"I'm flattered that you would think of me Ezekiel." Said Rarity
I tried to mimic Applejack's accent. " Ain't nothin' Miss Rarity. Just makin' mah rounds fer today, that's all."
"That's a very convincing accent but um....could you stop talking like that?"
"Fine.....so you sure you don't need any help today?" She tapped her chin in thought and then nodded her head. I sighed. "Alright then I'll be seeing you I guess."
"Is something wrong Ezekiel? You seem off."
"Well there's nothing else to do today. And when I leave here it will still be day time, so that sucks. I just don't want to be bored for the rest of the day."
"Well you could visit Shadow he moved into that cave you always stayed at."
"I suppose I could huh?" She nodded her head. "Well I guess I'll be going now."
"See you later dear."
I left Carousel Boutique and headed for the Everfree. "Hmm.....I haven't been there in awhile. I thought. "I wonder if I'll remember how to get there." As I was walking through Ponyville I noticed that something didn't seem right but I couldn't place what it was and kept walking. Some ponie waved as I walked by and some hung their heads in what seemed like shame. "They must have been some of the....dare I say?.....Neigh-Sayers from the rave. Hmm....they must still feel bad." I shrugged and continued.
I was almost at the house when I saw Pinkie in the middle of the path drinking what looked like chocolate milk. I waved at her but she was enjoying her drink to much to notice me, so I went up and nudged her. She opened her eyes and they went wide.
"Oh-my-gosh! Ezekiel have you seen them?!?"
"Uh.....seen what Pinkie?"
"Nope! Guess you haven't. Well I have to get back to work, I don't want the Cakes to get mad at me. See ya!" She reminded me of a race dog, man she can move. I shook my head and decided that it just Pinkie being Pinkie. I stopped by the house and told Fluttershy where I was going.
"Oh is something wrong?"
"No I'm just going to visit Shadow and I want to see what hes done with the place."
"Oh ok. As long as nothings wrong."
"Nope. Nothing at all."
I went upstairs and got my survival knife and put it on my belt. I looked at my revolver and thought. "Well I don't have the ammo for it so I might as well leave it here." I took the holster off of the belt and put the knife in its place. "Hopefully I wont need to use it." I thought as I made my way back downstairs. I hugged Fluttershy, told her I would be back and left.
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"Well here's Zecora's place so I just need to go.......this way?......I hope I'm right." I walked in that direction and after 15 minutes of walking, turns out I was wrong. "Well shit....hmm.... did I come from this way or this way? Dammit!" I spent the next few minutes trying to figure out where Zecora's hut was, and like always that's a bad idea. I suddenly remembered that I passed the castle ruin on the way there. But what good is that to me now.
Remember at the very beginning when I said I didn't handle stress well? And I can hear your thoughts. your thinking "Well Ezekiel You've had plenty of stressful situations that you handle pretty well." And I'll tell you this: I was medicated. You should remember that.....shame on you. But anyway I was hoping that my "condition" died when I did but stayed dead, sadly that didn't seem to be the case.
After a few minutes of mumbling incoherently I snapped out of it and saw Shadow moving towards me.
"Master? You ok?"
"Yeah just a bit lost."
"I see. follow me I'll lead you to my cave." He started moving without waiting for me to get up. "Also master.....don't lie to me. I can sense that your stressed and I saw you saying nonsense to yourself."
"Yeah sorry Shadow."
"Its ok master. I think you should talk to Twilight and see if she remembers the recipe for your medicine."
"Hey Shadow no offence but have you been taking speech lessons?"
"Yes I have! I'm glad you noticed. Thanks to Twilight and Rarity."
"I see. I'm glad you found friends in them."
"So am I. But I cant go into ponyville.......the ponies don't like me very much."
"Sounds like me when I first got here."
"But the difference is you were about to....nevermind I think it better I not bring that up."
"Thank you Shadow. So how is the Everfree?"
"Its nice. Lots of energy that I can feed off of, plenty of food as well."
"I see......"
"Don't worry master I haven't eaten any of the more peaceful animals only things like manticores and mad bears."
"Ok good."
We finally arrived at the cave. "Well master we are here." He opened the door which looked newer. "Make yourself at home."
I looked around and whoa animal skins and pelts everywhere. "Uh-huh.....so had a few successful hunts, have we?
He laughed. "Yes I have. I just had to keep some trophy's and no Fluttershy hasn't seen. She doesn't visit me so I visit her."
"I'm glad shes not afraid of you."
"It took some time but we're friends now."
"Good." We talked for awhile until I had to leave. Shadow didn't want me to go because it was starting to get dark but I told him I promised Fluttershy I would be back and he seemed to understand. Hopefully I don't get lost again.
It was a miracle that I didn't get lost on the back. I made it to opening with little trouble and headed for home. I got into the house and Fluttershy was taking a nap on the couch. I went over and sat down next to her and accidentally woke her up.
"Oh hello Ezekiel. Welcome home."
"Thanks honey. wanna go upstairs and end the day."
"Yes I'm really tired."
"I can tell." I laughed. "Were you waiting for me?"
She blushed a little bit. "Well....yes I was."
"You didn't have to you know."
"I know. I just wanted to."
"Aw your so sweet." She blushed and we went upstairs, laid down and fell asleep.
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The next day started out as usual but there was something that was different. The same feeling from yesterday was stronger today. Instead of looking for work I wandered around town trying to figure out what was wrong, strangely none of the ponies noticed. I was looking at the sky and I thought I saw a pink cloud. I figured it was Rainbow playing a prank and thought nothing of it.
I stopped when I saw a puddle of chocolate milk or something that looked like it. Out of curiosity I stuck my finger in and tasted it. "Yep....chocolate milk.....what the hell....Pinkie must have something to do with this." I looked up and saw the pink pony inches away from my face. I fell back in surprise.
"Nope wasn't me! You know, you shouldn't assume things."
I sat up. "Sorry Pinkie."
"Its ok silly willy but if you didn't spill milk and I didn't spill milk. Then who did?"
"I was hoping you knew but I guess it was probably some foal that did it."
"Maybe!"
All of a sudden a ball of pink fluff ran into me. It smelled like cotton candy so I assumed it was Pinkie. "God dammit Pinkie Control yourself!" It was stuck in my hair and my beard. "Fuck This is going to take forever to....get...out....." I realized this isn't Pinkie Pie. "Gah what the hell is this stuff!"
Pinkie sniffed it. "Mmmmm.....This is cotton candy silly." It started to leak chocolate milk. "And its filled with Chocolate milk!!"
"What the hay???" I took a bite. "Well ok then." I continued to eat until I was free. "That was both strange and Delicious."
"Yeah! This hasn't happened since that one time where....." A looked of concern flashed crossed her face for a second. "Come on Ezekiel! we need to see Twilight!"
"That was my next stop anyway Pinkie"
And we went towards the library. Hopefully Twilight has some answers.