Chapters The sound of metal clashing and breaking through the exoskeletons of the new changeling Executioner armor roared from underneath the areal unit Klick 12 as they made their way towards the main hive. The small team of Pegasus maneuvered around the target’s faulty defenses of air-to-ground assault, weak beams of pale green light danced through the twilight sky. The hive’s twisted black and green egg shape design was disgusting and at the same time, oddly mesmerizing, the swirls that covered the surface showed false images of one’s past, their loved ones and their hated enemy. It mattered not to the strike team, as the leader glared down at an opening and yelled out the order to attack…
***
The cream coated pony gasped suddenly for air as he awoke from his unusual dream, sweat ran down his fur as it dripped down every fine hair he held. His mind raced as he desperately attempted to regain his breath, holding his head as the room began to spin weakly. “Another one of those dreams…” The pony mumbled as he shook his head, realizing the sun shined brightly through his window, morning had come. His frown quickly shot open to a large smile as he leaped out of his bed and began to prepare for the day ahead.
Cleaned and full of new morning energy, Razor trotted down the stairs with a gleam of hope in his sky blue eyes, His azure mane tied up in a ponytail but still managed to reach down to his shoulders. His hoofs clicked against the sandstone steps as he reached his living room, the unnaturally plain room held very little furniture; a table, chair and refrigerator. A few pictures hung weakly on steaks that were embedded into the sandstone walls.
“Razor, hurry up!” A feminine voice called out from outside the Pegasus’s window. He quickly reached into the icebox and pulled out a small brown paper bag, the contents holding his lunch for today. With a quick scan of the sandy room, Razor nodded and quickly ran out his front door, his eyes quickly scanning around the area as he looked for the origin of the voice.
“Razor, let’s go, we’re gonna be late!” The voice called out again, Razor glancing over to spot a very pretty white mare, her black mane was cut short, almost what one would expect a colt would have, but it was fashioned in a way that accented her strong green eyes. “Sorry, Wild.” Razor started, spreading his wings as he took two quick steps and took off towards the academy. “Come on, put that flank in gear and let’s go!” Wild Hope yelled out as her hoofs moved as quickly as they could take her before Razor swooped down and picked her up, soaring over the buildings to cut the time down.
Finally, the two reached their destination; The Watcher’s Academy. Wild released an exasperated sigh as Razor Breeze flew down to the ground so the two could go through the front door. “Don’t you ever get tired of coming to this place day in and day out, holidays, weekends and almost no vacations?” She asked, walking up the grey concrete steps as they heard one of the bells chime. Razor shook his head before glancing up at the loud sound that resonated through the building. “I don’t care, really. It gives me something to do during the day.” He said with a note of joy in his words.
“That’s right, you’re a watcher and right after this, and you go right to the post office to start your second job, don’t you?” The mare asked as the two traveled down the hall, stopping at a brown bulletin board that was hammered into the wall, countless papers hung on its face as the two ponies looked around for any interesting news. “Looks like Mrs. Walker lost her cat again and wants somepony to find it.” Wild chimed as her eyes scanned the other pages. Razor simply mumbled in response as he looked for anything that may be of the utmost importance. But as always, nothing life threating was posted, just minor things that didn’t interest the now disappointed Pegasus.
Wild Rose put her hoof on Razor’s shoulder as she smiled at him to bring his spirits up. “Hey, you’ll get to prove yourself one day, don’t worry.” Razor gave the friendly mare a weak smile as he nodded once, turning down the hall and walking down its brightly illuminated passages. The colt’s eyes scanned the area with a subconscious caution as he made his way towards his assigned room. “Looks like we’re late.” He said with a smirk as he didn’t spot any ponies in their path, or down any of the corridors. Wild gave her friend a small smirk as she said “No, we’re early for tomorrow.” Razor couldn’t help but groan at the poor joke.
The two laughed lightly as they opened one of wooden doors, their ears where suddenly assaulted by the screams of fillies and foals that could barely speak, their squeals of joy hitting ungodly notes that should break glass. Razor slowly poked his ear as he attempted to clean out the annoying sound, Wild cringing from the sound. The two quickly switched their pained expression with one of fake smiles, Wild mumbling behind clenched teeth “I hate it when they get that excited.” The colt couldn’t help but nod in agreement as he walked up to some of the younglings and patted most of them on the head and began babbling back at their own babbles.
Wild smiled softly as she watched the soft colt instantly play with the babies, he was always such a good watcher, young or old, male or female, Pegasus or Earth pony, he did his best to treat them all with equal respect and love, she knew he would be a great father one day. Her thought was suddenly pushed to the side when her eyes reached a new mare that was rocking a foal gently with a soft smile on her face that mirrored her own. Wild Rose gave the new pony a soft smile as she walked up quietly so to not wake the partially awake pony in her hooves. “Hello, I’m Wild Rose.” She started smiling as he lightly stroked the young foal’s head. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, are you a new watcher?”
The unicorn simply looked up and smiled, her bright sky blue coat seemed to blend nicely with her curly white mane. “Yes, I’m Pure Flame; it is so nice to meet you.” Her voice was so soft, so sweet, almost that of an angel. Against her will, Wild Rose suddenly felt a tinge of jealousy against this mare. She was so beautiful, her mane was incredibly clean, her coat looked to almost radiate beauty and her sapphire eyes would drown any colt. Her train of thought was cut off when she heard one of the older fillies ask “Mr. Bweese, can you lift us up again, pweese?”
Her eyes quickly glanced over to the Pegasus as the filly that asked him hugged the back of his mane as tightly as she could. Razor couldn’t help but chuckle as he said “Alright, but this is the only time I can do it, so no more after this, alright?” The fillies and foals cheered loudly as they began to remove themselves from their living jungle gym. With a firm nod, Razor turned around and walked towards the front of the class, turning again and sitting down. Pure’s expression revealed her utter confusion at the young ponie’s request.
“Just watch, you’ll see.” Wild whispered as she sat down to watch her friend close his eyes. His brow furrowed as the fillies and foals fell quiet, watching their male watcher as he breathed in deeply. Razor slowly felt each pony in front of him, sensing their weight, their size, their form. He slowly purged their small, undeveloped minds as he sat on his flank and lowered his head, turning his front hooves sky ward. Slowly, he lifted his hooves up as well as his head, his eyes clenched as he concentrated on the task at hand. Suddenly, the young fillies and foals began to float, at first only an inch, than two, than four, until they were nearly a foot off the ground, flying around freely.
Though the young ponies laughed in enjoyment, Pure Flame’s expression changed from confusion, to sheer terror. She didn’t understand what was happening, the colt was a Pegasus, not a unicorn, and the children didn’t glow as they would if a unicorn used magic to lift all the students. She looked towards Wild Rose who simply smiled at her mixed expression. “H-How is he doing that?” She whispered, her voice more taken by amazement than fear. Wild didn’t respond until the ponies began to slowly descend, landing safely on the ground. “Razor isn’t your average Pegasus.” She started, looking over at the cream colored pony as he let out an exhausted sigh.
“He’s a Pegasus with a gift.”
The electronic notes played out a hypnotic, yet peaceful tone as the white unicorn sat inside his room. His green and yellow eyes ran across a book placed before him, explaining the basics of mechanical operation and maintenance. His horn began to glow a dim green color as he lightly bobbed his head to the music blasting through his white and silver headphones. The page of the book slowly turning as he finished another page, unsure if he was retaining its critical content.
Slowly, his eyes began to lose speed as the music within his headphones started to pose more of a concern, his body lightly moving to the beat of the notes. The little movement slowly grew until he was rolling and shaking his shoulders to the beat, dancing in his chair as the song reached a crescendo. “Oh buck, here we go.” His unnatural mix of proper and improper accents resonated as he slowly stepped out of his chair and suddenly broke out in a dance, allowing for the flow and beat of the music to utterly control his body.
The unicorn, however, was unaware of his producer who had just walked through the door to give him some bad news. The earth pony simply blinked at the unusual dance moves as his artist danced in a robotic-fluid motion. “K-Kick.” The pony called out, trying to retrieve his employee from the controlling music. He failed to remember that with this unicorn, you can’t stop the music, the music stops you. The unicorn continued to dance, unaware of his producer’s calls until the music finally died down.
With a quick snap of his neck, the headphones slide down his green mane and wrapped around his neck, the next song softly playing through the speakers. “Kick Pulse.” The pony said again, eyes revealing his slight irritation with his artist. With light jump of surprise, the white unicorn slowly turned around and spotted his employer. “Oh, Dusk Flare, how’s it going my horse?” Kick’s voice held the same semi-arrogant note in his voice. The grey pony couldn’t help but shake his head in minor disappointment, Kick’s grin shrinking slowly.
“Kick, I have bad news.” He started, looking up to the unicorn with a solemn frown. “No pony is buying your records, they don’t know who you are and are way too into Vinyl Scratch, Living Tombstone and all those other hip and now DJs. There are just too much opposing artists and their snagging all the attention. The ponies just don’t want a new electronic artist right now.” Kick’s expression was one of utter sadness; he knew what the next sentence would hold. “Sorry Kick, but until you get noticed for something else besides the bleeps and bloops of your hardstyle, we can’t keep supporting you.”
“Well, that sucks…” The unicorn said with a small frown, his head drooping lowly. Dusk walked up to the depressed pony as he began with a backup plan. “But, there is this small town in Equestria, it’s the home of DJ Pon3 and she’s having a Dual of the Disks soon. Here’s what we want you to do to get started on getting your name out there; go to ponyville, enter the Dual of the Disks, and reach the semi-finals. After you do that, we’ll supply you with another gig in Manehatten so you can spread your name quickly, how’s that for a plan?”
Kick sighed as he turned away from his producer and walked to the door. “I’ll think about it, I need something to eat.” He said, opening the door with his magic as he mumbled under his breath “Can’t think with an empty stomach.” Dusk attempted to stop the saddened DJ, sticking his hoof out as he called out “Wait, Pi9o!” But his call fell of deft ears; the unicorn simply slammed the door behind him as he made his way through the small town.
With a heavy heart, the unicorn simply continued his walking around the small rural town, unaware of where his hooves were taking him. Some ponies called him out, smiling lightly as they spotted the local DJ, walking up and asking for his autograph. He attempted to hide his sadness, faking a smile to the younger fillies and foals as he signed each of their copies of his CDs. These are his fans, Kick thought, looking at the young happy faces that looked to him with admiration and amazement, at least, until DJ Pon3 or some of those other ponies take them.
Returning to his walk, the unicorn spotted a stone on the floor, and began to kick it, attempting to take his mind off of the news he just received. Though the producer did tell him of a way to get back into the lime light, was fame worth jumping through the hoops of the big names? Couldn’t he just make music for fun and be happy with that? A pain gripped his heart as he growled under his breath, replacing the sadness with sudden rage as he pulled his hoof back and yelled “What the buck!” With one mighty kick, the DJ pony sends the pebble flying, unaware where its trajectory was.
“Hey, watch it!” A rather unique accent called out, followed by a proper “Kick, is that you?” With a confused look in his two-toned eyes, the unicorn looked up to spot two great scientists. One had a black mane with a dingy dark tan coat, his blue eyes looking to Kick. His horn glowing with unnatural sparks of energy, similar sparks engulfing the rock as it began to turn black. The taller unicorn had a very, unusual, mane style; His originally brown hair had streaks of yellow and white through it, matching his yellow coat. His brown eyes looked to the depressed unicorn with concern as he moved closer to the newly arrived unicorn.
“O-Oh, hey Professor Tesla Coil, Doctor Clockwork Chromegear.” The DJ said with a sigh of relief. Two of the greatest scientist in the world and they happily lived in this small town of Dungtick. “What is the matter, you seem a bit more Melancholy than you normally are?” Clockwork asked, stepping to the side of the white pony while Tesla quickly moved to clean up the area, so to not leave behind a mess. Kick simply sighed, although he didn’t want to tell anypony what had just transpired, he knew he couldn’t keep secrets from these two unicorns. He simply swallowed his pride and said “Moonlight Industries doesn’t want to continue distributing my records anymore. But they still want me to do things for them to ‘help with my image’. One of which is to go to a shit place called Ponyville and play at a Dual of the Disks.” Doctor Chromegear simply looked to his assistant and the two suddenly smiled.
Wait…why they would smile to such bad news, Kick thought. Did they find something amusing? Suddenly, the proper accented unicorn that was by the DJ’s side took several strides forward and turned suddenly to face the confused unicorn. With a flash of his horn, his chrono-goggles slowly slid down his forehead, over his horn and over his eyes, the sun’s gleam preventing from one to see his eyes, but he suddenly radiated…madness. He loudly clapped his hooves as he looked to the semi-frightened pony as he suddenly spoke in a very harsh, rough accent. “Zey vant zou to do an unforgettable performance?” he asked, reaching up and pulling the lever on his goggles down, cogs and gears grinding as the lenses changed slightly.
Kick nodded lightly as Tesla suddenly appeared behind him, leading the unwary pony towards their workshop. Doctor Chromegear stayed next to the unsettled unicorn as he looked to him through his goggles “So, vat do you say? Me and Tesla give you our ‘special’ DJ equipment and zou go and blow some heads off!” Tesla suddenly intervened to correct the maddened doctor. “I believe you meant to say, blow the roof off.” The doctor looked to his assistant with a confused frown as he shook his head. “No, I vent blow some heads.”
A mad doctor who studies time and another who studies transmutation, the thought of what these two scientists invented was rather terrifying. But at the same time, almost to interesting to pass up, and Kick needed something to give him an edge in the Dual of the Disks. With a game winning smile, the unicorn looked to the two unicorns and said “I don’t see how you’re…equipment could do any harm, and I am in need of some interesting shows for my display at pleasing the crowd.” The two simply smiled at the DJ, Chromegear more large and toothy while Professor Coil was more polite and closed off.
“Well, Why not?”
The fillies and foals ran around with glee as they enjoyed their time outside in the desert sand, the sun only increasing the incredibly hot air. Razor looked around, keeping track of the scattering ponies while Pure Flame and Wild Rose sat under an umbrella, shaded from the intense heat with some of the younger ponies, barely able to walk. The two mare’s eyes kept glancing back at the lively Pegasus as he ran back and forth between ponies who asked for his attention, some actually screaming they wanted to play with the pony until he was covered in giggling joy.
“He has his hoofs full, doesn’t he?” Pure asked Wild, giggling lightly as the overwhelmed pony attempted to break free from the small children that screamed his name. The other mare’s gentle smile only grew as she watched Razor laughed with the happy young ponies that surrounded him. “It’s not a problem with him. Razz loves surrounding him with such happiness he practically radiates it.” The mares returned their attention to the young babbling foals and fillies in their hooves, feeding the younger ponies with bottles or lightly mumbling to them.
“Mr. Breeze, play with me too!” One of the many fillies called out, waving her hooves up and down frantically while Razor mentally lifted two foals in the air and two other tiny ponies hung on his back, giggling with joy. I swear these kids are getting more and more energetic the older they get, the Pegasus thought while he ran over to the filly crying his name. He slowly lowered the two floating fillies, hearing them moan in disappointment. He looked to the filly and smiled lightly, feeling one of the foals pull his mane as if telling him to turn around. “One minute Strong.” He told the foal between his teeth, sipping air through his teeth through the pain.
The pony did as he was told, shyly moving away due to the feeling he was afraid he angered the helpful Pegasus. “What is it, Moon Light?” Razor asked, looking to the pony with an encouraging smile. The filly giggled as she twirled her hoof around in the dirt, her light gray face glowing red as she looked up to him through her lashes. “Umm, me and the other mares were talking and we are wondering…” The watcher couldn’t help but smile a bit more, knowing the mares were just playing their little ‘who-do-you-like-more’ game. “Who do you like more, Miss Flame or Miss Rose?”
Pure Flame looked up just in time to see Razor’s head suddenly jerk back in shock at whatever the grey filly said, his eyes visibly growing as wide and his yellow face turning red. “I wonder what that little mare just said.” She asked, raising an eyebrow to the stallion’s reaction. Wild glanced up from the small pony in her hooves, keeping her hold on a bottle he was suckling on still. She giggled lightly as she spotted his eye’s dilate. “Probably something he didn’t expect, or something he took out of context.” The two mares giggled as they began to draw their interest to the colt.
“W-What?” Razor exclaimed in shock as he pulled away from the filly, the foals on his back rolling off of him and laughing as they left him with the curious young pony. He was expecting a question more along the lines of the fillies and foals, to which he would have responded with a vague answer that would get the ponies off of his case. The little mare glanced up at the gifted Pegasus as she waited patiently for his reply. “Who do I like between Pure Flame and Wild Rose?” He repeated the question, looking over at the mares, spotting them staring right at him. “I-I like…”
Suddenly, the bell over the academy chimed and its loud bellows echoed throughout the small town. Saved by the bell, Razor thought as he glanced up at the saving grace. “Well, looks like it’s time to go in and you all to go to class.” He could hear the disappointment in Moon light’s voice as she moaned and surrendered knew she shouldn’t attempt to drag the conversation on. “Alright, but will you tell us later?” Her voice resonating with hope as she looked up to him. The stallion couldn’t help but chuckle as he patted the filly’s flank lightly, pushing her to the stairs as he said “Maybe, but you should hurry, shouldn’t keep your teacher waiting.”
The fillies and foals galloped up the stairs, most of their energy spent from playing with Razor as he walked over to his fellow Watchers and said with a sigh of relief “I’m sure glad that’s over, I swear I think they just grow in numbers, or maybe I’m just getting too old.” Wild Rose looked at the stallion and chuckled, putting the young foals and fillies in strollers “Your only 16, Razor Breeze. If you’re getting old, than my parents must be ancient.” Pure Flame couldn’t help but blink at what her fellow mare had just said her eyes wide as she looked from Wild to Razor. “Your only 16, I thought you needed to be 18 to be a watcher?”
With a sly smile on his muzzle, Razor pulled the umbrellas up and closed them as he said “Normally, yes. But I got a recommendation from the Count of the Windblade estate, which opened some doors for me.” Wild rolled her eyes as she slowly pushed the strollers up the slope that lead to the front doors, knowing that Pure would be amazed at such a thing. “Really, a count recommended you to be a watcher? It sounds kind of odd for a count to do such a thing, even for a pony with your…gifts.” The stallion’s smile only grew as he said “Not if the count is my father.”
“What!” The mare exclaimed loudly in utter amazement, helping Wild with the ponies and using her magic to open the door for her. “Yeah, my full name is Razor Windblade Breeze.” Razor said flatly as he moved reached the door and put his hoof in the way so it couldn’t close on Pure. “Why don’t you tell her you’ll be a Count when you come of age, that should really moisten her up.” Wild blurted out in annoyance, thinking the stallion was showboating, and flaunting his gifts. Razor looked to the mare with concern when Pure gasped in even more surprise. “You will?”
“Well, I’m supposed to, but I have to prove I’m worthy of the title of Count, and I don’t think my father or the council are willing to let me take the place of Count.” The stallion muttered, walking into the storage room to put the umbrellas away and obtain his saddle bag he kept for his second job. Pure’s jaw had nearly fallen completely to the floor from all the news about her male watcher. Wild Rose was right; Razor was far from your average pony, way far. “So, what are you doing now Razor, seeing as how our shift as watchers is over now?”
Razor looked back at the mare with a smile and opened his mouth to inform her of his second job, but Wild Rose suddenly intervened as she said with a smug grin “Sorry, but Razor has a second job to help pay for the little trip he plans to take.” She walked around the stallion, her eyes staring at him as if he was wounded prey. She slowly pushed her head under his as she let his chin follow her figure, flicking it away with her tail. “Our colt friend here is saving up to take a trip to Equestria so he can learn how to rule, taking notes from the great mares, Celestia and Luna.”
Razor couldn’t help but blush at the mare’s sudden display of territory, was he just marked? Before anything else could transpire, however, he bowed to the two mares and said quickly “I have to go, sorry about this.” Before Pure could ask any more questions, the stallion ran through the doors, out of the academy and flew off towards the post office. He couldn’t help but sigh in relief as he felt the warm wind flow through his coat, letting the gently grip of the wind. He slowly let his body go into auto-pilot as he relaxed his body, flying wherever the wind would take him.
His peace was suddenly disturbed, however, when he heard the sound of glass shattering erupt from the direction he was flying. Razor’s eyes shot open as he glanced down at the source of the sound to see the post office under attack, the small group of guards the town had already busy trying to protect it. Eyes widened with a mixture of fear and shock as he crunched his body up, and quickly extended it out to obtain a quick boost of speed towards the chaos. Only a single thought ran through the pegasus’s mind as he dived down towards the post office.
Hope I’m not too late…
The inside of the work shop was well lit and the air was heavy with fumes from the scientists past experiments. Instruments of construction as well as destruction hung on the walls and hid in cabinets and draws. The cold concrete floor appeared covered in cuts and scrapes from previous experiments that had ether failed or ended up being stolen. Kick Pulse followed the two scientists as they lead him deeper into the rather chaotic building, maneuvering around broken, disassembled or half-completed projects. “So, what is this special equipment that is supposed to give me the edge to win Dual of the Disks?” The white unicorn asked, attempting to break the silence.
However, it was to no avail. Clockwork simply continued walking next to Tesla, giggling silently to himself as he led the unwary unicorn to a trap door hidden behind a large metal chariot. The sudden metal double doors on the floor gave the DJ a slight tinge of fear, unsure as to what the two unicorns had hidden under all their work. Doctor Clockwork and Professor Tesla both looked at each other as they walked to either side of the trap door and stopped.
Slowly, the two inventor’s horns start to glow; Tesla’s tan horn begins to spark with energy, a few cracks of lightning signaling his concentration of magic. Clockwork’s yellow horn seemed to lightly glow with white magic, slowly growing brighter until it nearly blinded Kick. By this time, the loud crackling of Telsa’s horn and the blinding light of Clockwork’s horn played an unseen show as the sound of metal dragging against stone resonated from somewhere in the room. The smell of ions mixed with the fumes, making the stallion’s head swim as he began to stumble back away from whatever was happening before him.
Suddenly, the crackling noise of lighting ceased, the once chaotic noise leaving behind a rather unsettling silence. The white colt’s vision was heavily blurred from the mad doctor’s glowing light and the Professor’s lightning magic. Slowly, as Kick’s vision returned, he could make out two large cylinder-like contraptions in the scientists’ hooves. As the DJ attempted desperately to focus his sight upon whatever the unicorns held, they began walking up to the dazed pony, cylinder-like machinery in tow.
Unsettling fear gripped the stallion as he flinched in terror, unaware of what the two scientists held. With a sudden pull, Kick felt his hooves rise up into the air and cold, metallic plating spaced with soft silk padding clamp around his hooves. Before the unicorn could ask a question, a sudden piercing pain punched through his skin and burned his nerves. Unrivaled pain racked at the DJ’s body as he felt his fur burn from the machine’s electronic function fused the nodes of the contraption into his nerves.
Almost as sudden as it started, however, the pain ceased, leaving behind a slight uncomfortable sensation ringing through the colt’s hooves. With his sight returned, he could fully examine what had caused the pain, and a sense of fear and astonishment swept over him. The machine that had momentarily fused with him appeared to be something out of a science-fiction novel; robotic hooves laced with flashing lights and sliders. The layout seemed familiar to the unicorn, however, almost as if he had seen it before. His eyes fell upon two plates that appeared to be able to hold two disks upon their vinyl texture.
“Turn Tables?” Kick asked in surprise as he looked to the unicorns. “Not just any turn tables, you silly little pony.” Doctor Chromegear began. However, before he could begin explaining, Professor Coil stole the moment as his smooth voice ran through the functions of the new equipment the stallion had obtained. “Those are portable sound modulators that with a push of a button and a flip of a switch can alter the sound and frequency of the music that has begun playing. You are their power source. The more you concentrate on the Portable Entertainment Gauntlets, or P.E.G for short, the louder, and stronger, the music will become.”
The white unicorn pushed his brow up once again in greater confusion. “Stronger?” Tesla smiled lightly, but Clockwork quickly regained the spot light as he explained “Ze funny zing is, with your special talents, your music can influence your fans to enter an unstoppable desire to hear your music, and cause your rivals to lose zeir touch. Not only zat, but your love for-” That was all Kick needed to hear to know what he wanted to do next.
“BASS MARES!” Kick suddenly shouted as he focused his magic through the new equipment he obtained, his front hooves rising as he rolled them around in the air. Suddenly, the shiny gears began to turn as crackling static began to resonate from the P.E.G. As the sound from the dangerous addition to the unicorn’s arsenal began to grow in power, Tesla and Clockwork quickly dived for cover before the process was complete.
With a powerful stomp on the ground, the white stallion shouted “Boom!” The stored energy within the P.E.G was suddenly released, unleashing a glass-shattering bass blast that resonated outward in a cone, dying quickly as it bounced off the stone walls and around the room. The unexpected power caused the Bass hungry pony to be pushed backwards, his coat sliding across the stone floor. His ears rang loudly from the concussion he gained after the collision with the ground.
“That was awesome!” Kick exclaimed with unconceivable excitement with his new gadget. With tender slowness, the stallion slowly pushed himself back on all four legs, shaking his head with to regain his focus while the other two unicorns slowly walked up to their DJ friend to examine him. “How do you feel, Mr. Pulse?” Tesla asked quietly so not to hurt Kick if he obtained a headache, Dr. Chromegear staying a minimum of five feet behind his assistant. The white colt looked up to the polite unicorn and asked “How do I feel?”
“I feel as though I just won an Oscar!” He exclaimed with unrivaled enthusiasm, leaping into the air with joy. Prof. Coil and Dr. Chromegear looked to each other with satisfaction as they returned their gaze to their overzealous friend. “Then we will entrust P.E.G to you, for now.” Tesla said with a soft smile as he turned to begin cleaning up the mess Kick had made from his sudden bass blast. “You go out zere and show zem what Pi9o means.” Clockwork said with a proud tone in his voice, though in truth he didn’t really know what the unusual unicorn’s DJ name meant ether.
With a nod of confidence, the white stallion turned around and waved to the two scientists. “Thanks again Chromegear, Coil. I’ll make sure everpony knows the two great scientists who gave me the edge to win Dual of the Disks.” As he walked away from the workplace of Clockwork Chromegear and Tesla Coil, Kick couldn’t help but have his mind begin to race with anticipation at the upcoming contest. He needed to figure out who DJ Pon3 was, and know the rules of the contest as well as learn of the other ponies that planned to compete. No doubt the contest was going to be fierce and possibly improbably for any normal pony to win.
But I’m not a normal pony, am I? The stallion thought to himself as he looked down to the P.E.G attached to his front legs. These gadgets would provide him the needed advantage to assure he would place at least in the top 3. It would take a lot of training and even more time to think of new mixes that would blow his previous ones out of the water. He needed to out due himself to such an extent his last few disks would look like they had been made by a Pegasus beat-boxing off key.
However, before Kick could plan out his strategy any further, he suddenly felt a sharp pain strike the back of his head. The sudden blast from behind pushed the stallion down to the ground, his body going limp from suffering from two concussions in less than half-an-hour. His eyes began to flutter as he tried to stay awake, his vision fading rapidly. He could feel the tingle of magic lift his body up and the P.E.G become removed, his movements proving fruitless against his suddenly heavy corpse. The warm wooden planks were the last thing he felt before his mind slipped away from consciousness and everything faded.
In his drift through his subconscious, Kick pieced together what had just transpired. The sudden and quick attack followed by warm wooden floors. He could only say one thing before going into lala-land.
“I don’t like this.”
With a lowered shoulder, Razor slammed himself into one of the thugs, sending the earth pony rolling away as the Pegasus landed onto the ground to assess the situation. To his dismay, the stallion only spotted five guards attempting to subdue the assailants; their numbers possibly quadruple the pathetic security. Judging by the commotion inside the post office, there was no doubt that more of the bandits found their way in, which meant that there were plenty more of them than what he could see.
In almost an instant, the vigilante pony began to be flanked from all sides, feeling the sudden barrage of hooves instantly alerted him that these ponies are not in the mood to attempt negotiations. That was fine by him; he preferred the more physical method of diplomacy anyways. With well-trained grace and almost instinctive, Razor’s hooves parried two thug’s attacks and pushed them to the side, tumbling between the unprepared ponies to escape their fellow thug’s attacks.
Attempting to create a gap between him and his opponents, the Pegasus continued to flip away from the group, rolling forward to slam his hind legs into a bandit’s head, his face pushed into the dirt as his body went limp. Continuing with the momentum of his attack, the stallion flipped again, using his wings to lift him off the ground. His hind legs hit another unwary Pegasus bandit, forcing his head down and the flipping Pegasus to continue his flip until he landed behind a surprised unicorn.
Razor’s momentum assault on the invading bandits continued until the nearest group of thugs was disbanded, most of them knocked unconscious. His momentary cease of his attack granted the bandits the moment they wanted, and they took it with haste. With a powerful toss, several ponies threw weighted rope towards the stallion’s limbs, wrapping his legs together and causing him to fall. All the colt could do was yell out in shock as the hemp rope tightened around his legs and prevented his movement.
Almost instantly afterwards, a white rag was pushed into the stallion’s snout, an unfamiliar scent rushing through his nose as he attempted to fight off his assailants. Suddenly, his head began to spin as he felt his body begin to grow limp. His eyes fluttered as worry swept over his body. “What should we do with him?” The holder of the rag asked before Razor slipped out of consciousness. He could only hear one word before he left reality. “Hostage.”
***
“Focus Razor.” Swift Action told his son, the harsh sunlight reflecting off of his crimson coat. The young foal gasped for air as he weakly retook the stance his father taught him, focusing his young eyes on the training dummy the guards had made for the count’s child. The Pegasus closed his eyes, reaching into himself as he attempted to perform his father’s request. “Mind, body and spirit must act as one.” Young Razor’s legs quivered under the weight of his body as he tried his hardest to focus all three together. However, the young colt simply flopped onto the ground, his cream coat dingy and soiled with sweat and dirt, his body heaved from exhaustion.
Count Action chuckled with amusement as he trotted up to his son, ruffling the tired foal’s sky blue mane, assuring the young Razor. “How come I can’t do it, daddy?” Razor whined as he huffed, dust flowing up in the air and dancing away from the troubled colt. Swift didn’t answer quickly; instead he simply lifted the young pony up onto his back and began the walk to the mansion. The child waited patiently for most of the journey to the back door, but when he spotted his father reach for the handle, Razor tapped Action’s head lightly as he said curiously “Dad?”
“Razor, do you know why we are blessed with such a beautiful home?” Swift Action suddenly asked, pulling hoof back from the door. The young foal wagged his tail with joy as he said “Because our ancestor, Wind Blade, helped Princess Celestia and Luna fight against the bad colts. He did such a good job the princesses gave him enough bits to buy our home.” The stallion couldn’t help but chuckle at his son’s brief explanation. “You are correct, my son. Wind Blade was known for more than just an important soldier of the Equestrian army, however.” He craned his neck to lightly bite the scruff of Razor’s neck and slowly lowered him as he walked up to the dummy, explaining.
“You see, during our ancestor’s campaign, he met a group of wondering ponies who had an incredible gift. They knew how to concentrate all their being into everything they did, in everything they saw. Nothing was unachievable for these great individuals. Wind Blade spoke to these ponies and after a long and hard negotiation, they agreed to teach him their secrete.” The young colt followed behind his father, hanging onto every word that flowed out of the stallion’s mouth as he suddenly stopped in front of the training dummy. Razor quickly fumbled back, watching his father as he waited to see what he meant.
“They taught him to use not only his body to strike.” Count Swift started, slowly falling into his stance. “But to use his mind and will as well. They told him of a power that flowed through all living things; this power is unstoppable but should never be miss used.” Suddenly, in a swift movement, Razor’s father spun his rear legs around and shattered the wooden dummy’s, a hiss of air escaping his lips as he fell back into his stance. “This power they taught him was Ki.”
***
The damp surroundings sent a shiver up Razor’s spine as he slowly regained conciseness. An unimaginable tinge stung the back of his head, feeling the room spin around his weakened figure. He clenched his eyes shut in pain as he waited for the nausea and dizziness to pass by, hoping it was only a side-effect of the concoction that knocked him out. Luckily, the pain slowly faded away, the sickness in the bottom of his stomach leaving him along with the unpleasant feeling.
Slowly, the Pegasus opened his eyes as he attempted to adjust to the light in the room, or lack thereof. The surrounding was dark and dingy, stone surrounded him as metal bars kept him from leaving his room; a cell. With weak legs, Razor attempted to move towards the door before feeling something tighten around his hind leg, the sudden pull caused him to lose his balance and slam his chin against the cold stone floor.
The stallion grunted in pain as he slowly rolled over onto his back, the cold rock somewhat relieving to his body. When he regained more of his mental awareness, Razor slowly lifted his upper body up and glanced down to his hind legs, spotting a rusted manacle. He pulled against the chain lightly a few times, testing its strength and noting of any weaknesses in it. Fate was with him it seemed, seeing as the restraint was in incredibly poor condition. If he was a larger pony, he could easily snap out of the rusted chains, but he did have a small advantage on his side.
“Come here you.” Razor mumbled weakly to the key hole as he bent his body to get a better look at it. He squinted his eyes, attempting to focus his sight. But between the swimming feeling and the poor lighting, he knew he would have to wait for a more opportune time. Coming to that conclusion, he simply let his body flop onto the stone ground once again, staring up at the mossy ceiling as he let his mind wonder.
Where was he, why did those bandits attack the post office, why was he taken hostage? A barrage of questions assaulted the stallion’s mind as he slowly began to gather his thoughts correctly. At the exact moment Razor decided he had rested long enough, the dim lights suddenly brightened and a siren sounded, shouting echoed weakly from outside his cell. An attack on his captures, this was the perfect time to escape.
With a quick crunch, Razor glanced at the hole and spotted the gears and mechanics within. He smiled lightly to himself as he closed his eyes and furrowed his brow, reaching into the lock mentally and attempted to push the latches in their correct order. With a quiet click, the stallion’s manacle released his hind leg. Freedom was his once again, and he hoped it would remain that way.
He moved towards the cell door, the shouting growing only louder as he looked through the key hold of the cell, attempting to see the tumblers. However, his patience grew thin as he simply abandoned his attempted at stealth and mentally shattered the lock, the cell gate sliding freely. With a soft smile, Razor pushed the gate open and glanced around the outside of his cell, judging the best exit. One thing was clear to him, however. It was time to escape.
The constant annoying sound of dripping water was the first thing that resonated in Kick’s ears. His head ached from the blow he had suffered, but luckily it was fading quickly; Unicorn stubbornness. As he slowly opened his eyes to examine his surroundings, the first thing catching his attention were the rusted metal bars blocking separating his cell from the corridor. Groaning from stiffness, the unicorn slowly pushed himself up and began cracking his bones, sighing in relief as the tension slowly left his limbs.
Slowly, he looked around his cell to see his accommodations; a toilet, bed and sink. “Classy.” Kick said with a half-hearted smile as he looked finished scanning the granite walls. He rolled his neck around as the bones crackled, releasing tension as the stallion walked up to the cell door and called out “Hey, can I get some room service here?” After a few moments of waiting, a guard did walk up to the cell gate and glared right at the DJ, his steel-grey eyes looking to the two toned stallions.
“Aha, finally, I was beginning to think this place was like a jail or something.” Kick began as he leaned against the door, smiling a winning smile as he continued. “”So, listen, I believe we have a bit of a misunderstanding. So, if you could unlock my cell and give me back my stuff, I’d be happy to pretend I never saw any of this.”
All the Pegasus guard did was flapping his wings once and began walking away. Kick, on the other hoof, had something else in mind. The unicorn furrowed his brow, focusing on the tail of the Pegasus and quickly pulled him back to his cell. The guard let out a quick grunt at the sudden pull before his head was slammed into the bars by the DJ’s magic, knocking him unconscious.
“Don’t feel too good, dose it.” Kick snapped quietly at the sleeping guard while his magic scanned around his waist. His smile grew as he located a bundle of keys on a large iron ring. “Thank you very much, dead weight.” Slowly, the unicorn checked each key, with every failure, the DJ’s patience grew more and more thinner, groaning with every failure until he finally found the right key.
With a click flick of the lock, the tumblers unlatched themselves and the cell was finally unlocked. The desire to be free and out of the confinement of the cell overtook his caution as he leaped out of the square that was supposed to confine him and he yelled out “Yeah, Pi9o in da house!”
Suddenly, a spear flew by; scratching the unicorn’s face as he narrowly dodged its trajectory. Kick’s anger began to boil to unforeseen heights as he felt the sting of the stale hair grace his bleeding wound. His heart began to race as his eyes dilated slowly, his breathing only growing heavier as he attempted to conceal his rage. How dare they, he thought. How dare they scratch his beautiful, gorgeous, sexy face? How dare they cause such a magnificent unicorn to bleed?
His rage was replaced with fear, however, when he spotted the hundreds of armed guards glaring at him, spears raised. Kick’s eyes widened as he started to rethink his strategy, what strategy he had conceived after waking up. The unicorn slowly raised his hoof as he scanned the wave of thugs drawing out slowly “R-r-i-i-i-ight.” Suddenly, he pointed towards an empty cell (Or at least he thought it was empty) and yelled “Hey look over there, somepony is escaping!” When he saw some of the guard’s heads turn, he followed that motion with his entire body and said in a deep, mocking voice. “It’s me!” He wasted no time with the distraction, and began moving his hooves as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
Razor slowly snuck out of his cell, looking around for the commotion, his eyes finally adjusting to the darkened area. His ears twitched as he the loud noises began to grow louder and more distinct. Looking to the sounds, the Pegasus quickly noticed an ocean of armed thugs chasing after a unicorn, the word “Buck!” quickly repeating themselves out of the stallion’s white muzzle.
With widened eyes, Razor quickly let out a loud, somewhat feminine shriek as he turned tail and quickly ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the approaching crowd. I shouldn’t use my wings right now, the Pegasus thought as he ran. This area is so narrow and I still feel a bit groggy from whatever they gave me. However, the thought was quickly pushed to the back of his mind when he could hear the repeated swear grow closer and closer behind him.
The stallion’s heart sank in fear, how could they have caught up to him so quickly? He was a Pegasus, a being known for their speed and he was going to be caught by the thugs again and this time Celestia knows what they might do to him. However, suddenly the white unicorn flew past Razor, a blast of wind following quickly behind. Fear had quickly been replaced with confusion as he slowed down, his hind legs giving out as his mind attempted to contemplate what had just happened.
“I’m a Pegasus, he’s a unicorn.” Razor said, thinking out loud and forgetting about the approaching crowd behind him. “Could he be using magic? No, I don’t see his horn glowing.” The stallion’s thought was quickly disturbed when a spear flew over him, nearly piercing through his head. He quickly glanced back and released another feminine shriek when he saw the guards nearly on top of him.
Can’t risk getting caught, Razor thought as he spread his wings and, with one powerful push, flew off the ground. His fears were quickly confirmed, however, when he felt an incredible difficulty keeping control over his trajectory. His flying was very sluggish, taking almost all of his concentration to even bank, if he wished. “Better KISS.” Razor said with a determined frown. (KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid.)
He couldn’t fly for long, however, when he spotted the corridor ending in a large granite wall. The unicorn had already stopped and frantically looked around for another way out, but judging by his harsh movement, he didn’t find one. Slowing down his flight, Razor folded his wings and smoothly landed in a run, which turned into a trot and was followed by a slow walk. With caution, the Pegasus approached the unicorn and slowly raised his hoof. “Looks like we’re trapped, friend.”
The unicorn quickly gazed over at the light yellow coated pony, his two-toned eyes meeting Razor’s azure. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he stood up and walked up to the fellow escapee. “It would seem that way, but Kick Pulse doesn’t go out without giving one heck of a show.”
Razor looked to the unicorn with a raised eyebrow, so his name was Kick Pulse. With a soft smile, he turned to be stand by his new friend’s side and glanced at the approaching mass of guards. Nothing came to the stallion’s mind as forms of escape; there was no logical way they could get past the wall of ponies until he got feeling back into his wings. His psionic powers were also greatly reduced at the moment, he was able to concentrate on the locks, but now he had to worry about not one, but over hundreds of guards wanting his head.
Suddenly, a flash of lime-green light blinded Razor’s eyes for a moment. When he glanced over to check on Kick, the unicorn had vanished. He wouldn’t need to worry about the stallion’s whereabouts for long, however, when he quickly heard him yell from the upper cell level. “Hey, you lily-livered, foal-fondling, male-mauling cowards, why don’t you come up here and pick on a real stallion instead of messing with a meek little Pegasus!”
Was I just insulted, Razor thought as he turned to see the stallion on a catwalk, attempting to antagonize some of the guards to chase him? Somehow, thought the taunt made little sense to him, it had worked; half of the guards quickly began yelling and barking colorful insults to Kick as they tossed their spears, the pegasi that were in the group flew up towards him, attempting to get a better shot at the annoying unicorn.
The distraction granted Razor the perfect opportunity, he couldn’t waste it. The stallion slowly closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, feeling his body battle the unnatural fatigue. The loud barking of the guards slowly faded in the background as his heartbeat began to overtake them. He focused his inner power, purging the fatigue momentarily out of his body. He guessed that it would last for only ten minutes, so whatever he was going to do, he would need to do it fast.
Slowly, Razor reopened his eyes as he returned to the world, hearing Kick yell “Hey, dude! Now is kind of not the time for a nap!” The first thing that met with his gaze was the tip of a lance that quickly rushed for the center of his eyes. With widened eyes, Razor stumbled backwards and let his mind race, fearing he would meet his end. However, the spear suddenly stopped, just an inch from his right pupil.
His eye quickly fluttered in shock, realizing that he subconsciously used his gift to stop the spear in the middle of its trajectory. “I can do that?” Razor thought out loud, still surprised at his ability. He had never needed to use his gift in battle before so this was the first time he had ever done anything like this. The guards gazed over at the Pegasus as he slowly regained his footing and pushed the spear to the side telekinetically. Kick’s eyes widened again as he blinked in disbelief at what had just happened. “And I thought I saw everything.” He said in surprise.
Razor glanced at his hooves as he felt a new power flow through him, his mind raced with uncontrollable force as his head began to tinge with pain. He glared at six ponies that stood in his way, attempting to gather more power. However, he had reached his maximum load and roared “Get out of my way!” as he unleashed a massive concussion blast that pushed the unwary ponies aside, their spears falling to the side. Kick quickly yelled “Celestia say what?” His voice holding complete surprise at what had just transpired.
Wasting no time, Razor quickly ran through the newly formed gap, spreading his wings as he flew into the air. “Let’s get out of here!” He yelled to the unicorn, flapping his wings to increase his speed. Kick didn’t waste much time ether, quickly using his magic to warp from catwalk, to floor, and to catwalk again, gaining more and more ground away from the confused guards.
Razor felt his mind tinge again as he lost altitude, falling down to the ground as his body began to ache from exhaustion. He didn’t expect to use so much of his mental power to push those ponies to the side, and it was taking it’s toile on the gifted Pegasus. Kick spotted his new ally falling and teleported down towards him, letting the Pegasus land softly on the unicorn’s back before he warped yet again onto the catwalk.
Luck had granted them a boon; it appeared, when Kick spotted a barred window not far from where he was running. He quickly warmed from his location to the window so he could get a good look through it, the roar of the guards hot on his heels. What he saw was nothing but dark, green and brown trees, “Great, I might meet Tarzan out here.” Kick spat as he focused his magic again, disappearing once again.
When he reappeared, however, he was outside the hideout’s walls. Attempting to hide from the guards, however, he quickly slammed his body against the wall and quickly held his breath, hoping they didn’t spot him. It felt like eternity standing against the wet granite wall, the only sound he wished to hear was the retreating hooves of the guards. He didn’t know what was wrong with his new friend, but judging by his limp posture, Kick guessed he had fallen unconscious from the use of…whatever that was.
Thankfully, the murmur of the guards soon faded and the unicorn guessed now would be the best time to move into the dark forest. He had no idea where he was, or which forest he was running into, but it was almost guaranteed he would have better chances out there than back in the forest. But that would mean he would have to leave the P.E.G. behind, but this pegasus’s life and their freedom were far more important than a piece of equipment.
Kick glanced to the Pegasus and raised an eyebrow as he repositioned him on his back, moving forward into the unknown, unaware of the new alliance he had just formed and the upcoming adventures they were bound to have.
***
“Strike through, give no quarter to the monsters!” Razor ordered Klick 12 before unleashing a loud roar as he dived towards the gap of changelings. His wings spread wide, the bladed cover gleaming menacingly on the front of his wings as he dived down to widen the gap. The Pegasus warrior spun gracefully around the drone changelings, their figures smaller and weaker than a normal pony’s proved less resistant to the slashing assault.
Thinking the battle would end with quick ease, the leader of Klick 12 glanced to the entrance before feeling a burning pain strike his side. The changeling blast pushed Razor off of his feet and onto the ground, his fur sizzling from the laser while the remaining units retaliated and swarmed their commander, covering his flanks while Captain Marine examined the downed Pegasus. “Major Breeze, are you alright?” He asked, concern obvious is his voice.
“I’m fine, Captain.” The damaged pony said as he slowly stood back up, the singed fur giving way to his scalier flesh. Some of the subordinates took second glances at the abnormal flesh as Razor stood back and dusted himself off. “We have to move forward, Captain. I’ll begin infiltration while you and the rest of the unit continue the assault on the hive through the front. Colonel Joke will meet up with you if his unit breaks through the eastern wall.”
With the brief change of plans, captain gave Major Razor Breeze a quick nod and moved forward, yelling out orders while Razor ran to the West side of the hive, his own plan was being prepared.
Kick continued to carry his unconscious ally through the forest, even after the sound of their pursuers faded. The unicorn’s eyes glanced around the similar trees and familiar bushes as he attempted to navigate his way through, the fear that he had just gotten lost causing his stomach to grow more and more irritable. His green mane began to weigh down from the mass of sweat and grime that clung to it. He didn’t care, however. Only escaping the forest he was in and making sure the Pegasus on his back is safe.
“You know, even for a Pegasus your amazingly light, man.” The stallion told his unconscious friend while he pressed forward, glancing back to see Razor still asleep. “And what was up with what happened back there? You somehow blocked a spear than knocked out five of those thugs, and next thing I know your moving almost faster than a cheetah.” Pi9o looked forward, still contemplating the unusual things he had just seen. “I mean, if you were a unicorn or even an alicorn, I wouldn’t be so freaked out. But you don’t even have a horn, how can you use magic if you don’t have a horn?”
The unicorn’s constant banter to his less than cognizant friend got some unwanted attention; it appeared, when a low growl suddenly resonated from his left. Slowly, Kick turned his head to face the source of the territorial and bestial sound. What his eyes fell upon was something he had only heard rumors off, and his heart sank at the view.
Several wooden animals stared at the stallion, their dark green eyes glowing menacingly. Most of the wolf-like golems were already hunched over, their jaws opened only slightly as they prepared to pounce on their prey. Kick couldn’t help but let out a weak squeak as he confirmed the description of the foul breathed wooden canines; Timberwolves.
Kick’s mind raced as he attempted to think of a plan for him and his sleeping friend to escape. However, his more basic thought took over as he used his magic to lift Razor up in the air and attempted to steel his nerves. “Look, you want food?” He began, then suddenly tossed the Pegasus towards the territorial pack as he yelled “Then here, take him, he’s tasty!”
Thinking that would provide with enough time to retreat, Pi9o quickly turned his figure around and with as much energy he had left, ran as fast as his stubby wee legs could move him. Several Timberwolves chased after him, however, only three staying behind to examine the slumbering stallion who had been used as a decoy. Their breath hovered over his nose as they sniffed Razor, attempting to understand if he was food or not. The scent of the air that escaped their mouths must have been so pungent, so foul, and so terrible; it had awoken him from his exhausted sleep.
With eyes shooting open, Razor’s first gazes were the dark glowing green eyes of the pack leader, glaring at him. Startled, the stallion shot his upper body up in an attempt to be ready to escape. However, the head of the timberwolf was in the way of his head as he shot up. With a loud cracking noise, similar to that of a large twig breaking, the timberwolf’s head flew up in the air while Razor, now sitting up, held onto his head after the impact. “Oh lord, that hurt.” He groaned, unaware of the other two wooden wolves around him.
They would soon make their presence be known, however, when they began to growl at the startled Pegasus. Razor’s body tensed up as his heard the hostile noises rise from behind him and, moving as slowly as he possibly could, he stood himself up and turned around to be greeted by the crouching Timberwolves. His heart sank as he was about to run for his life, but his hooves shot up, waving frantically trying to reason with the feral wooden predators. “W-wait, wait, wait!”
As if decapitating their leader, being in their territory and now proving to be a threat to their society wasn’t enough, the moment Razor shot his hooves up, the head of the alpha timberwolf fell into his legs, jaw slightly open and eyes only empty husks now. The Pegasus couldn’t help but look down at the lifeless skull he held in his legs as it had suddenly made its appearance. Even the Timberwolves appeared confused and somewhat shocked at the irony of their leader’s head falling into the pony’s arms. The stallion’s eyes quickly shot up to the other Timberwolves, all he could think of doing was giving a weak smile and chuckle nervously.
Without warning, however, the empty husks suddenly sparked open and the head of the decapitated timberwolf sprung to life, barking annoyingly at the frightened pony, even going as far as attempting to bite the hooves that held it. In an attempt to avoid being bitten, Razor quickly moved his legs away and backed away from the sudden reanimated head. As it landed on the forest ground, however, Razor’s eyes narrowed down at it as he crouched in a similar stance as the Timberwolves. With two long strides, the Pegasus slowly brought his front leg back, gathered power behind it and with one powerful kick, sent the head once again flying away from its body, yelling “I am not a chew toy!”
As the head flew through the branches and leaves and into the sky, the body of the leader finally collapsed, symbolizing to Razor (hopefully) that he had finally defeated the hungry predator. However, now he had to deal with his two lackeys that seemed to of had enough with the small comedic show the Pegasus put on. “I’d love to stay and have dinner with you fine gentlemen.” Razor started, backing away slowly as the territorial wooden wolves slowly advanced on him “But unfortunately, I have to find a certain unicorn that I get the funny feeling left me here to be eaten by the three of you.”
With a mighty leap, the two Timberwolves attempted to attack the talking pony, ether because of their hunger of cause of his annoying banter; it was unclear even to them. Razor, however, quickly flapped his wings and jumped in the air, narrowly dodging the predator’s advance. With a half-hearted smile, the stallion looked back and waved to the two hungry wood wolves as he said “Sorry, I’m not on the menu for you guys.” The moment he cleared the arms of the trees that blocked his view, Razor leveled himself out and attempted to look for mysterious unicorn, though he guessed a good place to start would be where he suddenly heard a loud “My face!” exclaimed suddenly.
Kick continued to run as fast as he could, weaving and leaping around the forest in an effort to escape his pursuers, but they continued to follow the unicorn and even appeared to be catching up to him. Fear griped his quickly beating heart as his mind raced in an effort to think of a way to out maneuver the Timberwolves. However, unfortunately for the DJ, he lacked any ideas at the moment, most of his mind focusing on just moving forward and not getting captured and used a main ingredient for a pony minuend.
As the unicorn glanced back to judge the distance he was from the hungry predators, which wasn’t very much, his footing suddenly weakened and he stumbled forward, turning into a ball of white and green. His body seemed to suddenly gain speed as he rolled away, ending up on a steep slope and rolling down even faster away from the Timberwolves. Though they did stop after seeing their dinner roll down the cliff, Kick could only yell as he felt his body become covered in mud.
If rolling down a hill wasn’t bad enough, when Kick had finally reached the bottom, his body hit a log that, from some sick and twisted view of Mother Nature, acted as the perfect ramp to launch the dizzy pony up into the air. His stomach did more flips than he was as he felt his body leave the ground fly through the air towards a direction he couldn’t begin to imagine. The poor pony started to become so disoriented and nauseous that even if he could, he didn’t want to use his magic; so he let his body roll and fly in whatever direction it wished.
Finally, after several twists, turns, bounces and painful slams around the forest, the unicorn’s spinning frenzy was finally coming to a close as he felt his movement begin to slowdown. Kick simply waited for his momentum to weaken. Eventually, his body finally flopped out from its curled position as he attempted to regain his thoughts. The world around him spun and twisted before his eyes as he glanced around his environment in an effort to understand where he was. Kick quickly closed his eyes in an attempt to stop the now throbbing headache he gained from his failed examination.
“Just sit here and wait, Kick.” The unicorn told himself as he let his body slowly readjust after the roller-coaster ride he had just gone through. His body not only ached from the constant spinning and cramping from being stuck in a circle, but also from the slams and lands he had undergone while spinning around the forest. Unfortunately, he knew he would be laughing if he had seen the same incident happen to anypony else. But it had happened to him, maybe it was due to the fact he attempted to use the Pegasus as a means of escape.
“The Pegasus!” Kick shouted in realization, shooting his upper body up. “I have to go back and try to save him.” Though when the stallion attempted to stand up, he felt his body weaken and the world suddenly spin again. He couldn’t help but let his body stumble over and fall down. With an aggravated groan, Kick simply rolled himself over and looked at the leaves that hung on the branches of the leaves. “Guess I can’t do no saving until-“
Before Kick could finish his moaning, however, the head of a timberwolf suddenly broke though the blanket of leaves in the air and slammed right into his face. The unexpected pain caused the unicorn to curl into a ball and groan in agony as he attempted to fight off the pain. Unknowingly, he had shouted “My face!” before actually covering his face. The stallion rolled around on the dirty floor as he wished the pain would go away.
Suddenly, possibly the only miracle that happened since he left the hideout, he heard a friendly voice. “So this is where you ran off to.” Kick parted his hooves to glance at the floating Pegasus, his front legs crossed as he remained suspended in the air. The unicorn felt a need to break out in a religious song at that moment, Celestia be praised he was found. With a familiar slowness, the stunned pony pushed himself up. “Well, you know. Just wanted to go out for a stroll, turn in to sonic for a few moments after getting chased by a pack of flesh eating, pony hungry, Timberwolves; Same old, same old.”
Razor chuckled as he glanced around the forest for a moment. “Well, how about we avoid meeting back up with the Timberwolves for a while. I’ll fly up and see if I can’t find an opening in the forest.” Kick didn’t have much to add as he sat own and nodded. “Hope you do, I think I need a bath.” The Pegasus uncrossed his legs and soared higher into the air, pushing apart the leaves and looking around for any sign of safety.
Luckily, Razor did spot a small town, actually not too far away. Not wanting to wait too long, the Pegasus dived down and scooped the unwary unicorn up off the ground, flying towards the town. Kick couldn’t really resist much, even if he wanted to. He had used a lot of his energy trying to escape. The two ponies remained quiet for a while before locking eyes, nodding to each other as if they thought the same thing.
Let’s not do that again.
Razor’s mind raced in an order to understand all that had just transpired in such a short amount of time. In less than a few hours, he had made friends with a unicorn whose name he didn’t even know, learned more of his power that seemed to continue to manifest without his knowledge, escaped from an abandoned (and very poorly kept) fort, decapitated a timberwolf and made a fool out of two more Timberwolves. A lot of questions rose from the recent incidents, and he desired answers for all of them. One of the questions, he supposed, could be answered right now.
“Say.” He started, glancing down to the unicorn in his legs. “Is it alright if I ask your name? I’d like to know the name of the pony I’m carrying, so if you’re a bad guy, I can drop you and leave you to the Timberwolves.” Kick paused for a moment at his companion’s words. It was a good seventy-five foot drop from where they were and if he would have been dropped from this height, might as well call him lunch for the forest. The somewhat concerned stallion glanced up at Razor as he said “Kick Pulse, otherwise known as Pi9o.”
Razor nodded to himself, taking in his words. “Kick, huh? My name is Razor Windblade Breeze, otherwise known as heir to Count Swift Windblade Action’s estate.” Kick paused again at the Pegasus’s words. He attempted to gather his thoughts, but at the moment simply couldn’t for the simple fact that; this Pegasus was weird. He could do things a unicorn could do without the horn, he was oddly strong enough to lift Kick up, and he let out way too much information. But, the unicorn thought, better have a nice weird pony than a pony that wants to use you as a sleeping bag.
After several silent, and rather awkward, moments of flying passed by, they had finally reached the edge of the town. Razor slowly descended until he was sure his new friend could safely land before loosening his grip on him and letting him drop gently on the ground. Wanting to get a better view of the area, the Pegasus quickly ascended and flew over the town for a moment, his eyes scanning the colorful buildings.
It had a basic, small town feel to it. A large building sat in the center of the town, most likely acting as town hall. Several single to two-story houses covered a fourth of the circular town, possibly the majority of the residents lived in that section. Several stories, including a very extravagant and beautiful building, took up another fourth; Razor guessed that the area was possibly used as a shopping district or some kind of hub of sorts. A large tree that appeared to be fashioned and hollowed out to be some kind of house over took a whole half of the town, though that didn’t say much considering the place was borderline hamlet.
But what caught the young stallion’s eye, however, was the sheer beauty of the land. The lush mixtures of green life flowed across the ground, the exact opposite of his father’s estate. A constant happy vibe played across the small village and Razor couldn’t help but smile, he felt a tinge of envy grip his soul as he was so used to the dead and pitiful existence the ponies in the Badlands had managed to forge for themselves. He was simply trying to be optimistic for the youngling’s sake; he did dislike a lot of things about his home.
“Hey, Razor.” Kick called out from the edge of a field, snapping Razor out of his mesmerized daze. “You see anything we could possibly use to eat, I’m starving.” At the mention of food, the Pegasus’s stomach began to growl and groan with desire. All the use of energy appeared to have left a want for food in the stallion’s stomachs, a problem that was most severe.
The Pegasus’s eyes scanned the surrounding area and with double the luck, he had spotted an orchard not too far away. With raised enthusiasm, Razor dived down and softly landed next to Kick, pointing towards the orchard. “I spotted some trees over there with fruit in them. We could possibly grab a few and use those for now. The unicorn smiled lightly at his Pegasus friend as he wrapped his front leg around his neck and hugged him. “Man, I should of gotten a Pegasus friend sooner, you guys are awesome.”
After exchanging a friendly laugh, the two stallions made their way towards the orchard, unaware of the large red barn and ignoring the white fence that was supposed to keep them or at least warn them that the orchard belonged to somepony. Their hunger was taking over their proper thinking procedure and the thought of eating apples, for Kick they were good but Razor loved them, and for good reason.
Apples, or any kind of fruit for that matter, were rare even for ponies with contacts out in the Badlands. The inhospitable land made it impossible to grow food of any kind, and only select spots actually had fertile enough soil to grow, which these were already owned by dukes and counts from across the desert. Razor was only allowed one apple every year, the day of his birth was the day he chose to have his apple.
Finally, with much anticipation and the growing noise of the stallion’s stomachs, they had reached a tree that held apples for them. Kick’s horn glowed light green for a moment as he glanced at two ripe looking red apples, the same green light radiating from them. Slowly, the two apples forced themselves off of their branch and moved down towards the two stallions. Razor lightly grabbed his while the unicorn quickly began eating his own. With a much self-control, the Pegasus slowly ate his apple, savoring the taste and the liquid that soothed his parched palate, a euphoric bliss coming over him as he indulged in the miracle fruit.
Kick couldn’t help but stare at his companion’s expression as he slowly ate the apple, raising an eyebrow in concern. “Do you and that apple need to get a room, or are you going to blow right there?” Razor’s eyes suddenly shot open as he realized he was verbally enjoying the apple, moaning and groaning at the taste of the red fruit. “I heard of the forbidden fruit, but if you get like that after eating just one apple, I think you need to cut yourself right there.” The stallion’s face blushed from his friend’s teasing; he didn’t mean to enjoy the fruit so much in all honesty.
Kick began to laugh, but it was short lived when a thick accented voice spoke up from behind him “What in tarnation do ya’ll think you’re doing eating the Apple Family’s apples?” Razor glanced behind his companion to see a strong, yet feminine orange earth pony, giving him a very stern look. She wore a Stetson on her head which helped protect her eyes from the sun. Her mane and tail was a beautiful blonde tied up in a ponytail and seemed to shine in the sun light.
Razor felt his heart skip a beat, he did have a weakness for mares of the country variation, and this one was as cowgirl as you could get. Kick craned his head back to spot the stern mare as he smiled, the remains of his apple still floating before him. “Apple Family’s apples?” He asked in confirmation. The orange mare took began walking up to the two stallions, the intimidating glare in her eyes only growing as she said “That’s right, Apple Family’s apples, or did you not notice our house, barn and fence which surrounds our entire orchard?” Kick’s backed away from the mare, a nervous smile playing on his face as he began with “No-“
“Excuse me, ma’am.” Razor started, a part of his mind suddenly taking over in an attempt to save his friend. “I apologize greatly for my friend and mine blatant disregard for regular etiquette and our manners were simply lacking. However, in our defense, we did just escape from a group of ponies that had taken us forcefully from our homes and planned to do Celestia-knows-what with us. You see, since we recently escaped, we have yet to regroup for an attempt to retake our possessions and in order for us to be fully recovered after such an ordeal, we needed to eat and your family’s orchard was the closes thing we could find. Now, if you would be so kind as to trust me and my friend here, we can pay you for the apples we eat, plus interest, if you give us enough time to plan a way to infiltrate our assailant’s base and reclaim our possession, as well as save what other ponies may be stuck in there.”
The orange mare’s stern expression switched to a mixture of confusion, disbelief and amazement. Even Razor himself was taken aback by the sudden diplomatic explanation of what had just occurred to him and how they arrived to the current situation. He kept a very calm and collected expression which he had learned from his father, however. “Well.” She started, thinking of what Razor had said. “So, ya’ll just got out of a heap of trouble, came here to rest, and ya’ll plan on going back to get your stuff and save some ponies?” Razor simply nodded, seeing as how his friend was still surprised at the sudden political speech.
“I guess if ya’ll keep ya word and pay for them apples eventually, there’s no harm in it.” Razor bowed in a respective manor, his bangs falling past his ears and covering his eyes gracefully as he said “I thank you, miss, for your kindness and patience with us. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Razor Windblade Breeze.” Kick stuttered for a moment, still taken aback from his friend’s change. All he could do was shoot his front limbs out and yell “What?” The mare simply giggled at Razor and Kick’s disposition as she said “Well, shuks, ya don’t have ta be all formal with little ol’ me. My name’s Applejack and I help run Sweet Apple Acres here.” Razor quickly ran the name over in his head in an effort to remember it. “Then I thank you still, Miss. Applejack. We will eat till we are freed of our hunger, than we will begin our return to the fort.”
“Now, hold on a minute partner.” Applejack said with a sudden stern voice. “If ya’ll just got out of the mess so soon, and I know I saw ya’ll come from Everfree Forest, you must be exhausted after running from not only your nappers, but dem Timberwolves too. Now I appreciate ya’ll willing to prove your honesty and pay off your debt and all, but I doubt ya’ll even have the strength to run, let alone go back into the Everfree.”
To their distain, she was right. Razor felt his body’s weakness the moment she mentioned it, and Kick’s magic was greatly fading away from his constant teleportation and his little spin cycle incident. “Now if ya’ll want, I’m pretty sure we could let you stay in the barn for da night, free of charge.” The stallions both smiled at Applejack with gratitude as Razor bowed to her once again. “Thank you very much, Miss. Applejack.” The mare simply giggled as she said
“Applejack is fine.”