Dog Days

by Rare Twinkie

2-Shuckins...

Dog Days
By Rare Twinkie
Chapter 2: Shuckins...

The bells overhead jangled a cheerful little tune as Huck walked inside Sugarcube Corner, taking a moment to inhale the smell of sweet vanilla frosting and chocolate cake. The whole place carried a cheerful atmosphere, as there were some smaller ponies in the corner with party hats and playing games. The other patrons separate from the birthday party were sitting a smaller tables, chatting quietly. None of them really paid attention to the strange new patron that had entered, although a few seemed a little surprised.

Huck scanned the shop for an empty table, and found a small one next to a purple unicorn with a dark blue mane that was streaked with magenta. She was talking to a small purple dragon with green spikes, but he hardly seemed to be paying attention. He was staring at a white pony with beautiful indigo hair and deep blue eyes, who appeared to be hard at work sketching something in a notebook. Judging from the dreamy expression on his face, Huck guessed that he was in love with her.

Well, I might as well introduce myself to some of the locals, he thought, and strode over to the far side of the room, where the group was still talking. The dragon broke away from staring at the white unicorn to face him as he approached, and nudged the purple one, who seemed to be explaining something.

"Ow! Spike, what was that for?" the unicorn asked, an accusing tone in her voice.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am," Huck started, "you don't mind if I take this here empty seat, do you?"

The purple unicorn stared at him in surprise. The dragon, who Huck guessed to be Spike, asked, "Is this guy, like, a long-lost relative of Applejack's?"

Huck started to say something, but that was when the white unicorn, with a quick glance in his direction, said, "Of course not, darling. Applejack's a pony. He's a dog. I don't see how in the world he's a relative of hers."

"Well, I'm nobody's relative from around here," Huck answered. "I'm actually from another world, and I'm tryin' to figure out how to get back-"

"Oh my stars!" The white unicorn looked absolutely horrified as she took a good look at Huck. "What ever happened to your coat?!"

"My coat? I ain't wearing a coat!"

"I think she means your fur," Spike said.

Huck looked down at himself, and saw just how dirty he was. His collision with Pinkie had driven him deep in the trench, and his blue fur was caked with dirt. He looked up at them with a sheepish grin.

"Well, Pinkie Pie collided into me," Huck explained.

"Leave it to Pinkie to do something like that," the purple unicorn said, rolling her eyes playfully. She then looked over Huck's shoulder. "Speaking of which, here she comes now."

Huck turned to see Pinkie trotting over to the table with a tray laden to overflowing levels with cupcakes. These were topped with pink frosting, covered in rainbow sprinkles and towered into a pyramid. On her back, there was a tray with a bowl of purple punch with some lemons floating in it, as well as glasses and straws.

"There you are, Huck! I was wondering if you'd found a table yet!" Pinkie called cheerfully. "I see you've met some of my friends!"

"Oh, well, I never did introduce myself, did I?" Huck said. He tipped his pork pie hat in a gentlemanly fashion. "I'm Huckleberry Hound, but as I told Pinkie earlier, my friends call me Huck for short."

"Nice to meet you, Huck," the purple unicorn said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike, my assistant, and Rarity." She motioned towards her friends in turn as she introduced them.

"Nice to meet ya, Huck!" Spike said.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, darling," Rarity greeted.

"So," Twilight started, "you said you're from another world, right?"

"Yeah," Huck said. "It's kind of a funny way how I got-"

Huck was once again cut off mid-sentence as Twilight enthusiastically jumped up from her seat and leaned in his face, grinning widely. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! It's so exciting to see another dog that can talk! Are there more dogs like you back in your world?" she said.

"Uh, yeah. A whole bunch, actually," Huck said, not quite understanding Twilight's enthusiasm.

"That's amazing! This opens up so many opportunities for studying the patterns of other animals, especially talking ones! Do you behave like a normal dog?" Twilight asked. "Or do you act like some of the humans that I've met before?"

"Well, kinda like a combination of both..."

"Uh, Twilight, I think you should slow down," Spike said. "Dude just got here."

"Oh." Twilight leaned back from Huck's face, a shy blush on her cheeks. "Sorry about that. I guess I overwhelmed you there."

"Naw, it's okay. I've just never met somebody who's wanted to study me before," Huck said, still trying to recover from his shock.

"Twilight's kind of a nerd," Spike said. "You'll get used to it."

"Very funny, Spike," she answered, to which the dragon grinned cheekily.

Huck chuckled at that. He knew many, many colorful people back home, but this group made his friends seem tame in comparison.

"Oh! And I absolutely adore your blue fur, Huck! I must make you an outfit that compliments it!" Rarity gushed.

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Miss Rarity," he said. "You're much too kind."

"Nonsense! If you're going to travel around Equestria, you need to look fabulous doing so," Rarity explained, dismissing Huck's refusal. "After we have our snack, I'll take you back to my shop and have you fitted. I've never made an outfit for a dog before, but it'll definitely be fun!"

"Shuckins, I...I don't really know what to say," Huck said. "Other than thank you kindly, of course."

"Can we eat now?" Spike asked. "I'm kinda hungry."

"Don't let me keep you from eating, Spike," Huck said. "Go ahead and dig in!"

"You're welcome to eat some, too!" Pinkie said, and gave five to the hound.

"Thanks, Pinkie," he said, before biting into one. It was a chocolate cupcake topped with strawberry frosting; his favorite combination. "These are delicious."

"I know!" Pinkie then leaped into the air, and then dove towards the pyramid of cupcakes, her mouth stretched wide. Spike, Twilight and Rarity all took cover as Pinkie swallowed the entire pyramid with a large slurp, sending icing flying everywhere. She then lay on the table, looking like a miniature blimp covered with icing and sprinkles. "I made it myself!" she said proudly before belching loudly, much to the annoyance of several customers.

Huck stared at the sight before him with wide eyes, his own cupcakes hitting the floor. Pinkie's eating habits put Yogi to shame. He turned to Rarity, who was picking bits of icing out of her hair.

"Does she do this all the time?" he asked.

"Every time," she said, and then she gasped. "Oh my! You've got icing all over your fur! And it's mixing with the dirt!"

"Miss Rarity, it really isn't a big deal-"

"Of course it's a big deal! I will not leave you to suffer anymore disasters!" Rarity's horn ignited with a blue aura, and soon Huck found himself being lifted in mid air as Rarity took him with her.

"W-Where exactly are we going?"Huck asked.

"To my store, Carousel Boutique, of course! We're going to get you cleaned up, and then you're going to try on my design for my new outfit!"

Huck stared at Twilight, who was trying hard not to burst out laughing. He'd come with Pinkie in order to find a way out of here, not be a dress-up doll. But the finality in Rarity's tone had made it clear that he had no choice in the matter. He sighed.

To be honest, I kind of needed a bath anyhow, he thought.

---

A few hours later, Huck regretted his decision to not protest.

As soon as they had gotten to Rarity's shop, she had put him in a tub and scrubbed him until he was certain she'd rip his fur off; the unicorn had insisted on doing this until she was absolutely sure that all the dirt and icing was gone from his fur. After getting dried off, Huck found that Rarity wasn't kidding when she said she was going to make him try on her fashions. He'd stood there for hours while she'd taken measurements, adjusted the outfits and then started completely new ones whenever a bolt of inspiration hit. He'd tried to sneak away once, and had immediately been dragged back to the center of the room, trying one about three or four more outfits.

It was starting to drive him crazy.

When the fourth hour rolled around, Huck considered leaping out of the window and making a run for it, but that was when Rarity announced, "I think I've finally got it!" She came out of her inspiration room, using her magic to hand Huck her two-hundredth design. "Go ahead! Try it on!"

Huck took a look at the new clothes that she had designed. It was a men's blazer colored a deep blue, with a crisp white shirt and matching pants. In place of his yellow and red pork pie hat was a navy blue fedora with a white band across it. The blazer's left breast pocket had the letters "HH" stitched with rubies and gold.

"Alright," he said, and tried the clothes on. To his surprise, it fit him perfectly. Looking at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help the smile that showed on his face. "This...this is actually very nice, Miss Rarity. Thank you."

"Indeed it is! You look fabulous!" she said. "I just need to make one or two adjustments before I let you take it with you." In a flash of light, Huck's new outfit had disappeared from his body and was back with Rarity, who trotted over to her inspiration room.

"I should've warned you about Rarity," Twilight said. "There's no stopping her when she's in 'the zone', so to speak."

"So I've noticed," Huck chuckled.

"Before we came here to make you look good," Spike started, "weren't you going to tell us everything about where you came from?"

"Yeah! I wanna hear all about Huck's world!"

Huck jumped back, his heart racing a mile per second, as Pinkie Pie pronked around in circles in front of him. "Wha...what in the Sam Hill? Where did you come from?!" he asked.

Pinkie paused mid-pronk and shrugged, standing on her hind legs to do so. "I came in through the back," she said, as if it were the most natural explanation for everything.

To Huck's surprise, Twilight and Spike looked mildly surprised at Pinkie's entrance. "Pinkie tends to do this a lot," Spike added. "You'll never know where she'll turn up."

That's nice to know, Huck thought, and cleared his throat. "Well, I'd suggest getting comfortable," he answered. "It's a long story."

"Ooh, I love long stories," Pinkie added, right before pulling a large bowl of popcorn from out of nowhere. She began stuffing her face with it, which earned her a shocked look from Huck.

"Don't mind her," Twilight said. "You can go ahead and start."

So Huck did. For the next ten minutes, he regaled his small audience with the story of how he had come to Equestria and what had brought him there. When he was finished, everyone was silent. Even Pinkie had stopped eating, which was a surprise for everypony. Rarity, who had come in late due to making the adjustments to Huck's outfit, was stunned. Spike looked over at Twilight, who appeared to be puzzled.

"Twi, are you okay?" he asked.

"Hmm..." Twilight scratched her chin with her left front hoof. She then looked up at Huck. "Something about this isn't right. You said you came here through a pool in the middle of a cave?"

"That's right," Huck answered. "To be honest, I have no idea how I did that."

"Neither do I. Mirror Pools just create duplicates of whoever steps into them," Twilight said. "That's what you fell into back in your world, by the way."

"So...those stories I heard about back home were true?" Huck asked, eyes wide. "That people came back with duplicates of themselves?"

The group stared at each other and then at Huck. Rarity asked, "You've heard of Mirror Pools before?"

"Well, kind of. Where I live, there's a lot of stories surrounding Mirror Pool Lane, where that there Mirror Pool was," he explained. "I thought those were just ghost stories, but I never thought they'd be true..."

Twilight looked at Huck, seeing the fear and worry on his face. Clearing her throat, she said, "Don't worry. I'm pretty sure there's a pretty good reason for this."

"There'd better be," Huck said. "I'm half worried that there might be a duplicate of me back home."

"Come with me back to the castle, and we can check the book about the Mirror Pool," Twilight said.

Huck looked puzzled. "The castle?" he repeated.

Twilight, who had already stood up and was making her way out the door, turned towards him with a sheepish grin. "Oh...I kind of forgot to mention this...I'm a princess," she explained.

Huck's jaw was level with the floor as he watched Twilight unfurl her previously unseen wings, which Spike climbed onto in order to reach her back. He had been making friendly conversation with a princess the entire time? He stared at the alicorn and her friends as they made their way out the door, only pausing to turn around to check on him.

"Are you coming, Huck?" Rarity asked.

Huck swallowed, as his mouth had gone drier than cotton. "C-Coming," he said, and jogged after them.

---

Twilight's castle, which sat in the far back of Ponyville, was one of the tallest and most unique buildings in the whole town. It appeared to be a crystal tree that had purple buildings embedded in it, bordered with gold. There were six crystal chains dangling from the second story of the castle, each colored a different color of the rainbow.

It was the most spectacular castle that Huck had ever seen. He stared up at it, almost bending over backwards to do so.

"Well, dog my cats," he breathed. "You really are a princess, Twilight." He paused, and then bowed before her. "I mean, Your Majesty," he corrected himself.

Twilight looked slightly uncomfortable at Huck's posture. "Uh, you really don't have to do all that, Huck. You can just call me Twilight. After all, it's not like I rule over you or anything," she said.

"You sure you're okay with that?" Huck asked, picking himself back up.

"Absolutely," she said.

"Oh, that's good," Huck said. "I was half-worried that you'd chop my head off for not calling you that."

"My goodness! What would make you think Twilight would do that?" Rarity asked, horror in her voice.

"Well, a king I once worked for said that anybody who didn't call him 'His Majesty' would lose their head," Huck replied.

"You worked for a king?" Twilight seemed surprised as they walked inside the castle.

"Yeah, as a knight, but not for very long, though," Huck responded, looking around the castle in awe. "I later had to leave because he was trying to force me to marry his daughter."

"I thought people would be happy to marry a princess," Spike said.

"Not me." Huck grimaced at the memory. "The princess was so ugly that marrying her was punishment for failure to slay a dragon. Even the dragon felt bad for me. He helped me escape, actually."

"Wow." Spike stared at the hound dog with wide eyes.

"Here we are!" Twilight said cheerfully, swinging open two large, golden doors. "Welcome to the library!"

Huck stared, awestruck, at the massive library that towered into the sky. Books of every color and size surrounded him at all angles.

"Wow," he said at last. "Where do we even begin to look?"

"At the 'M' section," Twilight said, "which is way up there."

Huck looked up at the second story. "Okay," he said. "I've got a feeling that this'll take a while."

"There's no need to rush research," Twilight said. "Come on, I'll help you look!"

Huck shrugged, and he and the others followed Twilight, who flew over to the second story. Huck sighed. "I wish I had wings," he said.

"Twilight would be happy to hear that," Spike said. "She's mostly gotten the hang of using them, but she tells me all the time that she wishes she were still a regular unicorn."

"She wasn't born as a princess?" Huck asked.

"Nope. She earned her role as a princess as part of this test," Spike explained. "She was originally just a nerdy, anti-social unicorn pony from Canterlot."

"I heard that, Spike!" Twilight snapped from upstairs.

"She may not like to hear it, but it's true," Spike said. "Come on. Let's head upstairs before Twilight tries to drag us up there."

Huck climbed up the stairs, his mind running on what Spike had just told him. Shuckins...there's a whole lot about these pony folk that I don't know about, he thought.

When he reached the top, he saw Twilight laying on the floor, her horn aglow and seven books floating around her. She tsked as she threw several aside, not caring as they crashed to the floor, some with enough force to break spines.

"Twilight, darling, don't you think you should be a little more careful?" Rarity suggested.

"I don't have time to do that now, Rarity!" Twilight answered. "I need answers, and I need them fast!"

"Well, she kind of has a point," Spike noted.

With a groan of frustration, Twilight placed the book back where she had found it. "I can't seem to find anything about Mirror Pools allowing travel! There has to be an explanation somewhere!"

"Twi, I think you need to just-"

"What if something horribly wrong is happening? What if something evil traveled through the portal the same way Huck did and is running loose through Equestria? I need to know just how the heck that's possible!" Twilight said, her voice rising in panic.

"Uh, Twilight?" Huck started. "If you're worried about something coming out of that there cave, I'd suggest that we should investigate where the Mirror Pool is and find out what's going on."

"I agree," Rarity said. "It certainly won't do us any good to panic just because we couldn't find the answers in a book."

Twilight sighed, defeated. "Okay, I guess you're right," she answered. "I just hope that my suspicions aren't true."

"I can lead us to the Mirror Pool!" Pinkie piped up, bouncing excitedly. "I've been there before!"

"Yes, we all remember what happened when you found it," Twilight replied, a small smile on her face. "Come on, guys. Let's find out what's going on."

---

"So this is the Everfree Forest, huh?" Huck inquired, looking around at the strange plants and animals that scurried about. "I didn't see this part of the forest when I came out of the cave."

"The Everfree Forest is very large, and very dangerous," Twilight explained. "There are monsters like manticores, hydras, cockatrices and much more."

"M-M-Manticores? As in, the creature with a body of a lion, dragon-like wings and a scorpion' tail?" Huck shuddered.

"Yep, that's the one," Twilight said. "You wouldn't want to come in contact with any of those."

"What kind of a place is this?" Huck muttered. "I thought it was supposed to be peaceful here."

"Well, whoever wrote that ad offer in the newspaper lied," Rarity said. "There are many dangers here in Equestria, and that's just right here outside the borders of Ponyville."

"Had I known that, I never would've come here," Huck said. Then again, I didn't even think that this place was real...

"I FOUND IT!" Pinkie's shout could have been heard from halfway across town. Twilight and Rarity raced ahead, forcing Huck to jog to catch up with them.

A few seconds later, they were in front of the large opening that led to the Mirror Pool. Pinkie happily pronked around the scene, chattering away about fun it would be to go in the pool again.

"This is where I came out of?" Huck inquired, more to himself than to anybody else.

"Well, there's no other Mirror Pool in the Everfree Forest," Twilight replied, walking to the entrance of the Mirror Pool. Her face was contorted into a small, suspicious frown as she looked down into the entrance. "You didn't move the boulder I had placed here, did you?"

"What boulder?" Huck was genuinely confused. "When I came out of there, sunlight was streaming through that hole. That's how I found my way out."

"But...you put a boulder here to block the Mirror Pool after that Pinkie Hurricane disaster was cleared up," Spike said to Twilight. "It should've stayed plugged up."

"That must've been a mighty big boulder," Huck noted. "Either somebody really strong moved it, or smashed it to bits."

Everyone turned and stared at him. He shrugged. "Those are the only ways that boulder could've been moved," he said.

"Looks like somepony moved it and smashed it to bits," Pinkie noted. "Look over there by that tree!"

Everyone looked in the direction that Pinkie was looking in. Farther in the back of the forest, there was a pile of rubble not too far from the opening of the pool. Only a few large pieces of rock made Twilight recognize it as the boulder she'd used to plug up the Mirror Pool.

"Who could've done this?" she whispered.

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

The hairs on Twilight's coat rose as a watery voice echoed into existence. Pinkie, Rarity and Spike started to shake with fear, and even Huck started to take a step back. Twiling ground her hooves into the ground, her shock melting away to reveal an angry scowl.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" she demanded.

There wasn't a response for a long time. Then a rush of roaring wind burst from the opening of the Mirror Pool, followed by an emerald green mist that spun around to form a cyclone of energy. Everyone braced themselves, prepared to fight or flee.

The cyclone collapsed in on itself to reveal a tall creature dressed in tattered black robes. It had reed thin arms which were bone white, and black fingernails gleamed in the bright light. Green eyes peeked out of the hood, glowering down at the party. Power flowed out of them in glittering streams of purple mist. Rarity screamed and Pinkie jumped backwards, holding onto Huck in fear. Twilight backed away from the mysterious creature, feeling the evil and coldness coming from it. She hadn't felt anything like that since King Sombra had invaded the Crystal Empire.

But something inside her told her that this thing was worse than Sombra.

Much, much worse.

"W-What is that thing?!" Spike demanded.

"I don't know...but I don't like the looks of it," Twilight responded at last.

"I..I remember you," Huck said, staring at the creature. His tone became heated with anger. "You...you sent me here!"

"He did?" Pinkie asked.

"Yeah." Huck glared at the human. He really did follow me here...

"Everypony, prepare to run! I'll hold him off!"

"You are woefully outclassed, little pony. You won't last long," the figure spoke, sending ice racing down Twilight's spine. It then turned in the direction of her friends. "And neither will any of your friends."

Only the flicker of the creature's hand gave Twilight the barest of warnings. A deadly bolt of green and black magic raced through the air, aimed right at Pinkie. Twilight's horn ignited, prepared to cast a force field over them, when Huck threw Pinkie over to Rarity a split second before the bolt made contact. A hollow explosion sounded moments later, and Huck was sent flying in the air, screaming in agony.

"HUCK! NO!" everyone screamed. There was a loud crash as the coonhound hit the ground, rolling to a stop near a boulder. He struggled to stand up, but collapsed a second later. It was then that Twilight noticed that part of his fur was singed.

"That takes care of one problem. Now for the others," the figure said, turning towards Twilight. Another flick of the hand, and another bolt raced towards her.

Twilight wasn't slow this time. In a burst of light, she teleported to where Rarity and Pinkie were, right as the bolt crashed into a bush. The bush was incinerated on contact.

The figure turned towards the three ponies and the dragon, who were all starting to get into fighting positions. Twilight's face was full of rage, as was Pinkie's. Spike stood his ground in front of Rarity, who looked ready to charge headlong into it.

It was one thing to threaten them. It was something entirely different to attack a defenseless stranger.

"You shouldn't have done that," Twilight said softly, right before her horn ignited with magic. She disappeared again, and a split second later appeared in mid-air, sending blasts of magic towards her enemy. The human disappeared in cyclone of green mist just as a bolt of magenta magic zipped through, tearing a hole through a tree.

"Twilight, behind you!" Rarity called.

Twilight turned around, just in time to put up a barrier as the human unleashed a torrent of green and black energy bolts. She then teleported again, this time right above the human. Gathering all of her magic together, she sent a large sphere of magenta light crashing down on the human, watching with grim satisfaction as it crashed to the ground with enough force to shatter it. She heard the surprised yelps from her friends below, and realized that she had to be careful. As angry as she was at this creature, she couldn't risk using such attacks when her friends were right in the blast zone.

"Girls, take Huck out of here and get back to Ponyville! I'll handle this thing myself!" she shouted.

"Should we send for help?" Spike asked.

"Get a letter to Princess Celestia as fast as you can!" Twilight braced herself as the creature raced towards her, a long, jagged sword in its hand. She backed off as it swung, the tip of the blade brushing against her right hind leg. "HURRY!"

Spike looked uneasy about leaving Twilight, but that was when the creature aimed a bolt at Huck. He jumped down, relieved to see a familiar magenta glow cover the unconscious hound. The bolt bounced off of the force field and pinwheeled into another bush, setting that one on fire.

"Come on, Spike!" As soon as Twilight's force field went down, Rarity used her magic to lift Huck onto her back. She grunted at the weight of his body on hers, but seeing as the hound was injured, she couldn't care less. "We've got to get to Ponyville Hospital, now!"

With that, the three made their way out of the Everfree Forest as fast as they could, leaving Twilight alone with the creature. She turned towards him, glaring into his glowing eyes.

"You refused to heed my words, pony. And you will die for doing so," the creature snarled.

An uncharacteristically cocky smirk crossed Twilight's face. "Bring it on."

Author's Note:

Thanks to all the people who have read and favorited this story so far! I didn't really expect to be writing this chapter so soon, but after seeing people favorite and review, I was inspired to write some more! You guys rock

So, the plot thickens here. The strange human that attacked Huck followed him to Equestria and knocked him out, only to be challenged by Twilight Sparkle. For the fight scene, I was inspired by the infamous Twilight vs. Tirek fight for some of the blasts, and I used some of her attacks here for this fight. I also had some fun writing up the scenes with Huck and the others, particularly the part when he finds out Twilight's a princess. And before you gripe, Huck did think that Twilight was a unicorn before she revealed her alicornhood, as he wasn't close enough to see her wings; hence why the narrative called her an unicorn.

Next chapter will have Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy and the princesses, as well as more insight on our bad guy.

Let me know what you think of this chapter!

~Rare Twinkie

Comments

[thtiger]

You get a thumbs up for just the concept.

[PhycoKrusk]

... but seeing as the hound was injured, she could care less.

Couldn't care less. Saying that she could care less implies that the thought of what she was doing was still at the forefront of her mind. If she couldn't care less, then what happened was a complete nonissue to her.

People make this mistake often. It really rustles my gears and grinds my jimmies.

[Rare Twinkie]

6151353 Whoops, didn't realize I put that there. I'll get to editing that as soon as possible!

[Rare Twinkie]

6150347 Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

[RealityDowngrade]

Hmm, things certainly escalated quickly here.