Hearts and Hooves Day
Chapter 13: The E.V.A.N Incident III: Adrian Murphy and Nathan James: Conclusion
I checked my watch to see how many hours I have left before the next train departs to Canterlot. It looks like I have about 1 hour and 51 minutes left remaining. Hopefully, Dean and Sea Swirl can speed things up a bit because I have a meeting to get to.
Continuing where the story left off, Adrian Murphy and Nathan James were once bandmates that were nearly on top of the world until the group dissolved into extinction. After facing tough times and losing relationships with their friends and family, both former rockers were transported to Equestria to live a new life. Though, none of them knew that they were in Equestria and it seemed unlikely that they'll run into each other.
After reading and signing the terms of the Human/Equine Law, Adrian became the 102nd human of Equestria while Nathan became the 133rd. Unfortunately, Ponyville at that time had no more room for humans to reside in. When Princess Celestia became aware of it, she called upon Ponyville's Construction, Inc. to build a new apartment complex near the river and White Tail Woods for incoming humans or anypony that is new to the area. You can probably guess what the name of the apartment is and why it was built. Meanwhile, the remaining humans were transported to different cities around Equestria, from Tall Tale to Dodge City to Crystal Empire. As for the former Motor City Mustangs, Adrian Murphy went to live in Manephis while Nathan James was sent to Los Pegasus.
Manephis is best known for one thing in Equestria: music. Back in the day, a lot of famous and legendary musicians had started their music careers in this one city and rose to stardom. From classic to pop to rock, you can name it all! It is also home to Equestria's Music Hall of Fame, where famous names of all ponies that revolutionized the music world around the country. Once a year, they also host an award show, called the Melodies, to be given to some of the year's best musicians and groups throughout the world.
Los Pegasus can be described in two words: movies and gambling. Major stars and movie studios can be found in this one city and it's also where you can find the Trot of Stardom where famous movie acting ponies and directors made an impact in the film industries. Aside from movies, there are a lot of casinos where anypony can try their luck to win big money and get rich quick. However, most ponies have to be aware that the biggest threat in Los Pegasus are several gangs that go to these casinos to either hang out, make offers and deals; or worse, complete control over one's turf. It will be a great place but be warned, whatever happens in Los Pegasus, stays in Lo...well...you get the point.
Getting back to the former frontman of the Mustangs, Adrian lived upstairs in a loft while the downstairs is a small antique store owned by an old, aging unicorn mare named Nana Knit, with a cutie mark of a quilt. The store, Manephis Valuables, mostly sell items that dated during the early days of the town. Knit had been in the business for 48 years, starting at the age of 20, along with her unicorn husband, Rusty Mill. Unfortunately, Rusty Mill had passed on 16 years ago due to aging and Nana had to run the store on her own without assistance. It was frustrating and difficult since nopony was interested in working for a shop that sold old items, even if it's a piece of history. Customers, on the other hand...or hoof, were a bit lacking. What Dean meant by that is that about 10 – 15 ponies would show up at least a day and spend about 80 – 100 bits on purchasing items. Even with Adrian on board, it still doesn't help. There's a possibility that the store might close if business doesn't pick up sometime soon.
Meanwhile at Los Pegasus, Nathan James took up residence at an apartment complex near the Stars Aligned Auditorium in Little Xiao Ma. When he settled in, he went ahead to search for a job around the city for almost anything that has good pay. He signed one application to another until finally getting a part time job as a waiter for a local diner near the Mega Bucks Casino and Hotel, a popular place for movie celebrities.
Pretty much nothing exciting or interesting happened the next week of October until the 17th approached. On that same day, letters regarding the upcoming Nightmare Night Festival were sent out to all Equestrian residents. Both former rockers at cities apart took a hold of their letters and read what it informed. It stated that Princess Celestia has invited everypony and everyone to Ponyville for Nightmare Night with R.A.S. Leader, Queen Faust, as guest host. Finally, at the end of the message, the Princess of the Sun has hired some of Equestria's best musicians to host a party and concert.
At the same time, only one of the two ex-Mustangs refused to go for the fact that attending a musical concert was no longer his thing anymore. That someone turned out to be Nathan James, who took the letter, crumpled it up like a ball of paper, and threw it in his trash can at his apartment. He sat down back on his couch and decides to read the local paper for any odd jobs.
Meanwhile at Manephis, the former vocalist Adrian Murphy thought it was a great idea and set the letter to the side. He goes to the calendar and marks October 31st for the festival in Ponyville. His reason for going is that he wants to meet Equestria's best musicians and would like to hear their music for the 1st time.
Back in Los Pegasus, Nathan James was lounging in his living room when there was a knock at his door. The 133rd human went to his door, opened it, and saw a stallion mail-carrying pegasus with another batch of mail. After thanking the stallion, the human took his stuff and checked what he got. It was nothing but junk mail, a bill for his rent...and a flier from Dragon's Cave Studios. He took the flier and read the following:
Human actors wanted!
For the 1st time in Equestria history,
Dragon's Cave Studios latest movie, Headless Horse VI, will be filmed featuring humans from Earth.
If you are a human and have a background in acting or would love to act,
come to Stage 25 for auditions at Dragon's Cave Studios Backlot in Los Pegasus
This Saturday from 11AM – 4PM!
"...So after reading that little flier," Dean Walsh went on as I continued to listen and take notes. "It came to no surprise that Nathan James happily accepted that invitation."
"So I'm going to guess out that Nathan James got the part for the movie right?" I quizzed Dean in response.
"Frank, you have seen Headless Horse VI over a thousand times in the past! You should've known that it was predictable that James got the part."
"True..." I put my pencil down for a minute in order for my writing hand to rest a bit. "...however, that does not explain why Nathan James did not appear in the next movie. When Headless Horse VII came out a year later, (the same year that I came in that is) Nathan, somehow, did not reprise his role as one of the surviving characters from the last movie. Instead, there was no mention of him or anything related to the events that happened before the next installment. It sounded like his character never existed in the first place and was written out for some reason."
"You got that right!" Dean agreed. "That's because the studio terminated his contract before HH VII."
"Whoa, whoa!" I stopped my Earth Brother. "Don't jump ahead just yet! Tell me how that happened but start with Adrian first!"
Dean went on. "Going back to Adrian, on October 31st, Nightmare Night came..."
I picked up my pencil and continued to write down my notes on what Dean Walsh had to say about Adrian going to Nightmare Night. Every year, ponies and humans would dress up into anything they love or want to for the festival. Similar to Halloween, fillies, colts, ponies, and humans can even get pieces of candy and would sometime later offer them to the statue of Nightmare Moon or better yet, to Princess Luna herself as it a festival dedicated to her. Like Princess Celestia fulfilling her promise to bring my WWE posters, merchandise, DVDs, and video games to Equestria; she also brought costumes that the human residents requested from Earth that they once wore from a previous Halloween, parties, or conventions of some sorts. If the humans or ponies have no idea on what to wear, they can ask some of the best seamstresses or costume designers around Equestria for help. In other words, Rarity, one of Equestria's best fashion designers and seamstress...and Aloe and Lotus' best friend/customer; made millions of bits from the orders she received for the upcoming event.
Besides partying and wearing costumes, Nightmare Night had a lot of games to play such as bobbing for apples, the spider toss, and the pumpkin toss. Not only are games fun, but pulling off pranks for a good laugh are great as well. I don't mind pranks if they are not harmless if you ask me.
Finally, there's the costume contest. Anyone and anypony may participate if they wish to earn a prize. Prizes range from free candy, a coupon to eat at their favorite restaurant or buy something at their favorite store, or 300 bits. As for the Fillies and Colts, they can win the same two prizes or 150 bits if one of them becomes the winner in the Little Ponies category.
Getting back to Adrian Murphy, he arrived in Ponyville via train along with other ponies and humans from different cities, with the exception of Nathan James. When he got there, he witness most of the ponies and humans having a great time. Dean recounted that he, Jerome, Richard...and Daryl...were going door to door for candy at different cottages while saying "Nightmare night! What a fright! Give us something sweat to bite!" Meanwhile, the Pooler brothers Bradley and Brandon, were selling pies to all guests while Joshua McAllister assisted AppleJack with the carnival games.
As for the main fair grounds and music stage, it was located near City Hall. The stage was filled with huge speakers, multi-colored lights, spotlights, and musical equipment like drums, guitars, microphones, and turntables. At that time, some of the concertgoers began to pile up near the stage while the other half decide to wait by eating food or play games as they wait for the concert to start.
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were up in Canterlot getting ready for Nightmare Night. Both of them put on their traditional, glamorous outfits for balls while wearing make up that are done by their suitors. They are also aware that their mother, Queen Faust, will also be attending the festival as a guest so both of them hope that nothing goes wrong after the last two incidents with the humans. Once they took note on how pretty they look, the two got onto their enchanted chariot and with the help of the Royal Pegasi Guards, flew off to Ponyville.
2 hours later before midnight, the concert was ready to begin. Ponies and humans, some wearing costumes and some don't, gathered towards the stage while the royal family sat above the crowd from a scaffold decorated with ribbons, flowers, and three thrones. Everypony and everyone were greeted by Pinkie Pie who shouted through a megaphone on stage. The party pony went over the list of musicians who were hoof picked by Celestia as to entertain the attendees for this event. The list of musicians goes as follows:
•Opening ceremonies: Nine inch Tails
•Bruce Springsteed
•Sapphire Shores
•Closing ceremonies: DJ Pon-3 and Neon Lights
Then the concert began with Nine Inch Tails performing "Who The Buck You Are" to "Harmony in Labor" to "Believe". It was a great opening that got the crowd and the royal family excited and pumped...except Adrian. He stood there in the middle of the crowd with his arms folded and not being impressed. In his opinion, he just thought the band was medicore. Yeah, his ego was kicking in again like last time when his cousin DJ told him to disband the Mustangs.
After a two more performances from two other great artists, it was time to close out Nightmare Night with the appearance of two unicorns, one white mare with an electric blue mane and a cutie mark of a two bridged eighth note and the other being a stallion with a cutie mark of three stars and sporting a black shirt and white tie. They were DJ Pon-3, aka Vinyl Scratch, and her partner, Rising Star, aka Neon Lights.
As the two got on stage, the whole entire crowd of ponies and humans led out the loudest pop ever done that almost everyone Equestria must've heard from miles. As the two went to their perspective turntables, Vinyl began to play her wub music at maximum volume while Neon uses his switches on his keyboard to remix his partner's flow of technical music.
Everyone and everypony were dancing and rocking to the beat as stage lights and spotlights flicker in unison to the beat while stage crew members shot foam into the crowd from foam cannons placed near the stage to make the party more exciting. However, one certain human didn't feel like dancing but rather stood staring in awe at Vinyl Scratch throughout the show. He felt his heart skipped a beat and sudden feelings began to urge inside of him. In other words, Adrian Murphy now has a crush on one of the most beautiful mares in Equestria named DJ Pon-3.
Back at Los Pegasus, as predicted, Nathan James got the part for Headless Horse VI: Human Harvest. Weeks prior before the Nightmare Night festival in Ponyville, the ex-Mustang bassist audition for a lead role in the movie as Blake Slater, one of the four main protagonist of the movie and love interest of Damsel Luck, played by AppleWood actress Golden Delicious, who played in the last five movies with actor Scare Fright, who played the main antagonist Headless Horse.
The movie is directed by Mass Gore, who created, written, and directed the last five HH movies in the past, making tons of money and making the movies into a popular franchise. Four years ago, after Headless Horse V, Mass Gore announced to all his fans through the local newspaper L.P Times and popular horror magazine Scare-O-Drama, that he had no plans for a sixth movie as he felt that the fifth movie is meant to be the last entry. He felt as though that making another one will destroy the series entirely and that he would hate anypony in Applewood that will try to remake, reboot, or buy the rights of the series just to cash in it's popularity.
Four weeks after the article was published, humans began to show up around Los Pegasus, either to gamble or look for work around the area. At that time, Dragon's Cave Studios President, Bolex Highlight, was interested into having the next horror movie to feature human actors for the first time. He believed that with the right script for the next movie and with the right human actors, it will make the company tons and tons of money. Bolex then contacted his secretary to send out a memo to all film producers, writers, and directors, who are all under contract from Dragon's Cave, to come up with the next idea for another horror film featuring humans. Of course, Mass Gore received the memo and even though he stated that he won't do another Headless Horse movie anymore, decided to go ahead and write a script for another HH movie, just to see if it will sell out theaters quickly around the land. It took him a year and two months to finally write the script for the movie called Human Harvest (originally titled Human Heart).
Filming for Headless Horse VI mostly took place in the city of Tall Tale as it served the main setting and Galloping Gorge for the climax of the movie where Headless Horse gets killed by Damsel Luck and Blake Slater. Additional scenes were filmed at Dragon's Cave Studios' soundstages for interior shots like Damsel's apartment, Tall Tale's Police Dept., and the Headless Horse's Hut. When filming was done, Mass Gore sent out the finished film and to get it developed and edit while he and the actors do several interviews and promotions to get everypony and everyone hyped up for the next installment.
However, during the filming of the movie, there was another scene that wasn't filmed but rather witnessed from everyone and everypony: Nathan James and Golden Delicious having somewhat of a secret romantic relationship together. Delicious had trouble dating three stallions around AppleWood in the past, as most of them were in fact actors. The problems was, those stallions were more so into making tons of money and cared less about Delicious as they thought of her as a mediocre actress. They also stated that Golden Delicious' only best roles are the HH movie series but any other movie she been casted in the past, or recently, were bad. Spring Sickness with Golden Delicious as an ER doctor finding a cure for an epidemic: one of the worst thrillers ever made that nearly destroyed Golden's career.
Back in Ponyville, the Nightmare Night festival came to an end with an outstanding performance done by Neon Lights and Vinyl Scratch. As soon as the crowd dispersed from the stage to either call it a night or hang out for a little awhile, there was an announcement from Vinyl's manager that if anyone or anypony wants autographs or pictures from either musician, they have to file a straight line near the stairway that leads to the stage. Surprisingly, 200 spectators, ponies and a few humans (even Adrian), formed a line near the stairway as several roadies set up a wooden table with Vinyl and Neon's pictures and CDs for them to sign and giveaway to their fans.
Once the autograph session started, the two musicians went on stage and gave away their previous to recent albums with their signatures on it and even took pics with their fans. Not only were they on stage, but their bodyguards were also on staff to prevent anything harmful to happen. Once the line started to dwindle, Adrian Murphy got his chance to meet the two ponies. He comes up to him and greeted them. The two musicians smiled and greeted him back. Neon Lights went ahead and ask the ex-Mustang if he wanted an autograph or a pic and Adrian responded by saying he wants both from Vinyl only. The human went ahead and paid 10 bits to get what he wanted from the mare. Before the line can move up, Adrian somehow remained in front of the musicians talking briefly about that he was once the frontman of a popular band in his hometown on Earth. He bragged on for what seemed like minutes as the line kept moving and the two musical ponies continued to give their fans their greatest moments of their lives. However, the bodyguards stepped in and escorted Adrian off the stage.
An hour later, Neon and Vinyl were about to head home on separate carts, with their bodyguards following behind. Neon traveled up north to Canterlot where he resided while Vinyl went to her cottage in the middle of Ponyville, where she share the place with fellow musician and BFF Octavia Melody, a goldish gray Earth Pony with a cutie mark of Treble clef. As the bodyguards departed to their homes, Vinyl and Octavia had a salad dinner as the two discuss about their day. Vinyl Scartch told her roommate/friend about the concert while Octavia went over how her performance with the Equestrian Harmonics went at Baltimare. The two are also scheduled to appear at Manehattan next week for separate performances as Octavia's group will be headling to the Colt Theatre while Vinyl and Neon will be at the Manehattan Coliseum hosting a sold out concert in front of 35,000 fans. After dinner, the two went straight to bed after a fun night of music and fun.
The next morning, Octavia Melody left the cottage to attend a practice session in Canterlot while Vinyl remained at home practicing peacefully with her turntables in her room. At around 12 PM, Derpy Hooves delivered the mail to the musicians' home with 200 letters, mostly fan mail and a few bills. Vinyl gathers the mail and brings it inside to the living room. As she goes through the letters, most of the fan mail is mostly written for her while Octavia gets some recognition from her fans. Of course, Vinyl told her fans to at least give her roommate/best friend some credit and support as she put a lot of heart and dedication into her music. One by one, she read all of her letters...except for one that she hadn't looked at yet. Reason being is that this letter had no recipient address, which was rather odd. Shaking off her suspicion, she opens the letter and carefully reads it word by word. The DJ thought the letter was going to be a letter of aspiration or maybe another hate letter from somepony being jealous of her success. Instead, that's not what Vinyl got at all. It was more of a love letter written by an anonymous human or pony that admits of having a crush on Vinyl and that one day, he wants to be with her, singing and dancing in front of thousands.
Vinyl Scrath thought to herself on who this writer could be. From the top of her head, she thought it was Neon Lights. They have been working together for a long time and many of her fans and his had been speculating that they might be a couple. Even at one point, Octavia onsidered Neon Lights to be perfect for Vinyl Scratch if they two were meant to be. It had to be him!
However, both musicians are not currently dating but working together as a team. Even if they were, there was a chance that the media would do whatever they can in their power to bring them down by spreading false rumors about their relationship. Even the white mare had admit that she hates to be in a situation involving the paparazzi and reporters that will bother her 24/7. So in other words, this letter might not be Neon's.
Then there was the second thought: a human wrote this. However, the disc jockey mare shook her head and thought it was not possible. Why? Ever since the last two events that had two humans hurt a pony, that had been a certain number of mares around Equestria that had distance themselves away from humans as they considered them "dangerous." Even at one point during the Victor Edgington trial, an anonymous mare in the crowd asked Queen Faust if it's true that humans are a threat. Though Faust didn't answer, one of the R.A.S members, King Aero Vent, did in fact answer via magically displaying a projected sphere that showcased one of the most controversial moments in Equestria history. The sphere broadcast images of equine cruelty done by humans on Earth like horseslaughter, pony riding at fairgrounds while being whipped, and using stallions to fight each to the death while making money off of it. It was disturbing to the ponies but to the humans, it was uncalled for the fact that they claim they don't do any of this and are willing no to. Not only was equine cruelty an issue and those images will forever be scarred, those same exact mares that attended the trial even believe that ponies should be dating ponies and not humans...and Vinyl was one of them. She has nothing against humans but she does not picture herself dating one for safety reasons. She admires their support and love from her music but does not want to date them at any circumstance. It's kind of fair to her that way in her opinion.
That one letter, though, was just the beginning on what could be a never ending nightmare.
"...All the way towards November 12th," Dean went on as he distinguished another cigar. "The letters kept coming and coming. Letters saying that the writer was watching Vinyl's every move and even went to the grocery store and spy on her. She fear for her life that she called the police and her bodyguards to protect her but without a clue or trace, they don't know who it was that was stalking Vinyl."
"What about the Ponyville Post Office?" I asked. "Surely someone or somepony would've known something was wrong."
"Like I said: no clue. The police theorized the letters were coming late at night. Mind you, here in Equerstria, there are no surveillance cameras so there's a chance of any evidence. Anyway, police and Canterlot guards patrol the streets of every city, every night for anything suspicious. At that time, whomever it was knew the patrol route and waited for the right time for his letters to be dropped into boxes outside the post office. However, these letters were not coming from within Ponyville. They were coming outside of Ponyville."
"So was it...Neon Lights?"
"You think Neon Lights would go nuts over her by stalking?!" Dean reassured. "Dude...he would not do that cause would've destroyed the whole partnership between them."
"So...who was it? Who was stalking her?!"
Dean took out his last cigar and lit it up. "On November 12th, at Manehattan Coliseum...DJ Pon-3 got her answer..."
At a sold out crowd of 42,100 at the Coliseum, both DJ – Pon 3 and Neon Lights wowed the crowd with their music performances and amazing vocals. Not only was that happening, both musician's had their bodyguards and event security to keep an out for the alleged stalker. If they spotted him or her, they would take action to take the culprit down while both musicians will be escorted to safety.
Hours go by and the guards had nothing to report and it seems as though the stalker was not present in the arena. Even with tight security and event staff watching everypony and human within the complex, nothing was out of place. Yet, they had some belief that he could strike any minute during the performance but question is: where and when?
As the show came to a close, Vinyl and Neon were escorted back to their dressing rooms with their guards in tow. Security officers barricaded fans from all opening doors to prevent them from touching or interacting with the two unicorns. As the two unicorns went to their separate rooms, the guards stood near the doors and scanned the halls for anything wrong.
Inside Vinyl's dressing room, the mare was packing up her belongings and gathering all her materials before heading out towards the hotel. She had a wonderful night in front of her fans and hopefully can return for another tour in Manehattan. After putting her stuff away, she checked herself in the mirror to fix her mane and to know if she's still presentable. However, there was one thing in the mirror that caught her attention: the bathroom door behind her. Vinyl turns around and trots to the closed door, thinking that she might had left something in there.
Dean stops the story and gets up from his chair, with the cigar still in his hand. The look on his face went from serious to a face of disgust and disappointment. I looked at him while I set my pencil down.
"Dean...what's wrong?" I asked him.
My Earth Brother shook his head violently like he had something flashed in his eyes. "Vinyl...went to the bathroom. She was all alone...she opened the door..."
He took out his cigar and walked towards the footlocker in the living room. He gets on his knees to unlock the lock via a combination code. Once finished, Dean Walsh opens the trunk where he kept his old scuba geared in tact and reaches down into the bottom. His right hand began to dig through his wetsuit, flippers, and gloves as he pulled out an old newspaper. I looked at Sea Swirl, who happened to sit across from me, as to know what this could mean but her eyes were focused on her boyfriend than giving me a glance. Maybe she knows what Dean has in his hand.
"I'm not going to explain it, Frank," Dean said with a serious tone. "But these words will."
He puts the paper on the table and slides it towards my direction. I put notebook aside and grabbed the news print in front of me. It was an old Ponyville Express that was dated three years ago. The front page, as I read it, had me in total complete disblief:
HUMAN ARRESTED FOR HOLDING PONYVILLE MUSICAN HOSTAGE! ROYAL ALICORN SOCIETY TAKES LEGAL ACTION!
It made me sick to read! The article describes that the alleged stalker, wearing a black ski mask, a puffy jacket, and black sweatpants, was hiding in Vinyl Scratch's bathroom and held a blade to her throat but in the last minute before it happened, Vinyl screamed for her guards. The guards break down the door and tackle the would-be murderer. When the police and the Canterlot guards arrived, they unmasked the human to reveal his true identity: Adrian Murphy!
I lift my right hand up and held my head as I placed both my index and middle finger below my hairline. I feel as though my head was ready to explode of pure rage as I continued read the rest of the story. As the article, Adrian was arrested and before the week of Grateful Times Banquet (Equestria's own Thanksgiving), the R.A.S held another trial session at the Canterlot Convention Center. The ex-Mustang vocalist admit that he wrote the letters because he had feelings for Vinyl Scratch and is willing to do anything to get her as his special somepony, even if it means to take extreme measure to get her attention. He also explained that he wanted to restart his career as a musician and that he wanted the mare at his side supporting him than his ex-band used to do since they currently mean nothing to him at all and that the most popular DJ in Ponyville will help him reach his dreams.
Vinyl Scratch, who happened to be there with Neon and Octavia, told Adrian in front of everypony and all humans that what he did was wrong and it wasn't the right way to get her attention. However, as the Human/Equine Law states, stalking is prohibited and for the fact that the former human rocker tried to hurt Vinyl, the R.A.S found Adrian Murphy, the 102nd human of Equestria, guilty of infringing the law, attempted murder, and aggravated stalking. His punishment: 20 years of slavery in the ice caves at the Frozen North of Equestria.
When it was over, Celestia and Luna received their 1st strike and Equestria entered its 3rd lockdown. No further humans can enter Equestria until further decision from Queen Faust.
I put the paper down and looked at Dean, still smoking his last cigar. "This is just terrible. Poor Vinyl but...no sympathy for Adrian."
"Tell me about it." Dean replied as he blew out smoke. "Celestia and Luna needed money fast to uplift the ban again in order to bring more humans to Equestria, since back then, the heat cycle within the mares and the lack of single stallions got worse. Celestia went ahead and sold two golden statues of Canterlot's Royal Guards to Equestria Gem and Loan around Decem..."
"Oh, yeah!" I cut him off. "Those two gold statues in Mr. Gold Bar's office. He bought them for 50,000,000 bits from her. Now I know why Celestia sold them."
"You mind if I continue?" My Earth Brother with an annoyed tone. "Anyway, the last part of the story is about Nathan James."
"Sweety," Sea Swirl spoke to her lover. "I'm going upstairs and get ready to take a shower. You promised me that you will be up there with me."
"Yeah, yeah, baby. I will! Just keep the water warm for me."
The unicorn nodded and trotted upstairs to the second floor while Dean and I remained downstairs in the dining room.
"You're one lucky, dude." I complimented at Dean.
The scuba diving human chuckled a bit through his breath. "I'm not just lucky! I'm motherfucking lucky!"
"So tell me about Nathan and after that I can depart."
"Sure but I'll make it quick."
Dean Walsh walks to the side window of the front door and peers out to the open. It looks like he is looking at the ponies and humans outside walking the streets or the pegasis flying in the skies above the town. He takes out whiff of his cigar before continuing.
"Right after Celestia paid whatever she had left," Dean went on. "After Hearts Warming Eve, Headless Horse VI: Human Harvest came to theaters nationwide, with a positive reception from critics and fans and making 92.5 million bits in the box office. It was such an amazing horror movie that no other horror movie can surpass it and with that, the money kept on piling! The next week, right before New Years, Mass Gore got a letter from Dragon's Cave Studios that due to the massive amount of money that HH VI got, they demand another movie, or a Headless Horse VII."
"Ugh! That piece of shit movie?!" I ranted. "Why did they had to make it?"
"Excuse me!" He explode a little. "Who's telling the story?"
"Oh, sorry about that. Go ahead."
"As I was saying, Mass Gore began to write the script for Headless Horse VII..."
Dean Walsh goes on to tell his lengthy but rather short story on what lead to the 4th and final lockdown. Mass Gore went on to write the script for HH VII with it's original title called Origins. The plot goes that the survivors, Blake Slater and Damsel Luck, go to an old village called Hollow Shades, where it is rumored that it is the birthplace of the Headless Horse. More so, Damsel Luck is pregnant and that the villagers, who happened to be a cult group of HH followers, are planning to use the newborn baby of Damsel Luck to bring forth Headless Horse. It sounded like an interesting plot and quite possibly could be better than its predecessor.
As that was happening, Nathan James and Golden Delicious were spending more time with each other around Applewood as they go to conduct interviews for magazines and newspapers for the HH VI movie. On the bright side, Nathan James realize that his dream of becoming a movie star somewhat came true and Golden Delicious' career skyrocketed to new heights, thanks to the couples on-screen acting. They also announced in all interviews that they will reprise their roles for the next entry and if it makes more money than the last, they will do it one more time for another installment.
As predicted, I know something bad was going to happen between both of them...but not something that the 34th human blowing a cigar was willing to inform me.
"...During the end of January," Dean Walsh told. "On the same week where Jerome, Richard, myself, and Daryl were in Los Pegasus, Nathan James was invited by a friend of his, an unknown pegasus stallion that worked as a stuntpony for Headless Horse VI, to a gentlecolt's club called Straddle Stars. He and his friend went in there just to pass the time and wait until tomorrow for the trip to Hollow Shades for the film shoot. Also, believe it or not, Jerome, Daryl, Richard, and myself were there at that the same time but at that time, I did not know that Nathan was in the building until the week after Hearts and Hooves Day. While they were there, they had an encounter with a hardworking dancer and pornstar actress named Honey Juice, a yellow coated unicorn mare that starred in nearly 120 films. Had you seen any of her movies?"
"No," I honestly replied. "Not that I want to nor care about."
"Virgin." Dean coughed.
"Get on with it, Dean! What happened next?"
"Well...the stuntpony insist that Juice comes along with him and Nathan James back to the hotel for a private dance. So off they went and the first thing they did was to go to a bar for a few drinks. After that, they ended up in one of those expensive hotel rooms near Sparkling Bay. Ironically, that hotel happened to be the same place where the four of us were partying. Anyway, Nathan drank so much that passed out and he fell asleep in his bed...until he woke up...and found someone...or somepony...in the same bed with him."
"Honey Juice?!" I guessed.
"Bingo! Honey Juice and Nathan James had sex that night. Nathan tried to stop her but having an actress with so much experience in the adult industry, he couldn't even resist the pleasure he was getting. Juice admitted that she was a huge fan of Nathan after his screen debut, much to the other human actors who also appeared in the movie but that is just aside the point. The next morning, the two woke up at 12PM...and Nathan was late for his shoot! He panicked, grabbed his stuff, and bolted out of there but didn't because his train departed two hours ago."
"Did he make it in time to the shoot?"
"Oh yeah...he did..."
As Dean went on, Nathan James arrived five hours later in the evening to Hollow Shades as the film crew, staff, and actors grew impatient, even Golden Delicious was disappointed at him. After apologizing numerous times, everyone and everypony decided to shoot the next day on February 2. For the next eight days, the filming for Headless Horse VII went from bad to worse to the next level atrocity. Nathan James, who previously acted very well in HH VI, somehow lost his ability to concentrate and memorize his words from the script. More so, several scenes involving the Hollow Howls, a group of actors and extras that play the cult group that worships the Headless Horse, fighting Nathan near the climax were horribly shot as the 133rd human wanted to do his own stunts instead of his stunt double the choreographed fight. Scare Fright, the actor who played Headless Horse in the previous films, was injured on set when Nathan "accidently" hit his face with a chain (a real one instead of a prop) during a scene where HH was supposed to be chasing Nathan and Golden's characters through the swamp after his rebirth. The actor had to get stitches and ten staples to cover the wound on the left side of his forehead.
Mass Gore, witnessing these events unfold, reached his boiling point.
On February 10, more drama happened behind the scenes as an executive from Dragon's Cave Studios was called upon to have a meeting with Mass Gore on what the status of the movie is. As expected, Mass told the stallion that everything was falling apart and more time was needed to complete the film. Meanwhile, Golden Delicious found out the truth on why Nathan was screwing up on several scenes: the stuntpony, the same one who friended Nathan James during the production of HH VI, spilled the beans and confessed because he felt guilty that he was to be blamed for getting the human actor out of shape for the movie. Golden Delicious was so outrage that she stormed inside of her boyfriend's trailer and demanded to know the truth. The two argued on what seemed like an hour until security on duty broke the two apart from even hurting each other. Mass Gore and the Dragon's Cave Studio executive were informed on the situation that had the film director on a rampage. He fired Nathan James and was sent packing to Los Pegasus. Plus, his contract from the studio that he had signed will be terminated the next day as the executive goes back to the office and tells President Bolex Highlight of the movie's current status and have Nathan replace with a new actor.
With the 133rd human gone, Mass Gore spent the next 48 hours rewriting the script and having Nathan's character killed off entirely. Though, his character will be mentioned briefly and will have a bit of explanation on why he left a pregnant Damsel Luck to journey to Hollow Shades alone. All the scenes that were shot that include Nathan, from the beginning of the movie to the fight to the birth to the chase through the swamps to several dialouge scenes, were axed and had to be re-shot. Unfortunately, filming for Headless Horse VII had to be put on a stand still...for now.
Meanwhile, back at Los Pegasus, Dragon's Cave Studios President Bolex Highlight was informed on the movie's production and Nathan's firing. He shook his head in a disappointed manner that he did, indeed, terminated Nathan's contract. The president then look at other available actors and found out that a human named Troy Palin, the 121st human and also an actor for B-Movies, was hired to replace Nathan's role as a new character. He sent out two of his agents to Troy's home and escort the actor to Hollow Shades asap.
February 13, the movie crew were ready to re-shoot the movie. There were a few changes to the script and the movie's title. Instead of Origins, the subtitle for the movie is now The New Breed, with the plot being that Damsel Luck and Henry Axel (Troy's character) travel to Hollow Shades to know the birthplace of the Headless Horse and find the last surviving descendant. What they don't know, however, is that the village is plagued by the cult group known as the Hollow Howls, a bunch of HH worshippers that plan to resurrect the Headless Horse...with the use of Damsel Luck's unborn baby. With everything in place, filming began all the way towards midnight after finishing a scene where Damsel Luck gives birth to the newborn Headless Horse. With this last scene shot, everypony and everyone went straight to bed with five Nightwatch Poies guarding the premise. Golden Delicious was kind of happy that this re-shoot was going smoothly and hopefully will be ready to tomorrow to film more scenes along with her new co-star Troy.
February 14, I came to Equestria as the 142nd human and met my Earth Brothers, the Mane 6, the Royal Family, the R.A.S., and everypony and everyone at my Welcome Party thrown by Pinkie Pie. However, at Hollow Shades, on that very day...the inevitable happened! One that Dean told me straight up that had me ill to my stomach and even he did not want to say it...but he had to.
During my invitation to Equestria, at Hollow Shades, Mass Gore and the rest of the film crew were alerted that Golden Delicious is not in her trailer. Everyone and everypony panicked and went looking for her, even the Nightwatch Ponies. All of them had zero clue on how an actress disappeared last night from underneath their muzzles during their guard duites or how exactly one was able to sneak on set.
Everyone and everpony spread out and searched the village for Damsel. Some of them venture into the woods and towards the swamp, hoping they'll find the missing mare. Ten minutes later...
"...Ten minutes later," Dean paused to catch his breath. "They found her...alive...and beaten."
"...Nathan?" I took a wild guess.
"Yeah...he..." He took a seat on the sofa. "...he assaulted her!"
I cringed so badly upon hearing that. I felt my body ready to explode like a nuclear reactor with anger within. How dare that Nathan James? Hurting an innocent mare after he screwed up first by cheating on her? I hate guys like that!
Dean took another deep breath and continued. "The film crew called police and Canterlot Guards and they found Nathan, hiding in an alcove near the swamps. They took him in and the Royal Alicorn Society held another trial at the convention. Nathan plead no contest because he knew that he fucked up but that didn't stop himself. He was just overwhelmed by emotion that lead to this sick act. The fact that he got replaced and his movie career ended shortly. Princess Celestia was hot tempered that she wanted to murder Nathan James for hurting Golden Delicious right in front of everypony and everyone attending but she received two things: a second strike and a warning that if one more screw up from a human, she gets dethroned permanently, along with her sister."
"How come I didn't know about this?" I questioned him.
"How the fuck should I know?" The 34th human stood up from the sofa, looking annoyed. "You were in your fucking apartment playing your damn PS3 all night long!"
"Okay, so my bad. I didn't know that a human raped an innoncent pony! So what happened to Nathan?"
"The R.A.S found him guilty of rape and sexual assault on an equine, both of those are against the Human/Equine Law. It's an automatic decision to give the culprit the death sentence without a plea, a retrial; you name it. In other words, Nathan James zapped back to Earth and killed himself in his own timeline. As for Golden Delicious, she's still acting but wants the memory of that one day to be blocked for the rest of her life. Right after the trial, she walked out on working on Headless Horse VII and Mass Gore was fired by Dragon's Cave Studios after failing to protect one of his key actors and stalling production. In the end, the movie had a new director, a new script, and new actors. You know what the outcome was?"
I nodded. "Yeah, the movie sucked!"
"Exactly," Dean agreed. "There you go, Frank Archer. That was the E.V.A.N. Incident! Now you know why I won't let you talk to Princess Cadance, Celestia, and Luna?"
"But wait a minute! What about Daryl? What lead to you guys ending your friendship?"
My Earth Brother let out a frustrated groan. "Goddamn it, Frank! Can you drop it? I have other important shit to do than answer more of your damn questions!"
"It's my last one, Okay! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"
There was a moment of silence between us. So silent that you can here a pin drop on the floor. My Earth Brother glances at me before moving back to the same window. He knew for the fact that I was being serious as to know more about Blackburn.
"When Rich, Jerome, myself, and Daryl went to the club," He confessed. "We met these three dancers named Diamond D, Soft Lips, and Green Envy. Those three dancers came to our hotel for Daryl's birthday party where they give us private dances. I saw Daryl spending more time with Green Envy so much that he brought her into the bedroom of the suite, while the three of us remain with the other two in the living room. We drank and drank and drank some more of that rich cider until we passed out! The next morning, Daryl was gone...and the dancers, too. We went back to the club to see if he was there...but..."
"But what?" I asked as of I was at the edge of my seat.
"They weren't there...and strange of all: the three dancers disappeared and never came to work that day. Nopony knew where they were nor had any contact with them and they don't know where they live. The only that does know is Daryl himself."
"Do you think Daryl had something to do with this?"
"I have no idea. I seriously don't."
"It makes no sense!" I approaced him face to face. "How can anypony or anyone not know where the three dancers are after two years of being missing? No bodies? No traces? Something does not add up, Dean! I need to tell Princ..."
"No, NO!" Dean stormed. "YOU'RE NOT FUCKING TELLING HER SHIT, FRANK! YOU TELL HER AND I'LL MURDER YOU IF YOU DO IT! WE GO BACK TO EARTH AND WE KILL OURSELVES! WERE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION ON WHAT I TOLD YOU EARLIER?! SEA SWIRL WOULD LOSE ME...AND SHE WILL BE SO DEPRESSED FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE IF I DON'T EXIST ANYMORE!"
The angered Earth Brother goes back to the same window. "Look out there, Frank! 141 of us, plus you! We were chosen to come here and fix a problem...for these ponies. These ponies need us...to survive! It may sound weird and wrong to you in another perspective but if you put all that negative thinking and criticism aside, you will see the reason why we're happy here. Back on Earth, we went through a lot of problems: dealing with girls that hate our guts or took us for advantage and family issues! You lost a girl that you wanted, I lost my fiance to some douche. The both of us wanted to end our lives on that day...but a magical, enchanted Princess gave us another chance to live...and told us to be happy on who we are and accept our new lives here. I met Sea Swirl when I first came here and I love her. I love her so much that I am willing to do anything in my heart and soul to protect her...and I want to raise a family with her."
I took a few steps to meet him eye to eye, near the doorway to the outside of his house.
Dean continued his speech. "...But you want to take that away from me? All because of who? Aloe?"
In an instant, he grabs both of my deltoids with his hands with a tight grip like he was threating me. "Is Aloe your marefriend? IS SHE YOUR SPECIAL SOMEPONY?! DID YOU HAD SEX WITH HER, YET?! HUH?!"
I didn't answer to my Earth Brother's questions. Of course Aloe isn't my marefriend nor is she my special somepony. As for sex, I'm still a virgin and never had any yet, so what he said earlier he was dead on. Not that it matters to me though.
"She's your friend, Frank." Dean went on. "Aloe will always be a friend and it's going to be like that forever! She has Daryl Blackburn...and you have nopony! What makes you think that she'll break up with him and go to you? Because of the fights? Because of Darly being a jerk to Aloe? What are you going to do? Be Superman and save the day? Huh?! WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO IMPRESS HER?! You only talk to her during your spa treatments and met at random times whenever you're around Ponyville buying groceries or paying bills! You think that turns her on?! Face facts, Frank: Daryl and Aloe are a couple! YOU ARE A FUCKING THIRD WHEEL!"
I lowered my head and stared at the ground. He was right on a few things. I only talk to Aloe during my spa treatments and at times, when she's around trotting the streets, I happen to approach her and say a few words before departing. The only time we hunged out together alone was last week when I escorted her home and that was it. In the past, I never got a chance to spend time with her because of us being either busy or just making up excuses on why not to. I feel so ashamed.
I look back at Dean Walsh and he releases his tight grip from my arms. "You need to give up this whole detective work and move on. Forget about the whole talk to Princess Cadance appointment and just go home!"
The 34th human approaches the front door and opens it to the outside to Ponyville. I stood there being silent and just give the 34th human an odd stare as to know if he's serious about this. From the looks of things, he is and I can't argue. I went over to the table and grabbed my items that I brought with me and approached the doorway. I took one more look at Dean to see if he has anything to say but he didn't say a word. He motions his head to the side, indicating for me to leave. I didn't respond nor motion a nod but just walked out.
As I began my trek back to my apartment, Dean Walsh calls me again. "Frank...tell me you won't do it."
With my back turned, I let out my response. "...I won't."
I went ahead and turned around to face him. "I won't tell the Royal Family about Daryl."
He steps outside and looks at me in the eye. "Promise?"
Another moment of silence. Suddenly, he grabs my throat with his right hand and squeezes a bit. "PROMISE?!"
"I PROMISE!" I yelled back, freeing myself from his clutch.
The scuba diving human took a few steps back and goes back inside his home while closing the front door behind him. I turned around and began to walk back to my usual route back home...then I stop my trek and looked at Canterlot Castle in the distance from where I currently standing. I was beginning to have second thoughts about my promise. Should I go back home or should I head to Canterlot? If I go home, nothing happens...except Daryl will continue to hurt Aloe even more. I really don't want to see that happen and Dean will still be cool with me. However, if I go to Canterlot and report Daryl, Aloe will be safe...but Dean will murder me and all humans go back to Earth once the R.A.S get ahold of the recent events that happened and another trial will occur. Plus, Celestia and Luna will be dethroned and Equestria won't have nopony to watch over. It's a frustrating choice: life or death? Which one should I go with?
There has to be a way. I know there is! There has to be a way to solve this without risking the lives of all of us humans if I had to rat on Daryl Blackburn.
I pondered for a bit and made my decision: get on the train!
I took one more look at Dean Walsh's home and darted to the train station.
"Please forgive me, Dean." I said to myself.