//------------------------------// // A Mark By Anyother Name // Story: House that Heartbreak Rebuilt // by Jet_Black1980 //------------------------------// Chapter 43 A Mark by Any Other Name "I-" Rarity felt taken back by this sudden turn of events. From the argument that caused Twilight to nearly snap, to the trip to Whinneapolis, and even the return back to Ponyville, Heartbreak had practically been pushing any and all ponies she'd met away from her. "Just when I thought there was a pattern... She goes and breaks the chain." "Please, Rarity," she began, looking at the door frame. "I really don't think it would be a good idea for me to be alone for the first night here." Heartbreak looked up. "After all, what if something happens? What if some of the floor boards aren't as sturdy as the construction team thinks they are? Or something else that I didn’t think of?" Rarity fidgeted at the prospect of all this. She had already made her concerns known about the state of this house. "If you're that worried about it, you could always stay at my house..." Heartbreak bit her lip. "That would still involve all of us walking near the Everfree Forest and going all the way back to your place." "Darling..." Rarity gave the concerned pony a look. "Are you saying that you think I can't take care of myself?" "No..." Heartbreak replied, still looking away. "I know you can take care of yourself. You're a very capable unicorn with a plethora of magic at her disposal, but the girls would be going with you and sometimes things can happen. I would feel at fault if something were to happen to all of you when I could have done something to prevent that." Rarity frowned. Heartbreak's words seemed to flow out slowly as if they were made of molasses. As if she had to force herself to actually admit to the idea that she could need some form of help. "Honestly! She’s almost as bad as Applejack! It would be just so much easier if she said she wanted assistance, instead of dancing around the issue! I mean really, I-" "Please, Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked, fluttering her eyes up at her sister while suddenly leaning against her. "Ya could let Applejack know that ya were lookin' after me!" Applebloom exclaimed, joining her friend. Scootaloo swallowed a bit, and attempted to replicate the cute faces of her friends. Sadly, this only resulted in a slightly creepy and pathetic looking appearance. "It'd be really fun!" she said through clenched teeth. "Girls..." Rarity began with a nervous giggle. "Please, Rarity?" Heartbreak muttered quietly, still looking towards the floor. "It would mean the world to me if you did..." "Oh, very well." Rarity shook her head and looked away. "I suppose we can spend the night here, however, there is still the matter of sleeping arrangements.” "Sleeping arrangements are easy enough to sort out," Heartbreak said, running her hoof along the doorframe again. "I'll sleep in this room, the girls can sleep in the room that we cleaned up, and there's a guest room downstairs that you can have.” “There are those dreadful noises arising from the Everfree Forest..." “If the sounds of the country are too much of a bother..." A small smile crept up on Heartbreak's face. "I'm sure you can make some earmuffs or something like that." ===================================================================== I feel a lot more at ease knowing that there will be someone or in this case; somepony in this house with me. At least for tonight. I might be more comfortable with being alone in my house when a) I have a better understanding of how this place is all laid out, and b) how the fuck that magical fireplace works. I’m glad that Rarity didn’t put up too much of a fight about staying here. I’m sure she was just as surprised as I was about me asking. While the girls were getting ready for bed by brushing their teeth, Rarity sent out letters to let the others know that the girls wanted to stay over at my place for the night and that she’d be watching them. After that? She went to the room that I had offered her to sleep in. I could see her cringing and holding back so many squeals of terror at the dusty, musty, cobweb ridden mess. I did my best not to chuckle and she then took a deep breath and started doing what she does best next to dressmaking: reorganizing things to look presentable. Yeah, sure, that’s Twilight’s gig most of the time. But you have to admit that Rarity can be a bit of a neat freak too. When it comes to others things that is. I left her to do whatever and lead the girls to where they were going to be sleeping for the night. Strangely enough? They’ve just hopped onto the bed with no trouble or arguing and slipped under the covers. Shit, this was almost too easy! Too easy, that is, until their heads appear and hooves pop over the covers... Fuck... Right now, at this moment, I don’t know whether to buy a camera, or rush to the bathroom so I can puke. Stop it, brain, I get it! Ponies are cute and fillies are adorable! Now stop fucking with me! I reach out for the lamp so that I can slip that little metal chain through my hoof-hole. “Alright girls, you three sleep well, and if you need anything, I’ll just be in the next room.” Fuck, I am getting out of here before I cave into that urge to hug them. “H.B.?” Applebloom’s voice causes my hoof to pause in midair. “Yes, Applebloom?” “Could ya tell us a story?” She flutters her eyelashes while tilting her head. Gawds! Quick, counter maneuvers! “Girls...” I begin. “I would like to... but I’m really tired. And there are like a million things to do tomorrow. Including making a list of it all...” “But we haven’t gotten to hear one of your stories!” Scootaloo decries. “Yeah! None of us were with the Summer Reading Group last week,” Sweetie Belle protests. “An’ it seems really unfair,” Applebloom pouts. “Ah mean, Mars Orange gotta’ hear a whole bunch of them Danger Mare stories.” “Alright! Alright! Eesh! Just stop with the faces already!” I hate myself for caving like this. But those faces! Seriously, the girls seem to be ramping up their cute factor. I haven’t a clue why, it’s not like I’ve denied them anything and it doesn’t seem like they’re up to anything. Even if they were, what the hell would it be? There’s nothing to get into around here! I mean, unless you count all the boxes and junk or the basement that I told them not to go into... Nah. Sighing, I look around. There aren’t any books on the shelves that I feel comfortable reading by the low lamp light. Alright H.B., looks like you’re going to have make something up. But what to- Oh... That might be a good idea. I look at the fillies with a slight smile on my face. “Are you sure you three want a story from me?” I ask. “After all, I’m not called ‘Heartbreak’ for nothing. Some of the stories I tell are pretty dark... or pretty sad.” “Ha!” Scootaloo says, jumping up. “I’ve heard Rainbow Dash’s stories, we could totally handle whatever you throw at us!” “As long as it isn’t too dark,” Sweetie Belle adds, pulling the covers up a bit. Darn. Well, if Disney can lighten up most of Grimm’s Faerie Tales? So can I. “Alright, you three, if you think you can sleep after hearing this yarn? I’ll tell it.” Alright, names, names we need to change the names. Make it more pony friendly and... yeah... I can do this. Sure, the names themselves aren’t original, but I’m going to have a little fun with this. Heh, I doubt that the girls will figure out my little ‘inside joke’ going on in the story though. But who cares? It’ll be fun for me. I sit down next to the bed and make myself a bit more comfortable. “This is a story based on a story that I heard when I was young, not much older than you three, in fact...” Alright, that sounded corny as all get out, but doing a story on short notice? Not. Easy. And with what I’m working with? It’s not going to be great... But it’ll do. “It’s called ‘Skeeterroll Learns to Shiver’.” “Once upon a time, there was a little dark orange coated colt with a short, spiky purple mane and tail named ‘Skeeterroll’.” “What colour were his eyes?” Applebloom asks, raising her hoof. “A dark purply colour,” I reply. Maybe I should have made Skeeterroll’s coat an inverse of Scootaloo’s. I haven’t a fetting clue what those shades of blue would be called though. “So-” “Did he have his cutie mark yet?” Scootaloo asks, also raising her hoof. “Uhm, no. No he didn’t,” I reply. Sweetie Belle raises her hoof. “What’s a ‘skeeter’?” “Do you three want a bedtime story or not?” Alright, now I can practically feel the irritation coming out of my face. I attempt to massage that irritation away with a hoof to my forehead. Come on, H.B. Let’s not explode at the fillies... “Sorry... I was just wondering. It’s weird sounding.” Sweetie Belle’s hoof lowers and she gives me a sheepish look. “Uhm, can you continue, please?” she asks, with a wide apologetic smile. “Alright, just no more interruptions please.” I eye the three, knowing I’ve just asked the impossible. “Skeeterroll was a brash, bold and daring sort who wouldn’t let the threat of danger get in his way when it came down to doing things. He and his fffriends would go on many adventures together, play lots of sports and sometimes show off in front of fillies. Though much to the chagrin of his fffriends, they would land quite often directly in the seat of trouble! So often did this happen, that Skeeter had been given the nickname of ‘the colt that doesn’t shiver!’ “Now most of the time, Skeeter didn’t think anything of this. After all, if other p-p-ponies thought him to be brave, who was he to complain? But there was one time that it actually was a problem. “You see, his hero, mentor, idol and adoptive older brother, who we will call ‘Blitz’, was trying out for a daring, death defying, acrobatic stunts competition! Alongside Blitz were many pegasi and even a few griffins! “Skeeterroll had been waiting all week to see this competition go on, not realizing that there were some strict rules for attendees and that the... uhm... Safety officers! Yup. Safety officers were going to enforcing these rules rather heavily. So, you can imagine his surprise when one of those officers told him he couldn’t attend! “‘What do you mean, I can’t attend?’ Skeeterroll asked with a disappointed groan.” Huh, that was actually a pretty good little boy voice. I guess it’s true. Women, or in my case, mares can pull off young boys pretty well. Right, back to the story! ===================================================================== “Just that, you can’t attend! You’re too young, and there are going to be some rather dangerous stunts being pulled here." The officer replied. "I’m Mr. Graveneigh! An actual qualified officer! And for such events with such dangerous stunts being performed, we need to set age restrictions and proper rules! Just who are you, thinking that you can get in against the rules, young colt?" "I’m Skeeterroll and I-" "Skeeterroll! Oh, I’ve heard about you! ‘The colt that doesn’t shiver!’" The officer said, frowning. "That’s me! And I-" "Have no business being at a dangerous event like this one!" Mr. Graveneigh exclaimed, before he ‘humphed!’ "But!" "But nothing! If a pony doesn’t know how to shiver, then they don’t know what hazards could be right in front of their eyes! And I can’t have a little colt like that attending an event like this!" ===================================================================== “Wow! What a jerk!” Scootaloo shouts, frowning and crossing her hooves. “He’s just looking out for the safety of the audience,” I reply, shrugging my shoulders. “Still, he doesn’t have to be a jerk about it!” Scootaloo protests. “You want the story or not?” I ask. I get silence as my response. “Ok then.” “Dismayed about the whole situation, Skeeterroll decided to do what all p-ponies in his situation do-” “What’s that?” Scootaloo interrupts, and bounds out from under the covers excitedly. “Sneak in without anypony seeing? Buy tickets off another pony? Fly above the show and watch on a cloud?!” “Nooo,” I cough and roll my eyes. “He went to his fffriends for help.” “Oh...” the little orange filly replies, rubbing the back of her head and returning to her place under the well worn family style quilt. I take a deep breath and continue on with the story in my head. Getting this thing out isn’t easy. Not with these three asking questions, anyway. “So, Skeeter went to his fffriend Silver Bell to see if he had any ideas about how he could learn to shiver. Silver Bell was kinda busy at the time, helping his brother Elusive, the tailor. Elusive was a very elegant stallion, who was known for making the finest suits in all the land, though he could be a bit picky... and sometimes a bit snooty... and felt that everyp-p-pony had to wear one of his suits and felt that he was always right about things and if anyp-p-pony said anything contrary to his sense of style, they had to be wrong!” The girls blink at me. “Heh... Let’s just say that Elusive was rather... persnickety and leave it at that...” I close my eyes and rebuild the image of where I want this story to go. ===================================================================== “Skeeterroll explained to Silver Bell everything that he had gone through with Mr. Graveneigh, and how it was just totally unfair! After all, it wasn’t his fault that he was so brave that he didn’t know how to shiver! Elusive, not wanting to make his brother think that he was neglecting his him, decided to interject his two bits. "I don’t know about you, but what made me shiver when I was your age? The stories about a nasty creature called ‘The Grundle.’" "The Grundle?" Skeeterroll asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Isn’t that like an old pony’s tale about some weird monster that foalnaps colts and fillies?" Elusive shuddered. "The modern stories about the Grundle are so watered down. Nowadays he just kidnaps ponies and throws them in the dungeon for a few hours until they're rescued. When I was a colt he used to do much worse things to them! And you do not want to go there! Stay away from Overgrown Hedge," He looked at the both of them in a serious brotherly manner. "Both of you!" Silver Bell only rolled his eyes at this brothers’ theatrics, before catching a surprise load of fabric. "To this day!" Elusive continued "If there is anything that can teach a pony to shiver, it’s the Grundle!" Skeeterroll tapped his chin and looked thoughtful before excusing himself. -” ===================================================================== “Let me guess, he decided then an’ there ta go out in the middle of the night an’ go see the Grundle about how ta learn how ta shiver.” Applebloom interrupted, while rolling her eyes. Heartbreak blinked before narrowing her eyes at the little filly. She chewed on her lip and contemplated what she could say. Exhaustion and the call of the nice comfortable bed in the other room persuaded her not to say or do anything that could be seen as passive-aggressive. “Remember your audience here, H.B. You can have fun with the story but let’s not do too many jabs. Besides, any real pressure you have with Rarity ought to be talked out with Rarity and not in bedtime stories with these three! Alright? Alright! Now! Back to the story!” “That he did!” Heartbreak replied, attempting to fake enthusiasm. Scootaloo looked over at Applebloom. “How did you guess that?” “Heh,” Applebloom smirked and tapped her chin. “It just seemed like somethin’ that ‘Skeeterroll’ would do. Right, H.B.?” “Maybe...” Heartbreak replied, coughing. “But... If you’ve figured a few things about this story, A.B.? I can call you A.B., right?” The filly shrugged and nodded. “If ya want ta.” “Yay...” Heartbreak replied. “Mind keeping them to yourself? Nop-p-pony likes spoilers.” Applebloom’s ears drooped a little and she let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry, H.B.” “And so, just like A.B. here alluded to? Skeeterroll snuck out of his home in the middle of the night to far beyond the town limits to see if he could find the entrance to the Grundle’s dungeon among the Overgrown Hedge. An hour of dodging thorns and prickles went by. For some reason or another there were few, if any truly dangerous creatures here. But when Skeeterroll found odd cobblestone rocks that paved the ground, he knew he found paydirt... so to speak. ‘Alright, here are the ruins!’ He said out loud, trying to survey the landscape. ‘Now where’s that entrance?’ Suddenly... The stones that he had landed upon gave way, and it turned out that he was standing on the entrance to Grundle's dungeon lair!' Ordinarily, he could totally get out of a situation like this! However, in the confusion and chaos with rocks falling all around him, he managed to get himself knocked out!” Heartbreak smiled a strange smile as the three little fillies were cringing and almost huddling together. “Ha! That got their attention. Damn it, H.B. Calm this story down! You don’t want to give them nightmares!” “He didn’t...” Scootaloo swallowed. “What? No! This is Skeeterroll! He didn’t know how long he was out, but when he woke up he found himself in darkness. So he rummaged through his saddlebags and found his matches and a trusty lamp. After lighting his lamp, he found himself in a rather dull, if not sinister looking room. The ancient looking room was made of large rectangular grey stones, much like the ones you see in any castle ruin. The roof looked like it was being held up by old heavy wooden beams, that - despite their age - were in pretty decent shape. And it was like any other dungeon-like place: the floor was damp and muddy, water fell from the ceiling and formed a small pool near what looked like a crumbling hearth place and there was an unsettling rotted, musky smell coming from everywhere. Just as he was getting his bearings, he heard a noise coming from the chimney to the hearth place. It was a terrible hollering noise, as if somepony was coming down the chimney! Skeeterroll watched as something hit the bottom of the hearth. He quickly hid, but then he heard a dull ‘tunk! tunk!’ noise. And when he peered over, what he saw confused him. It looked like…” ===================================================================== “A bowling pin?” he asked in a hushed tone. Part of him wanted to laugh. He was hiding from a bowling pin? But the smarter part of told him that maybe this was no ordinary bowling pin. And that part of him was right! For as, the pin turned, Skeeterroll gasped to see that there was a face on this pink coloured pin! Now, that in and of itself was frightening, but Skeeterroll didn’t find himself shivering. Not even a shudder racked his frame even when the pin was followed by a green, a black, and finally an orange one! Imagine, if you will, all these odd looking bowling pins hopping around, wobbling about and trying to find their bearings? It wasn’t terrifying: if anything it was kind of funny... But just as Skeeterroll was about to give a chuckle at all this: a voice came from the chimney! “All of you get back here and get back here now!" the high, old, crotchety voice cried out. "The Grundle isn’t through with you yet!’ “The Grundle!" Skeeterroll whispered. Now was the chance he was waiting for! Now he would learn to shiver! He waited and watched the hearth from where the Grundle’s voice had came. And then something strange happened. Out from the hearth fell... a whole arm with little fingers on it. But there wasn't a body attached to it. Then fell another arm. This was followed by a leg with little toes on it and then, you guessed it! Another leg! This was followed by the funniest looking head falling into the pile of loose body parts. It was round with a pointy nose and even pointier ears! It had large green eyes and like the rest of the body that had fallen, grey skin! The head bobbed up and down, practically shrieking! "Get back here! Grundle wants to play some more! The Grundle isn’t through with all of you yet, my pretties!" And just when things couldn’t get any sillier? The Grundle’s torso fell down and clattered into the pile of parts! “Grundle will get you!" The creature started to moan and groan. "Ooof! As soon as Grundle puts himself back together! You pins will see! Grundle will get you!” Skeeterroll was now really trying hard not to laugh, but the Grundle wasn’t making that easy! Especially seeing that, when he walked out, he wasn’t quite all together right. His arms and head looked to be pointed in the right way, but his legs were on backwards. Not to mention that his straggly looking fur tipped tail was pointing the wrong way. “Grundle will get you!" He screeched, lording over the cowering sad faced bowling pins. "Grundle will-” Skeeterroll couldn’t take it anymore! Blowing his cover, he burst into fits of laughter! "S-s-stop! I can’t take any more!” The Grundle plucked his head up and turned it all the way around. "A new pony!? Down here?! No new ponies have come to Grundle’s lair ever since ponies sealed off the entrance!" Setting his head down on his shoulders, the Grundle started dancing and clapping. "Oh! Is happy day for Grundle! Now Grundle will have another bowling pin! And maybe more if there is a place Grundle can get out from!’ Now, Skeeterroll would have been worried that he had just unleashed some terrible evil that would terrorize the colts and fillies of Equestria, had it not been for the fact that now the Grundle seemed like such a lame villain! “Wait, you turn ponies into...." He looked at the shivering pins. "Bowling pins?’ “Of course that is what Grundle does!" He said, jumping up and down in frustration. "What do ponies think Grundle does?!” Skeeterroll continued to snicker. "I thought you foalnapped colts and fillies, and ate them.” “Yuck! Ponies taste terrible! Much more fun to play with them!" The Grundle replied, making a face. "Just like pony will do right now!” “What?” “Pony will play with Grundle!” Skeeterroll rolled his eyes and noticed the door behind him. "Yeah, not going to happen.’ The Grundle jumped in front of Skeeterroll and made a motion with his fingers. Suddenly, the stone door closed with a thunderous boom! "Doesn’t pony know anything about Grundle!? Pony must bowl with Grundle if pony wants to leave!” “Bowl with you? That seems easy enough." He chuckled and smirked, getting out of this was but a bowling game away. But when Skeeterroll looked over at the bowling pins, a pang of guilt passed through him. After all, if he left, what would happen to these pony-pins that had been down here for only who knows how long? “But!" The Grundle said, pulling out a bowling ball. "If pony loses against Grundle? Pony becomes one of Grundle’s new pins!’ “Piece of cake!" Skeeterroll crowed. “Hehe, pony knows nothing about Grundle! Grundle never loses!" The Grundle rolled the bowling ball in his claws.. “Oh Grundle will teach you to shiver... Grundle will teach Ske-eter-roll to shiver!” Skeeterroll blinked. “Wait, how do you know my name?” The Grundle laughed. “Grundle knows all little ponies names! Does it not frighten little pony? Does it not cause him to shiver and shake?!” “'Ha!" Skeeterroll laughed. "I am the colt who doesn’t shiver! And the best bowler that there is. I could even bowl standing on my head!'” ===================================================================== Heartbreak looked at the three fillies as they were entranced by her story. She had to admit that there was something nice about this. Maybe it was the soft glow of the bedside light, or the way their cute little faces poked out from the covers. Or, maybe, it was the fact that she was terribly exhausted, and getting these three to sleep meant that she could finally go to sleep in her own nice warm bed. “Yeah. I’m going with the last one,” she thought to herself as she continued the story. ===================================================================== The Grundle, not wanting to be outdone by the little colt, shook his fist at him and clenched his teeth. “Oh yeah?!” “Yeah!” Skeeterroll said, sitting up and crossing his hooves. “Not only that, but I could do it standing on my head, blindfolded, with my back turned, too!” The Grundle was infuriated by the little colt’s boasting! “Grundle can do even better than that!” the Grundle shouted. “He will make a strike, eyes closed, back turned and with his own head!” “With your head?” Skeeterroll asked, confused. “And how the hay will you do that?” “Don’t pony know anything!?” the Grundle exclaimed, pulling on the last scraggly bits of his hair. “I’m not the one that says that he can make a strike with his head,” Skeeterroll replied, rolling his eyes. “Oh! Grundle will show pony! He will show the pony that he is nothing but a simple minded little frugnickle-nack!” And with that, the Grundle pulled off his own head to use it as a bowling ball. Skeeterroll twitched slightly, but he didn’t shiver! “Doesn’t that hurt?” “Stupid ponies, asking if it hurts!” the Grundle exclaimed, shaking his fist. “Of course it doesn’t hurt! All Grundle’s body parts are detachable! It doesn’t hurt in the slightest! Now! If pony doesn’t mind, Grundle has a strike to make, before adding him to his collection of pony-pins!” The Grundle began to take careful aim before Skeeterroll coughed. “Does pony mind!?” the Grundle gruffly said, glaring at him. “Well, it’s just that you aren’t backwards,” Skeeterroll said. “And you said that you could make this shot backwards and with your eyes closed.” “Oh. Right,” the Grundle said, turning around and closing his eyes. “Thanks!” “Don’t. Mention. It.” Skeeterroll replied, stealthily sneaking up between the Grundle and the pony-pins. “Alright! Don’t worry, pretty little pins! You’ll have a new friend joining you soon enough! A new friend that is a-” And just as the Grundle lifted his head to send it spinning into the pony-pins? Skeeterroll quickly stuck out his leg and tripped the garish creature causing him to fall and send his various body parts bouncing all over the place! The Grundle’s head flew up into the rafters, his left arm was jammed into a crack in the wall, his right punched a weak part in another wall and became pinned under some rocks as it gave way. His legs hopped around and his torso flopped around like a fish! “Stupid pony! Now look what you have done to Grundle! His parts are too far apart from his head! They don’t know what to do!” He screeched. The head tried to rock itself back and forth to dislodge itself from the ceiling. But after a few tries it found itself failing! “Ugh! Stupid pony! Fly up and get Grundle’s head down!” “Why should I? You were going to turn me into a bowling pin!” Skeeterroll crossed his hooves. “Turn these pins back into ponies!” “No! Pony will not get Grundle’s head down!” “Do it, or I’ll... I’ll-” Skeeterroll stammered. “Or pony will what? Pony is winged pony! No horn, no magic! What will pony do?” The Grundle asked while cackling. Now, Skeeterroll wasn’t the brightest colt in his class, but he was far from dimwitted. He could be rather clever when the mood struck him. And with the Grundle’s torso flopping around and all that laughing that he was doing, an idea sprung into his head. “Oh, you’ll turn them back alright!” Skeeterroll exclaimed, jumping onto the torso and plucking a few loose feathers from his wings. “Or else!” “Or else what? Pony is no-” And suddenly the Grundle’s head started to cackle and burst into loud laughter! “Ahahahahahahaha! W-w-what is p-pony do-AHAHAHA! Doing?!” He looked down to see that Skeeterroll was using his own feathers to tickle and torment him! “S-s-stop it! Stop pony!” “Not until you turn those ponies back!” Skeeterroll shouted through a mouthful of feathers. “N-no-no! Grundle will not-Aahahahaha!!!” The Grundle gasped and his legs tried to hop over to the persistently pestering pony, only to find that the pony-pins that once cowered in fear of their tormentor were openly attacking his legs and keeping them away from Skeeterroll! “D-d-d-on’t! S-s-stop!” “Don’t stop?” Skeeterroll asked, smirking at the pony pins who had come to his aid. “Let’s give him what he wants guys!” The attack on the Grundle was soon too much for the little gremlin to take! “S-s-stop! Grundle’s magic can’t turn them back!” Skeeterroll could have been depressed and given up at this point, but with the way the pony-pins came to his aid? He wasn’t going to let them down! “Then what can turn them back?” He asked threatening the torso with further tickling. The Grundle looked fearfully at the pony and his pin fffriends. He was about to turn his face in defiance but when Skeeterroll dragged the implements of his torture across the chest of the torso? “The puddle!” The Grundle confessed! “Drop the pony-pins into the puddle! Just no more! P-p-p-pleeeeeeeeeeeeaszzzzze!” Skeeterroll blinked and apologized to one of the pins before picking it up and dropping it into the nearby puddle. The pin went in, bobbed and out splashed a little pink pegasus filly! “Free! I’m free! Free at last!” She shouted, flapping her wings and zipping around Skeeterroll before planting a big kiss on his cheek! “Oh thank you! Thank you!” “Yeck!” Skeeterroll exclaimed. “My fffriends!” She quickly flew over to the other pins, (along with the bowling ball) and dropped them into the puddle. And just like that? The Grundle found himself quickly outnumbered by dancing, singing colts and fillies. “Humph! Ponies win! Good for ponies!” The Grundle’s head grumbled sourly. “Now will ponies get Grundle down!?” The group of former pony-pins looked up at the Grundle. “Get you down? After you kept us as bowling pins for Celestia knows how long? And threw Lucky at us again and again?!’’ “What does pony want!?” And just as the little pink filly was about to yell angrily, Skeeterroll put his hoof up. “You have my word that ponies will get you down, Grundle, but you need to open the door out of this place and let all of us go,” Skeeterroll said, smiling widely and crossing his arms. Suffice to say, the Grundle was now furious! “No Deal! Ponies will stay! Ponies have nothing to bargain with!” Skeeterroll grinned even wider as his five new fffriends popped up behind him, each brandishing a feather and grinning just as wide, if not wider than the little colt. “Oh, I think we have something to bargain with...” “No! Grundle will open door and he... will... let... ponies go...” The head choked out. And with a wiggle of the Grundle’s nose and a waggle of his ears, the stone door opened up leading to the clean, fresh, beautiful moonlit outside. Almost instantly, the five former-pony pins raced to the door and bounded outside to feel the grass under their hooves. A feeling that they had not felt in what must have surely been a lifetime. Skeeterroll kept his eye on the Grundle’s head as he too walk out of the door. “Wait!” The Grundle cried out. “Pony said that they would get Grundle’s head down! Skeet-er-roll gave his word!” Skeeterroll waggled his hoof once on the other side. “I said ponies would get your head down and ponies will get your head down. I’m sure that I can find a pretty powerful unicorn to help Grundle out with his problem. Just try not to …” He snickered. “lose your head while I’m getting that help.” And at the terrible, almost forced pun, Skeeterroll left the Grundle screaming. ===================================================================== Applebloom groans, but chuckles at what I did. “He didn’t really say that, did he?” “It’s a bedtime story, A.B. There needs to be at least one horrible pun in all of it,” I reply rubbing my throat. Ugh, doing the grundle’s voice has made my voice sore. I’m going to be horse tomorrow... Shut up brain. I know I’m going to be ‘horse’ the day after that and the day after that. Just finish with this stupid story. “I hate to interrupt,” Sweetie Belle raises her hoof. “Because I do like this story, but what does this have to do with Skeeterroll learning how to shiver and getting those tickets?” “Yeah!” Scootaloo blinks. “For a second, I forgot that’s where this all started... I mean, it doesn’t seem like he learned to shiver at all and the Grundle was a pretty lame bad guy. Did Skeeterroll learn to shiver at all?” “I was just getting to that,” I reply raising my hoof. “No, no he didn’t. Like you three pointed out, it seemed like he was even more the ‘colt who doesn’t shiver!’ than ever. And after stopping by his friend Dusk Shine’s house to tell him about the Grundle and the five colts and fillies he had just saved, he was really depressed about not learning to shiver after all that danger-” ===================================================================== Turning his head, Skeeterroll’s eyes were pained by the first rays of the sun as it rose over the mountains. Had he spent the entire night in those ruins? “Ugh!” Skeeterroll shouted, kicking a nearby rock. “Great, after all that, I still didn’t learn anything about shivering! Now how I am I going to get tickets to the daring, death defying, acrobatic stunts competition?!” Just then, a whooshing sound came from overhead and who should appear? But his idol and best friend! “Blitz!” “There you are squirt! Dusk said that you had quite the adventure!” The dusty blue stallion said landing in front of Skeeterroll. “Went to some ruins that you were told not to?” Skeeterroll’s excitement was replaced with a bit of shame as his hero gave him a bit of a dissapointed look. “Yeeeeah,” he finally admitted, rubbing his ankle. “But it was only so that I could learn to shiver, because Mr. Graveneigh said that he couldn’t have some colt that didn’t know what fear and shivering were at such a dangerous event! He’s such a doofus!” Blitz rubbed his forehead and then sighed. “Well squirt, I’m afraid I have to agree with the doofus... If you don’t know what danger is, it might be best that you don’t get to attend...” “What?!” For the first time, fear truly gripped Skeeterrroll. Here was his mentor, telling him that he didn’t want him to watch as he perform his awesome high flying stunts! “All because I went to face the Grundle?! The Grundle was a pushover!” “Maybe, but it was dangerous to go do it alone,” Blitz replied giving Skeeterroll a stern look. “And you went and done it alone. You could have gotten seriously hurt, falling rocks and nop-pony to help you out? What where you thinking?!” Skeeterroll started to stammer and stutter for an apology, or something that would make this better. He was so afraid that he had let his hero down that it sent a shudder through his core... Just then... “Splooosh!” Skeeterroll found himself drenched to the bone before an icy blast assaulted him! He jumped in fright over how cold it was all of a sudden! “Gah! What the hay!? W-w-what’s going on?! It’s so c-c-c-cold! I have to g-g-get s-s-somew-w-where warm before I c-c-catch pneumonia, oh I am s-s-shivering so!” Skeeterroll cried out, rubbing his hooves up and down his chest and flapping his wings as fast as he could to get the icy cold water out of them. “See? What did I tell you?” Blitz's ruff, tough and generally awesome sounding voice crowed! Turning around, Skeeterroll saw Mr. Graveneigh step out of a bush that was next to Blitz. “He can shiver!” Mr. Graveneigh looked rather... shall we say, at odds with himself and a bit embarrassed about something. “So he can.” “Which means that he can attend the show!” Blitz demanded holding out his hoof. “So, I think it’s time to fork over those tickets!” Reluctantly, Mr Graveneigh placed three tickets on Blitz’s hoof. “Fine. But let us never speak of this again.” he said turning and walking away gruffly. “What’s g-g-going on?” Skeeterroll asked still shivering. Just then, his fffriends popped out from behind Blitz and trotted over to him. “Well, while you were spending the night hanging out in scary and strange places,” Silver Bell said, throwing a dry fluffy towel around the chilled and confused pegasus to help him dry off. “We were off doin’ the sensible thing, an talkin’ ta Blitz and Mr Graveneigh!” Bud explained, ruffling the towel over Skeeterroll’s mane. “Hey! I can dry myself off!” Skeeter cried out waggling his hooves and pushing his friend away. “We made a bet with Mr. Graveneigh here, that if we could get you to shiver? He’d buy us all tickets to the show,” Silver Bell explained. “Of course we could have also explained to his boss that he was being a jerk to little colts...” Blitz playfully punched Skeeterroll in the shoulder. “Didn’t mean to put you through the ringer there, squirt. But we had to make it seem as believable as possible. No hard feelings right?” “I get to see you perform death defying stunts?!” Skeeterroll shouted. “Of course not!” “An we get ta do it-” Bud and Silver glomped their friend in a brotherly embrace. “-tagether!” “Aaaah! Stop hugging me!” Skeeterroll protested, embarrassed at the display of emotion. “We all know you’re brave there, Skeets,” Blitz interjected. “Your fffriends are just letting you know that they’ll be there for you when you need them.” The dusty blue stallion ruffled his brother’s mane. “Now, how about I treat you three to McHays? They should be still serving breakfast!” The three little colts all cheered at that idea. ===================================================================== I look at the entranced little fillies. Their eyes are growing heavy with the sleep that is soon to overcome them and they yawn widely. Good. I take a deep breath and utter the words that every story should finish with. “The end.” “That was a pretty good story there, H.B.,” Scootaloo said. “Even if it was kiiinda long,” Applebloom commented tapping her chin. I look over at the clock. Shit! Forty Minutes?! “Yeaaaah, next time, if there is a next time? I’ll try to make it a bit shorter. Now,” I yawn widely hoping that my act will be contagious among these three. “H.B. is really exhausted. She would like to get some sleep before the chaos that’s going to happen tomorrow. So, goodnight girls, and sleep tight.” I slip the chain to the lamp through my hole in my hoof and click it off. A thought occurs to me. “Oh. Girls?” “Yes, H.B.?” Applebloom asks, looking a bit... nervous? I’m not sure. I am wiped. “Please stay out of the basement, I mean, I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you, but I-” They start to give me confused glances. “Right, never mind,” Ooop, big yawn. “Sleep tight.” As I pull the door behind me, I get a nice warm feeling. It’s... stupid... I really shouldn’t be feeling that sort of thing. Should I? Does it mean that I am accepting this place? Does it mean that I am losing myself to Equestria? Damn it, shut up. I don’t want to be thinking about these things right now. I have other things to be concerned about. Like what Rarity is doing. I turn the lights on next to the stairs. No reason to be stumbling around in the dark and falling down, when I walk backwards down the stupid things. Once at the first floor, I make my way to the guest bedroom. “Rarity?” I ask out loud right outside the door. No answer. I push it open and see that she has already made herself at home in the rather cozy looking bed. She must have found some extra fabrics laying around, because her ears and eyes are adorned with some simple looking muffs and whatever the mask that she wears to cover her eyes is called. I’ll ask her in the morning. Looking around, I am pleased to see that the room is neat and orderly. “One less thing I have to worry about. I’ll look through what the contents of this room are and if they are any use to me some time tomorrow.” I pull my head out of the room slowly before creeping back upstairs and turning off the lights. I don’t even think about looking at the bed right now. All I know is that I want to be in it. I don’t care what the blanket looks like, I don’t care how well the room is lit. All I care about is that sweet sensation that I am experiencing the moment my head hits the pillow and my body slips under the sheets. Which is right about now. ===================================================================== `Twasss brillig, and the ssslithy tovesss Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsssy were the borogovesss, And the mome rathsss outgrabe. I wake to the sound of dripping water and the smell of a musky dungeon with the words of Lewis Carrol’s Jabberwocky in my ears? What the hell? Opening my eyes, the fuzzy images around me start to take form. I appear to be in a jail cell of sorts, the cold stone ground is pressed against my face and across from me appears to be another cell. “Beware the Jabberwock, my ssson! The jawsss that bite, the clawsss that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and ssshun The frumiousss Bandersssnatch!" The voice sounds vaguely like a young english boy... An english boy with a strange lisp. Pushing myself up off the ground and looking over to cage across from me? That’s exactly what I see: A young english boy in dirty street clothes that looks more like he belongs on the streets of colonial America rather than this scene. “What’s... What’s going on? Where am I?” I feel my neck weighed down with something. Pushing my hoof against that something, I hear it clattering and clanging. It’s a chain. A heavy iron chain that leads out of my cell and into the one across from me. “Oy!” An angry expression forms on the very human looking boy and I feel a sharp tug on the chain “It’sss quite rude to interrupt sssomeone when they’re reccciting poetry!”