//------------------------------// // 4- An unwanted guest // Story: Remnants of chaos // by L Morning Star //------------------------------// “¡It's headed your way!" “¡It's ours!” A completely black blur jumped past the branches of the trees while other larger shadows chased it from the skies trying to surround it which was impressive considering that it was night the blur was barely distinguishable and yet they had been chasing it for more than an hour “¡Now!" The shadows descended in perfect coordination ready to pounce on the creature that had managed to elude them for days, but was already waiting for them, as soon as they were within range the blur dodged the first attack and hit the second with just its momentum. causing him to crash hard against a tree, what he didn't count on was that the second group of shadows would simply pass him by and cut the branches of the next tree leaving him without footholds With nothing to stop it the blur continued on and crashed face-first into a tree and fell like stone into the bushes below it The second group had already repositioned itself in the sky and they were already heading towards the bush until another 4 black blurs came out of it, escaping in different directions, the shadows at the same moment they noticed it divided, each one focused on its own target as if it had been rehearsed dozens of times “SHHHHING” “¡Clear!" The first shadow fell and cut its target only for it to vanish. “SHHHHING” “¡Clear!" He repeated the second only with more frustration than the first “SHHHHING” “IT IS NOT EITHER, IT ESCAPES” Said the last shadow desperate to see how his prey managed to escape triumphant once again "I HAVE IT" The shadow that had previously been dodged by the blur but managed to recover quickly enough to intercept the last target cried out in delight. “SHHHHING” “NOO” Only to be disappointed to see his target vanish as well, after a slight moment of resignation the five shadows came together again. “¡I was sure I had it this time!” "Calm down soldier" Said the eldest and then turned his head to the shadow on his right "Are you okay?" "If older the armor took the worst part" The older man just nodded. "Very good, retrace our steps, I think we lost it for a few seconds on the rock on the side of the river "¡move!" Without the need for anything else to be digested, the shadows returned to the air in search of their prey, without noticing the zorua that writhed a few meters from them. "It's a good thing it never occurs to them to look in the bush" And so slowly and silently the zorua made his way to the only place in the forest that he had been avoiding since he arrived. "I really hoped I didn't have to do this." He thought as he saw a sign in a language unintelligible to him and passed under it “How can I understand a language that I have never heard, but cannot read it? It is absurd!” He thought again only angrier this time, putting those thoughts aside for the moment he concentrated and assumed the form of a filly with yellow fur and red mane in a topknot that he had seen heading out of town several hours before. "The more tender and naive the better, right?" Without wasting any more time, he continued walking towards the town while he thought about everything that had happened to him so that he would break the only rule that he told himself that he should never break since he saw this town. It had been a little over a month since the massacre in the castle, during that time he was forced to hide in the forest and manage to survive in an unknown environment without any support or object to help him so survival had been … surprisingly easy He himself knew that as a human he wouldn't survive four days without being eaten by a predator, but as a pokemon you could say he had it for free It was true that some parts of the forest were dangerous and others terrifying, but much of it was also teeming with life the likes of which he had never seen on Earth, the food was plentiful, the water was the purest and cleanest he had tried, if he had any cold or heat simply altered his body accordingly and with his illusions any predator that was too much for him didn't even notice Considering his situation, it was the most he could ask for, until the batponies arrived and everything went down the drain. No matter what he did or how hard he tried to hide his tracks they always came back the next night to chase him, the first time they found him they would have decapitated him or broken his neck if it wasn't for this body apparently being more comfortable be awake at night Even with the constant annoyance of being hunted which made it very difficult for him to eat and rest properly he still refused to leave the forest and head towards civilization, not out of fear but out of guilt his memories of what he had done shortly after being summoned They still gave him nightmares and on bad days they made him feel weak and sick to the point of vomiting, but he couldn't continue in the forest anymore, the batponys were adapting better and better to his illusions, so lately they have been very close to cornering him and the last thing he wanted was to have to make his traumas worse by adding more deaths to the list "Just go into town, sneak onto the train and you'll be free, easy right?" As he moved through the shadows trying to attract as little attention as possible, he reviewed his plan “What are you doing here Applebloom? “AHH” In a not at all feminine scream, the false filly gave a surprising jump to take distance from the owner of the childish and apparently harmless voice with which she ended up falling on her face perfectly. "Let me help you" Seeing that her dignity could not be any more on the ground, the false filly accepted the help. "Are these claws?" “You still haven't answered my question. What are you doing outside at this hour when you know there's a curfew until dawn? Don't you see how dangerous it is with so many of those things still loose? Despite not being a girl, she couldn't help but shrink like one before the scolding of what seemed like a lizardman, it felt like when her older brother scolded her when she was little. Paying a little more attention to, lizard boy? in front of her I noticed that most of its scales were purple except for the belly and it had a green crest "He looks like Barney" He couldn't help but get emotional when he met the spitting image of one of his favorite childhood characters. "And good?" Noticing that I was still waiting for his answer, I quickly looked for something to respond with. “B-but the sun has already risen” He said while pointing to the horizon where you could see the glimpses of the sun peeking out "Yeah now it is, but for you to be here you had to come all the way from sweet apple acres in the middle of the night right?" Seeing that he was running out of options, he tried to divert attention. "I could say the same about you, what are you doing outside at this hour?" The boy seemed to hesitate, but he did not take long to respond “I only left the library because I saw you sneaking between the buildings” The fake mare looked behind the lizard boy and saw a tree with a door and windows. "Of course he saw me if I thought it was a normal tree" "Besides, with Twilight and the others in bed, I have a lot of errands to do" “Then let me help you so we will be safer” The filly was desperate, if she kept asking her questions it would be a matter of time before she discovered her The boy seemed to want to say something, but with a sigh he resigned himself. "Fine fine as you wish, but only because I'm in a hurry" For the next hour and a half myself and my partner Spike wandered around the market when the stalls were just opening, it was while being greeted at one of these that I found out his name. "Why is he the only one with an almost normal name?" Questions like these came to him in almost as many bags as poor Spike had to endure, though he held up surprisingly well. "Don't you want me to help you a little?" "No, I've had a worse time, besides, I already picked up the last one, now we just have to deliver them" Only then did I notice that we were heading to a building shaped like a carousel KNOCK KNOCK* He touched Spike with his claws, but there was no response. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* Again knock and again there was no answer, I was about to suggest that there was no one until Spike beat me to it. “AG not again” He said with an expression that I could see expressed concern and anguish, he leaned down and after dropping some of his bags he picked up a stone that was on the side of the entrance and with a POP the stone opened and from it Spike took out a key that soon use to open the door "I won't be long, wait for me here" After taking the bags and entering the carousel, the false mare, as well mannered and respectful as she was, only took ten seconds to disobey him and enter anyway. As soon as he entered he could notice that this was a pretty nice clothing store, in fact the only defect it had was the accumulated dust it seemed that nobody had cleaned this place in a time, without wasting any more time he went to the source of the sounds until he got to what seemed to be a kitchen where he could see Spike cutting fruit and on one of the chairs he saw a white mare with a purple mane and something disheveled which seemed frozen he didn't even see her blink, if it wasn't for the movement of her chest i would swear she was dead "Ready Rarity here you go" Seeing no reaction from the mare, Spike sighed again and gave her a light touch. PUNCH* As soon as her claw made contact, the mare punched her across the face, although it seemed more by reflex than intention. "Spayki I'm so sorry!" "Don't worry Rarity I barely felt it" "You're lying, those helmets are deceptively hard, I know from my own experience" Rarity took a quick look around the room like she just noticed where she was until her eyes landed on me. “Apleebloom dear, did you come to play with Belle? give me a second I'll bring it right away" Spike gave me a look of surprise that turned to reproach and I just cringed with a goofy grin, but he quickly refocused on the mare walking away. "Rarity remembers that she went away with her parents for a while, u- until it's safer to be around." That last part was said with some hesitation "If I had to guess Belle is a filly and Rarity is obviously in no condition to take care of a girl." I couldn't help but give him an admiring look seeing how he was handling it all. "So young and so much responsibility, he has my respect" "Oh... right with those things still loose around there it's not safe, the last thing I want is for him to also see the horrors of what those things are capable of" The fake filly cringed at the comment, even if she didn't say it it was pretty obvious what she was talking about. “Dear I'm so sorry I didn't want to scare you, why don't you join us for breakfast? It looks like you're still hungry." It seems like he noticed the way I looked at food so I don't hesitate to use that knowledge to change the subject. "Good thank you" Having been hungry in the forest for days, I resigned myself and joined them for breakfast which, although delicious, was also very quiet. Sometimes I could notice that Rarity was freezing again and Spike had to give her a light touch to keep her eating. Once they finished the two were ready to go and although I wanted to say goodbye Spike stopped me when he saw that the mare had frozen again, with another sigh he simply denoted concern and with great delicacy worthy of an artist he put a blanket on top of her and they left “What did I tell you before entering?” "Shit!" "I'm sorry I just wanted to know how were" She knew it was a blatant lie and that later the aria would feel guilty, but she put up with it. "Okay, I'm also worried about everyone, but that's not why you should take such risks" He said it while giving her a reassuring pat on the head "You... are surprisingly mature for such a young" The words seemed to take him by surprise. "Hell, did I say that or think so?" "Well thanks, even though I only do what I have to, it's not that big of a deal" He said while blushing a bit "Well let's pick up the pace, it's not supposed to take me that long" After that we both went back to the stalls to buy more groceries until Spike was back entombed in bags, only this time I didn't let him carry it all, we kept walking until BOOM* For a second I flinched as a shadow crashed right in front of us and seeing the gray fur I feared the worst. “THEY FOUND ME, HOW? They had never seen through my illusion." "Hello Derpy" Spike said snapping me out of my growing panic long enough to notice that the postman-suited mare in front of me wasn't a batpony. "Oh hey Spike, tell me you've been lucky?" "I'm not sorry, but I haven't seen any Donald Trub" "That's not how it was, I think it was Truc or Drum" At that my ears perked up "You can't refer to who I think you are, right?" "Won't it be Donald Trump?" "YES! That's it, have you seen it?" The look that the mare was giving me showed some desperation “W-why are you looking for it?” “Because I need to deliver your mail!” "What?" To my confusion Spike came to the rescue again “A few weeks ago a letter arrived addressed to this Donald and Derpy has been doing everything to find him” “It is my responsibility that the mail is delivered to them” "I understand you Derpy, but how do you know that he is here? From what you told me last time you managed to discover that that letter had been sent to ten other nearby towns in addition to cities like ponyhattan" "That's why I try so hard, after what happened in Canterlot, it must be his family that is worried about him and they can't find him." The conversation continued, but I no longer listened to it, I didn't even pay attention to the tremendous similarity in the names of the cities mentioned and those that were in my world, my mind was only focused on one thing “I have to get that letter” "Well, I'm sorry Derpy, but I can't waste any more time, I'm running late" "Oh okay Spike see you later, bye Aplee... where did he go?" Spike was surprised and turned his head to where the filly had been only to find a few bags of groceries lying around. "At what time?" She immediately started looking in all directions fearing that something had happened to her friend. "Don't worry, Spike must have gotten bored listening to us, I think I saw his brother selling apples, maybe it was with him" "Yes, thanks, I'll go see her in a while, see you" Without further ado, the Pegasus left, leaving a confused dragon as to what he should do. "I'm already late and I could also take advantage of buying some apples" With his decision made, he continued on his way to the center of the town where all the stores were established until his vision came to a certain apple stand in particular and he was worried to see that there was only one stallion guarding the store, as fast as he could he approached to the red stallion "Hey Big Mac, haven't you seen Apleebloom have you?" Faced with the unexpected question, the stallion raised an eyebrow, but he was quick to respond. “nop” "And you don't know where it is, do you?" The dragon asked again, already accustomed to the stallion's way of speaking. “She is on the farm, she is not allowed to go out” “But I saw her in town” At that the stallion's face finally began to express his emotions "How long ago was that?" "I saw her at dawn" His answer seemed to calm the stallion and after a small sigh he replied "Well you must have been wrong at dawn I was just leaving the farm and she was saying goodbye to me from the house" That did baffle the dragon "So are you going to want something?" "Ehh no thanks, see you later" As the dragon left thoughtful about what he should do "I admit that I've been a little stressed these days, but I don't think it's enough to hallucinate and if I were to do it I don't think it would be with apleebloom" Seeing where her thoughts were headed, she blushed and quickly shook her head. "Maybe I should discuss it with Twi when I get back." Trying to stay focused on his current task, the dragon spent the rest of the day buying food and delivering it to his recovering friends. “And here you have Rembow the last volume of Daring Do” "Finally!" He said as he took the book from her hands "I've been waiting all day. Where have you been?" "Oh um sorry I was a little distracted" "Well don't worry, thanks for bringing him and sorry, I'd love to help you, but they won't let me out until next week" "Don't worry, I can handle this and by the way, how are your wings?" “Improving, although I will have to attend rehabilitation” "Well you were very lucky I heard there was a monster out there that implanted its eggs in you and then they came out of your chest and that's not even close to being the worst I've ever heard of" "Where did you hear that?" "On the street, it's what everyone talks about" The mare looked at him for a few seconds and with a sigh resigned herself "Spike please stop listening to those things are not for you" "And why not, you guys fought those things, right?" "Yes, we did, and that's why I'm telling you, you should never talk about those things, you're still very young." The dragon couldn't help but put on an angry expression. "Of course, if it were up to you, I would still be wearing a diaper." "Spike you don't understand these things-" "I'M TIRED OF NOBODY SAYING ANYTHING TO ME" The dragon ran from the room to the hospital “ARG well done Rembow” The mare said to herself as a hoof crashed into her face "I'm sorry Spike but I have to do this." The zorua thought as she chased the gray Pegasus from the rooftops imploring no one to see her, her march finally stopped after the Pegasus delivered his last letter and entered a building where he left his uniform and bag. "Chance!" The zorua camouflaged itself with the colors of its surroundings until it reached the window of the building through which it entered once it made sure that no one was looking Once inside it transformed into a plant and I wait 6 hours later A gray mare was staring (or as much as possible) at a plant that was in one of the corners of the building "Mom, what are you doing?" Said a bewildered filly when she saw what her mother was doing "It's a strange plant, it wasn't here before just... it appeared" "Just because of that you've been looking at her for almost thirty minutes?" She loved her mother very much, but she had to admit that there were times when she really tested her patience. "Mmm it's a strange plant" "Well if you say so, although it would be better to leave we have many things to do before curfew starts" "It's fine but tomorrow I'll find out where it came from" "Yes yes, let's go" Said the filly as she dragged her mother out of the building, a second later the plant collapsed and a zorua fell face down on the cold floor "OH MY GOD, it was the most intense staring match I've ever had in my life and I didn't even have eyes." He said as he shuddered to remember those bulging eyes, he had nothing against the mare, but over time it became very difficult to look at her "I have to thank that girl later, I don't think I could have taken much longer." Getting up and shaking his head he cleared his mind. “Concentrate you have a mission” Without further wasting time, he set out to look for the letter, which took him a while, he had to turn over some drawers and boxes full of papers until he only had a desk left. "Come on, you have to be here" I search and search in all the drawers, but found nothing “It takes me the-” To calm his growing frustration, he leaned against the back of the seat and felt something dig into his back, he turned to see what it was and realized that it was the strap of the bag that the mare was carrying. "don't fuck with me" She turned around and opened her bag and the only paper inside was the one she had spent hours looking for. “I feel the enormous need to hit my face against something, something very hard” Repressing that impulse, he opened the envelope and six pages came out of it, some of which he could recognize were written in English, Spanish, Arabic, another that he did not know if it was Chinese or Japanese and the rest that he had no idea, but recognized as terrestrial. anyway Go to the empire of storms Due to the brevity of the message and what he knew about the other languages ​​of the other pages, he could guess that they all said the same thing “So many languages, it means that either they have a polyglot or a significant group of us has already gathered” Having got what he wanted, he folded the letter and stuffed it into his mane. "I need a map and if I remember correctly Spike mentioned a library" Spike had been taking his time to return home hoping to calm down, this month had been by far the worst of his life, it seemed that everything and everyone had lost something The happiness and friendship before always present in the small town were now almost entirely gone, the ponies were no longer so friendly they treated anyone who came to the town with distrust, the new guards were more gruff and less respectful and since They came back from Canterlot none of their friends were the same He understood that they had gone through difficult things, but that didn't mean they had to isolate him and call him only when they needed to use him as a pack mule to fulfill everyone's duties while constantly telling him "you're too young", he was sick of that phrase!! His train of thought stopped when he saw that he was already at the entrance of his house. "Maybe today I'll finally be able to convince Twi to tell me what happened...or at least get her out of the basement. I've had enough of talking to the wall." He thought as he would have passed by the entrance of the house and immediately noticed that things were wrong the books that they had taken care of barely organizing yesterday were scattered on the floor "Damn, Twilight must have had a moment of inspiration and as always, it's my turn to clean up." With a sigh, he began to collect the books and put them on their respective shelves with a rehearsed mastery and silence that would put anyone who calls themselves a librarian on Earth to shame and would have remained so if it weren't for the black and red stain on the top of one of the tables was a second away from asking him what he was doing until he recognized it was one of the many pictures and portraits he had seen in the basement before Twilight kicked him out “What is that thing doing here? Did he do something to Twilight? Should I face it?" Spike dismissed that last thought immediately, he had heard and read in the papers what these things were capable of, even the little "small pink ball devours anyone who approaches it from two meters away this monstrosity has been seen on the outskirts of... ” was one of many I had read Slowly the dragon was taking slow steps to the basement for which he had to surround the fox, he knew it was dangerous, but he was not going to leave his sister alone with this thing "No again" It was so close it was only a few meters Punch* “ACH” The dragon quickly covered his mouth to stifle the traitorous screech when the fox, not finding what he was looking for, threw the book and it fell on his head, the fox slowly turned around Neither of them did anything, they both stayed where they were waiting to see that, towards the other, Spike stared between the creature and the basement door until panic overcame him and he ran towards her, he was only a few centimeters from the lock. when he was shot down and subdued He struggled for a few seconds, but the fox was deceptively strong and it wasn't long before he was subdued. "TWILL-" He tried to scream, but was quickly silenced by one of the animal's legs, he tried to hit it now that he had a free hand, although he seemed unfazed by his blows. "Did you say something Spike?" "No nothing happens" The dragon stopped his fight when he heard his voice leave the lips of the creature. "Well, but please be quiet, I have a lot of work" "That is all? I'm going to die?" The dragon closed his eyes in fear waiting for pain, but it never came "Please don't cry, I'm not going to hurt you" The dragon opened his eyes, incredulous at what he heard, the voice was soft and gentle, it reminded him a little of Fluttershy "Please don't yell, I just want to get out of here, okay?" The dragon nodded more out of inertia than understanding, even so, he remained silent as the fox withdrew his paw from his face. "I just want a map and I'll go, I promise not to hurt you" The dragon calmed down and after thinking a bit answered “Why do you want a map?” It took a few to get your answer "I just want to leave this country, but I can't if I don't know where its limits are" "Even though she promised, there's really nothing to stop her from killing me or hurting me if I don't help her." “The geography books are on the third shelf in the middle to the right” After a look of doubt, she turned and looked at him again. “Could you show me?” “Y-yes, follow me” Once they reached the shelf, Spike took the book and opened it to the page that he remembered was the most complete version of the world map. “Here is Equestria” He said while pointing and seeing the reaction of the fox, who looked at him with doubt, seemed to be thinking about something and after a sigh he replied "You know... where the empire of storms is" Although I doubt it, it didn't take him long to answer "Em... I've only heard rumours, but it's said to be south across the desert." The fox shrank when he saw how far away it was, even if he took the train it would take a long time in which he could only pray that they wouldn't find it besides the fact that the map only reached the middle of the desert Spike looked at her as he racked his brains thinking. “He lied to me, he knows where he wants to go, but why? What am I supposed to do? What would Twi? …What would Shining?” Spike didn't know where that last thought came from, but it gave him an idea of ​​what to do and after a sigh he made his decision. “Even if I survive Twilight is going to kill me” "Wait for me here, I'll be back" He said as he went to one of the desks and took out a large backpack and immediately filled it with all kinds of things of which the fox could distinguish a first aid kit, food, canteens, a sleeping bag, etc. "What are you supposed to be doing?" "I'm ready, I'm going with you" The fox froze for a moment "W-why the hell would you do that?" "Because I noticed that you don't know how to read the map or I'm wrong" The zorua blushed a little, but still answered "And just for that?" The fox looked at him with a face from which you could see that he did not believe him, he took some time to think and answered "No, not only that, I need to know what happened in Canterlot and make sure you don't hurt anyone" He said with conviction and determination as he pointed at her “For a whole month everyone has excluded me and cast me aside, enough is enough!” “Okay okay, but calm down” Said the zorua fearing that her screams would alert someone "And besides, I can... what?" “I said you can come, you have proven to be more than trustworthy since I met you this morning, or are you regretting it?” "It's not just that it usually takes longer than that to convince them to let me go and wait a second. What did you say earlier?" Three seconds passed and his brain finally processed the rest of the information. "You, were Apleebloom" the fox nodded "If illusions are my thing" "illusions? but i touched you " “My illusions are… unique, I can explain it to you later, but first I must ask, are you sure? I can't guarantee that you won't get hurt or even killed." "Yes, I'm sure" “And what about Rarity? You also said there were others like her, right? A second of doubt could be seen in the dragon's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it. "They... will be fine, in fact I think it would help them not to depend so much on me" He said that while looking at the basement door “Since Canterlot they have done nothing but be locked up, maybe this will help them come back to reality” “I knew this guy was mature, but I didn't expect this” "I'll wait for you at the entrance then" Seeing how he walked away and sat on one side of the door, Spike was collecting the things they would need for the trip and at the right moment when noticed that was not looking at him, he walked away and took a sheet of paper and a pen and in less ten seconds managed to write a letter with all the information summarized about what happened along with his plan and sent it Not even three seconds passed before he received a letter with a gigantic NO He felt that more letters were on the way, but he swallowed them before they managed to get out, one finished organizing everything once approached the entrance where they were waiting for him "Last chance, don't say I didn't tell you" "Yes I'm sure and by the way I'm Spike" He said it while his hand lasted, the zorua was a little confused until he recorded that he never told her his name "Nice Spike you can call me... Zora, if you call me Zora please" It was morning the sun was just barely visible on the horizon as a mare and her filly entered a building to start their day at work before walking their daughter to school or so the filly waited until her mother froze in the room building entrance "What's happening? I'm going to be late if we don't hurry." "No this" "What?" “The plant is no longer there” The mare rolled her eyes and walked past her mother. “Are you still with that? What's important about a…” His words died in his mouth when he noticed all the chaos in the building, it seemed that a typhoon had been unleashed, however, he could notice that his mother's vision did not depart from one of the corners of the building that was now it's empty. He slowly turned around and stared at her as hard as he could. "I told you there was something strange with that plant, now you clean" The filly said nothing as the broom and shovel were handed to her.