A Gentleman in Equestria

Chapter 8:

I had awoken from my nap feeling extremely good. My hangover had mostly disappeared but, more importantly, I was also now in a relationship with Vinyl. This warm feeling of contentment had settled in my stomach and a smile was on my face as I climbed out of bed in search of coffee.

    I whistled a small tune, crossed the sitting room to the kitchen and began to search the cupboards.

  ‘It has to be somewhere around here.’ I thought as I failed to find the coffee in any of the cupboards. I scanned the counter once more to see if I had overlooked it, but there was nothing. There was an absence of java.

    At this point I began worrying. No coffee meant I was going to be tired, and being tired meant I would be in a bad mood, due to crankiness, and being angry didn’t seem a great idea considering the incident yesterday.

    I considered my options, and decided it was best that I walked to the cafeteria and got a coffee there. I would have to do without it for a few minutes, but some coffee is better than none any day. I wrote Vinyl a note (I should say, writing with your mouth is hard), telling her where I went, and left.

After walking the through the halls to the cafeteria, (which took a little longer than expected due to getting lost) I had attained a cup of coffee.

  “Ahhh, sweet java!” I sighed, as the brown beverage made its way down my throat.

  “ARCH OVER HERE!” a shout came, piercing my ears. I winced and cursed under my breath at the pain in my ears and then turned to see Thunder sitting at a table with Rainbow Dash, waving. I levitated the cup and walked over to the table. I sat down opposite the two and sipped my coffee once more.

  “So, uh, what happened with you and Vinyl this morning?” Thunder asked, “You two were talking, then you hugged.”

  “Oh, that. Well, Vinyl and I are in a relationship now.” I told them. It was rather blunt, but I’m not so great at explanations.

  “Really? Good for you guys!” Thunder remarked.

  “Thanks,” I replied, “I’m sure Vinyl will tell you more about it later.”

  "Hey yeah, where is Vinyl anyway?" Thunder asked.

  "Last time I saw her, she was still sleeping off the hangover." I replied. "I'm surprised, I thought she'd have quite a resistance to alcohol, considering she's a DJ and parties all the time."

  "Yeah," Thunder concurred, "after all that she shouldn't be that much of a lightweight."

  "What're you two talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked, confused, "Vinyl isn't a DJ, and she just sits in her room every night, studying."

  "Huh." Thunder said.

  "I would of thought differently." I remarked.

    We sat there for a while idly chatting for a few minutes while I drank the rest of my coffee.

   "And that's why I'm the best flier in Equestria!" Rainbow finished.

  "Yeah, but not for long!" Thunder said, "As soon as I learn a few tricks, you're going down Rainbow Dash!"

  "Yeah right!" Rainbow replied. I laughed at the two of them bickering.

   I was about to interject when a voice called out.

  "YOU!" the voice came. I winced for the second time that morning and turned in my seat to see who was being shouted at. I was surprised when I saw that everypony in the cafeteria was looking at me and one pony in particular was ponting at me with his hoof.

  "What do you want?" I asked the orange pony who was pointing at me. He was one of the bullies that I had beat up the other day.

  "I want revenge!" the pony said, "and a fair fight! I know that you hit me with something metal the last time."

  "Actually, I didn't, it was just my hoof." I told him.

  "Yeah right, liar." he retorted, "You're a freak too, with your weird-ass eyes."

  "Eyes?" I muttered, but quickly remembered that Vinyl had said my eyes had changed in the last fight.

  "Are we going to do this, freak?" the orange pony asked. I stood up and away from the table. I'd had enough of this guy, I was trying to enjoy my I lowered my voice.

  "I came here to kick ass and drink coffee. And I've finished my coffee."

  "Don't do it!" a voice called out as I squared up to my opponent.

  "Bust the freak up!"

  "You'll only get hurt Track!" another said.

     The orange pony, who I now knew as Track, charged at me. I planned to make the same move as last time, to dodge out the way, but I was slammed into with the full force of his weight. I hit the floor with an audible thud, pain coursing through my ribs as I did so. Fortunately, the hit had taken some effect on Track, and I was able to push him off of me before he recovered.

    The pain hindered my ability to stand straight, and I could only just keep myself up. Track was now picking himself up, but before he could stand fully I delivered a quick punch to his face, sending him down again.

    I felt momentarily victorious, triumphing over the thug. I stood back and let the fight be over.

  “Arch, you might want to take a look behind you!” Whooves shouted from the crowd now watching the brawl. I turned. Unluckily, Track’s two friends were behind me, and they didn’t seem like they wanted to have a chat and some biscuits.

    One rushed at me. I knew there was no chance in hell of dodging him, so I tried to stop him in his tracks with magic. I concentrated, and reached out with my telekinetic ability. A black glow formed around the thug, stopping him momentarily. Sadly, I was not strong enough to keep him still for long, and he was released from my magical grasp within seconds. He continued to come towards me and grabbed me before I could react. He moved round to behind me and held my forelegs at my back.

    Track had by now stood up straight, fully recovered from my hit. He walked round to my front.

  “Now, freak. Don’t try anything this time.” he said, staring daggers at me. He threw a punch at my stomach that knocked the breath out of me. I almost staggered, but I was held in place by the thug at my back.

    Then, out of nowhere, a shout came, followed by a raging pony.

  “AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!” Thunder roared as he galloped out of the crowd and tackled the thug that had not yet moved. The thug crashed to the ground under the sheer weight of Thunder, but he quickly pushed Thunder off and kicked him back towards the edge of the crowd.

  “Thunder!” Rainbow yelled, and made her way towards the front of the crowd to make sure Thunder was okay. The thug stayed on the floor, too exhausted to move.

  ‘I could really do with that adrenaline from the other day right now.’ I thought, ‘If this continues I’ll get the shit kicked out of me.’

    Track threw another punch, this time at my face. I felt a warm flow of blood make its way down my muzzle from my nose.

  “Had enough, freak?” he spat. I didn’t respond; he wasn’t going to get the satisfaction of hurting me. “Did you hear me?” He punched me in the gut.

  “Arch!” a familiar voice shouted out from the crowd. A few seconds later, Vinyl had pushed her way to the edge of the crowd. “Arch, what’s happened to you!?” she asked, a look of distress across her face.

  “Vinyl, stay back; I don’t want these guys hurting you.” I warned her. If one of them laid a hoof on her... Blood would be spilt.

  “But-” Vinyl began, but I cut her off.

  “Vinyl, please, I want you safe and- Argh!” I was stopped mid-sentence by an uppercut from Track.

  “Shut up! Or I will hit the bitch too!” he yelled. That made something snap inside me.

  “I’m sorry, I misheard, what will you do?” I said, my eyes narrowing.

  “I will hit the bitch!” Track replied.

  “Wrong answer.” I replied.

    The flood of energy flowed once again round my body. All the pain and exhaustion from the hits I took disappeared. I felt less powerful than I had been before, but this time it seemed like I was in control.

  “He’s doing it again!” Track said to his thugs. He began to back away from me. I yanked my hooves away from the thug behind me and punched Track in the jaw. He stumbled back a few paces, holding the spot where I hit him. I pivoted round just in time to block a strike from the thug behind me and followed up by delivering a swift blow to his gut. He clutched his abdomen in pain. I used the opening to kick the back of his hindleg, taking him from his two-legged stance to the floor.

    I turned back around to Track, who was attempting to force his way through the dense crowd. I quickly closed the distance between us and pulled him away. I pushed him to the floor.

  “Tell me Track,” I said to him, mimicking his words from when he had bested me before, “how did you think this would go? Did you think that you would get away with such disrespect?” Track tried to move, but I held him in place with magic. I leaned down to him and whispered in his ear.  “Next time, I won’t be so merciful.” I stepped off him and he scampered away.

    I began to walk to a nearby table. The crowd parted around me, seemingly scared of me or what I could do. I sat down and rested my head on the table, sighing. Seconds later, I felt a hoof gently touch my back. I turned round to see Vinyl looking at me, smiling slightly. I smiled back, even her presence making me happy.

  “Thank you for that, Arch.” Vinyl said, sitting down next to me.

  “Well, you are my marefriend. I don’t like it when ponies insult you.” I said.

  “You’re such a gentlecolt.” Vinyl replied, kissing me on the cheek.

  “Uh, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’d like to talk to you about something.” A voice said from behind us. We both turned in our seats to see a lavender pony standing next to the table. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you.” Twilight said with a friendly tone in her voice.

  “Hi Twilight, I’m Archimedes. But please, call me Arch.” I replied.

  “I’m Vinyl Scratch. Good to meet you too.” Vinyl said. She nodded at Twilight.

  “Arch, I’d like to ask you about the strange power you seem to be exhibiting.” Twilight stated. ‘Power?’ I thought, ‘Does she mean that adrenaline thing?’

  “I’ve seen both of the fights you’ve gotten into.” Twilight continued, “And I’d like to help you control this energy you seem to possess.”

  “Control it?” I asked, hoping that this meant I wouldn’t go crazy like the first time.

  “Yes, Arch. If you’d let me, I might be able to help you.”