Chapter 40

Dave crawled through the dense hedge, twigs slapped against his face as his hands dug through “It isn’t” Dave moaned

“IT IS” Odio growled, “The cake is a lie!”

“I had enough of that when I was on earth” Dave spat a leaf from his mouth “And I don’t need you bringing it up”

“Hey!” Odio snapped as his voice became dryer “I never asked for this”

“Oh for fuck’s sake will you shut up with the references?” Dave finally burst free from the forest, the bright sun scorched his eyes as he climbed to his feet “Wow” he gasped

An untouched field stretched as far as the eye could see, large mountains poked up on the horizon, their flat tops seemed to support the sky

“Well I have good news and bad news” Odio sighed, “The mountains are closer than I thought but… you have a storm behind you”

Dave turned and looked up at the sky, dark clouds were sliding forwards, and the sounds of the pegasi wing beats caused a thunderous sound

“Well this is brilliant” Dave sighed as he checked his bag for any cuts or damages “At least my stuff won’t get wet”

“You will be walking in an open, flat piece of land during a storm” Odio waited for a response but he got none so he continued “Does lightning sound like a problem in this situation?”

“I see what you mean” Dave scratched his head “I can’t see any other route so I guess I will have to hope”

“Hope is overrated” Odio flowed back into Dave’s mind “I am stuck on this level”

Dave began walking as his eyes closed in confusion “You are using my memories on a game, can’t you cheat?”

Odio gasped “But that ruins the fun! I even made a nice game room using bits and bobs I found around in here, now how do I kill this guy?”

Dave rubbed his temples as a headache set in “What’s his name?”

“General dick face that dodges bullets” Odio growled “This guy thinks he is hot shit because he has shades!”

“Yeah just hide and shoot when he isn’t looking” Dave felt the headache fade after a few minutes “Did it work?”

Odio muttered a few words to himself “Yeah he ran like a bitch now I am fighting his prostitute”

“Don’t worry Wesker will be back” Dave sighed “I wish I could dodge bullets”

“I’m not giving you super speed, the speed you have now is good” Odio grumbled, “I just want to let you know something”

“Yeah?” Dave scratched the back of his head “What is it?”

“I love these games” Odio sighed happily “The violence in some of these are extraordinary, Equestria has never even thought of some of these small ones”

“Glad you approve” Dave chuckled “I take it you like Gears of War for the anger issues?”

“Yes and I love this electric thing this black guy with asthma uses” Odio hummed “Duck Vinegar?”

“Darth Vader” Dave corrected “now is there anything in these mountains that are a threat?”

“No” Odio said instantly “Nothing is a threat to you”

Dave rolled his eyes “Let me rephrase that… Is there anything that can cause lots of pain?”

“Of course” Odio chuckled happily, “trouble seems to find you so easily, I wouldn’t be surprised if that gryphon fell in love with you”

“Gryphon? What gryphon?” Dave felt a sharp object hit the back of his head, he turned to see a large brown gryphon with a white head, two smaller ones of similar colours hovered behind it

“State your business” The gryphon glared

Dave shook his head as he continued to walk “Just going travelling” he called

The gryphon quickly flew in front of him and landed holding his beaked head high, his eyes matched Dave as the gryphon pumped out his chest menacingly “You are crossing the border into the badlands, state intentions”

“Badlands?” Dave scratched his head “What the hell is that?”

“Equestria is a world of peace, the badlands is that barren piece of land that spat out some of the more vicious creatures” the gryphon eyed the human “If you live in Equestria I suggest you turn back now”

“You are border police?” Dave chuckled “well I want to get to those mountains, are they home to dangerous creatures?” he pointed to the mountains in the distance

“Those are in Equestria, this is a small branch of the badlands territory that has thinned over the past few years, if you are quick you may get across in time” The gryphon nodded to his colleagues “This branch stretches north for a mile and south for twelve”

“And east?” Dave raised an eyebrow

“A hundred meters” The gryphon looked at the ground uneasily, “If you like I can fly you over”

“Nah a hundred meters is a piece of cake” Dave stepped past the gryphon “Some badlands how can a hundred meters be dangerous?”

“GRUB SINKHOLE!” Odio yelled, slightly laughing

“Enough with the quotes I get it” Dave stepped on a soft piece of yellow ground as he walked “I am almost a quarter of the way there and I haven’t seen anything that ARGH!”

Dave seized in pain as a pair of long fangs stabbed through his left leg, he turned to see a four-foot yellow maggot followed by several others that crawled from holes in the ground

“Aren’t they only supposed to eat dead flesh?” Dave managed to ask between gritted teeth

Odio chuckled “Your flesh will be dead if they tear you to pieces”

Dave grabbed the fangs that stuck through his shin and snapped them off, the maggot retreated but Dave managed to plunge one of its own fangs into its soft body

Another maggot attempted to stab Dave, he managed to avoid the long, thin, brown teeth as he kicked them back into its body

Dave held his one broken fang like a dagger, he ignored the pain of Odio patching up his leg “How much further?”

Odio hummed in thought, “About fifty meters, then you are back in super happy land”

Dave threw the fang, slicing one rearing maggot across its side, the cut ran deep and it squirmed on the floor

Dave turned and bolted, the bag on his back did not stop him easily outrunning the yellow swarm as he lunged for safety, he rolled and one speedy maggot caught up and reached for Dave’s chest, as it neared a large orange beak stabbed into its side

The three border patrol gryphons scared the remaining maggots away as they began to gently feast on the kill

“WHAT THE HELL?” Dave yelled, arms outstretched at the situation

The head gryphon swallowed “Bird side of gene-pool, we like to nibble on bugs occasionally so we got the job making sure these changeling maggots don’t cross over”

“Changeling?” Dave scratched his head as he remembered Strong Shield said he lost his eye to one

The gryphon nodded “They can take the shape and form of anypony they like and feed on love”

“I heard about the incident in Canterlot” Dave shook his head “but it is over now”

“Yeah but the queen will probably come up will another evil scheme” The gryphon leaned over “Listen I didn’t tell you this but changelings are more bugs than ponies so the gryphon union thinks that…”

“HEY COUSIN LET’S GO BOWLING!” Odio cheered happily, Dave facepalmed

“I’m sorry to interrupt you but I have to go” Dave waved goodbye to the hungry gryphons as he continued his walk toward the rock towers in the distance “Anything else you want to say?” Dave whispered to himself

“I came to kick ass and chew bubblegum” Odio began “And I have no idea what bubblegum is, excuse me” He muttered as he rummaged around Dave’s mind

“Well I can tell that this is going to be fantastic” Dave sighed sadly, as he pushed on towards the mountains, the first drops of rain began to dip onto his neck as the dark cloud blocked the sun

Meanwhile…

“Ok so he isn’t in Ponyville we can guarantee that” Luna sighed as she looked at the map of Equestria

Strong Shield’s horn glowed a ring around Dave’s houses location and slowly expanded it “By my calculations this is as far as he could have gotten if he ran non-stop since I last saw him”

Luna shook her head “Such a large area” she rubbed her eyes in disbelief “Will we ever find him?”

“We have to try” Strong Shield said determined as he looked over the map, “He is unique so somepony can easily identify him”

“And if he avoids contact with anypony?” Luna sat down on her sofa “What if he hides in a cave for the rest of his life, eating dirt to survive?”

“He wont” Strong Shield reassured his princess

Luna chuckled “And how would you know? You didn’t know he was going to run away”

“I’m his father” Strong Shield glared at the map “has he said anything that might indicate a preferred path?”

“None that I know of” Luna rubbed her hooves together “Are you hungry?”

Strong Shield shook his head, “If we get some pegasi to do a sweep across here to over there then we can cancel out this section here” he tapped the map “Then they can easily move over here”

Luna watched as the sergeant tirelessly planned and scanned the map, she yawned loudly as she looked out the window and the sun shone in her eyes

“Where is my sister?” Luna glanced back to Strong Shield

“Her quarters I would imagine” he never lifted his gaze from the map

Luna sighed sadly “do you think we were too hard on her?”

“No it was her actions which drove him away” Strong Shield looked closer at the terrain around Ponyville “I think we can rule north out of his direction of travel”

“I’m going to see my sister, you may remain here” Luna stood, adjusting the crown on her head as she left the room and started walking to Celestia’s quarters

The white corridors reflected the sun that shone through the windows, the stained glass put various patches of colour across the walls

Luna arrived at the large golden doors after a few minutes walking, she tapped the door with her hoof before walking in, and she hardly made it past the doorway before noticing her sister sitting on the balcony

“Tia?” Luna said softly

Celestia did not turn her head, she did not move at all, just her mane continued to softly flow with the assistance of the breeze

Luna stood by the balcony door, she stood in silence for a few moments, waiting for her sister to acknowledge her existence, when that did not happen she walked over and sat beside her

Celestia stared, unblinking out over the city of Canterlot, her usual smile was gone, replaced with an empty expression but the eyes still showed the hurt within

“We are going to start looking for Dave soon” Luna looked over the city as well “I just thought you would like to know”

“Why?” Celestia continued her vacant gaze “Why tell me that you are looking?”

Luna looked up at Celestia “Because I thought you would want to know if we managed to find him”

Celestia blinked slowly as her eyes dropped to the ground, her head remained high “And what do we do if we find him?”

“We bring him back or you go to him” Luna shook her head as she returned her gaze to the city

Celestia gently dropped her head to look at the silver bracelet that was wrapped around her front right hoof “Why should I be with him? I would only ruin his life”

“You will ruin your entire existence if you don’t try” Luna frowned “True he may not be with us forever but at least he will live forever in our memories”

“I have done so much to hurt him” Celestia lightly sighed “Why would I want to ruin his life?”

Luna stood, glaring at the depressed alicorn “You are his life, he lost his for you once” Luna shook his head “And he forgave you, after all you did he forgave you”

Celestia slowly turned her head to look at Luna “If you love him why don’t you spend his lifetime together?”

“Because he loves you, no matter how hard I wish, no matter what I do that will never change!” Luna took a few breaths to calm herself “I want him to be happy, I want you to be happy… so I must let you be”

“He wants me to be happy” Celestia returned to her original position “And that is what made him leave, he thought that I valued Equestria over him”

“And do you?” Luna asked raising an eyebrow

Celestia looked over the horizon “No” she whispered, “I would give anything to be with Dave”

Luna shuffled close to her big sister “I know you would, so why are you here sulking when you could be out finding him?”

“Because Luna” Celestia turned her head more alertly this time “Dave needs somepony better than me… like you, somepony that won’t ruin his life”

“Don’t you dare say that” Luna moved away again “If he was to be with me it would drive me crazy knowing that he loved you more”

Celestia looked back at the city as the spreading storm clouds finally moved over Canterlot “Luna… forget about Dave, he doesn’t want to come back and we will have to move on”

“Strong Shield lost his son, you lost a lover and you’re telling us to move on?” Luna stood and glared at Celestia “You’re right… Dave does deserve better,” she snarled as she hurried inside and out of Celestia’s quarters

Celestia finally let out the breath she had been holding to keep her voice strait, she brought her hooves to her eyes as the tears began to flow

As she sat crying the storm clouds reached over the castle and small droplets of rain fell into her mane, her rapidly dampening mane slowly began to stop flowing and rest down her back

“Dave I’m sorry,” She cried into the growing wind “Please come back” she begged softly as she clutched her bracelet

Meanwhile…

“Well that was… shocking!” Odio burst into laughter

Dave removed his charred shirt “Not funny, you could have warned me that I was going to be hit by lightning”

Odio stopped his laughter “I did, when you first stepped into the field”

“I was kinda ignoring you because of all the video game quotes you yelled constantly” Dave rubbed his chest that was healing a large burn wound

Odio chuckled again, “Hey Dave guess what?”

“What?” Dave stood with the feeling something bad was going to happen

“DO A BARREL ROLL!” Odio yelled

“No I won’t AHHHHH!” Dave shook violently as another bolt of lightning struck his back and he collapsed to the floor

Odio sighed disappointed “I warned you” Odio chuckled slightly “Dave? Dave? DAAAAAAAVE!”