Zombie Ponies in Equestria

by Slick Ink

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Adventure
Length: 13785

Zombie Ponies, are suspected to be in Equestria, It is up t Mericle Original, Bunucle Original, and Lightning Eye, t prevent them from taking over Equestria. Join these heros, in their thrilling adventure against Zombie Ponies!

Zombie Ponies, are suspected to be in Equestria, It is up t Mericle Original, Bunucle Original, and Lightning Eye, t prevent them from taking over Equestria. Join these heros, in their thrilling adventure against Zombie Ponies!

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-05-02 05:58:23 UTC

The Wrong Pony in The Wrong Grave Yard

In a land of myth, and a time of magic, a unicorn that did not even know her powers, was already preforming great deeds. A young filly with a light pale blue coat, a mane of darker deeper blue, and eyes of amazing purple, was standing next to an old forbidden church.

The church was an odd sort, of church, it was actually quite more like a small castle, about the size of Town Hall, ( which at the time didn't exist. ) it had windows without drapes, chairs without cushions, even tables without legs. But one thing that it did have was big oaken doors. The width of the doors was amazing, she was sure with doors that wide, who needs walls?

In the front of the church, there stood a tan coated filly. The filly wasn't just the average run of the mill filly, there was something different about this one. Her mane was of light brown, her coat of light tan. But nonetheless this one was different. The tan coated filly turned toward her, "Can I help you?" She asked, as if the young pale filly had lost something.

"Oh, no, it's quite alright," came the response. "But, can I help you? Asked Mericle.

A laugh escaped the tan coated filly's lips, "Ha, ha ha ha," it took her about 2 seconds to recover from the outburst, "You see," She said, "this is a charity stand. If you're wondering why it's here then it's because I figured that being by this big ol' ancient artifact more ponies would donate to charity." She stated.

"I?" She asked curiously, not wanting to pry too much, but not believing this was to much.

The filly looked at her rather oddly, "Yes, yes, it's just me," she replied, curious as to why the question had been asked.

Trying to come up with a reply, she decided she didn't know exactly what to say, not being good at this stuff, ( or much anything for that matter. ) "Well, it's just...uh...wouldn't there be more ponies behind it?" She asked.

"What do you mean behind it?" Came the reply.

  Stumbling over words a bit she forced something out, "Well...uh...ponies making sure it gets...to the right places," she spilled out.

"The other filly looked back at her rather sadly, "No, I...uh...I'm the only one." She went quiet.

Feeling sorry for the filly she had just made upset, she tried to cheer her up, "Hey, I uh...I'm sorry, okay. I was just...Look, why are you doing this whole charity thing anyway?" She said, jumping out of the sorrowful mood.

"The filly, across her began to cry, a little bit, "Because, not long ago I was with my mother and father at home, we were making the cookies for Sunday. Sunday was going to be so good, I was putting  the chocolate chips onto the doe that Ma passed me, it's the traditional way for my family to make cookies, you see.

"Chocolate dear, would you please go get some more chocolate chips?" My mother asked?

An eager response came, "Of course mother," she said with glee, while climbing down from the stool she was on, and dashing to the pantry.

Her quick eye detected the small sack of chocolate chips, but it was on a high shelf. Climbing up onto the bucket of sugar she was able to just barely grab hold of a string sticking out of a bag of flour, pulling herself onto the flour bag, there and only there was she able to grab that small sack of chocolate chips.

Having gotten the sack of chocolate chips she was stranded at the top of the "very" tall shelf, (and I mean like two to three feet.)  She had but one option, jump! Standing upright, on her hooves, she stretched them wide, took a deep breath, and then jumped.

She felt a slight pain, when she reached the ground, like a pillow being thrown at your stomach(1). Getting up on her hooves she ran to the doorway, she was about to shout "I'm back," at the top of her lungs, when she heard voices from inside the kitchen.

"Look, honey, I'm not going to let you go on your daily gallop," she said firmly, "it's much to dangerous!"

"I have to do it, my Dr. said so," her husband replied in a more harsh tone of voice.

She scoffed, "Well that Dr. doesn't know about your condition!"

"Look, here, I'm ginna prove yo you that I can do it, heart disease will not stop me(2)," he said arrogantly, before stomping out if the room.

Starting to get all red, the only words that came out of her mouth were, "Oh, pony feathers!" Seeing as there was nothing she could do about the situation, she got back to work.

Deciding it was about due time for her to return she did just that, "Hi, mom, I got the chocolate chips, you asked for," she said smiling.

"Oh, hi Chocolate," she said as cheerfully as she could, under the stressing circumstances.

"And so the rest of the day went pretty smoothly, until my dad showed up and collapsed on the floor. An ambulance came to take him away, we followed behind, trying to catch up to it. When we reached the hospital we received the tragic news that my father had not made it. My mother all of a sudden died of a heart attack, leaving me alone," she finished off.

Having been touched, by this touching tale, she sniffed a little, but only to be interrupted by a friend, she'd all but forgotten about, "Hey, slacker! We need to hurry up, if we want to see the new motion picture, Zombie Ponies in the Snow," she said, rather bored with all this cheesy stuff.

Rather annoyed at her friend wasn't permanent, and it was tolerable. "I'm so sorry, um...um..." she tried to finish.

"It's Chocolate, remember?" She half stated half asked.

Quite surprised  she had forgotten, so quickly, she carelessly replied, "Oh! It's just I was concentrating on the dull plot line, and it's such a forgettable name." When she realized what she was saying she immediately shut up. "Oh! Uh...what I meant was...what a lovely name? He, he," she said.

Looking back at the other filly weirdly, she asked, "Are you sure I can't help, you?"

"Mericle! We have to go now!" Came an abrupt interruption, from her friend, Moonpie.

Rather annoyed at her friend, she turned around to see her. "Just a second, I'm talking to somepony," came the reply.

Moon Pie, not about to take no for an answer replied, look, if you think hanging out with some drifter is better than watching Zombie Ponies in the Snow, with your friends, then fine. We'll go watch it ourselves." With these words she turned about, and headed towards the theater, her other two friends shortly behind.

Mericle watched as her three friends walked through the snow filled road, the deep dark green filly, with glasses was in the lead, the two colts quickly behind her, (3).

Turning back to Chocolate she gave her the money, she would've used to buy the ticket, "It's just a documentary," she said smiling.

"I don't know how much to thank you," she said. "This is more than anypony has ever donated," she said beginning to get wide eyed.

Looking a little surprised, herself, she replied, "It's only like five bits."

"Yeah well you're the first pony to donate, she said looking up.

"Really?!" She looked, as shocked as a filly that had just seen a murder seen, take place.

"Yeah, say this is just enough to see that one film," she said, eyes littered with excitement.

"Yeah, it is, because I was ginna---" she said, before being abruptly interrupted.

"Oh, this is so exciting, I've always wanted to see Zombie Ponies in the Snow," she said, her voice filled with glee.

Beginning to panic, she said, "But---" before being once again interrupted.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" She continued in this manner, jumping all the way to the theater.

As soon as she rounded the bend Mericle shouted out, "Noooooooooooo!"

                                                                      ~~~

Having wandered around a bit not sure what to do, Mericle decided to go to the grave yard, where she could try to find Chocolate's parent's grave stones.

As she entered the grave yard she felt an icy wind, come to her back. Shivering a bit she continued on into the grave yard, getting more and more creeped out, the deeper she went.

In the distance she could hear a piano start to play, it was that tune from some of the horror movies, she'd seen. Beginning to pretend, she was in a horror film herself, she started to question herself. "Now then, what would a good pony do now?" She questioned, herself, not entirely sure she could figure it out on her own.

It suddenly began to rain, that's when it hit her. "Get shot!" She said excitedly. When she realized what was supposed to happen if she was in a horror film, a frown appeared on her face. "Oooooh, there has to be a better solution!"

It was only then that she realized it was getting dark. When she looked up she could see the dark clouds filling up the sky, above. She had no clue as to why the weather team would make it dark so early, but it didn't really matter.

Reaching into her saddle bags she shuffled stuff around a bit, before finding her binoculars. Putting them to her face, she looked around for the right grave stones, in the little daylight she had. Two grave stones stood out, from the others, they both had the word heart on them. Not being able to read much from so far away with binoculars she came closer, to the grave stones.

When Mericle reached them she noticed that the ground before them was disturbed. Before inspecting it she looked at the stones, to make sure they were truly Chocolate's mom's and dad's grave stones. It clearly said on the graves stones, "Heart Disease" and "Heart Attack." She was sure now.

Inspecting the ground before them seemed pointless, she just couldn't see what was wrong with it.

She noticed that the piano had stopped playing. She had no clue as to why it had stopped, but it had. She was actually a little thankful for it, it was beginning, to creep her out.

Suddenly three things happened all at once, lightning flashed, she got startled, and Zombie Ponies appeared.

(1) I would've had her scream help, but the plot called for it.

(2) I did NO research on heart disease.

(3) Nothing suggestive intended.

A Unexpected Trip

Taking a step back from the Zombie Ponies, she looked at them oddly, "Who the heck are you?" she asked.

The Zombie Ponies didn't answer, they took a step towards her, and hissed.

Taking two steps back she looked at the grave stones, "You're Chocolate's parents?!" she questioned, surprised.

The Zombie Ponies took a few steps toward her. Deciding it was high time to get out of there she turned about, and ran.

With the Zombie Ponies hot on her tail she didn't dare look back, she just ran as fast as her little hooves would permit. When she exited the grave yard it was all sunny, for the clouds were over the grave yard, not the outside path.

She had kept running, until she reached a building 20 yards away from the grave yard, once there she stopped, turned around, and noticed the Zombie Ponies were not to be seen. She didn't know ( and she didn't care ) where they were.

She decided to set back home, once there she would tell her mother what happened, her mother could take care of things, she was a member of the "Canterlot High Court,"

she'd figure it out!

~~~

Upon getting home she told her mother what had happened, thinking that she was a silly foolish foal she dismissed the idea. "Now then Mericle, we'd know if there were Zombie Ponies, wouldn't we?"

"Yes, we would, and we do, know! They've been in that grave yard all this time, and we've never known!" she cried out.

Her mother beginning to get tired of this replied, "Now go have the hay sandwich, I made for you, while you were gone. Okay?"

"But..." she said desperately.

"Okay?!" her mother said sharply.

Knowing that now was not the time to argue with her mother she retired, from the useless debate, "Okay," she said.

"That's a good girl, now then your father will be back from work later today, make sure to tell him that I've gone, but I'll be back soon," she said to her daughter.

"I will," she replied, back.

Her mother grabbed a bag that she had prepared, earlier, that evening, taking the bag she left her daughter alone in the small house.

Mericle wasn't too fond of hay, but because it was all they could afford she ate it wholeheartedly. Now this hay sandwich was very plain, it was hay and bread. Mericle didn't even know why they used the bread, "Probably because some punk wanted to make a little money, why the main component is the hay, and bread costs more than hay!" she thought.

When she finished the hay sandwich Mericle took it upon herself to clean her dishes, being the only child of a family of 3 she did all the dishes her mom didn't do.

When she finished cleaning her dishes she wrote a quick note for dad, and then went to the library, in town. Inside the library were many shelves, the one shelf that stood out was the one that actually had a book on it. Surprisingly enough all of the other shelves were empty, "Weird," she thought to herself. Approaching the shelf she could see the title of the book was "Zombie Ponies in the Snow," on top of it lay a single quill. She picked up the quill placing it in her saddlebags. Then she focused attention on the book.

A shout came from behind her, startling her, "Excuse me, miss, but visiting hours are over," said the librarian.

Turning around she replied, to the librarian, "Visiting hours?" she questioned.

The librarian looked a little annoyed, "Time for ponies to be in the library!"

"Do I look like ponies?" she asked.

The librarian opened her mouth, but no words escaped it. Upon failing to come up with words the librarian said, "Get out!"

"Not just yet," she said smartly, thinking the librarian wouldn't possibly use force against, one so young, and innocent-looking. No, she didn't seem like that type to her.

But the librarian had not necessarily taken no, for an answer, "Security!"

"What's up with all the lost books?" she questioned. "Have you been playing with fire?" she said smugly.

"The ponies behind the works of Zombie Ponies in the Snow returned that book, and borrowed the rest of the books." she said. "Security!

"And you say visiting hours are over, correct?" she asked.

"Yes," replied the librarian. "Security!"

"Then why do you yell security?" she asked.

"Because visiting hours are over, so you shouldn't be here. Security!"

"Ah, then security won't be here, they'll have gone home, to their families," she said picking up the only book in the library,

With those words stallions started bursting in from the doors, windows, and the celling.

One slammed down hard on her back, causing the book to fly out of her hooves.

The librarian walked up towards the book, picked it up, and replied, "They don't have families," before placing the book on the shelf.

~~~

A Ponyville jail is not the most comfortable place to be, ( Heck! She didn't even know if it was the Ponyville jail! ) it's dark, damp, cold, and musty, with some cheep hay on the floor. And Mericle was not finding her stay comfortable, oh no. There was always a guard, at the door, and sometimes two. She had only been in jail for 5 or 6 hours, but it felt like forever!

A dark gray pony with dark black hair wearing a dark blue officers uniform that coverd almost all of the pony so she couldn't see most of it ( not that she could see much of anything in this dark ) came up to the cell door. His hat was tilted down so she couldn't see his face either. He seemed to just stand there not moving a muscle.

She looked at him, rather oddly, "Can you get me out of here?" she asked. "Look, I need to go home, to my family."

It was useless, no matter what she tried, he didn't budge. Until after about 20 minutes she went on too long, he made an about face and marched off. It was at this tine she realized the officer didn't have a tail.

She wasn't sure what to think of it, except, "Maybe this isn't the Ponyville jail, after all,"  she thought.  But alas, all she could do was: wait, sleep, watch, and think. And think was what she did, precisely.

She thought all about her mother, father, friends, house, cat, toys, room, and books, she used to have, before she got taken to this Celestia-forsaken place.

But then she remembered. She remembered that a good guy could escape. They always did, except in dramas, that is. "But what would a good guy do?" she thought.

"Would he wait for something to happen?" This didn't strike her her easily, for good guys were always in a great hurry, and waiting was never an option.

"Would he try to dig out through the floor?" She then proceeded to inspect to the floor, which followed by a realization that it was made of brick, and covered with hay. It then dawned upon her that it wouldn't be very spectacular if a good guy just escaped through the dirt! It had happened at times, but that never seemed to impress, the ending was always too sloppy.

"Would he find anything on his pony, and use it to escape?" Realizing that unless it was a long set plot and she had happened to have taken something from some mysterious place then it was probably a no. "But at least I've still got my saddlebags on me!" she thought.

"Would she wake up?" Probably not, for she could feel her own hooves, before her (1). Just to make sure she slammed her little hooves against the stone wall. What she expected to happen was not quite what happened. As her hooves touched the brick forward, it sunk in, and the brick below it came out, hitting her in the stomach, which caused her to fall to the floor (2). "Ouch!" she screamed in pain.

Getting back to her hooves she looked down at the brick before her, which was ordinary besides one thing, it was a hollow brick. Inside of the brick there was a very old looking piece of paper, and a book. Ignoring the book all but completely she picked up up the piece of paper. As most paper this paper had words on it, and the words read...

The light will show your way,

If it's bright then on this day (3).

She pondered what this could possibly mean ( for 2 seconds ). But in the end all she came up with was that if the day was bright then she'd go into the light. Although the day was all but bright, it was dark and cold in this Celestia-forsaken dungeon/prison/not-prison/not-dungeon. ( She wasn't sure yet )

Putting the paper in her saddlebags she picked up the book, from inside of the brick. The title if the book was "Diary." Opening it to the first page she began to read.

Dear, Diary

It has been quite some time since I've run into anypony with a brain! All the ponies in this town are crazy! First I ask a pony how to get to the library, and they say, "Go east 80 miles, then north another 60 miles, and then you just keep going anyway!" So I do just that, and then arrive at a rainforest, for goodness sake! In there I run into a evil-looking guy who says, "Get lost kid." But I'm already lost! And then I try to...

~~~

Mericle's house was quiet at the moment, there was nopony home at the moment. There was just the drip of the kitchen sink,  the cat eating cat food, and the wind blowing.

Until her dad came home with a big bursting entrance, shouting, "I'm home!" as loud as ponily possible. There was no sudden amount of hooves on the ground, rushing toward him, even the cat didn't care. Nope. After waiting a minute or so he decided to take a look around the house.

Checking every nook and cranny he could remember he came to the conclusion that his family had gone...missing (4)!

(1) Just the other night I thought I could, but it was a stupid dream! Curses!

(2) I really didn't want to be nasty her. Tell me if I should cut that hitting bit, please.

(3) Well...I was rushed...

(4) No cliff hanger at all.

An Addition or Two

In the jail ( or somewhere else, quite possibly ) Mericle continued to read the Diary. It was beginning to get to a part with a lot of Asian ponies, she wasn't racist, but the ponies were just annoying when they said, "Aflagana marktoweinsa," and "Jick!" She just couldn't understand them, and that frustrated her. But the Diary wasn't all bad, a lot of stuff happened in it, and that interested her. And she was glad she knew it was all true, because it was a Diary (1).

She had learned that when her mother was reading the Diary of her great great grandmother. ( She loved her family ) She had read the cover and asked her mother what a Diary was, her mother told what a Diary was, and she had gotten all excited. She had from then on always wanted to have a Diary.

A thought crossed her mind. She quickly turned to near the end of the book, and found there to be about ten pages left. "That's just enough!" she thought happily. Not realizing that the other pony had taken up  a heck of a lot more than that, and she may very well need just as many pages. Turning to the second from last page with wording on it she began to read.

Dear Diary

It's funny really, I found the way to escape. All I had to do to find it was see the light in this dark place. Ha ha! I've found out alot about these ponies, they actually need something that I can give, if I just go with them out there they can take it, I'll be able to leave this place, finally. Also, whichever pony is reading this right now then unless the ponies cleaned out this room taking this book to some library them you're here, too. Which means you have something they want too. You can give it to them, by saying you're ready. Anyway back to the subject, I will leave this here for the next pony to leave, the ponies don't know about this secret compartment, so don't tell them about it, or else I'll make a sad face. But not being much of an artist I can't draw a sad face here, so just don't. Well I think tomorrow I'll give them what they want, such short notice I know, but they need it awfully bad, so the lucky devils can have it. Well that's all I guess...

Looking over at the last page she read.

Dear Diary

For obvious reasons I have never told you about the quill I write with. Well anyway I'm going now, I'll leave you in this spot. It'll keep you secret, it'll keep you safe...

She realized the Diary didn't have one thing, so she took the quill out of her saddlebags and gently wrote, "The End," so that the Diary would be complete. She then turned the page and began to write, "The Diary of Mericle Original, An Unexpected Jour-neigh," for the title. Then she began to write.

Dear Diary

This will be one of my daily blogs about stuff in general. Okay so what happened? Well I found a drifter, gave her my money, went to a graveyard, got freaked out by Zombie Ponies, ran home, talked to mom, washed dishes, ran to a library, stole this quill I'm writing with, got captured by ponies, and brought to this Celestia-forsaken place. I guess you're about updated.

Having given the rough of her day she then closed the book, placed it in the brick, and closed that. After this she then went to the cell door and looked outside, there wasn't much outside of her cell that she could see, just a guard.

~~~

The cold hard snow of the Winter dropped hard against the backs of podestrians, walking along the Shallow Street that day. Shallow Street was known for its importance. For on Shallow Street stood the only police office in Pegago. The police office ( being the only one in a hundred miles ) had lots of business. And they had just the pony for taking care of it all on the job, Lightning Eye (2).

Lightning Eye was strong and diligent, and didn't crack under pressure. She had been in the Military before, wasn't afraid to get dirty. Many a battle she had been in before, and they weren't pretty. She had lost her family, in Equestria War 1, and she was going to prevent Equestria War 2, if ponily possible.

Today she was looking over the reports from the border, she couldn't find anything particularly wrong. A few stray dogs, a few litterers, a few drug drop offs. Not much to be found. She was having a pretty boring day. Since the new co-manager came in, he was getting all of the attention. She just got all the boring drop offs, and a few others. "Maybe, if things get way busy then I'll get just as much business," she thought cheerfully. Things never got quite that busy though. "Oh well..." she thought. Then an idea hit her. "I know!" she said aloud. "I'll tell Jenn Belle to send the next one into me!" she said, running to the secretary.

When she reached her secretary she noticed that she was talking to someone. "It's terribly important, I demand to see---" the stallion Jenn was talking to was interrupted by Lightning Eye.

"Uh, Jenn?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, Lightning?" she replied smiling.

"Send this one into me, okay?" she said, smiling, too.

"Of course, he'll be right along." she said turning back to the stallion, and explaining. "That just so happens to be the head, luck is on your side, today." she said shortly before getting up from her seat and leading him in to Lightning Eye's office.

When the door oppened he was revealed to the office of Lightning Eye herself. There were file cabinets, the walls were decorated with bright medals of silver, bronze, and gold alike. There were trophies of hoof to hoof combat, there were trophies of leadership, there were trophies of courage, there were trophies of bravery, there were trophies of awesomeness, there were trophies of coolness, there were trophies of radicalness, there were trophies of all variety of things. You name it, she had it. ( Well she did fail to get the one for the sonic rainboom ) She was obviously a collector, for you could find many a trinket on her shelf. She had a snow globe, a mini telephone box, a signed copy of Double Rainboom, the Princesses Crown, ( and possibly a thief ) etc. And the floor. On the floor where he stepped in there was a rug.  A rug made from...he couldn't find out what it was made from. He kept staring at the black shiny-looking mat. Not finding his answer he decided not to dwell on the subject, and looked to the center of the room. In the center of the room stood a desk. The desk was heaped with pages and pages of paperwork, that Lightning Eye herself was probably in the middle of. Soon the paperwork came crashing down, the mighty waves of the paper went everywhere. Soon the paper floated back down, and he was able to see, Lightning Eye. Lightning Eye, stepped up from her seat, pulled it forwards, and then sat down again. "Can I help you?" she asked, fiddling with a quill all the time.

"Oh, uh, yes, please. My family has gone missing." said Bunucle Original, who had a name. ( Names aren't my specialty )

Lightning Eye dropped the quill she was holding, for she too had lost her family. In the war. "Is there anything you have that could help us, any leads?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, I have this." he said, taking out a note that was in his overcoat. "It's from my daughter."

Lightning Eye plucked the note from his hoof and then began to read it, aloud. "Hi Dad, I thought I'd tell you about the Zombie Ponies in town." Lightning Eye's eyes began to grow wide. "I was at this graveyard when these two came right up to me, I ran back home, I'm off to save Equestria dad, catchya later. Mericle Original..." Lighning Eye finished reading.

Lightning Eye then proceeded to go to a file cabinet, flicking the files until she reached near the end, she pulled out a file from the cabinet, and then slammed the door closed. Taking the file to her desk she dropped it down, and it read "Zombie Ponies." She sat down in her chair, and proceeded to open the folder. She then began to read the first few pages for a while before turning back to Bunucle. "There is no image available for us, but this contains a good deal of information about Zom-ponies." she said.

Bunucle chuckled aloud, "I like how you mixed the words so that they say "Zom-ponies" instead of "Zombie Ponies," I really do," he continued to chuckle.

Lightning Eye glared up at him, "Zombie Ponies," she said. "Apparently Zombie Ponies have to stay in the dark, to live. There was one time when Zombie Ponies came to Equestria before,  but there were only 3 of them, they got taken care of pretty quickly, only took a day."

"Why would it take a day?" he interrupted.

Lightning Eye looked up at him, with dark eyes. "They had to fashion them to the bottom of the Filling Sea, and leave them there, for all of eternity. Is that clear?"

"Oh, uh, yes. Yes, I do." he said, stammering.

She picked up the file and flicked to the end, "And here it says they tried to escape once, and almost did. It is possible that these are those Zom-ponies, but they could be others if somepony let them out." she finished.

"What do you mean,  if somepony let them out?" he asked.

"Zom-Ponies can't possibly get out of their grave on their own, they'd need help to do that. No, if somepony let them out they'd be free, once they're out of their grave, pow! They won't be stuck in the grave again. That's why they had to fashion them at the bottom of the Filling Sea."

"Who--"

"If you're wondering who let them out in the first place it still remains a mystery, to the National Police Force." she replied.

"No, who got them to the bottom of the Filling Sea?" he asked.

She looked up at him with her dark brown eyes, her gray coat seemed even darker now, her black-gray tail seemed darker too. With all the effort she could muster she replied, "I hadn't thought of that." With those words they could've heard a door that was oiled open, for it was so quiet. The two ponies then went into deep thought, thinking about who could have possibly got three ponies to the bottom of the Filling Sea,  fashion them to the bottom of it, and come back up alive? Or did they come back alive? Had the pony sacrificed its life for its country? Or had it been 3 different ponies? Had each sacrificed its life for its country? Or had it been lots of ponies? Had many ponies tried and failed? All of these questions and more piled up in their minds.

Bunucle was the first to break the silence. "It was probably just Celestia." he guessed.

Lightning Eye chuckled, "Yeah, probably." she smiled. "Well anyways, I have best investigate this, you can go home now Mr...."

"Original." he said. "It's Original, I do have a name, actually." he smiled.

She got up from her seat, "Well, I guess you can go home now, I'll take it from here." she said.

He stepped in-front of her, "Not on my life! My family is lost out there, and I'm not leaving them alone. I'm coming whether you like it or not! Also I'm bored," he said.

She looked up at him, "I could break your neck if I wanted to," she said. She could tell he was looking at her hoof to hoof combat trophy, his eyes had a determined look in them. He wasn't going to give up easy. Not that he could put up much of a fight against her, with her training.

He wasn't going to give up now, no. Not with his family on the line. "Either your going with me, or--"

"Or you're not going at all." she interrupted.

"My family is out there, and I'm not just gonna freakin' leave them there! Now either we both go, or neither of us go. Have I made myself clear?!" he yelled.

"Look, I know you're worried, but now is not the time to be worried. Now is the time... to listen to me. Look! You can come...if you listen to me, and do what you're told." she said.

"Okay," he replied, "I will."

"Oh!" shouted Lightning Eye. "You should leave a note, at your house, to your wife. Cause we don't actually now where she is, so in case she comes back there then she'll know." she finished.

"Good idea, I'll do that." he said. "But where can I find you?" he asked.

Realizing that her plan to ditch him had failed, and she would indeed have to take with her a this poor father, she replied, "At the Dry Docks."

"Odd name that. Cause you know, there's not a thing dry about..." his voice faded out as her glare settled upon the stallion. "Anyway..." he said leaving the room, to get back home.

Lightning Eye went off toward the Dry Docks, leaving her office door swinging, to eventually settle with a creak.

~~~

Upon arriving at his home he quickly went to his brief case filled with paperwork. Grabbing a blank piece of white paper he picked up a quill from on the desk and began to write.

"Dear Wife. Mericle has gone off on a wild goose chase to save Equestria from possibly make-believe Zombie Ponies. I've contacted the police about it, so I'll be working with an officer to resolve issue. Please stay at the house, we wouldn't want everypony to get lost, so just stay here at the house, I'll come back and find you after we're done inspecting at the Dry Docks. Do not come! Just wait here, please. Bunucle Original..."

He finished writing and dropped the quill down on the table with a cliter-clater, leaving the cat as the house's last line of defence (3).

(1) Who fakes their own Diary?

(2) Well it's not Lightning Hoof, Saberspark.

(3) Well it was I guess kind of a reference, to My little Pony the ultimate abridged series episode 9 I guess, ( Actually I'm not sure that that is the name. ) but not quite (4).

(4) Well not actually number 4, just a cheating way to get 21 extra words onto it. So that's it.

One Bad Day

After leaving his house he noticed that the "blizzard" had died down a bit. It was now just a sprinkle of snow. As he ran down streets, made turns, went down alleyways, ran into dead ends,  but he certainly didn't run into the docks.

Running into a barricade at the end of of yet another side-street with houses on the side, he decided not to turn around, but to prove to the world that this barricade could not stop him.

Confidence building up in him, he decided to get over with it. Taking ten paces backwards he peered up at the barricade, taking a leap of faith he ran towards the barricade and jumped. He sailed up in the air, flying ( he's an earth pony ) just right he flew over the barricade. Unfortunately, his hoof come down too soon, hitting the barricade, causing him to smash into the snow on the ground, and causing the barricade to hit a house on the side of the street. The house shook with force, followed by snow crashing down from the roof.

Bunucle was flooding with panic, attempting to escape from the immense wave of snow, all he was able to do was lift a hoof in the air, and place it back down, before the wave of snow hit him.

After it had settled and he climbed out it wasn't long before he realized that the snow had seemed like a lot more from the bottom than from the top. After a bit he heard a door open from behind him. Turning around he saw a very cross-looking family in front of him. "I can explain." he tried. But the next thing he knew he'd been thrown out their front door and into the snow-filled road.

Climbing up from his not-so-comfy fall he made a mental note in his head, to have Mericle and her friends TP this house.  Looking down the street he sighed. How long would it take him to get to the docks? He started to wonder.

Walking down the street he noticed a figure begin to walk towards him. As the figure drew closer he was able to identify that it was but a mere small filly.

The filly walked up to him, stopped, and then looked up at him. "Hello." she said smiling.

"Hi," he said looking down curiously at the light tan filly, with a brown mane.

"Have you lost something?" Chocolate  asked looking up at him through wondering ( or wonderful ) eyes.

"Oh, actually, yes." He replied looking beyond the filly, at the "blizzard."

"Is it a pony?" she asked looking at him, eyes wide with fright.

Face tightening he looked down at her a little bit puzzled, and a little bit scared. "Yes," he answered, wondering how in hay this filly could know.

The filly's face tightened with fear. "Ah!!! Zombie Ponies!!! They're after us, they wanna eat us!!! Boil our blood to make tea!!! Walls closing in around me!!! Heeeeeeeelp!!!" she screamed pressing up against Bunucle.

Looking down at her queerly his eyes went wide. "Hey!" he said pushing her away from him with a hoof. "Have you been watching "Zombie Ponies in the Snow," without your mother's approval?" he asked glaring down at her.

Looking up at him sadly she replied, "I don't have a mother."

The realization hitting him he replied, "Uh, well, maybe...that's all for...the better?" he said questioningly.

At this he could see the filly trembling, like she was about to cry, flooding the town.

"Yes! Yes!" he said trying to make her feel better. "Cause your such a bad filly an' all, your mother doesn't have to live with you anymore, and that's good!" he said putting on a nervous smile.

At this the filly in front of him began to cry, not exactly a flood, but it wasn't what he was trying to accomplish.

"Hey. What I meant was," he stopped for a bit trying to think of something. "What I meant was that's for the worse. After all, what mother doesn't love their little filly?" he asked smiling.

At this her tears cut down to sobs, and she looked up at him, with hope in her eyes that was quickly fading away.

"Yeah, yeah. That's what I meant." he said replying quickly. "And now, she'll never love you again," he said continuing on.

"But what about in pony h---"

"Well, in pony hell," he said, "she won't have time to think about you. She'll be to busy screaming her head off, to think about her favorite filly. Come to think of it..." he trailed off.

"But..." she stammered, "what if she..." her voice fell apart.

"Not a chance!" he said surely. "She'll have gone just where you'll go," he said tapping her shoulder, "trust me." he finished.

"Than if I---"

"Sorry. Not happening. It's you're — how do I say? — destiny." With that he smiled, gave a sigh, and looked down at her.

At this the filly couldn't take it anymore. Throwing herself on the snow she began to cry, and worse than before.

Bunucle began to walk off, once he rounded the bend he gave a sigh. Facing the truth he said aloud, "I'll never be good with children."

After a while of asking questions, getting a door slammed in his face, thinking, and a good deal of walking, Bunucle had finally made it to The Dry Docks. The whole round trip — he guessed — had taken about 4 hours.

Looking around for Lightning Eye he saw: a few boats, a few benches, a few Seagulls, a few crabs, various things that most likely should not have been there, and a few families.

Looking at the one particular family he smiled. This family consisted of three ponies, just like his did. One pony was a filly, with a balloon. This filly — presumably — had two parents siting on a bench behind her, talking what looked like very seriously.

The little filly's balloon was tied ( with a very loose knot ) to her hoof. The filly was playing with sand, trying to make a sandcastle. As she tried her best to make a sandcastle, she kept throwing the sand at the bottom away, which caused more to come down, until eventually she had no more castle and had to get her dad to get her another bucket full of sand. With a smile on her face she tried again. Again the sand went everywhere! But one hoofful hit her balloon, and with the provided energy of the strong wind her balloon flew away from her.

Looking up at her balloon sadly she began to cry a little. "Daddy?!" she said said with a whine in her voice.

Her dad looking down at her asked, "What, would you like some more sand?"

"No," said his daughter stupidly.

"Okay, well Mommy and Daddy are very busy at the moment, so don't bother us, okay." he said turning back to his wife.

"But---"

"Shh!" shushed her dad.

Then the filly got all mad, and went to crying, as a resort.

Bunucle, guessing that the balloon had just gone up into the sky looked around, in case it had gotten caught on something. Sweet luck! The balloon had got caught under the sail of a ship nearby.

Picking up a rock Bunucle ran towards the ship, not stopping for anything. When he reached the ship he grabbed a rope ladder that was hanging over the edge, climbing up the ladder he swung up onto the ship.

Running towards the mast he could hear a cry come from behind him saying, "Halt!"

Not halting in the slightest he was quickly on his way up the mast. Behind him he could hear ponies climbing, not chancing a glance down he continued his journey up the mast. When he reached the sails he quickly grabbed hold of the balloon, and tied the string to the rock he had brought. Aiming the rock, he tossed it towards the filly's sandcastle.

The filly was still crying hard when something big hit her on the shoulder. "Ow!" she said looking at what had fallen. She picked up the balloon with the rock tied to it, casting the rock into the ocean she hugged the balloon squealing. "Yay! I'll never let you out of my sight again!" she said happily.

"Shh!" her father shushed her.

Not listening to him she let go of her balloon and got back to work on her sandcastle.

Bunucle watched as the balloon went up, before rolling his eyes and saying aloud, "Whatever." At that moment he felt a hoof grab his hoof. Bucking down as hard as he could he sent the pony grabbing on to him falling down to deck. Looking down to see that the pony was okay he saw that it had fallen into a net.

He felt something tighten around his hooves. He didn't even have the time to look up before he started getting tossed about wildly, by what he could tell was a rope. Before he knew it he was everywhere, crashing into mast hundreds of times before getting chucked into the ocean.

Popping up from beneath the waves he shook his head about and then swam back to shore.

Once on shore he could hear a voice from the ship yelling upwards, "Why did you let him off with a warning?!"

His eyes went wide at this, but pretty quickly he started to wonder where Lightning Eye was. He thought he had been delayed for 4 hours, but if he had been delayed for 4 hours, then what had happened to Lightning Eye? "We were supposed to meet at The Dry Docks, so where the heck is she?!" he said aloud.

At this he heard hoofsteps come from behind him, turning around he said, "Lightning!" Only to be disappointed when a light-gray-blue coated mare with a dark gray mane and a seashell cutie mark walked up.

She looked at him smiling, "You have yet to reach The Dry Docks."

Bunucle looked at her surprised, "Excuse me." he paused. "What?"

"This is Barnacle Beach, you haven't gotten to The Dry Docks yet." she said calmly.

Bunucle's eyes widened, looking at her he asked, "And how do I get to The Dry Docks?"

Raising her eyebrows at the same time as smiling, she stated, "Well it's simple, just follow the coast a few miles until you see it somewhere."

"Ah! Thank you!" he said smiling nicely, as he began to turn and walk away.

"Oh! What's your name, Mr.?" she asked quickly.

Turning around he replied, "Bunucle Original."

She smiled, "Ah. Thank you." She turned around and began to walk away.

This time it was his turn to call out, "Wait! What's your name?"

Turning back to him she replied, "Shorely Shell."

Bunucle smiled, "Thanks again!"

Then they both went on their separate merry ways.

Evidence

Lightning Eye had instantly proceeded to investigate The Dry Docks when arriving, not one to wait.

She did a quick check around the dock not finding anything out of ordinary she was about to give up and take off to sea, without Bunucle, when she noticed something out of the ordinary.

Lying on the dock before her, was a old rusty pipe. Picking up the pipe she examined it. There appeared to be some kind of blood smeared on the pipe.

Growing curious, she walked over to the café, a short walk away and sat down to examine her find.

Looking it over for quite some time she just couldn't begin to solve it's puzzle, let alone find the puzzle to begin with. She put the pipe eye level and tilted her head and the pipe up so that she could see into it. Water splashed out of the pipe and into her face. Dropping the pipe onto the ground and shaking herself off she could hear laughter coming from across the street of where she was.

Looking up she saw a group of adult ponies ( whom she guessed had been bullies since school ) laughing their faces off, at this so-called idiotic thing she had done.

Smiling she stepped up from her seat and began to walk across the street, making sure there were no horse-drawn carriages coming.

As she came closer she noticed that the ponies in front of her had started to smile too, like a group of bullies. Little did they know.

When she reached the side of the road she spat on the ground before her. Lifting a hoof to her face she brushed some of the left over water off of her face. "Ever heard of the expression "A million to one," by any chance?" Lightning asked scratching her back.

A light-brown coated stallion with a dark- brown mane and a tongue for a cutie mark stepped up, hitting his hooves together as he approached her. "Yeah, that's about how outnumbered you are here," he snapped.

Roars of laughter escaped the group's mouths.

"That guy's probably the leader," she thought to herself.

"Such a flimsy mare as yourself, there just isn't a comparison between me and you, so we'll have to call it "a million to one," whelp." the stallion said brushing off the idea this mare could even attempt to fight.

Roars of laughter came from the crowd behind him again.

She didn't listen to them, still focused on the leader.  "Well, I wouldn't judge so quick, if I were you," she stated in a soothing tone of voice.

"Well," he said, "why not? It's pretty obvious, take a look at those flimsy mus..." his voice trailed off. Taking a step back he blinked at the huge muscles she had.

The crowd didn't turn off their laughter, and just laughed harder than the last time.

Lightning Eye was beginning to wonder if the crowd was hired, or not.

The leader turning around shushed them quietly, "Shh! Shh! Shh!" before tossing the crowd a few bits, which turned off their laughter.

That was it! She was sure they were hired.

She smiled and lifted her hooves up to her face, getting into fighting position.

The leader ( not wanting to pick a fight with this mare, just yet ) of the group turned to the crowd and muttered quietly, "Come on, we don't want no trouble here." He and the trio of other ponies then marched off.

As they marched off behind them Bunucle ran up, panting. "Hello. Did I miss anything?"

"Quite, actually." Lightning said before turning around and running back to the café, Bunucle quick behind her. Picking up  the pipe from its resting place on the ground she sat down. "Here," she said, hooving the pipe over to him. "What do you think of that?"

Picking the pipe up from her hooves he sat down. Examining it for a good 15 minutes he replied, "It's a pipe."

Lightning Eye rolled her eyes. "Ugh! Yes it's a pipe! But what do you think of it?!" Lightning Eye asked flaying her legs wildly.

He examined it for a few more minutes before replying, "I think it doesn't belong here," he said, chucking the pipe into a brick disposal bin on the outside of the café (1) .

Lightning Eye jumped up in shock. "What the hay did you just do that for?" Lightning yelled, with a horrified look on her face.

"We didn't need it," he shrugged. "Simple as that." With that he questioned, "Hey, since we're here wanna grab something to eat? I'm famished!" Bunucle  said placing a hoof on his stomach.

"No! I do not, wanna grab some grub! You just got rid of the only lead I had!"

"That was no lead, that was a pipe." he said, brushing the idea away with a brush of his hoof.

Lightning Eye exploded, "Glah! You know what, forget it! I don't need that evidence! You know why? Because I'm awesome!" she said, stomping off in the direction of the dock.

Bunucle quickly got up after her, "Wait for me!"

"No!" she shouted back, "I will not, wait...for you!"

"Then, I'll catch up with you." he said, quickening his pace.

Lightning Eye turned around looking at him, "Look! I like customers, as much as the next pony, but I don't like it when they throw my stuff in a waste bin. So would you please for Celestia's sake just---"

"Then where are you going?" Bunucle asked as if she had some crazy plan about going deep into enemy lines to take out the guy behind the coffee making machine.

"I'm going---" Lightning Eye bit down hard on her tongue. "Never mind." she said before turning around and heading for the dock again.

Bunucle just stood there, not doing a thing. He had just been refused to help search for his daughter. His only...child...

As Lightning Eye walked toward the dock without turning around  she yelled back, "Go home!"

Not one to give up Bunucle made a pretense of walking home, before turning around and sneaking back toward the dock.

Hiding behind a bench he chanced a glance around, to see Lightning Eye put a few bits in a pony's hooves, shortly before climbing up the rope ladder that hung next to the sailor.

The sailor followed a good deal behind her, obviously not in any hurry.

Seeing that Lightning Eye was gone he leapt out of his hiding place running to catch the pony before it climbed up.

"Wait!" Bunucle yelled quietly.

The sailor turned around on the rope ladder it was climbing, eying Bunucle suspiciously, he climbed down from the rope ladder, and continued to stare.

Reaching the sailor Bunucle reached for his pocket, while asking, "How much?"

The sailor before him whom couldn't contain his laughter fell down, bursting out laughing, for a good 5 minutes, before getting up. "This is is a military ship, we don't just let any old grandfather on," the sailor said, still giggling.

"Are you done with your little "outburst," may I ask?" he asked glaring coldly at the sailor.

"Mostly," the sailor said, bitting down on his lower lip, so as to contain his laughter.

"How much then?" asked Bunucle, once again, only to be greeted by a completely different response.

"Military training." stated the soldier, making a swiping motion with his hoof.

"That's a no then?" he asked, still unsure.

"Yes."

Bunicle sighed, "Well, then you won't be needing this anymore," he said, pulling a pocket knife out of his pocket, and then slicing the rope cleanly through.

The sailor watched the rope ladder fall to the ground, to his horror the ship had just started to take off.

"You...you..." the sailor began, but didn't finish as the pony that had been so cruel as to cut the rope ladder began to gallop to the ship supplies store, leaving behind a sore sailor, banging against the side of the ship yelling, "Let me in!" Before the ship went to far away, leaving the sailor there, to run off to some corner of somewhere, and mope.

  Bursting into the store Bunucle just short of instantly spotted the thing he wanted. A thing of beauty. A thing of grace. A thing of speed. A thing of accuracy. A thing of deadliness. A thing of the store's. ( enough of that ) Running to where it was resting he ran to the grappling hook, ran back, tossed the cashier pony 20 or so bits, and ran back to the ship as fast as possible. Lightning Eye had instantly proceeded to investigate The Dry Docks when arriving, not one to wait.

She did a quick check around the dock not finding anything out of ordinary she was about to give up and take off to sea, without Bunucle, when she noticed something out of the ordinary.

Lying on the dock before her, was a old rusty pipe. Picking up the pipe she examined it. There appeared to be some kind of blood smeared on the pipe.

Growing curious, she walked over to the café, a short walk away and sat down to examine her find.

Looking it over for quite some time she just couldn't begin to solve it's puzzle, let alone find the puzzle to begin with. She put the pipe eye level and tilted her head and the pipe up so that she could see into it. Water splashed out of the pipe and into her face. Dropping the pipe onto the ground and shaking herself off she could hear laughter coming from across the street of where she was.

Looking up she saw a group of adult ponies ( whom she guessed had been bullies since school ) laughing their faces off, at this so-called idiotic thing she had done.

Smiling she stepped up from her seat and began to walk across the street, making sure there were no horse-drawn carriages coming.

As she came closer she noticed that the ponies in front of her had started to smile too, like a group of bullies. Little did they know.

When she reached the side of the road she spat on the ground before her. Lifting a hoof to her face she brushed some of the left over water off of her face. "Ever heard of the expression "A million to one," by any chance?" Lightning asked scratching her back.

A light-brown coated stallion with a dark- brown mane and a tongue for a cutie mark stepped up, hitting his hooves together as he approached her. "Yeah, that's about how outnumbered you are here," he snapped.

Roars of laughter escaped the group's mouths.

"That guy's probably the leader," she thought to herself.

"Such a flimsy mare as yourself, there just isn't a comparison between me and you, so we'll have to call it "a million to one," whelp." the stallion said brushing off the idea this mare could even attempt to fight.

Roars of laughter came from the crowd behind him again.

She didn't listen to them, still focused on the leader.  "Well, I wouldn't judge so quick, if I were you," she stated in a soothing tone of voice.

"Well," he said, "why not? It's pretty obvious, take a look at those flimsy mus..." his voice trailed off. Taking a step back he blinked at the huge muscles she had.

The crowd didn't turn off their laughter, and just laughed harder than the last time.

Lightning Eye was beginning to wonder if the crowd was hired, or not.

The leader turning around shushed them quietly, "Shh! Shh! Shh!" before tossing the crowd a few bits, which turned off their laughter.

That was it! She was sure they were hired.

She smiled and lifted her hooves up to her face, getting into fighting position.

The leader ( not wanting to pick a fight with this mare, just yet ) of the group turned to the crowd and muttered quietly, "Come on, we don't want no trouble here." He and the trio of other ponies then marched off.

As they marched off behind them Bunucle ran up, panting. "Hello. Did I miss anything?"

"Quite, actually." Lightning said before turning around and running back to the café, Bunucle quick behind her. Picking up  the pipe from its resting place on the ground she sat down. "Here," she said, hooving the pipe over to him. "What do you think of that?"

Picking the pipe up from her hooves he sat down. Examining it for a good 15 minutes he replied, "It's a pipe."

Lightning Eye rolled her eyes. "Ugh! Yes it's a pipe! But what do you think of it?!" Lightning Eye asked flaying her legs wildly.

He examined it for a few more minutes before replying, "I think it doesn't belong here," he said, chucking the pipe into a brick disposal bin on the outside of the café (1) .

Lightning Eye jumped up in shock. "What the hay did you just do that for?" Lightning yelled, with a horrified look on her face.

"We didn't need it," he shrugged. "Simple as that." With that he questioned, "Hey, since we're here wanna grab something to eat? I'm famished!" Bunucle  said placing a hoof on his stomach.

"No! I do not, wanna grab some grub! You just got rid of the only lead I had!"

"That was no lead, that was a pipe." he said, brushing the idea away with a brush of his hoof.

Lightning Eye exploded, "Glah! You know what, forget it! I don't need that evidence! You know why? Because I'm awesome!" she said, stomping off in the direction of the dock.

Bunucle quickly got up after her, "Wait for me!"

"No!" she shouted back, "I will not, wait...for you!"

"Then, I'll catch up with you." he said, quickening his pace.

Lightning Eye turned around looking at him, "Look! I like customers, as much as the next pony, but I don't like it when they throw my stuff in a waste bin. So would you please for Celestia's sake just---"

"Then where are you going?" Bunucle asked as if she had some crazy plan about going deep into enemy lines to take out the guy behind the coffee making machine.

"I'm going---" Lightning Eye bit down hard on her tongue. "Never mind." she said before turning around and heading for the dock again.

Bunucle just stood there, not doing a thing. He had just been refused to help search for his daughter. His only...child...

As Lightning Eye walked toward the dock without turning around  she yelled back, "Go home!"

Not one to give up Bunucle made a pretense of walking home, before turning around and sneaking back toward the dock.

Hiding behind a bench he chanced a glance around, to see Lightning Eye put a few bits in a pony's hooves, shortly before climbing up the rope ladder that hung next to the sailor.

The sailor followed a good deal behind her, obviously not in any hurry.

Seeing that Lightning Eye was gone he leapt out of his hiding place running to catch the pony before it climbed up.

"Wait!" Bunucle yelled quietly.

The sailor turned around on the rope ladder it was climbing, eying Bunucle suspiciously, he climbed down from the rope ladder, and continued to stare.

Reaching the sailor Bunucle reached for his pocket, while asking, "How much?"

The sailor before him whom couldn't contain his laughter fell down, bursting out laughing, for a good 5 minutes, before getting up. "This is is a military ship, we don't just let any old grandfather on," the sailor said, still giggling.

"Are you done with your little "outburst," may I ask?" he asked glaring coldly at the sailor.

"Mostly," the sailor said, bitting down on his lower lip, so as to contain his laughter.

"How much then?" asked Bunucle, once again, only to be greeted by a completely different response.

"Military training." stated the soldier, making a swiping motion with his hoof.

"That's a no then?" he asked, still unsure.

"Yes."

Bunicle sighed, "Well, then you won't be needing this anymore," he said, pulling a pocket knife out of his pocket, and then slicing the rope cleanly through.

The sailor watched the rope ladder fall to the ground, to his horror the ship had just started to take off.

"You...you..." the sailor began, but didn't finish as the pony that had been so cruel as to cut the rope ladder began to gallop to the ship supplies store, leaving behind a sore sailor, banging against the side of the ship yelling, "Let me in!" Before the ship went to far away, leaving the sailor there, to run off to some corner of somewhere, and mope.

  Bursting into the store Bunucle just short of instantly spotted the thing he wanted. A thing of beauty. A thing of grace. A thing of speed. A thing of accuracy. A thing of deadliness. A thing of the store's. ( enough of that ) Running to where it was resting he ran to the grappling hook, ran back, tossed the cashier pony 20 or so bits, and ran back to the ship as fast as possible.

But when he reached where the ship had left the dock, he found it to be there again loading a bit more cargo on, that had probably been forgotten, in the haste.

Noticing that the ponies hauling the cargo had their backs turned at the moment, he dropped the grappling hook, and muttered something about a waste, before jumping into the open container of food.

One of the cargo ponies, seeming to notice something, snapped around sharply.

Huddling in the corner of the food container, Bunucle listened to the conversation, taking place outside.

"C'mon, Bruce! We 'aven't got all day. Now, 'ave we?" asked another cargo pony.

"Just a second, my patient friend. I think I see somethin'." replied the scrawny cargo pony.

"We don't get paid for dawdling, now c'mon up 'ere." the muscley pony growled.

"Wait! Honest, there's something here! Just wait, a minute!" Bruce said in an indescribable tone of voice.

"We need that shipment! NOW!" boomed a voice, from up on the ship.

"It's coming!" one of the cargo ponies yelled back.

"Now!" yelled the "patient friend."

"Fine." Bruce replied, beginning to help with the cargo.

The food cargo lifted underneath Bunucle's hooves, taking bumps, more than often. Suddenly there was a large jolt causing the cargo container to fall, bumping down where, Bunucle knew not. For he had blacked out.

~~~

Arriving home Valine Wine set down the groceries, and saw the note from her husband.

After reading it she muttered something about dinner, and went to the living room to watch TV.

~~~

THE NEXT DAY

~~~

"Well, this is just beginning to get the teeniest tiniest bit boring." Mericle said aloud. Now resorting to counting the breaths she took. She'd unfortunately lost track ages ago, and was now just guessing.

Lifting up a hoof full of the hay on the floor, with her hooves, she began to rub it between them for some time, before gently dropping it, allowing it to slowly fall back down to the damp cold stone floor.

Mericle stood up from her rest on the hay covered floor. Dusting herself off she went over to the cell ( must I repeat myself ) door. Peering out the gaps between the bars, she stared down the dark gloomy hallway.

Suddenly mixed joy and excitement filled her, as she realized that it was a new day, which meant she could fill out another page of her ( well, not really "her's" ) Diary!

"I love doing this, so much!" Mericle said aloud with mixed excitement and glee.

Running over to the secret place ( hidden brick ) she turned around to make sure nopony was looking. Seeing nopony, she pressed the upper brick again, slowly this time. At the same time, the lower one came out at the same speed. Mericle turned around, checking once again that there was nopony watching. Again, there was nopony.

Reaching in carefully and quietly, Mericle picked up the Diary, lifting it up carefully, she closed the secret compartment, leaving it just as it had been when she first found it.

Sitting down on the floor of the ( I will no longer repeat myself ) cell, she cracked open the Diary, to where it had been before, she began to write...

Dear Diary...

There isn't really much to write about, to say. But earlier today, that pony came by again, the one without a tail. Also, sorry for not mentioning him yesterday. I do hope you understand, I was trying to cram everything in on the one page. Well anyway, he did what he did last time, observed me for like half an hour, or something, and then he just goes. Almost as if...as if...as if he wants something. I'm counting on getting rescued. By Dad. I miss my dad. I love my dad.

A tear drop crawled down her face, running out of space it took cover on the page of the book, right after the last word.

Closing the book she began to cry openly, wetting her face with tears. She cried about Mom. She cried about Dad.  She cried about numerous other things I do not care to mention.

Picking herself up, she picked up the book and walked over to the hidding place. Doing exactly what she did last time except placing the book in this time. She lay down to get some rest.

But when he reached where the ship had left the dock, he found it to be there again loading a bit more cargo on, that had probably been forgotten, in the haste.

Noticing that the ponies hauling the cargo had their backs turned at the moment, he dropped the grappling hook, and muttered something about a waste, before jumping into the open container of food.

One of the cargo ponies, seeming to notice something, snapped around sharply.

Huddling in the corner of the food container, Bunucle listened to the conversation, taking place outside.

"C'mon, Bruce! We 'aven't got all day. Now, 'ave we?" asked another cargo pony.

"Just a second, my patient friend. I think I see somethin'." replied the scrawny cargo pony.

"We don't get paid for dawdling, now c'mon up 'ere." the muscley pony growled.

"Wait! Honest, there's something here! Just wait, a minute!" Bruce said in an indescribable tone of voice.

"We need that shipment! NOW!" boomed a voice, from up on the ship.

"It's coming!" one of the cargo ponies yelled back.

"Now!" yelled the "patient friend."

"Fine." Bruce replied, beginning to help with the cargo.

The food cargo lifted underneath Bunucle's hooves, taking bumps, more than often. Suddenly there was a large jolt causing the cargo container to fall, bumping down where, Bunucle knew not. For he had blacked out.

~~~

Arriving home Valine Wine set down the groceries, and saw the note from her husband.

After reading it she muttered something about dinner, and went to the living room to watch TV.

~~~

THE NEXT DAY

~~~

"Well, this is just beginning to get the teeniest tiniest bit boring." Mericle said aloud. Now resorting to counting the breaths she took. She'd unfortunately lost track ages ago, and was now just guessing.

Lifting up a hoof full of the hay on the floor, with her hooves, she began to rub it between them for some time, before gently dropping it, allowing it to slowly fall back down to the damp cold stone floor.

Mericle stood up from her rest on the hay covered floor. Dusting herself off she went over to the cell ( must I repeat myself ) door. Peering out the gaps between the bars, she stared down the dark gloomy hallway.

Suddenly mixed joy and excitement filled her, as she realized that it was a new day, which meant she could fill out another page of her ( well, not really "her's" ) Diary!

"I love doing this, so much!" Mericle said aloud with mixed excitement and glee.

Running over to the secret place ( hidden brick ) she turned around to make sure nopony was looking. Seeing nopony, she pressed the upper brick again, slowly this time. At the same time, the lower one came out at the same speed. Mericle turned around, checking once again that there was nopony watching. Again, there was nopony.

Reaching in carefully and quietly, Mericle picked up the Diary, lifting it up carefully, she closed the secret compartment, leaving it just as it had been when she first found it.

Sitting down on the floor of the ( I will no longer repeat myself ) cell, she cracked open the Diary, to where it had been before, she began to write...

Dear Diary...

There isn't really much to write about, to say. But earlier today, that pony came by again, the one without a tail. Also, sorry for not mentioning him yesterday. I do hope you understand, I was trying to cram everything in on the one page. Well anyway, he did what he did last time, observed me for like half an hour, or something, and then he just goes. Almost as if...as if...as if he wants something. I'm counting on getting rescued. By Dad. I miss my dad. I love my dad.

A tear drop crawled down her face, running out of space it took cover on the page of the book, right after the last wusing the book she began to cry openly, wetting her face with tears. She cried about Mom. She cried about Dad.  She cried about numerous other things I do not care to mention.

Picking herself up, she picked up the book and walked over to the hidding place. Doing exactly what she did last time except placing the book in this time. She lay down to get some rest.

Found

Bunucle awoke, with a groan. He could feel squashed goo underneath him. He couldn't see a thing in front if him though, the lighting was quite dim. Attempting to stand up, he hit his head, against a wooden board.

"Owch!" he moaned.

Listening closely, Bunucle could hear a voice say, "Did ya 'ear 'at? Sounded li' a moan."

"I 'eard it, Balastar. Sounded like it came from that container." a raspy voice replied, hitting the back of Bunucle's neck, with a shiver.

"Then let's 'ave a look, shall we?" an eager voice hissed.

"After you, mate." The voice gave him another shiver.

"Oh I do love bein' a stole away," the other one hissed.

"A stole away!? Like me!? Who in the hay would be a stealing away, on this ship!?" Bunucle wondered.

He heard the shuffling of hooves, behind him, he heard hissed laughs reach the container he was in. He could feel hot breaths going down his back, all of the world was rushing through his head, he could feel shavings coming off of the wood lid, that was being lifted from above his head. Looking up, he saw three mangled green bloody faces, staring down at him. The raspy one uttered but a single word.

"Hello."

Leaping from his hiding place, he ran wherever his instinct took him. Luckily for him, the ponies were quite slow, he didn't even need to run, he could have just jogged, but he wasn't sure that was their maximum speed.

Taking in his surroundings, Bunucle saw lots of crates on either side, an idea formed in his mind. Leaping up onto a low crate he began to climb up the stacks of them. Reaching the top, he was able to see the three ponies below. They were slowly getting closer, and closer, by the minute, and yet still going extremely slow. When they were about twelve hooves away, he began to rock the rickety pile of crates, ever so slightly, bit by bit. His timing was perfect! As the ponies stepped next to the pile of rickety crates, they began to tumble down. As much as they tried to escape escape the cascading tower of crates, their slow pace was their downfall. As the top crate began to fall, Bunucle leapt forward, as far as he could, crashing into the other pile of rickety crates before him, they began to tumble over, too. As the crate that he was clinging to began to fall, he leapt with all his might, smashing into the floor.

"Horse apples!" Bunucle swore, with what little breath he had left in him.

Picking himself up, he began to slowly trot, towards a door, which he could see, about  six yards away, rubbing his aching shoulder, the entire time. "Gotta, eat less... apple pie," Bunucle said aloud. Reaching the door, he took notice that there was a nail on the wood next to it. Grabbing the rusty thong (correct me if I misused the word), he attempted to turn it, only to find that it was locked. "Blast! It's locked!" Bunucle yelled! Suddenly he could hear groans come from behind him. Turning around, he saw the ponies had made it out of the wreck, unless... "Zombie ponies." Bunucle uttered aloud, a hint of fright in his tone, as he pressed himself against the door.

As the zombie ponies stepped closer, he could hear the hissing coming from out of their mouths. The one closest to him talked first, "So, you know, don't you?"

"The multiplication table?" Bunucle asked. "Yes."

"You bloody idiot, we don't want to know some stupid multiplication, we want to know what you know," the zombie pony replied, with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"A few things I want to say," Bunucle began. "Firstly, you're more of the bloody one, you are the zombie-thingy, after all. Secondly, I know a number of things,  the multiplication table is one of them, so that comes with the deal. Thirdly, can I call you Timmy?"

The zombie pony closed its eyes, put a hoof to its forhead, and sighed. "Number one, I'm a zombie, so naturally more of my blood is gone, than yours, so I'll call you the bloody one. Number two, I want you to tell me what you know about us, not everything you know, about everything. Number three, I don't want to be called Timmy, I think my name was Bruce, so if you want to call me anything, call me Bruce.

"Firstly," Bunucle began, "I don't want to be called bloody, I want to be called my name, just like you, and it's Bunucle. Secondly, why didn't you say so, in the first place!? I would've said what I knew, right away. Which by the way isn't much, I'm only beginning to realize what you're like. Thirdly, hi Bruce!" Bunucle began to wonder in his head, "Bruce? Wasn't that cargo pony named Bruce? Wait a bit! I'm onto something!"

"Number one," the zombie pony started, "Bunucle it is, as long as I'm Bruce. Number two, then does anypony else know that we exist? Number three, no comment."

"Firstly," Bunucle started, "deal." Secondly, top secret, if I told you yes, you'd know to take care of somepony, if I said no, you'd know you could conquer the world, now, or whatever you were gonna do.

"Secondly, whatever."

Bunucle noticed that as they were talking the zombie ponies had kept taking cautious steps towards him. Bunucle cursed under his breath, as they charged. Bunucle heard a rattling of medal objects come from behind him, when the door crashed inward, slamming (with him) into a pile of crates. Daylight filled the previously dark room, causing the zombie ponies to cringe, and scream in pain.

Getting out from behind the door, Bunucle watched as the zombie ponies fled from the light. Looking at the entrance he saw the silhouette of a pony standing there with the glare of the sun behind it. Suddenly the hoof of that pony came out, and clobbered him.

~~~

THE NEXT DAY

~~~

The dripping of water filled the cell. That was after all the only sound in the cell, aside from the quiet snoring of Mericle. But her snoring was interrupted by a large drop of water, which splashed on her face.

"Wh... wh... wh...what!?" Mericle asked. Sitting up, she blinked her eyes, and yawned. Rubbing her hooves on her face, she recalled a certain joy. "The Diary!"

Getting up from the floor, she ran over towards the hiding place where the book was hidden, turning around, she made sure nopony was watching. Seeing nopony she pressed slowly and carefully on the top brick, the lower brick came out at the same speed, until it stopped. Picking up the Diary, she closed the brick, once more checking to see if anypony was there, she saw nopony. Sitting down on the floor, she cracked the book open, and flipped through the pages until she reached the first blank page. Picking up the quill, she began to write.

Dear Diary...

The day has been quite uneventful, just like every day. I hope something happens soon, I

She was interrupted by hoof steps, echoing off wall. She quickly stuffed the Diary under a pile of hay, hiding it not a moment too soon. She had just managed to clamber up onto the hay when three ponies walked up to the cell, and began hissing to each other. Although she could not understand their peculiar hisses, she watched as the one in the blue uniform made motions for the other two to position themselves on either side of the cell. The other two ponies proceeded to do so, and the one in the blue uniform marched off.

After waiting a few minutes Mericle carefully took the Diary out from under the hay. Picking up the quill she continued to write.

—I just got a guard on either side of my cell, I don't know why. This place is startin' ta creep me out. I don't see any conceivable way out of here. The paper had said, " The light will show your way, if it's bright then on this day." But it is never bright, how long do I have to wait for it to get bright!? I don't know, there's probably a logical explanation for it, and I'm probably just too stupid to realize it. My dad would kill me, if he heard me say that. He thinks I'm really smart and intelligent, he even things I'm pretty. Well, he's wrong! I'm not smart! I'm not intelligent And if I'm pretty it doesn't matter! I'm just a...

She paused before she wrote the last word.

Nopony.

A tear drop dropped from her face and landed on the last word, smudging it, as if denying what she just wrote. Beginning to sob she closed the Diary she had been writing in, placing the quill in one of her saddlebags, she picked up the book, and crept over to the hiding place. Turning around she made sure there was nopony there. There were just the two guards, and they were facing the other wall, so she care fully opened the hiding place and placed the book in, before closing it.