//-------------------------------------------------------// Scaling Love -by Krokorokok- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// "Who are you?" //-------------------------------------------------------// "Who are you?" "Hey Barb! Can you go to Zecora and pick up those tea leaves that I asked her about?!" a purple unicorn asked from the living room. "Alright! You can stop yelling now!" I replied, slightly annoyed since I was awakened from my sleep. Hi there! My names Barbara Sparkle but every pony in Ponyville calls be Barb. I am a 15 year old female dragon living here in this town. You heard me! I'm a dragon! Well........I'm still considered a baby dragon, even though I'm only a few years younger than my sis, Twilight. Anyways, I grumbled from being awoken so abruptly, but I knew I had no choice as Twi would just lift my ass and just send me there anyways. So I stood up and lazily made my way to the cabinet. Once near it, I opened the cabinet and browsed at my selection of clothes. "Ugh...What to wear...." I trialled off, trying to think of what to wear to go to Zecora's. In the end, I sighed before grabbing a light green shirt and a purple skirt. Since I was still tired, I fumbled a bit with my clothes, before finally being able to wear them. Once that was done, I took my favorite purple jacket with light green stripes going in a horizontal pattern. This jacket was actually a present from my 'mom' when I was 10, so I made sure I treasured it well. Once I was done, I made my way down the stairs, giving off a loud yawn who he'd caused my sis to turn to me when I reached the living room. "I see you're awake now" Twilight said, smirking at me. I let out a small grunt before answering. "Ya well, it's no thanks to you" She giggled before she faced me. Twilight is a unicorn mare who is also the student of our very princess, Princess Celestia, or I call her sometimes, Mom. Anyways, the reason why she is my 'sis' is because she hatched me when she was applying to enter Celestias Gifted School for Unicorns. Unfortunately, her magic went haywire (hehe hay) and caused me to grow so huge in which my head literary tore off the roof. She also told me that she had also turned her parents into potted plants for a while. Hilarious I tell ya. Anyways, Twilight, as with all the other sentient beings in this world, is an.....is an ant-anthr....antromorph.....ugh what's that word again.... "It's anthropomorphic!" a bubbly voice suddenly said behind me. "AIIYEEEE!!!" I screamed, causing Twilight to flinch. "P-Pinkie!! H-How did you...?!" I tried to question her, but since she IS Pinkie Pie, I was doomed to not get an answer. "Pinkie...please don't do that..." I my sis sighed. "Hehe....sorry Twi! Oh no! I forgot! I'm supposed to help the Cakes take care of the twins! Well see ya Twi" Pinkie said before she flung herself out of the door. "That Pinkie....Anyways, you take care alright?" Twilight said, expecting an answer. I sighed and calmed myself before I answered her. " I know sis. Everfree forest is dangerous because bla bla bla bla" She shook her head, laughing a bit at my antics. "Oh you...Off with you now" I opened the door and stepped out, taking notice on how busy the ponies are at this time. I turned behind and told Twilight, "I'll be back later, ok?". She nodded before I closed my door, my destination now being the Everfree forest. While I'm walking, I should continue what I said. So, every sentient being in this world is, as what Pinkie said, an anthropomorphic, even me! Anyways, there are 3 different kinds of ponies, Unicorns, Pegasus and the Earth Ponies. My sister is a unicorn, meaning she can do really cool magic. The pegasi are ponies with wings, which allows them to fly. Not to mention that they are capable of manipulating the weather. Lastly, there's the earth ponies. Even though they don't have a horn nor have wings, they have a really special connection to Mother Equis, which makes them really great cultivators. *Bump* Ooof! I wasn't paying attention just now and I apparently hit a fence. Luckily, I recognized the place and realized I was at Fluttershy's cottage. I should probably say "hi" to her. With a sidetrack 'mission', I continued to walk until I could see a wide open area and a faint figure feeding a bear in the distance. "HEY FLUTTERSHY!!" I yelled, causing the figure to jump and slightly flutter in air until she turned behind and noticed I was grinning at her. The figure gradually went closer up until I could finally see Fluttershy, looking as introverted as ever. She was sporting a light green jacket with a yellow blouse underneath and a pink skirt. Her pink mane looking really slick and smooth and her butter yellow fur coat being very well groomed. "Hi there Barb. Are you going to Zecora's place?" She asked me I nodded before replying, "Ya. Twi wanted me to pick up some tea leaves that she asked for" Fluttershy nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay then. But be careful alright?" She asked, always sounding a mother looking after her foal. "I know, I know. See ya later Flutters!" I said as she gradually disappeared in the distance. Once I entered the forest, the was a sudden nostalgic feeling that came to me, a memory I don't ever want to remember. As I went deeper in the forest, I could hear a faint swirling noise. I slowly became louder and louder. I stopped walking before listening again, the swirling became louder and louder until it stopped altogether. I was confused for a moment, that was until I heard a soft groan. "Ughhh....my head. Oh god....." the faint voice said. 'God? What the buck is it talking about?' I asked myself. I slowly walked towards where I thought it came from. The only thing that stood between me and that now audible voice is a bush. 'Oh bush, show me what secrets lie beyond' I thought smirking, before I pushed it aside. I stepped forward, minding a couple of twigs that poked me. In front of my very eyes was this odd Diamond Dog....looking thing. It was wearing some sort of jacket with some black...pants I think. Beside it was a bag and some sort of container. I played smart and stayed a few meters away from it. I was thinking of whether speaking to it, but i doubt that would work, however, I still tried nonetheless. "What are you...?" I asked it softly. That seemed to get it's attention as it stopped rubbing its head and turned behind. The first thing that I saw was how blue his eyes were. They looked like the sapphires that Rarity uses when she made her famous aqua blue dress for a small beauty contest that was held in Ponyville. We didn't utter a word for quite some time. It was only me and the creature, both of us just staring at each other. I decided to break the silence. "Polar Bear!" I yelled out loud. 'Shit. That didn't come out as I expected it' I thought. Just before I could do anything, the creature followed up with a sentence that I recalled from somewhere. "....Well that broke the ice, didn't it?" I heard speak in a male voice, telling me that this creature is definitely a stallion. The silence lasted for a couple more seconds before I saw him grin. I don't know why but I was unable to find myself smiling back at him. Thankfully he has a sense of humor. "Hehehe....That went better than the both of us expected now, didn't it?" I heard him ask. He stood up and dusted off his jacket and his pants. I giggled before taking another look at him. Inside his jacket, he was wearing a dark blue shirt with a red stripe going horizontal, near the collar. "Well....I guess introductions are a must. My names Micheal Lorenz or Mike for short" Mike said, putting out a hand for me to shake. "Micheal? That's a weird name for a weird creature. Anyways, my names Barbara Sparkle" I said, grabbing his hand, giving a firm handshake. "Heh. Calling me weird eh? Ya sure....says the talking dragon that doesn't exist" Mike said, grinning at me. "Puh-lease! I don't even know what you are!" I replied back, putting both of my hands on my hips, giving him an 'not amused' face. "Right.....Anyways, I would love to tell ya what I am but can you tell me first, where am I?" he asked "You're in Equestria now bub. More specifically, in the Everfree forest" I replied. I saw him put a finger on his forehead and heard him say 'Equestria' many times. He soon crossed his arms before he looked back at me. "Nope, can't seem to think of anything with that name" I heard him say. I sighed before asking him to follow me. He seemed rather hesitant at first but soon complied when he realized that if he didn't he would be alone in this bizarre forest. 'Oh goodness....How would Twilight react when she finds out about him' I thought at first. After thinking about it, I thought to my self 'Buck that' and continued to walk along the path heading towards Zecora's hut. Author's Note Hi there everypony! I hope you like this first chapter of this story of mine. I will try to make this story as enjoyable as possible. And with that out of the way, I will now take my leave. See ya next time! //-------------------------------------------------------// "Wait what!?" //-------------------------------------------------------// "Wait what!?" "So, let me get this straight. You went to fetch your sister's donuts from this shop, only to come back and find out that the place where u live in, now has a gigantic purple bubble surrounding it. Yes?" Mike asked, his face showing that he had trouble catching up with what I said. I nodded and we proceeded to walk silently towards our destination. We were walking for quite some time now. Both me and him exchanged info about where we lived, where we came from, our hobbies, favorite food and other things. I'm quite surprised that the human race (That's what his species is called apparently) is quite technologically advanced. I was even more surprised when he said that his world didn't have any sort of magic, only tricks and illusions. No fireballs being thrown about, no teleportation, no mind reading spells (Although, he did say that some of the ponies from his world do, in fact, have this mind reading ability. But he also said it was probably a hoax ), nothing of those sorts. It was quite cool to know that he and I have some things in common. Like having quite a sweet tooth and being a gamer. (I actually thought of introducing him to Princess Luna. She does have a reputation for being a really good gamer) I decided to break the silence with a question. "So, do the ponies from your world know what their talents are?" "What do you mean?" he countered with a question of his own. "Do you have cutie marks?" I asked him once again, now being a bit more to the point. "A...cutie mark? What is that?" he asked, stopping to face me with a curious face. I stopped walking. "Well.....how do I explain it....." I contemplated for a while. I then decided it was best for me to drop this for a while, until we reached Zecora's hut. "Nevermind about that. I'll explain it to you when we reach Zecora's hut" I told him. He just stared at me for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. We both continued to walk in silence once again. We finally reached our destination, a slightly decayed tree with some pots surrounding the door to the inside. "Zecora! Are you there! It's me Barb!" I yelled out loud, hoping she would hear me. After a moment, I heard a soft 'Ooof' and some hoofsteps. Then the door opened, revealing a Zebra with a black mane, wearing a dress that was made of, what appeared to me, cloth and fabric. The Zebra then grinned. "Ah! Welcome Barbara to my humble abode! Please, bring your friend along and make yourself at home" she said, not even asking who or what the creature beside me was doing. "Come on Mike" I motioned him to follow, which he reluctantly did so. As we went inside, we were assaulted by a strong fragrance. I smiled when I smelled the aroma that was flowing throughout the entire room. "Wow. That smells wonderful Zecora. What is this strong aroma?" I asked. Over in the next room, I could hear some utensils cluttering about and cups being placed. "Ah, I see you have noticed this strong aroma. It comes from a particular type of flora and fauna" I heard a voice reply. I sat down on the nearby couch, voiced out Mike's name and motioned him to sit down next to me. He seemed to be particularly interested in Zecora's miniature wooden sculptures, whom she hard carved herself. He took one of the many sculptures and sat down next to me, putting his bag down on the floor and proceeded to inspect the work of art. "I see you are interested in one my works. Being talented in carving is a nifty perk" I heard Zecora say. I looked around to see that she was carrying a tray with three cups and a teapot which, I assumed, was filled with her famous tea brew. She placed down the tray on the small table that was in front of us, taking one of the cups, pouring herself a cup full of tea before proceeding to sit on one of the other chairs that was nearby. "I say! I have never seen anything like this before. The carving of this must have taken quite some time" Mike said, looking up to face Zecora. Zecora giggle before saying that she did not. Apparently it only took her about 2 hours to complete, which was amazing. She took a sip from her cup before asking, "So please do tell me what creature you are? I have never seen anything like your from my journey's near and far" Mike then told her about who he is and what he is. Zecora was listening the whole time, silently taking in the new information that was being given to her. "Now may I ask, how did you arrive to this world? I really want to know, even though my mind is in a whirl" she said, a small blush appearing. "It's fine Zecora. My mind would probably blow up when I find out about weird things like this. Anyways, as how I got here. I was actually heading my way towards the woods that was nearby my home. I wanted to study on the life of some plants and animals there". As soon as I heard this, my first thought was.... 'Another egghead'. I groaned in displeasure before telling Mike to continue. "O....k. Anyways, I packed the things I needed. My computer and mouse,my portable wifi router for my computer, a couple of notepads, writing and coloring materials, my phone and headset and some snack, just in case if I won't come back after lunch. Then with done, I went to the woods" He told us, taking a sip at the tea that was given. He then continued, "I proceeded with my research, only to come to a half when I noticed some sort of lizard thing. It was very tall and had odd colors, red for its tail, brown for the lower section of its body, grey for the upper section of its body and had different animal ligaments" My eyes widened. "What what!?" I yelled out loud, causing everypony to flinch in surprise. "Oh no" I whispered to myself. It couldn't possibly be her. But why..? Why would she do that? "Is....something wrong?" Mike asked in a soothing voice. I looked towards him and saw that he looked very worried. I realized that I was freaking out a tad bit too much and calmed down. I told everypony in the room to not be so worried and motioned Mike to continue. He sighed before continuing with his story. "Right......Anyways, I thought that I was hallucinating. Seeing a creature that was almost 2 heads taller than me is really frightening. Then I heard it speak for the first time, saying about how something didn't work out as what it intended. I also heard that it wanted to cheer up someone or something. I quickly hid behind a bush, making sure that I didn't make a lot of noise. When I peeked my head towards where I saw the creature, it was already gone. Utterly confused, I looked around to check where it went but it didn't leave any trail" He took a small sip from his drink before continuing. "Unfortunately, it found me instead. I felt a hand on my should and heard it say 'You'll do' and before I even had a chance to see its face, I blacked out. When I woke up, I found myself in this odd forest place. 'What does he mean by 'You'll do' ? I thought. He must be up to something, I can feel it. "Now that that's out of the way, didn't you say that you needed to get something from Zecora? Eh Barb?" I heard Mike asking me. It took me a moment to realize that I forgot to ask Zecora about the leaves that Twilight mention. I placed my drink down on the tray before asking Zecora about the leaves that Twilight wanted, to which she nodded and replying that she didn't forget. She magically pulled out a small pouch from her back and gave it to me, leaving me mystified for a second. I thanked her for her hospitality before leaving the hut with Mike, a new objective in mind. Author's Note Making up rhymes for Zecora is hard. Oh and yes, Discord will be introduced to this story. It's up to your imagination to think whether he will be good, or bad. (Spoiler Alert: He isn't evil. He will still be an asshole, but he isn't using his powers to take over the world or anything like that) Besides that, I hope you all enjoyed this. This chapter is more of a filler in a sense. There isn't much funnies, spooks or action yet. All of those will happen once Mike enters Ponyville, which would be in the next chapter. See you next time! //-------------------------------------------------------// "Barb....Who and what is that creature with you?" //-------------------------------------------------------// "Barb....Who and what is that creature with you?" Silence. Our journey to Ponyville was silent, both of us didn't dare say anything. I sometimes took a small peer to the human next to me. He had worry planted on his face, his eyes closed and his breathing was slightly faster. I took a guess that he might be afraid of what is to come. There was only one way of knowing.... "Mike....Are you afraid?" I asked him quickly turning my face back to the front. "Of what?" He asked. "Of what to expect in Ponyville" I told him. I heard him sigh before he answered. "Yea....I am actually" I heard him reply. 'Knew it' "Don't worry. Everypony in Ponyville is friendly" I told him, hoping that he would relax a bit. "Yea, well, have they seen anything like me before? How would they know if I won't take over the entire town or something?!" He replied. I sighed before stopping in my tracks to face him. "I can just tell them that you mean no harm. Besides, I trust you to not be a total jerk" I replied back. He stopped for a moment, facing me. We both just stared at each other forgetting about anything that was around us. After a moment, Mike shook his head before giving me a warm smile. "Thanks. You're really good friend, you know that?" He said, before continuing on down the path towards Ponyville. I stood there for a moment, looking at him walking slowly, paying close attention to what he said. After a while, I shook my head, ran so I caught up to him and gave him a slime back before facing forward. 'Heh. Cool new friend ya got there. Keep it up girl! I can tell this friendship of yours will last a long time' I heard my conscious cheer for me in the back of my head, making me smile a tad bit more. 'I hope I'm right on this one. It would be a shame if this friendship would sink faster than the titanic' I thought to myself. 'Nah! With a friend a like him? I don't think so' I heard my conscious reply back. I gave a small giggle, in which Mike, from the corner of my eye, gave me a weird look. 'I hope so, me. I hope so' "And let me be the first to welcome you to Ponyville!" I said to him in a slightly excited tone. I saw his eyes bulge out a bit at the sight of the different ponies with their daily lives. It was just slightly past lunch, so most of the ponies were on their lunch break, most of which are heading towards Lyra and BonBon's cafe. "Wow Barb, when you said there are different kinds of ponies here in Ponyville, you weren't kidding!" I heard him reply with a slight laugh. I giggle before grabbing his arm, tugging him towards the first place I know he would like. Sugarcube Corner His knack for having a sweet tooth gave me the idea of taking him to Sugarcube Corner in the first place. I just hope he is able to keep up with Pinkie Pie. Because as everypony in Ponyville knows, it's that no pony is able to keep up with that girl. I pointed at some of the things that were happening around the town such as, the busy marketplace where everypony gets their freshly picked vegetables from. Then, there was the school where all the fillies and colts go to study. While walking towards our destination, he also heard some heavy bass that was playing. I replied to him that Equestria's famous DJ lived here and the bass sound is probably the music she listens to, 'Wubstep'. As we passed by Lyra and BonBon's cafe, I heard some faint whispers from the background. From the corner of my left eye, I could faintly see a couple of mare's whispering at each other, probably due to Mark being here. Normally, I wouldn't care, but there was a small phrase that caught my attention. ".....he looks quite cute actually" I heard one of them say. It was faint, yes, but I heard it nonetheless. We kept walking on, minding the faint comments that is for Mike. =PoV change: Michael. 1st person= This place is amazing! From the architecture to the ponies themselves. Each individual pony was different from another. From the color of their fur, their hair (Barb says that they call it 'Mane'. However, I would rather stick to saying hair), to the fact that they were either a Unicorn, a Pegasus or a regular Earth Pony. However, with all this excitement dwelling inside of me, I promised Barb that I would behave and not be an asshole to anypony here. As we kept walking, I saw, from the corner of my eye, a pair of earth pony mares looking at me. 'Barb said nothing of me having a bit of fun' I thought to myself before face the pair briefly. "Ladies" I said to them in my best gentleman voice, nodding my head slightly. They probably didn't expect it at all since their faces flushed pink. When the two left my sight, I heard cute giggles from behind. I smirked slightly. 'Heh. Too easy, I say' I thought. "Well, here we are! Sugarcube Corner!" I heard Barb say out loud. I looked towards the building that was now in front of us. I tell ya, if Barb didn't say it was made of bricks and cement with wooden tiles inside, I may have started trying to eat the entire thing. I mean! It looked like a freaking gingerbread house! The roof was even painted to look as if it had icing! Anyways, I kept on looking at the building amazed, up until Barb waved a hand in front of me, causing me to shake my head and look at her with a slight blush. She laughed slightly before tugging at my arm, pulling me inside the bakery. Once inside, I was assaulted by the many wonderful fragrances of the different pastries. There were donuts, bagels, cakes, muffins, pies, cupcakes and other sweet and yummy goodness that was probably not good for my overall health. "Hi Barb! What brings you to-" I heard someone say before I heard a gasp. I looked towards the counter to see a really pink pony with a pink oven. Seriously! She is all pink! Her fur color is pink, her hair and tail is a slightly darker shade of pink. I swear, if her name isn't Pinkie, I'd probably be really surprised. "Hi Pinkie!" Called it. Fucking called it! "I hope you don't mind me bringing a new friend" I heard Barb say from behind me. This caused the pink pony to suddenly disappear, leaving a dust cloud the shape of her, in her place. A moment later, she suddenly appeared from the kitchen, her apron now gone, showing that she was wearing a pink blouse with a yellow trip on the shoulders and a light blue skirt with a small picture of a couple of balloons at the sides. "Hithereimpinkamenadianepieandwelcometoponyville!Whoareyouandwhatsyourname?Oh!DoyoulikecupcakesbecauseIlovecupcakes!Doyoulikeparties?Huh?!Doyadoyadoya?!" I heard the pink pony say in a speed roughly to a thousand miles per second. "Wha-What?" I asked, slightly scared. I took a couple of steps back, to which she also took a couple of steps forward, still with that huge grin on her face. "Pinkie! You're scaring him!" I heard Barb yell out loud. 'Thank you Barb! I owe you one' I thought to myself. The pink pony grinned sheepishly before saying, "Sorry! I got a bit carried away. Anyways, my names Pinkamena Diane Pie but everypony here calls me Pinkie Pie! Who are you? Not to mention, what are you?" I heard Pinkie ask, in a more slower speed. I smiled. "It's fine Pinkie. You're just probably excited in seeing something like me. Anyways, the names Micheal Lorenz but you can call me Mike for short. As for what I am, I am what you can call human" I replied. She gave a look of utter confusion. "A hue-mane? What's that? Can I eat it?" Pinkie asked. I laughed before replying. "No Pinkie, it's pronounced human. H-U-M-A-N. And for what it is, it's the formal word of calling my species. And no, you can't eat it. I'm not from this world, as you can tell" I told her with a slight smile. Her eyes sparkled for second before I heard her ask. "Are you an alien?" she asked with a soft tone, her eyes still staring deep into my soul. "In a sense, yes Pinkie, I am an alien" I replied. That was when she exploded, not literally though. "Cool! I have an alien friend!" she then stopped in mid air before asking, "Are you though?" I stared at her for a moment, wanting to ask how she was able to stop in mid air without any help. I shook my head before replying, "Yes Pinkie". She then proceeded to fall back down to the floor slowly, grinning from ear to ear. I laughed at her silly antics, Barb joining in the laughter from behind. However, we stopped laughing when we heard the door open violently, revealing 5 mares. Two of them being Unicorns, another two being Pegasi, and one of them being a regular Earth Pony. There was a deafening silence in the room. It was only then broken by the purple unicorn. "Barb....Who and what is that creature with you?" she said. 'Shit. Welp, I'm screwed' I thought to myself. Author's Note Erm slight question. Is the mare's name spelled as 'BonBon' or as 'Bonbon'? Cos I'm not too sure Next, I know that 'Wubstep' is unoriginal, but that was the first thing that came to my head. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter! See ya guys and gals in the next chapter! //-------------------------------------------------------// Meeting the rest of the gang (Or chapter, 'What is this. I don't even') //-------------------------------------------------------// Meeting the rest of the gang (Or chapter, 'What is this. I don't even') =PoV: 3rd person= And so the stare contest began. It was between the human and the 5 mares. Silence was rapidly filling the room and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of children from the top floor. Mike had no idea what to do besides analyzing what were the 5 mares. There were 2 unicorns. One of them has a pure white fur coat and horn with matching light purple mane and tail color. She was wearing a white silk dress with matching diamonds that were encrusted on the sides. 'She must be a fashion designer or whatnot' Mike thought to himself as he took note. The other unicorn has a lavender colored fur coat and horn with matching dark purple mane with a pink strip going down the middle. She was wearing a simple white blouse with a purple skirt, that has a design of some stars with a bigger pink star in the middle, at the sides. 'Hmmm....Maybe she's an accountant? A librarian maybe? A teacher?' Mike thought, unsure of what this particular unicorn's job was. Aside from them there is a butter yellow fur coat and has matching pink mane and tail color. She was wearing a green sweater with a blue skirt that has pink butterflies designed on the sides. From the sides, Mike could faintly see a pair of butter yellow wings, so by putting two and two together, he realized that this mare is a pegasus. 'Now....What could her occupation be?' the human thought to himself. She was also cowering behind another mare, so with this in mind, Mike thought that this mare is also shy. In front of the butter yellow pegasus is another pegasus, this one however has a sky blue fur coat and wings, both of which are flared out, with her face being rather angry. She had a rather odd mane color. To be specific, her mane and tail color holds the colors of the rainbow, from red to purple, in order. She was wearing what those athletes would wear, a sleeveless shirt and some track pants. 'Heh. I will be very surprised if her name isn't Rainbow' Mike snicked a little. Then lastly, there was an earth pony just beside the blue pegasus. She has an orange fur coat with a golden yellow mane and tail color. She stood out the most all due to the fact that she was wearing a western themed clothing. A stetson hat, a white shirt underneath her, what seemed to be, a brown leather jacket with a brown skirt and matching brown boots. 'Hmmmm......I wonder if she has a southern accent' Mike scrunched his face, thinking of the possibility of the mare having that accent. The silence seemed to drag on and on up until Barb intervened. "Hey girls! I was just about to call all of you to Sugarcube Corner to meet with my new friend. And don't worry, he won't bite. Right?" Barb asked, nudging Mike's elbow. "Er...Ya. I won't bite. I promise" Mike said, still receiving uneasy looks. "Ya! Mike here won't hurt anypony! He's really nice! Especially Barb!" Pinkie said, appearing beside of Mike, poking his left shoulder repeatedly with a huge grin plastered onto his face. "Applejack?" the purple unicorn asked, turning to the earth pony. "She's not lying. I can tell" the earth pony said in a very southern accent. 'Fucking called it' Mike thought, trying to suppress a grin. "I guess I'll take your word for it. Sorry about that. It's just that word get around in Ponyville really quickly. So when I heard that there's a creature walking with my sister, I just had to know if she would be fine" the purple unicorn said, rubbing her head, giving a sheepish smile towards Mike. "It's fine Miss. I too would probably freak out if I found out that my brother was walking with someone or something I don't know of. It's just us wanting to know if they're safe or not" Mike explained in a very calm tone. "With the hostility aside, I guess an introduction is a must. My names Micheal Lorenz. Pleased to meet you all" the human said while he took a bow. This kind of surprised the girls a bit as they knew it was to show a form of respect among the royals or highly looked upon pony. As the human went back to regular up-straight posture as before, the purple unicorn began introducing herself and her friends. "Nice to meet you Micheal. My names Twilight Sparkle. I'm the sister of your scaly friend over there" the unicorn, now know as Twilight, said. When she said this, Barb immediately became upset and yelled out a "HEY!" in the room, causing everyone to laugh. Barb then puffed out her cheeks and looked away, her face now crimson in color. "Anyways, this is Rarity" Twilight said, pointing a finger at the other unicorn. Mike saw an opportunity and seized it. He bent one knee down, took her right hand and it a soft kiss while looking at her in the eye and saying, "Un honneur de vous rencontrer madame". Rarity, who was completely shocked, turned her face around while fanning herself with her other hand. Her face also now flushed with crimson, commenting, "Why...Such a gentlecolt! And can also speak Prench!". 'Heh....Once again, too easy' the human thought, as he went back to his original posture. Twilight giggle before moving on. "This is Fluttershy" she said, pointing to the butter yellow pegasus who squeaked when her name was called. Mike went over and squatted, so that he was at eye level with her. "Don't worry Miss Fluttershy. I don't bite. I promise you" he said in a soft voice so as to not intimidate her, while raising a hand. Fluttershy was hesitant, at first, on grabbing his hand. But when she saw him gave a warm smile, she smiled back and grabbed his hand, pulling her up so that she wasn't sitting on the ground behind her blue friend. Twilight was quite impressed. She knew for a fact that Fluttershy was really shy around new ponies. She shook her head, giving Mike a smile, before coughing slightly to catch his attention. "The one Fluttershy was hiding behind is Rainbow Dash" Twilight said, seeing that Mike looked at Rainbow with a calm expression. 'Rainbow Dash eh? Might as well call her skittles then' Mike thought, using all his willpower to suppress the grin that was trying to break free. "Let me tell ya! If you hurt any of my friends, I will personally kick your flank to the moon! Ya got that?!" Rainbow growled. Mike smiled a little, nodding at her to indicate that he understood her perfectly. Twilight shook her head. She knew that Rainbow was only trying to protect her friends but she can get really mad easily. "And lastly, this is Applejack" Twilight pointed towards the orange mare. "Howdy! Nice ta see that Barb's got a really calm friend" Applejack said, earning a small chuckle from the human. "Well, thank ya kindly ma'am" Mike said in a southern accent, which surprised her. Once she recovered, she shook her head and gave him a big smile. "I can see that you already met my sister and Pinkie as well. So I would like to formally say 'Welcome to Ponyville'. And sorry about the sudden hostility just now" Twilight said, rubbing her neck slowly once again, giving him a sheepish smile. Mike warmly smiled before saying, "It's fine ma'am". "Can we all sit down first though? I would really like to ask you some questions about your kind" Twilight said, suddenly making a notepad and a pen appear. Mike thought 'Why not' before saying it was fine. Barb could only face-palm before letting out a groan of displeasure. 'This is gonna be very boring' she thought to herself, taking a seat next to Mike. 'Ya you could say that again!' her conscious shouted from the back of her head. Once they were all seated, Twilight then bombarded the human with a flurry of questions. =PoV: 1st person. Mike= Oh god...... I should not have said yes......I should not have said yes...... Once we all sat down, the purple unicorn, now know to me as Twilight, bombarded me with a huge amount of questions all at once. I couldn't keep up with the speed of which she asks her questions, so I asked her to repeat what she said, slowly this time so as to not fry my brain. "Ooops. Sorry. I kinda get excited when I find something new" Twilight smiled at me sheepishly. I told her it was fine and asked her to repeat her questions to me more slowly. "Alright. Let's start of with 'What are you?' " she asked me. "Well, like I told Pinkie here, I am a human. That's spelled with H-U-M-A-N. That's the formal way of saying the name of my species. The scientific name, however, is called 'Homo sapiens' which means 'Wise man' in Latin. Oh and Latin is a type of language some of my species speak" I told her. I saw her furiously write on her notepad. Once she was done, she asked me the next question. This went on and on and on. I kept on giving her answers or explanation and she will write it down. Then, she came to this one question that kinda caught my interest. "What's the population of your world?" she asked. "Well.....The last time I checked it was about 7 billion if I'm not wrong" I replied. When I looked at her, she was shocked to hear it. Actually, all of them are shocked. "What's wrong?" I asked them. "You see, the population here in Equestrian is about 2 billion. Not to mention most of the population is mares" Twilight told me, causing me to gawk. I had to check wether I heard it correctly. "Wait.....Most of the population is mares?!" I asked, relatively shocked. This caused Twilight to nod at me. "Yes. 5 fillies are born for every colt" she said. This was really surprising. "Huh. No wonder this town seems to have fewer guys than girls. Back in my world, relatively the same for both guys and gals. About 55% for males and 45% for females, if I'm not wrong" I said. I then heard a couple gasps and a "Wowee!" from Pinkie. After that, we continued with the questions and I answered them to the best of my abilities. However, there is still 1 nagging thing in the back of my head. And that was how would I survive in a town that's a total taco-fest? Author's Note This chapter is another filler again. This time round, it's about our human meeting the rest of the main cast. I don't think I wrote this really well. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. Feel free to correct any mistakes that I made. I will try to correct them as soon as I can. //-------------------------------------------------------// The musical mares //-------------------------------------------------------// The musical mares "......and that's how my world was formed, from both the scientific way and the religious way" I told them. A while ago, Twilight asked me on how my world was formed. This lead to me discussing on how the world was formed from a scientific way, while quickly branching off saying that people believed that the world was created by a single and most powerful god (That being said, I will not repeat what I said as it may be found insulting to the religion some of my people believe in). Twilight had somehow managed to write down everything (And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING) I said. By the end of the QnA, Twilight's pen ran out of ink, which she pouted and said we would continue tomorrow, which I am very thankful for. After a short while of us just discussing of our hobbies like music or gaming (I found out that Barb is quite a frequent gamer. However, she did say that somepony also plays quite frequently. She said this pony live somewhere in a place called 'Canterlot'), the door opened, letting out a ringing noise as it gently hit the bell that was on top. In came in 2 mares. One of them was a white unicorn with an electric blue hair and tail. She was wearing a blue hoodie with a black and white striped shirt underneath, a pair of dark blue pants as well as sporting glassed with a purple lens and a black trim. On her ears was a pair of white headphones with a picture of a double eighth note. Next to her was a more sophisticated mare. She was a grey earth pony with jet black hair and tail. She was wearing a black dress with a grey cloth wrapped around her waistline. She also sported a pink bow tie. On the side of her dress was a picture of a white treble clef. Upon noticing them, I asked the girls in a soft whisper, "Who are those two?" The girls then lowered their heads around the table before answering me. "Well, they're two of the most popular musicians in the whole of Equestria" Rainbow answered. "Oh....I see" I replied. I turned around to ask Pinkie whether she had to go back to the register, only to find a dust cloud the shape of her. "Sup Vinyl! Hi there Octavia! How can I help ya?" Pinkie said over the counter with her pink apron on. I just continued staring from the corner of my eyes, making sure that I could at least see them. "Yo Pinkie. Me and Octy here just wanted to grab something to eat. The regular please" the unicorn said, a huge grin plastered onto her face. "Okie Dokie Loki! A dozen donuts and half a dozen croissants coming right up!" Pinkie said, writing down the orders on a piece of paper that magically came out of nowhere. Seriously. That girl is unpredictable. "So who plays what in the music industry between the two of them?" I asked the girls in a soft whisper. "Well, Vinyl is a well renowned DJ, while Octavia plays the Cello in orchestras around Equestria" Twilight answered this time round. We continued to talk among ourselves again but in a whisper so that I wouldn't attract their attention. However, they still noticed us. Especially me. "Hey Octy! Isn't that the creature everypony keeps on talking about?" I heard Vinyl say to her companion. 'Shit....Busted. Oh well.....Time to play it smooth again' I thought to myself. "If your talking about a weird creature that nopony has ever seen before, that's me" I said, turning around so that my left arm was now over the chair's back. I gave a slight smile as I looked at the both of them. I stood up after a while and began to walk towards their general direction, stopping once I was about arms length away from them. "The names Michael Lorenz. Just call me Mike for short" I told them, raising my rand hand for a handshake while giving them a warm smile. They both looked quite shocked, probably from the fact that they thought I was just a figment of somepony's imagination. Vinyl, however, looked more excited that shocked though. She recovered first, rather quickly. "Hahaha! I thought ponies were lying about you! Guess I was wrong then" she said, grabbing my hand. "Names Vinyl Scratch. The finest DJ in all of Equestria" she said in a rather determined tone, shaking my hand while that smile of her's just seemed to grow bigger and bigger. "And may I have the pleasure to know what is your name Madam?" I asked in a chivalrous tone, making the mare blush a dark red hue. "O-Octavia....Octavia P-Philharmonica" she said, grabbing my hand and giving me a handshake as well. I took this time to try and see whether I could make her blush even more. With the same hand, I bent down on my right knee and gave her hand a small kiss before returning back to standing upright. This completely caught her off-guard as her face now looks almost like a giant tomato. I just gave a smile before turning back to Vinyl, who was having a hard time holding in her laughter. "Pfff.....I-I havn't s-s-seen Octavia, blush t-that hard before...." Vinyl said, using all her willpower just to hold that laughter in her. I gave a slight chuckle before saying, "Relax. I didn't mean to embarrass you". She then relaxed and gave me an awkward smile making me chuckle. "S-Sorry...." she said, still with that awkward smile. "For the last time, it's ok Miss Octavia. I didn't mean to embarrass you" I told her. After that small encounter, Pinkie popped out the kitchen with a box full of, what I assumed, Donuts and Croissants. Even though the delicious pastries were inside, the fragrance was able to escape, giving a wonderful smell. Vinyl and Octavia giggled, causing me to look at them confused. "Well....Your kinda drooling ya know that?" Barb yelled out from behind me. Quickly realizing that, I wiped off my saliva off my mouth before giving the two mares a sheepish smile, causing everyone to laugh in the room. =PoV: 1st person. ??= "Hmmm.....He's not doing too bad" I told myself as I spied from above the clouds with a pair of binoculars. I have been to the human world quite often, most of the time is to check if there was any potential suitors for the task I am willing to give. I snapped my right finger, making the binoculars disappear without a trace. Maybe.....Just maybe.....I made the perfect choice. It was only a hunch though. If he should accept, He won't be seeing his home in quite some time. Oh well....Spying is getting boring! I wonder if the princess has anything to do.... Probably not though. I sighed before I continued to spy on the little human I chose. Hohohoho......This will be rather fun once I join in! Or as what they call it.... CHAOTIC! Author's Note YAY! Our main human now meets the two musicians in the town. (P.S I know it's kinda short than what I normally deliver and I'm sorry for that) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will about Mike and his mysterious kidnapper. Stay tuned! //-------------------------------------------------------// "...call me Eris deary~" //-------------------------------------------------------// "...call me Eris deary~" "Wow! I didn't know that humans can create great music like this!" Vinyl shouted as one sides of her headphones drooped slightly. Just a while ago, the two mares asked me what kind of music my species have. This lead to me sitting back on the same chair with the rest of the girls, discussing about the different kinds of music genre my kind has to offer. I told them the many kinds of genre, from Jazz to Techno, Dubstep (Apparently 'Wubstep' is a thing here. It's exactly the same as dupstep. Go figure) to Classic and Orchestral music. "Is there anything else to listen than this.....savage music?" Octavia asked with a rather disgusted face. I thought for a while, scrolling my library of music until I found something that may or may not be suitable for her liking. "Is this alright with you? I heard you participate in and Orchestra. This was actually a piece I played in when I was in my schools band. Although this recording isn't by us though" I told her, handing her my pair of headphones, pressing the play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsl9vfhmbN8) button. "I must say, I found that rather nice to listen to. Although there were a few iffy things here and there" Octavia said with a smile on her face. I chuckled. "Ya, true to that. My conductor told us a long time ago that this particular Orchestra was one he was quite fond of. We eventually got stuck to listening to music from them since we all found that the music was really, really good" I smiled sadly. Those memories of mine during school band was the best. Nothing could really come close to those years of me and my buddies playing different pieces and just have fun during the process. "Mike..?" I heard Barb call out my name next to me. I shook my head and looked at her emerald green eyes that I found myself getting entranced by. Her face was full of worry. I shook my head again before giving her a warm smile. "It's fine Barb. Don't worry about me, I'm fine" I told her. At first she was hesitant in taking what I said seriously but in the end, she gave up and stopped worrying. "I'm sorry if I brought up something you didn't want to remember" Octavia said in a soft tone, looking rather sad. "It's fine Octavia, really. It's just that I might not have a chance to go back home" I said sadly. You see, when Barb and I were going to Zecora's, she explained that any form of transportation magic would require a tedious amount of work and the only ones that may be able to send me back home were the 2 princesses that Equestria has currently, Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna. However, she also did mention that it would be rather unlikely of me to return back since I came from an unknown world, even to the princesses. "But even so, I'll try to see what this world has to offer" I said, now bearing a smile to indicate that it would be fine. Everyone around the table was rather hesitant taking me seriously but they decided it would be best to leave it be, from the looks on their faces. =PoV: 1st person. ??= Hmm? He's optimistic, eh? I guess I really did make the right decision. I guess it's time to make my grand appearance! With a snap of my claw, I disappeared from my cloud hideout, reappearing inside the building with a flash of light. 'Showtime~!' I thought to myself. "Well, well, well. It seems the human has taken a liking to this town, I suppose?" I asked out loud, catching the eyes of everyone around that one particular table. The human's eyes widened considerably as he saw me. "YOU!" He yelled out loud, causing everyone around the table to flinch. "ME!" I yelled out loud in reply. "YOU!" "ME! "YOU!!" "ME!!" "YOU!" "HER!" I yelled out loud, pointing at the dragoness, causing the human to look at her confused. "Her?" I heard him ask. "HER!" I replied. "NOT YOU!!" I heard Barb yell, pointing a finger at me. "YES ME!" I replied with a grin. "Wait what?!" I heard the human ask out loud, definitely confused. After that, there was a deafening silence in the room, to which I broke with my uncontrollable laughter. "PFFFTFFF....! HAHAHAHAHA" I laughed out loudly. I continued laughing for a good.....5 minutes I think? But in any case, this caused the human and the girls to look at me funny. "Oh goodness! I haven't laughed that hard in weeks! I do have to thank you for that, deary" I said, chuckling still. "Your that.....creature I saw back at the woods back at home" I heard the human say. I sneered before replying. "I have a name you know. Would it be so much to ask a lady for her name?" I 'harrumph' and turned my head sideways, closing my eyes. "W-Wha...B-But....Y-You.....Argh! Alright fine! Would it be too much to ask milady for her name?" I heard the human say. When I turned around, I saw him slightly flushed with the girls around the table chuckling slightly (Although, Barb still seemed to be in a bad mood). "It's Scarlet Eris. But you can just call me Eris deary~. I am the Goddess of Chaos. I know that your kind is rather chaotic, so if you have the chance, do show me how chaotic you can get~" I said, as I disappeared out of existence and reappeared next to him, my tail wrapping around him with a claw to his chin. I gave him a seductive smile, causing him to blush even more. "U-Uhhh...Erm....I-I.." he stammered, which I found rather amusing and cute. I stopped toying with him a while later. "So, I expect you want an explanation as to why your here, yes?" I asked him, snapping a finger, causing a couch to appear behind. I laid my body on the soft couch before snapping my finger again, causing a bowl of fruit to appear in front of me. I casually took an apple and took a bite from it. =PoV: 1st person. Mike= What in the fuck...This....Thing just came out of nowhere and toyed with me. This creature, is the same one that I saw back home. Different animal ligaments, a grey-ish white hair and with two horns on top of her head. It's the same one! And after a really confusing experience, I found that her name is Eris and that she is the Goddess of Chaos. "Yes. And please don't do anything that would make my brain explode" I told her, to which she pouted and gave me a sad smile. "B-But...I like making things go boom!" she said and a while later, she was crying like a small child. "W-Wha! I-I...I'm sorry?" I said. From afar, I could faintly see a sparkle appear from her eyes. After that, she disappeared and reappeared back with a small notepad and a pair of glasses. "Let's see.....Make Celestia go on a holiday.....Get Blueblood to scream like a filly.....AHA! Here it is" I heard her say. She then let out a cough so as to catch everyone's attention before she proceeded. "It say's here in my personal notebook of personal stuff, to 'Get Barb to cheer up considerably' " she said. I stared at her, my mind still trying to piece what she just said. "WHAT?" I saw her recoil a tad bit before coughing again. "Like I said, it was a plan to make Barb cheer up! I have been noticing that she spends most of her time in her bedroom at the library, playing those console games of hers. And I also knew that most of the ponies are busy with their lives. So! I searched around the entire cosmos to find a suitable '2nd person' as I like to call" she said with a smug grin on her face. "Let me get this straight.....You, took me away from my world, and casted me here, so that Barb over here has a boyfriend?" I asked, repeating what she said in a more simpler way. Eris looked at me funny. "Boyfriend? I'm sorry, but I never heard of that saying before, even though I spent around a week in your world" she said, tapping a claw on her chin, her eyes staring up at the ceiling. "You know....partner? A......coltfriend I guess is the word?" I asked, not quite sure whether I said the right word. I assumed I did, since I saw her eyes widen. "OH! No no no! You know? Just as a friend" she said. She then disappeared and reappeared next to me. "But if you play your cards right, you may just be one" she whispered, looking at me dead-on. My eye bulged out and I could feel my cheeks heat up. She winked at me before floating back to her seat. I looked back at the rest of the girls around the table and took special notice of Barb. She was hiding her face underneath her jacket, probably due to being embarrassed or whatnot. Rainbow, Pinkie and Vinyl held large grins on their faces, both Rainbow and Vinyl wording out "Good luck on that bub". The rest of the girls either were looking away with blushes on their faces or were trying to hold their laughter inside. Now this time, there is a different nagging thought in my head. Me and Barb in a relationship. "Oh good lord! NO!" I yelled out loud, causing Eris to look at me funny. "Why? Don't you think she's pretty? Gorgeous even?" she asked me with a cheeky grin. I felt my cheeks heat up more. "S-She's j-just a friend. Nothing more" I said, looking away. Eris was now laughing hysterically and there is now a new thought that has suddenly appeared in my head. 'Oh lord. What have I gotten myself into?' Author's Note I'm sorry if I forced you to read the whole, "YOU" "ME", thing. Anyways! Mike's mysterious kidnapper is finally revealed! I hope you guys and gals enjoyed this. So until next time! (P.S. Do feel free to leave a comment on whether I made any mistakes so that I can fix it) //-------------------------------------------------------// "Barb! N-Ngh...!" //-------------------------------------------------------// "Barb! N-Ngh...!" Eris....That is the name of a creature that will probably make my life, in this world, one hell of a ride. I mean! Really! She is really starting to irritate me. She often aims her sentences, insults or thrown pie at me. BUT! I can tell ya. That pie she throws is really tasty. Too bad she made the leftover pie pieces disappear with a snap of her claw. Besides that, the girls seems to make everything really lively. Especially Pinkie Pie. Once in a while, when we're all chatting among ourselves, she would disappear and reappear with a tray full of cookies, to which we all happily munched on. We continued laughing and telling stories about ourselves, most of which was me telling more about myself. I then saw Eris drift her eyes towards the window, seems to be thinking of something, I think. "Seems like it's getting late" Eris said, slowly floating her way to the window, looking at the sky. Wait what? At first I didn't believe it but when I went over to the window, my eyes bulged as I saw the beautifully painted orange sky. It also seems that with these girls, time also seem to speed up considerably. Or maybe that's just me. "We should all be heading home now" Twilight told all of us. This was a reasonably good idea. However, there was 1 tiny problem. "Well.....Where will I live then? I'm currently homeless" I told them, returning back to my seat. This was followed with a rather long silence, that lasted until Eris broke it. "Well....Why don't you stay with Twilight and Barb?" she asked with a cheeky grin as she hovered above the table we were all sitting. I looked at her with an 'are you fucking kidding me?' face to which her grin grew even larger. "It's fine with me. Besides, Eris did say that Barb needed cheering up. Not to mention when she did defend you when we all thought you would do something stupid" Twilight said, her face also bearing a cheeky grin. With that, Eris began to giggle like a schoolgirl. "Fuck you...." I groaned in displeasure. When I said that, Eris lowered herself so that her face was in front of mine, giving me a seductive smile. "I can let you do that you know~ You don't know how CRAZY I can get~" she said, licking my left ear, sending chills down my spine. "Don't do that!" I yelled at her, pushing her away. She floated further away, looking rather hurt. "But I want to! You're cute when your flustered" she said, grinning at me. Once again, from her odd antics, I felt my cheeks heat up and I just turned and looked at the wall, ignoring the laughter that came from the group of females. "Well, thanks for that girls. But me and Octy need to sleep early tonight. We have some big performances tomorrow" Vinyl said, now calming down, grabbing the box full of pastries. Octavia nodded, holding her giggles, and with that, we said our farewells to them as they exited the building. "Thanks for the great time girls. I need ta go now. Big Mac, Granny and Applebloom might be worried if ah reach home late" AJ said, getting up from her chair. "Me too. I have to check and see if the animals are alright" Fluttershy told us, in her usual soft voice, also getting up from her chair. "I have to go too. Poor Sweetie Belle could be worried sick about me!" Rarity said dramatically. "Ya, I have to go too. The weather factory needs me tomorrow" Rainbow said, getting up from her seat, stretching her wings. "Alright then. See ya girls" Twilight said as we said goodbye to the four mares that left the building. The rest of us that were still in the building stayed relatively quiet. "So....Where do you live Eris? I know for a fact that Twilight and Barb live in a tree-house, Rainbow stays up in her cloud home, AJ is at the farm, Fluttershy is residing near the Everfree and Pinkie lives here in this building" I said, breaking the silence. Eris gently lowered herself so that now she was sitting in one of the empty chairs. "Well....Most of the time I stay with the princesses back at Canterlot. But, I also like to sleep at one of the girls houses. As for now, I think I will reside with the Sparkles, just to see how you fare~" Eris said, teasing me. I sighed before looking at her. She's just so carefree! Almost just like Pinkie. I swear, this Goddess of Chaos will drive me nuts in a matter of weeks! "Shall we go?" Twilight asked. "Yes please" Barb and I both answered at the same time, groaning in displeasure. "Wow....Didn't know a tree-house this small can look so big on the inside" I whispered to myself, analyzing the interior of the building. We are currently in the library portion of the tree-house. A little while ago, Twilight told us to stay here first, since she needed to tend the guest bedroom, her bedroom and Barb's bedroom, which apparently looked liked there was a war that was waged there, according to Barb. So, with nothing better to do, I took a random book and headed my way to the nearby couch. The cover of the book didn't seem out of the ordinary, only having a picture of a grey tie with a red apple. Hmmm....Let me see. Turning to a random page, I began to read. '...and with one last forceful thrust, I emptied my seed i-' I stopped reading after that, closing the book before proceeding to put it back to where it came from. I was not expect an erotic novel..... "ALL DONE!" Twilight yelled from upstairs, slowing coming down the stairs. "SO! Who's taking which room?" Twilight asked. I opened my mouth, wanting to say something, when Eris beat me to it. "DIBS ON THE GUEST ROOM!" she yelled, magically creating a pillow and a nightcap from out of nowhere. "H-Hey! Can't you like....Share a bedroom with Twilight?" I tried to reason, only to no avail. "Nuh-uh! You!" she said, pointing at me, "are gonna share a bedroom with Barb" she continued, causing me to gawk at her. "WHAT?!" both Barb and I yelled out loud. =PoV: 1st person. Barb= "WHAT?!" both Mike and I yelled out loud. "You heard me sister! You, are going to be sharing rooms, and possibly the same bed, with him" Eris said, pointing a thumb at Mike with a smug look on her face. "OOOH!! Why....you!!" I fumed. I am not sharing rooms with him! That's final! This is the last straw!! "I AM NOT SHARING A ROOM WITH HIM!" I yelled, pointing a finger at Mike. "Whoa there Barb! Eris is already occupying a room, same with me, and we can't just let Mike sleep on the couch. It's comfortable when somepony is sleeping on it. You, of all creatures I know of, should know this very well" Twilight reasoned. I tried to counter her but I knew what she said is true. That couch is not comfortable by the least. Gave me backaches for hours when I woke up. "But...Well....Urgh! Fine" I said, defeated. I couldn't see it, but with a sudden clap sort of sound, I could only guess that Twi and Eris high-fived each other. "Erm....I hope I wont be a bother" I heard Mike say. I turned to look at him, seeing that he too was uncomfortable with the current situation. " *SIGH* Try not to" I told him, heading my way upstairs and into my room. 'Well! It seems your monkey friend is sleeping with us. So! Any midnight plans? Draw a dick on his face, maybe?' my conscious asked me, causing me to chuckle when I headed my way to the bathroom. 'Nah. Don't wana mess with him' I replied back in my head. 'BAH! Your no fun!' my conscious said before I couldn't hear anything from her for now. I turned the tap, getting ready to wash my face, when I heard the door open. "I'm coming in Barb. Where are you anyways?" I heard him ask. "In the bathroom. I'm just gonna wash my face before I head to bed" I replied back to him, earning a "Okay" from him. =PoV: 1st person. Mike= Well.....this is gonna be odd. I'm going to sleeping in the same bed with a girl. I sighed before taking off my shoes and placed it near the door, placing my bag on the nearby chair. I grabbed a book downstairs earlier, asking Twilight whether it was fine for me borrow it for the night. She said it was fine and so, here I am, laying in bed with a book to read. It was odd on how ponies have this sort of AC unit in their rooms and how it ran on magic crystal that is imbued with ice magic. It was surprising. I actually wanted to ask Twilight about that just now but she went to bed after I entered Barb's room. To put it to ya, Barb's room almost looked like mine. Except for a couple of posters about these ponies called the 'Wonderbolts'. The walls are light brown in color with dark brown wooden floor tiles. In her room, beside her bed, consisted of a ton of consoles. And I mean it. There is one that's called the 'Pbox 360', probably the same with the Xbox 360 at home and another one called the 'WeeU' which I face-palmed when I read the name of it. Besides that, I am really amazed on how advanced these ponies are in terms of the gaming industry. "I see you've been checking out my consoles" I heard Barb say. I turned to look her general direction, only to be shocked with what she was wearing. A light green night gown with matching green bra and panties. 2 words. Oh my... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nSKkwzwdW4) "What's the matter~? Cat got your tounge~?" she asked, causing myself to stammer. "E-erm...I-I....Uhhh..." I stammered. She chuckled before doing something I did not expect. She jumped. Into bed. Hitting once of her dragon feet on my thigh. "Barb! N-Ngh...!" I yelled out in pain. I heard her say "Whoops" before looking at me with a sheepish smile. "Ehehe....Sorry bud" she apologized. I just nodded, still in pain from the sudden impact. She then tossed the blankets and covered both of us with it, snuggling next to me. This caused me to blush. "Since you're gonna sleep with me now, you're my personal teddy bear" she said, gripping me in a bear hug. I struggled to break free but couldn't as her strength greatly surpassed mine. I sighed before looking at her now sleeping form, trying my best not to chuckle so as to not wake her up. I sighed once again before closing my eyes, going into a deep slumber. Author's Note Hue. I got ya'll with the title of the story, now didn't I? Anyways, Mike sleeping with Barb in the same room! IN THE SAME BED!!! Don't worry! I can assure that nothing will happen when they sleep together. ......For now...... And please, if I made any mistakes, do feel free to leave a comment so that I can correct it. Lastly. Oh....My.... And with that, see ya next time! //-------------------------------------------------------// An encounter with the moon (Or, Chapter 8: 'I heard you like gaming') //-------------------------------------------------------// An encounter with the moon (Or, Chapter 8: 'I heard you like gaming') =PoV: Mike. 1st person= I was suddenly awoken from my sleep with a strong shove to my right shoulder. I stood up, shook my head, and looked around, finding out that I am not in Barbs room anymore. 'Shit' I began to panic. This is not Barbs room at all! It was really, really dark. I could hardly see anything. That was until I began to see smoke filling up the room. It was giving off a really faint blue light, enabling me to see a figure that was approaching me. I panicked even more, backing off slowly so that I could at least get some distance. That was until I felt something hard pressed up against my back. "Oh god....Please don't hurt me!" I said rather pathetically. The figure gradually came closer to me. I was still really scared, that was until it spoke. "Now. Why should we hurt a creature that Twilight Sparkle wrote about?" it said, in a feminine and regal tone that still held authority. "W-Wha..?" I asked dumbly. I was so confused at the point of time. Who is she? What is she? Why am I still here?!? The faint blue light sparkled once before it shone brightly, illuminating the room, enabling me to see who or what is this thing. In front of me stood a female......Alicorn, I think is the name. Her dark blue fur coat seemed to shine and her ethereal mane and tail twinkled like the stars. She was wearing a dark blue dress encrusted with, what I assumed to be, diamonds with a purple trim. She was also wearing a dark blue crown with a necklace, a silver crescent moon being held by two dark blue chains and a pair of silver crescent moon earrings. I assessed the situation. 'Okay. Think! Twilight said something about Equestria having 3 Alicorns. Once of them is in a place called the....Crystal Empire, I think it was. The other 2 being in a place called Canterlot, if I'm not wrong' I thought. 'Yea! Not to mention Twilight said that all three are princesses' I heard my conscious say 'Wait....Princesses.....Alicorns....She's a princess!!' I mentally yelled out loud, my eyes bulging out. "W-Wait.....A-Aren't you...." I stuttered, trying to think with the best of my ability, who she is. 'I remembered both of the princesses names is linked with the sun and the moon, if I'm not wrong' 'Hmm...Well...With the amount of dark colors....I bet she is her name is linked with the moon. But what is it?! Argh!' I mentally yelled out again. I am now frustrated. I can't remember her name! And Twilight told me about them like....a couple of hours ago! "Yes....?" I heard her say. 'If I'm not wrong, the first letter is an L.Was it Lux? Lulu?' my conscious began to come up with names. That was until I suddenly remembered. "LUNA! You're Princess Luna!" I yelled out. When I said this, she smiled and began to clap. "Bravo! It seems Twilight Sparkle has told you many things about us, correct?" Luna asked. I assumed she was talking about herself. "She did actually. In that you're the sister of another princess. Erm...Princess....I can't really remember. All I can think of is that Barb sometimes calls her 'Sunbutt' " I said. Once the word left my mouth, Luna began to guffaw. She was trying so hard to hold in her laughter. But failed in the end when she exploded into a fit of laughter. "HAHAHAHAHA!! Hah! Hahah! Hahahaha!!" she laughed uncontrollably. "Eer...Are...you alright, Miss Luna?" I asked, a nervous smile appearing. She soon calmed down, still chuckling for a while. "Hehehe. Yes, I am most certainly fine. Goodness....I have not laughed like that since Eris threw a pie at my sister during a meeting" she said, smiling at me. I nodded slowly, my nervous smile still plastered onto my face. "Ooookay.....Can you tell me, why the heck am I here? Even better, where are we?" I asked her. "We are in a place I call the 'Dream Zone'. Tis the place I have created to check on my little ponies dreams. After all, I not called the 'Night Guardian' for nothing you know" she said, giving me a smirk. Okay. 1 question down. 1 more to go. "So....Why am I here then?" I asked. "As for why you are here, it's simple. I wanted to check on whether Twilight Sparkle speaks the truth when she said there is a new being currently in Ponyville. Not only that, I also want to tell you that my sister is planning on visiting you tomorrow" she replied. I nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay then. I thought I was sen-Your sister is coming tomorrow?!" I asked her shockingly, to which she just nodded. Great.....just great. I sighed before facing her again. "Besides wanted to see whether Twilight was right, is there any other reason why I'm here?" I asked. "Yes actually. I read from one of Twilight's 3 letters about you that you're a gamer, yes?" she asked. This caught my interest. Why did she want to know? "Why?" I countered her question. "Well....I am a gamer myself. And to tell you the honest truth, my sister is one as well" she replied. This actually caught me off-guard. 2 of the princesses are gamers? This....would be most interesting. I wonder how good she is.... "So! How about a round of gaming?" I heard her say from my right. I turned towards her, now surprised to see 2 controllers and, from what I can guess, this world's version of the Xbox 360. I shrugged my shoulders before replying "Sure". "So what are we playing?" I asked her. "One of our favorites. Soul Calibur 4" she replied, starting up the game. There was only 1 thing going through my head when she said this. I just stood there, rooted to the ground, one of her hand passing me a controller, her face screaming 'Prepare yourself'. "Wait what?" She tilted her head. "What is the matter Micheal? Afraid of losing?" she asked, a grin forming across her face. I sheepishly smiled at her. "W-Well....I....don't really play fighting games. But I'll try" I replied, grabbing the controller, sitting next to her. She smiled before turning back to look at me. "Let the games begin then" =PoV: 3rd person= On the screen currently displayed a multitude of characters. Luna began to think what character should she pick while Mike just sat there, absolutely having no idea of what to do. "There's a random button there. So feel free to use it" Luna said, not taking her eyes off the screen. Mike thought for a while longer, sighing in the end as he had no idea what each of the characters could do. He clicked on the picture with the '?' and the game chose what person he would be playing as, which is, to his most utter surprise, Yoda. "The hell..." he muttered to himself. He knew that for one thing, Yoda is in the Star Wars franchise. Him being in this game was surprising to say the least. What shocked him the most is that he looks the exact same back from his world, which meant 2 things. It's either these ponies have a gateway to the Earth or Yoda just looks like that through different worlds. Luna smiled before picking Darth Vadar's apprentice, Starkiller. "Let us make this interesting. Shall we?" Luna asked, picking a random map to play in, looking at Mike a while later. "Ho boy.....I swear. I will get my but kicked" Mike muttered, loud enough for the lunar princess to hear. "That is what we are intending, Micheal. Now....Prepare thyself!" Luna yelled out loud as soon as the game started. What Mike did not know of is that he will, indeed, be getting his butt kicked. Hard Author's Note Sorry that this chapter is really short. I have a massive influx of homework to do, not to mention a project that I have to hand in soon. I am also sorry if this chapter isn't up to your expectations. I will try to find some time to update this story again soon. Besides that, I hope you guys like this! See ya next time! (P.S. Again, feel free to point out any mistakes.) (Update: I replaced what game Luna and Mike played, as well as lengthened the story) (RE-Updated. For the sake of correcting a tiny error) (To Riku: I apologies if it is not what you were hoping) //-------------------------------------------------------// Visiting the fashionista //-------------------------------------------------------// Visiting the fashionista "My my, dear human. It seems your not very good with the game we just played" Luna smirked. For the past few matched they played, Mike got utterly decimated every single time. For one of the matches, he almost won too. If not for Luna using her magic to tug at his left shoulder, causing him to drop his controller, ending up with him losing. Mike sighed before looking at the lunar princess. "Shut up" he said, slapping his face, groaning in displeasure. Luna playfully giggled before noticing that there is faint light and some distant giggling. "Well...It seems our session is over. I must say, it has been very fun playing with you Micheal. However, it seems you're waking up now" Luna said, looking at her new friend with a crestfallen look. However, she sprung back to happiness when she remembered something. "Oh right! I shall also be following sister with her visit. I'll see you soon Micheal" she spoke, her voice gradually becoming softer and softer, the light now enveloping most of his vision until he could see nothing but white. Mike awoke a few minutes later, his eyes slowly opening. Groaned in discomfort as the light from outside was now seeping in. Even worst, his position when he slept allowed the light to hit his closed his dead on. He lifted his head, scratching his left ear as he gave off a giant yawn. He tried to sit up straight but found it hard to do so as there was a certain weight that was holding him down. More specifically, a dragoness. Barb was sleeping next to him on his left side, her left arm gripping his chest and her right arm, which was underneath Mike, gripping his back. She was certainly enjoying this moment as there was a soft, warm smile plastered across her face. 'She must be having a really pleasant dream' Mike thought, smiling when he noticed how cute she looked. She was certainly using him as her personal teddy bear. But with all things, he knew he had to wake the dragoness up. So, with a soft and gentle voice, he placed a hand on her head and said, "Hey Barb. Time to wake up". And with that, nothing happened. Really. Barb still laid in bed, sleeping peacefully. Mike tried to raise his voice a little more. "Barb? Time to wake up" he said, getting a small grunt in reply. After a while, Barb's eyes started to open ever so slowly at first, letting the light seep into her eyes. Once her eyes were now semi-opened, she looked towards the source of the voice, seeing that Mike, her friend, had awoken her. She gave off a small shudder before doing something rather unexpected. She released her grip on Mike and stretched both arms, hitting Mike in the face with a painful 'THUD'. This caused the human to slightly fly off the bed, hitting the wooden floor. Barb was now fully aware of what had transpired and went to the other side of the bed to see whether her friend is okay. "MIKE! I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN IT!" Barb yelled out apologetically. This made the human groan in discomfort. 'Early in the morning and his face and body was now hurting? A great start if I do say so myself' he thought to himself, slowly standing up, rubbing his face. Once he stood up, an uproar of laughter broke loose from the door. Barb and Mike both looked at the door, finding out that it was open, revealing a purple unicorn mare and a chaotic female being. Twilight and Eris were now lying on the floor, laughing their asses off. This only caused the human to groan more and the dragoness to blush. Once they stopped, Eris walked towards the unlikely duo, a huge grin on her face. "Yea yea.....Laugh it up" Mike said angrily. Eris chuckled before making a camera appear from her claw-like hand. Mike looked at it, confused. "Yes, yes. Well....Not only did we capture that moment on camera, but also this" Eris said, snapping her fingers, making a couple of photos appear. The human and the dragoness both looked at it confused at first, but soon became flushed with embarrassment. In the photo, showed both creatures lying in bed, hugging each other as if one was about to lose the other, both of which were pleasantly smiling. Not only that, but apparently Eris also took another picture, this one without the blanket covering them. It showed Mike being hugged by the purple scaled dragonness, her tail wrapped around the being, holding him in sort of a vice grip. Silence soon followed. Twilight walked towards the group, standing next to Eris with a toothy grin, while Mike and Barb were now as red as a tomato. Eris chuckled before asking, "Awww, whats wrong? The two of you looked so CUTE when the both of you were sleeping!" Eris exclaimed, letting out a 'Squee', making a kissy face. Twilight chuckled, her gripping her face, trying not to 'Squee' as well from the intense cute that they saw. "Sh-shut up!" the victims yelled out, pushing both Eris and Twilight out of the room, closing the door behind them. "Oh right! Breakfast is ready as well! Twilight yelled from the other side, walking down the stairs and making her way to the kitchen, Eris following behind her. Both Mike and Barb stayed in relative silence as they got ready for the new day. "So, what do we do now?" Barb asked, picking an emerald gem, munching on it. "Right! Well, Princess Celestia said that she will be visiting us with Luna very soon. So it's best if we're ready" Twilight said, cleaning the dishes while the rest sat around the table. "Well....In that case, I'm going to Rarity's then. I need new clothes anyways" Mike said, standing up and making his way to the door leading to the outside. "Okay then! Tell Rarity I said 'hi' !" Twilight yelled from the kitchen, getting a "Okay!" in reply. When she was about to finish cleaning the last plate, she noticed Barb slightly crestfallen. She smiled before proceeding to what she was doing. Meanwhile outside, Mike headed his way to Carousel Boutique, the place where Rarity lived with her sister. However, there was one teeny problem. He forgot to ask where it was. He sighed before heading his way to a new destination, Sugarcube Corner and to ask Pinkie where Carousel Boutique is. As he was walking along, several ponies looked at him with a smile, to which he smiled and nodded in acknowledgement. However, it wasn't the smile that was freaking him out slightly. No no. It was how most of the mares were checking him out. He wasn't wearing anything fancy. Just a plain black T-shirt underneath his grey hoody with a the same pair of pants he wore yesterday. The only thing he brought along with him was his iPhone and his headphones. The mares were all looking at him with a form of expression he couldn't really comprehend. They were all smiling, yes. That meant that they were happy at least. But there was a nagging feeling at the back of his head that yelled "RUN!". 'I'm telling you man! They are not what they seem!' 'Huh? Who's this speaking?' Mike thought aloud before receiving a slight headache. 'It's your brain, dickbutt!' Mike sighed before slightly walking faster. After a while, he finally reached his destination. He grabbed the handle and opened the door. Once inside, he noticed a pink blur zipping by around the shop as well as a voice that greeted him. "Hey Mikey! Watcha need?" Pinkie asked, still zipping by. Mike tried to form a proper explanation as to how Pinkie was doing this but as what Twilight said yesterday, it was probably best if he didn't know. "Hey Pinkie. I'm just wondering as to where Carousel Boutique is. I need to meet Rarity. She said she wanted to make me some clothes" Mike told her, to which Pinkie stopped right in front of him. She had a huge shit-eating grin on her face. "Sure! I don't have anything better to do anyways" Pinkie said, shrugging her shoulders. Mike smiled before thanking her, the both of them leaving the building. As they walked along the streets of Ponyville, Pinkie told him that Carousel Boutique was just a slight 10 minute walk away, which was quite convenient. They walked along, telling short stories about their lives, telling jokes and just having a ball of a time. That was until Mike unexpectedly bumped into somepony. More importantly a child. The colt let out a small "Oof!" before falling back onto his flank, slightly dizzy. He wasn't looking where he was going and had bumped into something tall. When he looked up, let out a gasp and his eyes bulged. There, standing in front of him, was the being that the entire town was talking about recently. He was slightly excited and nervous about meeting him. "Hey there! Sorry for bumping into you" the human crouched down, so that he was at eye level with the colt and smiled. Then from the distance, was a female voice, yelling out loud. "-TTON!! BUTTON!" the mare yelled, coming closer to the group. As she came to a certain distance, the colt then ran up to her, giving her a hug. "Button! You shouldn't do that! I had to stop for a while to gain my breath" the mare scolded the colt, to which he just said "Sorry mom". The mare forgot about the two ponies that her child encountered. When she looked towards where they stood, she realized that the other 'pony' was apparently the new talk of the town, the creature that Barb Sparkle brought into town. "Thank you for stopping my child. He can be a bit troublesome at times" the mare smiled. The creature and Pinkie (the pink mare she first met when she and her family first stepped into town) smiled back. The creature then began to talk. "It's fine. Seems like a nice kid", he said looking at the colt. "He is such a sweetheart. My names Loving Care. And this is my child, Button Mash" she said. "Names Micheal Lorenz, pleased to meet you ma'am" Mike said with a nod. Once the small introduction was finished, Loving Care turned her eyes to Button. "Come on now Button, you'll be late for school" she said, holding her child's hand. She smiled at the duo before taking her leave. "She seems like a nice mom" Mike muttered. Pinkie nodded before the two continued their path towards Carousel Botique. "...-and here we are!" Pinkie exclaimed, her arms out wide, showcasing the building that was now in front of them. The building in particular is 2 stories high, with a pink and light purple tiled rooftop and the outside wall is painted light blue. All in all, the building looked rather fancy. Inside however, may or may not be the same. But, since it is Rarity living inside, it would obviously have to be fancy to suit her needs. "Well?? Why don't we go in?" Pinkie asked, opening the door, pulling on Mike's hand and dragging him inside. Once inside, Mike took note of the interior. The marble tiles her painted light violet, with a dark violet pattern going in a spiral. The wall was also painted light violet, with paintings of beautiful flowers made of different colors. There were 3 main places in the room that Mike had to take note of. The first one is a small stand with 3 mirrors attached below a cone that was attached to the ceiling with a yellow pole. From the looks of it, this is where ponies were to stand to look at how good their dresses or suits were. The next one was a room next to the 3 mirrors with dark purple colored wall, different patterns were on it. The entrance was 'blocked' with a swinging doorway, a picture of a bouquet of flowers and a pink heart on it. If he could guess, that way must lead to the kitchen portion of the building. Lastly was a dark purple curtain obstructing something behind it. Inside would probably be the changing rooms and Rarity's workplace. "Miss Rarity?! Are you here?!" Mike yelled, hearing a "Coming~!" as a reply. From behind the curtains appeared Rarity, wearing a white suit with a dark purple skirt. "Ah! You came! Well then, time to get you out of those.....filthy clothes that you're wearing! I mean, really. Would you wear that when meeting the Princesses?" Rarity asked with a smirk, one of her brows was raised. This caused Mike to be shocked. How did she know? "Don't bother asking darling. Twilight sent me a letter a while ago" Rarity said, disappearing from behind the curtains once again. Mike and Pinkie then followed behind her, Once they were behind the curtains, they were greeted with another room, this one filled with different clothes. dresses, business suits and even a......cheer-leading costume? 'Better not question it' Mike thought. "Now! If you mind, please go to one of the changing rooms and take off your clothes. I need to take your measurements" Rarity said, magically bringing a measuring tape from the nearby worktable, pointing towards the empty changing rooms. "Uhhh....Okay..?" Mike said, slightly suspicious. He did as told, going to the nearest room, Rarity following. Pinkie just stood there, waiting for the two of them to finish, slightly bored. Up until she heard something. "M-My word....Ummm...." Rarity slightly stuttered. Pinkie looked at the closed door, confused as to what might be happening. "I-It's.....so....big" Rarity said. "Ugh...P-Please just do w-what you were supposed to do" Mike said. Pinkie was now very confused. What were they talking about? A few minutes later, Rarity left the room, her face evident of a blush. Mike left a moment later, his face also evident of a blush. "Well now....If you are so kind to wait over there, I will go now to make your attire" Rarity said, coughing slightly. Once that was said, she went to a separate room, which would probably be her workplace. "So....What happened just now?" Pinkie asked, completely oblivious as to what transpired. Mike just groaned. "You do now want to know Pinkie" he said, a hand covering his face. "I am done!" the fashionista exclaimed, catching the attention of Pinkie and Mike. "Mike, if you could kindly go inside the first dressing room over there" Mike nodded, before proceeding towards the room he was told to go. Rarity came back a few minutes later holding some clothing, knocking on the door, giving Mike his attire. A while later, Mike stepped out of the small room, shocking Pinkie while Rarity smiled. Mike was currently wearing a red suit coat with a wide gold-trimmed lapels and a tunic collar with a stock tie as well as a black waistcoat, as well as being edged and gold trimmed. He was also wearing a pair of red tuxedo pants, in addition to his black shoes that Rarity was able to expertly craft. "How do I look?" he asked the mares. To which he got a "Super!" from Pinkie and a "Dashing~!" from Rarity. He laughed before walking towards Rarity. "Thanks Rarity. I owe you one" he smiled at her. Rarity just gave a small huff before replying, "The only favor you have to do for me is to stop wearing such dreadful clothing!" she said, putting the back of her hand on her forehead, giving a dramatic sigh. Mike laughed once again, with Pinkie and Rarity joining in. Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared on top of Rarity's worktable. Once it disappeared, a letter was now on lying on the table. Rarity hurried towards the letter, reading it before giving a slight gasp. "What is it?" Mike and Pinkie asked simultaneously. "The Princesses are coming soon! Twilight said to meet up at near Sucarcube Corner right now!" Rarity said, retrieving a nearby purple coat and a purple hat before signing both Pinkie and Mike to get moving. The trio quickly made their way towards Sugarcube Corner with mike getting a lot of glances from the mares, to which he just waves back at them. Once they arrived, the rest of the gang was there. However, once the rest of the gang saw what Mike was wearing, they were surprised to see how dashing he looked besides his hair being slightly messy. Barb had the most reaction. When she saw her friend wearing that suit, she was at awe. 'Wow! He sure does look handsome' Barb thought to herself. 'Damn right girl. That's a mighty fine human friend you got there' her consciousness spoke to her, albeit rather teasingly. "Once thing!" Eris said, snapping her finger, making a comb appear. The comb then made it's way towards Mike's hair, combing it so that it was now tidy. Eris smiled before snapping her fingers again, making the comb disappear. "Can't have a messy hair ruin the first impressions of the Princesses, now do we?" she said with a grin. Then, from the distance, trumpets could be heard being blow, signalling that they were coming. "Well....Just be yourself and everything will be fine, okay?" Twilight asked, looking at Mike, getting a small nod in reply. For the human, this could mean either staying in this world without worry or to be thrown in some sort of dungeon, to be treated as a pet of some sort. 'I hope I don't screw up' he thought to himself. He watched as the flying carriage soon touched the ground. He was still feeling a bit scared but all that fear was washed away when he felt something grab his right hand. Turning to his right, he saw Barb looking at him with eyes that comforted him. With that, he felt more at ease. In his mind he silently thanked Barb. All they did now was wait until the carriage door opened. Finally, the door opened. Author's Note This is the longest chapter I have done so far. Hue. Left ya'll in a bit of a cliffhanger. See ya next time folks! (Btw. Try to guess where I got the suit idea from) //-------------------------------------------------------// A talk with the royals (Or, Chapter 10: "SLEEPOVER!") //-------------------------------------------------------// A talk with the royals (Or, Chapter 10: "SLEEPOVER!") Revealing a pure white fur coated Alicorn, who beheld such grace and beauty from just her looks alone. She was currently wearing a white dress, gold trimmed with a picture of the Equestrian sun on the sides. She was also wearing, what seems to be, her royal regalia which consisted of her golden tiara, a golden necklace. She went off the carriage, revealing that Luna came as well, wearing almost the same thing she wore when she visited Mike in his dream. Mike gulped, it was now or never. Both Princesses walked towards the group, their royal guards standing beside them. They stopped just about a meter away, their faces now bearing a warm smile, especially Luna. Well....hers being more of a smirk. Then Princess Celestia coughed once before addressing herself formally towards the alien. "Hello Micheal. I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna. As what you already know, we are the co-rulers of Equestria" she spoke in a tone much like a mother addressing something important to her child. She continued, "Shall we head inside? I would like to discuss some things" she said, receiving a nod from the human. As the entire group entered the building, the two princesses spoke to their guards about something before the guards saluted, flying off into the distance. They entered a while later. Once inside, they saw that everyone was now seated. With that, they both took their seats, a huge grin now forming on their faces. This practically scared Mike, since he had no idea what they were going to do. "Firstly, I would like to ask, is it true you slept with my daughter?" Celestia asked, rather bluntly, her grin still now disappearing. This caused the human and the dragoness to flush red, with Mike turning his head away and Barb yelling out " MOM!!". The rest of the gang, along with the 2 princesses, laughed. It was rather cute to see the two flush red. "I am merely joking. Besides, it's a good opportunity for my daughter to go outdoors more often" Celestia said, still chuckling. Mike slapped his face before groaning in discomfort. Celestia chuckled once again befire speaking again, "Anyways, I would formally like to say 'Welcome to Equestria' dear Micheal" she said with a warm smile. Mike couldn't help but smile back. For a princess, she sure does know how to be a tease. "Besides! From what I have read from the letters my student gave me last night, you are getting along with everypony rather well and that you're not really a harmful being, as from what Barb noted in one of the letters" after saying this, her face now contorted into a more serious one, "But do keep in mind, if you DO end up hurting any of my precious ponies, especially my daughter, I WILL END YOU!" she said, fire could be seen flaring from her eyes, causing the human to stay rooted to his seat in fear. "Y-y-yes ma-ma'am!" Mike stuttered, scared for his life. This lady is scary when she gets angry! Sheesh! Once she said that, she went back to her usual regal posture, smiling at him as if nothing ever happened. After a brief silence, in which everyone took their moment to calm down, Luna decided to speak. "Well....We shall be asking you a couple of questions then" she said, receiving a nod from the human. "Do tell us, how technologically advanced is your race?" she asked, making Mike muse for a while before replying. "Well....In gaming wise, as far as I can tell, the consoles that you ponies have is almost the exact same replica as the ones back home, with a couple of adjustments. For the rest? I'm not quite sure. All I know is that you ponies have a magical cooling system that uses ice-crystals and that it's kind of like an air-conditioning unit back at home" Mike said. "Alright then. How does is your world being run by? By princesses like us or something else?" Celestia asked this question this time round. "Well, from where I come from, the place is democratic, meaning that we have to vote for a president to lead our country every once in a while" Mike said. The two princesses looked at each other with a slight surprise that could be found in their eyes before looking back at Mike, nodding in acknowledgement. "Fair enough. Do tell, what is your species diet consist of?" Celestia asked, causing the human's eyes to widened. 'Oh crap....Well..might as well tell the truth. No point in lying' Mike thought to himself, sighing once before replying. "Well...We humans can eat a variety of things. Nuts, fruits, vegetables as well as.....meat" he said, causing everypony ,but the 2 princesses, Barb, Eris and Fluttershy, to gasp slightly. "WAIT! Let me explain, us humans need protein in our diet and a good source of it is in meat. Besides, we are omnivorous. We can live without meat. Although, there are some who are more enthusiastic of eating meat and nothing else" Mike said, explaining to the group. "Well, that is not really too surprising. I can tell that you eat meat from your canines" Celestia said, nodding. After this was said, silence entered the room. Few moments later, Mike decided to break it this time. "So....Why are you here? I can tell you're not just here to meet me, correct?" he asked the solar princess. Celestia nodded. "Well...It is true that we are not here to just meet you and see if you're not dangerous but because me and my sister decided to take a holiday for about 2 weeks" she replied, causing everypony to ask, "Holiday?", with her just nodding in reply. "Yes. You see, royal courts have taken a toll on our social lives, so we do not have a lot of time to mingle with other ponies. So, when I received a letter from my student saying that there is a new being in Ponyville, we took this opportunity to come here to Ponyville and take a long awaited holiday. For that, I would actually want to thank you. I haven't had a lot of time to discuss on how my student and my daughter have been doing" Celestia continued, thanking the human for just being present in Ponyville. "Erm....Your welcome?" Mike said in more of a questioning tone. Just then, Princess Celestia remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot. Yes my dear student. I accept your proposal" she spoke to her beloved student with a smile, causing Twilight to grin. "Oh goody! This is going to be a fun sleepover!" Twilight said out loud, causing everypony to stare at her, Mike being more concerned. 'Oh no...Not a sleepover' he thought to himself. "Oh right! I forgot to ask you girls about the sleepover. So, what do you all have to say?" Twilight asked the group, Mike, with all his heart and mind, wished that they all couldn't come. Too bad for him. "What do I have to say? I say, COUNT ME IN!!" Pinkie yelled loudly, a really huge smile on her face. "Eh? Miss bookworm is throwing a sleepover? I am completely shocked! But do count me in" Eris smiled. "W-well....I g-guess I can come along" Fluttershy meekly spoke, still unsure if it was a good idea. Regardless, Twilight nodded and smiled. "Alright! Hey Princess Luna! Did ya bring your consoles?" Rainbow Dash fist bumped the air before stopping to question the lunar princess. Luna chuckled before using her magic to conjure a bag. She opened it to reveal different kind of consoles. "Oh trust me Rainbow Dash. I am more than prepared" she said with a smug grin. Rainbow Dash chuckled before giving a thumbs up. "Hoowee! A sleepover ya say? Well count me in partner! Heck! Might as well throw in some cider into the mix" Applejack said with a grin. "Sweet! Mom, you're going down!" Barb clenched her right claw into a fist, grinning at the solar princess, only to receive a slight giggle. "Trust me sweetheart, I won't" she replied. "Erm....Hello? I'm the only guy in this group! This is kinda awkward for me ya know" Mike said, cautiously looking at the group, only to receive a giggle from the solar deity and some wide open smiles from the rest. "Don't worry Micheal. We'll try not to make it so. No promises though~" Celestia said in a teasing tone, causing the human to groan. "Huzzah! The festivities tonight shall be most interesting!" Luna yelled loudly, her hands now raised in the air. "Wait....It's only like....4 pm. What do we do now?" Barb asked, looking at her mother. Celestia giggled. "Might as well go back to the library and get ready" she said, satisfying Barb's question. "Well...I guess this is where we will split for now. I still need to go back to Miss Rarity's to get some formal clothes for me to wear" Mike said getting up from his seat, with Rarity following a moment later. Once they were up, they headed for the door. Just as Mike left the building he turned around to look at the 2 princesses one more time. "I bid thee farewell for now" Mike spoke in his gentlemanly voice, bowing to the deities, causing them to smile warmly from his actions. He smiled before leaving. "Here you go! Some new, clean and suitable clothing!" Rarity yelled out from her work area. She stepped out from a door, revealing that she holding a bunch of sleeved shirts, pants as well as a scarf. It was really odd on how Rarity was able to create all the clothes she just made in a matter of hours. Mike was more pleased with the result. "Thanks Rarity. Like I said earlier, I owe you one" Mike smiled and thanked unicorn, only to receive a light shove. "Well then, as I said earlier, please don't wear any horrendous clothing then!" Rarity smiled before yawning. Mike noticed how tired she looked but even so, she did her job really well. "Well then, I guess it's time for us to head back" Rarity said, using her magic to pull a luggage from underneath her worktable. They left the room, flicking off the light switch and closing the door behind them. Once they were at the main room of the building, Rarity quickly went up to the nearby cabinet and pulled out a sleeping bag. She smiled back at Mike, turning the lights off and closing the door behind them, Rarity making sure she locked the door, before heading their way to the library. They walk towards the Golden Oaks Library was rather uneventful, only talking about some not so interesting things such as if either one had a sibling, to each others surprise, they both did have at least a sibling. Rarity talked about her younger sister Sweetie Belle and on how she would go about with her friends on how to find their cutie marks (A picture of some sorts that tells a pony what their talent is. Mike found this really helpful since humans in general don't have it). Mike chuckled on how at one given time, Sweetie Belle accidentally tied herself to an apple tree in one of Applejacks apple orchard. Mike on the other hand talked about how his younger sister was kind of like Sweetie, kind, helpful and sometimes annoying to put up with. He told Rarity that she had a really nasty stage fright and almost fainted in front of her school when she was performing. They didn't realize it that they were already near the library, up until Mike implanted himself onto the outside wall of the building, face first, staggering backwards. Once his dizziness faded, he opened the door and ushered Rarity to go inside, to which she gladly did. Once he entered, he found that the entire library section of the library was still the same. He then realized that the actual sleepover was upstairs as he heard a very loud "DOUBLE KILL!" as well as a "OH COME ON!!". The two looked at each other briefly before shrugging as they proceeded to head upstairs. The noises grew louder and louder up until they reached Twilight's room, which all the noise was at. Mike opened the door, only to be greeted by a huge amount of confetti being shot at him, sending him across the corridor and into the wall at the opposite side. Pinkie poked her head out of the door, sheepishly smiling as she went and made her way to the barely standing human. "Oopsies. Sorry Mikey" she apologized, scratching the back of her head. Mike gave a weak thumbs up, indicating that "It's fine.....ow". Moments later, Mike was able to stand up again and with that, he made his way into the room that was now full of different things happening. On Twilight's bed was Princess Celestia, Barb, Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna, all four of which were using a laptop. This, utterly confused as well as amazed Mike. Confused him because, why did they still have the need to send letters if they already have laptops, therefore being able to send emails. Amazed him because he thought ponies didn't have this sort of technology, but he shouldn't be surprised since he remembered that the gaming consoles they have are almost the same exact replica back on earth. "Oh! Hey Mike, Rarity. Glad you made it" Twilight said, now wearing a purple blouse with a dark purple skirt as well as wearing a pair of red spectacles. As he left Rarity and Twilight to discuss on some matter, we made his way towards the four currently gaming mares. Luna sensed him approaching, looking up at him so as to greet him with a smile. "Ah! Micheal! Glad that you could join us in our festivity" Luna spoke to him. Celestia only let out a "Shhh!" before saying, "Less talking, more playing" she said, her focus completely on the game they were playing. Luna shrugged her shoulders before turning her attention back towards the game. "So...What you girls playing?" Mike asked the three mares and the dragoness, receiving an answer from Rainbow. "DotA. DotA 2 to be precise" she said, her eyes also on the screen. This caused Mike's brain to stop functioning for but a brief moment, letting out a "What?!". Went to the closest screen, which was Celestia's, and watched the game, his eyes bulging out of it's sockets. He couldn't believe it. The game was almost the same, the names, like 'Moon Rider' and 'Stone Giant', the map, the concept, was almost the same, except for the characters. As he looked closer, he was shocked to see that the characters looked like some of the ponies he knows! Celestia was playing 'Gyrocopter', who seemed to be Pinkie Pie riding a....well....gyrocopter. He looked to Luna's screen, finding out that she was playing 'Moon Rider' and seemed to resemble Luna riding a black panther. 'Fucking badass' he thought to himself. Barb looked at him with a face of utter confusion. "Uhhh....You alright buddy?" she asked him, receiving a nod. "Ya, more than alright actually. Apparently you girls are also playing a game that I can actually play" he said, now gaining the attention of the four mares. "What do you mean, 'actually play' ?" Rainbow asked him, one of her eye brows raised. Mike sighed. "Nevermind about that" he replied. Luna seemed to be most interested. This human, being able to play a game that her sister cherishes? This ought to be interesting. "Well...Let's see what you're made of then" Luna said. She then quit her current match, much to the other three's disapproval and handed him the laptop before taking another one from the same back she brought along. "A 1v1. Up for the challange?" Luna asked him, to which he gladly accepted. Seeing that their match would end up in a loss, the rest of the three mares also quit the match, now putting their laptops aside so as to watch the two duke it out. "All Pick!" the announcer yelled out, now showing a wide array of heroes. 'Skills are the same...This should be fine' he thought to himself before seeing that Luna had already picked her choice, 'Storm Spirit', which seemed to be modeled after Rainbow Dash herself. He sighed before typing out 'Invoker' the screen showing a portrait of an old unicorn stallion, with a long beard as well as three orbs circling him. Choosing that hero, he then pressed the 'Play', the match soon starting a few seconds later. "Monster Kill!" the announcer yelled out, much to Mike's pleasure. Oh revenge. How it is so sweet. He was currently wrecking Luna, much to her disbelief. "Give up?" he asked her, a smug look on his face. Luna hesitated for a while. She wanted to beat him in this game so badly but somehow, he was able to outsmart her every fight that broke between them. In the end, she sighed "I.....I yield. You are very good at this game I must say" Luna said, typing two lettings on the screen, "GG". "Heh...Thanks. Although, I do have to say, you're not bad yourself" Mike smiled as the screen showed that he had won the match. Author's Note I got the concept from Yudhaikeledai from deviantart and the amazing custom dota 2 animation this person made. I was hesitating what kind of game Mike could play to wreck Luna, so I just stuck to this, since I love the game so much :pinkiesmile: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/pinkiesmile.png And if you didn't like it, well I'm sorry. (Hope you enjoy!) //-------------------------------------------------------// "WAIT, WHAT?! NO!!" //-------------------------------------------------------// "WAIT, WHAT?! NO!!" =1st person: Barbara= "....And then *snicker* she just threw a tantrum. Just like that!" I told Mike, much to Luna's embarrassment and to my mom's enjoyment. For almost the entirety of this sleepover, Mike still stayed with us. I had thought that he would probably be doing something else, either than hang around with a bunch of girls, in which most of us were talking girly things. Ugh. Anyways, the 5 of us were still huddled around in our group, still playing when Eris suddenly appeared, floating in mid air, holding a tray full of glasses filled with, from my guess, AJ's cider. She was, for some odd reason, wearing a black and white maid's outfit with black laced stockings. Don't even ask me why she was wearing it. "Alright fellas! Cider's here! Tell me when anypony wants more. I'll be over there with Fluttershy" she said, instantly teleporting next to the yellow pegasus, who was probably gossiping with Rarity. And with that, Rainbow Dash bolted her way towards the glasses, only to be pulled by a dark blue aura surrounding her. I turned to look at Luna who was now wearing a smile as she used her magic to take one of the glass of cider. Once she was now holding the drink, she let Rainbow back down on the floor. Hard. With a loud *THUMP*, she fell and landed on the floor face first, causing the 2 Princesses to snicker. After a moment, Rainbow recovered, however her face was still sore from the looks of it. She took a glass before returning to the group. "You know, that was uncalled for Princess" Rainbow said, still rubbing her face. Luna chuckled before replying, "Well I am terribly sorry Rainbow Dash" with a small smile, causing Rainbow to smile as well. "Heh. It's fine. I can take a beating" she said causing all of us in the group to chuckle. I turned around to check on Mike and saw that his head was down and his eyes were closed, He was probably thinking of something. "You alright Mike?" I asked him, causing him to snap out of his thoughts. "Hm? Ya. I was just wondering how all of you are so close. I mean, Princess Luna is a Princess and yet you girls treat her just like she isn't" he said, causing Mom to stop for a while, looking at me with a curious look. She's probably curious as to how I would answer him. "Well...After the incident that made Luna return to her self, we found that she was just really lonely. She didn't have a lot of friends back then, only her sister. So we all made a promise to be her friend, only if she would just be herself" I replied, flashing a smile to Luna, receiving a smile from her. Before Mike could form another sentence, he was pulled into the air by Eris, who then placed him back on the floor on his feet. "Well! This has been slightly boring as of late, so sparky over here said we should play a game. More specifically, Truth or Dare. Just for the heck of it!" she said, now making Mike sit down opposite of her, as well as causing a bottle to materialize then gently placing it on the floor on it's side. The rest of the girls, besides me, Rainbow and Fluttershy, were fine with this, so they all got up and sat around in a circle, the three of us being the last one's since me and Rainbow wanted nothing to do with this game and Fluttershy just being nervous all in all. "Let's start things with me first" Eris said, now receiving a "Truth of Dare" from Mom, causing her to smirk before choosing Dare. A couple of hums started to appear before being silenced when Luna spoke. "Alright then. I dare thee to do something horrifying to our 'dearest' nephew" Luna said, putting up air quotation marks when she said dearest, also giving out a slightly disgusted face. Eris' face soon grew into a mischievous smile as she disappeared from thin air, only to come back a couple of minutes later. Luna then let out a satisfied nod before signalling Eris to spin the dreaded bottle. Only for it to land at Mom. I swear, her face soon flushed red when it landed on her. She was obviously not expecting her turn to be so soon. Eris then looked at her with a grin before asking, "So Celest. Truth or Dare?". Mom scrunched up her face before sighing. "Well...I guess I shall go with truth for now" she replied, now back to her normal composure. "Alright. Is it true that you love cake?" Eris asked, her mischievous grin returning. Mom looked at her with a confused look. "Why?" she asked, slightly suspicious. Suddenly, a cake dropped on top of her, causing Eris and Luna to laugh loudly and the rest of us to chuckle. Mom wiped a bit of cake away from her eye before looking back at Eris. "I hate you for that. But I can't complain, this is a really good cake actually" she said, taking bites off the still somewhat whole cake. After a while, Eris snapped her fingers, causing the rest of the cake to disappear of Mom. She was slightly saddened by this but was soon excited when she spotted something on the table. As we all turned our heads to look, there on the table, was, presumably, the same kind of cake that was dropped on top of Mom, a plastic knife as well as some paper plates and forks. She quickly went over to the table, took a slice before sitting back. I just chuckled. I had forgotten about Mom's huge hunger for cake. The sweet confectionery was by far her favorites. She gently place the plate down next to her, taking the bottle and giving it a good spin. This is going to take a while. Oh boy! Should not have drank that cider. It's making my head spin a little. Didn't know that AJ brought along the slightly alcoholic cider. But to tartarus with that! I got up, took my glass and filled it up with more of that tasty drink. I don't know about you readers but Mike looked.....different tonight. I drank the entire glass before returning to the group. Hehehe....I don't know about you readers but I'm feelin' mighty fine right now. I sat back down next to Mike, a smile now on my face. It was Twilight's turn to spin the bottle. She grabbed it and gave it a hard spin, causing it to spin for a while before it landed on me. "So Miss Scales. Truth or Dare?" I heard Rainbow ask me, to which, without a lot of hesitation, I said "Dare" "Hehehe....This is going to be good. Alright! I dare ya to kiss Mike" I heard her yell out loud, much to Mike's disagreement. "WAIT, WHAT?! NO!!" he yelled out loud in retaliation. =1st person: Micheal= "WAIT, WHAT?! NO!!" I yelled out loud. Firstly, I was not expecting that. Secondly, I knew for a fact that Rainbow wasn't thinking straight due to her hogging up most of the cider, followed by AJ, Luna then Barb, whom got roughly around 4-6 drinks. I learned from Celestia that Barb is a rather lightweight whom can't really hold in too much alcohol, getting at most 9 drinks before passing out. With that in mind, I was not going to allow a drunk dragoness to kiss me, as cool as that might sound. However, I didn't really get a good chance to say why as I felt a pair of soft lips now touching mine, surprising me. I didn't know what to do know. She had wrapped both of her arms around my head. She was obviously not thinking straight, her eyes closed and her lips tasted that of the cider. Moments later, she released her grip on my head and ended the kiss, leaving me slightly breathless as I looked around and asked a rhetorical question. "W-What just happened...?" Author's Note (I will only call Celestia 'Mom' if it's in Barbs PoV) Anyways, I hope y'all like it. Sorry this chapter took longer than expected. School work chewed up most of my time. On a completely different note, BARB KISSED MIKE!! Trust me, when the morning comes, there will be awkwardness between them. Just a slight heads up. //-------------------------------------------------------// "....Now what?" //-------------------------------------------------------// "....Now what?" The night continued as usual, with the exception of a now very confused human. Other than that, it was clear sailing from then on. They all continued their, now not-so-friendly game of Truth or dare, going to extreme cases such as making Luna wear a really pink and really frilly dress in front of everyone, courtesy of Eris having the idea in the first place. As the night progressed, the game started to get more and more crazy. Rainbow Dash, being the daredevil she is, was dared to wear a a frilly dress, made by Rarity, and go around town yelling "I AM SO PRETTY! SO VERY PRETTY!", much to her disapproval. She tried to resist but with the help of Luna and Eris, she did as what was told, making a ponies whom were still awake, look at her with confusion. Once she came back, the entire gang was laughing their asses off, making Rainbow blush madly, her face being crimson in color. On the same note, Celestia was asked to tell the truth on whether or not she was still 'fresh for the picking', to which she blushed madly, causing everyone to laugh, especially her sister Luna. The flustered alicorn was unable to deny the fact that no pony has popped her cherry as of yet. This caused more questions to arise but the most basic one being "Why?". Eris went on a small speech on how her friend would be able to make any stallion her own if she wanted, causing Celestia's blush to redden even more. This game just kept going into the night, most of the ideas now being rather ridiculous since half of them were rather tipsy. However, Barb may or may not have gotten the most ridiculous thing she was ever dared to do. Now that she has regained a small part of herself and was now only a tad bit tipsy, she ushered her mother to spin the dreaded bottle. Only for it to land at her. Many "Ooo!"s were heard as the bottle landed on the dragoness. She hesitated on whether or not she should pick dare but silently said "Buck it" before picking dare. Her faith now lies in her mother's hands. To which she would gladly abuse. "I know~!" Celestia said in a sing-song manner, causing Barb to flinch slightly. She knew that if she did that, it would mean she has a brilliant idea. She silently wished in her mother's name that she would not get humiliated. "I dare you...." Celestia said, her voice stopping for a moment, making the others excited to hear what she would say. For Barb, not so much. "....to spend the next two and a half hours with Mike in your bedroom. That's all!" Celestia spoke with a smile, causing Barb to look at her in confusion. 'What what...? That's it? Doesn't seem too bad' Barb thought to herself. It didn't seemed all that bad. Mike was a pretty cool guy anyways. "Erm....what?" Mike asked in confusion before he got dragged by Barb, pulling towards the door. "Let's just finish this dare..." Barb said softly, opening the door and closing it behind them, dragging the human along to her room. Once they reached the door, Barb opened and it and the two entered. =Meanwhile: With the rest of the gang= "So...why did you dare her that again? It doesn't seem like a dare to me" Rainbow huffed, crossing her arms while looking at Celestia. Celestia smiled warmly before replying. "Well you see, dear Rainbow Dash, I have casted a spell in that very bedroom that causes any mare that is inside to be rather....active. Not to mention it acts relatively fast. Since it will only be the two of them, who knows what will happen?" Celestia's face now bearing a huge grin. "Not to mention that once they enter, the door will be automatically closed, unable to be opened by any means. The rest of the girls stopped to stare at her, their faces were of utmost confusion. Then, Twilight's suddenly gasped before staring at her mentor intently, her eyes wide open. "You did not!" she said, her hands covering her mouth, to which Celestia just nodded. The rest of the girls seemed to get what the solar princess was saying after a while. All of their faces now bearing a blush, Fluttershy being the worst as she covered her face with her hands, letting out a soft "Oh...My!". Celestia's grin grew even larger. She stood up and went to the table to take another slice of cake before telling everypony in the room, "Now...we wait!" =In Barb's room= As soon as the duo entered the room, Barb made a dive for her bed, causing the blanket that was folded neatly and some pillow's to fly in different directions, landing in a different part of the room. "....Now what?" Mike asked, causing Barb to shrug her shoulders, her eyes slowly drifting across the ceiling. With nothing much to do, Mike made his way to the nearby desk where his laptop was placed neatly and switched it on. While he did this, Barb trailed her eyes towards her friend who was fixated on his laptop. 'You know, I never noticed how good looking Mike is in that suit of his' Barb thought to herself, lying on her belly, still staring at the human. 'I know right? He looks so dashing...Rarity did a really good job on the suit' Barb's conscious replied. 'Yeap...' 'Is it getting hot in here?' Barb heard her conscious ask but she did not reply, her focus was still on Mike. She continued to stare at him, her heart slowly beating faster than before. Barb didn't have the time to look at him thoroughly before but now, with only the two of them in the room, Barb couldn't help but stare at her friend. The suit gave him a professional look with all those fancy buttons and slight frills. With her mind being slightly foggy, she stood up and went towards her friend, giving him a hug from the back, surprising him. "H-Hey! Wh-What's the big idea?" Mike asked, his head turning around. Barb was resting her head on his right shoulder, her face bearing a grin and a slight blush. Her breathing seemed rather heavy and hot. "Nothin~" Barb replied with a slight tinge of seduction in her voice. A couple more minutes passed by and Barb was now hugging Mike, sitting on his lap with her head still on his shoulder. Barb couldn't help but feel at ease when she was with him. However for Mike, this situation was getting rather suspicious. Few minutes ago Barb hugged him from behind, completely without a reason. She then let go of her grip, causing the human to sigh in relief but only for a few seconds as Barb then appeared in front of him, asking whether if she could hug him, giving him a look that he knew he couldn't fight. 'This is getting very awkward for me' Mike thought, a blush on his face. With that, he stopped using his laptop and faced Barb. "Barb...What the heck is wrong with you?" Mike asked his friend. Barb giggled a very girlish giggle before replying, "I don't know....Why don't you tell me hotshot~" she said, looking at the human with half lidded eyes. This caused Mike to look at her with even more confusion before her tail suddenly wrapped around him. Mike let out a gasp from the sudden gasp before looking at Barb. Barb licked her lips, looking at her friend with a seductive look. "I don't know about you....But I have an 'itch' that needs scratching.....BADLY" she said, her lust now taking control. Now in a sticky situation, Mike broke free from Barb's grasp, throwing her to the side and landing on the bed. He then made a sprint towards the door. He turned the knob, only finding out that the door was locked by some weird glow that surrounded the door knob. He gulped, knowing that the only way to escape is through the... "...window" he silently spoke, turning his attention behind him. Barb was now up on her feet again, her entire body blocking the way to his freedom. "I'm sorry but I can't let ya go. You're the splitting image of a good coltfriend. And you will be mine!" she said, licking her lips while still looking at him with those seductive eyes. Mike took a small glance towards the wall clock, spotting that only fifteen minutes had passed. He sighed before thinking, 'This is going to be one hell of a night....' Author's Note I hope you guys enjoy it (P.S I had trouble of picturing Barb as a crazy horny dragoness. So....ya) (P.S.S Please do tell on whether there are errors and whatnot) //-------------------------------------------------------// Resistance is futile //-------------------------------------------------------// Resistance is futile "Come on Mike~ I won't hurt you. Not yet at least" Barb seductively said, giggling afterwards. Mike was in a very very difficult situation. With no way out besides the window and with a sexually crazed dragoness after him, all Mike could do as of now was to say a silent prayer, hoping that everything he did was in his favor. With a lick of her lips, Barb slowly made her way to her friend whose back was against the closed door, licking her lips while thinking of the many 'fun' activities they could do. Mike held his ground, hoping that what he would do next would work. As Barb gradually came closer, he turned his vision to the wall clock, noticing that he had two hours and ten minutes more till all of this was over. Turning his head back forward, he was shocked to see Barb so close up to him, her face being inches away from his, a seductive smile planted on it. She laid a hand on his face, slowly trailing it down. Mike's face was now crimson. Even though the idea of Barb going to rape him was not ideal, he couldn't help but think how beautiful she looks. That was until he felt a hand on his crotch, making him let out a sharp gasp. He gulped before looking back at her, silently whispering something into Barb's ear. "I'm sorry..." he softly said as he suddenly grabbed sides and forcefully pushed her aside, making a break towards the window. He was almost free, all he needed to do was to break the damn thing and run as far as he could. That was until he felt a sharp tug on one of his foot, causing him to trip and fall. He looked down and saw that Barb's tail managed to get a hold of his right foot, her body still sprawled on the floor. He saw her get up and felt that he was being pulled towards her. Once he was near, Barb pounced, landing on top of the human with his hands forcefully pushing her away. "Fuck!" Mike swore as he was pushing a sexually crazed dragoness. "Stop! Resisting! And! Give up!" Barb yelled, as she tried to lay a claw on the human, unable to do so as his hands were pushing her away. "Dammit Barb! Listen! You're not yourself right now! Snap out of it!" Mike yelled, hoping that by yelling, it would at least put some sense into her head and to stop what she was doing. Sadly, she didn't seemed fazed by his words whatsoever. Mike hoped that with enough effort, he would be able to push her away and make his way to the window. =Meanwhile with the rest of the gang= The girls all had their ears placed against the outside of Barb's door, listening intently on what was going on. They were able to hear what they said, some grunting, heavy breathing as well as some light moans, causing all their faces to blush. "Do ya think we should stop them?" Applejack asked the group, hiding her face behind her stetson. "Well we can't AJ. A dare is a dare and Barb accepted it willingly. Mike...not so much" Twilight replied, her breathing seemed to be rather labored. A little while later, they heard some pounding noises, causing their blushes to redden even more. "Oh my word...Barb sounds like she's into it..." Rarity softly said. Then, they heard Mike speak in a shagged tone. "B-Barb....Stop....It hurts!" he said, yelling out the last part, to which they all heard Barb giggle from the other side of the door. They then heard some more grunts before Mike yelled out "Argh!", causing the group to slightly gasp. By now, all their faces were crimson red and breathing heavily. Then, Barb spoke from the other side, "Ya know....I like those who struggle....It's a sign that they can handle me~" they heard Barb say seductively. "Oh....My!" Fluttershy softly said. "Hmm....I wonder how Mike would survive then..." Celestia spoke to herself silently, guilt building up inside of her. Then, they heard something that shocked them. "I.....give up..." they heard Mike say weakly. From the other side, Barb giggled once more before they heard no more struggle. No more grunts and whatnot. "Oh.....Dear me" Celestia softly spoke. =Back with the duo= Mike grunted as he tried to push the dragoness away from him, his breathing now very heavily. While pushing the lust crazed dragon, Barb let out a light moan and closed her eyes, as she felt something poking her nethers. "Oh? You have a present for me~?" Barb whispered in Mike's ear, causing him to let a sharp gasp. His mind was so focused on trying to pry off the dragoness that he didn't feel his pants tighten from a sudden boner. 'Brain?! What the hell is happening down there!?" Mike yelled, gritting his teeth. 'Sorry captain! There's nothing we can do! I can't keep the bugger down!' his brain replied, causing him to swear silently, "Fuck me". Barb quickly opened her eyes before replying with as much lust in one sentence, "My pleasure~". Barb let go of her grip around Mike's foot, her tail diving back in and wrapped itself around Mike's legs, causing him to let out another grunt. Mike was getting tired now and with Barb's tail wrapped around his legs, it was hard to try and pry off the dragoness. He wasn't going to give up yet though. So he tried to go for a different approach that just using his strength to pry off Barb. "B-Barb....Stop....It hurts!" Mike yelled, hoping that Barb would ease her tail a bit, to which she did. He felt it ease more and more up until he could only feel it lay on him instead. 'Good....She took the bait' he thought to himself. However, what he didn't expect was Barb's tail to wrap around his chest instead with a huge sudden force, causing Mike's eyes to widen in surprise and to yell out an agonized "Argh!". With a smirk now on her face, Barb spoke. "Ya know....I like those who struggle....It's a sign that they can handle me~" she said, licking her lips once again. She leaned in closer before whispering to Mike, "Your lucky you're cute~" she softly said, her eyes twinkled for a brief moment. Then, Mike said a sentence that caused Barb to flash a grin. "I.....give up...." Mike said weakly, causing the dragoness to grin and let out a giggle. She had him now. She knew that he was tired and had no more energy to fight her anymore. This fight was now won by her. With another giggle, Barb did another unexpected thing, causing the human's eye to widen in shock. As Mike's arms were now lying on the floor and with nothing else resisting her, Barb leaned in and gave Mike a kiss. A kiss that Mike did not expect by the least. He thought that she would give him lustful kiss but it wasn't so. Instead, she kissed him passionately, her hands now grabbing the sides of Mike's face so that he couldn't move his face away. A moment after, he could now feel Barb's tongue trying to enter his mouth, begging for an entrance. Hesitating on his part, he reluctantly granted her access. Soon, a long tongue met his own, both wrestling for dominance. He knew that he needed to do this for his plan to work. He didn't know what to feel right now. The make out session with Barb felt so wrong and yet...it felt right at the same time. With a reluctance, he gave in to Barb's desire and passionately kissed her in return, causing the dragoness to let out a squeak from the suddenness. The kissing lasted for what seemed like ages, the both of them not caring what was happening around them and only focused on each other. Then, Barb broke it, much to Mike's disappointment. She smiled a warm smile at him and unlike those lust filled smiles she gave him minutes ago. She felt....elated, giddy and most importantly, she felt very much in love. Mike returned the smile that he was given and looked at the wall clock, finding out that he still had an hour and forty-five more minutes till everything was over. He returned his glance towards Barb whom was now lying on top of Mike, staring at him with a hopeful expression. "So....does that mean....you'll do it with me..?" Barb asked shyly, a rather big contrast as to how she was acting minutes ago. "Y-Yea...." Mike replied, his heart rate now slowly returning back to normal. "Hey...Barb?" Mike asked softly, his hands now on her sides. "...Yea?" Barb replied, her eyes fixated onto his, causing Mike to feel guilty. But, he knew he needed this to be done. "....Once again....I'm really sorry" Mike said softly planting a small kiss onto Barb's forehead before throwing her to the side and making a run towards the window. Once he was near, he jumped, smashed it before landing and tumbling outside, his body now pain. With one last look towards the now smashed window, he pulled himself up before running to god knows where. Once he took off, Barb's figure could be seen appearing from the now broken window, a pair of green eyes scanning the slightly illuminated streets of Ponyville. "Run as much as you like....I'M COMING FOR YOU MIKE!!" Barb yelled out before jumping out the hole. Once she landed, she gave chase. Meanwhile, a few minutes walk away, Mike heard what Barb yelled out loud, causing the nearby ponies who were still awake to look at him in confusion, his eyes widening in horror before forcing himself to run once again. Author's Note I hope you people like it. As always, this story is still a teen rated one meaning no real sex is going to happen. yet On a different note, I feel rather bad for Barb. Must be from the sudden rejection when Mike threw her off of him. //-------------------------------------------------------// Wild Goose Chase //-------------------------------------------------------// Wild Goose Chase "I'M SORRY!!" Barb yelled out loud as she tackled Mike down to the floor, tears running across her face furiously. Mike, although tired, was utterly confused. Two hours and thirty minutes ago she was suddenly became a sex crazed dragon, chasing his ass through Ponyville just over an hour ago and now here she was, in his arms crying like there was no tomorrow. I'm ahead of the story....aren't I? ... ....Shit. Sorry folks! =Just over an hour ago= =Location: Somewhere around Ponyville= "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Mike cursed to himself. A few minutes ago, Mike had stopped to take a breather, his legs now currently aching and his chest pounding like a jackhammer. He stopped by a nearby dark alleyway, concealing his identity so that he wouldn't get caught by Barb. With his head now planted next to the wall, he sat down and began to breathe in and out so as to steady the pace of his heartbeat. With some spare time in his hands, he began to come up with an idea so as to answer why the things that happened, happened. 'Okay....maybe, just maybe...she actually loves me' he first thought but eventually scrapped the idea. What just happened wasn't a sign of love, it was a sign of rape! With that crazed look she kept on giving him as well as trying to force him to rut her into next week. Besides, he also commented on that idea, with a tinge of sadness. "Heh....Even though Barb does like me....she deserves better..." he silently said, letting out a small chuckle as the thought of being with a great gal like her was a very slim chance. 'Okay then....Or maybe it was due to that dare! There's a chance that all of this was set up....' Mike thought, pleased with the new idea. Just two hours and thirty minutes ago, Barb became a sex crazed fiend that was on the hunt for him, stopping at nothing until she had him, god knows what she would actually do. However, all of this happened when they entered her room, so there was a chance that it was all due to the dare and that he would have to out run her as much as possible until time runs up. With a slight grunt, he moved his left hand to pull up his right sleeve, checking the time on his digital watch, saying that it was 11.45. 'If I'm not wrong, I only have about an hour and thirty minutes till everything is over and I can go to sleep' he thought, pulling his sleeve back down. Then, he heard a voice that made his blood run cold. "Found you~!" the figure seductively said, moving it's way towards Mike, passing through a bit of moonlight, showing that it was Barb, her green hoodie was slightly ripped and her emerald green hair all messy. Mike was now looking at the devil herself, in front of him, now wanting to claim his life. With each step Barb took closing the gap between them, Mike shuffled away from her, his legs still firm on the ground. "You know...It wasn't very nice doing that to me. I thought we had something special going on between us~?" Barb said half seductively, half mournfully. 'Yea right! You wanted to rape me!' Mike scornfully thought, gritting his teeth as his anger now slowly filling him. But he knew he couldn't fight her, she was just too strong. So he had only one option, to run. (Some appropriate music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQg)) Spotting a nearby trash bin in the corner of his eye, he quickly grabbed it, threw it in Barb's general direction before heading the opposite way. Barb easily knocked the thing aside before running after him in hot pursuit. Running as fast he can, Mike made his way around Ponyvlle, attracting the attention of ponies he come by. It was odd on how there were still quite a number that were still awake. Anyways, Mike kept on running, using what ever item he comes by to try and stop Barb, to which it doesn't halt her one bit. With every twist and turn Mike could see, he went in every one of them, trying to throw off the dragoness away from him. Once she was out of his sight, we rushed into a nearby cafe, startling everypony as they looked to see who just came in. "If anyone of you see a purple dragon with lush green hair, tell her I went a different way and not in here, okay?" Mike asked in a loud manner, causing everypony to look a but confused before nodding, going back to what they were doing before. Mike scanned the area, finding a conveniently placed barrel, which was surprisingly empty, and hid inside. Moments later, Barb came rushing in, her eyes filled with lust for some ~~hot monkey dick~~ loving. "Did anypony see a human come past here!?" Barb asked suddenly when she barged in, breathing in and our heavily. Everypony shook their head before one commented that "He went to a nearby store, looked pretty ragged that 'hue-mane'". Barb nodded before exiting the place. Moments after that, Mike popped his head back out and began to leave his spot. He thanked the ponies before leaving the door, suddenly hearing Barb yell out, "I'VE FOUND YOU~!!". Cursing silently, he began to run the opposite way, wondering how the heck she managed to find him. While running, Mike took a look onto his watch, finding that he still had an hour and ten more minutes to go. He suddenly had an idea and began to run towards one of the places where he would be far enough from Barb and hopefully, not get caught. He silently prayed that the idea would work. Running as fast he could, the shadows being his ally, he finally made it to his destination, archers full of nothing but apple orchards. Sweet Apple Orchard. AJ told him about how big the entire place was, not to mention there were a bunch of trees, so he thought he could run into the place, pick a tree and hide in there for a while. Jumping over the fence, he made his way to the orchard full of trees. Hiding in a random apple tree, Mike waited and waited. He knew that with the entire orchard being full of fruit bearing trees, maybe the smell of apples would be able to throw her sent of him off guard. Besides, there were apples here and he was feeling a bit hungry. Waiting for what seems to be like an eternity, Mike noticed something off. He couldn't help but feel that something or someone was near. Then, the entire tree started to shake and with Mike suddenly losing his balance, he fell off landing on the ground hard. Shaking his head slightly, he looked forward to see that Barb was now sitting on his lap her arms thrown around his neck, her nether regions painfully rubbing against his crotch, causing him to gasp. "...You know....I like this chase we have...makes me feel...alive" Barb grinned, her lust filled voice caused Mike to feel a chill up his spine. He quickly glanced at his watch, reading 12.15. 'An hour left' he thought. With a bit of hesitation, Mike swung Barb around, hitting her head against the base of tree, causing apples to fall and hit her. With her down for a few moments, Mike took the opportunity to run away. Once he saw building come into view, he checked the time again, now reading 12.30. He nodded to himself before picking up the pace, the chase still continuing, with ponies staring at him ludicrously. He was getting tired now, he wanted to doze off, but he knew that if he did that, he would be fucked, literally. With Barb now close to his tail, he headed to place where it started, the library. Glancing at his watch every so often, it kept reading that he only had a few more minutes left till everything was over and luckily for him, the library was now in sight. But, to his unpleasant surprise, Mike heard another pair of steps behind him. Turning his head back, he spotted Barb, now dangerously close. Looking back in front, the library was now there. Glancing one more time, he saw that he only had a few seconds left. 'Please let this all end once I enter' he thought. As soon as the library door was in clear sight, he readied himself to break the damn door with utter force. Closing his eyes, he braced for impact as he suddenly felt something press behind him, sending forward. *CRASH* (Y'all can stop here now) The loud and sudden impact caused the rest of the group upstairs to be surprised. Quickly making their way downstairs, they all let out a gasp as they all saw what was now in front of them. Both Mike and Barb, looking very ragged, worn out and bruises all over. They made their way to the two, kneeling down. "....H-Hey! Wh-What happened?!" Twilight asked, concern overtaking her confusion. Sooner or later, Mike woke from his concussion, finding that he was now in the library and that everyone was looking at him with concern. "..Urgh...God...that hurt" he wheezed out, gritting his teeth. He then realized that Barb was now with him and with horror taking over, he scooted away from the dragoness. Barb awoke a moment later, fluttering her eyes as well as rubbing her head. Looking around, she realized she was back in the library and more importantly, Mike was now in front of her. All of the memories of what happened hours ago crashed down onto her, her eyes now filling up with tears. "I'M SORRY!!" Barb yelled out loud as she tackled Mike down to the floor, tears running across her face furiously. Mike, although tired, was utterly confused. Two hours and thirty minutes ago she was suddenly became a sex crazed dragon, chasing his ass through Ponyville just over an hour ago and now here she was, in his arms crying like there was no tomorrow. However, this only confirmed his previous thought that as soon as the timer ended, all of the crazy stuff would end. He angrily gazed at Celestia, who only smiled sheepishly. "You're in some deep shit Celest" Mike sneered, now awkwardly comforting the crying dargoness in his arms. Author's Note What's this? An early chapter? Yes it is indeed folks! I wanted to post this down since I had a bit of free time. Anyways, I hope you people like it. Till next time! //-------------------------------------------------------// A small outburst and the morning after //-------------------------------------------------------// A small outburst and the morning after Anger. That was what she felt right now. Through gritted teeth and salty tears, she still somehow managed to now force herself to punch her own mother, even though she knew that she deserves it. Crying what seemed to be a river, she still clung onto Mike as if her life depended on it. She knew that she could trust him. If only others had the same effect. "For all that's happened....I'm...really sorry" Celestia spoke softly, her head hung low. Barb couldn't help but feel angry when she heard her mother speak. However, she wasn't feeling like herself as soon as Celestia said those words, Barb went into an uproar. She shoved aside Mike and looked at her mother with her now bloodshot emerald eyes, tears still running down her face like a waterfall. "You're sorry...?! Is that all you can say!? I almost raped my friend due to a spell you casted! And all you can say is 'I'm sorry'?!" Barb yelled, making everyone in the room flinch when she suddenly struck her mother with her right hand, making a red mark rather visible on her cheek. "WHY MUST YOU MAKE MY LIFE HARD ENOUGH AS IT IS!!?" she yelled again, now going into a full anger mode as she rapidly hit her mother with blows left and right, which Celestia had a bit of trouble dodging. Barb was about to land a hit on her mother, her claw now clenched into a fist and making it's way towards her, when it was suddenly stopped by a hand. She flinched when she felt the grasp of the hand, turning around to see that Mike gripped her arm, forcing the hit to not connect. Due to her being very tired and worn out, she was unable to force her hand forward to strike Celestia. She dropped down on her knees, her face now continuing to be flooded with tears. "Why...? W-Why...?" she softly said in between sobs. The two sister faced each other for a brief moment before Celestia heaved out a heavy sigh. She turned to face Mike before saying, "We know she will be unwilling to listen to either of us, so we beg you to help her out, since you are, from what we have gathered, the most closest to her than any of us" she spoke in her usual motherly tone, despite her taking a rather heavy beating. Mike looked around to see that everyone's eyes were now focused on him and no one else. Besides Pinkie, who's eyes were glued onto a piece of cake, her eyes bulging out and her mouth salivating. Mike sighed before nodding, agreeing that he would do so in the meanwhile. He saw everyone walk back upstairs with their heads hung low. Even Eris looked rather blue, despite her being chaotic and random like Pinkie. Speaking of Pinkie, she then realized that everypony, besides Mike and a crying Barb, were heading upstairs. With a small warm smile, she took the slice of cake and ate the whole thing in one bite before running up the stairs, leaving Mike and Barb alone in the living room. Mike sighed once again before looking down at Barb, her weak and broken figure hurt him inside. He sat down next to Barb before placing a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch in surprise. She turned around and looked at Mike, her wet face and bloodshot emerald eyes scanned him. "Hey...Don't cry now. It doesn't suit you at all" Mike said with a smile. Barb just stared at him for a while before turning away. "G-Go away...Y-you must hate me f-for everything that h-happened..." she said sadly, tears beginning to run down her face once again. Mike sighed. 'I better choose my words wisely..' he thought to himself before replying. "Why would I?" he asked innocently, making Barb face him. "I ALMOST RAPED YOU!" Barb yelled out loud, making the human flinch and cover his hears from the sudden volume. Through gritted teeth, he muttered to himself, "Yea...If you keep yelling into my ear". Shaking his head, he faced Barb with a sincere look. "I know you almost raped me but remember, you weren't yourself. I don't blame you for that. So don't beat yourself about that. Everything went better than expected so don't worry too much" he said with a small smile. Staring intently at the human, Barb couldn't help but smile. Even after what transpired, Mike still forgave her even though he almost got ravaged by Barb multiple times. She felt better just being near him but she couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy inside whenever he smiles his trademark smile at her. Realizing that she was staring for far too long, Barb snapped out of her trance, shaking her head, a small blush now on her face. Mike's smile grew larger when he saw the tinge of red on her cheek and decided that maybe a playful tease could help brighten her up. "Ya know...You look awfully cute when you blush Barb" he said, brushing his fingertips along her face, making her blush deepen. She was caught off guard by this comment but couldn't help stutter, her now confused brain trying to form sentences. Mike chuckled before adding on, "And that just made you even more cute" he chuckled once again, making Barb's face now flush crimson red. Barb's mind was confused now, most of the questions being 'Does he really mean it?" or 'Why did he say that?'. Most importantly though is that Barb felt happy. No stallion ever said that and the fact that Mike said it made her a whole lot happier. 'Dayum girl! Ya better make a comeback or else you're toast!' her conscious told her. 'Sh-Shut up!' Barb mentally said, earning a chuckle in the back of her mind. Shaking her head once again, she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, looking away, making Mike chuckle again. He scooted closer and began using his thumb to wipe off the remaining tears off of her face. Once he was done, he commented her again. "There. You're looking more lovely now" he softly said, a wide smile on his face when he saw Barb trying to awkwardly squirm away from him. Another odd thing is that Barb couldn't help but feel good when she is under his touch. It makes her feel soothed and relaxed, not to mention she feels safe around him. Turning her head around, she smiled once again, earning a wider smile in return. Turning his head, Mike looked at the nearby wall clock, spying that it was early in morning now and that they stayed up all night for far too long. His gaze returned back to Barb before saying, "Come on, you go to bed now" in his usual tone. This earned him a confused look from Barb. "Me? What about you?" she asked, completely confused. Mike shook his head. "You go back, I'll just sleep here on the sofa. You probably need some time alone" he said as he stood up and walked to the nearby sofa. Barb looked at him as if he was crazy. Standing up and catching up to him, she grabbed her shoulder and turned him around so that he faced her. With a determined tone, she said "Now listen right here mister. That sofa there is not a good place to sleep, trust me. My back ached for hours when I woke up. So, you will still be sleeping with me, understood?". Barb looked at him with a now strict look, making Mike surprised. He had two options now. It was to either sleep on the sofa, alone and wake up in the morning with an aching back that would last for hours or sleep with Barb, on a comfortable bed with a pretty girl. The decision didn't take very long. "Erm....okay then" Mike said, agreeing to Barb's proposal, to which she smiles. With her right hand, she grabbed Mike's left arm and dragged him upstairs, a soft giggle escaping her mouth. She opened the door and entered the now messy room before closing the door. Moments later, heads started popping out of different slightly opened doors. Their faces now bearing a wide grin as they all went back in their respective rooms, closing the doors behind them. =Location: Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville= =Time: 10.50 am= Inside the quite room of a certain dragoness, light poured in through the broken window, the curtains have been ripped off violently during a certain humans' escape. The room was visibly messy, a few books lying on the floor with a couple of pillows and furniture semi-damaged. Lying on the bed, which was somehow still in good condition, were two beings, both of which were sleeping underneath a blanket, keeping them warm and cozy. However, as cozy as the bed was, a pair of eyes started to flutter to life. With the sunlight being spot on Mike's left eye, we squinted his closed eyes, trying to ignore the intense sudden light. Try as he did, he could not find a way to ignore it, therefore resulting him to open them, causing more light to seep into his eyes. He blinked his eyes a couple of times to re-adjust the sudden brightness level. Once that was done, he gave a long yawn before scratching his left cheek, turning his head around, spotting that Barb's sleeping figure was snuggled close to him, a content smile on her beautiful face. Mike smiled before carefully trying to peel himself off of her, causing her to grumble, resulting in her grip against Mike to tighten. He sighed. He was not going to escape her grasp like that, so he decided to try and wake her up stead. He leaned his face closer to her ear. Just as he was about to say something, Barb beat him to it, surprising him. "Good morning Mike~" she softly said, her smile growing larger and her eyes suddenly bursting to life. Needless to say, Mike was surprised when she said that. But, it was soon replaced with a warm smile when his eyes stared intently into Barb's usual emerald green eyes. Mike chuckled, shaking his head before staring back at her. "Morning to you to Barb. We should get up now" he softly said, earning a cute whine from Barb. "But I wana stay here! Probably because you're so comfy to snuggle with" she pouted after she said that, earning a small blush and a sheepish smile from Mike. 'It's early in the morning and a girl is starting to make you blush. Great job me...' he though to himself, shaking his head once again before prying himself off of Barb, to which she reluctantly let him go. Once he was released, he went to the nearby chair and grabbed a towel. "I'm going to take a bath. I smell like crap now" he said before heading into Barb's bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him. Barb frowned for a moment before smiling once again, getting off the bed and stretching her body, earning a few 'cracks' before groaning in pleasure. She yawned, scratched her shoulder before deciding to head downstairs to the kitchen and grab something to eat. Author's Note Some moar romance inducing chapter. Anyways, if you're gonna ask why there isn't much of a 'catfight' against Barb and Celestia is because of a couple of reasons. Celestia is a kind, forgiving and gentle princess. If her son/daughter is angry at her because she did something wrong, she understands why and won't hesitate to get hurt. She won't really fight back since she knows that he/she is her son/daughter and that she doesn't want them to get injured badly when/if they fight. Barb is generally a happy and kind person who has a strong will. She will stay strong in the darkest of hours but since she is a girl, she also has her weak and emotional moments. But that doesn't stop her from doing the right thing. Since Celestia is her mother, she doesn't want to hurt her, even when her anger or rage is forcing her to do so. Not to mention Mike is there with her, giving her a sort of emotional stability. Like I said, Mike was around. If he wasn't around, Barb would most likely go into super saiyan mode and wreck shit. So there you go. Feel free to tell if there were any mistakes and whatnot. Until next time! //-------------------------------------------------------// Morning shenanigans //-------------------------------------------------------// Morning shenanigans "Mornin' girls!" Barb shouted once she entered the kitchen. She scanned the room for her mother, silently praying that she would stay asleep a while longer. She was satisfied when she only saw that her sister and her friends were the only ones in the room. The rest of the girls were wearing what Barb expected them to wear, nothing but their undergarments on. Besides Fluttershy and Rarity wearing a blouse, the rest weren't wearing any other sort of clothing, so she wasn't so embarrassed when she just walked in wearing what she was wearing currently. Heaving a heavy sigh, she walked to one of the chairs and sat on it, greeted by a barrage of questions soon after. More specifically, question about whether something happened last night. One of which made her blush crimson. Denying all of statements that were thrown at her false, she looked away making sure nopony saw her now crimson face. Giggling a while later, the girls all said their apologies for poking fun at her, even with everything that had transpired last night. "But seriously Barb, what happened last night? We all heard grunts and a loud thud last night in your room" Rainbow asked, her wing fluttering so that she was hovering just beside her. Barb blushed once again before saying. "And before you ask, no , I did not buck him last night!" she spoke, her voice seemingly a bit more squeaky than usual. "Well....Last night..." =Last night at Barb's room= Barb quickly dragged Mike alongside her, making sure that he won't say no for an answer. Once she opened my bedroom door, she pushed him inside before closing the door behind me. Looking at his shocked and utterly confused face, Barb giggled before walking inside the bathroom. "I'll be out in a minute or so!" she said from the inside. Hearing an "Okay!" as a reply, Barb closed the door, the sound of rushing water now greeted Mike's ear. He shrugged. Barb looked as though she really insisted him sleeping in the same room, sharing the SAME BED with him. Even after what happened hours ago, she was now usual self once again, making Mike smile. He walked towards the wardrobe that he shared with her, revealing that on one side, it was full of his clothes that Rarity was kind enough to make for him. The other side was full of Barb's clothes, mostly colored dark purple, green, a combination of both, and many different pairs of pants, which made Mike chuckled slightly. He didn't feel like changing clothes, even though he knew it probably smelled like utter crap. Before closing the wardrobe door, something managed to catch his attention. It was, to his utmost shock, a dark purple corset with light purple frills and laces. Blushing madly now, he closed the door. However, his brain was now thinking of how she might look in it, causing his nose to bleed slightly, a slight smile forming on his face. He shook his head. He couldn't just think like that! He's Barb's friend for goodness sakes! He can't just think of her wearing that while perverted images flocked his mind! Cursing slightly, he managed to force his brain to remove those images, much to his brain's utmost dismay. 'Come on man! At least give that image some thought!' his conscious argued, a soft 'Yea!' could be heard from the back of his mind. He gritted his teeth and heaved a heavy sigh. 'No! For the second time I will not think of her like that!' he mentally yelled. Silence soon followed suite and Mike smiled slightly. The smile soon turned upside down when his conscious asked him a question. '....But you do like her, right? Trust me bub, I know you do' his conscious softly said, making Mike sigh once again. '...Fine' he thought. '...I do like her'. By now, if his conscious were to be able to pop out in front of him, he would be smiling madly. 'Annnnd?' his consciousness spoke. Mike couldn't help but say out the words. "She's funny, kind, is smart like her sister and cute. Scratch that last one, she's gorgeous " he softly said, now sitting down on the edge of the messy bed. "Who is?" a soft feminine voice said in reply. Mike's eyes widened in surprised when he saw who asked the question. There, at the other side of the room, stood Barb. She was wearing a light purple translucent robe showing that underneath she was wearing a, to Mike's utmost surprise, purple frilly bra and panties. With only the important parts being covered while the rest of Barb's body was on full display for the human, Mike could feel his cheeks heat up, a blush forming. However, Barb seemed suddenly concerned all of a sudden. "Mike! Your nose is bleeding!" Barb said, covering her mouth, quickly walking towards the still awestruck human. "....Huh?" Mike asked dumbly, still staring at Barb, whom was now beside him with a box of tissues. She gently wiped the blood off of Mike's face, her face seemingly focused at the task at hand. Once she was done, she grabbed the box and the blood soaked tissues, walking her way to the table, placing the box on it while bending down and throwing the used tissues into a bin. When she was doing these actions, Mike couldn't help but look at her ass. Especially when she bent down, letting Mike see her glorious butt. 'Dat ass!' 'Dat Ass!' Shaking his head, he gave a sheepish grin when Barb suddenly looked at him funny. "....Tell me Mike, do I look pretty?" she asked, causing Mike to completely snap out of his perverted thoughts, once again his brain begging him not to. "W-Why?" he asked, seemingly flustered. Barb then sat next to him, her half lidded eyes staring intently at him. "Because I saw you checking me out when you saw me wearing this" she said, a grin forming on her face. This sentence caused Mike to stutter, trying desperately to form sentences to try and salvage the situation. Barb giggled before slapping Mike's shoulder, causing him to groan. She crawled her way to the other side of the bed before lying down, patting the empty side with her right arm. When she realized that he wasn't budging, Barb used her tail, wrapping it around his chest, making him fall onto the bed with a loud grunt. He sighed before making himself comfortable in the bed. With the blanket now on top of the both of them, Mike turned off the last source of light in the room, which was the lamp on the table next to the bed. Once he switched it off, Barb snuggled next to him a small smile on her face. =Back to the present= "And that's it" Barb concluded her story. Moments later, the rest of the girls let out a few "Aww" with Pinkie saying "That's so cute!!" Barb couldn't help but blush when her friends poke fun at her. After a while, Mike appeared from the doorway, now wearing a pair of blue pants, a plain white shirt with a black and white striped jacket with a hoodie. He sat down next to Barb and yawned loudly. His eyes were still semi-open due to still being tired. "Mornin' folks" he softly said, yawning once again, putting his head on the table. Everypony was amazed how he still hasn't realized that he was sitting with a group of half naked mares. Rainbow Dash slowly leaned her head towards Applejack and whispered "It's either he is really damn tired or is secretly gay", earning a chuckle from the earth pony. "Anyways! Breakfast is here!" Twilight said loudly, catching everypony's attention. She then levitated the plates of delicious food onto the table with her magic. "Since your an omnivore, I decided you would like eggs with some hay pancakes" Twilight said, causing Mike to lift his head off of the table and smile. "Thank you kindly" he said, stretching and yawning. Grabbing a glass, he gently poured himself a glass of water, drinking the contents moments later, causing him to be more awake now. Now with his mind hydrated, his thoughts were now on one thing. And that thing was that he was currently sitting with a bunch of half naked mares, causing him to blush slightly. "Erm...Why are all of you....you know..." he awkwardly asked, causing Rainbow and Applejack to giggle madly. Once their giggling ceased, Rainbow then answered him. "Well, it's been discussed that we girls can just wear what we wan't when we're staying at each others homes. So don't be surprised when you see any of us naked since that can happen a lot" Rainbow said with a smirk, causing Mike to blush once again. "Especially Barb over here" Rainbow added with a huge grin, causing both Mike and Barb, whom spit out her morning apple juice, to blush madly, especially Barb. Moments later, everypony started to laugh, causing Mike to follow suite. 'Everything seems normal again...' he thought before looking out the window, spotting a particular zebra in the town of Ponyville. Author's Note Anyways, here's a new chapter! This is another 'filler' chapter as I like to say. I hope you guys enjoy! By the way, I just realized that if you're still tired in the morning even after a good long nights rest, you're just probably dehydrated. :twilightsheepish: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/twilightsheepish.png Wrote this so late...I'm so freaking tired... //-------------------------------------------------------// "You were picked to be her...." //-------------------------------------------------------// "You were picked to be her...." =Barb's PoV= You know that feeling when your closest friends poke fun at you on how you seem to be very close to a friend of the opposite gender? Because it's really annoying and awkward. Anyways, we were all currently sitting around the kitchen table, small talk going on as we ate our breakfast. Me and the girls were still half naked as per every morning when we have a slumber party. For those of you who want to know what they were wearing currently, I'll give a brief summery. Besides Rarity and Fluttershy whom were wearing a blouse, Rarity's being more of a translucent dress, they were wearing a pair of undergarments that matched their fur color, besides Pinkie who was wearing a pair of light purple panties and bra. So ya....Have fun with those images stuck in your head. Perverts. Anyways, I decided I would change into my normal clothes now. Excusing myself from the group, I stood up and walked my way back upstairs. Once I was at the living room, the doorbell rang. Curious as to who would come to the library right now, I went over to the door and opened it, surprising myself when I found that Zecora was standing outside with a smile. "I bid you good morning Barb on this fine day. Would it be a hassle for you if I enter and stay?" she said, rhyming as usual again. "Uhh...Sure. Why not. And drop the rhyming thing Zecora, we know it's hard enough for you to rhyme" I replied, moving aside to that she came in. She flashed me a sheepish smile before replying, "Sorry, force of habit". I smiled before closing the door, making my way to the doorway to the kitchen. "Hey girls! Zecora's here" I said. Moments later, when I was on the stairs, the girls were now at the living room with our zebra friend, conversing about something. Once I was at the corridor upstairs, I made my way back to my room, stretching and yawning. However, as I was about to head inside, I heard a voice that made me stop dead in my tracks. "....Honey?" That soft soothing and motherly voice. I knew instantly who it was. Celestia. I turned around to take a look at who called and lo and behold, it was my mother, standing outside one of the guest bedroom. I spied with my eyes and found that her face was still slightly red and her right arm still slightly bruised. As angry as I was, I couldn't help but feel sorry. She was my mother after all. "....What?" I replied, my voice filled with a hint of venom. I saw her flinch a little before rubbing her neck sheepishly, refusing to look at me dead in the eye. "...Listen, Barb. About last night. I'm....really sorry about everything that happened" she meekly said, causing a knot to form in my throat. I wanted to shout at her. Yell at her. But I couldn't. I just can't. After a while, she sighed, before facing me with a sad look. "...I'll be downstairs....If you need me" she softly said once again. She turned around and made her way downstairs. Once she left my vision, I sighed before I entered my room. =Meanwhile= "Hey Zecora! What brings you here?" Twilight asked as she sat down on the sofa next to Applejack. "I would like to ask a favor from your new friend and Barbara" Zecora said, triggering tons of confusion from the mares in the room. "A favor? From Mikey? Barb? Why so?" Pinkie asked, one brow raised while her neck was slanted to right. Before Zecora was able to reply, the two princesses came into view from the stair with Eris lazily floating above them. With a large yawn, Luna rubbed her eyes and looked around the room, realizing that there was a visitor in the room, blushing when she forgot she was half naked with only a dark blue bra and panties. The same reaction was followed by Celestia then Eris. However, Eris wasn't too fazed. Zecora stood up and bowed when she saw the princesses. "P-Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! G-Good M-Morning!" Zecora stuttered, smiling a sheepish smile. The two royal sisters chuckled. "Good morning Zecora. We are among friends so it is fine to speak normally" Celestia replied with a warm smile, making the poor zebra finally relax, sighing as she slumped her back. Eris gave a small chuckle before rolling her eyes, now making her way to the kitchen to grab some breakfast as the rest of the mares and the two royal sisters were left behind, now muttering something incoherent to Eris. =In the kitchen= With the sound of gushing water, Mike stayed behind to go and wash the dishes as a thanks for the nice breakfast. Surprising as it is, the 'haycakes' that he ate wasn't made of hay at all. Well...for his at least. It tasted a whole lot like the normal pancakes that he ate back at home. Whistling a soft tune to himself, turned off the tap and began wiping the dishes clean. Moments later, he heard a soft 'thump' from behind, causing him to turn around and see a still very sleepy female draconequus now sitting on one of the chairs with her head laid firmly on the table, her eyes half lidded. Smiling warmly, he set the plate he was holding aside and wiped his hands dry. Making his way to the nearby microwave, he opened the door of the object, revealing a plate with stack of haycakes. Grabbing the plate, he closed the door of the microwave and made his way to the cupboard where all the dry dishes were at, grabbing a plate before making his way to the table. "You ok?" Mike asked, placing the empty plate in front of Eris while the other one in the middle of the table. She muttered something inaudible, causing Mike to look at her confusingly. "Pardon?" "So...tired..." she replied groaning. She snapped her fingers and conjured a glass of orange juice, sitting upright now. She grabbed the glass and began to chug down the contents of the glass, only to surprise Mike when he saw that the glass was slowly disappearing and leaving the orange juice in the shape of glass. "H-How...Wha...We..." Mike tried to form words as he was completely baffled. The draconequus, whom was now more awake, smirked. Snapping her fingers yet again, a fork was then conjured on her behalf and she slowly began eating her breakfast. Shaking his head, Mike tried to form a small conversation with the goddess of chaos. "So...do tell me. Why am I exactly here for?" he asked as he sat down on a chair opposite her. "I know I'm supposed to keep Barb company and whatnot but there is something else to this, isn't it?". Eris stopped eating for a moment to look at the human dead on. " *Sigh* Fine....I guess I do owe you an explanation" Eris sighed before looking at Mike once again. "I'll try to keep the details as little as possible. You see, a couple of weeks ago, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or Cadence for short, came to Canterlot. She is in charge of a place know as the Crystal Empire and is also the princess of love. She-" Eris was then cut off by Mike gasping in shock. "Whoa! You mean she can tell who is in love and whatnot?" he asked, causing Eris to roll her eyes and nod in reply. Mike then ushered her to continue. "Anyways, she came to Caterlot to discuss some important things with her Aunt Celestia and Luna. She stayed for about a week before leaving" she said, conjuring another glass of orange juice and drinking its contents this time round. "However, before she actually went to the meeting with the Royals and her Aunts, she walked around the Royal Canterlot Gardens, finding that Barb, who was at the castle to see her mother about something. From what she said, Barb just sat at one of the benches, all alone, staring at famous statue depicting two lovers with a tragic end" Eris took a moment to take another sip from her drink. "Taking a moment to ponder, Cadence then realized the problem was. Loneliness. Through most of her entire life, she has been constantly missing out on the adventures and fun her friends were being thrown at. With that in mind, she personally asked me to hand pick somepony or in this case, someone, to fill the void inside her. However, she also told me to pick someone who is able to harmonize with her, be together with her through thick or thin. In simple terms, someone to love, care and give her the happiness she desperately needs" Eris concluded, sipping on her drink again. It was then that Mike's eyes widened. "Wait....Y-you mean..." he began, his voice faltering to a hush. Sighing, Eris nodded. "Yes. You were picked to be her.....soulmate. To which I think I have picked a very good candidate for that" Eris said with a smile, putting a pause before she said the word 'soulmate'. "And....sorry if I lied that you may or may not become her coltfriend" Eris' smile turned into a sheepish one. Mike lowered his head and grasped his temples with his fingers. This was a tall order, no doubt about it. Eris saw that he seemed to be very deep in thought. So with the last gulp of her haycakes, she stood up, grabbing her plate and making her way to the sink. "I'll give you time to think" Eris said, ending the conversation between the two. Just as he was about to say something, Barb then came into view, wearing a purple leather jacket with a light green trim, a plain light green blouse and a pair of blue pants. Her short green hair was neatly groomed, a light green clip in the shape of a dragon wing was helping to pin the side of her hair upwards. "Hey Mike! We better get going. Zecora is asking for the two of us to help her on something" Barb said, mentioning the part about Zecora. Mike gave a quick glance back to Eris, whose face still held a rather warm smile. Sighing, he stood up and made his way towards Barb, walking alongside her to the main living room. Once there, Mike saw that Zecora came into the library, carrying what seems to be a pouch on her side. "Hi there Zecora" Mike greeted the zebra with a smile, to which Zecora returned with a smile of her own. "Good morning to you Mike. I hope it doesn't bother you if you came along to help me with Barb" she said, her simple sentence caused Mike to be shocked as she didn't rhyme. "And if you are asking why I am not rhyming is because it was a habit of mine" she said, now answering Mike's unheard question. "Sure I guess. I don't really have anything better to do" Mike replied. Clapping her hands together, Zecora smile widely. "Fantastic!" she said out loud, causing Mike to chuckle. "If you have nothing else to get, we shall leave on the dot" "Well then, lead the way ma'am" Mike said, smiling as Zecora opened the door. Both the human and the dragoness were right behind, both of them walking next to each other as if they were a couple. As Zecora closed the door behind them, they all went their merry way back into the forest. Somewhere along the way, Eris' words came echoing inside Mike's head. However, one particular one stood out the most. 'Soulmate' Was he really fated to be the soulmate of the very dragoness he walked with? Sighing once again, he gazed his eyes once more upon the scenery of Ponyville, unable to feel a soft scaly hand grip his own. Author's Note Cheesy chapter is cheesy. Hi guys! Hope you enjoy reading this chapter and if you don't, then too bad. //-------------------------------------------------------// Into the Everfree //-------------------------------------------------------// Into the Everfree After moments of walking together in relative silence, the trio had finally reached the outskirts of the Everfree forest. Before proceeding any further, Zecora halted and turned around to face Mike and Barb, whom both stopped and stared at her. "Before we enter, I would first tell you what the both of you need to do" she said. "You see, a few days ago, Ponyville's local spa owners, Aloe and Lotus, both asked me to deliver some herbs, spices and some flowers since their reserves are running low. However, there is still a flower I have yet to get my hands on as of late. So, I need you two to go and gather some of them and return to the spa. Nothing to worry about" Zecora said with a smile. The duo looked at each other for a while, reading each other's expression before turning their heads back to the zebra. "Okay then" The duo answered simultaneously, causing both of them to look at each other in surprise before smiling and chuckling a moment later. "Splendid!" Zecora clapped her hands and smiled. Once that was done, they all headed their way into the Everfree and towards Zecora's hut. A few more moments of silence and they have finally reached their destination. There was, however, one tiny difference and that was the fact that there was now a simple wooden cart parked just outside Zecora's hut. Many items were placed, ranging from some fancy clay pots, to different flowers with their own unique fragrance. "Stay out here for a moment. I'll go get the things you need" Zecora told the duo, making her way inside the hut, closing the door behind her. "....So, what do you think Zecora wants us to get?" Mike asked, turning his attention to the dragoness beside him. "I don't know. Probably some nice smelling herbs or something" Barb replied, giving him a slight shrug. Moments later, Zecora exited the four small pouches. Once she gave Mike two of the pouches and Barb the others, she also handed Mike a small piece of paper with a picture of a flower with a red tip on its white petals and an maroon colored stalk. "This is the plant that both of you must seek. It is a very odd flower as it becomes luminous when light is dim. It shouldn't be a problem to find as it is mostly located in areas with little sunlight" she explained as Barb helped tie the pouch around Mike's waist. "Inside that small pouch is a powder that will help fight off the beasts found in this forest. But be wary, when you have used the powder, depending on how much you have used, the repellent magic varies in strength. If any of you think you are in very deep trouble, throw every last grain by all means necessary. But only as a last resort. Understood?" Zecora asked the duo, receiving a "Yes ma'am" as well as a mock salute from the duo. Laughing at the two, she made her way towards the wooden cart. "Take care the both of you. I shall be going now" Zecora said with a smile, tugging on the rope at front and made her way back to Ponyville. Once the duo have said their goodbye's, Mike quickly turned his head to Barb. "Ponyville has a spa?" he asked, wondering if what Zecora said was true. Barb giggled before grabbing onto Mike's hand, pulling him deeper into the forest. "Yeap. Come on! We better hurry and get that flower" Mike chuckled as he allowed himself to be pulled by the dragoness. After what seemed to be hours of searching, Mike and Barb halted in their tracks and took a small breather. They still had no luck finding the flower that was requested. The back of Mike's shirt was slightly drenched in sweat and so was his forehead as well as Barb's. Looking around to see a good place to settle down for a moment, Mike spotted a boulder and sat on it, wiping off the sweat from his head. "So...what does the flower look like again?" Barb asked for what seemed to be the third time, slightly irritating Mike. "I told you already. It's has white petals with a red tip and a maroon colored stalk" Mike replied, panting slightly as the heat was getting to him. Barb sighed and sat next to Mike on the boulder. However, something managed to catch her attention in a form of a flower. Interestingly enough, the flower was just behind the boulder and to her utter surprise, matched the same description as what Mike said earlier. It also beheld a slight ginger spice smell. Bending down slightly and tugging on the stalk to pull the flower free from the ground, Barb turned her attention to Mike who was looking around. "You mean like this?" she asked, double checking whether if it was correct. Barb heard him sigh and saw him turn around to face her. Once his eyes saw what she was holding, he gave the flower a scrutinizing gaze before pulling out the paper and holding it out next to the one Barb was holding. "Huh...Perfect match. Damn Barb, luck must be on your side today" Mike joked and gave her a slight chuckle, causing the dragoness to pout slightly before giggling. "Where did you find it?" he asked her, putting the paper back in his pant pocket. "Just behind this boulder we are sitting on" she replied. She turned her gaze behind her and her eyes widened at what she saw. "And I think I found the motherload" she said, pointing a finger behind her. Mike turned his head around and was surprised at what he saw. Behind her was an entire group of trees that were clustered together, forming what seemed to be a small shelter. Around the base of the group, the same flowers were in full bloom, glowing in a soft scarlet glow. Mike was shocked at Barbs findings. "....Hot damn! Well just look at that! We must have been looking at all the wrong areas" Mike said, laughing as he stood up and made his way to some of the trees that was surrounded with the same flower. "Well....Let's gather some of them and head back" Barb suggested, standing up. Mike nodded and began to pluck some of the flowers with Barb next to him. The duo had managed to fill their empty pouches full, causing it to give off a rather pleasant smell of spiciness, one thing they both agreed on. With the pouches now full, they nodded in silent agreement to head back to Ponyville and towards the local spa. However, something caught their attention. A spine chilling howl. Barb's eyes widened. She knew what kind of creature would emit such a sound. Then, a menacing growl could be heard surrounding them. The duo stood next to each other back to back. They knew something bad was going to happen. Moments later, many pairs of green orbs could be seen from the slight darkness. Another howl was emitted and soon, the green orbs started growing larger in size. A few moments later, one of the main creatures that resides in the forest soon gathered around in a circle, trapping the duo. Timberwolves. As the name suggests, they were wolves, slightly bigger than the duo, which were made of wood. As frightening as the sight could be, Mike couldn't help but stare at them slightly in awe as their entire body was made of wood, be it thick or thin. "Barb....Save your magic powder for anything else that may come. I'll use half of mine" Mike whispered, earning a slight nod from the female. Grabbing the pouch full of the powder, Mike grabbed about half of the amount. "On the count of three, we sprint" he whispered, earning another from Barb. "One" he started, causing the wolves to take a step closer. "Two...." ... "THREE!" Mike yelled, throwing the powder from his hands into the air. The powder soon took into effect as numerous wolves dropped down on the ground and was showing signs of restraint. Taking the opportunity, Mike grabbed Barb's hand and got into a full sprint. However, the repellent wasn't as strong as Mike thought as a number of the Timberwolves were unaffected and were now on their tail, chasing them not too far behind. As Mike kept of running with Barb in hand, a thought came to his head and he frowned. 'Why can't I have a single day without any form of danger!' Author's Note I'm sorry if the story seems rather bland. My schedule is rather f*cked up due to exams coming up I do hope you all understand. With that, I also hope you guys enjoyed this. Till next time! //-------------------------------------------------------// Rage and Sorrow //-------------------------------------------------------// Rage and Sorrow "No....No...." Barb softly said, tears now running down her face as she held Mike in her arms. Moments ago, Mike willingly threw himself at the wolves whom cornered the duo. Making sure her put up a fight, Mike relentlessly fought the oncoming timberwolves until he fell due to too much sustained injuries. And now, Barb was holding the unconscious body of her friend, Mike, in her arms. His right cheek showed a single, deep slash and his body full of claw marks and splattered with his own blood. His body seemed lifeless and yet his faced showed serenity. No regret. No sorrow. Only a single smile was on his face. It was then that Barb snapped. Clenching her teeth and restraining a few tears, Barb screamed, causing the trees and bushes to shake and the ground to slightly rumble. Soon afterwards, Barb's eyes were now in a neon bright green glow. Growling and snarling, the wolves then threw themselves at their new prey. Barb gently placed Mike's head down onto the ground and stood up, her hair messy and clothes torn. Letting out a battle cry, Barb's fist collided with the head of one of the wolves, causing it to instantly shatter into tiny splinters. As they came one by one, Barb simply threw her fist downwards, making sure it connected to the heads of the wolves, causing the wooden creatures to break apart. With the rest on their way to their prey, Barb took in a deep breathe before releasing, causing green flames to spew forth from her mouth, catching the wolves off guard. The green inferno bathed everything in front of Barb in green flames, causing a thick black smoke to trail upwards into the sky. There was nothing stopping her. All that was in her mind was to destroyed those who caused harm to her friend. 'Destroy....Everything' Stopping the inferno for a moment, Barb dashed forward and began hacking and slashing her opponents with her claws and her tail with rage was clouding her judgment. They all fell one by one, all of which were nothing but burnt pieces of wood in the end. However, more came along and to their utmost surprise, the creatures saw the dragoness smile sadistically. There was nothing stopping her rampage. =Meanwhile= It was currently sometime afternoon when Zecora had finally finished her delivery to the local spa place. Both Aloe and Lotus asked whether if she was free to have a small tea break with them, although Zecora had politely declined, saying that she needed to head back to check on some important matters. And now Zecora was walking along one of the many streets of Ponyville, humming a merry tune all the while pulling her small wooden cart behind her, smiling at the running colts and fillies. However, her merry state soon turned horrid when she saw something in the Everfree Forest. A large green fireball appeared, gradually growing smaller, with thick black smoke now encompassing most of the atmosphere around the Everfree. Her face showed signs of concern and fear as well as from the residents of Ponyville, exclaiming things like "What is that?!" or "What caused it?". But Zecora knew what is was and where it came from. She had seen in before and it was not pleasant Now dropping the pulley of her cart, Zecora sprinted to Twilights home, hoping that all was not too late. =Back to where we left off= They were gone now. The timberwolves were gone now. All that was left were burnt pieces of wood and ashes as well as collateral damage in the form of green flames still burning most of the flora and fauna that was in sight. 'Burn....Everything....' the same dark voice echoed inside of Barb's mind. She was still enraged, from the signs of her glowing neon green eyes and small trails of smoke leaving her mouth that was still holding a snarl. However, Barb knew she was holding back. She was far more capable of destroying everything and anything in her path when she is enraged. It happened once before when her Mother was brutally injured long ago. Needless to say, no pony dared to oppose her afterwards. She wanted to destroy more. To burn everything! Anything! But she didn't when she heard his soft voice call out to her weakly. "....B-B-Ba...B-Barb...." It was then that any traces of rage seemed to leave her in an instant. Her body flinching at the sound of his weak voice, her eyes widened as they returned to the normal emerald color. Now, looking the exact same as before she went berserk, her hair messy and her clothes torn. Turning around, she saw that Mike had crawled himself to a nearby tree, his back placed against the base of the tree, still looking very bloodied. His eyes were squinting, trying to figure out whether the figure in front of him was Barb. His breathing was shallow, and all in all he looked like a newborn child, helpless and weak. "....M-...Mike...?" Barb's replied, tears now forming in her eyes as she saw how helpless her friend looked. Without hesitation, Barb ran next to Mike, hugging him gingerly so as to not hurt him, crying her heart out. "...I-I'm sorry..! I-I coul-couldn't help you..! I...I was useless when you fought them!" Barb yelled out loud, gripping her friend tightly without her noticing. She tried to continue saying something but she couldn't, her emotions flooding out. "...N-No...I...should...apologize instead....I wasn't...strong enough to....defend us....both..." Mike slowly said, his voice was still soft as he coughed out a small amount of blood, a small trail of blood ran down the side of his mouth. "...Do-Don't talk....please....Stay with me....Don't die!....I beg of you!..." Barb yelled, tears running down her face as she kept on sobbing. "....I-I'm...sorry....It's...so....cold now..." Mike gingerly spoke, a small smile now forming on his face "NO!...DON'T GO!...please....don't...go" Barb yelled at first but her voice soon dropped to a whisper. The rest of the time, Barb continued to grip onto Mike's body, a small smile planted onto his face. Nothing could be heard other than a crying dragoness holding her dear friends seemingly lifeless body. Author's Note HUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHURHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE (Translation: I hope you like it! My heart actually ached really badly when I wrote this) //-------------------------------------------------------// Wishing for the best //-------------------------------------------------------// Wishing for the best "Time of death?" "*sigh* Roughly a quarter till 3 pm sir" "Hmm...He was a good guy...Too bad he had to die" The doctor, a pristine white unicorn, took the plastic sheet and placed over the body, absolutely depressed that this young lad had to die. Medicinal Pulse, or Pulse for short, turned around and faced his nurse that was helping him. "...Tell his friends the news Hearth...They need to know...Even though it would only bring them sorrow" Pulse said in a hushed tone. Healing Heart or Hearth, a light brown earth pony, merely nodded, looking at the ground as she let out a heavy sigh. "...It'll be hard..." She replied. "...I know...But they have to know the news my dear....even if it is grim for them..." Hearth nodded her head, exiting the room, leaving Pulse inside the room, contemplating over the recent events that had led to this his unfortunate death. He didn't move. He just stood there, his sight never leaving the ground. The entire gang were current seated down on one of the many cushioned benches inside Ponyville Hospital. They heard about the grim news that Zecora told them, sending them into a frenzy as they searched frantically for the two, only to find a histerical dragoness with a bloodied human in her arms, a face of serenity planted onto him. Barb was currently sitting further away from the rest, her head hung low as her she tightly held onto her tail. Just opposite her, sat her friends and family members, all looking at the depressed dragoness. Twilight and Crlestia were most affected by this, they faces showing a pained expression. They all could still remember how the zebra had burst open the door, yelling at the top of her voice, saying that she need their help. When asked what was wrong, she told them about what she saw. Immediately, Celestia's and Twilight's went into a a histerical state, before Luna slapped the both of them back into consciousness. The entire group went into the forest, desperately finding the duo. However, they knew they were coming close as the scenery gradually changed, from a forest full of plant life to a scorched battlefield. And that was when they found them. As said before, the dragoness never let go of her friends body as she cried her heart out. As the group slowly walked to them, Celestia softly called Barb's name. At first, Barb thought it was another foe, begging to die. Needless to say, she reacted violently, from the look she gave to the glowing eyes she held. However, when she realized the rest of the group had come, she dropped her look of savageness before continuing to mourn over her friends seemingly lifeless body. The entire groups felt as though a knife had pierced through their hearts. Even Pinkie Pie's mane sank, which was always a rarity as she was always the 'happy-go-lucky' type of mare. Snapping out of their trance, the group split themselves into half. Half of them would rush back to Ponyville. The rest would help carry Mike, which Barb reluctantly did so. As Celestia held Mike with her magic, Barb never left his side, holding onto one of his free hands as they made their way to the hospital, catching attention from everypony. I mean, it's not everyday that you see a bloodied human, ya know? And now, with everypony at the lobby, they all waited patiently, wishing for the best. Barb especially. "Ugh...." Mike muttered under his breath, groaning in displeasure from the heavy weight on his chest. Rubbing his face, Mike opened his eyes ever so slowly, only to find nothing but darkness. Now fully awake, Mike jumped up in surprise, thinking he might have been blind, but he was wrong. He stopped for a moment, realizing that he was the only thing that stood out the most in the darkness. It was as if he radiated light. He could see himself perfectly, his hands looked fine and his clothes looked the same. "Where am I....?" he wondered, now walking in the darkness aimlessly. He tried to think....Where was he before he found himself here? And then, a memory soon came into his mind. "...I...The...The timberwolves!" he exclaimed. "Now I remember! I was fighting off a bunch of timberwolves to let Barb escape!" But then, another thought came to his mind. "....But...What if Barb never made it...?...Oh god...no..." his voice soon dropping to a whisper. It couldn't be. Barb must have escaped! He gave her the opportunity to run! Before....before he found himself being mauled by a timberwolf, barely able to push it aside and away from him. And then, he remembered the blood. His blood. Splattered onto the ground with most of it dripping off his body "....Am I...dead?" he asked himself. He thought for a good moment. It was a very huge possibility. Him being dead with Barb running off with a couple of scratches. ...Barb... The name echoed in his mind. He really hoped that she wasn't dead. He made a huge effort to keep her alive. It would haunt him to no end if he knew that she died. It was then that his train of thoughts came to a halt when he heard a voice. A sweet voice. A voice that he knew. "...Micheal..." Turning around, he finally saw her. There, in front of him, was Barbara, smiling at him with her usual happy smile. But there was something off. His eyes then trailed down her body, finally laying them on a huge open wound that oozed blood. She took a step, and the blood dripped down her leg, running down and hitting the 'floor' of the dark. "...No..." his voice barely a whisper. She couldn't have died...He was with her on his last dying breath! She looked perfectly fine! And the only wounds she received were a couple of claw marks, not a gash on the side of her body. "...Why...Micheal...Why did you...leave me to die..." 'Barb' said, a frown now planted onto her face. Mike stared at her, gritting his teeth in anger. "....You're....You're not real..." He said, taking a step back. She complied with a step forward. "...Why?...I thought...You cared...for me..." 'Barb' asked, tears now dripping down her face. Another step back, Mike replied. "...Get away from me. You're not the real Barb..." However, things soon turned grim. With another step forward, the fake Barb kept on asking him why he abandoned her. And soon, her tears were now not the same, as a tinge of red started to appear. Growing thicker. And thicker. And soon, blood was dripping down her face from her eyelids. Fear was now gripping him. He had to run! But where? Everywhere Mike looked, looked the exact same. Nothing but darkness. He took a step back. She complied. He did it again. She did the same. And when Mike took another step back, the fake Barb proceeded to ask him something. "...Why are you walking away from me...? Don't you care for me...? I thought...we had something special..." "...No....Not with you..." He replied, gritting his teeth as he glared the dragoness. "...Why...?" She asked. He didn't reply. He ready told her why, so why was this...'thing' still asking him. It was then that he noticed something happening. The green scales that were covering the dragoness were slowly turning black, as if she was sucking the darkness around herself. Not only that, but her eyes...They were not the beautiful emerald orbs that Mike was used to see. Instead, they were now blood red, that seemed to his very soul. "...Dear lord help me..." He muttered to himself. However, as frightening as the new features the fake Barb beheld, there was one thing that made him paralyzed in fear. And it was that she was smiling. Not happily. But sadistically. Author's Note What's this? Another update!? Yea...Made a new chapter to this story as a 'sorry' for the huge delay in between my previous chapter and the one before that. As always, any form of help will be great. Whether it be correcting grammar, spelling and other stuff that you guys would like to point out. Be sure to comment whether you enjoyed this or not, as feedback is also needed, since you guys know I'm not the best at writing. With that, I'll see you all in the next chapter. (Oh! Btw, the small 'death' in the start of the chapter will be important later on. With that, see you guys! Love all of ya!) //-------------------------------------------------------// Despair //-------------------------------------------------------// Despair A few minutes had passed and the group were still waiting patiently for any from of good news. Barb especially since she was the only one who stayed back when the rest of the group went out to buy lunch, ever so patient and quiet as her eyes never left the floor. Every once in a while, she would look around to see any nurse and ask them of a certain human, to which they would reply with a "I'm sorry ma'am. We're a tad bit busy". Seeing Barb in this depressed state caused Zecora to feel a huge pang of guilt. "It's my fault for sending them there" she said softly as her head was hanging low. Celestia sighed. "It's not your fault Zecora. You couldn't have know where and when the timberwolves would have attacked" Celestia replied, patting the guilty zebra mare. However, just as Zecora was about to say something, a female earth pony with a light purple mane and chestnut brown fur. She was holding a clipboard, a sad look on her face. The earth pony walked to the group and sighed. Celestia stood up. "How is he?" Averting her eyes away, she hieved another sigh, as if a huge weight was on her shoulders. "I-I'm....Im sorry Princess..." she replied in a soft tone. It was odd. The room somehow became entirely quiet when she said those words. So quiet that you could even hear Blueblood screaming in Canterlot. The news sounded so wrong. It can't be true... "....What?" Celestia asked, her heart was pounding very quickly as she breathed in and out rapidly. The nurse sighed once more before bearing down the bad news "...We couldn't save him...He's...He's dead Princess..." The news shocked everypony. It couldn't be true! It just can't be! He had to be alive! Pulling her collar upwards, Rainbow Dash then began to chew her out. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S DEAD!? HE CAN'T BE!" She yelled out loud, her right hand was now rolled into a fist. Everyone in the room was now silent once more, their heads hung low as the news of their friend was given to them. A small teardrop could be faintly seen from everyone's faces, even though their manes obstructed their eyes. Even Pinkie Pie looked like she was painfully stabbed through the heart, her mane now straight instead of the usual poofy one and it somehow changed into a deeper shade of pink. Rainbow eventually let go of the mare as she faced her head away, a sniff could be heard emanating from her. However, the one who was most affected by this was Barb, who could be seen to have recoiled into her seat, her arms wrapped around her legs as her tail was wrapped around her waistline. Not a moment to soon, the floodgates opened, leaving a weeping dragoness, mourning over her friends death. She has never been so attached to someone like Micheal before. He was simply fun to be around. He cared for her well being, would always try to make her smile. And now... ...He's gone forever... "...I-If you want...You all can go...into his room..." the nurse said, re-adjusting her uniform. "Please...lead the way" Eris said, opting to walk instead of float. The nurse merely nodded, asking everypony to follow her. Barb was reluctant to go. She didn't dare want to see his serene face as death claimed him as his own. But she gave in, thinking that maybe, just maybe, some weights would be removed off her shoulder. "...DON'T RUN!...LET ME HUG YOU..!" 'Barb' screached, as she continued to chase the scared human. 'Don't look back! Don't look back! Don't look back!' Mike screamed in his head as he continued to run from the being. And then, probably one the most scumbag things his brains did to him, he turned back. Catching the sight of 'her'. A devilish smile that showed her sharp teeth, her black scales that somehow looked more darker, those blood red eyes that could pierce anypony's soul. It was terrifying. Not to mention that her deep wound now bled a black substance as it continued to leak when she ran towards him. 'God dammit brain!' Mike yelled, causing his brain to hurt slightly. It seemed liked hours had passed in this dark void. His breathing was labored and ragged and his legs felt like jello. He wanted to stop and take a breather, but he couldn't since 'she' was still chasing him. "MICHEAL...!...COME BACK...!" 'Barb' screeched once more. "FUCK OFF BITCH!!" Mike yelled, turning around to flip her off. However, he regretted turning around once more. As she saw her running behind her, more black substance started to leak from the huge gash we bore and moments later, the trail that was running down her leg had seem to come alive. Although slowly at first, the substance then formed into multiple black tendrils, causing Mike to have an even better reason to run faster. "...COME BACK MICHEAL!!...DON'T RUN!...YOU CAN STAY HERE!...WITH ME..." 'Barb' stated, her face dropping for a moment before she screamed in a demonic voice. ".̨̛̭̱̟̹ͭ̉́ͥ̏̊͋.̡̢͍̲̭̯̹̥͙̟͉͓̳̊̽̓͜͡.̶̦̰̥̠̹͍̤̱͕̯̈ͩͪ̓ͦͨ͑́ͮͨ͛̽̀́̕ͅF̝̭̤͇̠̥͙̣̖͓̏̌́̅̐ͫͯ͂͌̌͂̌ͪ͘͝O̵͆͒ͣ̽̌̏̅ͯ́͊ͧ̄ͧ̀͏̡̺͚͙͍̠̮͓̞̥̲̭͚̬̕ͅͅR̷̢̭̤͖̟͍̻̩̹̗͍̫ͣ̍ͩͬ̀̀̚̕Ȩ̷̨̰͚̻̟̯̫̖̫̹̈͗̆͆͌̚͜͞V̴̨̦̫̥̳̠̪̥̙̩̪̟͓͊ͣͤ̾̐̑̊ͤ̄̓͛̍͐̑͡E̷̷̛̦̥̠̭̲̤̋̍͆̉ͫͩͪ͐͋̉̈ͧR̨̹̮̞͕̠͔̭͓̼̱̫̊̊̽ͩ̒̏͊ͬ͑̾ͧ̅̀͠ͅ!̷̢ͮͭ̉͒̾ͩ̊͂̾ͮ͑̇͑̚͟҉̳̝̮̬̝̪̤͍̙͚͓̺͇͉̪̱ͅ!̴̷̧̡͈̝̲̱̮̻̞͍͚̠͙̰̋̇ͬ̓́ͦ̌͐͌͂̔ͪ̓̐ͩͅͅ!͂͊̉̓ͣ̂̅ͣ́͏̧̰̯͍̣́͜.̎̃̎̎̎̌̋͋̊̏͑̾̒ͮ͛̅̂҉̛̙̠̯̮̫̳̼.͉̩̖̻̤̮͛̓̽̆͛̄̋ͬ͑͆ͬͥ̆ͧ͌̃̚͟͡.̢̛̘̲̰͈͓̦̘̤̘͓̠̖̪̩͔̺ͪ͊̒̅ͣ̋̐͐̓͋ͤ͛̈ͩ̐ͪͦͅ" 'Oh dear god.....' Mike thought, his breathing getting more and more labored. 'I just hope there's something in this blackness that can help' And there he was... Lying on the hospital bed with an opaque plastic sheet over his body. The room was silent on all accounts, the only things that could be heard we're the screams of patients and the yelling of the doctors. And so, they went one by one, to say their final words to their friend before he would buried beneath the earth. The Elements went first, starting with Pinkie, who was relatively calm, although her expression said otherwise. It was very odd to hear the pink party pony talk in a slightly monotonous tone, speaking of how he was a really great pony and that he could withstand her shenanigans. At the end, Pinkie forced a smile as she remembered Mike telling her to not let the bad things in life pull her down. After her was Fluttershy, who, in a rather soft tone, went on saying of how odd for a creature like him to be so kind hearted. Although she stuttered quite a bit, she managed to choke out on how she would always remember him as a good friend. With that, she quickly went back, sniffling and holding in her tears. Next up was both Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Applejack spoke of how, a being that seemed rather scrawny, he surprisingly had a lot of stamina, due to how much he had to run around the town from a lustful dragoness. Rainbow Dash gave a weak chuckle when she said how easily he managed to kick Luna's flank. After the two of them came Rarity and Twilight. Rarity spoke of how much fun it was designing his suit and that he looked exceptionally dashing in it. She then gave a long sigh before a tear fell from her face, saying that it is a shame that a gentlestallion like him had to go. Twililight, however, said of how interesting his species were when she questioned him about them. She wanted to know more, but she said she knew how it was unlikely to know more, since he was now dead. Once they were done, the two princesses and Eris went up next. Celestia spoke first, most of it being sort of a, 'I'm so sorry I made your life a living hell that one night'. Once she was done, Luna followed after, speaking highly of how he had caught her interest as a gaming buddy. After her, Eris was next, hesitating on her apologies of sending him to Equestria, saying that if she didn't do so, this tragedy wouldn't have happen. But she wasn't one to stay on the negativity for too long, saying that his relatively short life in Eqeustria was one of the best experiences she and the rest had experienced. Once she was done, Eris and the two princesses went back to their places next to the Elements. All that was left to say their goodbye's was Barb. The one who was affected by his influence the most. She walked up to his body, not utter a word afterwards. Her body was shaking as she could feel that at any given moment, she would break down. And after a lengthy silence, she fell to her knees and cried, stopping at nothing to mourn her friend's tragic end. .͓͙̜̜̲͙͝ͅ.̟̯̫̫͖̬ͅ.̘̰̩̗̪͠H͙͔̟e̮͜ ͏͈̥̙̭ͅc̭̹͈a̦̣͍͔̥̣̝n̵̰͕͔͓͈n̢o̴̖̰͔̭̗͇t̗ͅͅ ̴̝̖͇̬̙̼ͅh͏̺̙̹̝i̛̮d̡̦e͚̟ ̵͇̼͉͍̠f̥͓̬͕r̩̼̻̳̟͈o̸̪̦̗̖̳̖ͅm͎̗̠̥̕ ̹͈m̦͔̳̫e̯̘̘ͅ.͏̩̫.̥͢.̕I̛ͅ ̺͎a͚͖̹̯͉m̢̫̘̣̙̤ ͙̙͔̣̺̣̠͘h̯̘i̝̜̯s̱̠̳ ͚͓̬̲͜b̪̯͖e͚̦̭̱̥ͅl̠͍̖͈̰͖̰o̳̮͇͎͓v̢͕͚̗e͓̰͚͡ḍ̣̣̺̗͈̜͢.͓̳ͅ.̡.̭͍͚̗̻͔́I̳̠͕͚͈̥͡ a̪̠̳̺m̲͚͈͘ ͠h̹̦̙̥̭̖̀i̻͈s͓̫͓͙̦͎͟ ̱̻͖͘o̫̥̟͓̙̺̙b̴j̢̻͙̰̮̻e̡̞̰̘̘̜̟̥c̞͖͉̦̕t̴͈̟̦͇ͅͅ ͉̲̰̜̻̙o͓̦̟͇͍͝f̪̹ͅ ̪͢a҉̣̞͚̯̖̮̞f̺͇̙̮̙f̠̯̱e҉̘̖̺̯̜c̭̜̱͙̺͓t҉̮̮̹̘̙i̮̹̟͚͕͎͟o͇̼̘n̯̬̣͕̼̦͟.̬̻͟.̴͓͈͙̞.̟͕͚̠ ͈̣͞ ̡̪.̵̞̳̭͕̟̱͇.̲͕͇.̰̪͖͕̫̥ͅH̘̬͓̦̜͔͜o͟w͝ ̡̘̙̘c̫̜͍̜̝̦̀o͏͇͇͉̲͈u͇̼̹l̟̭ͅd̦̞̰̙͉͉̤ ̻͔̠̹̗̠y̖͈̟o̯̼̞͔͓͜ṳ͚̜ d̙̻̙̠̙̠̖o͎̱̹͇͉͟ͅ ͎̦͔t̸h̶̰̯̜̯͙̩i̛s̭̹͍̩̺ t̺̹̺̜̪͙͘o̠̜͉͢ ̴͇̯m̱͔͙e͇͉̖̟̰?̴͈̫͈̹̺.̹̕.̥͖̖̠̪͓̬͢.W̛̙̙͙̘̮ḩ̯͕̲͙y͈̫̦̰̟ ̻̪̜̺w̫̮o͙͙̠̱ͅu͓͈̭̜l̦̯̖̠̩̬d̟͙͕͠ ͔̱̱y̳̠̼̮̰̖o̳u҉ ͍͈̦̫̩̹̬͝r̳͎ṵ̳̤n̥͕̮̳̦ ̤̭̼͙̠̫͔f̗̠̹̜̬r̢̯ͅo̲͕͞m̼͟ ̮̝̦̜̲̣m̡͖̰e̟͕̬̬̘͙?̟̹̖͟..̟̞͙̥.̠͙̻̤ ̳͔͇ ̨̳̥͔̜̘̖ͅ.͙̰̘̀.̞̣̱̬.̙̩̮̭̟̖͢N̖̰̹̺̝̕o̭̣̳.̜͙̮̻̝̼͚.̴̜͙̱̰͓.Y͞o̧̤͙̳u̲̮̺͉̠͚ͅ c̙̬̟̦a̵̮̦͈̪̝̝n̦̜͝n̲̤̣̱ͅo͍̩̱͖̫̝̣͠t̺͈ ̨̜̦͇rụ̶͙̺͙n̶̞̻̳ͅ ̵͈̮̖̮̦̥f̜͈͈̙͕̟̕ͅr̝o͍̖̤̹͜m̼ ̝m̰̜͈͉̮e͕̜̮̙͙̜̻.̭̜.̝͙͎̘̹͡.͙͈̤̮̝I͕̞̹̙̺͙ͅ ̨̲̺͇w͇̹͕͇i̸̦͔͇͈͎̹ͅl̲̪̯l̗̰ ̺̯̗̕f̧i̼n̼̪̥̫͚̠d͔͖͈̜͍ ̺͍̗y̡̺͉̹̙͉̥òu̹̣͍̳.̘͢.̗͔̠͘.̻̻̘̗̲̹̱I̡̺̦͔ͅ ̖͎͉͍̲͖̻w̷͇̮̰i̪̩͙̙̲l̬̥̝̬͖̪ḻ̳ ̧̯̲̙h͔u̡̫͇͉n҉͓͓̼̮̯t͇̙̘͎ ͇̩̟̫y̠̭̗o͚̗̲̻͍ͅu̫͝ ̤d̼̣̤̮̙o̴͉w͕̜n̫̝̖̬̠̙.̰͈͎.̙̠̹̲̤͚̤̕.̠̟̻̣͎ ̞̩ͅ ̨̜̥.̟.̻͚.̛͇̻̻͔͔̠͕W̠͚h͉͜e͈̭̹̰̻n̥̮̬͈̝̩̬ ̜̤I͍̖̤̼̘ ̣̺͇̣̬d̬o͏̝̠͙̘.̨̲̥̫̟̙.̴.̼̘̜͔̖̰͞I͈̝͞ ̣̗̯͜w͏̙i̸̬̜̫̭̪̙͙l͖l m̶̤̟ͅa̡̰̱̼͙͍͉k̞͙̭e̖͞ ̳̮͓̥̻y̟͈̙̪o̩͇̝ͅu ̤lov̟e ̳͓̻̪̯m̵̻̮̥͍ͅe͈̮̙̗͙̬͕.͉̞͍͍̲̟̦͞.̫.C̦̹͇̟̪r͕̣͚͈a͏͇̱̟̼̜v̲̠e̱̼͚̹̠͉͇͞ ̸͎̝̦̮̺̱͙me̼̜͖̫̜͢.̗.̨̣.̞͚̼͕̪E͈̙v̹̠̠̩ͅe̙͇͎ṟ̸yͅ ͍̳͢i͓̗̞͉̬̗͡ṉc̡̜̯̳h̭̮͇ ͚o͟f m͏͍ḛ̯̺̥͕̠.̗͓̺͉͕̦́ͅ..͕ ̛̬͓͚͕̫̟ ̵̤̯.̻̤̱̙̤̀.̴̹̘.̻̬͡M̘̗͔̗̟̦̀y̸ ̧̳b͓̬̘͔͉̥̪e̪̜͞l͓͔ͅo̫̯̘̫͖̳̩v̭͓̭͡e̳̥̖͕̺͉dͅ.̥͕̱.̙̟̪̻̻͎͠. ̝̜̖͚͕̞ .̺͉̳̻͉͟.͇͎͝.͏̖̰I̙̝̹̗̣̘͟ͅ aͅm̢͉̻̙̦̳͖ ̵̼̼͈̖͈͓c̶͉͓̜͕͚̻o͜m̛͙̺͇̱̮͍i̤͝n͓̺͓g̭̼͙ ̵f͖̣̳ͅo̻̙̠̖̗̰̳͝r͙ ̶͉̞̫̺̗͓y̲͓̯͎̟ͅơ͇̭̞̗u͟.̶̭͚̩͔.̖̥̭.͈̯͙̫̳͉̘ Author's Note Bleh. Sry if this isn't as good for a chapter. Ideas have been rather slim lately //-------------------------------------------------------// A discovery //-------------------------------------------------------// A discovery 'Don't let her find me...Don't let her find me...' Mike chanted in his mind numerous times as he hid in a dark alleyway. After a while, he heard footsteps that caused him to inhale sharply before holding it, careful as to not make any noise. It was then that a shadowed figure went past the alleyway with a sharp pointed tail. He knew it was 'her'. It had to be. There was no other living being in this void other than him and 'her'. Thinking the coast was clear, he heard a voice that made his blood run cold as he shivered in fear. “.̻͖̖͉̗͙ͅ.̰̣̟̙̙͕̯̂̒̊̌̂̔́.͖̥̝̦̄̋̿ͤͥM̢ͭͅi̳̅̂c̟̼̰̟͙͎̯͑͑̏̔̍̔ḧ͇̳̠͑̄̒͌̋͋͜e̽̽a̧̙ĺ͏̭͔̠̫̰ͅ.̮̰̌̓ͦ̏ͪ.̵̝̲̈.̃ͨͩ̆ͨ҉̗̯̬̝͎̠C̙̠̗̩͍ͥ̎͋o̶͚̯͈͉̎̃̍͛̚ͅṃ̘̱̾͂̽͌e̳͊̓̅ͣ̚ͅ ̼̥͔ͦ͋̾͋̎͗oṵ͈͓̰̜̳̣̓ͧͩ͂̎t̜̺͚͙̲̼̓ ̺̖̥̥ͮ̔ͯw̜̘ͤ̓ͥ̓ï̛̮̻͕̹͂͆̌ͅl̲͖̯͂ͯͪ̔̾ͨ̚l̨ ̳̬͇̉̈̈́́y͗̄ͧ̆̌ò̎̉͌̄ͥ̅ȕ̻̫?̬̗̮̭̐.͖̼̱̲ͫ.͈̦͙ͭ̅ͦ̀ͦͮ̇̀.̖̖̩͙͔͎̰͐͑̆̽̂͋̀”'Barb' said in a demonic voice. After a while, Mike heard her laugh devilishly. ".͚̘̗̥̘̪̝́ͮ̅̀̈́.̭̩̊A̞͍̲͉̥̖h̑͗a͐͐̋̆ͥ̚ḩͬͫ͌ͯ͌a͈̻̮̳̺͛͊ͫ̌͝ḥ̢̪̠̺̟ͭͨ̽a̺̝̗̞̖͓͊̐̈̅ͥ͑̚͟ḧ̘̻͉̄̄̾.̰͙͉̥͍̼̓͑͐̌͒.̙̥̳͙͍͍̟̀T̯̬̠̼̣̙͉h̰̬̹͉ͬ͗ͪ̒ͭͩ͞ͅḭͪ̋̅ͮͭ̐̾ş̬̪̥̩̞̱̝̄̈́̽ ̼̈́̇ͣ̏͊̑g̼͔̜̖̲̳ͥ͑ͫͪ̇ͧ̚a̷̪̬̭̰̅̍̏̐̌ͪͣm̮̼͕͍̗̍̕ͅe͍͉͒̂͋'͇̥̥̣̞̫ͣ͊͗ͫͅs͔̄ͤ́.̴͚̉ͨ̿̄ͪ.̐͂ͩ̉.̫̥͎̣͇ͭn̙̰̣̣̬̟͐ͅọ̮̖̲͍͖̰ͮ͋t̞̪͖͓̮̫̘ͧ͂͛ͪ̽̾ ̘̹̥̦ͣ͂͐́ͭ̓ͪ͞f̮̝̭ͦ̃̈ŭ̥̖̭̠ͧͤ̓ͪͧn̬͙͈̤̦̿̓̃̈́͛̂͜ ͨ͋͂̏͌̚͝ã̩̜̖̜̣̹͚ͥ̂͗̇n҉͚y̵̮̫͖ͯ̿̿͆́ͪmͪͨ͐͌o̫͖̗̯͋r̡̰͖͕̫̫ͣ̂̈e̤̠͆̈̓̽͋.̻̥̫̗̳̱̩̈́͝.͖ͯͬ.͉͔͇͚̫̮̈” The demon dragoness said as her voice quivered slightly, causing Mike to be confused. 'The fuck..?' Mike asked himself as he exhaled slightly, causing him to regret it as he heard her claws scratch on the black brick wall painfully, causing his ears to hurt slightly. He then heard her demonic laughter once again which caused his eyes to dilate. “A̿̀͌ͤ͛͜H̰̬̟̬͔̫̊̉̒̆̊͋ͮ̀Ă͉͖͚͔̄̌͘H͔̫̤͇̗̯̆̽A̖̱͎̹̤̗̐̊H͔̣͕͓̮̳̊͊ͫ͆͐̎A͈̫ͯ̎ͨͅḤ̪͇̫̞A̡̙͇̘̩̫̬̎̃̈́̏!̨̦͍̼̮̹̩ͅ!̛̗̼̦͚̥̎̾̍!̖͉̹̟̼̽ͥͣ̅́ͅͅ ͭ̿̍I̛͙̰̘̻ͯͤ̈̾͐ ̭̜͖͉̠̰̚F̷͈͇̻͖̳͆͒̒̎͑ͭ̃O̅̈͛ͤ͢UͫͮN̤̰ͣ̊D͔̥̲̺̳͙͐̏͋ͨͩͣ ̨͖̱̤͎̙̊Y̵̟̬̙͌͑̆̅ͤͮO̬̝͉͚̙͍U̱̠̞̫̟ͣ̃͛̄̒ͅ!̷!̊ͥ̿ͩ̚!̫̖̗̲̬̙͚͋ͯ” he heard her scream as the same shadowed figure came into view, with a pair of blood red irises and a huge cheshyre grin that showed him razor sharp teeth. “Y̞̖̼͓̖͛̏̾o͉͘ṳ̢͉̖̩̤̤̎ͤ̈́̚ ̧͖̯͙̟̱̩͙k̛̹̬̟̒n̼͕̐o̷̠̱̭̲͔͑̐ͭẇ̵̹͖̿̓̈́͗̿.͔͙ͩͤ.̛̞͖͇̑̉͋̋.̢͈̭̏͐̽It's ̸̣ͣͯn̖͉͎̝͇̓̑̉̈̑̏o̧̞͉t̤͇͆̌ ̡͖͙̜̜̅̑ͫ͊ͣn͉̰͕̞ͤiͬ͗ͪc͎͔̐͐̎̿ͤͣ̎ĕ̳̠͇͓ͮ ̼̖̲͞t̨͓̃̓̾ȏͣ͋̈ͯ̇̀ ̜͔̻͚̪͊l̫̰̗e̙̣͓ͧ́a͖̝̝͍̫̮͋̾ͮ͑͑͞v͎ͤ̃͛͛̉̎̃ę̱̖̦͎̰̹ͨͯ͛ͅ ̪̘͂͐ͧ͛̏̈ͪm̯̞͊ͩ̐͌͟ȩ̗̻͓̜͓̹͒̏̎ͦ̏̉ ̦̜̗͂̂̐̅̐̍͜l͕̫̂ͯ͒ͧ̈̂̄͜i̞͎̳̗̮̩ͩͯ͂ͧ͝k̵̗̟͖̳͖̱̈́́͆ͅe̪̖̘̣͖͍̺͂́͋͗̕ ͑̑ͯ͡ṯ̲̠̜͍̺̙́ha͆̔́ͫ̄̏ͭ҉t̸͍̭̟̻͑ͤͪ̌ͥ̚̚.̪̗̣̯̿̓̀ͅ.̖̜͔̤̘̱ͣͫ͑.̢̺̖̬̳̤̲̙̇ͣ̋̐́” The demonic dragoness spoke, causing cold chills to run down Mike’s back as the demon inched closer. He was terrified right now. With him firmly seated on the ground in fear as death stood in front of him, waiting to claim his life. Her claws were now razor sharp as her teeth and her scales seemed to ooze out some sort of black smoke. The ghastly gash was now fully bleeding out the same black substance, with it forming into more tendrils. Mike tried to inch further away from the demon. But with every inch back, she took a step forward, her grin never leaving her face. ‘Come on brain. Think!’ he thought to himself. He had to get away from her. He just had to. Otherwise, there would be no telling what would happen to him in this black void. The only thing he could think of as of now was to try and run away from her, all the way till the other side of the alleyway where the exit was his only salvation. Lucky for him, she was quite distant from him, so if he ran fast enough, he may just have a shot. ‘May’ he thought to himself. It was now or never. Wishing himself with the utmost of luck, he quickly stood up and ran, causing the demon Barb to let loose an ear piercing screech before she gave chase. He ran as fast as he could as the exit was now within his reach. But he then felt something tug him really hard on his left leg, causing him to impact the floor really hard face first. His body ached so much at that moment. And so, he painfully shifted himself up slightly, seeing the exit just in front of him, probably an arms length away. But he knew he was doomed as he felt himself being dragged further and further away, an demonic giggle could be heard from behind him. He tried to grab anything that he could and hurl it at the demon, only to be rewarded with more giggles. "̪ͭY̼͔̝oͬ̍̒̆͊͆ṷ̱̮͖͉̔͗̽ͅ ̰͕̳̆ͪ̈̉̒k͙̳̖ͥͣn͔̱͊̌̏ͬ̄o͂̐̉͛̍ͫ̚w̪̪̜̜͎ͦͣ̽ͭͧ.̪̙͚͉͎͍.͈͈͎͎͎͌.̮̰͋̽͌Y̺̬͕̹ͤͅo̪͍̯͓̻̝ṵ͙̩̯ͩ͂ͫ̏'͉̖̥͕͂͊̽r̺̘̰ͧͩe̻̙̥͈̥̯͚̅ͬ̀̓ ͚̟̹̙͕̱ͪͯ̃ͅc͔̏̾u̜ṯ̂e̫̲̭̩̭̞̹̓͌ͨ̀͗ͪ ͉̠̤̭w̘͂h̞̮͈͂ͮeͨ͊̄n̦̜͉͎̘̺ͥͮ̏ͦ͌́ ̤̉͑̈͑̆ͦy̘̤̜̫̠̺̒ͨ̃ͮo͕ͫ̑̏̂́̋͆u̲̖̥͓̱̼͌̇̎͋ͬ̃̔ͅ ̽ͤs͇̓͗̈́̚t͍̯̺͇̻̔͆ͭ̓̽̍̚r̻̞̓u̺͍͚̺͉ͭ̔̍ͪ̈́ͣͅg̫̳̳ͪg͍̝̬̞ͫ͗̇ͅl̙̫͒̒̍͌̉e͙̙ͨͧͭ̇̋ͬ̍.̲̺͖̼̽̒͗̂.͔͍͙͚̱̥̤̌ͨ̈̂́̀̐."́ͪ the demonic Barb told Mike, giggling more afterwards as she continued to drag him further and further away. "̲͕͓͍̰͈ͫ̓̿D̳̗̻̘͈̠̘̔̉͂̂ͬ̋̚o̗̫͉̠̟̙̐̓͊ͫͣn̳̺̺̠̣͌͊͌͒̐'͔̫̘̾̿͛t̥̣̼̭ͧ̂ͮͅ ̗ͯw͈̝͔̱ȏ̳̱͈̞̻r̾̎ͤr̟͎̙̅̃͐ͩͧÿ͔̘.̖̘̠͉͙̱͌̌͑.̩̤̞͚ͣ͑̍̐.͌̈̍ͪͧ́ͤI̮̫̰͙̮ͪ̄̇'͔̦͆̄̆ͅl̉̏̓̒ͭ̉ͫl̹̪̩̥̑͂̇ͅ ͍͎͎̩̜̬̏̂ͣ̐̈̾b͙͍͌e̝̖̪̗̺ͅ ̣̳̻̞̙͚f͖͈̯͉̯̱̿͛ͤu̅̑n̥ͪͅ!͇͍̱̺̼͍̰͒̾͋ͭ ̯͎̯̪̰̜͆ͅI̲̔͛ ̺̭ͤp̬̭͈͉͓̙͕̐͋̌̊̃r͕̝͙̬̠o͑̈́̉̍̓m̤͎̳̟̳ͩͥ̓͑ͫ͗i̙̱̠̝͊ͪ͗͐ͦs̖̟ͯ͐ͪ̿e̦̣̫̱̹̣͎̓͆̏͑ͭ̓ͣ!͈̗̪ͮ̀͐"̼̗̦̦̯̆̋͐̆̔̚ She said as she turned around, causing Mike to shake in fear as he saw her demonic grin and razor sharp teeth. "...We're...So sorry Princess..." The mare said in a soft tone as she continued to stare at the dragonnes, weeping over her friend. The princesses didn't reply as they only stared at the scene. The minutes fly by as the entire group were still in the room, waiting for the purple dragoness to stop. However, it seemed that, no matter how much time they waited, Barb was still in the same broken state. It definitely pained so much to see in so much hurt. Then, they heard the door behind them open as hoofsteps could be heard. A moment later, a male voice questioned, "Hearth...Why are you back here?" The nurse turned back to her colleague and frowned. "Well...Breaking the news to them..." she said softly, scratching the back of her neck. And then, in just one sentence, the entire room became quiet. In just one sentence, the entire group, turned their heads and stared at the doctor as if he was mad, insane even. However, the doctor wasn't fazed by their looks whatsoever. "What do you mean? The're not his friend as far as I know. Heck, I don't think Silver Chrome even knows them" As said before, the room became utter silent as the females turned to look at him with a crazy look. However, the one that broke the silence was the, previously crying dragoness, who was now staring at the doctor with tears still runner down her face and her emerald irises having a tinge of red. "...Wh-Wha...What...?" Barb questioned, stuttering slightly as she sniffed. "Like I said ma'am, this body belongs to Silver Chrome. A stallion who at the age of 33 died in the Everfree" The doctor simply stated, crossing his arms as he gave a small frown. Barb felt that she was hallucinating, hearing things that were not real. Her mind screamed at her, telling of how it was all an elaborate trap and that he was truly dead. But even so, there was a small nagging feeling that he was telling the truth. She just had to find out! "...Where is he..." The doctor's ear moved slightly, catching the sound of something. "Pardon me but did you say something?" The doctor asked The dragoness' face never left the sight of the floor as she slowly stood up clenching her claw and rolling it into a ball. "I said..." she breathed in for a moment before yelling at the top of her voice. "WHERE IS HE!?!?!" The doctor recoiled from the sudden outburst and quickly tried to compose himself. "..A-Ah!..Y-Yes...Erm..The..The human...I..I presume..." he stuttered as Barb slowly walked to him with an angered expression, much like the ones every female, except the nurse, was holding at the moment. "...Now...Tell us where he is and if he is fine or not...Otherwise...Your life will be a living tartarus" Eris said as she was now behind the poor doctor who was quivering like crazy. .̘̣͖̤̳.͉̹̖̑̾̋͗.͒͂ͣ̑͛̏͂F̻̻̀̾i̖̣̱̫̲͎͌̍ͥͅn͇̝̮̟̱̯̍͌a̞͎̘̜̽ͨl̬̙̘͔͖ͥ́̏l̝̙ͭy̲̗̲̹̟.͐ͪ͊̋̃̚.̣̤̣͙̯̠̤ͥͥ.̺͍̖̠̃̆̎̀͑ͫ̂Ỹ͉̫̟̹͓̦ͤͤỏ̺̙̜̻̬͖̬̋́u̞̟͉͈̹̮̼'̰̬̮͔̰̥͊͑͐ͯ̈̚r̩͈̙̗͓̼͑̇͊̄ͮe̙͑̿̃ ̥̙̮̰̄ͯ͛̚m̘̗̱͉̤̺ͯ͗͗i̖͂̊n͖̰̥̰̰̜̜͗̇ḙ̟̿̈̅͛ ̟͈̩͑̆n̫͙̹̫̬̟̾͋̓o̮̱͎͇ͫͨw̥̙͕̩̩͓̆̐ͅ.̹̱̂͋ͫ.͖͕̹̭̍ͫ.̗̠̣͒͊ͩͦ̏ ̻̠̹͛̐̐ ̋.̬̣̣̜͍͋̈́.͖͔̪̼̐̑͑ͬͣͪ͂.̦̙̪̩̰̻̑ͣ͊D̯̬͚̮̬̤̪ͭő̜͖̪̫͒̐ͤ ̭͉͊̉̉̓ͣ̉̌n͓͎̫̬̝̩ͫo̱̮̠̅t̪̙̘̜ͅ ̗̋ͬw̪̙̋ͥ͂̉ͨ̾o̳̯͓͇̽̓̈́̍ͬ̚ͅͅr̀ͭr͔̎y͉ͬ̃ͧ̄̑ ̗̝͕̅ͪ̾ͪ̏͊m̰͔ͤͮy̻̖̓̓͂ͦ̚̚ ̤̭̍̆ͨl̠̝̦͉̙o̲̰͎ͦ̒ͤͦ̐v̳̦̊͗͌ͨ̑ͯe̥̜̾.̫̖̞̜̱̜͖́̐.͈̥̲̠͚̳͎̓ͤ͐.ͤW̱̦͇̭̯̆e̼ ̱̗̼͉̟̫̣s̖͈͎̙͍̝͋ͅh̬̲̳͔̲ͨa͓̣̪̙̤̽̾̔́̋ͤ̌l͉̬͕͇̉ͮ͒͌̾̑ͅlͮͨͯ ͈͆̾̉͒̉ͪ̈́n͕̻̩̦̠͗ḛ͉͛v̼e͕̒̅̓r͔͕͖͈̬̃ ̱̜ͣ͌̒͊̅̑ḅ̬͚̺̍̋͗̏̏͗̚e͉͗ͪ̿͒ ̙̳̭̤̝̭̪ṣ̰͎̎̎͊ͨ̎̾ͅḙ̯p̞̪͕̔̌ͮ͑̉a̫̭̼̹̗ͨ̔̃̄r͖̳͈͍̐͐̃̇͐a̤͔̯̱̙t͍͙̳̻̆͑ed̥̠̙.͔̗̟ͫ́̿̃ͣ.̺̈.̠̠͙̪̺̮̋̍͛̿ͣ ̪̺̻́ ̗̒.̥͖̬͉̣̣ͨ̈͆̈́ͪ.̙͙̳̞ͯ͂͊ͭ̓̄̐.̜̼̓̇̄ͭ̓̚W̝͇̤̒̍͑͋̓e̻̲̻̜̳̩͂́̄ ̩̯̾̔͊ͦ̑̉s͇͎̼̟̝ͅẖ̝͕̥̼̑a̟̳̦͇ͭͨͬͨ̑l̬̞̝̩̦͚l̽ͯ͑͆̆ ̱̬̞̫͔͍̎̉̈́b͓̰͔̜̣͎̀̾͒̀̐̈ͮͅě̯͓̝̰̮ͥ̈̒͊̈ ͯ̄w̳̙͎̹͕̥͈͗̌iͨ́ͬͮͫ̔ṯ̩̹̥ͬh͈̼̙̘͖͔͈̒͐ͨ̓͗͒ ͚͗̄ͯͯ̈́̽̒eͯ̓̌̃ͪa̎͗͋͑͊ͫc̭̤̙̦̭̪ͩ̑ͅhͥ̆̊ ̰̤̮̤͇ͬ͆͗̏ͨͤo̰̞̺̼͓̪ͧ̐t̰̭̪͓̖̭͛͂ͭ̒h̝̲͎̜̻̙̫̾ͮ̚e̻̥̺̙r̺̥̣͆ͯ.̱͖̣̬̯̺̽́̌͛.̙̭ͪ̒̅̂̌̚.̜̞͚͔̬̤̈̐̿̄̇̔ ̟̤̘̅̿ͧ͆̌̊ ̺̤͔̳̭̞ͪ̂͗ͪ̈ͅ.̤͗̑ͯ̾̾ͧ̑.͉̜̹̈͆̏̓̇̊.̈́́̽̄Ț̦̜̺ͪͮ̃̚i͕̝̽̌̈͐̊̉̽l̯̳̰͂̂̆ͬ͊l͉̠̟̬͈ͨͧ͒̏ ̰̩̣̦̖̍ͯ͋̎̂d͇̮̥͚̲ͧ͒̋ͨ͂́e̹̤͐a͎̋͒́̽̈́ͣt̩̤̱̺̱h̖͕͓͖͖̳͊͂̒̏̔ ̬̖ͧd̝̠̞̘̠ͫ͂o̊ ̦̏u̫ͫ̈́ͩs̖͈̙̩̞͛̌̈́̇ͯ̔ ̰͍̩p̭̗̟̪̐a͖̞̬͓͈͇̹̎͐̋̔ͮͧ̚r̯̙̊ͥ̍͌t̝̗̱̜̮ͯͦ̋ͅ ̞̟͉̰͇̈́̚i͙̣̥͓̤̯̝͆̽́n̳̼͖ ̻̙͓͒̇̐̃t͇̟h̼̘͚ͮ̎̔̆i͎̜̩̻̖̻ͫs̳̺͕̜̮̣̅̒ͅ ̣͊v͚͉͎ͮo̻͓̹͍͍̖͐̾̓̐ͭ̊̉i͕̟̜̭̩ͮ͗ͩͯ̎̚ḓ̪̲ͮ͒̒̚.͎̖̣̳̭̝ͪ͌ͨ.͔̤̯̪̀̅̈̈́̏̚.̞͍̦̫̗̟̒ͣͮͪͫ͆̂.͔̯̮̰̞̖͍̒ͤ Author's Note Guys! Mike's not dead! OMG! Sibeh Swee liao! Also, terribly sorry if the chapter seems short. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this chapter. On a different note, I think my computer is corrupted. ...Maybe... :trixieshiftleft: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/trixieshiftleft.png:trixieshiftright: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/trixieshiftright.png (P.S Something fuked up the writing of the current story, thus the words being all in the middle. And no, I didn't put it like that) //-------------------------------------------------------// "What" //-------------------------------------------------------// "What" A while ago, when he was dragged to god knows where by the demonic dragoness, Mike fell unconscious due to fatigue and when he woke up, he found himself tied to a chair with the only light source being a small light bulb hanging from...who knows where it came from. And then, he heard foot steps. *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* It was a little bit soft, but he could hear it nonetheless. It just seemed to reverberate in his mind so clearly. Soon afterwards, it started growing louder... *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* ...And louder... *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* ...Until it came to a complete halt, leaving nothing but the sound of silence once more. Mike then began trying to free himself from the ropes that bound his hands to the back of the chair as well as the ropes on his chest. However, all his attempts were futile as the ropes didn't budge. And then, he heard a giggle that sent shivers down his spines before the sound of more footsteps could be heard once again. Mike panicked, desperately trying to break free from the ropes as the footsteps grew louder and louder with evil giggles ringing throughout the dark void. Fear was now creeping up onto Mike as now, he tried to shake the chair off onto the almost none-existing floor, only to be very disappointed when he found the chair was socketed into the floor. "Ö̼̖͚͈́ͫ͑͌ͯ̓̅͡h̺̉͌ͮ̌ͤͪ̉͢ ̷͔̬ͤ̓ͤM͍̘̩̞͆ï̗̺̣͙̗͙͓̍ǩ̸͕̗͚̹̮̭̜̊ͨͦͧ͐̿e̵̖̙ͯ̅̾̈̎̈ͧ.̀ͥ̈́̓̾̋͌.̪̲̪ͯ.̴̦̥̇̌̊͋͂͌́Y̬̙o̸̲̞̩̬̳̅ͬͯu̎̿̓̓́ ̼̯͇̮͓̳̺ͧ̐̆l̟̟̦͚̩o̊ͮ̌̑͛͐̀͏o͙̩̰̳̾̌̌ͬk̯̗͚͋̀͋ͨ͂͑ sͥͨ͆͑ͣ̒̚ŏ͎̠̜͗̊ͅ ̶̒̉̈́͗̚c̼̒ͮ̑ͧu̸͔͕̗͕̖̝ͦ̈́̂̀̉̆̆t͇̘̺̍e͖̽̓ ̿͑̓͗̅̿ͩ͏̫̜w̛̍́ͨ̌̒ͦͨh͇̺̓̎̋̀e̺̹͐ͦͪͯ̽͛n̂ͥ̊ͥͫ̎̀ ͙̗̖͆͗̆͜yͩ̓́̿ȯ̬̃u̍ ̝̤͓̝̇̐ͤ̉͜s͎͇͉̭͆ͯ̊͢t͐r̷͖͎̝͇̖̪ͭ͗ͫ̿u̪̭̞̰̠̎̔̀ͣ͂g͓͞g̩̳̠̤̟̝͔ͧl̉̆͝eͭ̃̔͛̓͠!̖̰͍͚̒ͤ͑́ͤͅ" Mike's eyes widened considerably. 'Oh no...No please no...' he thought. There was only one thing and one thing only that sounds like that. 'Her' And, lo and behold, the demon herself appeared from the dark void, still looking the same as before, with her black scales, scarlet red irises and grinning widely, showing off her razor sharp teeth. Mike shuddered in fear as the demon slowly made her way towards him. However, Mike also couldn't help but see that her hips were swaying back and forth hypnotically as her tail did the same rhythm . "̩̬̫̞̻͓L̃̓͆ͩͭ͛͡iͯ͗̓̚k̦̹͖͍̩͆ȩ͈͈̱̼͖ͫ̅͒ͭ̌ͅ ̩̦̻͚̝̹͊w̹͊ͩ͑̓̏͋ḧ͚̺̼̩̩́̃̇̔͝ą̟̄͆͂̇ͨt̘̰̰̜̦ͬͥ́ ̰̟͉̲̙̇ŷ̱̯̥̤̬͌̇ͤ͗ͣ͛o̥̱ͤu͓̬̼̠̿̔̓ ̦̙̺̖̟̲̤s̸̺͍̙̺̹͉̺͛̋͋̊eͮͮ̌̆ͩ҉͍͖̤͍̥e̫̙͇͍̪̯̒̅ͩ́ͅ?͓̬̹̗̞͌̀ͣ̅̀ ̨͇̍̈́̂̒H̃̋m̨͓̼ͤ͒ͨ̇͗̚m̝͖͓͖̹͋̄̉̃̾?̔" 'Barb' asked, her voice dripping with seduction. Mike could only glare at the demon, biting his own tongue to prevent himself from saying anything that he would deeply regret. 'Barb' chuckled at Mike, walking closer to the tied up human as she licked her lips seductively. This caused Mike to struggle even more as 'Barb' could only giggle. "̫͙̞̖D̩̲̭͚͒͗ͣ͑̈ͮ̇͠o͚̙͐̎́n͙̜̥̗̓̆͆̊ͫ̂̚̕ͅ'̣̮̘̻̥̯̬ͦͪ͂̅̚͝t̗̺ ̊̔́̈͘e̶̗̱̥ͤṿ͓̝̩͌̃̏ͥ͘e̤̯͈̠͕̘ͥ̈́̃͑ͦ͢n̤̭͆̃ ͇͈̯̺̭̫̥̇͊ͫ͡tͪ̀r̼͙̰̩ͭ̂ͪͤͣý̦̪͓͍̥̱̊͐ͪ̉͛̽͜.̳͛̿͜ ̫Y̜̩̜̰̤̦o̯̥̳̝̪̯͑͝u̻͌͢ ̳̪͎͖͋ͣ͊ͦ͂̇ċ̎ͣ͛ͥ̔́͏̻̜͕͔̜̱ā̘̱̱̈n͔̝̝̩͍͔̊̽̾̔͠'̧͌ͥt͓̞ ̲̮̼ͩͦ̂̅͊͊ͣb͔̺̗̐ͦ̓̅̀r̈́̈͒ͧ̊ͅe͔͔͖̙̺͑̉͗ͪ̽̉͟â̞͙̝͉̼̠̟͑̂͛̓͊k̨̼͖̪̦͙̂ͨ̌͑̓̄ ҉̱fͭ͛̏̍́r͈̬̔̐̃̓ͣe͊̆e͚̐ͩ"̴͇͓̲̬͚̗͈ The demon said, now standing in front of the fear induced human. "...What now then? You going to kill me or something?" Mike asked menacingly, only to earn another giggle from the demon. "҉̞̖̟̪̬Ơ̩̘ͅḫ̺͎͕͝!҉̞̠̺ ̧̟N̪̻̬o͖,̥̭̠ ̝̩͢ṉ̣̫͘o̦͚̠̜̟͔̝ ̷̩̱̤̝n̜͉̥̖̥̦͖o͙͔̗͓͞. Ịt͇̜̗͕̖̟̕'̠̺̻̪͓s̼͈̳͕͓̲̩ ̰̱̜̗̞̥ͅs̜ó̟m͎͍̱̙̩͝e̯͠t͙̰̝̪̥͓h̞̳̼͉̮̞͘i͜n̺͈̪̻̙̳̥g̺̜͓̘̜͜ ̦̝̕t̝̼̝̣̯h̺a̟̜̠̭̯t̡͇ ̝t̖̖̼͠h̞͜e͙̗̼ ̶͚̹t̨͍̮̜̟̱ẃ͎͚o͏̻̱̥͖͇͉̠ ̗́o̧f̳̼̳͖̦ ̹͜us͏̘̟̟ ̯ͅc̢a̷ṇ͜ ̻e͎͈͈̦̰̬̘n̥̦̬̘̗̼̱j̵̙̞͈ͅo͉̗̜̱̠y~̝"̩̜͝ͅ She leaned forward and whispered it into his ear, causing Mike's eyes to widen. "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" Mike screamed, frantically using his legs to kick the demon away from him. "͚̥̘O̲h͜ d͇e̻̭͔̗a̸̫̭̪̗͔r͙ ̗͔̮̖̜m͉͙e͏̮̯̱͈! ̩͖̗̖̞͞M͓y̠̱̠̱̙͔͚ ̗͈͎̤p҉̥̤̰ọ̸͖̬͈͔͇o͔̗r͖̳͇ ͉̳d̘̺̹̳̮̲̹́a̹̟̫̦r̻̘̣l̘̯̲̗͈̭i͎̗̮͎͕n͙̞̱̗̫͉g ̟͎̗͈͕̳͡d̩o̫é͈̤͈̞̘͍̦sn̶'͚̤̀t̖͉̰ ҉̞͚l̵̹̗̱͔i͔̩̰̯͇̙͟kę͎̬̺̦̠ ̟̭͓̬͖͎m̧̼͔̲̝̯̙e̻͈̭̰̞̱̦!̰̣̯͉̪͉͚"̬̯̮̳͜ 'Barb' dramatically said, placing a claw on her head as she turned her head away from Mike, only to return a moment later, now grinning madly. Mike could only stare in fear. 'Well...I guess this is my end...Goodbye world!' Mike thought as he closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen. However, to Mike's utter approval, what he thought was going to happen, did not happen. Instead, 'Barb' was apparently talking about something else. Slowly opening his eyes he fearfully looked down at his chest... ... ...To find that the demonic spawn of Barb, sitting on his lap, snuggling him like a teddy bear with a huge smile on her face as her eyes were also closed, making cute purring noises as her tail was wrapped gently around the chair. The black tendrils were also wrapped around Mike, pulling him closer to the lithe form of this....thing. Needless to say, this left Mike utterly confused as his eyes continued to scan 'Barb', his brain trying to make sense as to what the hell was happening and why the hell was it happening. "What" 'Uhh...Brain here speaking...Umm...I don't know. I really have no idea why this is happening. Sorry bud' '...' 'Don't be such a prick! Just look at her! She's so cute!' 'Dammit heart! This is the same demon that chased after us for gods sake! This may very well be an elaborate bait! Act all nice on one moment, then furiously get the D the next!' 'Nuh uh! She's just too cute! I mean, come on! She's practically a puppy now! And maybe she just really wanted company!' '...Sure...Wanting to get into our pants is a form of 'wanting company'. Yea, I can believe that' '...I...' 'Yes?' 'Yesssss?!' '...I...I think I can...live with this...' And at that moment Mike thought that, his brain suddenly felt painful. 'Argh! I'm telling you man! She's doing this just to get the D!' 'D REPORTING FOR DUTY SIR!' 'Oh god no! FALL BACK SOLDIER!! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!!' 'No can do sarge! Try as you will, I won't budge! I'm going to stand here firmly at attention!' '...Whoops?' "...Erm..Yes, well...I...Uhh..I shall be going now" The nervous doctor said, slowly backing up until her was at the door, to which he sprinted out the room when the door was opened. With that, the group were all standing around the medical bed, where a bandaged human was lying, his face registering no emotion as his chest slowly rose and fell. No one dared to say anything once again. Just seeing their friend all bandaged up made them cringe inwardly. It wasn't like Rainbow Dash's usual flight breakdowns and such, giving her only a couple of broken bones and small trails of blood. Instead, his body was all battered and bruised as many deep claw marks were once apparent on his body and where he bled tons of blood, almost dying due to it and his sustained injuries. However, Barb did not hesitate to cling onto her friend as he laid there motionless. The only thing that was on her mind was how thankful she was that Mike was still alive. Bedridden and such, but still alive nonetheless. With that, Barb began to cry tears of joy, trying her best to refrain from doing so. She was just all too elated for any questions that her mind questions her. ... ...Until her consciousness said something that caught her interest. '...Something is poking my butt...' Author's Note (I'M NOT DEAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!) Remember kids! This is fic has the 'Comedy' tag. So expect funny stuff like that to happen. With a tad bit of crazy. Also, sorry that this chapter is really, really short. My time is always consumed by school work such as projects and homework and such. //-------------------------------------------------------// A silver lining //-------------------------------------------------------// A silver lining "Alright...." Mike started, causing the fake Barb to shift her head and look up at him, leaning her head onto his shoulder. "What the hell's your deal!? First you scare me into nearly shitting myself, then you chase me in...where ever this place is, and now you have me tied up onto a chair only to just snuggle me!" "Hm..." The fake Barb placed a finger onto her chin, humming to herself. "Pretty much", she replied, placing her head onto his chest once again. "...Can you at least tell me, where am I and who are you?" Mike said, sighing in defeat. "Oh! That's easy!" The fake Barb exclaimed, now sitting on top of his lap, dangerously close to his crotch with Mike's fake now slightly red. "First off, you're unconscious from your previous adventure. Right now, we're in a void that's somewhere in your mind" she said, causing Mike to look at her confusingly. "Wait...You mean I can just...materialize things out of thin air since we're basically in my mind?" He asked, causing her to nod. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE?!" "Well excuuuseee me! But I was busy giving you a fright!" She gave a huff and puffed her cheeks out cutely. "......Right" "Anyways, as for who I am, just call me Spines. I'm the consciousness of Barb!" she said, puffing out her chest forward proudly and giving a smirk. "....You serious?" He asked, causing Spines to nod. "Eeyup! I normally stay inside of Barb's head, since she normally doesn't want me to intrude. Though...I must say" She gave him a small smirk and her eyes half lidded. "Barb has some good taste" she licked her lips Mike then blushed profusely, causing Spines to giggle cutely. "I should revert back to my normal form" she said, getting off of Mike's lap, much to his utter gratefulness. Spines then held her arms out, a small white light enveloping her. Her grey and black scales soon turned purple and the black tendrils as well as the huge gash on her stomach disappeared and her black hair changed to the color green. After a while, the light soon intensified and flashed brightly, blinding Mike for a moment before dying down, only to reveal Spines in a black blouse and dark blue jeans. She almost looked the same as Barb, except for the fact that she had an odd pink iris color. "Ah! Much better!" Spines exclaimed, twirling slightly and stretching her limbs. "Great to have my colors back! Being black and grey sucks". She turned her head back to face Mike, who was staring at her with a wide eyed expression. "Damn..." Mike muttered under his breath. Spines giggled before walking behind of Mike, proceeding to untie the knots of the ropes that had bound him to the chair. "Sorry bout all that. The opportunity just presented itself to me, so I took it. No hard feelings" Spines said in a guilty tone. "Yea...I still kinda hate you for doing that. But I'll be over it soon so it's fine" Mike said comfortingly, causing Spines to smile. Once she was done untying the ropes and freeing Mike, he quickly stood up and stretched himself. "Ngnn...Good to be back up" Mike turned around and saw that Spines' head was still hanging low, still obviously upset at what she did. Feeling pity for her, he sighed and walked up to her, giving her a hug, causing her to squeak in surprise. "It's fine. You don't have to be upset" he spoke soothingly, as he patted her back. "...Barb was right about one thing..." Spines muttered loud enough for him to hear. "Hmm...? What's that then?" He asked, pulling out of the hug. "...You really are special. Not to mention weird" Spines said, adding the last part as a joke. This caused the two of them to laugh. "Thanks" "Don't mention it" Mike said, smiling at Spines, to which she returned. A thought then occurred to Mike. If what she said was true about this place being in his mind, maybe he could at least change the dullness of the place into something more nice. "Hmm..." he muttered, closing his eyes before imagining himself being back at the library. Unknown to him, the scenery then began to change. The black 'floor' finally looked like a floor and the emptiness of the void began to fill up with various different objects from the library. Spines was slightly taken aback as to how fast the transformation happened, often shifting to different spots. Mike then opened his eyes and found himself at a replica of the library, with Spines laying on top of the sofa. "Now this is cool!" he said to himself, walking towards the dragoness, striking up a new conversation. After a while, the rest of the group, except for Barb, had left the room, to give her some time alone with the unconscious Mike. Once they left, the room was filled with a deafening silence with only the sounds of the machines that was next to Mike's bed. Barb was still laying next to him, hugging him close as if her life depended on it. She was still sniffling, with a few tears in her eyes and a permanent smile on her face. "Y-You know...Yo-You're stupid, you k-know that?" she asked, as if expecting an answer from him. "We-We could have both r-ran....B-But we kn-knew that th-those wolves w-were too fast....We could h-have both di-died....B-But you ri-risked your life to let me escape..." "Wh-Why...? Wh-Why did y-you...do it?" she sniffled, a few more tears ran down her face. "...I had n-never felt so scared of l-l-losing someone...I-I had never f-felt so useless a-at that point of time..." her voice quivered as more tears started to fall. She sniffed and wiped her eyes before smiling. "T-To be honest...I've n-never felt so attached to s-s-someone before...S-Sure, I have Tw-Twilight, my mom, aunt L-Luna and my friends...not to m-mention Eris. B-But...You're different.." "It's only been two days...And to be honest...I felt like I had more adventure in those two days...I met you, an odd and funny alien in the Everfree...Then there's that...incident between us. A-And j-just hours ago...I nearly lost you...A funny..crazy..kind..handsome alien" She clenched onto the blanket that was covering him. "St-Stupid...St-Stupid human...." More tears started to drop as she remembered what happened over the two days, more importantly the recent event that nearly took his life. She had no idea why, but the moment she laid her eyes onto him, something inside of her just shook. Whenever she took a quick and secretive glance at him, her heart would beat faster. It didn't help her during that time when, for a brief moment, Mike was wearing something dapper, making him very handsome to her. But her mind could never forget the moment where he stood up for her. He fought valiantly, using whatever he could to help fight off the timberwolves. She could still remember how their claws and teeth sank into his flesh, violently shredding him to pieces, as she merely stood back and watched, fear and horror gripping her. She could still remember faintly how her mind was fogged with rage and anger from the sight of her dearest friend in her arms as death seemed close to claiming him. The time she spent brutally dismembering the wolves and burning them alive. The fear in their eyes before she would deal the death blow. And yet...The mere sound of his voice caused her to calm down instantly. Her anger and rage diminished as soon as she heard his voice squeak out her name. ... "Wh-Why...Why is it so hard to say..." ... "...I..." ... "...I...lo..." ... "...I love...you" Author's Note BOOM! I'M BACK WITH AN UPDATE!!! Yea...Sorry bout the huge delay guys, things are getting rather rough for my life as of late, though don't worry too much! Anyways, I do hope you all enjoy this new chapter and... AIHJODHYUGKDVYISTG UINKJUGYUKFNUISKLDHUMIFS BARB FINALLY CONFESSES!!! HOLAY SHIT!! Welp! At least we now know that Mike will be okay soon! Anyways, that's all from me! I'll be seeing you soon! Oh! And as a last note, https://camo.derpicdn.net/20bb1189e6a6eb5b927d4f514ae6f280d452d228?url=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FMOPM51n.png Are you ready for some hot animatronics?! https://camo.derpicdn.net/fc83d18971e9eb706a372d9a6aa2a5fc7e915356?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.pandawhale.com%2F78445-airplane-movie-pilot-sweating-Hc3R.gif Huehue. 2 hot 4 u //-------------------------------------------------------// Nightmare and Regrets //-------------------------------------------------------// Nightmare and Regrets The day's rolled by one by one. Despite that, Barb never left his side, always seated on the chair next to his bed. The only couple of times that she had ever left his side was to either to go to the toilet or go outside and grab a quick bite before heading back. Many doctors and nurses that came by to check up on his health would ask her to head back home, but she never replied to them. Her eyes looked grim and hollow, as if her happiness had been taken away from her. Twilight and the rest of the gang had been worried sick about her, persuading her to come back even for a short period of time. But Barb would merely shake her head and firmly told them that she would be staying put. She did not want to leave. Even if they force her to leave, she would still come back. He layed on his bed, as calm as can be, no signs of emotion of his face. No smile, no frown, nothing. He just looked...gray. It's as if his colour has been taken away from him. And worst still, when asked about his condition, doctors merely gave a shrug in reply, saying that it was a miracle that caused him to be still alive right now. For all they know it, he could be in a coma for the rest of his life. That tugged at her heart. Just the mere thought of him not waking up, trapped in a neverending dream state and unaware of his surroundings...It was horrible. She shook her head and pushed those thoughts aside. When there was hope that he would live, there must be hope for him to wake up. Sooner or later, as the days went by, the numerous times of her staying up extremely late has taken a toll on her, causing her to enter a state of drowiness. A moment later, she was swept up by her fatigue as sleep overtook her, with her eyes closing shut, as if a bag of lead was placed on her eyelids. She drooped forward, her head now placed on his lap. She could feel her surroundings grow numb, as her consiousness dimmed down. And thus, she truely fell asleep. ... That was, only for what seemed like a moment. She had somehow found herself falling asleep and forced her body to wake up, causing her to jolt upwards. She yawned before looking around, her eyes suddenly filled with horror. The place where she was at the moment was definitely not the hospital. It was obvious enough as it is. What hospital has trees growing inside of it? Massive oak trees towered above her as bushes and smaller plants dominated the rest of the area. There were fungi growing about, fireflies in the air, illuminating the area and.... ..... ...A red trail of some sort. It looked fresh, and seemed gooey. As if...it were blood. Barb shook her head and forced herself to think logically. This has to be a dream. There was no other explenation. She had fallen alseep due to being tired and had somehlw found herself in her dream world. Well, she thought, if this truely is all in my head, then I am in control. Thus, she imagined the area in front of her to shift into a more pleasant look. And not with the sight of the red trail. She closed her eyes and then opened them again. No change. This caused her to worry. Surely she was in control? No one was messing with her via magic before, as far as she knew, so why didn't the area change? And more importantly, why did the trail grow...larger? Instead of what was a small line of oozing red substance, it was now more thicker. She tried to change the scenery yet again. Eyes closed, eyes opened. No change. Except, the trail grew larger again. Barb stepped back. And suddenly, the trail moved forwards towards her. It moved again, this time making a faint sloshing sound. It moved a third time and now, to her utmost horror, a hand emerged from the red trail, which had opened up, causing it to look like a huge gash wound of the ground. She felt sickened, disgusted and more importantly, terrified. She tried to scream, but couldn't find the voice to do so. The hand slowly moved forward, an arm now emerging along with it. And soon, to her horror, a figure rose up from the gash on the earth and stood up, facing her. Barb took a few steps back, unable to convince herself that it was him. But it was him. He looked to be the same as when she had first seen him after her rage subsided. All bloodied, wounds and slash marks everywhere. But what made him extremely gruesome to look at was that his neck was slashed across, blood oozing out profusely and his skins had been forcefully ripped off of him, making him look like a walking bag of mere flesh and bones. "...B..a...rb...Wh...y..?.." The figure asked, its voice sounding exactly like him, exept sounded as though he was in excruciating pain, which by from his looks, he was. "...No...No...No...Nonononononononono..." Barb denied the fact that it looked so similar to him. But she knew, it wasn't him. "Your not real....not real...NOT REAL!!!" She shouted, her face now wet with her tears that were running down her face. "...Look...Look wh..at th..ey did...to...me" It then raised a hand towards her and took a step forward. "...Help....m...me...It hurts..." It begged, its voice quivering with fear. "...Get away!! Your not real!! Stay away from me!!" Barb screamed before letting out a huge ball of fire in its direction. The flames torched everything in front of her in a huge spectacle of green flames. She stopped a moment later, panting and taking a step back. The smoke that had accompanied the flames had then died down, revealing the same figure unscathed. "...Y...ou did...this...t..to...me" It said in a sad voice, slowly limping towards Barb who was shivering in fear. "...Wh...Why d..idn't you h...help me..?...You left...me there...to...die..." "No...no..no..no...no...Please...make it stop...make it stop...make...it stooop..!" Barb shouted as her head hung low, her hands gripped around her ear so as to block anything that was being said by it to her. She was shaking in fear, her face extremely wet from the tears she had shedded. She was sobbing, begging for this nightmare to end. She felt a sudden change in the breeze and as she looked up, she had been given a view of its face. Exactly the same as him, but his flesh was showing, rotting, with holes here and there showing the skull inside of him. Its eyes were charcoal grey and hollow, no signs of life left inside. It looked at her for a moment before tilting its head. "...This...is all...your fault" It accused her, pointing a rotten finger towards her menacingly. "....I...D..Died....For youuu.....Sacrifised...m..yself...." It moaned in a horrific manner as blood dripped down its charcoal eyes. "Pl-Please....Go away....Pl-Pl-Please...." Barb quivered pathetically as she backed away from the hellspawn. Her eyes were now misty red from the crying she was doing at the moment. "...I'm...s-s-so sorry...I'm...just....please...." She tried to say vocalize her thoughts, but words failed her at the moment. And then, another terrifying thing had occurred. As she was backing away from the demon, a loud howl pierced the dark forest which sent even more shivers down her spine. Her eyes dilated as she looked around and found many green, glowing pairs of eyes staring her down. The eyes were all behind the creature, slowly walking forward until they were next to it as if it were their master. "....Sl...ay....her...." It commanded, its finger glowed green for a moment before all the wolves crouched and pounced into the air. With whatever sanity was left inside of her, screaming for her to stand up and run, her body couldn't comply. She was too stricken with fear for any of her limbs to move at all. She had felt hopeless at the moment. However, she didn't intend the wolves to maul her, and as such, she took a swig of air and breathed out a huge cone of mystic flame in front of her, torching whatever was in front of her. The wolves didn't stood a chance against the intensity of her flames, burning into piles of ashes and dropping down onto the floor. And yet, as before, the creature remained, slowly walking forward inch by inch in an agonizing manner as the trees and bushes around it were scorched to nothing. Barb, whom was already tired from her breakdown and from using her fire, stopped moving back and began to let fate do its job. "Please....No...." Barb wheezed out as she sniffed a couple of times. The creature was soon in front of her and now, she was able to see it more up close than ever. The gore that was dripping out of it was still fresh as blood oozed out from all of its wounds. The face that it bore was pained, its eyes were now dripping with blood and its jaw severely cut. Though, his face still remained burned inside of her mind and it broke her heart seeing that face full of death and despair. "...Die..." It spoke a single word. No emotion lingered behind it as it raised its hand high in the air, contorting into a large, shard of bone, before quickly bringing it down and striking her in the chest. "Haaaahh!!" Barb had sat upright and inhaled sharply, her eyes dilated. She quickly turned her head and looked around, finding herself in a dark room full of medical equipment, a table, chairs and a small vase with a rose. She patted herself, bring her hands all around her body and her face before sighing in relief. A dream. No. A nightmare. That was what she had just now. Nothing but a brutal nightmare. Her body drooped as she laid her body back down on whatever she was lying on. It was soft, and comfortable. She turned around and had remembered. She was lying in the same bed with Mike. Just next to him, as his broken body was still being hooked onto the giant machine next to the bed. She sighed, closing her eyes and calming her senses before opening them, finding the calm and sleeping face of her friend next to her. After being so concerned with his well being, she had decided to sleep in his bed when her body couldn't handle the days past with no rest. She inspected him carefully and was glad to find no patches on his face nor his upper torso. Perhaps the nightmare was too much for her to handle that it had an adverse effect on her. She gently took one of her hands and placed it on his cheek, feeling the warmth that had radiated from it. She smiled sadly before her eyes started to water yet again. "Mike...I'm....I'm so pathetic..." Barb softly spoke, wishing he could hear her voice and comfort her. But the wish never came, only receiving soft 'beeps' from the nearby machine. With nothing more to say, she placed her head on his shoulder and cried into his hospital gown, her hand that was under the covers gripped tightly onto his hand as she soon fell asleep into a dreamless state. Though, what she had not realized was that the very had she was gripping hold onto had faintly clenched onto hers. Author's Note What's this? A surprise update? YOU BET YOUR ARSE YOU'RE RIGHT!! (Surprise, surprise! Sorry for the long wait!) //-------------------------------------------------------// "I don't Understand..." //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note I am really, really, reaallly sorry about not having updated this story. Hell, I have not even gave you guys a proper reason as to why I was gone for so long, so I must apologize for that. I'll probably posting a blog or something detailing that so I wont bore you guys on the chapters I post. Anyways, enjoy. Do expect more in the future as I will updating quite a lot in the next couple of days to try and balance off the time I was silent. Anywho, for this story at least, expect one extra chapter as well some mini-stories. Once again, I must apologize for you guys. I know must have worried all of you with my absence and I cant just forgive myself for that. "I don't Understand..." "...So then I told her, 'Hey! If you don't act now, Twilight will make a fool out o herself!'. And the next thing I realized when I came back from the deepest part of her mind was that she was making a fool out of herself!" Spines roared out in laughter as she recalled the faint memory of a certain dragoness' minor embarrassment. Mike, who was sitting next to her in a soft bean bag, was wiping a tear from his eye as he laughed along with her. "H-Ho-Holy shit! Wh-What the hell was she thinking!?!" Mike tried to ask in between pants as laughter overtook his breathing. His back was sprawled onto the soft beanbag, which enveloped his body in a green slime-like bounciness. "I have no idea!" Spines replied, as she continued to laugh. "B-But! What made it worse was that Princess Luna joined in as well!" After a good, long laugh, the duo had settled down, their loud uproar cooled down into mere chuckles. Mike had clenched his sides as they had began to prick him from the intense laughing, bringing a slight stinging sensation. Mike sat up as he shakily used his left hand to grab hold of one of the self-refilling glass cup. He passed one to Spines, whom gladly took it from his hands, before taking one for himself. Spines thanked him before chugging down the cold water with gusto, which Mike did as well although a bit slower. "Thanks Mike. Needed that" Spines replied, smiling at the human. "Hey no problem" Mike replied, returning the smile with gratitude. He placed his glass back to the metal tray where he took it from and grabbed Spines, returning it as well. Once placed back on the tray, the glass cups had refilled itself back to the brim. "Glad to have met you, although excluding the whole nightmare scenario" Mike joked, causing Spines to sneer. "Don't care. Worth it" She replied, chuckling a little which caused Mike to look unamused. She stopped herself before grabbing her glass yet again. "Anyways, I have to say Mike....You are really bizarre, you know that?" Spine asked. Mike merely gave her a look of confusion as he did not understand what she meant. "I suppose I have an idea as to why Barb...." She spoke at first before shutting her mouth, her eyes wide opened as she had almost spilled something important. Mike stared at her intently, his eyes half-lidded as he was beginning to suspect something was amiss. "What about Barb...?" He asked, leaning forward a little, his mouth curved downwards into a frown. "Ummm..." Spines replied with her claw still to her mouth, her eyes darting around the room nervously. She was starting to panic a little, small bullets of sweats trailing down her forehead. "I....Uhhh....W-Well..." She stuttered, waving her hands around and making odd gestures in the air. Mike's stare only hardened even further, which caused her to act even more nervous than before. She was starting to lose this battle. She swore to herself about not taking Barb's advice into consideration. She didn't realize that he had this sort of effect on her, but it should have been obvious since she was part of Barb in a sense. Spines sighed, giving up hope in her struggle to contain the secret. "Alright....I'll spill the beans for ya. But only if you stop staring at me like that. It's kinda scary" She said, looking away with and making a small pouty face. Her eyes inched towards the very edge to see whether if Mike had kept his end of the bargain, finally sighing yet again when she noticed he did. "....You see....Barb, before you came, had been feeling left out in all the crazy things that keep happening in this town" "She would often be left behind in the library, with her sister and the rest of the gang trying to fix the problem. She'll be really bored out of her mind and...." Spines stopped for a moment, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. "...Well, during those moments, she'll head off to goodness knows where, which would only land her into trouble non-stop" Mike, with his hands clasped together and placed onto his mouth, he listened intently to what Spines had to offer. He understood what she was saying and pitied Barb. Those days must have been really shit for her, according to what Spines was saying. Maybe even more so than what Mike could think of as being boring. "And also, due to her being a dragoness as well as being the daughter of Princess Celestia, Stallions and other males tend to stray away from her. Since they know that she is this incredibly powerful being with a divine mother, both of which are able to kick their asses into oblivion, they wouldn't want to have her as a potential partner" Spines added, which made Mike raise a brow. "You know....As a marefriend. Er.....Girlfriend? Well, you know" She tried to explain as best as she could. Mike could only reply with a look of pure surprise. Huh....Who knew that guys wouldn't date her? Mike was certainly frowning from this, seeing as how they were probably stupid not to date her. Either way, he thought, they were missing out on how amazing she was. "Especially during Hearts and Hooves Day. Oh man, that day is absolute Tartarus for her. I mean, you can probably guess how pissed she might be. Being single during that day and on how no male would want to date her. She fucking flipped her shit once and nearly broke one of the houses" Spines informed, chuckling a little. "What the heck?" Mike replied, seemingly stunned from that portion of information. "Are you serious?" "Yea but ever since you came, as far from what she told me, things just turned better" Spines admitted, shrugging her shoulders. It was as if she was unsure of the information, but Mike didn't pry further. "Believe it or not, she was expecting the same old shit when she was going on an errand, the same day when she met you. She was trying her best to be optimistic and, lo and behold! Something interesting happened!" She chuckled with Mike making an amused look. "She couldn't be any more happier these days.....Well, except on a few occasions where....Well you know the details. The whole chase and the current misfortune" Spine ushered a gesture with her hands, which Mike nodded in reply. Thankfully, she didn't have to explain, otherwise it would have been awkward on her end. "She keeps on repeating to me over and over on how much fun it is to be with you. And quite frankly, I can see why that's so" She smiled warmly as she lowered her head a little, leaning forward. "Ever since you came, there has been a lot of chained events that happened right after another where Barb herself is included. There have been talks behind your back around town about how you came into existence, and all those ponies keep on targeting Barb for questions or answers, seeing as how close you two currently are" She stopped for a moment, grabbing her glass cup and taking a small sip. Spines breathed a sigh of relief, happy to take a small breather after what she said. She placed down her glass back on the tray and had continued with her explanation. "Not only that, you are by far the first guy who is genuinely nice to her, and not nice to her on a whim. Others respect her, but honestly, you're her actual first guy friend" "Hell, in a span of a few days, she already considered you to be her closest friend. She admires how nice you are to ponies, as well as to her family members friends and herself. She finds herself generally to be in a better mood whenever you're around her. She also finds it cute whenever you're being teased slightly, confused or when placed in an embarrassing scenario" Spines grinned, making Mike blush when she had said the last sentence. She laughed heartily when she saw his flustered face, his head looking away in embarrassment. "You see Mike, she cherishes every moment spent with you. She enjoys being with you. She..." She stopped halfway before shaking her head. "...Screw it. She likes you to a huge extent. Barb finds you attractive, especially in that suit you wore, looking all suave. She finds your smile charming at all times where at times she'll try to think of something just to make you smile!" Spines exclaimed, waving her hands comically in the air to further prove to Mike about her point. "She is practically in lo-!" She said before being interrupted when the whole floor shook, causing both her and Mike to be caught off guard and lose their balance. "What the heck?!" She yelled, looking around. The whole interior of the place was crumbling bit by bit, with darkness seeping in like a thick fog, blanketing those areas that had crumbled to dust. Mike, after finding his bearings, stood up and looked around the room in a state of panic. He was trying his best to fix the damages but his efforts were only made in vain as nothing he did seemed to be working. He turned his head and faced Spines, "What the hell is happening around here?! I thought I was in charge?!" He yelled through the loud sound of the tremors pummeling the room. Spines looked around for a moment before realization had struck her like a freight train. She laughed out loud, which only made Mike worry even more. She calmed herself down before turning her head towards Mike, a grin plastered on her face like a cheshire cat. "What's happening?!" She exclaimed loud enough for Mike to hear. "You're finally waking up dipshit!!" She exclaimed yet again. She laughed yet again as she admired the room slowly being obliterated. "Waking up?!" Mike asked desperately. "I don't understand....What do you-?!" He stopped his sentence halfway before finally remembering the events that happened. With all the talk and the chasing that Spines had to offer, he had almost forgotten about the predicament he was in in the real world. His stance loosened as he placed a hand on his hip, a grin now forming on his face. He snickered at first, before it grew in strength, finally stopping at him laughing loudly. Spines seemed to be happy with the turn of events and had laughed along with him. "Welp, that's all from me then!" She exclaimed, her grin never faltering. "Who know's when we'll meet again! But hopefully it's on better terms!" She chuckled. "Yea yea, I get it!" Mike rolled his eyes, placing a hand out towards her. "I guess I'll see you....God knows when, then!" He joked as Spines grabbed his hand, giving it a firm shake. "Yep! And don't forget about what I said, you hear?!" She asked, knocking him lightly on the head with her fist. "I swear, if you fucking hurt Barb, you're dead to me!" She exclaimed with a little seriousness in her voice. Mike nodded his head, giving her a thumbs up and a grin of his own. "Wouldn't think of it!" After their short exchange of goodbyes, they waited patiently, watching how the darkness slowly eroded the floor and the carpet on it. All other furniture in the room was already gone, or was still being engulfed by the darkness. Eventually, the thick blackness was covering their feet and was slowly creeping up their legs. Mike took one last look towards Spines, who smiled warmly, waving a hand goodbye as the darkness had overwhelmed her first. He took one last deep breath and waited for his vision to grow dark, smiling peacefully as he didn't struggle against it. All that was left of the illusory room was two glass cups floating in the dark abyss, still filled with water to the brim. Mike woke up from his eventful slumber, slowly opening his eyes with extreme difficulty. He blinked a few times to readjust his line of sight, finding the whole....whiteness of whatever he was staring to be very blurry. He tried to recall what happened prior to....wherever he was at the moment, but was only immediately rewarded with a stinging pain directed to his head. He gritted his teeth in pain, finding it to be unbearable at the moment. After a short while, the stinging pain had subsided, giving Mike some well needed relief. Perhaps if he were to look around other than this white blank in front of, then he would be able to recall what might have happened. Thinking this to be a good idea, he turned his head around and looked at his surroundings thoroughly. It had seemed as thought he was in a room, a small one at that. The walls were painted white with a nearby wooden shelf being the only thing other than white in color. He seemed to be on a bed, a comfy one with fluffy pillows, with a table right beside it. On it was a vase with a bouquet of flowers, many of which he didn't recognize. A window was nearby, which provided the room with sunlight, although the curtains were dimming it by a smidge. From the looks of things, he seemed to be in some sort of sick bay. If not, a hospital. He looked down at his body, finding his arms above the blanket he was wearing to be wrapped in some sort of cloth. He tried to move his arms around only to find it extremely difficult to do so. Perhaps he was in a hospital. He seemed to be injured and his body felt really weak, so it must have been. But what for? As he was pondering on this question, he felt his chest feel heavier with the blanket he was wearing to have slightly moved. This made his eyes shrink. Did....he suddenly gain a sentient tumor? Hopefully not, otherwise that would suck really badly. Nobody would want a tumor on or in their body, especially if it were to gain sentience. So deciding against the idea, he wanted to find out for himself. Thus, with the amount of strength he had at the moment, he used his arms and lowered the blanket. What he found had caused him to stop breathing for a moment. There on his chest, lying peacefully, was a female dragon with purple scales and green hair, fully clothed like a human. She was currently asleep, using his chest as sort of a pillow as her breathing was relatively calm and content. Mike's head started to hurt a moment later after he saw her sleeping form. All the memories he had were starting to come back to him all at once, causing him to clutch his head in pain. The wolves made of oak wood. ..... The blood that he spilled. ..... Scent of something being burnt. ..... Green flames spewing forth. ..... Scarlet eyes full of rage. He remembered it all, which caused Mike to take in deep breaths to try and regulate his heart. He was shaking at the moment, unable to comprehend everything that happened. But even so, he was able to calm down when he remembered the very reason why he fought those wolves in the first place. Her serene face was enough to send him back to normal. "Barb...." Mike softly spoke, using one of his hands to brush away a few of her messy green hair, admiring her sleeping face with a smile. He was glad everything managed to turn out alright, but he knew that she was probably worried sick about him. After all, he was special to her. "She cherishes every moment with you. She enjoys being with you...." His mind recalled of the exchange he had with Spines. He smiled warmly, stroking one of Barb's exposed cheeks softly, causing the dragoness to squirm a little under his touch, smiling a little. Mike chuckled a little, thinking how cute Barb's expression was and the sound she was making, almost as if she was purring under his touch. Mike looked up and had wondered for a moment about what Spines might have wanted to say before she got rudely interrupted. He focused his eyes on one spot in the room, focusing intently on the thought. However, he gave up and didn't continue further. He would have to try and figure it out at a later point of time. Maybe even get some advice from the others, but he doubted that would end up well. As he continued to stroke Barb's cheek softly, he casted his gaze out the window, finding the beautiful blue sky staring back at him. He wondered what the future held for him and whether or not it would go badly or not. But either way, he thought, as long as he were to stick by Barb's side as she is to him, perhaps any outcome would be alright. After all, he had a promise to make. //-------------------------------------------------------// Awake and Alive //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note Holy hell! Man, is this chapter late as heck. Alright, sorry about that folks. Since I am back in school yet again again, my class timetable is all over the place, some being in the morning till noon, some from noon till 4pm and whatnot. Monday being the worst, from 10AM till 6PM local time, and that's not including the club schedule I have. Anywho, enough talk about my personal stuff! I do hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. There isn't much in it at the moment since I will be saving up more of the fun bits in the next one. I can't quite say when I will be uploading the next chapter, but hopefully it wont be too long. And with that, I'll take my leave. Ciao! Awake and Alive Twilight sighed silently as she walked along the corridors with her friends, the princesses and Eris, reflecting about the recent event that had took place. She silently cursed herself and mentally reprimanded her decision of letting Barb and Mike go into the Everfree. She should have seen it coming since it was on the week of relocation of the wolves' hunting grounds. She had observed it many times before and the wolves would always move in packs of over dozens. It had been an extremely stressful week for her, worrying about the wellness of Mike. His injuries were none too short of mortifying. All those wounds, all the blood that was pouring out profusely. It was as if he had crawled into the deepest pit of the underworld and came back with the scars to match. Thankfully the doctors had manages to save his life, although he was hard to work with. From what she was told, the amount of magic that they had to use to stabilize him was almost three times the normal amount and even sometimes his body would reject the magic altogether, which was worrying on its own. And then there was Barb, who would go for days without eating and drinking just to be by his side. The nurses had told her to try and get some form of nourishment, but she would only give them an glare, not uttering a single word. Twilight had been scared for her since she knew her body would deteriorate and eventually shut down sooner or later. But Barb never paid them any mind. "...Oof!" Twilight let out a noise of surprise as she had bumped into one of the staff members, knocking them back a little. She looked up and bowed her head apologetically, saying a quick "...Sorry" and "Excuse me..." before walking off. She was thinking too much that she didn't even bother to look at her surroundings. "Twi....? Y'all right?" Applejack's voice pierced Twilight's thoughts, snapping her out of her dazed like state. Twilight turned around, finding everyone look at her with worried expressions. Even Eris had one, which was normally not usual of her. "...It's nothing. Just....been thinking" Twilight replied with a sigh, stopping in her tracks as she rubbed the back of her neck. "...It's just that I've been really worried. You know, about everything that had happened". "Twilight....Deary, everypony has been worried sick about those two for the past week. You're not the only one. Princess Celestia and Zecora have it worst, even though they don't show it" Rarity replied with a small smile, trying to help Twilight's mood at the moment. "You have no idea, Twi. I wanted to play with Mike and Pinkie some games beforehand. Now I just can't help but think about Mike's health" Rainbow replied, earning some odd glances from the group, especially Eris, Applejack and Rarity. "What?! I actually care, alright!? ...Mike's been a cool guy and I respect him" Rainbow frowned. Twilight sighed, seeing as how due to Rainbow Dash managed to rise the tension among the girls, whether she did on purpose or not. Either way, at least she wasn't the only one. Barb is her sister, after all, and Mike had been a friendly and helpful individual. Perhaps her needless overthinking has caused her to miss out on the fact that girls all felt the same. "Anyways, let's get going folks" Eris sounded out, clapping both her bear paw and eagle claw together. "We did come to check on the two of them after all. Time's-a-wasting". After she had said that, all the girls had nodded their heads in unison before starting to walk in the direction of Mike's room. Hopefully, Mike's condition has gotten better from the doctor's treatment. The walk over to Mike's room was uneventful. Aside from the occasional doctor or nurse rushing by, the group's walk was quite peaceful. The corridors they walked through had many closed doors which held at least a single patient with relatives or friends coming over to visit. Some carried flowers as they walked in, others nothing at all. From then, the group had began to think whether it would have been nice to at least bring something for when Mike would recover. Eventually, after turning right at a two way corner, the group had reached Mike's door. Beside the door was a small wall plaque with the number '93740' as well as Mike's name displayed in a gold. The golden color was there to indicate that whoever it was, whether they may be a pony, gryphon or any creature, treatment for them was of top priority. Only high officials were capable of giving an order as such and it wasn't too surprising since the princesses were involved in a way. Twilight took a step forward and breathed in, exhaling slowly so as to calm her nerves. Whenever they came to see if Mike's condition were any better, the mere sight of him covered up in bandages almost like a mummy gave them chills. It was a horrible reminder of the fate he had. Twilight, still a bit hesitant to open the door, turned to her right to look at her friends and mentor. Without any hesitation, they all nodded their heads. Given the signal, Twilight turned back to face the door and turned the knob clockwise before pushing it gently. The door gave a small creaking sound as it was being opened. She peeked into the room for a moment, looking to see if a doctor or nurse were inside but had found none. Instead, what she saw made her pupils shrink. The gentle push from before had turned into a strong shove as Twilight opened the door in a hurried manner. She took a few steps inside and gazed her eyes on the lone human, now fully awake, gently caressing Barb's cheek. Twilight couldn't believe it. After a week or so of them worrying their asses off and hoping to the creators that nothing bad were to happen to him, finally a good sign. She couldn't help but smile a moment later and sigh in relief. Mike, who had been preoccupied, his eyes staring into the sky out the window, had somehow sensed Twilight's presence in the room. His face contorted to one which showed surprised as he turned to face where Twilight was at. Seeing her stand there, he gave a smile of his own as he raised his free arm in the air and gave a small salute. "Hey there" "Hey yourself" Twilight replied, crossing her arms together. "How are you?" Mike waved the free arm he had and chuckled a little. "Still hurts like hell. But beats being dead in my book" He answered. He coughed for a moment and wiped his mouth. "Sorry. Throats feeling a little dry" Twilight was just about to reply when suddenly her mentor had called her name, "Twilight. Is everything fine inside?". Twilight looked back behind her, forgetting that she came along with the rest of the girls. She giggled a little before replying back. "It's fine Princess Celestia. It's fine to come inside now" She said. There was a slight pause of silence in between before footsteps could be heard gradually getting nearer. "Everyone else came as well, eh?" Mike asked with a slightly chuckle. Twilight didn't respond but laughed together with him. Somehow, the girls didn't seem to think of this as a good sign and soon enough, Appplejack was shooting questions. "Twi. Are ya sure it's all right in there? That laugh kinda doesn't seem like it" "Yea. It's all fine in here Applejack. Just talking to Twilight for a moment" Mike answered as loudly as he could. Silence had taken over yet again, which only made Mike frown a little. "What? I can't talk to Twilight? Did something happen?" Mike asked in a concerned voice, which made Twilight giggle a little. A moment later, everyone had came rushing into the room, stopping just an arm's length away from Twilight and Mike. They all had varying degrees of shock and confusion. Mike couldn't help but chuckle a little as he waved his free hand at them. "Hey. How's it hanging folks?" "MIKE!" They all bursted out in unison, filling the room with with their loud voices. Mike had momentarily flinched and cupped Barb's ears, gritting his teeth in anxiousness as she shifted around on his chest. He gave them a heads up, in the form of a slightly cross look, to tone down their combined chatter that would most likely happen. Except for Twilight, everyone else blushed a little, especially the Princesses due to how their actions wouldn't befit a ruler. Nevertheless, once Mike had felt that Barb was fast asleep yet again, he gave a sigh of relief and uncapped his hands from her ears. He looked at her sleeping form for a moment and smiled before looking back at the group of visitors he had gotten. "Glad to see all of you are doing well" He chuckled, waving an arm in the air comically. "Meanwhile, I have to deal with this crap" "Yes....Well, you are in a bind at the moment" Rarity chuckled. "But even so, you have no idea how glad we are to see you move and talk again" Mike smiled and was about to give a reply but a fast, blue palm had came into contact with his cheeks first, stunning him from the sudden pain as well as loud shouting that came afterwards. "YOU IDIOT! DO YOU KNOW HOW DEAD YOU COULD HAVE BEEN WHEN YOU WENT FOUGHT THOSE WOLVES?!" "Dash!" The cries of everyone else in the room sounded in unison as Rainbow Dash had started her session of '20 Questions'. Despite their combined efforts of trying to pry her off of him with their words, they weren't going through into her thick skull. She was determined to give him a piece of her mind. And her eyes were giving off an angered yet sad look. "Well, Rainbow Ditz here does have a point. Buuuuut, if I didn't do that then the both me and Barb would be dead. How would that sound?" Mike replied with a straight face, rhetorically asking Rainbow Dash. She soon fell silent, seeing as how right he was. Mike rolled his eyes and sighed, wanting to relieve some of the tension in the air. "Look, Dash. I know you're worried and I'm not surprised by the least. Just don't bother about the itty bitty stuff and look at the fact that both me and Barb are still alive" "Yea! That's what matters!" Pinkie exclaimed, her huge grin finally returning to her once again. "With Mikey alive, we now don't have to worry anymore!". She turned her gaze towards Mike, who looked at her with confusion. "Hey! Mikey! Once you're out of the hospital, come over to Sugarcube Corner lickety-split! I'm gonna make a huge, 'Happy Finally-out-of-the-hospital-and-not-dead' cake! It's gonna be great!" She exclaimed exuberantly, causing Mike to chuckle. "Alright, Pinkie. I'll put that on my priority list. Don't make it too extravagant, alright?" He replied, earning a chorus of nods from his pink friend. "I....Guess you're right then. Sorry about that Mike" Rainbow piped in her thoughts once their conversation was over. "It's just that, you're a cool guy, you know? A good friend as well and that with you dying just....sucks. I mean, aside from Pinkie, who else is gonna be my gaming partner?" She admitted, chuckling a little as her face was shying away. Mike laughed. "Oh, so I'm just you're gaming bud, eh?" He asked in a cheeky tone, causing the room to erupt in a mix of giggles and chuckles. Once Mike was done with laughing, he shook his head slightly, "It's alright. We cool?" He asked, bringing up one of his hands which was rolled into a fist. Rainbow, who had finally managed to look back, brought up her own fist and bumped it into his, grinning at him. "We're cool". "Well, glad things turned out for the better" Eris spoke up from her previous silent treatment. "I swear, your own kind is still a mystery to me, Mike. I mean, how the heck can you still survive from all those attacks? It's just unreal!" She added in a comical manner. "Meh, humans are all fucked up. Pardon my language. Even the most deadliest of bite marks or wounds wont be able to stop us from doing what we want to do" Mike replied with a shrug, as if stating that this was a daily occurrence back on earth. "I've seen some crazy stuff before, believe me" "Yes, I bet you've had" Celestia answered before sighing. "Mike. I honestly can't say, thank you and sorry, enough. You've been through hell and high water, one of which was entirely my fault" She spoke in an apologetic manner, her head hanging low in shame. "And just recently, you saved my daughter from a potentially grim fate. Despite her being a dragoness, she is not invincible, as what I've told her before. And with a whole pack of wolves suddenly ambushing, surely she would have died..." "...I...I just can't say how thankful I am for risking your life for her. Even with all our quarrels, I still care for her immensely. So the though of her dying just...." Celestia clenched her teeth and her hand into a fist. Mike looked at the princess with a slight anger in his eyes. But the way she looked, as if about to break down, he just couldn't help not being angry at her. She was earnest in her feelings, that he could tell. A mother's feelings for their child is, without a doubt, always true. And perhaps it might have also been because he couldn't stand the sight of a lady crying or about to cry. He was just that soft. "....It's fine. If it were Barb, I'd gladly risk my life. She's a fun girl to be around, always chipper and a bit silly at times. I wouldn't forgive myself if I let anything harmful happen to her" Mike admitted, looking down at the peaceful lady on lying on top of him, sleeping like a log. 'Besides', he thought, 'I have a promise to keep' "...Won't....let anything harm me...huh?" A soft and quiet voice questioned Mike's last statement in an echo, causing him to be alerted. He looked around for a moment seeing that everyone else was busy conversing with one another, hearing bits of it, concerning about the medical bill and his discharge. That was until he remembered of a certain lady that was still on top of him. He very well forgotten about her presence for a split second when his mind suddenly ran elsewhere, he didn't stop to think whether or not she was awake. Or even worse, how long was she awake for? Thus, he looked down. Down towards the dragoness underneath his blanket. And what he saw, were two slightly red orbs staring back at him, with tears rolling down from them. //-------------------------------------------------------// Mini Chapter: Twilight and Eris are total perverts //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe (P.S I'm back) Mini Chapter: Twilight and Eris are total perverts "Ugh...What the hay are they doing upstairs?!" Twilight groaned in displeasure. She closed her book before placing it down on the table next to her, standing up and making her way upstairs to confront the annoying duo. "I can't even get a proper silent read ever since I became a Princess...Ugh...How does Princess Celestia keep her calm again?" Twilight said in annoyance. While going up the staircase, her mind wandered for a moment to try and remember what her mentor had told her about keeping her cool. All those amazing tips and tricks to being calm and collected in dire times. That's the thing, Twilight. I'm never calm Yea! Wait a minute... ....No that sounds wrong... ...Hmm.... Remember Twilight; reading books is illegal in other dimensions .... .... .... Take a deep breath...and say...I will end you if you shit on the carpet "...I give up...Can't even think straight..." Twilight sighed in acceptance. After a moment, Twilight was finally upstairs and was making her way down the hallway and to Barb's room, where the source was coming from. However, not even near it, Twilight was able to faintly hear a conversation going on, probably between the two. "...I do-...-ink we can d-...-his Barb" From what she could deduce from it, Mike was trying to ask Barb of something. Was he asking her to pass him something? Or perhaps trying to persuade her not to do something. Either way, Twilight couldn't really fathom what it was, since his voice was really, really soft. Sneaking her way to the door, she then heard Barb reply. This time, it was much more clearer due to being much closer to the room. "Oh don't be like that! We're friends! And I thought friends were to help each other...?" Twilight stopped in her tracks for a moment and began to ponder what she meant. Did Mike hurt himself and Barb wanted to help? After all, they were thick as thieves, so it wouldn't be all that surprising that she would want to help. Although, there was one thing in her voice that threw her off a bit. Somewhere along the end of her sentence, it seemed that she added a bit of... ...Sadness? No that can't be. Twilight shook her head before creeping closer to the door. "I-I don't kn-know Barb...I-It's my f-first...actually" Twilight heard Mike speak and strangely enough, his voice carried a bit of anxiousness. Question is, why is he even anxious? Twilight, then placed her head next to the door and began to listen very intently, hoping to trace any form of emotion from their words. "...I know. It's mine as well~" Twilight silently gasped as she heard what Barb said. It can't be...can it..? From the way Barb's voice was laced with seduction, Twilight could only comprehend what would happen. The two of them being very close to each other, it would be expected for them to like each other. But this seemed to be going very fast! Heck! They haven't even had their first date and they wanted to do...IT already?! "Calm yourself Twilight...We can work this out...They must be talking about something else...Yea! That's it! It's something else!" Twilight softly told herself, calming down. "That's the only reason! They are merely talking about something else and not....'That'..." "Hey...Purple Smart...Whatcha doin'?" Twilight heard someone ask from behind her, causing to to silently yelp, jumping in the air a little and turning around, only to find Eris looking at her with a confused look on her face. "Did you hear something, Barb?" Twilight stood still in a wacky pose while Eris continued to look at her as if she had committed treason. After a moment of silence, both the females heard Barb speak up from inside of her room. "Hmm...Thought I heard something too. Ah well! More fun I suppose~" Eris' eyes bulged with her mouth opened wide. Her entire expression turned from confusion to utter shock and fear from what she had suddenly heard from the inside of the room. Her entire body shook for a moment before she managed to form a somewhat coherent sentence to Twilight. "A-Are they..?" She started, but couldn't say the rest of her sentence in utter shock. Twilight relaxed her entire body before her face formed a small frown as she looked away from the draconequus, a blush forming on her cheeks. "G-Gah...! B-Barb!! Wh-What the fuck?!" The two females stood rooted to their position as they heard Mike groan out in pain at first before a subsequent moan was formed. Their faces were now flushed slightly red as the sound of his moan hit their ears. "Teehee! Sorry bout that~!" Barb spoke in a singsong manner before giggling afterwards. However, it wasn't her usual giggles. Instead, it sounded more seductive, which sent a lot of red lights in both Eris' and Twilight's head. Eris rubbed her cheek with her eagle claw before addressing something to Twilight, coughing softly to just catch her attention and to not warrant anymore from the two....'lovers' inside the room. "...I think we should...erm....go now" Eris said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck with her bear paw before being cut off by the sound of a thud followed by Barb groaning and moaning, causing both her and Twilight's face to grow red. "....Agreed...." Twilight, replied before the two of them silently walked side by side together back downstairs, in hopes of not wanting to intrude the two 'lovers' privacy any longer. As well as to not think of any more dirty thoughts about the two of them. It was odd enough that Twilight would think of such a thing. Once the two of them were walking downstairs, the door suddenly bursted open, with Barb carrying a large pillow in her claws as she ran to the right into Twilight's room, with Mike following soon after, with a large pillow of his own as well, giving chase to the dragoness and yelling, "Come over here!", with both of their faces beholding a grin, laughing all the way throughout the hallway. //-------------------------------------------------------// Mini Chapter: A Grand Event //-------------------------------------------------------// Mini Chapter: A Grand Event "Are you ready now Barb?!" Twilight yelled from the bottom of the staircase, wondering if the little dragoness was finished with her final touches. The day had went on as per usual, getting up, morning routines and whatnot. Nothing too special had happened other than the usual crash from a certain rainbow maned mare. The girls had been getting ready for the Gala once the hour clock had reached 3 pm, since the start of the entire event was at 6pm. They all promised to gather at the library before a carriage would pick them up and send them straight to Canterlot. Mike was merely reclining back on one of the sofa's, admiring the stunning dresses that Rarity had made for the girls while with a book in hand to pass the time. He had told the girls that he wouldn't be going, seeing as how he was still clad in his normal home clothes. He was starting to doubt about the greatness of this event he had placed in his mind. Perhaps it was even more grander than he thought. Like you were being invited to the wedding of two great rulers. Or something. "Coming!" The voice of a certain dragoness could be heard from above the staircase, which caused the rest of the girls to sigh in relief. At long last she was done. "Anyways, are you sure you don't wanna tag along, Mikey?" Pinkie asked, smiling brightly at the lone human. "Nah. I have....other plans to do" Mike replied in an enigmatic way, continuing to read his book as if nothing had happened. Pinkie merely shrugged before hopping away to where the rest of the girls was, her pink and blue colored dress swaying in the air as she did so. A few moments later, Barb had finally set foot on the flight of stairs down to where the girls were at, catching the attention of everyone in the room, especially Mike. Her dress was a simple lime green and violet color scheme but the way it was designed made her look amazing. Her dress had the back open, only connecting with each other at the neck. Her hair was allowed to flow freely, but looked smooth and silky under the light in the room. Mike couldn't believe his eyes when he laid them on her. It was as if he was looking at someone different. She was absolutely gorgeous and he was finding himself lost for words. Unluckily enough, Barb seemed to notice him gawking at her and walked up to him with a smile on her face. He stood up quickly and gave a smile, a small blush on his face. "How do I look?" She asked sweetly, leaning forward a little. The frontal potion of her dress had a window that showed her a little of her cleavage, which was making Mike feel nervous. "Y-You look amazing!" He replied to the best of his ability, causing Barb to chuckle. "No really. It suits you really well" He added, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, seems like my job with that dress was a success if you find it marvelous on Barb" Rarity voiced out, chuckling a little as well. "However, as much as I like to look at the finished product of all my hard work, we don't have much time until the Gala starts". She then proceeded to grab Barb by the wrist as she tugged her along towards the door where everyone was heading. "I do hope Celestia doesn't mind if we're almost late to the party" Eris piped in as she floated in the air towards the door. All the other girls joked on how if she did, she wouldn't have invited them over in the first place. It was enough to put Eris' doubts to ease. Even the most chaotic being had seemed to really want to enjoy this event. "Hope you girls have a pleasant flight!" Mike said as he smiled. "Don't try to have too much fun. I might get jealous if that happens" He joked, causing the girls to giggle in reply. He watched the girls walk on out of the door where he spotted a carriage just outside waiting for them. Tailing behind the main group, Rarity and Barb left. But before both of the ladies were to leave, Rarity glanced back towards Mike and him one of her signature knowledgeable winks, causing Mike to chuckle in response. Once the group had left the building, they wasted no time in entering the carriage that was waiting for them specifically. Despite the group being fairly large, the carriage itself was able to carry all of them with no problem. The ride to Canterlot was a pleasant one and the girls mainly used it to point out the things they had on their dresses that they thought were really nice. The rainbow streak on Rainbow Dash's dress with the cloud like design, the butterfly hairclips and animal imprints on Fluttershy's dress, the blue frosting-like frills on Pinkie's dress, the mix between an elegant dress and a cowpony feel for Applejack, Rarity's diamond encrusted dress, Twilight's purple twinkling stars and Eris' randomness design matching her chaotic personality. It had seemed like Rarity had done an even more spectacular job than they expected. The girls exchanged sentences with each other after their momentary discussion, though most of it was just informing Eris of what to expect in the Gala. The lady of chaos seemed to be highly interested in the events in further detail and was already shaking in excitement for what was to come. She had also said of how excited she was to cause some chaos in a large scale, although the rest were already expecting her to say that. They merely laughed along and thought of what tricks she may have up her sleeves. "We're here girls!" Twilight exclaimed with delight as their ride to Canterlot ended with a soft thud on the marble-tiled floor. She grabbed the handle on the door and twisted it down, hearing a faint click sound before the door of their ride opened with eased. She stepped off first, making sure she didn't trip on the floor with her heels unlike those other times. "Sweet! I'm gonna see if Vinyl is around! I'll see ya girls later!" Rainbow Dash gleefully told them before flying off to wherever. "Well then, I guess we split off for now" Rarity spoke soon after, holding her silver colored purse. "I have a meeting with Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis about garments for a guest that's apparently coming over" She added, earning confused looks from the rest. "A guest? Um, who might it be?" Fluttershy asked as she got off the chariot along with Pinkie. "Yea! What Fluttershy said! Who are they?" Pinkie replied with excitement, although being a little bit too loud. "I can't really say who it will be, darlings. Fancy Pants did, after all, ask Celestia to invite him over. Saying that he would love to speak with "That 'ol chap", once again" Rarity explained in her best impersonation of Fancy Pants. "I do have a sneaking suspicion that they might be friends, however" "Well butter mah bisquits! Look's like we 'ought to be havin' some might excitement" Applejack chuckled, adjusting her Stetson hat. "And to think that Princess Celestia would accept his request. That fella better not ruin everythin' though" The group laughed as they recalled their first few Gala's. Hopefully things would be going smoothly this time around. And thus, with nothing left to say to each other, they all parted ways, off to see some other parts of the Gala, meet old acquaintances or bump into new ones. Despite that, Twilight, Barb and Eris were still together, making their way to the center ballroom. Along the way, the outdoors were very neatly and beautifully designed. The bushes were trimmed evenly, even lighting in the forms of either glowing spheres or lamp posts. And off in the distance was a band of professional musicians, playing slow and befitting melodies for the event. Though, the one thing that was the most surprising was the sheer number of individuals both outside and possibly inside. They were all of varying races; Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies, Griffins and more surprisingly, Changelings, Dragons and Diamond Dogs. The trio softly whistled. Man, was Princess Celestia doing work. Finally their efforts, them being Twilight and her gang, were paying off in helping to ease the tension amongst the races that others may think of as hostile. And thankfully as well, especially after the whole barrage of events. "Woa! Is that Queen Chrysalis?" Eris softly asked in a surprised tone, finding a familiar face among the crowd in the ballroom. "Chrysalis looks to be doing well with other. Heck, her smile looks pretty genuine" Eris added, absolutely stunned. "Mom wasn't kidding when she said this would be a LARGE scale event. Sheesh" Barb chuckled a little. "Yea. It's nice to see The Queen not trying to take over Canterlot" Twilight sheepishly laughed, shaking a little from the slightly traumatic past events. "Didn't you say that Mike helped with the defense against the invasion, or something?" Eris asked, her gaze towards the purple unicorn. "Wait, I thought you knew this already?" Twilight countered, only earning a shrug from the draconequess. Twilight scratched the back of her head for a moment. "Well...As far as what I know, Mike did help by leading some of those that weren't under the effects of her hypnotism away from the castle. From all those I've asked who were lead by him, they just said he told them to run before briefly vanishing" "A vanishing act, eh? I expected more....." Eris stopped for a moment, trying to find the right words. "....Heroism, I should say" "Well I can't say for sure what he did. He never told me about it even if I tried asking. Heck, I tried forcing him but he still wouldn't peep" Twilight replied with a quick shrug, a small frown displayed on her face. Meanwhile, Barb, who was between the two, was beginning to feel annoyed about the whole conversation. "Uh, hello? We came here to have fun didn't we?" She questioned the two, abruptly ending their talk. "Come on, just ease it. Who cares if she is here or not? As long as nothing bad happens, we should just focus on having a good time" Both Eris and Twilight looked at her for a brief period before sighing simultaneously. "Never have I heard more truthful words from her" Eris joked, chuckling a little. It was pretty evident that she aimed to annoy the purple dragoness, and it definitely worked. "Took the words right out of my mouth" Twilight replied as she laughed along. "You know, I hate the both of you sometimes" Barb groaned. "Let's just....go somewhere else I guess. I don't even know right now" She sighed as she began to walk in a random direction with Eris and Twilight just behind her tail, still giggling like little school fillies. Barb didn't care much for their words at the moment. She needed something to take her mind off of the entire situation. Despite being extremely exited about the whole event, she didn't exactly feel comfortable. Given the whole situation on how almost every single creature currently attending the Gala was a stranger, aside from the few familiar faces. Sure, her mom was there, but she was probably greeting the guests at the front gate, whereas they came in as VIP members, so they took a different route. Eventually, with Barb still lost in her thoughts, she had somehow managed to reach the back garden where there were fewer ponies, griffins and other individuals. It didn't exactly help that Eris and Twilight were still talking about something unrelated to the Gala, but it was something. She still had no clue how the two of them managed to get along with each other so well all those years ago. Sadly, because of that, there were more science-y stuff that would be discussed whenever Eris visits. Barb walked over towards the chest-high railing, looking over the immense greenery that was all the way at the bottom of the cliff. Just over the horizon, there was a tiny looking area with very small structures, which she knew all too well was Ponyville. She sighed for a moment as her gaze lingered over the place, her thoughts more pinned towards Mike. What would he be doing right now? Is he still at the library? Did he go out and mingle with others? "Ahh jeez....I wish Mike was here" Barb whispered to herself as she laid her head on the railing. "....nsense, dear! Don't belittle yourself so much! You look dashing!" A very familiar voice sounded off in the distance, catching Barb's attention. The dragoness raised her head in confusion, turning her head in the direction of the voice. "Rarity? What the heck is she doing here?" Barb wondered to herself. She looked back behind her, finding both Twilight and Eris still preoccupied. Squinting her eyes, she took very cautious steps, making sure not to alert them of her sudden movement. Barb needed to know what was going on over at the far right. "You sure Rarity? I....don't really like suits that much" Another familiar voice popped into existence, causing Barb's eyes to widen in surprise. It couldn't have been.... "Oh relax now. Rarity did a splendid job in crafting your suit. In fact, I might think that Fancy Pants would be surprised to see his friend all good-looking" The voice of Princess Celestia echoed in the semi-empty garden. It had came from just around the corner! She had to find out if her mind was really tricking her. Barb made a final dash to the source, slowing down her pace when she had finally reached around the corner. Though, what she found had caused her to come to a screeching halt, even alerting the trio of her presence. Rarity was there, still in the same dress alongside Barb's mom, who was clad in an ethereal looking, pearlescent white colored dress. But there in front of them was someone else. Someone who was wearing a maroon colored tuxedo with golden lapels. "...Mike?" Barb wondered out loud as she continued to keep her gaze locked firmly onto him. She was so confused. Why was he here? Shouldn't he be at the library? Why was wearing a suit? And why does he look so handsome? Though none of which were able to overcome her sense of happiness. "Hey Barb. Sorry that I...uhh...lied to you" He replied with simple smile and a quick chuckle. But it was just enough to send the purple dragoness bolting towards him with a huge smile on her face. "Oh my god Mike! I can't believe you're here!" Barb exclaimed with pure bliss but quickly changed to a more puzzled tone. "But why? I thought you wanted to stay at home?" "About that..." Mike started, scratching his face awkwardly as Barb continued to hug him. "Princess Celestia had actually planned on having me come over to the Gala for a while now. Just that I don't really like fancy events" He answered truthfully with a small chuckle afterwards. "Your Mom and Rarity over there did a lot of convincing and eventually I...kinda budged. So, here I am" Barb looked a Mike for a brief period before her mouth curved into a huge smile yet again. It seemed like a dream come true. "Well if you're here, then that means we can go have fun!" She exclaimed with no restrictions in her voice. She removed her vice grip from her hug and grabbed hold onto one of his hands. "Come on! I'll show you around!" She gleefully said as she pulled him away from the two mares. As the two left Rarity and Princess Celetsia's sights, the duo looked at each other and smiled. Great minds did, in fact, think alike. Hopefully, with Mike's cheerful and upbeat presence, it would help to liven up the place. As well as bring a constant smile on a certain dragoness' face. And with that, the duo took their leave, not before high-fiving each other for a job well done. Author's Note Soooo...Uhhh....I actually meant to upload this a long while back... But...Well, you know. Life stuff and school related jazz. So....err, here it is, I suppose? In any case, I'm still not dead and still intend to update my stories. Just at an incredible slow pace.