//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Semper Fidelis // by Perception Filter //------------------------------// Semper Fidelis Chapter 5         Colton was lost. All around him were unfamiliar buildings of all shapes and sizes, and he had no idea where Twilight lived. He should have asked for directions before leaving. Letting out a weary sigh, he rubbed his temple with one hand and kept walking. After several more minutes of being lost, he spotted an empty bench and went to sit down.          Sitting down and clasping his hands together, he leaned back and admired the night sky. It was surprisingly chilly, and his breath frosted in the air. Finally, the cold got to him and he had to get up and walk once more, to get his blood flowing. Even more odd than the freezing night air, was the lack of any kind of life anywhere. It was like the town was abandoned. There were plenty of lights on, and he could hear voices from inside them, but no one was out on the street.         Finally swallowing his pride, Colton walked to the nearest building and knocked several times, with the intent of asking for directions. The door opened almost immediately, and he saw a dark green pony with no mane and a broken lightbulb on his ass. “Do you know where Twilight lives?” he asked. “Oh, it’s nothing Gera, just that weird creature the hospital pulled in a while ago,” said the pony, turning to his side addressing someone who wasn’t there. “Uhhh, who are you talking to?” “Gera, why?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “Well, there’s no one in there with you...” Colton trailed off. “What are you implying, Gera’s right here,” the pony pointed to empty air. “Uuuhhh, are you okay?” “Why wouldn’t I be?” Asked the pony suspiciously as he narrowed his eyes at the human. “No reason... Annnnyyways, do you know where Twilight lives?” “Oh, she lives in that tree over there.” The pony pointed to a nearby tree that had been made into a house. He had walked by it several times already. “Thanks, Mr... ?” “Psyche. Just, Psyche.” “Well that explains it.” “Explains what?” “Nothing,” Colton said quickly, and walked off. Psyche turned and addressed the invisible figure once again. “Jeez Gera, I tell you, this town is full of loonies,” he said before closing the door behind him.         Colton shook his head and walked on, trying to expunge the obviously insane pony from his mind. He walked for about half a minute before arriving at the wooden door. Knocking on it he crossed his arms and waited.         Five minutes later, still nothing had happened and he knocked again. Still nothing. Frowning, he began to pound on the door and there was a loud crash and a groan from inside. He then heard faint yelling from the inside. “SPIKE!” Called one voice that he recognized as Twilight, “GET THE DOOR!” “I’M SLEEPING,” yelled back another voice, one he assumed was “Spike” “AND I’M NOT GETTING UP!”         There was another loud groan and the sound of shuffling feet, which he assumed would be hooves and the door opened revealing a beleaguered Twilight Sparkle. Giving him what he assumed was supposed to be a horrible death glare, her face instantly lit up when she saw it was him. “Ohmygosh!” she shouted out, completely awake now. “You’re awake!” “Yes, I’m awake,” he muttered grumpily. “Although I’m not sure if I’m still dreaming.”         The door promptly slammed in his face. He stood still for a moment in confusion before knocking again. The door didn’t open and he was met with a shout from the other side. “Go away!” “Why?” “Because I don’t want to talk!” “Let me in or I’m going to break down the door,” he responded flatly.         A brief moment of silence, then the door opened slowly, revealing a timid purple unicorn. “W-what do you want?” She asked, shaking nervously. “I want answers, and I was told you were the one to talk to. You gonna let me in?” He towered over the small pony as she shrunk down even more under his angry gaze. Slowly, Twilight backed away and opened the door, allowing him access to her home. “Thanks,” he grunted. “N-no problem.” Twilight stammered out, trying to stay out of the human’s sight as he observed the library. The interior was sparsely furnished, with only a couch and a table adorning the main room. Although there was no shortage of books, which he didn’t consider surprising, considering it was a library. “So, you live here?” “Y-yes.” Colton took one more look around before replying. “I feel bad for you.” The unicorn’s demeanor changed immediately when he said that. “Hey! And just what is wrong with books?” she demanded, poking his leg with her hoof, glaring up at him. Colton gazed down at Twilight, not looking very amused, and the purple pony shrank away once again under his deadpan gaze. The human slowly made his way over to the couch and settled down, despite it being a few sizes too small to hold him comfortably. “So, question number one. Just where am I?” he asked, spreading his arms out over the couch. “You’re in Equestria.” Twilight responded, trying to imitate Fluttershy and make herself as quiet as possible.         Colton was silent for several moments, resting his head on his hands and taking slow deep breaths. “Do you have any idea how I got here?” he asked after the long silence. “We were fighting Nightmare Moon—” Colton froze when he heard the name, and Twilight took notice and stopped talking. “Are you okay?” “Fine,” he snapped back, a little too quickly. “Just keep going.” “W-well we were fighting Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony were about to banish her for good, but I got distracted by this light thing, and well...” Twilight trailed off, too embarrassed to continue. “And...” he prompted her, tapping the floor with his foot, getting annoyed.         Twilight nervously rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, “I kinda cancelled the spell and let her get away... We were too distracted by the light... There was a screaming, and you sort of appeared...” “Where was the screaming coming from?” Colton asked with an upraised eyebrow. “It was you, we assumed. You looked to be in so much pain when you appeared.” “Really? I can’t remember anything since I woke up in the hospital.” “Y-yeah... “ There was silence as each decided what to say next. “Why is it so cold outside?” the human asked, breaking the quiet with a single question. “The sun hasn’t been up in about a month,” Twilight replied sadly. “What? Why?” Colton was thoroughly confused. “Because—” “TWILIGHT!” Before she could finish her sentence, the door burst open and the Rainbow maned pegasus burst in shouting her name. “Rainbow?! What’s wrong?” The unicorn asked in concern. “The monkey thing woke up! Nopony knows where he is and we have to catch him before—” She stopped talking right away when she saw Colton sitting on the couch, glaring at her. “Can I help you?” he asked in an unamused tone. The pegasus’ eyes widened and she started slowly backing away, babbling incoherent sentence fragments. “W-what, I didn’t- I mean, no- I mean-” “Something wrong?” he asked suspiciously. “N-no! Nothing at all!” The pegasus had finally regained her composure and was smiling nervously. Colton stole a quick glance at Twilight, who was trying to hide her nervousness. They were hiding something, and he was determined to find out what. “Well, if nothing’s wrong, I guess I’ll just take my leave then.” “No!” Twilight shouted out, and covered her mouth real quickly. “Is there something keeping me here, Twilight?” “N-no, not at all!” She kept her nervous smile up, and was starting to sweat. “Good, because it would be a shame if I had to forcibly leave,” Colton said, walking out of the house, with no particular destination in mind. ~~~~~ “Twilight, we have to keep him away from Sugarcube corner!” “You think I don’t know that Rainbow?!” Twilight snapped at her new friend, who recoiled slightly. “Well what am I supposed to do?” the panicked pegasus asked. “Just, stall him. I’ll go get Pinkie and tell her to hurry things up.” “Gotcha!” Rainbow Dash said with a salute before flying off. A few seconds later, Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple light. ~~~~~         Colton was walking down the street when a small blue blur shot past him. He stopped in confusion, and looked behind him, but didn’t see anything. Frowning and shrugging it off, he turned around and nearly fell over when he saw the annoying rainbow-maned pegasus hovering in front of his face. “Something you need?” he spat out after a moment of shock. “Uhh, yeah.” “...” “Yes?” Colton asked, exasperatedly. “Oh, uhhh, so... uhh, how are you?” she asked lamely. “Fine. Get outta my way,” he said, preparing to shove by the pegasus, but she stopped him before he could. “No, uhh, you can’t go anywhere.” “And why the hell not?” He crossed his arms. “Oh, uhhh.... OH! You can’t go ‘cause uhhh, oh, because .... becaussseee...” she hit her head a few times, racking her brain for an answer. “Ah! Because you need to get some food!” She plastered on a fake smile as she said this, and Colton didn’t move an inch. The human narrowed his eyes at the pegasus, who just kept smiling, hoping he would buy it. “You expect me to buy that huge piece of bullshit?” Damn, he didn’t buy it. “But you’re hungry aren’t you?” Her smile wavered for a split second. Colton was about to deny her claims, but before he could, his stomach grumbled loudly. “Great!” Rainbow said excitedly, happy her excuse had worked. “Let’s go get you some food!” She said, shooting off, and Colton reluctantly followed, with nothing else to occupy his time with. ~~~~~ “PINKIE!” Twilight shouted as she popped into existence right next to the party pony in question. Despite all odds, this actually managed to startle her and she squealed loudly before jumping in the air and bolting away. “Pinkie?” Twilight asked, confused.         Slowly, a pink head of fluffy cotton-candy hair emerged from a nearby door and looked at Twilight. After catching sight of who it was, she popped out and started jumping over to the purple unicorn. “Oh, heya Twilight, what’s up?” She asked in a happy carefree tone. “How did you do that?” “Do what?” “You disappeared when I teleported in here. How?” “Oh, you scared me, so I ran away real quickly, but I didn’t know it was you, and if I did, I wouldn’t have run away, but I gues—” the ranting pony was interrupted by Twilight as she shoved a hoof into her mouth. “Pinkie, I asked how.” “Oh, I don’t know!” “But... Ah! Nevermind, I came to tell you to hurry it up with the party. I’m still against this idea, but since you insist, I guess I’ll have to allow it.” “Why should I hurry it up? Everythings going nicely already!” “Yeah, but I think Colton is getting suspicious. I got Rainbow to stall him, but I don’t know if she can for long. So, just try to speed it up.” “Yes ma’am!” Pinkie replied, completely serious before turning into the kitchen in the back of the building. ~~~~~ “You guys got any meat here?” Colton asked. “Meat? What the hay are you talking about? Why don’t you just eat some Daffodils?” The blue pegasus replied. She had explained what her name was, and they were sitting inside of a restaurant that was too big for him, in a chair that was also too big for him. “Daffodils... Is this your idea of a practical joke?” “No...?” “I’m getting tired of this. If I can’t get any meat, I’m leaving,” Colton said, getting up from his too small chair. “No! Wait!” Rainbow said, grabbing his sleeve with his teeth. The human reacted instantly and yanked his arm back, knocking the pegasus off balance before he reached down and grabbed her throat to prevent her from falling. The commotion had frozen everyone else in the small restaurant. He leaned in menacingly on Rainbow. “You don’t ever fucking touch me. Ever. Got it?” Colton shook her a little to prove her point. “Y-yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied, shaking her head vigorously. The human let her go and she fell back onto her chair as Colton couch-walked out the too small door.