Little D tried his best to block out Blue’s yammering as he led them down a tiny trail through the dense forest. “And that was the last time I ever tried dismantling a toaster,” Blue concluded with a sigh. “So many appliances...wasted.”

“Well maybe if you didn’t leave them plugged in--,” Rainbow muttered under her breath.

“But how else was I supposed to figure out what happens to the bread after you put it in?” Blue asked “What? You think I should’ve plugged it in after I took it apart?”

“Or you could’ve just, not messed with your toasters,” D replied.

“D, I wouldn’t expect a traveling man such as yourself to understand the importance of my research. My fiddling with household appliances all those years ago opened my eyes to a whole beautiful world. One of invention and science!”

“Oh, speaking of invention;” D said. “What was that thing you used to take down Steel?”

“Oh, you mean my F.L.A.R.E. shooter?”

“Is that what you call it?”

“Yeah! It stand for Flaming Lights Are Really Excellent. I designed it for emergencies, like if someone is lost in the woods or out at sea they could use a F.L.A.R.E. shooter to get people to notice where someone in danger is.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” D nodded.

“Yeah, not to mention how much cash I’ll make from selling it to the military and rich, snobby boat owners!”

“Beg pardon?”

“Just think about it! There’s thousands of soldiers in Equestria’s military, right? If I sold one flare for twenty bits to each of them I’d have tens of thousands of bits, and if I throw the ammo in for an extra five bits I’d be loaded in no time! Then for those rich, boat-owning snobs, I could jack the price up to fifty for the F.L.A.R.E. and twenty for the ammo!”

“Truly, you’re an evil genius.”

“Not evil, I just know how to work my target audience.”
“How did you think of making something like that in the first place?”
“Well, you know my boat?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s actually, like, the tenth one I’ve built.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The ninth one was really promising too, until it burst into flames...while I was still on it...in the middle of the ocean. But, I was saved by a passing trading ship when my engine exploded and sent a ball of fire straight up lit up the sky, like there was a second sun up there or something! I was told by the ship’s captain that if it wasn’t for that fireball they probably would’ve missed me.”

“Woah, that’s crazy,” Rainbow said in awe.

“It really was, but it was that night that inspired me to invent the F.L.A.R.E. shooter and something else super awesome.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“I can’t tell you. It’s a great big super special secret.”

“So what you’re saying is that you haven’t even made the thing yet, right?” Rainbow asked with a smirk.

“Well, I was going to, but then I couldn’t afford the rent on my shack. I got closed down before I could even build the first prototype. But then Little D over here, and his big ol’ compassionate heart, gave me all the cash I’d need to get my place back and build a few models.”

“It was the only way I could get you to take me and Rainbow to this place.

“Always the modest one you are! I knew from the moment I saw you that good things would come if I got you to help me and oh boy was I right.”

“Thank you for the compliment Blue, but really, I didn’t give it to you out of the sheer kindness of my heart. I needed to get here because the world depends on it. Giving you the money was just a small price to pay.”

“If that’s just a small price to you, I’d love to be around when you actually feel generous.”

“Well, who knows. Maybe if we find my place I’ll buy both of you souvenirs,” D smiled.

“Sounds good, maybe they have one of those keychains with your name on it. Or a bottle opener with your name on it.”

“I doubt it, but we’ll find out when we get--” D paused as the trail that they had been following ended at the base of a tall wall made of skinny tree trunks packed tightly together. “Hmm.”

“Woah,” Rainbow gasped. “I’ve never seen trees grow like that before.”

“Uh, I don’t think they grew like that,” Blue said. “I think that’s a fort wall.”

“Strange,” D muttered and looked down at where the timbers were buried. “Why would they put up a wall?” He gazed at the wall and focused his vision past it and looked for any souls that might lie beyond. “Well, no one’s home.” He willed his great wings to appear. “Let’s take a quick look around then.” He pick up Blue and slung him over his shoulder, then jumped the fence with one flap of his wings, his passenger crying out in surprise.

“Always trying to show off,” Rainbow grumbled. She unfurled her own wings, flew over the fence and landed in an open area filled with grass even taller than Little D. “Man, if I ever see an unmowed lawn back home I don’t know what I’ll do. All this tall grass is making me nuts.”

“Try living in a shack on a dock in the city you’ve been in since you were born. I saw a flower once last week and almost called the cops. Oh, and D, give me a heads up next time you do that, ok?” Blue said and straightened his jacket.

“Why? It’s funnier if I don’t.” D walked away from the wall and took in his surroundings. Scattered throughout the plot were small, rotting log houses, most of which had rotted roofs that had collapsed inward. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for long time.” He walked to the house closest to him to his left. He put his hand on it’s side and it immediately disintegrated into a pile of sawdust and fungus ridden timbers. “A very long time.” He walked through the field, gazing at each house as he passed them. “What the hell happened here anyway?” He continued on until he spotted one house, protected from the weather by a canopy of thick leaves from an overgrown apple tree. It’s door was covered in deep scratches yet the rest of the house was untouched. He crept toward it and, for the first time in his life, a feeling completely alien to him grew in the pit of his stomach. He reached out and put his hand on the simple ring-shaped handle and out of instinct, lifted up on it. The door’s hinges moaned as centuries of weight were relieved for just a moment. A faint, yet familiar scent hit him the second he passed through the threshold. The sickeningly sweet scent of death.

Amidst the broken furniture and crushed tin mugs were three skeletons. One was lay face down in front of him, another slouched against a wall to his right, and pressed into the corner sat a third, smaller skeleton. “Sorry to interrupt, but I got this super weird vibe when I walked past this place. Thought I’d come in and check things out.”

“Hey D!” Rainbow shouted. “You find anything?”

“Yeah!” He hollered back. “Wanna meet someone?”

“Wait, you found someone?” Blue asked. “Who is it?”

“Dunno,” D replied. “They’re dead.”

“Uh, how dead?”

“Skeleton dead. Don’t worry, they won’t getcha’.” He crouched down near the first skeleton and put his hand on it’s head. “I’m sure you haven’t had any company in ages. Maybe you could tell me what happened over tea.”

“Are you talking to the skeletons?” Dash asked as she entered the building.

“Yeah. Just trying to figure out what killed these people. Looks like this guy died fighting-- His knuckles have fractures on them, and there's a gash going through his ribs.”

“Nasty.”

‘Yeah. So it looks like someone broke in, this guy here was holding the door shut and he got knocked back, got up, got a few strong hits in, then got skewered.” He got up and went over the the skeleton that was slouched over. “This lady over here took a sword to the face.” He gently grabbed the skeleton’s chin and lifted up, revealing a deep cut that ran across the victim's forehead. “She died protecting her kid in the corner over there and got shoved out of the way.” He set the skeleton’s head back where it was then moved onto the last body. “This poor thing over here got it bad across her chest.” D pointed to a diagonal cut that went from the skeleton’s left shoulder to the bottom right of her rib cage. “She was in pain for quite awhile.”

“But why’d this happen?” Blue asked, an upset look on his face.

“Oh, could’ve been anything really,” D answered. He stood up and turned to face his companions. “Could have been a robbery gone wrong, a neighborly dispute, or maybe just some psycho goin’ ‘round killin’ people.” He shook his head with a grimace. “But that doesn’t feel like the right answer, not one bit. I’m missing something here.” He scanned the front of the room for anything that he might not have seen on his way in. Finding nothing, he continued to look around the room, turning in a little circle while doing so. “Nothing,” he mumbled to himself while he turned. “Nothing, nothing, nothing, nuh--” He stopped when his eyes spotted something in the left side of the room. “Well now, what’s this?” He turned and saw that pieces of a bedframe, an old table, and a few chairs lay broken in a heap.

“What’s up, D?” Blue asked. “You’re Walker senses kickin’ in?”

“Something like that.” He went over to the pile and began moving away the broken pieces. Soon, the spot was clear and what was revealed was quite troubling to D. On the floor was a large black mark and inside that mark was a very clear outline of a person.

“Oh hey, kinda looks like those chalk outlines the cops do on TV.” Dash observed.

“They do that in real life too, sweetcheeks,” Blue teased then yelped in pain as Dash punched him in the arm.

“That’s not what’s important.” D pointed at the outline. “Look, theres nothing there.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Well, just look around. Body,” He pointed at the skeleton near the entrance. “Body,” he pointed at the one slouched against the wall. “Body,” he pointed at the one in the corner. “Outline,” he concluded by pointing at the bare spot at his feet. He got down on his knees and rubbed his fingers against the rough wood floor. “It’s almost like this guy just, dissolved.”

“Maybe he was fine and walked away?” offered Rainbow.

“No. Somebody definitely died right here,” He pointed at the top of the outline where the head would be. “Looks like the poor soul got to watch his family die right in front of him. This spot here is where his nose would be,” he pointed at a lump that formed out of the outline then made a line and pointed out into the room.

“Must’ve been tough.”

“Yeah. It was.” D frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Hang on. I think I’m gettin’ something here.” In his head a familiar, painful feeling began forming--the same feeling he gotten in the Canterlot Archives. D’s gaze jumped from skeleton to skeleton in his desperate attempt to make sense of the situation. From the Man, to the woman, to the child, to the spot, then back to the man, the woman, the spot, man, woman, child, spot, father, mother, daughter, son, sister-- “I died here.”

“What?” Blue asked in surprise.

“That’s gotta be it.” With a yelp in pain, a dome of magic exploded out of Little D and projected around himself and Rainbow Dash. Blue Spark stood frozen in time outside.

“What’s happening?” Rainbow asked.

“Gimmie a tether!” D spat.

“A what?”

“Focus on your element and let me latch onto it!”

“I-I don’t--” Before she could even finish her thought Rainbow Dash gasped in pain as a sky blue stream of magic shot out of her stomach and connected to Little D. “D! Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” He stood up with a grunt. “Sorry about yankin’ on you like that.”

“It’s...fine. What is all of this?” She looked around at the floating pictures in amazement.

“These are my memories.” D looked about as well. “And that’s the slasher scene over there.” He pointed at a picture and in floated over to him. He touched it and it began playing for a split second before D released it back with the others. “I think I’ll just view that one myself later. It’s not something that you need to see, Rainbow.”

“Ok, I get that, but, where’s, uh--”

“My body? It’s in me. Uncle saw something in me that day. I don’t know what happened exactly, but I guess he saved me a second before I actually died. He took my body, fixed it as best as he could, and, voila. Here I am today. As broken as ever.”

“What do you mean broken?”

“I’ll tell you later. Right now, I think we should just go home.” With that, the dome disappeared and time resumed.

“What happened?” Blue asked. “I remember some kinda’ magic explosion thing.”

“I’ll fill you in later Blue, right now I’m taking us back to the boat.”

“Wait, that’s it? We’re goin’ home now?”

“Yeah.”

“But, we, like, just got here.”

“Do you really wanna stay on the Devil’s Isle more than you have to?”

“Well, no, not at all actually, but I demand answers.”

“And you’ll get them, I promise. But right now we’re leaving.”

“Ugh, fine then.” Blue walked outside with his arms crossed. “But you better not grab me and fly around again. You got a death grip man.”

“Guess what, I gotta take you back up the waterfall.”

“Oh, sonofa-”

“Relax. You can ride on my back if you want. Rainbow can fly herself, right Rainbow?”

“You bet,” Dash grinned. “I’m feelin’ better than ever now. Oh, I didn’t really thank you earlier for fixin’ me up earlier, so, thanks for fixing me up earlier.”

“Not a problem. Now let’s get out of here.” D and Dash joined Blue outside and got ready to leave. Dash stretched out her wings and D squatted down for Blue to climb up on his back.

“Ok dude. Not gonna lie. This feels kinda weird,” grumbled Blue.

“Why?” D asked with a fat grin. “Is it ‘cuz you’re riding me?”

“Wh-- aw c’mon man. Don’t say that kinda’ stuff.”
D laughed, his first real laugh in years, and took off. He and Dash flew for roughly five minutes in silence before Rainbow spoke up.

“Hey, D?” she asked. “What’s supposed to happen after you get your memories again? Didn’t you say something about getting a power boost something?”

“Yeah, and I also get a bit of my humanity back. When I finished things with Twilight, I felt like I got a bit stronger, and I started feeling things again, like, emotionally.”

“Well, how do you feel now?”

“You know it’s funny you should mention that--” D started but was rudely interrupted by unconsciousness.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile, in the Crystal Kingdom
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A man in a flowing pink wig wearing a purple kimono walked down the empty midnight streets of the Crystal Kingdom. His wooden sandals clonked loudly and the rings of his staff jingled soflty with each step.
“Dude! That was so much fun!” Numb shouted.

“ Aaayyyyyy uh-greeee-yeeee-yeee whole-huh-aaaarrrrrt-edly.” Johnny sang.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this; but I agree. That was the most fun I’ve had in ages.” Reason admitted.

“Aaaaaayyyyyy was sooooOOOOOooooo happy when youuuuuuu deee-cay-yay-yay-ded to reeeetuuuur to uuusssss dear freind.”
“Hey, maybe doing Kabuki Theater really is your calling. We can stop searching boys! We’re home!”

“Eeeeeeven if that IiiiiiiIIIIS true weeeeeeee stiiiii-ehhh-illll need to he-eh-lp our brother.”

“He’s right, another thing I never thought I’d say.”

“But what can we do? We’re nuts!”

“Iiiit iiisss said that the mooooo-oh-oh-st mixed nu-uh-uh-uh-ts are the taaaa-AAAAYYYY-stestiest.
“What?”

“Don’t question it,” Reason advised. “Although, you should check out what’s going on up ahead.”

“Hmmmm?” Johnny looked forward and saw two figures standing under a lamp post. One had a knife and was pointing it at the other. “Weeeeelll, it wooooo-OOOOO-uld appear that some one nee-eeee-eeeds our assistance!” Johnny lowered his staff and charged at the attacker. “Cease your transgressions aggressor!” he shouted.

“What?” the thief grunted in surprise then he shouted in pain when a bronze staff struck him in the stomach and lifted him off of his feet straight upward. “Wh-who the hell--”

“Myyyyy dear, diiii-IIIIIID THIIIIIS MAAAAAAN attack you?” Johnny asked the terrified victim.

“Y-yes he did,” she answered.

“FOR SHAME!” Johnny thrusted his weapon upward, sending the thief high into the sky. “SUCH HEARTLESS ACTS!” he roared and watched the thief come crashing to the ground. “ONLY A TRUE SAVAGE WOULD RESORT TO SUCH MEASURES!”

“Do you have any idea who I am?” the thief spat. “I’m Swift Hand! The master thief of Equestria!”

“Weeeeeee-EEEEEE’VE met befoooore. In AAAAAAAple-OOOOoooOOOOOOSA!”

“Wait! You mean you’re that nut who--”

“Tossed yooouuuuuu like a sk-EHHHHHH-ping stone? THE VERY SAME!” With that, Johnny B. took Swift by his ankles and with one mighty swing, threw him over his shoulder far, far, away. “NEVER RETURN HERE!” He turned to the frightened woman and bowed deeply. “I do apolo-giiiiiiiize my dear. I hope he did not haarrrrm yoooooooooouuuuuUUUUUUUU!”

“Um, I-I’m fine. Just a bit shuken up. May I ask why you’re talking like that?”

“Iiiiiiiiiii’m the neeeeeEEWWWWWWest member of the local KabuuuuUUUUUkiiii Theater.”

“Oh, I didn’t know we had one.”

“Oh man, it’s sweet!” Johnny stood back up and dropped the act. “We can shout, and sing, and enrich our lives by learning about a totally different culture. You should totally check us out this weekend, we’re putting on this cool Japonese version of Romeo and Juliet!”

“Sounds interesting. I’d love to see it.”

“Well, we’re performing in front of the palace. You’ll have plenty of chances to see us.”

“Yeah, I look forward to it. Thanks again for saving my life!” The woman waved and ran off up the street.

“What a nice young lady.”
“I can’t believe a Kabuki performance just saved someone’s life.”

“Yeah, life’s fuckin’ crazy huh?”

Author's Note

Tune in next time for the beginning of The Journey of Laughter.