//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Gloomy Town // Story: Ten Months Later // by Z-A-C //------------------------------// Luna resorted to strapping me to a table and locking me up in a "inescapable room". Last time she left I counted the amount of locks locked. Five. The door had five locks on it. The room was cold and damp, something like a medieval dungeon might look like. It also smelt bad. Mostly due to the mold growing in the corners of the floor. It was not pleasant to say the least. Luna would "visit" me every few hours, and ask me how to turn her sister and the Elements back. And each time I would tell her that she would have to let me go for me to be able to change them back. She was less than happy with the idea and well.....here I remain strapped to the table. I could hear the guards talking outside of the door. It was mostly muffled but a few words slipped through. They were talking about me and how it would be better if Luna made an exception to the no execution law and kill me. This isn't the first I have heard this conversation, although they did vary a bit but the subject is always the same. "You know if you want me dead you have the chance to kill me right now!" I heard a lock slide opened but it stopped there. "Don't let him get to you." One of the guards said to the other and slid the lock back closed. "But he killed my friend!" I rolled my eyes. "I did not kill anypony! I merely turned then into stone!" I had to yell for them to hear me clearly. "He suffocated before you unfroze his mouth!! If you realized that sooner he would still be alive!!!" "I'm so sorry. I thought it worked similar to what the Elements did to me. Now you want to yell at me like that again?" "I'll speak to you how ever I want!! And you cant do anything about it!!" "Then stop hiding behind that door and face me!" I could hear the locks being moved furiously and the shouts of the other guard. Somehow he managed to get all of the locks and open the door. He was a unicorn, I assumed that he used a paralysis spell on the other guard. I could only see his silhouette but that was enough to tell me what type of pony he was and know where his eyes were. I had an eye-patch on last time the guards were in here to check my straps and tighten them if it was necessary. But since then I somehow managed to flip it up. He gasped, realizing his mistake and was teleported to my mind. "Now that we have a chance to really talk, I just want to tell you that I am truly sorry about your friend." His response was to draw his sword and cut off my arm at the elbow. I looked down and back at him. "Ouch....That kinda stung." "Heh, good I'm just getting started!" "You creatures." I shook my head. "You become scared of something and automatically assume that it's hostile." "Well aren't you?! Look at what you did to Celestia and the Elements!!" "But you got to remember who gave the order to have me imprisoned in stone. Just imagine being standing in the same pose for a year. Wondering where your friends and loved ones are, and not having any way of letting your anger and sadness out. Instead having it grow and fester into something completely monstrous. And then dealing with that for however long!" "You deserved it!" He said as he charged at me with his sword. I dodged it and kicked him in the side as he passed. "I deserved it!?!? Did I get a chance to change my ways?! NO!!! I was summoned to the castle and next thing I know I was told that I was going to be turned to stone!! By my fucking friends!!! Why did I go after Celestia?! To make her fucking suffer! Why did go after the Elements/my friends? To make Celestia suffer even fucking more!" My arm levitated and reattached itself and a force field surrounded the guard. "But doing that to my friends broke my heart. I'm not a fucking monster, that shit killed me inside! And here's something else you may not have realized." "And what might that be?" He said still in battle stance. I looked him in the eye "Your precious Princess Luna promised to help me when we got back here. But what does she do? She throws me in the most poorly kept cell in the dungeon! We were friends too dammit!! And this is what she does to me!?" "She told us guards that you were captured terrorizing Ponyville!" I looked down breaking eye contact. "I never thought she would be a liar as well as a traitor..." "What are you going to do to me?" He asked in a generally collected voice. I looked back up at him and smiled. "You stood your ground. You are brave, I respect that. You didn't break down and cry or try to run away. You fought. You're free to go." I said as a portal opened up behind him. "Feel free to tell the guards of the lies of Princess Luna, I doubt the would believe you." The force field dispelled and I waved at him. He said nothing just turned and walk into the portal. "Hmm....I swear I've seen him before. Male with a blue mane and white coat? Nope nothing." ------------- Luna heard about that little encounter and was not happy. She told the guards to leave their posts and to basically forget about me and declared this wing of the dungeon off limits to anypony but her. She just left me to rot down here, I'm surprised it hasn't occurred to her that I'm the only one that can turn them back to normal. "I can help you get out of here." "How? These straps are pretty strong, I don't see how you will be able to break through them." Just then the area where straps were became incredibly hot and the straps melted. "That's how." "And the door?" "Wait for Luna to come back. It shouldn't be long until her next visit." "I hate waiting games." I said as I went and hid in the corner behind the door. I've been in this corner for about an hour now, and I'm starting to think Luna has actually forgotten about me. Until the door opened that is. Luna walked in and saw I wasn't strapped to the table and that the straps were melted. She began looking around frantically and that's when I swiftly and silently hit on the back of her head and knocked her out. I ran out of the room and started looking for a way out. It's been about 15 minutes of looking for the exit and no luck. I then realized I didn't have a plan if there were guards at the exit. I began to think about how I was going to go about it. I then passed a window and thought about jumping but even though there was a river below, the water from this height would be like concrete. I turned to continue walking down the corridor that I was currently in and found a door....that somehow led into the Royal Guards barracks. As soon as they saw me I turned around and booked it. I was almost back to where my cell was, and the guards are still searching for me. I turned my head to look behind me to see if any guards were closing in but there weren't, so I turn my head back to look forward and stopped. In front of me was a very much awake, very very pissed of Luna. At first I backed away slowly but when she lowered her head and rushed forward I turned around and flew down the corridor. Luna was still chasing after me but I somehow managed to get ahead of her by a few feet. I passed that window and briefly considered jumping out but decided not to and kept running. It was then when I ran into a squad of guards and had to turn around again and to run toward the window, where Luna was.....I'm boxed in. I'm sure you can see where this going. I looked to my left and right. To my left were the guards, swords ready and all, and to my right was an ever so slightly calmed down Luna. I began to slowly back up, which made Luna very aware of what I was thinking of doing. "Ezekiel I know what you thinking and you shouldn't do it." I said nothing and continued to back up. "I know putting you in that cell was wrong of me and I'm sorry I let my anger get the best of me," I had my back pressed against the glass. "But now I will really get you a doctor to help you." I put pressure on the glass and I heard it starting to crack. "Now what do you say?" "I say, you only want me alive so I turn everypony back to normal!" Her face said 'Oh shit he figured it out.' And that didn't do much for me to back away from the glass. "But you know what? Fuck! That!" I yelled as I applied more pressure to the glass causing it to break and I started falling down towards the river. ------------ I washed up on a riverbank somewhere. Looking around at all of the trees, one could only assume that this was the Everfree forest. I really wish it isn't. I assumed I was miles away from Canterlot so I wasn't really worried about any guards or Luna coming around. I sat up and looked myself over to see if I was injured in any way. Besides a few cuts and bruises I seemed ok. I stood up, picked a direction and started walking, maybe I'll find my way back to Ponyville. As I was walking I saw a small town built in a clearing. Being cautious I went tree to tree and hid behind any bushes that would keep me hidden. I saw that it was indeed a small town and that there was even ponies here! I thought it would be abandoned, the buildings are in a state of disrepair and the ponies....have more than one cutie mark... What the hell? Maybe this is like Ponyville. Maybe (and hopefully) the ponies here are nice and wont try to kill me, this is the Everfree after all. I slowly emerged from the bushes alerting a passing pony, but unlike Ponyville this pony was slowly walking towards me, it approached cautiously as it looked me up and down. It circled me much like Twilight did the first time she saw me. I was started to get annoyed so I decided to say something. "Um excuse me?" It jumped a little and then stepped closer. "You can talk?!" She sounded excited. "Not many things in the forest can talk like us. Well maybe that sea serpent thats seen in the river but that's about it." She missing a fucking eye! "H-have you seen a shadowy figure?" "No can't say I have." She tapped her chin with her...rotting...hoof in thought. "What does it look like other then it being shadowy?" Fucking zombie pony!! Run! Get the fuck outta here!! "A little like me...um...where are we exactly?" "Yeah I guess our town is unknown to most of Equestria isn't it? Welcome to Gloomy Town, friend!" She kinda reminds me of Beetlejuice now that I think about it. "Thanks?..." "Something troubling you?" I said nothing. I just looked her up and down, which she noticed. "Ah so you noticed, huh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. I-I did." "I see, well don't worry about it. The town just ate, and it was a big meal so you're safe.....for now." She said the last part under her breath but I heard her anyway. "For now?" "You heard that? Shoot sorry about that, but yes for now. When the town gets hungry there is no denying it. You understand, right?" "And you eat meat?" "Yeah? Is that a problem?" "But you're a pony..." "Yeah but you see we're not.....like other ponies." "I can tell by the missing eyes and rotting flesh. You're a zombie pony." "Well that's one way of putting it. Yes, me and the rest of the town are 'zombie ponies' and yes we eat meat. Problem? Then, well you best leave." "I don't have anywhere to go though. I'm kinda on the run from Princess Luna right now." Her eye sockets began to glow red and I noticed a few more glowing eyes staring this way from the shadows and silhouettes from the buildings. There's not much that truly scares me besides a pissed Discord and my mom during that time of the month. I think I'm going to add this to the list. "You dare say that name around here!! We should have you killed for bringing her disgusting name to our town!!!" Seemingly the whole town echoed. I about shit myself and ran. "I-I-I'm sorry! I'm new here, just arrived 10 minutes ago!" Death didn't scare me. It was being eaten alive that did. "Then you shall be spared. But take this as a warning!" I nodded my head rapidly and the glowing red eyes faded away. The zombie mare in front of me spoke again. "Sorry about that. We are nice, really. It's just we have a history with....her." "I see, at risk of being eaten or killed in a similar way, I wont make that mistake again. But other then 'her' what can I call her by?" "It's best we just drop it right now. I don't want to be cannibalized." I said nothing just nodded my head slowly with a stupid look on my face. "Don't worry that's a only punishment for talking about....well you know." I gave a sigh of relief. "Anything I should know before I wake up on somepony's dinner table?" "Our laws are mostly like those of any other town. The only real exception is the law I just told you about. You should probably stick with me if you want to have a chance at survival. You may look like you could take on a few of us but once you're swarmed you're as good as dead." "Who said I wanted to stay here?" "Noponys forcing you to stay here friend. You're free to stay or go but if you want a chance of citizenship in this town, you best stay around me for awhile." "And what are the benefits of being a citizen here?" "Well I don't know the technical stuff but what I do know is that we wont hunt you down and eat you. If you're a certified citizen." I really have shit to do but I guess it is in my best interest to stay here awhile. I sighed and looked down at her. "Ok you win. I'll keep you company." "Don't know much about winning friend but saving your hide, maybe." Yay.