Interlude: Survivor
Not\e/worthy
Part of the PonyEarthVerse
By: YarnWeaver
Interlude: Survivor
Someday - Sometime
Somewhere New - Somepony Nostalgic
We talked for a while about nothing in particular as the elevator continued its descent. I'll admit it was odd just talking to my reflection for so long, though. It was also strange with how he was reflected on the polished elevator doors and how the gap between them distorted the image. If I sat still as just looked forward at it, it almost looked like the gap struck through one of my other self's eyes.
"Well, you're almost here now."
"What?"
"I'm not really there with you in the elevator; I'm just using your reflection to talk to you. I'm actually in another room here, but you'll be seeing me soon. You sent it to the ground floor; that's where I am. It's your Memory Center."
"Wait a minute, if you really wanted to see me personally after putting me through the wringer earlier, then why did I have to do all this running around? Aren't we in a dream?"
My reflection sighed and shook his head.
"You really don't know anything about how your own mind works, do you? Ever since I fell asleep in that kennel they'd locked me up in and found myself here, lucid and everything, I figured out very quickly that it's far easier to make something here or interact with what already exists here than it is to change something. When I realized that you hadn't woken up yet, I got curious. Once you satisfied that curiosity, the best thing I could do was make a linear pathway from you to me."
"Oh, well that explains that, I guess."
I sat in silence for a little longer as the little floor indicator lights flickered downward in sequence.
"By the way," my reflection added, "you remember that 'Door to Anywhere' as you called it?"
"Yeah?"
"I kinda got the inspiration for it from the look and feel of this place."
-DING!-
Well, that was conveniently timed.
The doors open to a dark void that was devoid of everything but doors. There were doors of every shape, size, style and color, and they were all floating in every direction at once.
Well, all except for one.
It had a simple blue doorframe housing it, and its perimeter was the same color, but the lion's share of the door's physical area was made up of a pane of glass with a large "9" painted on it, again in the same shade of blue. It also had a spherical, golden doorknob, and it was standing there on the other end of this nearly empty space, squarely facing the elevator.
"Wait a minute," I said as I studied the unique door from where I stood, "I've seen this place before, but-."
"Well, if that isn't a surprise!"
And there he was. Noteworthy was several yards above me and close to the imagined center of this familiar-looking area. His legs were moving about as if he were swimming through the emptiness that separated him from the myriad collection of doors.
"And here I thought you were a total greenhorn when it came to this place."
I rolled my eyes. I'm no stranger to sarcasm. Growing up with one older and one younger brother under a dad who liked to be a comedian from time to time and a mom who loved that about him kinda has me desensitized to it by now.
"Oh, I assure you, I have never, ever been this lucid in my dreams however fantastical they may or may not have been. No, what I'm talking about is that I've seen this particular room elsewhere. Although right now, it's missing something."
He hovers a little closer to me and the elevator, and I decide to give him a bit of a show.
I started humming.
It was a simple melody, a refrain of six notes followed by alternating sets of five and seven to round out the chorus. As my tune went on, the doors that were suspended in the void began to shift around, dancing to my non-verbal vibrations.
Then I hit the first variation. I let out two groups of four notes, then three notes followed by six and one final note that was held for a measure. During this a multi-hued platform extended from the base of the elevator's doorway and began to form a twisting, undulating bridge across the gap toward the "9" door on the other side. The doors in the void began twirling even faster. They spun in place even as they rotated around each other, and Noteworthy even had to duck and dodge a few times to avoid getting battered around.
I then repeated my six-five-six-seven pattern for the chorus, and I began ambling down the full spectrum pathway before me. As I walked, doors shot down from their places in pairs and lined up on either side of the path, facing each other.
I paid no mind to the various twists and turns of the bridge I was making. I just kept on walking as the song entered its first true verse. I hummed out four notes, then three and three, then seven. Then I rested. Next came four notes again, followed by two and three, then I built up more volume and punctuated the next six and held the seventh for another measure.
I'd closed my eyes a while back, and now I was grinning widely, letting the song flow through me. I was halfway there now. I repeated the chorus again, but I started a bit higher than I had the last two times.
I was in a trot by the time I reached the second verse. It was similar to the first, but the instances of four notes had been replaced with five, and the pair of two-then-three was changed out for a pair of four-then-two. During this verse I heard another set of hoofbeats, and I opened my eyes and smiled brightly at Noteworthy, who'd fallen in step behind me.
I returned to the first variation, and the bridge wound around a few more loops before closing in on the final stretch. The aspect of pony physiology, psychology or magic that lets them pick up on the words to a song must've activated, as I heard Noteworthy's tenor voice ring true to the lyrics of my song for this section.
"| A rainbow road, | a multico- | -lored highway | that curls and curls through the | sky.~ |"
The ribbon of color then attached itself to the bottom of the "9" door, and with that the bridge was complete. Side by side, we broke into a full gallop as doors continued to rain down on either side of us. We sang the last repeat of the chorus together.
"| Following the Love Light! | Let the Love Light lead.~ |"
The knob on the door before us twisted, and the door opened to reveal a bright light that bled into the formerly completely black void.
"| Following the Love Light! | You'll find everything you need!~ |"
I burst through the doorway in tandem with Noteworthy, and saw that the rainbow continued on the other side. It kept on going off into the distant light until we couldn't see it anymore. I also noticed that the source of the light, whatever it was, seemed to be growing.
"Hey, it looks like we'll be waking up soon."
Admittedly, he caught me off guard, as I'd been focusing so much on the light in front of us. I turned around, and we were face to face for what I imagine was the first time since this whole ordeal began.
"Look, I really had fun with that last bit, but I still think you need help with getting out of our little situation in the real world."
For once, I don't feel so daunted by his criticism.
"Yeah, I agree. Truce?"
"Truce."
We bump hooves to seal the deal. However, I quickly find my view of my new partner obscured almost completely by the intensifying light.
"Hey, Danny. One more thing."
"Hm? What?"
"Why are your eyes grey?"
A Jail Cell - Somepony Awake
"Muh whuh!?"
My eyes shoot open, and I find myself on a cold cement floor. I'm in a cell roughly six feet wide by eight feet long, and thick iron bars make up two of the four walls of it. It's a corner cell with a window, also barred. I could see some light through it, but not much.
Oh yeah, and there's a pillow in my mouth.
Today's just gonna be a barrel of laughs, isn't it?!
Sunday, P.E.08 - 4:04 P.M.
Santa Fe, TX - Somepony Pensive
There was only one thought going through my head as I watched what I could only assume to be Jack Match's new pony form rumpling up the covers:
I wish I'd stayed awake for more of that show. I have no idea what I'm dealing with here.
As the sheets uncovered more and more of him, I noticed that his fur was a dull bluish grey, his mane was a messy midnight blue with two parallel streaks of white that reminded me of a stock car's racing stripes, what I could see of his tail mirrored his mane, and his new pony ears were tufted at their tips.
He'll be waking up any minute now, how are we going to break the news to him in a way that won't end with him freaking out?
Naught but a moment after that thought had entered my mind did a completely uncanny notion present itself. At first I didn't know what to make of it. Then the option began building on itself, making connections that seemed to fit so perfectly yet had no conventional business doing so. The sheer audacity...
Suddenly I remembered a quote from a cassette tape that the boys used to love listening to on road trips. It was one of those Star Wars expanded universe audio books from back in the day when such things were still being produced. If I recall correctly, the name of the set from which this particular quote originated was called "Attack on Selonia" or something of the like. It went like this:
"Audacity, is a weapon that must be drawn from its scabbard from time to time."
That logic is difficult to argue with. This option I was considering held no assurances of success at calming Jack down, but there was a high probability that he'd at least be distracted enough to keep his wits about him for the most part.
I am still at a loss as to how I know any of this will actually work, but it worked for that Pinkie Pie character in the show, what was it, three times in the span of the first three episodes? It might just work for me.
Jack's stirring eventually slowed, and after another bout of mumbling and groaning, his nearly cone-shaped pony head emerged from beneath the covers and yawned wide enough for us all to clearly see his brand new set of chompers, fangs and all.
There was a knock on the Office door. Jenny excused herself to get it, closing the door to the Guest Room behind her as she went.
Good, this might not exactly be in good taste to her.
"James, Bartholomew, follow my lead."
They nodded.
Jack stretched his new hooves a bit, and blinked open his bright orange, cat-like eyes. Before he got a chance to look at himself, however; it was time for me to begin.
To the time of a four-beat brass interruption: I reached for something to cover a change in wardrobe, pulled out what looked to like a black party popper, grabbed the trigger string and pulled it. It released a smoky explosion that served its dual purpose of simultaneously getting Jack's attention and obscuring the three of us from view.
A few seconds later, the silence was cut by the crack of a whip.
A low but rapid drum section started up as the smoke began to dissipate. By the time he could see us again, we'd donned some new duds. Barty was wearing white high-tops, a pair of holey blue jeans, a black shirt with a skull-and-crossbones and a frayed jean jacket all topped with a black bandana. James now sported similar pairs of shoes and jeans, a zipped up black vest over a grey short sleeve shirt, a pair of fingerless black gloves, and a black and white handkerchief that was tied up like a headband.
As for me, I was clad in an inordinate amount of black leather, zippers, buckles and straps, tied together by a comically large pair of metal-rimmed glasses. Oddly enough, the chicken had found its way to its "usual" spot on my back and was dressed in a similar manner.
By the time the chilled bassline joined in, Jack looked like he was about to protest. However, my two boys took the opportunity to each raise a pointer finger to their lips and let out a low shush as they stepped off to the sides.
Then I began.
"| You're not the same | as you once were. |
| You're covered in | a coat of fur. |
| You'll start your day | when it's dark outside. |
| My friend, you've just | been ponified. |
Sundown.
Sundown.
Moon's a-risin'.
Alright."
At this point, all Jack could do was let out a well timed, "What?"
"| No hands, no feet, | hooves in their place, |
| A muzzle now | upon your face, |
| A brand new tail | to match your mane, |
| And leather wings | you've also gained. |
| You can take this clear deduction | from this family's patriarch: |
| Your fangs can cut prey to shreds, and | your eyes glow in the dark because |
You're Bats! You're Bats!
You're really, really Bats!
You know, You're Bats! You're Bats!
You know it!
You know You're Bats! You're Bats!
C'mon! You know!
Don't you ask me why, when, what, where or how, 'cause I'll tell you once again
Who's Bats!
Somepony Burned
To say that I was stunned by the display would be like saying unlocking everything in Super Smash Bros. Brawl "takes a while". A cursory glance at myself during a short musical interlude confirms everything he's been singing, but how he's going about telling me all this is just crazy!
I could've discovered this all for myself, thank you very much! You didn't have to do a whole song-and-dance number about it! And why'd you drag Jimmy and Barty into this as well?! This is insane on so many levels!
I don't know quite what came over me next. I just launched into a rant!
"| You've got no tact! | There is no doubt. |
| You didn't need | to spell it out. |
| This song and dance, | I don't understand |
| How you ever thought | it a good plan. |
| If you don't desist, | stop this at once, |
| I'll have to la- | -bel you a dunce! |
| This is not okay behavior | for a man such as yourself, |
| And it kinda makes me wonder | about your mental health, because |
You're Bats! You're Bats!
You're really, really Bats!
You know You're Bats! You're Bats!
You know it!
You know You're Bats! You're Bats!
You know it! You know!
You've gone bonkers, nuts, completely wacked out, and I'll tell you once again
Who's Bats!"
Someone Uninvolved
Seeing my own husband transformed into a pony was bad enough, but seeing a such a beastly looking creature in that bed and knowing it used to be such a dear friend of the family was just too much for me. Thankfully I quickly received a perfect excuse to make myself scarce when I heard someone knocking on the Office door.
I made haste to greet them, closing both the door to the Guest room and the Office from the Living Room as I passed through the respective doorways.
"Coming! Hold your horses!" I shouted once I was close.
I then grimaced at the connotations of my poor choice in words.
Aw man! Now he's got me saying it!
Soon I unlocked the knob and the deadbolt, and opened the door to find...
"Hey there, Jenny. We got here as fast as we could when we heard what happened at that Walmart near you guys. You mind if we come in?"
"Rick! Ellie! Yes, please do."
Rick and his wife Ellie were two of my Dad's best friends for years. Rick would often go gambling up in Louisiana with Dad and a couple of their other buddies for weekends at a time in his later years, and the two of them came down to Texas for the winter every year to get away from the brunt of the freezing weather in their log cabin that Rick built up in the woods of Michigan. Even after Dad passed away, Rick and Ellie kept coming back down to the property, and Damon and I always kept a spot open for their RV. Over time they became our best friends as well, and Rick always offered Damon his construction experience and an extra pair of hands around the park when they were here.
I had only just closed the door back up behind them when we heard the music start. it was low and thumped a bit, and it was coming from further inside our unit. I could easily guess where.
I offered Rick and Ellie each one of the rolling chairs we had here in the Office, and they accepted them gladly.
"Oh, one of them boys of yours over?"
"Two of them are, but..."
My stress over Danny's being both missing and transformed as well bubbled up again, and I stumbled over my words a bit before I could continue.
"...Danny's not here at all right now."
Ellie reached over and put her hand around mine.
"Oh, we know, dearie. We heard about it on the 9 'O clock news back when we were parked in Texarkana. They said he was kidnapped! Oh, we knew we just had get here as soon as possible. Are you doing okay?"
I nodded, but I still wound up sniffling a little.
"We want you to know that our hearts go out to ya'. We also wan'ta let you know that we're here to help ya' however we can." Rick said, leaning forward in his chair.
"We're also curious, you know," he continued, "did you ever find out why those whackos took him?"
I knew I had to tell them about this whole pony thing. Thankfully, Barty left a tab open on one of the office computers with a video he found he found of that press conference in New York with the two pony princesses.
"Yes we did, Rick, but it'll be easier for me to show you something else first."
4:13 P.M.
I showed them the video, and then I went on to explain what happened to Danny, Damon and now to Danny's friend Jack. I also told them what we learned about who was responsible for Danny's kidnapping.
"You mean there's this group of guys out there, this P.A.P.A. group, that wants ta do these horrible things to the poor folks that this whole pony thing happens to? Just because they're ponies now?! That's crazy!"
Rick was almost in hysterics, and Ellie was beyond distraught.
"Oh, I knew we should've come here sooner! No doubt, you've all been through so much!"
Ellie and I shared an all too brief hug before Rick interrupted us.
"Where's 'ol Damon now? I wan'ta let him know we got yer back in this whole thing."
I was reminded of the music still coming from the Guest Room, and after a moment's hesitation, I figured I was curious as to what the four of them were doing in there myself.
I stood up and motioned for them to follow me.
"Oh, he's with Jimmy, Barty and Jack in the Guest Room, last I knew. C'mon."
I opened the door to the Living Room again, and was immediately introduced to the song's strange yet familiar lyrics.
"You know You're Bats! You're Bats!
You're really, really Bats!"
That's all the three of us heard with little variation for about half a minute as we made our way over to the Guest Room door.
"Well gee, I don't think I've ever heard this one before."
"Oh, I can't say I have either."
I knocked on the door.
"Damon? Honey? Is everything alright in there?"
I didn't get a response. The song just kept going.
"You know You're Bats! You're Bats!
You know it! You know!
If you need more time to figure it out, then I'll tell you once again
Who's Bats!"
It was at this point that I felt I couldn't take not knowing anymore, so I went ahead and threw the door open.
"Damon! What's going on in here?!"
I was actually surprised to find the room in its usual condition, my boys no worse for whatever just happened, and, weirdest of all, Jack and my husband practically in each eachother's faces on top of the King Size guest bed, which looked perfectly made.
"Mom! You just missed it!" Jimmy clamored, "Dad and Jack just duked it out in a Pony Music Duel!"
"Yeah!" Barty piped up, "Dad's totally a pony Weird Al!"
"Well, I'll be darned!"
"Oh, my."
Damon suddenly turned his head toward the door, causing Jack to lose his balance and faceplant onto the bedsheets.
"Rick! Ellie! When'd you two get in!?"
4:22 P.M.
Somepony Weird
After we'd all calmed down and gotten caught up with each other, we'd gathered in the Living Room to talk. Rick and Ellie took the loveseat, and Jimmy, Barty and Jenny made themselves comfortable on the couch across the corner of the room from them, Jack was using a few spare pillows to cushion his spot on the carpet, and I was just content to lie down on my wife's lap for the time being.
"So," Rick probed, "you guys plan on going up to ol' New York?"
I sighed, "I really don't know, Rick. That may be where the people who turned into the show's heroines are heading, but is that a good idea for us? I just don't know."
By now, Jenny had taken to petting me gently down the back of my head and neck. It helped me with the stress of the issue at hand, and I welcomed it.
Barty chose this point to throw in his two cents.
"Well, Dad, by the sound of it, there's probably going to be a lot of people heading there, not just the Mane Six. Every one of them is gonna be looking for answers to this whole mess, and if we're there, we might just find some for ourselves."
Jack jumped in next.
"Yeah, but how would we even get there? I doubt anyone who's changed would be able to get through security at an airport, since you'd no longer resemble your ID, and I'm hesitant to suggest driving all the way up to New York from all the way down here by the Gulf."
"Yeah. Not to mention all the inevitable hotel expenses and costs for provisions for a trip like that. Could we even afford it?" James added.
I wondered about that for a moment. Unfortunately, we haven't really been able to save a lot of the money coming in from the business. We've had to invest almost all of our profits back into Superior Mobile Home Park LLC. to fund various repairs for the units and a plethora of badly needed upgrades.
"We certainly have to do something!" my wonderful wife chimed in, "If there is a possibility for us to make it there, and we were able to get in touch with these pony heroes and their rulers..."
She had a valid point. There's no way to know what those two princesses are truly capable of. For all I know they could actually have some way of tracking other ponies down.
"Oh! What if you guys all took the RV?"
Wait, their RV?!
"Ellie, are you sure?"
"Oh, of course, dearie! I insist, even! We were already coming down here to stay for a few months like we always do, and you sound like you need it more than we do right now. It's even fully stocked, you know."
The RV would certainly solve our room-and-board issue, and taking our bed with us would mean we could take turns driving during both the day and the night.
Jack raised a hoof in the air.
"Hold on for a minute here, where would you stay if you lend them your home?"
Well, that is a problem...
Jenny didn't even hesitate, "I see no reason why you can't stay here in our house in the meantime! It would be the least we could do to repay you for being so generous!"
"'Ey! That sounds good enough for me!" Rick supplied.
Of course we would let them stay here. I've worked with Rick, and I know I can trust him with the business in our absence.
That only leaves one question left.
And James was the one to voice it.
"Wait, does that mean we're actually doing this?!"
"Well, of course we are!" Barty butted in, "Is there any possible reason why we shouldn't?"
My eldest was silenced by that remark. However, I soon began pondering it myself.
Is there any reason not to go?
Then I was reminded of that still, small voice.
"Yes, there is."
All eyes were on me, now. I continued.
"As much as I don't like the possibility of it, the fact remains that if it's not within God's Will for us to go, then we shouldn't go."
Jack was the first one to respond.
"I can't believe this! Danny is out there in some strange place, in a cage! You'd seriously tie your hands...hooves, whatever, and do nothing if' God said no?!"
"Yes."
"BULLCRAP!"
Before I knew it Jack had gotten up in front of Jenny's spot on the couch and was leveling me a glare that could drop and elephant at fifty yards, made more effective by those new eyes of his.
"YOU'RE HIS FATHER! HIS FAMILY!! If there's anything at all that I've learned from being around y'all it's that you're there for eachother, no matter what! WHY SHOULD IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHAT GOD SAYS?!"
I heard something pop.
"I'll tell you why, Jack."
I hopped down from my beloved's lap and met his glare with a stern look of my own.
"If we start ignoring God's Will, we remove ourselves from His Favor. That means that any blessing He would've given us, any aid He would've supplied dries up and vanishes instantly. If we act outside of Him, we act on our own, and if I'd been acting on my own for all this time, then we wouldn't even be here! We wouldn't be a family in the first place!"
It seems he hadn't thought of that. He's backpedaling, but I'm not through yet.
"God was the one who brought Jenny and I together. God was the one who blessed us with three precious little boys. God was the one who led us from Lansing to Oxford, Michigan so that they could have a better childhood. God was the one who brought us down here to Texas years later so that Jenny could spend time with her dad before he died. God was the one who ordered events so that we could inherit this property. Every good and perfect thing comes from Him, and if I start ignoring Him now, then I'd be throwing all of that away!"
He'd stumbled back onto his cushions, and now he's looking up at me and trembling.
Why? All I did was answer his question?
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Are you going to start making cupcakes now, or in this case would it be fondue?"
"What are you talking about?"
He visibly relaxed.
"OH, GOOD! I was worried there for a moment."
I wonder what that was all about.
I was eager to get us all back on track.
"Let's pray."
We all gathered close to eachother and joined hands and hooves together.
"Father, we're at a crossroads. We have an opportunity now to venture out and seek to rescue Daniel from the clutches of the enemy. We don't know what lies ahead, and we look to You for guidance here and now."
"Yes, Father." Jenny added.
"It looks so convenient, Father. It appears as if everything has fallen into place to allow us this chance, but we don't want to take it if it's not from You. Please, Father, reveal to us Your Will for our lives. Is this our chance to help our son?"
Then, I hear Him.
"Yes..."
Instantly, my countenance brightens, but then I hear more.
"...but you'll have to fight for it."
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I need to step up my game
But im going for the more silly route for my PEV fic
4521815 You can have drama
and silliness !
It's all in how you 
it!
4522654
I have a plan for my main Character to get chased by a hoard of kindergarteners when he goes to pick up his neice from school
And he escapes by hiding in a tree
4542657 I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far.