Chapters Swift walked down the busy streets of the Canterlot market hoping to find what he was looking for. Something sweet to bring back to his little sister, Tender Heart. She was his everything. He had cared for her ever since their parents were banished from Equestria for crimes against the crown. The kids were never told what those crimes were, but only that they couldn’t see their parents ever again. He would never forgive Celestia for what she had done to their family. She had caused endless sorrow for Swift and his little sister.
But all that was in the past now and Swift only cared about get food for his hungry sister.
Finally he spotted what he wanted. He crossed the street towards a stall whose keeper was making a deal with someone else. He stopped and looked at what the man had put out. Loafs of bread, baskets of a dozen different fruits piles of fresh vegetables. He picked up a loaf of bread and felt it for weight smelled it for freshness. It had been baked that morning. The merchant had finished his deal and was now focused on helping swift.
"Hello, what would you like to buy?" he asked
"Just looking for some fruit for a pie." Swift replied
"Well look no further for as you can see I've the widest and freshest fruit in all of Canterlot."
"Oh really?" Swift replied "Do you have any Everfree Forest Zap Apples?"
"Oh it's you one sec, I've got them in the back I'll grab'em."
The merchant went into a door behind his stall. Swift looked around the market to see if anyone was watching. He stuffed the bread under his shirt and was about to walk away when he heard someone yell thief. He turned around to see a girl about twenty pointing at him. Everyone in the market had turned to look and moments later he heard the sound of armor as the guards moved to apprehend Swift.
He turned a bolted down the street the guards close on his heels. He turned off into an alley and pressed up against the wall. The guards ran past.
"We've been lookin for ya." the first and uglier one said in a heavy Manehatton accent.
"We saw what you did and we don’t like it." Said the other one.
"You see if we let ya get away with that, then we don’t get paid and we don’t like that. So now if you would be so kind as to call the guards over we won’t have to beat ya and leave ya for dead." The ugly ne threatened
"Well you see gentlemen that I have no stolen objects on me and there for could not have been the thief that you are looking for." Swift replied
"Ok then, oh look at the time I have got to go. So how bought we forget this ever happened and move on with our lives." Swift turned and casually started walking out into the street.
When he made it out into the open he was surprised at how they had made no attempt to stop him. Then came the expected screams of stop and get back here from the hired thugs. Once again Swift bolted down the street into the crowds of people.
The thugs might have had the brain of fleas but they were fast on their feet. Well fast enough to out run him, which isn't saying much. They caught up with him in seconds and dragged him into an alley and threw him up against a brick wall.
The ugly one punched him in the stomach and Swift coughed up
After they were satisfied with kicking the very literal crap out of Swift they pinned him to the walls and threw glass bottles at him. There were a lot of glass bottles. Next he was meet with an old chair. Swift was about to give when he heard something that he couldn't believe. The Scream of Tender Heart. He rolled over to see his little sister hiding behind the legs of Shadow Wings. He hadn't seen him in years ever since Tenders seventh birthday when he had said he was going to enlist in the Pegasus Flying Corps.
"I'll be taking him thank you gents." Shadow demanded.
"What? We were paid to make sure he don't steal nothin again and we intend to make sure he don't and we ain’t got any qu...qua...any problems with killiin civilians either." Said ugly
"Oh but I am no civilian, but this man is my friend and I would like for you to stop beating him and leave before I put both of you in intensive care." Said Shadow
"No." said one
And with that Shadow Wings jumped at the men. He lept up into the air and landed between the two men. They jumped back in surprise at this man's agility. The ugly one pulled out a knife and lunged at Shadow Wings. Shadow Wings dodge the knife and grabbed the man’s wrist. He twisted his wrist, making the thug drop the knife. Shadow kneed the man in the stomach making the man double over. He kneed the man in the face again sending him to ground crying most likely from many, many broken face bones. Shadow Wings then turned to the other who had pulled out his own knife and was standing, shifting his weight from one foot to the other waiting for the army special operations man to attack. Shadow picked up the knife on the ground and threw it at the man, it wasn’t balanced for throwing and fell short but the man was distracted and that was all Shadow needed. He lunged forward punching the man in the gut. The man fell to the ground coughing up blood.
“Well,” said Shadow Wing, wiping blood from his jacket. “That was not needed. How you doing old friend?”
“Well, all things considered, I would say pretty goddamn shitty.” Replied the near to death thief.
“I can tell’ you look like you were just lost a fight with a timber wolf.”
“I really hate you sometime. I hope you know that Shadow.”
“What? Leave for four years then come back feed your sister and save your life and this is the thanks I get? Maybe I should go to the castle and beg Shining Armor for some work?”
“Please don’t leave just yet uncle Shadow.” Tender Heart pleaded
“Ok, but just for you little one.” Shadow looked at Swift. “Come on let’s get those cuts looked at then how about lunch?”
“You know I can’t afford a doctor, or insurance, or medicine, right?” Asked Swift
“That is why, my sticky fingered friend, I am bringing you to the military hospital. I’ve got a friend there that will help you at no charge, to you at least.” Shadow Wing said.
He helped Swift up. he could barely stand and they continued out into the street and turned left.
The trio walked down the streets of Canterlot, Swift leaning on Shadow, and entered a grand square. Swift recognized it at once, it was the Royal Quarter. This was where all the rich and elite of the city came to get anything that they could possibly need. Nearly anything was sold here, and anything that wasn't could be custom ordered from one shop or another.
"So why are we in the grand square? I hate this place, with all the rich and well to do come to shop. The rich bastards." gripped Swift.
"Because the military hospital is close and i need to pick up a few things from the... providers in this area." replied Shadow Wing.
"Really man my sister isn't even twelve and you want to go to a drug dealer? You can just snort pixie dust and get the exact same effect as almost any drug here. Plus you can get it legally from a pharmacy."
"Your so quick to accuse me of doing illegal things. While you lead a life of crime i am an honest soldier in the Royal army. And I know your sister is still young, I did go to your... um, what would you say you live in exactly?"
That one hurt Swift alot. Him and his sister lived in a small three room apartment under a bar in the poorer section of town. The three rooms werent that big either, the biggest was an eight by ten foot block witch was their kitchen, living room and play room for Tender, not that she had much to play with any ways.
"Brother where are you and Shadow going?" asked Swift's young sister.
"We were just going to get something from a friend of mine and if your patient I might be inclined to get you a little something after we get your big, slow brother fixed." said Shadow.
"Oh great so i don't even get to go to the doctor's before I am forced to be an accomplice in one of your illegal deals."
"For the last time, I AM NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL!!!"
"Well scream a little louder and the guards may just come running right now."
"God damn it Swift, you always knew how to push my buttons just right. OK, fine I'll drop you off at the doctors then go and pick up what I need. Will that make you happy, you stubborn jackass?"
"Yes."
They rounded a corner and came upon a small white building marked M Clinic . Inside there wasn't much, a few chairs for waiting patients and a table with the same boring old magazines of the rich and famous that everyone aspires to be like but almost none ever are. A lady sat at a desk in front of a Pegasus Army Air Corps flag. In fact other then the camo Pegasus Air Corps flag on one wall this place looked almost exactly like any other clinic in city. There was probably the place that all those old veterans come to get their pills to help with the effects of ageing.
"Hello." said the nice women behind the desk.
"Yeah hi. I would like to get some help for my friend here, he is in kind of rough shape."
"Of course. Do you have a record of service?" asked the clerk.
"Yeah." Shadow wing pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to the lady.
She turned to Swift. "Come with me." She commanded. Swift and followed the lady down the hall to a, yep you guessed it, a white door. The room beyond was small. A there was the usual things that there would by, a table for the patient, scale, cabinet above a sink, spiny chair for the doctor to spin on taunting. It seemed like just another ordinary doctor's office. That was, until the doctor walked in.
He or she was old, but the was not the surprising part. He or she was incredibly tall. He or she must have been over six foot, with hair half pink and half rainbow that were cut at different lengths. The pink being buzzed and the rainbow in dreads. Plus tattoos that spread from her forehead to her neck witch were also pink and rainbow. And that was just what he or she looked like, what he or she was wearing was an entirely different story. No nice calming, generic white lab coat, no he had a checkered lab coat with pockets going down the sleeves. Overall she looked like Discord's bastard child.
"So your Swift and you had the shit beaten out of you with several objects." Said the doctor,"Hi I'm Doctor Doc IV."
"I'm Swift and how did my friend know all that, he wasn't even there?" Asked Swift.
"He doesn't, I'm magic and can do a great many things. Like heal your wounds with magic." He said, touching swifts arm. a light airy feeling, much like one might feel on a perfect spring day when the sun is shining and the birds are singing, then the pain suddenly went away.
"How did you do that? I've never meet any magi who can do that or even come close to doing that." Asked Swift.
"I come from a strange land far away from here. On my way here I learned a few tricks, like how to fix broken bones and how to cure aliments."
"Where did you come from?"
"As I told you from a land far away from here with many different people and many magnificent things."
"Like what? What kinds of things are there that make it so interesting and amazing? Are others like you?"
"I come from a place where there are many governments and many cities with a hundred different cultures and peoples. A place where trade brings great wealth and we are defended by great warriors. A place where our gods rule from the top of a great mountain and they dictate know everything that, was, or will be. A pace were that was orderly and stable. Where great epics were written and great minds lived. At least that was the way it was before they came."
"Who are they?"
"The men dressed in red who carry great big shields and have a unquenchable thirst for war and blood. They came and even the greatest amongst us fell before their onslaught. They forced us to reject our gods instead they renamed our gods and forced us to worship them just to mock the old gods. They said about bringing civilization to us. That we were barbarians that needed to be taught how to talk and dress. We were not barbarians, they were. They didn't even speak our language even though they copied so much else from us. Our style of dress, our gods, even our architecture was so damn close to their's."
"These invaders sound horrible."
"They were, even though some saw them as saviors I saw them for what they truly are. Horrible people who slaughter cheat and murder to get what they want. But enough about that for the time; let me fix your other arm."
The feeling came back and Swift was a good as ever. He stood up and looked towards the door but then looked back at the doctor and decided to ask one more question before leaving.
"Don't you ever wish that you could go back. Just to see your family one last time? And if this place is so great then why do you not want to go back and see what it still has to offer?"
"No. They took my family from me. My sons were killed fighting the invaders my brother and his whole family were whipped to death for not complying with the new laws, they still wished to worship the old gods. My wife was raped to death after they took my home city and my daughter was taken to be a gift for one of their rulers to have as a harlot. They killed them all, even my dog just for biting one of them when he hit me for not giving him my last bottle of wine. As for the place I would want to see I have seen enough of it to last a dozen life time and still have some to spare."
He quickly healed the other broken bones and bruises with his healing magic. after that he gave Swift some pills to help with some side effects that other patients had felt after the magical treatment. The doctor said that it shouldn't be much, just a little depression and some nausea from time to time but it should stop within a week.
Swift left felling sorry for the old man. What it must be like to never be able to see your home or family. Swift did understnd how he felt though as their " great ruler" had gotten rid of his parents and stripped them of their lands and titles.