//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty-Six: House Keeping. // Story: From the Outside In // by DarkParable //------------------------------// Zecora frowned down at her house guest, unable to quite give voice to what she was seeing now that she'd had an opportunity to fully examine him. She knew of the strange blank-flanked pegasus that had captured the heart of her dear friend Twilight, but had yet to meet him... Well, meeting him now she wished it was under better circumstances. Sighing softly the shamanistic zebra looked him over one last time to confirm her findings before she could really get to work on the process of fixing him up a bit. The most obvious and distressing injury was the loss of a wing, the shredded appendage and subsequent stump were beyond her skill to repair. The most she could do was preserve the wing and staunch the bleeding in hopes that some unicorn could help him eventually. While less distressing his other injuries were no less serious. His body was a road map of small cuts and scrapes, many of which, especially on his back and flanks, were infected. He'd obviously had a really bad run in with something and hadn't quite avoided the pointy ends of it. Further more the greenish fluid that occasionally dripped from the corners of his mouth lead her to believe he'd taken a bite of something decidedly poisonous. Here in the Everfree that could have been anything from a plant to a... Well, most likely a plant. What kind of pony went about biting other creatures anyways? Muttering that very same question to herself she got to work. Her muttered questions slowly breaking off into a low chanting in her native tongue. All the while Red was oblivious, lost to the world and trapped in a fever dream that, were his body able to, would have had him shivering in fright and whimpering like a kicked puppy. "OH HAI!" rang out the rather loud voice of Pinkie Pie, drawing a rather startled yelp from "Red". "Oh by the Grey, where the hells did you come fro-... Oh hi honey." he eventually replied, glaring at Pinkie with a weary sort of anger. Needless to say this wasn't our Red. From hence forth he shall be referred to as False. Now Pinkie, despite what some would think, was not a fool. She simply enjoyed acting that way, and as she often told other ponies she had to stay in character, right? Upon hearing the words of False she blinked slowly, a little internal alarm ringing and setting her molars a-quiver. A clear sign from her Pinkie sense to get the buck outta dodge. This confused her, why would she need to get away from Red, he was a friend. He also made for a fun party game, you know, pull the pony out of the ceiling. She mentally shrugged, sometimes even she found her Pinkie sense weird. Well she really should've listened to that one, and the one that warned her to duck about a second before a hoof collided with her head and the world went black... though she could've sworn she saw a little bit of pink in there as well. Dusting off his hooves False smiled wickedly down at his newest little prize. Looked to him like he'd be eating well for a little while, despite the absolute shit food he'd found in his new pantry. Who the hell enjoyed oatmeal anyways? Not a doppelganger that's for sure. Whistling a jaunty little tune he bit down on Pinkie's tail and started to drag her off towards a nice secluded back room. Twilight paced restlessly, occasionally glancing at the clock as she waited for two hours to pass. She just wanted to head back and see Red, make sure he was ok, talk to him... Spend a few hours cuddled up and enjoying his company... Maybe find out if that book she'd read on proper ways to kiss your stallion was worth the price of it... That last one brought a hint of red to her cheeks and stopped her short. "So..." she mumbled to herself, "I apparently want to, to put it colloquially, suck face with Red... When did that happen? Hmm... Well, that's something to add to my observational note book on the effects of infatuation if that's what it's indicative of... Maybe I should ask Red if he can concur with that theory and... I'm doing it again. Trying to distract myself from everything important with science and such... But when did science become unimportant? Gah! That's it, time to go see my colt friend and play mother hen if he's sick." With a flash of teleportation she did just that, showing up right in his living room. A living room currently occupied by her colt, her Red, with his teeth clamped on the tail of her unconscious friend. Her unconscious friend who had a small trickle of blood flowing sedately from the split skin at her temple. Blood that shone wetly on one of her colt's forehooves. Her response was a very eloquent "Uhhh.... Huwat?" False had something different to say entirely. "Fuck. Well, looks like I've got two corpses to dispose of then..." No sooner had the words left his lips then "Red" was gone. In his place stood a tall, lanky, grey skinned humanoid that was, quite honestly, the ugliest thing Twilight had ever seen. It was simply unnatural looking, what with its misshapen head, smooth and featureless face, featureless save for the eyes that is. Red on a field of gold. Its appendages, arms and legs Twi's mind supplied the words, ended in spindly hands and feet respectively. Those hands were reaching out towards her now, long bony fingers closing over her throat with the intent to choke the life from her. It was about this time that her brain finally caught back up with reality and her proverbial jaw snapped shut. Granted she wasn't quite fast enough to get out of the thing's grasp. For as this and fragile looking as those hands were their grip was like iron. Cold, hard, and unyielding. With nothing else to do, Twilight panicked a bit, discharging raw magic in fear as he air was cut off. Now being a unicorn of not inconsiderable magical prowess that burst of unfocused magic had two effects. First, the creature was blown clear across the room, grip torn free by the out pouring of force. The second was a magical surge, much like when she was a filly. This time however, it had direction and a certain malevolent intent. Malevolent that is, if one happened to be a doppelganger who'd just attempted to strangle her, had apparently hurt her friend, and was previously wearing the form of her colt friend. False looked up from where he'd been thrown, golden eyes widening at what he saw. Within a raging pillar of harsh white light stood an extremely pissed of unicorn. Its coat was a white that somehow managed to stand out brightly against the decidedly white pillar in which it stood. Not quite as much as the flames that made up it's mane and tail however. That's not quite what drew him up short however. Nope, the glare directed back at him was what sent ice water rushing through his veins and a spike of mortal terror into his heart. He had just enough time to have one last thought before he ceased to be capable of such things. "Oh... Shit..." What followed that thought would have gone down in history as one of the most brutal beatings ever delivered at the hooves of a unicorn ever. By the time Twi had regained her senses and calmed down, Her, Pinkie, And a decidedly resilient bathtub were all that was left standing )or in Pinkie's case laying) for a good hundred foot radius. She stood before a pile of what had once been Red's house, now it was just a literal ton of tooth picks with a gruesome little topper. Sticking out the top of the pile was one long bony grey skinned hand, fingers curled and broken, oozing a greenish ichor that passed as the creature's blood. As it was, that day did go down in the history of Ponyville as the day of the fastest deconstruction job ever done in town. The once again purple mare who'd done the deed had only one question though. She didn't care what that thing was, what it had wanted, what it was going to do with Pinkie, or anything like that. She simply wanted to know one very simple thing. Staring in a glassy-eyed manner at the hand among the rubble she asked it calmly, "Where's Red?" The only answer she got was the sound of the wind and thundering hooves as many a pony rushed to find out just what the commotion had been.