Chapters The Same, But Different: How I Came To Be
Chapter_01: Home_Sweet_Prision
Chapter_01: Home_Sweet_Prision
Chapter_01: Home_sweet_Prison
11/10/2174, 11:57 AM, Room RB12, Floor B2, Pegasi Tower A, EQ
I listen to the beautiful, yet hostile noise of an angry somepony violently banging on my door.
“You. Bucking. Lazy. BUTTHEAD!”, A voice shouts over the banging. “You are to come out here right NOW!”
And that’s pretty much how I start off every day of my life: The pissed-off stallion comes down to my room and acts as my alarm clock. Wonderful.
I finally get out of my bed, walk to the door, and press the door open with my wing. Then I see Lt. Greystone, a lean, darkish blue-grey, coal-maned pegasus in a Pegasi Inc. uniform, glaring right in my face.
“Mornin’ Grey,” I yawn. “Y’know, I always wondered why you’re always so-”
“I don’t give a buck,” The stallion spat. “You’re late for training-AGAIN!”
He pulls me out of my room, to the elevator, where he dropped me and threatened me to shut up or “I’ll show you what it means to be an elite member,” then dragged me down the hall, toward the courtyard (Of course), where the other ponies were starting the day practicing imitating that “Number-less doppelgangers” that we never get a chance to see. Like we need to impersonate a pony we’ll never see in our lives. In fact, I’ve only seen one “numberless” pony; that’s the boss of the place, Mafia.
12:15 PM, Hall to Courtyard, Floor 01, Main Building of Scientific Div, EQ
Greystone and I near the courtyard, I’m expecting him to let me go so I can train freely, but he shoves me right past the door.
“Wh-wha?”, I splutter, surprised. “Where are you taking me now?”
“Don’t ask,” He grumbles. “You know what I’m doing.”
That’s when I realize, A trip to Mafia, again.
12:20 PM, M’s Office, MBSD, EQ
We arrive to the Owner’s office (Otherwise known as the Master’s Office) and Grey shoves me through the doors, and I see Mafia, a sand-colored, (very) dirty blonde-maned mare reclining in her office chair.
“Greetings, Greystone,” She spoke at once with her silky voice. She cast a glare at me when she mentioned my name. “What brings you here to my office today?”
That’s when Grey suddenly leaves me to whisper something in her ear, then leaves.
Mafia’s face is unchanging with that warm, kind smile, her eyes mysteriously unreadable.
“Another behavioral problem, RB12 - ?”
“Rather be called ‘Rainer,’ if you don’t mind.”, I interrupted.
“Yes. Rainer. As I was saying, another behavioral issue, or perhaps as Lieutenant Greystone says, ‘screw something up again?’”
I’m crossing my hooves, looking elsewhere. “Dealer’s choice.”
She galred at me, and her usual calm mood disappeared.
“I should’ve known,” She put her hoof up to her forehead in mock sorrow. “Nonetheless, as naughty and immature as you are, I’ll have to put you on house arrest for a few days.”
“I don’t have a house,” I cleverly respond.
“I know you don’t have a house, Rainer!”, She spat. “It’s just -”
She stopped mid-sentence, closed her eyes, and took a few breaths. Then she looks up, her eyes flared with fury. She chokes me with her magic, and brings me over to her face.
“You just blew my last fuse, did you know that, Rainer?”, Her voice shook with rage as she muttered in my face.
I couldn’t get enough air to talk; I had to nod yes. She cackled.
“Good, because nopony likes it when they see me angry. Lucky for you, I only assign you a month locked in your room! Isn’t that great???”
She didn’t wait for my answer.
“Good, because you’re going to LOVE it there!”, She laughed crazily again, throwing me to the doors.
Crud, I thought, Looks like I’ll hit the door before I go back.
At the same time, I spot a blonde-maned, orange-yellow pony peeking through the windows behind Mafia, who was beckoning me away with a hoof.
And the strangest thing is, she hasn’t got a number.
Then I’m back where I started. And I’m locked in.
12:46 PM, Room RB12 (Under Lockdown), Pegasi Tower A, EQ
“Well,” I cursed under my breath. “I’ve really done it now. Locked in my room, no fresh air, not much space to walk around…Dammit.”
I boot up my computer. No new messages.
I pull up the video chat app, and tap the display a few times. Note there’s no mouse or touchpad.
Whooves37 appeared on my screen.
“Hallo, Rainer! Anything new?”, He greets me cheerfully.
“Not much, man,” I grumble. “ Just pissed Mafia off just because I started smart-talking her…”
“Not much luck there, eh?”
“Nope.”
He sighs.
“What are you going to do now?”, He prompted. “It’s not like you can just sit there, bonk your bloody head on the wall, holler ‘I’m so stupid, blimey!’ and such, and expect to be forgiven!”
“Yea, I know, I’m not retarded, unlike most of the other clones in this bucking facility!”, My voice rose.
He winced.
“Alright, alright! I get it!”
“Sorry.”
He shrugged.
“It’s fine, Rainer. It’s just that I don’t have any idea on how to get you out of this predicament.”
“Ok, then. Bye.”
“See ya.”
He disappeared from the monitor, which instead read “Whos37 has ended the call.”
I turned off the computer and take refuge in the bathroom.
“This is hopeless!”, I angrily yell out to my reflection on the mirror. I didn’t care. I punched and kicked the titanium-plated wall until my hooves hurt. Then I decided to take a rest on the floor.
May King Goldenstorm damn Mafia for the rest of her days.
The Same, But Different: How I Came To Be
Chapter_02: Midnight_Escape
Chapter_02: Midnight_Escape
Chapter_02: Midnight_Escape
11/10/2174, 12:02 AM, Room RB12 (Under Lockdown), Floor B2, Pegasi Tower A, EQ
I wake up to a dull explosion, and an alarm going off, from the other side of my bathroom wall. I sit up, and the first thought that goes through my head is, Who the hell’s in my room this time? Are they that jealous of the game Aquashine got me last week?
The second thought was, Wait, isn’t my door supposed to be locked?
With that I bolt up and bonk my head on the sink counter.
“Oww...damn,” I mutter. Somepony broke into my room unauthorized. If I beat the crap out of this one, maybe I’ll finally be able to roam freely, probably away from this prison of a company.
But what if it was a Pegasi official? Then I’d be really screwed.
I shake my head to get rid of the distracting thoughts. I’ll take the chance, I always wanted to beat up somepony anyway.
I kick the door open, in a fighting stance.
“Surprize, motherbu - wha?”, I was suddenly really confused.
I noticed there was a big hole in the wall to my right, revealing a once-hidden corridor that was probably reserved only for Mafia, Grey, and the other Administrators, the ponies in charge of each Tower. But that wasn’t what got me confused. The intruder was the yellow-orange mare I saw at Mafia’s office yesterday morning! And she acted like this was completely normal!
“Come on!”, She giggled. “You do wanna’ break outta’ here, right?”
“How’d you know tha - ?”
Just the I hear the intercom blare out, “Unauthorized pony on level B2, I repeat, intruder on B2, All squads report to B2.”
That’s seems like her cue to cut to the chase. “Hey, if you wanna’ ditch the place…”
She places a toy motorbike in my hoof.
“Throw this into the hole.”
I was skeptical. “What does a to have to do with - ?”
I was cut off again, we both hear the sound of hooves and Grey’s voice going, “Hey, whoever’s there, come out with your hooves up!”
“Just do it, we don’t have much time!”, She nudges me.
“Why the he - ?”
A few grunts and a bang signals that the squad is starting to ram my front door down.
“Fine,” I finally give in, and chuck the toy into the blown- up hole in the wall.
It simply lands with a clatter in the hall, no surprize there.
“See there, nothing happened, can we just go now?”, I tell her. I start for the hall, but she stops me.
“Just wait,” She assures me. “It’s going to blow. Your. Mind.”
Another bang, the door is starting to give way.
I’m panicking now. If Grey caught me with the mare, he’ll charge me with an Unauthorized Attempt to Escape Facility, and you don’t wanna’ know what comes after that.
The mare advises me to cover my eyes.
There’s a bright purple flash of light coming from the toy. Next thing I know, a full-size motorbike was in the hall across from me, engine rumbling, ready to ride.
She mounts the bike, beckoning me to join her. I shrug and do so, cause’ I was way too tired to fly anyway.
We rev off just as our opponents bust the door down, much too late.
I look back as we are speeding down the hall, and see the squad rush out, some jaws fall open in shock and awe. Others, Greystone included, tried to chase after us, firing their pistols and Magick-infused rifles, but missing miserably.
“RAINER!”, Grey shouts, shaking his hoof angrily. “You are going to be in a LOT of trouble when you get back!”
“Oh, don’t worry, Grey,” I yell back. “I won’t!”
And then I had to whirl back around and clutch (humiliatingly) the blonde-maned, orange-yellow mare as the bike bumped up a set of stairs.
1:05 AM, Campsite approx. 5 miles from Pegasi Inc. S.D. , EQ
We manage to escape the facility after a couple dead ends and close encounters from a few squads.
She doesn't slow down until we're at least a few miles from the bucked-up place.
I really want to ask my million questions to the mare, but I decide to keep my mouth shut. It looks like she does, too.
After 30 more minutes, she pulls over and stops at a campsite, complete with with 5 tents and a (dim) campfire.
Aquashine, an aqua-maned, white alicorn, and a yellow-maned, blue-green unicorn come out of their tents, both tired and yawning.
"Hey, Rainer!", Aquashine cheerfully calls to me. "What's up?"
"Hey, Shine," Blondie snaps. "Shut up, please, I think he's in shock."
Believe it or not, I actually am.
Aquashine backs off a bit, taken aback.
"Oh, um," She mumbles. "O-ok..."
She backs off into her camo blue tent, and zips the opening back up.
The unicorn yawns again, shrugs, and simply says, "Yo," and returns to his dark green tent.
Meanwhile, Blondie is taking a good look around. She goes back to the bike, and comes back with a roll of plastic.
"Aw, whoops," She says, exhausted. "I forgot to intro the group."
She starts gesturing to each of the five tents.
"K, alright then," She starts with the brown tent. "That's mine, I'm Gold Rush, blue one's - "
" - Aquashine," I finish.
"K, good for you...", She continues. Another yawn. "Dark green's Dub Beat, reg green's Boxi Beat, and the darker red is Davis."
She goes ahead and places my tent next to Aquashine's, where it sets itself up immediately, then stretches. "I'll tell you more tomorrow, so for now...you can make yourself at home, I'm going to relax in mine..."
So, I make myself at home. I went ahead and take a rest in the included sleeping bag after such a night. One that was actually fun, compared to the days at my once-prison, the PISD.
The Same, But Different: How I Came To Be
Chapter_03: EQ_Not_What_It_Seems
Chapter_03: EQ_Not_What_It_Seems
Chapter_03: EQ_Not_What_It_Seems
11/10/2174, 4:35 AM, Campsite approx. 5 miles from Pegasi Inc. S.D. , EQ
Gold Rush wakes me up the following morning - way too early.
“Wakey, wakey!”, She says while she’s continuing to nudge me.
I try to bury myself further into my sleeping bag. “Just a few more hours, Rush…”, I groan.
That must’ve pissed the mare off, cause’ she started to nudge me harder.
“Come on, dang it!”, She presses. “It’s time!”
She stops nudging me for a moment, and I sit up. “‘Time’ for what?”, I asked sleepily, cleverness in my tone.
“Time to go,” She answered hastily. “Or you going to stay her and be sent back to that ‘prison’ of yours?”
“Jeez, it’s not mine,” I dismissed the idea with a hoof. I go ahead out. “Let’s go.”
What I see outside is everypony else packed up and ready to go, while I just rolled out of bed (Well, I mean sleeping bag).
It irks me a little for some reason, but I just ignore the feeling.
“So, we ready?”, Aquashine cheerfully asks Gold Rush.
“Yes,” Rush replied, glancing at the area where the tents used to be. “Sorry, I had to go old school - don’t want to attract attention with those tents they make now: Shiny and flashy.”
“No prob, Gold,” said Davis, a light-brown, blonde-maned stallion.
“Ok to hear everything was fine, guys,” Rush happily reflected. “Let’s roll out!”
So we begin our trek across uncharted territory, not that Gold Rush or somepony else had a map.
Which also meant that we absolutely had no idea of where we were going.
“So,” Rush remarks. “Um...your name’s Rainer, right?”
“Yes, Rainer Blitz,” I reply back.
“Ain't that sound familiar, Dubs?”, The blue-green maned, yellow unicorn exclaims, nudging her brother.
“Yea, Boxi, yea,” He absentmindedly answers. “Don’t he sound like...um...Rainbow Dash...? From the Celestian region?”
“Course’ not, ya dum dum!”, Boxi smacks Dub upside the head. “It’s Rainbow Blitz, remember that Wonderbolts’ Festival from a few weeks ago? The guy who made it on teh team?”
Dub sniggered. “Yea, before you n’ Vinyl had a little...les see here...a marefight!”, His snigger turns into a guffaw.
“Aw, SHUT UP!”, Boxi roars. “I was supposed to whup Discord’s ugly ass, not her! We agreed on it after upgrading that bass cannon!”
“Yea...”, Her bro teased after he calmed down. “Some fight over a stupid bass cannon, you were probably so busy with something else anyway, she had to step in.” He shrugged. “Either that, or he takes over the Celestian region, with us in it. She saved our hides.”
“You little…”, Boom starts, her face red, eyes flaring with anger.
“Alright, girls, break it up,” Rush chides. “That’s enough drama for today. Now can we please get along?”
“Hey, I ain't a mare, ya kno-”, The big brother protested, but his sister stuffed a hoof in his mouth, her horn glowing a pink aura. She whispered something in his ear, he nodded.
That seemed to shut him up. Serves him right.
But some of what they said kind of got me wondering. I went ahead to ask Rush about it.
“Hey, Rush?”
“Yep,” She sighed.
“I think I overheard something from their little conversation, ‘Celestian region’?”
“Yes,” She urged. She perked up a bit. “Go on.”
“So can you spill the beans about these ‘regions’?”
“Sure,” She replied cheerfully. “No problemo.”
She cleared her throat.
“Well, there are currently 4 known regions in Equestria, Celestian to the west, Topsetter, the one we’re in right now, is to the east, Utopian (aka Serpentine) to the south, and Lunar to the south-east.”
"But it wasn't always this way. Long ago, there was once only two regions, Topsetter and Celestian. Both the regions lived in complete harmony and peace. That is, until Lord Blackwing and his followers made their home in the area to the south. He called the region Utopia. It was the leader of industry, in front of Topsetter. But later on, Blackwing suddenly waged war on the other two regions, forcing King Topsetter and Princess Celestia to unite in order to defeat him. Eventually, they did, and shrunk Blackwing’s territory on one side. There was peace again. It's also known as the Serpentine region because Queen Serpentine, the current leader, is notorious for releasing a virus that turned ponies into...monsters..."
She shuddered. "Ugh. Thank Celestia the epidemic's done..."
“But anyway, as for the fourth one,” Gold Rush continued. “The fourth one was created rather recently, about, I think, 10 years or so ago? Well anyway, a panic caused the Celestian region to split in half.
“Apparently, Celestia’s star student, Dusk Shine, who had been made into a prince a few months before, had somehow gone insane and slaughtered his mentor and role model, as well as some of the most talented and successful Royal Guards, one of them my brother, saying that ‘they were of no use to him anymore.
“This horrified his friends and Princess Luna, so they, and many of their followers, fled to the south-east, away from the clutches of the corrupted Prince Dusk Shine, where they are to this day. And that made the Lunarist region.”
It took me a little while to absorb that second-to-last part. Dusk murdering Celestia?
That just doesn't click, even for me.
Aquashine must've noticed my confusion.
"I-I know it's hard to believe, Rainer," She said sadly. "Because of that murder, Luna, my half-sister, she...she gave up on the idea of leading Equestria. I know how that feels."
“Yea, yea…”, I mutter, still trying to recover from the shock of the murder.
There’s silence for a few minutes, before Dub pipes up.
“Land ho!”, He calls. “I think we hit the jackpot this time; looks liek a village!”
“Oh good!”, Aquashine sighs with relief. “We haven’t had a decent stay for while!”
But even though everypony else is celebrating, it feels like something’s not right, something’s off about that “village"...
Hmm...
I don’t think we’re out of the woods just yet...
The Same, But Different: How I Came To Be
Corrupted_File (1) Dreams
Corrupted_File (1) Dreams
Corrupted_File * (1)** Dreams*
This file is currently viewed in Compatibility Mode by default
../../...., Unknown Location, EQ (RAiner's Mind)
"I just don;t know anymore..."
"Friends...gone..."
Davis appears, but his leather jacket mangled, eyes bloodshot. He is drooling this blackish-orange substance that was his own blood. His body is wounded. He's is not himself anymore -- a monster.
The scene change.
"I'm running from something..."
I look behind me, a group of poni3s, made unrecognizable by shadows. All I know is that I'm alone, nopony to help...
The scene changes again.its pitchBlack.;=9A familiar voice disturbs the silence.
"I can't believe it, you group of...pathetic p)nies of @ 9rouP? Y0u *@ll yours3lf t-h3]; re';.l. '.6;./? ;'.ou/'[-93 k1dd1#g m3!"
"K -- King Goldenstorm?"
"Yes, Rainer, why were you that gullible, to trust a band of misfits, instead of your own life,When you are a misfit yourself?;'.,''
"'[]I-- I, Sir;.';/?'"
"NO!", The golden alicorn roared angrily. "I cannot forgive and forget any longer! You are to 9l3@ve7
^% @t0 nc3"doc;l
jUst as the$#2al (u@rds burst through the doors, the scene changed again...
We're somewhere in...Phillydelphia? Or Manehattan? I'm not sure...but the atmosphere is feeling very hostile.
I realize it's after an encounter with Rarity -- the real one.
"Rarity was right," declared Dub Beat. "We're leaving."
"Wh -- what??", I spluttered. "You can't leave!"
"Oh yes we can!", Dub's sister spat. "We're sick of running around with you..you..TWERPS! All this running might burn a few cals, but it's not going to do any good, clearing our names. We're out!"
They gallop out. Boxi screams, "Later, losers!"
There's silence for a few moments, I notice Aquashine thinking about what the Beats had said before ditching us.
"That's kind of true, Rainer," She agreed, cold in her voice. "All we're doing is avoiding the police, that's all. There's no point in running if we don't actually take action! I'll be leaving as well, back to Lunar City. I'm sorry, Rainer. Goodbye."
She canters out, flaps her wings, and flies off.
Meanwhile, Gold Rush is lying in the corner, weeping.
"Why don't they listen?", She muttered loudly. "I promised them...I promised! But look -- they all jump the gun, and leave, thinking I took too long.."
Some data was too corrupted to be displayed... **Data Removed**
She falls from the building.
"Oops," Whooves37 shrugged. "Sorry! Didn't mean to push her."
"You son of a..." I glared at his greyed-out self angrily. I dash off, following the falling Gold Rush
The anger turns to panic as I jump off from the edge, chasing after the unconscious body falling to the fog below.
...**Corrupted Data Removed**
No," Tears streak down my face as I dive through the air, to save Rush. "NO! I won't let you go!"
It was too late, and she disappeared through the mist.
I went grey.
She's gone, I thought. I failed my mission.
Everything was a blur after that.
Let's just say I gave up. I went limp. and fell. I clenched my eyes tight, and waited for death.
11/1*/2174, Pegasi Inc. W****** Div. Facility, EQ
"Wake up, sleepyhead!"
I groggily open my eyes. Gold Rush is there, nudging me awake, again. I'm In a tent
"Come on! before another ambush!"
I immediately rush toward Rush, tackling her to the ground, and hug her -- tight.
"Thank Celest you're alive!"
Rush pushes me off, surprised. "Ok, then, of course I'm alive, jeez! No need to go haywire bout' it."
Oops, guess I did overreact a little bit. I felt my ears burning with embarrassment.
Rush gets up, dusting herself off with a hoof. "Alright, now that's over with, can we go now, we've been waiting for 20 minutes now, and you're the noisiest sleeper I've ever met!"
So I pack up my stuff into a bag, and start off toward Gold Rush and the rest of the group, who were already leaving: Aquashine, Davis, Boom and Dub Beat.
I'm grateful all that was just a dream...