First Contact
"We're docked!" Cried a large and grizzly minotaur, his voice nearly drowned out by the seagulls incessant quaking, begging for any food that the few crew members awake would be foolish enough to throw to them.
The sun's orange tint was slowly rising in the east, adding to the already surreal venture of a ship docking in a port that, by all rights, belonged to pirates. If the stories were true, the Equestrain government would have no idea where the transport vessel came from, or that it was even in the country's waters at all.
But Sin wouldn't have it any other way. Even if communications between his country and the motherland were practically non existent, he wasn't going to risk the chance of being deported because the government held a grudge.
"Damn birds!" The dark green minotaur cursed, one of the avis having come down to try his luck at a barrel. "Hope the captain gets them bows in soon, instead of stealin' our food, they become our food." He finished with a harsh laugh at the joke before going about undoing some rope knots and calling over a fellow crew member to help him move the ramp planks.
The oak maned stallion stood from his place and stretched out his back and legs. Sailing had never been one of his favored methods of travel, but walking across the ocean due south wasn't exactly a viable option, neither was travel by air ship; reasons readily obvious. Still, it was quite astounding that the Griffin Empire had a channel large enough to allow the vessel to travel the contrary to his destination, even if it did only prolong the less than pleasant time on water.
But, despite his lack of sea legs, he could take comfort in the fact that he'd be departing the ship in relative peace. Thanking Tapio Bearking for arriving at the crack of dawn, the stallion vacated the ship and went on wards into the port city, offering a simple nod of thanks to the minotaur seeing him off. He slowly descended the ramp to find the ground at the bottom littered with pastel colored sea shells.
His first impression was that the city lived up to its namesake. Shell City's streets really were littered with ranging sizes and veriaties of old crustacean homes. Crab shells, Oyster shells, Clam shells and sea shells lined the streets, with its few awake inhabitants sleepily wondering along, no notice being taken.
As strange as it was to him, these ponies had lived here for Milikki knows how long, it only stands to reason they would be more or less oblivious to it.
Carefully, the tan cloaked stallion gingerly placed his hoof on the first bit of land mass. The smooth teaxtures of the shells contrasted heavily with the coarse sand in which it lay. Putting his full weight down, he took another step, and then another until the obviously false fear of the shells breaking under his hooves, dispersed.
Stopping a few yards away from the ramp, Sin removed his black and reflective goggles, took a heavy breath gazed upon the city. This was the first time he'd ever been out of the country, might as well take in everything and make the experience count right off the bat.
As the dawn transitioned to morning, the oaken stallion wondered aimlessly through the city streets. Picking up subtle knowledge and hints about other various cities within the country. Manehatten and Las Pegasus sounded a lot like his capital city. He wasn't to eager to visit the larger end urban areas, but would eventually make it a point to visit for comparison purposes, if nothing else.
Though, something was bothering him. Whenever he'd eavesdrop on a conversation, the citizens here would often call each other strange names. One was White Wind, another, Moon Shine. Were they using some kind of code name system or something? Well, it was a pirate bay, it shouldn't be too surprising that these ponies would rather not self incriminate with such careless give aways as real names.
By mid day, he'd heard of a small town due south east with plenty of job opportunities. With any luck, he'd find a way to earn the nations domestic currency without drawing too much attention. As expected, his bills weren't accepted as viable capital. Though, a sleazy money changer was happy to exchange his money for a disgustingly low return. But, his currency was useless here anyway, so it was more like free money if looked at in an optimistic sense. Hopefully the seven gold bars he brought with him could be sold later for supplies should the need arise.
Having bought a newly purchased map and a few provisions mixed with his already abundant tools, the stallion departed the city with haste. Now the only question was where was he going and what did he plan to do when he was situated?
It was weird, not having a plan. Sin would typically have some kind of base or outline of what he would be doing in a situation such as this instead of just a heading; but hey, being exiled for starting a brawl and beating the living hell out of a fellow senator doesn't exactly give one ample time to decide where best to go on holiday. Meh, he wasn't sorry for it, bastard blatantly insults him by dedicating such a disgusting piece of legislation?
Prick.
'Yea, so much for non-aggression.'
Indeed, as satisfying as it was to finally force feed the griffin with a chair, it still wasn't one of Sin's proudest moments. Eh, fuck him. Columbian inbred ass had it out for him ever since the stallion was elected into office, six months of putting up with snide comments and lobbyist intimidation was more than enough to justify what he'd done. At least, he liked to think so.
'You know it's not, right?'
Anyway, he was in a new land. A new land where he had a fresh start and an entire country to explore, five fold the size of his homeland and with friendlier terrain by the look of it.
Double checking his canteens of water and making a mental note to find another source, the stallion trotted onward.
As he walked along, enjoying the feeling of grass under his hooves once again, he noticed his path would soon intersect with a seemingly small and loose brush of trees. It was hardly a forest, but not just a few random trees on a plain either.
After a few hours of shin splitting south-east bound trot, the sun dipped just below the horizon. Thankfully, the climate was far more forgiving here than in the Federation, and the weather was calm enough that he felt confident in forgoing setting up shelter for the night.
'Yea, because it didn't bite you in the ass last time you got lazy, did it?'
Joy it be to his sarcastic inner critic but in his defense, the weather pegasi in the area swore up and down that there would be no precipitation that night.
Lighting a fire with some collected twigs and tinder he recognized, the stallion silently placed down a cast iron pot, filled it with one of his canteens of water and added a few carrots and other vegetable to boil. While that went on, he grabbed a few thick plastic bags and wrapped them around some still green, low hanging tree branches with a larger rock at the bottom, a small hole to the side to collect the extracted condensation.
It may have held little chance for gaining any decent amount of drinkable water, but it never hurt to have some form of water collection going. Especially when he'd failed to find any other water source. Still, a second,third and fourth canteen mixed with the broth from his soup was capable of holding him over for a few days, so he wasn't too worried.
Once finished eating, he did one last quick scan around the fire to ensure that nothing ungodly easy to catch flame was close in range before laying down and going to sleep. Autumn had already befallen the land, and the last thing he wanted to do was have to fight another forest fire he started. Satisfied that the fire would eventually burn to smolder with little incident, Sin placed his head down and closed his eyes to embrace the sweet song of slumber.
A small rustle of brush awoke the pony from sleep, he stopped himself from overtly moving but allowed his ear to swivel slowly; trying to catch the noise again. Slowly, he tensed his muscles when he found the rustling had the unmistakable rhythm of walking. Someone was coming.
The fire was out, and with only the light of the moon, he observed two solluets approaching from his right through one partly opened eye. Two ponies, one unicorn and he couldn't tell if the other had wings or not. Slowly, Sin reached to his right and slipped his right foreleg into a bolted crossbow that he kept next to him, pulling the string back and into the firing position.
He was useless in hoof to hoof combat, but what made him favor the ranged weapon was magic. A very dangerous advantage that made non-magic users almost non-threatening if the horned creature had even the most modest of training.
'Dragon Scales were the only known magical repellent, but were you smart enough to ever use that to your advantage? No.'
"Excuse me."
Sin flinched at the sudden adrenaline spike and rolled to the left before popping up and taking aim. The two Equestrians stepped back, before the non-unicorn lowered her head in a defensive stance. The other, however, ignited her horn and gave a shimmering blue light onto the area.
Breathing deeply to quell his shaking, the stallion took in the two. One was a lighter blue unicorn mare with a white and darker blue mane. To her left was another mare hunched over and ready to pounce, this one an orange mare with a wild and curly mane of the same color.
"Hey, sorry." The unicorn said, taking a step back. "We weren't looking for trouble." Her soft and melodic voice sent a wave of ease through the stallion, but he had dealt with enough politicians to know that such things were rarely genuine. "My name is Shimmering Chant"
Sin eyed her for a moment but didn't speak, instead letting his eyes noticeably shift to the crouching and frowning pony next to her. "Easy Candy." Shimmering cooed, placing a comforting hoof atop her friend's back.
After a brief stare down, the earth pony complied, joining her companion a few steps back. Slowly, Sin lowered his crossbow, but kept his leg tense just in case the two tried to rush him. Bolt for the unicorn, and a buck for the mare, yea he could probably take her.
The two Equestrians held a brief, hushed dialog between the two before turning with more friendly face. The blue one started off with an apology for the misunderstanding and reintroduced herself as Shimmering Chant and her friend to be Candy Crunch.
'Shimmering Chant, Candy Crunch? What does everyone here use these ridiculous code names?'
"So... What's your name?" Chant asked awkwardly, trying to defuse the still tense air that lingered.
Narrowing his eyes, the Federalist gave his reply. "If you're not going to tell me your real names, than why should I tell you mine?" He growled, his voice low and horse. If the other two were as on edge as most who met him, they hid it very well because both of just looked at eachother in bewilderment.
"What do you mean? We did tell you our names." Chant insisted.
"Candy Crunch?" Asked the cloaked Federalist, maintaining a level tone but just enough sarcasm to convey his disbelief.
"Yea, what's wrong with my name?" The earth pony finally spoke up, her own a voice a bit deeper than her associates. It was clear she was the more aggressive of the two, and the more masculine. A romantic couple, perhaps?
Deciding to just play along, the stallion shook his head. "Never mind," He took a breath and offered them an empty smile, "now, is it safe to assume you have a reason for waking me?"
Sin loved mind games, it was one of his favorite passed times. While his tone had shifted from confrontational to polite and amused, he made no effort to hide the passive-aggressive tint in his voice, or the fake and empty smile from which it came. It was their fault for waking him up, he was entitled to be a little bit of a jerk.
A bit off put from the change, the unicorn scratched the back of her neck. "Oh, not really. We just saw you were alone and thought we'd say hello."
Just to say hello? Pft, who does she think she's kidding?
"Is that right?"
"Mhmm." Shimmering beamed genuinely.
Sin looked both of the mares over, attempting to find any kind of weapon or documentation for government evidence. Surprisingly, he couldn't find anything at all. No saddle bag, no traveling cloak, no supplies of any kind at all. Maybe they were just coming by to say "hi" after all.
'Wow, the locals are pretty friendly here, aren't they?'
Quite, but the unprecedented smiles are very off putting.
'Maybe that's because you're used to dealing with caniving politicians or corporate fear mongers all the time who used those smiles to manipulate you. Remember what Mandylion said? Equestria's teachings are based mostly around friendship and love. Perhaps it would do to hear them out, and get a feel for the local mindset before you start pointing dangerous weapons at them? Wouldn't you agree?
As much as he hated to listen to that little voice in his head, here it held a point.
"I see." Was all he could reply. Sin didn't much care to interact outside of anything that didn't involve some greater point, finding such conversations as these to be shallow and meaningless. But, the choice to tolerate and learn had a greater appeal than telling the Equestrians to piss off, even if it would cause discomfort with his inner cynic.
He expected to have to push the conversation onward, but 'Candy' decided to comment on his weapon instead. Apparently, such weapons were very rare in this land outside of the royal guard.
"Were you part of it?" She asked curiously.
Sin shook his head. Working for the government as a grunt? That was almost laughable, It was hard enough going in with the hope -and failure- of reformation as a Senator, what change could a lowly guard bring?
"I'm not a native to this land."
"Oh? Where are you from?"
Sin took a moment before responding that he had come from the Griffin Empire. He knew enough that he could probably BS any tests they gave him. Surprisingly, neither Candy nor Shimmering found the idea too outlandish.
"I see, well, Welcome to Equestria!" The blue mare held out her hoof and smiled. He shook it quickly and avoided any more inquiries to his person by asking about the land. Hoping the two would talk themselves to disinterest.
The more the two spoke, the more pleased Sin was at the decision to engage with them. The Matriarch's were the ever benevolent Princess Celestia -which he already knew- and the recently returned Princess Luna thanks to something called the "Elements of Harmony". Both residing in the Capital city of Canterlot followed by another bout of pun oriented city names.
The two themselves hailed from some small town called "Hooftrot", that was just a half a miles due south east, apparently waiting for some Nightmare Night party to occur. At least that would give him a good point of reference on the map.
"Oh and then there's Cloudsdale, where most of the pegasi are, Manehatten, oh and one of my favorite places to visit; Los Pegasus!" Shimmering recalled with a look of reminiscence. "Oh boy, hey Candy, remember the time we were in the giant pyramid and found that one stallion sleeping behind one of the sarcophagi?"
The Orange pony giggled happily. "Yea, and he begged us not to tell his boss he was sleeping on the job..."
Tapio's beard this is getting annoying.
'Well, look on the bright side! At least they aren't talking about manipulating others into doing favors for them. I'm sure decent folk like these would never dream of-'
"And we made him dance for like, an hour so we wouldn't tell!" The two burst out into filly like giggling.
Yea, wouldn't dream of it.
'I said doing favors for them, entertainment expense is different.'
To Sin's dismay, the meant to be explanation of Equestria's culture, land scape and basic information had some how devolved into a slew of anecdotal stories where Shimmering and Candy would giggle and reminisce about different experiences. The Federalist held his tongue, hoping the two would get back on track, but the only thing that stopped the almost endless slew of self gratification was another question directed at him
"Say, we never got your name." The earth pony pointed out matter of factly. "Or should we just call you 'Grumpy'?"
The two shared another small laugh before looking at him expectantly. Annoyed, Sin contemplated a reply. There were many options he could take with this, but one stood out the most. "Strawberry Shortcake." He growled with a dead pan.
Shimmering tilted her head, obviously not very familiar with sarcasm. "Are you serious?"
Containing his urge to slap the mare silly for being so gullible, Sin merely sighed. "Sure, why not?" He yawned and stretched out his legs before sitting down. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to sleep before the morning comes."
These two obviously weren't a threat, and from their story, they loved teasing others to get reactions out of them. Best course of action was to treat these two mares like life long psychological problems and ignore them.
The response was what he'd expect.
"Wow, um. Rude." Chant scoffed. "Come on Candy, let's go back home. I don't find the tree line's particularly romantic tonight."
Called it.
And as the two's hoof trots echoed off into the night, the stallion closed his eyes and embraced sleep once more.
Morning came far more unwelcome than usual. Thanks to the two intruders of last night, Sin's sleeping wasn't as satisfying as it needed to be. But, he had a technique on how to deal with such issues. It was called the "shut the fuck up, quite being a whiny little bitch, and move your ass" method.
He cleaned up camp and pulled down the plastic bags. As expected, there were only small puddles in both, but it was enough to fill half of his empty canteen, so he couldn't complain too much.
They said Hooftrot was only a few miles south right? Maybe you should start off there?
Finding it the best course of action, Sin packed up everything, double checked to make sure the fire was out, and began his walk to Hooftrot. His only reservation was running into "Candy" and "Chant" again, but he reasoned it away. What were they going to do? Tease him again?
A couple of hours and an empty canteen later, Sin finally came to the small town at the bottom of a hill. The aesthetics of the town as a whole were vibrant and inviting with the earth toned colors being favored. What puzzled him though was a tent city that was easily twice the size of the town stretching out and around it.
A refugee camp?
Suddenly finding the town suspect, Sin contemplated if he really wanted to go down there.
'That's a lot of tents, think there might be some kind of event going on?'
Event? Like what?
'Didn't Nightmare Night originate in Equestria? It's only a few days off from now, maybe that had something to do with it?
That seemed like a viable excuse. Nightmare night was pretty big in the Federation's more commonwealth districts, and if what he had heard was true, than every area outside of the capital was pretty much commonwealth in Equestria.
Deciding that the fact he needed to refill his canteen outweighed any reservations, including his dislike of large groups of ponies, Sin made way to the market. As he went, he passed many happy and laughing ponies along the way. Some dressing up in ridiculous costumes already, others preforming stunts on the streets with crowds circling and tossing money.
'Hey look, it's a political campaign rally!'
Sin bit his lip, clowns jumping around doing tricks that made ponies feel good on the inside while offering nothing of substance, yea. It really was a political campaign rally.
It was a culture shock to be sure, most ponies in North New Equine did everything they could to avoid eachother. Be it read a news paper while standing, look down at the ground or wear a mask of anger too much for any sane being to consider talking to, the only social citizens were either the press or vendors trying to sell.
Here though, seemed so much friendlier. No one here even knew him and yet he'd already been smiled at and waved to at least five times and he wasn't even in the market district yet.
Eventually he made it and if there was one thing he liked that was different was the individual stalls. Loaded as they were, it was far more intimate and comunitarian than the stores he was accustom to. Here, you spoke to the shop keepers and sellers directly, back home, you went to the store, placed an order, and waited twenty minutes for everything to be gathered and brought up to you.
This might have been a good thing, if he were actually a social pony. But in the grand scheme, it was ideal for a happy populace, especially in a culture based around social relationships.
Finding a stall with a shorter line, the stallion made way to see what was being sold. Apparently his hunch was correct from before, everything on sale had some kind of Nightmare Night theme to it.
He took a bundle of carrots and handed over a few of his precious bits. After that he looked around and found a water fountain that actually gave away water for free. FREE!
His canteen now full, Sin made way out of town. He'd been listening to many conversations and found the name Stalliongrad mentioned a few times. Sure enough, the map confirmed that city actually existed and was a few days trot due west.
It soon began to dawn on him that maybe, just maybe, the names ponies were using around here weren't aliases at all, but their real, parent given names.
'That's... kind of amazing actually.'
Amazingly ridiculous.
Groaning at the puns he knew to come, the stallion was just about out of the city limits before a strange arguement caught his attention. A mare and a stallion were arguing over something, and the debate was quickly becoming animated.
Typically he'd walk on by and ignore such things that weren't his business, but this was a special occassion. How were conflicts such as these dealt with in Equestria as opposed to the Federation?
He hid himself behind a small building and observed the scene play out before him, waiting to see what happened. Apparently, the stallion had said something wrong and received a slap across the face by the mare's hoof. His shock giving way to anger, the stallion returned the favor, sending the mare to the ground. Though, his retaliation was stopped short by a small crowd that descended upon the two.
Much to Sin's chagrin, the crowd began to berate and scold the stallion for hitting the mare. Despite the face she was the one who initiated the aggression in the first place. A couple of gold plated white stallion ponies quickly pushed through the crowd to find the mare crying on the ground and the stallion of the two yelling at those around him to mind their own business.
As he expected, the standing pony was placed under arrest while the assaulting mare was offered comfort and reassurance.
At that moment, Sin decided to follow the guards for reasons he didn't quite know. It wasn't fair the pony was being arrested, he was just defending himself and showing that the mare's aggression wouldn't be tolerated by returning the favor. Despite his dislike for the government, the Federalist was more than willing to give whitness testimony to get the innocent pony out of jail.
In quick order, he found himself outside of the town jail. A small, square building. Much smaller than he'd thought it would be and proceeded inside.
"Can I help you?" Asked the stallion at the front desk.
The air was much warmer in the building, a few stools and bag chairs lined the walls with pictures depicting both tips to avoid being a victim and descriptions of crimes and the sentences that would be served for them. In one of the chairs, Sin found the stallion he'd been following and informed the guard that he could give eye whitness testimony to the pony's circumstance in self defense.
"My boys say he hit a mare out in the middle of the street." The Brown unicorn replied distantly. "Assaulting mares is a serious offense, you know."
"I'm aware, however the mare assaulted him first, he was acting in self defense."
"Yea? So?" Sin's eyes widened under his goggles. "He's a stallion, he can handle that kind of thing. She's a mare, nopony should ever hit a mare."
Sweet Milliki, was he serious? Apparently he was, but the completely serious look the guard was giving him. So, Equestria wasn't the great utopain ideal he was thinking about after all.
'Shocking.'
Dismissed from the jail, Sin stopped to give the stallion one last look before leaving. There was a mix of anger and sadness upon the pony's face. As if he knew why he was here, but was angry about why. And who could blame him? Well, who could blame him who believed in equality anyways?
Leaving with a sense of pity and frustration, Sin mulled over what he should do. Obviously if he did anything, there was a high chance of him being caught and incarcerated as well. That wasn't conducive to his interests, but the entire reason he left the Federation was the government corruption and moral decay. To start over somewhere else, make a life outside of that place.
Still though, what was going on didn't jive with his sense of right and wrong. Mare or not, that earth pony didn't deserve to be locked up as he was.
No point in going higher up, if the culture around was any indication, than he'd just receive the same excuse that the jailor had given him. No, if he was going to help that guy, he'd have to do it himself.
But then another thought crossed his mind. Why should he help? Right or wrong, the pony went along willingly. He didn't fight back, he didn't even argue his case. If he wasn't interested in helping himself, was he worth Sin's help?
It was an interesting idea, but Sin slowly found a solution morphing in his mind...
Standing in the dark of the night, Sin took a breath and did another double take around to make sure that no others were around to see him. He removed the cotton sack around his back and opened it up to double check that everything was present. A knife, a mirror, a map and a half of the bits he had left.
Most importantly, the letter. The letter was the most important part of the kit, and after writing and rewriting the note over and over again, he found just the words to convey what he wanted to say.
Satisfied that he was ready, he crept along the shadow to the town jail to spring his plan into motion.
Peaking in the window, Sin saw the earth pony sitting on a cell bench, a look of utter defeat upon his face as he contemplated his predicimate.
Grass Range sat in thought, it wasn't fair. He was just defending himself! Why was he locked up here while that raving feather brain walked free? She'd been the one who assaulted him! And everypony berated him for striking her back? It wasn't fair.
His pity party was interupted by some shifting above him. Looking up, Range observed as a small brown sack was pushed through the bars of the window and plopped down on the bed next to him.
He eyed the sack in utter shock for a few moments, completely unsure of what to make of it. Deciding to make sure the guards didn't see, the stallion looked around outside his cell before opening the bag and carefully inspecting its contents.
If he wasn't shocked enough already, he pulled out a small knife from the bag and his heart sank, what was going on here? He placed the weapon on the bed and continued to shift through the sack, pulling out a mirror, a few bits and a single piece of parchment.
Furrowing his brow, the stallion read over the letter that addressed him.
Prisoner
Were you put on this earth to serve another?
You are where you are right now because you were weak earlier today. You did not fight back when you were unlawfully "arrested", and worse you are not alone; hundreds more have given up their freedom to ensure self preservation from those in authority who abuse their power. And I am of the belief that because of your willingness to give up said freedom, you are not worthy of it; and deserve to be in this cage, left to suffer for your ignorance of unquestioning trust in said authority.
However, I'm here to give you a second chance. In this bag, you will find: one knife, one mirror, and twelve bits. The bits are to help start you off in a new life somewhere else, the mirror for any creative ideas you have, and the knife is self explanatory.
Despite what you may think, freedom is not granted by your superiors. Not your Princess, not your Mayor, and not the head of your household. It is something you are born with that can only be taken away. And it can only be taken, if you are willing to give it. You were only defending yourself when those guards arrested you, thus I find it counter to the interests of fairness and justice for you to be here, but you gave them your consent and abide by them anyway. Do not despair in that now, this is your chance to make it right.
The tools i have provided for you, will assist you in your escape. Keep in mind, this is not a rescue. There will be no one to greet you at the gate with an escape plan, there will be no food, water, or active help of any kind passed what I've given here. This is as much a test for you of how far you are wiling to go to be free, as if you are in fact; strong enough to ascertain and maintain such an idea.
What will you do? Fight to take back the freedoms that life has granted you: Your family, your friends, your property and your happiness? Or submit, and remain protected from their wrath for the sake of calming your own fear, and potentially being trapped within these stone walls for the rest of your days?
What i have provided to you, i don't intend to see again. You may use them as you see fit for your escape and ascension from this state of control, or you can toss the knife out the window, shatter the mirror, rip up this note, and offer up the money I've given; thus living the servitude for which you have done nothing to deserve, save your own submission to it.
As i asked before: Were you put on this earth to serve another? Is that the epitome of your existence? Or, were you born into this world to serve yourself, and live the life YOU want to live, giving to those who you deem worthy or in need?
Make your choice.
