The Dangers of Stupidity

Chapter XXI: Applejack's Hall, Part I

Applejack and I stared at the apple-emblazoned door ahead of us. I looked behind me to the seven braziers. Only four of the flames burned, one black, one yellow, one white, and the last cyan.

"Dont'cha think ya should take a break?" Applejack asked me with concern. "Ah mean, ya just almost died three times. Shouldn't ya just rest for a minute?"

"You've got a good point, AJ," I replied, breathing heavily from exhaustion, "but I'm... I'm fine."

"Bullshit!" Benson interrupted. "You're barely standing up! You need to rest!"

"Look man, I see what you mean, but the longer we sit here and slack off, the longer Sephiroth has to gather his strength and destroy Equestria. I can't stop just yet." In reality, I was hiding the true reason behind my insistence on continuing.

Don't worry, Cloud. I'm not stopping until Sephiroth is dead.

"Even the greatest of heroes must have some form of strength to defeat their enemies. I would not hold it against you to rest for a while. You have been though much today."

Actually, it's been two days.

"Wait, you have been doing all this, and you haven't slept or stopped moving in two days?"

Yeah. But I just can't stop. Sephiroth needs to see just what he's up against, and a sleeping black dude isn't very intimidating.

"Intimidation is not everything, but you will be much more so if you can use your powers to their full potential, and perhaps past that, if you have enough faith."

Fine. I'll rest for twenty minutes, then I'm gonna kick Sephiroth's ass!

"Alright. We rest for twenty minutes." I proclaimed.

"There's only one of us who truly needs to rest." Benson told me. "You've been through hell in these past couple days. Here." He pulled a Pokeball from his belt, tossing it out in front of him. "Umbreon, use Moonlight on Arrick!"

A wonderful feeling flooded over my body. After a few seconds, I fell to the ground and passed out, realizing just how tired I was. My entire self hurt. Not just my body, but my mind and soul. My thoughts drifted to other subjects.

I wonder what Vinyl is doing...

Six Hours Later

"Arrick! Arrick!" I could hear someone calling my name, trying to wake me up. I was barely even conscious at the moment.

"Five more minutes, mom..." I groaned, laying back down on the hard stone floor. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but I was tired as all hell, and I would take a bed of spikes if it meant I could sleep.

"Senpai, use Psychic!"

An unseen force lifted me into the air. I felt somebody slap me. Hard.

"What the fuck!" I exclaimed, opening my eyes and realizing that I was upside-down.

"Twenty minutes, huh?" Benson remarked. "I knew you were a wreck after all that. You may be a big damn hero on the outside, but on the inside, you're still the same as us. You need to stop every once in a while."

"What time is it?"

"About five-thirty in the morning." He said, looking at his watch.

"Five-thirty!? How long was I asleep!?"

"First of all, by 'asleep', do you mean 'comatose'? Second, about six hours."

"Six hours!? Let me go!"

His Alakazam dropped me to the floor. I wasted no time in dashing off towards the apple-marked door and picking up Applejack on my way.

"What the hay are ya doin'? Let go a' me!"

"No time! We need to get out of here and in there!"

"Wait!" Benson yelled to me. I stopped and looked back at him.

"What?"

"Wait for me!" He ran after us, calling his Alakazam back into its Pokeball.

"Why do you want to come?"

"I was wondering what these halls look like. They've gotta be pretty big to hold in the shit I've heard coming from inside them. Especially back in Rainbow Dash's hall. Did you guys make a tornado or something in there?"

"Actually, yes we did."

"Oh. Whatever. Let's do this!"