Chapter 7: Tired and Confused.

The sun had long since set and Canterlot was covered in darkness as well as a thick blanket of snow that had built up over the past few days. A train rolled into the quiet station as it stopped at the final destination on its route.

A door opened and Dave stepped out of the train and shivered at the sudden cold outside. His hands went immediately into his pockets to try and keep what little warmth they had. His breath became a thick mist in the air in front of his face.

Dave pulled the zip up on his coat and began to walk towards the castle, the snow beneath his feet crunching softly. The lightly falling snow was slowly coating Dave’s head and shoulders as he walked, as well as a few stray snowflakes finding their way to his face and the freezing cold attacked his skin.

The walk was cold and the dark skies were not a welcome return for Dave as he made the lonely journey up the empty street. He stopped occasionally to glance around at the pitch-black alleys, his recent discoveries causing him to feel uneasy.

He quickly made his way back to the castle, the cold and empty courtyard was uninviting as he jogged into the castle and into the warmer sanctuary. Dave shook the snow from his body and stopped as he noticed Strong Shield was standing at the end of the corridor.

“Hey dad,” Dave walked over but noticed an agitated look. “What’s wrong?”

“Luna came to see me, she would have told Celestia about Battering Ram’s death by now,” The dark unicorn sighed. “Anyway tell me what you discovered.”

“There were three humans, two of which are now in the castle I hope,” Dave scratched his head as he noticed Strong Shield’s raised eyebrow. “The third is dead, he had his throat ripped out by the time I found him.”

Strong Shield narrowed his eye at Dave, “You didn’t do it did you?”

“What? No!” Dave shook his head as he rubbed his eyes. “I was finishing off a dragon that was attacking me and when I caught up to the human he was already dying.”

“Maybe he realized he was cornered and committed suicide rather than get caught,” Strong Shield’s humming was cut short as Dave shook his head.

The human yawned, Strong Shield waiting patiently for Dave to share more information. “Nah the wound was too messy… and I am shattered so I am going to bed.”

“Fine but I will speak to you again soon about this,” Strong Shield marched away and left the tired Dave to walk aimlessly around the castle before he appeared outside of Luna’s chambers.

The tired human knocked on the door and waited patiently for the sound of hoovesteps to come to a stop, followed shortly by a distracted, “Enter!”

Dave followed Luna’s command and opened the door, stepping in with a bow to the princess. “Would a kind hearted soul such as yourself allow a weary traveller to rest his tired eyes a little while in your company?”

“Dave? You don’t have to knock to enter here you realize?” Luna cocked her head in confusion and concern as she saw the dirt marks on Dave’s clothes. “So you did find something out.”

“What do you mean?” Dave asked in confusion as he closed the heavy door and made his way to sit on the bed. “I have just got back from Manehatten and I am already getting questioned?”

Luna sat next to Dave on the bed and placed a hoof reassuringly on Dave’s hand, “Listen, I know this news must be hard for you to take but you will always have me to support you as well.”

“W-what news is hard to take?” Dave’s mind suddenly racing at the serious tone in Luna’s voice. “Does it have to do with us?”

“Yes in a sense but more importantly it is about family,” Luna placed a hoof on Dave’s chest. “Things change over time, and we will always have each other for any hardships we may encounter.”

Dave gently grabbed Luna’s hooves, “You aren’t pregnant are you?”

“What?” Luna gasped before shaking her head. “No I’m not pregnant! I was going to reassure you about Battering Ram’s death.”

“Ohh,” Dave gave a sigh of relief. “You had me worried for a minute there.”

Luna suddenly lost her sympathy for Dave as a frown crossed her face. “Are you saying that if I had been pregnant you would have been disappointed?”

“Huh?” Dave regretted looking at Luna’s annoyed stare. “No not at all! If we had a child I would be ecstatic but…”

“But what?” Luna stood and glared at Dave.

The human nervously scratched the back of his head as he tried to think of a good answer. “But… maybe we should… plan things out before we think about having a child.”

“And what would you do if I was pregnant right now?” Luna’s line of questioning continuing its onslaught against Dave.

“But you aren’t,” Dave stated plainly. “Why are we having this conversation?”

Luna rolled her eyes and turned away, “Fine, ignore the fact that I try to care for you but you won’t even think about how our child is going to be raised.”

Dave rubbed his eyes before standing up, “Sorry I disturbed you, I am just gonna go for a little while.”

Luna turned her head away with a small huff as Dave walked out of the royal chambers and closed the door behind him. The human walked back downstairs before yawning and considering his options.

“Celestia is most likely asleep and I don’t want to disturb her, Luna is being… weird,” Dave tapped his chin. “The barracks will be busy all night so… I could stay at mom and dad’s if I have to…”

Dave turned to look out of the window and saw the light snowfall had turned into a thick blizzard, shattering his plan. “Alright who will let me sleep, who won’t ask questions and who won’t try to reassure me and end up being weird?”

After a few moments of thinking, Dave came to a horrible conclusion and began walking through the castle, his footsteps becoming slower as he neared his destination. Dave’s hesitation became apparent as he entered a dark corridor that ran along the side of the mountain the castle was attached to.

A wide door was located in the middle of the corridor, the dusty handle had been untouched for some time and even the floor around the door had a slightly dirty look compared to the rest of the corridor.

The dark wooden door had a slightly unnerving aspect about it, Dave noticed how maids would walk as far as they could from the door when walking down the corridor, and even Dave felt uneasy walking near it.

The closer Dave got the room he began to hear odd and random noises, the feeling of small vibrations gradually filled his body as he neared the foreboding room. Dave reached the door, his tiredness affecting his judgement as he raised his hand and knocked politely on the door.

Once he had knocked the vibrations stopped, the corridor became eerily silent and Dave took a deep breath before the doors burst open and a pair of flaming red eyes burst forth from a dense black smoke that clouded Dave’s vision and the smell of ash and coal filled his nose.

“WHO DARES DISTURB ME?” A booming voice resonated from the fog and caused the entire corridor to shake. “OH IF IT ISN’T THE LITTLE TRATOR HUMAN, HAVE YOU COME TO BEG FORGIVENESS?”

“No Odio,” Dave sighed. “I just wanna sleep for a little bit.”

“WELL I REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU ARE NO LONGER WELCOME IN MY FORTRESS OF… what are you doing?” The fog was cut short as Dave’s eyes closed and let out a large sneeze that caused the fog to split apart. “Eww, dude, you may have a cold but I don’t want one.”

Dave glared at the fog, “I have only recently come out of a mystical place called the outside world.” Dave opened his arms as he smiled happily, “I have such a normal life consisting of random evil humans, angry dragons and brooding princesses.”

“This is why I never leave my room, I survive, stay safe, never have any problems,” The large red eyes disappeared into the black fog as it settled lower to the ground, forming a thick mist along the floor with one large bulge protruding from the ground that Odio’s eyes clung to.

Dave stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, he looked around the room as he made his way over to the bed. The walls were completely covered in posters of various origins, the main theme was video games, an unhealthy obsession that Odio had gained.

The human threw himself onto the unused bed and let out a loud yawn as he kicked his shoes off and they fell into the fog that covered the floor. As Dave opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling he was greeted to another poster of a famous pony singer.

“I don’t know which is weirder, the fact you still have a Sapphire Shores poster or the fact you placed it above the bed,” Dave sat up to see the fog of hatred humming.

“Her songs are good and she deserved to be somewhere special,” Odio scowled at Dave. “Don’t tell me you think her songs are terrible!”

Dave shook his head, “No I don’t, but can I ask one favour?”

“Yyyyyyyeeeeeaaahhhhhhh…. Maybe,” Odio stared at Dave as he waited for the question.

“I am really tired so could you be quiet while I try to get some sleep?” Dave gave a polite smile but was met by two flaming yet unimpressed eyes. “What?”

Odio turned away with a sigh, “You know how you are my bestest buddy in the entire universe?”

“Yeah,” Dave cocked his head at the random question.

“Well you haven’t exactly been spending time with me recently,” Odio said sadly. “I was worried that Celestia and Luna had convinced you to get rid of me forever.”

Dave rubbed his fingers through his hair as he laid back on the bed, “Dude we have been over this, I am busy being a dad, husband and royal representative.”

“And I am busy being a pirate,” Odio said plainly. “I managed to effectively recreate the new video game consoles from earth and I am making the newest games as they come out.”

“New consoles? How the heck did you make them?” Dave asked before immediately regretting it.

“Well Dave!” Odio’s red eyes flew across the fog to press against Dave’s cheeks. “Due to the portal I kept when I teleported you from Earth to Equestria I left enough space to catch signals that were sent around the earth and from nearby satellites! So I basically torrented a console.”

Dave sighed, “Sorry I asked… but you do realize that makes no sense?”

“Absolutely!” Odio cheered as he turned away and began look around the fog that coated the floor. “I don’t suppose you can see a controller anywhere do you?”

“No,” Dave sighed before he sat up. “Hang on, the portal you have that joins Equestria to Earth… I don’t suppose you know if anypony has tampered with it?”

Odio paused for a second, “The portals are both way above the ground, the Equestria portal would need immense magic to use so that only narrows our list down to our friendly princesses and the Earth portal is inaccessible by humans.”

“So nopony could have accessed the portal above Equestria?” Dave asked as he turned over on the bed to look at the fog. “I fought a human in Manehatten recently, and another two humans which I found are now in the castle.”

“And? I don’t have anything to do with the ‘real world’ as you guys call it,” Odio sneered. “Did you win the fight?”

Dave chuckled, “I beat his dragon but when he ran off he had his throat ripped out by something.”

“Congrats, you made someone kill themselves out of fear,” Odio made a small clapping noise. “Hang on did you say you fought a human and found two others?”

“Yeah…” Dave stared up at the ceiling as he rested his hands behind his head. “He also said strange things like a ‘saviour’ had given a group some ‘gifts’ so I am worried that there are more humans that have strange powers.”

Odio floated slowly back over to Dave, “And what about those two girls you found? The ones you let stay in the castle?”

“I placed my hands on them and nothing happened,” Dave sighed.

“You groped them and nothing happened, I don’t think that story is going to fly dude,” Odio shook his eyes as he looked away from Dave.

“I mean that I used my magical resistance to see if there was anything different about them,” Dave sat up as he glared at the fog in annoyance. “Why the heck would I grope them?”

“I don’t know, maybe they are the first females of your species you have seen in years and you wanted to get the taste of ponies out of your mouth,” Odio suggested.

Dave’s jaw dropped, “Dude what the heck are you on about?”

“I’m not really sure, I haven’t seen you in a while so I thought I would try to be a little mean about your relationships,” Odio confessed with a hum.

“I thought you were trying to be less mean,” Dave frowned in disappointment.

“I am literally a fog of pure hatred, anger and rage, also I play video games,” Odio leaned closer to Dave. “Have you met an angry gamer?”

Dave rolled his eyes, “Alright, point taken.”