//------------------------------// // Chapter 43 // Story: 64 vs. The Underground // by Jman9877 //------------------------------// Chapter 43 3rd Person POV 64 arrived along with Rainbow Dash at the party, and saw Pinkie Pie literally bounding off of the walls serving every pony in the room a plastic cup of Red Punch. "Everypony drink up! Applebloom is gonna have the best welcome back party ever!" Pinkie yelled, placing a cup into 64's hand. He brought the liquid up to his nose and took a sniff, not smelling alcohol. "Damn, really feel like I'll need a drink tonight..." 64 muttered, reaching into a pocket on the inside of of jacket and pulling out a small flash he kept on himself for emergencies. As he undid the cap and was about to top off his drink, a purple magic wrapped his hand and forced the flask out of it. "Hey give that back!" 64 scolded, seeing Twilight giving him a stern glare. She gave the flask a sniff and recoiled at the strong smell of Whiskey, before teleporting the flask into nothingness. "64! This is a children's party! You don't need to bring alcohol, even if it is just for you!" Twilight scolded, before take a sip of her punch. "Aw come on Twilight... I know something regarding me is going to go down at this thing, I just want something to take off the edge a bit." 64 implored, taking a drink of his fruit punch. "Damn that's not bad." 64 looked around and saw that not many ponies had arrived yet, but looking at his watch the party started over 30 minutes ago. Of course this didn't deter Pinkie who was prepping for Applebloom entrance. She seemed to be focusing more on the drinks than anything for some reason. "Oh! She's gonna be here any moment! I can't wait to give her the best welcome back party ever!" Pinkie yelled, all ponies in the barn turning in here direction "Pinkie dearest, I'm sure that we're all excited that Applebloom was returned back to Ponyville safely, but I fear you are a bit... Overexcited... If that's even possible..." Rarity said, trying to calm down the over active party pony. "Rarity, this is the first EVER foalnapping in Ponyville! We have to make sure that Applebloom is ok after what happened." Pinkie assured, catching 64's ears. "Oh I don't think we'll have to worry about that." 64 said, seeing the pony known as Vinyl Scratch walk into the barn hauling her large sound system. "What do you mean?" Rarity asked him, grinning as she saw that he was wearing the clothes that she made him. "You were there when I arrived in the Chariot with Applejack and Applebloom, did you see who else was only the chariot?" Rarity thought about for a bit, seeing more ponies walk into the barn excitedly, with Pinkie bouncing to them to give them drinks. "Well, there was a colt... A green colt with black hair. He was a quiet little one wasn't he?" "Yup, he doesn't say much unless he knows you. Anyway, he's here to help Applebloom with any psychological problems she might have developed during her ordeal, so I think she's going to be fine. As if on cue, Ghost and the Cutie Mark Crusaders walked into the barn wide eyed, seeing the now less capacious barn filled with ponies. Many cheered and clopped their hooves onto the ground in applause at Applebloom's appearance, making her blush at the sudden praise. Applejack went up to her and hugged Applebloom, before grabbing her and tossing her onto her bac to carry her. "All right everypony! Looks like the filly of honor has just arrived! Why don't we buck this thing up a notch!" Vinyl Scratch yelled through her mic, her signature shades now obscuring her eyes. A pulsing bass started to reverberate through the air, shaking the tables and decorations. When the music got to a dancing speed, 64 made his way off of the dance floor, not wanting to be caught in there if things started to heat up. Rainbow was currently dancing to the music along with some of her co-workers on the Weather Team when she noticed that 64 had purposely moved off of the dance floor. She zoomed over to him and crossed her forelegs. "C'mon 64! Everypony is dancing! Look over there! Even Applebloom is dancing with...... Who is that colt?" Rainbow Dash asked, seeing Applebloom start to dancing with Ghost. 64 looked over at them curiously, seeing that Applebloom was in fact dancing alongside Ghost. The two were giggling and simply enjoying each other's company as many ponies came and gave their congratulations to Applebloom for staying strong in a tough situation like that. 64 then noticed one of the mares that was giving him particularly bad stares went up to Applebloom and said something to her, causing her to tilt her head in confusion. The stares of confusion quickly turned to stares of disgust. Ghost and Applebloom were dancing happily with each other, with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both off getting something to eat. "It's so wonderful that you're back Applebloom!" Noteworthy commented as he walked by, a cup of punch in his hoof. “Thank ya Mister! I’m glad to be back!” Applebloom replied, not really paying attention. “Welcome back Applebloom! Don’t worry about any of the schoolwork you might have missed while you were gone, I’m sure under these extreme circumstances that I can forgive a few missing assignments.” Cheerilee said walking by, carrying a cup of punch like almost everypony else in the room. “Great…” Applebloom moaned, not really wanting to think about school work at the moment. “Oh hello Applebloom! I’m so glad that you’re back in Ponyville!” a mare carrying a cup said to Applebloom, whose names escaped her at the moment. “Oh… thank you Miss… Umm…” “Oh dearie, my name is Roma! I work the Tomato Stand in the Ponyville Marketplace!” Applebloom wanted nothing to do with tomatoes unless they were on a pizza, so she tried to shrug off the mare. “Oh… uh, thank ya ma’am… Do ya mind? I’m tryin’ ta dance with my friend.” “Of course. But do you feel comfortable with that thing attending your party?” Ghost’s eyes immediately darted over to the mare and narrowed in suspicion, wondering why she would say that. “Can… can ya clarify that miss?” Applebloom asked, tilting her head in confusion. “What thing?” Roma pointed her hood over to 64 who was giving her a suspicious look, seeing how she was doing something that was making Applebloom uncomfortable. “Why that thing of course! That was the thing that got you foalnapped in the first place, aren’t you scared that it might cause something terrible to happen again?” Roma said in a hushed tone, but not even bothering to hide the disgusted tone when regarding to 64. “Are ya calling 64 a ‘thing’?!” Applebloom said shocked, never hearing someone being talked about like that. “Well…it obviously isn’t a pony…” “Excuse me is there a problem here?” 64 called out, walking up to the group and crossing his arms. Rome turned with her cup and scowled. “I’m sorry, but I don’t recall asking you to enter this private conversation. Why don’t you shove off before you cause somepony else to go missing!?” Roma yelled in 64’s face, causing him to scowl in anger. “Oh, so it’s going to be like that with you? I make one mistake, AND make up for it, and I still receive all of the hate as if I just sat by and let it happen?” 64 yelled back, seeing that someponies were now turning towards the commotion. “The way I see it, it’s best if you just leave!” Roma said, about to toss her cup of red punch at 64. He quickly countered the mare by hitting the bottom of the plastic cup and sending it back into her face, causing her to become drenched in the sweet smelling fruit punch. Roma stood there in shock for a few seconds before growling and shoving 64 with her front hooves, trying in vain to push him back. “How dare you do this to me!” She screamed, getting angrier by the fact she couldn’t push 64 back. “Well you tried to do the same to me, so the way I see it you deserve it!” 64 shouted back, trying to not let his anger get the better of him. “You were saying all those bad things about him too! You definitely deserve more than just this!” Ghost yelled, trying to stick up for his mentor. "Woah there ya two. If ya're gonna have a problem then talk it out in private outside. There's no need ta draw this out in front of everypony." Applejack called out, breaking through the crowd and stepping between 64 and Roma. "Send this miscreant out then! He's gonna get another foal taken away before we even realize it!" Roma shouted, creating an even bigger scene. "Hey, if you say even one more word about my friend, you're going to be the one getting kicked out onto the curb." Rainbow Dash said stepping forward. "So you are on this things side?! Unbelievable! I can't believe that you are actually condoning--" *SMASH!!!* From behind Roma, a now broken punch bowl floated in the air wrapped in a green magical glow, along with Ghost's horn glowing. "She was starting to get on my nerves." Ghost said angrily, picking up the shards of glass and making sure to levitate them into a trash can. 64 grinned at Ghost, who winked back at him. "Everypony ok?" 64 called out, as a murmur of yups and eeyups came out if the crowd. "Then let's forget about this one and get the party back on!" The music kicked back on and the ponies went back to dancing, pretty much forgetting what had just happened. 64 of course had to set Roma off to the side so she wouldn't get trampled, so he picked her up and set her onto a bale of hay. "Well that's was something..." 64 muttered, seeing Applebloom and Ghost walk up to him. "Why was that lady so mean ta ya?" Applebloom asked, oblivious to the idea of prejudice. "It could be she's scared of me and doesn't want me around, or that she thinks I'm a danger to the community." Either way, that’s no way to act at a public affair like this, especially at your Welcome Back Party.” Applebloom nodded and turned back to the dance floor. “C’mon Ghost! Let’s keep dancin’!” The filly shouted, grabbing Ghost’s hoof and dragging him back into the crowd. 64 swore that he saw a dusting of a blush on Ghost’s cheeks. 64 felt a heat start to rise in the room, starting in his feet and slowly making its way to his body. He tried to ignore it for a bit, but once it reached his stomach, he felt that he needed to take a step outside to air out. “‘Scuse me, pardon me…” He said walking through the crowd, not wanting to step on anyponies hooves. “64? Where are you going? Pinkie is about to bring out the cake for Applebloom. Don’t you like cake?” Twilight asked, tilting her head a bit. She didn’t know that 64 had a particularly bad streak when it came to sweets, especially cake, but right now the burning sensation in his gut was moretha enough to warrant a step outside. “Sorry Twi, but I’m not feeling to good for some reason… I’m just gonna take a breather outside.” 64 said, causing Twilight to hum curiously. She stood up on her hindlegs and used one of her forelegs to balance herself on 64’s chest, using her other hoof to put onto 64’s forehead to check for temperature. She immediately winced in pain and recoiled at the touch, hearing a sizzling sound in both of the hooves that were touching 64. “64! You’re literally burning up!” Twilight yelled shocked, seeing steam start to come off of the top of his head. “I know, that’s why I’m trying to get outside.” “No I mean literally burning up!” Twilight shouted, taking the cup of punch she had and tossing it onto 64. When the liquid made contact with 64, it immediately started to hiss and evaporate into the air, leaving no trace of Punch. 64’s eyes widened as he saw what happened, so he quickly ran around Twilight and zoomed outside into the night, heading for the swimming not too far away from the Barn. Shedding his Jacket and Shirt as quickly as possible as he ran, he started to feel himself start to burn from the inside out, with sweat starting to pour off of his body at a quick rate. With a not so graceful dive, 64 went headfirst into the swimming hole, causing a loud plume of steam to shoot into the air where he dived into. When he emerged, he could feel himself start to cool off, but his mind was still reeling at what had just happened. “What the fuck was that all about!?” He shouted to no one in particular. Once he felt the burning sensation in his stomach fade and the water stopped steaming, 64 pulled himself out of the water and allowed himself to sit on the edge of the pool, ready if the burning came back once again. “I see we are experiencing the first stage…” An all too aggravating voice spoke behind 64, who slowly stood up and turned. He looked Super Nova in the eye and scowled. “Of course you are the one causing this… Can’t you just leave me the fuck alone!?” He screamed, turning back towards toward the pond and sitting at the edge. Super Nova just smirked and walked around him, standing on the waters surface. Where she stood plumes of steam started to flare up, causing a smoke screen effect to her molten body. “Although you have learned a few tricks to aid you in battle, like the ones you used against Discord, you still have much, much more to learn…” She said wickedly, a malicious grin spreading across her face. 64 scowled at the idea of learning more from Super Nova. “You’ve already taught me out to pull up molten rock from the ground to use as armor, and spew lava from my lips like nothing. I’m sure I don’t need much else.” Super Nova’s grin faded and was replaced by a sarcastic frown, her bottom lip pouting out. “Aww, and here I thought with the threat of an impending war that you might need more ways to defend yourself…” “Nope, I think i’m just fine with what I have now.” 64 said, not even wanting to acknowledge the Alicorn vision behind him. “Well too bad, it’s only a matter of time before Celestia decides to use you as her game-changer in the event of battle, might as well learn to use it correctly.” 64’s shot wide open as he suddenly felt something stab into his back and cause him to stiffen up. He slowly looked down to see a beam of magic going straight through his chest, but along with the pain came flashes of spell runes, quickly instructing him how to perform multiple spells, but they were written in an old language, meaning he couldn’t understand them. When the flashes of runes stopped, the beam of magic retracted from 64’s chest causing him to groan and slump over onto his side, barely being able to hold onto consciousness. Super Nova then walked over him and brought her muzzle close to his face, an evil grin plastered on her face. “It’s better to receive the gift now and prepare for what’s ahead, then to slowly slip into madness trying to conquer what it truly inside you…” Super Nova said mysteriously, walking away from 64. She was still in his line of sight, so he held out his hand in desperation. “W-Wait… what’s ahead!?” He called out weakly, but Super Nova still heard him. She looked over her shoulder at 64 and smirked, her eye squinting dangerously. “Madness… and I am going to love every second of it…” 64 fell unconscious shortly after, moonlight showering over him. 64 POV “Hey! 64 wake up!” I heard Ghost yell in my ear, causing my eyes to shoot open and me to sit up as fast as I could. I was still in my soaking wet pants sitting at the edge of the swimming hole, with my clothing now bundled up at my side. I groaned as a splitting headache made itself apparent, my blood rushing too quickly to my head. “H-Hey Ghost… fuck what time is it?” I groaned, seeing that the sun was now up. “It’s like 11 right now, c’mon we’re setting everything up for Nightmare Night tonight!” Ghost said, his hair shaking a bit with the light breeze. I honestly liked his disguise, it was exactly what I would expect him to look like if he was a pony. “Alright… let me get my costume… Oh shit my costume!” I yelled, quickly opening the clasp of the Satchel Pocket attached to my belt. Opening it I found that my worries had actually come true, with everything inside being absolutely soaked. “For fucks sake!” I pulled out the robes of my costume and groaned, seeing the dyes of all of the fabrics now meshed into a horrible puke looking color. “What were you gonna be 64?” Ghost asked, seeing my ruined costume. “Well they were human versions of robes that ancient pony assassins wore before the colonization of Equestria, but now it looks like I did all that work for nothing…” I muttered, tossing the robes aside. “Aww c’mon 64. You can totally find a costume in time for the celebration... tonight…” Ghost said slowly, realizing how stupid that sounded. “Never mind you are screwed.” I sighed. I really wanted to attend the celebration so I could just forget with everything that was going to be happening soon. Plus I was still pissed about Super Nova being all mysterious and shit so I really didn’t want to deal with anything else… "What happened after I left? I had an... Unexpected visitor last night..." I muttered, standing up and trying to walk uncomfortably in my wet pants. "Well after that mare Roma relieved us of her company, things started to die down a bit. Ponies wanted to get a good night sleep so they could get up early to set up the Nightmare Night celebration in the morning. It's not everyday that Princess Luna comes to visit." Ghost said, rubbing the back of his head. "I woke up early and went to look for you, and just followed the trail if clothing. What happened to you last night anyway?" I mulled over that question in my mind for a bit, wondering if it was a good idea to tell Ghost that I had seen Super Nova again. "Just felt a bit too heated last night." I said simply, starting to walk towards the Everfree. "Well all of my clothes are ruined, so I need to fashion something quick for Nightmare Night. I have a feeling that Rarity wouldn't be too happy about me going back. Wanna go hunting Ghost?" Ghost happily started to follow along as we made our way towards the Everfree, with me fishing out my sewing equipment out of my Satchel Pocket. The spools of thread were relatively unharmed, and the needle hadn't sustained any damage. "What animal are we looking for 64?" Ghost asked me as we reached the entrance to the Everfree. "Manticore hopefully." We walked and kept quiet, listening to see if we could hear any stray sounds in the Forest. A snapped twig caused both Ghost and I to swivel our heads in the direction it came from, looking for what might have caused the noise. I signaled to Ghost to wait up as I slowly walked towards the sound, pushing away branches and bushes as I did. The large figure bolted away as I came near, so I shot out a tendril of magic to ensnare his leg. I pulled with all of my might to try and the beast back, seeing the telltale stinger tail that all Manticore’s had. Jackpot. “Kill it quick Ghost! I got this thing!” I called out, seeing Ghost quickly run past me and leap onto the Manticores back. Using it’s primary means of defense, the Manticore attempted to sting the colt on its back with its stinger, but the stinger just bounced harmlessly off of his Chitin. Using the failed attack to his advantage, Ghost gripped the Stinger with his magic and started to pull with all of his might, the Manticore thrashing around in pain and annoyance. “Al...most… got it!” Ghost yelled, as the Manticore’s stinger was completely rended from its tail. The Manticore let out a pained bellow as blood started to spew out of its tail in short spurts, painting the ground underneath it a crimson red. Ghost used his magic to bring the stinger up above the Manticore’s head, before bringing it down into the Manticore’s eye, destroying the brain and killing it instantly. The beast fell forward with a thud, with the contents of it’s brain and skull pouring out of the now gaping hole. I sighed happily and dispelled the tendril attached to its leg, before conjuring a knife and making a few slices across its fur. “What are you gonna make with this 64? Some clothes?” Ghost asked, pulling the stinger out of the Manticore’s eye socket. “Some new clothes, I’ve been looking for some and a Manticore fur hoody would do just fine for winter assignments.” I explained, turning over the Manticore onto its back so I could get to the fur on its belly. That’s when the idea hit me, and a grin split my face. “Ya know what? Scratch that… I’ve have another idea…” I said giddily, continuing to skin the dead beast. This was gonna be the best Nightmare Night ever.