I jumped out of the bed, ready for another day, when I needed to be on my way. After all, staying in this inn or tavern would not be a permanent solution to my problem, as I had to cross the country and and find Sunny no matter what. Only then could I bring this craziness to an end, and safely resume my duties in Maretime Bay.

But as I looked around to head for the shower, I then noticed something a bit strange. This was not a normal tavern room. In fact, it was not made of stone or another construction material, but wood. And the room had a rather odd shape to it. Instead of being square or rectangular, the interior had a very organic look to it, as if it was carved out of something living, like a tree.

I then glanced over to see a window, looking out over this place, and saw that a forest was outside the window. It was then I remembered where I was, and in an instant the recollections came back of my adventure across the country.

Admittedly, this had involved a lot of sleeping in taverns or similar, but the last few nights had seen us in tents, which was a change from the usual. Better than sleeping in a dumpster and surviving off ready meals. Good thing we'd had all that galloping about in Zephyr Heights, as it allowed me to burn some of the weight gain off that I had gained. Yeah, it's not the healthiest of diets, which I guess is the disadvantage of processed food.

I sighed and relaxed. It was a cool morning in Bridlewood, and no longer having to sleep in a tent was nice. But it seemed my body was so primed for travel it had somehow forgotten I was no longer doing that part of my journey.

I looked about and saw many of the others still asleep. They lay in their beds, still snoozing from the hard work of previous days. They all seemed so peaceful when asleep, which I guess is rather the idea. So, that left me plenty of space to get to work.

I headed for the shower in order to wash and spruce myself up for the day. Good thing I didn't need a huge amount of mane gel or fur wash, or else I might have been in there for a while. Considering how much mane and tail Izzy has, I presume it takes her quite a while to wash.

Anyway, I was soon done with this, but popped out after getting my mane in order. "Right, that's one important job done. That should have washed most of the smell away."

I trotted onto the overlooking balcony, and then looked about, looking for something else to go to. Considering the time, it was probably a good idea to deal with the most important part of getting going in the morning.

And I don't mean sunblock, but that's always a good idea on very sunny days. I am, of course, talking about breakfast.

No sooner had I thought that then I smelled a smell coming from downstairs. It smelled great, like somepony was cooking warm food to start our day with. I looked down, and saw Sunny hard at work. I could see she was newly up, as her mane was haphazardly tied back rather than sorted into her trademark braid.

I hopped down the access ramp (as the house interior had no stairs) and stopped in the kitchen. Sunny was humming a tune to herself as she worked. Presumably this was her approach in the morning.

"Hey, Sunny," I said.

She put the pan down (the pan having stuck to her hooves somehow) and turned to me. "Morning, Hitch," she said, sounding refreshed. "I trust you had a good night's sleep?"

"Reasonably well," I replied. "I sleep pretty heavily for the most part, but sometimes I get dreams. You?"

"I get ya," Sunny replied, checking a timer. "Good, the eggs are coming along nicely. Anyway, I've had some pretty weird ones recently. Full of odd imagery, but I could cope with most of it. Having Izzy to comfort me helped."

That was interesting. I could vaguely recall some screaming one night, but I'd been so drowsy I couldn't really make sense of what was being said or done. I nodded. "So, what's cooking?"

"I decided a full cooked breakfast would help rally the troops and motivate everypony else to get on with their day," Sunny said. "So, I've got some pancakes on, as well as eggs for those who want them, some toast, a selection of different drinks, the choice of chicken or steak, and bacon- I've already cut the fat off, don't worry- and a selection of cold drinks or coffee."

I laughed. "Sunny, you've prepared enough food to feed an army!"

"An army, yes," Sunny said. "But six friends? I may have underserved..."

As she mused to herself, I decided to ask a question that had been on my mind. "You know, you hinted you aren't from here back on that mountaintop. You know, when you quoted Lord of the Rings?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if our entire friend group consisted of former humans at this rate," Sunny replied. "I have my suspicions about Sprout, but don't tell him I said that."

I nodded. "I hope this isn't too personal, but which were you before you came here?"

"Brony," Sunny replied. "The change itself wasn't too bad, but getting used to being female took longer than I'd expected."

So, they'd turned a guy into a female pony? I could only imagine that would be pretty unpleasant. At least I'd retained my gender when I'd been brought here- it gave me one less thing to worry about.

With my former brony now pegasister friend back at work, I worked up the courage to speak again. "So, why are we here, anyway? What purpose are we serving here?"

Sunny sighed, and turned to me. "I've been having the same question myself. At first, when I was changed, I thought this was some sort of 'live a bit in a character's horseshoes' experience, then go home. But then I encountered Izzy, who was also a former human, and I began to suspect something was up. Misty being here, Zipp being a former human too, and so on- the sheer number of former humans in close proximity can't be a coincidence.

"And in two of my dreams now I've encountered a spirit like thing, telling me that myself and seven others will be needed to defeat the darkness. Question is, who are the eight?"

I thought to myself. "You, me, Pipp, Zipp, Misty, Izzy all seem like obvious candidates. And seeing as Sprout is following us about, it stands to reason he's the seventh of the group. But who would number eight be? I can't think of any obvious candidates for that position."

"Neither can I," Sunny replied. "And that encounter on the mountainside with Chris has got me thinking- what if our purpose is distinctly bigger than I previously thought?"

"We faced Chris as well in the ruins of that power plant," I said. "Only he locked us in a maze of a building which was hard to escape from. Presumably he was too busy fighting you to get involved in our plan. But he kept saying something about demons and how this timeline isn't meant to be."

"That's consistent with what I knew," Sunny said. "I think I know how he got here, but he must have pulled that off not long after he got released from jail, as when I was popped through the portal they'd only just bound him out. He must have been planning this whilst he was behind bars."

"And writing all those nonsensical, rambling letters to throw people off the scent," I said. "This is worrying, as he clearly knows what he's doing out here."

Sunny sighed. "He also said something about killing the others. Are we replacing characters he killed? It would explain how things relating to them have been found in the world I came from- I chatted with Pipp for a bit and she revealed that she, when human, found Pipp's coronet just casually discarded on the floor in her hometown. Why was it just dumped there? Did Chris kill the original Pipp out there?"

Suddenly, vocal exercises started up from the floor above.

"Well, speak of the devil," I smiled. "Looks like we got a popstar to feed."

Sunny laughed. "A pink popular puffy popstar princess with perfectly puffy wings and a precisely prepared pristinely popular purple mane?"

"That's a lot of alliteration," I said. "You should try being a writer."

Sunny shrugged. "Eh, I kinda like making smoothies. Perhaps I should open a cafe when all this is over."

Just then the others rolled in, one after the other. Izzy was apparently gone to Vanhoover a while back, so it was just us to share in the feast Sunny had made.

Author's Note

We now come to a chapter where we slow down a bit. Having reviewed feedback on this series, a common point I've seen is that the characters aren't taking enough time to discuss the situation they're in. I have, therefore, added this to try and redress this balance.

The breakfast Sunny is cooking combines a number of different influences. Whilst much of it is modelled on English traditions (Sunny chose to leave off the black pudding common of Scottish cooked breakfasts), I also incorporated an unusual oddity I noticed during my time in the Deep South- eating fried chicken for breakfast, which is surprisingly common.

For those not entirely clued up on Chris' saga, he spent nearly two years behind bars for... well, Google 'Chris Chan Jail Saga' if you really want to know. All you need to know here is that whilst behind bars he wrote incoherent, ramblings letters that were worryingly Mansonesque and drew on walls to try and create dimensional portals. I've incorporated this into the narrative as Chris using his time behind bars to try and figure out how to get to the G5 world, as his last major act before being jailed had been to rant about the show on YouTube.

Sunny's alliteration game is loosely based on the comments section of this story:

EHeavy Weighs the Crown

• MLP Gen 5
• Comedy

In the aftermath of a concert gone royally wrong, Pipp Petals struggles to escape the castle alone with Zephyr Heights' crown jewel.

• Alt. Universe
• Pets
• Pipp
• Mane 5

Rego · 1000 words  ·  48  3 · 645 views

It's a good laugh, if rather Pythonesque.

Next time; Detective on the case!