//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: WHAT THE HELL?! // Story: My Little Pony - Dead Zone // by clearshot01 //------------------------------// The Everfree Forest - Equestria - About 7:00 AM It was cold, and Stephen could feel it. The scent of a swamp slowly crawled up his nostrils and slightly burned his nose hair. Opening his eyes, he could see a blurry vision of a tree, surrounded by nothing but dark colours. Further rubbing his eyes, he could make out a tree or two, and several other bodies. All he really knew was that he couldn’t feel the pain from the bullet anymore. “Am I....Am I in...Hell?” Stephen quietly asked. His ears were ringing like crazy, and he could only just barely make out voices. “He’s alive?!” The first strange voice asked. “It would appear.....Must get him to safety....” The second voice replied. “... Who’s there?” He tried to inquire. “Get him into the shack...Zecora will help...” The second voice commanded. Stephen was being carried on someone’s back, but he was shaking too hard to look at his surroundings. Soon he was transported into a shack, which had a faint smell of chemicals in the air. “Zecora! We need your help....” The first voice said, “They’re injured...” Soon after, Stephen fell into a light slumber, waking up not long after to the feeling of someone prodding and poking him; it wasn’t hard or painful, but it was annoying nonetheless. “I don’t know... who you... are, but I... don’t need... your help...” Stephen mumbled after a few minutes, trying to push himself off whatever he was lying on, only to hit the dirt hard and cause a wave of pain to spike through his body, kick-starting his sight recovery. “Get down brother, you’re hurt, and I don’t want to hurt you some more.” A  light brown... unicorn?! with a blonde mane spoke up. “....THE FUCK ARE YOU?!” He yelled, trying to get up, only to fail time and time again, still having failed to notice just how different everything was. “Back off, don’t make me shoot you...” “Oh yeah? With what?” The unicorn replied smugly. “With my-” Stephen reached back, only to find that he couldn’t feel his holster. Finally noticing he was completely defenseless sobered him up enough to finally make him question his new situation. “Ok... THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! WHERE AM I?! WHO ARE YOU?! AND WHY THE HELL DOES EVERYTHING LOOK LIKE A GODDAMN CARTOON DRAWING?!” He yelled, pointing at the unicorn, and finally noticing his hand was no longer a hand, but a dark grey hoof. “THE FUCK HAPPENED TO ME?!” A tall dark figure appeared next to the Unicorn, prompting Stephen to backpedal slightly into the wall. Upon realising he had nowhere to go, he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable embrace of death. It never came. “Relax, Rising Knight, thou are safe. Just as we promised.” An all-too-familiar voice said with the warmth and kindness of a mother comforting a lost child, prompting Stephen to open his eyes slowly, mostly out of fear that sudden moves would mean death. “... No way... Luna?” He asked nervously, looking over the dark blue creature with confusion, even as it-she leaned in and nuzzled against him in an attempt to comfort him. His confusion only rose as he noticed she had both a horn on her head, and wings on her sides. “Ok, three questions; What the hell is going on, what happened after I got shot, and why did you call me Rising Knight?” “Thou are now in the world of Equestria, we brought thee to a healer to tend your wounds, and lastly, I hath called thee such because in this new world, thou must have new names, otherwise.... thou would get cast back.” Luna explained, a frown tugging at her lips near the end as she rose back to her full height. “Cast back? By who?” “Our sister, the princess of the sun. We thought we explained all of this to you....” Luna said, the frown growing slightly larger. “I don’t know if you’d noticed, but whenever you did explain whatever you were explaining, I was clearly not awake... you know, since I got shot. But seriously, how am I alive. I thought that was it for me.” “Thou can thank thy sister ‘Reviving Aura’ for that. And Zecora, of course.” Luna said with a faint smile. “Reviving Aura? Really Meadhbh? And who’s Zecora?” “Zecora is a zebra, and the owner of this house. She’s currently busy preparing potions for our friends, as they are all passed out here.” Reviving Aura responded, pointing to his right, where a zebra was busy tending to a small bubbling cauldron. She looked up only briefly at her name being mentioned, shooting the grey stallion a warm smile, before going back to stirring the contents of the massive thing. “Our friends? How are they doing?” Rising Knight asked worriedly, still failing to stand on his newfound hooves as he was still trying to stand like a human. “Dammit! This is annoying as hell! How do you do this every day Luna? And how the hell is Rev-A walking so soon when the rest of us were unconscious?!” Aura raised an eyebrow at her new nickname. Luna sighed, and pressed her horn against his forehead, a dark array of magic coursing through his body and making his entire being feel like it was supercharged for a moment. When she brought her horn away, his limbs were twitching slightly. “There. Thou shalt be able to walk properly now.” “Uh, thanks... so, you’re not a kid anymore, guess it would be stupid to think of myself as anything even remotely close to a father, especially since I’m essentially a kid myself. Well, when it comes to age, anyway.” Knight mumbled, rising to his hooves a little shakily and slowly walking around the room to get a feel for his new body. “We.... Still have not forgotten what you said.... We.....Shall consider your offer more thoroughly... but we would like to think of thou as a father...” Luna responded. “You said she’d most likely cast us out, right? Can I ask what her reasons would be?” Knight asked. “She has been ruling for the last thousand years. And as she had to face this all alone, we do not think that she would like ex-humans in her domain.” “Why? What does she have against humans... you know what, I’m just gonna take a wild guess and say she’s seen our world before or something, most likely she saw the worst of us. Am I right?” He asked in a depressed tone. Luna started to answer him, only to be interrupted by a victorious yell. “I have it! The cure for all ailments that you seek, all fit into this bottle, sleek!” Zecora yelled out. “.... uh, what?” Knight asked with a raised eyebrow. “Let’s give it to Chris, so he can drink it.” Reviving Aura said, ignoring her brother’s confused look. She pulled the bottle up with a yellow array of magic from her her horn, took Chris’ neck and slowly poured the liquid inside, leaving enough to cure the others. “Agh.... Why the fuck is my head ringing?” Chris said. “Good to have you back Chrissy.” Knight said quietly. “Shut it asswipe...” Chris said with a small chuckle. “Shouldn’t it be flankwipe, considering where and what we are?” Knight asked jokingly. “Are we...?” Chris said, taking a look at his hands....Or hooves, as it may be. “I told you...” Chris said, looking at Knight with a huge grin. “Yeah yeah. Though we’ll be sent back home if Luna’s sister ever finds us...” “Well, we promise that we shall do all in our power to make sure that does not happen. So, welcome to Equestria, Nocturnal.” Luna said to Chris. “Did you just call me Nocturnal, Luna? Did she just call me Nocturnal?” Chris said, looking around. “Apparently. And she called me Rising Knight. And Meadhbh is now Reviving Aura. Now we just need names for Damian, Richard and Jordan.” “Richard can be Rusty Nail, haha!” Chris said, laughing maniacally. “I was thinking something like Boom Bewm for him, since he’s such a big fan of those explosives of his, and he’s usually full of crap. Jordan would be Dead-Eye, I think, or maybe Longshot. As for Damian, I honestly have no idea.” “Let us get them awakened first, and then we shall discuss names..” Luna said, an annoyed smile growing on her face. “Speaking of Damian, which one is he? And why is the blue one having a seizure?” Knight asked, staring at the flailing ‘pegasus’ with a mix of confusion and worry. “I’m...Stretching....Stephen....” the disgruntled stallion responded groggily, bringing a chuckle to Knight. “Ok, you have gotta be Damian. And it looks more like you’re suffering a loss of muscular control.” “I’m fine, no need to babysit me...” Damian replied, seemingly unfazed by his transformation, simply returning to sleep, his black and red mane covering his entire face. “Ok... so, where are we gonna hide out?” “We thought about it. And we have come to the conclusion that thou shalt hide out in the old castle. Nopony ever goes there anymore.” Luna replied. “The old castle?” Nocturnal asked. “Why does nopony go there? Is it haunted or something?” Knight inquired, trying to get used to replacing his old, human way of speaking with the pony equivalent. “We are not sure about that. We think that some paranormal activity exists, but it’s nothing too much. Just like our friend, Pinkie Pie told us, ‘Giggle at the Ghosties!’” Luna explained with, ‘what do you know’, a giggle. “But the reason for nopony going there is that this forest is fraught with danger, and so, there are very few ponies actually brave, or stupid, enough to actually venture through it.” “Giggle at the Ghosties? Seriously? You know what, forget about it. So what do we do while we’re there anyway? How are we gonna kill time?” “Oh, we have thought of that! We have....” Luna said, dramatically pausing, and reaching into her saddlebag, only to pull out a small pile, “A deck of cards!” “... Well, it’s better than nothing. Just promise you’ll visit every once in a while.” “We will. Oh, we also brought in your.... Weapons from the past world, they will be awaiting you there.” Luna replied. “Hell yeah! Clementine’s here?! Weeehaw!” Nocturnal jumped up and down. “Wait, why did you bring our stuff? Is there something here that would actually require us to have them on our persons?” Knight asked. “No, but you cannot be too careful!” Luna said, a dark face growing on her, “Cutpurses... EVERYWHERE!” “Cutpurses? Ok, you have gotta be making this stuff up...” “Nay! Just yesterday we had our sock stolen! Wicked tricksies.... They stole our Precious!” Luna exclaimed, her face set in a crazy frown. “You stole that line from the Lord of The Rings...” Knight deadpanned. Luna came back from her ‘crazy state’ and looked at Stephen/‘Rising Knight’ with a face that could kill even the strongest being. “Don’t give me that look young lady... damn it, I’m already trying to act like a dad and I have no idea what I’m doing...” Luna just giggled, and proceeded to nuzzle Knight, making him blush as he nuzzled her back. “Uhhh....What’s.....? Stephen...? Why do you look like an equine?” A dark, dulled orange pegasus with a short mane and tail, white with bright orange tips, asked with a  muttered. Knight simply shot the stallion a quick look, “Long story short, Luna saved our asses. We’re not stuck in Union City anymore. We’re literally home-free. No more raids, no more HERC, no more having to kill the, ‘victims’, of that virus.” “Do you have.......onions?” The pegasus, now identified as Richard, replied, a large grin on his face. “I dunno... do we?” Knight asked obliviously, looking at Luna. Luna and Chris simply facehooved, because ‘Rising Knight’ didn’t notice the pegasi’s large grin. “Dude....Really?” Chris/‘Nocturnal’ asked Knight, who seemed to blush even more. “... Just shut up and let me actually have a ‘dad’ moment, please?” “Come on ‘Boom Bewm’...I’ll show you around...” Nocturnal said, looking over to Richard. “... I refuse to answer to that.” Richard said with a glare. “Then what DO you answer to?” Nocturnal asked. “How about Sky Turner?” Knight asked. “I... I don’t know yet, I’ll just wait till I find something that clicks.” “Ok... so, when do we have to go to that castle?” “We shall hail for a royal carriage to take thee to thine new lodgings momentarily.” Luna replied. “Uh, wouldn’t that raise suspicion with your sister, whose name I still don’t know...” Knight questioned. “We highly doubt it. Celestia has too much at hand dealing with the aftermath of the Changeling invasion.” “Invasion? Luna, how long was I out for? Did it turn out that it was these ‘Changelings’, were the ‘threat’ you were trying to protect everypony from?” “Yes. Luckily, Twilight Sparkle managed to free our niece, Princess Cadance, from the crystal caverns in which the Changeling queen trapped her in, and from there, Cadence and Shining Armor, the groom and Captain of the Guard, repelled the changelings with a shield spell.” “Ok... and this helps us how?” “Celestia has had some trouble clearing out the stragglers from Canterlot, so she is currently too busy to notice us. We should be able to get by without a sound.” “Luna, thank you. I-” “Don’t mention it... Father...” Knight stood there, a mix of shock and joy on his face at the realisation that Luna had essentially acknowledged him as her father. The two shared a hug, which was only interrupted when somepony decided to be a jerk. “Well,” Richard said, ruining the moment as he stood up shakily, “This has been heartwarming and all, but seriously, I need an onion.” In the background, scuffling noises could be heard, when suddenly Nocturnal tackled Richard to the ground, and began shoving an onion into his mouth. Thankfully for Richard, his random flailing at being tackled managed to knock him away. Standing up again, Richard said, “Well, at least I got the onion... Damn, how do I pick this up?” “How the hell did I get stuck with such a bunch of immature idiots? I mean, I’m the second youngest here at 19, and Meadhbh’s the youngest at 17, and you’re both acting like 5 year olds.” “Dumb luck.” Richard said with a grin, before deciding to just eat the onion straight off the ground. “Lemme guess. 10 second rule?” “20 seconds.” Richard said through a mouthful of onion. “Let’s get a move on. These two will wake up at your new compound...” Luna said, going outside and releasing a high-pitched whistle. Suddenly, a dark chariot arrived, being flown by two dark pegasi, and landing near the hut. “Ok... and thanks Luna. For everything.” Knight said, getting into the cart with his friends. “Don’t mention it.. We... I promised I would get you someplace safe... I will visit in a few hours, after I help my sister. Now go!” “You’re referring to yourself as we less. What changed?” Knight asked. “I’ll tell you another time.” Luna said, giving a little smile toward Knight. “Princess, we have to go!” The dark pegasi said, looking at Luna. “Agreed. Take them to the old castle, and make sure you are not followed.” Luna replied. “Understood, Princess.” The dark pegasi said, taking off towards the center of the Everfree forest with the carriage in tow, while Luna flew back towards Canterlot and her waiting sister. “Fly swiftly, my friends, and may Harmony protect you...” Later - The Castle of The Royal Sisters “This place, kicks ass!” Nocturnal yelled out, while jumping around on various shelves, and bridges that formed the old castle. “Yeah yeah. Let’s just find our gear, shall we? I kinda hope Luna brought our clothes, I don’t like being naked, even if it’s natural for equines...” Knight said, walking through the hallways for a likely spot where their gear would be. “What about that chest?” Richard said, pointing a hoof at a nearby large chest, which seemed to glimmer gold from inside. “Seems plausible. Go for it.” Knight replied “I dunno, seems kinda ominous...” Nocturnal said, raising a brow at the mysterious glow from the inside, “Is that.......Chocolate? ‘Cause it sure looks like it..” “If it is, it’s a miracle. Been way too long since we had that, huh? Still can’t believe we survived on mystery cans and stale MREs for the better part of a year.” “Hah, canned food, canned beans, canned meat, canned cans.... Hated all of it! Let’s get us some chocolate!” Nocturnal said, jumping on the chest, trying to pry it open, but to no avail. “Hmmm, maybe we need a key? If so, fuck...” “Perhaps you can use that fancy magic of yours!” Nocturnal replied, with a sheepish smile on his face. “Magic? What are you on about?” Knight asked. “Well, your sister used magic from her horn. Must be something about it. Besides, unicorns have an inborn ability to use magic. Give it a whirl!” “... Horn... wait, I-” Knight raised a hoof to his forehead, and sure enough, found a large horn jutting out of his forehead. “... The fuck...” “Yup. Accept it while you can, it doesn’t go away. Just... Focus on your inner self, and channel it through your horn.” “Ok... sounds easy enough...” Knight muttered, focusing inward and searching for something, anything, that felt different to before. Soon enough, he found what felt like some sort of mental barrier. Prodding it resulted in a rush of energy throughout his entire body, which then centered on his horn, causing it to glow grey. “Woah... feels like I’m on a sugar high.” “Woooooah.... Care to share?” “I don’t know how...” Knight replied. “Well, nevermind it then. Just... Beam some on the chest, and we’ll have us some chocolate goodness soon!” Nocturnal said, his mouth watering by the second. “Sure, just lemme...uhhhh...” Knight pointed his horn at the chest, willing something to happen, yet all he got was a few sparks and a slight noise from his horn. “Ok, how do I do this?” “Hold on, I’ll try something.” Nocturnal said, getting on his rear hooves and bucking Knight in the face, “That help?” “...OW! THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!” Knight yelled, pointing his horn at Nocturnal and blasting him onto his back. “.... wow, it worked.” “See...? Just...Need a little....Kick...” Nocturnal muttered, nearly passing out. “Sorry.” Knight replied sheepishly, helping Nocturnal back to his hooves and turning back to the chest again. “Ok... I forgot how I did that...” “Need another kick?” Nocturnal said, a large grin on his face appearing. “No, I need to figure out how that kick triggered my horn blast...” “Try getting mad again!” “How? Not like there’s anything to make me-what the hell? Get those hooves away from my face!” “C’mon...Get mad, you know you wanna...Come on...” Nocturnal kept poking Rising Knight’s face. “Get. That. Hoof. Out. Of MY. FACE!” Knight screamed letting off a sudden bolt that whizzed past Nocturnal’s head and struck the chest. Nocturnal’s eyes widened, as the yellow glow seemed brighter and brighter. He couldn’t take it anymore, so he jumped on the box, shouting: “DIBS!” “How did you make it as a mercenary being so immature?” Knight asked with a raised eyebrow as he pried Nocturnal off the box with great difficulty. “First off....I called dibs....Second, noone gives a shit how immature you act in war....Also...I said dibs...” “I know that, but we have no idea-...what the hell... that is not chocolate.” Knight mused, gazing at the contents of the box confusedly. “W-what is it then?” Nocturnal said, raising an eyebrow and Knight. “It’s... I have no idea.” Nocturnal simply looked at the item with awe. Soon after that, he turned to Knight. “I know what it is. It’s a royal crown.” Nocturnal said, focusing his eyes on the crown. “How the fuck do you know that? It doesn’t look like a crown to me... then again, I’ve never actually seen a crown before.” Knight mused. “I uhh...Before we went here, I was a big-time brony. I ordered a special edition of MLP season 1,2 and 3 which included a copy of this crown...And uh.... plushies...” “I... see. Well, what can you tell me about this world? Anything you can think of; Geography, major events, whatever can help us survive.” “Well.... This crown is the crown of Princess Luna before she was Nightmare Moon. This land is called Equestria, and the nearest town from here is the village of Ponyville. The city where Luna lives is called Canterlot, and they have a festival called ‘The summer sun festival’. It’s basically Princess Celestia raising the sun. That about sums it up, I suppose....” “Ok. Hey, do you think we’ll be able to visit this ‘Ponyville’ sometime? I don’t mind staying here, but the fact that we’re in a populated world with no dangers from victims and the HERC, it makes me want to start interacting with other living, not-trying-to-eat-us, beings, again. I’m not saying I don’t like hanging out with you and everyone in the group, but I guess I just missed being able to meet new people, y’know?” “I thought we were supposed to do what Luna said.” Nocturnal said, laying on his bed, “But meeting new people does sound nice...” “I’m not saying we go against her, I’m just saying we should meet others. My plan’s just to ask her if we would be allowed.” “Have you noticed we have no mark on our butt like her? Well, her and Meadhbh.” “What of it? Are they supposed to mean something? I noticed Meadhbh’s looked like her medical bag.” “They’re supposed to represent our special talents. Guess we have none. YET!” “I see. And what do we call these butt tattoos?” Knight asked skeptically. “Well...Err...I....It’s....cutie marks....” Nocturnal said sheepishly. “What? Didn’t quite catch that.” “Cutie marks...” He grumbled again. “... OK then.” Knight said, his gaze relatively expressionless. “So, what do you think yours would be? Meadhbh’s has already proven she’s a true medic at heart.” “I guess I’ll just have to wait for it to come up. Can’t rush these things. SOME learn it the hard way...” “I see... I have a feeling discovering what makes us ‘Special’ is gonna be a real pain in the ass.” Knight mused. “Flank.” Nocturnal said bluntly, “The word butt is flank, here..” “OK, it’s gonna be a real pain in the flank. So, do you think the others are awake yet?” “Well, Richard is already up-and about.” “Yeah, but everyone else besides Rev-A is still asleep.” “Let ‘em sleep. The HERC attack must’ve made them super tired.” “Well, I was wondering when you’d show up Richard. So, decided on a new name yet?” Knight asked as the pegasus stepped into the room. “Well, since you seem to be the closest thing we have to an expert, I was thinking I would get a name that works for the area, thus I could know what names are sort of common.” Richard said calmly. “You’re at it too?” Nocturnal mused to Richard. “At what?” He asked. “Knight...Err, Stephen, here wants to sneak out to Ponyville.” Nocturnal replied. “Oh... Eh, couldn’t hurt too much.” He said with a shrug. “I didn’t say sneak out. I said I wanted to ask Luna if we would be able to...” Knight muttered. “Then go ahead, send her a letter.” Nocturnal replied. “How the hell do I do that?” Knight asked irritatedly. “Exactly. We can’t. Nocturnal sighed, grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill -which was actually just a feather taken from Richard’s wing- with his mouth, and began writing. When he was done the only recognizable words were: ‘Luna get ovar here.’ “There. Now do your magic thingy.” Nocturnal said, hoofing the letter of to Knight. “And do what exactly, blast it into the wall?” Knight retorted. “Send it!” “How, Dumbass?” “Cast your magic. Should I get you mad again?” “I’m pretty sure casting it when I’m mad would result in a negative result. But from the way it reacted when you got me mad the last time, maybe magic is fueled by emotions or something?” “Try it.” Nocturnal said bluntly, getting bored of the scenery, longing for some jumping around. “Ok... what emotion would achieve the desired result...” Knight asked more to himself than anyone else, pacing around the room. “Try longing or something..” Nocturnal said again. “Longing? Is that even an emotion?” “...It’s not important.” Richard said. “Don’t worry about the pointless parts.” “... Ok, got it.” Knight replied a few seconds later, his eyes closed and his horn was glowing again, though this time the letter started to glow alongside it. A few seconds later, said letter disappeared in a grey flash. “Did it work?” “We’ll know soon enough.” Richard said, and walked toward a door, “I’m going to take a look around in here, and see if I can get these... wings... to work... God thats going to take some getting used to.” “Same with this,” Knight replied tapping his horn, “Though at least I can knock Chris on his flank without touching him now.” For the first time in the short period in which he’d been part of the group, Chris didn’t make a smart-ass comment, simply shaking his head in amusement and plopping himself on the bed, letting himself drift into sleep’s sweet embrace. “Yeah, well, see you when either I’ve figured out how these work, or I’ve crashed hard enough to need medical attention.” Richard said, walking through the door, and into the rest of the castle. “Sure, and I’ll go see if Mea-Rev-A, gotta remember that. I’ll see if she’s got anything new to report about Damian and Jordan.” Stephen muttered, leaving the sleeping stallion to his dreams and heading off in a random direction, hoping it would lead him to the lodgings of his friends. “Dammit, how hard is it to find three people!” Knight yelled, kicking a nearby wall in frustration, which only served to send a jolt of pain through his body. “FUCK!” The frustrated stallion had been searching random rooms for almost an hour with no success. You’d think someone who spent a lot of time searching through entire buildings and finding nothing useful in the past would have learned the value of patience, but in Knight’s case, you’d be wrong. “If the next room isn’t right, I’m gonna tear this goddamn castle apart...” He muttered, coming up to the last door, which was surprisingly plain. Most of the doors (including the one for his own room), had been extremely flashy. The wood had been surprisingly strong, not a hint of rot to be found, and massive carvings of various styles, most depicting Luna and another pony, who Knight assumed was her sister, Celestia. Pushing at the door, Knight was a little surprised by the resistance, the door’s refusal to budge only serving to anger him further. He reared up on his forelegs and drove his hind legs into the door. Once again, it barely budged, and Knight was left rolling on the floor, hissing in pain. “...fuck...” “Um, you do realise that’s a pull-door, right?” A voice piped up from behind him. Knight stopped moving and looked up just long enough to see Luna standing in front of him, looking down with a mix of annoyance and amusement on her face. “Uh.... you do realise there’s a note stuck to your head, right?” Knight asked with a raised eyebrow. Luna simply glared at him. “I have a ‘note’ stuck to my horn, as somepony decided to mess with magic without any proper instruction beforehoof. Even Reviving Aura received some minor training while we were dragging your flank through the Everfree. Now, would you be so kind as to explain exactly why you requested me to come here?” Luna asked, her tone betraying her annoyance. “Uh.... well, I was kinda wondering if it would be possible to... head to that nearby town, Ponyville, sometime...” The alicorn mare seemed to lose herself in thought as she tried to come up with a way to say no. Thankfully for her, she was saved from having to do so when something, or somepony, slammed into her flank, causing her to let out a shrill ‘eep’ and instinctively lash out with her back legs, before rounding on the offending pony with a death glare. “Ow... My everything,” A familiar orange pegasus said from the floor, his face partially buried in the wall. “... Richard, the fuck...” Knight muttered in disbelief at the sheer impossibility of the scene before him. “I’ve figured out flying... At least staying in the air... Control is another issue.” Richard’s muffled voice said from the wall, tugging at the wall. “Umm... I’m stuck.” “Well, it serves you right for flying right into my flank...” Luna huffed. “Though I suppose getting you out of there would be a good idea...” “Well it’s not exactly easy to dodge anyway...” Richard muttered quietly. Not quietly enough, unfortunately, as Luna set her eyes on him with a glare that could crumble mountains, boil seas, and make Jason Voorhees himself run home crying for his mommy. “Did you just call me FAT...” She asked in a voice just one decibel away from being head-burster material. Richard grunted, flapping his wings furiously as he tried to get out of the wall, “No, no, merely that less than half of the hallway was available as I was flying through it. Besides, it’s more of an observation.” “... Dude, shut it while you still have your balls... Or don’t, I wouldn’t mind seeing Luna knock you down a few pegs...” Knight said in an even tone. The wall gave way, causing Richard to pop out, and slam into the other wall. After a few moments of frantically brushing the rocks away, he looked over to see the pissed off lunar princess, and, in a feat of surprising agility (surprising for him, at least), jumped away, and flew shakily down the hall, screaming for several seconds, before a loud crash resounded through the hallway again. “.... So, back to my question. Would it be ok for us to visit this ‘Ponyville’ at some point?” Knight asked as if nothing had happened. “It’s not like we’re gonna be found out by Celestia just by visiting one town, right?” “It very well could!” Luna said loudly, puffing her cheeks “I can’t let you do it.” “What? B-” “NO BUTS!” Luna shouted, “You’re not allowed to, and that’s final!” “...... You know what, fine.” Knight said flatly, turning on his heels and walking off in the direction of his room, leaving Luna standing there feeling like she’d just committed a horrible crime. “... I’m sorry... father... I just can’t take the risk...” “... Ah, DAMMIT!” Knight screamed, ripping a loose piece of stone from the wall and throwing it through the window, shattering it. “WHY THE HELL DO I FUCKING FEEL SO PISSED ABOUT THIS!” A loud smash resounded on the other side of one of the walls of the room, and a brick fell, revealing a rather bruised Richard “Ow. Hey Knighty,” “Hey.” Knight said, not even bothering to look at his friend as he continued to destroy everything that wasn’t nailed down. “Woah, what’s gotten you so riled up?” Richard asked, looking around at the metaphorical whirlwind of destruction that was all around Rising. “Long story short, talked to Luna about visiting that town, Ponyville. You can guess what her answer was... What I don’t get is why I’m so PISSED OFF ABOUT IT!” Knight replied, slamming his hind legs into the nearby wall, only to start rolling on the floor, cradling them seconds later. “Well, here’s what I say: Fuck it, I’m going. I won’t be able to find a good name, if I don’t. Seriously, do you know how much it sucks to be nameless? Even if it is temporary?” “... You know what, let’s solve the whole fucking name thing right now. What day is it?” Knight asked. “Umm... I think Monday.” Richard said. “Ok then, you are now Monday’s Dawn. Get used to it.” Knight stated. “But... You know what, fuck it, good enough, but if I think of a better one, I’m using it.” The newly dubbed Dawn said, going away from the hole in his wall. “Whatever.” Knight said offhandedly, off in his own little world. “DUUUUUUUUDE! What’s with the noise, you baking a pie or something?!” Knight actually jumped. Not from the volume of the shout, but the simple reason that the speaker was shouting right into his ear... from less than an inch away. “.... Chris... if I were you... I’d take Richard, and I’d run like hell...” “Four steps ahead of you!” Dawn shouted, followed by the opening of his door, “And don’t call me that!” “... Just get out... now.” “But I got--” Nocturnal tried to say, but got cut off by Knight.   “Either get out, or get gelded. Your choice.” He hissed. “But you don’t understand, I--” Nocturnal tried to say, being cut off again. “I. Said. Out.” Nocturnal was just about to leave when he got sick of Stephen’s behaviour. He buck kicked one of the floorboards so it went up in the air, then bucked it again in the direction of Knight’s face. Ultimately, it hit him. “Since you won’t listen to me like this, you’ll listen to me like this!” He continued, “I FOUND A WAY OUT!” “... Sure, and I’m with the HERC.” Knight spat skeptically, causing saliva mixed with blood to splatter on the floor.   Dawn stood just outside the door up until this point, and, seeing his cue, galloped forward toward the two, and jumped over, spreading his wings just in time to, with a shout of “Onward!” pass through what was left of the window, crashing into the ground, and tumbling into the bushes. “W-wait! That’s not the....!” Nocturnal tried to warn Dawn but it was too late, “That’s the....Torture room...” Almost as soon as Nocturnal finished speaking, Dawn dived back through the window, barely managing not getting cut. “Hey guys, I found a knife!” He managed to get out through the object in his mouth. “That’s not a knife.... That’s....” Nocturnal tried to say it without gagging a bit ,“A horn...” “Um...” The horn dropped out... “... That’s not there.” He said, “Anyway, you said you found an actual way out?” “Ah yes, of course! I drafted it on this tissue that I--” Nocturnal took out a tissue with something drafted on it, when Dawn grabbed it. “Let’s see...” Dawn muttered, holding the tissue with one of his hooves. “Hey, I was gonna do that...” Nocturnal muttered towards Dawn. “Oh don’t be a wet blanket about it.” He returned. “... I see... I sort of understand.” “What, did Nocty dig a tunnel or so-, or so-CHOO!” “Umm...” Dawn looked at the now snot-covered tissue, laying it on the floor slowly. “I’m going to put this down... and I think I’ll go now.” “.... Uh... sorry, did I do that?” “Yes, you did that...” Nocturnal sighed, “I guess I can take you to the place where I found it. But on the way we might see some creepy-crawlies...Like...A lot of them...” “... Glad I’m not Rev-A then, she’s terrified of spiders.... don’t tell her I told you that.” “Dawg, errr, Dawn, you up for it?” Nocturnal asked. “Umm...” Dawn gave an audible gulp, and put on a nervous grin “Sure, I’m up to it.” “Well then, let’s do it.” Nocturnal said with a lack of ecstasy, walking toward the supposed ‘way out’ with Knight and Dawn following close behind.