A Rifting Rebirth

by Undead Night Fury

A Rifting Rebirth - The Ticket Master

It has been a few days since the whole Nightmare Moon incident and I was still laying on my left side allowing my right side to heal. At least I was healed enough that I could stand and move about a bit. It still hurt to do so, but I was able to get out of the house, as long as I returned to have Fluttershy to get my bandages redone every so often.

Yesterday I was asked by Fluttershy to head to Twilight‘s library to answer questions about just what I am. Glancing at the door, I knew that there was a pair of royal guards just outside the door. Over the last few days, I was fed a couple of rather large fish a day after I explained I couldn’t eat plants.

Figuring I’d start making my way to the library in town, knowing it will take me a while to get there. Getting up and wincing at the aching of my body, I made my way to the door. Opening the door startled the two guards standing outside.

“Halt!” the left guard, a pegasus barked at me with hostility.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the right guard asked, looking at me suspiciously, while the unicorns horn charged some unknown spell.

“I am just going to make my way to the library where Twilight Sparkle has asked to question me,” I calmly explained to the jumpy guards. They eyed me for a moment, like they were sizing me up for a fight.

“Alright, you may pass, but by order of Princess Celestia, we are to accompany you everywhere you go until we are ordered otherwise!” the right guard seemingly satisfied with what he found.

I just sort of shrug, make my way past them, and start my journey to the golden oak library slowly, with the guards taking up positions right behind me. Over the next 20 minutes, we made our way slowly through the countryside. Taking in the sights around me, enjoying seeing Equestria in person.

We passed by some kind of barn-like structure on our way into town. I was curious as to what it was, but I didn’t really want to deviate from the path in case the guards get jumpy. So, after taking a moment to rest and take in the sights around the area, we continued on our way. It took us another 30 minutes to get into Ponyville proper, due to me starting to limp really badly from my injuries.

===---+---===

As expected, the moment ponies noticed me approaching, they panicked. Soon, there was barely anyone left outside, as I, once again, had to lay down and rest for a little bit, or I would risk injuring myself farther. Looking around, I saw that I lay down near the town hall. Sniffing the air, I could smell the poor ponies’ fear in the air. Letting out a small sigh, I knew that it would take time for them to learn to trust me, but it really hurt to see them so scared of me.

After resting for around 10 minutes, I got back up onto my paws and continued to make my way to the library. After seeing me lay there doing nothing with two royal guards beside me for 10 minutes, the ponies had slowly started to come out of hiding.

Walking past a cafe I made sure I stayed off to the side, well away from the nervous ponies. I saw Twilight and Spike sitting at a table. Twilight looked very depressed, until a pony walked up to her. Suddenly, Twilight shouted out, “I CAN’T DECIDE!” An old memory was drawn to the forefront of my mind. Glancing up and saw the rain clouds being moved into position by pegasi.

“Uh… Twi-“ I started, but it was too late, and ponies stampeded into the restaurant as it started pouring rain.

Surprising me slightly, the rain felt very pleasant on my scaly hide, letting out a sigh of pleasure and just laid down, letting the rain soothe my aching body and itchy scales. Because of this, I missed warning Twilight to move inside before yelling at rainbow dash to seal up the cloud, I also didn’t notice Rarity walking up on Twilight until she had grabbed Twilight and ran off back the way I just came.

Resting until the rain stopped a few hours later, I got back onto my paws and walked the last few blocks to the library. Approaching the library, I saw none other than Fluttershy and a bunch of animals walking up to the library as well.

“Phantom? What are you doing outside?” she said so softly that if I didn’t have a heightened sense of hearing, I wouldn’t have heard it.

“You said that Twilight had asked me to come to the library when I was able to walk better to answer some questions Fluttershy.” I replied softly in return so I wouldn’t startle the gentle Pegasus.

“Oh, my but you shouldn’t have made the journey today Phantom, you’re still too hurt!” She said shocked rushing over to check me over for any additional injuries.

“I’m fine, Fluttershy. I took it slowly so I wouldn’t hurt myself and rested regularly if I felt too tired. You can ask my guards if you want” I explained, knowing very well that the shy Pegasus wouldn’t be able to.

Fluttershy looked like she wanted to say something else, but she saw that I was still ok and went into the library. Waiting for the other animals to enter first, due to them being skittish around me from being a predator. Waiting a moment to give the animals time to move away from the door before entering the library, the guards took, well, guard outside the door. Looking at the small room full of books, I saw Fluttershy, a few birds, a single squirrel, and Angel the Rabbit cleaning the library.

Walking over to lay down in the corner of the room, resting my tired and aching body while I waited for twilight to come back and question me. After about an hour, Twilight opens the door and walks in. Immediately distracted by Fluttershy, she didn’t notice me off in the corner.

“Gasp! Fluttershy, not you too!” Twilight exclaimed

“Oh, hello, Twilight. I hope you don’t mind, but we are all doing a little spring cleaning.” Fluttershy explained softly.

“It’s summer.” Twilight deadpanned.

“Oh… better late than never, right?” Fluttershy said, blushing in embarrassment at her ploy being caught so easily. Letting out a small laugh at that, catching the attention of Twilight.

“P-Phantom, I… I d-didn’t see you there!” She said nervously.

“Don’t mind me, Twilight. I’m just resting here until you’re ready to question me.” I explained, motioning for her to go back to what she was doing. Looking excited at me for a moment, she shook her head and turned back to Fluttershy.

“You’re not doing this just for the ticket, right?” Twilight asked, glaring suspiciously at Fluttershy.

“Oh, no, I’m doing this because you’re my best friend, right Angel?” Fluttershy asks the rabbit who just glares at her, unamused.

“Oh… yes, we are just doing this for the ticket.” Fluttershy amended as I let out a slight snort, getting a glare from both ponies for a moment before they went back to their conversation.

“No, no, no!” Twilight shouted, knocking over the poor rabbit, ruining the salad he made for her.

“Well, this is all very nice of you and your animals Fluttershy, but I’m not accepting any extra favors until I’ve made my decision, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave!” Twilight said, opening the door and pointing a hoof outside.

“Me, too?” I asked innocently with a tilted head, knowing that any second pinkie pie was going to appear and swipe twilight away.

“No Phantom, you can st-“ Twilight started to say before a lot of ponies yelled in surprise and pinkie pie grabbed twilight and pulled her out of the library.

Soon, I was left alone after Fluttershy made another quick check on my bandages and then quickly left with the other animals to do whatever they were going to do. About a half an hour later the mane six entered the library, gave me a glance for a moment and went upstairs to wait for Twilight.

Soon afterwards, Twilight teleported into the room with Spike, looking a little worse for wear. When the rest of the mane six turned on the lights, Twilight screamed and started to freak out and rant.

“Twilight, sugar, I’m sorry I put so much pressure on you. I don’t want the ticket anymore; you can give it to somepony else.” Applejack said while Fluttershy flew over to the pair.

“Me, too, I feel just afoul that I made you feel so bad.” Fluttershy said while the rest continued apologizing to twilight.

I watched as Twilight sent the tickets back, saying that if all her friends couldn’t go, then she wouldn’t either. Spike sent the letter and tickets back to Princess Celestia via his dragonfire. A few minutes later, the princess sent a letter and six tickets while the girls celebrated. Spike looked disappointed at not getting a ticket before he burped up another letter.

“And one for you Spike and Phantom, each.” Spike read, holding up two extra tickets. It shocked me that I was also invited, despite being an unknown, carnivorous super predator.

The mane six turns to look at me, just as surprised at me being invited as well. After a little while, everyone started to file out, and it was time for me to be questioned. It was decided that I was to spend the night here, since it was a bad idea for me to move about in the evening. Twilight lay down on a pillow near me, floating a notepad and a quill in the air around her head.

“So, what exactly are you, Phantom?” she asked, looking at me excitedly.

“Well, Um… I’m a dinosaur hybrid, an ancient reptilian species that is mostly extinct.” I explained patiently, while twilight was writing it down.

“What are your normal habits?” she asked next.

“Normally, I wake up and go hunting for food. After that, I find stuff to entertain myself with until it's time to go to bed and start over again the next day.” I listed out what I do with my time.

“What about your species’ habitat?” she asked after writing down the information of the previous question.

“My specific species doesn’t really have one. As I said, I’m a hybrid of one pure breed and another hybrid, so I don’t really have a specific habitat.” I explained to the genius pony, as she wrote it all down.

“What about your… diet?” She asked with slight hesitation, I was really nervous about this question.

“...Meat. I am a carnivore. My body cannot- ...um, is incapable of digesting plant matter...” I explain hesitantly, nervous at her reaction. She glanced at me with a look of terror on her muzzle, her fear was so strong I would be able to smell it a mile away.

“What about your species’ government?” She asked me still slightly green and nervous.

“We don’t exactly have one. We mostly live wild, so we don’t really have one outside maybe elders if they were in a pack. We don’t have any economy either… except maybe food.” I explained in a calm tone, trying to calm her down a bit.

After she wrote that down, she noticed it was getting really late and told me she was going to bed. I nodded to her, curled up into a ball, and fell asleep soon after that.

Author's Note:

People seem to have downvoted the story... I would like to know why please leave a comment if you downvote so I know what I did wrong!

===---+---===

Updated: 9/2/2022 8:12 PM EST - Rewrote chapter!

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Shouldn't NightTalon be two words?

[robotic]

I'm enjoying the story pretty well I haven't down voted nor upvoted. Though dont try to rush things like in the 1st chapter to me it felt too rushed like you couldn't wait to get to the main story. Now it doesn't feel as badly rushed. Take your time bud though good job so far.

[Undead Night Fury]

10310031
Your right it is in this story... im just so used to writing it all as one word since NightTalon is a OC of mine who this OC is partly based off of...

[Undead Night Fury]

10310159
Trust me I am trying to take my time... the betas have heavily edited it from what I originally wrote cuz I had rushed it too much!

[Xblaster]

10310212
Actually NightTalon could be written like that personally, it sounds fine and if you want you can write it as Night Talon.

[Undead Night Fury]

10570564
you will find that I tend to alternate between calling him talon and night talon in the story itself... but I havent really changed the title as I kinda wanna keep that one link to the OC that this night talon was originally based off...