Quest 22

Last time on 'Hide From Twilight Or Else She'll Kill Us' Quest:

>Twilight came to help Rusty after hurting himself.
>Immobilized his legs and gave him a pill.
>Eventually took the pill when Twilight left.
>STARTED FEELING FUNNY.
>When Twilight came back, really started laying into her, blaming everything on her in an intoxicated manner.
>Asked her to bring your pocket candy to Applebloom.
>Continued to rant about everything wrong with Twilight drunkenly long after she had left the room, doodling on paper mindlessly until Spike walked in.
>Asked him to get a doctor.
>Rusty then had a horrible dream/flashback of the crazy pony.
>Eventually woken by Spike and the doctor pony.
>Asked Spike to get a pony to help, anyone other then Twilight.
>Doctor pony said you were fine, but still sore and to keep it easy for the next while. He then left to help other ponies.
>Saw Twilight about to get in the house, so you hid under the bed.

You are Rusty Shackleford, a human with no memory who has found himself lost in Equestria.

Currently, you are hiding under Twilight Sparkle's bed now. She had locked you in her basement not too long ago and you think it best she doesn’t know you escaped. From your little vantage point, you can see Twilight heading to the basement now.

You make absolutely sure all of your limbs and the chain around your ankle are hidden under the bed. It's cramp, but you can fold your limbs enough to make it work. You stay as still as possible, trying to breath as little as possible. Twilight disappears from view as she goes down the stairs and out of your fired of vision.

"Ahhhh!" You hear her shriek and runs back up almost immediately. She starts prancing and fretting around the room excitedly. "Oh no. Oh no, this is bad, this is so bad."

She then suddenly stops and looks up directly at you. You start to sweat as she walks up the stairs into the little bed alcove, thinking she saw you. Her hooves are only a few inches in front of your face as she stops as the bed and you stop breathing altogether. You can hear her rustling something on the bed. Something falls to the floor.

It's what's left of the splints that the doctor took off of you.

"R-Rusty?" Twilight says nervously. "Are... are you still in here?"

Twilight is so close, you can smell her. Her hooves clop across your limited view as she walks around the bed.

"Rusty?" She calls out again, still clearly nervous. "Are you still here? Oh, please don't be mad. Or scared. Or both. Please, I'm just trying to do what's right."

She's so close, you're afraid she'll look under the bed at any moment, but she only just seems to keep walking around. You can't really see what she's doing, only her hooves.

After a few tense minutes of this, Twilight returns downstairs and starts looking through her bookshelves. She has her back to you.

You stay hidden under the bed, not risking discovery. Twilight eventually picks a book from the shelf, goes over to a desk and stars pouring over the book, while writing something with magic. You keep as quiet as your can, watching her and listening to your own pounding heart beat.

Minutes pass and the front door opens. Spike walks in with Pinkie bouncing behind him.

"Oh Spike, good, you're home!" Twilight says, putting down what she's doing and rushing over. "Have you seen Rusty anywhere?"

"Yeah he was... huh," Spike says, point up to the bed room. "He's was right there a while ago. He told me to get someone, so I brought Pinkie."

"Hi!" Pinkie says cheerfully, waving her hoof at Twilight.

"Hi Pinkie." Twilight says. She starts fretting around the room again. "Oh this isn’t good."

"What's going on Twilight?" Spike asks. "You and Rusty are both acting really strange. I can't understand a thing with that guy."

You take the opportunity to crawl out from under the bed, the chain dragging noisily on the wood with you. Everyone looks up at you.

"Help me please!"

"Rusty!" Pinkie shouts, bounding over to you with a smile on her face. She lands on your back, look at your right in the face upside down. "Where have you been? You don't look so good."

"P-pinkieee," You huff, trying to get the air Pinkie knocked out of you when she landed on you at terminal velocity. "Heeelp."

"Oh... uh, Rusty," Twilight says, coming over too. "I didn’t see you there. Haha. We were just... uh, playing hide and seek. Yeah. You win Rusty, great job."

"I love hide and seek!" Pinkie shouts, jumping on you some more. You're starting to feel like a bellows. "Can I play to? Please please please Twilight!"

"Pink... heey." You're trying to say something. Anything!

"Uhh...," Twilight is sweating really hard now, looking from you to the others. "....ssuuuuure. You can be it Pinkie."

"Yaay!" Pinkie cheers and hops off of you. Oh god, you can breath again. She runs over to the opposite wall starts counting, her face buried in her legs. "Oooonnnnnee....twwooooo....tthrrreeeeeeee..."

"Pinkie!" You shout, now that you are capable. "Twilight's ke-!"

"Shhh, Rusty." Twilight whispers to you. Her horn is glowing and can't seem to move you jaw. "Pinkie's counting, we should go hide. Spike, go hide."

Spike switches glances between you and Twilight, clearly confused. He then shrugs and trots off up stairs, muttering something.

You're not sure what to do. Twilight has you pretty well subdued and you can't call out for help. Her horn starts glowing brighter and bright, static sparking off of it and

PHWOOOSH!

Suddenly the two of you are now outside her house. You feel a little dizzy. Twilight uses her magic and sits you up against the wall, looking nervously all around the streets. There aren’t any ponies around right now on this side of the house.

"OK Twilight," She says to herself, pacing back and forth quickly. "Think, think. You're a smart pony. Pinkie will be counting for another three minutes, think think."

You still can't seem to move your jaw.

You suddenly get an idea and starting flailing about, making a pained face, doing your best impression of suffocating.

"Rusty?" Twilight says, looking confused, follow by concerned. "What is it?"

You fall to the side and continue to pretend suffocation, sucking in your cheeks and rolling your eyes back in your head a little, but not too much cause it gives you a bad headache.

"Oh no! Rusty!" Twilight is almost on top of you. You can feel you jaw release. "Breath! Breath!"

"You!" You say with venom, getting to your feet. "You're in league with the crazy blue pony! You're trying to kill me!"

"I'm sorry, I didn’t me... wait what?" Twilight looks up at you confused. "Crazy blue pony? You... mean Rainbow Dash?"

"No!" You shout frustrated, making Twilight take step back from you. "I've... been having really strange dreams. I think they might be flash backs. I keep seeing this horrible blue unicorn and she... did terrible things."

"I... I don't understand, Rusty. You're not making any sense."

"She killed them! She did something to my head. Why is your princess saying I'm dangerous when you ponies are so powerful and do such horrible things!"

"Shhh, Rusty, keep it down!" Twilight says, looking back and forth. "You're talking crazy. Someone's going to hear you. You're scaring me."

You gather your wit and take a few deep breaths, calming down. You're back against the house, you slide down and sit on the ground. Twilight walks back up close to you, concerned.

"I've been having these dreams and I think they are memories." You begin to explain the series of events that have come to you in sporadic flashes over the last few days. It doesn’t take long, since you only remember a little. "And there was this... crazy blue unicorn. She kept laughing and it kept echoing around and around and around. She hurt my friends and she did... something to my head. I don’t remember anything else after that."

"Rusty..." Twilight seems very taken aback by your little tale. She put a hoof on your shoulder, reassuringly. "I... don't know what to say. I've never heard anything so horrible."

"I also drew a scribble of the pony earlier. It might be better. It's somewhere in the basement."

"Hmmm," Twilight hums again, still with a thoughtful expression. She looks back up to you. "That might help."

"But I'm not going back down there! You can get it."

"Rusty..." Twilight says, sounding hurt. "I'm... I'm sorry. I think I may have over reacted."

"Oh, you think?"

"OK, I DID. And I'm sorry about that. I haven't heard anything from Princess Celestia in so long. And then we get a sudden warning to watch out for dangerous creatures that look like you. I was scared and I thought I could handle all this. I'm sorry Rusty."

You look down at the little purple unicorn. She seems genuinely remorseful about what she did. You don't think you can stay mad at her, even if she did lock you in her basement.

"I forgive you Twilight," You say. Instinctively, you pet her on the head. She surprised at the gesture, but then smiles at you. "But look, Twilight, if we're going to find out here, we're going to need to start working together. No more locking each other up and keeping secrets. Agreed?"

"Agreed." The two of you shake hands and hooves. Suddenly, her eyes widen and her ears plummet. "Oh no."

"What is it?"

"The letter! I already sent the Princess a reply, saying that you were here in Ponyville! Spike did it hours ago. I'm sorry!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but we can't be fooling around right, alright? Like I said, we have to work together."

"You're right." Twilight says, nodding an affirmative. "I'm sure that we'll be able to expla-"

"AHAH!" Pinkie shouts, popping out the window directly above you. "Found you! I didn't know we could hide outside. You need to be more clear about the rules, Twilight."

"Oh, right," Twilight says, smiling nervously. "Pinkie. You found us. Come on, Rusty, let's go back inside."

Together, you and Twilight regroup with the other two inside, the chain still attached to you dragging nosily behind you. Twilight goes down into the basement.

"Spike, could you do me another favor?" You ask the littler dragon. "Could you go round up Applejack and Rarity and Dash and bring them here? We have something important we need to do."

"Fine." Spike says, sighing loudly and rolling his eyes. He leaves grumbling. "One of these days..."

You're alone with Pinkie Pie, who as always, is smiling happily up at you.

"Pinkie," You say, waving your hand around and sighing. "You wouldn’t believe the day I've had."

"Ahuh."

"But... let's not talk about that right not." You say, as Twilight comes back up from the basement. She has a piece of paper with her and lays it down on the big table in the middle of the room.

"Is this it, Rusty?" It's you scribble of the crazy pony. You suddenly don’t feel so good.

"Yeah, that’s it."

"What's this?" Pinkie says, looking at the drawing. "Is this supposed to be a pony?"

"Yeah, sorta." You start explaining to Pinkie. "I've been having flashbacks and I keep remembering this one pony for some reason. She's blue and a unicorn and really, really creepy. Me and Twilight are trying to figure out who she is. Also, Twilight, do you mind." You point to your ankle, still chained.

"Oh, sorry." She says and magics the lock. You're free. The chain is set aside in the corner.

"Oh oh!" Pinkie says, going over to Twilight's desk in the corner. "I have an idea."

She rummages around in one of the drawers and comes back with a purple marker and starts adding to your drawing. Looking over her shoulder, you see her give it a littler pointy had and what looks like a cape.

"Tadaa!" Pinkie says, finished. "I'm great at this game. It's Trixie, isn’t it?"

"That's what I was thinking." Twilight says, looking at the drawing. "Does this look familiar, Rusty?"

"No." You say, shaking you head. "The pony I remember wasn’t wearing anything."

"Hmm. Did she talk in the third person?"

"And constantly say THE GREAT AND POWERFUL?" Pinkie adds, getting on her hind legs for dramatic effect.

You shake your head. "No, none of that."

"Well, to be fair, I don’t remember all that much. I only spoke with her a little and she seemed pretty... insane."

"Sounds like Trixie to me." Pinkie says.

"Who is this Trixie, anyway?"

"Oh, that's a long," Twilight says, going over the events of when Trixie, a traveling show pony came to town. She was insufferably boastful. Then came the Ursa Minor and Twilight did spectacular magic to lul it back to sleep in the Everfree Forrest. "I learned a very valuable lesson that day."

"Huh," You think about this story. "I... guess it have been her. But she didn't act like that at all. This pony was really... intense."

"Well, who else could it be?" Pinkie asks. All three of you sit there in silence, mulling over the possibilities until the others arrive.