Lost with Friends: A New World

by TheBronyMatrixFilms

Chapter 9: One Overdue Party and A Creepy Dare

Chapter 9:

One Overdue Party and A Creepy Dare

“Yo Twilight!”, I called down, “You down there?”

Silence

“Twilight?”

I started to make my way downstairs until I heard a scuttle and patter of many feet… or hooves… or legs… honestly I had no idea on what I just heard, but I know I just heard it behind me.

“Who’s there?”, I was too far away from my room to grab my rifle, so I resorted to unsheathing my bowie knife. I turned around and found… nothing. “What, the… I thought I heard something”, I mumbled to myself as I sheathed the knife and walked to the kitchen. When I reached the doorway to the kitchen I heard it again, but I heard it more clearly. It sounded like hooves. Fast scuttling hooves. Then I heard them slowly scuttle towards me from behind.

“Hey Leo!”, said a maniac sounding Twilight.

“Oh! It’s only you!”, I said while letting out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding, “Seriously Twilight, you almost scared me for a momen- DAFAUK!?” I said as I turned around to find low crawling Twilight head with four legs coming out from under her with her tail and crazy derped eyes that were shrunk to near prick points slowly crawling towards me.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!?!”

“Come play with me!~”, the Twilight… thing said in a sing-song tone. Then it jumped towards me, straight at my face.

---

“Holy Shi- OW!”, I yelled out as I woke up and tried to sit up when my head collided with something.

“Ow”, groaned the person or pony I accidentally banged my head against.

After making sure I didn’t give myself a concussion I looked up and saw Ishmael rubbing his forehead with his hands, “Ishmael, what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Came to wake you up for breakfast but then you sat up and decided to headbutt me”, he said with a groan.

“Oh, sorry about that man, I’ll head down in a couple of minutes, just let me get ready”

Ishmael then left the room and then I got up and limped over to my bag and grabbed some clothes and my toothbrush and paste, and walked to the bathroom. When I walked in, let me tell you, it was the biggest bathroom I’ve ever been in. I walked over to the giant tub/shower and looked at the shampoos, soaps and conditioners and read what they were for. Some said that they were for fur coats, others were for feathers, and one said it was for scales. Finally, I found one that said for hair and skin. I popped it open and gave it a sniff. It smelled like almond and shea butter (I know how it smells like, I have a bottle of shampoo back home that has that), and nodded in satisfaction and turned on the shower head. Now comes the tricky part… the balancing act of the water temperature. I twisted and turned the knobs until the water was to my liking. I quickly stripped and jumped in.

A couple minutes later, I got dressed and walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed. I threw my dirty clothes in the corner where my bag was and grabbed my cap and dog tags and walked out the door.

Again on either side of the door were the same two guards, “Do you guys ever sleep or get tired?”

“We do sir, but we are the day shift guards, two night guards take our spots at, well, night”, responded the one on the left which was the pegasus.

“Ah ok, that makes sense. Well anyway can you take me to the dining room please?”

“Sure thing sir”, and he lead the way to the dining room, with me right next to him.

“Enough with the sir stuff, I’m not that old”

“Then what would you like me to call you?”

“Just call me Leo. Or Leonardo, take your pick, but I prefer the former”

“Well Leo, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Staff Sergeant Blue Swift”

“Blue Swift, I know it’s just a name but, I’ve been here enough to know that names have a litteral play on the pony, like Princess Luna: She moves the fucking moon; Fluttershy: She’s shy; Rainbow Dash: Have you seen her mane color and she’s fast. So what’s the gist with your name, cuz’ you’re grey. Hell it looks like someone put a pony in a cloning machine and just changed the tone and type for a bit of diversity, cuz’ all of you guards look the same”

“Well to answer both of your questions at the same time, is that our armor is enchanted to make us all look the same. Think of it as a uniform”

“Ah, that makes sense”, I said as we turned a corner and found ourselves in the dining room with everyone including Blueblood aka Bluewaffle (If you don’t what that is I highly suggest that you keep it that way) waiting and talking.

“Morning you sexy people!”, I greeted everyone, “Excluding one”, with a short glance at Bluewaffle.

“Good morning to you too Leo, and thank you for the compliment”, said Celestia with a small giggle.

“Art thou trying to flatter us?”, asked Luna with a bit of suspicion.

“You’re welcome Celestia, and Luna, anyone who is nice to me deserves a compliment”, I said with a smile.

“What of us? I demand for a compliment!”, demanded Bluewaffle.

I just gave him a deadpanned ‘are-you-fucking-serious?’ look before flipping him the bird, “You can go choke on your grandpa’s dick, Bluewaffle”

Rosa had a spit take when I said that and started to laugh and hold on her sides as she fell to the floor, “HAHAHAHA! B-BLUEWAFFLE?! HAHAHAHA! Oh god… haha… that’s…hehe… that’s perfect!”, she gasped.

“Who-Apht-Wha?-”, he stuttered, “HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY! WHO DO YOU EVEN THINK YOU ARE?!”

“Can I have a simple bowl of cereal? Thanks”, I said to the server who not a minute later came back with our breakfast while Bluewaffle was sputtering in anger.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE INSULTING ROYALTY AND IGNORE THEM WHILE SPEAKING TO YOU?!”, he yelled across the table.

I looked up and looked at him, while still eating, “I’m not insulting royalty, in fact”, I then turn to the princesses who was looking between the both of us, “Celestia, Luna. This has been a nice time but we need to go soon. No doubt Twilight and her friends are starting to get worried for us”, my friends looked up from their meals and started to finish them.

“It’s my pleasure Leo, I will arrange for a chariot to send you four back when you four are ready”

“And what should we do with the armor?”, asked Felipe.

“You can keep them if you wish, think of them as welcome gifts”, she said with a wink.

“Thank you Celestia”, I said while standing up to collect my stuff.

I was followed by the guard and my friends.

“You think that was a good idea?”, asked Ishmael.

“Yeah, even though it was hilarious”, giggled Rosa.

“I don’t care about what the spoiled asshat will do, I say, let him try doing something”

Arrogant?

Yes.

Confident?

Check.

Completely suicidal?

Possibly.

“You are the craziest and stupidest person I’ve ever meet”, said Rosa.

“Agreed”, said Ishmael and Felipe.

“Aww! But you guys know you love me!”, while throwing my arms around them and brought them in close for a hug.

“Ugh. You are such a dork sometimes”, said Rosa as I rolled my eyes.

When we reached our rooms, I walked in and winced as my leg throbbed in pain. Looking around for my armor I quickly spotted it by the window. I hobbled over to the armor and wondered if it was possible to put the leggings under my clothing. My idea was about to be shot down when I saw how big the armor was compared to my clothes, until I remembered what Celestia said about the enchantments placed on them. So I quickly undressed till’ I was just in my underclothing and put the armor on.

“This is the most awesome armor ever!”, I exclaimed as I put my clothes back on, which fit perfectly as if I wasn’t wearing the armor.

“Ok, got to make sure I have everything with me.”

Duffle bag?

Check.

Rifle?

Check and slung.

Helmet in bag?

I checked the bag until I found it. Check.

Phone?

Check.

Headphones connected and playing music?

Double check and I’m done. Now all I need is some happy music. Aaannnnnndddd… there we go.

I headed out to find my friends waiting for me.

“What took you so long?”, asked Rosa.

I pulled down the collar of my shirt to reveal the onyx colored armor.

“Ohhhh, I didn’t know you could do that”, she mused.

“Where’s your armor?”, she patted her dufflebag, which clanked when she hit it, “And you guys?”, I said turning to Felipe and Ishmael, they pointed to their bags as well, “Ok you guys got everything?”, they just nodded so I just tapped the guard and nodded for him to lead the way.

By now I should of been used to the labyrinth like castle, but I’m not, it’s just fucking annoying.

Until who knows how many turns and stairs (seriously why are there so many hallways and stairs?!) we reached where our chariot was waiting, which was a hangar full of airships. And by airships I mean like the ones from Mario, the big friggen wooden ship with steel plating, but instead of propellers lifting the ships they have a giant balloon covered in steel plating.

“Who knew that the laws of physics and gravity can let literal ships to fly”, whispered Ishmael causing us to laugh but left the guard confused as hell.

At the end of the hangar was a single chariot with two pegasi harnessed to it. “Sorry that the princesses won’t be able to see the four of you off, but they were called for an important meeting”, said one of the pegasi.

“It’s ok, we already said farewell to them this morning”, said Felipe, who looked bored for some unknown reason.

“Oh… ok sir, just step on and we’ll head off right away”, he jerked his head to the chariot, which we just nodded and climbed on, already getting used to the death trap of an air travel.

---

I’m sure some smartass out there was laughing their ass off when they made these air-chariots. Especially Rosa when she kept on asking and insisting for peanuts and airline food.

One thing I forgot to mention, is that the trip from Canterlot to Ponyville took about an hour and a half. You might of expected that it would of been a half hour flight, considering Ponyville and Canterlot are not too far from each other (this being said that it would probably be a day’s journey on foot… or hoof). But nooooooo! Well it’s expected, since it is flown by just two pegasi.

Anyway, it was a bit past midday when we landed in front of the library and was tackled down by a mass of lavender, while my friends laughed their asses off.

“Where have you been?!”, yelled Twilight.

Instead of answering her, I lifted my finger and poked her muzzle, “Boop”, this caused her muzzle to twitch. This seemed to infuriate her further.

“Whoa! Whoa! We were in Canterlot. Didn’t you read the note?”

This seemed to confuse her, “Note? What note?”

“The one I left on the kitchen table”

“I didn’t see a note”

“Huh… I wonder what happened to it…”

---

Owlowiscious

Yesterday early morning:

‘Who left this scrap paper here?’, I then turned my head around to look around the room, ‘Twilight or Spike or the new one must of forgotten to throw this away’

Picking up the paper in my claws, I flew to over to the trash and dropped the paper in. Seeing the library clean once more, I flew to my perch and rested.

---

“Where have you four been?!”, Twilight exclaimed.

“Can you get off me first?”, she then chuckled sheepishly with a slight blush forming on her cheeks. It was really cute… ‘Did I just call a pony cute? What’s wrong with me?’ I shook my head, ‘I’ll sort through my thoughts later’. Twilight then got off me allowing me to sit up and explain where we’ve been. What I didn’t tell her was the quest or the staff, considering that Luna and Celestia seem to want to keep it a secret. All in all, if they want to tell Twilight about the quest and the artifact then, that’s ok, but I will keep it a secret… for now.

When I finished telling Twilight she offered us lunch (well offered Rosa, Ishmael and Felipe lunch since I live here for now). When I entered the library, I did not notice a certain pink pony spying on us from the branches and speed away to Sugarcube Corner.

A couple hours later I found us lounging around and/or rolling on the floor hugging our sides watching the Gabriel Iglesias: Aloha Fluffy special on my laptop, when we were interrupted by a couple of knocks.

“I’ll get it!”, called out Twilight.

A couple minutes later she came up and to my room and told us to meet her in Sugarcube Corner in ten minutes. We told her that we'll be there and she headed out to the bakery.

When the ten minutes came, we headed to Sugarcube Corner, wondering why Twilight wanted to meet us there. But as we walked through the town, everything was quiet. And deserted.

“Where is everyone?”, I asked.

“Uhhhh… home?”, offered Felipe.

“At four in the afternoon?”, scoffed Ishmael.

“Well… we’re here”, I announced as we arrived outside of the bakery.

With a small shove I opened the door to reveal that the lights are off, as we entered I felt that we weren’t alone. With one hand gripping my knife I entered last and the door closed behind me, with the darkness swallowing us. Suddenly, the lights came on and a collateral shout of ‘SURPRISE!’ rang out as ponies hopped out of their hiding spots.

“Gah!”, my friends and I shouted in unionized surprise.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! We’re you four surprised? Of course you were surprised, because DUH! This is a surprise party! But not just any party! It’s you guys’ late ‘Welcome to Equis and Equestria and Ponyville Party!’ I was going to throw the party yesterday, but we couldn’t find you guys. Were you guys playing hide-n-go-seek? Because you guys are good! No one found you! And when I saw you guys go into the library today, I totally ran all over Ponyville inviting everyone and set up this awesome party! And also-mfhmfhfmfh!”, rambled Pinkie until a lavender hoof got shoved in her mouth but she still tried to talk through the hoof.

“Sorry, as always Pinkie can get a bit excited”, apologized Twilight.

“Awwww! No need to apologize especially to my bestie Pinkie!”, exclaimed Rosa as she gave both Pinkie and Twilight a bear-hug, in which Pinkie returned in full.

“Ok, ok put them down Rosa, I don’t think Twilight will appreciate it if you break every single one of her bones”

“Sorry, but lets hurry up and get partying!”, she cheered along with Pinkie who then appeared behind what looked like a turntable and reached under and pulled out a white unicorn with wild neon blue and cobalt mane and violet shades and started up the music.

I then turned to Felipe and Ishmael and just shrugged and join the party.

---

The party lasted till’ the early hours of the morning, with either somepony (I'm starting to get used to this language… Er… the ponified words) unconscious on the floor or headed home before Pinkie pulled out the cider. Now I know what you’re thinking. Why are you drinking alcohol when you’re just a high schooler!? Now this is not the first taste of alcohol, nor will it be my last but when I drank the stuff it just tasted of soda. I had no idea till’ someone asked me why wasn’t I or my friends on the floor after who know’s how many drinks. Then one thing lead to another, which lead to me and Felipe having a drinking contest against Applejack and Rainbow Dash. I think we won at least, but it’s kind of fuzzy.

Anywho! I’ve met most of the town ponies and they seem to warm up to my friends and I. At some point I saw Twilight walk over to the DJ and hug her and started some small talk that was drowned out by the loud music.

So when I woke up in my bed with a small headache, I got changed and went out to look for my friends.

---

About five days have passed since the party and the mood of the town was calm and cheerful and most importantly NOT AFRAID of me or my friends and actually started to greet us when we walk through the town.

This morning I woke up a bit late than what I would usually wake up and got ready for the day. When I walked downstairs there were piles upon piles of books everywhere!

“Whoa! Twilight you there? Was it reshelving day?” ‘again?’, I sighed inwardly, when a frustrated groan sounded from behind one of the piles.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?”, asked Spike as he walked down the stairs. ‘Took the words right out of my mouth’

“Oh good morning”, she greeted when she saw me and then went back to skimming through the books, “Ugh! I’ve gone through every book in Ponyville and I can’t find a single mention of the mysterious chest that came from the Tree of Harmony or how to open it!”

“Uhhh… what chest and what is the Tree of Harmony?”, I confusedly asked.

“You know about the Elements of Harmony, right?”, she asked, I nodded slowly, “Well, about over a thousand years ago Celestia and Luna found the Elements of Harmony in a magical tree hidden in the Everfree and used them to turn Discord to stone”

“Who’s Discord?”, I asked as she just gave me more questions.

“Discord is a draconequus and is the ‘lord’ and spirit of chaos”

“I’m not going to ask what a draconequus is but spirit of Evil chaos or what?”

“Define evil”

“You know, fires raging, continents shifting at a fast rate, death and destruction. Ultimate destruction”, I said while imagining the movie ‘2012’.

“Evil like that, no, but just causing chaos”

“That is very unspecific, but whatever, now what’s this about a box?”

“Well about two weeks before you and your friends appeared, the Everfree was invading and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna went missing”

“Invading? How can a forest invade? And missing? How can you lose two of three alicorns in existence?”

“The forest was growing at a fast rate and spreading, so my friends and I went into the forest looking for the source, long story short, we found the Tree of Harmony, which was weakened and it helps keep the forest in check, so we returned the Elements to the tree and prevented the forest from spreading across Equestria, found the princesses, who were abducted by the vines that were spreading from the forest, and there are four alicorns in current existence”

“You still haven’t explained anything about the box”

“I was getting to that”, she growled, “After we freed the princesses and returned the Elements to the tree, the tree sprouted a flower and when it opened up it revealed a box with six key holes”

“Sooo… what kind of info are you looking for about the box?”

“Anything! But nothing in these books mention anything about the box or how to open it! I have a feeling that opening the box is important and I hope Princess Celestia has some ideas. If the library in Canterlot doesn’t have any information, then I don’t know where else to look!”, she said frantically.

Burp!

A scroll materialized in from of Spike, who was still standing on the staircase and the scroll what caught in Twilight’s magic and began to read it out loud:

My dearest Twilight,

While it would be perfectly lovely to have you in Canterlot once more, I have another option in mind much closer to Ponyville. As you know, the ancient castle that I once shared with Princess Luna lies mostly in ruins, deep in the Everfree Forest. But if you look carefully, you may find a book that could prove helpful to your research, hidden somewhere in what's left of the castle library.

Sincerly,

Princess Celestia

“Well then, that was really convenient, especially since you just literally not one minute ago you were hoping Celestia had an idea to help you”, I said with a bit a suspicion.

“Well might as well go check out the castle, come on Spike!”, she called out.

“Coming Twi!”, he yelled out as they started to leave.

“Leo are you coming with us?”, asked Twilight, with a bit of hopefulness in her voice.

“Nah, but I’ll go over in a bit to check on you guys”

“Oh, ok then”, she said with a bit of disappointment, which I didn’t catch, “I’ll see you in a bit then”

“Ok then, I’m heading out anyway”, I said while walking out with them, “Wait! I Forgot something in my room!”, I then ran up and grabbed my phone, keys, dog tags, my signature and favorite cap, and a small pouch of bits that I earned from Twilight and doing some small odd jobs around town.

Apparently they haven’t invented paper money yet, so they used these gold coins with the value of the coin stamped on one side of the coin with either Celestia or Luna stamped on the other. The ones with Luna stamped were a darker shade of gold while the Celestia ones were a brighter shade. The Luna coin (aka bit) were worth ten of the Celestia bits.

When I collected everything I needed, I ran back down and closed and locked the front door behind me. ‘Huh. Twilight must of left for the castle already’ I then headed to Sweet Apple Acres to hang with Felipe for the day. While I walked through the marketplace greeting everypony (even if I’m getting the hang of it, I will only used the ponified words when referring to ponies only!), I ran into Ishmael carrying some groceries, most probably Fluttershy asked him to, then probably apologized, then… well you get the idea.

“Sup’ Ishmael!”, I called out as I walked over to him.

“Oh, hey, sup’ Leo”

“Nothing much, you?”

“Not bad so far”

“That’s good, hey wanna go hang with Felipe, and Rosa if we run into her?”

“Can’t, Fluttershy asked me to take care of the animals while she went to help Rarity with something”, he explained.

“Ah well then, have fun with that man”,

I then walked away, feeling a bit like an ass but, I really don’t want to play zookeeper today. I reached Sweet Apple Acres and it didn’t take long to find Felipe, with who I assumed was Applejack and Rainbow Dash covered in bees, with Pinkie and Rosa sitting behind a white table and it looked like Pinkie was commentating what was going on, but I just walked up to Felipe.

“Sup’ Felipe, what’s going on?”

“They are trying to see who is the quote-unquote ‘The Most Daring Pony’”

Then a pony came up next to us with a beekeeper suit, “Uh, whatcha’ll doing?”, he asked confusedly.

“Rainbow Dash and Applejack are competing for the title of "Most Daring Pony"! This is the final test: the Bee Stare! Last pony to blink wins!”, said Pinkie excitedly.

“The bee stare? Seriously?”, I asked incredulously.

“Uh-huh!”, replied Pinkie while bobbing her head up and down so hard, I though her head was going to fall off.

“I’m going to need my bees back”, the pony said.

Rainbow Dash complained for a bit but he just said ‘sorry’ and whistled for the bees to follow him. When the bees left I saw both Rainbow and Applejack in beekeeper suits.

“Well what do we do now?” asked the farm pony as she removed the suit.

“You know it’s not a single bit daring if you have the suit on”, I said through my palm which met my face a couple of seconds ago.

They just ignored me as Pinkie started talking, “Don't worry, ladies, I've been keeping excellent score all day!”, she then started to mumble to herself, “Hmm, move the decimal, carry the 2, and... Congratulations! You're tied!”, she finally exclaimed.

“Tied?”, asked Applejack.

“You can’t be tie for the ‘Most Daring Pony’!”, complained Rainbow.

“I dunno! Numbers don't lie!”, she then showed us a notepad that was full of random drawings.

“How is that even?... I don’t even”, I said as I threw my arms out in failed comprehension of the pink mare.

“I'd love to stay and keep keeping score, but I promised to help test the new school bell. I get to ring it all week, nonstop!”, said Pinkie as energetic as ever. She then started to hop away.

“And I get to help!”, said Rosa proudly as she followed Pinkie.

“Ok then, I guess we have to make another daring challenge”, mused Rainbow.

“I think I have an idea”, said Applejack as she eyed the Everfree.

“Which is…?”, asked Rainbow Dash.

“C’mon and I’ll show ya!”, called out Applejack as she headed to the Everfree.

“Uh… Ok?”, said Rainbow with a bit of uncertainty.

As they walked off I leaned over to Felipe and asked one simple question, “Should we follow and see what happens?”

“Meh, nothing better to do”, we then followed the two mares into the forest.

---

“Well, here we are!”, announced Applejack as she lead us to a castle in ruins deep in the Everfree. It took a hell of a long time to get here, mostly because Applejack swore up and down that she knew where she was going but, we ended up being lost for a couple of hours till we finally got here when it started to get dark out.

‘Didn’t Twilight say something about going to an old castle in the forest earlier?’

“What about it? This is the place we got the Elements of Harmony, I don’t see anything daring about this place”, said Rainbow as she idly kicked a small pebble.

“When I was just a filly, Granny Smith told me of an ancient legend. When Nightmare Moon was banished, not every last bit of her dark magic went with her. Granny used to say, when night falls on the castle, that magic takes the form of... the Pony of Shadows!”, said with a spooky tone.

“So… a ghost?”, asked Rainbow.

“Nopony knows”, said in an ominous tone.

“So… let me get this straight”, I said with an amused tone, “Your idea to prove who is more daring is to be in a ruined castle that can fall on top of us in any moment, just because of an old legend your granny told you that may not be true at all?”

“Yup!”

I then facepalmed for the third time today, “I could of done this when I was ten!”, I then sighed, “Well we’re here anyway so might as well get it over with, besides, I don’t believe in ghosts, although demons on the other hand are legit as fuck”

“I agree with Leo, besides even if ghosts were real I would totally kick their flank!”, said Rainbow while puffing out her chest in pride.

“Uhh… you two might wanna rethink your position on that”, Applejack stuttered.

Rainbow and I then turned to face the direction that Felipe and Applejack were facing. In front of us was a wall but that wasn’t what they were staring at. On the wall was a giant tapestry that was moving. It wasn't moving in a ‘there is a small breeze’ kind of way, it was moving in a ‘fuck you I’m haunted motherfuckers’ kind of way. As if that wasn't enough I heard some screams coming from the tapestry.

“Holy-!”, I screamed as Felipe and the two mares ran away from the tapestry and into a random hallway, with me at their heels.

“Ok so, maybe the legend is true”, panted Rainbow as we ran.

“That’s why I brought ya’ll here, only the most daring pony can stay in this castle all night without being scared off”, replied Applejack who was equally out of breath.

“Hey we’re here too you know!”, I added.

All of a sudden Rainbow screeched to a halt. Unfortunately I failed to stop in time and tripped over her and tumbled to the floor. Even worse when Felipe also failed to stop and landed on top of me.

“Oof! Oooowwww”, I groaned, “Dude get your fat ass off of me!”

Felipe groaned but wasn’t in as much pain as me, since I soften his landing, “Oh, sorry man”, he then got off of me and offered his hand, which I took and helped me up.

“Deal!”, said Applejack as she and Rainbow bumped hooves and shook in an unknown agreement.

“What did you guys agree to?”, asked Felipe.

“Whoever stays in the castle the longest gets the title of the Most Daring Pony! And I’m going to win!”, said Rainbow with a smug expression.

“What makes you so sure”, I said while I raise an eyebrow in a challenging way.

“It’s going to take more than a ghost to scare me away, that’s why. Plus I’m the most coolest pony in Ponyville!”, way to show that your humble Rainbow.

“Not unless I win”, said Applejack.

“We’ll see about that”, I said, “C’mon let’s go exploring”

Couple minutes later we found a spiraling staircase that lead to a dark abyss. “Damn! Should've brought my lantern”, I mused.

“What? You scared?”, said Rainbow mockingly.

“Phhfff! Please. But I’d rather not trip on something in the dark and fall to my death”

“Dude, don’t worry, I’ll be able to catch you before you hit the ground”

“If you can handle 150 pounds”, I said.

“Or if there is a ground to fall to”, mumbled Felipe in a way that I barely heard him.

“What was that partner?”, asked Applejack.

“Oh nothing, come on”, clarified Felipe.

We started to decent. As we descended it started to get darker and darker. Instead of walking down the steps like the rest of us, Rainbow decided to float down.

“Hope you’re not afraid of the dark Applejack”, taunted Rainbow.

“I can't say that I am! But even if I was, I'd be at least fifty percent less scared of it than you, Rainbow Dash”, Applejack taunted back. Then she started to run down the stairs with Felipe and I in pursuit.

“I dunno how all that math works, because I know I’m not scared at all”

“Me neither!”, yelled Applejack as we rushed passed Rainbow.

All of a sudden Applejack quickly stopped when she reached to bottom causing Felipe and I to trip over her. ‘Jesus! Couldn’t you have at least warned me so my face doesn’t have to say hi to the floor again!?’

I looked up to see a long hallway with disembodied hooves on the walls holding unlit torch handles.

“W-what's the matter? It's just a dark hallway full of... disembodied pony legs”, stuttered Rainbow.

“Y-yeah, nothing scary or creepy about that”, replied Applejack in an equally shaky voice.

I got up and dusted myself off, then Felipe did the same, “Well lets not let a couple of hooves stop us, onward!”, and walked into the corridor with Rainbow covering her face with her wings and Applejack pushing her stetson hat lower to hide under.

As we walked Rainbow suddenly stopped, “Applejack, if you're scared, you can just admit it. You don't need to put your hoof around me”

“Umm… I’m over here” waved Applejack who was standing a couple of feet behind Rainbow.

“Leo? Felipe?”

“We’re over here”, I said with a bit of fear settling over me as I waved to show that I’m standing about four feet in front of her with Felipe next to me.

Rainbow looked to her side and saw a white hoof, then screamed. Then Applejack joined in the scream. That scream must’ve been contagious because both Felipe and I started to scream like little girls along with them. Instead of calming down we just booked it down the hall.

After a few minutes of running, we ran past another room, then the hall was filled with the sound of a pipe organ. When we heard the organ Applejack screeched to a halt causing not just Felipe and I to trip over her, but also Rainbow, who I had no idea you can trip while flying.

“Ya’ll hear that?”, asked Applejack shakedly.

“You mean the haunting sound of a pipe organ?”, worriedly asked Rainbow.

I nodded in fear but also in interest. ‘A pipe organ? Now this I’ve got to see, but at the same time, who’s playing it?’ I then started to walk to where the source of the organ was but waited for a bit to hear where it was coming from.

“M-maybe”, answered Applejack.

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about”, replied Rainbow.

“I-I know I’m not scared, are you L-Leo?”, said Felipe.

Then the organ started to play again, scaring the crap out of Rainbow, Felipe and Applejack causing them to scream, hug and run away Scooby and Shaggy style, while I ran to the open door way to see a giant pipe organ with two hooded figures facing away from me, one playing the organ. Obviously they haven’t noticed me yet, so I slowly approached them without letting them know I was here.

When I was behind them, I threw back their hoods, who lied beneath them surprised me.

“Pinkie?! Rosa!? What are you two doing here?”

“Oh, hey Pheo!”

“Sup’ Leo”

“Hey, but what are you two doing here? I thought you two were ringing the school bell”

“We were but we only rang it for about five minutes before they told us it was enough”, said Pinkie.

“Oh… So was it you that was playing the organ?”

“Yepporino-Leorino!”

“Ok first off, please don’t call me Leorino, it just sounds weird, just stick with Pheo if you’re going to use a nickname since I’m used to you calling me that anyway. Second, can I play the organ for a bit? Third, can I have a cloak too?”

“Of course you can play the organ! And here you go!”, she said while handing me a black hooded cloak out of nowhere.

“Wha-? Where you get the cloak so fast? And why do you have another if you didn’t know that I was here?”

“Oh Pheo! I keep hooded cloaks hidden all over, in case of hooded cloak emergency”

I just looked at her and just shook my head at her antics. Pulling the cloak over me and making sure that the hood was up, I sat down and started to play one of my favorite songs on the organ.

When I finished I looked over to Pinkie and Rosa who were a bit shocked.

“Dude! I knew you can play piano, but you can play the organ? And that song? Dude that was awesome!”, exclaimed Rosa.

“Hey Pheo can you show me how to play that?”, asked Pinkie with a small pout as she stuck her lower lip out and gave me puppy eyes.

‘Dawwww! Cuteness levels are going critical!’

“Sure Pinkie”, I then patted next to me and showed her how to play. Don’t ask me how she could, but she mastered that piece really quickly.

‘How the fuck does she play it that good with hooves?!’

Then all of a sudden all three of our hoods were pulled back and a collective gasp sounded behind us.

“Pinkie?! Leo!? Rosa!?”, I turned around to find everyone there: Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack, Felipe and Fluttershy’s pet bunny Angle.

“Sup’?”, both Rosa and I replied with a simple wave.

“Hey, you guys! Did you know I can totally play the organ? Because I didn't!”, said Pinkie, then she proceeded to play ‘Charge!’.

“Leo! We thought that the Pony of Shadows got you!”, exclaimed Applejack as she shoved her face in front of mine.

“Sorry to worry you guys but I wanted to see the organ then found Rosa and Pinkie”

“I told you that there was no such thing as the Pony of Shadows!”, exclaimed Twilight to her friends.

“Pinkie, Rosa, I thought you two were ringing the school bell all week”, said Rainbow.

“We did ring the bell but only for five minutes, then they told us that that was enough”, answered Rosa.

Pinkie then started to play the organ to a tune that sounded like ‘Take me out to the ballgame’, “Then when we finished I decided to throw a "finish ringing the school bell" party! But I didn't have any bluebells, and you can't throw a "finish ringing the school bell" party without bluebells, so Rosa and I went to Everfree Forest to pick some, but it started to get so chilly. I had to wrap myself up in the tarp I was gonna use to gather flowers and gave one to Rosa because she must of been getting cold too, and then I saw Fluttershy and Rarity. But they went into the castle before I could invite them to my party. Luckily, we followed them inside so I could help you all with your party!”, Pinkie explained, then stop playing when she finished explaining.

“And what party would that be darling?”, asked Rarity.

“Uh, the "everypony come to the scary old castle and hide from each other while I play the organ" party? Duh!”, she then pressed a random note, which then followed by a spring being activated, launching Spike to near the doorway to the hallway.

“Well now that this mystery has been cleared up, let’s go back to the castle’s library”, said Twilight.

This came with an agreement from everyone and then followed Twilight to the library, but stopping so that Rarity can grab a tapestry that she was going to fix and restore.

When we reached the library, Twilight lead us to a small hidden room and we all sat around and relaxed.

“I’m putting this right back where I found it as soon as I’m finished fixing it”, said Rarity as she was restoring the tapestry.

“Now don't go running off again! Oh, I can't believe I was so frightened. Guess I let my imagination get the best of me”, said Fluttershy as she nuzzled Angle.

“We all did”, agreed Applejack.

“I always let my imagination run away from me! Then it comes back... with cake!”, added Pinkie.

“Damn Pinkie, I wished my imagination did that, but with pizza or tamales instead of cake”, I said.

“Well it’s good to know that when you let your imagination go wild, a friend can help bring it back. Although I couldn’t find anything about the chest, I’m glad I could’ve help all of you”, said Twilight.

“Help us with what? You barely did anything”, mumbled Felipe.

“You certainly did Twilight”, commented Rarity.

“Yeah, but why weren’t you scared?”, wondered Rainbow.

“Well after reading Celestia’s diary, it kind of made it hard to be afraid when I read how her’s and Luna’s life was when they lived here”, said Twilight.

We all mumbled in agreement but something went through my head.

‘She read Celestia’s diary!? Damn, hope she doesn’t get mad’

“Hey I have a great idea. Why don’t we all keep a journal, just like the royal sisters?”, suggested Twilight.

“A journal? As in a diary?” asked Felipe.

“Sure why not?”, said Rainbow.

“I know what will be my first entry, ‘Dear Diary, I’m glad that Granny’s legend is not true’”

“Me too!”, added Rainbow.

“Me three! Because that mean you two are still tied for ‘Most Daring Pony!”, exclaimed Pinkie.

“Oh hell no”, I mumbled.

“Hey where’s Ishmael?”, asked Rosa.

---

Back in Fluttershy’s Cottage:

“C’mon you stupid chickens it’s time for you to go back in the hen house and sleep!”, said Ishmael angrily.

They just ignored him and dodged him when he tried to grab them.

“I swear, if you chickens don’t go in, I’ll cook you guys up, It’s been a while since I had some chicken!”, growled Ishmael.

Then out of frustration he grabbed a small rock and chucked it at one of the chickens.

“CAW-CAW!”, cried out the chicken that the rock hit.

“What the-!”, Ishmael was then flocked and attacked by many chickens as they tackled him down and surrounded.

“Ack! HELP!”

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait (again) but it was a long chapter and something always come up every single time when I tried to work on it last week.

All in all it was a fun chapter to write and a long one at that. Seems like these chapters are getting longer and longer (That's what she said). ANYWAYS! Hope you guys like the chapter, and by know you should know the drill about grammar and what-not. If you have any suggestions on anything you might want to see in later chapter, I'm open to them and it'll help me a lot, PLUS you will get a shout out in the chapter that I've used the suggestion.

And as always, if you liked the chapter, the story or will like to see stories like this, please give it a like, favorite and give me a watch!

Peace!
-TBMF

Comments

[knightmarepony]

cuckoo

[Overlord Sparkle]

Legend of Zelda reference?

[WhalenJP]

That is a horrifying creature... KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!