Death City

Back with another update! Right now, I feel tired as buck and can’t keep my eyes open any longer. My arm has been cut off and my leg is bent the wrong way. I’m losing blood fast. I already lost an eye and five teeth. My nose is nearly broken. NEED DOCTOR BADLY! (The rest of the writing is obscured in blood) Ha! I was just bored so I decided to type that. What I just wrote was a reference from a certain video game and kudos to you if you got what video game it was. Post a reply if you know what game it’s from. Now, without further ado, we shal begin.

Chapter 22 – Reunions with a Friend

The unfortunate and mismatched group headed into the city, unaware of the true decay the metropolis had underwent in the absence of order. The buildings were shells of brick and ash, mostly a husk of mortar and foundation to protect against the elements. Not that many ponies seemed to need it, as Twilight and her gang walked down the sidewalks of Manehtatten there was nopony to be seen, living or dead. The streets were filled with ash, dust and a sort of sand-like semi-solid that crunched under their hooves as they moved farther into the former party capitol of the world. They all moved n almost military like fashion, disciplined and precise. As much as she hated to be the odd mare out, Pinkie was breaking ranks and hopping in her usual cheery manner. Although they all shot her looks, she just kept hopping like a madmare, completely oblivious to their sideways glares.

They walked in two lines; one side had mares and the other colts or stallions. Seamus, being himself, walked on the mares' side for some unknown reason. After a quick glance at the surrounding buildings, Blur began to lead in into an alleyway. It was cramped and not the most spacious, but just as soon as they managed to get in all together, the company was met by a brick wall.

"What the buck?" Blur cursed, completely confused. "It was right here?!"

A pony appeared at the end of the alleyway, specifically a brown earth pony with an hourglass Cutie Mark. He had on his head a fez and around his neck a brilliant blue scarf. He looked at them with a smile, but his eyes concealed a great wisdom and an even greater sadness. But the stallion's face was of mirth as he trotted up to the strange company of misfits.

"Is here there or is when simply here at the moment?" He asked, arching a brow as he grinned.

Blur was lost. This stallion was obviously insane. "Umm… we were just looking for this store. It's a music store and we really need to-"

"Is it this fine establishment?" He interrupted, glancing at the brick wall.

"Well… no. We were looking for a shop." Twilight asked, trying to be patient with the stranger.

"This is a shop, my dear." He responded.

"No, this is a wall." Twilight said, irritated.

At just that moment she made the decision to put her hoof to that wall. Her hoof slipped right through the illusion and she nearly toppled over. The stranger smiled and tipped his fez to her knowingly.

"If you need me, I'll be trying to solve this whole mess." The stranger bade farewell.

"Wait!" Twilight interrupted. "Who are you?"

"I've got a lot of names, m'dear. But the one your kind have taken a liking to is Doctor Whooves, so I stick with that. Farewell!"

They were all turning to step through the cleverly crafted illusion when he came back around the corner. "Oh, and if you see any statues trying to cover their eyes… don't blink, just teleport away as fast as possible. Okay, bye" With that cryptic message, he was finally gone.

They all looked at each other, shrugged, and stepped through the illusion.

DJ Fiiasco nodded his head to his music, the loud beat booming over the speakers. His store had the feel of an eighties bogey hall with the new groove of a modern day Aria. The store was completely white and carpeted, the walls were white and the only difference or contrast in the room was created by the lighting. He was closed, for the most part. He had been since things started to fall apart. Ponies wanting radio equipment barging in with guns, insisting that he would be "Helping the people." buck that. He'd hired a wizard to put up the illusion and had secluded himself. He was fine as long as he had his music..

The entire store was covered in speakers and bass. Some of them hung from the ceiling and some were built into the walls for bass effect. He listened to the beat, his green and black mane standing out from the white backdrop of the room. The pegasus DJ had a record on his flank being split in half, he always thought that his beats were too sick to be put on records anyway. He nodded his head to the beat, making his mane fly and his sunglasses almost fall off his face.

"Eh hem." Blur interrupted him.

The DJ stopped his jam session and smiled at the former guard. "Well, well! If it isn't the Blur himself! Haven't seen ya' in awhile!" The two lost friends embraced.

After they had released each other, Blur continued. "Well… I hate to visit like this, but I need to ask you a huge favor."

The pegasus narrowed his eyes and lowered his sunglasses, revealing startling red eyes. "You just got here, chill. I've got rations in the back and tons of fresh water and an unlimited purifier for it. You can stay as long as ya' like."

"I know, and that's great, but I need you to tell me where that one castle is?"

“What castle?” Fiiasco had asked his long lost friend.

“Heh” Blur had sighed before resuming his sentence. “Do you remember where Mystic Cauldron is by any chance.? Cause I was hoping you can  lead us-“

"No." Fiiasco responded. "Just no. We went there once when we were foals and nearly got killed. I don't want to even think about it. Stay here, but I won't let you go there ever again."

"Misphit please?!" Blur begged. "I'm asking you a huge favor and if you could just help me this once I-"

"I said no!" The DJ pushed past him and cantered to the back of the store. He was light on his hooves, agile.

Blur began to run after him, but was caught by Twilight yanking on his tail. She shook her head and moved to pass him, but soon somepony new stepped forward. Seamus the alicorn, shy little Seamus was stepping up to plate. The maroon coated colt shuffled up to the pegasus, trying not to alarm the DJ as he crept close, after a whole minutes waiting they all let out their held breathe as the colt tapped the stallion on the shoulder. The DJ looked down and reeled at Seamus.

"Are you an alicorn?! Holy buck!" He cursed in shock and slight admiration. "Wow… I never thought I'd see one up close…"

Seamus blushed intensely at the amount of attention he was receiving, but kept went on. "Um… hi. I'm Seamus and… well… we really need you to show us where the castle is."

"Kid, I like you, you're cute." Seamus turned a shade of scarlet under his coat. "But I swore I would never go near that death trap again. It's not that I don't like you, I do." The alicorn nearly fainted. "It's just that I don't… I… the last time I was there I nearly got killed. I was kind of scarred for life, I don't want any déjà vu!"

Seamus scuffed a hoof and held his breathe for a few seconds. He thought he knew something to get him to agree, but he was hesitant. At last he sighed and leaned close to the DJ.

The rest of them looked on curiously as Seamus whispered into Fiiasco's ear. Soon, though, the alicorn leaned away and the DJ let out his held breathe. The pegasus straightened his sunglasses and strode over to them. He strode with purpose and pride, his laid back manner gone and all lightness absent as he spoke.

"I'll help you guys. And mares, but I want to see that I get a good time out of this! It's better be a real adventure!"

AppleJack nearly toppled over. "How the hay did that colt do that? He was completely against it one moment and the next he's all for it! It don't make sense…."

Blur just shrugged. "Whatever gets him to show me the way to the castle."

"You don't seem all that excited." Twilight broke in. "You sound like you'd rather be gagging on a spoon."

"It's not that… he's just… changed. That's all." The former guard denied.

"Well." Snake said. "No use standing around! Let's make tracks!"

The new group walked on as they moved out of the city and into grassy clearings. The nature, for one, was one of the few things affected by the world falling apart. The few places the ground fell to ash had grass roots already rushing to fill the space with cushy green flora. Nothing stopped the bunnies and birds from flitting and hopping about. Despite all the chaos, there was one thing that trumped all of that. Nature, she was already taking over the city itself. The buildings already had vines creeping through the cracks in the cement and the animals were already feeding on grass splitting up the sidewalks. They had even passed a tree trolling in the middle of an intersection.

So the newly formed group walked in a slightly less formal line this time. Seamus and Fiiasco stood at the front, conversing in hushed voices, keeping their conversation private. Twilight eyed the two suspiciously. The two were just suddenly great friends? There was no way. She had to get to the bottom of this. The nosy mare tapped Snake on the shoulder, eager to eavesdrop.

"Snake, there's a grove of trees up ahead, I need you to spy in on their conversation by climbing the trees above them."

"Or." He suggested in his rough, gravelly voice. "I could just do this."

He pulled a bean-sized microphone out from behind his ear. With a flick he landed the spying device on Fiiasco's mane. With a swift movement, he grabbed her head and jammed the receiver into her ear.

"There. Don't go asking me for any more favors, though."

She listened eagerly, biting her lip with anticipation.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I did once have a friend like that." Fiiasco began. "He was Hurricane Splitter, and I wish I still knew him. He just got so… different. I don't get it."

Seamus nodded sympathetically. "I don't know how that feels, but I can imagine. My friend like that was a pony named Sky. Well, he went by Sky. His real name is Indigo Sunset, but he decided to just switch it to Sky. I still call him that sometimes, he gets to mad at me! I just nod along and laugh on the inside…"

The DJ laughed. "Yeah, I did that sometimes too. He realized it was useless and well, he just started to punch my shoulder every time I bugged him. I still feel the bruise."

"Sky never hit me, he was very nice and poetic. He always made me these little trinkets of gold and paper, sometimes he tried on things he made himself and I'd nearly drool… he was awesome at fashion. He was just so…."

"Perfect?"

"Well, yeah."

"I know…"

Twilight ripped her earphone out. This was just colt-coddling whish-wash! She thought it was something serious that would change something! She decided that it would be best to just forget about it. She tosses the earpiece back to Snake and rolls her eyes. There had to be something to do on this ridiculously long trek. She suddenly remembered that there was, in fact nothing to do. It was just miles and miles of landscape that seemed to stretch on forever. She taps her hoof, clacking it with each fall and marching to pass the time. It was quite useless. The boredom was mind-numbing and her hooves soon began to hurt severely.

Seamus and Fiiasco continued their talk, ignoring the usual rustle in the bushes or shadow overhead. Wait? Shadows overhead? The sun was setting swiftly and darkness crept upon the ponies. A sudden chill ran down Twilight's spine as the moon ascended onto the horizon. Something was wrong. The whole company stopped. The sounds of nature had come to an abrupt halt. Nothing moved. Nothing made any noise. Nothing…

Until a certain, strangely fanciful, sophisticated voice broke the smothering silence with his voice, like the ring of a thousand church bells, the plucking of an angel's lute or the plucking of a harp with delicate hooves…

"Well… you seem to be wandering where you don't belong." Jakben chuckled. "Should I correct that?"

He appeared to them, his long blonde mane gleaming in the moonlight. He smiled, his sanguine eyes and razor sharp fangs shining in the starlight. He was beautiful in a carnal, animalistic way. He was the one for somepony who like power. He oozed power, control. He was the purest form of control and perfection. He stretched his deep gray wings, prompting a hush to fall on them.

"You need to leave. Now. All of you." He ordered.

"And what the buck will you do about it?!" Snake growled, reaching for his knife.

The vampire was suddenly there , he grabbed the knife and bent it like it was softer then bread dough. The vampire flicked it into the bushes, un-amused. Twilight wanted to try at a spell, but she had no idea what would happen. That was what terrified her so much. She had no idea what he was capable of. That was the thing that terrified them all. They couldn't even begin to describe the cloud of mystery that surrounded the vampiric pegasus. He appeared beside Twilight, smiling. He ran a hoof down her neck and brushed her mane out of her face.

"Well… it seems." He whispered. "My little study buddy has gotten a bit more…" He was suddenly behind her, running his hooves over her smooth waist. "Thinner. More muscular…" He slipped his hooves to her tail, brushing it with his cold, undead hooves. He leaned over her and whispered. "I like it. Keep it up. Run to the ends of the earth and beyond, I will find you, my sweet."

She froze and tried to not panic… but his hooves kept slipping up her leg… he was petting her flanks now…

"Enough!" Snake screamed and ran at the vampire.

As with last time, he disappeared, nothing moved until he appeared behind the war veteran. The stallion roared and sent an uppercut right to the vampire's jaw. Jakben had let him. He wanted to make a point. There are just certain times, no matter how good you are, that you are out-classed and out-gunned. The stallion yowled in fury and pain as his hoof splintered and his ankle shattered.

"I've had my fun, for now." He chuckled. "Turn back, last warning… or I'll be seeing you alone, study buddy."

He had just disappeared when Twilight broke into tears again, sobbing on the ground. Blur knelt by her while she cried. It was a sad sight, to see such a strong, intelligent mare reduced to misery because of one stallion. One vampiric, extremely provocative and deadly stallion.

"He… there was nothing I could do…" Twi sputtered.

Blur had just patted her back when suddenly Rainbow flew down from the sky and said.

"Hey guys, we're coming up on some sort of castle. Except it's more like a fortress and let me guess we have to somehow get in?"

Blur nodded. This was where the shit hit the fan and things were going to get real. Time to march to the castle.

Done with another chapter. Now, I know what you might be thinking right now is “How the world did this guy get the ability to write overnight.” And let me start off by saying I DID NOT WRITE THIS! It was actually written by a good friend of mine, DWhay! He’s the author of the characters Seamus and Jakben (as mentioned before) . While he was writing this, I was writing chapter 3 of Everfree Nights (search that title up). We decided to swich chapters since we got bored of our own stories. This was a one-time experience and probably won’t happen again. Also, I have GREAT news! This story is getting a YOUTUBE READING. Another two good friends of mine, DjFiiasco and Dieter N. have been organizing a youtube reading for the story. The first chapter can be found here: /watch?v=q23Z6PXPkpc.  Watch it and post as many comments as you like. Now, I’m out! REVIEWS ARE MY FOOD! FEED ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!