It was a warm Wednesday morning in Manehattan. The streets were already filled with tourists and residents alike, enjoying the early morning heat. It was down the main thoroughfare that one could find all of the most lively of attractions in the city. One particular attraction that was very popular was the Manehattan Arcade. It was an old business thats been around for over fifty years, first starting out as an dive for old stallions who worked on the railroad. The walls were lined with machines featuring several different attractions.
It was at this very place where our story begins. Just behind the counter, reading an old magazine was a dark brown colt with dark blue hair and hazel eyes. His name was Joystiq. Rather, that was the name he took up when he found his calling. His real name was Tarry Lawbridle, son to a very famous lawyer in Manehattan. His father wanted him to become a lawyer just like him, and he had a real knack for it too. He knew Equestria's legal system in and out. It just that...
He didn't like being a laywer. The pressure was a little too much for him. Not only that, he was nearly twenty-years-old without a cutie mark. While usually common in the city, it was still sort of embarrassing.
It was here in this very arcade that Joystiq found his true calling, caring and maintaining these machines that brings joy to the old and the young.
Joystiq yawned as he turned the page. He usually didn't have much to do in the mornings. Rarely did a machine break down from somepony's misuse or anger.
"Oi, Joystiq!" bellowed a voice over the intercom. "My office. NOW!"
"Great...” Joystiq muttered, ignoring the jeering coming from the students who snuck in to skip school. “I don't want to hear that from you idiots! I, at least, got out of primary!” Looking at their shocked and embarrassed face after being called out like that, Joystiq came from behind the counter and went up the stairs to where his boss's office was located.
Now his boss...was a typical boss. He was old, he was gruff. He also had that typical boss mustache and smoked a high class cigar. The gray stallion behind the desk stared into Joystiq's eyes as he entered. For some odd reason though...Joystiq felt like he had done this before.
“What took you so long?”
“I had to stick it to the skippers. You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes...” Joystiq took a deep breath...then noticed something...odd. The room...it didn't smell like tobacco. The room had a weird smell to it. When he tasted the air...it tasted like...
“Blood...” he muttered before the room began to spin on him. The wood rotted away and gave way to cold brick as he felt something cut into his chest. He let out a choking scream as he felt...something cut away at his chest, as if his flesh was too thick to cut once. Blood squirted as his vision changed. No longer was he at the arcade, in his bosses office. Now he was in what looked like a dungeon and some strange pink mare cutting shapes into his chest.
And it was at that moment that he finally remembered what happened. The events he was just witnessing happened not too long ago. Three days ago in fact. He had just arrived in Ponyville and registered the business with the Mayor. But what was he doing here? And why was this pink mare fileting him?
Said mare stopped in her frantic slicing of his chest to look into his eyes. Her psychotic visage turned to rage as she noticed clarity in his eyes. She turned away and placed the knife on a trey behind her.
“Not only do I have to sharpen my favorite tool, looks like the potion wore off. Looks like I got to make a stronger batch...” She muttered.
“W-what?” He was drugged? That explain the feeling of deja vu. And the short term memory loss.
“Oh you can talk?” the mare asked with a psychotic grin as she turned to face him. “That potion I gave you should've kept you loopy for hours!”
“W-why?!”
“Because!” he blinked. That wasn't the answer he was looking for. And was his vision getting spotty? “What? You expected me to monologue like some evil villain? Nah, I think I'll just wait until the next chapter to explain.” He blinked incredulously. This mare was insane. He was so confused with her statement, he didn't notice when she dumped something into his stab wounds.
“There, that was the last batch!” Seeing the fading light in his eyes she grinned. “Its a special potion thats usually used to induce short term comas. And dumping it into your chest would probably knock you out for a few hours or at least a day. That'll give me enough time to get all my tools fixed! See ya later, alligator!”
As he slowly returned to the false world she put him end, he could hear her singing in her shrill, psychotic voice.
“Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty! Cupcakes, don't be too hasty! Cupcakes! Cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES!”
