The four trekked on, Bradley carrying Twilight over his shoulders. Jay followed directly behind him, and Trixie trailed along behind. Bradley and Jay talked as they travelled, telling each other stories and joking as they moved. Trixie had left the armor at the edge of the river, not wanting to experience the bottom of any body of water again.
Eventually the three made their way to Ponyville, and they cautiously made their way down the main street. Bradley ducked into an alley, pulling Jay with him.
“A patrol.” Jay nodded his head in recognition. They shuffled down the alley, and around the corner at the rear of the house. They turned again and continued down the new alley, they were now on a street parallel to the patrol that they were avoiding.
“We should find somewhere to hide. Maybe we could wait until night?” Jay suggested.
“Uh... That's an idea. The batteries in my night visions died a while back though, so we'll be flying blind”
“Flying?” questioned Trixie, curious as to how the humans would fly
“Just an expression.”
“Yeah, an idiom.” added Jay
“Idiot” commented Bradley, playing with Jay's word
“They are not synonyms, autist.”
“You're not a synonym! Goatfucker!” while Bradley shouted he punched Jay in the arm, although he held back.
“Oi! Are you looking for a bookin'?” replied Jay
“Don't make me come down there.” Bradley turned and loomed over Jay, he was almost five inches taller than Jay. The fact that he had a fully grown mare on his shoulders did nothing for his intimidation factor. The two broke off into laughter, and continued walking down the path.
“How can you be so aggressive if you are freinds?” Trixie asked, confused by the rapid change of tone between the two friends.
“We're all like this!” commented Jay, tackling Bradley, although it didn't topple the soldier.
“All humans?” continued Trixie
“Nah, just the guys. We're pretty dumb like that.” replied Bradley, who had casually pinned Jay to the ground.
“Then how do you know who your freind is?”
“Human guys? We're all friends at first, we just work our way down.” commented Jay, getting up and brushing dust off of himself as he spoke.
Bradley stopped in front of an ornate building, he approached the window, once he was satisfied that it was safe to enter, he pushed open the door to the shop and entered.
“Rarity's shop?” Jay asked
“Damn, you know your shit!” Bradley commented, half placing, half dropping Twilight's body on the table. “Well, I'm officially sick of carrying her around. There's a spigot in teh back room, go fill a bucket with water?”
“Okay, fuckass.”
“Cuntwerp.”
Jay returned after a minute with the bucket full of water, placing it on the table next to Twilight. Bradley dipped his hands in the water, and brought his soaking hands up to his face. He made an expression towards Jay, who chuckled at his idiot friend.
“Cold as dicks!” With that, he hoisted the bucket above his head, pouring his contents on the unconscious Twilight. She awoke with a scream of terror and shock. “Rise and shine!” yelled Bradley, pinning the mare to the table before she could react. She looked at him with eyes filled with terrror, trying to lift herself off of the surface of the table but being overpowered by Bradley's single arm.
“You have no idea how lucky you are. If it was up to me, I would have just killed you back at the castle, but no! You and I have mutual friends. But I'll warn you, try and use any of that mystical mindfuckery” Jay smiled upon hearing his self created word “on me, I'll pile drive you into the dirt. It will be funny. Jay will laugh.”
Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, out of terror. She gasped, still in shock from the cold water. Bradley lifted her from the table, and placed her on the floor, where she immediatley fell over. She slowly raised herself, and stood to face Bradley.
“I won't be bullied by some big brute! I have magic! You should be the one fearing me!” she screamed in defence, her horn glowing as she spoke.
“Fuck!” Bradley turned to Jay “She called my bluff! How the hell did she know?” Jay shrugged at the question, and Bradley returned his attention to Twilight, who began to cast a spell. Bradley reached out and grabbed her horn, interrupting the spell and sucking the magic out of her body. She fell to her knees as the power was sucked out of her, her vision was fading.
Before she was put back to sleep, bradley relinquished his grip on her. She took a moment, and recomposed herself. She looked up at Bradley, and a strange look entered her eyes. She jumped at the soldier, catching him offguard as he did not expect a physical attack. Fortunatley for Bradley, this action was not out of malice. She hugged him and spoke;
“Thank you!”
“Um... Fuck what?”
“Your spell of soul steal, it removed the Necromancer's spell!”
“Oh... Yeah... Just like I intended?”
Bradley lifted her off of himself, and stood upright. His uniform was now soaked, Trixie giggling on the other side of the room, how the tables had turned.
“So... Ideas, Jay?”
“Um. Do you know where everyone else is?”
“Fluttershy's cottage, about an hours walk from here.” Jay slumped a bit, he was too tired to walk much further. Bradley noticed his level of stamina when they were walking.
“You woke up before me, how long were you awake for?”
“I never went to sleep.”
“Oh, shit. How about we nap, and take your idea of moving at night.”
“Um... Hello?” Twilight said timidly, trying not to interrupt Bradley
“What?”
“I'm afraid we haven't been formally introduced?”
“Ugh... I'm Bradley, and this is Jay. I'm a soldier and he's a bard. We're bros from another planet and or dimension.”
The crude answer silenced Twilight for a few seconds, she eventually replied.
“Well then. I am Twilight Sparkle.”
“Ah. So that's where Spellcaster Sparkle came from.” after a moment's pause he continued “Anyways, Jay, how about you nap for a few hours, then we move at dusk?”
“Sounds like a plan. Is there a bed in this house?”
“There's one upstairs” commented Twilight, noticing that she was in Rarity's home.
Jay trudged up the stairs, his footsteps heavy. Twilight also retreated into the spare bedroom, the cycling of her magic had made her very tired.
“Just you and I.” Jay commented, glancing towards Trixie, who had made herself comfortable on a chair in the corner. She replied with a slight nod, and leaned back, trying to doze off while she had the chance, the long walk had tired her out as well. “Lightweights” muttered Bradley to himself. He went into the shop and returned with a pair of fabric scissors, taking the oppertunity to remove his damaged clothes.
Jay awoke to Bradley looming over him, he put an object immediatley in front of his face.
“Made us some beatin' sticks.”
Jay reached up and grabbed the object that was before him, after a breif inspection, he was able to identify it as half of a coat rack. Bradley had the other half attached to his belt.
“Nice shirt.” commented Jay, nodding towards the crude shirt that Bradley had sewn while the others slept.
“Chest rig had a big fukkin hole in it! Anyways, the other two are waiting downstairs. Let's get a move on.”
The four exited the house, following the path that Bradley had taken before, following Rarity. He would duck behind an alley, or raise his fist before rounding a corner. His movment was very methodical, albeit lacking in speed. They made their way to the edge of the town without incident, and soon they were walking on the path towards the cottage on the edge of the woods.
Bradley stopped, raising his finger to his mouth. Jay nodded, but the signal was lost on the other two ponies.
“What?” Twilight said, with a puzzled expression.
“It means be quiet.” wispered Jay, who was sidling up next to Bradley, trying to see what he had seen “What do your elf eyes see, Legolas?”
“Dickbutts. Two of them, about a hundred yards ahead of us.”
“Are they a threat?”
“Not really, I've killed legions of them” he said, smirking. “You take the one on the left, I'll get the one on the right.” With that, he screamed and began sprinting, charging up to full speed in a few steps. Jay swore and followed him, four steps behind.
The skeletal ponies had very little time to react, they were barley able to draw their weapons before Bradley was upon them. When he was almost on top of them, he leapt into the air, smashing down his 'beating stick' on the skull of his designated pony. With a crack, the ghoul was defeated. It's comrade turned to atack Bradley, but Jay used this to his advantage. He brought the stick down on the neck of the second ghoul, lacking the grace and power that Bradley had supplied. Despite this, there was still enough force applied to fell the ghoul. It fell to the ground, the bones de-animating as they fell.
“That's fun! It's like a pinata!” commented Jay
“I know!” added Bradley, waving his arm for the two hiding ponies to come near.
After moving the bones off of the road, the four continued down the path. They came around the bend, nearing Fluttershy's cabin. The old building had no lights on, but it was easily spotted against the moon. Bradley was the first to reach the cabin, travelling around fifeteen metres ahead of the group to deter an ambush against the whole party.
He stepped onto the deck, and quietly jiggled the handle. He opened the unlocked door, swinging it hard enough that it made a loud bang hitting the parallel wall. He bellowed at the top of his lungs into the home;
“Honey, I'm home!”