Why me?

by Miner

Cheese's H&H

Ah, just what I wanted. To be called away from my daily activities to follow some random stranger. What else does this day happen store for me? Now I know following a random stranger somewhere is not a great idea even if they are an official person. But, let's get real, when has anything gone my way in this world?

Besides, I'm done fighting and simply going with the flow at this point. It is not as if I can fight against it; like what happened with Applejack, it's not worth it. That doesn't mean I'm going to be dumb while doing it. However, he insisted on me being next to him or in front of him the whole time. I counter him simply by saying I was very cautious of strangers and always preferred to have them in front of me.

This went to a lot of back and forth until we agreed. He would tell me the directions we were going, then he would go first, and I would follow. And that's where we find ourselves here. Just a little while off the edge of Pony Ville. At a lonely little house near the spooky forest. Check that this is an old two-story mansion. Why would somepony build one way out here is beyond me. The guard stands at the house entrance with the door ajar, looking back at me.

"Mam, you have to come inside."

"Not going to happen."

"Why not?"

I look to the building that we are supposed to be going inside to 'talk.' It looks like a rundown haunted house that's only missing the lightning background effect. If I didn't know any better, I thought I was staring at the haunted house that was in the intro in the original Scooby-doo TV show. But there's no way. That was just a made-up kid's show. However, I did see some bats fly out of a window just now. "You're kidding, right?"

"I assure you I'm 100% serious."

I looked at the house again, and I was confident that I saw a creepy clown go walking by a window. "I'm not auditioning for your haunted house,"

"I can assure you this place is not haunted. Those are merely nightmare night decorations and cosplaying ponies."

I looked at a house once again and thought I saw a skeleton pony walking by another window, followed by a zombie pony. "You're not fooling me. I'm out of here." I turned around to go back to town as I heard him call out behind.

"I am afraid I can't allow that."

"Bite me. I am not staying here." I start to sprint but stop the moment a black thing drops in front of me, showing his long, big fangs.

It hisses at me before growling at me, "Don't tempt me. You are not getting away this time."

I take a few steps back, unsure of how to handle this. "Have we met before?"

He growls as he points his forelegs at me. "YES. You ran away from me screaming at the top of your lungs!"

"Oh, you're a changeling." He must be the same one from that night. Now that I think about it. Nopony said anything about getting him. So, he must have gotten away. "I didn't get a good look at you that night. How can I help you?"

"You can start by getting into the house."

I look back to the mansion and at the changeling, noticing that the guard is not there anymore. I didn't think this through. "In high sight, following a stranger to the edge of town was a terrible idea." He is taking a big gamble trying to capture me in mid-day. I guess he must have thought that he could get the element of surprise if he did. Well, it worked. Now how do I get out of this? "Question?"

"What?!" He cries out in frustration.

"Can I talk you out of this?"

"NO!"

"Fine. I will go in the house." I turned to face the house before a grin came to my face, "But I am not waiting for you."

"What?"

---

Third-person point of view,

Jessica sprints into the house, closing the door behind her. The changeling who was flying after her slams into the door face first. He pulls himself out and tries to open the door. Only to find it locked. He slams his forelegs onto the door a few times, shouting at it. "Open up!"

To his surprise, it did with Jessica smiling back at him. "Yes?" In his shock, she closes the door on him.

Snapping out of it, he shouts again. "Hay! Open up!"

Jessica snickers as she looks around. The house was lit by candlelight, giving the old wood furniture a moody feel. She could see a hallway of doors to her left, and to the right was another door leading somewhere else. The low lighting gives her goosebumps as she sees a couple of ponies in costume. One was dressed up as a zombie, and the other was a skeleton. By her guess, they were pegasus stallions. The skeleton was hovering in the air, lighting more candles while the other was rummaging through a box. They didn't seem bothered by her or the changeling outside, as they continued their tasks as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Seeing them gave her confidence as she called out to changeling on the other side of the door. "What is the password?"

"Huh?"

"What is the password?"

He thinks about it before simply saying. "Please?" A few moments of silence passed before the sound of a door unlocking could be heard.

Smiling to himself. He opens the door to see Jessica running down the hallway before entering a random room. Quickly he gives chase, passing by the two Pegasus. The skeleton waves at him. "Hay Hemolymph, how are you doing?"

"Not now. Got a mare to chase!" He says over his shoulder, entering the same room Jessica went in.

"I was going to ask you about that." The Zombie calls out as the door closes. And as soon as that door closed, two doors down opened with Jessica exiting it before entering another door. Hemolymph leaves the same door Jessica just entered, trying to find where she went before charging into another room. Confused, the Zombie calls out again. "So, is she your marefriend or something?"

Hemolymph sticks his head out of a room. "Yes. She is. If you are so kind, help me catch her, guys. I would appreciate it."

The two undead ponies look at each other before the skeleton replies. "I am not sure. We got to get these decorations up. Pinkamena wouldn't be happy did we don't get these done."

"Apple cider is on me tonight."

As soon as he says that, the door next to him opens as Jessica calls out. "No fair bribing them!" Jessica quickly calls out before going back into the room with Hemolymph right on her tail.

The Zombie moves to give chase but is stopped when the skeleton speaks up. "Thunderlane, I thought that you were going to help me with this."

"Ah, think of this as on-the-job practice." He says quickly before joining the chase.

The skeleton groans as he goes back to work; Not caring about the complete random chaos behind him.

Jessica exits another room, not noticing that her outfit had changed from yellow to green, and she lost her hat at one point before going into another room. Thunderlane exits a room confused before seeing the other two going into the farthest room and closing the door behind them. Thunderlane was about to enter that room only to see Jessica exiting another door and stopping behind him. She panics and goes back to her room earlier with Thunderlane close behind.

Hemolymph exits another room before entering a random one with a white bedsheet drape across his back. A random scream could be heard from the room he had entered with the sound of a slap followed shortly afterward as he wobbles exiting the room with a large red mark on his face. Thunderlane runs past him as he shakes his head. Jessica stealthy exits a room backward, not looking behind her as she bumps into the changeling. They both yep and enter a random room. Thunderlane exits a room in a panic as an angry white cat with a purple bow on its head was latch onto his face. He screams before prying it off his face and throwing it into another room with the sound of something breaking coming from inside. Cringing, he courageously enters the same room. Just missed Jessica leaving a room in a Wonder Woman outfit. She stops giving herself a look over before crying out.

"How is this even happening!?" Her shout causes two doors to open as her foes stare her down. Quickly she enters the closest room with them right behind her. Not before they crash into each other trying to get into the room.

Hemolymph groans as he glares at his help. "Watch where you are going!"

"Sorry." Thunderlane says as he follows Hemolymph into the room. But then he sticks his head out, calling out. "Oh, Zephyr Breeze. Room third needs a cleanup."

Zephyr groans as he moves to said room as Jessica leaves another room screaming as Hemolymph chases her holding a knife in his mouth. He moves out of the way as the couple enters another room. "This is the last time I help out friends." He says aloud as the situation earlier was reversed as they passed by him. As Zephyr enters the room, Jessica stops in the middle of the hallway. Looking around, she didn't see anypony and was back in her original outfit somehow, but her hat was still missing. Before she could think about it. Thunderlane runs screaming out of a room with the cat running and clawing across his body with said hat stuck on his face. He ran in circles screaming 'get it' before knocking himself out by ramming into a wall. The cat proves to be smarter than him as it got off him before the collision with the wall. It angrily hisses at him as it waves its paw claws out before entering another room with its noose in the air.

Quickly, Jessica grabs her hat before leaving the hallway and enters the other door near the entrance. But she comes to a stop with a questionable look on her face. "What am I doing? I got to get out of here!" But before she could leave through the front door. Hemolymph enters the room from the said door, confused about getting there. Changing her mind, Jessica goes further into the house with Hemolymph right on her tail.

---

Jessica point of view,

A small part of me is having fun in this weird game of tag. The rest, not so much. I open another door to find a vampire pony going to bite a pony. They stop and glare at me, "Do you mind?" The vampire says before the victim grabs the door and closes it as screams can be heard from inside. Okay? I move to the next door to find someponies dancing around a bonfire in ritual dance. I am not going to question it. I closed that one and opened the next, only to close my eyes as a giant wave of air blasts at my face as something monstrous roars at me. Screaming, I quickly close the door and keep on running. I was running in a blind panic until I ran into a dead end. Skidding to a halt. I turn to face the changeling. Who looks like he was out of breath?

"You don't work out much, do you?"

"It has been a long time since I had to chase somepony as fast as you. How are you running so fast in a dress!"

I notice that my dress doesn't have anything wrong with it. If I didn't know any better, I thought I had just put it on. What was this made of? "I have no idea. I should have fallen flat on my face five minutes ago. I guess I am that good."

"Yes, now you have nowhere to run!"

Jessica holds up one hoof as she asks. "Quick question before you volatile me."

"WHAT!"

"Where are we?"

His eye twitches before dragging a hoof down his face. "Cheese's H&H. Some ponies wanted to show off their scary side and still have fun while doing it. So, this is what they came up with. It is the perfect place for changelings to be themselves while hiding in plain sight." He grins as she closes in on her. "And the perfect place to ponnynapped somepony with no pony being the wiser. Now then. You are coming with me. And your bewitching charms won't work on me this time."

I should be scared for what he has planned for me, but. "You think I have bewitching charms?"

That stops him as a slight blush covers his checks. "Yes, no." I snicker as he shakes his head. "Stop distracting me! Our little game of hide n seek is over!"

"Hello," A low menacing voice called out to us. I look over the changeling to see one of the scariest things I have ever seen. It was a pony with a knife dripping with blood in the shadows, slowly moving towards us. My blood ran cold as she got closer, knocking something that looked like a head away from her hooves. "Is everypony having fun?"

"Yes." The changeling squeaks apparently just as scared as I am.

"Good." She says, licking the blade. "I would hate to find somepony not having fun here." She stops in front of the changeling lifting the blade to his face. "We wouldn't want that would we?" It shines in the candlelight showing his reflection in the blade. What kind of world is this?! I thought that the worse thing here was dealing with perverts. Why is there a serial killer here! I was going to scream the moment the changeling fell dead to the floor but was stopped when a familiar voice could be heard. "Hamburgers! I did it again." The mare moves into the light to reveal Pinkie Pie with her mane flat holding a knife covered in red icing. "That makes three ponies in one day. How am I so scary?!"

Still scared, I quietly call out to her. "Pinkie?"

"I mean, at first, they say I am not scary enough with my chicken outfit. So, I remember when Rainbow said I was scary when I was having a meltdown about no pony going to gummies after birthday party. So, I decided to go with that look and then got this toy knife from Cheesesandwich when he said that it would go great with my look. But now they are saying that I am too scary. I have no idea why ponies are so afraid of me with my mane flat hold a fake knife." She says, bending the knife in her hooves as it squeaks. "I am not even doing anything. How is this too scary. I am not that scary, am I Jessica? Jessica?" Oh, she just noticed that I am here too. "When did you get here? I didn't know you enjoy this kind of fun."

"NO!" I squeal before coughing. "I mean no. I got chased into here by this changeling. I was only looking for a place to work."

"Oh, this is a real changeling?" Pinkie looks down at the changeling as one of his legs twitches. "I thought that Hemolymph was just an excellent cosplayer." She slaps light on his face with her knife waking up. Seeing Pinkie again, he freezes up. "So, changeling. Just what were you going to do with Jessica?"

"I was going to bring her to the queen."

"Oh, you're one of the bad changelings."

"Ah."

Pinkie turns around and brings her forelegs to each side of her mouth. And yelling at the top of her lungs. "CODE BLACK! WE HAVE A ROUGE CHANGELING IN THE BUILDING!" The sound of many hooves could be heard across the house. Before long, the other end of the hallway was filled with all kinds of creatures of nightmares and fairytales. I did spot an awesome cosplayer of a dragon. I wonder how he pulled that off. Before I could think of anything else. Pinkie points to the changeling, "Get him."

Before I knew the changeling was getting attacked by the horde and carried off somewhere unknown. Pinkie smiles back at me. "We got this. Sit tight. I will be right back." She quickly joins the mob as the screams of a changeling could be heard going down the hall.

I sat there petrified. I was still starring at the end of the hall. I thought that this world was a bunch of friendly ponies that were all 'sugar and spice everything nice.' I was wrong. "I am never leaving the Boutique again."

Author's Note:

What does the H&H stand for?

Comments

[Cyana Flame]

[bonberjean]

Okay... now I regret taking so long to read this chapter