The group awoke the next day. Paul was first, stretching out and nudging Joe with a hoof in the stretch, rousing him. "Huh?" Paul apologized and slid to the floor.

Their noise was enough to rouse Brad, who rolled out of bed and quickly assumed the form of a unicorn similar to Twilight, though the color was slightly off and the cutie mark was a smiley face.

I was the last up, shaken awake by Bed Time. She hugged close, then pushed to her own hooves. "I'll get started on breakfast." And off she went, clip-clopping down the stairs.

I got up out of bed and looked to the others. "Ready?"

Joe snorted. "After breakfast. How'd it go, Brad?"

Brad's expression soured. "Nothing worked. It was total bullshit. I convinced Octavia to go with it, and Vinyl got all mad. I tried to make Vinyl happy and something whacked me over the head. The way they were talking about it, Vinyl was ready to kill me."

Joe raised a brow. "Maybe they're an item? Even if they aren't, you're kind of being a douche. You don't know them beyond what you saw in some cartoon somewhere."

Paul snorted but remained silent. I felt the need to voice in. "What you saw wasn't even enough to qualify a personality. You basically tried to rape both of them with smooth moves and got hit for it."

Brad frowned at me. "It's not rape if I ask and they say yes. That's the opposite of rape."

I wobbled a hoof. "With cheated stats? You're basically trying to mind control them."

"Your mom's trying to mind control them."

I blinked. "What?"

Paul chuckled softly. "When in doubt, mom jokes. I'm going to get something to eat." She trotted off after Bed Time, and I followed after. Soon we were all downstairs and enjoying what Bed Time had prepared for us.

With the meal done, Joe offered to help clean up, and they retreated into the kitchen. I glanced at Paul. "Hey, man, you OK with a mare's body like that? It was weird when I tried it."

Paul shrugged softly. "It's not that different is it? If we're getting this chance to try things out, why not go full in?"

"Your mom went full in."

Paul snorted. "That one worked better. Anyway, I'm not sleeping around, so it's not that big a deal." He pointed at me. "Unlike you. You have a girlfriend. How's that?"

I flushed softly, considering that. "Kind of... nice? I can't think of too much about her I'm not growing to like. It's the first time I had a girl that serious about making me happy."

"Your mom--"

"Enough." I clopped a hoof down. "You got shot down, we get it."

We got dressed in our armor, double-checked our supplies, and soon we were trotting out of Ponyville towards the Everfree. "Where dreams come to die at the claws of terrible beasts." Paul grinned. "My first real adventure!"

Joe chuckled softly. "You're sounding really excited about this. What are you again? A wizard?"

Paul nodded at that. "Blank Slate is an accomplished evoker."

Bed Time tilted her head. "What is that?"

I answered with a flick of my head towards Paul. "It means he makes things explode real good."

Paul clopped his forehooves together. "And I'm looking forward to trying it. It's in the Everfree, so it's probably not sentients. We get to blast beasties and stuff and not feel guilty."

We soon arrived at the spot, which was little more than stone stairs leading right into the ground. Joe tilted his head at it. "Really? It's like it was put here just for us."

Brad shrugged. "Maybe it was? Let's get to smashing up everything." She gestured at the stairs. "Knights first." She was looking at Joe.

Joe huffed. "Oh sure, now that you're not huge you're not so eager to rush into places."

I stepped up towards the stairs. "No reason to get the healer in trouble. I'll go first."

Bed Time quickly rushed up beside me. "I'll go second." Though she volunteered, her voice quivered a little. She was clearly a little scared of it, but...

I turned to her and gently rubbed snout to snout. "You don't have to."

"I want to." She nuzzled back, and we descended into the dungeon.

We stuck to the numbers, and it was fairly smoothly going at first. A few wights here, a gaggle of elementals over there. Even Bed Time was warming up with the practiced tactics we brought to bear on each room. Paul was having a great time, unleashing the elements with a giddy little giggle of delight. Joe kept us in fighting trim, serving quite well as the group medic whenever the monsters landed a lucky shot. We pushed open the next door and found Octavia bound to a chair securely.

She looked up at us with a bright and hopeful smile. "Thank Celestia! Somepony came to rescue me!" She pulled at her ropes. "Please, get me out of here!"

Brad advanced quickly with a smirk on her lips. "It'd be my pleasure."

Octavia narrowed her eyes a little when Brad came into view. "Keep your hooves where I can see them."

"Oh relax, I'm rescuing you." Brad quickly had her out of the ropes. "See, I'm not so bad."

Octavia slid to her hooves and shook herself out. "No... I suppose not. Sorry for acting that way. In fact... maybe I should reward you." She turned towards him with fluttering lashes. It felt wrong and I was about to say as such when Paul put a hoof up to my mouth and shook her head quickly.

Author's Note

Dungeon 2, go! Now with Bed Time melee action, and a surprise appearance by Octavia!

What's she doing here? Did she set up these typos?