//------------------------------// // The maze, part 3 // Story: Truths of a prophecy // by Cookiedash //------------------------------// "Applebloom, I told you that we've been down this path already. Look, there's the weird worm again." Scootaloo complained "Worms move 'bout, so it must o' moved from the not this path where it wus." "Ughh, Applebloom, worms don't move that fast, so why don't you just admit that you are wrong." "Ah ain't wrong. We ain't bin down this path 'fore. Ah know this is th' way!" "Okay, if this is the way, then why is there a wall in front of us? You know, like, a dead end?" "Ummm. Ughh....Aghh! This maze is messin' with us!" "Come on guys, let's just go and try the other path." Sweetie Belle suggested "Ughh, fahn. But Ah'm tellin' ya, it ain't th' right path." Applebloom complained "Finally! Lets go!" Scootaloo shouted, ignoring Applebloom "Where are we going?" Sweetie Belle asked "Ah don't know, Scoot's seems ta have gott'n lost." Applebloom said, a hint of satisfaction in her voice "I am not lost. I know where we are, it's just like we said, the maze keeps changing, and with it, this path splits into smaller alleyways and larger streets." "What d'ya mean by that?" Applebloom asked incredulously "What do you mean, 'what d'ya mean'? You've seen the amount of paths that branch off from this one, and some of them are too small for even Opal to get through while others are too big to be able to count as paths from a maze!" "Yeh, but Ah don't understand how tha' got us lost." "Ughh, we have dozens of paths to search, I am following the path I think is the correct one. And we are not lost. I know my way back perfectly fine thanks. And anyway, I think that's supposed to be the centre of this stupid maze." --- From being chased by flying pigs who were out to suck her blood to running into a friendly looking bunny who turned out to be not so friendly after all and rather an evil ghost of a bunny with it's army/family of ghost rabbits trailing it, to finally coming face to face with the creepiest horse face she had ever seen, with one fang, giant white spider eyebrows, a goatee and huge yellow/red eyes that had made her scream and run in terror, Fluttershy recounted the events of what happened to her in, more or less, a single breath. (And breath, people) Which Twilight was dumbfounded at. "H-h-how?" She whispered, "H-how did you...that's...wha??? W-wh-wh-wh-what is going on????" She was breathing heavily noe, almost hyperventilating "H-how did you explain..." She looked at her watch, which hadn't been there seconds ago, but nopony seemed to notice that, "38 minutes and 42 seconds of..of..that? Without taking a single breath?!!?!?!??!?!??!!!???! That's!...that's something I'd expect from Pinkie Pie! And ONLY Pinkie Pie!" Twilight looked at Fluttershy in bewilderment, the latter now looking awfully worried and confused, a few seconds passed before Twilight, promptly, passed out. --- Pinkie Pie was leading Applejack through a series of pathways and tunnels, some of which Applejack was sure couldn't have even existed without crossing into other sections of the maze. Her pink friend bounced happily along in front of her, humming the same stupid tune she had been humming for the best part of the last three hours. "Hmm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmm." Pinkie hummed, Applejack was losing her patience, she had already asked fifty bajillion times for the mare to shut up, but her requests all went unheard "Hmm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmm. Hmm, Hm, hm, hm, hmmmm. Hmm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmm. Hmm, hmmm, hmm, hmm, hm, hm, hmmmm, hmmm, hm, hmm-" She cut off suddenly "PINKIE PIE! Will ya please be quiet! Ahm tryin ta concentrate on where were goin' 'case we git lost, an ya singin' that same gosh darn tune fer the past Ah don't know how many hours ain't helpin' one bit!" She yelled "...Geeze Louise, Applejack. No need to shout, you could have just asked." Pinkie said as she rolled her eyes, then, she put a huge grin on her face and continued bouncing away. Applejack stared after, her face a mix of confusion, anger and annoyance. The walk to the centre of the maze was a lot more bearable now, what without the humming, but now there was an ominous silence, and it was beginning to creep up Applejack's spine, making her feel nervous and awkward. "Uhmm, Pinkie?" Applejack started, when she received no answer she tried again "Pinkie? How long till we hit ta th' clearin?" Still no answer, "Pinkie? Pin-" "Shhhhhhhhhhhh!" The crazy pink mare suddenly said, spinning around and placing her hoof on Applejack's mouth. Applejack looked nervously at Pinkie, her smile had gone, leaving a stern and scary expression to sit and stew on her face. The bright blue cheeriness of her friend's eyes was mostly gone, a greyness now sat there. "Pnkphh?" Applejack tried to talk over her friends hoof "Pnkphh? Phaph pha phoo phoophinph?" "I said shhhhhhh!" Pinkie stared at Applejack intensely for a few moments, Applejack felt like Pinkie was staring into her soul, then, finally, Pinkie removed her hoof, but before Applejack could say anything Pinkie shushed her again "SHHHHHH!" --- Rarity had finally managed to get away from the flying pigs, but only due to the fact that she had run into a very tired looking Fluttershy dragging an unconscious Twilight behind her. The pigs had taken one glance at Fluttershy, screeched, and then flew away. "Well, I wonder what that was all about." Rarity stated, if she saw Fluttershy's slightly embarrassed blush, she didn't remark on it "Ah, Fluttershy! How good it is to see you! And Twilight...Might I ask what happened, Fluttershy?" "Huh? Oh, umm. Well, I, umm, sort of..umm...maybe overloaded her brain with explanation, or something, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to." Fluttershy squeaked. Rarity blinked at her, then again, after the third time, she shook her head slightly, "I'm sorry darling, but what? I-I think I seem to have misunderstood you, but I thought you said that you 'overloaded her brain with an explanation.'" "Oh, umm, no, you didn't misunderstand me. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Fluttershy hid behind her mane, while Rarity gawked "You overloaded Twilight Sparkle's brain, Twilight Sparkle's brain,...with an explanation?" "Oh, umm, yes?" Fluttershy meekly said. Rarity continued to gawk --- Night Walker stared at the statue in front of him. It was Discord, or rather, it was a statue that represented Discord. The statue had rested in the Canterlot gardens when he was a colt, and he had visited it on many occasions. He knew the story and the myths behind the statue, about Discord once being the god of chaos and turning Equestria to mayhem, about a hundred years after Celestia and Luna took the throne. A few seconds passed, Night Walker shook his head, then, he looked at the blue orb in the statue's hand. It was too high for him to reach without his wings, even if he stood on his hind legs, or jumped. He sighed, he'd just have to wait until the others got here. Then, his ears perked up. He'd heard something. He listened for a few seconds, he didn't hear anything, he was just about to give up when... "...stupid maze" Night Walker knew he had heard something then. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the statue. He peered around, a small passage way that he had not seen before was being traveled along by three very familiar looking fillies. "Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! Applebloom!" Night Walker called, they obviously hadn't noticed him before, because they all jumped and snapped their heads to look at him. Their eyes held slight panic in them, but that soon turned to relief as they saw who was calling them. "Night Walker!" They all shouted in unison, and they ran up to him "Thank Celestia we finally found somepony!" Scootaloo said "Yeh! We've been in this maze for hours!" Sweetie Belle complained "Tha's one creepy lookin' statue." Applebloom said, looking up at Discord 'Why does everypony think that I'm ugly and creepy??? Seriously! If you ask me, it's you bug eyed creatures that need to look in a mirror.' A voice said from seemingly nowhere "AHHHHHHHHH!" The CMC screamed. "Who's there?" Night Walker called out sharply, there came no reply --- Paul padded through the maze, he seemed to be quite content despite everything that had happened, which included; being ambushed by flying pigs, being stuck in the part of the maze that was made of mirrors and glass, constantly tripping over something invisible and having a strange voice following him. That and hearing all the screams of his friends as they also ran about the maze. 'Why are you helping the ponies?' The strange voice whispered "Raw." Was Paul's only response, 'How do you even exist?' "Raw." 'You were just a figment of everypony's imagination to begin with. So. How are you here?' "Raw." 'Interesting... Very interesting...' "Raw?" 'Hmm, maybe you exist because you are filled with magic...' "Raw..." 'Hmm, but then, why didn't the other imaginary Timberwolves become real...' "Raw??" 'Maybe, you were just one Timberwolf to begin with, and you just split into several in the ponies imaginations because there were several of them...' "Raw...Raw?" 'Maybe,...it is that you care for these ponies deeply...' "...Raw." 'Ahhh, so there it is... You enjoy their company...don't you.' "Raw." 'But-who is it that you like the most?' "Raw..." 'Is it, perhaps, the purple one? What's her name? Twilight Sparkle?' "..Raw.." 'No? Then, the orange one, perhaps?' "...Raw??" 'Hmm, still no, maybe, the pink one?' "Rrraw" 'Ahhh, so. We seem to have found her. That lunatic of an earth pony... Now this is interesting...' An image of Pinkie Pie flickered inside Paul's head "Rraw..." 'Hmm, but it's not just her is it? Who else? Somepony, who I haven't had the chance to meet yet, perhaps?' "Grrrrrr" 'OOOoooo! Struck a nerve, have I? Did something happen to one of your closest friends?' "GRrrr" 'Hmmm, well, how's about we have some fun...' "Rrrrr" 'Don't worry, I wont harm anyone.' "Rrrraaaww..." 'How about, If I pull a few strings..here and there...' "Rrraaww?" 'I'll get your other friend back from wherever she is...and....all you have to do, is fix the other one...' "GGRRrrrr" 'Oh, so it's a deal then? Good' "GGGGRRRRRRRRRR!" 'Ta-ta.' "RRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!"