Dead Rising: Lens of West

Frank found the intelligence of the pony to be quite amazing. Not only did the creature know how to stay quiet, but it also seemed to be able understand that he was feeling annoyed.

Thankfully, the frown on his face slightly vanished when the pony’s home appeared. It looked fairly simple and much too small for him to actually enjoy living in. His camera in one hand, the man continued following the pink-and-yellow Pegasus as she whispered,

“This is my home.”

“Oh, wow, I really had no idea,” the photojournalist responded instantly with all kinds of sarcasm intentionally stuffed in his words. She did not seem to pay too much attention to his somewhat negative response, as she went over and opened the door.

The interior was as simple as the house’s outer appearance. A refrigerator lay on one side of the house, and several sofas were scattered around the place. Heck, there was even a tiny bed lying around the living room. Several tiny critters roaming around the house fled from the dark-haired man who followed Fluttershy.

That’s right, Frank thought. Fear the alien.

For some reason, he felt like an Iron Giant invading a feminine Hogarth Hughes’ home. Perhaps the feeling came from the fact that he towered over nearly everything.

Yup. He technically was an Iron Giant, considering how he could crack zombie skulls even without weapons. A warrior forged from zombie outbreaks, to be more exact.

He doubted that most warriors attached Bowie Knives to boxing gloves and fought like a Wolverine that burst out of a closet.

“Cool place,” the photojournalist admitted, noting how there was a surprising amount of details put into the structure of the house. There was a small hole by the wall where a rabbit leapt into. A fireplace was set up at the very center of the house, and convenient coffee table lay in front of a particular sofa.

“T-Thank you,” Fluttershy began, only to get startled by Frank’s next action.

Click!

His camera raised in front of his face, the photojournalist took several more photos of the house before lowering the object. An amused snort came out of him as he glanced over to the surprised pony.

“Mind if I take some pictures?” The man asked, finally showing a less grumpy side of his. “Photography soothes my mind sometimes.”

“O-Okay...”

And thus, the man proceeded to take pictures of a place he never stayed at before. While photography did, indeed, soothe his mind, the man planned on taking pictures for multiple reasons.

The first thing was to confirm whether the world he lived in was real. His camera could potentially serve as a sign for his own sanity.

He also wanted to prevent his photography skills from rusting up. The last thing he wanted to do was take super-shaky pictures of everything.

Frank West had no idea as to whether there was a way to leave the world he now walked on, but the thought of returning home sounded appealing. He would be able to share the truth behind Fortune City’s zombie outbreak and get back into the game of photojournalism.

…Now that he thought about it, he had pictures of zombies and a bunch of other particularly frightening images. The man decided to do something about the pictures later, but first things first, he wanted to get used to the small house.

A few more clicks came from the camera, and soon, he heard the pony with the pink mane ask,

“I’ve never seen anypony use a camera like that before…”

The dark-haired man mustered up a small grin as he lowered the camera, checking his most recent pictures carefully. “I’m the kind of person to take the best kinds of pictures.”

“Per…son?”

“Well, to be more exact,” Frank blurted out, only to find the explanation of a ‘human’ to be more confusing than he thought it would be. “…You’re a h- pony, right?”

Not noticing that Frank nearly described her as a “horse,” Fluttershy nodded shyly.

“If you’re a pony, I’m a human. Humans refer to their own kind as ‘people’ because it feels more natural.”

The pony nodded timidly as the man glanced around the house. Much to his surprise, his head did not bump into anything. The house was big enough for him to stand straight in… though, jumping around the place did not seem ideal for someone his size.

“You can feel free to have a seat, mister,” Fluttershy squeaked.

For a split second, Frank West felt worried about breaking the sofa with his weight, but the sofa proved to be stronger than it looked. Though it felt a bit small for his liking, it was much better than standing around for prolonged periods of time.

“It’s a nice house,” Frank commented.

“Thank you.”

A short period of silence took over the house as Fluttershy slowly trotted over to the other side of the house. Frank, on the other hand, simply continued to observe his surroundings to make sure that he did not break anything during his stay.

I probably won’t be here for long, he thought as he immediately began planning on what to do once he got used to his surroundings. No matter what, I’m going to try making my own shelter and start searching for a way back home.

…This place isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be, though.

What he expected to be a truly foul place to live on turned out to be relatively relaxing and peaceful. For once, he felt at ease, the intensity of his worries dying a bit. Of course, that may have been supported by the fact that the first thing he met in his strange location was a shy pony capable of speech. Had it been an orc or some freakishly dark fantasy creature, he probably would have searched for some psychopath that could put him out of his misery.

The yellow pony soon returned and placed a cup of tea on a coffee table in front of him. How the heck she managed to bring a cup in the first place, he did not want to think about.

As he thanked her, the pony trotted up to a couch and sat on it. She remained as timid as ever when she decided to bring up a conversation.

“Who are you?”

A good question, considering how Frank wanted to ask the same thing to her. Taking a sip out of the interestingly decent cup of tea, the dark-haired man readjusted his sunglasses as he put down the cup he drank with on a nearby table.

“Name’s Frank,” he answered. “Frank West. Freelance photojournalist. I’ve covered a lot of stuff back at my home.”

Fluttershy seemed curious about the man, but she decided to hold herself from asking more questions. Seeing that he had plenty of time to explain who he was, Frank continued talking.

“I don’t really have much to say other than the fact that I was a bit famous. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a place like this before.”

The yellow Pegasus nodded. “Do you enjoy taking pictures of nature? O-Or maybe fashion?” Fluttershy asked.

“…As for nature, sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. It depends on how I’m feeling. I rarely ever care about taking pictures on photography, though.”

“I-I see.”

When Frank gave her a confused expression, the Pegasus forced a smile, only to make herself look like a frightened child.

“There is a pony who likes to take pictures for fashion here, you see,” Fluttershy explained. Frank, however, seemed to care little for fashion, for he quickly decided to ask a question of his own.

“So is this… world… filled with ponies, and ponies only? I’m pretty sure I never saw ponies roaming around on their own back at my world.”

At the mention of his world’s ponies, a small surge of curiosity entered the pale-blonde mare’s eyes, but she held herself back and answered his question instead.

“There are ponies, griffons, and many other kinds of wonderful citizens of Equestria.”

“Griffons?” The photojournalist blurted out as his eyebrows visibly shot up from where they usually rested at. “GRIFFONS? There are GRIFFONS here?”

“Y-Y…Yes…”

The instant moment he raised his voice, Fluttershy squirmed uncomfortably on her couch. Frank personally did not enjoy the fact that she looked as if she were about to burst out of her own house, for he did not want to start feeling bad for some alien he never even thought had existed before. It may sound inhuman to prevent himself from understanding others’ feelings, but he seriously doubted what kind of world he had fallen into. It could be any world, and as long as he did not know where he was, he would remain tense to some extent.

“Then again there are Pegasi here,” the man mumbled to himself. Thankfully, his words did not go noticed by the Pegasus he sat with, for something knocked on the door.

That particular event was also the trigger of a series of unfortunate events.

“O-Oh! That must be a friend of mine,” Fluttershy exclaimed quietly as she gently leapt off her couch. “I-I’m very sorry, but-“

“Oh, nonono. Don’t feel sorry,” assured Frank with great haste. “Just go on with what you have to do. Don’t mind me too much.”

…Though, I doubt she wouldn’t mind me anyway, he thought as he remained silent. I’m as much of an alien to this creature as they are to me.

Tea certainly felt like a nice change from consistently drinking coffee creamers at a small safehouse. With the cup back in his hand, Frank found the warmth of the tea to be soothing.

The freakishly loud scream that roared from the entrance of the house, on the other hand, did the exact opposite. Frank, startled by the high-pitched scream, nearly dropped his cup and spilled some of the tea on his pants.

“…Seriously?”

Whoever made him drop tea on his pants was going to owe him an apology. Looking up from his drink, the photojournalist let his eyes rest upon Fluttershy… and another pony.

The blue pony had a weird rainbow-colored mane and a horrified look as she flipped out just at the sight of Frank West.

“WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!”

But while the blue pony exclaimed both surprise and confusion, Frank remained calm.

Only on the outside.

For in his mind, all he could think of was

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
NOT ANOTHER ONE ALREADY
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-