The Heir and the Chimeraby Unit ScoutChaptersChapter 2: The Monster MarketChapter 3: The Morning Head CountChapter 4: Sewer RatsChapter 5: Patching the DayChapter 6: Fun Time is OverChapter 7: The Beginning of the StormChapter 1: A short history of the HeirChapter 8: Parts and MutationsChapter 2: The Monster MarketIn the dark streets of Canterlot, the pony in black had to stay close to the struggling Glass Cannon. It felt like a 2-hour trip to the Monster Market. The Monster Market was in the “poorly kept” part of the city. It was a grey building with a metal door in the front and random plants everywhere around it. The plants felt like they were staring at the pony in black and Glass Cannon. The door appeared to move on its own and the ponies ran in. Inside the room lit by a black light, there is a cargo elevator at the other side of the room and more ponies in black acting as guards. Glass Cannon nervously grabs his sword. One of the guards asks, “That’s Glass Cannon, Jaws?” The pony that brought Glass Cannon (Jaws), “Yes, I got him from his own mansion.” “Not usually a wise choice to do that, Mr. Rubyshoes, but you got lucky tonight. Take that elevator there.” Glass Cannon awkwardly says, “Thank you.” Jaws leads Glass Cannon into the elevator. Jaws asks, “So what are you looking for?” Glass Cannon answers, “I want a goat mon… no a snake, no, a tiger.” “We do happen to have something that is all 3.” Jaws presses a button, a gate door appears and blocks the entrance. The elevator goes down. Every floor has its own monster breeds. They see a couple seconds of each creature, like hydras and muti-headed dogs. After a few more floors, they stop at the Chimera floor but the gate doesn’t open. Jaws asks, “How much did you bring?” Glass Cannon answers, “I need to count.” Before Glass Cannon could count, a parrot’s voice says, “183 bits, Cheapskate.” Jaws says, “Thank you, Star.” “Give me more water.” Star squawks. “After the sell, Star.” He turns to Glass Cannon. “With that ‘amount’ I can get you a basic model of Chimera but you do have a choice with its heads.” Glass Cannon asks inquisitively, “I’m pretty sure a monster should come with its heads already on.” “We have heads with experience that is needed to protect you, rather than some newborn.” Jaws opens the gate and it reveals many combinations of snake, tiger, goat and even dragon creatures (Chimeras). Jaws advises Glass Cannon to stay behind him because the Chimeras were known to attack new customers that they think are intruders. As the ponies walked down the hall, Glass Cannon stayed close behind Jaws. A few claws and a burst of flames strike at Glass Cannon’s tail and misses. Glass Cannon asks, “Can I go back in the elevator?” “Do you want me to pick your parts or do you want to supervise your first purchase?” “I trust you to make my chimera, as long as I get back in the elevator.” “Ok, what do you want your Chimera do?” “As long as I have a bodyguard that can protect me and my grand uncle’s place, I’ll be happy.” Glass Cannon see snakes come out of Jaws’s cloak. They grab Glaas Cannon and his bits. The snake throws him at the elevator. The landing was surprising soft. Glass Cannon looks around and notices that he is above a mattress. Star squawks, “Spineless.” Glass Cannon takes the insult and then he falls asleep on the soft mattress. He dreams about being back at home safe and sound. After a while, Glass Cannon is rudely awakened. He was tossed on something soft and furry. Glass Cannon was awake enough that he knew that he was thrown but not enough to react. Jaws says, “Getting a bit ahead of yourselves aren’t you?” Glass Cannon asks, “Huh?” A voice says, “Can the massster even sssee us?” As Glass Cannon gets fully awake, he realizes that he is the back of his new chimera staring at a goat head (with black fur and tan horns) staring at him. He looks around and sees a green snake head with red eyes, “Cool this thing has a small dragon head.” The snake head says, “I’m a conssstrictor sssnake.” Jaws added, “You didn’t have enough for the dragon upgrade. You have the standard tiger, goat, and snake chimera combo. We pride ourselves in our genetically modified monsters or Gene Mod Mons to save time. I got a book about different chimera and everything you need to know about maintaining yours including what you can add to them.” Glass Cannon asks, “Add what pounds?” “No well maybe… what I mean is like Gene Mods and maybe some armor but that is somewhere esle. Gene Mods like claws that can climb walls, a longer neck for your snake head, or an organ that will help your goat regenerate her magic.” “This comes with a magic user?” The goat head says, “I can do magic but our body needs to be hit with it for me to recharge.” Glass Canon turns to the goat head, “What can you do?” “I can use telekinesis and lighting bolts.” “This is looking to be very promising, so where is the tiger?” A voice says, “I’m in front of this body, maintaining the muscle of this team.” The elevator starts moving and then Jaws give Glass Cannon a book labeled ‘Guide to The Monster Protection Market’s Monsters: Chimera Edition’ and 3 bits. Glass Cannon puts away the book and bits in his empty bag. Jaws notices Glass Cannon’s eyes constantly trying to keep open. Jaws offers, “I can lead them to your home and I speak for you to your servants about your purchase while you take a nap.” Glass Cannon says, “That sounds great. See you in the morning.” Glass Cannon makes himself conferrable on his chimera’s back. As the chimera walks, he falls asleep on the soft fur with the help of constant rocking. Chapter 3: The Morning Head CountIt is morning in Canterlot, Glass Cannon is in his bed barely waking up. He has a hard time getting up from his bed. He slowly opens his eyes but cannot see anything. He feels the softness and warmth of his blankets. He struggles to move around. A voice says, “Our Master is awake.” Some of the blankets open up to reveal that it was the Chimera’s fur surrounding Glass Cannon. This is the first time that he sees the front pattern of his new guard. The coat is orange with black stripes and its matching head fits the description of a tiger. The tiger head says, “You’re safe now.” The snake head comments, “I can only sssense your workers.” Glass Cannon asks, “What?” “I can see heat in other beingsss even through wallsss.” “That sounds cool, but why was I wrapped like an asparagus in a blanket?” “It wasss my idea, master. If we wrapped ourssselvesss around you to make sssure you’re sssafe with usss taking the hitsss firssst.” “Wait outside my door. I have things to do before we get on with my day.” The Goat head asks, “Will you be fine without us?” “I am sure I can clean and cloth myself without some thug jumping me.” The Chimera obeys their master and waits outside. After an hour, Glass Cannon comes out of his room with his favorite pink suit. He walks down the hall for breakfast with his bodyguard. As they walk down, a pegasus in a brown suit (and has a few cards with bits as a cutie mark) goes up to Glass Cannon. Glass Cannon recognize the shaking bits as he walks. Glass Cannon turns to the pony in the brown suit, “Hello, Card Counter?” Card Counter says, “I have been reading your monster buying guide. My research advices you to get the Divide and Conquer Combo. It gives your ‘bodyguard’ the ability to split up to 3 bodies for a little while and can fuse back. The combo also includes the Magic Organ so your goat can do more tricks. It will only cost 60 bits” “I’ll get it after breakfast.” “I don’t recommend getting any other of those Gene Mods until a week has passed. You don’t want to blow your spending cash for mods, you want that will make things worse.” “Noted, Card Counter.” “Your bodyguard can only have 10 Gene Mods, 1 for each head, and 7 for the body.” “Can I have my book back so I can study it?” “Well, I need it to find more...” The Chimera turns to Card Counter. They say in union, “The Master wants the book.” “I’ll get it back to you right now.” Card Counter runs off. Glass Cannon is forced wait. Glass Cannon finally asks, “So, what are your names?” The Goat head says, “I am currently called G77.” The Snake head answers, “They call me, S151” The Tiger head finishes, “I am T21.” Glass Cannon says, “Basically the first letter of your species and a number of… umm…” G77 interrupts, “When we were created, master.” “That means T21 is the oldest, right.” T21 says, “I prefer the most experienced. Tigers are the toughest and the scrappiest of the Chimera choices. I admit I went through a few masters before you, but I have learned from those…” “What happened with old masters.” “Too many battle scars on my other bodies that end with my other masters, ‘not happy’.” “Why?” Card Counter comes rushing back with the monster manual in his book bag. He goes in front of Glass Cannon and gives the book to him. Glass Cannon picks up the book and tucks its away in his suit. Glass Cannon says to T21, “We will talk again, later.” Glass Cannon rushes because of lost time, to the dining hall with his Chimera. Card Counter goes back to his office and locks the door. When Glass Cannon arrives at the dining hall, the workers are there eating at their tables enjoying themselves. They see the Chimera bodyguard, their merriment turns into fear and curious staring. A few of the workers were finishing up preparing the Master Table pancakes with Zap Apple jam, eggs, strawberries, and Zap Apple juice. They set up a metal chair waiting for Glass Cannon. On the other side was a bench with creative dishes and buckets of liquids fitting each of the heads’ diets in front of it. Glass Cannon goes to his seat and starts eating his breakfast. On the other side of the table, the bench barely keeps up with the combined weight of the Chimera and only T21 was eating. The other heads were keeping an eye for trouble. Glass Cannon asks, “Why aren’t you all eating?” G77 answers, “Only one of us can eat because you never know when an attack will happen.” “I have guards protecting this place for a little while.” Glass Cannon claps his hooves and one of the butlers comes up to him. The butler asks, “What do you need sir?” “When is your last paycheck from my gruncle?” “Tomorrow, sir.” “Do you know anyone that will help me after tomorrow?” “Your gruncle did have a special reward for anypony that will help you in the upcoming events, but most of the staff will not do it. We have families that need us and… thieves and thugs are usually much more aggressive during these times.” S151 comments, “Sssounds like cowardly talk.” “Sorry not all of us are made or train to fight, you... You.” Glass Cannon added, “You might want to stop before my bodyguard does a show of force without my command.” The butler gulps, “Enjoy your meal and day, sir and madams.” The butler leaves to go somewhere else. T21 eats a feast while every pony else eats nervously. Glass Cannon looks to be fine, but thoughts of how the mansion will be defenseless in 2 days. He tries to drown out those thoughts by reminding himself of the fun day that he had planned. After breakfast, Glass Cannon and the Chimera leave the mansion to meet up with Glass Cannon’s friends by his airship at the air dock, but first he had to pick up his new party clothes from one of his gruncle’s favorite clothing stores. The walk was long with many eyes staring. Ponies, including his fellow high class ponies, got out of Glass Cannon’s way. Some ponies ran away in terror. Glass Cannon didn’t like his fellow ponies running in fear but he keeps telling himself that the runners are villains that wanted to hurt him. Glass Cannon whispers to G77, “Keep an eye out for a fancy purple building called Carousel Boutique. It looks like a fancy cake with windows.” Meanwhile, inside of the Carousel Boutique, Rarity has just returned from her time with her sister. Rarity came to check with this store’s manager, Sassy Saddles (She is a blue unicorn in a signature black dress with a golden saddle). Rarity asks Sassy Saddles, “How are things here?” Sassy Saddles answers, “Everything is fine here. We just have somepony picking up an order, today.” “Oh, The Rubyshoes order.” Rarity groans. “I still don’t like that one of my creations is supposed to get dirty but…” A pony comes in screaming, “A monster is coming this way!” the pony sees Rarity. “You have fought monsters, right. Go out there and defend Canterlot.” “What is it doing?” “It is walking this way.” The pony runs and hides in one of the changing stalls. Sassy Saddle joins the pony in a nearby stall. Rarity carefully goes to the window and takes a peak outside. She sees Glass Cannon’s Chimera and dozens of panicked ponies. The Chimera points at her building with one of its claws. Rarity goes prone and starts panicking. She never had to fight monsters like that on her own. Rarity summons her couch to calm down and think. Before Rarity could get an idea, her front door opens. A tiger paw in the form of a fist is seen going through the door. As the fist pulls back, G77 and T21 stare in, but they couldn’t fit in the door. They move back and let S151 slip through the door. Rarity scans the Chimera and remembers hearing a story from Applejack about how she saved her sister from what she thinks is the same beast. Rarity says to The Chimera, “I know how to deal with a ruffian like you.” She runs off to get her gear. S151 pulls her head back out and warns Glass Cannon, “There is a bad guy in there we have to her beat up. The owner and her assistant are hiding from her.” Glass Cannon orders, “You girls beat up the thug and I’ll hide in that alley over there.” He points to a nearby dead end alley. The Chimera forcefully breaks the door down and its frame is hang off of G77. Glass Cannon screams, “I have to pay for that!” S151 asks, “Would you have liked us to have go through the window?” “Yes, they are cheaper that doors around here.” The rest of the Chimera forces S151 to pursue Rarity. Glass Cannon gallops to the nearby alley, but before he could hide, he spots a blue unicorn mare with white hair. He knew her as Midnight: his ex-crush. Glass Cannon lost her to a stallion that recently became a clown, which made it more insult to injury for him. Glass Cannon loved her for being different than other rich girls by being nice. fun, and naturally beautiful. Despite his loss, Glass Cannon still had feelings for Midnight. After seeing Midnight, Glass Cannon goes to the nearby fountain to see his reflection. Glass Cannon fixes his hair to look good in front of her. As he looks at himself in the water, he notices that his sword is floating. Suddenly he feels a bag consuming him. Glass Cannon tried to scream for help but couldn’t. Back with the battle between Rarity and The Chimera, Rarity tries to use Applejack tactics from her encounter with the chimera that she fought in the Fire Swamp, but proves to fail. T21 unhooked her jaw to prevent Rarity’s metal stool from getting stuck in her jaw, G77 spits out Rarity’s expensive cheese, and their restless attack prevents Rarity from using her singing voice properly to make S151 fall asleep. Rarity starts to think her memory was wrong and tried to change tactics. S151 uses her heat sensing vision to check on Glass Cannon, only to see that he was being coltnapped by 2 other ponies. S151 alerts, “Our master is being taken away, outside.” The Chimera gives up on attacking Rarity and goes after the 2 ponies. Rarity sighs in relief. When The Chimera ran outside they depend on S151’s sight to continue the pursuit. T21 gets the scents of the coltnappers. She recognizes that certain smell coming off both of them. T21 says, “I know where they are going. Let me have full control of the body for a while.” G77 asks, “How do you know where they are going?” S151 announces, “I am losing them.” “Looks like I don’t have a choice.” T21 goes on an alternative path. S151 asks in a worried tone, “You are going the wrong way.” T21 smiles, “I know a shortcut through here.” T21 leads her team to a hidden door big enough for them and uses a mysterious tunnel. The safety of Glass Cannon is on the paws of T21 and her secrets. Chapter 4: Sewer RatsThe Chimera walks down the mysterious path and it ends at the underground sewers. The smell in the air is not pleasant for G77 and S151, but T21 acts like smell didn’t exist. T21 thinks of where to go. G77 complains, “It smells so bad, I don’t even have a proper word for it.” S151 comments, “The poniesss that took Master Glasss Cannon are above us!” T21 responds, “I know where those ponies are going to take him and I have a plan.” G77 asks, “What is it?” Footsteps are heard coming their way. The footsteps echo louder and louder with each rushing step. “Just go along with my act and we will get him.” “Why can’t we just…?” T21 shhes G77 as the coltnappers go around the corner. T21 moves forward to meet them. The coltnappers are 2 unicorns in brown and black cheap looking uniforms (including one with patches and holes). They had Glass Cannon in a brown sack floating behind them with their magic. T21 says with a smile to one of the coltnappers, “Hi guys, the boss told me to get the brat from here.” One of the Unicorns comments, “Aren’t you...” He looks at a certain line pattern. “You’re Hand Me Down Tizzy.” “I rather be just called Tizzy.” As T21 gathers the unicorns’ attention, G77 use a magically electric attack to zap one of the unicorns. The unicorn’s horn gets fried and breaks. The unicorn falls on the ground fainting from the pain. Before the other unicorn could react, T21 had no choice but to grab the off guard unicorn’s head and break it. S151 extends herself and grabs Glass Cannon as he was falling from the air. She puts Glass Cannon down and rips open the bag. Glass Cannon takes a deep breath and immediately regrets it. He tastes the smell of the sewer. Glass Cannon looks around and quickly realizes where he is. Glass Cannon says, “These bums took me into the sewer and took my sword.” Glass Cannon looks around and finds a cheap ax on the nearest body. The ax has a dark grey blade with a cheap wooden handle. He puts the ax in his sword bag and surprisingly, it fits. Glass Cannon takes a closer look at the pony. Glass Cannon realizes that the pony is from a gang of lazy bums who try to steal his gruncle’s diamond collection and other high class ponies’ fortunes. T21 says, “We should get out of here, master.” “Agree, do you know how to get…” “Yes, sir. I know a short cut.” As the Chimera runs to the exit, Glass Cannon is trying to think of what happened. S151 notices that he is not moving and grabs him. The Chimera walks up to the way out. Another Chimera with tattoos, wearing unique markings, brown clothes, and helmets. The goat head of the other chimera has glowing eyes and electricity flowing between its horns. This other Chimera works for the bum gang. S151 lets go of Glass Cannon and whispers, “Hide.” The 2 chimeras stare down at each other, each knowing the other is not an ally but foe. T21 taunts, “Nice hats, I can’t wait to take yours.” The Gangster Tiger Head comments, “Aren’t you the hand me down? I don’t know why you are here but I know you’re not one of us anymore. I never liked you, anyways.” The Gangster Goat Head starts the fight with a ramming attack with its static horns and gets stuck with G77. The magic lighting does nothing and the goats’ horns get stuck with each other. T21 pulls back by holding her paw down and moving her leg back to stretch the Gangster Goat head’s neck. The Gangster Chimera tried to pull its goat head back but made thing worse. T21 orders G77, “Cut her neck!” G77 cuts the Gangster goat neck off with her paw using full force. The Gangster goat head is still alive and screams from the pain while pink blood oozes out of her wounds. G77 grabs the gangster goat head and it bites back. G77 responds by crushing the head like a stress ball. The head becomes a pink mess with fur. Fortunately for Glass Cannon, he didn’t see any of that brutality because of his Chimera’s body being in the way. Glass Cannon asks S151, “What is going on?” S151 answers, “We are winning, Massster.” The Gangster Tiger Head says, “I will have my revenge for killing my sister. You cheap re…” T21 grabs the Gangster Tiger Head’s jaw and looks directly in the eyes, “You should talk less.” The Gangster Chimera tried to strike back but S151 and G77 grab its arms. T21 pulls the jaw of the Gangster Tiger Head. The Gangster Tiger Head gurgled in pain. T21 says with an evil smile, “No Witnesses.” T21 bites her victim’s head off and eats what’s left of it. After swallowing it, pink blood was left. The rest of Glass Cannon’s Chimera looks at T21 with shock. They let go of the arms of the enemy Chimera. G77 asks, “Did you need to… do that?” S151 comments, “You ate a fellow tiger, a sssister.” T21 says, “We are not done yet.” The remaining snake head of the Gangster Chimera uses his unquestioned control of the body to put the arms up to surrender. The Gangster Snake Head slowly reveals itself. It is blue with a light yellow zigzag pattern. The Gangster Snake Head says, “I give up. I never wanted to fight in the first place.” Glass Cannon climbs over his bodyguard’s body to see what is going on. He sees the carnage and was ready to scream. S151 covers his mouth as he screamed. S151 whispers into Glass Cannon’s ear, “We won, calm down, and help usss decccide the fate of this bad guy.” “Please, we don’t have much time. I want to leave this gang and this smelly hole but I need to find somewhere close to transfer myself to your body.” The Gangster Chimera points at Glass Cannon’s Chimera. Glass Cannon taps on S151 and she lets go of his mouth. Glass Cannon asks, “What do you offer?” “I’m a healer snake limb, I can fix up any wounds, look.” The Gangster Snake Head stretches to the front of its body where it fixes the bleeding holes within a few moments. Glass Cannon and his Chimera look at the process with amazement. “What is your problem?” “A long story but I can tell you that some college dropouts force me and my brothers to make constant repairs to these bodies.” Footsteps are heard echoing through the Sewers. Glass Cannon announces, “You’re part of my team, let’s get out of here.” T21 asks, “Are you…” “I don’t want to be part of more fights today. So Move.” The Gangster Chimera opens the secret door. It says, “I am Patchwork, sir.” Patchwork leads the way out with Glass Cannon and his Chimera behind him. As they leave the underground, Glass Cannon comments, “Patchwork, I like your nickname. I should think of ones for…” G77 interrupts, “More running and less talking, sir.” Patchwork leads the party into a nearby alley for hiding places. They pick their spots and wait. Chapter 5: Patching the DayA couple of minutes have passed since the escape and nothing happens. No ponies have left the entrance or any other nearby. S151 reports, “No one hasss come out of the sssewer.” Glass Cannon’s head pops out of a cardboard box, Glass Cannon’s Chimera comes out of a pile of scattered old papers, and Patchwork appears out of skin changing camouflage. Glass Cannon quietly panics, “Things were not supposed to go to Tartarus, yet. I had 2 more days.” Patchwork goes up to Glass Cannon and pats his back lightly. Patchwork says, “I don’t usually speak but I have learned that sometimes choices are made without your say.” “That doesn’t make me any feel better. Do your transfer quickly so we can get out of here.” Glass Cannon grabs his ax and looks around to check for danger. G77 tells Patchwork, “You heard him, do what you need to do.” Patchwork replies, “Well there are 2 conditions: I need time to get a certain gene mod organ out of this body and an escort to the Monster Market. Now with time to think, I can go the market, myself. If I have a safe place nearby to remove the defective genes.” Glass Cannon asks, “What do I get if we let you have the second option.” “I will help you as a medic, later on or at least I will get you a few free gene mods like a regeneration organ. My Main Head will make sure of it. I only have an hour to fix this body.” T21 says, “I still say we…” Glass Cannon goes up to T21, “I am the boss of you. So any decision outside of the battlefield is mine. Got It.” Glass Cannon goes to the street and sees a supermarket called Harvest Point. It was one of his dad’s many markets. Glass Cannon knows this store as Harvest Point 21 and it is nearby his air dock. Glass Cannon goes back to the chimeras. Glass Cannon asks Patchwork, “Can you do what you need to do in an airship?” Patchwork answers, “I can try but I’ve never done that before.” “Just do that invisible trick until we get into my ship.” “Deal.” T21 whispers to S151, “Keep your eyes on him.” S151 nods her head. They rush towards the air dock. The air dock was long with dozens of airships parked near the end of the cliff. It also had a few buildings catering to the owners of the ships and staff. Glass Cannon went to his airship with the Chimeras behind him. Glass Cannon’s airship was red and grey, with a big pink balloon with ruby horse shoes on the sides. The gangway is extended by one of Glass Cannon’s friends; Airborne. Airborne is a white pegasus with blue hair with a cutie mark of the sky. Airborne comments, “So that’s the monster everypony has been screaming about. Wherever you found that, it is sure making its mark. It might want to clean itself off in the wash room.” Glass Cannon says to his Chimera, “We both need to clean up.” Noises of an unseen passenger are heard running across the wooden floors. Airborne screams, “Intruder!” Glass Cannon screams, “He is my unexpected guest, we made a deal to drop him off somewhere.” “Keep that Changeling in check, I don’t want him or her ruining this ship.” “What do you have to worry about, this is my ship.” Glass Cannon and his Chimera board the ship. S151 scans the ship. She only sees the other chimera and the 2 ponies. S151 reports what she sees to Glass Cannon as he gets aboard. Glass Cannon asks Airborne, “Where are the others?” Airborne says, “They all ran off as soon as they heard the screaming of the monster from the dock. I’m glad to see that it is your monster, not some wild hungry one.” T21 goes up to Airborne and says, “As long as you don’t hurt him, we don’t hurt you, got it.” “He is one of my pals. I would never hurt him.” Glass Cannon tells Airborne, “I need you to take my ship on a short fly around the city.” “My pleasure.” Airborne goes up to the bridge and gets the ship in the air. Glass Cannon takes a seat on a nearby wooden bench. Glass Cannon’s Chimera lays down on the surprising comfortable wooden floor. As the ship glides through the air, Glass Cannon finds it to be a good time to talk with his bodyguard. Glass Cannon asks T21, “How did that mugger know you, T21, or should I say Tizzy?” G77 and S151 start remembering that moment and stare at T21. T21 knew that question was going to come up. T21 takes a deep breath and says, “I used to be part of the Pocket Pokers. I was originally made to defend their main leader at the time.” Glass Cannon grabs his ax out of fear. T21 pulls out her paw in front of her face and continues, “I am not a part of them anymore, in fact, I grew to hate them.” Glass Cannon asks, “Why would you hate your old master?” “I loved my original master, but after he died, the gang blamed me for his death. I went from leader to leader, losing body parts, blood, and other sisters. That gang of scum kept blaming me for all of their deaths, even to the point my last master traded what was left of me for a new creature to guard him.” A moment of silence and shock happens. No one knew how to react with such an answer. T21 asks Glass Cannon, “Do you question my loyalty now?” Glass Cannon responds, “Did you have any other masters outside of that gang?” “No, I have been stuck in There for months. Waiting for a chance to prove that I wasn’t bad luck and a good fighter. I am more than glad to serve you so far.” “You’ve only been with me one day.” Airborne comes out to check on Glass Cannon. Airborne says to Glass Cannon, “Who are our guests?” Glass Cannon turns to Airborne, “The unseen one is Patchwork and the triplets are my new bodyguard. I believe they can introduce themselves. Besides, I need to go to the cleansing room to get this smell off.” Airborne wonders what he is talking about and then smells the answer. Glass Cannon goes deeper into the ship. While S151 grabs a bucket of water and dumps it on her body. As the bucket falls, “Don’t, that’s the…” Airborne says too late. “The drinking water.” When the water hits the Chimera, the others heads got surprised by the sudden splash. G77 says, “You wanted the only drinking water on this ship to get us wet?” T21 comments, “This isn’t water. We smell like cherries.” Airborne says, “That is… was flavored water. Good thing, I got a few more buckets of the stuff. I’ll start introductions, I am Airborne, soon to be one of the captains of the sky.” G77 introduces herself as she tries to shake the water off, “I am G77, the magic user.” S151 slips by her sisters and says right in front of Airborne, “Hello, I am S151 the lookout.” T21 introduces herself, “I am T21.” Airborne asks T21, “You’re T21 the what?” “The muscle, of course.” “Ok, The Muscle, how was today.” S151 answers, “We had an exccciting firssst day.” The Chimera tells Airborne about their day with Glass Cannon and argued over certain details. Airborne enjoyed their storytelling. After 20 minutes, Glass Cannon was finally cleaned. He stepped out of the cleansing room and decides to look for Patchwork. Glass Cannon remembered all of the room on his ship and only 3 of them could hold Patchwork. He rules out the ice room. Glass Cannon looks at the closest big room: the storage room. He opens the door. He only sees boxes and crates of supplies. Glass Cannon goes through the hall to the lounge. When Glass Cannon arrives at the lounge, he opens the door and sees Patchwork preforming surgery on himself with some blood on the floor. Glass Cannon quickly closes the door and holds back his sudden sickness. He takes a few deep breathes. Glass Cannon says, “I found you.” No response happens. After a while, Glass Cannon hears a splat from the Lounge. He creaks the door open. Glass Cannon asks Patchwork, “Are you ok, Patchwork?” A moment passes and nothing is heard. Glass Cannon didn’t want to move or see the Patchwork’s body so he goes up to the deck. He’s Glass Cannon gets nearby the door to the deck. He hears footsteps behind him. Not sure if that is Patchwork or someone else, so he runs to the door and kicks it open. Without thinking he screams, “Assassin!” As Glass Cannon runs up to the wheel, his Chimera get ready to fight while Airborne grabs a seat to see the Chimera at work. The footsteps echo through the hall of the ship. Patchwork screams, “Get me out of here!” Patchwork comes out faster than Glass Cannon and hides behinds S151. Glass Cannon peeks out to see Patchwork alive. He laughs at his mistake. T21 says, “False Alarms are not funny, Master.” Glass Cannon declares, “I am laughing at my mistake, I actually was starting to think somepony killed Patchwork.” He tries to calm down. “I’ll start driving to the Monster Market and clear my mind.” Airborne gets up, “I’ll fly, I am the only one who can make a landing in the city.” “That is probably for the best. I will stay near you Airborne.” Airborne walks up to the wheel. G77 threatens Airborne, “Don’t forget we are here.” Airborne responds, “You girls are not that hard to forget.” Airborne and Glass Cannon go into the bridge and Glass Cannon checks all of the ship’s navigational instruments. After getting the information that Airborne needs from the equipment, he asks Glass Cannon, “There is a lot of places in the bad part of Canterlot. Is there a specific landmark or details?” Glass Canon responds, “I remember all of the spooky plants around the place.” “Of course, it is the place full of spooky stories.” “From what I have seen, I don’t want to hear the stories.” “I hope you can learn what to do quickly, I want you to keep being one of my ‘alive’ friends. Maybe if you quit this game of death, you can live back with…” “I want to be independent from them, you know that.” “I know, but does it have to be this? Risking your life and trusting that freak show for a mountain of bits and a mansion. You can...” “I want to keep as much of my uncle as I can.” Airborne realizes that he isn’t helping to calm his friend down. He continues, “I… Let’s continue this another time. This is your last day before Tartarus, right. I know I good pizza place nearby the drop zone. I’ll get us a few pies.” “Thank you.” The airship makes it journey towards Canterlot with the winds pushing them there. When they arrive to the drop zone, Patchwork rushes towards the market while everyone else enjoys the recovered plans of fun that last until nighttime. Chapter 6: Fun Time is OverCanterlot is dark, with only the moonlight and streetlights lighting the city. Glass Cannon rides on his Chimera’s back to get to his home. When Glass Cannon and his chimera arrive at the mansion, they notice a lot of carts within the gate. The guards see Glass Cannon and let he and his bodyguard in through the gates. Glass Cannon looks to the Steward of the Mansion. The Steward is an old black stallion with grey hair named Ironclad. Glass Cannon screams for Ironclad as he gets inside the mansion. Ironclad goes up to him in an orderly manner. Ironclad asks Glass Cannon, “What do you need my lord?” “Why are there carts outside?” “The staff is preparing to leave tomorrow after their final checks.” “How will this work? Are they going to be gone at the same time? How many are going to…” “Plans are arranged. you need to sleep now, my Lord, to prepare for tomorrow. There are a few questions that I have to ask you in private.” T21 butts in, “We need to be part of those plans.” “Of course, The Lord’s Bodyguard is included.” Ironclad leads Glass Cannon and his Chimera to the Planning Room. The Planning room is a big room dedicated to be the Command Center of the mansion. It has a model of the entire estate, extra supplies, a round table for meeting within the staff hierarchy, a few safes within the walls, and most importantly, it is the most private room in the whole estate. S151 comments, “Thisss isss fancy.” G77 says, “A command center for a mansion? You guys thought of everything.” Glass Cannon asks, “Ironclad, what do you want?” Ironclad goes up to the round table and pulls out a scroll. Ironclad says, “I have a checklist of things that need to be addressed. I’ll help you check them off. This will help us organize for the days to come.” Ironclad picks up the scroll and pulls out a pen. T21 asks, “What is that?” “It’s a new thing called a pen. It’s a quill with the ink inside.” G77 comments, “The rich do have the fanciest of things.” Glass Cannon goes to the round table and takes a seat. Glass Cannon asks, “What’s first?” Ironclad announces, “The first thing is staff will be reduced from 73 to 21 by tomorrow. We can afford to spare some supplies to get a few of the homeless during the accounting period.” “Homeless ponies? Are you serious? My life is on the line, everyday staring today and you expect to use some street bums…” “These bums that I have learned about, can help us. We can only afford to get 1 of 2 groups. Group 1 is a small collection of ex-soldiers and mercenaries whose combat skills can help keep you and...” T21 interrupts, “We are more than enough to protect the Master.” “This Estate and its staff need protection, too. I know you will follow Mr. Glass Cannon everywhere. Besides what’s the point of an inheritance, if it is destroyed and/or stolen.” G77 says, “He does make a point.” Glass Cannon command his Chimera, “You girls keep your lips shut and let Ironclad finish what he has to say!” “Thank you, lord. As I was saying, if we get Group 1, we have to close some rooms to use them as decoys and we won’t have enough cleaning staff to help keep the entire mansion maintained. Group 2 is a group of… ‘street rats’ who can help us with cleaning the estate and think of ways to prevent our enemies from getting in. Don’t expect them to fight for you or at all, my lord.” “I think getting those new guards are probably better for us. Next.” Ironclad check off the first choice. “We have some spare wood and nails. We could use them to reinforce our windows or our walls. Or, we can try to reinforce more inside away from view. The public eye will see that this mansion’s famous security isn’t threatened by the ‘current events’ to trick invaders.” “I rather not have the Public see what we are doing at all. Reinforce the walls.” “Are you sure?” “It seems to be the best option.” “Final question: What do want to focus upgrading on?” “What do you mean?” “I can get a few ponies to look around or call a few favors in to improve certain defenses, guards, gear and anything else for your safety.” “I think improving the mansion’s defenses will help us a lot more in the long run. I might want to change our focus later.” “I change weekly sir.” T21 exclaims, “You will change as the Master sees fit.” Glass Cannon says, “I do agree with her. Why can’t I just change the focus at any time?” Ironclad explains, “I need time to call in certain parts and gear. The ponies that are gathering said gear and parts would hate constant last minute recalls.” “Do we have enough armor and weapons for our current staff?” “With most of our old guards leaving, we will have plenty of weapons, uniforms, and a pile of ammo for our Dragon Ripper.” “Does that thing still work?” All 3 chimera heads ask, “Dragon Ripper?” Ironclad finishes checking the list and then steps towards the model of the mansion. He points towards a circular tower. “There is the Dragon Ripper’s Tower. It is an old, but reliable, multi-barrel cannon.” Glass Cannon asks, “Does IT still work? It is like 50 years old.” Ironclad says with a smile, “You should ask the changelings from last year’s invasion. I believe the current team took out 50 of them or at least that is what they said.” G77 comments, “That is a changeling a year.” T21 adds, “A cannon can’t kill…” Glass Cannon says to The Chimera, “What did I just say?!” The heads stood there silently after the reminder. Ironclad tells Glass Cannon, “I will make sure I will get the remaining staff to reinforce overnight. You should get some sleep, lord. It will be a long day tomorrow.” “A good rest will help me. Maybe I can dream of what will happen after this mess is sorted.” As Glass Cannon goes to his room, S151 stretches her way closer to the model and tries to see the model and its details. Unable to see it clearly with her current vision. She makes a long blink and her eyes change to eyes that can see normally to properly admire the model. Unfortunately for S151, her body follows Glass Cannon, pulling her away. Ironclad says, “Good Night.” ine-height:107%`g8�� Chapter 7: The Beginning of the StormIt is morning, Glass Cannon was about to wake up, but an idea popped in his head. The idea was if he did wake up, he didn’t have to live in his current mess. The poorly-thought-out idea had him pretending that he was still asleep. This plan was working until Ironclad knocked on the door. G77 shhes Ironclad. Ironclad guesses that Glass Cannon is using the “pretend to be asleep” trick again so he uses his counter trick. Ironclad knocks on the door again and then says, “I wanted to inform the lord that there is news about a new game at that Power Play Arcade.” Glass Cannon gets up and asks, “What is the new game?” The Chimera was shocked to see Glass Cannon awaken so easily. “So you are awake?” “Darn it, you got me again.” “Like it or not Lord, we have to get the defenses, ready.” Glass Cannon groans into his pillow and then gets ready for the day. He gets a black suit on as a way to show that he is serious. After a while, Glass Cannon is with Ironclad. Ironclad escorts him to a window to show off the progress of the fence enforcement. It is mostly blocked off with a few gaps. Glass Cannon comments, “Do you think we can get something to go over that the wood? I know we have points on the end of the bars, but I don’t think it work unless they fall down on them.” Ironclad thinks of an idea, “We could try to get some barbed wire.” “What is that?” “It is a metal thorny vine, my lord.” “We should get some, wait, why not get barrier unicorns.” “Most of them are already taken and the ones that remain are ‘overpriced’. They know what’s going on and plan to abuse paranoid stallions like you. You should get some breakfast, Lord. I think some of the staying members are still there.” “I would like some pancakes. Let’s go.” “I want to inform you that the Head Chef wanted his last meal that he makes to be worth remembering, so you will have a feast for breakfast.” “If that is true, I won’t need lunch.” They go to the dining hall; it is emptier than the day before. Glass Cannon goes to his table followed by his chimera. The table had a feast for Glass Cannon and his Chimera. He notices 5 ponies in grey fire proof uniforms wearing patches of a volley of bullets, at nearby table. The oldest pony in uniform comes up to Glass Cannon. He is yellow with black hair. The pony says to Glass Cannon, “Hello sir, I am Dragon Diller Starlight.” Glass Cannon comments, “Hello Dragon Diller, I am surprised you still have a job with that ancient artifact.” “It is a feat of Disciple, Desire, and Care.” Starlight says proudly. “Of course, replacement parts help.” “How come I never hear it fire.” “We don’t practice firing when you or your family are here. It is… was a rule from your uncle. Should we still have our weekly practice?” “We don’t want to waste bullets…” “We make practice rounds out of scrap metal every day. It is one of the only things you can do in a place of peace. Last year’s invasion proved that the Dragon Ripper still can do its job and more.” Another pony in the fire proof uniform screams, “Heck, yeah!” The other 3 ponies cheer in agreement. “I wouldn’t believe it until I see it in the afternoon, I want to go to the market today and get some stuff for my bodyguard. I bet you 15, no wait 20 bits for each crew pony that this thing can’t fire a full round of bullets and hit anything.” “Thank you for an early bonus, sir.” Starlight leaves to go back to his table. Card Counter notices the conversion from a nearby table and then goes up to Glass Cannon. Card Counter says, “I would love to go to the Monster Market with you. I can help you make some more funds now. You can pay me back later.” T21 hears this and threatens Card Counter, “You will give him your money with no payback required.” “You will make this a 1-time deal.” Ironclad steps in, “You will not scam the Lord at his time of need, Mr. Card Counter.” Card Counter whispers to Glass Cannon, “We will talk later.” Card Counter leaves to go back to his table. After eating breakfast, Glass Cannon and his Chimera leave to go the Monster Market. The Chimera is carrying a big sack of bits and Glass Cannon on their back. Glass Cannon is reading the chimera’s guide book to see what parts he wants to get. He notices marks like circles and page numbers nearby prices. Glass Cannon flips over to the goat parts selections and notices the specialists of magic like Lighting, Fire, Shield, and… Teleporting. He looks at the details of Teleporting. Teleporting Magic Upgrade: Like many fields of magic to choose from, it is useful when used correctly for both combat and travel. It can be used to teleport groups of ponies, cargo, language, and even enemies. The goat head will have a portal door design with its horns and the head will levitate to show its magic charge and maneuver quicker. In exchange for its basic lightning attack, it can use any part of the body to attack any foe whether it is bringing them closer or teleporting like claw strikes from a distance. Standard: 2000 bits With Magical Recharge Organ: 2300 bits Quick Master: 4000 bits Glass Cannon says out loud, “Why is Quick Master so expense?” G77 answers, “It is a quick way to get any power and learn how to use it within the same surgery.” “So you can get knowledge of how to use a power at the same time you get it. That sounds worth it.” A voice calls out from the distance, “Glass Cannon wait up!” Card Counter is running to catch up with Glass Cannon. He has a case in his saddle bag. The Chimera stops and gets prepared to defend Glass Cannon. T21 says, “You will not scam the Master.” Card Counter pulls out a helmet from the case. The helmet is shiny steel with a red horseshoe on both sides and a neck guard. The helmet is about the size of Glass Cannon’s head. Card Counter says, “I bought this to show my loyalty for Master Cannon.” Glass Cannon sees the helmet and allows Card Counter to come up to him. Card Counter goes up to him and gives him the helmet. Glass Cannon looks inside to see that it was full of bits. He was surprised to see bits with numbers bigger than 1 like 5, 10, and even 20. Glass Cannon says, “It’s about time they made these bits. I was sick and tired of carring so many of them or having a servant carry them. We can go to a bank on the…” Card Counter interrupts, “I’m sorry to say but only the First Bank of Canterlot and the Royal Hoof Bank have the multi-valued bits.” “Dang it, they are not on the way and they are going to be very busy.” T21 comments, “I… We don’t mind taking a detour to…” “I would like to get you upgraded as soon as possible. Let’s go.” Card Counter says, “I would like to accompany you on your shopping trip and don’t worry about paying me back for those bits and helmet as I said, ‘I give you that ot show my loyalty.’ Besides I know how to deal with boys like that.” “You can come Card Counter, but you have to walk because there is no room up here.” “Understood. I don’t like it, but I understand.” Glass Cannon puts the bits from the helmet into his bit sack. He tries to put on his helmet but has no idea how to put it on properly. After a few minutes, S151 helps Glass Cannon put his new helmet on, correctly. Glass Cannon feels embarrassed that a snake knows how to put on a helmet and not him. After the helmet is put on correctly, Glass Cannon quickly orders his party to continue their journey towards the Monster Market. After a while, Glass Cannon notices more metal on ponies, like armor and weapons, plus more Guard Ponies in the streets. Glass Cannon leans towards Card Counter. Glass Cannon asks, “Are we expecting an attack on the city.” Card Counter responds, “Anypony that knows about your family’s ‘hoofing out process’ in their place will get ready to avoid death. Even if it is to move away for a while or just get something to arm yourself with.” “I would never have guessed other ponies would be affected.” “Best to keep going, sir. I hear of rumors of ponies who would kill you or other heirs to get the killing over with.” Glass Cannon doesn’t want to confirm the rumors. Glass Cannon whispers to the Chimera, “Let’s go faster, girls.” The Chimera (or at least 2 of them) gladly followed the order. The Chimera started a long sprint towards the Monster Market with Card Counter trying his best to catch up. When the party arrives at the Monster Market, Card Counter was out of breath. They enter the door. At the sight of the bit sack, salesponies pushed each other to get the chance to sell their goods to Glass Cannon. One of the salespoines get through to Glass Cannon. The salespony was short. The short salespony says, “My name is Pip, how can I help you today?” “I want to make my Chimera better.” “Of course, sir. Is your friend shopping here, too?” Card Counter says, “I want to make sure that he is making the best choices. But getting something for myself wouldn’t hurt.” “What do you want, sir?” “I need my bodyguard to be more non-lethal. It is nice to have a bodyguard that knows how to kill but one that knows when to kill is better.” “For that Chimera model, it requires a personality or training or… a… a.” “A what.” “We are working on a beta part that might fit the job.” Card Counter asks, “I didn’t read anything about betas.” “Well, that is because beta parts are experimental, unpredictable, and not ready for advertisement. They do come at a discount but you need to sign a form and give us permission to check in with them.” “Stop beating around the bush and explain what you are talking about.” “You have to come with me in order to explain more.” Glass Cannon says, “Lead on then.” Pip leads Glass Cannon’s party to the elevator. A parrot’s voice squawks, “4,537 bits. Now you’re a real customer.” Glass Cannon asks, “Does he have to do that every time?” The parrot squawks again, “201 bits with the new one, new cheapskate.” Pip apologies, “He is the boss’s parrot; we have no control over it.” Pip activates the elevator and then it goes up. The celling opens to reveal a secret 2nd floor. The 2nd floor has all of the business rooms. Another salespony goes to Card Counter and says, “I will help you with your needs, sir.” Pip says, “Don’t worry, our customers are always safe here. Come with me, Mr. …” Glass Cannon says, “I am Mr. Rubyshoes to you.” Pip’s eyes open, “You’re Mr. Rubyshoes? Then, we have more to talk about. We must go, now.” Pip runs towards a hallway full of door with numbers and pictures of locks. The Chimera dashes with Pip and Glass Cannon is holding on to the bits with his life. All-the-while Card Counter goes down with the new salespony to get an item sooner than he had hoped. Chapter 1: A short history of the HeirThis Heir was named Glass Cannon of the Rubyshoes family. He is a light blue earth pony with purple hair. Glass Cannon grew up in the High Society of Canterlot with rich parents. He wanted to hang out with the Worker Class, but was limited by his parents out of fear of con ponies and clotnappers that would use him or hurt him. Glass Cannon only hang out with a few of his family’s worker’s kids. He hated living as a High Society Pony with hundreds of ponies pretending to be friends with each other, while others are snobs abusing them for their own gain. The only perk of being a rich colt, was you could get any “thing” you want. He had failed to get a cutie mark with all of his experiences growing up. His lack of a cutie mark gave his family of Rubyshoes a sense of shame. Glass Cannon grew up and studied business. He was allowed by his parents to start up his dream business of an amusement park full of rides and “exotic” foods in Canterlot. Glass Cannon had a willing partner to help open it up. Unfortunately for Glass Cannon, his partner’s greed and sudden sense of failure took over and stole the money for the land for the amusement park. He was left with only his personal airship and everything in it, including the last bits that he had. His parents didn’t know what do: They wanted to punish him for losing the money, but they didn’t want to hurt him too much. Eventually, Glass Cannon’s Gruncle (Grand Uncle) Pearl Eye, heard about his grandnephew and took him into his home. It was a small personalized mansion with a basement as the help’s living quarters, 3 teleporters, an orchard of zap apple trees that grow all year and many other fun and expensive things located throughout the home. Everything was great for about a week until one day, Pearl Eye never woke up. He had a smile on his cold face. Pearl Eye died of lung cancer from the days when he was digging in his mines himself, and his I’m going to die anyways attitude, didn’t help. Luckily for Glass Cannon, Pearl Eye gave him his house and one of his nearby mines. After Pearl Eye’s funeral, Glass Cannon wearing a grey suit, with members of his family, a few close friends of Pearl Eye and several others meet with Pearl Eye’s lawyer (Pen Point) in his office. Whispers of foul play are barely heard in the crowd. Pen Point told the crowd that he and a group of other ponies need a month or 2 to gather any and everything from Pearl Eye’s mines and get other current assets in order, before the inherences could be passed out. Glass Cannon was allowed to stay in the mansion until it is official, but it is up to him and any other “guests” to maintain the mansion since most to all of the mansion’s help will leave after they receive their last pay check. It has been noted that somepony usually dies during the process or right after the inherences are passed for one reason or another. Everypony is given 500 to 1,000 bits (depending on the value of the inherence) to get themselves protect and/or medicine to at least feel safe. At the moment of the meeting being over, Glass Cannon didn’t feel safe anywhere but behind the walls of his gruncle’s mansion. During the night, a pony in black came to the door with a business scroll for a monster protection market. Glass Cannon took a risk to follow the pony in black to his employer’s store to get non-pony bodyguards. Glass Cannon bought a freshly polished and sharpened sword, in a converted sword bag at his side, just in case it was a trick. Glass Cannon also got as many bits as he could carry on the free side of his body. Chapter 8: Parts and MutationsIn the private room, Glass Cannon sits in 1 of 9 chair surrounding a table. Pip locks the only door in and then takes a seat himself. Pip takes a deep breath and then says, “You saved an important lead that has saved one of most important employees so, you will get 5000 bits in credit. That risky act gave you access to our all of our beta projects to purchase.” Glass Cannon responds, “Wow that saves me so many bits.” “There is more, I will tell you about our Powers For All program. It is a service that at first tests you to see if you can get Gene Mods installed in you. Imagine having the ability to beat most ponies in a hoof race without training or reading a book once and remembering everything.” “That sounds great but let’s talk about the beta parts, first.” “Oh yes I was mentioning an ice dragon head. It will be prefect for what you need. She can’t kill with her frost breath. But, it can stop ponies in their tracks.” “I’ll take it.” “Would you like dragon arms to go with it?” “Why not. So how do I test for my Gene Mods?” “Would you like it awake or asleep?” “Why would I want to be awake for it?” “It can be painful but we can give you a gene mod sooner.” “Can I order one before I get tested?” “We don’t pick Gene Mods before testing because we don’t know if you can take certain ones or have space for a better one.” “Alright, I would like to start my test, now and the dragon parts to be put on my bodyguard. So what method do you use to knock out a pony?” “Please lay down on the table so you don’t hurt yourself.” “Is it clean?” “No harmful bacteria… uh… germs come in without our say so.” Pip clears the table and then Glass Cannon slowly gets on the table. Glass Cannon asks, “What now?” Glass Cannon feels a needle on his flank and quickly falls asleep. He is at the mercy of the Doctors and their tests.
Chapter 2: The Monster MarketIn the dark streets of Canterlot, the pony in black had to stay close to the struggling Glass Cannon. It felt like a 2-hour trip to the Monster Market. The Monster Market was in the “poorly kept” part of the city. It was a grey building with a metal door in the front and random plants everywhere around it. The plants felt like they were staring at the pony in black and Glass Cannon. The door appeared to move on its own and the ponies ran in. Inside the room lit by a black light, there is a cargo elevator at the other side of the room and more ponies in black acting as guards. Glass Cannon nervously grabs his sword. One of the guards asks, “That’s Glass Cannon, Jaws?” The pony that brought Glass Cannon (Jaws), “Yes, I got him from his own mansion.” “Not usually a wise choice to do that, Mr. Rubyshoes, but you got lucky tonight. Take that elevator there.” Glass Cannon awkwardly says, “Thank you.” Jaws leads Glass Cannon into the elevator. Jaws asks, “So what are you looking for?” Glass Cannon answers, “I want a goat mon… no a snake, no, a tiger.” “We do happen to have something that is all 3.” Jaws presses a button, a gate door appears and blocks the entrance. The elevator goes down. Every floor has its own monster breeds. They see a couple seconds of each creature, like hydras and muti-headed dogs. After a few more floors, they stop at the Chimera floor but the gate doesn’t open. Jaws asks, “How much did you bring?” Glass Cannon answers, “I need to count.” Before Glass Cannon could count, a parrot’s voice says, “183 bits, Cheapskate.” Jaws says, “Thank you, Star.” “Give me more water.” Star squawks. “After the sell, Star.” He turns to Glass Cannon. “With that ‘amount’ I can get you a basic model of Chimera but you do have a choice with its heads.” Glass Cannon asks inquisitively, “I’m pretty sure a monster should come with its heads already on.” “We have heads with experience that is needed to protect you, rather than some newborn.” Jaws opens the gate and it reveals many combinations of snake, tiger, goat and even dragon creatures (Chimeras). Jaws advises Glass Cannon to stay behind him because the Chimeras were known to attack new customers that they think are intruders. As the ponies walked down the hall, Glass Cannon stayed close behind Jaws. A few claws and a burst of flames strike at Glass Cannon’s tail and misses. Glass Cannon asks, “Can I go back in the elevator?” “Do you want me to pick your parts or do you want to supervise your first purchase?” “I trust you to make my chimera, as long as I get back in the elevator.” “Ok, what do you want your Chimera do?” “As long as I have a bodyguard that can protect me and my grand uncle’s place, I’ll be happy.” Glass Cannon see snakes come out of Jaws’s cloak. They grab Glaas Cannon and his bits. The snake throws him at the elevator. The landing was surprising soft. Glass Cannon looks around and notices that he is above a mattress. Star squawks, “Spineless.” Glass Cannon takes the insult and then he falls asleep on the soft mattress. He dreams about being back at home safe and sound. After a while, Glass Cannon is rudely awakened. He was tossed on something soft and furry. Glass Cannon was awake enough that he knew that he was thrown but not enough to react. Jaws says, “Getting a bit ahead of yourselves aren’t you?” Glass Cannon asks, “Huh?” A voice says, “Can the massster even sssee us?” As Glass Cannon gets fully awake, he realizes that he is the back of his new chimera staring at a goat head (with black fur and tan horns) staring at him. He looks around and sees a green snake head with red eyes, “Cool this thing has a small dragon head.” The snake head says, “I’m a conssstrictor sssnake.” Jaws added, “You didn’t have enough for the dragon upgrade. You have the standard tiger, goat, and snake chimera combo. We pride ourselves in our genetically modified monsters or Gene Mod Mons to save time. I got a book about different chimera and everything you need to know about maintaining yours including what you can add to them.” Glass Cannon asks, “Add what pounds?” “No well maybe… what I mean is like Gene Mods and maybe some armor but that is somewhere esle. Gene Mods like claws that can climb walls, a longer neck for your snake head, or an organ that will help your goat regenerate her magic.” “This comes with a magic user?” The goat head says, “I can do magic but our body needs to be hit with it for me to recharge.” Glass Canon turns to the goat head, “What can you do?” “I can use telekinesis and lighting bolts.” “This is looking to be very promising, so where is the tiger?” A voice says, “I’m in front of this body, maintaining the muscle of this team.” The elevator starts moving and then Jaws give Glass Cannon a book labeled ‘Guide to The Monster Protection Market’s Monsters: Chimera Edition’ and 3 bits. Glass Cannon puts away the book and bits in his empty bag. Jaws notices Glass Cannon’s eyes constantly trying to keep open. Jaws offers, “I can lead them to your home and I speak for you to your servants about your purchase while you take a nap.” Glass Cannon says, “That sounds great. See you in the morning.” Glass Cannon makes himself conferrable on his chimera’s back. As the chimera walks, he falls asleep on the soft fur with the help of constant rocking.
Chapter 3: The Morning Head CountIt is morning in Canterlot, Glass Cannon is in his bed barely waking up. He has a hard time getting up from his bed. He slowly opens his eyes but cannot see anything. He feels the softness and warmth of his blankets. He struggles to move around. A voice says, “Our Master is awake.” Some of the blankets open up to reveal that it was the Chimera’s fur surrounding Glass Cannon. This is the first time that he sees the front pattern of his new guard. The coat is orange with black stripes and its matching head fits the description of a tiger. The tiger head says, “You’re safe now.” The snake head comments, “I can only sssense your workers.” Glass Cannon asks, “What?” “I can see heat in other beingsss even through wallsss.” “That sounds cool, but why was I wrapped like an asparagus in a blanket?” “It wasss my idea, master. If we wrapped ourssselvesss around you to make sssure you’re sssafe with usss taking the hitsss firssst.” “Wait outside my door. I have things to do before we get on with my day.” The Goat head asks, “Will you be fine without us?” “I am sure I can clean and cloth myself without some thug jumping me.” The Chimera obeys their master and waits outside. After an hour, Glass Cannon comes out of his room with his favorite pink suit. He walks down the hall for breakfast with his bodyguard. As they walk down, a pegasus in a brown suit (and has a few cards with bits as a cutie mark) goes up to Glass Cannon. Glass Cannon recognize the shaking bits as he walks. Glass Cannon turns to the pony in the brown suit, “Hello, Card Counter?” Card Counter says, “I have been reading your monster buying guide. My research advices you to get the Divide and Conquer Combo. It gives your ‘bodyguard’ the ability to split up to 3 bodies for a little while and can fuse back. The combo also includes the Magic Organ so your goat can do more tricks. It will only cost 60 bits” “I’ll get it after breakfast.” “I don’t recommend getting any other of those Gene Mods until a week has passed. You don’t want to blow your spending cash for mods, you want that will make things worse.” “Noted, Card Counter.” “Your bodyguard can only have 10 Gene Mods, 1 for each head, and 7 for the body.” “Can I have my book back so I can study it?” “Well, I need it to find more...” The Chimera turns to Card Counter. They say in union, “The Master wants the book.” “I’ll get it back to you right now.” Card Counter runs off. Glass Cannon is forced wait. Glass Cannon finally asks, “So, what are your names?” The Goat head says, “I am currently called G77.” The Snake head answers, “They call me, S151” The Tiger head finishes, “I am T21.” Glass Cannon says, “Basically the first letter of your species and a number of… umm…” G77 interrupts, “When we were created, master.” “That means T21 is the oldest, right.” T21 says, “I prefer the most experienced. Tigers are the toughest and the scrappiest of the Chimera choices. I admit I went through a few masters before you, but I have learned from those…” “What happened with old masters.” “Too many battle scars on my other bodies that end with my other masters, ‘not happy’.” “Why?” Card Counter comes rushing back with the monster manual in his book bag. He goes in front of Glass Cannon and gives the book to him. Glass Cannon picks up the book and tucks its away in his suit. Glass Cannon says to T21, “We will talk again, later.” Glass Cannon rushes because of lost time, to the dining hall with his Chimera. Card Counter goes back to his office and locks the door. When Glass Cannon arrives at the dining hall, the workers are there eating at their tables enjoying themselves. They see the Chimera bodyguard, their merriment turns into fear and curious staring. A few of the workers were finishing up preparing the Master Table pancakes with Zap Apple jam, eggs, strawberries, and Zap Apple juice. They set up a metal chair waiting for Glass Cannon. On the other side was a bench with creative dishes and buckets of liquids fitting each of the heads’ diets in front of it. Glass Cannon goes to his seat and starts eating his breakfast. On the other side of the table, the bench barely keeps up with the combined weight of the Chimera and only T21 was eating. The other heads were keeping an eye for trouble. Glass Cannon asks, “Why aren’t you all eating?” G77 answers, “Only one of us can eat because you never know when an attack will happen.” “I have guards protecting this place for a little while.” Glass Cannon claps his hooves and one of the butlers comes up to him. The butler asks, “What do you need sir?” “When is your last paycheck from my gruncle?” “Tomorrow, sir.” “Do you know anyone that will help me after tomorrow?” “Your gruncle did have a special reward for anypony that will help you in the upcoming events, but most of the staff will not do it. We have families that need us and… thieves and thugs are usually much more aggressive during these times.” S151 comments, “Sssounds like cowardly talk.” “Sorry not all of us are made or train to fight, you... You.” Glass Cannon added, “You might want to stop before my bodyguard does a show of force without my command.” The butler gulps, “Enjoy your meal and day, sir and madams.” The butler leaves to go somewhere else. T21 eats a feast while every pony else eats nervously. Glass Cannon looks to be fine, but thoughts of how the mansion will be defenseless in 2 days. He tries to drown out those thoughts by reminding himself of the fun day that he had planned. After breakfast, Glass Cannon and the Chimera leave the mansion to meet up with Glass Cannon’s friends by his airship at the air dock, but first he had to pick up his new party clothes from one of his gruncle’s favorite clothing stores. The walk was long with many eyes staring. Ponies, including his fellow high class ponies, got out of Glass Cannon’s way. Some ponies ran away in terror. Glass Cannon didn’t like his fellow ponies running in fear but he keeps telling himself that the runners are villains that wanted to hurt him. Glass Cannon whispers to G77, “Keep an eye out for a fancy purple building called Carousel Boutique. It looks like a fancy cake with windows.” Meanwhile, inside of the Carousel Boutique, Rarity has just returned from her time with her sister. Rarity came to check with this store’s manager, Sassy Saddles (She is a blue unicorn in a signature black dress with a golden saddle). Rarity asks Sassy Saddles, “How are things here?” Sassy Saddles answers, “Everything is fine here. We just have somepony picking up an order, today.” “Oh, The Rubyshoes order.” Rarity groans. “I still don’t like that one of my creations is supposed to get dirty but…” A pony comes in screaming, “A monster is coming this way!” the pony sees Rarity. “You have fought monsters, right. Go out there and defend Canterlot.” “What is it doing?” “It is walking this way.” The pony runs and hides in one of the changing stalls. Sassy Saddle joins the pony in a nearby stall. Rarity carefully goes to the window and takes a peak outside. She sees Glass Cannon’s Chimera and dozens of panicked ponies. The Chimera points at her building with one of its claws. Rarity goes prone and starts panicking. She never had to fight monsters like that on her own. Rarity summons her couch to calm down and think. Before Rarity could get an idea, her front door opens. A tiger paw in the form of a fist is seen going through the door. As the fist pulls back, G77 and T21 stare in, but they couldn’t fit in the door. They move back and let S151 slip through the door. Rarity scans the Chimera and remembers hearing a story from Applejack about how she saved her sister from what she thinks is the same beast. Rarity says to The Chimera, “I know how to deal with a ruffian like you.” She runs off to get her gear. S151 pulls her head back out and warns Glass Cannon, “There is a bad guy in there we have to her beat up. The owner and her assistant are hiding from her.” Glass Cannon orders, “You girls beat up the thug and I’ll hide in that alley over there.” He points to a nearby dead end alley. The Chimera forcefully breaks the door down and its frame is hang off of G77. Glass Cannon screams, “I have to pay for that!” S151 asks, “Would you have liked us to have go through the window?” “Yes, they are cheaper that doors around here.” The rest of the Chimera forces S151 to pursue Rarity. Glass Cannon gallops to the nearby alley, but before he could hide, he spots a blue unicorn mare with white hair. He knew her as Midnight: his ex-crush. Glass Cannon lost her to a stallion that recently became a clown, which made it more insult to injury for him. Glass Cannon loved her for being different than other rich girls by being nice. fun, and naturally beautiful. Despite his loss, Glass Cannon still had feelings for Midnight. After seeing Midnight, Glass Cannon goes to the nearby fountain to see his reflection. Glass Cannon fixes his hair to look good in front of her. As he looks at himself in the water, he notices that his sword is floating. Suddenly he feels a bag consuming him. Glass Cannon tried to scream for help but couldn’t. Back with the battle between Rarity and The Chimera, Rarity tries to use Applejack tactics from her encounter with the chimera that she fought in the Fire Swamp, but proves to fail. T21 unhooked her jaw to prevent Rarity’s metal stool from getting stuck in her jaw, G77 spits out Rarity’s expensive cheese, and their restless attack prevents Rarity from using her singing voice properly to make S151 fall asleep. Rarity starts to think her memory was wrong and tried to change tactics. S151 uses her heat sensing vision to check on Glass Cannon, only to see that he was being coltnapped by 2 other ponies. S151 alerts, “Our master is being taken away, outside.” The Chimera gives up on attacking Rarity and goes after the 2 ponies. Rarity sighs in relief. When The Chimera ran outside they depend on S151’s sight to continue the pursuit. T21 gets the scents of the coltnappers. She recognizes that certain smell coming off both of them. T21 says, “I know where they are going. Let me have full control of the body for a while.” G77 asks, “How do you know where they are going?” S151 announces, “I am losing them.” “Looks like I don’t have a choice.” T21 goes on an alternative path. S151 asks in a worried tone, “You are going the wrong way.” T21 smiles, “I know a shortcut through here.” T21 leads her team to a hidden door big enough for them and uses a mysterious tunnel. The safety of Glass Cannon is on the paws of T21 and her secrets.
Chapter 4: Sewer RatsThe Chimera walks down the mysterious path and it ends at the underground sewers. The smell in the air is not pleasant for G77 and S151, but T21 acts like smell didn’t exist. T21 thinks of where to go. G77 complains, “It smells so bad, I don’t even have a proper word for it.” S151 comments, “The poniesss that took Master Glasss Cannon are above us!” T21 responds, “I know where those ponies are going to take him and I have a plan.” G77 asks, “What is it?” Footsteps are heard coming their way. The footsteps echo louder and louder with each rushing step. “Just go along with my act and we will get him.” “Why can’t we just…?” T21 shhes G77 as the coltnappers go around the corner. T21 moves forward to meet them. The coltnappers are 2 unicorns in brown and black cheap looking uniforms (including one with patches and holes). They had Glass Cannon in a brown sack floating behind them with their magic. T21 says with a smile to one of the coltnappers, “Hi guys, the boss told me to get the brat from here.” One of the Unicorns comments, “Aren’t you...” He looks at a certain line pattern. “You’re Hand Me Down Tizzy.” “I rather be just called Tizzy.” As T21 gathers the unicorns’ attention, G77 use a magically electric attack to zap one of the unicorns. The unicorn’s horn gets fried and breaks. The unicorn falls on the ground fainting from the pain. Before the other unicorn could react, T21 had no choice but to grab the off guard unicorn’s head and break it. S151 extends herself and grabs Glass Cannon as he was falling from the air. She puts Glass Cannon down and rips open the bag. Glass Cannon takes a deep breath and immediately regrets it. He tastes the smell of the sewer. Glass Cannon looks around and quickly realizes where he is. Glass Cannon says, “These bums took me into the sewer and took my sword.” Glass Cannon looks around and finds a cheap ax on the nearest body. The ax has a dark grey blade with a cheap wooden handle. He puts the ax in his sword bag and surprisingly, it fits. Glass Cannon takes a closer look at the pony. Glass Cannon realizes that the pony is from a gang of lazy bums who try to steal his gruncle’s diamond collection and other high class ponies’ fortunes. T21 says, “We should get out of here, master.” “Agree, do you know how to get…” “Yes, sir. I know a short cut.” As the Chimera runs to the exit, Glass Cannon is trying to think of what happened. S151 notices that he is not moving and grabs him. The Chimera walks up to the way out. Another Chimera with tattoos, wearing unique markings, brown clothes, and helmets. The goat head of the other chimera has glowing eyes and electricity flowing between its horns. This other Chimera works for the bum gang. S151 lets go of Glass Cannon and whispers, “Hide.” The 2 chimeras stare down at each other, each knowing the other is not an ally but foe. T21 taunts, “Nice hats, I can’t wait to take yours.” The Gangster Tiger Head comments, “Aren’t you the hand me down? I don’t know why you are here but I know you’re not one of us anymore. I never liked you, anyways.” The Gangster Goat Head starts the fight with a ramming attack with its static horns and gets stuck with G77. The magic lighting does nothing and the goats’ horns get stuck with each other. T21 pulls back by holding her paw down and moving her leg back to stretch the Gangster Goat head’s neck. The Gangster Chimera tried to pull its goat head back but made thing worse. T21 orders G77, “Cut her neck!” G77 cuts the Gangster goat neck off with her paw using full force. The Gangster goat head is still alive and screams from the pain while pink blood oozes out of her wounds. G77 grabs the gangster goat head and it bites back. G77 responds by crushing the head like a stress ball. The head becomes a pink mess with fur. Fortunately for Glass Cannon, he didn’t see any of that brutality because of his Chimera’s body being in the way. Glass Cannon asks S151, “What is going on?” S151 answers, “We are winning, Massster.” The Gangster Tiger Head says, “I will have my revenge for killing my sister. You cheap re…” T21 grabs the Gangster Tiger Head’s jaw and looks directly in the eyes, “You should talk less.” The Gangster Chimera tried to strike back but S151 and G77 grab its arms. T21 pulls the jaw of the Gangster Tiger Head. The Gangster Tiger Head gurgled in pain. T21 says with an evil smile, “No Witnesses.” T21 bites her victim’s head off and eats what’s left of it. After swallowing it, pink blood was left. The rest of Glass Cannon’s Chimera looks at T21 with shock. They let go of the arms of the enemy Chimera. G77 asks, “Did you need to… do that?” S151 comments, “You ate a fellow tiger, a sssister.” T21 says, “We are not done yet.” The remaining snake head of the Gangster Chimera uses his unquestioned control of the body to put the arms up to surrender. The Gangster Snake Head slowly reveals itself. It is blue with a light yellow zigzag pattern. The Gangster Snake Head says, “I give up. I never wanted to fight in the first place.” Glass Cannon climbs over his bodyguard’s body to see what is going on. He sees the carnage and was ready to scream. S151 covers his mouth as he screamed. S151 whispers into Glass Cannon’s ear, “We won, calm down, and help usss decccide the fate of this bad guy.” “Please, we don’t have much time. I want to leave this gang and this smelly hole but I need to find somewhere close to transfer myself to your body.” The Gangster Chimera points at Glass Cannon’s Chimera. Glass Cannon taps on S151 and she lets go of his mouth. Glass Cannon asks, “What do you offer?” “I’m a healer snake limb, I can fix up any wounds, look.” The Gangster Snake Head stretches to the front of its body where it fixes the bleeding holes within a few moments. Glass Cannon and his Chimera look at the process with amazement. “What is your problem?” “A long story but I can tell you that some college dropouts force me and my brothers to make constant repairs to these bodies.” Footsteps are heard echoing through the Sewers. Glass Cannon announces, “You’re part of my team, let’s get out of here.” T21 asks, “Are you…” “I don’t want to be part of more fights today. So Move.” The Gangster Chimera opens the secret door. It says, “I am Patchwork, sir.” Patchwork leads the way out with Glass Cannon and his Chimera behind him. As they leave the underground, Glass Cannon comments, “Patchwork, I like your nickname. I should think of ones for…” G77 interrupts, “More running and less talking, sir.” Patchwork leads the party into a nearby alley for hiding places. They pick their spots and wait.
Chapter 5: Patching the DayA couple of minutes have passed since the escape and nothing happens. No ponies have left the entrance or any other nearby. S151 reports, “No one hasss come out of the sssewer.” Glass Cannon’s head pops out of a cardboard box, Glass Cannon’s Chimera comes out of a pile of scattered old papers, and Patchwork appears out of skin changing camouflage. Glass Cannon quietly panics, “Things were not supposed to go to Tartarus, yet. I had 2 more days.” Patchwork goes up to Glass Cannon and pats his back lightly. Patchwork says, “I don’t usually speak but I have learned that sometimes choices are made without your say.” “That doesn’t make me any feel better. Do your transfer quickly so we can get out of here.” Glass Cannon grabs his ax and looks around to check for danger. G77 tells Patchwork, “You heard him, do what you need to do.” Patchwork replies, “Well there are 2 conditions: I need time to get a certain gene mod organ out of this body and an escort to the Monster Market. Now with time to think, I can go the market, myself. If I have a safe place nearby to remove the defective genes.” Glass Cannon asks, “What do I get if we let you have the second option.” “I will help you as a medic, later on or at least I will get you a few free gene mods like a regeneration organ. My Main Head will make sure of it. I only have an hour to fix this body.” T21 says, “I still say we…” Glass Cannon goes up to T21, “I am the boss of you. So any decision outside of the battlefield is mine. Got It.” Glass Cannon goes to the street and sees a supermarket called Harvest Point. It was one of his dad’s many markets. Glass Cannon knows this store as Harvest Point 21 and it is nearby his air dock. Glass Cannon goes back to the chimeras. Glass Cannon asks Patchwork, “Can you do what you need to do in an airship?” Patchwork answers, “I can try but I’ve never done that before.” “Just do that invisible trick until we get into my ship.” “Deal.” T21 whispers to S151, “Keep your eyes on him.” S151 nods her head. They rush towards the air dock. The air dock was long with dozens of airships parked near the end of the cliff. It also had a few buildings catering to the owners of the ships and staff. Glass Cannon went to his airship with the Chimeras behind him. Glass Cannon’s airship was red and grey, with a big pink balloon with ruby horse shoes on the sides. The gangway is extended by one of Glass Cannon’s friends; Airborne. Airborne is a white pegasus with blue hair with a cutie mark of the sky. Airborne comments, “So that’s the monster everypony has been screaming about. Wherever you found that, it is sure making its mark. It might want to clean itself off in the wash room.” Glass Cannon says to his Chimera, “We both need to clean up.” Noises of an unseen passenger are heard running across the wooden floors. Airborne screams, “Intruder!” Glass Cannon screams, “He is my unexpected guest, we made a deal to drop him off somewhere.” “Keep that Changeling in check, I don’t want him or her ruining this ship.” “What do you have to worry about, this is my ship.” Glass Cannon and his Chimera board the ship. S151 scans the ship. She only sees the other chimera and the 2 ponies. S151 reports what she sees to Glass Cannon as he gets aboard. Glass Cannon asks Airborne, “Where are the others?” Airborne says, “They all ran off as soon as they heard the screaming of the monster from the dock. I’m glad to see that it is your monster, not some wild hungry one.” T21 goes up to Airborne and says, “As long as you don’t hurt him, we don’t hurt you, got it.” “He is one of my pals. I would never hurt him.” Glass Cannon tells Airborne, “I need you to take my ship on a short fly around the city.” “My pleasure.” Airborne goes up to the bridge and gets the ship in the air. Glass Cannon takes a seat on a nearby wooden bench. Glass Cannon’s Chimera lays down on the surprising comfortable wooden floor. As the ship glides through the air, Glass Cannon finds it to be a good time to talk with his bodyguard. Glass Cannon asks T21, “How did that mugger know you, T21, or should I say Tizzy?” G77 and S151 start remembering that moment and stare at T21. T21 knew that question was going to come up. T21 takes a deep breath and says, “I used to be part of the Pocket Pokers. I was originally made to defend their main leader at the time.” Glass Cannon grabs his ax out of fear. T21 pulls out her paw in front of her face and continues, “I am not a part of them anymore, in fact, I grew to hate them.” Glass Cannon asks, “Why would you hate your old master?” “I loved my original master, but after he died, the gang blamed me for his death. I went from leader to leader, losing body parts, blood, and other sisters. That gang of scum kept blaming me for all of their deaths, even to the point my last master traded what was left of me for a new creature to guard him.” A moment of silence and shock happens. No one knew how to react with such an answer. T21 asks Glass Cannon, “Do you question my loyalty now?” Glass Cannon responds, “Did you have any other masters outside of that gang?” “No, I have been stuck in There for months. Waiting for a chance to prove that I wasn’t bad luck and a good fighter. I am more than glad to serve you so far.” “You’ve only been with me one day.” Airborne comes out to check on Glass Cannon. Airborne says to Glass Cannon, “Who are our guests?” Glass Cannon turns to Airborne, “The unseen one is Patchwork and the triplets are my new bodyguard. I believe they can introduce themselves. Besides, I need to go to the cleansing room to get this smell off.” Airborne wonders what he is talking about and then smells the answer. Glass Cannon goes deeper into the ship. While S151 grabs a bucket of water and dumps it on her body. As the bucket falls, “Don’t, that’s the…” Airborne says too late. “The drinking water.” When the water hits the Chimera, the others heads got surprised by the sudden splash. G77 says, “You wanted the only drinking water on this ship to get us wet?” T21 comments, “This isn’t water. We smell like cherries.” Airborne says, “That is… was flavored water. Good thing, I got a few more buckets of the stuff. I’ll start introductions, I am Airborne, soon to be one of the captains of the sky.” G77 introduces herself as she tries to shake the water off, “I am G77, the magic user.” S151 slips by her sisters and says right in front of Airborne, “Hello, I am S151 the lookout.” T21 introduces herself, “I am T21.” Airborne asks T21, “You’re T21 the what?” “The muscle, of course.” “Ok, The Muscle, how was today.” S151 answers, “We had an exccciting firssst day.” The Chimera tells Airborne about their day with Glass Cannon and argued over certain details. Airborne enjoyed their storytelling. After 20 minutes, Glass Cannon was finally cleaned. He stepped out of the cleansing room and decides to look for Patchwork. Glass Cannon remembered all of the room on his ship and only 3 of them could hold Patchwork. He rules out the ice room. Glass Cannon looks at the closest big room: the storage room. He opens the door. He only sees boxes and crates of supplies. Glass Cannon goes through the hall to the lounge. When Glass Cannon arrives at the lounge, he opens the door and sees Patchwork preforming surgery on himself with some blood on the floor. Glass Cannon quickly closes the door and holds back his sudden sickness. He takes a few deep breathes. Glass Cannon says, “I found you.” No response happens. After a while, Glass Cannon hears a splat from the Lounge. He creaks the door open. Glass Cannon asks Patchwork, “Are you ok, Patchwork?” A moment passes and nothing is heard. Glass Cannon didn’t want to move or see the Patchwork’s body so he goes up to the deck. He’s Glass Cannon gets nearby the door to the deck. He hears footsteps behind him. Not sure if that is Patchwork or someone else, so he runs to the door and kicks it open. Without thinking he screams, “Assassin!” As Glass Cannon runs up to the wheel, his Chimera get ready to fight while Airborne grabs a seat to see the Chimera at work. The footsteps echo through the hall of the ship. Patchwork screams, “Get me out of here!” Patchwork comes out faster than Glass Cannon and hides behinds S151. Glass Cannon peeks out to see Patchwork alive. He laughs at his mistake. T21 says, “False Alarms are not funny, Master.” Glass Cannon declares, “I am laughing at my mistake, I actually was starting to think somepony killed Patchwork.” He tries to calm down. “I’ll start driving to the Monster Market and clear my mind.” Airborne gets up, “I’ll fly, I am the only one who can make a landing in the city.” “That is probably for the best. I will stay near you Airborne.” Airborne walks up to the wheel. G77 threatens Airborne, “Don’t forget we are here.” Airborne responds, “You girls are not that hard to forget.” Airborne and Glass Cannon go into the bridge and Glass Cannon checks all of the ship’s navigational instruments. After getting the information that Airborne needs from the equipment, he asks Glass Cannon, “There is a lot of places in the bad part of Canterlot. Is there a specific landmark or details?” Glass Canon responds, “I remember all of the spooky plants around the place.” “Of course, it is the place full of spooky stories.” “From what I have seen, I don’t want to hear the stories.” “I hope you can learn what to do quickly, I want you to keep being one of my ‘alive’ friends. Maybe if you quit this game of death, you can live back with…” “I want to be independent from them, you know that.” “I know, but does it have to be this? Risking your life and trusting that freak show for a mountain of bits and a mansion. You can...” “I want to keep as much of my uncle as I can.” Airborne realizes that he isn’t helping to calm his friend down. He continues, “I… Let’s continue this another time. This is your last day before Tartarus, right. I know I good pizza place nearby the drop zone. I’ll get us a few pies.” “Thank you.” The airship makes it journey towards Canterlot with the winds pushing them there. When they arrive to the drop zone, Patchwork rushes towards the market while everyone else enjoys the recovered plans of fun that last until nighttime.
Chapter 6: Fun Time is OverCanterlot is dark, with only the moonlight and streetlights lighting the city. Glass Cannon rides on his Chimera’s back to get to his home. When Glass Cannon and his chimera arrive at the mansion, they notice a lot of carts within the gate. The guards see Glass Cannon and let he and his bodyguard in through the gates. Glass Cannon looks to the Steward of the Mansion. The Steward is an old black stallion with grey hair named Ironclad. Glass Cannon screams for Ironclad as he gets inside the mansion. Ironclad goes up to him in an orderly manner. Ironclad asks Glass Cannon, “What do you need my lord?” “Why are there carts outside?” “The staff is preparing to leave tomorrow after their final checks.” “How will this work? Are they going to be gone at the same time? How many are going to…” “Plans are arranged. you need to sleep now, my Lord, to prepare for tomorrow. There are a few questions that I have to ask you in private.” T21 butts in, “We need to be part of those plans.” “Of course, The Lord’s Bodyguard is included.” Ironclad leads Glass Cannon and his Chimera to the Planning Room. The Planning room is a big room dedicated to be the Command Center of the mansion. It has a model of the entire estate, extra supplies, a round table for meeting within the staff hierarchy, a few safes within the walls, and most importantly, it is the most private room in the whole estate. S151 comments, “Thisss isss fancy.” G77 says, “A command center for a mansion? You guys thought of everything.” Glass Cannon asks, “Ironclad, what do you want?” Ironclad goes up to the round table and pulls out a scroll. Ironclad says, “I have a checklist of things that need to be addressed. I’ll help you check them off. This will help us organize for the days to come.” Ironclad picks up the scroll and pulls out a pen. T21 asks, “What is that?” “It’s a new thing called a pen. It’s a quill with the ink inside.” G77 comments, “The rich do have the fanciest of things.” Glass Cannon goes to the round table and takes a seat. Glass Cannon asks, “What’s first?” Ironclad announces, “The first thing is staff will be reduced from 73 to 21 by tomorrow. We can afford to spare some supplies to get a few of the homeless during the accounting period.” “Homeless ponies? Are you serious? My life is on the line, everyday staring today and you expect to use some street bums…” “These bums that I have learned about, can help us. We can only afford to get 1 of 2 groups. Group 1 is a small collection of ex-soldiers and mercenaries whose combat skills can help keep you and...” T21 interrupts, “We are more than enough to protect the Master.” “This Estate and its staff need protection, too. I know you will follow Mr. Glass Cannon everywhere. Besides what’s the point of an inheritance, if it is destroyed and/or stolen.” G77 says, “He does make a point.” Glass Cannon command his Chimera, “You girls keep your lips shut and let Ironclad finish what he has to say!” “Thank you, lord. As I was saying, if we get Group 1, we have to close some rooms to use them as decoys and we won’t have enough cleaning staff to help keep the entire mansion maintained. Group 2 is a group of… ‘street rats’ who can help us with cleaning the estate and think of ways to prevent our enemies from getting in. Don’t expect them to fight for you or at all, my lord.” “I think getting those new guards are probably better for us. Next.” Ironclad check off the first choice. “We have some spare wood and nails. We could use them to reinforce our windows or our walls. Or, we can try to reinforce more inside away from view. The public eye will see that this mansion’s famous security isn’t threatened by the ‘current events’ to trick invaders.” “I rather not have the Public see what we are doing at all. Reinforce the walls.” “Are you sure?” “It seems to be the best option.” “Final question: What do want to focus upgrading on?” “What do you mean?” “I can get a few ponies to look around or call a few favors in to improve certain defenses, guards, gear and anything else for your safety.” “I think improving the mansion’s defenses will help us a lot more in the long run. I might want to change our focus later.” “I change weekly sir.” T21 exclaims, “You will change as the Master sees fit.” Glass Cannon says, “I do agree with her. Why can’t I just change the focus at any time?” Ironclad explains, “I need time to call in certain parts and gear. The ponies that are gathering said gear and parts would hate constant last minute recalls.” “Do we have enough armor and weapons for our current staff?” “With most of our old guards leaving, we will have plenty of weapons, uniforms, and a pile of ammo for our Dragon Ripper.” “Does that thing still work?” All 3 chimera heads ask, “Dragon Ripper?” Ironclad finishes checking the list and then steps towards the model of the mansion. He points towards a circular tower. “There is the Dragon Ripper’s Tower. It is an old, but reliable, multi-barrel cannon.” Glass Cannon asks, “Does IT still work? It is like 50 years old.” Ironclad says with a smile, “You should ask the changelings from last year’s invasion. I believe the current team took out 50 of them or at least that is what they said.” G77 comments, “That is a changeling a year.” T21 adds, “A cannon can’t kill…” Glass Cannon says to The Chimera, “What did I just say?!” The heads stood there silently after the reminder. Ironclad tells Glass Cannon, “I will make sure I will get the remaining staff to reinforce overnight. You should get some sleep, lord. It will be a long day tomorrow.” “A good rest will help me. Maybe I can dream of what will happen after this mess is sorted.” As Glass Cannon goes to his room, S151 stretches her way closer to the model and tries to see the model and its details. Unable to see it clearly with her current vision. She makes a long blink and her eyes change to eyes that can see normally to properly admire the model. Unfortunately for S151, her body follows Glass Cannon, pulling her away. Ironclad says, “Good Night.” ine-height:107%`g8��
Chapter 7: The Beginning of the StormIt is morning, Glass Cannon was about to wake up, but an idea popped in his head. The idea was if he did wake up, he didn’t have to live in his current mess. The poorly-thought-out idea had him pretending that he was still asleep. This plan was working until Ironclad knocked on the door. G77 shhes Ironclad. Ironclad guesses that Glass Cannon is using the “pretend to be asleep” trick again so he uses his counter trick. Ironclad knocks on the door again and then says, “I wanted to inform the lord that there is news about a new game at that Power Play Arcade.” Glass Cannon gets up and asks, “What is the new game?” The Chimera was shocked to see Glass Cannon awaken so easily. “So you are awake?” “Darn it, you got me again.” “Like it or not Lord, we have to get the defenses, ready.” Glass Cannon groans into his pillow and then gets ready for the day. He gets a black suit on as a way to show that he is serious. After a while, Glass Cannon is with Ironclad. Ironclad escorts him to a window to show off the progress of the fence enforcement. It is mostly blocked off with a few gaps. Glass Cannon comments, “Do you think we can get something to go over that the wood? I know we have points on the end of the bars, but I don’t think it work unless they fall down on them.” Ironclad thinks of an idea, “We could try to get some barbed wire.” “What is that?” “It is a metal thorny vine, my lord.” “We should get some, wait, why not get barrier unicorns.” “Most of them are already taken and the ones that remain are ‘overpriced’. They know what’s going on and plan to abuse paranoid stallions like you. You should get some breakfast, Lord. I think some of the staying members are still there.” “I would like some pancakes. Let’s go.” “I want to inform you that the Head Chef wanted his last meal that he makes to be worth remembering, so you will have a feast for breakfast.” “If that is true, I won’t need lunch.” They go to the dining hall; it is emptier than the day before. Glass Cannon goes to his table followed by his chimera. The table had a feast for Glass Cannon and his Chimera. He notices 5 ponies in grey fire proof uniforms wearing patches of a volley of bullets, at nearby table. The oldest pony in uniform comes up to Glass Cannon. He is yellow with black hair. The pony says to Glass Cannon, “Hello sir, I am Dragon Diller Starlight.” Glass Cannon comments, “Hello Dragon Diller, I am surprised you still have a job with that ancient artifact.” “It is a feat of Disciple, Desire, and Care.” Starlight says proudly. “Of course, replacement parts help.” “How come I never hear it fire.” “We don’t practice firing when you or your family are here. It is… was a rule from your uncle. Should we still have our weekly practice?” “We don’t want to waste bullets…” “We make practice rounds out of scrap metal every day. It is one of the only things you can do in a place of peace. Last year’s invasion proved that the Dragon Ripper still can do its job and more.” Another pony in the fire proof uniform screams, “Heck, yeah!” The other 3 ponies cheer in agreement. “I wouldn’t believe it until I see it in the afternoon, I want to go to the market today and get some stuff for my bodyguard. I bet you 15, no wait 20 bits for each crew pony that this thing can’t fire a full round of bullets and hit anything.” “Thank you for an early bonus, sir.” Starlight leaves to go back to his table. Card Counter notices the conversion from a nearby table and then goes up to Glass Cannon. Card Counter says, “I would love to go to the Monster Market with you. I can help you make some more funds now. You can pay me back later.” T21 hears this and threatens Card Counter, “You will give him your money with no payback required.” “You will make this a 1-time deal.” Ironclad steps in, “You will not scam the Lord at his time of need, Mr. Card Counter.” Card Counter whispers to Glass Cannon, “We will talk later.” Card Counter leaves to go back to his table. After eating breakfast, Glass Cannon and his Chimera leave to go the Monster Market. The Chimera is carrying a big sack of bits and Glass Cannon on their back. Glass Cannon is reading the chimera’s guide book to see what parts he wants to get. He notices marks like circles and page numbers nearby prices. Glass Cannon flips over to the goat parts selections and notices the specialists of magic like Lighting, Fire, Shield, and… Teleporting. He looks at the details of Teleporting. Teleporting Magic Upgrade: Like many fields of magic to choose from, it is useful when used correctly for both combat and travel. It can be used to teleport groups of ponies, cargo, language, and even enemies. The goat head will have a portal door design with its horns and the head will levitate to show its magic charge and maneuver quicker. In exchange for its basic lightning attack, it can use any part of the body to attack any foe whether it is bringing them closer or teleporting like claw strikes from a distance. Standard: 2000 bits With Magical Recharge Organ: 2300 bits Quick Master: 4000 bits Glass Cannon says out loud, “Why is Quick Master so expense?” G77 answers, “It is a quick way to get any power and learn how to use it within the same surgery.” “So you can get knowledge of how to use a power at the same time you get it. That sounds worth it.” A voice calls out from the distance, “Glass Cannon wait up!” Card Counter is running to catch up with Glass Cannon. He has a case in his saddle bag. The Chimera stops and gets prepared to defend Glass Cannon. T21 says, “You will not scam the Master.” Card Counter pulls out a helmet from the case. The helmet is shiny steel with a red horseshoe on both sides and a neck guard. The helmet is about the size of Glass Cannon’s head. Card Counter says, “I bought this to show my loyalty for Master Cannon.” Glass Cannon sees the helmet and allows Card Counter to come up to him. Card Counter goes up to him and gives him the helmet. Glass Cannon looks inside to see that it was full of bits. He was surprised to see bits with numbers bigger than 1 like 5, 10, and even 20. Glass Cannon says, “It’s about time they made these bits. I was sick and tired of carring so many of them or having a servant carry them. We can go to a bank on the…” Card Counter interrupts, “I’m sorry to say but only the First Bank of Canterlot and the Royal Hoof Bank have the multi-valued bits.” “Dang it, they are not on the way and they are going to be very busy.” T21 comments, “I… We don’t mind taking a detour to…” “I would like to get you upgraded as soon as possible. Let’s go.” Card Counter says, “I would like to accompany you on your shopping trip and don’t worry about paying me back for those bits and helmet as I said, ‘I give you that ot show my loyalty.’ Besides I know how to deal with boys like that.” “You can come Card Counter, but you have to walk because there is no room up here.” “Understood. I don’t like it, but I understand.” Glass Cannon puts the bits from the helmet into his bit sack. He tries to put on his helmet but has no idea how to put it on properly. After a few minutes, S151 helps Glass Cannon put his new helmet on, correctly. Glass Cannon feels embarrassed that a snake knows how to put on a helmet and not him. After the helmet is put on correctly, Glass Cannon quickly orders his party to continue their journey towards the Monster Market. After a while, Glass Cannon notices more metal on ponies, like armor and weapons, plus more Guard Ponies in the streets. Glass Cannon leans towards Card Counter. Glass Cannon asks, “Are we expecting an attack on the city.” Card Counter responds, “Anypony that knows about your family’s ‘hoofing out process’ in their place will get ready to avoid death. Even if it is to move away for a while or just get something to arm yourself with.” “I would never have guessed other ponies would be affected.” “Best to keep going, sir. I hear of rumors of ponies who would kill you or other heirs to get the killing over with.” Glass Cannon doesn’t want to confirm the rumors. Glass Cannon whispers to the Chimera, “Let’s go faster, girls.” The Chimera (or at least 2 of them) gladly followed the order. The Chimera started a long sprint towards the Monster Market with Card Counter trying his best to catch up. When the party arrives at the Monster Market, Card Counter was out of breath. They enter the door. At the sight of the bit sack, salesponies pushed each other to get the chance to sell their goods to Glass Cannon. One of the salespoines get through to Glass Cannon. The salespony was short. The short salespony says, “My name is Pip, how can I help you today?” “I want to make my Chimera better.” “Of course, sir. Is your friend shopping here, too?” Card Counter says, “I want to make sure that he is making the best choices. But getting something for myself wouldn’t hurt.” “What do you want, sir?” “I need my bodyguard to be more non-lethal. It is nice to have a bodyguard that knows how to kill but one that knows when to kill is better.” “For that Chimera model, it requires a personality or training or… a… a.” “A what.” “We are working on a beta part that might fit the job.” Card Counter asks, “I didn’t read anything about betas.” “Well, that is because beta parts are experimental, unpredictable, and not ready for advertisement. They do come at a discount but you need to sign a form and give us permission to check in with them.” “Stop beating around the bush and explain what you are talking about.” “You have to come with me in order to explain more.” Glass Cannon says, “Lead on then.” Pip leads Glass Cannon’s party to the elevator. A parrot’s voice squawks, “4,537 bits. Now you’re a real customer.” Glass Cannon asks, “Does he have to do that every time?” The parrot squawks again, “201 bits with the new one, new cheapskate.” Pip apologies, “He is the boss’s parrot; we have no control over it.” Pip activates the elevator and then it goes up. The celling opens to reveal a secret 2nd floor. The 2nd floor has all of the business rooms. Another salespony goes to Card Counter and says, “I will help you with your needs, sir.” Pip says, “Don’t worry, our customers are always safe here. Come with me, Mr. …” Glass Cannon says, “I am Mr. Rubyshoes to you.” Pip’s eyes open, “You’re Mr. Rubyshoes? Then, we have more to talk about. We must go, now.” Pip runs towards a hallway full of door with numbers and pictures of locks. The Chimera dashes with Pip and Glass Cannon is holding on to the bits with his life. All-the-while Card Counter goes down with the new salespony to get an item sooner than he had hoped.
Chapter 1: A short history of the HeirThis Heir was named Glass Cannon of the Rubyshoes family. He is a light blue earth pony with purple hair. Glass Cannon grew up in the High Society of Canterlot with rich parents. He wanted to hang out with the Worker Class, but was limited by his parents out of fear of con ponies and clotnappers that would use him or hurt him. Glass Cannon only hang out with a few of his family’s worker’s kids. He hated living as a High Society Pony with hundreds of ponies pretending to be friends with each other, while others are snobs abusing them for their own gain. The only perk of being a rich colt, was you could get any “thing” you want. He had failed to get a cutie mark with all of his experiences growing up. His lack of a cutie mark gave his family of Rubyshoes a sense of shame. Glass Cannon grew up and studied business. He was allowed by his parents to start up his dream business of an amusement park full of rides and “exotic” foods in Canterlot. Glass Cannon had a willing partner to help open it up. Unfortunately for Glass Cannon, his partner’s greed and sudden sense of failure took over and stole the money for the land for the amusement park. He was left with only his personal airship and everything in it, including the last bits that he had. His parents didn’t know what do: They wanted to punish him for losing the money, but they didn’t want to hurt him too much. Eventually, Glass Cannon’s Gruncle (Grand Uncle) Pearl Eye, heard about his grandnephew and took him into his home. It was a small personalized mansion with a basement as the help’s living quarters, 3 teleporters, an orchard of zap apple trees that grow all year and many other fun and expensive things located throughout the home. Everything was great for about a week until one day, Pearl Eye never woke up. He had a smile on his cold face. Pearl Eye died of lung cancer from the days when he was digging in his mines himself, and his I’m going to die anyways attitude, didn’t help. Luckily for Glass Cannon, Pearl Eye gave him his house and one of his nearby mines. After Pearl Eye’s funeral, Glass Cannon wearing a grey suit, with members of his family, a few close friends of Pearl Eye and several others meet with Pearl Eye’s lawyer (Pen Point) in his office. Whispers of foul play are barely heard in the crowd. Pen Point told the crowd that he and a group of other ponies need a month or 2 to gather any and everything from Pearl Eye’s mines and get other current assets in order, before the inherences could be passed out. Glass Cannon was allowed to stay in the mansion until it is official, but it is up to him and any other “guests” to maintain the mansion since most to all of the mansion’s help will leave after they receive their last pay check. It has been noted that somepony usually dies during the process or right after the inherences are passed for one reason or another. Everypony is given 500 to 1,000 bits (depending on the value of the inherence) to get themselves protect and/or medicine to at least feel safe. At the moment of the meeting being over, Glass Cannon didn’t feel safe anywhere but behind the walls of his gruncle’s mansion. During the night, a pony in black came to the door with a business scroll for a monster protection market. Glass Cannon took a risk to follow the pony in black to his employer’s store to get non-pony bodyguards. Glass Cannon bought a freshly polished and sharpened sword, in a converted sword bag at his side, just in case it was a trick. Glass Cannon also got as many bits as he could carry on the free side of his body.
Chapter 8: Parts and MutationsIn the private room, Glass Cannon sits in 1 of 9 chair surrounding a table. Pip locks the only door in and then takes a seat himself. Pip takes a deep breath and then says, “You saved an important lead that has saved one of most important employees so, you will get 5000 bits in credit. That risky act gave you access to our all of our beta projects to purchase.” Glass Cannon responds, “Wow that saves me so many bits.” “There is more, I will tell you about our Powers For All program. It is a service that at first tests you to see if you can get Gene Mods installed in you. Imagine having the ability to beat most ponies in a hoof race without training or reading a book once and remembering everything.” “That sounds great but let’s talk about the beta parts, first.” “Oh yes I was mentioning an ice dragon head. It will be prefect for what you need. She can’t kill with her frost breath. But, it can stop ponies in their tracks.” “I’ll take it.” “Would you like dragon arms to go with it?” “Why not. So how do I test for my Gene Mods?” “Would you like it awake or asleep?” “Why would I want to be awake for it?” “It can be painful but we can give you a gene mod sooner.” “Can I order one before I get tested?” “We don’t pick Gene Mods before testing because we don’t know if you can take certain ones or have space for a better one.” “Alright, I would like to start my test, now and the dragon parts to be put on my bodyguard. So what method do you use to knock out a pony?” “Please lay down on the table so you don’t hurt yourself.” “Is it clean?” “No harmful bacteria… uh… germs come in without our say so.” Pip clears the table and then Glass Cannon slowly gets on the table. Glass Cannon asks, “What now?” Glass Cannon feels a needle on his flank and quickly falls asleep. He is at the mercy of the Doctors and their tests.
