//------------------------------//
// Uh-oh 
// Story: Could this be paradise? 
// by Timemaster 
//------------------------------//

	The ground beneath my hindhooves rumbles slightly, making me stumble a bit before correcting myself. I look around, wanting to see what everyone is doing.

Many ponies are roaming around outside, seeming to be looking for something, so I use my height (I am on my hindhooves. Duh.) to my advantage, I peer over the hoard of ponies. I look left in right, trying to pinpoint some clue as to why everyone was hoofing it around town. A loud, obnoxious voice booms from my left, babbling about something, so I decide to listen, but I missed a few words at the beginning.

"... So if any of you can find Sour Lemon, please report to me, Braeburn!"

'Why would he...' My eyes dilate to the size of pinpricks,'They must have found out!'

I quickly duck into a bush, scrapping my flank upon entry.

I peer out the areas of dead bush, awaiting the area to be clear.

'How could they have found out?' I question myself, retracing my steps.

'First, he verbally assaulted me, then I became scared and blew him to bits... eh...' I shrug, hurting my forelegs in the process by hitting a hard branch.

'... Doesn't that make me a criminal?' I think, rubbing my forelegs with their other.

Suddenly, I hear a loud, blaring noise, louder than the 'alarm' from earlier.

Peering out of the bush once more, I prepare myself for a giant mob of ponies to attack this tiny, weak bush that covers me.

...

But, instead of alot of ponies trying to arrest me, I see a large shadow blanket over this pristine city. The shadow made all of the ponies afraid for some reason, so I decided to look up...

'Oh horseapples.'

It was huge, covering a vast amount of the sky, dimming all around it.

'Is that...'

Instead of being covered by any type of flesh, it seemed to have no flesh at all...

'Oh sweet Celestia...'

General Guerrilla Gorilla had fought one of these in a story of his... losing his 'golden' thumb in the process.

'A dracolich.'

"AUGHooHA" it bellowed, shaking the ground beneath it.

I try to run,but absolute terror makes me tremble instead.

I raise my head up, out of the bush, and glare at it.

It was starting to descend near me, meaning I need to lay low, unless I'll be discovered.Its wings still had pieces of flesh on them, seeming to flap in the wind, as it descended towards some coffee shop.

I gulp, digging deeper into this bush, hoping it would seclude me from the behemoth.

It continued to screech and moan, the blood-curdling echo of its bones smacking together reaching my ears for the first time.

Digging evermore deeper, I feel a slight tingle in my nose.

'Uh-Oh'

My nose started to contract, and in one swift motion, I let out an itchy liquid from my nose. I rub my nose, hoping the dragon did not hear that, but knowing I was, most likely, doomed to an odd death.

"AURgHah!" it bellowed, seeming louder and angrier than before.

I peer out, one more time, hoping to all the deities that it did not just roar at me... what I see did not help me in the least. The dracolich was moving towards my bush, crushing some red goop beneath it...

Red goop?

I look at the goop one more time, seeing it covering the foot of the mighty dracolich... seeming to stick to its bones.

... but that does not help me at all.

I look upward towards its face, wanting to know what it is looking at. Its glowing, empty eyes were staring back at me, making me tremble more than ever before.

"Mortal!" it bellowed,quietly, at me, making me slightly confused.

"I have a deal for you."

I slowly rise out of the bush, making sure he saw my every movement. Would not want him to be untrusting of me.

"Y-y-yes, giant, scary dracolich?" I squeaked, seeming to catch its attention.

"... help me."

'...what?'

I look at it, eyes full of confusion.

"The powerful magic guards of this country are going to be taking my life, but I wish no ill-will. It is just..."

"Just what?" I ask, my quizzical side taking over my fear.

A blackened stream of smoke blazed from its nose, seeming to calm it down a bit more."I will take something from you, something I cannot steal, in return for your life."

"Sure." I blurt out, my fear of death making me take the only living route possible... or did it?

"... You are either extremely generous or afraid beyond all belief," A bit of both, actually,"so I promise, if I live, I will ---" *Crash*

I look towards the sound, but what I saw made me half-grin and half-frown.

Magical guards, each armed with superior magic amplifiers, were shooting large, magic, boulders at the (Kind?) dracolich, even though he doesn't bear any ill-will.

"Get him!" a mage upfront said, rushing towards the (male?) dracolich.

The other mages followed, charging their weapons as they ran.

Even though they were going to kill a monster... I couldn't have it.

I jump out of the bush, chanting a sacred chant at the guards, catching them... off-guard.

I list off many deities from dreams of the gorilla civilization, hoping that they would assist me in this one spell, for just this once.

My hooves charge black, enveloping my main body in a shroud of darkness in the process. I look straight at the lead mage, glaring at him with the force of only one god.

A god that can only help a mortal once before fading back into its realm.

I shake my head back and forth, rising my forehooves up to my standing position.

"You will not harm this creature, although he did kill."

They stare at me in bewilderment, saying something I pretended not to hear, but I knew all too well.

"That is the same type of magic that killed our guard brethren!"

I grin, knowing I just stupidly cast aside all my hopes and aspirations of a future in peace, but what can I do?

Besides... it was bound to happen sooner or later.

"Urgh!" I groan slightly, feeling the final parts of the spell taking place.

I run to the side of the large dracolich, grabbing his large leg in the process.

He, too, began to darken, albeit quicker than me, and we vanished.





"How could this have happened!" a burly guard yelled at the lead mage.

The mage shuffled back a bit, scared of the guard's outbusurst, and said,"How could we know a 4-star mage, who is unidentified by the way, would waltz in front of us with a veil of DARK MAGIC?" the mage yelled back, making the guard himself back off.

The guard, angered at he situation, just huffs and walks away.

The head mage, also angered at the failure, trots off to the mare's room to wash up. She, in all of her days, has never met anypony stupid enough to jump in front of a beast and SAVE it...

'Wait,' she thought, opening the door to the mare's room,'Why did we let him leave without a fight?'

She looks into the mirror, seeing her dull, gray eyes stare back at her with amusement.

'I am going to find you, whoever you are.' She then laughs, scaring the shit out of a pony in a stall... literally.





A black haze goes across my vision, protecting me from whatever may bump into me during travel, and my arms were growing numb due to the dracolich's weight.

I cannot breath, for there is nothing to breath in this space.

We are in the Gorilla Magic Bunker, a (not finished) bunker made by the mage gorillas around 50 years ago.

We never really needed it.

Suddenly, I hear a loud *fztt* from behind me. Curious, I look backwards, seeing the dracolich in its black-haze form.

"Where are we?" it- no he, asked.

"We are nowhere important, so we should be going."

"Where?" He asked, a slight quizzical voice in him.

"Do you have a home?"

"Yes... why?"

"Picture your home, imagine EXACTLY where it is, what it looks like, and how much light enters it." I demand, knowing exactly what to do.

I am running out of usable air, so I hold my breath as he concentrates.

He nods his head, seemingly finished with his thoughts.

I smile, raising my forehoof again, enveloping us in darkness once more.

...

Warmth wraps around me, granting its life-giving, anti-cold, stuff.

Squawks and chatters are heard all around me, making me feel very good, so I lean back to rest... until I hit something. Hard.

"Get off me." he demanded, seeming to be much less cheery than when we were in the portal.

All of the darkness fades from our bodies, going back into my hoof.

"Are you going to take it or what?" I ask him, slightly wondering what he meant to take.

He looks directly at me, nearly making me tremble again, and says,"Goodnight."


*THWAP*
 and all the warmth escaped me.