You wake up with a groan, sitting up slowly you rubbed your head in a futile attempt to rid yourself of the hangover preventing clear thought. Standing up turned out to be mistake as you quickly became too dizzy to manage it. Instead you settled for slumping down against the wall. For a while you stayed like this trying to regain last night's memories. The headache, as well as the taste and smell of cheap beer on your breath explained why you was feeling like shit at least. And partially explained why you were in an alleyway on... in New York. You’re pretty sure it’s New York. A second try at standing leaves you clutching at the wall for support. Slumping back down you try and piece together the events leading up to this. Nothing. You've never been 'blackout drunk' before, and after this you'll never be again. The hangover alone was enough to make you want to give up drinking... Well maybe not entirely, but you're definitely going to be limiting yourself at parties. For now though you needed to reorient yourself, and that meant getting up and getting out of this alley.
The third attempt to stand works, granted your dizzy and the headache got worse but your standing (mostly) upright. So having mastered the art of standing you perform an inventory check. Unsurprisingly your wallet, keys, and phone are missing. Which leaves you with the clothes you have on and your wits. Check that; even your wits have abandoned you. Anyway time to head off. Exiting the alley you're greeted by the standard Manhattan streets slightly dirty, full of noise, and crowds of peop...small colorful horse creatures...okay this might just make you give up on alcohol. Well these...ponies? Ponies. These ponies are staring at you, best say something.
“Um, hello. Could one of you-”
Aaand they all go into a panic. Great.
Well so far this whole experience has been terrible. Nobody will talk with you,
unless you're misinterpreting the meaning of the screaming. And as it turns out, apart from being scared little creatures these ponies are also rather clever. Within hours of your arrival you spotted ponies in gold armor. It took three different close encounters with these guard ponies before you realized that they were trying to box you in. They were surprisingly effective. Even had flying ponies (pegasi you suppose) covering the roofs. Fortunately resourcefulness and a love of teenage mutant ninja turtles led to prying open a manhole cover and a sewer escape. Granted it’s not the cleanest escape, apparently these ponies were still figuring out “clean” sewage” systems, but it got you away from the authorities.
After what felt like hours you finally deem it safe to get out of the sewers. Carefully lifting a manhole cover, you peer out doing a full three-sixty you stop when you come face to foot with a large pair of sneakers. Pushing away the cover you look up, and then further up, into the first familiar face of the day.
"Hello Anonymous, need a hand up?" Buddy said offering the aforementioned hand. You take it, easily being lifted out of the sewer. “Come on, Grim is waiting for us.”
Spike considered himself a helpful dragon, years of assisting Twilight had proven that. Right now however he felt about as useful as Hum Drum. Twilight, and Fluttershy, had been called back to Manehattan by that crystal map of theirs, or is it the castle's map? And they had brought Spike along for the ride with some vague idea about him being helpful here. At first Spike had been excited to go on an adventure to the city, at least he was until the they had learned that three unidentifiable creatures had appeared, beat up the royal guard (and half the police force), and were now hiding somewhere in the city. And to top it off, he had gotten separated from Twilight and Fluttershy. Needless to say Spike was feeling pretty useless at the moment.
Wandering around alone in Manehattan was anything but fun. Spike had done it
before when he and the mane six had arrived for Rarity's fashion show, and it wasn't any more fun then. Looking around in the hopes of a familiar...anything, Spike, to his great dismay, saw what could only be one of the unidentified creatures. What was worse is that the creature saw him. To say it was large was an understatement. The thing was easily eight feet tall, and far more muscled than any minotaur. Apart from a dark brown mane (the dreads of which hung to its shoulders) it was hairless, the smooth skin showing was a light brown. A gray cloth covered it's torso leaving its, arms, uncovered, and blue denim covered it's legs.
For awhile Spike and the creature just stared at each other, then it beckoned to
Spike. Spike was scared, this thing wasn't even supposed to be here, The guards and police had confirmed that the creatures were isolated. Everypony between east 14th ave and west 34th ave had been moved to ensure isolation. So why was one in the middle of a populated area? Spike was on the verge of panic now, he and the creature had been watching each other for a full five minutes now. The fact that nopony else seemed to notice the seven feet of... of whatever spices it was wasn't helping Spike to calm himself. As he continued to panic, Spike suddenly had a thought. If the map had sent Twilight and Fluttershy to find theses things then finding them was helpful. And with his spotted win/loss record, Spike was ready to take this as a win. So the next step should be to find the rest of... of whatever the creatures were called, and that meant going with the big, scary, unknown creature. Yeah, getting lost in Manehattan wasn't fun at all.
Spike wasn't sure what he expected when he finally followed the creature. A old
and run down bar wasn't it. Spike had been led into and through the sewer systems, well it was more accurate to say that he was carried. But when they had finally exited the sewers, they had come out into a basement. Spike was then carried upstairs into the bar, it's most notable features were the beds, and the second of the three creatures. It wore the same clothes as the one carrying Spike, but it was shorter by two and half feet. And unlike the one carrying spike, this one had very light pink skin (to the point where it was almost white) and had short, straight, black hair as opposed to dreads. Most notable (and what scared Spike the most) was that part of its jaw was tattooed to look like bone.
"Buddy, what have you brought home now?"
The creature carrying Spike... Buddy, set him down then made a series of
gestures with his...hands?
"Really? You didn't see anyone with him?"
More gestures.
"Alright. You kid! What's your name?"
Spike practically jumped at the sudden question. He had been more interested in
Buddy's way of talking through hand motions.
"I-I'm Spike." Spike silently cursed at how afraid he sounded.
"Spike. Ssssspike. That's a nice tough sounding name. I'm Grimm." Grimm
extended his hand, offering it to Spike, who shook it hesitatingly. "You've already met Buddy."
"Gods, where are our manners?" Grimm said, moving around to the back of the
bar. "You want anything Spike? How about you you Buddy?"
"Erm, soda I guess." Spike said.
Buddy made another hand motion and was tossed a beer can. Setting the soda
in front of spike, Grimm leaned forward taking a sip of his own drink as he watched Spike.
"Hey you're a dragon right?" Grimm asked
"Umm, yeah." Spike said. "I mean, I'm not really like other dragons, but yes I'm a
dragon."
"Good good. Alright then little Spike. While we wait for the fourth member of our
party, why don't you tell us about yourself."
"Sorry, the map does what?"
You were surprised when you saw Spike after getting back from your grocery run,
after all, dragons are always cool. But some of the stuff he was telling you about just didn't make sense.
"Well... I guess the castle can kind of, sense when problems occur." Spike said,
clearly not fully knowing himself. "And then it decides who to send. At least I think that's how it works. Twilight could tell you more about it."
"Twilight's the princess right?" Grimm said, cutting in. "A...what did you call it?
Alicorn?"
"That's right. She and Fluttershy... Oh no!" Spike's eye went wide with realization.
"They must be looking everywhere for me! I gotta get back!"
"Then we should get going." You state, standing up. "I think we'd like to meet
those two, right guys?"
Buddy nods, standing he picks up Spike, placing the kid on his shoulder. Turning
to Grimm he asks.
"We aren't waiting for the others?"
"No." Grimm says, stretching as he stands. "We aren't going to wait. They'll show
up eventually."
"Uh. Who's going to show up?" Spike asks.
"Our other three friends and members of M-R-7."
"What's M-R-7?"
"Our gang. We don't have everybody yet. We're still missing King, South,
and Xan."
"But that's only six."
"Huh? What do you mean 'that's only six'" You ask.
"Well if you guys are M-R-7, then there should be seven of you." Spike
says. Looking between you and Grimm, he starts listing of names. "Grimm, Anonymous, Buddy, King, South, and Xan."
"And Spike." Grimm says. "You forgot to count yourself."
"Wait what!? Me? But I."
You hold up your hand to silence him. Offering Spike a smile you say,
"Don't object Spike. If Grimm says you're part of M-R-7, then you're part of the M-R-7."