//------------------------------// // Revelation // Story: The Dead Stallion's Hand // by Lord Zalgo //------------------------------// Silence fell after Phoenix spoke, confirming his presence and snapping the girls out of their trance. The girls slowly started to smile, tear up and laugh weakly out of the joy building within them. Except for one. Rainbow Dash suddenly zoomed towards Phoenix, hooves ahead, ready to collide with the stallion's skull. Phoenix quickly leaped backwards to safety as Rainbow recovered and hovered in the air, glaring at the stallion. "Eleven months after we see you die right in front of us and you think you can just say THAT?!" Rainbow yelled in rage as the rest of the girls watched in complete shock. "I suppose that's a 'yes', then?" Phoenix said with a smirk. Rainbow seemed to get angrier as she charged at him again. This time, moments before collision, Phoenix braced his body and performed a front flip over Rainbow, dodging the strike completely. As she recovered, she looked at him in surprise as he simply turned his head and smirked once more. Rainbow looked about ready to explode as she charged once more on hoof and threw one of her forehooves as the strongest punch she could muster. Only for it to be caught in Phoenix's own hoof. Phoenix gave no other reaction after catching her hoof. Rainbow was left dumbstruck before pushing against Phoenix's hoof as much as she could, but she gained absolutely no ground. "Why are you angry, Rainbow? And don't try to trick me." Phoenix asked/demanded. Rainbow's confidence seemed to shatter as she looked to her hooves. "Why didn't you come back sooner?" Rainbow asked weakly. Phoenix gently left go of her hoof, letting it fall in line with her others. "If I could have come back sooner, I would have done so in a heartbeat." Phoenix replied sincerely. The girls finally approached and listened in to the conversation. "Where were you? You died." Twilight asked, signifying everypony's presence. "Well... If I said Heaven, would you believe me?" Phoenix asked slightly sarcastically. "...So... You escaped the afterlife?" Rarity asked in surprise with a hint of scepticism. "I KNEW it! You ARE Haytos!!" Pinkie exclaimed suddenly. Nopony replied for a moment. "...What?" Everypony said in the same instant. Pinkie also looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened in some kind of realisation. "Oh! Wrong story. Sorry!" Pinkie said brightly before smiling widely and letting out a small squee. "...Anyway... It's more like I was let out. I was a bit of a nuisance while I was there and Faust jumped at the chance to let me go back as soon as Celestia and Luna arrived. It took them a few months to bring me back and this was my first opportunity to come here and reveal that I'm ba- Pinkie, stop poking me." Phoenix explained, but cut himself off as Pinkie contined to poke Phoenix's foreleg with her hoof. "I can't help it! You've got muscles now! It's kinda cool!" Pinkie said giddily as she continued to poke. "Well, I trained every day for six months until I physically couldn't anymore. Some muscles were bound to- AJ, what are you doing?" Phoenix cut himself off once more as he felt Applejack lightly run her hoof along his foreleg, feeling his muscles, her face flushed and unfocused. Almost like she was in a trance. "AJ? ...AJ. ...AJ!" Phoenix called to get her attention, to no avail. "He's even sexier than before..." Applejack whispered to herself, causing Phoenix to blush profusely. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Phoenix mumbled as the girls, minus Applejack giggled and Applejack herself seemed to snap out of her trance and gave Phoenix her full attention again. "Anyway, Celestia, Luna, Faust and Zalgo managed to come up with a deal. There's a crime lord on the loose and he's got some pretty bad plans for Equestria. His only known alias is 'The Boss'. My job's to find him, drag him back to the princesses, stop his plans and let Zalgo drag him to Tartarus." Phoenix explained. "That seems a little extreme, doesn't it? I mean, I know he's probably evil and everything, but doesn't taking him to Tartarus sound like a bit much?" Flutershy asked quietly. "Maybe. But, his plans are apparently going to turn the country on its head. Not to mention... the deal states that a soul is forfeit for Zalgo to take within the next few months. If I don't find the Boss and bring him to Zalgo... he's going to take mine." Phoenix explained a little somberly. The girls all immediately flinched at his words. "What?! If you don't beat this guy, you're gonna die again?!" Rainbow shouted while everypony else looked incredibly worried and Applejack looked almost heartbroken. "No." Phoenix replied, replacing everypony's expressions with confusion. "'No'?" Twilight asked. "If we don't beat this guy." Phoenix replied with a friendly smile. Everypony precessed his words for a moment before smiling back and gathering in a group hug. "Besides, I can't die yet! I've missed so much as it is. So, girls. What's new?" Phoenix asked. A few seconds passed as the girls all traded looks before nodding and starting to walk to Sugarcube Corner. Mr and Mrs Cake were busy holding their children in the kitchen with two stallions waiting by the door with the intention of protecting them. As soon as they heard that there was a bomb threat in Ponyville and the explosion, the grabbed Pound and Pumpkin Cake and ran to the kitchen to act as a safe room. Hoops and Cognito who happened to be in the cafe at the time immedieatly ran in as well, but placed their backs against the sides of the door, ready to ambush any intruders. They both had a look of determination on their faces, however Hoops' was a lot more instantly recognisable the Cognito's. His expression was much smaller, but nevertheless it was there. Suddenly, the bell above the shop's front door jingled as the door opened and everypony in the cafe tensed until a bubbly voice filled the air. "Mr and Mrs Cake~! It's safe to come out now! Olly olly oxen free!" Pinkie called out in a sing-song voice. As Pinkie spoke, everypony in the kitchen relaxed and exited the kitchen only to tense once more. They were more than used to seeing the girls who were present in the shop as they all saw them quite regularly. The stallion, however... Phoenix simply stood nearly motionless in the middle of the room before shyly waving. His movement seemed to snap them out of their stupors. "Impossible..." Cognito whispered in awe as he shared a look of surprise with Hoops and the Cakes. "Well, I've been called worse." Phoenix replied casually. "H...how?" Hoops asked. Phoenix ran his hoof through his mane. "Long story." Phoenix replied.