Chapter 2: Follow the Sounds

Darkness, darkness consumed Matt's vision as he felt nothing in his body. All he could do, was wait for Death himself to come and give him some welcoming tea. Well I'm dead right? Where is he? He started to feel something, it felt hard and rough against his back. He then felt something tickling him on his chest, he didn't know who was poking at his corpse, he just hoped to come back from the dead and eat his spectator. But then he could feel temperature, he felt a small gush of wind, and that was all that he needed to wake up.

His eyes slowly flickered open as it was mostly dark, but partially light. He rose up, as he found himself surrounded by trees and forest, as well as some mushrooms. He found that he still had all of his gear, his guns, his machete, backpack, and jacket still on him. "The fuck? I thought I died..." He stood up brushing off any remaining dust as he pull out his magnum. He popped out the chamber to find he still have all bullets in the chamber. He checked his rifle's magazine to find it full as a pig. Even his other magazines were full like a glass of milk. His machete too was clean and new looking.

He heard rustling behind as he sprung his rifle at the bushes and gave it a deathly concentrated stare. "Who's there!? Stand up now with your hands up or I will shoot without mercy!" He commanded his shouts at the moving rustling bush, but instead of words he heard growls. Crap......please don't be a walker. His finger was on the trigger and was about to shoot the bush as a shadowy figure jumped out of the bush.

In front of him was a large wolf, or puppet, or robot? Matt couldn't make what was in front of him because it looked like a wooden wolf like object growling with green ooz like saliva secreting from it's wooden teeth. The hell are you? The wolf lunged at him as he quickly pulled the trigger, popping the wolf like creature to a thousand pieces of wooden shrapnel except the head shaped in place as it landed on front of the survivor from the blast. He swiftly aimed at the severed head in case of any action.

The head of the wolf started to glow green as well as it's bits as Matt quickly added one more bullet towards the severed head, decapitating its entire system as all the wooden bits and such as the glow had dispersed. The human sighed as looked around the environment he was in. It was really dark. He placed down and opened his backpack as he pulled out a flashlight and duct tape. He ripped out a good foot of tape as he placed the flashlight on the side of his rifle and forcibly attached it with the tape, making a makeshift tactical flashlight.

"That'll do for now." He said with a small huff of accomplishment as he walked around with the barrel and light in front of him, ready for anything hostile. He ventured out in a straight random direction and was still surrounded in blanket of darkness as the trees above him shrouded his superior angle. It was quiet around him, like a library as he soon found a separated road of dirt and not grass. He followed it, hoping for anything. That is until he heard something growling behind him, it sounded like the wolf from before. He flung around and pointed his source of light at the wolf, but it wasn't a wolf, it was some sort of demon.

"What.....the.....fu-" Unfortunately Matt couldn't finish his question as the scorpion like tail from the creature lunged at his leg and impaled through his skin like a needle. He hissed and screamed in pain as he could feel a venom like substance being inserted into his body. He quickly reacted with his gun pointed at the demon's head and unleashed his bullets upon him causing the head of the demon to have multiple bullet wounds through the head. It bled, it stopped, and of course like any head shot, died shortly. His body shaking like an earthquake as feeling weaker and weaker until he took his last ounce of strength and ripped out the stinger, with only a teaspoon of energy left he made one final action, and stuck out his middle finger at his dead target before falling to the ground, letting his vision collapse in darkness.

Deep within the forests of Everfree laid a Zebra, Ponyville's distant and only shaman and potion brewer. She sat in her hut, balancing her head on the top of a long bamboo staff as she was upside down. (Yea, how a normal being can do that is beyond skill) Until a distant repeated noise broke her concentration as she tumbled down the staff. With a slightly annoyed expression she looked out the window. "What was that, was it a bat?" She listen closely as she heard a repeated small banging explosion noises from deep within the forest. "Thunder, could it be fire? This is dire." She quickly grabbed her robes as she rushed out of her hut galloping deeper into the forest. The noise had stopped as she only theorized that the banging noises had stopped as it was probably replaced with silenced flames.

Yet the closer she followed the theorized direction of the noise she saw no signs of flames but only a white light source. Last she'd known, fire light sources were red, orange, or yellow. . Until a shocking sight stopped her in her hoof steps, a massive adult manticore lied dead in its tracks as it's head was something unrecognizable. But next to it was a different being, unfamiliar to her memory of the forest. It looked like some sort of tall monkey like creature, like a story come to life. She found find the medium sized hole on it's leg and saw green venom spewing from the manticore's tail. She gasped in horror as she quickly picked up the strange being along with the strange metal object next to it and hurried to her hut.

Matt sat in eternal darkness, bored as he swore he died that time. "Okay what the fuck is going on? First I die at SF and now I wake up in some forest and get attacked by some piece of shit loin thing? So if I'm dead.....again, then when is Death coming?" He looked around, becoming impatient for his train to the afterworld as he began to become more frustrated. "Well!? I'm dead! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU DEATH HUH!? WHERE ARE YOU?"

What in Equestria are you? Or should I ask who?

An unfamiliar voice echoed out, to Matt it sounded like a shaman or voodoo witch from African culture. "Who's there?" A voice, and human? When was the last time I've heard a voice like that? He saw a bright light as it bloomed like a flower, small petals of light dancing as he shun brighter and brighter towards the human. W-What is- But before he could ask, the light consumed him. Causing him to wake up, slowly like the last time but more painful as his whole body felt numb and weak. He breathed slowly, giving his lungs a fresh set of oxygen, pumping and beating his heart, proving that he was still alive. "Ugh God....what......happened?" He felt nothing from his body, his nerves lazy of any work as he pulled what little strength he had to look around with his head. He saw masks he'd recognize from a voodoo fiction or movie, he saw bottles of all shapes and sizes, a large metal pot, and dark wood walls with pale wood flooring. "Where am I? Dammit Death, not today huh?" He then heard voices outside, all feminine.

"So what is it Zecora? You said that you found something weird? I mean this forest is weird enough."

"I know what I see, and yet I do not know of thee. This creature is like us, only he stands like a bust. He was poisoned by a manticore, but luckily I had an antidote is store."

"Alright Zecora, tell me what he exactly looks like."

"I will princess. He stands like a dragon, but he doesn't fly like a pigeon. No fur on his body, but pale skin and his scalp furry. And like us, he wear clothes, which is a plus."

"It wears clothes? If it knows how to cover itself, does it know how to speak?"

"I have not tried, for he is asleep and his energy is fried."

The voices he kept hearing outside, they were actual voices. Not ones he'd recognize, new and intelligent voices. He needed to reach the intellectuals that saved him. He needed to know who saved him. He mined as much energy he could produce, his cells hard at work producing energy to make body move. Now moving is snail like movement, he was raising his arm and with a quick zap of adrenaline he flung himself off the bed, literally off the bed as all the energy he had produced had hit a stump.

Outside Zecora along with the Elements of Harmony were discussing the brewer's finding. But then they heard a loud thud on the inside, along with a small domino line of breaking bottles. All the ponies put their attention towards the inside of the hut as Zecora quickly reached for the door. She opened it to find the creature on the floor panting heavily, weak like a stick and mostly nimble. "Quickly help me get him up, I need to get a medicine cup." She ordered as the ponies quickly picked up the being and placed him back on the bed Zecora had made for him.

Fluttershy was the most curious and adored pony in the hut as she become extremely adored with the being. "Oh....why...what is it?"

"I do not know Fluttershy, for he is still weak, now he'll need this new supply." Zecora replied as she had a vial of pink bright liquid on her head. She brought the potion to the creature. "Twilight, an open mouth would be just right. I believe this is his mouth, from the nose to south." Zecora instructed pointed a hoof to where the creature's mouth was.

Princess Twilight nodded as she opened the creature's with her magic. Zecora gently poured the sappy, thick, syrup like brew down the creature mouth. She motioned her hoof up at Rainbow Dash who was holding the being's head. She complied to Zecora's hoof motion as she slowly brought the being's head up, making gravity to take it course.

As for Matt, he could barely see what was touching him. It felt really soft, gentle. He felt something thick running down his throat, it tasted sweet but bitter and he wanted to spit it out, but he couldn't. He only had a micro split in his eye and the last thing he saw before descending once more into darkness was .......rain....bows?

Author's Note

No Sexual Innuendoes intended.