Jacob left early in the morning. Telling Jim and Mike that he was going to free the ponies did not sound like the best idea. He was out of Appleloosa before a single being had stirred. Luckily the food market was always open, and he managed to buy a weeks worth of food before he left. After he had put enough distance between himself and the town, he checked his compass stone to make sure he was heading the right way. A quick check confirmed that he was going in the right direction. He puts away the compass stone and map and continues on his way.

By noon he had made remarkable progress. Maybe I'll get there quicker than I hoped. Jacob thought with enthusiasm. After he eats a hearty meal, he continues his journey, reinvigorated. As he continues to travel, Jacob begins to wander what kind of pony Rarity is. All Braeburn told me is that she is a white unicorn with a purple mane. As Jacob thought these things, his his mind returned to to more serious matters. What good does gathering the Bearers of Harmony do anyways? They may have vanquished an ancient evil, but I don't think they stand a chance against an entire army of humans. Jacob sighs. He had alot of work ahead of him.

His first day was uneventful. The second day followed, as noneventful as the first. By the third day Jacob found himself only a few miles away from the city of Manehattan. Guess all that farm work helped my muscles. Jacob thought as he confirms his direction. In the morning of the fourth day, he arrived at the city of Manehattan. To his surprise he discovered that the place was a large, metropolitan city. The city was bustling with people and ponies of every color and kind. But, Jacob noted, the ponies here also look downcast.

Jacob knew that walking around, asking for this pony called Rarity would no doubt raise suspicion. Where would I hide if I was avoiding detection in a metropolitan city? Jacob wonders. Then it hits him. Of course! The slums!

Finding the slums turned out easier than he expected. The further he walked, the poorer the inhabitants became. Finally he reached a area void of people. A place lined with run down houses. No humans were there, only dirty, shaggy ponies.

"What a hellhole." Jacob mumbles under his breath. A wave of sympathy washed over his heart. These ponies probably lived much more happy lives before his kind had invaded their land. Whoever is responsible is going to pay. Jacob swore in his heart.

As he walked by, many a pony cast a look at him. Some watched him with curiosity, puzzeled as to what a human was doing in the slums. Others cast glares of hate. Hatred for what humans did to them. Hatred for ruining their lives.

Who could blame them. Jacob thought. As he walked, the more he realized he had no clue as to where to find Rarity. And the more he walked, the more nervous he felt. A human in the slums was suspicious beyond doubt, and it wouldn't be long before a pony reported him to the police. Or some other so-called law-enforcement Jacob grimly thought. Jacob notices a little pony rummaging through a harbage can. "Hey there little filly." Jacob calls out. Immediately the filly jerks his head out of the garbage and runs down an ally. "Wait! I don't mean to hurt you!" Jacob yells. But by then the filly was long gone.

As the sun sets down, Jacob began to panic. He was hoping he would be able to find this Rarity easily, and be out of the city by the end of the day. He decides to settle in a alleyway.

Bot the best option, Jacob gloomily thinks, But I need to leave as little trace as I can. He lays down in a dark corner, and falls asleep.

A sharp pain in his chest wakes Jacob from his sleep. He wakes to find himself cornered by three ponies, one a unicorn and the other two normal.

"What are you doing here, human?" One of the ponies spits.

"Yeah, you think you can just sleep in our territory!?" Another asks.

"You may have conquered us, but we still have some fight left!" The first pony yells.

The unicorn, apparently the leader, steps toward Jacob.

"Human or not, we'll show you how we treat people on our territory." His horn begins to glow.

Jacob's hand slowly creeps toward his pistol. If need be, he would kill all three. He felt sorry, but he wasn't going to just let them kill him.

"Stop!!" A voice calls out.

The three ponies turn around. Jacob sees a pony, wearing a cloak, approaching them.

"What do you think you're doing, stranger? Are you siding with this filthy scum!?" One of the ponies yell.

"I will not let any blood be spilled. He was only trying to sleep." The cloaked figure argues.

The pony that yelled at the figure charges toward it. Instantly a purple glow comes from under the hood, and the charging pony is suspended in midair. Jacob watches in awe as the pony is thrown into a wall.

The unicorn scowls. "Come on, let's go." He says. After a glance at the unconscious pony, the remaining pony follows.

"Thank yo-" Jacob is about to say but is cut off by the mystical unicorn.

"That is all the kindness you will recieve. Leave before you meet the same fate as him." The hooded pony says, gesturing at the unconscious pony.

Jacob is about to tell the unicorn why he was here, then takes a closer look at the figure. The pony had hooves with white skin poking out from under its hood. As Jacob looked even closer, he could see a purple mane inside the cloak.

"You're Rarity, bearer of the Element of Kindness." Jacob gasps.

The figure freezes, surprised. Then the figure remeves its cloak, revealing blue eyes and a white face. She has a angry scowl on her face.

"How do you know my name?" She asks in a demanding tone.

"A pony named Braeburn told me." Jacob simply answers.

"Braeburn that coward! Hiw dare he reveal our presense! Why the next time I see him I'll..." Rarity begins to rant.

"No, you don't understand. I'm not here to hurt you." Jacob says to Rarity.

"Oh really?" She asks with a sneer. "Then why are you here?"

"To gather the Elements of Harmony." Jacob boldly replies.

Rarity busts out laughing. After ten seconds, she manages to settle down. "You? Gather the Elements of Harmony? Why would you do that?" She asks.

"To free your species." Jacob tells her. "If I can gather all the Elements, then maybe we can-"

"We!?" Rairty cuts in. "What do you mean we? Why would you help us? You may have fooled Braeburn, but I'm not like that simple-minded country pony."

A groaning sound makes the two turn around. The unconscious pony was waking up. As soon as he sees Jacob, his eyes widen and he tries to scramble away. The pony winces, and Jacob notices a cut on one of his legs.

"You're hurt." Jacob says. He walks toward the injured pony. The pony whimpers and tries to get away. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." Jacob reassures. Rarity just watches as Jacob disinfects and wraps up the wound. "There, is that better?" Jacob kindly asks. The pony dashes off into the alley. Jacob let's him go. Behind Jacob, Rarity looks amused.

"Tell you what. I have a little sister. She is locked up in a prison. You rescue her, I'll consider what you said." Rairty says to Jacob.

Jacob looks at her. "Look lady, I have no reason to help you. I'm doing this of my own will. I don't-" Jacob is about to continue, but Rarity interrupts.

"Then why are you here?" She asks. "You talk as if you don't want to be here, but you still came to look for me." She continues. Jacob notices tears streaming out of her eyes. She was crying. "Please." She begs.

Jacob stays still for a while. Then he sighs. "This just gets worse every second." He says. "I've come this far, might as well go all the way."

Rarity's face brightens up. "Come with me." She says.

Jacob follows her. As they exit the alleyway, a newspaper on the ground catches Jacob's attention. A single article stands out.

Man found dead in alleyway at Las Pegasus.
30-year old Niwes Booker was found dead in an alleyway four days ago in Las Pagasus. The body was brutally torn apart. Local officers suspect that this case is also related to the chain of murder cases occuring lately. Officials advise citizens to exercise caution at night.

I've seen something like that before. But where... Jacob thinks.

"Are you coming, darling?" Rarity asks.

Jacob looks up from the newspaper. "Yeah, just saw something that caught my attention." Jacob replies.

The two soon reach the prison. Rarity tries to enter, but Jacob stops her.

"We can't just walk straight in there. We need a strategy." Jacob tells the mare.

They walk around the building several times. Jacob notes all the windows, size of the building, and places where he suspected the cells were.

"Do you have a plan yet?" Rarity impatiently asks.

"Yeah, in fact I do. You stay outside." Jacob orders Rarity.

Rarity is about to object, but then thinks better of it. Jacob walks toward the front door.

"I thought you said not to go through the front door." Rarity says.

"Not without a plan." Jacob replies.

Inside the prison was smaller than Jacob had expected. The hallway was dark, and trash was strewn about the place. As he nears a corner, Jacob pulls out his pistol. He had loaded it with tranquilizer rounds beforehand. He quickly whipped around the corner. There was a desk, with several items place on it. The desk was unoccupied.

That's weird. Jacob thinks. There's no guards. He looks at some files stored in the desk. At last he found what he was looking for. The prisoner records. Jacob thinks to himself. He flips through several pages, then finds what he's looking for. Two prisoners in block 3A. Jacob stores the file back to where it was, and continued down the hallway.

As he walked down the halls, Jacob could not help but realize the extreme lack of guards. It's too quiet. I don't like this at all. Jacob could tell that something was wrong. Soon block 3A was just around the corner. Jacob slowly creeps around the corner. He walks down the narrow corridor. He stops at a single cell from which he hears a sobbing sound. A small, white colored filly with a purple and pink mane was in the prison sail.

"Are you Rarity's little sister?" Jacob softly asks. The filly jolts, realising for the first time that somebody was watching her.

"Go away." She sobs. "I'm not going to eat any of that disgusting food."

"I'm not a guard." Jacob tells her.

The filly looks up. "Really? Then who are you?" She timidly asks.

"I'm Jacob. I'm here to get you out. What's your name?" Jacob asks.

"S-sweetie Belle..." The little pony says between several sniffles.

"Well Sweetie Belle, I'm going to get you out of that cell. Don't be scared, okay?" Jacob asks the filly.

"O-okay..." Sweetie Belle says, and stops sniffling. Jacob pulls out a lock picker from his pack, and puts it into the key hole on the cell door. After several minutes of twisting and prying, he is rewarded with a soft click sound. He slowly opens the cell door.

"Okay, you can come out now." Jacob reassuringly says to her. The little pony walks out, and Jacob notices as she walks out of the dark cell how lean she is. She probably hasn't eaten for weeks. Jacob thinks to himself.

Jacob is about to leave, but then the filly asks him something.

"What about my friend?"

"What?" Jacob turns around.

"What about my friend? Arn't you going to help her?" The filly innocently asks.

I can't risk being in this place too long. Jacob thinks to himself. "I don't think it would be safe if we stay here too long." Jacob tells her.

"I'll yell if you don't." She says.

Jacob tensed. Surely she wouldn't yell. She's just trying to scare me. Jacob reassures himself. Sweetie Belle takes a deep breath. Oh crap. Jacob thinks. She's serious.

"HEE-" Sweetie Belle is cut off by Jacob's hand.

"I'll get your friend out, just don't yell." Jacob pleads. The filly nods, and Jacob removes his hand. The little pony waits while Jacob checks the other cages. He didn't beed to look far. He found Sweetie Belle's friend in the neighboring cell. Sweetie Belle's friend was a orange pegasus with a mane that was between pink and purple. Her wings were clipped, like all other pegasai. "Hey, wake up." Jacob calls out to the little pagasus. The pagasus lets out a barely audible moan, and opens her eyes. Jacob notices that she is also rather bony. "I'm here to get you out." Jacob reassures her.

The pegasus frowns. "Why would you let me out?" She asks.

"It's okay Scoolatoo! He let me out too." Sweetie belle joyfully says.

Scoolatoo's eyes widen at the sight of the child unicorn. "Sweetie Belle! You're all right!" The pegasus happily exclaims.

"Of course I am, silly!" Sweetie Belle replies.

While they continue to talk, Jacob repeats the previous procedure on the lock. He opens the door, and Scoolatoo gratefully walks out.

"So who's this guy, Sweetie Belle?" The orange pegasus asks her friend.

"His name is Jacob. He says my sister asked him to help us get out of here." The unicorn answers.

Suddenly a loud scream echoes throughout the prison. The fillies eyes widen, and Sweetie Belle cowers behind Scoolatoo.

"W-what w-was that?" The white filly nervously asks.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good. Come on, let's get out of here." Jacob quickly says.

"And leave this mystery unsolved? I think it's time for some crusading!" The pegasus exclaims.

"U-um Scoolatoo, I don't think that's a good idea..." Sweetie belle says but is cut off by Scoolatoo.

"Cutie Mark detectives, yay!" Yells Scoolatoo, and runs down a corridor.

"Wait!" Jacob and Sweetie Belle yell after her, but it's too late.

"Quite a friend you have." Jacob mumbles. Sweetie Belle sighs. "Come on, we need to get her begore she's found by a guard." Jacob tells the unicorn. She nods and they run down the same corridoor that the pegasus had gone.

They find her rather quickly, as the prison was not very big. Sweetie Belle tackles her, and anigrily glares at her.

"Are you crazy!? You could have been caught!" She yells, but is hushed by the pegasus.

"Hush, I think the guy who screamed is in that room." Scoolatoo says and points a hoof at a room. Jacob pulls out his pistol, and stealthily walks toward the room. He sees the fillies follow him, and signals them to stay where they are. The pegasus frowns, and is about to keep on walking, but us stopped by her friend. Another scream comes from the room but this time more faintly.

"Stay away from me!" The voice yells. A chilling laughter erupts from the room, and the two fillies hug each other. Jacob stops completely.

"No." He whispers. "It can't be." He jumps out, and stands in the doorway. The sight before him made his heart skip a beat.

A man was flailing, blood gushing out of a wound on his stomach. But to Jacob, the man might as well as not existed all of together. All he could see was the person that stood before him.

"The Skull." Jacob gasps.

The figure slowly turns around, and stares at Jacob with menancing eyes that glowed red. It's body was covered with plates of metal. Machinery was visible in the spaces between plates.

"Well hello Jacob, glad to meet a familiar face." The figure says with a grin.

"You're supposed to be dead." Says Jacob.

"And ponies arn't supposed to exist. What's your point?" The figure asks. "The first thing you humans do after I'm gone is enslave a race of talking ponies in another dimension? How disgraceful." The figure chuckles.

"I had no part in this." Says Jacob.

Footsteps echo down the corridor. Jacob thinks it's the fillies, but then realizes that there were too many footsteps for it to be them.

"Well, looks like your acquaintances have arrived, Jacob." The Skull says in mock surprise. "We'll finish this later." With that the figure leaps past Jacob, and walks fown the corridor. The approaching guards halt at the sight of the monster. One of them points his pistol at it and fires. The bullet bounces off the Skull. The guards watch agape with horror as the thing's arm morphs into a blade, long and sharp. He is occupied with the task of slaughtering the helpless humans.

Jacob takes the chance to run.

He searches for the two fillies. "Where are you two!?" He yells.

"Over here!" Jacob looks ahead and sees the orange pegasus' head popping out from a room. "What was that- OH CELESTIA WHAT IS THAT THING!?" Scoolatoo exclaims as Jacob grabs the her and Sweetie Belle, who was beside her.

"No time for that. We need ti get the hell out of here!" Jacob hastily says as he runs.

Jacob busts out of the prison doors. He quickly releases the two fillies, who run to Rarity, who was waiting for them.

"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle happily exclaims.

"Sweetie Belle, dear, you're alive! And Scoolatoo too! Was he mean to you?" Rarity asks them.

"Nope! He was-"

"Come on, let's go." Jacob says.

"Wha- I haven't even told you if I'm going with you! Don't you have any-" Rarity fumes but is cut off by Jacob.

"We don't have time for that. We need to go. NOW." Jacob snaps. The sound of gunfire, followed by an agonising scream comes from the prison.

"What did you do?" Rarity questions, eyes wide with fear.

"I didn't do anything. What's happening is that the most fucking worst nightmare of your life multiplied by a thousand has come to life." Jacob replies.

Rarity quickly follows, and the the two fillies go with Rarity.

"That *pant* should be far enough." Jacob says between pants. They had run well away from Mamehattan by now, and all of them were trying to catch their breath. Jacob had ended up carrying the two fillies.

"That was *gasp* not what a lady does." Rarity says as she gasps for air.

Jacob raises his eyebrows at her remark. "We just ran for our lives, and you are complaining that what we did was not fit for a lady?" He retorts.

"That was awesome!" Yells Scoolatoo.

"Scoolatoo, you aren't scared at all about the fact that we could have died, are you?" Sweetie Belle says as she rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, but we didn't! So I think it all turned out good." Scoolatoo argues.

"Whether it all turned out well depends on if this human has a plan." Rarity says. All three ponies turn to Jacob.

Jacob pulls out his map. "Well, the closest town is... Baltimare, so I say we go there." Jacob says as he looks at his map.

"And what about food? What about shelter? You expect me to stay out here, in the wilderness!? Havr you no manners?" Rarity rants.

"You wanna go back then? Back into the city?" Jacob angrily asks her.

"Well, no one else knows that I told you to break into prison, so I think that I can go back to the city without being arrested." Rarity argues.

"What about those kids? They have prison records of them. They'll be looking for them throughoit the city." Jacob says to Rarity. His words cause her to stop.

"I think we should go with him." Sweetie Belle says. Everyone turns to look at her. "You're gathering the Elements of Harmony, aren't you? If we can get all six of them tohether, then maybe we can win!" She joyfully exclaims.

"But-" Rarity is about to object, but Jacob stops her.

"I'll give you three the food that I have left. I'll live off what I can find in the wilderness. Any questions?" He asks her.

Rarity, is speechless, but then regains her composure. "Why are you foing this? Why are you going through all this trouble to help a someone you don't need to help?" She asks. Jacob saw the look in her eyes.

She trusts me. Kacob realises. "My job back on our homeworld, Earth was to protect the innocent. I guess it kind of grew on me." He honestly answers.

Rarity just smiles. Jacob pulls out the compass stone and points in the direction they would be going. As they set off, a figure watches them. His body covered with the blood of his most recent victims, he smiles. Not with a smile that showed happiness, or any other emotion. His smile was a smile of wickedness.

"What are you planning, Jacob?" He siletly hisses.

Author's Note

CLIFFHANGER!! They think they're safe, but there not quite out of the fire yet! Jacob has convinced Rarity to join him. But will they make it? Stay tuned for my next chapter!