//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Awaken // Story: Monster Hunter: Equestria // by Bugsydor //------------------------------// \|/-???-\|/ I found myself lying in the middle of a sea of clouds. All of my wounds—the bites, the horn-gouge, the lacerations from crashing through a glass window, and even all the little bumps and bruises—they were just gone. “Did I die?” I wondered aloud. “Not quite, but not for lack of trying,” a voice I didn't quite recognize said. I turned to face it, only to see a dark gray unicorn with a jet black mane walking on the cloudscape towards me. Not really what I was expecting. “Seriously,” he continued, “flying all the way back home after losing that much blood? Were you trying to get yourself killed?” “Um… no?” I replied, owlishly blinking one eye at a time. “Well if I'm not dead, then who are ya, and where are we? “Ah, but where are my manners. This place,” he said with an expansive gesture at the cloudscape around us, “is within your mind. Who I am exactly is not so important, but if you need something to call me, 'Shadow' works fine.” “In my own mind, huh?” I imagined a flock of muffins flying across the sky. We saw a flock of muffins fly across the sky. “Well. It's nice to meet you, Shadow. My name—” “Is Derpy Hooves. You're the local mailmare for the town of Ponyville. You have a lovely and absurdly competent daughter named Dinky, whose well-being and happiness you prize far above your own. You also have an obsession with muffins and similar baked goods that borders on the unhealthy. Is there anything else you wanted me tell you about yourself?” I let my mouth hang open for a moment before it clacked shut, and I shook my head. “Good. As you see, Ms. Hooves, I know a great deal about you.” Some of the surrounding clouds took on a grayer cast as I let my unsettlement settle in. “How?” I asked. “I live here now, it seems. Lovely neighborhood so far, even if it is a bit full of clouds for my liking.” Not really sure how to respond to that, I decided to drop that line of questioning for the moment. I continued to lie there in awkward silence for a moment, one eye staring at Shadow and the other wandering about the clouds. “So, ya said something about me almost frying. Can we talk about that?” I guess I was kinda desperate to break the silence. Silences never really sat well with me, especially awkward ones. “I don't see why not,” he replied. "It will pass the time until you regain consciousness, at least. What would you like to know?" “Well… How close did I come ta taking a trip to the crematorium? I feel fine now, and I wasn't really together when I was awake, so it's kinda bugging me not knowing how hurt I am.” “By the time you lost consciousness, you had lost over half a gallon of blood. It took nearly everything I had, short of enacting some permanent transformation that I could not do without your full and knowing consent, just to keep you alive long enough to get to the hospital. I will not be able to do that again for a while, so try not to die in the near future,” he said with a flick of his tail. “That sounds like an awful lot of trouble to go to, and you don't seem all that superly fond of me,” I said, eyes downcast. “Why'd you go out of your way to save my life?” “Why save you? Perhaps you missed the part where I live inside your head. If you die, I die with you. “And beyond that, I thought your dying would be a waste of potential. You're an unusual pony, Ms. Hooves. You're strong enough of will to have power over your own fear, in the right circumstances at least. It also helps that you seem to be Lady Luck's favorite plaything. The sheer amount and variety of chaos that strikes those around you is simply fascinating.” Turned out it was possible to blush even inside one's own mind. I didn't much like talking about how accidents tended to happen near me, as I always found it really embarrassing. The accidents got worse when I was scared or upset, too, so talking about them was really unhelpful. Taking my halfhearted attempt to sink into the cloud-cover as permission to continue talking, he did just that. “Between your bizarre luck and your facility with fear, I may just make a decent predator of you yet.” Most of my gaze snapped back up to him. “Um, what!?” He kept talking like he hadn't heard. Hay, he wasn't even looking at me anymore. “Now I know that the word 'vampire' leaves a foul taste in your mouth, but that would hardly be our only option.  Now no offense, but you don't really strike me as lich material. Not enough experience with active magic, you see. Hippolycie might be more your speed. With enough willpower, you might even retain some of your intelligence when you change under the full moon. I've already had a taste of your fury, so I think it may be a good fit for you. After all, what is more ferocious than a mother wolf defending her cub?” I couldn't really see it myself, but I think it's safe to say the color was steadily draining from my face as he spoke. “No,” I replied, my voice weak. “I don't dink that will be necessary.” “Why not?” he responded coolly. “It would help you protect yourself and your daughter, after all. Isn't that what you want?” “No,” I said, a little stronger this time as I stand up to face Shadow properly. “I'm not going to trade away my equinity or that of my daughter for some extra security. Besides, didn't I just kill a vampire? Some safety that is, getting pancaked by the local mailmare.” The two of us shared a derisive snort. “Ugh. Railroad Spike was a tool, and you and I both know it. It is a pity you're so dead set against this offer. You seem to make a rather poor prey animal. I thought you would appreciate a chance to move up in the world.” I walked up to Shadow, placed my face close to his, and said, “I don't think it's much of an upwardly move if Dinky or I have to murder ponies just to survive. I also like my brain right where it is, thank you very much!” We stood for a moment, staring into each other's eyes in silence. I was breathing heavily in what I thought was a threatening manner, while he seemed to neglect to breathe at all, like he'd forgotten that that was a thing ponies were supposed to do. Then one of my eyes slipped away and he spoke again. “You would make a lovely wolf, you know, with your gray coat and golden eyes. Oh well, I'll keep the metaphorical door open. After all I am a patient stallion, and you continue to amuse me,” he said with a smirk. “Just remember, Ms. Hooves: If it weren't for me, you would not have survived your first encounter with a creature of the night. Whether you like it or not, you owe me your life. “And I'm not about to go away...” And that's when I woke up. \|/-Ponyville General Hospital-\|/ My eyes were so full of sand as I slowly cracked them open, I could have filled an hourglass. My mouth was dry, but my lips were not. As I used my pastern to rub the sand dunes out of my eyes, I noticed a few other things. First, there were a couple of tubes in my foreleg. IVs. Second, I was lying in one of those hospital cots, wearing one of those hospital gowns. I was pretty sure I was in one of those hospitals, probably Ponyville General. It's a nice-enough place, and the nurses seem to like me there. Third, I could have really used a drink of water right about then. “Water?” I rasped. “Ah, you're awake,” Bon Bon said as she stood up from the cushion she'd been lying on to pour some water from a pitcher. She grabbed the tray with the cup on it and set it up so I could use it to eat off of. “I figured you'd be thirsty when you woke up. Also, I know how hospital food is, so I brought you some of the good stuff from home. I really hope you like it,” she said anxiously, one hoof on her saddlebag. Next to the glass of water on the tray was a plateful of garlic bread, and it smelled downright celestial. Once I'd sipped enough of my water to wet my mouth, I tore into the extra garlicky garlic bread like some kind of Bitalian piranha. “Thanks, Bon Bon,” I said after I finished. “That was delicious! I sure was hungry after… well, after everything.” I looked back up to her, and she looked a lot more relaxed. She'd set her hoof back down on the floor, too. “You're welcome, Derpy. I'm just glad you liked it. It's good to see you're still you.” A bit of an… oddish thing to say, but it wasn't exactly setting off any alarms. Bon Bon pulled her cushion up to the side of my cot and sat on it. “How's Dinky? I hope I didn't scare her too badly by showing up in the middle of the night and collapsing in a muddle o' blood,” I said, fidgeting my forehooves. “Dinky is doing well, all things considered. She's staying with Carrot Top until you get back home. She was scared at first, but she got better when she heard you had stabilized. She's surprisingly mature for a filly her age.” “She is that,” I said with a wistful sigh. “Sometimes I worry that she's had ta grow up too fast. She doesn't even have her cutie mark yet.” A minute of near silence passed between us as I listened to the oscilloscope beep. “So,” she queried, “how was fighting a vampire with your bare hooves?” If I had been drinking from my glass at the time, I would have spewed it across the room. “How'd ya know it was a vampire?” “Well, there was the fanged skeleton covered in black ooze at the foot of the Canterhorn, for starters. The wounds on your neck were pretty distinctive, as well. And then there's the fact that you just confirmed it yourself. Besides, it's my job to know about these sorts of things.” 'And here I thought ponies would assume I'd had an argument with a box of nails. But what do monster attacks have to do with running a candy shop?' I wondered. “You still haven't answered my question. How did it feel to fight a vampire?” “Scarifying. I was just so afraid the whole time, it was hard to think.” I paused for a bit to gather my thoughts before continuing. “That thing used to be my husband—” “I am so sorry to hear that! If I'd known—” “Don't worry about it. We'd already been divorced for several years. Getting an excuse to throw that son of a mule – “No offense,” I said aside to the disgruntled mule passing by my door on crutches. “– off the side of a mountain was the high point of that whole ordeal. Let's just say society didn't lose much in the bargain when he kicked the bucket.” “Fair enough.” “Overall it was scary, but satisfying. It wasn't much fun fighting something that was stronger, faster, and more naturally alert than me, but it feels good knowing that because of me, that monster won't hurt anypony ever again.” Bon Bon nodded in approval. “Most ponies do one of two things when they encounter a monster: They act like prey animals and freeze or flee…” Bon Bon said before pausing for dramatic effect. “Or they become national heroes. You didn't do either of those things. Can you tell me why?” My eyes wandered a little farther from center as I looked for a good answer. I think I found one. “If I froze up and got killed, who would take care of Dinky? If I flew away, then other ponies would have died. As for being a national hero…” I rolled my eyes in opposite directions. “I just don't think I have the face for it.” “The Princesses could use ponies who think like that,” she said with a subtle smirk. “Ponies in general are peaceful creatures and creatures of habit. They prefer to ignore things like monster attacks that would keep them from peace and their usual habits. “How would you like to be a part of making that possible?”