VERY Important Note:
Please do NOT start reading here. This Chapter contains some very strong and important information regarding the story and
its progression, continuing to read this installment without having read the chapters before this will give you a
painfully large spoiler. Although, said spoiler shall only affect you if you decide to read the rest of this story because you like it. Regardless, I
can't be too careful with spoilers :3 And yes, this shall be my generic spoiler warning from now on :3
Author's Note:
Holy crap, it's been a month already... O_O
Anyway, here's not what I promised ya! A chapter that only raises more questions! I was intending to make this one about 10-11K words long, but
then I realized that I would need at least 17000 words to cover absolutely everything I needed to, so instead I split this chapter into
two parts: One of which progresses with the story a tad, and the other answers roughly a third of the questions you're
asking. So without (much) further ado, I present to you chapter 29! ^_^
Oh, and this shall also be one of the only chapters that is told through another character's Point of View, so that makes it extra special!
#Enjoy! (Heh... hash-tag...)
08:16 A.M. S.A.A, Western Field...
"Wait, that's him! He's the murderer! Catch him!"
Someone from behind jumped onto me and pinned me down. Then a few others showed up in the few seconds that I was held down for. Once they had arrived, the person on top of me released me and a strange force surrounded my body and lifted me off the ground, preventing any movement whatsoever. Looking back up to Jake, I can only think of one more thing to say before my arrest...
"I will judge you, Jake."
Before I could utter another word, one of the armored men behind me ordered me to be silent. Following that, the same force encapsulating my body held my mouth shut. No matter the intensity of my attempts, only slurred murmurs could now escape my throat. But that aside, I could feel anger whirling around inside of me. Anger that's making me thirst for blood.
I truly despise you, Jake. That's three times you've made a mockery of me now. Me! The fated God of the New World! I've defeated the ICPO, the Japanese police, I was even on the verge of killing L! ...But you...
"Thank you Corpus, you've done us a great favor in apprehending him."
I couldn't even touch you! No-one's outside of God's grasp, no-one can stand up to my power! ...Yet, you managed to plan this all out...
"Ah, don't thank me... really. I was more concerned with keeping him from killing everyone else."
"Still, you have our gratitude. We'll be sure to send for you your reward soon enough."
Forcing me into a corner and leaving me with nothing to do but submit defeat has only renewed my hatred for you. Actually, this encounter has only made it easier to kill you...
"I-I don't really need a reward... It would be nice to get one, but I don't really think I deserve it."
Now I know who you are, what you're like, and who you hold dear. Not only that, but I've now confirmed the suspicions I've had for a while...
"Is that so? Well if that's what you want, then I suppose we'll be taking our leave. We need to make sure that we lock him up before he kills anyone else."
L-lock me up...!? ...Yes... they'll lock me away in prison as a criminal... But when I get out, I... I'll kill you!
Slight insanity glittered through my eyes as my mouth twitched.
I'll drag you down from where you stand, and stop your heart by any means necessary! Even if it means with my own hands! I'll make sure the world is watching for your death! As God, I will command it! Everyone shall watch as your body turns lifeless! They'll all know that I am God, and that no-one can stand against me!
I stared at him, anger overflowing from my soul at the sight of him. Suddenly, I was twisted round and met with the stoic expressions of the ones keeping me in contempt.
...Rrgh... calm down Light... There's no need to get so worked up. You'll just have to wait until your chance arrives. Besides, I'll only be kept in contempt for a while. There's no way they can execute me, I've done almost nothing to be executed for. The one pony I did kill has been moved somewhere else. Besides, they only have the speculation that I killed him to go on, if they even have that. I'll most likely be kept in custody for a short while before being released due to a lack of evidence. Besides, even if they were to lock me up, as long as I have the Death note scrap in my shirt it should be all too easy to break out.
"Yeah... Oh! that reminds me! There's a scrap of paper in his chest pocket. It belongs to this Note book here, the tool he used to murder other ponies."
! Damnit! ...No... I should have expected this. He wouldn't have planned all of this out and still let me leave with my Notebook.
"...I find that rather hard to believe. How could a book kill ponies?"
"It's a book that comes from a separate world. Inside of it are written some of the rules it follows. The most prominent one being 'The... person whose name is written in this Note shall die'. In addition to this rule, it's possible to determine the time, place, and cause of death of anyone written in it. But if a cause isn't written, then a heart attack shall kill them at the designated time, if any. In the circumstance that a time isn't specified, then they'll simply die 40 seconds after their name was written."
"...And you're sure this is all true...?"
"Absolutely."
...Actually, it doesn't matter if they know about the Note. In the month that I've been here, I've learnt that there's no-one who'd want to risk killing anyone else. They'll never be able to prove the Note's real unless they test it, which would result in them becoming a murderer as well. Too bad for you, 'Corpus'. Looks like I'll be walking away from all of this, and free to hunt you down after reclaiming my Note.
A small grin grew on my face, the chance of victory I still have making me feel... satisfied.
"...I'll take your word on it, we'll incarcerate him now and ensure that he doesn't escape anytime soon."
W-what!?
The grin quickly faded as I caught their conversation behind me.
T-they can't! They don't have the necessary evidence to lock me up! They-! ...Is it possible that the law system here is different...? Did he anticipate this...? No... no I'm over-thinking this. This is all coincidence. If he knew about the Death Note then he had to be a human like myself, so he shouldn't already know of the laws here. The only thing he had planned was taking my Notebook, nothing else.
The armored guard in front of me opened my shirt pocket with his magic, taking it into his custody shortly afterward.
"Take him back to Canterlot Castle, we'll have him put into the dungeons there until me and my sister decide what to do with him."
"Understood, your highness."
Now I'm being pulled, the guards in front of me turning around and dragging me behind with them. Thinking about it, it would be logical to assume that they're using magic to stop me from moving or talking. This is going to be a long delay from my plans...
"Hey, Light. Wanna know what I think?"
Wha-? Ryuk!
Surprised to hear his voice, I direct my eyes to the Shinigami flying by my side.
"Oh yeah, you can't talk can you? Well I'll tell you anyway. I think that I'm going to kill you now."
W-what!? No! You can't!
"You see, I don't know how long you're gonna be locked up for, and I really can't be bothered to sit around twiddling my thumbs for that long. The past few months have been fun, we managed to kill each others boredom for a while."
No! Ryuk, you can't kill me! If you kill me then crime won't stop! The world will keep degenerating! I'm the only one who can stop it! I'm the only one fit to be God!
"Y'know, I wanted to kill you with my Death Note, like I promised. But I suppose my bare hands will do." His hoof morphed into the same form it took earlier, something resembling his original hand.
N-no, wait!
"Goodbye, Light Yagami."
His hand flew at me, on a direct course for my neck. Panicking, I direct my eyes to a guard in front of me and murmur.
"Mmm Myug! Mmm mm mm mmph?"
Come on Ryuk, get the hint!
Ryuk's hand stopped just short of my neck, his claws practically about to pierce the skin. "...Huh? What're you trying to say?"
Yes! He stopped. Now just to try and convey my message.
I direct my eyes back at him and then to the horse in front of me. "Mmm. Mm mm mmph!"
"Stop making that noise, we're not going to let you go!" The guard turned his head slightly as he shouted.
"...Oh! I see what you're getting at. You want me to kill the guards so you can escape."
That's not what I was getting at, and I would prefer it if they stayed alive. I'll need them to think that I'm completely helpless if I want any chance at avoiding death and exacting my revenge. But just to make sure...
Putting all of my strength into my neck, I manage to turn it to my left and then to my right, making a very weak and stuttered denial.
"No? Then what do you want?"
I dart my eyes back to the guards, muttering again but with gaps between each word.
"Mmm, mmm, mmu, mmi!"
"I said quiet!"
The magic around me tightened as the guard shouted, draining some of my physical strength as the pain seeped in.
"Mmm mmm... you see...?"
Good, he understood the last part. Now he just needs to realize.
"...I see ponies. What's your point? ...Ah! I'm stuck in this world with the ponies!"
He flung his arms to his head as he looked about exasperated.
Finally, you understand why I can't be killed yet.
Staying still for a few seconds, Ryuk lowered his arms and chuckled.
"Is that what you wanted me to say?"
What?
"I know that I'm stuck here. I also know that there might be someone in this world who knows how to get me back to our world. Whether you die or not, I don't really care. I can simply reclaim the Death Note and give it the person who can send me back."
Damnit Ryuk! You can't kill me yet! I have another two thousand years to live! If you kill me now, then the human world will be doomed to rot without a God! It'll fall with no-one to repair it!
"But... I might consider letting you live, if you promise to escape quickly and keep me entertained."
...Ryuk... you really know how to get under my skin at times... It's aggravating beyond belief...
"So what do you say? Will you break out of prison and kill my boredom for a bit longer? I'll give you a month, so that should be enough time to escape."
A month isn't that long Ryuk, especially if you're planning a jailbreak. But, I don't suppose I have a choice...
Using as much strength as I can muster, I give Ryuk a slow and delayed nod. Shortly afterward, he burst into a small hysteria of laughter.
"Hhhya hahahaha! It truly is entertaining, how you humans value your lives so much. All right, I'll let you live for a while longer. But just remember, one month's all your gonna get."
I know, Ryuk. And don't worry, I will get out of jail in that month. Then I can kill Jake and find a way back to our world, where I can pick up where I left off, and re-introduce the world to Kira...
10:46 A.M. Castle District, Canterlot...
I think it's been roughly three hours since my arrest. Before we left, we had to wait around for a few minutes. Something about one of the people who were arresting me wanting to see 'Corpus' before leaving again. Afterward, they decided to book out a train for my transferal, most likely for some safety reason or another. And once our train journey had ended, we got off at, what I would assume to be, the capital of this country. Only there were an endless line of guards surrounding us on both sides as we progressed further into town. One of the guards must have tipped of the authorities to bolster their forces in the city. And right now, I'm being dragged toward a large Castle-like structure. If I had to guess, I'd say the prison is most likely on a lower level in this place.
We've now passed through the Castle's front doors, which also had guards lining them. I noticed a couple of the armored ones pulling me salute some of the guards at the door, so it would be safe to assume that there are some friendly relations between both the Gold plated guards and the Black-Gold plated ones. There might be a chance that I could use that information in my escape...
Minutes swiftly passed like seconds and we had reached a room resembling a medieval dungeon. Along the way here, a few of the pairs of footsteps that were following us split off from us at the Castle's foyer. They were most likely the highest ranking members among the guards that caught me.
"Alright, in there with you!"
I was thrown into the cell, the force concealing my speech and movements leaving my body as I flew. And by the time I looked back up to the guards, they had closed the cell door and were making their way to the exit.
Standing myself up, I walk over to one of the cell's walls and rest against it.
Ryuk's given me one month to break out of here...
I open my eyes and shift them around the room, taking in any details I find important.
There only seems to be one guard making a regular patrol by the cells. In addition, there're forty-eight cells in total down here. I can only confirm that three of them have any prisoners though; mine, the one opposite, and the cell to it's left. Looking about my cell, it seems that it's made to incarcerate two people at a time. Judging from the fact that I'm the only one in here, I'd say that they're keeping my from the other prisoners to prevent anything from happening.
Whilst inspecting my cell, the large door to the prison closes, making a loud 'thud' ring through the hollow room. I look back to where the noise had originally sounded from.
And there were two guards standing watch by the large doors that just closed. It would be worth finding out if there were any other entrances to this place, and how guarded each of them are.
"You." I direct my attention to a pony in the cell opposite.
"Me?" He looks back at me as he raises a hoof to himself.
"How many entrances are there to this prison?"
"Heh, planning on breaking out? Well give up. The only entrance is the one you just came through, and it's watched constantly by guards. Not to mention the magic seal it has placed on it."
"Magic seal?"
"What are you, an idiot?"
This guy... I'm definitely killing him once I retrieve my Notebook...
"A magic seal's what the Princess uses to keep things in and other things out. The only way to get through it is by busting it up. Wait, you're a unicorn! How the hay can a unicorn not know what a seal is!? Reeetard!"
"Hey! Quiet down there!" A guard shouted down at us from along the hallway. Good timing too, I'm quickly losing my nerve to this guy.
The pony looked at the guard for a moment before turning back to me, speaking normally as he should've been from the start. "I've seen several of your type try to get out of here, but every one of them just ended up getting caught and being presented with a worse sentence. If you've got any sense to you you'll stay put and take any punishment they give you."
"..."
What nonsense, being lectured by a mere criminal. If I had the Death Note on me, it'd be all too easy to kill everyone here and escape. Actually, that's right... I don't have my Note on me...
"...I've been able to escape a situation like this before because I cleared almost all doubt that I was Kira. But that took over 50 days, and I specifically was under close observation. In a place like this, I'm not going to be able to escape by simply abandoning ownership of the Death Note. Not to mention that no allegations of me being Kira are being thrown at me. I'm simply here because they suspect me of killing. But if I don't have the Death Note, then how-?"
"Well lookey here... seems like a lil' bambina's gotten lost."
"Wha- who-?" Surprised by the stranger's voice behind me, I turn around to see someone else in my cell. I can't make out what they look like, but they're facing the floor.
"What're ya'll doin' this side of tha ranch, pardner?" He started to approach me, his features slowly becoming visible in the glow of the prison lights. "Them Busters tame ya before ya could cause any more havoc?"
He's wearing a stetson, similar to the type you'd expect to see in some western movie. He also has a red bandanna wrapped around his neck and an open leather vest on his torso. Does he think he's a Cowboy...?
"Or are ya jes' here ta take in tha sights of this here hoosegow?" He raised his head, looking into my eyes with his dark brown jewels. "Fer yer sake, Ah hope it's tha latter..."
Before I could give an answer, he jumps at me, leaving me with no time to react. Taken off guard by his sudden movement, I wasn't able to put up any form of fight before he had me pinned to the wall by my neck.
What... the hell...!?
"Listen, pardner. Ah'm gonna give ya one chance ta answer mah question, and one chance only. An' don' even think of lyin'. Ah can see through a lie easier than an Eagle sees a rattlesnake in a plain desert noon. Now, are ya a criminal?"
The hell is with this guy!? Does he really expect anyone in here not to be a criminal!? And that forceful attitude, it's... irritating.
With his leg pressing against my throat, my voice escapes croaky and dry. "...Do you really think..." With as much strength as I could muster, I pushed against his leg, giving myself just enough room to speak comfortably and look him in the eye. "That I'm one of these scum!?"
Keeping his stoic stare fixated on my being, he applies more force to his leg and pins me back against the wall as I had been beforehand. "Ah'm tha one askin' questions around here, Bambina. Are ya an outlaw, or a bronco?" He slipped his other hoof behind his back and brought it back up to my chin, a knife of roughly 6 inches now standing by my neck. "An' answer honestly."
Wha- what the hell's going on? How am I going to escape with this maniac in the same cell as me!? No, before I worry about that, is he... going to kill me?
"Not talkin'? Oh well, Ah thought ya might have at least given me tha courtesy of answerin' mah question."
No, I don't die here. Ryuk said that I have another 2000 years left on my natural life-span, which means I should survive this encounter.
"Good bye, nameless outlaw." My assaulter slashed his blade at my neck.
"I'm not a criminal."
Just as quickly as it had moved, his hoof fell to a complete stop with but a trickle of my blood running down the knife's edge.
He stared into my eyes, ignoring my smug grin as he searched around for an answer. Seconds went by, minutes floated past, and he eventually lowered his blade from my neck and tuck it away under his vest.
"Ah can't tell if ya tellin' tha truth or not, if I'm ta be honest, but Ah suspect that there's a bit more to ya than first glance suggests. Who-2
"Now it's your turn." He flinched back, loosening his hold on me enough so that I could push his leg away. "Are you a criminal, or are you innocent?"
"...Heh. So you're tha type who doesn't use up all his kindlin' ta make a fire. So be it," A small grin grew on his face, his eyelids falling halfway over his dark hazel eyes, "Ah'm a bronco, a wild horse. Put in here 'cus me an' tha town Sheriff had different ideals. He did'n like tha fact that Ah killed any outlaws we caught, so he got tha country's bust Busters ta bring me in. Only," He brought his hoof up to face me and left his leg bent in the middle, as if he were holding a gun to me, "Ah'm still the wild mustang Ah was when Ah left, an' no amount of wranglers are gonna change that."
"...I see... Did I hear you right when you said that you killed criminals?"
"That ya did, Bambina. Every last one of 'em."
"And your reason?"
His expression suddenly transformed, turning from placid to serious. "'Cus justice ain't true 'slong as there's still evil runnin' about."
Interesting... I think I can use this man quite well. After all, his ideals and mine are scarily similar.
"So tell me, what is justice?"
"Why don' you tell me, Tenderfoot?" He gave me a smile, almost as if he already knew what I was thinking.
Filled with renewed confidence, I cast down a smile of pure, sinister bliss. "To have a world where no evil exists, where those who live honest lives can live in peace as its only inhabitants. A world where no-one has to live in fear, for a God will look over them." My smile extended into a proud and joyful bearing, a mark of aspiration surfacing through my words.
"Well Ah don' no about no God," He lowers his hoof to the ground, and plays another coy smile to me, "But what yer sayin' is pretty much what Ah think. An' tha only way to keep evil from returnin' is ta bury it as it comes. All those who're jes' lockin' 'em up are just barkin' at tha knot."
Suddenly, his face tensed and he looked away to the ground, pulling his hat over his head slightly. "What's a few years to a criminal? They'll just get out again and start committing crimes like it's nothing. Whether it's petty thievery or murder, it's all the same to them..."
His accent changed. And he sounds... angry. Hm. I assume that he has some deep-seated hatred for criminal for one reason or another. Good, I can play on this when the time arises...
"Precisely my point. The only way to permanently stop them is to kill them. And eventually, other criminals will start to shrink away and refrain from committing crimes in fear of losing their lives too. it'll create... an ideal world." Again I'm left to speculate about the idea, a liveliness inside of me being rejuvenated every time I imagine eradicating evil forever.
"...Y'know, Ah think Ah'm startin' ta like you pardner." He lifted up his head and flicked his hat back with his hoof, giving a grin much like before. "Tha name's Mustang Marshall. Now what say you an' Ah make a two horse herd of our own? A Vaquero and a Tenderfoot, bustin' tha outlaws of this world usin' nothin' but our lariat and tha golden pellets of six shooter."
"Light Yagami. And I suppose I wouldn't object to cleansing the world. So long as you promise not to spare a single criminal."
This man is even more impressive than I first thought! Although I have a hunch that he'd rather not use something such as the Death Note, he'd definitely make a fine second Kira, probably even finer than Misa.
"Ah don' plan on lettin' any of 'em go free. Startin' with tha cattle grazin' at these here iron bars." He turned his attention to our fellow prisoners, all of which were unaware of his justice-seeking eyes.
Reduced from unruly horses to cows, huh? I prefer to refer to them as scum, but, oh well.
"Seeing as how we're starting with the criminals in this room, I assume you already have a plan to escape?"
"Of course Ah do, jes' who do ya think Ah am? Some runnuva mill broke-horse?"
I can't believe my luck! Not only have I found a very useful tool, but it seems like I can escape and retrieve the Note in just a few days! Just you wait, Jake... It won't be long until I exact my revenge on you.
"Ya'll jes' need ta break open them bars with yer magic and it'll be a home-stretch from there."
I furrowed my brow slightly, something about what he said seeming off...
"What about the magic seal on the door? How are we going to get past that?"
"Huh? Magic seal?" He raised an eyebrow, showing a clear ignorance to this place's security, "Why they got a seal guardin' tha door? Those lil' things can hardly walk, so they ain' gonna catch us."
I could feel the muscles in my face involuntarily flex from his comment. "No, not that type of seal. I'm talking about a barrier, a strong spell used to stop us from leaving."
"...Oh... one of 'em, is it?" Pulling his stetson back over his eyes, the once enthusiastic horse sat down against the wall. "Well Ah'm sorry pardner, looks like we ain' goin' nowhere anytime soon. Not with these hobbles on..."
I look at him in disbelief, how could someone who despises criminals so much just give up like that? "...So what? Are you just going to give up?"
"Hm?" He lifted his hat up slightly to corner his eye up at me.
"If you truly wish for a world without evil, then you wouldn't stop here. You'd find a way to get past that seal and dispose of the scum plaguing the planet!" I could feel myself getting worked up, which was extremely unnatural for me. Since when did I care so strongly for another's opinion? Since when did I feel helpless when someone else gave up?
He lowered his hat again and placed both arms behind his head, resting against the wall in a more comfortable position. "Ah already know of a way ta get past that thing, but Ah can't pull it off..."
"And why not? What makes it so impossible?" It could be because he's my last life line... If he gives up, then my life is over too...
"Tha fact that Ah'm not a Unicorn, that's what."
Then, it's a spell?
"What about me? Do you think I could cast it? I have a horn, so that should be enough."
"Nope."
The corner of my mouth momentarily flared up in frustration. "And why not!?"
"Look, Tenderfoot, all Ah'm sayin' is that yer not a strong enough Unicorn ta pull it off. Ah can see it in tha way ya stand, in the way ya speak. You've never used real magic before, only what they teach lil' fillies in tha play dens. But even if ya had used proper magic before, you'd need ta be a pretty darned strong Unicorn ta destroy a barrier made ta keep us 'outlaws' in. Only tha most powerful of Unicorns even know of this spell, after all."
Then that doesn't make any sense...
"Well, I don't see a horn on your head. So how come you know of such a spell?"
"...My mother told me..."
"...Go on."
"...My mother, Sally West, was tha toughest mare in Appleloosa. She may not have been an Earth Pony like everypony else, but she was tha best darn Unicorn either side of that boom town. One day, she sat down wit' me an' told me all about sommuva spells she learnt over tha years, prob'ly cus' none of them other Earth Ponies wanted ta hear about any of her magic. Ah can't remember any of tha stuff she said ta me that day, 'cept for one thing: 'Tha spell that'll fix me outta any jam'. Now, Ah don' like listenin' ta some borin' old tale with no endin' to it, an' that went fer her stories on magic and tha like too. But when she told me about that spell... she had that look to her eyes. A fierce, cattle-steering look that spoke ta me, told me Ah needed ta listen and remember, fer tha rest of my life. She knew that this would happen, that Ah would be stuck with nowhere to run, stopped by tha magic she loved so much. So Ah listened, an' Ah remembered each an' every lil' detail right to tha last second." He took a hoof out from behind his head and lightly tapped on his temple with it. "Ah got tha entire thin' written down in 'ere, as ta never have it lost or stolen. An' Ah'm pretty darn glad Ah remembered it, fer she never spoke none of it ever again..."
He sat there silently for a moment, not moving or making a single sound as I watched him.
"...But enough about tha past. All that matters is that it can bust us outta any jam, an' Ah don' think Ah need ta say that we're on tha wrong end of tha lasso fer this one, so it should come in mighty handy, right...? Well... whaddyou think, Tenderfoot?" He kept his eyes hidden under his hat, his head remaining completely motionless as he spoke.
This man really is a tough one to figure out. He seemed like some justice-filled idiot at first, something I could control easily with little effort. But now... there's this melancholic feeling escaping from him, something that, for some reason, makes him seem much smarter than I had originally thought. I don't know what's going through his mind, how much he knows, or how impressionable he is. I can't control someone like that, so I'd rather just leave him be. But... he's my only ticket out of here, and I'm not going to rest until I break out!
I declined my head, eyes facing the floor as I chuckled. "...So I just need to be a strong Unicorn, and you'll teach me the spell?"
The pony glanced up at me, a dreary look in his eyes. "That's what Ah'm sayin', pardner."
"Then," With a stroke of effort, two plumes of brown feathers erupted out from either side of me, falling into place as a pair of seemingly large and identical wings, "Would something along the line of me work?" As I rose my head up to meet his, a smirk befell my face from the sight of his.
He looked at me in near awe, eyes open and his lips partially parted. Then, with an attitude of coolness about him, his lips curved into calm simper. "Well, wouldya look at that. Wings an' a horn... guess that makes ya an Alicorn, huh? Well," He pushed off the cold ground with his fore-hooves, bringing him onto all four of his legs, "Guess that means we may as well try it."
"Glad you see it my way. Now it would be best to start imm-"
"Hold yer horses, Tenderfoot. We ain' practicin' jes' yet."
"...Heh, of course, how did I forget? With the guards around, it'll become blatantly apparent that we're up to something, which would most likely result in them separating the two of us and possibly bringing the both of us in to unnecessary questioning."
"Ya catch on quick, fer a greenhorn. Now, should we pass tha time wit' a few good stories? Ain' nothin' like tellin' a few tales while waitin' for chow ta arrive." He sat himself down opposite me, motioning for me to do the same. Once I had seated myself down, he pointed a hoof at me. "So why don' ya go first, Tenderfoot. Now's yer chance ta show me that yer not a broke-horse."
He wants me to tell a story? No thanks.
"N-no, I think it'd be best if you told one first, seeing as how you've probably got stories I've never head of stashed away up there."
"What? Yer not gonna indulge this Cowpony with a good tale? Then how about Ah strike a deal with ya?"
A... deal?
"You tell me a good, honest-to-heart story, an' I'll tell ya some things Ah didn' mention about that spell."
What? He was hiding pieces of information from me? Cocky-...
I keep a falsely calm smile on, suppressing my irritation to the best of my ability. "So if I tell you a good story, you'll let me in on some info you've kept hidden from me?"
"That's right, Tenderfoot. It can be any story ya like. From things yer father told ya as a child ta anythin' that actually happen' ta ya. But Ah warn ya, a shoddy piece of work'll get ya nowhere fast."
A story that's both true and fascinating... I think there's only one that he'll believe.
"Just to confirm, anything will suffice so long as it's both true and interesting?"
"Right. Anything else'll have ya barkin' at tha knot."
"Okay," I relax a bit since I'll be talking for a few hours, it wouldn't make sense to remain uncomfortable after all. "The only thing I have that's fits your description is an account of what I've seen and experienced over the past few weeks. Would that suit your liking?"
"Well that'll depend on ya story, wouldn't it?" He shot me an almost content smirk, cocking his head up to accommodate the expression.
This is the forth time I've been forced into a decision since I arrived. If I want any chance at moving things in my direction I'll need to become more like the inhabitants of this world. But first, I should guarantee a form of escape from here.
"This is the only one I have, so I guess I've no choice but to leave that decision up to you." I close my eyes, recalling all of the events that have unfolded since my arrival here. "This story starts just over a month ago, when I first arrived in Equestria..."
Well, as I didn't say up at the top, sorry for the long wait for this chapter. Lazy arse is lazy :P
Anyway, review on the good, the bad and the myeh!
Until next time,
Bye bi!
