Lucas Chronicles, the Afterstory Part 2: Monster Behind Mountain Dew Interlude; Of Skillets, Waffles, and Other Things

After about ten minutes of Bobbery exploding the worms, I decided that I should gather my things together as well. Plus, I think I started going deaf.

Also, ten-minute old puke is NOT the most pleasant smell.

Not wanting to endure either of these any longer, I stood on my feet and hobbled back towards the forest. As I reached its edge, I noticed Jen had decided to lie down on her side.

But... I noticed red goo had been smeared on her throat. I walked over and knelt down to inspect it a bit more closely. Is this... blood?

I didn't want to believe it... But it was blood... Jen Ledger was dead... I covered my mouth and backed away. I stumbled onto my backside and started sobbing. W-What happened...?

I froze as I heard a moan and a shuffle in the leaves. I slowly stood up and withdrew Chillrend. "H-Hello?" I called. The moaning grew loader, "F-Fluttershy? J-John? Korey? Seth? A-Anyone?"

I scanned the area. Seeing nothing, I inched my way towards the moans. It wasn't long before I found what had been uttering those sounds...

In that moment, my heart stopped, horrified at what stood before me. I-It can't be! NO! IT CAN'T BE!!! I sheathed my sword as Fluttershy stood there, gazing upward aimlessly. Her fur no longer held it's vivid yellow hue, rather was now a pale-grey. Her mouth hung opened, with blood dripping from her jaw.

Jen's blood...

"No!" I cried. 'Fluttershy' looked down at me. But it wasn't her eyes... These eyes were glazed over, and their whites were stained with a sickly brown.

She stepped toward me, moaning again. She tripped, ruffling her mane, now a significantly duller pink. She stood up and took another step.

"NO!!!" I yelled again, this time pushing her back. She continued to walk towards me. I continued to push. "NO!!!!!" I screamed, this time shoving her to the ground with both my hands. I sat down, crying. Again, she walked over, reaching her hoof and growling. I kicked her away. "H-How did this happen?!? That worm was supposed to be the early stages of the zombie virus!" She crawled towards me.

...I didn't care anymore...

At this rate, Fluttershy had probably already bitten the band-mates since they were unaware, Jen had probably already reanimated along with the rest of them, and they were probably on their way here to eat me.

I just dropped my head into my lap and started crying. There really wasn't anything else I could do. I felt a hoof touch my foot. I look up to see Fluttershy had crawled all the way back towards me and was about to take a chunk out of my calf.

Deciding that I actually wanted to survive today, I pulled my leg away and stood up. Out of sheer rage and sorrow, I grabbed Fluttershy by the fur on her chest and threw her. I ran my hands through my hair and sobbed. Then, I shakily drew Chillrend again and whispered, "I-I'm sorry, F-Fluttershy... I'm so, so sorry..."

As I readied to strike, a pair of hooves wrapped around my neck. I screamed the most high-pitched scream of terror as I heard a shout.

"GOTCHA!"

"...W-What?" I turned to see John let go of me and roll backwards, laughing hysterically.

I looked back to where I had thrown Fluttershy, who was now rubbing her wings and flank. I think I even heard her mumble something along the lines of, "Ow... That really hurt..."

"What's going on?!?" I shouted angrily.

"Oh man!" Korey appeared, "We really got you good!"

Jen and Seth soon followed, laughing hysterically. I scowled, realizing I had become the victim of a prank. "I hate you guys so much." This just caused them to laugh even harder.

"E-Even m-me?" Fluttershy asked, sounding as if she were on the edge of tears.

I turned to face her, only to be greeted by huge, turquoise, oceans of cuteness that could explode even the coldest of hearts. My frown melted as I sighed, "...No... How can I be mad when you always look at me with those eyes? I swear, you could probably take over the world by just using your eyes..." She was taken slightly aback my 'world domination' comment, but blushed when she realized I was complimenting her. Then, I realized, "OH CRAP." A sharp pang of guilt stabbed my chest. "I actually kicked you. The real you. I even threw you! Are you okay? I'm SO sorry! I didn't know!"

She rubbed her wings again, "Oh, I'm okay. You didn't mean to. You didn't realize we were just joking with you. After watching you get attacked by a real Walker, I figured you would react like this when John told us what he wanted to do. I was prepared." She gave small smile.

So, it was JOHN'S idea...

"JOHN!!!!"

"Yes?" He tried to respond through his laughter.

I stomped over and gave his face backhanded slap as I growled, "Now, we're even."

He just laughed as he started rubbing his face, "Yeah, I guess I kinda deserved that one. Totally worth it, though!"

I just sighed as I shook my head. "I do have a few questions though."

"Fire away." He smiled, still rubbing his now-red muzzle.

I started, "How did you guys make Fluttershy's coat and mane so pale?"

"Dirt and dust!" Korey stated with a huge grin plastered on her face.

I nodded. "That's understandable, now that I think about it. But what about her eyes? How did you make them look like a Walker's?"

Fluttershy answered that one. "You remember my special 'Stare', right?" Although she had never used it during my last visit to Equestria, I remembered it from the show, so I simply nodded. She continued, "I simply tweaked it slightly, causing my eyes to change, like this." She closed her eyes, squeezed them, then reopened them. They looked just like they had during the prank. She blinked again, causing them to revert the their original turquoise color.

But that wasn't normal, not for a pegasus... which brought me to my final question. I felt my face fall into a stern look as I asked in an equally stern voice, "What the bloody heck was that back in the prison?"

The band finally stopped laughing as Fluttershy's ears dropped at hearing my sudden roughness. "W-What do you mea-"

"Don't play dumb." She squeaked as I interrupted her. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. What the literal crap was with the whole 'monster' thing?" Her pupils shank at the accusation as they flooded with acknowledgement. "Ah, so you do remember. Why did your muscles bulk out? Why did you're teeth sharpen like knives? Why did you almost kill Carl?!?" I clenched my fist and looked down, shadows covering my eyes. "...Why did you become a monster?"

"She did WHAT?!?" Korey, Seth, and Jen exclaimed in unision. At this point, the band had cast confused glances between Fluttershy and me, save John, who kept a stoic stare on the mare.

She sobbed as fearful tears started to fall. "I... I... I..."

Even though it hurt to see her cry like that, I forced myself to remain stone cold. It nearly killed me... But, I had to know why she did what she did. As long as that beast ran amok inside her head, Equestria wasn't safe. "...'You' what?" I forced myself to ask as coldly as possible.

She took a step backwards, sobbing even harder. "I... I-I didn't want to tell you guys... I th-thought y-you might l-leave me i-if I told you what I've bec-come..."

Jen consoled, "You can tell us. We won't leave, we promise!" She flashed a gentle smile as she gave some familiar encouragement. "We're a team, remember?"

Fluttershy sniffed, "...P-P-P-Promise?"

We all nodded as Jen replied, "Promise."

Calming down to an extent, Fluttershy started explaining, "It all s-started after Lucas and his friends left after his last v-visit. Celestia wasn't v-very happy...Actually, she was very m-mad... She t-tried all sorts of th-things to get you to c-come b-back. After hearing you had returned to retrieve J-Jeremy's Xbox, she flew to P-Ponyville as fast as she c-could... but you had a-already l-left... Then, she was beyond mad... She s-studied the w-wavelengths and p-properties of the t-t-trans-dimensional rift you left behind. U-Using this kn-knowledge, she t-tried e-experimenting on R-Rainbow D-Dash, R-Rarity, and me to find a loophole... a w-way through... s-she never f-found one..."

She took a deep breath, calming down even more. "Rainbow Dash and Rarity quit after the first few experiments. But the experiments made things really hard for them... Rainbow Dash had to stay in Cloudsdale most of the time to make up for lost work... that's where she met Bill, the rogue Changeling... And Rarity had to move to Manehatten because of all her lost time... She thought it was the only way to make all the money back that she lost...

"I was all alone now... I continued on with the experiments, hoping for some form of miracle... The miracle never came... Instead, THAT happened to me... Whenever I get really frustrated- and I mean REALLY frustrated- I become that... thing. The first few times I transformed... It wasn't pretty..." She closed her eyes as more tears started to fall, "I hurt so many ponies... I did eventually learn to control it to where I wouldn't hurt my friends and would recognize them, but the thing that would set me off usually didn't survive..."

"So," I mumbled, "Celestia turned you into a weapon..."

She nodded as her chest heaved and her sobbing returned. "I-I've done so many b-bad th-things... I d-didn't w-want to hurt anyp-pony... But I h-hurt s-so m-many... H-How d-did I g-get h-h-here...? I-I-I'm n-not who I once was..."

Just then, she felt hooves wrap around her neck. Her eyes shot open as she saw who had embraced her.

It was me. I could no longer keep my stony façade. "You're a Christian now, right?" I spoke quietly.

"Y-Yes... I believe in J-Jesus now... You t-told me about h-him..."

I consoled her as I rubbed the back of her neck. "Then, those wrong things you did are farther than the east is from the west. You don't have to worry about what you've done in the past. Those things are gone. Forever."

"R-R-R-Really?" Fluttershy's sobbed even more. "D-Do you r-r-really m-m-mean th-that?" I nodded as she returned the embrace, allowing her tears to stream down my neck.

She must have been holding these emotions for a LONG time...

"That's alright, Fluttershy," Korey joined the hug, "let it out."

Jen joined next, followed by John and Seth, completing the five-pony-one-human group hug maneuver.

Fluttershy bawled, "Th-Th-Thank you guys s-s-so much... I kn-know I won't be alone anymore now..."

That moment, my heart stopped... again.

I don't think she realized we weren't staying in Equestria... And there's NO way Celestia would allow her to come with us...

I wanted to change the subject. Thankfully, my mind created another puzzle that bugged me. "Hey, Fluttershy?"

"Y-Yes?" She sniffed.

I pulled her away, effectively breaking up the group hug. I sat down cross-legged as I continued, "Last time I was here, I remembered that you didn't like company all too much. You were VERY introverted, and would much rather be away from everyone. But the whole reason you came along with me this time was because you didn't want to be alone. However, that contradicts almost everything I came to know about you."

She dropped her head, mane covering her eye. "When you lose your closest friends... lots of things change..."

I understood as silence fell.

That is, until Bobbery shouted from the forest's entrance. "Oi! Are you lads an' lasses finished with your mushy sob-fest? l've been done for ten minutes!"

"Wait, what?" I stood up. "How much of that did you see?"

"I watched you slap Johnny boy." I could see him smiling a huge, giddy grin under that great, ethereal mustache. "That was quite entertaining!"

"Why didn't you say anything, then?" I asked.

His smile faded as he paused, "How you guys comforted young Fluttershy... It reminded me of all the things I wish I could've said to my Scarlette..."

"Aw..." Fluttershy consoled.

"Aye, enough of that!" Bobbery pretty much shouted as his smile returned. "Let's leave this blasted island, shall we?"

I smiled too. "I agree. But first, I want to check your bombing run on the worms."

The Bob-omb scowled as his fuse came alight, "Oi! Are you doubting my explosion skills? I should have you sent to the brig for such mutiny!"

I laughed nervously, "N-No! That's not it at all!" Then, I spoke seriously, "It's just... when dealing with something like zombies, you gotta be thorough in dispatching them."

The sea-bomb sighed, "Aye, I understand."

With that, I grabbed my backpack that I had left by the fire before we fell into The Walking Dead, and I jogged out to the edge of the precipice. To my shock, ABSOLUTELY NO greenery remained. The only thing that I saw was black, charred ground and Bobbery's stone statue. I didn't need to look any further. If there had been anything there, it was now dust and echoes. I returned to the forest with a shocked look.

"What'd you think, lad?" Bobbery smirked.

I simply gave a slow thumbs-up and said, "Good job."

"Alright, you landlubbers!" Bobbery bellowed. "We best be hurryin' if we want to catch Cortez before he takes off again."

Fluttershy and the band quickly gathered their things as Bobbery walked towards the deep forest, the same direction where we had come from yesterday.

"Uh, Bobbery?" I asked.

"What is it, old boy?" The old spirit sea-bomb paused and stared at me.

I smirked as I tossed my Chaos Emerald up and down repeatedly. "I don't think that'll be necessary."