Author's Note

"Under 1,000 word chapter?!" the reader exclaimed.

Yes ... you're seeing that right. There are some pretty tiny chapters that were put here back in 2017. Apparently, 15 year old me did not understand that chapters should probably be a bit longer than a few paragraphs. There's even one later on that is

300

words long! Incredible. Oh well ... it is what it is. Like I said, I'm not editing these Original chapters. They are in the history books now, or something like that.

Nothin' but Trouble

We turned a corner to see the top of the castle completely engulfed in spewing smoke and the bottom obliterated, raging with flames. There was a crowd of ponies in front of the castle, one of which was lying on the ground, surrounded in blood.

What got my attention, and surprised me profusely was three more white teenage boys. The tallest one was yapping aggressively to the remaining ponies while one of the sidekicks had a shotgun to them. The last one was holding a pistol at his side. All the ponies were trembling, some laying on the ground. That's when I knew these boys had to be taken care of ... even if it caused a mess, which I didn't want to think about.

Dash and I immediately snuck to a nearby bush, using it as camouflage. I looked over my m9 quickly, but still thought about how bad it would perform in this situation. This was a pistol, and it was the first gun I'd held in over ten months.

The crowd was a ways away, and I couldn't guarantee the accuracy of the shot would be any good. It's not like it would hit any of the ponies, but there were three targets. With the inaccuracy of the pistol plus my lack of skill, I wouldn't be able to knock them all out without more bodies dying than there needed to be.

I could spot Twi, Rarity, and Spike in the front of the crowd, shaking nervously like the rest of them.

"Devan, do something!" Dash whispered.

"I can't take the risk of firing the gun," I said, continuing to observe the three boys. They all had backpacks on, and the tall one was wearing a bandana around his neck. They all had on caps, and they didn't look to be too much older than me.

The main one aggressively snatched Rarity by the neck, and put a pistol to her head. Spike ran up, but was knocked flat on his face by the other pistol-guzzling sidekick.

"Devan! Do something already!"

"Oh, but he won't be doing anything," I heard a mare's voice behind me before getting the back of my head kicked ferociously, falling face first into the ground. The gun fell out of my hands and slid in front of me. Feeling dizzy, I heard shuffling, along with Dash's voice. I looked at the gun and reached out for it. It felt like a dream. A weary, dizzy, painful dream.

Before I could grab it, another hand picked up the gun, surprising me. I looked up to see an actual teenage girl. She gripped the gun and kicked me hard in the ribs, making me cough.

"Why are you doing this?" I pulled myself up to my knees.

"Shut it. I'm taking you over to Pete. He'll have a word with you." She yanked me up by the shirt. "You too, rainbow pony."

She kicked me in front, and I felt the coolness of the pistol against the back of my head. "Just walk normally." She held the pistol tightly. Still a bit dizzy, I followed her orders. Soon after we started walking over, we got the attention of the three boys, followed by the rest of the crowd.

"Aye, you got him. Good work, Jen," the tallest boy threw Rarity back to the ground, and came face to face with me. "So, you're the pony lover?" he glanced at Dash. "Sounds pretty stupid." He kicked Dash hard, knocking her to the ground.

"Dash!" I went to grab her hoof, but he blocked me with his available arm. I stopped before seeing an opportunity. Not knowing whether or not the girl still had my m9 pointed towards me, I tried to snag the pistol in his other hand. His gun was pointed sideways, and fired one shell into the ground. I managed to shove him to the ground while he struggled. Despite fighting for the gun, I got my other hand locked on his neck and squeezed ferociously. Rage from seeing Dash get hit drove my adrenaline. Soon after, one of his sidekicks bulldozed me out of the grip I had, sending me to the ground as well. The female grabbed me from the back and held me back by my armpits.

"You idiot!" The tall male was helped up as he grabbed a knife out of his back pocket.

"No ... please!" Dash yelled.

He took the knife and slowly slid it across my neck, forcing me to feel the coolness. I looked eye to eye as he took it and unexpectedly sliced it fast down my right eye. My vision through it blacked out immediately, and I felt blood rushing down my cheek. The cut sent throbbing pain directly to my brain, giving me an almost instant headache as my heart beat in my cheek. The crowd of ponies caused a ruckus.

"Ah!" I hollered, and squirmed in the girl's grip.

The girl had let go, and he pounced on top of me. The knife reflected light from the fire as my remaining vision blurred. Blood was oozing out of my eye quickly, and the ruckus in the crowd echoed in my ears.

I was barely conscious when he gripped the knife in both hands, and pulled back. Was this it? Before he could jab the knife through my skull, he was shoved off of me abruptly. I couldn't hear well at all now, but the last thing I heard before zoning out was Discord's voice over the commotion. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but I was glad he was back to help.