twi! There's no time. Just go!"
It took her a few seconds before reluctantly accepting. I kneeled down next to Jen when Dash set herself up with a rifle and began ripping through the oncoming herd with a hail of bullets.
"Please don't," wailed Jen.
"Are you hit?" I asked quickly.
She looked up. "What?"
"Are you hit?" I asked again over the sound of Dash's rifle.
"No ... why?"
"Good. Get up and come with us." I reached out my hand. They looked at each other for a second before Jen grabbed my hand and pulled herself up.
"You're really not going to kill us?" she asked, surprised.
"No."
She was about the same height as Devin. There was a moment when she just stared at me deeply before shaking her head and running for Twi. I helped the other girl up. She was just as tall.
"Thanks for this ... I guess." She looked down at the bloody boys before turning and smiling timidly at me. She ran to catch up with Jen and the others. I rejoined Dash to help keep back the swarm.
After only a few shots, somebody tapped on my shoulder. I turned around to see Trixie.
"What?"
"There's too many of them. I know a simple force field spell. I can distract them and we can meet at the gate. Deal?"
"Really?" I asked.
She nodded. "I'll send the swarm in the prison and lock most of them in."
I debated whether or not she'd be safe.
"Devan. There's no time. I gotta go." She warmed up the force field spell, causing her horn to glow a very bright blue. The swarm was halfway down the long hall now.
"Good luck," I said, and quickly hugged her before she ran into the swarm. I watched as she met them. They went for her instantly, but I watched as her transparent blue force field burst. This knocked back several of her attackers. Then the force field crackled, attracting the rest of them.
She turned back and yelled, "The crackle is me!" before turning and getting lost in the mix of zombie ponies. She slowed to a walk as the zombie ponies swung at her force field. All of them were distracted by her.
"Devan?" Dash asked moments later. She shook me. "Come on. We have to get going."
"Fine ... but ... I could ... no ..."
"Don't worry about her. She'll be fine. She's the Great and Powerful Trixie, afterall. Come on."
The girls and Twi were waiting for us at the window. They had gotten Celestia and Luna out, but I looked through to see that they had collapsed from exhaustion on the grass outside. Twi looked too before jumping to aid Celestia.
"What did you guys do to them?" I asked.
"Uhm ... well ..." the other girl started, "The boys tortured them a bit."
They looked at each other before staring down at their red necklaces. "Devin tried to take away their magic with these." She pulled hers off, and Jen copied. "We can destroy them if you want."
"Whoa whoa whoa ... what about your necklaces?"
"What about them?"
"They took away their magic?"
"Almost did. He asked the sun pony to put enough power in one to transfer almost all the magic in this world to him. She only gave him a minuscule amount, so he demanded more necklaces. She gave us all one, but their power faded. He asked for more, but she said it wasn't possible. He raged and made us beat her."
"So ... they didn't take away any magic?"
"No."
"Then what did?"
"We have no idea."
Jen added moments later, "We're sorry. We really are. We never wanted to hurt any of your pony friends. We just wanted to be in a ... well, you know ... more ... peaceful world. But Devin and his boys forced us to be more violent. He told us that you guys were out to kill us, and made you sound vicious. He got mad when we refused to throw a few swings at the sun pony. We hope you can forgive us ..."
"Oh wow ..." was all I could say. I could relate to Jen, a little.
"Yeah ... I don't know about Twi, but I can forgive you."
"Thank you!" Jen came forwards and unexpectedly threw her arms around me. It felt weird since this was the same girl who whacked my head earlier. Also the same girl that held me when I experienced losing an eye.
I looked past the other girl to see Twi frown and look away.
"No problem ... you guys go."
They jumped out the window. I followed last behind Dash. The others had knocked away the glass edges the rock hadn't destroyed. It was an easy few feet to lob down.
"Are they okay?" I asked. Twi and Snow were helping them and giving them water.
"We're fine, Devan," Luna replied.
The sun was starting to set over the horizon. Celestia looked like she wouldn't be raising it herself for a while. This was the only time since Chrysalis that we'd seen her so weak. She had cloth bandages wrapped around her torso, neck, and looping around her back. She also had a bandage around her right hind leg.
"Alright, guys. We have to meet Trixie at the gate."
"When?" asked Dash.
"As quickly as we can."
"Let's do it." |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) Meet your Peter | We all sprinted along the path to the royal castle. The streets of Canterlot were a bit emptier than I'd expected. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe the boys had set up some kind of strategy to keep Canterlot clear of zombie ponies... or maybe they'd just been mowing them all down with their fancy little dick guns. Regardless, we didn't have much trouble taking out the few straggler zombie ponies we'd come across, especially with Trixie's magic.
We turned the last corner and were granted a view of the royal castle soaring high. It was so close. We sped up, hoping the important princesses were still inside. However, no guards at the front doors, pony or human, wasn't a great sign.
We cautiously made our way inside the front doors. Once we knew the entrance area was clear, we rushed up the royal stairs. After running down the long hallway, we approached the closed doors of the throne room. Again, there were no guards. We became increasingly discouraged at the absence of them or any other security measures, but we continued on.
We waited outside the doors for a second, collecting ourselves, before Twi said, "I guess we just... go in..."
She exchanged a nervous glance with me before she and Dash slowly pushed open the tall doors. At the end of the hall sat the sister's thrones. Sitting on them were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. However...
Six of the fucking boys surrounded them.
Well... five boys, none of which were Pete. There was also one female who wasn't the bitch from the ridge. All six of them had rifles.
Even from this distance, I could see distraught faces painted on Celestia and Luna. I grew mad, wishing I had some kinda telepathic or, kinetic? powers to blow the humans' heads off. I sighed, knowing this would be a much less desirable encounter than I wanted to have.
"Sup, asshole," a feminine voice suddenly called from behind us.
I turned around to see Jen--the damn bitch from the ridge. She had her stupid pink glock in her hands. I angrily turned to the others.
"Y'all didn't hit her?!"
Dash frowned. "Sorry, D. Our aim isn't that good."
"It isn't," Jen remarked, "Alright. You guys know the drill. Walk forward to your princesses."
"Or what, bitch?" I scoffed.
She glared at me, already looking annoyed as fuck. "Just go. You don't want to find out."
"I would like to find out what the fuck is wrong with y'all."
"You'll learn that in a minute, asshole. Just step up to the damn thrones."
I rolled my eyes before joining the others in walking down the hallway to the thrones. I kept my baby holstered on my side, itching to pull it out. We stopped not far from them, where ponies would usually stand to request shit like tax breaks from the important princesses. From this close, I could see leashes around Celestia and Luna's necks, which looked to be tied to something on the floor behind them.
One of the boys, who was standing between them, stepped to the edge of the few stairs leading up to the thrones. His rifle was slung behind his back, allowing him to set his hands in his jean pockets. He looked pretty similar to Pete, with a similar fit on. I ignored this, instead turning my attention to Celestia.
"Princess Celestia. I've been meaning to ask you... can I have a chainsaw?"
Celestia squinted her eyes in confusion, as did the boy.
"Hey," the boy called, "You'll sp-"
"Shut the fuck up. Well, Celestia? Please?"
"SILENCE!" the boy shouted.
Okay? I finished my question already. What a dumbass. I continued gazing at Celestia instead of the boy, which upset him more. Celestia sighed behind him.
"I can't do that, D'mitry."
"Why not?!"
She tilted her head toward the boy, eying between him and me. I scratched my head with my free hand, wondering what she was hinting at when the boy spoke up.
"Dumbass. It's cause of us. You really have the audacity to ignore me and try to get weapons from your little princess here, right in front of us? What kinda stupid are you?"
I made them flinch by quickly reaching in my pocket, below my holster. I pulled out the 14" white horse dildo I'd been sent by Princess Celestia at the start and held it up.
"I'm fucking sick of using this! I NEED A REAL WEAPON!" I exclaimed, angrily throwing the dildo on the ground.
"D'mitry!" Celestia shouted, "You bastard! I told you that was my favorite!"
The boy glanced down at the dildo, clearly a bit bamboozled. He shook his head. "Dick move, bro."
"Dude," the dumb bitch behind us joined, "you've literally got a damn hatchet hanging in your belt loop."
I turned around and threw her the finger. "Nobody ASKED yo-"
"SILENCE!" the boy yelled again. He, smug as ever, raised his right index finger and held it out in front of him like he had a swath of authority over all of us. "You will speak when you're spoken to."
"Bruh. I don't give a fuck," I replied.
Smack!
Twi's hoof smacked the back of my leg before she hissed, "Knock it off!"
The boy sucked his teeth angrily. The one girl, to the right side of the throne, walked up beside him and said, "Peter, why don't we just handle business, right here-"
The boy raised his finger again, clearly agitated at her. "Shut up."
"Peter? Really?" I asked, "Well, ain't that fucking original?"
"Shut. UP!"
"What does she mean by handling business?" I asked.
He groaned dramatically as he set his hands back into his pockets. "Listen, Pony Lover. Let me explain what we're doing here right now."
"Oh, thank fuck. It's about time. Please do."
"So... we've been told that... you," he said, pointing at Twi. "...are one smart pony. Therefore, I figure you've got a bit of an idea how we got here."
"Uhh yeah?" Twi said, pointing her hoof at Celestia and Luna. "They brought you in. How else would you get here?"
"Fair point."
What a fucking idiot.
"Anyway, that's correct. Your ever-so-kind princesses here nabbed us from Earth and brought us here."
I glanced disappointingly at Princess Celestia. I knew they'd brought 'em in, but my questions were bubbling. I interrupted Peter before he got the chance to continue.
"Really, Celestia?"
She huffed. "D'mitry, we had our reasons."
"What reasons?!"
"Perhaps the sudden zombie apocalypse raging throughout Equestria? I mean, really, is that not enough to justify our decision? We panicked. We know about some of the inventions of your world, as you know, so we thought about bringing in some more humans and guns with the magic we had left in order to help stop this thing before it got out of hoof. But-"
Peter raised his annoying fucking finger again to stop her.
"But," he continued, "she hadn't expected us to... oh, I don't know... not wanna fight her fight? Like I was saying, she nabbed us from Earth, expecting us to throw ourselves on the frontline of this bullshit. Not only are we still trying to come to terms with being pulled into a brand spanking new universe, but now she gives us all guns and orders us to help them defend their land? I don't know what kinda wisdom she was using there, but it's safe to say that none of us were very happy, or motivated, to take her up on that offer. So, things happened, and boom, my brother Pete led our own little revolution."
"You dumbass," I scoffed, "If you don't wanna be here, then why don't y'all just piss off?"
"We WANTED to!" Peter hissed, taking his hand out of his pocket and pointing back at Celestia. "But your little bitch of a princess here says she doesn't have enough fucking magic to do it."
My eyes widened.
"Yeah!" Peter exclaimed, "We're fucking STUCK here! Now you get why we do what we do? We just wanna go HOME!"
"Bruh. This place ain't that fucking bad, even now. Y'all need to chill out. Maybe you can help us find a way to bring magic back before... oh, I don't know... taking everypony hostage and blasting them for the hell of it?"
Peter growled, but I continued.
"I mean, think about it, how the fuck are y'all gonna get out of here if you go against everybody able to help you? You think you can just bully your way out of here? Really?"
"We've got a better chance of bullying our way out of here than taking on the zombie ponies out there and dying for no reason."
A thought struck my head. I remembered getting sent back to Earth when Pete shot me. There was a way to get back... but how would I explain this to them? My mind ran in circles trying to figure out how. I decided for a direct approach.
"You know..." I said, "...there is a way to get out of here... I learned."
"Okay? And what is that?"
"If you die, you go back."
Peter rolled his eyes. "Nice try, asshole."
"I'm serious! Pete shot me at the gate, and I passed out. I mean, I didn't die, I don't think, but I got sent back! To Atlanta!"
Peter looked like he was growing interested, but it quickly faded. "Bullshit. We're not gonna kill ourselves, dumbass."
"You fucking mongoloid. I swear," I scoffed, shaking my head. I glanced between the boys standing on either side of the thrones. "Speaking of Pete, where is he anyway?"
Peter sighed. "We don't know. No thanks to YOUR bitch ass for SHOOTING HIM!"
His tone grew angry, as did his body language. Now both hands were out of his pockets, curled up in fists by his side. I raised my hands defensively.
"Bruh, what else was I supposed to do? He wanted to take me prisoner."
"You should have accepted! I mean, he still probably would have done what we're about to do now, but it would have made this whole process a hell of a lot easier."
"Wait, wait..." Twi spoke up, nervousness filling her voice. "What are you about to do?"
The boy glared at me for a second before reaching behind his back and pulling out a Desert Eagle.
"Jesus, bro," I commented, "overcompensating for something?"
"Shut up, Pony Lover," he scoffed, turning his gaze back to Twi. "What we're about to do is kill your little human friend here. After that, we can discuss our new relationship."
I glanced down at Twi, who had a mortified look on her face as she rushed up to my side and hugged my leg.
"NO!" she screamed, "DON'T KILL HIM! We can come up with something else! You don't have to kill him!"
"It's too late, purple pony. He's too much of a threat. He got Davis and his boys killed at the station, Clark and his friend at the railroad tracks, and Henry and Demarcus at the gate. We can't risk having him around anymore."
Peter started raising his Desert Eagle, but was interrupted by Celestia. "Peter, wai-"
He raised his. annoying. fucking. finger. again... causing her to pause.
"It's too late," he repeated, raising the gun again and pointing it down the sta-
CRASH!
I fell backward unknowingly until I saw Dash's body strewn out on top of mine. She'd 'Get down Mr. President!'d me to the ground, and held her forelegs over my shoulders. Her eyes were full of fear as she gazed down on me. Peter spoke from behind her.
"Somebody get this rainbow bitch off of him."
Jen, as well as another boy from the thrones, came forward and grabbed Dash by the shoulders before lugging her off of me, kicking and screaming. Another boy came down from the throne and pulled Twi back, setting his rifle against the back of her head. Tears fell down her cheek as she averted her gaze from me to Peter.
"Please. You don't have to do this. Just lock him up! Is killing him really all you guys want?!"
"Partially," Peter answered, "After he's gone, we've got some ground rules to set for the rest of you. We don't want to kill anymore of you, so I suggest y'all stop acting out. Just let your friend here die. By his account, he gets sent back to Earth anyway. Right, Pony Lover?"
He smiled wickedly as I sat up and angrily glared back.
"Hmm," he continued, "Doesn't look like you believe your little story either."
"I DO! But unlike you, I WANT to be here."
"That's too bad. You had the chance to do so at the start, but instead, you chose to attack Pete at the castle. So... it's time for you to go."
Peter raised the eagle again, but was interrupted by the girl from before.
"Hang on, Peter. What if he's telling the truth?"
Peter lowered the eagle, a look of annoyance growing on his face as he turned to her. "Then why don't you test it out for yourself?"
The girl, who was holding what looked like an M4 carbine from the military, hesitantly glanced at it before shaking her head. "I... I don't want to."
"Fucks sake. You know what? Give it here," he said, reaching out his free left hand.
The girl was surprised, but after a second, she hesitantly handed over the rifle. He glanced between the rest of his boys before saying, "Operation Pussy. Go."
What???
One of the boys to the left of him let his weapon hang beside him as a wave of confusion flooded his face. "What? Now?!"
"Yes!"
The other boys had already raised their guns, aiming them at the girl next to Peter. I noticed the boy who was helping Jen restrain Dash had dropped her and was pointing his rifle at Jen now. The girls looked flabbergasted.
"What are you doing?!" the girl next to Peter shouted.
To my right, Jen still had her pink glock, but she didn't dare raise it.
"Sorry, girls," Peter said, "but you're going to join your new pony friends here."
The girls looked absolutely shocked as the boys by the throne started shoving the one girl down the stairs. She started putting up a fight, but without her rifle, she was defenseless. The boys on the throne swiftly overpowered her. While she fought back, Jen shouted out.
"WHAT THE FUCK, PETER?! What is this? We've been fucking helping you!"
"Mmm... cool story. But y'all have been getting on our fucking nerves lately. Plus, we've been here damn near a week now. We need... some stress relievers."
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
"You're sex slaves now. Sorry."
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"
The two argued some more as Jen was led beside me, her gun stripped from her as she was pushed down to her knees. She and the other girl were violently upset at them, but I mean, why wouldn't they be? The other girl was similarly pushed down to her knees on the other side of Jen. They eventually got her to stop kicking and screaming.
I glanced over at Twi, who looked scared and confused. We exchanged an awkward glance as Peter eventually shut Jen up as well.
"Alright. Enough dicking around... for now. Goodnight, Pony Lover."
He raised the Desert Eagle toward my head once more. |
The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse | (C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀) You gave him THAT?! | I stared through the barrel of Peter's obnoxious Desert Eagl-
Creeeeeeeeeeeeak ...
All of us turned around to see the doors of the throne room groan open, just to reveal nobody. They didn't open fully, so maybe somebody was hiding behind the corner? I turned around again and glanced at Peter, who'd lowered his Eagle. He stared back at the door confusedly for a second before shouting out.
"Who's there?!" ...
Tap tap Tap.
A tapping sound echoed through the tall room, originating from a tall stained-glass window off to our right side. We all shifted our attention to it instead. As everybody's eyes were glued to the pretty opaque window, I took a glance around to observe the situation we were in.
To my right, Jen and the other girl were on their knees. To their right were Dash and the boy who had turned on Jen. As I swept my eyes left, I took account of the one boy standing beside Celestia's throne on the right and two more on the left by Luna. Then... Peter, of course. On my left side, Nurse Snow and Spike sat slightly behind me. Twi stood to their left, with the last boy holding his rifle behind her. ...
Wait a minute... ...
Where the fuck is Trix??
I swiveled my head around, but she was nowhere in the room. When I swiveled my head to face Pete again, I caught sight of the stained-glass window to our left. Unlike the one that had been tapped on, this one was starting to glow a blue aura throughout it...
OH SHI-
CRASH!
The tall window exploded in a violent flash of light. Within a second later, shards of glass came flying into the room. None of us had enough time to avoid it, but this wasn't a typical explosion. Most of the shards were shimmering that blue aura from before, with a similarly colored tail quickly trailing behind them.
Of these shards, most of them curved left toward the thrones. As everybody tensed in a faint attempt to shield themselves, the glowing shards showered over Peter and his goons.
Peter and another boy up near the thrones stumbled in their attempt to avoid the shards, tripping over themselves like a pair of belligerent idiots. However, the shards weren't violent enough to wipe them all out. Also, some of the shards showered over the rest of us. I felt a few shards scrape my shoulder and left hip, albeit lightly.
It didn't take long for me and somebody else to realize this was the move. Trix had exploded the glass as a distraction/first strike, so now shit was about to get heated. Within a second, I unholstered my Beretta.
You can tell that it just got really serious, because I forgot to refer to it as my baby.
I pulled it out quickly, attempting to keep my hands steady as I swung it left to face the boy holding Twi up. It didn't take long to line his stupid face up in its sights. I noticed his gaze shift from the thrones to me, but it was too late.
BANG!
The boy's left eye exploded in a mist of red. Blood splattered from both the front and back of his head simultaneously.
Gross.
Thankfully, his rifle's barrel was hanging a bit off-center from Twi, because it had gone off, sending a bullet screaming to the floor. After it ricocheted up and took off for outer space, the boy tipped over. I didn't have time to watch him as more bangs were erupting from my right side.
Unsure of the chaos ensuing, I ignored it and swept my eyes to meet Peter, who was now quickly pushing himself up to his elbows. His Desert Eagle was still gripped firmly in his right hand. Even though just a few seconds had gone by, I could see blood starting to trickle down his forehead, cheeks, and neck. He didn't seem to care.
He knew shit was hitting the fan too, so he didn't bother trying to come to a stand. Instead, he leaned on his left side and swung his head around to face me. Just as quickly, he swung his right hand off the ground to point the Desert Eagle at m-
BANG!
Too late motherfucker! My baby's sights were already lined up with him. I didn't take the time to line up a headshot this time--I'd instead fired at his chest.
BANGBANGBANGBANG!
...and I kept firing at his chest, careful not to strike Celestia behind him to his right. More gunshots that weren't my own sounded off, echoing violently throughout the hall. I kept my focus on Peter as I emptied a seventh or eighth bullet into his chest. He'd dropped his Eagle and slumped over on his back, indicating he was out.
By the time I shifted my attention to the other boys on the throne, they were all already dropped. The gunshots finally stopped, and I realized none of them were moving anymore.
They were dead. All of them.
Even the one standing behind Dash and the girls had been slain. The girls were curled up on the floor, so I wasn't sure if they were hit or not. I also wasn't sure who had gotten Dash's attacker until I noticed the window to our right had also shattered. Behind it was Discord, with a smoking rifle aimed through it.
"Hoooly shit..." I commented.
Discord nodded before using his rifle to sweep away the remaining bits of the window so he could step in.
"Shit! Is everyone okay?!" Twi exclaimed, stepping away from the bleeding boy behind her.
"Looks like it..." Snowheart replied.
How the fuck did we manage that?!
I glanced over at the left window, which Trix was now gazing through. She took a quick peek at everybody in the room before hopping inside. While she walked up to Twi, I turned my attention to the girls. They'd both picked themselves up to their knees again. Despite Jen having a small trail of blood running down her cheek, they both looked fine. As I glared down at them, I met eyes with Jen.
I was about to pull my gun on them, but I demonstrated some self-control and turned back to see what Twi wanted to do. She looked back at me, understanding what I was thinking.
"We'll tie them up for now," she suggested.
"Whoa, hang on," Jen called.
I turned back around to see her standing up, so I promptly walked up to her, set my hands on her shoulders, and shoved her ass back to the ground. She laid back up on her elbows.
"HEY! Relax!" she exclaimed.
The other girl joined, infuriated. "Keep your fucking hands off of her!"
This got me going, seeing as these two bitches were a part of Peter's little dick squadron literally five minutes ago. Now they wanna act like we're on some kinda even ground? No fucking way. I raised my baby toward the other girl's head, which caused her anger to subside pretty quickly.
"No!" Jen cried, grabbing the back of the girl's shirt and pulling her back. "Abby, shut up! Hold on, D'm... uh... D'ma... uhm..."
"D'mitry, you stupid bitch," I scoffed.
"Right, right. Sorry. D'mitry... please. Just hang on."
"D'mitry," Twi called from behind.
I turned back to see her gesturing for me to put my gun away.
"Oh come on!" I retaliated, "They were JUST against us! We can't just let 'em free!"
"D'mitry, please. We aren't, okay? I get it, I do... I want to strangle them both myself, but we might need them. You saw what just happened. For now, let's go by the logic: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend', even if it doesn't hold very strongly right now."
"Bruhhh. The enemy of my enemy is the Soviet Union, and we're America. The nazis are done, and now it's time to stop the spread of communism!"
Twi tilted her head, her face filled with confusion. "Huh?"
Surprisingly, the one girl, Abby, joined in the conversation.
"There's no way you know jack shit about World War II."
"Shut your face!" I exclaimed, "fucking communist!"
"Ahem," Celestia's voice called from the thrones. "Can we get some help up here?"
We all shifted our attention to the important princesses, who were still leashed to their thrones. Trix, Snowheart, and Dash made their way up to assist them while Twi and I returned to dealing with the communists. She glanced up at me with a look of reassurance on her face.
"D'mitry... we're gonna tie them up for now. They won't be a threat anymore--I promise. Just trust me. It's better to have them alive now anyway, because then we can interrogate them and learn more later. I'll talk with Celestia and Luna in a minute, but that's what we're doing right now. K?"
I huffed, taking a moment to gather myself before putting my baby away.
"Thank you," she said.
She and the others grabbed some rope Snow had conveniently packed in her saddlebags and tied both of the girls' hands behind their backs. They weren't happy about it, but they understood Twi's logic. After Discord and Twi helped Jen to a stand, I stepped up to her.
"D'mitry..." Twi called.
I leaned in closer and glanced down at her before whispering, "Consider yourself lucky. If you so much as give one of my friends a papercut, I will skin you alive, not once, but twice... somehow. That's not a threat--it's a promise. You get me?"
I'd expected her to either retaliate... or quiver with fear. However, she stood still, gazing up at me, her sparkly blue eyes dancing back and forth between mine. She looked calm and collected, as opposed to the angry, retaliatory bitch she just was. It was kinda pissing me off. She was quiet for a second before calmly responding, "I get you."
I eyed her for a second longer. "Good..."
I backed away from her as the others helped guide Celestia and Luna down from their thrones, away from the bloody corpses of the boys. I overheard Twi talking with Trix and Discord, so I joined them to hear what happened.
Long story short, Trix happened to just slip away when Jen was bossing us into the hallway. When the girl was preoccupied bickering with me, Trix managed to back away out of sight, eventually gunning it out of the castle to set up that little distraction. Everybody applauded her, not literally, causing Discord to cough dramatically to remind us he was apart of it too.
Coincidentally, he had run into Trix galloping out of the castle. She had explained what was happening to him before they came up with their little ambush. We applauded Discord too, not literally, until Twi asked him how the hell he got here so fast. He wasn't stalking us or anything--he'd just used that weird coil thing we saw a couple days ago to roll all the way here, as he could travel very quickly that way, apparently. Because of this, he chose to leave the hospital to come help us.
"Okay..." I said, "...what about Fluttershy? Did she..."
Discord sighed. "She did."
I was gonna pester him some more, but he burst into tears before I could. Twi and Nurse Snow consoled him as he shriveled up and cried for the next few minutes. In the meantime, it gave me the chance to step away and walk up to Celestia and Luna.
"So... Celestia..." I started.
She met eyes with me and sighed before shutting them. Luna spoke for her.
"What, D'mitry? What do you want?"
"Well... I kinda forgot to ask you during that dream we had about a chainsa-"
"D'mitry," Celestia interrupted, "I still can't get you a chainsaw, even with Peter and them gone."
I huffed. "You're shitting me. Why not?"
She sighed. "I... we need to conserve our dwindling magic in case s-"
"Wait a minute!" I barged in, "You have enough magic left to go back to Earth and get me a chainsaw?!"
"shit," she muttered, clearly regretting her mistake of telling me. "Yes, D'mitry. By my predictions, I do. But it's not happening."
"Oh yeah?"
"Ye-" she started, until I pulled my gun on her. She was close enough to where the barrel of the gun rested just a foot away from her forehead. First, a look of shock filled her face. Shortly after, a look of anger replaced it. Not just hers, but Luna's too. She didn't attempt swiping the gun away, instead glaring back through the sights at me.
My brain finally caught up with me, and I quickly lowered my gun again.
Shit fire. What the fuck am I doing?! Why the fuck did I think that was gonna work?! Fuck...
"Wait, wait, wai-" I started.
"D'mitry!" Celestia growled, "How DARE you! Get on your knees, now!"
Awe shiiiiiiiiiit. I dun fucked up. My ass hurt already, thinking about the spanking that I'd just walked myself into.
"No wait- I'm sorry, Celestia- hold o-"
"NOW!" she demanded.
I reluctantly got on my knees to prevent her from getting angrier, but I continued pleading.
"Wait, Celestia, please! I wasn't thinking! I'm sorry! It was a simple misunderstanding-it coulda happened to anybody-if you think about it, I already aimed my gun at you when I was shooting the boys-I mean-I know it was just a sweep since I was aiming for them and not you but the barrel passed you already-I mean-just for a se-"
"Shut. up."
"No, Celestia-please!! Can you not do this in front of everybody? Like, maybe we can do it late-"
"HUSH!"
Combined with her menacing glare, this caused me to finally shut my mouth. She started walking around to my left side. I noticed both of the girls standing up by Dash, now looking down at me curiously.
Great. Even worse. In front of them, too? Fucking hell. I need to learn to use my brain before doing stupid shit like this.
Tell me about it.
Shut up!
"You know the drill," she stated, standing in position on my left side.
I glanced at her briefly before swallowing my pride and getting on all fours. This was humiliating. Not only that, but it was gonna hurt like a BITCH. I closed my eyes tight, waiting for-
"Peter!"
I opened my eyes again and looked at the already open doors of the throne room, noticing another human boy rushing in before coming to a screeching halt in the doorway. He froze, taking in the entirety of the scene. It's safe to say that he was pretty stunned, as well as viciously confused about what was happening.
I leaned back to my knees, eyeing Celestia to make sure this didn't anger her. She was too focused on the boy now. Everypony else raised their guns on him, causing him to drop the rifle he had in his hands. He then hesitantly raised them in the air.
"Step forward," Celestia ordered the boy. As he slowly stepped forward, she leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Get up. We'll do this later."
I had to stop myself from letting out a HUGE sigh of relief. Instead, I nodded and slowly came to a stand, brushing off my knees. I then walked up beside Twi, keeping careful watch of this new intruder. He walked forward until Celestia told him to stop, about ten feet away from us. She ordered him to his knees, but that's when he started talking back, ignoring her calls for him to shut his mouth.
"Hold on! I have important information!" he claimed.
"What information?" Celestia asked.
"There's a mob nearby! And they're headed this way!" he cried.
"A mob?"
"Yes! Dozens of zombie ponies!! We don't have much time before they're here!"
I turned around to see Celestia skeptical, but growing worried. She glanced between all of us before asking the boy again, to which he gave vivid details in return. There was a zombie mob coming for us, and by his account, we only had a few minutes at best.
While Dash and Discord used more rope to tie the boy's hands behind his back, the princesses debated what we could do about this precarious situation. They made note of Trixie's magic, but even that wouldn't fully stop an invasion of dozens of hungry zombie ponies. She was just one mare, after all.
I kept an eye on the boy as they talked, making sure he didn't make any sudden moves. As I did, Celestia turned to face me. She looked me up and down before sighing and telling Twi and Luna, "I'll be right back."
She then looked forward, tilted her head, and shut her eyes. Her horn glowed, dimly at first, before sparkling brightly, illuminating anything close to her in a white glow. This bright, magic light continued twinkling in her horn as she sat still.
"What is she doing?" I asked Luna, who sat quietly beside her.
"Not entirely sure."
"Is she meditating?"
Luna stared back at me, unamused. She shook her head. "No, D'mitry. She's going to your world. I just don't know why."
"Oh, so that's what it looks like? Why's she going, though? I thought y'all needed to conserve your magic. Why would sh-"
Before I could finish my sentence, Celestia's horn's glow erupted in a blinding light. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the nuke of a fucking light she was making. After a second, it dimmed quickly, allowing me to look behind partially shielded eyes. I noticed a light surrounding an object on the floor in front of her, that grew dimmer, and dimm... ... ... ... ... ... No... ... ... ...
FUCKING ... ...
WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Celestia's magic light was gone now. She raised her head, opening her eyes to look at me. Below her, in front of her hooves, was... was a... it was...
A CHAINSAW!!! A FUCKIGN CHAINGSAWW SHE GOT ME A CHAINSAW!! I CANT BELEIVE IT! OH M AGOD!
"Would you calm down?" Luna pestered.
I took a moment to catch my now-rapid breaths.
"Holy mother of God! Are you for real, Celestia?!?"
She sighed. "I am, D'mitry... but just know that this isn't a decision I make lightly, despite how quickly I changed my mind. We need this right now, understand? But you have to use caution."
In typical princess fashion, Luna began questioning why Celestia did what she did without gaining the approval of her and Twi. This led to a little bit of bickering amongst them, but I was too infatuated by the new chainsaw to pay them any attention.
I instead stepped forward and kneeled beside it, rubbing my hand along its motor. The blades had 'Husqvarna' written on the side of the silver metal plate between them. What caught my eye was just how big of a chainsaw she had given me. The blades themselves looked damn near three feet long! Like, holy smokes!
Overwhelmed with anticipation, I quickly picked up the motor and observed the dials and buttons. That's when I realized I had no clue how to start it. Regardless, I tried. I saw the handle that looked like the thing you pull to start it, so I set the saw on the ground, gripped the handle, and pulled it up over my shoulder.
Nothing.
Maybe I didn't crank it hard enough? I looked at the saw funny for a second before pulling the handle again, and again... and again... and again... and ag-
"D'mitry," Celestia interrupted.
"Huh?"
I looked up to see that the princesses had quit their bickering and were watching me now.
"Do you know how to operate this? From what I gathered, it's gas-powered, if that helps."
"Yeah yeah. Gimme a sec."
I continued pulling at the handle again, and again, and again, and aga-
"D'mitry..."
"Hang ON! Fucking thing won't start! Why'd you get me one that don't work?"
She sighed. "Be right back."
As Celestia lit up another nuke of a spell, I turned my back to her and kept pulling the handle. Twi, despite being a smartypants, grew seemingly disinterested and turned her attention back to the others. I overheard her start talking over a plan with them, but I kept glued to the stupid chainsaw that wouldn't start. As I was cranking, trying to ignore the beam of light from Celestia blasting my back and the marble floor, Luna stepped up beside me.
"You may need to do other things besides just cranking it. I mean... don't you need to cold-start it?"
"Huh? How do you know about cold-starting?"
She huffed. "I researched it--that's all. But I'm right, right? It needs to be cold-started?"
"I dunno."
"Fucks sake."
I tried to crank it a few more times until Celestia's nuclear bomb went off behind me. I turned around when the light dimmed down, seeing a smaller object slowly fade from the light. It was a book. Celestia opened her eyes, picked up the book, and hoofed it to me.
"That's the manual. It should tell you how to start it. I'm pretty sure it's the right model."
"How do you know?" I asked, glancing over the cover.
"Same aisle."
"Aisle?"
"Yeah. I went to Home Depot."
I chuckled at the thought as I opened the book. The first few pages had loads of text, so I kept flipping, and flipping... glossary, warranty info?, parts, customer service, words... words...
"Where are the fucking pictures?" I complained, flipping pages angrily.
"Really, D'mitry? Just read."
"No."
Celestia huffed as I blazed through the pages, looking for pictures. Halfway through, Luna set her hoof on the page I was flipping through to stop me. We both looked to see one image, that didn't even help us. I was about to start flipping again until she aggressively stopped my hand from doing so. The page she stopped me on looked like it held relevant information, so I started reading as well.
I got about three sentences in too, but I started wondering how powerful the chainsaw would be. Its blades looked SHARP, meaning it could surely cut through bone, right? Can every chainsaw go through bone? How dense is bone compared to wood? I know flesh would probably be easy to get through, but I wondered if bo-
"D'mitry, did you hear me?" Luna asked.
I shook out of my daze and looked up to see her roll her eyes. Before I could answer, she continued.
"Like I said... we do need to cold-start it. I read through, so let me guide you."
She pulled the manual from me, allowing me to set up with the chainsaw again. Apparently, I had to flip a knob, as well as push a weird, squishy button a few times before I could crank it. This time, when I cranked it, the motor growled to life.
My heart pounded with the thrill of hearing this weapon growl, so after appreciating it for a few seconds, I picked up the chainsaw by its handle. I swung around to face the others, who looked on in awe at my new shiny toy. I smiled big, aggressively revving it a couple times.
RNNNNNNNNN!
RNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
"Sweet buttered biscuits," Discord commented, turning to Celestia. "You gave him THAT?! Are you NUTS?!"
Celestia huffed. "I had to. We need to use his insanity to our benefit right now."
"Hells yeah!" I exclaimed.
She shook her head before turning to me. "I believe you're the only one who hasn't heard the proposed plan."
"Oh, we have a plan? That's good."
"Yes. So, as we've discussed, we're going to make a break for it."
"Make a break for it? How? Did you forget where we are?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, I haven't. I know we're at a bit of a bottleneck here, but there is still some room on either side of the castle for us to slip past the mob. However, we do need a distraction, so-"
"Roger that! Where do I meet y'all?" I asked.
Celestia's eyes sunk in annoyance before she continued, "No, D'mitry. Not you. Trixie has offered to be the distraction, since she still has her magic. She'll be able to hold off the spearhead long enough for us to slip away outside." ...
I met eyes with Trixie for a second, but before either of us could continue the conversation, a distant banging sounded through the long hall. Everybody turned to look at the doorway, where the open doors allowed the sound to travel in. The mob was here. They were at the front doors, presumably.
"Are y'all serious?" I asked.
"We are..." Celestia answered.
I glanced at Trixie again, who looked... I don't know...
Confident? Obviously.
Anxious? A little bit of that too...
I didn't like it. I guess I should finally say... Trix and I were in a relationship way back.
Yeah, they know.
They do?
Well... kinda. Perspective shifted to Trixie a few chapters back.
Oh wow... I didn't know we could do that. What do they know?
They know that you fucked her.
Uh... okay? That isn't what I was going for, but yeah. We did fuck... cause we were in a relationship.
Yeah, a relationship. Not just a random booty call. It wasn't a crazy serious relationship, but it was definitely adventurous. We'd spent nearly three months together, somehow keeping it secret from almost everypony else. While it was challenging, we managed. Many lies, cover-ups, sneaking outs, and more later, we decided to finally cut ties. Neither of us wanted to, but we were close to getting our cover blown. As a slave, that woulda probably ended badly for the both of us.
So, yeah... we were close. My feelings for her must have stuck with me, because I didn't like hearing this dumbass plan. I turned back to Celestia and stated, "No. I'll stay back with Trixie."
"D'mitry, no..." Trix called, walking up to join me and Celestia.
Celestia grew an annoyed expression as the distant banging intensified. She glanced at me briefly before turning and calling out to the others, "Alright, everypony! Follow the plan. You're up, Twilight. Get them situated."
"I was going to," Twi complained, before getting everybody's attention. She got Discord to watch over the three new hostages as everypony grouped up and followed her to the window Trix had blown open.
Everypony except Trix, Celestia, and Luna. They all stood in front of me.
"D'mitry," Celestia said, "You're coming with us."
"No."
"You don't get to say no. You're coming with us. That's an order."
"Don't care."
"You are setting yourself up for an even longer spanking. Is that really what you want?"
"No, ma'am. But I don't want to leave Trixie."
"D'mitry..." Trix said, stepping up and grabbing my hand with one of her front hooves. "I'll be fine. Just go with them."
"No."
Luna huffed. "Why are you being so combative right now? If you want to test out your new toy, you'll probably still be able to leaving with us."
"I jus-... I don't want to leave her by herself."
Although Celestia was getting pretty mad now, I noticed her expression soften as she eyed both me and Trix. She grew a curious look to her eye before shaking her head and gesturing Trix away from me.
"D'mitry. She'll be fine. Let's go."
"No. Just go without me."
"D'mi-"
RNNNNNNN!
I revved the chainsaw, which sounded amazing by the way. I especially liked the loudness, because it overmatched any kinda conversation anybody could ever attempt to have with me. Less appreciative of this was Celestia, who glared at me.
"You little shi-"
RNNNNNNNNNN!
Haha, this is great! Celestia already looked like she was regretting giving me this fantastic new toy. She shook her head and gestured for Luna to leave before turning and side-eying me one last time.
"You are so in for it after this. I hope you know that."
"I'm sorry, Celestia."
She eyed Trix before letting out a hefty sigh and leaving to join the others at the window. When she made her way to them, Twi talked with her a good bit before glaring back at me. I just know she woulda thrown me the finger if she was able. After mean-mugging me from the window, she led the others outside. Once they were all out, I met eyes with Trix. She shook her head.
"Just had to be the hero, huh?" she said.
"Mmm... yeah. Can't let you steal the whole spotlight."
She rolled her eyes and smirked. "Asshole."
We both established a quick plan and started walking down the hallway. We'd start by holding our ground at the stairs of the lobby, then make our way back through the castle, until we were back at the thrones. Then... I don't know. She'd explained it to me, but I forgot already. I guess we'd go from there.
"So..." I said, "I've come to realize something."
"Yeah?"
We continued walking down the hall, the only noise being the distant banging and the nice hum of my chainsaw's motor.
"Yeah. You were the one stealing my candy bars whenever I slept over."
"Wow. Took you that long to realize, huh?"
"Well... your story about the rabbits was pretty believable."
She laughed. "Damn it, D'mitry. You're something else."
"Yeah yeah, anyway... I want reparations for my stolen candy bars."
She rolled her eyes and smiled before responding, "Fine. When we make it out of here, I'll search far and wide to find you some candy bars. Do you remember how many I stole from you?"
"19 bars."
"No way you fucking counted! You psycho."
"You're right. I made it up. I don't know... maybe around 10? I lost count cause of your kleptomaniac ass."
"Yeah whatever. If anything, that shoulda been the relationship tax. It's what couples do, ain't it?"
"The tax was far too high! Taxation is theft! I'm not paying it, you fed!"
"Oh my god. Whatever. We'll find you some candy bars later, bonehead."
"Radical."
We stopped side-by-side at the top of the stairs. Below, the tall front doors of the castle shook under the weight of the growing mob outside. They held pretty well, given what it sounded like on the other side.
I realized that this was it. The apocalypse in full swing.
It seemed as though our attention had shifted so violently onto other things, like trekking all the way here, or fighting the dumbass humans Celestia and Luna brought in. However, now was the time the true enemy showed its true colors. Any second now, we'd be granted the sight of many, many sickly zombie ponies.
My heart sped up. Hopefully it wouldn't be any more chaotic than what we were expecting. Trix and I turned to face one another.
"You ready?" I asked.
"Ready." |
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