Hooves, Vigors, and Ammoby Zauber JungeChaptersBattle in Manehatten SquareThe Firehouse"Open it! NOW!!"Battle in Manehatten SquareBooker tossed Devil's Kiss into the crowd of ponies galloping towards him. He counted ten of them. Three seemed to have horns and wielded pistols just like the one he was using, held in the air with magic, those horns glowing. Three had wings and were flying at him, holding machine guns in their hooves. The last four seemed to lack endowments, but carried combat sticks in their mouths. Booker ran headlong towards them fearlessly. The Devil's Kiss exploded on the unicorn it struck. They screamed as their flesh, fur, and bone burned or melted away, leaving nothing but a lunch box left. Ten became nine as Booker switched to Charge, using it on a pegasus, zooming right up to it and lodging his hook in the side of its head, bringing it down to the ground with him. Booker held the body like a shield as the unicorns and pegasi fired into it. He dropped the body, using Return to Sender to repel a barrage of oncoming bullets. Nine became seven. The earth ponies had almost reached him, but Booker cast Undertow on one, knocking him back, and then Charged him, sending him flying into a wall, where the back of his head cracked open. The other three turned around as Booker charged past them, heading for him again. "Only six," Booker thought to himself as he dove behind cover before his shield vigor broke much more. From behind cover, he fired his pistol, managing to land two headshots. Only two earth ponies, one pegasus, and one unicorn remained. Thinking quickly, Booker shocked the unicorn with a Shock Jockey after possessing it. The unicorn was forced to target its friendly pegasus, which it killed. Booker observed that unicorns seemed to do more damage than the other two types of ponies, and also that pegasi are fast - not fast enough to dodge bullets effectively, but still fast - and that earth ponies seemed to be more resistant to injury. That wouldn't stop him from killing them, though. The two remaining earth ponies that charged towards Booker had their sticks at the ready. He would have none of it, though, and pushed one back with Undertow. Blocking the other earth pony's attack with his arm, he jams the Sky-Hook around his neck, where it's stuck between two blades. The earth pony looked at him pleadingly before Booker, turned it on. The blades spun, snapping the earth pony's neck with a loud crack. The earth pony that was cast away got up, screaming in rage as she charged towards Booker, tears streaming from its eyes. Booker whipped out his shotgun, blasting the pony's head off. The body fell, but slid with momentum, coming to a stop at Booker's feet. Looking past the corpse, he witnessed the pegasus slaughter her possessed unicorn friend. When the pegasus noticed Booker looking at him, she tried to flee, taking off instantly at incredible speed, but she was too late - a Devil's Kiss struck her wings, burning them to ash. As the pegasus fell to the ground, she landed on her head, snapping her neck and killing her instantly. Booker stood there a moment, panting, thinking a moment on what just happened. He sucked in a breath after his heartrate calmed and he yelled: "WHAT THE HELL?!!" It was something he would have yelled the second he saw ponies in clothes who could speak English, but he was too busy kicking ass to do it early on. Priorities! As he proceeded to rifle the bodies for loot, he found that Silver Eagles existed in this world, and also that nine out of the ten corpses had a female-like quality to them. It seemed most of the ponies in this reality were mares. Booker continued his tirade as he searched. "Candy-colored ponies!" he exclaimed. "I expected a reality of humans! Maybe a Columbia with no Vox, but THIS... this is like something out of a girl's fantasy!" Elizabeth came out from cover, looking around and quickly recognizing the place. "Booker, I know this place! We're in Equestria!" She looked rather happy about it, but Booker let out a disgruntled sigh. "Where now?" He shakes his head out, forgetting the question. "Elizabeth, if you haven't noticed, these horses-" "Ponies," Elizabeth corrected him. Booker rolled his eyes at that. "These PONIES just tried to kill me!" He scoffed at the situation. "And they have all these powers... wings? Horns?? How is this a good thing??" "Well, I can't send us back! We're stuck here!" Elizabeth retorted, crossing her arms as if to state, "That's that. We're stuck here." Booker sighed. "Alright, we're stuck here. Let's get moving." He gathered himself, making to walk down a road, pistol at the ready and eyes peeled. "How do you even know about this place?" Elizabeth ran beside him, her heels making a tick-tick sound on the streets. "I opened tears so I could look in on pony life. It gave me joy when I was young." Booker just shrugged. It must have been like a movie with sound and color for her. After a suspicious silence, Elizabeth tells him, "Everything here is wrong, Booker." He turned to her with a "duh, ya think?" look on his face. "Yeah, it's just Columbia," he added. "With talking ponies with wings and horns. Hello!" He turned back ahead, grumbling, "I never thought I'd see unicorns or... pegasususus in my life," he stumbled, having forgotten the plural for 'pegasus.' "Pegasi," a female British voice said from behind him. Booker turned around to see Rosalind and Robert Lutece, twin physicists who seemed to be able to be anywhere at any time, and have assisted him throughout the journey thus far. Rosalind was on the right, her five-foot-five frame in a beige, formal jacket open to show her brown blouse and green tie. Her brown skirt went down to her ankles, which were perched on high heels. Her gray-blue eyes looked at Booker below a well-done red head of hair in unison with Robert's. Robert was in the exact same outfit, only for a male - his brown pants stretched down his legs all the way to his shoes, and his hair was clean-cut. They were holding two tray, each with the same new Vigor bottle. The image on the front was of an earth pony in a trenchcoat and fedora, just the silouhette with white eyes. The lid was just a fedora, and the liquid sloshing around in the bottle was purple. "The correct plural for pegasus is 'pegasi,'" Robert finished. Booker looked at them worriedly, wondering how they had ended up here with them. Roselind continued, "You seemed to be in need of some assistance..." "...so we brought something that will help," Robert finished again, holding his tray out to Booker. Rosalind held her tray out to Elizabeth, who took it hesitantly. Booker just took it, uncorking the Vigor and drinking it from the bottle. He dropped the bottle to the ground, staring at his hands as they seemed to change color, shape, and size in various ways before returning to normal. A little black and white video filled his view - there were curtains with the picture and the name of the Vigor, "Disguise," on them. They opened to reveal the logo for Trixinc, a wand with all the types of Vigors spewing from the tip, followed by a stallion in a suit with his hoof out. A disembodied voice came from nowhere and said, "Use to turn into a different looking pony until hurt." The pony in Booker's view changed into another in a puff of smoke, and the video ended, fading to non-existence. Booker shook his head out. Eager to get a move on, out of the open streets, he asks the Luteces, "Look, that's great and all, but could you give us some direction? I have no idea where to go in this backwards-" "The Ponyville Museum of History," explains Robert." "There might be a tear there that will allow you to fix this," elaborates Rosalind. Booker nods at them, glancing at Elizabeth, who had just drank the Vigor and was learning about what it did. When he turned back, he almost jumped at noticing that they were gone. He shrugged, though - they had a place to go and the means to trot around, now. He cast the Vigor. Immediately, he felt his skin tingle. He looked down at his hands to see his fingers being connected by strands of skin, bone, and nerve, that seemed to be dragging them together. Soon, the ends of his arms rounded out, and hooves replaced his hands. Feeling the same tingling sensation in his feet, he hastily kicked off his shoes to witness the same process happen there. It became difficult to stand up as he was accustomed, and he fell on all fours as he body continued to shift and crack. It was painful. Soon, he had the body of a pony, but the head of a man. His face felt hot and painful as it stretched like molten metal into a stallion's muzzle, where that metal hardened into its new shape. He winced in pain as his eyes grew to pony sizes, and he yelled as a tail burst forth from his pants in the same swept style as his hair. He felt his clothes shrink to accomodate his new body, and the pain turned into a more mild, almost tickling sensation as golden fur grew all over his body. When he was sure nothing else would happen, he tries to trot forward, but falls on his face. After getting up, he seems to have much better luck, getting the hang of it almost instantly. "That sure was something," he coughed, checking his body for endowments. There were none; he was a normal pony. He looked over at Elizabeth, who was now a light-gray normal pony still in the dress she normally wore. Her thimble had grown to cover her entire left hoof. Elizabeth gathered herself and pointed to a map on a nearby wall, which pointed them in the direction of Ponyville. Without hesitation, they departed. The FirehouseBooker and Elizabeth trotted down the streets of Manehatten. They passed a group of three ponies talking on the street corner. "Did you hear? The homo-sapien has arrived!" The rest of the group gasped. "Oh my Goddesses! Did the Guard get him?" a mare asked. The original speaker shook his head. "I don't know... hopefully, they did." At this, the sound of a public announcement was heard, a kind of fog-horn sound. Now that Booker looked around, there were speakers everywhere, on poles, on street lights, in the arches above doorways... the announcer had an authoritarian voice, yet distinctly female. "The dreaded homo-sapien has arrived in our fair country, Equestria!" All around, gasps of horror could be heard, some even crying into their loved ones, a few stallions even saying things resembling, 'Don't worry, honey, I'll protect you from the agent of Discord.' The announcement continued, "But, fear not, citizens of Manehattan, for our prophet foresaw this day! Even as I tell you this the great walls are rising!" Elizabeth tugged on Booker's sleeve, and he turned to see that, far off in the distance, it seemed giant walls were rising up out of the land... giant stone walls, with a golden outline, and they were painted with an image clearly resembling Comstock, but... he was a pony? It wasn't too clear to Elizabeth or Booker but it definitely was Comstock as a pony. Ponies around them cheered and jumped for joy! "The human won't last long within these walls!" one cries. Booker sighed and turned to Elizabeth, whispering, "Oh, great, how are we going to get out?" A boom echoed across the land as the walls rose completely, and the announcement continued: "This should not take very long! In the meantime, goods will be flown to and from this place via zeppelins. Remember, our Prophet is kind! Our Prophet sees with the Princesses' eyes! He will protect us!" Around them, ponies were still celebrating, dancing in the street, some throwing confetti from windows or uncorking Champagne, letting the stuff fly down into awaiting ponies' mouths. "Well... it looks like we'd better find that dock and try to catch a zeppelin out of the city," Booker figures. Elizabeth whispered back, looking around, "Why is everypony celebrating? Shouldn't they all be scared?" One earth pony heard that and responded, "Oh, miss, the Guard will surely take out the Homo Sapien in no time at all! This will surely only last a day, and with his death comes our deliverance from all evil!" and then went back to celebrating. Booker and Elizabeth exchanged nervous looks before making their way down the crowded streets, looking for the air tower, Booker searching the ground in front of him here and there to find some dropped Silver Eagles. Eventually, they came across a vending booth much like the "Dollar Bill" in Columbia, save this reality's version was called, "Bits for Baubles." It was a cream-colored booth adorned with a mechanical green pegasus mare in business attire with purple eyes and a gray mane in a wavy style. She started to talk when Booker approached it in a tone dripping with sleaziness, "Free samples! ...The offer's off. You gonna buy somethin'?" Booker rolled his eyes, activating the machine and buying a one-hundred percent salts refill, and that brought him down to nine-hundred and thirty-three Silver Eagles. Bits for Baubles exclaimed when he left, "Come back when you got some money, buddy!" Eventually Booker and Elizabeth made it to the air tower, a massive building with multiple docks. As they trotted, a zeppelin docked above them and Booker told Elizabeth his plan: "Alright, we sneak on and stow away in the cargo bay until we dock again, and we make our way to Ponyville from wherever we dock." They were about to trot into the air tower when they were stopped by a pair of guards. One of them spoke up. "Sorry, buddy, the zeppelins are off limits to civilians right now." "But my daughter and I need to see my dying brother in Ponyville!" Booker lied. The guard looked sorry, but went on to say, "Sorry, sir. Looks like you'll have to phone him." Booker and Elizabeth began to trot away, resolving to come back at night, but then Booker faintly heard the guards talking. They must have thought he was out of earshot. "Goddesses, he was cute, but I think he just wanted to get out of the city. I don't blame him." "Yeah, he was. The moment we get relieved, I'm taking the Firemare HQ exit out of this city." Booker grinned. That exit was most certainly not for civilians, but it was a way out that probably was less risky than stowing away in a zeppelin and potentially revealing that he was the human in a pony guise. They began searching for that building. They got a little lost, but after grabbing a map of Manehattan and even one of Equestria at a store, they were much better off. Eventually, they did find their way to the Firemare headquarters, also called the Firehouse, and its very design looked holy. It was a large white building with golden linings all around. The only sinister thing about it had to be the six chimneys all roaring with smoke atop the building, their tops coated in a thick ash that seemed to only lightly dress the rest of the roof. There was a pathway up to a white gate lined in gold, and there was a white plaque in the middle of the path with gold text. It read: "Requirements to be a Firemare: – You worship the glory of Princess Celestia. – You are willing to burn for life with Her holy fire. – You are willing to let go of all ponies in your previous life. – You have the Devil's Kiss Vigor." At the bottom was a disclaimer that clarified that despite the term 'Firemare,' they also accept stallions, and below that was a sign that read, "We're not recruiting at the moment." Booker frowned and turned to Elizabeth, who sighed. "Maybe there's a way we could sneak in? Like around the back?" Booker nodded, but, as he did, the gates opened and two Firemares stepped out. They were in full body armor painted white, their face covered by a full head mask with the visor being Celestia's cutie mark. All around the sides of the armor, fire flowed, allowing them to do fire-based attacks, but their whole bodies were encased by the armor. One of them noticed Booker and Elizabeth and trotted right over. "What are you two doing here? To see if we are hiring?" the voice inside the helmet echoed, taking notice of their interest in the sign. It had a fire-like crackling quality to it. Booker could feel the heat eminating from the Firemare even though they were standing a good foot apart. He couldn't quite grasp the Firemare's emotion until she spoke with no expression to see. The visor must be one-way. "Yes, but I see you're not taking in new ponies at the moment," he finally replied. "While we would be pleased to accept new members right now, we simply cannot. The homo-sapien is in Manehattan, and we shall cook it on a spit! For the glory of Celestia and our Prophet!" At this, the Firemares galloped off to go find Booker. Little did they know that the 'homo sapien' was right in front of them. And, it looks like the gate was unattended. Booker glanced at Elizabeth, and then at the exposed gates. "Well, since they left the door open..." he said to her, and she smiled. She ran up to it and easily picked the lock. They entered cautiously and, taking note that nopony was in the first room of the building itself, they let out a collective sigh of relief and started looking around. Ahead was a white hallway that split in many directions, but everything in here was white and gold. Sun-shaped lights covered the ceiling and Celestia's cutie mark was all over the walls. Fittingly, it was extremely hot in here. Not far from the entrance was a Trixinc Kinetoscope titled, "What are the Firemares?" Booker hoofed Elizabeth his gun and went to go take a peek. The very first black and white slide asked that same question before a short clip of a Firemare launching off a Devil's Kiss from her hoof was displayed. It continued on to say, "They worship the Goddess Celestia, and spread Her holy light!" Another clip was displayed of five Firemares kneeling before a painting of Celestia. "Good on them! All the power to them!" read the next slide, followed by one that simply read, "FIN." "They're kind of like the Firemen back in Columbia," Elizabeth noted. Booker withdrew and shrugged at Elizabeth, accepting his weapon back from her. They set off to explore the hallways, checking corners carefully so as to not give themselves away, and eventually stumbled across and office that was labelled, "Recruit Interview." Booker noted that the door was locked. Since nopony was being recruited at the moment, he assumed it must have been empty, and he stepped aside so Elizabeth could pick the lock. They went in. Inside was a desk, two chairs, and a set of Firemare armor in a glass case. An accopanying red sign with golden words read, "The Armor of Spitfire, the first Firemare." A Voxophone was beside it with a picture of somepony Booker could only assume was Spitfire, and he took a listen to it. "I saw Celestia again in a dream last night..." it crackled. "My goodness, she was beautiful... I must spread the knowledge of Her fire, be Her holy conduit, and spread Her light to all the corners of Equestria! ...I must create an armor to show my appreciation to Her!" He set the Voxophone down and searched the desk for more Silver Eagles before trotting out of the room with Elizabeth. They then came across a window through which they could see a training room where lots of ponies seemed to be bulking up. Elizabeth crouched and moved past the window, but Booker took a cautious peek inside. The walls had painted murals of Celestia raising the sun, giving warmth to the land, or other similar things. The whole room, as always, was very white and gold. Most of the ponies training were mares, and one Firemare stood close to the window, her back to it, watching them all. Booker had seen enough, and crouched past the window to join Elizabeth. Soon, they reached a dead end in the hallway with one door on either side. They could go left or right, and there was no way to look into either room. Booker chose left and found the door was unlocked, and as he opened it he came upon a mare strapped to a table, writhing in what appeared to be agony. She was covered in Firemare armor, and it seems she was getting it surgically attached. It seemed they were always burning inside that armor. His suspicions were confirmed when she suddenly screamed in pain, some of the tubes on the sides of the armor lighting up with fire. The newly made Firemare leapt off the table far quicker than Booker would have expected, considering that heavy-looking armor, and a wave of intense heat burned Booker just enough to snap him back to human form. Elizabeth gasped behind him. "BURN in the name of the Sun Goddess, Celestia!!" shouted the Firemare, her voice muffled by the armor as she hurled Devil's Kiss at Booker, but he backed up, slamming the door shut as fast as he could and melting the doorknob with his own Devil's Kiss. Elizabeth nervously glanced around with a wide-eyed expression, but it seems that nopony else was alerted to Booker's presence just yet. Booker keeps his shotgun on the left door as Elizabeth hastily tries to unlock the right one. The Firemare continuously bucked the door hard and repeatedly. Elizabeth's hands fumbled, and she couldn't get the door open before the left was bucked down. It struck Booker in the front, but before the Firemare could follow up with a blast of fire, Booker swatted the door aside and delivered a blast of his own from his shotgun, knocking the Firemare only a step back. She laughed mockingly; the first blast couldn't pierce her brand-new armor. A fiery shockwave threw Booker against Elizabeth's back, and he yelped in pain. Elizabeth, standing behind Booker, only took minor burns, but she hurt her hands on the door when Booker bumped her. Thinking quickly, Booker cast Undertow to knock the Firemare back into the operating room, where she crashed through the machinery. The sound echoed down the hallway, and Booker knew that the loud noise had alerted that room full of trainees to their presence. He urged Elizabeth to hurry, sucking up the pain he was in, and she tried again. After unlocking the right door, they bolted through into the hallway beyond, hoping desperately it was the right direction. Thankfully, they were right. At the far end of the hallway was another door that they went in, and Elizabeth held the door shut as Booker surveyed the room. "You shall be judged!" a Firemare shouted from the other side, and they began trying to get the door down. The far wall was a mural of Celestia's face smiling beautifully, but just under that was an escape hatch. Obviously, this room was an emergency exit in case this place was ever attacked. Booker rushed to it and tried to get it open, and once it was, he urged Elizabeth to get inside. She left the door, and the Firemares pursuing them only got to see the top of Booker's head before the hatch was shut and forged that way by Booker's Devil's Kiss. Smoke filled the narrow tunnel, and he and Elizabeth let out a hacking cough. Booker took only a moment to cast his vigor again to turn himself into a pony. They galloped the whole way through the tunnel until they found the exit, which the ponies hadn't caught up with them at just yet, and once they were out, they continued as fast as they could in a random direction, stopping long after their hearts had started screaming at them to take a breather, confident finally that they were safe. "That was close," Booker wheezed, collapsing on the ground. After some time, he asked, "So, what are we gonna do when we fix this?" "I-I have no idea... we can't really go back now, can we?" Elizabeth realizes. "I guess... live a life?" Booker frowned at the idea. "First it was get you to New York... wipe away my debt... and then it was kill Comstock... and now it's fix a land of colorful prancing ponies, then make a life for ourselves here?" Booker blinks, realizing what he just said. "Wow, things sure change," he thought to himself. Another period of silence settled between them. Elizabeth eventually asked, "What do you think you'll do, Booker?" He already had an answer for that. He answered, "Work as a P.I. It's what I did before I became so indebted, but I guess that doesn't matter anymore since we're here." Elizabeth just nodded, thinking for a time. "Well... question is, what will I do?" She thinks again. "Be your secretary?" "That job will get boring... and I'm sure you could do better. You're a strong woman... well, I guess mare, now." He sighs. "You'll find something, I promise." After resting some more, they caught their breath, and Elizabeth sat up, pulling out her map. She looked around at the beautiful countryside, and pointed in one direction after she was certain of herself. "That way to Ponyville." "Open it! NOW!!"The lightning iluminated the combat zone. Somwhere in Columbia, a fight was going on. Booker jumped off of the Sky-Line with a groan accompanying his landing as he plunged his Sky-Hook through the chest of an officer, rending his heart after tearing through his rib-cage. Booker was an ex-Pinkerton, known for his violent methods and controlling strikes. After many a wrong-doing in the military, Booker had spent years in gambiling and drinking and had amassed quite an amount of debt. So, he had come here, to Columbia, to bring a girl named Elizabeth home with him. She would wipe clean his debt. And now, he was here, where Elizabeth was supposed to be - the massive, golden, angelic statue in the sky. Taking one last look at the scene surrounding him, he opened a door in the side quietly and walked in. There was no end to the number of strange and suspiciously sinister devices he'd passed on his way in here. From what he could gather, this girl was of great importance to the people of Columbia, though the prophet, Comstock, seemed to take great care in the controlling of her life. It didn't matter now, though, because he would get the job done. Booker passed some corridors with screens into rooms more suitable to be a home than the metallic hallways through which he walked. Eventually, through, he came upon a lever, which he pulled. The wall opened up, apparently - through it, he could see a girl - the girl he was looking for - looking back at him, However, what she was looking at didn't seem to be him. She seemed to be looking into a mirror, but the wall was one-way; Booker could see her, but she could not see him. Thus, he just observed. After a relatively short time of looking at herself in the mirror, the girl picked up a photograph from the counter and held it close to her, like the image was a treasure. She ran off into the next room, and Booker continued along the corridors. The next room he looked into from behind his one-way window was a little different. The most prominent image in the room beyond, which was so thin it looked more like a hallway than a room, had an easel with a bright, colorful painting of the Eiffel Tower on it. To the left of the easel, behind Elizabeth, were a number of assorted drawings pinned to the wall. Looking on at her as she places the photo from the other room down and walks over to the easel, Booker thinks to himself, "Well, what else would she be doing in there all day? She's alone in there all the time." He squints to see what she's doing next, and when a light begins to glow from in front of her, his brow furrows in curiosity and concern. As Elizabeth pushes her arms out from her chest, the glow intensifies. Booker stares on in awe as he witnesses her open a tear in the fabric of reality itself. Through it, he sees the streets of Paris and the Eiffel Tower, in glorious color and sound, sihponing a startled "Woah! What is...?" from his mouth. Before he can take it all in, however, a vehicle careens towards the opening, and Elizabeth is forced to shut it. Panicked thoughts race through Booker's mind for the brief moment the vehicle is heading towards them, and he resists the urge to bolt to the side as Elizabeth closes the rift, though he continues to pant. 'What was that?' he thought to himself. 'This is going to be more complicated than I...' his thoughts trail off, and he shakes out his head. Out loud, he reminds himself: "Whatever that was, it's got nothing to do with the job at hand." As Booker ascended the nearby set of stairs up to the next observation room, he couldn't help but think back on what he just witnessed. Would he have to put up with that while he escorted the girl to safety? He commented to himself, "This job's getting worse all the time..." As though coincidence were out to answer his questions, a Voxaphone was waiting on a chair at the top of the stairs. He picked it up, sat down, and listened: "What makes the girl different? I suspect it has less to do with what she is... and rather more with what she is not. A small part of her remains from where she came. It seems the universe does not like its peas mixed with its porridge!" Booker had taken the time to check himself in a nearby metal panel. He was a towering six feet and one inch tall, white with somewhat bony cheeks, chestnut hair, and hazel eyes. His gray striped pants, gray button-up shirt and its white collar, his watered-down blue jacket, and the skin where his sleeves were rolled up were all stained with blotches of blood. His red handkerchief, however, looked to be just fine. He had a vary rugged look to him overall, and he also had a brand on his right hand that said "AD". Once the recording had ended, he hit a button on the wall, just wanting to continue at this point. "Library," he muttered to himself as he proceeded - that's where he needed to go. Opening the next door led him to a balcony with a less-than-safe-looking railing. He warily ascended up to the safety of the walled metal corridor... until the floor collapsed unexpectedly beneath him, sending him falling down into the library below. Frantically flailing his arms around, he managed to latch onto a balcony in the library and pulled himself slightly up to look a thoroughly startled Elizabeth in the eyes. She was clutching a book against her chest and staring with caution and wonder in her eyes down at Booker. "Uhh... hello?" was all he had to say to get her to throw her arms back and stumble backwards, sending her book flying, and to shriek loudly. Booker lost his grip on the balcony, falling to the library floor below. Upon hitting his back against the floor, he lets out a pained groan, and to add to that, Elizabeth throws a book from the balcony down at him. Thankfully, it missed. "HEY!" shouts Booker, reaching a hand up to block any further projectiles. "KNOCK IT OFF- Ugh!" he exclaims as Elizabeth throws another book at him, descending the stairs. "Will you stop it??" She approaches him a little more, another book in her hand, and Booker repeats: "WILL YOU STOP IT??" An exhausting pain in his head draws his hand back to it as Elizabeth approaches him with a book and he mutters, "Not here to hurt you..." "Who are you??" she demands, book at the ready. Booker takes her pause to gather himself and rise to his feet. As he gets up, he tells her: "My name is Dewitt... I'm a friend." He reaches an arm over to her shoulder as he continues, "I've come to get you out of-" "Get away!" she exclaims, drawing away, attempting to whack him with her book again, but Booker holds her back. Her panting comes to a stop when she realizes he's not a threat and she actually looks at Dewitt for the first time. She raises a hand to his face as though she were about to touch him, where Booker notices she has a thimble on her pinky finger, which appears to be somewhat severed, and she asks seemingly to herself: "Are you real...?" Booker simultaneously gets his first good look at her. He dwarfed her five-foot six-inch caucasian frame. Her wide, blue eyes which stared unblinkingly into his were courageous but cautious oceanic wells of curiosity. He replies, "I'm real enough." As she was about to caress his cheek with her hand in an effort to affirm her excited hopes, she's interrupted by a whistle that comes from a nearby statue of the prophet, Comstock. Elizabeth gives the statue a fleeting glance before turning back to Booker. "He's coming..." she starts, pushing him away a little. "You've gotta go!" "Why?" asks Booker calmly. Suddenly, a loud, mechanical, high-pitched squeal echoes into the room from the ceiling above, which answered Booker's question. "You don't wanna be here when he get's here-" she pauses, turning to the ceiling and shouting: "JUST A MINUTE! I'M GETTING DRESSED!!" Booker remains calm when he says, "I can get you out of here." The sound echoes again, louder this time. The walls begin to pound with the sound of metal on metal. "There's no way out, trust me, I've looked!" she resignedly replies. "STOP IT! YOU'RE TOO IMPATIENT - THAT'S ENOUGH!!" "What about this?" asks Booker, holding out an ornate brass key. The side facing Elizabeth was the cage, but Booker spun it in his hand to show her the side with the bird on it. "What about it??" she exclaimed, not paying much attention to Booker or his key. Booker held his other hand out and gave it to her. From then on, Elizabeth had grown to trust Booker with her freedom. There were pitfalls in their friendship, but they perservered. They fought throughout Columbia together until they came to the First Lady gunship. After having done combat with the Vox Populi over complicated multi-dimensional stuff, they were on their way to kill Comstock, that bastard, for locking Elizabeth up in that tower most of her life and siphoning off her powers. Booker jumped onto it, Sky-Hook gripped tightly in his left hand, the beautiful streets of Columbia caked in the blood and bodies of fallen policemen, yet more kept on coming from buildings and from gunships. The Columbian gunship he boarded resembled a shallow-bottomed barge, and it had a small cabin in the rear and an open deck. Inside the cabin was the mechanical pilot, which indicated that the vehicle operation was at least partially automated. Booker noted that he could exploit the gunship's cargo hooks to board it as an attacker, and beckoned for Elizabeth to follow. He made his plan as he rode high on the Sky-Line, pistol fire barely missing him. He jumped onto the gunship, using his Charge Vigor, which manifested as wind around his Sky-Hook, to propel himself at lightning speed down at one of the officers, who was knocked clean off the gunship. He plummeted into depths unknown, screaming for help, but none came as he disappeared beneath the cloud layer. Booker turned for another officer behind him, the last one on the ship, who was firing on him from his pistol. Just as Booker's shield broke, he fired his shotgun at the officer, staggering him. To finish the fight, he used his Undertow Vigor to launch a tsunami of water from his hand, sending that officer flying off the edge as well. Elizabeth landed on the gunship beside Booker. By now, she'd gotten out of the clothes she wore during her imprisonment and got into something more appropriate - a blue dress with a white lining at the bottom. She was perched on black, heeled boots, and her hair had been cut shorter. It draped down in layers over her cheeks. "Booker, I... uhh... wow," she managed. "That was graphic." Her voice was full of innocence that seemed to be slowly washing away, revealing a golden heart of strength and determination. Booker grimaced, but turned to her. "Too violent? I thought you said you'd get used to it." His voice was gruff and tough, but had a pain to it... like he hated every kill he made. He holstered his shotgun, drawing his pistol just in case. Elizabeth shuddered, nodding. "Yeah, I will, just... still getting used to it." Before either of them could react, a gunship came up behind them. All Booker could here was the sound of an RPG firing before the engine's roar was drowned in the explosion. Metal bent and the jets gave out; the thing began to fall! Booker grabbed onto Elizabeth as quickly as he could and hooked them both onto a Sky-Line before they could fall. The enemy gunship was in rapid pursuit, their guns trailed on them! "BOOKER, A TEAR!!" Elizabeth shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice barely surpassing the gushing wind. "Open it! NOW!!" Elizabeth didn't need to be told twice. She opened the tear to an unknown city square, and they dropped from the Sky-Line, tumbling with a thunk. Booker looked around the strangely familiar streets... but only familiar in the sense that it looked like Columbia. It had all the same 1918-style architecture, roads made of stone and Sky-Lines around the city. On the tallest building, there was one of those big screens Comstock normally showed his face on, but the first thing Booker noticed was all the ponies running around. Ponies, in clothes! Like his own, only... they're ponies! They fled from where Booker and Elizabeth appeared, some using the Sky-Lines with Sky-Hooks designed for the hoof, others galloping into buildings, and the rare unicorn teleporting away. The second thing he noticed was a propaganda poster with him on it, looking like he was about to hurt a young, innocent unicorn filly in a school uniform. The bold red words underneath read: "Beware the Homo-Sapien, for the y are from the Everfree, the place of evil, and they will slaughter the innocent as they are agents of Discord!" The third thing Booker noticed were the ponies in gold, segmented plate armor galloping towards them, shouting: "Death to the Homo-Sapiens!" At this, Elizabeth ran for cover and potential tears became visible all over the place. Booker drew his pistol and sighed. "Here we go again."
Battle in Manehatten SquareBooker tossed Devil's Kiss into the crowd of ponies galloping towards him. He counted ten of them. Three seemed to have horns and wielded pistols just like the one he was using, held in the air with magic, those horns glowing. Three had wings and were flying at him, holding machine guns in their hooves. The last four seemed to lack endowments, but carried combat sticks in their mouths. Booker ran headlong towards them fearlessly. The Devil's Kiss exploded on the unicorn it struck. They screamed as their flesh, fur, and bone burned or melted away, leaving nothing but a lunch box left. Ten became nine as Booker switched to Charge, using it on a pegasus, zooming right up to it and lodging his hook in the side of its head, bringing it down to the ground with him. Booker held the body like a shield as the unicorns and pegasi fired into it. He dropped the body, using Return to Sender to repel a barrage of oncoming bullets. Nine became seven. The earth ponies had almost reached him, but Booker cast Undertow on one, knocking him back, and then Charged him, sending him flying into a wall, where the back of his head cracked open. The other three turned around as Booker charged past them, heading for him again. "Only six," Booker thought to himself as he dove behind cover before his shield vigor broke much more. From behind cover, he fired his pistol, managing to land two headshots. Only two earth ponies, one pegasus, and one unicorn remained. Thinking quickly, Booker shocked the unicorn with a Shock Jockey after possessing it. The unicorn was forced to target its friendly pegasus, which it killed. Booker observed that unicorns seemed to do more damage than the other two types of ponies, and also that pegasi are fast - not fast enough to dodge bullets effectively, but still fast - and that earth ponies seemed to be more resistant to injury. That wouldn't stop him from killing them, though. The two remaining earth ponies that charged towards Booker had their sticks at the ready. He would have none of it, though, and pushed one back with Undertow. Blocking the other earth pony's attack with his arm, he jams the Sky-Hook around his neck, where it's stuck between two blades. The earth pony looked at him pleadingly before Booker, turned it on. The blades spun, snapping the earth pony's neck with a loud crack. The earth pony that was cast away got up, screaming in rage as she charged towards Booker, tears streaming from its eyes. Booker whipped out his shotgun, blasting the pony's head off. The body fell, but slid with momentum, coming to a stop at Booker's feet. Looking past the corpse, he witnessed the pegasus slaughter her possessed unicorn friend. When the pegasus noticed Booker looking at him, she tried to flee, taking off instantly at incredible speed, but she was too late - a Devil's Kiss struck her wings, burning them to ash. As the pegasus fell to the ground, she landed on her head, snapping her neck and killing her instantly. Booker stood there a moment, panting, thinking a moment on what just happened. He sucked in a breath after his heartrate calmed and he yelled: "WHAT THE HELL?!!" It was something he would have yelled the second he saw ponies in clothes who could speak English, but he was too busy kicking ass to do it early on. Priorities! As he proceeded to rifle the bodies for loot, he found that Silver Eagles existed in this world, and also that nine out of the ten corpses had a female-like quality to them. It seemed most of the ponies in this reality were mares. Booker continued his tirade as he searched. "Candy-colored ponies!" he exclaimed. "I expected a reality of humans! Maybe a Columbia with no Vox, but THIS... this is like something out of a girl's fantasy!" Elizabeth came out from cover, looking around and quickly recognizing the place. "Booker, I know this place! We're in Equestria!" She looked rather happy about it, but Booker let out a disgruntled sigh. "Where now?" He shakes his head out, forgetting the question. "Elizabeth, if you haven't noticed, these horses-" "Ponies," Elizabeth corrected him. Booker rolled his eyes at that. "These PONIES just tried to kill me!" He scoffed at the situation. "And they have all these powers... wings? Horns?? How is this a good thing??" "Well, I can't send us back! We're stuck here!" Elizabeth retorted, crossing her arms as if to state, "That's that. We're stuck here." Booker sighed. "Alright, we're stuck here. Let's get moving." He gathered himself, making to walk down a road, pistol at the ready and eyes peeled. "How do you even know about this place?" Elizabeth ran beside him, her heels making a tick-tick sound on the streets. "I opened tears so I could look in on pony life. It gave me joy when I was young." Booker just shrugged. It must have been like a movie with sound and color for her. After a suspicious silence, Elizabeth tells him, "Everything here is wrong, Booker." He turned to her with a "duh, ya think?" look on his face. "Yeah, it's just Columbia," he added. "With talking ponies with wings and horns. Hello!" He turned back ahead, grumbling, "I never thought I'd see unicorns or... pegasususus in my life," he stumbled, having forgotten the plural for 'pegasus.' "Pegasi," a female British voice said from behind him. Booker turned around to see Rosalind and Robert Lutece, twin physicists who seemed to be able to be anywhere at any time, and have assisted him throughout the journey thus far. Rosalind was on the right, her five-foot-five frame in a beige, formal jacket open to show her brown blouse and green tie. Her brown skirt went down to her ankles, which were perched on high heels. Her gray-blue eyes looked at Booker below a well-done red head of hair in unison with Robert's. Robert was in the exact same outfit, only for a male - his brown pants stretched down his legs all the way to his shoes, and his hair was clean-cut. They were holding two tray, each with the same new Vigor bottle. The image on the front was of an earth pony in a trenchcoat and fedora, just the silouhette with white eyes. The lid was just a fedora, and the liquid sloshing around in the bottle was purple. "The correct plural for pegasus is 'pegasi,'" Robert finished. Booker looked at them worriedly, wondering how they had ended up here with them. Roselind continued, "You seemed to be in need of some assistance..." "...so we brought something that will help," Robert finished again, holding his tray out to Booker. Rosalind held her tray out to Elizabeth, who took it hesitantly. Booker just took it, uncorking the Vigor and drinking it from the bottle. He dropped the bottle to the ground, staring at his hands as they seemed to change color, shape, and size in various ways before returning to normal. A little black and white video filled his view - there were curtains with the picture and the name of the Vigor, "Disguise," on them. They opened to reveal the logo for Trixinc, a wand with all the types of Vigors spewing from the tip, followed by a stallion in a suit with his hoof out. A disembodied voice came from nowhere and said, "Use to turn into a different looking pony until hurt." The pony in Booker's view changed into another in a puff of smoke, and the video ended, fading to non-existence. Booker shook his head out. Eager to get a move on, out of the open streets, he asks the Luteces, "Look, that's great and all, but could you give us some direction? I have no idea where to go in this backwards-" "The Ponyville Museum of History," explains Robert." "There might be a tear there that will allow you to fix this," elaborates Rosalind. Booker nods at them, glancing at Elizabeth, who had just drank the Vigor and was learning about what it did. When he turned back, he almost jumped at noticing that they were gone. He shrugged, though - they had a place to go and the means to trot around, now. He cast the Vigor. Immediately, he felt his skin tingle. He looked down at his hands to see his fingers being connected by strands of skin, bone, and nerve, that seemed to be dragging them together. Soon, the ends of his arms rounded out, and hooves replaced his hands. Feeling the same tingling sensation in his feet, he hastily kicked off his shoes to witness the same process happen there. It became difficult to stand up as he was accustomed, and he fell on all fours as he body continued to shift and crack. It was painful. Soon, he had the body of a pony, but the head of a man. His face felt hot and painful as it stretched like molten metal into a stallion's muzzle, where that metal hardened into its new shape. He winced in pain as his eyes grew to pony sizes, and he yelled as a tail burst forth from his pants in the same swept style as his hair. He felt his clothes shrink to accomodate his new body, and the pain turned into a more mild, almost tickling sensation as golden fur grew all over his body. When he was sure nothing else would happen, he tries to trot forward, but falls on his face. After getting up, he seems to have much better luck, getting the hang of it almost instantly. "That sure was something," he coughed, checking his body for endowments. There were none; he was a normal pony. He looked over at Elizabeth, who was now a light-gray normal pony still in the dress she normally wore. Her thimble had grown to cover her entire left hoof. Elizabeth gathered herself and pointed to a map on a nearby wall, which pointed them in the direction of Ponyville. Without hesitation, they departed.
The FirehouseBooker and Elizabeth trotted down the streets of Manehatten. They passed a group of three ponies talking on the street corner. "Did you hear? The homo-sapien has arrived!" The rest of the group gasped. "Oh my Goddesses! Did the Guard get him?" a mare asked. The original speaker shook his head. "I don't know... hopefully, they did." At this, the sound of a public announcement was heard, a kind of fog-horn sound. Now that Booker looked around, there were speakers everywhere, on poles, on street lights, in the arches above doorways... the announcer had an authoritarian voice, yet distinctly female. "The dreaded homo-sapien has arrived in our fair country, Equestria!" All around, gasps of horror could be heard, some even crying into their loved ones, a few stallions even saying things resembling, 'Don't worry, honey, I'll protect you from the agent of Discord.' The announcement continued, "But, fear not, citizens of Manehattan, for our prophet foresaw this day! Even as I tell you this the great walls are rising!" Elizabeth tugged on Booker's sleeve, and he turned to see that, far off in the distance, it seemed giant walls were rising up out of the land... giant stone walls, with a golden outline, and they were painted with an image clearly resembling Comstock, but... he was a pony? It wasn't too clear to Elizabeth or Booker but it definitely was Comstock as a pony. Ponies around them cheered and jumped for joy! "The human won't last long within these walls!" one cries. Booker sighed and turned to Elizabeth, whispering, "Oh, great, how are we going to get out?" A boom echoed across the land as the walls rose completely, and the announcement continued: "This should not take very long! In the meantime, goods will be flown to and from this place via zeppelins. Remember, our Prophet is kind! Our Prophet sees with the Princesses' eyes! He will protect us!" Around them, ponies were still celebrating, dancing in the street, some throwing confetti from windows or uncorking Champagne, letting the stuff fly down into awaiting ponies' mouths. "Well... it looks like we'd better find that dock and try to catch a zeppelin out of the city," Booker figures. Elizabeth whispered back, looking around, "Why is everypony celebrating? Shouldn't they all be scared?" One earth pony heard that and responded, "Oh, miss, the Guard will surely take out the Homo Sapien in no time at all! This will surely only last a day, and with his death comes our deliverance from all evil!" and then went back to celebrating. Booker and Elizabeth exchanged nervous looks before making their way down the crowded streets, looking for the air tower, Booker searching the ground in front of him here and there to find some dropped Silver Eagles. Eventually, they came across a vending booth much like the "Dollar Bill" in Columbia, save this reality's version was called, "Bits for Baubles." It was a cream-colored booth adorned with a mechanical green pegasus mare in business attire with purple eyes and a gray mane in a wavy style. She started to talk when Booker approached it in a tone dripping with sleaziness, "Free samples! ...The offer's off. You gonna buy somethin'?" Booker rolled his eyes, activating the machine and buying a one-hundred percent salts refill, and that brought him down to nine-hundred and thirty-three Silver Eagles. Bits for Baubles exclaimed when he left, "Come back when you got some money, buddy!" Eventually Booker and Elizabeth made it to the air tower, a massive building with multiple docks. As they trotted, a zeppelin docked above them and Booker told Elizabeth his plan: "Alright, we sneak on and stow away in the cargo bay until we dock again, and we make our way to Ponyville from wherever we dock." They were about to trot into the air tower when they were stopped by a pair of guards. One of them spoke up. "Sorry, buddy, the zeppelins are off limits to civilians right now." "But my daughter and I need to see my dying brother in Ponyville!" Booker lied. The guard looked sorry, but went on to say, "Sorry, sir. Looks like you'll have to phone him." Booker and Elizabeth began to trot away, resolving to come back at night, but then Booker faintly heard the guards talking. They must have thought he was out of earshot. "Goddesses, he was cute, but I think he just wanted to get out of the city. I don't blame him." "Yeah, he was. The moment we get relieved, I'm taking the Firemare HQ exit out of this city." Booker grinned. That exit was most certainly not for civilians, but it was a way out that probably was less risky than stowing away in a zeppelin and potentially revealing that he was the human in a pony guise. They began searching for that building. They got a little lost, but after grabbing a map of Manehattan and even one of Equestria at a store, they were much better off. Eventually, they did find their way to the Firemare headquarters, also called the Firehouse, and its very design looked holy. It was a large white building with golden linings all around. The only sinister thing about it had to be the six chimneys all roaring with smoke atop the building, their tops coated in a thick ash that seemed to only lightly dress the rest of the roof. There was a pathway up to a white gate lined in gold, and there was a white plaque in the middle of the path with gold text. It read: "Requirements to be a Firemare: – You worship the glory of Princess Celestia. – You are willing to burn for life with Her holy fire. – You are willing to let go of all ponies in your previous life. – You have the Devil's Kiss Vigor." At the bottom was a disclaimer that clarified that despite the term 'Firemare,' they also accept stallions, and below that was a sign that read, "We're not recruiting at the moment." Booker frowned and turned to Elizabeth, who sighed. "Maybe there's a way we could sneak in? Like around the back?" Booker nodded, but, as he did, the gates opened and two Firemares stepped out. They were in full body armor painted white, their face covered by a full head mask with the visor being Celestia's cutie mark. All around the sides of the armor, fire flowed, allowing them to do fire-based attacks, but their whole bodies were encased by the armor. One of them noticed Booker and Elizabeth and trotted right over. "What are you two doing here? To see if we are hiring?" the voice inside the helmet echoed, taking notice of their interest in the sign. It had a fire-like crackling quality to it. Booker could feel the heat eminating from the Firemare even though they were standing a good foot apart. He couldn't quite grasp the Firemare's emotion until she spoke with no expression to see. The visor must be one-way. "Yes, but I see you're not taking in new ponies at the moment," he finally replied. "While we would be pleased to accept new members right now, we simply cannot. The homo-sapien is in Manehattan, and we shall cook it on a spit! For the glory of Celestia and our Prophet!" At this, the Firemares galloped off to go find Booker. Little did they know that the 'homo sapien' was right in front of them. And, it looks like the gate was unattended. Booker glanced at Elizabeth, and then at the exposed gates. "Well, since they left the door open..." he said to her, and she smiled. She ran up to it and easily picked the lock. They entered cautiously and, taking note that nopony was in the first room of the building itself, they let out a collective sigh of relief and started looking around. Ahead was a white hallway that split in many directions, but everything in here was white and gold. Sun-shaped lights covered the ceiling and Celestia's cutie mark was all over the walls. Fittingly, it was extremely hot in here. Not far from the entrance was a Trixinc Kinetoscope titled, "What are the Firemares?" Booker hoofed Elizabeth his gun and went to go take a peek. The very first black and white slide asked that same question before a short clip of a Firemare launching off a Devil's Kiss from her hoof was displayed. It continued on to say, "They worship the Goddess Celestia, and spread Her holy light!" Another clip was displayed of five Firemares kneeling before a painting of Celestia. "Good on them! All the power to them!" read the next slide, followed by one that simply read, "FIN." "They're kind of like the Firemen back in Columbia," Elizabeth noted. Booker withdrew and shrugged at Elizabeth, accepting his weapon back from her. They set off to explore the hallways, checking corners carefully so as to not give themselves away, and eventually stumbled across and office that was labelled, "Recruit Interview." Booker noted that the door was locked. Since nopony was being recruited at the moment, he assumed it must have been empty, and he stepped aside so Elizabeth could pick the lock. They went in. Inside was a desk, two chairs, and a set of Firemare armor in a glass case. An accopanying red sign with golden words read, "The Armor of Spitfire, the first Firemare." A Voxophone was beside it with a picture of somepony Booker could only assume was Spitfire, and he took a listen to it. "I saw Celestia again in a dream last night..." it crackled. "My goodness, she was beautiful... I must spread the knowledge of Her fire, be Her holy conduit, and spread Her light to all the corners of Equestria! ...I must create an armor to show my appreciation to Her!" He set the Voxophone down and searched the desk for more Silver Eagles before trotting out of the room with Elizabeth. They then came across a window through which they could see a training room where lots of ponies seemed to be bulking up. Elizabeth crouched and moved past the window, but Booker took a cautious peek inside. The walls had painted murals of Celestia raising the sun, giving warmth to the land, or other similar things. The whole room, as always, was very white and gold. Most of the ponies training were mares, and one Firemare stood close to the window, her back to it, watching them all. Booker had seen enough, and crouched past the window to join Elizabeth. Soon, they reached a dead end in the hallway with one door on either side. They could go left or right, and there was no way to look into either room. Booker chose left and found the door was unlocked, and as he opened it he came upon a mare strapped to a table, writhing in what appeared to be agony. She was covered in Firemare armor, and it seems she was getting it surgically attached. It seemed they were always burning inside that armor. His suspicions were confirmed when she suddenly screamed in pain, some of the tubes on the sides of the armor lighting up with fire. The newly made Firemare leapt off the table far quicker than Booker would have expected, considering that heavy-looking armor, and a wave of intense heat burned Booker just enough to snap him back to human form. Elizabeth gasped behind him. "BURN in the name of the Sun Goddess, Celestia!!" shouted the Firemare, her voice muffled by the armor as she hurled Devil's Kiss at Booker, but he backed up, slamming the door shut as fast as he could and melting the doorknob with his own Devil's Kiss. Elizabeth nervously glanced around with a wide-eyed expression, but it seems that nopony else was alerted to Booker's presence just yet. Booker keeps his shotgun on the left door as Elizabeth hastily tries to unlock the right one. The Firemare continuously bucked the door hard and repeatedly. Elizabeth's hands fumbled, and she couldn't get the door open before the left was bucked down. It struck Booker in the front, but before the Firemare could follow up with a blast of fire, Booker swatted the door aside and delivered a blast of his own from his shotgun, knocking the Firemare only a step back. She laughed mockingly; the first blast couldn't pierce her brand-new armor. A fiery shockwave threw Booker against Elizabeth's back, and he yelped in pain. Elizabeth, standing behind Booker, only took minor burns, but she hurt her hands on the door when Booker bumped her. Thinking quickly, Booker cast Undertow to knock the Firemare back into the operating room, where she crashed through the machinery. The sound echoed down the hallway, and Booker knew that the loud noise had alerted that room full of trainees to their presence. He urged Elizabeth to hurry, sucking up the pain he was in, and she tried again. After unlocking the right door, they bolted through into the hallway beyond, hoping desperately it was the right direction. Thankfully, they were right. At the far end of the hallway was another door that they went in, and Elizabeth held the door shut as Booker surveyed the room. "You shall be judged!" a Firemare shouted from the other side, and they began trying to get the door down. The far wall was a mural of Celestia's face smiling beautifully, but just under that was an escape hatch. Obviously, this room was an emergency exit in case this place was ever attacked. Booker rushed to it and tried to get it open, and once it was, he urged Elizabeth to get inside. She left the door, and the Firemares pursuing them only got to see the top of Booker's head before the hatch was shut and forged that way by Booker's Devil's Kiss. Smoke filled the narrow tunnel, and he and Elizabeth let out a hacking cough. Booker took only a moment to cast his vigor again to turn himself into a pony. They galloped the whole way through the tunnel until they found the exit, which the ponies hadn't caught up with them at just yet, and once they were out, they continued as fast as they could in a random direction, stopping long after their hearts had started screaming at them to take a breather, confident finally that they were safe. "That was close," Booker wheezed, collapsing on the ground. After some time, he asked, "So, what are we gonna do when we fix this?" "I-I have no idea... we can't really go back now, can we?" Elizabeth realizes. "I guess... live a life?" Booker frowned at the idea. "First it was get you to New York... wipe away my debt... and then it was kill Comstock... and now it's fix a land of colorful prancing ponies, then make a life for ourselves here?" Booker blinks, realizing what he just said. "Wow, things sure change," he thought to himself. Another period of silence settled between them. Elizabeth eventually asked, "What do you think you'll do, Booker?" He already had an answer for that. He answered, "Work as a P.I. It's what I did before I became so indebted, but I guess that doesn't matter anymore since we're here." Elizabeth just nodded, thinking for a time. "Well... question is, what will I do?" She thinks again. "Be your secretary?" "That job will get boring... and I'm sure you could do better. You're a strong woman... well, I guess mare, now." He sighs. "You'll find something, I promise." After resting some more, they caught their breath, and Elizabeth sat up, pulling out her map. She looked around at the beautiful countryside, and pointed in one direction after she was certain of herself. "That way to Ponyville."
"Open it! NOW!!"The lightning iluminated the combat zone. Somwhere in Columbia, a fight was going on. Booker jumped off of the Sky-Line with a groan accompanying his landing as he plunged his Sky-Hook through the chest of an officer, rending his heart after tearing through his rib-cage. Booker was an ex-Pinkerton, known for his violent methods and controlling strikes. After many a wrong-doing in the military, Booker had spent years in gambiling and drinking and had amassed quite an amount of debt. So, he had come here, to Columbia, to bring a girl named Elizabeth home with him. She would wipe clean his debt. And now, he was here, where Elizabeth was supposed to be - the massive, golden, angelic statue in the sky. Taking one last look at the scene surrounding him, he opened a door in the side quietly and walked in. There was no end to the number of strange and suspiciously sinister devices he'd passed on his way in here. From what he could gather, this girl was of great importance to the people of Columbia, though the prophet, Comstock, seemed to take great care in the controlling of her life. It didn't matter now, though, because he would get the job done. Booker passed some corridors with screens into rooms more suitable to be a home than the metallic hallways through which he walked. Eventually, through, he came upon a lever, which he pulled. The wall opened up, apparently - through it, he could see a girl - the girl he was looking for - looking back at him, However, what she was looking at didn't seem to be him. She seemed to be looking into a mirror, but the wall was one-way; Booker could see her, but she could not see him. Thus, he just observed. After a relatively short time of looking at herself in the mirror, the girl picked up a photograph from the counter and held it close to her, like the image was a treasure. She ran off into the next room, and Booker continued along the corridors. The next room he looked into from behind his one-way window was a little different. The most prominent image in the room beyond, which was so thin it looked more like a hallway than a room, had an easel with a bright, colorful painting of the Eiffel Tower on it. To the left of the easel, behind Elizabeth, were a number of assorted drawings pinned to the wall. Looking on at her as she places the photo from the other room down and walks over to the easel, Booker thinks to himself, "Well, what else would she be doing in there all day? She's alone in there all the time." He squints to see what she's doing next, and when a light begins to glow from in front of her, his brow furrows in curiosity and concern. As Elizabeth pushes her arms out from her chest, the glow intensifies. Booker stares on in awe as he witnesses her open a tear in the fabric of reality itself. Through it, he sees the streets of Paris and the Eiffel Tower, in glorious color and sound, sihponing a startled "Woah! What is...?" from his mouth. Before he can take it all in, however, a vehicle careens towards the opening, and Elizabeth is forced to shut it. Panicked thoughts race through Booker's mind for the brief moment the vehicle is heading towards them, and he resists the urge to bolt to the side as Elizabeth closes the rift, though he continues to pant. 'What was that?' he thought to himself. 'This is going to be more complicated than I...' his thoughts trail off, and he shakes out his head. Out loud, he reminds himself: "Whatever that was, it's got nothing to do with the job at hand." As Booker ascended the nearby set of stairs up to the next observation room, he couldn't help but think back on what he just witnessed. Would he have to put up with that while he escorted the girl to safety? He commented to himself, "This job's getting worse all the time..." As though coincidence were out to answer his questions, a Voxaphone was waiting on a chair at the top of the stairs. He picked it up, sat down, and listened: "What makes the girl different? I suspect it has less to do with what she is... and rather more with what she is not. A small part of her remains from where she came. It seems the universe does not like its peas mixed with its porridge!" Booker had taken the time to check himself in a nearby metal panel. He was a towering six feet and one inch tall, white with somewhat bony cheeks, chestnut hair, and hazel eyes. His gray striped pants, gray button-up shirt and its white collar, his watered-down blue jacket, and the skin where his sleeves were rolled up were all stained with blotches of blood. His red handkerchief, however, looked to be just fine. He had a vary rugged look to him overall, and he also had a brand on his right hand that said "AD". Once the recording had ended, he hit a button on the wall, just wanting to continue at this point. "Library," he muttered to himself as he proceeded - that's where he needed to go. Opening the next door led him to a balcony with a less-than-safe-looking railing. He warily ascended up to the safety of the walled metal corridor... until the floor collapsed unexpectedly beneath him, sending him falling down into the library below. Frantically flailing his arms around, he managed to latch onto a balcony in the library and pulled himself slightly up to look a thoroughly startled Elizabeth in the eyes. She was clutching a book against her chest and staring with caution and wonder in her eyes down at Booker. "Uhh... hello?" was all he had to say to get her to throw her arms back and stumble backwards, sending her book flying, and to shriek loudly. Booker lost his grip on the balcony, falling to the library floor below. Upon hitting his back against the floor, he lets out a pained groan, and to add to that, Elizabeth throws a book from the balcony down at him. Thankfully, it missed. "HEY!" shouts Booker, reaching a hand up to block any further projectiles. "KNOCK IT OFF- Ugh!" he exclaims as Elizabeth throws another book at him, descending the stairs. "Will you stop it??" She approaches him a little more, another book in her hand, and Booker repeats: "WILL YOU STOP IT??" An exhausting pain in his head draws his hand back to it as Elizabeth approaches him with a book and he mutters, "Not here to hurt you..." "Who are you??" she demands, book at the ready. Booker takes her pause to gather himself and rise to his feet. As he gets up, he tells her: "My name is Dewitt... I'm a friend." He reaches an arm over to her shoulder as he continues, "I've come to get you out of-" "Get away!" she exclaims, drawing away, attempting to whack him with her book again, but Booker holds her back. Her panting comes to a stop when she realizes he's not a threat and she actually looks at Dewitt for the first time. She raises a hand to his face as though she were about to touch him, where Booker notices she has a thimble on her pinky finger, which appears to be somewhat severed, and she asks seemingly to herself: "Are you real...?" Booker simultaneously gets his first good look at her. He dwarfed her five-foot six-inch caucasian frame. Her wide, blue eyes which stared unblinkingly into his were courageous but cautious oceanic wells of curiosity. He replies, "I'm real enough." As she was about to caress his cheek with her hand in an effort to affirm her excited hopes, she's interrupted by a whistle that comes from a nearby statue of the prophet, Comstock. Elizabeth gives the statue a fleeting glance before turning back to Booker. "He's coming..." she starts, pushing him away a little. "You've gotta go!" "Why?" asks Booker calmly. Suddenly, a loud, mechanical, high-pitched squeal echoes into the room from the ceiling above, which answered Booker's question. "You don't wanna be here when he get's here-" she pauses, turning to the ceiling and shouting: "JUST A MINUTE! I'M GETTING DRESSED!!" Booker remains calm when he says, "I can get you out of here." The sound echoes again, louder this time. The walls begin to pound with the sound of metal on metal. "There's no way out, trust me, I've looked!" she resignedly replies. "STOP IT! YOU'RE TOO IMPATIENT - THAT'S ENOUGH!!" "What about this?" asks Booker, holding out an ornate brass key. The side facing Elizabeth was the cage, but Booker spun it in his hand to show her the side with the bird on it. "What about it??" she exclaimed, not paying much attention to Booker or his key. Booker held his other hand out and gave it to her. From then on, Elizabeth had grown to trust Booker with her freedom. There were pitfalls in their friendship, but they perservered. They fought throughout Columbia together until they came to the First Lady gunship. After having done combat with the Vox Populi over complicated multi-dimensional stuff, they were on their way to kill Comstock, that bastard, for locking Elizabeth up in that tower most of her life and siphoning off her powers. Booker jumped onto it, Sky-Hook gripped tightly in his left hand, the beautiful streets of Columbia caked in the blood and bodies of fallen policemen, yet more kept on coming from buildings and from gunships. The Columbian gunship he boarded resembled a shallow-bottomed barge, and it had a small cabin in the rear and an open deck. Inside the cabin was the mechanical pilot, which indicated that the vehicle operation was at least partially automated. Booker noted that he could exploit the gunship's cargo hooks to board it as an attacker, and beckoned for Elizabeth to follow. He made his plan as he rode high on the Sky-Line, pistol fire barely missing him. He jumped onto the gunship, using his Charge Vigor, which manifested as wind around his Sky-Hook, to propel himself at lightning speed down at one of the officers, who was knocked clean off the gunship. He plummeted into depths unknown, screaming for help, but none came as he disappeared beneath the cloud layer. Booker turned for another officer behind him, the last one on the ship, who was firing on him from his pistol. Just as Booker's shield broke, he fired his shotgun at the officer, staggering him. To finish the fight, he used his Undertow Vigor to launch a tsunami of water from his hand, sending that officer flying off the edge as well. Elizabeth landed on the gunship beside Booker. By now, she'd gotten out of the clothes she wore during her imprisonment and got into something more appropriate - a blue dress with a white lining at the bottom. She was perched on black, heeled boots, and her hair had been cut shorter. It draped down in layers over her cheeks. "Booker, I... uhh... wow," she managed. "That was graphic." Her voice was full of innocence that seemed to be slowly washing away, revealing a golden heart of strength and determination. Booker grimaced, but turned to her. "Too violent? I thought you said you'd get used to it." His voice was gruff and tough, but had a pain to it... like he hated every kill he made. He holstered his shotgun, drawing his pistol just in case. Elizabeth shuddered, nodding. "Yeah, I will, just... still getting used to it." Before either of them could react, a gunship came up behind them. All Booker could here was the sound of an RPG firing before the engine's roar was drowned in the explosion. Metal bent and the jets gave out; the thing began to fall! Booker grabbed onto Elizabeth as quickly as he could and hooked them both onto a Sky-Line before they could fall. The enemy gunship was in rapid pursuit, their guns trailed on them! "BOOKER, A TEAR!!" Elizabeth shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice barely surpassing the gushing wind. "Open it! NOW!!" Elizabeth didn't need to be told twice. She opened the tear to an unknown city square, and they dropped from the Sky-Line, tumbling with a thunk. Booker looked around the strangely familiar streets... but only familiar in the sense that it looked like Columbia. It had all the same 1918-style architecture, roads made of stone and Sky-Lines around the city. On the tallest building, there was one of those big screens Comstock normally showed his face on, but the first thing Booker noticed was all the ponies running around. Ponies, in clothes! Like his own, only... they're ponies! They fled from where Booker and Elizabeth appeared, some using the Sky-Lines with Sky-Hooks designed for the hoof, others galloping into buildings, and the rare unicorn teleporting away. The second thing he noticed was a propaganda poster with him on it, looking like he was about to hurt a young, innocent unicorn filly in a school uniform. The bold red words underneath read: "Beware the Homo-Sapien, for the y are from the Everfree, the place of evil, and they will slaughter the innocent as they are agents of Discord!" The third thing Booker noticed were the ponies in gold, segmented plate armor galloping towards them, shouting: "Death to the Homo-Sapiens!" At this, Elizabeth ran for cover and potential tears became visible all over the place. Booker drew his pistol and sighed. "Here we go again."
