//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Melody of Death // Story: No More Ponies // by TheBot705 //------------------------------// As Travis slowly came to his senses, he could hear voices talking above him, as his eyes were half open, only showing blurred colors. Travis could only understand a little bit of the words as he was constantly drifting in and out of conscious. "Is he the...for our new show?" "Oh...they'll cancel us!" "Calm...they wouldn't cancel the most...on the Hub" "Well should we leave?...wouldn't want to spoil it!" "Well since we ain't....the first contenders, I reckon we leave him be.." "Pinkie don't...just leave the note beside him!" "Okey Dokey Loki!" A little bit of shuffling could be heard as Travis once again lost lost conscious as the noises slowly died out until they could no longer be heard. Travis quickly woke up with his eyes wide and cold sweat pouring down his forehead as he rubbed his eyes and noticed he wasn't wearing his sunglasses. "Dammit" Travis whispered to himself, touching his new found bruise on the back of his head. He frantically looked around for his sunglasses, as he also began to inspect his grim surroundings while he was at it. It ad seemed that Travis was in a room with walls that seemed to have vomit and blood stains all over the walls with a broken mirror to the wall. The room was also decorated with dead flowers and stained furniture as a piece of trash or two could be seen laying on the floor. As Travis stood up, he saw his glasses in the corner of his eye, as they glimmered from the lone light bulb, as his beam katana Blood Berry laid right next to it, as both items practically begged for him to pick them up. Travis grabbed his sunglasses and quickly put them on and also snatched his beam katana as he buckled it onto the side of his belt as he got a glimpse of himself in the mirror. he has no longer looked as if he was in a 3 dimensional video game, and his shadowing no longer looking like a comic book. Instead he looked like a cartoon. A cartoon with tan skin, perfectly yellow tinted glasses, a clean red jacket, but luckily for Travis, his anime t-shirt had been left the same as the three female characters kept their appearances. Travis quickly walked out of the room as he pushed the door open as the front part of the door held a gold star with the name Octavia inscribed into it as the door slammed shut with a clang. As Travis walked down the halls, he could slowly hear an instrument playing some sort of melody. Travis continued to walk as he passed collapses roofs, doors broken open, and even a skeleton or two. Travis could tell what ever destruction had happened was done long ago as plant life seeped through rubble and spider webs were on every corner that their could possibly be. "Christ" Travis said out loud "this place sure is a shit hole to be playing music" Travis could now perfectly hear the music as he turned the corner and was faced with double doors as he continues to walk and open the doors, giving him a perfect view of a grey coated pony, with a black mane went straight down he back. She wore a pink bow tie with a white collar as it seemed that she was playing the cello with the most passion Travis had ever seen. Her eyes, even though closed, gave her a very feminine and sophisticated look. To top it off her audience seemed to be fresh corpses with their limbs, or most of their bodies cut off scattered all over the room. As her song slowly came to an end, Travis raised his hands and began to clap as she slowly began to take a bow and came back up while looking at Travis with her purple eyes and with a raised eyebrow. "That was a very nice song you played there! What is the piece called? It isn't anything I've heard before!" Travis yelled across the room towards the mare. "It was a piece I had found deep within the archives of my music book, it had seemed fitting for the situation." She spoke into a microphone, calmly replying to Travis's question. "Fitting for the situation huh? Tell me, what is the occasion?" Travis asked again with a smug smile and a raised eyebrow as he placed his hand on his weapon, making a defensive stance. "A funeral" she once again replied calmly as her Cello's bow she had been holding extended in size and curving like an arch to resemble an Archer's bow. Travis took out his Blood Berry, held it with two hands in front of him, and activated it, it extended with a beep nose as a beam came out of the handle, making woom noises as Travis held it by his side. "I had a gut feeling you would say something like that! But tell me this, why are we about to duel like this? It seems a bit sudden if you ask me. I don't even know where I am!" Travis asked again, as he expected answers before he did any fighting. The mares eyes widened a but in shock, as she was unsure if her opponent was joking or not. 'You honestly don't know what's going on here, don't you?" she asked, as she tilted her head slightly, to which Travis replied with a shrug. "Well let me fill you in Travis Touchdown." She said as she took a deep breathe and began to explain "I am your opponent, Octavia Melody, we will be fighting to the death, in your coat pocket should be a note that gives you more info on your current situation." Travis reached into his coat pocket as his beam katana continued to buzz right next to him. When he pulled out the note, he looked at it in confusion, wondering how it got in his pocket. But before Travis could read it, it had been shot from his hand with an arrow, as it pierced one of the double doors behind him, as it slowly opened and closed from the sudden impact. Octavia lowered her bow slightly and once again spoke to Travis "But this talk is starting to bore me, let us begin to play the Death Waltz!" She yelled as she held up her bow once again as it began to glow purple, and a musical note shot at Travis. Travis dodged it just in time as Octavia was already charging another deadly music note. She fired it as multiple notes came at Travis in rapid succession. Travis held up his weapon as he blocked a few and took cover behind a chair with a dead body dangling over it. Shit, Travis thought, She sure has one hell of an aim, it seems these ponies don't fuck around when it comes to fighting! If I could just get close I can get the upper hand! Travis rolled out of his cover as Octavia once again shot a single musical note at Travis. Instead of dodging it, he held up his Blood Berry like a bat and swung at it as it hit Octavia's cello, that had exploded into tiny bits of wood upon impact. 'Haha! Home run!" Travis yelled as he began running towards Octavia's position. Octavia looked at her now broken instrument, remembering all the concerts and practice time she had used it for, she turned and looked at Travis with rage in her eyes "You fucking pig! I'll end you for that!" She held up her bow but was already to late as Travis had already jumped in the air to get onto the stage. Travis held his katana high to perform a downward strike onto Octavia, without hesitation she pulled her bow in half as they morphed into blades and held them in a defensive stance as Travis's beam made contact with her new found weapons. Travis was forced to jump back, landing on his feet, Octavia, still burning with rage, pointed her blade towards Travis as she waited for him to charge. Travis and Octavia immediately ran towards each other as their weapons clashed every now and then, filling the room with sparks of light as it shined onto the dead bodies and reflected off of puddles of blood. I think I might have hit a soft spot, Travis thought to himself, she's pushing herself over the edge just because I destroyed that instrument of hers. I have to admit she has passion for her music. Travis and Octavia both striked at each other at the same time, with their weapons locked together, they pushed their weapons against each other's, one of them trying to gain the upper hand as it was obvious Travis was winning, sweat rolled down Octavia's head, NO, I can't lose! I can't let her down! Octavia thought to herself. Travis suddenly pushed her back and in one quick stab, jabbed his Blood Berry into Octavia's stomach. She dropped her weapons and leaned forward as she grabbed a hold of Travis's weapon and looked him in the eyes with dispear, as tears began forming as she struggled to speak "E-excellent work T-t-Travis. I must say I am a bit down to lose. But at least you were an amazing opponent." She coughed up blood and spoke on last thing to Travis. "Be ready for the challenges ahead." Travis dug his beam katana deeper into Octavia "It's alright. I have experience in this field." With one quick slice, Travis swung his beam up as he tore through Octavia's chest and head. A few seconds past until Octavia's upper half split into two as blood showered the stage they had been fighting upon. Octavia's body slowly feel back, making a splat noise as her corpse fell into her own puddle of blood. 'You can keep playing your Song of Death for me, in Hell." Travis turned off his Blood Berry as it sheathed back into the handle, Travis buckled the Blood Berry onto his belt and began to walk out the theater as his footsteps echoed through the completely empty stage. As Travis walked out the double doors, he grabbed the note Octavia had shot out of his hand and inspected it as he read what seemed to be a list out loud. "Let's see, Octavia Melody, huh well she's dead." Travis chuckled to himself as he looked at the next name on the list "The Doctor, what a stupid name to call yourself" Travis folded the paper and put it in his back pocket and walked out of the theater. A few minutes of walking around, Travis realized he had no idea where he was going. It was as if he was walking just to cure his boredom. Another couple of minutes of walking, Travis could hear the sound of a plan falling. When he turned around, a light grey mare with her eyes closed crashed into Travis as they were on the ground, the grey mare already on her feet. I mean hooves. "Oops I'm sorry mister, are you ok?" Her eyes widened in disbelief as she saw she had landed on Travis Touchdown, The Travis Touchdown. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! You're Travis! I frigging loved No More Heroes! Can you say the thing!" The mare looked at Travis with eyes that pointed in opposite directions and a smile that went across her face. Travis looked at the mare in confusion, considering her eyes were not set up properly, but then looked at the mare with frustration "Get off of me fuckhead!" Travis yelled as he pushed her off of him, as she dopey landed on her face but quickly got up and gasped when she put her hooves on her cheeks, squishing her face, making it look scrunched up, and hella adorable. "EEEE! You said it!" She said as she began to follow Travis "By the way I'm Derpy Hooves! And I am a huge fan of No More Heroes!" She said as she began to bounce around him. "I'm glad you liked the game and all but just leave me the hell alone" Travis said as he walked a bit faster to try and lose the new found annoying Derpy. "But don't you need a place to stay?" Derpy asked in confusion, as her head tilted to the side. Travis stopped in his tracks and grunted in annoyance, realizing she was right, as he turned around slowly and looked at the grey mare. "And you got a place for me?" He asked reluctantly. "I sure do!" she said happily as she turned right and looked at Travis "Follow me! TO THE GARDEN OF MADNESS" She began to skip and immediately tripped and landed on her face and looked up. "Oopsie" Travis sighed as he helped the grey mare up and began to follow her to her home so that he may have a place to stay.